rni regn. no. chheng/2012/42718, postal reg. no. - ryp … force (crpf) tracked down the terrorists...

12
I n yet another jolt to Jammu & Kashmir ter- rorists and their sponsors, at least five Pakistani soldiers were reportedly killed in Indian Army’s punitive strikes at post across the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch sector and two local terrorists, belonging to Hizbul Mujahidden outfit, were gunned down in Sopore area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district on Thursday. The strikes were retaliato- ry in nature and followed soon after one road construction worker engaged by General Engineering Reserve Force (GREF) succumbed to splinter injuries in forward area of Balnoi sector. Use of heavy artillery by the Indian Army to cause max- imum damage to forward Pak posts also resulted in some civilian killings across the LoC, prompting the Pakistan Foreign Office to summon Indian Deputy High Commissioner JP Singh and lodge a strong protest over ceasefire violation. More than one dozen Pakistan Army jawans and civilians were reportedly injured in the intense exchange of fire power. Pakistan Army, however, remained silent on fatal injuries inflicted by the Indian Army. Highly-placed Army sources in Northern Command Headquarters maintained, “Pakistan Army was given befitting reply by the Indian Army on Thursday.” While the LoC was wit- nessing heavy exchange of fire, a joint team of 22 Rashtriya Rifles, and men from three bat- talions of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) tracked down the terrorists at Nathipora village where they were shot dead after a brief encounter. The slain militants were identified as Aijaz Ahmad Mir of Brath Kalan and Basharat Ahmad Sheikh of Bomai Sopore. Sources said the terrorists were tracked down with the help of CCTV footage of a grenade attack on police a day ago. The police identified the grenade-thrower in the footage and pursued him to a village in the periphery of the northern town. During the cordon of the area, an exchange of fire took place that resulted into the killing of two terrorists. Four policemen were wounded in the grenade attack. Continued on Page 4 A sserting that the close friendship with India can- not be diluted at any cost, President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said that Russia does not have any “tight” military relationship with Pakistan. Sidestepping a question on Kashmir, he said “it is up to you” to assess whether Pakistan is fuelling terrorism in the Indian state. “But no matter where the threat comes, it is unacceptable and we will always support India in its fight against terrorism,” he added. “We strongly condemn ter- rorism in all its forms and man- ifestations and stress that there can be no justification what- soever for any acts of terrorism, whether based upon ideologi- cal, religious, political, racial, ethnic or any other reasons,” the two countries said in the joint declaration. India and Russia signed the much-awaited agreement on setting up of two more units of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) in Tamil Nadu and decided to give a “new direction” to the defence coop- eration between the two “great powers”. The two countries also decided to hold the first tri- Services exercises, named ‘Indra-2017’, this year and start joint manufacturing of frigates, adding on to the co- produc- tion of Kamov-226 military helicopters. These decisions were taken at the wide-ranging talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin here which covered issues like ter- rorism and increasing trade and investment. Addressing the media jointly with Putin after the talks, Modi said the relations between India and Russia have been unwavering, based on “mutual love, respect and strong trust”. “From culture to security, our relations have been at par... We speak in one language,” he added. He said the two leaders had decided to speed up the bilateral cooper- ation in all fields, for which an ‘Action Plan’ has been devised. Putin described the talks as substantative and said the India-Russia “partnership is developing into strategic and priveleged one.” Continued on Page 4 A fter fresh pre-monsoon showers on Wednesday, another spell of rain is expected around June 7 and will continue for two-three days. During this time, show- ers are expected to occur during early morn- ings and late evenings. With this, tempera- ture is also expected to drop significantly, the weatherman said on Thursday. With 14 km per hour wind, the humid- ity level in city was 34 per cent on Thursday. The 11.8 mm rainfall in past 24 hours brought down the maximum temperature to 34.7 degrees Celsius, six degrees below to normal, while minimum sunk to 25 degrees Celsius on Thursday. According to IMD, change in wind direc- tion that will be blowing northwest can raise maximum temperature. The sky will remain clear and maximum and minimum tem- perature would be around 39 degrees Celsius and 24 degree Celsius respectively on Friday. In IMD weekly forecast, the maximum temperature will hover between 37 degrees Celsius and 42 degrees Celsius; minimum temperature will oscillate between 25 degrees Celsius and 30 degrees Celsius. C ontroversies continue to dog Bihar’s Class XII top- pers. If last year’s topper Ruby Rai had said “political science” is about cooking, this year’s topper in humanities Ganesh Kumar flubbed TV interview over questions posed by the media on music, one of his sub- jects in which he got high marks, scoring 65 out of 70 in practical. Kumar got 83 marks in music, 18 of 30 in theory, and he appears not to know the nitty-gritty of his subject. When asked, what is sur and taal? “The line in the song dragged long is called sur and when another line is added to that it is taal,” said Kumar, who topped the Class XII exam at the age of 24. Normally, stu- dents pass this level between 17 and 19 years of age. Kumar, who belongs to Giridih in Jharkhand had stud- ied at Rama Nand Singh Jagdish Narain (RNSJN) Uchch Madhyamik Vidyalaya at Chak Habib village, 22 km from Samastipur town and the sub- jects apart from music he opted for were Sociology, Psychology, History and Alternative English. The Sangeet Gharanas he knows are Ravi Shankar and Chaurasia. He does not know about the musician from Bihar and had little idea about famous Bihar singer Sharda Sinha. He said in the exam he sang film songs and got 65 marks. His overall marks were 413 from 500. He turned blank when asked about Shastriya Sangeet (classical music) and after a pause began Sa re ga ma pa in anything but lyrical voice. He admitted that he opted for music subject in order to get maximum marks. “I know sangeet as much as others know,” he admitted in inter- views to TV channels. Also, he admitted that he did not expect to top but claimed that he wrote his papers in very good hand writ- ing which might have impressed the evaluators. Kumar’s school is running from one dilapidated room. This school, which got recog- nition in 2013 by then chair- man of Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) Rajmani Singh, belongs to Jawahar Prasad Singh who is associated with the BJP and his son Abhitendra is the principal. The Kumar episode once again brings the BSEB in the docks which is yet to overcome the embarrassment due to the merits of the last year’s toppers in all streams who became butt of joke and the BSEB had to withdraw their degrees. Toppers were sent to jail. Taking serious cognisance of the incident, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar called Education Minister Ashok Choudhary on second consecutive day and pulled him up. The CM was already uncomfortable with the poor result of the Class XII, which was only 35 per cent, and offered to the examinees dissatisfied with their results to apply for re-evaluation of their answer sheets. Chaudhary after meeting the CM lashed out at the media and accused it of showing only negative things and posing experts of all subjects. U S President Donald Trump’s rethink on the Paris climate accord has send shock waves across the world with envi- ronmentalists worrying about its long- term impact on the fight against climate change, particularly in countries like India and China. The US is the world’s largest polluter. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi has indicated India will stand by the Paris accord irrespective of the US deci- sion, world leaders have come out strong- ly against Trump’s move and experts have warned of dangerous consequences of such adventurist move on part of US. On Wednesday, in Madrid, Modi and the Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy expressed their commitment to fighting climate change and reiterated their support for implanting the Kyoto and Paris accords. In a joint statement issued following talks in the Spanish capital, the two coun- tries said taking action on climatic change was a priority for both nations. Later, in Berlin Modi said it would be a “crime” to spoil the environment for future generations as the world awaits a decision on US climate policy. Trump has often said the US did not get a “fair deal” in the Paris accord, which was agreed upon by more than 190 coun- tries at the initiative of his predecessor Barack Obama. Continued on Page 4 Islamabad: Pakistan on Thursday said alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav will remain alive till he does not exhaust the right to seek clemency, even as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif discussed with top officials Islamabad’s strategy to counter India at the next hearing in the International Court of Justice. “Irrespective of ICJ’s stay, Jadhav will remain alive until he has exhausted the right to request for clemency, initially with the Army Chief and later with the President,” Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said. Detailed report on P12 W ith the Line of Control (LoC) becoming active due to constant ceasefire vio- lations from across the border, India on Thursday accused Pakistan of preventing an environment conducive for bilateral talks and claimed infiltration has come down post-surgical strike. While Defence Minister Arun Jaitley said the Indian Army and Border Security Force (BSF) are dominating the LoC and situation in Kashmir is better than before, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said though the incidents of infiltration across the border have come down to a large extent after India conducted surgical strikes on the terror launching pads across the LoC last year, there was still need to stay “more alert” against the cross-border smuggling of fake Indian cur- rency notes and drugs. Speaking on the achieve- ment of NDA Government’s three years Jaitley said, “The security forces have been able to build up a lot of pressure on them, and the results are evi- dent almost on a daily basis... The situation in Kashmir is better than the impression.” Continued on Page 4 RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015

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����������� ��������������������������������� �������������� ������������������������ ��������������� ��� ������������������������������������������������������ ����������������� ��� ���������� �� ������������������������������ ���������!����������"

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In yet another jolt toJammu & Kashmir ter-

rorists and their sponsors,at least five Pakistani soldierswere reportedly killed in IndianArmy’s punitive strikes at postacross the Line of Control(LoC) in Poonch sector andtwo local terrorists, belongingto Hizbul Mujahidden outfit,were gunned down in Soporearea of north Kashmir’sBaramulla district on Thursday.

The strikes were retaliato-ry in nature and followed soonafter one road constructionworker engaged by GeneralEngineering Reserve Force(GREF) succumbed to splinterinjuries in forward area ofBalnoi sector.

Use of heavy artillery bythe Indian Army to cause max-imum damage to forward Pakposts also resulted in somecivilian killings across the LoC,prompting the PakistanForeign Office to summonIndian Deputy HighCommissioner JP Singh andlodge a strong protest overceasefire violation. More thanone dozen Pakistan Armyjawans and civilians werereportedly injured in theintense exchange of fire power.Pakistan Army, however,remained silent on fatal injuriesinflicted by the Indian Army.

Highly-placed Armysources in Northern CommandHeadquarters maintained,“Pakistan Army was given

befitting reply by the IndianArmy on Thursday.”

While the LoC was wit-nessing heavy exchange of fire,a joint team of 22 RashtriyaRifles, and men from three bat-talions of Central Reserve PoliceForce (CRPF) tracked downthe terrorists at Nathipora villagewhere they were shot dead after

a brief encounter. The slainmilitants were identified as AijazAhmad Mir of Brath Kalan andBasharat Ahmad Sheikh ofBomai Sopore.

Sources said the terroristswere tracked down with thehelp of CCTV footage of agrenade attack on police a dayago. The police identified the

grenade-thrower in the footageand pursued him to a village inthe periphery of the northerntown. During the cordon of thearea, an exchange of fire tookplace that resulted into thekilling of two terrorists. Fourpolicemen were wounded inthe grenade attack.

Continued on Page 4

*���� ���1���.� %.0�

Asserting that the closefriendship with India can-

not be diluted at any cost,President Vladimir Putin onThursday said that Russia doesnot have any “tight” militaryrelationship with Pakistan.Sidestepping a question onKashmir, he said “it is up toyou” to assess whether Pakistanis fuelling terrorism in theIndian state. “But no matterwhere the threat comes, it isunacceptable and we will alwayssupport India in its fight againstterrorism,” he added.

“We strongly condemn ter-rorism in all its forms and man-ifestations and stress that therecan be no justification what-soever for any acts of terrorism,whether based upon ideologi-cal, religious, political, racial,ethnic or any other reasons,”the two countries said in thejoint declaration.

India and Russia signed themuch-awaited agreement onsetting up of two more units ofKudankulam Nuclear Power

Plant (KNPP) in Tamil Naduand decided to give a “newdirection” to the defence coop-eration between the two “greatpowers”. The two countriesalso decided to hold the firsttri- Services exercises, named‘Indra-2017’, this year and startjoint manufacturing of frigates,adding on to the co- produc-tion of Kamov-226 militaryhelicopters. These decisionswere taken at the wide-ranging

talks between Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and RussianPresident Vladimir Putin herewhich covered issues like ter-rorism and increasing tradeand investment.

Addressing the mediajointly with Putin after thetalks, Modi said the relationsbetween India and Russia havebeen unwavering, based on“mutual love, respect andstrong trust”. “From culture to

security, our relations havebeen at par... We speak in onelanguage,” he added. He saidthe two leaders had decided tospeed up the bilateral cooper-ation in all fields, for which an‘Action Plan’ has been devised.

Putin described the talks assubstantative and said theIndia-Russia “partnership isdeveloping into strategic andpriveleged one.”

Continued on Page 4

�� ��*������ /�2���34(

After fresh pre-monsoon showers onWednesday, another spell of rain is

expected around June 7 and will continuefor two-three days. During this time, show-ers are expected to occur during early morn-ings and late evenings. With this, tempera-ture is also expected to drop significantly, theweatherman said on Thursday.

With 14 km per hour wind, the humid-ity level in city was 34 per cent on Thursday.The 11.8 mm rainfall in past 24 hoursbrought down the maximum temperature to34.7 degrees Celsius, six degrees below tonormal, while minimum sunk to 25 degreesCelsius on Thursday.

According to IMD, change in wind direc-tion that will be blowing northwest can raisemaximum temperature. The sky will remainclear and maximum and minimum tem-perature would be around 39 degrees Celsiusand 24 degree Celsius respectively on Friday.

In IMD weekly forecast, the maximumtemperature will hover between 37 degreesCelsius and 42 degrees Celsius; minimumtemperature will oscillate between 25 degreesCelsius and 30 degrees Celsius.

��+���������� 1#�/#

Controversies continue todog Bihar’s Class XII top-

pers. If last year’s topper RubyRai had said “political science”is about cooking, this year’stopper in humanities GaneshKumar flubbed TV interviewover questions posed by themedia on music, one of his sub-jects in which he got highmarks, scoring 65 out of 70 inpractical.

Kumar got 83 marks inmusic, 18 of 30 in theory, andhe appears not to know thenitty-gritty of his subject.

When asked, what is surand taal? “The line in the songdragged long is called sur andwhen another line is added tothat it is taal,” said Kumar, whotopped the Class XII exam atthe age of 24. Normally, stu-

dents pass this level between 17and 19 years of age.

Kumar, who belongs toGiridih in Jharkhand had stud-ied at Rama Nand Singh JagdishNarain (RNSJN) UchchMadhyamik Vidyalaya at ChakHabib village, 22 km fromSamastipur town and the sub-jects apart from music he optedfor were Sociology, Psychology,History and Alternative English.

The Sangeet Gharanas heknows are Ravi Shankar andChaurasia. He does not knowabout the musician from Biharand had little idea about famousBihar singer Sharda Sinha.

He said in the exam hesang film songs and got 65marks. His overall marks were413 from 500.

He turned blank whenasked about Shastriya Sangeet(classical music) and after a

pause began Sa re ga ma pa inanything but lyrical voice.

He admitted that he optedfor music subject in order to getmaximum marks. “I know

sangeet as much as othersknow,” he admitted in inter-views to TV channels.

Also, he admitted that hedid not expect to top butclaimed that he wrote hispapers in very good hand writ-ing which might haveimpressed the evaluators.

Kumar’s school is runningfrom one dilapidated room.This school, which got recog-nition in 2013 by then chair-man of Bihar SchoolExamination Board (BSEB)Rajmani Singh, belongs toJawahar Prasad Singh who isassociated with the BJP and hisson Abhitendra is the principal.

The Kumar episode onceagain brings the BSEB in the

docks which is yet to overcomethe embarrassment due to themerits of the last year’s toppersin all streams who becamebutt of joke and the BSEB hadto withdraw their degrees.Toppers were sent to jail.

Taking serious cognisanceof the incident, Chief MinisterNitish Kumar called EducationMinister Ashok Choudhary onsecond consecutive day andpulled him up. The CM wasalready uncomfortable withthe poor result of the Class XII,which was only 35 per cent,and offered to the examineesdissatisfied with their results toapply for re-evaluation of theiranswer sheets.

Chaudhary after meetingthe CM lashed out at the mediaand accused it of showing onlynegative things and posingexperts of all subjects.

*��� /�2���34(

US President Donald Trump’s rethinkon the Paris climate accord has send

shock waves across the world with envi-ronmentalists worrying about its long-term impact on the fight against climatechange, particularly in countries likeIndia and China. The US is the world’slargest polluter.

While Prime Minister NarendraModi has indicated India will stand by theParis accord irrespective of the US deci-sion, world leaders have come out strong-ly against Trump’s move and experts havewarned of dangerous consequences ofsuch adventurist move on part of US.

On Wednesday, in Madrid, Modi andthe Spanish Prime Minister MarianoRajoy expressed their commitment tofighting climate change and reiteratedtheir support for implanting the Kyoto

and Paris accords.In a joint statement issued following

talks in the Spanish capital, the two coun-tries said taking action on climaticchange was a priority for both nations.

Later, in Berlin Modi said it wouldbe a “crime” to spoil the environment forfuture generations as the world awaits adecision on US climate policy.

Trump has often said the US did notget a “fair deal” in the Paris accord, whichwas agreed upon by more than 190 coun-tries at the initiative of his predecessorBarack Obama.

Continued on Page 4

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Islamabad: Pakistan onThursday said alleged Indian spyKulbhushan Jadhav will remainalive till he does not exhaust theright to seek clemency, even asPrime Minister Nawaz Sharifdiscussed with top officialsIslamabad’s strategy to counterIndia at the next hearing in theInternational Court of Justice.“Irrespective of ICJ’s stay, Jadhav will remain alive until hehas exhausted the right torequest for clemency, initiallywith the Army Chief and laterwith the President,” ForeignOffice spokesperson NafeesZakaria said.

Detailed report on P12

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With the Line of Control(LoC) becoming active

due to constant ceasefire vio-lations from across the border,India on Thursday accusedPakistan of preventing anenvironment conducive forbilateral talks and claimedinfiltration has come downpost-surgical strike.

While Defence MinisterArun Jaitley said the IndianArmy and Border SecurityForce (BSF) are dominatingthe LoC and situation inKashmir is better than before,Home Minister Rajnath Singhsaid though the incidents of

infiltration across the borderhave come down to a largeextent after India conductedsurgical strikes on the terrorlaunching pads across theLoC last year, there was stillneed to stay “more alert”against the cross-bordersmuggling of fake Indian cur-rency notes and drugs.

Speaking on the achieve-ment of NDA Government’sthree years Jaitley said, “Thesecurity forces have been ableto build up a lot of pressure onthem, and the results are evi-dent almost on a daily basis...The situation in Kashmir isbetter than the impression.”

Continued on Page 4

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After years of dilly-dallying,the Union Transport

Ministry has finally cleared amuch-needed proposal givingan option to people to pledgetheir organs while applyingfor a driving licence. The moveaims to boost organ donationin the country which is quitedismal at present.

In the revised Learning

Licence form issued by theTransport Ministry recently,one more column has beenadded for the first time thatreads "I am willing to donatemy organs, in case of acci-dental deaths; Please tick ifwilling." Now, the TransportMinistry is working on thesymbol to be put on drivinglicence indicating the organdonation declaration.

Officials in the Union

Health Ministry, which hadbeen pushing for such a pro-posal since 2011, have called ita historic step that would go along way in helping quick har-vesting of the organs fromroad accident victims.

"Most of the road victimsare young and healthy. Theirorgans are most suitable to har-vest. Once declared brain dead

by the doctors, we can counselfamilies about the wish of thevictim (given in the drivinglicense) about organ dona-tion," the official said.

The move comes in thebackdrop of the Governmentsigning a bilateral agreementrecently with Spain, the worldleader in organ donation. In con-trast, despite high road accidents

in India, organ donation rate isjust 2.26 per million as per anNGO, Organ India, compared to26 per million in US and 35.3 permillion people in Spain.

Government data says,against a current requirementof one to two lakh kidneys, onlyabout 5,000 transplantationsare being done annually.Similarly against a require-ment of 30,000 liver trans-plantation requirements, about1,000 is being done.

Compare this figure withthe number of fatal road acci-dents. In 2015, 400 deaths tookplace daily due to roadmishaps, seen as potentialorgan donors.

*� � /�2���34(

The Congress on Thursdayhit out at the Modi

Government's demonetisationmove and pointed that India'seconomic growth slowed to itslowest in over two years coun-tering the Centre's claim thatGDP has gone up.

While Congress VicePresident Rahul Gandhi criti-cised the decline in GDPgrowth and said the ModiGovernment is "manufactur-ing" other issues to deflect thecountry's attention from itsfailures, former FinanceMinister P Chidambaram saiddemonetisation has made theGDP scale worse.

Congress has reactedstrongly on Finance MinisterArun Jaitley claims that India'sGDP growth was 'reasonable'considering the current globalsituation

"Fall ing GDP. Risingunemployment. Every otherissue is manufactured to dis-tract us from this fundamen-tal failure," he tweeted. Healso tagged a news reportthat said the country had lostits tag of being the fastestgrowing economy in the

world after the fourth quarterGDP growth declined to 6.1per cent.

Chidambaram said theeconomy is 'going down rapid-ly'. He added that theGovernment has failed in allthe three indicators whichdepict a vibrant economy —investment to GDP ration,credit growth and numbers ofjobs created. India GDP growthfor the year 2016-17 slowed toa three-year low of 7.1 per cent,the Government announced onWednesday. GDP growth forthe March quarter was peggedat 6.1 per cent.

"There are three indicatorsof a vibrant economy — invest-ment to GDP ratio, creditgrowth and numbers of jobscreated; on all three, theGovernment has failed,"Chidambaram said adding thatif corrective measures are nottaken, the economy willdecline further.

Earlier, former too PrimeMinister Manmohan Singhhad dubbed the decision todemonetise high currencynotes as "legalised plunder anda monumental failure" andpredicted a two per cent fall inGDP.

*� � /�2���34(

Aday after the StrategicPartnership policy was put

in public domain to boost Indianprivate sector participation inbuilding weapon systems,including submarines, heli-copters, fighter jets andarmoured vehicles, DefenceMinister Arun Jaitley onThursday said the policy willhelp attract FDI as global investors would beassured of orders. The UnionCabinet had cleared the muchawaited Strategic Partnershippolicy last week.

Elaborating upon the spinoffs of the new policy now partof the Defence ProcurementProcedure(DPP), he saidunless the opening of the FDIrules is accompanied by somereasonable possibility of get-ting orders, an investor is notgoing to set up an establish-ment in the country.

Entry of foreign investors "islinked to the kind of orders theywill get and the only entitywhich can place the orders is theGovernment of India. "Thereare no two procurers, there isonly one and that is why theStrategic Partner policy now hasbeen brought in as it will sup-plement the FDI policy," the

Minister said when asked aboutthe reasons of poor response ofinvestors in the sector.

Addressing the media oncompletion of three years ofNDA regime, he also saidwhether the strategic partnercomes through FDI route orthe investor comes with just atechnology tie up, they wouldbe free to do so, he added.

Seen as a major initiative, the'Strategic Partnership model'aims to create a vibrant defence

manufacturing ecosystem in thecountry through involvement ofboth the major Indian corporatesas well as the medium and smallscale entrepreneurs(MSME)sec-tor. Under the policy, select pri-vate firms will be roped in tobuild military platforms likesubmarines and fighter jets inIndia in partnership with foreignentities. At present, India imports70 per cent of weapons and alliedsystems.

In 2016, the government

relaxed FDI norms in severalsectors including defence. Asper the policy, foreign invest-ment up to 49 per cent has beenpermitted in the defence sectorthrough automatic route, andbeyond that limit through gov-ernment route on case to casebasis, wherever it is likely toresult in access to modern andstate-of-art technology.

Jaitley said the FDI changesin the sector opened the doorand effort is to encourage them

to set up facilities in the coun-try. "They are enabling. Theythemselves do not ensure thatimmediately the entry of par-ticipants will take place and thereason is very simple that thereis only one purchaser withinIndia and that's theGovernment of India," he said.

Talking about the procure-ment proposals, Jaitley said under the DefenceProcurement Policy, a particu-lar mechanism is there by whichdecisions are being taken.

"The manner in which theproposals have been cleared bythe Defence AcquisitionCouncil(DAC) over the lastthree years is unprecedentedwhen you compare it with theinaction during the previousregime," he added.

*� � /�2���34(

With an effort to bringNorth Eastern region to

the mainstream and give a fil-lip to infrastructure, theCentre has decided to reachout to the region by skillingthe local youth so that theycan find employment in theinfrastructure projects comingup in the area.

Union Minister NitinGadkari said the Ministry ofRoad Transport & Highways(MoRTH) is also looking to setup drivers' training schools toimpart training to the localyouth to enhance their employ-ability and for tourism'sgrowth. Gadkari said since theroads are very circuitous in theregion and weather conditionsare different there is a need tohave well trained drivers so thattourists travel in comfort zone.

Gadkari said his Ministryis also engaging more andmore local contractors in theNorth East, as also otherremote and not so developedareas, so that they can, in turn,engage the trained, local youthon the construction sites.

Further, in a bid to fast-

track projects, the RoadTransport Minister askedGovernment bodies at theCentre and state level to sourceinfrastructure material rightfrom equipment to cementfrom the road transport min-istry's upgraded Inampro webportal.

"I urge all Governmentdepartments whether from theCentre or states to source infra-structure material from this

upgraded web portal. So faronly cement and steel wereavailable here," Gadkari saidaddressing the launch ofInampro portal in the nation-al Capital.

The upgraded version ofInampro portal is an ecom-merce platform which hasalready been listed by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi in 60such major initiatives. The web-site inampro.Nic.In launched by

National Highways andInfrastructure DevelopmentCorporation (NHIDCL) willact as a repository of all mate-rials used for construction andinfrastructure development thatincludes transplantationmachines for trees, haulagevehicles, construction materialsand technology.

Gadkari said States likeBihar and Uttar Pradesh haveto order aggregates from 450km and this portal will addressasymmetries and uncertain-ties in supplies and prices ofmaterials required for buildinginfrastructure.

"It is my suggestion toNHIDCL, which has launchedthe portal to use municipalcorporations wastes in roadbuilding," he said citing as tohow NHAI was using Ghazipurmandi waste building easternperipheral expressway. NHID-CL chairman Anand Kumarsaid the portal will help toreduce supply related delays inconstruction, help to checkartificially inflated prices, cre-ate a free and fair market placeand improve the trust in themarket by bringing in trans-parency.

*�� � /�2���34(

Aiming to celebrate thespirit of 'swadeshi' on

International Yoga Day (IYD),various Indian Missionsabroad have decided to buy asmany as 15,000 khadi kitsfrom back home for use dur-ing the occasion.

The IYD is held on June 21globally every year and thistime Lucknow has been chosenas the city where the mainfunction would be held.

Around 150 countries areexpected to participate in themega event, with IndianMissions in those nations coor-dinating the activities.

Khadi and Village

Industries Commission(KVIC) Chairman VinaiKumar Saxena said the movecomes following his meeting inthis connection with NamrataKumar, the Deputy DirectorGeneral of Indian Council forCultural Relations (ICCR).

"This purchase order ofaround Rs 2.63 crore has beengiven to KVIC for supplying15,000 yoga kits (7,500 each formale and female)," he said.

Saxena said the KVIC gotthe order from the ICCR yes-terday.

Established in 1950 by theMinistry of External Affairs,the ICCR fosters cultural rela-tions and mutual understand-ing between India and other

countries for promoting rela-tions with them.

"It is the biggest order forany organisation dealing withyoga kits, he claimed. "KHADIhas 'zero carbon' footprint, isenvironment-friendly and aswadeshi product."

"The kit includes nineitems, including upper andlower for men and women, akhadi napkin, yoga mat and abag. The napkin has beenmade by women of militancy-affected families of Jammuand Kashmir living nearNarkota. To add to the stylequotient, a unique tricolourkhadi garland has been includ-ed in the kit," the KVIC chair-man said.

The IDY this year will beobserved at some of the majorlandmarks like the Eiffel Towerin Paris, the Trafalgar Square inLondon and the CentralGardens in New York, among

other countries, officials said.The first IDY celebration

was organised at Rajpath inNew Delhi on June 21, 2015 inwhich representatives of 191countries had participated.

Last year, the main func-tion took place in Chandigarh.

The United NationsGeneral Assembly, heeding toa call by Prime Minister Modi,had made a declaration inDecember 2014 to observeJune 21 as IDY every year.

"Last year, for the first timethe KVIC had made yoga kitsof khadi, designed by NationalInstitute Design (NID), on theadvice of Ministry of Ayushand within 10 days, we had gotpurchase orders worth Rs 82lakh, consequently generatingextra employment for artisans.But this year, we hope toincrease it to at least Rs 5 crorethough aggressive marking,"Saxena said.

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The Steel Authority of IndiaLtd (SAIL) will soon devel-

op a quality assurance andquality control facility underits 7.0 million tonnes capacityexpansion project at the BhilaiSteel Plant (BSP), officialsinformed.

Notably, the expansion andmodernisation of Bhilai SteelPlant is underway to take steelmanufacturing capacity from 4MTPA to 7 MTPA.

Notably, BSP which hadbeen taking several key stepsduring the past years to pre-serve the environment hasalready eliminated use of CFC-11 by replacing it by Li-Brbased Chiller unit, way beforethe target date of January 1,2010.

Procurement of CarbonTetra Chloride (CTC) has beenstopped and use ofTrichloroethylene has beenstarted, officials stated.

Two projects under theaegis of United NationsDevelopment Programme(UNDP) have been imple-mented in BSP for the elimi-nation of use of CTC.Procurement of Halon basedfire extinguishers have alsobeen replaced by FM 200 basedunits.

All industrial package airconditioners using CFC-12were also replaced in a phasedmanner by units using CFCfree refrigerant. The plant hasbrought down the use of ozonedepleting substances to 3.05tonnes in 2014 from about 10

tonnes a decade ago.The ozone depleting

potential, a true measure ofconsumption of Ozone deplet-ing substances, has also beenreduced to 0.167 tonnes by BSPin 2014, which is amongst low-est in industries.

Under the ongoingExpansion/Modernization pro-jects, BSP has taken due care tofully comply with the Montrealprotocol in procurement andinstallation of, Air condition-ing/ refrigeration units. It is alsoensured that, the fire protectiveequipment being procured isalso fully complying with theMontreal protocol.

Notably, BSP has won theprestigious Prime Minister’sTrophy for a record 11 timesout of the 21 times it has beenawarded.

SAIL is also co-ordinatingthe construction of Rail linefrom DaIlirajhara to Rowghatcovering a distance of 95 kmwith Indian Railways inChhattisgarh.

The project for doubling ofRailway line between Kiranduland Jagdalpur in Chhatisgarh’sinsurgency ridden Bastarregion is expected to be com-plete by January 2019, officialsources informed.

Notably, NMDC Ltd -- thecountry's largest iron ore pro-ducer and exporter had alsosigned a Memorandum ofUnderstanding with the UnionMinistry of Railways onDecember 21, 2012 and theaforesaid project would behelpful in significantly aug-menting evacuation capacity of

NMDC’s Bailadila Sectormines by rail from the existing28 MTPA to 40 MTPA of ironore.

NMDC had deposited anamount of Rs 150 crores withEast Coast Railway and theexpenditure incurred as onMarch 31, 2015 was Rs 132.00crore, sources informed.

For execution of the pro-ject, the Railways has dividedthe 150 km length of doublingwork into three Sectionsnamely, Jagdalpur to Silakjori45.50 km, Kirandul to Gidam52.23 km and Silakjori toGidam 52.73 km.

Notably, the Rs 2000crore Rowghat to Jagdalpurrailway line would also passthrough heavily insurgencyinfested Kondagaon andNarayanpur districts of Bastardivision in Chhattisgarh, offi-cials stated.

The project is a joint ven-

ture between Chhattisgarhgovernment, NMDC, SAILand IRCON.

Continuing to operatewell above the rated capacityin all major areas of produc-tion, Bhilai Steel Plant, theflagship unit of the public sec-tor SAIL, has concluded thefinancial year 2016-17 with anannual production of 5.04Million Tonnes of Hot Metal,4.74 Million Tonnes of CrudeSteel and 4.00 Million Tonnesof Saleable Steel.

The Plant would beachieving a capacity utiliza-tion of 107.4 percent in HotMetal, 120.9 percent in CrudeSteel and 127.1 percent inSaleable Steel, respectively.

The four finishing millsof SAIL’s Bhilai Steel Plant-the Plate Mill, Rail andStructure Mill, Merchant Milland Wire Rod Mill- have reg-istered record-breaking and

encouraging performances inproduction of special qualityvalue added steel grades infinancial year 2016-17.

The Plant would berecording best ever loading ofaround 1,49,700 Tnnnes of130 metre and 260 metrelong rails, surpassing previousbest of 1,41,670 Tonnesrecorded in correspondingperiod of 2014-15.

It is worth mentioningthat the Rail and StructureMill has surpassed its ABPtarget of 8 lakh tonnes for theyear by producing 8,11,939tonnes of Rails till March 30,2017.

The Plant’s Plate Mill isset to record best ever pro-duction of 1,01,500 T of BQPlates, surpassing previousbest of around 91,392 Trecorded in correspondingperiod of 2011-12. The Mill isalso set to record production of

2,14,000 tonnes of HT Platesfor home sales, surpassing pre-vious best of 2,04,301 tonnesrecorded in correspondingperiod of 15-16.

Plate Mill would also berecording best ever finishedproduction of around 1,98,613tonnes of Plates in 12 mmthickness against previous bestof 1,80,807 tonnes in 2015-16.Despatch of around 1,90,267tonnes of Plates in 12 mmthickness is also going to be thebest as against previous best of1,80,728 tonnes in 2015-16.

The two other finishingMills of the Plant – the Wire RodMill and Merchant Mill wouldalso be registering growth in pro-duction of special quality valueadded steel grades in the currentfinancial year.

The Plant has also exportedalmost double the volume ofsteel in April to February peri-od of fiscal year 2016-17 ascompared to correspondingperiod of last fiscal year. ThePlant registered total exportloading of 79,833 tonnes ofsteel in the April to Februaryperiod of last fiscal year. Thisincluded 52,645 tonnes ofplates, 3,800 tonnes of billetsand 2,700 tonnes of wire rods.In the April to Feb period of2015-16, the Plant had export-ed 40,433 tonnes of steelincluding 22170 of plates.

Notably, SAIL is also thelargest and main supplier ofsteel for constructing coun-try’s longest bridge 'Dhola-Sadiya’ which is built onriver Lohit in Assam, a com-pany press release informed.

SAIL has supplied around90% or around 30,000 tonnesof steel, including TMT,Structurals and Plates, forthis bridge which will con-nect the states of Assam andArunachal Pradesh.

The product mix offeredby SAIL was one of the majorcriteria for selection of thecompany for this prestigiousproject.

The construction of this9.15-km-long bridge began in2011 under public private part-nership. This bridge is 3.55kilometers longer thanMumbai’s Bandra-Worli SeaLink, making it the longestbridge in India.

SAIL is supplying steel forseveral vital projects in coun-try’s north-eastern region.

Apart from the Dhola-Sadiya bridge, SAIL steel hasalso been used for constructingthe Bogibeel Rail-cum-Roadbridge, several power plantsincluding 750 MW power plantof NTPC & 600 MW KamengHydro-electric project, TransArunachal highway etc. whichall are very important projectsfor the region.

SAIL has identified spe-cif ic focus areas in theNorth-eastern region forincreasing its presence andmarket share and has adopt-ed a structured approach tow i d e n i t s fo otprints.Supplying steel to remote areasof NE, tapping the high poten-tial rural sector of the region,exploring the government’sthrust to improve the nation’sconnectivity with North-east -

all prominently figure on thecompany’s priority list.

Recently SAIL has appoint-ed a General Manager to lookafter steel marketing in thisarea.

Becoming part of projectsof such national importanceand value is also a testimony tonation’s trust on SAIL steel.

SAIL is now in a positionto offer better and more value-added steel for such projects asit is almost completing its bal-ance modernization.

Notably, pursuing a clearagenda of growth, the Ministryof Steel has had many firsts toits credit. In the year 2015,India became the third largestproducer of steel in the world.Recent data shows that India isnow looking at positioningitself as the second largest in thevery near future.

In the last three years,there has been capacity addi-tion at a steady CAGR of about7%. There has also been animprovement in the overallcapacity utilization.

Another strategic push forthe steel industry has been thepolicy to provide preference toDomestically ManufacturedIron & Steel Products(DMI&SP) in government pro-curements. This will not justprovide a level playing field tothe domestic steel industrybut will also promote devel-opment of domestic steelIndustry. Besides, it will alsoreduce the inclination to use,low quality and low costimported steel in Governmentfunded projects.

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Tripti Sinha, ExecutiveDirector of Chhattisgarh

State Power TransmissionCompany Ltd (CSPTCL), hasassumed charge as ManagingDirector of the company.

She took charge from VijaySingh , an official press releaseinformed here on Thursday.

Sinha while expressing hergratitude to the StateGovernment for giving such abig responsibility and faithshown on her said that her toppriority would be to execute the

planning of the Governmentand company while giving herbest.

She said that all problemswould be resolved with coor-dination and cooperation withteam work.

It was the busiest day forher in exchanging of greetingsand thanks by various officers,employees , members of tradeunions and their office bearers.

Sinha has the credit to bethe ever first woman MD in thehistory of CSPTCL. Giving herreaction on the occasion shesaid that there is no substituteof collective responsibility anddetermination .

Positive thinking and hardwork will always take the teamat the peak of success, she said.

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Chhattisgarh’s new capitalcity is developing separate

facilities for disposal of haz-ardous or bio-medical wastewith intensive tree plantation atdisposal areas, officialsinformed.

Notably, Naya Raipur, thehigh tech new capital city ofChhattisgarh, will be a ‘zerosewage discharge city’ equippedwith decentralized sewagetreatment for better efficiency.

If the project goes as perplans, Naya Raipur wouldprobably be the first capital cityof a State in the country withzero discharge of sewage.

Notably, Naya Raipur isalso gearing up for the thirdround of 'Smart City Challenge'contest of the Union Ministryof Urban Development.

The Naya RaipurDevelopment Authority(NRDA) had been collectingfeedback from citizens on howthey dream of seeingChhattisgarh's new State capi-tal as a "Smart City".

Notably, Naya Raipurbeing first planned city of 21stcentury already has state-of-the-art infrastructure at its dis-posal. The city has well plannedeconomic and social infra-structure, officials informed.

The Village DevelopmentPlan is also taking care ofsocial equity and cohesion.The rich culture and heritageall adds to the strength of thecity, they informed.

It may be recalled that a‘Master System Integrator’ willmanage the extraordinarilyhigh-technology oriented ‘NayaRaipur Smart City System’.

The Naya Raipur SmartCity System will compriseSmart Governance, CitySurveillance, IntelligentTransport management

System, Electricity and Watersupply and City Commandand Control Centre amongothers, officials informed.

Notably, the Naya Raipuras a Smart City will leverage thecollective intelligence createdby connecting physical, insti-tutional, social and economicinfrastructure to deliver aquantum improvement in thequality of life of local popula-tion, they informed.

Notably, the new capitalcity of Chhattisgarh is a ‘greenfield’ city and is planned todevelop its infrastructure grad-ually in order to provide worldclass amenities and facilities toits residents and visitors.

NRDA has taken the nextstep in “Smart City’ develop-ment with plans now for‘Information &Communication Technology”(ICT) enablement of infra-structure and citizen services,officials informed

Naya Raipur is alreadyamong five other cities in thecountry chosen as ‘Demons-tration Cities’ for the Centre’sambitious Sustainable UrbanTransport Project (SUTP).

The final five cities par-

ticipating as 'DemonstrationCities' under Sustainable UrbanTransport Project (SUTP) are- Indore (Madhya Pradesh),Mysore (Karnataka), NayaRaipur (Chhattisgarh), Puneand Pimpri Chinchwad(Maharashtra).

Detailed project profileswere prepared by all cities withthe assistance of the SUTPConsultants and then endorsedby the SUTP SteeringCommittee to be included toSUTP as ‘City DemonstrationProjects’, officials stated.

It plans of developing aproject comprising IT-enabledsystems to manage a host ofutilities using state-of-art tech-nology.

The design would com-prise IT enabled land manage-ment system, city surveillancebesides a host of other systemstill now popular and beingused only in the developedcountries.

The other city manage-ment systems include intelli-gent lighting systems, pay anduse parking systems, city guidemap available through webbrowser, intelligent transportsystem, city level wi-fi touch

screens across the city, displayboards across the city for pro-viding real-time information,emergency alert and crisisresponse systems, traffic re-routing applications based onreal time traffic data.

The city would also havean Central Control Center formonitoring all the servicesincluding central traffic controland management system.

It may be recalled thatNaya Raipur has emerged inthe country with the largestland bank of a mammoth 237square kilometres ( 23,700hectares).

The NRDA has plans ofdeveloping a ‘Transport Hub’spread over an area of 161.9hectares in the new capitalcity.

The hub would includesetting up Light Rail TransportSystem (LRTS) stations. Thearea being earmarked for the'Transport Hub' would be 12.55per cent of the total area of thenew capital city, officials stated.

Five residential sectorshaving more than 8000dwelling units had alreadybeen completed inChhattisgarh’s new high tech

capital Naya Raipur last year,officials informed.

The habitation in the res-idential sectors has also com-menced, they informed.

It may be recalled that theNRDA will also develop a‘Land Management System’ formanaging disposal of land forinfrastructure development,officials informed.

Union Minister of UrbanDevelopment and Housing &Urban Poverty Alleviation MVenkaiah Naidu had clearlystated in 2015 that all cities andtowns seeking to participate inthese schemes will be profiledbased on specific parametersthat have a bearing on theirability to address issues of gov-ernance reforms, resourcemobilization, execution etc.

The Minister further saidthat while addressing the issueof geographical spread, only thedeserving will be assisted.

It may be recalled that onJanuary 16, 2015, Naidu whileaddressing ConsultativeWorkshop on UrbanGovernance’ organized forMunicipal Commissioners of130 cities and towns from ninenorthern states of Delhi,Haryana, Chandigarh, Punjab,Himachal Pradesh, Jammu &Kashmir, Uttarakhand, UttarPradesh and Rajasthan in NewDelhi had informed that hisMinistry is currently workingon a ‘City Challenge’ frame-work with the objective ofselecting right city candidatesfor participation in schemeslike building 100 smart citiesand development of 500 citiesand towns.

He revealed : 'It will not bebusiness as usual in the matterof financing of cities and townsunder new urban initiativesand instead, it will be based onthe ability of urban local bod-ies to reform urban gover-nance and rise to the new

challenges.'Naidu referred to the pre-

sent appalling state of affairs inurban areas which is marked byweak urban governance struc-tures, uninspiring leadership atthe level of both selected andelected urban managers, poorinventory management andresource base, weak urbanplanning and execution, urbanmobility being a nightmarishexperience, housing shortage,inadequate water and powersupply and despicable man-agement of solid waste andtreatment of sewerage etc.

In terms of service para-meters, Naidu noted that only73 litres of water per capita perday is being supplied as againstthe norm of 135 litres, only50% of households havingwater connection, 40% house-holds with toilet facilities, treat-ment of only 16% of sewerage,collection and disposal of only23% of solid waste and recy-cling only 10% ofcity waste.

Referring to the invest-ment needs for urban initia-tives, the Minister had statedthat about Rs 40 lakh crore isrequired for provision of basicinfrastructure besides anotherRs 20 lakh crore for Operation& Maintenance of urban utili-ties over the next 20 years,another Rs 15 lakh crore formeeting housing shortagebesides Rs 60,009 cr for sani-tation. The total investmentneeds comes to about US $1200 billion, most of which hasto come from private sources.

Stating that private invest-ment flows would be depen-dent on the confidence ofinvestors in urban local bodiesincluding their governancecapacities, credit worthinessand city management.

Naya Raipur is not just fastemerging as the hi-tech Statecapital of Chhattisgarh but also

an adventure sports destina-tion. The four kms cyclingtrack, Kayaking, Burma bridgeand a 2 kms skating track aresome of the facilities alreadyfunctional in the new capitalcity, officials informed.

Boating facility had beenmade available to visitors at theJungle Safari from January 1this year in the new capital.

The Jungle Safari compris-es of four separate Safarisincluding Herbivore Safari,Bear Safari, Tiger and LionSafari.

Around 166 personnelincluding officials, doctors,zoo-keeper, guard and otherstaff are deployed for takingcare of animals in the Safari.

The Chhattisgarh govern-ment has also earmarked258.48 hectares of land in thecapital for setting up a ‘NatureResort’ and a ‘Theme Park’ infuture, officials stated.

On the other hand, it maybe recalled that a 'ThemeResidential Township'—thefirst of its kind in CentralIndia would have people livingin sort of a ‘getaway’ locationsurrounded by natural sur-roundings in the new capitalcity.

The State governmentrecently informed that the‘Purkhauti Muktangan’ hadalso been developed with thevision to promote culture, tra-dition, and archeology.

Traditional sculptors ofChhattisgarh have given it theshape of cultural heritage.Spread over 200 acres of land,Purkhauti Muktangan is situ-ated nearly 20 km away fromvillage Uparwara, officialsinformed.

Soon rock garden andaquarium will also be devel-oped at the PurkhautiMuktangan premises whichwill further enhance its signif-icance, they informed.

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Elaborating on the prepara-tions being made for the

upcoming Assembly polls in2018 in the State, Chief ElectoralOfficer (CEO) DD Singh saidon Thursday that theChhattisgarh ElectionCommission (CEC) will estab-lish new polling booths under aspecial drive for new votersacross the State from June.

Addressing media persons,he said that a total of 21,802polling booths were establishedfor 2013 Assembly polls where-as the total number of votershave not been proportional tothe polling booths due to hikein number of voters during thelast four years, development ofresidential colonies, rehabilita-tion etc which would be donenow through a campaign toenroll young voters fromschools and colleges. 22,000BLOs would be deployedbesides Nodal Officer in eachdistrict and one Supervisoreach for 10 polling booths,Singh said. Presently, there are22,931 polling booths for 1.79crore registered voters in theState. The CEC will re-establishpolling booths for urban local-ities having population of 1,200while it would be 1000 or abovefor rural areas, Singh informed.

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The Income Tax Departmentsleuths on Thursday car-

ried out survey on the officepremises of three steel unitslocated at Urla and Siltaraindustrial areas near the city.

The survey was carriedout under Section 133 (A) ofIncome Tax Act, officialsinformed here.

The team comprising of100 officials along with sever-al police personnel raidedoffices of Pankaj Ispat, GanpatiIspat and Alankar Ispat respec-tively, they stated

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Criticizing three years ofBJP-led NDA rule at the

Centre, Senior spokesperson ofAll India Congress Committee(AICC) PL Punia on Thursdaysaid that the Central govern-ment has failed with its nation-al security and foreign policyduring its three-year tenure.

During the last three years,578 Army personnel were mar-tyred while 877 civilians werekilled in 172 terror attackswhereas 203 troopers weremartyred and 1343 times infil-tration occurred in Jammu andKashmir, he alleged.

Likewise, 271 security per-sonnel were martyred, 665 peo-ple were killed by Maoists while3517 Naxal incidents occurredin Chhattisgarh region, he said.

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After finishing the groundwork to explore gold

reserves at a Sundarnagar vil-lage on the outskirts ofJamshedpur, a one-memberteam of Geological Survey ofIndia (GSI) arrived in theSteel City on Thursday for afinal survey before gold explo-ration.

According to information,the GSI team will start drillingof the proposed survey sitewithin a month and will con-tinue to work for March nextyear.

Revealing about the pro-ject, director, GSI, Jharkhand,AK Sharma said that they hadconducted a preliminary sur-

vey for the gold reserve atBhitardari near Fategora vil-lage in Sundarnagar in 2016

during which they had gotenough geological data on thepresence of gold reserve there.

Apart from Fategora,Kundrukocha, 8km away isalso seen as site for gold

reserve in Sundarnagar.“We are here now for

final survey before we startexploration. Two years agowe traced gold in Fategora.We last year visited the vil-lage for getting clearancefrom the gram sabha andlocal residents which wasmandatory for any such pro-ject. We have got green sig-nal and now we are makingfinal survey before kick start-ing the exploration,” notedSharma. An GSI official saidthey are confident of goodgold reserves at Fategora. Afterthe final survey explorationwork is over, they will handover the feasibility report tothe Government of India forfurther action.

Meanwhile, Kashray

Khudada, a resident ofFategora said that last year athree-member team of GSI,Ranchi, visited village. Theyalso interacted with the localpeople. He said that the localpeople are also excited aboutthe development and are hop-ing for the best. There arehopes that the activities willboost the activities here andwill give rise to opportunities.

"The GSI team hadbefore taken consent fromt he Panchay at to s t ar texploration work. It is amatter of honour for ust h a t t h e r e i s a g o l dreserve in our village andthe government wil l startexploration soon. We arehoping for the best,” henoted.

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Department of veterinarypathology in Ranchi vet-

erinary college Ranchi hasreached its ‘impression’ that theless than 30 years robust maleelephant died of bacillusanthracis. Bacillus anthracis isknown as Anthrax in commonparlance. The Pioneer haddone this story first in thisregard.

Blood smear of the ear vein ofthe deceased elephant was sub-mitted to the Ranchi veterinary col-lege’s veterinary pathology. Bloodsmear was collected by Dr AjayKumar. Kumar is a vet officer in BBBiological park Ormanjhi.

The examination of bloodsmear found bacillus of bamboostick appearance. Bamboo stickappearance is a chief charac-teristic of bacillus anthracis.Pathologically and morpho-logically it is now proven

anthrax killed this young ele-phant of PTR.

The elephant was founddead on May 26. Blood smearwas oozing from its orifices.

Field director PTR M PSingh has confirmed thisexamination report of bloodsmear by the vet pathology ofRanchi vet college Ormanjhi.

Singh referred to the reportof K K Singh who is the chair-man of the vet pathology. It isK K Singh’s signature on thereport which reads bacillusanthracis.

PTR officials are cross fin-gered. Cattle grazing is just nonstoppable as farmers and cattleowners are too apathetictowards the welfare of the wildlife here.

M P Singh said as this ele-phant is still buried and notburnt there would be sugges-tion for its DNA test too totrace the strain of anthrax.

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The State Government hasflagged host of issues

involving bus operations takingplace between Jharkhand andChhattisgarh. A high-levelmeeting on Thursday com-prising Transport Minister CPSingh and top officials of theneighbouring state discussedthe number of permits to beissued along with respectivestoppages.

Jharkhand vociferouslyraised the complaints comingabout bus operators ofChhattisgarh who havereportedly used fraudulentaddresses to ensure permits.“Instances of the operatorsbased in Chhattisgarh get-ting permits as operators fromJharkhand have come intolight. We have objected to itand demanded for their veri-fication and cancellation ofsuch permits,” said Singh afterthe meeting.

Citing an example of theRoute-1 that comprisesRanchi-Raipur via Bero,Gumla, Jaspur, Dharmjaigarh,Raigarh, Saraipali, officials ofthe Department said that sixpermit quotas were fixed forthe each state. “But all the 12permits have been acquired bythe bus operators belonging toChhattisgarh by showing theirpresent address wrongly in

Jharkhand. We demanded thatthese permits be cancelled,”said an official.

The meeting also dis-cussed stoppages as it is learntthat the neighbouring stateallowed additional such points

besides, the approved onesunlike Jharkhand. It was sug-gested that the additionalstoppages can be regularisedso that there can be unifor-mity between both the states.

“Chhattisgarh transport

authority on the objections oftheir operators there oftenchanges time table of the oper-ators from Jharkhand despitethere is gap of 20-30 minutesbetween two buses.

They even change the time

table for the permits issued toour operators which is viola-tion of the bilateral agree-ment,” added the official pre-sent in the meeting.

The mutual agreementhas fixed 72 routes on which500 licenses by Jharkhandwhile 496 from Chhattisgarhcan be issued. Moreover,Jharkhand has issued 150 per-mits only in comparison of205 by Chhattisgarh.

The matter of releasingcountersign on the permitsissued for sleeper buses byChhattisgarh also came fordiscussion. Jharkhand made itclear that since there is noprovision of a sleeper bus inthe State and no tax is levied,the authority is unable tocomply with this. Also, trans-porters from Jharkhandobjected to greater tax slappedonto them citing ‘ExpressService’ in case the distancecovered is over and above250 kms.

This apart, the two trans-port authorities were in agree-ment for hiking number ofroutes and permits gettingissued. Chhattisgarh wantedto keep number of permits to102 on 25 routes whereasJharkhand has proposed ninenew routes. It was decided toinvite suggestions from oper-ators and then resolve thematter in a month time.

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In a remarkable initiative,Brahmanand Seva Sadan

launched a mea l service forpoor people in the city.Christened 'Brahmananda SevaSadan Bhojnalaya' , now theneedy and others can gethygienic meal in the after-noon comprising six chap-atis, a vegetable, a sweet andpickle at Rs 10 only.

Managing trustee ofBrahmananda Seva SadanMonubindo Bhattacharjee said: "The meal is open for all. Theobjective is to provide hygien-ic and good quality foodwhich even a poor can afford.The meal service in the after-noon will remain open for twohours from 12 noon to 2 pm.” He said that though thescheme was being plannedfrom past but was launchedtoday.

It was basically meant forpoor people, others could alsohave the food. The food ispresently available at Bhrahmlok

Dhaam from 12 noon to 2 pm.The service will be launched atBrahmanand MultispecialtyHospital at Tamolia on June 5.Based on the response the ser-vice will be extended in the nighttoo.

At lunchtime on the first daytoday, the premises ofBrohmolokdham over 150 peo-

ple turned up for the meal.Bhattacharjee who himself

monitored the distribution ofthe meal informed that soonthey will start the a similarfacility at the canteen run bythe trust on th premises ofBrahmananda NarayanaMultispeciality Hospital (BNMS) at Tamolia.

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Six cities of Jharkhand --Hazaribagh, Bokaro,

Deoghar, Dumka, Jamshedpurand Palamu -- will get air con-nectivity by the end of 2018said MoS Jayant Sinha here onThursday. The Hazaribagh MPalso released the report card ofhis 3-year tenure.

Sinha said that the CivilAviation Ministry is going tospend Rs 2000 crores for landacquisition and 150 crores forconstruction of HazaribaghAir port. Talking about the per-formance of his ministry, Sinhasaid that under the new civilaviation policy they are rapid-ly moving ahead to achieve thetarget of 200 lakhs seats capac-ity and for it development ofnew airports and air routes isgoing on in entire country. “Inlast one year 33 new airports

had been operational. Our planis to provide air services toevery common man of thecountry in only Rs 2,500,” hesaid.

Talking about the devel-opment of Hazaribagh the MPsaid, “NTPC alone is going toinvest Rs 40,000 crores in thedays to come in Ramgarh,Hazaribagh and Chatra dis-tricts. NTPC will invest Rs24,000 crores in Ramgarh dis-tricts at PTPS, Rs 14,000 crorein Chatra district at Tandwaand Rs 2000 crore inHazaribagh district inBarkagaon and Keredari.”

Sinha said that he hadsanctioned 207 schemes ofworth Rs 6.05 crores in the con-stituency from MPs local areadevelopment fund. He alsosaid that providing drinkingwater, electricity, road, educa-tion and health services to 530villages of the constituency isanother achievement of lastthree years. As many as 2331beneficiaries are going tog e t t h e i r o w n h o u s e sunder PM Awas Yojna.Similarly more than threethousand famil ies havealready got benefited byUjjwal la scheme in hisconstituency.

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Theft and snatching inci-dents have been rising

across the city these days,Bokaro police have failed to keepa check.

Keeping cops on toesthieves escaped with cash, jew-elry and other valuables of anestimated worth of Rs 20 lakhsfrom three houses under dif-ferent police station in Bokarolast night.

According to the police,the thieves escaped with thevaluables and ornaments ofan estimated worth of Rs 12lakhs after breaking the lock ofQr No. 3209 at Sector 6 A.Nobody was in the house atthat time of the incident, all

family members were out ofcity, said OC of Sector 6 policestation. “We are investigatinginto matter”, he added.

While in another incidentthieves escaped with cash,ornament and other valuablesfrom the house of Anil KumarSingh, quarter no 2000 atSector 8 A. In third case goodsworth of Rs 1.20 lakhs includ-ing laptop, diamond ring andcash has been stolen fromSector 4 A.

The fourth theft incidentoccurred in Sector 3 D underCity police station, thieveescaped with valuable andother household goods. ‘SnifferDogs’ were called to get a tip forinvestigation, but dog failed toget any trace in this case.

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From Page 1Soon after the encounter

the authorities snapped mobiletelephony in the area.

An Army spokesman saidthat two soldiers were injuredin the operation.

Army said Capt Eram Riyaza lady doctor tirelessly adminis-trated medical support at theencounter site helping twoinjured jawans. “The injuredjawans were rushed to nearestmedical facility at Pattan for fur-ther treatment,” an Army officersaid. “The spirit, enthusiasm anddedication towards her profes-sion shown by Capt Eram Riyazis praiseworthy,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chief of ArmyStaff General Bipin Rawat, ViceCOAS and Army commandersfrom Northern command head-quarters were attending high-level operational review meetingin Srinagar.

Following intense exchangeof fire in the forward areas thelocal residents remained huddledinside safer locations and private

bunkers to escape the fury ofraining mortars.

According to Ministry ofDefence spokesman Lt-ColMunish Mehta, “Pakistani Armyhad initiated indiscriminate fir-ing of small arms, automatics 82mm and 120 mm mortars from7.20 am along the LoC inNowshera sector and at 7.40 amin Krishna Ghati sector killingone civil GREF labour and injur-ing two other, including a BSFjawan”. The Army posts wereretaliating strongly and effec-tively, he added.

In another incident policeclaimed that a teenager from cap-ital Srinagar has been reunitedhis family a week after he joinedthe terrorist ranks. The teen hadsurfaced in a video cradling anassault rifle and donning armyfatigues on May 24. Police saidthat Tufail Qadeer Mir, 19, whohad appeared in a video on socialnetworking websites, brandish-ing a rifle, has returned hishome in Qamarwari area onthe outskirts of the capital city.

From Page 1Jaitley added India has

taken several significant stepsto ease tension, but Pakistanresponded by terror attacks atPathankot, Uri and mutilatingthe bodies of Indian soldiers.“The Government of Indiahas taken significant steps toease the situation in the past...The fact that our PrimeMinister dropped in at Lahoreat a social function in PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif ’s fam-ily, were all steps intended toease the tension. But each oneof these have been respondedby, let us say, a Pathankot or anUri or by mutilation of two ofour soldiers.

And, therefore, that envi-ronment which must exist fora talk has been successfullyprevented by Pakistan,” the

Defence Minister said. On the other hand, while

speaking at the BSF InvestitureCeremony and RustamjiMemorial Lecture, the HomeMinister said, “There used tobe infiltration by militantsfrom Pakistan.

But I can say after surgicalstrikes, incidents of infiltrationhave come down to a largeextent. I compliment both theArmy and the BSF for ensur-ing border security.”

The statements by the twotop Ministers come at a timewhen Pakistan accused Indiaof heightening tensions at theLoC. The Indian Army had lastweek said it launched punitivefire assaults on Pakistani posi-tions across the LoC inflictingdamage days after two ofIndian soldiers were mutilated.

From Page 1A joint declaration titled ‘A

vision for the 21st Century’issued after the Modi-Putintalks said that “the Indian-Russian special and privilegedstrategic partnership is aunique relationship of mutualtrust between two great powers.”It said the relationship covers allareas of cooperation, includingin the spheres of political rela-tions, security, trade and econ-omy, military and technicalfield, energy, scientific, cultur-al and humanitarian exchanges,and foreign policy. The rela-tionship helps promote nation-al interests of both countries,and contributes to the estab-lishment of a more peaceful andjust world order, the declarationsaid.

The document said, “Wewill strive to build an ‘energybridge’ between our states andexpand bilateral relations in allareas of energy cooperation,including nuclear, hydrocar-bon, hydel and renewable ener-gy sources and in improvingenergy efficiency.” The growingpartnership in the nuclearpower sector between Indiaand Russia has opened oppor-tunities for developing advancednuclear manufacturing capa-

bilities in India in line withIndia’s “Make In India” initiative,the declaration said.

Talking about terrorism,Modi said the views of the twocountries are similar on theproblem in whichever form itexists, whether in Afghanistan,Middle East or Asia-Pacific.“India and Russia stand togeth-er on terrorism and new chal-lenges to the security,” he said.

Referring to trade, Modisaid the two countries wereclose to achieving the target ofUSD 30 billion by 2025. At pre-sent, trade between the twonations stands at USD 7.8 bil-lion, down from USD 10 billionin 2014. India and Russia agreedto strengthen bilateral cooper-ation in the aviation sector bysetting up joint ventures in thefield of manufacturing, as Indiais set to become the third largestglobal aviation market by 2020.

“We acknowledge theimportance of developing eco-nomic cooperation at theregional level. We will facilitatean early commencement ofnegotiations on a free tradeagreement between theEurasian Economic Union andIndia,” said a vision documentissued after the Modi-Putintalks.

From Page 1If the US withdraws, it

will be “unfair” towards Indiaand the rest of the countries,said Navroz Dubash, SeniorFellow at the Centre for PolicyResearch. “Any weakening ofsupport of the ParisAgreement is bad news forIndia, as we are a vulnerablecountry,” said Dubash, whoworks on climate and energyresearch.

“However, India’s transi-tion to cleaner and renewableenergy sources is not going tostop,” said Aarti Khosla, aDelhi-based independent con-sultant on climate and energyissues. India’s push towardsclean energy is also not heav-ily dependent on multilateralaid..

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To keep a check on the ille-gal encroachment and con-

struction on Governmentproperties in the State, HaryanaGovernment has decided toconduct aerial surveys by usingdrones.

To begin with, such surveywould be conducted in Karnal,Gurugram and Faridabad.

A decision to this effectwas taken in a meeting heldunder Chief Minister ManoharLal here. On success of thispilot run, the project would beimplemented in the remainingdistricts also.

The Chief Minister direct-ed the Urban Local Bodies

department to prepare a road-map along with the timeline forthe implementation of thisproject and submit it within aweek.

During the meeting, healso asked the Department totake the assistance of HaryanaSpace Applications Centre(HARSAC) and NationalRemote Sensing Authority(NRSA) for the satellite imag-inary of the areas and also, forsetting up of ground controlpoints necessary for conduct-ing the survey.

It was informed thatHaryana is the first State to setup 700 primary and secondaryground control points in thestate.

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���2������/4���2����������� "�����������Chandigarh : PunjabGovernment and the UnitedKingdom on Thursday decid-ed to join hands for impart-ing skill training and techni-cal education to the youths ofthe State in order to providethem better employmentopportunities abroad.

State Technical EducationMinister, Charanjit SinghChanni, after meeting DeputyHigh Commissioner of BritainAndrew Ayre, said the PunjabGovernment was focusing onproviding quality education tothe youth to enable them getjobs in the leading industries ofthe world. He said the first stepwould be signing of MoUbetween Punjab and UK onJune 20. As per the MoU, thestudents who study degreecourses in Punjab or UK wouldbe provided dual certificatewhich would have interna-tional recognition. PNS

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Islamabad: Days after theInternational Court of Justice(ICJ) stayed KulbhushanJadhav’s death sentence,Pakistan said on Thursday thatthe Indian national would notbe executed until he hasexhausted his mercy appeals.

Foreign Office spokesmanNafees Zakaria released a state-ment which he claimed wasaimed at addressing “certainmisrepresentations/false state-ments/allegations” made in theIndian media following theICJ’s provisional measures orderof May 18 in the Jadhav case.

Zakaria asserted that irre-spective of the ICJ’s stay, Jadhavwould remain alive, until he hasexhausted the right to request forclemency, initially with the Chiefof the Army Staff (COAS) andlater with the Pakistan President.

He accused the IndianGovernment of misusing themedia to create a “false impres-sion of winning” Jadhav’s case inthe ICJ. “Indian media, backedby the official quarters, misledpeople in the two countries bypropagating that India has

won” in Jadhav’s case, he said.“The discussions that

ensued in the two countriesshowed a complete lack ofunderstanding of the matter,”Zakaria said. He said the Indianmedia, based on the reportedbriefing by official quarters,called ICJ’s letter dated May 8,2017, the day India filed itspetition, to the PakistanGovernment as a “stay onJadhav’s execution”. ���

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President Donald Trump onThursday said he will

announce his decision onwhether the US will withdrawfrom the Paris climate changeaccord on Friday.

Trump said he would makethe announcement at 12.30am (3 pm local time) at theWhite House.

Withdrawing from the Parisagreement is one of Trump’smajor electoral promises.

“I will be announcing mydecision on Paris Accord,Thursday at 3 pm. The WhiteHouse Rose Garden. MAKEAMERICA GREAT AGAIN!,”the US president tweeted.

The much-awaitedannouncement will have along-term impact on the fightagainst climate change, partic-ularly in countries like Indiaand China. The US is theworld’s largest polluter.

Trump has often said theUS did not get a “fair deal” inthe Paris accord, which wasagreed upon by more than 190countries at the initiative of hispredecessor Barack Obama.

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Pakistan PresidentMamnoon Hussain on

Thursday said India hasbecome a “major obstacle” fordurable peace in South Asiaand called the Kashmir issue an“unfinished” agenda of the partition.

The president highlightedthe issue of Kashmir and thestrained bilateral relationsbetween Pakistan and Indiawhile addressing a joint sessionof Parliament, Dawn reported.

Terming Kashmir as an“unfinished” agenda of thepartition of the subcontinent,the president said: “India hasbecome a major obstacle fordurable peace in the region”.

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President Vladimir Putin onThursday insisted that the

Russian state has never engagedin hacking and scoffed at alle-gations that hackers couldinfluence the outcome of elec-tions in the United States or

Europe.But the Russian leader

admitted the possibility thatsome individual “patriotic”hackers could have mountedsome attacks amid the currentcold spell in Russia’s relationswith the West.

Speaking at a meeting withsenior editors of leading inter-national news agencies, Putinalso alleged that some evi-dence pointing at Russianhackers’ participation in attacks- he didn’t specify which -could have been rigged in anattempt to smear Russia.

“I can imagine that somedo it deliberately, staging achain of attacks in such a wayas to cast Russia as the originof such an attack,” Putin said.“Modern technologies allowthat to be done quite easily.”

US intelligence agencieshave accused Russia of hackinginto Democratic Party emails,helping President DonaldTrump’s election victory, andthe Congressional and FBIinvestigations into the Trumpcampaign’s ties with Russiahave shattered Moscow’s hopesfor a detente with Washington.

Asked if Russian hackerscould try to shape the outcomeof German parliamentary elec-tions later this year, Putin said:“We never engaged in that ona state level, and have no inten-tion of doing so.”

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Innovation and infusion of technolog-ical change have historically beenmajor drivers of development andincrease in human welfare. In the US,economists, particularly in the last

century, carried out detailed analysis of therole of technology in promoting economicgrowth. In developing countries like India,such an assessment has not been attemptedadequately, possibly because the task wouldbe much more complex in our setting. TheIndian economy is much too diverse, defy-ing easy aggregation, largely because ofenormous disparities and a large componentof non-market activities.

Second, technological choices faced byvarious sections of society in India today arevastly different from what existed in thedeveloped world during the 20th century.In today’s world, the place of informationtechnology and flows of knowledge aremuch more extensive than was the case inthe previous century. In India, for instance,the major expansion of mobile telephoneusage has changed the scenario substantial-ly in just the last 10 years. The country’smobile phone subscriber base has nowcrossed one billion users, of which very soona large number will graduate to the use ofsmart phones. It is anticipated that Indiawould soon be crossing the 200 million tar-get of smart phone users. Significantly,China already has over 500 million users ofsmart phones.

The vision of a country’s leadership ontechnology issues can be a major determinantof changes that actually take place. WhenRajiv Gandhi became the Prime Minister, hefocused on the expanded use of desktop com-puters, and even though this was criticisedby many as being irrelevant and redundantfor the country’s needs, the extensive provi-sion of computers in Government offices atvarious levels brought about a revolution inthe use of IT as a tool for analysis and deci-sion-making across the country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’semphasis on smart cities has had a psycho-logical impact on looking at urbanisationas a remarkable opportunity for efficiencyimprovements in the use of variousresources through the application of smartsolutions. This thinking, however, shouldbe, and to a limited extent already has,extended into rural areas as well. While theexpansion of mobile phone services ischanging the landscape rapidly, a muchgreater effort towards change in other sec-tors must percolate through rural commu-nities, based on large-scale information dis-semination and education, whereby tech-nological change creates opportunities formajor transformation.

A recent study on the role of scienceand technology (S&T) in the developingworld in the 21st century concludes thatS&T fundamentally alters the way people

live, connect, communicate and transact,with profound effects on economic devel-opment. It concludes that to promote tech-nical advancements, developing coun-tries should invest in quality education foryouth and continuous development ofskills for workers and managers.

A country like India where the spreadof Government and its institutions is exten-sive, training of Government decision mak-ers and upgrading their skills acquires veryhigh priority. Applications, which can makean enormous difference to the lives of peo-ple in both urban as well as rural areas,include the spread of microprocessors,biotechnology and nanotechnology innova-tions. In the coming decades, developmentsin various fields will lead to breakthroughsin health services and education.

India still has almost 300 million peoplewho have no access to electricity. Recent costreductions and efficiency gains in photovolta-ic technology make it possible for rural areasto benefit from decentralised and distributedforms of power generation, rather than wait-ing for the expansion of power from cen-tralised supply systems. Recent developmentsindicate that solar photovoltaic-based powergeneration can take place at costs approximat-ing three rupee per kilowatt-hour. In fact, suchcost reductions are becoming possible alsowith wind energy and solar thermal technolo-gies for power generation.

Decades ago, the philosophy of pioneerslike Schumacher dominated technologychoices in developing countries, with empha-sis on “small is beautiful” and the concept ofappropriate technology. Essentially, this

thinking emphasised the concept of customis-ing technological innovation for rural appli-cations, because it explicitly factored inexisting lack of skills, infrastructure and accessto capital. Constraints were also seen in theability to harness and maintain sophisticat-ed technology in societies and communitieswhich did not have the requisite knowledgeand infrastructure widely available in thedeveloped world or even in prosperousregions of the developing world.

Today many of those gaps can be closedbecause of knowledge flows and the spreadof information technology, which wereinconceivable even at the beginning of thiscentury. However, to effectively close the gapthat existed earlier, education would beessential for creating skills and understand-ing of technological developments in a vari-ety of sectors including healthcare, agricul-tural innovations and energy supply. As yet,most developing countries have fallenbehind in this regard.

Equally important would be the expan-sion of banking facilities and availability offinance by which a quantum jump wouldbecome possible in our rural areas. Theterm often used to describe such advance-ment of technological capabilities andtheir upgradation is “leapfrogging”. A farmore appropriate analogy would be that ofgrasshoppers, who, light in weight, are ableto jump remarkably long distances, withtheir ability to fly as well. If deprived soci-eties were to cover long distances with neteconomic benefits, as in the case of mobilephones, they would not necessarily confinetheir choices to examples close to home, but

also access experiences in other parts of theworld. That would include learning fromsuccess stories in other developing coun-tries as well.

Typically, our vision is directed towhat has happened in the developedworld, and we routinely neglect informa-tion and experience of technologicalimprovements which have worked inIndia and other developing countries. Ifthere were better flows of informationbetween developing countries, the appro-priateness aspect of technologicalimprovement would be fully integratedwith opportunities that are pursued.Hence, not only do we need upgradationof education and information flows with-in a developing country but also acrossdeveloping countries.

Placed as India is, with growing dis-parities between rich and poor, we needto evolve on a continuous basis scienceand technology strategies for our ruralareas, which provide new and smartchoices for the most deprived sections ofsociety. There is available a fund ofexperiences which if analysed in depthwould give us substantial insights essen-tial for an enlightened S&T policy, whichsucceeds in uplifting some of the mostdeprived communities in the country. Thetime for an intensive and continuing effortin that direction is here and now, with fullinvolvement of Government, researchers,industry and civil society.

(The writer is former chairman,Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,2002-2015)(

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Plentiful of choice, but peopleprefer Modi” (June 1) by RajeshSingh. Apart from all other things,electoral support for NarendraModi and the BJP stems from agrowing realisation among theHindus that all other parties areinterested in the appeasement ofthe Muslim community.

The Congress is the champi-on of minorityism. Recent elec-toral successes of BJP is, to a largeextent, the result of Hindu consol-idation. Thus, in the comingdays/months we should be readyto witness more caste-based dis-turbances fomented and spread byanti-BJP forces. Such divisive ele-ments should be exposed andbrought to book.

Anil GuptaVia web

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Sir— This refers to the article,“Persisting with flawed and failedapproach” (May 31) by KalyaniShankar. I subscribe to the writer’sopinion that the Bharatiya JanataParty-Peoples Democratic Party(BJP-PDP) coalition Governmentto contain the continuing violence,has not worked so far.

Hence, the writer’s sage adviceto find a political solution to theburning problem must be thoughtabout seriously. Even the expertcommittees’ reports in this regardmust be implemented to allay fearin Kashmiris, stop escalation ofviolence and save loss of lives.

Azhar A KhanRampur

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“The future of mobility” (May 31).The editor is brilliant in analysingthat the widespread use of electricvehicles can help in solving the envi-ronmenal problem.

First, instead of traditionalinternal combustion engines, a hugebattery pack will be used, reducingpollution significantly to the bene-fit of health and well-being ofmankind. Second, Tesla Motors isdoing a lot to expand this sector withIndia’s Minister of State for Power,Coal, New and Renewable Energyand Mines , Piyush Goyal, who is atthe forefront of this project. Finally,lower income groups will benefitimmensely with lower-cost means of transportation.

PN SaxenaVia email

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Sir — If the killing of a cow is anoffence according to theGovernment of India, then whatabout the slaughtering of goats andchickens? Are they not animals too?What about eggs? Is eating of eggsnot infanticide?

In that case, we should also notbe eating vegetables, because they arealso helpless living things. If the cowwill now become the national ani-mal of India, where will the tiger go?Will it become her assistant? Wehave truly reached absurd levels inforcing eating habits on others.

Jubel D’CruzMumbai

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Actor J Jayalalithaa entered politicssucceeding superstar MGRamachandran through sheer

dramatics. She left the Tamil Nadu sceneafter almost ruining the State andshaming its citizens. Right-thinkingpeople were hoping that the era of cel-luloid make-believe politics has endedand the State can look forward to gen-uine and sincere leadership. Now anoth-er cine-actor Rajinikanth is playing dra-matics through his Hamletian farce of‘to-be-or-not-to-be’ to enter politics!

After weeks of high drama,Rajinikanth’s entry into politics hasalmost been confirmed by his brotherSatyanarayana Rao Gaikwad fromBengaluru: “It is the people’s wish thatRajinikanth should enter politics.” Heinsisted that the superstar’s political foraywas imminent. God alone knows what‘people’s wish’ he is talking about! Doeshe mean that a small mob of frenziedcinema-zealots masquerading asRajinikanth fans represent the seven-crore plus people of Tamil Nadu?

In the State, the entire episode lookslike a continuation of the long-runningtheatre of the absurd. This becamebizarre when Rajinikanth gave a clari-on call: “I will call you when there is war”,and his frenzied fans immediatelyresponded: “We are ready, Thalaiva(leader)”. To prove their servile loyalty,the fans put up huge banners all over the

place. These zealots have reduced pol-itics and war into a filmy joke.

In a democracy, any adult citizencan enter politics at his/her pleasure. IfRajinikanth wants to do it, nobody canstop him. Then why is this media-propped hysterical 24x7 nautanki?Besides, one need to have some basicleadership qualities. Robert K Greenleaf(1977) defines a leader thus: “He is ser-vant first… it begins with the naturalfeeling that one wants to serve first. Theconscious choice brings one to aspire tolead. That person is sharply differentfrom one who is leader first, perhapsbecause of a need to assuage an unusu-al power drive or to acquire materialpossessions. For such it will be a laterchoice to serve-after leadership is estab-lished. The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Betweenthem are different varieties of human

nature.” One wonders whereRajinikanth fits in.

Laub (1999) refines it fur-ther and states that servant-leader sees himself or herself as aservant first. From there the desireto lead emerges. In a sense for themleading becomes a form of serving.Servant-leadership is a state of mindand way of being rather than a con-cept that is defined. The true mea-sure of the servant-leader “will bethe positive growth of the people heor she leads”. Humility and lack offlamboyance are the hallmarks ofsuch leadership.

What Tamil Nadu needs todayis such a leader. The hyperbolicdrama with which Rajinikanth wantsto ‘enter’ politics does not fit into thisbill. Is he entering politics or is politicsentering him to help him grab power? �

It is not unusual for superstar Rajinikanth (affectionate-ly called Rajni or Thalaiva by the legion of his fans tocome out with occasional enigmatic utterances on his

entry into politics.Will it be possible for him to liberate the people of Tamil

Nadu from the clutches of two Dravidian parties ruling theState for the past half a century? This is the question haunt-ing every well-meaning citizen of the State. During the pastfortnight, he has made it amply clear that he is not averseto jumping into the fray.

During the five-day long meeting with his fans atRaghavendra Kalayanamandpam in Chennai, Rajinikanthmade two important observations. First and foremost: “Todaygod wants me to be an actor.Tomorrow what he wants meto be, I don’t know.”

The second one was: “There are a number of efficientleaders in Tamil Nadu. But the system is rotten and it hasgot to be set right.”

Since his famous and most potent clarion call againstthe ‘corrupt’ AIADMK in the 1996 elections — “Even godwon’t be able to save Tamil Nadu if Jayalalithaa were to bereturned to power” — Rajinikanth has been maintaining astoic silence over the goings-on in Tamil Nadu’s politics. Thisis despite some severe provocations and earnest appeals bya number of leaders. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modiis rumoured to have requested him to join politics.

Many political observers, me included, who have beenwatching Rajinikanth and also the rise and untimelydemise of four-time Chief Minister and AIADMK supre-

mo J Jayalalithaa, for the past morethan three decades, feel it is theideal time for the matinee idol toenter the arena.

There is a total leadership vacu-um in the State with Jayalalithaabeing laid to rest on the shores ofMarina and the nonagenarian five-time Chief Minister and DMK patri-arch M Karunanidhi being totallyincapacitated — and thus virtuallyout of politics.

While the ruling party — theAIADMK — has split and the twofactions are fighting for establishingwhich is the ‘true’ AIADMK, themajor opposition party, the DMK,has only a ‘working president’. Forreasons best known only to him,

Karunanidhi has not handed over the party’s reins to his thirdson MK Stalin but anointed him only as the ‘working pres-ident’. It shows that he is still wary of the machinations ofhis second son MKAlagiri, who is biding his time in Madurai.

There are some who feel that no other film star exceptMG Ramachandran (MGR) could float a new party andflourish in the State. It is true that several others includingSivaji Ganesan, K Bagyaraj, T Rajendar and Sarathkumartried and miserably failed. The DMDK, launched by film starVijayakanth, is struggling to survive thanks to the ineptnessof its leader. But Rajinikanth’s fan-following is virtually equalto that of MGR.

Dravidian parties have proved beyond doubt that theyare incapable of providing a corruption-free Government.Rajinikanth has the ability to get the State out of this quag-mire and launch it on the road to prosperity. �

Tamil Nadu is resonating with the dis-course on Rajinikanth’s imminent entryinto politics. The recent five-day inter-active sessions the actor had with fansdrawn out from various parts of the State

and his speeches ridiculing the “rotten system” inTamil Nadu are indicators that south India’s reign-ing superstar may take a plunge into politics — amost dangerous and inhospitable terrain.

One was literally baffled by the content churnedout by the 24x7 satellite TV channels once it becameclear that Rajinikanth would join politics. Each chan-nel was competing with the other to put on the airthe one-liner dialogues delivered by the superstar insome of the films he played lead roles. The channelsforgot the fact that the dialogues were penned downby script-writers to suit the character played by theactor. It is not known whether Rajinikanth would beable to deliver such catchy phrases on his own.

Having confirmed that the 66-year-oldRajinikanth is all set to join the political bandwag-on, a number of analysts and commentators wentto town assessing his course of action. Will he floata new political outfit or join the BJP? These arethe two questions being discussed by TamilNadu-based commentators and analysts. Most ofthem are unanimous in their observation that hewould not join the BJP. They have already spreadthe news that the BJP was wooing the superstarand pressuring him to cast his lot with theHindutva forces. “But Rajinikanth would not takesuch a suicidal step. The day he joins the BJP, heis finished”, said a veteran analyst whose dislikefor the BJP is clearly visible between the lines.

More than their view that Rajinikanth would notjoin the BJP, they are adamant that the superstarshould not join the BJP at all. A Congress activistmasquerading as a political analyst was heardyelling on a news channel programme that evenif Rajinikanth joins politics, he would not have any-thing to do with the BJP! This is in continuationof the theory floated by commentators in TamilNadu that the AIADMK would not have any kindof alliance with the BJP. Their argument to substan-tiate the claim is that the minorities would nevervote for an AIADMK-BJP combine in an election.

That the BJP is a party liked by most Hindus isan open secret. The party can never disown or denythis label. Churches in Tamil Nadu issued a dictum

just before the 2016 Assembly election that the laityshould never vote for an AIADMK-BJP combine. Butmany Christian community leaders came out to pub-licly disown the statement. Their mission was to proveto the outside world that the Church is secular anddoes not interfere with the way people vote. An excel-lent example of suppressio veri and suggestio falsi. Thelittle lambs want to colour the Church with a coat-ing of secularism to show to the outside world thatthe Holy Fathers do not have any interest in politics.

The church and the mullahs do not want anypolitical parties in Tamil Nadu to align with the BJP.It is their view. But the claim by commentators that,if a person such as Rajinikanth joins the BJP, his

career would be finished, is a far-fetched argument. What about thelikes of Vinod Khanna, ShatrughanSinha, Hema Malini and DeepikaChikhalia, who joined the BJP andgot elected to the Lok Sabha withhuge mandates? They continuedtheir acting career and retainedtheir fans and popularity in spiteof their allegiance to the party.

Let Rajinikanth himself decidewhat he should do in politics. Thespeeches he delivered make it clearthat he would not join the DMK,the Congress, the Left, theAIADMK or the PMK. Whileanalysts say that Tamil Nadu’spolitics would not be the sameonce Rajinikanth announces hisplan of action, they ignore cer-tain important points. The super-star is 66 and well past hisprime. It is not known whetherhe would be able to undertakeState-wide campaign and addresshundreds of election meetings, likePrime Minister Narendra Modi andBJP president Amit Shah did in therun-up to the 2014 Lok Saba electionand subsequent Assembly elections.Both Prime Minister Modi and AmitShah have established a rapport with thepeople of the country. Let’s take a close lookat other leaders of the BJP. Will it be pos-sible for Rajinikanth to undertake an ardu-ous journey all over Tamil Nadu, explainingto the people the programmes of the BJP?

The fans’ associations of Rajinikanth aredormant while the same cannot be said of theother stars such as Ajit, Vijay, Vishal, Sooryaand Karti. The fans’ associations of Vijay andAjit are engaged in a number of social activi-ties. While the young breed of actors are allbelow the age of 45 and have fan clubs thatare full of youth as volunteers, Rajinikanthfans, who turned up for the recent meetings,were above the 50-year age mark.

The BJP in Tamil Nadu, which boasts of lessthan three per cent votes, is in a state of dormant.It has no leadership worth the name. The pre-sent office-bearers who have monopolisedKamalalayam, have proved time and again thatthey are incapable of taking the party forward.The central leadership should explore the pos-sibility of a faction of the AIADMK merging withthe BJP. Rajinikanth would be a good brandambassador for the new entity. �

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The Kerala Police onThursday arrested eight

Youth Congress men for thecruel and disgusting act ofslaughtering an 18-month-oldcalf in full view of the public ona busy road in Kannur on May27 as a form of protest againstthe Central notification ban-ning sale and purchase of cat-tle at animal markets in thecountry for slaughter.

The Youth Congress menarrested by the Kannur Citypolice on the basis of a com-plaint lodged by Yuva Morcha,included Regil Makkutty, theorganisation’s president in theKannur parliamenentaryconstituency, and State gener-al secretary Joshi Kandathil.The State Congress had earliersuspended three functionariesof the youth outfit, includingMakkutty, over the incident.

The police, who hadslapped charges under the sec-tions of the relevant laws for pre-vention of cruelty to domesticanimals, unlawful assembly, etc,

released the Youth Congressworkers on bail after recordingtheir arrest. Legal experts saidthat the offences might notattract punishment of morethan imprisonment for a yearand a fine of �5,000.

A group of Youth Congressworkers led by Regil Makkuttyhad slaughtered an 18-month-old calf on a busy road in themiddle of Kannur city lastSaturday, day when feeder out-fits of the Congress and the Leftparties had held “beef fest”across the State in protestagainst the Central notification

imposing new rules on sale andpurchase of cattle and for theirslaughter.

The Youth Congress work-ers had first tried to slaughterthe calf by placing it on theroad itself but protests forcedthem to put it back on the truckin which they brought it andthen slaughtered it there.Afterwards, they distributed

the beef to the organisation’sactivists and other people whohad gathered there free of cost.

The disgustingly cruel acttriggered protests across thenation and the Youth Congressworkers came under heavy fireeven from top leaders of theCongress. Party vice-presidentRahul Gandhi termed the inci-dent as “thoughtless, barbaric

and completely unacceptable”and the State Congress leader-ship suspended three activistsincluding Makkutty as per theAICC’s instruction.

Even after the Congressparty took disciplinary actionagainst him and his associatesfor the cruel act, RegilMakkutty had defended whatthey did. Stating that he accept-

ed the party action againsthim, Makkutty had said, “Idon’t regret what we did. It waspart of our protest against thenotification, which was part ofthe Sangh Pariwar agenda. Wewill continue the stir.”

At the same time, indica-tions have come out to theeffect that the newfound coop-eration between the State’sCPI(M)-led LDF Governmentand Congress-led UDFOpposition in fighting againstMay 23 notification of theUnion Ministry of Environ-ment and Forest regulatingsale, purchase and slaughter ofcattle may not last long.

On Thursday, OppositionLeader Ramesh Chennithalapooh-poohed Marxist ChiefMinister’s plan to call a meet-ing of all Chief Ministers overthe cattle slaughter issue by say-ing, “How many ChiefMinisters will come at Pina-rayi’s invitation? May be, theTripura Chief Minister willcome. I am not opposing theplan but still… If they come,there is nothing bad about it.”

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AGoa Court on Thursdayissued a non-bailable war-

rant against former ChiefMinister Digambar Kamat andlater withdrew it hours later, inconnection with the LouisBerger bribery case trial involv-ing top former officials of thecompany, local politicians andbureaucrats.

The NBW was revoked bythe Principal North GoaDistrict and Sessions judge Iafter Kamat’s legal counselupdated him about the reasonwhy an indisposed Kamat wasnot able to attend the previoushearing during the ongoingtrial.

Earlier on Thursday, theNBW had been issued againstKamat, who was Chief Ministerfrom 2007-2012, after the lat-ter failed to turn up at two pre-vious hearings.

According to the charge-sheet filed by the Crime Branchof the Goa Police, Kamat washeading a Congress-led coali-tion Government, when he isalleged to have accepted a partof a $976,630 worth bribe fromLouis Berger officials, in orderto award the consultancy com-pany, a contract to oversee theimplementation of a �1,031crore sewerage and drinkingwater augmentation project

funded by the JapanInternational Co-operationAgency (JICA).

According to the charge-sheet filed by Crime Branch,Kamat is alleged to havereceived kickbacks to the tuneof �1.2 crore, a charge whichKamat has rejected on numer-ous occasions.

Former Public WorksDepartment Minister ChurchillAlemao has already beenarrested and charge-sheetedby the Crime Branch in thesame case, in which severalsenior officials of the StateGovernment, top managementpersonnel of Louis Berger, ahawala operator and a closepolitical aide of Kamat havealso been arrested.

The former Chief Ministerhas been chargesheeted forcriminal conspiracy (120-b)201 (tampering with evidence)of the Indian Penal Code andother sections of the Preventionof Corruption Act, even as theEnforcement Directorate inGoa has also started a separateprobe into the Louis Bergerbribery case.

A letter rogatory has alsobeen sent to the US Govern-ment for further investigationof the accused James McClung,a top former official of LouisBerger, who allegedly autho-rized the payment of bribes.

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Following the busting of�587 crore Moyapur land

scam in the registration depart-ment, the Opposition Cong-ress and the BJP targeted theChandrasekhar Rao regime.Both the parties have demand-ed a CBI inquiry into the affairalleging the involvement ofpolitical bigwigs in the scam.

The State Government hasordered an overhaul of thedepartment, suspended twomore sub-registrars and trans-ferred 29 others after it wasfound that 793 aces ofGovernment land was fraudu-lently registered in the name ofa private company.

Crime Branch CID haslaunched the probe into themurky deals.

While Kukatpally sub- reg-istrar R Srinivas Rao and twoofficials of private companieswere arrested earlier this weektwo more sub-registrars T

Ramesh Chandra Reddy andMd Yusuf were also arrestedand suspended in connectionwith the irregularities.

However, Congress gener-al secretary Digvijay Singh hasrejected the State Governmentaction as a mere hogwash anddemanded a CBI inquiry.Addressing a press conferencein Hyderabad, he alleged StateMinister T Srinivas Yadav wasinvolved in the scam.

“The Minister shouldresign on moral grounds. Wedon’t have trust in KCRGovernment and the inquiryshould be handed over to theCBI,” he added.

Senior BJP leader NagamJanardhan Reddy also demand-ed a CBI inquiry into the landscam and said that if the StateGovernment fails to handoverthe probe to the central agencyhe will knock on the doors ofHigh Court. He alleged that theState exchequer has sufferedhuge losses due t0 the scam.

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The Congress wouldannounce first list of can-

didates for the forthcomingState Assembly polls by the endof June, said Gujarat Congresspresident Bharatsinh Solankion Thursday.

“'Soon we will form a StateElection Committee which willdecide candidates for theupcoming polls. The commit-tee would find out the best pos-sible candidates for all 182Assembly Constituencies,” saidSolanki, adding that the firstlist would be of around 50 can-didates.

Local district level scruti-ny committees’ opinions wouldbe considered in the selectionprocedure of the candidate,said the top Congress leader in

Gujarat. Names recommendedby scrutiny committees for dif-ferent Assembly Constituencieswould be discussed in the StateElection Committee and thesenames with certain remarkswould be sent to CentralCommittee in New Delhi fromwhere final lists of candidatewould be announced, saidSolanki.

According to him, localissues including employment,agriculture, law and orderamong other would be givenimportance to plan upcomingprogrammes of the party. Localissues would be given prefer-ence in the election manifesto,he added.

Assembly elections inGujarat are scheduled to beheld in December 2017.Although the Congress was to

announce all its candidates forthe Assembly polls by Dec-ember 2016, but due to inter-nal conflicts and groupism thegrand old party couldn’t zero inon final list of the candidates.

“'I am not going to contestAssembly polls,” said theGujarat Congress president,adding that he didn’t have anydispute with the Leader ofOpposition in the GujaratAssembly Shankersinh Vaghelaas both of them are working forthe same cause — to makeCongress victorious in theupcoming State elections.

Expressing confidenceover his party’s victory, Solankisaid that with the blessings ofGujarat’s people, Congress willget clear majority and form theGovernment in the State in2018.

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Karti Chidambaram, whosehouse and office premises

were raid by the Central Bureauof Investigation on May 16,returned to Chennai onThursday early morning froma London trip. Karti, son offormer Union Finance Ministerand Congress strongman PChidambaram is under inves-tigation by the CBI on chargesof corruption, bribery andcriminal conspiracy.

The raid at Kart’s Chennaihome, office and other estab-lishments spread out in fourStates were in connection witha case related to INX Mediaowned by Indrani and PeterMukherjee. It was alleged thatKarti used the offices of hisfather Chidambaram who was

the then Finance Minister tohelp the Mukherjees to evadea tax investigation. ThoughKarti was present at Chennaiduring the raids, his departurefor London on May 18 had cre-ated controversy.

Chidambaram had point-ed out that there was no ban onKarti from travelling abroad

and his trip was planned much earlier. He had also saidthat Karti would return homeat the earliest and face theinvestigation.

The father-son duo hadalleged that the raid by the CBIwas an attempt by the BJP-ledGovernment at the Centre tovictimise them.

The CBI had filed a FIRagainst Karti and the Mukh-erjees on charges of criminalconspiracy, cheating, receiv-ing illegal gratification, influ-encing public servants andcriminal misconduct.

According to the CBI, Karti had influenced the officials of the ForeignInvestment Promotion Boardto help the Mukherhees whohad violated the norms forreceiving funds fromMauritius.

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Aday after All IndiaCongress Committee

(AICC) announced structuralchanges to Karnataka PradeshCongress Committee (KPCC)ahead of Assembly polls, HomeMinister G Parameshwararesigned on Thursday to takeup the organisational work asState president of the party.Parameshwara as per the direc-tions of the AICC submitted hisresignation to Chief MinisterSiddaramaiah.

In a major initiative and acalculated move to take on theBJP in the ensuing Assemblypolls using all political permu-tation and combination, theCongress told Parameshwara, aDalit face, to continue as theState party president and askedhim to resign from the Cabinet.Karnataka is crucial for theCongress as it is the only bigState in which the party is inpower. In view of BJP luringthe Dalits and OBCs to its kittyas a strategy, the rejig in theState congress has given strate-gic advantage to the rulingparty.

The Congress alsoannounced that Chief MinisterSiddaramaiah would be theparty’s Chief Ministerial face inthe next Assembly polls. Therejig also gives full power to

Siddaramaiah, a Kuruba(Shephard) community leaderwho is playing appeasementpolitics to the hilt.

“As per the high-com-mand’s decision, I am submit-ting my resignation,” Parames-hwara told reporters inBengaluru on Thursday beforemeeting the Chief Minister.

Parameshwara, a Dalit, wassworn-in as Home Minister onNovember 2, 2015. He did notget the Deputy Chief Minister’spost he was aspiring for, butheld the post of the party’s Stateunit chief. The party faced arebellion seeking a Dalit as theChief Minister which gavespeculation that seniorCongress leader MallikharjunKharge would be brought backto the State and would lead theparty. Parameshwara is also acontender but the high com-mand doused his chances atpresent.

Thanking Congress presi-dent Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi forallowing him to continue as thePradesh Congress Committee(PCC) chief, he said, “It is achallenge.” Terming the otherorganisational changes as a“measure to strengthen” theparty, Parameshwara said, “Wewill strive together to ensurethat the party retains power inKarnataka.”

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With Mamata Banerjeeplaying the ‘Bengali card’

making the subject compulso-ry in all schools function in theState irrespective of the boardsthey are affiliated to, rum-blings of rebellion was heard inDarjeeling hills with the localpeople calling her measure abid to subjugate other cul-tures.

Even as the strike called inall educational institutions inthe mountains by the dominanthill outfit Gorkha JanmuktiMorcha evoked near-completeresponse on Thursday, partychief Bimal Gurung said, “TheGovernment is trying to forcea language on us. It is notacceptable to us. We will protestthe move vehemently.” He alsothreatened to show black flagsto the Chief Minister when shewent to Darjeeling to hold aCabinet meeting for the firsttime in the history of the State.

Banerjee had in a meetingwith private school committeeson Wednesday said that irre-

spective of the affiliations withdifferent boards Bengali wouldbe made a compulsory subjecttill Class X. She however said“The students would not how-ever be required to write aBengali paper in their respec-tive board exams.”

“Teach Bengali in schoolstill class X and do not hold aboard exam. I don’t mind that

but you have to include Bengalias a compulsory subject.”Bengali would be one out ofthree compulsory languagestaught in the schools. Thesewould include English, Bengali,Nepali, Hindi, Alchiki etc.

Earlier she told the repre-sentatives of the private insti-tutions to self regulate their feestructure so that the guardians

did not feel fleeced.“I have seen that most of

the guardians complain of pay-ing through their noses in thename of donations, hefty ses-sion charges, unreasonableyearly doses of fee hike, com-pulsory purchase of books andstationary from the schools,compulsory summer camps orswimming sessions etc. Wewill not allow this. The man-agements should think of howthe parents will manage somuch of money to educatetheir children.”

She created a SelfRegulatory Commission com-prising representatives of theschools guardians, adminis-tration, police officer etc. Thecommission would hold quar-terly meets and talk on variousissues including fee structureand also make their balancesheets public, the CM said.

Mamata had earlier consti-tuted a State health regulatorycommission with the power ofa Civil Court following com-plaints of negligence, unrea-sonable charges and casualties.

=�+����4��#�� �2��������� � ������2�� ��GANDHINAGAR: SeveralBJP workers in ChiefMinister Vijay Rupani’shometown Rajkot tonsuredtheir head on Thursday inprotest of cow killing in theKerala by Youth Congressworkers.

On Monday, CM Rupanitargeted Gujarat Congressseeking answers from themfor the misdeed by Congressworkers in Kerala throughtwitter. He said that Congresshas exposed its real face by

killing cow. One day later,Hindu religious leaders ledby Vishwa Hindu Parishadleader Chaitanya ShambhuMaharaj initiated a tokenfast of 48 hours in protestagainst the killing of the calf.Gujarat Congress presidentBharatsinh Solanki toojumped into the bandwagonand demanded that cow bedeclared as national animal.

Posters too have come upin Rajkot, Ahmedabad andother cities of the State

describing Congress as“killers of cow”. An incidentof skirmish between the BJPand Congress workers onlyadded fuel over the burningcow killing issue.

It is worth mentioningthat in the last session of the State Assembly theGujarat Animal Protection(Amendment) Act 2011, was amended and now under the Act there is a pro-vision for life term for cowslaughter.

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Army chief General BipinRawat on Thursday arrived

in Srinagar to review the secu-rity situation and operationalpreparedness of the armedforces posted in Kashmir andalong the Line of Control.

“Gen Rawat and somesenior Army officers arrived atBadamibagh Cantonment areathis morning for a routineday-long visit,” an Army officialsaid.

He said the purpose of theArmy Chief ’s visit was toreview the security situationand operational preparedness

in the Valley.“The Chief of Army Staff

is being briefed by CorpsCommander and other topofficers about the situation in the Valley, especially after killing of top HizbulMujahideen commanderSabzar Bhat in an operation atTral in south Kashmir lastweekend.

“The Army Chief will also be briefed about the situation along the Line ofControl in the wake of reports of activity at infiltrationlaunch pads on the other sideof Line of Control,” the officialadded.

*��� 3%+>/72

Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath

has direced officials to carry outa cleanliness drive in Statecapital and light up the cityroads with LED lights beforeInternational Yogi Day to becelebrated on June 21.

While reviewing prepara-tions for International YogaDay to be held in Lucknow, theChief Minister said that specialemphasis should be given oncleanliness.

“The area around RamaBai Ambedkar ground shouldbe spic and span and if need berepair work be carried out inthe park,” Yogi said during themeeting held at 5, KalidasMarg on Thursday.

The Chief Minister saidthat all public places like parkswhere different organisationsplan to hold International Yoga

Day should be spruced up. “Similar cleanliness drive

should be carried out in otherdistricts headquarters andtehsils,” he said.

It would be a mega showon International Yoga Day asPrime Minister Narendra Modiwill perform yoga in Lucknowalong with the Chief Minister,his Cabinet colleagues andother party functionaries.

Over 70,000 people,including school children andNCC cadets, will take part inthe function.

Yogi said that a campaignshould be launched to makepeople aware about Internat-ional Yoga Day. The organisa-tions which have been givenresponsibility to train peopleshould do their work diligent-ly. “The Ayush Department hasbeen asked to organise a cur-tain raiser of this mega show onJune 7 at Raj Bhawan,” he said.

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Chief Minister YogiAdityanath assured the vic-

tims of the infamous Jewar lootand rape case of justice andsecurity besides promising �5lakh to the deceased, pensionto the family and free educationto the children.

The victims and their kincalled on the Chief Minister inLucknow. One of the victims'kin said that after giving apatient hearing, the CM direct-ed officials to take strict actionagainst the culprits so that itcould serve as a deterrent toothers. Yogi told the victimsthat his Government would notcompromise on law and orderand stressed that there was noplace for crime and criminalsin the State.

BJP MLA DhirendraSingh, who escorted the victimsand the kin, appraised the CMof criminal activities beingrampant around the YamunaExpressway.

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Lucknow: Reiterating that law and order tops his Government’sporiority, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that account-ability must be fixed right from the beat constable to seniorofficers and action be initiated against anyone found lackingin discharging his duty. The CM also laid stress on better polic-ing techniques like regular patrol and mooted the idea of com-munity policing to streamline the system.

The Chief Minister chaired a high-level review meeting athis official residence on Thursday, which was attended by theChief Secretary, Principal Secretary (Home) and DGP amongother senior officers. Stressing on community policing, Yogisaid that a gazetted officer be nominated to monitor the situ-ation regularly. PNS

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Zaffar Iqbal Choudhary, whocracked the UPSC 2016 by

securing All India Rank 39,second highest by a studentfrom Jammu & Kashmir, onThursday credited the MissileMan of India Dr APJ AbdulKalam for igniting the sparkand teaching him life longlessons which helped him over-come roadblocks and motivat-ed him to pursue his dream ofbecoming a civil servant.

Speaking to The PioneerZaffar Iqbal said, “Almost 13years ago when I first met thenPresident of India APJ AbdulKalam, the trajectory of my lifechanged completely.”

Zaffar said, “Before joiningthe 30-member group of boys,picked up from different insti-tutions under OperationSadbhavna, I had only seen hisportrait hanging on the wall inour school premises. My child-hood dream came true whenI first met him face to face in2004 on the occasion of Chil-dren’s Day. During our brief

interaction with him he hadignited our minds and moti-vated all of us to always dreambig in life. “

“Kalam told us during themeeting that never be afraid ofobstacles, failures and setbacks.It is because of these roadblockswe become better and strongpersons in life and learn to han-dle big challenges.”

Referring to the previousattempts where he failed tomake it to the final list ZaffarIqbal said, “When I firstappeared for the UPSC exam Ifailed to make it by a fewmarks. I cleared two rounds butfailed to make it in the inter-view.” He said he was very dis-appointed, but his family stoodbehind him and motivatedhim. “My parents played acrucial role and encouraged meto try again,” Zaffar said.

He said he was remindedof Dr Kalam’s words, “Life is all

about getting up and starting allover again.”

“Today I am feeling happy.Appearing in the final list is abig achievement and I am fullysatisfied with my overall per-formance,” Zaffar said.

An alumni of JawaharNavodaya Vidalaya, Surankote,Zaffar graduated in CivilEngineering from NITHamirpur and is currentlyposted in the Public Worksdepartment in Poonch.

Meanwhile, another IASaspirant from Sunderbani inRajouri, Ayushi Sudan, securedAIR 65. Ayushi has done MScin Physics and graduated fromSt Stephens College, Delhi.

Akhil Mahajan fromJammu cleared the exam bysecuring AIR 213 rank.

Mohnish Digra, Jammu,has secured 776 rank. He isalumnus of Indira Gandhi GovtDental College, Jammu.

Danish Agastam, son of DrChander Parkash, hailing fromRamnagar and currently resid-ing at Udhampur, has secured814 rank in Civil Services. Heis a BTech graduate fromPunjab University Chandigarh.Anayat Ali Choudhary fromRajouri secured 808 rank whileSahil, son of retired NaibTehsildar -Gian Chand, hailingfrom Gran Morh, Reasi hassecured 917th rank in the civilservices exams.

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Twelve candidates from thetwo Telugu States of

Telangana and Andhra Pradeshhave passed this year’s civil services examination. One ofthem Gopala Krishna Ronankifrom Srikakulam has securedthird rank in the country while Muzammil Khan from Hyderabad has secured22nd rank.

Gopala Krishna fromPalasa Mandal, a teacher, haswritten the civil service exam-ination and attended the interview in his mother tongueTelugu.

Muzammil Khan is theson of retired IPS officer andformer Director General ofPolice Abdul Khayyum Khanand grandson of retired IASofficer late Abdul Karim Khan.

Muzammil had cleared thecivil service exam last year tooand was selected for the IRTS.But with the intention of securing a better rank to join

the IAS, he again appeared forthe exam this year.

“I am proud of my son. Hishardwork has paid off. I amhappy that the legacy of IASofficer will continue in ourfamily,” said Abdul KhayyumKhan

P Anvesha Reddy fromWanaparthy in Telanganasecured 80th Rank. A residentof Annaram village she is aB.Tech graduate from ISMDhanbad and both her parentswere teachers.

Another interesting story isof Bala Latha, 35-year-oldphysically challenged. BalaLatha who secured 167th rankis the teacher of the 3rd rankholder Gopala Krishna. Sheworks at the institute whereGopala studied.

“In the last year’s civil ser-vice examination I had secured399 rank. To improve my per-formance and to be an inspi-ration to other aspirants Iwrote examination again in2016,” she said

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Aday after a major fire dev-astated the entire multi-

storey Chennai Silks, describedas South India’s largest sarishowroom, officials, bureau-crats, safety experts and politi-cians have started blamingeach other. A senior expertmember in the committeeappointed by the Madras HighCourt to assess and analyse thesecurity and safety of thecramped T Nagar, the retail hubof Chennai, told The Pioneerthat the place is not safe andsecure for thousands of shop-pers, who come from differentparts of the country shoppingfor textile goods, jewellery andhousehold articles. By Thurs-day noon Government officialslaunched works for demolish-ing the remaining part of thesari shop.

“The terms safety andsecurity have been given a goby in T Nagar. Shoppers areadvised not to come to T Nagaras the area is vulnerable tomajor fires. In the eventualityof a fire, there is no system toevacuate the people to safety.This is because not a singlebuilding in T Nagar has fol-lowed safety and security reg-ulations. All I could say is thatmost rotten corruption is goingon here for the last 20 yearsirrespective of the fact that whois ruling Tamil Nadu,” MGDevasahayam, a former IASofficer ad member of theMonitoring Committee appoi-nted by the Madras High Courtto assess the safety of T Nagar,told The Pioneer.

He said the shopping areahousing hundreds of show-rooms and frequented by thou-sands of shoppers is a tickingtime bomb.

The fire which ravagedChennai Silks in the wee hoursof Wednesday did not result inany human casualties.

“It is all because of the tim-ing of the mishap. Had it hap-pened during busy hours, itwould have ended up as amajor catastrophe,” said one ofthe fire brigade officersengaged in putting down thefire on Thursday morning.

Meanwhile, U Radhakrish-nan, Minister for Housingblamed the shop owners andcourt for the fire. “Wednesday’sfire happened because of vio-lation of norms. In 2000, theChennai Metropolitan Develo-pment Authority had allowedonly four floors for construc-tion. But the shop owners vio-lated the laws and constructedeight floors. Though we issuednotices to the shop owners,they obtained stay orders fromthe Court multiple timesagainst a demolition order.There are around 86 illegal bui-ldings in T Nagar which needto be demolished,” said theMinister.

“All these buildings havebeen constructed in violation of regulations and laws specified in the Town andCountry Planning Act 1971.Even basic safety measureshave not been followed.Though they have the permis-sion to build only two stories,they have constructed eight sto-ries in violation of the rules,"said Devasahayam.

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AHyderabad court hasacquitted two accused in

the murder of a police consta-ble as the special investigationteam of Hyderabad policecould not prove its charges. Thetwo acquitted persons, RiyazKhan and Mohammed AbdulSayeed, were accused in thecase along with one ViqarAhmad and four others.

Viqar Ahmad and fourothers were killed in an“encounter” by the police whilethey were being brought fromWarangal jail to a Court inHyderabad in April 2015.

The case in which thecourt acquitted the accusedrelated to the killing of a policeconstable U Ramesh in firing inthe old city of Hyderabad in2010.

Police had alleged that theaccused were members of ashadowy organisation GhalbaeIslam and had murdered theconstable to avenge the policefiring near Mecca Masjid inwhich five people were killed.

While the names of Viqarand four others were removedfrom the chargesheet after theirdeath, the two accused wereacquitted after seven years injail.

The families of Viqar andfour others had alleged that thepolice had killed them in fakeencounter as they did not haveany evidence of the charges andthey were likely to be acquittedby the Court.

This is second case inwhich Viqar and others havebeen acquitted. Earlier theywere charged with killing ahome guard Bala Swamy but itcould not be proved.

*��� 3%+>/72

Aday after announcing thefloating of Samajwadi

Secular Front on July 6, SP chiefAkhilesh Yadav’s estrangeduncle Shivpal Singh Yadavclaimed that Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath was an honestand hard working leader andthe BJP Government should begiven at least six months timebefore assessing its perfor-mance.

“The present YogiGovernment should be givensome time before Oppositionstarts dissecting its perfor-mance. But I can say that Yogijiis an honest and hard workingleader,” Shivpal said withoutcommenting as to why the SPprotested in the Assembly overfailing law and order.

In a surprise revelation,Shivpal said “All those who

used to carry the flag of SP andraised slogans in favour ofAkhilesh, have joined the BJPand these are the persons whowere creating law and orderproblems.”

Reiterating that enoughwater had flown after theparty’s humiliating defeat in theAssembly poll, he said that ded-icated SP workers now have nooption but to launch a newparty.

“The Samajwadi Party is ina disarray under the presentleadership. It is the party ofMulayam Singh Yadav andexcept him, no one can be theleader (of SP),” he said withouttaking the name of his nephewAkhilesh.

Yadav said that the mainobjective of the front will be toensure the honour and respectto Netaji ( Mulayam) and toend the family dispute.

*��/ 3%+>/72�

The Uttar PradeshGovernment has effected

the transfer of 20 senior IASofficer on Thursday.

As per a State Governmentcommunique, PrincipalSecretary to CM, Civil Aviationand Estate Department ShashiPrakash Goel was given theadditional charge of AdditionalResident Commissioner of UPin New Delhi. Prashant Trivedi,who had been awaiting posting,was appointed PrincipalSecretary of Medical Healthand Family Welfare.

Similarly, Additional ChiefSecretary, Food and CivilSupplies, Kumar Arvind SinghDeo was posted as DirectorGeneral of State Administrativeand Management Academyand Deen Dayal UpadhyayStat Rural DevelopmentInsititute replacing NiveditaShukla who has been posted asPrincipal Secretary, Food andCivil Supplies.

Principal Secretary, Foodand Drug AdministrtaionHemant Rao and PrincipalSecretary, Science and Tech-nology department HimasnhuKymar swapped their post-ings.

Commissioner of Sahar-anpur, Mahendra PrasadAgarwal was shifted asSecretary in Fnance depart-ment, while Secretary, RevenueDeepak Agarwal was posted asCommissioner of Saharanpur.

Commissionr, Mirzapur,Ranjan Kumar and Secretary,Revenue, V Hekali Jhimomiswapped their places of posting.Secretary in Culture depart-ment Manoj Mishra was madeCommissioner of Faizabadwhile Secretary of ChildWelfare and Nutrition MsAnita Meshram was given theadditional charge of Secretary,Culture.

Additional Commissioner,MNREGA (UP), Anuj KumarJha was made the new Directorof Information department and

he as replaced by SpecialSecretary, APC Wing, PawanKumar. Director (Admin-istration), Medical and HealthServices, Hriday ShankerTiwary was made SpecialSecretray of Sports and YouthWelfare.

Special Secretary, MedicalHealth and Family Welfare AjitKumar was given the additionalcharge of Director (Admini-stration), Medical and HealthServices.

Special Secretary, PrisonAdministration and Reform,Satyendra Kumar Singh swap-pd posting with SpecialSecretary in APC Wing DineshChandra.

Additional CEO, GreaterNoida, Vimal Kumar Sharmawas shifted to NationalIntegration deprtment asSpecial Secretary while Vice-chairman of MoradabadDevelopment Authority wasposted as Additional Com-missioner Land Consolidationin the Revenue department.

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Aunique tale of grit andgumption emerged from

ground zero along the Line ofControl in Poonch sector onThursday when one of the co-drivers engaged by the GeneralReserve Engineering Force(GREF) escorted injured work-ers to safety and used his tur-ban to tie their wounds to pre-vent excessive bleeding.

Eyewitness reports claimedSarwan Singh of Mankote,steered his tipper driver andanother worker for about 10kms and reached Mankotedespite three flat tyres. Healong with other workers weresitting under the truck whenthey were hit by a mortar shellin forward area of Balnoi.

One of the tipper driversidentified as Mohd Parvez hadearlier succumbed to his fatalinjuries while another driverRadha Krishnan was badlyinjured in the intense shelling.

Krishnan had receivedsplinter injuries on hisabdomen and directed SarwanSingh to escort him to safety.Sarwan Singh gathered courageand drove Radha Krishnanand another GREF workeridentified as Zafar Ahmad tosafety.

Three tyres of the tipperwere punctured in the shellingyet Sarwan Singh managed tosteer the tipper, locals in theforward Mankote village said.

Eyewitness said he used his turban as bandage on thesplinter injuries of injuredGREF workers and saved theirlives by controlling excessivebleeding.

He himself lost conscious-ness on reaching Mankote as hehad also suffered injuries.

All the injured were latershifted to the nearby hospitalfor advance treatment. SarwanSingh was later dischargedfrom the hospital in theevening.

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The prices of vegetablessoared in major towns and

cities and trucks carrying milk,vegetables, fruits and poultryproducts to Mumbai werestopped en route to Mumbaiand other places on Thursday,as the farmers’ agitation took aviolent turn in several parts ofMaharashtra, with the agitatorssetting trucks on fire andindulging in stone pelting atmany places.

The people in urban areasof Maharashtra began to feelthe heat of the agitation, as sev-eral lakhs of farmers took tostreets for the first time in therecent past to press for theirvarious demands, includingfarm loan waiver, remunerativeprices for their produce andpension for them after 60 yearsof age.The agitators set on firetwo trucks carrying vegeta-bles in Ahmednagar district,while at least 150 trucks weredamaged in stone pelting.

The police resorted to fir-ing near Pimpalgaon toll nakain Nashik district to quell somevandals, who were trying toloot the stranded trucks carry-ing essential commodities likerice, wheat and pulses. Whileone person was injured in thefiring, three to four policemenwere injured in the intensestone pelting indulged in by thevandals.

On his part, MaharashtraCM Devendra Fadnavis hitout at the Opposition Congressand NCP for inciting violenceduring the “indefinite” agita-tion called by the farmers. “Weare prepared to hold talks withfarmers. Pronging the strike isnot in the interest of farmers.We are trying to find an earlysolution,” the CM said.

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Upset with the Governmentdecision to levy higher tax

under Goods and Service Tax(GST) regime on amusementpark in the country, amuse-ment operators on Thursdaysaid that they would chargetheir customers more if theGovernment does not roll backits proposed GST slab of 28 percent from July 1. They have alsodemanded that the GST taxslab should be between 12-18per cent as amusement parksindustry must be treated sim-ilarly with hospitality andrestaurants which fall in theGST slab.

“The Government’s deci-sion to levy the proposed 28per cent with regard to amuse-ment parks under the GST isnot favourable and the maxi-mum tax is levied on amuse-ment park industry is only 10per cent worldwide. We will beforced to pass the burden to thecustomers if the Governmentdoes not roll back its decision.We have no option left in thisregard,” Indian Association ofAmusement Parks andIndustries (IAAPI) DirectorAjay Sarin told The Pioneer.

The industry body hasalready made representation tothe Finance Ministry andPrime Minister’s Office (PMO)on this issue. “We have already

submitted our concerns to theGovernment to revise GSTrate on the sector. It was unfairto put entertainment industryfor children at par with casinos,betting and race courses,” Sarinadded.

Seeking a downward revi-sion of tax rate to a maximumof 18 per cent or below thatfrom the proposed 28 per centunder the GST regime, IAAPIsaid that high taxation wouldbe detrimental to the exis-tence of the industry. “Now thetotal average tax incidence atpresent comes to around 18 percent pan-India. It will hamperour business to a great extentif the proposed tax stays,” headded.

IAAPI also said thatamusement parks in India,estimated to be �8,290 crore,have contributed in creating1.25 lakh jobs in the country.“At present, there are around150-200 amusement parksacross the country operation atan annual revenue of �4,000crore,” it added.

However, Santkoh Chawla,another IAAPI director said,“The Government has alreadyproposed to revise its tax slabin some other sectors like solarpower industry but they arecompletely ignoring us withtheir decision. I think theamusement parks industrymust be treated similarly in linewith hospitality and restaurantswhich fall in the GST slab of12-18 per cent.”

Chawla further said thatthe new taxation put outdoorentertainment industry forchildren at par with casinos,betting and race courses.“Earlier amusement parks wereexempted from tax and it wasonly last year that a service taxof 15 per cent was levied,which was still way less thanthe current 28 per cent. Witha tiered structure of taxationbased on ticket prices, ticketsfor children must be kept at thelowest 5 per cent bracket, whilethe most expensive ones mustnot be taxed at more than 18per cent,” Chawla added.

�!� � ��( Finance MinisterArun Jaitley and his CivilAviation counterpart AshokGajapathi Raju today discussedthe future course for debt-rid-den Air India, with senior offi-cials indicating that a decisionon privatisation will be takenwithin three months.

The meeting assumes sig-nificance with Jaitley pitchingfor disinvestment of Air Indiaand Government think tankNITI Aayog submitting its rec-ommendations on making thecarrier strong and viable.

“All options are being con-sidered and the main objectiveis to make Air India a strongand viable entity,” Civil AviationSecretary RN Choubey saidafter the meeting.

The meeting between theministers was attended bysenior officials of both theministries as well as Air India.

Staying afloat on little over�30,000 crore bail-out packageextended by the previous UPA

regime, Air India is saddledwith nearly �50,000 crore debtand is in discussions withlenders on ways to restructurethe loans.

Earlier in the day, Jaitleysaid the civil aviation ministryhas to explore various optionsfor Air India on the basis of rec-ommendations made by theNITI Aayog.

“We have received the rec-ommendations from NITIAayog and we are examining it.

At this stage, we are consider-ing all options and we cannotsay as to what will be the finaldecision.

“It will possibly take aboutthree months to decide broad-ly how to proceed, which wayto go, and so on,” Choubey toldreporters.

However, he did not dis-close details about the NITIAayog recommendations.

Since the merger of IndianAirlines with itself, Air India

has been in the red. However,it posted an operational profitof �105 crore on account of lowfuel prices and increased pas-senger numbers in 2015-16.

A senior official said AirIndia has been bleeding due tohuge debt overhang and if asolution can be reached onrestructuring the debt thatwould be helpful.

“Debt restructuring wouldbe one important component ofthe process,” the official said,adding that Air India has beentalking to banks for the last 4 -5 months.

On Wednesday, a topGovernment official said theCabinet is expected to take adecision on whether to priva-tise Air India, whose financialsituation is “very bad”.

Last week, Jaitley pitchedfor Air India’s disinvestmentsaying the carrier’s market shareis just around 14 per centwhereas the debt burden is�50,000 crore. *��

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Car companies like MarutiSuzuki India, Honda Cars

and Mahindra posted double digitgrowth in the domestic sales oftheir passenger vehicles in May onthe back of new models and util-ity vehicles.

Ford also reported stronggrowth for the month while,Toyota Motor Corporation saw itsdomestic sales drop during theperiod.

Market leader MSI said itsdomestic sales increased by 15.5per cent during the month to1,30,676 units, as against 1,13,162units in May 2016.

The company’s sales weredriven by the entry level cars, com-pact hatchbacks and utility vehi-cles (UV).

Sales of its mini segmentcars, including, Alto and WagonR,increased 18.1 per cent to 39,089

units from 33,105 vehicles in theyear-ago month.

The company said sales of thecompact segment comprisingSwift, Estilo, Dzire, Baleno andIgnis increased 10.1 per cent to51,234 units in May as against46,554 units in the same monthlast year.

Besides, sales of utility vehicles,including S- Cross and VitaraBrezza surged by 66.3 per cent to22,608 units.

Mahindra & Mahindra post-ed 10.89 per cent increase indomestic sales at 40,602 units lastmonth compared with 36,613units in May 2016.

M&M President AutomotiveSector Rajan Wadhera said theprojections of a good monsoonand focused investments in ruralsector is expected to spur demand.

“We have a robust outlook forfuture... At Mahindra, we lookforward to growth momentum on

the back of our existing productportfolio as well as upcoming newproducts,” he added.

Wadhera further said theimplementation of Goods andServices Tax from next month willbe a significant game changer, andhoped it would benefit the autoindustry.

Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL)saw its domestic sales rise 13.3 percent to 11,278 units in May.

“We continue to receivestrong demand for New City andHonda WR-V,” HCIL Presidentand CEO Yoichiro Ueno said.

The Government’s plan fortimely rollout of GST and a bet-ter monsoon forecast will aid insales growth in the comingmonths, he added.

Similarly, Ford Indiareported 16.64 per cent rise indomestic sales at 6,742 units lastmonth as against 5,780 units inMay last year.

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�!� � ��(� India will regainthe crown of the fastest grow-ing major economy, overtakingChina, as early as the firstquarter of 2017-18, NITIAayog Vice Chairman ArvindPanagariya said on Thursday.

India, on an annual basis,is ahead of China and willregain the growth momen-tum soon on the back of hostof reforms initiated by theModi government in the lastthree years, he said.

India lost the tag to Chinain the March quarter with theGDP growth slipping to 6.1 percent. China recorded a growthrate of 6.9 per cent during theJanuary-March quarter. *��

�!�� ��(�Finance Minister ArunJaitley on Thursday said the resolu-tion of staggering levels of bad loansis work in progress and some visi-ble action will be taken within nextfew days under the recently passedNPA ordinance.

The ordinance was promul-gated last month amending theBanking Regulation Act, 1949 toempower the Reserve Bank ofIndia to resolve the thorny issue ofnon performing assets (NPAs) or

bad loans.With the ordinance, the

Government empowered RBI to askbanks to initiate insolvency pro-ceedings to recover bad loans andpromised more measures to resolvethe NPA crisis.

“RBI was taking measuresunder the existing mechanism. Wehave now taken another steps andthere would be visible action takenunder the new mechanism in thenext few days,” said Jaitley . *��

������(� Benchmark Sensexremained range-bound inchoppy trade on Thursday,ending a shade lower at31,137.59 as investors preferredto stay light amid a drumbeatof grim macroeconomic data.The 30-share index shed 8.21points, to end at 31,137.59 aftershuttling between 31,213.12and 31,062.02. *��

�!� � ��(� Several factorsincluding the global situationwere responsible for decline inGDP growth to 6.1 per cent inthe fourth quarter of 2016-17,Finance Minister Arun Jaitleysaid on Thursday, dismissingsuggestions that it was onaccount of demonetisation.

The minister further saidsome slowdown was visibleeven prior to demonetisationof �500/1000 currency notesannounced by the govern-ment on November 8 lastyear.

“Seven-eight per centgrowth is fairly reasonable levelof growth and very good byglobal standard and reasonableby Indian standard,” Jaitleysaid while addressing media oncompletion of three years of theModi Government. *��

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Australia and New Zealand will look up totheir inspirational skippers Steve Smith andKane Williamson to straightaway set the tone

when they lock horns in the ICC ChampionsTrophy here on Friday.

An intriguing battle is on the cards between thetrans-Tasman rivals, led by two technically soundcaptains.

Both are world-class performers with the bat,but they go about their task in a very different man-ner.

Busy and always energetic on the field,Australia's Smith is a far cry from the usually calmand calculated New Zealander. As has been the casein recent years, the two consistent performers willbe expected to lead from the front tomorrow also.

While multiple-time world champions andChampions Trophy winners Australia are always atough nut to crack, New Zealand will enter the gameat Edgbaston with renewed confidence after theirsix-wicket warm-up win over Sri Lanka at the samevenue.

The Black Caps chased down a mammoth 357-run target with a good 23 balls to spare.

Opener Martin Guptill found his form with ablazing century after a scrappy showing in the rain-affected warm-up against India.

Australia, on the other hand, have an explosiveopening pair in Aaron Finch and David Warner, fol-lowed by Chris Lynn, one of the most powerful hit-ters in the world.

The trio would look to go hard at the bowlersand put them on the back foot. Smith will spear-head the middle-order, expected to be supportedby the likes of Glenn Maxwell and MoisesHenriques.

The Australian captain will have plenty ofoptions in the pace bowling department, withMitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood andJames Pattinson all charged up and raring to have

a go at the batsmen.Keeping the English conditions in mind, it is

important that the Australian pacers don't lose con-trol, as the batsmen can easily use the lightningquick outfield to their advantage by using the paceof the ball.

Having fully recovered from a foot injury, thewidely-respected Starc will be the leader of theattack, and his ability to swing the new ball and getthe old ball to reverse will be a huge asset for the2006 and 2009 winners.

Guptill and Williamson will be the key to NewZealand, and also crucial to the side's fortunes willbe the form of the experienced Ross Taylor, CoreyAnderson and Luke Ronchi.

As far as their attack is concerned, NewZealand will expect swing bowlers Tim Southeeand Trent Boult, who can get the ball to movearound in the air and off the seam, to do the bulkof the damage.

The last time the two teams met in a majortournament was at the 2015 World Cup final,when Australia emerged triumphant days afterlosing to New Zealand in the league stage.

*���� +4�//#(

Australian fast bowling legend GlennMcGrath says India's pace-spin bowl-

ing combination gives them an edge overother teams in the ICC ChampionsTrophy starting today in the UK.

The 47-year-old Aussie is in the cityto train pacers at the MRF PaceFoundation.

"Indian bowlers have really done wellin the last two- three years. I think Indiahave got one of the most potent attacksand the pace-spin combination will pro-vide them an edge over other teams," hesaid.

McGrath felt India will have theupper hand in the opening clash of the

Champions Trophy against Pakistan onSunday, though he did not rule outPakistan's chances.

"It's always a big game wheneverIndia play Pakistan. Although not thesame powerful force they once used to be,Pakistan still have some quality bowlersand an experienced batting line-up. Younever know Pakistan might just pull offa surprise on their day," he told reportersyesterday.

He said India will be among thesemi-finalists of the marquee event.

"India is a very good ODI team,expect them to do well. They should bein the top four along with Australia andEngland. The fourth team would beeither South Africa or New Zealand," he

added.McGrath heaped praise on the cur-

rent India pacers, especially JaspritBumrah and Umesh Yadav.

"I am impressed with the Indianbowlers. Umesh is bowling very well.

"Bumrah is a good one-day bowler.

The way he bowls at the death is impres-sive. In addition to a fine length, he alsogenerates good pace. Bumrah can comeup with occasional yorkers as well. I hopehe continues to improve."

McGrath said Australia were thefavourites to win the tournament.

"I will always back Australia. Englandare going to be tough to beat at home andhave just beaten South Africa in a ODIseries. Ben Stokes will be a key player forthe host," he said.

He called Mitchell Starc the best fastbowler in the world at present.

McGrath also hoped that the ongo-ing row over pay between CricketAustralia and the players would beresolved soon.

*���� (.)(/04#)

Pakistan opener Azhar Alisought to play down the hype

over their high-profile ChampionsTrophy match against arch-rivalsIndia, saying they are taking it asa "normal" game despite the soar-ing expectations.

Defending champions Indiaopen their campaign in the ICCevent with a marquee clash againstPakistan here on Sunday.

"I think when the game starts,it feels quite normal (for theplayers)," Azhar said after alengthy training session atEdgbaston.

"The players are playing the sit-uation, whatever the teams need atthat time. Players are professionals,so they tend to mould into that sit-uation rather than thinking toomuch about who we are playing. It'sa ball and bat and you just want toperform with those.

"As a professional, you have totake it as a game," he stressed.

Azhar's One-Day Internationalrecord reads an impressive 1605runs in 45 matches at an average of38.21 and a strike-rate of 75.00.

His class and calmness haveearned him a recall in Pakistan'sODI side for the tournament.

Ahead of the big-ticket game,he further said, "No international

game comes easy to you, you haveto work hard for it and it will be thesame against India. For every team,whenever a player puts on hiscountry's shirt, he aims to give hisbest. It will be the same for bothteams.

"We are fully focused on thebrand of cricket we want to play andwe are taking it as a normal game.I know these words and expecta-tions are there, just like they are inIndia they will be there in Pakistantoo. We'll try to live up to thoseexpectations."

Azhar's does not want to puttoo much pressure on himself.

"If you set too many expecta-tions on yourself you will only endup putting more pressure on your-self. I'm happy with my fitness andform, really want to go in the mid-dle and perform for Pakistan. Everyplayer in this tournament will wantthe same, because ICC events are agreat opportunity to establish yourself."

� *�� +737) 7

Sri Lanka skipper AngeloMathews has suffered a calf

injury and may not play in theirfirst Champions Trophy groupmatch on Saturday, the CricketBoard said.

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) saidhe was "most likely to sit out" the50-over match against SouthAfrica at the Oval, in southLondon.

Mathews rejoined the teamafter a five-month layoff due toa hamstring injury that forcedhim to return home halfwaythrough the tour of South Africain January.

The board said Mathews,who turns 30 on Friday, had com-plained of stiffness and pain. Amedical examination revealed astrain on the muscle.

"Mathews will engage insupervised recovery over thenext few days but will most like-ly sit out the first group stagematch against South Africa," SLCsaid in a statement on Thursday.

He had been declared fit forthe 50-over showpiece eventafter a week-long high intensitytraining camp in central SriLanka.

Mathews, who last played anODI in the home series loss toAustralia in August 2016, wasupbeat when the Sri Lankansquad left for London two weeksago to prepare for the tourna-ment.

But he warned: "We don'thave time for hiccups in a tour-nament like this."

Sri Lanka are in Group Bwith India, Pakistan and SouthAfrica.

� *�� #.+�37/#

Newly-installed Barcelona coach ErnestoValverde vowed today to "deepen" and

"revisit" the renowned slick passing game ofthe Catalan giants in a bid to lead the clubto success in all possible competitions nextseason.

"I know the style because I played here"between 1998- 2000, Valverde said at his firstpress conference after being named succes-sor to Luis Enrique on a two-year contractwith the option of a further year.

"I must adapt myself, or rather readapt,in a certain way.

“My goal is always to deepen the style,to revisit it once again."

Valverde, 53, has some big shoes to fill,Enrique having won nine of 13 possible tro-phies in his time at the helm.

"I must absolutely adapt to the style ofthe gameplan employed by the team, whichhas had so much success," said the coach,who signed from Athletic Bilbao.

"To have a very collective gameplan,based on midfielders," he said, adding thathe wanted to win "all competitions that wecan" next season.

"What I've always liked is that Barcamanages to achieve its ends through itsgameplan, without speculating, by going for-ward."

Valverde did not say what exactly hewanted to improve.

"We'll see over time," he said. "In foot-ball, you always have to keep going forward.If you don't, you go backwards.

“But it's a progressive issue and we'll seelittle by little.

"To say what can be improved is a dan-gerous thing and I can only tip my hat towhat my predecessor Luis Enrique, who isa great coach, achieved here.

"I have my idea about what can be done,not better but in a different way."

Turning to his motivation in joiningBarca, Valverde said: "I said I wanted a toughchallenge and it's one the toughest.

"When a team like FC Barcelona callsyou, you don't have to think about it toomuch."

Valverde also dismissed any worriesabout managing a squad packed with someof the world's best-paid and recognised play-ers.

"I expect to find a squad of young play-ers who want to win and will give the bestof themselves," he said.

"We idealise too much all this, million-aire players and all that. I don't know manyplayers who were born millionaires."

Working with Argentina's Leo Messiwould be a "unique experience", the coachadded.

"He's the best player I've ever seen on apitch. Sometimes you could say Leo Messihas reached the summit, but he surprises youeven more the following day.

"I hope to enjoy seeing him play and doeverything possible to help him. And I hopehe'll continue to surprise us."

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Cristiano Ronaldo heads to Saturday'sChampions League final against

Juventus on the brink of realising a burn-ing ambition of matching Lionel Messi'srecord of winning the Ballon d'Or fivetimes.

"I want to catch Messi," Ronaldo con-fessed when collecting his third WorldPlayer of the Year crown back in 2015.

Now the Portuguese has four to hisname, but Messi still remains one step aheadwith five.

The two have dominated the award forthe past decade in the battle to not just beconsidered the best of their generation, butamong the best of all time.

Yet, whilst Juventus's stubborn defenceforced Messi to fire blanks in a 3-0 quar-ter-final aggregate win for the Italians overBarcelona, Ronaldo can complete anotherstellar season by ensuring Madrid becomethe first side to retain the ChampionsLeague.

"I am aware of the fact that what I'vedone in football has already left and willcontinue to leave a mark," said Ronaldo. "Ihaven't broken so many records by accident.That's not an obsession for me, but I do likebreaking them."

Ronaldo has already added his name tomore record books during this season'sChampions League.

His hat-trick against Bayern Munich inthe quarter-finals made him the first manto score more than 100 Champions Leaguegoals.

And he duly added another hat-trickin the semi-finals against Atletico Madridto carry Real to the final in Cardiff thisweekend.

"He has a good opportunity with theseason that he has had, above all in theChampions League this year," said PredragMijatovic, who scored the winning goalwhen Real last met Juventus in theChampions League final in 1998.

However, the Montenegrin believes

Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon couldfinally end Messi and Ronaldo's reign if helifts the Champions League for the first timeat 39 to complete the treble for the Italiangiants.

"I think the next Ballon d'Or will comefrom the team that wins the ChampionsLeague. Cristiano is there, as is Buffon andother great players at Real Madrid likeSergio Ramos that could aspire to it."

Ramos uninterestedRamos more than Ronaldo has been

Real's hero in beating Atletico in two of thepast three Champions League finals, scor-ing in both games in Lisbon and Milan.

However, the Spanish internationaldoesn't seem interested in depriving histeammate of a fifth Ballon d'Or to tie Messi'srecord.

"If I wanted to win individual awardsI would have played tennis," Ramos said onTuesday.

In contrast to Madrid's previous finals

in recent seasons, though, Ronaldo arrivesin Cardiff in his best form of the campaignhaving been spared for a series of leaguegames recently.

Despite Ronaldo missing nine La Ligagames in total, Madrid didn't miss a beat,winning every single one to edge outBarcelona and claim a first league title infive years.

"It was very intelligent management onthe part of the coach because everythinghad minutes, everyone played and con-tributed," added Ronaldo on ZinedineZidane.

"I feel better than in recent years. Thatis why I think this year will be good for me.I hope to help the team with a good per-formance and goals if possible."

If he adds to his 14 goals in his last ninegames against the meanest defence in thisseason's Champions League, Ronaldo willlikely have his name etched on yet anoth-er Ballon d'Or.

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Claiming a medal at next year's Commonwealth Games remainsone of the targets for top doubles star Ashwini Ponnappa, who

led India to the Sudirman Cup knockout stage last week.At Gold Coast in Australia, Ashwini spearheaded the Indian

challenge as she played both the mixed doubles with youngSatwiksairaj Rankireddy and women's doubles with N Sikki Reddyand their performances were the highlights of the event.

"We are looking forward to the next tournament, doing bet-ter than what we have done," said Ashwini. "If we can reach a finalof super series this year, that will be good and CWG medal will beone of the important targets."

Talking about the Sudirman Cup, Ashwini said: "Ever since wecame to know about the draw, I was confident we were good enoughto beat them. Most of the players in the opposition team had top

5 players and when I knew I will have to play two matches, I hadthe belief that we could do well.

"Me and Satwik were training together just a few weeks aheadof the event as we had sent our entry for the Australian Open. Sowhen we got a chance to play at the Sudirman Cup, we were excit-ed as it was our first tournament together."

Ashwini along with Jwala Gutta formed a formidable pair, win-ning medals at the Commonwealth Games in 2010 and 2014 anda bronze at the 2011 World Championship. They also qualified forthe Olympics in 2012 London Games and the 2016 Rio Games.Reddy. After Gutta’s retirement she is happy with her new partners.

"Coaches have been the ones who have been deciding my part-ners after the Olympics and it is about trusting them. Me andSumeeth had a good partnership. We are both similar players, wehave played women's doubles and men's doubles respectively andnow we are venturing into mixed doubles," said the shuttler.

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Opener Tamim Iqbal hit a stylish hundred,guiding Bangladesh to a competitive 305

for six against England in the ICC ChampionsTrophy opener here on Thursday.

Courtesy Tamim's (128 off 142 balls)ninth ODI hundred and a 166-run partner-ship for the third wicket with MushfiqurRahim (79 off 72), Bangladesh shrugged offthe disappointment of a batting debacleagainst India in the practice game.

The visitors made a safe start withTamim and Soumya Sarkar (28) adding 56runs for the opening wicket. Imrul Kayes (19)didn't score too many but the two senior pros,Tamim and Rahim then batted responsiblyon a placid Oval track.

The stylish Tamim hit 12 boundaries andthree sixes in his innings while Rahimstruck eight boundaries in his 72-ball knock.

Tamim started on a cautious note getting

his first boundary off 21st ball that he faced.His first confident shot was a straight

drive off Mark Wood followed by a whip tolong-leg.

He cut and pulled with ferocity to tocomplete the 50 off 71 balls. The six came offMoeen Ali -- an inside out lofted shot overlong-off.

The century also came when he tappedAli for a single to complete it off 124 balls.

It seemed that Bangladesh would getclose to 330 but England fought backthrough Liam Plunkett who dismissedTamim and Rahim off successive balls in the45th over.

The twin strikes affected the scoring ratea bit before Sabbir Rahman smashed 24 off15 balls to take his team past 300.

Medium pacer Plunkett was the pick ofthe bowlers for England, taking four wick-ets in his 10 overs and conceding 59 runs.

The 50th over was bowled by Plunkettand it went for just five runs.

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