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12
M uch of Indian historical heritage is biased towards the Gangetic plains but, as Champaner proves, there is much to see in parts of India you don’t expect to find much history at. This is an ancient land and there is something at every corner which we will dis- cover during the third edition of Hyundai India’s “Great India Drive.” Flagged off at the Statue of Unity near Vadodara by Hyundai India Managing Director SS Kim, we intend to explore some of Gujarat’s impressive historical sites such as Champaner, Rani Ki Vav, the Modhera Sun Temple and the historic centre of Ahmedabad. Gujarat has some of the most impressive historical sites in India, which are usually off the tourist trail but need to be exposed to the driving holiday circuit. The Statue of Unity of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, inde- pendent India’s first Home Minister who effectively brought in the 550 disparate princely states into the Union, is extremely impressive. Built over five years, between October 2013 till its inaugura- tion in October 2018, it is the tallest statue in the world at 192 metres. Clad in over 6,500 bronze plates weighing 1,700 tonne, the statue overlooks the equally impressive Sardar Sarovar Dam and the reservoir behind. The dam, which was highly controversial, is the sec- ond largest cement dam in the world and has the world’s third largest reservoir behind it. Not only does the reservoir water the parched lands of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, it also generates 1,450 megawatts of clean energy. After the flag-off, The Pioneer team was joined by Talish Ray, lawyer and history buff, and travelled to the less- visited site of Champaner, the one-time capital of the Gujarat sultanate and before that of the Chavda empire and the Rajputs afterwards. Champaner is a fascinating site and is the only surviving example of a pre- Mughal Islamic city. It was recently added as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This less- visited site is preserved to per- fection and the city, as we know it today, was built by Mehmud “Begadha” in the mid-15th century. It was sacked by Mughal Emperor Humayun after his defeat by Sher Shah Suri. The hill of Pavagadh that overlooks the city is the only major elevation for miles around and as such was a strategic perch as controlling it meant controlling the plains to the east leading to the pros- perous Malwa region. There are several buildings built on the Pavagadh hill that date back to the 1400s and it is topped with an ancient Kali Mandir, which is believed to have existed since circa 600CE. T he Supreme Court on Wednesday wrapped up the 40-day hearing in the decades-old temple-mosque dispute in Ayodhya — the sec- ond longest proceedings in its history — and reserved its verdict in the politically sensi- tive case that is expected in a month’s time. The concluding day of the marathon hearing during which Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi heading a 5-judge Constitution bench observed “enough is enough” was marked by high drama when Rajeev Dhawan, a senior counsel for the Muslim parties, tore a pictorial map pro- vided by Hindu Mahasabha purportedly showing the exact birth place of Lord Ram in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh. The high voltage hearing in the Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute involving 2.77 acres of land is the second longest after the landmark Keshvanand Bharti case in 1973 during which the proceedings for propounding the doctrine of basic structure of the Constitution continued for 68 days. The hearing on the valid- ity of Aadhaar scheme lasted for 38 days in the top court which came into existence in 1950. The Bench, also compris- ing SA Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and SA Nazeer, came out with schedules for hearing more than once and the arguments, which were first fixed to be concluded by October 18, was advanced to October 17, but on Wednesday, it decided to wrap it up saying “enough is enough”. The Bench is racing against time since the verdict has to be delivered before Justice Gogoi demits office on November 17. It also granted three days to contesting parties to file writ- ten notes on ‘moulding of relief ’ or narrowing down the issues on which the court is required to adjudicate. The hearing was marked by heated exchanges between the lawyers of the Hindu and Muslim sides and midway the issue of settling the dispute through mediation once again cropped up. The first mediation bid failed to find an amicable resolution leading to the com- mencement of day-to-day hear- ing from August 6. Later, the panel, which comprised FMI Kallifulla, a former apex court judge, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of Art of Living Foundation and Sriram Panchu, an acclaimed mediator, was allowed to continue medi- ation proceedings. T he air quality in Delhi has sinked to “very poor” level very early this year, affecting visibility and causing inconve- nience to residents. Not just Delhi where the air quality index has been graded “dark maroon” (between very poor and severe) on Air Quality Index (AQI), areas under the National Capital Region (NCR) are also battling noxious air quality. With 339 micrograms per cubic metre, Ghaziabad is on top in AQI with Noida not far behind at 314. Delhi’s air qual- ity has been recorded 312 micrograms per cubic metre on the AQI scale. Environmentalists attrib- uted spike in pollutant values to surface winds. “The domi- nant factor for the increase at this stage is changing weather conditions rather than external intrusion,” they said. They said stubble burning activities in Haryana, Punjab and nearby border regions has shown an increasing trend over the last 48 hours. “This is for the first time when crop fire has been noticed in western Uttar Pradesh,” said the Environmentalists. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has urged people not to use fire crackers on Diwali. The Center-run pollution monitoring agency SAFAR on Wednesday issued health advi- sory and asked people to keep windows and doors of their rooms shut to avoid exposure. “Avoid outdoor activities early morning and after sunset. Avoid prolonged or heavy exer- tion. Go for a short walk instead of a jog and take more breaks. Stop any activity if you experience any unusual cough- ing, chest discomfort, wheez- ing, breathing difficulty, or fatigue,” said the SAFAR. “Avoid burning of wood, candles or incense. Keep the room clean — do not vacuum. Do wet mopping to reduce dust. Masks known as N-95 or P-100 respirators may only help if you go out,” said the SAFAR. O n hunger index, India has slipped from the 95th rank in 2010 to the 102nd in 2019, behind Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. In 2018, India occu- pied 55th rank. The Global Hunger Index (GHI) measures the level of hunger and undernutrition worldwide. The four indicators for the index are undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting (weight for age) and child mortality. A report released by the International Food Policy Research Institute points out that among the 117 listed coun- tries, 47 are on ‘serious’ and ‘alarming’ hunger levels and one in ‘critically alarming’. India’s dismal performance on hunger is directly linked to the high level of child under- nourishment. Over one in every five children in India is “wasted” (low weight for height), the highest for any country in the report. India is way behind its much poorer neighbours such as Nepal (73rd), Sri Lanka (66th), Bangladesh (88th), Myanmar (69th) and Pakistan (94th), the report said. T he Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has decided, in principle, to keep Pakistan in its Grey List till February 2020, directing Islamabad to take extra measures for com- plete elimination of terror financing and money launder- ing, according to reports on Wednesday. A formal announcement about the interim develop- ments will be made on Friday, the last day of the FATF’s ses- sion, the report said. The FATF will take a final decision on Pakistan in February 2020. The FATF has gave respite of four months to Pakistan to help her implement remaining recommendations of the task force, Aaj TV reported. Pakistan was placed on the Grey List by the Paris-based watchdog in June last year and was given a plan of action to complete it by October 2019, or face the risk of being placed on the black list with Iran and North Korea. If Pakistan continues in the Grey List, it would be very dif- ficult for the country to get financial aid from the IMF, the World Bank and the European Union, making its financial condition more precarious. Islamabad is obligated to report its performance to the group every three months. However, Pakistan’s Finance Ministry spokesperson Omar Hameed Khan rejected the reports of the country remaining in the Grey List, say- ing “it is not true and nothing before October 18 (can be confirmed)”. T he Supreme Court on Wednesday witnessed a dramatic scenes as infuriated Rajeev Dhawan, lawyer for Sunni Wakf Board and other Muslim parties in the Ayodhya title case, tore up the pictorial map provided by a Hindu party purportedly showing the exact birthplace of Lord Ram on the concluding day of the marathon hearing. As the news of tearing of pictorial map spread like wild- fire on social media, Dhavan told the court during the post- lunch session, “The incident is going viral.” Dhavan took strong objec- tion to senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for a faction of All India Hindu Mahasabha (AIHM), relying on the site map and books written by foreign and Indian authors to buttress claims that the central dome of the now demolished structure was the birthplace of deity “Ram Lalla”. Dhavan said such docu- ments (maps) cannot be relied upon in the matter now as the issue of location of “janm- sthan” was discussed by the Allahabad High Court on other documents. When he vigorously raised objections to the reliance on the pictorial map, which is also part of the book “Ayodhya Revisited” by former Bihar cadre IPS officer Kishore Kunal, Singh said he will not press the pictorial map to be taken on record. Following this, Dhawan was seen tearing the pictorial map to the utter shock of the lawyers and visi- tors in the packed courtroom. Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi at this point told Dhavan, “You can shred it further, Mr Dhavan.” After Dhawan did so, the exasperated CJI commented, “If these are the kind of argu- ments going on, then, we can just get up and walk out.” The drama did not end there and during the hearing in the post lunch session, Dhavan again referred to the pre-lunch incident and said that “outside the court, it has become viral”. “The news that has become viral is that I on my own tore the papers,” he said. Dhavan said he had asked and sought the permission of the Bench whether those papers can be thrown and the reply from the CJI was “if it is irrelevant, you can tear it”. “The CJI said I could shred the papers and I just followed the order," Dhavan said. New Delhi: At a time when Delhi and NCR is witnessing spike in air pollution, an IIT Kharagpur student has invent- ed a device named — PM (minus) — 2.5 which, he claimed, when fitted near the silencer pipes in vehicles will curb air pollution. “The technology devel- oped by us uses a combination of electric energy and wave energy to attract the pollutants like PM 2.5,” he said. T he Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday arrested former Finance Minister P Chidambaram after grilling him inside Tihar Jail in con- nection with the INX Media money laundering case. Chidambaram was under- going judicial custody in a related CBI case in which he was probed under Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA). Shortly after his arrest, the ED filed a petition before Special judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar seek- ing a 14-day custo- dial interrogation of the 74-year-old Congress veteran. While issuing a production warrant against Chidambaram in the ED case, the court said it will take up the remand plea on Thursday when his judicial custody in the CBI case expires. The court directed the jail authorities to produce Chidambaram at 3 pm on Thursday. CBI sources, meanwhile, said the probe agency is all set to file a chargesheet in the cor- ruption case in which it is like- ly to name Chidambaram and his son Karti. The ED’s action against Chidambaram comes after the special Judge on Tuesday allowed the agency to interro- gate Chidambaram in jail and arrest him, if necessary. A three-member ED team arrived at the prison at 8.15 am, and remained in the premises for about two hours during which they briefly questioned Chidambaram after he was placed under arrest. The arrest was made under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and his statement was also recorded under the same provision of law, officials said. The ED had questioned Chidambaram a number of times in the past in connec- tion with the money laundering probe but the Rajya Sabha member was not arrested due to a court directive barring the agency from taking any coercive action. The ED’s move also comes against the backdrop of fresh leads from foreign countries in response to Letter Rogatory (judicial request) and his cus- todial interrogation will further help in unearthing the money laundering con- spiracy and aid in establishing the proceeds of crime, officials said. RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015

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Page 1: English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today News in ... · will take a final decision on Pakistan in February 2020. ... cadre IPS officer Kishore Kunal, Singh said he will not

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Much of Indian historicalheritage is biased towards

the Gangetic plains but, asChampaner proves, there ismuch to see in parts of Indiayou don’t expect to find muchhistory at. This is an ancientland and there is something atevery corner which we will dis-cover during the third edition of Hyundai India’s“Great India Drive.”

Flagged off at the Statue ofUnity near Vadodara byHyundai India ManagingDirector SS Kim, we intend toexplore some of Gujarat’simpressive historical sites suchas Champaner, Rani Ki Vav, theModhera Sun Temple and thehistoric centre of Ahmedabad.

Gujarat has some of the mostimpressive historical sites inIndia, which are usually off thetourist trail but need to beexposed to the driving holidaycircuit.

The Statue of Unity ofSardar Vallabhbhai Patel, inde-pendent India’s first Home

Minister who effectivelybrought in the 550 disparateprincely states into the Union,is extremely impressive. Builtover five years, betweenOctober 2013 till its inaugura-tion in October 2018, it is thetallest statue in the world at 192metres. Clad in over 6,500

bronze plates weighing 1,700tonne, the statue overlooks theequally impressive SardarSarovar Dam and the reservoirbehind. The dam, which washighly controversial, is the sec-ond largest cement dam in theworld and has the world’s thirdlargest reservoir behind it. Notonly does the reservoir waterthe parched lands of Gujarat,Madhya Pradesh andRajasthan, it also generates1,450 megawatts of clean energy.

After the flag-off, ThePioneer team was joined byTalish Ray, lawyer and historybuff, and travelled to the less-visited site of Champaner, theone-time capital of the Gujaratsultanate and before that of theChavda empire and the Rajputsafterwards. Champaner is afascinating site and is the onlysurviving example of a pre-Mughal Islamic city. It wasrecently added as a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site. This less-visited site is preserved to per-fection and the city, as we

know it today, was built byMehmud “Begadha” in themid-15th century. It was sackedby Mughal Emperor Humayunafter his defeat by Sher ShahSuri.

The hill of Pavagadh thatoverlooks the city is the onlymajor elevation for milesaround and as such was a

strategic perch as controlling itmeant controlling the plains tothe east leading to the pros-perous Malwa region. There areseveral buildings built on thePavagadh hill that date back tothe 1400s and it is topped withan ancient Kali Mandir, whichis believed to have existed sincecirca 600CE.

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The Supreme Court onWednesday wrapped up

the 40-day hearing in thedecades-old temple-mosquedispute in Ayodhya — the sec-ond longest proceedings in itshistory — and reserved itsverdict in the politically sensi-tive case that is expected in amonth’s time.

The concluding day of themarathon hearing during whichChief Justice Ranjan Gogoiheading a 5-judge Constitutionbench observed “enough isenough” was marked by highdrama when Rajeev Dhawan, asenior counsel for the Muslimparties, tore a pictorial map pro-vided by Hindu Mahasabhapurportedly showing the exactbirth place of Lord Ram inAyodhya in Uttar Pradesh.

The high voltage hearing inthe Ram Janambhoomi-BabriMasjid dispute involving 2.77acres of land is the secondlongest after the landmarkKeshvanand Bharti case in 1973during which the proceedings

for propounding the doctrine ofbasic structure of theConstitution continued for 68days. The hearing on the valid-ity of Aadhaar scheme lasted for

38 days in the top court whichcame into existence in 1950.

The Bench, also compris-ing SA Bobde, DYChandrachud, Ashok Bhushan

and SA Nazeer, came out withschedules for hearing morethan once and the arguments,which were first fixed to beconcluded by October 18, was

advanced to October 17, but onWednesday, it decided to wrapit up saying “enough is enough”.

The Bench is racing againsttime since the verdict has to bedelivered before Justice Gogoidemits office on November 17.

It also granted three days tocontesting parties to file writ-ten notes on ‘moulding ofrelief ’ or narrowing down theissues on which the court isrequired to adjudicate.

The hearing was markedby heated exchanges betweenthe lawyers of the Hindu andMuslim sides and midway theissue of settling the disputethrough mediation once againcropped up. The first mediationbid failed to find an amicableresolution leading to the com-mencement of day-to-day hear-ing from August 6. Later, thepanel, which comprised FMIKallifulla, a former apex courtjudge, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar,founder of Art of LivingFoundation and SriramPanchu, an acclaimed mediator,was allowed to continue medi-ation proceedings.

������������� �5��4567$

The air quality in Delhi hassinked to “very poor” level

very early this year, affectingvisibility and causing inconve-nience to residents.

Not just Delhi where theair quality index has beengraded “dark maroon”(between very poor and severe)on Air Quality Index (AQI),areas under the NationalCapital Region (NCR) are alsobattling noxious air quality.

With 339 micrograms percubic metre, Ghaziabad is ontop in AQI with Noida not farbehind at 314. Delhi’s air qual-ity has been recorded 312micrograms per cubic metre onthe AQI scale.

Environmentalists attrib-uted spike in pollutant valuesto surface winds. “The domi-nant factor for the increase atthis stage is changing weatherconditions rather than externalintrusion,” they said.

They said stubble burningactivities in Haryana, Punjaband nearby border regions hasshown an increasing trend overthe last 48 hours. “This is forthe first time when crop fire hasbeen noticed in western Uttar Pradesh,” said theEnvironmentalists.

The Central PollutionControl Board (CPCB) hasurged people not to use firecrackers on Diwali.

The Center-run pollutionmonitoring agency SAFAR onWednesday issued health advi-

sory and asked people to keepwindows and doors of theirrooms shut to avoid exposure.

“Avoid outdoor activitiesearly morning and after sunset.Avoid prolonged or heavy exer-tion. Go for a short walkinstead of a jog and take morebreaks. Stop any activity if youexperience any unusual cough-ing, chest discomfort, wheez-ing, breathing difficulty, orfatigue,” said the SAFAR.

“Avoid burning of wood,candles or incense. Keep theroom clean — do not vacuum.Do wet mopping to reducedust. Masks known as N-95 orP-100 respirators may onlyhelp if you go out,” said theSAFAR.

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On hunger index, India hasslipped from the 95th rank

in 2010 to the 102nd in 2019,behind Nepal, Bangladesh andPakistan. In 2018, India occu-pied 55th rank.

The Global Hunger Index(GHI) measures the level ofhunger and undernutritionworldwide.

The four indicators for theindex are undernourishment,child stunting, child wasting(weight for age) and child mortality.

A report released by theInternational Food Policy

Research Institute points outthat among the 117 listed coun-tries, 47 are on ‘serious’ and‘alarming’ hunger levels andone in ‘critically alarming’.

India’s dismal performanceon hunger is directly linked tothe high level of child under-nourishment. Over one inevery five children in India is“wasted” (low weight forheight), the highest for anycountry in the report.

India is way behind itsmuch poorer neighbours suchas Nepal (73rd), Sri Lanka(66th), Bangladesh (88th),Myanmar (69th) and Pakistan(94th), the report said.

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The Financial Action TaskForce (FATF) has decided,

in principle, to keep Pakistan inits Grey List till February 2020,directing Islamabad to take extra measures for com-plete elimination of terror financing and money launder-ing, according to reports on Wednesday.

A formal announcementabout the interim develop-ments will be made on Friday,the last day of the FATF’s ses-sion, the report said. The FATFwill take a final decision onPakistan in February 2020.

The FATF has gave respiteof four months to Pakistan tohelp her implement remainingrecommendations of the taskforce, Aaj TV reported.

Pakistan was placed on

the Grey List by the Paris-basedwatchdog in June last year andwas given a plan of action tocomplete it by October 2019, orface the risk of being placed onthe black list with Iran andNorth Korea.

If Pakistan continues in theGrey List, it would be very dif-ficult for the country to getfinancial aid from the IMF, theWorld Bank and the EuropeanUnion, making its financialcondition more precarious.Islamabad is obligated to reportits performance to the groupevery three months.

However, Pakistan’sFinance Ministry spokespersonOmar Hameed Khan rejectedthe reports of the countryremaining in the Grey List, say-ing “it is not true and nothingbefore October 18 (can beconfirmed)”.

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The Supreme Court onWednesday witnessed a

dramatic scenes as infuriatedRajeev Dhawan, lawyer forSunni Wakf Board and otherMuslim parties in the Ayodhyatitle case, tore up the pictorialmap provided by a Hinduparty purportedly showing theexact birthplace of Lord Ramon the concluding day of themarathon hearing.

As the news of tearing ofpictorial map spread like wild-fire on social media, Dhavantold the court during the post-lunch session, “The incident isgoing viral.”

Dhavan took strong objec-tion to senior advocate VikasSingh, appearing for a factionof All India Hindu Mahasabha(AIHM), relying on the sitemap and books written by

foreign and Indian authors tobuttress claims that the centraldome of the now demolishedstructure was the birthplace ofdeity “Ram Lalla”.

Dhavan said such docu-ments (maps) cannot be reliedupon in the matter now as theissue of location of “janm-sthan” was discussed by theAllahabad High Court onother documents.

When he vigorously raisedobjections to the reliance onthe pictorial map, which is alsopart of the book “AyodhyaRevisited” by former Biharcadre IPS officer KishoreKunal, Singh said he will notpress the pictorial map to betaken on record. Followingthis, Dhawan was seen tearingthe pictorial map to the uttershock of the lawyers and visi-tors in the packed courtroom.

Chief Justice of India

Ranjan Gogoi at this point toldDhavan, “You can shred itfurther, Mr Dhavan.”

After Dhawan did so, theexasperated CJI commented,“If these are the kind of argu-ments going on, then, we canjust get up and walk out.”

The drama did not endthere and during the hearing inthe post lunch session, Dhavanagain referred to the pre-lunchincident and said that “outsidethe court, it has become viral”.

“The news that hasbecome viral is that I on myown tore the papers,” he said.

Dhavan said he had askedand sought the permission ofthe Bench whether thosepapers can be thrown and thereply from the CJI was “if it isirrelevant, you can tear it”.

“The CJI said I could shredthe papers and I just followedthe order," Dhavan said.

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New Delhi: At a time whenDelhi and NCR is witnessingspike in air pollution, an IITKharagpur student has invent-ed a device named — PM(minus) — 2.5 which, heclaimed, when fitted near thesilencer pipes in vehicles willcurb air pollution.

“The technology devel-oped by us uses a combinationof electric energy and waveenergy to attract the pollutantslike PM 2.5,” he said.

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) on

Wednesday arrested formerFinance Minister PChidambaram after grillinghim inside Tihar Jail in con-nection with the INX Mediamoney laundering case.

Chidambaram was under-going judicial custody in arelated CBI case in which hewas probed underPrevention ofCorruption Act(PCA).

Shortly after hisarrest, the ED fileda petition beforeSpecial judge AjayKumar Kuhar seek-ing a 14-day custo-dial interrogation ofthe 74-year-oldCongress veteran.

While issuing aproduction warrantagainst Chidambaram in theED case, the court said it willtake up the remand plea onThursday when his judicialcustody in the CBI case expires.

The court directed the jailauthorities to produceChidambaram at 3 pm onThursday.

CBI sources, meanwhile,said the probe agency is all setto file a chargesheet in the cor-ruption case in which it is like-ly to name Chidambaram andhis son Karti.

The ED’s action against

Chidambaram comes after thespecial Judge on Tuesdayallowed the agency to interro-gate Chidambaram in jail andarrest him, if necessary.

A three-member ED teamarrived at the prison at 8.15 am,and remained in the premisesfor about two hours duringwhich they briefly questionedChidambaram after he wasplaced under arrest.

The arrest was made underthe provisions of thePrevention of MoneyLaundering Act(PMLA) and hisstatement was alsorecorded under thesame provision oflaw, officials said.

The ED hadq u e s t i o n e dChidambaram anumber of times inthe past in connec-tion with the moneylaundering probe but

the Rajya Sabha member wasnot arrested due to a courtdirective barring the agencyfrom taking any coerciveaction.

The ED’s move also comesagainst the backdrop of freshleads from foreign countries inresponse to Letter Rogatory(judicial request) and his cus-todial interrogation will further help in unearthingthe money laundering con-spiracy and aid in establishingthe proceeds of crime, officialssaid.

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Blaming the Governmentfor the current state of eco-

nomic crisis and unemploy-ment in the country, the Leftparties on Wednesday held aprotest rally at Jantar Mantarand said the BJP-led NDA dis-pensation's "negative policies"has affected the economy.

Left leaders like CPI(M)general secretary SitaramYechury, Secretary, AIPWA,Kavita Krishnan and CPI gen-eral secretary D Raja along withthe party workers led theprotest and marched towardsthe Parliament street policestation, where barricades wereplaced.

The left parties alleged thatthe government was "plunder-ing" the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) and banks to bailout cor-porates, instead of boostingdemand by raising minimumwages, old-age pension.

Yechury, while addressingthe demonstration, pointedout that the economic slow-down in the country is a directresult of the "negative policiesof the Government". He said

this includes demonetisationand faulty implementation ofGST, which have adverselyaffected the economy.

"India's economy wasalready reeling under increas-ing unemployment, price rise,retrenchment and livelihoodissues. The Modi Governmenthas been ignoring the high rateof unemployment, contractsystem, low wages and agrari-an crisis. This has put hugeburdens on the vast workingsections of the country," hesaid.

The parties also allegedthat the Government has with-drawn �1.76 lakh crore fromthe RBI and instead of using itfor public expenditure, whichcan generate new jobs andincrease domestic demand, itwants to compensate the fiscaldeficit of �1.70 lakh crore,which was a result of demon-etisation and Goods andServices Tax (GST).

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President Ram Nath Kovindw i l l

embark ona week-longtwo-nationtrip to thePhilippinesand Japan,s t a r t i n gOctober 17.He will visitt h ePhilippinesfrom October 17-21 and Japanfrom October 21-23.

Vijay Thakur Singh, MEASecretary (East), said: "ThePresident's visit to thePhilippines is being undertak-en with a view to carry forwardthe high-level engagement thatwe have with them."

"The Philippines is a keypartner of India in the ASEANregion and relations with thePhilippines have been friend-ly and we have common valuesand our economic relation-ship has been growing," shetold reporters.

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Indians are opting more forexotic and crossbred cattle

than the desi ones, as per thelatest livestock census report.While the population of desicattle in India has declined bynearly one crore in the lastseven years — between the lastlivestock Census in 2012 to thecurrent one in 2019 to be precise — the population ofexotic and crossbred cattle haswitnessed an increase of 1.14crore during the same period.Interestingly, the overall livestock numbers have, however, increased with thefemale cow population registering an 18 percent rise.

The total livestock popula-tion is 535.78 million, anincrease of 4.6 percent, as com-pared to the previous census. Asper the report, the population ofdesi cattle is estimated at 142.11million compared to the previ-ous 2012 census figure of 151.17

million. There is a decline of 6% in the total Indigenous/non-descript cattle population overthe previous census. However,the pace of decline ofIndigenous/ Non-descript cattlepopulation during 2012-2019 ismuch lesser than as compared tothe 2007-12 which was about 9percent. The population ofdesi cattle is decreasing since1992, when it population wasrecorded at 189.37 million.

The 20th Livestock Censuswas carried out in about 6.6lakh villages and 89000 urbanwards across the country cov-ering more than 27 crores ofhouseholds and non-house-holds.

The female cattle or cowpopulation is 145.12 millionwhich an increase of 18 percentover the previous census whiletotal milch animals (cows andbuffaloes) is estimated 125.34million, an increase of 6 per-cent over the last census. Thisis an indicator that farmers pre-

fer to crossbreds to get moremilk. According to farmers,indigenous cow gives 700-800litres over a 300-305 days lac-tation cycle, compared to 4000-5000 litres of crossbreds.

The latest census alsopoints that the exotic andcrossbred cattle population hasjumped to 50.42 million in2019 as compared to 39 millionin 2012.

The total bovine popula-tion (cattle, buffalo, mithun andyak) is 302.79 million whichshows an increase of about onepercent over the last census.The total number of cattle inthe country is 192.49 million,an increase of 0.8 percent ascompared to the last census.The population of buffaloes is109.85 million showing anincrease of about 1.0 percentover previous census.

The total population ofsheep is 74.26 million, anincrease of 14.1 percent whilegoat population is 148.88 mil-

lion, an increase of 10.1 percentover the previous census.There is a decline of 12.01 per-cent in pig's population in thecountry. Pig is 9.06 million inthe country while the com-bined population of other live-stock including mithun, yak,horses, pornies, mule, don-keys and camel is 1.24 million.

As per the report, the totalpoultry in the country is 851.81million, an increase of 16.8 per-cent from 729.2 million in 2012.The total birds in the backyardpoultry is 317.07 million whichis showing an increase of 46 per-cent as compared to the previ-ous census. On the other hand,the total commercial poultry is534.74 million which is anincrease of 4.5 percent overprevious census.

In 2012, India's livestockpopulation — including cattle,buffaloes, sheep, goats, pigs,horses and ponies, mules, don-keys, camels, mithun and yaks- was 51.2 crore, a fall of 3.3%

over the previous census, con-ducted in 2007. Cattle countdeclined from 19.9 crore in2007 to 19 crore in 2012.

The Livestock Census hasbeen conducted in the countryperiodically since 1919-20. TheLivestock Census covers alldomesticated animals and itsheadcounts. So far 19 such cen-suses have been conducted inparticipation with StateGovernments and UTAdministrations.

Officials said that the enu-meration was done both inrural and urban areas. "Variousspecies of animals (Cattle,Buffalo, Mithun, Yak, Sheep,Goat, Pig, Horse, Pony, Mule,Donkey Camel, Dog, Rabbitand Elephant)/poultry birds(Fowl, Duck, Emu, Turkeys,Quail and other poultry birds)possessed by the households,household enterprises/non-household enterprises andinstitutions have been countedat their site," they said.

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The National Council ofEducational Research and

Training (NCERT) is planningto review the 14-year-oldNational CurriculumFramework (NCF) in accor-dance with a new nationaleducation policy (NEP) and setup a committee for the pur-pose.

According to NCERTDirector Hrushikesh Senapaty,the council is going to announcea committee by the end of thismonth which will revisit theNCF to bring it on lines of thenew education policy.

The NCF has been revisedfour times so far — in 1975,1988, 2000 and 2005. Thenew proposed revision will bethe fifth of the framework. "Weare just waiting for the new education policy to befinalised and a committee forreviewing the NCF will beannounced by month-end.The committee, however, willkeep NEP as the base of revi-sion. Ultimately the textbookswill be revised as per the newframework," Senapaty toldmews agencies.

"It has been over 14 yearssince the last framework wasrevised. We did review thetextbooks in last two years butonce the new education policyis in place, the curriculumframework will need thoroughrevision," he said. The councilis also undertaking a survey in

six blocks to analyse the quality of primary educationavailable and the areas thatneed change.

"The blocks that have beenidentified for the preliminarysurvey are in Shillong, Mysore,Rajasthan, Bhopaland Orissa. Ateam of NCERT officials is vis-iting each of the block and con-ducting the survey. Once thefinding are received, the surveywill be conducted in moreareas and the findings will alsobe reviewed for the new curriculum framework,"Senapaty said.

The revision of NCERTtextbooks has also been rec-ommended in the new educa-tion policy draft. It has beenadvised that the textbooksshould be revised to containonly the essential core materi-al in each subject, keeping inmind a constructivist, discov-ery-based, analysis-based,engaging, and enjoyable style oflearning.

A panel led by formerIndian Space ResearchOrganisation (ISRO) chief KKasturirangan had submittedthe draft of the new nationaleducation policy to UnionHuman Resource DevelopmentMinister Ramesh Pokhriyal'Nishank' when he took charge.The draft was then put in public domain to seek feedbackfrom various stakeholders andover two lakh suggestions werereceived by the HRD Ministryabout the same.

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All the technological, cultural and social

advances of the last fewdecades notwithstanding, soci-ety is failing its kids in pro-viding healthy diets. For, atleast one in three childrenunder five across the globe aresuffering due to poor diets andfaulty food system, a latestreport of the United NationsChildren's Fund (UNICEF)has said.

The alarming revelationcomes just months after astudy in the Lancet warnedthat two-thirds of the 1.04million deaths in childrenunderfive years in India are stillattributable to malnutrition.This accounts for 68.2 percent of the total under-5deaths, translating into 706,000deaths (due to malnutrition).

As per the 'The State of theWorld's Children 2019:Children, food and nutrition'at least 1 in 3 children underfive - or over 200 million - iseither undernourished or over-weight. Almost 2 in 3 childrenbetween six months and twoyears of age are not fed foodthat supports their rapidlygrowing bodies and brains.

This puts them at risk of poorbrain development, weaklearning, low immunity,increased infections and, inmany cases, death, warns thereport.

"Despite all the technolog-ical, cultural and socialadvances of the last fewdecades, we have lost sight ofthis most basic fact: If childreneat poorly, they live poorly,"said Henrietta Fore, UNICEFExecutive Director.

"Millions of children sub-sist on an unhealthy dietbecause they simply do nothave a better choice. The waywe understand and respond tomalnutrition needs to change:It is not just about getting chil-dren enough to eat; it is aboveall about getting them theright food to eat. That is ourcommon challenge today."

The report provides themost comprehensive assess-ment yet of 21st century childmalnutrition in all its forms. Itdescribes a triple burden ofmalnutrition: Undernutrition,hidden hunger caused by a lackof essential nutrients, and over-weight among children underthe age of five.

The report warns that pooreating and feeding practices

start from the earliest days ofa child's life. Though breast-feeding can save lives, forexample, only 42 per cent ofchildren under six months ofage are exclusively breastfedand an increasing number ofchildren are fed infant formu-la. Sales of milk-based formu-la grew by 72 per cent between2008 and 2013 in upper mid-dle-income countries such asBrazil, China and Turkey,largely due to inappropriatemarketing and weak policiesand programmes to protect,promote and support breastfeeding.

As children begin transi-tioning to soft or solid foodsaround the six-month mark,too many are introduced to thewrong kind of diet, accordingto the report. Worldwide, closeto 45 per cent of childrenbetween six months and two

years of age are not fed anyfruits or vegetables. Nearly 60per cent do not eat any eggs,dairy, fish or meat.

As children grow older,their exposure to unhealthyfood becomes alarming, drivenlargely by inappropriate mar-keting and advertising, theabundance of ultra-processedfoods in cities but also inremote areas, and increasingaccess to fast food and highlysweetened beverages.

In India too, two-thirds ofthe 1.04 million deaths in chil-dren under five years in Indiaare still attributable to malnu-trition. According to a reportpublished in the The LancetChild & Adolescent Health bythe India State-Level DiseaseBurden malnutrition in chil-dren varies 7-fold among theStates and is highest inRajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Biharand Assam, followed byMadhya Pradesh,Chhattisgarh, Odisha,Nagaland and Tripura.

It said malnutrition con-tinue to be the leading risk fac-tor for death in children underfive years, and is also the lead-ing risk factor for disease bur-den for all ages consideredtogether in most States.

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Fearing a setback in Haryanaand Maharashtra, the top

Congress leadership hasrefrained itself from goingahead with a full-throttle pollcampaign for the October 21Assembly election in the twoStates.

While Congress presidentSonia Gandhi will address justone public rally in Haryana, herpredecessor Rahul Gandhi hasmade a late entry in the cam-paign after returning fromBangkok.

Former Prime MinisterManmohan Singh too will jointhe party's campaign in only inthe last lap and that too, just inneighboring Haryana.

Congress GeneralSecretary Priyanka GandhiVadra, who jumped into main-stream politics couple ofmonths before the Lok Sabhapolls, and is in the star cam-paigner list for both the States,is yet to hit the campaign trailand that has caused worry inthe grand old party which isalso reportedly hit by cashcrunch to meet the pollexpenses.

The campaigning in boththe states will come to an endon Saturday. Contrary to theCongress, the top ruling partyleaders including PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andHome Minister Amit Shah

have addressed many rallies inboth the States.

While the Congress, whichis fighting internal squabblingin both the States, is againbanking on a reluctant RahulGandhi, who as per AICCsources did not show any inter-est in the selection of even thecandidates for the polls. Rahulhas so far addressed five ralliesin Maharashtra and one inHaryana while Sonia andManmohan Singh will join theparty's campaign only in its fagend at Mahendragarh districton Friday. The former PM,however, will address two Pressconferences in Mumbai and inChandigarh during the nexttwo days of campaign.

Congress is facing elec-tions after Rahul Gandhiresigned as party chief follow-ing the debacle in Lok Sabhapolls and Sonia Gandhi waschosen as interim president ofthe party by the CongressWorking Committee (CWC)."Sonia has kept a low profileand is yet to address her firstrally. This is a cause of worryas party workers were moti-

vated soon after she took overas the boss," sources said.

While BJP has been talkingof achievements of abrogationof special status to Jammu &Kashmir under Article 370,triple talaq etc, Congress hasbeen taking on the BJP-ledGovernment on the economicslowdown and restlessness perse jobs.

The Congress is fightingthe Haryana polls on its ownunder the leadership of formerChief Minister BhupinderSingh Hooda, it is in alliancewith NCP in Maharashtra andfaces an uphill task to counterthe image of Modi.

Rahul's rallies, have, infact, seen the absence of pop-ular Mumbai leaders likeMilind Deora and SanjayNirupam. The candidates tooare not getting enough funds tosupport and sustain their cam-paigns. Many Congress candi-dates in Maharashtra claimedthat they have not been givenany party funds for their cam-paign. Usually, the party givesaround �10 lakh to each candidate.

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In a major success for thesecurity forces, the Jammu &

Kashmir Police on Wednesdayarrested the most wanted mas-termind of stone pelting indowntown Srinagar, HayatDar, from the State Capital.The Intelligence-based opera-tion to nab Dar was carried outfollowing inputs suggestinghis renewed role in master-minding stone-pelting post-abrogation of special status toJammu & Kashmir underArticle 370 on August 5.

Dar is alleged to have beeninstigating the area residents ofAnchar Lake and Soura local-ities in Srinagar for indulgingin stone pelting against thesecurity forces as also disturb-ing the law and order situation.

Dar was in the past bookedunder the stringent PublicSafety Act besides three casesunder anti-terror law UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Act.

Sources said Dar was alsoin regular touch with the ter-ror operators in Pakistan and issaid to have been indulging inrumour mongering to incitepeople for hitting the security

forces and maximise the impactof such illegal acts. Dar was onthe radar of the agencies inJammu & Kashmir as a dis-cernible pattern was noticed inthe protests and stone peltingafter the annulment of theprovisions of Article 370 andother inputs also suggested hisrole in vitiating the law andorder situation.

The agencies are expectedto jointly interrogate Dar tounravel the larger nexus behindstone pelting and modusoperandi of such activities andthe network of operators acrossthe Valley and their patronagefrom Pakistan besides the fund-ing mechanism. Officials expectthe role and the financing pat-ter will also be unraveled dur-ing Dar's grilling by the sleuths.

Inputs also indicate a por-tion of the proceeds from ille-gal farming of opium in SouthKashmir by the cadres ofPakistan-based terror groups inthe Valley is used for fundingstone pelting across the Valley.Other funding mechanismsinclude money transfersthrough hawala operators bythe Lashkar-e-Tayyba andJaish-e-Mohammad.

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The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD)

announced that the southwestmonsoon has withdrawn com-pletely from the entire countryon Wednesday, just 8-9 daysafter it started receding fromnorthwest India.

Its withdrawal onWednesday was accompaniedby the arrival of the northeastmonsoon, which is the prima-ry rainy season for Tamil Nadu,Andhra Pradesh, Karnatakaand Kerala. This is also perhapsthe fastest withdrawal of thesouthwest monsoon.According to the IMD, it wasalso unusual since both thewithdrawal of southwest mon-soon and arrival of the north-east monsoon took place on thesame day — October 16.

"The Southwest Monsoon

has withdrawn from the entirecountry and simultaneouslyNortheast Monsoon rains havecommenced over Tamil Naduand adjoining areas of AndhraPradesh, Karnataka andKerala," the IMD said in a state-ment.

Normally, the monsoonbegins withdrawing aroundSeptember 1, with the retreatcomplete by October 15. Thisyear, though, the retreat beganon October 9, marking thelongest ever delay, and wascomplete by October 16.

Unlike the southwest mon-soon which brings rainfall overthe entire country, north-eastmonsoon brings rainfall onlyover Tamil Nadu, coastalAndhra Pradesh, Rayalseema,Kerala, and south-interiorKarnataka during October toDecember. It is also crucial forcultivation of rabi crops such as

wheat.The four-month southwest

monsoon season is crucial forIndia, as it accounts for over75% of the country's annualrainfall. It determines the agri-cultural production and thusimpacts the economy. Unlikelast year, when 9% below nor-mal rains left various parts ofthe country reeling underdroughts, the seasonal rainfallthis year was in excess of 10%.

The IMD said that acyclonic circulation lies overeast-central Arabian Sea offsouth Karnataka coast at lowerlevels. A trough runs fromnorth Sri Lanka coast to abovecyclonic circulation at lowerlevels.

A trough in easterlies runsfrom southwest Bay of Bengaloff south Tamil Nadu coast towest-central Bay of Bengal atlower levels, it added.

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New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Wednesday reservedits verdict on a plea by a deathrow convict seeking review ofthe apex court's judgementaffirming the capital punish-ment imposed on him for "hor-ribly" gang-raping a minor girland killing her along with her

brother in Coimbatore in 2010.A three-judge bench of

Justices R F Nariman, SanjivKhanna and Surya Kantreserved the judgement andasked the counsel appearing forthe state to file written sub-missions within a week."HeardSiddharth Luthra, senior advo-

cate, appearing on behalf of thepetitioner. He has furnished adetailed written submission,which will be considered by us.We give one week's time toYogesh Kanna, counsel appear-ing on behalf of the State do so.Judgment reserved," the benchsaid. PTI

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Wednesday agreedto hear on October 18 a plea seeking directions for interimprotective measures forinsuring around 15 lakh cus-tomers whose money isblocked in the scam-hit PMCBank.

The Punjab & Maharashtra

Co-operative Bank has beenput under restrictions by theReserve Bank of India (RBI)following the discovery of a�4,355-crore scam.

Deposit withdrawals havebeen capped at �40,000 over asix-month period, causingpanic and distress among the depositors. PTI

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Wednesday depre-cated the attempts made forrecusal of a judge from aConstitution bench hearingchallenges to provisions of theLand Acquisition Act saying itis nothing but a ploy of "benchhunting" which, if allowed,"would destroy the institu-tion".

The top court said ifrequest of parties demandingthat Justice Arun Mishra be

recused from the five-judgeConstitution bench is accept-ed, it would be the "blackestchapter in history" as an"onslaught is going on to tamethe judiciary".

The bench, also compris-ing justices Indira Banerjee,Vineet Sharan, M R Shah andS Ravindra Bhat, said it wouldpronounce order on October23 on the plea seeking therecusal.

"This is nothing but an

attempt of bench hunting andyou want a person of your lik-ing to be in the bench. If weallow your request and acceptyour view for recusal of judge,it will be destroying the insti-tution. This is a serious issueand history will judge it thateven senior counsel wereinvolved in this attempt,"Justice Mishra told senioradvocate Shyam Divan,appearing for some farmerassociation. PTI

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Page 3: English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today News in ... · will take a final decision on Pakistan in February 2020. ... cadre IPS officer Kishore Kunal, Singh said he will not

RAIPUR | THURSDAY | OCTOBER 17, 2019chhattisgarh 03

Industries and Excise Minister Kawasi Lakhma played ‘Dhol’ and danced to its tunes with villagers as part of ‘Navakhai Tihaar’ celebrations at hisnative village, Nagraas of Sukma district on Wednesday.

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Food and Civil SuppliesMinister Amarjeet Bhagat

informed that under ‘Food forAll’-Universal PublicDistribution System which hasbeen launched in the state onOctober 2 this year is benefit-ting 85% of the state populacewho are getting food-grains onsubsidised price.

Addressing a press confer-ence, he said the AbovePoverty Line consumers inPDS were till date not receiv-ing the benefits as per it wasintended in the preamble ofChhattisgarh Food andNutrition Security Act-2012.

There was contradiction inpreamble and Section 15 (4) ofthe act and because of it a largesection of the society was not

getting benefit from theprovisions of the act, he said.

“The Congress govern-ment after coming to powerhad rectified this error and hadensured ‘food for all’ onsubsidiary price in PDSsystem”, he added.

Till date 58 lakh familieshaving 2.16 crore members,which means 85% of the statepopulace is now getting thebenefit of the Universal scheme,he informed. It is expected thatthe figure will later on increaseto 92%, he added.

The state government hasdoubled the budged on foodsecurity, he said. As againstearlier provision of `2,770crore the Congressgovernment increased it to`4,000 crore, he added.

Universal PDS benefitting 85%of state populace: Bhagat

PDS to be equipped with ‘Point of Sale’ deviceTo ensure transparency in disbursement of food-grains from PDS shops, the ration shops in thestate are going to be equipped with Point of Sale’ device. This new arrangement would be doneby year 2020 and under this the beneficiary could avail the service with the help of their AadharCard.

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Former Food Secretrayand one of the accused

in the multi-crore PublicDistribution System (PDS)scam, Dr Alok Shukla wasgranted anticipatory bail byChhattisgarh High Court,Bilaspur on Wednesday.

Advocate of Shukla,Piyush Bhatia, informed:“The court granted the bailon the ground that the FIRwas not filed against hisclient and only supplemen-tary charge-sheet was filedagainst him and that tooafter the long period of twoand half years”, he said.

Notable, the alleged Rs36000 crore- PDS scam wasexposed in February 2015when ACB and EOWsleuths conducted simulta-neous raids at 25 premisesof Chhattisgarh State CivilSupplies CorporationLimited and residences ofits officials.

During the raid, a 113-page diary (in which names

of beneficiaries of the scamwere mentioned) wasallegedly recovered.

The Congress partywhich was then in opposi-tion had alleged that thecontent of only six pages ofthe diary was covered in theprobe while remaining 107pages were skipped.

The Congress alsoalleged that former chiefminister Raman Singh and

his family members and evena cook of him are involved inthe scam as per the contentof the recovered diary.

After coming to power,the Congress governmentformed a SpecialInvestigation Team (SIT) toprobe the alleged financialirregularities in theChhattisgarh State CivilSupplies CorporationLimited.

Dr Alok Shukla getsanticipatory bail inmulti-crore PDS scam

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Former minister and seniorBJP leader Prem Prakash

Pandey said bypassing thepowers of Chief Minister andcabinet enshrined in theconstitution, the cabinetsubcommittee had announcedits recommendation to mediaeven before cabinet cleared it.

Pandey was interactingwith media on Wednesday afterhanding over the memorandumto Governor of ChhattisgarhAnusuiya Uikey over the stategovernment’s decision to con-duct indirect election for post

of Mayor and Chairman inupcoming civic bodies.

Pandey said Governor hasbeen urged not to entertainsuch undemocratic decision ofthe state government throughan ordinance, violating theconstitutional provisions ofrights of the people.

He claimed the reservationprocess for civic bodies hasbeen completed and revisionof electoral roll is underway,then implementing such adecision will also hamper theprocess. The BJP leader statedthat for indirect election

process, anti-defection law isalso enforced which do notexist in civic bodies.

Pandey claimed thatelection is held withparticipation of people and thedecision of government isagainst their sentiments andpublic anger prevails over it.BJP will fight over the decisionat all level, he said whileanswering to a query.

The BJP leaders organiseda sit-in-demonstration atMotibagh and then marched toRaj Bhavan to hand over thememorandum.

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

State Congress onWednesday claimed that

main opposition BJP was a‘divided house’ on indirectelections of Mayor andChairpersons in urban bodiesof the state and so its demon-stration against the move onWednesday was a total failure.

Congress’s state generalsecretary and chairman com-munication wing ShaileshNitin Trivedi in a statementclaimed that the amendment tobe made in the Urban BodiesAct would be done legally andwould not violate democraticrights of anyone.

Often it was seen thatMayor belonged to one partic-ular political party while themajority of corporators fromother, he pointed out. In sucha situation it becomes an awk-ward situation for the Mayor or

a Chairperson even to pass anybill including the budget provi-sions, Trivedi said.

Chaos was thus witnessedin such a situation and theamendment will prevent recti-fy such faulty system as major-ity will now be with the Mayorand Chairperson, he added.

He further ruled out anypossibility of horse trading ofcorporators in the new systemas had been feared by the BJP.

BJP ‘divided house’ onindirect elections: Cong

BJP seeks Governor’sintervention to stall indirectpoll for civic body top posts

Baghel condemns worker’skilling in KashmirRAIPUR: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel announced Rs 4-lakh financialassistance to the family of a worker of the state who was shot dead by militants onWednesday in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district.

Sethi Kumar Sagar, who worked as a labourer at brick kiln, was walking along a rail-way track in the Kakapora area when he was shot dead by militants.

Kashmir police said that the `area has been cordoned off and searches are going onto track down the killers’.

The killing has evoked a sharp criticism in Chhattisgarh and state’s ruling Congressas well as the BJP strongly condemned the incident.

Baghel who returned to Chhattisgarh on Wednesday evening after a three-day hecticelection campaigning for the party in Maharashtra, told reporters at Raipur airport thathe had instructed the DGP of the state to coordinate with his counterpart in Jammu andKashmir on the issue.

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Aplay on ill effects of plasticon our planet and the need

for a plastic free environmentwas performed by the childrenof Bal Bhavan-NTPC-Sipat onOctober 12.

All the characters of thisplay were performed by thestudents of Bal Bhavan so wellthat all the members ofSangwari Mahila Samiti andstudents of Disha Kendra,glued to their seat till the end ofthe programmme, according toa press release from the Sipat.

Kamla Padmakumar,president, Sangwari Mahila

Samiti and other samiti mem-bers and children watched theplay and appreciated the effortsof children for a plasticpollution free environment. Atthe end of the programme, ameasures towards environ-ment protection and restrictthe use of plastic carry bag,environment friendly canvasbag was distributed to all.

Bal Bhavan, NTPC-Sipatwing is affiliated to NatioanalBal Bhavan, New Delhi, whichis engaged on development ofcreativity among the children.Sipat wing of Bal Bhavan, runby Sangwari MahilaSamiti-NTPC Sipat.

Plastic free campaign byChildren of Bal Bhavan-Sipat

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Election Commission has permitted the use of11 different types of alternative identity

card/documents during the Chitrakot by-pollscheduled on October 21.

As per letter issued by Office of the ChiefElectoral Officer, Chhattisgarh, based ondirective from Election Commission of India, incase the elector does not hold the electoralphoto-identity card (EPIC), on the polling dayhe can use 11 other identity revealingdocuments. The photograph or voter slip willnot be permitted as authentic document foridentity.

The permitted documents include passport,driving license, photo-based identity cardsissued to its employees by state-centralgovernment, public sector units, public limitedcompanies, bank-post office issued pass-bookwith photographs, PAN card, Registrar Generaland Census Commissioner of India (RGI) andNPR issued smart card, MGNREGA job card,health insurance card issued by labourdepartment under its scheme, photo-includedpension documents, MPs, MLAs-Councilmembers issued government identity card andAadhar card.

The counting of by-poll is scheduled onOctober 24.

EC permits 11 alternative IDs for Chitrakot by-poll

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Chhattisgarh State PowerCompanies, taking ini-

tiative for greener state, haslaunched the first e-vehiclebattery charging station at itsheadquarters at SewaBhawan, Dangania onWednesday.

The station has beenstarted as part of an agree-ment with public sectorcompany, the EnergyEfficiency Services Limited(EESL), Government ofIndia. Power Companieschairman Shailendra Shuklainaugurated the facility.

With more and more e-vehicles being used to con-

trol pollution, there has beena need for charging stations.

Additional to it, the PowerCompany has also decidedto use electrical vehicles forwhich three battery operatedvehicle services have beenalso started. More such vehi-cles will be used.

It is reported that a bat-tery run car takes 16 units ofpower for full-charging, afterwhich it runs 130 kilometres.The running cost is just 90paise per kilometres whilepetrol run car cost is Rs 7.00per kilometres. As per direc-tive of Government of India,green colour number plateswill be put for identificationof environment-friendlyvehicles.

Power Company launchese-car battery charging station

“The courtgranted the bailon the ground

that the FIR wasnot filed against

his client and onlysupplementary

charge-sheet wasfiled against himand that too afterthe long period of

two and halfyears”

Page 4: English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today News in ... · will take a final decision on Pakistan in February 2020. ... cadre IPS officer Kishore Kunal, Singh said he will not

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Receiving fresh inputsregarding possible terror

attacks on Wednesday, theCentre has put the Defencebases in and around Punjab,,including Pathankot airbase, onorange alert. As per the freshIntelligence inputs, a group ofterrorists from Pakistan hasinfiltrated into India.

“The inputs were receivedby forces today morning afterwhich they are taking all pre-cautions to protect the Defencebases,” said a senior Central

Government official, addingthe bases were on high alert afew days ago, but the alert lev-els were brought down a cou-ple of days later.

An ‘orange’ warning standsfor “alert”, and authorities are

expected to “be pre-pared”. Besides PunjabDefence bases andPathankot airbase,an orange alert hasalso been soundedfor Jammu airbasesafter the monitoringof the terrorists’movements by theintelligence agencies.

The orange alert isthe second-highest levelof alert second only tored alert which, ifissued, would entailclosing of schools and

restriction on move-ments in airbases.

“Senior officers arereviewing securityarrangements round theclock to tackle thethreat,” senior PunjabPolice official said.

There have beenreports of a possible terrorattack on major Defencefacilities since August 5when the Centre movedto abrogate Article 370that granted a specialstatus to Jammu &Kashmir.

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Another drone fromPakistan side was spotted

in Ferozepur district onMonday. The Border SecurityForces (BSF) officials said thatthe drone was sighted at HazaraSingh Wala in Ferozepur dis-trict on October 14.

To deal with the intrusionof drones from the Pakistaniside, the BSF is all set to pur-

chase the ground-based anti-drone system which wouldhave jammers and sensorsamongst other features andwill have a 360-degree sur-veillance system.

The anti-drone system will

be able to work day and nightand will detect multiple dronesat a time.

There has almost beenintrusion every day by dronessent by Pakistan to India.These drones are reportedly

being used to transport armsand ammunition to the country.

Only last month, PunjabChief Minister CaptainAmarinder Singh had urgedthe Union Home MinisterAmit Shah to ensure necessaryaction to stop incidents ofPakistan-origin drones beingused for dropping consign-ments of arms and ammuni-tion in the State.

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Launching a blistering attackon the Congress, Union

Home Minister Amit Shah onWednesday said for the sake ofvote bank politics, theOpposition party could nottake a stand on natonalism and Article 370, triple talaq andthe NRC.

Addressing a poll rally nearFaridabad, the BJP presidentrepeated his assertion thatevery illegal migrant in thecountry will be sent homebefore the next Lok Sabhapolls in 2024. Citing theGovernment’s recent move onArticle 370, Shah said terrorism will be “eliminated”from the country.

Shah also targeted formerHaryana Chief MinisterBhupinder Singh Hooda, alleg-ing that he had usurped farmland for the son-in-law of theGandhi family, an apparentreference to Robert Vadra.

The Home Minister saidPrime Minister Narendra Modihad fulfilled the long-pendingwish of the people with theabrogation of the special statusfor Jammu & Kashmir underArticle 370, and makingKashmir an integral part of thenation. “Several parties came,several CMs, PMs came in thelast 70 years, but nobody daredto nullify Article 370,” Shah said.

The Home Minister saidModi had sent a strong signalby nullifying Article 370,adding that that the BJPGovernment will root out ter-rorism. “We will not let anysign (‘naamo nishan’) of ter-rorism remain in this country,”he said.

He said the BJP, its allies

and several other parties sup-ported the abrogation of Article370. “On the other side, theCongress opposed it.”

“It is not a new thing.Whenever there is a question ofnationalism, the Congressparty keeps mum (“Congressparty ko saanp soongh jaatahai”),” he charged. “They can-

not take a stand because oftheir vote bank,” he added.

“The Congress shouldmake clear its stand, whether itis in favour of removal ofArticle 370 or not. Friends, theywill not speak. Instead of thecountry, they like power andthe vote bank,” he said.

He alleged that former

Prime Minister ManmohanSingh kept mum “whenPakistan-sponsored terroristsbeheaded our soldiers andmutilated their bodies afterinfiltrating into our country.”He said it was Prime MinisterModi “with a 56-inch chest”who ordered surgical and airstrikes to kill terrorists in their

dens in Pakistan after the Uri and Pulwamaattacks in Kashmir.

On the NationalRegister of Citizens(NRC) update inAssam, Shah said theCongress opposed themove against illegal immi-grants. “The Congress is ask-ing why you are throwing outinfiltrators. Where will they go,what will they eat and wherewill they stay?” he said.

“Hooda sahib, why are youworried? Are they related toyou,” he said, directing a barbagainst the CongressLegislature Party chief inHaryana. Shah said before2024, each “infiltrator” will beousted by the BJP Government.

Shah accused BhupinderSingh Hooda, who has beenHaryana Chief Minister twice, ofusurping farmers’ land to bene-fit Congress president SoniaGandhi’s son-in-law RobertVadra. “These people were doing“dalali’’ (acting as middlemen),”he alleged. Whenever a Congressgovernment came, corruptiongrew and “gundagardi’’ andcasteism rose,” he said.

He said Chief Minister ML Khattar had provided a cor-ruption-free Government forthe past five years and nowthere is no need for “sifarish’’ orlobbying for Government jobsand transfers.

He said past CongressGovernments were guided by“the 3 Ds” — “Darbari, Damadand Damad ke dalal”. Shah wasreferring to the culture ofcourtiers or “Darbaris” in theparty and to Congress interimPresident Sonia Gandhi’’s son-in-law Robert Vadra and hisland deals, while mentioning“Damad and Damad ke dalal”.

“Congress kisarkaar teen “D’’ kesiddhant parchalti thi. Pehla“D’’ darbariyonki sarkar, doosra

“D’’ damaad kisarkar aur teesra

“D’’ damaad kedalalon ki sarkaar,” he said at

an election rally in Panipat inHaryana.

Launching a scathing attackon former Chief MinisterBhupinder Singh Hooda, Shahaccused him of “surrenderingthe lands of Haryana farmers atthe Dilli Durbar” in a veiledattack on the Gandhi family.Shah questioned, “Do you wanta government in Haryana thatwill bid for the son-in-law of theGandhi family who will indulgein corruption in Haryana or aGovernment that is corruption-free?”

Making a comparisonbetween the amount of centralassistance for Haryana duringthe UPA and NDA regimes,Shah made a case for the BJPin the State that was rocked byseveral allegations of corrup-tion during the rule of Hooda.

He accused the CongressGovernment for ignoring thecities of Faridabad andGurugram in allocating funds fordevelopment in spite of these twocities contributing handsomeamount to the exchequer.

Talking about the achieve-ments of Khattar Government,the Union Home Minister saidthat there are LPG cylinders inevery home, even in remote villages. He said thatmost of the parts of the state areprovided electricity round theclock and people can feel thedifference what they have beenfacing prior to the BJP rule.

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The local Sikh community aswell as the president of

Baleswar GurudwaraCommittee have submitted amemorandum to Baleswar MPand Union Minister PratapChandra Sarangi urging him tolaunch a superfast trainbetween Puri and Amritsar.

Amar Singh Walia, a resi-dent of Baleswar and presidentof Baleswar Gurudwara, hassubmitted a memorandumurging the Minister for hisinitiative in this front when the550th Birth anniversary ofGuru Nanak Devji is celebrat-ed across the globe.

He mentioned, “There isan eternal bond betweenSikhism and Jagannath culturewhich has root since 16th cen-tury. Guru Nanak Devji hastravelled to Puri to have a dar-shan of Lord Jagannath in that

era .During his stay, his spiri-

tual powers were witnessed bythen Gajapati and other Sevaksof Lord Jagannath.

The testimonies which arestill standing tall in Puri areBauli mutt and Mangu Mutt.While residing in Puri, close tothe sea beach, Nanak Dev hadasked his devotees to fetchdrinking water. When thedevotees were in dilemmafrom where to bring sweetwater for their Guru, the latterasked them to dig the earth onwhich he was doing medita-tion.Surprisingly, that placedelivered sweet water. The wellexists at Bauli Mutt, claimedWalia.Similarly , in a placeclose to temple where NanakDev was reciting hymns ofLord Jagannath and doing bha-jans along with devotees under-neath a peepal tree is known asMangu Mutt. Further , Waliasaid one among Odisha bornperson , Himaat Rai foundplace among the first ‘PanchPaire’ which was formed by10th Guru, Gobind Singhji.

In 1699, the first five com-mitted men embraced Sikhismafter Khalsa panth was formedby the 10th Guru of Sikhism ,Guru Gobind Singhji.

Himmat Rai , born in Puridistrict on January 18 ,1661 ,who was among the first five ,Panj-Piare (five beloved) vol-unteered to sacrifice their livesin response to the call of theGuru Gobind Singhji andlater on known as BhaiHimmat Singh.

“In view of above perpet-ual bonds I urged the Ministerto take initiative in this scaredyear and act on our demand.This would be not only enrich-ment of cultures between reli-gions and communities , thetrain would boost tourismprospects too of both States,”observed Walia. “This wouldbe a great help to devotees ,tourists and other passengersof both States and en-routes,”he added, further adding thetrain from Puri should run viaBhubaneswar, Cuttack, Jajpur,Bhadrak, Baleswar andKharagpur.

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Maoist posters, banners andleaflets surfaced again in

the district on Wednesday atDeokupuli Chowk under theMuniguda police station. Later,police removed them with muchcaution as they suspected, theRed rebels might have attackedthem to detonators and mines toharm the security forces.

The Maoist posters andbanners which stated to be putup by CPI(Maoist), OdishaState Committee demanded

the Government to shift theCRPF camp from Trilochanpurgram panchayat office and tostop killing Maoist revolution-aries in fake encounters.

They have requested tomake the Maoist bandh onOctober 25 in Odisha andChhatisgarh bandh a sucess.The posters also demanded tostop atrocities in Kashmir andmidnight arrests by securityforces in Lanjigarh. Police arekeeping a vigil on the situationand the investigation is underprocess.

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Ateam of experts led byKumbh Mela officer

Deepak Rawat reviewed theconservation of historical RajaMansingh ki Chhatri at Har kiPaidi after closure of the Gangacanal. Very soon a depart-mental team will start the workof restoration after the detailedreport of the inspection isreceived.

The inspection team con-sisted of experts from IndianInstitute of Technology (IIT),Roorkee, Central BuildingResearch Institute (CBRI),Roorkee and ArchaeologicalSurvey of India (ASI). Theteam was formed followingthe orders of the High Court ofUttarakhand to restore thishistorical monument to itsoriginal form.

Speaking to The Pioneer,the Kumbh Mela officerDeepak Rawat said, “AfterGanga canal closure we havereviewed the site from a closeangle. As soon as the report ofthe three organisations isfinalised the work of restora-tion of of Mansingh ki Chhatriwill be done.”

It is believed that when thefather of Raja Mansingh haddied, he sent the ashes of hisfather for immersion in theGanga but the local priestsrefused calling him ‘Dharm Bhrasht” since he hadgot his daughter married toAkbar.

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Hearing the case of the peti-tioner seeking DNA tests

of remains of the persons killedin the 2013 Kedarnath disaster,the high court of Uttarakhandhas directed the petitioner toalso make the Wadia Instituteof Himalayan Geology(WIHG) a party in the case.The high court division benchof chief justice RameshRanganathan and justice AlokKumar Verma issued this direc-tion while hearing on the peti-tion on Wednesday.

According to the casedetails, Delhi resident AjayGautam had filed a PublicInterest Litigation in the highcourt. He had stated in the peti-tion that since the 2013Kedarnath disaster, at least4,200 persons were missingour of which the skeletalremains of only 600 had beenfound by the authorities. Aboutsix years after the disaster, theremains of at least 3,200 per-sons remain buried in theKedar valley.

The Government is notmaking any effort to extract theremains of these thousands of

deceased. In the past too thehigh court had directed thestate government to extractthe remains of the deceasedand conduct their last rites.

However, the state gov-ernment has taken no action inthis direction so far.

The petitioner has stated inthe PIL that mortal remains ofthe 2013 disaster victims are stillcoming up in the valley.Considering this, all the mortalremains of the disaster victims

should be extracted and their lastrites conducted. The DNA testof the mortal remains shouldalso be conducted and necessarycommunication should beshared with the next of kin.

The petitioner has furtherstated that since the disasterabout six year ago, more than900 persons have approachedthe State Government to seekthe bodies/mortal remains oftheir family members.

These persons have also

communicated their approvalto get the DNA tests conduct-ed on the mortal remains oftheir relatives.

Though State Governmenthas focused on reconstructionand revival of pilgrimage toKedarnath since the 2013 dis-aster, the earlier Congress-ledgovernment and the currentBJP government have not beenthat proactive in extractingthe mortal remains of thosewho died in the 2013 disaster.

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The long wait of passengersfor a second railway foot

over bridge at the Tatanagarrailway station came to an endon Wednesday.

Jamshedpur MP BidyutBaran Mahto inaugurated theRs 1.96 crore new second footoverbridge at the Adityapur-end of the A 1-category railwaystation.” It is one the ambitiousprojects of the railways and Iam happy to inaugurate it.

The second foot overbridgewill enhance passenger ameni-

ties at the Tatanagar railway sta-tion. Passengers would beimmensely benefitted as the

rush would be shared betweenthe two foot overbridges,” saidMahto. He said that steps are

being taken to increase facili-ties at the station.

Officials of the railway sta-tion informed that the secondfoot overbridge would helppassengers to enter into plat-form no. 2, 3, 4 and 5.

The second foot overbridgewould be later extended uptothe Burmamines end, whichserves as the second entry tothe Tatanagar railway station.The official went on to say thatwork for the foot overbridge onthe Chakradharpur end of therailway station will be of greatadvantage.

“The old abandoned bridgewas converted into a foot over-bridge. This will also benefitpassengers entering the railwaystation from the Burmamines-end, the second entry to therailway station,” he said.

The engineering wing ofChakradharpur railway divi-sion started work on the footoverbridge project inDecember, 2017.

Though the project missedtwo deadlines but it managedto complete after pujas. In thelast deadline the railways hadpromised to commission the

project before the Pujas.ADRM Sinha said that com-missioning the project atTatanagar will add to theamenities. The second foot-bridge would be connected tothe Burmamines end so thatthose passengers entering thestation from the second entrycan also use the facility.Seniorrailway officials including addi-tional divisional railway man-ager (ADRM) ofChakradharpur division B KSinha, area railway manager ofTatanagar Vikas Kumar andsenior divisional commercial

manager of ChakradharpurManish Pathak were present onthe occasion.

Tatanagar railway station,located on the Howrah-Mumbai main line, witnesses45 pairs of express, mail andpassenger trains, serving asmany as 60,000 passengersdaily. Most of the long distanceand high profile trains includ-ing Bhubaneshwar-New DelhiRajdhani Express, Howrah-Mumbai Duronto Express andPuri-New Delhi PurushottamSuperast Express usually haltin platform no. 2,3 4 and 5.

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Page 5: English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today News in ... · will take a final decision on Pakistan in February 2020. ... cadre IPS officer Kishore Kunal, Singh said he will not

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Ceylanpinar (Turkey): Turkeyrebuffed international pressureto curb its military offensiveagainst Kurdish militants inSyria on Wednesday as USPresident Donald Trump dis-patched his deputy Mike Penceto Ankara to demand a ceasefire.

Turkish President RecepTayyip Erdogan rejected anynegotiations, telling parliamentthe only way to solve Syria'sproblems was for the Kurdishforces to "lay down their arms...Destroy all their traps and getout of the safe zone that we havedesignated."

Battles raged in the keySyrian border town of Ras al-Ain on Wednesday, withKurdish fighters burning tyres ina bid to blind Ankara's war-planes and digging in against aground offensive by Turkish-backed Syrian rebels.

The operation, now in itssecond week, has triggered aflurry of diplomacy amongmajor powers.

Trump sent Pence along

with his top diplomat MikePompeo to Turkey amid thegreatest crisis in relations fordecades between the NATOallies.

Moscow has stepped intothe void left by Trump's with-drawal of US troops from north-ern Syria, deploying patrols toprevent clashes between Syrianand Turkish forces.

The Kremlin said it wouldhost Erdogan for a meetingwith his Russian counterpartVladimir Putin in the comingdays, to ensure the operationdoes not turn into all-out warbetween Turkey and Syria.

Trump has hit back atErdogan, slapping sanctions onthree cabinet officials and rais-ing tariffs on Turkish steel.

Pence's office released astatement that he would meetErdogan on Thursday and "voicethe United States' commitmentto reach an immediate ceasefireand the conditions for a nego-tiated settlement".

He reiterated that Trumpwill pursue "punishing eco-nomic sanctions" until a reso-lution is reached.

There was confusion after

Erdogan told reporters he wouldnot meet with Pence — a posi-tion that was later reversed byhis office. AFP

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Beirut: The prospect that thou-sands of the world's most fanat-ic jihadists could break out inthe chaos caused by Turkey'sinvasion of northeastern Syriais causing widespread alarm.

The Kurdish administrationguarding those suspected mem-bers of the Islamic State groupis crumbling and their fate hasnever seemed more uncertain.

This is what we know aboutthe detainees, whose fate hasbeen a security and diplomatichot potato for months:

How many?According to the Kurdish

administration, there are around12,000 suspected ISIS fighters inthe custody of Kurdish securi-ty forces across northeasternSyria.

At least 2,500 of them arenon-Iraqi foreigners of morethan 50 different nationalities.Tunisia is thought to have the

biggest contingent. Officials inParis say 60 to 70 French nation-als are among those held. Therest are around 4,000 Syriansand roughly the same numberof Iraqis.

Where?The fighters, who were

detained mostly in the course ofoperations led by Kurdish forcesand backed by the US-led coali-tion against ISIS, are detained inat least seven facilities.

The Kurdish-led SyrianDemocratic Forces do not revealthe exact locations but some of them are known, including in Roj, inDashisha, Jerkin, Navkur andDerik.

Given the high value ofsome of the detainees, the secu-rity levels at these facilities ispoor. "They are only buildings"and not heavily fortified, saidone top official. AFP

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Washington: The US House ofRepresentatives passed a bill onTuesday sought by pro-democ-racy protesters in Hong Kongthat aims to defend civil rightsin the semi-autonomous terri-tory.

The Hong Kong HumanRights and Democracy Act,which will now move to theSenate before it can become law,has drawn rare bipartisan sup-port in a polarised Congress.

The law would end theHong Kong-US special tradingstatus unless the StateDepartment certifies annuallythat city authorities are respect-ing human rights and the ruleof law.

The act will now move to asimilar vote in the Senate beforeit can become law.

"Today we're simply urgingthe Chinese president and theHong Kong Chief Executive,Carrie Lam, to faithfully honorthe Government's promises"that Hong Kong's rights andautonomy would be protected,Republican RepresentativeChris Smith, prime sponsor ofthe bill, said on Tuesday on theHouse floor.

"The House just sent astrong message to the people ofHong Kong: We stand with youin the fight for democracy andjustice," said Ben Ray Lujan, aHouse Democrat. AFP

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Washington: The impeachmentinquiry is revealing vivid newdetails about the high-levelunease over President DonaldTrump's actions toward Ukraine,and those of his personal lawyer,Rudy Giuliani, as the swift-moving probe by HouseDemocrats showed no signs ofeasing. The testimony from thewitnesses, mainly officials fromthe State Department and otherforeign policy posts, is largelycorroborating the account of theGovt whistleblower whose com-plaint first sparked the impeach-ment inquiry, according to law-makers attending the closed-door interviews. One witness,former White House aide FionaHill, testified that national secu-rity adviser John Bolton was soalarmed by Giuliani's back-channel activities in Ukraine thathe described him as a "handgrenade who is going to bloweverybody up." Another, careerState Dept official George Kent,testified on Tuesday he was toldby administration officials to "laylow" on Ukraine as "three ami-gos" tied to the White Housetook over US foreign policytoward the Eastern Europeanally. AP

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Seoul: North Korea released aseries of photos Wednesdayshowing leader Kim Jong Unriding a white horse to a sacredmountain he has often climbedbefore making key decisions.

Near the mountain, Kimreportedly vowed to overcomeUS-led sanctions that he saidhad both pained and infuriat-ed his people.

The images and Kim'srhetoric appeared aimed atbolstering his leadership athome as the North tries topressure the US into makingconcessions in nuclear diplo-macy.

The photos showed abespectacled Kim wearing along, light-brown coat andriding on horseback up snow-covered Mount Paektu. AP

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Page 6: English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today News in ... · will take a final decision on Pakistan in February 2020. ... cadre IPS officer Kishore Kunal, Singh said he will not

Come November, India is about toenter key negotiations on theInternational Treaty on PlantGenetic Resources for Food andAgriculture (ITPGRFA) at its

eighth general body meeting in Rome. Butwhat is at stake? All of India’s future as thesetalks may impact the country’s biodiversityand germplasm relating to food and agricul-ture. In the delegates’ own words, “The ITP-GRFA, adopted in 2001, is a global responseto promote the conservation of plant genet-ic resources and to protect farmers’ rights toaccess and have fair and equitable sharing ofbenefits arising out of their use.” But let usexamine the agenda behind this treaty.

As per ITPFRA/Food and AgricultureOrganisation (FAO) data, India is the top des-tination for plant genetic resources for foodand agriculture (PGFRA), numbering725,117. Briefly put, these negotiations areabout how other countries can access all thesePGFRAs at the minimum price possible. Itis also to be kept in mind that India is a sig-natory to the Convention of BiologicalDiversity (CBD) and Nagoya Protocol, whichcover all of its biodiversity already. These twotreaties protect bio-piracy and have workedfavourably for a biodiversity/germplasm richcountry as ours.

The first issue in the discussion comesfrom Switzerland, which has been advocat-ing a “Multilateral System (MLS) to cover allother plant genetic resources for food andagriculture in accordance with Article 3 of theinternational treaty.” One should consider thatSwitzerland has only 39,953 accessions storedwith it. Given that India has one of the high-est stored ascensions in the world — 395,001— we would legally be bound to contributeall of them to the treaty. In this sense, we willbecome one of the biggest donors, too. Butis this economically sound and in the inter-est of the nation? After the emergence of cli-mate crisis, Brexit and Trumpism, it may notbe the best option.

Regarding the Swiss proposal to cover allother PGRs for food and agriculture, Indiashould think of its national interest first andonly those crop species should be includedand PGR accessions designated, which arealready available in the public domain (ieaccessible to everyone). Article 1 of the treatyshould also explicitly declare the crop species,which we do not want to make available underthe MLS. In fact, all crops, for which we havegeographical indication (GI) for now or forthe future, should be excluded from the treaty.China is currently not part of this treaty andis negotiating on its terms to make inroads.India should do the same. Our only bargain-ing chip is our vast plant genetic resource(PGR), let’s not allow it to be taken withoutany benefit to our country. The US recentlyjoined on the insistence of the private sectorand in a matter of years, it is the chairperson.So the treaty is heavily influenced by big glob-al agricultural corporations and geopolitics.

India has held a conservative position

until now and given only 26,530accessions to the MLS. But we arenot the only ones. A cold and wetisland off the north-west coast ofEurope, the United Kingdom, hasa total of 834,451 accessions, outof which it has put only 44,069accessions in the MLS. Beforeconsidering the inclusion of allPGRs in Annexure 1, theGovernment of India and theIndian Council of AgriculturalResearch (ICAR)-NationalBureau of Plant GeneticResources (NBPGR) mustanalyse how many PGRs havebeen accessed by Indian firmsthrough MLS and how much wehave contributed to other nations.A policy paper needs to be pub-lished on this so that citizens areaware of the benefits.

NBPGR must also work outthe economic, agricultural andsocial benefits of Indian seedcompanies under MLS. It mustalso make sure there is no vague-ness or secrecy regarding thesenegotiations. We need a clearplan of how if we contribute ourPGRs, the MLS will reciprocatein nation-building.

The MNCs and foreigncompanies, which will accessthe PGRs from the Indian collec-tion, should maintain strict com-pliance with national legisla-tions, especially related to theProtection of Plant Varieties andFarmers’ Rights Authority,Convention on Biological

Diversity (CBD), Seed Act, seedrules and other prevailing legis-lations. Otherwise we will see asituation where Indian farmersare growing cotton and the millsof Manchester are making thecloth. Ultimately, Indians will buytheir own cotton at 400 per centtimes the actual price. Thismodel will be emulated for seeds,too. In this case, especially assome nations allow for patents onseeds, our germplasm can bepatented as part of a foreign prod-uct. Then the same seed must besold to Indian farmers. We mustthink carefully and ensure Indianlegislations go with all ourgermplasm, too.

There is also an attempt tointroduce international unionfor the Protection of NewVarieties of Plants (UPOV) con-vention through this treaty. Indiashould advocate farmers’ rightsin ITPGFRA in accordance withprovisions of their rights availableunder the Protection of PlantVarieties and Farmers’ Rights Act,2001. Any dilution of farmers’and breeders rights must not benegotiated/accepted, especiallywhen we are not signatories of theUPOV.

India must seek an expan-sion of the MLS in such a waythat PGR-rich countries getappropriate benefits and advan-tage for conserving and preserv-ing germplasm. This can bedone through capacity-building,

development and expansion ofResearch and development(R&D) activities in India and inother PGR-rich nations. We canpropose that every State shouldhave ex-situ and in-situ PGR con-servation project funded by thistreaty.

Speaking of funds, the othercritical issue is of the corpus(FAO trust fund) created for shar-ing benefits. India must firststrongly urge to be on the boardcommittee of this fund and alsoensure that there is adequate rep-resentation from PGR donorcountries. This can be doneaccording to the availability/con-tribution of PGR resources. Theproject allotted for conservationand R&D should be commensu-rate with the PGR donations. TheGovernment of India andNBPGR must also analyse thatduring the last seven to eightyears how many projects forPGR activities have been fund-ed under the ITPGRFRA trustfund versus other countries.

We have to stress on the factthat monetary benefits arisingafter the commercialisation ofPGR should be made directly tothe PGR donor country. In addi-tion, the product developed usingthe PGR should be made avail-able to the donor country, espe-cially to the farmers, at relative-ly lower costs. There should berelaxations for public instituteslike ICAR and small and medi-

um companies of India, too. The meeting in Rome will

also discuss the dematerialiseduse of PGR. With advancementsin technology such as gene edit-ing, Digital SequenceInformation (DSI), physical plantmaterial may not be required todevelop new varieties. Genesequences will be enough. Whilethe world and organisation suchas the CBD are doing expert stud-ies on them, India should supportthat DSI and other future tech-nologies (CRISPR) should beadded under the benefit-sharingscheme so that our efforts in con-serving PGR are not left out.

But perhaps the biggest ele-phant in the room is: Who isIndia really negotiating with? Isit the developed countries ortrans-national big agriculturalcorporations in the garb of coun-tries? Such corporations are pre-sent in each country today,including India, and are lobbyingto have access to PGR through asecond channel. In fact, throughtheir Indian subsidiaries, they areeven consulting with theGovernment for a softer stanceon ITPGRFA. And why wouldthey do that? Because nationssuch as India expressed sovereignright over their PGR and havemany restrictions for foreignMNCs to access Indian biodiver-sity under the Biological DiversityAct. If the Swiss proposal isaccepted, Indian legislations willbe bypassed and all doors to PGRwill be opened to them withoutrestrictions — all for a nominalpercentage of profits.

Once they have Indian PGRavailable to them in any part ofthe world, we will see the emer-gence of “seed sweat shops”,much like clothes sweat shops incountries like Bangladesh. Thedesign is European or American,raw material is Indian and clothesare made in Bangladesh for a fewcents an hour and then sold inboutique stores for thousands ofdollars. Countries with the cheap-est farm labour costs will beselected to mass produce seedsand then the produce will beexported to nations which canpay higher prices. Indian farm-ers and women, who have pre-served seeds and biodiversity,may be alienated and all of theirbiodiversity commercialised bybig agricultural companies of thedeveloped world.

Given the threat of climatechange, we cannot allow forrampant exploitation of ourPGRs only to participate in for-eign treaties. We should learnfrom China and be more conser-vative and nationalistic in ourapproach towards our biologicalheritage.

(The writer is ProgrammeDirector for Policy and Outreachat the National Seed Associationof India)

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Bangla pride” (October 15).Sheer information or official dec-laration may testify that AbhijitBanerjee, along with Esther Dufloand Michael Kremer, has won theNobel Prize for Economics justlike Amartya Sen was honouredwith the same in the similarfield. But the underlying factremains that the NobelCommittee has actually hon-oured the embedded humanitywithin the trio and previouslySen. After all, the economicspursued by them wasn’t related tostock market with an inclinedpro-rich growth story. Rather,they pursued economics with ahumanitarian approach. Theirsole focus was on exploringstrategies to alleviate poverty,improving children’s educationand expand access to healthcare.

Since education and healthform the two most important pil-lars upon which a society thrivesand prospers, indifference tothese two can never eradicate thecurse of poverty from society. Allthe fight against it can be initiat-ed only through an able healthynutritious body, enriched with

basic academic/vocational educa-tion and skills. Also, quality edu-cation and health can be ensuredin this commercialised societyonly when people are upliftedfrom poverty.

So it is seen that poverty, edu-cation and health are intertwined

and all these three subjects needto be pursued at one go.

India and the developingnations must take cue from thehumanitarian approach of thethree and learn to accord utmostpriority towards alleviating pover-ty and ensuring education and

health to the deprived by investingmaximum resource, energy andtime. Nothing is more crucialthan human capital. Proper nurtur-ing and utilisation of it will ensurethe achievement of all other goals.

Kajal ChatterjeeKolkata

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Bengal pride” (October 15). Thepolicy adopted by Abhijit Banerjeemust inspire our policymakers totake a leaf out of his randomisedcontrolled field trials (RCTs) modeland propel them to course-correct.Instead of working towards reduc-ing the burden of the corporateclass, our lawmakers will do wellto increase the purchasing powerof the poor, minimise incomeinequalities and enhance the qual-ity of life of the people.

YashVia email

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Sir — The number of deals signedbetween China and Nepal havemade it clear that Kathmandu nolonger wants to be dependent onIndia nor will it encourage anyIndian dominance. New Delhineeds to be wary of the growingNepal-China cooperation.

ShambhaviVia email

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It is well-known that 70-90 per cent of merg-ers and acquisitions (M&As) fail to createvalue for shareholders, yet the deals are get-

ting bigger by the year. According to the IndiaM&A Report 2019 by Bain & Company, M&Aactivity has remained buoyant from 2015 wellinto 2019 with more than 3,600 deals with anaggregate value of more than $310 billion.During this period, several developments led toan unprecedented re-organisation of asset own-ership in corporate India. The present landscapeoffers a tremendous opportunity for well-man-aged businesses with a strong deal thesis, look-ing for new avenues of growth and/or improv-ing profitability. Large deals doubled in valuebetween 2015 and 2016 to $23 billion. Over 2017to 2018, large deal value doubled again, to $56billion. Deal size also grew during this period,averaging $0.7 billion in 2015 to more than $2.6billion in 2017 and 2018. Deal volume has beenrobust across sectors, with industrial goods, ener-gy and telecom and media representing morethan 60 per cent deals by volume and value.

Although deal values and volumes increaseevery year, most of them eventually fail to cre-ate synergy. Among other reasons, like nasty sur-prises due to poor due-diligence, poor gover-nance, poor communication channels, weakleadership, paying a high price for acquisitionand non-integration of culture, are the main rea-son why M&As fail. There are many examplesof companies that have destroyed shareholdervalue by overpaying to acquire other companies.Quaker Oats’ acquisition of Snapple for $1.7 bil-lion in 1994 still rings a bell as it sold Snappleto Triarc for $300 million 27 months after buy-ing it, losing a whopping $1.4 billion, makingit one of the worst flops in corporate-merger his-tory. India Inc also has countless examples ofoverpriced purchases. Subex, once a fairy well-known, Bengaluru-based telecom softwaremaker, tipped into bankruptcy by the disastrousacquisition of Canadian telecom software com-pany Syndesis for $164 million in 2007, whichwas four times its annual revenue. This dealturned out to be overpriced as the revenue ofSyndesis in the following year halved.

Overpriced acquisitions are not a new phe-nomenon. But what makes a company ignoreevidence and overpay for acquisitions? Theanswer lies mostly in behavioural theories.Agency problem is one of the main reasons forthis, as in most of the cases, senior executivesearn bonuses and stock grants based on metricsthat have no real connect to value. Corporategovernance and activist shareholders take a back-seat as executives have a higher influence on theprocess. So, they push the deals where they canmake more money. Second, when valuations aregenerally high, as in India, companies fall intothe overvaluation trap and end up making flashyacquisitions. Proposed by Michael Jensen ofHarvard Business School, it is a behavioural trap,where managers try to generate the expected per-formance in the short run, all the way knowing,that maintaining higher performance is not pos-sible, and in turn making investments that willultimately fall short. By making such invest-ments, companies postpone the consequencesof their bad investment decision. Too muchmoney chasing relatively scarce investmentopportunities, is also one of the reasons whycompanies end up paying more for their acqui-sitions. Ego, the driving force that helps individ-

uals reach the top of any organisation,is at play, when it comes to acquisitionsas well. It pushes executives to overpayfor acquisitions so they can get biggerand bigger, or so that they can stop acompetitor from getting bigger thanthem. In addition, managers are alsosusceptible to the Pollyanna Principle,a psychological bias that overratespositive memories and discounts neg-ative ones. This means that executivestake a cue from a few overpriced dealsthat were successful — like buying ofPayPal by eBay for $1.5 billion orGoogle paying $1.6 billion for YouTube— and turn a blind eye towards scoresof overpriced deals that went kaputsuch as the disastrous AOL/TimeWarner merger that led to a $45 billionwrite-down.

Even experienced managers, some-times, get attached to a deal, makingthem susceptible to bad decisions. Inthis situation, how should managersdecide how much to pay or when towalk away? In this flashy corporateworld, executives routinely get caughtup in the excitement of the race, fallprey to it and offer more than theyshould. So the first criterion is to be dis-ciplined and detached and the key tosuccess in buying another company isknowing the maximum price one canpay and then having the discipline notto pay a penny more. A companyshould be able to walk way from a dealif the synergy value is not being creat-ed. In addition to overpriced acquisi-tions, culture has also emerged as oneof the dominant barriers to effectiveintegrations and more than half of themergers fail due to lack of cultural inte-gration. Culture is the long-standing,largely implicit shared values, beliefs,and assumptions that influence behav-iour, attitudes and meaning in a com-pany or society. Since, it is a soft con-cept having a set of implicit influences,and it is difficult to account for com-pletely or accurately, therefore, itbecomes the responsibility of the topmanagement to stop culture clashes

from undermining their desired goals. History is replete with examples of

well-analysed and thought-of mergershaving failed due to cultural clashes asthey play a role in preventing post-inte-gration plans from being properlyexecuted. January happens to be the18th anniversary of one of the worstmergers in corporate history — TimeWarner and AOL. Merging the culturesof these two companies was problem-atic from the word go. The aggressiveand, apparently “arrogant” AOL peo-ple shocked the sober and corporateTime Warner side. Cooperation andpromised synergies failed to materialiseas mutual disrespect came to colourtheir relationships. When GermanDaimler (the makers of Mercedes-Benz) merged with American compa-ny Chrysler in the late 1990s, it wascalled a “merger of equals.” A few yearslater, due to discordant company cul-tures like differences in the level of for-mality, philosophy on issues such as payand expenses, and operating styles, themerger turned into a fiasco. After majorlosses and layoffs, in 2007, Daimler soldChrysler to Cerberus CapitalManagement for $6 billion. Taking anexample from India, the mergerbetween Kingfisher Airlines and AirDeccan failed due to their cultural dif-ferences with Kingfisher being a full-flight service catering to premiumsegment and Air Deccan’s vision toempower every Indian to fly.

Meanwhile, some mergers enduredthe cultural challenges to turn failuresinto success stories. One such exampleis that of Hewlett Packard and Compaq.In 2001, struggling computing giantHewlett Packard acquired similarlystruggling competitor Compaq. Therewere major cultural differences asHP’s engineering-driven culture wasbased on consensus and the sales-dri-ven Compaq culture on rapid decisionmaking. This poor cultural fit result-ed in years of bitter infighting in thenew company, and resulted in a loss ofan estimated $13 billion in market cap-

italisation. However, the companyhung on, and by making significantcultural and leadership changes, result-ed in long-term success.

Since integrating and redefiningthe culture and corporate values andreconciling the differences is essentialfor success of mergers, companiesshould avoid the “bear hug” i.e. toimpose their culture on the acquiredfirm. To integrate cultures, the first stepis to define the cultural objectivebased on where the deal’s greatest valuelies. An acquirer can assimilate theacquired company and continue withits own organisational values or it caneven use the merger to import theacquired company’s beliefs into its ownorganisation. In some cases, it can cre-ate a blend.

The next step is to diagnose thecultural differences between the twocompanies to identify and measure thedifferences among people, units, geo-graphical regions and functions usinga variety of tools like process flow maps,customer interviews and employeesurveys. The third step after setting theagenda and diagnosing the gaps is tocreate an actionable plan that is muchmore than the vision and values state-ments, and is concrete enough to beexecuted by managers. Finally, seniorleadership should take the responsibil-ity for communicating regularly andfrequently using all new technologicalinnovations and techniques such associal media, online platforms andweb-based employee forums, so thatthe new defined cultural objectives per-colate to all the departments andemployees.

To summarise, although successfulmergers and acquisitions must be pri-marily based on strategic, financial andother objective criteria, it should bemore than just numbers and cash flowanalysis; it has to be more human forit to survive and in turn create valueand synergies for all stakeholders.

(The writer is Assistant Professor,Amity University)

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The second informal summit atMamallapuram between PrimeMinister Narendra Modi and

the Chinese President Xi Jinping, inthe wake of the abrogation of Article370 in Jammu & Kashmir andChina’s reaction towards it, had gen-erated apprehension.

Most analysts were speculatingthe cancellation of this summitbecause of bilateral tensions due toXi’s statements on the Kashmir issueand Beijing’s open tilt in favour ofPakistan even before the start of hisvisit, but the continuation of the“Chennai Connect” proved themwrong. This summit indicated a

new form of diplomacy meant tobreak the impasse between India andChina despite Beijing’s close ties withPakistan, insistence on resolution ofthe Kashmir problem as per the UNresolution and hosting of PakistanPrime Minister Imran Khan justbefore Xi’s India visit.

The non-cancellation of the visitby either side despite other irritants,like undermining New Delhi’s role ininternational institutions, China’sreluctance to support India’s entryinto the Nuclear Suppliers Group andtrapping India’s neighbours throughaid and connectivity, has signalled thegrowing maturity of both the pow-erful leaders of Asia. This alsoreflects that both have understoodthat dialogue is better than a dead-lock as it will lead nowhere. Thoughthe terse body language of Xithroughout the visit was alsoanalysed but the agreement to hostthe next summit in China has madethe “Chennai Connect” more inter-esting for assessing the impact and

relevance of such summits in theemerging global scenario whereinChina is trying to redefine a newglobal order with its money, infra-structure development, connectivi-ty and expansion of trade.

This becomes more importantwhen one sees it in connection withthe US, which is aiming not only tochange the Chinese-promoted glob-al order through protectionism oftrade but also such measures whichhave resulted in trade wars withChina and India. This tit-for-tatapproach of countries, in way of rec-iprocal tariffs, is a bad omen for notonly the world economy but globalharmony. The narrow approach ofthe US and China signals not onlythe geo-economical aspects of theUS-China competition but also anti-multilateralism, which India views asnecessary for spreading its power andinfluence, especially in the Indo-Pacific and Asia.

The US understands China’stactics and its greedy geo-economic

and geo-political initiatives, whichare aimed at replacing and challeng-ing America as a key securityprovider and stabiliser in the Indo-Pacific. However, its obsession withIran, Turkey, North Korea, non-clar-ity on global issues and isolationisttendencies reflected through the“America First” policy have madeChina bold enough to expand itsreach and influence in all continents,including Europe, Asia, Africa,Southeast and South Asia. This issomething that India is dreading, asin New Delhi’s perception, an eco-nomically and geo-politically pow-erful China is an obstacle to its dreamof becoming a leading power of Asia.China’s constant moral, economic,military and infrastructural supportto its all-weather friend Pakistan, Xi’svisit to Nepal after India and cement-ing of many agreements, including atrans-Himalayan corridor betweenChina and Nepal (CNEC), a railwayline to connect Tibet andKathmandu, Chinese engagement in

Myanmar, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka,expansion of naval power across theIndian Ocean Region, connectivityand infrastructure developmentthrough Belt and Road Initiative(BRI) confirm India’s apprehen-sions.

On the one hand it shows thatIndia’s encirclement from all direc-tions by China is complete, but on theother hand it also signals the desireof neighbouring countries to ventureout of India’s ambit. In view of this,the expanding connectivity throughBRI is becoming a very serious issuefor India as some BRI-funded pro-jects are in the China-PakistanEconomic Corridor (CPEC) inPakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK)and in the absence of transparency,sustainability and rule of law, theneighbours are being trapped in aChinese debt-trap. Although duringthe second Belt and Road Forum, inApril, Xi had promised to take careof India’s concerns, nothing concreteis visible.

However, despite showing firm-ness not to support BRI and attemptsto save the neighbours from a debttrap, the complex world order hasforced India to play its role careful-ly and engage with China wisely. InBangkok, during the Quad meeting,while supporting the idea of partner-ships to promote a transparent, rule-based approach to trans-boundarychallenges, India avoided any state-ments, which could offend China.

India is also collaborating withVietnam, Japan and other regionalpowers, but without annoying China.The unresolved border dispute, fre-quent scuffles with Indian troops,trade imbalance, the growing powerdisparity between India and Chinaand unpredictability of US supporthave also forced India to play its cardwith precision. Despite knowingabout China eating into Indian ter-ritory in Ladakh and Pakistan’s aidto various terrorist outfits, a face-sav-ing exit from Afghanistan has forcedthe US to ignore Islamabad’s activi-

ties and support it even at the cost ofIndia’s national interests. The help-lessness of New Delhi has made thechallenge more serious for India.Therefore, while working closelywith like-minded countries andexposing the Pakistan-China connec-tion at all international forums,engaging with China through suchsummits is a good policy, though itmay not bring the desired results. Butas the choices are very limited,India’s move of not unnecessarilyengaging in acrimonious matters isbeing seen as the gains of this meet-ing which has paved the way for thenext summit.

Although it is not a game-chang-ing move but if India plans it well andalso tries to explore opportunities tohit China where it can, then in future,the maturity shown by both leadersand strength and weakness of oneanother will prove that dialogue isbetter than deadlock.

(The writer is professor of PoliticalScience at HNB Garhwal University)

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Less than 48 hours after thebrutal killing of Rajasthan

truck driver in Shopian, anoth-er non-local labourer fromChhattisgarh was shot dead incold blood by terrorists inNehama area of SouthKashmir's Pulwama district onWednesday.

In another operation, firstafter the postpaid mobile ser-vices were resumed in Kashmirvalley, the joint teams of secu-rity forces eliminated threeLashkar-e- Tayyeba (LeT) ter-rorists in Anantnag districtduring the night long operation.

According to police, "thedeceased labourer, identified asSethi Kumar Sagar, was work-ing in a local brick kiln to earnhis livelihood".

Sagar was targeted by theterrorists while he was heading

towards work early Wednesdaymorning.

His dead body was lying ina pool of blood when a localpolice party arrived on thespot. Police said, the terroristshad pumped in bullets from avery close range.

Two back to back incidentsof target killing of outsidersfrom Kashmir Valley hasalready triggered fresh wave ofpanic among the local farmers,waiting to harvest their applecrop in the orchards. ShariefKhan, a truck driver fromRajasthan was killed lateMonday evening in Shopianwhile he was transporting appleboxes outside the State.

Responding to the securi-ty concerns of local farmers inthe area, a top ArmyCommander of Srinagar basedChinar Corps, Lt-Gen KJSDhillon Wednesday said all

possible security will be pro-vided to the farmers so thatthey can reap the harvest.

Interacting with thereporters, Lt-Gen Dhillon said,"The farmers will be allowed tosell their fruits to whomsoev-er they want to. I would assuresecurity to all farmers inKashmir, it'll be provided by theState. It is our responsibility.”

Sharing details of the nightlong operation, Policespokesman in Srinagar said, "a cordon and search operationwas launched on the interven-ing night of Tuesday andWednesday in Pazalpora area ofAnantnag after receiving a spe-cific tip off about the presenceof terrorists in the area from thedistrict police.

Police spokesman said, "assecurity forces tightened thecordon and approached ahouse, the house owner resist-ed saying that no one was pre-sent at their premises". Withoutpaying any heed, the securityforces carried on with theiroperation.

The first contact with thehiding terrorists was estab-lished in the wee hours around2.30 am as they first opened fireat the approaching securityforces, police spokesman said.

In the ensuing encounter,the entire house came downdue to the gun fight, they said,adding that the bodies havebeen handed over to the fam-ilies for their burial.

Police spokesman said, thekilled terrorists have been iden-tified as Nasir Gulzar residentof Kharpora ArwaniAnantnag, Aqib Ahmad Hajamresident of Redwani PayeenKulgam and Zahid HussainLone resident of TakiyaMasood Shah Bijbehara.

All the killed terrorists asper police records were affili-ated with proscribed terroroutfit LeT and were wanted bylaw for their complicity in aseries of terror crimes includ-ing attack on security estab-lishments and civilian atroci-ties.

According to the police

records, all of them had a his-tory of terror crime cases andwere part of groups involved inplanning & executing terrorattacks in the area and manyother civilian atrocities.

As per the records avail-able with police, Nasir Gulzarwas involved in case FIR No.84/2018 of PS AchabalAnantnag pertaining to terrorattack at police guardKhulchora Ranipora Achabalon 07 September 2018.

Aaqib Ahmad Hajam wasalso involved in planning andexecuting series of terrorattacks on security establish-ments and many other civilianatrocities in the area. He wasinvolved in case FIR NO.23/2017, 16/2019, 28/2019 and31/2019. Similarly ZahidHussain Lone was part of ter-ror groups responsible for ter-ror attacks in the area.

Incriminating materialincluding arms & ammunitionwere recovered from the site ofencounter, police spokesmansaid.

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Fishermen along the 7,516km long Indian coastline are

in for a bonanza as the scien-tists and engineers of the IndianNational Centre for OceanInformation Services (INCOIS)at Hyderabad have come outwith a state-of-the-art instru-ment that gives out a plethoraof real time information aboutthe oceans and sea surroundingthe peninsular region.

Though the INCOIS, func-tioning under the Ministry ofEarth Sciences, have been com-ing out with innovative prod-ucts for the benefit of the fish-ermen community likePotential Fishing Zone (PFZ)where there would be aggre-gation of fish catch whichhelped in saving precious fuel

as well as time spent in the sea,the data and real time infor-mation eluded the fishers oncethey crossed the distance of 10to 12 km from the shore.

This is because the fisher-men usually travel up to 300nautical miles and beyond toconduct multiday fishing oper-ations. Fishermen along theTamil Nadu and Kerala coastshad told The Pioneer that eachfishing operation means threeto four weeks stay in the seaand beyond the reach of telecommunication systems.“Once we cross the 10 km dis-tance from the shore, we goincommunicado as mobilephones and high frequencyradios go off ,” said Jayapalayan,a marine engineer-turned-fish-ermen activist based inChennai.

This handicap came in the

way in disseminating the infor-mation about the Ockhicyclone (November/December,2017), when fishermen hadgone deep sea fishing before theonset of the cyclone. “We couldnot inform them about thedeveloping cyclone. This com-munication gap resulted inloss of life, serious injuries tothose rescued and severe dam-ages to fishing boats and fish-ing gear,” said TM Balakr-ishnan, senior scientist ,INCOIS, who lead the team ofresearchers in developing afoolproof mechanism to dis-seminate information aboutocean state forecasts, high wavealerts, tsunami and high wavesurges even to fishermen inhigh seas.

Thanks to the collaborativeresearch and development ini-tiative by INCOIS and the

Airport Authority of India,fishermen would start gettingthe services of Gemini. It hasnothing to do with the zodiacsign as well as astrologybecause the term stands for thethird astrological sign as per theHindu system of astrology.Readers are aware of GAGAN(GPS Aided Geo AugmentedNavigation ) Satellite Systemthrough which INCOIS used totransmit details about PFZ andother ocean state conditions forthose who are dependent onocean for their livelihood.

GAGAN system consists ofthree geosynchronous satel-lites (GSAT-8, GSAT-10 andGSAT-15). GAGAN foot-printcovers the entire Indian Oceanround the clock. “To receive themessages transmitted throughthe GAGAN satellites, INCOIStogether with AAI developed a

low-cost GAGAN system-enabled GEMINI (GAGANEnabled Mariner's Instrumentfor Navigation andInformation) device and elec-tronically designed and manu-factured by a private industryM/S Acord, Bangalore underMake in India Program,” DrBalakrishnan told The Pioneer.

He explained that the GEM-INI device receives and transfersthe data received from GAGANto a mobile through Bluetoothcommunication.“A mobile appli-cation developed by INCOISdecodes and displays the infor-mation in nine regional lan-guages,” said Dr Balakrishnan.Fishermen will start gettingdetails about Potential FishingZones three days in advance andthis would give them enoughtime and space to set sail for thecatch well in advance.

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Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee on

Wednesday released a bookmentioning the exploits of herGovernment in the past eightyears “in comparison to theprevious Governments in thepreceding 64 years.”

Releasing the booklet theChief Minister said that theState had since her coming topower in 2011 marched aheadin every respect “if comparedto the previous Governmentsthat ruled for 64 years Bengalpost Independence.”

The Chief Minister said“our tax revenue has gone upmore than three-fold,” andadded the State had witnessedan 11-time increase in capitalexpenditure which has led tothe “massive development inthe infrastructure develop-ment.”

Stating that the “main goalof the government is to take theState ahead in the path ofdevelopment,” making it num-ber one state in the countryBanerjee said Bengal’s plannedexpenditure had gone up morethan six times while the agri-cultural growth had witnesseda nine-fold jump.

Earlier writing on WorldFood Day Banerjee remindedhow her Government hadensured food security to morethan 8 crore people of theState.

“today is World Food Day.We have ensured the foodsecurity of more than 8.5 crore”of Bengal through KhadyaSathi Scheme, adding how her government had providedspecial assistance to the people of Jangalmahal and thehills (of North Bengal) apart from catering to theneeds of Aila-hit areas ofSunderbans as well as the dis-placed farmers of Singur andthe workers of the closed teagardens.

“Special assistance is alsoprovided to the people ofJangalmahal and Hill areas,Aila-affected areas, farmers ofSingur, tea garden workers &Toto tribe,” she maintained.

Later in the day the ChiefMinister visited the house ofIndia’s latest Nobel LaureateAbhijit Vinayak Banerjee whereshe met her mother also aneconomist for more than half-an-hour and discussed herGovernment’s economic poli-cies with her.

“We are proud to be

Indians and Bengalis that aAbhijit babu has received NobelPrize along with her wife for hiswork on poverty alleviation. Infact our Government has alsotaken a whole lot of stepsregarding this and during mymeeting with his mother Irelated many of such schemesto her.

“I have directed the HomeSecretary and otherGovernment officials to keepher posted about our developmental activities fromtime to time so that we can be helped Mr Banerjee’s invalu-able advice,” the Chief Ministersaid adding she was proud ofanother Bengali personalitySourav Ganguly who had beennominated as the next presi-dent of the Board of Control forCricket in India.

“Sourav is the son of thesoil and our own child. I amproud of his becoming theBCCI president. Last time hewas here he met me and I amexpecting a meeting with himsoon,” Banerjee said.

The Chief Minister’s state-ment comes hours after criticssaid Home Minister and BJPleader Amit Shah had a handin Ganguly’s becoming theBCCI president.

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The Central Bureau ofInvestigation has sent

notices to senior officials of theBengal Government demandingthe relevant papers of previousinvestigations into the multi-crore Rose Valley chit fundcase.

Alleging that the Statepolice had despite repeatedrequests failed to produce rele-vant evidentiary documentsand other inventories theAgency has written to ChiefSecretary Rajiva Sinha toarrange for the relevant docu-ments at the earliest.

Apart from the Chief

Secretary the CBI has also senta notice of appearance to theofficer on special duty in StateFinance, asking him to appearbefore the Agency on October18, sources said.

The latest developmentcomes within a month of theCBI facing a judicial reversal inRajiv Kumar case with theCalcutta High Court allowing

anticipatory bail to the formerKolkata Commissioner of Policethe Sharada chit fund case.

Following a Supreme Courtorder the CBI is investigatingthe larger angle behind the chitfund fraud. Before the CBIbegun its investigation the pre-liminary probe was conductedby a Special Investigation Teamled by senior IPS officer RajivKumar whom the Agency hasaccused of non-cooperation.

The CBI says that the Statepolice and in particular Kumarhad despite repeated requestsfailed to produce the relevantpapers and inventories to it forthe probe to be taken to its log-ical end.

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The ongoing strike byemployees of the Telangana

State Road TransportCorporation continued for the12th day on Wednesday withno immediate thaw betweenGovernment and the staff insight.

"Strike is continuing. Evenas per the advice of (high)court, neither the (TSRTC)management nor governmenthas come forward for talks.AsJAC (Joint ActionCommittee),we are ready fortalks," Raji Reddy, a leader ofemployees' JAC, told PTI.

The protests would con-tinue on Thursday and Fridayin the run-up to the October 19state bandh called by them, hesaid, adding that the nextcourse of action would beannounced later that day.

Reddy said leaders of thenational transport workers

unions, as also others likeTelangana Public sectoremployees' federation, onWednesday extended supportto their strike.

The state-wide strike bynearly 48,000 employees ofvarious TSRTC unions,demanding fulfillment of theirdemands, including merger ofRTC with the government, payrevision and recruitment tovarious posts, among oth-ers,began on October 5.

Since the strike began, twoemployees have ended theirlives and three attempted sui-cide.

The Chief Minister hadruled out talks with theemployees or taking them back,terming the agitation as "ille-gal".

The State Government hasbeen running some buses fromRTC's fleet, besides privatevehicles.

TRS parliamentary party

leader K Keshava Rao onTuesday indicated that he waswilling to hold talks with theprotesting employees to bringthe stir to an end.

Rao had earlier urged theworkers to call off the strikeand resolve their issues amica-bly through negotiations.

He said on Tuesday hewas willing to take up the roleof a mediator if asked by ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao.

The Telangana High Courthad on Tuesday directed thestate government and strikingemployees to set aside their dif-ferences and work towards anamicable settlement.

Former MP and stateCongress working presidentPonnam Prabhakar onWednesday said his party wouldintensify its stir after the October19 state bandh if the TRS gov-ernment failed to resolve theRTC strike issue by then.

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The Madras High Court onWednesday directed the

CBI to file before it a copy ofthe final investigation report inthe Pollachi sexual harassmentcase once it was submitted inthe jurisdictional court.

Hearing a batch of peti-tions, including a plea seekingmonitoring of the case by thehigh court, it also ordered theinvestigating agency to fur-nish copies of the report to thepetitioners' counsel.

The case related to sexualabuse of several women by agang in Pollachi in Coimbatoredistrict which came to light inFebruary after a victim lodgeda police complaint.

When the matter came upbefore first bench comprisingacting Chief Justice VineetKothari and Justice CSaravanan, the Central Bureauof Investigation submitted thata charge sheet had alreadybeen filed on May 23 in thecourt of chief judicial magis-trate in Coimbatore and fiveaccused were arrested.

The agency said somevideos which were recoveredfrom the mobile phones of theaccused were being scanned

and the final report would befiled in the competent courtafter the completion of theprobe, the agency said.

The court then adjournedthe PIL petitions, seeking var-ious relief, including setting upof a fact finding team andmonitoring of the probe, toNovember 4 for further hear-ing.

A gang of four men onFebruary 12 allegedly tried tostrip a 19-year-old womaninside a car near Pollachi, over500 km from here, and hadrecorded the act and black-mailed her using the visuals.

Later during probe, itemerged that several otherwomen had been sexuallyharassed by the gang.

Amid mounting publicoutrage, the Tamil Nadu gov-ernment in March transferredthe case to the CBI.

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With just a few days left forthe Maharashtra

Assembly elections, some civilsociety groups in the state havecome out with a "manifesto",drawing the attention of politi-cians to 100 different demandsacross 12 domains. The docu-ment titled 'Maharashtra UrbanCitizen's Manifesto 2019' seekscreation of inclusive and sus-tainable urban spaces, finalisa-tion of Maharashtra HousingPolicy and guaranteed mini-mum wages not less than Rs18,000, among other things.

The manifesto was collec-tively prepared by 39 NGOs andother groups in the state, includ-ing Pani Haq Samiti,Maharasthra Beghar Abhiyan,Centre For PromotingDemocracy and Right to Pee.Members of around a dozen ofthese NGOs on Wednesdayheld rallies in western suburbsof Mumbai and distributed itscopies to voters.

Sitaram Shelar, convener ofPani Haq Samiti, said the doc-ument runs into 16 pages.

"After preparing the mani-festo, we met heads of all the par-ties last week and requestedthem to incorporate ourdemands in their poll mani-festos. Few parties found ourdocument worthy and bor-rowed some of our points. Weare now hitting the streets to sen-sitise the voters," he said.

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JD(S) patriarch HD DeveGowda on Wednesday said

his party would field candidatesin all the 15 constituencies forthe December 5 bypolls, fol-lowing the Supreme Court'sdecision on the status of dis-qualified Congress-JD(S) legis-lators.

The former Prime Ministeralso made it clear that there wasno question of taking backthree disqualified JD(S) legisla-tors back into the party fold.

"The disqualified legisla-tors case is likely to come up forhearing in the Supreme Courton October 22. Let's see whatwill be the outcome from thecourt.

If the court upholds thedecision of the then Speaker (todisqualify MLAs) elections willhappen. If not, the bypolls maynot happen as per schedule,"Gowda said.

Speaking to reporters here,he said his son and former ChiefMinister H D Kumaraswamyhad already spoken about theparty's decision to field candi-dates in all the 15 segments, and

there were no differences with-in the party on this matter.

"There is a feeling amongsome people that JD(S) mayonly field its candidates in theold Mysuru region, where theparty was strong...Winning orloosing is another issue alltogether.

We are fielding candidatesin all 15 constituencies going forthe polls," Gowda said, hintingthat this would form the"groundwork" for JD(S) to con-test local body polls from acrossthe State.

Congress and JD(S), thatcontested the Lok Sabha polls inalliance and had run a coalitiongovernment in the state, havedecided to go separate ways inthe bypolls.

The bypolls to 15 of the 17seats represented by disqualifiedMLAs, which the ElectionCommission had earlier decid-ed to defer until the apex Courtdecides on their plea challeng-ing disqualification, has nowbeen scheduled for Decemberfive. Among the 15 constituen-cies going for the polls, 12 wererepresented by Congress andthree by JD(S).

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Newly operational toll plazaalong the Jammu-

Pathankot National Highway atSarore in Samba district, hasbecome the new rallying pointfor all the political parties andtheir top brass in Jammu region.

Meanwhile, it is the com-mon passenger who is facinghardships for last five days onaccount of long traffic jams andstrike by the transporters unionon the same route.

Sensing public mood, thepolitical parties lost no timebefore throwing their hats in thearena and started politicking toearn brownie points.

Interestingly, none of thepoliticians are standing withthe project executing agency-National Highway Authority ofIndia (NHAI).

On its part, Project Director,

NHAI Ajay Kumar Rajak hasalready clarified before themedia that the toll plaza wasopened and operated as per rulesof the Central Government. Healso maintained “The rollback oftoll plaza at Sarore is not oncards as its location and rateshave been decided by theCentral Government”. Ironically,the BJP state president, RavinderRaina, had termed the toll postas ‘ill thought-out decision of thelocal officials of the NHAI’ andsought its removal.

Feeling the heat of growingpublic anger against the BJP'smuted silence over the issue,Raina shot off a letter to UnionTransport Minister NitinGadkari requesting scrapping ofthe toll plaza on October 12.

Union Minister of State inthe Prime Minister’s Office(PMO), Dr Jitendra Singh alsointervened in the matter. After

meeting Union Minister NitinGadkari on October 15, DrSingh tweeted, "I took up theissue of Toll Plaza constructed bythe National Highway Authorityof India (NHAI) at Sarore withGadkari in New Delhi and sug-gested Gadkari to defer opera-tion of Toll Plaza at Sarorekeeping in view peculiar cir-cumstances of the State’s transi-tion into the Union Territory. DrSingh also took up the issue ofToll Plaza with Governor SatyaPal Malik and urged him todefer the continuance of thePlaza.

Meanwhile, opposition par-ties, Congress, NationalConference, Panthers Party,Peoples Democratic Party andseveral other organisations cameout on the streets and heldprotest demonstrations seekingscrapping of the toll plaza atSarore.

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Invoking the “Narendra-Devendra” formula which

he said proved to be a “super-hit” during the last five years,Prime Minister Narendra Modion Wednesday made a strongpitch for Devendra Fadnavis’return as the Chief Minister ofMaharashtra and said that theModi-Fadnavis combinationwould give the state a newdimension to the state in termsof development in the comingyears.

Addressing a huge electionrally at Panvel in the neigh-bouring Raigad district, Modisaid: “You have re-installedNarendra in Delhi. I appeal tothe voters to re-installDevendra with the samestrength. Delhi me Narendra,Mumbai me Devendra ..Narendra-Devendra formulahas been a super-hit during the

last five years. In comingyears, this combination willgive a new dimension to thestate in terms of development”.

“You have to accept thisfact as well: When Devendraand Narendra stand together, itwill not be 1+1=2, but togeth-er they will become 11. Thecombined strength of elevenwill take Maharashtra willnewer heights in the country.At a time when we are aimingto become a 5 trillion economy,Maharashtra is such an enginewill give us boost will realisingour dream,” Modi said.

Modi also heaped praise onMaharashtra for its key rile inIndia becoming the third start-up friendly nation in theworld. “Maharashtra has playeda key role in our becoming thethird start-up friendly nation in the world. Youngsters from here have played a big rolein this.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Wednesday

slammed Opposition leadersseeking a link between theabrogation of Article 370and the MaharashtraAssembly polls, and toldthem to go drown (doobmaro) for their stance.

Modi made the acerbicremarks in Akola district ofVidarbha region during acampaign rally for theOctober 21 MaharashtraAssembly elections.

"How can they(Opposition) say that Jammuand Kashmir has nothing todo with Maharashtra? Theyshould be ashamed of suchthoughts. Don't they have anyshame? Doob maro," he said,using the two-word phrase inHindi.

Modi lambasted theCongress and NCP chiefSharad Pawar, who hadaccused the ruling BJP of

"diverting attention from itsfailures by harping on Article370 abrogation."

"A shameless Opposition isasking what is the connectionbetween Article 370 andMaharashtra. We are proud ofthe children of Maharashtrawho sacrificed everything forJammu and Kashmir," he said.

Modi said he was shockedthat such voices are beingraised for political gains in theland of Shivaji Maharaj.

Pawar had said on Tuesdaythat the BJP does not have any-thing concrete to show and sowas harping on abrogation ofArticle 370. "If you questionthem about farmers' suicides,unemployment, closure ofindustries, the BJP respondswith Article 370," the NCPleader had said.

Modi, who also addressedpoll rallies in Jalna and Raigaddistricts later, said the Congressnow is not the same party thatfought for Independence.

"The (Congress) party is

taking its last breath. It sees'rashtra bhakti' (nationalism) in'parivar bhakti' (devotion to afamily)," he said without takingany names.

"The Congress, which istaking its last breath, seesnationalism in devotion to afamily," Modi said.

Modi said Hindutva ideo-logue V D Savarkar's "san-skar" (values) are the basis fornation-building, and rued thatBabasaheb Ambedkar wasdenied the Bharat Ratna,India's highest civilian honour.

"It is due to Savarkar's 'san-skar' that we put nationalism asthe basis for nation-building,"Modi said.

His remarks came a dayafter BJP's Maharashtra unitsought Bharat Ratna forSavarkar in its poll manifesto.

Modi said the Marathwadaregion in Maharashtra gavethree chief ministers to the state, but the area is stillbackward in terms of develop-ment.

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Women protesters, includ-ing National Conference

President Farooq Abdullah'ssister and daughter, who werearrested on Tuesday after theytook out a protest march, were

released on bail by a court herethis evening, officials said.

Abdullah's sister Suraiya,his daughter Safiya and 11 otherwomen furnished a personalbond of Rs 10,000 and surety ofRs 40,000 each under section107 of criminal procedure code,

giving an assurance that theywould maintain peace, the offi-cials said. The women, who werelodged in central jail Srinagar,were released around 6 pm onWednesday after the court ofChief Judicial Magistrate grant-ed them bail, they said.

Suraiya and Safiya were lead-ing a group of women activists,who wore black arm bands andheld placards, while protestingagainst abrogation of provisionsof Article 370 and bifurcation ofJammu and Kashmir into twounion territories.

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Attacking the Opposition,Chief Minister Yogi

Adityanath said that partieslike Samajwadi Party, BahujanSamaj Party and Congresswanted power to loot, not toserve the people as they werenot concerned about nation’sinterest but only about theirpersonal interests.

Addressing a series of ral-lies in Bahraich and Mau onWednesday, the Chief Ministersaid that the character of theSP, the BSP and the Congresswas similar.

“They are families, notpolitical parties and they arenot concerned about theprogress of the citizens,” hesaid.

“Anarchy, corruption anddishonesty remain their soleagenda after they come topower. In order to maintaintheir vote banks to retainpower, they oppose the deci-sions taken in the interest ofthe country. They do not evenshy away from supportingterrorism. Such people arenot liking abrogation of Article370 and they speak the lan-guage of Pakistan,” Yogi said.

The Chief Minister saidthat improvement in law andorder and curbing corrup-tion were the priorities of hisGovernment.

“Criminals have got a

clear message and they haveunderstood the motive of thegovernment. Those who didnot understand this in the begin-ning, have been made toacknowledge it and now eitherthey are behind bars or have fledthe state,” he said.

“During the rule ofSamajwadi Party, riots tookplace every other day. Therewas loss of property and restric-tions were imposed on cele-bration of festivals. But now, noriots take place and all festivalsare celebrated with zeal,” hesaid.

The Chief Minister saidthat during his 30-month rule,the Bharatiya Janata Party gov-ernment had provided employ-ment to 2.25 lakh youth in atransparent manner and nocomplaint of wrongful meanswas reported. “People whocame under suspicion wereexpelled at once,” he said.

Speaking at a rally inBahraich’s Balha town, theChief Minister said that thestate government constructeda medical college in the nameof Maharaj Suheldev.

“Admissions will start herefrom this year and this will pro-vide better health facilities tothe people of Bahraich,” he said.

“In addition, the state gov-ernment is also promotingsports by constructing opengymnasium and sportsgrounds in every village,” the

Chief Minister said.Yogi said that the BJP was

the only democratic party in thecountry. “It is only the BJPwhere any booth level workercan become prime minister andnational president of the party,”he said.

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Page 10: English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today News in ... · will take a final decision on Pakistan in February 2020. ... cadre IPS officer Kishore Kunal, Singh said he will not

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India has halved its povertyrate since the 1990s and

achieved a seven plus growthrate over the last 15 years, theWorld Bank said on Tuesday.

India is both critical to thesuccess of global developmentefforts, including eliminatingextreme poverty, and as aninfluential leader for globalgoods such as addressing cli-mate change, the bank saidahead of the annual meetingbetween it and theInternational Monetary Fund.

The country has achievedannual growth exceeding sevenper cent over the last 15 years,halved its poverty rate since the1990s, and enjoyed strongimprovements in most humandevelopment outcomes, theWorld Bank said.

Noting that India’s growth

is expected to continue andelimination of extreme pover-ty in the decade is withinreach, it said at the same time,the country’s development tra-jectory nonetheless faces con-

siderable challenges. For this, the World Bank

said, India will need to achievegreater resource efficiency as itsustains growth, given itsresource endowments and large

population. Land will need to be used

more productively in urbanareas by the spatial transfor-mation of cities achieving“agglomeration economies”

and in rural areas by increasedagricultural productivity, itsaid.

India’s water managementwill need to provide for shift-ing water allocation to higher-value uses and policies toincrease the value of water usewithin sectors.

In addition, 230 millionpeople are not properly con-nected to the electricity gridwhile generation will need to beless carbon intensive, the WorldBank pointed out.

“More generally, India’srapidly growing economyneeds investment in infra-structure, an estimated 8.8 per-cent of GDP or $343 billion ayear until 2030,” it said.

Second, sustained growthwill also need to accelerateinclusion, especially to createmore and better jobs. While anestimated 13 million people

enter the working age popula-tion each year, only three mil-lion new jobs are being gener-ated on an annual basis, thefinancial institution said.

The World Bank said a par-ticular challenge lies in India’sdeclining female labour forceparticipation, which at 27 per-cent is among the lowest in theworld despite overcoming gen-der gaps in education.

“Finally, India’s public sec-tor institutions will need to bemodernised to deliver servicesand regulations that match theaspirations of a middle incomecountry; this will entail improv-ing accountability and effec-tiveness, improving the abilityof the state to interface with theprivate sector, and strengthening the compactamong tiers of government toimprove service delivery,” thebank said.

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It is important for India tokeep fiscal deficit in check,

even though its revenue pro-jections look optimistic, ChiefEconomist of the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF) GitaGopinath has said.

As against India’s realgrowth rate of 6.8 per cent in2018, the IMF in its latestWorld Economic Outlookreleased on Tuesday, projectedthe country’s growth rate at 6.1per cent for 2019 and notedthat the Indian economy isexpected to pick up at 7 percent in 2020.

In India’s case, there hasbeen a negative impact ongrowth that has come fromfinancial vulnerabilities andthe non-bank financial sector,and the impact on consumerborrowing and borrowing ofsmall and medium enterprises,Gopinath said.

The Indian-Americaneconomist was speaking toreporters ahead of the annualmeeting of the IMF and the

World Bank.On the projections in the

World Economic Outlookreport, Gopinath said appropriate steps have beentaken.

Appreciative of the recentsteps being taken by FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanto address the economic chal-lenges being faced by India, shesaid there is still a lot more that needs to bedone.

Prominent among theseinclude cleaning up of balancesheets of regular commercialbanks, Gopinath said.

“In our projections we havethat India will recover to 7 percent growth in 2020. And thepremise is that these particularbottlenecks will clear up,” shesaid.

On the fiscal side for India,there have been some recentmeasures, including the cor-porate tax cut. There has notbeen an announcement abouthow that will be offset to rev-enues at this point, Gopinathsaid.

New Delhi: India’s fuel demandslipped to its lowest in over twoyears in September after a fallin diesel and industrial fuel con-sumption negated the rise inpetrol and LPG consumption.

Consumption of petrole-um products in Septemberdropped to 16.01 milliontonnes, its lowest since July2017, from 16.06 milliontonnes in the same month lastyear, according to data from the

Petroleum Planning andAnalysis Cell (PPAC).

Diesel, the most used fuelin the country, saw demanddrop by 3.2 per cent to 5.8 mil-lion tonnes, while naphthasales were down by a quarter to8,44,000 tonnes.

Bitumen, used in road con-struction, too saw consumptiondrop by 7.3 per cent to 343,000tonnes. Fuel oil sales edged 3.8per cent lower in September to

525,000 tonnes.These downward trends

negated the rise in cooking gas(LPG) and petrol demand.

The sale of petrol rose 6.2per cent to 2.37 million tonnes,but sale of jet fuel or ATF fell1.6 per cent to 6,66,000 tonnes.

LPG consumption surged6 per cent to 2.18 milliontonnes on the back ofGovernment’s push for the useof cleaner fuel. PTI

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The IMF on Wednesdayurged the largest economies

of the world, including India,to be prepared to engage in acoordinated policy action, aday after it downgraded the2019 global growth rate to 3 percent — the slowest pace sincethe 2008 global financial crisis.

The remarks by VitorGaspar, Director of theInternational Monetary Fund’sFiscal Affairs Department,came a day after the IMFpainted a grim picture of theglobal economy.

“It is timely for the largest

economies to be prepared toengage in a coordinated poli-cy action if downside risks to

the global economic growthmaterialise,” Gaspar told PTI inan interview.

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Chief Economic Advisor KVSubramanian on

Wednesday called upon theindustry to start making invest-ments, stressing that the fun-damentals of the economy are“very very strong”.

On more than �40,000crore of dues pending to smallcompanies, he nudged largecorporates to ensure timelypayment to the MSME sectoras small players are dependenton cash flows.

Large companies must play

a critical role in clearing cashdues to smaller companies, hesaid at an event organised byindustry chamber Ficci being attended by several cor-porates.

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Monday hadsaid that according to returnsfiled by large corporates to theCorporate Affairs Ministry, asmuch as �40,000 crore was dueto the MSME sector.

The CEA further said theslowdown in the economy isdue to a decline in invest-ment, which is a key driver.

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India’s public sector bankshad the “worst phase” under

the “combination” of formerprime minister ManmohanSingh and ex-RBI governorRaghuram Rajan, and givingthe ailing banks a “lifeline” washer primary duty now, FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanhas said.

The public sector bankshave been grappling with badloans and the government hasbeen taking measures toaddress the issue. In August,the government announcedupfront capital infusion to thetune of �70,000 crore into thepublic sector banks. Besides, 10public sector banks are beingconsolidated into four.

Delivering a lecture at the

prestigious ColumbiaUniversity’s School ofInternational and Public Affairshere on Tuesday, Sitharamansaid:

“While economists cantake a view of what prevailstoday or prevailed years ago,but I will also want answers forthe time when Rajan was in theGovernor’s post speaking aboutthe Indian banks, for whichtoday to give a lifeline is the pri-mary duty of the FinanceMinister of India. And thelifeline-kind of an emergencyhas not come overnight”.

“I do respect RaghuramRajan as a great scholar whochose to be in the central bankin India at a time when theIndian economy was all buoy-ant,” she said during the lectureorganised by the Deepak andNeera Raj Centre on IndianEconomic Policies of theColumbia University.

Asked about the ex-RBIgovernor’s comments during arecent lecture at BrownUniversity in which he hadapparently mentioned that inits first term, the NarendraModi government had notdone better on the economybecause the government wasextremely centralised and theleadership does not appear tohave a consistent articulatedvision on how to achieve eco-nomic growth.

New Delhi: The TelecomDepartment (DoT) is trying toget more spectrum free in the3.3-3.6 Ghz band for 5G ser-vices, a top official said onWednesday. The industry hasraised concerns over the limit-ed availability of spectrum inthe mid frequency bandsmarked for 5G services.

With the defence and thespace departments claimingfrequencies in the 3.3-3.6 Ghzband, which has been recom-mended for 5G services by theregulator Trai. PTI

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Union Minister NitinGadkari on Wednesday

said the MSME Ministry hassought a fund of �10,000 croreto buy equity in small busi-nesses wanting to list on thestock exchanges.

“We have requested theFinance Ministry to sanction us�10,000 crore and whicheverMSE (micro and small enter-prises) wants to list their equi-ty on the stock exchanges, wewill buy 10 per cent in them.

“I believe this 10 per centof our equity will increase bytwo to three times in 3-4 years.So this will increase value ofour capital so that we can keeprolling this fund as the gov-ernment alone cannot do allthe things in this age and

time,” the Minister for micro,small and medium enterprises(MSME) said at the ‘IndiaMSE Awards 2019’.

Gadkari, who is also theunion minister for road trans-port and highways, said hewants to increase the revenueof the ministry to �1 lakhcrore in next five years withoutseeking any help from theGovernment by monetisingroad assets.

He said roadside amenitiessuch as providing space forcharging stations or petrolpumps and charging commis-sion from companies, can betapped to increase the rev-enue of the ministry.

The minister also said thereis huge potential for smallunits and businesses in Indiafor export competitiveness.

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The trade war between theUnited States and China

will drag the global economydown with the gloomiestgrowth forecast for 2019 and2020 since the financial crisis,

warned the InternationalMonetary Fund.

Predictions estimate theworld economy will grow byonly 3 per cent in 2019 pickingup to 3.4 per cent by 2020, aconsiderable slowdown from2017’s 3.8 per cent growth.

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Page 11: English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today News in ... · will take a final decision on Pakistan in February 2020. ... cadre IPS officer Kishore Kunal, Singh said he will not

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Spin great Anil Kumble saysone of the biggest learnings

from his previous coachingstints, including the contro-versial one with the Indianteam, is to "back off and helpthe players relax".

Kumble resigned as Indiahead coach after the 2017Champions Trophy final dueto an "untenable relationship"with skipper Virat Kohlithough the team did wellunder his tutelage.

The 48-year-old is back tocoaching again, this time asdirector of cricket operationsat Kings XI Punjab. He alsoheld mentorship roles at RoyalChallengers Bangalore andMumbai Indians.

"With RCB we did not winthe title but we came close acouple of t imes. WithMumbai, we had wonderful

success those three years I wasthere. It is nice to have theexperience of crossing theline. It certainly helps (you asa coach)," Kumble told PTI onWednesday.

"It is all about a game ofcricket at the end of it. If yousimplify like that the jobbecomes a lot easier. Themoment you start puttingimportance to result, wins,trophies then it puts morepressure on the players. So thelearning is just to back off andhelp the players relax andwhen they are relaxed theytend to perform better."

At an event here onWednesday, EbixCash wasannounced as Kings XIPunjab's title sponsor for three

years.Kings XI Punjab have

never won the IPL andKumble has come on board toend the title drought. Kumble,who wants to add more expe-

rience to the Punjab squad,will soon start strategisingfor the IPL auction inDecember.

"You learn from the previ-ous experiences you have had

as a player, as a coach but IPLis a rollercoaster ride. Youneed to be patient and thenback the players you have.

"Generally because of cer-tain results you tend to startlooking at other teams andthat starts influencing yourdecision and that is the lastthing you want."

Earlier this week, Kings XIPunjab co-owner Ness Wadiatold PTI that the franchsieboard had a rethink onRavichandran Ashwin and ithas decided to retain him.Ashwin captained the side inthe previous two seasons butfailed to take them to the play-offs. Kumble said it is not cer-tain that Aswhin will captainthe side again.

"We have not decided thatyet. Some decisions need tome made but we don't need todecide at this moment. IPL isstill five months away. Thereis an auction coming up, wewill start to build a squadaround that as well.

"Ashwin had a wonderfultwo years but of course we didnot get the right results but wehave not made any decisionwho the captain will be."

Kumble conceded that anydecision will not be an easyone as he is a senior player.Ashwin has also done well forIndia in Tests of late, havingmade a comeback into theplaying eleven in the ongoinghome series against SouthAfrica.

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Rodrigo Moreno fired Spaininto Euro 2020 with a last-gaspequaliser in Sweden while the

Republic of Ireland’s chances ofreaching the finals are still in the bal-ance after they fell 2-0 in Switzerland.

Spain became the sixth team toqualify for next summer’s tourna-ment thanks to Rodrigo, who cameoff the bench to score a dramaticinjury-time leveller in a 1-1 draw inStockholm, sparking wild celebra-tions on the touchline.

“Qualification is a must for ateam like Spain but achieving it stillhas value,” said Moreno. “It releasesthe pressure and gives us time towork.”

Robert Moreno’s side are top ofGroup F on 20 points after drawingtheir last two matches. They are fiveahead of Sweden and six aboveRomania, who missed the chance totake second spot when Norway’sAlexander Sorloth snatched a late 1-1 draw in Bucharest.

However it was a far from vintagedisplay from Spain, who startedbrightly but faded as the match woreon against the lively hosts, who weredistraught after missing out on afamous victory right at the death.

A celebratory night was tem-pered slightly by the loss of goalkeep-er David de Gea to a thigh injury inthe second half, although that willworry his club Manchester Unitedmore ahead their meeting withPremier League leaders Liverpoolthis weekend.

IRELAND LEFT SWEATINGIn Group D, Haris Seferovic’s

early strike and Shane Duffy’s lateown goal kept Switzerland’s hopes ofautomatic qualification alive with a2-0 victory over the Republic ofIreland.

The win in Geneva means theSwiss are just a point behind groupleaders Ireland and Denmark withtwo matches remaining in their cam-

paign, compared to just the one forthe Irish, who host the Danes onNovember 18 needing a win to guar-antee qualification.

“It’s a cup final. Beat Denmark toreach Euro 2020. I would have takenthat at the start and I’ll take it now,”said the Republic’s coach MickMcCarthy.

The Swiss, who also have the bet-ter of the head-to-head record withthe Irish as the two teams drew 1-1in September, take on group min-nows Georgia and Gibraltar in theirfinal two games.

“The result doesn’t mean a lot inthe group, we still need to get resultsin our next two games. If we get the

points we need against Georgia andGibraltar we can turn our attentionsto Euro 2020,” said Switzerland coachVladimir Petkovic.

FINLAND TOWARDS HISTORYFinland inched closer to qualify-

ing for their first ever EuropeanChampionships after Teemu Pukkitook his qualifying tally to seven ineight matches with a double thathelped Finland sweep aside Armenia3-0 in Turku.

Fredrik Jensen gave the Finns a31th minute lead. Norwich Citystriker Pukki then scored just afterthe hour and got his second two min-utes from the end with a neat dinkedfinish.

Markku Kanerva’s side stay ninepoints behind Group J winners Italy,

who maintained their 100 percentrecord with an eighth straight win, 5-0 against Liechtenstein.

Finland need a win over rock-bottom Liechtenstein to qualify fortheir first major tournament afterfourth-placed Bosnia & Herzegovinalost 2-1 in Greece with an 88th-minute own goal from AdnanKovacevic.

Israel kept their hopes of quali-fying from Group G alive after see-ing off Latvia 3-1 as Eran Zahaviscored his 11th goal of the qualify-ing campaign.

Andi Herzog’s side are level on 11points with North Macedonia andSlovenia and five behind second-place Austria, meaning they stillhave a chance with two gamesremaining.

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She may have just wonSilver medal in her World

Championship debut butIndian boxer Manju Rani hasno plans to rejig her weightcategory and give it a shot tocompete in the Tokyo 2020Olympics. Instead, the youngchampion wants to developher skills and prepare herselffor 2024.

The 20-year old won herfirst World’s medal in therecently concluded Women’schampionship in Ulan-Udebut since she competes in 48

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Asian Championships Bronzemedallist Nikhat Zareen

cried foul on Wednesday afterthe Boxing Federation of India(BFI) hinted that there would notrial between her and MaryKom in the 51kg category forparticipating in the TokyoOlympic qualifiers in Wuhanfrom February 3 to 14.

BFI president Ajay Singhtold reporters that Mary Kom,could possibly be their automat-ic choice for the China event.And that hasn’t pleased theyoungster looking to make amark.

“Today morning I got toknow that the President had toldthe media that there would be notrials,” Nikhat said.

“Anyone can win any day. It’sboxing. I am not saying send me,but give me a fair chance. I willtry to talk to them (BFI). Theysaid before that only Gold andSilver medallist at the Worldswill automatically be selected forthe Olympic qualifiers but nowthey are changing that rule foreven women,” she said.

Six-time champion MaryKom settled for the Bronze in theWomen’s World BoxingChampionships after losing hersemi-final bout of the 51-kg fly-weight category to second-seedBusenaz Cakiroglu of Turkey ina split 1:4 verdict.

Ahead of the Worlds, BFIhad a selection policy for boththe men and women boxerswhich said all the medal winners(Gold, Silver and Bronze) in the

men’s section at the Worlds willautomatically be picked for theOlympic qualifiers, without hav-ing to undergo trials.

However, for the Eves, thecriteria was only applicable forGold and Silver medallist win-ners at the Worlds.

“Now in December we haveNationals, again I have to gothrough the grind. Then if thereare no trials, what is the use ofall these competitions. No useright?” questioned the 23-yearold boxer.

Asked about her next courseof action, Nikhar said she willapproach sports minister KirenRijiju after trying to contact BFIPresident Singh several times.

“Everything is in President’s(Ajay Singh) hands. I am tryingto contact him but he is notresponding. I tried so manytimes. I will try to contact ourSports Minister and ministryalso, then let’s see what happens.If all this happens I cannotfocus on my game,” she said.

The BFI did not let Nikhatparticipate against Mary Kom atthe trials for the Worlds, back inAugust also. Chairman of selec-tors Rajesh Bhandari had saidthat her bout wouldn’t takeplace just to ensure that she isprotected for the future and notexposed at a young age in theWorld Championships.

The move had come as arude shock for both the boxerand her father who had travelledfrom Hyderabad to the nation-al capital for the trials for thechampionship to be held inRussia in October.

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Former India captainBhaichung Bhutia on

Wednesday said India’s 1-1 drawagainst Bangladesh in the GroupE World Cup qualifiers was“unfortunate”, adding that theteam needs to learn from theirmistakes and move on.

A last-gasp Adil Khan goalsaved India the blushes as theyheld a spirited Bangaldesh,ranked 83 places below them, toa draw.

“I could not watch thematch so I won’t be able to com-ment much on it, but it’s unfor-tunate,” Bhutia said.

India held Asian championsQatar to a 0-0 draw last monthand were hot favourites to winagainst Bangladesh who lost toQatar 0-2 at home before thismatch.

“They are a young side.They have talented players and

they will only learn from this.Yes it’s not a great result but theseboys and the team needs to con-tinue the work they are doing.They will get better,” Bhutia said.

India captain Sunil Chhetrialso expressed his disappoint-ment as he and other playerscame close to scoring but justcould not get the ball past thegoalpost until the 88th minutewhen Adil scored off a corner todraw level.

Taking to Twitter, Chhetriexpressed gratitude to the fanswho turned up in large numbersto support the Indian team.

“We couldn’t deliver a per-formance to match the atmos-phere at the Salt Lake last night,and the dressing room is verydisappointed about it. We could-n’t capitalise on the chances wegot, but this is a process on thepitch and in the stands. Youturned up, we’ll keep attemptingto,” Chhetri tweeted.

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Naveen Kumar was the star as DabangDelhi on Wednesday beat defending

champions Bengaluru Bulls 44-38 to booktheir maiden summit clash berth in the ProKabaddi League here.

The Delhi team produced an all-roundperformance, with Naveen Kumar impress-ing with his raids (15 raid points) and AnilKumar dominating with his tackles (4points) to win in front of a packed stadiumat the EKA Arena by TransStadia.

This was the first time Debanag Delhi

has qualified for the PKL final.The Bulls, just like in the Eliminator

against UP Yoddha, had a slow start, withDelhi dominating the first few plays.Ravinder Pahal seemed keen to maintainhis dominance in duels against PawanSehrawat and started the match with a cleanankle hold of the ‘High flyer’.

Delhi dominated in all departments,with Naveen Kumar spearheading theattack, and inflicted the first All-Out of thematch in the fifth minute to open up a 6-point lead.

Pawan secured a three-point Super Raid

in the seventh minute to reduce the mar-gin but Delhi maintained their momentumthanks to an unstoppable Naveen Kumar.They inflicted another All-Out in the 13thminute to open up an 11-point lead asNaveen Kumar secured another Super 10(his 20th consecutive).

Naveen did make a rookie error as hefailed to complete a raid on time which gavethe Bulls some hope going into the break.Delhi led Bulls 26-18 at half time.

The Bulls opted for a more aggressiveapproach in the second half with thedefenders consistently getting better of theDelhi raiders in do-or-die situations.

But what makes Delhi a complete unitis the presence of versatile all-rounders andthe likes of Chandran Ranjit and Vijaystepped up with valuable raid and tacklepoints to always maintain a healthy lead ofsix or seven points.

Delhi were aware of what PawanSehrawat could do on the mat and werekeen on keeping the league’s best raider inthe dugout as much as possible. Bulls’ starraider spent more than 20 minutes awayfrom the mat as they struggled to reduceDelhi’s lead.

At the other end, Delhi ensured NaveenKumar spent very little time on the bench,and that helped them sure another All-Outwith three minutes left in the match.

Despite Pawan’s attempts in the last fewminutes, Delhi defenders held firm to clincha berth in the grand finale on Saturday.

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Argentina striker MauroIcardi said Wednesday he

was enjoying the focus beingback on football and away fromhis private life at French clubParis Saint-Germain.

The former Inter Milancaptain arrived in the Frenchcapital on loan this season andafter recovering from injury hasscored two goals in theChampions League and Ligue 1.

"In Italy a vicious circle hadbeen created in certain journal-istic circles where we alwaysended up talking a little toomuch about anything concern-ing me," Icardi said in an inter-view with Italian sports dailyGazzetta Dello Sport.

"Here in Paris it's not likethis."

Icardi was the joint top-scorer in Serie A in 2017-18with 29 goals. But last season,he was stripped of the club cap-taincy amid a long contract dis-pute and later barred from fulltraining.

The 26-year-old's life withhis television host wife WandaNara, who is also his agent, hadalso become the focus of manyreports.

Despite parting on badterms the forward said he hadno hard feelings towards theItalian club he joined in 2013and scored 120 goals in just over220 matches.

"I can only wish the best forInter in every competition,"said Icardi.

"I'm good now, I'm up andrunning again even if I have tokeep working because I had acomplicated summer and Iwasn't one hundred percentwhen I arrived in Paris."

PSG are unbeaten on top ofLigue 1, and are also leadingtheir Champions League group

which includes Real Madrid."I've always been used to

pressure but I think it helps thatwe've almost always won so far,"said the former Sampdoriaplayer.

"It's a little different thanInter even though I don't havea real yardstick to comparebecause I haven't played inother great teams in the past.

"PSG has the right playersto do well but the Championsis a trophy coveted by all thegreat teams."

Icardi said he had settled into life in France even if he stillconsidered Milan his home.

"I didn't expect so muchsupport from the fans.

"They welcomed me rightfrom my first warm-up at Parcdes Princes. I then had the goodfortune of playing right awayagainst Real Madrid, beforepicking up a slight injury.

"(PSG coach Thomas)Tuchel is very friendly with theplayers. He talks a lot, jokes,tried to put me at ease from dayone.

"I think I made a goodimpression on him.

"Neymar, (Kylian) Mbappé,(Edinson) Cavani, are all strongplayers.

"It is nice to play with starplayers who change matcheseven at the last minute, likeNeymar does."

Icardi added that he had ahealthy competition withUruguayan striker Cavani.

"With Edy I have a greatrelationship. It's not rivalry,just healthy competition," saidIcardi.

"In this period Edy wasinjured so I had the chance toplay immediately.

"When he comes back, itwill be up to the coach tochoose the best one to sendonto the pitch."

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kg, which is not Olympicweight category. She cannotparticipate in the Tokyogames.

The only situation inwhich she can play in Japanesecapital was if she switches to 51kg or higher. But since 2012Olympic Bronze medallist MCMary Kom is expected to rep-resent India in that, Manju did-n’t even want to think aboutchallenging her and insteadfocus on the future events.

“I have a dream to com-pete in the Olympics since dayone of my introduction tothis sport. But right now I am

focused on preparing myselffor 2024 Paris games. Franklyspeaking, I have no plans for2020. For Tokyo, Mary didi haivo jayengi (Mary Kom is there,she will go). I want to preparemyself for the games afterthat,” she responded clearlywhen asked about 2020 games.

“At present, I aim to estab-lish myself in the 48kg catego-ry and perform. And with timeI will think about switching tohigher weight category andplay in the Olympics,” shesaid during the felicitationceremony organized by BoxingFederation of India.

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Page 12: English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today News in ... · will take a final decision on Pakistan in February 2020. ... cadre IPS officer Kishore Kunal, Singh said he will not

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Tamil Nadu thrashed Gujarat by 78runs in its final Group C match of the

Vijay Hazare here on Wednesday to fin-ish with an all-win record in the 10-teamgroup.

Tamil Nadu, who topped the groupwith 36 points from nine games and sec-ond-placed Gujarat (32 points) qualifiedfor the knockout phase to be held inBengaluru from October 20.

Gujarat captain Parthiv Patel won thetoss and put Tamil Nadu in to bat andsaw the experienced Abhinav Mukund(79, 68 balls, 13 fours) and Murali Vijay(94, 106 balls, 8 fours, 2 sixes) rattle up130 for the first wicket.

All-rounder Washington Sundar,pushed up the order, made 42 (65 balls,2 fours) and added 82 runs for the sec-ond wicket with Vijay.

However, Tamil Nadu suffered a jolt,losing Vijay and the prolific skipperDinesh Karthik (0) in quick succession.

Barring a partnership of 43 runs

between all-rounder Vijay Shankar (23,28 balls, 1 six) and the in-form BabaAparajith (25, 22 balls, 1 four, 2 sixes),the Tamil Nadu lower order fell apart.

From 268 for 4, Gujarat bowlers didwell to restrict Tamil Nadu to 274 for 9in 50 overs.

Faced with the task of making 280to finish with nine wins from nine games,Gujarat saw two of its best batsmsen —Parthiv Patel (6) and Priyank Panchal 12(11 balls, 1 four) fall early.

Bhargav Merai (44) played aggres-sively and hit a few superb shots and his50-run third wicket partnership withManprit Juneja (24) appeared to reviveGujarat’s hopes.

Juneja became the first of MMohammed’s three victims before Meraiwas run out by Mukund.

Left-hander Axar Patel (55, 55 balls,3 fours, 2 sixes) resisted Tamil Nadu’ssurge.

Leg-spinner Murugan Ashwin(2/35) castled Nagwaswalla (4) to endGujarat’s innings at 196.

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The BCCI president-electSourav Ganguly has made itclear that he would like to

know the selection committee’splans with regards to MahendraSingh Dhoni’s future and then givehis opinion on the matter.

The 39-year-old Dhoni hasbeen on a sabbatical post India’sWorld Cup exit and is unlikely tofeature in three-match T20 seriesagainst Bangladesh, set to bepicked on October 24.

While Dhoni has notannounced his international retire-ment, the selectors have time andagain made clear that they intendto move forward keeping nextyear’s World T20 in mind.

“I will find out from the selec-tors when I meet them on October24. We will find out what the selec-tors are thinking and then I willput forth my opinion,” the soon-to-be board supremo Gangulytold reporters at Eden Gardens.

Ganguly also said that hewould like to speak to Dhoni andknow what he wants.

“We will have to see whatDhoni wants. I will also speak tohim what he wants to do and whathe does not want to do.”

He said that since he was notin the picture, he had no clarity onDhoni’s future.

“Since I was not in the picture,it maybe a case that it’s not clearwith me as of now. Now will be in

a position to find out and then willdecide on the way forward.

The former India captainmade it clear that he will speak tothe selectors and captain once hetakes charge at the AGM on

October 23.Earlier the selection meeting

was scheduled on October 21 butnow it will be held on October 24along with selection of India A, Band C teams for the DeodharTrophy.

“During all this time, I wasnowhere in picture. My first selec-tion committee meeting will be onOctober 24. So I will ask the selec-tors and talk with the captain.Coach (Ravi Shastri) won’t be thereas per the new Constitution,”Ganguly said.

Asked if Ravi Shastri’s appoint-ment will be subject to discussionssince there were questions withregards to validity of the KapilDev-led panel, Ganguly replied innegative.

“I don’t think so that it willjeopardise the selection of RaviShastri. I am not sure though. Evenwe had selected the coach whenthere was this conflict issue,” saidGanguly.

For the record, the presidentwill not be a part of the selectioncommittee meeting as secretary JayShah is the designated convenor.Obviously once the team is select-ed, it can be made public afterBCCI president’s mandatoryapproval.

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Seventeen-year-old Yashasvi Jaiswal struck ablazing 203 as Mumbai beat Jharkhand by 39

runs in their final Elite Group A match of the VijayHazare Trophy here on Wednesday.

The left-handed Jaiswal, at 17 years and 192days, became the first male teenager in the worldto score a double-century in List-A cricket. Beforehim, the youngest was Alan Barrow who scored adouble ton at the age of 20 years, 273 days in SouthAfrica in 1975.

Jaiswal’s knock comes just days after Keralawicket- keeper batsman Sanju Samson hit anunbeaten 212 in the Hazare Trophy.

Jaiswal’s knock was ninth instance of an Indianscoring a List A double-ton, and he joined the elitelist of Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma and VirenderSehwag.

Riding on Jaiswal’s double hundred, Mumbaiposted 358 for 3 in 50 overs and bowled out theopposition for 319.

He struck 17 fours and 12 sixes and also builta mammoth 200-run stand with experiencedwicket-keeper batsman Aditya Tare, who played theperfect second fiddle with a knock of 78 off 102 balls.

After the game, Jaiswal said that he would enjoythe moment, but work even harder in future.

“It is a good feeling but I need to work moreand this is just the begenning and I need to focuson my next tournament. I am happy for today andwill try to ensure I continue to play these kinds ofknocks,” he said.

Jaiswal had stayed in the tent of his club in southMumbai during his early days as he could not affordto rent a house, and sold paani puri in the streetsbefore he was spotted by coach Jwala Singh.

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Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal’sstruggles continued with a first round

loss against Japan’s Sayaka Takahashi in theDenmark Open here on Wednesday.

The world number 8 Saina lost 15-21,21-23 in the women’s singles match that last-ed 37 minutes to crash out of the $775,000tournament. The 29-year-old was the run-ner-up last year.

Saina has been going through a toughphase with fitness issues since claiming theIndonesia Masters in January. She had alsomade first-round exits at the China Openand Korea Open.

Sameer Verma, however, crossed thefirst hurdle in the men’s singles when he beatKanta Tsuneyama of Japan 21-11, 21-11 in29 minutes to advance to the secondround. The Indian mixed doubles pair ofPranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy

also made it to the second round with a 21-16, 21-11 win over the German duo ofMarvin Seidel and Linda Efler.

In another mixed doubles first roundmatch, Satwiksairaj Ranki and AshwiniPonnappa did not take the court and con-ceded a walk over to the second seededChinese pair of Wang Yi Lyu and HuangDong Ping.

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Sourav Ganguly, who is going tobe BCCI president, expressed

his reservations over the ICC’sattempt to stage the 50-overWorld Cup every three years.

The World Cup has tradition-ally been a quadrennial eventsince its first edition in 1975.However, the 1992 edition washeld after a five-year gap and the1999 edition after a three-yeargap.

“Sometimes less is more inlife. So we have got to be carefulwith that. And the football WorldCup happens every four years andyou see the madness,” Gangulytold reporters at the CricketAssociation of Bengal office.

The International CricketCouncil (ICC) is planning topropose a Futures ToursProgramme (FTP) in which T20World Cup will be played everyyear and the 50-over World Cup

once every three years.“That’s a decision the ICC has

to make I’m not in a position totalk or comment on it. As in whenwhen I get an opportunity to bea part of the discussion, I willspeak,” the former India captainsaid.

The 47-year-old however saidback to back T20 World Cup isthe way forward with the risingpopularity of the shortest format.

“When Champions Trophyfirst came in, I played the tourna-ment in 1998. I’ve captained twoChampions Trophies getting tofinals in both and being the jointwinners in one so at that time itwas a huge tournament.

“But with the advent of T20,people come to the ground morethan any other tournament. So Ithink that’s the reason ICC haschanged it.

The demands will changeaccording to the situation andICC will have to deal with it.”