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S unday's sweeping Cabinet rejig witnessed Prime Minister Narendra Modi brin- ing in some former bureaucrats to help scale up governance and speed up implementation of central welfare programmes but the exercise still could not fill up all the vacancies with several Ministers ending up holding charges of more than one Ministry. The reshuffle left an uneasy feeling within a section of the BJP that there could be better representation from the party itself and a kind of "outsourc- ing" was not required to fill up the Cabinet slots. The criticism is being targeted at the inclu- sion of two non-political entrants in the council of Ministers. There has been a palpable discontent that MPs from the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha with "proven cre- dentials" have not been reward- ed and "youth" not given their due in the Cabinet. Despite the third Cabinet expansion exercise with general elections less than two years away, all the vacancies have not been filled with important Ministries like Environment and Forest, Information & Broadcasting and many others are still not being managed by a single independent Minister. Many have recalled a reported comment, last year, by a BJP vice-president and now a RS member (himself a potential candidate for ministership), that the Modi Government was "talent deficit". On a plus side, it has been pointed out that the Prime Minster is not averse to ringing in the "talent" even if he him- self has been the subject of his criticism. Former Home Secretary RK Singh who has been vocal in opposing his own Government in the past and even objected to describ- ing the BJP Government as 'Modi Government' in the Lok Sabha was on Sunday induct- ed by the Prime Minister in his Council of Ministers with key portfolio of Power. The reshuffle sees Nirmala Sitharaman becoming the first full-time woman Defence Minister of the country as Modi elevates four 'performing' junior Ministers — Seethraraman, Dharmendra Pradhan, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Piyush Goyal to the Cabinet rank with the lat- ter shifted to the high profile Railways relieving Suresh Prabhu who in turn is moved to the Ministry of Commerce & Industry. Sitharaman's entry in the Defence would make her a member of Cabinet Committee on Security which is headed by the Prime Minister with Ministers of Defence, External Affairs, Home as its members. Sushma Swaraj is the other woman member in the impor- tant committee. There are a total of five woman Cabinet Ministers in the Modi Government, the others being Maneka Gandhi, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Uma Bharti and Smriti Zubin Irani. In a brief ceremony at the Rashrapati Bhawan, which was not attended by allies the JD(U) and the Shiv Sena , President Ram Nath Kovind also admin- istered oath to nine new faces as Ministers of State which included Virendra Kumar (LS member from Madhya Pradesh), Anant Kumar Hegde (LS member from Karnataka), Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (LS member from Rajasthan), for- mer Home Secretary RK Singh (LS member from Bihar), Ashwini Kumar Choubey (LS member from Bihar), and for- mer Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh ( LS member from UP),Shiv Pratap Shukla (RS member from UP), former IAS officer Alphons Kannanthanam (Kerala) and former diplomat Hardeep Puri. Puri (Housing & Urban Affairs), Kannathanam (Tourism & Electronics and Information Technology) and Singh (Power and New & Renewable Energy), — all are given Independent charge of their respective Ministries. Continued on Page 2 Related reports on P5, 6 A s the Narendra Modi Government went in for a Cabinet reshuffle, the Shiv Sena and the JD(U) did not attend the swearing- in ceremony as their members were not inducted in the revamped Council of Ministers nor they "received any intimation". Both the allies appeared disappointed with the development. There was a suggestion that not inclusion of the allies in the Cabinet revamp was a way of conveying as who is the real boss in the governance. Though, the BJP side maintained that there could be another brief expansion where the concern of allies would be addressed. The JD(U), which joined the NDA few weeks ago, was expect- ing a call to get at least two of its members being included in the Union Cabinet. Continued on Page 2 T wo former IAS officers, an ex-IPS officer and an ex-diplomat, who made it to the Modi Cabinet on Sunday, have not been given portfolios of their domain areas. With the induction of Raj Kumar Singh (for- mer Home Secretary), Hardeep Singh Puri (former diplomat), Satyapal Singh (former Mumbai Police Commissioner) and Alphons (former Commissioner Delhi Development Authority) — the number of former bureaucrats and ex-service- men in the Modi Government has risen to seven. Satyapal Singh (an Indian Police Service officer) has been given Human Resource Development (HRD) portfolio, Puri ( an Indian Foreign Service offi- cer)allocated Urban and Housing Development, RK Singh (Indian Administrative Service) awarded with power and Alphons, the famed "demolition man" gets Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. Continued on Page 2 E ven though the State Government has been encouraging the CPI (Maoist) and other splinter group mem- bers to join the mainstream offering a rehabilitation pack- age for them, host of those who followed the call are yet to be given their dues. Data with the police sug- gests that most of the Naxals who surrendered during this financial year are still waiting for the benefits under ‘Operation Nai Disha’. As many as 17 dreaded Naxals, mostly coming from lower cadres, have not been paid the compensation declared along with other facil- ities coming with the much acclaimed policy. It also came into light that ‘fund crunch’ is one of the reasons for penden- cy among others. Dreaded Maoist leader Kundan Pahan, facing 128 cases including that of murder of senior police officers and carrying a reward of Rs 15 lakh on his head, was paid the reward money, who surren- dered in Ranchi before senior Police Officials in Ranchi on May 14 this year while those who surrendered before him are still waiting for it. As per the data available with the official site of Jharkhand Police, a total of 152 Naxals have surrendered so far out of which 13 who surren- dered in 2017 and five who sur- rendered before the police have not been paid their dues and benefits under Operation Nai Disha. Dumka SP Mayur Patel Kanhaiya Lal said the rehabil- itation package of the surren- dered Maoists of the district had already been forwarded which was pending with the State Government. “Rehabilitation package for the surrendered Maoists have already been decided in a com- mittee headed by DC, but they have not been paid as funds for the same has not been allotted from the State Government. As soon as the fund reaches to us, they will be paid their dues,” said the SP. While his counterpart from Lohardaga termed the figure not so alarming. “Out of the 18 surrendered Maoists from the district, 14 have been paid their dues while the process of paying their dues to the remaining four rebels is still in the process. Fund has already been given to us, they will be given their dues as soon as the process is completed,” said Lohardaga SP Kartik S. When asked for the reason, the top official of the State police termed it as technical delays. “Matter of giving reward money and other benefits to the surrendered Maoists is taken up individually and dif- fers from case to case by a dis- trict level rehabilitation pack- age committee headed by the Deputy Commissioners. After deciding the packages given to a surrendered Maoist, it makes a recommendation to the State Government which is given to them after a verification done by the Special Branch,” said IG (Operations) and Jharkhand Police Spokesperson Ashish Batra. He, however, said that the processing takes some time, only after which the recom- mendation is made to the State Government.

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Page 1: ˙ ˇ 2˘ ˇˆ # ˘˙123!45# ˝ !0 6 ˆ˙˜ !˜˛#$ !%!&˚’˙˝()˛%’%ˆ*’& Hardeep Puri. Puri (Housing & Urban Affairs), Kannathanam ... (1 ˘ˆˆ 2 % 2 ... given assignment

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���������� �� ������� ������������� ������������ �������� ������������

���#�����#������ +,���,-.*

Sunday's sweeping Cabinetrejig witnessed Prime

Minister Narendra Modi brin-ing in some former bureaucratsto help scale up governance andspeed up implementation ofcentral welfare programmesbut the exercise still could notfill up all the vacancies withseveral Ministers ending upholding charges of more thanone Ministry.

The reshuffle left an uneasyfeeling within a section of theBJP that there could be betterrepresentation from the partyitself and a kind of "outsourc-ing" was not required to fill upthe Cabinet slots. The criticismis being targeted at the inclu-sion of two non-politicalentrants in the council ofMinisters. There has been apalpable discontent that MPsfrom the Lok Sabha and theRajya Sabha with "proven cre-dentials" have not been reward-ed and "youth" not given theirdue in the Cabinet.

Despite the third Cabinetexpansion exercise with generalelections less than two yearsaway, all the vacancies have notbeen filled with importantMinistries like Environmentand Forest, Information &Broadcasting and many othersare still not being managed bya single independent Minister.Many have recalled a reportedcomment, last year, by a BJPvice-president and now a RSmember (himself a potentialcandidate for ministership),that the Modi Governmentwas "talent deficit".

On a plus side, it has beenpointed out that the PrimeMinster is not averse to ringingin the "talent" even if he him-self has been the subject of hiscriticism. Former HomeSecretary RK Singh who hasbeen vocal in opposing hisown Government in the pastand even objected to describ-ing the BJP Government as'Modi Government' in the LokSabha was on Sunday induct-ed by the Prime Minister in hisCouncil of Ministers with keyportfolio of Power.

The reshuffle sees NirmalaSitharaman becoming the firstfull-time woman DefenceMinister of the country as Modielevates four 'performing' juniorMinisters — Seethraraman,Dharmendra Pradhan, MukhtarAbbas Naqvi and Piyush Goyalto the Cabinet rank with the lat-ter shifted to the high profileRailways relieving SureshPrabhu who in turn is moved tothe Ministry of Commerce &Industry.

Sitharaman's entry in theDefence would make her amember of Cabinet Committeeon Security which is headed bythe Prime Minister withMinisters of Defence, ExternalAffairs, Home as its members.Sushma Swaraj is the otherwoman member in the impor-tant committee. There are atotal of five woman CabinetMinisters in the ModiGovernment, the others beingManeka Gandhi, HarsimratKaur Badal, Uma Bharti andSmriti Zubin Irani.

In a brief ceremony at theRashrapati Bhawan, which wasnot attended by allies the JD(U)and the Shiv Sena , PresidentRam Nath Kovind also admin-istered oath to nine new facesas Ministers of State whichincluded Virendra Kumar (LSmember from MadhyaPradesh), Anant Kumar Hegde(LS member from Karnataka),Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (LSmember from Rajasthan), for-mer Home Secretary RK Singh(LS member from Bihar),Ashwini Kumar Choubey (LSmember from Bihar), and for-mer Mumbai PoliceCommissioner Satyapal Singh( LS member from UP),ShivPratap Shukla (RS memberfrom UP), former IAS officerAlphons Kannanthanam(Kerala) and former diplomatHardeep Puri.

Puri (Housing & UrbanAffairs), Kannathanam(Tourism & Electronics andInformation Technology) andSingh (Power and New &Renewable Energy), — all aregiven Independent charge oftheir respective Ministries.

Continued on Page 2Related reports on P5, 6

#���� +,���,-.*

As the Narendra Modi Government wentin for a Cabinet reshuffle, the Shiv Sena

and the JD(U) did not attend the swearing-in ceremony as their members were notinducted in the revamped Council ofMinisters nor they "received any intimation".

Both the allies appeared disappointed withthe development. There was a suggestion thatnot inclusion of the allies in the Cabinetrevamp was a way of conveying as who is thereal boss in the governance. Though, the BJPside maintained that there could be anotherbrief expansion where the concern of allieswould be addressed. The JD(U), whichjoined the NDA few weeks ago, was expect-ing a call to get at least two of its membersbeing included in the Union Cabinet.

Continued on Page 2

#���� +,���,-.*

Two former IAS officers, an ex-IPS officer and anex-diplomat, who made it to the Modi Cabinet

on Sunday, have not been given portfolios of theirdomain areas.

With the induction of Raj Kumar Singh (for-mer Home Secretary), Hardeep Singh Puri (formerdiplomat), Satyapal Singh (former Mumbai PoliceCommissioner) and Alphons (formerCommissioner Delhi Development Authority) —the number of former bureaucrats and ex-service-men in the Modi Government has risen to seven.Satyapal Singh (an Indian Police Service officer) hasbeen given Human Resource Development (HRD)portfolio, Puri ( an Indian Foreign Service offi-cer)allocated Urban and Housing Development, RKSingh (Indian Administrative Service) awarded withpower and Alphons, the famed "demolition man"gets Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry ofElectronics and Information Technology.

Continued on Page 2

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Even though the StateGovernment has been

encouraging the CPI (Maoist)and other splinter group mem-bers to join the mainstreamoffering a rehabilitation pack-age for them, host of those whofollowed the call are yet to begiven their dues.

Data with the police sug-gests that most of the Naxalswho surrendered during thisfinancial year are still waitingfor the benefits under‘Operation Nai Disha’.

As many as 17 dreadedNaxals, mostly coming fromlower cadres, have not beenpaid the compensationdeclared along with other facil-ities coming with the muchacclaimed policy. It also cameinto light that ‘fund crunch’ isone of the reasons for penden-cy among others.

Dreaded Maoist leaderKundan Pahan, facing 128cases including that of murderof senior police officers andcarrying a reward of Rs 15 lakhon his head, was paid thereward money, who surren-dered in Ranchi before seniorPolice Officials in Ranchi onMay 14 this year while thosewho surrendered before himare still waiting for it.

As per the data available

with the official site ofJharkhand Police, a total of 152Naxals have surrendered so farout of which 13 who surren-dered in 2017 and five who sur-rendered before the police havenot been paid their dues andbenefits under Operation NaiDisha.

Dumka SP Mayur PatelKanhaiya Lal said the rehabil-itation package of the surren-dered Maoists of the districthad already been forwardedwhich was pending with theState Government.

“Rehabilitation package forthe surrendered Maoists havealready been decided in a com-mittee headed by DC, but theyhave not been paid as funds forthe same has not been allottedfrom the State Government. As

soon as the fund reaches to us,they will be paid their dues,”said the SP.

While his counterpart fromLohardaga termed the figurenot so alarming. “Out of the 18

surrendered Maoists from thedistrict, 14 have been paidtheir dues while the process ofpaying their dues to theremaining four rebels is still inthe process. Fund has already

been given to us, they will begiven their dues as soon as theprocess is completed,” saidLohardaga SP Kartik S.

When asked for the reason,the top official of the State

police termed it as technicaldelays. “Matter of giving rewardmoney and other benefits tothe surrendered Maoists istaken up individually and dif-fers from case to case by a dis-trict level rehabilitation pack-age committee headed by theDeputy Commissioners. Afterdeciding the packages given toa surrendered Maoist, it makesa recommendation to the StateGovernment which is given tothem after a verification doneby the Special Branch,” said IG(Operations) and JharkhandPolice Spokesperson AshishBatra.

He, however, said that theprocessing takes some time,only after which the recom-mendation is made to the StateGovernment.

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It was all quiet on theHimalayan BJP front. Even as

the Raisina Hill was bustlingwith the sounds of oath takingceremony of the newly induct-ed Cabinet and State Ministersof the third ModiGovernment's major reshuffleon Sunday there is little to cel-ebrate in the State BJP.Contrary to the expectation ofmany observers and seniorpolitical leaders, not a singleMP from the Uttarakhand wasneither elevated to the Cabinetnor inducted to even Ministerof State.

What’s more, this has givenenough bullets for the opposi-tion to target the BJP-led UnionGovernment and rub salt onthe wounds of disappointed BJPMPs. The UttarakhandCongress Committee presidentPritam Singh said this thirdrejig was a clear message to theState about how much impor-tance was accorded by the BJPhigh command.

As is known, the voters inUttarakhand had elected BJPcandidates to all five seats to theBJP during last general electionin 2014. In that election, threeex-CMs including Bhagat SinghKoshyari, Maj Gen (retd) BhuwanChandra Khanduri and RameshPokhriyal Nishank were electedfrom Nainital-Udham SinghNagar, Garhwal and HaridwarLok Sabha constituencies of theState respectively.

The newly elected BJP MPAjay Tamta was inducted as

Minister of State in second cab-inet rejig in the year 2016. Thenit was being presumed that oneof the ex CMs may be induct-ed in to the cabinet but theycould not accommodated.

Even during Assemblyelection each of the MPs wasgiven assignment based onwhich it was stated that theirleadership quality would beassessed after considering partyperformance in the assemblyelection. In these elections theCongress had won three seatseach from Haridwar andAlmora-Pithoragarh Lok Sabhaconstituency while twoCongress and one independentcandidates had won fromassembly seats in the Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar parlia-mentary seat. Similarly, twoassembly seats each from Tehriand Garhwal were lost by theBJP during assembly election.

As is known, Khandurihad been excluded from thecabinet due to age criteria so itwas being presumed that eitherNishank or Koshyari may beinducted but party high com-mand has not considered theircandidature. With this, thirdrejig, which is being consideredas last rejig before general elec-tion-2019, Uttarakhand leadersare running upset because theyrealised that they have failed tograb the PM’s attention.

In his Press release, thePCC president Pritam Singhnoted that leaders’ removaland induction into the UnionCabinet is prerogative of thePrime Minister but being a

Himalayan and border State atleast people here were pre-suming that PM would giveimportance to the State but hisdecision has caused disap-pointment. It is now proventhat BJP has given importanceto the States which are sup-posed to face election in com-ing days. As we know, beforeUttarakhand Assembly elec-tion-2017, MP Ajay Tamta was

inducted as Minister of Stateduring second Cabinet expan-sion of PM Narendra Modi, headded.

Lt General Sanjay KumarJha, took over as the 48thCommandant of the presti-gious, Indian MilitaryAcademy, Dehradun onMonday. He took over thereins of the academy from LtGen SK Upadhya.

Lt Gen Jha, a highly deco-rated soldier is an alumni ofNational Defence Academyand Indian Military Academy.He was commissioned into the“17th Battalion the SikhRegiment’’ on December 13,1980.

In an illustrious careerspanning a period of morethan 36 years, the officer hasheld various Staff, Instructionaland Command appointments.He has commanded aRashtriya Rifles Battalion, anAssam Rifle Sector and aMountain Division in theNorth East. He has held posi-tions like Brigade Major of anInfantry Brigade, General StaffOfficer 1 (Operations) of aMountain Division, DirectorMilitary Operations, BrigadierGeneral Staff (Operations) of aCommand, Deputy AdditionalChief of Integrated DefenceStaff at HeadquartersIntegrated Defence Staff,Additional Director General ofPerspective Planning andDirector General of PerspectivePlanning at Integrated HeadQuarters of Ministry ofDefence (MoD).

Lt General Jha has alsoheld instructional appoint-ments at Indian MilitaryAcademy, Indian MilitaryTraining Team (Bhutan) andArmy War College. He hasserved as Deputy Commanderand Chief of Staff of an InfantryBrigade in the United NationMission at Congo.

The General officer hasexcelled in various profession-

al courses during his serviceand has many achievements tohis credit. The new IMACommandant is a Graduate ofthe Defence Services StaffCollege, Higher CommandCourse and National DefenceCollege.

He has been accorded withthe GOC-in-C CommendationCard (twice), VCOASCommendation Card, SenaMedal, Yudh Seva Medal andAti Vishist Seva Medal(AVSM).

The General officer is alsothe Colonel of the SikhRegiment. He was GeneralOfficer Commanding in Chiefof a Corps in the North East,before assuming the presentappointment. Lt Gen Jha takesover the reins of IMA at a timewhen death of two cadets hasrocked the institute.

IMA is the premier mili-tary academy of the countrywhich has a rich tradition ofsupplying fine young officers tothe Indian Army and thearmies of friendly nations. Inone of the most rigorous train-ing regime the GentlemenCadets (GCs) are exposed tomultifarious activities such asweapon training, service andacademic subjects, drill, phys-ical training, sports, outdoorcamps and extracurricularactivities. These are aimed atmaking them battle ready andteach them necessary skills toexecute various responsibilitiesand operational tasks withutmost professionalism duringtheir service career.

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Lieutenant General SanjayKumar Jha took over as the

48th Commandant of the pres-tigious Indian MilitaryAcademy, Dehradun onMonday. He took over thereins of the Academy from LtGen SK Upadhya.

Lt Gen Jha, a highly deco-rated soldier, is an alumni ofNational Defence Academyand Indian Military Academ.He was commissioned into the17th Battalion the SikhRegiment on December 13,1980.

In an illustrious careerspanning a period of morethan 36 years, the officer hasheld various Staff, Instructionaland Command appointments.He has commanded aRashtriya Rifles Battalion, anAssam Rifle Sector and aMountain Division in theNorth East. He has held posi-tions like Brigade Major of an

Infantry Brigade, General StaffOfficer 1 (Operations) of aMountain Division, DirectorMilitary Operations, BrigadierGeneral Staff (Operations) of aCommand, Deputy AdditionalChief of Integrated DefenceStaff at HeadquartersIntegrated Defence Staff,Additional Director General ofPerspective Planning andDirector General of PerspectivePlanning at Integrated HeadQuarters of Ministry ofDefence (MoD).

Lt General Jha has alsoheld instructional appoint-ments at Indian MilitaryAcademy, Indian MilitaryTraining Team (Bhutan) andArmy War College. He hasserved as Deputy Commanderand Chief of Staff of an InfantryBrigade in the United NationMission at Congo.

The General officer hasexcelled in various profession-al courses during his serviceand has many achievements to

his credit. The new IMACommandant is a Graduate ofthe Defence Services StaffCollege, Higher CommandCourse and National DefenceCollege.

He has been accorded withthe GOC-in-C CommendationCard (twice), VCOASCommendation Card, SenaMedal, Yudh Seva Medal andAti Vishist Seva Medal(AVSM).

The General officer is alsothe Colonel of the SikhRegiment. He was GeneralOfficer Commanding in Chief

of a Corps in the North East,before assuming the presentappointment.

Lt Gen Jha takes over thereins of IMA at a time whendeath of two cadets has rockedthe institute.

IMA is the premier mili-tary academy of the countrywhich has a rich tradition ofsupplying fine young officers tothe Indian Army and thearmies of friendly nations. Inone of the most rigorous train-ing regime the GentlemenCadets (GCs) are exposed tomultifarious activities such asweapon training, service andacademic subjects, drill, phys-ical training, sports, outdoorcamps and extracurricularactivities.

These are aimed at makingthem battle ready and teachthem necessary skills to executevarious responsibilities andoperational tasks with utmostprofessionalism during theirservice career.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi and Chinese

President Xi Jinping are expect-ed to hold a bilateral meetingon Tuesday, nearly a week afterIndia and China announcedresolution of the 73-day-longDokalam stand-off.

According to officials, thetwo leaders are scheduled tohold a meeting on September5 on the sidelines of the 9thBrazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS)Summit, which will start onMonday in this port city ofChina.

After the bilateral meetingwith the host, Modi will trav-el to Myanmar. The Chinese

and the Indian troops wereengaged in a standoff sinceJune 16 after the Indian sidestopped the construction of aroad by the Chinese army.

On August 28, India'sExternal Affairs Ministryannounced that New Delhiand Beijing have decided on"expeditious disengagement"of their border troops in thedisputed Dokalam area. Modiwill also hold bilateral meet-ings with other leaders includ-ing Russian President VladimirPutin and President AbdelFattah el-Sisi of Egypt, whichis among the five counties --Mexico, Guinea, Thailand andTajikistan-- invited by Chinaas part of 'BRICS Plus' outreachexercise.

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North Korea on Sunday saidit set off a hydrogen bomb

in its sixth nuclear test, whichjudging by the earthquake it setoff appeared to be its most pow-erful explosion yet. The USState Department had noimmediate reaction. However,later US President DonaldTrump, asked if he would attackthe North, said, “We'll see.”

South Korea's weatheragency estimated the nuclearblast yield of the presumed testwas between 50 and 60 kilo-tons, or five to six timesstronger than North Korea'sfifth test in September 2016.That would mark a significantstep forward in the North'squest for a viable nuclear mis-sile capable of striking any-where in the United States.

On North Korean televi-sion, a newsreader called thetest a “complete success” andsaid the “two-stage thermonu-clear weapon” had "unprece-dented" strength. Hours earli-er, Pyongyang claimed its leaderhad inspected a hydrogen bombmeant for a new interconti-nental ballistic missile.

Seoul’s weather agency andthe Joint Chiefs of Staff said anartificial 5.7 magnitude quakeoccurred at 12.29 pm localtime, in Kilju, northernHamgyong province, the sitewhere North Korea has con-ducted nuclear tests in thepast. Seoul officials revisedtheir earlier estimate of 5.6magnitude quake. The USGeological Survey called thefirst quake an explosion with a

magnitude 6.3.South Korea's presidential

office said it will hold aNational Security Councilmeeting chaired by PresidentMoon Jae-in. South Korea'smilitary said it has strength-ened its monitoring and readi-ness while mulling a variety ofpossible responses that couldbe executed in collaborationwith the U.S.

Japan confirmed that NorthKorea conducted a nuclear test,Foreign Minister Taro Konosaid. “It is absolutely unaccept-able if North Korea did forceanother nuclear test, and wemust protest strongly,” PrimeMinister Shinzo Abe said.

North Korea has main-tained a torrid pace in weaponstests, including its first twointercontinental ballistic mis-siles test in July. Last month,North Korea fired a potential-ly nuclear-capable midrangemissile over northern Japan.

Earlier Sunday, photosreleased by the North KoreanGovernment showed Kim talk-ing with his lieutenants as heobserved a silver, peanut-shaped device that was appar-ently the purported ther-monuclear weapon destinedfor an ICBM. What appeared tobe the nose cone of a missilecould also be seen near thealleged bomb in one picture,which could not be indepen-dently verified and was takenwithout outside journalists pre-sent. Another photo showed adiagram on the wall behindKim of a bomb mounted insidea cone.

State media said Kim vis-ited the Nuclear WeaponsInstitute and inspected a"homemade" H-bomb with"super explosive power" that "isadjustable from tens (of) kilo-ton to hundreds (of) kiloton."

North Korea's nuclear andmissile program has made hugestrides since Kim rose to powerfollowing his father's death inlate 2011. The North followedits two tests of Hwasong-14ICBMs by threatening inAugust to launch a salvo of itsHwasong-12 intermediaterange missiles toward the U.S.Pacific island territory ofGuam.

It may be difficult for out-side experts to confirm that thenuclear device detonated onSunday was an H-bomb. Statemedia reported that the test leftno trace of radioactive mater-ial. The U.S. and its alliesattempt to detect blast mater-ial to gauge North Korea'sprogress, but Pyongyang hasbecome better at containing itas its nuclear program hasevolved.

To back up its claims tonuclear mastery, such tests arevital. The first of its two atom-ic tests last year involved whatPyongyang claimed was asophisticated hydrogen bomb;the second it said was its mostpowerful atomic detonation

ever.It is clear, however, that

each new missile and nucleartest gives the North invaluableinformation that allows bigjumps in capability. A keyquestion is how far NorthKorea has gotten in efforts toconsistently shrink downnuclear warheads so they canfit on long-range missiles.

North Korea is thought tohave a growing arsenal ofnuclear bombs and has spentdecades trying to perfect amultistage, long-range missileto eventually carry smaller ver-sions of those bombs.

South Korea's main spyagency has previously assertedthat it does not thinkPyongyang currently has theability to develop miniaturizednuclear weapons that can bemounted on long-range ballis-tic missiles. Some experts dis-agree.

The White House saidPresident Donald Trump spokewith Prime Minister ShinzoAbe of Japan regarding "ongo-ing efforts to maximize pres-sure on North Korea."

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From Page 1There seems to be a mis-

match between their 'talentareas' and their Cabinet park-ing.

The other three Ministersfrom bureaucratic or militarybackground are former Armychief Gen (retd) V K Singh, Col(retd) Rajyavardhan SinghRathore and Arjun RamMeghwal, a former IAS officerfrom Rajasthan.

VK Singh, the Lok SabhaMP from Ghaziabad, is MoS inthe External Affairs Ministry.Former Olympian trap shoot-er Rathore is MoS with inde-pendent charge of Sports andYouth Affairs Ministry. He alsoholds the charge of MoS inInformation and BroadcastingMinistry.

From Page 1On Saturday, Bihar Chief

Minister maintained that theyhad no intimation about thereshuffle.

Shiv Sena leader and RajyaSabha member Sanjay Rautsaid on Sunday that the NDAis "almost dead" and that BJPremembers it only when itneeds some support. Thougha long-time ally of the BJP, theSena has often been at log-gerheads with the senior part-ner. Its lone member in theUnion Ministry is HeavyIndustries Minister Anant

Geete."BJP-led National

Democratic Alliance existsonly on paper. Whenever BJPwants some support like inPresidential election or inParliament, we are remem-bered," rued Raut. "The NDAis almost dead. It is restrictedto only meetings of allied par-ties," Raut told reporters.

"We are not hungry for aportfolio or power. The reshuf-fle is a game of figures forpolitical reasons and we willtake appropriate stand at aright time," said Raut.

From Page 1Bharti, who after surviving

the reshuffle, has been divest-ed of the Ganga Rejuvenationand Water Resources portfolio,(now allocated to NitinGadkari) and will now beMinister of Sanitation andDrinking Water.

Vijay Goel has beenreplaced as Youth Affairs andSports Minister by the Olympicsilver medalist RajyavardhanRathore with Independentcharge as the former is movedto Ministry of ParliamentaryAffairs and Minister ofStatistics and ProgrammeImplementation. Rathore isalso MoS for I&B Ministry ofwhich Smiriti Irani continuesto be Cabinet Minister whilealso being Cabinet Minister of

Ministry of Textile.Among the four Ministers

pushed in the ladder to theCabinet rank Pradhan isMinister of Petroleum andNatural Gas and SkillDevelopment andEntrepreneurship, earlier heldby Rajiv Pratap Rudy who hasbeen asked to resign. Goyal isMinister for Railways and Coal.Naqvi, after a rather long wait,gets Cabinet rank as theMinister of Minority Affairs ofwhich till now he was MoS(Independent charge).

Nirmala Sitharamanemerged as the biggest gainerof the Cabinet reshuffle as thePrime Minister gave her theheavyweight Defence portfolio,becoming the first womanDefence Minister of the coun-

try, Indira Gandhi having heldit as the additional charge of theportfolio during seventies.

As Defence Minister, shehas to ensure that pace ofmodernisation of armed forcescontinues uninterrupted andforces are equipped adequate-ly to effectively combat the pos-sible threats. Similarly Goyalwould have to deal with themodernisation of railway tracksand signaling which has recent-ly witnessed tragic derailmentsacross the country. Reviving thehealth of Railway behemothfrom where Prabhu left wouldbe an onerous task for the newRailway Minister.

Surface Transport MinisterNitin Gadkari, who has alsobeen tasked with GangaRejuvenation and Water

Resources portfolio, wouldhave his priority cut out to'clean' Ganga which has beenthe pre-election promise ofModi to the people of Varanasi,his home constituency, even asthe Supreme Court has alsomade queries on it.

The changes in the Councilof Ministers have kept in viewsome of the poll-bound Statesparticularly Karnataka by giv-ing place to the MPs from theState. Gujarat and HimachalPradesh, which are to go topolls before Karnataka, by theend of this year, however, donot find representation in theCabinet revamping. The casteequations have been given dueweightage in the selection ofnine new faces which includeBrahmins and Rajputs.

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Out of the total 56,975 HIV(Human Immunodef-

iciency Virus) ‘positive’ cases inPunjab during past decade,one-fourth is in the holy city ofAmritsar.

With 14,309 HIV-positivecases, the border district ofAmritsar is topping the chart inthe state. Jalandhar and anoth-er border district Tarn Taranrecorded 5,916 (10 percent)and 2,235 (four percent) posi-tive cases, respectively, acrossthe state.The Mohali districthas finished at the bottomwith 706 HIV-positive cases,out of the total 1,90,685 report-ed with a HIV positivity of 0.37percent, against the state’s fig-

ure of 1.33 percent. The reve-lations were made following thelatest data, ranging from 2008to March 2017, released by thePunjab State AIDS ControlSociety (PSACS). In Punjab,total 42,81,062 cases of HIV hasbeen reported, out of which,56,975 has been tested positive.

Out of total 5,53,549 HIV

cases reported in Amritsar dis-trict in the past decade, 25 per-cent has been tested positive. InJalandhar, total of 2,66,665HIV cases has been reported,while in Tarn Taran, the num-

ber stood at 1,28,779.The HIV positivity rate in

these districts stood at 2.58 per-cent in Amritsar, 2.22 percentin Jalandhar and 1.74 percentin Tarn Taran.

On one hand where thestate is facing the ever-increas-ing drug menace, it was alsocaught in the lethal tentacles ofAIDS owing to “use of unsafemethods” for taking drugs.With the increasing number ofdrug addicts in the state, theIDU (injected drug users)mode of HIV transmission hasincreased exponentially.

For the “doped” Punjab,the state government has set up59 targeted intervention pro-jects, out of which 21 are exclu-sively targeting only the IDU.

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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar,

who has come under fire overhis mishandling of the Deraissue, on Sunday, said that theviolence by the followers ofDera Sacha Sauda chiefGurmeet Ram Rahim could have turned muchworse had the Governmentnot been alert.

The State Governmenthad taken steps after dueconsideration in compliancewith the directions of thePunjab and Haryana HighCourt, said the Chief Ministerwhile talking to the media-

persons at Karnal.“Had the Government not

been alert, the situation couldhave been much worse,” hesaid.

The Har yanaGovernment had come underattack for allowing a hugebuild up of Dera Sacha Saudafollowers in Panchkula beforethe verdict by CBI court onAugust 25.

Violence broke out thereafter Ram Rahim’s convictionin rape cases, leaving 34 peo-ple dead. Six others died inincidents of violence in Sirsa.

Ram Rahim was later sentenced to 20 years inprison.

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Over thousand projectsrelated to housing are

feared to slip into limbobecause of not getting regis-tered with Real EstateRegulatory Authority (RERA)that came up under the statutealready in place. Despite theState Government extendingtime limit for registering withthe authority, applications foronly 493 projects came tillAugust 31.

Reports coming in suggestthat hosts of real estate devel-opers have not turned up forregistration and even unwillingto do so apprehending that the

regulations under the RERAare set to cover even those pro-jects that have already beencompleted besides the ongoingones. Confirming the tenden-cy, Urban DevelopmentMinister CP Singh said that theDepartment would call a meet-ing of all parties soon to lookfor a solution.

“I have come across sever-al builders here in Ranchi aswell from Dhanbad andJamshedpur. They are worriedthat if the rules are going tocover completed projects also,then it would be detrimentalfor them. They want theGovernment to relax the normand few others like Telanganaand few other States have done.I have told officials to convenea meeting of all the stakehold-ers, representatives of buildersand hear them out to reach toan amicable solution,” said theMinister on Friday.

On the other, the StateGovernment has not been ableto build the website for‘Jharkhand RERA’ for the easeof builders who struggled a lotin getting their applicationsubmitted for registration.Following the deadline extend-ed for a month which ended onAugust 31, nearly 120 applica-

tions came at the counter set upfor this purpose on the last day.

“The proposals for onlyongoing projects have comefor registration. There are lotsof other projects which werecompleted and ready to besold. Registry of such flats hasbeen stopped and the projectswould be declared illegal since

their credentials as per theguidelines of RERA have notbeen verified,” said GajananRam, Town Planner with theUrban DevelopmentDepartment.

“We have received lots ofapplications from the builderson the last day. Now, all thevalid applications would becleared for registration afterscrutiny in a month time. Thebuilders may also be asked tosupplement any other docu-ment, if required,” said anofficial of the Department.

He also made it clear thatany building being built byviolating the guidelines setwould be raided and sealed.“The Department would setup a task force to make surethat all the rules and regula-tions are followed. There is aprovision of fine up to 10 percent of the project cost formaking any violation. Once we

are done with the registrationprocess of the valid proposals,a list of illegal projects maycome up as well,” said the offi-cial.

The Town Planner thoughcould not answer about thedelay causing in launchingthe website for RERA but saidthat once it is done, home buy-ers would get a sigh of relief.“This is in the interest of theconsumers who often getcheated by fraud builders. Thewebsite would be having a listof qualified projects to choosefrom. If a particular housingproject is not in the list, thenbuying a flat or plot therewould not be covered underthe RERA safeguards,” he said.

All the legitimate housingprojects would be issued witha registration number withina month following that registryof flats along with other for-malities can take place.

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Swachhata MobileApplication launched by the

Centre during the ‘SwachhataSarvekshan - 2016’ as one of thekey tool to ensure cleanlinesshas just failed to create itsimpact on the city residents.

All thanks to the RanchiMunicipal Corporation (RMC)that has miserably failed todeliver any good despite hav-ing an option of a good mech-anism to check sanitation andupgrade the status of solidwaste disposal system here inCapital City. More worrying isto know that despite of beingslashed down twice in the‘Swachhata Sarvekshan’ com-petition, none of the officials atthe civic body even now

seemed concerned about this.When enquired about the

‘Swachhata’ application statusand about the grievance redres-sal mechanism, if any, formedto deal with the complaints reg-istered through this mobileapplication, none of the offi-cials, elected representativesincluding City Managers wereable to put their stance orquote something substantial.No individual at RMC have ananswer as on what groundcomplaints are being dealt orelse the app is lying defunct.

Annoyed with the approachof the Municipal Corporationteam, several city residents areof the opinion that even postingdetails and the pictures ofgarbage strewn spots, RMCpersonnel hardly responds ontime taking an initiative toclean the mess. Moreover, thereare thousands of people in citywho even after one year of themobile application launch areunfamiliar about it.

Interestingly, keeping aside

all the checks and parameters,the Municipal Corporation, atpresent, is just busy construct-ing toilets to fulfil the target ofOpen Defecation Free (ODF).“At a time, the Civic body canhandle one major task onlyconsidering the human resourcecrunch. As just one month is left

to declare all the wards ODF,every officer is engaged in this,”said, Mayor Asha Lakra.

Ironically, the Civic Bodyhas kept no official documen-tation of the total number ofthe citizens who have down-loaded the mobile applicationby far this year. Considering the

past records, the Mayor saidthat approximately 14 thousandcity residents have downloadedthe application and soon astrategy will be formulated topopularize it.

“I am not sure about thisyear’s record. But, the team hasbeen instructed to track the

details and resolve all the com-plaints in stimulated time. Ifgrievances are not beingaddressed, action will be takenagainst the officials. I willimmediately disseminate thisinformation among the con-cerned officials,” added Lakra.

This android mobile appenables a citizen to post civicissues which is dealt by theMunicipal Corporation team.Pictorial depiction of garbagedumped on streets, uncleandustbins, sweeping not done,pictures of dead animals lyingon busiest avenues, blockageincluding condition of publictoilets can be sent easily.

The mobile app captures thelocation while the picture isbeing taken. An individual canalso get regular updates on sta-tus of the complaint and the‘Resolved’ image uploaded by theassigned sanitary in-charge oncethe complaints have beenresolved. Its unique features alsoallow the appellants to compilethe feedback details and sent.

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In spite of adopting variousmethodologies to streamline

the traffic system in the Capitalcity, recent attempt of RanchiTraffic Police is also unlikely totake off. Against the authoritiessetting Tuesday as deadline toenforce QR code scanning sys-tem for the autos plying in thecity most of the traffic consta-bles deployed at major checkposts do not even know thebasics of it.

The plan to keep all unau-thorised auto-rickshaws off-roads is yet to be conveyed tothe traffic constables deployedat the 42 check posts placed inthe city. Not even preliminaryarrangements like explainingdetails about the QR code,downloading QR code scanner,checking procedures are therein place.

“We have not received anyinput about the QR code imple-mentation plan. Though fre-quently, we conduct checkingdrive but information aboutseizing autos without havingQR code embedded is yet to bereceived. May be in a day ortwo, we get the instructions toconfiscate autos without havingQR code embedded on thevehicles,” said a traffic consta-ble deputed at the check postnear Succhna Bhawan.

However, DSP (Traffic-1),Dilip Xalxo just cited that onlyafter taking up the checkingdrive plan ahead different prosand cons will be explained tothe traffic constables. However,Xalxo too appeared cluelessabout the plan that when exact-ly the checking drive will betaken up.

“I am not aware about theexact date but within a weektime, we are likely to check all

the auto-rickshaws. Since it isthe joint effort of the MunicipalCorporation, personnel fromboth sides will conduct thechecking drive,” said the DSP(Traffic). Traffic SP SanjayRanjan Singh also refused tocomment on the matter.

Notably as per plan thetraffic police personnel are toinstantly confiscate all suchauto-rickshaws violating thenewly formulated rules to keepthose off roads. The initiativeis being taken up again in thecity looking at the traffic snarlthat primarily occurs due to the

heavy penetration of auto-rick-shaws during the rushed hoursat busy spots.

According to the inputs sofar, the Ranchi MunicipalCorporation (RMC) has dis-tributed 2105 permits and QRcode-embedded stickersamong the auto-rickshaw dri-vers. Various reports suggestthat there are approximately7,000 auto-rickshaws thatmainly ferry commuters on dif-ferent routes in Ranchi whileonly 2335 are authorised to plyhere. RMC City Manager(Transportation Cell), SaurabhKumar said that the Civic Bodyhas received 2260 requisitionsfor permits.

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State BJP unit is on toesahead of the three day visit

of party’s national presidentAmit Shah, scheduled to takeplace between September 15and 17. Shah will be meetingparty’s state officials, leaders,workers and other representa-tives of different levels to col-lect feedback ahead of thefuture elections.

Sources in the party officerevealed that Shah, during hisvisit to Ranchi, was to hold atleast 19 meetings for which ablueprint has already been pre-pared to get a green signal fromNew Delhi.

Shah’s visit is said to beimportant as it likely to kick-start ‘Mission 2019’of BJP in theState. “He will be reachinghere in the evening onSeptember 14 and will hold atleast 19 meetings at the partyoffice with MPs, MLAs,Ministers, party office bearers,representatives of the Chamberof Commerce the workers aswell to get a feedback of theground realities in the State,”said a senior party leaderrequesting anonymity. Shahwill also take stock of the cen-tral programmers being imple-mented in the State and alsowhether booth level commit-tees have been formed or not,he added.

“Basically, his visit in theState will kick-start the prepa-rations of ‘Mission 2019’ ofPrime Minister Narendra Moditargeting all the 14 Lok Sabha

seats in the State,” said theleader. He has been visitingeach of the States under‘Mission 2019’ to motivate theworkers and also review thepreparations being done inthis regard, he added.

The party leader fur-ther said that since all them e e t i ng s o f S h a h w a sscheduled to be held at StateBJP office in Ranchi, a ren-ovation work was already inprogress and every nookand corner of it will be putunder the scanner of CCTVfor security reasons.

“Though, Shah will bestaying at the State GuestHouse, the one room atParty Office was also beingprepared so that he couldrelax there for some time,”he said. He will also beholding separate meetingswith teams of social mediaand IT cell on September16, he added.

The sources revealed thatShah will hold late nightmeetings on both September15 and 16 while on 17, wasis scheduled to visit the birthplace of Birsa Munda atUlihatu after which he willalso interact with the mediaand leave Ranchi by 6 PM.

Meanwhi le , s evera lrounds of meetings werebeing held at the party head-quarters with party officials,Presidents of various cells sothat a positive image of theparty and Government inthe State could b e putbefore Shah.

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Intellectual wing of JVM hasflayed the BJP-led

Government for adopting andworking on policies detrimen-tal to all sections of the society.Leaders of the group whereparty chief Babulal Marandiwas also present expressedanguish over farmers’ suicide,land acquisition, unemploy-ment among youths etc todrive home their point.

“All sections of the societyare feeling let down in thehands of the Government thatis just working on its agendawhich is to appease the rich andthe capitalists. Farmers are ingreat distress and have reachedto the extent of committing sui-cides. Fee of students is alsobeing hiked abnormally. TheGovernment is singing MoUsfor setting up small andinsignificant industries whilewell established industries likeHEC, Tayo etc are on the vergeof closure,” said Marandi onSunday.

The former CM also wenton lashing the state for upcom-

ing power plant of Adani atGodda and blamed it for force-ful evictions of affected villagesby the company. “Displace peo-ple have not been paid com-pensation against their landacquired. Also several set normsbefore making any acquisitionhave been violated. But they arechasing the villagers out byusing force and police. This iscomplete lawlessness,” addedthe JVM supremo.

Talking about current issuein the news for all the wrongreasons, Marandi termedhealth system in the State inshambles. “Deaths after deathsare happening in theGovernment hospitals, even atRIMS. People are not gettingmedicines, doctors and otherfacilities and have been left ontheir own fate. All those whohave voted for the BJP arerepenting now,” said Marandi.

The forum on the occasionalso raised confinement of itsMLA Pradeep Yadav alongwith alleging the Governmentto indulge into graft in roads,bridges and check dams com-ing up.

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�������������������The members of IndianConfederation of Labor (ICL)will congregate at Raj Bhawanon December 18 with list ofdemands. Emphasising on theneed of covering the auto-rick-shaw drivers under socialsecurity schemes for grantingequal work pay to the labors ofunorganized sectors includingauto drivers, the members ofthe organization will organisea march.

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In a bid to celebrate the con-tribution of the teachers

while felicitating them for theiroutstanding performance thathave not just shaped up thelives of the students but havealso helped in transforming theeducation system in govern-ment cradles, the State gov-ernment is all set to host firstState level- Shikshak Samagam.

The two days programmethat aims to boost up the

morale of the teachers lendingtheir services in governmentcradles will be officially inau-gurated on Monday byGovernor Droupadi Murmu inthe presence of other digni-taries.

Chief Minister RaghubarDas will address the teacherson second day at Tana BhagatIndoor Stadium at Khelgaon.Approximately, 5000 teachersfrom all the 24 districts havecongregated at Khelgaon tomark the birth anniversary ofSarvepalli Radhakrishnan.

Sharing the dais with theministers and others, renownedmotivational speaker Shiv

Khera will enlighten the teach-ers on how to make studyinteresting for all age groups.“We have invited Shiv Khera onthe inaugural day to boost upthe temperament of the teach-ers. Covering different issues,not just education, Khera willmotivate the teachers includingothers. From every block 15-20teachers will be felicitated fortheir outstanding perfor-mances. Awards in differentcategories like zero dropoutpanchayats, five star schoolswill be given,” said ProjectDirector of JEPC A MuthuKumar.

Also, on the inaugural Day,

different competition and inter-school challenges among thefellow teachers will be orga-nized besides different cultur-al activities. The prize distrib-ution ceremony will be orga-nized on the September 5.Besides the dignitaries, fourteachers from elementary andsecondary level selected amongthe 5,000 teachers from acrossthe State will also address thegathering and present theirviews.

To make the occasion amemorable one, all the teach-ers have been instructed to fol-low the dress code systemcompulsorily with the IDs.

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A24-year-old youth wasfound murdered at River

View Colony under Telcopolice station early Sundaymorning.

The victim was identifiedas Sukhpreet Singh. Reportsaid he was stoned to death andhis body was found lying undera bush near posh River ViewColony in Telco.

According to informationavailable, the victim was a res-ident of Prakash Nagar, also inTelco locality. He used to workin a transport company andwas missing from his housesince last evening. OC, Telcopolice station, Shankar Thakursaid that they have recoveredthe body from the residents ofRiver View Colony and sent forpost-mortem.

“We are investigating theincident. However, it appearsthat the assailants have killed

Sukhpreet by using a boulderlate in the night or in the weehours today. We are yet to crackout the reason behind the mur-der and also the personsresponsible for it,” said theofficer-in-charge.

The murder victim wouldstay at a rented house inPrakash Nagar and had comeout of his residence at about 6pm on Saturday. Based on thevictim’s mother ManpreetKaur’s statement, the policehave registered a case againstunknown persons. Accordingto her, like every day, her sonhad returned home from hisduty in a Sakchi-based trans-port company and had goneout of the house.

She said her son did notreturn home in the night andin the morning by 8 pm, some-one informed at their housethat Sukhpreet’s body was lyingin a bush near River ViewColony.

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Two bike borne unidentifiedcriminals looted �25,000

cash from Pashupati Mahato(72), a retired teacher underChas Mufassil police station inBokaro district and escaped,”said OC of the local police sta-tion.

Mahato, a resident ofAndhertelia village, had madewithdrawals of his pensionamount from SBI Chas Courtarea branch and was on the wayto his home. As he was about toreach his home,two bike borncriminal intercepted Mahato andstarted talking to him in local lan-guage. suddenly one of themsnatched the cash bag fromMahato and escaped, police said.

“It seems that at the time ofcash withdrawal, one of thesnatchers was watching meinside the bank and later fol-lowed me,” said Mahato.

“Cases have been registeredand we are investigating the mat-ter, criminals would be arrestedsoon. Meanwhile raids are on tonab the criminals. All entry andexit point were sealed after theincident,” said the DeputySuperintendent of Police.

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Irate residents protested overthe death of a dalit woman —

Sanju Devi of Loharsee villageunder Pipra Tarn police station.

Sanju Devi, wife of KaroBhuiyan, delivered a boy andher delivery was normal atLoharsee health centre. Shethen went home with herinfant.

Her condition deterioratedsoon and she was taken downto Panki community healthcentre by her husband whereshe was declared brought deadby the doctor. KalanandMishra, Civil Surgeon ofPalamu, confirming the postdelivery death of the womansaid that he has set up a probeteam to ascertain if her deathwas due to any lapse or negli-gence on the part of the healthofficials at Loharsee healthcentre.

Mishra said he would senda proposal for setting up com-munity health centre atLoharsee as the area is remote,medical facilities are scarceand people deserve betterhealth care here. Population of80,000 is required for aCommunity Health centre butLOharsee’s population is50,000. However, Mishra saidhe would write to theGovernment to waive this pop-ulation clause for communityhealth centre here.

Pipra Tarn police describedthe protest not threatening tolaw and order situation therebut more a public cry for bet-ter and effective health carethere.

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Jharkhand State Khadi Boardhas plan to set up a big

Khadi Plaza in the city. Theidea is to spread reach ofkhadi products.

The board is looking forarea where it can be built up.Addressing a Press meetSanjay Seth, Chairman,Jharkhand State Khadi Board,said the Board was working onthe directions to promotekhadi and for this they cameup with a plaza.

He went on to inform thatthe board was organising aneight day-long Khadi Mela atGopal Maidan fromSeptember 17 to 24. Morethan 300 stalls will be put inwhich buyers can look forward

for items like khadi, woodcrafts, terracotta, stone crafts,handlooms, jewellery, bam-boo craft, metal craft, juteand tribal paintings amongother items which will be on

display for sale. The productswill be available at discount of25 to 30 per cent.

The exhibition-cum-saleof khadi and village industriesproducts will see the partici-

pation of around 300 stalls putup by artisans, craftsmen,khadi institutions and RuralEmployment GenerationProgramme units. Artistsfrom different parts of the

country will participate.Seth said the importance

of Khadi can be gauge outfrom the fact that this move-ment has succeeded to a largeextent in preserving tradi-tional arts and crafts. Second,it had been successful in pro-viding self-employment to alarge number of people inrural areas, particularly towomen, who constituted theweakest sections of society.He further added that Khadihas gone mod by adopting ablending technique in case offabrics such as cotton, hand-loom fabrics, and silks.

“The idea is to bring thepeople close to khadi and letpeople identify with the prod-ucts beside we also wanted tomarket the products in a moreprofessional manner,” saidAmit Kumar, deputy com-missioner, East Singhbhum.The entry ticket for the melawill be �10. However, entry forstudents coming with uni-form will be free.

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Chief Minister RaghubarDas on Sunday invited

Marwari community to runsome State-run hospitals fortheir better management. Hestated this while addressing theSixth Jharkhand State MarwariConference that concluded atthe Michael John auditoriumon Sunday.

Hailing several outfits ofthe community involved insocial work, the Chief Ministersaid there were two hospitalsone upcoming in Dumka andthe other — Sadar Hospital inDeoghar, which can be man-aged by the community for bet-ter functioning.

Prior to this, the membersof the community had sub-mitted a memorandumdemanding a total space of fouracres to build a charitable hos-pital and an educational insti-tute. “The Marwari communi- ty has set examples of social work in the society. The com- munity is keen to build a hos- pital and a school but the gov-

ernment is willing to give youa already set up building whichwe would want the communi-ty to manage keeping in mindat the organisations’ contribu-tion in the field of social work.The Sadar Hospital in Deogharwill have an OPD service by2019. The government wouldwant the community to comeforward and help the govern-ment in developing the Kolhanregion,” said Das.

He also added, “TheMarwari community hasplayed a key role in the progressof the State. We should focus onsocial work and spread itsreach. At present eradicatingmalnutrition from childrenand mothers is the thrust areaof the government. Societymust join hands with theGovernment to support itsprogrammes.”

The Marwari communityorganised its state level con-vention for the first time inJamshedpur that focused on

social work and spread reach ofeducation and health. the ChiefMinister was the chief guest onthe closing day today. The oth-ers who also attended the cer-emony was Rajya Sabha mem-ber Mahesh Poddar, newlyappointed president of theJharkhand State MarwariConference Nirmal Kabra,industrialist Nandlal Rungta.The organisation established in1931 has 750 permanent mem-bers in the state.

The Chief Minister alsofelicitated mountaineerPadmashri Premlata Agarwaland released a Rajasthani mag-azine too. He also flagged offan awareness van on ‘BetiBachao Beti Padhao’ initiatedby the Marwari Yuva manch(Surbhi branch). During themeeting discussions weremade on the major issues offemale foeticide, literacy, evilslike dowry and role of young-sters in politics involving themembers of the society.

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Hazaribagh police nabbedtwo members of an inter

district looters gang in an spe-cial operation,including themastermind on Saturday night.Three members of the gangsucceeded in escaping from theclutches of Hazaribagh police.Italso recovered huge quantity ofarms and ammunitions fromthem.

SP Anoop Birthare gavethis information in a pressconference held in his office onSunday. “We received infor-mation from an unknown per-son that a gang of inter districtlooters has reached Hazaribaghand is planning to execute

some big crime in the district.On this information, a teamwas formed under the leader-ship of TOP III in-chargeInspector Rama Kant Mishra.”

The team started patrollingand checking drive onHazaribagh-Dhanbad road. Atabout midnight the police teamsaw some persons standingbehind a big tree on the NH. Asthe police reached there, theytried to run away but the Policeteam chased them and finallyarrested two of them whilethree managed to escape tak-ing the benefit of darkness, theSP added.

During interrogation, oneof the arrested looters con-fessed that he is the master-

mind of the gang. “His name is Arvind

Hembram, a resident ofHazaribagh. Another arrestedlooter is Vikram Vikash ofKoderma district. They alsoconfessed that they were plan-ning to loot some passengerbuses,” added the official.

They also said that theyhave looted about �6lakh froma gambling spot of Nagawanvillage of sadar block ofHazaribagh some days ago.Police also recovered threelooted motorcycles, five sets ofmilitary uniform , one coun-try made carbine, three coun-try made pistols, one knife, fivelive cartridges and four mobilesets.

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Koderma MP Ravindra Raion Sunday along with

MLA Manish Jaiswal andchairman Jharkhand Khadiand gramodyog board SanjaySeth jointly inaugurated thefirst readymade garmentssewing training center of thedistrict at Hazaribagh.

Addressing the gatheringRavindra Rai said that the ulti-mate aim of politics is touplift the societies. “Our PMNarendra Modi has started aprogramme to make theyouths of the country techni-cal ly powerful and thisattempt of khadi andgramodyog board is anattempt of their contribution

to make the vision of our PMsuccessful.”

MLA Manish Jaiswal saidthat this training center willnot only make the youthstechnically sound but alsohelp in preserving the art andculture of the society which isat the verge of being extinct.Sanjay Seth said that textileindustry is growing in thestate very fast and board hasdecided to start such trainingcenters in every districts of theState as its contribution to thisindustry.

He informed that for thefirst batch 20 trainees havebeen selected who will get sixmonth long training to learnabout handling machines usedin the textile industry.

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Awoman died while threeother got injured after

being bitten by a wasp atChandramarni village whenthey were on way to forest withtheir cattle on Sunday morning.45 year-old Kausailya Deviwas bitten by the poisonouswasp, police sources said.

According to report, fivewomen of Chandramarni vil-lage in Giridih district weregoing to forests early morningon Sunday when a group ofwasp bite all of them. They wererushed to the local hospitalwhere Kausailya Devi died dur-ing her treatment while othersare said to be critical.

An autopsy report revealedthat Kausailya Devi died fromanaphylatic shock due to thebite. “Her death is only the sec-ond in the district history froma wasp bite,” hospital reported.After the incident local BJPMLA Nagendra Mahto andother leaders visited nearbyhospital assured them all help.

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One of the much talkedabout Cabinet rejig by

Prime Minister Narendra Modion Sunday placed a new RailwayMinister Piyush Goyal whotook over as the third RailwayMinister of Modi Government.

Goyal, who took over fromSuresh Prabhu, will be the39th Railway Minister of Indiaand virtually the ninth in thelast eight years with a grapevinethat Rail Bhawan has becomea jinxed one always for eitherthe ruling party or the majorstakeholder in the CentralGovernment in recent decades.Modi too has seen three RailMinisters in over three years ofhis governance with SadanandGowda being the first one whoexited within few months fromthe behemoth Ministry.

Goyal, who took over the

reins from Prabhu, has a majorchallenge and a great task ahead,particularly in the wake of trainderailments and mishaps hap-pening everyday across theIndian railways network. WhilePrabhu, who had laid a roadmapto revamp the debt ridden rail-ways’ made an unceremoniousexit over his performance onsafety, Goyal’s first challengewould be focus on trustworthysafety arrangements. This is thefirst time that one Minister willhold charges of two crucialministries — the Rail and Coal.

The pace of reforms andmodernisation plan laid byPrabhu will be another majorchallenge for Goyal who willhave to shoulder the dualresponsibility of handling anequal significant Coal Ministry.

In the backdrop of BibekDebroy Committee, E Sreedh-aran Committee, AnilKakodkar Committee and SamPitroda Committee suggestingcomplete reform in railwaysand Prabhu credited to set theball rolling, much needs to bedone on the ground by the newRailway Minister.

One of the major tasks is torealise the dreams of Modi’sambitious Mumbai-AhmedabadBullet Train project. Prabhuhad already ordered for replace-ment of old ICF coaches withnewer safer LHBs which how-ever would take some twodecades to be totally replaced.Other crucial projects like elec-

trification, high speed trainsand green corridors, stationredevelopment plan under PPPmode, new catering policy arealso on the shoulders of Goyal.

Known for a clean imageespecially after having overseenscam-free auctions of coal blocks,Goyal is also largely credited tohave brought about a turn-around in coal production, end-ing days of domestic short sup-plies that had led to higherimports. In the power sector,Goyal managed the difficult taskof improving accountability andviability in transmission andtariffs through various schemes.

Prabhu, a chartered accoun-tant by profession thoughretained his Cabinet rank in thereshuffle and will take over asthe new Commerce andIndustry Minister, congratulat-ed Goyal on his appointmentand offered his help to hisCabinet colleague.

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Congress on Sunday took adig at the induction of four

former bureaucrats in PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’sCabinet, saying it showed he didnot trust his political colleagues.Congress spokesperson ManishTewari also described the ninenew Ministers as a “senior citi-zens’ club”, pointing out thatwhile the median age of a per-son in the country was 27 years,the average age of the newentrants was 60.44 years.

Talking to the media, Tewariclaimed Modi was “strangelydisconnected” from the Cabinetreshuffle exercise. “It seems that(BJP president) Amit Shah is thePrime Minister,” he said, refer-ring to reports that claimedShah summoned Ministers andasked them to resign before therejig. He also termed the expan-sion “maximum Governmentand minimum governance”.

Referring to the elevation ofNirmala Sitharaman, who waspromoted to the Cabinet rankand put in charge of the crucialDefence Ministry, Tewari said,“We hope she does not handlethe Defence Ministry the wayshe did the Commerce

Ministry, which saw a cripplingdecline of exports-imports dur-ing her tenure”.

The former Union Ministertermed the elevation in the rankof Minority Affairs MinisterMukhtar Abbas Naqvi “meretokenism” and said the BJP’sattitude towards Muslims was“well known”.

On Uma Bharti beingdivested of the WaterResources, River Developmentand Ganga Rejuvenation port-folio, Tewari quipped, refer-ring to the title of a Hindi filmand song, Ram teri Gangamaili ho gayi — BJP ke paapdhote dhote (the Ganga hasalready been contaminated bythe sins of the BJP).”

The Cabinet reshuffle saw

the induction of nine new faces.Among them were four formerbureaucrats, two of whom —former IAS officer AlphonsKannanthanam and formerdiplomat Hardeep Singh Puri— are not Members ofParliament. Ex-Mumbai PoliceCommissioner Satypal Singhand former Union HomeSecretary RK Singh have alsobeen sworn in.

“This reflects that the PrimeMinister does not trust his polit-ical colleagues,” Tewari said.

He also accused the BJP ofincluding in the Cabinet a“doctor beater” with a motiveto “communalise” Karnataka,ahead of the State Assemblyelections next year.

Earlier this year, a videosurfaced in which AnantkumarHegde, who was made minis-ter of State in SkillDevelopment, was seen alleged-ly beating up doctors in Karwar.

On the removal of RajivPratap Rudy and KalarajMishra as Ministers for SkillDevelopment and Micro, Smalland Medium Enterprisesrespectively, Tewari said theouster reflected an acceptanceof the Modi Government’s“gigantic failure”.

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As Nirmala Sitharamanbecomes the first woman

Defence Minister of the coun-try, she faces the challenge ofsustaining the pace of mod-ernisation of the armed forces.She also has a big responsibil-ity of making sure that thecountry becomes a major hubfor Defence manufacturing.Prime Minister NarendraModi has repeatedly stressedon his Government’s ‘Make inIndia’ policy to enable the pri-vate and public sector compa-nies to produce world classweapons including fighter jets,warships, submarines andsophisticated artillery guns.

At present, India importsmore than 70 per cent of itsweapons from various countrieslike Russia, US, Israel, Franceand UK and the present politi-cal dispensation is determinedto reduce import by promoting

self reliance. Expected to for-mally take charge of theMinistry next week, Sitharamanwill have to hit the ground run-ning to implement the policiespertaining to ‘Make in India.’

The NDA Government hascleared defence projects worthover �2 lakh crores since it cameto power in 2014 and the newMinister will have to ensure thatthese projects take off. Theseinclude the project worth over�60,000 crores to build six sub-marines in India and imple-menting the Strategic Partner-

ship, cleared few months back,in letter and spirit thereby giv-ing a fillip to the Indian privateindustry to tie up with foreignvendors to manufacture sophis-ticated weapon systems. Shewill also have to make sure thatthe mega deal worth over sevenbillion Euros for procuring 36Rafale fighter jets from France,also fructifies as per the mutu-ally agreed time lines.As regardsoperational preparedness,Sitharaman will urgently have tosort out critical shortage ofweapons and ammunition. TheArmy has arms and ammuni-tion only for ten days to fight anintense war and the Comptrollerand Auditor General(CAG) inits tabled in monsoon session ofParliament also expressed con-cern over this state of affairs. Infact, Sitharaman’s colleague V KSingh had also sounded thealarm four years back as theArmy Chief when he wrote aletter to the political leadership

in this regard.Reacting to her alleviation,

the 58-year-old Minister, analumna of the prestigiousJawaharlal Nehru Universitysaid “somebody who has comefrom a small town, grown intothe party with all the support ofthe leadership, and if givensuch responsibility, it just makesyou feel sometimes that cosmicgrace is there. Otherwise, it isimpossible.” Outgoing DefenceMinister Arun Jaitley said “I amsure, now that I have anextremely competent successorin Nirmala Sitharaman, shewill carry the road forward.”

She hails from Madurai,Tamil Nadu.The new Ministerwill have to make sure that acrucial decision announced onAugust 30 to enhance the com-bat capability of the IndianArmy by redeploying morethan 57,000 officers and menfor operational role is imple-mented as per schedule.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi has done it

again. The first Cabinetreshuffle happened onNovember 9, 2014 andtwo days later onNovember 11 Modi left ona 10-day tour of Myanmar,Australia and Fiji. After thesecond Cabinet reshuffle,which took place on July 5,2016 saw Modi embarkingon a four-nation tour toMozambique, South Africa,Tanzania and Kenya lateevening same day. And onSunday within hours of swearing-in of new facesin his probably the last and much awaitedCabinet rejig, Modi flew off India for a five-daytour to China and Mayanmar. A senior partymember quipped “the PM has tasks cut out forhim at home and outside, 24 X 7; 365 day”.

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Known to be media-savvy himself, thenewly appointed Chairman of Railway

Board (CRB) Ashwani Lohani has issued gagorders to the railway officials on talking tomedia over serious rail accidents. Realising thepotential of negative media reporting which vir-tually cost the jobs of Suresh Prabhu as RailwayMinister and the former CRB AK Mital in theaftermath of two recent rail mishaps, Lohani hasordered that in case of serious train accidents,interaction with media would be done only bythe CRB (read Ashwani Lohani). In case ofCRB’s unavailability the next officials authorizedto brief/talk to media will be the concernedGeneral Manager (GM) of the affected rail zone.The order has in fact come as a shocker to therailway PR men which boasts of a Secretary levelofficer as Director General Media, a dedicatedDirectorate of Publicity (DIP) and a total of 16Chief Public Relations Officers (CPRO) inrespective railway zones.

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Vacancy figures have climbed above 400 inHigh Courts and six in the Supreme Court,

yet the Supreme Court collegium has not metonce in the near past. Problem seems to be overthe decision by one collegium member, JusticeJ Chelameswar refusing to take part in themeetings owing to his differences over lack oftransparency in collegium decisions. Grapevinehas it that before CJI JS Khehar retired; a col-legium member called Justice Chelameswarover to his residence for an informal chat. Onreaching, Justice Chelameswar realized he was

conned as other collegium members werealready in attendance with names of judgesbeing discussed for appointment. JusticeChelameswar kept safe distance from the dis-cussion and did not assent to the names either.

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Congresss’ hope for revival in AndhraPradesh, was crushed when it polled only

1,382 votes in the Nandyal Assembly by-poll,held on 23 August. Congress candidate GAbdul Khader secured slightly more than theNOTA option, which got 1,231 votes. Khaderlost his deposit, bagging less than 1 per centof the votes. In Nandyal, where the minoritiescomprise 30 per cent of the electorate, theCongress had fielded a Muslim candidate,whereas both the ruling TDP’s and OppositionYSR Congress fielded candidates from Reddycommunity. This poor show is a matter of con-cern for the Congress high command, whichwants to stage a comeback in States where theBJP is not a major force, in 2019.

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CBI officers expectedK a r t i

Chidamabaram wouldcome to their officewith some senioradvocates, as permit-ted by the SupremeCourt last week. It wasa relief to the CBIinvestigators whenson of the formerFinance Minister PChidambaram camewith a junior advocate.According to investiga-tors, the advocate was onlyhelping Karti to find some papers and wateretc and made no interaction with CBI sleuths.

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Visitors to the Raisina Hill last week werewitness to a unique scene with an all

women team of Delhi Police guarding the sen-sitive zone. It is the seat of power housingPrime Minister’s Office (PMO) and Ministriesof Finance, Home and Defence in the Southand North Blocks and this team equipped withsophisticated weapons was there to ensuresecurity. These highly trained commandos arepart of the all woman Police Control Room(PCR) teams. Braving heat and sultry weath-er without any shade alongside their male col-leagues, these women are deployed to guardthe area in shifts.

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Satya Pal Singh, MoS HRD,Water Resources, Ganga

Rejuvenation

Satya Pal Singh quit IndianPolice Service in early 2014,when he was Mumbai PoliceCommissioner to join politicsand entered Lok Sabha winningfrom Baghpat by defeating RLDChief Ajith Singh over two lakhvotes. Born in Basauli village inMeerut district on November 29,1955, 61-year-old Satyapal Singhwanted to become a scientistbefore he joined the IPS in 1980and got Maharashtra cadre. Hehas also been on deputation tothe CBI and received a specialservice medal for extraordinarywork in Naxalite areas of AndhraPradesh and Madhya Pradesh.He received the President’s PoliceMedal for distinguished servicein 2004, the President’s PoliceMedal for meritorious service in1996 and the DG’s Insignia in thesame year. He also served asCommissioner of Police in Pune,Nagpur and various cities ofMaharashtra.

In Parliament, Singh hasbeen vocal about farmers’issues, advocating the need toinvolve the farming communi-ty actively in drafting of theUnion Budget. He has alsobeen raising the problems facedby sugarcane farmers in west-ern UP who are debt-ridden inthe face of non repayment oftheir heightening dues by sugarmills. He has actively beencampaigning for Governmentregulation of sugar prices.

Singh is also a vocal pro-ponent of holistic health, yogaand vegetarianism. He has akeen interest in vedic studiesand regularly delivers lectureson spirituality, religiousextremism and corruption.

Hardeep Singh Puri, MoS(Ind. Charge) Housing andUrban Affairs

Hardeep Singh Puri has adistinguished four-decadecareer in diplomacy spanningthe multilateral arena behindhim. The 65-year-old, whotook oath as a Minister ofState, has served as India’sAmbassador to the UN in NewYork and Geneva, and with hisdecades of diplomatic experi-ence, his presence in theCouncil would be a rarity. Purihas had an over 40-year inningsin diplomacy covering the mul-tilateral arena, including asIndia’s PermanentRepresentative to the UnitedNations both in Geneva (2002-2005) and in New York (2009-2013). He is one of the fewIndians to preside over theUnited Nations SecurityCouncil and the only one tohave chaired its Counter-ter-rorism Committee.

Puri, a 1974-batch IndianForeign Service officer, mostrecently served as VicePresident at the International

Peace Institute and as theSecretary General of theIndependent Commission onMultilateralism in New York.He was also India’s envoy toBrazil and the United Kingdom.An alumnus of the HinduCollege in Delhi Universitywho also taught briefly at the StStephen’s College, he is theauthor of the book ‘PerilousInterventions: The SecurityCouncil & The Politics of Chaos’,published last year.

RK Singh, MoS (IndCharge) Power, New &Renewable Energy

RK Singh was Union HomeSecretary during June 2011 toJune 2013. After retiring fromservice, he joined BJP andentered Lok Sabha from Arrahin Bihar. Singh, 64, first came tolimelight in 1990 when he wasgiven the task of arresting LKAdvani in Samastipur in Biharwhen the BJP veteran was on hisRath Yatra from Somnath toAyodhya, by the then ChiefMinister Lalu Prasad Yadav. The1975 batch IAS officer servedboth in Bihar and at the Centrein different capacities, includingas Secretary Defence productionin the UPA Government, JointSecretary in the Home Ministry,when Advani was the HomeMinister, and head of BiharGovernment’s departments ofhome, industries, public worksand District Magistrate of Patna.

Singh as Home Secretarywas criticised for authenticatingthen Home Minister SushilKumar Shinde’s statement thatRSS was involved in terroractivities. He had also criticisedthe process of distribution oftickets by the BJP in 2015 BiharAssembly elections, which theparty lost. A well-read man,Singh studied English literatureat St. Stephens College, Delhi,and got a Bachelors Degree inLaw thereafter. He also went onto study at the RVB DelftUniversity in the Netherlands.Before joining the IAS, he wasselected to the Indian PoliceService where he had servedone year.

Alphons Kannanthanam,MoS (Ind. Charge) Tourism &MoS Electronics &Information Technology

Bureaucrat-turned-politi-cian Alphons Kannanthanambegan his political journey bybecoming an Independent MLAbacked by the CPI(M) in Keralain 2006. Kannanthanam, a 1979batch IAS officer, quit his high-profile career and plunged intoelectoral politics by successful-ly contesting from Kanjirappallyin Kottayam district. Though hewas offered a second chance bythe Left in the next Assemblypolls, Kannanthanam, in a sur-prise move, turned down theoffer, saying that he wanted toshift his activities to the nation-al level. He later joined the BJPin 2011 and became a Memberin party’s National executive.

During his stint as IAS offi-cer, Kannanthanam served in

different key positions. He shotinto fame when he was thecommissioner of the DelhiDevelopment Authority during1990s and his anti-encroachmentdrive against thousands of illegalconstructions gave him the name‘demolition man’. As an IAS offi-cer, he played a key role inKerala’s success in LiteracyMission in 90s. Born in 1953, heleft IAS and was elected as MLAin 2006. In 1994, he was featuredin Time magazine’s list of 100Young Global Leaders. Inductionof Kannanthanam, who is apracticing advocate, into theNDA cabinet is widely seen as amove of the BJP to make inroadsin the Christian belt in the State.

Ashwini Kumar Choubey,MoS Health and FamilyWelfare

Elected to the BiharLegislative Assembly for fiveconsecutive terms, AshwiniKumar Choubey is the BJP’sprominent Brahmin face fromthe State. Choubey, 64, isknown for the slogan Ghar-ghar me ho shouchalaya ka nir-man, tabhi hoga ladli bitiya kakanyadaan and helped in con-structing 11,000 toilets forMahadalit families. Choubeyrepresents Buxar in the LokSabha and was a member of theParliamentary Committee onEstimates, Standing Committeeon Energy and ConsultativeCommittee on Health andFamily Welfare. He is also amember of Central Silk Board.

Choubey held importantportfolios in Bihar Govern-ment, such as Urban develop-ment, PHED and Health inboth in NDA I (2005-2010)and NDA II (2010-2013). ABachelors in Zoology fromScience College, PatnaUniversity, Choubey has alsoauthored a book — KedarnathTrasadi based on the 2013 del-uge in Uttarakhand. Choubeyalong with his family hadescaped the Kedarnath floods.Choubey, who was born onJanuary 2, 1953 at Dariyapur inBhagalpur, is a political andsocial worker and agriculturist.Starting his early politics asstudent union leader in PatnaUniversity, Choubey went on tobecome its president in 1978-79. He also took part in JPmovement and was taken intocustody under MISA duringemergency. Choubey was afull time member of the AkhilBharatiya Vidyarthi Parishadfrom 1974 to 1987.

Virendra Kumar, MoSWomen and ChildDevelopment, Minority Affairs

Associated with the RSSfrom childhood, VirendraKumar is a six-time Lok Sabhamember from Tikamgarh inMadhya Pradesh and the BJP’sDalit face. The 63-year-old ispassionate about the cause ofcow protection and is closelyassociated with the successfulmanagement and functioningof the Gau Seva Sangh Sansthain Sagar town of MadhyaPradesh. Kumar is known forhis simplicity and is often seentaking a lift from anyone in thetown to reach his destination.He still roams around in hisconstituency on a scooter andstays away from all kinds ofsecurity paraphernalia usuallyassociated with the post.

Born on February 27, 1954,Kumar became MP for the first

time in 1996 in the 11th LokSabha from Sagar. Since then hehas never looked back and wonfrom Sagar till 2004. After delim-itation he won the lower houseelections from Tikamgarh seatin 2009 and 2014. An MA inEconomics and PhD in ChildLabour from the prestigious DrHari Singh Gour University,Sagar, Kumar started his careeras an RSS worker and activelyparticipated in the TotalRevolution Movement started byLok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayanin 1975. He was sentenced for 16months under the Maintenanceof Internal Security Act (MISA)in Sagar and Jabalpur jails.Before becoming an MP, Kumarheld various positions in ABVPand Bajrang Dal. He was amember of various standingcommittees including on Labourwelfare, SC/ST welfare and waschairperson on standing com-mittee on energy sinceSeptember 1, 2016.

Shiv Pratap Shukla, MoSFinance

Former Uttar PradeshMinister Shiv Pratap Shuklabrings with him a rich organi-sational as well as ministerialexperience to the Union Cabinet.65-year-old Shukla hails fromGorakhpur. Born in Khajni,Rudrapur in Uttar Pradesh, a vil-lage near Gorakhpur district toa middle-class family, Shuklacompleted his graduation in lawfrom the Deen Dayal UpadhyayGorakhpur University. His polit-ical life started in the early 1970swhen he was the student leaderof Akhil Bharatiya VidyarthiParishad (ABVP), and in 1981,was elected as the ProvincialSecretary of the Bharatiya JanataYuva Morcha (BJYM).

He was jailed several timesduring his student days. DuringEmergency, he was arrestedunder the Maintenance ofInternal Security Act (MISA)and was in prison for 19months from 1975 to 1977.

The 65-year-old is knownfor his work as the CabinetMinister in Uttar Pradesh, wherehe initiated an ‘education for all’scheme and for his efforts toreform conditions for prisonersand various rural developmentschemes. A member of theRajya Sabha representing UttarPradesh, he becomes a CentralMinister for the first time.

He was appointed vice pres-ident of the BJP in Uttar Pradeshin February, 2012. He was elect-ed as a member of the LegislativeAssembly four consecutive timesin 1989, 1991, 1993 and 1996.He was appointed as a StateMinister in the BJP-ledGovernments in Uttar Pradesh.

He became a Minister forjails in 1996-1998 under theBharatiya Janata Party-BahujanSamaj Party rule, a short-livedcoalition Government ofMayawati and Kalyan Singh,and was later appointed as theMinister for rural develop-ment in 1998 under RajnathSingh-led BJP Government.Before this tenure, he also helda Ministerial post during theKalyan Singh-led BJPGovernment of 1991-1992.

Gajendra SinghShekhawat, MoS Agricultureand Farmers Welfare

A technology-savvy farmerGajendra Singh Shekhawatcomes from Jodhpur, the homedistrict of former Rajasthan

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot,and is a prominent member ofthe Rajput community. Born inRajasthan’s Sikar on October 3,1967, he was the national gen-eral secretary of the farmers’wing of the Bharatiya JanataParty, the BJP Kisan Morcha.His inclusion in the Cabinetcomes ahead of the RajasthanAssembly elections due nextyear. Shekhawat was the co-convener of the SwadeshiJagran Manch, the economicwing of the RSS, and the gen-eral secretary of ‘Seema JanKalyan Samiti’, an organisationdedicated to strengthen nation-al security by developing bor-der towns and villages. He wasalso instrumental in settingup 40 schools and 4 hostelsalong the Indo-Pak border.

Starting his political careerwith student politics, he rosethrough the party ranks sincebeing elected as president of stu-dent union of JNVU Universityin 1992 under the banner ofAkhil Bhartiya VidhyarthiParishad(ABVP). Shekhawathad won the elections by arecord margin. He was electedas an MP from Jodhpur in 2014with a margin of 4,10,051 votes.Known for his simple lifestyleand amiable nature, he is pop-ularly referred to as ‘Gajju bana’by his followers. Trains are hispreferred mode of transportand he travels by MandoreExpress, the superfast trainwhich runs between Jodhpurand Delhi, almost every week-end for official duties.

He has an MPhil and MA inPhilosophy from Jai Narain VyasUniversity, Jodhpur. He was asports enthusiast and playedbasketball at national and inter-university level. He was aMember of the ParliamentaryStanding Committee on Financeand Chairperson of theFellowship Committee.He wasalso a member of the All IndiaCouncil of Sports and thePresident of Basketball IndiaPlayers Association.

Ananth Kumar Hegde,MoS Skill Development andEntrepreneurship

A five-time Member ofParliament from Uttara KannadaLok Sabha constituency, havingentered the Parliament at the ageof 28, he is currently the mem-ber of parliamentary standingcommittee on External Affairsand Human Resources. Born on20 May, 1968 at Sirsi in UttaraKannada to a Brahmin family,Hegde is intermediate educated,and has interest towards TaeKwon Do (Korean Martial Arts).

Currently the KarnatakaBJP vice-president, he is also thefounder president of Kadamba,a national-level NGO workingin the field of rural develop-ment, rural health, formation ofself help groups, rural market-ing among others. He has alsobeen the member of variousparliamentary committees.

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After boycotting the swear-ing-in ceremony of the

Narendra Modi Government’sswearing-in ceremony, a miffedShiv Sena on Sunday said onSunday that given the mannerin which various constituentswere treated in the latestCabinet expansion, the rulingNDA had either died a death orremained merely on paper.

A day after Shiv Sena pres-ident Uddhav Thackeray saidthat it had not received anyinformation from theNarendra Modi Governmentabout the impending Cabinetexpansion, the Sena leadersand MPs stayed away from theswearing-in ceremony held atthe Rashtrapati Bhavan in NewDelhi. Even the lone Senaminister in the Modi CabinetAnant Geete did not make it tothe swearing-in ceremony.

Talking to media personshere, Sena spokesperson andRajya Sabha member SanjayRaut made no bones about theparty’s displeasure over theNDA’s failure to take his partyinto confidence ahead ofSunday’s Cabinet expansion.

“What we saw today was

the BJP’s Cabinet expansion.Naturally, the BJP is celebrat-ing the occasion and distrib-uting sweets. How are weinvolved in the whole thing?.Where does the question ofour boycotting the swearing-inceremony arise?,” Raut asked.

“The NDA (of which wehave been a constituent) haseither died a death or remainsmerely on paper. When itneeded constituents’ support inthe election to Vice President’spost, the NDA suddenlyremembered the existence ofthe NDA during that briefParliament session,” the Senaspokesperson said.

“It only goes to show that

the BJP believes in numbergame. The BJP has the num-bers now and the majority hasmany faces. If it did not havea majority, the BJP would havecome running to Mumbai ( toseek the Sena’s support) orHyderabad ( to seek the theTDP’s support),” Raut said.

Reacting to Raut’s criticismof his party, city BJP leaderAtul Bhatkalkar said: “TheShiv Sena has gone on recordsaying that it does not crave forpower. Then where is the needfor the Sena to crib about thedenial of additional berth inthe Union Cabinet?. This isnothing but a classic case ifsour grapes. Sanjay Raut is

failed leader. One should nottake his comments seriously”.

All the same, the factremains that the Shiv Sena hasnot taken kindly to it havingbeen ignored by the BJP in theUnion Cabinet exercise.Currently, Heavy Industriesand Public Sector EnterprisesMinister Anant Geete is theonly Sena Minister in theNarendra Modi Cabinet. TheSena has for time been expect-ing that it would get one moreberth in the Union Cabinet.

Sena President UddhavThackeray had said on Saturday:“We have not received any tele-phone call from the ruling BJPabout the Cabinet expansion

scheduled for tomorrow. Norhave we contacted the BJP inthis regard. Hence the questionof our craving for power doesnot arise”.

“During the last 50 years,the Sena has pracitised an ide-ology where in 80 per cent ofsocial work and the remaining20 per cent politics. ...The entirecountry may be interested intomorrow’s Cabinet expansion,but we are more interestedMumbaikars’ health issues inthe wake of recent deluge in thecity,” Uddhav had added.

Sunday was not the firstoccasion when the Sena lead-ers and MPs boycotted theNarendra Modi Government’sswearing-in Government.

Ahead of the earlier UnionCabinet expansion in Novem-ber 2014, the Sena had nomi-nated the name of Uddhav’strusted lieutenant and party MPAnil Desai for inclusion in theUnion Cabinet. However,owing to some issues with theruling BJP, the Sena boycottedthe NDA Government’s swear-ing-in ceremony in New Delhi.Desai had chosen to return toMumbai from New Delhi air-port itself, without taking oathof office as a Minister.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi sent a clear message

to his foe-turned-friend NitishKumar that it is not the BJPbut the Bihar CM who need-ed a helping hand. Modi sim-ply ignored his new ally JD(U)in the Cabinet reshuffle whichwas expected to get place inthe Central Ministry.

The Sunday expansion,which saw two Ministers ofState - both from BJP - beinginducted and taking the num-ber of Ministers from Bihar toeight after dropping RajivPratap Rudy, certainly left theJD(U) in exremely embar-rassing position.

The Chief Minister onthe eve of Cabinet expansionpleaded that the speculation ofJD(U)'s inclusion was figmentof imagination of the media.“If any such propsal comes wewill defenitely consider it. Butfor the time being there is nosuch thing,” he said.

But the speculation hadbeen going on in the politicalcircles in Delhi as well as cor-ridors of power here that atleast two of the JD(U) repre-sentatives would be UnionMinister with one of them ofcabinet rank. The namesmaking the rounds includedthat of Nitish's Man FridayRCP Singh.

The denial that there wasno invitation to the JD(U)from the BJP came only onSaturday after the names of thenew Ministers were made offi-cial. There had been no wordof denial from JD(U) when thespeculations were being madefor over one week.

Guess who is the happi-est person to watch denial ofberths to JD(U)? None elsebut RJD supremo Lalu Prasad

who is having last laugh. “Abinka (Nitish) ka kahinthikana nahi hai. Ab inka lasthai. Nobody takes his noticeand JD(U) has lost its exis-tance,” said Lalu in hischaresterestic style.

The RJD boss chuckled,“Some JD(U) men weredreaming to become CentralMinisters. They had got newclothes and bandis stitched.They kept on waiting andeven Nitish admitted that hewas not consulted. They hadbeen claiming to be part ofNDA and were celebrating inanticipation.” He said withRJD and Congress Nitish wasliving in peace and headingGovernment. “He was doingwhatever he wanted to doand I was giving him approval.Now he is punished and darkdays are ahead for himbecause the local BJP hadreported to high commandthat Nitish was trying to breakCongress to get majority onhis own and that he should notbe trusted." Lalu further saidthat Raj Kumar Singh, a for-mer bureaucrat and MP fromAra, should have been madecabinet Minister with DefenceMinistry.

Former Deputy CMTejashwi Prasad Yadav toomade sarcastic remarks onNitish. He tweeted, “We canjust pray & wish for his poli-ical well being in NDA. Hopehe finds better place nexttime. My sincere wishes & sympathy.”

Former J&K CM OmarAbdullah made a swipe atBihar CM. IN his tweet hesaid, “Spare a thought forNitish Kumar ji who was thebee's knees in the UPA &now only hears of UnionCabinet reshuffle through the media.”

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Former Jammu & KashmirChief Minister Omar

Abdullah while reacting tothe Union Cabinet reshuffle onSunday said Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s ability tospring big surprises is “undi-minished and unchallenged”even after over three years inpower.

He was reacting to a tweetthat said that no journalist hadany clue about what the PrimeMinister and BJP presidentAmit Shah were planning onthe reshuffle that took place onSunday morning.

“3+ (three plus) years asPM & @narendramodi’s abil-ity to spring big surprises isundiminished & unchal-lenged. Never fails to catchtalking heads off guard,” Omartweeted.

Congratulating NirmalaSitharaman, who was elevatedas Defence Minister, Omar, theworking president of NationalConference, while referringto the Cabinet Committee onSecurity, said the “high table”has become gender-balanced.

“Wow, straight from MoS(Independent charge) to a seat

at the Cabinet Committee onSecurity. Amazing trajectory.Well done @nsitharaman ji. Ahighly deserved responsibility.Congratulations & all the verybest for your new assignment@nsitharaman.”

“The Council of Ministersmay not be gender balanced butthe High Table most certainlyis. Well done @narendramodiji,” he said in a series of tweets.

Commenting on theappointment of RajyavardhanRathore as the country’s newSports Minister, Omar said“Domain knowledge & on thecorrect side of the age curve.Excellent choice @Ra_THOReto handle Sports & YouthAffairs”.

The NC leader also con-gratulated Piyush Goyal for hisappointment as the new

Railway Minister andexpressed hope that the Katra-Banihal rail link in Jammu andKashmir would get a muchneeded push.

“Congratulations to@PiyushGoyal on beingappointed Railway Minister. Ihope the Katra-Banihal raillink gets a much needed pushnow,” he said.

Earlier, while reacting toBihar Chief Minister NitishKumar’s statement that hehad no information or dis-cussions about the Cabinetreshuffle and got to know ofit only from the media, Omarsaid “Spare a thought forNitish Kumar ji who was thebee’s knees in the UPA & nowonly hears of union cabinetreshuff les through themedia”.

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Even though Uttar Pradesh lostone seat in the Union Council of

Ministers in the third expansion of theNarendra Modi Government, but thetwo new Ministers, both in the rankof Minister of State, have been select-ed to balance the caste politics of UPkeeping an eye on the 2019 Lok Sabhaelections.

Three Union Ministers — CabinetMinister Kalraj Mishra, and twoMinisters of State Sanjeev Baliyan andMahendra Nath Pandey — hadresigned recently but only two

Ministers was indiucted into theirplace. The new Ministers from UttarPradesh are Shiv Pratap Shukla, aRajya Sabha member and bete noire ofChief Minister Yogi Adityanath, andformer Mumbai Police Commissionerand MP from Baghpat in western UPDr Satyapal Singh.

Through this reshuffle, BJP triedto balance the caste factor both ineastern and western UP. In westernUP, the party replaced one Jat SanjeevBaliyan and with another Jat leaderSatyapal Singh, but in eastern UP,against two Brahmins Kalraj Mishraand Mahendra Nath Pandey only

one Shiv Pratap Shukla was madeMinister. However, Pandey gets aBrahmin president in form ofMahendra Nath Pandey.

Shiv Pratap Shukla, a four-timeMLA and former UP Minister, hadseen many ups and down in last manyyears primarily because he opposedYogi. He was even refused party tick-et in 2007 elections. But he was givenprominence in organisation and thiswas made RS member in 2016.

Sources said that the elevation ofShukla as Union Minister will balancethe Yogi Government in eastern UPbecause of dominance of Thakurs in

that region. Politically speaking Yogi,a Thakur by caste, has given importanceto officers and leaders of his caste inGovernment positions and this had sentwrong message among Brahmins whoaccount for almost 10 per cent of thevoters in UP.

Similarly, the appointment ofSatyapal Singh as a Minister in place ofSanjiv Baliyan also gives a signal thatthe BJP leadership wants to change anon-performing Jat leader with anactive Jat who was once police com-missioner in Mumbai and had defeat-ed the high profile leader Ajit Singh inthe 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

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Puducherry Lt GovernorKiran Bedi on Sunday con-

gratulated Union MinisterNirmala Sitharaman on her ele-vation to Cabinet rank inSunday’s reshuffle of the UnionCouncil of Ministers headed byPrime Minister.

Sitharaman, who was Mo Sfor Commerce prior to therejig, was was made CabinetMinister for Defence.

Bedi tweeted, “Proud ofher. She is brilliant in herwork. She has earned her waythru every bit. @nsitharamanWish her the best.”

The former IPS officeralso hailed the induction ofAlphons Kannanthanam, a for-mer IAS offier and SatyapalSingh (former Mumbai policechief) as Ministers of State inthe reshuffle.

“Aware of the caliber ofAlphons & Satpal Singh@dr_satyapal. Expected to deliv-er. Congratulate @PMOIndia@AmitShah. Good for NewIndia..,” she wrote.

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Bahujan Samaj Party supre-mo Mayawati on Studnay

dismissed the Union Cabinetexpansion by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi as an exerciseto deflect the attention of thepeople from the pressingissues and the all round fail-ure of the NDA Governmentto deliver to the people as perthe promises they had madeduring the 2014 Lok Sabhaelections.

The four-time UP CMMayawati said Modi has sin-gularly failed to address thepoverty, unemployment andthe cleaning of the river Ganga.

“The NDA Governmentfailure in tackling poverty

and unemployment besidesit’s misuse of funds in Gangacleanness scheme were someof the reason for this expan-sion so that people get con-fused,” Mayawati said.

Alleging that the PrimeMinister has pushed the nar-row agenda of the RSS byexpanding the Cabinet,Mayawati said, “Modi is push-ing the agenda of the RSSeven as this policy has vitiat-ed peace and tranquility in thecountry and has also adverse-ly affected the developmentprocess’’.

She also alleged that thereshuffle has also exposed thesimmering tension and deepfissures with the rulingalliance.

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Hours after he Mumbai’sformer Police

Commissioner and BJP MPSatyapal Singh was inductedinto the Union Cabinet, RTIactivist Anil Galgali on Sundayrevived his clamour for thestripping of Singh’s Lok Sabhamembership for withholdinginformation about his unpaiddues to the collector's office, inhis 2014 election affidavit.

Galgali, who had filed anapplication before the ElectionCommission in March last yearseeking stripping of Singh’smembership over hiding infor-

mation in his poll affidavit, saidthat he had not received anycommunication from the EC inresponse to his representation.

“It is nearly one and a halfyears since I made a represen-tation to the EC seeking annul-ment of Satyapal Pal’s mem-bership. In a day or two, I willbe making one more writtenrepresentation seeking actionagainst Singh who has nowbecome a Minister of State inthe Modi Cabinet,” Galgali said.

In his application datedMarch 11, 2016 filed before theElection Commissioner, LokSabha Speaker and the Primeminister's Office (PMO)

Galgali had said that Singh hadfailed to pay �48,420 fineimposed by the MumbaiSuburban Collector for rentingout his flat at Patliputra Society,Andheri without proper per-mission from collector, asrequired under the law.

“Singh’s flat is built on high-ly subsidised land provided forhousing of top governmentofficials. As per rules, he (Singh)should have taken theCollector's permission afterpayment of prescribed fee. TheCollector issued him a notice onJanuary 28, 2013 for payment ofdues. Singh, then holding thepost of Police commissioner ofMumbai Police chose to over-look the notice and the subse-quent reminders,” Galgali said.

Singh, it may recalled, hadresigned from the post as theMumbai Commissioner to con-test 2014 Loksabha polls, whichhe won on a BJP ticket from

Baghpat seat in Uttar Pradesh.“Now, this fact has come to

light that Singh has not men-tioned these ‘Government dues’in his election affidavit. Thehandbook for candidates of LSelection specifically states thatcandidates should furnishdetails on five counts as pre-scribed by SC judgment inUnion of India v/s Associationfor democratic reforms,” theRTI activist had said.

According to Galgali, therelevant rule in the handbookfor candidates makes itmandatory on a candidate toreveal details of his criminalconviction, pending cases,

Assets, Government liabili-ties & educational qualifica-tions in affidavit filed beforeelection officer.

The relevant rule readsthus: ‘Liabilities if any, partic-ularly whether there are anyold dues of any financial insti-tution or government dues’.

Galgali said that since Singhviolated the election rules, hedeserved to be stripped of theLok Sanha membership.

The flat owned by Singhat Andheri’s Patliputra Societywas in the news for wrong rea-sons in June 2014. At that time,the Mumbai police hadclaimed Singh’s f lat at

Patliputra Society had beenallegedly used to run a fleshtrade racket since March 2013.

The second-floor apart-ment had been with IndiaBulls on a 33-month lease thatwas to end in August 2014,with the company handing itover to a caretaker in early2013. Vakil Raju Shah (38), thecaretaker who was arrested onMay 31 had told the police dur-ing interrogation that he hadno knowledge that the housewas originally owned by Singh.Shah had allegedly let the flatto be misused by one Raja, whohad offered him extra incomeif he gave access to the three-

bedroom house for a few hoursevery day, or on days when theowners did not occupy it.

On his part, Singh hadthen claimed that he found theclaim by the city police as“fishy” and alleged that it wasa “planted” probe.

“Interestingly, a sex racketwas exposed by the Mumbaipolice being run from his sameflat no 1002 in Patliputra Societyin June 2014. Pending aninquiry on a complaint lodgedby me with the EC, SatyapalSingh has been appointed as aMinister of State. It reflects thesad state of affairs in the coun-try,” Galgali said.

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The induction of formercivil servant Alphons

Kannanthanam into the UnionMinistry has triggered debatesin Kerala’s political circles overwhether this can lead to a con-siderable contribution fromthe State to the Mission 350-Plus plan conceived by the topBJP leadership for the next LokSabha election.

Though observers differ intheir opinions on this, thereseems to be a general agree-ment that Kannanthanam’sinduction is a caress from theCentre for Kerala keeping thenext general election in mindand that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and the BJPpresident Amit Shah could beconsidering Kannanthanam asthe key to the State’s Christian

vote base.The State BJP leadership

also seems to share this view.“One of the main points of theCongress’s campaign in Keralaagainst the BJP has alwaysbeen that the party and theModi Government are enemiesof minorities. This argumenthas become irrelevant WithKannanthanam’s induction,”says former State BJP chief VMuraleedharan.

However, it is yet to beseen whether Kannanthanam’sappointment will actually helpthe BJP to make electoralinroads into the community ofChristians, who constitute over19 percent of the State’s popu-lation. When a questionregarding this was put to himby newsmen, Kannanthanam’sreply was, “Christians also arepart of India and we should

take them along with us.”The BJP leadership is of

the view that the Christiancommunity in the State, wherethe party’s vote-share hadstood at 15 percent in last polls,does not have any particulardislike for the party or theNDA led by it. They recall thepositive responses from sever-al church heads when Modibecame Prime Minister. Also,the Goa experience is addingto their confidence.

But there are observers

who tend to disagree with thisargument. “We should remem-ber that an influentialChristian leader, PC Thomaswho is part of the NDA evennow, was there in the formerAB Vajpayee government butthat had not helped the BJP orNDA much in the efforts tomake inroads into theChristian vote-base,” said asenior journalist.

At the same time, even theBJP leaders in the State are saidto be a bit surprised over theselection of Kannanthanam, aformer CPI(M)-sponsored LeftIndependent MLA fromKanjirappally in his home dis-trict, Kottayam. A top State BJPleader tried to play this pointdown by saying, “Selectingministers is the prerogative ofthe Prime Minister.”

Meanwhile, entire Kerala

welcomed the induction ofKannanthanam, a 1979 batchIAS officer of Kerala cadrewho had made his mark inwhichever sector he hadfunctioned, into the UnionMinistry as a great develop-ment that could help theState in taking up its devel-opmental and other issueswith the Centre.Congratulating Kannanthanamon his new assignment, MarxistChief Minister Pinarayi Vijayansaid, “This has come as anOnam gift for Kannanthanam,a long-term friend. I thinkthis would give him the ener-gy needed to work more forKerala. I hope he will beKerala’s voice in the CentralMinistry even when he is deal-ing with national issues as aUnion Minister.”

Before being sworn in as

Minister, Kannanthanam him-self told the media on Sundaymorning, “To get a UnionMinister representing Kerala isa big approval for the State. Asfar as I am concerned, this isan opportunity to do small butgreat things for Kerala andIndia. My challenge here is tobe a good human being whoconsiders others as goodhuman beings.”

“All of us here are veryhappy about his new assign-ment,” said Kannanthanam’smother Brigit at their house inManimala, his native village. “Iam praying that he should beable to do good things for thepeople and country,” she said.His brother BinuKannanthanam said he had fullconfidence in Alphons, knownfor his ability to achieve successin whatever he did.

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With the fierce “powerplay” among leaders get-

ting more spiteful and the Statepolice launching a massivemanhunt for “fugitive” GorkhaJanmukti Morcha chief BimalGurung booked under UAPAthe grim situation in Darjeelingtended to get dismal by the day.

This even as the ongoingindefinite bandh entering its82nd day on Sunday heapinguntold misery on the localpeople.

A third IED explosioncompletely ruining the policeoutpost at Six Miles area nearDarjeeling tended only to com-plicate the situation, sourcessaid. No one was injured in theblast the police said.

No shops opened and eventhe occasional vehicles thatran with borrowed doctors’ orPress sticker had stopped ply-ing for the past couple of daysparticularly after “GJM leaderBenay Tamang’s expulsionfrom the party for his taking astand by temporarily suspend-ing the indefinite strike tomake way for dialogue followedby the State police’s botchedattempt to arrest Gurung fromNamchi in Sikkim.

A look out notice had beenissued against GorkhaJanmukti Morcha (GJM) chiefBimal Gurung and general sec-retary Roshan Giri by thepolice, said ADG (Law andOrder) Anuj Sharma on Friday.

Even as the police launcheda massive manhunt for Gurungand his deputy Roshan Giri asecond letter for permission toconduct raids in certain placeswas dashed off to the SP ofNamchi area in Sikkim a seniorpolice officer said complainingon the earlier occasion a sectionof Sikkim Police had “notcooperated with us allowingGurung to take the opportunityand flee.”

The police had been fran-tically searching for Gurungsince Friday following a blastnear Darjeeling. The GJM chiefhad been booked under theUnlawful Activities PreventionAct.

The police action wascountered by rallies by GJMsupporters who had organizedmarches at Kalimpong,Kurseong, Mirik, Sonada,Darjeeling and other places.Whatever small shops wereopening for the past few dayswere forced to shut down by

the GJM men, sources said.The strike tended to be

more vigorously enforced byGJM after the party leadershiprevoked Tamang’s decision tosuspend the bandh tillSeptember 12 — when thesecond round of Government-GJM talks would be held —and expulsion of Tamang him-self.

Gurung who wanted theUAPA to be scrapped againsthim before bandh was with-drawn revoked the suspensionof bandh and got Tamangexpelled for joining hands withthe State Government.

Tamang whose house wassubsequently ransacked byGJM supporters and who hadsince been provided unprece-dented security by the police onSunday attacked his leaderssaying he should not be pro-voked into revealing corruptionhow corrupt they were.

“I should not be provokedto tell who has taken howmuch money and who ownsflats in Kolkata and otherplaces,” Tamang said.

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Lauding the Modi Govern-ment’s handling of the

Doklam stand-off, seniorRashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh(RSS) leader Manmohan Vaidyaclaimed on Sunday that the “pres-tige” of the country in the globalarena had got enhanced after thewithdrawal of Chinese forces.

Vaidya, the ‘Akhil BharatiyaPrachar Pramukh’ of the saf-fron body, was here for a three-day meeting of the RSS coor-dination committee inVrindavan.

“The prestige of India andits armed forces has gone upinternationally after the with-drawal of the armed forces ofChina from Doklam,” Vaidyaclaimed.

China had never displayedsuch a gesture in the past, he said.

On demonetisation, Vaidyasaid gradually people havestarted understanding its value.The fruitful result of demon-etisation would be seen short-

ly, he added. He also said thatthe country can overcome aslowdown as the family systemis very strong.

Speaking about the coor-dination committee meeting,Vaidya said that there was nodiscussion about 2019 LokSabha polls or the functioningof the Government.

Representatives of variousall India organisations of theRSS appreciated the work of'Seema Suraksha Jagran Manch'in the border areas, he said andadded that the stress was onsolving problems related toeducation, employment andother local issues.

Representatives of variousRSS bodies advocated pro-moting small, medium andagriculture based industries toovercome unemployment, hestated.

He said the coordinationmeeting also discussed casteismand to overcome the evil,encouraging people to followthe ideology of the Sangh.

It is not necessary to be amember of RSS to inculcatewithin the ideology of the RSS,he said.

Vaidya said that it was alsodiscussed about how tostrengthen the position of Indiaas the world was changing fastand happenings in Asia were atthe centrestage.

The value of ‘spirituality',importance of good values and'Swadeshi' were also discussedin detail, Vaidya said.

Besides RSS chief MohanBhagwat, BJP president AmitShah and Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath alsoattended the meeting.

Lucknow: Union Home Minister RajnathSingh and Uttar Pradesh Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath will flag off the maidenrun of the Lucknow Metro here onSeptember 5.

first train will be flagged off by thehome minister, who represents theLucknow Lok Sabha seat, and the chiefminister from the Transport Nagarmetro station. The public services will,however, start the next day.

The 8.5-km-long 'Priority Corridor'from Transport Nagar to Charbagh,which is part of the Phase 1 of the pro-ject, will be operational for the publicfrom 6 am to 10 pm everyday. PTI

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Former Lok Sabha Speaker SomnathChatterjee on Sunday lashed out at the

Kerala lobby of the CPI(M) for ruining theparty to the point of near-decima-tion.

Stopping short of naming lead-ers like Prakash Karat and othersChatterjee said the situation wassuch that the CPI(M) was on theverge of extinction and “someleaders from South India havebrought the party to this state.”

There are plenty of issueswhen democracy is being mur-dered in Bengal the party should have takenextraordinary steps to launch a movementbut that was not done, he said adding

“Sitaram Yechury is not being given to takesteps which can revive the party. He can donothing because he is in minority both inthe politburo and central committee.”

There was time when “we would beproud to be in the CPI(M)because of the character of ourleaders. Now the works are indisarray. They are a confused lot.They want to work selflessly butthey are not allowed to work.They don’t the kind of leadershipthat was required in these baddays” he said.

He had earlier said that lackof forceful movement and exis-

tence of plentiful issues only brought dis-illusionment among the people pushingthem towards parties like the BJP.

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While India's new DefenceMinister Nirmala Sithara-

man finished taking oath ofoffice at Rashtrapati Bhawan onSunday morning, the Line ofControl (LoC) in Poonch sectorwas already witnessing heavyexchange of fire between thePakistan Army and the IndianArmy.

According to field reports,the Pakistan Army had initiat-ed unprovoked firing in theKrishna Ghati sector of Pooncharound 8.50 a.m using smallarms, automatics and mortars totarget the forward Indian postsin the area. The firing continuedfor over one hour during whichIndian side also retaliatedstrongly.

Meanwhile, situationremained peaceful in Rajourisector where schools were closeddown following fresh flare up oftension in Nowshera sector onAugust 31.

The district administrationhad announced closure ofschools falling in the forwardareas for a period of three days.Construction of bunkers in thearea is going on in full swing.

The district administrationin Rajouri had launched a pilotproject to construct 100 bunkers.According to DeputyCommissioner Rajouri DrShahid Iqbal Choudhary, workon atleast three dozen bunkers isnearing completion with activesupport of the local population.

Tiruchirappalli (TN): At leastfour persons, including a five-year-old boy, were killed and fiveothers critically injured in thecollapse of a 70 year-old resi-dential building here early onSunday.

An 18-month-old girl childof a deceased couple, had amiraculous escape as she waspulled out safely from thedebris hours after the collapseof the three-storey building.

The residents of the buildingwere asleep when it collapsedaround 3 AM, police and firebrigade officials said. Thedeceased were identified asKarthick (30), his son Harish (5)and the couple -- Palani andRajathi, they said.

Chief Minister KPalaniswami condoled the

deaths and announced an ex-gratia of �2 lakh each to the nextof kin of Karthick and his sonHarish and said �5 lakh will bedeposited with the Tamil NaduPower Finance andInfrastructure DevelopmentCorporation Limited as relief forthe 18 month-old girl of thedeceased couple.

He said a monthly interestof Rs 4062 from the deposit willbe used for the child's month-ly expenses. The Chief Ministeralso announced �50,000 as com-pensation for injured. Officialssaid the ground floor of thebuilding, located on the ThanjaiKula street, adjoining theRockfort area, could have gotweakened due to heavy rainsovernight, leading to the collapse.

PTI

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President Ramnath Kovindduring his visit to historic

Sabarmati Ashram remarkedthat Path of Mahatma Gandhiis for peace and harmony forthe mankind.

Kovind began his two-daylong visit to Gujarat on Sundaywith the visit of the historicalSabarmati Ashram establishedby Mahatma Gandhi. He alsooffered Sutar ni Aati (CottonThread) to the photograph ofMahatma Gandhi and alsogarlanded the statue of Gandhi.

“It is a matter of greathonour and privilege for me tobe on the sacred precinct of theSabarmati Ashram epitomisingthe globally-cherishedGandhian values of truth andnon-violence, which continueto be as relevant today as theywere in the past. I join thenation in paying tribute toMahatma Gandhi whose teach-ings and ideals are an eternalsource of inspiration andstrength not only for India butalso for the world,” thePresident wrote in the visitors’book of the Ashram.

He further remarked thaton the occasion of the year-longSabarmati Ashram Centenary

celebrations, let us reaffirmour resolve to follow the path ofGandhiji for peace and har-mony amongst the nations andthe entire mankind.

Earlier Kovind was wel-comed by Gujarat GovernorO.P. Kohli, Chief Minister VijayRupani, and Deputy ChiefMinister Nitin Patel at theAhmedabad Airport for hismaiden two-day long visit toGujarat as President. He alsomade plantation in the com-pound of the ashram.

Later in the day he visitedNorth Gujarat town Mehsanato attend a function where hesaid that Gujarat is like secondhome to his as he kept on vis-iting the state for the pastthree decades.

He also mentioned theleadership qualities amongpeople of Gujarat saying thatthe state has given two PrimeMinisters to the nation –Morarji Desai and Narendra Modi.

On Monday he will visitSaurashtra town Jasdan wherehe would launch a �1700 croreirrigation project – SaurashtraAvataran Narmada Irrigation(SAUNI) project link-4. Hewill also offer prayer at ancientGhela Somnath temple near the

town in Rajkot district. Kovindwill also address a gatheringthere. Both the functions of thePresident will be attended byGujarat governor OP Kohli,Gujarat Chief Minister VijayRupani, Union MinisterParashotam Rupala andManshukh Mandviya.

It is worth mentioning thatSAUNI project is the brainchildof former Gujarat ChiefMinister and current PrimeMinister Narendra Modi tolink more than 100 dams in theSaurashtra region and fill themwith additional water ofNarmada dam. Earlier thisyear, PM Modi dedicated phaseI of the SAUNI project to thepeople of Saurashtra at a func-tion near Botad town.

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Andhra Pradesh ChiefMinister and Telugu

Desam Party presidentChandrababu Naidu is expect-ing a pre-poll for nextParliament in December 2018rather March 2019. PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andBJP president Amit Shah wouldprefer advancement of LokSabha elections to gain politi-cal benefit another term as thepublic are favouring Modi, hebelieves.

Naidu had commented inhis recent Press conferenceheld after Nandyal win that“We may not surprise if PrimeMinister prefers advance elec-tions”. There are umpteenchances for early elections, heclarified categorically to aquery.

Without relaxing with theresults of Nandyal Assemblyconstituency and KakinadaMunicipal Corporation, Naidupluunged into political andgovernance strategies to winagain both Lok Sabha andAssembly elections scheduledin 2019.

He convened an internalparty coordination meetingwith important leaders to dis-cuss about future politicalstrategy.

He suggested his partymen to be ready for electionfight alone even if the BJP andJanasena chief and Film StarPawan Kalyan do not supportTDP for their independentbenefits.

Naidu felt Modi and AmitShah would prefer ally withTDP only as they need a strongfriend in South India.

“No doubt, YSRCP contestin Nandyal and neutral stand ofJanasena Pawan Kalyan was a

political conspiracy. Actually,bifurcation of erstwhileAndhra Pradesh in 2014 wasalso a big conspiracy.

The ruling party at thattime in New Delhi wanted towipe out TDP in Telangana andAP having back door politicaltie-up with the TRS and theYSRCP. But they could notachieve their expected resultsin Andhra Prsdesh. People ofAndhra stood behind the TDPand proved their draconianpolitical strategy was wrong.Also, now, unseen politicalconspiracies are on to margin-alise TDP in AP,” said theChief Minister.

“The YSRCP contested inNandyal against the spirit andpolitical ethics. Whether we gowith the BJP, Janasena or not,is a different subject. We willthink at an appropriate timeabout alliances. Be ready forany political eventuality.Prepare the party cadre accord-ingly,” Naidu had reported toldparty workers.

Naidu is neither muchbothered nor focused onrevamping and expansion ofcentral cabinet. He has alreadyput his focus on December2018 or March 2019 LokSabha elections and startedground work to strengthen hisparty and drawn a roadmap forthe same.

The Chief Minister iden-tified a Six-Point Formula for2019 agenda apart from con-struction of New Capital ofthe State, Amaravati andimplementation of variouswelfare schemes.

His first and foremostfocus in the agenda is WaterSecurity for All through anIntegrated Network (100%Drinking Water to rural areasand Irrigation Water to

drought prone areas),Education (through Digitaland Advanced Technologies),Employment (New Industriesin different segments apartfrom Electronics and ITCompanies plus �2,000stipend to educated unem-ployee graduates), Health,Roads & Housing (Rural andUrban network) and finallyReal Time Good Governance(Transparent and Corruptionfree) with the help of new ITTechnologies.

“The Chief Minister isfocused on water, education,employment, roads, housing aswell as good governance andwelfare schemes. He is using1100 toll free number createdin Grievance and Call Centre.Every day 10 lakh citizens getcalls from Call Centre and willtake feed back on implemen-tation of every Governmentprogramme and corruption.On received complaints he istaking immediate action andtrying to correct the lapsescoming up in implementationof government schemes,”Special Chief Secretary SatishChandra told The Pioneer.

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Ignoring the raised, patrician eye-brows from the relics of the ancientrégime, or indeed, the beetled furrowsof the arriviste establishment, it mustbe said that the lumpen element has

been an intrinsic — whether essential ornot is an argument for elsewhere — partof the freedom struggle and later the agitational agenda of the governing class ofindependent India.

In the 1920-1950 period, it informedthe pan-Islamist Khilafat agitation led bythe Ali brothers and supported by theMahatma, the non-cooperation movementwherein the Chauri Chaura incident ledMahatma Gandhi to call off the agitation-al plan rather than give any quarter tolumpen violence from within, the state-seeking Pakistan movement led by MAJinnah, especially in the last year of Britishrule after his call for direct action and even,arguably, the Quit India movement to asmall extent despite it bearing the impri-matur of the Mahatma and the full weightof his political and moral authority.

Post-independence, the languagemovements of the 1950s and 1960s and theagrarian land redistribution agitations ofthe Left that spilled over into the nextdecade; Jai Prakash Narayan’s total revo-lution mobilisation and the anti-emergencyagitation of the 1970s; the Ayodhya move-ment of the 1980s and 1990s; the variousstatehood movements from the 1950s tillthe early 2000s; and the anti-cow slaugh-ter, abolition of triple talaq and nativist agi-tations in different States in 21st centuryIndia, have all struggled to keep thelumpen element at arm’s length, albeit withdiffering intensity of effort and

varying results. The mass aesthetic post-1947, on the

other hand, has consistently been under-theorised with inconvenient aspects air-brushed and often misreported; the former,one suspects, as a deliberate sacrifice at thealtar of the Nehruvian nation-buildingeffort and the latter, as a manifestation ofthe same intent as agitprop.

The groundwork for the metaphysic oflumpenisation, as it were, predates contem-porary battles for political power.Successive Governments in India, both atthe Centre and in the States, have absorbedit fully into the governance eco-system.Periodic hand-wringing on the issue by theold establishment, more frequent of late forobvious reasons, should come as no sur-prise. It depends almost entirely for its per-sonal and professional fortunes, as allestablishments in non-meritocratic soci-eties tend to, on a transactional relation-ship with the powers-that-be because itslife-defining and inter-generational priv-ileges are premised on the shifting sandsof access to opportunity, ideological syn-ergy, quasi state support and a syncing ofa priori assumptions about shared national values.

So, when the Prime Minister con-demns the lumpen elements of the cowprotection movement or the following ofa sect leader for indulging in intimidationand violence and affirms the law shouldtake its own course, he is very clearly send-ing out the message that such behaviouris entirely unacceptable. This is not an exer-cise by Prime Minister Modi, as those whoskim the shallows may have convincedthemselves, in proforma condemnation but

is in keeping with a rather obvious beliefof his political life — acceptance of the factthat lumpen violence and/or intimidationis wrong, should be effectively curbedwhere it occurs by respective administra-tions and ought to be punished, it does notmean he will stop supporting the causeshe and his party believe in. And whyshould he? No other mainstream politicalparty would change its agenda on suchspurious logic and selective reasoning andno commentator would suggest it do so.

The political Opposition and the BJP’scritics from civil society would do them-selves a favour by first accepting that thelumpen element is an across-party/issuephenomenon. Subsequently, if they sowish, they could construct a narrative tocounter a movement and/or agitationwhether in terms of intrinsic worth or pri-ority. And then exhibit intellectual honesty,political will and an understanding of theexceptionalism of the Indian conditionwithin which their alternative narrativemust gather traction from citizens of the republic.

But the moment they take the easy wayout by conflating the lumpen behaviour ofa section of the proponents of an agenda(it could be any) with the right of the mainbody of its protagonists to believe in andagitate within the law for the fruition oftheir efforts, they effectively lose the argument.

To begin engaging with the mass aes-thetic, working to shape it even, is to jointhe battle for ideas that is raging in the land.Leaning on the crutches of a disingenuousconstruct of the ‘barbarians are at the gate’variety, which is what focusing solely on

the (utterly condemnable) lumpen acts ofa section in all mass agitations amounts to,just won’t cut it intellectually and, moreimportantly for political parties, elec-torally. Lumpen behaviour by a section ofagitators is a lived human experience formost, if not all, citizens regardless of theissue being pressed.

Perhaps decades of entitlement do leadinexorably to a decay in the ability to recog-nise that the process of democratisation,while it may throw up a demagogue or two,is rather potent as a slayer of shibboleths too.

On balance, the BJP, as the premierpolitical party of India, also needs to be care-ful about how it deals with the lurking dan-ger of a lumpen takeover of its allied agen-das as it has far more to lose. Modi has gotthe party to power on its own at the Centre,an achievement that escaped the morecharming Atal Bihari Vajpayee and lessangular LK Advani, and looks a shoo-in fora second term unless the incipient signs ofan economy in trouble turn more ominousand the hope expressed by Meghnand Desaithat opportunities to earn a living — asopposed to traditional job creation — haveincreased under BJP rule is belied.

The focus on governance issues for theremainder of his current term in these cir-cumstances, however, must not distract thePrime Minister from keeping an eye onand crushing the lumpen element withinas he did in Gujarat when he was the ChiefMinister, precisely because the causesespoused are vital components of his andthe BJP’s nationhood argument and, there-fore, need far more civilised, erudite andeffective ambassadors.

(The author is a Goa-based journalist)

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Growth, the only option”(September 2). Leave aside theGovernment’s claims on demoneti-sation. The abolition of �1,000 and�500 was a well-intentioned moveto take the economy to a new heightand it was also an attempt to put adent on the stashing of black money.It is too early to say that demoneti-sation will permanently affect theeconomy. The sincerity of the ModiGovernment is above suspicion,though some steps taken may notyield desired results, as this hasn’t.

It was not the intention of theGovernment to harass people. Infact, demonetisation of notes hastroubled the affluent class themore. A common man in the streethas forgotten the inconvenience hesuffered for a short period. Butpolitical adversaries are happier ifa slowing down economy can be anissue to make political capital outof. A sincere mistake can be par-doned by the people. But previousUnited Progressive AllianceGovernment caused too manyscams and other corrupt activitiesfor the people to forgive those.

KV Seetharamaiah Hassan

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Demonetisation blues” (September1). If 99 per cent of the demonetisedcurrency has returned to theReserve Bank of India, as it hasclaimed, it means that the fightagainst black money throughdemonetisation was not properlythought out.

This ‘anti-rich idea’, the ‘surgi-cal strike’ on black money was suc-cessfully marketed by the BJP inUttar Pradesh and other Statesduring elections. Union Minister forFinance, Arun Jaitley, claimed thatthree lakh crore rupees of blackmoney would get extinguished.Instead only �1,600 crore has not re-entered the banking system. Anyfight against black money would beincomplete without first tackling theissues of political funding, benamiproperties and offshore invest-ments. The inescapable conclusionis: The pain of demonetisation wasreal, the gain remains intangible.

KS Jayatheertha Bengaluru

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Demonetisation blues”(September 1). Ever since the fig-ures of the Reserve Bank of Indiacame in the public domain, themedia is abuzz with discussionsand talk shows on the positives andnegatives of the whole demoneti-sation exercise. Meanwhile, UnionMinister for Finance, Arun Jaitleyis often on the backfoot, explain-ing the long-term positive out-comes of demonetisation.However, in my opinion, even ifthe Government has failed onblack money, a very positive out-come is the redistribution ofmoney. Lot of stalked cash, whichwas unaccounted for, has reachedthe hands of poor. Social justicehas been automatically done.

Ashok KumarNew Delhi

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In the Medium Term ExpenditureFramework (MTEF) statement (astatutory requirement under the

Fiscal Responsibility and BudgetManagement Act, 2003) presented bythe Modi Government, expenditure onfertiliser subsidy during 2018-19 and2019-20 was kept unchanged at �70,000crore. The provision was the same inthis year’s budget. Allocation for foodsubsidy has been increased from�145,000 crore during 2017-18 to�175,000 crore during 2018-19 and fur-ther to �200,000 crore in 2019-20.

These numbers are out of sync andare in contradiction to theGovernment’s commitment to ‘ratio-nalise’ and ‘target’ both fertiliser andfood subsidy (ie give these to thedeserving) made in successive Budgets

as well as to the recommendations ofcommittees viz, the ExpenditureManagement Commission headed byformer Reserve Bank of India GovernorBimal Jalan and Shanta Kumar com-mittee on restructuring FoodCorporation of India (FCI).

Subsidy represents excess of cost ofproduction (insurance and freightlanded cost in case of import) and dis-tribution over maximum retail price(‘issue price’ in case of food for sale frompublic distribution system) (PDS) mul-tiplied by the quantum ofproduction/imports. Subsidy willincrease if either the cost increases ormaximum retail price/issue price is low-ered or a combination of both.

For any given level of per unit sub-sidy, the aggregate subsidy will also goup if production/import increases.For instance, in fertilisers, when ureaproduction increased by over two mil-lion tonne in 2015-16 over 2014-15 (thePrime Minister mentioned about it inhis speeches in the run up to Assemblyelection in Uttar Pradesh as a majorachievement of his Government), thisled to higher subsidy outgo. Likewise,

in food, expanded coverage under PDSimplies higher subsidy payment.

Under the extant dispensation offixing MRP/issue price and determin-ing cost for the purpose of reimburs-ing differential between the two, thereis an inherent tendency for each tomove in a manner as to lead to high-er subsidy. Thus, successive political dis-pensations have kept MRP of ureaunchanged for over one-and-a-halfdecade. Likewise, under the FoodSecurity Act, issue price of coarse cere-als/wheat/rice is ridiculously low at one-two-three rupee per kg.

As regards the cost, provision forreimbursement to manufacturers on‘actual’ basis leads to an upward bias.Natural gas is the feedstock used in pro-duction of urea. Nearly one-third of itsrequirement is imported as liquefiednatural gas. This comes mostly underlong-term contracts of up to 25 yearsat higher price when compared to pre-vailing spot price. These contracts,signed during 2003-2010, were riddledwith irregularities leading to inflatedpayments to exporters and corre-sponding higher subsidy (last year, the

Modi dispensation renegotiated a con-tract with Qatar to secure good pricereduction but that was one-off event).

There are several other cost com-ponents in supply/distribution chainand treatment of each on actual basistriggers a never ending stream ofattempts to ‘prove’ and ‘claim’ expens-es instead of taking steps to reduce (infact, there is no incentive for this as amanufacturer runs the risk of savingsbeing mopped up). Scenario in food isno better. Handling, storage and distri-bution costs are reimbursed to the FCI.

The ‘subsidy push’ is generic toexisting controls and will not go awaytill such time the system itself is disman-tled. The proof of pudding is in eating.For instance, the so-calledComprehensive New Urea Policy(CNUP) unveiled in 2015, merely tin-kered with energy consumption norms(these are used for computing feed-stock/fuel cost) and cost reimburse-ment to manufacturers for productionabove a threshold capacity. Consequentto these, saving in subsidy was a mereabout �1,000 crore in an annual bud-get of �70,000 crore.

If the Government is serious aboutmaking a dent on subsidy, it should dis-mantle these controls and give subsidydirectly to target beneficiaries (the poor)under a scheme of direct benefit trans-fer (DBT). This will pave the way formany players, increase in supply, offermore choices and foster competitionleading to lower prices for all con-sumers. The poor will get additionalbenefit under DBT.

Unlike the present dispensation,wherein subsidy payment is on a ris-ing scale or at best constant, the pay-out (albeit under DBT) will be ‘finite’and ‘predictable’. In case of fertilisers,the new system will promote balancednutrient use, higher crop yield,improvement in soil health and lessdamage to the environment. In view ofthe above, it can be safely surmised thatreforms and a substantial reduction insubsidy go hand-in-hand.

Considering that in the MTEF, theGovernment has retained fertilisersubsidy at the existing level and provid-ed for steep hike in subsidy on food(from the present already high level),it follows that it has no plans at least

until 2019-20 to implement reforms inthese sectors. Its relevant policy deci-sions are also in conformity with thislackadaisical approach.

Thus, under the CNUP (2015), theGovernment had frozen the MRP ofurea at existing level for four years.Further, it decided to continue the newpricing scheme (NPS) — cost determi-nation and subsidy payments are madeunder it — for that long. Both NPS andcontrol on MRP are intrinsic to exist-ing dispensation and since these willstay till 2019-20, it follows that latterwon’t go away.

As regards DBT, in both fertilisersand food, the Government is current-ly running pilot projects in select dis-tricts and it is unlikely that actual launchwill happen before 2019. In any case,sans reforms (read: Removal of controlsand allowing pricing freedom), DBT islike ‘a human without soul’. But a bil-lion dollar question is: Why Modi isrunning away from reforms in thesesectors? For an answer, we may have towait till 2019 general elections are over.

(The writer has a PhD in economics from JNU, Delhi)

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Prime Minister NarendraModi is not called a risktaker for nothing. Apartfrom the game changingdemonetisation and a slew

of other moves which haveunearthed more than �1.25 lakhcrore of black money, and stillcounting, if there is one sector thathas undergone a radical transforma-tion, it is real estate.

A recent Confederation of RealEstate Developers’ Associations ofIndia (Credai)-Cbre report highlight-ed how the Real Estate (Regulation andDevelopment) Act (RERA), the Goodsand Services Tax (GST) and the RealEstate Investment Trusts (REITs), willenhance transparency; improveinvestor sentiment; increase the shareof organised sector; regulate unorgan-ised sector; encourage competition andconsumer confidence; improve ease ofdoing business; enhance operating fab-ric; make affordable housing thegrowth catalyst in the real estate seg-ment; and last but not the least, giveimpetus to the Pradhan Mantri AwasYojana which envisages housing for allby 2022 against the backdrop of ashortage of 20 million affordablehomes in urban India alone.

The current BJP-led NDAGovernment’s commitment isreflected in the smart cities missionwhich is worth one lakh crorerupees; the �77,000-crore AtalMission for Rejuvenation; and theurban transformation scheme thatprovides basic ammenities like watersupply, sewerage, transport to house-holds and various other measureslike the creation of the �4,000 croreNational Investment andInfrastructure Fund.

The real estate market, hithertomarked by opacity and unscrupulousplayers, is set for transformation forthe better, given the regulatory over-haul by the Modi Government. It isestimated that seven billion dollar, ormaybe more, from offshore equityinvestors, large corporates and HighNet Worth Individuals, are slated toenter the real estate space this yearafter $5.7 billion by way of ForeignDirect Investment and $32 billion viaprivate equity funding in 2016.

Speaking of affordable housing,enabling policy initiatives like 100per cent service tax exemption toaffordable housing and according it‘infrastructure status’, increase inabatement period from three to fiveyears, hiked exemption limit oninterest outgo on home loans, CreditLinked Subsidy Scheme underPradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana, link-ing home loans to Marginal Cost ofLending Rate to ensure effectivemonetary transmission of interestrate cuts by banks, Benami PropertyAct, higher budgetary allocation for

rural housing from �15,000 crore to�23,000 crore in 2017-18, allocationof �29,000 crore under the PradhanMantri Gramin Awaas Yojna, will goa long way in ensuring the initial tar-get of 10 million homes by 2019.Such initiatives will ensure a ‘living’reality for a large swathe of India’s 1.3billion population.

Coming to GST in the real estatesector, what is commendable is thatthe GST has brought all indirecttaxes (service tax, excise duty andvalue added tax), which applies toprocurement of goods and servicesduring the construction stage, underone unified tax. This has lead to ascenario where what remains is onlydirect taxes like capital gains tax,wealth tax and, of course, stamp duty.

Considering that almost 70 percent of the real estate market catersto the middle and high income seg-ments, the GST should help shiftfocus, particularly for smaller devel-opers, towards the EconomicallyWeaker Sections and Lower IncomeGroups of the society.

Also, the biggest hurdle fordevelopers has been removed byallowing deduction of land valueequal to one-third of the totalamount charged by developers,thereby ensuring that the developer passes on the input taxbenefit to the buyers.

Again, industrial property andwarehousing segment will be the pri-mary beneficiary of adoption of theGST system as operating efficiencyis expected to increase, according to

Colliers Research. Logistics compa-nies will also look to establish largeconsolidated warehouses located onstrategic transit corridors.

Builders have been complainingthat property prices post-GST areunlikely to come down substantial-ly as no land abatement is availableand neither can input credit beclaimed for completed part of theproject billed under previous taxregime. However, such claims areunfounded because in the long term,developers stand to benefit for newprojects as they can claim input cred-it under GST and get the tax paid bysuppliers, thereby lessening the bur-den on the buyers.

Apart from RERA and GST,relaxation of norms pertaining toReal Estate Investment Trusts by theModi Government will also broad-en and deepen the property marketin India. New guidelines like throw-ing open Real Estate InvestmentTrusts to High Net WorthIndividuals with a minimum sub-scription size of two lakh rupees,equal voting rights to all unit hold-ers, compulsory valuation of allReal Estate Investment Trusts assetsby a registered valuer, allowingNRIs, Foreign Portfolio Investors toinvest either directly in Real EstateInvestment Trusts or via SpecialPurpose Vehicles, provided invest-ment in Special Purpose Vehicles isdone by taking a controlling stake ofno less than 50 per cent of the equi-ty or 80 per cent of the assets of theReal Estate Investment Trusts,

mandatory distribution of 90 percent of net distributable cash flowsas dividend to investors, half yearly,no Dividend Distribution Tax onSpecial Purpose Vehicles, no capitalgains tax for units held beyondthree years, are all measures whichwill help developers monetise theirassets and fight funding issues in thecommercial segment.

Needless to add, this will in turnhave huge positive ramifications onthe residential segment too, goingforward, though of course, current-ly Real Estate Investment Trustsare pretty much limited to the com-mercial property segment whereyields are 8-11 per cent versus resi-dential, where yields are merely twoper cent to three per cent.

It is estimated that 229 millionsquare feet of commercial space inIndia is Real Estate InvestmentTrusts-compliant and if listed, thanksto the game-changing reforms onthis front by the Modi dispensation,it will fetch at least �1.25 lakh crore,akin to almost one per cent ofIndia’s gross domestic product!

This can indeed set off a virtu-ous cycle, encouraging private devel-opers, who have hitherto been reluc-tant to invest in the affordable hous-ing segment due to paucity of fundsand modest yields, to come forwardand share in Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s vision of ‘Housingfor All’ by 2022.

(The writer is an economist,stockmarket expert and chiefspokesperson for Mumbai)

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��������� �As Sebi looks todetoxify the ‘high-turnover,high-risk derivatives trad-ing’, brokers have petitionedthe regulator that the NSEdata showing 15-times high-er volumes than cash marketis “grossly overstated” andthis segment is rather bur-dened with high taxes.

The capital market regu-lator is currently in theprocess of overhauling itsrules for derivatives tradingamid concerns over suitabil-ity of these ‘complex andrisky’ products for individualinvestors.

Sebi had initiated a pub-lic consultation in July forframing the new rules, whilenoted that the tradingturnover in these productshas seen a sharp surge of overten-fold over the past decade

and the ratio of trades inequity derivatives to that ofequity cash market has risento over 15-times.

Replying to the consulta-tion call, the Association ofNational Exchanges Membersof India (ANMI), a pan-Indiabody of trading membersacross leading exchangesincluding NSE and BSE, hassubmitted that “the NSE pub-lishes options data by stating‘not ional’ turnover (asopposed to premiumturnover), thus grossly over-stating the total quantum ofbusiness in the futures andoptions segment”.

It has said that theturnover in equity deriva-tives is 15.59 times of that incash market, whereas thisratio after taking only pre-mium is only 2.53 times,

which “clearly falls withinthe global exchange norms”.

In its discussion paperinviting comments from allstakeholders, Sebi had said,“The ratio of turnover inderivatives to turnover incash market is around 15times. To what extent the dri-vers of this ratio in India arecomparable with other mar-kets.”

Derivative in financialmarkets typically refers to aforward, future, option orany other hybrid contract ofpre- determined fixed dura-tion, linked for the purpose ofcontract fulfilment to thevalue of a specified real orfinancial asset or to an indexof securities.

Broadly, there are twotypes of derivative contracts-- futures and options. A

futures contract means alegally binding agreement tobuy or sell the underlyingsecurity on a future date,while options contract givesthe buyer or holder of thecontract the right (but not theobligation) to buy or sell theunderlying asset at a prede-termined price within or atend of a specified period.

In fiscal 2016-17, the totalturnover in equity cash mar-ket stood at about 60.5 lakhcrore, whereas the same forequity derivatives was a stag-gering Rs 944 lakh crore.

While the cash markethas grown at an annual com-pounded growth rate of 11per cent since 2004-05, thesame for equity derivatives isover 35 per cent.

ANMI, however, said avanilla reading of derivatives

on notional basis to cashsegment volume ratio is ahighly imperfect measure ofassessment of the derivativesmarket in India vs the world.

According to Sebi, whilelarge number of individualinvestors are active in deriv-atives segment, it has beenobserved that these investorsmay or may not have ade-quate financial capability towithstand risks posed bycomplex derivative instru-ments.

Sebi is also seeking toaddress, with the new norms,any inefficiencies present inthe market and any regulato-ry arbitrage that needs to beplugged.

The ANMI, on the otherhand, said the average Indianinvestor and trader has asuperior knowledge of the

derivatives space than hisforeign counterpart.

It also said that globallyOTC contracts are permittedin the derivatives market,and consequently, much ofthe derivatives trade takesplace bilaterally outside theexchange plat form andescapes capture, thus sup-pressing derivatives volumes.

In India, OTC (over thecounter) derivative contractsare not permitted to be trad-ed outside the exchange plat-form.

As per ANMI’s submis-sion to Sebi, cash/derivativesarbitrage trading in India is azero risk, low-medium returntrading strategy and manyarbitrage funds are also oper-ating on this strategy in themutual fund space.

“It affords a debt like

return to the investor. Cash-futures arbitrage provides astable income stream to a riskaverse investor. How doesthis work? One has to buycash-sell futures and keeprolling over the futures frommonth to month so as long asthere is positive cost of carry.

“Thus, in a year, a simplecash/future arbitrage involvesone cash market trade and 24futures trades (12 months -–sell/buy for each month).Simply read as a turnoverratio, it means 24:1. Does thatmean there is excess interestin der ivat ives market?Certainly not!,” it said.

Opposing any restric-tions, the ANMI said “unin-formed or naive” traders needto be properly educatedbefore undertaking deriva-tives trading, but this cannot

be achieved by putting phys-ical barriers to trade, as theywil l be pushed towardsDabba or illegal trading.

The associat ion alsorefuted the notion that deriv-ative market is subject tolower taxes and said thesetrades are actually subject todouble tax.

“Derivatives are impor-tant and that is why the gov-ernment is encouraging inter-national exchanges which aremeant for derivatives only onwhich there is no STT, stampduty etc. Already around 40-50 per cent volume and openInterest of Nifty has shifted toSingapore,” it said.

ANMI pitched for NRIsbeing allowed to participateon non-repatriation basiswith normal retail partici-pants. #���

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��������� �The Aditya Birlagroup has entered the top val-uation league with a marketcap of over $50 billion postlisting of financial servicesarm Aditya Birla Capital(ABCL), but Tatas remainon top with over USD 132billion.

The combined marketvaluation of the KumarMangalam Birla-led listedcompanies stood at�3,42,354.87 crore ($53.5 bil-lion) at the end of Friday’strade.

Among various listedcompanies of the group,UltraTech Cement’s valua-tion stood at �1,10,097.70crore at the end of Friday’strade while that of GrasimIndustries was �76,881.73crore.

The newly-listed AdityaBirla Capital’s market capi-talisation was over �55,000crore, Hindalco (�54,607.09crore) , Idea Cel lular(�32,064.91 crore), AdityaBirla Fashion and Retail(�13,155.73 crore) and Aditya

Birla Money (�547.71 crore).Among Indian conglom-

erates, the Tata group remainson the top in terms of totalvaluation of listed firms withabout �8,46,567 crore ($132.5billion).

There are 29 publicly-listed Tata group companies,including Tata Steel, TataMotors, Tata ConsultancyServices, Tata Power, TataChemicals , Tata GlobalBeverages, Tata Teleservicesand Titan.

The Tatas are followed bythe HDFC group whose threelisted companies have a com-bined market va lue of�7,54,542.26 crore ($117 bil-lion).

The Mukesh Ambani-ledReliance group has a totalmarket va luat ion of�5,24,011.39 crore ($81.9 bil-lion).

Meanwhile, shares ofAditya Birla Capital (ABCL)got listed on the bourses onFriday and later fell by 5 percent to hit its lowest tradingpermissible limit for the day.

The listing of ABCL isthe culmination of the com-posite scheme of arrange-ment under which AdityaBirla Nuvo merged withGrasim Industries and thefinancial services undertak-ing was subsequent lydemerged into ABCL, thecompany had said in a state-ment.

Incidentally, not a singleBirla group firm figuresamong the top 10 most val-ued individual companies ofthe country, where MukeshAmbani-led RIL is on the top.Besides, two HDFC firms --HDFC Ltd and HDFC Bank-- are also in top 10.

Eight of the top-10 mostvalued companies togetheradded �43,438.38 crore intheir market valuation lastweek.

RIL was the biggest gain-er as its m-cap surged�13,641.72 crore to�5,23,344.72 crore.

The valuation of IOCsoared �9,760.37 crore to�2,17,641.66 crore and that of

HUL jumped �7,956.01 croreto �2,63,135.56 crore.

Maruti Suzuki Indiaadded �6,366.34 crore to�2,36,006.09 crore and ITCsaw a gain of �2,678.56 croreto �3,45,433.49 crore.

The m-cap of Infosysmoved up by �1,745.7 crore to�2,11,344.05 crore and that ofHDFC Bank went up by�733.91 crore to �4,55,388.27crore.

HDFC added �555.77crore at �2,80,317.57 crore inits valuation.

However, TCS’ valuationslumped �6,144.86 crore to�4,71,527.32 crore and that ofSBI was down by �2,373.81crore at �2,39,712.04 crore.

In the ranking of top 10firms, RIL is followed byTCS, HDFC Bank, ITC,HDFC, HUL, SBI, Maruti,IOC and Infosys.

Over the last week, boththe Sensex and the Niftysurged 296.17 points, or0.93 per cent, and 117.35points, or 1.19 per cent,respectively. #���

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Flagging concerns over theproposed hike in GST on

luxury cars, German auto-maker Mercedes Benz has saidit was eager to increase its out-put and headcount from thecountry if the governmentextended a little bit of supporton taxation.

“We do not understandsuddenly why the need toactually review the cess allover again. We have so muchto contribute. We have highends jobs that we are able tocreate, willing to create...”Mercedes Benz IndiaManaging Director and CEORoland Folger told the newsagency here.

Recently, the UnionCabinet approved promulga-tion of an ordinance to amendthe GST compensation law topave the way for increasing cesson mid and large sized cars.

According to the proposedordinance that seeks to amend

the Goods and Services Tax(Compensation to States) Act,2017, the maximum compen-sation cess can be raised to 25per cent, from 15 per cent.Noting that the country wasoffering “significant potential”for luxury car market, Folgersaid, “we need a little bit of sup-port on the taxation side andwe could significantly increaseour output and also the man-power”.

The company was waitingto see the effect of the cess. “Weare waiting for the timing andalso waiting for the height ofthe cess,” he said.

Folger was here recently forthe inauguration of the AMGPerformance Centre, designedto offer an exclusive and cus-tomized Mercedes-AMGproduct experience.

He said the company wasnot only keen on increasing theemployment opportunities atits factory (in Pune) but also atthe dealership level, he said.

“We were able to bring in

new technologies to India aswell. We have made it very clearthat we are eager to do that”, hesaid.

Asked whether the com-

pany would invest further at itsPune facility, Folger replied inthe negative, saying, “it was notnecessary at the moment”.

He also said the companywas “extremely happy” to seeits progress made so far.

“We have achieved close to50 per cent market share withsales of our AMGs (perfor-mance vehicles). This is in linewith what AMG has seenoverall around the globe”.

“We also see that in India...The testament to that is theexpansion which came to 7AMG centres”, he said.

Mercedes Benz currentlyhas AMG PerformanceCentres in New Delhi,Mumbai, Hyderabad,Bengaluru, Kochi, Pune andChennai.

On whether the companywould make AMGPerformance cars in India, hesaid though the company pro-duced the vehicles fromGermany, it was ‘possible’ tomake them outside Germany.

“But it still depends verymuch on volume. And thatvolume needs to raise signif-icantly higher than what wehave at the moment”, he said.

Answering a query on theused car business, he said thecompany had been “signfi-cantly investing” in it underthe Mercedes Benz Certifiedcars.

“We see that as an addi-tional... Not as a source ofincome to our dealers, but alsowe see the entry into theMercedes Benz brand (by ourcustomers). We are very muchin favour of doing this”, hesaid.

According to the compa-ny statistics, Mercedes BenzIndia sold 13,231 vehicles in2016. From January to June2017, the company has sold7,171 units.

The company’s manufac-turing facility at Chakan inPune is spread across 100acres set up at an investmentof over �1,000 crore.

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����� �After many years ofa rough ride, Skoda Auto Indiaexpects over 30 per cent salesgrowth this year on the backof the momentum it has beenwitnessing of late and has seta target of 18,000 units volumeby December.

Over the weekend, theVolkswagen Group companyrolled out a racing variant ofits popular model Octavia- theOctavia �230 - at a killer priceof �24.63 lakh, which is goingto give a tough time to therivals, which are priced muchhigher.

The Czech automakerexpects the performance-ori-ented �230 to contribute over15 per cent of the Octaviasales, which is the secondlargest volume grosser for thecompany.

“Our internal target is totouch 18,000 units volume byDecember.

In the first seven monthsof 2017, we’ve grown at over 22per cent to 10,500 units from13,300 units we had sold in theentire 2016. So, we should begrowing at about 40 per centthis year to meet the target.The industry during this peri-od grew just about 10 percent,” Skoda India sales, ser-vice & marketing directorAshutosh Dixit told the newsagency.

He said August volumes atover 1,750 units are the high-est ever for the company andthe momentum will gain fur-ther speed in the rest of themonths due to festive sales.

On sales expectation fromthe new Octavia RS, he said atleast 15 per cent of Octaviavolumes should come fromthis, adding that the new carhas already received over 100pre-launch bookings thoughit’s priced �4.5 lakh above the

Octavia.The �230, rolled out from

the Shendra plant nearAurangabad, is powered by a2-litre petrol engine with a topspeed of 250 km/hm and canaccelerate from 0 to 100 km in6.8 seconds, making it thefastest Skoda made in thecountry.

Compared to otherOctavia models, the RS 230’schassis is lower by 15 mm.Globally, the company hassold over 2 lakh RS models,half of which since 2013.

The RS230 is pitchedagainst the BMW 3 Seriespriced at �43 lakh, theMercedes C Class Cabriolepriced at `49 lakh, and theJaguar XF, which is steeplyhigher at �61 lakh. The maindifference is that these rivalmodels are diesel-powered,while the RS 230 is petrol-pow-ered. #���

���� ����� � Foreign portfolioinvestors were buyers in theIndian debt market for theseventh month in a row inAugust, taking their totalinvestment to $20 billion so farthis year.

In August, overseasinvestors pulled out $2 billionfrom stock markets while theypumped in $2.40 billion indebt.

The significant inflow inAugust follows a net inflow of�1.16 lakh crore in the previ-ous six months from February-July 2017. In January, FPIswithdrew more than �2,300crore from the debt market.

“FPIs turned sellers in bothcash and futures markets. Inthe cash market, they were sell-ers at $1.8 billion and infutures, they were sellers at$636 million. However, theyremained buyers in the debtmarket for the 7th month in arow with strong inflows of$2.4 billion in August,” MorganStanley said in a research note.

According to the latestdepository data, FPIs have putin a net sum of �48,628.40crore ($7.60 billion) in theequity space while they haveploughed in �1,29,510.67 crore$20.26 billion) in the debt seg-ment, taking their total invest-

ments to �1,78,139.07 crore($27.86 billion).

Market analysts believe thefundamentals of Indian econ-omy remain strong as the twindeficits have “largely corrected”.Inflation is expected to settlearound the targeted 4 per cent,down from double digits a fewyears ago.

“Encouraged by this, port-folio inflows have surged by$24 billion this year, coupledwith strong foreign directinvestments,” DBS said in arecent research note.

While other major centralbanks signal a slow policy nor-malisation path, emerging mar-ket monetary policies havediverged as softer inflationlends a dovish tilt. #���

��������� �Infosys promoters,including iconic co-foundersN R Narayana Murthy andNandan Nilekani, have offeredto sell as many as 1.77 croreshares -- worth up to �2,038crore -- in the company’s�13,000 crore buyback offer.

The promoters group --which includes most of thefounders and their families --have expressed their intention tobe part of the company’s firstbuyback plan in its over three-decade history and have offeredto tender a maximum of 1.77crore shares.

At a buyback price of �1,150per share, this could mean awindfall of �2,038.94 crore forthe promoter group, if all theshares tendered by them areaccepted in the buyback offer.

The founders and families-- classified as promoters group-- held 29.28 crore shares, or12.75 per cent, in Infosys at theend of June 2017.

The Bengaluru-based firmhas been in the eye of a stormover the past few months, withfounders and erstwhile boardmembers clashing over allega-tions such as corporate gover-nance lapses and irregularitiesin Infosys’ $200-million

Panaya acquisition.The spat -- often public --

culminated in the sudden res-ignation of the then CEOVishal Sikka and exit of fourboard members, includingChairman R Seshasayee. Theyblamed Murthy’s “misguidedcampaign” for Sikka’s abruptexit.

Infosys, on August 24,named co-founder NandanNilekani as its new Non-Executive Chairman, bowingto the demands of co-foundersand large institutionalinvestors.

However, the tensionsbetween the two camps do notseem to be subsiding asSeshasayee launched anotheroffensive last week againstalleged “personal attacks” byMurthy.

Infosys’ buyback offer of upto 11.3 crore shares comes at analmost 25 per cent premium overFriday’s closing price of Rs 920.10a share. The record date is expect-ed to be on or after October 25, 2017.

The two key players in Infosys’changing narrative - Nilekani andMurthy along with families - haveoffered to tender maximum num-ber of shares in the buyback. #���

��������� �JSW Steel’s �26,800-crore capex plan is on track andthe company plans to spend�8,000 crore this year, JointManaging Director SeshagiriRao said.

“Our mission is to becomea 40 million tonne (mt) steelcompany... Taken together, wehave a capex plan of �26,800crore to be spent over threeyears. So this year, we will bespending �8,000 crore. Allthese plans will be completedby March 31, 2020,” Rao, alsothe group’s Chief Financial

Officer (CFO), told the newssgency.

The company has alreadyannounced expansion of itscapacity to 25 mt from 18 mt,and in the long run to 40 mt.

“Similarly, we are investingin our downstream units toexpand our downstream capac-ity. Because today about 35 percent of our total steel producedis value added. So, we want togrow beyond 35 per cent,” hesaid.

At the same time,Rao said, the company has

been exploring opportunitiesglobally as its strategic objectiveis to become “a very efficient”global firm.

The Sajjan Jindal-ownedJSW Steel is also said to be intalks with Algeria’s Cevitalgroup to acquire its Aferpisteel mill in Italy for $100 mil-lion.

Asked about talks forItalian mill acquisition, Raohas said, “We will continue toevaluate (various proposals ofacquisition) and if the oppor-tunity is right, then we will

take a call.”The company in the past

had done some acquisitionsand is not averse to good pro-posals, he added.

The private steel makerhad earlier tried to acquire themill in 2014, when it wasknown as Lucchini. TheAlgerian conglomerateCevital, however, acquiredLucchini and renamed itAcciaier ie e Ferriere diPiombino (Aferpi).

Aferpi’s activity involvesproduction of a wide range of

quality and special steels,with different shapes andsizes for rails, wire rod andbars for railway, automotive,earth-moving vehicles, ener-gy, fastening, springs andwelding.

JSW Steel, the flagshipcompany of the JSW group, isIndia’s leading primary andintegrated steel producer andhas production capacity of 18mtpa with plants across sixlocations in South and WestIndia, namely Karnataka, TamilNadu and Maharashtra. #���

�CI�B(�� �����3��������� ��(2��������� ��B(�� � ���4$��4�������� ����� � Homegrown jean-swear brand Spykar Lifestyles isplanning to expand its retail foot-print by adding more stores inmetro markets and open newones in tier II and III cities to takethe total store count to over 350by 2020-21.

Besides, the company isworking on expanding presencein online space and is evaluatingthe options to create a special lineto address the millennials.

“Our plan is to add 35-40stores a year. We would be over350 stores by 2020-21 fiscal,”Spykar Lifestyles COO Sanjay

Vakharia told the news agency.The company operates 205

stores pan India and is aiming tohave �700 crore sales by 2020-21.

“Last fiscal, we had closedaround �310 crore and this fis-cal, our target is over �370crore,” he said.

Most of the new storeswould be in non-metro marketsand on franchise model.

“We are planning to openstores in metros and tier Icities where we have opportu-nities and we are also nowexpanding in tier II & IIIplaces significantly to open

Spykar stores there,” Vakhariaadded. About the online strat-egy of Spykar, he said:” We aretaking initiatives to create spe-cial lines to address the needof the online audience.”

The company, which hasonline channel partners, isalso in talks with few playersto create special line for thebrand on their platform to getmore attention.

Presently, online sale con-tributes 6-7 per cent of thetotal sales and is expected togo up to 10 per cent in com-ing years. #���

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���� ����� � Seemingly not toohappy with the show of PSUs likeSAIL and RINL, Steel MinisterBirender Singh has a policy pre-scription -- put to good use thehuge Rs 60,000 crore investmentmade by them and beat privatepeers.

Acknowledging that thingsare not as bad for the steel sectoras it used to be some two-threeyears ago, Singh strongly felt thatPSUs should develop appetite forspecial steel as value additionremains the mantra for success.

“Things are not that badwhich it used to be two to threeyears back. I think in the last twoyears the private sector is improv-ing more rapidly than the PSUs.

“PSUs ... When they haveadvantages like captive mines...why don’t they utilise it...Why notto put up washeries...Why not togo for value addition..Specialgrades of steel,” Singh told PTI in

an interview.“`60,000 crore has been spent

on expansion and modernisationof our PSUs ...Their capacities haveramped up but the need today isto produce special steel also,” hesaid.

Despite India being theworld’s third largest producer ofsteel, it still is dependent onimports for some products and“there is dire need to develop tech-nologies to produce electricalgrade and auto grade steel in Indiato become self-sufficient. Insteadof producing just semi-finishedand basic steel products, we mustproduce high value added prod-ucts, which also get better prices,”he asserted.

Barely a few months back,Singh had minced no words incautioning PSUs, includingdomestic giant SAIL, to “performor perish”, saying complacencycannot be tolerated at a time when

private players are excelling on var-ious parameters.

Chairing a meeting of chiefsof top steel PSUs, the minister hadpulled up public sector firms likeSAIL and RINL for lagging behindnot only on international bench-marks, but also their private coun-terparts and being complacent inramping up capacities.

“In production and produc-tivity parameters, PSUs are farbehind their counterparts in pri-vate sector. In terms of interna-tional benchmarks, performanceof Indian steel companies is verypoor,” Singh had told PSU topbrass and indicted SAIL for miss-ing deadlines for modernisation.

He said one area which hisministry has prioritised for rolloutof National Steel Policy is rawmaterial security.

“I have directed the ministryofficials to take two actions on pri-ority basis. These are setting up of

coal washeries and optimising pel-let utilisation. These will helpreduce dependence on imports bymaximising usage of domestic rawmaterials,” he said.

The minister said Coal Indiaand Bharat Coking Coal haveagreed to set up 12 new cokingcoal washeries by 2019-20.

He added that many playershave shown interest in startingoperations at a mine inMozambique owned by ICVL, aJV of five PSUs including SAIL.

“We have already issuedadvertisement for expression ofinterest for Mozambique andsome of the players have alreadyapproached us...Of the six-sevenplayers, we have shortlisted two-three...We have three optionsthere ... Only mining, mining plustransportation and the third ismining, transportation andputting up a thermal plant forpower generation.

“Most of those who are intouch with us preferred miningonly,” he said, adding a final callwill be taken soon.

International Coal VenturesLtd (ICVL) was formed for theacquisition of stakes in coal mines,blocks or companies overseas forsecuring coking and thermal coalsupplies. Metallurgical or cokingcoal is a vital ingredient in thesteel-making process.

ICVL had suspended work inMozambique mine in December2015 on viability grounds follow-ing a crash in coking coal prices.

Asked about any plans forPSUs acquiring stressed assets ofcompanies in the sector recom-mended for insolvency, Singhsaid, “As far as stressed assets areconcerned, only a few companiesare from the steel sector... One ofthe PSUs made request (foracquiring) to the Finance Ministryin this regard.” #��

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Young FICCI LadiesOrganisation YFLO Delhi,

under the leadership ofChairperson Aanchal Sethi,recently organised the NewDelhi English Premier of theGlobally Acclaimed Play andwinner of DadaSaheb PhalkeAward, Yugpurush, Mahatma KeMahatma.

The Play - ‘Yugpurush-Mahatma’s Mahatma’ is an inspi-rational and riveting portrayal ofthe close association betweenMahatma Gandhi and his spir-itual mentorShrimadRajchandraji. Whatbegan as a sincere friendship,culminated inGandhjii’s procla-mation of Shrimadji as his spir-itual mentor.The play invites theaudience to journey throughGandhiji’s internal and overtadvancements on the spiritualpath following interactions, let-ters and inspiration fromShrimadRajchandraji.

Mahatma Gandhi wrote inModern Review on 30thJune1930 -”Such was the man whocaptivated my heart in religious

matters that no other man has tillnow”.

Yugpurushwas recentlybestowed with theprestigiousDadasahebPhalkeExcellence Award 2017 for ‘BestDrama’!

‘Yugpurush’ highlights thevalues of expanding one’s capac-ity to love and offer selflessly,respecting diversity, supportingtruth, fostering trust, and build-ing lasting communities. Itbrings to forefront a powerfulexperience of looking within,upholding truth and fearlessness,as well as transforming charac-ter and consciousness.

2017 marks the 150th birthyear of ShrimadRajchandraji.To celeb-rate this glorious year,this play has been producedunder the guidance ofShrimadRajchandraji’s ardentdevotee and the founder ofShrimadRajchandra MissionD h a r a m p u r ,PujyaGurudevshriRakeshbhai.

PujyaGurudevshristates,“The birth and life of the GreatOnes are worth remembering.They awaken our latent strengthand kindle the desire to become

like them.”The Gujarati play is direct-

ed by acclaimed director RajeshJoshi of ‘Code Mantra’ fame,scripted by well-known play-wright UttamGadaof’Maharathi’fame. The music direction is bypopular composer duo Sachin -Jigar.

the Hindi production of theplay had a grand premiere at theRoyal Opera House in Mumbai.

Acclaimed Film DirectorMr. AshutoshGowariker, said atthe Hindi premier of‘Yugpurush’,. “In one word, itwas ‘adbhut’. This play holds agreat significance. This playshould be seen by maximumpeople all over India and betranslated in as many lan-guages.”

YFLO is the exclusiveWomen’s Wing of the prestigiousNational Organization FICCI(Federation Of Indian ChamberOf Commerce and Industry). AnAll-India Business Forum forWomen, FLO has headquartersin New Delhi and 14 chapters set-up across India, representingover 4000 women entrepreneursand professionals.

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��������� �Sending out a sternmessage against employees’ laps-es, Air India chief Rajiv Bansalhas said the airline will “act onthose who fail to act” in ensur-ing on-time flights.

Taking over the reins of thedisinvestment-bound nationalcarrier less than two weeks ago,Bansal has initiated steps to cutdown costs at various levelsalong with focus on betteringon-time performance (OTP),increasing passenger yields andimproving customer satisfac-tion.

The airline, which operatesnearly 400 flights everyday, hasbeen facing flak for delays.

“We will affirmatively act toimprove our performance andwe will act on those who don’tact,” Bansal told the news agencyin an interview.

The chairman and manag-ing director of the airlinestressed that whatever action isrequired will be taken withrespect to ground handling,crew, in-flight, engineeringchecking and food supplies,among other aspects.

“We are working on thatactively to ensure there are nodelays. I will act on those whofail to act,” he said, adding thatthe message has been conveyedto those down the line.

Air India has some “verygood time slots”, but if theflights do not operate on time,then the value of the slot is lost,Bansal said.

The OTP of Air India’sdomestic flights from four metroairports stood at 65.5 per cent inJuly, way lower than many otherlocal carriers, according to offi-cial data.

Asserting that there will bezero tolerance for flight delaysdue to issues of ground handlingand technical glitches, he saidthese are matters internal to thecompany.

“There are around 400flights a day and I cannot focuson each of them, but my first pri-ority is to look at the first flightsof the day from Delhi andMumbai. I am trying to push forbetter OTP round the clock,” hemade it clear.

Apart from running theairline profitably and ensuringbetter OTP, two other key pri-

orities for Bansal are increasingpassenger yields and improvingcustomer satisfaction.

“We plan to invest in tech-nological upgradation in the faremanagement system. That is thepricing tool. I am doing it bothin Air India and Air IndiaExpress, where I have muchlarger market share,” he said.

Air India Express is thelow-cost international arm of thecarrier and a major player onGulf routes.

On how the employeemorale would be kept highamid the government workingon the modalities of stake sale,Bansal acknowledged thatthere is “obviously uncertain-ty” even as he said there is ageneral feeling that divest-ment would not necessarilylead to job cuts.

“It might lead to animproved airline that per-forms better. Those who aredoing their job well, I thinktheir jobs are not at risk,” headded.

The Air India chief alsocited examples of privatisationof Delhi and other airports,saying it was a pleasant sur-prise that those who weredoing good, in fact, got betterremuneration.

A senior IAS officer,Bansal had worked with thecivil aviation ministry during2006-08 -- when it saw pri-vatisation of the Delhi airportsas well as the merger of IndianAirlines with Air India.

The national airl ine,which has more than �50,000crore debt burden, eked out anoperating profit of �105 crorein 2016-17. #��

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��������� �The efforts to buycoking coal mines overseas bystate-owned CIL in Australia arein process as the company looksto supplement the requirementof country’s metallurgical coal,the PSU said in a recent report.

“Pursuant to the directivesof the CIL board, initiatives foracquisition of coking coal assets,with particular focus onAustralia being the prime des-tination for sourcing cokingcoal to India, are in process,”Coal India Ltd (CIL) said in anannual report of 2016-17.

India’s dependence onimports is particularly heavy oncoking coal which is an impor-tant ingredient in the steel mak-ing process.

“As part of the preparednesstowards acquisition initiatives,empanelment of merchantbanker/investment banker hasbeen done to render assistancein acquisition process,” theworld’s largest coal miner said.

Elaborating further on itsinitiatives for acquisition of coalmines overseas, the PSU saidthat Mozambique governmenthas accepted its request forrelinquishment of the prospect-ing licenses for two coal blocksthat CIL was given by theAfrican nation.

Coal India AfricanaLimitada (CIAL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CIL wasgranted prospecting licenses fortwo leaseholds, covering a totalarea of 224 sq km by theMinistry of Mineral resources,Government of Mozambique.

“Based on exploration activ-ities carried out in the licenseareas from 2012 to 2014, 170 sq

km area having no occurrenceof coaly horizons till a depth of500 m, was surrendered to theGovernment of Mozambique,” itsaid.

The remaining 54 sq kmarea was retained for whichnew licenses were issued.

Based on Geological Reportof the license areas, MineabilityStudy to assess the techno-eco-nomic viability of mining of theremaining 54 sq km was con-ducted in 2015-16.

The Mineability Studyrevealed that the leasehold areasare not techno-economicallyviable for commercial mining.Based on this outcome of thestudy, CIL board approved com-plete surrendering of theprospecting licenses.

“PursuaAnt to these direc-tives of the board, applicationsfor surrendering the remaining54 sq km of the leasehold areafor prospecting was submitted tothe National Institute of Mines(INAMI), Government ofMozambique,” it added. #��

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��������� �Tata Motors, whichis on a turnaround drive, sawits domestic commercial vehi-cles sales grow by 24.35 percent in the July-August periodafter a decline of 15.62 per centin the first quarter of the ongo-ing fiscal.

The sales rose to 59,378units in the two month periodof 2017-18, from 47,750 unitsin the year-ago period.

In the April-June quarterof the current fiscal, the com-pany’s domestic CV sales haddeclined 15.62 per cent to66,397 units, as against 78,693units in the same quarter of2016-17

“After a sluggish Q1, ourcommercial vehicles, in thedomestic market grew by 15per cent in July and 34 per centin August over last year,” TataMotors Head – CommercialVehicle Business Unit GirishWagh said.

The growth has been onthe back of ramp-up of BS4production across segments,passing on the benefits of GSTto consumers by price reduc-tion along with increasedimposition of restrictions onoverloading, growing momen-tum in the infrastructure, min-ing and construction segments,he added.

Increasing acceptance ofthe company’s selective cat-alytic reduction (SCR) tech-

nology has increased demandin the medium and heavy CVsegment, while the companyperformed strongly in the pick-up and small CV segments dri-ven by new products such asYodha and XL ranges, headded.

“In line with our turn-around strategy, we will beintroducing new products andwill continue to undertakeappropriate measures toimprove our performanceacross segments,” Wagh said.

With its new Chairman NChandrasekaran paying moreattention to addressing thebleeding domestic business,Tata Motors has embarked ona turnaround programme withthe next 6 -9 months being crit-ical as against an earlierplanned business transition tobe achieved on the next 2-3years.

On a standalone basis, TataMotors posted loss of Rs 467.05crore for the June quarter of2017-18 fiscal. It had registereda profit of �25.75 crore in thesame period of 2016-17.

In his address to companyshareholders in the AnnualReport for 2016-17,Chandrasekaran had said thecompany’s performance alsosuffered due to sub-optimalexecution and market misses.

“We have continued tolose market share in the com-mercial vehicles business,reaching 44.4 per cent inMarch this year from a high ofnearly 60%, five years back,” hehad said.

Last month, Tata MotorsManaging Director GuenterButschek had stated that thefocus of the turnaround was ongetting market share of 50 percent in the CV segment by theend of this financial year bylaunching new products fasterin the market.

The company has ear-marked an investment of�1,500 crore for 2017-18 for theCV segment with 10 newproducts lined up to belaunched in the market. Out ofthese six will be in medium andheavy CV segments, while fourproducts are in intermediate

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��������� �The finance min-istry has written letters to allheads of PSU lenders inform-ing them the government’sdecision to set up a ministe-rial panel to facilitate consol-idation in the public bankingspace.

A formal communicationto CEOs of the banks from theDepartment of FinancialServices last week has set inmotion the consolidationprocess, a senior finance min-istry official said.

The Government hasbeen nudging the state-ownedlenders to go for merger sothat there can be fewer andstronger banks.

The ministry wants banksto undertake an internal exer-cise for the best match andcome up with the mergeridea for the alternative mech-anism (AM) set up for thepurpose.

The banks should analyseregional balance, geographicalreach, IT compatibility, finan-cial burden and humanresource transition whilefirming up the merger pro-posal for the ministerial panel.

Last month, the UnionCabinet decided to set up thealternative mechanism tooversee proposals for expedi-tious consolidation of publicsector banks (PSBs) so as to

create larger and strongerlenders.

The proposals receivedfrom banks for in-principleapproval to formulateschemes of amalgamation willbe placed before the panel.

To fast-track consolida-tion, the Government hasexempted mergers of nation-alised banks from seekingfair trade watchdog CCI’sapproval.

This exemption will beapplicable for ten years andcomes at a time when sever-al experts and even policy-makers have been talkingabout the need for consolida-tion in the banking sector,especially among state-ownedbanks.

Asked how soon therecould be consolidation, theofficial said: “It will be a fewmonths as it is not a simpleprocess.”

The merger of associatebanks with SBI was slightlyeasy because they were sub-sidiary of the largest lender,the official added.

Earlier this year, the gov-ernment had approved themerger of SBI’s five associatebanks with the parent. InMarch, the Cabinet alsoapproved the merger ofBharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB)with SBI. #��

C������������������)���<��� ���#������������������� Stock market

this week will weigh in onAugust services sector dataand largely look up to glob-al trends for direction, sayexperts.

Investors will alsodigest the Cabinet reshuf-fle announced today, theyadded.

“On the domesticscene, we feel the lower-than-expected April-JuneGDP data, in an economywhich is already witnessinglow corporate earnings,would carry a negativeoverhang. In addition... TheCabinet reshuffle wouldalso have a bearing on themarkets in the week ahead,”said Arun Gopalan, Head,Research and Funds,Wealth Management,Systematix Shares andStocks.

PMI data for the ser-vices sector for August isdue on Tuesday, whichwould dictate market sen-timent, analysts said.

“While a lot of eco-nomic numbers will bethrown at the markets thisweek, they are unlikely tostop the markets frommoving ahead. The chiefamong them is the ECBmeeting,” said V K Sharma,Head PCG and CapitalMarket Strategy, HDFCSecurities.

���� ����� � Hero Electronix,part of the Hero Group, is gear-ing up to venture into newareas like Internet ofThings(IoT), defence elec-tronics and automotive sector,according to a senior compa-ny official.

The company has identi-fied IoT-enabled home solu-tions as a priority area as partof its strategy to scale up over-all business.

“More and more technolo-gies are entering Indian house-holds today and there lies ahuge opportunity for a com-pany like us in IoT,” HeroElectronix CEO Nikhil Rajpaltold the news agency.

Right from security sur-veillance to home electronics,trackers and lighting systems,there are lot of opportunities,he added.

When asked how soon thecompany would venture into it,Rajpal said: “We have proto-types ready and in another sixto nine months we should beready with our first launch inthe segment.”

While he did not disclosethe type of product, Rajpal saidthe idea behind the company’sproduct development has beento tailor it to suit Indianrequirements.

“What is currently availablein the market are high pricedproducts which have beenmade for the developed mar-kets. Our products are devel-oped keeping in mind the

localised needs, how thingsare used in an Indian house-hold,” he added.

Moreover, Rajpal said,“Our focus has been on thepricing front where our effortshave been to make themaffordable.”

On defence electronics, hesaid the company’s aim is to tapinto India’s huge spending ondefence and play a part in thedrive for local manufacturing.

“A large part of defencespending is on electronics. Sowe do see an opportunity there,specially considering the gov-ernment’s Make in India ini-tiative,” he added.

When asked about initia-tives for the automotive sector,he said they are still at an earlystage.

“However, consideringhow electronics have becomean essential part of modernautomobiles, we see this an areaof opportunity,” Rajpal said.

New age infotainment sys-tems, remote access, safetyaspects like pedestrian safetyare areas which the company islooking at, he added.

Hero Electronix is $5 bil-lion Hero Group’s maiden ven-ture into electronics and tech-nology sector with presence inareas ranging from set top boxmanufacturing to providingsemiconductor test engineeringservices.

Hero Electronix hadclocked revenue of �600 crorein 2016-17. #��

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���� ����� � The commerceministry is working with otherministries to identify specificservice segments with a view tohandhold them to boost theirexports.

Nirmala Sitharaman, whoheld the Commerce andIndustry portfolio before beingnamed the Defence Minister intoday’s Cabinet reshuffle, saidIndia is emerging as a servicehub in areas like tourism,healthcare, wellness and enter-tainment and the GlobalExhibition on Services (GES) isproviding a great fillip to thesector.

GES, organised by the min-istry, provides a platform toexplore market opportunitiesacross the world and meetglobal counterparts.

“We have felt that impact ofGES has really brought in lot ofpeople who are recognising therole of Indian service exports.Therefore which are the sectorswhich should get priority,” shetold the news agency.

The minister said thatabout 20 sectors were taken upin the last GES, so now “can wespread all our resources on allof them or is it necessary for usto focus on some sectors and ifat all we have to focus on somesectors... Which are those focussectors that we have to con-centrate on to make a begin-ning?”

A lot of inter-ministerialdiscussions are happening onthis issue, Sitharaman said.

In the last GES, held inApril, 20 services sectors werefocused upon, including infor-mation technology, tourism

and hospitality, logistics, edu-cation and financial services.

“We are consulting with allthe ministries. The discussionsare on. It is to see how best andwhich sector has to be priori-tised so that we can focus onthem to start with and then wecan look at other sectors also,”she added.

The services sectorassumes significance as it con-tributes about 60 per cent to thecountry’s GDP.

India’s services exportsincreased from $52 billion in2005 to $155 billion in 2015,with a share of 3.3 per cent inglobal services exports.Thecountry is also pitching for atrade facilitation agreement inservices in the World TradeOrganisation and it has sub-mitted a proposal regardingthis.

It is aimed at reducingtransaction costs by doing awaywith unnecessary regulatoryand administrative burden ontrade in services. #��

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As North Korea announcedon Sunday that it has suc-

cessfully tested a hydrogenbomb that could be loaded onto a long-range missile capableof reaching America, PresidentDonald Trump slammed thereclusive state as a “roguenation” that is “very hostile anddangerous to the United States”.

What was Pyongyang’ssixth and most powerfulnuclear test was seen inWashington as a strong show ofdefiance against Trump whohad last month threatened “fireand fury” if North Korea con-tinued to threaten the US withnuclear missiles.

“North Korea has con-ducted a major nuclear test.Their words and actions con-tinue to be very hostile anddangerous to the United States,”Trump said in a series of tweetson Sunday morning.

Asserting that any policy ofappeasement won’t work withPyongyang, Trump specifical-ly targeted US ally South Korea,remarking: “South Korea isfinding, as I have told them, thattheir talk of appeasement withNorth Korea will not work, theyonly understand one thing!”

He also obliquely criti-cized China for its inability tobring the Kim Jong-un regimeon track, commenting: “NorthKorea is a rogue nation whichhas become a great threat andembarrassment to China,

which is trying to help but withlittle success.”

Washington has been send-ing out mixed messages inrecent days about dealing withPyongyang’s spree of aggressivemoves. While Trump himselfhas been holding forth on thefutility of talks with NorthKorea, his senior Cabinet col-leagues — Secretary of State RexTillerson and Defence SecretaryJim Mattis — have not ruled outdiplomatic options.

Questioning the diplomat-ic approach, Trump had lastWednesday commented: “TheUS has been talking to NorthKorea, and paying them -extor-tion money, for 25 years.Talking is not the answer!”Gen. Mattis, who appearedlater at the Pentagon with hisvisiting South Korean coun-terpart, said the US was “neverout of diplomatic options”.

Initial analysis by USexperts on the Sunday testappeared divided. VipinNarang, an Indian-Americanexpert on nuclear proliferationand strategy at theMassachusetts Institute of

Technology, labelled the latestNorth Korean nuclear device a“city buster”.

“Now, with even relativelyinaccurate intercontinental bal-listic missile technology, theycan destroy the better part of acity with this yield,” Narangtold The Washington Post.

But David Albright, presi-dent of the Institute for Scienceand International Security,doubted Pyongyang’s claimsof perfect success of the test,suggesting the voiced was skep-tical of North Korea’s claimsand said that the photos werelikely “propaganda.”

Commenting on estima-tions by South Korean officialsand independent nuclear sci-entists that the yield from theSunday test could be 100 kilo-tons, Albright told the Post thatat that level, the latest nucleardevice would be “very signifi-cant and destabilizing…capa-ble of destroying substantialparts of large modern cities”.He, however, expressed doubtsthat Pyongyang could makesuch a warhead small enoughto fit onto a missile.

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London: The UK Governmenthas joined the internationalcommunity to increase pressureon Myanmar to tackle the vio-lence against Rohingya Muslims,warning that the treatment ofthe Rohingya is besmirching thereputation of the country. UKForeign Secretary Boris Johnsonsaid the attacks were “besmirch-ing the reputation” of the coun-try following reports by a human

rights group that people, including young children, have been burned alive in thecountry, while others have beenbeheaded.

Johnson said in a statementthis week, “Aung San Suu Kyiis rightly regarded as one of themost inspiring figures of ourage, but the treatment of theRohingya is alas besmirchingthe reputation of Burma.”

Washington: The US seized control of Russia’s Consulate in SanFrancisco and its two annexes in New York and Washington DCafter confirming that Moscow had complied with the Trumpadministration’s order to vacate them within two days, officialssaid. The Trump administration had asked Russia to close downits three diplomatic complexes, which was mainly in retaliationfor Moscow’s decision last month to reduce the number ofAmerican diplomatic personnel by several hundreds.

“The Department of State can confirm that Russian Governmentcomplied with the order to vacate its Consulate and two annexes,”a senior State Department official said. The official said Russia willno longer be permitted to use these facilities for diplomatic or con-sular purposes and the state department will control all access tothe three buildings, along with the responsibility for securing andmaintaining them. According to the official, Russian Embassy per-sonnel, together with the State Department officials, walked throughthree properties in San Francisco, New York and Washington, DCthat the Russian Government was required to close. PTI

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When you think of pyra-mids, clichés come tomind. But Laura El-

Tantawy sees them as fluid formsthat have shed their contours andbecome something else in con-temporary Egypt. Tantawy hascaptured the very essence of theEgyptian revolution – a call forbread, freedom and social justice.The photos and her short filmtitled Crazy for Sisi exhibit theemotions of the crowd; the ele-ments of fear, hope, disappoint-ment, faith and despair are vividin the flame red and bright orangedominated frames.

“It’s the story of my genera-tion and the moment that actu-ally changed the future of thecountry. Earlier, my generationfelt that our lives would prosperoutside Egypt and not in it, so weleft the country. But what I wit-nessed once I returned was a his-torical moment,” shares Tantawy,who returned to Egypt in 2005when there was already an anti-government sentiment brewing.It was the time when rumoursabout President Hosni Mubarakhanding down the power to hisson were on fire.

By 2011, the political senti-ment had accumulated, gettingnumerous people involved in therevolution. “Having lived forabout nine years in the States witha different culture and standard ofliving, I was a changed person. Iwas trying to get to know some-one all over again,” recallsTantaway who went out on thestreets to rediscover what she felt

and what the country was tryingto communicate.

The exhibition is a combina-tion of a three-way digital projec-tion, individual archives and aniPad that showcases the docu-mentary. The loud photos areenough to bring back themoments of terror and relive thehorror of blood being spilled. It’snot only limited in context ofEgyptian revolution but a glanceat humanity. Personally, the pho-tographs took me back to the timeof India’s independence, the hor-ror of Jallianwala Bagh massacre,the Kargil war, Indian terrorattacks and brought to life thatfear that we always carry deepwithin.

Adding to the awakening ofone’s soul, the rapt chanting ofthe crowd in the backgroundand the rapid sway of the por-traits of the crowd in close-upsare something worth witnessing

at a time when humanity is los-ing its essence. “There is alwayssomething that one can relateto when you see such multipleutterances of a particular truth,”Tantawy says adding that shealso worked on a series of por-traits.

“They are the faces in thecrowd that really stood out emo-tionally. It was important for meto take a deeper look at the rev-olution – it wasn’t about peopleholding signs and chanting onthe streets. It was about people

claiming their own country,their freedom and their digni-ty. This is about people and allthose emotions on the Square,and there was no better way toshow than to isolate these facesand let them speak for them-selves,” Tantawy says.

Although she focusses on

portraits in many of her pieces,the deep emotions and chaot-ic movements on the streets arepalpable. When you view theimages on the black wall of thegallery, it makes the coloursstand out even more like youare looking at one image whichis broken up into many forms.

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Google’s search app on iOS hasnow got a Twitter-like ‘trendingsearches’ feature that will showusers searches that are trendingwhen they tap into the box to starta search – as also provide answersto queries.

The App Store added the newfeature, called ‘What’s New’, that alsoprovides ‘instant answers’ as a user

types his query – and even before hepresses the search button.

When this feature was rolled outlast year on android, people hadcomplained that they found itannoying and distracting, especial-ly as the content returned was notwhat they were personally interest-ed in.

A few months later, Googleupdated and included an opt-outsetting in the Google Search app.The same feature has also beenincluded in iOS app version.

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Facebook-owned Instagram willnow allow users to view its mostpopular feature ‘Stories,’ both onmobile web and desktop.

Instagram wrote in a blog post:“Stories has quickly become animportant part of the Instagramexperience – over 250 million peo-ple use it every day to see what theirfr iends aredoing in themoment.”

Hit by thegrowth ofInstagram sto-ries, photo-sharing plat-form Snapchatmanaged toadd only sevenmillion dailyactive users(DAUs) in thesecond quar-ter of 2017.

“ W ebelieve deeplyin the long-term success of Snap,”CEO Evan Spiegel shared after theresults, adding that “the company ismaking progress.”

The DAUs grew from 143 mil-lion in Q2 2016 to 173 million in Q22017 – an increase of 30.5 million or21 per cent (year-over-year).

On the other hand, InstagramStories has garnered over 250 mil-lion MAUs. The application current-ly has nearly 700 million usersglobally.

–IANS

When onethinks about

art, it is generallyassociated with dec-orative exhibits, orlinked with music,dance and theatre.But the singularityof Ehsaas was aholistic approachtowards Indian art,including paintings,dance, literature,film and hand-looms, and makingthem flow together.Impresario AlkaR a g h u v a n s h ibrought to the stagea unique form ofwearable fabric pre-sented through mobile installations.

“All the Indian art forms have a sharedheritage which needs to be highlighted andexplored on a larger scale. No art form cansurvive in isolation. It has to work with theothers. How can there be dance withoutmusic? How can there be art without pic-tures,” asked Raghuvanshi who started thisinitiative by designing a sari from one ofher paintings.

When she witnessed the beauty of hernew creation, she started digging into moreof her work and the idea grew. Shebrowsed through almost 1500 paintingswhich included works of other artists thatcould be translated on fabrics. However,this entire process was very challenging asa lot of things had to be kept in mind. “Theexisting art works had to gel with the fab-rics, the colour schemes had to have a con-trast and the printing had to maintain thesame,” she told us.

“Alka not only combined two differ-

ent works, but even made a sari which wasa combination of six of her artistic pieceswith different forms and dimensions,”shared Manisha Gawade, one of the artistswho has been witnessing the whole processfrom its very beginning.

It was Raghuvanshi’s belief thatartists should look beyond their person-al recognition as “there is a larger can-vas to art” and that made the whole ini-tiative a success. The idea was to give anew definition to the paintings whichare considered as decorative pieces –something living, something with avoice of their own.

However, she made sure that hernew clothing line fashioned from theworks of various artists, includingShridhar Iyer, Niren Sengupta, Manisha

Gawade and Sanjay Bhattacharya, be dis-played in a more artistic manner. “Wewanted something more than just models,people who would add onto the value ofthe garments. So we brought people whonot only carried with them their own his-tory but also a pool of personal experience,”said Raghuvanshi who also feels a need tocreate an interactive atmosphere as both artand the artist share the nature of interde-pendence with the audience.

Thirty-one top classical dancers,musicians and painters participated inthe multimedia presentation of wearableart that included sarees, unisex stolesand ties, which were especially designedfrom scratch for the occasion. Addingfurther charm, Pandit Birju Maharajmade a special appearance with a beau-tiful stole along with renowned dancersUma Sharma, Madhvi Mudgal, ShaswatiSen, Shovana Narayan, Sharon Lowenand Prathibha Prahlad.

The musicians, who were part of thisexhibition, were vocalist MadhupMudgal, santoor exponent BhajanSopori, Dhrupad maestro WasifuddinDagar, singer Radhika Chopra, classicalvocalists Meeta Pandit and SavaniMudgal, santoor player Abhay Sopori,theatre and television artiste SuneetTandon. “I wanted to bring as manyartists from all walks of life together tobe a part of one movement and it hascome out beautifully together,” she said.

Theatre artist Rajesh Tailang hasalso made a film on Ehsaas, which hasadded another aspect to the show, thus,fulfilling its very essence – creating anexperience of its own. The film will beshown at various places including theNational Gallery of Modern Art and inBengaluru and Chennai over the nextfew months.

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Today we live inan age where

religious discordand communal vio-lence have becomeone of the biggestcauses of bloodshedand hatred.Humanity standsdivided on the linesof faith and in thedin of religiousfrenzy. One wonders as to why thenoble messages of prophets have failedto deliver humanity unto a better age ifnot unto salvation. Many believers saythat all these prophets had foreseen andforewarned about the dark period ofignorance and immorality that wouldengulf humanity before the light oftruth or Supreme Lord would lead theminto liberation.

In Bhagavad Gita, it is written thatLord incarnates on this earth to savehumanity and destroy evil before re-establishing dharma or truth. However,before understanding the role of theLord and that of religious preceptors,it is important to understand the wholetruth about Creation.

In Hindu scriptures, the world isdescribed as a tree and is often referedto as the Kalpa Vriksha wherein kalpaconnotes the time period of one com-plete cycle of creation from golden ageto the end of iron age. The seed or thecreator of this creation is of course theLord. There is a trunk and many bigbranches that stem from the tree. Thebig branches of this world tree repre-sent the main religions of the world thatare created by powerful souls who comeon earth as religious preceptors. Theygive birth to a new order or faith thatis followed by millions around the worldover a period of time. With the passageof time, as this tree grows bigger andolder, many new branches come outwhile the older ones continue to expandand divide. However, the original puri-

ty and strength of religions begin todecline with time and many divisionsoccur within them. Then finally at theend of iron age, the tree dries up com-pletely and the seed emerges.

Majority of people across the worldbelieve that God is One and Truth isOne. If that is the case, then why dowe have so many messengers and whydo we have different messages? If God’s

message is for establishing true dharmaon earth, then it should have unified allhumans instead of dividing them. Isn’tit? Till date, thousands of religiousheads have come on earth and preachedabout dharma but there never was moreadharma in the world before than in theworld we now live in.

Why is it so? We must understanda fact that religious preceptors come inthe world and shine their light of puri-ty and goodness so that humanity’s faithin the Lord is restored or sustained.Their teachings help people hold on totheir belief in goodness and God.However, liberation and salvation,purification and world transforma-tion, establishment of dharma anddestruction of evil are tasks done by theLord Himself when HE himself reincar-nates at the end of iron age. Hence, trueseekers of truth should understand thatGod is supreme, omnipotent and omni-scient. He is the creator and hence HEalone has the wisdom and power toredeem the whole creation to its orig-inal pure state. HE is the seed thatemerges when the world tree becomesold and the new tree has to come out.Thus, through HIS directly impartedwisdom, the gates of liberation and sal-vation open up. That is why HE isknown as the Purifier, Liberator andGuide. So, as wise children of ONELord, it is our duty to follow HIM toreach our final destination of GoldenAge.

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Husbands may be harassed ifmarital rape (is) crimi-nalised,” said the Central

Government in an affidavit submit-ted before the Delhi High Court onAugust 29, 2017. “It may destabilisethe institution of marriage.”

Vatsayana’s Kamasutra waswritten probably in the fourth cen-tury AD, in the prosperous Guptaperiod city of Pataliputra, (today’sPatna) by a learned man of letters,a Brahmin. He basically compiledthe information in the earlier KamaShastra, which was written whenthe Artha Shastra andthe Dharma Shastrabecame importanttreatises of politicsand economy. Hewove them all into anauthoritative work,meant to instructadolescents andyoung men fromupper class, uppercaste families in theart of living, to be fol-lowed by a civilisedand refined citizen.

V a t s a y a n a ’ sinstructions on mar-riage — its arrangement, its con-summation, and its lifelong prac-tice — are a very important part ofhis treatise, and going by later com-mentaries, were followed by mostpeople of reasonable means allover the country, and have becomean integral and continuous part of

tradition. The arts played an impor-tant role, especially music, dancing,painting, the theatre and literature.In fact, the list of arts given inVatsayana’s Kamasutra is oftenused in scholarly works aboutancient India.

But our concern at this time ismarital rape, which, if it is forbid-den or restricted, is likely to destroythe institution of marriage in Indiaof the 21st century.

Chapter 2 of Vatsayana’sKamasutra is titled KanyaVisrambhana: After the marriage

ceremony on the firstnight, the couple mustavoid a spicy dinner andpartake of food withplenty of milk, honeyand ghee. Then theymust sleep on theground on a comfortablebed. Vatsayana favoursthe couple to both bevirgins, the girl aboutthree years younger. Theboy begins by chatting toher. If they already knoweach other it is easy, orat least if they knowsomeone in common —

a cousin, a friend. If they arestrangers it is hard on these twoyoung people. But both know whatmarriage means and curiosity is ahelp.

They also know that no ulti-mate sex, copulation, can happenin the first three nights, nor first

thing on the fourth morning. Theymust wait for the fourth night. Sowith that fear of the unknown setat rest for the girl, they try to get toknow each other. Chatting, maybeone-sided at first, touching.Snuggling closer, but not below thewaist, on the first night. And it maynot be just the girl who is fright-ened. The boy, too, may be over-come by shyness.

To overcome this unfamiliari-ty, during the day she dressesattractively, tries to help in thehouse, sits down to meals withhim, attends any entertainmenthis family may have organised fortheir wedding guests and takespart in the pujas with perfumesand flowers. They both growaccustomed to each other in thesedaytime activities. Now they have

something to talk about afterthey go to bed.

How they progress on the sec-ond night has the possibility, if theboy makes no move, for the girl towonder if he is a homosexual or ofthe third gender. If nothing happensfor those first three nights, she cango back to her parent’s house andprecipitate a crisis.

But nearly always this does

not happen; they both are inter-ested in each other and the cud-dling is accompanied by jokes, andgets more and more intimate. Bythe third night, after another fam-ily day, filled with householdmembers, family, old friends andservants, who may tease them, itmay seem difficult to hold off tillthe fourth night.

Vatsayana goes into greatdetail as to how their lovemaking,despite its restrictions, proceeds.But there is no need for us to fol-low the options he presents for thecouple, specially the boy. We needto return to our time.

Importantly spokespeople forthe government must realise thatwe cannot live in British-imposedVictorian morality, where sex is anunmentionable. If thousands ofyears ago our ancestors coulddevise a pleasant way to overcomethe shyness of two strangers shar-ing a bed with sexual intent, thensurely the wisdom of authorityshould decree that the way outcannot be drunken rape.

Such marital rapes must becondemned, punished but alsocounselled. We must be floodedwith the history of how an ancientand very civilised society dealtwith a sensitive human situation inwhich not just the couple but theirfamilies played an important part.We have agreed to the western ideaof honeymoon, but may be theKamasutra way is better.

Annu Kalra began paintingHindu deities and other

spiritual subjects before shefound herself blogging, inter-preting traditional wisdom inthe modern context under thetitle of “Musings” on her web-site. In the process she learntthat “people’s understandingof various deities and ritualshelped them shed light on theirown issues. Initially I startedconducting Musings and mys-tical art sessions where, after abrief interactive talk with theattendees, I would take themthrough a brief meditation. Inorder to reach out to more peo-ple where I may not be person-ally available to explain, I decid-ed to write a book.”

The spiritualist also has aset of meditative cards thatcan be a handy well-beingguide. Aavirbhaav is an inno-vative concept of receivingguidance through Hindu deitiesorganised as per the Vedantaunderstanding of the fourpurushaarthas — Dharma,Artha, Kaam and Moksha.Organised under these fourare 48 deities from Vedas,Puranas, Tantra and also astrol-ogy. In addition, there are sevenmeditation cards with a detailedbackground of how meditationworks and specially formulat-ed meditations. Each card hasa visual and a message. Sothere are a total 55 cards.

The detailed interpretationand description also includesadditional recommendationson the things people can do inorder to enhance their well-being.

The deck of 55 cards con-tains 48 guidance cards andseven cards for meditation.The reader is to pick out onecard at random from the 48guidance cards and apply themessage from that particulardeity and its interpretation tosolve their issue. In the inter-pretations is included somehistorical context, some imple-

mentable actionable points anda recommended meditationfrom the meditation cards. Theexpected effect is for people toharness these energies andallow them to regain somecenteredness in which they canbecome more focussed andstart doing more meaningfulthings. “When people do mean-ingful things they do not feeldrained and have a greatersense of well-being. So thisbook will eventually help peo-ple in their profession, their

relationships, their health, intheir own estimation of them-selves; which so ever aspect itis they require help in,” Kalratold us. In short, it is intend-ed for people to harness theirown potential and achievegodliness through their under-standing of various gods andgoddesses.

Instead of preaching topeople, the author has sharedvarious rituals, techniques andunderstanding in a manner inwhich people can consciouslychoose what they resonatewith and apply the knowledgeto add value to their ownlives.

“The central idea of thebook is that the synchronicityof life will at each momentensure that we hear what weneed to. It will enthuse, moti-vate, warn, encourage, reas-sure, reprimand, discipline,inspire, instruct or whateverelse is needed at any givenpoint of time. The book withits messages and understand-ing is life’s way of delivering tous what is needed through thehigher forces,” said Kalra, sum-ming up.

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Skippper Virat Kohli capped of anoth-er ruthless performance by the Indianteam with his 30th ODI century to lead

India to a 5-0 whitewash of hosts Sri Lankahere on Sunday.

Chasing a modest total of 239, India losttheir openers early on but Kohli andManish Pandey resurrected the innings witha big partnership to set India on course tovictory.

After Pandey’s dismissal, Kohli wasjoined by Kedar Jadhav who along with hiscaptain prevented any more hiccups andtook India to a seven-wicket win.

Earlier, Bhuvneshwar Kumar grabbeda career- best 5/42 effecting yet another bat-ting collapse as India skittled out Sri Lankafor 238 in the fifth and final One DayInternational, here on Sunday.

Sri Lankan batting once again promiseda lot but delivered too little losing as manyas seven wickets for 53 runs after they werecruising along at 185 for 3.

A 122-run partnership for the 4th wick-et between Lahiru Thirimanne (67) andAngelo Mathews (55) enabled Sri Lanka toreach a position of safety beforeBhuvneshwar led the charge with his maid-en five-wicket haul. Jasprit Bumrah (2/45),Kuldeep Yadav (1/40) and YuzvendraChahal (1/36) were the other wicket-takers.

Upul Tharanga (48) opened the inningswith Niroshan Dickwella (2) then, and thelatter was dismissed in the third over offer-ing a simple return catch to Bhuvneshwar.

Shardul Thakur (0-48 in 6 overs) wascompletely off colour on the day though, andhe was taken for runs by Tharanga, who hitsuccessive boundaries off him, with the 50came up off 47 balls.

He added 26 runs with DilshanMunaweera (4) who was dropped to No 3,but then the hosts were jolted in the spaceof three overs.

Virat Kohli took a brilliant catch at mid-off going backwards to dismiss Munaweeraoff Bhuvneshwar in the seventh over.Bumrah then had Tharanga was caughtbehind in the 10th over.

It was a familiar story for Sri Lanka asthe scoreboard read 64/3 after the first pow-erplay. Thirimanne and Mathews thoughdefied the Indian bowling for 29.3 overs asthey put on the hosts' highest stand through-out this five-match series. Their 50-part-nership came off 65 balls as Lanka crossed100 in the 18th over. Thirimanne reachedhis 35th ODI half-century off 83 balls andit was his second fifty of the series. Mathewstoo scored his second fifty of this series, andin consecutive matches, reaching his 35thODI half-century off 79 balls.

Their 100-partnership came off 122balls as they looked to have provided a cush-ion for the lower-order to attack the Indianbowling. It came to nought though as theduo were dismissed in quick succession.

First, Kumar bowled Thirimanne in the

39th over, and then in the 42nd over,Mathews attacked Kuldeep Yadav (1-40)only to lob the ball back to MS Dhoni aftermishitting it. An over later, WaniduHasaranga (9) was run out.

Dhoni was in business again when hestumped Akila Dananjaya (4) in the 43rdover off Yuzvendra Chahal (1-36). Wicketscame in a flurry then, as Bhuvneshwarreturned to complete his five-wicket haul.

He accounted for Milinda Siriwardana(18) and Lasith Malinga (2). MeanwhileMalinda Pushpakumara (8) was bowled byBumrah as Lanka were once again restrict-ed to an under-par score. They hosts failedto cross 250 even once during this five-match series, even as Bumrah earned therecord for most wickets in a bilateral serieswith five ODIs.

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Top companies from across theglobal is set to vie for various rights

when the IPL media rights auction getsunderway here on Monday even as IPLchairman Rajeev Shukla rescued him-self from the event.

The BCCI is expecting a windfallfrom the IPL media rights auction withestimated earnings of over 20,000 crorethrough the traditional biddingprocess.

The rights have been seggregatedin two categories — broadcast and dig-ital (internet and mobile) rights. Therights on offer are Indian sub-conti-nental TV rights, which is the mostcoveted along with emerging Indiansub- continent digital rights.

There is also rest of the worldmedia rights on offer which includeskey international markets like theMiddle East, Africa, Europe, USA,Australia and New Zealand. All therights will be for a period of five yearsfrom 2018-2022.

The BCCI Chief Executive Officer

(CEO) Rahul Johri has said that therevenue generation from the upcom-ing IPL media rights auction could be"historic", considering the huge inter-est shown by various stakeholders.

It is learnt that telecommunica-tions major Airtel and web serviceprovider Yahoo have also bought biddocument.

In 2008, Sony Pictures Networkwon the IPL media rights for a peri-od of 10 years with a bid of �8200crore. The global digital rights of IPLfor a period of three years was award-ed to Novi Digital in 2015 for 302.2crore.

The 18 eligible companies, whobought bid documents last year beforethe process was stalled are: Star India,Amazon Seller Services, FollowonInteractive Media, Taj TV India, SonyPictures Networks, Times Internet,Supersport International, Reliance JioDigital, Gulf DTH FZ LLC, GroupMMedia, beIN, Econet Media, SKYUK, ESPN Digital Media, BTG LegalServices, BT PLC, Twitter, Facebook Inc.

#�� 7.*//�8&+8

Bangladesh is on the verge ofachieving the once-unthink-

able: a series victory overAustralia.

After securing a 20-run winin the first test, the home sidewill look to wrap up the seriesin the deciding second test thatstarts on Monday at the ZahurAhmed Chowdhury Stadium,Chittagong, a venue that his-torically favors the spinners.

Bangladesh spinners tookall but one of Australia's 20 wick-ets in the series-opening test,with Shakib claiming 10.

Australia's historic battingissues on pitches in subconti-nental Asia again came to thefore in the first meeting that fol-lowed a 2-1 series loss in Indiaearlier this year and a 3-0 defeatin Sri Lanka in 2016.

"The Australia team is verystrong and they will come backhard. We know that. But ourboys are also pretty fresh andthey are very consistent inChittagong also. So if we do theright things I think the result willcome our way," Bangladesh cap-tain Mushfiqur Rahim said.

Bangladesh came close towinning series against Englandand Sri Lanka but was forced tosettle for draws.

In the previous 16 years ofits test history, the Bangladeshishave just three series victoriesagainst Zimbabwe (twice in2005 and 2014) and a second-string West Indies (2009) teamaffected by a player strike.

"It's hard to get the Australiateam under pressure so we musttake our opportunity to win theseries," Rahim said. "Somebecome wrapped in happinessbut we have talked about this.But we don't get these chancesevery day. We are 1-0 ahead butAustralia will respond strongly.We bounced back well in ourlast two series. It proves theprogress in our mental capaci-ty."

�8������6C#��������#��������Australian captain Steve

Smith said on Sunday he wasconsidering fielding three spin-ners in the must-win Test against

Bangladesh after their shock losson a turning wicket in the seriesopener.

Australia have recalled left-arm spinner Steve O'Keefe forthe injured Josh Hazlewoodand could play him alongsidetheir frontline spinners NathanLyon and Ashton Agar.

Smith said no final decisionshad been made, with rain inter-rupting their last training sessionSunday and preventing aninspection of the wicket. But theskipper hinted at fielding a spinattack.

"I think the inclusion ofO'Keefe into the squad is agood one. It gives us the option

to play three spinners if we like,"Smith told reporters inChittagong.

"Obviously Bangladesh didthat against us last week. If thewicket is spinning it's really agood option and there is a pos-sibility we go on with that."

Australia's test rankingcould slide to as low as sixth ifit loses the second test.

"We've got to come out andplay a lot better than we did lastweek. Bangladesh will be full ofconfidence after the way theyplayed last week.

“We're going to have toplay a lot better than we did lastweek, Smith said."

#���� +,���,-.*

The newly-appointed sports ministerRajyavardhan Singh Rathore on

Sunday said "best of the opportunities" willbe provided to all sportspersons in theirendeavour to make India a strong sport-ing nation.

The 47-year-old Athens Olympics sil-ver medallist was made the sports minis-ter in place of Vijay Goel in a major reshuf-fle by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Rathore said the focus will be on win-ning medals at all levels.

"Win medals at all levels -- village levelor at the Olympic level. Sports is a statesubject so we will work together with thestate departments to provide, like I said,best of the opportunities for the sportsper-sons," Rathore told reporters.

The former world championship sil-ver medallist added, "The most importantthing is that the sportsman only has onechallenge and that is to overcome adver-saries, and enhance the level of their sports.

"Also the youth, not just in sports, but

also in their personality developmentbecause that's the essence of the youthministry."

After taking premature retirementfrom the Indian Army, Rathore joined theBharatiya Janata Party in 2013 and wassworn in as minister of state for informa-tion & broadcasting when the Modi gov-ernment came to power in May, 2014.

When asked about the new educationpolicy, he said, "The point is that educa-tion just doesn't happen in schools and col-leges.

“The education for life happens insports grounds and that's where we comein.

"The sports ministry and the states willprovide the right opportunities for ouryouth, the future of this country, to makethemselves physically and mentally morestronger," said Rathore.

�#���������������:#�������&��The country's sports fraternity on

Sunday welcomed the appointment ofOlympics silver medallist shooter

Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore as the newsports minister and wished him the bestfor his new stint.

Fellow shooter and India's loneindividual Olympics gold medallistAbhinav Bindra was delighted atRathore being made the sports minis-ter.

"Delighted to see @Ra_THORe is

the new sports minister. All the veryvery best!," said Bindra, who won a goldin 10m air rifle at the 2008 BeijingGames, in a tweet.

Another fellow shooter and LondonOlympic bronze medallist GaganNarang also expressed happiness atRathore's appointment.

"@Ra_THORe your elevation rais-es hope because you have been there,done that & know what an athlete ismade of. Heartiest Congratulations,"Narang wrote on his twitter handle.

London Olympics bronze medallistboxer Mary Kom congratulated Rathoreand wished him success in his new role.

"I wish to congratulate@Ra_THORe on your new new roleand I wish you every success in yournew duties," Mary Kom, also a RajyaSabha member, wrote on her Twitterpage.

Rajiv Khel Ratna awardee para-lympian Devendra Jhajharia tweeted,"Thank you @VijayGoelBJP ji for allyour support. Many congratulations to

@Ra_THORe ji. Look forward toachieving sporting excellence."

Star gymnast Dipa Karmakar wrote,"Many congratulations on the new role@Ra_THORe sir! All the very best!"

Former sports minister Ajay Makenalso congratulated Rathore and said hewas the right man for the ministry.

"Congrats Rajyavardhan Rathorefor getting the charge of SportsMinistry! Can't say the same about oth-ers-But @Ra_THORe is a good choice!"

Former Indian hockey captainViren Rasquinha described Rathore'sappointment as a good development forIndian sports.

"An inspirational Olympic medalwinner as our new Sports Minister.Good times ahead for Indian sport.Congratulations @Ra_THORe," tweet-ed Rasquinha.

Olympian shooter JoydeepKarmakar said: "extremely delighted tohave one of 'us' leading the SportsMinistr y. Lookingforward..@Ra_THORe."

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This was Roger Federer at his hard-to-beat best, so unlike the pair of uncom-fortable five-setters he labored through

to begin the US Open.Federer's back looked just fine, his move-

ment precise, his strokes absolutely on-point.It all added up to a straightforward 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 victory over 31st-seeded FelicianoLopez in the third round at FlushingMeadows that lasted all of 106 minutes underthe roof in Arthur Ashe Stadium on a rainySaturday night.

"I think," Lopez said, "he's OK."The most telling statistic was that the No

3-seeded Federer was guilty of 16 unforcederrors, which is not merely a remarkably lowtotal on its own merits but also significantwhen viewed through the prism providedby his matches earlier in the week. He aver-aged 62 errors in each of those outings,against 19-year-old American Frances Tiafoeand 35-year-old Russian Mikhail Youzhny.

That was the first time in the 36-year-old Federer's career that he opened a GrandSlam tournament with two consecutivematches that lasted five sets.

More relevant numbers: Federer wasbroken eight times total in those matches,but only once against Lopez.

"I'm really pleased with the perfor-mance," Federer declared. "It's exactly, Iguess, maybe what I needed going into thenext round."

Federer improved to 13-0 against Lopezand 33-1 in night matches at FlushingMeadows, so perhaps the lopsided nature ofthis shouldn't be all that surprising. Still,Federer had acknowledged after edging acramping Youzhny that a lack of proper prac-tice leading up to the U.S. Open on accountof tweaking his back in August meant thathis timing was off.

"I needed to get over the fear of the backissue, especially in that first match, the firstset. Then I think the wobble I had in the sec-ond round was due to my preparation. Ithink now I'm just trusting my movementbetter. My serve is there. My mind is there.I can finally focus on playing tennisand notso much about the past," Federer said. "Soit's nice to be in the present in my mind,looking ahead, thinking tactics."

In other words: Consider Federer backon track.

"The fact that he won two long match-es, best-of-five, fighting, struggling a little bitmore than normal in the early rounds - Ithink it was good preparation for him com-ing into this third round," Lopez said. "Heseems to be fit and fast and serving well."

Next for Federer is a match against 33rd-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber, who beat John

Millman 7-5, 6-2, 6-4.Federer's head-to-headrecord againstKohlschreiber is 11-0.

Looming further down the road is a pos-sible semifinal matchup against No 1 RafaelNadal, Federer's long-time rival. They havenever met at the US Open.

Nadal won earlier Saturday, although forthe second match in a row, he needed toshake off a poor opening set that hedropped. Nadal advanced, though, onceagain figuring things out in the second setand strolling the rest of the way to defeatLeonardo Mayer of Argentina 6-7 (3), 6-3,6-1, 6-4 and get to the fourth round.

The aspect that caused Nadal the mostconsternation was his difficulty convertingbreak points, going 6 for 25.

"I overcame a tough situation today.

That's very positive forme. I am very happyabout this," Nadal said. "Iknow I cannot play very

well always, and not the whole match."Also still in the top half of the men's

bracket are No 6 Dominic Thiem, No 9David Goffin and No. 24 Juan Martin delPotro, the 2009 US Open champion. No oneon the other side has ever been to a GrandSlam final, let alone one such a title.

The woman who is currently trying tohold onto her No. 1 ranking has never wona major trophy, either, but she is still in therunning for one — just barely. KarolinaPliskova saved a match point in the secondset and came all the way back to get past No27 Zhang Shuai of China 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 andget to the fourth round.

"I don't feel like I'm playing that good

again," said Pliskova, last year's runner-upin New York, "but I'm still in the draw, actu-ally, so I'm not going to be that sad."

No 4 seed Elina Svitolina has a chanceto overtake Pliskova in the rankings andstayed in the draw with a 6-4, 7-5 victoryover Shelby Rogers of the US AnotherAmerican advanced when 20th-seededCoCo Vandeweghe outlasted 2012Wimbledon finalist Agnieszka Radwanska7-5, 4-6, 6-4.

No 15 seed Madison Keys gave the hostcountry a total of five women in the roundof 16 when she came back to beat No 17Elena Vesnina of Russia 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 in amatch that began shortly before midnightand ended at 1:45 a.m. That's the second-latest finish for a US Open women's singlesmatch. The record of 1:48 a.m. was set by amatch won by Keys a year ago.

#�� +,��?&'<

Rafael Nadal's next opponent at the US Open is a 28-year-old from Ukraine whois being asked questions about a different tournament entirely — one where

he was involved in a match under scrutiny from anti-corruption investigators becauseof unusual betting.

Alexandr Dolgopolov moved into the fourth round at Flushing Meadows forthe first time since 2011 with a victory Saturday. Dolgopolov, who is ranked 64th,said after his 6-1, 6-0, 6-4 win against Viktor Troicki that he has been interviewedby the Tennis Integrity Unit.

That group is looking into a match he played against Thiago Monteiro at a hard-court event in Winston-Salem,North Carolina, on August 20.

Dolgopolov said heapproached the TIU.

"I was the first one to comethere and try to give them all theinformation, so they can inves-tigate it faster," he said.

Asked what the TIU hastold him about its work,Dolgopolov replied: "I don'tknow. I don't ask. They askedme about some information.They interviewed me. That's it.That's all I can do."

As for what effect the wholeepisode has had on him,Dolgopolov said: "Not much.You can see I'm playing. I'm fit.I'm doing well. Obviously it'sdisappointing, but not more. Ifpeople want to write something,they write something. You can'tstop them from doing it. It's justnot under my control."

TIU spokesman MarkHarrison said this week that thegroup "was made aware of con-cerns over betting patterns"during the match betweenDolgopolov and Monteiro. Thematch is being assessed but isnot yet under formal investigation, Harrison said, noting that many reasons otherthan corruption can explain unusual gambling patterns.

Dolgopolov certainly has looked good on court at the US Open.He beat 2010 Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych in the second round, then

needed less than 1½ hours to eliminate Troicki in the third.Dolgopolov's best Grand Slam showing was a run to the Australian Open quar-

terfinals in 2011. Later that season, he lost to Novak Djokovic in the fourth roundin New York.

Now comes the spotlight associated with a match against the top-seeded RafaelNadal, whose 15 Grand Slam titles include two at Flushing Meadows. Nadal advancedSaturday night by beating Leonardo Mayer 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 with the ArthurAshe Stadium roof closed because it was raining.

"I'm not a young player anymore," Dolgopolov said. "I don't think I'm goingto get intimidated by the No 1 player or the stadium or the occasion."

#�� �&+=�

Lewis Hamilton won the Italian Grand Prixvirtually unchallenged from pole position

Sunday and moved ahead of Sebastian Vettel totake the lead in the drivers' standings.

Hamilton finished nearly five secondsahead of Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottaswhile Vettel came third in his Ferrari, more thanhalf a minute behind.

Hamilton now has 238 points, three morethan Vettel with seven races remaining in whathas developed into a riveting Formula One sea-son.

Vettel had led the standings all season butFerrari struggled in rainy qualifying conditionsSaturday and couldn't match Mercedes' racepace, either, on a Monza circuit featuring longstraights and high speeds better suited toMercedes' power.

After getting out of his car, Hamilton firstgreeted Bottas then jumped into a crowd ofMercedes team members. The British driver wasmet with a mix of cheers and boos duringMonza's famed podium celebration, with a seaof red-clad Ferrari fans invading the track.

"You know what? I love it here in Italy andI love the passion of the Ferrari fans," Hamiltonsaid on the podium. "We don't get to see thisenergy anywhere else, apart from maybeSilverstone."

The Ferrari supporters were hoping for moreon a weekend celebrating the automaker's 70thanniversary.

"Mercedes power is definitely better thanFerrari power," Hamilton said. "So it worked wellthis weekend."

After a brilliant start to the season, Vettelhas now won just one of the last seven races.

It was Hamilton's 59th career win and sec-ond consecutive after posting a harder-foughtvictory in Belgium last weekend.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo finished fourth,having climbed through the field after starting16th with a grid penalty.

Kimi Raikkonen crossed fifth - exactlywhere he started - in the other Ferrari.

As drivers gathered at the front of the gridfor the national anthem ahead of the race, airforce jets flew low overhead emitting a trail of

smoke in the green, white and red of the Italianflag.

Hamilton got off to a clean start and Bottasquickly moved up from fourth to put Mercedes1-2 after only four laps.

Raikkonen battled with Bottas early on butthen went off course and had to slalom throughthe barriers.

"I have damage on the rear of the car,"Raikkonen said via team radio.

But Ferrari told the Finn they couldn't seeanything.

"I don't know to fix it," Raikkonen replied.Meanwhile, Vettel slipstreamed past Esteban

Ocon down the main straight to move into thirdbut he too then reported problems with the rearof his car and kept dropping further and fur-ther behind the Mercedes cars.

Hamilton's only hiccup came when he skid-ded onto the edge of the gravel briefly midwaythrough the race. Otherwise, he and Bottas weregaining half a second per lap on the Ferraris.

Fly-away races make up the rest of the F1calendar, starting with the Singapore GP in two weeks.

#�����'*�

Spain ended Italy's 11-year unbeatenrun in qualifiers with a 3-0 win on

Saturday and moved closer to securinga World Cup spot.

The Italians hadn't lost a qualifier -World Cup or European Championship- in 56 games, since September 2006.

Two first-half strikes by Francisco"Isco" Alarcon and a late goal by substi-tute Alvaro Morata gave the hosts theimportant Group G victory.

Spain was in control during most ofits 3-0 win in front of more than 73,000fans at Real Madrid's Bernabeu stadium.

The Real Madrid forward struck inthe 13th minute as he fired a well-placedshot over the Italian wall and past theoutstretched arms of Buffon. He struckagain in the 40th after clearing a defend-er with a neat cut back outside the areabefore sending a low shot into the cor-ner.

The result left Spain in control of

Group G with 19 points, three more thanItaly, with three games left in Europeanqualifying for the 2018 World Cup inRussia.

Albania is third with 12 points.Only the group winner automati-

cally qualifies.Both Italy and Spain had won all

their group matches apart from a 1-1draw against each other in Turin.

Spain's final qualifiers are at last-place Liechtenstein on Tuesday, againstthird-place Albania on Oct. 6 and atIsrael on Oct. 9.

Italy's remaining games are at Israelon Tuesday, against Macedonia on Oct.6 and at Albania on Oct. 9.

Spain's last loss in World Cup qual-ifying was in November 1993.

Its unbeaten run now stands at 60matches.

Also Saturday, Albania needed twosecond-half goals to beat last-placeLiechtenstein 2-0 to stay within reach ofthe group leaders.

���������'�Midfielder Odise Roshi and

defender Ansi Agolli scored asAlbania defeated Liechtenstein 2-0 tomove closer to second-place Italy.

The home victory gave Albania 12points, four behind the Italians.Albania trails Spain by seven points.Last-place Liechtenstein has lost all ofits seven matches, being outscored 26-1.

������������Israel missed a chance to move

within four points of Italy after a 1-0home loss to Macedonia.

Macedonia, second-to-last in thegroup, got the winner with a goal byGoran Pandev midway through thesecond half.

The veteran striker took hisnational record tally of internationalgoals to 30.

Macedonia moved to six points,three fewer than Israel.

#���� +,���,-.*

As the Indian team preparesfor its next challenge - fac-

ing Macau - the veteran goal-keeper of the side, Subrata Paulpraised coach of the nationalteam, Stephen Constantine forhis role in making the team astronger competitor side thatachieved a major jump in rank-ings.

"He has been in charge foralmost 30 months now and ifyou look back at the journey, asfar as FIFA Rankings are con-cerned he has delivered what noother Coach in India has beenable to achieve so far. No coachhas been able to make us win 9on the trot; no coach has beenable to take us from 173 to 96

in the FIFA Rankings. Andnone happened by fluke,"asserted Paul.

Looking ahead at theupcoming match againstMacau, the goalie said that thegame holds great importance.

"For a player every match isimportant but there are somematches which stay a bit moresignificant. The match againstMacau is one such one. We allknow that a result in the matchwill take us nearer to a covetedberth in the AFC Asian CupUAE 2019. In IndianFootballing history, the matchhas an added value, just like theWorld Cup Qualifier play-offagainst Nepal in March 2015.Had we lost that one, we wouldhave sat idle for the next 4

years," explained Paul.Infact the Jamshedpur FC

player exuded confidence in hisside.

"We are unbeaten in the last10 matches, having won 9 ofthem (including the unofficialmatch against Bhutan). Theboys are confident and thebody language is very positive.A team is always judged by itsability to sustain the momen-tum and at present, we haveworked hard to retain the win-ning streak. The rhythm definesthe squad. The two practicematches could not have come ata better time," said the 30 yearold.

When asked to point outthe speciality of the presentIndian side, he pointed out the

young age of many players aswell as their hard work and ded-ication.

"The Indian National squadhas always been a talented one.But this time we have a muchyounger squad, the average ageis much lesser. Given the factthat the nucleus of the squad hasbeen with coach StephenConstantine for the last two andhalf years, the coach has beenable to instil a sense of self beliefand prepare them mentally andphysically to deliver what hewants them to. I would saymentally the present squad isvery strong, the work rate is veryhigh and the fighting spiritstays very distinct. We nevergive up till the final whistle,"assessed the goalie.

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