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16
C ongress leader Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra on Wednesday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering case for the alleged possession of illegal foreign assets. The Congress tried to tactically turn the focus away from him by having Priyanka drop her husband at the Enforcement Directorate office. In what could be seen as a political message, Priyanka said, “I stand by my family. He is my husband, he is my fami- ly...I support my family.” Asked if it was a political vendetta, she said everyone knows why this is being done. Priyanka’s show of support to her husband came days after an emotional message from Vadra on her appointment as AICC general secretary. Vadra entered the ED office around 3.45 pm, and soon a team of his lawyers reached the ED office at Jamnagar House here. This is the first time Vadra turned up before a probe agency for ques- tioning on charges of dubious financial dealings. However, Vadra has denied the allegations and claimed the cases are an outcome of a political witch-hunt. After dropping Vadra off outside the ED office, Priyanka, who is an SPG protectee, went back in her white Toyota Land Cruiser with a convoy of vehi- cles carrying the elite com- mandos. Vadra was directed by a Delhi court to cooperate with the ED investigation after he approached the court seeking anticipatory bail in the money laundering case. The court had asked him to appear before the ED on Wednesday on his return from London. A team of three ED offi- cials asked Vadra about trans- actions, purchase and posses- sion of certain immovable assets in London. His statement was recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), offi- cial sources said. The case relates to the pur- chase allegedly by Vadra of a London-based property locat- ed at 12, Bryanston Square worth 1.9 million GBP (British pounds). The agency had told the court that it has received information about various new properties in London which belong to Vadra. In December, the ED had raided and questioned Vadra’s aide Manoj Arora, an employ- ee of Skylight Hospitality LLP, a firm linked to Vadra. The ED has alleged that the London-based property was bought by arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari for 1.9 million GBP and sold in 2010 for the same amount despite incurring addi- tional expenses of approxi- mately 65,900 GBP on its ren- ovation. “This gives credence to the fact that Bhandari was not the actual owner of the prop- erty but it was beneficially owned by Vadra who was incurring expenditure on the renovation of this property,” the ED had told the court. Arora, a key link in the case, was aware of Vadra’s over- seas undeclared assets and was instrumental in arranging funds, the ED had alleged. Vadra has also been direct- ed by the Rajasthan High Court to appear before the ED again on February 12 in connection with another money launder- ing case being probed by the agency. P riyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday took charge as AICC general secretary at the party headquarters amid celebration and sloga- neering. Priyanka was appoint- ed as general secretary and incharge of Uttar Pradesh east on January 23 by her brother and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi. Along with Priyanka, senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia took charge as the AICC general secretary incharge for Uttar Pradesh west. Both Priyanka and Scindia have been appointed with Rahul’s resolve to strengthen the party in the cru- cial State of Uttar Pradesh, which has 80 Lok Sabha seats. AICC leaders said Priyanka is likely to begin her Uttar Pradesh tour from February 11. She may hold a road show in Lucknow and then address a meeting of UPCC office-bearers. Party workers engaged in UP election related activities exuded confi- dence that Priyanka would go to Prayagraj also to take a dip in the Sangam on the occasion of Kumbh Mela. She, along with Rahul, may also address a rally later this month. While she met several party workers particularly those hailing from the eastern region of UP, Priyanka had a nearly two-hour long meeting with Rahul and Scindia to chalk out the Congress’ UP game plan. Continued on Page 4 D riven by hunger and cul- tural practices, tribals in many pockets of Odisha are taking to butchering and de- skinning of dead animals and consuming them, exposing themselves to anthrax, a deadly infectious zoonotic disease. Ringing alarm bells, scien- tists from the Indian Medical Council of Research (IMCR)- Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneswar, have called for a mass awareness campaign and livestock vacci- nation in villages and monetary incentive to the tribals for dis- posal of dead livestock to com- bat the unhealthy practice of consumption of dead animals. During the household sur- vey conducted in four anthrax- hit districts—Koraput, Rayagada, Sundargarh and Malkangiri—in April- December, 2017, scientists found that of the 88 anthrax cases reported, at least 36 per cent affected persons were engaged in butchering and deskinning and consuming of dead animals, both as part of their cultural practices as also to combat hunger. About 23 per cent of the total 555 respondents admitted to follow practices that pro- scribed burial of dead animals for disposal while about 18 per cent admitted to consuming them. No surprise that during the last 15 years, out of 30 districts in Odisha, 14 with high densi- ty of tribal population, have witnessed outbreak of anthrax affecting at least 1,208 people and killing 436. Koraput was worst affect- ed with total 354 human anthrax cases and 9 deaths reported in last seven years. During the survey, the sci- entists observed that tribals also dig out the buried animal at night and consume the meat. “Meat is dried in sun or in fire and kept hidden for later use. Even the dead animal is con- sumed at a village get-togeth- er,” said scientists Debdutta Bhattacharya, Deepika Barla, Sanghamitra Pati from ICMR- Regional Medical Research Centre, (Department of Health Research, Union Health Ministry. Unawareness among the tribals was blatant. “The trib- als are at high risk of contract- ing human anthrax… and they are unaware about the dis- eases and its preventive mea- sures,” said the survey which noted that about 20 per cent of the respondents had never heard of the deadly disease. “Vaccination of cattle is often refused. Often the dead people handling infected dead animals and come in contact with infected body fluids while slaughtering, butchering, skin- ning and consuming the infect- ed meat are at risk,” said sci- entists. Continued on Page 4 T he Cabinet on Wednesday approved amendments to the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill, 2018, and empowered the CBI to take action against violators. The amendments include ban on their advertisements. Addressing the media, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said these comprehensive amendments would strengthen the enforcement agency and help people who are cheated by Ponzi schemes. The amend- ment to the Banning of Unregulated Deposits Schemes Bill 2018 is expected to be tabled in Parliament soon. The Bill enables creation of an online Central data base for collection and sharing of infor- mation of deposit taking activ- ities in the country. The CBI will be nodal agency to initiate action against the violators. The Minister justified making the CBI the nodal agency and said many Ponzi schemes are operating in several States and the State police could not coor- dinate effectively. The Bill also added provi- sions to fix the cheaters who put advertisements in newspa- pers to fool the people. “They will be arrested immediately if they put advertisements to fool people,” said Prasad. The Bill also makes provisions to retrieve the deposits, attach- ment of fraudsters’ property, and imprisonment. To a volley of questions regarding the timing of the amendments and Saradha scam cases, Prasad said crim- inal laws can’t be enforced on old cases. Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi also approved the pro- posal for establishment of Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog for conservation, protection and development of cows and their progeny. The setting up of Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog will lead to conservation, pro- tection and development of cat- tle population in the country. “It will result in increased growth of livestock sector which is more inclusive, bene- fitting women, and small and marginal farmers. The Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog will work in collaboration with veterinary, animal sciences or agriculture university or depart- ments or organisations of the Central/State Government engaged in the task of research in the field of breeding and rearing of cow, organic manure, biogas, etc,” said the statement. A local court on Wednesday held seven men guilty of killing two youths in Kawal vil- lage in an attack which is said to have triggered the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots that led to the killing of over 60 people. Additional District and Sessions Judge Himashu Bhatnagar convicted Muzammil, Mujassim, Furkan, Nadeem, Janangir, Afzal and Ikbal for killing Gaurav and Sachin on August 27, 2013, and rioting, said district prosecution counsel Rajiv Sharma. The court will pronounce the quantum of their sentences on Friday. According to the First Information Report, the two youths of Kawal village under Jansath police station area were battered to death by the five of the seven men. The two other accused, Afzal and Iqbal, however, were summoned by the court later under provisions of section 319 of the Criminal Procedure Code when the evidence of their complicity in the killings emerged during the trial. The court convicted the seven after examining 10 pros- ecution witnesses and six in their defence. As per figures given by prosecution counsel Sharma, over 6,000 cases were lodged following the 2013 riots and 1,480 accused were arrested for their alleged roles in the riots. A special investigation team, which probed the cases, had filed chargesheets in 175 cases. Fifty-six of them involv- ing 430 accused resulted in acquittal. The State Government has withdrawn some of the cases. T he West Bengal BJP on Wednesday said it has can- celled the rally of former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Murshidabad dis- trict as the district administra- tion denied permission to land his chopper. Chouhan, a BJP national vice-president, was scheduled to attend two rallies — one at Baharampur in Murshidabad district and the other at Kharagpur in West Midnapore. It has been decided that Chouhan will now attend the rally at Kharagpur and will go there by road from the Kolkata airport. Accusing the State administration of indulging in “vendetta politics”, BJP State general secretary Sayantan Basu said the TMC cannot stop the “march of the BJP by deny- ing permission to land chop- pers.” Earlier UP CM Yogi Adityanath, Union Minister’s choppers were denied permis- sion to land in Bengal. T he Travancore Devaswom Board, which runs Sabarimala temple, on Wednesday made a U-turn to support the Supreme Court’s order allowing women of all ages to enter the shrine as it joined the Kerala Government to oppose a batch of pleas seeking review of the historic verdict. Meanwhile, a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi reserved its decision after hear- ing various parties for three and half hours, including those seeking re-consideration of the September 28, 2018 judgment, even as the Board asserted that its latest position was not due to any political pressure. Some right-wing activists have alleged that the Board changed its stand before the court under pressure from the state’s CPI(M)-led LDF Government. The apex court, by a major- ity of 4:1, had on September 28, 2018 lifted the ban on women and girls between the age of 10 and 50 from entering the famous Ayyappa shrine in Kerala and had held that this centuries-old Hindu religious practice was illegal and uncon- stitutional. However, as many as 65 petitions — including 56 review petitions and four fresh writ petitions and five transfer pleas — were filed in the apex court after its verdict sparked violent protests in Kerala. The five-judge Constitution Bench, which had earlier agreed to hear the pleas in an open court, reserved its decision after hearing the par- ties, including Nair Service Society, Thantry of temple, temple Board (TDB) and the State Government, in favour and against the review plea. The Bench, also compris- ing justices RF Nariman, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra, was in for a pleasant surprise as the tem- ple board, which also com- prises the State Government nominees, took a U-turn by supporting the SC verdict and said the people should grace- fully accept it. The temple board, in ear- lier round of litigation, had opposed the PIL by Indian Young Lawyers Association seeking to throw open the shrine for all women. Justice Malhotra interdict- ed senior lawyer Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for TDB, and said, “You had argued against women’s entry”. “The Board has now decid- ed to respect the judgment”, Dwivedi replied, adding, “Article 25 (1) equally entitles all persons to practice religion.” “Women cannot be exclud- ed from any walk of life on bio- logical attributes... Equality is the dominant theme of the Constitution,” Dwivedi said. The Kerala Government, which had taken conflicting stands on women’s entry into the hilltop shrine, supported the verdict and urged the court to trash review pleas. Senior advocate Jaideep Gupta, appearing for the State Government, said a constitu- tional court should not worry about law and order problem and “social disturbances”. Exclusion of women from temples is not an essential practice of Hindu religion, he said. At the outset, the Bench told lawyers it would hear only those who are parties to review petitions and asked them to confine arguments on grounds for reconsideration of the judgment. Senior advocate K Parasaran, appearing for Nair Service Society, assailed the majority verdict, saying Article 15 of the Constitution throws open for public the secular institutions of the country but doesn’t deal with religious insti- tutions. A round 124 fresh cases, including 104 adults and 20 children, of seasonal influenza H1N1, including a death, were recorded in the national Capital on Tuesday, taking the total number of cases in Delhi to 1,019, said a report. According to the national data released by National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), around 1,011 cases were recorded till Monday without any death. A senior official from Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) informed the media that out of 1,011 cases, only 895 cases belonged to Delhi, which included 712 adults and 183 children, and the rest were from other States. Interestingly, till Monday, the Delhi Government had not reported any death due to swine flu this year, but on Tuesday, the report said one death was recorded. On the contrary, two major hospitals in Delhi, namely Safdarjung Hospital and Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital, recorded 13 deaths collectively last year. Continued on Page 4

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Congress leader SoniaGandhi’s son-in-law

Robert Vadra on Wednesdayappeared before theEnforcement Directorate (ED)in connection with a moneylaundering case for the allegedpossession of illegal foreignassets. The Congress tried totactically turn the focus awayfrom him by having Priyankadrop her husband at theEnforcement Directorate office.

In what could be seen as apolitical message, Priyankasaid, “I stand by my family. Heis my husband, he is my fami-ly...I support my family.”

Asked if it was a politicalvendetta, she said everyoneknows why this is being done.Priyanka’s show of support toher husband came days after anemotional message from Vadraon her appointment as AICCgeneral secretary.

Vadra entered the EDoffice around 3.45 pm, andsoon a team of his lawyersreached the ED office atJamnagar House here. This isthe first time Vadra turned upbefore a probe agency for ques-tioning on charges of dubiousfinancial dealings.

However, Vadra has deniedthe allegations and claimedthe cases are an outcome of apolitical witch-hunt.

After dropping Vadra offoutside the ED office, Priyanka,

who is an SPG protectee, wentback in her white Toyota LandCruiser with a convoy of vehi-cles carrying the elite com-mandos.

Vadra was directed by aDelhi court to cooperate withthe ED investigation after heapproached the court seekinganticipatory bail in the moneylaundering case. The court hadasked him to appear before theED on Wednesday on hisreturn from London.

A team of three ED offi-cials asked Vadra about trans-actions, purchase and posses-sion of certain immovableassets in London. His statementwas recorded under thePrevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA), offi-cial sources said.

The case relates to the pur-chase allegedly by Vadra of aLondon-based property locat-ed at 12, Bryanston Squareworth 1.9 million GBP (Britishpounds). The agency had toldthe court that it has receivedinformation about various newproperties in London whichbelong to Vadra.

In December, the ED hadraided and questioned Vadra’saide Manoj Arora, an employ-ee of Skylight Hospitality LLP,a firm linked to Vadra.

The ED has alleged that theLondon-based property wasbought by arms dealer SanjayBhandari for 1.9 million GBPand sold in 2010 for the same

amount despite incurring addi-tional expenses of approxi-mately 65,900 GBP on its ren-ovation.

“This gives credence tothe fact that Bhandari was notthe actual owner of the prop-erty but it was beneficiallyowned by Vadra who wasincurring expenditure on therenovation of this property,” theED had told the court.

Arora, a key link in thecase, was aware of Vadra’s over-seas undeclared assets and wasinstrumental in arrangingfunds, the ED had alleged.

Vadra has also been direct-ed by the Rajasthan High Courtto appear before the ED againon February 12 in connectionwith another money launder-ing case being probed by theagency.

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Priyanka Gandhi Vadra onWednesday took charge as

AICC general secretary at the party headquarters amid celebration and sloga-neering. Priyanka was appoint-ed as general secretary andincharge of Uttar Pradesh easton January 23 by her brotherand Congress chief RahulGandhi.

Along with Priyanka,senior Congress leaderJyotiraditya Scindia took charge

as the AICC general secretaryincharge for Uttar Pradeshwest. Both Priyanka andScindia have been appointedwith Rahul’s resolve tostrengthen the party in the cru-cial State of Uttar Pradesh,which has 80 Lok Sabha seats.

AICC leaders saidPriyanka is likely to begin herUttar Pradesh tour fromFebruary 11. She may hold aroad show in Lucknow andthen address a meeting ofUPCC office-bearers. Partyworkers engaged in UP election

related activities exuded confi-dence that Priyanka would goto Prayagraj also to take a dipin the Sangam on the occasionof Kumbh Mela. She, alongwith Rahul, may also address arally later this month.

While she met severalparty workers particularlythose hailing from the easternregion of UP, Priyanka had anearly two-hour long meetingwith Rahul and Scindia tochalk out the Congress’ UPgame plan.

Continued on Page 4

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Driven by hunger and cul-tural practices, tribals in

many pockets of Odisha aretaking to butchering and de-skinning of dead animals and consuming them, exposing themselves toanthrax, a deadly infectiouszoonotic disease.

Ringing alarm bells, scien-tists from the Indian MedicalCouncil of Research (IMCR)-Regional Medical ResearchCentre, Bhubaneswar, havecalled for a mass awarenesscampaign and livestock vacci-nation in villages and monetaryincentive to the tribals for dis-posal of dead livestock to com-bat the unhealthy practice ofconsumption of dead animals.

During the household sur-vey conducted in four anthrax-hit districts—Koraput,Rayagada, Sundargarh andMalkangiri—in April-December, 2017, scientistsfound that of the 88 anthraxcases reported, at least 36 percent affected persons wereengaged in butchering anddeskinning and consuming ofdead animals, both as part oftheir cultural practices as alsoto combat hunger.

About 23 per cent of thetotal 555 respondents admittedto follow practices that pro-scribed burial of dead animalsfor disposal while about 18 percent admitted to consumingthem.

No surprise that during the

last 15 years, out of 30 districtsin Odisha, 14 with high densi-ty of tribal population, havewitnessed outbreak of anthraxaffecting at least 1,208 peopleand killing 436.

Koraput was worst affect-ed with total 354 humananthrax cases and 9 deathsreported in last seven years.

During the survey, the sci-entists observed that tribals alsodig out the buried animal atnight and consume the meat.“Meat is dried in sun or in fireand kept hidden for later use.Even the dead animal is con-sumed at a village get-togeth-er,” said scientists DebduttaBhattacharya, Deepika Barla,Sanghamitra Pati from ICMR-Regional Medical ResearchCentre, (Department of HealthResearch, Union HealthMinistry.

Unawareness among thetribals was blatant. “The trib-als are at high risk of contract-ing human anthrax… and theyare unaware about the dis-eases and its preventive mea-sures,” said the survey whichnoted that about 20 per cent ofthe respondents had neverheard of the deadly disease.

“Vaccination of cattle isoften refused. Often the deadpeople handling infected deadanimals and come in contactwith infected body fluids whileslaughtering, butchering, skin-ning and consuming the infect-ed meat are at risk,” said sci-entists.

Continued on Page 4

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The Cabinet on Wednesdayapproved amendments to

the Banning of UnregulatedDeposit Schemes Bill, 2018,and empowered the CBI totake action against violators.The amendments include banon their advertisements.

Addressing the media, LawMinister Ravi Shankar Prasadsaid these comprehensiveamendments would strengthenthe enforcement agency andhelp people who are cheated byPonzi schemes. The amend-ment to the Banning ofUnregulated Deposits SchemesBill 2018 is expected to be

tabled in Parliament soon.The Bill enables creation of

an online Central data base forcollection and sharing of infor-mation of deposit taking activ-ities in the country. The CBIwill be nodal agency to initiateaction against the violators.The Minister justified makingthe CBI the nodal agency andsaid many Ponzi schemes areoperating in several States andthe State police could not coor-dinate effectively.

The Bill also added provi-sions to fix the cheaters whoput advertisements in newspa-pers to fool the people. “Theywill be arrested immediately ifthey put advertisements to foolpeople,” said Prasad. The Billalso makes provisions toretrieve the deposits, attach-ment of fraudsters’ property,and imprisonment.

To a volley of questionsregarding the timing of theamendments and Saradhascam cases, Prasad said crim-

inal laws can’t be enforced onold cases.

Union Cabinet chaired byPrime Minister NarendraModi also approved the pro-posal for establishment ofRashtriya Kamdhenu Aayogfor conservation, protectionand development of cows andtheir progeny. The setting upof Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayogwill lead to conservation, pro-tection and development of cat-tle population in the country.

“It will result in increasedgrowth of livestock sectorwhich is more inclusive, bene-fitting women, and small andmarginal farmers. TheRashtriya Kamdhenu Aayogwill work in collaboration withveterinary, animal sciences oragriculture university or depart-ments or organisations of theCentral/State Governmentengaged in the task of researchin the field of breeding andrearing of cow, organic manure,biogas, etc,” said the statement.

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Alocal court on Wednesdayheld seven men guilty of

killing two youths in Kawal vil-lage in an attack which is saidto have triggered the 2013Muzaffarnagar riots that led tothe killing of over 60 people.

Additional District andSessions Judge HimashuBhatnagar convictedMuzammil, Mujassim, Furkan,Nadeem, Janangir, Afzal andIkbal for killing Gaurav and Sachin on August 27, 2013, and rioting, said districtprosecution counsel RajivSharma.

The court will pronouncethe quantum of their sentenceson Friday. According to theFirst Information Report, thetwo youths of Kawal villageunder Jansath police stationarea were battered to death bythe five of the seven men.

The two other accused,Afzal and Iqbal, however, weresummoned by the court laterunder provisions of section319 of the Criminal ProcedureCode when the evidence of

their complicity in the killingsemerged during the trial.

The court convicted theseven after examining 10 pros-ecution witnesses and six intheir defence.

As per figures given byprosecution counsel Sharma,over 6,000 cases were lodgedfollowing the 2013 riots and

1,480 accused were arrested fortheir alleged roles in the riots.

A special investigationteam, which probed the cases,had filed chargesheets in 175cases. Fifty-six of them involv-ing 430 accused resulted inacquittal. The StateGovernment has withdrawnsome of the cases.

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The West Bengal BJP onWednesday said it has can-

celled the rally of formerMadhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Shivraj SinghChouhan in Murshidabad dis-trict as the district administra-tion denied permission to landhis chopper.

Chouhan, a BJP nationalvice-president, was scheduledto attend two rallies — one atBaharampur in Murshidabaddistrict and the other atKharagpur in West Midnapore.

It has been decided thatChouhan will now attend therally at Kharagpur and will gothere by road from the Kolkataairport. Accusing the Stateadministration of indulging in“vendetta politics”, BJP Stategeneral secretary SayantanBasu said the TMC cannot stopthe “march of the BJP by deny-ing permission to land chop-pers.” Earlier UP CM YogiAdityanath, Union Minister’schoppers were denied permis-sion to land in Bengal.

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The Travancore DevaswomBoard, which runs

Sabarimala temple, onWednesday made a U-turn tosupport the Supreme Court’sorder allowing women of allages to enter the shrine as itjoined the Kerala Governmentto oppose a batch of pleasseeking review of the historicverdict.

Meanwhile, a five-judgeConstitution Bench headed byChief Justice Ranjan Gogoireserved its decision after hear-ing various parties for three andhalf hours, including thoseseeking re-consideration of the

September 28, 2018 judgment,even as the Board assertedthat its latest position was notdue to any political pressure.

Some right-wing activistshave alleged that the Boardchanged its stand before thecourt under pressure from thestate’s CPI(M)-led LDFGovernment.

The apex court, by a major-ity of 4:1, had on September 28,2018 lifted the ban on womenand girls between the age of 10and 50 from entering thefamous Ayyappa shrine inKerala and had held that thiscenturies-old Hindu religiouspractice was illegal and uncon-stitutional.

However, as many as 65petitions — including 56review petitions and four freshwrit petitions and five transferpleas — were filed in the apexcourt after its verdict sparkedviolent protests in Kerala.

The five-judgeConstitution Bench, which hadearlier agreed to hear the pleasin an open court, reserved itsdecision after hearing the par-ties, including Nair ServiceSociety, Thantry of temple,temple Board (TDB) and theState Government, in favour

and against the review plea.The Bench, also compris-

ing justices RF Nariman, AMKhanwilkar, DY Chandrachudand Indu Malhotra, was in fora pleasant surprise as the tem-ple board, which also com-prises the State Governmentnominees, took a U-turn by

supporting the SC verdict andsaid the people should grace-fully accept it.

The temple board, in ear-lier round of litigation, hadopposed the PIL by IndianYoung Lawyers Associationseeking to throw open theshrine for all women.

Justice Malhotra interdict-ed senior lawyer RakeshDwivedi, appearing for TDB,and said, “You had arguedagainst women’s entry”.

“The Board has now decid-ed to respect the judgment”,Dwivedi replied, adding,“Article 25 (1) equally entitlesall persons to practice religion.”

“Women cannot be exclud-ed from any walk of life on bio-logical attributes... Equality isthe dominant theme of theConstitution,” Dwivedi said.

The Kerala Government,which had taken conflictingstands on women’s entry into

the hilltop shrine, supportedthe verdict and urged the courtto trash review pleas.

Senior advocate JaideepGupta, appearing for the StateGovernment, said a constitu-tional court should not worryabout law and order problemand “social disturbances”.

Exclusion of women fromtemples is not an essentialpractice of Hindu religion, hesaid. At the outset, the Benchtold lawyers it would hear onlythose who are parties to reviewpetitions and asked them toconfine arguments on groundsfor reconsideration of thejudgment. Senior advocate KParasaran, appearing for NairService Society, assailed themajority verdict, saying Article15 of the Constitution throwsopen for public the secularinstitutions of the country butdoesn’t deal with religious insti-tutions.

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Around 124 fresh cases,including 104 adults and

20 children, of seasonalinfluenza H1N1, including adeath, were recorded in thenational Capital on Tuesday,taking the total number ofcases in Delhi to 1,019, said areport.

According to the nationaldata released by NationalCentre for Disease Control(NCDC), around 1,011 caseswere recorded till Mondaywithout any death. A seniorofficial from DirectorateGeneral of Health Services

(DGHS) informed the mediathat out of 1,011 cases, only 895cases belonged to Delhi, whichincluded 712 adults and 183children, and the rest werefrom other States.

Interestingly, till Monday,the Delhi Government hadnot reported any death due toswine flu this year, but onTuesday, the report said onedeath was recorded.

On the contrary, two majorhospitals in Delhi, namelySafdarjung Hospital and RamManohar Lohia (RML)Hospital, recorded 13 deathscollectively last year.

Continued on Page 4

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Delhi Customs have arrest-ed a man for smuggling

gold at Indira GandhiInternational (IGI) airport. Theman had concealed two bricksof hold weighing two-kilo-gram in a toilet at airportpremises. According to DrAmandeep Singh, AdditionalCommissioner of Customs, theaccused was intercepted afterhis arrival from Dubai onMonday.

“The man was stopped bycustoms officials and ondetailed enquiry of the pas-senger resulted in the recoveryof two gold bars, total weigh-ing two-kilogram, which hehad kept inside the false wallbehind the flush of the toilet,”said Dr Singh.

“The gold, valued at �66.45lakh, has been seized and thepassenger arrested under sec-tion 104 of Customs Act,” saidDr Singh.

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A28-year-old auto rick-shaw driver was alleged-

ly shot dead by two men atpoint blank range near hishome at Geeta Colony inDelhi’s Shahdara district. Theincident occurred on Tuesdaynight. Police suspect person-al enmity behind the killing.

The deceased has beenidentified as Rohit, a residentof Block -10 in Geeta Colonywho used to live with his wifeand a child. “The incidentoccurred around 10:30 PM onTuesday when the auto driver,who had gone to drop a pas-senger in A block of Krishna

Nagar was returning backtowards his home, two menon bike stopped him near hishouse in Geeta Colony andshot him in head,” said asenior police official.

“Police was informed by apasserby regarding the inci-dent following which a teamreached on the spot. Rohithad died on the spot. Initialprobe suggest that due tosome personal enmity he wasshot. Entire incident was cap-tured in a CCTV camerainstalled near the crimescene,” said the senior policeofficial.

“A case has been regis-tered at Geeta Colony policestation. Police team is tryingto identify the killers whowere seen shooting at Rohit inCCTV footage. The body hasbeen sent for autopsy. So farit seems a case of personalenmity but police team isinvestigating the matter withall angles,” said the seniorpolice official.

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The much-awaited 9.41 kmlong Dilshad Garden-New

Bus Adda section of the RedLine of Delhi Metro is soongoing to be opened by end ofthis month as theCommissioner of Metro RailSafety (CMRS) SK Pathak hasaccorded the mandatoryapproval for the commence-ment of passenger operationson this corridor.

This section which will bethe extension of the alreadyexisting Red Line of Delhimetro will become the secondmetro route connectivity inGhaziabad. Currently, there isa 2.54 km connectivity fromAnand Vihar to Vaishali. Oncethe section becomes opera-tional, a large number of peo-ple who daily travel to and froto Delhi-Ghaziabad will bebenefitted.

“This completely elevatedsection will immensely benefit

the people of Ghaziabad andconnect the satellite city withnational capital, Delhi.Passenger services on the sec-tion will be started soon aftermeeting all necessary compli-ances and formalities,” saidAnuj Dayal, Executive Director(Corporate Communication),DMRC.

This 9.41 kilometre elevat-ed section will have 8 stations,namely - Shahid Nagar, Raj

Bagh, Rajendra Nagar, ShyamPark, Mohan Nagar, Arthala,Hindon River Station and NewBus Adda. This section will bean extension of the 25.09 KMlong Rithala to Dilshad GardenLine known as Red Line hav-ing 21 stations.

After the opening of thissection the Delhi Metro net-work will become 336.5 kilo-metres long with 244 Metrostations.

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Delhi Congress onWednesday launched an

attack on ruling Aam AadmiParty and Delhi Police for“deteriorating” law and order inthe city after the report of analleged rape of a one-year-oldchild came on Tuesday atAman Vihar area.

Delhi Congress presidentSheila Dixit said that instead ofwasting public money on hugehoardings showing the smilingfaces of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and DelhiChief Minister ArvindKejriwal, the Central and DelhiGovernment should spend thatmoney for creating legal aware-ness and put fear of the Lawamong criminals. Peopleshould also be sensitised tomake them aware of the con-sequences of such heinouscrimes.

Addressing media personsparty chief spokespersonSharmistha Mukherjee saidthat despite Aman Vihar areawas figured as a “vulnerablearea which is infamous forcrimes and also a traffickingpoint, the Delhi Police did nottake adequate measures to pre-

vent such crimes.“In last four years many

cases of rapes, molestation andkidnapping of children havebeen reported from AmanVihar but still neither theKejriwal Government nor theDelhi Police has taken anymeasures to stop crimes in thearea. Mukherjee also demand-ed the resignation of DelhiChief Minister for failing toprevent cases of crimes againstwomen in Delhi. “Delhi hasnow become the crime Capitalof India as NCR’s crime reportamong metropolitan cities pro-vides a gloomy picture aboutthe safety and security ofwomen and children in Delhi.

She said that even after themuch-flaunted amendment tothe Criminal Law and POSCOAct were introduced in 2018with provision to complete theinvestigation and trial withintwo months, there were 82pending investigations in 2018in Delhi alone.

“The total number of peo-ple arrested in Delhi underPOSCO in the last four yearswas 412, with 160 pendingcases, but sadly not a singleconviction under POSCO hastaken place in Delhi,” she said.

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North Delhi MunicipalCorporation (NMC) has

decided to extend facility atRamlila Maidan free of cost tothose registered organisationswhich has been organasingevents at Parade ground andground in front of Red Fort foryears and is not able to hold anyfunction due to the beautifica-tion work of the main road ofChandni Chowk.

On December 7, DelhiDeputy Chief Minister ManishSisodia laid the foundationstone for redevelopment worksin Chandni Chowk and saidonce the project is completed

it will boost tourism in the area.With the project com-

menced the streets of ChadniChowk decongested by restrict-ing vehicular movement during the day, making it dif-ficult for locals to hold anyfunction.

As per the developmentplan laid out by the UnifiedTraffic and TransportationInfrastructure (Planning &Engineering) Centre(UTTIPEC), there will be 5.5meter wide carriageway on theboth sides with a central verge;there will be a footpath alongnorthern and southern car-riageway of 5.75 m and 12.75m wide respectively.

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The Supreme Court hasissued a notice to the

Central Government consid-ering a petition claiming thenotifications given by theGovernment in December lastyear, on the implementation ofthe High Security RegistrationPlates (HSRP) scheme for affix-ation of Security Number Plateson motor vehicles to be againstthe orders of the court. Thenotice was issued on February1 this year.

The Notifications passedby the Central Governmentamend Rule 50 of the CentralMotor Vehicle Rules, 1989 andintroduce the Motor VehiclesOrder, 2018 replacing the oldMotor Vehicles Order, 2001.

According to the petition-er, the said notifications arecontrary to and therefore con-temptuous of theOrders/Directions passed bythe SC of India in variouscases over a period of morethan 10 years, alleged the peti-tioner in the court.

The petitioner further saidthat the government should beheld in contempt for willfullydisobeying the orders of thecourt. The SC, from time totime, has passed detailed direc-tions to enable the statutoryauthorities to keep centralisedcontrol on the implementationof the HSRP scheme for affix-ation of Security Number Plateson motor vehicles.

Three orders datedDecember 8, 2011, February 7,2012 and July 13, 2016 chrono-logically on the manufacturing,

supplying and affixation ofHSRP number plates.

Vikas Singh, SeniorAdvocate assisted by NamanJoshi, Advocate appeared onbehalf of the Petitioner andalleged that the enforcement ofthe said Notifications will upsetthe entire HSRP Scheme assolidified by the Hon’bleSupreme Court.

The Bench comprising ofJustice R Bhanumati and JusticeR Subhash Reddy took cog-nizance and fixed the nextdate of hearing on February 8.

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The bereaved parents of TVjournalist Soumya

Vishwanathan, who was shotdead more than 10 years ago,have knocked the door of theDelhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal for a speedy trial andjustice for her.

In a letter to the CM,Soumya’s father wrote that heand his family were tired of the“hollow assurances” fromauthorities, and expressed hopefrom a “concrete response”from him.

Five people were arrestedin 2009 on the charges of mur-der and are presently in cus-tody. The trial in the case isgoing on in the Delhi’s Saketdistrict court from last 10years.

“Over this period, therehave been changes in courts,judges and public prosecutorsmore than once,” MKVishwanathan, Soumya’s father,writes in the letter.

“We are seriously con-cerned about both, the pace atwhich the trial is moving aswell as the quality of effortsbeing put in the proceedings bythe prosecution. Hollow assur-ances from authorities havetired us out and we sincerelyhope for a concrete responsefrom you at the earliest,” theaged man says.

He says the recent changein the “public prosecutor hasraised our concerns as he, onceagain, was absent from thecourt on the date of the lasthearing (Feb 2)”.

He said that unlike the firstprosecutor on the case, the cur-rent and the previous publicprosecutors have been “unre-

sponsive” in giving any updatesto his family on the progress inthe case.

He said that 10 years ago —his daughter was shot deadwhen she was 25 — the policeand the authorities made hugeefforts in making the arrestsand putting together a strongcase against the accused.

“But with time as themedia visibility of the casewent down, so did the interestof the State in getting us jus-tice.”

Soumya was shot dead onSeptember 30, 2008, when shewas returning home in her carfrom office in the wee hours.

Seeking the CM’s inter-vention, Soumya’s father said asignificantly higher level ofcommitment from the publicprosecutor, both in presenceand preparedness for eachhearing is required.

“We urge you to help us getthe best possible prosecutiontalent appointed to this case. Incase the current prosecutor isoverloaded or unable to focuson this case for any reason,please appoint a special pros-ecutor to help move thingsalong.

“Request the public prose-cutor to be responsive to us, inproviding periodic updates onthe case, since we are no longerbased full time in Delhi,” hesaid in the letter. The distressedparents said they were dis-heartened to see hearing-after-hearing, “a meandering senseof apathy” with which the pro-ceedings are taking place.

“The judge has been con-siderate of the delay in this trialand has been kind enough toallot hearing dates at frequentintervals.

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Taking note of encroach-ment in Azadpur in North

west Delhi, the National GreenTribunal (NGT) onWednesday directed the NorthDelhi Municipal Corporation(NMC) to keep a constant vigiland seek the help of police inremoving squatters.

A Bench headed by JusticeRaghuvendra S Rathore saidremoval of unauthorised occu-pants on the road was a con-tinuous exercise and askedthe Delhi police to render dueassistance to the corporation asand when needed.

Advocate Puja Kalra,appearing for the corporationtold the bench, also compris-ing expert member SSGabrayal, that they havealready removed the encroach-ments as alleged in the plea bycity residents Sushil Bahetiand Ritesh Goel.

During the hearing, theDelhi Pollution ControlCommittee (DPCC) told theNGT that they have installedair quality monitoring stationat Azadpur.

Noting the submissions,the tribunal disposed of theplea which had sought removalof encroachments fromAzadpur area here, sayingthese were causing traffic con-gestion.

The plea, filed throughadvocate Rahul Khurana, hadclaimed that the issue raised bythe applicants was dealt by thePublic GrievancesCommission of the Delhi gov-ernment which directedDeputy Commissioner (CivilLines Zone), North DelhiMunicipal Corporation toremove encroachments on aregular basis.

“Vide the same order itwas also directed SHO ofAdarsh Nagar not to allow anyunauthorised vendor once thearea is cleared by the civicagency. It is pertinent to men-tion herein that the GrievancesCommission observed thatthe issue of encroachment atAzadpur is a very chronicmatter that needs to beresolved and advised toapproach the tribunal for get-ting corrective orders toresolve the grievance,” the pleahad said.

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With an aim to balancedemographic equation

pertaining to “gender equality”,deep-rooted prejudice and dis-crimination against the girlchild, the Delhi Governmenton Wednesday approved“informer reward scheme ille-gal sex determination tests” inthe Cabinet.

For this, the Cabinetapproved the Department ofHealth proposal of informerreward scheme under PreConception and Pre-NatalDiagnostic Techniques Act,1994 Act for both informer andDecoy patient for informingabout unregistered center ormachine.

Notably, as per the CivilRegistration System (CRS) datathe sex ratio at birth witnessed809 female against 1,000 in2001, 848 in 2007, 886 in 2012and 902 in the year 2016.

According to minutes ofthe Cabinet meeting, rewardmoney of �50,000 will be givento the informer for informingabout the unregistered centreor machine or any other infor-mation pertaining to violationof PC and PNDT act.

The Government’s

spokesperson also highlightedthat reward amount of�1,50,000 will be given to decoypregnant lady (decoy cus-

tomer) on the successful com-pletion of decoy/sting opera-tion. “�50,000 to decoy patientin the event of unsuccessful

decoy operation, to compensatethe decoy patient for herefforts, however the informershall not be compensated inany form in case unsuccessfuldecoy operation,” as stated inGovernment’s official state-ment.

The notification furtherreads that honouring all decoypatients by a certificate signedby the Chief Minister of theirparticipation in implementa-tion of PC & PNDT Act.“These certificates to all decoypatients will be distributed dis-trict wise in a function likeIndependence Day flag hostingfunction in district office by theConcerned District Magistrateon yearly basis,” said DelhiGovernment’s spokesperson.

Keeping in view the issueof the survival of girl child, thedepartment intends to rope inthe link of informers.

“To motivate and mobilisethe community to share infor-mation of such illicit activitiesand to conduct successfuldecoy operations based on theinformation, the idea of schemewas conceived, discussed andapproved in the StateSupervisory Board,” theGovernment said in a state-ment.

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After implementing theRights of Persons with

Disabilities Act (PWD) Act,2016 to help people sufferingfrom various disabilities, theDelhi Government is planningto create a separate departmentfor disabled persons as well asit is set to change the existingname of the Department ofSocial Welfare to ‘Ministry ofSocial Justice andEmpowerment.

Minister for Department ofSocial welfare Rajendra PalGautam in an interactive ses-sion organised by the speakerof Delhi Assembly, Ram NiwasGoel on Wednesday to under-stand the PWD Act, 2016,announced about the propos-al for creating a separatedepartment for disabled per-sons and name change of theexisting department that hecurrently heads.

“The Government isalready working for the uplift-ment of physically disabledpersons but it will providemuch more facilities andopportunities by creating aseparate department for whichthe process has already beenstarted, We further expect thatthe department will be ready

soon,” said Gautam.He also added that once

the department will be readyfor the disabled persons, theGovernment will also intro-duce new policies and regula-tions such as Section 13 ofRehabilitation Council of IndiaAct will come into force forincreasing the quality of ser-vices in the disability sector.

The interactive session wasalso attended by the StateCommissioner for Persons withDisabilities TD Dhariyal andmany other senior officials and

representatives from non-gov-ernmental organisations(NGOs).

“The name of the SocialWelfare Department will alsobe changed to Ministry ofSocial Justice andEmpowerment, for whichprocess has already been initi-ated. Also, for the first time,Delhi State Institute forRehabilitation and AlliedServices will be created to pro-vide financial assistance toanyone who needs any kind ofsupport system,” said Gautam.

The Minister further saidthat the number of schools forthe disabled children will beincreased and special educatorsand teachers will be roped inand the department is alsoworking to make the all theschool building and roads dis-abled friendly.

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At a time when Delhi’s spaceis shrinking for outdoor

activities, the DelhiGovernment on Wednesdayapproved a �139 crore ultramodern sports complex inNajafagarh area of Outer Delhi.

“The project is good newsfor sports lovers as the pro-posed complex will have fea-ture like — a synthetic athlet-ic track, a jogging track, a ten-nis court, a basketball court, aswimming pool, sports lightingfor cricket ground, an athleticand football ground and anuninterrupted power supply

system”, an official said. The decision was taken at

a cabinet meeting chaired byDelhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal. Directorate ofEducation (DoE) felt that itdoes not have any sports sta-dium/sports complex in ruralareas of Najafgarh and its near-by villages and there was a needto have sports facilities for theyouth of this part of the nation-al Capital.

“There is a small stadiumin the heart of Najafgarh whichis surrounded by eightGovernment schools and doesnot fulfill the requirements ofsports needs of Najafgarh

itself ”, the official added. The DoE also felt that the

excellence in sports is bestpossible only when thesportspersons receive trainingin specialised sports residentialacademies.

“This land falls along anarterial road branching fromthe Main Najafgarh-Dhansaroad connecting village Kair toNajafgarh.

As the said land is next toone of the main arterial roadfrom the core centre ofNajafgarh, it becomes accessi-ble for private motor vehicles,public transport, pedestriansand cyclists” an official release

stated. The land is in the proxim-

ity of catchment area compris-ing many surrounding villagesand other colonies with poten-tial user groups, it said.Najafgarh MLA and TransportMinister Kailash Gahlot hailedthe decision saying it will turnNajfgarh into a sports hub.

“Delhi Govt approves �140crore for building a SportsComplex spread over 18 acresat Kair, Najafgarh. Will haveint’l level facilities for football,cricket & indoor games.Possible only due to the bless-ings of @arvindkejriwal Ji and@msisodia Ji,” Gehlot tweeted.

New Delhi: No country canbecome a superpower if theyouth are majorly job seekers,Delhi Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia said onWednesday. He was speaking atthe Education ExcellenceAwards 2018-19 where theDelhi Government awardedthe best schools and toppers ofGovernment and aided schools.

“Job providers are comingfrom the USA and Europe. Ajob seeking economy can nevercompete with a job providereconomy. No country canbecome a superpower if theyouth are majorly job seekers,”Sisodia, who is also Delhi’sEducation Minister, said.

The Directorate ofEducation (DoE) gave awayExcellence Awards to 196 mer-itorious students of class 10 and12 and awarded the one bestschool of Delhi State, one bestRajkiya Pratibha VikasVidyalaya, seven district bestschools and 18 zonal bestschools.

Sisodia, who has been urg-ing students in his addresses tofocus on becoming jobproviders than merely beingseekers, spoke about the ini-tiatives of the Delhi govern-ment — Happiness Curriculumand EntrepreneurshipCurriculum.

“...We are about to roll outEntrepreneurship Curriculumfrom next session onwards inclasses IX to XII class andthrough it”. he said. SR

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Rourkela/Bhawanipatna: Congress chiefRahul Gandhi on Wednesday hit out at theModi government, accusing it of thrustingcorruption and unemployment on peopleand vowed to safeguard the rights of trib-als on “Jal, Zameen and Jungle” (water, landand forest).

Gandhi also vowed to provide mini-mum income to the poor, if voted to powerin the state, where it has remained in oppo-sition for two decades. Citing BJD’s supportto NDA on measures such as demonetisa-tion and Goods and Services Tax, heclaimed Odisha Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik was being “remote-controlled” bythe BJP.

“Chowkidar chor hai, Naveen Patnaikremote-controlled hai,” Gandhi said. Kickingoff the Congress campaign for Lok Sabhaand Assembly polls in Odisha, likely to beheld simultaneously in April-May, headdressed rallies in the tribal-dominatedKalahandi and Sundargarh districts duringhis second visit to the State in a fortnight.

Gandhi also targeted Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, saying, “Corruption is ram-pant at the Centre and in Odisha.”

“While the Modi Government hasgifted the country the Rafale scandal, chit-fund scam has grown in Odisha under

Patnaik. Many ruling BJD leaders areinvolved in chit-fund scam.”

The Modi government, he claimed,waived Rs 3.5 lakh crore in loans of 15industrialists, but both BJP and BJD haverefused to waive farm loans. “TheGovernment has enough money to write offhuge loans of industrialists, but when itcomes to bring succour to poor farmers, itshows helplessness,” he said. PTI

New Delhi: The BJP is seri-ously looking for allies in theSouthern States for the comingLok Sabha elections to improveits tally from 21 to make up forpossible losses in the Hindiheartland states where it hadmade almost a clean sweep inthe last polls.

The BJP has been makingdetermined efforts to makeinroads into the South, partic-ularly after its victory in the lastLok Sabha polls, and is keen toimprove its number of seats inthe region where it has beenperceived to be weak except inKarnataka.

Party leaders spoke to feelthe party will need allies toeven retain the 21 Lok Sabhaseats it had won in the 2014

general elections. Of these 21seats, the BJP won 17 inKarnataka alone, the statewhich still remains its gatewayto the South.

The five Southern States —Karnataka, Tamil Nadu,Andhra Pradesh, Telanganaand Kerala besides Puducherry— account for 130 Lok Sabhaseats. A top BJP functionary,who spoke on the condition ofanonymity, conceded that theSouthern States remain a chal-lenge for the party.

“Without alliance in south-ern states, we won’t be able toeven retain the existing seats. It remains a significant chal-lenge for us,” the functionarytold IANS.

IANS

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Leading international acade-mics, policy makers, educa-

tionists, development expertsand NGOs got together in Panajilast week for the DifficultDialogues 2019 summit wherethey debated several key issuesrelated to the Indian educationsector. The theme of the summitthis year was “Education:Illuminating The Myriad Facets”.IT was aimed at coming out withsuggestion to bridge the gapbetween policy formulation andon-ground implementation inthe education sector.

The policy recommenda-tions arrived at the summit willbe collated into actionable`white papers’ that would betaken up with the relevant pol-icy makers and authorities.

The discussions focussedon several issues facing the edu-cation sector including low lev-els of public spending; challengesin access to education for ethnicminorities and girls/women;

quality; poor administrationand management; and inade-quate concern towards educa-tion at the state level and oftenat the national level as well.

This year the KnowledgePartners for Difficult Dialogues2019 were Oxford Centre ForHigher Education Policy Studies(OxCHEPS), UK, BrookingsIndia, the Goa University (GU)and the International CentreGoa (ICG) who had identifiedeminent academics and inter-national experts who joinedhands with local educationpractitioners and policy makersto grapple with critical issuesrelated to the education sector.

Commenting at the con-clusion of the three day summit,Surina Narula, Founder & CEOof Difficult Dialogues said,“Debating the myriad issues fac-ing the education sector in thecountry so that it can be broughtback on the path of excellenceis a key agenda for India and forthe South Asian region as awhole. I am delighted at the

range and quality of the dis-cussions that we had on sever-al issues, and the fact that wewere able to identify the prob-lem areas and recommend pos-sible solutions.”

Special panels were curatedby the Knowledge Partners andthese included topics likeEducation for All, PrimaryEducation, Building World ClassUniversities, Value Education,The Role of TechnologyinReshaping Education,Curriculum and Pedagogy, NewThreats to Academic Freedom,Financing ofEducation, and Roleof Religion in Educationamongst others.

To capture the voice of stu-dents, the summit opened up thedebate to India’s universitiesthrough Daring Debates, anintensive college debate series onthe educational sector in India.The regional winners were invit-ed for the grand finale on the lastday of the summit. The topic forthe finals was “Is the Indian cur-riculum and its teaching meth-

ods redundant?” and the debatewas moderated by actor PoojaBedi. After the end of a keenlycontested session Anmol Kangfrom Sikkim Manipal Instituteof Medical Sciences in GangtokSikkim, and P. Lokeshwari from Pondicherry Institute ofMedical Sciences were declaredthe winners.

The final panel discussion,moderated by prominent TVjournalist Barkha Dutt, ques-tioned “Should Religion Be aPart of Education?? which led toa very engaging conversationbetween additional solicitor gen-eral of India Pinky Anand, for-mer cabinet minister ArifMohammed Khan, Clifford WDeSilva, Director, Goa Instituteof Counseling and Dr. NeelamKaur, of the Akal Academy.The panel agreed that conceptslike Wisdom, Values,Humanism and Spirituality weredifferent from Religion and reli-gious practice, and these couldand should find a place in theEducation system.

New Delhi: Over 500 Indianfishermen and more than 1,050Indian fishing boats are believedto be in Pakistan’s custody, theGovernment said on Wednesday.

The Government said it hassought their early release andrepatriation from the neighbour-ing country. Minister of State forExternal Affairs VK Singh, in awritten reply to a question in LokSabha, said the Government’spersistent efforts have succeededin securing the release and repa-triation of 1,749 Indian prisoners,including 1,725 fishermen, alongwith 57 boats from Pakistan’scustody since 2014.

This includes 179 Indian pris-oners and fishermen who wererepatriated from Pakistan in 2018,he said. According to the availableinformation, 503 Indian fishermenare believed to be in Pakistan’s cus-tody, the Minister said.

Pakistan, through a listshared on January 1, 2019, hasacknowledged the custody of483 fishermen who are Indian orbelieved-to-be-Indian in theirjails, Singh said.

The 483 fishermen includesthose who are in Pakistan for over20 months. The Government hasasked Pakistan to provide con-sular access and early releaseand repatriation of the remaining

Indian prisoners and fishermenalong with their boats inPakistan’s custody, he said.

More than 1,050 Indian fish-ing boats are believed to be inPakistan’s custody, Singh said.However, he said Pakistan has notacknowledged their custody sofar. Responding to a question onwhether the Government hasrecently received any representa-tions regarding alleged attacks bySri Lankan Navy on Indian fish-ermen and capture of their prop-erties, Singh said the Governmenthas received letters from theState Governments of TamilNadu and Puducherry and alsofrom fishermen associations on it.

During the past three years,there have been occasions whenthe arrested Indian fishermenhave complained of assault by SriLanka Navy, the Minister said.

The fishermen issues havebeen raised at the highest level,including by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi with his

Lankan counterpart RanilWickremesinghe during the lat-ter’s visit to India in October2018. To another question, Singhalso informed the Lower House that 4,705 Indian nation-als are in prisons in Gulf coun-tries, which also includes Indianorigin labourers imprisoned dueto accidents.

Replying to another question,Singh said the total number ofIndians who have completedtheir jail terms but are still lodgedin prisons of foreign countries is434, out of which 396 Indians arein Pakistan. PTI

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New Delhi: In a move that willgo a long way in boosting theIndian alternate medicines,the Government has ambi-tious plans to provide theAyush services in at least 12,500health and wellness centresunder the Ayushmaan Bharat--Pradhan Mantri Jan ArogyaYojna across the country.

Shripad Yesso Naik,Minister of State for AYUSHafter inauguration of theConference of AYUSH/HealthMinisters of States/UTs saidhere “at least 12,500 health andwellness centres need to beidentified across the countryfor rendering AYUSH servicesto the people at grass-rootlevel with special reference topreventive health care.

“We look forward to aneffective integration in theNational progress related tohealth. Research Councilsunder Ministry of AYUSH areconducting NationalProgramme for Prevention andControl of Cancer, Diabetes,Cardiovascular Disease andStroke (NPCDCS) in states.

While the Central Councilfor Research in AyurvedicSciences is conducting NPCD-CS programme in SurendraNagar District in Gujarat;Bhilwara in Rajasthan and inGaya, Bihar, the Central Councilfor Research in Homeopathy isimplementing the programmein Darjeeling in West Bengaland Krishna District in AndhraPradesh. PNS

Bhuj: The Border Security Force (BSF) on Wednesday apprehend-ed two Pakistani fishermen and seized their boat in the creek areaof Kutch district near the Indo-Pak border for allegedly entering theIndian territory, officials said.

The apprehension was a result of a “special operation” by the BSFin Vainwari creek using speed boats, an official release said. The appre-hended Pak fishermen have been identified as Suganjo Usman (35)and Rajan Laden (15), both residents of Chhach village of Sindhprovince of the neighboring country, the BSF release added.

The duo allegedly entered the Indian territory in their boat tocatch fish. A BSF patrol team had last month found an abandonedPak fishing boat from the same creek.

Several abandoned boats as well as Pakistani fishermen had beencaught in the past while fishing in the Indian side of the the creekarea. PTI

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Defence Minister NirmalaSitharaman will discuss

the entire range of bilateralstrategic and defence issueswith Germany and Swedenrespectively during her four-day two-nation tour startingFebruary 11.

Incidentally, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hadpaid an official visit to the twocountries in April last year tohold high level discussionsespecially focussing on strate-gic and defence relations.

During her visit to Sweden,the defence minister will explorepossibilities of industries fromthere participating in the “‘MakeIn India’’ programme especial-ly in the field of defence manu-facturing. Sweden’s fighter jetGripen is in the race for the 110-fighter jet proposed deal forthe IAF costing more than ten billion dollars for whichthe global tender was floated lastyear, sources said here onWednesday.

Sitharaman will hold wideranging discussions with herSwedish counterparts and is also

likely to visit some state of the artdefence industries there, theyadded. In her talks with Germanleaders, the Defence Minister willdiscuss issues like terrorism,possibility of exchanges betweenofficers at the military level andstrategic matters.

Though India andGermany do not have muchdefence trade, the two sidesmay hold discussion aboutpossible tie-up for manufac-turing submarines as Germanythree decades ago had helpedIndia in manufacturing HDWsubmarines here.

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The bereaved family of lateSquadron Leader Samir

Abrol, one of the two testpilots who died in a Mirage-2000 crash in Bengaluru lastweek, has said while thebureaucracy enjoy its “corruptcheese and wine”, the air war-riors are given “outdatedmachines” to fight.

An emotional poem pennedby Abrol’s brother Sushant, post-ed on Facebook, states it is an

“unforgiving” job to be a testpilot given the risks it posses.“While the bureaucracy enjoyedits corrupt cheese and wine. Wegive our warriors outdatedmachines to fight. They stilldeliver it with all their prowess and might,” Sushant said in thepost that was widely shared.

Abrol and SquadronLeader Siddhartha Negi, both from Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment,died after their fighter jetcrashed.

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Priyanka’s entry into activepolitics signals the Congress’intention to go all out in theforthcoming Lok Sabha elec-tions in Uttar Pradesh. EasternUP accounts for around 40 LokSabha seats. The region is a BJPstronghold that includes theVaranasi constituency of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andGorakhpur, the home turf ofUP Chief Minister YogiAdityanath.

Priyanka’s office is adjacentto the room of her brother atthe party headquarters atAkbar Road here. She willattend her first official meetingon Thursday. Rahul has con-vened the meeting of all gen-eral secretaries and incharges ofvarious States to plan the strat-egy for the Lok Sabha elections.

Soon after assuming thenew charge at the Congressheadquarters, Scindia per-formed a Ganesh pooja. Helater met some party workers,including those from westernUttar Pradesh.

Scindia shared a video ofthe prayer ceremony on Twitterand said, “Took over asCongress general secretaryafter doing ‘Ganesh pooja’ atthe AICC office, with theresolve of strengthening theparty in the State.” Scindia(48), an MP from Guna inMadhya Pradesh, is alreadythe party’s chief whip in theLok Sabha.

He said the Congress has agood opportunity to make acomeback in Uttar Pradesh bywinning a number of LokSabha seats to form aGovernment at the Centre.The scion of the erstwhileroyal family of Gwalior, Scindiahas been entrusted with theonerous task of strengtheningthe Congress in western UttarPradesh, where the party didnot win any seat in the last LokSabha elections.

His skills will be put to testin the Hindi heartland State inuniting the party cadres. Oneof the main contenders for thechief minister’s post in MadhyaPradesh after the Assemblyelections last year, he has set-tled for a Central role.

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A senior doctor at Safdarjung Hospital con-firming the data said, “From January 1 to January31, around three deaths have been reported atour hospital.” In January, around 23 cases ofH1N1 influenza were reported by the hospital,he said. During the same time period, around10 fatalities were reported from RML Hospital.

A senior official of DGHS said the deathswhich are being reported by the hospitals occurdue to other factors and not just because of swineflu alone. “It is not confirmed weather the deathsare happening due to swine flu or due to someother factors. The patients who have died mighthave some other diseases already and the influen-za worsened the condition,” she said. The virusitself is not capable of killing someone, she added.

Patients with co-morbid condition like lowimmunity, on immune suppressant, blood can-cer, renal transplant, diabetes, heart disease areat high risk of getting infected with swine flu.

With this, Delhi has become second largestcity to record seasonal influenza H1N1 this year.Last year, only 205 cases of the disease werereported in the Capital.

Showing concerns, the Delhi Government’sHealth Department issued a health advisory onWednesday. The advisory said the commonsymptoms of the flu are fever, cough, sore throat,runny or stuffy nose and difficulty in breathinghowever the flu can be prevented by avoiding

any direct or indirect physical contact with theperson infected as the flu is highly contagious.

“Seasonal Influenza (H1N1) is a self- lim-iting viral, air borne diseases spread from per-son-to-person, through large droplets generat-ed by the act of coughing and sneezing, indi-rect contact by touching a contaminated objector surface and close contact,” said the adviso-ry. The symptoms may include body aches,headache, fatigue, chills, diarrhoea and vomit-ing and Blood Stained Sputum (a mixture ofmucus and saliva), it said further.

Influenza H1N1 can be categorised intothree types. While category A which consists ofmild fever and cough with occasional bodyache,diarrhoea and vomiting does not require anymedication, category B may require medication.

“In addition to all the signs and symptomsmentioned under category-A, if the patient hashigh grade fever and severe sore throat, mayrequire home isolation and medication,” theadvisory stated. The most dangerous type of theH1N1 influenza is category C. In this categoryof influenza, the common symptoms are breath-lessness, chest pain, drowsiness, fall in bloodpressure, sputum mixed with blood and bluishdiscolouration of nails.

“Children with influenza like illness who hada severe disease as manifested by the red flagsigns (somnolence, high and persistent fever,inability to feed well, convulsions, shortness ofbreath, difficulty in breathing, etc),” added therelease.

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From Page 1Seeking a reconsideration,

he said the Article 17 whichdeals with abolition ofuntouchability in society waswrongly used by the court in itsjudgment as exclusion of cer-tain age groups of women wasnot based on caste.

Parasaran also referred tothe celibate or ‘NaishtikaBrahmachari’ character of theSabarimala deity and said theexclusionary practise was basedon nature of the deity and theapex court should have con-sidered this aspect.

He also referred to Article25 (fundamental right to prac-tice religion) and said unless areligious practice is “abhorrent’,a court usually does not inter-fere with the activities associ-ated with religious institutions.

Senior advocate AMSinghvi, representing TDB’sex-chairperson, argued infavour of a review of the judg-ment. “There is no exclusion ofwomen. There is no exclusionof men. There is no exclusionof a class of men or womenbased on religion and caste.There is an exclusion inside aclass (women). Hence Article17 (removal of untouchability)will not apply,” Singhvi said.

Dealing with the aspect of

constitutional morality, thelawyer said in a pluralisticHindu society this conceptcannot be applied objectivelyby the court and it has to besubjective keeping in minddifferent essential religiouspractices.

Senior advocate V Giri,who represented the shrinethantry, said the temple allowsentry of all persons inside andthere is no exclusion of anyclass of citizen based on caste,gender and religion.

“The fundamental right toworship also includes the char-acter of the deity and everydevotee cannot question thischaracter which also formedpart of the essential religiouspractice there,” he said.

Senior lawyer ShekharNaphade said the court cannotdirect a community to practicereligion in a particular manner.

“This is an internal affair ofa religious community whichworships a particular deity ina particular manner. This hasnever been in dispute that thispractice is being followed forcenturies.

“The court cannot issue awrit of mandamus against acommunity to practice its reli-gion in a particular manner,”Naphade said, adding this wasan essential religious practicewhich cannot be scrutinised.

He said that any religiouspractice cannot be stoppedunless it constituted a criminaloffence. PTI

������������222From Page 1

Also, around 48 per cent ofrespondents were unaware aboutthe mode of anthrax transmis-sion as a result they often hideskin lesions , thus delaying diag-nosis and leading to furtherspread. Mainly a disease of cat-tle, anthrax can be passed off tohumans where it manifests inthree forms- cutaneous (skin),pulmonary (respiratory) andintestinal. If untreated, risk ofdeath from cutaneous anthrax

can go as high as 25 per cent andfor the other varieties the risk ofdeath might be up to 75 per cent,even with treatment.

The State Governmentseems to be least botheredabout this rising health hazard.The scientists pointed out thatthere was a lack of interde-partmental co-ordination,vacant posts at grass-root levelin veterinary department, andabsence of regular anthraxvaccination programmes.

“It is found that mainlyhealth department along with

veterinary department worktogether during the outbreak butother departments like forest,block administration only attendthe meeting during the out-breaks and never part of the con-trol measures for anthrax.Outbreaks gain attention onlywhen it spreads to human,” saidthe survey. As per NationalAnimal Diseases Referral ExpertSystem data, anthrax is one ofthe top 10 diseases reported inIndia and one of the major caus-es of deaths in livestock withhigh case fatality rate.

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New Delhi: A 52-year-old doc-tor and consultant at RamManohar Lohia Hospital onWednesday allegedly committedsuicide by hanging herself froma ceiling fan at her residence inDelhi’s North Avenue area.

The deceased has beenidentified as Poonam Vohra.She was a consultantRadiologist at Ram ManoharLohia hospital.

According to a seniorpolice official, the NorthAvenue police station wasinformed about suicide at 1 pmfollowing which they rushed to

the spot. “During investigationit was revealed that Vohra wason leave. Her husband and twochildren were not at home atthe time of incident. The flatwas found locked from inside,”said the senior police official.

“A suicide note has beenrecovered. Legal proceeding hasbeen initiated and the post-mortem will be conducted onThursday,” said the senior policeofficial. “No foul play is sus-pected. However, family mem-bers will be questioned in con-nection with the incident,” thesenior police official added. SR

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The Government has soughtapplications for chairman

and members of anti-corrup-tion ombudsman Lokpal, near-ly five years after the LokpalAct came into force, officialssaid Wednesday.

An advertisement seekingapplications from desired andeligible candidates has beenissued by the PersonnelMinistry.

For the appointment asthe chairman, a person who isor has been Chief Justice ofIndia or a Supreme Courtjudge is eligible to apply.

Besides, individuals with “impeccable integrity andoutstanding ability” havingspecial knowledge and expertise of not less than 25years in matters related to anti-corruption policy, publicadministration, vigilance,finance including insuranceand banking, and law andmanagement are eligible to

apply. Those with less than 45

years of age are not eligible toapply.

According to rules, there isa provision for a chairpersonand a maximum of eight mem-bers in the Lokpal. Of these,four need to be judicial mem-bers.

“Not less than 50 per centof the members of the Lokpalshall be from amongst the per-sons belonging to theScheduled Castes, theScheduled Tribes, OtherBackward Classes, minoritiesand women,” the advertise-ment seeking the applicationsreads.

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Against the backdrop ofprotests by various sec-

tions, including Parliame-ntarians, the Centre on Wed-nesday said the Governmentwill file a review petition in theSupreme Court after its SpecialLeave Petition (SLP) on facul-ty reservation mechanism foruniversities was rejected bythe apex court.

“We will file review peti-tion soon and we will put ourpoint strongly. We are confi-dent there will be justice andreservation will continue as perthe earlier system. The gov-ernment will ensure that reser-vation for SC/ST/OBC is nothampered,” HRD MinisterPrakash Javadekar said.

The announcement comesin the wake of protests byteachers and students bodiesafter the SLP seeking restora-tion of earlier mechanism of

faculty reservation, which iscalculating total posts institu-tion-wise rather than depart-ment-wise, was dismissed bythe Supreme court last month.

The roster system providesthat number of vacancies areconsidered department or wingwise in a college or universityand not total number of postsavailable for recruitment inany institution. This results inlimited seats available forrecruitment by each depart-ment or wing under reservedcategories.

“Earlier universities weretreated as a unit for reservationwhich was the right thing andthe SC/ST/OBC were treated ina just manner.

Initially the AllahabadHigh Court and then theSupreme Court decided thatdepartment wise reservationwill happen which meantreduction in reservation forSC/ST/OBC. The Modi

Government filed an SLPagainst it and it was argued wellbut the Supreme Court did notaccept the SLP,” Javadekar saidbriefing the media outside theParliament.

The University GrantsCommission (UGC) had issueda communication to all uni-versities and higher educationinstitutions (HEIs) to “postpone the recruitmentprocess” till the Supreme Courtissued its verdict on the SLPand that decision has not beenwithdrawn yet, the Ministersaid.

The UGC had announcedin March last year that anindividual department shouldbe considered as the base unitto calculate the number ofteaching posts to be reservedfor Scheduled Caste (SC) andScheduled Tribe (ST) candi-dates following an order by theAllahabad High Court in Aprilin 2017.

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The Union Home Ministryhas launched a massive

recruitment drive to fill 76,578vacancies, including 7,646 postsfor women, in Central ArmedPolice Forces (CAPFs).

In a statement onWednesday, the HomeMinistry said out of thesevacancies, 54,953 posts are forthe constable cadre and theywill be hired through the Staff Selection Commission(SSC).

Out of the 54,953 posts ofconstables, the CRPF, theworld’s largest paramilitaryforce, has the maximum 21,566vacancies, followed by the BSF(16,984 posts), the SSB (8,546posts), the ITBP (4,126 posts)and the Assam Rifles (3,076posts) with the remainingbeing in the CISF and otherCAPFs.

For the entire exercise, theSSC will start a computer-based written examinationfrom this month itself, thestatement said.

The CRPF, which has astrength of 325 operationalbattalions (3,25,000 person-nel) will get nearly 22 more bat-talions (22,000 personnelapproximately). The CRPF is adesignated anti-Naxal, counter-terror and anti-insurgencyCentral Force.

The paramilitary is heavi-ly deployed in Jammu andKashmir, Naxal areas and theNortheast.

The addition of the 22 bat-talions will give a boost to theForce that has for long beendeprived of the reserve com-ponent, leading to fatigueamongst personnel due to continuous deployment in hardareas.

After the completion of therecruitment, the personnel willbe able to get soft postings liketraining and the areas not hitby insurgency or terror.

There are 1,073 vacanciesin various CAPFs at the level ofSub-Inspector, out of which 38posts are reserved for women.The BSF has the maximum 508vacancies of SI, followed by the

CRPF (274), the SSB (206)and the ITBP (85). D i r e c tRecruitment for these postsalso will be made by the SSCthrough a written examinationbetween February-March.

At the level of the AssistantCommandant, there exist 466vacancies for which directrecruitment is being madethrough the UPSC. The resultof the written examination tofill these posts has beendeclared on January 1.

The shortlisted candidateswill appear for physical andmedical examination to beconducted by the SashatraSeema Bal (SSB), the nodalforce, from February 25onwards.

In addition, 20,086 vacan-cies pertain to promotionalposts and in other cadres suchas tradesman, ministerial, med-ical, paramedical, communi-cation and engineering andthese are also being filled by theCAPFs.

Thus, in all 76,578 vacan-cies are getting filled up, thestatement added.

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The BJP on Wednesdayquestioned whether

Congress chief Rahul Gandhiwas behind planting the Armycoup story in 2012 even as itsought the StandingCommittee on Defence to takenote of “fresh reports” on thealleged episode.

Taking a serious note ofwhat he described “new reve-lations” on the alleged coupattempt in 2012, BJPspokesperson GVL NarsimhaRao said he has raised the issuewith the Standing committeechairman Kalraj Mishra who isalso a Union Minister and asenor BJP leader.

“I am a member ofParliamentary Committee onDefence and (this fresh report)is a matter of great concern andI have raised the issue with ourchairman and requested himthat we should find answers tothese questions,” Rao toldnewspersons here.

The BJP’s Rajya Sbhamember claimed that four ofNarsimha Rao Government’sCabinet Ministers were in theknow of things and one ofthem had leaked the report to

a section of the press. Hesought the name of theMinister who had leaked theinformation to the media.

The report in a nationalEnglish daily on April 12, 2012,had claimed that the “alarm’ wasraised in January 16, 2013. Thelead story of the daily suggest-ed an attempt of coup by theArmy. The report then alludedthat an entire unit of infantrybased in Hisar (Haryana) hadstarted moving towards Delhiwhile a section from Agra alsomoved towards Palam.

The BJP leader was react-ing after ‘fresh report’ in anEnglish Weekly ‘SundayGuardian’, this month, allegedthat the UPA dispensationunder Manmohan Sigh hadasked Intelligence Bureau toestablish that the then armyChief Gen. V K Singh (now a

Minister in the Modi-Government) was attempting acoup against the Government.

“The top leadership of theUPA 2 government, in the lastfew months of 2011 and early2012, had informally indicatedto the Intelligence Bureau (IB)to try and establish that theArmy, under its chief, GeneralVK Singh, was attempting acoup to topple theGovernment. This was at atime when the UPA 2Government was reeling undercharges of immense corruptionand the Anna Hazare move-ment was going on. A fewmonths later, despite the IB cat-egorically reporting that therewas absolutely no chance thatGen Singh would carry out anycoup, this fiction was “leaked”to the media..”, the report of theWeekly alleged.

Rao asked if Congressleader Rahul Gandhi was the‘brain’ behind these conspira-cies, and wondered why UPAministers spread these ‘lies’despite the Intelligence Bureaucalling any news about theseattempts ‘false’.

“This Congress party hadnot only indulged in loot, butthey have also played havoc with

national security of this coun-try and played with security,” theBJP spokesperson said.

“This is not just a politi-cal conspiracy but also anattempt to defame the Indianarmy. In January 2012, therewere media reports thatclaimed that the Indian Armywas staging a coup against thethen-Manmohan SinghGovernment. The stories wereplanted by senior leaders of theCongress party, including cer-tain Cabinet Ministers. Thiswas a manufactured coup.Based on the information thatwas given to him, the then-Prime Minister asked the IB topresent facts on the rumour.Even after the IB had clearedthe rumours, the UPA stillplanted the story in mediathat attempted to malign theIndian Army,” he said.

Reacting to the charges, ex-Defence Minister and seniorCongress leader A K Antonysaid in a brief reply, “AsDefence Minister at that time,there were lot of questions inRajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. Ihad given detailed answers.Please go through Parliamentwebsite, you’ll get the answer Ihad given,”

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Both the Houses ofParliament were adjourned

on Wednesday without trans-acting any business. While theproceedings of Lok Sabha wereadjourned for the day after pay-ing obituary to sitting BJDmember from Odisha LaduKishore Swain, Rajya Sabha toowere washed out completely forthe third day in a row over var-ious issues including theCitizenship (Amendment) Billand roster system for reserva-tion in educational institu-tions.

As soon as the Lok Sabhamet for the day, SpeakerSumitra Mahajan informedmembers about the demise ofthe Biju Janata Dal member inBhubaneshwar on Wednesdaymorning.

The debate on Motion ofThanks to the President’sAddress to the joint sitting ofParliament is likely to contin-ue on Thursday where PrimeMinister is expected to reply tothe debate.

The MP from Aska was 71. Swain was a member ofthe parliamentary committeeon Rural Development andOBCs. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and UPAchairperson Sonia Gandhi wereamong members present whenthe obituary reference wasmade.

The Rajya Sabha proceed-ings were within seconds in themorning for post lunch.Thereafter as soon as the upperhouse resumed its proceedingsat 2 PM, RJD, SP, BSP andTMC members trooped into the well protesting overvarious issues mainly intro-duction of roster system in edu-cational institutions which theyclaim limits the scope of reser-vation for jobs. BesidesCongress members were alsoon their feet to lodge theirprotest.

Deputy Speaker Harivanshasked protesting members inthe well to return to theirrespective seats.

However, the members didnot relent and kept on raising

slogans like “Anti-poor gov-ernment cannot function”.They were also holding plac-ards to protest against the ros-ter system.

He then requested SPleader Ramgopal Yadav to end the protest as he will begiven a chance to speak on theissue during the Zero Hour.Yadav said the Government has deviated from its promisemade in the House on thisissue.

In the meantime,Parliamentary Affairs MinisterVijay Goel tried to pacifyYadav. However, the protestcontinued.

HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar saidGovernment is working on theissue and preparing a specialleave petition and review peti-tion for filing in the SupremeCourt.

When the members con-tinued raising slogans andshowing placards, Harivanshsaid, “In this situation, I haveno other option but to adjournthe House till February 7.”

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Ahead of the upcoming LokSabha polls this year, the

Ministry of Finance’s PublicInvestment Board (PIB) onWednesday approved metrorail projects of Agra, Kanpur,Ahmedabad phase II andPatna besides the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Rapid RailTransit corridor.

Meanwhile, the DelhiGovernment once again madeit clear that its share of �1138crore towards the project costhas to be borne by the Centreas it did not have adequatefunds. The question thus rem-inas as to who will pay theshare of Delhi Government,sources said.

Sources in the Governmentsaid that financial implicationsof the aforementioned metrorail projects have beenapproved. The proposals would

be sent to the Union Cabinetfor approval.

On the Delhi-Ghaziabd-Meerut corridor of RRTS,Delhi government has writtento Ministry of Housing andUrban Affairs that proposedchange in alignment of the pro-ject as well as change of stationat Sarai Kale Khan from under-ground to elevated would affectthe construction plan of ISBTSarai Kale Khan and the pro-posed hotel under the PPPmode to fund the redevelop-ment of the ISBT. This will leadto delay in the entire project.According to sources, the afterrefusing the share the projectcost by the Delhi Government,the question arise whether theCentre will pay the share ofDelhi Government.

The metro rail project ofPatna will cost �13,400 crore.As per the DPR, the 14.5kmeast-west corridor will cover

Saguna Mor, Bailey Road,Patna Junction and Mithapurbus stand. The 16.5km north-south corridor, on the otherhand, will connect PatnaJunction with the proposedbus stand at Barriya via AshokRajpath, Gandhi Maidan andRajendra Nagar terminal.While the east-west corridorwill mostly be underground,the north-south corridor willbe elevated.

For Kanpur and Agrametro, the Uttar Pradesh gov-ernment had reduced the costof the projects after theMinistry of Housing and UrbanAffairs’s objection. For theKanpur project, a proposal of�18,143 crore was sent earlier.Now it has been made �10,908crores.

A total of 32.385 km ofmetro rail will be built inKanpur. As per the revisedDPR, two corridors will be built

under the Kanpur Metro pro-ject. The proposed metro rail ofKanpur city will cover IIT,Rawatpur, Bada Chauraha,Motimahal, Kanpur Central,ISBT Jhakarkatti and Naubasta.The Agra metro project costwas estimated to �13,781crores. Now it has been made�8,262 crores. A 30 km metrorail network is to be built inAgra which will consist twocorridors.

The Ahmedabad metrophase II projects will cost Rs7500 crore. As per the revisedDPR for phase-II, the routelength has been shortened to28.26 km. It will have two cor-ridors - the first one having alength of 22.84 km will linkMotera with Mahatma Mandirand the second one about 5.42km-long branch from GNLU(Gujarat National LawUniversity) and linking PDPUand GIFT City.

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The Supreme Court onWednesday sought a

response from activist andlawyer Prashant Bhushan oncontempt pleas by AttorneyGeneral K K Venugopal andthe Centre for his tweetsallegedly criticising the courtover the appointment of MNageswara Rao as interim CBIdirector.

Bhushan was given threeweeks to reply.

A bench of Justices ArunMishra and Naveen Sinha saidit would deal with the largerquestion of whether it is open

for lawyers or any other personto criticise the court in a subjudice matter which wouldlead to influencing public opin-ion. Criticising the court mayalso lead to interference in thecourse of justice, the benchadded.

“This issue required to beheard in length, notice issued,”it said, listing the matter for fur-ther hearing on March 7.

Bhushan, in his tweets,alleged that the Centre, repre-sented by Venugopal, misledthe apex court on the issue ofRao’s appointment.

On Tuesday, the Centremoved the apex court seekinginitiation of contempt pro-ceedings against Bhushan forhis tweets and said theyamounted to making falsestatement in a pending case.This was days after Venugopal’scontempt petition againstBhushan.

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt has said that linkage ofPAN with Aadhaar is manda-tory for filing of Income Taxreturns.

A bench comprising Jus-tices A K Sikri and S AbdulNazeer said the top court hasalready decided the matter andupheld the section 139AA ofthe Income Tax Act. The court’sdirection came on an appealfiled by the Centre against aDelhi High Court order allow-ing two persons, Shreya Senand Jayshree Satpute, to fileIncome Tax returns for 2018-19 without linking theirAadhaar and PAN numbers.

“The aforesaid order waspassed by the High Court hav-ing regard to the fact that thematter was pending considera-tion in this Court. Thereafter,this Court has decided the mat-ter and upheld the vires of sec-tion 139AA of the Income TaxAct. In view thereof, linkage ofPAN with Aadhaar is manda-tory,” the bench said. PTI

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Bengaluru: India’s latest com-munication satellite GSAT-31was successfully put into orbit inthe early hours on Wednesdayby an European rocket fromFrench Guiana, in a mission thatis expected to enhance connec-tivity for ATMs and provide foruninterrupted DTH services.

Blasting off from ArianeLaunch Complex at Kourou, aFrench territory located innortheastern coast of SouthAmerica at at 2.31 am (IST),the Ariane-5 vehicle of theEuropean launch servicesprovider Arianespace injectedthe “high power” satellite intothe orbit in a flawless flight thatlasted about 42 minutes.

With a mission life of 15years and weighing about 2,536kg, GSAT-31 is the country’s40th communication satellite tobe built by the Indian SpaceResearch Organisation (ISRO)

and will provide continuity tooperational services on some ofthe in-orbit satellites.

“It gives me great pleasureon the successful launch ofGSAT-31 spacecraft on boardAriane-5,” ISRO’s SatishDhawan Space Centre (SDSC)Director S Pandian said atKourou soon after the launch.

“Congratulation toArianespace on the successfullaunch and precise injection ofsatellite into the orbit,” headded. The GSAT-31 is a “highpower” communication satel-lite with Ku-band, and it isgoing to serve and replacesome of the satellites that aregoing to expire soon, he said.

Arianespace CEOStéphane Israël tweeted: “2019is off to a roaring start for#Arianespace! Flight #VA247,carrying Saudi GeostationarySatellite 1/Hellas Sat 4 andGSAT-31, is a confirmed suc-cess that underscores our lead-ership position in the geosta-tionary launch market.@KACST #HellasSat @ISRO@LockheedMartin.” PTI

Thiruvananthapuram: ThePandalam royal family, the cus-todian of the Sabarimala tem-ple’s jewellery, on Wednesdayslammed the TravancoreDevaswom Board (TDB) forchanging its opinion and nowsupporting the entry of allwomen to the hilltop shrine.

After the TDB announcedits stand in the Supreme Courtas it heard numerous reviewpetitions against its September28 verdict lifting the ban onentry of women of all ages tothe Lord Ayyappa temple, theroyal family’s spokesperson PSVerma said the “true colours”of the TDB had been revealed.

“They have toed the line ofthe Kerala Government. Whenthey earlier said they are with

the wishes and aspirations ofthe Sabarimala devotee, it wasall a bluff.

“Today their true colourshave surfaced and this meansboth the government and theTDB are out to destroy the cus-toms and traditions of theSabarimala temple,” he said.

Noting the court had nowdecided to give another sevendays for written submissions,Verma alleged that this meansthat the temple premises weregoing to witness another show-down when it opens for themonthly pujas on February 12.

“So as far as we are con-cerned, we have not lost hopeas we feel that if there is goingto be another setback, there isan option to file a curative peti-

tion. We will go to any extentto protect the traditions andcustoms of the temple,” headded. TDB president A.Padmakumar denied the board

had changed its stand.“We did not file a review

petition. Instead we filed a‘delay petition’ (requesting thecourt to defer the judgment).

What I have been told is thattoday we were asked about ourstand in relation to theSeptember 28 verdict.

“It was to this that ourcounsel said that they will abideby the court verdict. The courthas also given time till February13 to give in writing if there areany more things that should bebrought before the court.

“We will meet to discuss onwhat needs to be given in writ-ing,” said Padmakumar, a for-mer CPI-M legislator.

“The TDB will abide bywhatever the verdict is,” he said.Asked if there was a shift in thestand, the TDB reminded themedia that the Bharatiya JanataParty’s organ had soon after theSeptember 28 verdic ran a

headline hailing it as “historic”.Former Chief Minister and

Congress leader OommenChandy said the TDB’s somer-sault showed that it was handin glove with the PinarayiVijayan Government.

“Just what Vijayan wanted,the TDB has done,” he said.State BJP president PSSreedharan Pillai said Vijayanhas taken everyone for a ride.

“The people have beencheated and very soon thepeople will give a fitting replyfor what has happened,” hesaid. Former TDB presidentPrayar Gopalakrishnan, whoalso filed a review petition, saidhe was confident the templecustoms and traditions will beprotected. IANS

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Fresh rain and snowfall dis-rupted normal life in

Srinagar and other parts ofKashmir Valley on Wednesdayamid forecast for inclement fortwo more days.

The bad weather forced theauthorities to close the strate-gic 270-km Srinagar-Jammunational highway for vehicularone way traffic. Besides, the airtraffic was also disrupted withcancellation of several flights toand from Srinagar airport.

The MeT department saidthat plains of the Jammu divi-sion will receive rain whilehigher reaches both in Jammuand valley region will receivemoderate to heavy snowfall.

MeT Director SonamLotus said that there will begradual increase in rain andsnowfall across the State fol-lowed by improvement from

Friday forenoon.The fresh snowfall in the

Banihal area caused slipperyroad condition at Zig Postupto Jawahar Tunnel amid badweather condition.

The Officials said freshsnowfall occurred in theKashmir mountains includingon the Pir Panjal range.

Srinagar recorded 1 degreeCelsius while Pahalgam minus0.6 and Gulmarg recordedminus 4.6. In the Ladakh area,Leh recorded minus 4.3, Kargilminus 16 and Drass minus 6.3degrees Celsius.

The Indian MetrologicalCentre in Srinagar has alreadyissued weather forecast thatwestern disturbance will like-ly to affect the J&K.

The forecast said the mainactivity of the system could befrom heavy to very heavy rain orsnow most likely to occur for twomore days. The weather warning

said that the system is likely tocause widespread rain or snowmainly in South Kashmir,Pirpanjal Range (Doda, Batote,Bhaderwah, Ramban, Banihaland Baramulla) includingJawahar Tunnel area.

Traffic Department hadscheduled one-way traffic fromSrinagar to Jammu. They saidnightlong rains triggeredshooting stones in some por-tions of the highway inRamsoo-Ramban sector. Theysaid a fresh major landslide hitthe highway at batteryChashma area in the sector.

The divisional administra-tion Kashmir has put in placerobust contingency plan andprecautionary measures havebeen taken at all levels to meetany weather related eventuality.

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Though the AIADMK lead-ership is yet to disclose the

party’s strategy for the upcom-ing Lok Sabha elections andwho would be its prospectivealliance partners in TamilNadu, many fringe groups havecome out with details of theruling party’s would-be allies.

“The AIADMK is certainto form a winning alliance forthe Lok Sabha elections. Weare in discussions with partieswhich stand for the welfare ofTamil Nadu. The AIADMKwould be the leader of thealliance which we are forming,”said O Panneerselvam, deputychief minister and convener ofthe AIADMK leadership whilespeaking to reporters atMadurai on Wednesday. Noamount of cajoling by thereporters could make theDeputy CM to reveal the par-ties with whom the AIADMKis in dialogue.

He said the elected repre-sentatives (MLAs, PMs includ-ed) and the district secretaries ofthe AIADMK would meet at

Chennai on Friday and a picturewould emerge by the next day.But the CPI, former allies of theAIADMK declared onWednesday that the BJP andAIADMK are going to forge analliance. “It does not require anyintelligence to understand thatthe AIADMK and the BJP havealready forged an alliance for theelections. We all know that the Edappadi PalaniswamyGovernment in Tamil Nadu isthe minion of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah,” saidMutharasan, State secretary, CPI.

While Mutharasanchurned out details of thealliance to be formed in TamilNadu by the AIADMK and theBJP, he was silent about thecombination of parties to be ledby the DMK.

According to Mutharasan,the PMK led by Dr S Ramadossand the DMDK of Vijayakanthtoo will figure in AIADMKfront. But leaders of the PMKand the DMDK remained tightlipped about it. Vijayakanth isundergoing treatment in a UShospital and his close rela-tions including wife Premalathaare attending to him.

Lucknow: BSP presidentMayawati has for the “firsttime” joined Twitter to interactwith the media and masses, herparty said on Wednesday,almost a fortnight after a han-dle in her name appeared onthe microblogging site.

She will be also expressingher views on national and mat-ters of political importance onTwitter, a BSP release said. “Thisto inform you BSP (BahujanSamaj Party) national presi-dent, former Uttar Pradesh CMand ex-MP Mayawatiji has forthe first time decided to joinTwitter for speedy interactionwith media and masses, besidesexpressing her views on various issues of national andpolitical importance throughTwitter,”the release posted onMayawati’s Twitter handle@SushriMayawati said.

The first tweet on@SushriMayawati was postedon January 22. “Hello brothersand sisters. With due respect letme introduce myself to the

Twitter family. This is myopening and inauguration.@sushrimayawati is my officialTwitter handle for all my futureinteractions, comments andupdates. With warm regards.Thank you,” the January 22post said. PTI

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Setting the record straightJammu & Kashmir Governor

Satya Pal Malik on Wednesdaysaid that nobody should takeformer Chief MinisterMehbooba Mufti’s statementsseriously as her PDP was break-ing up and she was trying tosave the party by commentingagainst the security forces.

“It is election time. Herparty is breaking up and isalready in a bad shape. She isvery worried and facing seriousproblems. Show some sympa-thy towards her by not takingher statements seriously,”Governor told reporters atJammu University.

“She had come to power bysupporting such elements,headded. Governor’s jibe at herinvited sharp reactions fromboth Mehbooba Mufti andOmar Abdullah, instantly.

Governor was apparentlyreacting to Mehbooba’sTuesday statement in theSMHS hospital in Srinagarwhere she had demandedaction against an Army officer,

who allegedly beat a man fromPulwama and threatened to killhim in an encounter.

Mehbooba Mufti took toTwitter to vent her ire. Shewrote, “Instead of taking cog-nizance of the brutality that theyoung boy has been subjectedto, and ordering action againstthe culprits, it is sad that thehonourable governor is talkingpolitics instead. Saddened tosee the constitutional authori-ties taking sides so brazenly.”

“Kashmir is a political issueand can’t be resolved throughmilitary power. Army menhailed as heroes for their brav-ery also need to be heldaccountable if they commithuman rights violations,”Mehbooba tweeted.

“So please lets call a spade

a spade instead of accusing usof demonising the army. I havealso spoken to the CoreCommander to take note ofthis incident,” she added.

Earlier, when Governorwas asked whether her irre-sponsible statements wouldlower the morale of the secu-rity forces, Govenor Malik hitback and said her statementswill not affect the morale of thesecurity forces.We are standingwith our forces and have issueddirections to them to deal withsuch situations. He said if anyspecific complaint is receivedwe order an inquiry to ascer-tain the truth of the matter.

Before Mehbooba Mufti,former Chief Minister andNational Conference VicePresident, Omar Abdullah hadalso reacted strongly to theGovernor’s utterances.“Governor Sb this is an unac-ceptable statement & an unnec-essary interference in politics.At this rate, it won’t be longbefore people stop taking RajBhavan seriously so please con-sider the office you occupybefore you give statements.”

Panaji: Turning the heat on theManohar Parrikar-led coali-tion Government in Goa, itsally Goa Forward Party (GFP)on Wednesday said it is work-ing on a “Plan B” to ensurepolitical stability, irrespective ofthe fact which party heads thenew dispensation in the state.

“Plan B is 100 per centready. Goa will not have sta-bility if it is not done. Does Goaneed a stable government ornot? Irrespective of the partywhich leads (the government),do people need stability ornot? Why do people elect us?For stability or to have a tot-tering government, which mayfall any day?” GFP presidentand Agriculture Minister VijaiSardesai said.

The veiled threat was madeby Sardesai while interactingwith reporters at the state sec-retariat, days after BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) legislatorand Deputy Speaker in theAssembly Michael Lobo saidthe government would be in acrisis if Parrikar steps down asthe Chief Minister.

IANS

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Oldest captive elephant inAsia and Guinness record

holder, 88-year old Dakshayani,died at a care centre atPappanamcode.

The end came followingold age illness, sources in theTravancore Devaswom Board,which owns the elephant said.

In 2016, she was conferredthe “Gaja Muthassi” title andentered the Guinness book ofrecords. Postal department hadalso brought out a postal coveron the elephant.

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Lucknow: BSP presidentMayawati on Wednesdayclaimed that the BSP-SP alliancehas left the BJP’s top leadership‘sleepless’ and ‘afraid’, due towhich the party curses thecoalition in all its meetings.

Mayawati’s counter camehours after BJP president AmitShah attacked the alliance at ameeting of booth-level workersin Aligarh. “The BSP-SPalliance has not only made theBJP’s top leadership sleepless,but also afraid and they are outto curse it in all the big andsmall programmes,” the BSPchief said in a party release.

“We got to hear the same inthe Aligarh programme, inwhich the alliance was termeda farce,” Mayawati said. “Thiscursing only encourages thepeople of the ‘sarv samaj’ asso-ciated with the alliance to workhard, in turn adding to the frus-tration of the BJP,” she added.

Mayawati said the BJPcould sense its defeat in theupcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP is sensing that itwill face a drubbing in theupcoming elections and willlose power because of the BSP-SP alliance, and hence is out todefame it, she claimed.

“It is most unfortunate thatthey are trying their best toentangle the leaders of opposi-tion parties and conspiring todefame them among the peo-ple,” she added. The former UPCM said none of the BJP’s planswill work as people were awareof party’s designs and unhap-py about prevailing situation.

“Everyone is aware of howunder the BJP-led central andUttar Pradesh Governmentscasteism, political vendetta andcommunalism have increased,”Mayawati said. On the Ramtemple, she said construction ofthe shrine is not an issue, butthe real issue is whether thecountry will be run accordingto the Constitution or the nar-row mindsets of the BJP andthe RSS — the ruling party’sideological parent. PTI

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Guwahati: Assam FinanceMinister Himanta Biswa Sarmaon Wednesday presented a�1,193 crore deficit budget for2019-20 with no fresh taxesand introducing new schemeslike providing rice to poor at �1a kg and gold for brides.

The budget also proposedto provide financial assistanceto students, including girlsfrom the minority communi-ty. With an opening balance ofminus �1,799.84 crore, thebudget proposed to have trans-actions of �606.80 crore during2019-20, Sarma told the Houseon Wednesday.

Sarma said for special cat-egory States like Assam, com-

panies with turnover of �10 lakhare required to register forGoods and Services Tax (GST).However, to give succour tosmall businesses and consider-ing the small base, the govern-ment has raised the GST thresh-old limit to �20 lakh followingapproval of the GST Councileffective February 1, 2019.

Sarma further proposed toraise the threshold limit forregistration under GST forsuppliers of goods to �40 lakh.However, the limit stays at�20 lakh for suppliers of ser-vices. He said under theNational Food Security Act(NFSA), the Centre providesrice at �3 per kg to 57 lakh

households in Assam coveringa total population of 2.46 crore.

“To further strengthenfood security for our people, wewill provide rice at a furthersubsidized rate of �1 per kg,instead of the present Rs 3 perkg, and the move will benefit 53Lakh households,” Sarma said.

The Government has alsoproposed to give 1 tola of gold(11.66 grams) to brides’ parentsbelonging to the economical-ly weaker sections of the soci-ety. “We shall give one tolagold, costing around �38,000 asof today, to brides belonging toall such communities of ourstate where it is customary toprovide gold at the time ofwedding under the Arundhatischeme,” he said.

The scheme can be availedby formal registration of themarriages under the Special Marriage (Assam)Rules, 1954 and will reach thebeneficiaries at the time ofmarriage, he said.

Sarma added that the ben-efit is commensurate with thestate’s population policy andwould be made available forthe first two children of afamily and only in caseswhere the bride and groomhave both attained thelegal age of 18 yearsand 21 years,respectively.

The AssamGovernment willverify birth cer-tificates and con-duct medical exam-ination, if required,to ensure claimsare true, he said.

PTI

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Kolkata: West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee onWednesday slammed theCentre for the interrogation ofRobert Vadra by theEnforcement Directorate,claiming that the BJP wasdeliberately doing it ahead ofthe general election.

Asserting that the BJP willnot be able to scare the

Opposition by the tactics ofsending notices “casually toeverybody”, Banerjee said: “Wewill complain to the ElectionCommission against suchtrend.” “They (the Centre) aredoing it deliberately ahead of thepolls,” the Trinamool Congresssupremo told reporters at thestate secretariat.

Vadra was questioned by

the ED in connection with amoney-laundering probe, daysafter his wife, Priyanka Gandhi,was formally inducted into theparty. Banerjee also said shewould be in Delhi nextWednesday and Thursday,where the Opposition partieswould make a decision ontheir future course of action.

PTI

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Ignoring whip, nine CongressMLAs in Karnataka skipped

the legislature sitting onWednesday, keeping the rulingcoalition on tenterhooks on theopening day of the BudgetSession. The nine CongressMLAs, including RameshJarkiholi, Umesh G Jadhav, BNagendra, Mahesh Kumathalli,who had skipped the January18 Congress legislature party(CLP) meet, official and partysources said.

MLA JN Ganesh, who isdeclared absconding after analleged brawl with a colleaguelawmaker at a resort recently,was among the absentees.

The whip asking all rulingcoalition legislators to be presenton all days of the Budget Sessionof the Assembly was issued onTuesday amid allegations ofrenewed bid by BJP to destabilisethe Kumaraswamy Ministry.The joint Session of the legisla-ture began on a stormy note withthe Opposition BJP questioning

the legitimacy of the JDS-Congress Government.

Unruly BJP members cre-ated a ruckus disrupting theaddress of Governor VajubhaiVala, forcing him to cut shorthis speech and read the lastpara. “We don’t want a bundleof lies to be read. Down down...the Government that has lostmajority and trust,” BJP mem-bers said shouting down Vala.

Stung by the MLAs’ absence,Congress Legislature Party leader

and former CM Siddaramaiahissued another whip to partyMLAs asking them to “compul-sorily” attend the sessionbetween Feb 6 and 15.

Speculation are rife that thefour MLAs are still in touchwith the BJP and may jumpship, as they have not yetresponded to the second noticeissued by Siddaramaiah askingthem to appear before him andexplain their absence from theCLP meeting.

The MLAs had, however,replied pledging their completeloyalty to the party, in responseto the first notice.

MLAs being absent fromthe House om Wednesdaydespite the whip and warningof strict action has caused seri-ous concern to the edgy rulingCongress-JD(S) coalition inthe State.

Four BJP lawmakers werealso absent but the partysources said they had obtainedprior permission.

A JDS MLA also did notshow up. Frontline KarnatakaMinister DK Shivakumar hitout at the BJP for showing dis-respect to the Governor “out offrustration”, on not being suc-cessful to come to power.

“We are aware what threeto four BJP MLAs are doing sit-ting in Mumbai, our party willtake a call on it,” he said.According to BJP sources, theparty would continue its agita-tion against the government inthe assembly and during bud-get presentation on Friday.

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ALashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT)terrorist was killed in a

shootout with security forces atChakoora village of southKashmir’s Pulwama districtwhile one Central Reserve PoliceForce (CRPF) personnel wasinjured in a grenade attack inKulgam district, officials said.

They said a cordon andsearch operation was launchedby a joint team of Army, policeand CRPF after unknown ter-rorists fired upon an armyvehicle passing throughChakoora village in jurisdictionof Awantipora police district.

They said in the retaliato-ry action one terrorist waskilled. He was identified asIrfan Ahmad Sheikh, a localresident who was active as LeTcommander in the area for sev-eral years. The encounter tookplace amid heavy downpour inthe area. Sheikh’s bodydrenched in blood and mudwent viral after the encounter.

They said search operationwas launched by security forcesafter the attack in the area.They said some terrorists were

believed to be hiding in thearea. The search operationcontinued till late in theevening.

Massive clashes erupted inthe village after local youthstook to streets and clashedwith forces conducting theoperation. The protesters pelt-ed stones and bricks on secu-rity personnel who in turnretaliated with tear gas shells todisperse the protesters.

In another incident, sus-pected militants hurled agrenade on CRPF camp of 18Battalion at Laroo area ofKulgam district resulting ininjuries to one paramilitaryCRPF trooper. The injuredwas taken to nearby hospital fortreatment they said.

Meanwhile, a 13-year-oldboy Junaid Iqbal succumbed tohis injuries at a premier hospital after battling for life forfive days. He and his teenage friend had received injuries afteran explosive device they were fid-dling with exploded in a southKashmir village. The explosivewas left over after a gunfight inthe area last week that resultedinto killing of two terrorists.

Bengaluru: The black box ofthe Mirage-2000 trainer air-craft, which crashed inBengaluru last week killingtwo pilots, has been sent toFrance’s Dassault Aviation, theOriginal EquipmentManufacturer, for decoding ofits data, a senior HAL officialsaid on Wednesday.

A black box collects in-flight information and decrypt-ing it gives insights about theaircraft’s activities. PTI

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Even as senior officials of theforest department were in

serious discussion about thenext course of action in the ala Chinna Thambi incident, thehero of the story is continuinghis odyssey in search ofThadagam Forests, his hometurf. At the same time, a newguest in the form of a leopardhas started giving ‘headache’ tothe forest officials.

As on Wednesday evening,Chinna Thambi, who hasendeared himself to the localpopulation through his charm-ing style, was roaming aroundUdumalpet area, according to asenior Tamil Nadu ForestDepartment official. “He hadsugarcane for breakfast andlunch and is taking rest in amango orchard,” said the official.

He said the department hasdecided not to train him askumky (specialist elephant whotrains other elephants) as ChinnaThambi has crossed the maxi-mum age limit prescribed forsuch training. “We are monitor-ing his movements through theradio collar which we tied to hisneck when he was tranquilised

for re-locating. One of theoptions before us is to take himback to Thadagam, his favoritelocation,” said the official.

Meanwhile, on Tuesdaynight a four-year old leopardfrom the nearby reserve forest“trespassed” into an unoccu-pied house in Gudalur insearch of some eatables.

By Wednesday morning,the ‘guest’ was trapped and hasbeen moved to the forestinspection bungalow. “The ani-mal has suffered some minorbruises when it was caged andthe forest veterinary surgeon isattending to him. Once the ani-mal is found to be in goodhealth, we would release itinto the reserve forest at

Anamalai Tiger Reserve,” GRamakrishnan, Range Officer,told The Pioneer.

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In a gruesome incident,extremists believed to be

from the Islamic outfit PopularFront of India (PFI), mur-dered Ramalingam, a 45-year-old Pattali Makkal Katchiactivist at Thirupuvanam townin Thanjavur district of TamilNadu late on Tuesday night.

The incident occurredwithin hours of a video featur-ing the stand-off betweenRamalingam and some of theIslamist activists went viral allover the State.

Ramalingam could beheard in the video questioningand objecting the PFI activists’efforts to convert the people ofhis locality into Islam.

“Within hours of the argu-

ment, a group of people bargedinto the residence ofRamalingam and attacked himwith knives and swords. Theychopped one of his hands and aleg,” said a local resident who didnot want his name to be quoted.

Dr S Ramadoss, leader ofthe PMK condemned the actand asked the Government ofTamil Nadu to arrest the cul-prits behind the heinous crime.Office of the deputy superin-tendent of police, Thiruvidai-maruthur, under whose juris-diction the incident occurredrefused to reveal any informa-tion citing absence of staff.

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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)president Amit Shah

ridiculed the Samajwadi Party(SP) and the Bahujan SamajParty (BSP) alliance for theupcoming Lok Sabha polls onWednesday, saying party work-ers would put “Aligarh locks”on the shop of “Bua-Bhatija”,referring to BSP supremoMayawati and SP chiefAkhilesh Yadav respectively.

Addressing a meeting of thebooth-level workers of the BJPhere, Shah used the “Aligarhlocks” coinage as the city wasonce known for the lock indus-try, which is now dying.

“BJP workers will putAligarh locks on the shop ofBua-Bhatija,” he said amid anapplause from the gathering.Shah said reporters often askedhim how the BJP hoped to win74 Lok Sabha seats in UttarPradesh with the SP and theBSP joining hands.

“I tell them that if you seethe sea of BJP workers, you willget to know where those 74 seatswill come from,” he added.

The BJP and its ally, ApnaDal, had won 73 of the 80 LokSabha seats in Uttar Pradesh in2014 and five years on, the saf-fron party hopes to increase itstally in the State.

Shah asserted that the gen-eral election would be foughton the lines of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi versus the rest.

The BJP had rid UttarPradesh of goons, he said,adding that Chief Minister YogiAdityanath had successfullytackled the land mafia problem.

“Upar Modi, neeche Yogi(Modi as Prime Minister andAdityanath as Chief Minister).This general election will beModi versus the rest.

“The BJP has rid UttarPradesh of goons, of parivarvad(dynasty). Yogi has tackled theland mafia in Uttar Pradesh.The goons are now scared ofpolice,” Shah said.

Shah claimed that the BJP

was different from other polit-ical parties as poll victorieswere guaranteed by the work-ers in the party and not on thebasis of any leader.

“When BJP workers ask meabout the Mahagathbandhan(the proposed Grand Allianceof opposition parties), I tellthem it is a sham and there isno need to fear it. If MamataBanerjee, Chandrababu Naiducome here to seek your sup-port, will it make any differ-ence? They are leaders only intheir respective states,” he said.

The BJP chief also claimedthat even if “Rahul Baba”(Congress chief Rahul Gandhi)went with “Bua and Bhatija”,the NDA’s tally of seats in theState will go up (from 73 to atleast 74).

“In 2017 (Uttar PradeshAssembly polls), a similaralliance was forged and twoboys (Gandhi and Yadav) fromUttar Pradesh had cometogether. At that point of time,I had declared that the BJPwould win 300 plus seats andthanks to the hard work of ourworkers, we won 325,” he said.

Shah also accused WestBengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee of making continuousefforts to stop the surge of theBJP in the State.

“If Mamata Banerjee thinksthat by denying permission tothe BJP to hold its programmesin West Bengal, she will be ableto stop the party from formingthe Government there, then sheshould clearly listen with earsopen that BJP workers willdemolish the TMC (TrinamoolCongress). The BJP will win 23of the 42 Lok Sabha seats inWest Bengal,” he said.

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Uttar Pradesh Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath has asked

the Congress, the BahujanSamaj Party (BSP) and theSamajwadi Party (SP) to clari-fy their stand on the issue ofmembers of Scheduled Castes(SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs)and Other Backward Classes(OBCs) not getting reservationbenefits at the Aligarh MuslimUniversity (AMU).

Addressing a gatheringhere on Wednesday, Adityanathsaid while the Centre was giv-ing crores of rupees to AMU,the opposition parties were notcoming clean on the issue asthey were preoccupied withappeasing minorities.

Only in the BJP, a boothPresident could become the

national President or an ordi-nary party worker could rise tothe position of the PrimeMinister, he said.

This could never happen inthe BSP, the SP or the Congressas they only think of their ownfamilies, he added.

The time has come toinform the people about thenegative politics of these par-ties and re-elect the BJP in theupcoming Lok Sabha polls, hesaid. The CM also asked theparty workers to work hard toensure that offices of the oppo-sition parties are shut forever.

Prime Minister NarendraModi had brought laurels to thenation and now every Indianheld his/her head high as thenation was galloping in globalrankings in various segments,Adityanath said.

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The Indian Army hasdetained three soldiers of

Jammu & Kashmir LightInfantry (JAKLI) to probe theirinvolvement in a conspiracy toreveal whereabouts of their col-league Lance Naik Aurangzebwho was killed by terrorists insouth Kashmir on June 14.

Affiliated with 44Rashtriya Rif les unit,Aurangzeb, who was posthu-mously awarded ShauryaChakra on Independence Daylast year, was travelling to hisnative place in a private vehi-cle on eve of Eid when terror-ists waylaid the vehicle andkidnapped him.

Sources said the trio isbeing quizzed to know if theysomehow leaked informationabout Aurangzeb’s movementout of his battalion headquar-ters in a private vehicle.Aurangzeb was known for hiscounterinsurgency offensivein the area and his proximitywith an Army officer who hascommanded several successfuloperations against militantsincluding killing of SameerTiger, a top-ranking com-mander of Hizbul Mujahideen.

Aurangzeb’s vehicle waswaylaid by terrorists atQalampora village and in ashort duration his body wasfound by a team of police andArmy officials at Gussu village.A video of his kidnapping wasalso released by his abductors.

Media reports earlierclaimed that Aurangzeb’swhereabouts were leaked by alocal woman who had alleged-ly developed a relationship

with him.The three soldiers Abid

Hussain Wani, TajamulAhmed and Adil Wani werehis colleagues. They are alllocal residents.

The Army has not reactedto the reports about the deten-tion and questioning of the sol-diers. The detention came tofore after a youngster AbidTauseef Wani was allegedlytortured by an Army officer inShadimarg camp. Former ChiefMinister Mehbooba Mufti wentto see Wani at Sri MaharajaHari Singh Hospital (SMHS)and accused an Army officerfor torturing the youngster.

A relative of Wani saidthey have lost touch with Abidsince June and the Army is nottelling them anything abouthis whereabouts. “We are wor-ried now. They (Army) alsocalled Tawseef and torturedhim inside the camp. Theywere asking about his involve-ment in the killing ofAurangzeb,” he said.

Aurangzeb was posthu-mously awarded Shaury Chakrawhile as Defence MinisterNirmala Sitharaman trekked along distance to travel to hisnative village in mountainousPoonch district to pay homage.

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Bibi Aasia Noreen, the PakistaniChristian woman who was ondeath row for blasphemy, is final-ly out of the woods. The SupremeCourt of Pakistan recently reject-

ed the final appeal against her acquittal. Butshe might still have to relocate to the West,as living in Pakistan could prove perilousfor her. India could have set an example byinviting her to live in this country.

Imagine if Aasia Bibi were a Christianwoman in India, working in an agricultur-al field alongside Hindu women. Considera hypothetical scenario. Thirsty afterworking under the hot sun, she fetches apail of water for fellow workers, but firstdrinks some herself from the metal muglying beside the well. The other women,suddenly realising that she is a Christian,wonder whether Aasia Bibi had “polluted”their well and “diluted” their religion. Andthen, angered and hurt, Aasia Bibi reactsby telling some horrible things aboutHindu deities as though she had been read-ing BR Ambedkar’s Riddles in Hinduism:The Annotated Critical Selection the pre-vious night.

What options would Hindu womenhave against Aasia Bibi? First, a cat-fightto teach her a lesson on the spot. Second,tell the owner of the land to dismiss herfrom services. Third, to complain to theirrespective husbands about the defilement.Fourth, to tell the priest about a local tem-ple. Fifth, go to Rashtriya SwayamsevakSangh (RSS) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad(VHP) karyakartas. Sixth, to go to the lawenforcing authorities like police and court.

The third and fourth options wouldhave been treated as nothing more than gos-sip-mongering. Also, since Aasia Bibi is nota Bible-thumping Christian missionary,there would be little to excite the RSS andVHP karyakartas. The fifth option ofapproaching the law enforcing authoritieswould be positively dangerous for them asthey would be hauled up under Section 3of the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955,to enforce religious disabilities (denyingaccess to water sources). Thus, rather thandoing any harm to Aasia Bibi, they them-selves would have ended up in prison for upto six months besides depositing a penalty.

But on June 14, 2009, Aasia Bibi wasunfortunately in an alternate universecalled Pakistan. She was arrested on chargesof making derogatory remarks aboutProphet Mohammed, based on the evidenceof Mafia Bibi and Asma Bibi. QariMohammed Salam, a local cleric, filed acase of blasphemy with the police, based onhearsay. The case spiralled in importancewith a local court awarding death sentenceto Aasia Bibi for denigrating ProphetMohammed in 2010, and later a Lahorecourt upholding its judgement in 2016.

The Pakistan Penal Code has severalcontroversial sections (and sub sectionsthereof) ranging from 295 to 298-C under

offences related to religion,commonly called “blasphemylaws” that are discriminatoryagainst non-Muslims. The mostdangerous of them are 295-C(use of derogatory remarkswith respect to ProphetMohammed) and 295-B (defil-ing the Holy Quran) whichcarry a punishment of manda-tory death sentence and lifeimprisonment respectively.

Some of these deadly pro-visions were inserted inPakistan’s Penal Code not whenthe Islamic Republic wasfounded but in the 1980s, whenthe rest of the world was seizedwith the idea of progress.Pakistan had inherited someblasphemy laws from theBritish period but those werereligion-neutral. Their basicpurpose was not to defendreligious principles but main-tain communal peace.

In three decades between1947 and 1977, there were only10 reported court judgementsin Pakistan pertaining tooffences against religion. Thecomplaints were made mostlyby Muslims against otherMuslims, by non-Muslimsagainst Muslims. No case wasregistered by a Muslim againstnon-Muslims for committingan act of blasphemy againstProphet Mohammed or “defil-ing” the Quran. But all thesewas about to change soon.

In 1974, when Zulfikar AliBhutto was the Prime Minister,the first amendment in the

Constitution of Pakistan, 1973,was carried out to exclude theAhmediyas from the legal def-inition of being a Muslim. Thelanguage of the amendmenthad a theological overtoneincompatible with modern con-stitutions. It says that a person,who does not believe in theabsolute and unqualified final-ity of the prophethood of theMohammed, is not a Muslimfor the purpose of theConstitution or law.

In 1977, General Zia-ulHaq came to power through acoup d’état. The ensuing 11years saw increasedIslamisation of Pakistan in var-ious spheres. These includedinsertion of five provisionsrelating to blasphemy in thePakistan Penal Code between1980 and 1986. Close to 1,500people have been chargedunder those sections till datethough none were actuallyhanged.

A Federal Shariat Court(FSC) was established in 1980,with the power to “examine anddecide the question whetherany law or provision of law isrepugnant to the injunctions ofIslam”. The FSC’s decisions arebinding upon the Governmentunless the latter successfullyappeals to the Shariat bench ofthe Supreme Court.

When Section 295-C wasintroduced in 1986, it had aprovision of life imprisonmentas an alternative to capital pun-ishment. But in 1990, the FSC

recommended the removal ofalternative provision of lifeimprisonment. Since thePakistan Government did notappeal against this recommen-dation in the Supreme Court bythe deadline of April 30, 1991,the capital punishment withoutan alternative attained finality.

A judgement of PeshawarHigh Court in 2006 expressedserious concern that whenevera person was charged withsuch an offence, the mediagave extensive coverage and theaccused person was abused bythe society/people at large.Even under Islamic injunc-tions, the court added, it is forthe Qazi alone to decide theguilt or innocence of theaccused and none could beallowed to forejudge and con-demn any person accused ofsuch offence without facingproper and fair trial.

Right to fair trial is what theSupreme Court based its caseupon in its judgements (datedOctober 7, 2015, and January,28, 2019). But unfortunately,the court could not discard orchallenge the atrocious rubricof blasphemy laws. This meansthere will be no end to thismadness in Pakistan. Thecourts could not counteractblasphemy because they knowit is an integral part of Islam. Itsmisuse though has been possi-bly as old as its application itself.

Nicholas Mannucci (1638-1717), the Italian adventurer toIndia, relates in his Storia do

Mogor how a rich Jew inAleppo (Syria) outwitted aMuslim Governor, who want-ed to deprive him of his wealth,life and religion by abettingblasphemy in the 16th century.The Governor asked the Jew,who was the greatest Prophetamong Moses, Christ andMohammed? Had the Jew saidMohammed, he would be askedto accept Islam. Had he men-tioned the others, it would beconsidered a blasphemy and hewould be put to death.

The Jew, however, provedcleverer than expected. He nar-rated a story of how a rich manhad a precious stone, whicheach of his three sons wantedto inherit on his death. So hegot two exact replicas madefrom the lapidaire; and gaveaway those to each son so thatone had the original and theother two had replicas. But hetold each to keep it a secret thathe had given him the originaland the false one to others. Butonly the father knew who gotthe original. So God gave threeProphetic religions viz Judaism,Christianity and Islam to threeraces. While each thinks hisreligion is true, God aloneknows the truth. The Muslimgovernor conceded defeat in hismission and even rewardedthe Jew.

(The writer is author ofrecently published book, ‘TheMicrophone Men: How Oratorscreated a Modern India’. Viewsexpressed are his personal)

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Sir — The interim Budget pre-sented by stand-by FinanceMinister Piyush Goyal was clev-erly crafted. It sought to lure allsections of Indian society, espe-cially the middle classes and theworker communities. Althoughthe Opposition termed the measures as a “drop in theocean”, one hopes that theGovernment will rise aboverhetoric and deliver on thepromises. It is true that thepromise of achche din continuesto be a distant dream. Yet, if themeasures as suggested in theBudget are implemented inearnest, the standard of livingshould improve substantially.

No Budget, however, canappease every section of society.The standard deduction limithas been increased from �40,000to �50,000; taxpayers with anannual income higher than fivelakh rupees are surely not ashappy as the ones who will beexempted from taxes for earningless than the stated amount.

One must note that thisyear’s Budget has not made amention about the exact figureof the effective taxpayers’ base.

Last year, the figure was shownto have increased from 6.46crore to 8.27 crore. But this time,only the number of returns filedhas been mentioned. Now, itremains to be seen if this is anintentional one. In any case, ina country with a population ofover 130 crore, a lot remains tobe done.

Hemant Kumar Ambala City

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Sir — In an election year, theBudget was expected to be inter-im. Ironically, this year’s Budgetsounded like a full-fledged one.Earlier, it was the announcementof indirect taxes that added somerelevance to an otherwise large-ly inconsequential presentation —the interim Budget is imple-

mented for only four months ofthe new fiscal year.

Unfortunately, most suchindirect taxes have been ren-dered obsolete by Goods andServices Tax. In their absence, theCentre has proceeded to outlinepolicies that go beyond the usualpractice of setting broad pointersfor the incoming Government.The foray into direct taxationshould have been avoided. The

Budget, at best, should havereduced tax incidence on thelower rungs of taxpayers ratherthan completely exempting alarge chunk from the tax radar.This is misplaced populism. Thesaving grace is that it did not cutdown tax on corporate entities.Fiscal discipline seems to havebeen adhered to, but it looks likeit is based more on hope than onsubstance.

R NarayanNavi Mumbai

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Sir — One needs to expressdeep appreciation to cancer sur-vivors, those who are bravelyfighting the disease and also themedical fraternity. It is a combi-nation of medicine, the fightingspirit and the never-say-die atti-tude which will aid them inrecovery. The answer to canceris: Never give up, fight back.Greater awareness and earlyinterventions are much neededto tackle the disease.

TS Karthik Chennai

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February 4, 2019, was a signif-icant day for the Himalayas ason this ver y day, the

Kathmandu-based InternationalCentre for Integrated MountainDevelopment (ICIMOD) releasedthe much-awaited first ever assess-ment report on the impact of cli-mate change on the Hindu Kush-Himalayan (HKH) region.

The region — spread over 3,500square kilometres across eightcountries, including India, Nepaland China — is also known as theWater Tower of Asia due to itsreserve of frozen water. The regionis considered to be the core area ofthe Himalayas, which by them-selves, are not the only youngestmountain range but are also con-

ceptually the Third Pole.But thanks to rapid climate

change, the Himalayas hog theheadlines and mostly for all thewrong reasons. The ICMOD’sassessment report is an effort by theinter-governmental body, involvinga massive scientific exercise, com-prising over 300 researchers andspanning over four years.

The report said that the HKHregion is warming faster than theglobal average. And it would con-tinue to do so during this century.This assessment is very concerningas the HKH region is an incrediblyimportant asset for Asia and theworld. It is a key source of water,energy, carbon stocks as well as richbiodiversity. For example, the riversstarting from HKH are home toabout two billion people with thepotential to generate 500 gigawattsof hydropower.

The region is, however, underthreat from climate change in addi-tion to a host of other changes,including ecosystem degradation,outmigration and air pollution.

Usually, mountains warm up fasterthan global averages. Even if welimit global warming to 1.5 degreeCelsius, mountain temperatureswould rise above two degree Celsiusand if current trends continue,temperatures could go up by fourto six degrees Celsius.

This holds dire consequencesnot only for our glaciers but also forfood, energy, ecosystems and for thepeople, who rely on them in termsof ecosystem change, changingwater flow patterns and increasedhazards of disasters.

In a 1.5 degree Celsius world,about one-third of our glacierswill disappear by 2100 and underthe current emission scenario, wewill lose two-third of our glaciervolumes. Many major cities in andnear the HKH region have annualaverage PM2.5 concentrations ofalmost 10 times higher than theguidelines made by the WorldHealth Organisation.

In addition to negative healthimpacts, this also adds to meltingof our glaciers. Already, 70 to 80 per

cent of the habitat in biodiversityhotspots has been lost over the last500 years and one-fourth of theendemic species could be lost by 2100.

Even now, overall condition inthe HKH region is not good aspoverty incidence is one-third ascompared to the national averagethat’s one-fourth.

Besides, over 30 per cent of theHKH population suffers from foodinsecurity and 50 per cent arefaced with some form of malnutri-tion. Moreover, about 80 per centof the rural population living inHKH countries lack access to cleanenergy for cooking. Added to this,there remains persistent genderand social imbalance in develop-mental activities.

Given these circumstances, it iscrucial to bring global attention tothe Himalayas. The ICMOD, withits 350 researchers, practitionersand policy-makers, has put mindstogether to bring out this scientif-ic assessment so that the message isspread without any confusion.

The Himalayas are the lastcitadel of nature and climate changeis breaching it. There is an urgentneed for the HKH countries to stepup efforts to lower greenhouse gasemissions so that runaway temper-atures can be controlled.

In order to get there, it isimportant that they rein in air andwater pollution and promote sus-tainable energy. This will help con-tain biodiversity loss and assistsome of the most poor and vulner-able people to adapt to the environ-ment. Inter-governmental cooper-ation has to be the foundation forthis effort and the ICMOD’s reportcan make for a good start.

Yet another method is to drawthe countries into a meaningful dia-logue so that the importance ofhealth of the HKH region in par-ticular and the Himalayan region ingeneral is emphasised. This willhelp politicians, Government offi-cials, media, business and otherinfluential people work together, intandem with the goals of preserv-ing the environment.

Countries in the HKH regioncan take inspiration from the ArcticCouncil where countries have unit-ed to share information, to jointlydevelop solutions and to speakwith a common voice to the global communities about theimpacts of climate change andother concerns.

The world will not realise as itwill not stand to lose if the HKHregion is climatically compromisedbut HKH countries will surely feelthe adverse impacts of climatechange on the region, and Indiabeing part of the same, must takethe lead and sensitse the countriesof the impending environmentalproblems of the region and do theneedful.

The uniqueness of the HKHregion is its topography and ecol-ogy. They have to be preserved.Ditto for its traditional culture andcommunities. However, this can bepossible only by keeping climatechange at bay at any cost.

(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)

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It was expected that the fury and furoregenerated by the Sabarimala imbrogliowould subside with the seasonal closingof the shrine. But controversy has resur-faced and resulted in a public outcry in

Kerala once again. The latest provocation forthe Hindus was the news widely publicised thatthe affidavit submitted by the lawyers of theMarxist Government of Kerala — that con-tained the names of women below the age of50, who entered the Sabarimala shrine — is afabricated list of lies. It has names of men andwomen over 50 years of age, whose age hasbeen deliberately reduced and also the nameof a woman, whose address cannot be traced.

A heap of lies concocted by theGovernment is beginning to get exposed. Butthe question of larger significance, whichmore and more Hindus are asking themselves,that too vocally now is: Why this haste toreform our rituals alone? Why resort to lies,police brute force and false propaganda todemolish Hindu faith?

Marxism and Hinduism in Kerala:Marxism anywhere cannot be tolerant of reli-gion. But in Kerala (and in West Bengal too)the party confronted an Indian reality. Theycould not attack the faith of the organised reli-gions who had well-established vote banks. InKerala, therefore, Hindu faith became the pri-mary object of derision. In this task, they alwayshad the unstinted support of the Western-biased media.

Sanatana dharma and Marxism: As theerudite Purohit Swami wrote in his autobiog-raphy, “Civilisations superstructure may be veryfine indeed but it totters like a house of cards,for the everlasting kingdom is established inman’s hearts and not an inevitable denouementoutwardly to dazzle these eyes.” MarxistGovernments in USSR, Czechoslovakia,Yugoslavia and East European countries did totter like a pack of cards because they did notimprove the inner man.

Marxism and social maladies: Hinduyouths have been the most vulnerable targetsfor this loss of values and Marxist indoctrina-tion. If weaned away from religious moorings,youth become rebellious and Marxist ideolo-gy can then be easily driven into such discon-tented minds. In northern Kerala, these unem-ployed and under-employed youth are beingused as volunteers to carry out the political murder.

The intellectual pauperism: Sloganeeringand repetitions of cliché have stunted indepen-dent thinking minds in the State. “Idioticallypompous” that is what most people have beenreduced to by the communists’ propaganda.They vainly mouth fascism, sangh parivar,renaissance (navodhanam) or any other phrase-ology coined by the communist bandwagon.While Vedantic traditions and faith holdthrough time, the communists are flogging adead ideology.

Sabarimala and its unique tradition:Sabarimala has always been a temple that wasintended to instill qualities of renunciation,peace and bramhacharya. A 41-day period ofdiscipline regarding diet restriction, sleep

control and celibacy is followed by the devo-tees as they prepare for a visit to the holy shrine.Once they put on the bead garland, they arecalled swamys, suggesting they are worthy ofrespect. When the devotee reaches Sabarimala,he is better qualified to realise the ultimatetruth, tatvam asi (thou art that) inscribed at theentrance of the temple. Sabarimala is not justa place of worship, it is a nursery for thosedesirous, who follow the path of yoga. It is forthis very reason that the unique tradition ofSabarimala needs to be preserved.

Yogic traditions and media lies: Can’t thewomen too practise these very virtues and dis-cipline? They can, and it for this very reasonthat all temples, including the temple ofAyyappa, are open to women of all ages. TheSabarimala idol is conceived by the devotees asa naishtika brahmachari, a youth who has con-served all his vital energy and performs tapasfor God’s realisation. He is depicted as sittingin a unique posture, yoga pattasana, whichtantric science says is conducive for the arousalof the Kundalini Shakti. If one observes the idol,with even a rudimentary knowledge of tantraand yoga (the writer claims nothing more), itcan be seen that in this posture of sitting, pres-sure is put on the mooladhara chakra and thelower energy centres of the body. This postureis unique and Ayyappa idol at Sabarimala is theonly deity depicted in this posture.

Is the total sublimation of the vital ener-gy, conceived in the idol, ideally suited to beworshipped by women of reproductive age?

To denounce esoteric religious practices interms of modern-day rationality would be asabsurd as dismissing the bread and wine takenby the faithful Christians during Eucharist asbeing bakery items of gastronomical delightsor giving a biological explanation to the vir-gin’s motherhood of Christ.

Romo Rolland knew the dangers of stateinterference in spiritual matters and he was

prompted to say that had Shri Rama KrishnaParamahansa been born in the West, he wouldhave been subjected to shock treatments.

Gender and Sabarimala: If my right toswing my walking stick ends where your nosebegins, then the feminist bandwagon shouldrealise that the right place to swing their walk-ing stick is not the Sabarimala shrine. The faith-ful women devotees of Kerala realise thisunique nature of the deity and this is the rea-son why they spontaneously carried out ralliesagainst Government interference in Sabarimala.The faithful respect the right to worship for oth-ers and Sabarimala is the only temple (one ortwo local exceptions apart) where age restric-tion for women is followed.

The feminists, who still insist on swingingtheir walking sticks at other worshippers’noses, are State-sponsored activists of varioushues. Many have shady pasts, police cases pend-ing against them and have Maoist affiliationstoo. When the State Government manipulatesthe list of young women, who have alreadyentered the temple premise, it was the culmi-nation of a large game plan that divine inter-vention has exposed.

Gender, Sabarimala and some commonsense: Gender parity is a pre-requisite for thefunctioning of democracy. There are timeswhen you have to give Caesar what is his dueand to God what is due to him. But again, whoshall decide where Caesar’s domain ends andGod’s begin? Justice Indu Malhotra said in herdissenting note that the judiciary itself shouldnot judge matters of spiritual significance.

Media and the propaganda oflies: Ayyappa is no misogynist, nor is his celiba-cy under threat if women visit the shrine.Neither Ayyappa nor his devotees have con-tempt for menstruating women or considerthem unclean. These are arguments concoct-ed by Western-biased media and the commu-nist propaganda machinery. If the true signif-

icance of Sabarimala’s rituals and tradition isto be understood, surely it has to be by usingthe semantics of spiritual literature and not newfangled words imported from an alien culture.To paraphrase Sri Aurobindo’s observations onWestern psychology, the secret of the beautyof a lotus flower cannot be unravelled byanalysing the composition of the mud in whichit grows but it can only be done by looking atthe ideal of a lotus existing in some heavenlysphere above.

The last citadel and the long fight: Keralais the last communist citadel and the LDFwould fight with all collective strength of theGovernment machinery, police force and thenumerical strength of its well-knit party cadreagainst any consolidation of the forces of Hindudharma. They will try to buy over the Christianand Muslim vote banks and also use nefarioustactics of widening caste divide to split the con-solidation of Hindu votes.

For the Hindus of Kerala, the battle is a longdrawn out one. They will be isolated, malignedby the media and curbed by police power. Whatthe Hindus of Kerala need is belief, the peren-nial nature of Sanatana Dharma that has sur-vived greater onslaughts and invasions. ButHindus need to fight without forsaking the spir-it of tolerance and compassion fostered by theirfaith, without becoming cowards in the bargain.

But in the political battle f ield,Governments of the day will only acknowledgethe strength of the vote bank. In the neo-Darwinian political scene of India, it is the sur-vival of the vote bank. And it is here that divid-ed Hindus will have to think wisely, decisive-ly and cast their votes. Hindu religion never didstoop to fascism. It fostered civilisational val-ues and strengthened nationhood. The writingon the wall is clearer now for the Hindus ofKerala than ever before.

(The writer is President, Thapasya Art andLiterary Forum)

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The rupee on Wednesdayended almost flat at 71.56

per US dollar as participantspreferred to wait for theReserve Bank’s interest ratedecision for further cues.

The domestic currency hasbeen trading in a narrow rangeahead of RBI’s monetary poli-cy meeting outcome, scheduledfor February 7.

At the Interbank ForeignExchange market, the rupeemoved between 71.68 to 71.49during the session, before final-ly ending at 71.56, showing again of just 1 paise.

On Tuesday, the rupee hadsettled 23 paise higher at 71.57against the greenback.

“This week, there are rela-tively thin volume trades incurrency markets, as manyAsian markets are shut onLunar New Year,” HDFC

Securities Head, PCG andCapital Markets Strategy, V KSharma said.

He added that volatility forthe USD-INR pair could beconfined to a narrow rangeuntil the release of the policystatement.

According to SunilSharma, Chief InvestmentOfficer, Sanctum WealthManagement, though Indianrupee is the worst performingemerging market currency overthe last one month, it is expect-ed to recover “should crudeprices continue to slide and RBIannounces a rate cut inThursday’s meeting”.

Meanwhile, the dollarindex, which gauges the green-back’s strength against a basketof six currencies, was trading at96.21, higher by 0.16 per cent.

Foreign funds purchasedshares worth �694.97 crore ona net basis Wednesday, and

domestic institutional investorsbought equities worth �525.26crore, provisional data showed.

The benchmark Brentcrude futures fell 0.76 per centto $61.51 per barrel.

Meanwhile, domestic equi-ty indices darted up for the fifthstraight session Wednesday onacross-the-board buying amidexpectations of a shift in RBI’spolicy stance.

The BSE Sensex vaulted358.42 points, or 0.98 per cent,to close at 36,975.23, while thebroader NSE Nifty gained128.10 points, or 1.17 per cent,to 11,062.45.

The Financial BenchmarkIndia Private Ltd (FBIL) set thereference rate for therupee/dollar at 71.5731 and forrupee/euro at 81.5461. Thereference rate for rupee/Britishpound was fixed at 92.6886 andfor rupee/100 Japanese yen at65.21.

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The Kerala Government willslash the tax on aviation

fuel to 5 per cent from the cur-rent 28.75 per cent for domes-tic airlines, state FinanceMinister T M Thomas Isaacsaid on Wednesday.

Isaac made the significantannouncement in the assemblyduring the discussion on thestate budget for 2019-20.

“The tax on ATF will bereduced to 5 per cent from theexisting 28.75 per cent fordomestic airlines operatingservice from the state air-ports. A revenue loss of �100crore is expected throughthis,” he said.

Aviation fuel accounts fora major portion of operatingcost for airlines.

Not only airports under theUDAN (regional connectivityscheme), but non-UDAN air-ports would also get the newtax breather, Isaac said.

The tax cut is expected tobenefit three international air-ports- Thiruvananthapuram,Kochi and Karipur in the State

as the LDF Government hadalready decided to levy only 1per cent fuel tax from airlinesoperating service from thenewly commissioned Kannurairport.

The announcement comesa day after the Congress-ledUDF opposition had staged awalkout in the State assemblyalleging bias in the tax cut onaviation fuel announced forKannur airport and urgedthem to extend the relief tothree other airports in thestate.

Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan had defended the deci-sion to levy only 1 per cent taxon ATF for airlines operatingfrom the Kannur airport, say-ing it was given as a support tothe newly commissioned air-port.

However, he had evadedthe repeated question of theUDF on why the Governmenthad not implemented the deci-sion of its own cabinet in 2017to reduce the fuel tax to 5 percent for airlines operating ser-vice from all airports in theState.

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The Government hasallowed export of bio-fuels

from special economic zones(SEZs) and export-orientedunits (EoUs) with certain con-ditions, according to a notice ofthe directorate general of for-eign trade.

In August 2018, theGovernment imposed restric-tions on export of bio-fuels fornon-fuel purposes.

After this restriction,exporters operating from SEZsand EoUs made representationsto remove this prohibition stat-ing they only use importedmaterial for export of finalproduct.

They also informedGovernment authorities thatSEZ units have been grantedletter of approval for export ofbio-fuels and EoU units haveobligations to fulfil under anexport promotion scheme.

“Considering the hardshipfaced by the trade communityand the fact that production ofbio-fuels in EoU/SEZ would befrom imported feedstock,therefore, it would not impactthe domestic production/con-sumption. Hence, the restric-tion as applicable to DTA

(domestic tariff area) may notbe extended to EoU/SEZ,” theDGFT notice said.

SEZs and EoUs are export-oriented units outside theambit of domestic customslaws.

“Members of trade andindustry are informed thatexport of bio-fuels for non-fuelpurposes from EoU/SEZ willbe regulated” under certainrules of SEZs and foreign tradepolicy, it added.

It said that the feedstock forproduction of bio-fuel forexport from these areas shouldbe from imported sources only.

Bio-fuels include ethylalcohol, petroleum oil and oilsobtained from bituminousminerals, bio-diesel and mix-tures.

Before August 2018,exports of these items wereallowed without any restric-tions.

India exported ethyl alco-hol worth $276.35 million in2017-18 as against $224 millionin the previous fiscal.

Similarly, export of petro-leum oil and oils obtainedfrom bituminous mineralsincreased to $8 million in2017-18 from $0.54 million inthe previous fiscal.

Biodiesel and mixturesshipments rose to $5.36 millionin the last financial year from$2.73 million in 2016-17.

Last year, the directoratehad also imposed restriction onimport of bio-fuels includingethyl alcohol and other dena-tured spirits, bio-diesel, petro-leum oils and oils obtainedfrom bituminous mineralsother than crude.

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Telecom regulator Trai hasserved a showcause notice

to Airtel over the blackoutfaced by some of its DTH cus-tomers during the switchoverto the new tariff regime,sources said.

The showcause notice wasissued by Telecom RegulatoryAuthority of India (Trai) earli-er this week, and Airtel hasbeen given three days time torespond, they told PTI.

When contacted, an Airtelspokesperson said a few cus-tomers may have experienceddelays in provisioning of chan-nels, owing to a massive surgein last minute requests duringmigration, and that the serviceprovider remains committed toensuring compliance with allregulatory norms.

Trai has unveiled the newtariff order and regulatoryregime for the broadcast andcable sector, which would pavethe way for consumers to optfor channels they wish to view,and pay only for them.

It had said every channelshould be offered a la carte, witha transparent display of rates onelectronic programme guide.

The new framework cameinto effect from February 1.

In a statement onWednesday, Trai said it had“received information thatwhile migrating consumers,one large service provider hascaused blackout on the TVscreen of a few thousand sub-scribers”.

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Jet Airways on Wednesdaystated that a new framework

would be implemented fromFebruary 7 onward under whichif any changes or cancellationsare made seven days prior toflight departure, the domesticpassenger would attract a small-er penalty compared to the rateafter this period.

The carrier also announcedimposition of cancellationcharges of �3,800 on “flex cat-egory” of business-class pas-sengers from February 7onward. Till date, this catego-ry of passengers was exemptfrom cancellation fee, accord-ing to the airline’s website.

According to the newpenalty framework, an econo-my-class passenger would haveto pay an amount in between�2,000 and �3,800 if he or sheis cancelling the seat seven daysprior to flight departure.

If an economy-class pas-senger cancels seat within sevendays of flight departure, he orshe would have to pay anywherein between �2,800 and �4,600.

The new framework statesthat if an economy-class pas-senger makes a seat change, datechange, flight change, etc,. Priorto seven days of flight departure,the charges would be in between�1,500 and �3,500.

However if the passengermakes any such change with-in seven days of flight depar-ture, he or she would have topay a penalty in between�2,300 and �4,300 as per thenew framework.

Business-class passengers,who belong to “classic” catego-ry and “flex” category, would

have to shell out �4,800 and�3,800 respectively, if they arecancelling ticket.

According to the airline’swebsite, no cancellation chargewas imposed on “flex” catego-ry of business-class passen-gers till date.

From February 7, business-class passengers, who belong to“classic” category, would have toshell out �2,300 for making anyseat change, date change, flightchange, etc. The “flex” catego-ry of business-class passengerscan continue to make any suchchanges free of cost.

“As part of the new policy,charges for various changesincluding those for flight, date,sector, booking class, cabin,etc., and refund penalties forticket cancellations at leastseven days prior to the date oftravel will attract lower penal-ties compared to those whoundertake booking changeswithin seven days,” the airlinesaid in its statement.

Senior Vice-President —Worldwide Sales &Distribution, Jet Airways, RajSivakumar said: “The tieredpolicy is a carefully craftedendeavour that allows ourguests the opportunity toamend their domestic travelahead of time offering addi-tional value, choice and con-venience.”

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The Government onWednesday gave its nod to

a proposal for setting up 12,000MW grid-connected solar pho-tovoltaic (PV) power projectswith an estimated viability gapfunding of �8,580 crore.

The decision was taken bythe Cabinet Committee onEconomic Affairs (CCEA)chaired by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, Law MinisterRavi Shankar Prasad saidhere.

The proposal seeks toimplement “the Central PublicSector Undertaking (CPSU)Scheme Phase-ll for setting up12,000 MW grid-connectedSolar PV Power Projects, by theGovernment Producers withViability Gap Funding (VGF)support of �8,580 crore for self-use or use by Government orGovernment entities, bothCentral and StateGovernments”, an official state-ment said.

With the implementationof the scheme, 12,000 MW ormore of grid connected solarPV power projects would be setup by government producers infour years (2019-20 to 2022-23), thereby creating invest-ment of about �48,000 crore, itsaid.

“The Scheme will mandateuse of both solar photovoltaic(SPV) cells and modules man-ufactured domestically as perspecifications and testingrequirements fixed by MNRE(Ministry of New & RenewableEnergy),” it added.

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The National StockExchange will revise the

trade execution range for cur-rency futures and options con-tract from February 11.

In a circular Wednesday,the exchange said orders shallbe matched and trades shouldtake place only if the trade priceis within the trade executionrange based on the referenceprice of the contract. The ref-erence price for each contractwould be computed on thebasis of various parameters.

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New Delhi: MG Motor India on Wednesday said it has tied up with fiveleading private banks to offer vehicle loans to its customers and dealers. Thecompany said it has signed agreements with Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank,Kotak Mahindra Bank and Yes Bank. “This is in addition to the MoU signedwith India's leading public sector lender State Bank of India by the companyearlier this week,” MG Motor India said in a statement. The partnerships willprovide financing solutions to MG's customers and dealer partners starting withits first launch, the Hector SUV, in the second quarter of 2019, it added. “Throughthese partnerships, MG Motor India will offer term loans to its customers whilealso facilitating inventory funding and access to credit solutions for its dealer-ships,” MG Motor India Chief Commercial Officer Gaurav Gupta said. He fur-ther said: “Joining hands with the largest financial institutions in the countrywill facilitate credit to our dealer partners and customers.” The carmaker saidit plans to operate 110 sales and service touch points across India ahead of thelaunch and is working to provide financial packages to meet requirements ofcustomers.

�����������!����� �������� ����������New Delhi: US retail major Walmart, which invested USD 16 billion in

Flipkart, Wednesday said it is committed to the Indian market and is optimisticdespite recent changes in the FDI policy for e-commerce firms in the country.The Bentonville-based retailing major's statement came after a recent report byglobal consultancy firm Morgan Stanley, which had hinted that Walmart mayquit Flipkart as the new foreign direct investment (FDI) policy came into effect,which would lower its profitability in the long run. Morgan Stanley, in a reporttitled ‘Assessing Flipkart Risk to Walmart EPS’ dated February 4, claimed that“an exit is likely, not completely out of the question, with the Indian e-commercemarket becoming more complicated”. “Walmart's and Flipkart's commitment toIndia is deep and long term. Despite the recent changes in regulations, we remainoptimistic about the country,” said Dirk Van den Berghe, Executive Vice Presidentand Regional CEO Walmart Asia and Canada. He added: “We will continue tofocus on serving customers, creating sustained economic growth and bringingsustainable benefits to the country, including employment generation, supportingsmall businesses and farmers, and growing Indian exports to Walmart's globalmarkets.” Tightening norms for e-commerce firms having foreign investment,the government, from February 1, barred online marketplaces like Flipkart andAmazon from selling products of companies where they hold stakes and bannedexclusive marketing arrangements that could influence product price. The revisedpolicy on FDI in online retail, issued by the commerce and industry ministry,also said that these firms have to offer equal services or facilities to all its ven-dors without discrimination. Last year on August 18, Walmart had completedacquisition of 77 per cent stake in Flipkart for about USD 16 billion (Rs 1.05lakh crore), a deal which gave the US retailer access to the Indian e-commercemarket.

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Benchmark indices darted upfor the fifth straight session

Wednesday on across-the-board buying amid expecta-tions of a shift in RBI's policystance.

The BSE Sensex vaulted358.42 points, or 0.98 per cent,to close at 36,975.23, while thebroader NSE Nifty gained128.10 points, or 1.17 per cent,to 11,062.45.

Both the indices closed atfive-month highs, led by finan-cial services, IT and metalstocks, amid persistent for-eign fund inflows.

Analysts said investor sen-timent was bullish ahead of theReserve Bank of India's mon-etary policy meeting outcome,scheduled for Thursday.

The RBI’s Monetary PolicyCommittee (MPC) began itsthree-day meet Tuesday todecide on key rates amidexpectations that it may changeits policy stance to 'neutral'from 'calibrated tightening' onlow inflation footprint, even asa rate cut was ruled out bymany experts.

Only two of the 30 Sensexstocks ended in the red --IndusInd Bank and Axis Bank,which slipped up to 0.54 percent.

Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel,ONGC, Bajaj Auto, ICICIBank, NTPC, Coal India,M&M and RIL led the winners'pack, spurting up to 4.34 percent.

Broader indices, however,ended on a mixed note. TheBSE LargeCap index rallied1.13 per cent, mid-caps slipped0.12 per cent and the small capgauge inched up 0.05 per cent.

Sectorally, metal, IT, ener-gy and auto led the rally, jump-ing up to 2.44 per cent.

“Domestic market rallied 1per cent led by broad-basedbuying across sectors, Niftybreached its narrow tradingband of 10650-10950 onexpectation of a shift in RBI'spolicy stance and strong FIIinflows.

“Additionally, drop in bondyield and marginal strength inrupee added strength to thisexpectation," said Vinod Nair,Head of Research, GeojitFinancial Services.

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Capital markets watchdog Sebiand stock exchanges have

stepped up their live surveillance ofintra-day trading in select stocks inthe wake of increased volatility seenin these scrips; and any manipula-tor would face strict regulatoryaction.

Sources said the Securities andExchange Board of India (Sebi) hasasked the exchanges to beef uptheir vigil for any possible manipu-lation in stocks that are witnessinghuge volatility and to report anyirregularity urgently to the regulatorfor further action.

These surveillance measuresinclude identification of unusualconcentration of positions intra-day, stepping up of the alreadyexisting order-level surveillance inaddition to the trade-level surveil-lance, a source familiar with the reg-ulatory move said. Besides, Sebi willalso look at intra-day trading in thesestocks through its own surveillancemechanism and take necessaryaction wherever required.

The regulator has its own state-of-the-art integrated surveillancemechanism in addition to the sur-veillance systems of the stockexchanges.

Following a directive from Sebi,top exchanges BSE and NSE, onTuesday night, also asked theirrespective trading members toenhance their own monitoring ofintra-day trading activities of theirclients, and proactively report anyadverse observation immediately tothe bourses.

The stepped-up vigil by the reg-ulator and the exchanges followshuge volatility seen in some stocksamid adverse news flow regardingtheir promoters and top manage-ment, and other issues. Theexchanges have already sought expla-nations from these companies aboutvolatility as well as the media reports.

In separate but similar circulars,the BSE and the NSE said they havestepped up their surveillance inview of the recent volatility in themarket, and the trading membersalso have a responsibility of moni-toring the trading activity of their

respective clients.“Accordingly, trading members

are advised to step-up monitoring ofthe trading activity of their clientsincluding intra-day activity andproactively report to the exchangeobservations/findings, if any,” the cir-cular said.

A source said the Sebi’s directiveto the exchanges followed a signifi-cant stock-level volatility seen in themarket and is aimed at keeping awatch on possible manipulation ofprices of these stocks.

There are already robust sur-veillance systems in place, and thesenew measures are in addition to theexisting vigil mechanism.

There has been an overflow ofnews regarding various scrips whichhas contributed to the volatility,and the regulator wants to ensurethat these situations should not bemisused to manipulate the market.

“Such additional surveillancemeasures are taken by Sebi andexchanges whenever the market isvolatile and it also serves as a cau-tion to manipulators,” the sourcesaid.

%�������������������� ���3�3.A������;� 16��New Delhi: Adani Power’s con-

solidated net loss narrowed to�1,180.78 crore for the quarter endedon December 31, 2018, from�1,313.74 crore in the year-ago quar-ter, helped by a healthy growth inincome, according to a companystatement. Total income of the com-pany rose to �6,667.11 crore in thequarter ending December from�4,916.34 crore in the year-ago quar-

ter, the statement said. The averagePlant Load Factor (PLF) or capacityutilisation of power generating plantswas 73 per cent in the third quarterof 2018-19 compared to 58 per centin the same quarter of last fiscal.Commenting on results GautamAdani Chairman, Adani Group said,"We are witnessing rapid progress inthe resolution of regulatory issues thathave affected cash flows of our pro-

jects in the past. We hope to see time-ly approval of supplementary PPAs(power purchase agreement) by the(power regulator) CERC, which willhelp the Mundra power plant to oper-ate sustainably.”

He said: “We have also receiveda substantial amount of compensatorypayments under Change in Law forDomestic Coal Shortfall, for theTiroda and Kawai plants.” PTI

Script Open High Low LTPRELINFRA 228.2 229 141.75 154RELIANCE 1,298.00 1,316.50 1,292.00 1,309.85YESBANK 178 179.9 172.6 176.3RELCAPITAL 152.2 156.3 135.95 143.75TCS 2,052.00 2,086.00 2,040.40 2,073.40JUBLFOOD 1,341.95 1,344.05 1,235.65 1,289.65TECHM 782 814 774.1 811ZEEL 365.55 396.45 365.55 387.95DHFL 123.55 124.95 113.25 119.2AXISBANK 729.3 734.35 715.95 723.9MARUTI 7,130.00 7,240.00 7,074.60 7,191.10DISHTV 23.6 28.4 20.5 27.4IBULHSGFIN 650 661.55 636 654.15GRAPHITE 527 568 502.8 515.95TATASTEEL 465.9 486.9 463.85 484.4LUPIN 841.7 850.5 805.4 841.95BAJFINANCE 2,610.00 2,720.00 2,610.00 2,715.00INFY 754.25 766.15 753.8 762.65SBIN 285.4 288.9 283.6 288.2JETAIRWAYS 240 241.85 234 236.6BAJAJHLDNG 2,951.50 3,003.00 2,946.00 2,989.40RPOWER 12 13.1 10.3 12.75ICICIBANK 353 361.5 353 358.9IPCALAB 737.95 759.95 731.1 755.35SRF 2,045.00 2,275.00 2,044.00 2,239.00ADANIPOWER 38.3 38.6 34.7 38.05LT 1,308.00 1,320.00 1,293.05 1,311.65BPCL 338.5 341.35 337 340JINDALSTEL 130 136.2 123.3 135.3HEG 2,497.00 2,619.90 2,446.00 2,524.70SUNPHARMA 409.8 417.65 403.3 415.4ADANIPORTS 339.9 341.75 319.2 329ICICIGI 881.6 903.9 879.45 895.7CIPLA 510 543 504.4 527.95VEDL 164.2 165 157.9 163.75TATAMOTORS 177 179.3 171.9 178.2HDFCBANK 2,120.00 2,125.20 2,113.95 2,123.00TATACHEM 618 632.75 587.4 594PNB 74.3 75.65 72.8 75.2HINDUNILVR 1,833.00 1,835.65 1,817.00 1,828.55PCJEWELLER 67.2 67.2 61.55 66.1ITC 274.4 278.1 274.4 277.55STAR 427 433.35 402.8 416.4SUNTV 522.2 549.3 517 543.4ASHOKLEY 82.7 83 80.4 82.5EICHERMOT 20,538.00 21,200.00 20,538.00 21,110.20UPL 791 809.35 791 805RCOM 5.19 5.98 4.85 5.48KOTAKBANK 1,286.00 1,288.00 1,275.70 1,279.05M&M 688 696.75 682.15 694.55IDFCFIRSTB 42.35 42.6 40.25 41.65DRREDDY 2,820.00 2,820.00 2,762.10 2,784.70WOCKPHARMA 412 412.8 381 399.3BEML 761 764.55 726 758.3L&TFH 127 129.3 125.65 128.85TITAN 1,065.00 1,071.00 1,050.40 1,059.10MUTHOOTFIN 498.05 510.65 472 482.1DLF 159.5 162.05 152.1 160.05DMART 1,472.75 1,520.30 1,457.45 1,506.60BAJAJ-AUTO 2,709.00 2,785.00 2,709.00 2,783.00BANKINDIA 91.45 92.4 87.4 91.95UJJIVAN 299 300.85 288.6 298.2HAVELLS 738.45 744.9 726.5 736.95PEL 2,164.85 2,196.00 2,111.45 2,171.55WIPRO 368.4 374.8 368.35 372.05BHEL 59.3 60.95 57.6 60.6BAJAJFINSV 6,070.00 6,238.60 6,050.00 6,205.95GSPL 170.25 170.45 167.7 168.2HINDPETRO 226.5 235 226.5 234.05HDFC 1,984.35 1,993.15 1,976.50 1,989.00INDUSINDBK 1,549.00 1,554.05 1,507.50 1,535.00JSWSTEEL 274.4 282.6 271.55 279.3BHARTIARTL 308 309.9 301.15 308.3INFIBEAM 32.9 36.2 31.7 34.1RECLTD 115.8 120.2 115.6 119SIEMENS 1,001.50 1,026.10 990 1,015.95BIOCON 650.1 651.95 617.4 633.95ACC 1,400.00 1,413.95 1,374.60 1,399.80ASIANPAINT 1,468.70 1,472.95 1,433.85 1,465.85TATAGLOBAL 185 189.5 178 188.35AUROPHARMA 749.8 765 738.65 760.65HEROMOTOCO 2,874.40 2,889.45 2,848.60 2,875.15MANAPPURAM 93.5 98 91 96.6BLISSGVS 159.8 170 157.2 159.55BANDHANBNK 420.55 444 420.55 439.7BATAINDIA 1,181.35 1,202.65 1,165.00 1,199.90SPICEJET 77.85 81 77.4 80.25GRASIM 706.5 735.65 705.3 732ULTRACEMCO 3,461.25 3,530.45 3,441.35 3,506.50GMRINFRA 14.8 15.45 14.6 15.1MINDTREE 898.9 909.75 890.75 895.65HCLTECH 1,049.00 1,065.00 1,049.00 1,053.80RAIN 98.05 108.35 98.05 106.95HINDALCO 204.7 211.95 202.65 211.3VOLTAS 535 535 513.5 528.05IDBI 47 47 43.25 43.9IDEA 30.25 30.3 28.8 29.8IGL 304.95 305.55 296.5 298.45IRB 124.95 129.8 117.65 128.7TATAELXSI 900 912.6 896.35 905.75DIVISLAB 1,607.00 1,658.45 1,607.00 1,654.10VENKYS 2,401.05 2,440.20 2,250.10 2,323.15CANBK 232.3 237 226.75 235.3BRITANNIA 3,197.95 3,205.00 3,110.00 3,182.75INDIGO 1,174.95 1,214.25 1,169.00 1,193.00BANKBARODA 109 109.35 106.05 109FEDERALBNK 86.7 87.5 84.65 85.45PFC 100.6 103.2 100.1 101.75

SAIL 45.95 47.8 44.6 47.35ESCORTS 685.25 689.7 671.25 683.1JUSTDIAL 476.45 484 468 482.05JISLJALEQS 53 55.2 51.3 54.55NESTLEIND 11,666.00 11,672.00 11,469.95 11,648.00NCC 78.25 79.95 76.9 79.75RBLBANK 589.5 589.6 578.75 583.05IBREALEST 69 70.3 63.05 69.7STRTECH 220.05 221.3 210.65 218.4BHARATFORG 479 487.05 472.5 485SRTRANSFIN 1,078.75 1,078.75 1,050.45 1,067.50CGPOWER 31.4 32.9 30 32.5ORIENTBANK 92.6 92.85 88.7 91.65DABUR 454 454 448 452.8TORNTPOWER 245.8 252.1 238.15 244GAIL 336 340.6 330.45 340VIPIND 501.15 522 501.15 519INDIANB 215.3 217.4 207 216.6APOLLOTYRE 203 203 193.85 198.85NIITTECH 1,322.90 1,333.60 1,289.95 1,292.85BEL 80.3 82.1 78.35 81.9AMARAJABAT 771 796 771 784TVSMOTOR 508.9 508.9 486.75 491MGL 974.4 974.4 959.1 965.15OMAXE 212.75 213.7 211.2 211.9CUMMINSIND 795.7 805.15 771.5 801.15CEATLTD 1,107.00 1,109.35 1,069.15 1,088.00COALINDIA 217 221 216.4 220.15NBCC 53.7 54.3 52.4 53.7RAYMOND 730.2 731.35 698.3 710.75AJANTPHARM 924.8 941.35 903.1 932.25CENTURYTEX 750 764.5 738.65 760.15SUZLON 3.66 3.99 3.45 3.82UNIONBANK 78.2 79.6 76.1 79.35IBVENTURES 323 327.9 311.8 318.85RAJESHEXPO 576.9 591 570 573.15ONGC 143 147.5 142.7 146.65OFSS 3,838.50 3,899.95 3,827.20 3,899.95IOC 133.95 137.9 133.75 137.5INDIACEM 79 81 77.3 80.4RADICO 442.5 442.7 433 440.45BALKRISIND 796.4 800.3 776 788.6DELTACORP 229 230.35 221.5 222.25RNAM 137.6 163.1 134 162.3SUVEN 202.4 231.45 202.4 220.3PIDILITIND 1,124.90 1,131.25 1,114.95 1,123.65JPASSOCIAT 5.09 5.35 4.72 5.2

CADILAHC 320 324.4 311.4 323.25COLPAL 1,293.00 1,306.95 1,291.65 1,294.25MOTHERSUMI 136.7 138.75 135.55 137.5MEGH 50 50.6 42.1 44.7NTPC 136 137.35 135.05 136.65SBILIFE 583.2 589.2 576 576ALBK 42 43 40.15 42.35FORCEMOT 1,399.95 1,419.00 1,351.00 1,359.30SREINFRA 23 23 19.15 22.2MARICO 371.3 371.3 361.25 367.8ABCAPITAL 83.4 83.9 81.6 82.45JAICORPLTD 95.4 95.6 87.5 90.2MFSL 369.3 378.45 361.1 373.55ITI 91.4 93.5 88.55 91.25FINCABLES 396.15 409 380.1 407.9GRUH 221.95 230.4 220.3 229.55HEXAWARE 356.4 363 353.4 360INDHOTEL 142.05 143.55 138 141LTI 1,811.00 1,852.95 1,811.00 1,844.95PHILIPCARB 162.5 165.9 158 161.6TATAPOWER 69.55 71 68.4 70.95INTELLECT 170.3 185.1 169.05 182.3RCF 57.5 58 55.5 56.6HDFCLIFE 373.6 377.35 368.1 369.75LICHSGFIN 463.9 463.9 450.3 459.6NOCIL 128 130.05 122.4 123.85M&MFIN 403.4 405.5 394.55 400NMDC 93.35 95.4 91.75 95.15ALKEM 1,900.10 1,917.45 1,841.55 1,882.35INFRATEL 289.75 298 288.75 295.7WABAG 291.35 292.95 281.7 290.45IDFC 36.5 37.3 35.15 36.9CASTROLIND 152.75 153.55 148.05 149.85MPHASIS 1,018.60 1,040.00 1,014.00 1,028.00EXIDEIND 223.5 223.5 216 219MRF 60,300.00 60,300.00 59,584.00 60,052.65JUBILANT 757 760 715.9 723.5SUNTECK 344.95 349 342.7 346.25LINDEINDIA 419 453 417.15 438.55AVANTI 320 327.15 312.05 317.55

EDELWEISS 141.5 142.85 140 141.3JSLHISAR 80.05 83.35 78 79.7GODREJCP 684 708.65 683.95 707SOUTHBANK 12.8 13.09 12.65 12.94TORNTPHARM 1,860.00 1,860.00 1,780.00 1,790.10AMBUJACEM 210 215.1 208.5 214.8PRSMJOHNSN 67.5 76 65.1 75.153MINDIA 20,600.00 20,691.00 20,260.00 20,650.00NATIONALUM 58 59 57.15 58.85TATAMTRDVR 91.3 92.75 88.85 92.25VGUARD 194.1 195.1 188.7 190.4AIAENG 1,617.50 1,620.00 1,600.00 1,603.00FCONSUMER 43.55 44.5 41.9 42.85LAXMIMACH 5,320.00 5,743.45 5,285.25 5,578.05WHIRLPOOL 1,462.15 1,491.05 1,420.00 1,442.00PERSISTENT 641.85 673.8 634.25 658.05UBL 1,434.80 1,434.80 1,396.00 1,406.60ATUL 3,519.50 3,519.50 3,475.00 3,477.00GODFRYPHLP 933.2 972 922.15 964.35APOLLOHOSP 1,300.00 1,316.35 1,288.80 1,306.50CONCOR 522.9 524.2 503.8 509.1EQUITAS 123.6 123.6 117.55 120.25ENGINERSIN 112.9 114.3 112.35 114HONAUT 21,087.10 21,345.00 20,999.95 21,082.50PAGEIND 24,299.00 24,335.00 24,055.00 24,230.00GLENMARK 636 644.4 628.75 642.2MCX 709.85 709.85 684 693.45KTKBANK 115 117.2 113.3 116.8GNFC 321.2 322.5 314.65 317.3HSCL 110.5 114.95 107.3 114.4TV18BRDCST 31.3 32.1 30.7 31.95GILLETTE 6,498.95 6,499.50 6,445.00 6,455.20PNBHOUSING 908.5 950 906.9 949MANPASAND 64.45 77.15 58 77.15CRISIL 1,633.55 1,657.00 1,620.15 1,653.00SPARC 149.2 149.35 140.95 143.15KSCL 585.25 589.5 564.05 567.55IBULISL 248.1 256 245.75 245.75SWANENERGY 98.05 98.8 96.2 96.25LALPATHLAB 1,050.00 1,120.00 1,050.00 1,083.05AKZOINDIA 1,728.80 1,757.55 1,719.00 1,725.00ICICIPRULI 286.25 289.85 285.5 287.9KAJARIACER 550 550.05 541.2 548.2CERA 2,321.35 2,354.15 2,296.50 2,321.40MINDAIND 286.65 295 276.4 284.7JBCHEPHARM 313.95 317.5 312 315.5KRBL 363 364.4 350.3 353.85FSL 47.8 48.05 46.15 46.5CHOLAFIN 1,238.20 1,260.00 1,223.90 1,246.60AARTIIND 1,700.50 1,700.50 1,601.00 1,625.90FRETAIL 444 444 434 438.6PVR 1,598.80 1,603.65 1,585.05 1,589.00POWERGRID 186 188.4 185 187.1CANFINHOME 245.05 248.15 240.2 244.15PETRONET 219.3 220.75 215.8 219.35ERIS 645 655 635 644.25HFCL 21.65 21.9 21.4 21.65OIL 170.6 173 169.05 172.4DBL 315.55 322.6 313.2 320.8TATACOMM 493.95 495.95 487.8 489.45BERGEPAINT 308 312.5 307.05 312ENDURANCE 1,211.95 1,220.10 1,196.15 1,214.85KEI 368.65 371 356.2 363.35APLAPOLLO 1,127.70 1,136.00 1,078.35 1,105.00BOSCHLTD 19,190.00 19,295.40 19,053.95 19,224.00CHENNPETRO 229.7 231.85 225.7 229.65SHREECEM 15,750.00 16,070.00 15,642.60 16,005.00ABFRL 212.5 216.5 209.1 210.3ABB 1,260.15 1,274.60 1,254.60 1,265.00RAMCOCEM 596.35 609.9 589.7 601.25GODREJIND 488 494.55 479.8 494ADANITRANS 215.45 218.55 214.65 216JMFINANCIL 76.3 79 74.5 79TATAINVEST 850 855.75 820.1 825.95NHPC 23.75 24.3 23.7 24.3DEEPAKNI 221.7 229 218.25 229CHAMBLFERT 161.15 172.9 160.5 170.65LTTS 1,600.00 1,609.40 1,569.00 1,580.00PARAGMILK 209.85 217.95 206.05 217.95BBTC 1,176.35 1,185.40 1,166.55 1,185.00AUBANK 591.6 605 583 598.9PGHH 9,999.80 9,999.80 9,858.10 9,978.00GSFC 92.6 93.9 91.95 93.5HSIL 248 252 243 246BHARATFIN 920 957.05 920 946.2SYNDIBANK 35.65 35.65 34.75 35.45IFCI 12.5 12.7 12.15 12.57HUDCO 40 40.45 39.2 39.55OBEROIRLTY 450 463.6 449.55 450.2DCBBANK 178 179.95 175.95 178.3VMART 2,700.05 2,725.00 2,640.20 2,709.25SONATSOFTW 328.95 331.5 316.45 328.8HINDZINC 256 258.4 253.5 256.4QUESS 631 675 629.1 675SOBHA 487.8 487.8 471.8 480TRIDENT 62.15 62.7 59.75 61REPCOHOME 385.95 390.6 378.85 382.05TATAMETALI 608.55 614.4 590 600MRPL 63.5 65.6 62.85 65.55DEEPAKFERT 112.05 116.5 111.9 115.65WELCORP 102.55 104.9 101 102.35JKTYRE 89.5 90.55 87.2 89.2WELSPUNIND 55.25 55.45 52.95 54.7PFIZER 3,002.00 3,078.90 2,970.05 3,042.55HINDCOPPER 44.15 44.95 43.5 44.75CYIENT 610 614 606 610.8NATCOPHARM* 698.95 698.95 655.7 673INOXLEISUR 270.05 275.05 263 263KEC 247.05 252.7 247.05 251

KANSAINER 458.95 469.9 457.1 463.25FORTIS 135.65 138.2 134.2 134.9VTL 1,030.30 1,075.00 1,015.05 1,015.05J&KBANK 40 40 38.3 38.8JINDALSAW 81 81.25 79.25 79.6GODREJPROP 750 750 737.5 750NAUKRI 1,760.00 1,760.00 1,722.00 1,746.00GRANULES 88 88 84.5 85.5JAMNAAUTO 53.55 53.7 52.15 52.65GUJALKALI 508 513.5 499.05 505SYMPHONY 1,212.00 1,218.00 1,186.80 1,210.00NAVINFLUOR 614.5 622 609.85 614VBL 800 843 800 840THERMAX 1,082.40 1,087.85 1,061.20 1,067.70ASTRAZEN 1,615.80 1,667.60 1,590.95 1,606.10CROMPTON 217.95 217.95 208.55 217.5ISGEC 5,096.90 5,097.05 5,000.00 5,050.00ISEC 199.4 201.1 196 201UFLEX 251.55 255.25 250.75 254.85GDL 108.5 115 105 110JSWENERGY 67.25 67.3 66.6 67.2SHANKARA 337 337 321.2 322.65HEIDELBERG 145 149.5 143.3 147ORIENTCEM 65.3 66 61.9 63.5INOXWIND 61.4 61.4 56.85 58.2MMTC 24.9 25.1 24.15 25GUJFLUORO 841.65 859.6 841.65 854.95GLAXO 1,391.40 1,393.00 1,370.00 1,374.50GICHSGFIN 220.4 220.4 212.7 217.2VINATIORGA 1,595.50 1,618.00 1,584.75 1,600.00GODREJAGRO 471.1 474 470.6 473.7BAJAJELEC 473.25 478 465.75 474.05EMAMILTD 407.85 408 400.65 402BIRLACORPN 451 460 447.05 454NILKAMAL 1,364.00 1,364.00 1,281.00 1,288.00ASTRAL 1,155.20 1,191.00 1,140.25 1,167.95GSKCONS 7,610.00 7,641.50 7,591.70 7,625.00WESTLIFE 377 377 366 366.55TTKPRESTIG 7,792.30 7,916.90 7,786.15 7,786.15RATNAMANI 850.55 850.55 830.05 846CARBORUNIV 341.75 341.75 337 337TIINDIA 342 342.5 331.55 331.55DCMSHRIRAM 347.75 351.4 340 345.45PTC 76.2 77.75 74.55 77.6TIFHL 456 456.7 440 442.2COFFEEDAY 260 268 256 268EIHOTEL 199.7 199.7 190.1 190.1TIMETECHNO 90 90.7 85.05 85.05TATACOFFEE 87.05 87.05 84.2 85.3NH 197 202.8 194.85 197.95MERCK 3,203.55 3,270.00 3,203.55 3,265.00MOIL 163.5 163.9 161.55 163TRENT 352.6 359.15 350.4 353.45APLLTD 580.05 585.6 575 580CENTURYPLY 155 167.95 155 162.2UCOBANK 17.6 18.25 17.6 18.05TEJASNET 144.45 153.1 140.05 151.1DENABANK 11.71 11.72 11.46 11.66EIDPARRY 201.7 202 195.9 196.85SCI 38.45 38.65 37.4 37.45GET&D 278.6 298.35 272.3 295.3VIJAYABANK 42.05 42.9 41.3 42.9BLUEDART 3,081.15 3,117.00 3,080.00 3,089.25GHCL 242.55 245.8 238.55 242.25BASF 1,332.00 1,350.50 1,305.00 1,310.05JSL 24.7 25 24.2 24.4BLUESTARCO 585.05 597 573.65 584.25TVTODAY 348.4 348.4 326.6 336ANDHRABANK 24.35 24.65 23.9 24.4SUDARSCHEM 312.4 317.45 306.05 315.1HAL 666.65 680 655 665JYOTHYLAB 185 186.95 176.6 178BOMDYEING 104 104 104 104LAKSHVILAS 57 60.25 56.1 58.9SYNGENE 605.1 606.5 591.25 599SJVN 25.1 25.6 25.1 25.55GREAVESCOT 119.85 121 119.05 120RALLIS 157.15 159.5 154.85 155.45CARERATING 975.15 997 963.3 976.4ADVENZYMES 160 164 160 162.25COCHINSHIP 364 366.45 360.6 361ALLCARGO 101.4 105.2 99 102.35NBVENTURES 110.8 111.15 106.5 109.8SUNDRMFAST 522.1 531.9 520.25 526.85SUPREMEIND 994.1 1,000.50 994.05 1,000.50ADANIGREEN 34.5 34.5 33 33.25MAHINDCIE 229 230 224.5 230CENTRALBK 29.25 29.6 28.55 29.35NAVKARCORP 44.7 44.8 43 43.05DCAL 198 201 190 193.55NLCINDIA 62.3 62.7 61.5 62.55FORBESCO 1,985.00 2,023.80 1,956.00 2,020.00SUNCLAYLTD 2,723.00 2,796.95 2,650.00 2,789.90AEGISLOG 198.2 200.1 194 199.85INDOSTAR 312 336 301.65 322.55MAXINDIA 73.2 77 72.9 76.95GEPIL 750.05 788 738.75 770.05THOMASCOOK 212.25 220.9 210.65 217.7SUPRAJIT 194.1 199 191 192.05MAHLOG 475 475 427.5 440.15TAKE 132.7 135.4 129.9 130.35WABCOINDIA 6,450.00 6,450.00 6,275.20 6,313.00CAPPL 340.1 349.5 340.05 345.5ZENSARTECH 225.05 227.4 220.05 221.8ABBOTINDIA 8,095.00 8,132.00 8,075.00 8,105.00NETWORK18 35.75 35.75 34.55 35.05GULFOILLUB 890.45 895 884.9 886.05IEX 161.35 164 159 162.8ZYDUSWELL 1,328.25 1,333.90 1,310.00 1,310.50

NAVNETEDUL 106.5 107.8 103.1 105.05BDL 243.95 243.95 232 233.05MAHABANK 13.64 13.86 13.5 13.72CUB 188 188.1 185.3 187GESHIP 295.05 303 290.9 297.4BAYERCROP 4,317.75 4,379.85 4,301.05 4,379.85IOB 13.1 13.26 12.75 12.81GPPL 82.05 83 81.55 82.85KALPATPOWR 364.2 369.5 358.85 367.85PIIND 842.2 845.05 833 837GICRE 248.25 248.3 240.5 240.8NESCO 443 443.5 439.05 440ASTERDM 152.15 159 152.1 157.95LEMONTREE 72.9 72.9 69.9 70.55FLFL 432.95 433.9 427.95 430GMDCLTD 80.9 80.95 78.1 78.85FDC 171 173 162.5 166.3JKLAKSHMI 306.3 308 300.1 305.9PHOENIXLTD 573.3 581.4 549.4 567.7SADBHAV 190.1 190.1 184.7 187.75TEAMLEASE 2,767.00 2,800.00 2,759.90 2,800.00GRINDWELL 522.05 523.05 510.05 512COROMANDEL 456 456 444.7 445.4ITDCEM 107 109.3 104.8 107.9APARINDS 607.7 612.25 602.45 612.25BALMLAWRIE 183.85 185 181.95 184CORPBANK 25.2 26.25 25 25.6MAHLIFE 372.3 372.3 367 370LUXIND 1,190.50 1,205.00 1,184.05 1,197.00SHARDACROP 323.55 324.85 316 320SHRIRAMCIT 1,570.00 1,570.00 1,550.00 1,550.00DBCORP 178.5 182 176 178.5EVEREADY 212.2 213.05 210.5 210.5SANOFI 6,404.90 6,484.95 6,404.90 6,458.00ESSELPRO 109.05 112.15 109.05 110.7GUJGAS 126.65 128.25 124.95 126TNPL 209.1 209.4 204 208.65MHRIL 195.35 200.65 193.35 197.55SHK 166.3 169.8 160.75 166.25SHOPERSTOP 502.35 502.8 495.65 499.7HIMATSEIDE 183.25 188 178.3 187.1KIOCL 132.15 133.1 126.5 128.2CENTRUM 31.85 32.2 30.95 31.4JAGRAN 99.5 100.05 96 96.7SKFINDIA 1,895.70 1,928.00 1,895.70 1,928.00GALAXYSURF 1,097.55 1,097.55 1,064.05 1,066.00ECLERX 1,001.05 1,038.45 985 1,023.50KNRCON 204.6 207 204.55 206.5NIACL 175 177.1 170.15 175MOTILALOFS 619.8 622.2 615.3 615.85FINOLEXIND 505.45 505.45 492.05 492.8JKCEMENT 690.05 700.75 685 700MONSANTO 2,600.00 2,668.00 2,600.00 2,668.00CCL 269.55 272 268.2 270.55RELAXO 737.75 740.4 717 717.05SCHNEIDER 85.2 86.25 84.15 85.55SCHAEFFLER 5,480.00 5,530.30 5,351.05 5,351.05TIMKEN 555.05 563.55 554.3 555.55ASHOKA 116.5 117.6 114.55 117.4ELGIEQUIP 237.1 243.95 237 240.25BAJAJCON 349 354.25 345 352.8IFBIND 764.95 765.05 726 726LAOPALA 208 214.05 205 209.05TRITURBINE 105 105.5 101.05 102.2PNCINFRA 143.35 144.05 139.05 141.05HERITGFOOD 480.25 488.4 473.8 479.9GAYAPROJ 164.5 165 162.05 165GREENPLY 130.3 130.3 127 129.75MINDACORP 139.6 142.15 138.4 139REDINGTON 68.8 69.25 66.9 69.25LAURUSLABS 350.1 350.1 345 345SUPPETRO 190.05 197.4 190 197.4MAGMA 97.85 97.85 96.1 96.9TVSSRICHAK 2,308.05 2,336.00 2,296.95 2,299.60PRESTIGE 200.5 201.35 197.1 199SHILPAMED 373.6 381.65 372.3 381.65DHANUKA 410 415.2 406 406ITDC 277.05 277.15 268.8 269.45STARCEMENT 88.65 90.95 88.2 88.8THYROCARE 542.9 547.2 539.2 544.95KPRMILL 518.4 521.3 513.2 520SOMANYCERA 340.35 343.9 338.4 343.75HATSUN 695 705.45 695 700JCHAC 1,854.00 1,854.00 1,764.15 1,805.00SOLARINDS 991.8 999 978.05 998SFL 1,280.00 1,280.00 1,235.00 1,260.00ASAHIINDIA 257.75 257.75 255 255SIS 755 763.35 755 758.6

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 10,965.10 11,072.60 10,962.70 11,062.45 128.1TECHM 784 814.5 774 812 61CIPLA 510.5 546.7 504.1 545.1 37.1ZEEL 367 398 367 388.95 23.6BAJFINANCE 2,619.00 2,720.00 2,612.10 2,718.00 114.4TATASTEEL 466 486.7 463.8 484.85 20.15GRASIM 705.05 739.85 705.05 734.05 30.1HINDPETRO 226.55 234.9 226.5 234 8.85EICHERMOT 20,529.65 21,200.00 20,529.65 21,199.90 720.25HINDALCO 205.6 212.1 202.5 211.9 7.15BAJAJFINSV 6,059.00 6,231.00 6,048.80 6,210.10 193ONGC 143.4 147.75 142.5 147.5 4.55IOC 133.5 138.25 133.5 137.95 4.2INFRATEL 290 298 288.8 297.9 9BAJAJ-AUTO 2,715.00 2,785.00 2,714.15 2,785.00 74.35GAIL 336.5 340.85 330.3 340.3 8.2JSWSTEEL 274.4 282.9 271.5 279.5 5.95SUNPHARMA 410 419 403.3 418.35 8.45COALINDIA 216.5 220.7 216.35 220.6 4.2NTPC 135.8 137.75 135 137.1 2.6TATAMOTORS 176 179.45 171.9 179.1 3.3ICICIBANK 353.6 361.9 353.2 359.25 6.6SBIN 285.85 289.75 283.5 289.45 4.8M&M 687.9 698.25 682.05 695.85 10.95ULTRACEMCO 3,484.90 3,534.90 3,441.00 3,514.90 53.15RELIANCE 1,296.25 1,317.65 1,294.25 1,310.55 19IBULHSGFIN 651 661.75 636 654.8 9.4MARUTI 7,120.00 7,220.00 7,067.00 7,195.05 101.45ITC 275 278.4 274.55 278 3.85VEDL 163.35 165 157.75 164.75 2.15TCS 2,049.90 2,086.85 2,041.05 2,070.00 25.45ASIANPAINT 1,457.85 1,476.20 1,452.30 1,468.00 17.65WIPRO 369.15 374.95 368.75 372.8 4.35INFY 755.55 766.95 754.35 763.75 8.9UPL 802 810 796.25 805.25 9.3HCLTECH 1,051.00 1,064.95 1,045.10 1,056.00 8.25HEROMOTOCO 2,870.00 2,892.00 2,850.00 2,875.00 20.45BPCL 337.95 341.4 336.7 340 2.05YESBANK 178.9 178.95 173 177.1 1HINDUNILVR 1,828.40 1,836.45 1,820.00 1,830.00 8.55HDFC 1,983.60 1,994.90 1,975.50 1,990.00 8.6HDFCBANK 2,116.25 2,127.00 2,113.60 2,122.00 7.95POWERGRID 186.25 188.75 184.75 186.65 0.55LT 1,308.00 1,322.00 1,293.05 1,308.00 3.4BHARTIARTL 307 310.5 301 308.6 0.4KOTAKBANK 1,280.00 1,288.80 1,276.35 1,280.00 0.85AXISBANK 731.3 734.5 715.6 726.1 -3.4TITAN 1,066.00 1,072.00 1,050.50 1,059.30 -7.4DRREDDY 2,816.00 2,816.00 2,761.00 2,792.00 -29.45INDUSINDBK 1,543.75 1,543.75 1,507.00 1,522.75 -19ADANIPORTS 338.8 341.8 318.85 329.15 -10.65

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 26,488.90 26,709.95 26,257.00 26,639.80 242.05BANDHANBNK 421.9 444 420.5 443.5 26.85SAIL 45.75 47.8 44.55 47.8 2.45SUNTV 523.35 547.9 516.6 544.8 22.8BHEL 59.35 61.15 57.6 60.9 2.05GODREJCP 685.05 709 685.05 706.75 22.25SHREECEM 15,800.00 16,150.00 15,614.05 16,150.00 474.35BEL 80 82.2 78.3 82.05 2.25NHPC 23.95 25.2 23.65 24.45 0.65CADILAHC 314 325 311.3 323.05 8.2AMBUJACEM 210.3 215.55 208.65 214.7 5.45AUROPHARMA 745.5 764.75 738 762.05 18.55SIEMENS 995.6 1,030.85 990 1,019.00 24.4DMART 1,472.00 1,526.00 1,458.00 1,505.00 33.3OFSS 3,820.00 3,917.95 3,818.15 3,912.00 83.75INDIGO 1,174.00 1,215.90 1,169.40 1,200.00 25.6MCDOWELL-N 552 561.8 543.55 561.35 11.45L&TFH 127 129.45 125.7 128.95 2.55BANKBARODA 108.5 109.8 106 109.5 1.55ICICIGI 872.15 907.9 872.15 897 12.4ACC 1,404.70 1,414.00 1,374.00 1,408.15 19.35MOTHERSUMI 137 138.55 135.55 138.4 1.9NMDC 94.05 95.45 91.7 95.2 1.3OIL 170.3 171.65 168.85 171.5 2LUPIN 838 851.5 805 847.5 9.8BOSCHLTD 19,160.00 19,299.00 19,041.75 19,276.00 219.6DABUR 451 455 447.1 454 4.95BRITANNIA 3,188.50 3,199.95 3,105.05 3,199.95 32.9ASHOKLEY 82.3 83.15 80.5 83 0.85ICICIPRULI 286.65 290.4 285.6 289 2.7MARICO 368.95 368.95 361 366.8 3.3DLF 158 162.5 152.05 161.15 1.4PIDILITIND 1,120.05 1,132.25 1,114.10 1,129.00 9.7HAVELLS 735.4 744.7 726.05 737 6.2HINDZINC 254.25 259 253.25 256.25 1.45ABCAPITAL 83.15 83.75 81.55 82.3 0.45COLPAL 1,295.35 1,307.00 1,291.10 1,298.10 7PGHH 9,990.00 9,990.00 9,911.00 9,989.90 51.4LICHSGFIN 460 462.9 450.1 460.25 0.9ABB 1,261.45 1,274.95 1,254.05 1,259.50 1.75SRTRANSFIN 1,075.00 1,077.85 1,050.55 1,068.10 0PETRONET 219.8 220.7 215.7 220 -0.15PEL 2,167.10 2,198.75 2,112.00 2,169.00 -2.1MRF 60,300.00 60,300.00 59,550.00 59,900.00 -104.3SBILIFE 585 590 575 580 -4NIACL 178.95 178.95 173 174.7 -1.35CONCOR 523.65 524.65 503.6 511 -6.4IDEA 30.4 30.4 28.8 29.95 -0.5HDFCLIFE 376.25 377 367.7 370 -6.25BIOCON 650.6 652.55 628.1 634.2 -15.1GICRE 249.85 249.85 240.5 241.05 -6.35

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Making yet another strongpitch for people to come

into the US based on merit, USPresident Donald Trump saidon Wednesday that tolerancefor illegal immigration is notcompassionate — it is cruel.

Trump, in his annual Stateof the Union address, said:“We have a moral duty to cre-ate an immigration system thatprotects the lives and jobs ofour citizens”.

The lawless state of thesouthern Mexico border is athreat to the safety, security andfinancial well-being of allAmericans, he said.

“This (moral duty)includes our obligation to themillions of immigrants livinghere today, who followed therules and respected our laws.Legal immigrants enrich ournation and strengthen our soci-ety in countless ways. I wantpeople to come into our coun-try, but they have to come inlegally,” said the US Presidentin his address to a joint sessionof the US Congress.

Trump said his adminis-tration has sent to Congress acommonsense proposal to endthe crisis on southern border.

“It includes humanitarianassistance, more law enforce-ment, drug detection at ourports, closing loopholes thatenable child smuggling, andplans for a new physical barri-er, or wall, to secure the vastareas between our ports ofentry.

“In the past, most of thepeople in this room voted fora wall — but the proper wallnever got built. I’ll get it built,”

Trump said.This is a smart, strategic,

see-through steel barrier --not just a simple concrete wall,he said.

“It will be deployed in theareas identified by border

agents as having the greatestneed, and as these agents willtell you, where walls go up, ille-gal crossings go way down.

“Simply put, walls workand walls save lives. So let’swork together, compromise,and reach a deal that will trulymake America safe,” said theUS President.

Asking the Congress todefend the very dangeroussouthern border, Trump saidno issue better illustrates thedivide between America’sworking class and America’spolitical class than illegal immi-gration.

He said that wealthy politi-cians and donors push foropen borders while living theirlives behind walls and gates andguards. Meanwhile, workingclass Americans are left to paythe price for mass illegal migra-tion -- reduced jobs, lowerwages, overburdened schoolsand hospitals, increased crime,and a depleted social safety net,he told members of the USCongress.

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France’s yellow vest protestmovement joined ranks

with a major union, a first forboth, in a day of nationwideprotests over taxes and buyingpower that brought tens ofthousands into the streets.

Brief scuffles marked themostly calm Paris demonstra-tion on Tuesday.

Police fired several roundsof tear gas, clearing trouble-makers from the Place de laConcorde, which borders theUS Embassy.

Tear gas was also used inLille and elsewhere.

However, tension was min-imal compared with the week-ly protests held since mid-November by the yellow vestmovement to demand fiscaland social justice in a majorchallenge to PresidentEmmanuel Macron.

As protesters marched,lawmakers in the nationalAssembly, the Lower House ofParliament, voted 387-92 topass a bill aimed at preventingviolence during protests, andhelping authorities maintainorder.

The Bill would, forinstance, authorise regionalprefects to prevent people seenas a serious threat to publicorder from protesting, or forceprotesters involved in violenceto pay for damage.

The Bill, which must go

before the Senate, would alsomake it a crime for protestersto conceal their faces — acommon occurrence duringSaturday protests by the yellowvest movement, by both thosetrying to offset the effects oftear gas and by troublemakersconcealing their identities.

Meanwhile, theCommunist-backed CGTunion marched from Paris CityHall to the Place de laConcorde side-by-side withprotesters from the yellow vestmovement, which takes itsname from the safety veststhey wear that are required inall cars.

Union chief PhilippeMartinez cheered the hand-in-hand protests with the yellowvests, promising daily initiativesand “something big” eachTuesday.

He noted overlappingdemands between his unionand yellow vest protesters.“There’s no reason why weshouldn’t demonstrate next toeach other or one behindanother.

What’s important is thatour first day together is a suc-cess, in the middle of theweek,” he said.

“I find business leadershave it easy and it’s time wehold big company bosses in thiscountry accountable,” Martinezsaid. The grassroots yellowvest movement has no anoint-ed leader and an array ofdemands.

However, increasing buy-ing power and ending whatthey perceive as favoritismtoward the powerful at theexpense of the less fortunate areleading demands.

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US President Donald Trumpon Wednesday called for

rejecting politics of revenge,resistance and retribution, butinsisted on building a wallalong the US-Mexico border ashe appeared before a dividedCongress for his annual State ofthe Union address.

His calls for reconciliationwere met with mostly stone-faced silence from Democrats,who bitterly oppose his agen-da and accuse him of hasten-ing the decline in cross-partycooperation.

The president had a record35-day standoff with theDemocrats led by HouseSpeaker Nancy Pelosi over hisproposed controversial wall

along the US-Mexico border,which shut down the govern-ment and postponed theaddress which was earlierscheduled on January 29.

“We must reject the politicsof revenge, resistance and ret-ribution,” Trump told Congressnear the beginning of his Stateof the Union address, claimingin his speech that he is puttingforward “the agenda of theUnited States.”

“An economic miracle istaking place in the UnitedStates — and the only thingthat can stop it are foolish wars,politics or ridiculous partisaninvestigations,” the presidentsaid.

He said that tolerance forillegal immigration is not com-passionate — it is cruel.

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Caracas: Venezuelan militaryofficers blocked a bridge on heborder with Colombia ahead ofan anticipated humanitarianaid shipment Tuesday, as oppo-sition leader Juan Guaidostepped up his challenge toPresident Nicolas Maduro’sauthority. The Opposition-dominated National Assemblyhad earlier warned the armedforces, which make up much ofMaduro’s power base, not tocross a “red line” by blocking aid.

Guaido, who proclaimedhimself acting president onJanuary 23 -- sparking an inter-national crisis -- claims that upto 300,000 people face death ifthe aid is not delivered.

“You know there’s a redline, you know well there’s alimit, you know that medicines,food and medical supplies arethat limit,” lawmaker MiguelPizarro said in a message to themilitary. AFP

Colombo: Sri LankanPresident Maithripala Sirisenasaid on Wednesday that he willimplement death penalty fordrug dealers within threemonths, ending a 42-yearmoratorium on capital pun-ishment in the country.

Sirisena said that executionof drug convicts is a necessityin view of the fast spreadingdrug menace in the islandnation.

“I will implement the deathpenalty during the next 2-3months,” he said while address-ing the parliament. Sri Lanka’slast hanging took place in June1976. Since then successivepresidents have refused to signdeath warrants to hang con-victs. Sirisena took the decisiondespite Sri Lanka becomingparty to a UN moratorium ondeath penalty in 2016.

He said that his decisionwhich was expressed last yearcould not be carried out due tobureaucratic lethargy and thelinks between officials anddrug mafias. PTI

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Iraq’s most senior Shiite cler-ic on Wednesday joined a

chorus of Iraqi politicians andclerics criticizing recent state-ments by President DonaldTrump in which he said UStroops should stay in Iraq tokeep an eye on neighbouringIran.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said Iraq aspires to have“good and balanced relations”with all of its neighbors “basedon mutual interests and with-

out intervention in internalaffairs.”

Iraq “rejects being alaunching pad for harmingany other country,” he saidduring a meeting with UNIraq envoy Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert at the cleric’s basein Najaf.

Both Iraq’s President andPrime Minister have hit back atTrump’s statements to USmedia this week stating that UStroops should stay at a base inIraq so that America can“watch Iran.”

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Pope Francis has acknowl-edged receiving a request

from embattled VenezuelanPresident Nicholas Maduro tohelp relaunch talks to end thecountry’s political crisis butruled out any involvementunless opposition leader JuanGuaido requests it. Francis onTuesday acknowledged that hehadn’t read Maduro’s letter,which he said arrived at theVatican via diplomatic pouch.

He added, “We’ll see whatcan be done.” But speaking toreporters en route home fromthe United Arab Emirates, herecalled that a previous Vaticandiplomatic effort to facilitatetalks between Maduro and theopposition “went up in smoke.”

And he insisted on thebasic diplomatic requirementthat two sides to any conflictmust jointly request externalfacilitation or mediation ofnegotiations.

Vatican City : PopeFrancis says his pil-grimage this week to theUnited Arab Emirateswrote a “new page inhistory of the dialoguebetween Christianityand Islam” and in pro-moting world peacebased on brotherhood.

Telling pilgrims atthe Vatican onWednesday about mak-ing the first-ever papaltrip to the ArabianPeninsula.

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Did you know that a woman can’t bearrested after six in the evening andif she is being taken into the policecustody after that, there has to bea woman guard around her all the

time till she’s there. Well, actress Swara Bhaskercame to know the fact recently.

There are laws that lay down the substan-tive rights of the masses, pertaining to the ben-efits of the people. However, due to lack of prop-er awareness, such provisions hardly yield anyjustice, highlights Swara as she speaks about theforthcoming drama on Colors, Courtroom.

She says, “There are numerous laws whichpeople don’t know about but should be awareof. The show will make these legal proceduresand important laws accessible to people in aninteresting way.” It is because none will everspecifically open a book to read about laws, elsethey would have been lawyers.

She says that there’s a fear that grips peo-ple when they first hear of court and legal pro-cedures. “They always want to avoid them.They start thinking about the high court andrepeated visits to the lower ones for case pro-ceedings, feeling that the next 25 years of theirlives might just get wasted doing this.Pendency is a great issue in our country. Butthat is also because common people hardlyknow the exact court procedures and the waylaw works in the country,” says Swara. Shehighlights that it’s interesting “how law ismade for people’s protection and that in turn

puts them into trouble.”The actress says that when she got to know

about the show, she found it very “interesting”even though she is not a part of it, she wanted

to support it.The Anarkali of Aarah actress believes

that it’s important for our society to ques-tion the right and wrong of things. She

says, “In our country most people actwithout thinking. We are just reacting

to things. Such shows are important forthem to know, think, question and actaccordingly.”

There have been shows likeCrime Patrol, Savdhaan India, thathave showed numerous real-lifecases of crime against humanity andalerted the society. Swara believesthat such shows are capable ofanalysing fear as well as tracing the

criminal mindset.She says, “It depends on the way

a particular crime is portrayed. Nosubject in itself is good or bad.” Shebelieves that if you choose to“fetishise” a crime or “sensationalise”it and show it in a “dhinchak way byusing sensational headlines around it,it will only make it seem justified to

those who have a pervert mindset. Wedon’t need to look at fiction for sensation-alising any crime as our TV soaps and

news channels are enough. Many ofthem report on such heinous events

in an irresponsible manner.”Giving an example, she talks

about the film Talvar, a repertoryon Arushi-Hemraj murder case of

2008. She exclaims, “There’s adifference in the way the filmshows the case as compared tosome TV shows that have triedto show the same case in a sen-sational manner. No subject initself is good or bad. It’s impor-tant for people who create fic-tion to show a crime in a sensi-tive manner that makes peoplealso delve deeper into it serious-ly and as something that isunjustified.”

Adding on to that, she saysthat showing a rape or molesta-tion of a woman that objectifiestheir body and fetishises the vio-lence in a perverse manner “canonly make the crime appearpleasurable and justified to somepeople. It’s all a game of percep-tion.”

Even though the actress hasbeen trolled by multipleaccounts, she continues to bevery active on social mediawhen it comes to raising con-cerns over crimes againstwomen. She says that she does-n’t believe in making socialmedia as a courtroom of justicejust like it increasingly is becom-ing one.

“Social media has become acourt in itself and I am verymuch against this idea. Youcan’t replace the judiciary withmob lynchings, virtual trails orany kind of revolution onTwitter. It’s for connecting andsocialising and spreading views,not for making a jury out of it,”says she.

Recalling the Mumbaiattacks of 26/11, she says thatwhen Kasab had been caught,“there was an anger and joshamong people to kill him byhanging him on the streets.Such a dangerous thing to doand ask for! There was mob vio-lence all around. Indeed he wasterrorist and had to be punished.But not in this way.”

She goes on to add, “Wehave to be very careful when wetalk about justice. We can’t turninto inhuman carnivores ordevils in order to get justice.Hence, there’s a court and aroom of people who have readabout the Constitution and lawto give justice to us. They knowthe way and are much qualified,trained and smarter than uscommon people to take law intheir hands. Let it happen therational way.”

Swara, who was trolledincessantly for her masturbationscene in her film Veere DiWedding, says that she doesn’tregret doing or saying anythingthat she does, especially onsocial media. “I don’t ever regretit. I don’t feel the need to. When

you are under the public eye,you have to have a thick skinand be firm on whatever yousay. People will always dig some-thing out of it. This doesn’tmean you stay quiet against thewrong.”

Talking about challengingpatriarchy at home, she says thatit will be done only when westart speaking up. It is some-thing that equally affects theboys as it does to the girls. “Thefirst step to challenging it is tosay something against it andstop it. If someday a girl is tiredor has an injury and she has toserve tea to her father, why doesnot the son do it in that case?Why only the daughter? If thechild comes back at 3 ‘o’ clockin the night, the mother willwake up to ask about servingfood for him/her. Why?”

Hence, it “begins” with suchbasic habits, she says, addingthat “fighting for it is a later sce-nario, the first thing is to learnhow to recognise it.”

Talking about her previousopening on sexual harassment atthe workplace, she says thatwomen don’t know what is hap-pening to them. “When I sharedabout the incident, I realisedthat just because the harassernever touched me, it doesn’tmean that it wasn’t harassment.I managed to save myself. Irealised at that time it didn’t feellike harassment to me becauseof a lack of awareness. To recog-nise, we need to break thesilence and start conversations.”

She says that women havebeen raising their voices sincetime immemorial but it’s onlynow that our ears have risen tohear them out. “The Vishakhacase is an example and it was inthe late 1990s. We are fightingfor the same thing even today —sexual harassment at workplace.It’s been three decades since,”says Swara.

Talking about the #MeToomovement, she says that we arelooking at the movement in justone way — how many womenhave come and spoken againsttheir harassers.

But she feels we shouldn’tjudge the campaign only on thatbasis. “We should look at it as acathartic movement which isbreaking a silence and teachingto recognise the wrong. It is alsoabout accepting and recognisingthat this happened to me yearsago and today I have the courageto speak up against it. Peoplethrough this, could realise thata certain person wasn’t just astupid or insane man, rather hewas a predator,” she says.

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From kundali to tarot card reading,people across the globe have beencurious about predicting their future.

Everyone has been trying to alter their des-tiny with gemstones to warding off evil andwanting to know what future has in storefor them. But do these fortune-tellers evenexist? They sure do, in tales.

Actress Sana Sayyad plays the charac-ter of Drishti in StarPlus’ new offering —Divya Drishti, a narrative of twin sisterswho are blessed with powers, they havebeen separated by fate but hope of reunit-ing with each other keeps them going.Sana’s character, who is born with a super-power, can see the impending forthcom-ing and Divya, on the other hand, canchange them.

Sana explains that in the show, asDrishti and Divya try to reunite with eachother on every full moon’s night, a threatlooms over them. The wicked witch orpishachini, who is equipped with a power-ful dagger and has a hollow eye, hauntsDrishti by malevolent visions of her. Thereare certain events including the witch’s reg-ular appearances that make her wonderwhether her gifted superpowers are reallya boon or a mere jinx?

Sana says, “The show has been con-ceived keeping in mind the new wave ofconcepts that comes with a little elementof thrill and keeps viewers on the edge ofthe seats.”

She feels that these days, such kind offictional shows are “quite in trend.” Eventhough people don’t believe in it, they enjoywatching it. She says, “Every genre has acertain kind of audience.”

She hasn’t done anything of this kindbefore and this is the reason why Sana isexcited to play such a character. “InitiallyI had no idea how to react on the script. I

had to do a lot of home work like watch-ing a few series and films. I am still tryingto adapt to a lot of things. The whole ideaof working hard, showcasing somethingnew and the challenges that I had to ful-fill just got me on it,” says Sana.

The actress shares that the show has gotmany layers to it. Having superpowers isthe “USP” but apart from that there areother relevant things as well. “You’ll see thebonding between two sisters, a lot of thrill,suspense, twist and turns, moral values,romance and friendship.”

Sana explains that the show’s storytelling value is good versus evil. She says,“Conflict of good and evil is a concept thathas survived for over ages and has longbeen ingrained into literature. The fight isconsidered to be universal. It is usually seenthat the good must defeat the evil, and thisis also that journey in its simplest form. It’salways important to showcase the achayiki burayi pe jeet type of content.”

Today, we cannot imagine ourlives without the internet. It’s notan era of gaining knowledge

through spending hours in librariesand with books. It’s a Google Searchera. However, not many are aware ofthe impact it has on people and aboutcreating a safer and better internet.

On the Safer Internet Day, anonline marketplace company releaseda survey about 2019 internet behaviourand impact. The survey with 26,000+netizens revealed internet behaviourand attitude towards safety — bothonline and in general — with an aimto drive awareness and call for actionto all users and play an active roletowards creating a better and saferinternet for all, especially the youngerlot. The survey covers respondentsbetween 18 to 55 years of age fromDelhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore,Ahmedabad, Chennai and Hyderabad.

As per the survey, a majority ofnetizens neglected cybersecurity prac-tices in their personal lives. Around 57per cent respondentsshowed negligencetowards their safety —both online and offline.Around 56 per cent ofnetizens freely sharedtheir personal detailslike mobile number ontheir professional or offi-cial social mediaaccounts. Over 14,543users made theircontact numbersvisible online onaccounts l ikeL i n k e d I n ,whereas only11,648 users did-n’t share it.

There were some personalrevelations too. While 6,355 netizenssaid that they regularly monitor theirchildren and what they do online,

9,600 of them never did it, whereas,around 10, 236 netizens said thatthey don’t have children. The totalgraph showed that 60 per cent of theparents in the surveyed group didn’tmonitor the content their kids con-sume online.

Moving on to personal awareness,around 67 per cent said they skippedreading the ‘terms & conditions’ or anyother safety/legal guidelines whilesigning up to a website or using a prod-uct. There only 8,689 users who readthe terms and conditions against17,502 users who didn’t.

The survey also revealed some reg-ular habits like changing of pass-

words. While 54 per cent of the peo-ple said they had not changed the pass-words to their social media accountsin the last six months to a year, 31 percent admitted they cannot even recallhow long had it been since they lastchanged their passwords.

A similar neglect towards safetymeasures was also observed withpolice verification of household staff.Around 75 per cent confirmed thatthey had not conducted a police ver-ification or did not know if one had tobe done. About only 25 per cent con-firmed having observed this processfor household staff. Respondents fromDelhi were the highest among thosewho said they observe this process forhousehold staff, followed by thosefrom Mumbai.

However, contradictory to theoverall neglect, there also existed ahigh degree of awareness with finan-

cial safety. Around 68 percent said that they had

never shared their OTP orpassword for their bankaccount, social media

accounts, laptop orphone with any-one.

L a v a n y aChandan, gener-al counsel of thesaid company,said, “The inter-

net dominates ourlives like nothing

else. It is in our inter-est, therefore, to useit in a manner thatcontinues toimprove the qualityof our lives whilestaying safe by

implementing thesame level of cautionwe exercise in the realworld.”

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The Kiru Hydro ElectricProject is being imple-mented by the Chenab

Valley Power Projects PrivateLimited (CVPPPL) and is ajoint venture between theNHPC Limited, Jammu andKashmir State PowerDevelopment CorporationLimited (JKSPDC), and PTCIndia Limited.

Satya Pal Malik, Governorof Jammu and Kashmir, DrJitendra Singh, Union Ministerof State for Development ofNorth Eastern Region, DrNirmal Singh, Speaker, Jammuand Kashmir LegislativeAssembly, Jugal KishoreSharma, Member ofParliament, Lok Sabha andShamsher Singh, Member ofParliament, Rajya Sabha alsograced the occasion.

During the address Modisaid that the hydro electric pro-ject shall not only meet theincreasing energy requirementof the state but also providedirect and indirect employ-ment opportunities to thou-sands of persons during theconstruction phase and there-after during the operationphase.

Kiru HEP, to be construct-ed on River Chenab in theDistrict Kishtwar, in Jammuand Kashmir, is one of thebiggest hydroelectric projectsunder implementation in thestate. The project is scheduledto be completed in 54 monthsat an estimated cost of Rs. 4708

crore. The annual generationfrom the project shall be 2272MU. The project envisagesconstruction of 135 m highconcrete gravity dam and anunderground power housewith four units of 156 MWeach (624 MW).

The Government ofJammu and Kashmir hasaccorded a waiver of free powerat decremental rate for thefirst five years and the waterusage charges for the first tenyears after the commissioningof the project besides theexemption of levy of tolls on allimports. It has also given a con-sent for wavier of nine per cent

state GST for the project onorder to keep the project costand its tariff at the minimum.The government will get 12 percent free power from the sixthyear of the commissioning andthe water usage charges after 10years.

The welfare of the peopleaffected from the hydroelectricproject shall be taken care ofthrough the proper implemen-tation of a comprehensive reha-bilitation and resettlementplan. The cost of the land forhouse and house constructionassistance, scholarship to chil-dren of the project affectedfamilies, training program for

skill development and so onhas been included in the plan.Also, a provision of Rs 29crore has been earmarked inthe plan for infrastructuraldevelopment in the projectaffected areas to improve thesocio economic condition ofthe people.

An additional one per centfree power towards Local AreaDevelopment Fund (LADF)shall be provided by the CVPP-PL with a matching contribu-tion by the Jammu andKashmir Government after thecommissioning of the projectas per the Hydro Power Policyof the Government of India

and an annual revenue ofapproximately Rs. 25 croreshall be available for the infra-structural development andwelfare schemes for the ProjectAffected People on a continu-ous basis over the life of theproject.

Extensive corporate socialresponsibility (CSR) activitieshave also been taken up in theregion for the development oflocal area. The construction ofthe project will also lead to aconsiderable improvement ofthe roads and bridges as well asthe communication systemsand electric supply system inthe region, thereby developingthe area socio-economically.

The state of Jammu andKashmir is bestowed with hugehydro potential and in theKishtwar region there are manyprojects in the pipeline forconstruction. This potentialhas to be harnessed so that thestate can become the powerhouse of the country which willbring about an overall develop-ment of the region as well.

In a similar instance, theFFoundation Stone of the 1000MW Pakal Dul HE Project ofCVPPPL was also laid by thePrime Minister Narendra Modiin May 2018 and the construc-tion of the project is inprogress. The third project ofthe company- 540 MW KwarHE Project, is also ready tobegin construction after gettingan investment approval of theproject.

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The Vezley Foods is showcas-ing its range of soya-based

products for the vegetarianfood lovers at the ongoing 33rdInternational Crafts Mela atSurajkund in Faridabad. Thevisitors to the fair can enjoy fin-ger-licking snacks like nugget's,shawarma, chop sticks andsoya chhika.

The company’s managingdirector, Amit Bajaj said,“Unfortunately soya has beenignored in the food market fora long time. We have intro-duced this magic bean with anew thought which tastes goodtoo. Today we face many healthrelated problems like bloodpressure, obesity, diabetes andso on and one of the biggest rea-sons behind this is an unbal-anced and an unhealthy diet.Our products are an alternateto junk food since they arehealthy. We believe in healthy

and delicious food for all andno compromise is made withthe quality, hygienic and thenutrition value of the products.”

Commenting on the healthbenefits of the key ingredient—soya, Bajaj said that soya is oneof the best sources of protein.Soya has a substance namedLecithin, which is very good forthe skin and is also beneficialfor a healthy heart. “Soya con-

tains all essential amino acidproteins which are required forthe body. Besides, soya is richin vitamin, carbohydrate, fibre,iron and calcium and can pro-vide all necessary nutrition tothe body in case one does notconsume meat, fish or eggs.One can consume good, unsat-urated fat from soya whichcontrols cholesterol,” addedBajaj.

The 20th edition of the largest theatre festi-val of Asia-Bharat Rang Mahotsav (BRM),

is being hosted in Delhi which has broughttogether over 100 national and internationaltheatre acts in a 21-day long spectacle.Organised by the National School of Drama,the 20th BRM has put forth some very innov-ative ambiance performances and street playssince its beginning.

Some interesting plays included ‘BesureGramophone Wala Mechanic’, a play by IndiraGandhi Delhi Technical University for Women(IGDTUW). The play revolved around an oldmechanic who owns a repairing shop and isgiven a 72-year-old gramophone to repair. Whatif the instrument goes beyond repair? Anotherplay, ‘Kahkasha’ by the Jesus and Mary College,revolved around hyper masculinity. It exploredthe themes of childhood learning at hom, howmasculinity and femininity are complete oppo-sites with no flexibility. The play talked aboutissues of body image and how it’s not just awoman’s problem. Special emphasis was placedon eating disorders and muscle dysmorphia andnormalising the fact that men have them too.The play also addressed the correlation betweenthe problematic representation of male char-acters in pop culture and how it propagatesideas of hyper masculinity.

Some notable plays that have been per-formed in this year’s festival were ‘AbhimanyaSundari Thirukalyanam’, a Tamil play drama-tised from the Mahabharata’s story ofAbhimanya Sundari Thirukalyanam; ‘Titas

Ekti Nodir Naam’, a Bengali play which talkedabout the fishermen societies residing on thebanks of Titas in Bangladesh; ‘King Oedipus’,a Bengali play which followed the abode ofCadmus, who was burnt to ashes because of thewrath of the Gods; ‘Ananyaa’, a Marathi playwhich is a story of an ordinary girl, Ananya,who possessed the potential to do somethingextraordinary and ‘Shifa…The Healing’, aHindi play which was based on the HIV+ peo-ple talking about the positivity of life and aboutsearching within oneself, to find a new way oflife.

Ambiance performances are a daily featureof the BRM which showcase a colourful land-scape of the culture. These performancesshow the lesser known local, traditional, andfolk forms from the states to the heart of thenational capital. They are being performed atintervals within the NSD premises at the audi-toriums before the plays. Some notable perfor-mances include Laihroba, Bamboo Dance andGidda.

The Prime MinisterNarendra Modi dedicated

the 220 kV Srinagar-Drass-K a r g i l - K h a l t s i - L e hTransmission System, in astep towards powering Ladakhand connecting the country’snorthern most part to theNational Grid. He comment-ed, “I got the opportunity oflaying the foundation stone ofthis project and today, again,I have got the opportunity todedicate this project. Withthis over �2,000 crore project,the problem of electricity inLeh-Ladakh is going to beminimised.”

The PM had laid the foun-dation stone for this project onAugust 12, 2014 and within 4.5years, the project has been suc-cessfully completed.

Built at a height of around3000-4000 meters, thisapproximately 335 km longtransmission line has beenconstructed by the Power GridCorporation of India Limited(POWERGRID), a Navratnacompany of the Governmentof India, under the Ministry ofPower. Under this project, thefour new state-of-the-art220/66 kV Gas Insulated Sub-stations built at Drass, Kargil,Khaltsi and Leh, will help toensure 24x7 quality power inall weather conditions.

This project will not onlyhelp evacuate surplus power ofthe Kargil and Leh Hydel sta-tions of NHPC in summers,but will also supply power tothe region in winters whentemperatures dip and thehydro electricity generation

does not match up. The pro-ject will meet the powerdemand of Ladakh region ateconomical rates.

This transmission projectof approximately �2,266 crorewill result in minimising themassive use of diesel generat-ing sets during winters, andthus will not only help inprotecting the environment,but will also save on theimport expenditure in for-eign currency, which is beingincurred on crude oil, there-by benefiting the state exche-quer. It will also give a boostto the tourism sector, especial-ly the hospitality industry inLadakh, as quality electricity atreasonable rates will be acces-sible due to non-reliance ondiesel.

This task executed byPOWERGRID in unforeseenweather conditions was madepossible by immaculate projectmonitoring skills, high teamspirit and strategic planningand with the use of moderntechnologies. The line remainssnow covered for nearly six

months with the minimumtemperature going down to aslow as -40 degree Celsius atDrass. Therefore, speciallydesigned tower foundationswere constructed with theassistance from the Snow andAvalanche StudyEstablishment (SASE) to spothe tower foundations, as thework force braved the chal-lenge of working at lesser oxy-gen levels.

The event, where the PMmade the announcement, dur-ing his recent visit to Jammuand Kashmir, was attended bySatya Pal Malik, the Governorof Jammu and Kashmir, DrJitendra Singh, Union Ministerof State for Development ofNorth Eastern Region alongwith Haji Anayat Ali,Chairman, Legislative Council,Jammu and Kashmir, JamyangTsering Namgial,Chairman/Chief ExecutiveCouncillor, LAHDC, FerozAhmed, Chairman, LAHDC,Kargil, and Chering Dorjay,Member of LegislativeCouncil, Leh.

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England Lions will be one ofthe innumerable stops that

out-of-form opener KL Rahulwill encounter in his road toredemption as he gears up toplay for India A in the first unof-ficial Test.

The match will also featuretwo of India's quickest bowlersin young Avesh Khan and thenot so young Varun Aaron,who will be keenly watched bythe national selection commit-tee.

Virat Kohli wants threemore fast bowlers which willbroaden the base of the currentpool of speed merchants andthat's the specific reason whyinjury prone not known for hisconsistency has been recalled.

It's all about sheer speed andsame for Avesh, who has reallyintimidated the domestic bats-men during the season.

Rahul hasn't exactly set thestage on fire during the limitedovers games having come backfrom an interim suspension forhis sexist comments on a televi-sion chat show.

India chief coach RaviShastri has recently made it clearthat he would like Rahul to playa lot of A games in order toregain form.

The India 'A' team led byAnkit Bawne, comprisingdomestic performers, will befavourites against the Lions,who have not had the best oftime on the tour so far.

Kerala all-rounder JalajSaxena finds a place after astrong Ranji Trophy season ashas Siddhesh Lad along withspinners Shahbaz Nadeem andMayank Markande.

The visiting Englishmen,on the other hand, have had atough time, being hammered inthe five-match ODI series, los-ing 1-4 and will look forredemption.

Captain Sam Billings hasbeen in good form and will lookto carry it into the longer formattoo. The young team includesplayers with Test experience,including Ben Duckett and OlliePope.

Lanky paceman JamieOverton has impressed withhis performances and will beassisted by Tom Bailey. Thespinners-Danny Briggs andAmar Vardi will have a big roleto play on a track expected to bebowler-friendly on the evidenceof the recent Ranji matches.

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Saurashtra stared down the barrelafter Cheteshwar Pujara's secondsuccessive failure that put defending

champions Vidarbha on the brink of anencore after a stirring fourth day of theRanji Trophy final on Wednesday.

Left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate onceagain turned out to be star batsman'snemesis as he was trapped leg before fornought with Saurashtra tottering at 58 for5 in their pursuit of 206.

Sarwate (3/13 in 10 overs) bamboo-zled the Saurashtra batsmen after beinghanded the new ball on a track that offeredturn and variable bounce.

Saurashtra were best chasers duringthe knockout stage but their reliable bats-men came a cropper in the most-impor-tant clash.

Going into the final day, Saurashtrawho have ended runners-up twice in thepast, need to score 148 more runs on atricky track with Vishvaraj Jadeja (23) andKamlesh Makvana (2) set to resume thechase.

It will be more about the battle ofnerves, considering that lower-order bats-men from both the sides have shown thatscoring runs is not impossible, if the appli-cation is correct.

Earlier, left-arm spinnerDharmendrasinh Jadeja (6/96) had cleanedup the Vidarbha top-order early in the dayto hand Saurashtra an advantage but totheir credit, the hosts did extremely wellto reach 200 after being reduced to 147 foreight.

Mohit Kale contributed 38 off 94 ballsand Sarwate, batting at number eight, pro-duced a combative 49 after hosts resumedthe day at 55 for two.

Sarwate faced 133 balls in hisfighting knock and hit five bound-aries, negating the good workdone by Saurashtra bowlers.

Sarwate, who was thelast man out in Vidarbhainnings, then returned torattle the Saurashtra top-order with his left-armspin. In a mesmerising spell,Sarwate dismissed first inningscenturion Snell Patel (12), HarvikDesai (8) and Pujara (0) in his firstfive overs, and conceded just 13runs in his 10 that he bowled onthe day.

India pacer Umesh Yadav,who was expensive in his first twoovers, returned for a second spellto sent back young Arpit Vasavada(5), who fished one outside off tobe caught behind.

Sheldon Jackson (7) was guiltyof playing a reckless shot as hestepped out to hammer Akshay

Wakhare, completely missed theball and was bowled.

At the start of the day,Jadeja came out with aclear plan of bowlingwicket-to-wicket on theslow VCA stadiumtrack to register the

most significant figuresof his first class career,

helping Suarashtra bundle outthe hosts for an even 200.

Jadeja scalped four batsmen,including key man Wasim Jaffer(11) and Ganesh Satish (35), in thefirst session.

This was after Suarshtra beganwith a two-pronged pace attackwith captain Jaydev Unadkat andChetan Sakariya attacking in tan-dem. But it was Jadeja, who pro-duced a sensational spell in whichhe dismissed both the overnightbatsmen.

First it was Jaffer, who strug-

gled when a delivery kept low. Theresultant faint edge was pouched bysubstitute wicket-keeper Avi Barot.

Barot has been doing the dutybehind the stumps since Vidarbhainnings in place of Snell Patel, whowas hit on helmet by Umesh.

Jadeja then trapped Satishwith a full-length ball. The TVreplays showed an inside edgecarried to the silly-point fielder.Later the officials changed thedecision as he was declared caughtby Vishvaraj.

Vidarbha failed to recoverfrom the twin blows even asSaurashtra skipper Unadkatuprooted stumps of AkshayWadkar, who went without both-ering the scorers.

In first 11 overs of the morn-ing, Vidarbha had lost three wick-ets and added just 18 runs.

Unadkat after bowling eighttesting overs, took himself off theattack but continued with a pacerfrom one end, handing the ball toleft-arm seamer Chetan Sakariya.

Soon off-spinner KamleshMakwana was introduced into theattack, replacing Sakariya and hedelivered in his third over of thespell, sending back dangerousAkshay Karnewar (18).

It was a flighted ball outside off,Karnewar went for an expansivedrive and ended up edging to firstslip where Desai took a comfort-able catch.

The hosts lost remaining fourwickets in the post-lunch sessionwith Jadeja taking two more tocomplete his six-wicket haul.

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The fairy tale run of RealKashmir Football Club in

the I-League continued as theclub from the Valley defeatedGokulam Kerala FC by a soli-tary goal to go to the top ofpoints table on Wednesday.

The match between the'Snow Leopards' and Gokulamwas played at the TRC Groundin chilling weather conditionsamid a mix of rain and snow-fall with none of the teamswilling to yield the ground.

Ivorian strikerGnohere Krizo scoredthe all-important goalin the 51st minute tohand Real Kashmirfull three points from thematch.

The win propelled theJammu and Kashmir side tothe top of the table with 32points, dislodging ChennaiCity FC (30 points) which,however, have two games inhand over Real Kashmir.

Chennai City will take onIndian Arrows on Friday whileReal Kashmir will meet EastBengal at home on Sunday.Each team will play 20 match-es in the league.

It started snowing beforethe match and heavy rainslashed the ground later on. Thetwo sides played a goal-lessfirst half as controlling the ballbecame difficult for the play-ers of both the teams due towaterlogging in many patches

of the SyntheticAstro Turf pitch.

Real Kashmirshould have taken

the lead in the first half butKrizo missed several easychances to put his side ahead.

Mason Robertson, son ofhead coach David, who wasplaying behind Krizo in a 4-4-1-1 formation, also missed acouple of chances to score.

However, it was Krizo whobroke the deadlock after thebreak, pouncing on a reboundin front of the Gokulam goalin the 51st minute.

Local boy Farhan Ganiaesaw his fierce shot from thetop of the box stopped byGokulam custodian ArnabDas but Krizo was well placedto tap in the rebound.

After taking the lead, RealKashmir players relaxed a bit,allowing a window of oppor-tunity for the team from

Kerala to push for an equalis-er.

While Kerala strikerMarcus Joseph was waywardin most of his attempts at thegoal, Real Kashmir goalkeep-er Bilal Khan was in top formto deny the visiting team.

Real Kashmir had thechance to double their lead inthe 80th minute butAbednego Tetteh, who cameon for Krizo in the 73rdminute, shot wide of Das'right post from 15 yards.

This was the ninth cleansheet for the Real Kashmir,which has the meanestdefence in the I-League thisyear, having conceded onlyeight goals in 16 games so far.

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Flu hit Bundesliga leadersBorussia Dortmund crashed

out of the German Cup onTuesday, losing a penalty shoot-out at home to Werder Bremenfollowing a 3-3 draw after extratime.

Goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenkawas Bremen's hero in the shoot-out as he saved Dortmund'sopening attempts from PacoAlcacer and MaximilianPhilipp as Bremen won the last-16 tie 4-2 on penalties.

It finished 1-1 over 90minutes after Dortmund cap-tain Marco Reus rifled home adirect free-kick to cancel out anearly goal by Bremen's MilotRashica.

The game exploded intolife with four goals in extra time

as Bremen twice equalised,through substitutes ClaudioPizarro and Martin Harnik, toforce penalties after Chelsea-bound Christian Pulisic andAchraf Hakimi had scored forDortmund.

"It's a bitter defeat," admit-ted Dortmund striker MarioGoetze.

"We shouldn't have con-ceded two equalisers in extratime and then to lose on penal-ties is really tough."

Flu meant Dortmund werewithout winger Jadon Sanchoand defender Lukasz Piszczek,as well as first-choice goalkeep-er Roman Burki and his back-up, Marwin Hitz. It meantthird-choice keeper EricOelschlaegel made his debutagainst Bremen, the club he leftlast June after six years.

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Abelow-par India slumpedto its worst ever defeat inT20 Internationals as

New Zealand outclassed thevisitors in all departments to winthe first match of the series bya comprehensive 80-run marginat Westpac Stadium onWednesday.

Batting first, unheraldedkeeper-batsman Tim Seiferttook the Indian bowling apartblasting 84 off 43 balls as NewZealand posted a commanding219 for six.

With the crack openingpair of skipper Rohit Sharma (1)and Shikhar Dhawan (29)departing within the Powerplayovers, the chase became a diffi-

cult one and India was all out for139 in 19.2 overs.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (39off 31 balls) did play his part butit was always an impossiblechase with wickets falling at reg-ular intervals at the other end.India had never lost a T20International by 50 or more runsprior to this match. India's pre-vious worst was a 49-run loss toAustralia back in 2010.

New Zealand bowlers keptthe pressure on Indian batsmen,especially the two spinners —left-arm orthodox MitchellSantner (2/24 in 4 overs) andleg-spinner Ish Sodhi (2/26 in 3overs).

Senior pacer Tim Southee(3/17 in 4 overs) had the best fig-ures among the bowlers and the

best delivery of the match wasbowled by Lockie Ferguson,who yorked Dhawan.

They kept the batsmenunder tight check and for somelike World Cup aspirant RishabhPant (4, 10 balls), it was a frus-trating little stay in the middleand he simply couldn't get going.

On a pitch where Indianspinners Yuzvendra Chahal(1/35 in 4 overs) and Krunal(1/37 in 4 overs) went for plen-ty, the Black Caps slow bowlersliterally tightened the noose onthe visitors.

While Pant didn't do hischances any good, Vijay Shankar(27 off 17 balls) impressed dur-ing his little cameo but wouldneed to do more in order tobook a place in that World Cupbound squad.

The Pandya bothers —Krunal and Hardik — endureda contrasting day.

While Krunal (he alsoscored 20 off 18 balls) had anokay outing, Hardik wouldquickly like to forget the night-mare (2/51 in 4 overs and 4runs) before India play the sec-ond match of the series inAuckland on Friday.

Earlier, Seifert, whose pre-

vious best score in T20Internationals happens to be 14,was promoted to open alongsideColin Munro (34 off 20 balls)and they added 86 runs in only8.2 overs in a whirlwind start.

Seifert's knock had sevenfours and half a dozen sixes, set-ting the tone for a big total.

Seifert showed the intentstraightaway as he gaveBhuvneshwar Kumar the charge,picking the knuckle ball early,dispatching it over mid-wicketfor a six. The next shot was afour as he stood and hammeredpast the bowler.

With Munro hitting KhaleelAhmed (1/48 in 4 overs) for twosuccessive sixes, New Zealandwas off to a blazing start scoring44 off the first four overs.

Seifert was lucky to survive

when Dhoni dropped a sharpchance after the batsman hadedged one off Krunal.

But he promptly put thenext delivery into the stands,moving across towards off andsweeping it over backwardsquare leg.

There wasn't any sign ofovert footwork but he shuffledenough inside the crease tomake room for the big shots andin the process disturbed the lineand length of the bowlers.

The elder Pandya finally gota breakthrough when Munrowas caught in the deep off VijayShankar.

But Seifert never let themomentum drop and hit twomore sixes off Krunal, who justkept on pushing the ball througha flatter trajectory.

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Smriti Mandhana remained anunstoppable juggernaut with

a record-smashing half centurybut the Indian women's cricketteam failed to make it count,going down by 23 runs in theopening T20 Internationalagainst New Zealand onWednesday.

Mandhana held the recordfor the fastest fifty by an Indianbefore the match and she bet-tered it by a ball during her 58-run knock at the WestPacStadium. The 22-year-old faced34 balls in all but reached the 50-mark off 24 deliveries.

However, New Zealandpacer Lea Tahuhu played a deci-sive role with three scalps off herfour overs to derail India's pur-suit of a 160-run target whichwas going smoothly till the timeMandhana was at the crease.India eventually folded for 136in 19.1 overs.

Leg-spinner Amelia Kerr(2/28) clinched the crucial wick-ets of Mandhana and Indiancaptain Harmanpreet Kaur towreck the visitors' chances. Off-spinner Leigh Kasperek alsopicked up a couple of wickets.

"Obviously we didn't get thestart we wanted but it was pret-ty good to come back and win.It's just about keeping calm," saidTahuhu, who was adjudgedplayer of the match for her per-formance.

Harmanpreet, on the otherhand, blamed India's loss on apoor batting effort, especially inthe last 10 overs.

"I think bowlers did reallywell as we expected. We didn'tbat well in the last 10 overs. Thatis only area where we are alwaysstruggling," she pointed out.

Veteran Mithali Raj, whocaptains the Indian ODI side,was dropped from the match.

"We are looking to givechance to young girls, that's the

only reason," said Harmanpreetwhen asked about Mithali'sabsence from the line-up andwhether her experience wouldhave come handy here.

Mandhana and JemiamahRodrigues (39 off 33 balls) com-bined for a 102-run second-wicket stand that should havebeen a solid foundation for therest of the line-up.

But India collapsed in theface of an inspired performanceby Lahuhu.

From 101/1, the visitingteam was down to 117/6 in amatter of five overs that turnedthe match on its head.

Harmanpreet (17 off 15balls) played out a small cameo,including a massive six off Kerr,but couldn't steer the teamhome, failing to find any supportat the other end.

Mandhana was her usualaggressive self and played anoth-er strokeful knock, studded withseven hits to the fence andthree sixes.

Earlier, opening batswomanSophie Devine smashed a 48-ball 62 in an enterprising inningsto take New Zealand women toa challenging 159 for 4 from 20

overs after being put into bat.Devine's aggressive innings

was laced with six boundariesand two sixes. She and captainAmy Satterthwaite (33) shareda 69-run stand for the thirdwicket to steer New Zealand outof trouble after a stuttering start.

Spinners Radha Yadav andPoonam Yadav dimissed SuzieBates (7) and Caitlin Gurrey (15)cheaply to reduce the homeside to 47 for 2 at the end of theseventh over. But the Indiansfailed to make further dents withDevine and Satterthwaite deny-ing them any success for 8.3overs.

Devine and Satterthwaite fellin the space of six deliveries offthe bowling of Arundhati Reddyand Deepti Sharma in the 16thand 17th overs respectively butNew Zealand still made a lateflourish by scoring 38 runsfrom the final 3.3 overs.

Wicketkeeper Katey Martinremained not out on 27 from 14balls as the home team scored 16runs from the final over.

Martin hit a six off the sec-ond ball of the final over as wellas from the last delivery of theinnings.

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India skipper Rohit Sharma on Wednesday said thata line-up with eight specialist batsmen should have

chased down the 220-run target set by New Zealand,however steep it might have looked for a T20 match.

India folded for 139 in 19.2 overs collapsing to theirworst-ever defeat by 80 runs in the first T20 game.

"It was a tough game. We were outplayed in all threedepartments. We didn't start well and we knew that 200was not going to be an easy chase," he said after the game.

"We have chased such (big) targets in the past andthat is why we played with eight batsmen. But we did-n't have (even) small partnerships and that made ittougher. New Zealand though played well, they had part-nerships. We need to go to Auckland, have a look at theconditions and take it from there," he added.

Outplayed 1-4 by India in the ODI series, Black Capsskipper Kane Williamson was happy to finally see histeam produce a "complete performance" in the first T20I.

"Fantastic performance all around, everyone rose andit was one of those complete performances that yousearch for. The top-order was superb and we built part-nerships that helped us," Williamson said.

"But it has finished now, we move on in a day's timeand we have another game. Hope we can keep themomentum through the series having set the tone."

Opening duo of Tim Seifert (84) and Colin Munro(34) lay the foundation for New Zealand's total beforethe bowlers returned to complete the job.

"Seifert and Munro were outstanding. It really wasa good experience for the boys. Some of the short con-tributions were of great importance. Daryll bowled real-ly well and played a good cameo down the order. Wehad the runs on the board, but the bowling and field-ing too was of high standard," Williamson said.

Seifert, who was adjudged the 'Man of the Match'for his 43-ball 84, said he was happy to live up to theexpectations after his selection in the team.

"It was a great way to start the series and the boysare really happy. It feels great to go up the order. I hada look at the first two overs and then took it from thereand put pressure on the bowlers," he said.

"I have been selected for a reason and it feels niceto have backed my ability," he said when asked abouthis big-hitting prowess.

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Fielding restrictions in the first sixPowerplay overs is challenging for

any bowler but according to KrunalPandya it was the middle overs thatproved costly during India's 80-runloss to New Zealand in the first T20International.

"In the Powerplay as well as in themiddle overs also, we gave away plen-ty of runs," Krunal said at the post-match media conference after Indiafolded for 139 while chasing 220.

He maintained that the targetwasn't easy to chase.

"Yes, obviously I guess, when youare chasing 218 (220), it's not that easy.Initially, we gave away (too many)runs and kept on leaking runs in themiddle overs as well. So no matterhow the pitch was, the scoreboardpressure was obviously there," theBaroda all-rounder said.

Krunal felt that India's defeat was"a combination of both poor bowlingand some great batting by the BlackCaps".

"They batted really well and webowled a few loose deliveries as well.So it was a combination of both."

A couple of catches were droppedincluding one by wicketkeeperMahendra Singh Dhoni, when Manof the match Tim Seifert hadn'tscored much.

Seifert went on to smash 84 off 43balls with seven fours and six sixes.Dinesh Karthik also dropped a sitterin the deep.

When asked if wind and coldconditions posed a problem while

fielding, Krunal replied: "No not thatmuch. It was fine. In fact, it was goodweather to play. As far as the wind isconcerned, it wasn't difficult to catchthe ball so I guess it was absolutelyfine."

"Dropping catches is a part andparcel of the game. One day youmight take a blinder like Siraj andthen another day two catches (Dhoniand Karthik) get dropped as well. It'sjust that you have to learn from everygame," he said.

New Zealand's Tim Southee wasthe pick of the bowlers with figuresof 3 for 17 and Pandya lauded hisefforts.

"I did play against him (recently)in an India A game when we came forthe A tour. I always knew that he wasa good player but today he provedwhy," he praised the senior pacer.

However Krunal seemed confi-dent that the team will make acomeback in the next game atAuckland.

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The repeated failure of the middle-order toup the game when it matters has convinced

Indian women's team vice-captain SmritiMandhana that she has to "practically bat for18 to 20 overs" for the side to stay in the huntduring stiff chases.

Mandhana smashed a 58-run knock off34 balls but the Indian team failed to make itcount and was dismissed for 136 while chas-ing a target of 160 in the opening T20 onWednesday.

"My wicket along with Jemimah's turnedout to be crucial. If you get out back-to-backin T20s, it proves costly. When you are chas-ing 160 and the run-rate is above 7 or 8, nexttime we have to plan and play better. It did-n't work out today," Smriti said after the match.

"Practically, I would say I have to bat till20 overs that is the best option. The more Ibat till 18 overs, we won't collapse because ifthe top three or four batters can bat till the 18-20th overs then the rest can revolve aroundthem. So tactically that is what I will try to do,"Mandhana said, indicating the absence of afinisher in the line-up.

Mandhana bettered her record of fastestfifty by one delivery, fetching this one off 24deliveries.

Asked if it was her best, she responded:"You never know what your best is. I can't limitmyself to a 60 and say it is my best. If I canchase any total and if I win matches for India,then only it would be my best."

Mandhana said though Indian concededa few runs in the end, the team should havebeen able to chase the target.

"We almost got our run-rate under 7,which was great but definitely we gave away10-15 runs extra in the end while bowling. Wehad got (Suzie) Bates and (Sophie) Devine butthe wicket was good and batters should havechased the target," she said.

"The way we played the ODI series, eventoday we were cruising till the 12th over butin T20s there is always a collapse. So, the nexttime we have to keep that in mind as a bat-ting unit.

Down 0-1 in the three-T20I series,Mandhana said the team will be under pres-sure.

"Being 1-0 down, we will be under thepump, everyone will be aiming to be betterthan what we were today and win the next twomatches for India, that is what we are think-ing and not what happened today."

Wind came into play at the WestPacStadium and Mandhana said she kept that fac-tor in mind while taking on-field decisions.

"We were thinking of taking pacers andspinners from whichever way the wind wasgoing. According to the wind, we were think-ing of bowling at the stumps or outside thestumps," she said.

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The Indian women's ODI teamcaptain Mithali Raj feels the

side's confidence has gone up fol-lowing the 2-1 series win overNew Zealand and it is now aim-ing to avoid qualifiers for the 2021World Cup by staying in top fourof the ICC table.

India is currently placed thirdin the table after winning thethree-match away series againstNew Zealand 2-1 recently. Theyare scheduled to host England inthe next assignment of the cham-pionship cycle later this month.

"The last time we played theQualifiers, but this time we wantto have direct qualification for2021. With series against Englandand the Windies coming up, wewill definitely look to get maxi-mum points," Mithali was quot-ed as saying in a release from theInternational Cricket Council.

"...We did not have too manyplayers who had the experience ofthe conditions with only Jhulan(Goswami) and me having touredhere before. So winning twogames here has given us a lot ofconfidence," she said.

"Losing the third game, we

have come down to number threein the rankings table but I amhappy that India is in the top four,"she added.

The coming month will seefocus on the championship withtwo more series featuring teams inthe upper tiers of the points table— Australia host New Zealandand India host England in seriesstarting February 22.

These teams are the frontrun-ners to make the cut since NewZealand and four other top teamsget direct entries to the premierevent two years from now.

New Zealand captain Amy

Satterthwaite said her side haslearnt its lessons from the deba-cle against India.

"We have our first real winterat home in 3-4 years coming upwhich gives us a great opportuni-ty to develop our skill sets, so play-ing a quality side like India helpshighlight those areas both individ-ually and as a team," she said.

"The points table is a hard oneto read into much because someteams haven't played as manygames as us. Sitting in second isa great place to be, but as otherteams play more games, that maychange," she added.

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