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The Supreme Courts attemptto try out at least oneDiwali without firecrackersby imposing blanket ban onsale of firecrackers in Delhi andNational Capital Region in thelight of deteriorating air qual-ity seems to fall on deaf earswith echo of crackers growinglouder as festivities picked upon Thursday night.

Though Diwali eveningstarted off relatively quieterthan previous years, thick hazeand noise engulfed the city asfrenzied celebrations pickedup as the clock ticked and noisyand relentless bursting of fire-crackers continued till the weehours, sending pollution graphoff the charts. They reached acrescendo with air pollution(PM 10 levels) reached maxi-mum level of 999 on the USEmbassy pollution monitoringsystem by a little past midnight.Delhi Pollution ControlCommittee (DPCC)s RKPuram checking station notedPM 2.5 and PM 10 levels at 878and 1179 micrograms per cubicmetre at 11 pm on Thursday.

Though air pollution levelsin Delhi, were in the severeband at all four of the Capitalsmonitoring centres on Friday,still the situation was better ascompared to the day after Diwalilast year. It could be due to windspeed, which was up to 11 kmper hour on Friday, as comparedto 1 km per hour on the day afterDiwali in 2016. And good newsfor a choking Capital is that pri-vate weather monitoring agencySkymet has predicted that drywinds attaining speeds ofbetween 15 and 20 km per hourblowing from a north-westerlydirection over the NCR region

would ease air pollution further.If one goes by SAFARs

forecast also, post-Diwali airwill not be as poor as last year,which was the worse in atleast three decades. It said ahost of favourable meteoro-logical conditions were 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,Delhis 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 (g/m3)respectively, multiple timeshigher than the safe limits of 60and 100 (gm-3)

According to CentralPollution Control Board(CPCB) data, the air qualityindex in Delhi and adjoiningGurugram and Noida satellitetowns was recorded verypoor at 15 monitoring stations- where it ranged from 339 to390. The index value between300 and 400 is consideredvery poor that can cause res-piratory illness on prolongedexposure.

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

# 045.,

An agency in the name ofKisan Seva Kendra havingthe 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 fraud-sters.

A complaint was forward-ed to the Delhi Police after thePrime Ministers 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 Rs 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 behindhis fraud, a police officer said,Unemployed youths filled upapplication and registrationforms after paying 900. Thiswas a precondition to get anemployment. Once the moneywas deposited, they used to getcalls from the agency sayingthat they were calling fromKCC, Sector 41 Chandigarh.The candidates were thenmade to believe that they werebeing interviewed over phone.Few days later they called backto inform that they had passedthe interview and got the jobwith a particular salary. Thevictims were then asked todeposit a huge sum of amountto a particular bank account assecurity. They were then pro-vided a Delhi address to collecttheir offer letters, the officialadded.

Those behind the KCCalso provided a defunct mobilenumber to their targets. Thepoor victims roamed allaround Delhi but could not tofind 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 tricksters use differentmethod 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.

KCC is an important ofMinistry of Agriculture,Cooperation and FarmersWelfare, Government of Indiarun for the benefit of farmersin different parts of the coun-

try 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 operateKCCs 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 1800-180-151said 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 get them, a policeofficial tasked with the probesaid.

$#045.,

The post of Solicitor-General(SG), the countrys 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 personalgrounds behind his decision toresign.

Government sources con-firmed that Kumars resigna-tion 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 YamunaRivers deteriorating condition.

The SGs 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 ofAdditional Solicitor Generals(ASGs).

045.,

In its quest to bring RajyaSabha Television (RSTV) on apar with private news channels,Vice-President M VenkaiahNaidu, who is also chairman ofthe Rajya Sabha, has for the firsttime formed a search-cum-selec-tion committee comprising ofeminent journalists, lawmakers,officials of Prasar Bharati andRajya Sabha Secretariat to selectRSTV Editor-in-Chief.

The post of editor fellvacant after Gurdeep SinghSappal resigned following theend of the tenure of VicePresident Hamid Ansari asChairman of the upper house.

The search-cum-selectioncommittee for the post of Editor-In-Chief, RS TV will inviteapplications and conduct inter-views to select a suitable candi-date and submit its recommen-dation to the chairman.

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In a horrifying incident, amob tried to burn alive amentally challenged person onsuspicion of him being a braid-chopper in north KashmirsSopore area.

Describing the incident ascollective frenzied behavior,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 behavior.

Meanwhile, adding fuel tothe fear-charged atmospherethe 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 vigi-lantes lit a fire and tried toburn him.

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

condition is said to be critical.The victim was later iden-

tified by the police as WasimAhmad Tantray a mentallychallenged 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 that an FIRhad been registered, and the vig-ilantes had been identified.Action will be initiated againstthe culprits, he said.

He asked people to desistfrom taking the law into theirhands and inform the police ifany suspicious person is foundin any locality.

The incident triggeredmassive public disapproval aspeople expressed dismay overthe happening. Over 130 inci-dents of alleged braid chop-ping have been reported in theValley in the last one month.Special teams have been set upto contain the alleged inci-dence, which has spread panicamong the citizens, but thepolice have failed to makeany arrests.

The Government has set upa Special Investigation Team toprobe the incidents and policeannounced a cash prize of 6lakh for anyone who providesinformation about the allegedbraid-choppers.

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045.,

Environmental pollution from filthy air to con-taminated water is killingmore people every year thanall war and violence in theworld. More than smoking,hunger or natural disasters.More than AIDS, tuberculo-sis and malaria combined.

One out of every six pre-mature deaths in the world in2015 about 9 million could be attributed to diseasefrom toxic exposure, accord-ing to a major study releasedon Thursday in the Lancetmedical journal. The finan-

cial cost from pollution-relat-ed death, sickness and welfareis equally massive, the reportsays, costing some $4.6 tril-lion in annual losses orabout 6.2 per cent of theglobal economy.

Asia and Africa are theregions putting the most peo-ple at risk, the study found,while India tops the list ofindividual countries. One outof every four prematuredeaths in India in 2015, orsome 2.5 million, was attrib-uted to pollution.

Chinas 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, South

Sudan and Haiti also see near-ly a fifth of their prematuredeaths caused by pollution.

Theres been a lot ofstudy of pollution, but itsnever received the resourcesor level of attention as, say,AIDS or climate change,said epidemiologist PhilipLandrigan, dean of globalhealth at the Icahn School ofMedicine at Mount Sinai,New York, and the leadauthor of the report.

The report marks thefirst attempt to pull togetherdata on disease and deathcaused by all forms of pollu-tion combined.

Pollution is a massiveproblem that people arentseeing because theyre look-ing at scattered bits of it,Landrigan said.

78.,

The Centre will send itsteam within a week toinvestigate the death of 11-year-old girl in Simdega, allegedlydue to starvation. A meetingwas held on Friday on the issueand a decision was taken tosend a team within a week toinvestigate the alleged hungerdeath of the girl in Simdega,said Assistant PersonalSecretary to Union ConsumerAffairs, Food and PublicDistribution Minister RamvilasPaswan, SN Singh. Names ofthe officials who will visitJharkhand, however, are yet tobe decided, he added.

The Central Minister hasdirected the newly appointedUnion Food Secretary Ravi Kantto investigate the matter and ateam will soon be sent to lookinto the matter. Meanwhile, theState Government has beenasked to send a report in thisregard, said Singh. Expressinganguish over the incident, theminister has said that it was real-ly a matter of concern that afamily was not provided foodgrains even after the imple-

mentation of Food Security Actin the State, he added.

He also demanded strictaction against those responsi-ble for failing to provide rationto the girls family, said theAssistant Secretary to theMinister. The family at leastwould have been provided foodsecurity allowance, if the StateGovernment had failed to pro-vide food grains to it, headded. Singh further addedthat that there was a provisionunder Food Security Act forproviding 1.25 times ofMinimum Support Price(MSP) of foodgrains to thefamily, in case it is not beingprovided ration from the StateGovernment.

The State Governmenthad been provided food grainsunder this head which was alsobeen lifted from the godownsof Food Corporation of Indiaon time regularly, he pointedout. Meanwhile, taking swiftaction, the Simdega districtadministration has suspendedBlock Supply Officer RameshKumar, ANM Mala Devi alongwith the license of PDS dealerBhola Sahu, who refused food

grains to her family.The District

Administration, however, hasclaimed that the girl died ofmalaria as she was sufferingfrom it from quite some time.

A test conducted on hermother Koyali Devi onOctober 13 also revealed thatshe was suffering from malar-ia, following which she wasadmitted to the local hospitalfor treatment, the DC said.Meanwhile, those whose rationcards have not been linked totheir Aadhaar number are alsobeing provided ration follow-ing the directions of the StateGovernment, he added.

The State Food and CivilSupplies Department, cominginto action, also decided tocheck the status of 11.5 lakhration cards nullified in Aprilfor not having been linkedwith Aadhaar numbers.

Incidentally, SantoshiKumari allegedly starved todeath on September 28, as herfamily was denied PDS riceafter July as the ration card ofthe girls grandmother wascancelled for not being linkedto Aadhaar.

78.,

President Ram Nath Kovindwill be the Chief Guest of theState Foundation Day ceremonyon November 15 in the CapitalCity. Chief Secretary RajbalaVerma on Friday said the cul-mination of the fortnight-longceremony in the State will beorganised in a huge event at theMorhabadi ground to be attend-ed by the President.

The CS said a large numberof beneficiaries of differentdepartments would reach theState headquarters to attend theFoundation Day ceremony,therefore, the preparationsshould be done according to that.She asked the CabinetCoordination department andthe Ranchi district administra-tion to coordinate and makearrangements for the mega eventon November 15.

The School Education andLiteracy department wouldorganise Prabhatferi in thewhole State. Every district willorganise and main event wherein the morning hours a

Prabhatferi would be organisedand end at a ceremony with thepledge to educate Jharkhand.The District Public RelationsOffices across the State have beenasked to make people aware ofthe programmes through ban-ners and hoardings and othermeans.

Several programmes,including inauguration of devel-opment schemes, foundationlaying of infrastructural projects,assets distribution among ben-eficiaries etc would be held at themain programme at Morhabadi.During the programmes at dis-trict headquarters Ministers,MPs, MLAs and other peoplesrepresentatives would inaugu-rate and lay foundation of dif-ferent schemes.

The Tourism, Art, Cultureand Sports department willorganise several arts and sportsevents across the State during thefortnight and the best pro-grammes of the districts andpopular cultural programmeswould be organised at the BirsaMunda Football Stadium inRanchi on November 15.

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Chief Minister Raghubar Dasexpressed happiness thathis visit to Czech Republic andJapan was a complete successand he is confident thatinvestors from both the coun-tries would come to the state forinvestment and help the gov-ernment usher in prosperityand development in the state.

The Chief Minister in abrief interaction with media onThursday morning said that hisvisit will usher a new beginningof growth. He also greeted thepeople of the State on theoccasion of Diwali and wished

that lights of prosperity anddevelopment will be lit in eachof the house of Jharkhand.

The BJP workers accordedthe chief minister a grand wel-come as he came to the city forthe first time after the tour. Dasalong with a high-level delega-tion of bureaucrats led by ChiefSecretary Rajbala Verma hadvisited Czech Republic andJapan between October 8 and14. During the tour the dele-gation had taken part in roadshows at Tokyo and Osaka inJapan and invited investors inthe field of smart city andmetro rail projects with attrac-tive packages. Czech Republiccompany Home Credit alsoinked MoU of 750-crore withjob opportunities for morethan 1500.

I extend my warm wish-es to people here. My prayer toGod is that light of happiness,prosperity glows in each of thehouse in the state, said Das. Hereiterated that the governmentwould work efficiently in bring-ing speedy development, pro-

viding basic amenities andimproving policing. . He said

that in the next five years thegovernment is working towards

making the state achieve goodresults in education, roads,

drinking water and other basicinfrastructure.

Later, the CM accompaniedby East Singhbhum DeputyCommissioner Amit Kumarvisited the Kadma residence ofBJP leader Abhijit Chakrabortywho passed away last monthand assured all support to thebereaved family. The ChiefMinister then visited Mangoresidence of another partyleader Supriyo Laik and askedthe deputy commissioner tohelp the familys eldest daugh-ter in getting some jobs.

The chief minister will stayin the city till October 22 andis expected to attend the KaliPuja bhog distribution functionheld at former chief ministerand BJP senior leader ArjunMunda residence inGhorabandha at Telco onOctober 21 apart from cele-brating Bhai Dooj with histhree sisters. He will alsoinspect preparation for chhathfestivity at Surya Mandir inSidhgora.

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Thousands of wildlife residing androaming inside the Betla NationalPark can continue to do so free from thefear to get accidently electrocuted. Thesense was there since the EnergyDepartment under its complete electrifi-cation drive continuing all across the Stateknocked doors of the Forest Departmentin order to cover 97 odd villages settled inthe park area.

Top sources in the PTR confirmed thatthe management of the reserve had object-ed to the electrification drive to cover theremote villages and allowing the transmis-sion lines to be crossed from the PTR.

We have seen some cases of electro-cution deaths in recent times in the periph-ery involving elephants and other smaller.It was worrying for the management to allowhigh tension lines inside the PTR. But theJBVNL have mended the way they erecttransmission lines in general, said a seniorofficial of PTR.Jharkhand Bijli VitaranNigam Limited (JBVNL) ManagingDirector Rahul Purwar confirmed this toThe Pioneer. There were some objectionsfrom the Forest Department about safety ofwildlife. But since we have taken up the taskinto our hand to take power connectivity toevery village by the next year we decided toinstall insulated cables even in the 11 kv hightension lines crossing over the PTR in itsentirety, said he said, who was in the PTRrecently.

It is learnt that the JBVNL is neededto install transmission line rangingbetween 600 to 700 kilometer lengthsinside the park to take power to as many as

97 villages falling inside the core area. Moreoften the Energy Department installs cov-ered wires only into local lines, i.e. from trans-formers to houses.

We have not adopted insulated cable inhigh tensions lines so far but it would be donehere in the PTR. Snapping in 11 kv lines hap-pens. Recently a high tension line got snappedat Gaddi village of Latehar due to its length.This may happen and can cause harm to wildanimals, we agree, added Purwar.

This apart, the JBVNL is also working toprovide power in some remote villages of thetiger reserve through off grid connectivity suchas solar panels. We have also indentified 15-16 villages to be given power through alter-nate sources. But looking at local conditionsit is not possible to adopt the mode extensively.Often, we have a problem of theft of solarplates or batteries. Load factor is also there.The alternate is not the long term solution,said the MD.

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Noise pollution duringDiwali this year was not soalarming as compared to thelast year, thanks to the frequentrains on Thursday which pre-vented people coming out oftheir homes to fire crackers.The Jharkhand State PollutionControl Board (JSPCB) hadrolled out mobile monitoringunits, mounted over vehicles, tomeasure intensity of noise pol-lution during Diwali at differ-ent locations identified by itwhich indicated less noise pol-lution this year all over StateCapital.

JSPCB officials claimedthat maximum noise pollu-tion was recorded at AlbertEkka Chowk during peak houron Diwali.

Noise pollution level wasrecorded at five different loca-tions at High Court, RajendraInstitute of Medical Sciences,Lalpur, Albert Ekka Chowkand Ratu Road every hourfrom 6-9 pm out of which max-imum pollution of 85.3 wasrecorded at Albert EkkaChowk, said MemberSecretary of Pollution ControlBoard Sanjay Suman.Although, maximum permis-sible limit of noise pollution islimit is 64-78 db, it is not asalarming as it is quite less thanthat recorded last year, headded.

Minimum pollutionremained there as 79 db whilethe average noise pollutioncalculated at Albert EkkaChowk was 82.75 db, said the

Member Secretary. Pollutionlevel was recorded at everylocation each hour with thehelp of noise level meters,mounted on vehicles and anaverage was calculated out of it,he added.

Ratu Road remained onthe second position with max-imum noise pollution level of79.9 db while the averageremained at 80.478 db, Sumansaid. At RIMS, the averagenoise pollution was 64.67, whileat Lalpur it was 81.925, headded.

Suman further said that anadvisory had been issued fromthe JSPCB to use firecrackers ofa particular range of decibelonly. The permissible decibelcount in silence zones is 40 dBduring nights and 50 dB dur-ing days. For commercial areasthe permissible count is 65 dBduring days and 55 dB duringnights and for residential areas,it is 55 dB and 45 dB.

Former president ofFederation of JharkhandChamber of Commerce andIndustries President PawanSharma said that he had notseen such weather on Dipawaliin his entire life.I had neversuch weather on Diwali duringthe last 50 years. FollowingSupreme Court decision ofbanning fire crackers onDiwali, a sense of awareness hasdefinitely developed amongthe people against the pollutingfire crackers, said Sharma.People were reluctant to firecrackers this time, it further gotstrengthened due to frequentrains on Thursday, he added.

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After the State cabinets deci-sion to completely ban useof hazardous plastic bags, theDistrict administration hasbegun the exercise punish theviolators. Soon, after the for-mulation of special enforce-ment teams both at the ZilaParishad including UrbanLocal Body (ULB) level, thedistrict administration willconduct raids at targeted spots.Notably, in September 2017,the State government hasissued the instruction to ensureban on plastic use.

According to the rules, theuse of plastics is only permis-sible for manufacturing,import, storage, transporta-tion including packaging of

food products (milk and milkproducts) and usage as con-tainers at plant nurseries.

Initiating from commercialhubs and chief market places inCapital City, the MunicipalCorporation enforcementteams within its jurisdictionwill keep a check on the use ofplastic bags while the otherteam under the supervision ofBlock Development Officers(BDOs) at block level will con-duct raids.

Ranchi DC, Manoj Kumar,during a meeting on Friday,with the representatives fromDepartment of Industries,Ranchi Municipal Corporation(RMC), Department ofCommercial Tax and Exciseissued a notification to thestakeholders to ensure ban on

the usage of plastic bags besidescreating awareness about thesame.

Focusing on the initiativesbeing adopted by the Districtadministration team, Kumarsaid, According to the recordsof the Department of Industries

and Jharkhand State PollutionControl Board (JSPCB), thereare no plastic manufacturingunits here. Now, we have tofocus on wholesalers, retailersand shopkeepers for whichRMC at urban level and atblock level, BDOs have been

assigned the task of putting theban on plastic bags use.

The Ranchi DC furtherstated that the MunicipalCorporation has identifiedfive shops here at the businesshub, Upper Bazar that main-ly deal in plastic carry bags.After Chhath puja, raids willbe conducted at these shops.Kumar said that the instruc-tions have been already sentto the MunicipalCommissioner for holdingmeeting with vendor com-mittee members while mak-ing them aware about therecent notification.

Also, he assured that plas-tic ban would not hit the chainof demand and supply here.To fill the gap that will hit themarket after ensuring complete

blanket ban. Jharkhand StateLivelihood Promotion Society(JSLPS) have been assignedthe task of identifying the SelfHelp Groups (SHGs) thatmakes jute bags or otherbiodegradable carry bags, sothat retailers and shopkeepersdo not face the carry bagscrunch while dealing with thecustomers. At present, the dis-trict administration eyes onbanning the bulk use of plasticcarry bags only.

However, it is not merelythe wholesalers, retailers andshopkeepers who are solelyresponsible in contributing tothe environmental degrada-tion but the city residents areequally responsible for the pro-motion of harmful substanceslike plastics.

78.,

The light rainfall at a regularinterval that played a spoil-sport on Diwali night, forcingthe denizens to confine them-selves inside their abodes is like-ly to continue for another twodays. Similarly, the weather con-dition post Diwali on Fridayalso remained the same whendrizzle being reported at a reg-ular break in the Capital bring-ing business to a standstill.

Weathermen claimed thatdue to creation of deep depres-sion at Bay of Bengal and costalOdisha, the situation is likely to

remain same till Saturday andwill eventually get to normal byOctober 22.

Ranchi MeteorologicalCentre, Director, B K Mondalsaid The deep depressionformed at Bay of Bengal and

costal Odisha is currently influ-encing the weather condition,however its movement indicatesthat it is heading towards theNorth-Eastern States that willeventually shift the cloud for-mation bringing respite. Theaffect of deep depression is like-ly to continue till today coveringentire Jharkhand.

Also, moisture incursionwill continue for another 24hours and hence the system islikely to maintain its intensity.Ranchi and a few other adjoin-ing districts may only receivedrizzle but heavy rainfall willparticularly lash isolated places

including NE belts of the Statethat includes districts likeJamtara, Sahibganj, Jamtara,Pakur, Deogarh, Mondal said.

According to the weatherexperts, rainfall occurrence ratemay record up till 6 mm. Still,Mondal assured that the tem-perature level will not fall furtherbringing the early winter chill feelas moisture content level will set-tle down as soon as the pressureof deep depression gets over here.On Friday, Ranchi recorded 19.2mm rainfall while Jamshedpurand Daltonganj registered 23.0mm rainfall and 15.0 mm rain-fall respectively.

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On Diwali night the defeatedcandidate of local bodyelection and his associates bru-tally killed Mukhiya LupungMunda, of naxal prone Bhagharpanchayat of Chouparan blockof Hazaribagh district.

According to his wife,Lupung went out with some vil-lagers, including the opponentcandidate Sundar Munda tocelebrate the festival ofDeepawali alias Sohrai. OnFriday morning some villagersinformed that the dead body ofLupung has been seen in theoutskirts of Raktachuan villagenear Gambhariya forest area.

After getting informationOIC Chouparan SudamaKumar and his team reachedRaktachuan village and recov-ered the dead body of Munda.On first site it became clear thatLater Police team started searchoperation and nabbed threeculprits namely Sanika Munda,Rote Munda and MajiyaMunda. Two other namedaccused Sundar Munda andChamu Tuti absconded from

the village. Later many electedlocal body representatives ofChouparan block visitedBhaghar along with Ex-MLAAkela Yadav. They all criti-cized the incident and saidthere is no place of violence inpolitics but here in the worstaffected naxal area of the dis-trict no security was providedto the members though theyhad made complaint of threat.

Later in the search opera-tion, police recovered arms fromthe houses of the culprits. It issaid that the killers had usedsome of the recovered arms inthis murder. The family mem-bers of mukhiya Lupung Mundalooked to be shocked due to thisincident and the whole familyremained crying only whenpolice team and the team of localpoliticians visited their house.

The police later sent thedead body for Post Mortem toHazaribagh Sadar Hospital. Inthe evening the dead body washanded over to his relatives.According to our hospitalsources the incident took placein between 3 to 4 a.m. of 20thOctober.

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Ex-Principal of St XaviersSchool, Hazaribagh, FrP r a d e e pS h a i lp a s s e daway onO c t o b e r19. He wascurrently

serving as principal of St.Xaviers School, Bokaro.

Fr Pradeep has served St

Xaviers, Hazaribagh, from1998 to 2008. Born in 1957 Fr.Pradeep was a well knownBihari Jesuit who served manyeducational institutions duringhis service period. He waspopular among students.

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According to a new UNreport, of 7,000 new-bornbabies 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 Mortality2017released 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,Womens and Childrens 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.

$# 045.,

The Election Commission(EC) on Friday came undercriticism 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 Rahulcampaign 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 allconcessions 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 delaythe 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 partys save Rahulcampaign 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 hypocrisypointing out that the same ECappeared neutral to theCongress when its decisionfavoured its senior leaderAhmed Patels 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. Its 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.

$# 045.,

The first ever tri-service exerciseINDRA between India and Russiacommenced 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 NarendraModis visit to Russia in June, it wasdecided to upgrade and intensifydefence 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.

$# 045.,

Four ship builders including fromGermany, France, Russia and Swedenhave 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.

$#045.,

The nation will pay homageto the policemen martyredin firing by Chinese troops in1959 and 34,400 others wholaid down their lives protectingIndias 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 Indias 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 asCommemoration 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.

045.,

The India Pulses and GrainsAssociation (IPGA) hasdemanded that the Governmentshould supply pulses throughration shops to provide betterprice realisation to farmers andensure the countrys 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 Indias 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 thenations 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.

$#045.,

Congress on Friday targetedPrime Minister NarendraModi 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 Shahs sons 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 JayShahs firm. Both the Congressand its vice president RahulGandhi have repeatedly ques-tioned Modis silence on theissue.

AICC spokesperson RPNSingh, reacting to Modis 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.

$#045.,

To give the requisite boost toAyurveda, the AyushMinistry 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 theUnited States Secretary ofState, Rex Tillerson, in whichhe talked about deepeningcooperation with India anddescribed New Delhi as a reli-able partner. India has termedTillersons 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 Secretarys visit to Indiawill advance the ambitiousagenda laid out by PresidentTrump and Prime MinisterNarendra Modi during thePrime Ministers 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 Chinas challenges to therules-based order, and whereChina subverts the sovereign-ty of neighboring countriesand disadvantages the US andour friendsChinas provoca-tive actions in the South ChinaSea directly challenge the inter-national law and norms thatthe United States and Indiaboth stand for. Respondingswiftly to Tillersons statement,China called on the US toabandon 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 theparty 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 BJPs 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. Wewont 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.

CPIs 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, theJanata Dal (Secular) of formerPrime Minister HD DeveGowda is expected to play akingmakers 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 thepartys 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 partys 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 Governmentthat Goas 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 voidbecause of procedural dis-crepancies and that the BJP-led coalition Government hadno truck with the FIR filedagainst the books 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 theStates 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. Whatsukt 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 awomens 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 oversensitivityhas been created about theissue, because there is an awardat stake.

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The DMK, the principalOpposition party in TamilNadu, 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 allround 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 overnorth-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 Banerjeesresidence.

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The BJP on Friday said therewould not be any beef banin Meghalaya and alleged thatthe Congress was misleadingthe 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 Centres notificationshould be withdrawn as it wouldimpact the States economy andthe food habits of the people.

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Kerala Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan on Fridaysaid 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 States 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 apexorganisation 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.

6 .:478C84

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 Reddysallegations 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.

!7,887

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Friday celebratedDiwali 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.

!8.878;7

The Darul Uloom Deobandin Uttar Pradesh'sSaharanpur 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 Statestourism 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.

8.48C84

Prime Minister NarendraModi will visit poll-boundGujarat 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 a100 crore city command andcontrol centre in Badamadi

Garden, 125-crore Janmahalcity transport hub and multi-level parking (under PPP), a160 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.

/42

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One person was killed and atleast five others wereinjured 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 years Nobel Prize in eco-nomic science would perhapshave surprised many asperhaps in some earlier yearsas well because the winner,Richard Thaler, has opened