ˆ !˛! ! · 2019. 10. 9. · in a diwali gift to nearly 1.15 crore central government employees...

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P rime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold talks in Tamil Nadu’s coastal town of Mahabalipuram on October 11-12 to deepen ties, including in the field of counter-terrorism, even as the second informal summit comes amid lingering unease in ties over Kashmir with India assert- ing that it is an internal matter. Hours after India and China announced Xi’s visit to India, the Chinese state media quoted the Chinese President as telling Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan during their meeting in Beijing that China has been “paying close attention” to the situation in Kashmir and the “facts are clear”. According to the Xinhua news agency, the Chinese President also hoped that the “relevant parties” can solve the issue through peaceful dia- logue. Reacting sharply to reports of Xi and Khan discussing Kashmir, External Affairs Ministry said Beijing is “well aware” of New Delhi’s position and it is not for other countries to comment on its internal affairs. Government sources also said there was no question of any discussion on the issue as it is India’s sovereign matter but added that Modi will update the Chinese President on the matter if there is a query. The summit in the ancient coastal town in southern India is also taking place against the backdrop of China’s growing trade friction with the US. Both leaders are likely to explore ways of expanding trade and business ties. India is expected to raise the issue of ballooning trade deficit in China’s favour, the sources said. They added that political relations, trade and ways to maintain peace and tranquili- ty along nearly 3,500 km long Sino-India border will be major focus areas in the talks. Strategic affairs expert Ashok Kantha said the summit between Modi and Xi in an informal setting in the midst of evolving geo-political power play in the region and beyond shows that both the leaders are taking ownership of the com- plex relationship. “The key aspect of the engagement will be how both the countries make incremen- tal progress in addressing their differences and end the cycle of ups and downs in the ties,” he told PTI. He said the India-China relationship is not only con- fined to bilateral ties, but has important regional and global dimensions. The first informal summit between the two leaders took place in the Chinese city of Wuhan last year months after a 73-day standoff between their armies in Doklam that had triggered fears of a war. The perception that India’s decision in August to withdraw Jammu & Kashmir’s special status, triggering tension with China’s ally Pakistan, clouded preparations for the summit gained ground as both sides could only announce the dates for Xi’s India visit on Wednesday, barely 50 hours before the Chinese leader lands in Chennai. “The forthcoming Summit will provide an opportunity for the two leaders to continue their discussions on overarch- ing issues of bilateral, regional and global importance and to exchange views on deepening India-China closer develop- ment partnership,” the MEA said in a statement. T he State unit of the Congress, which had earli- er decided to contest the Block Development Council (BDC) elections in Jammu & Kashmir to strengthen the second tier of the Panchayati Raj Institutions, on Wednesday announced to boycott the polls. With their leadership under detention since August 5, the two regional parties from Kashmir valley, the National Conference and the Peoples’ Democratic Party have already indicated that they would stay away from the poll process in the “absence of conducive” political atmosphere in the State. The Congress decision has made the entire poll process a futile exercise as the BJP remains the only party in the fray for the BDC polls begin- ning October 24. In Jammu region, Jammu & Kashmir Panthers Party is the only significant player in the poll fray. Interestingly, the State lead- ership of the Congress party waited till the last day of the fil- ing of nomination forms, October 9, before making pub- lic their decision to boycott the local body polls. Addressing a Press confer- ence at the party headquarters in Jammu, J&K Pradesh Congress Committee chief GA Mir, flanked by senior party leaders and former Ministers, told the media, “The Congress party was keen on contesting the BDC polls in the larger interest of the State. Unfortunately, in the absence of conducive atmosphere in the State, we were forced to take this decision to stay away from the poll process”. T he Supreme Court has exercised its inherent pow- ers under Article 142 of the Constitution to annul a mar- riage of an estranged couple, residing separately for over two decades, saying it was a case of irretrievable break down of wedlock. All efforts to continue the marriage have failed and there is no possibility of reunion because of the strained rela- tions between the parties, the top court said. A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MR Shah said that it appears that mar- riage between the husband and the wife has “irretrievably broken down” as they have been residing separately for last 22 years and it will not be pos- sible for them to live together. “Therefore, we are of the opinion that while protecting the interest of the respondent — wife — to compensate her by way of lump sum permanent alimony, this is a fit case to exercise the powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India and to dissolve the marriage between the parties,” the Bench said. The court, in a series of judgments, has exercised its inherent powers under Article 142 of the Constitution for dis- solution of a marriage where the court finds that the mar- riage is “totally unworkable, emotionally dead, beyond sal- vage and has broken down irretrievably, even if the facts of the case do not provide a ground in law on which the divorce could be granted,” the Bench said. In the recent verdict the court rejected the submission of the wife that unless there is a consent by both the parties, even in exercise of powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, the marriage cannot be dissolved on the ground of irretrievable break- down of marriage. The Bench said that if both the parties to the mar- riage agree for separation per- manently and/or consent for divorce, in that case, certain- ly both the parties can move the competent court for a decree of divorce by mutual consent. “Only in a case where one of the parties does not agree and give consent, only then the powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India are required to be invoked to do the substantial Justice between the parties, considering the facts and circumstances of the case,” it said. It said however that the interest of the wife is also required to be protected finan- cially so that she may not have to suffer and depend upon others. T he Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a resettlement package under which one-time financial assistance of 5.5 lakh will be given to each of the 5,300 dis- placed families who had migrated from PoK and first settled outside Jammu & Kashmir before relocating themselves to the State. The Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the inclusion of the families from Jammu & Kashmir which were displaced in 1947 and had initially moved out of the State but later on returned and settled there in the Centre’s rehabilitation package. These families were left out of the package approved by the Cabinet on November 30, 2016 for displaced families of Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) and Chhamb under the PM’s Development Package 2015 for Jammu & Kashmir. As per the estimates, in the wake of the 1947 Pakistani aggression in Jammu & Kashmir, 31,619 families migrated from PoJK to Jammu & Kashmir. Of these, 26,319 families settled in Jammu & Kashmir and 5,300 families initially moved to other parts of the country. A fter the flood fury that wreaked its anger on near- ly 2 crore people across 14 States, the southwest monsoon finally began retreating on Wednesday. The monsoon withdrawal will be complete by October 20. The season ended with a 10 per cent higher rain- fall than the long term average. According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), this is the longest delayed withdrawal of mon- soon. “The most delayed with- drawal in the past years was recorded in 1961 (on October 1), followed by September 30, 2007,” the IMD pointed out. The normal date of the with- drawal is September 1. “The withdrawal started from Kapurthala, Ambala, Karnal and Churu on Wednesday. In view of the persistence of an anti-cyclonic circulation in the lower tro- pospheric level over north- west India, gradual reduction in moisture in the lower and mid tropospheric levels and reduction in rainfall, the south- west monsoon has withdrawn from some parts of Punjab, Haryana and north Rajasthan today, October 9, 2019, as against the normal date of September 1,” the IMD said. The excess rain this year has not only flooded several cities and towns but are also expected to cause extensive damage to standing kharif crops in States such as Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh. As per data of flood situa- tion reported by the Ministry of Home Affairs, over 1,700 people have died and crops in nearly 13 lakh hectare in these 14 States have been destroyed. I n a Diwali gift to nearly 1.15 crore Central Government employees and pensioners, the Modi Government on Wednesday approved 5 per cent hike in dearness allowance. The hike benefitting 50 lakh employees and 65 lakh pensioners, to be effective from July 1, 2019, would result in an additional outgo of 16,000 crore annually for the Government The Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved releasing an additional install- ment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners — repre- senting an increase of 5 per- centage points over the existing rate of 12 per cent of the basic pay/pension — to compensate for price rise, an official state- ment said. The increase is in accor- dance with the accepted for- mula based on the recommen- dations of the 7th Central Pay Commission. “This is the highest ever 5 percentage points increase in DA in one go by the Central Government,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar told the media. RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015

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Page 1: ˆ !˛! ! · 2019. 10. 9. · In a Diwali gift to nearly 1.15 crore Central Government employees and pensioners, the Modi approved 5 per cent hike in dearness allowance. The …

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Prime Minister NarendraModi and Chinese

President Xi Jinping will holdtalks in Tamil Nadu’s coastaltown of Mahabalipuram onOctober 11-12 to deepen ties,including in the field ofcounter-terrorism, even as thesecond informal summit comesamid lingering unease in tiesover Kashmir with India assert-ing that it is an internal matter.

Hours after India andChina announced Xi’s visit toIndia, the Chinese state mediaquoted the Chinese Presidentas telling Pakistan PrimeMinister Imran Khan duringtheir meeting in Beijing thatChina has been “paying closeattention” to the situation inKashmir and the “facts areclear”.

According to the Xinhuanews agency, the ChinesePresident also hoped that the“relevant parties” can solve theissue through peaceful dia-logue.

Reacting sharply to reportsof Xi and Khan discussingKashmir, External AffairsMinistry said Beijing is “wellaware” of New Delhi’s positionand it is not for other countriesto comment on its internalaffairs.

Government sources alsosaid there was no question ofany discussion on the issue asit is India’s sovereign matter butadded that Modi will updatethe Chinese President on the

matter if there is a query.The summit in the ancient

coastal town in southern Indiais also taking place against thebackdrop of China’s growingtrade friction with the US.

Both leaders are likely toexplore ways of expanding

trade and business ties. India isexpected to raise the issue ofballooning trade deficit inChina’s favour, the sourcessaid.

They added that politicalrelations, trade and ways tomaintain peace and tranquili-

ty along nearly 3,500 km longSino-India border will be majorfocus areas in the talks.

Strategic affairs expertAshok Kantha said the summitbetween Modi and Xi in aninformal setting in the midst ofevolving geo-political power

play in the region and beyondshows that both the leaders aretaking ownership of the com-plex relationship.

“The key aspect of theengagement will be how boththe countries make incremen-tal progress in addressing theirdifferences and end the cycle ofups and downs in the ties,” hetold PTI.

He said the India-Chinarelationship is not only con-fined to bilateral ties, but hasimportant regional and globaldimensions.

The first informal summitbetween the two leaders tookplace in the Chinese city ofWuhan last year months aftera 73-day standoff between theirarmies in Doklam that hadtriggered fears of a war.

The perception that India’sdecision in August to withdrawJammu & Kashmir’s specialstatus, triggering tension withChina’s ally Pakistan, cloudedpreparations for the summitgained ground as both sidescould only announce the datesfor Xi’s India visit onWednesday, barely 50 hoursbefore the Chinese leader landsin Chennai.

“The forthcoming Summitwill provide an opportunity forthe two leaders to continuetheir discussions on overarch-ing issues of bilateral, regionaland global importance and toexchange views on deepeningIndia-China closer develop-ment partnership,” the MEAsaid in a statement.

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The State unit of theCongress, which had earli-

er decided to contest the BlockDevelopment Council (BDC)elections in Jammu & Kashmirto strengthen the second tier ofthe Panchayati Raj Institutions,on Wednesday announced toboycott the polls.

With their leadership underdetention since August 5, thetwo regional parties fromKashmir valley, the NationalConference and the Peoples’Democratic Party have alreadyindicated that they would stayaway from the poll process in the“absence of conducive” politicalatmosphere in the State.

The Congress decision hasmade the entire poll process afutile exercise as the BJPremains the only party in thefray for the BDC polls begin-ning October 24.

In Jammu region, Jammu& Kashmir Panthers Party isthe only significant player inthe poll fray.

Interestingly, the State lead-ership of the Congress party

waited till the last day of the fil-ing of nomination forms,October 9, before making pub-lic their decision to boycott thelocal body polls.

Addressing a Press confer-ence at the party headquartersin Jammu, J&K PradeshCongress Committee chief GAMir, flanked by senior party

leaders and former Ministers,told the media, “The Congressparty was keen on contestingthe BDC polls in the largerinterest of the State.Unfortunately, in the absence ofconducive atmosphere in theState, we were forced to takethis decision to stay away fromthe poll process”.

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The Supreme Court hasexercised its inherent pow-

ers under Article 142 of theConstitution to annul a mar-riage of an estranged couple,residing separately for overtwo decades, saying it was acase of irretrievable break downof wedlock.

All efforts to continue themarriage have failed and thereis no possibility of reunionbecause of the strained rela-tions between the parties, thetop court said.

A bench of Justices SanjayKishan Kaul and MR Shahsaid that it appears that mar-riage between the husbandand the wife has “irretrievablybroken down” as they havebeen residing separately for last22 years and it will not be pos-

sible for them to live together.“Therefore, we are of the

opinion that while protectingthe interest of the respondent— wife — to compensate herby way of lump sum permanentalimony, this is a fit case toexercise the powers underArticle 142 of the Constitutionof India and to dissolve themarriage between the parties,”

the Bench said.The court, in a series of

judgments, has exercised itsinherent powers under Article142 of the Constitution for dis-solution of a marriage wherethe court finds that the mar-riage is “totally unworkable,emotionally dead, beyond sal-vage and has broken downirretrievably, even if the factsof the case do not provide aground in law on which thedivorce could be granted,” theBench said.

In the recent verdict thecourt rejected the submissionof the wife that unless there isa consent by both the parties,even in exercise of powersunder Article 142 of theConstitution, the marriagecannot be dissolved on theground of irretrievable break-down of marriage.

The Bench said that ifboth the parties to the mar-riage agree for separation per-manently and/or consent fordivorce, in that case, certain-ly both the parties can movethe competent court for adecree of divorce by mutualconsent.

“Only in a case where oneof the parties does not agreeand give consent, only then thepowers under Article 142 ofthe Constitution of India arerequired to be invoked to dothe substantial Justice betweenthe parties, considering thefacts and circumstances of thecase,” it said.

It said however that theinterest of the wife is alsorequired to be protected finan-cially so that she may not haveto suffer and depend uponothers.

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The Union Cabinet onWednesday approved a

resettlement package underwhich one-time financialassistance of �5.5 lakh will begiven to each of the 5,300 dis-placed families who hadmigrated from PoK and firstsettled outside Jammu &Kashmir before relocatingthemselves to the State.

The Cabinet meetingchaired by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi approved theinclusion of the families fromJammu & Kashmir whichwere displaced in 1947 andhad initially moved out of theState but later on returned and

settled there in the Centre’srehabilitation package.

These families were leftout of the package approvedby the Cabinet on November30, 2016 for displaced familiesof Pakistan-occupied Jammuand Kashmir (PoJK) andChhamb under the PM’sDevelopment Package 2015for Jammu & Kashmir.

As per the estimates, inthe wake of the 1947 Pakistaniaggression in Jammu &Kashmir, 31,619 familiesmigrated from PoJK toJammu & Kashmir. Of these,26,319 families settled inJammu & Kashmir and 5,300families initially moved toother parts of the country.

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After the flood fury thatwreaked its anger on near-

ly 2 crore people across 14States, the southwest monsoonfinally began retreating onWednesday. The monsoonwithdrawal will be complete byOctober 20. The season endedwith a 10 per cent higher rain-fall than the long term average.

According to IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD), this is the longestdelayed withdrawal of mon-soon.

“The most delayed with-drawal in the past years wasrecorded in 1961 (on October1), followed by September 30,2007,” the IMD pointed out.The normal date of the with-drawal is September 1.

“The withdrawal startedfrom Kapurthala, Ambala,Karnal and Churu onWednesday. In view of thepersistence of an anti-cycloniccirculation in the lower tro-pospheric level over north-west India, gradual reductionin moisture in the lower andmid tropospheric levels and

reduction in rainfall, the south-west monsoon has withdrawnfrom some parts of Punjab,Haryana and north Rajasthantoday, October 9, 2019, asagainst the normal date ofSeptember 1,” the IMD said.

The excess rain this yearhas not only flooded severalcities and towns but are alsoexpected to cause extensivedamage to standing kharifcrops in States such as MadhyaPradesh, Maharashtra, WestBengal, Rajasthan, Bihar andeastern Uttar Pradesh.

As per data of flood situa-tion reported by the Ministryof Home Affairs, over 1,700people have died and crops innearly 13 lakh hectare in these14 States have been destroyed.

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In a Diwali gift to nearly1.15 crore Central

Government employees andpensioners, the ModiGovernment on Wednesdayapproved 5 per cent hike indearness allowance. The hikebenefitting 50 lakh employeesand 65 lakh pensioners, to beeffective from July 1, 2019,would result in an additionaloutgo of �16,000 crore annuallyfor the Government

The Cabinet meetingchaired by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi approvedreleasing an additional install-ment of Dearness Allowance(DA) to Central Governmentemployees and Dearness Relief(DR) to pensioners — repre-senting an increase of 5 per-centage points over the existingrate of 12 per cent of the basicpay/pension — to compensatefor price rise, an official state-ment said.

The increase is in accor-dance with the accepted for-mula based on the recommen-dations of the 7th Central PayCommission.

“This is the highest ever 5percentage points increase inDA in one go by the CentralGovernment,” Information andBroadcasting Minister PrakashJavadekar told the media.

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As the Congress remainsbeset with sharp differ-

ences even on a non-issue likethe “shastra pujan” of Rafale byUnion Home Minister RajnathSingh, BJP president AmitShah on Wednesday used it inpoll-bound Haryana to lash outat the Opposition party accus-ing it of being “against Indiantraditions”.

While senior Congressleader Mallikarjun Khargetermed the Rafale shashtrapujan in France as a “tamasha”by the Modi Government, hewas promptly dubbed an “athe-ist” by his own party leaderSanjay Nirupam, who just acouple of days ago voiced hisdisgruntlement with the partypublicly and singled out Khargefor it.

Reacting further, the BJPsaid the Congress is used toworshipping OttavioQuattrocchi, the alleged mid-dleman in the Bofors deal.This came after Kharge’s usageof “tamasha” (drama), pointingout that the Congress made nosuch display when the Boforsguns were purchased. “There isno need to do such “tamasha’’.When we bought weapons likethe Bofors gun previously pur-chased, no one went andbrought them while showingoff,” Kharge said.

Addressing an electionrally in poll bound Haryana,

Amit Shah took on the grandold party over its criticism ofthe “shastra pooja” and said,“Congress people felt bad aboutthis too. The Congress has tooppose whatever BJP does.”

“Should the shastra pujantradition be observed or not?Should we keep this traditionalive or not? Rajnath Singh jiperformed shastra pooja inFrance but the Congress peo-ple felt very bad about this too,”Shah said at the rally in Kaithalin Haryana.

Kharge even took a dig atthe Defence Minister’s sortie inthe fighter jet, saying,

“These people go, show off,sit inside (the aircraft)”.

Congress leader Udit Raj,a former minister of the BJP,also took a dig at DefenceMinister’s action, questioningwhat the world would think ofIndia after such a “supersti-tious” show.

Another Congress leaderRashid Alvi too termed as“drama” the performance ofshastra puja. “I want to say thatthis is a government of dra-matics. You are going to Franceand performing puja. Wasn’tthe Rafale jet coming to India?You are going to a foreigncountry and doing all thisdrama. The question is does theNarendra Modi Governmentand the BJP consider Atal(Bihari Vajpayee) ji its leader ornot. If it considers him theirleader, then he was the PrimeMinister for six years, but didhe do any such drama going toFrance,” Alvi asked.

He hit out at the govern-ment for “ignoring” the realproblems of the country suchas rising unemployment. “Youare not talking about theeconomy of the country, it iscoming down day by day,” hesaid.

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Senior Congress leaders onWednesday raked up the

issue of party presidentshipyet again with former UnionMinister Salman Khurshid say-ing the party would have beenin a better position had RahulGandhi continued as its chiefand not quit after the 2019 LokSabha election results. Andwhile leader of the Congress inLok Sabha Adhir RanjanChowdhury said the partywould love to have the Gandhiscion back as chief of the party,another senior leaderJyotiraditya Scindia maintainedthe Congress needed intro-spection.

Highlighting that theparty’s future hangs in the bal-ance, Khurshid, however, saidonly Sonia Gandhi, the currentinterim Congress president,can transform the party as ithad won the elections in 2004under her watch. He went onto say that Rahul’s exit from theparty created an uneasy vacu-um and urged Sonia to con-tinue as the party chief.

“My personal view is thatSonia Gandhi should continueas AICC President, we havepleaded with her and we hopeour pleas are heard. We hopeshe remains our permanentpresident. She has kept inspir-ing us,” Khurshid said.

The former external affairs

minister also slammed thosewho left the party afterCongress suffered a crushingdefeat at the hands of the BJP.

“Many people left the partyafter Congress’ performance.Rahul left after our 2019 per-formance, we wanted him tocontinue but it was his decisionand we had to respect it. If hewould have stayed on it wouldhave been better for the party,”Khurshid said.

On losing to BJP in the LokSabha elections, he said thatthere are many upcoming elec-tions and the party now has toforget the past and be fully pre-pared for future elections.

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhurysaid that politicians like Rahulwho step down taking moralresponsibility are rare in presentday politics. Several Congressleaders both at the state and atthe central level had criticisedRahul for “walking away” fromthe party president’s post fol-lowing the party’s defeat in the2019 Lok Sabha polls.

“Yes I have heard about thestatements by certain leaders. Iwould just say, yes it wouldhave been good if Rahul stayedback as party president. But atthe same time, we must alsoappreciate the example ofmoral accountability, he has setfor everybody. Politicians likeRahul, who step down takingthe moral responsibility, are arare breed in Indian politics. All

of us should take lessons fromhim,” Chowdhury, a five-timeLok Sabha MP from WestBengal, told a news agency.

Scindia refused to com-ment on Khurshid’s remarksbut did not mince words in say-ing the party undoubtedlyneeds to do introspection.

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Post-arrest of former FinanceMinister P Chidambaram

by CBI in connection with theINX Media scam, his son Kartiappeared before theEnforcement Directorate (ED)on Wednesday and was grilledby the agency in a relatedmoney laundering probe. Themove comes amid fresh leadsgathered by the ED in thecase.

Karti, the Congress MPrepresenting Sivaganga inTamil Nadu, was summonedfor a fresh round of question-ing in the case, officials said.

Karti appeared at anagency office here and whenquizzed by reporters, hequipped that he had come tosay hello to the investigators onthe occasion of Dussehra.

Karti was earlier ques-tioned multiple times by theED in connection with thecase and his statement wasrecorded under the Preventionof Money Laundering Act(PMLA).

The Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) arrestedhis father and senior Congressleader P Chidambaram in thecase last month. The seniorChidambaram is currentlyundergoing judicial custody atTihar Jail.

On Wednesday, Karti wasquestioned on some fresh leadsobtained by the agency from

abroad.Last year, the ED had

attached assets worth Rs 54crore of Karti that were locat-ed in India, the UK and Spainin connection with the INXMedia case.

Agency sources had earli-er alleged that P Chidambaramand Karti were the “beneficialowners” of several shell firmsthat were incorporated in Indiaand abroad in connection witha Foreign InvestmentPromotion Board (FIPB)approval given to the INXMedia group duringChidambaram’s tenure as theUnion finance minister.

The alleged kickbacksreceived by the father-son duowere used to meet their “per-sonal expenses”. They put themoney in over two dozen for-eign accounts and acquiredmultiple immovable assets incountries such as Malaysia,the United Kingdom and Spainamong others, the ED hasalleged.

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Even as mental health disor-ders are on the rise in the

country, at least 10 Statesincluding Delhi, Rajasthan,Haryana and Uttarakhand areyet to set up mandatory StateMental Health Authority(SMHA)to address the medicaland rehabilitation needs of thesector. Ten per cent of India’spopulation suffers from men-tal illnesses, and 90 per cent ofthem remain untreated.

What’s worst, none of theStates except Tripura has beenable to establish mental healthreview board as envisaged inthe Mental Health Act 2017.The Act that guarantees rightsof people affected by mental ill-ness also entrusts respectivestate governments to ensurefacilities for rehabilitating them.

It also mandates the Statesto have a functional authoritywithin nine months of the lawcoming into force, but most ofthe States have missed thedeadline. The States are also yetto draft the rules of the Act.The 19 States which have set upSMHA are Manipur,Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu ,

Tripura, Uttar Pradesh,Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim,Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh,Assam, Maharashtra, Odisha,Punjab, Telangana,Uttarakhand, Mizoram,Gujarat, Kerala and Nagaland.

According to theGovernment reply to an RTIquery filed by Supreme Courtadvocate and mental healthactivist , Gaurav KumarBansal, only 19 States have setup State Mental HealthAuthority (SMHA) so farwhile only Triupra has con-stituted the Mental HealthReview Board.

The RTI reply shows thatthe Central Government hasno information on formulationof State Mental Health Rules aswell as health regulations.

Concerned at the poorimplementation, Union SocialWelfare MinisterThaawarchand Gehlot haswritten to all the States towork for raising awareness forpromotion of mental health ofindividuals across the societycautioning that if ignored at ini-tial stage, it can take shape ofan epidemic.

In this connection, he

stressed that while prompt clin-ical treatment is necessary totackle the condition, wheneverrequired there are non-clinicalmeasures such as yoga, com-munity support and participa-tion in positive activities toprevent the mental health disorders.

According to a survey of10,233 individuals conductedacross seven States by Delhi-based CIMBS in collaborationwith the World Federation forMental Health (WFMH),athough 43 per cent were awareof a person with mental illnesswithin their family or friends,nearly 20 per centreported nomental health facility or cliniceven within a 50 km radius oftheir residence.

Overall, only 49 per centhad a mental health facilitywithin a 20 km radius.Similarly, while 48 per cent hada person with a known addiction in their family orfriends, 59 per cent had no de-addiction service near theirhouse. Such distances are deter-rents that contribute to a widetreatment gap, said Dr SunilMittal, psychiatrist andDirector, WFMH.

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Within a fortnight theCentre has yet again

revised upward the rate ofapple procurement from �54 to�60 per kg almost meeting thedemand of apple growers/farm-ers under the MarketIntervention Scheme (MIS).As per the revised rate, �60, �44and �24 per kg have beenfixed for grade A, B and C vari-ety of apple with wood packing.The farmers/growers haddemanded �61 per kg forGrade A apple.

The State Government’srequest for a price of �70 perkg was rejected. The rate hasbeen revised according to thefruit grade and type of pack-aging material under MarketIntervention Scheme (MIS).

This wad decided at a highlevel meeting between Jammu& Kashmir Governor SatyaPal Malik and the and theNational AgriculturalCooperative MarketingFederation of India ( Nafed)chairman Bijender Singh atthe Raj Bhawan on Tuesdayevening. An order to thiseffect has been issued. Earlier,the rates were revised onSeptember 28.

As per the revised orderissued, the procurement ratefor apple revised within a fort-night to give better price to

apple growers in the Valley. Therate has been revised from�54, �38 and �15.75 per kg to�60, �44 and �24 per kg forgrade A, B and C varieties ofapple with wood grass packingrespectively.

Similarly, �59, �43 and �23per kg have been fixed forgrade A, B, and C for applewith cardboard tray packingrespectively. While �58 per kghave been fixed for grade A,�42 per Kg for grade B and �22for grade C with cardboardgrass packing.

According to the order,�40, �25 and �19 per kg havebeen fixed for grade A, B and Cfor Maharaji apple varietywhereas, for American applevariety �47 per kg have beenfixed for Grade A, �31 per Kgfor grade B and �17 for grade C.

J & K contributes nearly70-80 per cent of the overallapple production in India.Besides, the Nafed will lift 10to12 lakh tonnes of apple fromthe Valley this apple season.

The procurement has begun inthe backdrop of terrorists burn-ing some apple orchards tothreaten apple farmers.

Nafed chairman BijenderSingh told The Pioneer that hemet with J & K GovernorSatya Pal Malik and discussedbout the ongoing process ofprocurement and marketingof the apple produce from theValley by the Nafed and itsbenefit to the apple growerswho will be getting many timesmore remuneration for variousgrades of apple. Singh briefedMalik of the initiatives ofNAFED for promotion of co-operative marketing of agri-cultural produce, better pricerealisation for small and mar-ginal farmers and diversifica-tion of activities to make avail-able essential items of dailyneed to the consumers ataffordable rates.

Singh said that after Nafedinitiatives, several privatetraders have also started liftingapple from the Valley. Nearly

20,000-25000 tonnes applehave been procured after theabrogation of Article 370 fromthe valley.

Nafed has fixed appleprices to encourage more farm-ers to join the MIS scheme ofthe state government so thatapple growers could not be suf-fered due to lock down after theabrogation of Article 370 fromthe State.

According to theHorticulture department ofJammu & Kashmir, as many as3000-3200 farmers have regis-tered themselves with Nafedand State Government’sHorticulture Department.Jammu & Kashmir produced24.30 lakh metric tonnes offruit last year, out of which21.61 lakh metric tonnes werefrom Kashmir division. Theapple harvest was estimated at18.82 lakh metric tonnes.About seven lakh families aredirectly or indirectly engaged inthe fruit trade. Apples are cul-tivated on 3.87 lakh hectares inKashmir. It fetches �8,000 croreannually and supports sevenlakh families.

The Modi Governmenthad earlier announced that it islooking to procure about 12lakh tonnes or 60-70 per centof apples from growers so thatfarmers don’t suffer due todue to prevalent situation in theKashmir Valley.

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt has agreed to examinewhether High Courts havepowers to transfer to anotherState the enquiry into allega-tions of sexual harassmentpending with internal com-plaints committee (ICC) asalso the criminal case lodgedwith the police in the incident.

The apex court has soughtresponses of the Tamil NaduGovernment, other depart-ments and individuals associ-ated with the matter.

It was hearing an appeal byan IPS officer challenging theMadras High Court’s ordertransferring the enquiry by anICC under provisions of theSexual Harassment of Womanat Work Place (Prevention,Prohibition and Redressal) Act,2013 as well as an FIR lodgedagainst him by a senior ladypolice officer to Telangana for“fair, independent and unbi-ased” probe.

“Notice is issued to therespondents (lady police officerand others) on the point ofjurisdiction of the high court totransfer the proceedings forenquiry into the complaint ofsexual harassment, as well asinvestigation in FIR to be trans-

ferred to another State i.E.State of Telangana,” a bench ofjustices Indu Malhotra and RSubhash Reddy said.

The top court also stayedthe high court’s August 28order transferring the enquiryby the ICC and FIR lodgedagainst the IPS officer toTelengana.

The bench has posted thematter for further hearing nextweek.

The 44-year-old lady offi-cer, who was posted asSuperintendent of Police inTamil Nadu, had filed sexualharassment complaint inAugust last year against a seniorIPS officer posted in Chennai.

An ICC was constituted toenquire into the complaint.Later, the lady officer alsolodged an FIR against him.

A division bench of thehigh court dealt with the peti-tion filed by the IPS officer andtransferred the ICC enquiry aswell as the FIR to Telengana.

The lady officer had filedan affidavit in which she hadagreed to transfer of the ICCenquiry proceedings and theFIR to Kerala or any otherneighbouring State or NewDelhi. PTI

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In a bid to help farmers buyfarm inputs ahead of rabi

sowing season by availing the�6,000 benefit under thePradhan Mantri KisanSamman Nidhi (PM-Kisan)scheme, the Modi Governmenton Wednesday extended theAadhaar seeding date tillNovember 30

The decision was taken atthe Cabinet Committee onEconomic Affairs (CCEA),headed by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

Under the PM-Kisanscheme, the government isproviding annually �6,000 inthree equal installments to 14crore farmers. The amount isdirectly transferred into thebank accounts of the benefi-ciaries through direct benefittransfer (DBT) mode.

Aadhaar seeding was man-dated to avail the installmentafter August 1, 2019. However,it was exempted to farmers ofAssam, Meghalaya and Jammu& Kashmir till March 2020.

“The mandatory require-ment of Aadhaar seeding wastaking time and therefore wehave relaxed the norm tillNovember 30,” Information

and Broadcasting MinisterPrakash Javadekar told mediaafter the meeting.

This will enable immediaterelease of benefit to a largenumber of farmers who are notable to avail the same due to themandatory requirement, he said.

The Minister further saidthat the PM-Kisan is an uniquescheme as about 14 crore farm-ers will get �87,000 crore.Already, 7 crore farmers havereceived the benefit. More than�27,000 crore has already beenreleased under the schemethrough the first instalment to6.76 crore, second instalment to5.14 crore beneficiaries and thirdinstalment to 1.74 crore benefi-ciaries, the statement added.

“The only two States whichhave not joined the scheme areDelhi and West Bengal,” headded. Javadekar said the exten-sion of the date will help farm-ers buy crop inputs for the forth-coming rabi sowing season.Since the farmers are still gear-ing up for the rabi (winter) sea-son, they are in dire need ofmoney to take care of variousfarming activities like procure-ment of seeds, preparation of soiland other activities like irrigation,maintenance and mobilisation ofmachinery and tools.

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Referring to Khurshid’scomments, the BJP

attacked the opposition partyfor its lack of leadership andsaid its own members do notknow where their leader(Rahul Gandhi) has gone.Asserting that the BJP facesno challenge in the upcomingAssembly elections inMaharashtra and Haryanascheduled for October 21, BJPnational spokespersonNarendra Taneja said, “Youneed to exist on the groundto pose any kind of challengebut the Congress is just notthere. The morale of theircadre is very low. Their ownleader, Salman Khurshid, issaying that Rahul Gandhi isnot there. They have noleader and even the partydoesn’t know where RahulGandhi is.”

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New Delhi: India on Wednesdayreacted sharply to reports ofChinese President Xi Jinping andPakistan Prime Minister ImranKhan discussing Kashmir, sayingBeijing is “well aware” of NewDelhi’s position and it is not forother countries to comment onits internal affairs.

The strong reaction cameafter the Chinese state mediaquoted Xi as telling Khan dur-ing the meeting that China has

been “observing” the situation inKashmir, and hoped that the“relevant parties” can solve theissue through peaceful dialogue.

“We have seen the reportregarding meeting of Xi withKhan which also refers to theirdiscussions on Kashmir. India’sposition has been consistentand clear that J & K is an inte-gral part of India. China is wellaware of our position. It is not forother countries to comment on

the internal affairs of India,”Ministry of External AffairsSpokesperson Raveesh Kumarasserted.

Xi, who is scheduled to hold2nd informal summit with PMModi on Friday, assured Khanduring a meeting here that thefriendship between China andPakistan is “unbreakable androck-solid” despite changes in theinternational and regional situ-ation. PTI

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Page 3: ˆ !˛! ! · 2019. 10. 9. · In a Diwali gift to nearly 1.15 crore Central Government employees and pensioners, the Modi approved 5 per cent hike in dearness allowance. The …

RAIPUR | THURSDAY | OCTOBER 10, 2019chhattisgarh 03

A view of Ravan Dahan, the burning of effigy of the demon king to symbolize victory of good over evil, at WRS Colony of the state capital, onthe occasion of Dussehra, celebrated on Tuesday.

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghelannounced to upgrade Lavan sub-

Tehsil of Balodabazar district as a fullfledged tehsil adhering to the request ofpeople of the area at Jan-Chaupal:Bhent-Mulaqat programme.

A delegation of people from Lavaninformed that the sub-tehsil has 70gram panchayats and people often haveto travel all the way to Balodabazar fortehsil-related works.

People of far-flung villages ofLavan area have to face major incon-venience to reach Balodabazar in order

to get their works done. Opening oftehsil office in Lavan will save time,money and energy of the people livingthere. 40 acres of government land isavailable in Lavan for construction ofTehsil office.

Chief Minister patiently heard therequest of the delegation andannounced upgrading of Lavan asproper tehsil.

The delegation thanked ChiefMinister. Delegation from Lavanincluded sarpanch Shakuntala Sahu,Anurag Pandey, Devilal Barwe, PratapDahariya, Manuram Banjre and manyother citizens.

Lavan to gettehsil statusSTAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Hitting out at his predeces-sor Raman Singh for his

comment that bankruptcydrove Chief Minister BhupeshBaghel to reduce vehicles in hiscavalcades, Baghel onWednesday said he had takenthe decision to “shun extrava-gance” in a bid to maintain‘financial discipline.’

Talking to media persons,Baghel without naming Singh,further advised him to “intro-spect his own deeds.”

“Being thrift is the onlyway one could work for thebetterment of the state’s popu-lace and avoiding extravagance

is thus the need of the hour”,he said. “This could only bedone with financial disciplineand only because of that I havecurtailed my cavalcade”, he

said.“I don’t advise anyone, but

one should introspect”, he fur-ther commented taking a dig atSingh, without naming him.

Curtailed cavalcade to ensurefinancial discipline: Baghel

STAFF REPORTER n SUKMA

Four Naxals, including twowomen, surrendered in Sukma

district of Chhattisgarh onWednesday, police said.

The four Maoists, three amongwhom were carrying cash rewardson their heads, turned themselvesin before the Sukma police citingdisappointment with the Maoistideology and violence committedby them, an official said.

Of the surrendered, the womancadre, Madvi Gangi, who was activeas the head of DandakaranyaAdivasi Kisaan Majdoor Sangthan(DAKMS), a frontal wing ofMaoists, in Kerlapal area, was themost dreaded one, officialinformed.

Gangi had joined the outlawedCPI (Maoist) in 2006 in the childwing of the outfit. She was laterinvolved in various attacks by theMaoists on police teams, he said.The cadre was carrying a reward ofRs 5 lakh on her head, the officialadded.

Two other surrendered rebelswere identified as Kudami Ganga, a

member of Pedaras LOS (localorganisation squad) of Maoists andMadkam Hungi, a woman memberof Konta LOS. Both were carrying areward of Rs 1 lakh on their heads,the official said.

Sodi Joga, a lower-rung rebel,was another surrendered cadre, headded.

The state government wouldprovide assistance to surrenderedMaoists as per the surrender andrehabilitation policy, official said.

Four Naxalssurrender in Sukma

Of the surrendered, the

woman cadre, Madvi Gangi,

who was active as the head

of Dandakaranya Adivasi

Kisaan Majdoor Sangthan

(DAKMS), a frontal wing of

Maoists, in Kerlapal area,

was the most dreaded one

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

‘Gandhi Vichar Yatra’, thefoot-march being taken

out to mark the 150th birthanniversary of the father of thenation, Mahatma Gandhi, willconclude on Thursday.

The march led by PCCChief Mohan Markam on sixthday on Wednesday reached

Raipur district. The marcherswill take a night halt atSejbahar village on the out-skirts of the state capital andwill reach their destination onThursday afternoon.

The march will conclude atGandhi Maidan in the capitaland a public meeting will beorganised there at 2 pm, wherechief minister Bhupesh Baghel

will be the key speaker alongwith other senior leaders of thestate cabinet and Congressorganisation.

Official sources in thestate Congress informed thatoverwhelmed with theresponse to the foot-marchthey have now decided to takeout the march at block levelfrom October 11 to 17.

‘Gandhi Vichar Yatra’to conclude todayThe week-long march commenced from Kandel in Dhamtari willculminate into a public meeting at Gandhi Maidan on Thursday

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Chhattisgarh Tribal AdvisoryCouncil will now have a

own secretariat. On recommen-dation of Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel state governorAnusuiya Uikey on Wednesdayokayed separate secretariat forthe council.

The separate secretariatwould be constituted as per therequirement of ChhattisgarhTribal Advisory Council and itwould ensure that the officialworks of the council are carriedout in a smooth and organisedmanner. Moreover, documenta-tion of tribal community's activ-ities will also be done.

According to information,the council has been formed inthe Bhupesh Baghel governmentin the month of July and Chief

Minister himself is a chairman ofthis council, while the TribalWelfare minister of the state is itsmember secretary.

Members of the stateCabinet, Members ofParliament, MLAs and nominat-ed representatives in the councilwill have a seat in the secretariat.They can discharge their dutiesto redress the problems andrequirements for conservation oftribal culture, dialect, language,traditions, and musical instru-ments among others.

Notable, to take care of thewelfare of the scheduled tribes, aTribal Advisory Council is con-stituted in each state with ascheduled area. It advises theGovernor on matters pertainingto the welfare and advancementof the Scheduled Tribes in theState.

C’garh Tribal Advisory Councilto have own secretariat

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Principal Secretary RenuGonela Pillay (IAS-

1990) has been empanelledfor holding posts equiva-lent to additional secretaryin Government of India asper the list released onWednesday.

Around 25 IAS havebeen enlisted.

She is presently hold-ing responsibilities of skilldevelopment, technicaleducation and employ-ment departments andalso additional charge of

DG, ChhattisgarhAdministration Academy.

Renu G Pillay is thesenior most woman IASofficer of the state and willbecome the first woman

officer from Chhattisgarhto be empanelled as addi-tional secretary.

The IAS officers fromChhattisgarh presently ondeputation withGovernment of India arepresently holding the postof level of director rank oras joint secretary.

Former chief secretarySunil Kumar had held thepost of additional secre-tary, while N BaijendraKumar an IAS officer of1985 batch and B.V.RSubrahmanyam of 87batch are empanelled assecretary.

Chhattisgarh IASofficer empanelled forCentral deputation

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

One of the innovative edu-cation programmes in

the country is being imple-mented as a pilot project inB.K.Bhara circle underBagbhara block ofMahasamund district underNavigated Learning underIndia Education Connective.

In the programme learn-ing progress of each school-going child will be trackedand assisted as per the per-sonal requirements of thechild by providing different

study materials.At present around 47

training teachers in 16schools are operating theprogramme. As per reports,the project will be imple-mented in the state and thenextended to the whole coun-try. As part of the project, thesubject of mathematics hasbeen taken up at primarylevel.

The programme envis-ages a mobile where eachchild is told about the correctroute and speed of learningbased on his/her personalrequirement and then differ-

ent materials are provided.Thus, children are trackedfor their learning require-ments based on their abili-ties.

Then based on statelevel analysis of results,again inputs are providedto children based on theirindividual requirementsso that the child can makefurther progress throughthe navigator’s support.

Slowly, the other sub-jects like Hindi, Englishwill also be provided. Thewhole subject materialsare being prepared by

teachers. Whole array ofdata obtained by the navi-gator based on the abilitiesof children are accessedon regular basis for analy-sis.

Then experts based onit prepare the materialsand a strategy as how bet-ter learning abilities canbe developed through reg-ular workshops. In fiveeducation divisions of thestate in each district 20-20resources persons willgiven hands on trainingand then the project willbe implemented.

Navigated Learning programmeto be launched as pilot project

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Election Commissionof India (ECI) has

appealed to all the politi-cal parties and independ-ent candidates to useenvironment friendlymaterials for electionrelated publicity.

ECI had already writ-ten to all the recognisedpolitical parties by layingemphasis not to use ‘sin-gle use plastic’ in theirelection related publicitymaterials.

During the electioncampaign, the posters,banners, cut-outs, hoard-ings, advertisement, cut-lery, water pouch, bottle

should not be of singleuse plastic, which willhave larger impact on the

environment, especiallyon human beings and ani-mals. The situation can be

changed through activecooperation in this direc-tion, the ECI stated.

The letter states thatin present scenario alongwith traditional formsenvironment friendlyalternatives are available,which can be used dur-ing the election cam-paign.

Commission statedas a responsible politicalparies, it is hoped thatduring the election peri-od, the parties wouldrefrain from using ‘singleuse plastic’. The meetingscan be used to takepledge for motivatingpeople not to use ‘singleuse plastic’ to make envi-ronment plastic free.

ECI urges not to use single useplastic in election campaign

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Leader of Opposition andBJP leader Dharamlal

Kaushik claimed that theCongress government of thestate by terminating the serv-ices of guest teachers is push-ing them to unemployment,which is an anti-youth stance.

It is an issue of all thoseworking from Bastar toSarguja, who are now agitat-ing at capital city, Raipur.Their demands are legitimatewhich should be fulfilled atthe earliest, he said. If theirdemands are not fulfilled thenthe matter would be raised inthe state assembly, he warned.The guest teachers known as‘Vidya-Mitan’ having arrivedfrom different parts of the

state are staging sit-in-demon-stration at Idgahbhata groundsince Wednesday. They willcontinue their agitation tillOctober 12. According toAssociation patronBhupendra Verma, the guestteachers have been working inthe highly sensitive areas ofBastar and Sarguja for lastfour years. Keeping in mindthe service rendered by them,the demand of regularisationin education department wasincluded in the Congressmanifesto.

Verma added that afterformation of the government,no steps for regularisation hasbeen taken due to which theyare staging the demonstration.They are demanding fulfill-ment of the promise madeduring elections.

Injustice has been done to‘guest teachers’: Kaushik

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Chhattisgarh ChiefMinister Bhupesh Baghel

on Wednesday sanctioned afinancial aid of Rs 3 lakh toRavindra Patel,a resident ofvillage Botalda (Kharsiya),for kidney treatment.Similarly, he sanctioned Rs 1lakh to a meritorious studentand Rs 50,000 to a fencingplayer.

During the Jan-Chaupal:Bhent Mulaqat heldat CM House, applicantRavindra Patel briefed ChiefMinister of his renal problemand that he’s undergoingtreatment in a private hospi-

tal. He is unable to bear theexpenses of further medicaltreatment. In response to hisapplication, Chief Ministersanctioned Rs 3 lakh on thespot.

Harsh told Chief Ministerthat he had scored 92% marksin 12th standard exams, butdue to the weak financialcondition of his family, he isunable to pursue higher edu-cation. On recommendationof MLA Vikas Upadhyay, hehad submitted an applicationafter which Chief Ministersanctioned Rs 1 lakh for hishigher education. He hopesto pursue CA course conve-niently.

CM sanctionsfinancial aids

Page 4: ˆ !˛! ! · 2019. 10. 9. · In a Diwali gift to nearly 1.15 crore Central Government employees and pensioners, the Modi approved 5 per cent hike in dearness allowance. The …

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Union Home Minister andBJP president Amit Shah

on Wednesday said Congressshould ponder over what"needs to be criticised andwhat not".

Addressing election ralliesin Kaithal, Rohtak and Mehamfor the October 21 election forthe 90-member State Assembly,Shah not only raised the issueof abrogation of Article 370,and Balakot but local issuesalso.

Shah ridiculed the criti-cism of the Congress over''Shashtra Pujan'' or worship ofweapons of the first Rafalefighter jet by Defence MinisterRajnath Singh in France a dayearlier. "Is Shashtra Pujan notperformed on Vijayadashami?They should ponder over whatneeds to be criticised and whatnot."

The Home Minister saidthat people of Haryana shouldquestion leaders of theCongress party why the partychose to oppose the dilution ofthe articles as well as the deci-sion to make the practice ofinstant triple talaq illegal.

When the Congress "comesto Kaithal, you should askthem why they were againstremoval of Article of 370?

Why they boycotted TripleTalaq and why they wereagainst UAPA (UnlawfulActivities (Prevention)Amendment Act of 2019)," headded.

The BJP president said, “Itis because of the support ofpeople of Haryana that theunion Government underPrime Minister Narendra Modiwas able to abrogate Article 370and 35-A in Jammu andKashmir. The decision waspending for a long time but noparty showed the courage totake the decision. RahulGandhi should explain whyCongress chose to oppose it. Somany soldiers from Haryanahave laid down their lives toprotect Jammu and Kashmir."

In the course of his speech,Shah said that the Congressleadership only decides to

oppose BJP on every issue.“Whatever BJP says, Congresswill say the exact opposite.Congress leadership should atleast think why are theyopposed to issues that ofnational importance. Congressmust rise above party politicson national issues," Shahadded.

NO ILLEGAL IMMI-GRANTS BY 2024

Shah also promised that by2024 when the next generalelections take place in thecountry, there would be no ille-gal immigrant in the countrybecause a National Register ofCitizens (NRC) would be cre-ated all over the country. “Wewill have NRC all over thecountry to identify and removeall the illegal immigrants in thecountry. When we come to

people to seek their blessings in2024 general elections, thework would be completed," hesaid.

PM MODI EARNEDRESPECT FOR INDIAGLOBALLY

Talking about the "HowdyModi" event held in the USrecently, Shah said Prime MinisterNarendra Modi had earnedrespect for India globally. “Thewhole world praised India afterthe Howdy Modi event. Thisrespect, the plaudits are not forModiji, not for BJP, but for India.

Congress leaders claim PMModi goes on frequent foreigntrips. But I did some researchand found out that in five years,Manmohan Singh made moretrips abroad than Modiji,” Shahsaid. On the economy, Shah saidunder PM Modi’s leadership,India was now among the rapid-ly growing economies of theworld, and would soon be Rs 5-trillion economy.

SHAH PRAISES KHAT-TAR

The senior BJP leader saidthe BJP government inHaryana under chief ministerManohar Lal Khattar hadmanaged to end the law andorder problem as well as cor-ruption, the twin hallmarks ofprevious government. “The

governments under formerCMs Om Prakash Chautalaand Bhupinder Singh Hoodaworked for some communities.BJP had promised to end lawand order problem underChautala and corruption underHooda. Now the governmentunder Khattar works for allcommunities," said Shah.

He said the “brave land ofHaryana” contributes the mostnumber of soldiers to India’sArmy. Praising Khattar’s gov-ernment, the BJP president saidHaryana had seen significantchange in the past five years.

“Earlier, governments inHaryana would be of one par-ticular caste. Khattar’s govern-ment has no caste, it’s the gov-ernment of every Haryana res-ident,” Shah said. The HomeMinister said, "Our jawans car-ried out a surgical strike inBalakot, killed Pakistani ter-rorists and came back withouta single jawan of ours beingharmed. They took revenge forthose jawans who had sacri-ficed their lives." Praising hisgovernment for reducing thesex ratio, Shah said Haryanawas infamous across the coun-try as very few girls were bornhere. "The Prime Ministercame here and appealed for''Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao''should become the slogan ofHaryana.

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Adecade back in 2009 StateAssembly polls, when the

Congress fell short of a simplemajority in Haryana, the inde-pendent MLAs came to itsrescue and the then ChiefBhupinder Singh Hooda man-aged to form the StateGovernment for the secondconsecutive term.

During the polls, theCongress had emerged as thesingle largest party with 40seats in the 90-member StateAssembly. And, the seven inde-pendent MLAs, who played apivotal role in formation ofCongress led StateGovernment, were also induct-ed in the Hooda Cabinet asMinisters and ChiefParliamentary Secretaries.

In Haryana, this was notthe first time that the inde-pendent MLAs played a crucialrole in State Government’s for-mation. In the year 1982, per-haps one of the most contro-versial political happenings inHaryana, Congress despitebeing in a minority managed toform a government with thehelp of 16 independents. The

then Chief Minister BhajanLal was given a month’s time toprove majority in the assembly,which he did successfully withthe support of independentMLAs.

In 1996, the independentMLAs had extended support tothe State Government headedby the then Chief MinisterBansi Lal of Haryana VikasParty.

Apart from these threeoccasions, there were severalinstances in the past where theindependents have extendedsupport to the HaryanaGovernment, playing a keyrole in the state politics.

In the ensuing Assemblypolls, several prominent inde-pendents including Congressand BJP rebels are in the raceand are likely to damage thepoll prospects of the twonational parties on some seats.

BJP outgoing MLARandhir Singh Kapriwas hasentered the fray as an inde-pendent after the party deniedhim a ticket from Rewariassembly segment. In Punhanaassembly seat, independentcandidate Rahish Khan, whohad recently joined the BJPwith hopes of securing a partyticket was ignored followingwhich he filed his nominationas an independent.

Rebel BJP leaders SanjayKumar Mehla from Asandhassembly seat, Swami SandeepOnkar from Pehowa, BalrajKundu from Meham andNayan Pal Rawat from Prithlaassembly constituency are con-testing as independents in theassembly polls.

Among prominentCongress leaders contesting asindependents included seniorparty leader Nirmal Singh fromAmbala city, his daughter

Chitra Sarwara from AmbalaCantt, Rakesh Kamboj fromIndri and Zile Ram Sharmafrom Assandh assembly seg-ment.

As per the officials in chiefelectoral office, Haryana, thereare more than 500 indepen-dents out of total 1169 candi-dates in the fray this time. Thedata compilation related to allcandidates from 90 assemblyconstituencies is still underprogress.

In 2014 State Assemblypolls, five independents wereelected out of total 603 in thefray. The independents werepolled 10.60 percent votes outof the total valid votes count-ed.

While the BJP had wrest-ed power on its own by win-ning 47 seats in the 90-mem-ber Haryana Assembly in 2014,it had also got support of threeindependents and BahujanSamaj Party’s lone MLA.

Kulwant Singh Nehra,

Assistant Professor, RBI chairat Chandigarh-based Centrefor Research in Rural andIndustrial Development(CRRID) while talking to ThePioneer said that unlike all pre-vious elections, where region-al parties like Indian NationalLok Dal had a strong presence,the scenario is different inHaryana this time. Amid divid-ed Congress, weak INLD andnew entrant Jannayak JantaParty, the prominent indepen-dents may get benefitted in theassembly polls as people tendto vote for a strong contender,he said.

Nehra said that the rebelsof—BJP and Congress—con-testing as independents onsome seats are likely to make amajor impact on the politicalfortunes of these two nationalparties.

In the past, independentMLAs have played vital role inthe formation of StateGovernments, when a singlelargest party had failed to touchhalf-way mark. This was wit-nessed in the year 2009 and1982, he added.

As per the data with theoffice of chief electoral officer,Haryana, seven independentswere elected out of 779 that hadcontested the 2009 assemblypolls. Maximum number of 16independent MLAs each wereelected in 1967 and 1982assembly polls in Haryana.

10 independent MLAswere elected in 2005 assemblypolls, 11 each in 2000 and 1972,10 in 1996, five in 1991, seveneach in 1987 and 1977 and sixin 1968 assembly polls, the datastated.

The EC data suggested thatthe independent candidateshave recorded more than 10percent vote share in the pastelections.

Notably, the 90-memberHaryana assembly will go topolls on October 21 and theresults will be declared onOctober 24.

The major political partiesin the fray are ruling BharatiyaJanata Party, Congress, IndianNational Lok Dal-ShiromaniAkali Dal alliance, JannayakJanta Party, Aam Aadmi Party,Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP),Loktantra Suraksha Party (LSP)and Swaraj India.

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Thousands of tribals onWednesday staged a day-

long protest in Chhattisgarh'sDantewada district, seekingrelease of those languishing injails on `false' charges of beingnaxals.

People from remote areasof Dantewada, Sukma andBijapur districts took part inthe demonstration at Nakulnarvillage in Dantewada, tribalactivist and Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) leader Soni Sori toldreporters.

Sori and activist BelaBhatia also participated in thedemonstration.

The Congress hadpromised during last year'sAssembly polls that innocenttribals lodged in prison in thenaxal- affected areas will bereleased, Sori said.

But after coming to power,its Government did not free asingle innocent tribal person,she alleged.

Congress MLAs DevtiKarma (who represents

Dantewada) and VikramMandavi (who representsBijapur) met the protestersand promised to take up theirgrievances with theGovernment, Sori said.

Key demand of the pro-testers is that State Governmentshould give a time frame with-in which triabls lodged in jailson false charges of being nax-als will be released, Sori said.

Other demands were thatthese incarcerated tribalsshould get nutritious food,proper medical facilities andlegal assistance, the AAP leadersaid.

Another demand is thatthere should be local-levelcommittees which can meetprisoners twice a year to knowtheir grievances, Sori said.

A delegation of villagersfrom Dantewada, Bijapur,Sukma and Narayanpur dis-tricts will soon meet chiefminister Bhupesh Baghel, sheadded.

In March, the Chhattisgarh Government hadset up a high-level committeeheaded by a retired supremecourt judge to review policecases against tribals in naxal-affected areas.

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Six percent forest area will have to beincreased till year 2030 to balance eco-

system at national level. It is necessary toplant saplings in their catchment areas tomaintain cleanliness and keep the riversflowing. Chief Policy Advisor of ICIMODKathmandu (Nepal) BMS Rathore saidthis while expressing his views on thetopic ‘Forestry for Well-being of Peopleand Eco Systems’ in the lecture series‘Transformative Change - SustainableOutcome’ organised at the Atal BihariVajpayee Institute of Good Governanceand Policy Analysis.

Director General of the Institute, RPashuram said that we have to thinkabout the future along with the present.He said that the principle of “Solace byrefusal' could not work. Parshuram saidthat climate change and global warmingare important topics at present. Excesscarbon emissions are creating new prob-lems. He said that we all need to worktogether for environmental conservation.If we start working today, its results will

be seen in the coming days.Rathore said that there is need to

launch the “river calling” campaign in thecountry. This campaign can be success-ful if it is made a public movement. Hesaid that good work has been done in thefield of affroestation in Madhya Pradesh.The state has attained the status of TigerState again. Rathore also told about theregeneration of Karoboh forest inChhindwara district. He said that farm-ers are themselves coming forward inbamboo production.

Rathore said that the skills of the

people living in and around the forestareas should be upgraded and providedemployment opportunities. This willreduce their dependence on forests.Forest committees will have to cooper-ate for micro planning. Rathore also dis-cussed the main points of good living. Hetold that in Delhi's government schools,there is one period for the subject ofHappiness.

Principal Advisor of the InstituteMangesh Tyagi gave information aboutthe subject matter. Principal Advisor MMUpadhyay, Girish Sharma and otherofficers-employees were present inLecture Series.

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The final location surveyand land acquisition for the

Rishikesh-Karnprayag rail lineproject has been completed.For the Char Dham rail project,the final location survey isslated to be completed byJanuary 2020. Officials pro-vided this information in ameeting chaired by ChiefMinister Trivendra SinghRawat to review the progress ofthe Rishikesh-Karnprayag railline project.

In the meeting, Rawatdirected that a single windowclearance system should beestablished in each districtinvolved in the Rishikesh-Karnprayag project. He alsodirected district magistrates ofPauri, Chamoli, Tehri andRudraprayag to establish coor-dination with Railways andprovide all type of administra-tive assistance. Work to com-plete cases including compen-sation for land and buildingrelated to the project shouldalso be expedited on prioritybasis, he said. Clearances forapproved dumping zones for

disposing debris and othertasks should also be issuedsoon.

Rawat directed the PublicWorks Department (PWD) toexpedite construction of Byasi-Narkota road bridge and com-plete the task on time. This willprove quite helpful in trans-porting heavy machinery of therailways.

He also directed the elec-tricity department to soon pro-vide electricity connectionswhere sought by the railways.Expressing satisfaction at theprogress of the Rishikesh-Karnprayag railway line pro-ject, Rawat said that the districtmagistrates concerned mustshare their experiences andensure that hurdles in the workare resolved as swiftly as pos-sible.

He also asked the railwayofficials to keep in mind thegrandeur of railway stations onthe route. Traditional architec-tural and design style of themountains should be used inconstruction of the railwaystations.

Officials of the Rail VikasNigam Limited (RVNL)

informed that the final locationsurvey has been completed.The work of land acquisitionhas also been completed.Necessary forest clearanceshave also been received. Thedistribution of compensationfor land acquisition is under-way with �623.92 crore out ofthe allocated �804.28 crorehaving been distributed so far.The geo-technical investigationfor the project has also beencompleted.

Works for construction ofone rail bridge across theChandrabhaga river, one inRishikesh and along with onerail under bridge in the first sixkilometres of the project hadbeen awarded in February2017.

The work is in progressand expected to be completedby February 2020. The work onfirst block between Veerbhadraand New Rishikesh has alsobeen awarded and is expectedto be completed by February2020.

As part of the project, workon 16 tunnels has been divid-ed into nine packages. Thedesign work is currently under-

way. Similarly, work has been

started on rail bridges acrossthe Alaknanda river atLachmoli and Srinagar.

The work on road bridge atSrinagar, Guachar and Siwaihas been started recently. 2019-20 has been set as the target forcompleting work onVeerbhadra-New Rishikeshblock section, 2023-24 for NewRishikesh-Devprayag blocksection and 2024-25 forDevprayag-Karnprayag blocksection. RVNL officials alsoinformed that to link the CharDham- Gangotri, Yamunotri,Badrinath and Kedarnath withrail line, work will be under-taken on four rail lines totalingto about 327 kilometres inlength. A total of 21 railway sta-tions and 61 tunnels will bebuilt for this project.

Geo-mapping, hydrologi-cal study, drone survey andenvironmental desktop studyhave been completed for theChar Dham rail project.January 2020 has been set asthe target for completing thefinal location survey for thisproject.

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Page 5: ˆ !˛! ! · 2019. 10. 9. · In a Diwali gift to nearly 1.15 crore Central Government employees and pensioners, the Modi approved 5 per cent hike in dearness allowance. The …

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Adefiant White House hasrefused to cooperate with

the Democrats in the impeach-ment enquiry against PresidentDonald Trump, saying theirmove was “baseless” and “con-stitutionally invalid”. Theenquiry is trying to find out ifPresident Trump held backaid to Ukraine to push it to investigate former USVice-President Joe Biden, whois running for the 2020Democratic presidential nomination.

Speaking to reporters,White House Press SecretaryStephanie Grisham said theimpeachment probe againstPresident Trump is purely political and an attemptto overturn the democraticprocess.

“The President has donenothing wrong and the

Democrats know it. For pure-ly political reasons, theDemocrats have decided theirdesire to overturn the out-come of the 2016 electionallows them to conduct a so-called impeachment inquirythat ignores the fundamentalrights guaranteed to everyAmerican,” she said.

“These partisan proceed-ings are an affront to theConstitution — as they arebeing held behind closed doorsand deny the President theright to call witnesses, to cross-examine witnesses, to haveaccess to evidence, and manyother basic rights,” she saidsoon after the White Housesent a letter to the OppositionDemocratic leaders in theHouse of Representatives,informing them of the Trumpadministration’s decision.

The Democrats are exam-ining whether there are

grounds to impeach Trump, aRepublican, based on a whistle-blower’s account that said heasked Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskiy in a July 25 phone call to helpinvestigate his Democraticpolitical rival Biden.

In the 8-page letter, WhiteHouse counsel Pat Cipollonerejected the allegations againstPresident Trump, terming itbaseless and unconstitutional.

“President Trump and hisAdministration reject yourbaseless, unconstitutionalefforts to overturn the democ-ratic process,” he said in his let-ter dated October 8, a copy ofwhich was released to the press.The White House letter comeshours after the Trump admin-istration blocked the US ambas-sador to the European UnionGordon Sondland from appear-ing before a congressionalimpeachment investigation.

“Your unprecedentedactions have left the Presidentwith no choice. In order to ful-fil his duties to the Americanpeople, the Constitution, theExecutive Branch, and allfuture occupants of the Officeof the Presidency, PresidentTrump and his Administrationcannot participate in your par-tisan and unconstitutionalinquiry under these circum-stances,” Cipollone said.

He said Trump is focusedon fulfilling his promises to theAmerican people.Reacting tothe letter, House ofRepresentatives Speaker NancyPelosi said President Trumpwas “trying to make lawlessnessa virtue”.

“For a while, the Presidenthas tried to normalise lawless-ness. Now, he is trying to makelawlessness a virtue,” Pelosi saidin a statement.

“The American people

have already heard thePresident’s own words do us afavour though. The President’sactions threaten our nationalsecurity, violate ourConstitution and underminethe integrity of our elections.The White House letter is onlythe latest attempt to cover uphis betrayal of our democracy,and to insist that the Presidentis above the law,” she said.

Later a senior administra-tion official toldreporters that forthe first time inAmerica’s histo-ry, the House ofRepresentatives isnow purportingto proceed on animp e achmentinquiry againstthe Presidentwithout conduct-ing a vote on theHouse floor.

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President Donald Trump is“trying to make lawlessness

a virtue”, House ofRepresentatives Speaker NancyPelosi has said.

Pelosi’s comment cameafter the White House in a let-ter to the Democrat leaders on

Tuesday refusedany cooperationfrom PresidentTrump in thei mp e a ch m e ntinvestigations bythe Opposition.

“For a while,the President hastried to nor-malise lawless-ness. Now, he istrying to makelawlessness a

virtue,” Pelosi said.“The American people

have already heard thePresident’s own words do us afavour though. The President’sactions threaten our nationalsecurity, violate ourConstitution and underminethe integrity of our elections.The White House letter is onlythe latest attempt to cover uphis betrayal of our democracy,and to insist that the Presidentis above the law,” she said.

Democrats in the USHouse of Representatives areexamining whether there aregrounds to impeach Trump, aRepublican, based on a whistle-blower’s account that said heasked Ukrainian PresidentZelenskiy in a July 25 phonecall to help investigateDemocratic political rival Joe

Biden. In the letter written tothe Democratic leaders, WhiteHouse counsel Pat Cipollonerejected the allegations againstPresident Trump terming itbaseless and unconstitutional.

In a strongly worded state-ment, Pelosi said that the WhiteHouse should be warned thatcontinued efforts to hide thetruth of the President’s abuse ofpower from the American peo-ple will be regarded as furtherevidence of obstruction.

“President, you are notabove the law. You will be heldaccountable. letter is manifest-ly wrong, and is simply anoth-er unlawful attempt to hide thefacts of the TrumpAdministration’s brazen effortsto pressure foreign powers tointervene in the 2020 elec-tions,” Pelosi said.

8���������%%����������"United Nations: The UnitedNations has an overall annualoperating budget of several bil-lion dollars, covering every-thing from humanitarian workto disarmament, but right now,it’s just trying to make sure itsemployees get paid after thismonth. How did the worldbody end up more than USD200 million in the red? Theanswer: member states whohave not paid their expectedcontributions, including the US.

On Tuesday, Secretary-General Antonio Guterreswarned of the “worst cash cri-sis facing the United Nations innearly a decade.”

He cautioned the UN “runsthe risk of depleting its liquid-ity reserves by the end of themonth and defaulting on pay-ments to staff and vendors.”

Several member states arebehind in their dues payments.

The UN will not publiclyidentify those countries, butsources told AFP the main

culprits are the United States,Brazil, Argentina, Mexico

and Iran.In all, 64 countriesowe money to the UN. Also onthe list of budget delinquentsare Venezuela, North Korea,South Korea, the DemocraticRepublic of Congo, Israel andSaudi Arabia.

The last country to havepaid up is war-wracked Syria,UN spokesman StephaneDujarric said Tuesday at hisdaily press conference.In a let-ter sent Monday to the 37,000employees at the UN secre-tariat, which was obtained byAFP, Guterres said the UN hada deficit of USD 230 million asof the end of September.

On Tuesday, he indicated ifthe world body had not takeninitiative to cut spending sincestart of the year, the hole wouldhave been even bigger inOctober — possibly USD 600million and could have affect-ed last month’s GeneralAssembly. AFP

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Hundreds of masked pro-testers yelling “Revolution

Now!” crammed the sidewalkin front of Hong Kong’s HighCourt and spilled onto thestreet in an impassioned showof support on Wednesday foran activist appealing a six-yearprison sentence for his part ina violent nightlong clash with police.

As a prison service buswith mesh-covered windowsdrove Edward Leung away afterthe hearing, supporters pressedup against the vehicle, brieflyblocking traffic, and held fivefingers up in their air.

That symbolises the fivedemands of Hong Kong’s latestprotest movement for univer-sal suffrage, amnesty for arrest-ed demonstrators and other

wishes.The fate of his appealwas not immediately clear.

Leung emerged as one ofthe figureheads of protest inHong Kong after 2014’s failednonviolent demonstrationsover Beijing’s decision torestrict elections.

Among supporters whogathered outside the hearingwas Kenny Lee, 23, who saidLeung “has inspired a lot ofHong Kong people, especiallyour young people.” Even jailed,Leung’s activism still resonatesas Hong Kong is again grippedby protests that started in Juneand have snowballed.

“He started spreading hisidea a few years ago but at that time, not many people really understood himand some even criticised him,” said J Sze, a supporter in her 20s.

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Beijing: China on Wednesdaysaid President Xi Jinping’sforthcoming Nepal visit wouldresult in “historic outcomes”,including a new blueprint for the trans-Himalayan con-nectivity network.

Xi will arrive inKathmandu for an overnightvisit on October 12 fromChennai after his informalsummit with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi. This would bethe first official visit by aChinese president in theHimalayan nation after 23years. “It is a historic visit. Thevisit will yield historic outcomewith historic significance andimplications,” Chinese ViceForeign Minister Luo Zhaohuitold a media briefing here.

The USD 2.75 billion trans-Himalayan project under thecontroversial Belt and RoadInitiative is considered to be oneof the most ambitious infra-structure plans ever undertak-en by the Chinese Governmentabroad. Xi’s visit will consolidatethe political foundation forChina-Nepal bilateral ties andprovide a new blueprint for thejoint development of the BRIcooperation, Luo said.

He said the two sides willstrengthen the BRI cooperationand accelerate the trans-Himalayan multi-dimensionalconnectivity network. “Thecross-Himalayan multi-con-nectivity network is takingshape,” he said, adding the twocountries are working towardsexpanding border ports, railway,road, aviation and telecommu-nications networks. The BRIproject, critics say, is saddlingnations with debt. India hasbeen severely critical of theBRI, the pet project of theChinese President, as it com-prises the USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor,which passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. PTI

#�������;8�� ����������� #��?�����"�������������London: Britain and theEuropean Union onWednesday agreed to hold last-ditch talks aimed at securing aBrexit deal with just days left tothrash out an agreement, aseach side trades accusations ofa failure to compromise.

Brexit Secretary SteveBarclay will meet his EU coun-terpart Michel Barnier inBrussels on Thursday in anattempt to break the impassebefore an October 17-18 sum-mit. “We’ve put forward seriousproposals and have been willingto be flexible. Now it’s time forthe EU to do the same,” Barclaytweeted. But Barnier appearedmore downbeat, playing downhopes of a breakthrough beforeEU leaders meet, even as hepromised to work around theclock to the deadline.

He said the EU could notaccept Britain’s proposals asthey stand, arguing they wouldundermine peace and weakenthe European single market.“As I speak to you now, we’re noton the point of envisioning andfinding a deal,” he said. Britainis due to leave the EU onOctober 31, more than threeyears after a landmark referen-dum that has dominated domes-tic politics and divided thenation. British Prime MinisterBoris Johnson has promised totake the country out of the blocafter nearly five decades of inte-gration — with or without awithdrawal agreement. AFP

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Page 6: ˆ !˛! ! · 2019. 10. 9. · In a Diwali gift to nearly 1.15 crore Central Government employees and pensioners, the Modi approved 5 per cent hike in dearness allowance. The …

China is a mighty country; we sawit on October 1 at the TiananmenSquare. On the occasion of the70th anniversary of the People’sRepublic of China (PRC),

President Xi Jinping was on the same wave-length as his predecessor Mao Zedong 70years ago, when he announced the founda-tion of the PRC. The morale of the parade was:“Power comes from the barrel of the gun.”

“No force can ever undermine China’s sta-tus or stop the Chinese people and the nationfrom marching forward,” said President Xifrom the rostrum of the Tiananmen Square.

The Chinese Premier reminded thosewho were present or watched the function that“70 years ago, Comrade Mao Zedong solemn-ly declared to the world that the PRC wasfounded and the Chinese people had stoodup. This great event completely reversedChina’s miserable fate born from poverty andweakness and being bullied and humiliatedover more than 100 years since the advent ofmodern times.” The Chinese State media wasecstatic as it said, “China had reaffirmed itscommitment to global peace and develop-ment.” It added, “We will continue to workwith people from all countries to push forjointly building a community with a sharedfuture for humanity.”

Many doubted as they watched in awe theDF-17 hypersonic ballistic missile (a hyper-sonic glide vehicle that can deliver bothnuclear and conventional payloads) and thenew-generation road-mobile DF-41, whichmade its debut in an official parade. Some15,000 troops from 59 units, 47 belonging tothe ground forces and a dozen air-bornesquadrons, participated in the parade. Xiinspected 580 new weapon systems, almostall of them were “Made in China”, proving thatBeijing’s military industry is truly becomingself-sufficient. It is a lesson that India has hope-fully noted a few days before the ChinesePresident visits Mamallapuram.

However, a backlash to China’s might hasstarted to manifest. A few days before theparade in Beijing, a telling incident took placein France, which showed that it is not justChina’s or the US’ neighbours who have toface difficulties to accept the so-called peace-ful rise of the Middle Kingdom. It lookedinnocuous but at the start of the French LigueOne’s football match between OlympiqueLyonnais (OL) and Nantes, an entire wing ofthe Gerland stadium in Lyon displayed a tifo,a gigantic graphic display organised by thou-sands (or tifosis) of fans. A Tibetan flag. Why?Simply because China is the club’s secondshareholder and the OL management haddecided to reschedule the match to 13:30hours for a broadcast in China (matches usu-ally take place at 17:30 or 21:00 hrs). Chinais simply mighty.

The supporters, known as the “badgones” (“gones” is the OL supporters’ nick-name) wrote on their Facebook page: “At thekick-off, we deployed a tifo representing theTibetan flag accompanied by a free Tibet ban-

ner. Beyond the crypto-politicaspect of this tifo, our objectivewas to remind everyone that thespectators and supporters are alsoactors of the match and respectis due to them as much as to a fewhundred thousand viewers at theother end of the planet.”

The message to Beijing con-tinued: “These Tibetan flags canpiss off the League and its newshareholders, which are underthe control of the Chinese State.But we will be delighted to renewthe experience…”

It is, perhaps, a sign of whatthe Financial Review calls a dan-gerous decade ahead as China’srise falters: “Economists, defenceplanners and security strategistshave begun testing the consensusaround China’s inevitable rise andhave come up with some surpris-ing predictions.”

ANI said it in differentwords: “China exhibits Cold Warmentality with huge militaryparade.” It added: “China regu-larly likes to point the finger at theUS for harbouring a ‘Cold Warmentality’ but nothing speaks ofmilitaristic ambitions and mar-tial glory as a large militaryparade. And no military specta-cle comes close to the size of theevent held in Tiananmen Squareon October 1.”

It is not only the Gaulishtribes who are revolting againstthe Chinese hegemonic mindsetin Hong Kong; lakhs of youngpeople refused to slip under theyoke of Beijing. The former

British colony has witnesseddefiant protesters for severalweeks. Interestingly, HongKongers took their campaignagainst Beijing to their stadium,booing the Chinese nationalanthem before the city’s soccerteam lost to Iran in its firsthome qualifier for the 2022World Cup.

The European Union (EU)recently issued a statement: “Theescalation of violence and contin-uing unrest in Hong Kong,including the use of live ammu-nition, resulting in critical injuriesto at least one person, are deeplytroubling. The EU maintains itsposition that restraint, de-escala-tion and dialogue are the onlyway forward.” It further observed:“Fundamental freedoms, includ-ing the right of assembly ofHong Kongers, must continue tobe upheld and the possibility tohold peaceful demonstrationsmust be ensured. These rightsmust be exercised peacefully.”

It is clear that the world willnot accept another Tiananmenmassacre. Though foreign offi-cials and experts applauded aspeech by Chinese President Xi,as Beijing reaffirmed its com-mitment to world peace anddevelopment, one cannot forgetthat communism killed millionsof its own citizens during thepast 70 years.

A French book, The BlackBook of Communism — Crimes,Terror, Repression, calculated thatmore than 94 million people were

killed by different communistGovernments around the worldsince 1917. The statistics of vic-tims include deaths through exe-cutions, man-made hunger,famine, war, deportations andforced labour. In China alone, 65million people died while theSoviet Union accounted for 20million. Cambodia and NorthKorea accounted for two millioneach. The list is long.

Meanwhile, the propagandamachine of the communistregime in Beijing works in fullsteam. It published a WhitePaper entitled, “SeekingHappiness for People: 70 Years ofProgress on Human Rights inChina.” One of the chapters is onthe “Splendid History of China’sHuman Rights Protection.”

The restive population of thewestern Muslim province ofXinjiang or the Tibetans, whosereligious freedom has been ruth-lessly stifled, will tell you anoth-er story.

All this should be kept inmind when President Xi arrivesin South India to “informally”meet Prime Minister NarendraModi. China is mighty andinnovative but it is fragile sim-ply because it is unable to takethe masses and the world along.Xi’s dream of a new era willremain as long as the MiddleKingdom does not allow aminimum freedom to its ownpeople.

(The writer is an expert onIndia-China relations)

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Sir — Ever since the abrogationof Article 370, there has been acomplete clampdown in theValley. Some positive signs are,however, emerging. Higher sec-ondary schools, colleges anduniversities have reopened andthe public transport system, too,has restarted.

Most importantly, in the firstmajor move signalling easing ofcurbs on detained Kashmiri lead-ers after Article 370 was abrogat-ed, a 15-member NationalConference (NC) delegation metdetained party leaders FarooqAbdullah and Omar Abdullah inSrinagar.

The NC delegation, whichwas permitted to meet theAbdullahs by the Jammu &Kashmir Governor, demandedthat they and other politicaldetainees be freed to revive thepolitical process in the State,where Block DevelopmentCouncil elections are scheduledfor October 24. It’s high time thatthe leaders must be freed withoutcompromising on security.

This bodes well for two rea-sons. First, their release will helpthe Government further its devel-

opmental cause, which will be dif-ficult to achieve without the sup-port of local leaders.

Second, it will send a strongmessage to the international com-munity that measures are beingtaken to restore normalcy. Thiswill further strengthen India’scase. Kashmir really needs toopen up.

TK NandananChennai

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Welcoming the Rafale” (October9). The first Rafale fighter jet hasnow formally joined Indian AirForces’ (IAF) inventory. This willhelp arrest the slide in the IAF’soperational capability and will, infact, enhance it. But India needsto emulate the example of China,

which developed J-20, an indige-nously made fifth generation aircraft.

Indigenisation is one area wenever pursued earnestly. Thecountry has a vibrant defencemanufacturing ecosystem thatcan help us achieve self-reliance.In this connection, Air ChiefMarshall RKS Bhadauria hassaid that India will not importthe fifth generation fighter jets,

implying that the country willventure to develop indigenous-ly. India must soon emerge asthe preferred destination forthe co-development and co-cre-ation of an indigenous defencemanufacturing ecosystem.

KV Seetharamaiah Hassan

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Sir — With Assembly electionsin Haryana and Maharashtragetting closer, the internal crisiswithin the Congress has onlyworsened. The exodus of leaderscontinues and the leadershiphas failed to inspire confidenceamong party members. It isshocking that the grand oldparty is finding it difficult tokeep its flock together. The pre-sent crisis is a direct outcome ofthe leadership deficit at the toplevel. For a diverse country likeIndia, the presence of a strongOpposition is a must. TheCongress needs a leader who canpump life into it.

ZoyaVia email

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Chinese President Xi Jinping is expectedto arrive in India to hold a second infor-mal summit with Prime Minister

Narendra Modi at Mamallapuram near Chennaifrom October 11 to 12 and pay a State visit toNepal on October 13. The Mamallapuram sum-mit is important for the country as it comesamid escalating tensions in the South Asianregion, especially between India and Pakistan,after the Modi Government abrogated Article370, revoking the special privileges given toJammu & Kashmir (J&K) by the Constitution.During the informal meeting, Modi and Xi areexpected to hold comprehensive talks on a hostof issues concerning bilateral relations andexchange views on regional and internationalmatters of importance.

Given the growing tension between NewDelhi and Islamabad post the abrogation ofArticle 370 and Beijing’s support to Pakistan,this meeting is critical from China’s standpoint,too, considering that India has managed to buildtrust and traction with its immediate neighbours— Bangladesh, Bhutan and Maldives.

In doing so, India’s “neighbourhood firstpolicy” has taken centrestage, as it did, soonafter Modi took oath for the second term thisyear. His first overseas visit was to the Maldives.This island nation has proven to be a litmus testfor Modi’s foreign policy, especially in terms offinding a friendly ground due to formerMaldivian President Abdulla Yameen’s closenesswith China. The political upheaval in theMaldives caused by the imprisonment of a num-ber of political leaders, including formerPresident Mohamed Nasheed, had raised strate-gic and political concerns in India at that time.The political instability in the Maldives had lim-ited India’s options and even though Nasheedhad called upon New Delhi to intervene, it hadabstained from making any moves in thedomestic matters of the island nation.

Nasheed had also alleged that Yameen want-ed to sell land to Beijing for the constructionof a Chinese base in the Indian Ocean and wasleading the country into debt by borrowingmoney from China for infrastructure projects.This had proved to be a critical time for India’smaritime security. However, with the newGovernment coming to power in the Maldivesin 2018 led by democratic President IbrahimSolih, the two countries have begun a new levelof engagement in the development and maritimesectors. This bonhomie was reflected inPresident-elect Solih’s invitation to Modi toattend his swearing-in ceremony.

The challenges for India have not been lim-ited to Pakistan and the Maldives only. Theincreasing Chinese presence in Sri Lanka alsohas New Delhi worried. The Chinese investmentin the Hambantota port and using it for strate-gic and commercial purposes is a well-account-ed Chinese debt-trap. After failing to repay theloans taken from Beijing for building the port,Sri Lanka leased it to China for 99 years. Thetransfer of the port and 15,000 acres of landaround it gave China control of territory just afew hundred miles off the shores of India anda strategic foothold along a critical commercialand military waterway. The Hambantota portcase is one of the most vivid examples of China’s

ambitious use of loans and aid to gaininfluence around the world — and ofits willingness to play hardball to col-lect.

However, to undo the damagecaused in recent years, Modi wasinvited to Sri Lanka this year, 28 yearsafter former Prime Minister RajivGandhi’s visit in 1987. From there,Modi sent a strong message to theworld community that India, alongwith its neighbours, would fight ter-rorism by visiting the St Anthony’sChurch in Kochchikade, where dead-ly attacks had killed hundreds of peo-ple during Easter celebrations. As anindicator of New Delhi’s growingclout, Modi also addressed the SriLankan Parliament during his visit andbecame the first Indian Prime Ministerand only the second foreign leaderafter British Premier David Cameronto visit Jaffna in the war-ravagednorthern province and hand overhomes built with the help of Indianassistance. Continuing India’s attemptto foster a strong relationship with itsneighbours under the “neighborhoodfirst policy,” Modi visited Bhutan forthe second time in August 2019 andheld a comprehensive discussion withBhutanese Prime Minister LotayTshering. He pointed out that “Bhutanhas a special place in the heart of 130crore Indians” as time and again,India’s friendship with it has stood firmagainst all odds. Despite the challengesthat had emerged during the Doklamdispute with China, the two countriesmanaged to keep their relationshipstrong. India’s equation with Bhutanhas not only been a success cultural-ly and historically but has also result-ed in great cooperation in sectors likehydroelectricity and infrastructuredevelopment. Though over the years

China has attempted to forge diplo-matic ties with Bhutan, fears of a Tibet-like saga repeating itself on its soil havealways kept Bhutan away from China.

Despite Beijing’s overtures toDhaka, India’s ties with Bangladeshhave remained strong and mutuallybeneficial. The recently-concludedvisit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinato New Delhi is a case in point as anumber of important pacts weresigned by the two neighbours. Thegrowing manufacturing industry inBangladesh is certainly a promisingalternative for India away from China.

In the case of Nepal, China hasbeen treading with caution. While ithas failed to formulate a unified SouthAsian policy due to its different inter-ests and equations with each of thecountries involved, attempts to attractthem have been made on a similar notesince the launch of the Belt and RoadInitiative (BRI). Under the initiative,China managed to bring Nepal onboard despite initial hesitation inKathmandu, which was reflected in thelast-minute decision by the Himalayankingdom just before the first BRISummit was to take place on May2015. Though at first, cooperationunder the initiative proved to bepromising, especially in building thetrans-Himalayan railway corridorbetween China and Nepal and provid-ing access to Chinese ports to Nepal,the feasibility of these projects is stillin question.

On the other hand, the ChineseForeign Minister and State CouncillorWang Yi’s visit to Nepal last month sawadvancement in Sino-Nepaleseengagement in various sectors. Theagenda of Xi’s impending visit toIndia and Nepal is obvious. One is tounderstand the regional environment

that has belied China’s expectations ingaining the desired results through theBRI. Second, China’s support toPakistan against India’s decision toabrogate Article 370 and a red carpetwelcome to Prime Minister ImranKhan before Xi’s trip to Chennai indi-cates continuity in Beijing’s strategiccooperation with Pakistan. In such asituation, China looks weak in its com-mitment to fight against global terror-ism. Third is the ongoing trade deficitbetween India and China. In 2018,India’s trade deficit with Chinaaccounted for $57.86 billion and in thecurrent year, India’s exports to Chinahave declined by 1.62 per cent. Tradehas been a strong point for the twocountries not waging war against eachother despite ongoing border dis-putes over the Line of Actual Control.Xi might assure India of a balancedbusiness as he did at the WuhanSummit.

With regard to Nepal, other thanthe BRI platform, relations haveimproved in the areas of security andinfrastructure development.

Considering the achievementsmade at the Wuhan Summit that hadhelped India and China normalisetheir chaotic relations amid theDoklam incident, the two leadersshould be able to reaffirm their com-mitments to abide by the “strategicguidance” issued at Wuhan tostrengthen communication, under-standing and trust-building during theupcoming summit. On the other hand,Xi will try to expedite the completionof Chinese projects in Nepal thathave been marred by delays and cor-ruption.

(The writer is doctoral candidate,Centre for South Asian Studies,Jawaharlal Nehru University)

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi’srecent announcement that Indiawould phase out single-use plastics

by 2022 has given the industry a few moreyears to live but has deprived the environ-ment of that many years of freedom fromthis toxic material.

Experts were elated when Modi haddeclared from the ramparts of the historicRed Fort on August 15 that single-use plas-tic would be banned soon, as it had raisedexpectations of a major respite for the envi-ronment. However, the euphoria wasshort-lived and obviously pulling the plugon a widely used item on a short run-upwould have been difficult, particularly inthe current dismal economic scenario.Having said this, India would have donewell to have put the ban on a fast track as

single-use plastics are aprime threat to the environ-ment due to the sheer vol-umes in which they are used.And, in the absence of a strictdisposal policy and set-up,the accumulation of thistoxic substance is spirallingbeyond belief.

As a result, not only arebirds, animals and evenaquatic creatures sufferingafter unknowingly consum-ing the substance that chokesthem and also blocks theirintestines, humans are suffer-ing as micro-plastics entertheir bloodstream. Single-use plastics block guttersand storm drains, creatingmany civic problems.

The worst example ofsingle-use plastics is themulti-layered packaging usedfor storing tobacco productslike gutkha. Many other eat-ables like chocolates, biscuits, chips and liq-uid food products are also packed in them.

India has been toying with the idea ofbanning single-use plastic for a long time

but has always stopped short of biting theproverbial bullet. On World EnvironmentDay 2018, the then Environment MinisterHarsh Vardhan had announced that sin-gle-use plastics would be phased out by

2020. Later, that dead-line was revised to2022, no doubt underpressure from indus-tries who have been upin arms against the ban.

This is characteris-tic of an economy thatputs prosperity ahead ofenvironmental well-being. Industry bodieslike the Federation ofIndian Chambers ofCommerce andIndustry (FICCI) hadraised major concernsover the proposed ban.These bodies, workingat lightning speed, hadchurned up statisticalreports on how a banon single-use plasticswould have multi-fac-toral effects on indus-tries. It presents a curi-ous case as to why these

bodies never thought of bringing outreports on how single-use plastics werecausing harm to the environment. Industrybodies have had ample time to coordinate

with stakeholders and begin a meaning-ful research on alternatives for plastic pack-aging. But instead of this, these bodies arenow lobbying for further postponing theban. This raises a pertinent question as towho is batting for the cause of the envi-ronment? Could industry bodies not haveworked closely with the Government andthe corporate sector and found a viablealternative to plastic till now?

The Government and the NationalGreen Tribunal must pull up these bod-ies and ask for clarification on the one-sided reports presented by them insteadof capitulating to their demands andpostponing the ban. Unfortunately inIndia there is no apex non-profit represen-tative body that fights for the cause of theenvironment. As a result, nature hasalways and will continue to “adjust” witheveryone’s requirements. This flexibilitymight mean the ultimate demise of theworld as we know it today. But then, whois bothered? Not our political masters forsure.

The Father of the Nation, MahatmaGandhi, always relied on mass movementsas the basis for behavioural change. Thisis what we need today, a mass movementthat can inspire the common man to do

what neither the Government nor the cor-porate sector is able to do, bat for the envi-ronment with no intention for profit andno strings attached.

Once the people of the country beginthe movement for a better and cleanerenvironment, the vested profit-basedinterests will have to take a backseat. TheGovernment, too, will have to acknowledgethat since a clean environment is a basicright of every citizen, it must take priori-ty over other concerns raised by variouspressure groups.

The image of the Government will alsoimprove in the eyes of the common manwhen it prioritises the health of the peo-ple over the health of balance sheets of thecorporate sector. A ban on single-use plas-tic is a step in the right direction. But delayin implementation of the same is an evi-dence of the lack of concrete resolve. IfIndia could withstand demonetisationthat was implemented overnight andweather Goods and Service Tax-relatedcomplications, can it not manage withoutsingle-use plastics? It sure can. But theresolve of the people is ineffective withoutthe will of the Government.

(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)

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Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister YogiAdityanath will address rallies

on October 15, 16 and 18 in the run-upto the October 21 bypolls to 11 Assemblyseats in the State, the ruling BJP said on Wednesday.

According to state BJP media co-incharge Alok Awasthi, Adityanath willaddress rallies in the Gobindnagar(Kanpur), Manikpur (Chitrakoot),Lucknow Cantonment and PratapgarhAssembly constituencies on October 15.

The Chief Minister will address ral-lies in the Zaidpur-SC (Barabanki),Jalalpur (Ambedkarnagar), Balha-SC(Bahraich) and Ghosi (Mau) Assembly

constituencies on October 16, Awasthi said.

On October 18, Adityanath will be inthe Gangoh (Saharanpur), Rampur andIglas-SC (Aligarh) Assembly constituen-cies to address poll rallies, he added.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hasannounced candidates for 10 seats,while the Pratapgarh seat has been givento its ally, Apna Dal.

The bypolls will be held in theGangoh, Rampur, Iglas (SC), LucknowCantonment, Govindnagar, Manikpur,Pratapgarh, Zaidpur (SC), Jalalpur, Balha(SC) and Ghosi Assembly constituencies.

The Ghosi seat fell vacant followingthe resignation of its MLA PhaguChauhan, after he was appointed as thegovernor of Bihar.

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Hyderabad: The Telangana unit ofCPI on Wednesday said it willrethink on its support to the TRSin the October 21 HuzurnagarAssembly by-election if ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Raocontinued with his “oppressive”stand against striking transportcorporation employees.

The term “self-dismissal” of employees used by KCR willboomerang on him and he will beself-dismissed, CPI Telangana sec-retary Chada Venkat Reddy saidadding he should immediatelywithdraw such remarks.

“If KCR does not retract fromhis stance of removing RTCemployees, if he continues to followoppressive methods on employees,we will rethink (extending support)for Huzurnagar bypolls,” he said at

a Roundtable organised here byTelangana State Road Transport Corporation employees’unions.

Various employees and workersunions of TSRTC are on an indef-inite strike since October 5 inresponse to a call by the JointAction Committee (JAC), demand-ing merger of the RTC with the gov-ernment and recruitment to variousposts, among others.

The Chandrasekhar Rao-ledgovernment made it clear it has notintention of merging the loss-mak-ing PSU with it. The bypoll forHuzurnagar was necessitated by theresignation of Telangana PradeshCongress Committee President NUttam Kumar Reddy following his election to Lok Sabha.

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The Jammu & Kashmir BJP onWednesday slammed the Congress,

the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)and the National Conference (NC) for notcontesting the first-ever BlockDevelopment Council (BDC) polls beingheld in the State on October 24.

A notification was issued on Tuesdayfor the election of chairpersons of BDCin 310 blocks of Jammu & Kashmir, thefirst polls in the State after abrogation ofits special status on August 5.

State Spokesperson of BJP Brig (Retd)Anil Gupta said the “hollowness” of thethree parties had been exposed and theywere unable to digest the effort made byPrime Minister Narendra Modi tostrengthen democracy in the State.

“The power-brokers who have alwaysput their political interests above the inter-est of the common man and kept him dis-empowered are now scared of the emer-gence of new faces and new leadership inthe form of Chairmen of BDCs,” Gupta said.

“These Chairmen will fill the politi-cal vacuum created due to the currentleadership being obdurate,” Gupta said,adding Panchs and Sarpanchs dulyempowered will provide the grassroot

leadership and work for the bettermentof the people.

He said Panchayati Raj Institutions areinseparable part of our democratic systemand are meant to compliment the systemand not act as a parallel centre of power.

“This reality needs to be accepted bythe NC and the PDP as much as they needto accept the reality of abrogation ofArticle 370 and Article 35A. They needto reorient in order to remain relevant asmainstream political parties,” Gupta said.

Claiming that the Congress, the NCand the PDP have lost “complete contact”with the ground level workers, Gupta alleged that the parties had got soused to “drawing-room politics” thatthey have completely ignored grass rootworkers.

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Pakistan should be worriedabout India acquiring

Rafale fighter jets, not theCongress, BJP spokespersonShahnawaz Hussain said hereon Wednesday.

Defence Minister RajnathSingh took symbolic delivery ofthe first Rafale aircraft inFrance on Tuesday.

“The Congress could notget Rafale jets for the countryfor one decade. They tried toput hurdles in its path whenthey were in Opposition,”Hussain alleged, speaking to

reporters here.Congress leader Rahul

Gandhi had made alleged cor-ruption in the Rafale deal amajor issue during this year’sLok Sabha elections.

On some Congress leaderscriticising Rajnath Singh per-forming “shastra puja” of theaircraft, Hussain said worship-ing weapons on Vijayadashamiis our tradition.

“It was Indian Air ForceDay and also Vijayadashamiwhen a Rafale jet was handedover. Worshiping weapons on Vijayadashami is a tradition and so our Defence

Minister did it,” the BJP leader said.

Asked about Opposition’scriticism that the BJP was turn-ing abrogation of Article 370and withdrawal of special sta-tus of Jammu & Kashmir intoan issue for Maharashtra elec-tions, Hussain denied thecharge.

“We revoked it (the con-stitutional provision) and wewill talk about that. Congressis making it a political issue.Maharashtra has contributed tonational security, so we aretelling people here about revo-cation,” he said.

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Buoyed by its stupendous performance inthe last Lok Sabha poll, the West Bengal

BJP is all set to achieve a record member-ship of one crore in the State, party lead-ers claimed on Wednesday.

The Bengal BJP unit has surpassed thetarget set by the Central leadership to enroll60 lakh members when the countrywidemembership drive began on July 6, accord-ing to the party sources.

Although the membership drive acrossthe country closed on August 20, it is on ina few states such as West Bengal, which arepriority states for the BJP, and the exercisein these states will continue till Decemberthis year, party leaders said.

As per the data released by the state BJPon August 22, the BJP had clocked 77 lakhmembership.

“As per the latest record 96 lakh peo-ple have applied for the BJP membership.By the beginning of November we would

cross one crore mark. The response amongthe masses is huge. Everyday we are receiv-ing thousands of applications,” a senior stateBJP leader said.

According to Tushar Ghosh, convenorof the BJP’s membership drive in Bengal,after the process of enrolling cadres getsover the process of sorting out would start.

“More than 90 lakh people so have havetaken the membership either online oroffline. According to the trend, we wouldsoon cross one crore mark, the target setby our state president Dilip Ghosh. So oncethis membership process gets over we wouldstart the process of verifying details andbackground,” Ghosh told PTI.

Since 2014 Lok Sabha poll, the BJP hasgrown by leaps and bounds in the state. In2009, the BJP in Bengal had garneredaround 1.75 lakh membership. The figureswent upto nearly 43 lakh during the mem-bership drive in 2014, when the party onits own bagged 18 per cent votes and twoLok Sabha seats.

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Jammu: Jammu & KashmirCongress president GA Mir onWednesday accused the BJP-led Government at the Centreof destroying the State by unilaterally abrogating provisions of Article 370 andbifurcating it into two Union Territories.

The Jammu & KashmirPradesh Congress Committeechief said the situation in theValley is the “worst ever”despite claims of restoration ofnormalcy by the Government.

“Congress at the nationaland the State level has alreadymade its stand clear on thedevelopments of August 5 and 6 (when the special statuswas revoked under Article370). “It was done in an unde-mocratic and unconstitution-al manner under a conspiracyto destroy our beautiful Statewhich has its own identity

before independence of thecountry and became part ofIndia like other States postindependence,” Mir toldreporters in his maiden Pressconference after the abrogationof special status of the State.

Mir, who was releasedrecently after 55 days of housearrest, said he was not beingallowed to visit Kashmir, wherethe majority of the politicalleaders including three formerChief Ministers — FarooqAbdullah and Omar Abdullahof National Conference andPDP president MehboobaMufti are currently underdetention. “J&K was not theonly State enjoying special sta-tus under the Constitution. Atleast 10 other States of thecountry are enjoying specialstatus to safeguard land andcultural identity of the peopleand jobs,” he added. PTI

��� � �����

Jammu & Kashmir is at the crossroads of history and theNational Conference (NC) has a huge role to play to

ensure the welfare of the people of the State, the party saidon Wednesday.

Calling for intensified initiatives to restore normal-cy by winning over the hearts of the people, NC provin-cial president Devender Singh Rana said there was a need to reach out to the people and ensureharmony at all costs.

“The State is at the crossroads of history wherein theNational Conference has a huge role to play for welfareand well-being of the people, keeping in view their urgesand aspirations,” Rana said at a meeting here.

The party expressed concern over the lockdown oncommunication, detention of political leaders and restric-tions on liberty of people in Kashmir. It also sought imme-diate release of all detainees.

Rana pledged to uphold the distinct identity of Jammu,Kashmir and Ladakh, adding that unity in diversity hasbeen the greatest strength and hallmark of the State.

“Together we, the Dogras, the Kashmiris and theLadakhis, can meet the challenges and steer the state topeace and harmony,” he added.

��� � �����

The Jammu & Kashmir National Panthers Party(JKNPP) on Wednesday urged President Ram

Nath Kovind to postpone the Block DevelopmentCouncil (BDC) polls in the State till the communi-cation blockade in the Valley is lifted.

A notification was issued on Tuesday for the election of chairpersons of BDC in 310 blocks ofJammu & Kashmir, the first polls in the State afterabrogation of its special status on August 5.

Chief Electoral Officer Shailendra Kumar said theelections will be held on October 24.

“We urge the President to postpone BDC elec-tions as there is no communication in entire Jammu& Kashmir,” Chief Patron of JKNPP, Prof Bhim Singhtold reporters here.

“There is no telephone connection till today withthe political activists or districts in Kashmir Valleyas well as districts of Poonch, Rajouri, Doda, Kishtwarand Ramban even in Jammu province”, he added.

It was only a day before when the J&K admin-istration declared that it was releasing political prisoners from jails and directing schools to reopen,he said.

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Already down in doldrums,the Left Front is planning

to revive its lost fortunes by launching prolonged campaigns post Durga Pujas.The campaign will start and continue till 2021Assembly elections.

According to sources, theCPI(M) is planning a host oflong marches in the State overa host of issues ranging fromemployment to rising inflationto workmen’s rights, preservation of secular fabric,adequate opportunity for edu-cation and so on.

The long marches willcover all districts and possibly all the blocks andpanchayats of the State beforeculminating at district headquarters and finally at theState capital, sources said.

“Bengal has been communally polarised byMamata Banerjee and the BJP.Now the Chief Minister is crying hoarse against theHindutva forces. But the wayshe stoked minoritism inBengal for the past severalyears and the way she sup-pressed Left movement gave

rise to Hindu right wing sen-timents in Bengal a State withliberal views and a State whichhad always rejected communalpolitics,” said CPI(M) leaderSujan Chakrabarty.

This was a “pre-plannedstrategy of Mamata Banerjee tomake place for the BJP. Shetried it by holding their handsdirectly from 1998 to 2008and when she failed to plantthem in Bengal she took a‘reverse strategy’: this time bystoking minority communal-ism which bore fruit angeringthe Hindus and pushing themtowards the BJP and to makethe BJP’s work easy. She pur-sued a policy of ruthless per-secution of the Left workerswho were forced to take shelter under the saffronumbrella because they were inpower in the Centre and theywere armed with the CBI,” aformer CPI(M) MP fromNorth Bengal said.

From an impressive 30percent vote share in 2014 theLeft Front’s vote percentageslumped to 7.5 percent in 2019with a majority of its decadesold sympathizers preferring tovote for the BJP. The Congressvote share came down from 10percent to 5 per cent.

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BJP candidate SudhanshuTrivedi was on Wednesday

elected unopposed to the RajyaSabha from Uttar Pradesh.

He has been elected to theRajya Sabha on the seat whichfell vacant following the deathof BJP stalwart Arun Jaitley.

Trivedi, who had filed hisnomination papers on Friday,was declared elected unop-posed on Wednesday, the lastday of withdrawal of names,special secretary to the VidhanSabha BB Dubey said.

He was personally presentto receive his certificate, Dubey said.

Senior Ministers in theYogi Adityanath Government,including Brijesh Pathak,Ashutosh Tandon, MohsinRaza and UP BJP vice-presi-

dent JPS Rathore were presentalong with Trivedi, who isNational spokesperson of the BJP.

Trivedi’s win was all butcertain due to the huge major-ity the BJP enjoys in the UttarPradesh Assembly.

Jaitley, who died in Augustthis year, was elected last yearand his tenure was till 2024.

Trivedi, who is equallyarticulate in Hindi as well asEnglish, is making his debut inParliament after being associated with the BJP for along period.

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Ladakh BJP MP JamyangTsering Namgyal on

Wednesday said several peoplewanted to visit the region toexplore business opportuni-ties but only those who aregenuinely interested in tap-ping its resources, and not misusing them, can bewelcomed.

Speaking at an event herein Maharashtra, Namgyal saidthose people who wanted touse the resources in Ladakh forselfish purposes are not wel-come in the region.

After abrogation of Article370 and 35 A, several peoplewant to visit Ladakh to explorebusiness opportunities.

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The Winter Session of theKarnataka legislature that

will begin on Thursday isexpected to be stormy,with theOpposition Congress andJD(S) likely to corner the BJPGovernment on a host ofissues, including flood relief.

This will be the second session for the BJP

Government after assumingpower, the last one being in Julyend, where Yediyurappaproved his majority on thefloor of the House andVishweshwar Hegde Kageriwas elected the new Speaker.

The Government has saidthe three-day session will primarily focus on discussionon the budget and its passage.

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BJP MLA Basanagouda PatilYatnal, facing the ire of

party’s Central leadership overhis utterances on delay ingrant of Central aid for floodrelief, alleged on Wednesdaysome people in the party werehatching a conspiracy to unseatChief Minister BS Yediyurappa.

“You want one moremonth to go like this (withoutadequate flood relief from theCentre) and later remove

Yediyurappa. This is your con-spiracy,” Yatnal alleged withoutnaming anynbody. TheVijayapura MLA, who hadserved as a minister in AtalBihari Vajpayee Government,also charged the Central lead-ership with colluding with the“conspirators”.

“If you don’t want him(Yediyurappa as CM), call him,tell him that you are now 77-years-old which is against ourparty’s policy (to continue inelectoral politics), take his res-

ignation and select a newleader. Instead of doing this,you (central leaders) block therelief funds and encouragethose who are Yediyurappa’sopponents,” he said.

Days after the party highcommand served him a show-cause notice for his statements against PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andsome other senior party functionaries over delay ingrant of central aid, heappealed to the party leader-

ship to summon Yediyurappaand his “opponents”.

“You call both Yediyurappaand his opponents. You havethe capability to teachYediyurappa a lesson if he iswrong and also those whowant to unseat Yediyurappa,”he told reporters in Vijayapura.

Yatnal has upped the anteagainst the party leadership fornot releasing Central aid to theflood-ravaged districts ofKarnataka.

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Uttar Pradesh BJP presidentSwatantradev Singh on

Wednesday said his party was oncourse to make a clean sweep in theupcoming by-elections for 11Aassembly seats. Singh claimed itwould be a one-sided contest.

“BJP workers in the entire Stateare a committed cadre and are work-ing for the party’s programmes ratherthan seeking personal gains.

“The Government of YogiAdityanath is committed for the pro-

tection of the poorest and margin-alised section of the society. The BJPwill make a clean sweep in the upcom-ing by-elections,” he told reporters.

He said that the party’s mainplank is to work for a clean India andmake the state plastic free.

Replying to a question regardingthe recent sensational murder inJhansi, the UP BJP chief said, “ThisGovernment has nothing to hide andthat is why we are holding a magiste-rial probe. The crime is connected tothe activities of the mining mafia andthe truth will not be suppressed.”

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Apolice team on Wednesday took former

Union Minister SwamiChinmayanand and the studentwho has accused him of rapeto the Forensic ScienceLaboratory in Lucknow fortaking their voice samples.

“Chinmayanand was takento Lucknow at 6 am and the lawstudent at about 9 am to FSL in the State capital for their voice test,” JailSuperintendent Rakesh Kumartold PTI.

“Two separate teams ofthe police have taken them toLucknow following courtorders to take their voice sam-ples,” Superintendent of Police,

Dinesh Tripathi said.Chief Judicial Magistrate

Omveer Singh on October 4had ordered that voice samplesof Chinmayanand, the law student and three others betaken.

The former UnionMinister, arrested by the SIT,was booked under section376C, a charge short of rape, onthe basis of the complaint filedby the 23-year-old woman whostudies at a college run by hisashram.

The woman has beencharged with extortion, fol-lowing a complaint by the 72-year-old Chinmayanand’slawyer that she and three oth-ers were demanding moneyfrom the leader.

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The visit by independentMP Sumalatha Ambareesh

to the BJP office in her con-stituency — Mandya — to attend a meeting onWednesday sparked specula-tion about her joining theAmit Shah-led party.

However, the actressturned politicianclarified thatshe had visited the office tothank party leaders and work-ers in the district for their sup-port in herelection.

The BJP had supportedSumalatha in Mandya duringthe Lok Sabha polls by notfielding any candidate.

“I will not join the partywithout informing themedia,because what is there in hidingsuch matters.Can I keep it secret

from you (media)..You will bethe first to know,” Sumalathatold reporters at Mandya aftervisiting the BJP office. She saidshe will seek BJP’s cooperationand support for the develop-ment of her constituency.

“Other than that as of nowto questions about joining thisparty or that party, supportingparties in the election (by-polls)- I don’t have answers.

Earlier I had visited BJPhead office in Bengaluru, eventhen similar questions wereraised..I’m not like other politi-cians, please don’t see melikethat,” she added.

Speculation has been rifeabout Sumalatha, the widow ofCongress leader and popularactor turned politician MHAmbareesh, joining the BJP forsome time now.

����� �����

Union Minister and Dalitleader Ramdas Athawale

said on Wednesday that hisoutfit had to continue to support the BJP-led ruling alliance in Maharashtraas there was no other option.

Athawale heads a factionof the Republican Party ofIndia (RPI), founded by Dr BR Ambedkar.

“I have no other politicalchoice, so I am with BJP in this(Maharashtra Assembly) elec-tion,” Athawale, known forhis candid way of speaking,told a Marathi news channel.

“But the association with

the BJP is not merely electoraland for power, I am with themover various social issues aswell,” he added.

The Union Minister ofState for Social Justice alsorefuted rumours of his wifeSeema entering into politics.

“She does attend some rallies and party functions. Itdoes not mean she will joinactive politics. She looks aftermy house and helps meremain active in politics,”Athawale said to a question.

Pune: Senior NCP leader AjitPawar on Wednesday down-played Congress veteranSushilkumar Shinde’s state-ment which had reignitedmurmurs about the merger ofthe Sharad Pawar-led partywith the Grand Old Party.

Shinde caused a flutter onTuesday when he said the NCPand the Congress will cometogether “because now they arealso tired and we are also tired”.

Ajit dubbed the remarksShinde’s “personal opinion”.“He is a senior leader ofCongress and he had expressedhis personal opinion. I heardwhat he said, and according tome, he had expressed what hethinks, which is his right,” said Ajit. PTI

����� �����

Maharashtra Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis said on

Wednesday that Opposition Congressand NCP have accepted defeat evenbefore votes are cast in the stateAssembly polls, as seen by Congressleader Rahul Gandhi’s absence fromcampaign.

He also said the NationalistCongress Party is “half- empty”, andwill be emptied fully afterthe poll results are out on October 24.

“They are already in defeatistframe of mind. I read in newspapersthat Rahul Gandhi is in Bangkok,” Fadnavis said at a rally atNer in Dhule district of northMaharashtra.

“He knows they are going to loseanyway, so why take the blame fordefeat? He is not ready to come here,”Fadnavis said.

��� -������� �����

On a day when the Maharashtra BJPvowed to “retire” him permanent-

ly from political and social life after theState Assembly poll outcome, 78-year-old NCP chief Sharad Pawar poked funat himself while sending out a strongmessage to the ruling saffron alliance:“Have I come old? Abhi to main jawanhoon... I will pack off everyone homefirst then I will go”.

Pawar’s age and State BJP’s vow toretire him became a talking point onWednesday, as the campaign for the October 21 Assembly polls pickedup pace.

State BJP president ChandrakantPatil set the ball rolling by saying thathis party would ensure that Pawar“retires from political and social life for-ever” after the State Assembly polls wereout on October 24.

“We will ensure that he (SharadPawar) permanently retires from socialand political arenas once the assembly

polls results are out,” Patil said as hetook swipes at Pawar while addressingan election rally for Shiv Sena candidatePrakash Abitkar in Radhanagari tehsilin Kolhapur district of westernMaharashtra.

Alluding to large desertions anddefections from the NCP ranks to theBJP-Sena alliance, Patil said: “it wouldnot be surprising if the generation nextof Pawar family switches over to the BJPin the coming years. If they do, we willcome them”.

Elsewhere at Wadgaon in Akoladistrict of eastern Maharashtra — bet-ter known as Vidarbha, Pawar was inhis element while campaigning for hisparty candidate Sangram Gawande.

After a welcome speech by a formerlegislator and office-bearer TukaramBidkar who in good faith describedPawar as “our beloved 80-year oldleader”, Pawar retaliated albeit in alighter vein, “All youngsters have grownunder my tutelage. I am happy withtheir progress. I liked everything in his

speech except one thing which I did notappreciate one thing he said about me.He said that I am an 80-year-old man.Have I become old?”. The crowd burstinto peals of laughter.

After advising his party colleaguenot to talk like that and asking the for-mer to remember that he was the partypresident, Pawar continued in lightervein: “Abhi tho main Jawan hu... I willpack off everyone home first then I willgo home”.

Pawar, who will turn 79 onDecember 12, has hit campaign trial forthe second time in the run-up to theState Assembly polls. Before theElection Commission came out with theschedule for the October 21 StateAssembly polls on September 21, theMaratha leader had toured severalparts of the state once.

Pawar has come in for a consider-able appreciation in the state politicalfor the enthusiastic manner in which hehas been campaigning for his party can-didate.

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Aseasoned Congress leaderin Kerala, who had served

as Minister for two terms hasraised a revolt against the present leadership of the partyincluding the Congress High Command.

KK Ramachandran, popu-larly known in the State asRamachandran Master, hassaid that there are no leaders

with ‘charisma’ in the Congress.There are no charismatic lead-ership in the party as of now.We had charismatic leaderslike Jawaharlal Nehru andIndira Gandhi in the past.Though Rajiv Gandhi gaveenough indications that hewould emerge as a leader withthe stature of Nehru and Indira, he turned out to be amajor disappointment,” saidRamachandran in an article hewrote for a popular Malayalam

newspaper.“Recently I happened to

read a book Sonia Gandhi, HerLife, Her Lies and HerManipulations authored by DrSubramanian Swamy. The book

has many controversial refer-ences, including that of theBofors scam. Swamy has men-tioned in the book that the realname of Sonia is Antonio.Though the book was pub-lished in 2011, till date not asingle Congress leader oractivist has challenged the con-tents,” pointed outRamachandran.

The former Congressleader alleged that the party hasfallen into the hands of a self-

serving caucus who has onlyvested interests. “The only gainmade by the Congress in the2019 Lok Sabha election wasfrom Kerala where the minori-ties cast their votes for theCongress because of their fearfor Narendra Modi. TheHindus cast their votes for theCongress because they weredisgusted with the CPI-Mwhich spoiled the serenity andsacredness of Sabarimala shrineunder the pretext of imple-

menting the Supreme Courtverdict,” said Ramachandran.

He lambasted the presentleadership of the party fornominating Rahul Gandhi asthe p[arty chief despite hisincapacity to occupy a seatwhich was once adorned bylegends like Mahatma Gandhiand Subhash Chandra Bose.“The election to the post ofAICC president itself wasmanipulated and held under athreat,” he said.

����� ,�����

Tamil Nadu Chief MinisterK Palaniswami on

Wednesday said the secondinformal summit betweenPrime Minister Narendra Modiand Chinese President in thestate on October 11 and 12 wasa matter of ‘pride’ and has raised its stature in the

global arena.Extending a warm wel-

come to the two leaders, herecalled the Chinese connec-tion to the host town ofMamallapuram and said it wasthe right choice for the ren-dezvous of the two leaders.

The earlier informal sum-mit was held in the Chinese cityof Wuhan last year.

The meeting of the twoleaders in the state to discuss on“improving cordial Indo-China ties” was a ‘pride’ forTamil Nadu and has raised itsstature in the global arena, hesaid. Palaniswami thanked thePrime Minister for selectingMamallapuram for the meet.

“I welcome both theseworld leaders on behalf of the

people of Tamil Nadu and the State Government,”Palaniswami said in an officialstatement.

He recalled the historicalfact that China and TamilNadu shared trade and cultur-al ties centuries ago, even asChinese emissary Yuan Suanghad visited the Pallavas, whoseport city was Mamallapuram.

����� -����

Bihar Deputy Chief MinisterSushil Kumar Modi on

Wednesday asserted that BJPhas “nothing to do” with a sedition case lodged inMuzaffarpur district againstnearly 50 renowned actors,filmmakers and intellectualswho had written a letter toPrime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his interventionin the rising incidence of moblynching.

In a statement issued here,Modi noted with dismay thatthe FIR was lodged upon thecomplaint of a “serial litigant”from the north Bihar town,who has filed countless peti-tions against well-known per-sonalities “including myself ”.

He charged the “awardwapasi and tukde tukde gangs”

with using the incident toallege that the Narendra Modigovernment at the Centre wasagainst the right to freedom ofexpression.

“He is a serial litigant whohas filed 715 PILs, besidespetitions against well-knownpersonalities like former PrimeMinister Manmohan Singhand actors Amitabh Bachchanand Hrithik Roshan. He hadeven filed a case against mefour years ago”, Modi saidwithout referring to theMuzaffarpur-based advocateSudhir Kumar Ojha by name.

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��������� ��+.���������� (������������:"Kolkata: The CBI onWednesday interrogatedNarada News portal CEOMathew Samuel in connec-tion with a sting operation heclaimed to have carried out fiveyears ago, agency sources said.

In the tapes that surfaced in2016, ahead of Bengal assem-bly polls, persons resemblingsenior Trinamool Congressleaders and IPS officer are seenaccepting money from repre-sentatives of a fictitious com-pany in return for favours.

Samuel, who had beenquestioned by the agency onearlier occasions, too, appearedbefore the CBI on Mondayafternoon at its Nizam Palaceoffice, the sources said.

The Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) made itsfirst arrest in the case lastmonth, when it apprehendedIPS officer SMH Mirza, who is currently in judicial custody. PTI

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Benchmark indices made anemphatic comeback on

Wednesday after a six-sessionlosing streak as investors piledinto recently beaten downbanking and financial stocksahead of the earnings season.

The BSE Sensex surged645.97 points or 1.72 per centto end at 38,177.95, while thebroader NSE Nifty zoomed186.90 points or 1.68 per centto 11,313.30.

After a cautious start, thekey indices gained momentumin afternoon trade, led by bank-ing, financial and telecomcounters.

Sentiment got a furtherboost after the Cabinet hikedthe dearness allowance (DA)for central governmentemployees, which is expectedto prop up festive demand, ana-lysts said.

On the Sensex chart,IndusInd Bank was the biggestgainer, spurting 5.45 per cent,followed by Bharti Airtel, ICICIBank, SBI, M&M, Kotak Bank,Tata Steel and HDFC Bank.

On the other hand, Yes

Bank was the top loser with5.26 per cent decline. Otherlaggards were Hero MotoCorp,HCL Tech, ITC, TCS, Infosys,ONGC and Bajaj Auto, fallingup to 2.65 to per cent.

“Market recovered aftermany days of fall and rose com-fortably above 11,300-level.Banks outperformed as sharpfall in bond yield is indicatingfurther room for rate cutswhich will improve liquidityand consumption story.

“Further, a 5 per cent hikein DA by govt will add impe-tus to the festival demand.Going forward, the result sea-son will dictate the marketdirection and investors areexpecting some green shootson account of festival demandand good monsoon,” saidVinod Nair, Head of Researchat Geojit Financial Services.

Sectorally, BSE Telecomemerged as the biggest gainerwith a jump of 4.92 per cent,followed by banking (3.67 percent), finance (2.84 per cent),metal (2.12 per cent), realty(1.99 per cent), basic materials(1.95 per cent) and energy(0.98 per cent).

However, IT, consumerdurables and teck lost up to0.92 per cent.

In the broader markets, theBSE Midcap index shot up1.38 per cent, while the small-cap gauge gained 0.66 per cent.

The rupee was trading 3paise lower at 70.98 against theUS dollar (intra-day).

Brent futures, the global oilbenchmark, rose 1.08 per centto $58.77 per barrel.

Asian markets were mixedfollowing concerns over theUS-China trade negotiations,while European bourses were trading higher in earlydeals as investors digested earn-ings data.

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Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’sReliance Jio will, for the first

time ever, charge a small 6 paisaper minute for voice calls madeby its users to mobile phonenetworks of rivalssuch as Airtel andVodafone Idea torecover a chargethat could lastbeyond the previ-ously set December31, 2019 deadline.

Blaming regu-latory uncertaintycaused by TRAI reopeningsunset clause of the so-calledinterconnect user charge(IUC), Jio in a statement saidthe charge would last till suchtime that regulations requirepayments to rival networks forcompleting calls. Jio, however,said it will compensate theusers by giving free data ofequivalent amount.

Jio, which charges users onits 4G telecom network only fordata usage while voice calls toanywhere in the country arefree, said the new charge wouldnot be applicable on calls madeby its users to other Jio phonesand to landline phones as wellas on calls made using

WhatsApp, FaceTime andother such platforms. Incomingcalls from all networks willcontinue to be free.

Telecom regulator TRAI in2017 had slashed IUC to 6paise per minute from 14 paise

and had proposed toend the regime onDecember 31, 2019,after considering var-ious factors. But ithas now floated aconsultation paper toreview whether thetimeline needs to beextended.

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Telecom operator BhartiAirtel on Wednesday said it

has raised $750 million (about�5,330 crore) from investorsbased in Asia, Europe and theUS through a hybrid financialinstrument.

Bharti Airtel said in astatement that “its wholly-owned subsidiary Network i2i Limited, has priced ... Offeringof $750 million 5.650 per cent subordinated perpetual securities.”

A perpetual bond is a fixedincome security with no maturity date that yields asteady f low of interest payments.

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India has moved down 10places to rank 68th on an

annual global competitivenessindex, largely due to improve-ments witnessed by severalother economies, whileSingapore has replaced the USas the world’s most competitiveeconomy.

India, which was ranked58th in the annual GlobalCompetitiveness Index com-piled by Geneva-based WorldEconomic Forum (WEF), isamong the worst-performingBRICS nations along withBrazil (ranked even lower thanIndia at 71st this year).

Announcing its latest index,the WEF said on WednesdayIndia ranks high in terms ofmacroeconomic stability andmarket size, while its financialsector is relatively deep and sta-ble despite the high delinquen-cy rate, which contributes toweakening the soundness of itsbanking system.

India is ranked also high at15th place in terms of corporategovernance, while it is rankedsecond globally for sharehold-er governance, the WEF studyshowed. In terms of the market

size, India is ranked third, whileit has got the same rank forrenewable energy regulation.

Besides, India also punch-es above its development statuswhen it comes to innovation,which is well ahead of mostemerging economies and onpar with several advancedeconomies, the report said.

But, these positive metricscontrast with major shortcom-ings in some of the basicenablers of competitiveness incase of India, the WEF said,while flagging limited ICT(information, communicationsand technology) adoption,poor health conditions andlow healthy life expectancy.

The WEF said the healthylife expectancy, where India hasbeen ranked 109th out of totalthe 141 countries surveyed forthe index, is one of the short-est outside Africa and signifi-cantly below the South Asianaverage.

Besides, India needs togrow its skills base, while itsproduct market efficiency isundermined by a lack of tradeopenness and the labour mar-ket is characterised by a lack ofworker rights’ protections,insufficiently developed activelabour market policies andcritically low participation ofwomen.

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India should provide anattractive business environ-

ment and not “terrorise us”with its tax and customs rules,the CEO of the French enginemanufacturer behind theRafale fighter jet told DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh onWednesday while announcingthat the company plans toinvest nearly USD 150 millionin the country.

French multinationalSafran, the manufacturer of theM88 state-of-the-art enginesfitted in the Rafale jets acquiredby India, gave a presentation of

its facility to the minister whotook a tour of the assembly line of the company near theFrench capital.

“Visited the EngineManufacturing Facility ofSafran at Villaroche near Paristoday. Safran is known for itsengine making capabilities.They have also developed theengine for Rafale,” Singh said ina tweet.

“Happy to meet some ofthe young and bright engineersof Indian origin working at theSafran manufacturing facility.Their technical knowledge andhard work is impressive andinspiring,” he said.

During the presentation,CEO of the Safran AircraftEngines Olivier Andriesrevealed plans for nearly USD150 million investment in thecountry towards training andmaintenance. However, theCEO called on India for moresupport on its tax structure.

“India is set to become thethird largest commercial mar-ket for aviation and we are keento create a strong maintenanceand repair base in India toserve customers,” Andries said.

“But we need to make surethat the Indian tax and customs system is not teror-rising us,” he said.

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Defence Minister RajnathSingh on Wednesday said

India has taken a host of mea-sures to attract investments inthe defence manufacturing sec-tor and is open to any furthertax rationalisation that may berequired to encourage the“Make in India” initiative in thesector.

Addressing a delegation ofCEOs representing some ofFrance’s leading Defence industry majors at the end of his three-day visit to thecountry, the Minister also high-lighted the recent cut in cor-porate tax rate as well as thesteps taken to improve theease of doing business in India.

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The Chinese operators ofPakistan’s strategic Gwadar

Port and its free zone in therestive Balochistan provincehave vowed to make the coastalcity the single largest contrib-utor to the country’s nationaleconomic output in seven yearsby creating 47,000 jobs withnew investments worth bil-lions of dollars, according to amedia report.

China Overseas PortsHolding Company (COPHC)

Gwadar Chairman ZhangBaozhong said this on Tuesdayafter the Pakistan governmentstamped 23-year income taxholiday and exemptions ofsales tax and customs duties forthe Gwadar Port and busi-nesses to be set up at GwadarFree Zone, the Express Tribunereported.

“It (issuing of ordinance) isa turning point for Pakistan’seconomy and now billions ofdollars will be invested inGwadar,” Zhang told the medi-apersons.

Mumbai: A new researchreport co-authored by IMFchief economist Gita Gopinathclaims that the demonetisationexercise generated a decline innational economic activity ofroughly 2 percentage points inthe fourth quarter of 2016 andwas equivalent to a 200 basispoint interest rate hike.

The Reserve Bank of Indiahas since February 2019 deliv-ered a 135 basis point rate cutin order to revive economicactivity which fell to over a six-year low at 5 per cent duringthe April-June quarter.

“The magnitude of the

peak effect on output is com-parable to a roughly 200 basispoint tightening of the mone-tary policy rate based on themedian of estimates reviewedin Ramey (2016) of economet-ric studies of US data,” theresearch report said.

The Modi government’skey argument to justify demon-etisation was to reduce the useof cash which makes financialtransaction an expensive affairbut the research report con-cluded that in modern Indiacash continues to serve anessential role in facilitatingeconomic activity. IANS

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In a setback to IndiabullsGroup’s plans to enter the

banking space, the ReserveBank on Wednesday rejectedthe proposed merger ofIndiabulls Housing Financewith troubled private sectorlender Lakshmi Vilas Bank.

Speculations were rifeabout the fate of the merger,announced in April this year,after the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) imposed restrictions onLakshmi Vilas Bank due to itsweak financial health.

The regulator’s decisionalso comes against the back-drop of both the entities beingentangled in legal woes.

“...This is to inform that RBIvide their letter dated October9, 2019, informed that theapplication for voluntary amal-gamation of lndiabulls HousingFinance Limited and lndiabullsCommercial Credit Limitedwith the Lakshmi Vilas Bank

(LVB) cannot be approved,”the bank said in a stockexchange filing. The bank didnot cite any reason for rejectionof the merger proposal.

The Tamil Nadu-basedbank had sought approval formerger with IndiabullsHousing Finance from the RBIon May 7, 2019. The mergerproposal had received all nec-essary approvals, but the all-important nod from the RBIwas pending since May.

Last month, the bank wasplaced under PromptCorrective Action (PCA)framework of the RBI due tohigh level of bad loans, lack ofsufficient capital to managerisks and negative return onassets for two consecutiveyears.

The RBI move cameamidst the Delhi Police’sEconomic Offences Wing reg-istering a complaint against theboard of LVB alleging cheatingand misappropriation of funds.

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Telecom operator BhartiAirtel on Wednesday alleged

that Jio’s decision to levy 6 paiseper minute on voice calls to rivalphone networks is geared to“force IUC to be brought down”,and said ongoing review of callconnect charges or IUC is con-sistent with TRAI’s previously-stated intent.

The comments by SunilMittal-led Bharti Airtel cameafter Jio blamed TelecomRegulatory Authority of India(TRAI) of regulatory flip-flopon the IUC issue whileannouncing a levy of 6 paiseper minute on voice calls madeto rival phone networks.

Jio has, however, also saidit will compensate customersfor the IUC charge by givingfree data of equal value.

Without naming Jio, Airtelin a statement said, "One of ourcompetitors has imposed arate of 6 paise for all off net callsmade to other operators tocover the termination charge ofIUC (Interconnect UsageCharge).

They have gone on to sug-gest that TRAI has re-openedthis issue”.

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Page 11: ˆ !˛! ! · 2019. 10. 9. · In a Diwali gift to nearly 1.15 crore Central Government employees and pensioners, the Modi approved 5 per cent hike in dearness allowance. The …

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Novak Djokovic said onWednesday that he was

"embracing" the pressure ofbeing world number one andreigning champion at theShanghai Masters this week.

The 32-year-old from Serbiamade a fast start to his titledefence, easing past youngCanadian Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 6-3 with minimum fuss.

Fresh from winning careertitle 76 in Tokyo, Djokovic willplay big-serving American JohnIsner in the last 16 in China.

The 16-time Grand Slamchampion said he had no painfrom the shoulder injury thatforced him out of the US Openlast 16 and is "confident that Ican perform at my best".

Djokovic said that sky-highexpectations are "part of what wedo".

"But it's also a privilege anda sign or kind of an indicatorthat you're doing somethingthat is important and that you'redoing well," he said.

"I think when you feel pres-

sure you're doing well."It's something that is

inevitable so you might as wellembrace it and accept it." Alsoin action on Thursday will beRoger Federer, who facesBelgium's David Goffin, andthird seed Daniil Medvedev.

The Russian faces Canadianqualifier Vasek Pospisil.

- Zverev's flying racquet -Two rising stars of men's

tennis went toe-to-toe whenStefanos Tsitsipas of Greece andFelix Auger-Aliassime clashed.

Tsitsipas defeated the 19-year-old 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/3) forhis first victory over theCanadian stretching all the wayback to their junior days.

The 21-year-old Tsitsipas,who plays Poland's HubertHurkacz in the last 16, said thathe had always been behindAuger-Aliassime in his physicaldevelopment -- until now.

Standing 6ft 4ins (193cm),

the seventh-ranked Greek insistshe is still not as strong as someon the ATP Tour.

"I think something that

probably I'm trying to cover thatdeficiency that I have is not con-centrate too much on my powerand my strength and how hard

I can hit," he said."Maybe play smarter and

play more with my mind andnot with my physical power."

Another of the new gener-ation hoping to usurp the likesof Djokovic and Federer is the22-year-old Alexander Zverev.

The young German had about of dizziness during anincident-packed victory overFrench underdog JeremyChardy, 7-6 (15/13), 7-6 (7/3).

Zverev apologised to a tele-vision cameraman after he acci-dentally hit a ball square into hisjaw in winning a point.

Zverev was also seen by adoctor in the first set and inanother colourful moment hesmashed his racquet on thefloor during the mammoth first-set tie break.

The second-set tie breakhad a lighter moment -- Zverevlosing his grip while hitting ashot, his racquet flying into thecrowd.

"It was definitely interest-ing," smiled Zverev, who playsRussia's Andrey Rublev.

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Tammy Abraham says England areprepared to defy UEFA rules on

racism and walk off the pitch if theyface abuse during Euro 2020 qualifiers.

Gareth Southgate’s team travel tothe Czech Republic and Bulgaria forback-to-back matches on Friday andMonday.

The second game, in Sofia, will beclosely watched as the hosts will beplaying in the Vasil Levski NationalStadium, partially closed as a sanctionfollowing previous incidents of racism.

England’s players received similarabuse in their qualifier againstMontenegro in Podgorica earlier thisyear, where they stayed on the pitchand won 5-1.

Southgate has said England willfollow UEFA’s three-step protocol forracial abuse.

The first step is for the referee tomade aware of any racism and halt thegame for an announcement to bemade. If the abuse continues, the ref-eree will suspend the game for a peri-od of time. The third and final stepwill see the official abandon thegame.

But Abraham, 22, suggested thatif England's players believe someoneis not comfortable, captain HarryKane could lead them off the pitchbefore the three steps are played outif they are not working.

"We've touched base on how todeal with the situation," said theChelsea forward. "Harry Kane evensaid that if it happens and we're nothappy with it, we speak to the playerand if he's not happy, we all come offthe pitch together.

“It’s a team thing. Don’t isolate oneperson, we’re a whole team. If it hap-pens to one of us, it happens to all ofus.”

Defender Trent Alexander-Arnold, 21, believes the protocols willbe followed but that in any potential-ly threatening situation a differentcourse of action may be appropriate.

“We need to be professional ath-letes,” said the Liverpool player. "Wehave an obligation to follow the pro-

tocols, that's what we need to do. If itdoes get to the extreme, maybe differ-ent action might be taken."

Ashley Young was subjected tomonkey chants in Sofia during anEngland game in 2011.

The Bulgarian Football Union wasfined 40,000 euros (£36,000) by UEFAfor “discriminatory” chanting andfor the lighting and throwing of fire-works.

Abraham suffered racial abuseonline earlier this season, targeted bytrolls after missing a penalty in theSuper Cup shoot-out defeat toLiverpool.

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Bengal Warriors produced aclinical performance to beat

Tamil Thalaivas 33-29 in aVIVO Pro Kabaddi Leaguematch here on Wednesday.

Sukesh Hegde (6 raidpoints), MohammadNabibakhsh (7 points) andRinku Narwal (High 5 with 5tackle points) impressed for theWarriors as they clinched thewin to go to the top of the PKLstandings at the Shaheed VijaySingh Pathik Sports Complex.

Rahul Chaudhariscored seven points for theThalaivas as they finished theirwoeful campaign with anoth-er loss.

The star-studded Chennai-based team managed only fourwins in the entire season.

Tamil Thalaivasapproached the match with

confidence, having beatenJaipur Pink Panthers in theirprevious outing, and opened alead in the early minutes,thanks to Ajith Kumar andRahul's raids.

Rahul moved well on themat to pick up valuable pointsbut Bengal's defence got intothe game with Nabibakhshimpressing.

Soon Bengal were in thelead but Thalaivas regroupedwell to stay in the match. Bengal looked like a side whohad their eyes set on the semi-finals clash next week, and theirlack of ruthlessness allowed theTamil side to make a comebackand level the points. The firsthalf ended with the scores 13-13.

Bengal Warriors steppedup their game in the secondhalf, thanks largely to raidersNabibakhsh and Sukesh.

Though Ran Singh pulledoff a super tackle in the fifthminute of the half it was just acase of delaying the inevitablewith the Warriors picking uptheir all-out in the eighthminute to open up a six-pointlead.

Thalaivas' Ajith was in nomood to be contained thoughand his raids made it a two-point game soon after the all-out.

But Rinku Narwal pro-duced a super tackle with sevenminutes remaining to haltThalaivas domination.

Sourabh Tanaji Patil alsochipped in with valuable raidpoints for the Warriors as theyonce again opened up a six-point lead with two minutesremaining.

The Bengal defence heldfirm in the final minutes toclinch a victory.

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Fallen Italian giants ACMilan on Wednesday

appointed Stefano Pioli astheir new coach a day after hispredecessor Marco Giampaolowas sacked after just sevengames in charge.

The 53-year-old formerInter Milan boss arrives on atwo-year deal, reported to beworth in the region of two mil-lion euros ($2.2 million) a sea-son.

Giampaolo was fired afterjust 111 days in the job as theformer seven-time Europeanchampions slipped to 13thplace in Serie A, following arun of four defeats in sevengames.

The appointment of Pioli,an experienced coach but onewho has never won a trophy inhis 16-year managerial career,was a surprise one for the 18-time Serie A champions, whowon their last league title in2011.

“It’s a choice that has been

weighed up,” Milan technicaldirector Paolo Maldini told apress conference in the city.

“Being the seventh roundit can be seen as a gamble, butwe want to be protagonists thisseason.

“This is why we decided tochange with an experiencedcoach. For a young team wewanted a coach with strongideas.”

Pioli managed city rivalsInter Milan in the 2016-2017season, but has been withouta team since resigning fromFiorentina last April.

He has solid experiencecoaching top Italian clubsincluding Bologna, Lazio, Interand Fiorentina, but has neverwon any trophies as a coach.

The #PioliOut hashtagquickly trended worldwideon Twitter thanks to the angryreaction from Milan fansunhappy at his lack of tro-phies.

“I’m preparing for thisadventure with great enthusi-asm,” said Pioli.

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Indian shuttlers Aditi Bhatt and RohanGurbani notched up contrasting wins

on Wednesday to enter the pre-quarter-finals of the individual event at the BWFWorld Junior Championships here.

While Aditi stunned 13th seedAtitaya Povanon of Thailand 14-21, 21-14, 22-20 in girls singles, Rohan crushedAustria's Nicolas Rudolf 21-7, 21-16 injust 23 minutes.

Up next for Bhatt is the fourth seedPutri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia,while Rohan set up a showdown withChina's Ren Cheng Ming in the prequar-ters. Aditi’s win was the biggest talking

point of the day for the Indian contingent.The Delhi shuttler, after losing the

first game, made a strong comeback tocomplete the upset win in 53 minutes andenter the fourth round.

However, Gujarat’s Tasnim Mir andTrisha Hegde could not go past theirrespective opponents.

Mir lost 13-21, 19-21 to 12th seed-ed Chinese Taipei’s Hung En-Tzu, whileTrisha went down against Hungary’s 6thseed Vivien Sandorhazi 16-21, 12-21.

Later, Unnati Bisht’s campaign cameto an end after she lost 12-21 7-21 to topseed Phittayaporn Chaiwan.

Satish Kumar Karunakaran alsobowed out of men’s singles following a 17-

21 12-21 loss to Jason Gunawan of HongKong China.

Karunakaran suffered a double set-back as his mixed doubles challenge wasalso cut short.

He and Ramya VenkateshChickmenhalli lost to Chinese Taipei’s YuSheng Po and Tung Ciou-Tong 20-22 17-21 in Round 2.

Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crastoalso departed after starting the day witha win.

They fought hard in a 59-minuteencounter before going down toIndonesia's top seeds Leo Rolly Carnandoand Indah Cahya Sari Jamil 22-20 16-2117-21 in Round 3.

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India’s first world badmintonchampion P V Sindhu on

Wednesday said her next aimwas to bag the gold in theTokyo Olympics in 2020 and shewould have to work much moreharder.

Speaking on the sidelines ofa reception accorded to her bythe Kerala government and thestate Olympic Association here,the ace shuttler said the upcom-ing Denmark Open and ParisOpen events would be a sort ofqualifiers for the quadrennialevent.

“Definitely my ultimate aimis to get (Olympics) gold. But it’snot going to be easy. I need towork much more harder.Denmark Open and Paris Openare ahead of the Olympics. Sothis is the like Olympic quali-fiers,” she told reporters.

“Winning and losing is partof life. Some days you win.Some day we lose. But I learntfrom my mistakes and hope todo well at the Denmark Open,”she added.

Replying to the felicitationat the function, she said it wasa great pleasure to be honouredby the Kerala government.

“I would like to thank every-one for honouring me and felic-itating me. From Kerala, the sup-port towards sports is fantastic.For Tokyo 2020, I would take the

love and support and hope to geta gold,” she told the roaringcrowd of students and young-sters.

Sindhu had missed the goldwhen she lost to Spain’s CarolinaMarin in the final of the 2016Olympics in Rio de Janerio.

Earlier in the day, the aceshuttler offered prayers at thefamous LordPadmanabhaswamy shrine andthe Attukal Devi temple here.

She also took part in acolourful roadshow in the city.

Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan, who felicitated Sindhu,said she was the pride of India.

“She is the first Indianwoman to win the world cham-pionship in badminton. She isone among the best womansportspersons in the country.She was targeted and tauntedwhen she lost twice in the worldchampionship. But she never losther confidence and proved thatshe was fighter in the court,”Vijayan said.

He also said she used thecriticism against her to fuel herfight forward.

The State OlympicAssociation presented her acheque for Rs 10 lakh.

Sindhu became the firstIndian to bag gold at the worldchampionships in August thisyear, after beating Japan’sNozomi Okuhara. She had pre-viously lost in the finals twice.

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Ousmane Dembele will miss this season's firstClasico between Barcelona and Real Madrid

after he was banned for two matches by theSpanish football federation (RFEF) on Wednesday.

Dembele was sent off near the end of Barca's 4-0 win over Sevilla on Sunday for saying to refereeMateu Lahoz: "very bad, very bad".

The RFEF disciplinary committee ruled thatDembele's reaction constituted an "attitude of con-tempt or disregard for referees" and suspended theFrenchman for two matches.

It means Dembele is unavailable for Barca'supcoming La Liga fixtures away at Eibar onOctober 19 and at home to Real Madrid onOctober 26. Madrid and Barca are first and secondin the table after eight games.

Ronald Araujo, a 20-year-old defender, andGerard Pique both received one-match bans and willalso miss the game against Eibar.

"FC Barcelona has decided to appeal the sanc-tions imposed by the disciplinary committee to bothOusmane Dembele and Ronald Araujo," the club saidin a statement.

Pique picked up his fifth yellow card of the sea-son against Sevilla while Araujo was sent off forbringing down Javier Hernandez when the strikerwas through on goal.

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Page 12: ˆ !˛! ! · 2019. 10. 9. · In a Diwali gift to nearly 1.15 crore Central Government employees and pensioners, the Modi approved 5 per cent hike in dearness allowance. The …

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Skipper Faf du Plessis feels thatyounger South African fast

bowlers can learn a lot from Indianpacer Mohammed Shami as to

how one can be so devastatingin home con-ditions.

S h a m ibowled alethal spellon the fifth

day inVisakhapatnam

that went a longway in India win-

ning the first Test by203 runs.

“I spoke to one ofour young bowlers too and said tohim that it’s a good learning oppor-tunity for you to sit and watch whatsomeone does when they’re on topof their game in home conditions,”

Du Plessis said during his pre-matchmedia conference.

“Just learn from (the use of) hisangles of the crease and how does hereverse the ball. So yeah there’s def-initely something to learn from.”

What Du Plessis found fascinat-ing was the intensity with whichShami bowled on the fifth day.

“There’s a huge intensity abouthis bowling. You are going to bowlshort spells in the heat but when youbowl you have to ensure that youbowl with a lot of intensity and max-imize it,” the Proteas skipper said.

There is in fact a lot to learn fromthe lengths he bowled, reckons DuPlessis.

“He’s a guy that hits the stumpsa lot. That’s something from a bowl-ing point of view, we have to makesure, we are better at. In the firstinnings especially, we bowled wideand therefore they scored frequent-ly square of the wicket. So there are

a lot of lessons to learn,” he opined.While he didn’t go into the

specifics, Du Plessis indicated thatthere could be a change in the play-ing XI, going into the next Testmatch.

“For me, it is about picking theteam, trying to find guys that can winyou matches. So we’ve to find outwho are the guys that can pick 20wickets and who are the guys that canput up their hands and score runs.

“Obviously, we didn’t get 20wickets in the previous match andthat is something we are trying to fixand get better at in this match. Endof the day, that’s what wins you testmatch. Our thinking will be to pickplayers that will influence the gameand win matches for the team.”

In 2017, Pune Test witnessed arank turner where India lost (vsAustralia) its last home game in thelonger version in recent times.

However, Du Plessis insisted

that with World Test Championshipon, pitches won't be diabolical innature.

Du Plessis was part of the Proteasside that was whipped by India in2015 during a Nagpur Test which wasover within two and half days. In fact,the Nagpur pitch was later rated“poor” by the ICC.

"With the Test championship, ithas changed. Even in South Africa,if you had a below-average pitch, youprobably got a warning whereasnow, you have points deducted,” hesaid.

“From the home conditions pointof view, I think it is not as obvious asmaking wickets like the one in 2015.Knowing Indian conditions, the turfis a little more red, so I expect the ballto spin a little more than the first Test.

“We’ll have to see how the pitchbehaves. I am not a pitch expert butI think it'll take more turn than thefirst Test.”

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Last edition’s bronze-winnerLovlina Borgohain (69kg)

and debutant Jamuna Boro(54kg) on Wednesday

marched into the quarter-f inals of the World

Women’s BoxingChampionships withcomprehensive vic-tories in the pre-

quarters here.Boro out-

punched fifth-seeded AlgerianOuidad Sfouh,an AfricanGames gold-medallist, in a

unanimous ver-dict, while the third-

seeded Borgohain gotthe better of a spright-ly opponent inMorocco's OumaymaBel Ahbib, also a 5-0win.

In the quarterfi-

nals on Thursday, Boro willtake on Germany’s UrsulaGottlob, who upstagedEuropean Championshipbronze-medallist and fourthseed Yuliya Apanasovich ofBelarus in her pre-quarterfi-nal bout in a split 3-2 verdict.The referee mistakenly raisedApanasovich’s hand at the endof the fight but later correct-ed himself.

Next up for Borgohain issixth-seeded KarolinaKoszewska, who defeatedUzbekistan’s ShakhnozaYunusova.

Poland’s Koszewska hadclaimed a Gold medal at thisyear’s European Games.

Boro opened the proceed-ings for India and the 22-year-old Assam Rifles’ employeewas slow off the blocks.

However, she became thedominating aggressor as thebout progressed.

During an engaging battlein the second and third round,it was Boro who made a bet-

ter impression with her clean-ly-struck straight punches.

The third round belongedentirely to Boro with Sfouhcoming short for most part.

The Assamese, whose

mother worked as a vegetableseller to financially supporther sporting aspirations, is agold-winner from this year’sIndia Open. She was a bronze-medallist at the 2015 YouthWorld Championships.

“I was a bit confused tostart with but then I figuredhow to push her and managedto pull off a victory,” Boro said.

The last bout of the firstsession featured Borgohainand she also took time to findher rhythm against Ahbib.

What was striking aboutBorgohain’s gameplan was herresolve to keep distance fromAhbib, who tried her best todraw the Indian in withaggressive posturing.

The Moroccan did suc-ceed in flinging her arms fora few impactful jabs but

Borgohain had last laugh withcounter-attacks, which weremore effective in garneringscoring punches.

“It wasn’t particularlytough for me. I think I foughtjust the way I had planned andI am hopeful of continuingthis form in the quarters too,”Borgohain said.

In all, five Indians havemade the quarterfinals of themega-event.

Six-time champion andthird seed M C Mary Kom(51kg), Manju Rani (48kg)and Kavita Chahal (+81kg) arethe other Indians to havemade the last-eight stage.

Chahal is yet to take thering and has got direct entryinto the quarters thanks to thesmall size of the draw in herweight category.

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Improving on near perfection wouldbe India’s aim while building on thesmall positives from a huge loss will

be South Africa’s focus when the twomismatched sides clash in the secondTest starting here from Thursday.

Virat Kohli’s men ticked almost allthe boxes during their 203-run win inthe opening encounter inVisakhapatnam and they would like tomaintain the same intensity in their bidto seal the series in Pune itself.

It is difficult to improve upon a per-fect show but trust Kohli to find a newchallenge for his team in his pursuit ofexcellence.

It certainly won’t be a bad ideaagainst an opposition which doesn’thave the wherewithal to pose consistentchallenge over five days.

Rohit Sharma 2.0’s blockbuster re-entry into Test arena as an opener withtwin hundreds was a calculated punt,that worked wonderfully well first upfor Kohli and head coach Ravi Shastri.

With Mayank Agarwal also show-ing signs of making every chancecount, as he did with his maiden dou-ble hundred in Visakhapatnam, India’sopening woes at least (in home condi-tions) for the next four Tests (two vsBangladesh next month) could be his-tory for the time being.

The heavy duty batting line-up thatalso includes Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara,Ajinkya Rahane and Hanuma Vihariwould look to make a heftier contribu-tion if the pitch at the Gahunje Stadiumaids batsmen.

It was at this very ground that theIndian Test team endured its last bat-ting collapse at home, against Australiain 2017 on a rank turner where off-spinner Nathan Lyon and left-armspinner Steve O’Keefe made lives mis-erable.

Chances are slim that a pitch of that

nature will be on offer for the upcom-ing game and even if curator PandurangSalgaokar offers anything remotelyclose, chances of India, armed with twoseasoned spinners in RavichandranAshwin and Ravindra Jadeja, might fin-ish it off in less than four days.

The dogged Dean Elgar and the ele-gant Quinton de Kock have shown a lotof character with their hundreds in the

first Test but chances of a Steve Smithlike 2017 batting masterclass on adodgy track may not be possible.

Ashwin, with a match haul of eightwickets, and Jadeja, with his all-roundsolidity, give this team a menacing lookin home conditions.

Also Mohammed Shami's masterywith the semi new and old ball on drytracks is slowly attaining legendary sta-

tus.One can only hope that Shami

remains niggle-free as he was seen hob-bling on his run-up in the first inningsin Visakhapatnam even though itbecame better in the second innings.

Ishant Sharma was also steadyduring both the innings without beingspectacular.

Such was their impact that Jasprit

Bumrah was hardly missed despite hisphenomenal presence in red ball crick-et over the last 18 months.

While India, unless forced by anyunforeseen injury, are unlikely tochange their playing XI, the SouthAfricans might be tempted to drop oneamong Senuran Muthusamy and DanePiedt, who were taken to the cleanersby the Indian batsmen.

Rohit was especially hard on themand hit a world record 13 sixes in thegame.

It could well be Muthusamy and inthat case batsman Zubayr Hamza mayget a look in.

If Piedt is dropped, the Proteascould be tempted to try Lungi Ngidi,who could make a difference with hispace and movement.

In any case, it will be an uphill bat-tle for the visitors.

�����E# ��FIndia (XI) Virat Kohli (captain),

Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal,Chesteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane,Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha(wk), Ravindra Jadeja,Ravichandran Ashwin, IshantSharma, MohammedShami.

South Africa: Faf duPlessis (captain), DeanElgar, Aiden Markram,Theunis de Bruyn,Temba Bavuma,Quinton de Kock(wk), KagisoRabada, KeshavMaharaj, VernonPhilander, LungiNgidi, Dane Piedt,S e n u r a nM u t h u s a m y ,Zubayr Hamza,H e i n r i c hKlaasen, AnrichNortje.

����� -���

India captain Virat Kohli on Wednesday proposedthat points for an away victory in the World Test

Championship should be doubled while reiteratingthat the ongoing inaugural edition has raised the stan-dards in the five-day format.

Currently, a team gets 120 points for a series cleansweep, irrespective of whether it’s a two-matchseries or five-match series on home and away basis.

“If you would have asked me to make the pointstable, I would give double the points for an away Testwin. That is something I would definitely like to seemay be after first edition,” Kohli replied when askedabout the prevailing points system of the WorldChampionship.

India are leading the table with 160 points, cour-tesy 120 from their 2-0 sweep in the Caribbean and40 gained from the 203-run win in the first Test againstSouth Africa.

Kohli is happy that in the current scenario, noteam would want to play for a draw.

“Look, the importance of everygame has become that muchmore. In earlier situations, ina three-match series, you

probably would have played outa draw, but teams are going to gofor wins and get those extra

points. So, I think it’s great for Testcricket” the Indian captain said.

Kohli also observed thatthe points table has made itall the more demandingfor the players who needto be very professional.

“The matches aregoing to be that muchmore exciting is what weall feel and already expe-rienced that. We have tobe professional in everysession that we play.

“It will be muchmore demanding on the playersnow, which is a good thing asit will keep the standard of Testcricket high. These are theonly things that we have expe-rienced so far in terms ofchanges,” Kohli said.

����� -���

India captain Virat Kohli ishappy that his team has

“bought” into the philosophy of“selfless attitude” and “flexiblethinking” which has led to atransformed MohammedShami and an aware KuldeepYadav.

From an injury prone tal-ent to the most potent seambowler on flat decks, accordingto the skipper, Shami's journeyhas been nothing short of fas-cinating.

“Now, he (Shami) is takingthe responsibility. We don’tneed to push Shami anymore.We don’t need to tell him‘come on, you need to bowl thisspell for us’. He wants the ball,he understands the situationwhen he’s given the ball,” Kohlisaid on the eve of the secondTest here on Wednesday.

If Shami is at one end ofthe spectrum, there is youngchinaman Kuldeep, who mustbe wondering where he hasgone wrong after having pickedup five wickets in the last Testthat he played (againstAustralia at Sydney).

The skipper said that evenKuldeep knows the reason whyhe is not in the Test eleven.

“No one is self-centeredand everyone is thinking aboutwhat I can do for the team. It’sthe same about Kuldeep. Heunderstands that in India,Ashwin and Jadeja will be ourfirst choices because they giveus so much more with the batas well.”

In the past few years, theIndian team management hasoften changed theircombinationsgoing intos u c c e s s i veTests andskipper Kohliwants every-one to see theresults andunderstand whyit has been done.

“Lot has beenspoken and saidabout the system thatwe have followed overthe last two years. Theonly thing that matters to us iswanting to win as many gamesas we can and have been ableto do that,” said Kohli.

“We have the least losingpercentage in the last threeyears and there is a good rea-son for that. We obviously are

flexible but as I said it can't bepossible if the team doesn’t buyinto it. The guys have boughtinto it,” said Kohli, who has lostonly one Test (vs Australia atPune in 2017) at home as theIndian captain.

Talking about Shami, theskipper once again spoke abouthow Shami’s ability to getmovement off the pitch makeshim deadly even on the mostunsuitable surfaces for fastbowling.

“I think on the pitches weplay, I don't see anyone with somuch seam movement apartfrom him (Shami),” the skippersaid.

What makes Shami standapart is his ability to do it reg-ularly when situations lookhopeless.

“He is someone who canchange the complexion of thematch totally when you don’tsee it coming. His skill is obvi-ously there for everyone to see.Especially, in the secondinnings, when the situations aredifficult he comes in and doesthe job everytime. It’s great,”said Kohli.

Players accepting responsi-bilities at different stages of thegame is something that has“amazed”the captain.

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Debutant PriyaPunia starred in

injured SmritiMandhana’s absencefollowing a fine bowlingperformance to set upIndia’s emphatic eight-wicket win over SouthAfrica in the first ODIhere on Wednesday.

South Africa strug-gled with the bat afterwinning the toss,bowled out for 164 in45.1 overs. It was an all-round bowling effortfrom India with Jhulan

Goswami (3/33), ShikhaPandey (2/38), EktaBisht (2/8) and PoonamYadav (2/33) sharingthe bulk of the wickets.

India cantered tovictory in 41.4 overswith openers Punia (75not out off 124) andJeminah Rodrigues (55off 65) laying the foun-dation for a resoundingwin. The three-matchseries is not part of theWomen's ODIChampionship.

Punia, who hasplayed three T20Internationals, got the

chance to play hermaiden ODI after staropener Mandhana wasruled out on the eve ofthe game due to a frac-ture on her right toe.The 23-year-old fromJaipur hit eight bound-aries.

Rodrigues was backamong runs after a leanrun in the precedingfive-match T20 seriesand shared an 83-runstand with Punia. It wasa second ODI half-cen-tury for the highly tal-ented 19-year-old, whosmashed seven fours.

����� -���

“Concerned” about hisinjury, head coach

Ravi Shastri has said thatthe Indian team needs tobe careful about JaspritBumrah’s workload man-agement as the ace pacerplays in all three formats.

“Ver y concerned.Because he is precious,special, different, and amatch-winner. They aretaking opinions onwhether he needs surgery.We have to be carefulabout his workload

because he plays all threeformats,” Shastri was quot-ed as saying by The Hinduin an interview.

Bumrah is out with astress fracture and is cur-rently in the UK to consultspecialists. While Bumrahhas already been ruled outtill the Bangladesh seriesin November, the teammanagement doesn’t wantto take any chance and willconsult the best.

Shastri also spoke onRohit Sharma opening thebatting in test cricket andsaid the star Mumbai bats-

man is cut out for that role.“I would hate to see a

player of his quality sittingin the reserves. In theWest Indies I was veryclear that he should openand had a chat with Kohliabout it. This was hisopportunity.

“Opening is about themindset. You got torespect the new ball. A lotof guys in India shouldhave opened in the last 20years for the sake of teambalance, but they didn’thave the stomach for itShastri said."

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