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The Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) on Tuesday

announced its list of all 70 can-didates for the Delhi Assemblypolls to be held on February 8.The party has given tickets to24 new faces, including Atishi,Dilip Pandey and RaghavChadha, who unsuccessfullycontested the 2019 Lok Sabhaelections.

The AAP retained 46 sit-ting candidates that includedChief Minister ArvindKejriwal, who will contest fromNew Delhi Assembly seat forthe third consecutive time,while his deputy ManishSisodia has been fielded fromthe Patparganj Assembly,Kailash Gehlot from Najafgarh,Satyender Jain from ShakurBasti, Gopal Rai fromBabarpur, Imran Husainfrom Ballimaran andRajender Pal Gautamfrom Seemapuri.

Sisodia said party’sPolitical AffairsCommittee (PAC) hasapproved names of all 70candidates for the polls.

“The existingMLAs will contest elections on46 seats. There are 8 womencandidates among them. In2015, there were six women,”Sisodia, said.

Soon after the announce-ment, Kejriwal tweeted, “Bestwishes to all. Don’t be compla-cent. Work hard. People havelots of faith in the AAP andyour. God bless.”

Interestingly, AAP MLAfrom Delhi CantonmentCommando Surinder Singh

and Adarsh Shastri, MLAfrom Dwarka, have beendenied ticket and replacedby Virender Singh Kadianand Vinay Kumar Mishra,who is son of three-timeMLA Congress and one

term MP from West Delhi LokSabha Mahabal Mishra.

The new faces in the list areformer Congressmen ShoaibIqbal (Matia Mahal), PrahladSingh Sawhney (ChandniChowk), Durgesh Pathak(Karawal Nagar), NaveenChoudhary (Gandhi Nagar),BS Joon (Bijwasan), andMukesh Kumar Ajlawat (SultanPur Majra).

The AAP has retained for-mer Law Minister JitenderTomar, who was arrested by theDelhi Police in June 2015 forpresenting fake law degree inhis election affidavits.

While the AAP hasdeclared all its candidates atone go, its rivals the BJP andthe Congress are yet toannounce names of their can-didates. When asked about theannouncement of BJP candi-dates, a Delhi BJP leader saidparty High Command is meet-ing on Thursday to decide oncandidates. The BJP will

declare all the names byJanuary 19.

The Congress thatwas decimated in 2015Assembly election with

zero seat, has not decidedon its candidates.

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The Delhi Police has initiat-ed the process of clearing

the Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Baghstretch that has been blockedfor a month by people protest-ing against the Citizenship(Amendment) Act and pro-posed NRC.

The move came after theDelhi High Court directed thepolice to look into the trafficrestrictions on this stretch.

“The police have initiatedthe process of clearing theShaheen Bagh road. The policeare following the policy of per-suasion rather than force toclear the busy arterial road. Weare talking to elders andwomen and trying to convincethem to accept our request.

The protesters can choosean alternative place that doesnot impede the traffic flow,” asenior police official said.

Officials said police willtalk to traders’ body, religiousleaders and community eldersto end the blockade.

According to Deputy

Commissioner of Police(DCP), Southeast districtChinmoy Biswal, police alongwith elderly people of the areaon Monday night tried to enterinto a dialogue with the pro-testers.

“We along with elderlypeople of the area, traders andreligious leaders will again talkto them, as Delhi High Courthas also directed and try topacify the situation.

We have asked them toclear the road and they canprotest at a place where dailycommuters don’t face hard-ship,” said the DCP.

Many people in SouthDelhi were inconvenienceddue to the closure of the roadas it snapped a direct link withsatellite town Noida, he added.

The protesters are willingto heed to our request but anadvocate misled the peoplethat he will file another petitionbefore the High Court and seekdirection for the Delhi Police.It led to rumours being spreadand soon the number swelled,a police official said.

Earlier in the day, a Benchof Chief Justice DN Patel andJustice C Hari Shankar direct-ed the Delhi Police to look into

traffic restrictions on KalindiKunj-Shaheen Bagh stretchwhile keeping in mind thelarger public interest and lookinto traffic restrictions on thestretch.

The court passed the orderwhile disposing a PIL filed byadvocate and social activistAmit Sahni seeking a directionto the Delhi PoliceCommissioner to lift restric-tions on Kalindi Kunj-ShaheenBagh stretch and Okhla under-pass, which were closed onDecember 15, 2019 by anti-CAA, NRC protesters.

The Kalindi Kunj stretch isvital as it connects Delhi,Faridabad (Haryana) andNoida (Uttar Pradesh) andcommuters are forced to takethe Delhi-Noida-Delhi (DND)Expressway and Ashram,which is causing hours of traf-fic jams and wastage of timeand fuel, the plea said.

The court said, “We here-by direct the respondentauthority (police) concerned tolook into the restrictions onusage of road — Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Bagh Stretch, that is,Road No. 13A (betweenMathura Road and KalindiKunj) as well as Okhla under-pass, in accordance with law,rules, regulations and the gov-ernment policy.

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People are out on streets aswhat should have been

said inside Parliament was“not said”, a court observedhere on Tuesday as it pulled upthe Delhi Police after it failedto show any evidence againstBhim Army chiefChandrashekhar Azad, whohas been accused of incitingpeople during an anti-CAAprotest at Jama Masjid onDecember 20.

Asserting that it is one’sconstitutional right to protest,the court, which was hearingAzad’s bail plea, observed thatDelhi Police was behaving “asif Jama Masjid was Pakistan”.

“Inside Parliament, thingswhich should have been saidwere not said and that is whypeople are out on the streets.We have full right to expressour views but we can’t destroyour country. We cannot dis-integrate it ,” AdditionalSessions Judge Kamini Lausaid.

The judge was angry withthe public prosecutor as thepolice could not substantiatethe allegations against Azad.

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Taking exception toMicrosoft chief Satya

Nadella’s comment on theCAA, BJP spokesperson andMP Meenakshi Lekhi said hiscomments showed “how the lit-erate need to be educated”.

To a question about theCAA, Nadella was quoted byBuzzfeed’s editor-in-chief assaying that what is happeningin India is “sad”.

Later, he said every coun-try should protect nationalsecurity and set immigrationpolicy accordingly.

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Jamia Millia Islamia ViceChancellor Najma Akhtar

on Tuesday met Delhi PoliceCommissioner Amulya Patnaikand urged him to lodge an FIRin connection with policecrackdown on the campus onDecember 15.

On Monday, after Jamiastudents gheraoed the VCoffice demanding the universityto file an FIR against the DelhiPolice, Akhtar had said the uni-versity administration will

explore the possibility of mov-ing court for an FIR againstpolice “brutality” on campus.

“Earlier, the university hadalready followed all possiblesteps for the registration of FIR.It has given its complaint toSHO Jamia Nagar and its copyto Commissioner of PoliceAmulya Patnaik and DCP,South East district. The uni-versity has also written lettersto Joint CP Southern Rangeand DCP Crime for the regis-tration of FIR earlier,” said anofficial.

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As many as 32 avalanches inthe last 48 hours in north

Kashmir have claimed ninelives and taken a heavy toll onthe security forces and theirposts with temperature inSiachen plummeting to as lowas minus 57 degrees Celsius.

Unprecedented snowfallhas covered some posts by alayer of 48 inches to 50 inchessnow, posing tough challenge tothe forces to man the forwardareas. Five civilians died inGanderbal and three Armymen died in Machil sector,

while a Border Security Force(BSF) trooper died hours afterhe was safely brought out fromthe avalanche in Naugam sector.

The mishap in Machil sec-tor took place at 12.45 am onMonday close to the Line ofControl (LoC).

Manned by five soldiers,the Army post was buriedunder snow. While four ofthem were brought out, onesoldier is still missing. Three ofthe soldiers were feared to bedead while the condition of thefourth was critical, sourcessaid here on Tuesday.

Another avalanche strucka village in Gagangir area ofGanderbal in which five civil-ians were killed but four oth-ers were rescued, police said.

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Global warming is makingthe snow-clad Hindu Kush

region greener with scientistsfinding the shrubs and grassappearing across certain areasin the Himalayas. This hasraised fear of possible floodingin the region because plantscould absorb more light andwarm the ice.

Scientists from theUniversity of Exeter in theUnited Kingdom used NASA’sLandsat satellite data from1993 to 2018 and foundincrease in subniveal vegetation— plants that grow between thetree line and the snow line —in the Himalayas across fourheight brackets from 4,150 to

6,000 metres above sea level.The findings are published inthe latest edition of GlobalChange Biology journal.

The scientists have beenconsistently warning thatglacial cover in the region is ondecline due to global warming.

“There are now more areasthat are covered in plants thanthere were in 1993,” said themain author of the study, DrKaren Anderson of theEnvironment and SustainabilityInstitute on Exeter’s PenrynCampus in Cornwall.

Though the study did notgive the definite reason forincrease in the green cover, thescientists warned that the phe-nomenon could increase flood-ing in the vase Hindu KushHimalayan region, which feedsAsia’s 10 largest systems andsupplies over 1.4 billion peoplewith water.

The Himalayan mountainsare the third largest deposit ofice in the world, afterAntarctica and the Arctic.

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Indians have shown their clearpreference for the desi onions

and shied away from lapping upimported onions that theCentre procured to tide over itsacute shortage in the countrydue to unseasonal rain affect-ing the crop. As a result, near-ly 85 per cent of the 18,500tonnes of onions importedfrom Turkey, Egypt, EuropeanUnion and Afghanistan con-tinue to remain in the storage.

A drop in price of the desivariant has posed a challenge tothe Centre in disposing of thehuge stocks as StateGovernments are not interest-ed in accepting the supply.

Union Food and Consumer

Affairs Minister Ram VilasPaswan said the Centre is offer-ing imported onions at an aver-age landed cost of �55 per kgand also bearing the entiretransportation cost.

Retail onion prices, whichwere ruling over �100-170 perkg in several cities since the pasttwo months, have started soft-ening now on arrival of import-ed onions and new kharif crop.However, prices have still notfallen to the normal levels. Asper Government data, retailonion prices average �50 per kgin most markets. The datashowed onion being priced at�50 per kg in the nationalCapital but local vendors wereselling it for �70-80 a kg.

Asked why prices are still

high despite imports, Paswansaid, “The imports are beingdone to improve the domesticsupply and check prices. IfState Governments are notready to take the importedonions, what can we do?”

The Centre has contracted42,000 tonne onion to checkprices in the retail market. Ofthem, a shipment of 5,500tonne was cancelled before itset on sail in the absence ofdemand.

A senior officer said thatStates such as Maharashtra,Assam, Haryana, Karnatakaand Odisha have not picked upthe imported onions. They hadinitially demanded 10,000 MT,3,000 MT, 3,480 MT, 250 MTand 100 MT, respectively. So far,Andhra Pradesh, Kerala,Telangana, Uttar Pradesh andWest Bengal Governments havetaken the imported onions.

With onion prices shootingover �100/kg in November-December, the CentralGovernment had decided toimport 1.2 lakh MT of onions.The official added that Stateshave said the imported onionsare way too expensive com-pared to the onion prices in thedomestic market, now that late

kharif and early rabi onionshave already started arriving.

“Consumers were hopingthat the prices of onions willcome down after imports fromEgypt, European Union andTurkey arrive in the country.However, it seems that there areno takers for the importedonion across India.

The taste of importedonions is different from thehomegrown ones and con-sumers are not buying it whendomestic onion is available,”said Rajendra Sharma who isbiggest supplier of onion inDelhi and NCR areas.

“The Government is wor-ried about its disposal becauseit is a perishable commodity,”Paswan added.

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The Supreme Court onTuesday refused to give

any lifeline to the death-rowconvicts of the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case when afive-judge bench of the apexcourt, during in-chamber hear-ing, rejected the curative peti-tions filed by Mukesh andVinay. Soon after the rejectionof his plea by the SC, Mukeshfiled a mercy petition beforethe President of India.

Black warrants are out forthe four convicts — VinaySharma (26), Mukesh Kumar(32), Akshay Kumar Singh (31)and Pawan Gupta (25). Theywill be hanged on January 22 at7 am in Tihar Jail.

Advocate AP Singh, who isrepresenting the convicts in thecase, said he would file anoth-er curative petition on behalf ofAkshay and Pawan in the SC.

“I have sought details from

Tihar Jail about the conduct ofthese convicts during their stayon the prison from 2012 till2019. Once I receive thosedetails, I will file curative peti-tions for Akshay and Pawan,”Singh told PTI.

Rejecting the curative plea,the SC bench, headed by Justice

N V Ramana and comprisingJustices Arun Mishra, RFNariman, R Banumathi andAshok Bhushan, said, “Theapplications for oral hearing arerejected. The applications forstay of execution of death sen-tence are also rejected. Wehave gone through the curative

petitions and the relevant doc-uments. In our opinion, no caseis made out within the para-meters indicated in the decisionof this court in Rupa AshokHurra vs Ashok Hurra &another, reported in 2002 (4)SCC 388. Hence, the curativepetitions are dismissed.”

A curative petition is thelast and final legal remedyavailable to a person before theconvict seeks President’s mercy.

Reacting to the SC’s order,Nirbhaya’s mother Asha Devisaid, “Today is a big day for mebecause I have been strug-gling for seven years. Thebiggest day would be January22 when the four rapists wouldbe hanged. I hope that the otherremedies available to themwould be similarly rejected infuture and they will be hangedon January 22.”

I have fought according tolaw for seven years and we willget justice legally, she told a pri-

vate TV channel.Advocate Singh said he is

also planning to approach theDelhi High Court to challengethe trial court’s January 7 orderissuing death warrants againstthese convicts.

He said once he would filemercy petition, he would bringit to notice of the court so thatthe scheduled execution couldbe suspended.

A 23-year-old paramedicstudent, referred to asNirbhaya, was gangraped andbrutally assaulted on the inter-vening night of December 16-17, 2012, in a moving bus inSouth Delhi by six people,including the most-brutal juve-nile who is now free, beforebeing thrown out on the road.She died on December 29 atMount Elizabeth Hospital inSingapore.

The SC had in 2017 upheldthe capital punishment award-ed to the four convicts.

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Two recently released Hindi movies- Chhapaak starring Deepika

Padukone and Tanhaji starring AjayDevgn elicited varied reactions from

the viewers inDehradun. Most ofthem preferred theDevgn starrer to themovie starringPadukone.

For some peo-ple, the selection ofthe movie was alsoinfluenced by thecurrent political sce-nario.

“I always watchDeepika Padukone’smovies but after herPR stunt to supportone side of the pro-testers in JNU, Ichose Tanhaji. Youcannot use some-thing as sensitive asJNU violence to pro-mote your movies.Besides, Tanhaji is amust watch,” saidcollege student

Chandan Bharti. Some people justwant to watch good cinema. “Iwatched Tanhaji first day first showand then I watched Chhapaak. Boththe films are based on totally differ-ent subjects and both are incredible.

Of course, Chhapaak is moreemotionally draining than Tanhaji andthat’s why I watched Tanhaji first,” saidDivya Chaturvedi. “Though I am a bigAjay Devgn fan, I wanted to see

Chhapaak as there is no Hindi film asfar as I remember that explored thesubject of acid-attack victims. Therehave been documentaries and shortfilms but no mainstream movie. It’s agood film,” said Ekta Kumari afterwatching the film.

Another admirer of the filmSudhanshu Kohli added, “I haveheard and seen a lot about the strug-gle of acid attack victims but

Chhapaak really brings you close tothe subject and makes you think aboutit.”Another movie goer AnshuKothiyal said, “I wanted to watchTanhaji for Saif Ali Khan.

His character is so dark and yetso charismatic. I liked his acting inTanhaji.” Priyanka Mishra, a medicalstudent stated, “Chhapaak gives youa firsthand experience of how an acid-attack victim is humiliated again and

again by society instead of being sup-ported and empathised with.” Addingto her friend’s statement, GeetaKumari said, “There are unnecessarycontroversies surrounding the movie.

The movie is a beautiful tale of abeautiful girl who is brave, fearless andstrong.

Why can’t people just watch themovie if they want to and stop judg-ing it without even watching it?”

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Agitated on the recentstatement of State

Minister for HigherEducation Dhan Singh Rawaton ban on mobile phones inthe colleges, the members ofthe National Students Unionof India (NSUI) burned theeffigy of the minister onTuesday.

The activists of the NSUIburned the effigy of the min-ister at DAV College here.

Addressing the NSUIworkers, the state president ofthe NSUI, Mohan Bhandarisaid that decision to ban useof mobile phone is outra-

geous especially when most ofthe universities and collegesare providing free Wi -Fi tothe students.

He added that in the col-leges located in the moun-tainous areas the mobilephone helps in providingsecurity to the students.

The minister had said onSunday that soon mobilephones would be banned inthe colleges.

He said that the decisionis being taken to ensure con-centration of the students inthe classes. The minster alsoadded that if need arises, lowrange jammers would beinstalled in the colleges.

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Considering the rush of peo-ple arriving at the

Municipal Corporation ofDehradun (MCD) to pay prop-erty tax, the corporation addedfour more counters on Tuesday,a day after adding four morecounters.

Now the corporation has12 counters to service thosecoming to pay the property tax.On Tuesday, the MCD collect-ed about Rs 90 lakh in proper-ty taxes while a day ago the cor-poration had collected about Rs50 lakh in property taxes.

It is pertinent to mentionhere that the period for rebateon house tax is set to expire onWednesday, due to which aconsiderable number of citizensturned out to pay their propertytax in the corporation in recentdays. According to the MCDtax superintendent DharmeshPainuly, “On Monday, therewas a massive crowd for the

deposition of the property taxthat led to the submission of Rs50 lakh in just one day.Therefore, we have added fourmore counters considering thelarge number of people who

have come to deposit propertytax in the last few days.”

According to sources, Rs 50lakh collection in a day was thehighest amount collected with-in 24 hours by MCD till

Tuesday when Rs 90 lakh wascollected within a day. If theperiod for rebate in property taxis not extended, the propertytax payers would not get 20 percent rebate. However, the final

decision regarding extension ofrebate period as also demand-ed by members from both BJPand Congress, will be taken bythe mayor Sunil Uniyal ‘Gama’on Wednesday.

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Ahead of the expectedCabinet expansion, ten

leaders of the Bharatiya JanataParty were accorded variousposts by the StateGovernment on Tuesday.

Recently, the ChiefMinister Trivendra SinghRawat had hinted at cabinetexpansion in the nearfuture.On Tuesday, it wasrevealed that 10 leaders of theBharatiya Janata Party havebeen accorded various posi-tions.

Rajvir Singh fromKhatima in Udham SinghNagar was made the chairmanof Uttarakhand State Seedand Organic ProduceCertification Agency, VishwasDawar from Dehradun hasbeen made the chairman ofUttarakhand Housing andDevelopment Counci l ,Bahadur Singh Bisht fromHaldwan in Nainital has beenmade the vice chairman-II ofUttarakhand State HigherEducation UpgradationCommittee, Atat Singh Aswalfrom Srinagar in Pauri has

been made the vice chairman-I of irrigation advisory com-mittee while Atar SinghTomar from Chamba in Tehrihas been made the vice chair-man-II of the irrigation advi-sory committee.

Further, Shobha RamPrajapati from Haridwar dis-trict has been made the vicechairman of Mati Kalyan

Board, Fakir Ram Tamta fromBerinag in Pithoragarh hasbeen made the vice chairmanof social welfare plan moni-toring committee, KhempalSingh from Mothrowala inDehradun has been madevice chairman of Pichda VargKalyan Parishad, Karn Bohrafrom Doiwala in Dehradunhas been made vice chairmanof Uttarakhand VanPanchayat advisory counciland Sushil Chauhan fromBahadrabad in Haridwar dis-trict has been made the vicechairman of the organic pro-duce council.

It is pertinent to mentionhere that recently, the chiefminister Trivendra SinghRawat had said that thoughthe vacancy of three positionsin the cabinet was not affect-ing the works of the state gov-ernment, the need for fillingthe vacancies was being felt.

According to observers,the appointment of partyworkers to various positionsis likely to be followed byappointments to the threevacant positions in the statecabinet.

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Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat will inau-gurate the Uttarakhand Bhawan at Navi Mumbai

in Mumbai on Wednesday. This state guest houseand emporium has been constructed there at a costof Rs 39.73 crore.

The chief minister said that with the openingof Uttarakhand Bhawan in Mumbai, people fromUttarakhand who happen to go to Mumbai for someprogramme or any other work will not face prob-lem in finding a play to stay in. As a special mea-sure, accommodation will be kept reserved for thosepeople from Uttarakhand who go to Mumbai fortreatment of cancer.

The chief minister further said that the open-ing of Uttarakhand Bhawan in Mumbai will also helpin publicising the cultural traditions and tourismaspects of Uttarakhand in the central, wester andsouthern regions of the nation. In addition to con-stitutional post holders, special dignitaries andsenior officials, the residents of Uttarakhand andeven non-resident Uttarakhandis will now have aplace to stay in during their Mumbai visit, he added.

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An altercation between twogroups of enunchs in

Roorkee regarding their terri-tory of business turned violent,leaving two of them injured.On being informed, the policereached the site and sent thetwo injured to the hospitalwhile also diffusing the alter-cation.

According to the informa-tion received, some eunuchswere seeking money from peo-ple in Sheikhpuri area ofRoorkee under the jurisdictionof Gangnahar Kotwali area,when the eunuchs of Roorkeegot information about this.

The eunuchs of Roorkeereached Sheikhpuri told theother group to not ask formoney in the area stating thatthis was not their area of oper-

ations. Members of the othergroup of eunuchs allegedlystarted abusing their businessrivals which escalated into aviolent altercation between thetwo groups. Two eunuchs ofthe Roorkee group were injuredin the fight.

On being informed aboutthe disturbance, the policereached the site and pacifiedthe members of the two groups.The two injured persons weresent to the hospital. Both the

groups have submitted writtencomplaints to the police.

The eunuch group fromRoorkee has alleged thateunuchs coming fromNajibabad in Uttar Pradeshare seeking money in Roorkee,while the eunuchs of Najibabadgroup have alleged that theylive with eunuchs here and arehence seeking money from thelocals. Police are currentlyinvestigating the case on thebasis of complaints.

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Buoyed by the positive deci-sion of the Supreme Court

(SC), in the guest teachers’case, the UttarakhandGovernment has decided tostart the process of recruit-ment of guest teachers on thevacant posts.

The SC on Tuesdayallowed the Uttarakhand gov-ernment make appointment ofguest teachers on vacant posts.Welcoming the decision ofthe SC, the Education MinisterArvind Pandey told ThePioneer that the decision ispositive.

He said that the process ofrecruitment of guest teachersin the vacant posts wouldstart from Wednesday. Theminister said that he was reg-ularly in touch with AttorneyGeneral (AG), MukulRohatagi on the issue. He saidthat the education depart-ment is committed to provideteachers in all the schools ofthe state.

It is learnt that recruit-ment of guest teachers wouldbe done on the basis of district

wise merit list. In districts, acommittee headed by districtmagistrates would makeappointments of guest faculty.

A stipend of Rs 15000 permonth would be paid to theguest teachers and at the timeof appointments the candi-dates would have to submit anundertaking that they wouldnot make any demand forpermanent appointments.

More than 5500 posts ofLT and Lecturers are at presentlying vacant in the governmentschools of the state. As the

process of permanent appoint-ments is time consuming, thestate cabinet decided to fillthese posts by guest faculty asan immediate though tempo-rary measure to provide teach-ers in schools.

However some of the for-mer guest teachers challengedthe drive in the SC whichissued a stay on the appoint-ment of guest teachers. Theissue was pending before theSC since then.

Last year, the hearing ofthe case was delayed as the

case earlier was listed in thecourt of then Chief Justice ofIndia (CJI), Ranjan Gogoi.However the case could notcome up for hearing as theconstitutional bench of SCconsisting of five judges head-ed CJI was engaged in a day today hearing of the politicallysensitive Ramjanambhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case.After the superannuation ofCJI, Gagoi, the case came upfor hearing in another benchof SC which gave its verdict onTuesday.

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With the Raj Bhawan granting itsapproval to the Char Dham

Devsthanam Management Bill, the ChiefMinister Trivendra Singh Rawat clarifiedthat the management of the Char Dhamshrines and nearby temples will be underthe Char Dham DevstahanamManagement Board but the traditionalrights of the priests and other stakeholderswill remain unaffected.

After being passed in the VidhanSabha last year, the Char DhamDevsthanam Management Bill was sentto the Raj Bhawan for clearance. The gov-ernor recently gave her approval to theBill.

Talking to media persons on Tuesdayafter this development, the chief minis-ter Trivendra Singh Rawat said that withthis, the management of Badrinath,Kedarnath, Gangotri, Yamunotri andsome other shrines will be handled by theChar Dham Devsthanam ManagementBoard.

However, the rights and traditionalpractices related to the priests, TeerthPurohits, Haqhakookdharis and otherstakeholders will not be affected by this.Rawat further said that there is a reactionwhenever some improvement is made.

The rights of the Teerth Purohits will

be kept secure. The chief minister furthersaid that Hindu devotees from across thenation and abroad wish to visit the CharDham and other religious sites inUttarakhand which is known for itsgood hospitality.

The Char Dham DevsthanamManagement bill was brought in order toensure better facilities for the devoteesfrom around the nation and abroadarriving at the Char Dham shrines andother religious places in the state, headded.It will be recalled that after the bill

was passed in the winter session of theAssembly during December last year,there were objections and protests froma segment of the stakeholders connectedto Char Dham and other shrines. Theywere of the opinion that altering the man-agement of system of shrines would affecttheir traditional rights and privileges.

However, the State Government hasrepeatedly stressed that new managementboard will improve facilitation withoutaffecting the traditional rights of stake-holders.

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The health depart-ment of provisional

State capital is gearingitself to tackle swine fluwhich raises its headduring winters. Thoughno case of swine flu hasbeen reported yet inDehradun district, thedistrict health depart-ment is claiming that ithas taken adequate mea-sures to combat the dis-ease.

The chief medicalofficer (CMO) ofDehradun, DrMeenakshi Joshi told ThePioneer that all the hos-pitals have adequatestock of the swine flumedicine and triple layermasks.

She added that thedepartment is also mak-ing new purchase ofmasks and medicine.The CMO said that allthe hospitals have beenasked to reserve oneward each for the sus-pected patients of thedisease.

The departmentsends the swab samplesof the suspected patientsof the disease to the lab-

oratory of NationalCentre of DiseaseControl (NCDC), NewDelhi for testing.Recently the health hasalso decided to give cred-it to the swine flu reportof Mahant IndireshHospital.

Swine flu is a viraldisease, its virus is alsocalled H1 N1 and itsgenetic analysis hasshown that it has origi-nated from the animalsspecially pigs hence it iscalled Swine flu. Theswine flu patients aredivided into three cate-gories.

In 'A' categorypatient suffers from mildfever and irritation inthroat. The patients ofthis category should beisolated at home andrequire no test or med-ication. The patients of'B' category are charac-terised by high fever andthe patient need isolationand should be adminis-tered Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) medicine.

The medical expertsare of the view that if apatient is suffering frombreathlessness, lowBlood Pressure alongwith symptoms of A andB category than he is putunder category 'C'. Suchpatients should be iso-lated, hospitalised,should be administeredTami flu and needed tobe tested for swine flu.

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The state unit ofCongress party has

decided to start a Statewide agitation in protestagainst the increasingprices. The party is plan-ning to take the protestagainst the increasingprices at the block level.The vice president of theUttarakhand Congress,Surya Kant Dhasmanasaid both the NarendraModi led UnionGovernment andTrivendra Singh Rawatgovernment ofUttarakhand have failedmiserably in controllingthe spiralling prices. “At7.37 percent, the retailinflation rate is at alltime high now. This was3.15 percent at in Julythis year. The prices offood grain, edible oil,refined oil, Ghee, pulsesand vegetables haveincreased regularly andhave hit the commonman hard,’’ he said. TheCongress leader said that

industrial slowdown istaking its toll on the jobsand instead of creatingnew jobs, the threat oflosing jobs is increasing.He added that inUttarakhand things areworse and in last threeyears, no new appoint-ments in departmentslike police, irrigation,PWD, education and for-est has been done. Theemployees ofUttarakhand PurvaSainik Kalyan NigamLimited (UPNL), 108ambulance service andAnaganwadi are on pathof agitation. Dhasmanasaid that the union andstate governments aretaking no steps to bringdown increasing pricesand provide employ-ment.

He added that theCongress party wouldinitiate a massive againstthe anti public polices ofthe government. TheCongress leader said thatthe Pradesh CongressCommittee (PCC).

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Apython entered the home ofthe Kumbh Mela officer

Deepak Rawat in Haridwar.The four feet long python waslater rescued by a forest depart-ment team from Rawat’s officialresidence.

Due to the official resi-dence of the Kumbh Mela offi-cer being adjacent to the forestarea, various creatures often

visit this home. In the latestinstance, a python visited theresidence of the Kumbh Melaofficer Deepak Rawat at around10 AM on Tuesday.

Rawat informed the divi-sional forest officer AkashVerma about this. Verma sent ateam of the forest department tothe spot. Verma said that thepython was about four feet long.The team caught the python andlater released it in the forest.

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Launching a frontal attack onthe Dhindsa father-son duo,

the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)president Sukhbir Badal onTuesday minced no words to saythat those backstabbing the partycannot be referred to as Taksalis(traditional Akalis).

“Those, like MP SukhdevSingh Dhindsa, who are back-stabbing the mother party, whichhas given them so much honour,could not be referred to asTaksalis as they are trying toweaken the panth,” said Sukhbir,addressing a massive congrega-tion while paying rich tributes tothe 40 ‘Muktas’ who sacrificedthemselves for the ‘kaum’.

Sukhbir said: “A Taksali issomeone who is loyal to his partyand never disobeys it.”“SukhdevSingh Dhindsa lost all electionsbut one in the last 35 years, buthe was consistently accommo-dated by Parkash Singh Badal bybeing made chairman of a StateBoard or given a Rajya Sabhaticket.

This happened even whenhe lost by a margin of three lakhvotes. SAD and Sardar Badalwere not bad for him then,” saidSukhbir.Stating that Dhindsawas questioning SAD’s contri-bution towards the panth andPunjab by stating that he want-ed to free the SAD of the Badals,he said that Sardar Badal wasknown for his service to the peo-ple.“In public service it is thepeople who decided the fate oftheir leaders.The people havereposed their faith in BadalSahab on numerous occasionsand he has been winning elec-tions since 1965 and is also a five-time chief minister. In direct con-trast, those who are not liked by

the people, face defeat in repeat-ed elections,” saidSukhbir.Speaking about formerminister and party MLAParminder Singh Dhindsa, SADpresident said that he was like ayounger brother to him. “I havealways tried to accommodatehim. He came to me to changehis constituency. I agreed.Sukhdev Dhindsa requested fora ticket for his bureaucrat son-in-law from Mohali.I agreed tothat too. It pains me that they arecalling me a dictator now. Theydid not earlier,” he said.

Speaking about his ownconduct, Sukhbir said thatSukhdev Dhindsa is my elder. “Itouch his feet.

I have played in his lap. I alsoknow, as a fact from my 35 yearsin politics, that Badal Sahabnever said no to Dhindsa.Despite this, Dhindsa has nowmade it his aim to take on theBadal family.

I want to tell him that wewon’t win or lose as per your willbut by the will of the people,” headded.Also taking on the PunjabGovernment and the ChiefMinister Capt Amarinder Singhon the burning issues of the State,Sukhbir said that the people hadbeen burdened with unbear-able tariff hikes which had affect-ed each and every person andwas making the industry unvi-able.

SAD president accused theChief Minister of releasing fakeadvertisements saying that theGovernment had created 10lakh jobs. Stating that rule of thejungle was prevalent duringCongress rule, he said that theCongress Ministers and MLAswere using gangsters to terrorizetheir political opponents as wellas the common man.

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Khichdi, a serving of beansand rice, weighing 1995

kilogram prepared byDepartment of Tourism andCivil Aviation Department ofHimachal Pradesh entered in theGuinness Book of WorldRecords on Tuesday at Tattapaniin Mandi district.

The earlier record underthis title was 918.8 kg, ChiefMinister Jai Ram Thakurannounced while addressing agathering on the occasion ofTattapani Tourism Festival inKarsog area of Mandi district onMakar Sakranti.

Thakur appreciated theDepartment of Tourism for suc-ceeding in their mission of cook-ing Khichdi of such volume.

He said that the Departmenthas broken a record set earlierwith a huge margin of about1000 kg.

He said that due to con-struction of Koldam, the area hasemerged as a major water sportsdestination of the State.

The Chief Minister said thatTattapani would be developedfrom tourism point of view as thearea has immense potential of

water sports. President of DurgaDevi Behari Lal Trust RameshSood also welcomed the ChiefMinister and other dignitariespresent on the occasion.Director

Tourism and Aviation, Yunussaid that the utensil used forcooking the Khichdi was 7x4 feetin radius and this attempt wasaimed at bringing Tattapani on

world tourism map. Adjudicatorof Guinness World Recordannounced that the Departmentof Tourism and Civil Aviationhas set a World record by cook-

ing 1995 kg Khichdi in a singleutensil. The Chief Minister alsoinspected the Water SportsActivity Demonstration andflagged off Tourism Circuit Bus

of HRTC. He also enjoyed theride of water jetty on the occa-sion.Thousands take dip inHimachal rivers on MakarSankranti

PEOPLE DEFY WINTERCHILL, THRONG RIVERSFOR BATH

Braving the winter chill,thousands of devotees acrossHimachal Pradesh on Tuesdaytook holy dips in rivers to markMakar Sankranti. Since earlymorning the devotees were seencongregating at Tattapani, 55 kmfrom the State Capital, andManikaran, home to a Sikhshrine in Kullu district, for holydips in the Satluj and Parvatirivers respectively.

Tattapani and Manikaranare known for hot water springswith high sulphur concentration.

The natural and prominenthot springs, which disappearedafter the construction of the 800MW Koldam hydroelectricpower project executed by theNational Thermal PowerCorporation (NTPC) along theSatluj in Tattapani, have beenrestored. Its reservoir had sub-merged the hot springs.

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Chief minister TrivendraSingh Rawat presided over

a meeting regarding the build-ing of Shaurya Sthal inDehradun at the secretariat onTuesday. Stating that a grandShaurya Sthal should be con-structed in Dehradun, Rawatsaid that the monument shouldhave latest technology so thatvisitors can get a glimpse of thechivallary of the brave soldiers.

Chairing the meeting, thechief minister directed the offi-cials concerned to conduct ajoint inspection by officials ofthe revenue, Sainik Kalyan,forest deparment and otherdepartments concerned toidentify the land for buildingthis monument.

He further directed theofficials to submit their inspec-tion report within a weekregarding location for estab-lishment of Shaurya Sthal.

Separate facility will bemade for parking of the vehi-cles used by the people to visitlocation.

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Awoman who had gone tocollect fodder in the jungle

was reportedly attacked by a bigcat. However, though thewoman sustained injuries, shemanaged to escape from theattack of the big cat.

Resident of ward numbertwo in Kaladhungi, ParvatiDevi had gone along withother women to the jungle onTuesday morning to collectfodder when she was attacked

by a leopard. When the otherwomen heard Parvati scream-ing they reached the spot andalso created noise and threwstones at the big cat whichscared the animal away. Theattack by the big cat resulted ininjuries to the neck and handsof the woman.

The women accompanyingParvati took her to the hospi-tal in Kaladhungi. Reaching thesite after being informed aboutthe incident, the forest rangeofficer Amit Gaskoti said that

the incident happened at abouthalf past eleven on Tuesdaymorning in the Nihal TeraiBhabar beat of the Kaladhungirange.

The site of the attack by thebig cat on the woman is abouttwo kilometres distant from thetown. The woman sustaineddeep injury on her head. Later,the family members of thewoman took her by a privatevehicle to the base hospital inHaldwani where she is beingtreated by doctors.

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Astate-level trust will beformed for the construc-

tion of the Sita Mata temple atSitonsyu in the Pauri district.The trust will be headed by thechief minister Trivendra SinghRawat.

This was decided in ameeting presided over by thechief minister regarding thebuilding of Sita Mata temple atSitonsyu here at the secretari-at on Tuesday. Speaking at themeeting, the chief ministersaid that the temple will be built

with the involvement of reli-gious organisations and publicinvolvement. For the con-struction of this temple, thesoil, water and rock from allplaces associated with goddessSita and rock and soil fromtemples in Uttarakhand pro-vided through a committeeconsisting of people from allthe 13 districts will be used.

A temple to Jatayu will alsobe built near the Sita Mata tem-ple. This shrine will be con-structed at a location fromwhere the Sita temple is alsovisible. The ancient form of the

location where goddess Sitahad attained Samadhi atSitonsyu will be retained in itsoriginal form, he stressed.Rawat further said that prop-er facilities will be made formovement of the devotees fromDevprayag to Sitonsyu.

The Dehradun mayorSunil Uniyal ‘Gama’, addition-al chief secretary Radha Raturi,Tourism secretary DilipJawalkar, secretary SushilKumar, Pauri district magis-trate Dhiraaj Garbyal and otherofficials concerned were alsopresent in the meeting.

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Aday after Congress’ RajyaSabha MP Partap Singh

Bajwa raised a banner of revoltagainst Punjab Chief MinisterCapt Amarinder Singh, all thestate Cabinet Ministers onTuesday demanded “in onevoice” disciplinary action by theparty leadership against him.

As per the government’sofficial statement, the issuecame up for informal discus-sion just before the Cabinetmeeting on Tuesday evening.

It stated that there wasconsensus among the Ministerson the need for “action againstBajwa”.

The demand for actionagainst Bajwa came in thewake of his latest remarks,declaring that he would notsupport Capt Amarinder’s lead-ership for a second term unlessaction is taken in the sacrilegecases. “The Chief Minister hadmade it clear from the outsetthat he is committed to bring-ing the culprits of the sacrilegeincidents to book, but wouldnot indulge in vindictive poli-tics.Bajwa’s stand smacked ofvendetta and has no place in aprincipled party like theCongress,” said the Ministers.

The Ministers pointed outthat despite repeated pleas ask-ing him to express his opinionswithin the party forum, Bajwacontinued to criticize CaptAmarinder and hisGovernment in media andother places.

“The MP has gone so far asto seek a change at the helm ofthe government,” they notedwith dismay, terming it an actof sheer indiscipline and urg-ing the party leadership totake immediate action againstthe former Punjab PradeshCongress Committee (PPCC)chief.

The Ministers accusedBajwa of playing into the handsof the Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) and the Aam AadmiParty (AAP) by pitching him-self against his own party lead-ership, especially at a timewhen the entire oppositionwas in a state of disarray, pos-ing no real challenge to theCongress in the State. “Suchrebellion, if not nipped in thebud, could send the wrongmessage down the rank and fileof the Punjab Congress, whichhas been on a high since tak-ing over the State’s reins aroundthree years,” said the Ministers.The Ministers added, while

the Congress was run ondemocratic principles, whereevery member had a say, suchpublic display of difference ofopinion and mutinous decla-rations from a senior memberwere detrimental to the inter-est of the party, and under nocircumstances, could this kindof behaviour be tolerated orallowed to continue.

Sports Minister RanaGurmeet Singh Sodhi stressedthat it was absolutely impera-tive to act against Bajwa as suchbehaviour would weaken theparty. “We cannot allow this tobecome a free for all,” saidTechnical Education MinisterCharanjit Singh Channi. TheLocal Government MinisterBrahm Mohindra wanted theChief Minister to take up theissue with the Congress highcommand in Delhi, addingthat any dissent should be dis-cussed and resolved within theparty forum.

Finance Minister ManpreetBadal pointed out that historyshowed dissension of any sorthad always harmed theCongress. “We succeeded inwinning so many seats inPunjab only because we wereunited,” he said, adding thatthis unity could not be allowed

to be destroyed at any cost.Medical Education MinisterOm Prakash Soni, ForestMinister Sadhu SinghDharamsot, and RuralDevelopment and PanchayatsMinister Tript Rajinder SinghBajwa were also quick to pointout that Partap Bajwa’s actionswere extremely damaging forthe party, and urgent andimmediate action was neededagainst him.

Other Ministers — ArunaChaudhary, Razia Sultana,Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa,Sukhjinder Singh Sarkaria,Gurpreet Singh Kangar, VijayInder Singla, Sunder ShamArora and Bharat BhushanAshu — were also in totalagreement with their colleaguesin seeking urgent interventionby the party high command inthe matter.

Terming as “shocking”Bajwa’s remarks that PunjabCongress could only survivewithout Capt Amarinder, theMinisters pointed out that theCongress, under the presentgovernment, had swept all elec-tions in the State since the 2017Assembly polls, which clearlyshowed the people were happyand satisfied with his style offunctioning.

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Haryana Chief Minister,Manohar Lal Khattar on

Tuesday said that for the firsttime in the budget session ofHaryana assembly, all MLAswould be given the opportunity

to speak and discuss on differ-ent topics during the first threedays and only after that thebudget would be presented sothat schemes related to publicinterest could be included inthe budget.

Interacting with represen-tatives of industrial organiza-tions associated with the man-ufacturing sector in Panipat.Khattar said that this is the firsttime that a meeting of pre-bud-get consultation has been heldwith various stake holdersrelated to the economy beforethe budget in which discussionhas been made with the people

associated with manufacturingsector in Panipat. He said thatearlier this meeting was held inGurugram with people associ-ated with service sector and realestate. A similar meeting hasbeen convened in Faridabad onJanuary 15 and thereafter inHisar on January 16 related toagriculture and allied services.

"A good budget would beprepared by incorporating thesuggestions of various industri-al organizations and MLAs,which is also the need of thehour. In the same series, a sim-ilar meeting would also be heldin Panchkula", he added.

Khattar said the govern-ment has done a commendablejob to make Haryana an energyefficient state and the line loses

have been brought down from34 percent to 21 percent and itwould be further reduced to 15percent. He said that those

industrial organizations wouldbe encouraged, which wouldgive maximum employment tothe youth of the state.

Apart from this, suchindustries would also beencouraged, which would makeminimum use of land andwould reuse water. On thisoccasion, he also interacted

with the representatives of var-ious organizations present in themeeting and took their sugges-tions in writing.

President, HaryanaChamber of Commerce andIndustries Vinod KumarKhandelwal suggested to imple-ment the Textile policy andreduce the rate of interest ofbanks. Responding to this, theChief Minister said that that theTextile Policy would be imple-mented after the Budget Session.

President of Panipat ExportersAssociation Lalit Goyal andPresident of HandloomExporters ManufacturingAssociation Ramesh Verma saidthat that there are 18,000 smallunits of handlooms in Panipatand for this; a separate sectorshould be developed.

He also suggested for the set-ting up of a lab testing center andexhibition center. Throwinglight on the pre-budget consul-tations through a presentation.

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The ruling BJP on Tuesday slammed the“nefarious designs” of the Congress to

underplay Pakistan's involvement in ter-ror attacks on India's soil and ridiculed itsdemand to reopen the Pulwama terrorattack case.

The BJP asked the Congress to explainif it had any doubt about who werebehind the Pulwama terror attack, in which40 CRPF personnel were killed last year,and said the opposition party is “best atattacking India and protecting Pakistan”.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra lashedout at the opposition party after its leaderscited the arrest of Jammu and Kashmirpolice DSP Davinder Singh for his links toterrorists to take a swipe at the RSS and toallege a “larger conspiracy” in the Pulwamaattack. “I want to ask Sonia Gandhi andRahul Gandhi if they have any doubt aboutperpetrators of Pulwama attack. If youbelieve Pakistan was not behind it, then you

should tell us clearly as to who wereinvolved,” Patra said at a press conference.

Rahul is working like an ally ofPakistan, he said, accusing the Congress oflinking religion to attacks to target Hindusand said the party has a history of doing so.

Congress leaders have invented termslike “saffron terror” and “Hindu terror”,and had linked the RSS to Mumbai terrorattack, Patra said.

Linking the Congress to Pakistan,Patra said there are “too many coinci-dences” that shows a conspiracy. “TheCongress is best at attacking India anddefending and protecting Pakistan,” he said.

While Congress leader Adhir RanjanChowdhury in his tweets wondered aboutthe real culprits involved in last year'sPulwama attack, his party colleagueRandeep Singh Surjewala asked if Singhwas a mere pawn and sought clarificationsfrom Prime Minister Narendra Modi andHome Minister Amit Shah. Surjewala alsoalleged a larger conspiracy.

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In the wake of arrest ofJammu & Kashmir DSP

Davinder Singh, Congress onTuesday stated that questionwill certainly be raised as towho were the real culpritsbehind the gruesome Pulwamaincident and which now needsa fresh look on it.

“There is a larger con-spiracy behind DavinderSingh's arrest. We demandthe Prime Minister and theHome Minister to order athorough probe,” Congresssaid. The party said now, thequestion will arise who werethe real culprits behind thePulwama attack. The terrorstrike in Jammu & Kashmir'sPulwama had left 40 CRPFpersonnel dead on February14 last year.

The Opposition partyclaimed that Singh “cannot bea stand alone carrier”, with theCongress' leader in LoK Sabha,

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, say-ing the question will now arisewho were the real culpritsbehind the last year Pulwamaattack.

Taking a swipe at the RSS,Chowdhury said had policeofficer Davinder Singh been“Davinder Khan”, the reactionof the “troll regiment of theRSS” would have been different.

Congress chief spokesper-son Randeep Surjewala said,“There is a larger conspiracy. Atwhose instance was DavinderSingh acting and bringing ter-rorists to Delhi, as reported.”“Are there any people who arein the echelons of power whoare involved with him (Singh).Is there a larger conspiracy? Ishe only a pawn or a carrier inthe larger conspiracy that isunleashed?” he asked.

Police on Saturday hadarrested Singh, a deputy super-intendent of police, at MirBazar in Jammu & Kashmir'sKulgam district, along with

Hizbul Mujahideen terroristsNaveed Baba and Altaf, besidesan unidentified lawyer who wasworking as an overgroundworker for terror outfits.

Surjewala said these arequestions that Prime Ministerand the Home Minister need toanswer, as Davinder Singh “can-not be a stand alone carrier”.

He also asked who Singhwas, who was he linked to andwhat connection he has withthe Hizbul Mujahideen andother terrorist groups. “I findthis story preposterous and Ifind his explanation a hog-wash,” he said.

“For how long has he beenacting as a conduit for J&K ter-rorists and other terror facto-ries? Was Davinder Singh con-nected to the 2001 Parliamentattack. What is DavinderSingh's connection with thePulwama attack, where he wasposted as DSP, and 42 of oursoldiers lost their lives,” theCongress leader asked.

“What is this conspiracy is

what the nation wants to know,”Surjewala asked, alleging thatSingh was the same officerwho was posted in Pulwamawhen the attack happened. Healso asked as to where did theRDX in Pulwama attack comefrom?

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The CBI has booked 17 indi-viduals and companies,

including three Mumbai-basedsenior Customs officials, forallegedly being part of a trade-based money laundering rack-et using over-invoiced importof diamonds worth more than�156 crore.

The case was referred tothe CBI after a Directorate ofRevenue Intelligence probefound alleged involvement ofCustoms officials in the con-spiracy, according to the FIR.

The DRI probe had allegedthat Hong Kong-based busi-nessman Girish Kadel hadimported rough diamondsfrom Switzerland to HongKong in the name of his four companies.

Kadel, who had businessinterests in India, had export-ed some of these diamonds toIndia through 14 consignmentsin the name of two companiesAntique Exim Pvt Ltd andTanman Jewels showing over-invoiced value of �156.28 crore.

The DRI had found during

revaluation that actual value ofthe consignment was �1.03crore instead of falsely declared value of �156.28 crore,they said.

The CBI has alleged thatKadel used Import ExportCodes (IECs) of Antique EximPrivate Ltd and Tanman Jewelsthrough his aide Atul Paldechafor siphoning off the moneyoutside India through importof overvalued diamonds, detailsthe FIR registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau of CBI in Mumbai.

Rough diamonds wereimported at “highly exaggerat-ed value” to siphon off excessforeign exchange overseas tocover the differential cost ofother imports and park moneyabroad for unlawful activities.It is alleged that the thenCommissioner APSC Mumbai,Vinay Brij Singh, influencedsubordinate officers to givefavourable report, the FIR alleged.

The agency has allegedthat Singh ordered investiga-tion into the matter and aftera few days called a subordinate

deputy commissioner to writenew noting and destroyed thenote sheet and changed his ear-lier directions of further inves-tigation, it said.

The agency has bookedSingh, Deputy CommissionersChandravanshi YManikanhaiya andAshiquzzaman along withKadel, Paldecha, Antique Exim,Tanman Jewels, ImpressClearing and Forwarding PvtLtd, among others.

“This illegal attempt wasmade possible with the abet-ment of Vinay Brij Singh, thethen Commissioner,Chandravanshi YManikanhaiya, and DeputyCommissioner Ashiquzzaman,Deputy Commissioner, all offi-cers of Custims Mumbai,” theFIR alleged.

The agency has bookedthe accused persons and enti-ties under Indian Penal CodeSections relating to criminalconspiracy, cheating and forg-ing documents and presentingthem as genuine besides rele-vant provisions of thePrevention of Corruption Act.

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India and Bangladesh will co-produce a film on BangabandhuSheikh Mujibur Rahman that will be released as part of birth

centenary celebrations of the Bangladesh founder. The film willbe directed by eminent filmmaker Shyam Benegal. India alsoextended its support to establish a film city in Bangladesh andoffered a technical exchange between National Film DevelopmentCorporation and Bangladesh Film Development Corporation.

The two countries on Tuesday signed an MoU for the filmin the presence of Information and Broadcasting Minister PrakashJavadekar and his Bangladeshi counterpart Hasan Mahmud.

Mahmud arrived in India on Monday night in a visit thatassumes significance as it comes after Bangladesh cancelled sev-eral high-profile visits to India amid anti-CAA protests and thecontroversy over NRC.

Javadekar said the funds required for the film have alreadybeen allocated by the Indian government.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has dismissed anappeal challenging a Jharkhand High Court orderdirecting the State Public Service Commission torevise the results of the preliminary exam (PE) ofthe Combined Civil Services held in 2016.

A bench of Justices Indu Malhotra and AjayRastogi said there was no ground to interfere withthe impugned judgment passed by the high court.

“The Special Leave Petition is accordingly dis-missed,” the bench said.

Advocate Shubhashis Rasik Soren appeared forone of the intervenors in the case in the apex court.

The apex court was hearing an appeal filed byDipak Kumar and others challenging October 21,2019 order of the high court, which had quashed thestate government resolution of February 12, 2018 andthe revised results announced by JPSC on August6, 2018 declaring 34,634 candidates as successful.

JPSC had issued an advertisement for conduct-ing the Combined Civil Services CompetitiveExamination, 2016, for filling up in all 326 posts indifferent civil services with the rider that the num-ber of posts could be increased or decreased.

It stated that on the basis of the preliminaryexamination, the number of candidates to be select-ed for main examinations would be about 15 timesthe vacancies in different categories. PTI

New Delhi: The Supreme Court onTuesday said it would appoint one ofits retired judges, Justice AM Sapre,as the chairman of its committee onroad safety after the panel’s currenthead — former apex court judgeJustice K S P Radhakrishnan —expressed difficulty in continuing inthat position.

A bench headed by Chief JusticeS A Bobde said this after perusing anote received on October 16, 2019from Justice (retd) Radhakrishnanexpressing “some difficulty in con-tinuing as the chairman of the com-mittee in question”.

The bench said according to thenote placed before it by advocateGaurav Agarwal, who is assisting thetop court as an amicus curiae in thematter, former secretary of Ministryof Road Transport and Highways SSundar has found it difficult to con-tinue as a member of the committee

due to ill-health.“In the circumstances, we con-

sider it appropriate to pass the fol-lowing orders: Justice Abhay ManoharSapre, former judge of this court, willbe appointed as the chairman of theaforesaid Committee on Road Safety.Justice K S P Radhakrishnan, formerjudge of this court, will be relieved ofresponsibility of chairing the aforesaidcommittee,” the bench, also com-prising justices B R Gavai and SuryaKant, said.

“S Sundar, former secretary,Ministry of Road Transport andHighways, will be relieved of his mem-bership of the aforesaid committee.Instead, Sanjay Mitra, former DefenceSecretary will be appointed in lieu ofSundar. The aforesaid changes will takeplace with effect from February 1,2020,” the apex court said and direct-ed the Centre to issue a necessary noti-fication in this regard. PTI

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The Housing and UrbanAffairs Ministry on

Tuesday launched an e-com-merce platform, housing-forall.com, for marketing ofcompleted residential units tofacilitate homebuyers in iden-tifying genuine properties. TheGovernment billed it as thepotential 'Amazon of Indianreal estate'.

After the launch, the por-tal will be open for one monthonly for the real estate devel-opers to register their projects(January 14, 2020 to February13, 2020).

The portal will be thenopened for home buyers witha 45-day sale period startingfrom February 14. For the ini-tial 15 days, buyers will be ableto view offers and shortlisttheir homes and will be able tostart making the purchase ofhomes from March 1 till March31, 2020. The online platformis for projects that have received

occupancy certificates (OCs)and is expected to create aseamless, safe and transparenthome-buying experience forhome buyers.

Launching the site,Housing and Urban AffairsSecretary Durga ShankerMishra said the portal haspotential to become “Amazonof Indian real estate”.

Buyers can directlybook/reserve a unit from theportal with a refundable pay-ment of only �25,000. They willalso get money back guaranteewhere their initial deposit madeon portal is completely securedand fully refundable in casebuyer elects not to purchase theunit. Customers will be imme-diately notified if any units theyhave shortlisted are alreadysold.

According to a PropTiger'sreport, housing sales declined30 per cent during the thirdquarter of this fiscal year toaround 64,000 flats across ninemajor cities on poor demand

amid economic slowdown.Sales in the residential proper-ty market fell 13 per cent to2,63,294 units during the firstnine months of this fiscal asagainst 228,220 units in thecorresponding period of theprevious year. According to thedata of each of the nine cities,Bengaluru registered a 50 percent fall in sales numbers at5,155 units.

Hyderabad saw 44 per centdip in sales at 4,372 units, fol-lowed by Pune that witnessed39 per cent fall at 11,946 units.Housing sales in Noidadeclined 38 per cent to 2,830units, Chennai and Kolkata,both cities, reported 33 per centfall at 3,015 units and 2,566units, respectively.

Housing sales in Mumbaidropped by 18 per cent to25,198 units and 14 per cent inAhmedabad at 5,118 units.Gurugram in the Delhi-NCRmarket was least affected with6 per cent dip in sales to 3,834units during the October-

December quarter of 2019-20fiscal year.

PropTiger report alsomentioned that unsold inven-tories declined by 3 per centduring the third quarter at7,97,723 units from 7,74,860units at the end of September2019. “At the current salesvelocity, builders would take 29months to sell off the existingstock,” it added.

Average values of proper-ty increased by 13 per centyear-over-year in Hyderabad,the highest increase among allthe cities included in the report,while Gurugram andAhmedabad registered 6 percent and 5 per cent increase,respectively. In other cities,prices showed only nominalincreases, between one andthree per cent.

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The HRD Ministry hasreceived over 2.5 lakh

entries from students for par-ticipation in Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's third editionof “Pariksha Pe Charcha” pro-gramme on January 20. Theentries are an increase of morethan one lakh compared to lastyear During the session, Modiwill interact with students andteachers on beating exam stress.

The HRD Ministry hasshortlisted students who willget to ask the prime minister

questions on the basis of essayssubmitted by them on fivesubjects -- “Gratitude is Great”,“Your Future Depends on YourAspirations”, “ExaminingExams”, “Our Duties, YourTake” and “Balance isBeneficial”.

“Last year, we had receivedaround 1.4 lakh entries fromstudents and this time we havereceived around 2.6 lakhentries. We have selected 1,050students on the basis of theessays submitted by them,” asenior HRD Ministry officialsaid.

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In an effort to recognise thecontributions made by

Emergency Commissionedand Short Service Commission(SSC) officers during the 1965and 1971 India-Pakistan wars,the Army has proposed specialpensions for them, ArmyChief General M M Naravanesaid here on Tuesday.

Speaking at an event onthe Armed Forces VeteransDay here, he said the proposedspecial pension will be likeSwantantra Senani SammanPension Scheme. Naravanealso said the proposal in thisregards is with the DefenceMinistry.

The need for this pensionwas felt as the Emergency and

SSC officers do not get pen-sions as they served and retiredmuch before completing pen-sionable service.

During the 1965 and 1971wars due to shortage of offi-cers, a large number of emer-gency and short service com-missioned officers wereinducted.

There are nearly 2,000such officers and given theirrole during those two wars, theArmy CommandersConference last year discussedthis issue. A proposal to grantthem Rs 30,000 monthly pen-sion was then mooted.

The proposal was withthe Defence Ministry sinceMarch last year and it soughtsome clarifications, sourcessaid.

Meanwhile, addressing the

veterans on Tuesday the Armychief also said veterans, “VeerNaris” and their wards are aninseparable part of the IndianArmy and assured veteransthat the force will continue tomake efforts towards theirwelfare. He said the NationalWar Memorial dedicated tothe Armed Forces by the coun-trymen was a tribute to theirsacrifices.

Underlining some mea-sures taken for the veterans lastyear, Naravane said

Army welfare placementorganisation was successful inhelping retired 240 officers,11,500 JCOs and other ranks(ORs) in getting a job.

The Army Chief also saida proposal was with theDefence Ministry under which20 per cent more vacancies forJCOs for the honorary com-mission will be approved.

Participating in the event,Navy Chief Admiral KarambirSingh asked veterans to usetheir respect in society tocounter incorrect perceptionsabout the services on socialmedia. He also urged the vet-erans to use the respect thatthey have in society to give apositive image of the services.

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The Congress on Tuesdayurged Prime Minister

Narendra Modi to convene ameeting of Opposition leadersand tell them about theGovernment’s roadmap to con-tain inflation which is an alltime high after the UPA left thepower in 2014.

The Congress accusedModi of indulging in politics ofhatred and division, and urgedhim to focus on the develop-ment of the country. “Wedemand that the PM shouldcome forward and convene ameeting of all parties and pre-sent a roadmap for tacklingprices of essential commoditiesin the next 30 or 60 days,” saidCongress chief spokesmanRandeep Surjewala at AICCpress conference.

The party also questionedModi's silence over the“unprecedented” increase inprices of food items, saying thishas hit the common man.

Congress leaders RahulGandhi and Priyanka Gandhisaid rising prices of essentialcommodities and unemploy-ment have thrown the countryinto a state of “financial emer-

gency”. Former Finance Minister P

Chidambaram attacked thegovernment over the state ofthe economy, saying if unem-ployment rises and incomesdecline, there is a danger ofyouth and students “explodingin anger”.

“The nation is engrossedwith the anti-CAA, anti-NPRprotests. Both present a clearand present danger,”Chidambaram said. The slidingeconomy is an even greaterthreat to the country, the for-mer finance minister said in aseries of tweets.

“If unemployment risesand incomes decline, there isthe danger of youth and stu-dents exploding in anger,” hesaid.

Chidambaram alsoattacked the government overthe rising consumer price index(CPI) inflation.

circle of incompetentmanagement is complete. MrNarendra Modi's governmentstarted in July 2014 with CPIinflation at 7.39 per cent. InDecember 2019, it was 7.35 percent,” Chidambaram said.

“Food inflation stands at14.12 per cent. Vegetable pricesare up 60 per cent. Onion

prices are over Rs 100 per kg.This is the 'achhe din' promisedby the BJP,” he said.

While Rahul accused thePrime Minister of “snatchingaway” the poor man's breadand “breaking into pieces” thedomestic budget of Indians,Priyanka accused the govern-ment of picking pockets of thecommon man and also takingaway their livelihood.

“The prices of vegetablesand other edible commoditiesis getting out of reach of thecommon man. What will thepoor eat when vegetables, oil,pulses and flour turns expen-sive. The poor are not even get-ting employment due to theeconomic recession. The BJPgovernment has not just pickedthe pockets of the poor but alsokicked on their stomach,”Priyanka said.

“Back-breaking inflation,life-threatening unemploymentand falling GDP has created astate of 'financial emergency'.Rise in prices of vegetables,pulses, edible oil, LPG gas andother food items has snatchedaway the poor's bread and but-ter. Modi ji has broken thedomestic budgets of country-men into pieces,” Rahul Gandhisaid on Twitter.

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New Delhi: The Governmentwill provide a financial supportof up to �15 lakh under itsRashtriya Arogaya Nidhischeme for one-time treatmentof rare diseases, according to themuch-awaited draft RareDiseases Policy.

Under the draft NationalPolicy for Rare Diseases releasedon Monday, beneficiaries wouldnot be limited to Below PovertyLine families, but will also cover40 per cent of the population eli-gible as per norms of theAyushman Bharat-PradhanMantri Jan Arogya Yojana fortheir treatment in governmenttertiary hospitals only.

The Union Health Ministryintends to notify certain med-ical institutes as Centers ofExcellence for Rare Diseases.

These include AIIMS, NewDelhi, Maulana Azad MedicalCollege, New Delhi, SanjayGandhi Post Graduate Instituteof Medical Sciences, Lucknowand Post Graduate Institute ofMedical Education andResearch, Chandigarh.

“The cost of treatment ofpatient in these centres of excel-lence will be met out of dona-tions received through theonline digital platform,” accord-ing to the draft policy.

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Bengaluru: An all-womenmotorcycle riding brigade-'Wefor Women' dedicated towardsmaking Bengaluru a safer cityfor women and children, hasbeen launched by the citypolice in partnership withRoyal Enfield.

Fifteen dedicated PoliceSub-Inspectors with a passionfor riding were trained toenhance their riding skills,under various conditions, totackle any challenge they mightface while on duty, a RoyalEnfield statement said onTuesday.

The brigade would take onpatrolling duties in order tomake Bengaluru safer forwomen, it said, adding, theteam also endeavours to break

the gender stereotypes in thesociety around areas whichhas been considered to be maledominant.

Divya Sara Thomas, DCP,City Armed ReserveHeadquarters, Bengaluru, whois leading the project, wasquoted as saying: “We wantthese women to lead by exam-ple and inspire other women aswell while keeping the citysafe.” These 15 women officerswere trained in two phases.

During phase I in Octoberthey were introduced to RoyalEnfield motorcycles and in thePhase II in December andJanuary, they were exposed toriding them in Bengaluru citytraffic conditions, it was stated. PTI

Chennai: People for the EthicalTreatment of Animals IndiaChapter has written to theTamil Nadu Government seek-ing strict action against organ-isers of a 'jallikattu' type ofevent using a rare breed of foxesin Salem district.

PETA India Chapter CEOManilal Valliyate said they havesought preventive measuresagainst conduct of the event,popularly known as 'vanganarijallikattu'.

“We have also approachedthem last year and this year toowe have written to them. Weseek strict penal action againstthe organisers and participantsof such events which is illegal,”he told PTI.

The Salem district forestadministration has stepped up

awareness campaigns not to usethe rare 'Wanga' breed of foxes,according to officials.

These foxes are tied usingropes and chased across thestreets by the villagers on'Kaanum Pongal', the last dayof the annual harvest festival,on the lines of the popular bulltaming sport jallikattu.

The foxes are illegally cap-tured using wild traps andtheir mouths gagged, he said.

He said the event was heldin places like Chinnamanickenpalayam, Gopalapuram,Kottavadi, Mathur, Melavaram,Periyakrishnapuram andRengar in Salem district duringthe Pongal harvest festivities.

According to him, theIndian fox (Vulpesbengalensis)and red fox (Vulpesvulpes,

Vu l p e s v u l p e s m o n t a n a ,Vulpesvulpesgriffithi andVulpesvulpespusilla) are foundin Tamil Nadu and are pro-tected under the Part II of theSchedule II of the Wildlife(Protection) Act, 1972.

Section 9 of the Act pro-hibits the hunting of foxes andSection 2(16) refers not only tokilling or poisoning an wildanimal but also “capturing”, hesaid.

“It is the same people whoconduct such events everyyear... It is a superstitious beliefamong villagers that the fox willbring something good forthem.We need strong actionagainst these people. Theseare highly protected speciesand the offenders should bepunished,” he said. PTI

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Normal life was thrown out ofgear in Kashmir on Tuesday as

overnight sub-zero temperaturesled to the formation of a thick layerof ice on roads, resulting in cancel-lation of several f lights to Srinagar.

The minimum temperature inSrinagar settled at minus 2.7 degreesCelsius.

The Valley has witnessed heavysnowfall and sleet over the past twodays.

An official of the AirportsAuthority of India said early morn-ing flights had to be cancelled dueto slippery conditions on therunway.

“Flight operations resumed inthe afternoon,” he said.

The Pahalgam resort in southKashmir was the coldest recordedplace in the Valley at minus 9.5degrees Celsius, followed by theGulmarg skiing resort in northKashmir at minus 7.6 degreesCelsius.

Kashmir is currently under thegrip of 'Chillai-Kalan'— the 40-dayharshest period of the winter whenthe chances of snowfall are thehighest and the maximum and theminimum temperatures drop con-siderably.

'Chillai-Kalan' began onDecember 21 and ends on January31, but the cold wave continues evenafter that in Kashmir.

The 40-day period is followed bya 20-day-long 'Chillai-Khurd' (smallcold) and a 10-day 'Chillai-Bachha'(baby cold).

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The famous Lord Ayyappatemple here and its premis-

es have been brought under aheavy security blank asarrangements arein full swing at the hill shrine

for the auspiciousMakaravilakku on Wednesday,the finale of the over two-month-long annual pilgrimseason.

In view of the continuingheavy rush, more personnel ofpolice, NDRF and RapidResponse Force have beendeployed in and around theshrine for crowd managementand to ensure the safety ofdevotees, the TravancoreDevaswom Board (TDB),which manages the hill temple,said here.

“The rush of devotees hasincreased considerably sinceSunday. So, 200 more

police personnel of variousranks have been deployed inand around the shrine exclu-sively for crowd management,” a TDB state-ment said.

Over 1,400 police person-nel including 15 DySPs and 36Circle Inspectors are on duty atSannidhanam, the templecomplex, alone.

A 70-member bomb squadand a 20-member telecommu-nication wing were also on alert at the shrinecomplex, the releasesaid. PTI

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Anewborn baby was allegedlydragged out of an operation the-

atre of a private hospital here andkilled by a stray dog, police said onTuesday.

The incident took place at AkashGanga Hospital on Monday. Thebaby's mother, Kanchan, was admit-ted to the hospital earlier in the day,they said.

Kanchan's family alleged thatthey were never showed the baby boyand he was dragged out of theoperation theatre and killed by astray dog owing to complete negligence on the part of hospitalstaff, the police said.

An FIR has been filed against adoctor and the hospital administra-tion on a complaint by Kanchan'shusband, Ravi, they said.

Superintendent of Police Anil

Kumar Misra said a probe is under-way and “action will be taken on thebasis of the investigation report”.

On Monday night, ChiefMedical Officer Dr ChandraShekhar and City Magistrate SunilKumar Singh visited the hospital and

sealed it, the police said.CCTV camera recordings have

also been seized, they said.The hospital administration

rejected the allegations levelled byKanchan's family and claimed thather baby was stillborn.

Lucknow: Samajwadi Partychief Akhilesh Yadav onTuesday slammed the UttarPradesh Government over itsdecision to implement thecommissionerate system ofpolicing in Lucknow and Noidaand said it was “another trick”by the BJP to divert people'sattention.

Yadav said taking this stepafter three years of being inpower shows that the YogiGovernment has failed to con-

trol crime till now.“How new experiments

will be helpful in checkingcrime? Only by changingresponsibilities of officers willnot change the system,” hesaid in a statement issued here.

“The crime is rising.Incidents of rape, murder, loot,abduction cannot be con-trolled. BJP has once again usedthe trick to divert attention ofpeople,” he added. PTI

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Special functions were held acrossJammu region on Tuesday on

the occasion of Armed ForcesVeterans Day to honour the sacri-fice of veterans from all the threeservices, a defence spokesman said.

The main function was heldat Balidan Stambh here in whichFarooq Khan, advisor to Jammuand Kashmir LieutenantGovernor G C Murmu, and a largenumber of veterans laid wreaths,the spokesman said.

Khan appreciated the spirit ofnational unity, dedication andsacrifice exhibited by retiredarmed forces personnel.

“There is a requirement for thecitizens and NGOs to keep intouch with veterans and martyrs'families and draw lessons fromtheir rich experience. The students would get motivationlistening to these stories of valourand sacrifice,” the advisor said.

The administration will givepriority and support to resolveproblems being faced by veteransand the families of those who havelaid down their lives in the serviceof the nation, he added.

Students from Scouts andGuides and NCC pledged to workclosely with the forces to spreadawareness regarding security, clean-liness of environment and work foranti-drug addiction campaigns.

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Ballia (UP): Nirbhaya's grandfather on Tuesdaywelcomed the Supreme Court's decision to dismiss the curative petitions filed by two of thefour death row convicts in the 2012 gang rapeand murder case.

He said the entire village was very happy withthe top court's decision.

“We welcome the Supreme Court's decisiondismissing the curative petitions of two of thefour death row convicts,” Lalji Singh told newspersons at his native Medawar Kala village alongthe border of Bihar. “It will be like Diwali for uswhen all the four convicts are hanged onJanuary 22 at 7 am in Tihar jail,” he said.

Earlier on Tuesday, a five-judge benchheaded by Justice N V Ramana rejected the cura-tive petitions filed by convicts Vinay Sharma (26)and Mukesh Kumar (32).

A Delhi court had on January 7 issued deathwarrants against the four convicts and said theywould be hanged on January 22 at 7 am in Tiharjail. Two other death-row convicts, AkshayKumar Singh (31) and Pawan Gupta (25), hadnot filed curative petitions. A 23-year-old para-medic student, referred to as Nirbhaya, was gang-raped and brutally assaulted on the interveningnight of December 16-17, 2012, in a moving busin south Delhi by six people before being thrownout on the road. PTI

Srinagar: The Jammu & Kashmir Police onTuesday said reports claiming that suspended offi-cer Davinder Singh, who was arrested along withtwo Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists, was awarded agallantry medal by the Union Home Ministry arenot true.

The recipient of the medal was another offi-cer with the same name, it said.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP)Singh was arrested on Saturday in Kulgam district'sMir Bazar while he was ferrying the two terror-ists — Naveed Baba and Altaf — in a car. A lawyer,who was working as overground worker for ter-ror outfits, was also in the vehicle.

Some media reports have claimed that Singhwas awarded the police medal for meritorious ser-vices on Independence Day last year.

“It is to clarify that Dysp Davinder Singh is notawarded any Gallantry or Meritorious Medal byMHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) as has beenreported by some media outlets/persons. Only gal-lantry medal awarded to him during his service isby the erstwhile J&K State on Independence Day2018,” the Jammu & Kashmir Police said in a tweet.

Singh, who was posted as DySP in the anti-hijacking squad, is being grilled by a team of policeand intelligence investigators, police said onMonday. His office at Srinagar airport has beensealed, they said.

According to police, searches were carried outat Singh's residence here, right next to the Army'sXV corps headquarters at Badami Bagh canton-ment, where he had sheltered Naveed, Altaf anda new joinee in the banned terror outfit.

Two pistols, an AK rifle and a large quantityof ammunition were seized from his residence, theysaid. PTI

Ballia (UP): A girl wasallegedly raped by ateenager in a villagehere and admitted tohospital in critical con-dition, police said.

The victim hadgone out to attendnature's call on Mondaywhen the 14-year-old boy raped her after tak-ing her to a secluded spot, the area police sta-tion in-charge said.

She has been admitted to hospital in a crit-ical state, the officer said.

After the victim's father lodged a complaint,an FIR has been filed and efforts are on to catchhold of the accused, the officer added. PTI

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While the AIADMK-BJPspat has come out in the

open, can the DMK and theCongress could keep quiet?This was what happened as theDMK, principal Oppositionparty and the trusted ally of theCongress, stayed away from theMonday meeting of Oppositionparties convened by theCongress President SoniaGandhi at New Delhi. TheCongress in Tamil Nadu suf-fered a blot on its image as amarine engineering instituteowned by party chief KSAlagiri lost its recognition as aprobe by the Director Generalof Shipping found that chargesof irregularities against theinstitute were true.

The DMK was conspicu-ous by its absence at a timewhen there were reports thatthe Dravidian major was nothappy with the Congress. “TheDMK leadership is not happywith what KS Alagiri, theTNCC President, spoke about

our party chief MK Stalinimmediately after theannouncement of results ofthe local body election in TamilNadu,” T R Baalu, MP, a seniorDMK leader told reporters atChennai on Tuesday. He saidhe has informed Congress pres-ident about the statement madeby Alagiri in which he blamedStalin for the setback sufferedby the Congress in the election.

Alagiri had said in thestatement that Stalin did notabide by the coalition dharmaand this has resulted in theformer’s party faring poorly inthe local body election. “Thiswords have hurt the DMKcare. If Alagiri had any griev-ances, he could have conveyedthe same to the DMK chiefinstead of airing it publicly,”said Baalu.

By Wednesday it wasknown that Alagiri called onStalin and expressed his regretsfor violating the LakshmanRekha. The TNCC chief wassummoned by CongressPresident Sonia Gandhi and hehad left for New Delhi on

Tuesday night itself. Alagiri wasalready in trouble followingmedia reports that he has fellapart with the Chidambaram,his mentor.

The TNCC president suf-fered yet another setback onMonday as the DirectorGeneral of Shipping,Government of India, dere-cognised the PerunthalaivarKamarajar Institute ofMaritime Science andEngineering at Cuddaloreowned by the former for wide-spread discrepancies and mis-appropriations.

“The Institute will com-plete the training of the exist-ing batch of G.P. Ratings andnot take any fresh admissionfrom 01.01.2020. The Trustee/Directors of the MTI,(M/sPerunthalaivar KamarajarInstitute of Maritime Scienceand Engineering(MTI No.406027) located at 1069,Chidambaram, Cuddalore,Tamilnadu -608602 namely,Mr KS Alagiri, Mr. S Soundrapandian, Smt. KSAVatchala Smt.

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Pongal Celebrations began inright earnest in Tamil Nadu on

Tuesday as allies AIADMK and theBJP clashed over the law and ordersituation in the State. Former UnionMinister Pon Radhakrishnan, whois also the former Tamil Nadu BJPchief lambasted the EdappadiPalaniswami Government for itslackadaisical attitude towardsextremist elements operating fromthe State while D Jayakumar, TamilNadu Minister for fisheries,‘returned the compliments’ in avehement manner.

The AIADMK-BJP ties are at alow ebb following the Dravidianparty aligning with the DMK andderailing the possibilities of theHindutwa party’s hopes of winningthe Rajakkamangalam Panchayatunion where the BJP was the sin-gle largest party. The murder ofWilson, a special branch inspectorof Tamil Nadu Police came inhandy for the BJP leader as heblamed the State Government forthe gruesome act.

“We have been warning theState Government for the last fiveyears that Tamil Nadu has becomea safe haven for terrorists andextremists. Islamic terrorists andMaoist extremists have made TamilNadu their safe home and operatefrom the State with impunity. The

murder of Wilson is due to the indif-ference of the State administrationtowards the warnings by centralagencies,” said Radhakrishnan, whowas defeated in the 2019 Lok Sabhaelection from Kanyakumari.

Inspector Wilson of the TamilNadu Special Branch Police was shotdead allegedly by Islamic terroristson Wednesday night atKaliyikkavila, a border pointbetween Tamil Nadu and Kerala.The images captured from CCTVcameras have helped the police toidentify the perpetrators whoescaped since then to Kerala.Though some suspects with closecontacts have been taken into cus-tody by the Tamil Nadu Police, nobreakthrough has been made tillnow as the murderers are believedto have reached safe havens.

“The Central Government itselfhas said that the law and order sit-uation in Tamil Nadu is good. TheNational Crime Records Bureautoo has stated in its annual reportthat Tamil Nadu is very safe. We donot know what is botheringRadhakrishnan,” said Jayakumarwhile speaking to reporters onTuesday. He said Radhakrishnan’soutbursts could be due to frustrationarising out of not being consideredfor any position by the Centre. TheTamil Nadu minister also pointedout that the State has not receivedany favours from the Center otherthan what was due to it.

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Jaipur: In a jibe at RajasthanChief Minister Ashok Gehlotover the Kota hospital row, hisdeputy Sachin Pilot on Tuesdaysaid the tradition of not condol-ing the deaths of children shouldbe broken.

Deputy Chief Minister Pilotdid not name Gehlot but heappeared to be referring to theCM's reported remarks recentlythat there was “no tradition” tocondole infant deaths.

The remarks reflect a con-tinuing rift between the twoleaders, both of whom hadsought the CM's post after theCongress won the Assembly pollsin 2019.

Pilot had visited Kota, whereover 100 infants died at J K LonHospital in December, and

blamed his own Governmentfor being not sensitive enough tothe deaths.

Gehlot, however, has not vis-ited Kota.

“We talk about changing thewrong tradition. We talk aboutavoiding 'ghoonghat', which is agood thing, but at the same timeif there is no tradition to wipetears of those who lost theirchildren then that traditionshould also be broken,” Pilottold reporters.

“God forbid, children shouldnot die...There is no programmeto mourn deaths of children butit is the responsibility of all of usto wipe tears of grieving par-ents...We all should collectivelydischarge this responsibility,” headded.

His remarks has come afterthe Women and ChildDevelopment Departmentlaunched a campaign against thepractice of “ghoonghat” on acall given by Gehlot, who hadsaid in November that it was hightime that the practice be shunnedso that women could progress.

Responding to criticism byPilot, Gehlot had earlier said itwas his right to question the gov-ernment.

“Pilot is the PradeshCongress Committee president.It is his right to say this about thegovernment. It is not the oppo-sition only, which could askquestions. People from the gov-ernment could also ask ques-tions,” Gehlot had said. PTI

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Mangaluru: Security has been tightened in thecity and suburbs ahead of the anti-CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA) protest rally planned byMuslim central committees of Dakshina Kannadaand Udupi districts at Adyar-Kannur near hereon Wednesday.

Police have made elaborate security arrange-ments and a roll call of police officers was heldat the police grounds here Tuesday.

The roll call parade consisted of three ADGPs,one DGP, 11 SPs, 18 ASPs, 100 DySPs, 300 policeinspectors and 500 police sub-inspectors, policesources said.

Police officers who reached here from dif-ferent districts have been briefed about securityand traffic arrangements during the rally, thesources said.

Police have also given guidelines to the rallyorganisers, participants and the general public,mainly on traffic arrangements. City police com-missioner PS Harsha requested the public toextend their full co-operation in maintainingpeace. PTI

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Millions of devotees fromacross the world, includ-

ing France, Russia andAustralia, have flocked to SagarIsland in West Bengal’s South24 Parganas for taking a holydip on the occasion of Makar Sankranti onWednesday.

Every year during the aus-picious occasion, pilgrims con-verge at Sagar Island, 130 kmfrom Kolkata, to take a religiousbath at the confluence of theHooghly river and the Bay ofBengal and offer

prayers at Kapil Muni Ashram.

The Gangasagar pilgrim-age and fair is considered as thesecond largest congregation ofmankind after the Kumbh Mela. Considering theimportance and magnitude ofthe event, security forces,equipped with CCTVs, hover-craft and copters, have uppedtheir arrangements in the areato ensure all-round safety of thepilgrims.

P Ulaganathan, the DistrictMagistrate, said people fromacross the globe have turned upin large numbers to attend the

annual congregation on theoccasion of Makar Sankranti -with the administration, thisyear, using QR code-assistedwrist bands to monitor thecrowd.

“The mela has recorded afootfall of 21 lakh till yesterday.We expect the numbers totouch 40 lakh. The devoteeshave come from across theglobe, including Nepal,Australia, France and Russia,” he told PTI onTuesday. A total of 20 droneshave been deployed to keep aclose watch on the pilgrims, hesaid.

Ahmedabad: Police entered the GujaratVidyapith (GV) campus in Ahmedabadon Tuesday where students had organ-ised an event to fly kites bearing anti-cit-izenship law messages.

While students claimed that policedisrupted the event, a senior officer saidthey entered the campus as part of “rou-tine patrolling” on inputs that somemembers of rival student outfits, NSUIand ABVP, might confront each otherover flying of anti-CAA kites.

Some students of the varsity said agroup of police personnel entered thecampus, located on Ashram Road in thecity, while they were preparing to cele-brate the Uttarayan Festival by flyingkites with messages like “India AgainstCAA”, “No NPR, No NCR”.

They claimed that police personnelalso demanded their identitycards.When confronted by us, the police

personnel told us they had the right toenter the campus without taking anyone’spermission, claimed some students invideo clips shared with media persons.

“They stopped us and asked us toshow identity cards. If required, I wouldshow my I-card to the varsity guard, butwhy to policemen when we are alreadyinside the campus? They didn’t tell uswho allowed them to enter the campus,”an agitated student said.

The students had organised thekite-flying event with anti-CAA messagesprinted on them to express solidarity withtheir counterparts in the Jamia MilliaIslamia (JMI) and Jawaharlal NehruUniversity (JNU) in Delhi.

While police had allegedly enteredthe JMI during anti-citizenship lawprotests in December, JNU had wit-nessed violence by masked people onJanuary 5. PTI

Kolkata: Lashing out at theBJP for the CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA), WestBengal Mamata Banerjee onTuesday alleged it is a “ploy” totake away citizenship fromthose who hold it legally andgive it to foreigners who havefunded the saffron party.

Banerjee, who is a stridentcritic of the BJP and hasopposed the contentious pieceof legislation from the beginning, said those helpingthe party get foreign funds andturn black money into whiteare being given citizenship.

“Is this Act a ploy to takeaway the citizenship of those

legal citizens and giving it tothose foreigners who havefunded the BJP ?” she saidspeaking from the dharnamanch of the TrinamoolCongress Chatra Parishad, herparty’s student wing against theCAA, here.

Apparently referring to thekilling of Bengali labourers atKulgam in Kashmir by terror-ists in October 2019, the TMCsupremo said the people ofother states face no threatsand are safe in Bengal.

She hit out at the BJP say-ing, “Do they (BJP) have anyunderstanding with Pakistan orare they brand ambassadors ofPakistan”. PTI

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Bengal Police have filed twoFirst Information Reports

against State BJP presidentDilip Ghosh for making‘inflammable speeches that cantrigger social tension.’

One police complaint eachat Ranaghat in Nadia districtand Habra in North 24Parganas were filed on Tuesdayby the police for making objec-tionable statements againstprotesters who had been agi-tating for withdrawal ofCitizenship Amendment Act.

Ghosh in a speech at NadiaSunday evening said that thosewho destroyed public proper-ties by burning trains and van-dalaising stations should be“shot dead like dogs” like theircounterparts had been inAssam, Karnataka and Uttar

Pradesh.“He has made inflammable

speeches that can trigger socialtension,” Bengal Minister andTMC leader Jyotipriyo Mullicksaid adding the police regis-tered FIR at Habra after hisparty men lodged the com-plaint his controversial remark.

“The BJP is creating a sit-uation of tension in Bengal. Itis trying to disturb peace bytriggering social tension. DilipGhosh’s speech is an example,”Mullick said hours after hisparty colleague and Birbhumdistrict TMC strongmanAnubrata Mandal prescribed asimilar treatment for Ghosh.

Mandal notorious formatching Ghosh in making un-parliamentary remarks said onMonday that “the CentralGovernment should shootDilip Ghosh dead because he

has gone mad.”Another police complaint

has been filed at in Ranaghatpolice station police sourcessaid adding “we are takinginformation about it.”

Reacting strongly to theDIRs filed against the State BJPpresident senior party leaderSayantan Basu said, “the TMCis trying to browbeat us bring-ing false charges against DilipGhosh. They have filed falsecases against 30,000 BJP work-ers. Now we don’t care as peo-ple are with us. Let them goahead with making arrests andthen we will show what iswhat.”

Meanwhile Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee continuedher daily routine dharnaagainst CAA and NationalRegister for Citizens atEsplanade in Kolkata.

Patna: The JD(U) sticks to itsstand on supporting theCitizenship (Amendment) Actand Chief Minister NitishKumar’s statement on the floorof the Bihar Assembly onMonday should not be con-strued as otherwise, a close aideto the CM said on Tuesday. Sanjay Kumar Jha, who is thestates minister for waterresources, expressed bewilder-ment over reports in a sectionof the media stating that Kumarhad, in his speech on the pre-vious day, “opposed” CAA andwas ready to “reconsider” thestand taken by the JD(U) ofwhich he is the national pres-ident. PTI

New Delhi: The CPI(M)-ledKerala became the first State tochallenge the Citizenship(Amendment) Act, 2019 inthe Supreme Court and soughtthat it be declared as violativeof the basic structure — prin-ciple of equality, freedom andsecularism.

The Kerala Assembly wasalso the first in the country topass a resolution against theAct.

The CAA, which was noti-fied on January 10, grantsIndian citizenship to non-Muslim minorities — Hindu,Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi andChristian — who migrated toIndia from Afghanistan,Pakistan and Bangladesh tillDecember 31, 2014, followingpersecution over their faith.

The Kerala Governmenthas said in its suit that there isno rationale in groupingtogether the three countries —

Pakistan, Afghanistan andBangladesh— for the purposeof the CAA and rules andorders.

“Such grouping is notfounded on any rationale prin-ciple justifying a separate spe-cial treatment for the irra-tionally chosen class of reli-gious minorities facing perse-cution on the basis of religiontherein,” it said.

The Kerala Governmenthas sought from the apex courtthat the Citizenship(Amendment) Act, 2019 bedeclared as violative of Articles14 (Equality before law), 21(Right to life and personal lib-erty) and 25 (Freedom of con-science and free profession,practice, and propagation ofreligion).

It also said that CAA isviolative of the basic principleof secularism enshrined in theConstitution.

Besides, the plea has stat-ed that the Passport (Entry toIndia) Amendment Rules, 2015and Foreigners (Amendment)Order are ultra vires theConstitution and be declaredvoid.

It said the CAA, theamended Passport Rules andForeign Order are class legis-lations harping on the religiousidentity of an individual, there-by contravening the princi-ples of secularism, which hasbeen recognised by the court asa basic structure of theConstitution.

The suit claimed that theseamendments make religionand a person’s country of ori-gin a criteria for grant of citi-zenship and result in classifi-cations based on religion andcountry, which are discrimi-natory, arbitrary, unreasonableand have no rational nexuswith the object sought to be

achieved.“The religious classification

brought forth violates the twintest of classification underArticle 14, the protection ofwhich is not limited or restrict-ed to citizens aloneand extends to all persons,” it

said.The plea added that the

CAA and rules and orders arebereft of any standard princi-ple or norm in discriminatingmigrants from other countrieslike Sri Lanka, Myanmar andBhutan, which are sharinginternational borders withIndia and to which and fromwhich there has been trans-border migration.

It said if the object of theCAA is to protect the minori-ties who faced religious perse-cution in Afghanistan, Pakistanand Bangladesh, then theAhmaddiyas and Shias fromthese countries are also entitled

to treatment equal to that beingnow extended to Hindu, Sikh,Buddhist, Jain, Parsi andChristian communities.

“In accordance with themandate of Article 256 of theConstitution, the plaintiff state(Kerala) will be compelled toensure compliance ofImpugned Amendment Act(CAA) and the Rules andOrders, which are manifestlyarbitrary, unreasonable, irra-tional and violative of funda-mental rights.

“Thus, there exists a dis-pute, involving questions of lawand fact, between the plaintiffstate of Kerala and the defen-dant Union of India, regardingthe enforcement of legal rightsas a State and as well for theenforcement of the funda-mental, statutory constitution-al and other legal rights of theinhabitants of the State ofKerala. PTI

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Gaya (Bihar): The countrywideanti-CAA protests are a “conspira-cy” hatched from afar by thoseresentful of a united and grand Indiaand these are being aided by a“crooked” opposition, Uttar PradeshChief Minister Yogi Adityanathalleged here on Tuesday.

Addressing a rally organized bythe BJP in support of the Citizenship(Amendment) Act, which waspassed less than two months ago, thefirebrand BJP leader charged thatthose opposing the legislation werecommitting the “paap” (sin) ofworking against national interests.

Sushil Kumar Modi (BiharDeputy CM) and Sanjay Jaiswal(state BJP chief) have very well artic-ulated how the CAA is about grant-ing citizenship to persecutedrefugees and not about taking it awayfrom anybody, he said.

“For taking such a step, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi and Home

Minister Amit Shah deserve acclaim.Instead they are being attacked”, Yogilamented.

“Protests are taking place acrossthe country and a ‘kutil’ (crooked)opposition is adding fuel to the fire.But the people of the country needto understand that it is a conspira-cy hatched from afar.

“The strings are being pulled bythose who are resentful of ‘Ek BharatShreshth Bharat’ (united India,grand India) which is becoming areality under Modi”, he claimed.

Seeking to underscore that theModi government did not discrim-inate against people on the basis oftheir religious identity, Yogi asked somany people have benefitted fromthe welfare schemes like UjjwalaYojana and the Ayushman BharatYojana.

“Was anybody asked, beforebeing included as a beneficiary, as towhat is his or her religion or caste?”,

he remarked. But those feelingthreatened by the new India keeplooking for an opportunity to thwartModis efforts to build Ek Bharat,Shreshth Bharat, he said.

“This new India does not cower,like the Congress did, beforePakistans atomic power.

“The neighboring country istoday fearful that it may end up los-ing even the PoK, after the Article370, which Jawaharlal Nehru wrong-ly introduced, was abrogated”, theUP CM said evoking wild applause.

The monk-turned-politician,who also heads the GorakhnathTemple, began his speech recallinghis spiritual ancestors deep linkswith Gaya and the ancient linksbetween eastern UP and this centralBihar town pointing out that LordBuddha came from Kapilavastu sit-uated in Siddharthnagar district inthe adjoining state and attainedEnlightenment at Bodh Gaya. PTI

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The work on the first span ofpackage-1 of Mumbai

Trans Harbour Link (MTHL),which will be the longest seabridge in the country after itscompletion, will get underwayon Wednesday.

Chief Minister UddhavThackeray, who is also thechairman of the MumbaiMetropolitan RegionDevelopment Authority(MMRDA), will launch theerection of the first girder ofthis project at the Shewri endof the MTHL at 10 am onWednesday. The girder weighs1000 metric tonnes and lifting

capacity of launching girder is1400 metric tonnes.

The project involves con-struction of a 22 km six-lanebridge with three lanes oneither side of the bridge. Anapproximate 16.5 km of thebridge will be in sea while 5.5kms is on land. In otherwords, it will be at least 16.5 kmlong creek bridge with 5.5kmvia ducts on land on either side.

The MTHL will cut downthe travel time from the IslandCity to Navi Mumbai by 30minutes. The sea bridge will be27 meters in width, in additionto edge strip and crash barri-er.

This bridge will have two

interchanges at Shivaji Nagar inShweri and another at villageChirle near national highway4B.

Apart from de-congestingthe Island city of Mumbai, theMTHL will provide connec-tivity to Mumbai and JNPTports and afford quicker accessto the proposed Navi MumbaiInternational Airport.

The MTHL will also con-nect Mumbai to the NhavaSheva Port, the PuneExpressway and the GoaHighway. It will provide con-nectivity to commuters travel-ing towards Thane-Nashik,Navi Mumbai, Panvel-Puneand further to southern India.

Japan is a partner in themega-project with a commit-ment of ��90 billion or nearly80 percent of the estimated pro-ject cost of �14,260 crore,through the Japan InternationalCooperation Agency(JICA).

The MMRDA appointedinternationally reputed pro-ject management consultants inDecember 2016. The project isbeing awarded in 3 packagesand is being executed by threecontractors with one intelligenttransport system since March23, 2018. “Till date about 19percent financial progress isachieved,” a senior MMRDAofficial said.

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As the first Chief of Defence Staff(CDS), Gen Bipin Rawat hashit the ground running. He hasbeen tasked with — or isexpected to achieve — in three

years what the country could not in 70.With all its fire and fury, the office of theCDS has finally arrived. The BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP)-led Government has ful-filled one more electoral pledge. Thedespatch with which 40 bureaucrats arebeing sidestepped from the Ministry ofDefence (MoD) to its own newly-createdDepartment of Military Affairs (DMA) isbreath-taking. As a founder member of theDefence Planning Staff, which wasrevamped into the existing IntegratedDefence Staff (IDS), I am familiar with thecolossal teething problems and bottlenecksin creating a new institution in spite of thegoodwill of the three Service Chiefs. In thisinstance, the civilian bureaucracy is relo-cating for the first time under a militaryhead. Unique to India, the DMA will cor-rect the aberration of the three Serviceheadquarters being outliers. It will becomeintegral to the MoD, thus facilitating, absentso far, the military’s role in decision-mak-ing. Wisely, this re-location in MoD hasmandated existing single-service structures;their charters should remain undisturbed.

The CDS is multi-hatted. He is thePermanent Chairman of the Chiefs of StaffCommittee (PC-CoSC), the head of IDS,Secretary to the DMA, Principal Advisorto the Defence Minister on tri-servicematters, Advisor to the Prime Minister inthe Nuclear National Command Authority(under which comes the Strategic ForcesCommand, which will be administered bythe CDS), member of the DefenceAcquisition Council and the DefencePlanning Committee. The CDS’ charter ismonumental. Essentially, he will preparefor the conversion of existing militarycommands in a phased manner (threeyears) to theatre commands; facilitate syn-ergy and jointness in defence planning,operations, training and logistics, includ-ing prioritisation in inter-service armsprocurement. Equally and importantly, theCDS will not exercise any military com-mand, including over the three ServiceChiefs, thus reducing him into the ulti-mate Chief of General Staff. He is clubbedwith other Service Chiefs at Number 12in warrant of precedence below CabinetSecretary at Number 11.

The pivotal change has come in theMoD. That means grafting the extractedcomponents from MoD that were dealingwith service headquarters and other mil-itary agencies back into the MoD under thenew DMA. The Defence Secretary, who isthe principal secretary in MoD, has lostmost of his military turf to the CDS. He is,thus, left with organisations like theDefence Estates, the National DefenceCollege, the Institute of Defence Studies

and Analyses and, of course,the functional coordination offour other departments ofdefence. Curiously, the presum-ably amended Governmentrules of business still leavehim responsible for defence ofIndia, defence policy and warpreparedness. The DMA willensure that the CDS replacesthe Defence Secretary, whoacted as the de facto CDS indetermining priorities in armsacquisition of services andother tri-service issues. At longlast, the CoSC, which histori-cally had a rotating chairmanfrom among the longest serv-ing Service Chiefs, will nowhave a permanent incumbent,the CDS, to address tri-servicematters and engender jointnessmore effectively.

For the CDS, the majorchallenge will be to implementthe five-year defence acquisitionand two-year annual roll planbased on “anticipated budget.”Without any financial com-mitment, defence planning willenter the realm of wishful plan-ning. Unless this is groundedand realistic yardsticks are pro-vided, the planning processwill remain stymied. The sec-ond challenge is to integrate sin-gle-service plans into a syner-gised tri-service plan. Till jointtheatre commands are intro-duced — based on nationalsecurity doctrine and nationalsecurity strategy — the CDSwill at best be able to fine-tune

services plans into an optimal-ly effective joint plan. Thisshould be done better thanwas done till today.

The MoD will now haveone more Secretary (fifth) rankofficer, the CDS, but in the pay-band of a Cabinet Secretaryheading the DMA. The CDSelevated from among theService Chiefs will be head andshoulders above the DefenceSecretary. Until now, all mattersrelating to defence were chan-nelled through the DefenceSecretary to the Raksha Mantri.Will the CDS have direct accessto the Defence Minister as heshould, or will the existingsystem of “routing” prevail?

Similarly, relations betweenthe CDS and the three ServiceChiefs are one of primus interpares among Generals who areequal and yet unequal. AGovernment statement read:“The CDS will not exercise anymilitary command, includingover the three Service Chiefs soas to be able to provide impar-tial advice to political leader-ship.” This directive is badlydrafted. Simply stated, the CDSwill not ride roughshod oversingle-Service chiefs. But howthis plays out on the groundonly time and personalities ofthe Chiefs will tell. In the Army,three-star Lt Gen-rank CorpsCommanders are subordinate tothree-star Army Commandersof the same rank and pay-band. In the reporting channel,

too, there is an implied problem.Would the Service Chiefs reportto the Defence Minister throughthe CDS or access him direct-ly, or via the Defence Secretary?Some of these wrinkles will nodoubt get ironed out in thetimes to come.

Stripping the CDS of allmilitary command has beendone to serve a political pur-pose and requires re-thinking.He should at least “command”and not “administer” the tri-service commands like theAndaman and NicobarCommand that was establishedin 2001, the cyber-space andSpecial Forces Commands,when raised. As for the SFC, heshould command it but with-out operational control. Alltri-service military organisa-tions and institutions (includ-ing the dormant NationalDefence University) that havebeen retained with the DefenceSecretary should gradually betransferred to the DMA.

The CDS should over timeimprove civil-military rela-tions. Equally, the exaggeratedfear of the military actingunconstitutionally should go.Baring one or two past aberra-tions, including one with anArmy Chief who is now aMinister in the UnionGovernment, the military hasbehaved impeccably, displayingunique, apolitical, profession-al and secular credentials whilemaintaining allegiance to civil-

ian control. Reducing tensionbetween civilian and militarybureaucracies will require unbi-ased political intervention. Thechoices for theaterisation areeither the British or Americanmodels. Both require to bestudied for their relevance tothe Indian geo-strategic envi-ronment. Defence MinisterRajnath Singh should order thewinding up of the NationalSecurity Advisor Ajit Doval-ledhigh-powered DefencePlanning Committee. It hascontributed little to defenceplanning and sharpening high-er defence management.

Whether the CDS, bereft ofall command, will be a papertiger and his advice binding onService Chiefs, as is doing therounds of South Block, only thefuture will tell. The biggesthandicap for the CDS instreamlining military robust-ness will be the continuingpaucity of funds for defencemodernisation due to a shrink-ing economy. Overall, thearchitecture under which theCDS has been placed and thecharter given to him is com-mendable, provided the systemlets him do his work. Still fora change, the Government hashit the bull’s eye.

(The writer, a retired MajorGeneral, was Commander IPKFSouth, Sri Lanka and foundermember of the Defence PlanningStaff, currently the IntegratedDefence Staff.)

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “God of carnage” (January 13).I feel helpless when I think aboutthe current law and order situa-tion in the country, which hascome to such a pass that our chil-dren and teachers do not feel safewithin university campuses. Theway incidents unfolded in oneuniversity after the other makesme feel as if we are living in areign of terror.

The Vice Chancellor of theJawaharlal Nehru University(JNU) must immediately be dis-missed for remaining absent at atime when his students wereattacked. The role of some tele-vision channels and politicalleaders, too, needs to be scruti-nised by an independent body asthey constantly vilified the stu-dents and teachers and instigat-ed violence against them.

The Union Home Ministrymust answer why the Delhi Policehas been unable to identify andnab the culprits when videofootage of the brutal violence, eyewitness accounts and the tapes ofa sting operation are available.

Sujit DeKolkata

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Cong bungles, again” (January14). It is neither the first time northe last when Opposition partieshave ditched the Congress-ledmeet to come up with a commonstrategy on a crucial issue.Nothing could be a bigger rally-

ing point than the CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA) and theNational Register of Citizens(NRC) today. The high-profilemeeting called by Congress pres-ident Sonia Gandhi to discuss thecontroversial CAA-NRC issuewas a perfect opportunity forOpposition parties to come underone umbrella to challenge the BJP.

The absence of the Shiv Sena

and the Dravida MunnetraKazhagam (DMK), which areallies of the Congress inMaharashtra and Tamil Nadurespectively, has raised more eye-brows than anything else.

The episode has once againhighlighted the Congress’ inabil-ity to act as an axis around whicha united Opposition can revolve.Calling on the Opposition lead-

ers for the oath-taking ceremonyof a State is one thing and rally-ing an umbrella coalition to takeon the BJP is quite another.

Bal GovindNoida

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“SC’s conscience call” (January 11).The decision of the SupremeCourt to restore the Internet ser-vices in Jammu & Kashmir will goa long way in constraining the abil-ity of the Government. This deci-sion has certainly brought a sighof relief to the residents. Thecommunication clampdown hashugely impacted the people, espe-cially those engaged in trade,commerce and academics. The topcourt’s decision will strengthen themarch towards democracy andtransparency as the court hassaid Internet freedom is part of thefreedom of expression and cannotbe curbed. Not only has the courtopened the door for liberty, it hasstrengthened democracy.

KushalVia email

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Farmer suicides continue to plague the country.According to the latest data released by theNational Crime Records Bureau (NCRB),

10,349 farmers committed suicide in 2018, whichis only marginally less than the figures for 2016 when11,379 cultivators took the extreme step. The figuresfor 2017 have been withheld in the report.Maharashtra leads the suicide list (17,972) followedby Tamil Nadu (13,896), West Bengal (13,255),Madhya Pradesh (11,775) and Karnataka (11,561).

Large swathes of cotton farms in central Indiahave been the epicentre of a debt crisis that hasgripped the rural population. For years now, this cri-sis has driven thousands of farmers to take their ownlives. These suicides are not merely a loss of humanlives, they are debilitating scars on our nation’s devel-opment canvas. While debates continue to rage onreforming the agricultural sector to improve the eco-nomic conditions of the growers, there has not beenany attempt to focus on the possible psychologicalproblems arising out of economic stress that maybe leading to these actions.

For every cultivator who takes his own life, afamily is hounded by the debt he leaves behind, typ-ically resulting in children dropping out of schoolto become farm hands. Farmers’ suicides have to betackled on several fronts and addressing mentalhealth problems is just one of them but it is certain-ly a major part of the solution.

The lack of focus on marginal and sub-margin-al farmers, tenants, sharecroppers, oral lessees andnon-cultivator households has further compound-ed the agricultural conundrum. We need fresh think-ing on strategies for mitigating risk, enhancing pro-ductivity and income and strengthening market link-ages for businesses and farmers for better profits.Simplifying mortgage requirements and procedures,rationalising stamp duty for loans to small and mar-ginal farmers and providing agricultural and busi-ness extension services in the farm and non-farmsectors respectively can go a long way towards pro-viding resilience to the agricultural community.

Economic reforms and the opening of agricul-ture to the global market over the last two decadeshave made small farmers vulnerable to unusualchanges and fluctuations. Small growers now haveto compete with larger ones, who are well-endowedwith capital, irrigation facilities and supplementarybusinesses to buffer them against any shocks. As afallout, peasants are facing what has been called a“scissors crisis”, which is driven by the rising cost ofinputs without a commensurate increase in outputprice.

Peasants take loans from moneylenders at exor-bitant rates of interest in order to buy expensive trans-genic seeds and high-cost fertilisers that allow themto merely feed themselves and their cattle. They hopefor better yields in the future but this time never quitecomes. Eventually, many farmers find themselves ina debt trap as they keep pursuing the vain mirageof a golden crop bonanza. Owing more than theyearn, the steadiest of these workers have becomegamblers at the highest of stakes, betting their landand their lives on a better crop. As debt mounts,many growers are now making a permanent escapefrom the physical and emotional pain by ingestingdeadly pesticides.

There is an inextricable link between small hold-er farmers and the health of our planet, just as there’sa link between us and these small holder cultivators.They play a highly critical role in protecting the envi-ronment. Many small holder growers lack theresources they need to sustainably cultivate high-yielding, nutritious and marketable crops. The pres-

sure to feed their families and sell theircrops to pay off other debts means the soilis often overworked.

These cultivators have to be taughtsmart agriculture practices, like harvest-ing rainwater, using organic fertilisers andundertaking intercropping to preservetheir soil. They must have access to moreresources like small farm loans, real-timeweather and pest updates. Information onaccurate market prices for their crops canhelp them make the most of their farmsall year-round.

Despite their vast numbers, smallfarmers are not a solidified group and havenot developed their negotiating power.Social divisions among the rural popula-tion have been the main reason why ruralvoters have failed to push for policies thatboost their incomes. The large size of thispopulation and its heterogeneity limit itsinfluence on public policy. Farmers’refusal to give precedence to their eco-nomic interests over their other ethnic andcaste loyalties have limited their influenceover public policies.

The Government needs to revamp itsservices so that growers have access to thelatest technology and field practices.Agricultural universities must be involvedin creating tailored educational pro-grammes that serve the diverse needs ofthe rural population. Peasants need tolearn how to work with limited land in aproductive and environmentally friend-ly way. They do not only need better plantspecies but also up-to-date guidance onhow to grow them. They do not needhigh-tech tractors controlled by satellitesbut they do need access to regional data-bases that provide information on soilquality. They also need access to afford-able capital so that they no longer pile upunmanageable debt loads.

Loan waivers are both “bad politics”and “bad economics.” Indebtedness is themost acute problem faced by small and

marginal farmers. However, their borrow-ings are primarily from moneylenders andhence a loan waiver is not going to makeany sense for them. It is the richer farm-ers who are the real beneficiaries of suchpopulist policies.

The problems faced by small farmersare complex and require a ruthless polit-ical will to address them. Their landhold-ings are below the economically viablethreshold — the result is the cyclicalappearance of bad loans and poor rain-fall. Loan waivers have little to do withending the conditions that lead to suchproblems.

Debt relief programmes fail to provideassistance to landless farmers, who do nothave access to bank loans and some othergrowers, who depend on money-lenders.The write-offs are a disincentive to thebanking system because people haveexpectations of future waivers as well.

The borrowers see value in strategicdefaults. While it is important for banksto make credit available to farmers so thatthey can leverage and do better, it is alsoimportant to maintain credit discipline.

Loan waiver schemes vitiate the cred-it culture and make it tougher for banksto continue lending to these segments.They create moral hazards in the finan-cial system by rewarding those farmerswho default on their loans, offering noth-ing to those who pay. They do not takeinto account the loans growers havetaken from the informal sector. There isalso no distinction between voluntary andinvoluntary defaults, so it actually rewardsthose that have willfully defaulted.Additionally, the scheme does not take intoaccount climatic conditions and fertilityof soil. Farmers in certain areas face a high-er risk of crop loss on account of weath-er conditions.

One of the ways to promote a farmrevolution and overcome the challengesfaced by primary producers among small

and marginal farmers is to design a liveli-hood and development strategy thatentails collectivising and strengtheningthem through Food ProducerOrganisations (FPOs) and integratingthem into an inclusive value chain. It offersend-to-end support to small farm hold-ers. These mutual aid organisations,whose members pool their expertise andpart of their savings, become self-propa-gating in course of time.

As the value chain stabilises, it couldbe upgraded to have a more-completeecosystem of private and public-sectoractors at every link in the value chain.Throughout this process, it is necessary forthe farmers and FPOs to create animproved ecosystem in which secure,independent livelihoods become attainablefor marginalised small farmers.

The underlying principle that thevalue chain follows is similar to that of thefull stack approach. This approach makesthe sponsor responsible for every part ofthe experience. Uber, for example, han-dles everything from connecting peoplewith a driver to managing payment andratings. In the context of agriculture, thefull stack approach includes helping farm-ers identify what to grow and how to growit, what technology to use and when andwhere to sell at what price.

While farmers continue to work outstrategies to keep their age-old bond withtheir land alive, the new generation findsfarming unsustainable. This is the key rea-son behind its influx to cities despite thehard truth that the new utopian world themigrants hope to discover is a merechimera. India needs to arrest this influxand inject the rural economy with newskill development programmes to gener-ate local employment. That is the right wayof saving both the cities and villages.

(The writer is Member, NITI Aayog’sNational Committee on Financial Literacyand Inclusion for Women.)

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One of the main causes ofdeath of airline passengers inrecent decades is being shot

down by somebody’s military. Notthe very biggest, of course:Accidents account for nine-tenths ofall deaths in civilian airline crashesand terrorist attacks and hijackingscause most of the rest. But a solid2.5 per cent of the deaths are due totrigger-happy people in militaryuniforms.

That’s 1,379 passengers killed incommercial airliners that were shotdown because they were off-courseor simply mis-identified, out of a

total of 57,767 deaths in all the“major incidents” (more than 50deaths) in aviation history.

The first was an El Al plane thatstrayed into Bulgarian airspace in1955. The second was an off-courseLibyan airliner shot down by Israelover the Sinai Peninsula in 1973.

The last of the military shoot-downs in which actual fighters wereinvolved was an off-track KoreanAir jumbo jet shot down by aSoviet fighter in 1983. All 269 pas-sengers and crew were killed.

Since then, the killing has beendone by surface-to-air missiles,with no visual identification. Thefirst of these was in 1988, when theUS Navy ship Vincennes, operatingillegally in Iran’s territorial waters,shot down an Iran Air jet bound forDubai with 290 people aboard in themistaken belief that it was a fight-er plane. All aboard the ill-fated air-craft died.

Ukrainian Air Force missilesshot down a Siberia Airlines flight

over the Black Sea in 2001 during amilitary exercise, killing 78 passen-gers and crew. In 2014, Russian-backed rebels fighting in easternUkraine shot down a MalaysianAirlines plane and killed all 298 pas-sengers and crew.

And now 176 people, the greatmajority of them Canadian citizensor residents, have been killed just offthe end of the runway in Tehran bya young Iranian RevolutionaryGuard Corps technician whothought he was shooting down anAmerican drone. At least his com-mander acknowledged his person-al responsibility — “I wish I wasdead” — but the IranianGovernment lied about it for threedays.

Technically, this kind of mistakeis inexcusable. You don’t even needhigh-cost military technology: Afree Swedish app called Flight Radar24 will give you real-time flight dataon your phone for all civilian airlin-ers in the air in your vicinity. What

we are dealing with here is mostlyhuman error. But, this human erroris driven by paranoid politics andhuge time pressure.

You can’t do anything about thetime pressure: Decisions really dosometimes have to be made in sec-onds if you suspect that you have a“hostile” incoming on the radar andyou have to protect your turf.

The paranoia might be easier toaddress in principle but it’s equallyinevitable in practice: All the shoot-downs happen in countries that arein acute military confrontations ofone sort or another.

And that’s the point, really. Allthese shoot-downs are fundamen-tally a political phenomenon, not atechnical malfunction or merehuman error.

We live in a far more peacefulworld than our distant ancestors didbut our deepest cultural traditionsare still tribal. Once a confrontationgets going, we quickly turn intoYanomami villagers.

You can’t imagine an “acciden-tal” shoot-down of a civilian aircraftover Canada nowadays, for exam-ple. Back in the Cold Days, howev-er, there were surface-to-air missilesystems in Canada, designed toshoot down Soviet bombers but per-fectly capable of making the samesort of mistake that killed a plane-load of Canadians over Tehran lastweek. Nobody is invulnerable andnobody is immune to the paranoia.

On the other hand, don’tdespair. The great majority of theworld’s people now live in countrieswhere the risk of war is very low orentirely absent, and the cities are notsurrounded by anti-aircraft missiles.We have already travelled a verylong way from the time when everyhuman society lived in constant fearof all its neighbours.

This is still a work in progress.The past century has seen the mostdestructive wars in history — whichwas inevitable, given the growth intechnology, wealth and population.

But it was also the first time thatpeople ceased to see war as natur-al, honourable and potentially prof-itable. Latterly warfare has gone intoa steep decline.

There could still be back-sliding,especially if the climate crisis over-whelms us, but so far the trend lineis promising. The world’s populationhas more than doubled in the pasthalf-century but the number ofpeople killed in war is less than atenth of what it was in the previoushalf-century.

However, the planes are muchbigger, and there are now around amillion people in the air at any givenmoment, so there are also more peo-ple being killed in shoot-downs.

It’s never any consolation to tellpeople that things are getting bet-ter on average when they have beendevastated by a personal loss. But forwhat it’s worth, they are.

(Gwynne Dyer’s new book is‘Growing Pains: The Future ofDemocracy and Work.’)

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The Government is consid-ering a proposal to extend

further incentives to salariedtaxpayers in the upcomingbudget. The Finance Ministrymay allow individual taxpayersto pay a lower flat rate of tax ifthey forego all exemptions.

The new structure wouldbe similar to tax rates proposedby Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman late last year wherethe base corporate tax ratewas reduced to 22 per centfrom 30 per cent for companiesthat agreed to forgo all exemp-tions and incentives. The taxwas kept at even lower rate of15 per cent for new manufac-turing companies.

“After tax sops for corpo-rates last year, the Governmentis looking at ways to incentivisethe individual taxpayers thatform a major source of revenuefor the Centre. While major

changes in tax slabs could waitfor some time, a scheme simi-lar to the one implemented forthe corporate sector is beingexamined for individuals too,”said a source privy to discus-sions on the issue in theGovernment.

At present while individualincome upto �2.5 lakh perannum is exempt from tax, a 5

per cent tax is levied for incomebetween �2.5 lakh and �5 lakh.A higher 20 per cent slab is forincome between �5 lakh and 10lakh while a 30 per tax rate isapplicable for income above�10 lakh. In addition, theGovernment also levies a sur-charge in slabs on super rich forincome above �50 lakh.

The source said though

there is broad understandingon implementing a flat incometax rate for individuals, dis-cussions is still going on itsquantum and how it could fita tax structure that has three tofour different slabs.

Tax experts who did notwant to be named on the issuetold IANS that the Governmentcould look at a flat rate some-

where in between the 5 and 30per cent income tax rates.

The ideal would be around15-18 per cent rate that wouldbe lower than the peak rate of30 per cent and the second rateof 20 per cent. Also, the newlower flat rate of tax may beapplicable only for annualincome of upto �50 lakh.

Sources said that a higherflat rate is also being looked atfor the super rich but discus-sions on this have remainedinconclusive.

At present, an individualcan save upto �1.5 lakh perannum under Section 80C ofthe Income Tax Act by making investments in insur-ance plans and few other spec-ified instruments includingbuying a pension plan rununder the NPS.

An additional self contri-bution (up to �50,000) undersection 80CCD (1B) is availableas NPS tax benefit. In addition,

there are deductions for con-tributing towards paying pre-mium for health insurance andfor paying installment forhomes bought on loans.

While the flat rate of taxmay be attractive to a certain

category of taxpayers that wanta higher share of their month-ly earnings in hand, experts saythe move could also dissuadepeople from increasing theircontributions towards savings.India’s household savings has

dropped to 17.2 per cent levelin 2017-18 from 23.6 per centin 2011-12. Data for FY 19 isnot available.

Higher domestic savings iscrucial to mobilise funds forinvestments in the economy.

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Retail inflation, which accel-erated to 7.35 per cent in

December and could breach 8per cent in January, may forcethe Reserve Bank of India tohold rates in the monetarypolicy review next month,according to a report.

Consumer price index-based inflation in Decemberrose to about five-and-a-halfyear high of 7.35 per cent from5.54 per cent in November,mainly driven by high veg-etable prices.

It breached the upper endof the RBI’s comfort level of 4per cent plus-minus 2 per-centage points.

“RBI did not cut the rate inDecember when October 2019inflation rate was 4.62 percent. Now that CPI inflation

has surged to 7.35 per cent inDecember and January infla-tion is also expected to remainabove 8 per cent, the RBI islikely to hold rate in the nextpolicy,” an SBI research reportEcowrap said.

The RBI, which mainlyfactors in the CPI based infla-tion, is scheduled to announceits next bi-monthly monetarypolicy on February 6. After cut-ting repo rates for five consec-utive times by 135 basis pointsbetween February-October2019, the RBI left the repo rateunchanged at 5.15 per cent inthe fifth bi-monthly monetarypolicy announced inDecember.

The report also emphasisedon relooking of the CSO datamethodology for estimatingthe CPI. “Unfortunately, CSOmethodology of using CES

survey data has resulted inCPI being overstated by 200bps. Its high time we questionthe CSO methodology of CPIestimation as it results in erro-neous policy decisions,” itadded.

The report said inflation isexpected to remain high in theremaining months of this fis-cal year, close to 7 per cent thusaveraging to 5 per cent forFY20. “We believe that theRBI will go for a long pausepossibly throughout 2020 asinflation is likely to remainabove 6 per cent till June-July2020,” it noted.

Given the situation of lowgrowth and high inflation (apossible situation of stagfla-tion), the coming months arecrucial for the RBI to decide onany action at rate front, theresearch report said.

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IT services major Wipro onTuesday posted a 2.17 per

cent dip in consolidated netprofit to �2,455.9 crore for theDecember 2019 quarter, andestimated up to 2 per cent rev-enue growth for the fourthquarter.

Wipro’s net profit, attrib-utable to shareholders, in theyear-ago period was �2,510.4crore. Its revenue from opera-tions grew 2.7 per cent to�15,470.5 crore during theperiod under review from�15,059.5 crore in the samequarter last year (as per Ind-AS). Earnings per share (EPS)for the quarter was �4.3 pershare and grew 3.2 per centyear-on-year.

The Bengaluru-based com-pany’s numbers came daysafter larger rival Infosysannounced an almost 24 percent jump in net profit, and 7.9per cent rise in revenue. Infosyshad exuded confidence in the

demand environment andraised its revenue outlook for2019-20 in constant currencyto 10-10.5 per cent.

On Tuesday, Wipro, whichgets bulk of its topline from ITservices, said it expects rev-enues from that unit to be inthe range of USD 2,095 millionto USD 2,137 million in theMarch quarter. This translatesinto a sequential growth of flatto two per cent.

Wipro’s IT services seg-ment revenue was at USD2,094.8 million in theDecember quarter, a sequentialgrowth of 2.2 per cent. This is

in line with its outlook of USD2,065 million to USD 2,106million guided earlier.

“We have delivered a goodquarter with secular growthacross all business units, geo-graphies and practices. Weremain focused on deepeningour customer relationships,converting our funnel and win-ning large deals,” Wipro CEOand Managing Director AbidaliZ Neemuchwala said.

He added in financial ser-vices, Wipro saw a slowdown ingrowth rates due to continuedsoftness driven by the macro-economic environment. “We

however remain confident onwinning the new deals that weare participating in leveragingour strong capabilities in dig-ital,” he said.

Neemuchwala said “theoverall demand environmenthas neither improved nor dete-riorated, but we see some levelof uncertainty due to the var-ious geo political risks at play”.

While the BFSI (banking,financial services and insur-ance) segment has seen somesoftness, Wipro remains con-fident of the deal pipeline. Thecompany added 4 accounts toover USD 100 million accounts.

The company has seenstrong growth in the digitalbusiness. Contribution fromDigital now stands at 39.8 percent, up 22.8 per cent on a year-on-year basis.

Wipro onboarded over1,891 freshers in Decemberquarter with the total headcountat 187,318. Voluntary attritionon last 12 months basis hasreduced to 15.7 per cent.

�� 6 �(3

Private sector lenderIndusInd Bank on Tuesday

reported a 32.92 per cent jumpin its December quarter con-solidated net profit at �1,309crore on overall growth, butshowed an uptick in non-per-forming assets.

Its core net interest incomewas up 34 per cent to �3,074crore on a 20 per cent loangrowth and a 0.15 per centexpansion in the net interestmargin to 4.15 per cent. The feeincome grew 22 per cent to �1,790 crore.

Total income during theperiod under review increasedto �9,073.93 crore from�7,232.32 crore in the thirdquarter of the previous fiscal,IndusInd Bank said in a regu-latory filing.

The bank, first off themark to report December quar-ter numbers, had to set asideextra amount of money to upits provision coverage ratio to53 per cent from the earlier 43per cent, that dented the bot-tomline. The bank’s managingdirector and chief executiveRomesh Sobti, who is set toretire in March, said it had to provide �242 crore asprovision for two accountswhich were classified as “fraud-hit” following reports fromforensic auditors.

New Delhi: New FicciPresident Sangita Reddy onTuesday urged the Governmentnot to worry too much aboutthe fiscal deficit and try topump the economy by increas-ing investments to arrest slow-down and accelerate growth.

“We need to infuse capitalinto the economy. The fact isthat there is a slowdown of theGDP but to pump prime econ-omy, adequate capital is reallythe need of the hour and there-fore the preposition which weput forward is that we shouldnot worry for a small expansionin fiscal deficit,” she said.

She said the Governmentshould find a mechanism toinfuse �1.5 to �2 lakh crore intothe economy as it would helpspurring consumption.

With the slowdown in eco-nomic growth, the governmentwill face difficulty in adheringto the fiscal deficit road maplaid down in the FRBMAct.”With the increased con-sumption or purchasing powerof people, investments and theoverall sentiment of the corpo-rate India will improve and thiswill create a virtuous cycle,which grows the GDP,” shetold PTI. When asked whetherthe government has enough fis-cal space to infuse money intothe system, Reddy said thegovernment has the spacebecause the fiscal deficit is stillunder control. “One mecha-nism to do this would be toraise money from the RBI,” shesaid, adding the governmentshould also simultaneously pur-sue disinvestment programmein a time-bound manner.

The government aims torestrict the fiscal deficit to 3.3per cent of the GDP for thefinancial year ending March2020. PTI

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The ED has detected overhalf-a-dozen alleged forex

law violations by the AmrapaliGroup and found that home-buyers’ funds worth over �55crore were laundered and sentabroad using shell firms, offi-cial sources said on Tuesday.

The federal probe agencyalso wants that JP Morgan, aUS-based investment bankingfirm, embroiled in the case belegally “directed” to remit backfunds worth about �140 crorethat were “unauthorisedly” sentabroad so that they can be con-fiscated, they said.

At least seven “serious con-traventions” under the ForeignExchange Management Act(FEMA) and its regulationshave been detected by theEnforcement Directorate (ED)against the Amrapali Group’stwo companies — AmrapaliZodiac Developers Pvt Ltd(AZDPL) and Amrapali SiliconCity Pvt Ltd (ASCPL), accord-ing to the sources.

The alleged forex violationspertain to an unauthorisedassured return of �85 crore tothe foreign investor under FDI(foreign direct investment),wrong-end use of FDI fundsworth �78.5 crore, unautho-rised borrowings in the guise ofFDI worth �85 crore, wrong

transfer of shares by AZDPL bythe foreign investor to twoIndian companies and illegalremittance by the Indian com-

panies, among others.The ED also found that the

discounted cash flow (DCF)method (of valuing a project,company, or asset) deployed bythe promoters of the firm wasa “deliberate ploy” to falsely jus-tify premium on re-purchase ofshares when it did not exist.

It was detected, as perprobe records accessed by PTI,that the DCF method was“incorrectly applied” in thiscase and was “without anybasis”. ED’s Lucknow ZoneJoint Director Rajeshwar Singhhad on Monday apprised theSupreme Court about thesefacts and the progress made inthe case. After this, the courtasked the agency to ensure that

the guilty are brought to book.According to the sources,

the ED has recently filed FEMAcomplaints for adjudicationagainst AZDPL and ASCPL,before the competent authori-ty of the case (a special direc-tor of the ED).

Apart from seeking a heftypenalty for the accused, it hassought directions to JP Morganto remit back funds worth about�140 crore so that they can be“confiscated” under the saidlaw. The probe records also saidthe Amrapali directors alleged-ly created shell companies andappointed dummy directors “incollusion” with JP Morgan andtook away �55 crore of thehomebuyers’ money.

Beijing: The bilateral tradebetween India and Chinadeclined by about USD threebillion last year while India’strade deficit continues to behigh amounting to USD 56.77billion as both countries expe-rienced economic slowdown.

The trade figures releasedby the General Administrationof Customs of China (GACC)on Tuesday projected the totaltrade in Chinese currencyRMB-Yuan terms registered amarginal increase of 1.6 percent year on year but in dollarterms it was down by aboutUSD three billion.

GACC Vice Minister ZouZhiwu, who released the annu-al trade figures to the media,said China-India bilateral tradetotalled to 639.52 billion yuan(about USD 92.68) which is 1.6per cent increase year on year.

China’s exports to Indiaincreased by 2.1 per cent lastyear totalling to 515.63 billionyuan while India’s imports toChina decreased by 0.2 per centtotalling to 123.89 billion yuan,he said. The trade deficit forIndia in 2019 was USD 391.74billion yuan, he said. However,in dollar terms the trade hasdeclined. PTI

Washington/Beijing: The UShas reversed its decision to brandChina a “currency manipulator”as the world’s two majoreconomies prepare to concludea “phase one” deal to end theirbruising trade war. PresidentDonald Trump has repeatedlyaccused China of allowing thevalue of the yuan to fall, makingChinese goods cheaper. The USofficially named China a cur-rency manipulator in August lastyear when trade tensions werehigh between Beijing andWashington.

Trump, who blames Chinafor a decline in US manufactur-

ing, promised to label China acurrency manipulator duringhis 2016 election campaign.Announcing the revocation ofChina’s currency manipulatorstatus, US Treasury SecretarySteven T Mnuchin said, “Chinahas made enforceable commit-ments to refrain from competi-tive devaluation, while promot-ing transparency and account-ability.” “The Treasury Depar-tment has helped secure a sig-nificant Phase One agreementwith China will lead to greatereconomic growth and opportu-nity for American workers andbusinesses,” he said. PTI

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Congress leader MilindDeora on Tuesday urged

Union Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman to visitMumbai and hold broaderpre-budget consultations withvarious stakeholders of theeconomy, including smalltraders and vendors.

The former UnionMinister also noted that theeconomy is “dangerously close”to going off the rails.

Deora said recent “socialunrest” in India has dented its

image as the socially and polit-ically stable country that isconducive to doing business.

“In the run-up to UnionBudget 2020-2021, I urge@nsitharaman ji to travel toMumbai to interact with smalltraders & vendors, industry &other stakeholders. Don’t limitpolicy-making only to theselect few who can access NewDelhi!” Deora tweeted.

“Once the world’s fastestgrowing economy, India iscoming dangerously close togoing off the rails,” he stated.Observing that the

Government alone cannot findsolutions to the “deepening cri-sis”, the former MP said thefinancial capital be betterengaged through consultationsduring such “extraordinarytimes”. “By now, India’s FinanceMinister should have visitedMumbai to meet with repre-sentatives of traditional mar-kets, MSMEs, industry cap-tains and representatives frombanking and finance,” he stat-ed.

The Union Budget isscheduled to be presented onFebruary 1.

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Market benchmark indicesSensex and Nifty closed at

life-time high levels for the sec-ond day in a row on Tuesdayfollowing gains in index-heavy-weights HDFC, ITC, Axis Bankand TCS. In a choppy tradingsession, the 30-share BSESensex hit life-time high of41,994.26 in day trade. It final-ly settled up by 92.94 points or0.22 per cent at 41,952.63 - itsall-time closing high.

The broader Nifty of NSEalso scaled a lifetime high(intra-day) of 12,374.25, beforeending 32.75 points, or 0.27 percent, higher at 12,362.30, whichis its record closing level.“Market is moving aheadignoring the sudden jump inCPI with an optimistic view onthe budget and earningsgrowth visible in the on-goingQ3 results,” Vinod Nair, Headof Research, Geojit FinancialServices Ltd commented.

Official data released aftermarket hours on Mondayshowed that retail inflationsoared to more than five-yearhigh of 7.35 per cent — abovethe RBI’s comfort level — inDecember due to high veg-etable prices. Wholesale priceindex-based inflation alsosurged to an eight-month highof 2.59 per cent in Decemberdue to high prices of food

articles, according to officialdata released on Tuesday. “Themonth-on-month bounce ininflation is expected to settlesince a large part of the gainsare one-time in nature, as indi-cated in the WPI which is stillsober in-line with the slowactivities of the economy,” Nairsaid. Hero MotoCorp was thetop gainer in the Sensex pack,rallying 2.15 per cent. ITC roseby 1.74 per cent, NTPC by 1.48per cent, M&M by 1.43 percent, Tech Mahindra by 1.42per cent, Axis Bank by 1.38 percent, Nestle by 1.32 per cent,HDFC by 1.1 per cent and TCS0.74 per cent.

On the other hand,IndusInd Bank was the biggestloser among Sensex stocks,dropping by 3.85 per cent. Thebank posted a 32 per cent risein net profit to Rs 1,300.20 crorefor the December quarter.Gross non-performing assets(NPAs) rose to 2.18 per cent oftotal advances end-December.RIL, Kotak Bank, SBI, L&T,ONGC and ICICI Bank fell upto 3.85 per cent. Broader BSEmidcap and smallcap indicesrallied up to 0.75 per cent.Among sectoral indices, BSEFMCG, metal, IT, auto, teck,utilities, power and healthcareindices rose up to 1.46 per cent,while energy, bankex, realty andcapital goods indices fell up to0.48 per cent.

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Wholesale prices basedinflation surged to an

eight-month high of 2.59 percent in December, as against0.58 per cent in November dueto sharp rise in prices of foodarticles like onion and potato.The annual inflation, based onmonthly wholesale price index(WPI) was recorded at 3.24 percent in April 2019.

WPI was at 3.46 per centduring December 2018. Buildup inflation rate in the financialyear so far was 2.42 per centcompared to a build up rate of2.92 per cent in the corre-sponding period of the previousyear, as per data released by theOffice of Economic Adviser,Ministry of Commerce &Industry on Tuesday. The rate ofprice rise for food articles roseto 13.12 per cent duringDecember as against 11 per centa month earlier, while for non-food articles it rose nearly four-fold to 7.72 per cent from 1.93per cent in November.

Among food articles, veg-etable prices surged by 69.69 percent mainly on account ofonion, which witnessed 455.83per cent jump in prices, fol-lowed by potato at 44.97 percent. Onion prices ruled aboveRs 100 per kg in various mar-kets till recently because ofcrop damage due to excessive

rains. However, prices havestarted to move southwardswith fresh crop arrival andimports. The consumer priceindex (CPI) based retail infla-tion, as per data released onMonday, spiked to over a 5-yearhigh of 7.35 per cent inDecember due to costlier foodproducts. The unexpected jumpin inflation diminished thechances of the RBI cuttinginterest rate at its next monetarypolicy review due in earlyFebruary. Experts feel CPI isexpected to further harden nextmonth due to elevated pricelevel of food prices mainly veg-etables. “We now expect infla-tion to breach 8 per cent inJanuary and then start bottom-ing out. However, this jump ininflation will perforce the RBIto relook at the inflation trajec-tory but in our view any changeto a possible change in stancecould be unwarranted as we findcompelling evidence of signifi-cant slowdown in discretionaryconsumption,” SBI EconomicResearch Department said in areport. It further said RBImissed the bus in cutting ratesin December and if food pricesremain elevated, there is a fearof economy slipping intostagflation, which indicates lowgrowth and high inflation. Thismeans RBI will possibly remainon hold in 2020, going by cur-rent trends. For manufactured

products, the wholesale inflationcooled marginally (-) 0.25 percent during the month underreview. Fuel and power, as a cat-egory, too continued to showdeflationary trend at (-) 1.46 percent as against (-)7.32 per cent.

The rate of price rise inprimary articles as a groupingrose to 11.46 per cent from 7.68per cent a month earlier.Primary articles, which have aweightage of 22.62 per cent inthe wholesale price index,broadly comprise of food arti-cles, non-food articles, miner-als and crude petroleum andnatural gas components.

Inflation for manufacturedfood products rose appreciablyin December 2019, driven byvarious edible oils and fats, anddairy products, ICRA PrincipalEconomist Aditi Nayar said.“Although the core-WPIremained in disinflation for thefifth consecutive month, thepace of the same narrowed to1.5 per cent in December 2019,from 1.9 per cent in November2019. This trend is expected tocontinue over the next twoquarters, with the core-WPIlikely to emerge out of disinfla-tion only in second half of2020,” she said. Even if foodprices record some correction,an unfavourable base effect willpush up the headline WPI infla-tion further in January 2020, sheadded.

Mumbai (PTI): Bajaj Autoon Tuesday launched its much-awaited Chetak electric scoot-er and said the bookings willstart from January 15. Thedeliveries of Chetak, whichcomes at a starting price of Rs1 lakh, will commence fromFebruary end, the companysaid. The electric variant of theiconic Chetak will initially beavailable in Pune andBengaluru, it said.

“From January 15 onwardsChetak will be available in twocities and this will mark thecommencement of a new era intwo-wheeler mobility,” RakeshSharma, Executive Director,Bajaj Auto said. Bajaj Auto hadunveiled Chetak last October.The company said the electricscooter will be available in twovariants, Urbane and Premium.Additionally, a home-chargingstation will be included in thepackage. With the aim of pro-viding a seamless and conve-nient booking experience, cus-tomers can book the vehicleonline on the Chetak website atan initial amount of Rs 2,000,it said. According to Bajaj Auto,Chetak needs minimal main-tenance with a service intervalof 12,000 kilometres or one year(whichever is earlier), andcomes with an overall warran-ty of three years or 50,000kilometres (whichever is earli-er) inclusive of the Lithium-Ionbattery.

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Real estate sentiments inthe country revived in

December quarter and turnedoptimistic after two quarterson the back of several mea-sures taken by the governmentand the RBI to boost demand,according to a joint report byKnight Frank-FICCI-Naredco.

After staying in pessimisticzone (below 50 mark) for twoconsecutive quarters, KnightFrank–FICCI–NAREDCOReal Estate Sentiment IndexQ4 2019 survey showed thatsentiments of real estate stake-holders in India was in opti-mistic zone at 53 in October-December quarter of 2019, upfrom 42 in the previous quar-ter. The future sentiment score,that had gone in the red for thefirst time in the precedingJuly-September 2019 quarter at49, also bounced back to 59 inQ4 2019. A score over 50 sig-nifies ‘optimism’ in sentiments,a score of 50 means the senti-ment is ‘same’ or ‘neutral’,while a score below 50 shows‘pessimism’. Though the senti-ment is in optimistic zonenow, the qualitative outlook ofstakeholders remains cautious,with a majority of them opin-ing that the sector will remainat the same levels as previous-ly even while it will not godown further in the next sixmonths, it added. “The real

estate sector sentiments haveshown improvement in its cur-rent as well as expected out-look for the market in Q4 2019.This optimism is significant inthe wake of the continueddownslide in India’s overalleconomic performance,”Knight Frank India Chairmanand Managing Director ShishirBaijal said.

“Even while the sector isworking towards finding itsbalance, especially in the res-idential segment, steps by thegovernment have kept the sec-tor stable in 2019. However, weexpect the market to remaincautious and sensitive to eventhe smallest change as large-scale demand is yet to pickpace,” he added. The sector’soptimism is far pronounced forthe office sector, which hasgrown from strength tostrength in the past few years,reaching historic highs in 2019.

“In the next 8-10 quarters,if the office, other commercialincluding retail, warehouseand logistics and the residen-tial sector continue to showpositive growth, despite thepace of growth of Indian econ-omy, we can expect the realestate sector to show upwardcurve of revival. The sector,therefore, needs to start mak-ing adequate safeguards toensure that the demand for all segments stays positive,”Baijal said.

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Script Open High Low LTPHDFCBANK 1293.50 1293.50 1278.00 1289.45BAJFINANCE 4165.20 4200.00 4151.25 4193.50BHARTIARTL 467.00 472.60 467.00 469.45INDUSINDBK 1545.00 1586.55 1470.60 1481.10YESBANK 41.75 41.75 36.55 38.55TATAGLOBAL 358.10 392.00 358.10 389.40CHOLAHLDNG 545.00 563.30 545.00 559.95RELIANCE 1542.45 1550.50 1522.70 1529.05ICICIBANK 537.60 538.80 534.45 537.45TATASTEEL 497.00 505.95 495.85 498.45KOTAKBANK 1695.00 1697.40 1671.50 1677.20IBULHSGFIN 314.50 316.85 306.25 307.35TATAMOTORS 196.00 198.10 193.70 195.75TCS 2199.00 2229.75 2198.75 2207.20SBIN 330.60 331.75 326.50 327.90ITC 240.00 243.70 238.35 243.30JINDALSTEL 180.00 180.65 171.80 173.90BANDHANBNK 521.00 524.95 499.00 518.95INFY 770.60 776.80 767.30 775.35HDFC 2450.00 2499.65 2447.50 2492.70RBLBANK 359.15 365.00 352.75 356.60MARUTI 7348.15 7411.30 7330.70 7388.55BLUEDART 2431.00 2674.00 2428.25 2612.00HINDALCO 212.00 214.60 210.85 211.85VEDL 161.80 166.05 161.10 164.90DELTACORP 201.05 202.45 198.20 200.00DLF 252.80 257.60 250.65 254.55DMART 1903.80 1939.70 1892.60 1930.00UPL 594.90 594.90 579.60 583.20CHOLAFIN 320.00 325.35 316.75 320.50SAIL 50.50 51.65 50.15 50.75SRTRANSFIN 1153.40 1213.60 1113.35 1129.90GAIL 129.90 132.90 128.70 130.00HINDUNILVR 1999.90 2015.00 1982.70 2009.00INDIACEM 82.50 87.45 81.85 86.60ZEEL 265.20 271.60 263.90 269.50AXISBANK 739.10 751.25 734.45 747.65ASIANPAINT 1809.00 1822.75 1805.95 1818.55IDEA 6.19 6.19 6.06 6.10IBULISL 134.00 134.00 131.00 134.00JSWSTEEL 278.00 283.95 277.90 280.95FEDERALBNK 90.35 91.40 89.60 91.20NCC 57.25 58.35 56.90 57.95AUROPHARMA 462.00 481.65 460.50 480.35LT 1332.50 1332.50 1315.80 1326.00JAICORPLTD 110.30 117.20 109.15 115.75AVANTI 615.20 653.75 615.20 649.10BAJAJFINSV 9418.50 9575.00 9418.00 9557.05BANKBARODA 97.80 98.70 96.70 97.75BATAINDIA 1762.10 1784.95 1755.00 1767.70TATACHEM 707.00 733.55 707.00 726.35L&TFH 127.75 127.75 125.80 126.10MOTHERSUMI 145.80 146.20 140.65 142.20HDFCAMC 3083.00 3154.05 3061.95 3141.80NMDC 123.90 126.05 123.65 125.90SIEMENS 1504.00 1517.00 1504.00 1510.45PVR 1878.60 1906.05 1867.50 1891.40EICHERMOT 20280.00 20566.90 20280.00 20498.65VENKYS 1747.00 1833.85 1742.85 1766.45TV18BRDCST 25.00 29.60 23.80 28.55TATAELXSI 892.10 919.90 892.00 907.40PIIND 1479.65 1484.90 1455.00 1474.70RNAM 344.95 354.80 341.60 352.45ULTRACEMCO 4477.00 4502.35 4425.00 4483.35MINDTREE 848.00 875.00 843.30 863.75ESCORTS 655.05 675.65 650.95 672.80PIDILITIND 1426.00 1432.00 1416.85 1427.15PAGEIND 23125.25 24244.95 23125.25 23921.65HDFCLIFE 626.05 626.55 612.50 614.10RECLTD 144.40 144.40 141.70 142.15BPCL 474.95 478.70 472.10 473.20WIPRO 257.00 258.30 254.75 257.15PNB 63.50 64.10 62.45 62.80BRITANNIA 3050.50 3118.15 3040.60 3104.80SPICEJET 104.15 106.00 103.20 104.85NIITTECH 1774.00 1816.95 1765.00 1805.50ISEC 408.00 443.80 408.00 436.15BIOCON 284.95 285.50 280.55 282.15HCLTECH 592.00 597.30 587.10 594.15CANBK 216.25 218.00 214.25 215.45MGL 1005.00 1023.00 1005.00 1014.05BOMDYEING 92.70 94.35 89.30 89.95SUNPHARMA 445.90 449.60 444.55 445.80SUNTV 464.00 469.15 454.90 463.60RAJESHEXPO 712.50 726.55 699.00 701.75GRAPHITE 300.00 304.40 298.05 300.90DISHTV 12.70 12.79 12.50 12.59BERGEPAINT 509.65 534.45 509.60 530.15CGCL 198.00 200.90 196.25 199.40BALKRISIND 1044.40 1074.40 1044.40 1070.15WOCKPHARMA 245.80 259.40 245.80 255.65HEROMOTOCO 2367.10 2417.30 2361.95 2408.80MCX 1327.00 1365.00 1321.95 1357.15LICHSGFIN 455.00 456.55 445.30 452.85TITAN 1162.00 1168.50 1157.80 1166.80GODFRYPHLP 1374.30 1430.00 1373.15 1413.70HINDPETRO 255.00 257.80 253.65 254.55ADANIENT 215.50 215.50 211.90 214.15TATAMTRDVR 81.05 81.90 80.55 80.90BHEL 46.65 46.65 45.45 45.90ONGC 125.85 125.85 123.85 125.10ASHOKLEY 81.65 81.95 80.80 81.40FORCEMOT 1279.80 1292.00 1250.00 1272.75MFSL 507.60 511.40 495.95 500.45EDELWEISS 109.95 112.90 106.15 106.80SPARC 191.40 194.35 188.55 192.10TATACOFFEE 98.00 102.90 97.00 100.35

CEATLTD 1029.00 1034.40 1012.55 1021.30MOTILALOFS 890.00 890.90 871.90 877.20M&M 555.50 563.25 554.95 562.50LUPIN 752.00 758.90 750.35 752.95TECHM 789.90 797.65 783.80 796.20MANAPPURAM 177.95 178.15 175.75 176.30COALINDIA 211.90 213.60 209.90 213.10NATIONALUM 45.90 47.35 45.55 47.05REDINGTON 136.50 137.50 125.35 127.15INDIGO 1436.50 1436.70 1418.75 1422.85JUBILANT 559.00 580.25 531.95 561.65PEL 1440.60 1470.00 1431.85 1445.40VOLTAS 695.00 700.30 691.50 693.00ABCAPITAL 112.25 113.60 110.30 110.80ADANIGAS 169.40 171.50 166.65 169.20BEL 98.25 100.15 98.00 99.90POWERGRID 195.40 196.35 194.40 195.35EXIDEIND 185.95 192.20 184.70 190.65JUSTDIAL 585.95 590.70 573.30 575.45ADANIPOWER 62.50 63.30 62.15 62.40IBREALEST 94.15 96.80 92.40 95.10COLPAL 1480.00 1507.65 1476.40 1502.80PETRONET 274.30 278.60 273.00 277.85STRTECH 127.65 131.80 126.15 130.05TATAPOWER 59.85 60.30 59.20 60.20JMFINANCIL 96.55 104.85 96.55 99.80MPHASIS 889.15 934.45 888.05 900.65BANKINDIA 69.50 69.50 68.30 68.85MAHSEAMLES 430.00 447.40 421.15 424.15NTPC 122.00 123.85 121.40 123.55BAJAJ-AUTO 3092.00 3116.90 3076.60 3101.55ACC 1537.00 1537.00 1511.65 1513.85EQUITAS 106.10 109.25 105.80 106.30STAR 390.40 395.80 390.35 392.65ICICIPRULI 499.15 499.15 488.95 489.65NESTLEIND 14662.00 14900.00 14615.00 14869.05ADANIPORTS 392.70 392.70 386.10 389.30HSCL 70.00 71.50 68.70 69.60

IRB 91.25 92.85 90.35 91.95IOC 127.30 128.25 126.65 126.90DABUR 480.00 483.40 477.95 482.45HEG 1070.00 1085.00 1058.65 1063.45JUBLFOOD 1731.00 1743.40 1717.40 1720.20IDFCFIRSTB 44.60 44.75 44.05 44.60CIPLA 481.85 485.45 479.80 484.40RADICO 351.00 363.80 348.60 356.85DEEPAKFERT 109.85 117.80 109.65 115.15LTI 1826.00 1895.00 1824.90 1878.20HAVELLS 651.10 654.00 643.50 650.20HAL 801.00 866.00 801.00 858.50AMARAJABAT 741.50 762.10 740.00 759.35DALBHARAT 820.00 859.00 818.45 832.85DBL 428.95 439.70 420.00 422.55POLYCAB 1081.20 1093.40 1027.80 1047.70INFRATEL 247.25 249.00 245.80 247.85SUNTECK 444.25 447.80 433.75 443.25DIVISLAB 1867.00 1885.80 1857.80 1873.85APOLLOTYRE 171.30 175.50 171.25 173.60GRASIM 763.20 767.95 753.40 759.50GMRINFRA 23.95 24.40 23.50 23.55APOLLOHOSP 1489.00 1501.30 1485.40 1493.35M&MFIN 343.50 349.80 343.00 346.85RPOWER 2.44 2.49 2.44 2.45GODREJCP 744.00 754.50 737.25 750.55BIRLACORPN 705.25 736.05 705.25 731.60UBL 1300.65 1309.00 1287.40 1302.60RAYMOND 670.15 675.95 666.20 671.50GNFC 195.05 198.10 193.35 195.40BHARATFORG 523.00 523.00 514.20 518.55CHENNPETRO 145.00 147.80 139.90 146.55PNBHOUSING 493.50 493.50 471.50 476.30NBCC 37.00 37.55 37.00 37.35GUJGAS 263.00 270.00 263.00 268.60BALRAMCHIN 193.00 194.50 189.70 190.35IPCALAB 1191.95 1233.80 1191.00 1216.35MIDHANI 165.50 176.00 165.50 172.35OMAXE 164.00 170.00 155.05 155.40TORNTPOWER 301.00 305.50 299.05 300.05PFC 125.00 125.10 122.20 122.70PHILIPCARB 131.10 131.30 120.60 129.70MUTHOOTFIN 751.00 767.20 751.00 764.75IGL 424.40 427.25 420.95 424.60DIXON 4210.00 4232.10 4125.00 4142.90LALPATHLAB 1624.00 1635.80 1580.60 1601.60APLAPOLLO 1899.75 1968.00 1885.30 1962.75SUDARSCHEM 449.80 452.80 445.00 447.10CARERATING 603.50 605.95 588.45 590.10UJJIVAN 350.85 350.85 334.50 335.45NIACL 157.00 159.25 153.45 154.65FRETAIL 349.40 356.80 347.25 350.50VIPIND 451.80 460.10 448.35 454.85

NOCIL 118.35 118.50 115.90 116.35BEML 989.40 996.00 982.60 992.55ICICIGI 1359.00 1377.75 1357.60 1369.00LAXMIMACH 3550.00 3787.40 3522.75 3737.10AMBUJACEM 211.85 212.45 208.90 209.25PCJEWELLER 23.20 23.20 22.35 22.50SUZLON 2.47 2.49 2.36 2.36RCF 53.50 54.00 52.75 52.90RAIN 119.50 119.50 114.50 115.75DRREDDY 2953.50 2967.55 2933.00 2946.25INFIBEAM 57.00 58.15 54.50 57.65SRF 3544.95 3561.75 3522.25 3540.95TVSMOTOR 467.30 474.25 467.00 471.65LINDEINDIA 686.55 695.00 675.35 681.95GLENMARK 346.50 346.50 341.00 342.30GODREJAGRO 548.00 571.45 547.80 569.05IDBI 36.20 36.40 35.80 35.95WELCORP 172.00 174.85 170.15 171.05SWANENERGY 123.75 124.10 120.45 121.30SUVEN 309.05 317.45 308.00 314.20NESCO 707.35 737.45 703.15 723.25TATAMETALI 661.85 688.00 661.85 668.25HINDZINC 215.00 218.60 213.50 213.95RVNL 25.40 25.80 25.10 25.20MARICO 346.00 346.00 342.45 344.55SBILIFE 992.00 995.05 984.30 987.55JINDALSAW 93.90 94.85 92.20 92.90SUPREMEIND 1220.45 1223.40 1205.05 1212.00ABFRL 230.40 235.00 230.40 232.90ALKEM 2340.00 2351.60 2278.25 2325.30COROMANDEL 542.50 560.80 539.25 558.10GICRE 259.60 262.30 253.70 255.85AUBANK 838.00 849.80 837.65 847.05NAUKRI 2523.95 2550.90 2511.00 2546.00WABAG 205.30 212.50 203.00 206.20HEXAWARE 326.00 329.85 322.45 326.85ITDC 287.95 297.55 284.30 290.75CASTROLIND 128.00 129.00 126.60 128.00SOBHA 444.70 447.45 435.00 436.20NILKAMAL 1311.80 1410.00 1311.80 1381.10CONCOR 563.25 570.30 562.00 566.60CROMPTON 241.25 244.95 241.20 242.50JSL 43.60 44.75 42.80 43.55INDHOTEL 138.50 140.70 136.80 139.95BAJAJELEC 381.50 392.35 374.10 379.60RELCAPITAL 11.60 11.65 10.96 11.50TATAINVEST 817.00 874.50 816.95 863.15HEIDELBERG 193.00 198.40 193.00 196.00CESC 738.75 741.40 732.00 736.40WHIRLPOOL 2377.00 2377.00 2325.00 2331.95IRCON 437.00 449.50 432.25 445.85JKCEMENT 1277.00 1302.70 1272.05 1300.05MRF 67111.00 67555.00 66414.20 66691.60UNIONBANK 53.00 53.00 51.95 52.50PFIZER 4009.30 4120.00 4009.30 4095.45ALLCARGO 108.95 109.20 105.65 106.15BOSCHLTD 14756.00 15188.05 14756.00 15140.40ITI 99.70 99.70 96.95 97.35JKTYRE 76.10 78.40 75.80 77.65AEGISLOG 196.15 207.60 196.00 206.30ADANIGREEN 198.70 198.70 198.70 198.70BALMLAWRIE 121.20 136.00 121.00 128.05DEEPAKNI 390.00 397.60 388.00 389.35PTC 63.00 63.65 62.10 62.95RALLIS 188.00 192.50 187.50 189.35GODREJPROP 981.15 986.10 972.50 976.15CARBORUNIV 330.15 335.80 330.10 334.35SHREECEM 23626.20 23720.00 23435.10 23563.15KNRCON 285.00 295.00 282.35 287.25OFSS 2947.65 2993.00 2930.00 2955.65HINDCOPPER 47.70 48.00 47.05 47.25CYIENT 449.20 459.85 446.80 450.45RITES 310.30 310.35 307.10 308.90CADILAHC 256.65 258.30 255.10 257.10MEGH 63.70 63.75 61.35 61.80SCI 60.25 60.60 59.65 59.85BBTC 1126.20 1137.80 1117.00 1122.80JSLHISAR 85.65 85.65 79.85 80.65NAVINFLUOR 1064.20 1064.50 1025.00 1039.70GSFC 79.95 81.85 79.85 81.30RELAXO 642.85 649.95 633.00 641.20RESPONIND 91.40 91.65 89.35 90.50ADANITRANS 337.85 337.85 331.25 333.25TRIDENT 7.03 7.29 6.99 7.21IDFC 38.00 39.25 38.00 38.80DCAL 83.20 84.55 79.95 80.75LTTS 1552.20 1591.50 1552.20 1589.25INDIANB 99.40 99.50 98.70 99.00FORTIS 143.55 144.00 140.85 143.50KTKBANK 76.00 77.75 75.30 76.85TRENT 547.00 564.15 545.75 560.30FSL 41.90 43.25 41.85 42.25PRSMJOHNSN 66.50 69.90 66.45 68.25ENGINERSIN 102.05 102.20 99.85 99.95VGUARD 219.95 225.70 216.20 224.80AJANTPHARM 1048.00 1088.00 1037.70 1077.40KPRMILL 687.50 705.00 685.75 692.80AMBER 1255.00 1299.00 1233.65 1291.40SCHNEIDER 82.35 88.00 82.05 84.40DCBBANK 192.35 193.75 191.00 191.40GHCL 195.00 197.00 190.40 191.75EIDPARRY 234.00 239.00 232.05 232.30LUXIND 1479.60 1497.45 1444.20 1490.55PRESTIGE 345.00 353.60 337.00 339.75CUMMINSIND 598.00 598.00 590.00 593.10GLAXO 1630.10 1633.00 1620.00 1628.20SANOFI 6803.95 6804.00 6700.00 6724.15COCHINSHIP 403.60 408.60 403.50 405.00

BDL 306.90 318.45 306.90 315.30MRPL 45.40 46.60 44.50 44.75JBCHEPHARM 462.90 463.80 455.00 461.05QUESS 571.00 574.00 556.75 562.95BLISSGVS 147.50 148.55 145.00 146.45PARAGMILK 153.50 159.30 153.50 155.55RAMCOCEM 825.40 833.00 818.75 823.60JSWENERGY 68.15 68.20 67.30 67.50INOXLEISUR 393.75 397.55 393.75 396.35AAVAS 2014.00 2020.00 2000.00 2014.55GRANULES 131.55 133.00 130.65 131.00KEC 324.00 329.85 322.45 328.80MOIL 164.20 167.35 162.20 162.95ADVENZYMES 175.00 185.00 175.00 181.15JCHAC 1984.90 2042.65 1960.00 1995.60HUDCO 41.00 41.00 39.70 39.80EMAMILTD 307.95 314.80 307.25 312.35JKLAKSHMI 340.00 343.45 333.50 342.15VBL 740.90 741.00 720.00 735.55KAJARIACER 545.00 554.10 541.50 549.80RATNAMANI 1200.00 1205.00 1166.60 1171.35GESHIP 320.60 334.00 319.90 320.80PHOENIXLTD 876.15 876.15 842.05 856.75KEI 510.80 515.55 498.45 508.30ORIENTBANK 51.70 52.25 51.40 51.65IEX 177.55 183.70 174.75 179.65JAMNAAUTO 45.45 45.75 44.70 44.85BAJAJCON 240.05 240.05 237.50 238.25GSPL 238.35 240.00 234.15 236.70ASHOKA 103.70 105.75 103.35 105.30ITDCEM 62.55 62.55 58.90 59.45WESTLIFE 384.40 392.90 380.40 381.45RELINFRA 22.55 22.60 22.55 22.55ALBK 18.35 18.90 18.25 18.45NETWORK18 27.10 28.20 27.00 28.20HONAUT 26900.00 27149.00 26771.00 26810.40ABBOTINDIA 12555.00 12672.00 12554.95 12640.55ATUL 4242.00 4265.45 4222.10 4231.40TIMETECHNO 55.10 58.75 55.00 57.05LEMONTREE 57.00 57.65 55.75 55.85KALPATPOWR 428.00 429.00 420.00 423.85HFCL 17.65 17.80 17.60 17.70ASTERDM 162.70 163.10 159.05 159.95SOMANYCERA 233.40 244.40 233.40 236.50REPCOHOME 324.20 328.00 322.05 324.90ERIS 508.05 514.35 504.75 505.15FCONSUMER 25.25 25.35 24.65 24.85CREDITACC 763.00 776.00 755.00 759.60BLUESTARCO 840.20 844.75 832.00 842.85CHAMBLFERT 158.50 159.60 157.30 158.30CANFINHOME 387.15 390.00 385.35 386.40WELSPUNIND 48.10 49.75 48.10 49.55INDOSTAR 193.25 198.10 191.10 192.85MINDACORP 111.15 111.35 108.40 109.00SOUTHBANK 10.31 10.43 10.28 10.34SYMPHONY 1151.15 1161.10 1147.00 1149.10TIMKEN 947.45 952.40 925.00 928.00GREAVESCOT 138.85 140.95 136.35 138.95KRBL 278.20 279.30 271.75 272.40KANSAINER 511.95 520.00 511.95 517.15OIL 158.40 158.85 157.10 157.95METROPOLIS 1685.00 1719.70 1670.00 1691.85BASF 989.55 992.00 972.00 977.25IIFL 149.10 152.00 145.60 148.95MINDAIND 396.10 400.20 388.00 390.05DBCORP 134.90 147.50 134.80 140.65TIINDIA 501.50 511.00 499.00 505.70NATCOPHARM 627.05 634.45 624.60 630.95GALAXYSURF 1485.90 1486.00 1472.85 1477.80BAYERCROP 3924.95 3985.60 3900.00 3923.95DHFL 17.00 17.00 16.20 16.30PNCINFRA 197.45 198.10 193.20 193.85SADBHAV 125.90 126.95 122.60 123.15FINOLEXIND 585.00 600.00 584.50 588.053MINDIA 21579.45 21974.00 21579.45 21924.75INTELLECT 155.40 157.40 153.20 153.75TORNTPHARM 1898.30 1906.80 1881.60 1885.10KPITTECH 93.60 100.60 92.05 97.80GUJALKALI 430.40 433.60 422.00 424.35BAJAJHLDNG 3400.00 3420.00 3397.25 3413.95DCMSHRIRAM 418.95 421.20 412.00 417.10NH 344.20 344.80 338.30 340.90TVSSRICHAK 1693.85 1701.00 1668.90 1673.25GSKCONS 8644.00 8740.00 8638.00 8719.30SHANKARA 385.00 385.00 370.45 373.30ORIENTCEM 85.20 87.50 85.20 85.90VARROC 471.80 478.00 460.50 467.50IOB 11.19 11.66 11.15 11.38PGHL 4282.20 4300.20 4266.00 4276.15FINEORG 2053.75 2073.45 2050.00 2064.60HIMATSEIDE 130.50 133.20 130.35 131.10MAHINDCIE 171.00 173.55 166.70 172.15SUNDRMFAST 483.00 498.95 483.00 490.85FINCABLES 407.15 418.75 405.00 413.95MASFIN 858.65 906.80 857.00 897.80GILLETTE 6500.00 6531.25 6452.00 6491.05ECLERX 675.20 689.60 671.80 682.75UFLEX 219.85 220.60 214.50 217.20SONATSOFTW 318.00 320.25 315.55 317.45NHPC 24.15 24.30 24.10 24.15CUB 234.00 235.15 233.00 234.70CERA 2673.65 2693.00 2656.00 2668.95MAHLIFE 406.30 415.00 405.30 409.55ORIENTELEC 195.45 195.45 192.00 193.50CAPPL 293.90 299.00 290.55 293.40APLLTD 565.00 570.00 559.05 562.00CENTRALBK 17.85 18.00 17.85 17.90SIS 1017.00 1031.90 1005.00 1012.30

TVTODAY 246.50 257.80 245.00 253.10AKZOINDIA 1985.65 1997.45 1967.30 1976.40ASTRAZEN 2515.50 2542.00 2510.30 2517.00LAURUSLABS 408.30 408.40 402.55 404.20ZENSARTECH 186.00 191.60 185.00 187.85GDL 128.60 129.80 125.65 127.65TTKPRESTIG 5823.00 5928.00 5795.95 5835.50TAKE 102.90 104.55 101.40 102.65TCIEXP 748.35 748.35 721.70 728.55JISLJALEQS 8.60 8.60 8.25 8.34HERITGFOOD 370.10 382.45 366.50 370.90MAHLOG 455.00 457.90 422.80 426.15PGHH 11150.00 11301.00 11140.35 11180.25TNPL 176.25 177.25 173.85 174.55WABCOINDIA 6600.00 6600.00 6519.95 6529.05FLFL 414.10 417.15 396.55 415.15SJVN 26.30 26.35 26.10 26.15VINATIORGA 1989.00 2004.00 1989.00 1995.45LAKSHVILAS 16.50 16.90 16.30 16.65GPPL 90.25 92.70 89.90 91.45MAGMA 60.00 62.05 60.00 62.05LAOPALA 172.00 172.00 165.40 170.70GODREJIND 438.90 444.95 436.85 444.00MMTC 20.65 20.80 20.25 20.35GMDCLTD 67.70 68.40 66.70 67.00PERSISTENT 685.00 688.90 682.00 683.35ZYDUSWELL 1463.00 1476.35 1450.00 1465.65SOLARINDS 1090.00 1100.00 1057.00 1094.95AIAENG 1658.40 1669.00 1651.45 1666.20ENDURANCE 1048.00 1060.00 1035.90 1049.35GICHSGFIN 160.95 162.55 157.90 158.55SYNGENE 312.30 314.35 308.05 309.15NLCINDIA 59.30 59.90 59.10 59.65SHK 116.15 121.80 116.15 118.60CRISIL 1836.90 1837.10 1800.80 1803.70INOXWIND 37.00 37.50 36.50 37.30MAHABANK 13.16 13.40 13.16 13.24VRLLOG 268.00 271.00 267.40 268.65SKFINDIA 2135.55 2144.85 2126.20 2130.20FDC 226.95 228.20 223.50 224.95DHANUKA 457.30 458.60 429.55 453.30VAIBHAVGBL 876.60 938.10 875.05 889.85MAXINDIA 79.75 81.50 79.30 80.30CENTURYPLY 163.90 165.85 161.65 162.75MAHSCOOTER 4318.45 4346.20 4318.45 4324.60UCOBANK 16.20 16.35 16.10 16.15ASTRAL 1121.70 1137.10 1116.35 1130.55SYNDIBANK 27.30 27.45 27.10 27.25IFCI 6.80 6.84 6.75 6.77EIHOTEL 145.35 148.40 144.60 147.05CCL 203.00 203.00 196.00 197.50GEPIL 701.05 701.05 685.00 689.80HATHWAY 20.40 20.40 19.80 20.15CENTRUM 26.50 26.60 25.50 25.75TEJASNET 91.50 93.60 88.65 89.70TEAMLEASE 2727.00 2785.20 2689.80 2740.00GRINDWELL 594.90 603.75 590.80 601.10VMART 1662.40 1688.75 1641.00 1655.50MHRIL 236.00 239.75 231.00 235.40ESSELPRO 174.90 177.60 171.85 172.50STARCEMENT 96.80 96.80 93.35 93.80ANDHRABANK 16.55 16.70 16.40 16.60SUPRAJIT 212.05 217.50 208.00 215.25SHILPAMED 272.00 274.55 268.00 269.70GET&D 156.75 162.00 156.70 159.50J&KBANK 30.25 30.25 29.85 29.95JYOTHYLAB 157.00 157.80 155.50 156.80OBEROIRLTY 540.90 540.90 533.15 538.20ARVINDFASN 406.00 406.00 400.00 402.55THERMAX 1083.00 1105.45 1083.00 1090.40IFBIND 685.00 698.00 681.85 689.95NBVENTURES 84.15 85.00 82.75 83.25JAGRAN* 61.75 62.30 61.30 62.00GARFIBRES 1267.45 1295.00 1255.00 1287.60SHOPERSTOP 391.50 393.50 391.30 391.90VTL 1000.50 1015.00 980.05 983.70GAYAPROJ 88.00 88.00 84.05 84.85THYROCARE 532.90 535.35 530.80 533.60CORPBANK 24.20 24.70 24.20 24.50VSTIND 4294.70 4318.00 4264.75 4294.25GULFOILLUB 807.20 809.25 802.45 802.85UNITEDBNK 8.74 8.74 8.65 8.67SHRIRAMCIT 1391.80 1402.25 1391.80 1393.80SFL 1333.95 1334.00 1332.00 1334.00SCHAEFFLER 4699.45 4699.45 4629.15 4638.00TCNSBRANDS 598.90 598.90 590.35 591.10

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 12333.10 12374.25 12308.70 12362.30 32.75VEDL 161.40 166.10 161.00 165.05 4.60BRITANNIA 3058.00 3119.00 3037.15 3115.00 69.90HEROMOTOCO2367.00 2418.80 2361.05 2415.50 48.75ITC 240.25 243.80 238.30 243.10 3.85CIPLA 480.60 485.20 479.20 485.20 7.55ZEEL 265.15 271.70 263.85 268.90 3.80NESTLEIND 14657.90 14895.00 14607.00 14860.00 201.75M&M 554.95 563.75 554.95 562.40 7.45TECHM 785.85 797.80 783.70 796.30 10.45HCLTECH 587.20 597.40 587.15 594.00 7.50BAJAJFINSV 9446.00 9579.80 9405.30 9574.00 118.75NTPC 121.75 124.00 121.35 123.25 1.50AXISBANK 740.00 751.40 734.20 746.05 8.65HDFC 2463.65 2499.90 2446.60 2488.30 25.75GAIL 129.50 132.80 128.45 130.10 1.20HINDUNILVR 1995.50 2014.95 1982.40 2013.00 18.15EICHERMOT 20270.00 20579.30 20255.00 20464.75 184.75TCS 2195.00 2229.80 2195.00 2210.00 19.65JSWSTEEL 278.00 284.00 278.00 281.00 2.40ASIANPAINT 1805.00 1821.65 1804.80 1819.00 14.10TITAN 1162.00 1168.65 1157.15 1167.10 8.15INFRATEL 246.50 249.20 245.65 248.15 1.70COALINDIA 211.15 213.50 209.75 213.00 1.45BAJFINANCE 4170.00 4202.40 4150.45 4190.00 25.50TATASTEEL 496.45 506.00 495.75 498.55 2.80BPCL 473.90 478.75 472.10 473.20 2.45MARUTI 7355.00 7412.40 7325.60 7390.00 37.30WIPRO 256.85 258.35 254.55 256.00 1.20SUNPHARMA 447.00 449.50 444.40 446.60 2.00BAJAJ-AUTO 3091.10 3118.00 3074.00 3107.00 12.95ULTRACEMCO 4465.00 4502.95 4422.70 4480.90 12.20POWERGRID 194.80 196.35 194.25 195.30 0.50INFY 769.95 776.95 767.20 775.50 1.95HINDALCO 212.50 214.75 210.80 211.70 0.50BHARTIARTL 468.90 472.65 466.60 470.00 1.10HDFCBANK 1289.00 1292.55 1277.50 1288.00 2.00GRASIM 762.80 767.90 753.10 759.90 0.30IOC 127.60 128.20 126.65 126.95 0.00ICICIBANK 536.20 538.95 534.15 538.15 -0.45DRREDDY 2954.80 2968.80 2932.00 2950.00 -4.70ADANIPORTS 391.00 392.60 386.00 389.25 -1.10ONGC 125.45 125.65 123.80 125.10 -0.35TATAMOTORS 195.70 198.25 193.60 195.20 -1.05LT 1329.80 1331.00 1315.10 1326.00 -8.70KOTAKBANK 1696.00 1696.10 1671.00 1678.80 -12.30SBIN 329.80 331.70 326.50 328.10 -2.65RELIANCE 1540.00 1550.00 1521.85 1529.10 -14.60UPL 593.20 594.90 579.20 585.20 -6.75INDUSINDBK 1546.00 1585.00 1470.25 1478.20 -61.45YESBANK 41.75 41.75 36.55 38.60 -3.50

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 28836.50 28917.00 28770.00 28845.25 61.70BERGEPAINT 510.85 534.00 509.20 534.00 25.10AUROPHARMA 462.00 481.55 460.25 480.80 20.20PAGEIND 23202.00 24250.00 23202.00 23900.00 743.45HDFCAMC 3075.00 3154.00 3063.65 3142.00 79.90BOSCHLTD 14834.00 15199.00 14743.55 15159.90 368.60COLPAL 1480.00 1507.00 1474.95 1506.00 28.45NMDC 123.90 126.00 123.55 125.50 2.25PETRONET 273.35 278.60 272.85 277.50 4.15GODREJCP 742.80 755.00 737.10 753.40 10.60ICICIGI 1359.00 1378.00 1357.05 1370.00 16.25HINDPETRO 255.00 257.80 253.60 255.00 2.65DABUR 480.95 483.65 477.55 483.30 4.60BANDHANBNK 521.10 525.00 498.20 518.45 4.45CONCOR 561.80 570.80 561.75 566.65 4.85UBL 1299.65 1309.05 1285.70 1304.00 10.60PEL 1440.00 1470.95 1431.00 1448.30 11.15DMART 1902.00 1940.00 1892.15 1929.00 14.35PGHH 11100.00 11320.00 11100.00 11200.00 77.80SIEMENS 1503.00 1517.00 1500.55 1511.25 9.45DLF 252.10 257.60 250.55 254.20 1.40BAJAJHLDNG 3401.75 3421.80 3390.00 3412.55 16.60LUPIN 752.70 758.90 750.45 752.00 3.40NHPC 24.20 24.30 24.10 24.30 0.10BANKBARODA 97.90 98.70 96.45 97.90 0.35MARICO 345.00 345.55 342.15 344.60 1.15INDIGO 1430.00 1436.40 1418.00 1425.95 1.80PIDILITIND 1425.50 1431.70 1417.00 1426.80 1.30CADILAHC 256.55 258.50 255.00 256.70 0.15SBILIFE 993.00 994.00 984.00 989.00 -0.85ASHOKLEY 81.65 81.90 80.80 81.50 -0.15DIVISLAB 1878.50 1887.00 1857.00 1875.00 -3.85OFSS 2943.00 2998.00 2921.90 2949.00 -6.20HAVELLS 652.95 654.30 643.20 649.55 -1.65MCDOWELL-N 583.90 584.85 575.25 581.90 -1.65L&TFH 127.45 127.75 125.80 126.05 -0.65PNB 63.20 64.10 62.40 62.85 -0.35HINDZINC 216.00 218.70 213.25 214.50 -1.30ACC 1527.00 1534.00 1510.55 1517.00 -9.15BIOCON 285.05 285.80 280.55 282.00 -1.90GICRE 258.50 262.35 253.50 256.00 -1.90IDEA 6.15 6.20 6.05 6.10 -0.05SHREECEM 23670.00 23820.20 23424.75 23620.00 -209.20AMBUJACEM 212.20 212.45 208.80 209.30 -2.20ICICIPRULI 498.70 498.70 488.60 489.80 -7.15NIACL 157.95 159.40 153.50 154.75 -2.40HDFCLIFE 626.50 627.00 612.75 614.20 -11.20PFC 124.95 124.95 122.25 122.65 -2.35IBULHSGFIN 315.45 316.75 306.15 306.75 -6.75MOTHERSUMI 145.75 146.25 140.55 142.45 -3.40SRTRANSFIN 1164.10 1213.40 1111.60 1125.00 -43.10

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Tehran: Iran announced onTuesday its first arrests over theshooting down of a Ukrainianairliner last week, as it strugglesto contain the fallout from thedisaster that sparked three daysof protests.

The Ukraine InternationalAirlines plane was broughtdown by a missile shortly aftertakeoff on Wednesday, killing all176 passengers and crew onboard.

Iran has come undermounting international pres-sure to ensure its investigationinto the tragedy is full andtransparent.

The authorities’ handling ofthe air disaster has also angeredsome Iranians. Videos postedonline Monday purported toshow hundreds of protesterstaking to the streets for a thirdconsecutive night, apparentlyshouting slogans against theIslamic republic.

Protesters chanted “Death todictator” on Sunday, Fars news

agency reported, a rare move fora country where media usuallyrefer to demonstrators as “riot-ers” and refrain from publishingsuch slogans.

The protests have beenmuch smaller than nationwidedemonstrations against fuelprice hikes that turned deadly inNovember.

Tehran for days deniedWestern claims based on USintelligence that the Boeing 737had been downed by a missile.

It came clean on Saturdaywhen Revolutionary Guardsaerospace commander BrigadierGeneral Amirali Hajizadehacknowledged a missile opera-tor had mistaken the plane fora cruise missile and opened fireindependently.

At a televised news confer-ence, the judiciary announcedthe first arrests had been madeover the calamitous blunder,without specifying how many.

“Extensive investigationshave been carried out and some

people have been arrested,” saidspokesman GholamhosseinEsmaili. The announcementcame shortly after PresidentHassan Rouhani said everyoneresponsible for the disaster mustbe punished. “For our people itis very important in this incidentthat anyone who was at fault ornegligent at any level” face jus-tice, Rouhani said.

“Anyone who should bepunished must be punished.

“The judiciary must form aspecial court with a high-rank-ing judge and dozens of experts...The whole world will be watch-ing,” Rouhani said.

“It cannot be that only theperson who pressed the buttonis at fault. There are others, andI want this to be explained to thepeople explicitly.”

The Kiev-bound plane wasshot down at a time when Iran’sarmed forces were on height-ened alert after launching a vol-ley of missiles at Iraqi baseshousing US troops. AFP

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Dubai: The United States onTuesday warned of threats tocommercial vessels in andaround the Persian Gulf in thewake of its confrontation withIran.

Tensions have soared sincethe U.S. Airstrike earlier thismonth that killed Gen. QassemSoleimani, Iran’s top generaland the architect of its region-al military activities. Iranresponded by firing ballisticmissiles at U.S. Troops in Iraq,without wounding anyone, andaccidentally shot down aUkrainian jetliner near Tehran,killing all 176 on board.

“Heightened military activ-ity and increased political ten-sions in this region continue to

pose serious threats to com-mercial vessels,” the U.S. Said ina maritime warning.“Associated with these threats isa potential for miscalculation ormisidentification that couldlead to aggressive actions.” Itsaid vessels transiting thePersian Gulf, the Gulf of Omanand the Strait of Hormuz —through which one-third of alloil traded by sea passes — couldencounter GPS interference orcommunications jamming.

It said some vessels havereported communications from“unknown entities falsely claim-ing to be U.S. Or coalition war-ships.” It said ships contacted byIranian forces should identifythemselves and say that they are

proceeding in accordance withinternational law.

It advised ships to refuse toallow Iranian forces to boardbut not to forcibly resist them,and to immediately contactthe U.S. Fifth Fleet.

Iran was accused of sabo-taging oil tankers in the PersianGulf last year. It denied thoseallegations, but acknowledgedseizing a British-flagged oiltanker in response to theimpounding of an Iranian oiltanker by authorities inGibraltar. The Iranian tankerwas suspected of intending toviolate sanctions to deliver oilto Syria, a close ally of Iran.Both ships were released weekslater. AP

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Ottawa: Canadian investigatorsflying to Tehran on Monday willaccess the wreckage and blackboxes from a Ukranian jetlinerdowned by a missile strike lastweek, officials said.

“We don’t fully know whatthe scope of our investigationwill be,” Transportation SafetyBoard (TSB) chair Kathy Foxtold a press conference.

However, she added, “therehave been early signs that Iranis allowing the TSB to play amore active role than is nor-mally permitted.”

Two Canadian investigatorswere to land in Tehran within

hours, followed by two more inthe coming days or weeks.

They have been invited byIran, which is leading the crashprobe, to participate in thedownloading and analysis of theaircraft’s cockpit voice and datarecorders. They will also beallowed to visit the crash siteand the wreckage of the planethat is being reassembled in anearby hanger. “We do knowwhat has happened. What wedon’t know is why it happened,”Fox commented before listingoff questions surrounding thecrash that still need to beanswered. AP

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Baghdad: Young Iraqis whodrove mass protests demandingsweeping political reforms areworried that the conflictbetween the US and Iran, whichis playing out in part on Iraqisoil, is killing their momentum.

Even before the US droneattack that killed Iranian Gen.Qassem Soleimani, the 4-month-old protests against gov-ernment corruption, poor ser-

vices and rising Iranian influ-ence in state affairs were besetby internal divisions.

A violent security crack-down heightened tensions,leading to hundreds of deathsand thousands of injuries as wellas targeted killings of sympa-thisers.

And in the stormy after-math of the US drone strike thatalso killed top Iraqi militia

commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, avoiding anotherwar in Iraq became a top pri-ority for state officials as theyscrambled to contain hostilitiesbetween Washington andTehran.

“We are afraid that theuprising is being forgotten and(officials) are focusing on thingswe don’t want, not our maingoals,” said Noor, an activist in

Baghdad’s Tahrir Square whoasked to be identified only byher first name, fearing reprisal,like all other protesters inter-viewed for this story.

“On the other hand, we aretrying to be calm and keep peo-ple on the street to make thepoint that we are not with theAmericans or the Iranians. Weare with Iraq.”

There are hopeful signs as

Iran and the US appeared toback down — at least in theshort term — after Tehranretaliated for Soleimani’s killingby firing missiles at two Iraqibases housing American troops.No one was seriously injuredand Iran was unexpectedlyforced to shift gears to managethe fallout from its accidentaldowning of a Ukrainian airlin-er filled with Iranians. AP

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Seoul: Time is running out forWashington and Pyongyang toreach a deal on North Korea’snuclear weapons, the South’sPresident Moon Jae-in - whobrokered their talks - warnedTuesday.

Moon has long champi-oned engagement withPyongyang and used the South’s2018 Winter Olympics to builda diplomatic rapprochementthat climaxed with a landmarksummit between Kim Jong Unand US President DonaldTrump in Singapore.

But negotiations have beendeadlocked since a second sum-mit collapsed in Hanoi last yearover sanctions relief and whatthe North would be willing togive up in return.

Pyongyang has since endedits moratorium on nuclear and

intercontinental ballistic missiletests and says it will not returnto talks unless Washington firstmeets all its demands in full.

It has also suspended virtu-ally all inter-Korean cooperationand said it has nothing to talkabout with Seoul.

“It is clear there is a lull intalks,” Moon acknowledged inhis annual New Year press con-ference. “Since a prolonged lullin dialogue can set back the sit-uation, it is not desirable.” Thetwo sides do not have “muchtime to spare”, he added.

“Once a full-scale presiden-tial race begins, it may not beeasy for the US to make time fortalks with North Korea.” Despitethe stand-off, he insisted furtherdiscussions were still possible,saying the North is “leaving thedoor to dialogue open”. AFP

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Washington: The US Senate islikely to begin the impeach-ment trial against PresidentDonald Trump on January 21after the House ofRepresentatives last monthimpeached him for pressuringUkraine to investigate a polit-ical rival, a top RepublicanSenator has said.

The 435-member House ofRepresentatives, whereDemocrats enjoy a majority,last month charged Trumpwith “high crimes and misde-meanours” and impeached invote that was based on bitterpolitical divide.

Now, the 100-memberSenate, where the Republicans

are in majority, needs to putTrump on trial before he can beremoved from the White House.

After holding it on forweeks, House Speaker NancyPelosi is expected to send itsimpeachment to the Senatesometime this week and thatcould be as early as Tuesday. The impeachment in the Senateis unlikely to pass throughgiven that GOP has majority inthe 100-member Senate.

Top Republican SenatorJohn Cornyn, who is also Co-Chair of the Senate IndiaCaucus, on Monday toldreporters that the Senate is like-ly to start the impeachmenttrial next Tuesday, January 21.

“Tuesday (January 21) iswhat it’s feeling like,” he said.

“We’d actually be glued toour chair starting Tuesday, Ithink,” he said in response toa question.

According to Cornyn, afterHouse sends its articles ofimpeachment, the Senate willlikely take a few days to dealwith logistics of the trial.

Prominent among theseinclude Chief Justice JohnRoberts and all Senators andsending summons to Trump’steam. The Senate will alsopass a resolution establishingthe trial rules. PTI

>��,��2�!��<��!��19 Islamabad: Avalanches and

landslides triggered by heavysnowfall and incessant rainacross Pakistan have left over80 people, including womenand children, dead, anddestroyed many houses, offi-cials said on Tuesday.

Harsh weather conditionscontinue across Pakistan overthe last three days, bringingnormal life to a halt as roadtransport and communica-tion remain severely affected.

About 84 people have diedacross the country after asevere cold wave brought lifeto a standstill in numerousareas, of f icials said onTuesday.

The National DisasterManagement Authority(NDMA) said that it was brac-ing for more human andmaterial losses due toinclement weather conditions.

At least 57 people werekilled and many others report-ed missing after avalanches hitas many as fifteen villages ofNeelum valley in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in the last24 hours, Radio Pakistanreported. Around 45 houseswere fully destroyed.

Rescue teams shifted 42injured to various hospitalsbut they officials faced hurdlesin reaching the affected peopledue to blocked roads. PTI

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Lahore: Mumbai attack mas-termind Hafiz Saeed onTuesday pleaded “not guilty” intwo terror financing casesagainst him as the Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief recorded his state-ment in a Pakistani anti-ter-rorism court here, amidstmounting international pres-sure on Islamabad to rein inmilitant groups.

The Counter TerrorismDepartment had registered 23FIRs against Saeed and hisaccomplices on the charges ofterror financing in differentcities of Punjab province andarrested him on July 17. He isheld at the Kot Lakhpat jail inLahore.

Saeed-led JuD is believedto be the front organisation forthe Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)which is responsible for carry-ing out the 2008 Mumbaiattack that killed 166 people,including six Americans.

“In response to a questionnaire handed over to him by the Anti-TerrorismCourt (ATC) Lahore regardingterrror financing chargesagainst him, Saeed on Tuesday submitted his reply inwhich he dismissed all charges against him. He plead-ed not guilty,” a court officialtold PTI after the in-camerahearing. PTI

Sydney: Helicopter-bornemarksmen killed more than5,000 camels in a five-day cullof feral herds that were threat-ening indigenous communitiesin drought-stricken areas ofsouthern Australia, officialssaid Tuesday.

Aboriginal leaders in SouthAustralia state said extremelylarge herds of the non-nativecamels had been driventowards rural communities bydrought and extreme heat,threatening scarce food anddrinking water, damaginginfrastructure, and creating adangerous hazard for drivers.

The cull in the AnanguPitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara(APY) Lands — home to about2,300 indigenous people in thearid northwest of SouthAustralia — ended on Sunday,said APY general managerRichard King.

“We appreciate the con-cerns of animal rights activists,but there is significant misin-formation about the realities oflife for non-native feral ani-mals, in what is among themost arid and remote places onEarth,” King said in a statementon Tuesday. “As custodians ofthe land, we need to deal withan introduced pest in a waythat protects valuable water

supplies for communities andputs the lives of everyone,including our young children,the elderly, and native flora andfauna first.” King said weak-ened camels frequently becamestuck and died in water holes,contaminating water sourcesneeded by locals and nativeanimals and birds. “The pro-longed dry period, while notdifficult for native wildlife,leads to extreme distress forferal camels,” he said.

APY officials said the oper-ation had removed more than5,000 camels.

The cull came as Australiaexperienced its hottest and dri-est year on record in 2019, withthe severe drought causingsome towns to run out of waterand fuelling deadly bushfiresthat have devastated the coun-try’s southeast. Camels werefirst introduced to Australia inthe 1840s to aid in the explo-ration of the continent’s vastinterior, with up to 20,000imported from India in the sixdecades that followed.

Australia is now thoughtto have the largest wild camelpopulation in the world, withofficial estimates suggestingmore than one million areroaming the country’s inlanddeserts. AFP

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Melbourne: The air quality inMelbourne deteriorated to the“worst in the world” onTuesday as smoke from themassive bushfires engulfedAustralia’s second biggest citywith authorities issuing healthwarnings advising people tostay indoors and take precau-tionary measures.The raging Australian bushfires,one of the worst in its history, has

killed at least 26 people, burnedover 10 million hectares of land,destroyed over 2,000 homes andpushed many species towardsextinction. Meanwhile, theBureau of Meteorology has fore-cast rains through the week,bringing some relief to the bush-fire affected communities andthe firefighters. According toreport in the AustralianBroadcasting Corporation

(ABC), widespread rainfall isexpected for the east coast of thecountry, including the fire-grounds, starting Tuesday andlasting into the weekend. The air quality went downovernight to “hazardous” due tobushfire smoke as the smokefrom Victoria state engulfed it. 16fires were still burning and 1.4million hectares have beendestroyed across Victoria. PTI

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Tanauan: Taal volcano in thePhilippines could spew lava andash for weeks, authorities warnedon Tuesday, leaving tens of thou-sands in limbo after they fledtheir homes fearing a massiveeruption.

The crater of the volcanoexploded to life with toweringclouds of ash and jets of red-hotlava on Sunday, forcing those liv-ing around the mountain southof Manila to rush to safety.Many people abandoned live-stock and pets as well as homesfull of belongings after authori-ties sounded an alert warningthat an “explosive eruption”could come imminently.

“We left everything apartfrom what we’re wearing,” said

Robert Cadiz, a 47-year-old fish-erman among some 30,000 whotook refuge in shelters. “Wewere terrified.” Gerald Aseoche,30, who left with his four youngchildren and a few possessions,has missed work to stay withthem as the volcano belches outlava and earthquakes tied to theeruption rattle the region. “I amhoping this won’t go on too longbecause I will lose my job if I can’treport to work immediately,”Aseoche, a house painter, toldAFP at an evacuation centre. Taalis one of the most active volca-noes in a nation hit periodical-ly by eruptions and earthquakesdue to its location on the Pacific“Ring of Fire” — a zone ofintense seismic activity. AFP

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Laboratory for Computational SocialSystems (LCS2) at Indraprastha Institute

of Information Technology Delhi (IIITDelhi) organised a workshop on CombatingFraud Activities using Data Science (Co-FAD) on January 11, 2020 in their campus.It was a one-day colloquium studying theimpact of fraudulent activities in social sci-ence, journalism, product reviews, forgedimagery, cybercrime, and finance amongothers. The speakers for the workshopwere some of the most influential peoplewhose research is helping curb fake activi-ties around the web.

The workshop commenced with a wel-come note by the Director of IIIT Delhi, Prof

Ranjan Bose. He left us with the thought thatwhere there is money, there is fraud. All thetalks that followed further emphasised thispoint. The director’s address was followed byan enlightening keynote by Dr PN Vasanti,director general of Centre for Media Studies.

“Major theme that we have trying toaddress is collusion in online media — a secretcollaboration to deceive someone. These col-lusions can be propagated through a vastnumber of social media platforms and alsohappens on online review forums where peo-ple hire colluders to promote or demote cer-tain products. We are trying to address thesecollusive activities and came up with amethod to identify such collusion in productreviews,” says Prof Tanmoy Chakraborty, IIIT-Delhi, and convenor of the workshop.

The University School of Law& Legal Studies (USLLS), IP

University organised a two daysNational Seminar on ‘JudicialDelay: Maladies & Remedies’ atthe Dwarka campus of theUniversity. Justice of Delhi HighCourt Sanjeev Sachdeva was theChief Guest of the occasion.Presidential address was deliveredby the Vice-chancellor of NationalLaw University, Dwarka ProfRanbir Singh. The Vice-chan-cellor of the University ProfMahesh Verma and registrar RaviDadhich also graced the occasion.

The seminar was divided in

six technical sessions focusing onJudicial Delay: introspecting thepurposes of judicial system, judi-cial delay and quality of justice,

primary judiciary; infrastructurebottlenecks and its impact, vacan-cies in primary judiciary and itsimpact.

8��B�(��TKWs Institute of Banking

& Finance invites applicationsfor its postgraduate diploma inBanking and Finance for thecoming academic session forPG diploma in programmeBanking & Finance. This makesit worlds only PG Diplomacourse in Banking & Financethat prepares the candidates forsimultaneously for public sec-tor & private sector banks.

Duration: One yearEligibility: Minimum qual-

ification for securing admissionto the course is graduate in anystream with 50 per cent marks,students awaiting final yearresults may also apply.

This programme starts byproviding fundamental clarityand then advances to exposethe participants to all essentialsof banking & finance.

How to apply: Log on towww.tkwsibf.edu.in or theadmission forms can beobtained by filling the institute’sapplication by paying anamount of �1,000 throughdemand draft in favour ofTKWs Delhi.

Last date to apply: January22, 2020.

�� *Delhi Paramedical and

management Institute (DPMI)invites applications for admis-sions to its Diploma inElectrocardiogram Technology(ECG) programme.

This course provides syl-labus that combines heory andpractice, covering importantbackground on the anatomyand physiology of the heart andchest, electrical conduction sys-tem of the heart and basicECG interpretation.

Duration: One yearEligibility: Candidates who

have recently passed Class XIIfrom any recognised boardand wants to work in Healthindustry can enroll for thesecourses.

How to apply: Log on towww.dpmiindia.com or forms &brochure may be obtained fromadmission office of DelhiParamedical & ManagementInstitute, New Ashok Nagar,Delhi.


�8��Manav Rachna

International Institute ofResearch and Studies (MRIIRS,Formerly MRIU) invites appli-cations for admissions to itsMBA Dual Specialisation pro-gram for the session 2020-21.

Duration: Two yearsEligibility: Merit prepara-

tion/short listing of candidatesshall be on the basis of score inAll India Entrance Tests (CAT/MAT/ XAT/any other equiva-lent test) & GD/PI. The com-bined merit list shall be basedupon the following criteria:

Marks in Class X — 10%,marks in Class XII — 10%,marks in Graduation — 10%,behaviour skill test — 10%,marks in entrance test — 25%,GD/essay — 10%, personalInterview — 20%, work expe-rience / extra-curricular activ-ities — 5%.

How to apply: Log on tohttps://apply.manavrachna.edu.in/ or visit the website man-avrachna.edu.in.

(��Delhi Collage of Art

(DCA) invites applications foradmission to its Fine Art (BFA)and Super ProfessionalDiploma program in Fine Art(DFA) courses.

Duration: Two years forBFA and four years for DFA.

Eligibility: Class XII passfrom any stream who wants towork in Fine arts industry canapply.

How to apply: Log on towww.delhicollageofart.co or theApplication forms& brochuremay be obtained from admis-sion office of Delhi Collage ofArt.


The remarkable growth oftechnology has for a while

enthralled the world. Big data,analytics and artificial intelli-gence are the tiny facets that areleading to what the world refersto as the Fourth IndustrialRevolution — Industry 4.0. Whatthis revolution will entail isautonomous systems that willanalyse data on their own withminimum human involvement.A solution-centric system thatwill ensure highly efficient man-ufacturing and industry process-es in addition to collating infor-mation synchronically.

Effect of industrial revolution4.0 appears to be wide reachingand reflecting in the advances tak-ing place in various sectors, one ofwhich is education. In a globallyconnected world, there are newertrends with Education 4.0 that willinvolve the best of both worlds inlearning — traditional classroomteaching with digitised learn-ing.The student will be placed atthe very centre of the learningecosystem where the role of theteacher will be limited to that ofa facilitator.

This is a remarkable shift

from Education 1.0, now a large-ly defunct model where theteacher-oriented classrooms fol-lowed a pedantic format ofinstruction. Information flowed inthe form of textbooks and classnotes where students wereab-sorbing information but veryrarely volunteering or contribut-ing to the sources.

Change in workflow processin industries resulted in the tran-sition from Education 1.0 toEducation 2.0. As businesses intro-duced new ways of performingtasks — by involving employeesand consumers in engagementprocesses, not limited for the topmanagement — the arena ofEducation witnessed somethingsimilar. The interactions betweenstudents and teachers increased,forming a more creative and con-nected education space with net-working, cooperative learning andglobal learning projects.

With the advent of Education3.0 — the kind majorly practisedtoday — there are cross-culturalopportunities in learning wherethe students play a pivotal role incontributing and building a strongknowledge base. Education is flex-

ible and much reliable on theinternet and open source plat-forms, information flows in alldirections, and there is anincreased use of virtual spaces.

Education 4.0 is a response toIndustry 4.0 and now places thestudent at the centre of the high-er education ecosystem. As stu-dents are becoming aware andexposed to a more connected

world than ever, it’s imperative todevelop a solid digital channel ofcommunication for engagingthem, understanding their learn-ing needs and building their trust.This is where the importance ofvisual and textual content comesinto play, by way of online studymaterials, student blogs, webina-rs, virtual sessions and personalcontact programmes. With a

secure and active internet con-nection, the students no longerrelies only on notes or textbooks.

Students can get access to animproved and constantly dynam-ic information which is cost-effective and affordable for every-one. The internet is benefitting notjust the learners but the teachersas well, who can impart informa-tion through the use of slides,images and animation.

Even as the future looks brightwith Education 4.0, it can bedeemed a success only when thereis an overhaul of the stale systemand both learner and facilitatoradapt to changing teachingmethodologies.

While many major universi-ties have adjusted with changingtimes and are inculcating thechanges into the curriculum, thereare many educators who areapprehensive about this new for-mat, and continue to follow age-old systems in teaching.

In essence, the future willfavour those who are ready to wel-come the newer technologies withopen hearts.

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Teachers work in and outsidethe classroom: preparing les-son plans, delivering content,

creating assignments, grading, mon-itoring work, etc. Many teachers planand execute their lessons and assign-ments professionally, successfully,and energetically. But sometimes,there aren't enough hours in the dayor week to ensure that each studentgets personalised instruction he/sheneeds to move to the next level.

If students are given some choic-es about the content that is beingtaught, then they feel valued and gaina real sense of connection with theinstructor. This when followed byassessments that are goal oriented,actionable and geared mindfullytowards developing skills, strength-ens students’ approaches towardslearning by creating relevant con-nection between the task and them-selves. Mining students’ experiencescan bring personal insights to anydiscussion that hasn’t been thought

about. This makes learning truly per-sonal and enriching. It is alsonoticed, if learning is placed direct-ly into the students’ hands, then theytry to craft challenges from realproblems to real solutions using‘Inquiry Based Learning.’

The most effective, and most funis the concept of peer teaching for the‘pull-out’ groups. Students are put incharge of their own learning anddevelopment lessons which theyteach one another. The options arewide open as to how to deliver theinformation. The flip classroomconcept, though it sounds crazy, thestudents love it when they areincharge. Not only does it developtheir communication, leadershipand instructive skills but also helpsthem improve understanding andcomprehension. This process makesit interesting for students and theyget excited to ask questions and solvedoubts, making it truly meaningful.Children should be deemed as pro-

ducers of knowledge rather thanconsumers of knowledge. They arenot receptacles into which we pourin facts and data from a funnel.Helping them create and value theirown experiences engages them andgives them responsibility for theirown learning.

Educators must have heard thisquestion from students very often;‘When will I ever use this in the realworld?’ And honestly, teachersshould spend more time thinkingabout this and give a tweak to ourlessons to give satisfaction to theirstudents. Thus, relevant and mean-ingful activities that both engage stu-dents emotionally and connect withwhat they already know are whathelp build neural connections andlong term memory storage. In theworld of technology, it is critical touse relevant tools. Teaching throughthe usage of technology helps toaddress a wide range of learners andbecomes very effective since it offers

students the chance to connect toinstruction through the tools andnetworks they find familiar andreassuring. Students requireadvanced skills that require collab-oration with both physical and vir-tual worlds. Learning becomes morepersonalised when we give our stu-dents lots of room to be their creativeselves and use media that speaks totheir interest and abilities.

In order to make learning moremeaningful we can incorporate reallife and relatable examples into ourteaching pedagogy. Teachers fromvarious levels of experience andsubject backgrounds can collaboratepersonally or virtually bringing freshideas and insights, which oftenbecome very effective. There is aquote - ‘Information without emo-tion is rarely retained’. Not only doesit make learning more enjoyable, butalso makes it more memorable.

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Marriage is a very important func-tion in everybody’s life. If the plan-

ets of the boy and the girl are compat-ible, life becomes very smooth & com-fortable and if they are not compatiblethen life will become hell, finally lead-ing to divorce.

Marriage usually, in India happensonce in lifetime. Therefore, the selectionof partner should be made with utmostcare. Following points should be kept inconsideration while calculating thecompatibility of boy and girl, who aregoing to get married.

�Their name number shouldvibrate harmoniously and be friendly.

�Their psychic number shouldvibrate harmoniously with each otherand be friendly.

�Their destiny number shouldvibrate harmoniously with each otherand be friendly.

�The date of marriage/engage-ment, which is finalised and selectedshould be friendly to the destiny num-ber of the boy as well as of the girl.

�After marriage, if the girl drops hersurname and adopts boy’s surname, thenagain compatibility of name should bechecked, whether still it is vibrating har-moniously with husband’s name or not.

�In case, the change of name aftermarriage is anti to boy’s name numberthen girl name without dropping hersurname and adding the surname of boyshould be checked whether it is still

vibrating harmoniously with husband'sname or not. If still it is vibrating antithen it is better to keep her name, whichwas before marriage, which was com-patible with the boy’s name.

�The house number of the boy,where the girl is going to stay after mar-riage should also be harmoniouslyvibrate with her destiny number of girl.

�The chronological age number ofboth boy and girl should also bematched with their destiny number atthe time of marriage.

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Getting ready for an interview?An interviewat any level — beginner, mid or senior —

gives us butterflies in our tummy. A bit of anx-iety is healthy and can even drive you to per-form better. Let us deconstruct the word:I- Interest in the profile and organisationN- Negative attitude not acceptableT- Thorough with the required knowledge for

the post and expected questionsE- Excitement- the profile and job content

should excited youR- Research about the company interviewing

youV- Visually appear appropriate for the role as

per company normsI- Intent to be a productive employeeE- Etiquette which shows you are a team playerW- Winners confidence, which leads the

organisation to believe, you will bring thesame to the table once you are part of thecompany.

�� Check the advertised profile- does your qual-ification and experience match it?� Research about the company. If you can bringup a researched statistic or positive, it shows yourintent to be part of the organisation.� Decide what you want to wear as per theirexpectation. Organise your outfit a day inadvance. A two-three button coat in a neutralshade — Navy blue can add to your visualappeal.� In a neat folder organise your relevant papersand extra resume.� Have a mock interview with the help of afriend or relative. A practised scene, makes youmore relaxed.� Prepare one or two incidents which highlightyour special abilities and skills. These can bewoven into the interview easily, if they are onyour finger tips.� Most interviewers say that within 90s sec-onds of the interview they have almost madeup their mind about hiring someone. One has90s seconds to make an impression.

�� Be punctual and neatly groomed. No visi-ble tattoos, stubble and no white socks too.Polish your shoes.� Switch off your phone, smile and have a firmhandshake. If there are more than one personinterviewing you, make eye contact with every-one. If eye contact makes you nervous, look atthe top of their nose, you will appear to be mak-ing eye contact. Do not get intimidated by inter-viewers who are straight faced, over friendly ormulti-taskers.� Have thorough subject knowledge and do not

fake anything. � ‘I know it’ are the three most dangerouswords. Show that you are eager to learn.� Don’t give one word answers. It is good tomake a note of one or two points, it shows youare keen to be part of the company.� Answer expected questions like ‘tell usabout yourself ’, ‘why should we hire you’, ‘yourstrengths and weakness’, with finesse. Rememberyou have practised them.� Subtle humour can be an asset but don’t makesmall of your past or current employers. � Ask questions but not about your salary tillthey bring it up. The interview process is asmuch about making sure the company is theright fit for you.� Do not get baited into a trap of negative orcontroversial topics.� Close on a positive note and walk out withthe same confidence and body language withwhich you walked in.

�(�� Follow up by sending a short ‘Thank you’email by reiterating your interest in the profileand organisation.� If you do not hear from them do check backafter a week to 10 days.

Acing an interview is an amalgamation ofyour interest, knowledge, and preparation,dressing for success, first impressions, com-munication skills and etiquette which help youachieve your goal.

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The Faculty ofEngineering, Universityof Strathclyde, Glasgow

invites applications for schol-arships for PG taught pro-grammes. All self-funded,international (non-EU) fee-paying offer holders withstrong academic qualificationsare encouraged to apply. Youmust hold an offer to a full-time degree programme start-ing in the 2020-2021.

Applicants for PG taughtdegrees will receive a scholar-ship award of £3,150 deductedfrom tuition fees.

Value: Up to £3,150Eligibility: To be consid-

ered for the Faculty ofEngineering InternationalScholarship applicants shouldhave a 2:1 (or equivalent) intheir undergraduate degree.

For further information-https://www.strath.ac.uk/study-withus/scholarships/engineer-ingscholarships/engineeringin-ternationalscholarships/

Application dealdine: Thelast date to apply is August 31,2020.

Dream Go, Inc invitesapplications for theDreamGo Scholarship. Thegrant is available to the inter-national student to pursue acollege or university degreeprogrammes.

Award: $1000 dollars persemester.

Eligibility: To participatein this application, the appli-cants must be an internationalstudent having GPA (must be3.0 or higher) and also haveletters of recommendation.The sponsorship will beawarded in any subject offeredby the university.

How to apply: Submitcompleted application to [email protected]

Application deadline:March 31, 2020.

The University ofBirmingham invites applica-tions for Harding InternationalLegal funding for full-timeinternational students.

Eligibility: Be classed bythe university as an overseasfee payer. Be self-funding andhave sufficient funds to coverthe full cost of living at theuniversity of Birmingham,plus any visa/travel expensesassociated with studying in theUK. Applicants will need todemonstrate that they have agood level of written and spo-ken English and demonstratelevel of English withIELTS/TOEFL/PTE or alterna-tive qualifications.

TOEFL: 95 overall with noless than 22 in any band

IELTS: 7.0 with no lessthan 6.5 in any band

Pearson Test of English(PTE): PTE Academic 67 in allfour skills

Application deadline: it isMarch 23, 2020.

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Each day witnesses numer-ous start-ups being creat-ed and also many other

start-ups closing down.According to WorldwideBusiness Start-Ups report, glob-ally around 137,000 new busi-nesses are formed each day. Butunfortunately a staggering 90%of those close down. And out ofthat, more than 40% have closeddown because of running out offunds, even after getting anexternal funding!

Managing funds and creat-ing a practical expansion planwith realistic goals, can be anextremely demanding anddynamic process, which hasthe potential to make or breaka start-up. Making a start-upsuccessful goes much beyondacquiring funds. Utilising thefunds optimally and multiply-ing it to grow, within the stip-ulated time frame and the saiddirection, is what leads to suc-cess.

Companies that fail, do sonot because of lack of funds butdue to lack of vision and abili-ty to strategize and handleinternal pressures along withtheir finances. They are not ableto get a holistic view of things.This is where a mentor comesinto the picture. A mentor’s jobis to first lead the company toa strategic growth plan to getfunding and, then to effective-ly utilize the same to create asuccessful business. A mentoroffers the quintessential exter-

nal perspective on growth chal-lenges and bottleneck which isvery significant to ensure con-sistent growth. Listed here arefive ways how an expert finan-cial advisor can help start-upsto navigate the rough patch andemerge successful and rich!

�� A�� Setting of a long term,

quantified goal is the first stepto effective growth and expan-sion. While setting a long termgoal and having a vision is acommon starting point for moststart-up’s, they often fail toquantify the same, or worse, endup setting hypothetical or vaguedescriptions, often making thegoal illusionary. With a mentorand a financial expert on board,there would be a detailed analy-sis of the growth trends sinceinception and the potential,before arriving at a realistic andquantified goal for growth,within a stipulated time frame.This not only ensures that thegoals are achieved but alsoensures long term vision isrealised.

�� While long term planning

would involving looking into adistant future covering over 8-10 years, an operational strate-gy that is agile and can accom-modate any seasonal or tem-porary challenges is important.This helps to ensure entrepre-neurs and start-ups can navigate

through these challenges effec-tively without deviating toomuch from the original growthplan. With the volatile social-economic environment cou-pled with the immenselydynamic international markettrends, innovations acrossindustries and sectors as well asthe changing shape of the glob-al consumer, all are rapidlychanging, demanding modernbusinesses adapt in time tokeep pace. A funding expertunderstands the nerve of themovement and can identify theflow of money and possibilities,thus offering expert guidance toleverage the challenge.

��As in the marketplace, the

home front too requires effec-tive monitoring. From internalHR management to expenseson third party vendors andcomplementary services, allcontribute to the number underthe ‘debit’ tag of the balancesheet. Monitoring, optimisingand budgeting these expensescan go a long way in generatingprofits at the end of the year.Entrepreneurs or start-up’s usu-ally lack the bandwidth to lookinto the larger implications ofthese routine expenses andoften an external insight froman expert can help realise thefull gravity of the expenses andhelp optimise them.

�� 8� ��$��8As a start-up business,

loans, and shoe string budgetswith constant liabilities, is anexpected phenomenon. Often,driven by the urge to grow fastor due to lack of judgement orvision, entrepreneurs and start-ups end up taking risks thatpush them deep into debts andunhealthy financial situationswhich may take years to besolved. As a financial expert andadvisor, a mentor can help nav-igate these tricky challenges,and help draw out a plan whichinvolves calculative risks withhealthy balance of liabilitiesand debts.

7�� *�� While long term plans and

effective operational strategies

are vital to chart a growth plan,regular business reviews areimportant to keep a check onthe growth. Mostly, internalreviews are limited to perfor-mance of subordinates and staffmembers and financial reviewsare put off till the end of thefinancial year, when a CA offersa profit outcome number alongwith potential room for growthin the next year. However, it istoo late by then. A quarterlybusiness and financial review bya mentor ensure not only thatthe business is growing at thepace and in the direction asdesired, but it also allows forearly identification of chal-lenges and timely resolutionwith corrective measures, toarrest losses – something thatcan go a long way in ensuringsuccess.

As in other sectors, thestart-up and entrepreneurialsector in India is also undergo-ing massive transformation,thanks to global and nationalmarket trends, industry policies,and technology innovations.Under such scenarios, the needfor a specialised consultation forbusiness and finance, cus-tomised to meet the needs ofstart-up is increasingly becom-ing necessary. 2020 is set to seea dedicated effort in the direc-tion, driving the growth of cus-tomised start-up consultancy asa service.

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Spanish champions Barcelona havesacked their coach ErnestoValverde and appointed Quique

Setien as his replacement, the clubannounced.

The decision to remove Valverdewas confirmed following a boardmeeting that lasted more than fourhours at Camp Nou on Mondayafternoon.

Barca are top of La Liga but havewon only one of their last five match-es. Valverde is the first coach the clubhas sacked mid-season since Louis vanGaal in 2003.

“FC Barcelona and ErnestoValverde have reached an agreementto terminate the contract that unitedboth parties,” read a club statementreleased on Monday night.

Setien will be presented in apress conference at Camp Nou at2.30pm local time (1330 GMT) onTuesday.

“Barcelona and Quique Setienhave reached an agreement for the lat-ter to become first team coach until30 June 2022,” the club said.

“Setien is one of the most expe-rienced coaches in Spanish football,”it added.

“Throughout his career he hasbeen a proponent of possession based,attacking football that has been attrac-tive to the fans.”

His first game in charge will be athome to Granada on Sunday.Barcelona play Napoli in the last 16 ofthe Champions League next monthand Real Madrid in the league at thestart of March.

Setien has made no secret of hisadmiration for the stylistic traditionsof Barcelona, with the 61-year-old alsorenowned for favouring an exciting,offensive mode of football.

A former player of AtleticoMadrid and Racing Santander, he was

circled as a potential Barca coach dur-ing a particularly successful period incharge of Real Betis.

Setien led Betis to a sixth-placefinish in 2018 and qualification for theEuropa League but, despite oversee-ing a thrilling 4-3 victory at CampNou early the following season, resultstailed off.

Betis finished 10th and the cluband coach parted ways in the summer.Previously, he also helped Las Palmasavoid relegation from La Liga in2016.

A footballing purist, Setien andBarcelona would seem a good fit, par-ticularly if the players feel releasedfrom some of Valverde's more prag-matic tendencies.

But critics of Setien would arguestyle often takes precedence oversubstance and it remains to be seenhow he handles the pressure of match-ing aesthetics with results at one of theworld's most demanding clubs.

He will also have to do withoutLuis Suarez, who will be missing forthe next four months after having

surgery on his right knee.

��(��

Doubts had surrounded Valverdefor several months and were under-pinned by two disastrous exits fromthe Champions League.

Barcelona’s shocking collapseagainst Roma in 2018 was followed bya similar capitulation againstLiverpool last year.

Familiar fragility had been evidentthis season and a 3-2 defeat to Atletico

Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup onThursday, in which Barcelona conced-ed two late goals, prompted the boardto act.

Valverde arrived two hours earlyfor his last training session with thesquad at Ciutat Esportiva JoanGamper on Monday morning beforemeeting with club president JosepMaria Bartomeu.

Bartomeu then drove to CampNou, where he held a board meetingwith several club officials includingchief executive Oscar Grau, technicalsecretary Javier Bordas, vice presidentJordi Cardoner and sporting directorEric Abidal.

Grau and Abidal had returned toBarcelona on Sunday after spendingthe weekend in Qatar, where they hadoffered the job to Xavi, only for theclubs iconic former midfielder toindicate he was not ready to comeimmediately.

In Valverde’s two seasons, histeam won two La Liga titles, as wellas the Copa del Rey in 2018, andanother league success remained verymuch in sight this term, despiteMadrid’s impressive form in recentweeks.

But Barca’s performances havebeen unconvincing and there were lin-gering concerns about Valverde’smore functional tactics, which appearto have informed the switch to Setien.

When Valverde arrived in 2017,Barcelona were wounded, hurtingafter the shock departure of Neymarto Paris Saint-Germain and humiliat-ed, as consecutive defeats by RealMadrid in the Spanish Super Cuphinted at trouble for the season ahead.

Instead, he steadied the ship andgalvanised the team.

They lost one league game enroute to winning the title and the yearafter, they were champions again, fin-ishing 11 points ahead of Atletico and19 clear of Real.

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Novak Djokovic admits the nextgeneration of players are edg-

ing closer, but tennis’s Big Threeremain one step ahead as they aimto extend their dominance at theAustralian Open.

Djokovic, Roger Federer andRafael Nadal have kept a tight gripon the Majors over the past decade,with the Serb and the Swiss par-ticularly prolific at the year’sopening Grand Slam.

Adding spice is theprospect of Nadal breakingthrough for only his secondwin in Melbourne toequal the 38-year-oldFederer's all-timerecord of 20 GrandSlam wins.

All players mayalso have to dealwith hazy condi-tions caused byAustralia’s rag-ing bushfires,after practicewas suspend-ed onT u e s d a ywhen airp o l l u t i o nsoared to haz-ardous levels.

“Obviously the AustralianOpen has been my favourite tour-nament. It’s the tournament whereI’ve played my best tennis,” saidDjokovic.

“You have obviously Federer,Nadal, myself because of the expe-rience and everything and therankings, that we get to be prob-ably named the top threefavourites.

“But then you have (Daniil)Medvedev, (Stefanos) Tsitsipas,

Dominic Thiem that are reallyshowing some amazing tennis,” headded.

“So everybody keeps on talk-ing about NextGen player winninga Slam. You know, it seems like it’sgetting closer. Hopefully not thisyear. We’ll see.”

As well as Medvedev, Tsitsipas,and Thiem, Spanish world number

10 Roberto Bautista Agut,who made the

Wimbledon semi-finalslast year, and Canadianyoung gun Denis

Shapovalov could alsobe in the mix.

Grigor Dimitrov,once nicknamed 'Baby

Fed' for his elegantstyle, is also playing

well as he pur-sues his

c om e -back froman injury-hit 2019.

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Indian tennis ace Sania Mirzamade a winning return to the

WTA circuit by advancingto the women’s doublesquarterf inals of theHobart InternationalTournament withUkrainian partner NadiaKichenok, here onTuesday.

Returning to the courtafter two years, Sania andKichenok prevailed 2-6

7-6 (3) 10-3 over Oksana Kalashnikovaof Georgia and Japan’s Miyu Kato in acontest lasting one hour and 41 minutes.

The Indo-Ukrainian pair will nextbe up against Americans Vania Kingand Christina McHale.

The US combination upstagedfourth-seeded Spainish duo of GeorginaGarcia Perez and Sara Sorribes Tormo6-2, 7-5 in a round of 16 clash.

During her two years away from thegame, the 33-year-old Sania battledinjury breakdowns before taking a for-mal break in April 2018 to give birth toher son Izhaan. The Hyderabadi is mar-

ried to Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik.“Today was one of the most special

days of my life.To have my parents andmy little baby boy wit me in my firstmatch after so long..And we WON ourfirst round.Feel very grateful for the loveI am receiving.. BELIEF!! Takes youplaces YES my baby boy,we did it,” sheposted on her Twitter page.

In an engaging showdown, Saniaand Kichenok weren’t off to a partic-ularly good start as they double-fault-ed twice, failed to convert any of theseven break points that came their wayand lost their serve two times to godown 2-6 in the opening set.

However, they pulled things backin the second set, helped by their rivals’inconsistent game.

Both the teams converted threebreak points each as the set went intoa tie-breaker in which Sania andKichenok nosed ahead of their oppo-nents to draw even.

Sania and Kichenok raised the barin the final set and displayed superiorreturns to emerge triumphant.

Sania had last played at ChinaOpen in October 2017 where shepicked up a nagging knee injury.

A trailblazer in Indian tennis,Sania is a former world No.1 in dou-bles and has six Grand Slam titles toher credit.

She retired from the singles com-petition in 2013 after becoming themost successful Indian woman tennisplayer ever.

In 2007, she attained a career-high27th position in the WTA singleschart.

However, she has also been ham-pered by career-threatening wrist andknee injuries.

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Indian shuttlers Lakshya Senand Subhankar Dey failed to

reach the main round of theIndonesia Masters badmintontournament after losing theirqualifying round matches here onTuesday.

The 18-year-old Sen, the 2018world junior championships sil-ver-medallist, lost 13-21, 12-21 toTanongsak Saensomboonsuk ofThailand in a 32-minute contest.

Dey, who finished runners-upin the Italian International lastmonth, went down 16-21, 12-21to another Thai player SuppanyuAvihingsanon in a qualifyinground match that lasted 38 min-utes.

Top Indians like P V Sindhuand Saina Nehwal in women's sin-gles and Kidambi Srikanth, B SaiPraneeth, H S Prannoy, P Kashyapansd Sameer Verma in men’s sin-gles will play in the main roundof the BWF Super 500 tourna-ment.

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Star striker Rani Rampal willlead a 20-member Indian

women’s hockey team for thetour of New Zealand, begin-ning on January 25 inAuckland.

According to the squadnamed by Hockey India, goal-keeper Savita will be Rani'sdeputy during the tour.

The other players of teamare Rajini Etimarpu, DeepGrace Ekka, Gurjit Kaur, ReenaKhokhar, Salima Tete, SushilaChanu, Nisha, Namita Toppo,Udita, Monika, Lilima Minz,Neha, Sonika, Sharmila Devi,Navneet Kaur, Lalremsiami,Vandana Katariya and NavjotKaur.

India’s first match of thetour is against the New ZealandDevelopment squad on January25, followed by games againstthe New Zealand women’s teamon January 27 and 29.

The Indians will also playGreat Britain on February 4and then conclude the tourwith another match againstthe New Zealand women’s teamon February 5.

Speaking about the tour,India’s chief coach SjoerdMarijne said, “I want to use thistour to create more competi-tion within this group.

Although we are taking a 20-member team, in some match-es we will use only 16 playersbecause we play with 16 play-ers at the Olympics and insome matches we will play 18members.

“The players have to showtheir best and I want to see howthey perform under pressureand stay in the right rhythm.”

He added that the match-es against world number 5Great Britain and world num-ber 6 New Zealand will providea great opportunity for theIndian team to showcase theirfearless attitude.

The Team: Rani (captain),Savita (vice-captain), RajiniEtimarpu, Deep Grace Ekka,Gurjit Kaur, Reena Khokhar,Salima Tete, Sushila Chanu,Nisha, Namita Toppo, Udita,Monika, Lilima Minz, Neha,Sonika, Sharmila Devi,Navneet Kaur, Lalremsiami,Vandana Katariya, Navjot Kaur.

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Prajnesh Gunneswaranadvanced to the second

round of the AustralianOpen qualifiers butRamkumar Ramanathanfrittered away a one-setadvantage to make an exit,here Tuesday.

Prajnesh knocked outlocal wild card HarryBourchier 6-2, 6-4 to set upsecond round clash withGermany’s YannickHanfmann.

Ramkumar led against15th seed Argentine beforelosing steam to suffer a 6-4,4-6, 1-6 defeat to yet againcollapse in the Qualifiers ofa Grand Slam.

Prajnesh had last yearcompeted in main draws ofall four majors of the season.

Sumit Nagal, whoenjoyed a breakthrough

2019 season, will open hiscampaign in the qualifiersagainst Egypt's MohamedSafwat.

In the women’s quali-fiers, India’s lone contenderAnkita Raina went downfighting 2-6, 6-7(2) againstBulgaria’s Viktoriya Tomova.

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Badminton world numberone Kento Momota could be

out for two months after beinginjured in a car crash that killedhis driver just hours after he wonthe Malaysia Masters on Sunday.

The 25-year-old Japanesesuffered cuts and bruising in theaccident near Kuala Lumpur butis aiming to return at the AllEngland Championships onMarch 11, said Kinji Zeniya, sec-retary general of Japan’sBadminton Association onTuesday.

Zeniya told reporters thatMomota, who won a record 11titles last year had “extraordinaryenthusiasm towards theOlympics” this year in Tokyo buturged Japan’s home gold medalhope to take time to recuperatefully.

“I hope he will do his bestwithout pushing and rushinghimself too hard and withoutbeing impatient,” said Zeniya.

Momota has been in hospi-tal since Monday following thecrash with a slow-moving lorryas his party were driving to the

airport.The driver was killed at the

scene while Momota receivedcuts to his face and bruising allover his body, Zeniya said, deny-ing previous reports that he hadbroken his nose and chin.

An assistant coach, physio-therapist, and badminton officialwere also injured. Momota willreturn to Japan on Wednesday,Zeniya said, and would receivefurther medical checks.

“Cuts will be healed, butwhat will happen to the bruis-ing later? I know injuries fromcar accidents can emerge aftersome time,” Zeniya said.

The accident came after thedominant Japanese star beganhis 2020 season in style Sundaywith victory over Denmark’sViktor Axelsen in KualaLumpur.

Momota enjoyed unrivalledsuccess in 2019, winning arecord 11 titles including theWorld Championships, AsiaChampionships and All EnglandChampionships, a dramaticturnaround for a player who hadbeen banned for gambling in2016.

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Mumbai dismissed Tamil Nadufor 324 to secure a 164-run first-

innings lead and three points on thefourth and final day of their RanjiTrophy Group B match here onTuesday.

The visitors, who made 488 in thefirst innings riding on captain AdityaTare’s 154, enforced the follow-on andthe match was called off with TamilNadu at 48 for one in 22 overs at thetea break.

For Mumbai, left-arm spinnerShams Mulani (4/72) was the bestbowler while pacers TusharDeshpande and Royston Dias hadtwo scalps each.

The home team, which trailed by239 runs overnight, continued to frus-trate the Mumbai bowlers on a slowtrack as Ravichandran Ashwin (79)and R Sai Kishore (42) showed a lotof patience.

Ashwin had a stroke of luck tooas Jay Bista, who took two very goodcatches on Monday, dropped him atleg-gully off Tushar Deshpande'sbowling. The lanky off-spinner, whowas on 33, made the most of the dropand went on to play attractive shotsand also hit two big sixes off the spin-ners.

Mumbai’s toil ended when SaiKishore was dismissed against the runof play. The southpaw was run outafter he charged for a single andAshwin did not respond. The throwfound Kishore short of his crease.

Once the marathon eighth-wick-et partnership, which yielded 105runs, ended, Mumbai got the next

two scalps rather easily.While No. 10 K Vignesh was leg-

before to Mulani, Ashwin was bowledby the same bowler while going fora big heave.

Armed with a first innings lead

of 164 runs, Mumbai enforced follow-on.

Tamil Nadu lost the wicket of LSuryapprakash (18) before the matchwas called off.

Mumbai took their tally to nine

points from four matches whileTamil Nadu were languishing at thebottom with two points from fivegames.

Mumbai coach Vinayak Samanttold reporters after the game that

there was a need for 'friendly' wick-ets to keep days cricket alive.

“488 is a very good score.Somehow the wicket is very slow.Anyway we got first innings lead. I amvery happy,” he said.

��(��Rohtak: Odisha tailenders Basant

Mohanty and Pappu Roy held theirnerves to snatch a thrilling one-wick-et victory over hosts Haryana in theirRanji Trophy fixture here on Tuesday.

Needing 32 runs to win withthree wickets in hand on the final day,overnight batsmen Rajesh Dhuper(32) and Rajesh Mohanty (21) left thetask unfinished as they departed threeruns shy of the target.

But Odisha's number 11 bats-man, Roy handled the pressure quirewell and slammed Ashish Hooda forthe winning boundary, sealing theirfourth win from five matches.

Odisha (28 points) consolidatetheir position atop the group Cstandings.

Medium pacer SuryakantPradhan, who returned a career-bestmatch-haul of 11/122, was adjudgedthe man-of-the-match.

In the first innings, Pradhan's six-wicket haul restricted the hosts for apaltry 90 all out, while his five-for inthe second essay ensured Odisha gotto chase a small target of 179.

Pradhan also contributed withthe bat (12 runs) amid Odisha's mid-

dle-order collapse, chasing the paltrytarget.

��8��*��8��Andhra Pradesh: Andhra crushedHyderabad by an innings and 96 runsto register their third win in GroupA of the Ranji Trophy here onTuesday.

Resuming at the overnight scoreof 45 for three, Hyderabad were shotout for 168 in 74.4 overs in their sec-ond innings.

Skipper Tanmay Agarwal made41, while Ravi Teja remained unbeat-en on 72.

Medium fast bowler PaidikalvaVijaykumar (5/25) starred for Andhrawith the ball in Hyderabad's secondinnings, while Prithvi Raj (3/53)also chipped in with wickets.

Earlier in reply to Hyderabad’s225, Andhra declared their firstinnings at a mammoth score of 489for eight in 153 overs.

Andhra (7) pocketed a bonuspoint after registering the comprehen-sive win.

Meanwhile, the other remainingGroup A match between Gujarat andRajasthan in Jaipur ended in a draw.

But Rajasthan pocketed threepoints from the tie by virtue of firstinnings lead.

Rajasthan made 360 in reply toGujarat’s 325 in the first innings.

Gujarat were 216 for one intheir second innings when stumps

were drawn on the final day.

*�� (�� *�Kolkata: Sanjay Yadav shone with hisall-round skills while AdityaSinghania returned a 10-wicket matchhaul as Meghalaya hammeredMizoram by an innings and 425 runsin their Ranji Trophy Plate group fix-ture here on Tuesday.

The left-arm spin duo of Yadavand Singhania wreaked havoc,accounting for 12 of the 13 wicketstumbling on the day to sealMeghalaya’s second win of the season.

Meghalaya now have 13 pointsfrom five matches to be at sixth spotwhile Mizoram remained at the bot-tom of the table with three pointsfrom five matches.

Resuming at 114 for seven intheir first innings, Mizoram failed toadd any run to their overnight totaland were dismissed in eight balls withleft-arm spinner Singhania (4/30)being the wrecker-in-chief.

Following-on, Mizoram put upyet another sloppy batting display,with Singhania grabbing 6/40 enroute to his career-best match-haul of10/70 to be bundled out for 123 in41.1 overs.

Yadav was also at his best withfigures of 4/27 to complement hiscareer-best 254 not out that hadhelped Meghalaya pile a huge 662/4declared in the first innings.

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Australia gave India a harshreality check with a 10-wick-et hiding in the ODI series

opener here on Tuesday, exposingthe home team’s middle-order frailtyand putting to sword its bowling.

Anticipating dew in the eveningsession, Aaron Finch opted to field.India ended up with a below-par 255on a decent batting surface after amiddle-order failure.

Australia made short work of thetarget, racing to a resounding victo-ry in 37.4 overs with David Warner(128 not out off 112) and Finch (110not out off 114) smashing unbeatencenturies, making the Indian attacklook rather ordinary. They simplyran away with chase, sharing 30boundaries and five sixes betweenthem.

The manner of India’s defeat,which came after dominating limit-ed overs series wins against WestIndies and Sri Lanka, has left thehosts with plenty to ponder ahead ofthe second game in Rajkot on Friday.

India made some unmissablechanges in their batting combinationwith Virat Kohli pushing himselfdown to number four to accommo-date specialist openers ShikharDhawan (74 off 91) and K L Rahul(47 off 61) in the playing eleven.

Dhawan opened alongside RohitSharma while Rahul batted at three,disturbing the combination thatIndia employed successfully after theWorld Cup in July.

With Kohli (16 off 14) droppinghimself down the order, Shreyas Iyer(4), who had shown a lot of promiseat number four in recent times, wasdemoted to five. The entire experi-ment failed miserably, raising plen-ty of questions.

Earlier, Dhawan hit a half-cen-tury before Australia pulled thingsback to bowl India out with five ballsto spare.

Dhawan looked in great touchduring his stay in the middle and inthe company of Rahul, shared a sec-ond-wicket stand of 121 runs off 136balls to set the base for India's total.However, India failed to capitalise.

Sent into bat, India were dealt anearly blow when they lost Rohit,caught by Warner at mid-off offMitchell Starc (3/56).

Rahul joined Dhawan at thecrease and the duo played fluentlywithout much trouble against a for-midable Australian attack.

After adopting a cautiousapproach initially, Dhawan upped hisante and started to play his shots,while at the same time gave duerespect to the good deliveries.

Dhawan showed his class andplayed all kinds of shots to registerhis fifty in 66 balls with a single offleg-spinner Adam Zampa (1/53) inthe 20th over.

Soon after reaching his fifty,Dhawan got a reprieve when he wasdropped by Warner at midwicket offAshton Agar (1/56).

The two went about their busi-ness in style, picking up runs off badballs before both departed in consec-utive overs.

Just three short of his fifty,Rahul gave a straight forward catchto Steve Smith at covers off Agar andthen, in the next over, Dhawan wascaught by Agar off Pat Cummins(2/44).

While Rahul hit four boundariesduring his 61-ball knock, Dhawan’sinnings was laced with nine foursand one six.

Dropping himself to No. 4 toaccommodate both Dhawan and

Rahul in the side, Virat Kohli (16)was in attacking mode from theonset, but didn’t last long as Zampatook a sharp catch off his own bowl-ing to dismiss the Indian skipper.

Iyer followed suit when Starcinduced an edge an over later andAlex Carey did the rest behind thestumps.

Rishabh Pant (28) and RavindraJadeja (25) shared 49 runs for thesixth wicket before the duo perishedin consecutive overs as India lost theplot.

Towards the end Kuldeep Yadav(17) and Mohammed Shami (10)struck some useful boundaries.

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Retired South Africanbig-hitter AB de Villiers

on Tuesday said efforts areon to ensure his come-back in the national teamfor the T20 World Cup inAustralia, a plan in whichhis IPL form will play acrucial role.

Speaking to CricketAustralia’s official website‘cricket.Com.Au’, the 35-year-old swashbuckler saidhe would love to be backtwo years after calling itquits internationally. He iscurrently in Australia toplay in the Big BashLeague.

“I would love to. I'vebeen talking to 'Bouch'(new South Africa coachMark Boucher), (newdirector of cricket) GraemeSmith and (captain) Faf(du Plessis) back home,we're all keen to make ithappen,” he said.

“It’s a long way awaystill, and plenty can happen- there’s the IPL coming up,I’ve still got to be in format that time. So I'm think-ing of throwing my name

in the hat and hoping thateverything will work out,”he added.

De Villiers, nonethe-less, is keeping a check onhis expectations.

“It’s not a guarantee,once again. I don't want todisappoint myself or otherpeople, so for now I'm justgoing to try and keep a lowprofile, try and play the

best possible cricket that Ican and then see what hap-pens towards the end of theyear,” he said.

"So it's much easier tocommunicate than what itused to be in the past.They understand whatplayers go through - espe-cially players that haveplayed for 15 years interna-tionally.

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Recovering from a shoulderinjury, the precocious Prithvi

Shaw could make it to NewZealand, his hopes brightenedafter what he termed a “superbnet session”.

With the Indian selectors yetto name the ODI and Testsquads for the tour of NewZealand, all is still not lost for the20-year-old Shaw.

He was in sparkling touchsince returning from his eight-month doping ban, but a shoul-der injury on the opening day ofMumbai’s Ranji Trophy gameagainst Karnataka cut short hisrun, ruling him out of India A’stwo practice matches in NewZealand.

However, his net session hassent a positive signal.

“My favourite sound. The

sound when the ball hits themiddle of my bat. Superb netsessions going on,” Shaw tweet-ed alongside a video of the ses-sion.

He was seen driving, cuttingand flicking with ease.

Shaw had hurt his left shoul-der while trying to save anoverthrow during Mumbai's thematch against Karnataka at theBandra Kurla Complex.

The selectors will be keen tosee if Shaw will be available forthe Test series in New Zealand.The first Test will get underwayon February 21 at the BasinReserve in Hamilton and thesecond match is scheduled to beplayed at the Hagley Oval inChristchurch, starting February29.

The selectors are to makethe team announcement onJanuary 19.

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The battle-hardenedDwayne Bravo, at 36,

returns to the West Indiessquad “feeling like a kid”,more than three years afterplaying his last internation-al.

For Bravo, who fell outwith his board following abitter dispute over the thenpay structure in 2014 leadingto his eventual phasing out,the path back into interna-tional cricket was an arduousone.

The f lamboyant all-rounder played his last matchfor West Indies in any formatin September 2016.

“It’s a great feeling. I feellike a kid again when I firstget a call from (West Indies’chairman of selectors RogerHarper) that welcome back tothe team and play interna-tional cricket and they werelooking forward to have meback,” Bravo said in a radiointerview with Trinidad’s‘I955 FM’.

He is the oldest memberin West Indies' T20 squad forthe assignments againstIreland.

Bravo said he has beenthinking about the Irelandseries since coming out of

retirement in December.“It is something that was

always on my mind since thechange of leadership and stuff.So just happy I get the oppor-tunity to represent the regionagain and I am looking for-ward to doing my best.”

Bravo announced hisretirement from internation-al cricket in October 2018 butcontinued playing franchisecricket.

Later, in December 2019,he came out of T20International retirement tomake himself available forselection in the lead up to the2020 ICC men’s T20 WorldCup, which will take place inOctober-November.

He believes that WestIndies lack a proper death-overs specialist and he couldfill that void.

“Recently that is whereWest Indies did falter,” Bravosaid.

“If you look at the 50-overs World Cup, if you lookat the series in India, both inT20Is and in ODIs, we lack areally, really proper death-overs specialist.”

Asked about the prospectof sealing a spot in WestIndies’ T20 World Cup squad,Bravo said he’s not thinkingtoo far ahead.

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Custodians of cricket laws, the MCC, onTuesday said Tests should continue to be

a five-day affair though it sees “some benefits”in the ICC’s proposal to trim the longest for-mat to four days.

The International Cricket Council is all setto discuss the four-day Test proposal duringits cricket committee meeting in March.

“Cricket committee and MCC WorldCricket committee have recently discussed theissue and although they can see some bene-fits that four-day Test cricket could bring, bothcommittees believe that Test cricket shouldcontinue to be played over five days,” said theMCC in a statement.

The feedback to the ICC’s proposal so farhas been largely critical with top current andformer players such as Virat Kohli, SachinTendulkar, Ravi Shastri, Ricky Ponting IanBotham, Steve Waugh and Virender Sehwagridiculing the plan.

Sri Lankan great Mahela Jayawardene andreputed coach Mickey Arthur, who are on theICC Cricket Committee headed by spin leg-end Anil Kumble, too want status quo in Testcricket.

However, former England captain MichaelVaughan and Australian great Shane Warne arefor four-day Tests.

Delivering the ‘MAK Pataudi MemorialLecture’ at the annual BCCI awards on Sundaynight, Sehwag said innovation in the longestform should stop at day/night matches.

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Rishabh Pant on Tuesday suffereda concussion after getting hit on

the helmet while batting, forcing KL Rahul to take his position behindthe stumps during the first ODIagainst Australia here.

“Rishabh Pant has got a concus-sion after being hit on his helmetwhile batting. K L Rahul is keepingwickets in his absence. Pant is underobservation at the moment and hisprogress will be tracked overnight. Aspecialist has been consulted and anupdate will be given accordingly,” theBCCI said in a statement.

Pant made 28 off 33 balls duringIndia's 255 all out after being sent into bat by Australia.

While Rahul kept the wickets,Manish Pandey came in as an on-field replacement for Pant.

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