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Majority of primary schoolsreported “zero” to very

thin attendance on Mondayafter the authorities decided tore-open 196 schools acrossSrinagar following two weeks ofclampdown in the State in thewake of abrogation of Article370. In most cases, parentsrefused to drop their childrento schools citing strict securi-ty restrictions. Other districtsin the Valley too registered zeroattendance of students.

The only saving grace wasthe presence of schoolteachersand other staff who made it tothe schools despite facing manyhardships en route.

Deputy Commissioner,Srinagar, Shahid IqbalChoudhary told The Pioneerthat out of 196 schools, staffand teachers reported on dutyin around 170 schools inSrinagar on Monday, but lessthan 10 students marked theirpresence on day one.

He, however, expressedhope that the situation willimprove from Tuesday as sev-eral private school authoritieswere approached to re-opentheir schools.

Choudhary also conveneda meeting with representativesof Presentation Convent, DPS,Burn Hall and other schools.The meeting was attended byEducation Director, AdditionalCommissioner, Joint DirectorPlanning and heads/represen-tatives of private schools.

The Government alsodecided to re-open all middlelevel schools across Kashmirvalley from Wednesday.

Meanwhile, after his twoweek stay in the Kashmir formonitoring the situation,National Security Adviser AjitDoval returned to Delhi onMonday and briefed UnionHome Minister Amit Shah.

Union Home SecretaryRajiv Gauba, IntelligenceBureau chief Arvind Kumarand other top officials attend-ed the meeting that reviewedthe steps taken to maintain thelaw and order situation in the

State. The issues related torestrictions imposed in variousparts of Jammu & Kashmir alsofigured in the meeting.

At several places inAnantnag, Shopian, Pulwama,Kulgam, Kupwara, schoolsreported zero attendance andefforts are being made to moti-vate people to send their chil-dren to schools to restore nor-malcy.

Meanwhile, some of theState Government offices toostarted normal functioning inSrinagar, but most of the mar-ket places in down townSrinagar and other vulnerable

areas wore a deserted look.The communication block-

ade continued with only land-line services being restoredpartially. Mobile phone servicesremained suspended for the15th day in succession in dif-ferent parts of Kashmir valley.

In the wake of repeatedincidents of stone pelting andtoken protests, security forcesremained deployed in largenumbers while barricades andconcertina wires preventedsmooth movement of traffic inseveral parts of Srinagar.

Central Kashmir DIG VKBirdi on Monday claimed

minor incidents of stone pelt-ing were reported from someareas in Srinagar but situationlargely remained peaceful. Nomajor incident of violence wasreported from anywhere inthe area, he added.

Addressing a joint pressconference, Director,Information and PublicRelations, Syed Sehrish Asgar,Deputy Inspector General ofPolice (CKR) VK Birdi andSchool Education DirectorMuhammad Younis Malik saidthe presence of staff at all theprimary level schools onMonday was an encouragingsign and the administration hasdecided to re-open all the mid-dle schools across Kashmir onWednesday.

Regarding the availabilityof supply stock in the Valley, itwas informed that the essentialservices like PHE, PDD, Food& Civil Services, etc, are work-ing smoothly.

It was also informed thatSrinagar Civil Secretariatrecorded 98 per cent atten-dance, and it is picking uprapidly in other Governmentoffices.

They said the relaxationsare being given by the DeputyCommissioners in their respec-tive areas, adding no report ofany untoward incident wasreceived today during the relax-ation period. They said thatthere was no law and orderincident reported from Jammuregion while urging people notto pay heed to rumours.

�� 34�#351�

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’scall for debate on reserva-

tion has set off a major politi-cal row with several Oppositionparties condemning anyattempt to dilute the provisionsof caste-based quota inGovernment jobs and educa-tional institutions.

While RSS dismissed as“needless” the row overBhagwat’s remarks, assertingthat he merely stressed on theneed for talks in harmony with-in society to address any issue,the Congress, the BSP and theRJD alleged that the “anti Dalit-backward face” of the RSS-BJPhas been exposed.

“A needless controversy isbeing sought to be created overRSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’saddress at a programme inDelhi. He merely stressed onthe importance of addressingissues in society through mutu-al talks in harmony and calledfor considering a sensitive issuelike reservation in a similarmanner,” RSS’ ‘prachar pra-mukh’ (publicity head) ArunKumar said in a tweet.

He also said that organisa-tion has made it clear time andagain that it fully supportsreservation for ScheduledCastes, Scheduled Tribes, OBCand those getting it on to eco-nomic grounds.

Bhagwat had said onSunday that there should beconversation in harmoniousatmosphere between those in

favour of reservation and thoseagainst it.

“Attack on the rights of thepoor, trampling on constitu-tional rights, snatching therights of Dalits-backwards. Thisis the real BJP agenda. The antiDalit-backward face of the RSS-BJP has been exposed. The con-spiracy to end reservation forthe poor and the policy ofchanging the Constitution havebeen uncovered,” Congress’chief spokesperson RandeepSurjewala said.

BSP chief Mayawati askedthe RSS to shed its “anti-reser-vation mindset”, saying reser-vation was a constitutional pro-vision and disturbing it wouldbe an injustice. Mayawati saidsuch a debate would generate adangerous situation of doubtwhich was not needed.

“The RSS saying that thereshould be open-hearted debatepertaining to reservation givento SC/ST/OBC generates dan-gerous situation of doubt, which

is not at all needed,” the BSPchief tweeted.

She also said reservation isa humanitarian and constitu-tional provision, and disturbingit is injustice and improper andit would be better if the Sanghsheds its anti-reservation mind-set.”

Reacting to the statement,RJD spokesman Manoj Jhaquestioned whether there isany conducive atmosphere inthe country in the presentCentral regime. “The currentdispensation has not left any-more a good atmosphere inthe country where anythingcan be deliberated upon. Thereality is that the benefits forSC and ST have not beenpassed to the beneficiariesand whatever has been sharedto them is being looked uponto e reviewed. In the name ofbrute majority this BJP ruledCentre is attempting to tram-ple the Constitution by allmeans,” Jha said.

�� 34�#351�

The Centre on Monday askedall former Members of

Parliament (MPs) to vacateGovernment bungalows withina week. Majority of suchGovernment bungalows arelocated in the posh Lutyen’s zonein the national Capital.

A high-level meeting con-vened by the HousingCommittee of the Lok Sabha onMonday decided that if these“squatters” failed to vacate thebungalows, their power, waterand gas connections will be cutwithin three days and heavypenalty will be imposed onthem.

Senior BJP leaders and for-mer Deputy Prime Minister LKAdvani and Murli ManoharJoshi will retain their bungalowdue to security reasons.

The committee had earlierdirected several senior Congressleaders, including JyotiradityaScindia and Mallikarjun Kharge,to vacate their Governmentbungalows since they have lostthe Lok Sabha elections lastmonth.

Normally, leaders who loseelections to Parliament are sup-posed to vacate their bungalows,but over the years there has beena trend among several leaders,including former Ministers,refusing to vacate their bunga-lows citing various reasons.

CR Patil, chairman of theLok Sabha Housing Committee,

told The Pioneer that the com-mittee called a meeting onMonday where it was decidedthat in three days, power, waterand gas connections will besnapped. Patil said most ofthem will vacate their bungalowwithin two three days. However,no MPs have stated that they willnot vacate their bungalow, hesaid.

Sources said those having ‘Z’plus security cover will retaintheir bungalows. “Joshi is alsolooking for accommodation inLutyens’ Delhi and he will vacatehis bungalow soon,” said a BJPleader.

According to the rules, for-mer MPs have to vacate theirrespective bungalows withinone month of dissolution of theprevious Lok Sabha. In the 2019Lok Sabha elections, more than260 candidates were elected tothe Lower House of theParliament for the first time,including cricketer GautamGambhir, Union Minister Smriti

Irani and Ravi Shankar Prasadand Bengali actresses MimiChakraborty and Nusrat JahanRuhi.

The Centre has recentlypassed the Public Premises(Eviction of UnauthorisedOccupants) Amendment Bill,2019. The Government pro-vides residential accommoda-tion to its employees, Membersof Parliament and other digni-taries while they are in serviceor till the term of their office onlicence basis. As per the existingallotment rules, after the expiryof the terms and conditions ofthe licence, the occupants ofsuch residential accommoda-tions become unauthorised forstaying in such accommodationand should vacate the same.However, it is often seen that theunauthorised occupants do notvacate the Government accom-modation on expiry of the termsand conditions of the licence asper the rules and uses dilatorytactics to withhold the accom-modation.

President Ram NathKovind had on May 25 dis-solved the 16th Lok Sabha withimmediate effect on the rec-ommendation of the UnionCabinet after the ModiGovernment was formed for asecond term. The decision toprovide temporary accommo-dation to new MPs at guesthouses has been taken in anapparent bid to reduce the costof accommodation for the MPs.

�� 34�#351�

At a time when DelhiInternational Airport

Limited (DIAL) has initiatedwork to enhance Terminal-IIinfrastructure, two major air-lines — Spicejet and Indigo —will shift to Terminal-III of theIGIA from September 5.

On Monday, DIAL in itsofficial statement said the shiftis to pave way for infraenhancement of T-II, afterwhich its capacity will increasefrom 15 million passengers perannum (MPPA) to 18MPPA.“This will enhance the passen-ger experience at T-II terminalafter the movement. GoAirand IndiGo will be the twomajor airlines operating fromT-II,” DIAL notification reads.

Notably, Indigo will oper-ate partially from T-III also.IndiGo flights of 5,000 serieswill shift from T2 to T3 and butflight operations of IndiGo andSpiceJet at T1 will remain unaf-fected.

DIAL official said, “Themove comes as part of DIAL’s

efforts to enhance passengerexperience at Delhi Airport ata time when SpiceJet, IndiGoand GoAir, operating fromTerminal 2, have witnessed asteep traffic growth com-pounded by the re-allocation ofJet Airways traffic.”

“The shifting will enablethe airport operator to enhancethe overall infrastructure ofT2, which is being enhanced tohandle rising passenger traffic,”he added.

When asked what newchanges will incorporate forpassengers’ comfort, DIAL offi-cial said, “Under T2 capacityenhancement initiatives, theSecurity Hold Area (SHA), busgate hold area, new arrivals areaand passengers waiting areaswould be expanded, while Pre-Embarkation Security Checks(PESC) area would be relocat-ed and Automated TrayRetrieval System (ATRS) wouldbe installed.”

This may be noted that sev-eral passengers have com-plained about the missing sit-ting area at T-II while T-II oper-

ates domestic flight operationswhere passenger number is rel-atively higher. After the move,passenger load at T-II willreduce by 27percent.

Commenting on the devel-opment, Videh KumarJaipuriar, CEO-DIAL said,“With Delhi Airport witnessinga surge in passenger traffic,DIAL is enhancing the capaci-ty of T2. The move will ease thepressure of fast growing traffic,so that the capacity enhance-ment works at Terminal 2 canbe carried out effectively andefficiently. We appreciateSpiceJet and IndiGo for theiragreement to shift their opera-tions from Terminal 2 toTerminal 3”.

Presently, GoAir fully andSpiceJet and IndiGo partiallyoperate their respective domes-tic flights from T2, while AirIndia, Vistara and Air AsiaIndia operate completely out ofT3.

The revamped Terminal 2was operationalized in October2017, which saw partial shiftingof SpiceJet and IndiGo, andcomplete shifting of GoAirfrom Terminal 1.

Meanwhile, DIAL has start-ed Phase 3A expansion worksof airside as well as Terminal 1and Terminal 3 to make DelhiAirport future-ready. This willincrease the airside capacity to140 MPPA from 100 MPPA byJuly 2022.

�� 34�#351�

Former Bihar Chief MinisterJagannath Mishra, 82,

passed away in Delhi onTuesday after a prolonged ill-ness. Mishra was one of thetallest political leaders of Biharbefore Lalu Prasad became theface of the State politics.

Apart from holding thepost of Chief Minister thrice asa Congress stalwart, Mishraserved as a Union CabinetMinister.

Mishra was convictedalong with 44 others in theinfamous fodder scam in 2013.

He was sentenced to fouryears imprisonment. However,he was acquitted by a Ranchicourt last year.

Bihar Chief Minister NitishKumar has expressed grief onthe death of Mishra. “JagannathMishra was a famous leaderand educationist. He made aninvaluable contribution to thepolitics of Bihar and India. Hisdeath is an irreparable loss tothe field of politics, society, andeducation,” Nitish Kumar saidin a statement. The BiharGovernment has declared athree-day State mourning inthe State.

In the 70s and 80s, Mishrawas considered a powerful andmass leader of the Congress inBihar. However, his populari-ty dipped after the emergenceof the social justice forcesunder the likes of Lalu in 1990.

�� 34�#351��

Heavy rain in northernIndia and the release of

8.28 lakh cusecs water from theHathnikund barrage byHaryana on Monday causedflood-like situation in the low-lying areas of the nationalCapital with the river Yamunaflowing at 205.36 metres,breaching the danger mark of205.33 metres.

Around 10,000 people havebeen evacuated from flood-plain and shifted to relief tentserected by the Governmentagencies, a senior official said.

So far 2,120temporaryshelters have been set up, where

food, water and other ameni-ties are being provided byGovernment agencies. To reach

people, the Delhi Governmentalso provides helpline numbers:22421656 and 21210849.

Taking precautionary mea-sures, Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal appealed toresidents of Yamuna flood-plains to shift to governmenttents. “The water level inYamuna is expected to cross thedanger level (205.33 meter) bytoday evening, since Haryanahas released 8.28 lakh cusecs ofwater,” requesting not to panicsince the government is takingall possible steps to combatevolving flood situation,”Kejriwal said.

“Since Haryana hasreleased 8.28 Lakh cusecs ofwater on Sunday evening andexcess water will reach Delhiwithin 36 to 72 hours,” Kejriwal

said. On the direction of Sub

Divisional Magistrate (SDM),Delhi Traffic Police also closedthe Old Yamuna Bridge(Lothian bridge) to avoid anycasualty.

Recalling past incidents offloods, Kejriwal appealed topeople residing floodplains toshift in tents and not to returntill water recedes.

Earlier in 2013, Haryanahad released 8.06 Lakh cusecsof water that had resulted inraising the water level to 207.3meters.

“Next two days are verycrucial. We are monitoring thesituation”, said the Chief

Minister. He also said thatDelhi Government is coordi-nating with the CentralGovernment and theLieutenant Governor’s officeand all concerned agencies.The entire Governmentmachinery is focused in tack-ling this emergency situationin the next two days as everylife is precious for the gov-ernment, the Chief Ministersaid.

The river was flowing at205.2 metres in Delhi at 3pm.Haryana released 1.87 lakhcusecs water at 2pm onMonday and 1.79 lakh cusecswas discharged fromHathnikund barrage at 3pm.

Along with HomeMinister Satyendar Jain,Transport Minister KailashGahlot and Chief SecretaryVijay Kumar Dev, CMKejriwal conducted high levelmeeting with all the con-cerned departments to moni-tor the situation and reviewthe preparedness.

“Delhi not to panic as thegovernment is taking all pos-sible measures to effectivelydeal with the situation, whichmay affect residents of lowlying areas in six districts(North, North East, ShahdaraEast, Central, and South East)where Yamuna flows through,”Kejriwal said.

�� 34�#351�

The Supreme Court onMonday dismissed a plea by

Tehelka magazine’s founderTarun Tejpal seeking quashing ofcharges framed against him in asexual assault case filed by a for-mer woman colleague.

A Bench headed by JusticeArun Mishra asked Goa’s lower

court to complete the trial prefer-ably within six months in thecase against Tejpal.

Tejpal is alleged to havesexually assaulted a formerwoman colleague inside the ele-vator of a five-star hotel in Goain 2013. He has denied the alle-gations. Tejpal was arrested onNovember 30, 2013, by thecrime branch after his anticipa-

tory bail plea was rejected by thecourt. He has been out on bailsince May 2014. The court hadon August 6 reserved its order onTejpal’s plea.

The Goa Police had claimedthat there were “contemporane-ous” WhatsApp messages and e-mails which showed that theTehelka magazine foundershould face trial in the case.

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) has sum-

moned former Union FinanceMinister P Chidambaram forquestioning in connection withits money-laundering probeinto the purchase of 111 aircraftfor Air India during theCongress-led UPAGovernment. The deal, mademore than a decade ago, sad-dled the struggling nationalcarrier with mounting losses.

Sources said,Chidambaram has been askedto depose before the investi-gating officer of the case onAugust 23 at an EnforcementDirectorate office here torecord his statement.

Chidambaram's grillinghas been sought in the caseswhich relate to losses sufferedby Air India due to an allegedmulti-crore aviation scam andirregularities in fixing air slotsfor international airlines. Thesenior Congress leader is like-ly to be questioned regardingthe purchase of 111 aircraft,

then worth nearly �70,000crore, for Air India. FinanceMinistry is responsible for fis-cal prudence in expenditure ofGovernment funds.

In 2011, the Comptrollerand Auditor General (CAG)had questioned the rationalebehind the government's deci-sion to order 111 aircraft, 48from Airbus and 68 fromBoeing, for Air India andIndian Airlines for about�70,000 crore in 2006.

The ED has already grilledformer Civil Aviation MinisterPraful Patel in connection withthese decisions. The leads gath-ered from Patel's questioninghave prompted the ED to sum-mon Chidambaram in order totake the probe forward, the

sources said. Besides being at the helm

of the Finance Ministry,Chidambaram was also head-ing an Empowered Group ofMinisters (EGoM) for thesedeals and his questioning isexpected to help the agency inunderstanding the decision-making process undertaken bythe government for the acqui-sition of the aircraft.

Chidambaram is also beingprobed by ED in two separatemoney-laundering cases relat-ed to Aircel-Maxis deal andINX Media bribery scam andhas been questioned in thesecases multiple times in thepast.

Chidambaram had earlierdescribed the ED action in theAircel-Maxis case as a "crazymixture of falsehoods and con-jectures".

The ED and CBI havesought custodial interrogationof Chidambaram in INX Mediacase. However, he has beengranted protection from anyadverse action by the DelhiHigh Court.

New Delhi: Prime Minister NarendraModi will pay a two-day State visit toFrance from August 22 during whichhe will hold talks with French PresidentEmmanuel Macron to strengthen strate-gic ties in key sectors such as defence,nuclear energy, maritime cooperationand counter-terrorism.

From France, the prime ministerwill proceed for bilateral visits to theUAE and Bahrain, and will return to theFrench city of Biarritz on August 25 toattend the G7 Summit where India hasbeen invited as a partner country.

Modi will arrive in France onThursday evening and straightawayhead for talks with Macron, who willalso host a working dinner for the vis-iting leader.

The next day, he will meet FrenchPrime Minister Edouard CharlesPhilippe, address an event of Indian

community at the UNESCO head-quarters in Paris, and also inauguratea memorial for Indian victims of twotragic air crashes of Air India flights in1950 and 1966.

The discussions are expected tobroadly focus on reaffirming Franceand India as the key strategic and like-minded partners, strengthening ofdefence partnership, including futuredefence acquisitions, progress on settingup of the Jaitapur nuclear power plant,convergent, strategic and political pri-orities in the Indo-Pacific and relatedoperational needs, Secretary (EconomicRelations) T S Tirumurti said.

Strengthening bilateral engage-ment in key areas of strategic cooper-ation such as defence, nuclear energy,space, counter-terrorism, maritimesecurity, cyber security, InternationalSolar Alliance, and joint developmentprojects will also be deliberated upon,he said at a media briefing.

The deliverables of the visit areexpected to be in the sectors of skilldevelopment, space, information andtechnology and cyber. PTI

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New Delhi: A court here onMonday granted bail to busi-nessman Satish Babu Sana, aclose aide of controversial meatexporter Moin Akhtar Qureshi,in a money laundering case.

Granting bail, special CBIJudge Anuradha ShuklaBhardwaj directed him to fur-nish a personal bail bond of �5lakh and one surety of likeamount.

"The accused is, however,directed to co-operate in inves-tigation and make himselfavailable as and when called forby the investigating agency.He shall not leave the countrywithout the permission of thecourt...," the court said.

Allowing bail to Sana, thecourt observed that Qureshi,who is the main accused in thecase, is already out on bail andSana's role in the case is nograver than him.

During the course of hear-ing on Saturday, lawyers KTSTulsi and Mohit Mathur,appearing for Sana, contendedthat his statements cannot leadto his arrest as he was a witnessand there is immunity provid-ed to a witness that no suchanswers that a witness is com-pelled to give can subject himto be arrested.

Tulsi argued that the entirecase against Sana is based onhis statements given in 2017and 2019. He argued that EDvictimised him for filing com-plaint against Asthana.

Opposing the submissions,Special Public Prosecutor DPSingh argued: "We made himaccused from a witness as theinvestigation reveals manythings against him... we don'twant to go to a stage where heis not telling anything and stillenjoying the immunity."

In October last year, on thebasis of a complaint filed bySana, CBI registered a caseagainst the Special DirectorRakesh Asthana on charges ofaccepting bribe to dilute thecase. This incident led to the tus-sle in CBI between Asthana andDirector Alok Verma. IANS

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�� 34�#351�

The Ministry of Housingand Urban Affairs

(MoHUA) on Monday cameout with a detailed action planthat included modernising thesewerage system and facilitat-ing mechanical cleaning so asto prevent human entry intosewers and septic tanks. Theaction plan also suggestedstorm water drainage tax by themunicipal bodies within themaximum capping forMunicipal Tax. Manual scav-enging takes many forms, fromclearing local garbage to 'clean-ing' toxic sewers.

The number of deaths ofsanitation workers, while clean-ing septic tanks and sewers, hasrisen despite a ban on manualscavenging. 620 cases have beenreported since 1993, of which 88occurred in the past three years.Of the 15 States and UnionTerritories that submitted detailsto the Ministry, Tamil Nadu hasthe highest number of sewerdeaths with 144 cases, followedby Gujarat with 131. Of the 88cases reported in 2017, 2018 and2019, till June 14, compensationwas pending in 52 cases. This isdespite the Prohibition ofEmployment as ManualScavengers and their

Rehabilitation Act, 2013, ban-ning anyone from employingpeople to clean sewers. Manualscavenging refers to the southAsian practice of humans clean-ing dry toilets and sewage sys-tems.

Addressing a workshop atVigyan Bhawan, Union SocialJustice and EmpowermentMinister Dr. Thawar ChandGehlot on Monday said that theaction plan envisages identifi-cation of appropriate techno-logical interventions in thefield of mechanised cleaning soas to eliminate manual entryinto sewers and septic tanks."Swachhchh Bharat is indeedthe first step towards SwasthBharat," Gehlot said. UnionMinister for UrbanDevelopment Hardeep SinghPuri said his Ministry hasmade efforts to devise sys-tems, processes and technolo-

gies for mechanical cleaning ofsewer and septic tanks.

In a bid to prevent waterlogging during monsoon, theMinistry has also issued sug-gesting regular monitoring atthe exit and entry point ofwater for the presence of unde-sirable collection of rubbish,polythene/paper bags blockingthe passage of water and inevery way ensuring free unob-structed flow of rain waterduring monsoon. The planalso suggests that all stormwater management facilitiesshould be inspected by a qual-ified engineer after every sixmonths. In many cases, it wasobserved that due to delay insilt collection, significant pro-portion of the silt finds its wayback in the drain. It is necessarythat after cleaning of drains, siltshould be lifted and trans-ported to the disposal sites.

As far as action plan fordrainage system is concerned,it said that all drains should bedesilted thoroughly beforeonset of monsoon. Accordingto action plan, the CCTV cam-era can be used for drainagepipes of diameter 100-900 mm."Above 900 mm diameter (manentry and restricted also), thereare limitations due to lightingproblems and camera lineangles. Continuous advancesare being made in the qualityand range of TV cameras,"the

"The agencies should ensurethat all the drains are in goodcondition and works regarding,reshaping or profile correction,wherever required is completedwell before the onset of mon-soon," the guidelines said.

A storm water drainagesystem consists either networkof drains connected with junc-tions or underground conduitsconnected with manholes andrelated appurtenances such asgutters, detention tanks, deten-tion basins, pumping stationsand outfall structures.Housing and Urban AffairsSecretary Durga ShankerMishra, Social Justice andEmpowerment SecretaryNilam Sawhney and MunicipalCommissioners of 500 citiesattended the workshop.

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court onMonday granted to the CBI time tillSeptember 6 to complete the investigationinto the road accident in which the Unnaorape survivor and her lawyer were criti-cally injured and two of her aunts killed.

The apex court, which had earliergiven two weeks to the CBI to completethe probe, extended the time while not-ing that the probe agency has done "exten-sive investigation" in the case so far.

"We have perused the report of theCBI. This court, vide order dated August1, 2019, granted an outer limit of twoweeks to complete the investigation. Onperusal of the report, we find that the CBIhas done extensive investigation butsome loose ends need to be tied up," abench of Justices Deepak Gupta andAniruddha Bose said.

"Some of the investigation relates tocollating and analyzing the materialalready collected, especially the electronicrecords. Most importantly the state-ments of the victim and her counsel whowas driving the car could not be record-

ed till date, as they are both not in a posi-tion to make a statement," the benchnoted in its order.

While seeking four more weeks tocomplete the probe, CBI told the top courtthat statements of rape survivor and herlawyer have not been recorded yet and itwants to analyse certain electronic evi-dence collected so far during the probe.

The court also directed the UttarPradesh government to pay �5 lakh to thelawyer who is in a critical condition andundergoing treatment. PTI

�� 34�#351�

Union Environment Minister PrakashJavadekar on Monday said the

Government is planning to cut down thewhole process of environmental clear-ance to real estate projects to 60 days ina few days to come.

"Environmental clearances used tobe stumbling blocks before 2014.Average time taken to clear projects was640 days. After we took over, we madeprocesses so easy that now it takes only108 days for a project to get environ-mental clearance", he said at the 15thNational Convention of NAREDCOheld here. National Real EstateDevelopment Council (NAREDCO)was established as an autonomous self-regulatory body in 1998 under theaegis of Ministry of Housing and UrbanAffairs.

Javedekar emphasised that smallprocedural delays can be done awaywith, without compromising on envi-ronmental clearances. "Our priority isboth environmental protection anddevelopment, only then our country can

become a five-billion dollar economy.That's why the suggestions of institutionslike NAREDCO are very important", hesaid.

The Minister further added that hisMinistry is in the process of issuing stan-dard conditions for every project suchas wage recycling and water harvestingas per the size of the real estate project.And these conditions will not be morethan 10.

"We are bringing about a regimechange. We will introduce fewer condi-tions, but ensure their fullest imple-mentation. If need be, we will amendthe law so that you get the ease of doingresponsible business. Because freedomis never a one-way street," the ministersaid.

He further informed that the UnionEnvironment Ministry is also in dis-cussion with states to make the envi-ronmental process smoother and lesstime consuming. "The states must real-ize that the Centre has delegated envi-ronmental protection to them so thatthey do it with a sense of responsibili-ty," he added.

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Former Prime MinisterManmohan Singh was elect-

ed unopposed to the RajyaSabha from Rajasthan onMonday. He was declared elect-ed unopposed as the deadlinefor the withdrawal of nomina-tions for the bypoll ended at 3pm. Chief Minister AshokGehlot congratulated Singh onhis election to the Upper Houseof Parliament.

Returning Officer andAssembly Secretary PramilKumar Mathur made theannouncement. The govern-ment's chief whip, Mahesh Joshi,received the election certificateon behalf of Singh. The formerPM was nominated by theCongress while the BJP did notfield any candidate for thebypoll, necessitated due to thedeath of Rajya Sabha MP MadanLal Saini.

The former PM had filed

the nomination papers onAugust 13. Singh was a memberof the Upper House ofParliament from Assam foralmost three decades. He was aRajya Sabha member for fiveconsecutive terms from 1991 to2019 and the country's primeminister for two consecutiveterms between 2004 and 2014.

His tenure in the RajyaSabha ended on June 14 this yearand he could not be renomi-nated as the Congress party didnot have the strength to sendhim to the Upper House fromAssam again and there was noother vacancy left. Rajasthan has10 Rajya Sabha seats. Remainingnine seats of Rajya Sabha fromthe State are with the BJP.

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New Delhi: Protection fromcriminal prosecution is notavailable to those public servantswho work in Government com-panies or undertakings, theSupreme Court held on Monday.

Under section 197 of Codeof Criminal Procedure (CrPC),prior sanction from a competentofficer is needed to prosecute aGovernment servant for allegedcriminal act done in dischargeof his official duty and "nocourt shall take cognizance ofsuch offence except with the pre-vious sanction".

A bench of Justices NavinSinha and AS Bopanna dis-missed the appeal of BharatSanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL)against the High Court's order

which had held that protectionof sanction under CrPC was notavailable to the officers of pub-lic sector undertakings likeBSNL even if they fall within thedefinition of 'state' under Article12 of the Constitution.

BSNL and its officers, whowere of the cadre of IndianTelecommunication Service andlater shifted to the PSU, had chal-lenged the order of a trial courtinitiating criminal prosecutionagainst them in the case. PTI

New Delhi: The Supreme Courton Monday directed the chiefsecretary of Delhi to be presentbefore it on August 23 andapprise it of the policy on hold-ing social functions and mar-riages in hotels, farm houses andlow density residential area here.

A bench comprising JusticesArun Mishra and Deepak Guptagave this direction after thecounsel appearing for the DelhiGovernment told the court thatthey have finalised the policyand the Delhi DevelopmentAuthority (DDA) would have tonotify it.

"Our policy is final. Now,

the DDA will have to notify it,"the Delhi government's counseltold the bench.

The bench then asked theDDA's counsel, "How muchtime is required to notify this?"

The DDA's counsel saidshe would have to seek instruc-tion on the issue. She said thepolicy was not submitted to theDDA yet.

"As per my instructions,we (Delhi government) havesent it to the DDA," the Delhigovernment's lawyer said,adding, "Within two days, I willmake sure that it (policy) is sentto the DDA". PTI

New Delhi: The Supreme Court onMonday said that its orders on the GuruRavidas Temple in Tughlaqabad forestarea here cannot be given a "politicalcolour".

A bench comprising Justices ArunMishra and MR Shah askedGovernments of Punjab, Haryana andDelhi to ensure that no law and ordersituation is created politically or oth-erwise during the protests over thedemolition of temple.

"Everything cannot be political.Our orders can't be given a politicalcolour by anybody on earth" the benchsaid.

The Delhi Development Authority(DDA) had demolished the temple pur-suant to the orders of the apex court,which had on August 9 observed that"serious breach" had been committedby Guru Ravidas Jayanti SamarohSamiti by not vacating the forest areaas earlier ordered by the top court.

Following the demolition of the

500-year-old temple, protests havebeen staged at several places in Punjaband Delhi by political parties andmembers of the Dalit community.

At the outset, Attorney General KK Venugopal, who was on August 13asked by the top court to assist in thematter, said that demolition of the tem-ple has been carried out by DDA inpursuance to the top court order anda total of 18 organisations are stagingprotests against it.

Venugopal told the bench thatsince a number of organisations havebeen agitating against the demolitionit is very difficult to pinpoint a partic-ular person behind the protests.

To this, the bench said in case thematter is settled, there is no difficulty butif the issue remains the court will takeup the matter for hearing. Venugopalthen told the bench that it shoulddirect governments of Punjab, Haryanaand Delhi to ensure that the law andorder situation is maintained. PTI

New Delhi: In the run up toBalakot strikes, Army ChiefGen. Bipin Rawat very categor-ically conveyed to the top brassof the Government that hisforce was fully ready to deal withany ground offensive by Pakistanand take the battle into theenemy territory, top militarysources said.

The Indian Army was pre-pared for a conventional warfarewith Pakistan which would haveincluded going inside Pakistan,the sources told PTI.

The Army chief informedthe government about pre-

paredness of his force when itwas considering various options,including carrying out an aeri-al raid, to punish Pakistan for thePulwama terror attack.

Gen. Rawat, at a closeddoor interaction with a group ofretiring Army officials onMonday, said the force wascombat ready for any hostilitiesfrom Pakistan Army after theBalakot strikes, the sources said.

Explaining Gen. Rawat'scomments, a military official saidwhat the Army Chief meant wasthat Indian Army was ready totake the battle into Pakistan. PTI

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RAIPUR | TUESDAY | AUGUST 20, 2019chhattisgarh 03

STAFF REPORTER n KORBA

Abhijit Pati will take over asthe new Chief Executive

Officer of Bharat AluminiumCompany Limited (Balco).

Pati is a name to reckonwith in the aluminium indus-try for the past three decadesand he joined Balco after anappreciable stint as ChiefExecutive Officer of VedantaLimited, Jharsuguda, accord-ing to a Balco press release.

Born on 1st January 1964,Abhijit Pati, has a humblefamily background fromwhere he rose to the pinnacleof academic excellence andprofessional success. Hecomes with a rich experienceand an illustrious career span-ning over 30 years in the alu-minium industry.

Alumni of the Calcutta

University, Abhijit Pati startedhis career as an engineer withIndian Aluminium Company(subsidiary of ALCAN,Canadian Major AluminiumProducer) in the year 1989.

Later joinedI N D A L / H I N D A L C O ,Hirakud under the flagship ofAditya Birla Group ofIndustries, and establishedhimself as a frontline leader.As a young and budding pro-fessional in his early career hewas awarded the ‘exceptionalcontributor award’ by groupchairman Kumar MangalamBirla for his significant contri-bution in the turnaroundstory of the HirakudAluminum Smelter in the year2006 and also bagged theprestigious British Sword ofHonour for Hirakud Smelterin the year 1999.

He was serving the aspira-tion of the group as vice pres-ident till the year 2008 whenhe was offered the position ofchief operating officer forleading one of the largestgreenfield aluminium cumpower complex of the world atJharsuguda, Odisha by theglobal natural resources giantand conglomerate, Vedanta

Group. Subsequently, onMarch 16, 2015 Pati was ele-vated to the coveted positionof president and CEO ofVedanta Ltd.’s Aluminiumbusiness and headed theworld’s largest single-locationaluminium smelter atJharsuguda for a little overfour years.

Under his able leadership,Vedanta Ltd., Jharsugudabecame an illustrious memberof the prestigious ‘MillionTonne Club’ of globalaluminium producingcompanies.

He is a proud SeniorManagement ExecutiveCommittee member ofVedanta’s Global aspiration inits quest to emerge asfrontrunner in global naturalresource business. He is alsothe lead officio member of

Governing Council ofAluminium Association ofIndia (AAI). He is a nominat-ed representative of India forthe Indo-Japanese collabora-tion on PAT scheme for col-laboration on energy sectorappointed by Government ofIndia. He has also taken theresponsibility to co-chair theFICCI (Federation of IndianChambers of Commerce andIndustry) Odisha StateCouncil and is a nominatedmember of the Board ofManagement of BPUT,Odisha for a period of 3 years.

Pati’s contribution to thealuminium industry has beenrecognized and held in highesteem by several industrialand academic institutions ofIndia. He was felicitated with‘Technological ExcellenceAward 2016’ at the 20th

National Conference onnon-ferrous minerals andmetals for his significantcontribution as a frontlineleader in the turnaround andgrowth of several aluminiumproduction centers of thecountry, as a result of hisexpertise and years of experi-ence with the major metalbased corporate organiza-tions. He was adjudged twiceas the ‘India AffairsProfessional CEO of the year’at the 8th and 9th AnnualIndia Leadership Conclaveand Indian Affairs BusinessLeadership Awards. At the 3rdCorporate Excellence Awardorganized by Odisha CulturalFoundation, Pati was awarded‘Best CEO of the Year’ in 2017for his efforts in drivingaluminium revolution in Indiaas the CEO of Vedanta Ltd.

Abhijit Pati to take over as Balco CEO

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Chhattisgarh Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel will participate

in the ‘Gram Suraj’ and ForestRights Act Fair and dedicate 3.06acres of ‘Maa Angarmoti Gauthan’in village Dugali of Dhamtari dis-trict to mark the 75th birth anniver-sary of former Prime Minister RajivGandhi on August 20.

Former PM Rajiv Gandhi hadvisited the village on July 15, 1985after which the village is also knownas ‘Rajiv Gram’. The district adminis-tration is ensuring the implementa-tion of all the top priority schemes of

the state government, officialsources said.

The forest village Dugali‘Gauthan’ has been named after the‘Angarmoti Mata’, the goddess of the

village. The village has 551 familiesout of whom 208 have 620 cattle. Agrazing land covering 10 acres is alsoproposed. Funds were arrangedthrough MGNREGA and recom-

mendation of Central areaDevelopment Authority throughSihawa MLA Dr Laxmi Dhruv.

Chief Minister will also dedicatean archery training centre at TribalBoys Hostel. At primary stage 10boys and 10 girls will be impartedtraining through expert archer.

Baghel will also open a malnu-trition rehabilitation centre atPrimary health Centre, Dug. Thecentre will be used for providingcomplete treatment and medical carefor malnutrition children.Additional to it mothers will betrained on various aspects ofmalnutrition.

CM to launch welfare schemestoday at ‘Rajiv Gram’ DugaliTo mark the 75th birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi

Run for social harmony todayRAIPUR: To mark the 75th birth anniversary of late Prime Minister RajivGandhi a run for social and communal harmony is being organised byRaipur Smart City Limited on Tuesday. Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel willspecially be present during the run which will start at 8.00 a.m. on Tuesday.

Mayor, Raipur Municipal Corporation, Pramod Dubey has appealed tothe citizens of the capital city to participate in the run which has beenorganised to spread the message of social and communal harmony, peaceand national integrity.


The Economic OffencesWing (EOW) on Monday

carried out raids on the premis-es of a Chhattisgarh State CivilSupplies Corporation official touncover disproportionate assets(DA), sources in the state EOWinformed.

An EOW official identifiedthe accused as ChintamaniChandrakar, a deputy account-ant with the Kanker district unitof the civil supplies corporation.

"EOW teams raided fourplaces, including one inBengaluru, of Chandrakar aftera DA complaint was receivedagainst him," he said.

The places raided includeChandrakar's house in Durgdistrict's Adarsh Nagar, his son'sflat in Bengaluru, his in- laws'house in Durg and his

Kanker-based office, resulting inrecovery of crucial documentsestablishing his involvement incorruption, the official claimed.

He claimed the seizeddocuments revealedChandrakar had amassedmovable and immovable assetsworth several crores of rupees,though the exact figure wasbeing ascertained.

Initial probe has also foundthat Chandrakar managed towin the confidence of seniorofficials and got himselfimportant posts usinginfluence, the official stated.

Through documentsrecovered during raids on theoffices of the corporation in2015, which unearthed analleged multi-crore civil supplyscam in the state, theACB-EOW had now zeroed inon the accused, he said.

A case under thePrevention of Corruption Actwas registered againstChandrakar, he added.

Civil supplies deputy

accountant in EOW net

STAFF REPORTER nBIJAPUR

Four Naxals, including acouple, surrendered before

police in the insurgency-hitBijapur district on Monday,police said.

The cadres, two of them car-rying cash rewards on theirheads, turned themselves inbefore Bijapur Superintendent ofPolice Divyang Patel and DeputyInspector General (CRPF)Komal Singh, police said.

Of the surrenderedNaxals, Rakesh Uika (26), sec-tion commander of thePeoples' Liberation GuerrillaArmy (PLGA) battalion no. 1,was "one of the most dreadedrebels," Patel said.

Uika, carrying a reward of`8 lakh on his head, wasinstrumental in executing sev-eral deadly attacks on securityforces in South Bastar since hejoined the outlawed outfit in2010, he said.

He was allegedly involvedin the nine major attacks,including in Bhejji (Sukma dis-trict) in 2017 in which 12 secu-rity personnel were killed andin Pidmel, where eight jawanslost their lives, the SP said.

Another surrenderedcadre, Kukkem Sukku (32),who was "equally dreaded" andactive as section deputy com-mander in military platoon no.13 of Bhairamgarh areacommittee of Maoists, was

carrying a reward on `3 lakh,he said. Sukku was also work-ing as a teacher in the MobilePolitical School (MoPoS) runby Maoists, he added.

Sukku's wife Somari Kadti(32), who was working withMoPoS in Bijapur, and BudhruModiyam (30), a JanmiltiaCommander in Gangaloorarea committee of Maoists,also surrendered.

"These Naxals expresseddisappointment with the

hollow Maoist ideology andtheir lifestyle. They also saidthat they were impressed bythe surrender and rehabilita-tion policy of the state govern-ment," the official informed.

The rebels whosurrendered were given`10,000 each as "encourage-ment money", he said, addingthat they all will be providedassistance as per thegovernment's surrender andrehabilitation policy.

Four Naxals give up armsSTAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Chhattisgarh BJP saidincreasing crime inci-

dents in the state raiseddoubts over the state govern-ment’s claim of security ofcitizens, law and order haveimproved.

BJP state spokespersonSachchidanand Upasaneciting the recent incidents ofloot and snatching in Durgand Balod, said suchincidents pointed outhollowness of government'sclaim on citizens’ securityand safety. He alleged thatpolice department is failingin their duty of policing andare yet to bring any of thoseinvolved in the incidents tobook.

The BJP leader saidincreasing incidents of crime

in the state is a live exampleof the failure of the govern-ment. He alleged thatgovernment is using thepolice for political vengeanceand so they are failing toconcentrate on their basicduty of policing.

The Congress has comeinto the government with thepolicy of vengeance.

Cong misunderstood

word ‘change’: BJP

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

State leaders, includingChief Minister Bhupesh

Baghel, Minister forPanchayat and RuralDevelopment T.S. Singhdeoand PCC Chief MohanMarkam on Monday metCongress President SoniaGandhi during their tour tothe national capital. AICCin-charge of party’s affairs inthe state P.L. Punia was alsopresent during the meeting.

This was a maiden meet-ing of Baghel and other leadersafter Sonia Gandhi was reelect-ed as Congress president.

Official sourcesinformed that the state lead-ers discussed in detail with

the Congress president thestate of affairs of the state.The leaders also invitedCongress president to visitthe state.

Congress president tookinformation in detail fromthe state leadership about theongoing welfare works andschemes undertaken inChhattisgarh and gave neces-sary instructions. The chiefminister briefed her aboutvarious steps taken by thestate government especiallyfor the welfare of tribals andfarmers in the state.

Later the leaders fromChhattisgarh also paid a visitto party’s veteran leader andAICC General Secretary(Administration) MotilalVora.

Baghel, other stateleaders meet Soniain New Delhi


The committee formed bythe Chhattisgarh govern-

ment to explore possibility ofimposing total prohibition inthe state, convened its maidenmeeting on Monday. The meet-ing held at GST building inNava Raipur was chaired bychairman of the committeeSatyanarayan Sharma.

The meeting also came to adecision that slowly the num-bers of liquor outlets in thestate should be decreased andthere should be drug deaddic-tion centers at each and everydistrict headquarters.

In the meeting Sharma,after taking suggestions fromcommittee members decidedto discuss the matter with

various social organizations. Itwas also decided to send study

teams to other states whereprohibition is being enforced.

The issues on which thecommittee discussed includeloss of revenue and effect oneconomy due to implementa-tion of total prohibition, effecton social structure, change inlaw and order situation afterenforcing prohibition, parallelaction on sale and transporta-tion of illegal liquor and effectof providing relaxation inscheduled area.

Members of the commit-tee--Shishupal Shori, KunwarSingh Nishad, Keshaw PrasadChandra, PurushottamKanwar, Dwarkadheesh Yadav,Rashmi Ashish Singh , SangitaSinha, Uttari Ganpat Jangdeand official of excise depart-ment-- were present in themeeting.

Political committee meets tocontemplate on complete prohibitionThe panel recommends to decrease number of liquor outlets


Special Gram Sabha will beorganized in all village

Panchayats of the state onAugust 20 where discussionon the agriculture, health,drinking water, and nutritionand child protection will beheld along with implementa-tion of the differentgovernment schemes.

All district collectors havebeen directed to fix the timingof Janpad, Panchayat-wise vil-lage meeting where one pan-chayat has more than one vil-lage. In such cases, differentdates should be fixed wherethe Sarpanch and village sec-retary can participate in eachvillage meetings. For successof the meeting, ground level

officers, employees should begiven responsibility andaccountability should be fixed.

The village meeting willalso conduct social audit ofthe last meetings, pledgestaken in the meetings.

Social audit of pensionschemes, verification of ben-eficiaries, weekly marketamong others will also betaken up for review.

Villagers will alsodiscuss on the control ofmosquito, cleanliness, puredrinking water, repairs ofhandpump and status ofconservation of water. Thestatus of fertilizers, seed andpesticides provided byagriculture department,status of kharif crop, cropinsurance scheme will alsobe taken up for discussion.

Special Gram Sabhaat panchayats today

Punia arriveson a three-daytour of C’garh

RAIPUR: AICC in-charge ofChhattisgarh P.L. Punia will be ona three day visit of the state fromAugust 19 to Aug 21.

According to party sourcesPunia, who will arrive on Mondayevening, will be in the state tillAugust 21. He will specially bepresent in various programmes tobe held in the state to commemo-rate the 75th birth anniversary oflate Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Punia will proceed to NewDelhi through regular flight ofVistara on August 21.


Gurvindar SinghHora, brother of

former Congress legisla-tor Gurmukh SinghHora, reportedly com-mitted suicide at UnionClub, Moti Baag onMonday late evening,police said.

“Hora shot himselfwith his personal pistol atthe backseat of his car,”A d d i t i o n a lSuperintendent of Police(City) Prafull Thakurinformed, adding that theincident happenedbetween 7:30 and 8:00 pm.

According to police,Hora had recently

undergone liver trans-plant and was reportedlysuffering from cancer.

Police claimed thatno suicide note wasfound at the incidentspot.

“Hora had reachedUnion Club straightfrom home and accord-ing to people at the spothe appeared to be per-fectly normal,” ASPThakur said.

“Before leaving theclub he asked his driverto get some ‘Bhajia’when the driverreturned, he found Horalying on the back seat ina pool of blood. The gunwas found in his hand,”the ASP claimed.

Former Cong legislatorHora’s brothercommits suicide

Sports Associations tofelicitate CM todayRAIPUR: State SportsAssociations under the aegisof Chhattisgarh OlympicAssociation will felicitateChief Minister BhupeshBaghel in a function sched-uled at a private hotel onAugust 20 at 6.00 pm.

Chief Minister BhupeshBaghel had recentlyannounced the constitution ofChhattisgarh SportsAuthority, which has beenwidely welcomed by thesports persons and associa-tions.

Umesh Patel,Chhattigarh's sports andyouth welfare minister, willpreside over the function.Special guests in the occasionwill be cabinet ministers T. S.Singhdeo, Tamradhwaj Sahu,Mohammed Akbar, RavindraChoubey and others.

Office bearers of differentsports association recognizedby COA will also be present.

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With an aim to cleanYamuna River and

improving water and sewernetwork, the Delhi Jal Board(DJB) on Monday cleared someof the crucial projects includ-ing rejuvenation of 12 waterbodies using (PTT) 'PhytoridTreatment Technology' andextension of scheme for regu-larisation of domestic and com-mercial unauthorised waterconnection.

The decision was taken in147th meeting of the DJBunder the chairmanship ofDelhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal.

The move is consideredimportant as ground waterlevel of Delhi has alarminglygone down due to overexploitation and rapid urban-isation of the city. In this situ-ation, using rain water torecharge the ground waterthrough natural and artificialwater bodies has become aneed of the hour.

In a meeting, the boardapproved the project to reju-venate 12 water bodies usingPTT of capacity of 400 KLD(kilo litres /day) and 150 KLD."DJB has taken up the work ofrejuvenation of 155 water bod-ies following the direction ofDelhi Government for which ablock estimate of �37,678.93lakhs has approved in previousmeeting," DJB said in a state-ment.

The board approved theextension of the scheme ofregularisation of unauthorisedwater connection at a nominalamount of �500/- per connec-tion for domestic consumerand �1500/-for commercialand industrial connections tillMarch 31, 2020. By the imple-mentation of the scheme theboard will bring more andmore consumers under itsauthorised water connectionambit.

It also accorded nod to theproposal of extension of

scheme of levy/recovery ofdevelopment charges of waterand sewer at reduced rates fordomestic connection in case ofcolonies falling in D, E, F, G &H category of unauthorisedcolonies.

Besides, the board has alsogiven its nod to procure 4,000safety kits for sewer gang bel-dars and private labourersengaged in desilting and clean-ing of sewers, drain and septictank.

In order to eradicate thefatal accidents caused whilecarrying out cleaning works ofsewer lines, drains, septic tanks,the Chief Minister andChairman of DJB ArvindKejriwal encouraged the use ofsafety gears and decided to dis-tribute the basic safety gears forfree of cost among the DJB san-itation staffs. The kit willcomprise of hand gloves, gumboots, helmet, safety belts, flo-rescent jackets, torch, litmuspapers etc.

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The people of Delhiespecially those

residing in South Westpart of city will have abetter connectivity asthe Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) is going tolaunch the first lot of1000 standard floorbuses with hydrauliclifts on Tuesday.

In the first phase about 25buses will be flagged off for thepublic use and also the nation-al Capital will be the first cityin the country to get the dis-abled friendly buses fitted withhydraulic lifts.

The first phase of disabledfriendly buses will be inaugu-rated by the Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal and TransportMinister will be the guest ofhonour.

The buses with unique fea-tures are procured especially tofacilitate the physically dis-abled people. The buses arepurchased under the DelhiIntegrated Multi Modal Transit

System (DIMTS) and the com-pleted lot buses will be pur-chased by the end of this year.The buses manufactured by theAshoka Leyland.

Besides, hydraulic lifts, thebus will be fitted with threeCCTV cameras (two insidethe buses and one outside), 14panic buttons installed on eachwindows and GPS trackingsystem.

"A microphone will beinstalled near the Driver’s seatand as soon a passenger willpress the panic button, thedriver will get a call from thecontrol room within 10-15 sec-onds. The Emergency control

room is set up atDIMTS office atKashmere Gate.Further, the con-ductors have alsobeen trained tooperate thehydraulic lifts fit-ted in the buses,"said a transportofficial.

After theinauguration atRajghat Cluster

Depot, the buses will be sent toDwarka depot. The buses willrun on two routes 539 fromMehrauli to Nangloi and 579Safdurjung Terminal toNazafgarh buses.

The official further said,"The people rural and outerarea will be largely benefited asfrequency of 578 is very less.Now the people travelling toand to Nazafgarh from Southwill have a smooth journey andwill save time." Moreover, thecity will be getting new busesalmost after a decade. The lastbuses were purchased duringSheila Dixit Government dur-ing Common Wealth Games.

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Atraffic police constable inGurugram was dragged

for 3 kilometres on the bonnetof a car after the driver wasasked to stop for routine check-ing on police checkpost. Theaccused later fled the spot.

The incident occurred onSunday late night when con-stable Rohit Kumar along withother police personnel tried tostop a Hyundai Accent car on7-Extention road in oldGurugram after they signalledthe driver for routine checking.

Instead of stopping thevehicle, the accused sloweddown and tried to escape. Thecop leapt onto the car’s bonnetto prevent him from fleeing butwas dragged for 3-kilometres.

After the police constablewas dragged to the side of theroad, the accused stopped thevehicle and later fled the spot.The entire incident was cap-tured in CCTV cameras. Theconstable suffered minor

injuries in the incident."A case under relevant sec-

tions of the Indian Penal Code(IPC) has been registeredagainst the culprits at ShivajiNagar Police Station," saidSubhash Boken spokespersonof the Gurugram police.

Earlier in the month, a traf-fic police havildar was draggedfor a few metres on the bonnetof a car after the driver wasasked to stop for traffic signaljump at Sidheshwar Chowk inold Gurugram.

In another incident, a traf-fic policeman was dragged by anSUV driver for a few metres onthe bonnet of a car after heentered the wrong side nearSignature Tower Chowk on theDehli-Jaipur Expressway.

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Cocking a snook at lawenforcing agencies in the

national Capital, two bike-borne ruffians reportedlysnatched cellphone of wife ofthe Solicitor General (SG) ofIndia, Tushar Metha.

The daring incidentoccurred in front of FICCIauditorium near Mandi Housearea on late Sunday eveningwhen SG's wife Aparna Mehtawas having a stroll. The snatch-ing in the highly secured NewDelhi district sent the cops intoa tizzy and police teams weredetailed to identify the snatch-ers and bring them to justice.

"Police have registered acase under relevant sections ofIndian Penal Code (IPC) atBarakhamba Road PoliceStation and police teams haveinitiated manhunt to nab theaccused," said a senior policeofficial of New Delhi district.

"Police teams are also scan-ning the CCTV footage of thearea. The complainant has toldus that there was no numberplate on the bike of the accused.While she was not able to seetheir faces as well," said thepolice official.

Aparna Mehta is not theonly victim as the data availablewith Delhi Police shows thatthere were around 3,808 casesof snatching reported till thisyear's July 31st as compared tolast year which were around3,814. There was a minimalreduction of snatching inci-dents.

According to sources, ascell phones are the easiest to

steal, there is an organisedchain of thieves and receiversacross the city. "Most of thethieves are in contact withengineers who quickly changesIMEI number of the phones toevade police arrest and to geta good price in the market,"said the sources.

Investigations carried outby the The Pioneer revealed awell oiled chain of mobilesnatchers and receivers. Anengineer who did not wish tobe identified displayed how themyth about IMEI's invulnera-bility can be dispelled in just 10minutes. He arranged a devicecalled a flasher. It resembled aregular Wi-Fi router. Heopened the files contained onthe disc on a computer andthen used the flasher to con-nect the phone to the comput-er. After this was achieved, allthat needed to be done was tochange the digits.

"Once the IMEI is replacedwith another number, thephone’s origin can never betraced. This means there couldbe two or more devices with thesame IMEI in circulation,depending on the numberinputted. And all that the

unscrupulous operators chargefor this work is �400-800 perhandset. The flasher itself costs�3,000-5,000", the engineeradded.

"It is easier to junk theIMEI in phones that run on thecheaper MTK processor.Handsets fitted withQualcomm Snapdragon areharder to crack, though theyare not totally tamper-resistant.Changing the IMEI number ofApple handsets is, however, notpossible because the flashers donot work on iPhones. Applephones are almost always dis-mantled and their parts soldseparately," said a police official.

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ASupreme Court lawyer,Alakh Alok Srivastava, has

filed a complaint with DelhiPolice against activist ShehlaRashid, leader of Jammu &Kashmir People's Movement,for allegedly spreading fakenews against the Indian Army.Police said that they are veri-fying the facts and investigat-ing the matter.

In a letter to the DelhiPolice Commissioner AmulyaPatnaik, the lawyer said thatJawaharlal Nehru University'sPh.D scholar Shehla Rashidshould be booked for deliber-ately spreading fake news withintent to incite violence andmalign the army's image inJammu and Kashmir.

Confirming about the let-ter, Anil Mittal, Public RelationOfficer (PRO), Delhi Policesaid the complaint has beenforwarded to special cell ofDelhi police who are now ver-ifying the facts mentioned incomplaint.

The complaint againstRashid was filed after she post-ed a series of tweets on Sunday,claiming that in Kashmir,armed forces are enteringhouse during night, picking upboys, ransacking houses, delib-erately spilling rations on the floor and mixing oil withrice.

Rashid in a series of tweetalso claimed that she got toknow about it from the people

coming from Kashmir."In Shopian, 4 men were

called into the Army camp and"interrogated" (tortured). Amic was kept close to them sothat the entire area could hearthem scream, and be terrorized.This created an environment offear in the entire area," Rashidhad tweeted.

Srivastava said the allega-tions made by Shehla areabsolutely false, baseless andconcocted, which is evidentfrom the fact that she has notproduced any voice recordingof the alleged torture or name,date, time or any other specif-ic information about the afore-said alleged incident.

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Delhi Customs officials athave arrested a South

African woman for allegedly car-rying 4.9 kilogram (kg) of hero-in worth �20 crore. The womanwas intercepted at Indira GandhiInternational (IGI) Airport.

According to a seniorCustoms official, the woman onSaturday arrived at theTerminal-3 of the IGI fromSouth Africa via Doha by QatarAirlines flight.

"The woman was intercepted by the Customs offi-cers after she had crossed theGreen Channel. She was stoppedby officials and during checkingof her personal and baggagesearch resulted in the recoveryof white coloured powdery sub-stance with granules," said thesenior Customs official.

"The powdery substance,recovered from two browncoloured packets concealed in achecked-in trolley bag, was found to be heroin weighing in total 4,900 gramsvalued at �20 crores," said the official adding that the drughas been seized and the womanhas been arrested under relevantprovisions of the Narcotic Drugsand Psychotropic SubstancesAct (NDPS).

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Veteran BJP leader LKAdvani, Union Minister

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi,Uttarakhand Chief MinisterTrivendra Singh, UP GovernorAnandiben Patel and BiharDeputy Chief Minister SushilKumar Modi visited AIIMS (AllIndia Institute of MedicalScience) to enquire formerFinance Minister Arun Jaitley'shealth condition.

Among other prominentleaders Union MinistersMukhtar Abbas Naqvi andThaawarchand Gehlot, BJPnational general-secretary ArunSingh and party MP Maneka

Gandhi also visited the hospitalon Monday.

Jaitley has been put on extra-corporeal membrane oxygena-tion (ECMO), which is used forpatients whose lungs and heartare incapable of operating ontheir own, hospital sources said.

The AIIMS administrationhas not released a single medical bulletin regardinghis health condition since August10.

Till now many leaders fromall the parties includingHimachal Pradesh GovernorKalraj Mishra, RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh (RSS) jointgeneral secretary Dr KrishnaGopal and former Samajwadi

Party leader Amar Singh, UnionMinister Piyush Goyal, BiharChief Minister Nitish Kumar andBSP president and former UttarPradesh Chief MinisterMayawati, Union HealthMinister Harsh Vardhan, BJP'sSatish Upadhyay, Jammu &Kashmir Governor Satya PalMalik, Congress' AbhishekSinghvi and Jyotiraditya Scindiaand Air Force chief Air MarshalBirender Singh Dhanoa had vis-ited the hospital to know abouthis well being.

The Additional PrincipalSecretary to Prime Minister, P KMishra, and Cabinet SecretaryPradeep Kumar Sinha also vis-ited the hospital in the evening.

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Sudan’s deposed militaryruler Omar al-Bashir has

admitted to receiving USD 90million in cash from Saudi roy-als, an investigator told aKhartoum court on Monday.

Police Brigadier AhmedAli said at the opening ofBashir’s corruption trial, whichan AFP correspondent attend-ed, that the former presidenttold him that the latest paymentwas “delivered by some ofMohammed bin Salman’senvoys”.

Bashir, whose militaryIslamist regime ruled Sudan for30 years, arrived at the Judicialand Legal Science Institutewhere the trial is taking placein a huge military convoy.

Inside the courtroom, hewas sitting in a metal cage,

unshaven and wearing a whitetraditional gown.

His relatives in the court-room chanted “Allahu Akbar”(God is greatest), to which heresponded with the same words.

The former strongman wasforced from power on April 11after months of protests.

A transitional constitutionmeant to guide Sudan towardscivilian rule was officiallysigned on Saturday.

Bashir faces a raft ofcharges of war crimes, crimesagainst humanity and genocidefrom the InternationalCriminal Court over his role inthe war in Sudan’s westernDarfur region.

However, the jailed leaderappeared in court Monday oncharges of receiving and pos-sessing foreign funds illegally.

The police investigator told

the court that nearly sevenmillion euros (USD 7.8 mil-lion) were found at Bashir’s res-idence, as well as smalleramounts in US dollars andSudanese pounds.

“The accused told us thatthe money was part of a sum ofUSD 25 million sent to him byPrince Mohammed bin Salmanto be used outside of the statebudget,” Ahmed Ali said.

The investigator saidBashir had said he also receivedtwo previous payments of USD35 million and USD 30 millionfrom Saudi’s King Abdullah,who died in 2015.

The investigator saidBashir had said the Saudimoney was exchanged andspent and that he could notremember how nor did hehave documents providing fur-ther details.

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Pakistan Army chief GeneralQamar Javed Bajwa’s term

has been extended for anotherthree years by Prime MinisterImran Khan in view of the“regional security environ-ment”, an official announce-ment said on Monday.

General Bajwa, 58, whowas appointed as the Chief ofArmy Staff by former primeminister Nawaz Sharif inNovember 2016, was to retirein November.

“General Qamar JavedBajwa is appointed Chief ofArmy Staff for another term ofthree years from the date ofcompletion of current tenure,”read the brief notification issuedby the Prime Minister’s Office.

“The decision has beentaken in view of the regionalsecurity environment,” the noti-fication said, citing the decision

made by Prime Minister Khan,apparently referring to the freshtension in India-Pakistan rela-tions and the ongoing Afghanpeace talks between the US andthe Taliban militants, facilitat-ed by Islamabad.

Commenting on the exten-sion given to the Army chief,Pakistan Foreign Minister ShahMahmood Qureshi said that itwas essential due to the region-al situation.

Having served as corpscommander of Rawalpindi,Gen Bajwa has vast experienceof dealing with issues related toKashmir and the Line ofControl, The Express Tribunereported.

In a country prone to fre-quent military coups, the armygenerals who, enforced manyyears of martial law in Pakistansince independence in 1947,have held power for nearly aslong as the civilians.

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The US is considering leav-ing “significant intelli-

gence” assets behind after with-drawing its troops fromAfghanistan as it does notwant the war-torn country tobecome a “laboratory for ter-ror”, President Donald Trumphas said.

Trump’s comments comeafter he met with top nationalsecurity advisers to review aUS-Taliban peace plan thatcould end America’s longestrunning war.

“We’re talking toAfghanistan, both the govern-ment and also talking to theTaliban, having very good dis-cussions. We’ll see what happens.

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Britain said Monday it willimmediately end freedom

of movement for people fromthe European Union afterBrexit on October 31, in a pol-icy shift under Prime MinisterBoris Johnson.

“Freedom of movement asit currently stands will end onOctober 31 when the UK leavesthe EU,” a Downing Streetspokeswoman said. She addedthe government planned“tougher criminality rules forpeople entering the UK” as partof the new hardline stance.

“Details of other changesimmediately on October 31 fora new immigration system arecurrently being developed,” thespokeswoman said.

The change comes amidgrowing fears Britain is set toleave the 28-member blocwithout a divorce deal in twoand a half months. Around 3.6million EU citizens already inBritain have been told to applyfor “permanent settled status”,under an interior ministryscheme started by Johnson’spredecessor Theresa May.

Kabul: Afghanistan’s Presidentis vowing to eliminate all safehavens of the hardline WahhabiISIS group as the country marksa subdued 100th IndependenceDay after a horrific Shia wed-ding attack claimed by the localISIS affiliate.

President Ashraf Ghani’scomments Monday come asAfghanistan mourns at least 63people killed in the Kabulbombing.

Many outraged Afghansask whether an approachingdeal between the United Statesand the Taliban to end nearly 18years of fighting will bringpeace to long-suffering civilians.

A sharply worded Talibanstatement questions why theUS failed to identify the attack-ers in advance. AP

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Syrian regime forces entereda key northwestern town on

Sunday amid intense fightingwith jihadists and their rebelallies which has left dozens ofcombatants dead, a war mon-itor said.

The Syrian Observatoryfor Human Rights reported“fierce clashes” as it said regimeground troops penetratedKhan Sheikhun in Idlibprovince for the first time since

they lost control of it in 2014.The latest fighting, which

broke out overnight Saturday toSunday, has already killed atleast 59 jihadists and alliedrebels as well as 28 members ofpro-regime forces, the Britain-based monitor said.

Pro-regime forces alsocalled Syrian Arab Army (SAA)have been advancing over thepast few days in a bid to encir-cle Khan Sheikhun from thenorth and west and to seize akey highway.

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US President Donald Trumphas warned China that

carrying out a TiananmenSquare-style crackdown onHong Kong pro-democracyprotesters would harm tradetalks between the two countries.

“I think it’d be very hard todeal if they do violence, Imean, if it’s another TiananmenSquare,” Trump told reportersin New Jersey on Sunday. “Ithink it’s a very hard thing todo if there’s violence.”

Hong Kong has been roiledby protests for more than twomonths and on Sunday hun-dreds of thousands of democ-racy activists had marchedpeacefully in the city despiterising unrest and stark warn-ings from Beijing.

There have been increas-ingly stark warnings fromBeijing over the protests, andstate media has run images ofmilitary personnel andarmoured personnel carriersacross the border in Shenzhen.

China’s 1989 crackdownin Beijing’s Tiananmen Squaresaw tanks sent in to end stu-dent-led protests, resulting inhundreds if not thousands of

deaths. Trump’s comments came as

Washington and Beijing look torevive pivotal talks aimed atending their trade war, whichhas roiled world markets.

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Acontroversial Sri Lankanarmy general accused of

grave human rights abusesduring the country’s 26-yearbrutal civil war with the LTTEwas on Monday appointed thenew Army Commander, evok-ing strong criticism from theUS and the minority Tamils.

President MaithripalaSirisena’s office on Mondayannounced that Lt GenShavendra Silva has beennamed as the new army com-mander.

Silva, 55, will take charge asincumbent Army chief Lt GenMahesh Senanayake’s servicewas not extended.

Silva headed the Army’s58th Division in the final bat-

tle against the Liberation Tigersof Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebelsin the final stages of the civilwar in 2009.

His brigade was accused ofattacking civilians, hospitalsand stopping humanitariansupplies to trapped Tamil civil-ians.

Silva’s name was men-tioned in the resolution passedby the UN Human RightsCouncil (UNHRC) in 2013,alleging rights abuses by the SriLankan Army. The Sri LankaArmy has denied the allegedrights abuses.

Critics say Silva’s appoint-ment as the Army chief maystrain Sri Lanka’s cooperationin UN Peacekeeping operationsand the defence cooperationbetween the US and Sri Lanka.

Kampala: Nineteen peopledied when a fuel truck barrelledinto other vehicles in a busytown in western Uganda andexploded, police said Monday.

The blast occurred Sundayevening in the Kyambura trad-ing centre, a mountainous areanear the Queen ElizabethNational Park.

“Ten people died instantlywhen the fuel truck lost controland hit three other vehicles,leading to multiple explosionsthat also burned 25 smallshops,” said regional policespokesman MartialTumusiime. AFP

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London: Bank of England gov-ernor Mark Carney has with-drawn from a high-profile busi-ness event with China’s ambas-sador to London, sources saidMonday, as pro-democracyprotests continue in Hong Kong.

Carney had been due tospeak at the dinner, aimed atboosting Chinese business links,which is scheduled forSeptember 3 at the Guildhall, theadministrative centre of the Cityof London financial district.However he will not now attendbecause of “diary issues”, a sourceclose to the matter told AFP.

Some local politicians arereportedly unhappy at the tim-ing of the event, as Hong Kongpolice continue to clash withdemocracy activists. AFP

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Afortnight after the ModiGovernment defanged Article370, scrapped its illegalappendage, Article 35A andsplit the northern State into the

Union Territories of Ladakh and Jammu &Kashmir, Islamabad is groping for a coher-ent response. In May 1998, when the thenPrime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayeestunned the world by testing five nucleardevices (Pokhran-II) and made India a full-fledged nuclear state, Islamabad swiftlyshowcased its own nuclear capability.

This time, most world capitals over-came their surprise and accepted thechanges in Jammu & Kashmir as India’sinternal matter; Pakistan was supportedby the colonial-minded Western mediaand China, which arranged “closed con-sultations” (unrecorded) in the UNSecurity Council. India’s action wasbreathtaking in its simplicity and audac-ity: Operating within the Line of Control(LoC), it took long-suffering Ladakh toits bosom as a directly-administeredUnion Territory while Jammu & Kashmirprovinces were declared a separate UnionTerritory with an elected legislature. TheUnion Home Ministry will have directsupervision of both.

Political parties and dynasties thatmisused Article 370 to nurture separatistsentiments in the Valley while neglectingJammu and Ladakh regions have beendownsized and separatists put on notice.A zero-tolerance policy towards terror-ism was already in place. Caught betweena perilous economic situation with theFinancial Action Task Force (FATF)breathing down its neck on one side, andits jihadi groups on the other, Islamabadis in no position to declare war or toembrace peace.

Prime Minister Modi’s artful juggleryhas subtly avenged India’s exclusion fromthe Afghanistan talks, making it difficultfor Washington and Islamabad to put theTaliban in power in Kabul, with the acqui-escence of Moscow and Beijing. Thisgives a breather to the Kabul regime thatwas also excluded from four-party nego-tiations. Washington is, thus, likely toremain trapped in the graveyard of empiresbecause successive Presidents from GeorgeBush Jr, Barack Obama and now DonaldTrump would not consider gifting theimpressive American arsenal to the AfghanArmy, training it to use the same and mak-ing a dignified retreat.

Washington is unconcerned about thefate of President Ashraf Ghani, formerPresident Hamid Karzai, their colleaguesand supporters, should Taliban return toKabul. But for India, this is a matter of deepconcern. New Delhi’s checkmate has putIslamabad in a bind: It cannot clinch theTaliban deal for Washington: It cannotcompensate its jihadi mercenaries withescalated action in Jammu, Kashmir or

Ladakh. Its position is unenvi-able: To exit a cul-de-sac onemust go back the way oneentered but this route is notopen to Pakistan. In theMahabharata, Abhimanyu didnot know how to escape thechakravyu; Imran does but it isjust not possible.

Scholars Asma Khalid andMobeen Jafar Mir of the thinktank, Islamabad PolicyInstitute, blame Pakistan forfailing to anticipate and chal-lenge India’s hollowing ofArticle 370 despite clear signals.In a report, Abrogation ofArticle 370: Implications &Policy Choices for Pakistan,they urge Islamabad to launcha diplomatic blitzkrieg againstIndia by emphasising the “dis-puted status of Kashmir”, high-lighting India’s alleged humanrights excesses and the threatsto regional stability.

In a clear sign ofIslamabad’s political bankrupt-cy and lack of choices, Khalidand Mir urged theirGovernment to work for con-vening an urgent meeting ofthe UN Security Council to dis-cuss the situation; at the “closedmeeting” the four other perma-nent members said changingJammu & Kashmir’sConstitutional status is India’s

internal matter. Islamabad isunlikely to accept the sugges-tion to move the InternationalCourt of Justice (ICJ) after itsresounding defeat in the mat-ter of consular access to Indiancitizen Kulbhushan Jadhav.

Khalid and Mir bemoanthe loss of Jammu & Kashmir’sseparate Constitution, flag andautonomy in all matters barringforeign affairs, defence andcommunications. TheBharatiya Janata Party (BJP),they say, always proclaimed itsintentions in its election man-ifestoes and in 2019, reiteratedits determination to annul theKashmir-specific Articles 370and 35A.

Article 35A, introducedvia Presidential order underArticle 370 in 1954, empow-ered the State Legislature todefine permanent residentsand barred Indians from out-side the state from perma-nently settling, buying land,holding local Government jobsor winning education scholar-ships there. It also barredfemale residents (and theirchildren) from property rightsin the event of marriage outsideKashmir. The spirit behindthis legislation was to protectthe identity and culture ofKashmiris and preserve

Kashmir’s demographic charac-ter.

Interestingly, the scholarsallege that the BJP’s agenda isto secure demographic changein the Valley through resettle-ment of refugees from WestPakistan, Azad Kashmir andChhamb. It is true that the BJPhas been concerned about jus-tice for the refugees, whoentered Jammu & Kashmirduring Partition and after, andthe Scheduled Castes invited bySheikh Abdullah to clean thecity on promise of citizenship.However, Abdullah, supportedby former Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru, later deniedthem State subject status and itsaccompanying benefits. Theissue is now redundant with theextension of the Constitution ofIndia in its entirety to the newUnion Territory.

Azad Kashmir is a sliver ofJammu Province, where pro-Pakistan radicals created trou-ble for Maharaja Hari Singh in1946. Pakistan dubbed it asAzad Kashmir when it seizedthe area in 1947-48. Chhamb inHamirpur district of HimachalPradesh was an area of conflictin the 1965 and 1971 wars.Khalid and Mir charge thatIndia will try to enhance Hindurepresentation in the Valley to

reduce the influence ofKashmiri (read Muslim) polit-ical parties in the event of aplebiscite under UN auspices,an idea scotched by KofiAnnan in 2001.

Moreover, the SecurityCouncil Resolution of 1948 isexplicit that Pakistan mustwithdraw all military and civil-ian personnel from the occu-pied territory who were notthere before August 14, 1947;India is to retain its military inSrinagar to administer theplebiscite. Hence, the Pakistanischolars’ attempt to projectIndia as an occupying power inthe kingdom of Maharaja HariSingh is a non-starter.

Pakistani fears that India’saction of August 5, 2019, mayimpact the Indus Water Treatyare premature as India canachieve much by merely utilis-ing its legitimate share of theIndus waters. As for the occu-pied territories, Home MinisterAmit Shah has reiterated India’sclaim to the undivided king-dom, including Azad Kashmir,Gilgit Baltistan, and AksaiChin. Pakistan would do well tofocus on its internal problems.

(The writer is Senior Fellow,Nehru Memorial Museum andLibrary; the views expressedare personal)

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Sir — This refers to the report,“Pati, Patni aur Woh actress nomore” (August 16) by TNRaghunatha. In the death ofVidya Sinha, the Hindi filmworld has lost a talented artisteof yesteryear. Producer-directorBasu Chatterjee, who has anumber of light comedies to hiscredit, ventured upon to portrayVidya in middle class love sto-ries through his Rajnigandha,followed by Chhoti Si Baat. Bothwere big successes.

However, it was difficult forher to get ranked in big budgetfilms as her contemporaries likeRekha, Mumtaz, Zeenat Aman,Hema Malini, Shabana Azmi,Jaya Bachchan, Parveen Babi,Smita Patil, Tanuja, Sridevi andJaya Pradha, were crowding thefield. As a result, she managed toget meagre big films like Inkar(Vinod Khanna), Mukti (ShashiKapoor), Karm (Rajesh Khanna),Tumhare Liye (Sanjeev Kumar)and Atmaram (ShatrughnaSinha). These circumstancescompelled her to switch over totelevision.

Anil R TorneMaharashtra

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Sir — More than 63 people havebeen killed in yet another suicidebomb attack at a wedding hall inAfghanistan. Terrorism has onceraised its ugly head there. Givenpast records and going by theworst of suffering that the civil-ians have suffered at the hands of

many actors, including theTaliban and the Islamic State(IS), there seems to be no end toterrorism. Against this scenario,strong political measures andwell-planned strategies arerequired to tackle the menace.

Simultaneously, it has beenreported that peace talks havebeen going on between the US

and the Taliban. Let such inter-esting developments take place.Any attempt at subverting thepeace process should be stoppedforthwith and nipped in the bud.America has been of great help inthis direction and should be so tillpeace returns in Afghanistan.

A peace deal for Afghanistanmust include a long-term strate-

gy to protect it from evil forcesand for that to happen, the worldcommunity must get its acttogether.

P SenthilVia email

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Educational reforms must”(August 19) by CB Sharma. Theactual scenario in the Valley willbe visible only when restrictionsare fully done with. Nevertheless,mainstreaming the youth will goa long way in restoring normal-cy in the Valley. The process ofcounter-radicalisation and de-radicalisation must begin fromschools. Nationalism and secular-ism should form an essentialpart of school syllabus and par-ents, too, must be counselledwell about the bright future oftheir wards. And for that to hap-pen, investment must start grad-ually. There should be job quotasso that the youth can see the pos-itive change.

Bal GovindNoida

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The process of abrogation of Article 370 hasbeen as controversial as the provisions ofthe Article itself. In its bid to reshape the

political landscape of Jammu and Kashmir, theModi Government, buoyed by the massive man-date it received to return to the seat of power fora second term, scrapped the special status grant-ed to the volatile state by the Constitution of India.

As is the case with most decisions taken ina democracy, unsavoury or otherwise, in a mat-ter of minutes a political slugfest ensued, fol-lowing the announcement. While some, most-ly those occupying the Treasury benches in theHouse, saw it as a “glorious day” for India, oth-ers called it a “dark day” for parliamentarydemocracy.

Nonetheless, the decision to abrogate Article370 was taken amidst high tension, lockdown,rumour mongering and the echo of jackbootsin J&K. The Centre restricted public movementby imposing Section 144 of CrPC and severalimportant political leaders of the state weredetained and put under house arrest. TheAmarnath Yatra was suspended early, touristswere asked to leave and all forms of communi-cation channels were paralysed, isolating the statefrom the rest of the country, ironically, all in thename of promoting better integration.

Article 370, which granted special status toJ&K and Article 35A that empowered the statelegislature to define the “permanent residents”of J&K and their special rights and privileges,has long been under the shadow of controver-sy. It has been a contested constitutional ques-tion whether the provisions of Article 370 werethat of a temporary nature and was theParliament ever empowered to abrogate it.

If we revisit history, it becomes evident fromclause 7 of the Instrument of Accession signedby Maharaja Hari Singh that the state could notbe compelled to accept any future Constitutionof India. Furthermore, J&K was well within itsrights to draft its own constitution and to decidefor itself what additional powers to extend tothe Central Government. Article 370 wasdesigned to protect these special rights agreedupon under the Instrument of Accession.

Though Article 370 of the Constitutionstates that the President may, by public notifi-cation, declare that this article shall cease to beoperative or shall be operative only with suchexceptions and modifications and from suchdate as he may specify, however, provisio toArticle 370 clearly states that recommendationof the constituent Assembly of the state referredto in clause 2 of Article 370 shall be necessarybefore the President issues such a notification.But, since the J&K constituent Assembly latercreated the State’s constitution and dissolveditself without recommending the abrogation ofArticle 370, the Article was deemed to havebecome a permanent feature of the IndianConstitution.

The Supreme Court (SC) as well as HighCourts of states on several occasions have specif-ically stated that Article 370 of the Constitutionis not a temporary provision. In KumariVijayalakshmi Jha vs. Union of India (2017), theDelhi High Court rejected a petition claimingthat Article 370 was temporary. In 2018, the SCstated that Article 370 is not a temporary pro-

vision. Similarly the apex court in SBIvs. Zaffar Ullah Nehru (2016) held thatJ&K has a special status and thatArticle 370 is not temporary.

On the other hand, Article 3 of theIndian Constitution empowers theParliament to amend the Constitutionby a simple majority to change or alterthe boundaries of a state but only whenthe Bill concerning the same is firstreferred to the state Assembly con-cerned for its opinion. But, the deci-sion to create two new UnionTerritories, J&K and Ladakh, wastaken by Parliament without referringthe same to J&K Assembly.

As the Assembly was dissolved byan order under Article 356, there wasno constitutional body to make therecommendations either under Article370 (3) or under Article 3.

In such a context, a shortcut wasfound in the provision of Article 356(1) (b) that allowed the President todeclare that the powers of the state leg-islature shall be exercisable by orunder the authority of the Presidentwhile President's Rule was in operationin a state.

In the process, perhaps for the firsttime in the history of state reorgani-sation in India, a state was convertedinto two Union Territories, reversingthe hitherto existing trend.

Needless to say that Indian feder-alism became the biggest casualty ofour political leaders’ desire to createhistory in one stroke. With the Valleybeing under lockdown and anunprecedented number of boots on the

ground to maintain peace, one istempted to question the hurried needfor abrogating Article 370 without tak-ing the people and the political lead-ers of J&K into confidence. Can theCentre justify the manner in which allthis was done? In law, especially inConstitutional law, procedure is asimportant as the outcome. It may berecalled that the 1971 election ofIndira Gandhi was declared null andvoid by the Allahabad High Court ongrounds of a procedural illegality.

More than the act itself, what isworrisome, is the manner in which ithas been dealt with and the subsequentlockdown of the Valley that put curbson the liberty of citizens of the state.

Such a sensitive matter certainlyneeded political maturity on the partof the powers that be, who, would havedone well to focus on confidencebuilding measure, by way of discussionwith key stakeholders.

Unfortunately, neither was thespirit of a deliberative democracyrespected, nor was any consensusbuilding attempt made in the frenziedhurry to abrogate Article 370.

The whole episode, therefore, notonly undermined the very spirit ofdemocratic functioning but alsodemonstrated the centralising tenden-cy compromising the framework ofasymmetrical federalism that theConstitution of India envisaged.

When the democratic State startsbehaving and functioning like a majori-tarian and authoritarian one, not onlydoes the constitutional promise get

shattered, the future prospects of unityand integrity look bleak.

This, therefore, should be amoment of introspection and not thatof celebration. Looking at the lock-down in the Valley and the virtualimprisonment of its people in blatantdisregard of their rights in the nameof greater integration and the so-calleddevelopment of the region, one isprompted to ask whether India haspushed Kashmir to the point of noreturn.

The answer is probably blowing inthe wind in the bleeding Valley.

Unfortunately, we have no accessto read the writing on the wall of theValley, with the region being virtual-ly cut off from the rest of the countryand both the free movement of the factfinding teams to the state and report-ing from the Valley being restricted toa great extent.

However, one can safely assumethat in yet another bid to write histo-ry in one stroke, the country is goingto learn the historic lesson that theproject of national integration promot-ing greater unity and integrity calls formoving beyond the desire of over-cen-tralisation and the idea of forced inte-gration by focussing more on sharingof political power and simultaneous-ly pursuing policies of greater accom-modation.

(Pankaj Sarma is an AssistantProfessor of political science at KiroriMal College, University of Delhi, andPopimoni Sharma is a former GuestLecturer of GB Law College, Guwahati)

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Pakistani and Indian cricket fansare some of the loudest andmost colourful, especially when

faced with TV cameras where theyoften like to scream with recklessabandon and make the most curiousfaces. They will tell you they are verypassionate about cricket. This comesfrom how they proudly explainthemselves as belonging to a ‘veryemotional nation’ (jazbaati qaum).This is an entirely subjective claim.There is no science behind it, whichproves that South Asians as a peopleare very emotional. Therefore, it islargely a perception. So, where didthis perception originate? Most like-ly, in Britain which ruled India as acolony for nearly 200 years.

Take for instance the famous1924 novel A Passage to India, byBritish author EM Forster. Dr Aziz,one of the Indian characters in it, isa Muslim and portrayed as an intel-ligent but emotional man. Most19th Century British authors, such asJames Mill and Charles Grant,repeatedly describe Indians as beingovertly religious, irrational and emo-tional. The celebrated author andintellectual, the late Edward Said,would have denounced this as beingstereotypes invented by Europeans tomake Eastern societies seem back-ward.

Said was the founder of “post-colonial studies,” the study of the cul-tural legacy of colonialism and impe-rialism. In 1978, he wrote the huge-ly influential book Orientalism, inwhich he demonstrated how Westernwriters have been concocting distort-ed views of Eastern cultures, especial-ly ever since the 18th Century.According to Said, this ‘Orientalism’was enacted as a depictive toolwhich was closely related to andformed by the West's imperial poli-tics and ambitions.

Said wrote Orientalism when theUS had already lost a devastating warin Vietnam and when Britain wasfacing a series of political, social andeconomic crises. The predicament inthe West, further compounded by the1973 Oil Crisis, generated an acad-emic onslaught within Europe andthe US that fervently attacked themodernist narratives of progress onwhich European imperialism andthen the postcolonial dominance ofthe US were supposedly built.Suchmodernism was often critiqued inthe context of how the West had dis-torted the image of Eastern culturesto facilitate political and economicexploitation. But, ironically, almostall of these critiques emerged in theWest, even though Said was aPalestinian. However, he wrote hisbook while he was a professor at anAmerican university. This idea ofOrientalism generated great excite-ment among young ‘post-modernist’academics. Nevertheless, when it didleave the confines of American andEuropean academia and reach non-Western regions, mainly throughAsian, African and Arab students

studying in American and Europeanuniversities, the idea began to berapidly adopted by certain segments,who used it to justify violent attackson anything they deemed ‘Western.’

The attacks were first intellectu-al and political in nature, in coun-tries such as India, Saudi Arabia,Pakistan, China, Thailand, SouthKorea, Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia,etc. Western civilisations wereexplained as being devoid of spiri-tuality, morals, roots and valuesand only driven by sensual pleasures,profit and exploitation. This under-standing of the West soon began tocolour the rhetoric of Hindu nation-alists, ‘Islamists’ and intransigent dic-tatorships. This is when some of thefirst poignant critiques of Said'sOrientalism emerged.The most vera-cious critiques of Orientalism camefrom British historian AlbertHourani, British author RG Irwin,American scholar Nikki Keddieand, especially, the British-Americanhistorian Bernard Lewis. Lewis in1993’s Islam and the West and Irwinin Dangerous Knowledge, argue thatSaid treated the West the same way

he accused the West of treating theEast.

They lamented that he saw theWest as a monolith and in an entire-ly generalised manner, thus ignoringthe different cultures and raceswhich reside there. They also arguedthat Said cherry-picked his way topresent his thesis, disregarding thefact that many Eastern cultures will-ingly adopt a variety of political, eco-nomic and social ideas introduced bythe West. According to them, Saidalso ignored some strictly objectivestudies of Eastern societies byWestern authors that had no ‘impe-rial agendas.’ In 2004, the philosopherAvishai Margalit and Dutch authorIan Buruma published Occidentalism:The West in the Eyes of its Enemies.They positioned it as an antithesis ofOrientalism. They wrote thatOrientalism’s roots lay in the man-ner in which conservative and reli-gious nationalists opposed the emer-gence of secularism, liberalism andcapitalism during the colonial era.The Western responses were thenappropriated as Orientalism by the‘progressive’ intelligentsia in the

West as a retort against modernisa-tion.

Occidentalism decriesOrientalism as a myopic and reduc-tive attack on Western modernity.Orientalism’s academic glorificationsoon paved the way for it to be adopt-ed by reactionary forces.

Then there is also the case of“Self-Orientalism.” This, too, can beseen as a critique of Orientalismbecause it sees cultures that haveallegedly been ‘Orientalised’ or imag-ined by the West, becoming equalparticipants in the process.

Tony Mitchell in the anthologyRogue Flows and WG Feighery inCritical Discourse Studies write thatthe most befitting way to explore Self-Orientalism is to study tourismindustries in various Asian andAfrican countries.

To attract Western tourists, thesecountries gladly appropriate stereo-types supposedly constructed by theWest. For example, in Sri Lanka andThailand, the image of Buddhism asperceived by the West is recreated atspecific tourist spots.

In India, the region's ‘legendary

exotic spirituality’, revolving aroundgurus and pundits, has for long beenmoulded for a Western audience.

Self-Orientalism can also includethe example of the ‘passionate’ wayPakistani and Indian cricket fansbehave, a ‘passion’ constantly definedand reinforced by both South Asianand Western cricket commentators.Ultimately, Self-Orientalism actual-ly exposes Orientalism as an idea,which eventually ends up doingwhat it accuses others of doing.

Take for instance a 2003 inter-view that former chief of Jamaat-e-Islami, the late Qazi Hussain Ahmad,gave to Nawa-i-Waqt. To critiqueMusharraf 's “enlightened modera-tion”, he said there was nothingwrong in behaving or looking reli-gious because the West is moreappreciative of this than by thosebehaving like Westerners.

This was Orientalism imposingOrientalism but still looking towardsthe West for validation. This was aSelf-Orientalist idea of how theWest appreciates a Muslim. TheOrientalist paradox.

(Courtesy: The Dawn)

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Twenty days after he wassworn in as Karnataka

Chief Minister BS Yediyurappagot the go ahead from the partyhigh command and is all set toexpand his Cabinet on Tuesday.After a humiliating andunprecedented political dramain the State, Yediyurappa isexpected to induct 16 Ministerswhich include one independentcandidate who supported thesaffron party. Much to theembarrassment and humilia-tion to Yediyurappa, the BJPhigh command has finallygiven go ahead to expand theone man Cabinet on theirterms and conditions.

BJP sources said after thisexercise another Cabinetexpansion will take place basedon the list cleared by the partyhigh command.

Yediyurappa took oath onJuly 26 as the Chief Minister ofthe State has to face the wrath offlood fury and single handedworked in the hour of crisis with-out any Cabinet Minister. He isthe first Chief Minister in theState to hold the three Cabinetmeetings in 20 days without anyMinisters in his Cabinet.

Yediyurappa who was thearchitect of operation Lotus hasdecimated the coalition led bythe Congress and the JD(S) totake the hot seat and madeKarnataka the door to his partyBJP second time to enter south India.

Because of Yadiyurappa’smass leadership and Lingayatcommunity the saffron partyhad to dilute the age factor in

the party rule book and madehim the Chief Minister withmany riders and humiliation.

Yediyurappa after gettingclearance now has to face thepressure from Lingayat com-munity and their mutts forplum posts in the Cabinet. Hehas also to take the demands ofthe Congress and JD(S) rebelswho have sacrificed their poststo install the BJP Government.Yediyurappa literally is walkingon the razor edge with pressurefrom high command and alsofrom other groups.

The saffron party sure toface the demands of the rebelMLAs who’s mutiny helpedbring down Congress–JDs gov-ernment in the State. Since theyhave been disqualified, andare precluded from contestingthe election (as and when theyare held), the BJP is taking iteasy on the issue. But if thecourt takes a different viewfrom that of the Speaker, thisequilibrium will be shatteredfor the BJP.

However, with no deci-sion yet by the Supreme Courton 17 disqualified Congress-JD(S) MLAs, whose resignationfrom the Assembly paved theway for the BJP to gain power,the Chief Minister has noimmediate compulsion toaccommodate them.

Yediyurappa on Mondayconfirmed that he wouldexpand his cabinet on Tuesday.“The cabinet expansion willtake place between 10.30 and11.30 am tomorrow. I havealready written a letter to theGovernor in this regard. I haveasked Chief Secretary to makeall arrangements,” he said. “ByMonday afternoon we will geta clear instruction on who allto be inducted, I have held dis-cussions with Amit Shah andother leaders. We will get toknow by the afternoon,”Yediyurappa had said soonafter his return from Delhi onSaturday night.

Asked about the number ofministers likely to be inductedon Tuesday, he said, “13 to 14people are likely to be inductedin to the Cabinet in the firstphase, there may be plus orminus one or two, we have nowrecommended 13 to 14 of them.”

Amid pressure from with-in, Opposition parties, theCongress and JD(S) too had hitout at the BJP over the delay incabinet expansion, and hadeven raised questions about theGovernment’s “existence”.

The Congress had evensaid that Yediyurappa’s one-man Cabinet administration“resembled President’s rule.”

“Is this what BJP means by‘Minimum Government’? A cab-inet without cabinet ministers?Will @BSYBJP wake up & stopour state being mocked acrossthe country,” the Congress hadtweeted. “Karnataka needs agovernment. If @BSYBJP can’tform one, he should step down,”it had said.

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Business in Kashmir’s tradi-tional wedding season has

taken a massive hit as thou-sands of couples have opted forsimpler ceremonies instead oflavish ones due to the restric-tions imposed in the Valley fol-lowing the scrapping of Jammu& Kashmir’s special status.

Mutton suppliers, campingagencies, jewellers, weddingwear outlets and wazwan (tra-ditional Kashmiri cuisine)cooks have seen their businessslump due the no-frills wed-ding ceremonies after restric-

tions were imposed on themovement of people.

The local dailies, whichhave managed to publish afew pages, have a dedicatedpage for advertisements relat-ed to the cancellation of wed-ding invitations extended torelatives and friends.

“Due to the prevailing situ-ation, the wedding ceremony ofmy son, Yasir Bashir, will be heldin a simple way. The invitationfor the ‘walima’ function (ban-quet performed after marriageceremony) is hereby cancelled.Inconvenience caused is regret-ted,” reads an advertisement

published in a local Urdu daily.There are over 25 such

advertisements in Monday’sedition of the daily, which isbeing circulated to limitedareas in the city. Many familieshave opted to convey the mes-sage of cancellation of weddingfeasts through a private televi-sion news channel, which hasbeen running both video andtext messages free of cost forthe benefit of the people.

Abdul Majid, whosedaughter is getting married onSaturday, said. Gulistan News isavailable both on the cablenetwork as well as on various

platforms of direct-to-home(DTH) television. “It becomeseasier for people like us to reachmaximum persons on the guestlist as there is no other way toreach them,” he said.

The wedding cancellationshave severely affected the busi-nesses, which sustained onthese occasions.

According to MushtaqAhmad, a wazwan cook, anaverage wedding feast has aguest list of 600-800 people.“But now, we are asked tocook for only 150-200 people,which basically constitutes theclose family and friends of the

groom or the bride.”Ahmad said his earning

had reduced by more than 70per cent due to the prevailingsituation. “This is the fifthwedding season since 2008that has been hit by turmoil orother reasons, like the flood in2014,” he said.

As the guest lists haveshorted significantly, it direct-ly translates to a lesser quanti-ty of mutton being consumedat the weddings, which areusually lavish even in moder-ation. “I would supply eight-10quintals of mutton for a wed-ding usually. But now the

demand has reduced to aroundtwo quintals,” said MohammadAltaf Ganaie, a wholesale mut-ton supplier who had stoppedimporting livestock due to theslump in demand.

Mohammad Iqbal, a jew-eller, said gold sales dipped bymore than 50 per cent this sea-son as people stopped spend-ing lavishly on jewellery for theweddings. “Gold in our societyis normally considered to be aninvestment, but with earningsalready hit and no end in sightto the uncertainty, the bride’sfamily is buying just enough jew-ellery to make the wedding cer-

emony look normal,” Iqbal said.Bilal Ahmad Rather, who

provides tents and decorationto the wedding functions, saidpeople associated with his tradehad been the worst hit.

“As the guest lists are very

short, people do not need tentsand they are avoiding to installdecorative lights on their hous-es in view of the situation,”Rather said. “It has effectivelymeant little to no business forpeople like me.”

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With a full-fledged infor-mation war breaking out

following the abrogation ofArticle 370 of the Constitutionthat gave Jammu & Kashmirspecial status, several officers ofthe state have put themselveson the front line of fighting fakenews propaganda, mostly ema-nating from Pakistan.

Among the officers ofJammu & Kashmir bustingfake news, the contributions ofIPS officer Imtiyaz Hussainand Srinagar DistrictMagistrate Shahid Choudharyare particularly noteworthy.

Pakistan’s Federal Ministerfor Maritime Affairs Ali HaiderZaidi on Sunday shared a 2017video with a caption that false-ly mentioned that it showed thesufferings of the people ofKashmir due to the policies ofPrime Minister Narendra

Modi-led Indian Government. “Let the world see what

@narendramodi Govt is doingin #Kashmir

The #Hitler from the Eastrises while the world sleeps.@realDonaldTrump shouldconsider imposing trade sanc-tions on India to control thismonster before it’s too late!#SaveKashmirFromModi#IndianHitlerModi,” read thecaption of the video.

Hussain did not take long to expose Zaidi’sfalse propaganda.

“This video is from August2017 and the location isPanchkula, Haryana and not#Kashmir. People seen in thevideo are followers of GurmeetRam Rahim Singh and wereprotesting against his arrest. @AliHZaidiPTI,” he saidin a tweet. Hussain also sharedthe links of the same video which was uploaded on

YouTube in 2017.On Monday, he again

exposed how the troll army ofthe spokesperson of the PakistanArmed Forces operates.

“If you want to understand how Ghafoora(@OfficialDGISPR) troll Armyoperates,check out this Twitterhandle. There are thousands ofthese fake Twitter handlesemployed to create FalseTwitter trends to deceive theworld,” he tweeted.

Hussain acknowledged thatthe rumour mills were workingovertime to peddle fake newsas the enemies of the countryare “disappointed by almostzero violence” following theabrogation of Article 370.

“Having dealtmobsters,rioters making mur-derous assaults on Cops/SFsduring unrests of2008,10,13&16 all sponsoredaided abetted by Pakistan& it’s

payroll community in Kashmir,this time we had to deal withfake news & rumour assaults-again mostly emanating fromacross border,” he said.

Choudhary is also fightingfalse claims of scarcity of sup-plies in the Valley and issuesrelated to administration.

Responding to claims thatmedical shops are shut in thevalley and ATMs have run outof money, he said, “As many as1166 medical shops are open.Cash machines have disbursedRs 243.44Cr in last 4 days. Allsorts of stocks being replen-ished as demanded. Agree,some people are still facing dif-ficulties. We are trying toaddress every single problemflagged. Trust. #Srinagar.”

He said officials in Jammu& Kashmir were making everypossible effort to reduce incon-venience and enhance facilitiesin the State.

Jalpaiguri: Karimul Haque, whowon the Padmashree award in2017 for extending “bike ambu-lance” services to residents ofWest Bengal’s Jalpaiguri andAlipurduar districts, is sufferingfrom an eye ailment. Accordingto a private eye institute inJalpaiguri’s Malbazar, Haque,who is in his mid-fifties, is hav-ing difficulty in binocular vision.

Binocular vision enables atwo-eyed animal to perceive athree-dimensional image. ThePadmashree awardee, withwhom Prime Minister NarendraModi had clicked a selfie and onwhose life a Bollywood flick isbeing planned, told PTI onMonday that each monthlyinjection that he needs to curehis ailment costs him around Rs12,000, and he is unable to bearthe expenses.

“Though I am building ahospital in my village with thehelp of the locals, I have not yetreceived any help from State orCentral Government apart fromRs 3.27 lakh donated by formerJalpaiguri MP Bijoy ChandraBurman,” he said. PTI

Jaipur: BJP leader ShivrajSingh Chauhan on Mondaylikened Rahul Gandhi’s resig-nation as Congress president tothe captain deserting a sinkingship and mocked the transfer of power in that partyto Sonia Gandhi.

“It is like Ahmed’s cap onMohammad’s head andMohammad’s cap on Ahmed’shead,” he said, commenting onthe responsibility shifting toSonia Gandhi who is now theinterim president of theCongress.

The BJP national vice-pres-ident and a former MadhyaPradesh Chief Minister alsosaid instead of Rahul Gandhi’sresignation, the Chief Ministersof the states ruled by theCongress should have quit for“failing” to waive crop loansand provide unemploymentallowance.

“We have heard that if anyship sinks, the captain makesefforts to save it till the lastbreath. But the Congress cap-tain took the first plunge,”Chouhan said, adding thatthere was no Congress presi-dent for several days. PTI

Bengaluru: In a significantmilestone for India’s Moonmission, ISRO will fireChandrayaan 2’s liquid engineon Tuesday to insert the space-craft into a lunar orbit.

“It’s tomorrow morning(tentatively between 8.30 amand 9.30 am). It’s challenging,”Chairman of Indian SpaceResearch Organisation K Sivantold PTI on Monday on theoperation to put the spacecraftin an orbit around the Moon.

Following this, there will be

further four orbit manoeuvresto make the spacecraft enterinto its final orbit passing overthe lunar poles at a distance ofabout 100 km from Moon’s sur-face, ISRO has said.

Subsequently, the Vikramlander will separate from theorbiter on September 2, accord-ing to the Bengaluru-head-quartered space agency.

Two orbit manoeuvres willbe performed on the landerbefore the initiation of powereddescent to make a soft landing

on the lunar surface onSeptember 7, ISRO said.

Chandrayaan2, launchedon July 22 by GSLV MkIII-M1vehicle, had entered the LunarTransfer Trajectory on August14 after final orbit raisingmanoeuvre of the spacecraftwas successfully carried out.

The health of the spacecraftis being continuously moni-tored from the MissionOperations Complex (MOX) atISRO Telemetry, Tracking andCommand Network (ISTRAC)

in Bengaluru with supportfrom Indian Deep SpaceNetwork (IDSN) antennas atByalalu, near Bengaluru.

All systems on boardChandrayaan2 spacecraft areperforming normal, ISRO saidon August 14. According toISRO, Chandrayaan2 — India’ssecond lunar expedition —will shed light on a complete-ly unexplored region of theMoon, its South Pole.

“This mission will help usgain a better understanding of

the origin and evolution of theMoon by conducting detailedtopographical studies, com-prehensive mineralogicalanalyses, and a host of other experiments on the lunar surface,” the spaceagency has said.

“While there, we will alsoexplore discoveries made byChandrayaan1, such as thepresence of water molecules onthe Moon and new rock typeswith unique chemical compo-sition,” it said. PTI

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Alleging gross human rightsviolation in Kashmir Valley

over the past one month or soBengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee on Monday said thepeople of Jammu & Kashmirwere facing untold hardshipand that the treatment theywere being meted was anythingbut humanitarian.

Tweeting on the occasionof World Humanitarian Day,Banerjee said human rightshad always been a subject closeto her heart. Praying for thepeople of Kashmir the ChiefMinister said she could notremain silent watching humanrights being violated in themanner it was being violated.

Mamata who is also thepresident of the All IndiaTrinamool Congress said,“Today is World HumanitarianDay. Human rights have been

totally violated in Kashmir.Let us pray for human rightsand peace in Kashmir.”

The Chief Minister hadbeen critical of the process theCentre’s divided Jammu &Kashmir and scrap Article 370and 35A and said the Centreshould have discussed the issuewith the local people beforescrapping it.

Reminding that she had hitthe streets on several occasionsin the past for the because thatthe subject (human rights) was

very close to her heart cause, shesaid, “human rights is a subjectvery close to my heart. In 1995,I was on the road for 21 days toprotect human rights violationsagainst deaths in lock-ups.”

During the 90s whenMamata was the Oppositionleader she had launched massmovements galvanizing lakhs ofCongress workers and later theTrinamool Congress men toprotest against the then JyotiBasu Government on BhikhariPaswan disappearance case and

Champala Sardar rape case.While in the first case

Paswan a Congress supporterfrom Hooghly remained trace-less, never to return with alle-gations doing the round that hewas beaten to death in policecustody in the later case shelaunched a massive movementagainst a woman being rapedby alleged CPI(MP) goons.

Incidentally repeatedinquires led police nowhereeven as the Marxists called theagitations as a part of her rab-ble rousing politics. During theSingur movement too shelaunched a massive protestmovement against the CPI(M)in Tapasi Malik murder casewhich was subsequently hand-ed over to the CBI withoutmuch breakthrough even as theCPI(M) alleged how a seniorparty leader was falsely framedand jailed in the case thoughnothing came out against him.

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Congress MP KartiChidambaram and his wife

on Monday approached theMadras High Court terming as“erroneous” transfer of a caseagainst them from anEconomic offences court to aspecial one trying criminalcases related to MPs and MLAs.Karti Chitrambaram said hewas not a lawmaker at the timeof the alleged offence in 2015.

Gorakhpur: As many as 139people, including an SBSP MLA,have been booked in connectionwith the last week’s violence inKushinagar followed by therumours of the death of a drugpeddler in police custody, offi-cials said on Monday.

On Saturday, protests brokeout following the death rumourof drug peddler Naurang Singh.Roads were blocked, shops wereransacked and huts were torchedwhile personnel from three

police stations had to use forceto control the mob, police said.

Singh was arrested onAugust 14 in case registeredunder Narcotic Drugs andPsychotropic Substances Actand was sent to a jail in Deoria,they said. The Suheldev BhartiyaSamaj Party (SBSP) MLA from Kushinagar’s Ramkola,Ramanand Baudh, was among139 booked for violence in anFIR registered in Kushinagar onSunday, police said. PTI

Srinagar: Despite the com-munications lockdown inJammu & Kashmir sinceAugust 4 night, the Twitterhandle of Hurriyat hawk SyedAli Shah Geelani has appar-ently been active, putting outanti-India tweets regularly.

Tweets from the handle@sageelani_ were largely inpraise of Pakistan and MajorGeneral Asif Ghafoor, theDirector-General of the Inter-Services Public Relations(ISPR). The earlier Twitter han-dle @sageelani was suspendedin June for its vitriolic anti-Indiaand separatist content.

The current handle has

been active on a daily basis, andthere is every likelihood of itbeing handled from across theborder. The handle reflectsPakistan’s current thinkingregarding the events inKashmir after the revocation ofits special status.

The tweets have no localcontent, which normallyshould have been available to aKashmiri present on theground.

Take for instance an August4 tweet. It says“#IndiaUsingClusterBombsPakistan we need your help!!# Ka s h m i r Un d e r T h re at”.Pakistan alleged that India had

used cluster bombs on its civil-ians living along the borderthat day. The tweet is a give-awaythat the handle is being managedby the ISPR, the media wing ofthe Pakistan Armed Forces.

The handle specificallyeulogises and thanks AsifGhafoor, who is the head of themedia wing. The ISPR isknown to run fake pro-Kashmiri and anti-India han-dles to keep the separatist fireburning among the people ofthe Valley.

Separatist hawk Geelani isknown not to run his Twitterhandles. His earlier account,now suspended, was run by the

All Parties Hurriyat Conference(APHC).

Geelani was put underhouse arrest, as numerousother separatist leaders, aheadof revocation of Article 370 thatgave special status to Kashmir,and division of the State intotwo Union Territories — J&Kand Ladakh. IANS

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The driving licence of IAS officer Sriram

Venkitaraman was suspendedon Monday by the State MotorVehicles Department, twoweeks after a car driven by him had hit and killed ajournalist here.

The Regional TransportOfficer (RTO) here suspendedthe licence for one year in thewake of the accident, in whichjournalist KM Basheer had

died at the spot after being hitby the luxury car driven by theofficer allegedly in an inebri-ated condition.

Thirty two-year-oldVenkitaraman, who was placedunder suspension, was arrest-ed and later let off after a mag-istrate court here granted himconditional bail.

There had been wide-spread protests over the delayin suspending his licencethough the MV departmentofficials had said necessary

action would be taken at the earliest.

“The vehicle licence of theofficer is suspended for one year. Under the relevant sections of the MV Act,he can appeal within 30 days,” SR Shaji, RTO,Thiruvananthapuram, told PTI.

Venkitaraman was arrest-ed on August 3, hours after thecar driven by him allegedly inan inebriated condition whilereturning from a private partyknocked down Basheer.

Jammu: The weekly Poonch-Rawalakot bus across the Lineof Control (LoC) was sus-pended on Monday, followingPoK’s apparent decision to calloff the service, an official said.

The bus service was sus-pended after authorities inPakistan Occupied Kashmir(PoK) did not respond to callfrom their Indian counterpartsto let the bus get across the bor-der, he said.

“The cross-LoC bus servicehas been suspended. We hadsent a message to PoK author-ities for bus service today, but they did not respond,” theofficial said.

Out of 42 PoK residents

stranded in Poonch district ofJammu & Kashmir, permits of27 people have expired.

The cross-LoC bus servicewas started along the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad route in April2005 and the Poonch-Rawalakot road in June 2006 tofacilitate trade and travelbetween the divided families ofJ&K and PoK. PTI

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Loan waiver for farmers, new houses forthose who lost their dwellings built

under the PM Awas Yojana in deluge andfree foodgrains are among the slew of reliefmeasures announced by the MaharashtraGovernment on Monday for the peopleaffected by the recent floods.

Heavy rain and floods battered sever-al areas of western Maharashtra and theKonkan region earlier this month, withKolhapur and Sangli districts bearing themaximum brunt.

Addressing a Press conference here,Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said acommittee will ascertain causes for theunprecedented floods and suggest mea-sures to avoid their recurrence.

“The farmers who have lost crops onup to one hectare will get complete loanwaiver,” he said. The Government has alsodecided to pay annual rent of Rs 24,000(rural) and Rs 36,000 (urban localities) inthe flood-hit areas, where people have beenforced to live in rented accommodation,the Chief Minister said.

The rent will be paid to the flood vic-tims till their houses are rebuilt, he said.

A committee is being set up under thechairmanship of a retired state governmentofficer, Nandkumar Wadnere, to study the reasons for the deluge and sug-gest steps to avoid its recurrence in the

future, Fadnavis said.Wadnere is a retired principal secre-

tary of the water resources department.“The State Government will also pursue(with the Centre) its demand of offeringrelaxation in terms of filing Income Taxand GST returns in the flood-affectedareas. We will take up this matter with theCentre,” Fadnavis said.

He was speaking to reporters at his res-idence in south Mumbai after holding ameeting with senior bureaucrats. Thebeneficiaries of Prime Minister Awas

Yojana, who lost their houses due to thefloods, will get a new house as well as Rs1 lakh as cash assistance, Fadnavis said.

“We will also give foodgrains for thenext three months free of cost to the flood-affected people,” he said. Small traders andmerchants affected by the floods will get75 per cent amount of their total loss orup to Rs 50,000 as financial assistance fromthe State, he said. In another step, theGovernment has relaxed its norms fordamage assessment and allowed thereports of talathis (local level revenue offi-cials) and the village sarpanch to be con-sidered as valid for awarding compensa-tion, Fadnavis said.

Lucknow: The Ganga,Yamuna, Ghaghara and sever-al other rivers were in spate inUttar Pradesh on Monday dueto heavy rain in neighbouringstates, leading to f loods in low-lying areas that left oneperson dead.

According to the CentralWater Commission, theYamuna is flowing above thedanger mark in Auraiya andJalaun; while the Ganga inBadaun; the Chambal river atPalia Kalan in LakhimpurKheri; and the Ghaghara areflowing above the red mark.

According to officials, 16-year-old Anshu drowned in Etawahdistrict due to release of waterfrom the Kota barrage into theChambal.

District Magistrate JitendraBahadur Singh said theChambal river was flowingtwo metres above the dangerlevel due to the release of 2.5lakh cusecs of water. “Due tofloods, over a dozen villages arecut off from the district head-quarters and crops in hundredsof acres have been damaged,”he said.

In Jalaun, the Yamuna is

flowing 60 cm above the dan-ger mark and dozens of villagesare cut off from the districtheadquarters.

District MagistrateMannan Akhtar said floodwaters had entered many vil-lages, adding that no deathshad been reported and theadministration was on high alert.

Meanwhile, Irrigation

Minister Dharmpal Singh saidleaves of all officers andemployees related to flood-related works had been can-celled till further orders.

While inspecting the cen-tral flood control room, theminister said 48 control roomshave been set up in the state tomonitor flood situation arisingdue to release of water fromdams. PTI

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Indian Air Force (IAF) heli-copter on Monday rescued

two fishermen while two oth-ers swam to safety on theirown, after the ladder whichthey were climbing snappedprompting them to jump in thegushing stream after losingtheir balance.

The fishermen, in theabsence of any other help,swam to safety on their own.They were left stranded at thebottom of a pillar after waterlevels in the River Tawi startedrising abruptly following inces-sant rain in the high hills.

The IAF was called afterState disaster response force(SDRF) and police personnelfailed to reach the fishermen.

Defence PRO in Jammusaid, “On receipt of requestfrom Divisional commissionerJammu, IAF had launched arescue mission.

He said the mission was ledby Commanding Officer, WingCommander Mukul Khare,with Co-pilot Squadron LeaderPrem Pratik and Garud

Commandoes Corporal PahaarSingh and LAC Kedar.

The IAF team reached thesite in two minutes and aftermaking quick assessment of thesituation the crew spotted allfour civilians who were sur-rounded by the rising waterlevels in river Tawi.

During the rescue mission,luck failed two fishermen, as theladder, lowered by the IAFhelicopter snapped and they fellin the gushing stream afterlosing their balance. The duoswam to safety on their own.

Taking adequate precau-tions, IAF crew decided tolower a Garud Commandoonto the site to help strandedfishermen.

A Garud Commando rap-pelled down onto the pier. TheGarud then attached rappellingharnesses to both of them andthen the helicopter lifted themup simultaneously. They werethen dropped to a safe locationnear the Tawi Banks.

The fishermen laterthanked IAF personnel for sav-ing their lives. Large number ofonlookers and motorists hadparked their vehicles in themiddle of the road to witnessthe rescue operations.

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In a move that evoked sharpcriticism from the Opposition

parties, the EnforcementDirectorate (ED) summonedMNS chief Raj Thackeray forinquiries on August 22 in con-nection with a probe into analleged IL&FS-related case.

The ED is investigatingthe alleged irregularities in theIL&FS’s loans and investmentsworth over Rs.860 crore inM/s Kohinoor CTNL, a com-pany funded by formerMaharashtra CM ManoharJoshi’s son Unmesh Joshi.

Jr Joshi has gone to the EDoffice on Monday. Apart frombeing issued a notice, the MNSchief has been asked to presenthimself in the ED headquartershere on Thursday.

M/s Kohinoor CTNL hasbeen under ED scanner forbeing a prominent defaulter ofIL&FS, amounting to an esti-mated Rs 135 crore.

Unmesh along with son

along with IL&FS and RajThackeray-owned MatoshreeConstruction had in

2005 jointly had made a bidand bought for the NTPC’sKohinoor Mill’s 4.8-acre prop-erty for Rs 421 crore.

In 2008, the IL&FS renegedfrom the deal and surrenderedits shares for only Rs 90 crore,as against an investment of Rs225 crore made in M/sKohinoor CTNL. Followingthe IL &FS’s exit, Raj also exit-ed from the venture after sell-ing his shares.

In 2017, M/s KohinoorCTNL entered into an agree-ment to sell some commercial

and residential properties in theupcoming Kohinoor SquareTowers to IL&FS to settle out-standing of around Rs 500crore in loans. Following this,IL&FS extended another Rs100 crore to Kohinoor CTNLon which it defaulted. Jr Joshi’scompany is now under controlof another company.

Raj, who was a staunchsupporter of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, turned a vocif-erous critic more than two yearsago. Though his party did notcontest the Lok Sabha polls thisyear, Raj campaigned against theModi-led BJP in the LS polls.

Raj was also instrumental inbringing the Opposition partieson one platform against EVMs.The Opposition parties haveplanned a morcha to the StateElection Commission demand-ing the use of ballot papers in theState Assembly polls to be heldin October this year.

The ED’s notice and sum-mons to the MNS chief is beingseen as a political vendetta.

��:#��!��#5��$#5%��/5�19�))Mumbai: The MNS has given a call for a bandh in Thane, a satel-lite city of Mumbai, on August 22, in protest against the summonsissued by the ED to its president Raj Thackeray in connectionwith the investigations into the alleged irregularities of the IL&FS’sloans and investments. Calling for a Thane bandh on Thursday,MNS’ Thane-Palghar president Avinash Jadhav said: “The casein which that our president has been summoned is more to dowith the EVM scam that our president had flagged last monththan the ED investigations. The ED is mounting pressure on ourpresident to go slow on his agitation against the EVMs.” PNS

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The Indian rupee tumbled 29paise to close at an over six-

month low of 71.43 against theUS dollar on Monday amidgrowing worries over economicslump and sustained foreignfund outflows.

Further, rising crude oilprices and strengthening ofthe US dollar vis-a-vis othercurrencies overseas also tooktoll on the Indian currency.

Forex traders said investorsare awaiting government inter-vention to revive the slowingeconomy. There are expecta-tions that the governmentwould come out with sector-specific stimulus sometimesoon.

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Equity benchmarks Sensexand Nifty on Monday rose

for a third straight session butgains were restricted due tofag-end selling in financial andauto counters amid growingconcerns over economic slow-down and health of NBFCs.

After rallying 369 pointsduring the day tracking positiveglobal cues, the 30-share Sensexsettled 52.16 points, or 0.14 percent, higher at 37,402.49. It hit anintra-day high of 37,718.88 andlow of 37,358.49.

The broader NSE Nifty tooedged 6.10 points, or 0.06 percent, up at 11,053.90. During theday, it swung between a high of11,146.90 and low of 11,037.85.

Over the past three sessions,the Sensex has gained 444.33points, or 1.20 per cent, while theNifty has advanced 128.05points, or 1.17 per cent.

However, a sense of cautionstill prevails among investorswho are awaiting some measuresfrom the government to arrestdemand slowdown in various

sectors which has been pullingdown the economy.

Further, lingering concernsover the health of non-bankingfinance companies (NBFCs)made markets jittery, leading tosell-offs in financial stocks.

Top gainers in the Sensexpack included Sun Pharma,TechM, Axis Bank, L&T,Reliance Industries and ICICIBank, which rose up to 2.66 percent. On the other hand, YesBank, PowerGrid, ONGC, SBI,Mahindra and Mahindra, HeroMotoCorp, Tata Steel, AsianPaints and HDFC Bank wereamong the major laggards —losing as much as 3.46 per cent.

Sectorally, BSE consumerdurables, capital goods, indus-trials, healthcare, energy and ITindices ended up to 1.57 per centhigher. While, BSE oil and gas,auto, metal and FMCG indicesfell up to 0.59 per cent.

Banking stocks fell afterReserve Bank governorShaktikanta Das ruled out order-ing an asset quality review of thesystematically important shad-ow banks for now.

�� 34�#351�

Former RBI GovernorRaghuram Rajan has called

slowdown in the economy“very worrisome” and said thegovernment needs to fix theimmediate problems in powerand non-bank financial sectorsand come out with a new set ofreforms to energise privatesector to invest.

Rajan, who was Governorof the Reserve Bank of Indiafrom 2013 to 2016 but wasdenied a second term, alsocalled for a fresh look at theway GDP in India is calculat-ed as he referred to research byNarendra Modi government’sformer chief economist ArvindSubramanian about overesti-mation of growth rate.

“There are a variety ofgrowth projections from theprivate sector analysts, many ofwhich are perhaps significant-ly below government projec-tions and I think certainly theslowdown in the economy issomething that is very worri-some,” Rajan told CNBC TV18.

India’s economic growthhas slowed to 6.8 per cent in2018-19 - the slowest pace

since 2014-15, and various pro-jections by private experts andthe central bank estimate thatthe GDP growth in the currentyear will be less than govern-ment estimate of 7 per cent.

In ominous signs that theslowdown may be deep, theauto sector is facing its worstcrisis in two decades withreports suggesting thousands ofjob losses in the automobileand ancillary industry, realestate sector has huge unsoldinventory, while fast-movingconsumer goods (FMCG)companies have reported adecline in volume growth.

“You can hear businesses allaround worrying and com-plaining out loud that they needsome kind of stimulus,” he said.Rajan said “a fresh set of reforms”are now needed to boost theeconomy and growth rate.

Rajan advocated for a newset of reforms to get the privatesector to invest.

The former governor alsodrew attention to former chiefeconomic advisor ArvindSubramanian’s research thatGDP growth was overestimat-ed by 2.5 per cent during 2011-12 and 2016-17.

�� 34�#351�

The Government hasremoved the redemption

reserve requirement forissuance of debentures by non-banking financial companies,housing finance companiesand listed firms, a move aimedat reducing cost for raising cap-ital.

Under the companies law,these entities raising moneyhad to create DebentureRedemption Reserve (DRR)and that requirement has nowbeen done away with.

The corporate affairs min-istry on Monday said therequirement for a DRR of 25per cent of the value of out-standing debentures issued bylisted companies, Non-BankingFinancial Companies (NBFCs)and Housing FinanceCompanies (HFCs) has beenremoved.

The changes would beapplicable for public issue aswell as private placements.

In the case of unlistedcompanies, the DRR require-ment has been reduced to 10per cent from 25 per cent of theoutstanding debentures.

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Amajority of economistsexpect a US recession in

the next two years, but havepushed back the onset amidFederal Reserve actions,according to a survey releasedMonday.

The survey came out afterPresident Donald Trumppushed back against talk of alooming recession as a raft of USdata reports last week showed amixed picture on the economy.

“I’m prepared for every-thing. I don’t think we’re hav-ing a recession. We’re doingtremendously well. Our con-sumers are rich,” Trump toldreporters Sunday.

“I gave a tremendous tax

cut, and they’re loaded up withmoney. They’re buying. I sawthe Wal-Mart numbers, theywere through the roof,” hesaid. “And most economistsactually say that we’re notgoing to have a recession. Butthe rest of the world is notdoing well like we’re doing.”

His chief economic advisorLarry Kudlow also downplayedtalk of a recession.

“I sure don’t see a reces-sion,” he told NBC’s Meet thePress. “Consumers are workingat higher wages. They arespending at a rapid pace.They’re actually saving alsowhile they’re spending... So Ithink actually the second half,the economy’s going to be verygood in 2019,” he said.

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US President Donald Trumphas claimed that China has

lost more than 20 lakhs jobs ina very short period of time, dueto his tough policies, includingimposing additional importtariffs.

Chinese economy, he said,is doing “very, very” poorly.

“China is eating the tariffsbecause of monetary manipu-lation. And also, they’re pour-ing a lot of money into theircountry because they don’twant to lose jobs... They lost

over two million jobs in ashort period of time,” Trumptold reporters at Bedminster inNew Jersey on Sunday.

Trump said China wantsto make a trade deal with theUS. Officials of the two coun-tries are having a series ofmeetings on this for the pastseveral months. “We will seewhat happens. But they defi-nitely want to make a deal,” hesaid.

He refused to comment onreports that he has spoken tothe Chinese President XiJinping on this.

�� 34�#351�

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Monday said

corporate tax rate for compa-nies with over �400 croreturnover will be gradually cutto 25 per cent and the govern-ment will support wealth cre-ators. In her maiden Budget lastmonth, she had cut corporatetax for companies with annu-al turnover of up to �400 croreto 25 per cent from 30 per centearlier.

Last year, the then FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley had cutthe corporate income tax rateto 25 per cent for companies

with a turnover of up to Rs 250crore. Speaking at an industryevent here, Sitharaman said thecorporate tax reduction forthe rest of corporates would begradual. She did not give atimeframe for the reduction.

Echoing Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s IndependenceDay speech, she said Indianwealth creator entrepreneurswill be given all kind of sup-port.

Modi had in his annualIndependence Day address tothe nation on August 15 hadextolled the role of wealth cre-ators and said they must not beviewed with suspicion.

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Admitting that the economy is slowing downand faces many a challenge both from with-

in and outside, Reserve Bank governorShaktikanta Das Monday urged everyone to lookat the opportunities ahead and stop being the pro-ponents of gloom and doom. The statementcomes amidst reports that an increasing num-ber of corporate honchos are livid with theNarendra Modi government, especially after aslew of initiatives in the recent budget, includ-ing higher taxes on the rich and foreign portfo-lio investors.

This had FPIs dumping domestic equitiesand debt like dung since the budget, pulling downthe benchmarks by over 13 percent July 5.Continuing their selling spree that began withthe budegt and amidst the rising uncertainty overthe FPI tax and global trade worries, foreign port-folio investors, and as per depository data, havesold equities worth �10,416.25 crore betweenAugust 1 and 16 and debt worth �2,096.4 crore.

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Impressed with his skill-set,the Indian team manage-

ment has decided to keepspeedster Navdeep Saini as anet bowler for the two-Testseries against the West Indies,aiming to groom him forfuture red-ball assignments.

Saini, who plays domesticcricket for Delhi, made hisT20 International debutagainst the West Indies inFlorida and won the man ofthe match award in his maid-en appearance.

He has earlier been theIndian team's net bowler anda cover for BhuvneshwarKumar during the ICC World

Cup in England as well."Yes, Navdeep saini has

been asked to stay back by theteam management for the Testseries. He will stay back pri-marily as a net bowler, theywant to groom him for theTest format keeping an eye onthe future," a senior BCCIofficial said on Monday.

Saini, in fact, bowled sixovers during the West IndiesA first innings in the ongoingpractice match to give relief toIshant Sharma, JaspritBumrah and Umesh Yadav.Mohammed Shami andBhuvneshwar Kumar didn'tbowl in the first innings.

"Saini has been a per-former in red ball cricket for

the past few years. He has thepace, and ability to hit thedeck, move the ball both in airand off the pitch.

"If he is groomed well, itwill only increase our pool offast bowlers for the top tiercricket. That's how the teammanagement is looking athim," the official said.

It is believed that if Sainistays back, it will help bowl-ing coach Bharath Arun toinvest more time in the 26-year-old Karnal-lad, who hastaken 120 wickets from 43first-class games with threefive-wicket hauls.

"One can't ignore theeffort that Arun has put in tomake India's fast bowling unit

the best that has emergedfrom the country. Rather thanplaying domestic cricket, henow needs to be in andaround the international sceneand learn the tricks of thetrade for the next level," hesaid.

India will play five Testmatches at home this seasonwith three against SouthAfrica and two againstBangladesh in October andNovember.

It will not be a bad idea toblood Saini againstBangladesh since the manage-ment would be monitoringJasprit Bumrah andMohammed Shami's respec-tive workloads.

�� 59�#9�

England captain Joe Root said fastbowler Jofra Archer had “lived upto the hype” with a dramatic Test

debut against Australia at Lord’s.Archer, who replaced the injured

James Anderson in team for the sec-ond Ashes Test, took five wickets in thedrawn match, including 3-32 inAustralia’s second innings on Sunday.

But Archer’s display, which almosthelped England achieve an unlikely andseries-levelling win in a match severe-ly affected by rain, was about muchmore than economical figures.

The 24-year-old quick’s sheerspeed gave England’s attack a new cut-ting edge.

Archer hit several Australians,with a fearsome bouncer that slammedinto Steve Smith’s unprotected neckleading to a concussion that kept thestar batsman off the field on the last dayat Lord’s and could rule him out of thethird Test in Leeds starting onThursday.

“He’s come in and he really hasmade a massive impact, added a dif-ferent dynamic to our bowling groupand has given Australia something dif-ferent to think about,” said Root.

“It’s really pleasing to see someonecome in on Test debut and really shakeup things and live up to the hype —even some of the hype that he put onhimself.

“He makes things happen whennot many others in world can. Such aunique action and way of bowling, andobviously natural pace, which is alwaysgoing to be in the game on any surface.”

Root added: “When you’ve got thatand the skill of other guys around it,it makes for a tasty combination andI think that’s one of the reasons why wealways felt we were in the game.

“It makes for a very interesting lastthree games.”

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Ignored for the head coach’sposition, Lalchand Rajput

was among the aspirantsappearing for interviews onMonday to pick the supportstaff of the Indian cricket team,joining heavyweights such asVenkatesh Prasad.

The senior selection com-mittee, led by former stumperMSK Prasad, started an exten-sive process to pick the supportstaff.

The 57-year-old Rajputentering the fray means com-petition for the batting coach’sposition could only get tougherwith former Test openerVikram Rathour alreadyemerging as a strong con-tender to replace incumbentSanjay Bangar.

Among the incumbents,bowling coach Bharat Arunand fielding coach R Sridharhave emerged favourites toretain their posts after headcoach Ravi Shastri stressed onretaining the staff.

However, Bangar still facesa tough challenge with most ofthe applications received for thebatting coach’s post. The for-mer India all-rounder has beenwith the team since 2014 dur-ing which India have played 50Tests and 119 ODIs.

The process is expected tobe completed only by Thursdayafter all the interviews for var-ious positions including bat-ting, bowling and fieldingcoach are done with.

Also eyeing the battingcoach’s job are Pravin Amre,

Mumbai stalwart AmolMazumdar and Saurashtra’sbatting bulwark SitanshuKotak.

It was learnt that formerIndia batsman HrishikeshKanitkar and ex-Delhi batsmanMithun Manas also appearedfor interview before the five-member panel.

One of the candidates saidthat giving presentation wasnot mandatory.

For the position of bowlingcoach, former India pacersVenkatesh Prasad, ParasMbabrey and Amit Bhandariappeared for the interview.

As per the criteria for bat-ting, bowling and fieldingcoach, the three personnelshould have played at least 10Tests or 25 ODIs and be lessthan 60 years of age.

The process to choose thesupport staff will continue onTuesday.

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Australian batsman SteveSmith pipped New Zealand

skipper Kane Williamson tosecond spot with only ninepoints separating him and thetop-ranked Virat Kohli in thelatest list for ICC Test listreleased on Monday.

The Indian captain, with922 points, is on top of the listwhile Smith, after his twinAshes hundreds in Birminghamand 92 at Lord’s, is on 913points.

The other Indian in the top-10 is Cheteshwar Pujara, whostayed put at his fourth posi-tion.

Sri Lanka captainDimuth Karunaratnemade rapid strides,entering the top-10 ateighth with a jump offour ranking places.South Africa’s AidenMarkram alsoimproved upon hisranking to be posi-tioned sixthwhile Englandcaptain JoeRoot paidfor his slightslump inform to be atninth.

In the bowlers’ list, PatCummins remained firm-ly entrenched on top ofthe table while RavindraJadeja improved fromsixth place to fifth. His spinbowling partnerRavichandran Ashwinremained 10th.

Jadeja also remainedthird in the all-rounder’s list,led by West Indies’ JasonHolder, with Shakib AlHasan placed second.

Meanwhile, India could

lose their pole position in theICC Test Team rankings, as evena 1-0 defeat by the West Indiesin their upcoming series will seethem slip to 108 points. Thatmargin will be enough for theWest Indies to overtake Pakistanto seventh position at 88 points.

India are on top of teamtable with 113 points followed

by New Zealand(111 points)and SouthAfrica (108points).

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Indian vice-captain AjinkyaRahane got much needed

runs under his belt ahead ofthe first Test as the visitorsreached 174 for five at lunchon the final day of the three-day warm-up game against theWest Indies A here onMonday.

Rahane, who has notscored a hundred in morethan two years, made a fight-ing 54 off 162 balls before areverse sweep led to his dis-missal. Rahane, who is thestand-in captain in this game,had come to open the inningsafter failing in the first essay.

The Mumbai batsman hadlooked horribly out of touchduring his 35 overs at thecrease on day two. His 20 notout on Sunday had threeboundaries but he playedmore than 80 dot balls, a tes-timony to his struggles.

Rahane and HanumaVihari had resumed theinnings at 84 for one and bothbatsmen managed to scorehalf-centuries. Vihari, whowas on 48 overnight, went onto make 64 off 125 balls in aninnings comprising nine foursand a six with India extendingtheir lead to 279 runs.

Off-spinner Akim Frazerremoved both Rahane andVihari while Rishabh Pantand Ravindra Jadeja were theother batsmen to be dis-missed. Wriddhiman Saha (6)and R Aswhin (5) were in themiddle when lunch was called.

On day two, Seniormostpacer Ishant Sharma bowled afiery opening spell while left-arm wrist spinner KuldeepYadav promised to pose stiffcompetition for RavichandranAshwin as India dominatedproceedings against West

Indies A.Having declared on their

overnight score of 297 for 5 atthe end of the first day, Indiabowled out the home team for181 in 56.1 overs with Ishant(3/21), Kuldeep (3/35) andUmesh Yadav (3/19) sharingthe spoils.

Senior off-spinner Ashwinand speedster MohammedShami didn't bowl in the firstinnings but might bowl in thesecond.

The second day was aboutthe Indian bowlers trying tofind their groove after switch-ing formats.

Ishant, India's red ballspecialist, hit the right lengthstraightaway in his first spelldismissing Jeremy Solozano(9) and Brandon King (4)with a hint of away movement.

For Jasprit Bumrah, it wasmore about getting oversunder his belt and he bowled11 of them.

Umesh, who hasn't beenamong the top three pacers inthe starting line-up, also gavea good account of himselfrocking the A team's middle-order.

However, with Bumrah,Shami and Ishant being thetop-three choices, it will bedifficult for him to break intothe side unless Virat Kohlidecides upon playing fourspecialist fast bowlers.

For Kuldeep, getting threewickets will keep him in agood headspace and if Indiahappen to play five bowlerswith two spinners, he is sureto play his part.

The first Test begins hereon Thursday.

Brief Scores: India 297/5decl and 174/5 in 70 overs(Hanuma Vihari 64, Rahane54). West Indies A 181 all outin 56.1 overs.

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Head coach Ravi Shastrihas for the time put an end

to the debate over the No 4 spotin the Indian batting line-up byidentifying Shreyas Iyer as theman for the job.

Impressed with the pool oftalented youngsters coming upthe ranks in Indian cricket,Shastri — while speaking toTimes of India — said Iyer willcontinue to bat at No 4 in ODIsfor India.

“One of the areas we con-centrated on over the last twoyears was to blood as manyyoungsters as possible. ShreyasIyer, for instance, he is going tostay at No 4,” said Shastri whohas been reappointed as thehead coach till World 2021T20.

Iyer batted at number fiveduring the just-concluded ODIseries against the West Indiesand scored 71 and 65 in the twoinnings he played.

Wicketkeeper-batsmanRishabh Pant was India’s num-ber four but he failed to grabthe opportunities and scored 20and 0 in the two ODIs.

Kohli, after the third ODIagainst the West Indies, saidthat 24-year-old Iyer has pre-sented a strong case for himselfto be a regular feature of theteam in the limited-overs for-mat.

Earlier, former India skip-per Sunil Gavaskar also advo-cated for Iyer to bat at No 4. “Inmy view, Rishabh Pant is muchbetter like MS Dhoni at 5 or 6as a finisher because that’swhere his natural game andnatural flair will come intoplay,” Gavaskar had said.

“If it’s a question of battingfor 30-35 overs, then I think itshould be Shreyas Iyer at No 4and Pant at No 5,” he had said.

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Manish Pandey was onMonday named India A

captain for the first three one-dayers against the touring SouthAfrica A, while Shreyas Iyer willlead in the last two matches ofthe series beginning August 29in Thiruvananthapuram.

Rising talent Shubman Gillis there in both Pandey’s andIyer’s teams and so are VijayShankar, Anmolpreet Singh,Ricky Bhui, Shardul Thakur,Axar Patel and Nitish Rana.

Ishan Kishan was picked aswicketkeeper in the team led byPandey, while the immenselytalented Sanju Samson will doduty behind the stumps underIyer’s captaincy.

India leg-spinner YuzvendraChahal is part of the team for thefirst three matches.

The matches will be playedat The Sports Hub inThiruvananthapuram onAugust 29, 31 and September 2,4 and 8.

The All-India senior selec-tion committee picked theteams here.Team for first 3 one-day:Manish Pandey (Captain),Ruturaj Gaikwad, ShubmanGill, Anmolpreet Singh, RickyBhui, Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Vijay Shankar, ShivamDube, Krunal Pandya, AxarPatel, Yuzvendra Chahal,Shardul Thakur, DeepakChahar, Khaleel Ahmed, NitishRana.Team for last two one-day:Shreyas Iyer (Captain),Shubman Gill, PrashantChopra, Anmolpreet Singh,Ricky Bhui, Sanju Samson(wicket-keeper), Nitish Rana,Vijay Shankar, Shivam Dube,Washington Sundar, Axar Patel,Rahul Chahar, Shardul Thakur,Tushar Deshpande, Ishan Porel.

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England named an unchangedsquad on Monday for this week’s

third Test against Australia atHeadingley.

The injured James Anderson,England’s all-time leading Test wick-et-taker, will continue his bid toreturn later in the series by playingin a county 2nd XI match startingfrom today.

England’s selectors kept faithwith the XI that drew the rain-affect-ed second Ashes Test at Lord’s, withthe hosts having the better of anexciting last day before Australia heldout to preserve their 1-0 lead.

Surrey left-arm seamer SamCurran, who did not play at Lord’s,retained his place in a 12-man squadfor the third Test, which starts atEngland captain Joe Root’sHeadingley home ground onThursday.

With just a four-day turnaroundbetween Tests in London and Leeds,major changes were always unlike-ly.

Now England will hope that issufficient time for World Cup-win-ning fast bowler Jofra Archer torecover from the 44 overs he sentdown at Lord’s.

Anderson did not play in thesecond Test because of a calf injurywill step his rehabilitation this weekby playing for Lancashire 2nd XIagainst Leicestershire in a three-dayfriendly match in Liverpool.

Anderson’s fitness will be

assessed continually ahead of thefourth Test at his Old Trafford homeground starting on September 4.

While England’s fallible toporder remains a concern — openerJason Roy has made just 40 runs infour innings this series — the selec-tors have resisted the temptation tobring in new faces.

They were under less pressure tomake changes after the uncappedduo of Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley,considered to be of the best youngopeners in England, were both outfor low scores on Sunday.

Sibley got a duck forWarwickshire against Somerset onSunday and Kent batsman Crawleywas dismissed for just five againstEssex.

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Star raider Vikas Kandola did thestar turn as Haryana Steelers

beat U Mumba 30-27 for an impor-tant win in a Pro Kabaddi Leaguematch at the Jawaharlal NehruIndoor Stadium here on Monday.

The closely fought contest sawthe Mumbai side match the Steelerstill the very end, but Kandolas nine-point game and some uncharacter-istic errors from the U Mumbadefence handed Haryana victory.

Both sides went into the matchwith identical records (four winsand four losses in eight matches),

but Haryana Steelers started aggres-sively, with coach Rakesh Kumarrecognising the lack of raiding qual-ity in U Mumba’s ranks.

The defence kept a high line,strangling U Mumba’s opportuni-ties to pick up Bonus Points, there-by forcing them to make mistakeswhile Vikas Kandola picked up thepoints with his raids in the otherend.

His three-point Super Raid 12minutes into the match set the tone

for the Haryana side, which inflict-ed an All-Out on U Mumba withthree minutes remaining to halftime.

Steelers led 16-8 at half-time.In the second half, the intro-

duction of raider Abhishek Singhby U Mumba brought about achange in the proceedings as hisraids helped the team reduce thelead to just two points 10 minutesinto the half.

However, consecutive Super

Tackles by Ravi Kumar and ChandSingh, along with a few errors in theMumbai defence quickly widenedthe gap to 25-17 in favour ofHaryana with seven minutes to thefinal whistle.

Sandeep Narwal's raid forMumbai with six minutes left onthe clock, taking out DharmarajCheralathan and Chand Singh,tilted the balance of the match onceagain and the subsequent all-outmeant the gap was reduced to onepoint with less than three minutesremaining. But the push came a lit-tle too late for Mumbai as they suc-cumbed to another defeat.

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Barcelona’s PhilippeCoutinho has joined

Bayern Munich on a one-year loan worth 8.5 millioneuros ($9.5 million) with anoption to buy, the Spanishclub confirmed on Monday.

“The agreement pro-vides for an option forBayern to buy at a 120-mil-lion-euro fee,” Barcelonasaid.

The 27-year-oldBrazilian joined Barcelonafrom Liverpool in January2018 for an initial 120 mil-lion euros in a deal thatincluded another 40 millioneuros in potential add-ons.

But the midfielder’sstint at Barcelona neverworked out as hopeddespite huge excitement

around his arrival at theCamp Nou.

Initially tried in mid-field where he plays forBrazil, Coutinho waspushed into the front threeby Ernesto Valverde lastseason but the switch neverpaid off.

“For me, this movemeans a new challenge in anew country with one of thebest clubs in Europe,”Coutinho said on Bayern’swebsite.

“I’m very much lookingforward to that. Like FCBayern, I have big ambitionsand I’m convinced that I canachieve them together withmy new teammates.”

The German club hopehe will provide reinforce-ment in attack following thedeparture of veteran duoArjen Robben and FranckRibery at the end of last sea-son. “With his creativityand outstanding skills,Philippe is a player who

will immediatelystrengthen our attack,”Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummeniggesaid.

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Champions Paris Saint-Germain slipped up in

their second league game of theseason losing 2-1 to Rennes onSunday in a repeat of April’sFrench Cup final with a 16-year-old playing a starringrole.

Edinson Cavani scoredafter less than 15 minutes ofplay for the visitors in Brittannybefore Mbaye Niangand Romain delCastillo respondedfor the home side.

PSG were with-out forward Neymarfor a third successivegame this term.

Angolan-born16-year-old EduardoCamavinga starred in Rennesmidfield, and proved to be keyin his team’s winning goal,along with experienced play-maker Clement Grenier.

Rennes boss JulienStephan said Camavinga, the

first player born since January2002 to feature in Europe’s topfive leagues, had continued toimprove since making his firstteam debut in April.

“It’s more than six months

he’s been training with the pro-fessionals. He’s settled in wellwith the squad,” he told broad-caster Canal+.

“We’ve prepared him withthe players, the staff and the

whole club so he can evolve inthe right conditions.

“He started doing it at theend of last season and he’s con-firming all the talent we thinkhe has at the start of this sea-son,” he added.

PSG skipper Thiago Silvaadmitted his side stepped offthe gas after their good startthrough Cavani’s effort.

“We started well but weeased off a bit, I don’t knowwhy, we lost concentration,” hetold Canal+.

“It wasn’t the real PSG.Rennes played well, they weresolid defensively, they weremore careful than us,” headded.

Elsewhere Saint-Etiennesalvaged a late point at homeagainst Brest with new signingDenis Bouanga’s 83rd minuteeffort claiming a 1-1 draw andit finished goalless betweenReims and Strasbourg.

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Alvaro Morata headed in a sump-tuous Kieran Trippier cross to

ensure a new-look Atletico Madridbeat Getafe 1-0 on Sunday andmade a winning start in La Liga.

Trippier looked right at home atthe Wanda Metropolitano when hisbending ball was nodded in byMorata before two red cards in fourminutes, one for each team, made it10 against 10 before half-time.

Getafe striker Jorge Molina andAtletico left-back Renan Lodi werethe players sent off and then Moratamissed a penalty, earned after a mes-meric run from Joao Felix, Atletico’s126 million euro signing fromBenfica.

It was enough for Felix to departto a standing ovation and Atleticoheld on, even if this was perhaps notthe statement opening to the seasonthat Diego Simeone might havehoped for.

Getafe were stubborn oppo-nents, showing again why they fin-

ished fifth last season, only narrow-ly missing out on a place in the

Champions League toValencia on the final day.

Felix aside, Atletico’sother debutants impressed,including Lodi, before hewas sent off, and Trippier,the first Englishman toplay for Atletico since theSpanish Civil War and20th in the history of the

Spanish top flight.The former Tottenham defend-

er’s pin-point cross was the highlightof a confident performance thatearned regular praise from the homefans. Getafe had struggled to find away into the match but two red cardsin four minutes threatened to shiftthe balance.

First, referee Cuadra Fernandezturned a yellow card into a red forMolina after consulting VAR, thestriker catching Thomas Partey latedown the back of his heel. Then Lodiwas handed a second yellow forplanting his hand in the face ofDamian Suarez.

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Madison Keyscame from abreak down in

both sets to defeatSvetlana Kuznetsova 7-5, 7-6 (7/5) on Sundayto win the WTACincinnati crown.

The 2017 US Openfinalist notched her fifthcareer title and second this sea-son after a win in Charleston inApril.

She’ll return to the top 10 inthe world rankings with the USOpen a week away.

Kuznetsova, a two-timeGrand Slam champion workingher way back up the rankingsafter a series of injuries, was bro-ken back in the 10th game ofeach set by 16th-seeded Keys —who fired 13 aces on the way tovictory.

“If my team had told me aweek ago that I would be here,I would have laughed in theirface,” admitted Keys, who hadendured two opening-matchdefeats since a second-roundexit at Wimbledon.

Keys belted a total of 43winners with 33 unforced errorsand broke Kuznetsova threetimes.

Kuznetsova was the fourthGrand Slam winner Keys beatduring the week, a string thatincluded Spain’s GarbineMuguruza, reigningWimbledon champion SimonaHalep and Venus Williams.

“It was a tough draw fromthe very start,” Keys said. “I def-initely think I played some ofmy best tennis consistently thisweek.

I’m obviously really happyand really proud of myself,” sheadded, while stressing she won’tlet the performance put morepressure on her at the US Open.

“It’s definitely more of abuilding block,” she said.

Former world number twoKuznetsova, who received awildcard into the draw, beat topseed Ashleigh Barty, worldnumber three Ashleigh Bartyand 2017 US Open championSloane Stephens on her way to

the final.“I had a lot of matches

where they could have goneeither way, including this one,”said Kuznetsova, who will jumpfrom 118th to 31st in the rank-ings and said she’d had a “greatweek.”

“I had chances but she hit

the ball well and was moreaggressive. I’m happy with howI played, I’m feeling great,” shesaid.

“It could give me moremotivation in the future,”Kuznetsova added. “I just wantto rest and get ready for theOpen.”

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Daniil Medvedev, comingoff back-to-back ATP

finals defeats, held off DavidGoffin 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 onSunday to win the ATPCincinnati Masters.

The ninth-seeded Russianfinished with an ace aftersaving break points in thefinal game, lifting a firstMasters 1000 trophy after set-tling for runner-up finishes toNick Kyrgios in Washingtonand Rafael Nadal in Montreallast weekend.

“These have been the bestthree weeks of my life,”Medvedev said. “My mental-ity was the best, my serve wasthe best, my tennis has beenreally consistent.

“I didn’t have one badmatch, I hope to continue thisway for next few weeks.”

After his full-on post-Wimbledon schedule, thewinner admitted: “I’m soexhausted, I almost can’t talknow.”

Medvedev, who onlyrecently gained the ATP Top10, now will find himselfranked fifth as a result of histhree-week run of form.

“I don’t check the rank-ings every two minutes, but Ido look after I do well at atournament,” he said. “If I hadlost I’d be seventh, now I’mfifth.” Medvedev followed uphis semi-final upset of defend-ing champion NovakDjokovic as he controlledfeisty Belgian Goffin to win an

ATP leading 31st hardcourtmatch.

He has the most matchwins on any surface this yearwith 43.

Spanish superstar Nadal,who did not play this week —is second with 41, followed byRoger Federer on 39.

Medvedev stamped him-self a contender for the USOpen, the final Grand Slam ofthe season that starts inFlushing Meadows in a week.

Goffin was competing inhis second final of 2019 afterlosing to Federer in Halle.

“Congratulations to yourteam,” he told Medvedev,“Once again, an unbelievableweek for you, fantastic.

“I think you are ready forNew York.”

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India’s Sai Praneeth and H SPrannoy made convincing

starts at the BWF WorldChampionships toadvance to the secondround here on Monday.

Praneeth, ranked19th, defeated 66th-rankedJason Anthony Ho-Shue ofCanada 21-17, 21-16 in a firstround clash lasting 39 minutes.

In another men’s singles

first round match, world num-ber 30 Prannoy fought back tobeat 93rd-ranked Eetu Heino ofFinland 17-21, 21-10, 21-11.

India got a favourable resultin the women’s doublesalso with MeghanaJakkampudi and SPoorvisha Ram getting

past the Guatemala pairing ofDiana Corleto Soto and NikteAlejandra Sotomayor 21-10,21-18 to enter the secondround.

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India’s top singles playerPrajnesh Gunneswaran

advanced to the secondround of the Winston SalemOpen ATP 250 tournamentwith a straight set win overCedrik-Marcel Stebe here.

Prajnesh, ranked 89th inthe world, beat his Germanrival 6-3, 6-4 in a match thatlasted one hour and 13 min-utes on Sunday night.

The Indian utilised twoof the five breakpoints heearned while holding hisserve throughout the match.

He will next face topseed Benoit Paire of France,who received a first roundbye. Paire is ranked 30 in theworld.

The Indian will fancy hischances in the next round asearlier this year, Prajneshhad stunned Paire at theIndian Wellls ATP Mastersevent for one of the biggestwins of his career. In the dou-bles event, the Indian pair ofDivij Sharan and RohanBopanna crashed out in thefirst round.

The Indian duo lost toAmerican pair of NicholasMonroe Tennys Sandgren 3-6, 3-6.

Meanwhile, wild cardentrants Leander Paes and hisIsraeli partner JonathanErlich, will take on the duo ofRajeev Ram and Joe Salisburyin the opening round.

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