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OPINION

P4Kashmiriyat is dead, this much is certain. And everything associated with it – religious harmony, secularism, the distinct relationship between Kashmir and India –is gone as well. Kashmiriyat has been in the throes of death for some decades now, but the latest moves by the Indian government to abrogate Article 370 and 35A, and demote the state of Jammu and Kashmir to a Union Territory, have put the final nail in its coffin. Constitutionally and rhetorically, Kashmir is no longer special.

Kashmiriyat The Death Of An Idea

OPINION


Kashmiriyat The Death Of An Idea

OPINION


OPINION

P4India, Pakistan Can MakeA Fresh Start

From Kartarpur

Today, November 12, 2019, will go down as a historic day for all those belonging to two of the three major religions of India and Pakistan, Muslims and Sikhs. It will perhaps pave the way for better relations between the two countries. As I write this, two days before the 550th birth anniversary of the founder of the Sikh faith, Nanak Dev, a historic corridor, linking India and Pakistan has just been inaugurated, on the Indian side, by its Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and on the Pakistani side by its Prime Minister Imran Khan.

13

Shutdown Completes 100 Days in Kashmir

‘100 Days Without Internet’, Journalists Stage Silent Protest

SRINAGAR: The internet lock-down completed 100 days in Kashmir Valley on Tuesday. To express their resentment and anger over the official apathy, the journalists at Kashmir Press Club here in Srinagar staged a silent protest demanding

immediate restoration of the internet service. Government of India imposed communication blockade here in Kashmir after it annulled the special status in the first week of August this year. Though, it restored the post More On 02

SRINAGAR: Life remained affected for the 100th day on Tuesday in the Kashmir valley, where people are protesting against scrap-ping of Article 370 and 35 A, besides dividing the state into two Union Ter-ritories (UTs) on August 5.

Police said there is no curfew restrictions in any part of the valley today. However, restrictions un-der Section 144 CrPC, pro-hibiting assemble of four or more persons, continued as a precautionary measure in the valley on Tuesday.

As a precautionary mea-sure all gates of historic Jamia Masjid in the down town remained closed for devotees since August 5. Large number of Central Armed Paramilitary Force (CAPF) are deployed in the Jamia market and outside to prevent people from en-tering the worship place, stronghold of More On 02

Militant Killed In G'bal GunfightGANDERBAL: A militant was killed in a gunfight with Gov-ernment Forces in Central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district on Tuesday.

Official sources told Kash-mir News Trust that a gun-fight raged in Kulan Gund area of Ganderbal district when Forces cordoned off the area after receiving in-puts about the presence of armed militants.

“The militants opened fire on the joint forces of the In-dian army and J&K police triggering a gunfight. "One militant was killed in the gunfight,” said More On 02

WE ARE BEING FORCED TO AVAIL THE INTERNET service at media fa-cilitation centre and it is so insulting there. You have to wait for your turn and besides the frequent internet breakdown there adds to your woes.”

P10

News In Brief

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Contact : -0194-2502327

Indo, US Drills From Nov 13NEW DELHI: A maiden nine-day tri-services exercise between India and the US on humanitar-ian assistance and disaster relief will begin from November 13, with the aim of strengthen-ing the bilateral relationship and defence cooperation.In the exercise, named Tiger Triumph, Indian Naval ships Jalashwa, Airavat and Sand-hayak, Indian Army troops from 19 Madras and 7 Guards, and In-dian Air Force MI-17 helicopters and Rapid Action Medical Team would be participating."The US would be represented by US Navy Ship Germantown with troops from More On 02

Gurupurab Celebrated in ValleySRINAGAR: Gurupurab, birth an-niversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji was on Tuesday celebrated with religious fervor and gaiety in the Kashmir valley.Members of the sikh com-munity, including women and children, in colourful dresses, visited Gurdwaras since early this morning despite chilly weather conditions in the valley.The main congregation was held at Gurdwara Chatipadsha-hi, Rainawari in the down town city, where devotees from differ-ent parts of the city participated in the prayers. The organisors of the Gurdwara had arranged special langar More On 02

Leopard Maules Teenager to DeathJAMMU: An 18-year-old boy was mauled to death by a leopard in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said on Tuesday.Paroshotam Kumar was at-tacked and killed by the wild animal while returning to his residence in Makwal village in Ramkote area late on Monday, a police official said.He said the victim's mutilated body was recovered from the bushes and handed over to his family for last rites after completion of legal formalities.The incident has caused panic among local residents who took to the streets on Tuesday morn-ing along with More On 02

Pak Violates Ceasefire Along LoC JAMMU: Pakistani troops vio-lated the ceasefire on Tuesday by resorting to mortar shelling on forward posts and villages along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, officials said.The shelling from across the border started in the Shahpur sector around 3.15 pm, prompt-ing strong retaliation by the Indian Army, they said.The officials said the cross-border firing was going on from both the sides when More On 02

Passenger Vehicle Falls Into Gorge In Doda, 16 Killed

Press Trust of India

JAMMU: Sixteen people, including five women and three children, were killed on Tuesday when a passenger vehicle skidded off the road and fell into a deep gorge in Jammu and Kashmir's Doda district, police said.

Senior Superintendent of Police, Doda, Mumtaz Ah-mad said one more person was rescued from the acci-dent site near Marmat area of the hilly district in a criti-cal condition and admitted to hospital for treatment

Twelve people were killed on the spot after the accident and four more suc-cumbed to injuries while undergoing treatment, the SSP told PTI.

Officials said the SUV was headed for Gowa village of Marmat from Kleeni when its driver lost control while negotiating a blind curve and the vehicle fell into the 700-metre-deep gorge around 3.25 pm.

The condition of the only survivor, who was initially treated at a local hospital and later shifted to More On 02

Valley Shivers, Waits For Fresh Spell Of SnowfallAgenceis

SRINAGAR: After witnessing snowfall and cloudy weather dur-ing the last about five days, sun-shine greeted people though ice cold winds continued in the sum-mer capital, Srinagar and other parts of Kashmir valley, where maximum temperature settled

several degrees below normal.However, a fresh spell of

moderate to heavy snow would occur for three days from Thurs-day, when a Western Distur-bance (WD), which originated from the Arabian Sea and is ap-proaching the region though Af-ghanistan and Pakistan, will hit the UTs of J&K and Ladakh.

A Met department spokesper-son told UNI higher reaches will witness isolated very light rain and snow during the next 48 hours.

He said a weather warning has been issued for Friday and Saturday, when heavy rain and snow would occur at isolated places in the valley. “The weath-er system under the More On 02

Traffic Resumes on Jammu-Srinagar Highway, Mughal Road remains closedAgenceis

BANIHAL: Traffic on the strategic Jammu-Srinagar national highway resumed on Tuesday after remain-ing suspended for nearly two days following a massive landslide at Ramban district, officials said.

However, despite undertaking a major operation to clear the snow, the traffic on the Mughal Road, which connects the border districts of Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu region with south Kashmir's Shop-ian district, remained closed for the seventh day, they said.

The reopening of the road came as a big relief for thousands of commuters who had been strand-ed on the highway since Sunday afternoon after the massive land-slide at Digdole.

The 270-km national More On 02

Hearing On Kashmir in US Congress This week

6-Year-Old Raped, Killed In Jammu

Rail Service In Kashmir Resume SRINAGAR: Rail services in Kashmir resumed on Tues-day over three months after being suspended due to se-curity reasons in view of the Centre's decision to abrogate Article 370, officials said.

Few mini-buses also plied on the Batwara-Batamaloo route through the city centre, while inter-district cabs and auto-rickshaws plied in the city and elsewhere in the valley.

Private transport was ply-ing unhindered. A railway official told PTI that a train chugged between Baramulla and Srinagar this morning.

He said the train More On 02

4 More Central Laws Made Applicable To J&KLegal Framework for National Law University; Metropolitan Region Development Authorities protected

New Regimes of JK, Ladakh to Make Up Past Lapses: Jitendra

Air Ticket Counters at TRC Fleecing Customers, Authorities MumObserver News Service

SRINAGAR: The air ticket counters established by the divisional ad-ministration at the Tourist Recep-tion Centre (TRC) here following internet blockade in the Kashmir Valley are overcharging custom-ers with authorities acting as mute spectators.

Customers allege that every air ticket is surcharged by 1000-to 2,000 rupees by the agents from the gullible customers as they have no way to cross check the prices.

Government established seven ticket counters at TRC on

August 27 this year after inter-net blockade made it impossible for people to buy air tickets for travel outside of Kashmir. Tick-ets were available only at airline counters at the Srinagar airport after August 5 when lockdown was announced but passengers without valid tickets were not allowed inside the airport by the security personnel guarding the facility. In Srinagar only passen-gers holding valid air tickets are allowed beyond outer gates of the airport for security reasons.

Divisional authorities later tried to persuade airlines oper-ating in and out of Srinagar to

open their booking counters at TRC which they refused citing logistical issues, even after an in-ternet lease line was established there. Later Tourism Department was given this task which in turn allotted counters to seven ma-jor private tour operators there. However left out tour agents later protested against the deci-sion forcing authorities to add others on weekly basis through the draw of lots.

Deputy Director Enforcement, Tourism was given the task to oversee the operation of the booking counters, sources said. These sources said, More On 02

AN AIR TICKET OF SPICE JET FROM DELHI TO SRINAGAR bearing PNR number J7C3JF dated 02.09.2019 was sold to a customer at Rs 7,460 whereas the actual cost of same ticket (online) was found to be Rs 5,460.

Press trust of India

JAMMU: A six-year-old tribal girl, hailing from Mad-hya Pradesh, was allegedly raped and killed by a youth from her own community in Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir, a police official said on Tuesday.

The 23-year-old accused, identified as Vishal alias "Cho-tu", was arrested and booked

in the case, the official said.The incident took place at

a slum inhabited by a group of labourers from Madhya Pradesh in the industrial area of Rakhamtali late on Monday.

The accused lured the girl, allegedly raped her and later strangulated her to death, the official said.

The minor's body was re-covered from inside a shanty and subsequently More On 02

Lalit K Jha

WASHINGTON: A US Con-gressional Caucus on human rights will hold a hearing this week on the situation in Jam-mu and Kashmir following India's decision to revoke its special status, but some ob-servers have raised suspicion over its intentions saying witnesses on the panel are well known India bashers.

India on August 5 decided to withdraw Jammu and Kashmir's special status and bifurcate the state into two

Union Territories.Announcing the hearing,

the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission said "Witnesses will examine the human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir in the context of the region's history and larger patterns of rights violations in India and Pakistan, and will offer recommendations for action by Congress."

The Commission has invit-ed Anurima Bhargava, Com-missioner, US Commission on International Religious Free-dom as witness More On 02

Kupwara-Karnah Road Reopens, Keran, Machil Gurez Still Cut offSRINAGAR: One-way traffic was resumed on Kupwara to border town of Karnah after remaining suspended since Wednesday due to heavy snowfall.However, dozens of far-flung and remote villages, More On 02

Nasir Azam

SRINAGAR: The Government of In-dia has ordered that four more state laws will be applicable to the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh forthwith.

The President of India, under the Jammu and Kashmir Re-organ-isation (removal of difficulties) or-der 2019, has made four more laws applicable to both the UTs, which came into existence on October 31.

Of them, three laws were en-acted during the last year’s Gover-nor rule when powers of the state legislature were vested with the Governor.

With this order, the number of state laws applicable to both the

UTs has reached 177 as 173 such laws were already protected by the Parliament when it gave its nod for re-organisation of the state.

The four laws protected in fresh action by the Centre also includes the legal framework for setting up of National Law University in Jam-mu & Kashmir. Cleared by the Legis-lative Assembly in last year’s budget session, the proposal faced road-blocks from Raj Bhavan when NN Vohra was Governor of the State.

Sources told that before his exit from the State in August 2018, Vohra repeatedly raised queries on the legislation. After being pushed into cold storage for more than one year, the bill recently got assent of Raj Bhavan. More On 02

Press Trust of India

NEW DELHI: The regimes of new-ly-created UTs of Jammu and Kash-mir, and Ladakh will make up for the lapses of the past and give due priority to vital sectors which had somehow suffered from low prior-ity or negligence, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Tuesday.

Singh was interacting with a delegation of over 100 teachers representing different districts under the aegis of the All Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh Teachers Federation' (AJKLTF).

While Article 370 blocked the growth of education and discour-aged best faculty from outside, the alleged undue interference in the transfer and appointment of teachers had taken a toll on qual-ity education, Union Minister for

the PMO said.The society owes it to teachers

as they are entrusted with the re-sponsibility of shaping the future of the next generation and thus, of tomorrow's India, Singh said.

In the new set up after October 31, when the two UTs came into existence, he said while More On

THE CONDITION OF THE ONLY SURVIVOR, who was initially treated at a local hospital and later shifted to the Government Medical College Hospital Jammu, is critical.

Wednesday | 13.11.2019 02News

FROM FRONT PAGE

Shutdown Completesmoderate Hurriyat Conference (HC) chairman

Mirwaiz Moulvi Omar Farooq, who is currently under house arrest.

Due to severe cold very less number of shops and business establishments reopened in Srinagar and outskirts this morning. However, after func-tioning for about three hours from 0800 hrs, ev-erything came to halt again as shopkeepers closed their establishments and left for home.

Public transport, including State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) buses remained off the roads since August 5. However, private vehicles and three wheelers were seen plying on some routes in the civil line and uptown. A number of cabs were also seen plying on different routes, including Sri-nagar to different districts besides in the city.

Pre-paid mobile service and internet service, in-cluding Broadband of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Lim-ited (BSNL) also remained suspended for the past 100 days.

Business and other activities remained affected in this and other district and tehsil headquarters of south Kashmir on Tuesday, a report from An-antnag said. However, private vehicles were seen plying on the roads but passenger traffic remained off the roads. Additional security forces besides Road Opening Parties (ROP) remained deployed on the highway and other important routes in south Kashmir.

Life remained paralysed due to strike in this and other north Kashmir towns, a report from Baram-ulla said. Traffic was off the roads though good number of vehicles were seen plying on different routes in the district. Additional security forces ar deployed at sensitive places to prevent any law and order problem.

Similar reports were also received from central Kashmir districts of Ganderbal and Budgam, where business and other activities remained paralysed since August 5. Two militants were killed by secu-rity forces on Tuesday in Ganderbal on Tuesday.

‘100 Days Withoutpaid mobile service after 71 days, the internet service is still in suspension mode. Dozens of journalists assembled at Kashmir Press Club and registered a protest in the premises of the Club. They were carrying pamphlets and laptops seeking immediate restoration of internet service. Some of the pamphlets read: “100 days without internet’ and ‘stop humiliating Kashmiri journalists’. While speaking to reporters, senior Journalist Parvez Bukhari said: “We are protesting the ban on internet and it is definitely choking journalism in Kashmir, making day to day work difficult and we are also protesting against the lack of infrastruc-ture at government run media facilitation centre. We are demanding that internet service should be restored.” Another senior Journalist Naseer Ganaie said that there is no privacy at government run media facili-tation centre. “There are only few computers and you don’t get enough time for professional work. It is really frustrating,” he said. Some of the protesting journalists told Kashmir News Trust that Kashmir is the only planet in the world where Journalists are being deprived of internet. “We are being forced to avail the internet service at media facilitation centre and it is so insulting there. You have to wait for your turn and besides the frequent internet breakdown there adds to your woes,” they said. A Journalist said that it is really ironical that media fraternity has been deprived of all facilities in Kash-mir and nobody listens to them. Pertinently, Supreme Court of India had asked the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir administration to reply to the pleas seeking removal the communi-cations blockade that is hampering the functioning of the media after the abrogation of provisions of Article 370. The Centre in its reply had said that all the newspapers are hitting the stands without any disruption. It has presented the copies of various newspapers in the apex court. (KNT)

Militant Killedan official adding that search operation was

launched after exchange of fire stopped between

militants and Forces.The Militant has been identified as Pakistani

namely Khalid also known as Zebran affiliated with Militant outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba.

Pertinently, this was the second encounter in two days. Yesterday, two militants were killed in Lawdara Bandipora encounter. Police had iden-tified them as Abu Talha, a non-local and Qaisar Manzoor Bhat of Plan Bandipora, Both were affili-ated with militant outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba. (KNT)

Rail Service Inmade only two trips on the Baramulla-Srinagar

stretch as authorities have directed Railways to ply trains between 10 am and 3 pm only due to secu-rity reasons.

The Railways conducted the trial run of the ser-vice on the stretch on Monday for the first time in over three months since the unannounced shut-down in the valley.

The official said the Srinagar-Banihal stretch of the railway line would resume in a few days after checking track safety and conducting trial runs.

The train service in the valley was suspended due to security reasons on the morning of 5 Au-gust hours before the Centre announced its deci-sion to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution and to bifurcate the erstwhile state into two Union territories.

The Centre's decision led to an unannounced shutdown in the valley which completed 100 days on Tuesday -- even as authorities imposed severe restrictions which were later gradually eased out.

Markets have been following a new pattern of functioning, opening early morning till around the noon and then downing their shutters to join the protest against abrogation of the special status of the state, officials said.

They said miscreants and militants are using fear mongering to put down any resistance to un-announced shutdown by threatening shopkeepers and businessmen.

The officials said two grenade attacks in the city's busy Goni Khan market and Kaka Sarai areas were an indication that there were concerted ef-forts to keep the shutdown going.

Pre-paid mobile phones and all internet services continued to remain suspended since 5 August.

Most of the top level and second rung separat-ist politicians have been taken into preventive custody while mainstream leaders including two former chief ministers -- Omar Abdullah and Meh-booba Mufti -- have been either detained or placed under house arrest.

The government has detained former chief minister and sitting Lok Sabha MP from Srinagar Farooq Abdullah under the controversial Public Safety Act.

Passenger Vehiclethe Government Medical College Hospital Jammu, is

critical, they said.Meanwhile, a minor boy was crushed to death

by a speedy truck near Miran Sahib in the outskirts of Jammu on Tuesday.

Sumit Kumar, a Class 7 student, was crossing the road outside his house when he was hit by the truck, a police official said, adding that the erring driver was arrested and the vehicle seized.

6-Year-Old Raped, the accused was arrested in the wee hours of Tues-

day, he said, adding that the post-mortem of the body was conducted at the district hospital this morning.

Hearing On Kashmirin the first panel for the hearing on Wednesday,

November 13.Raising eyebrows over the real intentions of Tom

Lantos Commission, congressional observers said its Co-Chairs Congressmen James P McGovern and Christopher H Simth, announced the hearing with-out notice and has chosen a panel that is "loaded against India".

The list of witnesses for the second panel re-leased by the Human Rights Commission, which is a Democratic Party dominated bipartisan caucus of the US Representatives, reflects that the panel-ists are all suspect.

Invitees are people who are totally pitted against India, indicating that the Congressional hearing is all set to be "biased and one sided."

The announcement of the hearing by the Lantos Committee comes on the heels of a blatant one-sided hearing last month on Jammu and Kashmir.

India had termed as "regrettable" criticism by several US Congressmen over the situation in Kashmir, and said the comments reflected a very limited understanding of the country's history and its pluralistic society.

Congressional observers suspect this due to the massive political funding by groups believed to be Pakistani-Americans and those close to the Paki-stani establishment.

Valley Shivers,influence of the WD could result in disruption

of surface and air traffic in the valley,” he added. People in Srinagar city, which witnessed below

normal night temperature on Monday, woke up to a chilly Tuesday morning due to cloudy skies, coupled with ice cold winds. However, as the day progressed sun came out from behind the clouds resulting in slight improvement in the day temper-ature though it still remained several degrees be-low normal due to ice cold winds. The maximum temperature recorded in the city on Monday was about 14 degree below normal.

The spokesperson said skies will be generally cloudy during the next 24 hours in Srinagar, where maximum and minimum temperatures will be around 4 degree and 1 degree.

The night temperature in world famous ski re-sort of Gulmarg, about 55 km from here in north Kashmir, improved about 3 degree from Monday and settled at minus 1.6 degree, which around 4 degree above normal. Skies were cloudy in Gul-marg, where the ski slopes are covered under sev-eral feet of snow, resulting in dip in the maximum temperature, which remained below normal.

The mercury at world famous tourist resort of Pahalgam, about 100 km from here in south Kash-mir, remained constant since Monday at minus 1.3 degree, which is slightly below normal.

The night temperatures at Qazigund, gateway to the valley, Kupwara in north Kashmir, tourist re-sort of Kokernag settled at 0.4 degree, minus 1.1 degree and minus 0.8 degree, respectively.

Traffic Resumeshighway, the only all weather road linking Kash-

mir with the rest of the country, was cleared of the landslide at Digdole around 4 am after over a 40-hour-long operation to clear the snow, a traffic department official said.

He said the stranded vehicles were allowed to move soon after the road was made traffic worthy and later the light motor vehicles were also al-lowed from both Srinagar and Jammu.

"The traffic is plying smoothly from both sides when last reports were received," the official said.

Meanwhile, the weatherman has predicted an-other spell of light to moderate snowfall at most places in Jammu and Kashmir and Kargil in the union territory of Ladakh between November 14 and 16.

"Weather to remain partly to generally cloudy in both union territories till November 13. Another spell of light to moderate snowfall is likely at most places of J&K and Kargil district of Ladakh from November 14 night to November 16," said Sonam Lotus, director, state meteorological department.

He said the inclement weather might lead to landslide, temporary disruptions of surface trans-portation on Leh-Srinagar and Srinagar-Jammu highways.

He, however, said there was no forecast of heavy spell similar to the previous one on November 14 and 15 during which the Kashmir valley was cut off from the rest of the country.

Kupwara-Karnah Roadincluding border towns of Keran and Machil be-

sides Gurez remained cut off on Tuesday from their respective district and tehsil headquarters in north Kashmir due to accumulation of several feet of snow.

An official of Police Control Room (PCR), Kup-wara, told UNI over the phone on Tuesday that

due to accumulation of snow, traffic on differ-ent routes, leading to far flung and remote areas, including near LoC, remained suspended since Wednesday.

He said the district authorities put into service machines and men and put through the Kupwara-Karnah road. However, one-way traffic is allowed on the road which is still narrow as vehicles had to pass through snow walls on both sides. Traffic is allowed on rotational basis from Kupwara and Karnah to avoid any accident.

The PCR official said three main roads of Kup-wara-Keran and Kupwara-Machil remained closed due to snow. “The roads are very slippery and there is also threat of avalanches,” he said, adding the snow clearance operation has been started.

He said roads leading to dozens of far flung and remote villages also remained closed due to snow.

Meanwhile, the Razdan pass, connecting Gurez, Neeru and dozens of other areas near LoC in Ban-dipora district, also remained closed due to heavy snowfall. The road has been closed on Wednesday morning for any vehicular movement due to sev-eral feet of snow and slippery conditions. “There was more than five feet of snow at Razdan pass,” officials said.

The authorities have already pressed into ser-vice snow clearance machines and cutters to clear the snow and put through the road, which re-mained closed for six winter months in the past. The government has already approved a tunnel at Razdan pass to make it an all weather road.

4 More Central LawsThe second key legislation deals with establish-

ment of two metropolitan region development au-thorities for State’s twin capitals.

This legislation was also enacted during last year’s Governor rule before the erstwhile State came under President’s rule on December 19. As outlined in the Act, these bodies were set-up for coordinating, supervising and executing develop-ment plans for metropolitan regions of the State.

Sources told Srinagar based news agency that after commencement of the law, the government established two metropolitan region development authorities and also appointed their Chief Execu-tive Officers. As per the laws, these bodies shall comprise of Chief Minister, Minister for Housing & Urban Development Department, Minister of State for Housing & Urban Development Depart-ment, MLAs, bureaucrats, representatives of urban bodies and experts from different fields including urban infrastructure, town planning.

The other two laws protected include Jammu & Kashmir Single Window (Industrial Investment and Business Facilitation) Act and J&K Bovine Breeding ( Regulation of Production, Sale of Bovine Semen and Artificial Insemination) Act. Both these laws were also enacted during Governor’s rule in 2018. It is worthwhile to mention here that re-or-ganisation of J&K has led to massive changes into erstwhile State’s legal framework. (KNO)

Air Ticket Countersthe air tickets are booked online by these agents

and they are supposed to sell the tickets on actual cost adding only service charge of Rs 200 to500 maximum per ticket. Sources said, Deputy Direc-tor Enforcement has nominated his P.A in his place to deal with the agents who are accused of selling tickets at exorbitant prices. An air ticket of Spice Jet from Delhi to Srinagar bearing PNR number J7C3JF dated 02.09.2019 was sold to a customer at Rs 7,460 whereas the actual cost of same ticket (online) was found to be Rs 5,460.

“There is a connivance of these travel agents with the officers of tourism department”, alleged one irritated customer Ghulam Nabi Dagga. Ini-tially in the month of August and September, on an average around 500 to 600 air tickets were sold to the general public per day from TRC counters by these travel agents, sources said. Kashmir Observer is in the possession of a copy of a ledger showing average 100 to 130 tickets booked per day against each agent’s name. Surcharge is levied as per sec-tor. For example on Jammu sector it ranges from Rs 800-to Rs 1000 while on Delhi, Mumbai or Ban-galore sectors it ranges from Rs 1000 to Rs 2000. If

each ticket is overcharged by say Rs 1000, then the amount earned by an agent per day against 100 tickets becomes Rs one lac.

There are even reports of secret auction of coun-ters against hefty sums.

No wonder each counter is secretly auctioned for Rs 70,000 - 80, 000 per week as the reports suggest. In the third week of August one agent auctioned his counter for Rs 1,20,000, sources re-vealed.

Sources accuse tourism department officials of being hand in glove with the agents. “I paid Rs 50,000 for the counter and over and above have to pay to officials of tourism department, including tourist police, claimed one agent with a request of anonymity. “Where from I will generate this amount except by charging extra from my custom-ers”, he said.

When contacted Director Tourism Kashmir Nisar Ahmed Wani, told Kashmir Observer that media is creating mountain out of a mole hill. He dismissed reports of fleecing of passengers at his premises saying he hasn’t received any complaints in this regard so far.

New Regimes of JKthe salaries and emoluments of government

teachers had undergone a significant rise, other al-lowances for health, house rent, children's educa-tion will also enable them to concentrate on their work.

The new arrangement, Singh said, has suddenly liberated Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh from deprivations of the past and now, it is time to avail the same opportunities and same avenues which the Modi government has made available to the people, particularly youth, in the rest of India.

For this, he said, it is important not only to make the best use of the changed set up but also to lib-erate people's mindsets from the "slavish tenden-cies" imposed by Article 370.

Indo, US DrillsUS third marine division. The exercise is aimed

at developing inter-operability for conducting hu-manitarian assistance and disaster relief opera-tions," the Indian Navy said in a statement.

The Harbour Phase is scheduled at Visakhapat-nam from November 13 to November 16. The opening ceremony along with a joint flag parade would be held onboard INS Jalashwa on November 14.

Personnel from both the navies would also par-ticipate in training visits, subject matter expert exchanges, sports events and social interactions.

"On completion of the Harbour Phase, the ships, with troops embarked, would sail for the sea phase and undertake maritime, amphibious and human-itarian assistance and disaster relief operations. On reaching the humanitarian assistance and disaster relief area at Kakinada, the landing of relief forces would be undertaken to the exercise scenario," said the Indian Navy.

Gurupurab Celebratedfor the devotees.The district administration had made all neces-

sary arrangements for the devotees.Similar religious functions were held at Tral,

Baramulla, Pulwama, Badgam and other places in the valley.

Muslim and Kashmiri pandit were seen greeting their sikh brethren on the occasion.

Leopard Maulesthe victim's body and blocked the main road to

protest against the wildlife department.Senior police and civil officers rushed to the area

and were persuading the protesters to disperse, assuring necessary measures to prevent such an incident from occurring in the future, the official said.

The leopard remains untraced and is believed to have fled back into the forest, he said.

Pak Violateslast reports were received.However, there was no report of any casualty in

the Pakistani shelling so far, they said.

Cantonment Board Sends Property Tax Bills Without ‘Assessment’ To Locals Agencies

SRINAGAR: Locals from different areas falling in the jurisdiction of Badami Bagh Cantonment Board (BBCB) here in Kashmir capital Srinagar Tuesday alleged that they were handed over property tax bills without any assessment.

The locals said that BBCB didn’t make any assessment and now it is asking locals to pay the property tax randomly. “I have received property tax bill of Rs 24,000 annually while my neighbor has been asked to pay Rs 12,000. This all has been done without any assessment,” said a local Irshad Ahmed to KNT.

Another local from Indra Nagar, Javaid Ahmed said that this is for the first time that they are receiving the property tax bills. “There should have been proper assessment but it seems BBCB has done everything with-out assessment,” he said.

There are 7 wards that fall in the jurisdiction of BBCB. These include Batawara, Shopora A and B, Indira Nagar, Iqbal Colony, Sonwar, Sadar. BBCB has locals as members as well.

A member from BBCB said that they had made a proper as-sessment last year but the locals didn’t file any objection over that assessment. “There will be a new assessment now and locals will be asked to file objections if any,” the member told KNT.

VC SKUAST Jammu Meets LG

JAMMU: Dr. K.S. Risam, Vice Chan-cellor, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technol-ogy of Jammu (SKUAST-Jammu), met Lieutenant Governor, Girish Chandra Murmu at the Raj Bhavan here on Tuesday. Sh. Risam briefed Lt. Governor about various issues relating to the academic and admin-istrative importance and the initia-tives undertaken by the University to develop it as a centre of quality teaching and research activities.

Sh. Risam informed that a total of seven Research Stations and sev-en Krishi Vigyan Kendras are under the jurisdiction of SKUAST Jammu catering to sub-tropical, interme-diate and temperate agro-climatic zones of the Jammu region.

Lt. Governor emphasized that the educational interest of the en-tire student community should be promoted and safeguarded by adoption of various innovative and reformative measures.

Ganderbal Admin Imposes Rs 43,000 Fine On Erring VendorsGANDERBAL: The Additional Deputy Commissioner (Adjudi-cating Officer) Farooq Ahmad Baba under the Food Safety Act has imposed a fine of Rs. 43,000 on various Food Business Opera-

tors for the violation of the Food Safety and Standards Act-2006.

He also directed the concerned officers to conduct market check-ing on daily basis to ensure qual-ity of food in the district.

Inclement Weather Forecast: DC Srinagar Reviews PreparednessObserver News Service

SRINAGAR: In view of the inclem-ent weather forecast predicting snowfall between November 14 and 16 in the district as elsewhere in Kashmir, Deputy Commissioner Srinagar Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary Tuesday convened a meeting with heads of different departments to review their preparedness.

The meeting discussed the plans of concerned departments that have been prepared on the instruc-tions of the DC to prevent inter-ruption in services during future snowfalls in the district.

The DC while hailing their ef-forts after last week's unforeseen snowfall in the district asked all the concerned departments to en-sure faster and wider dealing with inclement weather situation as forecast and immediate services restorations wherever required.

Concerned departments including Mechanical Engineering Department, Power Development Department, Public Health Engineering, Roads & Buildings, Srinagar Municipal Corpo-ration and Fire & Emergency Depart-ment were provided 5 lakh rupees each for acquiring gear to equip their ground staff involved in restoration ef-forts for dealing with harsh conditions.

The Power department was also provided with 2 crore rupees in-cluding 50 lakh rupees for each of its

four divisions to procure buffer stock of transformers to handle situations where transformers are damaged. In addition to this 10 lakh rupees including 2.5 lakh for each of its di-visions was provided to the depart-ment for handling restorations.

The PHE department was also provided an additional 10 lakh rupees to facilitate immediate res-toration of damaged infrastructure when required.

The Drainage division of SMC was provided an additional 15 lakh rupees for fuel expenses for op-erating dewatering pumping sta-tions during exigencies. The Health

department was also provided an amount of 5 lakh rupees for pro-curing fuel for power generators - already provided to several health institutions - required during snowfall-caused power outages.

Fourteen lakh rupees including two lakh rupees each were pro-vided to Tehsildars to provide for their mobility requirements dur-ing times of exigencies.

The departments were instructed to equip their staff and activate them immediately. They were asked to project any further demands but were asked to show results.

The DC directed for ensuring

that snow clearance machines are positioned at all critical spots and that these must be pressed into service as soon as snow starts to accumulate. He stressed on priori-tising snow-clearance from roads leading to all important installa-tions across the district. The R&B was asked to work in close coordi-nation with the SMC as long as the weather situation lasts.

The meeting was informed that both the MED and the SMC are geared up with the former with 23 snowplows and the latter with some 4000 personnel and 22 JCBs includ-ing 2 skid-steers at their disposal for snow-clearance on all main roads and pedestrian lanes across Srinagar.

It was also informed that all of 80 dewatering stations and 115 mobile pumping stations in the city are operational and that all concerned personnel have been sensitised. The F&ES department has also kept some of its pool of fire tenders and portable fire pumps available for water-logging exigencies in case there is a need.

Dr Shahid said water-logging as a result of snowfall or rains throws a major challenge in the district and that the concerned depart-ments must be well-prepared to deal with it. He instructed for en-suring quick draining-out of water-logged areas including all interior roads and lanes.

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SPR (Strategic Petroleum Reserve) crude• 1993 - Pakistani minister of Foreign affairs

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• 2009 - The Netherlands officially exits the recession after experiencing 0.4% growth in the third quarter, but recovery for the Netherlands still remains fragile as the country is highly dependent on exports to maintain the recovery

• 2009 - Germany's growth of 0.7% in the third quarter helps lead the Eurozone out of the recession after providing overall growth of 0.4% in the same period, with the whole European Union growing 0.2%, it is reported today

• 2014 - Rohit Sharma of India sets a new record of 264 runs against Sri Lanka in an ODI innings in cricket

• 2015 - Terror attacks in Paris at 3 locations leave at least 129 dead. Isis claim responsibility.

• 2017 - Italy fails to qualify for 2018 Football World Cup (first time since 1958), after play-off defeat against Sweden.

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• 2017 - First Barbie doll to wear a hijab, modeled on Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad unveiled in New York

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From KO Archives ‘50 percent Indians are corrupt’

AGENCIES

NEW DELHI: Almost 60 per cent of Indians using government ser¬vices end up paying bribes, according to a recent survey commis¬sioned by India's Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). But only 20 per cent actu-ally filed complaints against such corrupt practises.

The study was carried out by the Centre for Media Studies (CMS), which interviewed 2,576 visitors to government offices in five cities across the country from October 31 to November 4.

More than 60 percent of respondents said the problem of cor¬ruption was not being tackled seriously and that the judiciary was largely ineffective. Most of the respondents agreed the offices for securing driving licenses and civil supplies were the most corrupt in all five cities — New Delhi, Lucknow,Madras, Hyderabad and Pune.

One-third of respondents admitted to using "influence or fa¬vour" to get the service they needed.The survey noted that mem¬bers of the business community and the self-employed topped the list of bribe givers. According to the survey, the government departments in Lucknow and Hyderabad were the most corrupt. About 42 per cent of people said the departments operated "Middle men" who acted as a paid conduit between the public and officials. The public departments covered by the survey included electricity and telephone boards, civil supplies, driving license and local and I urban development offices.

(Kashmir Observer, November 13, 2000)

Observer News Service

New Delhi, Nov 12 (PTI) To ensure better price to the farmers of newly created union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Finance Minister Nir-malaSitharaman on Tuesday said the government will seek help of NABARD in procuring farm produce like saffron, peaches and walnuts from them.Also, she said, the gov ernment wants to promote solar energy generation in the union ter-ritory (UT) of Ladakh, which is also carved out of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. The govern-ment has recently procured apples from the farmers of UT of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) through Nation-al Agricultural Cooperative Market-ing Federation of India (NAFED).

"Now I'm ensuring that I will take the chairman of NABARD to J&K even if it's winter now because I want ... the next crop of saffron, peaches and walnuts and other agri produce of J&K to get that kind of support which through NABARD the central government can extend to Jammu and Kashmir," she said at an event organised by National Bank for Ag-riculture and Rural Development (NABARD). NABARD Chairman Harsh Kumar Bhanwala said after the event, "Whatever responsibility is given by the government, we will do it."

NABARD will speak to farmers of Jammu and Kashmir and under-stand their issues, he said, adding that efforts will be made to provide help farmers of saffron, peaches and walnuts. Both long-term credit

and short-term credit issues will also be looked at, he added.

Sitharaman further said, the gov-ernment was focusing on the priori-ties of fishermen in the coastal and inland water areas. "NABARD can focus on marketing of local nutrients in the coastal areas. It can work with the farmer producer organisations (FPOs) and self help groups (SHGs) in these areas to help increase nutri-tional input of the area, which could be well received in the wellness in-dustry," she said. Pointing out that the government has taken various measures to promote financial in-clusion and insuring un-insured and funding the un-funded, additional secretary in the finance ministry Debasish Panda said the effort is to ensure that the banking services are available within 5 km of every villag-es in the country. Financial inclusion-led intervention over a short period of time has led to transformational and directional change, he said. Highlighting some of the achieve-ments of the financial inclusion drive of the government, Panda said Prad-hanMantri Jan Dhan accounts have crossed 37 crore with deposit bal-ance of over Rs 1 lakh crore. Of this 53 per cent of the account holders are women and around 29.6 crore Rupay debit cards have been issued to these account holders. With regard to in-surance, he said, the government has launched flagship insurance schemes like PradhanMantriJeevanJyotiBi-maYojana (PMJJBY) and Pradhan-MantriSurakshaBimaYojana (PMSBY) at affordable premium.

Govt to seek NABARD's help for procuring farm produce in J&K: FM

LG reviews situation arising due to heavy snowfallDirects for providing immediate relief for damaged structures and in cases of death and injuries


JAMMU: Lt. Governor, Girish Chan-dra Murmu reviewed the situation arising due to heavy snowfall in Kashmir and issued directions to the concerned officers for prompt action to alleviate miseries of people due to heavy snowfall in the Valley.

Sh. BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary; Sh. BipulPathak, Princi-pal Secretary to Lt. Governor; Sh. Hirdesh Kumar, Secretary PDD; Sh.

SanjeevVerma, Divisional Com-missioner Jammu; Sh. Ajeet Kumar Sahu, Secretary PHE; Sh. Khurshid Ahmad Shah, Secretary PWD; Sh. Pandurang Pole, Secretary Disaster Management, Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction and Sh. Alok Kumar, IGP Traffic, J&K participated in the meeting. Through video con-ferencing, Sh. Baseer Ahmad Khan, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, briefed Lt. Governor about the status of the restoration of power supply, clearance of snow from the roads, adequacy of food items, fuel, water supply, availability of medicines and

other basic amenities in areas of heavy snowfall in Kashmir.

Divisional Commissioner Kashmir informed that machines have been put in place for snow clearance, Centres for relief facilities have been set up in 3 places on the National Highway with sufficient stocking of essential commodities including dry ration, heaters, blankets, and provi-sion of water and toilet facilities. He added that these Centres have the capacity to accommodate 1500 peo-

ple at a time. It was informed that 602 winter dumping stations have been established in inaccessible ar-eas of Kashmir with all the basic ne-cessities stocked for 6 months, these areas are mostly situated in the dis-tricts of Kupwara, Bandipora, Baram-ulla, Shopian, Kulgam and Anantnag and a few areas in Budgam district.

The Divisional Commissioner Kashmir informed that winter con-trol rooms have been established at district and sub divisional level and their telephone numbers have been widely publicized. All officers/of-ficials have been asked not to leave

stations without proper permission. Besides officers are touring exten-sively in areas of their jurisdiction to oversee public facilities. Sh. Khan informed that snow clearance from roads and restoration of electricity supply has been done in record time and train services in the Valley have again started working from today. It was informed that 100 % major roads and more than 95 % internal roads in every district of Kashmir have been cleared for traffic movement. 95 %

of the electricity supply in Srinagar district, 78% in Pulwama, 73 % in Kulgam and 70% each in Shopian and Ganderbal has been restored. Provi-sion of alternate electricity supply for Baramulla and Kupwara districts has been made from Lower Jhelum, Kishenganga and Dilena sub-station. This interim arrangement has been made till electric lines are restored in these districts. As regarding wa-ter supply, Divisional Commissioner informed that 680 out of 859 water schemes are fully functional with 100 % water supply restoration in Srinagar, Anantnag, Bandipora, Kul-

gam and Ganderbal and more than 90 % in other districts. He informed that 80 stationary and 105 vehicle mounted pumps have been pre-positioned at vulnerable places to avoid inundation of low lying areas.

Divisional Commissioner Kash-mir further informed that 64,700 candidates appeared for 10th class examination today and adequate heating and lighting facilities were available at all the examination centres. He said that teams have

also been constituted to check over-charging and hoarding of essential items by the traders. Chief Secre-tary informed that Rs. 20 crore for Kashmir and Rs. 10 crore for Jammu have been provided and asked both the Divisional Commissioners to utilize the funds sanctioned under the SDRF. Divisional Commissioner Kashmir told that the SDRF teams have also been kept ready for carry-ing out rescue operations in upper reaches in case of landslides. While reviewing the traffic management, Lt. Governor suggested for setting up kiosks wherever the space for traf-

fic boy is not available. He directed deployment of adequate traffic per-sonnel with provision of uninter-rupted communication channels for smooth flow of traffic particularly along the Jammu-Srinagar Highway. He advised the PDD to ensure well designed towers for future including laying out of underground cables to protect the supply and directed the PHE Department for providing more vehicle mounted pumps.

Lt. Governor directed Divisional

Commissioner Jammu to identify land for facilitating passengers who get stranded due to landslides on the Jammu-Srinagar Highway and create facilities for provision of food, water, toilets, tents and medicines.

Lt. Governor directed the adminis-tration to put in added efforts in mit-igating the difficulties of the people and meeting their requirements. He advised constant monitoring and all out efforts for ensuring public con-venience. He directed for providing immediate relief for damaged struc-tures and in cases of death and those injured.


SRINAGAR: While praising the cul-tural heritage of Kashmir, Union Joint Secretary, Ministry of Culture, NirupamaKotru today said that there is no parallel to the heritage of the region. She said steps needs to be taken to conserve the tangible heritage which includes tombs, old houses, age-old buildings, artifacts in museums, along with non-tangi-ble heritage including music, litera-ture, paintings and others.

The Joint Secretary said this at a book release function held by Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages at the seminar hall of JKAACL, LalMandi. The function was held in collabora-tion with Department of Achieves, Archaeology and Museums.

Secretary J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages Muneer-ul-Islam, Director National Council of Science Museums Samarendra Ku-mar, Chief Editor (Urdu), J&K Acade-my of Art, Culture and Languages M Ashraf Tak were present during the function. Speaking on the occasion, Kotru said that people of Kashmir are ardent readers and have always loved to read good stuff. She said that Kashmiri folk tales are so rich that people world over read them with great admiration.

Joint Secretary said that the Val-ley has a rich tradition and culture which is admired world-over. The writers and poets here have ex-pressed their love and emotions so beautifully that their work inspires millions, Kotru said. She said it is important that such literature and art is showcased world over so that the seekers get the requisite benefit

from their great work. Admiring Academy for doing a

commendable work, Kotru said the Academy has been at the forefront of doing a commendable job in bringing out journals, high quality translation works and other books in various indigenous languages which include Kashmiri, Gogri, Pa-hari, Dogri, Urdu, and others, there-

by giving a glimpse of art and tra-dition of the place. Earlier, the Joint Secretary released various books in different languages and transla-tions including Intangible Heritage of Kashmir(English), Intangible Heritage of Jammu (English), Hab-baKhatoon (English Translation done by Prof GhulamRasool Malik), Tawareek Hassan (English trans-lation done by Prof ShafiShouq), Aknandon-folk tale told by six au-thors, Lok-e-Kath- reprinted version of Kashmiri, Kashur-sun-Adab, Ku-

liyat Azad (reprinted), KuliyatMah-moodGami (4th edition reprinted), Nawjawan number (Urdu), Arsh-e-Sehbaie (Urdu), Bulbul Kashmiri (Urdu), TotaMaina (Pahari transla-tion) Hasta Adab (Pahari), Lale-de-Banjrary (Pahari), GojiriLokKahani-yan (Gojri), Mai AzmiyoSach (Gojri translation of My experiments with truth) and others.

Later, the Union Joint Secre-tary also visited Department of Archives, Archaeology and Mu-seums where she was given a detailed tour of old and new Mu-seum by Muneer-ul-Islam, who is also the Director Department of Archives, Archaeology and Museums. Besides, apprising her with various issues related to the department, the director discussed various future plans regarding the department with the Joint Secretary.

‘Kashmiris as ardent readers of good literature’

Agencies

Srinagar: Authorities are likely to shift two incarcerated former Chief Ministers Omar Abdullah and Me-hbooba Mufti to TulsiBagh Govern-ment Headquarters, reliable sources told Kashmir News Trust on Tuesday.

They said that another incarcerat-ed former Chief Minister DrFarooqA-bdullha will not be shifted anywhere and will spent days of detention un-der Public Safety Act at his Gupkar residence here in Srinagar.

Scores of political leaders in-cluding three former chief minis-ters completed their 100 days of detention on Tuesday. They were arrested shortly after Government of India abrogated special status of Jammu and Kashmir in the first week of August this year. Omar Abdullah has been lodged at Ha-riNiwas Palace while Mehbooba Mufti is currently lodged at state guest house CheshmaShahi.

“Both these leaders are likely to be shifted to TulsiBagh government headquarters and for that reason se-

curity in and around these quarters will be increased,” sources said.

Sources said that two special quarters have been identified where both these leaders will be confined.

Sources also added that over thirty political prisoners languish-ing at Centaur Hotel that authori-ties have converted into subsid-iary jails will also be shifted to MLA Hostel Srinagar this week. Sources said that all arrangements have been made at MLA Hostel. Hundreds of political leaders and activists, even some government employees, RTI activists, traders and lawyers were detained after the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.

Some of the prominent main-stream leaders who are currently lodged at subsidiary jail Centaur include PDP Youth President Wahid-ur-Rehman Parra, Muhammad Khur-shidAalam, PirMansoorHussain, Sar-tajMadni, former Education Minister NayeemAkhtar, NizamuddinBhat, former MLA WachiAjaz Ahmed Mir, former MLA Shopian Muhammad

YousufBhat, National Conference General Secretary Ali Muhammad Sagar, Mubarak Gul, Salman Sagar, AltafKaloo, DrBasheer Ahmed Veeri, Abdul MajidBhatLarmi, Hilal Ahmed Lone, the son of Member Parlia-ment Akbar Lone, Ali Muhammad Dar and others. Besides Sajad Lone a large number of Peoples Confer-ence activists are presently under detention. These include even some government employees. CPI (M) leader Muhammad YousufTarigami is under house arrest at his Gupkar based official residence.

Other prominent figures and po-litical leaders as per KNT who face detention are Shah Faesal, Yasir Ri-shi, Hakeem Muhammad Yasin, Taj-Mohiuddin, Bar President Baramulla Abdul Salam Rather, Chairman RTI Movement Dr Raja Muzaffar, Sri-nagar Deputy Mayour Sheikh Imran, Father-in-Law of Karwan-i-Islami chairman GhulamRasoolHami- Fa-rooq Ahmed Bhat, Chairman Trade and Transport Joint Coordination Committee Abrar Ahmed Khan and others. (KNT)

Omar, Mehbooba likely to be shifted to TulsiBaghDetainees lodged at Centaur to be shifted at MLA Hostel

Srinagar, Nov 12, KNT: A family from South Kash-mir Tuesday appealed general public to help him in tracing their 19 year old missing son.

“Firdous Ahmed Shah, (19) is missing from November 4. We have lodged a missing report at Ashmuqam Police Station. Despite efforts being made by us and police, my son is not traceable,” BaghHussain, the father of the missing son who hails from Amadzoo, Ashmuqam told KNT.

“If anybody has information about my miss-ing son, he may contact me on 9596764206, 8899407139, 8899526078,” he requested. (KNT)

Man seeks help trace his missing son

Abduction and murder of duo: Police detain couple of suspects for questioningTral, Nov 12, KNT: Jammu Kashmir Police have detained a couple of suspects for questioning in connection with the abduction and killing of two persons in the last week of August this year.

Pertinently, during the intervening night of August 26 and 27, armed men abducted two persons who hailed from Rajouri and were residing at LachiBehakiTral and subsequently, they shot them dead. They were identified as Abdul QadeerKohli son of MasoodKohli and Manzoor Ahmed Kohli son of NazirKohli, both residents of KantholRajouri. Official sources told Kashmir News Trust, the a special team was constituted to investigate these kill-ings and after thorough investigation, a couple of suspects have been detained for questioning.

“The reason for their abduction and subsequent murder is be-ing under investigation. The questioning of suspects is under-way,” said an official. (KNT)

Wednesday|13-11-2019

Sunday Observer

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Growing traffic in Srinagar

THE traffic congestion is strangling Sri-nagar. Despite shutdown, a chaotic spectacle plays out on the streets ev-ery day. Things haven’t gotten any bet-

ter following Darbar Move to Jammu. There is hardly any road which doesn’t experience a gridlock for a better part of the day, with the peak hour traffic witnessing the worst logjams. The major points of this chaos are the Hari Singh High Street, Qamarwari, Batamaloo, Pan-tha Chowk, Tengpora, Sanat Nagar etc where the traffic from all sides converges and churns up a bedlam of noise and disorder. The passen-ger vehicles, cars, SUVs, autos etc all mingle and reduce the movement to fits and starts. But there is nothing new about this. For years now, Srinagar has been reeling under the burgeon-ing traffic. And with every year, the situation is getting worse. The reason, as we all know, is that the city’s road length is not commensurate with the exponential growth in the traffic vol-ume. Though an inordinately belated effort is now afoot to increase the city’s road density, it falls woefully short of the requirement. So, even when flyover connecting Hari Singh Street with Rambagh is now functional, the situation has made no conspicuous difference. The prob-lem is that our city planners aren’t thinking for the long term. Their approach is essentially ad-hocist and reactionary in nature. The projects which should have been conceived and imple-mented a decade ago are being taken up now. What is more, the government seems far from serious about the issue.

A few years ago, the State Government was contemplating a 115 km long ring road for Sri-nagar. The Town Planning Organization had in-corporated the ambitious project in the revised Master Plan for the city. The road was proposed to take the traffic pressure off the core city. The three-tier ring road would connect East and North areas of the city with those on the West side. The road is designed to smoothen traffic between Budgam and Hazratbal and Nishat and Baramulla, which otherwise have no direct con-nectivity. Most of the three-tier ring road would comprise four to eight lane roads. The pre-feasi-bility report of the road haf already been com-pleted in 2011 and the nod received from the cen-tre for its funding. The report was prepared after numerous sample surveys and the GIS mapping of the city. However, it will take years before the proposed project becomes a reality. The new government under Lieutenant Governor Girish Chander Murmu should dust off this project in right earnest as there is a dire need to address the city’s transportation woes. The project of-fers a hope that the traffic situation in the UT could change for the better in the long term.

K O V I E W

Shahjahan MadaMpat

OutlOOk IndIa

NOW that the verdict on the Babri Mas-jid case is out, it is time to look forward to the future rather than reminisce the bitter past. The positives that emerge

from the verdict far outweigh the negatives. Had the verdict been in favour of the Muslim party, it could never have been implemented. We cannot always condone the willful disregard of our apex court’s orders, like in the Sabarimala verdict.

An implementable verdict, though unjust, is better than an unimplementable one. Worse, the Muslims in different parts of India would have faced violence and intimidation. Thank you Su-preme Court for ensuring their safety.

Another positive that came out of the verdict is the valuable lesson it teaches about how to deal with a similar issue in future. If you have a dispute about the ownership of any religious structure and want to wrest it from its current owners, the first step is to demolish it. The demolisher is not only likely to get the right to own and construct on the site, but also to feel ‘vindicated and blessed’.

The third positive is that the country showed exemplary unity in welcoming the verdict. How happy one feels seeing the BJP and the Congress on the same page, with most others jumping into the bandwagon with unconcealed glee. It is a long time since we saw most Indian political parties and social organizations, not to speak of godmen and women and others, speaking in one voice. BJP and Congress were on the same page on Sabarimala verdict too, but then respect for the court was conspicuous by its absence.

The fourth positive is that the Muslim side, though the loser in the case, will get double the amount of land it would have got had it won the case. In these days of real estate slump, that is a gain, indeed. The mosque constructed on the site should ideally house a museum on the Shah Bano episode. Before the Shah Bano issue came to the fore, no clergy represented a faith community in its negotiations with the government.

The Muslim leadership then was so smart and so persistent in pushing the Indian state into an antediluvian legislation that the Sangh Pari-var imbibed the strategy with its own innovative and menacing additions. It is good to also remem-ber proudly how the same leadership succeeded in making India one of the first countries to ban Salman Rushdie’s ‘Satanic Verses’ in the name of hurt religious sentiments. You soon had a politi-cal environment in which the invocation of faith could move the mountains, but only if it was the

faith of the majority. The same All India Muslim Personal Law

Board that spewed venom against a Supreme Court judgment in the 1980s in favor of a hapless Muslim woman is now a paragon of acquiescence. That is a reflection not of introspection and wis-dom, but of sheer fear. They had the last laugh in the Shah Bano case. It is now the turn of the Sangh Parivar in an India fundamentally differ-ent from that period.

The fifth and most important positive is that many Sangh Parivar icons, including Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi, spoke so movingly about unity in diversity, fraternity, communal har-mony and so on. Even Mohan Bhagwat was grace and wisdom personified. Only the head of VHP struck a discordant note and said: “About Kashi and Mathura, I must make it clear that Supreme Court judgment is not the end of the story, it is the beginning.” This notwithstanding let us rejoice that the apex court managed to instill some grace and goodwill towards the Muslims even among Sangh Parivar motor mouths.

In the midst of so much positive energy, let

us not vitiate the atmosphere by endlessly debat-ing whether the verdict was Solomonic or coun-terfactual. Let us look forward to a few years of joy and peace until the political exigencies turn Kashi and Mathura into the next flashpoint. So long as a majority of Indians continues to vote the BJP to power, there will not be any immediate need to catapult these two ancient cities into the limelight. In any case, we have the NRC as a tool of intimidation in the short term.

A Muslim friend from Bihar recalled a con-versation with his brother the day of the verdict. “Had the verdict been in favour of the Muslim side, my family and I were all set to rush to the airport to catch the first flight to Kerala. Since we could not afford to travel abroad, we thought Ker-ala would be a safe place to spend a few weeks.”

My friend gave a boost to my Malayali pride, while my pride as an Indian lay in tatters in spite of my heroic efforts to keep it intact!

(The author is a cultural critic and commentator writing in both English and

Malayalam. Views expressed are personal)

AYODHYA VERDICTPeace Until Political Exigencies Turn Kashi, Mathura Into Next Flashpoint

India, Pakistan Can Make A Fresh Start From Kartarpur

Imran Khan, took the initiative and

clearly caught the Indian government on the wrong foot. But New Delhi belatedly said it would cooperate with Islamabad in building the corridor. Bear in mind that ties between the two countries were then rapidly going downhill, following India's 'surgical strike' across the border and, more recently, the abrogation of Article 370, which gave Kashmir a special status. Remember also the frosty relationship between the Punjab Chief Minister and Sidhu, who has made little secret of wanting to be the chief minister himself.

TODAY, November 12, 2019, will go down as a historic day for all those belonging to two of the three major

religions of India and Pakistan, Muslims and Sikhs. It will per-haps pave the way for better rela-tions between the two countries. As I write this, two days before the 550th birth anniversary of the founder of the Sikh faith, Nanak Dev, a historic corridor, linking India and Pakistan has just been inaugurated, on the Indian side, by its Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and on the Pakistani side by its Prime Minister Imran Khan.

On the same day, the Indian Supreme Court gave its unani-mous judgement on a dispute going back 70 years, which concerns the contested land in the city of Ayod-hya, where a mosque, built by the first Mughal ruler of India, Babur, was destroyed by Hindu fanatics in 1992. But we won't go into Ayodhya in this column, only the corridor.

To his credit, Imran Khan took the initiative. He invited friends from India for his swearing-in, but only Navjot Singh Sidhu, a Test cricketer turned politician, like Imran Khan, accepted the invita-tion. At the ceremony, Sidhu made an unusual gesture, for which he has been criticised roundly by some but praised by others (I am among his supporters).

Sidhu had embraced the Paki-stan army chief, General Javed Ba-jwa, when the General announced that Pakistan would build a five-km-long corridor between one gurdwara (Sikh temple), called Dera Baba Nanak, on the Indian side, and the other gurdwara, Dar-bar Sahib, on the Pakistan side in the town of Kartarpur, for Sikh pilgrims wanting to celebrate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism.

Both gurdwaras are closely associ-ated with him. Kartarpur is where he spent the last 17 years of his life and where he died. November 12 is his birth anniversary.

He is not only revered among the Sikh and Sindhi communities, but by many Muslims in Pakistan as well. A number of gurdwaras built in his memory are located in Pakistan since he spent much of his life travelling all over what is now India and Pakistan.

Essentially, he tried to find a middle path between Hinduism and Islam. Hence, he rejected the then Hindu practice of untouch-ability and the caste system, along with idol worship. Nanak was the first of the ten Sikh 'gurus'. During the lifetime of subsequent Sikh gu-rus, persecution of the Sikhs began under Mughal rule, making the Sikhs more militant. Indeed, the last Sikh guru, Gobind Singh, formed an army of his followers and fought against Mughal rule. But Nanak and his teachings were different, bor-rowing a great deal from Sufi Islam.

Four main personalities have occupied centre stage on the Kar-tarpur corridor issue: the two elect-ed leaders of Pakistan and India, Imran Khan and Narendra Modi, of course, the Chief Minister of the Indian state of Punjab, Captain Amarinder Singh, and the maver-ick Sidhu. Imran Khan, took the initiative and clearly caught the Indian government on the wrong foot. But New Delhi belatedly said it would cooperate with Islamabad in building the corridor. Bear in mind that ties between the two countries were then rapidly going downhill, following India's 'surgi-cal strike' across the border and, more recently, the abrogation of Article 370, which gave Kashmir a special status. Remember also the frosty relationship between the

Punjab Chief Minister and Sidhu, who has made little secret of want-ing to be the chief minister himself.

The Nanak anniversary of-fered a chance to improve relations between India and Pakistan, while placing Captain Amarinder back into the limelight (he was among the first of the Sikh pilgrims to go to Kartarpur, along with former Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmo-han Singh, a devout Sikh himself).

However, for reasons that are still unclear, the Pakistan army has thrown a spanner in the works by declaring that all the Sikh pil-grims will need passports, even though Imran Khan had earlier said that no passports were re-quired, only a proof of identity. A $20 fee is also apparently being charged by the Pakistan authori-ties. That may sound nominal for international travellers but for a poor Sikh pilgrim from a village, Rs1,400 is a substantial amount. There are other apprehensions.

Islamabad might use the op-portunity to stoke the fires of Kha-listan (an independent and break-away Sikh state), as it did in the 1980s. Some of the Sikh pilgrims who are going to the Kartarpur gurdwara from the Pakistan side are known to have Khalistani sym-pathies. Whether they will display them openly, or raise anti-Indian, separatist slogans remains to be seen. Security concerns are being voiced by both countries.

However, the potential for good far outweighs the chances of a neg-ative outcome.

Nanak's message of peace, of universality and understanding will resound in both countries and, hopefully, bring them and their communities closer together. That is what well-wishers, not just in India and Pakistan, but all over the world, are hoping for.

Rahul SIngh

An implementable verdict, though unjust, is better than an unimplementable one. Worse, the Muslims in different parts of India

would have faced violence and intimidation. Thank you Supreme Court for ensuring their safety.

05Wednesday | 13-11-2019Business

N E W S M A K E R S

India's Industrial Production Posts Steepest Fall In 8 Yrs

Govt within its rights to hold spectrum auction: COAI

Press Trust Of India

New Delhi: The government is well within its rights to hold spectrum auction in the current financial year if it so desires, but old operators, reeling under the impact of SC ruling on statutory dues, are unlikely to participate, industry body COAI said.

"The government can hold the auction if it wants, the larger ques-tion is who will turn up for bid-ding given the present financial situation," COAI Director General Rajan Mathews told PTI.

Mathews said given the latest AGR judgement from the apex court and the sector's deep cri-

sis, the older operators are un-likely to have the wherewithal to bid for spectrum.

"Still, the government is well within its right to hold the auc-tion. If the auctions are indeed held, then the government should ensure there is no monopoly in ac-quisition of spectrum," Mathews added. Explaining this, he said with regard to spectrum in 3.3-3.6 GHz band, where only 175 MHz is available for all 5G aspirants, a single operator should not be al-lowed to walk away with 100 Mhz.

"At some point when the com-petitive landscape changes, 5G spectrum should be available for the operators who wish to go for it in future," Mathews said.

There is still no official word recently on whether the spectrum auction timelines - previously ex-

pected by early next year - will be altered in the wake of the apex court order, that upheld the gov-ernment way of calculating reve-nue of telcos - on which statutory dues like licence fee and spectrum usage charges are computed.

As per the initial calculations, access players like Airtel, Voda-fone Idea and other telecom op-erators may have to pay the gov-ernment a whopping Rs 1.42 lakh crore within three months.

Bharti Airtel faces a liability of around Rs 42,000 crore after in-cluding licence fees and spectrum usage charges, while Vodafone Idea may have to pay about Rs 40,000 crore. Jio may have to pay

around Rs 14 crore. The remaining liability is with state-owned BSNL/MTNL and some of the shut/bank-rupt companies.

DoT is also now mulling wheth-er the apex court order also im-pacts any other company which uses spectrum or has a licence. Discussions are going beyond the scope of 4-5 pure play telecom ac-cess providers.

DoT sources said that in select categories, demand notices may be issued as early as in 1-2 days, but for larger telcos the numbers are still being calibrated and veri-fied and will take a few weeks.

Amid reports that the govern-ment may look at lowering the re-serve price of spectrum by 40-50 per cent, the source in DoT main-tained that there is no decision on those lines at present.

Investors withdraw money from gold ETFs in Oct to book profit


NEW DELHi - Investors pulled out a little over Rs 31 crore from gold exchange traded funds (ETFs) in October, after infusing nearly Rs 200 crore in the safe-haven asset in the preceding two months, pri-marily due to profit booking.

Gold ETFs witnessed a net infu-sion of Rs 44.11 crore in Septem-ber and Rs 145.29 crore in August, the first inflow since November last year, when Rs 10 crore was infused in such instruments. Prior to this, gold ETFs had seen a net

inflow of Rs 20 crore in October 2016 and before that an inflow of Rs 5 crore was witnessed in such funds in May 2013. Experts attrib-uted the inflows to sudden rally in gold prices, mainly due to un-easy trade negotiations between the US and China and lower than expected global GDP growth. Ac-cording to the latest data available with the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi), Rs 31.45 crore was pulled out from gold-linked ETFs last month.

Himanshu Srivastava, senior analyst manager research, Morn-ingstar Investment Adviser In-dia said the recent outflow was largely due to profit booking. "For a long time, especially after its spectacular run in 2011 and 2012, gold prices have largely re-mained muted, except for some intermittent surge in prices. Therefore, it was after a long hia-tus that gold has found its mojo back this year and delivered one of its best performance of recent times," Srivastava said. "While this attracted investor attention and the category received net inflows in August and Septem-ber; this also provided investors

a profit booking opportunity, especially given the uncertainty over its future course," he add-ed. Assets under management (AUM) of gold funds stood at Rs 5,652 crore at the end of Octo-ber as compared with Rs 5,613 crore at the end of September. Chirag Mehta, senior fund man-ager—alternative investments, Quantum Mutual Funds said gold prices in India have fallen by about Rs 2,000 from Sep-tember highs of Rs 40,000 per 10 grams, but ended the month with gains of 2.30 per cent. "But

over the long term, adding gold to one's portfolio would be both risk-reducing and return-en-hancing in a slowing world bat-tling trade and geopolitical ten-sion. Investors will be benefited by using any price corrections, as witnessed currently, as a buying opportunity and making incre-mental purchases through the gold ETF route," he added.

Over the last few years, retail investors have been putting in more money into equities as com-pared to gold ETFs, mainly on ac-count of strong returns. Gold ETFs have witnessed an inflow in just five months in the last six years.

Investors pulled out Rs 571 crore from gold ETFs in 2018, making it the sixth consecutive year of outflow from such prod-ucts. In comparison, they pulled out Rs 730 crore in 2017. Gold ETFs had seen an outflow of Rs 942 crore, Rs 891 crore, Rs 1,651 crore and Rs 1,815 crore in 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively. In 2012, they saw an inflow of Rs 1,826 crore. Gold ETFs are passive investment instruments that are based on price movements and investments in the metal.


NEW DELHI, Nov 11 (PTI) In signs of continuing weakness in the economy, India's factory output shrank to the lowest level in eight years as all three broad-based sec-tors of capital goods production, consumer durables, and infra-structure and construction goods contracted. The Index of Indus-trial Production (IIP) fell 4.3 per cent in September as compared to a contraction by 1.4 per cent in August 2019 and a growth of 4.6 per cent in factory output in the same month a year back, data re-leased by the Ministry of Statistics showed on Monday.

The second straight month of contraction has taken the IIP to its lowest level since it shrank by 5 per cent in October 2011.

On a quarterly basis, the second quarter of 2019-20 fiscal (July-September) saw IIP contracting by 0.4 per cent (Q1 3 per cent expan-sion and 5.3 per cent growth in Q2 FY19). In September 2019, capital goods output dropped 20.7 per cent from a year ago, while con-sumer durables fell 9.9 per cent. Infrastructure and construction goods output fell 6.4 per cent. Intermediate goods was the only use-based classification that grew 7 per cent in September.

The contraction in IIP in Sep-

tember has dampened prospects of a quick recovery in economic growth after it slipped to a six-year low of 5 per cent in the April-June quarter this year. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data for July-Sep-tember is due on November 29.

"IIP has been very volatile and the small momentum of a couple of months fizzles out soon," said Devendra Kumar Pant, Chief Econ-omist at India Ratings & Research. "The Indian economy is presently facing a structural growth slow-down originating from declining household savings rate, and low agricultural growth."

Low agricultural growth is feeding into low agricultural and non-agricultural wage growth in rural areas, which is impacting rural demand adversely, he said, hoping of a cut in the interest rate in December. During April to September, the IIP growth re-mained almost flat at 1.3 per cent compared to 5.2 per cent in same period last fiscal. A slowdown was witnessed in the manufacturing sector, which declined by 3.9 per cent in September as compared to 4.8 per cent growth a year ago.

The power generation sector output dipped 2.6 per cent in Sep-tember, compared to 8.2 per cent rise a year ago. Mining output too fell by 8.5 per cent in September as against 0.1 per cent climb in the

corresponding month last fiscal.Capital goods production,

which is a barometer of invest-ment, declined by 20.7 per cent in September compared to a 6.9 per cent hike in the year-ago month.

As per use-based classification, the growth rates in September 2019 over September 2018 are (-) 5.1 per cent in primary goods, 7 per cent in intermediate goods and (-) 6.4 per cent in infrastruc-ture/ construction goods.

Consumer durables and con-sumer non-durables have record-ed growth of (-) 9.9 per cent and (-) 0.4 per cent, respectively.

In terms of industries, 17 out of 23 industry groups in the manu-facturing sector have shown neg-ative growth during September 2019 as compared to the same month last year.

The industry group 'manufac-ture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers' has shown the high-est negative growth of (-) 24.8 per cent followed by (-) 23.6 per cent in furniture and (-) 22.0 per cent in fabricated metal products, ex-cept machinery and equipment.

On the other hand, manufactur-ing of wood and products of wood & cork, except furniture; articles of straw and plaiting materials have shown the highest positive growth of 15.5 per cent followed by 9.2 per cent in basic metals.

JLR sales dip 6 per cent in October to 41,866 units

Vodafone's future in India in doubt after latest setbackLondon: Vodafone said its future in India could be in doubt unless the government stopped hitting operators with higher taxes and charges, after a court judgment over license fees resulted in a 1.9 billion euro group loss in its first half. Chief Executive Nick Read said India, where Vodafone formed a joint venture with Idea Cellular in 2018, had been “a very challenging situation for a long time”, but it remained a sizable market where Vodafone had a 30% share. “Financially there’s been a heavy burden through unsupportive regulation, excessive taxes and on

top of that we got the negative Supreme Court decision,” he said on Tuesday. Vodafone had asked the government for a relief package comprising a two-year moratorium on spectrum payments, lower license fee and taxes and waiving of interest and penalties on the Supreme Court case, which centred on regulatory fees. Asked if it made sense for Vodafone to remain in India without any relief package, he said: “It’s fair to say it’s a very critical situation.” Read said Vodafone was not committing any more equity to India and the country effectively contributed zero value to the company’s share price. Vodafone’s shares were up 0.6 per cent at 161 pence at 0931 GMT as investors focused on an upgrade to its earnings forecast rather than India. Vodafone, the world’s second largest mobile opera-tor, reported improving organic revenue growth as it saw signs of improvement in Spain and Italy and as it integrates its German cable acquisition. It reported organic service revenue growth of 0.3 per cent in the first half, as it returned to growth in the second quarter, while organic core earnings rose 1.4 per cent. It increased its forecast

for adjusted core earnings to 14.8-15.0 billion euros from its previous forecast of 13.8-14.2 billion euros, but said India and lower cash flows following the sale of assets in New Zealand meant free cash flow would be “around” 5.4 billion euros, rather than “at least” 5.4 billion euros, as it previously forecast. Read said he was pleased with progress in executing his strategy. “This is reflected in our return to top-line growth in the second quarter, which we expect to build upon in the second half of the year in both Europe and Africa,” he said on Tuesday. Read cut Vodafone’s dividend for the first time in May after tough market conditions and a need to invest in its networks and airwaves caused him to backtrack on his pledge not to reduce the payout.


New Delhi: Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), a part of Tata Motors, on Tuesday reported 5.5 per cent decline in total retail sales at 41,866 units in October as compared with the year-ago period. Sales of Jaguar brand were at 10,606 units during the month, down 22.9 per cent from October 2018, Tata Mo-tors said in a statement.

Land Rover sales were at 31,260 units, up 2.4 per cent from the same month last year, it added.

"The automotive trading en-vironment remains challenging globally. Against this background, it is all the more encouraging to see our China turnaround strate-gy and work with the local retail-er network generating positive

results as sales have improved in China for the fourth consecutive month," JLR Chief Commercial Officer Felix Brautigam said.

JLR witnessed 16.2 per cent rise in sales last month as compared with the year-ago period. It was the company's fourth consecu-

tive month of double-digit sales growth in the region.

The UK sales were, however, down 18.7 per cent during the month, the company said.

Sales were flat in North Amer-ica, and down 7.9 per cent in Eu-rope, it added.


New Delhi: IL&FS Group on Tuesday said it has received ap-proval from creditors for sale of education business to Ca-reer Point Publications Pvt Ltd (CPPPL). Schoolnet India Ltd (erstwhile IL&FS Education & Technology Service Ltd) would be sold to CPPPL.

The Committee of Creditors (CoC) represents all the financial creditors to IL&FS Ltd, the hold-ing company of the IL&FS Group. According to a release, CPPPL's financial bid was approved by more than 78 per cent of IL&FS's creditors, in terms of value, through an e-voting process that concluded on November 5. Sources said the outstanding debt for this business amounts to Rs 600-650 crore.

The transaction marks the lat-est step towards overall resolu-

tion of debt totalling around Rs 94,000 crore.

IL&FS Group holds 73.70 per cent stake in Schoolnet India Ltd (SIL). The latter has 80 per cent stake in IL&FS Skill Development Corporation (ISDC) and also has two subsidiaries -- IL&FS Cluster Development Initiative (ICDI) and Skill Training Assessment Management Partners (STAMP).

The sale was approved by IL&FS board on November 7. Under the resolution framework for IL&FS, approval of Justice (Retd) D K Jain would be sought for the deal before approaching the National Company Law Tri-bunal for clearance. The release said CPPPL made a binding offer, at an implied enterprise value, whereby it shall assume respon-sibility for all the debt of SIL and ISDC in addition to paying a cer-tain amount towards purchase of SIL's equity.

IL&FS gets creditors' approval for sale of education business

Gold down Rs 130 amid weak global trendNew Delhi - Gold on Tuesday fell by Rs 130 to Rs 38,550 per 10 gram in the national capital on a weak global trend, according to HDFC Securities.In the previous trade, the precious metal had closed at Rs 38,680 per 10 gram. Silver also witnessed correction and declined Rs 90 to Rs 45,080 per kg from Rs 45,170 per kg. "Spot gold prices for 24 Karat in Delhi were trading down by Rs 130, reflecting overnight fall in global gold prices," HDFC Securities Senior Analyst (Commodities) Tapan Patel said. In the international market, gold was trading lower at USD 1,453 an ounce, while silver was quoting at USD 16.81 per ounce. Gold prices continued the decline as US and China are moving closer to ink the interim trade deal in November, he added.

14-day int’l trade fair to begin in New Delhi on ThursdayNew Delhi - Several countries, including Australia, Iran, UK and Viet-nam, will participate in the 14-day India International Trade Fair 2019 beginning here on Thursday. The theme for the 39th edition of the fair (November 14-27, 2019) is 'Ease of Doing Business' inspired by India's unique achievement of rising to 63rd rank on the World Bank's Ease of

Doing Business Index from 142nd rank in year 2014, an official release said. The fair will be inaugurated by Minister of Micro, Small and Midium Enterprises (MSME) Nitin Gadkari.

"A remarkable feature of this multi-product exhibition is that it offers an equal opportunity for large corpora-tions, MSMEs, non-government

agencies, artisans, self-help groups (SHGs) to promote their products and services to a very large sample of potential customers," the release said. It further said the fair is an important platform for various central and state government departments and agencies for dissemination of information on progressive reforms, new schemes and initiatives. "In other words, the fair will serve as a convergence point for government agencies, private sector enterprises, and non-government institutions which have aligned their activities with the country's development objectives," it said.

OLX Group to invest up to USD 400 mn in FCGNew Delhi: OLX Group, the classifieds business of Prosus, on Monday said it will invest up to USD 400 million (about Rs 2,840 crore) in Berlin-based used car marketplace Frontier Car Group (FCG).In 2018, OLX had invested USD 89 million in FCG to provide capital to enhance services and expand to new geographies, including the acquisition of WeBuyAnyCar in the US. Both companies currently work together in Latin America, Asia, and Poland. OLX Group and FCG had entered into a joint venture to launch OLX CashMyCar (CMC) in India. OLX CashMyCar has 75 stores across 17 cities in India with plans to expand to 40 cities with 150 such stores by 2021."OLX Group's new investment of up to USD 400 million comprises a primary injection of capital in FCG, the contribution of OLX's joint-venture shares in India and Poland, as well as the acquisition of shares held by early investors subject to a tender offer process," OLX said in a statement. Regardless of the uptake by investors in the ten-der process, the transaction will result in OLX becoming the largest shareholder in FCG, it added. The deal will strengthen the partnership between the two companies, helping to accelerate FCG's ranking to one of the top five car marketplaces worldwide. In India, it will propel the growth of OLX CashMyCar as the leading offline store for pre-owned cars, the statement said. Dealers will benefit from improved intelligence via a Dealership Management System (DMS), enhanced resale capability, and provenance and pricing data. On the other hand, sellers will gain a new range of ways to sell their pre-owned cars in a transparent manner, it added.

Wednesday | 13-11-2019 Life & Times 06

Caffeine, An Alternative For Traditional Solar CellsWASHINGTON: A team of scien-tists has discovered that caffeine can be a promising alternative in making traditional solar cells more efficient at converting light to electricity.

According to the scientists, it all began as a joke over morning coffee. “One day, as we were dis-cussing perovskite solar cells, our colleague said, 'If we need coffee to boost our energy then what about perovskites? Would they need coffee to perform better?'" recalled Jingjing Xue.

The offhand comment led the team to recall that the caffeine in coffee is an alkaloid compound containing molecular structures that could interact with the pre-cursors of perovskite materials

-compounds with a particular crystal structure that forms the light-harvesting layer in a class of solar cells.

Previous attempts to improve the thermal stability of these so-lar cells have included enhancing the perovskite layer by introduc-ing compounds such as dimethyl sulfoxide, but researchers have struggled to boost the cells' effi-ciency and long-term stability. No one had tried caffeine.

Realising they might be onto something, the team set aside their coffee and began investigat-ing further. They added caffeine to the perovskite layer of forty solar cells and used infrared spec-troscopy (which uses infrared ra-diation to identify chemical com-

pounds) to determine that the caffeine had successfully bonded with the material.

Conducting further infrared spectroscopy tests, they observed that the carbonyl groups (a car-bon atom double bonded to an oxygen) in caffeine interacted with lead ions in the layer to cre-ate a "molecular lock".

This interaction increased the minimum amount of energy re-quired for the perovskite film to re-act, boosting the solar cell efficiency from 17 per cent to over 20 percent. The molecular lock continued to oc-cur when the material was heated, which could help prevent heat from breaking down the layer.

“We were surprised by the re-sults. During our first try incor-

porating caffeine, our perovskite solar cells already reached almost the highest efficiency we achieved in the paper,” said Rui Wang, one of the lead researchers of the study published in the Journal of Joule.

But while caffeine appears to significantly improve the per-formance of cells that utilise perovskite to absorb sunlight, the researchers do not think it will be useful for other types of solar cells.

The unique molecular structure of caffeine only allows it to inter-act with perovskite precursors, which may give this solar cell variety an edge on the market. Perovskite solar cells already have the advantage of being cheaper and more flexible than their sili-con counterparts. (Agencies)

Memory Impairment Can Be Improved Through Gene Repair

WASHINGTON: Researchers have claimed that brain dysfunction such as seizure and memory impair-ments can be corrected after restoring certain protein level through gene repair techniques in adult patients.

A new study published in the Journal of eLife chal-lenges the presumption that people born with devel-opmental brain disorders such as severe autism will benefit from medical interventions only if treated during early childhood. This may include intellectual disability, autism-like behaviors, disordered sensory processing, and epileptic seizures that don't respond to medication. According to treatment that was con-ducted on adult mice, multiple improvements were seen. It suggests that having one broken copy of the gene not only harms the brain as it develops but also has effects in the adult brain.

"Our findings in mice suggest that neurodevelop-mental disorders' disease course can be altered in adult patients. We can correct brain dysfunction re-lated to seizure as well as memory impairments after restoring SynGAP protein levels in the adult animals," said Rumbaugh, a member of the research team. Significantly, the paper offers a path to measure the effectiveness of potential medications or other thera-pies for neurodevelopmental disorders going forward. Establishment of biomarkers that predict generalised improvements in brain function will be a critical step in advancing treatments for people with severe neu-rodevelopmental disorders, Rumbaugh said.

"The need for a treatment option is clear. Sei-zures typically become more frequent as children with SYNGAP1 gene disorders mature, and for many patients, those seizures do not respond to anti-epilepsy drugs," the researcher mentioned.

Rumbaugh continued, "Getting to know families affected by this severe disorder has been invalu-able, and drives us to develop treatments that will improve the lives of both children and adults. It is encouraging that gene therapy techniques that in-crease pathologically low protein levels for other types of brain disorders are showing promise in the clinic now." (Agencies)

Suffering From High BP? Don’t Take Work Stress Lightly

LONDON: If you are finding it hard to deal with the pres-sure at the workplace, there is more reason to worry. New research has found that work stress and impaired sleep are linked to a threefold higher risk of cardiovascu-lar death in employees with hypertension.

“Sleep should be a time for recreation, unwind-ing, and restoring energy levels. If you have stress at work, sleep helps you recover,” said study author Karl-Heinz Ladwig, Professor at Technical University of Munich, Germany.

“Unfortunately poor sleep and job stress often go hand in hand, and when combined with hyperten-sion the effect is even more toxic,” Ladwig said.

The study included around 2,000 hypertensive workers aged 25-65, without cardiovascular disease or diabetes. Compared to those with no work stress and good sleep, people with both risk factors had a three times greater likelihood of death from cardio-vascular disease, showed the findings published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

People with work stress alone had a 1.6-fold higher risk while those with only poor sleep had a 1.8-times higher risk, the study said. In the study, work stress was defined as jobs with high demand and low con-trol—for example when an employer wants results but denies authority to make decisions.

“If you have high demands but also high control, in other words you can make decisions, this may even be positive for health,” said Ladwig.

“But being entrapped in a pressured situation that you have no power to change is harmful,” Ladwig added. (Agencies)

SLEEP SHOULD BE A TIME for recreation, unwinding, and

restoring energy levels. If you have stress at work, sleep helps you recover.”

Diamonds, Powerful Tool To Investigate Continent Construction ProcessesWASHINGTON: Scientists have re-vealed that diamonds could disclose the process of how a floating section of the mantle under some of the continents became thick to provide long-term stability. The research was published in the journal Science.

"We have found a way to use traces of sulfur from ancient vol-canoes that made its way into the mantle and eventually into dia-monds to provide evidence for one particular process of continent building," explained Karen Smit, lead author of the study.

"Our technique shows that the geo-logical activity that formed the West African continent was due to plate tectonic movement of ocean crust sinking into the mantle,” Smit added.

Diamonds may be loved by jew-ellery collectors, but they are truly a geologist's best friend. Because they originate deep inside the earth, tiny mineral grains trapped inside of a diamond, often consid-ered undesirable in the gem trade, can reveal details about the condi-

tions under which it formed."In this way, diamonds act as

mineralogical emissaries from the earth's depths," explained Carnegie, co-author of the study. About 150 to 200 kilometres, 93 to 124 miles, beneath the surface, geologic for-mations called ‘mantle keels’ act as stabilisers for the continental crust.

The material that comprises them must thicken, stabilise, and cool under the continent to form a strong, buoyant, keel that is funda-mental for preserving the surface landmass against the relentless de-structive forces of earth's tectonic activity. But how this is accom-plished has been a matter of debate in the scientific community.

"Solving this mystery is the key to understanding how the conti-nents came to exist in their current incarnations and how they survive on an active planet," explained Steve Shirey, a geologist.

"Since this is the only tectonically active, rocky planet that we know, understanding the geology of how

our continents formed is a crucial part of discerning what makes earth habitable,” Shirey added

Some scientists think mantle keels form by a process called sub-

duction, by which oceanic plates sink from the earth's surface into its depths when one tectonic plate slides beneath another. Others think keels are created by a vertical pro-

cess in which plumes of hot magma rise from much deeper in the Earth.

A geochemical tool that can de-tect whether the source of a mantle keel's makeup originated from sur-

face plates or from upwelling of deeper mantle material was need-ed to help resolve this debate.

Luckily, mantle keels have the ideal conditions for diamond for-mation. This means scientists can reveal a mantle keel's origin by studying inclusions from diamonds that formed in it.

The research group's analysis of sulfur-rich minerals, called sulfides, in diamonds mined in Sierra Leone, indicated that the region experi-enced two subduction events dur-ing its history.

They were able to make this de-termination because the chemistry of the sulfide mineral grains is only seen in samples from earth's sur-face more than 2.5 billion years ago - before oxygen became so abun-dant in our planet's atmosphere.

This means that the sulfur in these mineral inclusions must have once existed on the Earth's surface and was then drawn down into the mantle by subduction.

The team's comparison of dia-

monds from Botswana showed similar evidence of keel-creation through subduction. But a com-parison to diamonds mined from northern Canada does not show the same sulfur chemistry, meaning that the mantle keel in this region originated in some way that did not incorporate surface material.

The group's findings suggest that thickening and stabilisation of the mantle keel beneath the West Afri-can continent happened when this section of the mantle was squeezed by collision with the sinking ocean floor material.

This method of keel thicken-ing and continent stabilisation is not responsible for forming the keel under a portion of northern Canada. The sulfide minerals inside Canadian diamonds do not tell the researchers how this keel formed, only how it didn't.

"Our work shows that sulfide in-clusions in diamonds are a powerful tool to investigate continent con-struction processes," Smit concluded.

Gene-Editing May Produce Dangerous Unintended Mutated Viruses

Using gene-editing tools to create virus-resistant plants may have an unintended

consequence of propagating of mu-tated viruses, according to scientists including one of Indian origin.

Researchers at the University of Alberta in Canada and University of Liege in Belgium attempted to genetically engineer cassava plants to fight off viruses.

"Because this technology cre-ates a selection pressure on the viruses to evolve more quickly, and also provides the viruses a means to evolve, it resulted in a virus mutant that is resistant to our in-terventions," said Devang Mehta, from University of Alberta.

For the study, published in the journal Genome Biology, the re-searchers used a new gene-editing technology called CRISPR-Cas9 in an attempt to design cassava plants that could cut the DNA of the mo-saic virus and make the plants re-sistant to its damaging effects.

They were not successful and de-cided to sequence hundreds of viral genomes found in each plant to un-derstand exactly what happened.

"We discovered that the pressure that CRISPR-Cas9 applied to the vi-rus probably encouraged it to evolve

in a way that increased resistance to intervention," said Mehta, who noted CRISPR-Cas9 has many other applications in food and agriculture that do not pose the same risks.

CRISPR-Cas9 is found in nature, where bacteria use it to defend against viruses. However, the researchers found the technology results in dif-ferent outcomes in plants -- and re-searchers are stressing the importance of screening against these sorts of un-intended results in the future.

The cassava plant is a starchy root vegetable that is consumed for food throughout the tropics.

Cassava is a primary staple crop grown in South America, Africa

and Asia, from which a billion peo-ple get most of their calories each day. Each year, cassava crops are plagued by cassava mosaic disease, which causes 20 per cent crop loss.

It is the mosaic disease that researchers endeavoured to engi-neer against.

The research team is encouraging other scientists who are using CRISPR-Cas9 technology to engineer virus-resistant plants, to test their plants to detect similar viral mutations.

"We need to do more research on these types of applications of CRISPR-Cas9 technology before we proceed with field testing," said Mehta. (PTI)

Oral Infections In Childhood May Increase Risk Of Cardiovascular Diseases In Adulthood

A new study has suggested that common oral infection in childhood is associated

with an increased risk of cardiovas-cular diseases such as atheroscle-rosis in adulthood. Atherosclerosis is a disease of the arteries charac-terised by the deposition of fatty material on their inner walls.

“The observation is novel since there are no earlier follow-up stud-ies on childhood oral infections and the risk of cardiovascular diseases,” said researcher Pirkko Pussinen.

More progressed oral infections and inflammations are known to be associated with several cardio-vascular risk factors and disease risk in adults according to the details published in the Journal of JAMA Network Open.

Periodontitis in particular has been studied extensively, and cur-rently, it is considered an indepen-dent risk factor for atherosclerotic vascular diseases. The treatment of periodontitis is also known to de-crease cardiovascular risk factors.

The study was initiated in 1980 when clinical oral examinations were conducted. Cardiovascular risk factors were measured at sev-

eral times. Cumulative exposure to the risk factor was calculated in both childhood and adulthood.

The signs of oral infections and inflammation collected in the study included caries, fillings, bleeding on probing, and probing pocket depth. There were no differences between the boys and the girls.

Thickening of the carotid artery wall indicates the progression of ath-erosclerosis and an increased risk for myocardial or cerebral infarction.

The researchers emphasise, in conclusion, “Oral infections were an independent risk factor for subclinical atherosclerosis, and their association with cardio-vascular risk factors persevered through the entire follow-up. Prevention and treatment of oral infections are important already in childhood.”

Heavier, Taller Children At Higher Risk Of Kidney Cancer: StudyLONDON: Heavier and taller chil-dren may be at an increased risk of developing kidney cancer as adults, a study has found.

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common form of kidney cancer found in adults. Although it often occurs in men between the ages of 50 and 70, the can-cer can be diagnosed throughout adulthood.

Medical experts do not know the exact causes of RCC.

"We know that overweight in adulthood is associated with an in-creased risk of RCC. We also know that cancers take many years to develop," said Britt Wang Jensen, from the Bispebjerg and Frederiks-berg Hospital in Denmark.

"We therefore had a theory that already being overweight in child-hood would increase the risk of RCC later in life," Jensen said in a statement.

To tease out the relationships between childhood body size and the risk of RCC in adulthood, re-searchers used data from 301,422 children born in Copenhagen in the years 1930 to 1985.

The weights and heights were measured at annual school health examinations at the ages

7-13 years.During about 32 years of ob-

servation, 1,010 individuals (680 men) were diagnosed with RCC. Among men and women sig-nificant and positive associations were observed between child-hood BMI and height, respective-ly, and RCC risk.

When comparing two 13-year old children with one z-score difference in BMI—equivalent to 5.9 kg for boys and 6.8 kg for girls—but with similar height, the heaviest child had a 14 per cent higher risk of RCC than the leaner child.

For height, a one z-score differ-ence in two 13-year old children was associated with a 12 per cent increased risk of RCC later in life for the taller boy or girl.

"We have found in other studies that childhood height is positively associated with several cancer forms. Therefore, we did expect to find that tall children have a higher risk of RCC than average-sized chil-dren," researchers said.

"Our findings that heavier and taller children have increased risks of RCC opens the door to new ways to explore the causes of kidney cancer," they said. (Agencies)

News Wednesday|13-11-2019 7I R A N F M I N S Y R I A

Afghanistan to release three senior Taliban prisoners: GhaniKabul:- Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced on Tuesday that three high-ranking Taliban prisoners would be released, as talks press on to free two Western professors kid-napped by the militant group in 2016.

“We have decided to condition-ally release three Taliban prison-ers who were arrested outside the country with the help of our inter-national partners and have been in Bagram prison in the custody of the Afghan government for some time,” Ghani said in an announcement at the presidential palace.

While he did not specify the fate of the Western hostages — an Aus-tralian and an American — Ghani noted that “their health has been decorating while in the custody of the terrorists”.

Founder of Syrian ‘White Helmets’ found dead in IstanbulISTANBUL: The British founder of an organisation that trained the “White Helmets” emergency re-sponse group has been found dead in Istanbul, five years after the group was set up to perform rescue work in rebel areas during the Syr-ian civil war.

The body of James Le Mesu-rier, founder of the Mayday Rescue group, was found early on Monday near his home in central Istanbul’s Beyoglu district, a neighbour said. The Istanbul Governor’s Office said an investigation had been launched.

A security source told Reuters it was believed that Le Mesurier had fallen from the balcony of his home office and his death was be-ing treated as suspected suicide.

The White Helmets, known of-ficially as Syria Civil Defence, have been credited with saving thou-sands of people in rebel-held areas hit by bombing by government and Russian forces in Syria’s more than eight-year-old civil war.White Hel-

Myanmar Faces Genocide Lawsuit At Top UN CourtAGENCIS

THE HAGUE: Myanmar faced accusations of genocide in a landmark lawsuit filed by Gam-bia at the UN’s top court on Monday over the Southeast Asian nation’s treatment of Rohing-ya Muslims, Gambia’s government said.

Gambia said it was acting on behalf of the 57-nation Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in bringing the case against Myanmar before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.

The lawsuit accuses mainly Buddhist Myanmar of breaching the 1948 UN Genocide Convention through a brutal military cam-paign targeting the Rohingya minority in Ra-khine state.

The 2017 crackdown forced 740,000 Rohing-ya to flee over the border into sprawling camps in Bangladesh, in violence that United Nations investigators say amounts to “genocide”.

“The Gambia is taking this action to seek justice and accountability for the genocide being committed by Myanmar against the Ro-hingya,” Justice Minister Abubacarr Tamba-dou said in a statement.

The court is expected to hold its first hear-

ings in December on Gambia’s request for ur-gent interim measures “to protect the Rohing-ya against further harm”, Gambia’s lawyers Foley Hoag said in a statement, describing the case as “historic”.

Human Rights Watch hailed the move by the tiny west African state, saying it was the “first judicial scrutiny” of Myanmar’s alleged crimes against the Rohingya.

Param-Preet Singh, associate inter-national justice director at HRW, said the court’s “prompt adoption of provisional measures could help stop the worst ongoing abuses” in Myanmar.

The lawsuit asks the ICJ to “order Myan-mar to cease and desist from its genocidal acts, to punish the perpetrators, and to provide rep-arations for the Rohingya victims,” Gambia’s justice ministry said.

It said Myanmar had failed to meet its ob-ligations to prevent and to punish genocide, accusing it of “wanton acts of violence and ma-licious degradation with the specific intent of state actors to destroy the Rohingya as a group”.

Mainly-Muslim Gambia said it had “stepped up” to file the case on behalf of the

rest of the OIC. Tambadou is a former geno-cide prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and has visited Rohingya

camps in Bangladesh.Other legal attempts to bring Myanmar to

justice over allegations of crimes against the

Rohingya have so far stalled.The prosecutor for the International Crim-

inal Court — a separate tribunal from the ICJ that investigates war crimes — launched a pre-liminary investigation into Myanmar in 2018 but no charges have been filed yet.

UN investigators have also called on the UN Security Council to refer Myanmar to the Hague-based ICC or to set up a tribunal, like for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, but again no action has yet been taken.

The ICJ was set up in 1946 after World War II to adjudicate in disputes between UN mem-ber states.

It normally deals with issues of interna-tional law such as border disputes, but some-times rules on alleged breaches of UN conven-tions such as those on terrorism or genocide.

The ICJ previously dealt with a genocide case when Bosnia brought a lawsuit against Serbia over the conflict in the former Yugosla-via in the 1990s.

That case ended in 2007 with Serbia being held to have failed to prevent genocide during the 1995 Srebrenica massacre and of failing to cooperate with war crimes tribunals.

‘Iran to stay in JCPOA’Reap benefits when UN arms embargo ends: RouhaniAGENCIES

TEHRAN: President Hassan Rou-hani says Iran intends to stay in the 2015 nuclear deal despite US viola-tions, arguing that the accord will be put to good use next year when a long-running arms embargo against Tehran comes to an end.

Rouhani said Monday Iran could respond to America’s exit from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in different manners, in-cluding leaving the deal altogether or keeping it at any price, but it decided to take the middle-ground option.

“By continuing the JCPOA, we will fulfill a major objective in terms of politics, security and defense,” he told a large crowd of people during a visit to the eastern province of Kerman.

Noting that for years Iran has been banned by the United Nations from buying and selling any kinds of weapons, Rouhani said the arms em-bargo will end next year according to the deal and the UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorses it.

“This is one of the important ef-fects of this deal. Otherwise, we could leave the deal today but the kind of benefit we stand to reap next year will no longer exist,” he said.

“We can leave now but then the UNSC resolutions [that were revoked under the deal] will return,” the pres-ident said, adding “We need to think where do the country’s interests lie.”

Iran, he said, did not want to stay fully committed to the deal while the oth-ers “sit on their hands” and do nothing.

“Therefore we took the middle ground to keep the JCPOA and pre-serve it while cutting back on what we had agreed to do under the agree-ment step by step,” he said.

Since May, Iran has been scaling down its nuclear deal commitments in retaliation for Washington’s 2018 pullout from the deal and the failure of three European signatories -- the UK, France and Germany -- to pro-tect bilateral trade against Ameri-can sanctions.

In the first three stages of its measured response, Iran enriched uranium beyond the 300kg limit set by the deal and ramped up enrich-ment to levels upon the pre-defined 3.67-percent cap. It also expanded nuclear research to areas banned in the agreement.

The fourth step, which was un-leashed last week, was the injection of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas into centrifuges at the Fordow under-ground enrichment facility.

Tehran says its reciprocal mea-sures do not violate the JCPOA and are based on Articles 26 and 36 of the

agreement itself, which detail mech-anisms to deal with non-compliance.

Iranian authorities have suggest-ed that the measures will be revers-ible as soon as Europe finds practical ways to shield the Iranian economy from the sanctions.

Rouhani said Monday Iran’s nu-clear capability is “better than ever,” noting that Iranian nuclear experts have never stopped research and development work since the JCPOA was first signed in 2015.

“We will stand up to our enemies with full power. We haven’t done anything illegal and we are not will-

‘Uranium particles’ detected at undeclared site in Iran: Nuclear watchdog

Impeachment Hearings Against Trump Open Today

Agencie

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump faces the prospect of becoming only the third US president to be impeached when open hearings begin this week into his alleged effort to bolster his re-election hopes by pushing Ukraine to find dirt on a Democratic rival.

Having survived special counsel Robert Mueller’s in-vestigation into Russian in-terference in the 2016 election, Trump now faces potential removal from office for pres-suring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to inves-tigate Joe Biden, a leading can-didate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

Democrats have amassed evidence — from a whistleblow-er complaint to the rough tran-script of Trump’s July 25 call with Zelensky and testimony from a dozen witnesses — that the president abused his office by withholding aid and a re-quested White House meeting to force Zelensky into helping his personal political agenda.

“This is a very simple, straightforward act. The pres-ident broke the law,” Demo-cratic Representative Jackie Speier said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” programme.

“This is a very strong case of bribery, because you have an elected official, the presi-dent, demanding action of a foreign country, in this case...and he is withholding aid,”

said Speier.The hearings begin on

Wednesday in the House In-telligence Committee, with the first witnesses two of-ficials who have already provided evidence against Trump in private testimony: Bill Taylor, the top Ameri-can diplomat in Ukraine, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent.

On Sunday, Trump repeat-ed his charge that the investi-gation is a “witch hunt” and that he did nothing wrong.

“The call to the Ukrainian President was PERFECT. Read the Transcript!” he tweeted.

“Republicans, don’t be led into the fools trap of saying it was not perfect, but is not impeachable. No, it is much stronger than that. NOTHING WAS DONE WRONG!” But Democrats say the evidence against him is strong.

Once the coming Intel-ligence Committee hearings are complete, the Judiciary Committee can draw up ar-ticles of impeachment, or for-mal charges, against Trump.

Those would then be voted on by the full House of Representatives, reportedly before the end of the year.

Impeachment would likely pass the Democratic-controlled House. The case would then be sent for trial in the Senate, where Repub-licans dominate and support for Trump remains firm.

VIENNA: The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said it had detected uranium

particles at an undeclared site in Iran in its latest report on the country’s nuclear pro-gramme issued on Monday.

The report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), seen by AFP, says: “The agency detected natural uranium particles of anthropogenic origin at a location in Iran not declared to the agency.” The particles are understood to be the product of uranium which has been mined and undergone initial process-ing, but not enriched.

The IAEA added that it was “essential for Iran to continue interactions with the agency to resolve the matter as soon as possible.” While the IAEA itself has not named the site in ques-

tion, diplomatic sources have previously said the agency has been posing questions to Iran relating to a site where Israel has alleged secret atomic activ-ity in the past.

Sources say the IAEA took samples from the site in the Turquzabad district of Tehran in the spring and that Iran has been slow in providing answers to explain the test results.

Monday’s report also confirms that Iran has ramped up uranium enrichment, with its stockpile now reaching the equivalent of 551 kilogrammes, as opposed to the 300-kilo-gramme limit laid down in Iran’s 2015 deal with world powers.

A Vienna-based diplomat said the rate of production of enriched uranium had gone up substantially to more than 100 kilogrammes a month, and could increase further.

Baghdadi successor in US crosshairs: TrumpAgencies

NEW YORK;- US President Donald Trump placed the militant Islamic State (IS) group’s new chief in the crosshairs Monday as he marked Veterans’ Day by celebrating the killing of the militants’ former leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

While US presidents tradi-tionally mark the day by lay-ing a wreath at a vast military cemetery in Arlington, near Washington, Trump traveled to New York where he made an address ahead of the city’s annual parade of veterans.

Trump was widely criti-cised after announcing a full withdrawal of US troops from Syria last month, with opponents and even some al-lies saying it could allow Is-lamic State to rebuild as well as leaving US-allied Kurd-ish fighters vulnerable to a Turkish invasion.

But the US president used his speech in New York to claim that the IS leadership was run-ning scared in the wake of

Baghdadi’s death in a raid in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib on October 26.

“Just a few weeks ago, American special forces raid-ed the ISIS compound and brought the world’s number one terrorist leader to jus-tice,” he said.

“Thanks to American warriors, al-Baghdadi is dead, his second in charge is dead, we have our eyes on number three.

Israel kills Islamic Jihad cmdr., prompts retaliatory rocket fire from GazaAgencies

GAZA:- Israel has killed a senior com-mander of the Palestinian Islamic Ji-had movement in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip, sparking a barrage of retal-iatory rocket fire from the besieged en-clave into the occupied territories.

In a statement, the Islamic Jihad’s military wing, Al-Quds Brigades, con-firmed the death of its commander, Baha Abu al-Ata, 42, in an Israeli aer-ial assault on his Gaza home early on Tuesday, adding that the group was on “maximum alert.”

It further said Ata’s wife had also been killed during the Israeli air raid.

Additionally, the resistance group stressed that its commander was heroical-ly defending the Palestinian land against conspiracies prior to his martyrdom.

It also vowed to continue in the foot-steps of its assassinated commander in order to “complete the process of lib-eration of the entire beloved Palestine. Our response will inevitably shock the Zionist entity.”

The Israeli army has confirmed its strike against a building where Ata was present in Gaza’s Shejaiya area.

The operation, it added, had been recommended by the Chief of Staff and Shin Bet domestic security service, and approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

It also blamed Ata for recent rocket, drone and sniper attacks against Israel, as well as attempted infiltration into the occupied territories, claiming that he had been planning “imminent” attacks.

“Abu al-Ata was responsible for most of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s activity in the Gaza Strip and was a ticking bomb,” the Israeli army said.

Quds Brigades, Hamas vow due responseThe al-Quds Brigades, Islamic

Jihad’s military wing, has vowed a major response to Ata’s assassina-tion in a statement.

“We announce the general mobili-zation of our fighters and units and we affirm that the response to this crime will have no limits and will be tanta-mount to the size of the crime that the criminal enemy perpetrated,” the state-ment said.

Ata, the Quds Brigades added, was “one of the most prominent members of its military council and the command-er of the northern part” of Gaza.

Separately, the fellow Hamas resistance movement said Israel “bears full responsibility for all consequences of this escalation”

and pledged that Ata’s death “will not go unpunished.”

Gaza responds with rocket barrageShortly after the Israeli strike,

Palestinians launched a salvo of rock-ets into the occupied territories, set-ting off sirens in Tel Aviv, Sderot, Gedera and Ashdod.

"Non-essential" workers in Tel Aviv and central cities have been told to stay home. Schools and universities are closed. A ban on public gatherings is also in place.

The Israeli army said Gaza-based Palestinian resistance fighters had pounded the occupied-territories with “substantial” rocket fire Tuesday.

“There is substantial fire,” army spokesman Jonathan Conricus told jour-nalists in a conference call. “We are prepar-ing for a number of days of fighting.”

Meanwhile, the Israeli regime tar-geted another Islamic Jihad figure in Syria, but failed to assassinate him.

Syrian state media reported that an Israeli strike had hit the home of Akram al-Ajouri in Damascus, killing his son and another person. The Islamic Jihad confirmed the death of Ajouri’s son.

The assassination is likely to fuel tensions between Tel Aviv and Gaza, which has been under a crippling siege by Israel since 2007 and witnessed three wars since 2008.

WEDNESDAYNOVEMBER 201913 08

“IT’S GREAT TO WIN THE $9 MILLION but I just don’t want to lose to him and give him the satisfaction because the bragging rights are what is going to be even worse than the money,” Mickelson


Indore: Ahead of the first Test against India, Bangladesh play-ers were seen toiling at Holkar Stadium in Indore on Tuesday to prepare for the match against the hosts. Both the Asian cricketing giants are slated to play a two-match Test series which would be a part of the World Test Cham-

pionship (WTC). In the session, batting coach Neil Mckenzie was seen advising players on how to go forward to get to the length of the ball. Bangladesh players also took part in light bowling and fielding exercise but the main focus looked to be on how to tackle the Indian spinners. In-dian pacers Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami have

troubled the opponents in the past with their quick and short bouncers, and as a result, few Bangladesh batters were seen practicing the pull shot.

India is currently placed at the top of the World Test Champion-ship standings with 240 points from five matches. India and Bangladesh will also play their first-ever day-night Test at Eden

Gardens from November 22-26.Squads of both India and Ban-

gladesh for the two-match Test series are as follows: India: Vi-ratKohli (Capt), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, CheteshwarPu-jara, AjinkyaRahane, Hanuma-Vihari, Saha (wk), R Jadeja, R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Mo-hammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Shubman Gill,

Rishabh Pant Bangladesh: Mo-minulHaque (Captain), Shadman Islam, ImrulKayes, Saif Hasan, Litton Kumer Das, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmud Ullah, MdMit-hun, Musaddek Hossain Saikat, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Is-lam, Nayeem Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman, Al-Amin Hossain, Abu Jayed Chowdhury Rahi, Ebadat Hossain. In the recently con-

cluded three-match T20I series between India and Bangladesh, the hosts managed to come out triumphant, 2-1.

Bangladesh had won the first match of the series at Delhi, but India managed to bounce back to register victories at Rajkot and Nagpur. In the final T20I on Sunday, India registered a 30-run win as Deepak Chahar took

six wickets. Chahar created the record for scripting best bowl-ing figures in a T20I match. He finished with the figures of 6-7 and en route, he also became the first Indian male cricketer to take a hat-trick in the shortest format of the game. India and Bangla-desh will take on each other in the first Test at Indore slated to begin from November 14.

Bangladesh players prepare for match against India

Press Trust Of Inda

New Delhi, Nov 12 (PTI) The BCCI's plans to dilute reforms mandated by the Supreme Court amount to "ridiculing" the country's highest judicial authority, asserted Lodha committee secretary Gopal San-karanarayanan, who had a pivotal role in drafting the revamp.

Sankaranarayanan feels the Su-preme Court still has a role to play

in the matter and should take ap-propriate steps, otherwise all its efforts to reform the BCCI's admin-istrative structure would go waste.

"If this is permitted to be done and if it remains unchallenged in court and the Supreme Court does not either have a challenge before it or it does not take up suomotu, it will mean ridiculing of the Supreme Court and every-thing that it did over the years," he told 'ESPNcricinfo'. The proposal to

change the reformed constitution came to light last Saturday when BCCI's new secretary Jay Shah gave out the agenda for the board's an-nual general meeting to be held in Mumbai on December 1.

The most stunning amendments include altering the rules concern-ing the cooling-off period for of-fice-bearers, relaxing various dis-qualification criteria and removing the need for any changes to the

constitution needing approval from the Supreme Court.

"It will completely mean going back to square one as far as cricket administration and reforms are concerned. Most of the significant changes would have ceased to ex-ist," he said. Sankaranarayanan was the secretary of the Lodha Committee, which was appointed by the apex court in 2015 to usher in reforms in cricket administra-tion in the country.

The committee was headed by former Chief Justice of In-dia RM Lodha, along with for-mer Supreme Court Justices RV Raveendran and Ashok Bhan. According to Sankarana-rayanan, if these dilutions are adopted, they might be chal-lenged in the court.

"They are trying to imply that they will no longer need the Supreme Court's imprimatur when it (BCCI) makes changes (to the constitution)," he said.

Sankaranarayanan, who was closely involved in draft-ing the reforms, however, feels the apex court is partly responsible for the current situation as it played a role in diluting the reforms.

"It makes no difference if the amendment is unanimous...in my view the court will have a role because the court had a role all this while. It was spe-cific when it approved the ini-tial reforms (in 2016), then it approved the constitution that was drafted and submitted by the Committee of Administra-tors (CoA) last year," he said.

"They could possibly try and argue that, 'Look, the Supreme Court has not barred us from amending our own constitution so we are more than capable of amending it and making all sorts of changes to it.' That is a narrow way of looking at things.

"They will somehow ensure whatever is left after Supreme Court itself had reversed much of the (original reforms) so that old cliques can continue to op-erate in a big way," he added.

If BCCI changes reformed constitution, it would be ridiculing SC: Lodha panel secy Press Trust Of India

New Delhi- The national tennis federation has maintained that se-curity concerns remain in Pakistan after the world governing body ITF sought a fresh response from India following Pakistan's appeal against shifting of the Davis Cup tie to a neutral venue. The cloud of uncer-tainty continued to hover over the venue for the November 29-30 tie,

which was shifted out of Islamabad by the International Tennis Federa-tion (ITF) on security grounds.

The ITF had taken the decision on November 4, paying heed to All India Tennis Federation's repeated requests for a neutral venue, which prompted the Pakistan Tennis Fed-eration to challenge the move. In re-sponse, the ITF reached out to AITA on Monday. An independent tribu-nal of the ITF will now deliberate upon the appeal and make a final decision by November 18.

"The ITF has sought our response on Pakistan's appeal. Our stand has not changed. We still feel that se-curity concerns remain in Pakistan for our players and neutral venue is a better option. We will convey this to the ITF on Tuesday. ITF will let us know a final decision by November

18," AITA secretary Hironmoy Chat-terjee told PTI. The PTF believes that the peaceful opening of the Kartar-pur corridor on Saturday is a clear indicator that it is safe to host the Indian tennis team in Islamabad de-spite diplomatic tensions between the two nations. PTF President Sa-lim Saifullah Khan has said they will explore other options in case the ITF rejects their appeal. "We may tell the ITF that we'll not nominate the

neutral venue. We'll request it to ask AITA to choose where its outfit wants to play," Saifullah said.

If the ITF decision comes on November 18, the AITA will face practical difficulties in making travel arrangements, includ-ing procuring visas, within four days. AITA would like to send its players at least five days before the tie to acclimatise to the con-ditions which means the select-ed ones must reach the venue by November 25. The development further delays the selection of the Indian squad since confusion remains as to who will play the tie. The top players who had re-fused to travel to Pakistan, made themselves available for selec-tion after the tie was moved to a neutral venue.

ITF seeks India's view after Pakistan appeal, AITA stays firm on security concerns


New Delhi- India will incur the In-ternational Olympic Committee's wrath and might even be suspended if it goes ahead with the administra-tive changes enshrined in the Draft National Sports Code 2017, the IOA has warned, rejecting the proposed document completely.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) also expressed surprise with the government's move to seek feedback on the draft after Sports Minister KirenRijiju, on October 11, announced the formation of a committee to look into contentious provisions such as the age and ten-ure cap on officials, which are being

opposed by National Sports Federa-tions. Despite the announcement by Rijiju, the ministry, through its Di-rector (Sports), sent a letter to the IOA on October 24 to send feedback on the Draft National Sports Code latest by November 10.

IOA Secretary General Rajeev Mehta, in turn, sent a note rejecting the changes proposed by the 2017 Draft National Sports Code.

"We, the IOA and all our mem-bers, outrightly reject the new Draft Sports Code as it interferes the au-tonomy of IOA and its members. The Sports Code was discussed with GOI MYAS and implemented in 2014 in IOA Statutes which en-abled IOA to regain its recognition

in 2012," Mehta said in the feed-back letter sent to the ministry.

"Any further interference in IOA autonomy will be taken seriously by

IOC and OCA and can once again lead to suspension of membership of IOA. We certainly hope that it is not the intention of Sports Ministry to send

Indian contingent to Tokyo Olympics under IOC Flag and not the Indian Flag." The IOA was suspended by the IOC in December 2012 for govern-ment interference and was reinstat-ed 14 months later after assurances on autonomy. Expressing surprise at the insistence of the ministry to furnish feedback, he wrote: "We are willing to work together by forming a small committee to take it forward as was agreed on 11.10.2019 and we hope that MYAS will stand by what was conveyed to IOA & NSFs in the 11th October, 2019 meeting."

The National Sports Code 2011 is currently in force but a new National Sports Code was drafted in 2017.

The draft proposed drastic chang-

es in the 2011 Code, including bar-ring of ministers, members of Parlia-ment and Legislative Assemblies and government servants from holding office in NSFs and IOA, tenure re-strictions and age cap of 70 years. The draft also widened its scope to all office-bearers and board mem-bers of IOA and NSFs. It also calls on the NSFs to appoint CEOs, Nominee Directors and an Ombudsman.

Regarding the age cap of 70 years for its office bearers and other Ex-ecutive Board members, the IOA ar-gued that even though the norm is in sync with the Olympic Charter, the IOC has not enforced it on all in-ternational federations.

Instead, the IOA has proposed that

every NSF be allowed to follow the age limit of their respective interna-tional federation, or a uniform age limit of 75 be imposed.

"Considering the longevity of a person's term at the IOC, the rule of relieving membership at 70 years of age is optimal for IOC. But given the differences in the membership and governance structure between IOC and NOC, that rule of age limitation cannot be implemented in toto for all members on the NOC Board. If there has to be a limitation, 75 years proposed as the age limit," the IOA said. "There is no law of the land that limits the age of a person for honor-ary service in a society or non-profit organisation."

IOA rejects new Draft National Sports Code, says might lead to IOC suspension


Hong Kong- Indianshuttler-SourabhVerma entered the men's singles main draw of the Hong Kong Open after clinch-ing straight-game wins in his two qualifying clashes here on Tuesday. Sourabh, seeded fourth in the qualifiers, first defeated Thailand's TanongsakSaensom-boonsuk 21-15 21-19 before getting the better of Lucas Claerbout of France 21-19 21-19 in the final qualifying round. The other Indians featuring in the men's singles main event will start on Wednesday. World no.10 Kidambi Srikanth, B Sai Praneeth, Sameer Verma, H S Prannoy and ParupalliKashyap are those in fray in the competi-tion. While Srikanth has a tough

opening encounter against world no.1 KentoMomota of Ja-pan, Sourabh's brother, Sameer will be up against Tzu Wei Wanf of Taipei.B Sai Praneeth too has a tough opening round encounter against third seed Shi Yu Qi of China, while Prannoy and Kashy-ap will take on China's Huang Yu Xiang and Kenta Nishimoto of Japan. Later on Tuesday, the Indian shuttlers will open their campaign in the mixed doubles event. While the pair of Satwik-sairajRankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa will be up against Thailand's NipitphonPhuang-phuapet and SavitreeAmitrapai, the combination of Pranaav Jer-ry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy will face third seeds DechapolPua-varanukroh and SapsireeTaerat-tanachai of Thailand.

SourabhVerma enters main draw of Hong Kong Open badminton

IT WILL COMPLETELY MEAN going back to square one as far as cricket administration and reforms are concerned. Most of the significant changes would have ceased to exist," .... Sankaranarayanan

nd 13 22 kashmir · to a union territory, have put the final nail in its coffin. constitutionally...

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