mobile patrol party near ... personnel, the terrorists report-edly ran towards the delhi public...

8
T he ranks of foreign terror- ists in Kashmir Valley have swelled up alarmingly ahead of the commencement of the Amarnath Yatra even as the security establishment is wary of the terrorists triggering inci- dents that could flare up com- munal passions during the 40- day pilgrimage starting June 29. From around 90 foreign terrorists to 140 now, the increase in the numbers is worrying as these terrorists with no sentimental values attached are only out to carry attacks at any cost. Any unto- ward incident during the Yatra could have repercussions in other parts of the State, sources said on Saturday. The security grid has hence been so laid out that it covers all approach routes to the holy shrine with soldiers also guarding the hill tops overlooking the cave 24X7. Electronic surveillance, includ- ing drones and radars, are also deployed to detect and neu- tralise any threat. Coupled with the threat to the Yatra, the security forces are also bracing for a spike in vio- lence levels in Kashmir from next week as terrorist leaders are likely to exhort the people to observe the first death anniver- sary of slain Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, they said. He was killed in an encounter on July 8 leading to nearly a five-month-long unrest in the Valley. Mass movement like bandhs may take place and ter- rorists may target sensitive installations besides security forces including the Army, paramilitary forces and local police. At least, 17 policemen have died this year including seven in the last fortnight itself. The lynching of Deputy Superintendent Mohammad Ayub Pandit on Friday was an attempt to demoralise the police, the sources said. The security forces are apprehensive about the foreign terrorists, mostly belonging to Pakistan-based Lashkar-e- Tayyeba (LeT) and Jaish-e- Mohammad, as they will try to attack convoys and camps of pilgrims en route the holy cave. With no stakes in the State, these terrorists will also attempt to ambush security patrols and their convoys triggering fire fights, which may lead to col- lateral damage, they said. Explaining the rationale of local terrorists of Hizbul Turn to Page 4 A Sub-Inspector of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was martyred and two other jawans received critical injuries in a daring strike by a group of 2-3 heav- ily armed terrorists on the mobile patrol party near Pantha Chowk on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway on Saturday. After targeting the CRPF personnel, the terrorists report- edly ran towards the Delhi Public School in the vicinity. Turn to Page 4 Jammu: Two days after breaching the LoC to launch BAT strike inside the Indian territory, the Pakistan Army on Saturday violated ceasefire agreement by targeting sev- eral forward Indian posts in Poonch sector. According to ground reports, “firing from the Pakistani side in the Keerni sector was reported from 8.30 am to 3 pm”. Local villagers claimed the area was relative- ly calm from the past several years and after a long gap the Pak Army trained their guns towards their villages. PNS A fter 14 years of political one-upmanship between the Centre and Uttar Pradesh, which was marked by respec- tive regimes by different polit- ical parties, decks have been cleared for setting up a Greenfield international airport at Jewar in Greater Noida. The Modi Government’s approval to the project, likely to be operational in the next five to six years, comes as a boost to the Yogi Adityanath dispensa- tion completing 100 days in office next week. “In-principle clearance has been granted for the Greenfield Airport at Jewar,” Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju told media persons in Delhi on Saturday. His deputy Jayant Sinha said, “Within seven years, Delhi airport will see 109 million trips a year, which will saturate its capacity. For the sake of NCR and NCR’s connectivity having a second airport is vitally important and that is what Noida international air- port will accomplish.” After coming to power on March 19, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had sought fresh technical evaluation of the airport project at Jewar. “A steering committee of Union Ministry of Civil Aviation had on Friday grant- ed site clearance in principle for the Greenfield Airport at Jewar,” said UP Government spokesman and Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh in Lucknow. The Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority has notified 3,000 hectares of land in Jewar for a world-class inter- national airport. Of the total land, 1,000 hectares will be acquired under the first phase of airport development, which will cost 2,000 crore. Turn to Page 4 I n a development that will provide a boost to India’s maritime security, the Trump administration has authorised the sale of unarmed surveil- lance drones to India, the man- ufacturer said on Friday, as the two nations’ leaders prepare for their first face-to-face meeting. India initiated its request to buy 22 Guardian MQ-9B unmanned aircraft for mar- itime surveillance last year. The deal is estimated to be worth about $2 billion. The offer is still subject to congres- sional approval. The green light from the administration marks a further deepening in defence ties ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday. “We are pleased that the US Government has cleared the way for the sale of the MQ-9B Guardian to the Indian Government,” Linden Blue, CEO of the manufacturer, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, said in a statement. Blue added that it would “sig- nificantly enhance India’s sov- ereign maritime domain aware- ness in the Indo-Pacific.” Meanwhile, the US Government has said that the Turn to Page 4 M ore than four decades have passed since Indira Gandhi unjustly imposed the state of Emergency on India on June 25, 1975. The 19-month ordeal was officially revoked only on March 21, 1977, a day after her crushing defeat in 1977 elections, in which the Janata Party stormed to power. A huge portion of India’s pop- ulation is below 35 years. Thus it has no recollection of that event at all. Nonetheless Emergency narratives still con- tinue to grip people’s attention in the 21st century. The early works of Emergency like The Judgment by Kuldeep Nayar, Two Faces of Indira Gandhi by Uma Vasudev and All the Prime Minister’s Men by Janardan Thakur came out during short-lived Janata Government years. Then there was a long hiatus in Emergency literature because Congress re- established its grip on power in 1980. The nation also got enmeshed into various kinds of insurgencies in Punjab, Kashmir, Assam and Sri Lanka etc during that period. Defending the integrity of Indian union was the priority. The new custom to recall the Emergency began on its 20th anniversary in 1995, when a discredited Narsimha Rao Government was fighting for its life. By then, the Liberalization had come; a robust middle class was in place; and media boom was in sight. The Emergency has attained a mythical status of contemporary India. This is partly because India has matured as a democracy. It can look back for the right lessons sans negative emotions. In this age of social media, Right to Information Act and Public Interest Litigation the citizens would not tolerate abridgement of their fundamental rights and usurpation of institutions. Even the Supreme Court today can no longer shut its door upon cit- izens — as it did during the Emergency — seeking remedy against illegal detentions, unau- thorised demolitions, torture and mayhem. It cannot validate the suspension of fundamental rights. But people alongside their civic rights, also want a Government that is efficient, result oriented and incorrupt- ible. That explains why the Congress is in worse shape today than in 1977. In the 6th general election, Congress seats had gone down from 352 to 154. It could still maintain 34.5 per cent votes. But in the 16th gen- eral election (2014), its seats had hit rock bottom of 44, whereas its vote share has plummeted to 19.31 per cent. My purpose is not to use Emergency as another stick to beat the Congress with. Indira Gandhi had realised her blun- der and apologised to the nation. But the Emergency delivered a vital lesson in democracy. The teeming mil- lions of the nation could not be taken for granted in exercising their political choice. The mass- es, even if poor and uneducat- ed, can unseat an arrogant ruler. They can create history as they indeed did in 1977. This is the power of Parliamentary democracy, something India can take pride upon. Turn to Page 4 T he Emergency — Indian Democracy’s Darkest Hour, a book written by A Surya Prakash, chairman Prashar Bharati was released by Union Minister for Urban Development and Information & Broadcasting Venkaiah Naidu and Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani at Ahmedabad on Saturday. The book was launched at a conference to mark the anniversary of the Emergency and to honour those who fought for restoration of democ- racy in the country in the mid- 1970s. The event was organised by MeghNirghosh Media Ltd. Detailed report on P5 A s the world famous Rath Yatra of Puri will be held on Sunday with the pilgrim city in a festive mode, the district administration and the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) have made elaborate arrangements for smooth conduct of the fete. Over ten lakh devotees are expected to join festival of the Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Maa Subhadra who would be having a plea- sure ride on three well-deco- rated chariots on the Grand Road. The Lords would go on a nine-day sojourn to their aunt’s house at the Gundicha temple, located about three km along the Grand Road. After replacement of the axle of the Darpadalan Rath of Maa Subhadra, construction of all the three Ratha was com- pleted and on Saturday evening, all the three chariots were decked with their respec- tive coloured cloths and pulled from the Ratha Khalla (con- struction site) and placed at the Simhadwar (Lion’s Gate) of the temple. Earlier, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and other Ministers connected with the festival preparations had supervised the arrangements in three meetings while police DGP and other senior officials supervised the security cover. Turn to Page 4 H eavy rains are likely to lash coastal and south Odisha under the influence of a cyclonic storm over north-bay of Bengal on Sunday, forecast the Regional Office of Indian Metrological Department (IMD) here on Saturday. The weather office further forecasted that the cyclonic storm is likely to develop into a low pressure over east-west parts of the sea in the next 48 hours. The State capital, which was having dry weather for the last few days, was lashed by intermittent pre- monsoon showers on Saturday bringing respite from the hot and humid conditions. The IMD predicted the city to have partly cloudy with possibility of rain and thun- dershowers on Sunday.

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Page 1: mobile patrol party near ... personnel, the terrorists report-edly ran towards the Delhi Public School in the vicinity ... offer is still subject to congres-sional

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The ranks of foreign terror-ists in Kashmir Valley have

swelled up alarmingly ahead ofthe commencement of theAmarnath Yatra even as thesecurity establishment is waryof the terrorists triggering inci-dents that could flare up com-munal passions during the 40-day pilgrimage starting June 29.

From around 90 foreignterrorists to 140 now, theincrease in the numbers isworrying as these terroristswith no sentimental valuesattached are only out to carryattacks at any cost. Any unto-ward incident during the Yatracould have repercussions inother parts of the State, sourcessaid on Saturday. The securitygrid has hence been so laid outthat it covers all approachroutes to the holy shrine withsoldiers also guarding the hilltops overlooking the cave 24X7.Electronic surveillance, includ-ing drones and radars, are alsodeployed to detect and neu-tralise any threat.

Coupled with the threat tothe Yatra, the security forces arealso bracing for a spike in vio-lence levels in Kashmir fromnext week as terrorist leaders are

likely to exhort the people toobserve the first death anniver-sary of slain Hizbul Mujahideencommander Burhan Wani, theysaid. He was killed in anencounter on July 8 leading tonearly a five-month-long unrestin the Valley.

Mass movement likebandhs may take place and ter-rorists may target sensitiveinstallations besides securityforces including the Army,paramilitary forces and localpolice. At least, 17 policemenhave died this year includingseven in the last fortnight itself.The lynching of DeputySuperintendent MohammadAyub Pandit on Friday was anattempt to demoralise thepolice, the sources said.

The security forces areapprehensive about the foreignterrorists, mostly belonging toPakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad, as they will try toattack convoys and camps ofpilgrims en route the holy cave.With no stakes in the State,these terrorists will also attemptto ambush security patrols andtheir convoys triggering firefights, which may lead to col-lateral damage, they said.

Explaining the rationaleof local terrorists of Hizbul

Turn to Page 4

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ASub-Inspector of CentralReserve Police Force

(CRPF) was martyred andtwo other jawans receivedcritical injuries in a daringstrike by a group of 2-3 heav-ily armed terrorists on themobile patrol party nearPantha Chowk on theJammu-Srinagar NationalHighway on Saturday.

After targeting the CRPFpersonnel, the terrorists report-edly ran towards the DelhiPublic School in the vicinity.

Turn to Page 4

Jammu: Two days afterbreaching the LoC to launchBAT strike inside the Indianterritory, the Pakistan Armyon Saturday violated ceasefireagreement by targeting sev-eral forward Indian posts inPoonch sector.

According to groundreports, “firing from thePakistani side in the Keernisector was reported from 8.30am to 3 pm”. Local villagersclaimed the area was relative-ly calm from the past severalyears and after a long gap thePak Army trained their gunstowards their villages. PNS

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After 14 years of politicalone-upmanship between

the Centre and Uttar Pradesh,which was marked by respec-tive regimes by different polit-ical parties, decks have beencleared for setting up aGreenfield international airportat Jewar in Greater Noida. TheModi Government’s approvalto the project, likely to beoperational in the next five tosix years, comes as a boost tothe Yogi Adityanath dispensa-tion completing 100 days inoffice next week.

“In-principle clearance hasbeen granted for the GreenfieldAirport at Jewar,” Civil AviationMinister Ashok Gajapathi Rajutold media persons in Delhi onSaturday.

His deputy Jayant Sinhasaid, “Within seven years, Delhiairport will see 109 milliontrips a year, which will saturateits capacity. For the sake of

NCR and NCR’s connectivityhaving a second airport isvitally important and that iswhat Noida international air-port will accomplish.”

After coming to power onMarch 19, UP Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath had soughtfresh technical evaluation of theairport project at Jewar.

“A steering committee ofUnion Ministry of CivilAviation had on Friday grant-ed site clearance in principle forthe Greenfield Airport atJewar,” said UP Governmentspokesman and HealthMinister Siddharth Nath Singhin Lucknow. The YamunaExpressway IndustrialDevelopment Authority hasnotified 3,000 hectares of landin Jewar for a world-class inter-national airport. Of the totalland, 1,000 hectares will beacquired under the first phaseof airport development, whichwill cost �2,000 crore.

Turn to Page 4

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In a development that willprovide a boost to India’s

maritime security, the Trumpadministration has authorisedthe sale of unarmed surveil-lance drones to India, the man-ufacturer said on Friday, as thetwo nations’ leaders prepare fortheir first face-to-face meeting.

India initiated its request tobuy 22 Guardian MQ-9B

unmanned aircraft for mar-itime surveillance last year.The deal is estimated to beworth about $2 billion. Theoffer is still subject to congres-sional approval.

The green light from theadministration marks a furtherdeepening in defence ties aheadof Prime Minister NarendraModi meeting with PresidentDonald Trump at the WhiteHouse on Monday.

“We are pleased that the US

Government has cleared theway for the sale of the MQ-9BGuardian to the IndianGovernment,” Linden Blue,CEO of the manufacturer,General Atomics AeronauticalSystems, said in a statement.Blue added that it would “sig-nificantly enhance India’s sov-ereign maritime domain aware-ness in the Indo-Pacific.”

Meanwhile, the USGovernment has said that the

Turn to Page 4

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More than four decades havepassed since Indira

Gandhi unjustly imposed thestate of Emergency on India onJune 25, 1975. The 19-monthordeal was officially revokedonly on March 21, 1977, a dayafter her crushing defeat in1977 elections, in which theJanata Party stormed to power.A huge portion of India’s pop-ulation is below 35 years. Thusit has no recollection of thatevent at all. Nonetheless

Emergency narratives still con-tinue to grip people’s attentionin the 21st century.

The early works ofEmergency like The Judgmentby Kuldeep Nayar, Two Faces ofIndira Gandhi by Uma Vasudevand All the Prime Minister’sMen by Janardan Thakur cameout during short-lived JanataGovernment years. Then therewas a long hiatus in Emergencyliterature because Congress re-established its grip on power in1980. The nation also gotenmeshed into various kinds ofinsurgencies in Punjab, Kashmir,Assam and Sri Lanka etc duringthat period. Defending theintegrity of Indian union was thepriority. The new custom torecall the Emergency began onits 20th anniversary in 1995,when a discredited NarsimhaRao Government was fightingfor its life. By then, theLiberalization had come; arobust middle class was in place;

and media boom was in sight. The Emergency has

attained a mythical status ofcontemporary India. This ispartly because India hasmatured as a democracy. It canlook back for the right lessonssans negative emotions. In thisage of social media, Right toInformation Act and PublicInterest Litigation the citizenswould not tolerate abridgementof their fundamental rights andusurpation of institutions. Eventhe Supreme Court today canno longer shut its door upon cit-izens — as it did during theEmergency — seeking remedyagainst illegal detentions, unau-thorised demolitions, tortureand mayhem. It cannot validatethe suspension of fundamentalrights. But people alongsidetheir civic rights, also want aGovernment that is efficient,result oriented and incorrupt-ible. That explains why theCongress is in worse shape

today than in 1977. In the 6thgeneral election, Congress seatshad gone down from 352 to 154.It could still maintain 34.5 percent votes. But in the 16th gen-eral election (2014), its seats hadhit rock bottom of 44, whereasits vote share has plummeted to19.31 per cent.

My purpose is not to useEmergency as another stick tobeat the Congress with. IndiraGandhi had realised her blun-der and apologised to thenation. But the Emergencydelivered a vital lesson indemocracy. The teeming mil-lions of the nation could not betaken for granted in exercisingtheir political choice. The mass-es, even if poor and uneducat-ed, can unseat an arrogantruler. They can create historyas they indeed did in 1977. Thisis the power of Parliamentarydemocracy, something Indiacan take pride upon.

Turn to Page 4

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The Emergency — IndianDemocracy’s Darkest Hour,

a book written by A SuryaPrakash, chairman PrasharBharati was released by UnionMinister for UrbanDevelopment and Information& Broadcasting VenkaiahNaidu and Gujarat ChiefMinister Vijay Rupani atAhmedabad on Saturday.

The book was launched ata conference to mark theanniversary of the Emergencyand to honour those whofought for restoration of democ-racy in the country in the mid-1970s. The event was organisedby MeghNirghosh Media Ltd.

Detailed report on P5

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As the world famous RathYatra of Puri will be held

on Sunday with the pilgrim cityin a festive mode, the districtadministration and the ShreeJagannath TempleAdministration (SJTA) havemade elaborate arrangementsfor smooth conduct of the fete.

Over ten lakh devotees areexpected to join festival of theLord Jagannath, LordBalabhadra and Maa Subhadrawho would be having a plea-sure ride on three well-deco-rated chariots on the GrandRoad.

The Lords would go on anine-day sojourn to their aunt’shouse at the Gundicha temple,located about three km alongthe Grand Road.

After replacement of theaxle of the Darpadalan Rath ofMaa Subhadra, construction ofall the three Ratha was com-pleted and on Saturdayevening, all the three chariotswere decked with their respec-tive coloured cloths and pulledfrom the Ratha Khalla (con-struction site) and placed at theSimhadwar (Lion’s Gate) ofthe temple. Earlier, ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik andother Ministers connected withthe festival preparations hadsupervised the arrangements inthree meetings while policeDGP and other senior officialssupervised the security cover.

Turn to Page 4

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Heavy rains are likely to lashcoastal and south Odisha

under the influence of acyclonic storm over north-bayof Bengal on Sunday, forecastthe Regional Office of IndianMetrological Department(IMD) here on Saturday.

The weather office further

forecasted that the cyclonicstorm is likely to develop intoa low pressure over east-westparts of the sea in the next 48hours.

The State capital, whichwas having dry weather for thelast few days, was lashed byintermittent pre- monsoonshowers on Saturday bringingrespite from the hot and humidconditions.

The IMD predicted thecity to have partly cloudy withpossibility of rain and thun-dershowers on Sunday.

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Page 2: mobile patrol party near ... personnel, the terrorists report-edly ran towards the Delhi Public School in the vicinity ... offer is still subject to congres-sional

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It’s unfortunate and sad. ButTubelight lives up to its title, not itsstar. It is a slow, un-gripping drama

with no sense of direction whatsoever,or any forward movement. Much likea fused tube light, it works too hard tolight up the proceedings, but fails todo so.

So linear it is in dimension thatdespite the star power of Salman Khan,the aerial landscaping of the film byKabir Khan, some hummable songs anda Hindi-Chini bhai bhai theme, fails tocapture your interest, let alone yourimagination.

There’s no fun in the film, absolutelyno Sallu bhai stuff for which the publicthrongs to the cinema hall with siteesand taalis with that first-day-first-showmania. Instead of being that chavanniuchhaal superstar, Salman is made tolook like one of those glycerinecharacters in a saas-bahu show on TV,crying away, mostly needlessly, to glory.He cries through the film, and tediouslyplays a soppy, sloppy, retarded and

tedious character in an angelicmountain village near the India-Chinaborder in Uttarakhand.

Really, he is so stuck up that he isunable to decide “yahan se royun yawahan se.” Salman Khan for us isrelevant only when he comes withrippling muscles, oodles of naughtiness,backstreet boy macho presence and ageneral camaradarie with frontbenchers. None of this happens to himin Tubelight where he runs the show asa fat, loose-clothing village boy hung upon his fat — both in the body and themind.

Kabir Khan, the director who hasperfected the art of fantasticallyshowcasing Salman Khan, goesshockingly wrong in this one and onewonders why so soon after BajrangiBhaijaan.

Unbelievable, but Sallu does noteven rip off his shirt in this one, anddon’t even think about romancing thegirl. His most crackling chemistry iswith Shah Rukh Khan who is the onlysurprise in the film which is otherwisetruly a home production of the Khans,what with bhai Sohail trying to make themost of bhai Salman’s super stardom asmother and father and the lot producethis blunder with familial indulgence.

�� �� �����������The Epic TV

Channel haslaunched aneight-part mini-series calledSilsila Cinema Kawhich showcasesthe illustrioushistory of Indian cinema by layingemphasis on our diverse film industries andmany milestones that do not find theirspace in the sun. It brings to light 24 lesser-known milestones and creatives of Hindias well as regional film industries fromvarious facets, listing path breaking storiessuch as Baburao Patel’s Film Indiamagazine, the heroes of silent cinemabesides Dadasaheb Phalke, the early posterpainters of Indian cinema, the transition ofmonochromatic movies to techni-colourfilms and much more. This 30-minuteseries will be telecast every Friday at 9:30pm with repeat telecast at 11:30 pm.

���'�����7�����������"��Mithun Chakraborty makes his acting

debut on television where he will play apivotal character and not his usual self inThe Drama Company which will soon airon Sony Entertainment Television. JoiningMithun Da, Krushna Abhishek and Sudesh

Lahiri, on theshow will be thetalented team ofAli Asgar, DrSanket Bhosale,S u g a n d h aMishra andmany morerenowned faces.Considering it’s

a challenge to be a part of The DramaCompany Mithun Chakraborty says: “Forthe first time, I will not be playing myselfon Television but a very interestingcharacter with a lot of quirks. While it ischallenging after hearing the creativedetails from the makers, it is going to be achallenge worth taken.”

�����'� ����)������Colors is all set to launch an

investigative thriller series titled DevAnand. The show will focus on the life ofa curious detective, Dev Anand, who willuse this intricate observation and deductionskills to solve unsettling mysteries. Playingthe role of Dev Anand and making his

television comeback is actor AshishChowdhary, who was last seen facing adance challenge on Jhalak Dikhlaa Jaa.

Talking about his comeback, AshishChowdhary said: “After patiently lookingfor an ideal fiction comeback on television,Colors has yet again managed to amaze mewith a concept whichis exceptionallyinteresting. DevAnand when offeredto me, was a go in thefirst hearing itself. DevAnand’s personalityand the charactersuncanny quirks calledout to me, and Iimmediately decided to take it up.”

��"�7������������'���)��)'Star Plus’ new show Chakravyuh

boasts of starring ace actors like NarayaniShastri in the lead roles. Word has it thatBollywood’s famous actress Tabu, who hasgiven stellar performances over the years,will be roped in to play a cameo in the show.The two actresses, Tabu and Narayani willbe united again after their award winningmovie Chandani Bar. Sources say that Tabuwill be seen as Satrupa’s (Narayani) sisterin the show. The show will showcase thelife of a Royal industrialist family and thefact that a girl is always treated as a secondclass citizen. The show will go on air in July.

�����#���� �This Sunday, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l

Champs will air its Eid Special episode at9 pm with Bollywood music composer duoSajid-Wajid. While all contestants gavemind-boggling performances, it was Li’lChamp Riya Biswas from Kolkata who stolemusic composer Sajid Khan’s heart with hermarvellous performance on the song MereMaula Karam Ho. The music wizard gaveRiya his taveez to protect her always.

Sharing his experience, Sajid said: “Iwas completely swept away by Riya’sperformance. When I was judgingSaReGaMaPa, I gave my taveez away to oneof the contestants Tanvi who stole my heartwith her performance. I wanted God toprotect her rare talent so that no one couldbring her down. Seeing this gesture, one ofthe show’s fans sent me her taveez and saidthat if you gave your taveez to protectsomeone else, who will protect you?”.

Sajid immediately took off the amulethe was wearing and placed it around Riya’sneck and added, “I would like to give thistaveez to Riya so that it protects her andsaves her from evil eyes”.

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�How was your journey on ChhoteMiyan Dhakad?

It was very good. Initially, it wasvery formal and serious but later westarted enjoying the show and it was funto perform different skits. Then thecompetition became tough. I had neverthought that I could make it to the finalsand when I was declared winner, it wasunbelievable.

�How difficult is it to dolive comedy?

It was difficult initiallybut I got a hang of itthrough rigorouspractise, watchingvideos and doingmimicry all thetime. I had mentorswho helped me inperforming better.

�What were someof your bestmoment on theshow?

The best momentwas when I wasdeclared one of thefinalists.

�Who was thetoughest competitor?

Manav Khyali andKeyan Gadia were mytoughest competitors astheir acts used to be verygood and were liked by all.

�After winning India’sbest Dramebaaz, did youthink of doing anothertalent hunt show?

I never thought Iwould. After winningDramebaaz, I got a lot ofopportunities like shooting for AsianPaints and Filpkart commercials. Butwhen Chhote Miyan Dhakad came up, Ithought it would be good to give it a shot.

�Did India’s best Dramebaaz help youto win Chhote Miyan Dhakad in anyway?

Dramebaaz was my first show henceI was quite nervous initially but when Igot the performer of the week, myconfidence level became high and Istarted enjoying acting. Things likedialogue delivery, voice modulation andstage presence helped me in this show.

�Who is your inspiration behindgetting into acting and comedy?

My father who does mimicry andlikes to watch Bollywood comedies. I alsolearnt from films and I love to sing and

dance too.

�How do you manage your studiesand the show together?

My school is very supportive.For four months, I have been stayingin Mumbai. When I went back toLudhiana, I gave my exams late. Myteachers and friends helped me in

my homework and cover all that Ihad missed out on.

�Which one is your favourite act inthis show?

I love the acts that I did withKeyan for which we got a standingovation. My solo act in the finalewhere I disguised as a girl was alsoone of my favourites. I love to try outnew things.

�What do you do when you forgetyour dialogues on the stage?

When I did the first act, I forgotsome of the dialogues but I covered

it up by some other dialogues. Thiscomes with experience.

�What prize did you get?I got a lovely trophy.

�What do you aspire to become?I want to become a good actor. I want

to try everything in my life like an all-rounder.

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With three children goingmissing every 24 hours

in Odisha, the alarm bell is ofa quite high order. A whop-ping number of 3,986 chil-dren missing over the last fiveyears from the State are yet tobe traced out by the lawenforcement agencies.

According to the dataavailable with the State police,a high of around 988 childrenwent missing last year.Significantly, around 65 percent to 70 per cent missingchildren were girls. Moreover,top State Crime Branch sourcesinformed that while the age ofmost missing girls is 14 to 17years; that of missing boys var-ied from 11 to 15 years. Andmost girls’ missing place hasbeen from colleges or schools.

Another significant reve-lation by top police sources isthat most of the places of trac-ing the missing children in theState have been the railway sta-tions of Puri, Bhubaneswarand Brahmapur.“Significantly, investigations

later and the place of tracingclearly show the destinationsof missing children were WestBengal, New Delhi,Ahmedabad, Surat, Mumbai,Bengaluru, Hyderabad andChennai,” elaborated a toppolice official.

As per the data of missinggirls available with the police,as many as eight to 10 districtsin the State bear the burden;whereas in case of missing

boys a high of around 13 dis-tricts bear the brunt. Whileover the years, Sundargarhand Keonjhar registered themaximum cases of girls miss-ing followed by Bhadrak,Jharsuguda, Angul, Ganjamand Jajpur among others,Sambalpur and Ganjam ledthe pack of missing boys fol-lowed by Keonjhar,Jharsuguda, Bhadrak,Khordha, Puri and Angul.

The trend of a majority ofmissing girls in the age-groupof 14-16 was mostly observedin the State’s mining belt andthe Jajpur-Bhadrak corridor.The reason: these are the vul-nerable pockets where brokersare on the prowl who even goto the extent of exportingfemale teens to Gulf countriesvia inter-State rackets, revealeda senior police official.

Moreover, NGOs workingin the sector of missing chil-dren elaborate the trend dis-cernible in such missing chil-dren cases in the State. Theyfound out how some specificdistricts record higher pro-portion of missing childrenwhere most youth populace

move out as labourers to theaforesaid destinations.

“The reasons behind arelarge-scale poverty, poor jobprospects and high dropout inthe middle school level inmany regions in the Statelike Ganjam, Sundargarh,Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj,Jajpur-Bhadrak belt ,Kandhamal and KBK region.Most, therefore, in the saidage-group either move outvoluntarily to eke a livelihoodor are trapped to supplementas cheap labour,” observedSrikant Das, who works withan NGO on missing chil-dren. He added that house-holds having family size ofabove five with more thanthree female members havebeen the target of labouragents or brokers.

However, the Just iceVerma Commission whilesubmitting its report to theSupreme Court onmissing/trafficked childrenin the country unambigu-ously stated that the prolifer-ation of brokers/agents issolely for the cause of politi-cal patronage.

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In an extremely inhuman act,a person allegedly flung his

10-month-old daughter todeath on the road atBhubanapur village under theJenapur police limits in Jajpurdistrict on Friday evening.

According to reports,Nanda Kishore Mallick of the

village had a quarrel with hiswife over some issues. Losing hiscool, Mallick smashed his infantdaughter on the village road

leading to her death. He wentabsconding after committingthe crime, sources said.

The mother of the deceasedbaby lodged a complaint withthe Jenapur police, followingwhich cops started investigationinto the incident seizing thebody for postmortem. Effortswere on to nab the girl’s killerfathser, police sources said.

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Post-graduate seats in theKhallikote (autonomous)

College have not been divest-ed to the Khal l ikoteUniversity and admissionsfor all PG seats in the collegewould continue this academ-ic year, 2017-18, informeduniversity Vice-ChancellorManmatha Padhy here onSaturday.

“All the 19 PGDepartments are active inthe Khallikote College. Theuniversity has only been

entrusted the responsibility ofholding admission processfor the departmentsose seats,”the VC stated this in a clari-fication to a rumour that allPG seats have been divestedto the university.

He further informed thatthe Higher EducationDepartment has given theadmission charge to the uni-versity through a letter datedJune 5, 2017.

However, the VC statedthat he would write soon tothe Government seeking clar-ification about the admissionprocess again.

“The State Government ismaking all efforts to upholdthe heritage of age-oldKhallikote College. Hence,all stakeholders should extendsupport in this regard,” saidPadhy.

R e g i s t r a r - i n - c h a r g ePratap Chandra Pradhan waspresent.

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Corruption undermines thefoundations of democracy,

rule of law and Constitutionalgovernance system and erodeshuman rights and the moralfabric of society, said SIT (BlackMoney) Vice-Chairman JusticeArijit Pasayat at a workshop on“Corruption, Human Rightsand Governance,” organisedby the Vigilance Directoratehere as part of the the organi-sation’s diamond jubilee cele-brations.

Justice Pasayat said cor-ruption breeds inequality andinjustice and corrodes thebasic values of liberty, equal-ity and fraternity enshrined inthe Preamble of the Indianconstitution.

He also emphasised theneed to connect the discourseon human rights to anti-cor-ruption campaign so as tosafeguard human dignity andbasic rights of the individual.

He stressed on the fact thatcorruption should be seen as a

systemic issue and it can beaddressed by adopting a rightbased approach to fighting cor-ruption and thereby empower-ing the people and ensuringtransparency, accountabilityand good governance. Theworkshop was presided over byState Vigilance DirectorRajendra Prasad Sharma andattended Inspectors, DSPs,Additional SPs and SPs ofVigilance Directorate. VigilanceADG Debasish Panigrahioffered a vote of thanks.

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The BJD on Saturday decidedto embark on a week-long

agitation in all the 314 blockheadquarters of the State fromJuly 10 to 18 against the meagrehike in minimum support price(MSP) of paddy by the CentralGovernment.

Party vice-president DebiPrasad Mishra at a Press con-ference here came down heavi-ly on the Central Governmentfor making a mockery of farm-ers’ plight in the State. “The hikeof Rs 80 per quintal of paddyspeaks volumes about the inten-tion of the Centre in dealing withthe issue. The Modi Governmenthas betrayed the farmers,” saidhe.Criticising Modi for not ful-filling the election promise onthe paddy MSP, Mishra said thehike of Rs 80 will put the farmerinto distress. As per its electionmanifesto, the BJP shouldincrease the MSP of paddy toone and a half time of the pro-

duction cost, added Mishra.Asthe MSP on paddy fixed by theCentre is less than the produc-tion cost, a unanimous resolu-tion was passed in the StateAssembly demanding that itshould be fixed at Rs 2,930 perquintal. An AssemblyCommittee headed by theSpeaker was constituted to meetthe PM and apprise him of theissue, but he is not finding timeto even meet the committee,”alleged Mishra.

In reaction, BJP spokesper-son Golak Mohapatra said, “Theparty ruled Odisha for 17 yearsbut failed to improve irrigation,electricity and other issueswhich further resulted in lowproduction and farmers com-mitting suicide. The BJP willstick to its words,” saidMohapatra. Accusing theNaveen Government of beinganti-farmer, Mohapatra asked,“Why the BJD Government isnot waiving off loans of farmerslike the BJP-ruled States?”

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Apoor farm worker had tocarry the body of his

daughter on his own shouldersafter the doctors at the IbThermal Hospital denied himan ambulance.

At around 10 am on Friday,Bhaskar Panch Bhaya ofRemanda village and his wifeAnjali brought their daughternamed Manini who was suf-fering from severe diarrhoeaand dysentery to the IbThermal Hospital.

Her condition was severeand while undergoing treat-

ment, she lost her life. After herdemise, when Bhaskar and hiswife requested the on-duty DrBL Biswal for an ambulance totake the body of the child totheir village which is about 12km away, they were told that thehospital has no such facility.

On way back home, Bhaskarhad no way out but to fetch thebody on his shoulder. However,

when some vil-lagers saw it, theycalled the EO ofB e l p a h a rMunicipa l ity.After that, the dis-trict Collectorand the CDMOwere alsoinformed of theincident.

Later, themunicipality authorities sent anambulance.

When contacted, CDMODamayanti Sahoo said thatalthough the Ib ThermalHospital is not a Governmenthospital, he has given verbalorders for an inquiry to theOPGC management to inves-tigate why there is no facility ofan ambulance at their hospital.

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Deep resentment prevailedamong local BJP workers

on Saturday over the absence ofparty MLA Dilip Ray’s photosin the hoardings put up by theparty on the eve of Rath Yatrain the Steel City.

The MLA’S supportersexpressed disappointment overthe incidence and said absenceof Ray from any party cam-paigns would send a wrongmessage to the people. In someplaces, Ray’s irate supporterseven vandalised the hoard-ings.

“Why the photo of thelocal MLA is missing in thehoardings wishing people onRath Yatra? In protest, we haveripped the hoardings,” saidBJP Mandal president AseshMohanty.Ray’s supportersalleged that it is a conspiracyagainst their leader, and this hasdisheartened them. Notably,the MLA had accused thePrime Minister for the delay inconstruction of a second bridgeover river Brahmani andupgradation of IGH, Rourkelaeven though the party is inpower at the Centre for threeyears.

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Baripada, known as the sec-ond Srikshetra, is now

ready for the famous annualfestival of Rath Yatra. Thingsso far have gone smoothly.

In line with traditions, theNetrotsav and the NavaJauvana Darsan will take placeon Saturday. While the firstritual is taking place duringthe day hours, the latter is tobe held in the evening.

Then, on Sunday (June25), Pahandi of the threedeities will be held with gai-ety and fervor, after theChheraa pahanraa by the

Parichchhaa.Unlike Puri, here at

Baripada, pulling of chariotsdoes not take place on the dayof Pahandi.

Pulling of the three char-iots will begin here fromMonday (June 26) and willcontinue for two days. Whileon the f irst day, LordBalabhadra’s Rath will betaken by the devotees from theSri Jagannath Temple to theMausi Maa Mandir (localAmbika Mandir), and DeviSubhadra’s Rath will be takenhalf-way ; on the secondday(June 27), Devi Subhadraawill complete her journey tothe Mausi Baadi. Later LordJagannath’s chariot pullingtakes place.

What is remarkable isDevi Subhadra’s chariot hereis pulled by women devoteesonly and the same tradition

wil l be fol-lowed this yeartoo.From June28 to July 2,darshans ofd i f f e r e n tVeshas of thedeit ies wil ltake place.Final ly, thereturn journeyof the deitieswill be heldwith muchfanfare.

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In yet another incident of thedeteriorating law and order

situation in the State capital, thebody of a security guard wasfound in the premises of aninfrastructure company underthe Sahid Nagar police stationon Saturday.

Sources said some staffs ofthe SKD infrastructure com-pany spotted the body ofPrabhat Nayak lying in the

company premises in themorning. After police reachedthe spot, and found severalinjury marks on the body.

Later, family members ofthe deceased lodged a com-plaint at the Khandagiri policestation alleging that Prabhatwas murdered. They claimedthat the victim was originallyan employee of the city-basedARA security agency and wasengaged on duty at the com-pany for the past few months.

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The State Government onSaturday put in place a five-

year integrated action plan of Rs24.19 crore for the developmentof the Similipal BiosphereReserve in Mayurbhanj district.

Accordingly, theGovernment has approved a Rs4.85 crore- project for the currentyear.

The proposal was cleared atthe Biosphere ReserveManagement Council meetingheaded by Chief Secretary APPadhi here on Saturday.

The Chief Secretary direct-ed the Forests and EnvironmentDepartment to create new liveli-hood souces for the inhabitantsof the area.

The funds to be spent forvarious projects under the actionplan would be shared by theUnion Government and theState Government at different

ratios 60:40 and 50:50.Among others, Additional

Chief Secretary Suresh ChandraMohapatra, Similipal TigerReserve Deputy DirectorJajnadatta Pati and Field DirectorHarish Kumar Basisth were pre-sent.It may be noted that theSimilipal Biosphere Reservespreads over 5,569 square kmarea, which includes 1,194.75sq km core area, 1,335.86 sq kmbuffer area and 3,038.39 sq kmtransition area.

While many villages havealready been shifted to otherplaces after being promised ofadequate compensation, thereare one village in the corearea, 64 in buffer area and 1,200villages in transition area. Atotal of 6 lakh tribal people areresiding in these villages.

Similipal is one of the 10biosphere reserves of the coun-try which have got Unescostatus.

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The Vigilance police onSaturday conducted raids

on the Markfed office inKendrapada and Bhubaneswaron the allegation of corruptionand irregularities in paddyprocurement in the State in2015-16.

Surprise checks were con-ducted at Markfed Kendrapara

unit and residential house ofMarkfed Senior AssistantManoranjan Biswal it wasascertained that the organisa-tions office at Kendrapada hasbeen winded up and all the rel-evant documents were kept inthe house of Biswal.

It was ascertained thatBiswal had purchased paddyfrom some of the farmers with-out verifying their land details,registration with the PACS,SCS and eligibility to sale paddyin violation of Governmentguidelines issued regardingfood and procurement policy.

During the period fromMarch 16 to 3o, 2016, Biswalfalsely showed purchase of

21,000 quintals of paddy fromdifferent farmers against actu-al purchase of 13,783.66 quin-tals, although payment hasbeen made for 13,783.66 quin-tals.

Due to such irregularities,procurement of paddy inKendrapara district was dis-continued and Biswal was sus-pended by the department.As such, it is suspected thatduring KMS 2015-16, illegalpurchase of paddy has beendone from non-registeredfarmers and middlemen. Theinvolvement of other officers ofMarkfed may not be ruled out.The matter is under investiga-tion by Vigilance.

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The Rourkela policealong with DVF and

CRPF in a joint search oper-ation found large quantitiesof arms and ammunitionsfrom a Maoist camp in theLunga Reserve Forest underthe Mahulpada police stationof Sundargarh district onSaturday.

Rourkela Superintendentof Police Anirudh Singh saidthe joint team found a 12-bore SBML gun, a PIRRugan, two country-madepistols, two INSAS bayonets,20 rounds of 8mm ammuni-tions, 12 rounds of 350 ballammunitions, 4 rounds 12bore cartridge, 20 rounds.303-ball ammunitions, 24rounds of 5.56-ball ammu-nitions, eight Maoist litera-tures, 20 kg of explosived, 10meter of codex wires, 68 det-onators and two walkie-talkies.

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Following A report in ThePioneer about the bribe

taken by Panchayat officialsfrom two poor women inSabdega block in Sundargarhfor allotting house under theBiju Pucca Ghar and thePradhan Mantri Awas Yojana,the Superintendent of Police,Vigilance, Sambalpur hasordered Vigilance DSP,Sundargarh for an inquiryinto it and take action

against the corrupt persons.Sources said Jasmita Kulu,

a resident of Sudharshanpurvillage under Sabdega block,had been sanctioned Rs75,000 under the the IndiraAwas Scheme during 2015-16.She had started making herhouse but she could not makeconcrete roof due to shortageof money and she had donethe roofing with asbestos. Shefell short of Rs 15,000 becauseshe had been told by the pan-chayat officials to give themRs 15,000 as bribe and Jasmitawith great difficulty paid it off.Out of Rs 15,000, the Sarpanchhad taken Rs 7,000, thePanchayat Executive Officer(PEO) had taken Rs 5,000 andthe Gram Rojgar Sevak had

taken Rs 3,000.Similarly, another poor

widow of Sabdega block recent-ly alleged that her name hadbeen recommended in GramSabha to get the Biju PakkaGhar but the Panchayat officialshad demanded Rs 20,000 fromher to sanction the Biju PakkaGhar for her. Finding no otheralternative, she had to sell awayher two goats and gave Rs 20,000to the Panchayat officials forsanctioning a house. Followingthe report in The Pioneer onJune 22 about the bribe takenfrom these two poor womenand about the massive cor-ruption in housing schemes inSundargarh district, VigilanceSP Sambalpur J Nayak orderedDSP P Kishan for an inquiry.

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Two students of the KalingaInstitute of Social Sciences

(KISS) have qualified theNational Eligibility andEntrance Test (NEET) 2017,results of which were declaredon Friday. They are NabinMunda and ShradhanjaliKapandia.

Nabin and Shradhanjaliscored 150 and 129 marks,respectively against qualifying

170 marks.KIIT and KIISfounder Dr Achyuta Samantacongratulated them and said

tribal studentscan excel in anyfield if they areprovided propercare and guid-ance. The KISShas providedsuch kind of careand guidance toits students.Many KISS stu-

dents are pursuing education innational level institutions likeIITs, NITs and IIMs, he said.

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More than 70 students ofthe DAV Public School,

Chandraskeharpur have qual-ified the NEET 2017 and, ofthem, 33 have been placedwithin top All India rankings.

Nipun Chandra once againproved his mettle by securing 55rank at the national level with675 marks. Similarly, SwikrutiMohapatra, Pritam ParamvirBadajena, Ayushman Pattnaikand Shagun Agrawal havescored more than 600 marks.Around 20 students havesecured more than 550 marks.

Akaankshya Nayak,Anuradha Sahoo, PratikBaisakh, Shirshita Pattnaik,

Samhati Tripathy,Sthittapranjya Mohanty,Debdut Dey, SubhadarshiniSamal and Priya Mohanty havebeen placed within 10,000 AllIndia ranks. The school author-ities congratulated the studentsfor placing the DAVChandraskharpur as the bestindividual achiever school ofthe state.

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Ayouth, Samal Munda (20),a resident under the Joda

police station in Keonjhar dis-trict, died when lightningstruck him on Saturday.

Munda had gone to take

bath in river Baitarani, andwhile he was returning homelightning struck him, firebrigade sources said.

Fire brigade personnelreached the spot and rushedhim to a local hospital where hewas declared brought dead.

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Ajewellery shop in Nilgirimarket was looted by a

gang of armed miscreants atgunpoint on Thursday evening.

They also lobbed crudebombs to scare the neighbour-ing shop owners beforedecamping with the gold jew-ellery worth about Rs 15 lakhand cash around Rs 50,000.

They were six and spedaway towards Sergargh bybikes, said eyewitnesses.Although the police swunginto action immediately afterthe incident, yet the goons areat large.

The police said that theywere analyzing the CC TVfootages of the shop as well asin the neighbouring shops andassured to nab the culpritssoon.

“A case has been regis-tered under Section 395 ofIPC and Arms Act,” informedNilgiri police station IICRamesh Singh.

However, another sourcepointed at the involvement ofa local person.

The incident took placearound 9 pm when the work-ers of the jewellery shop,Parbati Jeweller, were about towind up, putting all the dis-played jewellery of showcasein the locker, before closingthe shop.The owner of theshop, Pradip Das, was inBaleswar town in connectionwith some jobs while the lootoccurred.

Five goons while entered inthe shop, only one of them wasmasked.

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The BJP Krushak Morchawould hold a ‘A fortnight

for farmers’ right’ from July 1to 15 to undertake a signaturedrive in favour of its demandfor waiver of farm loan and

disbursement of loan withoutinterest.BJP State vice-presi-dent Samir Mohanty informedthis at a Press conference hereon Saturday.

“During this year’s AkhiMuthi showing celebration,Chief Minister Naveen Patnaikhad stated that hisGovernment has a proposal towaive farm loans. Now farm-ers are in a quandary as theChief Minister is averting theloan waiver proposal,” allegedMohanty.

Stating that States like

Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra,Madhya Pradesh andKarnataka have announced towaive agriculture loans,Mohanty alleged that while theNarendra Modi Governmentat the Centre has announced afour-per cent rebate on inter-est, farmers of Odisha are notgetting loans due to callousattitude of the StateGovernment.

He said party activistswould reach 50 lakh families in36,000 booths during the 15-day drive to collect signatures.

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From Page 1Even when the first gener-

al elections were held in 1951-52, skeptics had predicted themto be the last. They claimed thatIndia with meagre literacy rateof 16 per cent was not fit foruniversal adult franchise. Butthe conduct of the votersproved them wrong. This wasconfirmed 25 years later in the6th general election (1977).

The electorate rejected theparty it had been electing sinceIndependence.

The effect of generationalshift could not be discounted.The Nehruvian India was intatters by early 1970s. The newgeneration that grew up wasdisillusioned with shortageeconomy, lack of job opportu-nities, black marketing andcorruption. The Nehruvianestablishment failed to instillwork culture. The social esteemof a white-capped politicianhad suffered severe erosion.Thus the 1970s was destined tobe a battle ground.

In January, 1974 a NavNirman Andolon (literarymeaning Re-ConstructionMovement) arose in Gujaratagainst then the corrupt regimeof Congress Chief MinisterChimanbhai Patel. It was anapolitical movement by studentcommunity and middle class inGujarat. The movement was sopopular that Indira Gandhiforced Patel to resign onFebruary 9, 1974. Subsequently,the legislative assembly was dis-solved.

But this was merely thebeginning rather than the cul-mination. A students' move-ment was simultaneously brew-ing up in Bihar. The students,agitating against the CongressGovernment (led by AbdulGhafoor), invited JayprakashNarayan (JP) to lead them.Under JP, who formulated theconcept of Sampoorna Kranti(Total Revolution), the move-ment soon turned againstIndira Gandhi's rule. The talksbetween JP and Indira Gandhion dissolution of the BiharAssembly, on the lines ofGujarat, broke down.

The roots of corruptionwere inside the Indira GandhiGovernment. GeorgeFernandes -- who organised thegreat railway strike May, 1974-- described her as theBhrastachar Ki Gangotri(Fountainhead of Corruption).In September, 1974 the'Pondicherry Licence Scam'broke. Tulmohan Ram, theBihar MP, who forged signa-tures of 21 MPs to recommendimport licences for somePondicherry businessman wasousted. But Lalit NarayanMishra, the concerned

Minister, touted as IndiraGandhi's biggest fund raiser,was left unscathed. RailwayMinister Mishra had alreadybecome an embarrassment forthe Indira GandhiGovernment, when he diedon January 3, 1975 as a resultof a bomb blast in Samastipurrailway station. The case stillremains unsolved after 42years.

Meanwhile, JP's movementwas gathering momentum. Hedescribed it as the 'SecondFreedom Movement'. It islearnt that Siddhartha ShankarRay, the strong-armedCongress Chief Minister ofWest Bengal, was the first toadvise Indira Gandhi to imposeinternal Emergency and puther opponents into jail.

The term Emergency, con-trary to popular perception,was not unknown to theIndians. A national Emergencyhad been declared in October,1962 occasioned by the Indo-Chinese War. It lasted untilJanuary, 1968 after severaldemands to that effect weremade in Parliament by theOpposition members. AnotherEmergency was imposed dur-ing Indo-Pak War, 1971.During both these Emergenciespeople had displayed greatsense of patriotism and unity.The normal political and sociallife of India was not disrupted.Nor did anybody read a per-sonal motive into them.

But 1975 Emergency wasdifferent. Time was the chiefsuspect. It came within a fort-night of June 12 judgment ofJustice Jagmohanlal Sinha ofAllahabad High Court debar-ring Indira Gandhi as MP forelection malpractices. It was inpursuance of an election peti-tion filed by her rival viz. RajNarain in Rai Bareilly LokSabha constituency. Her appealbefore the Supreme Court wasadmitted by the vacation judgeJustice VR Krishna Iyer, withinterim order that she couldattend the House but not voteas Member of Parliament. Thereason behind Emergency,therefore, was not entirelyimpersonal. The June 25 RamLila Maidan rally, of constituentsopposed to Indira, was the laststraw that broke camel's back.

Indira Gandhi'sGovernment had alreadybecome unpopular when theEmergency was declared. It isa pity that it should have hap-pened with the Governmentcommanding nearly 2/3rdmajority in the Lok Sabha --352seats. Her victorious imageafter the Indo-Pak War, 1971was completely sullied by herEmergency excesses.Imprisoning the Opposition

leadership, amending theConstitution, censoring thePress, supersession of judges,arbitrary transfer of HighCourt judges, forcibly sterili-sation, unauthorised demoli-tions completely stigmatisedEmergency. Her imprisonmentof scores of leaders -- includ-ing JP, Moraji , Atalji, MadhuDandvate, LK Advani, ProfSamar Guha, RSS functionar-ies -- and student leaders --including this author -- underMaintenance of InternalSecurity Act (MISA) turned themood of the nation against her.

Her gimmick and deceitfulpropaganda about hard work,greater productivity, incometax relief to middle class, dis-couraging smuggling, BeIndian, Buy Indian, call fornational unity and discipline,improving distribution systemmiserably failed. Due to thecampaign launched by variousorganisations, undergroundresistance movement by theRSS, appeal by numerous per-sons, pressure from interna-tional community and finallymisleading report by IB thatshe was going to win the elec-tions prompted her to liftEmergency and call for freshelections. The role of mediahouses expect for RamnathGoenka's Indian Express andCR Irani's Statesman was unin-spiring. It would be apt toquote LK Advani's words tojournalists, 'you were asked tobend, you began to crawl'. TheSupreme Court also failed tocome to the rescue of the citi-zens. When Justice Hans RajKhanna asked the AttorneyGeneral Niren De, what rem-edy he had if a person was shotdead by a policeman out ofsheer malice, De replied thatalthough the incident wouldmake him sad there was noremedy possible during theEmergency. The 44thConstitution amendment dur-ing the Janata Government,which made Articles 19 and 21out of purview of Emergencyand made habeas corpus uni-formly applicable, made repeatof Emergency like situationimpossible. But Emergencynarratives still continue to pourin. One of them is the case ofEmergency Victims of Keralawho have converged on singleplatform to fight for compen-sation and pension. There hasbeen, to the best of my knowl-edge, no official documentationof Emergency narratives.Possibly Indian Council ofHistorical Research can plan aproject over it.

The writer is Minister forInformation & Broadcasting,Urban Development, Housing& Urban Poverty Alleviation.

From Page 1Mujahideen refraining

from targeting the pilgrimage,sources said more than onelakh locals earn their livelihoodduring the Yatra, be it runningdhabas or small shops or fer-rying pilgrims on horseback.

Moreover, an attack on theYatra will earn a bad name forthe terrorists who claim to befighting for a just cause, offi-cials said. Several political par-ties have already given a call tohave a peaceful Yatra which hasput pressure on the local mil-itants to avoid any incidentduring the period.

The 290-km-long Yatra has120 km passing through therestive Valley, which is alreadywitnessing stone-pelting andincreased attacks. The Armyhas deployed nearly 3,000 addi-tional troops along the NationalHighway-44. Another batch ofadditional 2,000 troops isguarding the two routes,Pahalgam and Baltal, to theshrine.

This deployment has freedup the troops already stationedthere to guard the highway andfan out in the interiors ofSouth Kashmir including vul-nerable roads to intensify vigil.The increased tempo of oper-ations is aimed at preventingfree movement of foreign ter-rorists in the remote parts ofthe region and the comingdays will see encounters, theysaid.

Since the Yatra begins fromJammu, the Inspector Generalof Jammu Zone has directedsecurity forces to organise nightpatrolling on National Highwayregularly. To maintain tightvigil in and around base campsset up for pilgrims in Jammuand in Kashmir, the CentralReserve Police Force (CRPF)has decided to deploy drones.Dog squads, Quick ReactionTeams (QRT) equipped withstate-of-the-art communica-tion equipment and armedwith lethal weapons will remaindeployed along the Yatra.

According top priority tothe Yatra, the Core GroupSecurity meeting was held atNagrota on Saturday to carryout a security review. Themeeting was co-chaired by theGeneral Officer Commanding(GOC) White Knight Corps, LtGen AK Sharma and Jammu &Kashmir Police DirectorGeneral SP Vaid. The intelli-gence updates to review secu-rity threats to the AmarnathYatra were discussed in detail.

Northern Command chiefLt Gen D Anbu visited forma-tions in South Kashmir andtook stock of the securityarrangements for the Yatra.

The commander stressedon the need for close coordi-nation with the civil adminis-tration to ensure a smoothand efficient conduct of theannual pilgrimage, officialssaid. Anbu later called onJammu & Kashmir GovernorNN Vohra and discussed theprevailing situation, they said.

From Page 1The entire area was cor-

doned off by the joint team ofsecurity forces to track themdown.According to InspectorGeneral of CRPF, SrinagarRavideep Singh Sahi, "theCRPF mobile patrol party wastargeted around 5.45 pm nearPantha Chowk".He said oneSub-Inspector and two otherjawans including driver of thevehicle received injuries.

The Sub-Inspector later suc-cumbed to fatal injuries whiletwo others were undergoingtreatment at 92 Base Hospital ofthe Indian Army in Srinagar.Themartyred CRPF personnel wasidentified as Sub Inspector SahibShukla of 29 Battalion.

He hailed from Gorakhpurdistrict of Uttar Pradesh.Tillthe time of filing the report,search and cordon operationswere on in the sprawling schoolcampus consisting of more than400 rooms spread across 7 dif-ferent buildings.

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From Page 1District Collector Arabind

Agarwal, SP Sarthak Sarangiand SJTA Chief AdministratorPK Jena coordinated thepreparatory works.

Jena in adherence to theHigh Court directive hadwarned devotees not to touchthe deities or climb onto thechariots. Any persons found-masquerading as servitorswould be taken to task.

On the Sunday earlymorning the priests wouldconsecrate the three Rathsbefore the deities board themafter receiving Ajna Mallyas.

Before that, a complex setof nitees of the deities likeMangala Arati, Mailam andVesha would be observed fol-lowed by Rosha HomaandSurya Puja. Then the offer-ing of Gopal Bhog andKhichidi Bhog will be made.

The Daita servitors wouldconduct the deities to theirrespective chariots in cere-monial Pahandi processionwhich is scheduled to be con-ducted by 9.30 am and com-pleted by 12.30 pm. TheChherapahanra of the chariotsby Gajpati Divyasingh Devwould start by 1.30 pm and

completed by 2.30 pm. Afterfixing of wooden horses ontothe chariots, the pulling isscheduled to be held by 2.30pm. The Taladhwaj Rath ofLord Balabhadra would bepulled first, followed by theDarpadalan of Maa Subhadraand in the end, theNandighosh chariot of LordJagannath would be pulled.

As per tradition, the LordJagannath and His siblingsduring the ride to theGundicha temple makes amidway halt in front of theMousima temple alongBadadanda to taste the deli-cious "Podapitha", a cakebaked by their aunt.

After spending nine daysin the Gundicha temple, theaunt’s house, they wouldreturn to the main temple inthe same manner and style.

Over 126 platoons ofarmed police personnel,including 1,000 officers ofvarious ranks, besides 2,400home guards, were deployedin andaround the city toensure safe conduct of the fete.Two companies of RAF,besides an unspecified numberof intelligence sleuths, wereengaged to spot out the suspi-

cious elements from thecrowd.A large number ofCCTV cameras were installedat various places while theRailways engaged 500 armedpolicemen and installed 35CCTV cameras in various railstations including at Puri.Special care was taken for

the regulation of hugevehicular traffic.

Meanwhile, on Saturday,over two lakh devotees wit-nessed the Nabajauban Veshaof the deities. The schedulewas delayed by over threehours. Servitors had per-formed several nitees and rit-uals of deities andDuttamahapatra had per-formed Banaklaagi (facial) ofthe deities. Later after offeringof Gopal Bhog, the deitieswere dressed in colouredcloths for public view.

The darshan of the deitiescontinued till late in the night.Thereafter, the Daita servitorsfashioned the deities withbody armour (ChhenapattaLaagi) to bear the stress of thePahandi procession to thechariots.One hour heavy rainsthrew the city out of gear aswater inundated most part ofthe Badadanda.

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From Page 1military deal with New

Delhi is not aimed to pose anythreat to Pakistan.

In a statement made beforethe media ahead of Modi’s visitto Washington DC, a seniorWhite House official said that theUS is interested in providingIndia with the kind of Defencetechnology it normally reservesfor its closest allies.

“The US and India havemutual security interests thatthey want to advance, and webelieve that the Defence sales thatare being discussed will helpadvance those. It is not aboutPakistan. In the Defence dealswe do take into account theregional situation. But some ofthe Defence systems that we’retalking about, we don’t believewill impact Pakistan. They maybe different systems that we aretransferring to Pakistan, but wedon’t believe they represent athreat to Pakistan…We verymuch want to avoid a situationthat escalates tensions betweenthe two,” said the White Houseofficial.The Indian Navy wants

the surveillance drones, variantsof the Predator drones, to keepwatch over the Indian Ocean.The deal would be the first suchpurchase by a country that is nota member of North AtlanticTreaty Organization.

India, a big buyer of the USarms that was recently named byWashington as a major defenceally, wants to protect its 7,500-km (4,700-mile) coastline asBeijing expands its maritimetrade routes and Chinese sub-marines increasingly lurk inregional waters.But sourcestracking the discussions say theUS State Department has beenconcerned about the potentialdestabilising impact of intro-ducing high-tech drones intoSouth Asia, where tensions aresimmering between India andPakistan. The White House offi-cial said Trump administration’spriorities and the nature of rela-tionship with the two countrieswere different. He added that theUS also has a Defence partner-ship with Pakistan and the twocountries cooperate on security,Defence and counter-terrorism

issues. “I want to make the pointhere that US’ relationships withIndia and Pakistan really standon their own merits andterms…With India, we’re build-ing that strategic partnership. Wesee India’s role and influencegrowing. We like to encouragethat trend. So, we’re looking forways to cooperate on our mutu-al interests,” a senior adminis-tration official said while addingUS encourages India andPakistan to engage in a directbilateral dialogue aimed at reduc-ing tensions.“I will simply notethat the defence relationship isextremely important. The US isinterested in leaning forward inproviding high technology, thekind of technology it provides toits closest allies and partners,” thesenior administration officialsaid.Meanwhile, during hismeeting with Foreign SecretaryS Jaishankar, Secretary of StateRex Tillerson said that Modi’sWashington visit would strength-en the Indo-US relationship andhelp advance the common inter-est in fighting terrorism and pro-moting economic growth.

From Page 1The Government expects the entire project to cost

�15,000 crore to �20,000 crore. The Jewar international

airport will be developed as thelargest air cargo hub in thecountry and its capacity tohandle 30-50 million passen-gers per year will put it airporton par with the Mumbai air-port, which sees 45 million pas-sengers per year. The metroservice in Noida is also likely tobe extended up to Jewar in

order to improve connec-tivity to the airport.

Singh, along with StateCivil Aviation Minister NandGopal Gupta Nandi, said thatthe UP Government was tryingfor the international airportsince 2003. “The indifferentapproach of the previous SPand BSP regimes in UP andalso the indifference of the pre-vious UPA Government at theCentre and the dispute over theproject site had delayed theproject,” said the Minister.

“Regional connectivity inUP, being significant for theState’s development, is highon the BJP Government’s agen-da. While 85 per cent of State’sconnectivity is through roads,we are trying to improve airconnectivity too,” said Singh.

He said now theGovernment will start theprocess of land acquisition forthe proposed airport.

The Minister said that theobjection by the developer ofIndira Gandhi InternationalAirport at Delhi was also oneof the reasons for delay in theJewar project. “The agreementof the developer with Union

Aviation Ministry said that nonew airport would come with-in 150 km radius of Delhi air-port. In the last ten years, thesituation has changed as pas-senger traffic at Delhi airporthas increased phenomenallyand there was need for anoth-er airport in the NCR,”explained Singh.

Singh said that Jewar inter-national airport is strategical-ly located as it’s not only in theNCR region, but the dedicatedfreight corridor from Ludhianato West Bengal also passesclose by the airport. TheMinister said that UPGovernment has also takenup the issue of regional air con-nectivity service, Buddhist heli-copter service and GangaDarshan air service with theUnion Civil Aviation Ministry.

Besides, the UPGovernment has asked AirportAuthority of India to take overKushinagar InternationalAirport.

The Jewar airport projectwas conceived during RajnathSingh’s regime in 2001 andgiven shape in 2002 by the nextBSP-BJP coalition Governmentheaded by Mayawati. Then PMAtal Bihari Vajpayee gave agreen signal. In August, 2003,Mayawati resigned as CM andwas succeeded by MulayamSingh Yadav of SamajwadiParty and his Governmentdecided to shelve the projectalong with Taj Expresswaylinking Noida with Agra. In2007, Mayawati was againvoted to power and revived theJewar airport project but itcould not see the light of theday.

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Less than a fortnight after itannounced a blanket loan

waiver for distressed farmers inthe State, the MaharashtraGovernment on Saturday cameout with a staggering �34,022crore relief package for debt-trapped farmers in the State,under which it would waive theloans up to the extent of �1.5lakh each to 40 lakh farmers.

In what was described asthe biggest-ever loan waiverpackage unveiled by any StateGovernment in the country, theBJP-led MaharashtraGovernment announced that itwould bring 34 lakh needyfarmers into “institutional cred-it line”, a situation that wouldfacilitate the farmers concernedto avail of fresh loans from thebanks, and help another 6 lakhfarmers avail fresh loansthrough a “One TimeSettlement” (OTS), underwhich it would contribute tothe extent of �1.5 lakh perfarmer and help them settletheir pending loans once andfor all.

Of the total 89 lakh farm-ers, the ambitious loan waiverpackage — to be implementedunder a new scheme namedChhatrapati Shivaji MaharajKrishi Sanman Yojana — willstraight away make 34 lakhfarmers credit-worthy and pre-pare ground for another 6 lakhfarmers to seek fresh loans,through OTS scheme.

The waiver package willbenefit such farmers whoseloans have been restructuredand those who have beenrepaying their loans regularly.The State Government has setJune 30, 2016 as a cut-off datefor loan waiver scheme. Ineffect, the farm loans pendingup to that date would be con-sidered for loan waiver.

Addressing a news confer-ence after a special StateCabinet meeting, MaharashtraChief Minister DevendraFadnavis said “We have decid-ed to waive farm loans amount-ing to nearly �34,000 crore.

Under this package, we straightaway waive loans up to �1.5lakh per farmer. By doing so,we will be able to able to bring90 per cent of the farmers intoinstitutional credit line’. For theremaining 6 lakh farmers, wewill introduce an OTS Scheme,under which the StateGovernment will contributeto the extent of �1.5 lakh perfarmer and help the defaultingfarmers clear their pendingloans once and for all”.

Elaborating on thisFadnavis said “In this package,we are taking care of the needsof farmers whose loans havebeen restructured into mediumloans and whose crop loans areyet to be cleared. We will waivemedium term loans and cropsof these kind of farmers. Inaddition, we have also decidedto give an incentive to theextent of 25 per cent of theloans or to the maximumextent of �25,000 to thosefarmers who are re-payingtheir loans regularly. In effect,we will bring 40 lakh farmersinto institutional credit line”

“Altogether, we will beextending �34,000 crore loanwaiver package to 89 lakhfarmers in the State. We willraise �34,000 crore required forloan waiver from banks andrepay the banks through instal-ments,” the Chief Minister said.

The State Government,which had earlier indicatedthat it would limit the extent ofloan waiver to �1 lakh per

farmer, has increased the limit to �1.5 lakh, after it came in for a severe flak fromfarmer leaders who had theirreservations known to theChief Minister-appointed highpower Group of Ministers lastweeks.

Fadnavis, who had earlierannounced that the Governm-ent would come out with theloan waiver package beforeOctober 31, has advanced theannouncement, followingtremendous pressure brought tobear on him by the ruling ShivSena which has all along beeninsisting the loan waiver beimplemented forthwith.

The Chief Ministerunveiled the loan waiver afterholding consultations withSena president UddhavThackeray, NCP presidentSharad Pawar and SwabhimaniSehtkari Sanghatana leader andMP Raju Shetty.

On his part, Uddhav had –during his meeting with theState Government-appointedGoM convenor ChandrakantPatil — recommended that theloan waiver limit be raised to�2 lakh per farmer from theearlier �1 lakh per farmer.

Though the StateGovernment’s loan waiverpackage was welcomed by theOpposition parties, their lead-ers were critical of Fadnavis for delaying the decision andnot extending the benefits to all the 89 lakh farmers in the State.

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With Bengal panchayatelections just about a

year away, the TrinamoolCongress goons embarked ona mission to decimate theOpposition outfits. OnSaturday, they did not evenspare a Member of Parliamentand their goons attacked andgrievously injured BJP RajyaSabha Member George Bakerwhile he was travelling to Kalnain Burdwan district.

Baker, also a famousBangla cine star, was visitingKalna — a historically signifi-cant town known for its myri-ad temples of the medieval era— during BJP’s ‘Bistarak’ mis-sion when his car was waylaidat ward number 5 and he was

badly roughed up.Hordes of attackers sud-

denly came out of a Trinamoolparty office and attacked his carand smashed its windshield.When he got out of the vehicle,he was jostled, pushed and thenhit with wickets.

Baker, who was immedi-ately rushed to the Kalna sub-divisional hospital for treat-ment, told reporters how theattackers “did not care aboutthe stickers pasted on the car.”When they were told about theMP sitting inside, they onlyintensified the attack, sourcessaid.

Subsequently, a policecomplaint was registeredagainst five persons, includingthe local Trinamool councillorSamarjit of ward number 5.

“The Trinamool is nervousabout the BJP’s rise in theState and so they are attackingus and not even sparing theMPs and MLAs,” Baker saidfrom the hospital.

In a similar incidentindicative of the TMC’s des-peration to decimate theOpposition outfits, senior Stateleader and actor LocketChatterjee on Sunday com-plained that Birbhum districtTrinamool Congress presidentAnubrata Mondal was afterher life.

“He had threatened to killme in a meeting a few days agoand if anything happens to methen he will be held responsi-ble,” Chatterjee said whileMondal refused to comment to“remarks made by lesser peo-

ple. I will only give my reactionto the statements made byDilip Ghosh,” the BJP Statepresident.

Ghosh in his part reactedto the Sunday’s incident saying“This is an example of how Trinamool is trying to dec-imate all the Opposition partiesin the State. They are trying toestablish a one-party dictator-ship in Bengal where onlyTrinamool and no other partywill prevail.”

“Our Union MinisterBabul Supriyo was also attackedby the Trinamool supporterssometime ago. Now this hashappened to George Baker.But the BJP is made of differ-ent metal and we will not leavethe war zone like how othershave done,” Ghosh said.

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The Ministry of UrbanDevelopment on Saturday

reviewed progress of variousworks under different newurban missions in Varanasiwith all mission officials con-cerned to make the city opendefecation free by October thisyear.

Secretary (Urban Develo-pment) Durga Shanker Mishra,who took over charge of theMinistry, directed the officialsto chalk out effective plan inthis regard in consultation withVaranasi Municipal Corporat-ion. Over 6,000 individualhousehold toilets and about 150community and public toiletswere identified to be con-structed in this regard.

Varanasi is a high profileconstituency of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

The Varanasi Smart CityPlan was also discussed atlength. While appreciating thewell thought out plan centredaround development along themajor ghats of the city besidesredevelopment of roads andcongested city spaces, Mishrastressed on the need for timebound implementation of the-plan. It was decided to talk toJapan International Cooper-ation Agency ( JICA) for earlystart of the work regardingdevelopment of a new conven-tion centre in the city.

The city gets millions ofvisitors from across the worldeach year. The ghats of the cityare beautiful. But unfortunate-ly, the city is lacking when itcomes to cleanliness.

The officials also reviewedprogress of work in providingwater taps and sewerage con-nections to over 56,000 house-holds under Atal Mission forRejuvenation and UrbanTransformation.

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In yet another incident ofmoral policing in Kerala, a

43-year-old woman wasallegedly tied to a coconut treeand assaulted for hours by agroup of people from herneighbourhood at Chitharanear Kadakkal in Kollam dis-trict. A youth, friend of thewoman’s son, was also attackedby the moral goondas. The vic-tim said she had lodged acomplaint with the policepromptly but there had been noeffective action.

The incident allegedly tookplace on the night of June 12.According to the woman, agang of seven or eight men liv-ing in her neighbourhoodbarged into her house at night,dragged her out and assaultedher after tying her to a coconuttree in the courtyard of thehouse. They also tried to tearaway her clothes, she said.

Her son’s friend, who wasin the house at that time, wasalso tied to a tree similarly andassaulted. The assault endedonly after some people in theneighbourhood alerted thepolice. However, the assailantsfled the scene before the policearrived. It has also been allegedthat the assailants had takenphotographs of the womanand posted them on the socialmedia.

“They dragged me throughthe floor. They tied me with acoconut tree. Then they start-ed beating me up,” the womansaid, adding that the attack last-ed for about two hours. “Thenthey took my photographs andused them to humiliate me fur-ther by publicising throughWhatsApp,” she said.

The woman also said thatshe had lodged a complaintwith the police by specifyingthe names of those whoattacked her. “When I went tocomplain, the Circle Inspectorand sub-Inspector tried to scareme,” she said. As per reports,the seven persons whose nameshad been mentioned in thecomplaint were called to theKadakkal police station butwere released on bail.

The only son of the wom-an, whose husband had aban-doned her a few years ago overdowry dispute, was staying atanother place in connectionwith his job.

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The Emergency — IndianDemocracy’s Darkest Hour,

a book written by A SuryaPrakash, chairman of PrasharBharati, was released by UnionMinister for UrbanDevelopment & Informationand Broadcasting VenkaiahNaidu and Gujarat ChiefMinister Vijay Rupani atAhmedabad on Saturday.

The book was launched ata conference to mark theanniversary of the emergencyand to honour all those whofought for restoration ofdemocracy in the country inthe mid-1970s. The event wasorganised by MeghNirghoshMedia Ltd.

At the event, speakersspoke on those dreadful 19months when India cameunder a dictatorship, and paidtribute to all those who foughtvaliantly to put democracyback on the rails. The bookrelease function started withthe message from PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

‘‘The title rightly describeemergency as a dark hour inthe history of independentIndia. We can never forget themanner in which personal lib-erties, freedom of expression

and media freedom were cur-tailed during the emergency,’’said Prime Minister Modi in awritten message.

In his speech, Naidu saidthat Ahmedabad was theappropriate place to releasethe book as anti-corruptionmovement Navnirman initiat-ed in Gujarat was the cause forthe emergency. He said Gujarathad shown the way that a non-Congress Government couldbe formed as the first suchGovernment Janata Morchawas formed ahead of the emer-gency.

‘‘Young generation must

know what is emergency, whyit was formed and why it waslifted. This book is reflectingthe various aspect of emer-gency. Surya Prakash is theright person to write the book,’’said the Minister.

Gujarat Chief MinisterVijay Rupani, who was behindthe bar during emergencyunder Maintenance of InternalSecurity Act (MISA), termedJune 25, 1975, the day emer-gency was declared, as thedarkest day of democracy.Rupani said then PrimeMinister Indira Gandhiannounced emergency to save

her Government and sent lakhsof people in jail.

‘‘Modi too was under-ground to avoid his arrest andactive in movement againstemergency. Due to sacrifice oflots of people during those daysdemocracy still exist. Emerge-ncy was nothing but anti-democracy mentality to con-tinue dynastic rule in India,”said Gujarat CM.

During the function, seniorleader of the RSS DattatreyaHosabale and senior BJP leaderand Member of ParliamentSubramanian Swamy were present.

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The Monsoon Session ofParliament will be held

from July 17 to August 11.Voting for the Presidentialelection will take place on July17.

The decision to hold theSession from July 17 was takenduring the meeting of CabinetCommittee on ParliamentaryAffairs (CCPA) chaired byHome Minister Rajnath Singh,held on Friday after the NDA’spresidential nominee, RamNath Kovind, filed his nomi-nation papers.

The session, which usual-ly commences in the last weekof July, has been advanced thisyear due to the presidentialpolls to ensure that all the 776members were present in Delhito cast their votes in the election. However, theMembers of Parliament cancast their votes in their respec-tive States as well.

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When Nitish Kumar andLalu Prasad hugged each

other at the insistence of thelensmen at the Iftar party host-ed by RJD supremo on Friday,the two looked uncomfort-able. It was the first meetingbetween the two after the ChiefMinister took a decision toback Ram Nath Kovind, theNDA pick for presidential elec-tion and the body language ofthe two allies revealed manythings not uttered by them.Nitish though clarified hisstand maintaining a distancefrom UPA’s decision whichselected Meira Kumar.

The parties linked to themaha gathbandhan in Biharhave lined up with Congressand RJD on one side andJD(U) taking a different stand.But leaders of these parties areunanimous in asserting thattheir differences would have noadverse impact on their allianceand coalition Government.

Political observers say thatcontinuation of the alliancewas in the interest of all the par-ties involved in it because of the

political situation not only inBihar but also across the coun-try. Both RJD and JD(U) need-ed each other to maintain theirelectoral dominance and theCongress has no other optionbut to stick to this alliance, theysaid.

The Bihar watchers opinedthat Lalu might be feeling hurtat the attitude of Nitish but hewould afford to walkout of thealliance in view of the surgingproblems his family is facingdue to benami land or moneylaundering as alleged by theOpposition and the actions ofIncome Tax and EnforcementDirectorate apart from reopen-ing of some fodder scam casesin which RJD chief is involved.With his two sons enjoyingnumber two and number three

rank in the Nitish Cabinet, Laluis enjoying power and wouldnot afford to quit it and comeon the road, the observers feel.

Lalu looked very grim atthe Iftar party, somethingunusual as he used to crackjokes and laugh heartily atsuch occasions earlier, but saidnothing. Earlier when hereturned from Delhi on Fridayhe recalled that Nitish hadspoken about ‘Sangh-muktBharat’ and was active in unit-ing opposition but “don’t knowwhat is cooking up in hismind.”

He said he would try toinfluence Nitish by advisinghim to reconsider his decisionbut the statement of the CM hemade when he stepped out ofLalu’s residence has left no

room for any rethinking.“One should understand

that this is not the fightbetween the two individualsbut between two ideologiesand my party will never com-promise on ideologies,” saidLalu and in an indirect attackon Nitish said that whosoeverdid not bow before NarendraModi is being harassed and tor-tured be it Arvind Kejriwal orMamata Banerjee. But I willnever bow down, face all con-sequences, fight and win.

Lalu’s son and Deputy CMTejashwi Prasad Yadav saidhis party will never vote infavour of BJP and RSS whetherit is Presidential election orgeneral election.

“It is not the issue of win-ning or losing but a fightbetween two ideologies,” heswiped at Nitish who had saidthat Meira Kumar has beenfielded only to be defeated.Senior Congress leaderSadanand Singh said it wasexpected from Nitish that hewould support Meira Kumarwho is a woman, Dalit andBihari and more experiencedthan anybody else.

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Arrest of a senior Gover-nment official with dis-

proportionate assets of esti-mated �500 crore by the AntiCorruption Bureau (ACB) inAndhra Pradesh has created asensation in the State.

The ACB sleuths raided theresidence of Engineer-in-chiefof Public Health DepartmentDr Pamu Pandaranga Rao atVijayawada. They also raidedand searched dozens of otherplaces belonging to Rao and hisfamily and unearthed a hugeempire built with the ill-gottenwealth during more than 20year long Government service.

Most of the dispropor-tionate assets were in the formof land and buildings in fourdistricts of Andhra Pradesh,including Visakhapatanam andthree districts of Telangana inHyderabad.

The ACB officials said thatas per the preliminary assess-ment the market value of theassets was more than �500crore. Many of the propertieswere in the names of his wifeRajyalakshmi and his son. Thiswas in addition to the proper-ties in the name of other rela-tives and fictitious names.

The searches at as many as14 places across the State yield-ed documents of lands andproperties in Visakhapatanam,Krishna, Guntur and WestGodavari of Andhra Pradeshand in Hyderabad, RangaReddy and Medak districts ofTelangana.

The documents revealedthat he had invested �5 crore ina hospital in Visakhapatanamin the name of his wife and son.He had also set up two IT com-panies in his son’s name.

“This is the first time thathuge assets were found in the

possession of a Governmentemployee in the State,” said asenior ACB official. The raidswere carried out after a seriesof complaints against Pandur-anga Rao’s corrupt practices.

The ACB sleuths seized�10 lakh in cash, 1.95 lakh USdollars. 1.1 kg gold, 9 kgs silverand two cars.

The documents seizedshowed that in prime areas ofVisakhapatanam half of theproperties belong to him. Onthe whole, he got 50 propertiesregistered in the name of dif-ferent relatives who in turnsigned documents saying theyhad gifted the properties toPanduranga Rao and his wife.

His wife had 31 plots mea-suring15243 square yards,27.11 acres of agriculture landat 20 places, two houses inHyderabad with built up areaof 4554 square years, a six floorhospital building.

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Amid inclement weatherconditions, sea divers

belonging to the IndianCoast Guard (ICG) recov-ered the body of a policeconstable, who had drownedin a waterbody at Jaitapur inRatnagiri district of coastalKonkan region, in the earlyhours of Saturday.

Acting on a distress callfrom Ratnagiri’s police con-trol room, the WesternRegion ICG had despatchedits sea divers to locate andrecover the body of the miss-ing police constable PrashantVichare (26), who hadreportedly drowned in alocal water body.

“After an operation thatlasted for four hours, our seadivers recovered the body ofthe police constable in thesmall hours of today,” a ICG’sWestern Region spokesper-son said.

The ICG divers carriedout the entire operation in

an extremely inclementweather in low visibility con-ditions due to darkness.Coast Guard Commander atRatnagiri SR Patil oversawthe operation.

It may be recalled thatthe ICG was the first agencyto rush its men and materi-al for rescue and relief oper-ation, when a British-erabridge constructed over theSavitri river collapsed atMahad in Raigad district onthe night of August 2, 2016,killing more than 35 people.

As many as 42 peoplehad gone missing on thenight of August 2, 2016 afterthe two State transport busesand a few smaller privatevehicles were swept away inthe swollen waters of Savithririver in the immediate after-math of the collapse of an oldbridge that connects Mahadtown with Poladpur inRaigad district on theMumbai-Goa highway. Therescue and relief operationhad lasted for 12 days.

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Implementationof Goods and

Services Tax(GST) from July 1would help reducecascading effectsof multiple taxes,lower cost and make exportsmore competitive, a topGovernment official said onSaturday. Commerce SecretaryRita Teaotia said the two mainexport promotion schemes -Merchandise Exports from IndiaScheme (MEIS) and ServicesExports from India Scheme (SEIS)- will continue post GST imple-mentation but would be alignedwith the new indirect tax regime.

The commerce ministry, shesaid, is reviewing the validity of thescrips and export obligation peri-ods to make them more realisticand aligned with GST network sothat there is a seamless process ofextending benefit to exporters. Shewas addressing exporters at anevent organised by Federation of

Indian Export Organisation(FIEO) in Mumbai. Exporters getduty/tax credit scrips under theincentive schemes. These are kindof certificates which can be usedto pay duties including importtaxes. Due to introduction of

GST, “there will be low effect ofduty on many items, reduction incascading effects of multiple taxesdespite the apprehensions felt bythe EXIM (export- import) com-munity, ultimately resulting inlowering the cost and making our

exports more competitive,” FIEOsaid in a statement quotingTeaotia. Speaking at the event,FIEO President Ganesh KumarGupta said duty drawback ratesmay now only cover the basic cus-toms duty on the inputs.

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NEW DELHI: Traders’ bodyCAIT will organise 100 GSTClinics across the country toacquaint traders about the newindirect tax regime to be in placefrom July 1. The Confederation ofAll India Traders (CAIT) said itis working with HDFC Bank, TallySolutions and Mastercard for theendeavour, which will attempt toreach out to six crore traders.

“The first phase of the nation-wide awareness campaign willbegin on July 1 and will help thetrading community transitionsmoothly from the current taxregime to Goods and Services Tax,”CAIT said in a statement. The clin-

ics will inform traders about thefundamentals of GST, the desig-nated role of technology for itscompliance, requisite informa-tion about mandatory complianceobligations, linkage of digital pay-ments with GST and the changesrequired to make business com-patible with its provisions.

CAIT National President B CBhartia and Secretary GeneralPraveen Khandelwal said becauselarge number of traders areunaware of core issues includingcompliance which has led to a sit-uation of utter confusion andunnecessary panic, the GST Clinicwill ease the situation. PTI

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NEW DELHI:The Government islikely to bring in an ordinance bynext week to amend the SEZ Actto bring it in line with the GST, dueon July 1. The commerce ministryis working on the same, a sourcesaid. Certain provisions in the spe-cial economic zone (SEZ) Act,2005, are not consistent with the GSTregime and need to be made com-patible before the July 1 rollout date.For instance, the duty drawbacknorms, under which an exporter iscompensated for duties during thecourse of production of goods, arerequired to be in sync with the newindirect tax structure. PTI

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INDORE: Air India CMD AshwaniLohani on Saturday said the managementwas doing everything to revive the nation-al carrier and talks of privatisation do nothave any impact on its expansion plans. “Weare doing all that is needed to financiallyrevive Air India. We are going to launch new domes-tic and international flights and for this recruitmentis on,” Lohani said speaking to reporters here. “Butwe have inherited a heavy burden of debt (�50,000crore). Besides, there are issues related to amalga-mation of Air India and Indian Airlines,” he added.

He refused to comment on possibility of privati-

sation of the national carrier and Tata groupbuying a stake. “I won't comment on the issueof Air India's disinvestment. It is Government’sdomain, not mine,” he said. Lohani, howev-er, denied that privatisation talk had dealt a set-back to the airline's expansion plans. “Our

expansion plans are unhindered. Twenty-five big andsmall aircraft will be inducted in the next couple ofmonths. Our situation is improving with every pass-ing year. Negative coverage (in media) is on decline,”he said. Lohani said Air India was going to launchflights from Delhi to Washington, Stockholm andCopenhagen in coming months. PTI

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BENGALURU: India’s secondlargest IT company Infosys onSaturday said it is in the processof finalising a suitable ‘distrib-ution mechanism’ for its�13,000-crore capital alloca-tion plan to shareholders forthis fiscal. Speaking at the 36thAGM of the company,Chairman R Seshasayee saidInfosys is committed to executethe capital allocation policyannounced on April 13, 2017 ‘ina timely manner’.“As it has a large shareholderbase and is listed in multiplecountries, the manner of dis-tribution to shareholdersrequires compliance under lawsof several jurisdictions,” he said.The co, he added, is in theprocess of finalising a ‘distrib-ution mechanism’ that complieswith the applicable regulatoryrequirements in the ‘best inter-est’ of all shareholders.

PTI

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MUMBAI: Led by the most populous Uttar Pradesh and the largestRajasthan, the gross fiscal deficits of all the states skyrocketed to �4,93,360crore in fiscal 2016 from �18,790 crore in FY1991, according to the latestRBI data. According to the second edition of RBI’s statistical publicationtitled ‘Handbook of Statistics on States 2016-17’, which was released onSaturday, the gap is projected to improve to �4,49,520 crore as per the bud-get estimates of the states for fiscal 2017. UP had a fiscal deficit of a paltry�3,070 crore in FY91, which zoomed to �64,320 crore in FY16 and but isprojected to improve to �49,960 crore in FY17. According to the 16-yeardata, Rajasthan, which had a gross fiscal deficit of �540 crore in FY91, sawit soaring to �67,350 crore in FY16 and is projected to decline to �40,530crore in FY17. Maharashtra, one of the most urbanised and industrialisedstates, had a gap of �1,020 crore in FY91 but the same jumped to �37,950crore in FY16 which is projected to improve to �35,030 crore in FY17.PTI

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NEW DELHI: The CBDT hasnotified revised income tax scruti-ny notices that will allow taxpay-ers to conduct their business withthe taxman over the Internetwithout needing to visit the I-Toffice, hence reducing physicalinterface between them.

The new format pertains tothree types of notices that areissued by the taxman under sec-tion 143(2) of the Income Tax Act(scrutiny of tax return) and theCentral Board of Direct Taxes, thepolicy-making body of the depart-ment, has told all field I-T officesin the country that “all scrutinynotices, shall henceforth, be issuedin these revised formats only”.

“This has become necessaryin view of board's (CBDT) deci-sion to utilise e-proceeding facil-ity for electronic conduct of assess-ment proceedings in a wide-spread manner from this financialyear,” the CBDT order, issued yes-terday, said. The three revisednotices have been accessed by PTIand are meant for procedures oflimited, complete and compulso-ry manual scrutiny. PTI

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HYDERABAD: The city-basedJNTUH College of Engineeringand IT major TCS on Saturdaysigned a MoU under which theywill collaborate in various areas.“Under the MoU, TCS shall sup-port the JNTUH students andteachers through industry-orient-ed workshops, faculty developmentschemes, student internships andprojects, and research fellowships.The JNTUH will support TCS inits learning, hiring and researchrequirements based on mutualconvenience,” JNTUH said . PTI

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NEW DELHI:Mobile handsetmaker SamsungIndia haspledged supportto the Ministryof RoadTransport andHighways’ driveto reduce roadaccidents, espe-cially those thathappen due toirresponsibleusage of mobilephones. Anationwide cam-paign ‘Safe India’to sensitise peo-ple aboutresponsible useof mobilephones while onthe road wasunveiled yester-day, SamsungIndia said in astatement. PTI

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Beijing: At least six peoplewere killed and over 100 oth-ers remained missing after amountain village was onSaturday buried under tonnesof rocks following a massivelandslide in southwest China’sSichuan Province.

The landslide from a highpart of a mountain in Tibetanand Qiang AutonomousPrefecture of Aba hit XinmoVillage in Maoxian county atabout 6 am, blocking a 2 kmsection of a river and burying1,600 metres of road.

A side of a mountain col-lapsed following the landslide,triggered by heavy rains, bury-ing 62 homes and a hotelunder huge rocks.

The Maoxian Governmentsaid on its Weibo social mediaaccount that six bodies werepulled from the rubble while

112 people remained missing.State media had earlier

reported that 141 people mayhave been buried but later thefigure was revised.

Nearly 2,000 rescuers,including soldiers, franticallyscoured through the mud androcks to find survivors.

It is the biggest landslide inthis area since the Wenchuanearthquake that killed 87,000people in 2008 in a town inSichuan, said one of the offi-cials in charge of rescue efforts.

A family of three waspulled out alive from the rub-ble, the Mao CountyGovernment said on its officialWeibo page.

The couple and their babyare being treated at the MaoCounty People’s Hospital, thepost said. It did not provide fur-ther details on their identities.

Chinese President XiJinping has ordered all-outefforts to save people buried inthe landslide.

Xi has ordered the StateCouncil, China’s Cabinet tosend a work team to the site.

The provincialGovernment has launched thehighest level of disaster reliefresponse and sent rescue teamsto the site, State-run Xinhuanews agency reported.

More than 300 rescuerscarrying excavation and life-detection instruments wererushed to the site, said TangLimin, spokesperson ofSichuan provincialGovernment.

Pictures posted by thePeople’s Daily newspapershowed bulldozers movingearth and large boulders as therescue efforts continued. PTI

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London: Thousands of resi-dents were on Saturday evac-uated from four housing tow-ers as the UK Government inthe wake of the deadly GrenfellTower blaze found 27 high-riseresidential blocks acrossBritain unsafe.

Residents of 650 flats infour tower blocks on an estatein the Swiss Cottage area ofnorth London were evacuatedlast night by the local CamdenCouncil, following tests orderedin the wake of the GrenfellTower blaze on June 14, whichclaimed at least 79 lives and dis-placed hundreds others.

The estates evacuated werefound to have cladding similarto Grenfell Tower, whichScotland Yard confirmed as afactor for the fire spreadingrapidly through the 24-storeybuilding after a fridge-freezerburst in one of the flats.

Local councils and housingauthorities have been givenuntil Monday to submitcladding samples for these teststo ensure the material used onthe exterior of their residentialblocks are not made up of sim-ilar flammable material as inthe massive Grenfell Towerblaze in west London last week.

The Metropolitan Police,which had launched a crimi-nal investigation into theGrenfell Tower tragedy, hassaid that detectives are keep-ing open the option of bring-ing manslaughter chargesrelating to the Grenfell fire.Camden Council’s Labourparty leader Georgia Gouldsaid the council had acted “asswiftly as we possibly can” toensure people’s safety afterthe fire service said they couldnot guarantee the residents’safety in those blocks. PTI

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Toronto: An Indian-originSikh woman human rightsactivist has been appointed ajudge of the CanadianSupreme Court of BritishColumbia in NewWestminster, the first turbanedSikh to be appointed to thejudiciary of the country.

Palbinder Kaur Shergill, asole practitioner with Shergill &Company, has extensive trialand appellate experience andhas appeared before courts andtribunals across Canada,including the Supreme Court ofCanada, newswire.Ca reported.

The World SikhOrganisation (WSO) wel-comed Shergill’s appointment,calling it a “milestone” for theSikh community in Canada.

World Sikh Organisationpresident Mukhbir Singh said:“It is a matter of great pridethat today we have the first tur-baned Sikh appointed to thejudiciary in Canada”.

Jody Wilson-Raybould,Minister of Justice and AttorneyGeneral of Canada, announcedthe appointment on Fridayunder the new judicial appli-cation process unveiled onOctober 20 last year, the WSOof Canada said. PTI

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Aman has stolen �50,000from the donation box of

a mosque in Pakistan and lefta letter, saying it is betweenhim and the god and no oneshould poke their nose in thematter.

The incident occurred lastnight in Jamia Masjid SadiqulMadina in Khanewal district insouthern Punjab.

The Express Tribunereported the thief took awaythe two money boxes whereworshippers donate funds anda pair of batteries used asbackup for power duringpower outage.

He explained that reasonsfor stealing the items whichaccording to mosque prayerleader, Qari Saeed, were worth�50,000.

“This matter is between meand the almighty god. Please,nobody should try to find me.I am a very needy person andthus stealing from Allah’shome,” the thief ’s letter read.

He further wrote that hehad come to the mosque onceand asked the prayer leader forhelp but he had refused andthrown him out.

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Qatar said on Saturday that a13-point list of demands

made by Saudi Arabia and itsallies impinged on its sovereigntyand failed to meet US expecta-tions they be “reasonable”.

The four ArabGovernments delivered thedemands to Qatar throughKuwait on Thursday, morethan two weeks after severingall ties with the emirate andimposing an embargo.

The document has notbeen published but has beenwidely leaked and the demandsare sweeping in their scope.

They require Doha to joinRiyadh and its allies in outlaw-ing the Muslim Brotherhood,which it has long supported.

They also require it to

close Iran’s embassy and a baseon its territory operated by itsally Turkey, as well as to shutAl-Jazeera television.

Qatar is also required toend all contacts with opposi-tion groups in the four coun-tries — Bahrain, Egypt, SaudiArabia and the United ArabEmirates.

In Qatar’s first response tothe demands, governmentcommunications directorSheikh Saif bin Ahmed Al-Thani said on Saturday thatthey went far beyond the fourgovernments’ stated aim ofcombating terrorism.

“This blockade is notaimed at fighting terrorismbut at impinging on Qatar’ssovereignty and interfering inits foreign policy,” Sheikh Saifsaid.

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Dubai: A top United ArabEmirates official says the Arabcountries isolating Qatar do notseek to force out the country’sleadership but are willing to cutties with it if it does not agree totheir demands.

Emirati Minister of State forForeign Affairs Anwar Gargashtold reporters in Dubai onSaturday that his country and itsallies, Saudi Arabia, Egypt andBahrain, do not want “regimechange” in Qatar, but a “behav-ioral change.” The four countriespresented a 13-point list ofdemands to Qatar throughmediator Kuwait on Thursdayand gave it 10 days to comply.Qatar says it is reviewing the ulti-matum, which includesdemands to shut Al-Jazeera, cutties with Islamist groups includ-ing the Muslim Brotherhood,and curb relations with Iran. AP

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Asuicide bomber blew him-self up near the Grand

Mosque in Mecca as policedisrupted a plot to target theholiest site in Islam just as thefasting month of Ramadanends, Saudi security forcessaid on Saturday.

The Interior Ministry saidit launched a raid aroundJiddah, as well as two areas inMecca itself, including theAjyad Al-Masafi neighbour-hood, located near the GrandMosque.

There, police said theyengaged in a shootout at athree-story house with a sui-cide bomber, who blew him-self up and caused the build-ing to collapse. He was killed,while the blast wounded sixforeigners and five members ofsecurity forces, according tothe Interior Ministry’s state-

ment. Five others were arrest-ed, including a woman, it said.

Saudi state television airedfootage after the raid yesterdaynear the Grand Mosque, show-ing police and rescue person-nel running through the neigh-bourhood’s narrow streets.

The blast demolished thebuilding, its walls crushing aparked car. Nearby structuresappeared to be peppered withshrapnel and bullet holes.

The Interior Ministry saidthe thwarted “terrorist plan”would have violated “all sanc-tities by targeting the securi-ty of the Grand Mosque, theholiest place on Earth.”

“They obeyed their eviland corrupt self-servingschemes managed fromabroad whose aim is to desta-bilise the security and stabili-ty of this blessed country,” itsaid.

The ministry did not

name the group involved inthe attack. The ultraconserv-ative Sunni kingdom battledan al- Qaida insurgency foryears and more recently hasfaced attacks from a localbranch of the Islamic Stategroup.

Neither group immedi-ately claimed involvement,though IS sympathisers onlinehave urged more attacks as anoffensive in Iraq slowlysqueezes the extremists out ofMosul and their de facto cap-ital of Raqqa in Syria comesunder daily bombing from aUS-led coalition.

The disrupted attackcomes at a sensitive time inSaudi Arabia. King Salmanearlier this week short-cir-cuited the kingdom’s succes-sion by making his son,Defense Minister Mohammedbin Salman, first in line to thethrone.

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Yuvraj Singh's patchy formand fear of inclementweather will be para-

mount when India take on theWest Indies in the second OneDay International, on Sunday.

The first ODI was aban-doned after 39.2 overs withIndia reaching 199 for 3 whenpersistent showers played spoil-sport.

Shikhar Dhawan's 87 andcomeback-man AjinkyaRahane's 62 were the high-lights of the Indian innings.

While weather is not intheir control, what will keepVirat Kohli a touch worried isYuvraj's form which doesn'texactly inspire confidence of thehighest order.

After a half-century againstPakistan in theC h a m p i o n sTrophy opener,Y u v r a j ' ssequence ofscores has been7 (vs Sri Lanka), 23 not out (vsSouth Africa), 22 (vs Pakistanin CT final) and 4 (1st ODI vsWI).

There is no debate on theclass and experience of Yuvrajbut at 35-plus, he surely is ashadow of his old self.

His fielding has gone frombad to worse and skipper Kohlihas not felt the need to summonhim to bowl his left-arm spin-ners.

Former India captain andcurrent India U-19 coach RahulDravid had recently said thatteam management should havea clear cut policy whether theywant Yuvraj going into the2019 World Cup. With justtwo years left and around 45-50ODIs to be played, Kohli willhave to take a call in the nextfew months about Yuvraj fig-uring in his scheme of things.An explosive left-hander likeRishabh Pant, the most excitingbatting prospect among the

Gen-Next is waiting in thewings, eagerly for his chance.The veteran can't take his placefor granted in the side.

Not to forget an injuredManish Pandey waiting to getfit and prove his mettle in the50-over format.

With the first match beinga wash-out, India are unlikelyto change their playing XI forthe second ODI, which will beplayed at the same venue.

For Rahane, the half-cen-tury will be a confidence boost-er, knowing fully well that hewill have to vacate the top spotonce Rohit Sharma is backduring the next limited oversassignment.

It was not the smoothest ofinnings by any standards but ifone assesses the track whichwas slightly on the slower side,

Rahane did wellto add 132 withDhawan, whohas been inblazing form.

Come tothink of it, even Dhawan's sec-ond coming has been largelydue to KL Rahul's shouldersurgery and he has made fulluse of the opportunity since thestart of the Champions Trophy.

After emerging as the top-scorer in England winning the'Golden Bat', Dhawan has car-ried his form into theCaribbean islands, whichaugurs well both for him andhis team.

India also need a full match,which will help the team man-agement test left-armChinaman Kuldeep Yadav'sabilities as a shorter formatbowler.

Kuldeep was handed adebut during the first match inplace of Ravindra Jadeja, whodidn't have a great ChampionsTrophy with the ball. Jadeja stillremains the country's premierleft-arm spinner but the WestIndies series is an ideal platformto test youngsters.

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