˘ ˇˆ ˇ˙ ˝˛ ˇ · (anil) ambani group. we did ... too in the form of growth of high value...

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A day after the Modi Government confirmed External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s talks with her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi on the side- lines of the upcoming United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York next week, India on Friday called off the meeting citing Pakistan’s complicity in the “brutal” killing of three policemen in Jammu & Kashmir as well as the release of postal stamps glo- rifying Kashmiri terrorist Burhan Wani. Accusing Pakistan and Prime Minister Imran Khan of “evil designs” after three police- men were kidnapped and killed by terrorists in Shopian in J&K, India said talks with Pakistan in such an environ- ment would be “meaningless”. “The true face of the Pakistan Prime Minister has been exposed in his first few months in office,” said Ministry for External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar here on Friday. “The latest brutal killings of our security personnel by Pakistan-based entities and the recent release of a series of 20 postage stamps by Pakistan glorifying a terrorist and ter- rorism confirm that Pakistan will not mend its ways,” the MEA Spokesperson said. He noted that “two deeply disturbing developments have taken place” since Thursday’s announcement of a meeting between the Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan in New York later this month. “In view of the changed situation, there will be no meeting between the Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan in New York,” he said. Eyebrows were raised on Thursday as India confirmed the meeting even though inci- dents of cross-border killings of Indian security personnel did not stop and Islamabad was seen to be setting the agenda for the meeting rather than the New Delhi. India on Thursday gave green signal to the meet- ing following Pakistan Prime Minister’s September 15 letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking the resumption of dialogue between the two countries. On Friday, the MEA said, “After Imran Khan’s letter, we thought Pakistan is moving towards positive changes, a new beginning. But now it seems behind their proposal were evil intentions.” India is also furious over the release of 20 special stamps by Islamabad glorifying Burhan Wani the Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist killed by security forces in 2016 — in the guise of solidarity with Kashmiris. While agreeing to the meeting after Imran Khan’s request, New Delhi had sought to clarify on Thursday that it would be “just a meeting” and “not resumption of dialogue”. “Let’s distinguish between meeting and dialogue. This doesn’t change our stand on terrorism,” MEA spokesman a had said day before. He said the Government has agreed to the meeting but no agenda has been set so far. This would have been the first high-level talks between the two sides since the Pathankot terror strikes from Pakistan in 2016. The Pathankot attack on January 2, 2016, by a heavily armed Pakistani group in the Pathankot Air Force Station had then led to a similar break- down of the dialogue resump- tion process between the two neighbours. On Friday morning, three policemen were dragged out of their homes in Kashmir’s Shopian by terrorists and killed. On Tuesday, a BSF jawan’s body was found mutilated with his throat slit after he went missing when the Pakistan Rangers fired at a patrol team clearing elephant grass along the international border. I n a significant development, a French media report quot- ed former French President Francois Hollande as purport- edly saying that the Indian Government proposed Reliance Defence as the part- ner for Dassault Aviation in the 58,000 crore Rafale jet fight- er deal and France did not have a choice. Reacting to Hollande’s remark that is at variance with the stand taken by the Indian Government, the Defence Ministry spokesman said on Friday, “The report referring to former French President Hollande’s statement that Government of India insisted upon a particular firm as off- set partner for the Dassault Aviation in Rafale is being verified.” The spokesperson said, “It is reiterated that neither the Government nor the French Government had any say in the commercial decision.” Dassault Aviation, the makers of Rafale, had chosen Reliance Defence as its partner to fulfill offset obligations of the deal. The Government has been maintaining it did not have any role in selection of the offset partner. Hollande’s remark has escalated the political slugfest over the multi-billion dollar deal. The French media report quoted Hollande as saying, “We did not have a say in this...The Indian Government proposed this service group and Dassault negotiated with (Anil) Ambani group. We did not have a choice, we took the partner who was given to us.” The Congress and other Opposition parties latched on to the report and stepped up their attack on the Modi Government over the deal. The Congress alleged that the Government’s “complicity, col- lusion and conspiracy” to ben- efit Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “crony friend” has been exposed following Hollande’s reported comments. “Cat’s out of the Bag!!! Complicity, Collusion & Conspiracy of Modi Govt in denying the PSU, HAL a 30,000 crore ‘offset contract’ to benefit PM’s crony friend exposed!” Congress’ chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted. B enchmark indices finished with losses on Friday after investors were jolted by a sud- den mid-session plunge amid a massive sell-off in NBFC stocks. The BSE Sensex, which opened on a strong footing, suddenly tanked 1,127.58 points, or 3.03 per cent, to hit a low of 35,993.64 in afternoon trade, before staging an equal- ly sharp recovery within min- utes. It finally closed at 36,841.60, down 279.62 points. The broader NSE Nifty shed 91.25 points to finish at 11,143.10. The indices closed in the red for the fourth day in a row, during which investors lost a massive 5.6 lakh crore. Detailed copy on P10 A day after The Pioneer reported how wedding lawns are flouting MCD and green laws with impuni- ty, the Supreme Court appointed Monitoring Committee has cracked down on such marriage venues and motels located in south and north Delhi. The committee conducted an inspection of the farm houses and motels falling under the jurisdiction of South and North Delhi Municipal Corporations and noticed violations like unauthoriesd construction, misuse of properties, air conditions pandals, shamiyanas, sheds on their premises and holding social functions. It was found that permission from the respective municipal corporations was never taken. The Monitoring Committee has written to both the corporations, direct- ing them to seal them 48 hour after serving notices. Confirming the development, senior officials of south and north cor- porations said they have received the official communiqué and will start sending notices soon. “Basements for these motels were found being used for commercial pur- pose in violation of permitted use as per sanctioned plan, which was permitted for parking and services only,” the let- ter stated. B an on human activities and focused conservation undertaken since 1983 in Uttarakhand's Nanda Devi National Park has further enriched the wilderness and forest composition of the park situated in high altitude of Western Himalayas, accord- ing to a research. Researchers from GB Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment and Sustainable Development had carried out a month-long study to assess floristic diversity, community composition and regeneration status of different forests in the park post-prohibition of human activities in almost last four decades in the National Park. They noted that the pro- hibition of anthropogenic activities, which was imposed to save the peak of Nanda Devi (7816 m) housed in the National Park. helped bring positive changes in the region too in the form of growth of high value plants, diversity, forest composition and improved ecological condi- tions of the region spread over 624 kilometer square. Giving details of the high rich plant varieties they found during the expedition, the authors said, “A total of 409 taxa belonging to 203 genera and 71 families (377 Angiosperms, 7 Gymnosperms and 25 Pteridophytes) were documented from the National Park. Two types of forest com- munities, ie Betula utilis along timberline, and mixed forest of Abies spectabilis with B. utilis form the dominant forests inside the National Park. Earlier they were scarce in numbers.” “Maximum species rich- ness was observed in Dibrugheta (128) followed by Dharansi (43) and Sarsopatal (34) among the studied alpine meadows of this National Park,” said researchers Vikram S Negi, Lalit Giri and K Chandra Sekar in their study published in the latest issue of Current Science journal. “Tagged as World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988, the park is situated around the peak of Nanda Devi (7816 m) in the hill State of Northern India. Till 1983, tourism was allowed in the Biosphere Reserve which has two core areas — Valley of Flowers and Nanda Devi National Park which is home to Nanda Devi Peak also. However, the gov- ernment banned tourists' entry in the region to save the peak of Nanda Devi from environ- mental degradation,” Dr Vikram S Negi told The Pioneer. T errorists shot dead three policemen shortly after abducting them from their res- idences in two villages of south Kashmir’s Shopian district on Friday for refusing to obey their diktat to resign from their posts. The killings triggered a spree of resignations of the Special Police Officers (SPOs) even as the officials main- tained that no formal resigna- tions have been received. Sources said four persons, including three policemen, were abducted from Kapran and Batagund villages of Shopian district in the wee hours of Friday. Hours later, bullet-riddled bodies of the three SPOs were recovered from Lumni Wangam village in Shopian. The fourth abductee Fayaz Ahmad Bhat, who was broth- er of an SPO, was set free and returned home. Police in a statement said preliminary investigation revealed the role of “terror out- fits Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) and Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) in this barbaric act of terror. A 21-year-old woman executive engi- neer working with an MNC foiled a rape bid by seven of her rowdy neigh- bours at her high-rise residential com- plext in an upscale society at Sector-86 in Gurugram on Thursday around 9.45 pm. Acting on her complaint, police have arrested five accused out of seven on the charge of rape bid while two, who are brothers, are absconding, police said. “When I reached the society I thought of taking the stairs. When I reached the first floor, I noticed a per- son there. He made some queer noise; when I moved forward he grabbed my hand. I got scared and threw his hand and managed to run away. I noticed that some others were following me,” the vic- tim said in her complaint. “They attempted to rape me and threatened me and my parents with dire consequences if we report the matter to police,” she claimed in her complaint. The girl somehow managed to reach her flat unharmed and narrated her ordeal to her family members. “Meanwhile, the arrested accused have been identified as Abhishek, Sawan, Ankit, alias Kali, Mukesh, aka Monty, and Sachin, while Hemant and Kamal, alias Nandi, are still at large, police said. Brothers Ankit and Sawan are res- idents of Jind in Haryana and have com- pleted BTech and were residing in a rented flat in the society. Their friend Nandi was allegedly attacked by a Delhi-based gangster and had received six gunshots a few months ago. He also got police protec- tion. The accused had come to Gurugram to attend a marriage. They were celebrating a party when the incident took place in the complex, police said. “Police teams are conduct- ing raids to nab the absconding accused,” said Shamsher Singh, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Crime. A am Aadmi Party’s rebel MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira-convened ‘all-party- meeting’ to discuss the burning issue of sacrilege, though wit- nessed negligible participation from Punjab’s major political parties, on Friday further pressed for action against those “guilty and involved” in the incidents of desecration of holy Guru Granth Sahib, and relat- ed firing incidents. The meeting, attended by AAP’s eight rebel MLAs, AAP’s ‘under suspension’ MP from Patiala Dr Dharamvira Gandhi, former Deputy Speaker of Punjab Vidhan Sabha Bir Devinder Singh, head and MLAs of Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) — Simarjeet Singh Bains and Balwinder Singh Bains, besides some Sikh leaders, among others, demanded inclusion of the names of for- mer Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, and former Director General of Police (DGP) in the FIR for Kotkapura firing incident, and the trio be brought under probe. In all, seven resolutions were passed in the meeting, which saw no participation by the ruling Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal, the Bharatiya Janta Party, and even the members of AAP, other than the rebels, also stayed away. The meeting, convened to discuss the recommendations of Justice Ranjit Singh Commission report into sacri- lege and related firing inci- dents, decided to take out a protest march on October 7 from Kotkapura Chowk — where the firing took place, and pass through Sarawan village, and join the Insaaf Morcha at Bargari village. “It was decided that the people would participate in the protest march wearing black turbans and black dupat- tas to mount pressure on the government to act against the guilty,” said Khaira. During the meeting, the leaders discussed and pressed for action against the accused of Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura firing incidents and the sacri- lege cases. The meeting also decided to set up 11-member Action Committee to decide upon future course of action. Khaira stressed on freeing the Sikh institutions from the control of the Badals, adding that along with this, the polit- ical interference in the religion should also be brought to an end. “We have decided to mount pressure on the Capt Amarinder Singh Government to take action against the cul- prits of sacrilege cases at the earliest,” said Khaira demand- ing that the cases of firing inci- dent and sacrilege be resolved promptly. He accused the Capt Amarinder Government of suppressing the people’s feel- ings over the issue. Khaira went on to accuse the Chief Minister of giving extension to the current state police chief Suresh Arora “to save the culprits of sacrilege cases”. AAP MLA from Kharar Kanwar Sandhu said that the names of former DGP Sumedh Singh Saini, along with the names of Badal father-son duo, should also be included in the FIR and they should be arrest- ed immediately in the case at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan firing, adding that the meeting has passed a resolution demanding the same. It was also decided that the meeting demanded that a prompt action be taken against all those who have been named in the Justice (retired) Ranjit Singh Commission’s report. The meeting also decided to urge the Punjab Government to effectively con- test the ongoing cases, related to the sacrilege and Justice Ranjit Singh Commission report, in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Without naming anyone, the Lok Insaaf Party MLA Simarjit Singh Bains con- demned all those who have been dubbing the Sikh leaders protesting at Bargari demand- ing justice for the victims and punishment for culprits of sac- rilege, as “ISI agents”. Chandigarh: SAD on Friday maintained that the all-party- meeting, convened by the breakaway Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of Sukhpal Khaira to garner support in favour of the report submitted by his brother-in-law Justice (retired) Ranjit Singh, turned out to be a mere fiasco. “It was neither well attended, nor all party,” said SAD’s senior vice-president and spokesman Daljit Cheema, who dubbed it “half-party-meeting” because even all the legisla- tors and leading lights of AAP preferred to abstain. Continued on Page 4

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Page 1: ˘ ˇˆ ˇ˙ ˝˛ ˇ · (Anil) Ambani group. We did ... too in the form of growth of high value plants, diversity, ... alias Kali, Mukesh, aka Monty, and Sachin, while Hemant and

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Aday after the ModiGovernment confirmed

External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj’s talks with herPakistani counterpart ShahMehmood Qureshi on the side-lines of the upcoming UnitedNations General Assembly(UNGA) in New York nextweek, India on Friday called offthe meeting citing Pakistan’scomplicity in the “brutal”killing of three policemen inJammu & Kashmir as well asthe release of postal stamps glo-rifying Kashmiri terroristBurhan Wani.

Accusing Pakistan andPrime Minister Imran Khan of“evil designs” after three police-men were kidnapped and killedby terrorists in Shopian inJ&K, India said talks withPakistan in such an environ-ment would be “meaningless”.

“The true face of thePakistan Prime Minister hasbeen exposed in his first fewmonths in office,” said Ministryfor External Affairs (MEA)spokesperson Raveesh Kumarhere on Friday.

“The latest brutal killings ofour security personnel byPakistan-based entities and therecent release of a series of 20postage stamps by Pakistanglorifying a terrorist and ter-rorism confirm that Pakistanwill not mend its ways,” theMEA Spokesperson said.

He noted that “two deeplydisturbing developments havetaken place” since Thursday’sannouncement of a meetingbetween the Foreign Ministersof India and Pakistan in NewYork later this month. “In viewof the changed situation, therewill be no meeting between theForeign Ministers of India andPakistan in New York,” he said.

Eyebrows were raised onThursday as India confirmedthe meeting even though inci-dents of cross-border killings ofIndian security personnel didnot stop and Islamabad wasseen to be setting the agendafor the meeting rather than the

New Delhi. India on Thursdaygave green signal to the meet-ing following Pakistan PrimeMinister’s September 15 letterto Prime Minister NarendraModi seeking the resumptionof dialogue between the twocountries.

On Friday, the MEA said,“After Imran Khan’s letter, wethought Pakistan is movingtowards positive changes, anew beginning. But now itseems behind their proposalwere evil intentions.”

India is also furious overthe release of 20 special stampsby Islamabad glorifying BurhanWani — the HizbulMujahideen terrorist killed bysecurity forces in 2016 — in theguise of solidarity withKashmiris.

While agreeing to themeeting after Imran Khan’srequest, New Delhi had soughtto clarify on Thursday that itwould be “just a meeting” and“not resumption of dialogue”.“Let’s distinguish betweenmeeting and dialogue.

This doesn’t change ourstand on terrorism,” MEAspokesman a had said daybefore. He said theGovernment has agreed to themeeting but no agenda hasbeen set so far.

This would have been thefirst high-level talks betweenthe two sides since thePathankot terror strikes fromPakistan in 2016. ThePathankot attack on January 2,2016, by a heavily armedPakistani group in thePathankot Air Force Stationhad then led to a similar break-down of the dialogue resump-tion process between the twoneighbours.

On Friday morning, threepolicemen were dragged out oftheir homes in Kashmir’sShopian by terrorists and killed.On Tuesday, a BSF jawan’sbody was found mutilated withhis throat slit after he wentmissing when the PakistanRangers fired at a patrol teamclearing elephant grass alongthe international border.

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In a significant development,a French media report quot-

ed former French PresidentFrancois Hollande as purport-edly saying that the IndianGovernment proposedReliance Defence as the part-ner for Dassault Aviation in the�58,000 crore Rafale jet fight-er deal and France did not havea choice.

Reacting to Hollande’sremark that is at variance withthe stand taken by the IndianGovernment, the DefenceMinistry spokesman said onFriday, “The report referring toformer French PresidentHollande’s statement thatGovernment of India insistedupon a particular firm as off-set partner for the DassaultAviation in Rafale is beingverified.”

The spokesperson said, “Itis reiterated that neither the

Government nor the FrenchGovernment had any say in thecommercial decision.”

Dassault Aviation, themakers of Rafale, had chosenReliance Defence as its partnerto fulfill offset obligations of thedeal. The Government hasbeen maintaining it did nothave any role in selection of theoffset partner.

Hollande’s remark hasescalated the political slugfestover the multi-billion dollardeal. The French media reportquoted Hollande as saying,“We did not have a say inthis...The Indian Governmentproposed this service groupand Dassault negotiated with(Anil) Ambani group. We didnot have a choice, we took the

partner who was given to us.”The Congress and other

Opposition parties latched onto the report and stepped uptheir attack on the ModiGovernment over the deal.The Congress alleged that theGovernment’s “complicity, col-lusion and conspiracy” to ben-efit Prime Minister NarendraModi’s “crony friend” has beenexposed following Hollande’sreported comments.

“Cat’s out of the Bag!!!Complicity, Collusion &Conspiracy of Modi Govt indenying the PSU, HAL a�30,000 crore ‘offset contract’to benefit PM’s crony friendexposed!” Congress’ chiefspokesperson RandeepSurjewala tweeted.

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Benchmark indices finishedwith losses on Friday after

investors were jolted by a sud-den mid-session plunge amida massive sell-off in NBFCstocks.

The BSE Sensex, whichopened on a strong footing,suddenly tanked 1,127.58points, or 3.03 per cent, to hita low of 35,993.64 in afternoontrade, before staging an equal-ly sharp recovery within min-utes. It finally closed at

36,841.60, down 279.62 points.The broader NSE Nifty shed91.25 points to finish at11,143.10.

The indices closed in thered for the fourth day in a row,during which investors lost amassive �5.6 lakh crore.

Detailed copy on P10

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Aday after ThePioneer reported

how wedding lawnsare flouting MCD andgreen laws with impuni-ty, the Supreme Courtappointed MonitoringCommittee has crackeddown on such marriage venues andmotels located in south and north Delhi.

The committee conducted aninspection of the farm houses and motels falling underthe jurisdiction of South and NorthDelhi Municipal Corporations andnoticed violations like unauthoriesdconstruction, misuse of properties, airconditions pandals, shamiyanas, shedson their premises and holding socialfunctions.

It was found that permission fromthe respective municipal corporations

was nevertaken.

The MonitoringCommittee has

written to both the corporations, direct-ing them to seal them 48 hour afterserving notices.

Confirming the development,senior officials of south and north cor-porations said they have received theofficial communiqué and will startsending notices soon.

“Basements for these motels werefound being used for commercial pur-pose in violation of permitted use as persanctioned plan, which was permittedfor parking and services only,” the let-ter stated.

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Ban on human activities andfocused conservation

undertaken since 1983 inUttarakhand's Nanda DeviNational Park has furtherenriched the wilderness andforest composition of the parksituated in high altitude ofWestern Himalayas, accord-ing to a research.

Researchers from GB PantNational Institute of HimalayanEnvironment and SustainableDevelopment had carried outa month-long study to assessfloristic diversity, communitycomposition and regenerationstatus of different forests in thepark post-prohibition ofhuman activities in almost lastfour decades in the National

Park. They noted that the pro-hibition of anthropogenicactivities, which was imposedto save the peak of NandaDevi (7816 m) housed in theNational Park. helped bringpositive changes in the region

too in the form of growth ofhigh value plants, diversity,forest composition andimproved ecological condi-tions of the region spread over624 kilometer square.

Giving details of the high

rich plant varieties they foundduring the expedition, theauthors said, “A total of 409taxa belonging to 203 generaand 71 families (377Angiosperms, 7 Gymnospermsand 25 Pteridophytes) weredocumented from the NationalPark.

Two types of forest com-munities, ie Betula utilis alongtimberline, and mixed forest ofAbies spectabilis with B. utilisform the dominant forestsinside the National Park.Earlier they were scarce innumbers.”

“Maximum species rich-ness was observed inDibrugheta (128) followed byDharansi (43) and Sarsopatal(34) among the studied alpinemeadows of this National

Park,” said researchers VikramS Negi, Lalit Giri and KChandra Sekar in their studypublished in the latest issue ofCurrent Science journal.

“Tagged as World HeritageSite by UNESCO in 1988, thepark is situated around thepeak of Nanda Devi (7816 m)in the hill State of NorthernIndia. Till 1983, tourism wasallowed in the BiosphereReserve which has two coreareas — Valley of Flowers andNanda Devi National Parkwhich is home to Nanda DeviPeak also. However, the gov-ernment banned tourists' entryin the region to save the peakof Nanda Devi from environ-mental degradation,” DrVikram S Negi told ThePioneer.

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Terrorists shot dead threepolicemen shortly after

abducting them from their res-idences in two villages of southKashmir’s Shopian district onFriday for refusing to obey theirdiktat to resign from theirposts. The killings triggered aspree of resignations of theSpecial Police Officers (SPOs)even as the officials main-tained that no formal resigna-tions have been received.

Sources said four persons,including three policemen,were abducted from Kapranand Batagund villages ofShopian district in the weehours of Friday.

Hours later, bullet-riddledbodies of the three SPOs wererecovered from LumniWangam village in Shopian.

The fourth abductee FayazAhmad Bhat, who was broth-er of an SPO, was set free andreturned home.

Police in a statement said

preliminary investigationrevealed the role of “terror out-fits Hizbul Mujahideen (HM)and Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) inthis barbaric act of terror.

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A21-year-old woman executive engi-neer working with an MNC foiled

a rape bid by seven of her rowdy neigh-bours at her high-rise residential com-plext in an upscale society at Sector-86in Gurugram on Thursday around9.45 pm.

Acting on her complaint, policehave arrested five accused out of sevenon the charge of rape bid while two, whoare brothers, are absconding, police said.

“When I reached the society Ithought of taking the stairs. When Ireached the first floor, I noticed a per-son there. He made some queer noise;when I moved forward he grabbed myhand. I got scared and threw his handand managed to run away. I noticed thatsome others were following me,” the vic-tim said in her complaint.

“They attempted to rape me andthreatened me and my parents with direconsequences if we report the matter topolice,” she claimed in her complaint.

The girl somehow managed toreach her flat unharmed and narratedher ordeal to her family members.

“Meanwhile, the arrested accusedhave been identified as Abhishek,Sawan, Ankit, alias Kali, Mukesh, akaMonty, and Sachin, while Hemant andKamal, alias Nandi, are still at large,police said.

Brothers Ankit and Sawan are res-idents of Jind in Haryana and have com-pleted BTech and were residing in arented flat in the society.

Their friend Nandi was allegedlyattacked by a Delhi-based gangsterand had received six gunshots a fewmonths ago. He also got police protec-tion. The accused had come toGurugram to attend a marriage.

They were celebrating a party whenthe incident took place in the complex,police said. “Police teams are conduct-ing raids to nab the abscondingaccused,” said Shamsher Singh,Assistant Commissioner of Police(ACP) Crime.

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Aam Aadmi Party’s rebelMLA Sukhpal Singh

Khaira-convened ‘all-party-meeting’ to discuss the burningissue of sacrilege, though wit-nessed negligible participationfrom Punjab’s major politicalparties, on Friday furtherpressed for action against those“guilty and involved” in theincidents of desecration of holyGuru Granth Sahib, and relat-ed firing incidents.

The meeting, attended byAAP’s eight rebel MLAs, AAP’s‘under suspension’ MP fromPatiala Dr Dharamvira Gandhi,former Deputy Speaker ofPunjab Vidhan Sabha BirDevinder Singh, head andMLAs of Lok Insaaf Party(LIP) — Simarjeet Singh Bainsand Balwinder Singh Bains,besides some Sikh leaders,among others, demandedinclusion of the names of for-mer Chief Minister ParkashSingh Badal, former DeputyChief Minister Sukhbir Badal,and former Director General ofPolice (DGP) in the FIR forKotkapura firing incident, andthe trio be brought underprobe.

In all, seven resolutionswere passed in the meeting,which saw no participation bythe ruling Congress, ShiromaniAkali Dal, the Bharatiya JantaParty, and even the members ofAAP, other than the rebels, alsostayed away.

The meeting, convened todiscuss the recommendationsof Justice Ranjit SinghCommission report into sacri-lege and related firing inci-dents, decided to take out aprotest march on October 7from Kotkapura Chowk —where the firing took place, andpass through Sarawan village,and join the Insaaf Morcha at

Bargari village.“It was decided that the

people would participate inthe protest march wearingblack turbans and black dupat-tas to mount pressure on thegovernment to act against theguilty,” said Khaira.

During the meeting, theleaders discussed and pressedfor action against the accusedof Behbal Kalan and Kotkapurafiring incidents and the sacri-lege cases. The meeting alsodecided to set up 11-memberAction Committee to decideupon future course of action.

Khaira stressed on freeingthe Sikh institutions from thecontrol of the Badals, addingthat along with this, the polit-ical interference in the religionshould also be brought to anend.

“We have decided tomount pressure on the CaptAmarinder Singh Governmentto take action against the cul-prits of sacrilege cases at theearliest,” said Khaira demand-ing that the cases of firing inci-dent and sacrilege be resolvedpromptly.

He accused the CaptAmarinder Government ofsuppressing the people’s feel-ings over the issue.

Khaira went on to accusethe Chief Minister of giving

extension to the current statepolice chief Suresh Arora “tosave the culprits of sacrilegecases”.

AAP MLA from KhararKanwar Sandhu said that thenames of former DGP SumedhSingh Saini, along with thenames of Badal father-son duo,should also be included in theFIR and they should be arrest-ed immediately in the case atKotkapura and Behbal Kalanfiring, adding that the meetinghas passed a resolutiondemanding the same.

It was also decided that themeeting demanded that aprompt action be taken againstall those who have been namedin the Justice (retired) RanjitSingh Commission’s report.

The meeting also decidedto urge the PunjabGovernment to effectively con-test the ongoing cases, relatedto the sacrilege and JusticeRanjit Singh Commissionreport, in the Punjab andHaryana High Court.

Without naming anyone,the Lok Insaaf Party MLASimarjit Singh Bains con-demned all those who havebeen dubbing the Sikh leadersprotesting at Bargari demand-ing justice for the victims andpunishment for culprits of sac-rilege, as “ISI agents”.

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Chandigarh: SAD on Friday maintained that the all-party-meeting, convened by the breakaway Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)of Sukhpal Khaira to garner support in favour of the reportsubmitted by his brother-in-law Justice (retired) RanjitSingh, turned out to be a mere fiasco.

“It was neither well attended, nor all party,” said SAD’ssenior vice-president and spokesman Daljit Cheema, whodubbed it “half-party-meeting” because even all the legisla-tors and leading lights of AAP preferred to abstain.

Continued on Page 4

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The states of HimachalPradesh and Haryana are

likely to get heavy rains over thenext three days, the Met officesaid on Friday.

"Certain areas in Himachalare likely to experience heavyspells of rain till Monday," saidan official of MeteorologicalDepartment.

He said there are chances ofheavy to very heavy rains at someplaces in mid and low hills onSeptember 23 and 24.

The Met Department's fore-cast said the western distur-bances - storm systems origi-nating from the MediterraneanSea and moving across theAfghanistan-Pakistan region -would remain active in theregion till September 25.

Meanwhile, Keylong inLahaul and Spiti district was thecoldest town in the state with alow of 7.3 degrees Celsius. Theminimum temperatures inShimla and Manali were 14degrees and 10.2 degrees respec-tively. Kalpa, some 250 km fromShimla, saw the night tempera-ture at 8.6 degrees Celsius.

On the other hand, PunjabGovernment has issued a heavy

rainfall alert. A government’sspokesperson said that as perinformation received from theMinistry of Earth Sciences, theState is likely to experience wide-spread rainfall during lateSeptember 22 to 24.

Many districts in Doaba,Majha and Malwa are very like-ly to get heavy (more than sevento 12 cm) to very heavy rainfall(more than 12 cm) during these

days.“There is very high proba-

bility of extremely heavy rainfallin North Eastern and SouthEastern parts of Punjab duringSeptember 22 to 24. As there isvery high probability of heavy tovery heavy rainfall in adjoiningareas of Himachal also, henceabove spell may cause inunda-tions of low lying area and waterlogging in some area,” said the

spokesperson.The areas likely to get very

heavy to extremely heavy rainsare Gurdaspur, Jalandhar,Amritsar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana,Fatehgarh Sahib, Nawashahr,Roopnagar, Patiala, Mohali andadjoining area.

The district authorities havebeen advised to suitably take ade-quate measures, informed thespokesperson.

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Asatellite centre will be setup by the Canadian

University at the upcomingGuru Gobind Singh SkillUniversity at Sri ChamkaurSahib, with an aim to developskill and provide job opportu-nities to Punjab’s youth.

The decision was takenduring the meeting between

the Canadian delegation ofAlberta State and the stateTechnical Education andIndustrial Training andEmployment GenerationMinister Charanjit SinghChanni on Friday.

Alberta Government’ssenior director Sheba Sharmaand Commercial OfficerSudhirranjan Banerjee heldpreliminary talks regarding

developing skill, starting dualskill development programmesand providing job opportuni-ties in Canada to Punjab’syouth.

“In principle, both thesides agreed to setup a SatelliteCentre by the CanadianUniversity at upcoming GuruGobind Singh Skill University,Sri Chamkaur Sahib. The rulesand regulation draft would beprepared to send state’s youthto study abroad throughPunjab Government’s web por-tal ‘Ghar Ghar Rozgar’,” saidChanni.

He said that the draftregarding the same would beplaced for discussion andapproval in the next meetingwith the Canadian delegation.

“Alberta State of Canada isinterested in starting dual skilldevelopment programmes

with the Punjab Government’sTechnical EducationalInstitutes, IKGPTU andMRSPTU,” said Channi.

He said that during hisvisit to Alberta, Canada, hemet Minister for HigherEducation and SkillDevelopment AlbertaGovernment and both agreedto work together in the field ofSkill Development.

“Now, they have sent theirdelegation for preliminary talkswith the Punjab Government.The programmes would befinalized with the officials ofAlberta State, Canada, in thecoming days. He said that a del-egation from Alberta StateCanada would be visiting Indiain February 2019, and theagreement would be signedwith them during their visit,” hesaid.

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Haryana Governor SatyadeoNarain Arya on Friday

said that besides educationalinstitutions imparting educa-tion in the field of agriculture,Agricultural Science Centres ofuniversity, AgricultureDepartment and other institu-tions in the state, should ensuretheir technical support in cropresidue management.

The Governor stated thiswhile interacting with the Vice-Chancellor, Chaudhary CharanSingh Haryana AgriculturalUniversity (CCSHAU), Hisar,KP Singh here. Singh apprisedthe Governor about the activ-ities and events of theUniversity.

Arya said that for cropresidue management, all theinstitutions should work inaccording to rules of the StateGovernment. The crop residuemanagement drive being runby the State Government wouldbecome more effective fromOctober 5. The Centre andState Government has alsomade a provision of specialbudget for crop residue man-agement, this time, he added.

The Governor also urgedthe farmers to not to burn cropresidue in their farms but makeuse of agriculture equipmentbeing provided on subsidy forcrop residue management. Thiswould not only check envi-ronment pollution but wouldalso provide the farmers finan-cial benefits, he said.

The Vice-Chancellor ofuniversity, Singh said that uni-versity is doing the technical aswell as the work of generatingawareness under a team con-stituted for crop residue man-agement.

He said that along withCCSHAU, Hisar, Krishi VigyanKenders and Krishi GyanKenders have adopted villages,where a team of officers informthe farmers about manage-ment of crops residue.

The CCSHAU is amongthe top 100 universities of thecountry, and the campus place-ment of the university is 100per cent. Over 4,000 studentsare studying in various facultiesin the university, includingstudents of 21 countries. Theuniversity is leading seed pro-duction and research, in thecountry, he added.

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International Folk Festival, acultural exchange pro-

gramme will be organised inHaryana’s Panchkula onSeptember 27.

The festival will witness participation of around 400artists from various countriesof Asia and Europe who willperform folk dances of theirrespective countries, besidesDhamaal and folk songs byartists of Haryana. The festivalwill be organized atIndradhanush Auditorium inPanchkula, said a spokesman ofArts and Cultural AffairsDepartment.

He said that this pro-gramme would start at 5 pmand conclude at 8 pm. Thisprogram is being organized bythe State Government in co-ordination with theDepartment of Arts andCultural Affairs, ChandigarhUniversity and Rhythm Group,he said.

The spokesman also saidthat the participants of theprogramme included artists,folk dancers from many coun-tries including Germany,China, Brazil, Russia, Italy,South Korea, South Africa,Ukraine, Thailand, Turkey,Colombia, Singapore, andCzech Republic. During thisprogramme, national awardwinning folk dance of Haryana,Dhamaal would also be per-formed, he added.

���-�����!������#����������� ���2� �!"����������'G

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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal has

approved notification of 535different colonies under theHaryana Management ofCivic Amenit ies andInfrastructure MunicipalAreas (Special Provisions)Act, 2016 paving the way for

provisioning of major essen-tial services in these colonies.

Out of these 535 colonies,254 fall in the MunicipalCorporations, 100 coloniesin Municipal Councils and181 in MunicipalCommittees, said an officialspokesman.

He said that as if this itselfwas not enough of a relief tothe residents of these coloniesmaking a departure from theprevious practice of arbitraryfixation of the so called devel-opment charges, the statuto-ry fee that would have to bepaid has been fixed at only 5per cent of the collector’srate.

Notably, 32 colonies inGurugram, nine in Faridabad,23 in Karnal and 29 in Panipat(total 93) have already beendeclared as Civic Amenitiesand Infrastructure DeficientMunicipal Areas.

Over 200 more coloniesare still under examinationand are soon likely to bedeclared as Civic Amenitiesand Infrastructure DeficientArea in the near future, thespokesman added.

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Punjab’s cooperative sugarmills would soon pay Rs 56

crore out of the balance amountto the sugarcane farmers verysoon.

The announcement wasmade by the state CooperationMinister Sukhjinder SinghRandhawa on Friday duringthe meeting of senior officersof the CooperationDepartment and GeneralManagers of all the cooperativesugar mills conducted to takestock of the preparations withregard to the onset of thecrushing season 2018-19.

Randhawa said that out ofthe total Rs 56 crore, Rs 21crore would be paid by thecooperative sugar mills with theassistance of the Punjab StateCooperative Bank, while thesanction for the rest Rs 35 crorehas been given by the stateFinance Department.

During the course of themeeting, the Minister empha-sized strenuous efforts on thepart of the General Managersof the Cooperative sugar millsduring the crushing season2018-19 to ensure goodresults by the cooperativesugar mills.

He also instructed that therecovery rate of sugar in eachof the cooperative sugar millmust be over 10 percent andeach mill should lay stress onbettering the performance infinancial and technical spheres,while also making it clear thatno laxity in this regard would

be tolerated.On the occasion, it was

decided that the cooperativesugar mills would begin crush-ing season from Novembersecond week in accordancewith the availability of sugar-cane. The Minister directed theGeneral Managers to informthe sugarcane farmers inadvance regarding the com-mencement of crushing seasonso as to enable them to makearrangements of labour in thenick of time for harvesting pur-pose.

Randhawa also elaboratedthat an online mechanismwould be developed before thestarting of crushing season toprovide information regard-ing bonding, supply, weighingand payment of the sugarcaneas per which the informationwith regard to bonding, receipt,weighing and due paymentwould be provided to the farm-ers on their two registeredmobile numbers.

The Minister also gaveinstructions to prepare a com-puterized calendar system insuch a manner that the sugar-cane farmers don't have towait for more than six hours insupplying sugarcane to themills.

Randhawa said that a let-ter has been written to theUnion Agriculture and FarmersWelfare Minister to increase theMSP of sugar to Rs 3,500 fromthe present Rs 2,900 in order tomake the balance payments intime to the sugarcane farmersof the country.

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Page 3: ˘ ˇˆ ˇ˙ ˝˛ ˇ · (Anil) Ambani group. We did ... too in the form of growth of high value plants, diversity, ... alias Kali, Mukesh, aka Monty, and Sachin, while Hemant and

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Dismissing as ridiculousthe SAD’s charges against

Sri Muktsar Sahib SSP, PunjabChief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on Fridaylambasted the Akali leadershipfor its desperate attempts todivert attention from itsimpending defeat in ZilaParishad and Panchayat Samitielections.

“The Akalis are clearly frus-

trated by its series of electoraldefeats, which the latest pollsare all set to cap, and is tryingto build a case for itself in theface of its imminent trouncingin the same,” he said.

The SSP had been doinghis job, ensuring that the elec-tions went off peacefully, saidthe Chief Minister, lashingout at the Akali Dal leader-ship’s shameless behaviour intargeting the officer.

“The SAD leadership,

which had always sought toundermine the authority of thepolice and administrative offi-cers in the state, has once againshown that it has no respectfor such officials,” he saidadding that the police forcehad finally been freed of theshackles under which it waskept by the erstwhile Akaligovernment.

Expressing shock at thecharges against the SSP, CaptAmarinder said that it was

obvious that the SAD leader-ship, which had never pro-moted or encouraged hon-esty among the officers,believed every official to be ascorrupt as they themselveswere. “It is difficult for themto accept the fact that officials,under the Congress govern-ment, are working honestlyand fearlessly to uphold thestate’s law and order,” headded.

The Chief Minister reject-

ed outright the SAD demandfor the transfer of the SSP overits baseless allegations.

He also came down heav-ily on the SAD leadership fortrying to unleash an atmos-phere of terror in order tointimidate the people and gov-ernment officials in the state.

Citing videos of SAD pres-ident Sukhbir Badal orderinghis supporters to attack andintimidate voters, which hadgone widely viral on the social

media, Capt Amarinder saidthat the real face of the partyand its leadership had beentotally exposed.

“Having clearly learnt nolessons from its series of polldefeats, beginning with lastyear’s Assembly election, theAkalis still seemed to be hold-ing to the false belief that itcould force its way to victorythrough hooliganism and row-dyism,” said the ChiefMinister.

“My government wouldnot allow the Akalis to terror-ize the police force or theadministration, whose officersand men are working hard toshed their negative image thathad been built by the SAD-BJPregime during the 10 years ofits misrule,” he said.

Capt Amarinder stronglycondemned Sukhbir for tryingto take the law in his handsthrough such abominable acts,saying that such acts were

unbecoming of the presidentof a major political party likethe SAD.

The Chief Minister laud-ed the civil and police admin-istration for the smooth con-duct of Zila Parishad andPanchayat Samiti polls in afree, fair and transparent man-ner. He also expressed confi-dence that the people ofPunjab would give an over-whelming mandate againstthe goonda culture of SAD.

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Delhi Chief MinisterAr vind Kejr iwal on

Friday said that �1 crorewould be given to the familyof a BSF trooper who waskilled by Pakistani forces onthe International Border nearJammu.

Kejr iwal made theannouncement after visitingNarendra Singh's family inHaryana's Sonipat along withAam Aadmi Party (AAP)'sstate unit chief NaveenJaihind.

"For the martyred soldierof Haryana, the Delhi gov-ernment will bring the caseunder a special provision inits cabinet meeting and pro-vide the family with a finan-cial aid of Rs 1 crore," a Delhigovernment official said.

After meeting the family,Kejr iwal s lammed theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP)government and Modi fortheir failure in acting againstthe unlawful activities ofPakistan.

While talking to themediapersons, Kejriwal said,"Before becoming the PrimeMinister, Modi ji used to talkabout giving a befitting replyto such attacks instead ofwriting 'love letters'. Give areply now... It is not the timeto stay mum.”

"You go to Pakistan to cuta cake (meeting with formerPakistan Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif in 2015). Butcake cutting is not going tostop the attacks on our sol-diers. You had said that youwill take strict action againstPakistan, so do it now," headded.

Asked if India shouldcontinue playing cricket withPakistan, Kejriwal replied:"Not playing cricket withPakistan is not going to stopthe murders, it is the PrimeMinister's action that couldhelp."

On the reports of SurgicalStrike Day being celebratedon September 29, Kejriwal, onhis Twitter account said thatthe "best way to celebratesurgical strike day would befor the PM to visit the fami-ly of Narendra Singh, whowas tortured and slain byPak this week.

The mutilated body ofSingh, the Border SecurityForce's (BSF) Head constable,was found on Tuesday hoursafter Pakistani forces hadresorted to unprovoked firing in Ramgarh sector ofJammu.

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A'mahapanchayat' of 51 vil-lages was held in Haryana’s

Rewari district on Friday wherethe demand was raised forimmediate arrest of the remain-ing two key accused in the gangrape of a 19-year-old woman.

The 'mahapanchayat', acongregation of several pan-chayats held in Rewari, alsoresolved to appeal to the par-ents asking them to prevailupon their children to stayaway from drugs and crime.

It also hit out at theHaryana Government andpolice for failing to nab two ofthe three key accused in thecase, who have been on the runfor over a week now.

Held under chairmanshipof sarpanch of the Garhi Balavillage, Hansraj, a ‘JanSangharsh committee' wasformed at the 'mahapanchayat'to ensure justice for the victim.

Hansraj said discussionwas held on how such incidentscould be prevented in thefuture.

Chief of Swaraj India, asocio-political organisation,Yogendra Yadav, also attended

the 'mahapanchayat' andbacked the demand for arrestof the accused.

Yadav said that a fast trackcourt should try the case.

The victim, who was felic-itated by the State Government,was abducted by three menfrom a bus stop in Kanina townof neighbouringMahendragarh district onSeptember 12 while she was onher way to a coaching class.

The accused, who arrivedin a car, allegedly drugged herand raped her at a room hous-ing a tubewell for irrigation.

Two accused identified asPankaj, an Army man andManish are still absconding.

Police had arrested one ofthe three main accused, Nishuon September 16, along withtwo others -- Sanjeev, the doc-tor who first attended to thewoman following the crime,and Deendayal, on whoseproperty she was allegedlyraped.

Meanwhile, a court inMahendragarh district onFriday extended Nishu'sremand by four days whileSanjeev and Deendayal weresent to judicial custody.

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Former Haryana Chief Minister BhupinderSingh Hooda on Friday demanded reduction

in taxes by the State Government to providerelief to the common from high fuel prices.

Hooda also demanded that petrol and dieselprices be brought under the GST ambit.

“Diesel and petrol prices are at all-time high.The State Government should reduce its taxesto provide some relief to the public,” Hooda saidwhile talking to the mediapersons here.

Haryana has the highest sale of petrol anddiesel in northern region, he said.

Earlier, the former two-time Chief MinisterHooda led a delegation of the Congress MLAswhich met Haryana Governor SatyadevNarayan Arya and sought his intervention inthe suspension of Congress MLA Karan Dalalfrom the Haryana Assembly for one year. Thedelegation also submitted a memorandum to theGovernor.

The delegation apprised the Governor thatthe Palwal MLA was recently suspended andbarred from attending the sittings of theAssembly for one year after he was alleged to

have used a derogatory word and unparlia-mentary language.

The Congress MLAs also told the Governorthat the ruling BJP had "violated" rules and reg-ulations to have Dalal suspended from theAssembly.

They also demanded effective steps to con-trol "rising crime, especially against women instate", and redressal of the grievances of the StateGovernment employees.

“The recent crime incidents in Rewari,Faridabad and other places are really very trag-ic. Prompt, strict and effective action is requiredto be taken in such matters, which is not beingtaken by the State Government. The protectionof the life and liberty of the people is the pri-mary responsibility of the state in which the pre-sent government has failed miserably,” thememorandum submitted to the Governor stat-ed.

It further stated, “This government is inoffice and not in authority and it is the crimi-nals whose writ runs large in the state. Even thelegislators are being threatened publicly and thegovernment is not taking any action against theculprits.”

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Re-polling to 53 booths ineight districts of Punjab

went off peacefully on Friday,contrary to the polling day —September 19 — which wit-nessed sporadic incidents ofviolence leaving severalinjured.

The counting of voteswould be held on Saturday,beginning 8 am.

On the other hand, SADhas urged the State ElectionCommission (SEC) to orderre-poll in the remaining 110polling booths and defer thecounting of votes in the respec-tive constituencies to ensure

full justice to the voters as wellas to the contesting candi-dates. SAD had alleged that asmany 164 booths were cap-tured.

Demanding videographyof all the counting centres,SAD has directed its allobservers to be present therefrom beginning till end ofcounting.

Apprehending rigging andhijacking of the counting,Cheema pointed that the offi-cials had got candidates’ sig-nature on unfilled proformasas specimen signatures whichmay be misused while declar-ing results.

Therefore, he urged to

change the proforma to ensurethat the profroma is signedonly after the declaration ofresults.

In a letter to the poll panel,party spokesman and seniorleader Daljit Singh Cheemathanked it for having orderedre-poll at 54 polling stations ineight districts but expressingshock that 110 booths thatwere rigged were left out.

Cheema also sent a list of164 booths which he claimedwere captured by the Congressworkers led by party leaders.He said that the Commissionshould also identify the erringofficials and take strict actionagainst them. Cheema asked

the SEC to immediately holdinquiry and order re-poll torestore peoples’ faith in democ-

racy and simultaneously sal-vage its own substantially erod-ed credibility.

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Ahelicopter carr yingLeader of opposition and

Indian National Lok Dal’ssenior leader Abhay SinghChautala on Friday made anemergency landing inGurugram.

No onewas hurt inthe incident,a close asso-ciate of theleader said.

Chautalahad taken thechopper of a

private aviation companyfrom Gurugram for Jind.

The INLD leader was toaddress some meetings inJind. As soon as the chopperhad taken off from Gurugram,the pilot reported some tech-nical issue after which hedecided to return toGurugram where the choppermade the emergency landing,said an aide of Chautala.

He said Chautala hasdeferred his Jind programmeand later proceeded toGohana by road for someother function.

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Punjab Government hasapproved the setting up of

4000 megawatt Super CriticalThermal Plant at Ropar withfive units of 800 MW genera-tion capacity each, along withthe 60 MW Biomass Plant anda 100 MW Solar Plant.

“This would ally the fear ofPunjab State PowerCorporation Limited (PSPCL)employees regarding domi-nance of private players in thepower sector due to closure of880 MW thermal units inBathinda and Ropar,” said thestate Power Minister GurpreetSingh Kangar on Friday.

“The closure of existing

units, by no means, amount todominance of private sector...It is just a switchover from theexisting technology to thecheaper, greener, state-of -arttechnology,” the Minister said.

Giving a patient hearing tothe delegations of JointEmployees Forum and BiljiMulazam Ekta Manch, Kangarassured that a joint committeeof representatives of PSPCL,PSTCL and EmployeesAssociations would be formedto re-examine the existingPower Purchase Agreements(PPA).

He also promisedfavourable solution to the 23-year promotional scale andthe pay band issues and advised

the PSPCL chairman-cum-managing director BaldevSingh Sran to look into theissue in the forthcoming meet-ing of the Board of Directors(BoD).

He informed that over 600employees of various cadreshave been promoted and about400 others will be promotedsoon.

Terming the death of shortterm contractual employeesworking on live wires as unfor-tunate, Power Minister direct-ed the CMD to review thecompensation criterion forsuch cases and workout a rea-sonable reimbursement or joboption for the dependants ofsuch employees.

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Punjab Government onFriday released Rs 670.29

crore towards pending powersubsidy, value added tax (VAT)or Good and Services tax(GST) refund, along with var-ious development and welfareprojects.

“The Government hasreleased Rs 150 crore onaccount of power subsidy, Rs 93crore for Punjab InfrastructureDevelopment Board (PIDB)and Rs 88 crore for PunjabUrban Development Authority(PUDA),” said a spokespersonof the Chief Minister’s Office.

A sum of Rs 65.31 crorehas been released forEnvironment, Forestry andWildlife under the NationalRiver Conservation Plan, whileRs 20.62 crore would be spenton Externally Aided Projects(EAP) and Rs 29.85 crore onthe schemes funded byNABARD.

Another Rs 24 crore hasbeen released for PunjabEducation Development Board(PEDB) and Rs 23.48 crore forAMRUT scheme, said thespokesperson adding that Rs37.49 crore has been releasedon account of VAT and Rs 6.46crore of GST refunds.

Another Rs 17.88 crorehas been released againstPradhan Mantri Gram SadakYojana (PMGSY), Rs 15.97crore for Integrated ChildDevelopment Services (ICDS),Rs 7.12 crore for Soil andWater Conservation and Rs6.07 crore for water supply andsanitation.

The Chief Minister hasdirected various governmentdepartments and agencies toensure effective implementationof the schemes aimed at pro-moting welfare of the people.

He has also expressed theconfidence that the govern-ment’s efforts towards financialdiscipline and fiscal manage-ment would enable the state’seconomy, which had beendestroyed by the previousSAD-BJP regime, to come backon track.

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Setting November 15 as adeadline, Punjab Chief

Minister Capt AmarinderSingh on Friday ordered therelease of pending tubewellconnections to the farmerswho had already made pay-ments

The directive came duringa meeting with representativesof the Kisan MazdoorSangharash Committee.

The Chief Minister hasalso directed the Punjab StatePower Corporation Limited(PSPCL) chairman-cum-man-aging director Baldev SinghSran to ensure adherence toNovember 15 deadline andissue necessary directions tothe field staff across the state forstrict compliance.

Sran assured the ChiefMinister that nearly 7,000pending tubewell connectionswould be released within thestipulated time-frame.

Responding to anotherdemand of the committee, theChief Minister asked theAdditional Chief Secretary(Agriculture) Viswajit Khannato ensure that the farmers getsubsidized agri-implements orequipment before October 15for in-situ management ofpaddy stubble in order to avoidburning.

Khanna informed theChief Minister that of the total24,000 agri-implements orequipment, nearly 8000 hadbeen distributed amongst thefarmers, cooperative societiesand custom hiring centres so

far in the state.He said that the

Agriculture Department wasfully geared up to complete thetask of distribution of theseimplements.

At the same time, the ChiefMinister appealed to the farm-ers to make use of subsidizedagri-machinery effectively toavoid stubble burning, therebyensuring health and hygiene ofthe people besides preservingthe environment of the state.

The meeting was informedthat the Punjab Settlement ofAgricultural Indebtedness

(Amendment) Bill, 2018, waspassed in the recently con-cluded Punjab Vidhan Sabhasession, according to which theGovernment would notifymaximum amount of debt thatcan be advanced by creditors tothe debtors on per acre basis.

The Government hasalready notified five DivisionalDebt Settlement Forums head-ed by the DivisionalCommissioner as per the pro-visions of the Act.

Directions were also issuedto the Financial Commissioner(Revenue) MP Singh to ensure

regular meetings of DeputyCommissioner, SeniorSuperintendent of Police (SSP)and Chief Agriculture Officer(CAO) at the district level toreview farm suicide cases onthe 15th of every month, asalready mandated by theRevenue Department.

The reports, thus, receivedfrom the DeputyCommissioners of respectivedistricts would be consideredfor timely release of compen-sation by the state committeecomprising FCR, ACS agricul-ture and Principal Secretary

Finance.Acceding to another

demand, Capt Amarinderasked the Principal Secretary(Power) A Venu Prasad toexamine the feasibility of send-ing power bills to consumerson a monthly basis instead ofthe existing time-frame of twomonths, especially in the ruralareas.

On the issue of new agri-culture policy, the ChiefMinister said that the StateGovernment was all set tounveil its pro-farmer agricul-ture policy.

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SAD president Sukhbir Badal has issued a warning tothose police officials who have registered cases

against him and his supporters during Zila Parishad andPanchayat Samiti poll held on Wednesday saying that hewould act against them once his party comes to powerin the state.

Sukhbir’s warning came while he was addressing thegathering at fourth death anniversary of former SADpresident Jagdev Singh Talwandi at Raikot.

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Page 4: ˘ ˇˆ ˇ˙ ˝˛ ˇ · (Anil) Ambani group. We did ... too in the form of growth of high value plants, diversity, ... alias Kali, Mukesh, aka Monty, and Sachin, while Hemant and

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The 18th All India Police Water Sports Championship 2018will be inaugurated by RK Mishra, IPS, Additional Director

General of Indi Tibetan Border Police on September 22 at SukhnaLake.

A total of 22 teams from various Central Armed Police Forces(CAPFs) and states police throughout the country will partici-pate in the championship, said an official spokesman.

Indo Tibetan Border Police has been entrusted to conductthe championship by all India Police Sports Control Board andthe same has further been assigned to Arvind Kumar, InspectorGeneral, N.W. Ftr, HQ, Indo Tibetan Border Police, he said.

He also said various event of Rowing, Kayaking andCanoeing will be conducted from September 23 onwards dur-ing the championship.

The closing ceremony will be held on September 26 andHaryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal will be chief quest on theoccasion, he added.

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Punjab Housing and UrbanDevelopment Minister

Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa onFriday exhorted the companiesassociated with the housingand real estate sector to investin Punjab saying that the Statehas emerged as the best one todo business after the CongressGovernment took over.

Bajwa, addressing theindustrialists during the courseof an invest meet organized bythe Confederation of the RealEstate Developers of India(CREDAI) said that anInvestment Promotion Bureauhas been established to provideinformation with regard to

policies, laws and rules of theState to the companies intend-ing to do business here.

Besides, all departmentshave been connected with theBureau so as to enable each

businessman to derive all infofrom a single source under oneroof. “The Bureau is responsi-ble for according all requisiteclearances to the industrialistswithin a fixed time frame. Not

only this, the Government isalso contemplating a singlewindow system for the indus-trialists so as to save them therigours of moving from oneplace to another in order to gettheir works done,” he said.

The Minister said that thePunjab Government is fullycommitted to the planned aswell as sustained developmentof the state, while exhorting thecompanies to pay attention tosmall cities as well along withthe bigger ones so as to ensurethat the people don’t resort tounrecognized colonies.

“The unrecognized andthe haphazard colonies wouldbe regularized once and wouldbe stopped from haphazard

and unauthorized construc-tions thereon. Soon a policywould have to be framed withregard to construction of hous-es in the lands owned by thepeople because the houses soconstructed assume the shapeof unrecognized colonies verysoon,” he said.

Bajwa added that it wouldbe ensured that the industrial-ists encounter no difficulty ingetting their works done in theHousing and UrbanDevelopment and the Townand Country PlanningDepartments.

It is being ensured thateach work is completed inthese departments as per thefixed timeline.

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From Page 1Khaira failed to attract even his former comrades from AAP

though he was keen to ensure presence of all political parties andfarmers’ outfits too. “But except Bains brothers, none showed facewhich suggests that Khaira has completely lost credibility in peo-ple and parties,” he said.

Presence of AAP MP Dharmvir Gandhi, Mohakam Singhof United Akali Dal or Bains brothers only showed that the meet-ing was “a conglomeration of rejected, dejected, frustrated andoutdated rootless leaders,” he added.

New Delhi: Two men wereshot and wounded by theiremployer's relative, a friend ofthe vict ims said on Friday. However, police saidthat they were wounded in ashootout.

The two worked at a scrap warehouse in southDelhi's Sarai Kale Khan area.

Deputy Commissioner ofPolice Chinmoy Biswal said"the two opened fire at eachother during a scuffle over amoney-related issue" postmidnight on Thursday.

Hail ing from UttarPradesh, the two —Rameshwar, 19, and Sunil, 21 — were admitted tothe All India Institute ofMedical Sciences.

"Rameshwar has beenshifted to ICU (intensive careunit). Doctors said his con-dition is serious and hischances of survival are bleak,"their friend Raju Chaudharytold IANS.

Chaudhary complainedthat the police were not lodg-ing a First Information Report(FIR) even after recording

Sunil's statement. "We have been at the

police station since morningbut they haven't lodged anFirst Information Report(FIR)."

He said a relative of theowner of the warehouseopened fire at the two whenthey were asleep.

"First, he shot Rameshwarin the head and later target-ed Sunil," Chaudhary said."There wasn't any troublebetween the employer and thevictims."

IANS

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New Delhi: The CBI on Fridaydescribed the complaint by itsSpecial Director Rakesh Asthanato the CVC against its chief AlokVerma as "malicious" and "friv-olous" and said that the com-plaint is aimed to malign hisimage and intimidate the offi-cials.

"It is unfortunate that base-less and frivolous allegations arebeing made publicly withoutproper verification of facts tomalign the image of the DirectorCBI and intimidate the officialsof the organization," the CentralBureau of Investigation said ina statement.

It is stated that the CVC hassought for certain case filesfrom the CBI on the basis of acomplaint filed by its SpecialDirector.

"In its response to the CVCletter, the Chief Vigilance Officer(CVO) of CBI has pointed outthat the complaint is an attemptby the complainant (Asthana) tointimidate the officers of CBIwho are investigating his role inat least half a dozen cases," itsaid.

The CBI remarks came aftermedia reports claimed thatAsthana had filed a complaint

before the Central VigilanceCommission (CVC) alleginginterference in the probes under-taken by the SpecialInvestigation Team under him.

The agency said that the"CVC should opine on themaintainability of the complaintand consider it malicious andfrivolous in order to protect theintegrity of the organisation".

The agency also said that theCBI has pointed out in its letterto CVC that the issue relating tothe IRCTC (Indian RailwayCatering and Tourism Corp)case was raked up earlier alsoand brought before the SupremeCourt on two occasions. IANS

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Apolitical row broke out onFriday over the University

Grants Commission (UGC)communication to universitiesto observe September 29 as"Surgical strike day" with theOpposition calling it a foulpolitics while Centre insistingthat the moves certainly reflect-ed patriotism and not politics.While Trinamool Congress saidthey would not follow the HRDMinistry's diktat, former HRDMinister and senior Congressleader Kapil Sibal took a jibe byasking whether the UGC wouldcelebrate November 8 thedemonetisation day.

HRD Minister PrakashJavadekar said the UGC direc-tives was not compulsory butan advisory. UGC has asked theuniversities and the highereducational institutions to cel-ebrate the second anniversaryof the surgical strikes on terrorcamps in Pakistan-occupiedKashmir(PoK).

West Bengal EducationMinister Partha Chatterjeecriticised the BJP-led Central

Government for trying to"malign and politicise" theArmy and said educationalinstitutes will not abide byUGC's directive. Counteringhim, BJP State president DilipGhosh said the TMCGovernment has made it apractice to oppose each andevery decision of the Centre.

Javadekar said the UGCcommunication reflected "patri-otism not politics", and it is notcompulsory for the academicinstitutions to organise any suchevent. He rejected the criticismby opposition parties as"absolutely ridiculous and false".

Talk sessions by ex-ser-vicemen about sacrifices by thearmed forces, special parades

by the National CadetCorps(NCC) and visit to exhi-bitions are among the pre-scribed events by the UniversityGrants Commission(UGC) forthe celebration. Colleges havebeen asked to organise paradesby the National Cadet Corps(NCC) and lectures by ex-army officers.

On September 29 in 2016,the Indian Army carried out"surgical strikes" on seven ter-rorist launch pads across theLine of Control(LoC) as aresponse to an attack on itsbase in Uri earlier that month.The Army had said its specialforces inflicted "significantcasualties" on terrorists waiting

there to cross onto the Indianterritory.

"This is an agenda of theBJP and it is trying to pushthis agenda by using the UGCahead of elections. It is amatter of shame that they areusing the UGC to achievetheir polit ical agenda. We won't abide by the direc-tions of UGC," Chatterjeesaid at Kolkata.

"We would have under-stood it had they asked us toobserve the day in the name ofsacrifices made by our soldiers.We have full respect for our sol-diers and their sacrifices." "TheIndian Army has always beenkept above politics and contro-versies. But now we are seeingthat the BJP is trying to malignand politicise the Indian Army.This is not right and we won'tsupport it," Chatterjee said.

Sibal sarcastically askedwhether the UGC would "dare"to celebrate November 8, theday when demonetisation wasannounced in 2016, as 'surgi-cal strike day'. "UGC directsVC's of all universities to cele-brate 29th September as

Surgical Strike Day. Is thismeant to educate or to serveBJP's political ends?" Sibaltweeted.

"Will UGC dare celebrate8th November as SurgicalStrike Day depriving the poorof their livelihoods? Thisanother jumla!" the formerUnion HRD Minister said.

Javadekar told reporters inDelhi the ruling BJP differedwith the Congress as it onlygave advise to institutes to fol-low a programme while theopposition party made its deci-sions compulsory when it wasin power. "Where is politics?This is not politics but patrio-tism," Javadekar said, addingthat students needed to beinformed about the surgicalstrikes, and military and civilworks soldiers do.

He claimed that studentsand institutes had made sug-gestions that the secondanniversary of surgical strikesshould be observed. Askedwhy it was not commemorat-ed last year, he said a good suggestion can be exe-cuted anytime.

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The Union Home Ministryon Friday said no Special

Police Officer has resigned inJammu & Kashmir followingthe killing of three police per-sonnel by banned terror groupHizbul Mujahideen andtermed such reports as "falsepropaganda" by "mischievous"elements.

The Ministry also said thatthe terror groups are rattled bythe action taken by the securi-ty forces against the terroristgroups and as many as 28 ter-rorists have been neutralized inShopian alone this year.

28 terrorists have beenneutralised this year in Shopianalone where the three police-men were killed on Friday."Due to pro-active actions ofJammu & Kashmir police, ter-rorists have been pushed to thecorner and are being driven todesperation," the Home

Ministry said. "Reports have appeared in a

section of media that someSPOs in Jammu & Kashmirhave resigned. The J&K policehas confirmed that these reportsare untrue and motivated. Thesereports are based on false pro-paganda by mischievous ele-ments," the Union HomeMinistry said in a statement.

"Jammu & Kashmir has aprofessional and committedpolice force which is fullygeared up to meet the securitychallenges, including thoserelated to Panchayat and Urbanbody elections," the statementfurther read.

There are over 30,000 SPOsand their services are reviewedfrom time to time. Some mis-chievous elements are trying toproject that those SPOs whoseservices are not renewed due toadministrative reasons, haveresigned. Terrorists are onbackfoot in Jammu & Kashmir,the Home Ministry said.

The three policemen wereabducted from their homes insouth Kashmir's Shopian dis-trict and shot dead in cold

blood by the HizbulMujahideen, the Jammu &Kashmir police said.

Earlier, reports in theKashmiri media suggested thatthe killings had triggered panicin the lower ranks of the policedepartment with at least sixpolicemen resigning from ser-vice. Two of them issued videomessages dissociating them-selves from the police ranks.

"My name is Irshad AhmadBaba and I was working as aconstable in the police. I haverendered my resignation...,"said one of the SPOs in avideo message being widely cir-culated on social media inSrinagar.

Tajalla Hussain Lone,another SPO, said he hadresigned from the policedepartment on September 17and was issuing the video toput to rest any doubts, andthat Hizbul Mujahideen com-mander Riyaz Naikoo hasseveral times warned localpolicemen, especially SPOs, toresign from the force, sayingthat the Government is using them.

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Amid a row between CBIDirector Alok Verma and

the agency's second-in-com-mand Rakesh Asthana, thepublic relations wing of the CBIswung into action to defend thechief and malign his deputy.The CBI spokesperson issued astatement terming CBI SpecialDirector Rakesh Asthana'scomplaint to the CVC againstthe agency chief of his inter-ference in certain cases as"malicious" and "frivolous". Therow between the two officershas raised several eyebrows onthe selection of officers, includ-ing Verma, as the agency chiefand their integrity.

In an unusual move, theCBI issued a statement afterreports about Asthana filing acomplaint before the CentralVigilance Commission alleginginterference in the probesundertaken by the specialinvestigation team under him.The statement comes amidreports that Verma interferedin the investigation of IRCTCtender scam.

This is for the first timethat dirty linen is being washedin the open and two top offi-cials are embroiled in allega-tions of corruption.

"It is unfortunate that base-less and frivolous allegationsare being made publicly with-out proper verification of factsto malign the image of theDirector CBI and intimidatethe officials of the organisa-tion," reads the CBI statement.

The CVC has sought forcertain case files from the CBIon the basis of a complaint filedby the Special Director, CBI,the statement said.

"In its response to the CVCletter, the Chief VigilanceOfficer (CVO) of CBI haspointed out that the complaintis an attempt by the com-plainant to intimidate the offi-cers of CBI who are investi-gating his role in at least half adozen cases. The CBI said thatthe CVC should opine on themaintainability of the com-plaint and consider it maliciousand frivolous in order to pro-tect the integrity of the organ-isation," the CBI said.

Irrespective of the main-tainability of the complaint,CBI has provided most of thefiles as requested by the CVCand the remaining will be sub-mitted soon.

The CBI also claimed thatthere is no substance in themedia reports that CBI is notcooperating in the enquiry.

The allegation of preventingraids against the accused in theIRCTC case is absolutely false.The investigation of the case hasresulted in filing a chargesheetbefore the designated court.This could not have been pos-sible without the explicitapproval of the Director CBI,the agency further claimed.

CBI has pointed out in itsletter to CVC that the issuerelating to the IRCTC casewas raked up earlier also andbrought before the SupremeCourt on two occasions. Thematter was dismissed by theSupreme Court. The peti-tioners were also in posses-sion of information fromhighly confidential internaldocuments, which is a seriousoffence, it added.

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The much-awaited, GlobalFest ival of Spir itual

Sciences (GFFS) 2018 is beingheld in one of Asia's largestmeditat ion pyramids,Pyramid International Valley,at the outskirts of Bangalorefrom September 29 toOctober 4 where you canhave a holistic experience ofwellness and spirituality toenliven your soul.

What's even more advan-tageous is that your queries willbe answered by some of themost admired and influentialmasters and healers in theworld in the ambience of thenature, making the entire event—11th edition of GFSS 2018—even more spiritual.

This spiritual festival fea-tures gurus like Susan Hough,Jasmuheen, Prof Kaya, DrLakshmi Newton andChristiane Muller and manyothers will be speaking on

topics ranging from the'Physics of Consciousness' to'Dream Interpretation &Symbology', from 'IndigenousWisdom of the NativeMedicine Wheel ' to'Connecting Ancient Wisdomwith Quantum Physics' to setyour soul alight.

The festival will also haveactivities like Tai Chi, yogaand meditation sessions

besides dance performancesby Zia Nath, a danseuse andwhirling expert and a soundImmersion session by Aurelio,a sound therapist and livemusic performance by Adam Apollo.

To keep children engaged,the GFSS -2018 will haveinteresting line up of mindfuland fun activities such asKid's yoga, storytelling, organ-

ic gardening, pottery andmuch more.

"It is a celebration of lettingout your negativity and impurethoughts. This year with line-up of global speakers, musi-cians, and yogis one can learnthe power of creating one'sown unique vibe," said PinkyDaga, CEO, Thriive Art &Soul, a state-of-the-art holisticwellness portal and organiserof the event.

This festival is open to allindividuals coming from dif-ferent walks of life like stu-dents, working people andhomemakers.

For those who are new tospirituality, the celebratoryaspect makes it less intimi-dating, explains Pinky Daga."Masters break down esotericsubjects into their basics. So,even those who've never evenheard of spirituality are ableto experience it and thisbegins an inner transforma-tion within them," she added.

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Hitting out at the Centreover the security situa-

tion in Jammu & Kashmir, theCongress on Friday allegedthat the NDA Governmentwas playing with the "crown ofIndia" and treating the peopleof the State like "guinea pigs".

Congress spokesmanAbhishek Singhvi alleged thatthere had been a marked quan-titative increase in ceasefireviolations, deaths of securitypersonnel, civilian killings,and terror incidents in Jammu& Kashmir since the BJP cameto power at the Centre and inthe State.

He blamed theGovernment for the deterio-rating security situation inJammu & Kashmir and citedthe abduction and killing ofthree policemen and thereported resignations by policepersonnel in the State.

The Home Ministry, how-ever, said on Friday that nopoliceman has resigned in thestate following the killing of thethree police personnel by ter-ror group Hizbul Mujahideenand described such reports as"false propaganda" by "mis-

chievous" elements."There is a quantitative

and qualitative change. Thequantitative change is reflect-ed in any of the four parame-ters — ceasefire violations,death of security personnel,civilian deaths, terror inci-dents," Singhvi said.

It is "shocking" that 414jawans have died since the BJPcame to power at the Centreand in the State, he said.Singhvi said, "256 civilianshave died. As I have said on allparametres there is 100, 200,300 per cent increase. In thecase of ceasefire violations,

there is a 500 per cent increase."He said the UPA had

brought the State and its peo-ple in the mainstream, but theNDA Government convertedthat mainstream into "mid-stream". Singhvi also accusedthe Government of treatingJammu & Kashmir like a "lab-oratory experiment" and itspeople like "guinea pigs".

"The Government hasbetrayed each and every part ofJammu & Kashmir andLadakh," the Congress leadersaid. He alleged that to all theincidents of violence and dete-riorating security situation,

there was silence on the part ofthe Government.

Singhvi alleged that muti-lations have been on the risesince 2016 and also cited therecent killing of a BSF jawanwho was found with histhroat slit.

He also slammed theGovernment's decision to agreeto the meeting betweenExternal Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj and herPakistani counterpart ShahMahmood Qureshi on the side-lines of the UN GeneralAssembly in New York.

However, later in theevening, India called off themeeting citing the "brutal"killing of the three policemenin Jammu & Kashmir as well asthe release of postal stamps glo-rifying Kashmiri militantBurhan Wani. Singhvi slammedthe Government's Pakistan pol-icy as a 'No Pak policy'.

"It is knee-jerk, it isepisodic, it is momentary, it istransient, it depends on themood of the moment. ThisGovernment has no moralright to continue. TheGovernment is playing withcrown, with the pride ofIndia," he said.

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) attached

immovable properties andbank balances worth �42.88crore derived by accused AmitBhardwaj and his accomplicesin Bitcoin Trading Ponzischeme under the banner ofVariabletech Pvt Ltd Singapore.

These attached propertiesinclude six offices of Bhardwajlocated at Dubai (UAE) and theflats and bank balances of histwo marketing agents HemantBhope and Pankaj Adlakha.

The ED probe has revealedthat Amit Bhardwaj had start-ed a company at Singaporeunder the banner ofVariabletech Pvt Ltd in 2015and through its web-sitewww.gainbitcoin.com, helaunched a ponzi scheme ofBitcoin trading.

Bitcoin is a virtual crypto-currency which is popularamongst a section of theinvestors. Under the saidscheme, Bhardwaj, through histeam of marketing agents, usedto lure the gullible people byasking them to buy Bitcoins outof their investments and theninvest these Bitcoins in hisgainbitcoin scheme by promis-ing high returns.

Through this scheme,Bhardwaj and his marketingagents were able to collectinvestments worth about80,000 Bitcoins. However,instead of paying back thepromised returns to theinvestors in Bitcoins, Bhardwajoffered them returns in his ownnewly launched crypto-cur-rency token MCAP which hadnearly no value on crypto-currency exchanges.

A large numbers ofinvestors in Bhardwaj's firmwere cheated in this way, theED said.

The ED initiated investiga-tion under the provisions of thePrevention of MoneyLaundering Act, 2002 resultingin the provisional attachments ofimmovable properties and bankbalances worth �42.88 crore.

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In a move to make upcomingAssembly and Lok Sabha

polls accessible for all, theElection Commission (EC)has decided to train all theelectoral officers and staff toget adequately trained in signlanguage and finger spellingalphabet. During the trainingsession, the election officialswill be given training in elec-tion related sign languagessymbols such as 'election','voter identity card', 'address','polling booth', polling station,political parties, voter slipswith photo, voter guides andother things.

Sources in the EC saidthat the Commission hasdirected all the electoral officersand staff to get adequately

trained in sign language andfinger spelling alphabet. Theelection watchdog has writtento all concerned to hire pro-fessionals to receive the train-ing and also provided hugeposters of sign language andfinger spelling alphabet for thedifferentially abled to be dis-played on all election relatedpremises.

According to EC officials,during the training programmesession, the election officialswill be provided basic knowl-edge as well as election relatedsign languages or fingerspelling symbols such as 'elec-tion', 'voter identity card','address', 'polling booth', polit-ical parties, electronic votingmachines, voter slips withphoto, electronic votingmachines. Finger-spelling (or

dactylology) is the representa-tion of the letters of a writingsystem and sometimes numer-al systems, using only thehands. These manual alphabets(also known as finger alphabetsor hand alphabets), have oftenbeen used in hearing impairededucation, and have subse-quently been adopted as a dis-

tinct part of anumber of signlanguages.

In a commu-niqués' to ChiefElectoral Officersof States andUnion Territories,the EC said, " Itmay be seen thatSeptember 23, hasbeen declared asInternational Dayof Sign Languages

by United Nations. Accordingly,the sign language training ses-sions may be conducted on anyworking day in the week whichis also the "International Weekof Deaf ".

The EC also made it clearthat the training should be con-ducted by sign language expertwith a suitable experience in the

subject. "The idea of this exerciseis to acquaint the officials withthe issues that concern and thequestions that are frequently bysuch voters," said officials of EC.

"During the session, theelection staff will be sensitisedon the needs of the personswith hearing impairment.Under the programme, apolling scenario will be recre-ated to enable the officials andstaff better understand what isrequired of them while dealingwith voters with hearing dis-abilities," said EC officials.

Earlier, the EC has provid-ed training to chief electoralofficials and deputy electoralofficials of states and union ter-ritories wherein the officerswere acquainted with basic aswell as election related sign lan-guages symbols on last week.

Besides, information relatedto basic etiquette while con-versing with persons with dis-abilities was also shared withthe Officials of theCommission and they weresensitised regarding the needsof hearing impaired persons.The training was conductedwith the help of the Indian SignLanguage Research andTraining Centre (ISLRTC) toprepare election officials tocommunicate with voters withhearing disabilities.

For the hearing impaired,the EC had stated that sign lan-guage windows will be provid-ed in all audio-visual trainingand awareness content of thecommission. For the visually-challenged electors, the EC hadstated that it would be issuingbraille voter identity cards.

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New Delhi: The Congress onFriday demanded a probe intothe Narendra Modi-ledGovernment's much vaunted"Skill India", claiming that thescheme was a massive scambenefiting people within the"BJP eco-system". Citing mediareports and RTI replies, Congressspokesperson Abhishek ManuSinghvi alleged that the schemelaunched in 2015 to "train 40crore people" was actually a"shortcut to profitable businessfor the unscrupulous".

"Skill India Mission hasturned out to be a massive scamwith people within the BJP eco-system, its cronies, middlemen,touts and mafia pocketing themoney for the same and listingghost beneficiaries. "The missionof skilling has evolved into amechanism of fast billing forBJP's friends. In the name ofmaking youth employable, ModiGovernment's Skill DevelopmentMinistry seems to have createda shortcut to profitable businessfor the unscrupulous," saidSinghvi.

The Congress also targetedTextile Minister Smriti Iraniover the alleged scam. "Irani,who leaves no opportunity toexert her larynx on variety ofinane issues, is absolutely mumon the rampant corruptionunder her watch, why?" askedSinghvi. He also cited theGovernment-appointed ShardaPrasad Committee that had"criticised the ModiGovernment for setting anunachievable target of skilling40 crore youth". "The commit-tee had further found that theModi Government had beenmissing its targets over the pre-vious two years as far as skillingthe workforce was concerned,"said Singhvi, demanding aprobe into the scam and recov-ery of "crores of people's moneylost due to these irregularities".

IANS

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Three more terrorists ofbanned Lashkar-e-Tayyeba

(LeT) outfit were killed in aprolonged gun-battle in Sumlarforests of north Kashmir’sBandipora district on Fridaytaking the toll of terrorists tofive. Two terrorists were killedin the initial phase of theencounter on Thursday.

A defence spokesman saidthat weapons and war-likestores were recovered from theencounter site. The encounterwas in progress when lastreports came in from the area.

The encounter began onThursday when a joint team ofArmy, CRPF and SpecialOperations Group (SOG) ofJ&K Police launched a massiveoperation in the Shokhbaba,Sumlar area of Bandipora.Security sources said that theoperation was temporarily sus-pended through the night inview of darkness after killing of

two terrorists in the initialphase.

However, the multi lay-ered cordon remained intactand the search operation wasresumed on Friday. They saidthat during the intense searchoperation the contact with thehiding terrorists was re-estab-lished triggering fresh gun-fight. During the ensuingencounter, three more terror-ists were killed.

Security sources said thatthe slain are suspected to be

LeT cadre.Meanwhile, normal life

was affected in Capital Srinagaras the authorities disallowedAshura processions in the maincity. The authorities imposedrestrictions in the jurisdictionof five police stations in oldSrinagar. The Friday congre-gational prayers were notallowed in Grand Mosque ofSrinagar even as the authoritieskept senior separatist leaderMirwaiz Umar Farooq underdetention at his residence.

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In a disclosure which couldhave repercussions across

the political spectrum in thecountry, senior BJP leader andRajya Sabha memberSubramanian Swamy statedon Friday that Sonia Gandhi,the then Congress president, PChidambaram, the then UnionHome Minister and VelupillaiPrabhakaran, the chief of thedreaded Liberation Tigers ofTamil Eelam (LTTE) werehand in glove with each other.

In a message posted on hismicro-blogging platform,Swamy said Chidambaramhad sent a message toPrabhakaran during the 2009battle (which saw the annihi-lation of the LTTE) to awaitIndian Navy to come to rescuehim. “Navy did come but itwas Sri Lankan Navy.Prabhakaran walked out of thejungle into the beach thinkingit was the Indian Navy andhence was killed,” said Swamyin his posting.

He also said that PC(Chidambaram) had sent the

message to Prabhakaran atthe behest of TDK (the abbre-viation usually used by Swamyto describe Sonia Gandhi)during the final days of theMay 2009 war.

He said the Indian Navyship which was expected toreach the theatre of war didnot leave Indian shoresbecause of stiff Oppositionfrom highest authorities.“Prabhakaran could not beinformed by the Congressleadership about the change ofplan,” said Swamy.

Swamy’s disclosure comesimmediately after the visit ofMahinda Rajapaksa, formerpresident of Sri Lanka to NewDelhi at the invitation ofSwamy. Rajapaksa, who wasthe President of Sri Lankaduring the civil war of May2009, had told PrashantTiwari of The Pioneer in anexclusive interview that theGovernments of India andSri Lanka had worked in tan-dem in the 2009 civil war inthe island nation which result-ed in the annihilation of thedreaded Liberation Tigers ofTamil Eelam, a terrorist

organisation.“We had a mechanism

during the war (against theLTTE in 2009) called theTroika, where three officialsfrom both sides (India and SriLanka ) were able to discussany issue, even in the middleof the night,” said Rajapaksa.Experts are of the view that theTroika had played a major rolein scuttling the move to savePrabhakaran.

According to Rajapaksa,three high officials from SriLanka and India were deput-ed for regular exchange ofinformation to facilitate prop-er coordination during theoperation against the LTTEterrorists during the month ofMay 2009. “This was known asTroika System and these offi-cials met even in the middle ofthe night. What we need is asystem like this in our eco-nomic cooperation also,”Rajapaksa had said.

This is in stark contrast tothe claims by the DMK, thenan important ally of the UPAGovernnment led byManmohan Singh.Karunanidhi, the then ChiefMinister of Tamil Nadu hadsaid that the Centre had toldhim that the operation by theSri Lankan Government wasonly to nab LTTE chiefPrabhakaran and India had norole in the military operations.

The AIADMK on Fridaydeclared that it would launcha massive agitation all overTamil Nadu on September 25to highlight how the DMK hadbetrayed Tamils all over the

world because of its “complic-ity” in the civil war.

Karunanidhi in the com-pany of his two wives hadstaged a “two-hour long fast”at Marina Beach questioningthe then Union Government’scomplicity in the civil war inSri Lanka and had called it offfollowing assurances from theCentre that it had no role inthe military operations. TheLTTE had used innocentTamils as human shields tosave the LTTE chiefPrabhakaran and his hench-men from the Sri Lankanarmy.

K P Munusamy , theAIADMK strongman toldreporters at Chennai on Fridaythat the disclosure byRajapaksa proved that theDMK too was engaged in thekilling of Tamils in northernSri Lanka during May 2009.“The Indian Government wasoffering military assistance tothe Sri Lankan Government inthe attack against the LTTE.The DMK is responsible forthousands of Tamils who gotkilled in the war,” saidMunusamy.

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The Bombay High Court on Fridayallowed a 33-year-old woman, who

is in her 30th week of pregnancy, toundergo an abortion as a medical testhad revealed that the foetus has a devel-opmental birth defect.

A division bench of justices A S Okaand A S Gadkari also granted thewoman's request to undergo the abor-tion at a private clinic in Nashik.

On the High Court's direction,doctors at the Government-run J JHospital here had examined her andapproved the abortion at such a latestage, considering the condition of thefoetus.

However, the Government hadopposed her request to undergo abor-tion at the Nashik clinic.

She should be directed to undergoabortion at a Government hospital asthe Medical Termination of Pregnancy(MTP) Act mandates that the proceduremust be performed only at Governmenthospitals or private hospitals recognisedfor this purpose by the Government, itsaid.

In Maharashtra, private clinics andhospitals which perform MTP arerequired to be certified by civic bodies.

The clinic in Nashik is duly certi-fied to perform legally approved med-ical termination of pregnancy.

However, the State Government isyet to complete the process of register-ing and approving private clinics for car-rying out abortions in cases where thepregnancy has exceeded 20 weeks, theGovernment lawyer said.

Advocate Kuldeep Nikam, thewoman's lawyer, said she should beallowed to undergo the procedure at theNashik clinic as the doctors there knewher case history well.

The High Court acceded to therequest, saying that she should not bepenalised because the State had failedto complete registration of clinics.

The petition said that the womanalready has a five-year-old son diag-

nosed with Down's Syndrome.She and her husband approached

the high court last week seeking per-mission for abortion, saying that theywere already caring for a specially-abledchild, and forcing them to continue withthe present pregnancy would causethem much physical and emotionaltrauma.

Giving birth to another child withspecial needs would impose a financialburden on them as the woman is ahousewife and the husband runs a smallbusiness, the petition said.

On September 11, the woman's doc-tor suggested that considering her firstchild's condition, she should undergoa scan to check if the present foetus hadabnormalities.

The scan revealed that the foetushas “Schizencephaly”, a rare develop-mental birth defect characterised byabnormal slits or clefts in the brain.

The condition causes developmen-tal delays. It can also cause seizures andproblems with brain-spinal cord com-munication, the petition said.

The Medical Termination ofPregnancy Act permits abortions after20 weeks only if continuation of thepregnancy poses a threat to the child'sor the mother's life.

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The Opposition Congress in Goa on Friday gavea notice for removal of Assembly Speaker

Pramod Sawant.The party, which has 16 members in the 40-

member Assembly, also gave a 14-day notice for con-vening of a session of the House for undertaking theprocess of removing Sawant from the post.

The move came days after the party staked claimto form an alternate Government, contending thatthe BJP-led ruling alliance had lost majority in theAssembly.

The Government is headed by Chief MinisterManohar Parrikar who is hospitalised in Delhi fora pancreatic ailment.

The notice for removal of Sawant was given under“Rule 243 of Rules and Procedure and Conduct ofBusiness of the Legislative Assembly of Goa, read withArticle 179C of the Constitution of India,” Leader ofOpposition Chandrakant Kavlekar said.

Rule 243 States provision for moving a resolu-tion to ask for permission of the House to discussabout impeachment of the Speaker.

Kavlekar, however, refused to specify on whatgrounds it wants Sawant to be removed as theSpeaker, saying the reasons will be spelt out on thefloor of the House.

The legislators said they propose to move themotion to remove Sawant from the office ofSpeaker of Legislative Assembly at the end of 14 days'notice period.

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The Congress on Friday demanded aprobe into renewal of iron ore min-

ing leases during the previous tenure ofGoa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.

All India Congress Committee(AICC) secretary A Chellakumar saidformer BJP Chief Minister LaxmikantParsekar had revealed that renewal ofmining leases, termed illegal by theSupreme Court, was done during thetenure of his predecessor Parrikar.

Parrikar had earlier held the chiefminister's post from 2012 to 2014 and hewas succeeded by Parsekar. Parrikar, cur-rently admitted in New Delhi's AIIMS fora pancreatic ailment, became Goa's chiefminister again in March 2017.

A complaint was filed before theLokayukta alleging the involvement ofParsekar, the then mines secretaryPawan Kumar Sain and current minesand geology department directorPrasanna Acharya in the illegal renew-al of 88 mining leases, which werequashed by the apex court on February7, 2018.

“Today, the truth has come out veryclearly. It is not the Congress, it isnobody but their own party's ex-chiefminister Laxmikant Parsekar (who) hadtold (the Lokayukta) very clearly that itis not him but Parrikar who is the causeof looting of �1,44,000 crore,”Chellakumar claimed.

He sought to know why the StateGovernment was silent over the matterand why no charge sheet had been filed.

The Congress leader said a com-mittee should be formed to investigateParsekar's allegations.

The former Chief Minister, in a writ-ten reply to the Lokayukta last month,had said the policy to renew mining leas-es was framed by his predecessor(Parrikar) on the instructions of the Goabench of the Bombay High Court.

“Parrikar had begun renewing theleases and during his tenure, eight ornine of them were already renewed,”Parsekar had told the anti-corruptionwatchdog. “When I took over, I followedParrikar's track,” Parsekar, who was thechief minister of Goa from November2014 till March last year, had said.

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Six persons, including minor chil-dren, were electrocuted to death

at a village under Rupohi police sta-tion in Assam’s Nagaon district onFriday even as Assam ChiefMinister Sarbananda Sonowalordered an inquiry into the tragicincident.

The incident took place at UttarKhatowal village in Nagaon districtwhen six persons, including chil-dren, got down to a fishery to fishand got electrocuted. “A faulty elec-tric high voltage wire got snappedand reportedly electrocuted the vil-lages fishery. The locals intimatedthis to the local line man of the elec-tricity board. The electricity was cutoff initially and the six people gotdown to the fishery. However, aftersometime, all the six persons died

due to electrocution,” said the police.Assam Chief Minister

Sarbananda Sonowal ordered aninquiry into the electrocution inci-dent which reportedly killed sixpeople at Rupohihat LegislativeAssembly Constituency at UttarKhatowal village in Nagaon district.

The Chief Minister have askedAdditional Chief Secretary andChairman APDCL Jishnu Barua toenquire into the incident. “Theinquiry will primarily be encom-passing within its ambit the cir-cumstances leading to the electro-cution and submit the report to thegovernment immediately,” a state-ment issued by the Chief Minister’soffice said.

Meanwhile, the irate mobattacked and vandalized the houseof local line man holding himresponsible for the incident.

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The Begusarai police is all set to arrestformer Social Welfare Minister

Manju Verma’s husbandChandrashekhar Verma in connectionwith a case filed against him with CheriaBariarpur police station last month forpossessing illegal arms and ammuni-tions. An order to arrest him wasissued by Begusarai PoliceSuperintendent on Friday.

The SP moved following a directiveby the Supreme Court which found thecase against Verma serious and a divi-sion Bench directed the police to inter-rogate him.

The arms and ammunitions hadbeen recovered during a search in theresidential premises of the couplewhose name figured in the infamousMuzaffarpur shelter home rape case.The Minister had to resign when the

name of her husband cropped up andthe CDR of his phone revealed that hewas in constant touch with rape casemain accused Brajesh Thakur whowas running the shelter home. It wasalso alleged that Verma had been vis-iting the shelter home and spendingtime there.

Manju Verma had stoutly deniedthe allegations and claimed that her hus-band visited the shelter home only oncethat too along with her when she wentthere in her capacity as social welfareminister.

The sensational case is being inves-tigated by the CBI and now the apexcourt has decided to monitor it. TheSupreme Court also took notice of thefiring in remand home at Purnea inwhich two people died. The bench ofJustice Madan B Lokur and JusticeDeepak Gupta expressed surprise as tohow weapon reached the remand home.

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As the political uncertaintyadded to infighting and has

hit the fragile coalition inKarnataka, political punditsfeel the President’s Rule loomslarge over the State. The war ofwords between Chief MinisterHD Kumaraswamy, who isstruggling to keep the coalitionintact, and BJP chief BSYeddyurappa for the last fewdays has reached a peak lead-ing to fluid political situation.

In a fit of angerKumaraswamy had asked thepeople to revolt (dange) againstthe BJP for trying to topple hisGovernment but later he saidhis statement was misquoted.Yeddyurappa too charged JD(S)and Kumaraswamy as com-mission agents.

The BJP termed the use ofthe word ‘revolt’ as “seditious”

and appealed to GovernorVajubhai Vala to initiate actionagainst the CM. Soon after theCM’s statement, there was asnap protest by a few Congressworkers at the residence of BJPstate president BS Yeddyurappa.The saffron party has alsothreatened to take legal actionagainst Kumaraswamy.

In a major development onFriday the JDs has called a leg-islature party meeting atHassan on Saturday indicatesthe political fluidity in the state.Chief Minister who looks has-sled went to former chief min-ister Siddaramaiah to discussthe political situation. The cus-tomary cabinet meeting onThursday according to sourcestoo discussed political situationarising out of operation Lotusthreat by the BJP which plansto poach JDs and CongressMLAs. According to sources in

the BJP is planning to take someMLAs to resort in Pune orMumbai. The BJP in the statehas also authorisedYeddyurappa to take suitableaction if need be to form thegovernment.

The BJP accused chief min-ister of sedition and soughtaction over his remark askingpeople to rise in revolt againstBJP for its alleged attempt todestabilise the collation gov-ernment. The party has alsoofficially lodged a complaintwith DGP and said the chiefminister has violated section124(A) and other sections ofIPC. Party workers Holdingplacards and raising slogansagainst JDs supremoDevegowda and his sons,including Kumaraswamy,protested in Bengaluru.

BJP leader ShobhaKarndlaje said the person who

was supposed to protect theConstitution and citizens of thecountry was “provoking” peo-ple. Another BJP MP PrahladJoshi termed the statement asthe “most irresponsible andunpardonable offence” and saidthe chief minister's choice ofwords displayed his state ofmind.

Upset over the alleged top-pling game of the BJP, an angryKumaraswamy had onThursday warned BJP to berestrained in its speech aboutGowda and his family, saying hecan even ask people to rise inrevolt against it if it continuedto disturb Congress-Janata Dal-Secular coalition governmentheaded by him.

Launching a no-holds-barred attack on state BJP chiefB S Yeddyurappa,Kumaraswamy had said: “Ifyou dig too much (into our

affairs), then we too have manythings at our disposal.”“Government is in our hand.Don't I have the authority to dowhatever I can? I caution himto be careful,” he added.

Chief Minister HDKumaraswamy on Thursdayreminded Yeddyurappa on thedenotification case. “Do notinstigate me to lose mypatience. I have my governmentand can take extreme decision,”he said, warning the BJP topleader to stay away from mak-ing wild allegations againstmembers of his family andstop attempting to topple thecoalition government.

In another developmentthe JDs legislatures have com-plained to the speaker aboutBJP’s operation lotus and askedthe speaker to protect theMLAs from horse trading andpoaching.

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In a setback to TelanganaRashtra Samiti, a senior party

leader and former MP RameshRathod has quit the party andjoined the main OppositionCongress party.

Rathod was angry on notgetting the Assembly electionticket from his home con-stituency Khanapur in Nirmaldistrict.

Ramesh along with hiswife Suman joined theCongress party in Hyderabadin presence of AICC secretaryRC Kuntia.

Speculations were rife forquite some time that Rathodewas on his way out from TRSafter his supporters had orga-

nized a big protest demonstra-tion in Khanapur and Rathodissued warning to the TRSleader. A tribal leader Rathodand his family was quite influ-ential in the area.

With this he has complet-ed the round of joining all thethree major parties in the state.He started his career with theTelugu Desam party wherestarting from the grass root he

worked his up to becomeparty’s politburo and was elect-ed to Lok Sabha from Adilabad.

But after his defeat in thelast elections he joined theruling TRS along with anoth-er senior TDP leader TummalaNageshwara Rao and wasworking hard to cultivate theconstituency. However in thelist of TRS candidatesannounced by the ChiefMinister K ChandrashekharRao he failed to find a placeand the ticket was given toRekha Naik.

Rathod was confident thaton Congress ticket will emergevictorious from his con-stituency and the party willcome to power in the next elec-tions.

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Amid lots of hue and cryover the deaths of 11 lions

in the Gir Forest — the lastabode of Asiatic Lions situatedin western Gujarat, the Stateforest department claimed thatthe deaths of big cats were nat-ural and not a single deathoccurred due to viral infectionor other disease.

Many eye-brows have beenraised following deaths of lionsin Dalkhania and Jashadharranges situated in eastern partof Gir Forest. During 12th to19th September as many as 11lions died due to infighting andterritorial war, confirms GKSinha, Principal ChiefConservator of Forest (PCCF)and Head of Forest Force inGujarat.

Reasons including aging,disease, injury, weakness andinfighting for capturing terri-tory are considered as naturalin the case of lion’s death.Hence the State forest depart-ment is considering thesedeaths of Asiatic Lions as nat-ural. Despite the fact, 11 deathswithin a span of eight dayswould be alarming for thestate forest department con-sidering that InternationalUnion for Conservation ofNature (IUCN) listed theAsiatic Lions (Panthera leo

persica) as endangered due toits small numbers and area ofoccupancy.

“Basically lion is a territo-rial animal and stay within itspride. As a result of it wheneverthe leader of a pride becomesweak, mostly due to aging,strong lions from neighbouringprides try to take his place andattack on the weak lion and hisprogenies. In such attacks,stronger lion not only kills theweaker one but his cubs also,”said the PCCF.

Of the 11 lions died due to

territorial war, there were sixcubs, two lionesses and threematured lions. As on Fridayautopsy reports of eight lionshave come and prima facie theexperts are of the opinion thatall eight big cats died of infight-ing. Post Mortem reports ofremaining three Asiatic Lionsare awaited, but mostly thecause of the death likely to bethe same.

With a view to curb moredeaths of lions due to infight-ing, the State forest departmenthas shifted five mature lionsfrom Dalkhania and Jashadharranges to other places in Girforest. According to Sinha,deaths of lions due to territor-ial war were considered as nat-ural phenomena and such inci-dences are occurring time totime. However, such high deathtoll within a short span due toinfighting was alarming, headds.

Generally, in one lion’s ter-ritory up to three lionessesreside and after mating seasoneach lioness would give birth

up to four cubs. Gestationperiod of lioness is around110 days and in normal cir-cumstances lioness becomepregnant after an interval of 20to 24 months. Of the totalnewly born lion cubs, only 25to 30 per cent reach to matu-rity, while 70 to 75 per cent diedue to some or other naturaland unnatural reasons.

As per the last census ofAsiatic Lions in the eight dis-tricts of Saurashtra region, 523big cats were reported thatincluding 109 mature male,201 female, 73 sub-adults and14o cubs (below one year). Onand average every year 210 lioncubs born in Gujarat and ofthese nearly 140 die by the timethey reach up to the age of threeyears. Hardly 70 of them aresurviving and reach to matu-rity. During the year 2017-18 asmany as 69 lions died inGujarat. Of these 51 died dueto natural reasons and 18 dueto unnatural reasons includingaccidents, electrocution andother causes.

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Opposition parties, includ-ing the Left and the BJP,

staged road blockades in vari-ous parts of North Bengal aftertwo students at Islampur inNorth Dinajpur district died ofbullet injuries following clash-es with the police.

The students of DaribhitHigh School in Islampur bor-dering Bihar were allegedlyprotesting against the appoint-ment of Urdu and Sanskritteachers keeping Bengali,History and other departmentsvacant.

Following clashes onThursday a number of peopleincluding students and somepolicemen sustained bullet andother injuries, police said. Outof them one student died onThursday and the other died atSiliguri on Friday leading to

massive protest by the localswho said the police had fired atthe protesting students.

However district SP PunitKumar said the police had notfired at the crowd. “There wasa skirmish and the police hadto use force to control thecrowd but there was no firingas per reports coming now.” Hehowever said the autopsyreports would give a clear pic-ture as to what led to thedeaths.

The SP said some peopleincluding “some BJP support-ers have been arrested for incit-ing the crowd.”

Meanwhile at least 10 otherpeople were admitted to vari-ous hospitals and were under-going treatment.

While the BJP immediate-ly demanded a CBI investigationinto the case and the Left askedfor a judicial inquiry fromKolkata Education MinisterPartho Chatterjee blamed theright wing parties for creatingtrouble in the region.

“We know who are creatingtrouble there. There are reportsthat the BJP is involved. But wecan assure you that no one willbe spared and strict action willbe taken against those who areresponsible,” he said addingthe district inspector of schoolshave been suspended for failingto handle the situation.

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In a move loaded with positive vibes forMamata Banerjee, the Congress on Friday

made some sudden and crucial changes in thePradesh Congress brass by removing Stateparty president Adhir Chowdhury — a pro-claimed anti-Mamata face — and bringing inhis place a more accommodative Somen Mitraa septuagenarian leader.

Chowdhury has been made the chairmanof the election (campaign) committee whileother three senior leaders: AH KhanChowdhury, a South Malda MP, ShankarMalakar and Deepa Dasmunshi have beenmade the acting vice presidents of the Stateunit, sources said.

There was no word from Chowdhury whohas been in favour of a Left-Congress, ratherthan Congress-TMC alliance in the 2019 gen-eral elections as — “Mamata Banerjee hasruined our party organisation after we alliedwith her by engineering defections with bla-tant use of money and muscle power.”

Mitra was the PCC president in 1998.Following serious differences with him

Banerjee the then Youth Congress split theparty to form her own Trinamool Congress.Since then much water had flowed down theHooghly with Mitra himself joining theTMC in 2009, winning from the DiamondHarbour MP constituency before quitting thatparty to rejoin the Congress again.

Chowdhury has earlier went on recordsaying that there would be no alliance withthe Trinamool Congress till he was at thehelm.

When asked to comment on whether hetoo would pursue the same anti-Trinamoolpolicy in respect of electoral alliances, Mitrasaid he was “none to take a decision on theissue. It is for the high command to take adecision on alliances. When they will ask myopinion about the issue I will give it.”

On what his opinion was regarding thelongevity of a Congress-TMC alliance if it real-ly became a reality, he said “as of now if weally with the TMC then definitely we will getsome seats from Bengal. But in the long runwe will lose organizationally as has been seenthrough the past experiences when TMC hasengineered defections in the Congress.”

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Ajudge who had acquitted allthe accused belonging to

Hindu extremist groups inMecca Masjid bomb blast caseearlier this year has decided tojoin the BJP.

In a development, whichhas created a stir in politicaland legal circles in Hyderabadformer IVth AdditionalMetropolitan Sessions JudgeK Ravinder Reddy visited theBJP state office and met thesenior party leader and formerUnion Minister BandaruDattatreya.

Party sources said that hehad come to the office with theplans of formally joining theparty but was asked by theparty leaders to wait for some-time.

In his judgment of April 19he had acquitted all the fiveaccused belonging to Hindugroups including SwamiAseemanand alias NabhaKumar Sircar, a RSS memberciting lack of sufficient proof

and submitted his resignationsoon after pronouncing theverdict.

Nine people were killedwhen a bomb exploded in thecourt yard of Mecca Masjidsoon after Friday congregation.Later the CBI and the NationalInvestigation Agency hadarrested members of variousHindu groups including RSS,Lokesh Sharma and DevenderGupta.

Ravinder Reddy told themedia that he had come to theBJP office to join the party onthe invitation of the BJP lead-ers. “I had come after meetingthe BJP President Amit Shah inHyderabad last week and wasalso in touch with BandaruDattatreya. I had come ontheir invitation to join theparty”, he said.

Sources in the state BJPoffice said that no date wasfixed for his formal joining andDattatreya asked him to waittill a formal communicationfrom the central leadership.Sources said that there was aneed for some more discus-sions with in the party and allthe state leaders including statepresident K Lakshman need tobe taken into confidence.

Defending his decision tojoin the BJP, Ravinder Reddysaid, “BJP is a patriotic partyfree of any dynastic culture. Theparty is committed to check antinational elements and to workfor the national integration”, hesaid. Ravinder Reddy said thathe wants to contest the comingAssembly elections preferablyfrom his home districtKarimnagar or Medak.

When asked whether hismove will not caste aspersionsand raise doubts about hisjudgment acquitting theaccused in the Mecca Masjidblast case, he said, “This hasnothing to do with the judg-ment. I discharged my duties asa judge with integrity and hon-esty and delivered the judg-ment. I am now retired fromservice to serve the country andthe people”.

Though Ravinder Reddysought to rule out the linkbetween the Mecca Masjidblast case judgment and hisdecision to join BJP, there wasa criticism from different quar-ters.

M a j l i s - e - I t t e h a d u lMuslimeen president and MPAsaduddin Owaisi said, “Weknew where he was going.

Now he will be rewarded by theBJP leadership”.

Referring to the retiredjudge’s decision to contest thecoming assembly elections, hesaid, “I am sure Aseemanandand his friends will campaignfor him and I hope the retiredjudge will lose his deposit”.

Civil Liberties Monitoringcommittee (CLMC) hasdemanded the Supreme Courtand the High Court to takenotice of the strange case ofjudge Ravinder Reddy andorder a fresh hearing of theMecca Masjid blast case.

Committee general secre-tary Lateef Mohammed Khan

said that during the hearing ofthe case itself suspicions wereexpressed that the judge wasnot of clear mind. “Now thishas been vindicated by hisdecision to join BJP”. He allegedthat there was a total collusionbetween the public prosecutorwho was a BJP leader andinvestigators and under pres-sure from Hindutva organisa-tions the accused were saved ina pre planned Mannar. “Thisraises a serious question ofinfluence of Hindutva organi-sations on the lower courts andthe Higher courts should takenote of it and take actionagainst such judges”.

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Mohammed Ali Shabbir,leader of Opposition Congressin Telangana LegislativeCouncil said that the judgejoining the BJP exposes thedeep conspiracy behind theacquittal of the accused ofMecca Masjid case. “Therewas a deep nexus behind it.NIA was influenced by theBJP. The prosecutor belongedto the BJP and now the judgeafter his retirement is joiningBJP. This clearly shows that

how even the courts are beingcontrolled and influenced.The doors of justice were alsobeing closed for the people”.He questioned how theaccused could be acquittedeven after giving confession toa judge. “I hold the TRS gov-ernment in the state alsoresponsible. They are inpower. Why they did notchallenge the lower courtjudgment in the High Court”,he asked.

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Acourt in Maharashtra hasrejected a petition to recall a

non bailable warrant issuedagainst the Andhra Pradesh ChiefMinister N Chandrababu Naiduand asked him to appear in thecourt on October 16.

Dharmabad court in Nandedhad issued the warrant againstNaidu and 16 other leaders ofTelugu Desam party in connec-tion with a 2010 case of protestagainst Maharashtra’s irrigationproject Babili. They were asked toappear before the court today butonly three of them including a for-mer MLA Gangula Kamlakartoday appeared. The court grant-ed them bail.

Naidu’s counsel G Subba Raomoved a petition to recall the war-rant but the judge rejected it andissued a fresh warrant ordering all

the accused to appear before himon October 16. On the plea of thecounsel that Naidu was not in aposition to come judge remarked,“nobody is above law. Be it a ChiefMinister or anybody else every-body has to abide by he courtorder. It is not possible to give spe-cial treatment to anybody”.

Later the counsel sought somemore time. Chandrababu Naiduafter consulting the advocate gen-eral D Srinivas and other officialshad decided not to appear inMaharashtra court and sent alawyer from Hyderabad to repre-sent him.

Chandrababu Naidu and sev-eral leaders of his party werearrested by Maharashtra police onborder when they tried to enterthe state to protest against Babiliproject. Naidu was then the leaseof Opposition in United APAssembly.

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Bishop Franco Mulakkal, a senior memberof the Roman Catholic clergy in India, was

arrested on Friday night amid mounting pub-lic outrage over allegations of repeatedly rap-ing and sexually assaulting a nun, police said.

The 54-year old Mulakkal was arrested byKerala police after intense interrogation hereover the last three days.

The development came a day after theVatican relieved him “temporarily” of all pas-toral responsibilities as the bishop of theJalandhar diocese of the Missionaries of Jesuscongregation to which the alleged victim alsobelongs.

Bishop Mulakkal had been arrested at 8 pand taken for medical examination, Kottayamdistrict police chief Hari Sankar told reporters.

He would be produced in a magistratecourt in Pala in Kottayam district tomorrow,Inspector General of Police (Kochi Range)Vijay Sakhare told PTI.

The nun had accused the clergyman ofrepeatedly raping and having unnatural sexwith her between 2014 and 2016, a chargedenied by him.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi will inaugurate the

Pakyong Airport in Sikkim onSeptember 24, officials said onFriday.

The greenfield airport,located 30 km from here, willput Sikkim on the aviationmap of the country.

The Prime Minister willaddress a public meeting at StXavier’s School ground inPakyong after inaugurating thestate’s first airport, the officialssaid. The Prime Minister isscheduled to arrive at theBagdogra airport at 4.10 pm onSeptember 23 after which hewill board an helicopter fromthere to fly to Gangtok, the offi-cials said.

The Prime Minister will bereceived by the Governor ofSikkim Ganga Prasad and stateChief Minister Pawan KumarChamling after his arrival inthe state, the officials said.

He will stay at Raj Bhawanon September 23 and will inau-gurate the Pakyong airport thenext day.

The PM’s programme atthe airport will begin at around10 am on September 24, a StateGovernment official saidFriday, adding, that the PM willthen address the people at10.30 am at the St Xavier’sSchool ground.

From there he will returnto the Pakyong airport, boarda chopper and fly to Bagdogra.

The Pakyong airport wasapproved by the Centre in

2008 and was constructed at anestimated cost of �350 crore.

The project is being billed asan engineering marvel — it hasbeen built at an height of 4,500feet in an inhospitable terrain.

Once commissioned, it willbe the 100th functional airportin the country.

As on date, Sikkim is theonly state in the country with-out a functional airport.

Low-cost airline SpiceJethas been granted permission tofly to Pakyong from Kolkataunder the Civil AviationMinistry’s regional connectiv-ity scheme.

SpiceJet has already con-ducted a dry run at the airportwith one its Bombardier Dash8-Q400 aircraft successfullylanding there on March 5.

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Fugitive jeweller MehulChoksi, a co-accused in the

Punjab National Bank fraudcase, on Friday moved the spe-cial CBI court here for cancel-lation of a non-bailable warrantagainst him claiming he hasreasons to believe that hisreturn to India might endangerhis life.

On May 22 this year, aftertaking cognisance of the secondcharge sheet filed in the�12,636-crore PNB fraud caseby the CBI, the special courthad issued the NBW againstChoksi.

Choksi, in an applicationfiled Friday through his lawyerSanjay Abbott, said his appre-hensions over his safety arebased upon what transpiredduring a recent television

debate on the fraud.He told the court that he

was “shocked” to watch adebate on a national televisionnews channel where two callersphoned in to share their opin-ion on the fraud.

The callers, Choksi claimedin the plea, “suggested that aspecial team be formed totrack Mehul Choksi down andshoot him to death once he wasbrought back to India”.

Choksi claimed that thecallers said that such treatmentwould send out a strong mes-sage to society and prevent fur-ther cases of frauds and fiscalscams.

The fugitive jeweller alsoclaimed that the news anchorconcerned and the panelists didnot object to the commentsmade by the caller. Instead, theanchor even laughed at thecomments and the same makesit apparent that the anchor andthe panelists too “tacitly”agreed with what the callerssuggested, Choksi said in theplea.

“From the above two callsmade by the callers and thetacit approval given to thesame by the news anchor andthe panelists, it is clear that theaverments made by the appli-cant (Choksi) in the applicationfiled before this court regard-ing a threat to his life and thefear of mob lynching is vindi-cated,” the application read.

Choksi also sent someaudio and video CDs claimingthat they contained the citedfootage from the news channel

debate.He has urged the court to

make his submission a part ofthe court records and, in lightof the same, to cancel theNBW issued against him.

The special court has nowdirected the Central Bureau ofInvestigation to file its reply tothe application by October 3this year, which is the next dateof hearing in the case.

This is the second suchapplication filed by Choksibefore the special court, claim-ing a threat to his life and seek-ing that the NBW be can-celled.

In June this year, he hadfiled a plea claiming that he hadbeen advised bed rest onaccount of his ill health fol-lowing a “heart operation,”and he feared that once inIndia, the probe agencies wouldnot help him secure the kind ofmedical treatment and super-

vision he required.At that time, he had also

said that there existed a “trendof mob lynching” in the coun-try presently, and he feared thatif he returned to India, hemight become a victim of suchlynching.

The CBI charge sheetnamed Choksi, the managingdirector of Gitanjali group, for-mer PNB MD and CEO UshaAnanthasubramanian, thenPNB executive directorsBrahmaji Rao and Sanjiv Sharan,and PNB deputy managerGokulnath Shetty, among othersas key accused in the case.

While urging the court toissue the NBW, the CBI hadargued that its issuance wouldallow the probe agency toapproach the Interpol for issu-ing a Red Corner Noticeagainst Choksi, Nirav Modiand some other personsaccused in the case.

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Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan Friday urgedMalayalees in the U.S.A to contribute liberally to

rebuild the flood-hit state and said he hoped Rs 150 crorewould be raised from them.

Vijayan made the appeal at his first public functionin New York early Friday after completion of his medicaltreatment.

The Chief Minister, who had left for the U.S for med-ical treatment at Mayo Clinic on September 2, is expect-ed to be back in Kerala on September 24.

Addressing the gathering of Keralites, Vijayan saideveryone should cooperate for revamping the state,which had last month witnessed the worst deluge of thecentury.

He said Keralites willing to contribute should becomemembers of the global salary challenge, which envisageseach participant contributing a month’s salary for the state.

State finance minister Thomas Isaac will visit the U.Snext month to collect the financial assistance, he said.

“Only through your cooperation can a new Kerala bebuilt”, he said, adding his government was expecting a con-tribution of Es 150 crore from the malayalees in US.

At least 493 people had died in the rains and floodsduring the South West Monsoon.

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Viv

ekan

and

a’s

bir

th a

nn

iver

sary

. Th

at w

as a

no

ccas

ion

wh

en t

he

secu

lar

fun

dam

enta

list

sw

ere

p

rov

ok

ed

to

c

all

th

e

Ra

shtr

iya

Sway

amse

vak

San

gh

(R

SS

) an

d V

ish

va H

ind

uP

aris

had

, fas

cist

s. A

mee

tin

g p

resi

ded

ove

r b

yw

ell-

kn

ow

n j

ou

rnal

ist

late

Ku

ldip

Nay

ar w

ash

eld

to

d

issu

ade

the

dis

tin

gu

ish

ed

So

nal

Man

sin

gh

fro

m g

oin

g to

Was

hin

gto

n t

o g

ive

a d

ance

per

form

ance

in

co

nn

ecti

on

wit

h t

he

cele

bra

tio

n. B

ecau

se, i

n t

he

view

of

tho

se a

t th

em

eeti

ng,

th

e o

rgan

iser

s o

f th

e co

mm

emo

rati

on

wer

e fa

scis

t. W

hat

th

ey d

id n

ot

real

ise

was

th

atth

e w

ord

was

no

t th

e p

oli

tica

l ab

use

th

at t

hey

tho

ug

ht

it w

as. B

enit

o M

uss

oli

ni

init

iate

d t

he

fasc

ist

mo

vem

ent

in M

arch

19

19

at

Mil

an a

nd

fou

nd

ed

the

par

ty

call

ed

Par

tito

N

azio

nal

Fas

cist

a in

No

vem

ber

19

21

. It

ru

led

Ita

ly f

or

two

dec

ades

. To

rec

apit

ula

te w

hat

fas

cism

was

,

the

wo

rd “

fasc

io”

mea

ns

a b

un

dle

or

a b

un

chim

ply

ing

un

ity.

To

be

effe

ctiv

e, t

he

answ

er h

adto

be

som

eth

ing

that

wo

uld

pro

ve a

ttra

ctiv

e to

the

pea

san

ts,

the

wo

rker

s as

wel

l as

to

th

eir

un

ion

s. T

his

was

dis

cove

red

in

“cl

ass

coll

ab-

ora

tio

n” a

s re

pre

sen

ted

by

fasc

ism

. P

rof

Alf

red

o R

occ

o, M

inis

ter

of

Just

ice

inth

e M

uss

oli

ni C

abin

et, s

et f

ort

h t

he

gist

of

this

new

id

eolo

gy

in t

he

cou

rse

of

a sp

eech

at

Per

ugi

a in

192

5. A

cco

rdin

g to

him

, so

ciet

y d

oes

no

t ex

ist

for

the

ind

ivid

ual

bu

t th

e in

div

idu

alfo

r th

e so

ciet

y. E

con

om

ic p

rogr

ess

is a

so

cial

inte

rest

an

d a

ll c

lass

es o

f p

eop

le s

ho

uld

co

m-

bin

e o

r co

llab

ora

te t

o m

axim

ise

pro

du

ctio

n.

Th

e in

tere

sts

of

the

emp

loy

ers

and

th

eem

plo

yed

are

id

enti

cal.

To

en

sure

th

at t

his

is

pra

ctic

ed, t

her

e m

ust

be

a sy

stem

of

stat

e d

is-

cip

lin

e o

ver

clas

s co

nfl

icts

. St

rik

es a

nd

lo

ck-

ou

ts a

lik

e w

ere

hel

d t

o b

e il

lega

l an

d p

un

ish

-ab

le b

y h

eavy

fin

es, a

nd

in c

erta

in c

ases

, im

pri

s-o

nm

ent.

Wh

erev

er p

oss

ible

, th

e em

plo

yers

an

dw

ork

ers

in e

ach

in

du

stry

, tra

de

or

pro

fess

ion

,w

ere

org

anis

ed t

oge

ther

in

a s

ynd

icat

ed a

sso

-ci

atio

n. W

her

e it

was

no

t p

oss

ible

to

fo

rm s

uch

syn

dic

ates

, th

e u

nio

ns

and

th

e em

plo

yers

’ ass

o-

ciat

ion

s re

mai

ned

sep

arat

e b

ut

com

bin

ed t

ofo

rm g

uil

ds

to c

oo

rdin

ate

and

en

sure

co

rdia

l-it

y. I

f co

llec

tive

bar

gain

ing

cou

ld n

ot

end

sat

-is

fact

ori

ly, d

isp

ute

s w

ere

refe

rred

to

law

co

urt

sas

sist

ed b

y ex

per

ts. T

his

is

ho

w c

lass

co

llab

o-

rati

on

was

co

nce

ptu

alis

ed b

y th

e F

asci

st P

arty

in I

taly

.In

pra

ctic

e, t

he

eco

no

my

was

to

ned

up

by

rear

mam

ent

and

pu

bli

c w

ork

s. S

old

iers

wer

ere

cru

ited

in la

rge

nu

mb

ers

and

so

wer

e w

ork

-er

s in

fac

tori

es t

o p

rod

uce

arm

s. T

his

wo

uld

bri

ng

pro

fits

to

th

e b

ou

rgeo

isie

wh

o c

ou

ld t

hen

pay

th

e p

role

tari

at

wel

l.

Urb

an

pro

sper

ity

wo

uld

in

crea

se d

eman

d f

or

agri

cult

ura

l p

ro-

du

ce.

Wh

at w

as l

eft

of

the

un

der

-em

plo

yed

you

th w

as a

bso

rbed

by

the

arm

ed f

orc

es. T

he

pro

mis

e to

th

e w

ho

le n

atio

n w

as f

ore

ign

co

n-

qu

ests

wh

ich

wo

uld

bri

ng

eco

no

mic

su

rplu

s-es

. T

he

Alb

ania

n a

dve

ntu

re a

nd

th

e in

vasi

on

of

Ab

yssi

nia

wer

e tw

o e

ffo

rts

to f

ulf

il t

his

pro

mis

e u

nti

l, o

f co

urs

e, W

orl

d W

ar I

I b

rok

eo

ut.

An

oth

er e

xam

ple

of

the

pra

ctic

e o

f fa

scis

mo

r cl

ass

coll

abo

rati

on

, alb

eit

on

a m

uch

mo

reli

mit

ed s

cale

, was

in S

pai

n u

nd

er G

en F

ran

cisc

oF

ran

co.

Nei

ther

th

e It

alia

n n

or

the

Span

ish

exp

erie

nce

is

wid

ely

kn

ow

n i

n g

reat

det

ail

inIn

dia

. Wh

at t

he

mem

ber

s o

f th

e In

dia

n i

nte

l-li

gen

tsia

are

fam

ilia

r w

ith

, h

ow

ever

, ar

e th

ed

oin

gs o

f A

do

lf H

itle

r an

d h

is N

azi P

arty

. It

was

fou

nd

ed b

y H

itle

r an

d h

is s

ix c

om

rad

es i

nM

un

ich

in 1

92

0. T

he

eco

no

mic

dep

riva

tio

n in

Ger

man

y w

as m

uch

gre

ater

th

an w

itn

esse

d in

Ital

y. T

he

cou

ntr

y p

aid

an

exo

rbit

ant

pri

ce f

or

its

def

eat

in W

orl

d W

ar I

. R

un

away

in

flat

ion

as w

ell

as t

he

wo

rld

dep

ress

ion

ig

nit

ed b

y a

cras

h in

sh

are

pri

ces

on

Wal

l Str

eet

in N

ew Y

ork

in 1

929

mad

e m

atte

rs u

nb

eara

ble

for

Ger

man

y.

It w

as w

idel

y b

elie

ved

th

at t

he

init

ial

attr

ac-

tio

n o

f th

e G

erm

an p

eop

le t

ow

ard

s H

itle

r an

dh

is p

rogr

amm

e o

f cl

ass

coll

abo

rati

on

was

mo

reo

r le

ss w

ere

on

th

e li

nes

of

Mu

sso

lin

i’s I

taly

alth

ou

gh

on

a f

ar g

ran

der

sca

le t

o s

ave

the

eco

no

my

and

bri

ng

pro

sper

ity

wh

ich

Ger

man

yex

per

ien

ced

in

so

me

mea

sure

in

th

e 1

93

0s

bef

ore

th

e N

azi

raci

st,

auth

ori

tari

an i

deo

log

yto

ok

ove

r.Ja

pan

is

an

oth

er

exam

ple

o

f a

fasc

ist

exp

erim

ent.

Wit

h t

he

rest

ora

tio

n o

f th

e M

eiji

regi

me

in 1

85

0 a

nd

th

e re

form

s in

itia

ted

in

18

68

, wer

e so

wn

th

e se

eds

of

ferm

ent

and

eco

-n

om

ic p

rogr

ess.

Th

e ga

tes

of

Jap

an o

pen

ed a

nd

fore

ign

co

nta

cts

beg

an w

ith

in

du

stri

al d

evel

-o

pm

ent

gro

win

g, a

nd

th

e n

um

ber

of

urb

anw

ork

ers

incr

ease

d.

By

19

22

, a

Co

mm

un

ist

Par

ty w

as fo

un

ded

. In

th

e ru

ral a

reas

, sil

k f

arm

ssp

run

g u

p a

nd

th

ere

was

a f

ragm

enta

tio

n o

ffa

rms.

Als

o,

dis

con

ten

t g

rew

am

on

g th

e te

n-

ants

wh

o w

ork

ed t

her

e. T

her

eaft

er c

ame

the

shar

e m

ark

et c

rash

wh

ich

tri

gge

red

th

e G

reat

Dep

ress

ion

in

19

29

.Th

e Ja

pan

ese

eco

no

my

rece

ived

its

shar

e o

f t

rem

ors

. On

e o

f th

e re

me-

die

s to

rel

ieve

th

e p

ain

s o

f th

e ec

on

om

ic c

ri-

sis

was

ex

pan

sio

n t

hro

ug

h m

ilit

ary

con

qu

est.

Th

e fa

ct t

hat

th

e Ja

pan

ese

po

pu

lati

on

had

mo

reth

an

do

ub

led

si

nce

th

e M

eiji

re

sto

rati

on

mea

nt

that

mo

re a

nd

mo

re j

ob

s w

ere

nec

es-

sary

. T

he

gh

ost

of

Kar

l M

arx

an

d t

he

scen

eso

f th

e R

uss

ian

Rev

olu

tio

n w

ere

no

t in

visi

ble

to t

he

Jap

anes

e m

ind

. W

ar a

pp

eare

d t

o b

e a

po

ssib

le p

anac

ea w

hic

h e

ven

tual

ly l

ed t

o t

he

19

41

n

aval

at

tack

o

n

Pea

rl

Har

bo

r,

the

Am

eric

an b

ase

of

war

ship

s o

n it

s P

acif

ic c

oas

t.T

his

was

fo

llo

wed

by

the

lan

d i

nva

sio

n o

fB

riti

sh a

nd

Fre

nch

co

lon

ies

in S

ou

th-e

ast

Asi

a.Ju

st b

efo

re t

he

Pea

rl H

arb

or

atta

ck,

Def

ence

Min

iste

r G

en

To

jo

Hid

eki

was

m

ade

the

Pre

mie

r. T

he

war

mo

uld

ed a

ll c

lass

es o

f th

eJa

pan

ese

peo

ple

in

to o

ne.

Th

is w

as a

n e

xp

er-

imen

t o

f fa

scis

m i

n A

sia.

So

mu

ch f

or

fasc

ism

an

d it

s sm

alle

r as

wel

las

gra

nd

er v

aria

tio

ns.

Bu

t w

hat

is it

s u

gly

co

n-

nec

tio

n w

ith

po

liti

cs i

n I

nd

ia?

Ind

ia i

s n

ot

Eu

rop

e. 2

018

is n

ot

1920

. Co

mm

un

ism

is d

ead

.T

her

e is

po

vert

y h

ere

bu

t n

o G

reat

Dep

ress

ion

spar

ked

by

a fi

nan

cial

co

llap

se o

f th

e W

all S

tree

tk

ind

on

th

e h

ori

zon

. Th

e In

dia

n e

tho

s h

as n

ore

cord

o

f im

per

iali

sm

and

, th

eref

ore

, n

op

rom

ise

of

fore

ign

co

nq

ues

ts w

ou

ld b

e cr

ed-

ible

. If

an

att

emp

t is

bei

ng

mad

e to

co

mp

are

min

ori

ties

in

fas

cist

sta

tes

and

Mu

slim

s o

fIn

dia

, it

is r

idic

ulo

us

and

per

vers

e. N

o o

ne

inth

eir

rig

ht

min

d

has

ac

cuse

d

Mu

slim

s o

fb

etra

yin

g In

dia

, no

t ev

en t

he

BJP

, wh

ose

on

lyco

nte

nti

on

h

as

bee

n

that

th

ere

has

b

een

app

ease

men

t o

f th

e M

usl

im

com

mu

nit

y’s

cler

gy

and

its

wh

ims.

All

in

all

, to

cal

l an

yon

ea

fasc

ist

in I

nd

ia i

s to

tal

k n

on

sen

se.

(The

wri

ter

is a

wel

l-kn

own

col

um

nist

an

dan

au

thor

)

����

���

����

��

���

Sir

T

his

re

fers

to

th

e ed

ito

rial

,“R

igh

t n

ote

” (S

epte

mb

er2

1).

It

augu

rsw

ell

that

R

ash

triy

a S

way

amse

vak

San

gh

(R

SS

) ch

ief

Mo

han

Bh

agw

ath

as,

amo

ng

o

ther

b

urn

ing

is

sues

,in

clu

din

g c

ow

vig

ilan

tism

, cl

arif

ied

the

San

gh’

s st

and

on

In

dia

n M

usl

ims’

stat

us

wit

h t

he

hea

rten

ing

mes

sage

“if

Mu

slim

s ar

e u

nw

ante

d,

ther

e is

no

Hin

du

tva”

. T

his

wil

l all

ay f

ear

of

sort

s li

nge

r-in

g o

n t

he

com

mu

nit

y’s

min

d e

ven

as

his

in

voca

tio

n

of

Sir

Sy

ed

Ah

mad

Kh

an

’s

wo

rds

un

de

rsc

ore

s th

e

mo

no

thei

stic

vie

w a

s th

ey s

ay “

sab

kam

aali

k ek

hai

”.

Bu

t ab

ove

all

, w

hat

mat

ters

mo

stis

th

e em

ph

atic

tr

ansl

atio

n

of

the

wo

rds

into

act

ion

, fa

ilin

g w

hic

h h

issa

ge a

dv

ice

wil

l fa

ll o

n s

ton

y g

rou

nd

.A

zhar

A K

han

Ram

pu

r

���

��

� �

��

Sir

T

his

re

fers

to

th

e ed

ito

rial

,“R

igh

t n

ote

” (S

epte

mb

er2

1).

It

is

har

d f

or

the

Ras

htr

iya

Sway

amse

vak

San

gh

(R

SS

) to

rec

on

cile

its

goal

s an

dco

mp

uls

ion

s. I

ts a

ttem

pts

at

op

enn

ess

and

res

tru

ctu

rin

g ar

e fu

tile

. RS

S c

hie

fM

oh

an

Bh

agw

at’s

cl

aim

th

at

the

org

anis

atio

n k

eep

s aw

ay f

rom

po

liti

csis

bel

ied

by

the

dikt

ats

giv

en t

o i

tsp

oli

tica

l ar

m,

the

Bh

arat

iya

Jan

ata

Par

ty (

BJP

).

His

cl

aim

th

at

Hin

du

tva

do

esn

ot

excl

ud

e M

usl

ims

is f

alsi

fied

by

the

abse

nce

o

f M

usl

ims

in

lead

ersh

ipp

osi

tio

ns

in b

oth

th

e R

SS

an

d t

he

BJP

. It

is

in

trig

uin

g

that

B

hag

wat

spea

ks

of

a H

ind

u R

asht

raan

d t

he

Co

nst

itu

tio

n i

n t

he

sam

e b

reat

h a

nd

fin

ds

no

in

con

sist

ency

. If

th

e R

SS

is

real

ly a

gai

nst

cas

te d

iscr

imin

atio

n, a

sst

ated

, it

sho

uld

rep

ud

iate

th

e re

ligi

ou

s

tex

ts

that

sa

nct

ify

ca

ste.

It

is

n

ose

cret

th

at t

he

RS

S d

raw

s it

s le

ader

-sh

ip f

rom

th

e u

pp

er c

aste

s.G

Dav

id M

ilton

M

aru

than

cod

e

���

��

���

S

ir —

Th

is r

efer

s to

th

e ar

ticl

e, “

An

op

po

rtu

nit

y In

dia

m

ust

n

ot

mis

s”(S

epte

mb

er

21

) b

y S

anji

b

Po

hit

&

Pra

dip

B

isw

as.

U

nio

n

Tra

nsp

ort

Min

iste

r N

itin

G

ad

ka

ri

rece

ntl

yan

no

un

ced

th

at

the

Go

ver

nm

ent

pla

ns

to

exem

pt

elec

tric

al

veh

icle

s(E

Vs)

an

d o

ther

alt

ern

ativ

e fu

el c

ars

fro

m r

equ

irin

g p

erm

its.

Th

is a

rgu

rsw

ell

for

min

imis

ing

op

erat

ing

co

sts.

As

a re

sult

, th

e ve

hic

le m

ark

et w

ill

be

enco

ura

ged

to

wo

rk i

n t

his

fie

ldan

d n

ew e

ntr

epre

neu

rs w

ill c

om

e in

top

lay.

As

the

fou

rth

-lar

gest

co

nsu

mer

of

nat

ura

l o

ils,

In

dia

is

no

w r

eali

sin

gth

at B

iod

iese

l veh

icle

s an

d E

Vs

are

the

on

ly o

xyg

en f

or

kee

pin

g t

ran

spo

rta-

tio

n a

live

to

war

ds

a h

ealt

hy

futu

re. W

em

ust

tap

on

th

is. Sh

ivam

Sri

vast

ava

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ain

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fin

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yste

m, m

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cco

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t to

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wh

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bec

om

es t

he

bas

ic b

uil

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gb

lock

to m

anag

e th

eir

fin

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ves.

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Pri

me

Min

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r’s D

han

Jan

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ana

ach

ieve

d a

rem

arka

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feat

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bri

ngi

ng

80 p

er c

ent

of

the

po

pu

la-

tio

n i

nto

mai

nst

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ban

kin

g. B

ut

sub

seq

uen

tly,

mo

st a

cco

un

ts h

ave

rem

ain

ed p

assi

ve, w

ith

an

ave

rage

of

thre

e tr

ansa

ctio

ns

a ye

ar.

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isb

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se a

rou

nd

76

per

cen

t of I

nd

ia’s

adu

lt p

op

ula

tio

n d

oes

no

t u

nd

er-

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ven

bas

ic f

inan

cial

co

nce

pts

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or

incr

ease

d e

con

om

ic p

arti

c-ip

atio

n, t

he

spre

ad o

f fin

anci

al li

ter-

acy

is t

he

pri

mar

y en

able

r o

f fi

nan

-ci

al i

ncl

usi

on

— b

oth

are

tw

in p

il-

lars

in m

itig

atio

n o

f pov

erty

. On

ly b

yw

ork

ing

join

tly

on

bo

th a

spec

ts c

anw

e h

eral

d th

e n

ext r

evol

uti

on o

f pro

s-p

erit

y an

d g

row

th f

or

Ind

ia i

n t

he

21st

cen

tury

by

enh

anci

ng

sco

pe

for

ban

kin

g,

insu

ran

ce,

mu

tual

fu

nd

ind

ust

ry a

nd

hou

sin

g fo

r al

l. A

ll fo

ur

serv

ices

are

in

terl

inke

d t

o f

inan

cial

incl

usi

on

, as

als

o a

re g

row

th p

ro-

pel

lers

of

the

eco

no

my,

wh

ich

hav

eth

eir

own

mu

ltip

lier

eff

ect i

n a

dd

ing

clo

se t

o a

per

cen

tage

po

int

to t

he

gro

ss d

om

esti

c p

rod

uct

(G

DP

). T

his

can

hap

pen

on

ly w

hen

peo

ple

are

fin

anci

ally

li

tera

te

and

b

egin

to

mak

e in

form

ed in

vest

men

t ch

oic

es.

Ho

wev

er,

fin

anci

al l

iter

acy,

th

efi

rst

pre

req

uis

ite

for

fin

anci

al in

clu

-si

on

, is

wh

ere

Ind

ia l

ags

beh

ind

as

mo

st w

omen

rem

ain

fin

anci

ally

illit

-er

ate.

A

s In

tern

atio

nal

M

on

etar

yF

un

d (

IMF

) ch

ief C

hri

stin

e L

agar

de

said

: “I

t’s n

ow

a p

rove

n f

act,

wh

enw

omen

do

bet

ter,

eco

nom

ies

do

bet

-te

r.”

Th

ere

exis

ts

an

oce

an

of

un

tap

ped

op

po

rtu

nit

ies

in I

nd

ia t

oex

pan

d t

he

sco

pe

of f

inan

cial

incl

u-

sion

an

d fi

nan

cial

lite

racy

for

wom

enac

ross

all

dem

ogr

aph

ic s

trat

a, a

lbei

t,

the

spre

ad o

f lit

erar

y ca

nn

ot b

e co

n-

fin

ed t

o b

ein

g ge

nd

er-s

pec

ific

. M

y p

assi

on

to

war

ds

this

tra

ns-

form

atio

n s

tem

s fr

om

dee

p-r

oo

ted

con

vict

ion

s b

ased

on

my

wo

rkin

gli

fe’s

exp

erie

nce

sin

ce I

beg

an m

yca

reer

in th

e la

te 7

0’s.

I w

as th

e gu

inea

pig

of

my

exp

erim

ents

wit

h m

on

ey,

and

th

rou

gh s

hee

r tr

ial a

nd

err

or

atan

ear

ly a

ge,

I su

ccee

ded

in

tra

ns-

form

ing

sim

ple

wag

es to

sav

ings

, an

dsa

vin

gs to

ass

ets.

Aga

in, t

her

e w

as n

oge

niu

s to

th

e id

ea b

ut j

ust

th

e m

agic

of

dis

cip

lin

ed s

avin

gs a

nd

th

e co

m-

po

un

din

g p

ow

er

of

mo

ney

. T

he

skill

s of

com

pou

nd

ing

mon

ey is

now

a sc

ien

ce, a

lear

nin

g th

at m

ust

beg

inby

incl

ud

ing

it in

sch

oo

l cu

rric

ula

so

that

su

cces

sive

ge

ner

atio

ns

gro

win

to d

isci

pli

ned

in

vest

ors

an

d e

thi-

cal

bo

rro

wer

s.

Th

erea

fter

, fi

nan

cial

li

tera

cym

ust

be

imp

arte

d to

th

e m

ille

nn

ials

wh

o c

om

pri

se 3

4 p

er c

ent

of

ou

rp

opu

lati

on, a

nd

wh

o, r

esea

rch

sh

ows,

are

cred

it-o

rien

ted

an

d s

pen

d m

ore

on li

fest

yle.

So,

they

nee

d to

lear

n th

ed

isci

pli

ne

and

ri

sks

of

livi

ng

life

bey

on

d t

hei

r in

com

e. T

he

mid

dle

aged

are

sec

ure

ly m

arri

ed w

om

enan

d a

re e

du

cate

d,

yet

are

un

init

iat-

ed i

n f

inan

ce —

just

bec

ause

th

eyfi

nd

its

vo

cab

ula

ry t

oo

dif

ficu

lt t

oco

mp

reh

end

. T

hen

, th

ere

are

div

orce

es a

nd

wid

ows,

com

pri

sin

g 12

per

cen

t of t

he

pop

ula

tion

, wh

o n

eed

to b

e in

itia

ted

, as

mo

st a

re u

nd

er-l

it-

erat

e o

n

per

son

al

fin

ance

. L

et’s

rem

emb

er t

hat

th

e u

ltim

ate

goal

of

ever

y o

ne

of

us

is t

o o

wn

a s

ecu

reas

set i

n th

e fo

rm o

f hom

e ow

ner

ship

alon

g w

ith

bu

ildin

g on

a s

avin

gs c

or-

pu

s, w

hic

h p

rovi

des

dig

nit

y an

d in

su-

late

s fr

om

fu

ture

sh

ock

s.F

inan

cial

lit

erac

y is

on

e o

f th

em

ost

ser

iou

s is

sues

in th

e U

S, a

s al

sogl

ob

ally

for

wom

en. W

omen

ear

n 2

5p

er c

ent l

ess

than

men

, an

d s

pen

d a

nav

erag

e of

11.

5 ye

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out o

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ork-

forc

e. In

div

idu

als

mu

st b

e co

mp

eten

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mak

e d

ecis

ion

s n

ot

on

ly a

bo

ut

asse

ts b

ut a

lso

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out d

ebts

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d d

ebt

is p

erva

sive

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oss

all

inco

me

stra

taan

d s

tan

ds

at a

larm

ingl

y in

crea

sed

leve

ls, e

ven

10

year

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ost

200

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o-

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mic

cri

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is m

ean

s th

at w

efa

iled

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arn

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the

per

ils o

f ove

r-le

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g. T

od

ay,

cred

it i

s la

vish

lyav

aila

ble

an

d i

nst

itu

tio

ns

that

pro

-m

ote

cre

dit

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th

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clu

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lace

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pri

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rity

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anim

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om

ic

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evel

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men

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he

goal

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en

able

sh

ared

pro

sper

ity

and

bri

ng

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wn

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vert

yb

y ch

angi

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ent

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its

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peo

ple

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sec

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kn

ow

ing

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gra

du

al a

sset

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wit

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thei

r re

ach

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n

exam

ple

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f h

ow

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pid

lyfi

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cial

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mp

licat

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anki

ng

jarg

on b

yd

um

bin

g d

own

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al v

oca

bula

ry,

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th

erea

fter

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sem

inat

ing

lear

n-

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tin

g th

e m

asse

s to

get

op

erat

ion

al i

n m

uch

th

e sa

me

way

edu

cati

onal

ly il

liter

ates

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ura

l In

dia

cou

ld t

ake

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rkin

g o

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mil

lio

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mer

ican

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ult

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men

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sses

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t-er

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skill

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elow

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basi

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vel.

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tud

ies

sho

w t

hat

wo

men

hav

e lo

wer

fin

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al l

iter

acy

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en i

n b

oth

dev

elo

ped

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ntr

ies.

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ce w

om

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e lo

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r th

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en a

nd

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e sh

ort-

er w

orki

ng

lives

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aid

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plo

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t,

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hav

e lo

wer

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rage

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esfr

om

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ey s

ave

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old

age

.W

ith

in

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sin

g li

fe

exp

ecta

ncy

,th

ere

is

a n

eed

to

p

rovi

sio

n

for

incr

easi

ng

and

in

flat

ion

ary

cost

of

hea

lth

care

; wo

men

nee

d to

be

suff

i-ci

entl

y fi

nan

cial

ly

lite

rate

to

b

efu

ture

-rea

dy

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tin

gen

cies

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y b

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rbid

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fro

m in

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ance

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chal

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ugh

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s ar

e ch

angi

ng,

wo

men

ow

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sser

pro

per

ty. A

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th

ey h

ave-

bee

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xclu

ded

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akin

go

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mil

y ea

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mill

enn

ia, a

s it

has

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n d

eem

edth

e so

le p

rero

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ve o

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e ‘k

arta

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the

hea

d o

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mil

y in

In

dia

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eep

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g fi

nan

cial

lite

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dsu

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qu

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usi

on

wo

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uge

ly u

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pp

ed p

ote

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al a

t th

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ott

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adin

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om

y, a

sm

ore

mo

ney

fin

ds

its

way

in

to t

he

ban

kin

g ec

osy

stem

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at w

ou

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lcat

e th

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vin

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pli

ne

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incr

ease

cap

ital

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rmat

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d t

his

in t

urn

, wo

uld

rel

ease

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aila

bil

-it

y o

f ad

equ

ate

cred

it to

fost

er e

ntr

e-p

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euri

al s

pir

it o

f th

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asse

s, a

sm

ore

peo

ple

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en

able

d th

rou

gh th

efo

rmal

fin

anci

al i

nfr

astr

uct

ure

an

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ee

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m

de

pe

nd

en

ce

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nu

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rup

ulo

us

mo

ney

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s.T

hu

s fa

r it

’s a

slo

w p

rogr

ess,

as

Ind

ia h

as c

lim

bed

by

just

on

e ra

nk

to b

eco

me

130

ou

t o

f 18

9 co

un

trie

sin

th

e 20

18 U

nit

ed N

atio

ns

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man

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elo

pm

ent

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ex

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crea

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n r

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uan

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ent s

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hic

hre

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ts t

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th

e st

rid

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aken

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men

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e b

een

su

cces

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l in

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lio

ns

ou

t of p

ove

rty

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erc

apit

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ss

nat

ion

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inc

om

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sed

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266

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t. H

ow

ever

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ere

stil

l re

mai

ns

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uge

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ual

ity

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mic

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ent

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se d

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ly b

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cati

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nin

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pri

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un

dat

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eir

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th

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tho

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th

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y ta

kin

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ntr

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utho

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col

um-

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Cha

irpe

rson

, C

omm

itte

e on

Fina

ncia

l Inc

lusi

on a

nd L

iter

acy

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en, N

iti A

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vera

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chn

olo

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th

e u

se o

f d

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ene-

fit t

ran

sfer

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r w

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s in

way

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ven

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ape

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rad

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f o

ur

ever

ale

rt P

rim

e M

inis

ter.

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t th

e fu

nd

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it

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hic

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e to

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zzle

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ge a

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ts d

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ite

savi

ngs

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e, a

qu

esti

on

ari

ses:

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w d

o c

on

tro

ls l

ead

to

pil

fera

ge?

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e, f

or

exam

ple

, fo

od

an

d f

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lise

rs.

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mak

e th

ese

affo

rdab

le t

o t

he

po

or,

th

eG

ov

ern

men

t co

ntr

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th

eir

max

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P)

at a

lo

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nre

lat-

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o t

he

cost

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ctio

n a

nd

dis

trib

-u

tio

n.

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e d

iffe

ren

tial

am

ou

nt

is r

eim

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urs

ed t

o m

anu

fact

ure

rs/a

gen

cies

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sub

-si

dy.

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erea

s, 8

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er c

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po

pu

la-

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fo

od

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gar

ds

fert

ilis

ers,

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far

mer

s h

ave

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at l

ow

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P.

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on

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OL

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th

e ca

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enas

oil

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ket

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pu

bli

c se

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erta

kin

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SUs)

sel

l at

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sid

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th

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t. H

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old

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th

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t lo

w (

sub

sid

ised

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rice

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etai

l pri

ces

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rol a

nd

die

sel a

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e ju

red

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ntr

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de fa

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th

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ove

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ent

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nt

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ove

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lly c

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ere

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lies.

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ure

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ll n

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er t

he

Nat

ion

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oo

d S

ecu

rity

Act

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wh

eat i

s gi

ven

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e b

enef

icia

ries

at

two

ru

pee

per

kilo

gram

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agai

nst

th

e m

uch

hig

her

co

st o

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pp

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des

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ilo

gram

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ht r

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me

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rreg

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mit

ted

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cies

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nte

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Com

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itor

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eral

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ader

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ttin

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ay w

ithm

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ly s

alar

y in

lak

hs

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ld e

asily

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sm

ust

er u

nd

er a

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ased

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han

ism

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2016

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ere

wer

e re

por

ts o

f d

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ran

ce o

ffo

od

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cks

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e to

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rtil

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ern

men

t co

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t of

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el u

sed

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ure

of u

rea

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flat-

ed’ p

rice

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owin

g th

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nt h

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er c

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rtili

zers

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ld b

e fu

lly r

eim

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edu

nd

er n

ew p

rici

ng

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eme

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ted

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rice

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ich

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t up

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er t

onn

e (2

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nst

th

en M

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only

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ton

ne.

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yea

r in

th

e ea

rly

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pay

men

t w

as m

ade

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no

t ev

en a

gra

in o

f u

rea

cam

e.

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ere

wer

e ir

regu

lari

ties

in

pay

men

t to

man

ufa

ctu

rers

too.

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der

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rice

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eme

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ear

lier

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rnat

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of

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som

e u

nit

s w

ere

allo

wed

infl

ated

ret

enti

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rice

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ere

wer

e ev

en a

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tion

s of

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d p

lat-

ing

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ph

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ctu

al t

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et h

igh

er R

P. S

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, th

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me

syst

em c

onti

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ven

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ay, i

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not

eas

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pre

ven

t in

flat

ed p

aym

ents

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her

e is

no

rat

ion

al b

asis

to

kee

p u

rea

MR

P a

t an

exc

epti

onal

ly lo

w le

vel —

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ere

1/4t

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½ o

f th

e p

rod

uct

ion

co

st. Y

et, t

his

was

a go

lden

go

ose

ava

ilab

le to

du

biou

s tr

ader

s to

min

t m

oney

by

selli

ng

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hem

ical

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h p

rice

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e, P

rim

e M

inis

ter

Nar

end

raM

od

i h

as b

rou

ght

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and

ator

y n

eem

co

at-

ing

of u

rea

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cla

imed

th

at t

his

has

sto

pp

edd

iver

sion

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ever

, con

sid

erin

g th

at th

ere

are

600

mill

ion

bag

s to

be

po

liced

, th

is s

eem

s to

be

too

go

od

to

bel

ieve

.In

pet

rol a

nd

die

sel,

lack

of

com

pet

itio

nal

low

s oi

l P

SUs

viz

Ind

ian

Oil

Cor

por

atio

n,

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arat

P

etro

leu

m

Co

rpo

rati

on

L

td

and

Hin

du

stan

Pet

role

um

Cor

por

atio

n L

td, t

o g

etaw

ay w

ith

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igh

pri

ce b

ased

on

imp

ort

par

-it

y p

rin

cip

le p

lus

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uit

ou

s b

enef

it o

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por

td

uty

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LP

G a

nd

ker

ose

ne,

they

en

joy

com

-p

lete

mon

op

oly

as

pri

vate

en

titi

es a

re b

arre

dfr

om s

ellin

g su

bsi

dis

ed s

tuff

.

In p

ower

sec

tor,

infl

ated

tari

ff c

har

ged

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ind

epen

den

t p

ower

pro

du

cers

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Ps)

eas

ilyp

ass

mu

ster

in th

e n

ame

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ubs

idis

ed s

up

plie

sm

ade

to t

he

farm

ers

and

po

or h

ou

seh

old

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her

e ar

e in

stan

ces

of in

flat

ed f

uel

pri

ce (

via

‘ove

r-in

voic

ing’

o

f co

al

imp

ort

s)

gett

ing

acco

mm

od

ated

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th

e ta

riff

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entu

ally

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dby

th

e ex

cheq

uer

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s in

fer

tiliz

ers,

her

e al

soin

stan

ces

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old

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tin

g h

ave

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e to

ligh

t.

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his

loo

t o

f n

atio

nal

res

ou

rces

nee

ds

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e st

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ped

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ut

this

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e d

on

e m

erel

yth

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gh

ad

min

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ativ

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e G

ove

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ent

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uld

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r p

oli

cyre

form

s w

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focu

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n r

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cin

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dd

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tro

l on

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d s

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sid

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r sh

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entia

l at t

he b

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ding

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Page 9: ˘ ˇˆ ˇ˙ ˝˛ ˇ · (Anil) Ambani group. We did ... too in the form of growth of high value plants, diversity, ... alias Kali, Mukesh, aka Monty, and Sachin, while Hemant and

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As the equity marketplunged for the fourth day

in a row, where the BSE bench-mark index plummeted over1,100 points in afternoon tradeFriday, investor wealth wit-nessed an erosion of a whop-ping �5.6 lakh crore in fourdays.

The 30-share indexcracked 1,127.58 points, or 3per cent, to hit an intra-day lowof 35,993.64 on Friday. It, how-ever recovered most of thelosses within minutes of the fall.

There were wild swings inthe market, with the BSESensex finally settling at36,841.60, down 279.62 pointsor 0.75 per cent.

“Nifty and Sensex were

down due to widespread sell-ing that was seen in the finan-cial services sector as credit riskemerged post-ILFS firesale andconcern over its interest repay-ment. Yes Bank added fuel asRBI trimmed the CEO’s term,”said Mustafa Nadeem, CEO,Epic Research.

In four days, the index haslost 1,249.04 points.

Following the weak senti-ment, the market capitalisationof BSE-listed companiesslumped �5,66,187.15 crore to�1,50,70,832 crore on Friday.

From the 30-share pack, 17stocks ended with losses led byYES Bank, which crashed 28.71

per cent, dragging the bench-mark index.

Shares of housing financefirms fell sharply Friday, withDewan Housing Finance tum-bling 42.43 per cent.

“Housing finance compa-nies nosedived on the basis ofrumours of liquidity crunchwhich caused the stocks to fallup to 50 per cent. However, thestocks are fundamentallysound, but herd mentality hadcaused the sudden panic inthese stocks, however, theyhave recovered from their day’slow,” said Jimeet Modi, Founder& CEO of Samco Securities &StockNote .

On BSE, 2,106 stocksdeclined and 586 advanced,while 148 remainedunchanged.

More than 450 stocks hittheir 52-week low levels Friday.

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The BSE Sensex tumbledabout 280 points to close

below the 37,000-mark onFriday after investors were jolt-ed by an over 1,000-pointplunge in afternoon trade.

The 30-share benchmark,which opened on a strongfooting, suddenly tanked1,127.58 points, or 3.03 percent, to hit a low of 35,993.64at 1309 hours, before staging anequally sharp recovery.

The fall came on the backof a massive selloff in NBFCs,led by DHFL which skiddedover 50 per cent on fears of aliquidity crisis.

The Sensex finally endedlower by 279.62 points, or 0.75per cent, at 36,841.60. This isits lowest closing since July 25,when it had finished at36,858.23.

Yes Bank was the worst

performer on the index, losinga whopping 28.71 per cent. TheReserve Bank on Wednesdaycurtailed the term of its found-ing CEO Rana Kapoor andasked the private sector lenderto look for his replacement byJanuary 2019.

The broader Nifty too suf-fered a mid-session plungeand ended at 11,143.10, down91.25 points.

The indices closed withlosses for the third straightweek. The Sensex lost a hefty1,249.04 points, or 3.28 percent, while the NSE Nifty fell372.10 points, or 3.23 per cent,during the week.

Foreign portfolio investors(FPIs) remained net sellersand offloaded equities worth�2,184.55 crore while domes-tic institutional investors (DIIs)made purchases worth a net�1,201.30 crore on Wednesday,provisional data showed.

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Fitch Ratings Friday uppedIndia’s growth forecast for

the current fiscal to 7.8 percent, from 7.4 per cent pro-jected earlier.

In its Global EconomicOutlook, Fitch, however,flagged tightening of financialconditions, rising oil bill andweak bank balance sheets asheadwinds to growth.

“We have revised up ourforecast for FY2018-2019growth to 7.8 per cent from 7.4per cent on the back of the bet-ter-than-expected 2Q18 out-turn. India’s growth likelypeaked in 2Q18 (April-June)though,” Fitch said.

The Indian rupee (INR)has been the worst-performingmajor Asian currency so farthis year.

“And despite the centralbank’s greater tolerance forcurrency depreciation, interestrates have been raised by morethan anticipated,” the globalrating agency said in the report.

Fitch also forecast inflationpicking up to the upper part ofthe central bank’s target band (4per cent, plus-minus 2 per cent)within the forecast horizon onrelatively high demand-pullpressures and INR depreciation.

The upward revision ingrowth forecast comes in thebackdrop of GDP expanding8.2 per cent in April-June quar-ter, higher than Fitch’s expec-tation of 7.7 per cent.

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Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyhas proposed additional

cess on select commoditiesunder GST to raise funds tohelp Kerala tide over the dam-ages caused due to floods, astate minister said on Friday.

The proposal of levy of cessis expected to come up for dis-cussion at the GST Councilmeeting on September 28.

“Kerala welcomes the sug-gestion of hon’ble FM for a

national level cess on selectedcommodities for a specifiedperiod to help such states. GSTCouncil to discuss,” KeralaFinance Minister Thomas Isaacsaid in a tweet.

Isaac was of the view thatGST should be made flexible totake care of “unforeseen urgentdemand for resources as in thecase natural calamities”.

The issue regarding addi-tional cess for funding rehabili-tation activities in flood-hitKerala was discussed onThursday during a meeting ofIsaac with Jaitley.

Isaac has also pressed foradditional funds from the Centreto rebuild the state, which is esti-mated to have suffered a loss of�20,000 crore (as per a prelimi-nary estimate) due to the floods.

The Government may haveto amend the GST law to per-mit imposition of a new cess inthe new indirect tax regime.

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Sebi on Friday slapped a fineof �35 lakh on Falcon Tyres

for not providing the informa-tion sought by the regulator ina matter related to preferentialallotment of shares of the firm.

In April 2012, theSecurities and Exchange Boardof India (Sebi) issued varioussummons to Falcon.

One of the summonssought the balance sheet ofFalcon for the financial years2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12.Another summon directed thecompany to confirm whether itsigned any deed of assignmentwith three other entities —Suncap, Regus and Salputri —for assigning a loan of �144.04crore to itself.

In an order, Sebi saidFalcon was informed to furnishrequired documents, but ithad sought extension of time.

According to the order,despite multiple time exten-

sions being granted to the firm,it failed to file its reply whichdepicts an approach to notcooperate with the investigation.

“Thus, for not complyingwith the summons for supply-ing information/ documentssought by the IA (investigatingauthority) during the investi-gations, it is held that Falconhas violated... Sebi Act,” the reg-ulator said.

Noting that Falcon is“liable for monetary penalty”,Sebi slapped a fine of �35 lakhon the firm.

In a separate order, the reg-ulator imposed a penalty of �4lakh on Excel Castronics’ nonexecutive director PayalJayeshbhai Madiyar for disclo-sure lapses.

In August 2014, the hold-ings of Payal in ExcelCastronics increased from3,91,532 shares to 4,20,762shares, which is 5.167 per centof the share capital of the com-pany.

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GOVT. OF MAHARASHTRAPUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT

PUBLIC WORKS DIVISION SOLAPUR.Sat Rasta, Near Karigar Petrol Pump, Solapur - 413003

[email protected] Phone No. 0217/2312310

E-TENDER NOTICE NO. 23 FOR 2018-2019 (Online)Sealed online B-1 e-tenders for the following work are invited by the Executive Engineer,

Public Works Division , Solapur (Telephone No. 2312310) from the Contractors Registeredwith Government of Maharashtra Public Works Department in appropriate class.

Sr. Name of Work Estimated Cost No. (In lack)1 Repairs to Barshi Solapur Road S.H. 204 KM 37/200 to 64/800 Rs. 70.00 Lack

Dist-Solapur.2 Repairs to Tandulwadi Musti Dhotri Walsang Achegaon Tilatigate Rs. 65.00 Lack

Kanabas Bankalgi Sanjwad to join road S.H. 213 MDR 44 KM22/00 to 43/00 Dist-Solapur

3 Repairs to Alur Bhurikawathe Wagdari Shirwal Akkalkot Jeur Rs. 80.00 LackKarajagi Mangrul Tadwal Mundhewadi SH 211 road KM 176/500to 221/00 Dist-Solapur

NOTED:- Details of Tender documents will be available and downloaded online directly fromthe Government of Maharashtra e-tendering website http://mahatenders.gov.in& http://mahapwd.com as under.Above Tender Notice is displayed on P.W.D. website www.mahapwd.com Fromdate 21/9/2018.

Sd/-Executive Engineer,

DGIPR/2018/2019/3105 Public Work Division, Solapur.

Page 10: ˘ ˇˆ ˇ˙ ˝˛ ˇ · (Anil) Ambani group. We did ... too in the form of growth of high value plants, diversity, ... alias Kali, Mukesh, aka Monty, and Sachin, while Hemant and

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As Indiancompanies

take giganticstrides in pene-trating globalmarkets with thecountry havingone of the highestgrowth rates inmajor economies,India must createglobally recognis-able superbrands.

“It is a greatchallenge toIndia with ourtremendous potential, to cre-ate awareness and acceptanceof Indian brands globally.While India has had success increating global awareness forYoga, Bollywood and Cricket,which are great examples ofglobal brand building, weneed many more efforts topopularise Indian brands tobecome global consumerbrands. I think perfection,passion, resources and excel-lence are a must to createbrands at the global level,”Amitabh Kant, chief executiveofficer (CEO) of NITI Aayogsaid. He was speaking atSuperbrands Awards Event inNew Delhi.

Superbrands India paystribute to exceptional brandsacross sectors includingFMCG, Auto, Healthcare,Logistics, Cement and Retailamong. This year 56 brandreceived Superbrands awards.

“Indian branding is con-

tinuously innovating anddigital branding has becomeas important if not morethan conventional branding.Branding in India across sec-tors has been continuouslyevolving and is creating theright noise to reach theirTG. Superbrands India willcontinue to mine out thetop brands in India doingexceptional branding andhonor them withSuperbrands seal,” GeetanjaliAnand,CMD SuperbrandsIndia said.

Superbrands India is al icensee of SuperbrandsWorldwide, that operates in86 countries. It was launchedin India in 2002 by AnmolDar, and has stood its groundas the most respected arbiterof branding through the years.

Superbrands status is givento a brand through a rigorousresearch and selection processwith an impeccable reputation

of fairplay. Entry to theSuperbrands programme isstrictly by invitation.

The brands selected areawarded the SuperbrandsAwards Seal, which can beused to symbolize their super-brand status. Research byNielson has found that con-sumers are 74% more likely topurchase products or servicesdisplaying the SuperbrandsAwards Seal.

The Superbrands CoffeeTable book, is brought outonce in every 18 months and isthe only platform designed totell the compelling stories andrender case histories of theseoutstanding brands that havebeen selected for superbrandstatus. The organisationbelieves that people gain agreater appreciation of the dis-cipline of branding and agreater admiration of thebrands themselves through thecoffee table book.

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RamakrishnaE l e c t r o

Component PvtLtd Group(REC) onFriday launchedVTS (VehicleT r a c k i n gSystem), underUTRAQ brand, which is one ofkind Module that will run onIndian Satellite. UTRAQ is anendeavor to replace the cur-rently in use GPS applicationthat is working on US Satellites.UTRAQ is owned byRamakrishna ElectroComponent & manufacturedby Shanghai Mobiletek.

The launch event wasattended by Antrix (a com-mercial arm of ISRO)Executive Director (operations)Suma DR, Shanghai MobiletekManaging Director Ms SherryXu, along with RamakrishnaGroup Chairman Satish Luthra.

This module is IRNSScompliant for VTS applica-tion. IRNSS is Govt of Indiainitiative under ISRO. IRNSSUser Receiver module is inte-grated with front-end chipsetand embedded high perfor-mance ARM9processor fromleading chipset manufacturer.It has internal S RAM, UART,USB, CAN and 10 Bit ADCs.

U-TRAQ launched twomodels L100 & L110. These areGPS receivers Modules basedon IRNSS supported by

GAGAN/NaviC signals,designed using L5 and S bands.But in our U-TRAQ GPSreceiver Modules are designedfor two RF bands:L5 frequen-cy and L1 frequency, L5 fre-quency which is NaviCFrequency and L1 frequencywhich is GPS/GLONAS fre-quency. Where L100 has dualband patch antennas connect-ed to two RF inputs of theboard which receives the sig-nals from the satellite. AndL110 designed for use withexternal Antenna.

Commenting on thelaunch of UTRAQ, ManagingDirector, Rama Krishna ElectroPvt. Ltd. (REC), Shivang Luthrapointed out that it will bechanging the way of conven-tional tracking that is done inthe past. We are providingcustomers with various featuresof working with L5(IRNSS)band and L1 (GPS and GNSS)band. Major change we areanticipating is that the VTSindustry will be changing theirdesigns as in the coming yearit will be mandatory from GOIto use IRNSS device.

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The Reserve Bank onFriday announced

guidelines for co-origi-nation of priority sectorloans by banks andNBFCs with a view toenhancing flow of fundsto the sector at competi-tive rates.

As per the normsissued by the RBI for allscheduled commercialbanks (excludingRegional Rural Banks andSmall Finance Banks) andNon-Banking FinancialCompanies - Non-Deposit taking-Systemically Important(NBFC-ND-SIs), the sharing ofrisks and rewards betweenthese entities should be in amanner that enables appropri-ate alignment of respectivebusiness objectives, as per theirmutual agreement.

The co-originationarrangement should entail jointcontribution of credit by bothlenders at the facility level.

“Based on the respectiveinterest rates and proportion ofrisk sharing, a single blendedinterest rate should be offeredto the ultimate borrower in caseof fixed rate loans. In the sce-nario of floating interest rates,a weighted average of thebenchmark interest rates inproportion to the respectiveloan contribution, should beoffered,” it said.

It is envisaged that the

benefit of low-cost funds frombanks and lower cost of oper-ations of NBFC would bepassed on to the ultimate ben-eficiary through the blendedrate/weighted average rate, itsaid.

“In this regard,banks/NBFCs shall provide allthe information like loandetails including interest rateand other charges, details ofrisk sharing arrangement, etc.,as and when called for by theReserve Bank of India,” it said.

As per the co-originationmodel whereby bank is notfinancing MFIs (micro financeinstitutions) and NBFCs foron-lending to ultimate bor-rower rather both of them joinat each under-writing and loanlevel thereby sharing the loanamount in agreed percentage.

“The bank can claim pri-

ority sector status in respect ofits share of credit while engag-ing in the co-originationarrangement. However, thepriority sector assets on thebank's books should at alltimes be without recourse tothe NBFC. Further, the loansextended by foreign banksunder the co-originationframework shall be restrictedonly to loans qualifying as pri-ority sector assets,” it said.

With regard to grievanceredressal, it said, any com-plaint registered by a borrow-er with the NBFC/bank shallalso be shared with them; incase the complaint is notresolved within 30 days, theborrower would have theoption to escalate the same withthe concerned BankingOmbudsman/Ombudsman forNBFCs.

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The rupee continued its bull-ish trend for the second

day, rising 17 paise to end at72.20 against the US dollar onsustained selling of theAmerican currency even aslocal equities witnessed a highvolatility.

The domestic currency hitan intra-day high of 71.70before giving back early stronggains swayed by domestic stockvolatility.

The Indian unit brieflytouched a low of 72.48.

Although, forex marketreacted muted to the 'escala-tion' in the US-China tradeconflict with no meaningfulsafe haven bid for the dollar asinvestors adopted a “wait andsee” approach ahead of China'spossible retaliation to the lat-est round of US tariffs.

The dollar's weaknessagainst some currencies over-seas on easing trade war con-cerns also supported the recov-ery momentum.

The home currency hasrecovered a healthy 78 paise inthe last two sessions after plung-ing to life lows early this week.

The Indian currency haswitnessed a massive plunge inthe recent past due to rising

trade and current accountdeficits in the wake of risingcrude oil prices.

The benchmark 10-yearsovereign yield, however,inched up to 8.08 per cent.

Meanwhile, it was anexceptionally volatile day forIndian bourses which wit-nessed their biggest intra-daycrash in the recent past beforewiping out some of the lossesafter a huge fall in mortgagelender DHFL stock triggered aknee-jerk sell-offs in non-bank-ing financial companies andjolted investor sentiment.

The flagship Sensex ended279 points lower at 36,841.60,while broader Nifty shed 91points to 11,143.10.

On the energy front, crudeprices were mixed after fallingin the previous session as USPresident Donald Trump urged

OPEC to lower crude pricesahead of its meeting in Algeriathis weekend.

Benchmark brent crudefutures were at USD 79.53 abarrel in early Asian trading.

Extending its recoverymomentum, the rupee openedwith solid 53 paise gains at71.84 against Tuesday's close of72.37 at the inter-bank foreignexchange (forex) market onsustained dollar unwinding byexporters and banks.

It strengthened to hit anintra-day high of 71.70 beforegiving away its strong gainslargely reacting to stock mar-ket volatility.

After drifting to a sessionlow of 72.48, the local unit final-ly managed to pull back towardsthe tail-end trade and settled theday at 72.20, showing a gain of17 paise, or 0.23 per cent.

The Financial BenchmarksIndia private limited (FBIL),meanwhile, fixed the referencerate for the dollar at 71.8489and for the euro at 84.6830.

In the cross-currency trade,the rupee also gained furtherground against the Japaneseyen to close at 64.06 per 100yens from 64.42 earlier.

The home unit, however,fell back against the BritishPound to finish at 95.28 perpound from 95.07 and alsodropped against the euro to endat 84.96 as compared to 84.50.

On the global front, thedollar was trading slightly high-er against other currencieswhile the Japanese yen waslower as investors eyed tradewar tensions.

The pound slumped amidBrexit uncertainty after theeurozone manufacturing PMIcame in lower than expected.

Against a basket of other cur-rencies, the dollar index is up at93.69.In forward market, premi-um for dollar declined due to sus-tained receiving from exporters.

The benchmark six-monthforward premium payable inJanuary 2019 moved down to113-115 paise from 115-117paise and the far-forward Julycontract also eased to 271.50-273.50 paise from 273-275 paise.

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Th eGovernment

has again decid-ed to increaseduty benefits forexports of milkand certain milkproducts underMEIS scheme toboost their overseas shipments,an official said.

Earlier in July, theGovernment enhanced theduty benefits to 10 per centunder the Merchandise Exportfrom India Scheme (MEIS)for certain agriculture anddairy sector items.

“Now, it has been decidedto increase export incentives onmilk and certain milk productsfrom 10 per cent to 20 per centfor about four months up toJanuary 12 next year underMEIS,” the government officialsaid.

The 28 items coveredunder the enhanced incentivesinclude cheese, whole milk,skimmed milk, milk and milkfood for babies, condensedmilk, yoghurt, butter milk andwhey.

The Department ofRevenue has made additionalfinancial allocation of �21.40

crore to meet the expenditureto be incurred on these incen-tives.

“Notification in this regardwill be released soon by theDirectorate General of ForeignTrade (DGFT),” the officialadded.

The move assumes signif-icance on account of milk cri-sis in Maharasthra. Milk grow-ers had strongly protested insome parts of Maharasthradue to fall in milk prices amidhuge supply.

Commerce and IndustryMinister Suresh Prabhu hadearlier taken up the matter withhis finance counterpart andhad written for increase inexport incentives from 10 percent to 20 per cent.

Although the commerceministry had sought �57.04crore for whole of the year butthe Department of Revenueallocated only �21.40 crore.

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Markets regulator SebiFriday issued revised

KYC norms for foreign port-folio investors, wherein residentas well as non-resident Indianshave been permitted to holdnon-controlling stake in suchentities.

Two circulars pertaining toKYC (Know Your Client)requirements and eligibilityconditions for FPIs have beenissued.

These norms have been putin place weeks after a panelsuggested various changes tothe guidelines proposed earli-er, amid concerns in certainquarters that overseas fundsmight face difficulties in ensur-ing compliance.

NRIs, OCIs (OverseasCitizens of India) and RIs(Resident Indians) have beenpermitted to hold non-con-trolling stake in FPIs. Therewould also be no restrictionon them to manage non-investing FPIs Sebi-regis-tered offshore funds as well

as registered investmentmanagers, according to theregulator.

These entities would beallowed to be constituents ofFPIs subject to certain condi-tions. If single and aggregateNRI/OCI/RI holding is below25 per cent and 50 per cent,respectively, of the assets undermanagement in the FPI, thensuch entities would be permit-ted to be constituents of theFPI.

According to Sebi, FPIscan be controlled byInvestment Managers (IMs)which are controlled and/ orowned by NRI, OCI, or RI. Inthis regard, the conditionsinclude that the investmentmanager is appropriately regu-lated in its home jurisdictionand registers itself with Sebi asnon-investing FPI.

Among others, a non-investing FPI can be directly orindirectly owned or controlledby a NRI, OCI or RI.

“The restriction that NRI/OCI/ RI should not be in con-trol of FPI shall also not apply

to FPIs which are 'offshorefunds' for which no-objectioncertificate has been providedby the board in terms of mutu-al fund regulations,” Sebinoted.

Existing FPIs and newapplicants would be given twoyears from the date of the newnorms coming into force ordate of registration, whicheveris later. In case of temporarybreach, a time period of 90 dayswould be given to ensure com-pliance.

The watchdog said thatFPIs under category II and IIIhave to maintain a list of ben-eficial owners and the same hasto be provided to it.

Further, additional KYCdocumentation requirementsfor beneficial owners have beendone away with for govern-ment-related entities that comeunder Category I FPIs.

Beneficial owners are thenatural persons who ultimate-ly own or control an FPI. TheFPIs have been categorisedinto three classes based ontheir risk profile.

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Crisis-hit Jet Airways onFriday said income tax

officials are conducting a sur-vey of its premises sinceSeptember 19 and the sharesplunged six per cent on thebourses.

The airline, battling withfinancial woes, is already underthe lens of Sebi and the corpo-rate affairs ministry for variousviolations, including allegedcorporate governance lapses.

On Wednesday, sourcessaid the I-T Department isinspecting the books to ascer-tain whether there have beenfalsification of accounts, sus-picious dealings and other pos-sible violations.

In a regulatory filingFriday, the carrier said I-Tofficials are conducting a sur-vey of the premises of thecompany since September 19.

“The company is fullycooperating with the authori-ties and responding to thequeries by the income tax

authorities,” it said.As part of the survey oper-

ation, tax sleuths only visit thebusiness premises of a firm andcheck their books of accounts.

The scrip tumbled 5.96per cent to close at �229.70 onthe BSE.

On Wednesday, sourcessaid the I-T Department isinspecting the books to ascer-tain whether there have beenfalsification of accounts, sus-picious dealings and other pos-sible violations.

In Mumbai, Minister of Statefor Corporate Affairs P PChaudhary said the governmentwould do “whatever is required”after completing inspection ofbooks of Jet Airways.

Last month, the corporateaffairs ministry ordered aninspection of “books andpapers” of Jet Airways.

“The inquiry is not yetconcluded. The inspection (ofbooks) has not been complet-ed... Once it is completed thegovernment will do whatever isrequired,” he told reporters on

the sidelines of an event inMumbai.

He also noted that inspec-tion of books and papers is anormal routine work.

To a query on whether theministry was looking to expandthe scope of inquiry as IncomeTax Department is also carry-ing out a survey at the premis-es of Jet Airways, the ministersaid once the investigation iscomplete, the necessary find-ings would be recorded byofficials concerned.

On the alleged moneysiphoning over �5,000 crore bythe airline's promoter NareshGoyal, he said that would be“subject matter of Sebi” but didnot elaborate on the issues.

Earlier this year, Sebisought information from JetAirways following a complaintof alleged fraudulent practices.

In May, the airlineinformed stock exchanges thatin April the regulator soughtviews of the statutory auditorsand the audit committee oncertain allegations.

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Insurance regulator Irdai hasraised the minimum insur-

ance cover for owner-driver to�15 lakh for a premium of �750per annum, a move to providesome succour to road accidentvictims.

Currently, the capital suminsured (CSI) under this sec-tion for motorised two-wheel-ers and private cars/commer-cial vehicles is �1 lakh and �2lakh, respectively.

However, a few generalinsurers have been offeringadd-on covers under packagepolicies with higher CSI overand above the stipulated onpayment of additional premi-um.

The regulator directed allgeneral insurers to provide aminimum CSl of �15 lakhunder Compulsory PersonalAccident (CPA) cover forowner-driver under LiabilityOnly to all classes of vehicles atthe premium rate of �750 perannum for annual policy.

This rate will be valid untilfurther notice, InsuranceRegulatory and DevelopmentAuthority of India (Irdai) saidin a circular.

“A higher CSI may be pro-

vided over and above�15,00,000 through OptionalCovers under Liability Onlyand under Section lll ofPackage Policies/ BundledCovers on payment of addi-tional premium at the option ofthe insured,” it said.

This move by the regulatorof enhancing the capital suminsured ofc CompulsoryPersonal Accident Cover forowner – driver to �15 lakh is astep in the right direction,Bajaj Allianz General InsuranceMD and CEO Tapan Singhelsaid.

“I believe it's important tohave an appropriate personalaccident cover, for an effectivefinancial support to the poli-cyholders and their familymembers if she/he is disabledor succumbs to injury due to anaccident. This will address theissue of underinsurance tosome extent. We as a companysupport and welcome thismove,” he added.

Insurers may start issuingsuch covers effective from thedate of receipt of this circulareven while ensuring that the fil-ing for these is done under Fileand Use Guidelines on orbefore October 25, 2018, thecircular added.

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Japanese imaging productsmajor Canon is expecting a

robust growth in India, one ofits top five markets for DSLRcameras, on account of itsentry into newer segments andintroduction of advanced tech-nologies, a top company offi-cial has said.

The company is exploringnew opportunities in businesssegments like security camerasthrough its group firm AxisCommunications and in healthsector with its range of diag-nostic medical imaging solu-tions.

“Canon Inc, Tokyo isexpecting very rapid growth ofthe Indian market in terms ofphotography backed by popu-lation growth and economicgrowth and future developmentof the photo industry. Ourexpectation to Indian market isquite significant,” YoshiyukiMizoguchi, Group Executive -

ICB Products Group, CanonInc, told.

Presently, India is amongtop five markets for Canonalong with the US, China,Japan and Germany.

Canon India, which is eye-ing a turnover of ��3,500crore in annual sales by FY2020, is expecting a sustainedgrowth in both B2B and B2Csegments.

According to CanonIndia President and CEOKazutada Kobayashi, thegroup is already present inthe rapidly growing securitycamera market throughgroup f irm AxisCommunications, which isgradually expanding its port-folio here.

“We are covering morehigh end products... Qualitywise, we are a leading player inthe world,” Kobayashi said.

Canon is also exploringopportunities in semiconduc-tor business in India.

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The United States hit aChinese military organisa-

tion with punishing financialsanctions for buying Russianfighter jets and missiles as itstepped up pressure onMoscow over its “malign activ-ities”. It was the first time theTrump administration target-ed a third country with itsCAATSA sanctions, designedto punish Russia for its seizureof Crimea and other activities.

The State Department saidit was applying the 2017 legis-lation against the EquipmentDevelopment Department ofthe Chinese Ministry of Defencefor its purchase of RussianSukhoi Su-35 fighter jets and S-400 surface-to-air missiles.

At the same time, the StateDepartment also announced itwas placing 33 Russian intelli-gence and military-linkedactors on its sanctions blacklistunder the CAATSA rules.

“The ultimate target ofthese sanctions is Russia,” asenior administration official

told journalists, insisting onanonymity. “CAATSA sanc-tions in this context are notintended to undermine thedefense capabilities of any par-ticular country. They are aimedat imposing costs on Russia inresponse to its malign activities.”

CAATSA, or theCountering America’sAdversaries Through SanctionsAct, was passed in 2017 as atool that gives the Trumpadministration more ways totarget Russia, Iran and NorthKorea with economic and polit-ical sanctions.

With regard to Russia,CAATSA arises from the coun-try’s “aggression in Ukraine,annexation of Crimea, cyberintrusions and attacks, inter-ference in the 2016 elections,and other malign activities,” theState Department said.

“We will continue to vigor-ously implement CAATSA andurge all countries to curtail rela-tionships with Russia’s defenseand intelligence sectors, both ofwhich are linked to malign activ-ities worldwide,” it said. The

senior official said EDD and itsdirector, Li Shangfu, were hitwith sanctions because of thepurchases made fromRosoboronexport, Russia’s mainarms export entity already on theCAATSA blacklist for its supportof the Assad regime in Syria.

The sanctions freeze any ofEDD’s and Li’s assets in USjurisdictions. They restrictEDD’s access to global financialmarkets by blocking foreignexchange transactions underUS jurisdiction or any transac-tions in the US financial system.

The Russians named forCAATSA blacklisting have allbeen named previously underother US sanctions regimes.They include private paramil-itary contractor PMC Wagner,and Russian Defense Ministryprocurement group Oboron-logistika, and KNAAP, Russia’slargest aircraft manufacturer.

They also include 25Russians and three Russiancompanies who were indictedover the past year by Russia col-lusion investigator RobertMueller for their involvement

in political meddling and hack-ing during the 2016 election.

In addition, the chief of theRussian military intelligence

body GRU, Igor Korobov, anddeputy chief Sergey Gizunov,

were also hit with the CAAT-SA sanctions.

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Abandoning his previousrestraint, President Donald

Trump challenged by namethe woman accusing hisSupreme Court nominee ofsexual assault on Friday, declar-ing that if the alleged attack wasso terrible she would havereported it to law enforcement.

Trump’s change in tone —and apparent shift in tactics —came as Christine Blasey Ford’slawyers negotiate with theSenate Judiciary Committeeon the terms for her possibletestimony next week in a dra-matic showdown over her accu-sation that threatens Judge BrettKavanaugh’s confirmation.

Trump tweeted, “I haveno doubt that, if the attack onDr. Ford was as bad as she says,charges would have beenimmediately filed with localLaw Enforcement Authoritiesby either her or her loving par-ents. I ask that she bring thosefilings forward so that we canlearn date, time, and place!”

The President previouslyhad avoided naming Ford orplainly casting doubt on heraccount. Ford allegesKavanaugh sexually assaultedher more than 30 years agowhen they were teenagers.Kavanaugh has denied the allegation.

The accusation has jarredthe 53-year-old conservativejurist’s prospects for winningconfirmation, which untilFord’s emergence last week

had seemed all but certain. Ithas also bloomed into a broad-er clash over whether womenalleging abuse are taken seri-ously by men and how bothpolitical parties address suchclaims with the advent of the#MeToo movement — a themethat could echo in thisNovember’s elections for con-trol of Congress.

In another tweet, Trump,who was in Las Vegas for var-ious events, wrote: “Judge BrettKavanaugh is a fine man, withan impeccable reputation, whois under assault by radical leftwing politicians who don’twant to know the answers,they just want to destroy anddelay. Facts don’t matter. I gothrough this with them everysingle day in D.C.”

Ford is willing to tell herstory — but only if agreementcan be reached on “terms thatare fair and which ensure hersafety,” her lawyer saidThursday. She said Ford needstime to make sure her family issecure, prepare her testimonyand travel to Washington.

Nairobi: The death toll in a ferrycapsize in Lake Victoria climbedto 126 on Friday, as Tanzanianrescue workers pressed on withthe search to find scores morepeople feared drowned.

The MV Nyerere may havebeen carrying as many as 200passengers — double the ferry’scapacity — when it capsizedclose to the pier on UkaraIsland on Thursday, accordingto reports on state media.

Witnesses reached by AFPsaid the ferry sank when pas-sengers rushed to one side todisembark as it approached

the dock. The death toll rose to126 by mid-afternoon Friday,according to Tanzania’s trans-port Minister.

“We are sad to report thereare 126 dead,” Isack Kamweletold state television, addingthat a further update would beprovided at 6pm local time.

Mwanza governor JohnMongella had earlier said thenumber of survivors was 40, butit was unclear whether any newsurvivors had been found sincerescue operations resumed withpolice and army divers onFriday morning. AFP

New York: In a first, US sci-entists have used stem cells togrow human oesophagus —known as the food pipe — inthe laboratory, an advance thatwill enable personalised disease diagnosis, regenerativetherapies.

A team from the CincinnatiChildren’s Hospital in Ohiosuccessfully generated fullyformed human oesophagealorganoids — tiny version of anorgan produced in vitro inthree dimensions — usingpluripotent stem cells (PSCs).

PSCs are master cells thatcan potentially produce any cellor tissue the body needs torepair itself. The oesophagealorganoids grew to a length ofabout 300-800 micrometres in

about two months. “Disorders of the oesoph-

agus and trachea are prevalentenough in people that organoidmodels of human oesophaguscould be greatly beneficial,”said lead investigator Jim Wells,from the hospital.

“In addition to being anew model to study birthdefects like oesophageal atresia,

the organoids can be used tostudy diseases likeoeosinophilic oesophagitis andBarrett’s metaplasia, or to bio-engineer genetically matchedoesophageal tissue for individ-ual patients,” he added.

In the study, published injournal Cell Stem Cell, teamfocused on the gene Sox2 andits associated protein — knownto trigger oesophageal condi-tions when their function isdisrupted.

The scientists used mice,frogs and human tissue culturesto identify other genes andmolecular pathways regulatedby Sox2 during oesophagusformation. During critical stagesof embryonic development, theSox2 gene blocks the program-

ming and action of geneticpathways that direct cells tobecome respiratory instead ofoesophageal. The Sox2 proteininhibits the signalling of a mol-ecule called Wnt and promotesthe formation and survival ofoesophageal tissues.

Conversely, absence of Sox2during development process inmice can result in oesophagealagenesis — a condition in whichoesophagus terminates in apouch and does not connect tostomach. Those tests showedbioengineered and biopsies tis-sues were strikingly similar incomposition, team said. Cinci-nnati Children’s scientists havepreviously used PSCs to bio-engineer human intestine, stom-ach, colon and liver. IANS

London: British PrimeMinister Theresa May onFriday issued the EuropeanUnion (EU) with an ultimatumto come up with an alternativeplan for Brexit and treat the UKwith respect in the negotiations.

Her televised statementfrom Downing Street cameafter a day of upheavals inSalzburg at Austria, duringwhich European Council HeadDonald Tusk announced thatthe UK’s Brexit plans wereunworkable.

May hit back at the EUleaders for rejecting her planwith no alternative at this “latestage of negotiations”, saying itwas “not acceptable”. “I will notoverturn the result of the ref-erendum nor will I break upmy country,” a defiant BritishPM said.

“Yesterday Donald Tusk

said our proposals wouldundermine the single mar-ket. He didn’t explain howin any detail or makeany counter-propos-al. So we are at animpasse,” she said.

Her statementfurther noted:“Throughout thisprocess I havetreated the EUwith nothing butrespect. The UKexpects thesame, a goodrelationship atthe end of thisprocess dependson it.

“At this late stagein the negotiations, itis not acceptable tosimply reject the otherside’s proposals without

a detailed explanationand counter proposals.

So we now need to hearfrom the EU whatthe real issues areand what theiralternative is sowe can discussthem. Until wedo, we cannotmake progress.”

She said thetwo sides werestill “a long wayapart” on twobig issues: thep o s t - B r e x i teconomic rela-t i o n s h i p

between the UKand EU, and the

“backstop” for theIrish border, if there isa delay in implement-

ing that relationship.

The two options beingoffered by the EU for the long-term relationship — for the UKto stay in the EuropeanEconomic Area and customsunion or a basic free tradeagreement — were not accept-able, she said. May said the firstoption would “make a mockeryof the referendum”, while thesecond would mean NorthernIreland would be “permanent-ly separated economically fromthe rest of the UK by a borderdown the Irish Sea.”

Reiterating her Brexit standof “no deal is better than a baddeal”, May said the best out-come would be to leave with adeal and the UK had put for-ward a third way — herChequers plan, which Tuskrejected on Thursday on theground that it would under-mine the single market. PTI

United Nations: PresidentDonald Trump will talk aboutprotecting US sovereignty,expanding relations with coun-tries that share similar valuesand call for a halt to the spreadof weapons of mass destructionduring next week’s gathering ofworld leaders at the UNGeneral Assembly, his topdiplomat to the UN has said.

Trump will participate in anumber of UN GeneralAssembly (UNGA) events andbilateral meetings fromSeptember 24-27. Trump willalso hold bilateral meetingswith Secretary General AntonioGuterres, President of GeneralAssembly María FernandaEspinosa Garces, leaders of

South Korea, Egypt, France,Israel, Japan and the UK.

Trump is “looking forwardto talking about the foreign pol-icy successes the US has had overthe last year and where we aregoing to go from here. He wantsto talk about protecting US sov-ereignty,” and expanding rela-tions with countries that sharesimilar values, US Ambassadorto the UN Nikki Haley said.

Haley cited the example ofUS decisions to exit UN’s GlobalMigration Compact and ParisClimate Change Accord, saying“all of these things that we felt likewere mandating things on theUS, those aren’t things we wantto be involved in. We really valuesovereignty of the country.”

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New York: While we havealways heard that sharing iscaring, a new study has shownthat an individual’s tendency tobe generous depends on howmuch people around him orher are sharing.

The findings showed it isnot that people, who like toshare, choose to live with thosehaving same habits. Rather, theyadapt their own sharing ten-dencies so as to match that of thegroup they currently live in.

In other words, sharing,being contagious, is driven bylocal group norms and behaviour and not individualgenerosity.

“We were surprised to find

that people do not have a sta-ble tendency to cooperate andare instead influenced by thosearound them,” said CorenApicella from the University ofPennsylvania.

“If you find yourself sur-rounded by selfish people, youdon’t necessarily have to find anew crowd, but by being gen-erous yourself, you can getothers to be generous as well,”added Kristopher Smith, from

the University of Pennsylvania.The study, published in

Current Biology, is based onHadza hunter-gatherer people inTanzania — also one of the lastpopulations left on the planet.

During the study, the teamvisited 56 camps in Tanzaniaover six years. They asked near-ly 400 Hadza adults to play pub-lic goods game where, insteadof money, they were asked toconsider sharing straws ofhoney, their favourite food.

Each person started withfour straws, which they couldput toward the whole group ornot. The honey straws con-tributed to the group gottripled. IANS

New York: Police say three infants and two adults werestabbed at an overnight day care centre in New YorkCity. All are in critical but stable condition. Authoritiessay the stabbings happened just before 4 am Friday ata home in Queens. They said a three-day-old girl anda one-month-old girl were stabbed in the abdomen,and a 20-day-old girl suffered cuts to her ear, chin andlip. Police said the father of a child at the centre and awoman who worked there were also stabbed.

A 52-year-old woman was found in the base-ment of the home in the Flushing neighbourhood.Police say she had slashed her own wrist and is incustody at a hospital. Police say a butcher knife andmeat cleaver were found at the scene. A motive has-n’t been determined. It isn’t clear whether the daycare center was licensed. AP

Jakarta: Dozens of Indonesianswho served jail time for cor-ruption are set to run for pub-lic office, the country’s electoralagency said Friday, as theworld’s largest Muslim-major-ity nation kicks off campaign-ing at the weekend.

The ex-convicts are amongmore than 8,000 people vyingfor seats in parliament andregional councils with 186 mil-lion registered voters eligible tocast a ballot in national polls onApril 17.

Election campaigningstarts from Sunday. Indonesiais riddled with corruption at alllevels of society and its House

of Representatives is widelyviewed as one of its most graft-riddled institutions.

However, the SupremeCourt ruled last week that 38people previously convicted ofgraft could run for office,despite their criminal records.The decision came afterIndonesia’s electoral agencytried to block their eligibility.

“We were actually againstthis, but since the SupremeCourt gave them the green lightto run, there’s nothing we cando,” General ElectionsCommission head AriefBudiman told AFP on Friday.

AFP

Canberra: Australian scien-tists said on Friday they havedeveloped a nano-filter that canclean contaminated water 100times faster than the currenttechnology, pointing to betteraccess to the crucial resourceworldwide.

The filter removes oils andheavy metals including leadfrom water via an alloy thatcombines gallium-based liquidmetals with aluminium, help-ing to absorb the contami-nants with aluminium oxidecompounds, RMIT Universitysaid in a statement about theinnovation that also involved

researchers from the Universityof New South Wales, reportsXinhua news agency.

Water contaminationremains a significant challengeglobally, with one in nine peo-ple without access to cleanwater close to home, and heavymetal contamination “causesserious healthproblems and chil-dren are particu-larly vulnerable”,RMIT researcherAli Zavabeti said.

“Our newnano-filter is sus-tainable, environ-

mentally-friendly, scalable andlow cost,” said Zavabeti, whoseteam’s findings were publishedin the Advanced FunctionalMaterials scientific journal.

“Previous research hasalready shown the materials weused are effective in absorbingcontaminants like mercury,

sulphates and phos-phates.

“With further devel-opment and commercialsupport, this new nano-filter could be a cheapand ultra-fast solutionto the problem of dirtywater.” IANS

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Moscow: The US’ latest batchof sanctions targeting Russianbusinesses and China under-mine global stability and areakin to playing with fire, offi-cials here said on Friday.

Deputy Foreign MinisterSergei Ryabkov’s commentscame after Washington onThursday imposed a new batchof sanctions, hitting 33 ofRussia’s most high-profile cit-izens with ties to the Kremlin.

Ryabkov said the sanc-tions were aimed at Russiandefence organisations, politi-cians and businessmen.

“It would be good forthem to recall the notion ofglobal stability, which theyrecklessly upset by whippingup tensions in Russian-US

relations,” Ryabkov said in astatement cited by TASS newsagency. “It’s foolish to playwith fire, because things couldget dangerous.”

“We’ve been keeping aclose eye on how the USapplies it sanctions against ourcountry. This seems to haveturned into some sort ofnational sport, with yester-day’s anti-Russian measuresbecoming the 60th since 2011.

“Every new round ofsanctions shows that ourenemy’s previous attempts topressure Russia have failed toyield any result. Numerous USblacklists duplicate each othermore and more. That’s funny,but this is true,” the ministersaid. IANS

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Beijing: An “outraged” Chinaon Friday lodged a diplomat-ic protest with the US forimposing punitive sanctionson its military unit for buyingRussian weapons, warning of“consequences” if the sanc-tions are not revoked.

The US State Departmentsaid on Thursday that the pur-chases of Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets and S-400 sur-face-to-air missiles by China’sEquipment DevelopmentDepartment (EDD) of China’sMinistry of Defence violatedUS sanctions on Russia.

Both the EDD and itsdirector, Li Shangfu, havebeen named in Thursday’ssanctions. It is the first timethe Trump administration

targeted a third country withits Countering America’sAdversaries ThroughSanctions Act of 2017 (CAAT-SA), designed to punishRussia for its seizure ofCrimea and other activities.

Reacting to the US move,Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Geng Shuang said,“China is strongly outraged bythis unreasonable action of theUS and lodged stern repre-sentations”.

“What the US has donegravely violated the basisnorms governing the inter-national relations and harmedthe state-to-state and military-to-military relations betweenthe two sides,” he said.

PTI

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She’s sitting pretty on the success of Streeand is looking forward to Batti Gul

Meter Chalu. She hardly cares for the lowsin between and is still gushy about savour-ing a gulaab jamun. And disregarding thegrammar of public appearances, she choos-es to have one then and there. But thenShraddha Kapoor sparkles only because sheis easy-going and enjoys her work in themoment. “I’ve never focussed on results. Hitsand misses are not in your hands. When amovie succeeds, it feels great. At the sametime, I can’t be complacent about it. I thinkit was really difficult when my first two filmsdidn’t do well. Even after that it was nevera cake walk and that’s when I understood thatone should not be dependent on how amovie turns out. One should only focus onhow hard you work and how best you canbe at what you’re doing. Take every chanceyou get in life. I find it shocking yet amaz-ing that Stree has become a blockbuster,” theactor told us.Playing the happy-go-lucky Nauti in BattiGul Meter Chalu, the 31-year-old actor saidshe is glad it comes after Stree. “There wassome kind of mystery which was created formy character. For Nauti, there is no such typeof mystery. She is very vocal and a fun per-son to be with. I think it’s so fascinating thatwith each film, you get to play a differentcharacter and I had a great time playingNauti,” the actress said. Shraddha, who is upfor experimenting with all genres and roles,said, “As an actor, I want to try all kinds ofroles. I do not want to be boxed in even ifit means taking risks. My whole idea is toactually to get out of my comfort zone andmake a determined effort. I want to be a part

of really memorable films.”Each film has its own difficulties,

challenges, preparations, anddemands. The actor said that shewouldn’t classify things like, “thatfilm would be easier or this filmwould be more difficult.” Shewants to keep improving herselfand wants to do better than shewas doing yesterday. She wantsto put her best foot forward.

Shraddha, daughter ofShakti Kapoor, who is betterknown for his villainous andcomic roles in Bollywood, saidthat family references didn’twork for her at all. “I had toaudition everytime and havealso faced so much rejection. Ihave not actually had a quintes-sential star kid debut. I had toearn my part,” added she.

And for somebody who hasgotten linked to co-stars andindustrywallahs consistently,she feels each is to his own. “Ifeel that our society is evolving.Nowadays so many people aregetting married in their lateryears. Living in is legal even inIndia. One must do whatevermakes one happy and notsubscribe to anybody’s expec-tations.”

As for her co-actor ShahidKapoor with whom she hasdone her second film, shesays, “It’s really nice to beback again. When youknow someone, there’s acomfort zone that comesin, and he’s a fantasticactor, sincere and giveshis everything to what-ever he does. It wasreally nice workingwith him again,”Shraddha shared.

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Anushka Sharma and Varun Dhawan’scamaraderie is there for everyone to

see. The champion actors have also becomefriends while working on the much await-ed Sui Dhaaga - Made in India. Anushkaand Varun travelled to Kolkata for the pro-motions and Anushka surprised Varun bygifting him sweets from her favourite sweetshop in the city. Naturally Varun wasthrilled.

“Anushka loves Bengali sweets and shealways orders from a particular shop spe-cialising in traditional and gourmet Bengaliconfectionaries. She bought rabdi, bakedrasgulla and other traditional sweets forVarun and personally gifted him. Anushkahas been fond of Varun for the profession-al actor and co-star that he is and wantedto give this as a sweet gesture to him. Varunwas thrilled with Anushka’s gift and feast-ed on them. He thanked Anushka for thesweets and the amazing co-star and friendthat she has become,” says a source fromthe event team in Kolkata.

Sui Dhaaga - Made in India is set torelease on September 28.

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Grammy and Oscar winningcomposer A.R. Rahman,

along with celebrated lyricist-poet Gulzar, has created theofficial song for Odisha HockeyMen's World CupBhubaneswar 2018.

The Odisha governmentroped in Rahman for compos-ing the song titled "Jai hindhind, jai India", which ispenned by Gulzar.

"Nothing says India morethan our beloved sport hock-ey. And nothing is more excit-ing than the world's biggesthockey tournament happeningright here, on our turf,"Rahman said in a statement.

"It's heart-warming to seethe entire nation pledge theirheartbeats for hockey. As anextension of pledging ourheartbeats, Gulzar sahab and Ihave created the World Cupsong. A song that will exciteand inspire, as also get you onyour feet,” added the musicmaestro.

Odisha Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik said: “We aredelighted to have Rahmancompose the song for theOdisha Hockey World Cup. Itwill be an honour to have himperform live in Bhubaneswar.He is the voice of India andnow with this song, the voice

of India is the voice of theworld cup.

“We are also fortunate tohave Gulzar sahab add his

poetic magic to the composi-tion. Coming together of thesetwo legends will not onlyinspire the players but willalso get the entire nationtogether to support this won-derful game unfolding inOdisha at the world cup.”

The fourteenth edition ofthe prestigious hockey compe-tition is scheduled to takeplace from November 28 toDecember 16.

Rahman is also directingthe song's video, which will beshot across the hockey heart-lands of India. The song is setto release at the KalingaStadium inauguration sched-uled for early October. Rahmanwill also perform it live at theopening ceremony onNovember 27.

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Gone are the bright orange, skin-tighttrousers, multi-coloured shirts andblazers that were inspired by the

hues of the sun. Dressed in a formal blackthree-piece, the only hint of the flashyGovinda of yore are the shiny, black, point-ed shoes that have a self pattern consist-ing of squares. And there is a markedchange in the man. One can see the exas-peration in his face when he realises thathaving spoken non-stop for three hours,he would need to continue the exercise forat least another half-an-hour. However,the irritation does not filter down to hisattitude – a far cry from the tales oftantrums and unprofessional behaviourthat was whispered about earlier.

The actor is straightforward, greets youwarmly with a something special for eachindividual and is philosophical about histake on life in the industry and outside.“You are a very good soul,” he announcesjust as I begin to settle down. The pro-nouncement, he says, was prompted by thefact that he had eyed me patiently waitingmy turn on the side.

The Virar ka Chokra, as he was pop-ularly referred to at one time, has travelleda long distance from his humble originsand tough times while reinventing himselfoften – from an action hero to a roman-tic to one with impeccable comic timing– the last being where he found his mojo.And he credits it all to his mother. “She toldme that you can’t fashion idols from dryearth and that thought worked. The wetearth is connected to nature. If you con-nect your art to nature, you can find a lotof new characters. You can see heroesaround you and you feel that it would beamazing to see them on the silver screen.If you close your fist or your mind, youcan’t express yourself. If you close your ear,then you can’t say the truth. To begin withwe need to open our minds, hearts,thoughts and keep the doors open,” saysthe actor philosophically, looking out inthe direction as if trying to recall a longforgotten story.

The actor, who with his string of come-dies – Raja Babu, Coolie No 1, Hero no 1,Partner, Saajan Chale Sasuraal and more— was at one time practically considereda stress-buster by corporate India. “If I amthe source of entertaining people and tak-ing away their stress, I don’t mind. But asfar as a tag is concerned, it can change ifsomeone does a strong film that compelspeople to accept them in a role. AkshayKumar was a fighting hero, then he start-ed doing comedies and now he hasrebranded himself as someone who doesnationalistic films,” he explains.

An actor, who had a phenomenal 14releases in 1989, 11 in 1988, nine in 1990and 1994, seven in 1997, six each in 1992,1995, 1998, 2000, most of which wereblockbusters or close to it, Govinda has notbeen seen very often. His last outing anaction film, Aa Gaya Hero, in 2017 failedto create much of an impact on the box

office. So it is with two comedies, RangeelRaja and Fry Day, a genre that he is bestknown for, that Govinda returns to the bigscreen. “These are family entertainers butat the same time they are tied to love andhave an element of comedy. They will con-vey many messages in a funny manner.They will definitely have an indirectly seri-ous side to it. Unlike the comedy in con-temporary films, which is very direct, thisis more subtle. Mujhe shobha nahin detawoh,” says the 53-year-old who likesRanvir Singh among the newer lot for hiscomic timing and acting.

Besides comedy, it was his flair fordancing with gay abandon that setGovinda apart from the other heroes.Recalling the video of a university profes-sor who was imitating his steps at a mar-riage, he chuckles. “He was dancing withhis family during a marriage without a cluethat it would become viral. Of the peoplewho imitate me including actors, hecomes the closest. Pahunche huen baaphain woh,” he says with a laugh which isreminiscent of the many films that he hasacted in.

That’s the effect he has had on peoplewith his laugh-out-do-it-loud demeanour.A warmth which translated into a genialworkspace where he worked with severalhit jodis whether it was his pairing withShakti Kapoor in 42 films “which madepeople roll with laughter”, Kader Khan (41films) or his heroines like Neelam and

Karishma Kapoor (10 each). But did anyof his friendships extend beyond themovies? Whatever was written aboutthen, Govinda has now detached himselffrom all the speculation over his equationswith people, men or women. “I couldn’tunderstand the system of friendship —

vidhi, taur tariqe nahin samajh me nahinaate (I do not understand the rulebook ofsocial grace and manners). I just keptworking. I couldn’t afford time for culti-vating relationships. Everyone in my fam-ily was struggling at that time. How we

could move ahead in life was the strugglethat I was faced with. We were trying toextricate ourselves from the tough times.So I had no time. My mother had mademe promise at a very young age when I was13 that I could not get tired or use badwords for anyone. That’s all I did and do,”he says, dispelling doubts that he hadregrets in an industry considered punish-ing if you fell from its grace.

Another place where he briefly dab-bled and then made a quiet exit was pol-itics. He contested elections against RamNaik who was considered invincible andwon the Lok Sabha seat in 2004. “The waypolitics works, you should continue in itonly if you understand it well. There isalways action and reaction there. Oneshould stay away if one does not have thecourage to tolerate things. At that time,mummy had passed away and I was thefather figure of a family where everyonewas very young. I did not want to imposemy burden on the others. If I had contin-ued to do that, it would have been very self-ish for they were suffering because of meand the environment,” says the actor.

His closeness to his family, especiallyto his mother, who he invokes several timesduring the course of the conversation, isapparent. “She is divine. She kept the fam-ily together she sacrificed her entire life forthe family.” And he does not forget hisjourney, which was tougher as comparedto youngsters today. “Now they can show-case their talent even through mobiles.There are more options available. There isno need for films or even Doordarshan toshow that they can act like that or I looklike this. Earlier we used to spend hoursoutside a producer’s office and then youhad to dance in their office. Then theylooked you up and down and told us tolose weight. Now the world’s best faciltiesare available on the phone. You have thetheatre in your palm and can watch themovie as many times as you want. WhenI was young, just to watch a movie, dandekhaane padte the. Ram Ram,” he guffaws.

But there are other places too that havewitnessed a change, content for instance.“It is very nice. With the web, a new medi-um has been found where you can followyour heart. The content is extremelymodern and westernised. It will cut downthe political part of the art,” he says as hesigns off.

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The Partition of 1947 wasn’t just a passing eventin the history of India and Pakistan. It is a mem-ory that is still fresh in the conscience of those

who had witnessed it. And for those who haven’t, therehave been a number of stories and documentaries thattell the tales of that brutal period.

Writer Saadat Hasan Manto’s stories are amongthose that remind the people of the two nations aboutthe struggles of those times.

It took Nandita six years to complete Manto, andfinally get it on the screens. But what is it that took solong? “Now when I watch it again I feel even more thanthis could have also been done,” she says. “When youhave to dig deep like this, you need time to bring allthe fine details to the fore. I wanted to be true andauthentic to today’s period. I wrote many drafts andtook help from many people,” she says.

She created a Lahore in India and searching forlocales that fit the bill was a difficult process. “It hasall been very challenging but also enriching. I believethat Manto is not just a film but an ideology. We cansee whatever is happening around the world and thatwe are being divided on the basis of caste, religion, gen-der and nationality. And Manto through his stories hadalready depicted such discrimination and issues whichwe have been increasingly forgetting today. This wasmy reason for making the film,” says the filmmaker.

Addressing the issues of today through the film, thesubject of which is as relevant in the contemporaryworld as it was in post 1947 India, was the “right thingto do instead of being didactic and polarising about it.”

There were nervousness and second thoughtsabout making a film on such a controversial characteras Manto but Nandita believes, “Controversy is just aterm. He wasn’t a ‘controversial’ character, he was justahead of his time. Today there are journalists and artistslike us, who also feel a bit scared about hurting senti-ments while expressing themselves. We make sure thatwe don’t step on someone’s shoes or offend somebody.Various kinds of censorships have emerged todayincluding self-censorship. People have stopped speak-ing what they feel. But in an era like the 1940s, Mantowas a person unafraid and ‘bebaak’ who didn’t thinktwice to fight for the truth and he wasn’t even a jour-nalist or activist. He was a writer and for him, therewas no difference between passion, work and life. Whatyou believe in is what you do.”

Nandita feels that celebrating such people is veryimportant as is bringing them back into people’s mindsto make people realise that such an inspirational char-acter existed and that ‘itna darr darr ke jeene ka koi mat-lab nahi hai’ (no point of living with fear).”

As inspiring as the subject of the film is, it wasimportant to be made by someone who didn’t put himon a pedestal and instead treated him like a humanbeing with flaws and insecurities. A realist himself, hewouldn’t have wanted to be shown in a glorified light,the director believes.

Talking about religion and caste, how do such filmsbring about a change in people’s mindsets?

“Films don’t create any revolution. We are influ-enced by all the things we are surrounded by, books weread, films we watch, people we meet, and experiencesthat we have witnessed. All such things slowly getabsorbed in us and then we are able to understand theworld around us. Hence, my core values must be thesame since the last 30 years but I am not the same per-son as I was 30 years ago. Why am I changing after all?Because of all these experiences that I’m gaining. I havebeen impacted by quite a number of films. But this does-n’t mean that it will make the whole world changeovernight,” says she.

It was back in 2012 that she felt that a film on Mantohas to be made. She says, “I started reading about it in

2012 — Manto’s stories and works. I felt that ‘Wow...what a person he was.’ He hails from such an old era,but through his words it feels like he’s talking abouttoday. His approach was so modern. When I startedresearching I felt ki iss insaan par toh ek film zaroor bann

ni chahiye, (a film should definitely be created on sucha person). Co-incidently, I received an invite for someevent in 2013 from Lahore and I felt this could be greatchance to meet the family of Manto in Pakistan.”

His family has been supporting her since 2013 tomake the film. She met them and discovered that hisdaughters, who were very young then didn’t remem-ber much. It was Razia, Manto’s sister-in-law, who toldher a number of things which she felt she “couldn’t havehad found in any other book or story even though Iread a number of them written by him. I wanted toknow more about their relationship and Safia, Manto’swife’s, as well.”

Despite the support from his family, the directorwas nervous when screening the film for them. “Whenthis film was shown here for the first time, I really want-ed to invite the family and show them what their par-ents were. I was really nervous because it’s a very per-sonal thing for them as also the movie shows Mantoin a very grey character. As a child, it is difficult tounderstand your parents and their relationship. I hadsent them the script because I didn’t want any false fac-tual elements. Also there is a huge problem betweenboth the countries in terms of getting a visa but to mysurprise, the authorities have also been very helpful,”she says.

Two of Manto’s daughters, the husband of theyoungest daughter, and another person called SaeedAhmed, who had helped her through the years viaemails and calls had come for the screening. When allthe four of them came out of the theatre, Nandita was“relieved to see their expressions.” The middle daugh-ter had almost broke down. It was a “moving experi-ence” for her.

In this age of biopics, sports films or even filmsbased on historical events, Bollywood is increasinglyshifting towards realism. “Suddenly biographies havebecome the flavour of the season,” she says. “When in2012 I started working on the film, it wasn’t the same.Honestly, I wasn’t even thinking of it as a biopic. Mymind just had Manto, the idea not the person. We wantto spread the Manto revolution through this film. It isnot really a biopic. He was a well-known writer and per-sonality. People waited for his columns and essays. Itis a journey of a writer through those times and howthe world viewed such people. Even today there aremany Mantos alive, they just don’t get enough recog-nition. Some of them might be killed, or in jail or musthave been silenced and we don’t even know. This is toremind that there have been people who spoke theirminds — fearlessly, unstoppably. For us they have keptthat freedom and democracy alive,” she says.

Recreating someone’s story and bringing them aliveagain involves the efforts of a number of people. Didshe also encounter in her journey some people whowere not related to Manto in any way but had knownhim? The answer is yes, she did. She shares, “I metIntezaar Husain, who was a writer at that time. I methim in Lahore. He passed away recently. He told mesome fun anecdotes about Manto, which his family had-n’t known about. Meeting people is just a part of gain-ing knowledge but at the end of the day it is all inter-nalised and it is my subjective interpretation of the wayI have imagined his world.”

Indeed, since Manto has penned a number of bio-graphical sketches, poems, more than 300 short stories,and radio commentaries, going through that materialand combining it in a 120-minute film was definitelyan arduous process.

Celebrities including Rekha, Imtiaz Ali, DeeptiNaval, Shabana Azmi and others attended a specialscreening of the film starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui asthe Indo-Pakistani, Urdu author Saadat Hasan Manto.

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Actor Abhishek Bachchan hasdefended the decision of the

makers to delete three scenes fromhis latest Manmarziyaan and said thesequences did not impact the storyanyway.

The scenes in question featuringAbhishek and Taapsee Pannu smok-ing had upset a certain section of theSikh community, following whichthey were omitted from the film.

When asked about the issue,Abhishek said, “Each individual isallowed to react the way they have,and they want to. It’s their person-al opinion. For me, it’s not a bigdeal. My film isn’t about anyonesmoking, I have no problem cut-ting that out if someone has takenobjection to it.”

The actor stressed that theintention of the makers wasnot to hurt anyone.

“The intention of the mak-ers is not to upset any commu-nity or ruffle any feathers. Wejust wanted to make a nice love

story and that’s what the film isabout. If by cutting out one or twoshots if it’s going to placate someoneand make them feel better, I’ve noproblem doing that.”

Abhishek was in conversationwith journalist Mayank Shekhar atthe Jagran Cinema Summit here.

When asked if the move sets abad precedent, the actor said one hasto look at the issue in totality.

“You have to look at why andwho is objecting, what’s the purposebehind the objection. If that’s gen-uine, look into it genuinely andaddress it... You need to ask who’sthe loser here? In the situation likewe are in right now, it’s theexhibitors.”

The actor said so many peopledown the cinema chain wouldstand to lose money if one sat ontheir “ego” over certain scenes.

“If there is an objection or aprotest, a cinema hall might getvandalised, shows of the exhibitorsmight get cancelled and that personis going to lose money. If you say it’sa bad precedent, please underwrite allthe loses that people down the chainare going to face. I’ll stand by you.

“That’s my industry as well andI’ve got to think about that. Thoseone or two shots aren’t going tochange the story, so take it out. If it’schanging the narrative or the reasonwhy I’m making the film, then no.Like in ‘Udta Punjab’... But here, I’mnot going to sit on my ego for threebasic shots, which might affect theexhibitors.”

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While we have always heard that sharing is car-ing, a new study has shown that an individual’s

tendency to be generous depends on how much peo-ple around him or her are sharing. The findingsshowed it is not that people, who like to share, chooseto live with those having same habits. Rather, theyadapt their own sharing tendencies so as to match thatof the group they currently live in. In other words,sharing, being contagious, is driven by local groupnorms and behaviour and not individual generosity.

“We were surprised to find that people do nothave a stable tendency to cooperate and are insteadinfluenced by those around them,” said CorenApicella, University of Pennsylvania.

“If you find yourself surrounded by selfish peo-ple, you don’t necessarily have to find a new crowd,but by being generous yourself, you can get others tobe generous as well,” added Kristopher Smith, fromthe University of Pennsylvania. The study, publishedin Current Biology, is based on Hadza hunter-gath-erer people in Tanzania — also one of the last pop-ulations left on the planet. During the study, the teamvisited 56 camps in Tanzania over six years. Theyasked nearly 400 Hadza adults to play public goodsgame where, instead of money, they were asked to con-sider sharing straws of honey, their favourite food.

Each person started with four straws, which theycould put toward the whole group or not. The honeystraws contributed to the group got tripled.

The results revealed that Hadza individuals liv-ing in certain camps were consistently more gener-ous than others were. Moreover, individuals behaveddifferently over time, modifying their behaviour tomatch the norms of the camp they were currently liv-ing in.

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Whisky has this incorrect, outdat-ed and old fashioned image of

being consumed by lanky old men andpurists in cigar rooms. Instead thedrink is being consumed by well-trav-elled millennials of all genders.Exposure to different cultures andinformation is the key reason for theway the younger generation is drink-ing this alcohol, assumed to go bestwith ice and water, in cocktails too. Inthe US, women now make up to 37 percent of consumers and almost a thirdof whisky drinkers in the UK. Even inIndia, women have shown a rise in theconsumption of the alcohol, be it in theform of a cocktail or on its own.

You don’t really have to be well-travelled as access to global cultures,eating habits and drinking trends arenow so easily available on the internetfor us to play around with. The priv-ilege of having information hasexposed millennials to trends fromaround the globe and it would be cor-rect to say that we are now more exper-imental with our choice of what goesinto our bellies. We in India are nowopening up to drinking whisky incocktails, mixers like apple juice andginger ale which was not the case justa decade ago. This is definitely encour-aging.

While hosting a tasting event at agolf club in India, I introduced theGrant’s & Ginger Ale cocktail to vet-eran whisky drinkers only to find thempleasantly surprised. None of them hadtried it before as most of them enjoyedtheir whisky with water and ice. NowI’m not saying that is not the correctway of drinking whisky but theirreaction and surprise on how wellwhisky goes with ginger ale was just asrefreshing as the drink itself.

A crucial reason why the alcoholis being experimented with is alsobecause the consumers are more dis-cerning and open to experimentationwith their food and drink choices.Access to different cultures has openedup people to variety, be it in theirchoice of fashion, living standard ordrinks and food.

You go to any bar in India and youwill see an equal number of whiskycocktails being served along with

vodka and gin.It is a base spirit with a wide range

of flavours that makes it possible topair it before, with and after dinner aswell. Depending on where the whiskycomes from, it can have a flavour pro-file, ranging from sweet to spicy toearthy smoky notes.

It goes well with seafood, cheese,

chocolates, sushi and a varied range ofIndian delicacies. For instance, whiskywith just a few drops of water, goesvery well with a lot of tandoori foodas it balances the smokiness and acid-ity extremely well.

������������������Whisky is produced all over

Scotland but most of the brands thatwe see at bars come from four majorwhisky-producing regions - TheHighlands, Speyside, Islay and TheLowlands. Each region produces a dif-ferent style and character of whisky.

Speyside, which is the undisputedcentre for Scottish whisky, has fruityand sweet characteristics. Think of

icons like Glenfiddich which isrenowned all over the world for itspear, apple and toffee notes.

Highland whiskies are more full-bodied, nutty and spicy in character.This is a big whisky-producing region,so there is a range of varietals. Thinkof notes of honey, spice and heather.If you go to northern Highlands you’revery likely to find whiskies whichwould give you lovely top notes of peatbut an underlying oakiness and fruiti-ness to your whisky.

Lowlands are not one of the biggestwhisky producing regions in Scotlandbut produce a unique type. Most arevery easy on the palate.

Think of the elegant floral noteswith a balance of citrus, honey andcereal topped up with a very smoothand mellow finish.

Islay: Often the victim of incorrectpronunciation, it is actually pro-nounced as ‘eye-lah.’ Peat is the char-acteristic of this beautiful part on thewest of Scotland. Islay malts are morepungent, heavily peated compared toyour speyside or highland whiskieswith notes of smoke, brine, and hintof seal salt that intrigues your palate.

There is no set way of drinkingwhisky and I encourage people toenjoy it the way they like, especially ina cocktail or a mixer like Ginger Aleand Apple. For me, it is the most ver-satile hard drink out there that offersa wide range of flavours. Balancing theflavours with the right mixture in acocktail can make the varied notesstand out.

My cocktail choice depends uponthe time of the day, the occasion andthe place I am at. If I’m home just ona day-off relaxing with my friends, wemake sure we buy some ginger alefrom the local shop and it’s time forG&Gs (Grant’s & Ginger ale) oversome ice.

It really is a great afternoon-evening drink to beat the hot andhumid conditions and best enjoyedwith friends because it is so simple tomake and yet so delicious. If at a barpost 11 pm (which does happen fre-quently with my kind of job), I love myGrant’s old fashioned or a Grant’sBlood and Sand.

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Chelsea maintained its perfect start to theseason when Brazil forward Willianscored in a 1-0 Europa League victory at

PAOK Thessaloniki on Thursday.Two goals from Ever Banega and Wissam

Ben Yedder led Sevilla, the most successful teamin Europa League history, to a 5-1 thrashing ofStandard Liege while Eintracht Frankfurt openedits campaign by upsetting Marseille 2-1.

Arsenal, with former Sevilla coach UnaiEmery now in charge, defeated Ukraine's Vorskla4-2 thanks to a double from Pierre-Emerick

Aubameyang and AC Milan edged pastDudelange of Luxembourg 1-0.

Sitting atop the PremierLeague with five wins from five

games, Chelsea rested EdenHazard after the Belgiumplaymaker registered a hattrick in a 4-1 win againstCardiff on Saturday.

Chelsea managerMaurizio Sarri made fivechanges to his startingline-up against PAOK andhis dominant teamshould have scored ahatful of goals.

The out-of-formAlvaro Morata wastedseveral chances aftercaptain Willian hadfinished off a speedycounter-attack inthe seventh minutefollowing goodwork from RossBarkley.

"We playedvery well, were incontrol of thematch, and itwould have beendifficult for any-body to playagainst us this

evening," Sarrisaid.

Also in GroupL, BATE Borisov of

Belarus won 2-0 atHungary's Vidi.

�������������Sevilla shook off two recent defeats to

rout Standard Liege 5-1 in its opening

group-stage match of the EuropaLeague football championship.

Back in action in a tournamentthey have won five times, theAndalusians on Thursday seized con-trol from the outset at Ramon SanchezPizjuan Stadium and opened the scor-ing in the eighth minute on a curvingfree kick by Ever Banega into the top-right corner of the goal.

But Sevilla's intensity droppedafter French midfielder IbrahimAmadou left the game with an injuryin the 15th minute, ceding territoryand giving up the equalizer in the 39thminute on a goal by Malian midfielderMoussa Djenepo.

The home side, however,responded with two scores on eitherside of halftime.

Franco Vazquez fired a left-foot-ed blast off the upright and into thegoal in the 41st minute before WissamBen Yedder, who tallied 10 goals forSevilla in last-season's ChampionsLeague, scored on a cross fromBrazilian defender Guilherme Aranain the 49th minute.

Ben Yedder then made the score4-1 in the 70th minute when he scoredafter Banega had gained possession of

the ball deep in Standard Liege's ter-ritory.

Banega then became the secondSevilla player to score a brace in the74th minute when he converted apenalty that had been awarded for afoul by Zinho Vanheusden onVazquez.

����,����D�%��Aubameyang opened

the scoring for Arsenalagainst Vorskla in the 32ndminute when he convertedan Alex Iwobi cross.

Danny Welbeck head-ed in a center fromHenrikh Mkhitar yanbefore Aubameyang madeit 3-0 with a precise shotfrom outside the area.

Substitute Mesut Ozil added thefourth goal from close range butVorskla reduced the arrears thanks tocaptain Volodymyr Chesnakov andVyacheslav Sharpar.

For Emery, the Europa League isfamiliar territory, after he guidedSevilla to its three straight titles ear-lier this decade.

Also in Group E, Sporting Lisbon

scored twice in the second half to sinkQarabag 2-0.

�������������It was a case of David vs Goliath

when seven-time European champi-on Milan took on Dudelange, the firstteam from Luxembourg to reach theEuropa League group stage.

Dudelange did well to keep outMilan until Gonzalo Higuain struckthe only goal of the game in the 59thminute.

Also in Group F, Olympiakosand Betis drew 0-0.

�������������������Substitute Luka Jovic struck one

minute from time as German Cupwinner Eintracht Frankfurt cameback from a goal down to defeat lastyear's Europa League runner-upMarseille 2-1 in a game played behindclosed doors in France.

Marseille went ahead in the thirdminute at the Stade Velodrome asFlorian Thauvin crossed from theright for Lucas Ocampos to score.

Frankfurt equalized in the secondhalf through Lucas Torro beforeJovic's late winner.

In the other Group H match,Lazio defeated Apollon 2-1.

������,��Rangers, managed by for-

mer England midfielderSteven Gerrard, recoveredfrom conceding a first-minute goal to draw 2-2 atVil larreal, while RapidVienna beat Spartak Moscow2-0 in the other Group Ggame.

In Group I, Genk defeat-ed Malmo 2-0 and Besiktaseased past newcomer

Sarpsborg 3-1.In Group A, Bayer Leverkusen

rallied from two goals down to win 3-2 at Ludogorets Razgrad in Bulgaria.

In a matchup between the cham-pions of Scotland and Norway, Celticbeat Rosenborg 1-0. Also in Group B,Fredrik Gulbrandsen scored a minutebefore the end to give last year's semi-finalist Salzburg a 3-2 victory atLeipzig.

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Top shuttlers P V Sindhu andKidambi Srikanth lost their quar-

terfinal matches on Friday, drawingthe curtains on India's campaign atthe one million dollar China OpenBWF World Tour Super 1000 tour-nament here.

After Srikanth was ousted 9-21,11-21 by reigning world championKento Momota of Japan, third seedSindhu went down fighting 11-21,21-11, 15-21 to World No 6 ChenYufei of China in a hard-fought con-test, which lasted 52 minutes.

Sindhu had beaten the 20-year-old Chen four times in their last sixmeetings but on Friday she couldn'tcurb her errors or find a way to breakher opponent's superior game plan.

In the opening game, Chenopened up a 6-3 lead. The Chineseproduced some stunning strokes tograb a 11-5 lead with a powerfulreturn which the Indian had noanswers.

After the break, Sindhu took twopoints but there was a weak returnat the net and another stroke wentout. Sindhu's errors, coupled withChen's superb placements, saw theChinese move to 15-7.

Chen dictated the pace andpunished any error from the Indian,who went out a few times. Eventuallythe Chinese sealed the game with asharp smash.

After the change of ends, Sindhutried to engage her opponent in ral-lies by varying the pace and itworked, as she led 6-1.

However, mental fatigue seemedto affect her judgements as Chenshowed good reflexes and unleashedquick and precise strokes to narrowthe lead to 5-6.

Chen shot a few shots wide,allowing Sindhu to make it 10-6. Butshe twice hit the net before a thun-derous smash earned her a 11-8

advantage at the break.The Indian extended the lead to

15-10. She tried to boost herself bycelebrating each point and eventu-ally roared back to contest when herrival hit long again.

In the decider, Chen stepped upthe pace after an initial burst ofpoints from Sindhu to lead 7-4. Chenmaintained the three-point advan-tage at the breather.

Chen returned with a barrage ofstrokes on Sindhu's backhand and,aided by the Indian's errors, movedto a 14-8 lead.

Sindhu showed signs of recovery,pocketing four straight points, whichincluded a crucial video referral, butshe hit wide again as the score read16-12 in Chen's favour.

In the end, Sindhu hit a long shotfollowed by a return at the net, giv-ing Chen five match points and shesealed it with another powerfulsmash.

Earlier, Srikanth, who had a 3-7 head-to-head record againstMomota, couldn't find a chink inMomota's armour and went downwithout a fight against the world No2 in a lop-sided contest.

Srikanth had lost to Momota atthe Malaysia Open and IndonesiaOpen in June and July respectively.

The Indian was no match forMomota, who has been in sensa-tional form since making a come-back after serving a one-year ban forvisiting an illegal casino.

Srikanth lagged 1-5 initially.He recovered to 4-5 with threestraight points, but couldn't put upa fight as Momota surged to a huge19-6 lead before pocketing the firstgame.

The second game was no dif-ferent as Momota moved from 4-3to 13-3 with nine straight points. Hecontinued to dominate the pro-ceedings to seal the contest withoutmuch effort.

� � +;9A;

Naomi Osaka raised her gamewhen she needed to, and it land-

ed her a spot in the semifinals of thePan Pacific Open.

The US Open champion, whoupset Serena Williams in the final inNew York at the beginning of themonth, won her ninth straightmatch Friday, beating BarboraStrycova 6-3, 6-4.

"This was my third time playingher, and each time it was very close,so I knew she was very good," saidthe third-seeded Osaka, the firstJapanese player to win a Grand Slamsingles title.

Osaka will next face CamilaGiorgi, who advanced after VictoriaAzarenka retired from their match

in the first set. Giorgi was leading 5-3 when the match ended.

The 20-year-old Osaka con-verted all three of her break pointsand won 80 percent of points on herfirst serve.

She broke the eighth-seededStrycova to take a 3-1 lead in the firstset but was soon broken back.Leading 4-3, that's when Osakatook control. She immediatelyearned two break points, andStrycova double-faulted on the firstone to put Osaka ahead 5-3.

In the second set, double-faultsagain cost Strycova, who was brokenagain at 2-2.

Also, fourth-seeded KarolinaPliskova defeated Alison Riske 6-1,6-7 (5), 7-6 (4). She will next playDonna Vekic, who beat second-

seeded Caroline Garcia 6-3, 6-4.

���C���������������� ��������� Top-seededDominic Thiem reached the quar-terfinals of the St Petersburg Openwith a 7-6 (4), 6-4 win over Jan-Lennard Struff on Thursday.

The Austrian player's nextopponent will be eighth-seededDaniil Medvedev of Russia, who pre-vailed against Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3, 6-4.

Russian veteran MikhailYouzhny retired from tennis afterlosing 7-6 (6), 3-6, 6-3 to fifth-seed-ed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain.

The 36-year-old Youzhny won10 tour titles and reached a career-high ranking of eighth in 2008.

Defending champion Damir

Dzumhur of Bosnia progressed bybeating Guido Pella 6-4, 6-4.

Dzumhur landed 70 percent ofhis first serves as he set up a meet-ing with Stan Wawrinka.

Nineteen-year-old CanadianDenis Shapovalov defeated MatteoBerrettini of Italy 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-0.He next plays Martin Klizan.

���� ���������������Ekaterina Alexandrova broketop-seeded Jelena Ostapenko's servefive times on Friday to beat thedefending champion 6-3, 6-2 in arain-delayed match at the KoreaOpen.

In other quarterfinals, KikiBertens beat Evgeniya Rodina 3-6,6-3, 6-0 and AjlaTomljanovic defeat-ed Mandy Minella 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.

��� 3�.�4�5���

The World Women's Boxing Championships, to be host-ed by India after more than a decade, will be held from

November 15 in the national capital, a top official of theinternational body said on Friday.

"The AIBA Women's World Boxing Championshipswill be held in New Delhi in November 13-25," an offi-cial of the International Boxing Association (AIBA) said.

The marquee tournament was last held in India in 2006and remains the best for the country in terms of perfor-mance. India had topped the medal tally with four Gold,three Silver and one Bronze medal.

The celebrated M C Mary Kom, who has been nick-named 'Magnificent Mary' by the AIBA, will be gunningfor a sixth world title at the event which would concludewith the finals on November 24.

She won successive Gold medals in 2002, 2005, 2006,2008 and 2010 editions.

"The deadline for registration in the AIBA Databaseto the AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships isOctober 5," the official said.

In the last edition of the event, which started in 2001,India won just a Silver, through Sonia Lather in the feath-erweight (57kg) category. The first edition of the women'sworld championship was held in the Unites States inScranton in 2001. All participating countries would berequired to land in New Delhi before November 13.

LONDON: Manchester City'srecord goalscorer SergioAguero extended his stay withthe Premier League championson Friday, signing a one-yearcontract extension.

The 30-year-old Argentinainternational — who brokethe record last season andwhose tally stands at 204 — putpen to paper on a deal that willsee him through to the end ofthe 2021 season.

"I am happy for this addi-tional year," said Aguero in aclub statement.

"My idea was being herefor 10 years. I've been here forseven years, it's going to be 10when the contract expires.

"This was the main reasonI signed. I'm very happybecause they have treated mevery well since the first day I gothere." Txiki Begiristain,Manchester City's director of

football, said Aguero – who hasbeen left out at times by man-ager Pep Guardiola in the lasttwo years for Brazilian GabrielJesus — retained his status asone of the club's most pivotalplayers.

"We are delighted thatSergio is extending his stay. Weare fortunate to have had oneof the best strikers in the worldat our club for so manyyears,"he said.

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Indian Super League (ISL) franchiseChennaiyin FC star striker Jeje

Lalpekhlua believes India's rise in statureand international rankings is no coinci-dence.

India has always been crazy aboutfootball but since the ISL kicked off in2014, the game has seen a new dimen-sion.

Since 2014, Indian football's graphhas also been on the rise and Jeje creditsISL for giving Indian football a new iden-tity.

"The foundation of the game and thequality has improved now. There is a lotof difference between the first season andlast season of the ISL (in terms of quali-ty of football)," Jeje was said.

Jeje has been an undoubted star in theISL and a regular with the national teamunder different coaches.

"People have realized that football isgoing to be the future of sports in India.Indian football is on a high level and Iwould like to see more of it in the future,"he added..

The Mizoram-born forward also felt

that younger players were flourishing,given the number of opportunities theywere being offered in the ISL. Moreover,the spotlight they enjoy in the ISLmeans that impressive performancescould bring them under the nationalteam's radar.

He also hoped that such an incentivewill bring out good performances fromthem during the season which will ben-efit the Chennayin FC to defend their title.

"We have a lot of good Indian play-

ers in our squad. Last year AnirudhThapa, Jerry Lalrinzuala andGermanpreet Singh did quite well in ISLand got a national call. This year we haveIssac Vanmalsawma," Jeje said.

"There is good mix of seniors andjuniors in our squad. They will becomean important part in the course of theleague and will help us retain the title,"he added.

���&�����������)������������Battling extremely coldweather, the Indian team Friday wentdown fighting 1-2 to hosts Mongolia inthe AFC U-16 Women's ChampionshipQualifiers here.

Following the result, India relin-quished pole position in group B to Laos,who are three points ahead, havingplayed the same number of matches.

Laos have garnered nine points fromthree matches, while India are three pointsbehind. They are slated to face off in thefinal group fixture on Sunday.

Meanwhile, a win against Laos willbe enough for India to advance to the sec-ond round of qualification, owing to bet-ter head-to-head record.

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Left-handed batsman Nitish Ranasmashed an unbeaten 91 off 87

balls as Delhi notched up their secondsuccessive win in the Vijay HazareTrophy, beating Hyderabad by sixwickets here Friday.

Hyderabad were dismissed for205 in 47.4 overs with left-arm spin-ner Manan Sharma taking four for 42.

Due to a brief spell of showers,Delhi had a revised target of 176 in 39overs but they surpassed it in only 30.4overs.

Rana, who was unwell during theSaurashtra game, came back with abang, hitting 12 boundaries and twohuge sixes in the group B match.

Skipper Gautam Gambhir wasonce again solid at the top of the order,scoring 41 off 47 balls with six bound-aries.

However, it was Rana, who stolethe show with his shots square of thewicket. A pulled six off Chama Milindbehind square was a treat to watch.

He was equally dominant againstthe spinners, cutting anything widewith ferocity.

Mohammed Siraj's pace was alsoused to guide it behind the square.

The match ended when HimmatSingh hit spinner Mehidy Hasan for astraight six.

From Delhi's point of view, the

only disappointment was UnmuktChand (0), who looked completely outof sorts as he was bowled off the sec-ond delivery by Ravi Kiran.

Earlier, when Hyderabad batted, itwas the burly Manan, who choked therun flow in the middle overs by bowl-ing flat and on the stumps, to returnwith four wickets.

Opening bowlers Navdeep Saini(2/45 in 10 overs) and SimarjeetSingh (1/21 in 7 overs) also bowledtight lines during the first spell asHyderabad could never force thepace.

It was Siraj's cameo (36 off 24balls), with two sixes, that helped themcross 200.

In the day's other group B match-es, Chhattisgarh beat Uttar Pradesh byfour wickets, while Kerala defeatedOdisha by six wickets.

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Skipper Ajinkya Rahane andShreyas Iyer struck tons as

Mumbai routed Karnataka by 88runs in their Elite Group A VijayHazare match here on Friday.

Asked to bat first, Mumbai post-ed a mammoth 362/5 in their 50overs before bundling out Karnatakafor 274.

Rahane, dropped from theIndian squad in white ball cricket, ledfrom the front with his blistering148-run knock at the MChinnaswamy Stadium.

Rahane continued from wherehe had left in the last game.

The India Test vice-captain, whostruggled for runs in England recent-ly, hammered a listless Karnatakaattack in his 150-ball innings con-taining 13 fours and three sixes.

He, along with young openerPrithvi Shaw (60), stitched a 106-runstand for the first wicket to lay thefoundation of a big total.

Rahane then found an able part-ner in Iyer (110) as the two frustratedthe opposition bowlers in their big216-run second-wicket stand.

Iyer was more attacking as hestruck five fours and had eight

other hits over the fence.Then Mumbai's slow left-arm

orthodox bowler Shams Mulani gotinto the act as he returned with finefigures of 4-71.

His scalps were MayankAgarwal (66), C M Gautam (12),Stuart Binny (1) and R Vinay Kumar(36).

Mumbai bowlers struck at reg-ular intervals as it was an uphill taskfor Karnataka and they eventuallyfolded up well adrift of the target.

In the other two Elite Group Agames played at nearby Alur, Punjabticked all boxes to thrash Vidarbhaby a massive 141 runs, while Goadefeated Railways by 42 runs.

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Rahul Dravid, the last captain tolead India to a series win in

England, says the current side facedunusually tough conditions in therecently concluded five-match rub-ber and the batsmen must preparebetter before embarking on the nextEnglish tour.

"Lets just be honest first. Theconditions in England were not easyfor batting. I think batsmen of bothteams struggled. If you take outVirat Kohli from the equation, itwas not an easy series for the bats-men. I have played in England quitea bit, the conditions can be toughbut it is rare to find five Testmatches which had conditions astough as the one they found,"Dravid said.

"As I said, we need to lookahead. The next time we go there,we have to be better prepared forthese kind of conditions and try andreplicate conditions as best as wepossibly we can. It was tough outthere. Lets face it," said the Indianbatting great.

The 1-4 series loss in Englandwas India's third in a row with bats-men letting the team down innings

after innings.The performance left the Indian

fans seething, and coach RaviShastri added fuel to the fire by call-ing the current team the best trav-elling side of the last 15-20 years,even though the results painted adifferent picture. India's lack ofpreparation ahead of the serieswas also heavily criticised.

He said India losing 1-4 was a

case of missed opportunity."India surely had their

moments. They played some verygood cricket in what I thought werepretty difficult conditions, especiallyfor the batsmen. They were com-petitive for most part of the seriesbut I am sure the team looks at itas an opportunity missed. Theywould feel, having played so well incertain parts of Test matches, theywere not able to finish off games.

"Still there are some positives totake from the series. Our bowlingand fielding, especially catching,went on very good but like I said theteam would feel it had its chancesand unfortunately it did not workout."

Talking about the ongoing AsiaCup in UAE, Dravid said India needto focus on all teams and not justPakistan.

"Afghanistan is doing well, Idon't know why we are only focus-ing on Pakistan. Bangladesh too aredoing well. Afghanistan also are aforce to reckon with. If I was in theteam I would not just be focusingon Pakistan. We are playing verygood white ball cricket but we haveto be careful of other teams too,"Dravid concluded.

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It was spinners' day out as veter-an Amit Mishra (Haryana), C V

Varun (Tamil Nadu) and HarmeetSingh (Tripura) came up withimpressive performances to helptheir teams post victories hereFriday in the Vijay Hazare TrophyElite Group 'C' matches.

Thirty-five-year old leg-spin-ner Mishra, who has been in andout of the national squad and isaiming for a comeback, bowledbeautifully to bamboozle theAssam batting line-up.

He bowled unchanged in a 10-over spell to help Haryana bundleout Assam for 81 in 30.2 overs.

From 39 for no loss in theninth over, Mishra engineered acollapse to leave the rivals in a spinas only three batsmen managed toreach double figures.

Sixteen-year-old Riyan Paragwas the top-scorer with 24.

Chasing 82 for victory, theHaryana openers went about thetask in an aggressive manner withHarshal Patel (37) hammeringfour sixers in his 21-ball knock tomake the job easy.

In the Tamil Nadu-Servicesmatch, N Jagadeesan, pushed up

to open the batting, blasted asuperb century to power the for-mer to 315 for 4 in 50 overs.

Left-handed opener AbhinavMukund (69) and B Indrajith(76) lent solidity to the host team'seffort.

In response, the Services'openers began in right earnestwith Nakul H Verma being par-ticularly impressive.

He smashed 60 off 55 balls,inclusive of nine fours and a six,and put on 85 runs for the firstwicket with A R Pachara (15).

Mystery spinner Varun pro-vided the opening Tamil Nadu waslooking for as he had Vermacaught and bowled.

Pachara fell one run later andServices kept losing wickets at reg-ular intervals to slip behind in therun-rate.

Only captain Rajat Paliwaloffered resistance among the otherbatsmen as Varun finished withmemorable figures of 5 for 38 injust his second List A match.

Earlier, openers Jagadeesanand Mukund added 173 runs in186 balls to set the platform forTamil Nadu.

In the third match of the day,a reduced game (35 overs), left-arm spinner Harmeet took 5 for10 as Jammu & Kashmir crahed to79 all out.

Tripura huffed and puffed itsway to a win, in the 31st over withNirupam Sen Choudhary making24.

��� ������ Rising Test batsmanKarun Nair will lead the BoardPresident's XI, that will play a two-daywarm-up match in Vadodara fromSeptember 29 against the visitingWest Indies side ahead of their two-Test series against India next month.

The BPXI squad includes thelikes of Test probables in youngPrithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer, MayankAgarwal and wicketkeeper-batsmanIshan Kishan, among others.

All-rounder Hanuma Vihari, whomade his Test debut in the final Testagainst England was also named in thesquad with Kerala's Jalaj Saxenapicked as the other all-rounder.

The pace bowling department willhave the likes of Basil Thampi, AveshKhan and Ishan Porel in action whileSaxena and Saurabh Kumar will han-dle the spinning responsibilities. PNS

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Uncapped Surrey batsmanRory Burns is set to

replace Alastair Cook at thetop of England's order afterbeing named in a 16-mansquad on Friday for theupcoming three-Test tour ofSri Lanka.

Left-handed opener Cook,England's all-time leading run-scorer, retired from interna-tional duty after bringingdown the curtain on his illus-trious 12-year Test career witha farewell century against Indiaat the Oval earlier this month.

That left England with anopening batsman vacancy.

They have now turned toBurns, who captained Surreyto the County Championshiptitle this season.

Burns has been the lead-ing run-scorer in the Englishtop flight this season, scoring1,319 Championship runs atan average of over 69.

Burns was one of threeuncapped players in the squad,along with Kent batsman JoeDenly and Warwickshire pace-man Olly Stone.

England have two warm-up games in October andNovember before facing SriLanka in the first of three Testsin Galle starting on November6.

�<���Joe Root (capt), Moeen

Ali, James Anderson, JonnyBairstow ( wkt), Stuart Broad,Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, SamCurran, Joe Denly, KeatonJennings, Jack Leach, OlliePope, Adil Rashid, Ben Stokes,Olly Stone, Chris Woakes.

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Ravindra Jadeja made a roaringreturn to limited overs cricketwith a four-wicket haul, helping

India dismiss Bangladesh for 173 ina Super Four match of the Asia Cuphere on Friday.

The all-rounder, playing his firstODI since July 2017, broke the back-bone of Bangladesh batting with hisaccurate left-arm spin and endedwith impressive figures of four for 29in 10 overs.

Bangladesh batsmen falteredagain, having come a cropper in therun chase against Afghanistan onThursday night. The seasoned paceduo of Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3/32)and Jasprit Bumrah (3/37) too madelife tough for the opposition. The sav-ing grace for Bangladesh was the 66-run stand for the eighth wicketbetween Mehidy Hasan Miraz (42 off50) and captain Mashrafe Mortaza (26off 32) before the team was all out in49.1 overs.

Bangladesh,who lost toAfghanistan lessthan 24 hoursago and had totake the 90-minute journeyfrom Abu Dhabi to Dubai, paid theprice for reckless batting.

They lost their openers LitonDas (7) and Nazmul Hossain Shanto(7) by the sixth over.

From 15 for two, the experi-enced pairing of Shakib Al Hasan (21)and Mushfuqir Rahim had a task ofrebuilding the innings but the formerfell to a loose shot off Jadeja. The starBangladesh all-rounder, having hitJadeja for two boundaries in the 10thover, went for another one but hissweep went straight into the hands ofShikhar Dhawan at square leg.

Jadeja, who was playing VijayHazare Trophy in Delhi but got a last-minute call-up to join the nationalteam here in the wake of injuries toHardik Pandya, Axar Patel and

Shardul Thakur, grabbed the oppor-tunity with both hands.

He removed Mohammad Mithunin typical fashion for his secondwicket, darting the ball into the mid-dle stump to trap him in front of thestumps, reducing Bangladesh to 60 for

four in the 16th over. In his next over,the wily spinner sent back Rahim,leaving Bangladesh in deep trouble.

Mahmudullah (25) and MossadekHossain (12) batted sensibly, sharinga 36-run stand for the sixth wicket.They could have added a lot more if

Mahmudullah had not got a rough callfrom the umpire in the 33rd over. Hewas adjudged leg before wicket offBhuvneshwar but replays showed hegot bat on ball before it hit his pads.Bangladesh could not review thequestionable call as they had alreadyused up their review.

Much to their relief, Mortaza

and Miraz stitched a much neededpartnership to give their bowlerssomething to bowl at.

Mortaza, who is well past hisprime, and Miraz entertained thecrowd with some clean hitting. Theskipper smashed two straight sixes offBhuvneshwar in the 47th over beforegetting caught at short fine leg.

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Hashmatullah Shahidi (97)missed out on his maiden

ODI hundred by just three runsafter skipper Asghar Afghan hita combative 67 off 56 balls asAfghanistan scored a fighting257 for six against Pakistan ina Super Four match of the AsiaCup, here on Friday.

Shahidi needed a boundaryoff the last ball to complete hiscentury but Hasan Ali deniedhim the milestone with aincoming yorker which theleft-hander could not put away.

With his skipper Asghar,Shahidi shared a match-chang-ing 94-run stand for the fourthwicket.

Shahidi shifted gears withease after largely remainingpatient in his unbeaten andcareer-best knock which cameoff 118 balls. He was bowled offa no ball when he was on 76 inthe penultimate over.

Five of his seven bound-aries came during the last 14balls of the Afghan innings.

Asghar had joined left-handed Shahidi at the creaseafter left-arm spinnerMohammad Nawaz (3/57)removed the top three Afghanbatsmen — MohammadShahzad (20), Ihsanullah (10)

and Rahmat Shah (36).In his 67-run knock,

Asghar showed both aggressionand patience and Shahidi wasdetermined, holding one endtight.

Asghar chose right deliv-eries to go for big shots, hittingfive sixes and two fours.

Shahidi and Asghar weretested by the Pakistan pace duoof Hasan Ali and Usman Khanbut they refused to be intimi-dated by the raw pace.

They were sensible indefending and leaving the ballswhich moved after pitchingoutside off stump. They keptthe scoreboard ticking withpushing and nudging the ballaround.

Breakthrough not coming,Pakistan captain Sarfraz hand-ed the ball back to Nawaz butAsghar creamed off 11 runsfrom his over, hitting a four andsix, to end the long boundarydrought.

Both the batsmen com-pleted their half-centuries inthe 40th over, bowled by youngleft-arm pacer Shaheen Afridi.

With few overs left, Asgharstarted hitting each everythingthrown at him and was bowledby Afridi after being droppedby Haris Sohail in the 42ndover.

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The second T20 International betweenIndia women and Sri Lanka women was

washed out Friday due to heavy showers.Electing to bowl here after the start of the

match was delayed by half an hour due to rain,India made vital blows before the heavensopened up again, forcing the teams off the fieldand eventually leading to the wash out.

India reduced Sri Lanka to 49 for three inthe 7.5 overs of play that was possible.

For Sri Lanka, skipper ChamariAthapaththu smashed 21 of 16 balls before get-ting bowled by Deepti Sharma, while her open-ing partner Yasoda Mendis made just onebefore getting caught out in the second overby Arundhati Reddy.

The third wicket was of Kavisha Dilhari,who compiled just six runs before gifting herwicket to Poonam Yadav.

India had won the first T20 by 13 runs onWednesday. The third T20 of the five-matchseries will be played here Saturday.

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