0ˆ 1 ˆ 2˛02 ˛34 ˛. 5 ˛˚˜˚ !ˇ˚!#˚$˝%˝ˇ&’$˙˝˙ˇ˛˝(˘ not be as poor as last...

16
T he Supreme Court’s attempt to “try out at least one Diwali without firecrackers” by imposing blanket ban on the sale of firecrackers in Delhi and National Capital Region in the light of deteriorating air qual- ity seems to have failed as bursting of firecrackers grow- ing intense as festivities picked up tempo late on Thursday. Though Diwali evening started off relatively quieter than previous years, thick haze and noise engulfed the city as frenzied celebrations picked up with relentless bursting of firecrackers till the wee hours of Friday. Sources claimed that as it grew dark, some shopkeepers were able to sell firecrackers, albiet clandestinely. People seemed to have run out of patience when the quieter dark sky slowly started glowing with firecrackers and went out in search for the same success- fully. Some revellers, however, had purchased firecrackers from outside Delhi-NCR. Though air pollution levels in Delhi were in the “severe” band at all four of the Capital’s monitoring centres on Friday, the situation was better as compared to the day after Diwali last year. It could be due to wind speed, which was up to 11 km per hour on Friday, as compared to 1 km per hour on the day after Diwali in 2016. And good news for a choking Capital is that private weather monitoring agency Skymet has predicted that dry winds attain- ing speeds of between 15 and 20 km per hour blowing from a north-westerly direction over the NCR region would ease air pollution further. If one goes by SAFAR’s forecast, post-Diwali air will not be as poor as last year, which was the worse in at least three decades. It said a host of favourable meteoro- logical conditions are helping prevent smoke-filled air from the agricultural belt of Haryana and Punjab from entering the national Capital. According to Environment Scientist, weather and climate play important roles in deter- mining patterns of air quality. “Wind speed and temperature both are responsible for the level of concentration of SPM particles in air, this year, both the factors are favourable,” said an environmentalist. Had that not been the case, Delhi’s air, already saturated with pollutants, would have turned deadlier. Meanwhile, the 24-hour rolling average of PM2.5 and PM10, ultrafine particulates which are up to 30 times tinier than the width of a human hair, were 424 and 571 micrograms per cubic metre (μg/m3) respectively, multiple times higher than the safe limits of 60 and 100 (μgm-3) According to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data, the air quality index in Delhi and adjoining Gurugram and Noida satellite towns was recorded “very poor” at 15 monitoring stations, where it ranged from 339 to 390. The index value between 300 and 400 is considered “very poor” that can cause respiratory illness on prolonged exposure. It measured above severe level (401-500) in at least three places of Delhi. Continued on Page 4 A n agency in the name of ‘Kisan Seva Kendra’ having the website kisansevak- endra.org and bearing the Government of India logo has been allegedly running the Kisan Call Centre (KCC) scheme illegally since 2012 and duping job seekers and gullible unemployed youth by asking them to deposit huge sums of money for application form and registration fee. What is even more surprising is that despite many complaints of cheating being reported by the victims, nobody bothered to take action against the fraudsters. A complaint was forward- ed to the Delhi Police after the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) intervened and directed the officials of the Ministry of Agriculture to address the issue at the earliest. Police sources said over 1,000 people from all over the country have complained of being duped or attempted to be duped. Deputy Commissioner of Police, Cyber Crime, Anyesh Roy, confirmed that a case has been registered in connection in this regard, however, no arrest has been made yet.” The matter is sensitive in nature. We have started investigating the case and are trying to track down the culprits who are absconding,” said the DCP. Complainants alleged that for getting employed with the KCC, they were asked for amounts ranging from 9,000 to over 15,000 and at times as much as 25,000 as security money, said a police source. Describing the modus operandi of the people behind fraud, a police officer said, “Unemployed youths filled up application and registra- tion forms after paying 900. This was a precondition to get an employment. Once the money was deposited, they used to get calls from the agency saying that they were calling from KCC, Sector 41 Chandigarh. The candidates were then made to believe that they were being interviewed over phone. A few days later they called back to inform them that they had passed the interview and got a salaried job. The victims were then asked to deposit a huge sum of amount to a particular bank account as security. They were then provided a Delhi address to collect their offer letters”, the official added. “Those behind the KCC also provided a defunct mobile number to their targets. The poor victims roamed all around Delhi but could not find the address. When they tried to call on the given phone number, it was found inactive. That is when they realised that they were cheated”, the official said. “The fraudsters use differ- ent method to con people from outside Delhi. They were asked to deposit security amount in a particular account number and were told that a represen- tative of Ministry of Agriculture would come to their home with the offer let- ters, mobile and laptop for their work but never turned up,” said the police officer. The KCC — an important body of the Department of Agriculture Cooperation and Farmers Welfare — is run for the benefit of farmers in dif- ferent parts of the country since 2004. “The Agriculture depart- ment of the Central Government had appointed M/s Iffco Kisan Sanchar limit- ed as service provider for the KCC scheme and also set up infrastructure and recruit agri- culture graduates to operate KCC’s at 14 identified locations in the country,” said Director (Extension), Krishi Bhwan, who lodged a formal com- plaint with the Delhi Police in this regard. “The accused agency has been portraying as if it is a pro- gramme of the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India and in order to mislead people they used the same name ‘Kisan Call Centre’ along with the logo of Government of India. In reality, under this scheme, agents known as Farm Tele Advisors (FTA) are deployed in different parts of India to answer farmers’ agri- culture-related queries on a toll free number 1800-180-151” said the director. A complaint was forward- ed to Additional Commissioner off Police, Economic Offences Wing (EOW) unit of the Delhi Police, Suvashish Chowdhury, by the Ministry of Agriculture saying that the said agency is not authorised to run the scheme and is duping innocent people and harming the reputation of the Central Government. Accordingly, an FIR under Indian Penal Code sections of Cheating, impersonation read with section 66D of the Information Technology Act was registered with Economic Offences Wing and investiga- tion was taken up. Investigators said they have identified the IP addressed and the faces behind this organised fraud. Teams are working to hunt them, a police official tasked with the probe said. T he post of Solicitor General (SG), the country’s sec- ond-highest law officer, fell vacant on Friday following a surprise decision by incumbent Ranjit Kumar to step down. In a letter addressed to Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Kumar cited “personal” grounds behind his decision to resign. Government sources con- firmed that Kumar’s resignation letter has reached the office of the Law Minister. However, no decision has yet been taken on the possible replacement, as the Government is expected to process names for the post next week, sources added. Speaking to news channels, Kumar said he was unable to spare time for his family. Kumar served as SG for three years and four months, even though he was appointed for a three-year period by the present BJP-led Government at the Centre on June 7, 2014, soon after it came to power. On expiry of his term on June 6, 2017, the Government issued yet another notification under Law Officer (Conditions of Service) Rules 1987, extending his term for an unspecified period till further orders. He continued for another four months till his decision to resign from office. Kumar appeared in a host of cases involving vexed Constitutional issues and pre- viously assisted the Supreme Court as amicus curiae in a series of PILs to curb pollution in Delhi and the Yamuna River’s deteriorating condition. The SG’s post is quite crucial as being the second-highest law officer after the Attorney- General, the office of the SG han- dles important cases involving the Centre and States in the SC. To help him, the Government had appointed a team of Addi- tional Solicitor Generals (ASGs). Continued on Page 4 I n its quest to bring Rajya Sabha Television (RSTV) on a par with private news chan- nels, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, who is also Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, has for the first time formed a search-cum-selection commit- tee comprising eminent jour- nalists, lawmakers, officials of Prasar Bharati and Rajya Sabha Secretariat to select RSTV Editor-in-Chief. The post of editor fell vacant after Gurdeep Singh Sappal resigned following the end of the tenure of Vice- President Hamid Ansari as Chairman of the Upper House. In an office order (117/2017 RS TV) issued on October 18, by Rajya Sabha Secretariat, the search-cum-selection committee for the post Continued on Page 4 I n a horrifying incident, a mob tried to burn alive a ‘mentally-challenged’ person on suspicion of him being a braid-chopper in north Kashmir’s Sopore area. Describing the incident as “collective frenzied behaviour,” senior Minister in the Mehbooba Mufti Cabinet Naeem Akhtar, who is also the chief spokesman of the PDP-BJP Government, asked the people to desist from exhibiting such behaviour. Meanwhile, adding fuel to the fear-charged atmosphere, the separatist groups called for a shutdown on Saturday and accused the security agencies of being involved in the mysteri- ous incidents. Sources said vigilantes caught hold of a young man roaming around aimlessly in Fruit Mandi area of Sopore on Friday morning. The people branded him a braid-chopper and beat him up. Not satisfied with that, they stripped the young man and several vigilantes lit a fire and tried to burn him. In a video that went viral after the incident, some vigilantes could be heard shouting that the man’s throat should be slit. Luckily for the man, police arrived and rescued the hapless man from the clutches of the mob. He was escorted to a local hospital and later shifted to Srinagar for treatment where his condition is said to be critical. The victim was later iden- tified by police as Wasim Ahmad Tantray a mentally- challenged youth. “We received information that an alleged braid-chopper had been attacked by locals in the Fruit Mandi area of Sopore. We rescued him and rushed him to hospital, but his condition is critical,” a police officer said. IGP Kashmir Muneer Khan said the man who was thrashed was mentally chal- lenged. “Had police not reached on time, they would have lynched him or burnt him alive. Is this justifiable,” he said. Superintendent of Police Harmeet Singh said an FIR has been registered, and the vigi- lantes had been identified. “Action will be initiated against the culprits,” he said. He asked people to desist from taking the law into their hands and inform police if any suspicious person is found in any locality. The incident triggered massive public disapproval as people expressed dismay over the happening. Over 130 incidents of alleged braid chopping have been reported in the Valley in the last one month. Special teams have been set up to con- tain the alleged incidence, which has spread panic among the citizens, but the police have failed to make any arrests. The Government has set up a Special Investigation Team to probe the incidents and police announced a cash prize of 6 lakh for anyone who pro- vides information about the alleged braid-choppers. Continued on Page 4 E nvironmental pollution — from filthy air to contam- inated water — is killing more people every year than all war and violence in the world. More than smoking, hunger or natural disasters. More than AIDS, tuberculosis and malar- ia combined. One out of every six pre- mature deaths in the world in 2015 — about 9 million — could be attributed to disease from toxic exposure, according to a major study released on Thursday in the Lancet med- ical journal. The financial cost from pollution-related death, sickness and welfare is equal- ly massive, the report says, costing some $4.6 trillion in annual losses — or about 6.2 per cent of the global economy. Asia and Africa are the regions putting the most peo- ple at risk, the study found, while India tops the list of indi- vidual countries. One out of every four premature deaths in India in 2015, or some 2.5 mil- lion, was attributed to pollu- tion. China’s environment was the second deadliest, with more than 1.8 million premature deaths, or one in five, blamed on pollution-related illness, the study found. Several other countries such Bangladesh, Pakistan, North Korea, South Sudan and Haiti too see near- ly a fifth of their premature deaths caused by pollution. “There’s been a lot of study of pollution, but it’s never received the resources or level of attention as, say, AIDS or cli- mate change,” said epidemiol- ogist Philip Landrigan, dean of global health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, and the lead author of the report. The report marks the first attempt to pull together data on disease and death caused by all forms of pollution combined. “Pollution is a massive problem that people aren’t seeing because they’re looking at scattered bits of it,” Landrigan said. Experts say the 9 million premature deaths the study found was just a partial estimate, and the number of people killed by pollution is undoubtedly Continued on Page 4

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Page 1: 0ˆ 1 ˆ 2˛02 ˛34 ˛. 5 ˛˚˜˚ !ˇ˚!#˚$˝%˝ˇ&’$˙˝˙ˇ˛˝(˘ not be as poor as last year, ... A complaint was forward-ed to the Delhi Police after the ... a letter addressed

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��� ���� ���� ��03�4.,

The Supreme Court’s attemptto “try out at least one

Diwali without firecrackers”by imposing blanket ban on thesale of firecrackers in Delhi andNational Capital Region in thelight of deteriorating air qual-ity seems to have failed asbursting of firecrackers grow-ing intense as festivities pickedup tempo late on Thursday.

Though Diwali eveningstarted off relatively quieterthan previous years, thick hazeand noise engulfed the city asfrenzied celebrations pickedup with relentless bursting offirecrackers till the wee hoursof Friday.

Sources claimed that as itgrew dark, some shopkeeperswere able to sell firecrackers,albiet clandestinely. Peopleseemed to have run out ofpatience when the quieter darksky slowly started glowing withfirecrackers and went out insearch for the same success-fully. Some revellers, however,had purchased firecrackersfrom outside Delhi-NCR.

Though air pollution levelsin Delhi were in the “severe”band at all four of the Capital’smonitoring centres on Friday,the situation was better ascompared to the day afterDiwali last year. It could be dueto wind speed, which was up to11 km per hour on Friday, ascompared to 1 km per hour onthe day after Diwali in 2016.And good news for a chokingCapital is that private weathermonitoring agency Skymet haspredicted that dry winds attain-ing speeds of between 15 and20 km per hour blowing froma north-westerly direction overthe NCR region would ease air

pollution further.If one goes by SAFAR’s

forecast, post-Diwali air willnot be as poor as last year,which was the worse in atleast three decades. It said ahost of favourable meteoro-logical conditions are helpingprevent smoke-filled air fromthe agricultural belt of Haryanaand Punjab from entering thenational Capital.

According to EnvironmentScientist, weather and climateplay important roles in deter-mining patterns of air quality.“Wind speed and temperatureboth are responsible for thelevel of concentration of SPMparticles in air, this year, boththe factors are favourable,” saidan environmentalist.

Had that not been the case,Delhi’s air, already saturatedwith pollutants, would haveturned deadlier.

Meanwhile, the 24-hourrolling average of PM2.5 andPM10, ultrafine particulateswhich are up to 30 times tinierthan the width of a human hair,were 424 and 571 microgramsper cubic metre (μg/m3)respectively, multiple timeshigher than the safe limits of 60and 100 (μgm-3)

According to CentralPollution Control Board(CPCB) data, the air qualityindex in Delhi and adjoiningGurugram and Noida satellitetowns was recorded “very poor”at 15 monitoring stations, whereit ranged from 339 to 390. Theindex value between 300 and400 is considered “very poor”that can cause respiratory illnesson prolonged exposure.

It measured above severelevel (401-500) in at least threeplaces of Delhi.

Continued on Page 4

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

���#���������� ��03�4.,

An agency in the name of‘Kisan Seva Kendra’ having

the website kisansevak-endra.org and bearing theGovernment of India logo hasbeen allegedly running theKisan Call Centre (KCC)scheme illegally since 2012and duping job seekers andgullible unemployed youth byasking them to deposit hugesums of money for applicationform and registration fee. Whatis even more surprising is thatdespite many complaints ofcheating being reported by thevictims, nobody bothered totake action against the fraudsters.

A complaint was forward-ed to the Delhi Police after thePrime Minister’s Office (PMO)intervened and directed theofficials of the Ministry ofAgriculture to address the issueat the earliest.

Police sources said over1,000 people from all over thecountry have complained ofbeing duped or attempted to beduped.

Deputy Commissioner ofPolice, Cyber Crime, AnyeshRoy, confirmed that a case hasbeen registered in connectionin this regard, however, noarrest has been made yet.” Thematter is sensitive in nature. Wehave started investigating thecase and are trying to trackdown the culprits who areabsconding,” said the DCP.

Complainants alleged thatfor getting employed with theKCC, they were asked foramounts ranging from �9,000to over �15,000 and at times as

much as �25,000 as securitymoney, said a police source.

Describing the modusoperandi of the people behindfraud, a police officer said,“Unemployed youths filledup application and registra-tion forms after paying �900.This was a precondition to getan employment. Once themoney was deposited, theyused to get calls from theagency saying that they werecalling from KCC, Sector 41Chandigarh. The candidateswere then made to believe thatthey were being interviewedover phone. A few days laterthey called back to informthem that they had passed theinterview and got a salariedjob. The victims were thenasked to deposit a huge sumof amount to a particularbank account as security. Theywere then provided a Delhiaddress to collect their offerletters”, the official added.

“Those behind the KCCalso provided a defunct mobilenumber to their targets. Thepoor victims roamed allaround Delhi but could notfind the address. When theytried to call on the given phonenumber, it was found inactive.That is when they realisedthat they were cheated”, theofficial said.

“The fraudsters use differ-ent method to con people fromoutside Delhi. They were askedto deposit security amount ina particular account numberand were told that a represen-tative of Ministry ofAgriculture would come totheir home with the offer let-ters, mobile and laptop fortheir work but never turnedup,” said the police officer.

The KCC — an importantbody of the Department ofAgriculture Cooperation andFarmers Welfare — is run forthe benefit of farmers in dif-ferent parts of the country

since 2004. “The Agriculture depart-

ment of the CentralGovernment had appointedM/s Iffco Kisan Sanchar limit-ed as service provider for theKCC scheme and also set upinfrastructure and recruit agri-culture graduates to operateKCC’s at 14 identified locationsin the country,” said Director(Extension), Krishi Bhwan,who lodged a formal com-plaint with the Delhi Police inthis regard.

“The accused agency hasbeen portraying as if it is a pro-gramme of the Ministry ofAgriculture, Government ofIndia and in order to misleadpeople they used the samename ‘Kisan Call Centre’ alongwith the logo of Government ofIndia. In reality, under thisscheme, agents known as FarmTele Advisors (FTA) aredeployed in different parts ofIndia to answer farmers’ agri-culture-related queries on a tollfree number 1800-180-151”said the director.

A complaint was forward-ed to AdditionalCommissioner off Police,Economic Offences Wing(EOW) unit of the Delhi Police,Suvashish Chowdhury, by theMinistry of Agriculture sayingthat the said agency is notauthorised to run the schemeand is duping innocent peopleand harming the reputation ofthe Central Government.

Accordingly, an FIR underIndian Penal Code sections ofCheating, impersonation readwith section 66D of theInformation Technology Actwas registered with EconomicOffences Wing and investiga-tion was taken up. Investigatorssaid they have identified the IPaddressed and the faces behindthis organised fraud. Teams areworking to hunt them, a policeofficial tasked with the probesaid.

��� �� $����#������03�4.,

The post of Solicitor General(SG), the country’s sec-

ond-highest law officer, fellvacant on Friday following asurprise decision by incumbentRanjit Kumar to step down. Ina letter addressed to Union LawMinister Ravi Shankar Prasad,Kumar cited “personal”grounds behind his decision toresign.

Government sources con-firmed that Kumar’s resignationletter has reached the office ofthe Law Minister. However, nodecision has yet been taken onthe possible replacement, as theGovernment is expected toprocess names for the postnext week, sources added.Speaking to news channels,Kumar said he was unable tospare time for his family.

Kumar served as SG forthree years and four months,even though he was appointedfor a three-year period by thepresent BJP-led Government atthe Centre on June 7, 2014,soon after it came to power. Onexpiry of his term on June 6,2017, the Government issuedyet another notification underLaw Officer (Conditions ofService) Rules 1987, extendinghis term for an unspecifiedperiod till further orders. Hecontinued for another fourmonths till his decision toresign from office.

Kumar appeared in a hostof cases involving vexedConstitutional issues and pre-viously assisted the SupremeCourt as amicus curiae in aseries of PILs to curb pollutionin Delhi and the YamunaRiver’s deteriorating condition.

The SG’s post is quite crucialas being the second-highest lawofficer after the Attorney-General, the office of the SG han-dles important cases involvingthe Centre and States in the SC.To help him, the Governmenthad appointed a team of Addi-tional Solicitor Generals (ASGs).

Continued on Page 4

������������� ��03�4.,

In its quest to bring RajyaSabha Television (RSTV) on

a par with private news chan-nels, Vice-President MVenkaiah Naidu, who is alsoChairman of the Rajya Sabha,has for the first time formed asearch-cum-selection commit-tee comprising eminent jour-nalists, lawmakers, officials ofPrasar Bharati and Rajya SabhaSecretariat to select RSTVEditor-in-Chief.

The post of editor fellvacant after Gurdeep SinghSappal resigned following theend of the tenure of Vice-President Hamid Ansari asChairman of the Upper House.

In an office order (117/2017RS TV) issued on October 18,by Rajya Sabha Secretariat, the search-cum-selection committee for the post

Continued on Page 4

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In a horrifying incident, amob tried to burn alive a

‘mentally-challenged’ personon suspicion of him being abraid-chopper in northKashmir’s Sopore area.

Describing the incident as“collective frenzied behaviour,”senior Minister in the MehboobaMufti Cabinet Naeem Akhtar,who is also the chief spokesmanof the PDP-BJP Government,asked the people to desist fromexhibiting such behaviour.

Meanwhile, adding fuel tothe fear-charged atmosphere,the separatist groups called for

a shutdown on Saturday andaccused the security agencies ofbeing involved in the mysteri-ous incidents.

Sources said vigilantescaught hold of a young manroaming around aimlessly inFruit Mandi area of Sopore onFriday morning. The peoplebranded him a braid-chopperand beat him up. Not satisfiedwith that, they stripped theyoung man and several vigilanteslit a fire and tried to burn him.

In a video that went viralafter the incident, some vigilantescould be heard shouting that theman’s throat should be slit.Luckily for the man, policearrived and rescued the haplessman from the clutches of themob. He was escorted to a localhospital and later shifted toSrinagar for treatment where hiscondition is said to be critical.

The victim was later iden-tified by police as WasimAhmad Tantray a mentally-challenged youth.

“We received informationthat an alleged braid-chopperhad been attacked by locals inthe Fruit Mandi area of Sopore.We rescued him and rushed himto hospital, but his condition iscritical,” a police officer said.

IGP Kashmir MuneerKhan said the man who wasthrashed was mentally chal-lenged. “Had police not reachedon time, they would havelynched him or burnt himalive. Is this justifiable,” he said.

Superintendent of PoliceHarmeet Singh said an FIR hasbeen registered, and the vigi-lantes had been identified.“Action will be initiated againstthe culprits,” he said.

He asked people to desist

from taking the law into theirhands and inform police ifany suspicious person is foundin any locality.

The incident triggeredmassive public disapproval aspeople expressed dismay overthe happening.

Over 130 incidents ofalleged braid chopping havebeen reported in the Valley inthe last one month. Specialteams have been set up to con-tain the alleged incidence,which has spread panic amongthe citizens, but the policehave failed to make any arrests.

The Government has setup a Special Investigation Teamto probe the incidents andpolice announced a cash prizeof �6 lakh for anyone who pro-vides information about thealleged braid-choppers.

Continued on Page 4

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���� ��03�4.,

Environmental pollution —from filthy air to contam-

inated water — is killing morepeople every year than all warand violence in the world.More than smoking, hunger ornatural disasters. More thanAIDS, tuberculosis and malar-ia combined.

One out of every six pre-mature deaths in the world in2015 — about 9 million —could be attributed to diseasefrom toxic exposure, accordingto a major study released onThursday in the Lancet med-ical journal. The financial cost

from pollution-related death,sickness and welfare is equal-ly massive, the report says,costing some $4.6 trillion inannual losses — or about 6.2per cent of the global economy.

Asia and Africa are theregions putting the most peo-ple at risk, the study found,while India tops the list of indi-vidual countries. One out ofevery four premature deaths inIndia in 2015, or some 2.5 mil-lion, was attributed to pollu-tion. China’s environment wasthe second deadliest, with morethan 1.8 million prematuredeaths, or one in five, blamedon pollution-related illness,the study found. Several othercountries such Bangladesh,Pakistan, North Korea, SouthSudan and Haiti too see near-ly a fifth of their prematuredeaths caused by pollution.

“There’s been a lot of studyof pollution, but it’s neverreceived the resources or levelof attention as, say, AIDS or cli-mate change,” said epidemiol-ogist Philip Landrigan, dean ofglobal health at the IcahnSchool of Medicine at MountSinai, New York, and the leadauthor of the report.

The report marks the firstattempt to pull together data ondisease and death caused by allforms of pollution combined.

“Pollution is a massiveproblem that people aren’tseeing because they’re lookingat scattered bits of it,”Landrigan said.

Experts say the 9 millionpremature deaths the studyfound was just a partial estimate,and the number of people killedby pollution is undoubtedly

Continued on Page 4

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Page 2: 0ˆ 1 ˆ 2˛02 ˛34 ˛. 5 ˛˚˜˚ !ˇ˚!#˚$˝%˝ˇ&’$˙˝˙ˇ˛˝(˘ not be as poor as last year, ... A complaint was forward-ed to the Delhi Police after the ... a letter addressed

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���������� �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ������������������������������������� ��������������������������������������� ��������������� �� ���������������������������������������������������������� ������������ ����� ��������������� ��������������������������������������������������� ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� �������� �!����������������"���������� ���������������������������� �������������������� ���� ��������������������������������� �����������������������������#��������������������������� ���� ����$����%����&�������������������������� ��������������� �����������������������'����������������������������������� ���������������"��������������������(�����������������������������

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A20-year-old man wasthrashed to death by a

group of unidentified menincluding minor boys after heraised an objection to one ofthem urinating near him inNorth-East Delhi's Harsh Vihararea. The deceased has beenidentified as Sandeep. His bat-tered body was found on thefootpath near a nursing homeon Diwali day.

The murder is strikinglysimilar to the killing of a 32-year-old e-rickshaw driver whowas beaten to death by a groupof 20-25 men after he raisedobjections to two DelhiUniversity students urinatingon the roadside in NorthDelhi's GTB Nagar area inMay this year. Within a span of

a few minutes, a group ofyoungsters had attacked thedriver, Ravinder with brickswrapped in white cloths.

Delhi Police on Fridayevening said that they havearrested Golu Khan for themurder of Sandeep and haveidentified two more of hisaccomplices.

“On October 17 evening,Sandeep had gone to Pila Parknear his house in Harsh Vihar,with his cousin. While Sandeepwas sitting on a bench andchatting with his cousin, GoluKhan came and started uri-nating near them. Irked by this,Sandeep had a heated argu-ment with Golu Khan.However, locals intervened andended the quarrel,” police said.

Two days later, on themorning of Diwali, ie, October

19, residents found the batteredbody of Sandeep near a foot-path of a private nursing home.

Family members ofSandeep claimed that he wasattacked by the same personwith whom he had a fight a fewdays ago.

"Sandeep was beaten witha heavy stone. He had sustainedgrievous injuries to his chestand head. We rushed him tothe Guru Tegh BahadurHospital where he was declaredbrought dead," said the seniorpolice officer.

Apart from the team ofHarsh Vihar police station,Special Staff and forensics teamtoo had visited the crime sceneon Thursday to lift evidences.The forensic team had found ahuge stone wrapped in a clothnear the body of the deceased.

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The Central InformationCommission (CIC) has

issued a show cause notice toSouth Delhi MunicipalCorporation (SDMC) askingwhy it should not be fined�50,000 for stonewalling theinformation sought about thefree parking area for theemployees of SCOPE Complexwhere several CentralGovernment Ministries arelocated.

As per complaint by OmPrakash Khorwal, the SCOPEComplex initially had special-ly earmarked zones as ‘freeparking’ for the employeesworking in the Complexoffices. However, the employ-ees for the last five years wereforced to pay parking fees tothe contractor hired by theSDMC despite the land notfalling under MCD's jurisdic-tion.

All this happened despiteSDMC being asked by theUrban Development Ministry(MoUD) in 2013 to cancel theparking contract as the landbelongs to it. However, whenKhorwal, approached SDMC toconfigure the action takenwhile reporting on MoUD let-ter; questioned its jurisdictionover the Central Governmentland; and the money receivedby the SDMC from parkingcontractor from June 2012 to

2015, he was not given accurateinformation. Khorwal thenapproached CIC and the mat-ter was listed before the benchof Yashovardhan Azad, CentralInformation Commissioner.

Despite two letters by theMoUD to cancel parking con-tract, the appellant contendedthat nothing has changed sinceSDMC did not initiate anycorrective action, and the pri-vate contractor continued tocharge parking fee unautho-risedly. The complainantasserted that the act of SDMCresulted in 'wrongful gain' to it,and caused 'wrongful loss' tothe public at large, especiallythe employees posted in andaround SCOPE Complex.Khorwal further submitted thatthe Public Information Officerfurnished evasive repliesagainst his queries.

Responding to the allega-tions, the PIO said that since

2012, SDMC has been levyingparking fee on the site underreference through private con-tractor to whom right to collectand retain parking fee hasbeen granted on an annualbasis. SDMC has been receiv-ing a sum of �5,86,600 permonth from the private con-tractor. On the issue of legiti-macy and the power to levyparking fee on site, the PIOstated the same to be a policyissue and expressed inability tocomment upon. On the issue ofnon disclosure of sum receivedby SDMC for period prior toJune 2015, he said that since atthe time of furnishing reply tothe Appellant, the concernedfile was under submission tothe Law Department and insuch backdrop, the details ofamount could not be furnished.

However, unsatisfied bythe PIOs reply, Azad observed,"What emerges from the mate-

rial available on record is rathera clear example of obdurateconduct of a civic body. SDMCappears to have unauthorised-ly outsourced the rights tolevy parking charges to a thirdparty without having theauthority to do so. The actresulted in generation of rev-enue in crores of rupees as anundue benefit to SDMC. Thesame does not seem to be anoversight but is nothing shortof civic body's obduracy againstall reasons and norms."

In his order Azad theCommission directed SDMCto furnish complete informa-tion sought by the appellantand added that the CIC isinclined to grant compensa-tion. "Since filing of the presentRTI application, the SDMChas derived benefit of morethan �50 lakh (at the rate of�5.86 lakh for more than ninemonths).

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Pollution level went for a tossin the millennium city as

the residents burst crackers tocelebrate Diwali with festivefervour. The pollution levelwent up by several notcheswhich was higher than previ-ous year's figures of the festivalnight. Initial data on suspend-ed particulate matter (SPM)indicated that pollution levelsin the city went up by at leastfive times during the festival.

According to preliminaryinformation, the level ofParticulate Matter (PM) 2.5 was5 times above the permissiblelimit on Thursday Night andFriday morning.

However, Jai Bhagwan

Sharma, regional officer ofHaryana State PollutionControl Board (HSPCB),claimed that initial figures cur-rently indicate that the pollu-tion level was down as com-pared to the last year but finalfigure will be revealed onMonday once the figure of thefive pollution units are com-piled. Contrary to Sharma'sclaims the pollution level hascrossed dangerous level in thecity on the Diwali night.

HSPCB had installed fivetemporary units to monitor airand noise levels in the city tocheck pollution before andafter Diwali. Department offi-cials said that they are prepar-ing a report on the increase inpollution on Diwali and it willbe ready by Monday.

On Thursday night, themaximum level of particulatematter 2.5, which has a PM of60 micrograms per cubic metre(μg/m ), increased to302μg/m . Last year on Diwali,the maximum PM 2.5 level wasrecorded at 823μg/m .

Also, the report of theGurugram's air quality indexon Friday was at 397 (very poorlevel), a day after Diwali festi-val. However, PM 2.5 leveltouched 999 g/m3 after Diwali.

Last year, in Gurugramthe highest average noise pol-lution level was reported at59.62 Leq db(A), from MGRoad. According to HSPCBofficials, the noise meters wereinstalled at Bus stand, AtulKataria Chowk and IMTManesar.

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(������$�����#�������������,�#������������&���-�����(��&����.������"���������&�+���������&����������������"��&������������������)����������)����������&���������������$����"���������������������������&�������������������������������,�����+���+�����+�"������������������������������&����$$�������$�����+�����+�"�����&�����������������������������.������"��������������������������,��/�&�����"�����������������������$����01�&�������������$�������������������$�����$���2���*)������������������������������,�)�� ��������������������������������&���������������������������.��������"���������"���$��������������$����&����������$����������������������������"������������$���������3�������������������������*/"��)������������������������4��������������������$���)���������&������������ �������������

������������ ��03�4.,

Body of an unidentified manwas found near the underpass

in West Delhi's Nangloi on Fridaymorning. Police suspect that theman was robbed of his valuablesand then murdered. The incidentis the latest in a string of caseswhere people were robbed of theirvaluables at an underpass in thenational Capital. A senior policeofficer said that they received acall on Friday morning about thebody of a man lying near theunderpass close to the Kirari rail-way tracks. Police found that theman was murdered. However,due to the absence of any docu-ments, police could not establishhis identity.

His mobile phone, walletand other valuables were missingwhich led the cops to believe thatthe deceased was robbed.

������������ ��03�4.,

Usually during Diwali, JamiaMillia Islamia — a Central

Government university — isdecked up and the tradition hasbeen going on for years.However, this Diwali manyfound the university campusengulfed in darkness.

Interestingly, Jamia wasdecked up a day after, saidsources. On condition ofanonymity, several studentstold The Pioneer, “The univer-sity was not decked up thisDiwali. But a day after theywere putting up lights every-where in the evening.”

After a video — in posses-sion of The Pioneer — surfacedon the social media showingJamia in the dark on Diwalinight, the very next day onFriday the university’s publicrelation representative shared afew photos on the social mediawith this message, ‘Diwali atJamia; Jamia decorated like abride’.”

The post got one sarcasticcomment with user OsamaZakaria writing, “When were

these photos taken? Such light-ing was not seen in Jamia onThursday [Diwali].”

Several efforts made by

the daily to contact Jamia’smedia in-charge ProfessorSaima Saeed, including an SMSmessage, failed as she didn’t

pick up the phone nor repliedto the message.

An IIMC alumnus, who isbehind Main Media (I ammedia), which did a oneminute video report on its FBpage of dark Diwali in Jamia,told The Pioneer, “It was onDiwali when I was passingfrom the campus and was sur-prised to see no lights. For yearson Diwali, Jamia has beendecked up. I grabbed a videoand put it on the social media.And a day after Diwali whilepassing from the campus, I sawthat some people were deco-rating the campus.

“Later on I was stumped tosee a few photos posted on FBby a senior university officialwith this message, ‘Diwali atJamia; Jamia decorated likebride’. It appears that the senioruniversity official is trying tomislead people,” said TanzilAsif, the founder of MainMedia, a start-up initiative.

Jamia's Foundation Daycelebration is also a few daysago and some students on thecampus feel that the decorationis part of the preparation.

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��������������03�4.,

Two more people have suc-cumbed to dengue in the

national Capital, taking thetoll from the vector-bornedisease in Delhi this season tofive. The two fatalities tookplace at the city Government-run Lok Nayak Jaya Prakash(LNJP) Hospital in CentralDelhi, officials said on Friday.

“Over 860 cases of denguehave been reported at LNJPHospital and two persons havedied there due to the disease.One of the patients died inAugust and the other suc-cumbed in September,"Medical Superintendent of theLNJP Hospital JC Passey said.

The number of peopleaffected by the vector-bornedisease this season till October14 has mounted to 5,220,according to the latest munic-

ipal report.The mosquito-borne trop-

ical disease had claimed itsfirst victim in the city this yearwhen a 12-year-old boy diedof dengue shock syndrome atthe Sir Ganga Ram Hospital(SGRH) on August 1.

Two more deaths werereported on October 16 by thethe South Delhi MunicipalCorporation (SDMC), whichtabulates data for the entirecity. The civic body, however,has not acknowledged thetwo fatalities at the LNJPHospital.

26-year-old Manipuriwoman Rhoda Daimai, whowas living in south Delhi'sSarita Vihar, had died onAugust 27 of septicaemia andother ensuing complicationswhile 49-year-old Meena Devi,hailing from Bihar, died ofdengue shock syndrome onSeptember 2, the report had

said.Civic bodies said Daimai

was a resident of a village inManipur and had come toDelhi seeking treatment whileMeena lived in Karawal Nagarin east Delhi. While Meenadied at the SGRH, Rhoda suc-cumbed at the Holy FamilyHospital.

The number of malariaand chikun-gunya casesrecorded inthe city tillOctober 14stood at1062 and6 8 3respective-ly, ther e p o r tsaid.

Of thetotal 5,220dengue cases,2,564 were residents

of Delhi, while the rest werefrom other states. Of the 2,564Delhi cases, 757 were reportedthis month, it said.

Cases of vector-borne dis-eases are usually reportedbetween mid-July andNovember-end. This year,however, it has been much ear-

lier.Dengue and

chikungunya arecaused by the aedes

aegypti mosqui-to, which

breeds inclear water.

T h ef e m a l eanophelesmosquito,w h i c h

c a u s e smalaria, can

breed in bothfresh and muddy

water.

According to the SDMC,mosquito breeding has beenreported from 4,78,978 house-holds in Delhi this year tillOctober 14.

At least 21 deaths due todengue were reported last yearfrom various city hospitals,including nine at AIIMS,though the official figure ofthe civic bodies stood at 10.Seventeen deaths, suspected tobe due to malaria, were alsoreported by civic bodies lastyear.

At least 15 fatalities werereported last year from variouscity hospitals due to compli-cations triggered by chikun-gunya, though civic authoritieskept the death tally at zero.

One of the worst out-breaks of chikungunya was in2016 when 12,221 cases werereported till December 24,2016. Of these, 9,749 wereconfirmed.

������������ ��03�4.,

In his bid to ensure that facili-ties for the Chhath Puja devo-

tees were in place, Delhi'sDevelopment Minister GopalRai on Friday inspected aYamuna ghat in north Delhi andtook stock of preparations for thefestival.

According to theGovernment, 565 ghats are beingset up along the banks of RiverYamuna for Chhath Puja, amajor festival of people fromBihar, eastern UP andJharkhand. The DevelopmentMinister, accompanied by seniorofficers of Irrigation and FloodControl department, Delhi JalBoard (DJB) and Revenuedepartment, inspected KudesiaGhat at Kashmari Gate here.

"Out of 565 ghats, 50 puccaghats have been constructed forChhath Puja. The minister hasdirected the departments con-cerned to start providing facili-

ties like tents at all ghats fromtomorrow," a senior Governmentofficial said.

The official said that a mon-itoring committee has also beenconstituted to look after prepa-rations of Chhath ghats.

Delhi has around 40 lakh'Poorvanchali' voters, hailingfrom eastern UP and Bihar,who play a key role in elections.

Earlier this year, the AamAadmi Party Government hadmade a special financial provi-sion in the 2017-18 Budget forsetting up sufficient numbers ofChhath ghats across the city.

������������ ��03�4.,

Seven Delhi Police personnel of the 3rdBattalion of the Delhi Armed Police have

been suspended for allegedly allowing anarrested middleman in the ElectionCommission bribery case to roam freely inBengaluru where he had been taken for acourt hearing, police said on Friday.

During the course of investigation car-ried out by the Inter State Cell of the CrimeBranch, Chandrasekhar was escorted toMumbai, Coimbatore and Bengaluru forcourt hearings between October 9 and 16.

Sources said that according to a reportsubmitted by the Income Tax Department toDelhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik,it was stated that Chandrasekhar was allowedto roam freely while he was in Bengaluru andeven carry out business deals.

Confirming the suspension, DependraPathak, chief spokesperson Delhi Policesaid, "An enquiry was ordered and the sevenpolice personnel of 3rd Battalion will remainsuspended till it is over. “

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Page 3: 0ˆ 1 ˆ 2˛02 ˛34 ˛. 5 ˛˚˜˚ !ˇ˚!#˚$˝%˝ˇ&’$˙˝˙ˇ˛˝(˘ not be as poor as last year, ... A complaint was forward-ed to the Delhi Police after the ... a letter addressed

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��������������03�4.,

The Supreme Court’s ban onsale of firecrackers in

Delhi-NCR may not have hadthe desired impact on air qual-ity, but major hospitals in thenational Capital reported fewerburn cases this Diwali, than lastyear.

The Centre-run SafdarjungHospital and RML Hospital,both of which have big burnunits, received 66 and 29patients respectively. The AllIndia Institute of MedicalSciences (AIIMS) did notreceive any burn cases onThursday night, doctors said.

Safdarjung Hospital hadreceived 110 burn patients lastDiwali, a senior doctor said.“Out of the 66 patients, whocame between 6 pm onThursday to 6 am on Friday, 50had suffered burns duringDiwali-related festivities. Fiveof them were admitted,” hesaid.

At the Ram ManoharLohia Hospital, in CentralDelhi, a lesser number of peo-ple came to the casualty wardswith burns, as compared to 79patients last year.

“Since Thursday eveningtill 10 am on Friday morning,23 men and five women withburn injuries, mainly related tohands and eyes, were attendedto in the casualty department.Only one man, who had suf-fered 27 per cent burns wasadmitted,” MedicalSuperintendent of the RMLHospital, Dr VK Tiwari, said.

Many doctors said the banon sale of crackers may havecontributed to less number ofburn cases reported at hospitalsthis year. The DelhiGovernment’s largest hospital,the LNJP Hospital also receivedjust ten patients.

“Only four of them need-ed admission, the extent ofburns ranged from 10 per centin one patient to 60 per cent inanother. None had eye injuries,but only facial burns, LNJPHospital’s Medical

Superintendent JC Passey said.Authorities at the Sir

Ganga Ram Hospital said thatits casualty unit received 15cases of burn injuries duringthe night, ten of whom wereadults and five children. Two

patients with severe burninjuries have been operated andthe rest discharged. Fourpatients with breathing diffi-culty also came to the casual-ty department.

St Stephen’s Hospital did

not report a single burn-relat-ed case on Diwali night. “Weusually get 15-20 cases everyyear. But, this time the fire-cracker ban may have helpedreduce the number,” a seniorofficial at the hospital said.

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������������ ��03�4.,

As Delhiites celebrated thefestival of lights on

Thursday night by burstingfirecrackers, 204 fire-relatedincidents were reported in thenational Capital, as against350 on last Diwali. The 204fires reported this year includ-ed a big blaze in a godown inEast Delhi on Thursday night,fire department officials saidon Friday. According to thedata compiled by Delhi FireService (DFS), out of 204 callsmade to the fire department,51 were related to crackers.

“A blaze was reported fromthe Subhash Mohalla area inEast Delhi around 10:10 pm at

a cloth godown. Twenty-sixfire tenders were sent to thespot. However, no injury wasreported in this case,” an offi-cial said on Friday. “It was athree-storey building. The caseis being investigated by thepolice,” he said.

The 204 calls to DFS weremade between midnight of

October 18 and Diwali mid-night. “Last year 243 calls werereceived by the DFS controlroom, between 5 pm and mid-night on Diwali, and another107 calls between midnightand morning,” the DFS officialadded. He said fire-relatedcalls were received post-Diwalimidnight as well. “FollowingDiwali midnight, so far 75calls have been received onFriday,” he said.

Besides 59 permanent firestations in the city, the DFS hadalso set up temporary stationsat 28 locations, from where themaximum number of callswere received on Diwali lastyear. The DFS had alsoincreased the number of phonelines to the control room.

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Congress leader andChairman of the

Parliamentary Panel on ExternalAffairs Shashi Tharoor has saidthe Government shouldincrease the number of diplo-mats and asserted that there wasa need for a separate exam forthe Indian Foreign Service (IFS).

"Brazil has 1,200 people inforeign services, if you look atthe number when it comes toChina they have something like6,000 people, the US has 20,000people. I am not saying we canbe like the US or even likeChina. But 800 is far too mod-est a number and it needs to beincreased," Tharoor toldreporters on the sidelines of ameeting of the panel earlier thisweek.

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From Page 1of Editor-In-Chief, RS TV willinvite applications and con-duct interviews to select asuitable candidate and submitits recommendation to thechairman.

According to officials, thisis the first time that RajyaSabha Secretariat has set up asearch-cum-selection com-mittee for the post of Editor-In-Chief in Rajya Sabha TV.

The committee members

include Prasar Bharati chair-man A Surya Prakash, RajyaSabha MP Swapan Dasgupta(both of them are The Pioneercolumnists), Prasar BhartiCEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati,Additional Secretary(Personnel) of Rajya SabhaSecretariat and TV journalistRahul Srivastava.

Sources said Editor-In-Chief will decide the policyand content of the news inconsultation with Rajya SabhaSecretariat. “It will take at leastone month to complete theformalities for the post,” saidthe sources.

Founded in 2008, RajyaSabha TV is owned and oper-ated by the upper house andthe Vice President is its chair-man. It covers the proceedingsof the upper house ofParliament. RS TV has at pre-sent 67 sanctioned posts andis working with a total pro-fessional manpower of 487.This is the first time thatRajya Sabha Secretariat hasadopted a procedure toappoint Editor-In-Chief since2008.

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From Page 1Senior Minister Naeem

Akhtar while slammingFriday’s incident said,“Whether braid-chopping isreal or psychological, one thinghas become clear, We as apeople are the worst posters ofwhat we claim to be -Kashmiris. Neither Kashmir’sethos nor the teachings of thereligion of Islam that we claimto be following, allows, muchless recommend the kind ofbrutal behaviour that we dis-play.”

The Minister termed it asan ethical crisis facing Kashmir.“It is a millstone around ourneck and we alone can andmust throw it away. You, meand every Kashmiri,” he said.

Akhtar called on the peo-ple to desist from resorting toviolence. “No braid-chopperhas been apprehended so farand it is the duty of the lawenforcing agencies to nab theculprits. But numerous inno-cent persons have become thevictims of our collective crim-

inal behaviour. The Soporeincident, bone chilling as it is,is only the latest,” said Akhtar.

Meanwhile, the JointResistance Leadership, com-prising separatist leaders SyedAli Geelani, Mirwaiz UmarFarooq and Yasin Malik calledfor a complete shutdown andcivil curfew on Saturday againstthe unabated braid-choppingincidents.

They said the decision wastaken during a meeting onThursday evening at the resi-dence of Geelani at Hyderpora.

They also appealed to thepeople not to harm any sus-pects and “instead hand themover to Masjid committees”.

The Kashmir Universityalso postponed examinationsscheduled for Saturday.

Meanwhile, terrorists onFriday hurled a grenade at thehouse of ruling PDP lawmak-er Mushtaq Ahmad Shah atTral, reports said.

No loss of life, or injurieswas reported. Shah was notpresent in the house.

From Page 1higher and will be quantifiedonce more research is done andnew methods of assessing harm-ful impacts are developed.

Areas like Sub-SaharanAfrica have yet to even set up airpollution monitoring systems.Soil pollution has received scantattention. And there are stillplenty of potential toxins stillbeing ignored, with less than halfof the 5,000 new chemicalswidely dispersed throughoutthe environment since 1950having been tested for safety ortoxicity.

“In the West, we got the leadout of the gasoline, so wethought lead was handled. Wegot rid of the burning rivers,cleaned up the worst of the toxicsites. And then all of those dis-cussions went into the back-ground” just as industry beganbooming in developing nations,said Richard Fuller, head of theglobal toxic watchdog PureEarth and one of the 47 scien-tists, policy makers and publichealth experts who contributedto the 51-page report.

“To some extent these coun-tries look to the West for exam-ples and discussion, and we’ddropped it,” Fuller said.

Still, many poorer countrieshave yet to make pollution con-trol a priority, experts say. Indiahas taken some recent actions,such as tightening vehicle andfactory emission standards andoccasionally limiting the num-ber of cars on New Delhi’sroads. But they have done littleabout crop burning, garbagefires, construction dust or ram-pant use of the dirtiest fossilfuels. To reach its figures on theoverall global pollution bur-den, the study’s authors usedmethods outlined by the USEnvironmental ProtectionAgency for assessing field datafrom soil tests, as well as with airand water pollution data fromthe Global Burden of Disease, anongoing study run by institu-tions including the World HealthOrganization and the Institutefor Health Metrics andEvaluation at the University ofWashington.

Even the conservative esti-mate of 9 million pollution-relat-ed deaths is one-and-a-half

times higher than the number ofpeople killed by smoking, threetimes the number killed byAIDS, tuberculosis and malar-ia combined, more than sixtimes the number killed in roadaccidents, and 15 times thenumber killed in war or otherforms of violence, according toGBD tallies.

It is most often the world’spoorest who suffer, the studyfound. The vast majority ofpollution-related deaths — 92per cent— occur in low- or mid-dle-income countries, wherepolicy makers are chiefly con-cerned with developing theireconomies, lifting people out ofpoverty and building basic infra-structure. Environmental regu-lations in those countries tend tobe weaker, and industries leanon outdated technologies anddirtier fuels.

In wealthier countries whereoverall pollution is not as ram-pant, it is still the poorest com-munities that are more oftenexposed, the report says.

“What people don’t realizeis that pollution does damage toeconomies. People who are sickor dead cannot contribute to theeconomy. They need to belooked after” — which is alsocostly, Fuller said.

“There is this myth thatfinance ministers still live by, thatyou have to let industry polluteor else you won’t develop,” hesaid. “It just isn’t true.”

The report cites EPAresearch showing that the U.S.has gained some $30 in benefitsfor every dollar spent on con-trolling air pollution since 1970,when Congress enacted theClean Air Act, one of the world’smost ambitious environmentallaws. Removing lead from gaso-line has earned the U.S. econo-my another $6 trillion cumula-tively since 1980, according tostudies by the U.S. Centers forDisease Control and Prevention.

Some experts cautioned,however, that the report’s eco-nomic message was murky.Reducing the pollution quanti-fied in the report might impactproduction, and so would notlikely translate into gains equalto the $4.6 trillion in economiclosses.

The report “highlights the

social and economic justice ofthis issue,” said Marc Jeuland,associate professor with theSanford School of Public Policyand the Duke Global HealthInstitute at Duke University,who was not involved in thestudy.

Without more concrete evi-dence for how specific policiesmight lead to economic gains,“policy makers will often find itdifficult to take action, and thisreport thus only goes part wayin making the case for action,”he said.

Jeuland also noted that,while the report counts mortal-ity by each pollutant, there arepossible overlaps — for example,someone exposed to both airpollution and water contami-nation — and actions to addressone pollutant may not reducemortality.

“People should be carefulnot to extrapolate from the U.S.numbers on net (economic)benefits, because the net effectsof pollution control will not beequivalent across locations,” hesaid.

The study’s conclusions onthe economic cost of pollutionmeasure lost productivity andhealth care costs, while alsoconsidering studies measuringpeople’s “willingness to pay” toreduce the probability of dying.While these types of studies yieldestimates at best, they are usedby many governments and econ-omists trying to understandhow societies value individuallives.

While there has never beenan international declaration onpollution, the topic is gainingtraction.

The World Bank in Aprildeclared that reducing pollution,in all forms, would now be aglobal priority. And inDecember, the United Nationswill host its first conference onthe topic of pollution.

“The relationship betweenpollution and poverty is veryclear,” said Ernesto Sanchez-Triana, lead environmental spe-cialist at the World Bank. “Andcontrolling pollution would helpus address many other problems,from climate change to malnu-trition. The linkages can’t beignored.”

From Page 1The severe level means

that air pollution can evenaffect healthy people and seri-ously impact those with exist-ing diseases.

The pollution indicator ofstate-run System of Air QualityForecasting and Research(SAFAR) turned a deep shadeof brown, indicating ‘severe’ airquality in the city during earlyhours of the day, which mayaffect healthy people and seri-ously impact those with exist-ing respiratory or cardiovas-cular diseases.

The US embassy’s pollutionmonitor recorded ‘hazardous’air quality with the index scor-ing an alarming 878, which themission considers “beyond itsair quality index” (AQI), whichends at 500.

But unlike previous years,the run-up to Diwali festivitieswas much cleaner this time.Even the Diwali evening wasrelatively quiet and promising,

suggesting that the ban on saleof firecrackers in the Delhi-NCR region imposed by theapex court has worked.

This was captured by theCPCB which had Delhi’s AQI(air quality index) at 319, whichis considered ‘very poor’, forOctober 20. However, since thefigure was released at 5 pm, itcould not quite record what fol-lowed thereafter.

The online indicators ofpollution monitoring stationsin the city glowed red, indicat-ing a ‘very poor’ air quality asthe volume of ultra fine par-ticulates PM2.5 and PM10,which enter the respiratorysystem and manage to reachthe bloodstream, sharply rosefrom around 7 pm onThursday.

The line graphs of the pol-lution data of the DelhiPollution Control Committee(DPCC) stations were telling.

In station after station, thevolume of PM2.5 and PM10

built up rapidly around 7 pmand peaked post midnight,soaring upto 10 times above thesafe 24-hour limits.

For example, the RKPuram monitoring stationrecorded PM2.5 and PM10 at878 and 1,179 micrograms percubic metre at around 11 pm.The monitors stopped workingafter midnight, suggesting thatthe pollutants had gonethrough the roof.

While it is difficult toquantify the immediate effectof the ban on firecrackers, res-idents across the national cap-ital felt the beginning waspromising with neighbour-hoods reporting much lessernoise and smoke till about 6pm, compared to the previousyears.

The situation was similar,

if not worse, in the neigh-bouring regions of Delhi suchas Gurugram, Noida andGhaziabad, where crackerswere burst as usual, raisingquestion marks on the effica-cy of the administration inenforcing the apex court’s ban.

The Supreme Court-appointed EnvironmentPollution Prevention andControl Authority (EPCA),which is empowered to enforcethe Graded Response ActionPlan (GRAP) to combat airpollution in Delhi-NCR, kickedoff a series of preventive mea-sures on October 17. Measuresunder the GRAP’s ‘very poor’and ‘severe’ categories, whichinclude a ban on diesel gener-ator sets, have come into effectand will remain in force tillMarch 15.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Friday laid the

foundation stones of five recon-struction projects here and hitout at the Congress, saying hewas not allowed to carry outredevelopment work after the2013 deluge when he wasGujarat Chief Minister.

Offering prayers at theKedarnath shrine, a day beforeit closes for the winters, he saidhis visit to the Himalayan tem-ple had strengthened hisresolve to serve the nation.

Serving people was trueservice of the lord, the primeminister said after offering'rudrabhiskek' at the high alti-tude shrine dedicated to LordShiva.

As Chief Minister ofGujarat, Modi said he hadoffered to take the responsibil-ity of reconstructing areas sur-rounding the temple when thetragedy had struck in 2013,killing thousands of people.

People from different stateshad perished and he could not

stop himself from rushing tothe state after the disaster, hesaid.

"I expressed my wish tocarry out reconstruction workat Kedarnath to the then chiefminister of the state whoagreed in principle.

"In my excitement I sharedthe development with themedia and within an hour TVchannels flashed it, causing astorm in New Delhi. They(UPA Government) viewedthe development with a kind ofalarm as they thought theGujarat chief minister will nowreach Kedarnath and mountedpressure on the then state gov-ernment not to agree to myrequest."

The then Chief Ministerhad no choice but to issue a

statement saying it did notneed the help of the GujaratGovernment, Modi said.

"I went back disappointed.But perhaps Baba (Lord Shiva)had decided that the responsi-bility of doing reconstructionwork at Kedarnath should beassigned to no one else but toBaba's son," he said.

The Chief Minister at thetime was Vijay Bahuguna, whowas with the Congress but isnow with the BJP.

Modi, who had visited theshrine in May this year, laid thefoundation stones of five majorreconstruction projects atKedarpuri. These includeimproved facilities for devotees,construction of retaining wallsand ghats at the Mandakini andSaraswati rivers, an approach

road to the shrine and recon-structing Adi GuruShankaracharya's tomb whichwas devastated in 2013.

He described the projectsas ambitious and expensivebut said there would be nodearth of funds to ensure thatthey are completed in a time-bound manner.

The Prime Minister said hewould invite the corporate sec-tor to join hands to develop agrander Kedarnath.

Asking people to makeUttarakhand a favourite desti-nation for tourists, he said thestate should aspire to becomean Organic State by 2022, whenIndia marks 75 years of inde-pendence.

"Blessings from Kedarnathwill lead us to fulfill the aspi-rations of every Indian citizenin 2022," he added.

"Our endeavour is to har-ness the youthful vigour andwater of the mountain state forits all round development...development is gaining groundin Uttarakhand."

Work on the Chardhamroad project had begun, hesaid.

The Prime Minister alsogot nostalgic remembering hisdays in Garurchatti nearKedarnath before he enteredpolitics.

"Some acquaintances I mettoday reminded me of my timespent in Garurchatti. Theywere important moments ofmy life. I wanted to settle downpermanently in this soil andspend all my life at Baba's feet.But Baba perhaps willed it dif-ferently.

"He perhaps did not wantme to spend all my life at thefeet of just one Baba and sentme out to serve 125 crore peo-ple of the country as their ser-vice is the true service of God,"he said.

Modi had last visitedKedarnath in May when theportals of the Himalayan shrinewere reopened for devoteesafter remaining closed for sixmonths for the winters.

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According to a new UNreport, of 7,000 new-born

babies who died worldwideeveryday last year, highest i. e.24 per cent were from India,indicating poor maternal healthand an inadequate healthcaresystem in the country.

Globally, everyday in 2016,15,000 children died beforetheir fifth birthday, 46 per centof them — or 7,000 babies -died in the first 28 days of life,as per the report ‘Levels andTrends in Child Mortality2017’released recently by

UNICEF, the World HealthOrganisation, the World Bankand the Population Division ofUNDESA which make up theInter-agency Group for ChildMortality Estimation (IGME).

It said, India is among thefive countries which account-ed for half of all new-borndeaths: India (24 per cent),Pakistan (10 per cent), Nigeria(9 per cent), the DemocraticRepublic of the Congo (4 percent) and Ethiopia (3 per cent).

At current trends, 60 mil-lion children will die beforetheir fifth birthday between2017 and 2030, half of them

newborns, It noted thatalthough the number of chil-dren dying before the age of fiveis at a new low- 5.6 million in2016, compared with nearly 9.9million in 2000 - the proportionof under-five deaths in thenewborn period has increasedfrom 41 per cent to 46 per centduring the same period.

“The lives of 50 millionchildren under-five have beensaved since 2000, a testament tothe serious commitment bygovernments and developmentpartners to tackle preventablechild deaths,” said UNICEFChief of Health, Stefan

Swartling Peterson in a state-ment here.

“But unless we do more tostop babies from dying the daythey are born, or days aftertheir birth, this progress willremain incomplete. We havethe knowledge and technolo-gies that are required - we justneed to take them where theyare most needed,”he said.

Dr Flavia Bustreo, AssistantDirector-General for Family,Women’s and Children’s Healthat WHO, said, “To achieveuniversal health coverage andensure more newborns sur-vive and thrive, we must serve

marginalized families”. “It is unconscionable that in

2017, pregnancy and child birthare still life-threatening condi-tions for women, and that 7,000newborns die daily,” said TimEvans, Senior Director ofHealth Nutrition andPopulation at the World BankGroup. “The best measure ofsuccess for Universal HealthCoverage is that every mothershould not only be able toaccess health care easily, but thatit should be quality, affordablecare that will ensure a healthyand productive life for her chil-dren and family, “ added Evans.

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The Election Commission(EC) on Friday came under

criticism of senior Congressleader P Chidambram for notdeclaring Gujarat electionschedule along with that ofHimachal Pradesh. He allegedthat the Commission hadallowed the BJP to dole out ‘free-bies’ and ‘concessions’ in the statebefore Gujarat goes to the polls.The BJP described the attack onthe poll panel as a ‘Save Rahul’campaign of the oppositionparty , fearing defeat in the poll.

Chidambaram took on theEC for not announcing theGujarat poll dates with that ofHimachal Pradesh saying that bynot announcing the poll sched-ule, it has ‘authorised’ PrimeMinister Narendra Modi todeclare the dates at his last rally,after all ‘freebies’ for the Statewere doled out.

The former finance andHome Minister also went on toclaim the Election Commissionwill be ‘recalled’ from its ‘extend-

ed holiday’ after the Gujarat gov-ernment has announced all‘concessions and freebies’.

“EC has authorised PM toannounce date of Gujarat elec-tions at his last rally (and kind-ly keep EC informed),” hetweeted.

The Congress had allegedthat the government put ‘pres-sure’ on the poll panel to ‘delay’the announcement of Gujaratassembly poll schedule toenable the prime minister to actas a ‘false santa claus’ and offersops, use ‘jumlas’ (rhetoric)during his October 16 visit tohis home state.

The model code of conductwould have come into immedi-ate effect in Gujarat had the pollschedule been announced alongwith Himachal Pradesh, theCongress had said.

Defending the EC, BJPspokesperson GVL NarasimhaRao said the tirade against theEC for not announcing waspart of the party’s ‘save Rahul’campaign as it fears that a defeatin the election will stall his ele-vation to the post of party chief.

“Chidambaram seems toview the EC from his jaundicedeyes. Sonia Gandhi, as an extra-constitutional authority, hadsubverted institutions andremote-controlled PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh.PM Modi is a quintessentialdemocrat and does not inter-fere in the functioning of anyinstitutions,” Rao said.

The BJP spokesmanaccused the Congress of ‘rankopportunism’ and ‘hypocrisy’pointing out that the same ECappeared neutral to theCongress when its decisionfavoured its senior leaderAhmed Patel’s election to theRajya Sabha.

Joining the counter-attack,Union Minister RavishankarPrasad and BJP Chief Ministerof the state Vijay Rupani alsolashed out at the Congress say-ing it was ‘speaking out of itsown experience’ and the oppo-sition was scared of the upcom-ing State Assembly electionsand disapproved of the EC crit-icism by former Home Minister.

“We believe elections should

happen on due time, and it willhappen so. But they are scareddue to their desperation. Andcriticising the ElectionCommission is not the rightthing in a democracy,” Rupanisaid while addressing reportersat Gandhinagar.

Prasad said “It is absolutelyabsurd. It’s like questioning theprudence of the EC. TheCongress is perhaps speaking outof its own experience whereinterference in the functioning ofconstitutional bodies used to bea thing in their rule. Such is notthe case since 2014,” he had said.

Elections to the 68-memberHimachal Pradesh assemblywould take place on November9 and the results would be out onDecember 18. The Commissionhas said the polls to the 182strong Gujarat assembly wouldbe held before December 18 sothat results of Himachal Pradeshpolls do not influence voting inGujarat. The poll schedule forHimachal Poll was announcedby the EC on October 12 butheld back announcing poll datesfor Gujarat.

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The first ever tri-service exerciseINDRA between India and Russia

commenced in Vladivostok, Russia onFriday with special focus on counter-terrorism in an international scenario.The armies, navies and air forces of thetwo countries will take part in the ten-day drill with an aim to boost theiroperational co-ordination.

The Indian contingent includesnearly 450 personnel while the Russianside is being represented by around1,000 troops. The opening ceremonyof the exercise at Vladivostok wasmarked by tri-services march-past byboth the sides, besides display of tradi-tional martial arts by the Indian troops.

In his address at the opening cer-emony, commander of the Indian con-tingent Major General ND Prasad, saidthe exercise between the two countriesreflects the vibrancy of the continuedIndia-Russia strategic partnership, thedefence ministry said here. He saidwith the rich operational experience ofRussian and Indian armies in counterinsurgency operations, both sides willgain immensely from each other to fur-ther develop their capabilities.

Lt General Solomatin, Chief ofStaff, Eastern Military District of theRussian Federation, said the exercise

will further strengthen the relationshipbetween the two defence forces. LtGeneral JS Negi, leader of the tri-ser-vices observer delegation, said the con-duct of the first ever tri- service exer-cise between the two countries is a sig-nificant step in mutual cooperationand marks an important milestone inthe 70th anniversary of diplomaticrelations between the two countries.

He expressed his confidence thatthe joint training between the twodefence forces over the next ten dayswill help them share their best prac-tices and serve in strengthening mutu-al confidence and interoperability.

The Indian Army, Navy and AirForce have been holding bilateralexercises separately with their Russiancounterparts for the last one decadebut it is for the first time that the twocountries are carrying out a tri-servicesexercise.

During Prime Minister NarendraModi’s visit to Russia in June, it wasdecided to ‘upgrade and intensify’defence cooperation through jointmanufacture, co-production and co-development of key military hardwareand equipment. A vision document,issued then, had said that both thecountries also decided to work towardsa qualitatively higher level of military-to-military cooperation.

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Four ship builders including fromGermany, France, Russia and Sweden

have responded to global tender for man-ufacturing six submarines, known asProject-75 India in collaboration with anIndian shipyard. The cost of the projectis more than �70,000 crore and Japan andSpain have opted out. The diesel-pow-ered submarines will be built under theStrategic Partnership policy of the gov-ernment announced earlier this year formanufacturing warships, submarinesand fighter jets within in the country.

The last date for responding to therequest for information(RFI) was earli-er this week and Naval Group-DCNS(France), ThyssenKrupp MarineSystems(Germany), SaabKockums(Sweden) andRosoboronexport Rubin DesignBureau(Russia) responded. However,Mitsubishi-Kawasaki HeavyIndustries(Japan) and Navantia(Spain)did not do so, sources said here on Friday.

The project was given the go-aheadin 2007 for the Navy to have six sub-marines fitted with land-attack cruisemissiles, integrated indigenous weaponsand sensors besides air-independentpropulsion for longer underwaterendurance.

It was learnt that Japan, whichmanufactures Soryu-class submarines,was keen to have a government to gov-ernment deal with India for this project.France, Russia and Germany have col-laborated with India in submarineswith France at present building sixScorpene submarines at MazagonDocks(Mumbai).

At present, India has 15 conven-tional submarines of Russian andGerman origin besides one nuclearpowered indigenously designed sub-marine INS Arihant and anothernuclear-powered submarine INS Chakraprocured from Russia for ten years onlease basis. Most of the conventionalsubmarines are in the finals stages oftheir operational life and the Navyurgently needs to induct new platformsto augment its submarine fleet.

The four contenders to respond forthe latest project includeScorpene(France), A-26(Sweden),Amur(Russia) and Type 214. The Navywill now examine the capabilities ofthese submarines to formulate techni-cal parameters. The formal tender willthen be issued for the four to enablethem to submit technical and commer-cial bids. The defence ministry, mean-while, will identify the Indian shipyardas per the strategic partnership policy.

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The nation will pay homageto the policemen martyred

in firing by Chinese troops in1959 and 34,400 others wholaid down their lives protectingIndia’s unity, at a special func-tion here on Delhi on Saturday.Home Minister Rajnath Singhwill lead the nation to payhomage to 10 policemenbesides 34,408 other policepersonnel, who have sacrificedtheir lives since Independenceto safeguard the unity andintegrity of the nation.

Observed as ‘PoliceCommemoration Day’,October 21 commemorates thesacrifices of the 10 policemenwhile defending India’s borderswith China in 1959, a statementby the ministry said.

The Indian police person-nel were responsible for man-ning the 2,500 mile long bor-der of India with Tibet until theautumn of 1959.

On October 20, 1959, threereconnaissance parties werelaunched from Hot Springs in

North Eastern Ladakh in prepa-ration for further movement ofan Indian expedition whichwas on its way to Lanak La.

While members of twoparties returned to Hot Springs,the third one comprising twopolice constables and a porterdid not return, the statementsaid.

The remaining forces weremobilised next morning insearch of the missing personnel.A party of about 20 police per-sonnel led by Karam Singh, aDeputy Central IntelligenceOfficer (DCIO) rank officer,proceeded on horseback whileothers followed on foot in threesections. At mid-day, theChinese Army personnel wereseen on a hillock who openedfire and threw grenades at theIndian party, the statement said.

Since there was no cover,most personnel were injured.Ten of the brave police per-sonnel attained martyrdomand seven others sustainedinjuries in the incident. Bodiesof the 10 personnel werereturned by the Chinese onNovember 13, 1959, three

weeks after the incident. Thebodies were then crematedwith full police honours atHot Springs in Ladakh, it said.

The annual conference ofInspectors General of Police ofStates and Union Territoriesheld in January 1960 decidedthat October 21 would, hence-forth, be observed as‘Commemoration Day’ in allpolice lines in the country tomark the memory of thesegallant personnel, the statementsaid.

It was also decided to erecta memorial at Hot Springs, andthat members of police forcesfrom different parts of thecountry trek to Hot Springsevery year to pay homage to thegallant martyrs. Since inde-pendence, 34,418 police per-sonnel have sacrificed theirlives for safeguarding theintegrity of the nation and pro-viding security to people of thiscountry, the statement said.

During the last one year i.e.from September 2016 toAugust 2017, 383 police per-sonnel have laid down theirlives.

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The India Pulses and GrainsAssociation (IPGA) has

demanded that the Governmentshould supply pulses throughration shops to provide betterprice realisation to farmers andensure the country’s nutrition-al security. Pulses industry bodyIPGA has written a letter toConsumer Affairs Ministryseeking inclusion of pulses inthe Public Distribution System(PDS) as this would have a ben-eficial impact on India’s farmsector and economy.

Under the National FoodSecurity Law, the Centre pro-vides 5 kg of highly subsidisedwheat and rice per month at Rs2-3 per kg to over 80 crore peo-ple, costing exchequer about Rs1.4 lakh crore annually.

“IPGA strongly recom-mends for inclusion of pulsesin PDS which would have asalutary effect on demand sup-ply disparities, seasonal defi-ciency and better price stabil-isation all year round — build-ing a case of adequate supplyleading to nutritional securityfor the country,” the associationsaid in the letter.

India produced a record22.95 million tonnes of pulsesin the 2016-17 crop year (July-June), which is almost equal todomestic demand. The coun-try imported about 5 milliontonnes of pulses last fiscal, butnow the Government hasrestricted imports due tobumper production and lowrealisation to farmers.

Listing out the benefits forsupplying pulses via rationshops, IPGA said this would actas an incentive for the farmersas the government procure-ment will ensure appropriateprice realisation. “With farm-ers earning improving, they willbe keen on adopting moreadvanced techniques and bet-ter quality seeds that will helpthem meet the demand ofpulses,” it said. IPGA said if thegovernment starts supplyingpulses under PDS, the lowerincome group populationwould be able to consumepulses, helping improve thenation’s nutritional security.

“WHO recommends 80gram of protein per person perday. This would mean thatevery household (generallyconsisting of 4 people) shouldconsume 3.84 kg of pulses amonth. India as of 2015-16,consumes not even half thatamount,” the letter said.

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Congress on Friday targetedPrime Minister Narendra

Modi and the BJP over range ofissues including his publicaddress at the holy shrineKedarnath in Uttarakhand.While party vice presidentRahul Gandhi fired a freshsalvo at them over the contro-versy surrounding BJP chief ’sAmit Shah’s son’s company,former Union Minister RPNSingh charged Modi of mis-leading the people at Kedarnathto seek political capital on theeve of Assembly polls inHimachal Pradesh.

“Mitron (friends), will notspeak about ‘Shah-zada’, norwill let anyone speak,” Rahultweeted referring to an interiminjunction granted by anAhmedabad court on a crimi-nal defamation plea filedagainst a news portal by JayShah, son of Amit Shah.

Jay Shah had recently fileda criminal defamation caseagainst the online portal afterit published an article claiming

the turnover of a companyrun by him saw a huge rise afterthe BJP came to power at theCentre in 2014. AnAhmedabad court had onMonday restrained the portal

from publishing or broadcast-ing reports based on the arti-cle published by it regarding JayShah’s firm. Both the Congressand its vice president RahulGandhi have repeatedly ques-tioned Modi’s “silence” on theissue.

AICC spokesperson RPNSingh, reacting to Modi’s claimsthat the Congress Governmentin Uttarakhand had notallowed him as Gujarat ChiefMinister to rebuild the hillshrine of Kedarnath after flashfloods devastated it in 2013,said, ‘it is unfortunate thatarrogance marked his addressat Kedarnath. Singh alleged thatPM has misled the people ofthe State through his state-ments.

“When the tragedy inUttarakhand happened, thethen UPA Government at theCentre had set up a committeefor carrying out rehabilitationwork. The UPA Govenrmentapproved �8000 crore for dis-aster relief of which �2200crore were released at thattime and work started,” Singhat AICC Press briefing.

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To give the requisite boost toAyurveda, the Ayush

Ministry and Indian Council ofMedicinal Research (ICMR)have decided to conduct mol-ecular based studies i.e con-verging the research approachof alternate traditional medic-inal systems with the modernsystem of medicine.

“To converge the researchapproach of AYUSH systemswith the modern system ofmedicine, the Ministry ofAYUSH and Indian Council ofMedicinal Research have decid-ed to have molecular basedstudies on specific leads fromthe Ministry,” said ShripadYesso Naik, Minister of State forAYUSH recently at theAyurveda Conclave organisedby his Ministry andConfederation of IndianIndustry (CII) recently here.

Emphasising thatAyurveda is witnessing a resur-gence in India and around theglobe, he said that a threefoldincrease in market size ofAyurvedic products from USD

2.5 billion to USD 8 billion isenvisioned by 2022. He alsosaid that the Government hasalready begun work on build-ing AIIMS like facilities forAyurveda across India.

Dr Rajesh Kotecha,Secretary, Ayush Ministry, said,“We have to look at researchintegration and teaching.”Entrepreneurs must leveragethe huge demand for Ayurveda,he said.

Dr Randeep Guleria,Director, AIIMS, felt that inter-vention is required in terms ofupgrading infrastructure, andconducting extensive researchand process standardisations totake this ancient system ofholistic healing to the masses.Rajiv Vasudevan, Chairman-CII Core Group on Ayurvedaand MD, AyurVAID Hospitals,said that new facilities shouldbe opened up for Ayurveda innon-communicable diseases,geriatrics, and degenerativediseases.

He urged the Governmentto make it possible for qualifiedphysicians to practice exclusiveAyurveda and health insuranceproviders to include Ayurveda

in their package.Sources said that though

the ICMR and ministry willsoon start conducting molec-ular based studies in the area,a team of scientists at theCentre for Cellular andMolecular Biology (CCMB)way back in 2015 has alreadyconclusively proved thegenomic basis of Ayurveda asper the findings published inthe journal ‘Nature’.

The six-year research pro-ject had collected blood sam-ples from over 3,400 people inthe age group of 20-30.Ayurvedic physicians screenedthem, and the same set of peo-ple was also screened byAyuSoft software, developed byC-DAC, Bengaluru. Isolation ofDNA and genomic studieswere carried out usingAffymetrix 6.0 SNP chip.

When the data was plotted,it fell into three groups, estab-lishing the molecular basis forancient Ayurvedic classificationof three ‘doshas/prakritis’ orbiological energies/humorsfound in the human body,namely Vata, Pitta and Kapha,as per the study.

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India on Friday welcomed thestatement made by the

United States’ Secretary ofState, Rex Tillerson, in whichhe talked about deepeningcooperation with India anddescribed New Delhi as a reli-able partner. India has termedTillerson’s statement as a pos-itive evaluation of the rela-tionship and expressed opti-mism over future.

‘’Secretary Tillerson hasmade a significant policy state-ment on India-US relationsand its future. He brought outits various strengths and high-lighted our shared commit-ment to a rule-based interna-tional order. We appreciatehis positive evaluation of therelationship and share his opti-mism about its future direc-tions. We look forward to wel-coming him in India nextweek for detailed discussionson further strengthening of ourpartnership,” Ministry ofExternal Affairs spokespersonRaveesh Kumar said here onFriday.

Tillerson, in his first majorforeign policy speech made atthe Center for Strategic and

International Studies inWashington, on Wednesday,termed India as a ‘reliablepartner’. He further said thatthe US wants a ‘dramaticallydeepen’ cooperation with Indiawhile adding that the USwould ‘never have the samerelationship with China, anon-democratic society’.

His statement comes aweek before he is scheduled tovisit India and Pakistan aspart of his five-nation tour thatwould also take him to SaudiArabia, Qatar and Switzerland.In New Delhi, Tillerson willmeet Minister for ExternalAffairs Sushma Swaraj to ‘dis-cuss further strengthening of

strategic partnership and col-laboration on security andprosperity’ in the Indo-Pacificregion, the US StateDepartment SpokespersonHeather Nauert said on Friday.“The Secretary’s visit to Indiawill advance the ambitiousagenda laid out by PresidentTrump and Prime MinisterNarendra Modi during thePrime Minister’s visit to theWhite House in June,” sheadded.

“The emerging Delhi-Washington strategic partner-ship stands upon a sharedcommitment upholding therule of law, freedom of navi-gation, universal values, and

free trade. Our nations are twobookends of stability - oneither side of the globe - stand-ing for greater security andprosperity for our citizens andpeople around the world,”Tillerson said.

While adding that the USwants a constructive relation-ship with China, Tillersonobserved “We will not shrinkfrom China’s challenges to therules-based order, and whereChina subverts the sovereign-ty of neighboring countriesand disadvantages the US andour friends…China’s provoca-tive actions in the South ChinaSea directly challenge the inter-national law and norms thatthe United States and Indiaboth stand for.” Respondingswiftly to Tillerson’s statement,China called on the US to“abandon its prejudices”.

Terming Pakistan as animportant partner in SouthAsia, Tillerson said the USexpects Islamabad to take deci-sive action against terroristgroups based within its bor-ders. “In doing so, Pakistanfurthers stability and peacefor itself and its neighbors, andimproves its own internation-al standing,” he added.

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The Kerala CPI(M) onFriday reiterated that the

party had no plan to forgealliance with the Congress inorder to fight the BJP even asthe State-wide Jana JagrataYatra of the ruling LDF led bythe CPI(M) against the allegedcommunal agenda of theSangh Pariwar and ‘anti-peo-ple policies’ of the NDAGovernment in the Centre isto begin on Saturday.

“The communal agendaand liberal economic policiesof the BJP cannot defeated byforming grand alliancesbetween political parties thatare not unanimous on poli-cies,” said State CPI(M) secre-tary Kodiyeri Balakrishnanwhile Politburo member MABaby said his party was notprepared to forge opportunis-tic alliances in order to fightthe Sangh Pariwar.

The statements of the twoleaders have come in the con-text of the ongoing disputewithin the CPI(M) over thequestion of forming an alliancewith Congress against the BJP.As per reports, the so-calledKerala lobby of the CPI(M) hadshot down the proposal ofgeneral secretary SitaramYechuri for having truck withthe Congress in the last meet-ing of the central committee.

Speaking at a function inhis hometown Thalassery inKannur district, Kodiyeri, alsoa senior member of the CPI(M)Politbureau, said the alternativepolitics against the communalagenda and the liberalizationpolicy of the BJP would comeup through class struggle andpolitical battles of the massesand not through grand

alliances among parties withdivergent policies.

“A broad public platformis needed to oppose the fascistpractices of the BJP. If that isexpanded as political alliances,discomforting situation ashave happened in the past willbe repeated. We have priorexperiences on what wouldhappen if alliances are forgedwith parties among whichthere is no policy agreement,”Kodiyeri said.

“The emergence of analternative force against thecommunal and liberalisationpolicies of the BJP and the eco-nomic liberalisation policy ofthe Congress has become nec-essary in this context. TheBJP is trying this hard toweaken the Left because it hasrealized that it is this Leftistpolicy that is going to influencethe country in the future,” theCPI(M) leader said.

Describing the reportsappearing in the Press on thedebates over the possibility ofthe CPI(M) cooperating withthe Congress to oppose the BJPas laced with a lot of spice,Politbureau member Babyalleged that it was the wrongeconomic policies of the formerCongress-led UPA regime that

had served as the foundation ofthe BJP’s current rule.

“The CPI(M) will indeedadopt measures required forresisting the BJP. Our presentpolitical obligation is to takethe actions that are necessaryto ensure the end of the BJP-led rule in the country. Wewon’t give anyone the oppor-tunity to say that we havefailed in that. We are not pre-pared to forge opportunisticalliances for this,” Baby, a for-mer State Minister, said.

Indicating, however, thatthe discussions on whether tocooperate with the Congressare not over, Baby said, “Veryserious intra-party discussionsare going to take place (on thisissue). This is not happeningfor the first time,” Baby saidadding that a final decisionwould be taken at the 22ndCPI(M) Congress to be held inHyderabad from April 18 to 22.

Meanwhile, the JanaJagrata Yatra of the LDF,planned in the context of thejust-concluded all-Kerala JanaRaksha Yatra of the BJPagainst ‘Jehadi and Red Terror’,will begin on Saturday. TheLeftist Yatra, intended at coun-tering the anti-Marxist mes-sages conveyed by the BJPmarch, will be held as two sep-arate marches, the northernand southern Yatras.

CPI’s all-India secretary DRaja will inaugurate the northzone Yatra to be led by KodiyeriBalakrishnan at Manjeswaramin Kasaragod district andMarxist Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan will flag off thesouth zone Yatra, being led byState CPI secretary KanamRajendran atThiruvananthapuram at 4.00PM Saturday.

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In the changing political sce-nario in Karnataka, the

Janata Dal (Secular) of formerPrime Minister HD DeveGowda is expected to play akingmaker’s role in the ensuingAssembly polls in 2018. For thisthe party will hop on a custom-built luxury coach for its starcampaigner and State president

HD Kumaraswamy who isgoing to start his campaignfrom November.

The luxury caravan wortha crore has in-built facilities like,a room, kitchen and toilet facil-ity for Kumaraswamy who isgoing to start his election touracross the State. Kumaraswamy,former Chief Minister and anaspirant to the hot seat, hadunderwent a heart surgeryrecently is bogged down byinternal dissents. Fifty-seven-year-old Kumaraswamy whoplayed a crucial role in theKarnataka politics for the pastdecade is putting all his energyin anticipation to play a majorrole in ensuing Assembly pollswhich is crucial for both theCongress and the BJP.

As part of his campaign hewill have grama vastavya or vil-lage stay to cover many villagesacross 224 Assembly con-stituencies. “I will visit 20 vil-lages every day. The custom-made bus will cater to all myneeds — I can bath, eat, holdmeetings and even sleep in it,”Kumaraswamy said .

But it is not onlyKumaraswamy that the buswill accommodate during thecampaign trail, but his person-al yoga instructor, a doctorand cook as well.

According to partysources the bus is a gift by theparty’s minority cell presi-dent Syed Altaf .

The luxury coach built onthe Ashok Leyland bus chassis

has cost about �1 crore. It alsohas a podium with a hydrauliclift, fitted with a modern pub-lic address system, to enableKumaraswamy to address pub-lic meetings.

The bus is being readied bya private company specialisingin customised buses in Karur,Tamil Nadu. With his ultramodern poll rathKumaraswamy is testing hispolitical future in the State.

The bus with party’s greenand white colour body, hasthe best air suspension toensure his hectic campaignschedules ahead would notaffect his health. Earlier alsohe had used a speciallydesigned Toyota Commuterfor his poll campaign.

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Rejecting allegations madeagainst his Government

that Goa’s State literaryawards were scrapped, after abook of poems which criti-cised the influential GaudSaraswat Brahmin communi-ty in Goa was shortlisted forthe same, Chief MinisterManohar Parrikar on Fridayclarified that the awards weredeclared “null and void”because of procedural dis-crepancies and that the BJP-led coalition Government hadno truck with the FIR filedagainst the book’s authorVishnu Wagh.

Parrikar addressed a Pressconference in Panaji, wherehe also alleged that therewere sections in the mediawhich were trying to rake acontroversy, where none actu-ally existed.

“In this case we found thatthere was substantial conflictof interest. Therefore, fullprocess has been declarednull and void,” Parrikar clar-ified on Friday, even as hisdecision to scrap the awardhas been criticised by theState’s intelligensia.

The Chief Minister saidthat those writers whose bookshad been shortlisted for someof the literary awards were

also on the jury selected tochoose award winning books.

“Now let me be clear, evenone person has cross interest,full process is null and void,”Parrikar said.

The controversial book,which was incidentallyreleased at the hands ofManohar Parrikar, during hisearlier stint as Chief Ministerin 2013, is critical of the GaudSaraswat Brahmin communi-ty, which is influential in thesphere of business, adminis-tration as well as politics in theState.

The book did not stir con-troversy after it was released in2013, but the controversy start-ed after 'Sudhir Sukta' wasshortlisted for an annual liter-ary award by the State-fundedGoa Konkani Academy thisyear.

The selection of 'SudhirSukta' was objected to by oneof the jury members, taskedwith short-listing books forthe award, who claimed thatthe contents in the book wereinflammatory and unfairly crit-

ical of the GSB community andderogatory to women.

The awards where howev-er scrapped by the StateGovernment last week, osten-sibly because of "irregulari-ties" in the award short-listingprocess.

“We were not even awarewho has been selected. What‘sukt’ has been selected or notselected.

We have not opened theenvelope also. The minutes ofthe selection which have beensealed have been kept just likethat by me. When I checked upon the procedure, I found thisconflict of interest,” Parrikarsaid.

“Therefore I told thedepartment to cancel the fullproceedings.

So it is proceeding whichhas been cancelled. if the pro-ceedings is cancelled, obvious-ly recommendations are can-celled, but recommendationhas not been opened also,” healso said.

Parrikar also lambastedsections of the media which

alleged that the Governmentwas involved in the filing of aFirst Information Reportagainst the author VishnuWagh, who is also a formerBharatiya Janata Party MLAand the publisher of the bookHema Naik.

“Some people are trying togive it a different colour. As faras an FIR again, which hasnothing to do withGovernment, though somemedia at national level tried tohint that as if Government hasdone something. We have tobe very clear. I believe infreedom of expression, onecan write anything, but every-thing is subject to decisions byapex court and law,” Parrikarsaid.

The FIR was filed by awomen’s rights activist AudaViegas, who has alleged that thebook is derogatory to women.

“An FIR cannot be avoid-ed.

You go into the details, findout if law has been broken andtake appropriate action. Basedon that opolice on thier own,took a decison.

In fact I do not interferewith investigating officials,”Parrikar said.

“Personally, some peoplethink that the use of words isderogatory to women. I am notan expert on that.

Expert will have to giveopinion to the police first,whether they are derogatory ornot,” the Chief Minister said,adding that “oversensitivity”has been created about theissue, because there is an awardat stake.

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The DMK, the principalOpposition party in Tamil

Nadu, has got into an electionmode past the Diwali celebra-tions. Party sources said onFriday that MK Stalin, workingpresident of the DMK who isalso the Leader of theOpposition, would soon under-take a Namukku Naame (wefor ourselves) Yatra crisscross-ing the State for interactingwith the people and to rejuve-nate the party cadre.

Though it is being claimedby the party insiders that thistime the Namukku NaameYatra is being held as a preludeto the local body electionswhich is expected in themonth of December, it may beremembered that Stalin hadsaid many times in the recentpast that Tamil Nadu wouldsoon have a general electionthanks to the infighting in theruling AIADMK.

“We are yet to work outthe dates of the yatra. But itwill be there as we want totake to the people the all–round fai lure of thePalaniswamy Government,”Stalin told reporters.

He said he was in discus-sion with the district officebearers of the party about theschedule of the yaatra and thedetails would be announcedsoon.

The EdappadiPalaniswamy-led AIADMKGovernment is in a precariouscondition as the Madras HighCourt is hearing a series of peti-tions filed by the rebelAIADMK MLAs and 21 DMKMLAs questioning the propri-ety of the Speaker and thePrivileges Committee to dis-qualify them from the Houseciting various disciplinary laws.

Even Vijayakant, sulkingafter the wiping out of hisparty the DMDK and thealliance led by him in the 2016assembly election, has alsodeclared that Tamil Naduwould soon have a generalelection. He said his partywould not contest in theupcoming by-election to R KNagar caused by the demise offormer Chief Minister JJyalalithaa.

The Election Commissionhas said that it would declarethe schedule of the RK Nagarby-poll soon as the electionhas to ne held before

December 31.The DMK cadre has been

enthused by the public appear-ance of M Karunanidhi onThursday.

The DMK president whohas been ailing since October2016 has not made any pub-lic appearance for the lastone year.

On Thursday he made anunscheduled visit to the officeof the party mouth pieceMurasoli which surprised hisfollowers and fans.

The AIADMK finds itselfin a precarious conditionwith each day bringing newsabout more dissensions anddissidence.

Munusami, the strongmanin the O Panneerselvam campdeclared that he and other fac-tion leaders do not subscribe tothe attitude of Thampidurai,the deputy speaker of the LokSabha, who has been workingovertime for bringing Sasikalaand TTV Dinakaran back tothe leadership.

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Incessant showers caused bya deep depression over

north-central Bay of Bengallashed almost entire Bengalthrough Thursday and Fridayto mar Kali Puja and Diwalicelebrations and threatened todamage winter crops worthcrores, State Irrigation MinisterRajib Banerjee said.

What was worse the badweather was likely to contin-ue till Bhatri Dwitiya andthe skies were unlikely toopen up before Mondaymorning when the educa-tional institutions resumeclasses after a long festive sea-son the weatherman said.

Large parts of coastalBengal including Digha-Mandarmani and Sunderbanswere affected as huge waveslashed the shores. AtNamkhana and

Patharpratima charging wavesbreached earthen bunds toenter the villages, sources inthe Irrigation Departmentsaid adding these areas weremost affected when cycloneAila hit Bengal in 2009.

Chief Minister MamataBanerjee ordered opening of acontrol room at State secre-tariat Nabanna to better-han-dle situations arising out ofinclement weather, theIrrigation Minister said addingfishermen had been asked notto venture deep inside thesea. “At Digha andMandarmani beaches tourists

have been asked not to venturenear the sea for the fear ofbeing sucked into it by thehigh tide.”

Inland, rain played thespoilsport for Kali Puja andDiwali festivities while manypandals went under knee-deep water. Overnight rainsand strong winds pulleddown fabricated structuresat many places at Barasatwhere Kali Puja is celebratedwith great fanfare.

Many parts of Howrah,Hooghly, North Kolkata,North Dinajpur and Burdwanwent under water sources

said adding pumps had beendeployed to drain out water.There was almost no trace oflamps on roofs and fire crack-ers were also burst far less innumber compared to previousyears.

Even as older citizensfailed to recollect witnessingrains during Kali Puja andDiwali, the weather office saidthe inclement weather was tocontinue till Sunday.

Rains notwithstandingKali Puja was duly celebratedat all the Shakti Peethasincluding Kalighat,Kankalitala, Tara Peeth,Dakshineshwar etc accordingto Tantric system. GoddessKali was also worshipped atBelurmath the headquarters ofRamakrishna Mission. KaliPuja was celebrated withmuch fanfare at ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee’sresidence.

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The BJP on Friday said therewould not be any beef ban

in Meghalaya and alleged thatthe Congress was “misleading”the people on the issue to gainpolitical mileage ahead of theAssembly elections next year.

The Centre has notimposed any beef ban inMeghalaya, State BJP presi-dent Shibun Lyngdoh said,adding the May 23 notificationonly regulated the manner inwhich animal markets weresupposed to function and howanimals brought for trade wereto be treated.

BJP spokesperson JALyngdoh said in a statement thatthe party “has already clarifiedthat it (beef ban) will not beimposed in the NortheasternStates. Livestock is a State subject.It is up to the States to decide”.

He also said beef banwould not be imposed in theState, adding preventing cowslaughter was neither a goodeconomic measure nor hadconstitutional backing.

Noting that the rulingCongress is running out ofideas to fight the BJP, the partyspokesperson said that CMMukul Sangma was “mislead-ing” the people on the issue togain political mileage ahead ofAssembly elections next year.

Sangma had reportedly saidthat the Centre’s notificationshould be withdrawn as it wouldimpact the State’s economy andthe food habits of the people.

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Kerala Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan on Friday

said his Government was readyto take up the challengethrown by the BJP to organisea debate on developmentissues. But the Left leader wasquick to add that the saffronparty had attempted to runaway from the debate.

“Not expecting a construc-tive approach from the BJP,which has tried to project theallocation and share of CentralFunds to the State as a ‘conces-sion’ of the Centre,” Vijayan saidin a Facebook post.

Stating that the stance of theruling LDF was different, Vijayansaid the State wants to maintaincordial relations with the Centreand also to take effective steps forgetting its due share.

The Kerala Chief Ministeralleged that frequent requests tomeet Prime Minister NarendraModi to discuss the State’s devel-opment issues have been denied.

“Is this because of thepolitical enmity created by theBJP unit in Kerala?” Vijayanposed to BJP State presidentKummanom Rajasekharan.

Speaking on the muchtalked about political violencein the southern State, theCPI(M) veteran leader saidthe effort should be to end ten-sion by holding peace meetingsand conducting bilateral(between CPI(M) and RSS-BJP leaders) talks.

He also alleged that the 15-day long 'Jan Raksha Yatra'taken out by the BJP recentlypropagated "lies and false mes-sages".BJP State ChiefKummanom Rajasekharan hadstated that the first and fore-most step needed for develop-ment was putting an end toconflict and an environmentthat fosters conflict.

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Chakma National Council ofIndia (CNCI), the apex

organisation spearheading therights of the Chakmas in India,has urged the Chief Minister ofArunachal Pradesh, PemaKhandu to stop his maliciouspropaganda of projecting allChakmas of ArunachalPradesh as criminals and urgedhim to take the lead in solvingthe issue once and for all.

The CNCI also took strongobjection to the statement ofKhandu who on several occa-sions during the recentAssembly session termed theChakmas as criminals and saidthat the community has beenunquestionably loyal to Indiabefore and after the Partition

despite numerous suffering thecommunity had undergonedue to partition and decision ofthe then Indian leaders.

“Mongering hate towardsthe Chakmas of ArunachalPradesh across the State andcategorising them as crimi-nals is now long past its sell-by-date, and it would really beirrational of the Chief Ministerto think that this agenda of hiswould really be of any help inthe present time and also in thefuture to his overall cause ofsolving the vexed Chakmaissue,” Prahland Chakma, Vice

President of CNCI.“Had the Chief Minister

stood by its oath of Raj Dharma, he would have easily seen thatthe Chakma community hasbeen one of the most peacefuland peace-loving communitiesin the country,” said Chakma.

He said that the ArunachalPradesh Chief Minister, inorder to have his support inimplementing Tibetan RefugeePolicy (TRP) in Arunachalwarned the people not to com-pare the Chakmas Refugeesand Tibetian because accordingto him Chakmas are criminalswhile Tibetian refugees arepeaceful.

“Several politicians andstudents leaders with selfishinterests have unfairly accusedthe Chakma community ofillegal forest area encroach-ment. However their attentionis never drawn to how it mustfeel to be swept away in the furyof the Noa-Dihing River andbecome homeless and landlessin a night. Every year Chakmas

has been losing vast areas oftheir land in the flood causedby the Noa Dihing River buttheir persistent requests torehabilitate them and con-struct fences has fallen on deafears,” he pointed out.

It may be mentioned herethat the citizenship issue of theChakmas and Hajongs ofArunachal Pradesh has lin-gered on for so long. While theSupreme Court had on 2015directed the CentralGovernment and ArunachalPradesh Government to finalizeconferment of citizenship rightsto over one lakh Chakma andHajongs in the State, the StateGovernment opposed the movesaying that it would change thedemography of the tribal State.

“It is high time the ChiefMinister takes a lead and solvesthe issue once for and all by fol-lowing the Central Governmentin granting the citizenship withall its legitimate rights as per theHonourable Supreme CourtVerdict,” he added.

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In the backdrop of specula-tion of Telangana TDP work-

ing president A Revanth Reddysoon joining the Congress, theState Politburo and CentralCommittee members of TDPon Friday met in Hyderabad.

Revanth Reddy who alsoattended the meeting faced a lotof questions from other partyleaders about his meeting theCongress party vice-presidentRahul Gandhi.

Two senior TDP leadersM Narasimhlu and ArvindKumar Goud demanded toknow the reason fromRevanth Reddy for his meet-ing the leaders of other par-ties without permission fromparty president NChandrababu Naidu.

“Who authorised you totalk to other parties on the issueof alliance,” Narasimhlu askedRevanth Reddy.

Revanth Reddy evadedtheir question and only saidthat he will talk toChandrababu Naidu on theseissues after he returns from theUSA.

Narasimhlu also ventedhis anger over Revanth Reddy’sallegations of senior TDP lead-ers like AP Ministers YanamalaRamakrishnudu and ParitalaSunitha entering into a nexuswith Telangana Chief MinisterK Chandrasekhar Rao.

With Revanth Reddy

maintaining si lence MNarasimhlu and ArvindKumar Goud walked out ofthe meeting.

The meeting was attendedby R Chandrasekhar Reddy , RPrakash Reddy, Uma MadhavaReddy and other seniors.

Later talking to the media,party spokesperson RChandrashekhar Reddy saidthat it was a routine meeting tochalk out party's strategy forthe forthcoming session ofTelangana Assembly.

Revanth Reddy was in thenews since his visit to NewDelhi earlier this week wherehe met senior leaders ofCongress including RahulGandhi.

According to the Congresssources Rahul Gandhi hasgiven his nod to admit RevanthReddy into the party fold butdid not give any assurance onthe position he would be givenin the party.

Party sources said theinduction of Revanth wasaimed at bringing the power-ful Reddy community close tothe Congress party.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Friday celebrated

Diwali with troops postedalong the Line of Control inJammu and Kashmir's GurezSector and lauded the soldiersfor their penance and sacrificesaying he considers them hisfamily.

In an unannounced visit,Modi arrived at Gurez thismorning to celebrate Diwaliwith the army and BSF soldiersposted along the LoC, officialssaid.

He spent two hours withthe soldiers in Gurez valley,which is shouting distance ofPakistan-occupied Kashmirand has witnessed many gun-fights with infiltrating militantsin the past 27 years.

This is the fourth succes-sive Diwali that the PrimeMinister has celebrated withjawans on the border.

Chief of the Army StaffGen B S Rawat and othersenior army officers were pre-sent on the occasion.

Modi offered sweets andexchanged greetings with thejawans, the officials said.

Addressing the jawans, hesaid like everyone else, he toowishes to spend Diwali with hisfamily.

Therefore, he had comeamong the jawans of the armedforces, whom he considers tobe his "family", he said.

Modi said he gets newenergy when he spends time

among the jawans and soldiersof the armed forces and appre-ciated their penance and sac-rifice, amid harsh conditions.

The Prime Minister saidthat he had been told that thejawans present at the gatheringregularly practice yoga.

He said that this would def-initely enhance their abilities,and give them a sense of calm.

He said jawans, who leavethe armed forces after com-pleting their duty tenure, canbecome excellent yoga trainerssubsequently.

The Prime Minister spokeof the new resolve that eachIndian citizen must make for2022, the 75th anniversary ofindependence.

He also encouraged thejawans to innovate, so thattheir routine tasks and dutiesbecome easier and safer andmentioned how best innova-tions are now being recog-nised and awarded at the ArmyDay, Navy Day, and Air ForceDay.

Modi said the Centre iscommitted to the welfare andthe betterment of the ArmedForces, in every way possible.

In this regard, he men-tioned the implementation ofOne Rank, One Pension, whichhad been pending for decades.

Protecting the motherland,far from your loved ones, dis-playing the highest traditions ofsacrifice, all soldiers at thenation's borders, are symbols ofbravery and dedication, Modisaid.

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The Darul Uloom Deobandin Uttar Pradesh's

Saharanpur has issued a fatwaprohibiting Muslim men andwomen from posting their ortheir families' photographs onsocial media sites.

In the fatwa issued onWednesday, one of the largestIslamic seminaries in Indiahas said that posting photos ofself or family on social mediasites such as Facebook,WhatsApp is not allowed inIslam.

The edict was issued by thefatwa department of the DarulUloom Deoband after a manapproached it recently asking ifposting photos on social media

sites was allowed in the reli-gion.

Mufti Tariq Qasmi, anIslamic scholar associated witha madrassa here, said whenclicking pictures unnecessari-ly is not allowed in Islam howposting photos on social can beallowed.

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Aday after Assamannounced a much ambi-

tious tourism policy, seniorBJP leader and Lok SabhaMP, RP Sarmah urged theState Ministers to becomewell acquainted with differentperspective of the State’stourism so that they impressupon others and appealed theState Government to correctthe tourism infrastructure inthe State.

Assam Chief MinisterSarbananda Sonowal onThursday announced thetourism policy declaring thetourism sector as an industry toincrease tourist flow with an aimto increase tourist inflow andannouncing incentives to the

tune of �1 crore for Indian andforeign language film shooting inAssam. The Chief Minister hasalso stated that the Ministers ofthe State Cabinet will visit foreigncountries spreading awarenessabout the tourism potentials ofthe State and popularizing thebrand 'Awesome Assam'.

"It is a very welcome step bythe Government of Assam toindustrialize tourism in the state.But before sending the Ministersto foreign land for advertisement,the Government must ensuretheir interest and knowledge ontourism sector, types of tourismin Assam, their power of expres-sion to make the foreigners,including people from otherStates," said Sarmah on socialnetworking site facebook onFriday.

"Further, before invitingtourists, Government shouldbuild up tourism infrastruc-ture in the State. Imagine a sit-uation a Chief Minister staysovernight in a Governmentguest house in Kaziranga,

next morning goes to wash-room for a bath, after smear-ing soap all over his bodyfinds there is no water in thetap, calls his PA over cellphone and waits for ten min-utes before the water flows tohis washroom," said Sarmahin his message of facebook.

"If such is the condition ofour Government guest house,who would come to Assam?We should learn from Gujarat,Goa, Karnataka and otherstates. Tourists want good facil-ities, quick quality service andsecure and comfortable stay.The employees in Governmentguest houses should be givenhard core training and enforcestrict discipline for running aguest house," the MP added.

It may be mentioned herethat Sarmah, who representsTezpur constituency in Assam,had earlier created a contro-versy by saying that barring afew, most of the ministers inAssam accepts commission forawarding contracts.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi will visit poll-bound

Gujarat on October 22 for thethird time this month, wherehe will inaugurate and layfoundation stones for a num-ber of projects in Bhavnagarand Vadodara districts.

Modi will inaugurate thefirst phase of the �615 croreroll-on roll-off (ro-ro) ferryservice between Ghogha inBhavnagar district and Dahej inBharuch in the Gulf of Cambay.

The Prime Minister hadcalled ferry service his "dreamproject" while addressing agathering at Gandhinagar onMonday.

He will address a gatheringin Ghogha and undertake ajourney to Dahej from Ghoghaon the ferry. From Dahej, he willleave for Vadodara, where he isscheduled to inaugurate and laythe foundation stones for pro-jects worth over �1,140 crore.

Ajay Bhadoo, ChiefExecutive Officer of Gujarat

Maritime Board, which is exe-cuting the ro-ro project, saidthe first phase of the service tobe inaugurated by Modi onSunday is meant for passengers.

In the second phase, whichwould be ready in two months,cars can also be carriedbetween the two towns.

"It is a complex projectwhich involves complicatedmarine structure of the Gulf ofCambay, on which it is built.The service reduces the dis-tance between the two townsfrom 310 kilometres by road to30 kilometres which can becovered in 1 hour," Bhadoosaid.

Modi had laid the founda-tion stone for the project inJanuary 2012, when he was thechief minister of Gujarat.

In Vadodara, Modi willinaugurate eight different pro-jects worth �1,140 crore.

Vadodara MunicipalCommissioner Vinod Rao saidModi will dedicate to people a�100 crore city command andcontrol centre in Badamadi

Garden, �125-crore Janmahalcity transport hub and multi-level parking (under PPP), a�160 crore multi-modal citytransport hub, �267 crorewaste-to- energy processingplant.

The other projects are a �166 crore water treatmentplant, two flyovers collectivelyworth �265 crore, a �55 croredeer safari park, and a �6 croreveterinary hospital.

He will also address peopleat Navlakhi compound inVadodara.

Modi had last visitedVadodara, a constituency fromwhere he contested the 2014Lok Sabha election and won bya record margin, on October22 last year to inaugurate a newairport terminal building anddistribute assistance devices tothe divyangjan (specially-abled) people.

The prime minister hadvisited Gujarat on Monday thisweek, when he addressed theBJP workers at a rally inGandhinagar.

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One person was killed and atleast five others were

injured on Friday when policeallegedly opened fire on pro-testers for torching the force'svehicles and attempting to setablaze a police station inSamastipur dis-trict.

B i h a rChief Minister Nitish Kumarhas ordered an inquiry into theincident that took place atAsadhi village under the Tajpurpolice station.

The police said violencebroke out during a demon-stration by villagers at anhighway.

They were protestingagainst the killing of a chemistby unidentified assailants twodays ago, SamastipurSuperintendent of Police (SP)Deepak Ranjan said.

They torched as many aseight police vehicles and alsotried to set fire to the police sta-tion and attack the vehicle of a

deputy superintendent, he said.The police personnel "had

to resort to firing in the air"after they could not dispersethe crowd with batons, the SPsaid."In the melee, some policepersonnel perhaps could notaim their guns properly in theair and as a result of which two

of the demon-strators suf-fered bullet

injuries," Ranjan said.One of them died on the

spot and the other was taken toa hospital. Three policemenand an administrative officialwere also injured, he said.

The Chief Minister hascalled the incident "sad" anddirected Tirhut divisional com-missioner and the deputyinspector general of police(Tirhut Range) to visit the siteand submit a report, an officialrelease said here.

The situation was tensebut brought under control anda large number of police per-sonnel have been deployed inthe area, the SP said.

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This year’s Nobel Prize in eco-nomic science would perhapshave surprised many — asperhaps in some earlier yearsas well — because the winner,

Richard Thaler, has opened a new avenueof thought in ‘dismal science’. The cov-eted recognition by the Royal SwedishAcademy of Sciences has been granted toThaler “for his contributions to behav-ioural economics” — an area hardlyknown and much less debated in the eco-nomics profession.

The dominance of neoclassical think-ing in the field has held such prominentsway that consumers and societies havebeen assumed to create predictable out-comes in economic decisions. But eco-nomics, as a manifestation of humanbehaviour, provides a totally differentinterpretation to assessment and predic-tion of economic outcomes.

Particularly significant is the centralthesis of Thaler’s work that a society canbe nudged under a set of policies or pre-vailing conditions to modify economicchoices and consumption decisions awayfrom what would be expected normally.A well-known review of the book, Nudge:Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth,and Happiness, co-authored by Richard HThaler and Cass R Sunstein, has appro-priately stated that “since people are sosusceptible to various counterproductivebehavioural and cognitive tendencies, itis appropriate for social planners, policymakers, and other ‘choice architects’ tomodify decision-making situations.” Thiscan be achieved “in ways that nudge peo-ple toward better choices, where ‘nudg-ing’ is distinguished from ‘forcing’ by thefact that people can still choose the de-emphasised option relatively easily.”

Hence, this view certainly does noth-ing to demolish the concept of consumersovereignty; nor does it support dictato-rial fiats as may be issued under totalitar-ian regimes. It does, however, institution-alise the view that consumer decisions canbe nudged in a way that small changes canbe brought about under such influences.

Thaler himself wrote an article in theNew York Times in 2015, in which heemphasises the role of such nudging asa means of doing good. He states in thatarticle that we need to be sure that nudg-ing is not used to make bad decisions thatthey may later regret. Thaler’s workimplies that nudging could be a usefultool in public policy for which he laysdown three distinct rules. They are:

� All nudging should be transparentand never misleading.

��It should be as easy as possible toopt out of the nudge. This implies thatthere should be no element of coercionor compulsion.

��There should be good reason tobelieve that those being nudged would beable to increase their welfare.

This interpretation opens up someopportunities which society at large andGovernments and businesses, in partic-ular, can seize on for improving the wel-fare of individuals and communities. Forinstance, if Governments and civil soci-ety were to provide information on goodsand services, which produce harmfulimpacts on the environment, then con-sumers would likely reduce their con-sumption of such products and services.

Conversely, there is also a need forregulating advertisements which dis-guise or hide the truth about adverseimpacts on the environment or for man-ufactured goods, where child labour isemployed or avoidable risks abound forthose engaged in their production. Anadverse example of nudging is the auracreated during much of the last centuryby the power of advertising, encouragingpeople of all ages to take up smoking.

The power of Hollywood in nudgingpeople to take up smoking cigarettesthrough subtle ways of glorifying the heroof every movie by sticking a cigarettebetween his lips was an example of nudg-ing towards a bad outcome. The adver-tising budget of the world is currently ofthe order of $600 to 700 billion, andmuch of it conceals negative externalitiesthat production and consumptioninvolve. Providing a label on each prod-uct or service indicating the quantity ofcarbon dioxide emissions it creates would

be an effective way of nudging societytowards lowering its emissions and tack-ling the growing challenge of climatechange. In a way, Thaler has opened upthe option of Governments, driven by thepublic’s own priorities, nudging con-sumers in a direction that would enhancetheir welfare and that of their children.

An obsession with enhancing currentconsumption tends to curb the instinctof saving for the future or minimising thevalue that any generation would place onthe welfare of future generations. Thisreality has led to damage and degrada-tion of the earth’s ecosystems, loss of bio-diversity and in general what is referredto as the tragedy of the commons.Negative impacts on the global commonshas implications for intra-generationaland inter-generational equity. If informa-tion was available on how our actionswould unfairly disadvantage communi-ties across the globe today, or generationsyet to come, then this would certainlynudge consumers to modify their deci-sions to create higher levels of equity thanwhat we see today.

In the New York Times article referredto above, Thaler provides examples ofdeals from his own personal experiencewhich violate the three rules he puts for-ward. He also gives the example of the USmortgage industry in the early 2000s,when borrowers were encouraged to takeloans that they were unable to pay backwhen real estate prices fell. Thaler statesthat competition did not eliminate thispractice because it was hard for anyone

to make money offering the advice,“Don’t take that loan.” This was anexample of the power of advertising andslick salesmanship, which could havebeen regulated far more effectively.

Thaler states that as customers, wecan help each other against such come-ons by resisting them. The more we scru-tinise such offers the better off societywould be, and the less misery would becreated as during the collapse of the USreal estate market. Thaler also states thatconversely the more we support firms thatact in our best interests, the more suchoutfits would thrive and flourish, and theoptions available to us would improve.This means that reputational factors canguide business in the right direction.

In a world where our consumptiondecisions are playing havoc in the formof climate change and destruction of theearth’s vital ecosystems, Thaler’s workprovides opportunities for public policyand action by all stakeholders for nudg-ing us in the right direction. Action usingbehavioural economics would be ananswer to unbridled faith in neoclassicaleconomics that has obsessed econo-mists in the past. Economic visionariesand titans like Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen and Kenneth Boulding never wonthe Nobel Prize, but their spirits wouldbe gloating over the fact that economicthinking is, perhaps, being nudged awayfinally from neoclassical dogma.

(The writer is former chairman,Intergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange, 2002-15)$

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Sir — India has rightly reacted furi-ously to the Pakistan Government’swithdrawal of request before thePakistani courts to extend the deten-tion of UN-designated terrorist,and Jamaat-ud-Daw’ah chief HafizSaeed under the anti-terrorism law. The 26/11 terrorist attack inMumbai eight years ago by Pakistaniterrorists was horrific. To this end,the need to book those who plannedthe attack from Pakistan has beenconsistently taken up by New Delhiwith Islamabad but to no avail.

The US seemed to be sidingwith the Indian approach soonafter US President Donald Trumptook charge. Now, it may not bebothered with India’s woes as thePakistani Army appears to be play-ing the ball in Afghanistan. WhileIndia needs to find its mojo to dealwith Pakistan, unnecessarily rainingdown verbal fire is neither helpfulnor sustainable.

JS AcharyaHyderabad

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Sir — A large number of people areup in arms about the removal of TajMahal from the list of tourist attrac-tions in Uttar Pradesh. This bold steptaken by Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath was longoverdue. While India has hundredsof historical places and hoary tem-ples of berauty and granduer, whyshould Taj Mahal be singled out forglorification and publicity?

The undue importance weaccorded to this structure for the solepurpose of earning foreign exchangeresulted in a situation where the

word ‘India’ has become synony-mous with Taj Mahal.

India, a country of great civili-sation, culture, heritage and spiritu-ality, has become a country of TajMahal for people all over the world.Let Taj Mahal be there but we shouldmake the rest of the world under-stand that there is more to India thanjust this marble monument.

MR AnandVrindavan

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“The devil in Diesel” (October 18).Whether auto-makers would like tobelieve or not, the fact remains thatdiesel is the most polluting vehicle,howsoever better today’s engine hasbecome. Considering this, UnionMinister for Road Transport NitinGadkari commanded all auto-makers to ditch petrol and dieselcars and switch to making electriccars or search for alternative fuelsto reduce pollution levels.

Since this process will involvehuge costs, auto-makers have beencribbing. But sooner rather thanlater, we will have to address theever growing problem of pollution— the biggest culprit remainsdiesel vehicles. The Governmenttoo on its part needs to giveincentives for electric vehicles andensure that they costs as much astoday’s petrol cars so that itremains a viable option for endusers. And since this will happenin phases, car-makers need not beunnecessarily worried.

Bal GovindNoida

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On October 18, Beijing organiseda week-long 19th National

Congress of Communist Party ofChina, an event that the world is fol-lowing closely. The summit — beingattended by 2,287 party membersfrom various provinces — is impor-tant as it will select its new brand ofleadership, agendas and goals for thenext five years and ahead.

Moreover, the 19th NationalCongress is a significant politicalevent for Chinese President XiJinping himself. Since assumingpower in 2012, he has envisioned a“national rejuvenation” programmefor China under the theme of“Chinese dream”. This is attached totwo major centenary goals: To makeChina moderately prosperous soci-ety by 2020, a year before centenarycelebration of the Communist Partyof China (CPC), and to aim to estab-lish a prosperous and powerfulnation by 2049 to commemorate thecentenary year of the People’sRepublic of China (PRC).

These goals have been plannedto be fulfilled with a number ofreform programmes and the high-lights are: Reforms in the army, fightto root out corruption from politi-cal, military and public spheres,and poverty eradication.

Xi in his October 18 speech atthe Congress highlighted that in thelast five years China has made dras-tic progress through these reforms.It aims to lift total 98 million peoplefrom poverty trap in eight years,which shall be a remarkable feat. Inaddition, China has worked towardsright-sizing of military and its mod-ernisation. The country’s fightagainst corruption has seen promi-nent military and political bigwigsfalling from the grace. Progress inreforms in the last five years under

Xi’s leadership has been promising,however the road ahead is fraughtwith daunting internal and externalchallenges, primarily concerning theeconomic slowdown, the promotionof the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI),North Korean crisis, etc.

Politically, the 19th NationalCongress will entail selection ofaround 200 full members and 100alternate members, finalisation of 25-member Politburo Committee andseven-member Politburo StandingCommittee and lastly the membersof the anti-corruption watchdogCCDI, currently being headed by Xi’s

loyalist Wang Qishan.In 1980, President Deng

Xiaoping had put in place the con-cept of collective leadership to pre-vent or guard return to arbitraryabuses of Mao’s final decades (thecultural revolution). Similarly, theArticle 79 of the party constitutionrestricts tenures of President andPremier to 10 years, however thereare no restrictions on general secre-tary of the CPC and chairman of theCentral Military Commission(CMC). There has been an unofficialbut consistent rule called “seven up,eight down” according to which if a

Politburo Standing Committeemember is 68 or older at the time ofa party Congress, he must retire, butif he is 67 or younger, he may stillenter the committee.

In the current situation, five ofthe seven PSC members are about tocomplete 68 years of age. However,the speculation is rife that the “sevenup, eight down” rule will be violat-ed to allow Wang Qishan, head of theCCDI, to stay put beyond the retire-ment age. As per certain analysts, thiscould be indicative of President Xi’sintention to retain power beyond2022.

President Xi has amassed muchcontrol and his predominance isclearly established in the Chinesepolitical spectrum. He is now regard-ed as the most powerful leader indecades after Mao. He has takencharge of most of the portfolios andruling through the leading smallgroups and has placed his key aidesat various nerve centres.

The communique of the sixthplenum of the 8th Congress clearlyinsists that the principles of collec-tive leadership must always be fol-lowed and should not be violated byany organisation or individual under

any circumstances or any reasons.Such statements accentuate the

hypothesis above. As regard the chainof succession is concerned, the con-cept of patronage underscores inChina’s Communist Party. The seniorparty members identify promisingstars/ protégés and nurture them forhigher dispensations. This ensuresloyalty in the lineage. As per certainpolitical analysts, 23 politburo mem-bers are of the fifth generation (1953born like President Xi), and there isspeculation that President Xi mayblock their advancement to thePolitburo Standing Committee, whilepromoting own sixth generation pro-tégés or loyalists to fill the politburo,thereby creating conditions to extendthe tenure beyond the 20th Congress,in the absence of qualified members.

It may be pertinent to mentionthat the erstwhile Soviet Union toofaced similar conditions of slowingeconomy and systemic corruption inpolitical, military and militaryspheres, which lead to its final col-lapse. President Xi, out of concern orfears, has perhaps taken actions toguard China against such situations.

All these assumptions and con-jectures will be put to rest by the endof the 19th National Congress, whichwould have selected the members ofthe politburo committee, PolitburoStanding Committee and membersof the Central Military Commission.

Speculation, however, is mount-ing rapidly in favour of President Xithat he may be nominated as the gen-eral secretary of the CPC and chair-man of the CMC for life-term to steerthe nation towards achieving themomentous centenary goals.

(The author is a Research Fellowat the Institute for Defence Studies andAnalyses (IDSA), New Delhi)

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8�0��9�� ����0�������:�����*����0����+�����+�����Chinese President Xi Jinping’s

“Socialism with Chinese char-acteristics for a new era” was eluci-dated at the 19th National Congressof the Communist Party of Chinaheld at the Tiananmen Square inBeijing on October 19. Listing his 14-point fundamental principles that arecentral to China’s envisioned social-ism, Xi reiterated that the CPCmust ensure a “people-centric” devel-opmental approach, while the nationmust equally ensure party’s suprema-cy in a “new era”. What does Xi’sadvocacy of “Socialism with Chinesecharacteristics” in a new era mean forChina’s regional and global standing?

Charting out the success thatChina has attained within thepurview of the CPC, the ChinesePresident eloquently expressed thatthe developmental path of the nationis witnessing a “period of strategicopportunity”. Xi emphasised howChina achieved rapid urbanisation.He also stressed on development,tackling corruption in the system tooffer a new image to the CPC, andaddressing the existing provincialdisparities in the country.Underlining the success of lifting 60million people out of poverty overthe last five years, Xi highlighted thegross domestic product (GDP) ofChina rising from $8 trillion to $12trillion, thus making the Communiststate an attractive investment desti-nation for the world. These narra-tions were on expected lines as theCongress is one forum where thePresident of China and the party’sGeneral Secretary would like tohighlight the success story the coun-try has written under their leader-ship. As it goes with any Congress,the 19th National Congress of theCPC prepared a road map for China’sdevelopmental path domesticallyunder Xi till 2022 and beyond.What, however, is interesting tonote is that Xi’s “14-point” fundamental principles equallyemphasised on key foreign policyissues which are crucial to China’snational interest.

Underlining a “holistic approachon national security”, Xi stronglyadvocated “one country, two sys-tems”, “national unifications” andBeijing taking a lead for sharedfuture of mankind. What do thesemean in China’s overseas nationalinterests?

Underlying these issues areChina’s national security mattersconcerning Xinjiang, Tibet, HongKong and Taiwan, and matters linkedto land and maritime territorialinterests. Building a holistic “nation-al security” approach has been aprime goal under the Xi regime forsome time now where the focus is onstrategic hinterland, mainly Xinjiangand Tibet. Even though Beijinglaunched a “go West” strategy in 2000to promote economic developmentin the hinterland, both Xinjiangand Tibet have been problematicregions for the Dragon in the past

two decades. Xi’s stress on “nation-al security” is meant to tightenBeijing’s grip further on Xinjiang andTibet. In fact, exerting control overdomestic security matters has beenpursued concurrently along withthe overseas security and strategicmatters in China. Xi’s speech at theCPC Congress made it clear that thesame approach will continue.

The Chinese narration of nation-al security is closely linked to terri-torial integrity and sovereignty.Beijing, under the Xi leadership, hasbeen making a statement in recentpast that China would not compro-mise on matters linked to nationalsecurity. This was candidly spelledout in Xi’s speech at the 19thNational Congress. Passing a strongmessage to Hong Kong and Taiwan,Xi drew a red-line saying that HongKong and Taiwan could enjoy pros-perity and growth only under the“one country, two systems” withoutbeing ambitious to seek an

autonomous future without main-land China. Xi was, therefore, quitestraightforward about Taiwan in his19th National Congress speech. Infact, without offering any remoteprospect to Taiwan’s bid forIndependence, Xi was categorical inmaking a reference that Taiwanmust aim to have a “peaceful nation-al unification” that both Hong Kongand Macao enjoy with mainlandChina. The Chinese assertion overTaiwan in Xi’s speech is not entire-ly a new phenomenon: Beijing timeand again has made clear its inten-sions and strategies towards Taipei.What is new, however, is the Chineseassertion that is liked to Beijing’sambitious grand strategy in a “newera” which signals that the countryhas made a departure from its“peaceful rise” strategy. Xi’s assertionthat the CPC is in the process ofbuilding a “world-class” armed forcesby the middle of 21st centuryexplains this intent. It is a clear mes-

sage to the region and the world atlarge that China will aim to assertitself over national security issues,mainly matters relating to territori-al integrity and sovereignty.

A direct message to India couldprobably stem from Xi’s speechwhere he said that Beijing would liketo settle disputes with neighbours“through dialogue” without makingany compromise on its nationalinterests. This is in reference to Indiaon the boundary dispute as much asa reference towards the SoutheastAsian countries who claim free nav-igation rights on the South ChinaSea. A flexible approach fromBeijing, therefore, may not be real-ly an expected proposition in future.Besides, Xi’s emphasis that Chinawould like to continue to emerge asa leader of the developing worldcomes as a conflicting subject mat-ter since the intent is to deny Indiathe requisite space to lead the devel-oping world groupings. Beijing,

under Xi’s stewardship, is trying tomake it clear that no other country,other than China, is the leader of thedeveloping world.

In brief, Xi’s emphasis to build a“moderately prosperous society” is anew national security strategy whichshould not be seen in isolation. Thisvision of Xi is not entirely a domes-tic economic proposition, rather it isa strategy linked to Beijing’s overseasnational security interests whichmight pose challenge to other risingcountries in the region, particularlyIndia. This is associated with China’srise. Xi also emphasised on revital-ising the role of the state-ownedenterprises (SOEs) to help Chinabuild good and stable overseas deals.Striving for “moderately prosperoussociety” and achieving a “socialistmodernisation” by 2035 is, therefore,a strategy linked to the CPC’s over-seas interests to secure more energyand financial resources, to eventuallypromote Xi’s pet-project “Belt and

Road Initiative”, and to keep up theeconomic development momentum.The aim is to expand China’s over-seas economic interests throughconnectivity and corridor projects byestablishing robust trade and eco-nomic contacts and to build a region-al and global consensus in Beijing’sfavour to position China as the dri-ver of globalisation. This wouldpose a stronger challenge to Indiasince New Delhi has seen the Beltand Road Initiative not so much pos-itively. With the 19th NationalCongress, the promotion of the Beltand Road Initiative has entered intothe second stage where the Chinesethrust is to execute connectivityand corridor initiatives along withother projects. India needs to take aserious note of this.

(Dr Jagannath Panda is a ResearchFellow and Centre Coordinator for EastAsia at the Institute for DefenceStudies and Analyses, New Delhi)

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Th e m i nu t e s o f t h erecent Monetary Policy

Committee (MPC) meet-ing suggest that the ReserveBank is likely to tread acautious path and there islittle chance of a rate cut inthe near term as inflation isexpected to inch upwards,says a report.

According to a KotakEconomic Research report,besides inflationary pres-sures, fiscal slippage con-cerns and possible volatil-ity in global markets wor-ried some MPC members.

“The minutes of theO c t o b e r M P C m e e t i n gre ins t ated t he caut iousapproach of most membersas inflation is likely to inch

upwards,” Kotak EconomicResearch said in a note.

T h e y s u g g e s t t h a tg r ow t h i s e x p e c t e d t orecover cyclically in thesecond half of the currentfiscal, but factors like lowcapacity utilisation, debtoverhang of corporate andstressed assets of banking

sector may act as structur-al constraints to growth.

The reports expectsretail inflation to averagearound 3.3 per cent in thisfiscal, noting however thatdirectionally inflation willbe trending higher and coreinflation too will likely staysticky around 4.5 per cent.

“With RBI fixated onthe 4 per cent target on adurable basis, and withplausible case of fiscal slip-page, it looks less convinc-ing for a policy easing inthe near term, unless datasurprises on the downsidesignificantly,” the reportnoted.

E a r l i e r t h i s m ont h ,Reserve Bank of India keptbenchmark interest rateunchanged on fears of ris-ing inflation while lower-ing growth forecast to 6.7per cent for the currentfiscal.

It also raised its infla-tion forecast to a range of4.2 to 4.6 per cent duringremainder of current fiscalas against 4 to 4.5 percent previously.

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In order to encourage savings,the Government has allowed

banks, including top three privatesector lenders, to accept depositsunder various small savingsschemes like National SavingsCertificate (NSC), recurringdeposits and monthly incomeplan. Until now, most of the smallsavings schemes were soldthrough post offices.

According to a recentGovernment notification, bankscan also sell National SavingsTime Deposit Scheme 1981,National Savings (MonthlyIncome Account) Scheme 1987,National Savings RecurringDeposit Scheme 1981 and NSCVIII issue.

As per the notification, allpublic sector banks and topthree in the private sector --ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank andAxis Bank -- to receive sub-scription from the expandedportfolios. So far, these bankswere allowed to receive sub-scription under Public ProvidentFund, Kisan Vikas Patra-2014,Sukanya Samriddhi Account,Senior Citizen Savings Scheme-2004. Increased outlets for sellingsmall savings scheme wouldresult in higher mobilisationunder the scheme.

Last month, theGovernment kept unchangedinterest rates on small savings

schemes for the October-December quarter. Since Aprillast year, interest rates on all smallsaving schemes have been recal-ibrated on a quarterly basis.Investments in the public prov-ident fund (PPF) scheme willfetch annual rate of 7.8 per centwhile Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP)investments will yield 7.5 per centand mature in 115 months.

The one for girl child savings,Sukanya Samriddhi AccountScheme will offer 8.3 per centannually. Similarly, the invest-ment on 5-year Senior CitizensSavings Scheme will yield 8.3 percent. The interest rate on thesenior citizens scheme is paidquarterly. On the basis of thedecision of the Government,interest rates for small savingsschemes are to be notified on aquarterly basis since April 1, 2016,the ministry said while notifyingthe rates for third quarter offinancial year 2017- 18.

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NEW DELHI: Nearly 37lak h GST re turns forSeptember have been filedtill 1900 hours and 75,000sales data is being uploadedon the GSTN portal onhourly basis, its ChairmanAjay Bhushan Pandey saidon Friday.

The deadline for filingthe initial returns in GSTR-3B for September under theGoods and Services Taxreg ime ends midnig httonight. In an interview toPTI, Pandey said the GSTNsystem is stable and hasbeen handling data at just 30per cent of its capacity with20 l ak h re tur ns b e inguploaded in last two days.Pandey said 36.84 lakhreturns have been filed till1900 hours.

“The pace of filing ispicking up with an average75 ,000 re tur ns b e inguploaded on an hourly basis.GSTN system is stable. Wehope more people are able tofile return within the duedate,” he said.

Since the roll-out of GSTon July 1, this is the thirdmonth for which businesseshave to file GSTR-3B returnslisting out details of theirsales. For July and August,

55.68 lakh and 50 lakhreturns had been filed, fetch-ing �95 ,000 crore and�92,000 crore in revenue,respectively.

Pandey said that in thefirst two months, business-es have a l s o uploadedreturns after the end of duedate and the number forSeptember returns would goup eventually.

“If we see the capacity ofthe network, GSTN is usingonly 30 per cent of its capac-ity. So, there is a lot of head-room available for the serv-

er to upload more number ofreturns,” Pandey said.

Finance Minister ArunJai t l e y had las t mont happealed to businesses tofile GST returns before thedue date and not wait till thelast date to file returns. Toease compliance burden, theGST Council has allowedbusinesses to file their initialtax returns in form GSTR-3Bin the first six months ofGST rollout till December.

Accordingly, the GSTR-3B returns would have to befiled by the 20th of the nextmont h , w hich me ansSeptember returns have tobe uploaded by October 20.

The GST Network (GSTN)had faced glitches during theGSTR-3B filing for July,which had forced the gov-ernment to extend the duedate for filing of returnsand had also waived the latepayment fee. However, thenetwork worked fine at thetime of return filing forAugust.

The Group of Ministerunder Bihar Deputy ChiefMinister Sushil Modi hasmet twice to look into theissues faced by GSTN andhas smoothened its func-tioning after taking intoaccount the troubles facedby stakeholders. PTI

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The JSW Group, on Fridaysigned a Memorandum of

Understanding (MOU) withUttarakhand Government tocarry out the work of recon-struction and restoration ofKedarnath, which was devastat-ed by flash floods in June 2013,a company statement said here.

Prime Minister NarendraModi has laid the foundationstone to mark the commence-ment of the reconstruction andrestoration projects.

According to the MoUsigned, JSW Group has com-mitted for the reconstruction andrestoration of the AdiShankaracharya Kutir along with

a museum, ghats on riverSaraswati and part reconstruc-tion of the Teerth Purohit(Priests) houses and other infra-structural facilities related to

the houses in Kedarpuri.Kedarnath is located in theHimalayas, approximately 11,000feet above sea level in theRudraprayag district ofUttarakhand.

“JSW Group is committed topreserving India’s rich religiousheritage. We believe that ourrestoration effort will helpimprove local infrastructure aswell as develop various facilitiesfor local teerth purohits and thelarge number of pilgrims that visitKedarnath,” said Sajjan Jindal,Chairman, JSW Group. Thereconstruction and restoration ofthese projects will help improvethe overall facilities at Kedarnathwhich were damaged/washedaway in the deluge of 2013.

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NEW DELHI: Regulator Sebihas banned Grass RootFinance & InvestmentCompany (India) Ltd and 13others from the capital marketsfor raising funds without com-plying with the public issuenorms. A probe by Sebi foundthat the company had issuedequity shares to 9,321 peoplebetween 1995-96 and 2006-07and raised �6.80 crore throughsuch issuance.

Since these shares wereissued to more than 50investors by the company, itqualified as a public issueunder the norms, whichrequired compulsory listingon recognised stock exchanges.Among others, the firm wasalso required to file a prospec-tus, which it failed to do. PTI

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Disinvestment-bound AirIndia has sought pro-

posals for short term loansworth �1,500 crore to meet‘urgent’ working capitalneeds, according to a docu-ment. This is the second timein little over a month that theflagship carrier has floatedtenders for short tenure loanseven as the Government isworking on the modalities forthe stake sale.

The debt-laden carrier,which is surviving on taxpay-ers’ money, is battling multi-ple headwinds, includingfinancial woes and stiff com-petition. In a document issuedon October 18, Air India said

it is looking for “Governmentguarantee backed IndianRupee short term loanstotalling up to �1,500 crore tomeet its urgent working cap-ital requirements”.

The loan would have atenure up to June 27, 2018from the date of being availedand the deadline could beextended. “The amount of�1,500 crore will be drawn inone -three tranches... TheGovernment of India guaran-tee, is valid up to June 27, 2018or till the date of disinvest-ment,” the document said.With regard to the loan, thecarrier has requested banks tosubmit their financial bidsalong with the amount theyare willing to provide by

October 26.“Air India would like to

draw the short term loan with-in three working days afterawarding the acceptance letterto the successful bank/s,” the

document said. Last monthalso, the airline had soughtproposals for short-term loansof up to �3,250 crore to meeturgent working capitalrequirements. It could not beimmediately ascertainedwhether the airline received

adequate response for the doc-ument floated last month.

As part of a turnaroundplan approved by the previousUPA regime, Air India is toreceive up to �30,231 crorefrom the Government subjectto meeting certain perfor-

mance thresholds. The 10-year bailout package beganfrom 2012.

The embattled carrier hasreceived around �26,000 croreunder the package so far. InJune this year, the CabinetCommittee on EconomicAffairs (CCEA) gave its in-principle nod to the strategicdisinvestment of the airline -- which has a debt burden ofmore than �50,000 crore.

A ministerial group is nowworking on the disinvestmentmodalities, including treat-ment of Air India’s unsustain-able debt, hiving off of certainassets to a shell company,demerger and strategic disin-vestment of three profit-mak-ing subsidiaries.

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John Distil leries PrivateLimited (JDPL), a lead-

ing liquor maker in India,on Friday announced thatSazerac Company, a fam-ily-owned spirits compa-ny in the United Stateshas acquired an equitystake in it .

S a z e r a c , ow n e rs ofbrands including Fireball,Southern Comfort, BuffaloTrace Bourbon, Pappy VanWinkle Bourbon and EHTay l or B ou r b on , h a dacquired an equity stake inJDPL from Gaja Capital,who would continue toremain partially invested inthe company, a release said.

This strategic partner-ship marks Sazerac's entryinto the Indian market, oneof the largest and fastestgrowing markets for spiritsin the world, it added.

“Sazerac’s technologi-cal expertise coupled witha g l o b a l p o r t f o l i o o fbrands spread across allspirit categories will be anadded advantage for JDPL

both in domestic and inglobal markets. We lookforward to this partnershipwith Sazerac and in con-t i n u i n g t o m a k e o u rbr a n d s e v e n s t ron g e r,”JDPL's chairman and man-aging director Paul Johnsaid.

JDPL claims to be aleading spirits company inIndia with gross revenues

of over Rs 28 billion inFY17. With sales of moret h an 1 3 m i l l i on c a s e s ,JDPL's portfolio includesOriginal Choice Whisky,Bangalore Malt, Paul JohnSingle Malt (PJSM) andBig Banyan wines.

“We are extraordinarilyexcited to be able to estab-lish this partnership inIndia, and look forward toworking with Paul John andhis team in supportingJDPL’s iconic brands,’ saidS a z e r a c C omp a ny ' sPresident and chief execu-tive officer Mark Brown.Jefferies India acted as theexclusive financial advisorto Gaja Capital and Sazeracwas advised by Rabobank.

NEW DELHI: TheGovernment on Friday saidthat it has notified new ruleswhich mandate valuers underthe Companies Act, 2013 to getregistered with a specifiedauthority. The Companies(Registered Valuers andValuation) Rules, 2017 wasissued by the the Ministry ofCorporate Affairs with effectfrom October 18, 2017.

According to the ministry,it has proposed to specifyInsolvency and BankruptcyBoard of India (IBBI) as theauthority under the new rulesand that relevant notificationunder the Act would be issuedseparately. The ministry said

that the new rules which havebeen finalised after public con-sultation and detailed delibera-tions with stakeholders call for"Registration of Valuers for con-duct of valuation under theCompanies Act, 2013".

“The rules provide for reg-istration of different category ofvaluers and lay down therequirements on their eligibili-ty, qualifications and experi-ence,” the ministry said in astatement. “The registered val-uers are also required to bemembers of the RegisteredValuers Organisations (RVOs)...the eligibility norms for RVOsto be recognised have also beenprovided in the rules...” IANS

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MUMBAI: India’s foreignexchange (Forex) reserves kittyincreased by $1.50 billion as onOctober 13, 2017, official datashowed on Friday. The ReserveBank of India’s (RBI) weeklystatistical supplement releasedon Friday showed that theoverall Forex reserves rose to$400.29 billion from $398.79billion reported for the weekended October 6.

India's Forex reserves com-prise of foreign currency assets(FCAs), gold reserves, specialdrawing rights (SDRs) and theRBI's position with theInternational Monetary Fund(IMF). Segment-wise, FCAs-the largest component of theForex reserves-augmented by$1.47 billion to $375.27 billionduring the week under review.

Besides the US dollar,FCAs consist of nearly 20-30per cent of major global cur-rencies. It also include invest-ments in US Treasury bonds,bonds of other selected gov-ernments and deposits withforeign central and commercialbanks. The country’s goldreserves value was stagnant at$21.24 billion, whereas SDRsincreased by $9.5 million to$1.50 billion. Similarly, thecountry's reserve position withthe IMF edged higher by $14.3million to $2.27 billion. IANS

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Union Petroleum and NaturalGas Minister Dharmendra

Pradhan on Friday launched thePiped Natural Gas (PNG) supplysystem in Odisha by rolling outthe first phase of the project here- almost six months before thedeadline. With this, GasAuthority of India Ltd (GAIL)started supplying environment-friendly PNG to 255 houses inNalco Nagar located atChandrasekharpur area.

It also plans to provide PNGconnections in the near future toadjacent Jeevan Bima Colony andMaitri Vihar Colony, covering atotal of 1,000 houses. Assessmentwas also being carried out forPNG supply to leading hotels,hospitals and industrial units ofthe city. Expressing happiness atthe fast pace of work, Pradhansaid GAIL took up the project ona war-footing and praised it forthe early commencement of thisfirst phase of supply of PNG inBhubaneswar -- expected to becompleted by March 2018.

Initially, natural gas willreach Bhubaneswar in specialcontainers called ‘cascades’ whichwill be transported by road fromVijaywada in Andhra Pradesh.Later, natural gas will be suppliedthrough the Jagdishpur-Haldia &Bokaro-Dhamra Natural GasPipeline (JHBDPL).

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The Government on Fridaysaid it is not considering any

changes in the methodology forcalculating ceiling prices of sched-uled medicines although it isworking to bring a new methodto decide prices of ‘new drugs’ toavoid delays in launching them inthe market. The Department ofPharmaceuticals also said that itis considering medicines thathave become non-scheduleddrugs to be sold without any freezeon prices for a further year.

“Any changes in the method-ology of calculating ceiling pricesof scheduled medicines are present-ly not under consideration,” astatement by Chemicals andFertilisers ministry said. Earlier thisweek there were reports suggestingthat the government was changingthe methodology of calculating ceil-ing prices of scheduled medicines.

“Any impression regardingtightening of price control is bothmisleading and misplaced,” itadded. Under the Drugs (PricesControl) Order (DPCO) 2013,National Pharmaceuticals PricingAuthority (NPPA) fixes ceilingprice of essential medicines ofSchedule I based on simple aver-

age of all medicines in a particulartherapeutic segment with sales ofmore than 1 per cent of the cate-gory. In respect of medicines notunder price control, manufacturersare allowed to increase the maxi-mum retail price by 10 per centannually.

On the proposed changes inthe methodology of approvingprices of ‘new drugs’, the statementsaid: “The Government is in con-sultation with the industry toexplore doing away with the pre-sent practice of deciding a new pricefor each applicant of ‘new drug’,which is causing considerable timedelay in launch of the new drugs inthe market by the manufacturers.’

It, however, did not elaborate.The Department ofPharmaceuticals (DoP) is alsolooking at treating drugs whichhave fallen out of price control asnon-scheduled drugs without anyfreezing of their prices for a furtheryear, it added. Besides, it is consid-ering revision of the list of sched-uled medicines on the basis of revi-sion of the National List of EssentialMedicines (NLEM) by incorpo-rating only additions and deletionsto the list so that the prices of only‘new medicines’ which are addedto the list will be fixed by NPPA.

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India’s ties with the UAE isvery strong which is helpingin the implementation of

the agreements signed betweenthe two countries, India's envoyto the UAE Navdeep Singh Surihas said.

Suri listed out a numberof engagements between theUAE and India, including aninvestment agreement worth$1 bi l l ion between theNational Investment andInfrastructure Fund (NIIF) ofIndia and Abu DhabiInvestment Authority(ADIA).

Earlier a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) wassigned between theDepartment of EconomicAffairs and the Governmentof United Arab Emirates(UAE) to mobilise long terminvestment into NIIF.

“Our endeavour really isto translate many of thoseintentions into actual invest-ments and projects. To thatextent, the end of Novemberwe have the high-level task

force on investment, led byCommerce and IndustryMinister Suresh Prabhu fromour side and by Emirati busi-nessman and managing direc-tor of Abu Dhabi InvestmentAuthority Sheikh Hamed binZayed from the UAE side,”Suri said.

According to Suri, they arebringing companies that haveprojects to offer. “Part of ourdialogue is that even as we tryto resolve the erstwhile or lega-cy issues, we also take a for-ward-looking approach and tomove beyond just talking ingeneral terms about invest-ment, to have a situation wheresomebody is offering a highwayproject or an airport, or a metroor a renewable energy plant ora whole lot of other differentsectors,” he said.

Earlier this week, over 100delegates from India partici-pated in the World SkillsSummit in Abu Dhabi. “Wehave competitors participat-ing in different arenas. Wehave delegates from both CII(Confederation of IndianIndustry) and FICCI

(Federation of IndianChambers of Commerce andIndustry). We have officialsfrom half a dozen state gov-ernments and the central gov-ernment,” Suri said. ChiefMinister of Andhra Pradesh NChandrababu Naidu is comingwith a strong delegation,including a couple of ministers,

he said. He is going to havemeetings at the Abu DhabiInvestment Authority,Mubadala and at some of theother potential investors tomake a pitch for investmentprojects, he said.

This will be followed by theentire FICCI leadership com-ing to the UAE for their annu-

al retreat.“On November 29, we

have the India-UAE strategicdialogue, which will be fol-lowed by the India-UAEPartnership Summit, whichwe are working withASSOCHAM (The AssociatedChambers of Commerce andIndustry of India). For this wehave high-level participationboth from India and theUAE,” said Ambassador Suri.

According to him, thismomentum has been built fortwo reasons beginning withDubai and now Abu Dhabipositioning themselves ashubs where major confer-ences and events take place.

“Over 100 Indian compa-nies participated in four dif-ferent segments of GITEX(Gulf Information TechnologyExhibition). The bilateral rela-tions between the two coun-tries now have very strongmomentum in terms of min-isterial visits and in terms ofactually implementing many ofthe agreements that have beensigned between the two coun-tries,” he further added. PTI

NEW DELHI: India's fueldemand surged 9.9 per cent inSeptember, the biggest expan-sion in more than one year,after petrol and diesel con-sumption soared.

The world's fastest growingoil consumer used 16.25 mil-lion tonnes of petroleum prod-ucts in September as com-pared to 14.78 MT in the sameperiod a year ago, according todata released by the oil min-istry.

The growth was the high-est since August 2016, whendemand had jumped 18.2 percent. The rise comes on theback of a 6.1 per cent drop indemand in August 2017, themost since April 2003, as floodsravaged several parts of thecountry curbing demand fordiesel and petrol.

India, which InternationalEnergy Agency (IEA) fore-casts will be the fastest-grow-ing consumer through 2040,has seen its oil demand fall infour out of eight months thisyear.

The nation imports 81 percent of its oil needs. Diesel sales

in September surged 16.5 percent to 6.08 MT while petrolconsumption jumped 17.85per cent to 2.14 MT.

Cooking gas or liquefiedpetroleum gas (LPG) salesincreased 3.8 per cent to 1.94MT. ATF or jet fuel demandsoared 7.1 per cent to 615,000tonnes.

While naphtha sales surged4.9 per cent to 1.16 milliontonnes, consumption of bitu-men, used for making roads,was up 7.5 per cent to 287,000tonnes. PTI

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NEW DELHI: The Departmentof Telecom is likely to float ten-der in about a week for rollingout Wi-Fi services in all the vil-lage panchayats by 2019 withan outlay of around �3,700 cr,an official source said.

The Government expectsto start broadband serviceswith about 1,000 megabit persecond or 1 Gbps across 1 lakhgram panchayats by the end ofthis year under the project.

“The tender details will befinalised this week. It will be

issued immediately. The planis to roll out Wi-Fi service in1 lakh gram panchayats (GPs)in a year and in the rest by2019,” a senior DoT officerwho did not wished to benamed told PTI.

At 1 Gbps, a user can the-oretically download a videoequivalent to the size of ageneral Bollywood movie inabout 2 seconds. The Wi-Firollout will ride over BharatNet project and rest of thehotspots will be linked to it

later. Telecom Secretary ArunaSundararajan had earlier saidthe Government has expedit-ed commissioning of broad-band services under BharatNetby seven times in August fromaround 150 installations a dayto 800 installations of elec-tronic equipment a day.

Under the new telecompolicy, the Government hasplans to increase availability ofregular Internet access facility to70 crore people, from 30 crore,by 2022. PTI

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BHOPAL: The Customs,Central Excise and Service TaxCommissionerate has consti-tuted a state-level 'anti-profi-teering screening committee' inMadhya Pradesh andChhattisgarh to ensure thatthe benefits of GST reductionare passed on to the con-sumers.

An officer each from thestate government and Centralgovernment has been includedin the committee.

“The anti-profiteeringscreening committees are beingconstituted to ensure that anyreduction in the tax (GST) rateson supply of goods and servicesor the benefits of input tax cred-it, should be passed on to therecipient by way of commensu-rate reduction in prices,” an offi-cial release from the office ofprincipal commissioner (MadhyaPradesh and Chhattisgarh) ofCentral Tax, Customs, CentralExcise and Service Tax, said onFriday.

It said that the anti-profi-teering screening committee ofMadhya Pradesh included CGST,Bhopal (Audit), Commissioner

Atul Saxena, and SpecialCommissioner, State Tax, RajeshBahuguna. Similarly, theChhattisgarh's committee includ-ed Commissioner (Appeals),CGST, Raipur, Upendra SinghYadav, and Commissioner(SGST), Raipur, Sangeeta P.

These committees are beingconstituted at the state/UTslevel under Section 171 of theCGST/SGST Act, which pro-vides for the anti-profiteeringmeasures, the release said. Thepeople can seek redressal ofsuch grievances, if any, fromthese officers, it added. PTI

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NEW DELHI: Andhra Pradeshhas chalked out a plan to pro-vide modern drainage systemin 157 panchayats, costing �600cr in the first phase, the stategovernment said.

Drawing inspiration fromPrime Minister NarendraModi's Swachh Bharat call,the state government hasdrawn an innovative initiativeto give a facelift to hygiene andcleanliness in villages, AndhraPradesh Rural Development,Panchayati Raj and IT MinisterLokesh told PTI.

“In the first phase, thestate will lay undergrounddrainage system in 157 pan-chayats over a length of 2,400km at a cost of �600 cr,” headded. This will be on anexperimental basis in the firstphase and would be replicat-ed in the entire state, he said.

The minister said the stategovernment is already doing alot of NREGA convergenceactivities by integrating withother department initiatives.

“In continuing the prac-tice, 70 per cent of the projectfunding is drawn from

NREGA scheme while thestate government will fund 20per cent and the remaining 10per cent will be provided bylocal governments,” Lokeshsaid.

Underground drainagesystem water from kitchensand washrooms will be inte-grated with pipelines and beused for watering plants andother purposes, he said.

After the completion of theproject, the responsibility ofoperation and maintenancewill be given to the panchay-ats, he said.

Asked about the timelineof the project, he said, it will bestarted soon and will be com-pleted in six months to oneyear time.

“Based on its success, theGovernment plans to replicateit in all 12,198 villages in thestate," he said.

Andhra Pradesh ChiefMinister N ChandrababuNaidu had recently said thatdeveloping a greenfield capitalfor the state was a “crisisturned into a rare opportuni-ty” and the new capital on the

banks of the Krishna will be aworld-class global city,unmatched in India.

He was confident that oncedeveloped, Amravati, which islooking at �50,000 cr of capi-tal infusion only for basicinfrastructure, will be one ofthe top five cities of the world.

The state government hasalready got on board top glob-al consultants from the UK, theUS, Japan, the Netherlands,Singapore and other nations tooffer a development road map.

Top global UK-based firmFosters and Partners is taskedwith providing the city archi-tecture plan.

The firm's architects hadrecently met Telugu filmdirector S S Rajamouli -- ofthe blockbuster Bahubali fame-- for inputs on AndhraPradesh's culture, history andtraditions. The governmenthas already alloted 996 acresto a dozen institutions to setup educational, health andother bodies at a projectedcost of �17,808 cr. These pro-jects are aimed at creating32,726 jobs. PTI

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NEW DELHI: Only about 2,300branches of private and publicsector banks have openedAadhaar enrolment and upda-tion centres within their premis-es as against the targeted 15,300branches by this month end, anofficial source said on Friday.

The Aadhaar-issuing bodyhas already extended by amonth, till October 31, thedeadline for banks to openAadhaar enrolment and upda-tion centres in at least 10 per centor over 15,000 of their branch-es. This is the second extensiongiven to the banks for openingsuch centres.

“The September 31 deadlinethat was given to the banks hadbeen extended by one moremonth to October 31,” thesource told PTI. According toUIDAI stipulation, 43 privateand public sector banks have toopen Aadhaar enrolment andupdation centres in 15,315branches. Against this, as per lat-est data, enrolment centres havebeen opened in 2,305 branchesso far.

The source said, State Bankof India has started Aadhaarenrolment centres in 356 of therequired 2,918 branches, whileSyndicate Bank has opened

these centres in 245 of the tar-geted 840 branches. Dena Bankhas opened 194 enrolment cen-tres as against 339 identifiedbranches. Among the privatesector banks, HDFC bank hasopened 74 centres as against403 branches identified, whileICICI Bank has done it in 59branches against 485 targetedbranches. Also Axis Bank hasopened 61 enrolment centresas against 337 branches iden-tified.

While Punjab NationalBank has to open enrolmentcentres in 1,132 branches, ithas not yet started any. UCO

Bank and Vijaya Bank haveopened 12 and 19 such centresrespectively, against the target-ed 380 and 213 bank branchesthat are required to have thefacility.

The Bank Aadhaar Kendrasare being set up with a view tomake the Aadhaar verificationprocess of bank accounts con-venient for the people, and alsoto have more Aadhaar centresacross the country. Banks with-out Aadhaar enrolment centresin 10 per cent of their brancheswill face �20,000 fine (peruncovered branch) afterOctober 31. PTI

MUMBAI: Employees andofficers unions of the IncomeTax Department have warnedof a nationwide stir against theimplementation of the newadvance software package--IT Biz Application (ITBA)--from October 1, and asked thedepartment to delay the sameby at least three months.

They have set an October31 deadline to the depart-ment to meet their demands,which include delaying theimplementation of the newsoftware to January 1 and giv-ing them time to learn the newsystem, and also to stop hiringtechnical experts on a con-tractual basis.

The department replacedthe existing AST software withITBA in the seven largest met-ros in a phased manner. Thedepartment believes that newITBA system can expedite allpending cases, barring e-mailbased scrutiny cases, to e-proceeding based scrutinycases.

The strike call has beengiven by the I-T Employees

Federation and Income TaxGazetted Officers' Association.But they have not finalised adate for the stir yet.

The decision to go on anationwide stir was taken aftertheir meeting with CBDTchairman Sushil Chandra wasinconclusive. Their meetingwith the CBDT member BDBishnoi was also inconclusive.

When contacted, a depart-ment official admitted thatthey have given a tool-downnotice without specifying atime, and added this shows theunions don't want to work onthe new software.

“Yes, the whole assessmentprocess has been hit as the staffneither want to work on thenew software nor allow thosetrained people on contract todo their job. All this has ham-pered the entire process,” saida senior I-T official here.

The unions have urged theCentral Board of Direct Taxesto delay nationwide imple-mentation to January 1 so thatthey can better familiarise withthe new software. PTI

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NEW DELHI: Realty firmAnant Raj Ltd has acquired 26per cent additional stake in itsshopping mall at Kirti Nagar inthe national capital from LaleaTrading Ltd, Cyprus for�225.42 cr.

Anant Raj Ltd will nowhave 100 per cent stake in itssubsidiary Anant Raj ProjectsLtd, which holds this shoppingmall (known as MomentsMall). Earlier, the companyhad 74 per cent stake in AnantRaj Projects while LaleaTrading had 26 per cent share-holding. According to a regu-latory filing, Anant Raj hasacquired 1,75,676 equity shares(26 per cent of total share cap-ital of the Anant Raj ProjectsLtd) at �2,258 each.

It has also bought 6,37,964compulsorily convertible pref-erence shares at �2,258 each aswell as 37,59,459 fully con-vertible debentures at �110.94each of Anant Raj Projects Ltdfrom Lalea Trading “for a totalconsideration aggregating to�225.42 cr.” The consideration

was paid in cash. Anant RajProjects will become wholly-owned subsidiary of the com-pany. The net worth andturnover of Anant Raj ProjectsLtd stood at �270.15 crore and�29.24 crore in 2016-17.

Anant Raj said that theobjective of this deal was “toacquire the balance 26 percent stake from Lalea TradingLtd, Cyprus in Anant RajProjects Ltd to make it whollyowned subsidiary of the com-pany.” Anant Raj Ltd has realestate and hospitality projectsin the Delhi-NCR region. PTI

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GREATER NOIDA: The 18thWorld Road Meeting (WRM)will be held at India ExpoMart in Greater Noida fromNovember 14 to 17.

About 2,500 participants,including global road safetyexperts, professionals, repre-sentatives of companies andgovernment organisations,active in road transport andmobility sectors from acrossthe world will take part in thefour-day 18t h 'CROSS-ROADS-WRM 2017'.

Union Minister for RoadTransport and Highways NitinGadkari will inaugurate thefour-day global road meet tobe organised by the Geneva-based International RoadFederation (IRF), which isworking for better and saferroads worldwide.

The theme of the WRM2017 is 'Safer Roads–SmartMobility -- the engines ofgrowth'. The Ministry ofRoad Transport andHighways, (MoRTH)Government of India hasextended its support toWRM 2017. The ministrystands committed to reduceroad deaths by 50 per cent inthe country by 2020. PTI

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NEW DELHI: Pakistan andNorth Korea have not beeninvited to the first 2-day globalconference on consumer pro-tection to be inaugurated byPrime Minister Narendra Modihere next week, ConsumerAffairs Minister Ram VilasPaswan said on Friday.

As many as 24 Asian nationsincluding Japan, China, SouthKorea, Afghanistan, Thailandand Myanmar have been invit-ed for the international confer-ence, he told reporters. “We havenot invited Pakistan and NorthKorea for the event after takingviews of the external affairsministry. The event of this kindis being organised for the firsttime,” Paswan said. Being organ-ised in association with UnitedNations Conference on Tradeand Development (UNCTAD)with the theme, 'Empoweringconsumers in new markets', theevent will kick off on October 26at Vigyan Bhavan, he said.

The objective of the confer-ence is to share initiatives takenin connection with the imple-mentation of the UN guidelineswith regard to consumer pro-tection. PTI

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Spain will start suspendingCatalonia’s autonomy on

Saturday, after its leader threat-ened to declare independence,the Government announced onThursday. Prime MinisterMariano Rajoy’s Office said thecabinet would meet to activateArticle 155 of Spain’s 1978Constitution, a mechanism thatstrips Catalonia’s self-governinginstitutions of their autonomy,allowing it to take over runningof the region, the BBC reported.

“The Spanish Governmentwill continue with the proce-dures outlined in Article 155 ofthe Constitution to restorelegality in Catalonia’s self-gov-ernment,” the office said.

Speaking in Parliament,Government spokesman InigoMendez Vigo said the measureswere intended to “protect thegeneral interest of Spaniards,including the citizens ofCatalonia, and restore consti-tutional order to the region”,

reports Efe news.He denounced that the

Catalan Government wasintent on deliberately and sys-tematically looking for an insti-tutional confrontation despitethe serious danger that it wascreating for the economicstructure of Catalonia and itsability to live in harmony.

Spain’s decision comes afterCatalonian leader CarlesPuigdemont earlier onThursday decided not to rescindhis independence bid as per anofficial requirement fromMadrid and instead threatenedto put the topic to a vote in hisregion’s devolved parliament.

Puigdemont announcedhis decision in a letter to Rajoy.

Puigdemont was officiallyrequired by Rajoy’s conservativeGovernment to clarify by 10a.m. on Thursday whether ornot he had declared indepen-dence during an October 10speech in the wake of a contro-versial separatist poll deemedillegal by the Spanish courts.

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Hafiz Saeed’s house arrest hasbeen extended for another

30 days by a Judicial ReviewBoard of Pakistan’s Punjabprovince after it reviewed thedetention of the Mumbai attackmastermind and bannedJamaat-ud-Dawah chief.

However, the board reject-ed the Government’s plea forthe detention of his four aides.The 30-day detention will beapplicable from October 24.

Saeed’s aides — AbdullahUbaid, Malik Zafar Iqbal, AbdulRehman Abid and Qazi KashifHussain — may walk out free onthe expiry of their September 25detention order if they are notdetained in any other case.

Saeed and his four aideswere presented before theprovincial judicial review boardon Thursday amid high secu-rity in the Lahore High Court.

A number of Saeed’s sup-porters were present at the

court’s premises who showeredrose petals on him and hisaides. Police, however, stoppedthem from chanting slogans.

The three-member PunjabJudicial Review Board is head-ed by Justice Yawar Ali. JusticeAbdul Sami and Justice AliaNeelam are the other membersof the review board, which heldthe hearing on Thursday.

A court official told afterthe hearing that the HomeDepartment of Punjab gov-ernment had sought threemonths extension to the deten-tion of Saeed and others underpublic safety law.

“The judicial board afterlistening to the arguments ofthe Government’s law officerdid not entertain his requestand only granted 30-day exten-sion to Saeed’s house arrest inLahore,” he said.

The board also could not beconvinced about keepingSaeed’s four aides in detentionbeyond the expiry of September

25 detention order for a monthand dismissed the government’splea for further extension totheir detention, he said.

The Government may arrestSaeed’s four aides in any othercase on the expiry of their deten-tion period in the last week ofthis month, the official added.

Under the law, theGovernment can detain a per-son for up to 90 days under dif-ferent charges but for an exten-sion to that detention it needsapproval from a judicial reviewboard.

Last Saturday, the PunjabHome Department had with-drawn its request from federaljudicial review board to seekextension to detention of Saeedand others under “Anti-Terrorism Act”.

According to the HomeDepartment, the Governmentdid not require extension ofSaeed and his four accom-plices under the Anti-Terrorism Act any more.

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An Afghan official at theInterior Ministry says sui-

cide bombing at a Shiitemosque in western Kabul haskilled at least 30 people andwounded 45.

Major General AlimastMomand says the attacker wason foot and walked into to theImam Zaman Mosque today inthe city’s Dashti Barch areawhere he detonated his explo-sives. The head of the area’sIsteqlal Hospital, MohammadSabir Nassib, says it hasreceived the bodies of twopeople slain in the attack as wellas two wounded.

No group immediatelyclaimed responsibility for theattack.

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Pakistan’s ousted PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif was

on Friday indicted by an anti-graft court in a third case ofcorruption related to his invest-ments abroad and in otheroffshore companies.

Accountability Court JudgeMohammad Bashir charged67-year-old Sharif in absentiafor holding assets beyond hisknown sources of income, andread out a charge sheet to hispleader Zafir Khan.

It was one of the three casesof corruption and money laun-dering registered by NationalAccountability Bureau (NAB)against Sharif and his family onSeptember 8.

The cases were registeredafter the Supreme Court dis-

qualified Sharif as prime min-ister on July 28 in the PanamaPapers scandal.

Khan on behalf of Sharifpleaded not guilty to thecharges.

Sharif is in London with hisailing wife Kulsoom, who issuffering from throat cancerand has undergone three surg-eries so far.

Talking to media in

London yesterday, Sharif onceagain assailed his disqualifica-tion and termed his indictmentin absence as “murder of justice”.

He also announced tocome back before hearing ofOctober 26. There were alsoreports that he would comeback on Sunday.

The court in Islamabadwas told that his sons —Hassan and Hussain — werehis dependents in 1989 and1990. However, Sharif submit-ted a record of assets for Hassanfrom 1990-1995, the chargesheet read.

The charge sheet observedthat Sharif had held importantpositions in public office,including those of the ChiefMinister and the PrimeMinister.

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New Zealand’s PrimeMinister-elect Jacinda

Ardern announced on Fridaythat her Cabinet will compriseof 28 members, includingthree who will sit out, andpledged to fight against climatechange, poverty and genderinequality.

Ardern, the 37-year-oldLabour Party leader who willbe the youngest female head ofgovernment in the world, saidshe would seek to implement alaw targeting zero carbon emis-sions by 2050 and create a cli-mate change commission.

“We are retaining our pol-icy on the tax cuts and our pol-

icy on the families package.That means dumpingNational’s plans and replacingit with Labour’s package thatwas substantially more gener-ous,” she said at a press con-ference.

Ardern’s Cabinet willinclude 16 members from herown party and four membersfrom the New Zealand Firstparty that played kingmaker inLabour’s bid to form a coalitiongovernment after it finishedbehind the ruling New ZealandNational Party in theSeptember 23 elections, Efenews reported.

Three portfolios will go outto Green Party members, whowill sit outside the Cabinet.

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The US military says it car-ried out a drone strike this

week against al-Shabab inSomalia, shortly after theextremist group was blamed forthe country’s deadliest attack.

The US Africa Commandtells The Associated Press thatthe strike occurred Mondayabout 35 miles southwest of thecapital, Mogadishu. The US saysit is still assessing the results.

Saturday’s truck bombingin Mogadishu killed more than300 people and wounded near-ly 400 others.

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Washington: The United Statesdoes not intend to disruptEuropean business deals withIran, Secretary of State RexTillerson told The Wall StreetJournal in an interview pub-lished on Friday.

Tillerson, speaking oneweek after President DonaldTrump refused to certify theIran nuclear deal and left its fateto the US Congress, said that hewould address European allies’business concerns.

“The president’s been pret-ty clear that it’s not his intentto interfere with business dealsthat the Europeans may haveunder way with Iran,” Tillersontold the Journal.

“He’s said it clearly: ‘That’sfine. You guys do what youwant to do.’” Trump has threat-ened a “total termination” ofthe landmark 2015 nucleardeal with Iran unless Congresstightens sanctions on the coun-try and European allies addressUS concerns.

“We’ve been working withthe Europeans for six months,”Tillerson told the Journal.

“They have been broughtalong with this same thoughtprocess. It doesn’t mean that theynecessarily agree entirely with it... Now we will start a more for-malised process with them nowthat the policy’s been adopted.”

Western diplomats sayEuropean powers share someUS concerns, but believe theyshould be dealt with in otherforums and warn it would be amistake to sacrifice the nucleardeal. � �

Dhaka: The WHO has admin-istered oral cholera vaccine toover 700,000 people in Rohingyarefugee camps in Bangladesh’sCox’s Bazar area, the world’s sec-ond largest oral cholera vacci-nation drive by the world healthbody. The first phase of thecampaign to protect theRohingyas and host communi-ties from the diarrhoeal diseasewas launched on October 10.

It has covered 700,487 peo-ple aged one year and above and179,848 of them are childrenbetween one and five, WHORepresentative to Bangladesh NParanietharan said. ���

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China has said that USSecretary of State Rex

Tillerson’s assertion to shore upties with India and his criticismof Beijing smacked of “bias”, asa state-run media termed it asan attempt by Washington tolure New Delhi to counter-bal-ance Beijing.

Ahead of his first visit toIndia, Tillerson said the US“will not shrink from China’schallenges to the rules-basedorder and where China subvertsthe sovereignty of neighbouringcountries and disadvantagesthe US and our friends.”

“In this period of uncer-tainty and angst, India needs areliable partner on the worldstage. I want to make clear:with our shared values andvision for global stability, peaceand prosperity, the US is thatpartner,” Tillerson had said atthe Centre for Strategic andInternational Studies - aWashington-based think tank.

Playing down his criticism ofChina and remarks to deepenties with India, Chinese ForeignMinistry spokesman Lu Kangtold reporters on Thursday that“many media are very interest-ed in the development of rela-tions between India and the US”.

“We are happy to see thedevelopment of relationsbetween these countries aslong as they are conducive tothe peaceful development ofthe region and enhancement ofrelations among the regionalcountries,” he said.

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US Secretary of State RexTillerson will embark on

his first South Asia visit asAmerica’s top diplomat nextweek, days after delivering agung-ho speech, declaring theTrump Administration’s intentto “dramatically deepen” theUS-India strategic relations.

While projecting the US asa “reliable partner” of India,Tillerson had come down hardon China for undermininginternational law and norms,particularly its provocativeactions in the South ChinaSea. He had also sought to makeit clear to Pakistan that the USexpects it to take “decisiveaction” against terrorism,terming it the “obligation, notchoice, of every civilised nation”.

Tillerson will be visitingboth India and Pakistan, acountry with whichWashington otherwise appearsto be suddenly in a mood tomend fences followingIslamabad’s calculated help insecuring the release of a US-Canadian family held captiveby the Taliban for five years.

The release had promptedPresident Donald Trump tothank Islamabad and go on tosay that the US was “starting todevelop a much better rela-tionship with Pakistan and itsleaders”.

Tillerson’s own comments

on Pakistan would have comeas a mixed bag for New Delhi.Even while making it clear thatWashington expects Islamabadto take “decisive action” againstterrorism, he sought to castboth India and Pakistan as“important elements” in the USpolicy to stabilize South Asia.

Announcing the visit, StateDepartment spokespersonHeather Nauert said onThursday that Tillerson wouldfirst be travelling to Riyadh,Saudi Arabia on Friday andthen to Doha, Qatar beforearriving in Islamabad and thenin New Delhi next week.

In New Delhi, Tillerson willhold consultations with ExternalAffairs Minister Sushma Swarajand other government leadersover “implementation of theideas he outlined yesterday(October 18) in his speech atCSIS defining our relationshipwith India for the next century”.

The Secretary’s India visitwill advance the ambitious agen-da laid out by President Trump

and Prime Minister NarendraModi during the Prime Ministersvisit to the White House inJune, she said.

“There’s a lot of work thatwe can do together with India,”Nauert said and referred to thejoint military exercises, andintelligence and counterter-rorism cooperation.

In Islamabad, Nauert saidthe Secretary will meet withsenior Pakistani leaders to “dis-cuss our continued bilateralcooperation, Pakistan’s criticalrole in the success of our SouthAsia strategy, and the expand-ing economic ties between ourtwo countries”.

“In meetings with the(Pakistani) prime minister, for-eign minister, and senior mil-itary officials, SecretaryTillerson will discuss our jointefforts to fight terrorist groupsthat threaten regional peaceand stability and how Pakistancan support our effort to reacha peaceful solution inAfghanistan,” Nauert said.

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President Donald Trump onThursday came under a

sharp, albeit veiled, attack fromhis two immediate predeces-sors, Barack Obama andGeorge W Bush, with bothdenouncing the prevailingpolitical atmosphere of divi-sion, hate and fear. They heldforth at different venues andwere pointed in their com-ments but neither of themmentioned Trump by name.

In his first public appear-ance at a campaign rally sinceleaving office nine months ago,Obama said: “You’ll notice Ihaven’t been commenting onpolitics a lot lately, but here’sone thing I know: If you haveto win a campaign by dividingpeople, you’re not going to beable to govern. You won’t beable to unite them later if that’show you start.”

“We’ve got folks who aredeliberately trying to makefolks angry, to demonize peo-ple who have different ideas, toget the base all riled up becauseit provides a short-term tacti-cal advantage,” said Obama,speaking in Richmond in sup-port of Democrat Ralph

Northam in next month’sVirginia gubernatorial race.

Investing the race with alarger significance than a mereState contest, he commented:“We need you to take this(contest) seriously because ourdemocracy is at stake, and it’sat stake right here in Virginia.”

Bush’s denunciation of theTrump dispensation was evensharper. “Bigotry seemsemboldened. Our politicsseems more vulnerable to con-spiracy theories and outrightfabrication,” he said, speakingat the Bush Institute’s Spirit ofLiberty event in New York,adding: “Bigotry or whitesupremacy in any form is blas-phemy against the Americancreed.”

Without referring toTrump even once in the courseof a long, stinging offensive,Bush spoke of the “bullying andprejudice in our public life” andthe isolationism that was beingpromoted in the name ofnationalism.

“We’ve seen nationalismdistorted into nativism — for-getting the dynamism thatimmigration has alwaysbrought to America,” Bushsaid, noting: “We see a fadingconfidence in the value of freemarkets and international trade— forgetting that conflict,instability, and poverty followin the wake of protectionism.”

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The US "has not seen a sig-nificant change" in

Pakistan's selective support toterror groups operating from itssoil to threaten regional stabil-ity in Kashmir, or againstAmerican interests andAfghanistan, a top Trumpadministration official said onFriday.

His remarks came amid USofficials praising Pakistan for itshelp in securing the release ofa US-Canadian couple abduct-ed by the Haqqani terror net-work in Afghanistan.

Caitlan Coleman, an

American citizen, and her hus-band Joshua Boyle, a Canadiancitizen, were kidnapped in2012 in Afghanistan while ona backpacking trip.

Coleman, 31, was pregnantat the time of abduction. All ofthe couple's three childrenwere born in captivity.

"We have not seen a sig-nificant change in their(Pakistan's) selective support ofterrorist organisations thatoperate against our nationalsecurity interests and operateagainst Afghanistan, or operatein a way that threatens region-al stability in Kashmir withIndia," the official told.

"So, we need to suspendjudgement and wait to see ifthere is a change in behaviour,"he said, requesting anonymity.

Many US officials havesaid that the release of theAmerican-Canadian familywas reflective of the changes inPakistan's approach.

"It is way too early to makeany judgement on Pakistan ifthere has been any change. Inwhat we have communicated toPakistani leaders is that we willkeep our expectations low,"the official said, reiteratingthat the US has not seen anysignificant change in Pakistan'ssupport to terrorist groups.

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The best way to address “India’sToxic Education System” is to talkabout it with a dash of humour. 3

Idiots addressed all that is wrong with thecountry’s education system and Indianparents obsession with engineering. Andnow Biswa Kalyan Rath, graduate of IITKharagpur and a ‘victim’ of engineeringhas decided to go the same way. With hisseries Laakhon Mein Ek, he talks aboutparents burdening their kids with theirambitious dreams rather than allowingthem follow their passion. The show talksabout a relevant problem and hopes tobring a change.

But humour and Rath go together. Hestarted off with Pretentious Movie Reviewson YouTube and followed by numerousopen mic gigs and with prolonged dedi-cation got his maiden stand-up specialtitled Biswa Mast Aadmi. His latest seriesLaakhon Mein Ek is inspired by Rath’s ownlife.

Centered around Aakash (essayed byRitwik Sahore) who wants to pursueCommerce in Raipur so that he can makea living out of mimicry, it plays out theconflict between the ambitions of parentsand children. Aakash’s authoritarian fatheris indifferent to his son’s wishes and sendshim to Genius Infinity, an IIT coachinginstitute where he discovers a whole newworld and that he is an absolute misfitthere.

Akash is placed in the notorious sec-tion D along with roommates Bakri(essayed by Jay Thakkar) and Chudail(essayed by Alam Khan). His attempts atunderstanding the syllabus prove to be anepic failure. But he does learn to answerlife’s multiple-choice questions. The showis helmed by Abhishek Sengupta. Rathplays a teacher in the web series.

Rath was inspired to write LaakhonMein Ek by his own life. He says, “I wentto an IIT Coaching institute and alwaysthought it’s an interesting story to narrate.I started writing the story simultaneous-ly with doing comedy. Although fromconception to the idea it took two years,the actual writing time is 8-12 months asI was doing several other things along-side.” The dedication paid off as the showis getting a positive response from theaudience for the six episodes that havebeen telecast so far.

The comic series has a social messageembedded in it as it emphasises on thegrass root realities and peer pressure.

“I think any compelling story inher-ently has a social message. Through thisproject, we aim to bring change in the livesof at least one person or the mindset ofparents to enable them to comprehend theimportance of allowing children to chasetheir dreams. That will spell the actual

success of the show,” he adds.There are similarities between Rath’s

life and the web series.“Many instances are inspired from my

experiences, although they have beendramatised for the screen. We have tried

to stay true to the essence of the story andthe place,” he apprises.

Sharing his experience behind Rath’sfirst fictional series and a shift from stand-up comedy to the web series he says, “Itwas an enriching experience to work onthis story with several other writers. I hopethis will help my stand up in some way.”

Rath’s initial fame came primarilyfrom YouTube and his latest show is onAmazon Prime.

However, he feels that the medium hasits own downsides. “Sometimes theamount of tweets and posts I receive areoverwhelming. It feels like the wholeworld has set its eye on you and that canmake you feel very vulnerable,” he men-tions.

He also reveals that he is nescient ofbeing a mass favourite. “I don’t think I ama hit. It’s hard for me to say why peoplelike it, but I would like to think they justconnect to the emotions at some level. Idon’t think that I have faced many hur-dles in order to become a renowned stand-up comedian.”

Rath admires the work of Louis CKand Brian Regan. Sometimes the bestcomic material doesn’t receive the kind ofresponse one expects from the audience.“It happens every day because of which allcomedians have started staging open micgigs. It takes around a month to come upwith five minutes of material,” he addswith a shrug.

Her characters, even when they are miniscule,have a definite voice. One never has to think

what character, actor Richa Chadda played ina movie — they immediately and unconscious-ly spring to mind. Whether it is BholiPunjaban in Fukrey or Naghma Khatoon inGangs of Wasseypur which incidentallyhelped her land 11 more roles or Masanwhere one admired the quiet strengthof a girl being shamed for indulgingin casual sex.

Chadda will soon be seen inJia Aur Jia which releases nextweek. But the movie with KalkiKoechlin another powerhouseperformer, looks very differentfrom her previous outings. Shesays, “I wanted to do a fun thingafter doing movies like Masaan.The movie will make peopleview female friendship in a nor-mal manner and not see it as afemale centric or women orient-ed film.”

Moreover, Chadda wants tomake a point by doing a movie aboutfriendship between women. “I feelwomen travel and have fun togetherand more films need to be madeabout that. When we were trying tofind a precedence for this film, wedid not find a single one. That’s thereason we thought about makinga film on women bonding,” saysthe actor.

Not just movies, even the indus-try is changing. Chadda feels thatthere is a shift in Bollywood wherewomen are increasingly findingtheir voice. “Women in the indus-try are forthright now. Whether itis Sonam, Kangana or Anushka orme. We are not a generation thatwill keep our ideas to ourselves.If we feel that there is somethingis wrong, we do come out anddiscuss it.” Chadda has in thepast spoken about her battlewith bullimia. People in theindustry asked her to “gainweight, then lose weight, fix mynose and inflate my lips” for hershowbiz journey — somethingwhich led her “confidence toevaporate”.

She spoke about the eating dis-orders that exist among industrymembers — a “best kept secret” —at a TedX Talks, a platform that helpspeople share ideas that will motivateand inspire others.

But not just the industry,Chadda has also been very forthrightabout her relationship with actor AliFazal. She says, “There are vibes andthere is a bond. There is a meeting ofthe minds. But beyond a point, I donot want to accept or deny a relation-ship because it takes away from mywork. And it is unfair to the filmsthat both of us are doing.”

It is of course important forChadda to keep the focus firm-

ly on her work as the journey from Delhi to Mumbai hasbeen been uphill one for her. “I am already in a minoritybecause I am a woman in the industry. Then I am in a

minority because I want to be selective about the rolesthat I do. Then I am in a minority because I want

to be selective of the roles and be responsible forthe the characters that I play. For this reason Iam very content with the work that I havedone,” she adds. For Chadda, the roles, themovies and their quality matters, in equal mea-sure.

She admits, that the journey hasunfolded well even though it was verytough. “The struggle does not end, it stays.You have to keep remembering why you

are here. You have to love it,” she says. And she gets into the skin of each

of the characters by meticulous prepa-ration. “I read the script. make notesand prepare a back story of the char-acter and I work on it. Once thepreparation is done, I build it withinthe structure of the film,” she says.

But she makes sure she does notget deeply affected by any of thenoire characters that she has played.“I try to be balanced about mywork. I am happy with the way it isgoing. The content is getting bet-

ter,” she says.Chadda adds that there is one

thing that has changed since the timeshe made her debut in Oye Lucky,Lucky Oye, in 2008 — she is not asstressed as she used to be about herwork.

Chadda wants to expand heroeuvre and “probably look at pro-

duction in the near future andnot direction.”

She has always been confi-dent about what she wants from

the outset. From the beginning shewas sure that it was the performing

arts that she wanted to be a part of.“Once you are an artist, you are

always an artist. You can’t be in a jobor be a doctor. I don’t think that ispossible. I’ve always wanted to act sinceI was a child. It was a natural order ofthings,” she says. Of course it helpedthat her family supportive but appre-hensive.

Delhi where she spent her growingup years has had a huge impact on herlife. “lt will always be special. It mademe who I am. My college, my friends,my school and college influenced me.There is a certain milieu, an ethoswhich affected me to a large scale. Itis not possible to live in Delhi andnot be affected by it,” she admits.

Chadda, who is close to herFukrey and Masan co-actors says thatnepotism does affect the industryhugely but it is something that hasalways been there.

“It is a trending topic but it alwaysexisted. It affects the whole industry. Ifyou are going to work within a selectgroup of people in the industry, it willalways affect us. And more than that,it affects the overall standard,” saysthe actor who will be seen next inFukrey returns, Love Sonia andGhoomketu.

But beyond movies, Chadda lovesto do photography, read, and write. “I

maintain a pretty healthy balance,” shesays signing off.

Priyanka slammed Weinstein andspoke about women empowerment at

the 2017 Marie Claire Power Trip earli-er this week. Asked whether there’s aHarvey Weinstein in India, Priyanka said:“I don't think there is and I don’t thinkthere is only a Harvey Weinstein inHollywood. I think there will be a lotmore stories that will come up.”

She believes that this phenomenon ispresent across the globe. “That happensnot just in India, but all over the world.It’s the power of men trying to take awaythe power of women. It’s about feelingpowerful and macho.”

Weinstein has been accused of sex-ual harassment or abuse by more thanthree dozen women, including several topactresses including Gwyneth Paltrow,Cara Delevingne, Lupita Nyong’o andAngelina Jolie.

“We watch the news and look forthings that will be positive and that theworld will be in a better place. But thereality is, the world is not. It’s not justabout sexuality. It's not about sex. It'sabout power,” Priyanka said.

The former Miss World also spokeagainst the “big boys’ club” and saidbecause of it women are scared that amisstep might put them at risk of losinga role.

“It’s an isolating feeling. The easiestthing to take away from a woman is herwork,” she said.

Priyanka, known in the US forQuantico, added: “So what if I’m in heels?So what if I wear a dress? We’ve been toldour femininity is our weakness, but it isnot. We can be compassionate. We canbe tough. When you open your mouth,you deliver.”

Meanwhile a few days back, actorTisca Chopra added another dimensionto the entire controversy. Tisca Chopraadvised women not to put themselves ina vulnerable position, and to say no clear-

ly rather than feebly.Tisca said, “I’m

going to be very cat-egorical when I saythat women are justas much to blame,because they putthemselves in thosevulnerable positions.Why do thesewomen go to hotelrooms? Do they notfear for their person-al safety? Have theynot heard of people’sreputations, and whydo they engage withthose men?”

“Being a woman,I would say that first

of all, protect yourself. Don’t put your-self in that position. The more womenstart saying flat-out “no”s, the morethese men will understand that this is notthe way, this is not going to work,” shesaid. “What is happening in Hollywoodis largely 30 years of somebody becom-ing a blatant predator. People, by andlarge, say “chance maaro, how can it hurtto ask”. Unless somebody says “no”, andthe kind of “no” you say, and the man-ner in which you say it should conveythat it is completely unacceptable to evenask this question,” she added.

She even advises women to not takeshort-cuts.

“Don't let your career hang in the bal-ance. Work hard on your acting, take alittle longer to build your career, don'ttake any shortcuts,” she said. Tisca isknown for her roles in movies like TaareZameen Par and Hyderabad Blues.

The actress herself has faced traumat-ic experiences of sexual harassment in thepast when she was invited to a hotel roomby a top producer-director who had ulte-rior motives.

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Talking about thei n t e r e s t i n g

choice of t it le,Thakur says, “It’s acircle of light, that Iam seeking whichlies not above myhead but aboveother’s heads. So,the light does nothave a colour. But,when it is refractedand reflected, youget as many coloursas you can see inthe VIBGYOR.”

There are fourdifferent techniquesthat he has used inthe paintings –impasto acrylic technique, soft pastels, penand ink on paper and terracotta sculptures.It is technique or rather the absence of anyset principles which makes his style distinctfrom other artists. “My use of rollers andbare hands in abstracts sets me apart basi-cally I am person who doesn’t follow theprinciples of techniques.” His art is drivenmore by intuitions and less by techniques.

He points out, “The process of myabstracts is spontaneous. Though black andwhite monochromatic colours are myfavourite, I love the use of turquoise greenand gold which I think are different colours.”

Moreover, he has chosen an unusal sub-ject for his paintings, Aghori Babas. Heexplains, “I have lived most of my life in the

mountains in Himalayas with them undertheir tutelage. So as an artist I paint what Iam.”

Of the paintings that are displayed,Thakur says, the garden of Eden is hisfavourite. He says, “It is very dreamy and itwas an experiment which gained fructici-ton and I adore that work of mine.”

The time devoted to each of his worksis subjective. “My big abstracts take about15-20 mins to complete while the figurativeworks go through a process of sketching andthen on paper or canvas depending on themedium,” says Thakur who considersWilliam deekooning and Michelangelo – theGod of figuritive as his inspiration.

For Thakur, art holds an importantplace in his life. “Art is more than just paint-ing for me. Art is my way of life. Art for meis food, breath and sleep.”

There are some people who can’t be putinto a box, Thakur is the same as he feelsthat he can’t describe himself. “Peopleneed a definition for any subject and I don’twant to define or describe myself. I findexperience within an experiment and I ama thought that defines definition. For me thejourney is more important than the endbecause I firmly believe there is a methodin my madness – I am a Yogi. And a Yogidoesn’t give air to these areas of life.”

Voting is not just a duty but it isalso a crucial right that everyIndian citizen needs to exercise.

Unfortunately, not everyone is able toexercise this right. Migrant workers,daily wage labourers and the domestichelps employed are so caught up with thevagaries of life, that being in the electoralrolls.

But without voting rights, themigrant workers are unable to engage inthe country’s political dialogue. Theycannot engage with the democraticprocess – voice their concerns andunable to come together with a strongpolitical voice to demand change — tillnow.

Noor Takkar a 12th class studentfrom The British School has initiated acampaign — ‘My Vote My Voice’, witha motive to inculcate the importance ofexercising this right among migrants andeducating them on the merits of havinga Voter’s Identification Card.

Takkar’s was initiated into her cho-sen journey by chance when she volun-teered to teach children in the slumsopposite her school during an initiativestarted by her school about two yearsback. “I started questioning as to whythese children were stuck in a cycle ofpoverty that they most probably couldnever escape and I began to wonder onthe alternatives to help break this viciouscycle. During my conversation with peo-ple, I came across a recurring theme ofpolitical interests and their inability tovote,” she said.

She inquired further to find out thatapart from migrant workers evendomestic staff did not have Voter IDcards. “This made me realise that apartfrom migrant workers even domesticstaff did not have it. I discovered thatmany domestic migrant workers thatcome to Delhi and NCR region to findodd jobs are effectively disenfranchisedbecause they either do not have aVoter’s ID card and if they do, it’s fromthe place that they are permanent resi-dents of. Since they cannot afford to trav-el to their home district to vote, in effectthey get disenfranchised,” added Takkar.

In some cases, even after living fora decade or two in Delhi, migrantworkers remain outsiders. The politicalparties and leaders for decades havefavoured their political careers over peo-ple’s interests, resulting in widespreadand systematic inequality. Talking aboutthe importance of voting and her inspi-ration behind it, Takkar said, “The

only way to fix this is to make the politi-cians recognise the need of these fami-lies through the exercise of the most fun-damental political institution in anydemocracy — voting. Therefore, Ibelieve that I should initiate in bringingchange to this pattern and this was myinspiration for the project.”

The journey of ‘My Vote My Voice’was not an easy one. “The plunge intothis initiative initially seemed difficultas there were numerous legal facts andprocedures that I had to learn in orderto help these people and needed plentyof research. It also stuck to me that theproject will require additional supportand I approached my classmate SiyaMalhotra who was also teaching studentsfrom the slum and was passionateabout social justice.”

A lot of migrant workers that theyapproached were either not registered atall or were only registered to vote in theirnative state. Therefore they were unableto vote. So, they decided to start theirproject — My Vote My Voice (MVMV)which deals with the social empower-ment of domestic migrant workersthrough political inclusion.

MVMV team has conducted variousevents, which include awareness pro-grammes and voter registration drivesat places like a factory in Kundli,Haryana, rehabilitation centre in VasantVihar, South Delhi, awareness pro-gramme at Kusumpur Pahari slum inSouth Delhi et al. Takkar said, “We havealso conducted special registration drivefor differently-abled students whoturned 18, at the National Associationfor the Blind (NAB) at RK Puram.”

The progress of the project can beseen from the encouraging numbers. Sofar more than 125 migrant workers andtheir families have filled the registrationforms, out of which 61 have been ableto obtain Voter ID cards. “Our effortsreaped benefits when few migrant work-ers who got their voter id cards throughour assistance, voted in the DelhiMunicipal election.”

During the course of the journey, theduo has faced challenges. While updat-ing their facts regarding a legal positionof the government and the ElectionCommission’s stance for providing alter-native voting facilities to migrant work-ers they realised they face another

problem. “People were not getting theirexisting Voter ID card cancelled attheir native place before applying for anew one at their place of work — some-thing which is essential under the rules.”

With continuous follow-up andmotivation, they have been able to sortout this issue as well. It was also diffi-cult for them to persuade people to takehalf a day off from work and go to therespective constituency ERO (FULLFORM) office for submission and ver-ification of documents. Foregoing theearnings of half a day amounted a lot forthem. “After repeated persuasion, wehave been able to convince them to fixup a date when all applicants can gotogether to the respective constituencyERO (Electoral Registration Officers)office for submission and verification ofdocuments. It was not easy for us to fol-low-up with ERO office for issuance ofVoter ID and resolving any other relat-ed issues, by taking out time after theschool hours,” added Takkar. So, theyhave taken the assistance of an NGO,Bhai Sahib Ditta Mal and SonsCharitable Trust (BSDCT) who providesthem with the administrative and organ-isational support in doing the same.

For the awareness project, they cre-ated PPT presentation in Hindi entailedwith motivational videos which high-lighted the importance of voting in ademocracy which was also spoken inHindi so that it could be easily under-stood by the migrant workers. It alsohelped to sort out their queries. Theyhave also created a website for it as well.

Most of the migrant workers theyapproached did not even try to get aVoter ID. Only some of them tried to fillthe registration form required for it. Dueto several reasons they could not get itsuch as one has to submit documents ofage proof and residence proof andbeing unaware that a registered letterdelivered at one’s address can serve as aresidence proof. The government hassimplified the procedures regardingsubmission of documents — age proofis required only when one is between 18-21 years of age and if one is above 21then there is no requirement of submit-ting the same. To expand their reach,Takkar and Malhotra have created adedicated helpline number and thequeries are being answered by the exec-utive from the BSDCT. They are plan-ning to include students from otherschools as volunteers in the next voterregistration drives.

After her Dangal act, Zaira haswon praises galore for her

role in her latest movie SecretSuperstar, in which she is seen asan aspiring singer.

Zaira, who comes fromKashmir, says she did not grow upwatching Hindi films much andhad no desire to become anactress.

Zaira is not sure if she wantsto become a full time actresswhen she grows up.

“I still do not know if I amgoing to become an actress infuture as a serious full-timer, butevery time when I act, I try todeliver my best... Both the filmsthat I have done offer beautifulstories.” She did Dangal andSecret Superstar solely for thescript.

Both Dangal and SecretSuperstar have one more personin common which is superstarAamir Khan. But Zaira’s perfor-

mance was not overshadowedin any way.

Zaira went to auditionfor Dangal with no expecta-tion and feels that she isblessed to have got the oppor-tunity to work with AamirKhan twice.

Recalling her audition forDangal, she said: “I did not gothere with any expectation,but with a curious mind toexplore and know what isacting and how they audition.Rest was a process and I thinkI am one of the luckiest chil-dren who got the best oppor-tunity. And then working withAK (Aamir Khan) twice... Iam blessed.”

She handles her new

celebrity status and recogni-tion well, especially whenpeople walk up to her withselfie requests.

“Oh yes, I want to sharethis. So, we all know that myhair was cut for Dangal andmy look was different, right?One day, a fellow came to mewith a mobile phone, saying,‘Arrey bhaiya, aap woh AamirKhan waale picture me thhena? Ek photo le le?’ I meanbecause of my short hair,that guy calls me brother? Imean my first fan... andbhaiya?”

However, according toher, the feeling of recognitionis always overwhelming.“They look at me with so

much love and affection andappreciate me for my work! Whatcould be more overwhelmingthan this?”

Yet, the glamour and glitter ofBollywood and her newly-achieved celebrity status has notchanged anything in Zaira.

The youngster still finds hercomfort in her room, lazingaround on her bed and playingwith her pet cats. She finds joy inthe simple things in life.

She says she’s an introvertwho still finds it difficult to talkto the media for her films’ promo-tion.

“Nothing has changed in me,trust me..... I can spend the wholeday in a room with some goodfood, and play with my cats. I

have three cats – one is black, onewhite and a brown kitten. I lovethem..... I keep playing withthem.”

Zaira has travelled across thecountry with her parents, but herheart lies in Srinagar.

She grew up with a brother,and says she has always been the“good girl.”

“Seriously, you can ask mymom, I was such a good, silentkid who was never curious totouch the fire to see what hap-pens. No, I was not cranky or irri-tating who was crying every nowand then... I remained a good girlas a baby.”

“But yes, I think now I trou-ble her (mother) a little. I am a lit-tle clumsy and a little lazy, and mymother does not like that.“I donot dress up, and I’m alwaystripping and falling over things...Little messy, you know,” she said,breaking into innocent laughter.

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India batsman Rohit Sharma says histeam is confident of replicating its recentperformance against Australia in the

upcoming three-match ODI series withNew Zealand, beginning here on October22.

"They had a couple of good practicegames here. They got used to the conditionsI'm sure about it. But yes, it will depend onhow we start and what we want to do as ateam. We would like to (continue) fromwhere we left against Australia," the flam-boyant opener told reporters before the firsttraining session of the squad at theWankhede Stadium.

"We would like to continue to do thatand the good thing is, there is hardly beenany time between the Australia series andthe New Zealand series, so guys are in theirgrooves. I hope we put up the same per-formance as we did in the last series againstAustralia," he added.

Sharma though admitted that "everynew series has its own challenge", he said:"The greatest strength of this team is thatwe treat each series at it comes. Every oppo-sition has their own strengths and weak-nesses. So the challenge for us will be toadapt to that opposition quickly.

"We played against Australia (andwon 4-1) and they had different teamdynamics. New Zealand has differentteam dynamics. So the strategies willrevolve according to that."

Sharma, who was the top run getteragainst the Australia with 296 runs at justover 59 per innings including one hundredand two fifties, said that the team's strate-gies won't change much from the last year,when they defeated New Zealand 3-2 in afive-match series.

"We played these guys last year in India,during similar time and their team is alsomore or less very similar to what we played.As far as the strategies and planning areconcerned, it won't change much from lasttime around," said the 30-year-old Mumbaibatsman.

Happy with his personal form, Sharmasaid he has now got into the train and doesnot want to get down.

"You feel good when you score runs,the last few years especially it's been real-ly good. So in that space I am quite happyright now, but the hunger (for runs) will

never go, you will take every series as anopportunity and go out and perform thesame. For me, every series I play, I feel itis the first game of my career. I want to keepgoing."

The Kiwi team has left-hand pacerTrent Boult and Sharma admitted that itwould be challenge to face him.

"For us as batters it will be a huge chal-lenge to face a left-arm seamer and comegood. Boult, being one of their prime leftarm fast bowlers, it gives us a challenge,"Sharma, who has amassed 902 runs in hislast 15 ODI innings at close to 70 per knockwith three hundreds and as many half tons,said.

Sharma also said that the entire NewZealand bowling attack looked competitive.

"We played them last time so we knowwhat they will bring to the table and whatthey are capable of as a bowling unit. It's

not just about one left arm seamer, I guesswe have to look at their complete bowlingunit. Their bowling attack is very com-petitive and tends to perform together asa unit.

"As I said, we played them last year andthey had a very similar bowling attack. Itwill be the same thing going there and whatwe did as a team," he said.

Stating that his role in the team hasn't

changed much after becoming deputy tocaptain Virat Kohli, Sharma said: "It has notchanged much. It's very similar to what itused to be before. For me as a vice captainthere is a responsibility.

"There is something I look forward togoing onto the field, contributing not withjust a bat, but also with insight in impor-tant thoughts to the captain. I don't thinkthat has changed much and I don't want

it to change too much."Ajinkya Rahane had opened the bat-

ting for India and hit four half centuries onthe trot in the ODI series against Australiain the absence of regular opener ShikharDhawan.

Asked in which position Rahane willbat with the return of Dhawan, Sharma saidit was up to captain and head coach RaviShastri to take a call on the matter.

"See, I have no idea about that wherehe (Rahane) will be batting. Yes, Shikharis back, but speaking of Rahane, he's prob-ably grabbed all his opportunities in the lastfew series that he has played. Now it's onthe captain and the coach, what they wantand where they want him to bat.

"A couple of series back the captaincame and spoke that he considered him(Rahane) as an opening batsman and Idon't know if Kohli wants him to bat at fouragain. That will be completely his call. Ifhe feels that we need someone like Rahanebatting at four in this particular team rightnow. I don't know if that will happen. It'svery unclear. We have to wait and see."

Sharma though added that whateverlimited opportunities Rahane got in the lastfew series, "he has performed well".

"It only shows that the strength of thisteam is so vast that anyone can come in atany time and take the position. So we allhave to be on our toes and keep perform-ing the way we have in the last few years."

G��� ��� �������������� ���India batsman Rohit Sharma on Friday

heaped praise on the spin duo of KuldeepYadav and Yuzvendra Chahal for notbeing afraid of making tactical changes andadapting to match situations.

Chinaman Kuldeep and orthodox leg-gie Chahal had performed well in therecently concluded ODI series againstAustralia, which the hosts won 4-1, andnow would be confronted by the NewZealand batsmen in the three-match ODIseries commencing here on October 22.

The 22-year-old Kuldeep, from Kanpur,grabbed nine wickets in the ODI seriesagainst Australia while Haryana-bornChahal picked up seven wickets in the sameseries.

"They've definitely grown from the lasttime they made their way into the team tillnow. I think there has been immenseimprovement in their confidence. They justgo out there and do their thing and they

are not afraid of making tactical chatch,India have been in red hot form in thetournament, having scored some beauti-ful field goals and displaying what they arebest known for, one-touch attacking hock-ey.

The match against Korea seemed tohave come as a wake-up call for theIndians, who arat, especially because theybowl in middle overs. The grounds are notso big here, and sometimes you will be intwo minds whether you want to flight theball or restrict the opposition. But theyunderstand the game," Rohit said.

"And if they feel that they should notgo for wickets, just try and restrict, bowla few dot balls and create pressure, theyare ready to do that as well."

Kuldeep entered the record books bybecoming the third Indian to take a hat-trick in ODIs, when he achieved the featagainst Australia in Kolkata to follow thefootsteps of Kapil Dev and Chetan Sharma.

"For us as a team, we really rely onthose two guys to do the job in the mid-dle overs. And they have done exceedinglywell in the last series. We saw that it waspretty evident that whenever the ball wasgiven to them, they came up with some orthe other tactical plan and got rid of theirset batsman which is very important," saidRohit.

"To get crucial breakthroughs in themiddle overs is very important. They havedone that and from here now, they willkeep growing as individuals and as play-ers also. The more matches they play theirconfidence will only grow. And that's beenpretty evident as we saw," he said.

Rohit also pointed out how wellKuldeep and Chahal complemented eachother.

"The best is, like I said, they com-plement each other. They share their tac-tics and what one feels about his bowl-ing. And they have spoken about that Ithink. And they do that while theybowl. So it gives them confidence," hesaid.

The star Mumbai batsman said thatfrom now on the spin duo would onlygrow as they play more matches.

"So, in their bowling they are quiteversatile. That's something that I havenoticed. And it will come only with con-fidence. And like I said, the more match-es they play, they will keep growing asplayers," he said.

���� .7676�

Zimbabwe coach HeathStreak says returning play-

ers Brendan Taylor and KyleJarvis have already made apositive impact on the teameven before the first Testagainst West Indies starts onSaturday.

Batsman and former cap-tain Taylor and fast bowlerJarvis have made themselvesavailable again for Zimbabweafter giving up internationalsto pursue careers in Englishcounty cricket. Taylor lastplayed a test in 2014 andJarvis in 2013, but the two arecertain to feature again in thetwo-match series against theWest Indians in Bulawayoafter returning home toresume their Zimbabwecareers.

"They bring a lot to theteam, the value and intensitythey are going to add is mas-sive," Streak told TheAssociated Press on Thursday."We are going to try tap intotheir experience of playing inthose professional setups inEngland. Hopefully they aregoing to share that experiencewith the current players.

"They bring a lot to theside. You can already see that.With them around, theatmosphere in the squad ismagnificent and everyone islooking forward to playingaround them and learningfrom them. It will rub off onthe rest of the squad. Theseare top-class players, and weshouldn't have lost them inthe first place."

Taylor and Jarvis bothsaid that guarantees of finan-cial security and the involve-ment of respected figures in

the administration and coach-ing structures were behindtheir decisions to returnhome. It wasn't always thatway for Zimbabwe, with play-er strikes and payment issuescommon at one time.

Now, former InternationalCricket Council finance offi-cer Faisal Haisnan is theZimbabwe board's managingdirector and ex-national cap-tains Streak and TatendaTaibu are head coach andchief selector, respectively.Haisnan, Taibu and Streakwere all involved in luringTaylor and Jarvis back. Taibu,in particular, spent time withboth in England.

Another enticement wasrecent results, which suggestZimbabwe is on the up afteryears of underperforming.Zimbabwe won a one-dayseries 3-2 in Sri Lanka in Julyand nearly upset the hosts inthe one-off Test.

West Indies come off aseries in England where it lost2 -1 but emerged with posi-tives, particularly the out-standing performance to winthe second test by chasingdown 322 on the final day.

"We must not get com-placent," fast bowler KemarRoach said. "We're inZimbabwe. Yes they're underus (in the rankings) but Ibelieve they're a very goodteam. They have some verygood players, some goodexperienced players ... Andthey're in home conditions sothey know the conditions bet-ter than us.

“I think once we go outthere with that same mental-ity we had in the second Testin England, I think we'll do avery good job."

���� !.76C7.

The losing streak of the Sri Lankan cricketteam in the ODI format continued on

Friday as Pakistan inflicted a seven-wicketdefeat on the emerald islanders to increase theirlead in the five-match series to 4-0.

After dismissing Lankans for a paltry 173,Pakistan chased down the target easily in just 39overs for the loss of only 3 wickets.

Babar Azam once again starred with the batscoring an unbeaten 69 and received good sup-port from Shoaib Malik who was not out on thesame score at the other end.

Earlier, fast bowler Hasan Ali celebrated hiselevation to No 1 in the ODI rankings with 3-37.

Lahiru Thirimanne (62) scored a fightinghalf-century but the rest of the top order con-tinued their poor form after captain UpulTharanga won the toss and elected to bat first.

Tharanga was among three batsmen to bedismissed for ducks. He was clean-bowled bypacer Usman Shinwari off the second deliveryof his debut.

Niroshan Dickwella (22) struck three foursand also pulled Junaid Khan for a six over fineleg before the left-hander was caught at pointwhile going for another big drive.

Dinesh Chandimal (16), who led Sri Lankato a 2-0 victory in the test series, tried to revivethe innings but was run out in a mixup with

Thirimanne.Sadeera Samarawickrama, one of three

changes Sri Lanka made in the playing XI, hada forgetful ODI debut when left-arm spinnerImad Wasim (2-13) clean bowled him for 0.

Legspinner Shadab Khan (2-29) removedSeekkuge Prasanna and Thisara Perera off hisfirst two deliveries to make it 99-7. AkilaDananjaya (18) denied the youngster a hat trickand shared the innings best stand of 43 runs withThirimanne before Ali broke the partnership byhaving Dananjaya caught behind.

Thirimanne's resistance finally ended whenhe played a loose drive in Wasim's return spell,and Ali wrapped up the innings.

����� 3.787

High on confidence followingtheir impressive string of per-

formances, an in-form India wouldlook to maintain their unbeatenrun when they take on arch-rivalsPakistan in their third and final Super4 match of the 10th men's Asia Cup,here on Saturday.

Going by their recent form anddomination, India, the top-rankedside in the tournament, will start asoverwhelming favourites against theworld ranked 13 Pakistan, a nationwith a glorious hockey history butcurrently struggling to get themselvesback on the world map.

In the recent past, India havecompletely dominated over Pakistan,and the Manpreet Singh-led sidewould look to continue their stran-glehold over the neighbouring coun-try. Barring the 1-1 draw againstKorea in their first Super 4 match,India have been in red hot form inthe tournament, having scored somebeautiful field goals and displayingwhat they are best known for, one-touch attacking hockey.

The match against Korea seemedto have come as a wake-up call forthe Indians, who are playing theirmaiden tournament under the new

chief coach Sjoerd Marijne.The draw against Korea acted as

the right catalyst for India as theycame out all guns blazing against theever- impressive Malaysia and rout-ed them 6-2 in their second Super 4match yesterday.

India are atop the table in Super4 stage with four points from a winand a draw, followed by Malaysia (3points), Korea (2 points) andPakistan (1) from two games each.

And come Saturday, a drawwould be enough for India to sealtheir place in the Sunday's summitclash as they enjoy a better goal dif-ference than any other side.

But it would be easier said thandone as there is nothing to lose forthe Pakistanis, who would be keento prove a point to the world that theyshould not be considered pushovers.

However, the situation is far fromrosy for Pakistan as they not onlywould have to beat India by a bigmargin to stand in with a chance toqualify for the final but their fate willalso depend on result of the other

Super 4 match.With one foot in the final, the

Indians though cannot afford to takePakistan lightly as they very wellknow that irrespective of currentform, the result of any India-Pakistanhockey encounter depends on howwell the teams handle pressure andemotions on the turf.

But all said and done, the Indiansare expected to come out with flyingcolours and any result apart from thatwould be a dampener for Majirne'sboys, who have displayed outstand-ing hockey so far in the tournament.

What has been the hallmark andmost eye-catching thing for India inthe tournament is the performanceof their forwardline.

The Indian strikers comprisingAkashdeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh,SV Sunil, Lalit Upadhyay and youngGujrant Singh have been terrificupfront scoring fantastic field goals.

The Indian midfield have beenheld well by skipper Manpreet Singhand Chinglensana Singh, while vet-eran Sardar Singh has done exceed-ingly well as the central defender andthe linkman between the midfieldand the forwards.

Meanwhile in the other Super 4game of the day, Korea will faceMalaysia.

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India on Friday lost their numero uno status inICC ODI rankings to South Africa following the

Proteas' win over Bangladesh in the second matchof the ongoing series.

According to the updated ICC ODI rankings,by virtue of South Africa's 104-run win overBangladesh in the second ODI in Paarl, the Proteasjumped to the top spot, leapfrogging India.

While India and South Africa have identical120 points against their names, India are placedsecond on the basis of decimal points. India hadclaimed the top spot in the ICC rankings follow-ing their 4-1 win over Australia at home recent-ly. But India have a chance to reclaim their top spotas they host New Zealand in a three-match ODIseries, scheduled to begin in Mumbai on October22.

Meanwhile, India skipper Virat Kohli hasslipped a place to be at No 2 in ODI batsmen'srankings, behind South Africa's AB de Villiers.

Another Indian to be ranked in top-10 is RohitSharma, who has also dropped down two spotsto be at seventh.

In the bowlers' list, Jasprit Bumrah and AxarPatel are the two Indians who figure in top-10.

ODI bowlers' table is topped by Pakistan'sHasan Ali, who has moved up as many as six placesto become the fifth bowler at the No 1 place of theODI rankings this year.

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England and the USA willface each other in theirFIFA U-17 World Cup

quarterfinal match here onSaturday, aiming to enhance theirreputation in this age-group eventwhich they are yet to win despitea strong tradition of qualifying forglobal finals.

The United States ofAmerica's best effort remains afourth-place finish in the 1999edition. England made their FIFAU-17 World Cup debut a decadeago, with India 2017 being theYoung Lions' fourth outing on theglobal stage at this age level.

They reached the quarterfi-nals on debut in 2007, when theywere beaten by Germany.

At Mexico 2011, the Germansonce again dispatched theirEnglish counterparts. Last time,at Chile 2015, England failed toreach the knockout stages.

While the likes of DannyWelbeck, Raheem Sterling —who were part of the earliersquads — have since graduated tothe senior level and star strikerJadon Sancho have left for his clubcommitments in BorussiaDortmund, England still haveenough firepower to go further.

England will take some con-fidence from the fact that theyfinally broke the penalty shootoutjinx, with goalkeeper CurtisAnderson pulling off some finesaves when the pressure wasintense against Japan.

They should be battle readyhaving registered a hard- fought5-3 win in the penalty shootout.

In the absence of Sancho,England struggled to open up theJapanese defence and looked lesspenetrative. Angel Gomes, whoreplaced Sancho in the pre-quar-ters against Japan, along withCallum-Hudson Odoi and PhilipFoden, need to show more cre-ativity in the midfield.

The US attacking trio of skip-per Josh Sargent, Tim Weah andAyo Akinola is expected to poseproblems to the England defence.Weah will be high on confidencehaving scored a hat- trick in the5-0 drubbing of Paraguay. TheAmericans are quick when itcomes to attack and the Englishback four, comprising TimothyEyoma, Joel Latibeaudiere, MarcGuehi and Jonathan Panzo, willhave to be on their toes.

England coach Steve Coopersaid, "We have shown a lot ofcharacter to remain unbeaten sofar, which shows our strength andquality. USA too have given goodaccount of themselves to reachthis stage and we are ready forthem. Hopefully, we can do whatwe have done in the league stage,take the game to the oppositionand we will not be underesti-mating anybody."

His counterpart, JohnHackworth said, "We are playingfor the first time against anEuropean team in the WorldCup. We have played England inthe past three years and tomor-

row's match will be exciting."Tomorrow, we are playing

against a strong opponent whohave been unbeaten in this tour-nament, but we are ready to facethem and will play to our poten-tial to beat them and progress."

�D����ENGLAND: Curtis Anderson,Josef Bursik, William Crelin;Timothy Eyoma, JoelLatibeaudiere, Marc Guehi,Jonathan Panzo, Lewis Gibson,Steven Sessegnon, Morgan GibbsWhite, Tashan Oakley Boothe;Conor Gallagher, Angel Gomes,Nya Kirby, George McEachran,Callum Hudson Odoi, PhilipFoden, Emile Smith Rowe, RhianBrewster, Danny LoaderUSA: Goalkeepers: Alex Budnik,Carlos Joaquim Dos Santos,Justin Garces. Defenders: SerginoDest, Christopher Gloster, JaylinLindsey, James Sands, TylerShaver, Akil Watts. Midfielders:George Acosta, Taylor Booth,Christopher Durkin, BlaineFerri, Chris Goslin, IndianaVassilev. Forwards: Ayo Akinola,Andrew Carleton, Jacobo Reyes,Bryan Reynolds, Joshua Sargent,Tim Weah.

����� �:07.7$,

With very little separating the two instrategy and technique, Ghana

could count on their better defensiveorganisation against Mali in an all-African quarterfinal of the FIFA U-17World Cup here on Saturday.

Two-time champions Ghana areseeking to revive their glory days in thetournament, having last won it way backin 1995. They have shown the intent fromthe word go, and barring the reverseagainst USA in the group stage, theGhanians have been on the ball.

Ghana had been beaten 1-0 by Maliin the final of the Under-17 Africa Cupof Nations, and they would be determinedto avenge that loss.

Besides a tight defensive unit and thespeed of their attackers, Ghana will bebacked up by a handful of vociferousglobe-trotting supporters, who had beenseen in all the venues so far in the tour-nament.

After the 2-0 win over debutantsNiger in the pre- quarterfinals, Samuel

Fabin's boys, as way of gesture,celebrated the victory with theirhardcore backers, who go wher-ever the team goes.

Having topped Group A,Ghana eased into the last eight with goalsfrom skipper Eric Ayiah striking twice.Ayiah has led the Black Starlets from thefront and is one of the top scorers of thetournament.

He will certainly be one of the play-ers to watch out for at the Indira GandhiAthletic Stadium on Saturday. Up againsttheir west African counterparts, Ayiah,as well as coach Fabin, know the impor-tance of the game.

"Definitely when you come to play amatch of this nature, you look at the fansand when you see your countrymen there,it gives you confidence to (perform). Theyalways expect us to beat them. The expec-tations are very huge, I would say,"Fabin said.

He, however, remained concernedabout the team's low conversion rate andwasted chances against Niger.

Thanks to their rock-solid defence

comprising the duo of Najeeb Yakubu andGideon Mensah, Ghana have concededjust one goal in three matches. They havealso displayed a pacey brand of football,with Ayiah finding the back of the netagainst India and Niger.

He has formed a good partnershipwith the team's attacking midfielder, SadiqIbrahim, and they would fancy their

chances against Mali.While they left their opponents

panting with their speed, theGhanaians are aware that cutting

through the Mali defence is a differ-ent proposition altogether.

Mali will certainly be high on confi-dence having pumped in five goalsagainst Iraq and even though the Iraqicoach had accused them of fieldingover-age players, Jonas Komla's sidewould not read too much into that.

Mali's Lassana N'Diaye has nowscored five goals in four matches and hewill fancy his chances against Ghana.

Against Iraq, Mali toyed with the rivaldefence with repeated forays. Ghana areexpected to be a different ballgame,

though, and heading into the gamecoach Komla's biggest concern is Mali'sdefence. Mali have already conceded fivegoals in the tournament and they wouldneed to tighten against their strongAfrican rivals.

�D����GHANA: Danlad Ibrahim, John Out,Gideon Acquah, Edmund Arko-Mensah,Najeeb Yakubu, Eric Ayiah, IbrahimSulley, Kudus Mohammed, RichardDanso, Emmanuel Toku, AminuMohammed, Abdul Yusif, Gabriel Leveh,Bismark Owusu, Kwame Aziz, RashidAlhassan, Mohammed Iddriss, SadiqIbrahim, Isaac Gyamfi, Michael Acquaye.MALI: Alkalifa Coulibaly, BoubacarHaidara, Djemoussa Traore, Fode Konate,Mamadi Fofana, Mohamed Camara,Hadji Drame, Abdoulaye Dabo, SemeCamara, Salam Giddou, MamadouTraore, Mahamane Toure, SoumailaDoumbia, Siaka Sidibe, Abdoulaye Diaby,Youssouf Koita, Mamadou Samake,Ibrahiim Kane, Lassana Ndiayne, CheickOumar Doucoure, Massire Gassama.

���� 45�35�

Chelsea threw away a two-goallead against Roma before recov-

ering to draw 3-3 in the ChampionsLeague on Wednesday, whileJuventus labored to a 2-1 win athome to Sporting Lisbon.

It was easier for Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich. TheGerman side beat Celtic 3-0 and PSGwon 4-0 at Anderlecht to remainperfect. Elsewhere, Atletico Madridlooks to be heading for an early exitafter drawing 0-0 at Qarabag. Baselwon 2-0 at CSKA Moscow.

� �����������1Manchester United took advan-

tage of an embarrassing mistake bythe youngest goalkeeper ever toplay in the Champions League tobeat Benfica 1-0 and maintain itsGroup A lead.

Belgian goalkeeper Mile Svilar,making his Champions League debutat age 18, was deceived by a long freekick taken by Marcus Rashford in thesecond half, going over the line whileholding the ball with his arms out-stretched in front of him.

Elsewhere, Cheslea salvaged apoint against Roma when Eden

Hazard headed in his secondgoal of the night in the 75thminute.

Edin Dzeko's double hadbriefly put Roma in front but2012 Champions League win-ner Chelsea remains two pointsahead of the Italian club at the topof the group.

Meanwhile, Lionel Messi scoredhis 100th goal in European compe-tition when he curled a free kick over

the wall in the 61st minute ina 3-1 victory. Olympiakosgoalkeeper Silvio Proto got ahand on the ball but couldn't

keep it out as Messi took hiscareer tally in the Champions

League to 97 goals.Messi also set up left back Lucas

Digne to score in the 64th when hedribbled around a defender beforecutting the ball back through the areafor his teammate to drive it home.

����� 53��!�

HS Prannoy's second successivewin over three-time Olympic

silver medallist Lee Chong Wei wasthe highlight on a day when SainaNehwal and Kidambi Srikanth alsomade the quarterfinals of DenmarkOpen Super Series Premier here.

Just four months back,Prannoy had created a flutter whenhe dispatched Chong Wei instraight games in the IndonesiaSuper Series Premier and theunseeded Indian dished out anoth-er superb performance onThursday to oust the former WorldNo 1 Malaysian 21-17, 11-21, 21-19 in a match that lasted an hourand three minutes here.

"I am happy to beat him againtoday. Even at this age, he is one ofthe best players, who can play inany conditions," Prannoy said afterthe match.

World No 8 Srikanth, whoalready has two super series titlesat Indonesia and Australia to hisname, defeated Korea's Jeon HyeokJin 21-13, 8-21, 21-18, while Saina,who won a bronze at the Glasgow

World Championship,prevailed overThailand's Nitchaon Jindapol 22-20, 21-13 in women's singles pre-quarterfinals.

US Open champion Prannoywill next face Korea's top seed SonWan Ho, Srikanth will meet currentworld champion Viktor Axelsen,while Saina will square off againstJapan's Akane Yamaguchi.

Also throughto the quarters

were England's Rajiv Ouseph,Hong Kong's Wong Wing KiVincent, Korea's Lee Hyun Il,Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen.

In women's singles, top seedand World No 1 Tai Tzu Ying,Korean duo of Sung Ji Hyun andKim Hyo Min, Japan's Sayaka Sato,China's Chen Yufei and Thailand's

Ratchanok Intanon also reachedthe last eight.

�� ��������������Olympic and World

Championship silver medallistshuttler PV Sindhu suffered ashock straight game defeat againstChen Yufei of China in the open-ing round to crash out of theDenmark Open here.

Sindhu failed to break therhythm of world number 10 Chento go down fighting 17-21 21-23 ina 43-minute women's singles matchon Wednesday night.

Sindhu conceded a 0-3 lead toChen early on but managed toerase the deficit when she drewparity at 9-9 and moved togethertill 17-17. It was at this momentwhen Chen stepped up andgrabbed four crucial points to winthe first game. After the interval,Chen extended the lead to 15-11.Sindhu managed to reduce it to 16-17. Sindhu then saved four matchpoints to make it 20-20 but even-tually Chen closed out the matchat 23-21 to avenge her WorldChampionship loss to the Indian.

����1����������� ��03�4.,

After scoring and assisting a goal each in the com-fortable 5-0 victory against Paraguay in the FIFA

under-17 World Cup round-of-16 clash, United Statesof America's skipper Joshua Sargent prioritises winningover personal glory as they prepare to face star-stud-ded England in quarterfinals on Saturday in Margao.

"Coming in this World Cup, my goal was not toscore goals, of course, I love to score many goals butwhat I aim is to win the game for the team and not justbe happy with scoring, said the striker with two goalsin four matches in this football extravaganza. "If youask me what would I prefer between scoring and notwinning or not scoring and help the team win. I willobviously prefer the latter."

The US captain is the only player in this World Cupwho came with a previous experience of playing in anunder-20 World Cup. Scoring 4 goals in 5 matches inKorea Republic, where the US lost to Venezuela in thequarterfinals, brought Sargent under the spotlight fromthe onset of the tournament in India. The 17-year-old,with two World Cup experiences already, explained thedifference in the role he played with both the teams.

"The 20's (under-20 US team) players are bigger,faster and stronger. They are smarter at their game asthey are playing it longer. My role was different in thatteam, I was new in the squad, I didn't know what toexpect but I always had this personal challenge to matchthe players with more experience than me. With under-17 (side), I am expected to lead the team, with the expe-rience I had with the seniors, through this World Cup.The responsibilities are very different and challengingwith both the teams," said Joshua.

Speaking of the challenges and responsibilities, hesaid the team is trying to bring some joy back to thefootball fans in the country as they still mourn the fail-

ure of the senior US team to book a spot in the nextyear's World Cup in Russia. Aware of the expectations,the captain showed full faith in the abilities of his teamto go the distance in the under-17 tournament.

"It's quite a bit pressure for us. We are doing ourbest to forget about it but it's a reality. And I think thisteam is capable of going all the way in this tournamentand we are going to give our very best," said Sargent.

The striker is all set to move to Germany after thecompetition in India, where he will be plying his tradewith Bundesliga club (Germany's top division league)Werder Bremen. He said it's a dream-come-true expe-rience so far for him.

"From a very young age, I always wanted to go toEurope. It's very hard to leave your friends and fami-ly behind but you see a lot of Americans doing well inEurope. Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund) andWeston Mckennie (Schalke 04) are doing so well inGermany. I feel that makes it a very good path for me,"explained Joshua.

The striker feels that his country has improved alot in all these years but still a work in progress whencompared to the European football.

"USA definitely focuses a lot on individual devel-opment and I know they try their best to be better asa team I think the priority has always been the devel-opment of players from the young age, that's why play-ers like us are doing so well at the big stage.

"Now I am not downplaying US football here butit's still a work in progress, while European football isdeveloped. Bundesliga is one of the best leagues in theworld now and it's an honour to play there," saidSargent.

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