˘ ˇˆ - the pioneer · affairs hardeep singh puri and delhi deputy chief minister manish sisodia...

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Climate change and globalwarming are soon set to

cast their shadows on farmsector in India. Rice produc-tion in the country mayreduce by 4 per cent andrainfed rice by 6 per cent in2020. The impact will be farmore severe and persistent forother crops. As per the note,potato production is likely togo down by 11 per cent in2020, maize by 18 per cent,and mustard by 2 per cent.

Apple productivity couldalso be affected by climatechange, and its cultivationcould start shifting to higherlatitudes to 2,500 metres abovemean sea level from 1,250mamsl in Himachal Pradesh.

In a reply to the Committeeof Estimates headed by veter-an BJP leader Murli ManoharJoshi, on the impact of climatechange on agriculture sector,the Ministry of Agriculture’snote had said small farmers,who own less than 4 hectare offarm land, may not be able tosupport their families withagriculture income alone due tothe impact of climate change.

"A staggering 85 per cent ofIndian farm households haveapproximately 5 acres or lesscultivable land and of this 67per cent are marginal farmerswith less than 2.4 acre," it said.The Ministry has argued thatsharp increase in heat stressdays and decline in water avail-ability could severely impactthe animal productivity.

Earlier studies had sug-gested that a 2 to 5 per cent

decrease yield potential ofwheat and maize for a temper-ature rise of 0.5 to 1.5 degreesCelsius in India.

The note said cotton pro-ductivity in northern India

may marginally decline due toclimate change while in centraland southern India, produc-tivity may increase. However, atthe national level, cotton pro-ductivity may not be affected.

"Small and marginal farm-ers cannot survive seedmonopolies. Wherever suchexperiment was introduced,farmers were forced to sufferlosses," the note claimed.

Global warming is likely tolead to a loss of 1.6 metrictonne milk production by 2020and 15 metric tonnes by 2050if no adaptation is followed.The losses may be highest inUP, followed by Tamil Nadu,Rajasthan and West Bengal.

In its note, the Ministry hassuggested that adjusting to var-ious measures, including timeof sowing, suitable variety, fer-tilisers and irrigation is likely tohelp in tackling the problem toa certain extent.

"Climate stresses such asheavy rainfall events damagehorticultural crops. Flooding for24 hour affects tomato withflowering period being sensitive.Similarly, onion bulb initiationstage is sensitive to floodingcausing a 27 and 48 per centreduction in bulb size and yield,respectively…," it said.

The coconut productivityin western coastal region,Kerala, parts of Tamil Nadu,Karnataka, and Maharashtra(provided current level of waterand management is made avail-able in future climates as well)is likely to increase and also inNorth-Eastern states, islands ofAndaman and Nicobar andLakshadweep.

The negative impacts islikely to be visible for AndhraPradesh, Odisha, West Bengal,Gujarat and parts of Karnatakaand Tamil Nadu. Productivityin India can be improved by 20per cent to almost double if allplantations in India are pro-vided with location specificagronomic and genotype inter-vention in current climates,"the note said.

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The Rajya Sabha on Mondayis set to witness a fierce

showdown between theTreasury benches andOpposition when the contro-versial triple talaq Bill seekingto criminalise the practice ofinstant divorce among Muslimswill come up for passage.

The Congress-ledOpposition is pushing for send-ing the Bill to the joint-selectcommittee for trimming itsharsh provisions.

Law Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad will table the Bill in theUpper House. The MuslimWomen (Protection of Rightson Marriage) Bill, 2017 wascleared by the Lok Sabha —245 voting in favour and 11opposing it — on Thursdayamid a walkout by theOpposition. Prasad had onFriday claimed the Bill will findsupport in the Rajya Sabha,where the BJP-led NDA lacksnumbers.

In case, the Opposition isto block the Bill in the UpperHouse, summoning the joint-session of the two Houses topass the Bill would be the lastoption with the ruling party.

The Bill, as passed by theLok Sabha, makes instant triple

talaq (talaq-e-biddat) in anyform — spoken, in writing orby electronic means such asemail, SMS and instant mes-sengers — illegal and void, withup to three years in jail for thehusband.

Declared illegal in about 20Muslim countries, the instanttalaq was only recently declaredagainst law in India by theorder of the Supreme Court.

After the Oppositionstalled the Bill in the RajyaShaba in earlier session, theGovernment made changesand introduced provision formagistrate allowing bail to hus-band (indulging in triple-talaq)with the consent of his wife.

The Congress claims thatmaking the offense a non-bailable would put the family ofthe instant talaq offender (thehusband) in disarray and thusprovision should be deleted.

The demand for declaringinstant talaq illegal has forlong been raised by a large sec-tion of Muslim women who areat the receiving end. Manycases of triple-talaq have cometo light even after the SupremeCourt declaring it as illegal.

Citing details of instanttriple talaq cases, theGovernment had last weekinformed the Lok Sabha that tillnow 430 incidents of tripletalaq have come to the noticeof the Government through themedia.

Of these, 229 were report-ed before the Supreme Courtjudgment, while another 201came to the notice after it.

Both the BJP and theCongress have issued whips inthe Upper House asking theirmembers to be present in fullstrength when the Bill is intro-duced.

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Prime Minister SheikhHasina emerged as the

frontrunner in Bangladesh’sgeneral election on Sunday asshe aims for a record fourthterm in office with her AwamiLeague gaining a big lead inearly results following a tensevote that saw at least 17 peoplekilled in poll-related violence.

Hasina was elected virtu-ally unopposed from theGopalganj-3 constituency asshe won by a landslide, bagging2,29,539 votes while her mainBNP opponent could managejust 123. The ElectionCommission officiallyannounced Hasina’s win in theevening. Voting ended earlierin the day to choose a newGovernment amid theOpposition’s allegations ofmanipulation by the AwamiLeague. Some reports said 20 ofthe ruling party’s candidateshave already won compared tojust one from main OppositionBangladesh Nationalist Party ofjailed ex-premier Khaleda Zia.

Election officials saidAwami League candidates areleading in 62 seats while BNP

contenders were leading intwo constituencies.

Former president HMErshad’s Jatiya Party, which isa partner of Awami League-ledGrand Alliance, won one seatwhile Opposition NationalUnity Front (NUF), with theBNP as its partner, is yet to wina seat. BNP secretary generalMirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir,who steered the party in Zia’s

absence, however won in hisnortheastern Thakurgaon con-stituency, officials said.

The Election Commissionhas so far confirmed the com-plete result of only one con-stituency in southwesternGopalganj from where Hasinawon bagging 2,29,539 voteswhile her BNP opponent gotonly 123 votes. The EC said1,848 candidates are contesting

for 299 out of 300 Parliamentseats. The polls are being heldat 40,183 polling stations. Votingwas suspended in one seat dueto the death of a candidate.

While Hasina is seekingre-election for a fourth term asthe Prime Minister, her chiefrival, ex-premier Zia, who isreportedly partially paralysed,faces an uncertain future in aDhaka jail.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday

announced renaming of threeislands of Andaman andNicobar archipelago as a trib-ute to Netaji Subhas ChandraBose.

The Ross Island wasrenamed as Netaji SubhasChandra Bose Dweep, the NeilIsland as Shaheed Dweep andthe Havelock Island as SwarajDweep, Modi said during aspeech amid thunderousapplause from the audiencehere.

The three islands are majortourist spots. Earlier in the day,the Prime Minister inaugurat-ed a slew of development pro-jects and laid foundation stonesof several others related toenergy, connectivity, educa-tion, tourism and health sectors.

Donning the Azad HindFauj (Indian National Army)cap, he addressed a publicmeeting at Netaji Stadium onthe occasion of the 75thanniversary of the hoisting ofthe Tricolour by Bose here.

“When it comes to heroesof the freedom struggle, wetake the name of Netaji Subhas

Chandra Bose with pride. Thefirst Prime Minister of theAzad Hind GovernmentSubhash Babu had madeIndia’s Independence resolu-tion on the soil of Andaman,”he said.

“The country draws inspi-ration from Andaman. That iswhy the Government hasissued a notification and I amproudly announcing thathenceforth, Ross Island will beknown as Netaji SubhasChandra Bose Dweep. TheNeil Island will be known asShahid Dweep and Havelock

Island as Swaraj Dweep,” he said.

On this day in 1943, Bosehad suggested that Andamanand Nicobar Islands berenamed as Shahid and SwarajDweep respectively. Duringthe World War II, the Japanesehad captured the Andamanand Nicobar Islands, and Netajicame here as the Azad HindFauz led by him was an ally ofthe Japanese force.

“The historical event of30th December 1943 has beencompleted today after 75 years,”he said.

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New stretch of Pink Lineconnecting Lajpat Nagar-

Mayur Vihar Pocket 1 sectionwill be inaugurated by UnionMinister of Housing and UrbanAffairs Hardeep Singh Puriand Delhi Deputy ChiefMinister Manish Sisodia onMonday.

With the inauguration ofthe Pink Line, it will becomethe longest Metro network inthe national Capital connectingMajlis Park-Shiv Vihar corridor(line 7) to Mayur Vihar Pocket-1 with total length of thestretch up to 59 km. Also,with the opening of this sec-tion, the Delhi Metro networkwill become 327 kms long with

236 Metro stations. This stretch is an exten-

sion of the currently opera-tional Majlis Park — LajpatNagar section and will be aboon for the commutersresiding in East and SouthDelhi such as Ashram, MayurVihar, INA, South-Ex andothers.

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Legendary filmmaker andthe creator of epoch-mak-

ing films Mrigaya, BhuvanShome and Neel AkasherNeechay passed away onSunday. He was 95 and was suf-fering from old-age ailments.

The master director andthe last of the quartet — RitwikGhatak, Satyajit Ray, MrinalSen and Tapan Sinha — left forhis heavenly abode at 10.35 amleaving behind his son, daugh-ter-in-law and an archive of 27feature films, 14 short films andfour documentaries.

The film maestro is likelyto be cremated on January 2after his Chichago-based sonKunal returns from the US,family sources said, adding thebody would till then be pre-served at Peace World.

According to his final

wishes “his mortal remainswill in all probability not bekept anywhere for public view-ing. It will be a simple affair andthere will be no flowers nowreaths, nothing,” sources said.

The winner of DadasahebPhalke and Padma Bhushan, Senwas known for his humanisticapproach and his penchant forcontinuous experimentationapart from his “intense involve-ment” while directing a film.Born in 1923 at Faridpur inmodern Bangladesh, Sen waseducated in Physics and gradu-ated from the then Calcutta’s his-toric Scottish Church Collegeand institution known for its lib-eral atmosphere and a longinventory of legendary studentslike Swami Vivekananda, NetajiSubhas Chandra Bose, PASangma and others.

His humanistic approachand a natural bend towards the

middle class thought process ofhis time got him to produce themasterpieces like BhuvanShome, Ek Din Achanak ,Mrigaya, Khandahar, Antareen,Neel Akasher Neechey, Padatik,Akaler Sandhaney, KolkataEkattor — a film relating much

to the hoodlum years of the1960s and 70s and AmarBhuvan — which dealt with theissues of tolerance and plural-ism in today’s segmented soci-ety. A director of the Leftistbreed he gave superstar MithunChakrabarty his break inMrigaya besides creating amagnificent trilogy inInterview, Kolkata-71 andPadatik depicting the social andpolitical upheaval in Bengal ofthe 1970s.

Such was his involvementin a film and he was drainedout to such extreme that heonce said, “After making a filmI feel like collapsing, but thenI wake up again.” Apart fromBengali and Hindi, Sen alsodirected films in Telugu, Odiyaand Tamil languages. He wona plethora of national andinternational awards for hisfilms like Bhuban Shome,

Baishe Sraban, Mrigaya, OkaOori Katha Akaler Sandhane,Kharij and Khandahar.

Famous Bengali actor andthe hero of Ray films SoumitraChatterjee said, “In his demisewe have lost the last survivingdirector of that generationabout whom you have volumesto say and you have a plenty tolearn.”

Reminiscing her associa-tion of decades with the mas-ter auteur, ballet dancer andactress Mamata Shankar toldThe Pioneer how he represent-ed a different kind of boldnessthan the one that was depict-ed today. “Today they talk ofboldness. But many of us donot understand the kind ofboldness Mrinalda displayed bymaking films without consid-ering not only for his economiclosses but also for the politicalconsequences.

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Winter chill has grippedmany parts of the north-

ern, western and central partsof the country that have beenbearing most of the brunt of thebiting cold weather conditions.

The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) has pre-dicted that the chill in the airis expected to continue for thenext two to three days due tonorthwesterly winds prevail-ing over the entire Delhi-NCR region. The cold wavecontinued to grip Delhi, NCRregion as well as Maharashtraon Sunday, with temperaturesdropping significantly, break-ing records of at least 10years.

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Stung by the claim of theEnforcement Directorate

that alleged middlemanChristian Michel has implicat-ed UPA chairperson SoniaGandhi in the VVIP chopperscam, Congress on Sundaysaid it would probe PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andhis Government’s “collusion”with AgustaWestland if it cameto power in 2019.

Pointing out that after theBJP came to power at theCentre, the Defence Ministrylifted the ban onAgustaWestland and allowed itto bid for 100 naval utility heli-copters.

Congress spokespersonRandeep Surjewala said, “ TheED may save the ModiGovernment today, but when itis voted out of power in 2019,we are committed to fullyinvestigate PM Modi and hisGovernment’s collusion withAgustaWestland,” Congressspokesperson RandeepSurjewala told reporters.

The attack came a dayafter the probe agency, investi-gating the AgustaWestlandcase, told a court that accusedmiddleman Christian Michelhas made a reference to “MrsGandhi”.

Surjewala alleged that theGovernment was pressuringMichel to make a “false” state-ment against the Gandhi fam-ily and dared it to place in thepublic domain any such evi-dence it has against theCongress leadership. Heaccused the Government oftrying to hide its own “collu-sion” in AgustaWestland caseby creating a lot of noise.

“They are using ChristianMichel as a sounding board todefend its own wrong doingsand misdeeds. Panicking andrunning scared, PM Modi andhis Government are now rak-ing up controversies to hide itsown Government’s con-nivance,” he said.

“It is now clear that the‘chowkidaar is daagdaar’ (thewatchman is tainted),” healleged. Surjewala also posed a

set of six questions to the gov-ernment and asked why theDefence Ministry ended theban on AgustaWestland in July2014 and made the company apart of the ‘Make in India’ pro-gramme. Meanwhile, seniorcongress leader and the formerfinance and home minister PChidambaram said if the gov-ernment, the EnforcementDirectorate (ED) and the mediahave their way in this country,cases will be tried even on TVchannels.

“Even kangaroo courtshold trials in a courtroom.Our new ‘improved’ system willsurpass kangaroo courts anddeliver justice on TV channels,”he said in the first of a series oftweets.

“What ED says will be oralevidence, any piece of paper EDproduces will be documen-tary evidence, and what the TVchannel pronounces will be thejudgement,” he said.

Chidambaram said fur-ther, the Criminal ProcedureCode and the Evidence Act willnot apply on such claims.

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Spreading negativity is fairlyeasy, but people must come

together to make positivityviral, Prime Minister NarendraModi said on Sunday addingthat collective efforts of thepeople have ensured that Indiaachieved a lot in 2018.

Addressing the last episodeof the year of his monthly‘Mann ki Baat’ radio address,he also said if the resolve isstrong, hardships fail to turninto obstacles.

“I sincerely hope thatIndia’s journey on the path ofadvancement & progress con-tinues through 2019 too.Taking her to newer heightswith her inner strengths.

“...Let’s come together tomake positivity viral. I dobelieve that by doing so, moreand more people will get toknow about our heroes whobrought a change in society.Spreading negativity is fairlyeasy. But some really goodwork is being done aroundus...,” Modi said.

He said several websites are

spreading positive news andpeople should share their linksso that positivity can be madeviral.

He noted that the year2018 saw the launching of theworld’s biggest health insurancescheme ‘Ayushman Bharat’.

“Electricity reached eachand every village of the coun-try this year. Noted world insti-tutions have accepted that thecountry has taken strides in thearea of poverty alleviation at arecord pace. On account of theunwavering resolve of ourcountrymen, swachchhta, thesanitation coverage, is rapidlyadvancing towards crossingthe 95 per cent mark,” the PMsaid. For the first time ever afterIndependence, the Tricolorwas hoisted at Red Fort besidesthe independence day celebra-tions. This was done to markthe 75th anniversary of the for-mation of the Azad HindGovernment, he recalled.

To honour SardarVallabhbhai Patel, world’s talleststatue, the Statue of Liberty, wasunveiled, he said, adding thatrecently he had also announced

‘Sardar Patel Award’ forNational Integration to begiven to those who have con-tributed for national unity inany form.

The highest UnitedNations Environment award,‘Champions of the Earth’ wasalso conferred upon India,Modi said in his address.

“The world duly tooknotice of India’s efforts in theareas of solar energy and cli-mate change ... It is due to ourcollective efforts that our coun-try has seen unprecedentedimprovement in the ‘ease ofdoing business’ rankings.

“The country’s self defencemechanism got further rein-forced. It was during this veryyear that our country has suc-cessfully accomplished theNuclear Triad, which means weare now armed with nuclearcapabilities in water, on landand in the sky,” the PM said.

He was referring to the firstcombat patrol carried out bynuclear submarine INS Arihantrecently.

He also referred to achieve-ments made by sportsmen atvarious international events,including para Asian Games,Commonwealth Games andYouth Olympics.

The PM also paid obituar-ies to people with modest back-grounds who made their markin social service and had passedaway in 2018.

“If your resolve is strong, ifyour fervour, your enthusiasmis without bounds, all your hur-dles halt in their tracks.Hardships can never turn intoobstacles,” he said.

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Questioning the lack oftransparency in two crop

insurance schemes — WeatherBased Crop Insurance Scheme(WBCIS) and Pradhan MantriFasal Bima Yojna (PMFBY) —run by the Government, aParliamentary panel has saidthat there were several prob-lems and suggested makingadequate financial allocationsso that the schemes attractparticipation from a greaternumber of farmers.

The Parliamentary panelheaded by senior BJP leaderMurli Manohar Joshi has alsorecommended re-formulationof agricultural insurancescheme in order to suit theneeds of farmers who engage inorganic farming, while alsosuggesting inclusion of multi-cropping system under it.

The panel said that said thethe National Mission forSustainable Agriculture “lacks”in focusing on farmers whiletaking initiatives for sustainableagriculture.

It noted that agriculture asa sustainable occupation canremain viable only if the farm-ers are given chance to sustainthemselves and for this, theyneed to have access to betterseeds, best farming practices

and support from theGovernment to cover risks.

It said the Pradhan MantriFasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY),launched in 2016, is a yield-based insurance scheme thatuses crop-cutting experiments(CCEs) to determine the yieldlost by farmers due to naturalcatastrophes and adverseweather conditions.

The yield obtained throughthe CCEs determine the payoutmade by insurance firms tofarmers and the PMFBYimproves on other existingschemes by removing caps onpremiums and making use ofmodern technology, the Panelstated.

“However, the committeealso note that the scheme suf-fers from several problemssuch as the delay in crop cut-ting experiments and its asso-ciated high costs, delayed/non-

payment of insurance claims tofarmers and lack of trans-parency.

“As a result, farmers loseinterest in the crop insuranceschemes. Another problemrelating to crop insuranceschemes in India is coverage,”the panel said in the report.

It pointed out that PMFBYstates that the overall areainsured has decreased over thelast two years (from 57.2 mil-lion hectare in 2016-17 to 47.5million hectare in 2017-18).

This is less than 24 per centof the gross cropped area(against a target of 40 percent). In the US, the grosscropped area is 89 per cent andin China it is 69 per cent, thereport stated.

“The committee, therefore,recommends that adequatefinancial allocation should bemade so that the crop insur-ance schemes attract partici-pation from greater number offarmers.

“The committee also rec-ommends that agriculturalinsurance scheme should be re-formulated in order to suit theneeds of farmers who engage inorganic farming. Multi-crop-ping system also, which is the

very basis of organic farm-ing, should also be includedunder the insurance schemes,”

it said. The panel noted that there

is another insurance scheme —the Weather Based CropInsurance Scheme (WBCIS)— which aims to mitigate thehardship of the insured farm-ers against the likelihood offinancial loss on account ofanticipated crop loss resultingfrom weather conditions,including fluctuation in rainfall,temperature, wind and humidity.

This scheme seeks to pro-vide insurance claims to farm-ers on the basis of observedweather data that are directlyrelevant to agriculture, it com-mittee said.

“The problem with thisscheme is that the number ofautomatic weather stations inthe country is very less. Asagainst the requirement of33,000 automatic weather sta-tion (AWS), only 706 AWS areoperational.

“In spite of its advantages,the coverage under WBICShas declined from 11.25 millionin 2014-15 to a little over 2.1million in 2016-17.

In order to increase cover-age, it is necessary for the gov-ernment to effectively com-municate to the farmers thevalue of insurance products,”the panel stated.

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To encourage farmers totake up cultivation of the

high-revenue earning aromat-ic plants like lavender, rose-mary and lemon grass andmedicinal plants like ashwa-gandha as envisaged under thecentral Aroma Mission, theCouncil of Scientific andIndustrial Research (CSIR) hasinitiated several awareness-cum-training programme forthem at its various labs acrossthe country.

Launched by PrimeMinister, Narendra Modi, theAroma Mission aims to give thefarmers alternative choices incrop production against tradi-tional crops, which have beengiving them diminishingreturns because of various rea-sons.

In contrast, the aromaticand medicinal crops have ahuge potential in the worldmarket as the essential oilsobtained from these are used inperfumes, pharma industry,fragrances and flavours.

Various programs arebeing organised by the CSIR-Indian Institute of IntegratedMedicines (IIMS) in Jammu &Kashmir to promote theMission. According to Dr RamViswakarma, Director IIMS,

Jammu, “More than one thou-sand farmers have alreadytaken to planting these aro-matic and medicinal plants”.The State’s peculiar climateand presence of a growingmarket for the essential oilsfrom these plants is helping thefarme rs earn good revenue.

The IIIM is providingseeds, training and other facil-ities like distillation units to thefarmers to grow these flowersand plants.

Similarly, the scientists atthe CSIR-IHBT, Palampur helda two-day awareness-cum-training programme was heldwhich was attended by tribalfarmers from West Kameng,

West Siang and Tawang dis-tricts of Arunachal Pradesh.

Rakesh Kumar, principalscientist-cum-training pro-gramme organiser said thatthe farmers were impartedtraining on the process to cul-tivate various varieties, includ-ing damask rose, wildmarigold, rosemary, Valerianajatamansi and Matricariachamomilla. He said the farm-ers were imparted practicalexposure on field preparationand management of nursery,nutrients, weed, insect, pest anddisease and post harvest man-agement of aromatic crops.

To reach out to farmers inthe Southern States like, TamilNadu, the CSIR has signed apact with the Tamil NaduAgricultural University(TNAU). The Lucknow-basedCSIR-Central Institute ofMedicinal and AromaticsPlants (CIMAP) has beentasked to implement the centralmission and phytopharmaceu-tical projects and rural tech-nologies.

The mission is expected toenable farmers and the aromaindustry to become global lead-ers in the production andexport of some other essentialoils on the pattern of mentholmint, said a senior officer fromthe CSIR.

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Even after more than amonth of poaching and

killing of tigers in Odisha andMaharashtra, the Governmentsof the two States are yet to ini-tiate any punitive action againstofficials responsible for theincidents which had sparkedoutrage and triggered the con-troversy across the country.

The National TigerConservation of Authority(NTCA) had shot off letters tothe respective StateGovernments to fix responsi-bilities and take action in thematters. However, the states areyet to reply in the matter,prompting the top tiger con-servation body to issuereminders to the departmentconcerned.

Expressing its displeasureover poaching of a male tiger(T1) which was along with atigress (T2) was translocatedfrom Madhya Pradesh toSatkosia Tiger Reserve (STR) in

Odisha last month, the NTCAhad asked the State wildlife offi-cials to take immediate actionagainst those responsible forthe unfortunate incident which,it said, had resulted in “anembarrassment” and keepingthe interstate translocation pro-ject in abeyance.

The T1 that was shiftedfrom Kanha National Park fellvictim to poachers’ snare andkilled, a NTCA team had foundin mid November, 2018 whilethe T2 that was translocatedfrom Bandhavgarh, has beenkept in a confinement foralmost a month after she hadallegedly killed two villagers.

These big cats were shiftedunder tiger augmentation pro-ject considering potential, con-

nectivity and history of STR.However, poaching of the T1had had triggered storm in theState with wildlife activistsquestioning logic behind send-ing the striped cats to theregion without ensuring theirprotection.

In its inspection report, theNTCA team had after the fieldinspection report, found that“… death of T-1 took place dueto poaching and authoritieshave not yet proceeded withlogical investigation. Therehave been attempts to concealfactors behind its death, whichis due to snaring. This warrantsserious action against all con-cerned.”

Maharashtra too seems tohave look other way in the caseof tigress Avni which was killedin violations of several rulesand set guidelines in thePandharkwada forest inYavatmal last month, as per aninvestigation committeeformed by the NTCA.

Avni was shot dead on

November 2 by a team of for-est staff members, and AsgharAli, the son of independentsharpshooter Nawab Shafat AliKhan, who was hired by theforest department. The depart-ment wanted to either tran-quilise the animal or kill it, asAvni was said to have killed 13people since June 2016. A weekafter Avni’s death, the centralgovernment, through NTCAhad formed a panel to inves-tigate into the death.

“The State authorities ofMaharashtra have beeninformed on December 3 totake requisite action in respectof violations of standard oper-ating procedure of NTCAguidelines, Wildlife ProtectionAct, 1972, and Arms Act, 1959,”said the NTCA report.

A showcause notice hasalso been issued to theMaharashtra forest depart-ment. However, the two StateGovernments seems to haveignored the NTCA’s query,leaving it look like a paper tiger.

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At a time when modernisa-tion of the Army’s

armoured corp is moving at a“snail’s pace”, Pakistan hasdrawn up an ambitious plan toprocure close to 600 battletanks including T-90 tanksfrom Russia, primarily to bol-ster its combat prowess alongthe border with India, militaryand intelligence sources said onSunday.

Most of the tanks Pakistanwas procuring will be able to hittargets at a range of 3 to 4 kmand they are set to deploysome of the tanks along theLine of Control in Jammu &Kashmir, the sources told PTI.

Apart from battle tanks,Pakistan Army is also procur-ing 245 150mm SP Mike-10guns from Italy out of which ithas already received 120 guns.

The sources said Pakistanwas eyeing to buy from Russiaa batch of T-90 battle tanks- the

mainstays of the armouredregiments of the Indian Army,and that the move reflectsIslamabad’s intent to forge adeeper defence engagementwith Moscow which has beenIndia’s largest and most trust-ed defence supplier postIndependence.

Pakistan has been holdingjoint military drills with Russiain the last couple of yearsbesides going for defence pur-chases from it, triggering someconcerns in New Delhi.

The sources said as part ofthe mega plan to significantlyrevamp its armoured fleet by2025, Pakistan has decided toprocure at least 360 battletanks globally besides produc-ing 220 tanks indigenouslywith help from China.

Pakistan Army’s move toenhance its armoured corpscomes at a time when the Lineof Actual control in Jammu &Kashmir has witnessed grow-ing hostilities in the last

one year. The Indian Army has been

strongly retaliating to everyunprovoked firing by Pakistaniside.

But, when the Indian Armyis focused on counter-terroroperations, the Pakistan Armywas fast reducing its gap withIndian forces in fighting a con-ventional war, the intelligencesources said.

Military sources said mod-ernisation of the Indian Army’sarmoured regiments were mov-ing at a “snail’s pace” due toprocedural delays and the issueis being examined at a veryhigh level of the Government.

The Indian Army haddrawn up a mega plan to mod-ernise its infantry andarmoured corps. Howeveralmost all the procurementprojects including the �60,000crore Futuristic InfantryCombat Vehicle (FICV) pro-gramme are stuck due to a vari-ety of reasons.

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Aday after the ED told acourt that AgustaWestland

case accused Christian Michelhad made a reference to “MrsGandhi”, NCP chief SharadPawar on Sunday said theOpposition parties will raisethe issue of “misuse” ofGovernment agencies inParliament.

A Delhi court hearing theAgustaWestland VVIP chop-per case on Saturday imposedrestrictions on alleged mid-dleman Christian Michelmeeting his lawyers in ED cus-tody after the agency said thathe was misusing legal access bypassing chits to the advocatesasking them how to tacklequestions on “Mrs Gandhi’.

In its application seekingextension of Michel’s remand,the Enforcement Directoratealso claimed that he has spo-ken during questioning aboutthe “son of an Italian lady” andhow he is going to become thenext Prime Minister of thecountry.

When asked about ED’sclaim, Pawar told reportershere that, “The session ofParliament will be resumingfrom tomorrow. I will discussthe issue with all theOpposition parties and take astrong stand against misuse ofgovernment agencies like theCBI, the EnforcementDirectorate (ED) and theReserve Bank.”

In this regard, he alsoreferred to the Press confer-

ence held earlier this year byfour senior judges of theSupreme Court.

The Congress hadSaturday claimed that theGovernment was using theprobe agencies to malign theGandhi family, while the BJPsaid the “truth is coming out”.

Pawar said the recently-concluded elections in fivestates reflected the anger ofpeople against the “bad gov-ernance” of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

“This trend will continuetill the upcoming Lok Sabhapolls,” he claimed.

The former UnionMinister also said that theNCP was strictly against theideology and practices of theBJP. He said the NCP will takeaction against all its 18 corpo-rators in the AhmednagarMunicipal Corporation andthe local party Leaders whosupported the BJP in the may-oral election two days back.

The issue will be discussedat the state-level meet of theparty on January 5, 2019 andappropriate action will betaken against the corporators,he said.

Despite lacking the num-bers, the BJP, supported byNCP corporators, won theelection for mayor in theAhmednagar MunicipalCorporation, leaving the allyShiv Sena licking its wounds.

The Shiv Sena had wonthe highest number of seats inthe recent civic election but didnot have a majority.

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The Government has pro-cured 238.8 lakh tonnes of

rice in the current 2018-19marketing season so far, withthe buying in Punjab andHaryana almost over.

According to Governmentdata, rice procurement targetfor the current season(October-September) has beenfixed at 375 lakh tonnes. In theprevious year, total rice pro-curement stood at 381.8 lakhtonnes.

Procurement is undertak-en by State-run FoodCorporation of India (FCI)and state agencies for the cen-tral pool to meet the require-ment of food security law. Riceis purchased at the minimumsupport price (MSP).

According to FCI data,rice procurement has reached113.3 lakh tonnes in Punjab,39.09 lakh tonnes in Haryanaand 22.42 lakh tonnes inChhattisgarh so far.

Rice procurement hastouched 22.46 lakh tonnes inTelangana, 13.28 lakh tonnes inUttar Pradesh and 10.7 lakhtonnes in Andhra Pradesh sofar, the data showed.

The Ministry of Food andConsumer Affairs said the pro-curement operation in Punjaband Haryana is almost com-plete.

The buying inChhattisgarh, where farmershad stopped selling their pro-duce in anticipation of a hikein MSP, has resumed after thenew Government in the Stateimplemented its poll promise.

The rice purchase in east-ern states such as Bihar andWest Bengal normally startsfrom January.

At present, theGovernment is procuring ricegrown in the kharif season ofthis year. Rice output is peggedat 99.24 million tonnes duringthe 2018-19 kharif season, asagainst 97.50 million tonnes inthe year-ago period, as per theAgriculture Ministry’s first cropestimate.

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South EastCentral Railway

(SECR)’s RaipurDivision is installingthe most modern‘Automated CoachWashing Plant’ forcleaning of the traincoaches at DurgRailway station-based CoachM a i n t e n a n c eDepot, a senior offi-cial informed onSunday.

At present therail coaches arebeing washed man-ually which is notonly a time-takingexercise but alsovery difficult toclean up properlythe upper part ofthe coach.

Keeping allthese basic factorsin mind and to savecleaning time, one‘Automated CoachWashing Plant’ is being purchased and installed at theDurg depot at estimated cost of Rs 2.2 crore, SECRPublic Relations Inspector Shiv Kumar informed.

He said, “In the plant not only the train coachouter portion will be cleaned but also the train willbe moving at speed of 7-8 kilometres per hour willalso be washed. If a train has 24 coaches, it will takeonly 8 minutes for washing.”

“The system is installed with high-pressure

water jets and is fitted with nylon and cotton brush-es which will be cleaning the surface of coaches. It isa multilevel cleaning system, and will be using re-cycled water and reduce pollution,” he pointed out.

SECR official further claimed, “The modern sys-tem has many advantages as it would be washed withless water. Secondly, it uses only 20 percent fresh waterwhile remaining water used is re-cycled water. It alsouses detergent and cleaning agents automatically.”

The official said that it is hoped that after installingthe plant, 6 to 7 trains will be cleaned on daily basis,which is not possible in traditional manual system.

SECR official told, “Central Organisation forModernisation of Workshops (COFMOW), a publicsector undertaking of Indian Railways, New Delhi ascentralized machine procurement agency has calledthe tender in month of October, 2018. The work islikely to commence from January 2019.

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Employees of SAIL BhilaiSteel Plant who will be

superannuating in December2018 gathered at JawaharUndyan in Bhilai to plantsaplings reaffirming their bondwith the Plant.

The programme titled

“Shram Smriti Vriksharopan”, issymbolic of the retiringemployees’ enduring connectwith Bhilai Steel Plant, wherethey had spent the best years oftheir lives, loyally and diligentlyserving and contributing to thesuccess of SAIL-Bhilai SteelPlant.

AK Rath, Chief Executive

Officer, Bhilai Steel Plantwished the superannuating col-leagues a healthy and fruitfulretired life.

Present on the occasionwere BP Nayak, ED (F&A), KKSingh, ED (P&A), PrakashKulkarni, GM I/c (MM) andother senior officers of thePlant.

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The current cold wave inRaipur will remain unabat-

ed at least for the next 48 hoursbut the weather departmenthas predicted slight improve-ment in chilly weather fromWednesday onwards.

Raipur recorded the cold-est weather of the past 10 yearson Sunday as the day beganwith foggy climate but thetemperature improved inafternoon period.

State’s northern part main-ly of Ambikapur region hasbeen witnessing an intense

cold wave for several dayswith temperature has dippedto 4.4 Degrees Celsius onSunday.

According to local meteo-rological centre, the cold wavewill persist in the state for thenext two days. The lowesttemperature recorded in cap-ital city on Sunday was 8.9degrees Celsius while lowest in

Ambikapur and Pendra were4.4 and 4.5 degree Celsiusrespectively.

The Meteorological centredata showed that since year2008 mercury had neverdropped below 9 degreesCelsius in Raipur but the 10year’s record was reset onSunday with temperaturedropped to 8.9 degree Celsius.

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The newly appointedRaipur’s Superintendent of

Police Nithu Kamal claimed onSunday that police would keepa close tab on New Year rev-ellers and would also take sternaction in cases related to drink-and-drive.

Kamal while talking tomedia persons told “the crowedareas of the city has been splitinto several sectors and itwould be our priority that the

new-year’s-eve passes off in citypeacefully’’. She furtherinformed that police wouldensure that liquor cannot getserved after 10.30 p.m. at barand restaurants.

Kamal had assumed officeas the first lady SP of Raipurdistrict on Saturday and latershe presided over a meeting ofsenior officials in which thetraffic situation in the city wasreviewed. She stated thatstreamlining traffic system incity was on her agenda.

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The formidable alliance ofthe Janta Congress

Chhattisgarh (Jogi) and theBSP has picked up a seasonedpolitician and party MLADharamjeet Singh to lead thealliance in the State Assemblywhich begins on January 4.

The alliance which baggedseven seats in the 90-memberhouse, picked up Lormi assem-bly legislator Dharamjeet Singhas its Leader of LegislativeParty while Kota MLA RenuJogi will be the Deputy Leaderof Legislative Party.

Both the leaders have wonthe assembly polls on JCC (J)tickets. Dharamjeet is seniorleader and active in state poli-tics for decades. He is fourth-time MLA and had also servedthe Chhattisgarh state assem-bly as Deputy Speaker duringAjit Jogi-led Congress regime,2000-2003.

The wheelchair-bound AjitJogi had stitched alliance with

the BSP just head of the assem-bly polls in November and putup an impressive show. Thealliance has also announced tocontest all eleven Lok Sabhaseats in the state next year.

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War-veteran of Indian Army Bhagbali Joshiand his wife Durpat Bai, resident of BRP

Colony, Maroda, Bhilai, have pledged to donatetheir body for medical study on death.

Generally, the medical colleges all over thecountry are facing shortage of human body formedical studies. Many organizations have beenmotivating the people to donate their body afterdeath. Setting such an example for all, 78 year-

old Bhagbali Joshi and his wife Durpat Bai, havewritten a will to donate their body for medicalstudies. On the occasion, social organizationbased in Bhilai ‘Pranam’ office bearers felicitatedthe elderly couple after their declaration.

Bhagbali Joshi, had retired as Subedarfrom India Army. He had been part of the con-tingent in 1962 War with China and, 1965 and1971 wars with Pakistan. For his contributionto the country, President of India had handedover him citation.

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Sanpur Police Station,informed that Sannu Sahu

found on Sunday morning thatthree of his family members-his mother and his two daugh-ters, were found dead whiletwo others his wife and his sonwere gasping for breath due topoison.

Sannu Sahu along with hisneighbours immediately tookthem to a nearby PrimaryHealth Centre from where theywere referred to ChhattisgarhInstitute of Medical Sciences(CIMS), police informed.

As per Sannu, who isemployed with a Coal Washery,the entire family after takingmeals in the night all of themfell asleep. He doesn’t knowwhat happened thereafter.

In the incident Gulaba Bai,60 year, Nikita, 16 year,Neelam, 12 year died while thesituation of Sannu’s wifePrastuti and his son Vikas wasstated to be critical. Police sus-pect that family tension couldbe the reason for suicide.

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Union Petroleum andNatural Gas Minister

Dharmendra Pradhan onSunday inaugurated theUjjwala Sanitary Napkinsmanufacturing and distribu-tion units as a CSR initiative ofthe Oil Marketing Companies(OMCs) at 100 common ser-vice centres (CSCs) across theState.

“New India is not possiblewithout a new Odisha. And anew Odisha is not possiblewithout making 2.25 crorewomen self-reliant.

Each Ujjwala SanitaryNapkins manufacturing anddistribution unit will providelivelihood source to at least 10families,” Pradhan whileaddressing a gathering on theoccasion.

Pradhan said the oil com-panies made the idea of estab-lishing napkin manufacturingunits to provide jobs towomen after considering a

Ujjwala LPG beneficiary’srequest to the Prime Ministerto provide a job to her as shehad ample time.

Stating that some havebecome jealous of success ofthe Pradhan Mantri UjjwalaSchime, Pradhan said 35 lakh families in the Statehave now LPG connectionsand the number would reach45 lakh families by March

2019.He said the Nalco has

committed to establishing 100more napkin manufacturingcentres in the State.

He expressed hopes thatOdisha’s Pitha (cake), hand-icraft, textile items and sculp-tor made of stone, wood andmetals can be sold in foreigncountries through e-com-merce system by the 20,000

common service centres(CSCs) operating in the State.“The CSCs, run by the UnionGovernment, will provideplatforms to Odisa entre-prenures to boost their finan-cia l condit ions,” saidPradhan.

He said a mass movementshould be created for use ofsanitary napkins and to keepwomen healthy.

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Union MinisterDharmendra Pradhan

coming down heavily on theState Government said time hascome to oust the 19-year-longinefficient and corrupt BJDregime. Addressing a gatheringat Nilgiri in his party's JanParamarsh Yatra programmeon Sunday, he launched ascathing attack on the StateGovernment on several fronts.

Pradhan demanded a CBIprobe into the Pipli gangrapeand murder incident. Healleged the PEETHA, a flagshipprogramme of the BJDGovernment, is “full of PCstuff ” and has become staletoo. He too criticised the

KALIA scheme of the StateGovernment alleging thatfarmers are facing deep crisisfor selling their produces, par-ticularly paddy, as the moneyis going to middlemen’s pock-ets even when the ModiGovernment has enhanced thepaddy MSP to Rs 1,750.

Pradhan also alleged thathospitals don't have adequatedoctors and educational insti-tutions face dearth of teachersand farmers are struggling dueto lack of irrigation facilities.

Stating that the StateGovernment is in neck-deep incorruption, Pradhan claimedthat there would be a change ingovernment in the 2019 pollsas voters have made up theirminds for this.

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This is one success story Himachal Pradesh government wouldbe proud of. The 'Shakti' mobile app, which was launched

for women's safety in the state, has redressed 28,968 complaintsin less than a year, the government said on Sunday.

Likewise, out of 1,233 complaints received on 'Gudiya'helpline, 1,196 have been disposed of.

The mobile app and the helpline were part of state's initia-tive to fight crimes against women. They were launched simul-taneously by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on January 26 lastyear.

Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Rajiv Saizal saidthe government is working to provide safe and secure environ-ment to women.

The department is ensuring effective implementation of wel-fare schemes for women. He said awareness camps are beingorganised regularly, and the department will make ensure thatno eligible woman is deprived of benefits of government schemes.

He said the government has enhanced the one-time grantof a girl child belonging to BPL families under the 'Beti Hai AnmolYojana' from Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000.

The Saksham Gudiya Board, launched after the infamousGudiya rape-and-murder case, has been constituted to frame rec-ommendations for the police for empowerment of the girl child.

Gudiya, the name given to the victim, was a teenaged girlwho was gang-raped and murdered in Shimla district.

The Gudiya board is also reviewing implementation of pro-grammes being run by different departments for empowermentof the girl child.

The Chief Minister has also launched Shashakt Mahila Yojanathat envisages rural women's empowerment by providing theman interface for socio-economic development by creating aware-ness about their rights and facilitating institutional support.

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Lambasting Punjab StateElection Commission (SEC)

for failing to hold free and fairelections, the Shiromani AkaliDal (SAD) on Sunday said thatthe complete hijacking of thepanchayat elections by theCongress party amounted tomurder of democracy.

“Congressmen not onlyincited violence during pollingtoday but also resorted to boothcapturing even as the civiladministration remained mutespectators and the State policefacilitated rigging at variousplaces by proceeding againstAkali workers,” said the formerminister and SAD spokesmanDaljit Singh Cheema.

Cheema said that Akaliworkers were prevented fromcasting their votes at variousplaces with Congressmen resort-ing to indiscriminate firing.“Such firing incidents werereported from Deena village inMoga, Bosarkalan in Patialaand at places in Ferozepur andAmritsar. Booths were also cap-tured at all these places byCongress goondas. Large scale

booth capturing was also report-ed from Mullanpur Dakha,” hesaid. The Akali leader said thatin a shocking incident, one per-son was killed in Mamdot inFerozepur after he was overrunby a car in a stampede afterCongress workers set a ballotbox to fire. “Large scale violenceand booth capturing was alsowitnessed in Patiala, the homedistrict of Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh. In Sanaur,shots were fired and there wasa large scale stone pelting.Similarly in Rajpura, SGPCmember Surjit Singh Garhi wasroughed up by Congress hood-lums,” he alleged. Asserting thatthe State police had also becomea “stooge” in the hands of theCongress party, Cheema saidthat in Naushera in Amritsardistrict, police personnelindulged in lathi-charge onAkali workers to facilitateCongressmen.

Stating that the StateElection Commission had failedin its duty to hold free and fairelections, Cheema said thatdespite complaints, no actionwas taken against the wrongdoers.

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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal on Sunday

said the State Government’snew sports policy encouragedthe youth of the State towardssports as it provides cash prize and jobs to the promis-ing players.

Addressing a gathering onthe occasion of ‘InternationalDay for University Sports inIndia’ organised at MaharshiDayanand University, Rohtak,he said Haryana has emergedas the hub of sports because ofthis new sports policy.

The chief minister saidsports persons of the statehave won laurels for the coun-try as well as state by winningmedals in sports competitionsat national and internationallevel. On this occasion, theChief Minister laid the foun-dation stone of three projectsto the tune of Rs 15 crore, to

enhance the sports and humanresource development facilitiesat Maharshi DayanandUniversity, Rohtak.

While extending New Yeargreetings to the people andsports persons, wished for theprosperity of the youth ofIndia by honing their skills insports and other areas. He saidthat the youth power of Indiahas the ability to lead theworld in 21st century, as thecreative and positive mindsetof youth alongwith sports,education and skill develop-ment play a decisive role

towards society and nationbuilding. Encouraging theyouth in the field of sports, thepresent State Government hasawarded Rs 242 crore as cashprize to 8363 outstandingsports persons during the lastfour years. As many as 17sportspersons of the state havebeen appointed as coach. Soon45 more sportspersons wouldbe appointed as coach. Toencourage the youth of ruralareas towards sports,Vyayamshalas are being set upin two acres in the villages ofthe state.

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European Commission chiefJean-Claude Juncker on

Sunday urged Britain to “getyour act together” on Brexit, ashe rejected accusations that theEU had a hidden agenda ofkeeping Britain in the bloc.

“I find it unreasonablethat part of the British publicseems to think that it’s entire-ly up to the EU to present asolution for all future Britishproblems,” Juncker toldGerman newspaper Welt amSonntag.

“My call is: get your acttogether. And tell us what youwant. Our proposals have beenon the table for months.” Earlier

this month, British PrimeMinister Theresa May post-poned a vote in the House ofCommons on the withdrawaldeal she struck with the EU inNovember, fearing a hugedefeat as many of her own MPsoppose it.

She is seeking further clar-ifications from Brussels onarrangements relating to theIrish border, and has said thevote would take place the weekof January 14.

It also means the parlia-mentary decision would comejust weeks before Britain is dueto leave the EU on March 29.

The main oppositionLabour party has accused Mayof “running down the clock” to

try to force MPs to back herdeal rather than risk Britainleaving the EU with noarrangements in place.

“I get the impression thatthe majority of the British law-makers deeply distrust the EUand Madame May,” saidJuncker. The EuropeanCommission president alsorejected claims that Brusselswas stalling to stop Britainfrom leaving. “One insinuatesthat our aim is to keep Britainin the EU with all means pos-sible. But that’s not our inten-tion,” said Juncker.

“We only want clarityabout the future relationships.And we respect the result of thereferendum.”

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President Donald Trump wasfiring Twitter barbs at

Democrats this weekend astalks to end a weeklong partialgovernment shutdownremained at a stalemate.

Trump was cooped up inthe White House after can-celling a vacation to his privateFlorida club.

As the disruption in feder-al services and public employ-ees’ pay appeared set to con-tinue into the new year, therewere no signs of any substan-tive negotiation between theblame-trading parties.

Trump held out for billionsin federal funds for a border wall between the USand Mexico, which Democratshave said they were intent onblocking.

Trump tweeted Saturdaythat he was “in the WhiteHouse waiting for theDemocrats to come on overand make a deal on BorderSecurity.”

But there has been littledirect contact between thesides during the stalemate, andTrump did not askRepublicans, who hold amonopoly on power inWashington for another fivedays, to keep Congress in ses-sion.

As he called for Democratsto negotiate on the wall, Trumpbrushed off criticism that hisadministration bore anyresponsibility for the recentdeaths of two migrant childrenin Border Patrol custody.

Trump claimed the deathswere “strictly the fault of theDemocrats and their patheticimmigration policies that allowpeople to make the long trekthinking they can enter ourcountry illegally.”

His comments on Twittercame as his Homeland Securitysecretary met with medicalprofessionals and ordered pol-icy changes meant to betterprotect children detained at theborder.

Trump earlier had uppedthe brinkmanship by threaten-ing anew to close the borderwith Mexico to press Congressto cave to his demand formoney to pay for a wall.

Democrats are vowing topass legislation restoring theGovernment as soon as theytake control of the House onThursday, but that won’t accom-plish anything unless Trumpand the Republican-controlledSenate go along with it.

Talks have been at a stale-mate for more than a week,after Democrats said the WhiteHouse offered to accept $2.5billion for border security last

Saturday. Senate Democratic leader

Chuck Schumer told VicePresident Mike Pence that itwasn’t acceptable, nor was itguaranteed that Trump, underintense pressure from his con-servative base to fulfill his sig-nature campaign promise,would settle for that amount.

Trump has remained out ofthe public eye since returningto the White House earlyThursday from a 29-hour visitto US troops in Iraq, insteadtaking to Twitter to attackDemocrats.

He also moved to defendhimself from criticism that hecouldn’t deliver on the wallwhile the GOP controlled boththe House and Senate.

“For those that naively askwhy didn’t the Republicans getapproval to build the Wall overthe last year, it is because INTHE SENATE WE NEED 10DEMOCRAT VOTES, andthey will gives us “NONE” forBorder Security!,” he tweeted.

“Now we have to do it thehard way, with a Shutdown.”

Meanwhile, the effects tothe public of the impasse grewas the EnvironmentalProtection Agency, which hadthe money to function a weeklonger than some agencies,implemented its shutdown planat midnight Friday night.

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Some 15 suspected jihadistshave been killed near the

Niger-Mali border by a jointfranco-nigerien task force, theFrench military high com-mand said.

“On the night of December27 (...) an air raid mounted byfighters and Tiger attack heli-copters struck” jihadists gath-ered near Tongo Tongo, insouthwestern Niger, the highcommand said in a tweetovernight Saturday to Sunday.

Tongo Tongo was the siteof an ambush on October 4,2017 where jihadists killed fiveNigerien and four US specialforces’ soldiers.

Nigerien and French sol-diers, backed by helicopters,took control of several keypositions in the area beforemounting a 48-hour sweep.

Overall, about 15 jihadistswere “put out of action”, aterm generally used by themilitary to say they were killed.

During the sweep, “some20 motorbikes were recovered,along with 26 weapons, includ-

ing machine guns, and ammu-nition, the high command said.

French Defence Minister Florence Parly praised the operation in a tweetas “an exemple of a successfuljoint operation in westernNiger”.

“The strengthening of theG5 Sahel armies is continuing,”she added, referring to theregional force consisting oftroops from Niger, Mali, Chad,Burkina Faso and Mauritaniawhich has been set up to fightjihadists.

France, the former colonialruler, has deployed a 4,500-member ‘Barkhane’ force in theregion to conduct counter-ter-rorism operations.

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Pakistan’s national carrierhas terminated the con-

tracts of over 50 employees,including seven pilots, afterthey were found guilty of hold-ing fake degrees.

The directives were issuedin view of the proceedings ofPakistan’s Supreme Courtagainst pilots and cabin crewswith fake degrees and certifi-cates.

“Action has been taken against the PIA employ-ees after the respective educa-tional institutions found theirdegrees bogus/fake,” a state-ment issued by the Pakistan’sCivil Aviation Authority (CAA)said.

Pakistan InternationalAirlines (PIA) spokespersonMashood Tajwar said that aprobe has been initiated intothe cases of all staffers whowere hired holding shamdegrees.

The CAA said that degreeverification of another 400 PIAemployees is underway.

Director General of CAAHassan Baig has also issueddirectives to suspend the licens-es of all those pilots and cabincrews who have not yet sub-mitted their degrees and cer-tificates.

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People in Congo have begunvoting in a long-delayed

presidential election that couldbring the troubled country’sfirst peaceful, democratic trans-fer of power.

Some unrest is feared in the election after a last-minute decision to bar anestimated 1 million peoplefrom voting because of a dead-ly Ebola virus outbreak in thecountry’s east.

The decision has been widely criticised as threat-ening the credibility of theelection.

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Outgoing White House chiefJohn Kelly said he had

"nothing but compassion" forundocumented migrants cross-ing into the US and undercut theidea of a border wall in an inter-view Sunday that jarred withPresident Donald Trump's toughrhetoric on immigration.

Speaking as a partial gov-ernment shutdown went into aninth day due to an impasse over

Trump's demands for fundingfor a wall at the US-Mexico bor-der, Kelly told the Los AngelesTimes: "To be honest, it's not awall."

"The president still says'wall.' Oftentimes frankly he'llsay 'barrier' or 'fencing,' now he'stended toward steel slats," Kellysaid.

"But we left a solid concretewall early on in the administra-tion, when we asked people whatthey needed and where they

needed it." A former Marinegeneral who led the militarycommand responsible for LatinAmerica, Kelly was Trump'sHomeland Security secretarybefore becoming White Housechief of staff in July last year.

But his relationship with thepresident reportedly deteriorat-ed and he is due to be replacedat the end of the year by MickMulvaney, who currently servesas budget director.

Trump has been excoriated

by opposition Democrats, whooppose his demand for USD 5billion in border wall funding,after he blamed them for thedeaths of two Guatemalan chil-dren in US custody in a tweet onSaturday.

"Illegal immigrants, over-whelmingly, are not bad peo-ple.... I have nothing but com-passion for them, the youngkids," Kelly told the LA Timesadding that many had beenmanipulated by traffickers.

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Avolcano on the Indonesianholiday island of Bali

erupted on Sunday, belchingash high into the air and overnearby villages as officialswarned tourists to keep clear ofthe area.

Mount Agung has beenerupting periodically since itrumbled back to life in 2017,when it grounded hundreds offlights and left 120,000 visitorsstranded.

On Sunday morning, thevolcano -- which is about 70kilometres (44 miles) from thetourist hub of Kuta -- sent ashskywards as it erupted for

about three minutes, accordingto the country’s volcanologycentre.

“Residents near MountAgung as well as climbers andtourists should not carry outany activity in the danger zoneor within four-kilometre radiusfrom the crater,” the centre saidin a statement.

On December 22, an erup-tion from Anak Krakatoa trig-gered a tsunami which hit thewestern tip of the neighbour-ing island of Java and southernSumatra, killing at least 426 andleaving more than 7,000injured.

In the latest eruption, sev-eral villages on Bali were cov-

ered in a thin layer of ash but no smoke or lava wasdetected coming from thecrater and no evacuation hasbeen ordered.

The volcanology centrealso warned residents nearrivers in the area to be on alertfor cold lava flows -- a type ofmudflow that can form fromrock and ash in the rainy sea-son and which is often a pre-lude to the blazing orange lavaof popular imagination.

In June, dozens of flightswere cancelled after Agungerupted and shot a fresh plumeof smoke and ash more than1,000 metres (3,300 feet) intothe sky.

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North Korean leader KimJong Un vowed to meet

the South’s President MoonJae-in “frequently” next year todiscuss denuclearisation of thepeninsula in a rare letter sentto Seoul, Moon’s office saidSunday.

The leader of the isolatedNorth met with Moon threetimes this year — twice at theborder truce village ofPanmunjom and once in theNorth’s capital Pyongyang — asa reconciliatory push gatheredpace.

During Moon’s visit toPyongyang in September, Kimpromised to pay a return visitto the South’s capital Seoul “at

an earliest date,” sparking spec-ulation he may visit by the endof this year.

But the much-anticipatedtrip has not yet materialised, which left theyoung ruler feeling “muchregret,” according to Kim’s letter sent to mark the end ofthe year, Moon’s spokesmansaid.

The North’s leader“expressed a strong determi-nation to visit Seoul whilewatching future situation,” KimEui-kyeom told reporters.

Kim Jong Un also“expressed an intention to meetwith Moon frequently in 2019”to pursue peace and “solve theissue of denuclearising thepeninsula together,” the

spokesman said.The official did not elabo-

rate on how the letter wasdelivered.

The two neighbours tech-nically remain at war after the1950-53 Korean War endedwith a ceasefire instead of apeace treaty.

Moon -- a dovish formerhuman rights lawyer -- hasadvocated dialogue to pushthe impoverished but nuclear-armed North toward denu-clearisation.

Cross-border ties improvedmarkedly in 2018 as Kim madea series of reconciliatory ges-tures — including a historicsummit with US PresidentDonald Trump in June inSingapore.

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Heather Nauert, the FoxNews anchor and now

the state departmentspokesperson, is expected toface tough questions duringher confirmation hearing nextmonth as she prepares toappear before the powerfulSenate Foreign RelationsCommittee for the position ofUS Ambassador to the UN.

Nauert, 48, would replaceIndian American Nikki Haleyas the PermanentRepresentatives of the UnitedStates to the UN if she is con-firmed by the Senate.

President Donald Trumpnominated Nauert for the topdiplomatic position in the UNlast month, weeks after Haleyannounced her resignation.But unlike Haley, who wasgiven a Cabinet ranking inwhich capacity she was a keymember of the Trump’s nation-al security team and attendedCabinet meetings at the WhiteHouse, Nauert has not beenbestowed with the same ranks.

The Senate Foreign

Relations Committee has notannounced a date for Nauert’sconfirmation hearing. But it isexpected sometime nextmonth. The ruling RepublicanParty enjoys a majority in theUpper Chamber of theCongress, but Senators fromthe opposition Democraticparty have already said thatthey have questions over herqualification as the top USdiplomat to the UnitedNations.

In the past, the positionhas been held by some of thetop American political leaders

and diplomats including for-mer president George H WBush.

“I’ll be happy to hear whyshe thinks she’s qualified,” saidSenator Bob Menendez,Ranking Member at the SenateForeign Relations Committee.

“She has no foreign policyexperience that I can deduce,and being a spokesperson isdifferent than being the chiefdiplomat of the United Statesat a world body like the UN,”Menendez said.

Nauert is currently thestate department spokesper-

son, a position which she hasserved successfully for morethan year and half.

As the spokesperson, shehas been impressive with herdiplomatic acumen, whichprobably was instrumental inTrump picking her for theUN.

Many of her supportersargued she’s more than quali-fied for the role, noting herpractice in messaging theadministration’s foreign policyfor nearly two years underSecretary of State Rex Tillersonand now his successor, MikePompeo.

Republican Senator MarcoRubio said he looks forward tomeeting her ahead of the con-firmation hearing.

“If you’re the right personwith the right level of intellectand understanding, then shecan do the job. I just haven’tmet her, so I can’t render ajudgment. I have nothingagainst her, I just haven’t mether,” the Senator from Floridasaid.

In a report, Politico saidNauert has no diplomatic

experience aside from her yearand a half as state departmentspokesperson, a job she gotwith little background in glob-al affairs.

But under the Trumpadministration, unusual path-ways to top positions havebecome typical. Housing andUrban Development SecretaryBen Carson and EnergySecretary Rick Perry bothassumed posts overseeingagencies they admittedly knewlittle about.

And there’s a team of sup-porters both in and out of thegovernment working to con-vince lawmakers — and thepublic — that Nauert will be upto the task once her nomina-tion is officially submitted tothe Senate next year.

But according to ElliottAbrams, a senior fellow at theCouncil on Foreign Relations,Nauert “is very well-informedabout any issue senators arelikely to ask about, but whatshe’s not experienced in is thepolitical give-and-take she’llneed to negotiate compromis-es at the UN.”

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Two senior Israeli Cabinetministers announced

Saturday that they are forminga new party to run in Aprilelections, hoping to present ahard-line alternative to PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahu’sLikud Party.

Education Minister NaftaliBennett and Justice MinisterAyelet Shaked said they wereleaving the Jewish Home partyand would instead lead a newlist of candidates.

The Jewish Home is ahard-line nationalist party thatis especially popular with reli-gious voters and West Bank set-tlers.

Bennett and Shaked hopethat their new movement,called “The New Right,” willhave a broader appeal to bothreligious and secular voters.

Bennett has been the leader

of the Jewish Home since 2012,and Shaked is one of the coun-try’s most popular politicians.

Jewish Home has served asa junior partner to the LikudParty in the past two Israelicoalition governments.

But Bennett and Shaked,who are both former aides toNetanyahu, have often been atodds with their former boss.

Bennett, for instance, hascalled for a much tougherresponse to Palestinian borderprotests and rocket fire fromthe Gaza Strip. He also is anoutspoken opponent ofPalestinian independence.

At his news conference,Bennett said that Netanyahutakes his religious partners forgranted and believes he hasthem in his “pocket.”

In early polls, Likud is farahead of all challengers andappears poised to lead the nextGovernment.

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Pakistan’s Foreign MinisterShah Mahmood Qureshi on

Sunday travelled to Qatar, wherehe is expected to discuss theAfghan reconciliation processand issues of mutual interestswith the top officials of the Gulfcountry.

Officials here said thatQureshi was received by topofficials of the Qatari Ministryfor Foreign Affairs and PakistanEmbassy at the Doha airport.

During his day-long trip,Qureshi will hold meetingswith top Qatari leadership,including the prime ministerand vice prime minister, RadioPakistan reported.

Diplomatic sources saidthat the Afghan reconciliationprocess will be prominent dur-ing his talks with the Qatarileaders.

Qatar has been hosting theTaliban’s political office since2012, which makes Doha a keyplayer in any move to bringpeace in war-torn Afghanistan.

In a video shared by the rul-ing Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insafparty on Twitter, Qureshi spokeabout the relationship betweenPakistan and Qatar, where alarge Pakistani communityresides.

The minister added that hehad previously met Qatar’s for-eign minister, who wanted himto visit Doha.

On the Afghan peaceprocess, Qureshi said thatPakistan had decided on“regional outreach” and on tak-ing important allies into confi-dence, as well as exchangingviews with them about theregional situation and theAfghan issue, Dawn reported.

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Forty-nine women, includinga Russian national and her

two children, were rescued ina raid on a rehabilitation cen-tre here while its owner andthree employees arrested forallegedly torturing the inmates,the police said on Sunday.

Following a complaint by asection of inmates, police raid-ed the Kripa Ghar RehabCentre in Bishnumati area ofthe BudhanilkanthaMunicipality on Saturday, saidHomindra Bogti, DeputySuperintendent of Police (DSP)at Teku-based MetropolitanPolice Range.

It is alleged that the ownerof the rehabiliation centre‘Kripa Ghar Rehab Centre’ andher three employees had beenmeting out inhuman treat-ment to women, aged between12 and 60 years, who neededproper medical care and psy-cho-social service.

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Amalware attack thatappears to have originated

outside the US delayed thehardcopy distribution of severalmajor newspapers, accordingto a report.

The LA Times saidSaturday that the attack, which was first assumed tohave been a server outage, hit a computer network atTribune Publishing which isconnected to the productionand printing process of multi-ple newspapers around thecountry.

As a result, the delivery ofthe Saturday editions of the LATimes and San Diego UnionTribune were delayed.

It also hit the distributionof the West Coast editions ofthe New York Times and WallStreet Journal, which are print-ed at the LA Times’ printingplant.

The report said it could notprovide firm numbers on howmany subscribers were impact-ed but a majority of LA Timescustomers received their papersSaturday morning, albeit sev-

eral hours late.“We believe the intention

of the attack was to disable infrastructure, more specifi-cally servers, as opposed tolooking to steal information,”the LA Times quoted a sourcewith knowledge of the situationas saying.

The paper cited officials assaying it was too soon to knowwhether it was carried out bystate or non-state actors.

“We are aware of reports ofa potential cyber incidenteffecting several news outlets,and are working with our gov-ernment and industry partnersto better understand the situ-ation,” the Department ofHomeland Security said in astatement.

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Advertisements onFacebook and other popu-

lar social media platforms canencourage people to get a can-cer screening, which wouldhelp patients spot the diseaseearly enough to get timelytreatment, scientists say.

According to researchers,even with the recommendationof a primary care physician, peo-ple tend to procrastinate or si-mply forget to schedule anappointment for cancer screen-ing — a simple step that couldsave many lives. “The idea wasto start a text messaging campa-ign for cancer prevention,” saidAndrea Dwyer, of University ofColorado in the US.

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Anew Gregorian calendar, amidcheers and hurrahs, will go up onour walls on January 1, 2019.From essentially being a Romancalendar, it has attained a univer-

sal status. While the names of 12 months,except July and August, have been derivedfrom the calendar of ancient Roman repub-lic, its length of 365 days (366 in case of leapyear) has been attributed to the genius of oneperson, Julius Caesar. It was on January 1, 45BC, that Caesar rolled out his new calendar.This was a year and quarter before his grue-some assassination by secret enemies insidethe Senate hall. While he retained the namesof old calendar months — and the now-defunct method of reckoning days fromKalends, Nones and Ides — he cast the yearon an absolutely new basis. He abolished thequeer lunar year of Rome completely andestablished in its place a tropical solar calen-dar. It is this particular feature that made thecalendar suitable for universal use.

The ruined calendar of Rome wasbased on the lunar year, though paradox-ically, its months did not coincide with thelunation cycle (unlike amongst ancientGreeks, Jews or Babylonians). Since a lunaryear comprises 354 days (an artificial con-struct of 12 lunation of 29.5 days each), itcontinuously falls short of solar year by 11days. This implies that unless those manylost days are compensated periodically, thecalendar would be out of sync with the sea-sons. Romans had, no doubt, devised afour-year cycle where the first year had 355days, the second 377 days, the third again355 days and the fourth 378 days. Theseexcess days were never placed at the endof any month, let alone the year. They wereintroduced as a separate series at the endof 23 days of February. The total numberof days in such a calendar was 1,465 in fouryears, or about one day in excess everyyear. But these intercalations were oftenneglected due to political considerationsor exigency of war.

This offended the Roman gods morethan it did the citizens of the republic. TheRoman months, previously 10 in number butsubsequently revised to 12, were full of fes-tivals, fasts and public ceremonies. All theseevents were devised according to seasons. Butas the calendar, like a clock gone wrong, wentout of sync with the seasons, the gods wereno longer being propitiated at proper hours.The defects of this calendar were obvious toCaesar for close to three decades that he hadbeen a part of Collegium Pontificum, the 15-member board of state priests, which was thehighest authority on Roman religion. It wasthe responsibility of this body to keep the cal-endar in order.

In July (then called Quintilis), 46 BC, theSenate and the people of Rome appointedCaesar as the dictator for 10 years. He wasalready the Pontifex Maximus, the head ofthe board of priests since 63 BC. Thus, withcompelling religious and political authority,

he was in an enviable position toreplace the ruined calendar ofRome. With repeated mishan-dling, the calendar had fallenmore than two months behindthe natural year. Thus, 67 extradays were added to 46 BC,between November andDecember. This has come to beknown as the year of confusion,but more reasonably, the last yearof confusion.

Caesar’s solar calendarbrought an end to the role ofCollegium Pontificum in decid-ing the extent of the year. Itreplaced human interventionwith an algorithm — fixed yearlength and quadrennial leapyear. This was indeed a revolu-tionary reform. The lunar year,unlike a lunar month, has nogrounding in astronomy. But thesolar year of 365¼ days, like anatural day, is an astronomicalphenomenon. It signifies thedays taken by the earth to com-plete revolution round the sun.

It is true that in the days ofCaesar, it was not known thatthe earth revolved around thesun. It was believed that the sunrevolved round the earth, laterformalised by the geo-centricmodel of Claudius Ptolemy.From the view of positionalastronomy, however, it stillmakes no difference. The lengthof the solar year could be takenas the number of days from onespring equinox to the next. Itcould be from autumnalequinox to the next or from onesummer/winter solstice to thenext, too.

Spring Equinox could bedescribed both as a day or pointon the apparent elliptical path ofsun. This reference point in thecelestial coordinate system wasdescribed by the Hipparchus, theGreek, as ‘First Point of Aries’ in130 BC. But due to the axial pre-cession of the earth at the rate ofone degree every 72 years, thepoint has moved westward to thecusp of zodiac signs, Pisces andAquarius. Only the sun signspublished in newspapers reflect-ed the frozen view of the time.

In India, too, we have a hostof solar calendars in use, espe-cially in eastern and southernregions. But these are all sidere-al solar calendars where thebeginning of the month is linkedto the entry of the sun in a par-ticular zodiac. Most of these arelinked to Mesh Sankranti orentry of the sun in Aries (as itnow stands) in April 14 or 15(whenever it is).

It is speculative from whereCaesar got his idea of recastingthe calendar on solar basis.Possibly he came to know aboutit during his hazardous sojournin Egypt in 48-47 BC. The mostnotable event of his sojourn washis meeting with Cleopatra, theco-ruler of Egypt. After the civilwar in Egypt was over, the twowent for a month-long cruise ofthe Nile, where they are knownto have developed intimacy.

The ancient Egyptians haddiscovered the length of the nat-ural year as 365 ¼ days from theheliacal rising of the Sirius, thebrightest star in the sky. But the

stout refusal by the priest-astronomer class to add one dayafter every four years, saw thecalendar getting estranged fromthe seasons. An ancestor ofCleopatra viz, Ptolemy III, alsocalled Euergetae, drew up aplan in 238 BC to reform thederanged calendar. Ptolemy IIIwas ably supported by theastronomers of ancientUniversity of Alexandria. Theroyal proclamation for reform ofthe calendar is known as‘Canopus Decree’. It was the firstroyal proclamation on record fora leap year.

Caesar’s calendar, despitehaving the system of a leapyear — or quadrennial inter-calation of one day — couldnot escape the flaws of compu-tation. It assumed the length ofthe solar year as 365 ¼ days(356 days and six hours);whereas it is actually 365 days,five hours, 48 minutes and 46seconds. This superfluity of11¼ minutes per year wouldresult in surplus of 18¾ hoursin one century — or threequarters of a whole day.

Over four centuries, theJulian calendar would havegenerated three extra days.Pope Gregory XIII had, thus,10 extra days to deal in 1582,when he carried out ‘GregorianReforms’. That is another storyfit to be narrated at someother time.

(The writer is an indepen-dent researcher based in NewDelhi. The opinions expressedherein are his personal)

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Sir — The Women’s Wall orVanitha Mathil in Malayalam tobe ‘constructed’ along thenational highway in Kerala onNew Year’s Day is a laudable ini-tiative aimed at rekindlingRenaissance values.

As many as three to five mil-lion women are expected totake part in the programmeand make their voice heard.The novel programme, which is likely to enter theGuinness World Records, is sureto advance the cause of genderjustice. We cannot remain neu-tral in the political battlebetween progressives and con-servatives.

The Women’s Wall is a val-orous resistance against the bla-tant attempts to reintroduceand restore a hierarchical socialorder characterised by uppercaste dominance.

It is significant that lowercaste women will make up theoverwhelming majority of theWomen’s Wall and expose thecaste fault lines in the State andseek to annihilate them.

G David MiltonMaruthancode

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Sir — The Union Governmentmust be congratulated for passingthe triple talaq Bill in the Lok Sabha.The Bill holds some practicalamendments. It rules out all possi-bility of non-family members of thevictim. Post the passage of this Bill,the wife and only her blood relatives

can file a police complaint. TheOpposition, including the Congress,the Trinamool Congress and theSamajwadi Party, have made itclear that they were not supportiveof the proposed amendments. It isunfortunate that in times whenmost Muslim countries havebanned the practice of triple talaq,the Opposition is unwilling to see

the merits.SC Agrawal

Delhi

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Towards a more friendly GST”(DEcember 29) by Sanju Verma.

It had taken over a decade of inte-grating means and minds of everyState Government to bring GST tofruition. The three key operatorsto this tectonic shift in mode of taxcollection were rates, complianceand administration.

To score brownie points overa scheme now claimed solely bythe Centre, the rates were not onlypegged high but also in too manycategories, creating needless has-sles of classification. Compliancewas tedious due to the maze ofcross-linked forms.

The Government itself wasnot spared as it could not cometo grips with the refund mech-anism. In rationalising rate slabsnow, the Government is belated-ly reverting to the designedethos of this tax concept. But innow toying with a raise inexemption slab to �75 lakh,clearly with an eye on elections,the Government is again missingthe core purpose of an enlargedcatchment. In the tax adminis-tration too it is loathe to let goits grip on the tyranny of inspec-tor raj. We seem to learn late.

R NarayananNavi Mumbai

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This article is in response to an ear-lier opinion piece titled, ‘DisasterManagement a distant dream’

that appeared in The Pioneer onDecember 11, by Ramesh Davesar.While the National Disaster ResponseForce (NDRF) appreciates the greatefforts made by the writer in bringingto the fore the country’s disaster vulner-abilities and response mechanism, cer-tain doubts, as raised by him, about thecapabilities of the NDRF, are in sharpcontradiction and tarnish the image ofthe force. This article will attempt to seta right perspective about the yeoman ser-vice rendered by the NDRF in times ofnational crises and disasters.

To start with, as against the writer’sopinion that “the NDRF, bereft offunds, resources and staff, is today atruncated outfit”, and that “the armedforces continue to be the first respon-ders in times of natural calamity”, sug-gesting that “the entire languid set-upbe handed over to them for the creationof a composite response force”, it mustbe mentioned that:

(i) There is no dearth of funds forthe NDRF. Rather, sufficient funds are

allotted every financial year. (ii) As faras resources and staff are concerned, theforce is fully equipped with state-of-the-art equipment; has trained and spe-cialised manpower to deal with natur-al as well as man-made disasters —both in India and abroad. Upgradationas well as review of existing equipmentis a regular phenomenon. (iii)Regarding the NDRF being a truncat-ed outfit, it would be apt to mentionthat the body has a pan-India presencewith 12 battalion headquarters thathave been placed as per the vulnera-bility profile of the region. There alsoexists 27 Regional Response Centres tocut down the response time.

Second, the writer seems to implythat the armed forces continue to be thefirst responder in times of naturalcalamity. But the fact remains that it isthe local community and authoritieswho are the immediate responders.When a situation goes beyond theircoping capacity, the NDRF is pressedinto action to provide specialisedresponse, whereas all other agencies,including the armed forces, provideassistance as per their strength and

capabilities. The NDRF is associatedwith the disaster management activi-ties during pre-disaster and post-dis-aster phases as well.

Third, with regard to the establish-ment of a languid set-up, it would bepertinent to mention that in a shortspan of time, the NDRF has emergedas a household name in the realm ofdisaster response and disaster riskreduction. Despite all odds, the brave-hearts of NDRF have led from the front.Since its raising, the force has conduct-ed 2,395 operations across the coun-try and proved its worth by rescuingover 1.15 lakh people and evacuatedover 5.8 lakh people. Additionally, theforce also evacuated 2,360 livestockduring various disasters.

The NDRF has also extended itshelping hand to distressed peopleabroad. The response of the body dur-ing the triple disaster in Japan in 2011was appreciated by the JapaneseGovernment and the local people.Besides, the NDRF was the first agencythat capitalised the golden hour rule ofdisaster response by being the first onground after a massive earthquake hit

Nepal in 2015. The help extended byNDRF has brought accolades to thenation.

Fourth, the writer’s statement that“sadly, the present organisation, bereftof captive resources such as air effort,specialised equipment and lack ofwherewithal to administrative support,among others makes for a truncatedoutfit” was grossly misleading.

Whenever the situation demand-ed, NDRF teams have proactively air-lifted people, with help from the AirForce. As far as specialised equipmentis concerned, the NDRF is second tonone in the world. It is fully-equippedwith latest, state-of-the-art disasterresponse equipment tools and hasaccessories that can match internation-al standards. Regarding the wherewith-al to administrative support, it is to inti-mate that NDRF operates under thesupervision of the National DisasterManagement Authority, whoseChairman is the Prime Minister,Ministry of Home Affairs, NationalCrisis Management Committee and theNational Executive Council.

Fifth, the writer’s statement —

“The NDRF deployed 55 teams with38 boats that played a crucial role inproviding relief in affected areas. Butkeeping in mind the magnitude, it dras-tically fell short of demand. To plug thevoid, axiomatically, the nation onceagain looked up to the armedforces....even as the NDRF is around,the involvement of the armed forces hasvirtually remained unchanged” — wasfactually wrong.

The facts and figures as providedwere in themselves incorrect. Duringthe Kerala floods, NDRF made its high-est ever deployment in a single State bydeputing its 58 teams with 207 boats.The deployment was done in consul-tation with the State Government.During the operations, NDRF rescued535 persons and 119 livestock. It alsosafely evacuated 24,690 people. Theforce also established medical camps invarious areas, provided medical assis-tance to 6,821 sick and needy persons.The selfless services of NDRF werehighly appreciated by all.

So far as the involvement of thearmed forces is concerned, while coor-dinated efforts of all rescue agencies

which came forward to serve thecountrymen at the time of need,should be appreciated, it doesn’t meanone should belittle the efforts of NDRFand other organisations. Based uponthe magnitude of the disaster, allresources, which are at the disposal ofthe Government, are put to use, includ-ing the armed forces. Foreign assistancetoo is sought in different situations.

Lastly, after reading the article, itappeared that the writer has insufficientknowledge about the NDRF as well asthe disaster management structure ofthe country. It is appreciable thattoday, NDRF has become the mosttrusted name in the field of disasterresponse and disaster risk reduction.Since raising of the force (NDRF),dependency on the armed forces fordisaster response has been divertedtowards the NDRF. It is to be hopedthat the above mentioned informationwill set the record straight and give atrue picture of the capabilities and ser-vice rendered by the NDRF.

(The writer is AssistantCommandant/Public Relation Officer,NDRF)

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Asenior member of a majorPakistani political party, Syed AliRaza Abidi, was assassinated byunidentified people (Na maloomafraad) who fired at his car outside

his Karachi residence on December 25. Apartfrom being a successful restaurateur, he wasa former Member of the National Assembly(MNA), and an ex-leader of the MuttahidaQaumi Movement (MQM), which later brokeinto MQM-Pakistan.

In the 1980s, the MQM emerged as thepolitical representative of the Mohajirs, thosewho migrated from India to Pakistan duringPartition. As a Left-leaning party, it laterdropped the word Mohajir from its name andchanged it to Muttahida, to appeal to a widerbase. But the party has constantly been in thecrosshairs of Sindhi, Pashtun and Baloch pop-ulations as also the politicians in Karachi andHyderabad — all of which are electoral catch-ment areas.

In 2017, Abidi had opposed the short-livedalliance between MQM-Pakistan and PakSarzameen Party (PSP) — both being splintergroups of the MQM. Moreover, removing theword MQM itself (embodying its history andlegacy) had been a bone of contention amongmany loyal followers of the movement. (The‘Pakistan murdabad’ slogan was taken asseditious by the Pakistani establishment andpressure ensued on all to distance themselvesfrom MQM leader Altaf Hussain, who gotbanned from all media. Journalists, too,couldn’t use his name in their reportage.)

Abidi contested the general election thisyear from Karachi but suffered defeat at thehands of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf presidentand now Prime Minister, Imran Khan. InSeptember, he resigned from MQM-Pakistanciting “personal reasons.” The Dawn report-ed that according to the Senior SuperintendentPolice, South Pir, Muhammad Shah, Abidi’sguard was not trained for the job entrusted tohim.

“It’s hard to tell what the motive behind theattack is,” the SSP said. Further, “Whether itis a personal, political or religious issue, it isbeing investigated from all angles”, he said.

The MQM Coordination Committee(MQM-London) led by its convener NadeemEhsan and deputy convener, Qasim Ali Raza,saw red in this attack and called Abidi’s assas-sination a deep conspiracy by Pakistan’s mil-itary establishment to accelerate the genoci-dal crackdown in Karachi against theMohajir/MQM movement. Meanwhile,Pakistan’s Information Minister, FawwadChaudhry, blamed Altaf Hussain to be behindthe murder of Abidi. Wherever MQM is usedwithout any qualifier, it means MQM-London,the Altaf loyalists’ group.

Nadeem Ehsan added that this was not justsheer speculation but the plot of the militaryestablishment had already been exposed. Onthe one hand, the military establishment isintimidating many high-profile political andnon-political personalities, on the other, theyhave been removing security cover for thoseunder serious threats. Slain Abidi was one such

fateful. In a statement, the MQM CoordinationCommittee said that though the slain Abidihad parted ways with the movement, he wasvery vocal and never hesitated in expressinghis views while making statements. He fearednone. Hence, the military establishment could-n’t bear him. His murder is a deep conspira-cy and tragedy.

Suspicions of MQM-London might not bewithout any reason. To explain it, I woulddigress from the topic and delve into the back-ground of the issue.

Since 1986, nearly 20,000 MQM workershave been arrested. In the 1990s, the brutal‘Operation Clean-up’ was launched by formerPrime Minister Nawaz Sharif with an objec-tive to “cleanse” Karachi city of “anti-social”elements. It circled around the controversyregarding Jinnahpur plan; MQM was accusedof being anti-Pakistan and blamed for plan-ning of a separate state, Jinnahpur.

Later, former President Pervez Musharrafnormalised relations with the MQM.Crackdown against MQM began again inSeptember 2013, as a part of the “minus three”formula (that has now been successfullyimplemented with all three — Nawaz Sharif,Asif Ali Zardari and Altaf Hussain — effective-ly sidelined from politics by Pakistan/the mil-itary establishment).

The successful implementation of the‘minus three’ formula by the military establish-ment, coupled with a weaker Awami NationalParty (ANP) in Karachi paved the way forPakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf ’s (PTI) win inKarachi, including Imran Khan’s own seat.Following 2013, onwards crackdown hadmore than 130 enforced disappearances and76 extra-judicial killings.

However, such efforts still could not crushMQM or Altaf Hussain, who remained beyond

reach in London. The MQM workers weregiven a choice during this phase of the crack-down — to either go with the PSP or MQM— Pakistan or any other party. They wereasked to distance themselves from Altaf. Butthis idea could not materialise. From time-to-time the shadow of Altaf propped up in the sil-houette of his supporters, much to the chagrinof the establishment.

On December 9, which is observed as theMartyrs’ Day in remembrance of those wholost their lives in such a gory operation byPakistan’s military establishment, a hugecrowd turned out at Altaf ’s call and pro-Altafslogans were chanted. The crowd, that includ-ed women, were tear-gassed. They were, how-ever, stopped from paying obeisance. Allroutes leading to the Jinnah Ground wereblocked. Not a single individual was spared —thousands of Mohajir men, women and chil-dren were illegally arrested, tear-gassed, tor-tured and abducted.

The resident editor of The Nation inKarachi, Mansoor Khan, was also mistakenlyarrested for he was passing by that area. Suchwas the indiscriminate nature of the arrests.Given the fact that many Mohajirs are staringat eviction from Government quarters incolonies, a huge crowd turned out in favourof Altaf. Citing a bad law and order situation,the establishment can use it as a ruse to bringin more forces into Karachi for a crackdownon them. Now, Karachi already has paramili-tary rangers with a negligible number ofMohajirs in it, along with a horrible humanrights’ record. It was probably this that EhsanNadeem hinted at. Only an impartial probe willmake it clear so as to what actually transpired.

(The writer is an jndependent journalistworking on cyber security and the geopolitics ofIndia’s neighbourhood)

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Suspected terrorists onSunday decamped with at

least four assault rifles from theresidential guard post of formerIndian National Congress leg-islator Muzaffar Parray inJawahar Nagar area of uptownSrinagar.

A senior police officer con-firmed that four AK seriesrifles were missing from theofficial residence of MuzaffarParray, a member of legislativecouncil and resident of northKashmir’s Baramulla district.The cops who were allotted therifles have been taken intocustody for questioning. Threeof them belong to the securitywing of police.

Senior police officialsrushed to the area to assess thesituation. An alert was sound-ed in the summer capital cityand a manhunt was launched totrack down the weapon looters.

No militant outfit claimedresponsibility for the incident.

This is the second suchincident in three months in thecapital Srinagar. Earlier onSeptember 28, eight weapons

were looted from the official res-idence of the then PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP) legis-lator Ajaz Mir in Jawahar Nagararea. Incidentally, the two quar-ters are a stone’s throw apart.

It later turned out thatSpecial Police Officer (SPO)Adil Bashir Sheikh deployed asPersonal Security Officer (PSO)of Mir, then representing Wachiconstituency in the state assem-bly, had decamped with sevenAK 47 rifles of his colleaguesand licensed pistol of the legis-

lator. The legislator was away inJammu when the loot occurredand his guards had left the res-idence after locking theweapons in a steel truck.

Mir was quizzed by Policeand National InvestigatingAgency (NIA) sleuths for threedays after then incident. SPOAdil Bashir reportedly joinedHizbul Mujahideen as his pic-tures with militants in Shopianwent viral on internet.

Following weapon loot atMir’s residence, the police

authorities ordered to withdrawthe Special Police Officers(SPOs) from performing theduties of Personal securityOfficers (PSOs) of all protect-ed persons. SPOs work onmonthly honorarium.

Official statistics revealedthat 34 rifles and one pistolhave been looted, snatched ortaken away by the militantsbesides SPOs and Policemenwho deserted police force, innine major incidents sinceMarch 29, 2015.

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Varanasi (UP): Union RailwayMinister Piyush Goyal onSunday termed as unfortunatethe killing of a policeman inUttar Pradesh's Ghazipur dis-trict and said strict actionwould be taken against thoseinvolved in the incident.

Suresh Pratap Singh Vats(48), a head constable, waskilled Saturday when protest-ers hurled stones at vehiclesreturning from the venue of apublic meeting addressed byPrime Minister NarendraModi. Vats as hit on the headby a stone when he went to enda traffic jam caused by theprotests.

Nineteen people have beenarrested in connection with thekilling.

Goyal, who attended a pro-gramme here, said those foundguilty in the incident will notbe spared.

The constable's deathcomes less than a month afterthe killing of Inspector SubodhKumar Singh in Bulandshahrdistrict. He was shot dead dur-ing a mob violence over alleged

cow slaughter. The man whoallegedly shot the Bulandshahrinspector was arrested lastweek.

The Union minister saidthe Bulandshahr and theGhazipur incidents were unfor-tunate. He said the law andorder situation was "worst"during the Samajwadi Partyrule in the state and claimed ithas improved under the BJPregime.

Goyal alleged that peoplewere afraid to file police com-plaint when SP and BSP werein power in Uttar Pradesh.But now, the situation hasimproved under the YogiAdityanath-led dispensation,he said. PTI

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Madurai: A 19-year-old youth,who had consumed rat poisonon learning that a pregnantwoman who had received hisHIV positive blood had con-tracted the virus, died here onSunday, hospital authoritiessaid.

He had been undergoingtreatment at GovernmentRajaji Hospital here for threedays and died of GastroIntestinal (GI) bleeding, theysaid.

Actually he was stable. Butthe poison he consumed has apropensity to cause bleedinganytime. There was GI (stom-ach) bleeding early today andhe vomited blood, SShanmugasundaram, dean ofMadurai Medical College andGovernment Rajaji Hospitaltold reporters.

After he vomited, thoughthe patient was treated as perprotocol, which includes trans-fusion of four units of blood, hesuccumbed to the poison, thedean said.

A worker at a firecrackerunit in nearby Sivakasi and anative of Ramanathapuramdistrict's Kamuthi village, the

youth had consumed the poi-son on Wednesday.

He was admitted toGovernment Rajaji Hospitalon Thursday after preliminarytreatment in hospitals atRamnad and Kamuthi.

The youth, not knowingthat he was HIV positive, haddonated blood on November30. He found out only after heunderwent a medical check-updays later as a requirement fora foreign job, local authoritieshad said.

Though he informed theblood bank at Sivakasi to notuse his blood, it had alreadybeen transfused to a Sattur-based pregnant woman by thefirst week of December, theyhad said. PTI

Lucknow: Amid speculationover alliance with Mayawati'sBSP in run up to the nationalpolls, Samajwadi Party chiefAkhilesh Yadav on Sunday saidthere will be a confluence ofthoughts in Uttar Pradesh andvery soon people will knowabout it.

After defeating the BJP ina slew of bypolls in the State,Yadav and Mayawati are said tobe working for an electoral tie-up in UP where the BJP and itsallies won 73 of the 80 seats inthe last general elections.

Talking to reporters, Yadavsaid, "In UP, there will be sangam(confluence) of people andsangam of thoughts, and verysoon it will be in front of you."

Asked whether theCongress will be a part of thisconfluence, he said, "I saidthat there will be sangam ofpeople and thoughts. Allanswers are included in this."

In spite of helping theCongress form Government inMadhya Pradesh, both Yadavand Mayawati have been stayingaway from the grand old party.

Yadav didn't hide his dis-pleasure when lone SP law-

maker in Madhya Pradesh wasnot included in Kamal Nath'scabinet. He had said by doingso, the Congress "cleared thepath for Uttar Pradesh".

While lending support to theCongress in Madhya Pradesh,Mayawati had said that she washelping it to form theGovernment to keep the BJP out.

Amid the hints dropped bythe SP and the BSP, theCongress Saturday had said itwas open to an alliance in UPwith any party that wants to"free" the people from BJP rule.

UP Congress chief RajBabbar said his party movesforward keeping people's sen-timents in mind and the peo-ple want to get rid of the BJPgovernment as the same feelingwas manifested in the recently

held state elections. "The forcesthat are there to defeat the BJP,should not weaken each other,be it us or them," he had said.

Yadav Sunday also praisedthe efforts made by TelanganaChief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao, who istrying to bring together non-Congress and non-BJP partiesto form a federal front.

He also took on ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath,alleging that police officers instate are following his 'ThokoNeeti' (encounter policy) toavoid getting transferred.

Raising questions on theprevailing law and order situa-tion in the State, the former ChiefMinister claimed that criminalshave "doubled" in UP under theBJP rule and "law and order sit-uation was not so bad earlier".

"UP Chief Minister YogiAdityanath is advocating hisThoko Neeti (encounter policy)everywhere. Due to this, thereis a trend among the police offi-cials that they undertakeencounters when they anticipatethat they can be transferred.Their acts are emulated by theirsubordinates," Yadav said. PTI

Amaravati (AP): In his secondattack on Prime MinisterNarendra Modi in a week,Andhra Pradesh Chief MinisterN Chandrababu Naidu onSunday dubbed him a "black-mailer" who "threatens" every-body to make them fall in line.

Last Sunday, Naidu hadtermed the Prime Minister a"hollow man" who had "donenothing" for the country.

Addressing a press confer-ence here, Naidu also launcheda scathing attack on TelanganaChief Minister K ChandrasekharRao for "conspiring" againstAndhra Pradesh with the objec-tive of stalling its growth.

"Modi is a blackmailer. Hegets cases foisted (againstsomeone) and later bails himout. He then blackmails thatperson. That's what he's doing,"the Chief Minister alleged.

The Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) directorhimself had said that Modi gota case filed against RashtriyaJanata Dal (RJD) chief LaluPrasad Yadav, he claimed. Modialso bailed out Telangana ChiefMinister in a corruption caserelated to ESI Corporation,Naidu alleged. PTI

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Pune/Mumbai: At least eightpeople who were part of afuneral procession were injuredon Sunday when an old bridgethey were crossing collapsed inKharoshi village inMahabaleshwar taluka ofMaharashtra's Satara district,police said.

The incident occurred whenaround 25 people were crossingthe old bridge over a stream inthe village, over 100 kms fromPune, this morning, they said.

All the injured persons areout of danger, a police officersaid.

"A funeral procession of a90-year-old woman was passingacross the bridge on Sundaymorning. Around 25 peoplewere on the bridge when it col-lapsed," said M H Mane,Assistant Inspector, Medhapolice station. There was notmuch water in the stream andinjuries were mainly caused aspeople landed on stones. "Fourof the eight people have beenshifted to a Panchgani-basedhospital for X-ray and other nec-essary treatment while others arerecuperating at a primary healthcentre nearby the village," Manesaid. PTI

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Sabarimala: Amid heavy secu-rity, the hill shrine of LordAyyappa at Sabarimala, openedon Sunday evening for the 21-day "Makaravilakku" festival.

The temple, which hadwitnessed frenzied protestsfrom devotees over the entry ofwomen of menstruating age,had closed on December 27,marking the culmination of the41-day annual Mandala pujafestivities.

There was a heavy rush ofAyyappa devotees when theshrine opened at 5 pm.

Chief Priest V NVasudevan Namboothiriopened the temple doors andperformed the rituals inside thesanctum sanctorum as well as

on the holy 18 steps afterwhich the pilgrims wereallowed to have darshan.

Head priest KandaruRajeevaru was also present.

The Makaravillaku will beheld on Januaury 14 and theshrine will be closed at 7 am onJanuaury 20.

Chanting 'swamiyesaranam Ayyappa', thousandsof devotees thronged the tem-ple, after waiting for hours inthe long queues. However, nospecial pujas were held Sunday.

The Ayyappa temple hadwitnessed massive protests bydevotees against the state gov-ernment's decision to imple-ment the Supreme Court'sSeptember 28 verdict, opening

its doors to women of all agesto offer prayers.

Main opposition Congressand the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) backed the devotees intheir protest against the entryof young women inside theshrine.

Traditionally, girls andwomen in the menstruating agegroup of 10-50 years werebarred from offering prayers atthe temple, the presiding deityof which is "NaishtikaBrahamachari" (perennial cele-bate).

Over a dozen women haveso far made unsuccessful bidsto trek to the Sabarimala shrineto offer prayers during theMandalam season. PTI

Lumthari (Meghalaya): Ateam leader from the IndianNavy and NDRF personnelwent inside a 370-foot-deepmine, where 15 miners aretrapped, to ascertain the waterlevel inside on Sunday after-noon, officials said.

The Navy divers and theirequipment arrived at the sitearound 1.30 pm Sunday afterwhich the Navy personnelstarted measuring the actuallevel of the water in the mineshaft.

The 10 pumps brought bythe rescue team from Odishahave been kept on standby.Meanwhile, the divers havealso been kept on standby, theofficials said.

The Navy wanted to ascer-tain the water level as theirdivers can operate up to 100

feet in a closed container-typesituation, a district official said.

Nearly 200 rescuers fromvarious agencies are stationedat the site. The Odisha FireService team had brought 10high-powered pumps withthem.

East Jaintia Hills district SPSylvester Nongtynger said thatat least two pumps will have tobe lowered down to the waterlevel inside the mine shaft tobegin the operation.

Odisha Chief Fire OfficerS Sethi said his team was taskedwith pumping water out andthey are ready for the job.

"Our only concern is thatif we install the pumps now, thecarbon exhaust may suffocatethe entire mine shaft," Sethisaid.

The remaining eight

pumps will be placed at variouslocations identified in the area,he said.

One high-powered sub-mersible pumps with an outputcapacity of 500 gallons perminute is arriving Sunday fromCIL Ranchi, CIL Kolkata GMAK Bharali said.

Bharali, who arrived herefour days ago, said that assoon as the generators andplatforms are made available atthe mine shaft, the pumping ofwater will begin.

Five more pumps fromCIL Centres in Ranchi,Dhandbad and Asansol are onroad and are expected to arriveanytime, he said.

A senior district officialsaid a few pumps of Coal IndiaLtd have arrived in Guwahatiand are expected to reach the

site soon.A team of 25 CIL person-

nel are at the site and surveyteams are doing their job,Bharali said.

The miners have beentrapped in the mine in the Ksanarea of Lumthari village inMeghalaya's East Jaintia Hillsdistrict since December 13,after water from the nearbyLytein river gushed into it.

The National DisasterResponse Force (NDRF) iscoordinating the rescue oper-ations with the help of Navy,the NDMA and Coal India Ltd.

"The Navy divers havereported that they have thecapacity to go a depth of 100feet, whereas the NDRF diverscan go to a depth of 30 feet,"East Jaintia Hills district SPSylvester Nongtyngerthe said.

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Security forces have beenkept in a state of high alert

across Jammu fol lowingmovement of suspected ter-rorists in the close vicinity ofmilitar y station in BariBrahmana area of Jammu onSaturday night.

According to reports, afternoticing the movement ofsuspected terrorists, an alertsentry had raised an alarmand also challenged them tostop. To prevent them fromcoming closer to the main gateof the Ratnuchak military sta-tion, sentry is learnt to havefired warning shots as well.

Confirming the move-ment of suspected persons inthe area, Defence Ministryspokesman, LieutenantColonel Devender Anand, in

Jammu said, "the sentry onduty noted a suspicious move-ment at around 1.50 am atRatnuchak Military Stationin Bari Brahmana area ofJammu. The suspects werechallenged but they did notstop, thereafter warning shots

were fired by the sentry. Thesuspects fired back and rushedout of the sight," said Anand.

Massive search and cor-don operations were launchedby the joint team of securityforces in the close vicinity ofthe military station on Sunday.

Separate security check pointswere also raised at variousplaces to check movement ofsuspected persons in the area.

Meanwhile, DirectorGeneral of Police DilbaghSingh told reporters on sun-day, "after learning about thesuspicious movement outsideRatnuchak military stationwe too had rushed separatepolice teams. He said they alsotook part in the search oper-ations throughout the night.He,however, claimed therewas no evidence to suggestabout the suspected move-ment of terrorists in the area.Referring to the ongoinginvestigations in the grenadeattack near General bus standLate Friday night Singh said,it was an act of mischief.Police teams are investigatingthe matter, he added.

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Srinagar: After meeting a sus-pected militant's sister, whowas allegedly beaten up byJammu & Kashmir police, for-mer Chief Minister MehboobaMufti on Sunday warned of"dangerous consequences" ifharassment of militants' fam-ilies is not stopped.

She met the woman,Rubina, at her residence insouth Kashmir's Pulwama dis-trict.

"Visited Patipora Pulwamawhere Rubina (whose brotherhappens to be a militant)was,along with her husband &brother, beaten mercilessly inpolice custody. The severenature of her injuries has lefther bedridden," Mufti wrote onTwitter.

The Peoples DemocraticParty (PDP) presidentappealed to Jammu andKashmir Governor Satya PalMalik to take action againstpolice officials involved in theincident.

"Urge the J&K Governor toinitiate action and preventsuch incidents in the future. Ifharassment of families of mil-itants isn't stopped, it will haveconsequences leading to fur-ther alienation in the valley,"Mufti said.

Later, talking to reporters,she said such incidents wouldnot be tolerated.

"What is the fault of thesister of a militant? She hasbeen stripped and beaten bythe SHO of Trikuta Nagar andof Bhatindi (in Jammu). First,you (male police officials) can-not touch a woman and youshould have women police forthat. Then, her husband andbrother have (also) been beat-en," Mufti said. PTI

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The transition of power fourtimes, highest level of vio-

lence in a decade, lowest eco-nomic activity and unendingpolitical uncertainty marks themost tumultuous year in therecent history of Jammu &Kashmir. As the year 2018draws to close, the Parliamentendorsed President’s Rule in theembattled State as no signs ofsituational improvement arein sight to pave way for the con-duct of elections. The main-stream political parties arestruggling to strike a chordwith common people whosedisaffection is visible on theground.

Officials say that the yearwas the bloodiest in a decade.The security forces shot dead251 militants in gun-battles andsudden raids on hideouts. Mostof the times, people attemptedto help militants escape fromthe encounter sites invitingdirect action from the securi-ty forces. At least 60 civilianswere killed around theencounter sites. Another 40civilians were killed by sus-pected militants. Some brutalexecutions were recoded andfootage was circulated on inter-net to create scare. The securi-ty forces faced the toughestchallenge. At least 89 securitypersonnel were killed in dif-

ferent incidents of violenceincluding gun-battles and kid-napping. While 50 infiltratorswere killed along the Line ofControl, officials say thataround a hundred infiltratorshave successfully sneaked intothe region to reinforce theinsurgency. Despite an effectivecounterinsurgency campaign,around 160 militants werereported to be active at theeyear-end. They belonged toHizbul Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, Al Badr, Jaish-e-Muhammad and AnsarGazwatul Hind outfits.

The dominance of vio-lence actually shattered thepolitical castle during the year.When BJP pulled out of coali-tion with the PDP on June 19,Ram Madhav (then BJP’spointman in Kashmir) referredto deteriorating security situa-tion in the region underMehbooba Mufti’s leadership.It was expected that afterMehbooba’s sacking the situa-tion would improve inGovernor’s rule. However, itwas easier said than done.

The Central Governmenteven tested removal ofGovernor when NN Vohrawas replaced by Satya Pal Malikon August 22. With Malik inRaj Bhawan, the six months ofGovernor’s rule were complet-ed paving way for the imposi-tion of President’s Rule on

December 19. Malik dissolvedthe State Assembly onNovember 22 when twoMehbooba Mufti and SajadLone staked claims for the for-mation of Government.Mehbooba was backed byNational Conference andCongress parties and claimedthe support of 56 legislators inthe 87-member Hopuse. Loneclaimed support of 25 BJPmembers and some unidenti-fied dissenters from differentparties.

Interestingly, during theyear, by-poll for Anantnag LokSabha constituency could notbe held. The NC and PDP were

compelled to boycott the lack-lustre municipal polls, imposedby the Governor administra-tion, primarily due to the defi-ant ground. They took alibi ofthe pending bunch of litiga-tions in Supreme Court chal-lenging the special status of thestate.

The major brunt of thisState of affairs was borne by thePDP that failed to strike a bal-ance between its ‘core ideolo-gy’ and compulsions to remainin power. Six months after shewas sacked Mehbooba Muftirepents her party’s decision tocobble up a coalition with theBJP. Having led the coalition

twice and acted as a potentopposition when out of power,the PDP’s imminent decline isthe biggest saga of 2018. As theyear draws to close, the PDP’scastle is full of chinks andcrevices. A battery of top lead-ers including former MinistersImraz Reza Ansari, HaseebDrabu and Basharat Bukharihave parted ways along-with abattery of former legislatorsand known workers. Ansariand Bukhari joined the rivalcamps and grapevine is thatmany prominent leaders aremulling to jump off the ship atappropriate time.

The PDP has never

encountered such an existentialcrisis since its inception in1999. After it pulled out of analliance with Congress in 2008,the party survived six years inopposition under OmarAbdullah’s regime. During thisperiod no significant leader ofthe party left Muftis for avail-able greener pastures. Theparty leadership could sustainthe hope amongst the rank andfile that it has the capacity tobounce back.

Mehbooba is now con-fronting massive challenges.She has no bankable advisors.Her amateur brother isuntraceable and party insidersare continuously raising fingerson the role of her confidantes.At the end of year 2018, it isinteresting to find Mehboobain a tough struggle to keep herflock together. She does nottalk about regaining powerbut tries to make peoplebelieve that she would notleave the ground quite easily.“Politics is all about expedien-cy, permutations & combina-tions. Power is transient and isnot something I have strivedfor. However, I stand firm inmy commitment and resolvetowards rebuilding a party Ibuilt brick by brick with mylate father and its patron,” shesaid in a tweet after some ofher trusted colleagues joinedrival NC.

The PDP’s downslide hasraised the confidence of NCleadership by several notches.Over the years, the NC gainedmany a positives, both on ide-ological level and while work-ing as an effective oppositionparty. The NC is developing itsnew politics around therestoration and safeguard ofthe special status of Jammuand Kashmir. The PDP’s mis-rule and disastrous failure ofits alliance with BJP hasoffered it another chance toapproach the people. In theupcoming elections forParliament and StateAssembly, the NC wouldplunge with an edge over itsarch rival. The NC’s role wouldbe more important in Jammuand Ladakh regions.

The emergence of SajadLone’s People’s Conference andthe anti-climax of his claim tobecome the Chief Ministerhours before the dissolution ofassembly, at least, introduced anew factor to the unionist pol-itics in Kashmir. Sajad exhib-ited grit to shed ambiguity onhis politics. He joined the pro-India politics and went intoBJP’s lap much before the 2014assembly elections. Sajad’s highpoint came after MehboobaMufti’s sacking. The ambitiousBJP began thinking of forminga Government in J&K by engi-neering a split in PDP and NC.

The BJP’s Ram Madhav did alot of legwork to translate thehypothesis of forming a BJPGovernment into reality. Butfor the stringent anti-defectionlaws and non-availability of ahorde of dissenters, the plandid not come to fruition.

The surprising politicaldevelopments in Kashmir,however, dashed the aspirationsof BJP to establish its base, toground. Despite pampering ahost of individuals throughthe luxuries of power, the BJPcould not find acceptance inthe Valley. At the end of theyear, the BJP is in the list ofuntouchables, even for the peo-ple who at different stages,boasted their association withthe party. The dread of BJP tak-ing over the state has gone andanti-BJP rhetoric is gainingmore currency.

While the violence con-tinued unabated and main-stream political leaders strug-gled to settle down, the Statecontinued to reel under eco-nomic distress. AParliamentary panel concededthat the tourism sectorremained under distress inValley as the imposition ofGST prevented tourist footfall.A sudden snowfall inNovember also hit the horti-culture sector as thousands offruit borne trees were dam-aged.

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Jammu: Two army personnelapparently died of cardiac arreston Sunday in two separate inci-dents in Rajouri district ofJammu & Kashmir, police saidSunday.

Naib-subedar RajinderSingh was found unconsciousby his colleagues inside his bar-rack at Narian camp in Chingusarea of the district, a police offi-cial said.

He said the soldier wasrushed to hospital where he wasdeclared brought dead.

Police have started inquestproceedings in this connec-tion, he said, adding that pre-liminary investigations suggestthat Singh had suffered a mas-sive heart attack resulting in hison-the-spot death.

In another incident, he said,Subedar Harpal Singh who hadcome on leave to his home col-lapsed in Noushera market anddied on way to hospital.

The body of the deceasedwas handed over to his familyfor the last rites after completionof legal formalities, the officialsaid. PTI

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In a major crackdown againstunauthorised sand mining

along the Konkan coast, theVasai rural police — togetherwith a team of Indian CoastGuard (ICG) personnel — havearrested 14 illegal sand mineworkers and seized two boatsin Vasai taluka of Palghar dis-trict in Maharashtra.

The Vasai rural policemade the arrests after anIndian Coast GuardHovercraft H-194 appre-hended two wooden boatsengaged in illegal sand miningoff Panju island, which is anestuarine island in the VasaiCreek located north ofMumbai.The apprehendedboats were not in possessionof a valid registration numbernor valid permits to undertakesand mining. Even the appre-hended crew were also not inpossession of any identifica-tion documents and biomet-ric cards. They admitted thatthey are from Murshidabad inWest Bengal. “There was nocommunication equipmentonboard and the two boatswere fully laden with sand,” anICG official said.

Following the apprehen-sion of two boats, the policearrested 14 illegal sand minersidentified as Abil Shaikh (25),Shafigul (27), Ahajit (33),Moinuddin (45), Shahiful(27),Mondal(28), J Mullah(40),

Islam(35), B Shaikh(22),Shoful(27), N Mullah(45),Rafigul(19), Pinal(38), IbrahimShaikh (25), and all of whomhail from West Bengal.

The 14 arrested persons onSunday were produced before

a Vasai court which remandedthem in police custody tillMonday.

Meanwhile, the police havebegun to look out for the own-ers of the two boats, who aresaid from Vasai itself.

Bengaluru: Terming PrimeMinister Narendra Modi'sremarks against the farm loanwaiver scheme of Karnataka'scoalition Government unfor-tunate, Chief Minister HDKumaraswamy on Sundayreeled out figures to defend it.

“The Prime Minister'sremarks on our loan waiver isincorrect and unfortunate,”said Kumaraswamy in a state-ment his office issued here.

Interacting with BJP'sbooth workers in Karnatakathrough video-conferencingfrom New Delhi on Friday,Modi said the State's loan waiv-er scheme was a cruel joke onthem (farmers).

“The farmers want atten-tion. But those in power inKarnataka are steeped in arro-gance. The common manwants development, but thosein power want only develop-ment of a dynasty. People wantcorruption-free development,but the state government wantsdevelopment-free corruption,”Modi said in English on theoccasion.

Reiterating that crop loan

waiver was the StateGovernment's commitment tosafeguard the interests of thefarmers across the State, whichbegan the process, the ChiefMinister's statement said itwas very sad that Modi hadtermed the scheme as a crueljoke on farmers, whichamounts to misleading thepeople without facts about thescheme.

“Our crop loan waiver is anopen book and information isavailable online, unlike in manyother states. The state govern-ment is handling tax payers'money with caution to reachthe real beneficiaries (farmers),”asserted the Chief Minister.

Claiming that about 60,000farmers had been paid �350

crore by electronic transferinto their individual bankaccounts to date, the ChiefMinister said by next week,another 1 lakh farmers wouldbe paid �400 crore throughtheir account.

“All middlemen in thecooperative sector have beenweeded out. Other states haveshown keen interest in our sys-tem, which uses Aadhaarunique identification number,electronic authentication ofland records and ration cardsto ensure only genuine farmersget the waiver,” saidKumaraswamy in the state-ment.

Lauding the officials forimplementing the scheme expe-ditiously, the Chief Ministersaid Modi's remarks against theloan waiver was not expected.

“In spite of severalrequests, though the CentralGovernment did not come tothe rescue of our farmers, thePrime Minister's remarksdemean our efforts for politi-cal gain,” the Chief Ministerlamented. IANS

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Afull-fledged confrontationappears to be brewing

between the Dalit leaders andthe State administration aheadof a victory rally of Dalits atBhima-Koregaon on Tuesday,with the police refusing togrant permission to BhimArmy chief ChandrashekharAzad to hold a rally in Pune.

Azad, who had on Saturdayevening been detained near theDadar-Chaityabhoomi alongwith other Dalit activists aheadof a proposed rally in themetropolis, was released fromdetention on Sunday with aclear condition that he wouldnot be allowed to address inPune, a day before the Dalits’

victory rally at Bhima-Koregaon.

However, Azad headed toPune from Mumbai with avow to visit Bhima-Koregaonwhere more than two lakhDalits would celebrate the201st anniversary of the theJanuary 1, 1818 victory ofBritish troops over PeshwaBajirao II's army on Tuesday.

In an effort to ensureagainst a repeat of the distur-bances witnessed at Bhima-Koregaon last year, the Punedistrict administration hasmade elaborate securityarrangements in the eight kilo-metre radius of the village tomaintain law and order duringthe victory rally scheduled forTuesday.

It may be recalled that thatduring the caste riots thatbroke out on January 1, 2018 -- the 201st anniversary of thethe January 1, 1818 victory ofBritish troops over PeshwaBajirao II's army. One personwas killed and property worth�9.54 crore was destroyed atBhima-Koregaon in Pune dis-trict. After the riots, there wereprotests and violence across thestate.

After the caste riots, thepolice had arrested 1o humanrights activists for allegedlyconspiring to kill PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andoverthrow the democraticallyelected Government in thecountry. They have beenbooked for their alleged links

with the banned CPI (Maoists).In addition, five abscondingMaoist leaders have also beenmade accused in the case.

As part of the securityarrangements, the Pune districtadministration has deployed 11drones in the eight kilometreradius of the village to maintainvigilance on the goings at theDalit victory rally to be held onTuesday.

According to PuneDistrict Collector NavalKishor Ram, there was con-siderable apprehension amongthe people of Bhima-Koregaonvillage in the light of what hap-pened last year. “After the dis-turbances last year, we haveheld monthly meetings withthe villagers in an effort to

remove their anxiety and buildconfidence in them. We havesucceeded in removing fearfrom their minds. We haveinvolved in the preparationsfor this year’s celebrations forwhich people come from dif-ferent parts of the State,” thecollector said.

“Keeping in view the hugeturnout people for the cele-brations scheduled for Tuesdaynext, we will sending water tothe village in 300 tankers,deploying 150 buses to ferrypeople to the village and mak-ing parking arrangements at 15places. This year, the policedeployment will 15 times morethan the number of police per-sonnel we had deployed lastyear,” the collector added.

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Chennai: The ruling AIADMKand the Opposition DMK inTamil Nadu will oppose thecontentious triple talaq Bill inthe Rajya Sabha on Monday,days after it was adopted by theLok Sabha, the parties saidSunday.

The Muslim Women(Protection of Rights onMarriage) Bill, 2018 seeking tocriminalise the practice ofinstant divorce among Muslimsis set to be tabled in the upperhouse of Parliament even asopposition parties includingthe Congress have said thatthey will not allow its passagein the present form.

“We oppose triple talaqbill,” senior All India AnnaDravida Munnetra Kazhagam(AIADMK) leader and LokSabha Deputy Speaker MThambidurai said.

The AIADMK strongmanfrom the western belt of thestate said it was the stand of hisparty that the governmentshould not “interfere” in reli-gious matters.

“It is the duty of theAIADMK to safeguard the wel-fare of minorities. AIADMKwill fully oppose this billagainst our Muslim brothers,”he told reporters here.

Dravia Munnetra

Kazhagam leader and RajyaSabha MP, Kanimozhi said herparty had been consistent in itsposition against “criminalisa-tion” of triple talaq.

“We are opposing jail pun-ishment for pronouncingtalaq. Even the Islamic tenetsdoes not allow instant tripletalaq,” she said, adding that ifviolation of such tenets were tohappen, it should not be madea criminal offence as it was acivil issue. “We will voteagainst the bill in the RajyaSabha and it is the stand of theDMK that it (bill) be referredto a Select Committee,” shetold reporters. PTI

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Jammu: Uttar PradeshTransport Minister SwatantraDev Singh on Sunday metJammu & Kashmir GovernorSatya Pal Malik here and invit-ed him to attend the upcomingKumbh Mela, an official said.

One of the largest religiousgatherings in the world, theKumbh Mela will be held atTriveni Sangam in UttarPradesh's Allahabad fromJanuary 15 to March 4, 2019.

“Singh, on behalf of theUttar Pradesh Government,extended an invitation to theGovernor to attend the forth-coming Kumbh Mela,” an offi-cial spokesman said.

It has been decided that aMemorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) will besigned between Jammu &Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh onJanuary 9, 2019 to ensure trans-port facilities to the visitors dur-ing the fair, the official said.

Singh also discussed withMalik the various initiativestaken by the Yogi AdityanathGovernment in the State'stransport sector to check roadaccidents, he added.

He also discussed mea-sures taken by the Governmentto ensure 24x7 power supply inthe State, the spokespersonadded. PTI

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Regulator Sebiis planning

to beef up itsmarket surveil-lance system aswell as its tool forspeedy analysisof trade data,which identifiespossible viola-tions such asinsider trading,share pricemanipulat ionand front run-ning.

In thisregard, Securitiesand ExchangeBoard of India (Sebi) has invit-ed applications from the inter-ested companies to provide ITservices for the maintenance ofits integrated market surveil-lance system (IMSS), datawarehousing and businessintelligence system (DWIBS).

The market watchdogundertakes its market surveil-lance functions through inte-grated market surveillance sys-tem, which was put in use from2013, and collects data for sus-picious market activitiesthrough multiple sources,including its network systemsat exchanges and depositories.

The data warehousing andbusiness intelligence system,which went live in 2011, is usedfor speedy analysis of trade data

in a bid to identify networkedclients who possibly indulge insecurities law violations such asinsider trading, front runningand share price manipulation.

These systems carries outdata acquisition on a dailybasis from multiple datasources for surveillance relat-ed activities.

The scope of the workincludes maintenance supportfor IT equipment as well as pro-viding on-site service engi-neers for management of IMSSand DWBIS systems, the reg-ulator noted.

Sebi will admit applicationsfor this project till January 22.

Spelling out the eligibilitycriteria, Sebi said the biddingcompany should be registered

with the Ministry of CorporateAffairs and should be opera-tional in the field of informa-tion technology (IT) for atleast five years.

The area of operations forthe firm should include ITinfrastructure management,development and maintenanceof IT projects.

The net worth of the com-pany should be �40 crore ormore for two out of the lastthree financial years or at least�40 crore for three of the lastfive fiscals.

The interested firms shouldhave a well-qualified work-force employed in the domainsof network or security moni-toring and IT network imple-mentation, it added.

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Petrol price on Sunday wascut by 22 paise per litre to

its lowest level in 2018 whilediesel rates were reduced by 23paise to a nine-month low.

Petrol price in Delhi wascut to �69.04 per litre from�69.26 while diesel rates camedown to �63.09 from �63.32 alitre, according to the pricenotification of State-owned oilfirms.

Petrol prices, which havebeen on a decline sinceOctober 18 except for one day,are at their lowest level of2018. Diesel rates are at theirlowest since March-end.

In all, petrol price has fall-en by �13.79 per litre sinceOctober 18, more than negat-ing all of the hike that was wit-nessed in the two-month peri-od beginning mid-August.

Diesel prices have declinedby? �12.06 per litre in two andhalf months.

Petrol price had touched arecord high of �84 per litre inDelhi and �91.34 in Mumbaion October 4. Diesel on thatday had peaked to �75.45 a litrein Delhi and �80.10 inMumbai. Prices had started toclimb from August 16.

Petrol in Delhi was pricedat �77.14 and in Mumbai at�84.58 per litre on August 15.Diesel on that day was pricedat �68.72 per litre in Delhi and�72.96 in Mumbai.

Between August 16 andOctober 4, petrol price washiked by �6.86 per litre and

diesel by �6.73.On that day, the

Government decided to cutexcise duty on petrol and dieselby �1.50 per litre each andasked State-owned fuel retail-ers to subsidise the price byanother �1 a litre by reducingtheir margins.

Subsequent to this, thepetrol price moderated to�81.50 per litre in Delhi anddiesel to �72.95 a litre onOctober 5. In Mumbai, rates fellto �86.97 per litre for petrol and�77.45 in case of diesel.

As the international oilprices continued to rise, priceof petrol and diesel in Delhiincreased to �82.83 and �75.69on October 17. In Mumbai,rates touched �88.29 a litre forpetrol and �79.35 for diesel.

But since then, interna-tional oil prices have beenfalling and rupee has alsoappreciated, resulting in adecline in retail rates.

During the last two and halfmonths, petrol price rose onjust one day — by 10 paise onDecember 18. Diesel rates roseon December 17 and 18 by 9paise and 7 paise respectively.

Industry sources said as perthe assessment, the retail pricesof petrol and diesel may reigneasy in the next few days.

The retail selling price ofpetrol and diesel is dependenton the international prices ofbenchmark fuel and the rupee-US dollar exchange rate. Thisis because a large proportion ofthe country’s requirement ismet through imports.

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Banks have seen a sig-nificant improvement

in recovery of stressedassets helped by theInsolvency andBankruptcy Code (IBC)and amendments in theSecuritisation andReconstruction ofFinancial Assets andEnforcement of SecurityInterests (SARFAESI)Act, during FY18, accord-ing to the RBI data.

In the fiscal endedMarch 2018, banks recov-ered �40,400 crore worthof bad loans as against �38,500crore recovered in FY17.

The various channelsthrough which lenders recov-ered their bad loans include theInsolvency and BankruptcyCode (IBC), SARFAESI Act,debt recovery tribunals (DRTs)and Lok Adalats.

While banks recovered�4,900 crore of bad loansthrough the IBC, the amountrecovered through SARFAESIwas �26,500 crore in FY18, theRBI said in its annual report onTrends and Progress ofBanking in 2017-18, released toover the weekend.

“Apart from vigorousefforts by banks for speedierrecovery, amending the SAR-FAESI Act to bring in a provi-sion of three months’ impris-onment in case the borrowerdoes not provide asset detailsand for the lender to get pos-

session of the mortgaged prop-erty within 30 days, may havecontributed to better recovery,”the report highlighted.

During the year, recoverythrough Lok Adalats and DRTsdeclined alongside the numberof cases referred, partly indica-tive of the growing clout of theIBC mechanism for resolutionof stressed assets, the monetaryauthority noted.

The average recoverythrough IBC is greater thanother mechanisms (SARFAESI,DRTs and Lok Adalats) and isalso improving gradually,pointing to the need and effi-ciency of such a channel, thereport said.

“Strengthening the infra-structure of the insolvency res-olution process, including theproposed increase in the num-ber of benches of the NationalCompany Law Tribunals

(NCLTs), should help reducethe overall time currently beingtaken for resolution under theIBC,” the RBI said.

Besides recovery throughvarious resolution mechanisms,banks are also cleaning uptheirs balance sheets throughsale of doubtful/ loss assets toassets reconstruction compa-nies (ARCs) and otherbanks/NBFCs/financial insti-tutions by taking haircuts, thereport said.

During 2017-18, the acqui-sition cost of ARCs as a pro-portion to the book value ofassets, has gone up, indicatingbetter realisations by banks onsale of stressed assets.

While private sector bankshave been most aggressive onasset sales, State-run lenderslagged, mainly owing to largehaircuts and various manage-ment issues, the report said.

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The country is expected to witnessstrong economic growth in 2019, after

it emerged as the fastest growing majorworld economy this year despite growingglobal vulnerabilities, industry body CIIsaid on Sunday.

The positive outlook is buttressed bystrong drivers emanating from services sec-tor and better demand conditions arisingout of poll spend, with the general electionsslated next year, according to the chamber.

“Better demand conditions, settledGST implementation, capacity expansionfrom growing investments in infrastruc-ture, continuing positive effects of reformpolicies and improved credit offtake espe-cially in the services sector at 24 per centwill sustain the robust GDP growth in therange of 7.5 per cent in 2019,” CII DirectorGeneral Chandrajit Banerjee said.

The industry body observed thatdespite 2018 being filled with external vul-nerabilities arising out of rising oil prices,trade wars between major global tradingpartners and US monetary tightening,India outshined as the world’s fastestgrowing major economy. It has identifiedseven key drivers for growth that need tobe fostered and suggested policy actionsfor robust GDP growth to continue in2019. Among key growth drivers, CIIhopes the GST Council will considerextending the tax to currently exemptedsectors such as fuel, real estate, electrici-ty and alcohol. The chamber outlined thatcredit availability has been a challenge, par-ticularly for the micro, small and medium

enterprises, as credit flow to industry grewby a mere 2.3 per cent in first half of thecurrent financial year.

“CII submits that the RBI should intro-duce measures such as revisiting lendingrestrictions of PCA (Prompt CorrectiveAction) banks, opening of a limited spe-cial liquidity window to meet emergenciesof financial institutions, including MutualFunds besides others to improve liquidi-ty in the system,” it said.

Besides, the process of insolvency res-olution has taken shape, the chamber feelsthe government should consider setting upadditional benches of the NationalCompany Law Tribunal to strengthen thejudicial infrastructure for easier and fasterexit of distressed businesses.

The chamber believes the Governmentwill continue to place high priority on sim-

plifying business procedures in 2019,especially in terms of working with statesfor grassroots improvements.

“We look forward to digitisation ofland records, online single window systemsin states, and enforcing contracts for evenmore improvements in ease of doingbusiness,” said Banerjee.

On agriculture reforms, CII suggest-ed that it is important to persuade statesto implement the Agriculture Produce andLivestock Marketing Model Act, which hasbeen implemented in just four states, tostrengthen agriculture produce marketing.

Going ahead, it opined that India alsoneeds to increase domestic production ofoil, providing a special window for oil mar-keting companies to procure fuel and step-ping up diplomacy with the US to continueto secure purchase from Iran.

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Loss-making carrier JetAirways is in discussions

with the State Bank of India forraising �1,500 crore short-termloan to meet its working capi-tal requirement and somepayment obligations, a sourcesaid.

Jet Airways strategic part-ner and West Asian carrierEtihad, which holds 24 percent stake in the Indian fullservice carrier, is likely to pro-vide guarantee for the loan, hesaid.

Significantly, the talks foravailing loan are going on at atime when EY is carrying outa forensic audit of the JetAirways on the orders of theairline’s largest lender foralleged irregularities.

“Jet Airways is in discus-sions with its largest lender toSBI for raising short-term loansworth �1,500 crore. The airlineis looking to mop up thesefunds to meet its working cap-ital requirement as well as formeeting some payment oblig-ations. Jet Airways is expectedto provide Etihad Airways’guarantee for this financing,” anairline source said.

The Naresh Goyal-con-trolled airline, which has post-ed three consecutive quarterlylosses of over �1,000 crore

each since March, already hasas much as �8,052 of debt onits books as on September 30.Rating agency Icra has alreadycut the rating on Jet Airwaysborrowing programmes.

When contacted, SBIspokesperson said, “It is thepolicy of the bank not to com-ment upon individual accountsand its treatment”.

While Jet Airways did notrespond to queries on thisissue, an Etihad Airways in ane-mail response from AbuDhabi said, it “does not com-ment on rumour or specula-tion”.

“Jet Airways has been seek-ing these funds as its earlierproposal of raising $350 mil-lion Etihad-guaranteed loanfrom overseas lenders is still atthe negotiations table andexpected to take time,” thesource said who is privy to boththe discussions.

With its financials in per-ils and the airline facing cashdrought, promoter Goyal islooking to infuse capital in amanner where he does nothave to lose control of the JetAirways, which he set up 25years ago.

At an emergency boardmeeting late this month, heasked his team to look for alter-nate routes of funding whileresurrecting the airline.

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Inflation seems to havebecome a double-edged

sword for policy makers withpolitical opponents attackingthe Government over farmersgetting hit due to low prices foragricultural produce, even asthe rate of price rise in 2018 hasmostly been contained withinthe targeted comfort zone.

The data showed retail aswell as wholesale price inflationremaining low for most part ofthe year, though spikes inpetrol and diesel prices came asa spoiler.

The retail inflation, mea-sured as per the ConsumerPrice Index (CPI), remainedmostly below 5 per cent, with-in the RBI’s comfort level of 4per cent with a bias ofplus/minus 2 per cent. Januarywas the only month when itcrossed 5 per cent.

The Wholesale Price Index(WPI) based inflation is now ata 3-month low of 4.64 per cent,having oscillated in a range of2.74-5.68 per cent during theyear.

The latest data puts retailinflation for November at theyear’s lowest level of 2.33 per

cent, mainly due to low pricesof food articles, coupled withdeflation in some agriculturalproducts — which is a goodnews for consumers as well asthe Government and the RBI.

But, this same situationhas also led to concerns aboutfalling prices of agriculturalproduce resulting in a crisis forfarmers. The crisis has got fur-ther compounded for thosehaving taken farm loans andthere have been reports fromvarious parts of the countryabout farmers failing to recov-er even input cost for somecommodities including onion.

The year saw multiple agi-tations by farmers demandingbetter price of their produceand also effective measures tosupport the farming sector.The farmers’ distress alsobecame a key election issueduring recently-held assemblypolls and may again be infocus during the 2019 nation-al elections. In the past, highinflation has been a biggerheadache for Governmentsand policy makers.

SBI’s Group ChiefEconomic Adviser SoumyaKanti Ghosh said theGovernment needs to support

the rural sector through somesort of price or income supportscheme.

“The decline in inflation islargely driven by food, but therecent meltdown in oil will helpthe numbers further. While thedecline in food inflation iscomforting for consumers, it isnot good news for farmers,”Ghosh said.

Unlike in past, farmershave started to realise thatshort-term loan waivers is notgoing to work on a durablebasis and they want bettersolutions including incentivesto the farm sector, subsidy, lowcost power and irrigation facil-ities, experts feel.

Several farmer leaders havealleged the government wasnot heeding to their demandsfor a reasonable minimum sup-port price (MSP) and the hikeannounced by the Centre hasnot matched their expectations.

Edelweiss Securities’ econ-omist Madhavi Arora said theterms of trade have beenunfavourable for the agricul-ture sector as despite higherMSPs announced this year, theground impact has remainedmodest and food inflation con-tinues to plunge further.

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Aircraft MRO servicesprovider Air Works has

been accused of indulging invarious malpractices includingreleasing planes for flights“without recording and recti-fying known defects”.

During an audit carried outat the company’s facilities inMumbai, Delhi, Pune andAhmedabad between July andSeptember, the regulatorDGCA also found that dedi-cated store inspectors had notbeen made responsible for theJuhu (Mumbai) and Pune facil-ities, said a source.

The Gurugram-based oversix-decade old Air Works pro-vides maintenance, repair andoverhaul (MRO) services toairlines, business jets andchopper operators through its17 facilities in India andabroad.

“You are advised to takeimmediate corrective and pre-ventive action to address thefindings,” the DirectorateGeneral of Civil Aviation(DGCA) said in a notice to AirWorks late last month.

When contacted, a top Air

Works Executive Director, RaviMenon, said the company willtake all “required steps” fol-lowing the audit findings, butalso added that nobody “com-promises” on the issue of safe-ty.

“Aircraft were found tohave been released for flightswithout recording or rectifyingthe known defects. Such prac-tice was noticed across manyproduct lines and stations dur-ing sample verification.

“Operational and mainte-nance personnel had failed torecord the defects/abnormali-ties observed by them.Maintenance personnel hadissued certificate (s) of releaseto service without carryingout appropriate maintenancework on the defective aircraft,”said the audit findings.

The audit also found thatthe “company did not have sys-tem of assessing maintenanceman-hour requirement toestablish that it has sufficientstaff to plan, perform, super-vise, inspect and quality mon-itor the organization in accor-dance with the approval at anygiven time and at eachapproved facility.”

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The Government has pro-posed to contribute Rs

1,227 crore through electron-ic development fund to boostintellectual property rights inthe field of information tech-nology and electronics.

According to informationupdated on Ministry ofElectronics and IT, the total cor-pus recommended to be invest-ed by 22 daughter fund in tech-nology firms is around �10,906crore, in which governmenthas proposed to contribute�1,227 crore, subject to finalapproval of the EDF board.

When contacted about sta-tus of EDF, a Meity official saidthe government has so farapproved investment in 13daughter funds.

"EDF will be investing in 13daughter funds over a period of4-5 years. The total targeted cor-pus of these 13 daughter fundsis �6,950 crore and the amountcommitted by EDF to these 13daughter funds is �857 crore,"Meity spokesperson said.

Electronics Development

Fund (EDF) is set up as a "Fundof Funds" to participate inprofessionally managed"daughter funds". The daugh-ter funds, which directly con-nect with beneficiaries, in turnare providing risk capital tocompanies developing newtechnologies and IPRs in thearea of Electronics, Nano-elec-tronics and InformationTechnology (IT).

Canara Bank's whollyowned subsidiary CanbankVenture Capital Funds Ltd(CVCFL) manages EDF andthe Meity is anchor investor ofEDF, which was launched inFebruary 2016.

At the end of second quar-ter of 2018-19, EDF has invest-ed �53.52 crore in six daugh-ter funds, which have madeinvestments of �177.37 crore in47 ventures and startups.

"Total employment in sup-ported startups was around4,200," the spokesperson said.

According to the website,nine of the daughter funds withcorpus of around �2,938 croreunder EDF are already opera-tional.

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The recently revised stan-dard contract agreement

for national highwaysCentrally-sponsored roadworks proposed to be imple-mented on EPC basis couldlead to a decline in the pace ofnew project awards in theshort to medium terms, withthe pending land acquisitionbeing a primary constraint,warns a report.

"While the pipeline ofprojects to be awardedremains strong with theBharatmala Pariyojana gain-ing ground, the land acquisi-tion issues could delay theawarding," rating agency Icrasaid in a weekend report.

The target for FY19 is toaward 20,000 km projectswith majority to be awardedon the EPC mode, it noted.

"Given the land acquisi-tion related issues, and strin-gent provisions in the revisedEPC contract agreement, it islikely that the NHAI will pro-ceed with awarding of con-tracts only once the landacquisition is in advanced

stage," it said.However, it noted that

the revision is expected tofacilitate execution of roadcontracts by reducing bottle-necks faced by contractorsparticularly related to right ofway, and clearances.

The report further says incase of delays due to defaulton the part of the contractor,provision of deemed debar-ment for bidding in new pro-jects is expected to push pres-sure on contractors to timelycomplete projects.

"The changes in the EPCagreement are steps in positivedirection. With the stricterprovisions for damages, theliability has increased for boththe authority and contractorto meet their obligations in atime-bound manner. This inturn is expected to facilitatetimely execution.

"However, over the short-to-medium term, this couldlead to a decline in the pace ofnew project awards, with thepending land acquisitionbeing a primary constraint,"said Abhishek Gupta, an assis-tant vice-president at the

agency.As per the revised terms,

the authority has to provide atleast 90 per cent of therequired right of way of theconstruction zone of the totallength of the project highway,which shall be in contiguousstretches of not less than 5km.

"By broadening the rightof way requirement to 90 per-cent of the construction zoneand 5-km contiguous stretch,the execution challenges areexpected to be lower," he said.

With defined timelinesfor deemed termination, andassociated provisions for dam-ages, the agency expects theauthority to proceed withcontract awards only whenthese conditions are met.

"Similarly, with respect tothe contractors obligations,non-achievement of projectcompletion within 90 days ofscheduled date will lead todeemed debarring of the con-tractor from bidding forfuture projects till this projectachieves completion (for pro-jects with contract value morethan �300 crore)," it said.

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��34528(9&4

India took giant strides towards winningtheir first ever series on Australian soilin seven decades by retaining the Border-

Gavaskar Trophy with a comprehensive 137-run win in the third Test here on Sunday.

Taking an unassailable 2-1 lead in thefour-match series, India will retain the cov-eted trophy even if the series is drawn levelat Sydney as they have won the previousseries at home in 2017.

It took only 27 balls on the fifth dayafternoon as Jasprit Bumrah (3/53) andIshant Sharma (2/40) completed the for-malities in what turned out to be India's150th Test victory.

After losing out the 9first session dueto steady showers, Australia could only man-age to add three runs to their overnight scoreof 258 for 8 as they were all out for 261 in89.3 overs.

This was Kohli's 11th overseas win,equalling Sourav Ganguly's record of mostoverseas Test wins as India captain.

India thus won a Test match at the icon-ic MCG after 37 long years when SunilGavaskar's men beat Greg Chappell's sidein the 1980-81 series.

Fittingly it was the legendary Kapil Dev,who had then played a major role taking fivewickets in defending a low total while it wasyoung Bumrah with match figures of 9 for86, who was the hero on what looked likea docile track.

Bumrah got rid of Pat Cummins (63),who edged to first slip and brought an endto his heroic effort in this Test.

Five balls later, Ishant Sharma got rid ofNathan Lyon (7), caught behind as RishabhPant took his 20th dismissal in this series,which is highest by any Indian wicket-keep-er.

For Bumrah, 48 wickets in his debut Testseason is highest by any pace bowler and alsois a testimony to the lethal pace trio involv-ing the veteran Ishant Sharma and the wily

Mohammed Shami (2/71), who also playedhis part well.

The trio have collectively taken 134 awaywickets (Bumrah 48, Ishant 40 and Shami46) in a single calender year eclipsing the34-year-old record that stood in the nameof the fearsome West Indies trio of MalcolmMarshall, Michael Holding and Joel Garner(130 wickets in away tours in 1984).

No wonder skipper Virat Kohli wasdelighted and attributed their success to theirability to complement each other.

"We knew that it would be tough forAustralia, but credit to our bowlers, espe-cially Jasprit. The three fast bowlers have bro-ken the record for most wickets by pacersin a calendar year for a team, which is bril-liant," Kohli was all praise for his speed mer-chants.

"I certainly feel proud as a captain whenthey bowl in partnerships. No one is look-ing to out-bowl each other. Our first-classcricket is amazing, which is why we won.Credit must go to first-class set-up in

India, which challenges our fast bowlers inIndia, and that helps them abroad," the skip-per said.

Even Bumrah spoke about how India'sfirst-class set-up has him a better bowler.

"My aim is to always focus on consis-tency. We train very hard and we are usedto bowling a lot of overs in Ranji Cricket,so the body is doing well. My focus is on thenext Test now," said Bumrah.

Having got only better since his debutin South Africa, Bumrah is hopeful that bet-

ter things await for him in near future.Kohli is confident that his men won't

take their feet off the pedal and win the series3-1. "We are not going to stop here. This

(win) will give us more confidence and wewill play more positively in Sydney. I thinkwe have been really smart in all the depart-ments in the two matches that we have won."

�� .697 :.6(9.6

New Zealand completed their demolition ofSri Lanka on day five of the second Test in

Christchurch on Sunday, needing only 14 ballsto take the last three wickets for a colossal 423-run victory.

The overwhelming victory gave NewZealand the series 1-0 after the first Test inWellington was drawn.

This is the first time in their 88-year Test his-tory that New Zealand have won four succes-sive series, following wins over the West Indies,England and Pakistan this year.

Trent Boult and Neil Wagner mopped up theinnings to have Sri Lanka 236 for nine with theinjured Angelo Mathews not returning to fin-ish his innings. Sri Lanka resumed Sunday on231 for six and were in immediate trouble.

Suranga Lakmal was bowled by Trent Boulton the third ball of the morning withoutadding to his overnight 18.

Neil Wagner had Dilruwan Perera caught inthe next over for 22 before Boult came back tofinish the innings, trapping DushmanthaChameera in his second over for three.

Wagner, who had struggled for wickets ear-lier in the series, found the Christchurch con-ditions to his liking and took four for 48. Boultfinished with three for 77.

Sri Lanka held a slight edge on day one ofthe second Test when they rolled New Zealandfor 178 after winning the toss and bowling firston the green-topped wicket.

But six wickets for four runs in a 15-ballburst by Boult brought New Zealand back into

the game, with Sri Lanka's first innings foldingat 104.

From there, it was all New Zealand's as a sec-ond innings 176 from Tom Latham and anunbeaten 162 by Henry Nicholls saw the homeside declare at 585 for four, giving Sri Lanka animprobable 660-run target.

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Liverpool roared back froma rare Anfield deficit to

move nine points clear at thetop of the Premier League asRoberto Firmino's hat-trickinspired a 5-1 thrashing ofArsenal on Saturday.

Mohamed Salah and SadioMane were also on target asLiverpool's front three allscored in the same leaguegame for the first time this sea-son.

Liverpool had trailed athome in the league for the firsttime in a day short of a yearwhen Ainsley Maitland-Nilesturned home Alex Iwobi'sexcellent cross 11 minutes in.

However, the lead lastedjust three minutes as Firminoprofited from some calamitousArsenal defending to level andthen left Shkodran Mustafi andSokratis Papastathopoulos onthe floor to score his secondgoal in three minutes.

Mane and Salah's penaltyhad the game wrapped up byhalf-time and Firmino com-pleted his hat-trick from thespot as Jurgen Klopp's menextended their unbeatenleague start to 20 games andtook another significant steptowards a first league titlesince 1989/1990.

Tottenham's title ambi-tions suffered a huge blow asWolves scored three times inthe final 18 minutes to win 3-1 at Wembley earlier onSaturday to further emboldenAnfield with belief before kick-off.

That confidence couldhave been shaken when aftera bright Liverpool start, it wasArsenal who led when Iwobi'steasing cross perfectly dis-sected Alisson Becker andVirgil van Dijk, to leaveMaitland-Niles with an opengoal.

But after a slow start,Salah, Firmino and Mane arebeginning to show the formthey did last season in smash-ing a combined 91 goals.

Firmino didn't even haveto look at the ball when he slot-ted the equaliser into an emptynet after Sokratis's attemptedclearance rebounded offMustafi into his path to quick-ly level.

However, the Brazilian didall the hard work himself two

minutes later by jinkingthrough Arsenal's hapless cen-tral defensive pairing beforedrilling low past Bernd Leno.

Mane made it 3-1 on 32minutes when Salah cushioneda cross perfectly into theSenegalese's path to side-foothigh into the net.

And Liverpool were giventhe chance to extend their leadjust before half-time whenSalah tumbled under pressurefrom Sokratis in the box.

Leno got a touch to theEgyptian's spot-kick but could-n't stop Salah moving level withPierre-Emerick Aubameyangand Harry Kane as the PremierLeague's top scorer on 13.

Salah gave up the chance tomove clear in the race for thegolden boot when SeadKolasinac pushed DejanLovren 25 minutes from timeand Firmino gratefully firedhome the penalty much to hismanager's delight.

�� &41��4567

UP Yoddha produced a ter-rific all-round perfor-

mance to knock out favouritesU Mumba in the first elimina-tor of Vivo Pro Kabaddi Leagueseason 6. Yoddha won 34-29and were in control for most ofthe match. In front of a packedcrowd in Kochi, where PKLmade its debut, it was the teamfrom UP that came out on top.Nitesh Kumar came up withone of the best defensive per-formances and scored 8 pointsto lead UP to victory. UPYoddha's defence scored 18tackle points on a night wherethey tamed U Mumba's starraider Siddharth Desai.Shrikant Jadhav and PrashantKumar Rai combined to score9 crucial raid points in UP'swin.

Both teams made a solidstart and were on equal footing

for the first five minutes.Shrikant Jadhav and SiddharthDesai picked up the raid pointsfor their teams. It was 5-5 afterfive minutes but UP Yoddhaswitched gears then. In the 8thminute they inflicted an all outto leads 11-7. U Mumba weremissing the spark and were a bitlacklustre in the first half. At theend of the first half Yoddha's led18-15 and it was anyone'sgame.

UP Yoddha continuedtheir fine form in the secondhalf as well. Their defence dida fine job on Desai and RohitBalliyan. Shrikant Jadhavpicked up a two- point raid inthe 27th minute to give UPYoddha 25-18 lead. The secondhalf followed the same patternas the first with UP defence insolid form. Roshan Devadigaand Prashant Kumar Raipicked up raid points at crucialintervals.

�� 34528(9&4

After suffering a 137-rundefeat against India in the

third cricket Test here onSunday, Australia skipper TimPaine praised the Indian pac-ers saying the current team hasthe best pace attack in theworld.

Paine also rued Australia's'disappointing' performanceand said their entire top andmiddle order are inexperi-enced.

"We are probably playingagainst the best pace attack inthe world right now and ourtop-6 is pretty inexperienced.We should find positives andmove forward," Paine said afterthe match.

"It's a bit disappointing. I

thought we took a big strideforward in Perth but with aninexperienced batting line-up,you are bound to have aninnings like we did in the firstinnings. We are going to learnfrom it," he added.

Paine also accepted that theunavailability of the bannedduo of Steve Smith and DavidWarner has left the Australianbatting line-up devoid of expe-rience.

"It's pretty clear, if you taketwo or three of the best playersout of anyone's line-up in theworld, you're going to strugglea little bit at times and haveinconsistent performances.That's what we are seeing,"Paine was quoted as saying bythe ICC website.

"The guys are working real-

ly hard and we have a hugechallenge ahead of us in Sydney.There is always little discussionsaround the batting order. Theconditions will be different inSydney," Paine said.

The Australian skipper alsopraised pacer Pat cummins,who produced a superb all-round performance with matchfigures of 9/99 and a gritty half-century in the second inningsto delay Australia's defeat andtake the Test into the fifth andfinal day.

"Pat (Cummins) has beensuperb all series. We all knowthat he is a quality player. Hehas been fantastic for us. Heturns up every day and rolls hissleeves up. We want more guysto perform like him," Painesaid.

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Former national championSoumyajit Ghosh is free to

return to the game after theTable Tennis Federation of India(TTFI) on Sunday decided torevoke his suspension, handedout in March this year followingallegations of rape against himby an ex-girlfriend.

"The members of ExecutiveBoard of TTFI which met hereduring the ongoing 11Sports80th Junior and Youth NationalChampionships considered hisrepresentation and rescindedthe ban with immediate effect,allowing him to participate in allnational and international tour-naments," the TTFI said in astatement.

The withdrawal of suspen-sion means Ghosh is eligible toparticipate in the SeniorNationals at Cuttack fromJanuary 4 to 9, 2019.

In March, Ghosh wasaccused of rape by an 18-year-old, that led to the two-timeOlympian and India's youngestever national champion hitting"rock bottom".

Ghosh's legal troubles final-ly came to an end after he mar-ried his rape accuser fourmonths after his career nose-dived owing to the crisis.

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16-year-old shooting trio of ManuBhaker, Saurabh Chuadhary, andAnish Bhanwala break grounds in

2018 to emerge champions in the topthree sporting events of the year.

Manu had a successful debut at theinternational arena, where the 16-year-old from Jhajjar district inHaryana bagged historic Gold medalsin 10 metre air pistol at Youth Olympicsand Commonwealth Games.

Bhaker started her marvelous runfrom the ISSF World Cup held atGuadalajara in Mexico, where she wonthe Gold medal in the 10 meter air pis-tol category, defeating two-time worldchampion Alejandra Zavala fromMexico. She scored 237.5 the finalmatch against Zavala, who scored237.1. By winning the Gold medal atage 16, Bhaker became the youngestIndian to win a yellow metal at theWorld Cup.

Bhaker won another WC Gold inthe 10 m Air Pistol mixed team event.She paired with Om Prakash Mitharvaland the duo shot shot a score of 476.1points to take home the winners medal.

Then in April at the Gold CoastCommonwealth Games, Bhakersecured first place in after setting a newGames record of 240.9 points. Shedefeated experienced Heena Sidhu,who finished with Silver medal.

However she was unfortunate tomiss medal at Jakarta- Paembang AsianGames, where after setting a game'srecord score of 593 in the qualification

round of 25m Air pistol event. Shefailed to win a medal, finishing 6th inthe final. Eventually, her compatriotRahi Sarnobat clinched the Gold in thisevent.

After her stellar run in the calen-der year, Manu was named as the flagbearer for the Indian contigent atBuenos Aires Youth Olympics inArgentinia.

And there too she lived upto theexpectations and shot 236.5 to stand atthe top of the points table in thewomen’s 10m air pistol event. Thepromising star of the future thusbecame the first shooter from India andthe first female athlete from India tograb a Gold medal at the YouthOlympics games.

Another name that dominated theshooting range along with Manu wasof Saurabh Chaudhary. The boy com-ing from the JAT family of farmers liv-ing in Yamuna & Gangatic plains ofwestern uttar pradesh, went on tobecome the only indian shooter to winGold medal in ISSF world champi-

onship,Youth Olympics, Asian Gamesand Asian air gun championship.

He started his campaign by win-ning Gold at the Asiad and then par-ticipated in the Junior ISSF WorldChampionship to complete the Goldendouble.

After two succesive Gold winningperformances he then went to createhistory in Argentina by becoming thefirst Indian shooter to finish top inYouth Olympic Games.

While in the last assignment of theyear, he participated in Asian AirgunChampionship and confidently wonthree Gold medal (one each in 10 mpistol individual, team competitionand mix team event.)

The third in the list of superstar atsixteen was Anish Bhanwala who fin-sihed first in 25 m rapid fire pistol atGold Coast games. He also won anindividual Gold at ISSF Junior WorldCup in Sydney and Bronze in Suhl.

Apart from these young supertars,seasoned campaigner Jitu Rai (10 metreair pistol), Heena Sidhu (25 metre pis-

tol), Shreyasi Singh (double trap),Tejaswini Sawant (50 metre rifle 3 posi-tions) and Sanjeev Rajput (50 metrerifle 3 positions) finished top inCommonwealth Games.

While, Rahi Sarnobat (25 metre

pistol) bagged Gold in Asian Games. Inprocess she became the first Indianwoman individual to achieve this rarefeat.

�� Tushar Mane (16-year-old, 10 m

air rifle Silver in Youth Oylmpics)Mehuli Ghosh (18-year-old, 10 m

air rifle Silver in Youth Olympics)Esha Singh (13-year-old, 3 Golds

in National C’ship).

In another sensational year for India at the mat, BajrangPunia went to improve his previous best performance in

Commonwealth Games, Asiad and World Championship.The 24-year-old wrestler, who is widely considered as

the medal prospect for 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, par-ticipated in 65 kg category in place of his mentor and idolYogeshwar Dutt (Bronze medallist in 2012 LondonOlympics) and won maiden Gold in Gold Coast and AsianGames. His previous bestwas second place finish inlast edition of both theevents, where he competedin 61 kg category.

He also touched a newhigh in his career by achiev-ing the number one rank inthe world in the 65kg cate-gory.

After finishing second at Budapest WorldChampionship he was placed atop the ranking table with96 points in the UWW list.

It turned out to be a remarkable season for Bajrang, whowas also the only Indian grappler to be given a seeding atthe Wrestling Worlds.

Bajrang is comfortably leading the table as CubanAlejandro Enrique Vlades Tobier is a distant second with66 points.

Overall he finished with five medals this season.

��*��Meanehile taking the legacy of iconic Phogat sisters for-

ward, another one from the family, Vinesh completes hergolden double in 2018 by winning back to back yellow met-als in Gold Coast and Jakarta.

In the process, she also becomes the first Indian femalewrestler to finish top in Asiad.

She also finished second at Asian Wrestling champi-onship in Bishkek, Krygyzstan.

Records shattered, a teen stardiscovered and a best-ever

medal haul at a marquee event— it could well have been theperfect year for Indianweightlifting but for a dopecase that took some sheenaway.

If world championMirabai Chanu stood for asecure present, JeremyLalrinnunga emerged as theone for the future in what wasa memorable 2018 if not forCommonwealth Games Gold-medallist Sanjita Chanu's faileddope test.

The 16-year-oldLalrinnunga scripted historyby giving India its first everOlympic Gold in the sportwith his Youth Games Gold.Before that, the senior liftersproduced the country's bestever Commonwealth Gamesperformance with records toboot.

A medal-less below-par

performance at the AsianGames was a blip but it wasnever expected to be other-wise. The big moment came inOctober when Lalrinnungaetched his name into historybooks when he scooped theGold in the men's 62kg cate-gory at Buenos Aires.

Earlier in April, the seniorweightlifters set the ball rollingat Gold Coast with MirabaiChanu going on a record-smashing spree after PGururaja opened the country'saccount with a Silver medal.

Records continued to tumblewith Sanjita Chanu when sheclaimed her second successiveCWG Gold medal, obliteratingthe Games record with a totallift of 192kg (84kg+108kg).

Indian weightliftersbagged a total of nine medals,including five Golds, twoSilvers, and as many Bronze.

It was also a landmark yearfor weightlifting as theMinistry of Youth Affairs andSports awarded the teacher-pupil duo of Vijay Sharma andMirabai with the Khel Ratna.

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*(�� PV Sindhu struck Gold just in time to shake

off the choker's tag, Saina Nehwal's secondcoming kept getting better and Lakshya Sen wasthe proverbial one for the future in Indian bad-minton's continuous onward march globally eventhough the title count took a hit.

Sindhu dominated the headlines with Silvermedals in all major events before a World TourFinals crown.

On the other hand, Saina, whose recoveryfrom a career-threatening knee injury began witha World Championship Bronze last year, also pro-duced some impressive performances this year.

The highlights were without doubt the Goldand Bronze at the Commonwealth Games andAsian Games respectively. The CWG Gold thatcame after an epic clash with Sindhu in the finalswas a in fact tribute to her determination. Shealso reached the finals at the Indonesia Masters,Denmark Open and Syed Modi International,

besides winningbronze medals atAsia championshipand Asian Games.

The prodigaltalent of 17-year-old Lakshya gave

the belief thatIndian bad-

minton is insafe hands. Heclinched the

Asian JuniorChampionships

title and silverand bronze medals

at the Youth Olympic Games and World JuniorChampionships respectively.

However, the unprecedented number oftitles that Indian shuttlers won last year could-n't be matched this season as star shuttlerKidambi Srikanth looked a pale shadow of hispast self, failing to lay claim to a single title eventhough he made the quarters and semi-finalsregularly.

For Srikanth, who clinched as many as fourtitles in 2017, the highlight of 2018 was the indi-vidual silver at Commonwealth Games. He alsohelped India win a historic team Gold at theGold Coast event. He reached the world no.1ranking for a brief period but as the year pro-gressed, his standing dipped to 8th.

In doubles, Chirag Shetty and SatwiksairajRankireddy reached greater heights, becomingthe first Indian men's doubles pair to win a sil-ver at CWG.

It was touted as the year whichcould herald a change in the

fortunes of Indian hockey, but2018 turned out to be yet anoth-er saga of missed opportunitiesfor the sport.

Much was expected fromthe three big ticket events — theCommonwealth Games, AsianGames and the World Cup — butrather than living upto expecta-tions, 2018 turned out to be a yearof 'what-could-have-been' for theeight-time Olympic champions.

At the start of the year, Indiawere expected to defend theirAsian Games title and directlyqualify for the 2020 TokyoOlympics. They were also expect-ed to make the semifinals at theWorld Cup in Bhubaneswar, butall those hopes never turnedinto reality.

In world rankings, Indiastarted the year at number six andended at fifth, summing up anunaccomplished 2018.

The only constant in Indianhockey in the year was frequent"chopping and changing" — fromplayer to coach — after everydebacle.

In the 27th Sultan AzlanShah Cup veteran Sardar Singhreturned to lead the side but Indiahad a disappointing outing there,managing only a win and a drawto finish a dismal fifth.

And then the side loss toEngland in the bronze medalmatch at the Gold Coast

Commonwealth Games in April.However in the final edition

of the Champions Trophy inBreda, India recorded its bestresult of the year, finishing secondafter losing to Australia in theshoot-out.

India went into the Asiad asfavourites to retain the goldmedal but it was not to be as thedefending champions lost toMalaysia in a shoot-out in thesemifinal, eventually returningwith a consolation Bronze.

In the ACT, India shared thehonours with Pakistan after thefinal was washed out.

But change remained the

only constant for Indian hockey,and this time Harendra decidedto make wholesome changes inthe WC squad, putting his faithon World Cup-winning juniorplayers in place of experiencedcampaigners like Rupinder PalSingh and SV Sunil among oth-ers.

In the WC, the youngbrigade was expected to rewritehistory after 43 years but that wasnot to be as after an impressivepool campaign, during whichthey drew 2-2 with Belgium, thehome team lost 1-2 toNetherlands to crash out in thequarterfinals. Nonetheless, theIndians did impress and fin-ished sixth in the WC, their bestfinish in the mega-event aftersecuring the fifth spot in the 1994edition in Sydney.

Indian table tennis earnedthe world's respect in a

watershed 2018 when thecountry won a historic twomedals at the Asian Gamesafter Manika Batra'sunprecedented showing atthe Commonwealth Games.Sharath Kamal, arguablyIndia's finest player who isstill going strong at 36,summed up the year aptly.

"The Sharath-led men'steam exceeded its ownexpectations by winning aBronze at the Asian Gamesin Jakarta after stunning themighty Japan in the quar-terfinals.

His younger teammateG Sathiyan delivered underpressure by winning both hissingles against higher-rankedopponents. The dream rundid not end there as Sharathand Manika landed a mixeddoubles Bronze which hasgiven them the belief thatthey are good enough to win

an Olympic medal.To put the achievement

in perspective, it was the firsttime that India returnedhome with an Asian Gamesmedal ever since table tenniswas introduced in the megaevent's program in 1958.

While the sport tookgiant strides, a star too wasborn with Manika pocketingas many as four medalsincluding two historic Goldmedals in women's teamand women's singles atCWG.

She beat the then worldnumber four and Olympicmedallist, Feng Tianwei ofSingapore, twice to step onthe top of the podium.

She has been a defining force inIndian boxing for well over a

decade but the timeless M C MaryKom managed to surpass even her-self, obliterating everyone and every-thing else along the way in a tumul-tuous year for the sport.

She turned 36 the day anunprecedented sixth world titlebecame hers in front of adoringhome fans. But it wouldn't be wrongto call Mary Kom ageless for she wasaround when women's boxing tookbaby-steps towards going main-stream and she is around when thesport gears up for an Olympic expan-sion in 2020.

This is not to say that nothingelse happened in Indian boxing.There were quite a few medals to cel-ebrate, a prominent one being AmitPanghal's Asian Games Gold. Whatmade it remarkable was that hedefeated reigning Olympic champi-on Hasanboy Dusmatov in the final.

In a breakthrough year for him,Amit (49kg) also won a silver at theCommonwealth Games.

Then there was the discovery ofa new star in Gaurav Solanki (52kg)after his rather unexpected Goldmedals at the CWG and the presti-gious Chemistry Cup in Germany.

But that wasn't enough to shiftthe spotlight away from Mary Kom,whose year started with a Gold(India Open) and ended with aGold (the world championships).These were two of the four yellowmetals she picked up in all, includ-ing the CWG top honours. Inbetween, there was also a Silver at aprestigious European tournamentin Bulgaria.

But her feats, however remark-able, can't really cover up for the lackof depth in Indian women's boxing.She was India's sole gold-winner inthree exclusively women competi-tions this year and when the teamtravelled without her for the AsianGames, it drew a blank in Jakarta.

In the men's circuit, India regis-

tered an unprecedented eight medalsat the Commonwealth Games —including two Gold won by Gauravand Vikas Krishan (75kg). But therewas an inexplicable dip in the AsianGames with Amit's Gold, along withVikas' bronze, saving the team theblushes.

In the professional circuit,Vijender Singh signed up with thelegendary Bob Arum and will bemaking US debut next year after anunbeaten run in England and India.However, he was not seen in actionthrough the year. Joining him in thecircuit was Vikas, who also signed upwith Arum. Arum is a hall of famerin international boxing and has man-aged the likes of Oscar de la Hoya andFloyd Mayweather Jr. among others.

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�� Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra's obsessive pursuitof excellence and a new-found sprint sensation

in Hima Das gave Indian athletics audaciousOlympic hopes but familiar dope shame kept thingsin perspective in an eventful 2018.

The 20-year-old Neeraj emerged as a seriousOlympic medal contender with a series of impres-sive throws which fetched him a Gold each in theCommonwealth Games and Asian Games.

The dashing six-footer broke his own nation-al record twice during the year. The last one of88.06m won him Gold in the Asian Games and cat-apulted him to the world's elite.

If Neeraj was the cynosure of all eyes, Hima alsocarved out a slice of history by becoming the first

Indian woman athlete to win Gold at the world level.She clinched the top spot in the women's 400m finalrace in the IAAF World Under-20 AthleticsChampionships in Finland.

No woman before Hima won Gold in aWorld Championship at any level. She is also thefirst Indian to win Gold in a track event at the worldlevel.

The two youngsters were not the only onesscripting history. Triple jumper Arpinder Singhbecame the first Indian to clinch a medal in theIAAF Continental Cup with a Bronze.

Dutee Chand (women's 100m), Mohd. Anas(men's 400m) and Jinson Johnson (men's 1500m)and Murali Sreeshanker (men's long jump) wereamong the Indians who created national recordsduring the year.

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˘ ˇˆ - the pioneer · affairs hardeep singh puri and delhi deputy chief minister manish sisodia...

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