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T he swearing-in ceremony of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) working president Hemant Soren as the 11th Chief Minister of Jharkhand turned into a big display of Opposition unity in Ranchi on Sunday. A galaxy of leaders from Opposition parties was present at the historic Mohrabadi Ground where Governor Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office and secrecy to Soren around 2.18 pm. Congress Legislative Party leader Alamgir Alam, JPCC president Rameshwar Oraon and RJD leader Satyanand Bhokta also were sworn in as State cabinet ministers at the event attended by several lead- ers of prominent national and regional parties, corporate heads and over 15,000 people from across the State. To lend credence to the growing unity among Opposition leaders, particularly against the background of the NRC-NPR-CAA, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gelhlot, DMK leaders MK Stalin and Kanimozhi, CPI(M) chief Sitaram Yechuri, CPI’s D Raja and Atul Anjan, AAP’s Sanjay Singh, RJD leader Tejaswi Yadav, HAM leader Jitan Ram Manjhi, eminent socialist leader Sharad Yadav, and senior leader Saryu Roy attended the swearing-in ceremony. The leaders shook hands and displayed bonhomie at event that heralded the advent of a JMM-Congress-RJD Government in Jharkhand, snatching away yet another State from the BJP. Decimating BJP’s “Mission 65 plus” dream, the grand alliance secured 47 seats in the Assembly polls. Notably, in his first Cabinet meeting soon after the swear- ing-in, Chief Minister Soren decided to withdraw cases reg- istered against people of the State who took part in the Patthalgadi movement and protested against the amend- ment to the Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act and Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act in the last few years. On the issue of implemen- tation of NRC in the State, the CM said that he would study the documents related to NRC and then will take any decision. Earlier before taking oath on Sunday, Hemant had tweeted, “I don’t think NRC is feasible or implementable. The entire country is against the CAA. This is happening while our country is going through an economic crisis. We can’t make people stand in queue again like the way it happened dur- ing demonetisation. Many peo- ple lost their lives. What’s the need of such acts? Who will take responsibility for the lives lost? Even in these protests, the Government is quelling dissent through police force. This is not democracy, it’s something else.” Sources said that five other legislators from the JMM and three from the Congress will take oath as Ministers later in the New Year. The State has a quota of 12 Cabinet ministers in the 81 member Assembly. Soon after the swearing-in, Soren went to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi’s statue at Morhabadi Ground. In the evening, he paid homage to Jharkhand’s freedom fighter Bhagwan Birsa Munda at Birsa Chowk in Ranchi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Odisha CM Navin Patnaik, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, former PM HD Deve Gowda, former President Pranab Mukherjee congratulated Soren for becoming the Chief Minister of Jharkhand. A fine of 6,300 has been slapped on the owner of the two-wheeler on which Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra travelled to reach retired IPS officer SR Darapuri’s residence in Lucknow. Priyanka and the driver rode the vehicle without hel- met, sources said on Sunday. “In photographs we got from social media, two persons could be seen riding a two- wheeler without helmet. It was verified the two- wheeler was driven by Dheeraj Gurjar. Based on the details obtained from M-Parivahan, a challan was issued,” SP (Traffic) Poornendu Singh said. P ejawar Math head Sri Vishwesha Theertha Swamiji, one of the prominent religious leaders of south India and a prominent face of the VHP’s Ram janmabhoomi movement, breathed his last at the Pejawar math in Udupi on Sunday after a brief illness. Swamiji was strongly root- ed in Hindu causes, yet he pro- jected himself as a liberal face and boldly organised Iftar for the Muslims during Ramzan on the ancient Sri Krishna math complex in Udupi. A host of State Ministers and senior BJP and Sangh Parivar leaders were among thousands who offered floral tributes to Swamiji. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior BJP leader LK Advani and Yediyurappa con- doled the death of the seer, who was the 33rd swamiji in the lin- eage of the Pejawar Math heads. The Karnataka Government has announced a three-day state mourning. D elhiities and North Indians can now expect some relief from biting cold wave. With the change of wind direction from northwesterly to easterly, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Sunday predicted that both the minimum and maximum temperatures are likely to rise during the next 48 hours. The wind speed is expected to increase from December 31 evening under the influence of western dis- turbances and easterly winds in lower level. According to IMD scien- tist Dr Kuldeep Srivastava, the maximum temperature record- ed an increase of 2-3 degree Celsius on Sunday over many locations in Delhi and the whole western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab due to change in the wind direction from northwesterly to easter- ly. Delhi and NCR region is reeling under severe cold day’s condition for the continuous 16 day since December 14 surpassing the 22 years record. According to the IMD, Delhi and NCR is likely to wit- ness light rain between January 1 and 3 and hail storm is expected on January 2. After 1997, December is all set to be second coldest month since 1901 as the mean average tem- perature is recorded 19.07. The minimum tempera- ture in various parts of Delhi varied with 2.5 degrees Celsius being recorded at Ayanagar, 2.8 degrees Celsius at Lodhi Road, 3.2 degrees Celsius at Palam and 3.6 degrees Celsius at Safdarjung. The average maximum temperature was recorded in the evening at 15.8 degrees Celsius, five notches below what is considered normal for the season. The maximum temperature in various parts of Delhi varied with 14.8 degrees Celsius at Ayanagar, 15.6 degrees Celsius at Lodhi Road, 13.5 degrees Celsius at Palam and 15.8 degrees Celsius at Safdarjung. For Monday, the weatherman has predicted dense fog in the morning with cold day at a few places in Delhi-NCR. The IMD had issued a red-colour warning for Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and amber-colour warning for Madhya Pradesh for Sunday. A red-coded warning is given for extreme weather events. The cold wave is not expected to relent until the New Year. The minimum tempera- ture across the Kashmir Valley and Ladakh Union Territory stayed several degrees below the freezing point, intensifying the cold wave in some areas in the region. In Haryana, all schools have been closed on December 30-31 due to the severe cold wave for the past few days. In Rajasthan, Jaipur’s minimum temperature is set- tling at 1.4 degree Celsius — the lowest since December 13, 1964 when the minimum tem- perature had settled at zero degrees Celsius. T he National Register of Citizens (NRC) is com- pletely an “internal affair” of India and the cooperation between the border guarding forces of the two countries is very good, the visiting chief of Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) said here on Sunday. Director General (DG) Maj Gen Shafeenul Islam told reporters that the BGB will continue to do its work of pre- venting illegal border crossings as per its mandate. A BGB delegation, led by Islam, is on a bilateral visit to India to hold DG-level border talks with its counterparts, the Border Security Force (BSF). The biannual talks took place from December 26-29, during which a host of issues related to cross-border smug- gling and activities of criminals and others along the 4,096- km-long frontier were dis- cussed, a senior BSF officer said. “This is completely an internal affair of the Indian Government,” the BGB DG said when asked to comment on the NRC issue. Asked about the provi- sions of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that seeks to grant Indian citizen- ship to persecuted non- Muslims from three neigh- bouring countries including Bangladesh, Islam refused to comment saying, “I would say the cooperation and relation- ship between the two forces (BSF and BGB) are very good. Beyond that I cannot say any- thing...” The BGB caught over 300 Bangladeshi nationals this year at the border while they were coming in from India. They were people who had gone to India as they had cultural and family ties or some work on the other side and were appre- hended as they did not have proper documents, the BGB chief said. He refuted reports that a number of Bangladeshi citizens were being “pushed back” from the Indian side. BSF DG VK Johri said these were “genuine Bangladeshi nationals but may be without documents”. He added that the inci- dents of attacks by criminals on BSF personnel at the Indo- Bangla border had gone down to about 82 (till now in 2019) from about “350 plus” in 2015- 16. In the last three years, such incidents numbered in the range of 70, Johri said. “It is due to the efforts of both these forces that these incidents have gone down...But yes, this issue is still there,” the BSF DG said. A head of the expected announcement of the name of the first ever Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), the Government has amended rules putting the maximum age limit of 65 years for the CDS to serve in the post. At present, the Services chiefs retire at the age of 62 or a tenure of three years whichever is earlier. Since the CDS will be senior most four-star general and above the three Chiefs, the Government can give him an extension up to the age of 65 years, an official gazette on Sunday said. It also said the step was taken after amending the Army Rules 1954. The gazette notification said, “Provided that the Central Government may, if considered necessary, in public interest, so to do, give extension of service to the Chief of Defence Staff for such period or periods as it may deem necessary subject to the maximum age of 65 years.” Moreover, the same rule of three years or age of 65 years will be applicable to the CDS as in the case of the Services Chiefs. Incidentally, the Cabinet Secretary, who is the senior most bureaucrat in the Central Government , also retires at the age of 62. The Government has the right to give him or exten- sion of service. The Government is likely to name the new CDS on Monday or Tuesday. Army Chief General Bipin Rawat, who retires on December 31, is the frontrunner for the new post. If he is selected for the top job, he will get more years as the CDS since he is retiring after completing three years but is yet to attain the age of 62. The Union Cabinet on Tuesday had approved the landmark reform in defence by clearing the creation of the post of CDS. The CDS, a long pend- ing need to keep pace with modern day warfare world over, will act as single-point military adviser to the Government in higher defence management besides ensuring synergy amongst the three Services in terms of operations and optimum utilisation of resources. Army Chief General Bipin Rawat, who retires on December 31, is the frontrun- ner as the first ever CDS. He is the senior most chief amongst the three Chiefs. The CDS will function as the Principal Military Adviser to the Defence Minister and also as the Permanent Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC). First among equals among service chiefs, the CDS will be responsible for rationalising weapons procurement proce- dures besides integrating the operation of the armed forces. However, he will not exercise any military command over the three Chiefs of the Army, Navy and Air Force. W ith the Delhi Assembly elections inching closer, the war of words between the ruling AAP and its main rival BJP has intensified over the regularisation of unauthorised colonies in the Capital. The BJP launched its cam- paign to garner support from an estimated 40 lakh residents of the 1,731 unauthorised colonies after the Union Cabinet gave its nod for the reglarisation of the colonies. Many hoardings with the photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi have already been put up in some areas, including Sangam Vihar and Burari. Accusing the BJP of mis- leading the people on regular- isation of colonies, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted: “DDA website says that Centre’s scheme will nei- ther regularise unauthorised colonies nor their houses. Really shocking. Can’t believe that BJP spoke such a blatant lie to the people and has put up so many hoardings Thanks @HardeepSPuri ji for telling truth to people through DDA website.” Addressing a Press conference on Sunday, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia alleged the BJP is lying on the regularisation of colonies. DDA colonies Cell portal was launched by the BJP Government on December 16 purportedly to register resi- dents of unauthorised colonies to apply for ownership rights. The AAP has claimed the BJP has put up hoardings across the city claiming that the 1,731 unauthorised colonies are now authorised. “The BJP misled the peo- ple by placing hoarding-ban- ners that claim 1,731 colonies have been regularised, where- as the truth is that no such thing has been done as admit- ted on the DDA’s own website. This is a fraud on the 40 lakh people living in Delhi’s unauthorised colonies. The BJP must apologise to the peo- ple for this huge betrayal,” said Sisodia.

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Page 1: +ˇˇˆ ˇ , ’) !% ’˚(*+,- 3 - 9 ˛˙!/ˆ !0&.12 5/13! 5/05.˙ 2# #./ˆ #ˆ30 ... · 2019-12-29 · Mahatma Gandhi’s statue at Morhabadi Ground. ... Congress leader Priyanka

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The swearing-in ceremony ofJharkhand Mukti Morcha

(JMM) working presidentHemant Soren as the 11thChief Minister of Jharkhandturned into a big display ofOpposition unity in Ranchi onSunday. A galaxy of leadersfrom Opposition parties waspresent at the historicMohrabadi Ground whereGovernor Droupadi Murmuadministered the oath of officeand secrecy to Soren around2.18 pm.

Congress Legislative Party

leader Alamgir Alam, JPCCpresident Rameshwar Oraonand RJD leader SatyanandBhokta also were sworn in asState cabinet ministers at theevent attended by several lead-ers of prominent national andregional parties, corporateheads and over 15,000 peoplefrom across the State.

To lend credence to thegrowing unity amongOpposition leaders, particularlyagainst the background of theNRC-NPR-CAA, formerCongress president RahulGandhi, West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee,

Chhattisgarh Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel, RajasthanChief Minister Ashok Gelhlot,DMK leaders MK Stalin andKanimozhi, CPI(M) chiefSitaram Yechuri, CPI’s D Rajaand Atul Anjan, AAP’s SanjaySingh, RJD leader TejaswiYadav, HAM leader Jitan RamManjhi, eminent socialistleader Sharad Yadav, and seniorleader Saryu Roy attended theswearing-in ceremony.

The leaders shook handsand displayed bonhomie atevent that heralded the adventof a JMM-Congress-RJDGovernment in Jharkhand,

snatching away yet anotherState from the BJP. DecimatingBJP’s “Mission 65 plus” dream,the grand alliance secured 47seats in the Assembly polls.

Notably, in his first Cabinetmeeting soon after the swear-ing-in, Chief Minister Sorendecided to withdraw cases reg-istered against people of theState who took part in thePatthalgadi movement andprotested against the amend-ment to the ChhotanagpurTenancy Act and SanthalPargana Tenancy Act in the lastfew years.

On the issue of implemen-

tation of NRC in the State, theCM said that he would studythe documents related to NRCand then will take any decision.Earlier before taking oath onSunday, Hemant had tweeted,“I don’t think NRC is feasibleor implementable. The entirecountry is against the CAA.This is happening while ourcountry is going through aneconomic crisis. We can’t makepeople stand in queue againlike the way it happened dur-ing demonetisation. Many peo-ple lost their lives. What’s theneed of such acts? Who willtake responsibility for the liveslost? Even in these protests, theGovernment is quelling dissentthrough police force. This is notdemocracy, it’s something else.”

Sources said that five otherlegislators from the JMM andthree from the Congress willtake oath as Ministers later inthe New Year. The State has aquota of 12 Cabinet ministersin the 81 member Assembly.

Soon after the swearing-in,Soren went to pay homage toMahatma Gandhi’s statue atMorhabadi Ground. In theevening, he paid homage toJharkhand’s freedom fighterBhagwan Birsa Munda at BirsaChowk in Ranchi.

Prime Minister NarendraModi, Defence MinisterRajnath Singh, Odisha CMNavin Patnaik, Delhi CMArvind Kejriwal, former PMHD Deve Gowda, formerPresident Pranab Mukherjeecongratulated Soren forbecoming the Chief Minister ofJharkhand.

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Afine of �6,300 has beenslapped on the owner of

the two-wheeler on whichCongress leader PriyankaGandhi Vadra travelled toreach retired IPS officer SRDarapuri’s residence inLucknow.

Priyanka and the driverrode the vehicle without hel-met, sources said on Sunday.

“In photographs we gotfrom social media, two personscould be seen riding a two-wheeler without helmet.

It was verified the two-wheeler was driven by DheerajGurjar. Based on the detailsobtained from M-Parivahan, achallan was issued,” SP (Traffic)Poornendu Singh said.

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Pejawar Math head SriVishwesha Theertha

Swamiji, one of the prominentreligious leaders of south Indiaand a prominent face of theVHP’s Ram janmabhoomimovement, breathed his last atthe Pejawar math in Udupi onSunday after a brief illness.

Swamiji was strongly root-ed in Hindu causes, yet he pro-jected himself as a liberal faceand boldly organised Iftar forthe Muslims during Ramzanon the ancient Sri Krishnamath complex in Udupi.

A host of State Ministersand senior BJP and SanghParivar leaders were amongthousands who offered floraltributes to Swamiji.

Prime Minister NarendraModi, senior BJP leader LKAdvani and Yediyurappa con-doled the death of the seer, whowas the 33rd swamiji in the lin-eage of the Pejawar Mathheads.

The KarnatakaGovernment has announced athree-day state mourning.

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Delhiities and NorthIndians can now expect

some relief from biting coldwave.

With the change of winddirection from northwesterlyto easterly, the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD) on Sunday predictedthat both the minimum andmaximum temperatures arelikely to rise during the next 48hours. The wind speed isexpected to increase fromDecember 31 evening underthe influence of western dis-turbances and easterly winds inlower level.

According to IMD scien-tist Dr Kuldeep Srivastava, themaximum temperature record-ed an increase of 2-3 degreeCelsius on Sunday over manylocations in Delhi and thewhole western Uttar Pradesh,Haryana and Punjab due tochange in the wind directionfrom northwesterly to easter-ly. Delhi and NCR region isreeling under severe cold day’scondition for the continuous16 day since December 14surpassing the 22 years record.

According to the IMD,Delhi and NCR is likely to wit-ness light rain between January1 and 3 and hail storm isexpected on January 2. After1997, December is all set to besecond coldest month since1901 as the mean average tem-perature is recorded 19.07.

The minimum tempera-ture in various parts of Delhi

varied with 2.5 degrees Celsiusbeing recorded at Ayanagar, 2.8degrees Celsius at Lodhi Road,3.2 degrees Celsius at Palamand 3.6 degrees Celsius atSafdarjung.

The average maximumtemperature was recorded inthe evening at 15.8 degreesCelsius, five notches belowwhat is considered normal forthe season. The maximumtemperature in various parts ofDelhi varied with 14.8 degreesCelsius at Ayanagar, 15.6degrees Celsius at Lodhi Road,13.5 degrees Celsius at Palamand 15.8 degrees Celsius atSafdarjung. For Monday, theweatherman has predicteddense fog in the morning withcold day at a few places inDelhi-NCR.

The IMD had issued ared-colour warning for Punjab,

Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan,Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, andamber-colour warning forMadhya Pradesh for Sunday. Ared-coded warning is given forextreme weather events. Thecold wave is not expected torelent until the New Year.

The minimum tempera-ture across the Kashmir Valleyand Ladakh Union Territorystayed several degrees belowthe freezing point, intensifyingthe cold wave in some areas inthe region. In Haryana, allschools have been closed onDecember 30-31 due to thesevere cold wave for the pastfew days. In Rajasthan, Jaipur’sminimum temperature is set-tling at 1.4 degree Celsius —the lowest since December 13,1964 when the minimum tem-perature had settled at zerodegrees Celsius.

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The National Register ofCitizens (NRC) is com-

pletely an “internal affair” ofIndia and the cooperationbetween the border guardingforces of the two countries isvery good, the visiting chief ofBorder Guards Bangladesh(BGB) said here on Sunday.

Director General (DG)Maj Gen Shafeenul Islam toldreporters that the BGB willcontinue to do its work of pre-venting illegal border crossingsas per its mandate.

A BGB delegation, led byIslam, is on a bilateral visit toIndia to hold DG-level bordertalks with its counterparts, theBorder Security Force (BSF).

The biannual talks tookplace from December 26-29,during which a host of issuesrelated to cross-border smug-gling and activities of criminalsand others along the 4,096-

km-long frontier were dis-cussed, a senior BSF officersaid.

“This is completely aninternal affair of the IndianGovernment,” the BGB DGsaid when asked to commenton the NRC issue.

Asked about the provi-sions of the CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA) thatseeks to grant Indian citizen-ship to persecuted non-Muslims from three neigh-bouring countries includingBangladesh, Islam refused tocomment saying, “I would saythe cooperation and relation-

ship between the two forces(BSF and BGB) are very good.Beyond that I cannot say any-thing...”

The BGB caught over 300Bangladeshi nationals this yearat the border while they werecoming in from India. Theywere people who had gone toIndia as they had cultural andfamily ties or some work on theother side and were appre-hended as they did not haveproper documents, the BGBchief said.

He refuted reports that anumber of Bangladeshi citizenswere being “pushed back” fromthe Indian side.

BSF DG VK Johri saidthese were “genuineBangladeshi nationals but maybe without documents”.

He added that the inci-dents of attacks by criminals onBSF personnel at the Indo-Bangla border had gone downto about 82 (till now in 2019)from about “350 plus” in 2015-16. In the last three years, suchincidents numbered in therange of 70, Johri said.

“It is due to the efforts ofboth these forces that theseincidents have gone down...Butyes, this issue is still there,” theBSF DG said.

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Ahead of the expectedannouncement of the

name of the first ever Chief ofDefence Staff (CDS), theGovernment has amendedrules putting the maximum agelimit of 65 years for the CDS toserve in the post. At present,the Services chiefs retire at theage of 62 or a tenure of threeyears whichever is earlier.

Since the CDS will besenior most four-star generaland above the three Chiefs, theGovernment can give him anextension up to the age of 65years, an official gazette onSunday said. It also said the stepwas taken after amending theArmy Rules 1954.

The gazette notificationsaid, “Provided that the CentralGovernment may, if considerednecessary, in public interest, soto do, give extension of serviceto the Chief of Defence Staff forsuch period or periods as itmay deem necessary subject tothe maximum age of 65 years.”Moreover, the same rule ofthree years or age of 65 yearswill be applicable to the CDS asin the case of the ServicesChiefs.

Incidentally, the CabinetSecretary, who is the seniormost bureaucrat in the CentralGovernment , also retires at theage of 62. The Government hasthe right to give him or exten-sion of service.

The Government is likelyto name the new CDS onMonday or Tuesday. ArmyChief General Bipin Rawat,who retires on December 31, isthe frontrunner for the newpost.

If he is selected for the topjob, he will get more years asthe CDS since he is retiringafter completing three years butis yet to attain the age of 62.

The Union Cabinet onTuesday had approved thelandmark reform in defence byclearing the creation of the postof CDS. The CDS, a long pend-ing need to keep pace withmodern day warfare worldover, will act as single-pointmilitary adviser to theGovernment in higher defencemanagement besides ensuringsynergy amongst the threeServices in terms of operationsand optimum utilisation ofresources.

Army Chief General BipinRawat, who retires onDecember 31, is the frontrun-ner as the first ever CDS. He isthe senior most chief amongstthe three Chiefs. The CDS willfunction as the PrincipalMilitary Adviser to the DefenceMinister and also as thePermanent Chairman, Chiefsof Staff Committee (COSC).

First among equals amongservice chiefs, the CDS will beresponsible for rationalisingweapons procurement proce-dures besides integrating theoperation of the armed forces.However, he will not exerciseany military command over thethree Chiefs of the Army, Navyand Air Force.

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With the Delhi Assemblyelections inching closer,

the war of words between theruling AAP and its main rivalBJP has intensified over theregularisation of unauthorisedcolonies in the Capital.

The BJP launched its cam-paign to garner support froman estimated 40 lakh residentsof the 1,731 unauthorisedcolonies after the UnionCabinet gave its nod for thereglarisation of the colonies.Many hoardings with thephoto of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi have alreadybeen put up in some areas,including Sangam Vihar andBurari.

Accusing the BJP of mis-leading the people on regular-isation of colonies, Chief

Minister Arvind Kejriwaltweeted: “DDA website saysthat Centre’s scheme will nei-ther regularise unauthorisedcolonies nor their houses.Really shocking. Can’t believethat BJP spoke such a blatant

lie to the people and has put upso many hoardings Thanks@HardeepSPuri ji for tellingtruth to people through DDAwebsite.” Addressing a Pressconference on Sunday, DeputyChief Minister Manish Sisodia

alleged the BJP is lying on theregularisation of colonies.

DDA colonies Cell portalwas launched by the BJPGovernment on December 16purportedly to register resi-dents of unauthorised coloniesto apply for ownership rights.The AAP has claimed the BJPhas put up hoardings across thecity claiming that the 1,731unauthorised colonies are nowauthorised.

“The BJP misled the peo-ple by placing hoarding-ban-ners that claim 1,731 colonieshave been regularised, where-as the truth is that no suchthing has been done as admit-ted on the DDA’s own website.

This is a fraud on the 40lakh people living in Delhi’sunauthorised colonies. TheBJP must apologise to the peo-ple for this huge betrayal,”said Sisodia.

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BY

Once again it is the junc-ture in time when the

world marches towards anoth-er year. However, it does sowith a belly bloated with sev-eral complex yet undigestedenvironmental, economic,political and social challenges.Most of these challengesremain unresolved and haveenough potential to over-shadow all achievements andsuccess spells which couldhave otherwise been boastedof.

This has resulted in a pal-pable sense of weariness withwhich we welcome the year tocome. Surface level problemssuch as public grievancesagainst various governmentalmoves and a wavering eco-nomic growth in the con-cluding quarters of the year2019 have caught public atten-tion the most.

However, the fact thatIndia is an inseparable part ofa complex global conundrumof environmental problems,water and food paucity cannot be understated. The mostcritical and vicious predica-ments which demanded alion’s share of world’sresources throughout this yearwere air pollution, forest fires,refugee settlement and bur-geoning waste problems. Atthe bedrock of all civil unrest,income inequality anddegrading ecology is a globalculture plagued by avid con-sumerism.

With every unit of energy,mineral or any resource used,there is a certain amount ofwaste which is generated.Environmental pollution, par-ticularly of the land resources,is the ultimate outcome ofthis.

It has become axiomaticthat with this mind bogglingpace of materialism and con-sumption driven social sys-tem, there is a commensuratedecline in peace, naturalresources and human health.As Mahatma Gandhi onceopined, “there is enough onearth for everyone’s need butnot enough for everybody’sgreed”.

That humans are a mere

evolved genre among otherforms of animals inhabitingthe planet is a fact which ismost often forgotten easily.With such sophisticated men-tal and physiological abilitiesthe social, technological andeconomic progress made byall human cultures, in varyingdegrees of course, is hardly amatter of surprise.

However what really is amatter of surprise and regretis the carelessness and apathywith which humans havetreated their respective ecosys-tems. No wonder then that incontemporary times the mostnature friendly and healthycommunities are those whichare relatively technologicallylaggard and least modernised.For instance despite openingup to industrialisation andoutside trade right from 1970-80s, the economy of Bhutanhas been very particular aboutensuring a sustainable devel-opment.

Forests still cover about 60per cent of the total land areaand majority of the populationis still economically depen-dent on traditional sectors. Itis natural then that Bhutanremains not only the mostgreen county in Asia but alsostatistically the happiest.

The Bhutanese govern-ment plays a rather patriarchalrole when it comes to pro-tecting the forest and waterresources of the country.Paradoxically it is believedthat the least developed soci-eties should always takelessons in growth and infra-structural development fromtheir first world counterparts.

Here however it is impor-tant that we ask ourselvesthat what exactly does devel-opment even mean? Does itmean a lopsided evolutionwhere industrial growth andrising per capita incomescome at the cost of fast deplet-ing and damaging naturalresources? This almostamounts to injecting a botoxof development to otherwiserapidly ossifying human civil-isation.

The total percentage offorest cover in India as per the

official estimates of the ForestSurvey Of India in 2018 isbarely a 24 per cent. Thisabysmal figure is nerve wrack-ing when we know that we arealready drowning in a quick-sand of waste and concrete.

The community and gov-ernment measures to tacklerising air pollution, wastemismanagement and rivercontamination are essentiallypalliative in nature.

A realistic solution of allurban problems lies deepinside our own minds. Thespirit of material acquisitionarises out of a deep sense ofinsecurity which if analysedscientifically is natural to allliving organisms. However togive in to all psychologicalinsecurities without consid-ering the ecological trauma itcauses to society is totallysadistic. There is a reasonwhy many cultures believeand adhere to a minimalisticway of life.

This “new” minimalistlifestyle is a movement whichis in opposition to the exist-ing consumption-centric soci-ety. Capitalism has foreverfocused heavily upon con-sumerism for propagatingitself. In a matter of a handfulof decades post liberalisationIndian society became moreand more like a mirror imageof western societies. Todaywhen the waste generated bythe first and third world coun-tries threatens the world alike,there are many people andcommunities even in the westwho are adapting themselvesto a minimalistic way of life.

Japanese society is knownto be moving towards adopt-ing simplicity and de clutter-ing of their living spaces.Even most communitiesinhabiting the Scandinavianregions believe in purchasingthings based on their func-tionality and not simplymomentary pleasures or aes-thetic appeal. It is also impor-tant to understand that min-imalism is not just limited toart, food, literature or homeinteriors. Minimalism is aboutthinking twice before dis-carding possessions only

because of minor defect inthem or sheer boredom.Restoration of things beforesimply throwing them is animportant value to be incul-cated in people. Even simplethings like food leftovers, fab-rics, papers and medicinescan be recreated or recycled tomake many other utilities ofvalue. This is especially usefulin developing countries wherethe income gaps are unimag-inably huge.

A mindful redistribution,community sharing, preserv-ing and recycling are produc-tive processes which can notonly reduce the output ofwaste but also prevent unnec-essary buying and accumu-lating by people. There is areason why Fumio Sasaki’swork “Goodbye Things”, arevelatory book on the impor-tance of minimalism took USand other developed cultures

by storm to become a best sell-er immediately. In India mostpeople are still caught up in acyclonic wave of con-sumerism. The tremendousmarket for foreign goodswhich we have turned into isonly a testimony to this. It ishigh time we pause for awhile and re think aboutchannelising our resourcesinto appropriate usage. Ratherthan investing money, man-power and technology intotackling the waste menacewhich is incessantly increas-ing, we must consider shiftingtowards a zero waste policy.

While disposable moneydoes differentiate between thehaves and have nots but eco-logical crisis falls on everyoneequally. Before packing ourrejected items into blackgarbage bags, we must thinkof every possibility to translatethem into resources. In most

countries, kitchen and gar-dening waste composes thebiggest share of municipalsolid waste. This type of waste,when segregated at sourceitself and then collected sep-arately, can be turned into anenergy source or fertiliserconveniently. A change inwaste creation and manage-ment patterns of society needsawareness and action on partof all groups in society.

Even in the manufactur-ing industry beginning fromproduct designing and pack-aging to choice of materials,the entire value chain shouldbe redesigned from the per-spective of waste prevention.Self restraint exercised todaycan go a long way in ensuringa greener and cleaner planetlater. Waste can be a burden ifmanaged inappropriately andcan be a resource if dealtwith systematically. Among all

other resolutions we adoptthis new year, reducing thewaste burden of our society bybecoming minimalistic,

should be the cardinal one.

(The author is a retiredcivil servant)

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Two persons accused of thefthave been nabbed by the

police in Haridwar while threeother accused are absconding.The duo was caught with stolengoods reported to be worth Rssix lakh.

According to the informa-tion provided by officialsources, on December 12, MayaSingh had filed a complaint inthe Kankhal police stationregarding the theft of 218 waterpipes kept for work uderAMRUT project at Bairagi

Camp in Kankhal by unknownpersons. Another complainthad also been lodged with theKotwali police regarding theftof 47 pipes on December 16 inBhagirathinagar, Bhupatwala.

For the early disclosure ofthese theft cases, a joint policeteam of the city Kotwali andKankhal police station wasformed under the direction ofHaridwar senior superinten-dent of police Senthil AvoodaiKrishnaraj S. The police teamstarted searching for the thievesthrough CCTV footage andsurveillance. On Sunday, an

informant tipped off the policewho arrested two accused with116 pipes from the under con-struction building nearAlaknanda GuestHouse.During interrogation,the two accused confessed tocommitting the theft at both theplaces.They said that some ofthe stolen pipes had been soldin Delhi and Ghaziabad. Theywere taking the remaining pipesfor sale on Sunday.

The duo further informedthe police about the personsthey used to sell the stolen itemsto in Delhi and Ghaziabad. The

duo caught by the police havebeen identified as Uttar Pradeshnatives Kamal Kishore andInatullah. The SSP said that theaccused Inatullah currentlyworks as a scrap dealer.

On spotting heaps of elec-tric wires and water pipes atconstruction sites, he used toinform Kamal Kishore andarrange for a vehicle. After this,fake documents of stolen goodswere prepared before the itemswere sold. While Kamal Kishorehad reportedly been jailed inthe past for theft of pipes inDehradun.

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Noted folk singers of theState, Narendra Singh

Negi and Kalpana Chauhanwere felicitated by the ShriGuru Ram Rai University inrecognition of their contribu-tion to publicising the folk cul-ture of Uttarakhand in Indiaand abroad.

The duo was felicitatedduring a cultural eveningorganised by the university onthe weekend. The eventHamari Sanskriti, HamariVirasat was inaugurated byEducation secretary RMeenakshi Sundaram alongwith the folk singers NarendraSingh Negi and KalapanaChauhan.

Cultural groups fromJaunsar, Chamoli, Almora andother areas of the state exhib-ited the rich cultural heritageof Uttarakhand through their

performances. The students ofSGRR PG College performeda folk song on the occasion.The team of Jai Mahasu BissuKala Samiti, Chakrata pre-sented Mahasu Vandana,Tharul Nritya, and Jaunsar’straditional dance along withThali dance.

The troupe from Pindarvalley- Bahuuddeshiya VikasEvam Sanskritik Samiti,Chamoli performed thePandav Nritya and VeerNritya.

Hansa Nritya Natya KalaVikas Society depicted thecolourful culture ofUttarakhand with Thadiya,Chopala and Tandi dances.Adarsh Kala Samiti fromAlmora performed theCholiya dance. During theoccasion, Sundaram present-ed the Uttarakhand SanskritiRatna Samman award to Negiand Chauhan.

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The decomposed body of afemale was spotted in a 200

metre deep gorge along theNainital-Kilbury motor roadon Sunday. Despite efforts, thepolice could not extract thebody due to dense fog andsevere cold conditions.

Attempts will be made toretrieve the body on Monday.According to sources, womenliving in the suburb had goneto the woods to collect fodderon Sunday when the spotted abody in the gorge. They

informed a forest departmentpersonnel who in turninformed the police. Policeofficers reached the site alongwith the department personnel.They attempted to climb downto the gorge where the bodywas spotted.

The fire brigade and StateDisaster Response Force(SDRF) were also informed.Joint efforts to retrieve thebody did not succeed due to thefog, darkness and severe cold.The body of female is believedto be lying in the place for somedays since it is decomposed.

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Astreet art event is beingconducted in Nainital city

by the authorities in associationwith a team from Mumbai. Theevent which will continue tillDecember 31 will include activ-ities like spray painting, rap andhip hop dance.

Members of the groupfrom Mumbai informed themedia here that with the assis-tance of the district adminis-tration, they are focusing ongraffiti art which is quite pop-ular in western nations. It hasalso gain ground in Indiancities including Mumbai, Delhi,Hyderabad and Lucknowamong others.

After reaching the lake cityon Sunday, the 15-memberteam from Mumbai also start-ed painting the wall at themunicipal horse stand. Westernpop music was being played asthe team members painted

graffiti on the wall. An openworkshop was also held toprovide information aboutgraffiti, hip hop and rap. Twoparticipants from France willalso be involved in the eventwhich will include musicalperformance during theevening. The youth will also begiven tips on making a careerin these fields.

The Kumaon MandalVikas Nigam (KMVN) man-

aging director Rohit Meenasaid that the group fromMumbai is working to beauti-fy the walls in Nainital. Theyhave painted two spots on theMall Road. He furtherinformed that this type ofevent will also be held inHaldwani, Ramnagar andNainital during March 2020.Local artistes will also beincluded in the workshops, headded.

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Aday after the Congress tookout a rally to protest against

the Citizenship (Amendment)Act (CAA) a larger number ofpeople rallied in support of theAct here on Sunday. The rally,which was held under the ban-ner of Lok Adhikar Manch wasalso supported by the BharatiyaJanata Party with the party’sstate president and MP AjayBhatt, Vidhan Sabha SpeakerPrem Chand Agrawal, MLAsand party office bearers alsoparticipating in the rally.

Thousands of peopleincluding a number of peopleform the border areas ofDehradun district first congre-gated at the Parade Ground onSunday morning. To the accom-paniment of dhol-nagadas andloudspeakers, the rally gotunderway at about 12 PM fromthe ground.

The crowd rallied past theAstley Hall and Clock Towerbefore entering the PaltanBazaar amidst heavy deploy-ment of police personnel. From

the bazaar, the rally passedthrough Dispensary Road,Darshanlal Chowk and

Lansdowne Chowk to culmi-nate at the Parade Ground.Raising slogans in support of the

CAA, the demonstraters alsoappealed to the public to desistfrom believing in rumours and

misinformation. Addressing thegathering on the occasion, theBJP State president and MP Ajay

Bhatt said that opposition polit-ical parties were intentionallyspreading misinformationamong the masses regarding theCAA. Stressing that this Act willnot affect the status of anyIndian citizen, he said thatsome political parties arespreading rumours and misin-forming the public in order togain dubious political benefit.Alleging that those heading theprotest against CAA were mis-guiding the general public, hesaid that the people of India arewise and stand in support withthe Government of India’s deci-sion regarding the CAA.

He said that the large num-ber of people rallying in supportof the Act was proof of this. Therally was not that of the BJP butalso of the common citizens ofIndia who had participated inlarge numbers in the demon-stration, he added.

Meanwhile, while manypeople rallied carrying thenational flag, a representation ofthe tri-colour about 72 feet inlength was also carried by thedemonstrators.

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As witnessed during theanti—CAA protest rally

taken out by the Congress onSaturday, the general publicsuffered due to traffic conges-tion caused by the pro-CAArally taken out on Sunday.

The two large ralliesagainst and in support ofCitizenship (Amendment) Act(CAA) on Saturday and Sundayrespectively became a majorspoiler for the local people aswell the tourists on this week-end.

The district police how-ever tried to ensure trafficmanagement but the snail paceoperation of traffic, congestedroads with multiple blocksresulted in traffic jams lastinghours at several crucial pointson various roads in the city.

Both political processionshave been termed as show ofpower by political experts,which begs the question as towhy district police allowed theprocessions to pass throughmain roads when Director ofState Traffic Directorate KewalKhurana had on multiple occa-sions explicitly directed aginstallowing this.

It is pertinent to mention

here that Khurana had on mul-tiple times reiterated that reli-gious, cultural, protest andpolitical processions will not beallowed on the main roadsduring peak hours. As per theinformation provided by theoffice of Dehradun SeniorSuperintendent of Police (SSP),six Circle Officers (CO), 13Inspectors, 52 Sub-Inspectors,291 police constables in whichthree QRT teams, four tear gassquads, one mounted policeteam, fire service teams andseven companies of ProvincialArmed Constabulary (PAC)were deployed for the trafficand law and order managementduring the procession held bythe Lok Adhikar Manch withthe support of the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) on Sunday.

According to the policeabout eight to nine thousandpeople participated in the pro-cession. District police alsokept one drone camera on sta-tic mode and one actively mov-ing over the procession to keepan eye on the entire rally.

However, all these mea-sures did not prevent the majortraffic jams experienced onvarious main roads in the corearea of Dehradun city due tothe rally.

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Dehradun Senior Superintendent ofPolice (SSP) Arun Mohan Joshi

who has recently been promoted to therank of Deputy Inspector General(DIG) had made better traffic man-agement in the district one of his toppriorities soon after assuming office ofthe SSP in Dehradun.

Earlier during his statements he hadsaid that they will be working on a newtraffic management plan taking theexisting infrastructure into considera-tion. However, even after about five

months of him serving as DehradunSSP the traffic management issue in thecity has still not been resolved. Whenasked about the issue he said, “We havetaken certain steps after which we hadalso seen some results. Presently theforce has been deployed in various pro-grammes that are being organised as theNew Year celebration is coming.

After that we will work on the traf-fic plan. It is still our priority and weplan to make it work in the most organ-ised manner.”Another senior districtofficial on the condition of anonymitysaid, “We don’t even have enough force

that we ought to have as per therequirement of the year 2000. If we startrevising it as per the present date thenumber of required police force in theprovisional state capital will be wellabove what we have now.

On top of that there are severalother duties here including someadministrative work as well that are notthere in any other district. Half of ourforce stays buried under tonnes ofpaperwork. Others are either in VIPduty or any other programme.” Anotherofficial said, “It is difficult to focus onroutine policing when almost daily there

is some new programme here thatrequires police assistance. Unlike mostother departments our priorities changealmost instantly, which is one the rea-sons that we keep pushing our regularpolice duties back.”

It is pertinent to mention here thatDIG and Dehradun SSP Joshi, who wasrumoured to be getting another post,will now be staying in Dehradun as SSPfor at least next five months. SSP Joshihad earlier stated that if he stayed at hispost here he would be working to bet-ter the traffic situation here before thesummer season starts in June.

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The district police have filed 192 cases tillNovember 30 under the section 498 A of the

Indian Penal Code (IPC) this year. In the year 2018,total 214 cases were registered while in the year2017; total 136 cases were registered under the samesection.

It is pertinent to mention here that whoever,being the husband or the relative of the husbandof a woman, subjects such woman to cruelty shallbe punished with imprisonment under the section498 A, of IPC for a term which may extend to threeyears and shall also be liable to fine. DehradunSenior Superintendent of Police (SSP) ArunMohan Joshi said, “We immediately file caseswhich needs police assistance in domestic violence

cases. There are some cases in which there is roomfor counselling, in which case we forward thosecases to women helpline.”

A representative from Women Helpline said,“We take care of most women oriented cases. Wealso provided them assistance in case they wantto file for maintenance or divorce through DistrictLegal Service Authority (DLSA).

Most of the cases we get are either of physi-cal or emotional violence. Recently we have beengetting most cases from inside the city, but oth-erwise we get cases from outskirts of district likeVikasnagar, Harbartpur and Doiwala.” It is perti-nent to mention here that there are increasing num-bers of cases also coming into light where thewomen are taking advantage of ABAP seeks landfor Bhoo Samadhi before KumbhTo

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The State MeteorologicalCentre has issued an alert

stating that shallow fog is like-ly to occur in plains especiallyin Haridwar and Udham SinghNagar districts of the state onMonday.

The centre also stated thatfrost is also likely to occur inmountainous regions at fewplaces in Uttarakhand duringthe morning hours. Overall,mainly clear to partly cloudy skyis likely to be in Uttarakhand.Dry weather is likely to prevailin rest of the state. Shallowfog/mist is likely to occur insome parts of plains especiallyin Haridwar and Udham SinghNagar districts in

Uttarakhand.In the provisionalcapital of Uttarakhand, the skywill be mainly clear to partlycloudy sky on Monday. Themaximum and minimum tem-peratures are likely to be 21degree Celsius and five degreeCelsius respectively inDehradun on Monday.

Meanwhile on Sunday, themaximum and minimum tem-peratures recorded at variousplaces in the state were 21.4degree Celsius and 3.9 degreeCelsius respectively inDehradun, 10 degree Celsiusand 6.5 degree Celsius inPantnagar, 12.6 degree Celsiusand one degree Celsius inMukteshwar, 15.2 degree Celsiusand 3.6 degree Celsius respec-tively in New Tehri.

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The local residents ofSheeshambada conduct-

ed a symbolic funeral proces-sion of Chief MinisterTrivendra Singh Rawat onSunday.

The people have beenprotesting against theSheeshambada Solid WasteManagement plant for somemonths now, stating that apartfrom the stench, the toxicliquid and smoke being dis-charged from this plant havebecome a major source ofpollution in the area.

They also claimed thatthis pollution is becoming

hazardous for the health oflocal citizens there. The localresidents of Sheeshambadahad also declared that theywill be going on an indefinitehunger strike from Mondayonwards in demand for thesolution of same problem.

It is important to mentionhere that the local residents ofSheeshambada submitted awritten complaint letter inSelaqui police post againstChief Minister TrivendraSingh Rawat, UrbanDevelopment Minister MadanKaushik, Tehri MP RajyaLakshmi Shah, Sahaspur MLASehdev Pundir, DehradunMayor Sunil Uniyal ‘Gama’,

Municipal CommissionerVinay Shankar Pandey,Ramky Company, JalSansthan, UttarakhandEnvironment Protection andPollution Control Board(UEPPCB) along with otherunnamed departments andpeople concerned, in regardswith the same issue.

On the follow up of thecomplaint, Selaqui police postin-charge, Narendra Puri saidthat he had forwarded thecomplaint to the sub-divi-sional Magistrate (SDM) con-cerned, as the nature of thecomplaint includes environ-mental issues which are out oftheir jurisdiction.

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The work of laying sewerlines in Rishikesh and

Haridwar at a cost of Rs 1,500crore will be started from 2021onward. A memorandum ofunderstanding regarding thishas been signed between theNamami Gange Mission andthe German bank KfW. Underthis scheme, every colony andhouse in Rishikesh andHaridwar will be connected tothe sewer line system.

According to sources,sewer lines will be laid inRishikesh and Haridwar at acost of Rs 1,500. This projectwill include laying of sewer

lines measuring 180 kilometresin length in the urban area and30 kilometres in the rural areasof Rishikesh at a cost of Rs 350crore. In addition to this, a twoMLD capacity sewer treatmentplant will also be built inRishikesh.

At the same time, sewerline covering a length of 440kilometre will be laid inHaridwar at a cost of Rs 1,150crore. Work will begin after theKumbh Mela slated to be heldin Haridwar during 2021. Thiswork will be done by theGovernment of India under theNamami Gange project.

General manager KKRastogi informed that an MoU

had been signed betweenNamami Gange and theGerman bank for laying 750kilometre long sewer line at acost of Rs 1,500 crore inRishikesh and Haridwar.

Under this scheme a 440kilometre long sewer lines willbe laid in Haridwar and 210kilometre long sewer lines willbe laid in Rishikesh.

He said that all the neces-sary paper work and tenderprocess for this project will becompleted by the departmentbefore the 2021 Kumbh Mela inHaridwar. Work on the projectwill be started as soon as theKumbh Mela concludes, headded.

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The Akhil Bharatiya AkhadaParishad (ABAP) has sought

land in Haridwar for makingsamadhis of ascetics. The ABAPhas demanded that the land beallocated before the KumbhMela to be held in Haridwar dur-ing 2021.

General Secretary of theABAP, Mahant Hari Giri saidthat the Kumbh Mela adminis-tration and the governmentshould provide space for build-ing mausoleums of asceticsbefore the commencement ofKumbh Mela.

While talking to media per-sons, he said that Jal (water)samadhi is prevalent in Haridwarbut in view of the pollution of theGanga river this practice shouldbe replaced by Bhoo Samadhi

(burial). The Kumbh Melaadministration and State gov-ernment should provide the

land required for this, he added.In case an ascetic expires, JalSamadhi during the Kumbh

Mela in Haridwar will sent thewrong message compared tothe efforts being undertaken by

the government and otherorganisations to ensure cleanli-ness of the Ganga river. TheABAP general secretary alsoreiterated the demand forexpanding the Kumbh Melaarea, adding that the basic facil-ities should be provided for in theexpanded area too. He furtherinformed that a meeting of theABAP will be held on January 15.

Discussion will be heldwith the Kumbh Mela adminis-tration about the extension of theKumbh Mela area and allotmentof land for the Samadhi. Theauthorities concerned shouldexpedite Kumbh Mela works andprovide basic facilities to the peo-ple where the Mela area is to beexpanded so that there is noinconvenience to those whocome here.very laws which havebeen made to empower them.

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An alert employee of the rail-way averted a mishap while

patrolling the tracks on a coldSaturday night. According toinformation received from offi-cial sources, on Saturday nightrailway employee NarendraTomar was patrolling andchecking the track when henoticed that the plate on thetrack was broked at a railwaycrossing.

The Begumpura Expresswas expected to go by this tracksoon. He alerted the station master on the phone. The

Begumpura Express was halt-ed at the Dosni railway stationwhile Tomar fixed the brokenplate in up line 1549 crossingin about an hour. TheBegumpura Express train stoodat Dosni station during thistime. Sources state that a trainspeeding on the broken trackcould have resulted in amishap.

It is also pertinent to men-tion here that some days agotoo a plate was found brokenon the railway track. Then tooTomar had informed hisseniors about it.

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Being the backbone of state'seconomy, Himachal

Pradesh Government is layingspecial impetus on strengthen-ing tourism industry in thestate. In fact, to boost the state’stourism sector, the Governmenthad signed as many 225 MoUsworth Rs 16,000 crore duringthe recently held GlobalInvestors' Meet and work onalmost 15 percent projects hasalready been started.

Groundbreaking ceremonyof 81 projects with an invest-ment of Rs 3,322 crore inTourism sector was performedon completion of two yearstenure of the StateGovernment, said the govern-ment spokesperson.Spokesperson said that theefforts are being made to maketourism sector employment-oriented for local residents,under which, 2000 homestays

and 3600 hotels have been reg-istered in the state, against theprevious year’s figure of just 476new homestay units. To pro-vide employment to the unem-ployed youth, the StateGovernment has providedtraining to 939 people in vari-ous tourism industries such astourist guide, taxi driver, porter,dhaba owners, food and bev-

erage services, trekking guide,basic course of tourism, skiingcourse by HIMCON, AtalBihari VajpayeeMountaineering InstituteManali, Nature and LifeAssociation, Mountaineeringcenter Bharmaur and HPTDC.

A provision of Rs 50 crorehas been made under ‘NaiRahein Nai Manzilein’ scheme,

to develop the virgin lands ofthe State. In the first phase ofthe scheme, development ofJanjheli in Mandi district,Chanshal in Shimla district,Bir-Biling in Kangra district,water sport activities in Largiand Pong area will be done.

To strengthen the tourismsector, Asian DevelopmentBank has approved project

worth Rs 656.00 crore, whichwill be completed in two phas-es or tranches. Another ADBaided scheme with an outlay ofRs 1,892.00 crore has also beenapproved for the State whichincludes a special package ofcommunity development,under which people of ruralareas would be encouraged toset up activities related totourism.

State Government is con-structing ropeways as an alter-nate transport arrangement forfacilitating tourists, includingDharamshala-Mcleodganjropeway by 2020, SriAnandpur-Naina Devi inBilaspur district, Aadi-HimaniChamunda in Kangra district,Palchan-Rohtang and BijliMahadev in Kullu district, MaaShikari Devi in Mandi district,Shahtalai-Dayotisidh inBilaspur-Hamirpur district andNarkanda-Hatu ropeway inShimla district.

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The Delhi Government hascome up with a range of

facilities including blanket, TVsets, geyser, mattress, pillow, teaand snacks to attract homelessin the national Capital to spendtheir nights in shelters insteadof footpaths, people who wereforced to sleep under sky in thechilling winter, have reasons tosmile as the move has ensureda great relief to them.

The shelters built by DelhiUrban Shelter ImprovementBoard (DUSIB) are equippedwith the facilities like lED,geyser, and tiles flooring roomsand cleaned blanket and well-maintained washrooms.Besides, tea and breakfast arealso being served to them.

"We are running 55 suchshelters spread across Delhi.Four winter rescue team aredeployed to rescue homeless.They are rescued by NGOs andbring to the shelter," he said,adding that 30 to 40 people res-cued every night," said AnilVerma, field coordinator ofSPYM NGO.

Nitesh Kumar, projectCoordinator of SYPM said that

DUSIB has launched nightshelter App. "Any one can cap-ture homeless sleeping on foot-paths and upload the pictureson the App. This informationwill automatically forwarded tofield coordinator and rescueoperation begin soon after get-ting information," he said.

One of the care takers of anight shelter at Kashmiri gatesaid that homeless are being

served morning tea and rusk."A team of doctors has alsobeen there to visit the nightshelters. He further said thatregular inspections are alsobeing done by the officials ofthese shelters and senior mem-bers of the NGO, which runsthe shelter.

Mangu Thakur, a labourerfrom Aligarh while watchingnews on television at a night

shelter at Delhi Gate, said henever thought to have all thefacilities without spending evena single penny.

"All the required facilitieslike blankets, bed, tea andsnacks are being provided herefree of cost. Now I can live herehappily, he said, adding that hehad to spend �50 to 70 for teaand food but now he can saveit for his family.

Hira Pawan, who hails fromBihar and earns his livelihoodby working in a factory, said thathe came in Delhi for earning hislivelihood a month ago.

"I still do not have any jobbut I can spend my nights insuccour. I search for jobs in dayand return back to shelter atnight. This is great move and Iam thankful towards authori-ties. I spent many nights on thepavement and rescued by ateam and brought back at shel-ter at Kashmiri Gate," he added.

"We are given facilities likeclean bathrooms and evenstaffs here are very cooperative.We all are being treated withdignity," he said.

A senior DUSIB officialsaid that at present, many shel-ters have been equipped withgeysers and 24*7 electricity.Besides TV sets has also beeninstalled in shelters for theentertainment of the residents.

"There are 193 night shel-ter currently being operated.Out of which, 78 are function-ing in permanent buildingsand 115 from porta cabins.Besides, 45 tents has also beeninstalled to carter the need ofhomeless," he added.

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The Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Sunday felici-

tated the ex-servicemen andfamilies of the martyred sol-diers in a programme held atthe Constitution Club.

He also said that the AamAadmi Party (AAP) wouldhave never been a successfulwithout the support of ex-ser-vicemen. We have recruited alot of ex-servicemen in theenforcement wing of the trans-port department.

We have recruited 13,000marshals on the buses. Wewrote to the State Sainik Boardand the Central Government,and have given jobs to all thoseex-servicemen who applied.We want to work closely withex-servicemen. We are veryproud of the nation's Army."

"We cannot put a price tothe lives of martyred soldiers,but we have tried to honourthem.

Our Government hasworked to provide financialassistance of �1 crore to thefamily of martyred soldiersliving in Delhi and job to onefamily member.

In the last five years, ourGovernment has recruited ex-servicemen on a large scale inseveral departments andutilised their abilities. This is

the reason why education andsecurity arrangements havebeen improved in Delhi today,"said Keriwal while addressinghonouring the ex-servicemen.

He said, "We never able torealize how their families, sev-eral thousand kilometers away,wait when our soldiers protectus on the border and when theyfind out that he was martyredand his body comes home,what they will have to sufferand how they will bear it. Oursoldiers have shown amazingvalor and courage for MotherIndia whenever needed."

Adding on, Kejriwal said,"We had not yet utilised this

quality to its full potential. So,our Government recruited ex-servicemen in many positionsin the last five years. Educationand administrative work wasthe responsibility of the prin-cipal in schools.

We distributed the work-load of the principals andappointed ex-servicemen asestate managers in all schools.

The estate manager looksafter the administrative workand the principal, the academ-ic work. Today, education,cleanliness, and securityarrangements have improvedwith the support of the ex-ser-vicemen," he said.

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The sustained campaignlaunched by Delhi Chief

Minister Arvind Kejriwalagainst the spread of Denguethrough its awareness cam-paign bore the impact as vec-tor borne diseases in thenational Capital came down to1,998 as compared to 2,798cases in the year 2018.According to the South DelhiMunicipal Corporation(SDMC), apart from 1,998cases of dengue, there were 300cases of chikungunya and 798of malaria.

It may be recalled that inone of the worst outbreak ofvector borne diseases, a total of12,221 chikungunya cases werereported in Delhi in, 2016,out of which 9,749 were con-firmed. This year the cases ofchikungunya came down dras-tically owing to the focusedcampaign by the Aam AadmiParty (AAP) Government tosensitise the people against the factors that caused this dis-ease. Among the areas fallingunder the three municipal cor-

porations, cases of breedingwere reported. As per the sta-tistics North Delhi MunicipalCorporation reported 74,820cases, SDMC 64,703 cases and40,449 cases were reported inEast Delhi MunicipalCorporation.

Meanwhile, mosquito-breeding has been reported at17,9,972 households in the city.Delhi Government’s initiativestarted in this year to checkhouses for stagnant water, hadgarnered a massive supportfrom public and several other well-known personalities across the coun-try, including cricketers,Bollywood actors and famousjournalists.

The civic bodies also issued14,2,997 legal notices to variouspeople and establishments aftermosquitogenic conditions werefound in their houses orpremises. During the corre-sponding period last year,notices were sent to 18,7,210households. At least 17,7,118prosecutions have also beenlaunched after breeding werefound, the municipal report forthe 2019 stated. According to

municipal health officials,domestic breeding of mosqui-toes is one of the main factorsresponsible for people con-tracting these vector-bornediseases.

"Water coolers, storageutensils, bird and dog-feedersleft in the rain, are known to betypical places where Aedesmosquito breeds. Most of thebreeding detected in thesewaste products left in open byour 'Dengue BreedingCheckers', the official said.

However, concerned oversporadic reports of dengueand chikungunya at the begin-ning of this year has prompt-ed the civic bodies to issue anadvisory on prevention andcontrol of vector-borne diseasesin Delhi and called for pre-vention of mosquito breedingby source and made it clear thatthe reduction is the only effec-

tive tool for prevention andcontrol of these diseases.Dengue and chikungunya arecaused by the bite of Aedesagypti mosquito, which breedsin clear water, while Anophelesmosquito, which causes malar-ia, can breed in both fresh andmuddy water.

"We have been appealing topeople through our campaignto not allow stagnation of waterin coolers or dog-feeders,which become a hot breedingground for Aedes mosquitoes.Our domestic breeding check-ers (DBCs), who go to inspecthouses, are often denied entryby people, so we are unable tocheck the growth of vectorsinside houses," said a seniorcorporation official. Besides, allthe three corporations havealso taken a number of mea-sures to prevent mosquitobreeding, including creating

awareness by using variousmedia, deploying more denguebreeding checkers, and desilting of drains, the offi-cial said. The south body hasdecided to spray insecticidenamed 'Alpha Cyper Methrin'which remains effective forthree months from the date ofspraying, an SDMC officialsaid.

A senior SDMC officialsaid the spraying of insecticideshe has regularly been donethroughout the year. "Thespray will be especially con-centrated in JJ and rehabilita-tion colonies as these areas arevery suitable for breeding," hesaid.With the move, the SDMCofficials believe that theapproaching menace of vector-borne diseases can be checkedas the mosquitoes will be paral-ysed after coming in contactwith such insecticide.

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Aday after SAD questionsPunjab’s ‘low’ ranking in

governance, the Chief MinisterCapt Amarinder Singh onSunday took on Akali presidentSukhbir Badal for deceiving thepeople with his “blatant mis-information” on the recentlyreleased Good GovernanceIndex (GGI) report, which wasactually a reflection of thepoor governance under theerstwhile SAD-BJP regime.

The Chief Minister took onthe SAD chief over his totalignorance about the State,which his party, in alliance withthe Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP), had misruled for adecade, to pull it down onevery index of progress.

Referring to the GGIreport released by the CentralGovernment on December 25,2019, Capt Amarinder pointedout that the data used to pre-pare the index dated back to thefinancial year 2014-15, 2015-16and 2016-17, when Punjab wasunder the regime of the Akalisand the BJP.

Capt Amarinder furtherpointed out that anyoneinvolved in serious and respon-sible governance would knowthat indices of progress aredeveloped over a time and anydevelopment process translatesinto visible outcomes only insubsequent reports. “ButSukhbir would not know that,considering that he never knewthe meaning of responsibleand good governance,” quippedCapt Amarinder.

Rubbishing Sukhbir’sclaims as “lies” on the growthof industry and ease of doingbusiness in the State, the ChiefMinister noted that the reportwas based on the data from

2014-15. “The ease of doingbusiness was also observed in2017 when transformations ofthe sector under the newlyelected government are still inprocess,” he added. “In histearing haste to condemn thecurrent government, Sukhbirhas clearly not bothered tocheck out even the basic factsbefore coming out with hisstatement,” said CaptAmarinder, adding that theformer Deputy Chief Ministerhad evidently chosen to live ina state of constant delusion,which was far removed fromthe ground reality, with noteven a remote connection withfacts and figures.

“For 10 years, their (SAD-BJP) government messed upwith Punjab on every count,destroying every sector andpulling the State down to thepits with respect to its social,economic and other key aspectsof growth. No wonder the peo-ple threw them out in 2017,and in every election there-after,” said Capt Amarinder.

“Yet, Sukhbir and his asso-ciates had clearly not learnt anylessons from their mistakes,

and continued to believe thattheir deceptions and false-hoods would eventually suc-ceed in befooling the people ofPunjab once. But, that is notgoing to happen, as the peopleare much more knowledgeableand intelligent than Sukhbirbelieved them to be. They (thepeople) want progress anddevelopment, not chicaneryand falsehoods,” he added.

Pointing to the EconomicGovernance indicator dataused in the report, the ChiefMinister said that it related to2016-17, thus reflecting theprogress in the sector under theprevious government. Even thedata under Social welfare anddevelopment, sex ratio at birth,health insurance coverage andempowerment of minoritiesdated back to the previousgovernment’s time, he furthernoted.

As far as agriculture andallied sector was concerned,data for all indicators otherthan one with a low weightageof 0.1, has been taken from2015-16 and 2016-17 – whenthe Congress government wasnot in power, said the ChiefMinister. Under public health,where Punjab could have donebetter, data on maternal mor-tality ratio (MMR), infant mor-tality ratio (IMR) and immu-nization achievement are allfrom the period between 2014-2017.

In cases where the data hasbeen taken from the period rel-evant to the current dispensa-tion, the indices either reflectprogress made on key para-meters or are expected toreflect excellent turnaround inthe subsequent report since thisgovernment has actively putinto place measures to improveon these concerns and the

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When the entire nation isopposing the

Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA) holding protests anddharnas, Punjab Congresswould hold a protest marchagainst the amended act in

Ludhiana on December 30,Monday.

The march will be attend-ed by Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh, Punjabparty affairs’ in-charge AshaKumari, besides the stateCabinet Ministers and stateCongress leaders, said PunjabPradesh Congress Committee(PPCC) president Sunil Jakharon Sunday while inviting thePunjabis to join this march.

The entire country is unit-ed to oppose the CitizenshipAmendment Act, he said.At

the same time, Jakhar lam-basted the Uttar PradeshGovernment for indecentbehaviour with Congressleader Priyanka Gandhi sayingthat it reflected the low-ebbthinking of BJP led CentralGovernment for women in thecountry which worshipswomen as goddess.

“The incident reflectshatred approach and dirtypolitics of the saffron partythat sounds bugle of BetiBachao, Beti Padhao loudly. Itis sham that all this happened

under the rule of same BJP,” hesaid. “Modi Government wasafraid of Priyanka Gandhi asshe leads the nationwide cam-paign against the CitizenAmendment Act (CAA)passed by the NDAGovernment to harm the spir-it of our Constitution,” headded.

Jakhar also questioned theleaders of the state unit of theBJP to tell how many jobshave been provided to youthof Punjab by the CentralGovernment or what other

projects and schemes theyhave been brought to Punjabfrom Union Government.

“The CongressGovernment is fulfilling thepromises made to the peoplein accordance to its electionmanifesto.

On the other hand, theModi Government at theCenter is hiding its failures byraising emotional issues ratherthan solving people’s day-to-day issues, like employment,inflation, farming etc,” saidJakhar.

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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal on Sunday

inaugurated and laid the foun-dation stone of developmentalworks worth Rs 14.87 crore inKarnal, besides inauguratingthe 14-feet tall bronze statue offormer Prime Minister (late)Atal Bihari Vajpayee whichhas been built at the plush AtalPark in the city.

The Chief Minister inau-gurated the newly-built BDPOoffice building of Kunjpura at

a cost of Rs 1,98,80,000.He unveiled the bronze

statue of former PrimeMinister Bharat Ratna (late)Atal Bihari Vajpayee whichwas built at a cost of Rs 56lakhs.

Among other projects wasthe construction work ofWestern Yamuna Canal Bridgeon Karnal-Kaithal Road at acost of Rs 7,9,28,000.

The strengthening of roadsfrom Dachar to Ichhanpur ata cost of Rs 3.13 crore waslaunched.

The Chief Minister alsoinaugurated the UrbanPrimary Health Center con-structed in Ram Nagar area ata cost of Rs 44 lakh, in addi-tion, the foundation stone ofroad to be built at a cost of Rs55.39 lakh from Indri Road toKarna in the State was also laid.

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Amid massive protest bystudents in several uni-

versities across the countryagainst citizenship amendmentact, Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday lauded theyouth for believing in the sys-tem and questioning it when itdidn’t respond properly.

Addressing his last ‘Mannki Baat’ of 2019, Modi said theyouth hate anarchy and disor-der and dislike casteism, nepo-tism and favouritism, remarksthat come in the backdrop ofrecent violent protests on var-ious university campuses overthe Citizenship AmendmentAct and proposed NRC.

“According to me, theyappreciate the system. Not justthat, they prefer to follow thesystem. And in the event of thesystem not responding prop-erly, they get restless and evencourageously question the sys-tem itself! I consider thisattribute as a virtue.

“One can even say withcertitude here, that the coun-try’s youth detests anarchy ofany sort. They despise any ele-ment of lack of governance andinstability; abhorring anyshades of nepotism, casteism,favouritism or gender dis-crimination,” he said.

He hoped the young Indiawill play a key role in buildingmodern India in the comingdecade and cited SwamiVivekananda, who had saidthat young people who are fullof energy and dynamism, pos-sess the power to usher inchange.

“I am of the firm belief thatfor India, this decade will be,not only about developmentand progress of the youth; itwill also prove to be about thecountry’s progress, harnessingtheir collective might. This

generation will play a majorrole in modernising India; I feelit beyond any doubt,” he said.

Modi exhorted youth togive a thought to this respon-sibility and take on this resolveon Vivekananda’s birthanniversary on January 12. Healso cited cases when youthvociferously react wheneveran incident of disorder takesplace and make a video of it tomake the culprit realise theconsequence.

“Thus, our new genera-tion is an embodiment, a reflec-tion of a new system, a neworder, a new age, a new thought.Today, India eagerly awaits thisgeneration expectantly. Theseare the very people who have toelevate the country to greaterheights,” he said.

Modi also urged youth tovisit the Rock memorial inKanyakumari, where SwamiVivekanand entered into themeditative State, to get inspi-ration and urge to serve thepoorest of the poor in thecountry.

The Prime Minister alsoexhorted the youth about theimportance of Alumni meets in

colleges and universities, andsaid some such meets have con-tributed something for society.

He cited the case ofthe Bhairavganj Health Centrein West Champaran district ofBihar, where thousands turnedup for a health check-up campand started an Alumni Meet ofthe local KR High School anda slipper manufacturing unitstarted by Phulpur women,with the help of ‘GraminAjivika Mission.

The prime minister alsourged people to promote localproducts in their purchases topromote ‘Swadeshi’. He alsolauded Parliamentarians formaking the Parliament ses-sion productive and breakingrecords of the last 60 years.

In his final address of 2019,PM Modi said the New Yearand new decade brings newresolutions, new energy, newenthusiasm and new zeal. “We have to walk far, we haveto achieve a lot, we have to takeour country to new heights.Let’s show immense faith in thepursuits (actions), the abilitiesand the resolve of 130 crorecountrymen,” he said.

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Aproject to plug border gaps and deploy a “smartfence” along the riverine Indo-Bangladesh

frontier in Assam is expected to be completed byJuly next year, BSF Director General VK Johri saidon Sunday.

The project got delayed by about six monthsas the region received heavy rains, resulting infloods, this year. The earlier deadline wasDecember, 2019, Johri said.

The Border Security Force (BSF) chief wasspeaking on the sidelines of a Press conference withhis Bangladeshi counterpart, Border GuardsBangladesh (BGB) DG Maj. Gen. Shafeenul Islam.

“The work is in the stage of execution and itshould be completed by July, 2020,” Johri said.

The BSF has been working to deploy a “smartfence”, powered by technical surveillance and alarmsystems, at the 55-km-long stretch in Dhubri, acrossthe Brahmaputra river in Assam.

This border area is highly prone to illegalmigration and cattle smuggling due to the chang-ing course of the mighty river.

A similar fence has been deployed by the BSFin the Jammu region, along the Pakistan border,as part of its Comprehensive Integrated BorderManagement System (CIBMS).

The BSF is mandated as the primary force toguard the 4,096-km-long International Boundary(IB) with Bangladesh besides the frontier withPakistan.

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After laying foundation stoneof the country’s very first

transit oriented development(TOD) project in Delhi underwhich a state-of-the-art infra-structure zone will be con-structed, the Ministry ofHousing and Urban Affairs hasmodified the TOD policy toencourage development aroundtransit nodes and encouragethe use of public transport.

TOD will also allow thecity to capitalise on the large-scale investments being madeinto public transit infrastruc-ture — Metro Rail, Regional

Rapid Transit System (RRTS)by facilitating the improve-ment of old housing stock inaddition to creation of newhousing stock and economiccentres around strategicallylocated transit nodes and open-ing up opportunities for valuecapture. The TOD policy willalso unlock the latent eco-nomic potential and land val-ues in the city.

TOD policy will help inbringing people and jobs clos-er to mass transit and lead tomuch needed integration ofland use and transport in thecity. It incorporates a variety ofhigh-density, mixed-use,

mixed-income buildings with-in a short distance of a rapidpublic transport network. Itwill result in compact, walka-ble, mixed-use developmentswithin influence zones of tran-sit stations.

To provide housing for allsections of the society, projectsalong the influential zoneswould provide a variety ofoptions and promote commu-nity living by offering sharedspaces and amenities.

To promote a healthy liv-ing, the policy directs 20 percent of the area under a projectto be developed as a greenspace that will be enjoyed by

everyone; while 10 per cent ofthis could be for exclusive use.A developer constructing agreen building on a plot of5,000 sq mt and above will beallowed an additional FAR.

Development of car-saleshowrooms, automobile repair& servicing shops, banquethalls, LPG godowns, electricsubstation, bus depot, crema-tion ground, standalone multi-level parking without on-sitemixed use and open groundparking will not be permitted.

As per guidelines, the TODscheme will cover a minimumone hectare and maximumeight hectare of area fulfilling

all eligibility criteria’s. For developing areas along

the Mass Rapid Transit System- 500 metres of area on bothsides, will be known as influ-ential zones. Influence zone iseither established at a transitstations or along the transit cor-ridors. It is generally up to aradius of nearly 500-800m ofthe transit station. Where thedistance between the transitstations is less than 1 km andthere is overlap in the influencearea, it can be identified as adelineated zone (around 500m)on either side of the transit cor-ridor within 10 - 12 minuteswalking distance.

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Union Home Minister Amit Shahon Sunday said the Modi

Government is committed to takecare of the families of Central secu-rity forces’ personnel while theyguard the nation.

Addressing CRPF personnelwhile laying the foundation stone ofthe paramilitary’s new headquartersbuilding here, Shah said the gov-ernment is working to ensure thatevery force personnel gets to spendat least 100 days with their family.

Health card facility will be pro-vided to families of paramilitaryjawans, Shah said.

The Central Reserve PoliceForce (CRPF) with a strength ofover 3-lakh personnel is lead inter-nal security force of the countrydealing with anti-terrorist andcounter Naxal operations across thecountry.

The new CCRPF headquarterswill come up on a 2.23 acre landadjacent to the CBI head office atLodhi Road at an estimated cost ofRs 277 crore.

The CPWD has been entrust-ed with the task of completing theconstruction of the new building byMarch 2022.

The current headquarters of theCRPF is located at Block No 1 in the

Central Government Offices (CGO)complex on Lodhi Road but a num-ber of its offices like that of the RAF,CoBRA, medical, training, com-munications, and works and recruit-ment are located at different loca-tions in the national capital owingto lack of space in the head officebuilding.

The plan of the new facility isto have ground plus 11 floors withthree basements will have a totalbuilt up area 45,675 square metre.Besides adequate office space, thestate-of -the-art building will have

an auditorium, conference hall,barracks for subordinate staff, cen-tral police canteen, gymnasium,guest room, kitchen and diningroom and mechanical parking for520 cars and 15 buses.

Skywalks would be created atthe 6th and 7th floor connecting theoffice blocks with cafeteria.

The ‘Green’ building is pro-posed to have a number of envi-ronment friendly features like ter-race lawn, water and sewage treat-ment plant, rain water harvestingsystem and an indigenous ventila-tion system and reduction of heatand access to daylight thrugh fen-estration. The complex will alsohave a green area of 2,264 squaremetre.

Shah also unveiled a newinsignia for the CRPF’s VIP securi-ty wing that secures 59 high-riskpersonalities, including the HomeMinister himself and members ofthe Congress President SoniaGandhi and her family besides anda host of Union ministers.

The logo — with a “Garuda”,sword and shield -- will give a dis-tinct identity to the unit, Shah said.

The VIP security wing of theCRPFcomprises about 4,000 per-sonnel. The insignia will bear themotto of the force — “Always,Aware, Alert”.

New Delhi: The MedicalCouncil of India (MCI) hasreceived six complaints of rag-ging by seniors in medical col-leges, which include suicide bya student due to extremeharassment in Mumbai, so farin 2019-20, according to offi-cial data.

The apex medical educa-tion regulatory body hadreceived 13 such complaints in2018-19 and 25 complaintswhich included three suicidecases in 2017-18.

The government is awareabout the problem of raggingin medical colleges and sever-al measures to control andcheck such instances have beeninitiated by the MCI, Ministerof State for Health AshwiniChoubey told Lok Sabha dur-ing the recent winter session.

Before starting of freshbatch of admissions, circular isissued to all medical colleges toprovide information on Anti-Ragging Committee composi-tion in the college with thename of members along withtheir telephone numbers and e-mail IDs and incidence of rag-ging reported and action takenin hard/soft copy, if any, theminister said.

They are also asked to sub-

mit details on the number ofFIRs lodged, if any, punishmentawarded, inclusion of specificinformation on Anti-Raggingin admissionbrochures/prospectus/booklets,installation of CCTV camerasin all the vulnerable places ofcollege, hospital and hostels.

The steps also includeensuring submission of onlineundertaking by each studentsand every parent. Medical col-leges also have to get NAACaccreditation and place anti-ragging posters and hoardingsin different parts of medicalcollege/hostel.

Besides, the MCI has pro-vided a link on its websiteregarding four short films anda documentary film for infor-mation and counselling of stu-

dents on the ill effects of rag-ging, Choubey said.

Also, all the universitiesand institutions as asked by theMCI show these films regular-ly to the students during ori-entation and other pro-grammes, he said.

The MCI hasamended the ‘Medical Councilof India (Prevention and pro-hibition of Ragging in MedicalC o l l e g e s / I n s t i t u t i o n s )Regulations 2009’ to root outragging in all its forms frommedical colleges/institutionsin the country.

For the convenience of stu-dents and parents, a separatepage on anti-ragging informa-tion with details of nodal offi-cer has been uploaded on thewebsite of the MCI. PTI

Colombo: Sri Lankan Navy hasarrested at least 14 Indian fish-ermen and seized their 3trawlers for allegedly poachingin the country’s territorialwaters.

The arrests were made onSaturday in the seas north ofthe Delft island, the Navy saidin a statement on Sunday.

“Sri Lanka Navy appre-hended 14 Indian fishermenalong with 3 fishing trawlers forpoaching in Sri Lankan terri-torial waters on December 28,”the statement said.

The fishermen are expect-ed to be handed over to theassistant director of fisheries inJaffna after a medical exami-nation for further action.

The Navy said that due toextensive patrols, the number

of Indian fishing trawlers enter-ing Sri Lankan waters havebeen significantly reduced.

In January 2018, Sri Lankaincreased by over 100 times thefine on foreign vessels to deterthem from fishing in its waters,amid the dispute over the fre-quent entry of Indian fishingtrawlers into the country’s mar-itime territory. PTI

Mumbai: Ireland Prime MinisterLeo Varadkar on Sunday visited hisancestral village alongwith his fam-ily members in the coastalSindhudurg district of Maharashtra,calling it “a very special moment”.

It was his first visit to the villageof Varad in Malvan tehsil, around500 km from Mumbai, after hebecame prime minister in June2017.

Varadkar’s father AshokVaradkar, a doctor, hailed fromVarad. He moved to the UnitedKingdom in the 1960s.

The visit was a “specialmoment” as three generations of hisfamily had gathered, the Irelandprime minister said after the vil-lagers felicitated him.

He also visited temple of the vil-lage deity.

“I am here with my parents, mysisters and their husbands, my part-ner and some grandchildren arehere...So it is a big family visit,” theIreland PM said.

It was “very special moment” forthem as three generations of his fam-ily were visiting “a place of mygrandfather”, he said.

“I am on private visit here as ofnow, but I would like to visit thisplace again in the official capacity,”Varadkar added.

PTI

New Delhi: The enactment of two keylegislations, one aimed at ushering inmega reforms in the medical educationsector and the other banning e-cigaretteswere the major highlights of the HealthMinistry in the outgoing year.

In a huge step towards boosting theavailability of human resources for thehealth sector, the ministry in 2019 initi-ated the process of converting 75 districthospitals into medical colleges by 2021-22 in under-served districts of the coun-try that do not have any medical colleges.

Once completed, it would lead to thecreation 15,700 more MBBS seats inIndia.

The National Medical CommissionAct substituted the nearly 63-year-oldIndian Medical Council Act to replace theexisting scam-tainted apex medical edu-cation regulator Medical Council ofIndia (MCI) with a new body to bring inprobity, quality education and bringdown costs of medical education. Itreceived the assent of the President onAugust 8 and was published the same day.

Once the NMC comes into being, theMedical Council of India will automat-ically get abolished. The President dis-solved the MCI in 2018 and a Board ofGovernors was appointed to perform itsfunctions.

The Prohibition of ElectronicCigarettes Act, 2019 was notified onDecember 6 making the production,import, export, transport, sale or adver-tisements of such "alternative" smoking

devices a cognisable offence attracting jailterm and fine.

On the flip side, the ministry couldnot bring in the much-sought central leg-islation to check assault on doctors andother medical professionals with thehome ministry opposing it holding therecannot be a separate law to protect mem-bers of a particular profession.

However, the health ministry decid-ed to pursue the proposed legislation inthe backdrop of rising instances ofattacks on medicos.

The year also saw the ministrylaunching the 'Intensified MissionIndradhanush 2.0' in October with a spe-cial focus on improving coverage in areaswith "low" immunisation.

Also, the Rotavirus vaccine (RVV)introduced in India in March 2016 in 11states (Andhra Pradesh, Haryana,Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha,Assam, Tripura, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu,Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh), toreduce mortality and morbidity causedby Rotavirus diarrhoea was expanded tothe remaining states and union territo-ries, thus covering the entire nation.The report of Sample Registration System(SRS) released in November by theRegistrar General of India (RGI) showedthat Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) ofIndia declined from 130 in SRS 2014-16to 122 per 100,000 live births in 2015-17.

Another highlight was the launch ofthe Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan(SUMAN) initiative on October 10. It is

a comprehensive multi-pronged andcoordinated policy approach with an aimto assured, dignified, respectful andquality healthcare at no cost and zero tol-erance for denial of services for everywomen and newborn visiting publichealth facilities in order to end all pre-ventable maternal and newborn deathsand morbidities and provide positivebirthing experience.

In a major step towards providingaffordable healthcare in India, the min-istry in 2018 launched the AyushmanBharat programme. Till December 18,more than 69 lakh people have availedtreatment across India under theAyushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri JanArogya Yojna (AB-PMJAY) that aims tocover over 10 crore poor and vulnerablefamilies (approx. 50 crore beneficiaries)providing coverage up to =Rs 5 lakh perfamily per year for secondary and tertiaryhospitalisation.

Also, under the Ayushman Bharatprogramme, nearly 1.5 lakh sub-centresand primary health centres will be trans-formed as health and wellness centres by2022 to provide comprehensive andquality primary care close to the com-munity while ensuring the principles ofequity, affordability and universality.

Approvals for more than 60,000Ayushman Bharat health and wellnesscentres have been accorded to thestates/UTs (except Delhi) and 26,743 suchcentres are in operation till December 23.

PTI

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Lucknow: SP chief AkhileshYadav on Sunday said the NationalPopulation Register (NPR) andthe National Register of Citizens(NRC) were against the poorpeople and minorities of thecountry, while asserting that hewill not fill up the NPR form.

Addressing a press conferenceat the Samajwadi Party (SP) head-quarters here, he said, “Be it theNPR or the NRC, these are againstthe poor people, minorities andMuslims of the country.”

“The question is whether wewant the NRC or employment? Ifthe need arises, I will be the firstperson not to fill up any form. Willyou support me or not? If we donot fill up the form, we will bethrown out. I will not fill it up, yousay whether you will fill it up ornot?,” Yadav asked young SP lead-ers.

“I would like to tell the police-men, who are wielding lathis onpeople, that the certificates of theirmothers and fathers will also besought,” he said.

All Indians should come for-ward to save the country fromthose violating the Constitution,the former Uttar Pradesh chiefminister said.

He alleged that this (CAA andNRC) was being done so that thepublic did not raise any questionsabout the poor state of the econ-omy and basic problems.

“During demonetisation, theGovernment had said corruptionwill end, but that proved to beuntrue. Due to demonetisation, anumber of banks closed down,while the GST (Goods andServices Tax) ruined businesses.The condition is such that the

country's economy has come outof the ICU and gone to the ICCU,”Yadav said.

“During the days of the SPgovernment (in Uttar Pradesh),youngsters got laptops, while theBJP is taking them towards toilets.Understand the difference,” headded.

Reacting to the SP chief 'sremarks, state Law MinisterBrajesh Pathak said, “The SP andother like-minded parties are try-ing to spread animosity among thepeople of the state over theamended Citizenship Act.”

Yadav also charged UttarPradesh Chief Minister YogiAdityanath with doing injustice toMuslims in the garb of the actiontaken against anti-CAA protestors“to save his chair”.

“Chief Minister YogiAdityanath knows that 200 BJPMLAs had staged a 'dharna' (sit-in) against him inside the stateAssembly. To save his chair, he isdoing injustice to Muslims,” hesaid. PTI

Patna: Slamming the Congress,RJD and other Opposition par-ties for “deliberately” creating acontroversy over NPR, BiharDeputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Sundaywondered why was the datacollection exercise not opposedby RJD chief Lalu Prasad, when it was initiated during the Congress-led UPArule.

The deputy Chief Ministerwas speaking at a functionorganised by RashtrawadiKushwaha Parishad to com-memorate the first deathanniversary of BJP MLC Suraj Nandan Kushwahahere. “The process of preparingNPR began in 2010 during UPAregime... Now, it (NPR) has to beupdated before the 2021census.

“The Congress, RJD and

other Opposition parties aredeliberately trying to create con-troversy over NPR when allState Governments have issuedgazette notification,” Modi, whois also the State Finance Minister,said.

Asserting that the NPRshould not be linked with theNational Register of Citizens(NRC), the BJP leader askedwith Prime Minister NarendraModi and Home Minister AmitShah making it clear that theNPR has nothing to do withNRC, why are Congressleaders, Prasad and leaders of

other opposition parties tryingto mislead a particular commu-nity?

How can preparing NPR bewrong during NDA regimewhen the same exercise wasconsidered to be correct duringUPA rule? he asked. PTI

#���� ,/�.�

NCP leader Jitendra Awhad on Sunday said therewould be stiff resistance if the National Register of

Citizens exercise is carried out in Maharashtra, claiming almost 98 per cent of people from theScheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities donot have documents for it.

Addressing a press conference, the Kalwa-MumbraMLA quoted from a Government-appointed commit-tee to claim “98 per cent of SC and ST population inMaharashtra had no documents” and hencewould fall foul of the citizenship provisions of the NRC.

Incidentally, while some BJP leaders have spokenabout implementing the NRC exercise nationwide ear-lier, after the one in Assam, of late the party has gonesoft on it.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing a rallyin Delhi on December 22, had said, “Since myGovernment first came to power in 2014, I want to tell130 crore countrymen, there has never been a discus-sion on this NRC,” adding that it was done only in Assamdue to a Supreme Court order.

Speaking here, Awhad said 48 SC/ST organisationshad recently met him and had resolved for a joint fightagainst NRC and the CitizenshipAmendment Act.

“With no documents, how do you expect two crorepeople from the SC/ST communities (in Maharashtra)to prove they are citizens of the country? In the com-ing days, stiff resistance is definite against the NRC andCAA,” he warned.

Representatives from some of these 48 organisationsmentioned by Awhad were present at the press con-ference.

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Mamata Banerjee has written apoem laying into the

Narendra Modi Government —which she calls a ‘selfish giant’ —for bringing the controversialCitizenship Amendment Act andNational Register for Citizens in abid to turn a united India into aland of discrimination.

Titled “Adhikar” or Right thepoem asks the power that be as towho has given them the right totrample upon the rights of the peo-ple.

The poem which the BengalChief Minister has posted on theFacebook opens with the wordssaying “I cannot identify with thiscountry. This is not the place of mybirth. I was born in Bharatvarsh

(India), which never taught us todiscriminate (among people) …My right belongs to me … whyshall someone trample on it … Icondemn you … shame on you.”

Expressing the current state ofaffairs in the country and callingthe controversial decisions taken bythe government as “instrument ofhate” Banerjee adds “those who dis-seminate hate will now only cry.Your speeches are laced with poi-son … you are snatching man’sright.”

The Chief Minister who hadearlier written a poem titledNagorik (Citizen) on a similarissue also goes on to write that “wewant unity, not hate. This is ourpledge. We are all citizens. Ouraddressis ‘Right’.

In an apparent reminder of thedemonetization days when thepeople had to stand in long rowsBanerjee writes that the CAA andNRC too are selfish giants that willmake the people stand in queues.

“NRC, CAA are selfish giants… We won’t prove us (identities)in queues … poor will stand inqueue and you’ll hoodwink them,”she pens on adding “we’ll neverallow division of our country. LetIndia remain united … down withdivisive forces. We are all citizenswon’t take CAA, NRC,” she writes.

A strong critic of the ModiGovernment the Chief Minister hasbeen leading long rallies on streetsfor the past one week, mobilisinglakhs of TMC supporters.

Drawing instant criticism fromState Governor Jagdeep Dhankharfor publicly defying a Central Actwhile sitting on a constitutionalpost, Banerjee has already gone onrecord that she would not allowCAA or NRC in Bengal. Earlier shetold in a rally that “till I am alive,till I am there at the helm there willbe no CAA, no NRC in Bengal.

Banerjee on Sunday led simi-lar anti-CAA rallies in Purulia dis-trict before proceeding to neigh-bouring Jharkhand where sheattended the swearing-in ceremo-ny of incumbent Chief MinisterHemant Soren.

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Ameeting of various politi-cal parties and socio-reli-

gious outfits, convened byKerala Chief Minister PinarayiVIjayan here, on Sunday decid-ed to hold joint protestsagainst the controversialCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA).

The over three-hour-longmeeting, attended by MLAs,MPS, major Front leaders andrepresentatives of various out-fits, entrusted the ChiefMinister and the Oppositionleader in the State Assembly,Ramesh Chennithala, to holddiscussions and decide uponfurther course of action in thisregard.

Among the recommenda-tions that emerged at the meet-ing were that the Governmentshould move the court andconvene a special assemblysession, Vijayan said.

“This matter is under thegovernment's consideration”,Chief Minister told the meeting.

To protect the Constitutionand secularism, there is a needto put up a united fight at thisjuncture, a release quoting him

said.“While taking out protests

jointly, we will get strengthmore than we can imagine.

The country itself willaccept it as a model”, he said,adding that the action to dividethe people on religious lineswill not be accepted inkerala.

No rule was above theConstitution, he said. TheChief Minister cautioned thatmany protests,including bycommunal and extremist ele-ments, were being held inmany places and it was necessary to keep them atbay.

Stringent action would betaken against protests by suchelements if they cross the lim-its, he said adding that theintervention of such forces wasnot good for society's healthygrowth.

The Government wouldnot intervene in the protestsbeing held for just causes, headded.

When religion becomesthe basis of citizenship, theConstitution will be under-mined and from secular nation,India will become a religiouscountry, he added.

#���� &1!&�,�

Activists of the youth wing of the Congress on Sundaystaged a protest march against the Citizenship

(Amendment) Act (CAA) and National Register ofCitizens (NRC) here.

Hundreds of activists of the Youth Congress andthe 'Chhatra Parishad', students' wing of the grand oldparty, holding anti-CAA and anti-NRC placards,started their march from Esplanade area of the cityplanning to go to the state BJP office on Central Avenue.

However, they were stopped near Central Metro sta-tion by police personnel who formed a three-tier humanchain. The arterial road was also barricaded by plac-ing guard rails.

Congress leader Abdul Mannan, who was leadingthe march, told reporters that the protest was againstthe amended Citizenship Act and the NRC which theCentral Government “intends to implement across thecountry”. The Centre should immediately withdraw thetwo “anti- people” moves which would divide the coun-try on the basis of religion, he said.

Later, the protestors sat on the road raising sloganswhile some of them made a failed attempt to break thehuman chain.

#���� $��30#

Rajasthan Chief Minister AshokGehlot on Sunday said Prime

Minister Narendra Modi should inter-vene to find a way out of the vitiating atmosphere that has developed in thecountry.

He opined that the situation mayworsen in the backdrop of protestsagainst the Citizenship (Amendment)Act.

“I believe the Government has noinkling or information about the imageof the country which is being malignedin the world. Today, 53 countries haveadvised their citizens that they shouldnot visit India,” Gehlot said in a tweetin Hindi.

With the vital tourism sector beinga key driver of the economy inRajasthan, Gehlot said occupancy inhotels has dropped this season as manytourists have cancelled their visit toIndia.

Hotels do not even have 40 per centoccupancy due to the atmosphere that has been created as adeliberate attempt to polarise politics, the senior Congress leaderclaimed.

The Chief Minister said theBharatiya Janata Party's attempt topolarise politics cannot be termed as“suitable” in a democracy in any way.

Aligarh (UP): Students of theAligarh Muslim University(AMU) on Sunday said thatthey would continue holdingpeaceful anti-CAA agitationon the campus.

This was decided at a meet-ing of the general body of thestudents on Saturday eveningand a “coordination commit-tee” was formed to decide thefuture course of the ongoingstir against the CitizenshipAmendment Act.

In a statement, a coordi-nation committee spokesper-son said that from Monday stu-dents would hold a dharna nearBab-e-Syed gate everydaybetween 10 am and 4 pm.

The AMU was one of thesites of protests against theamended citizenship law andalleged police action on stu-dents of Delhi's Jamia MilliaIslamia. At least 19 peoplewere killed in widespreadclashes during the protestsacross the state.

Meanwhile, the AligarhPolice has asked the universi-ty to take action against thoseprotesters who are not studentsbut are still active in the ongo-ing protest.

The letter said that thesepeople, dubbed as “brains

behind the December 15protest which led to violence”,should not be allowed entryinto the campus.

The AMU is scheduled toreopen after the winter vaca-tion on January 6.

The AMU Teachers'Association (AMUTA) hasexpressed concern over thedecision of the Rapid ActionForce (RAF) to “belatedly” filea first information report (FIR)on December 23 against 1,000unidentified AMU studentsfor the violent protest.

In a press release, theAMUTA said the moveappeared to be “malafide andmotivated” and was in contrastto Aligarh SSP AkashKulahari's efforts to restore

confidence by building bridgeswith all sections.

RAF commandant PiyushKumar Kuldhar, however, toldmediapersons, “The purposebehind the FIR is not to harassstudents. As a matter of routine,whenever any personnel isinjured or if any ammunitionis used, we file such reportswith the police station con-cerned. This is mandatory.”

In a related development,the AMU on Sunday officiallydenied that Vice ChancellorTariq Mansoor had refused tomeet Harsh Mander and 13other activists who were part ofa fact-finding team when theyhad visited the campus lastweek. PTI

#���� 5/13�!

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati onSunday suspended party MLA Rama

Bai for supporting the Citizenship(Amendment) Act.

Mayawati has been strongly criticis-ing the new law, which seeks to grant cit-izenship to non-Muslim refugees whocame to India before December 31, 2014,to escape religious persecution in Pakistan,Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Rama Bai,who represents Patheriya Assembly seat inMadhya Pradesh's Damoh district, onSaturday evening supported theCitizenship (Amendment) Act at a func-tion held in her constituency whereUnion minister Prahlad Patel was present.

Taking strong note of it, Mayawati, ina tweet on Sunday said, “The BSP is a disciplined party and it takes promptaction against its MP and MLAs whobreak discipline.”

“Taking this into account, the partysuspends Madhya Pradesh's PatheriyaMLA Rama Bai Parihar for supporting

CAA. She has been banned from takingpart in the party functions,” the BSPsupremo tweeted in Hindi.

The MLA could not be contacted forher comments. After Rama Bai support-ed the new law during a function inPatheriya on Saturday evening, Unionminister Prahlad Patel, who was presentat the event, lauded her.

The BSP earlier dubbed the contro-versial Citizenship (Amendment) Act as“unconstitutional” and voted against it inParliament.

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Itanagar: The Arunachal PradeshCongress Committee (APCC) on Sundaycondemned the Uttar PradeshGovernment over police "manhandling"party general secretary Priyanka GandhiVadra in Lucknow.

Congress' State unit general secretaryMina Toko alleged that the "attack onGandhi" exposed the "autocratic andassaultive nature" of the Yogi AdiyanathGovernment in Uttar Pradesh.

"He is using repression and violenceto suppress the voice of women leadersof the country. Violence against womenin politics has become rampant under theBJP regime," Toko said in a statement.

A high-voltage drama unfolded inLucknow on Saturday evening asCongress leader Priyanka Gandhi allegedshe was manhandled by police person-nel who grabbed her by the throat andpushed her when she resisted theirattempts to stop her from visiting the res-idence of retired IPS officer SR Darapuri,arrested in connection with the recentprotests against the CitizenshipAmendment Act. The Uttar Pradeshpolice said the allegations were false."InUP, women are not only victim of rapeand acid attacks but encounter hostilityand violence," Toko said. PTI

#���� !0"&.12

Taking on the AdityanathGovernment over handling of

protests against the amendedCitizenship Act, Congress leaderPriyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sundaysaid it has "crossed all limits ofinhumanity" and claimed partyworker Sadaf Zafar was arrested on"baseless" charges.

"This insensitive Governmenthas separated children from theirmother and the older generationfrom their children," the Congressgeneral secretary said a day aftershe had accused the UP Police ofmanhandling her when she resist-ed their attempts to stop her fromvisiting the residence of retired IPSofficer SR Darapuri, who was alsoarrested in connection with therecent anti-CAA protests.

Zafar was arrested here onDecember 19 while she was live onFacebook from the spot whereprotests against the amended cit-izenship law had gone violent.Police had said she was arrested forher involvement in clashes. At least19 people were killed and hun-dreds of others injured in the vio-lence in the State.

After visiting Darapuri's fam-ily, "Priyanka Gandhi met the

family members of Sadaf onSaturday night at her (Priyanka's)Lucknow residence, and told themthat the Congress stands firmlywith them," UP Congress chiefAjay Kumar Lallu told PTI.

"Uttar Pradesh Governmenthas crossed all limits of inhu-manity. Congress worker SadafZafar in a video can be clearly seentelling policemen to arrest thoseindulging in violence. The policehas levelled baseless allegations onSadaf and put her in jail," PriyankaGandhi tweeted in Hindi.

The Congress general secre-tary said Zafar's children wereeagerly waiting for her release.

She had on Saturday allegedthat she was manhandled by policepersonnel who grabbed her by thethroat and pushed her when shewas on her way to the residence ofDarapuri.

Hitting back at the Congress

leader, Uttar Pradesh Deputy ChiefMinister Keshav Prasad Mauryasaid that such 'nautanki' (the-atrics) will not fetch votes for theCongress and what's left of theparty will also be finished.

In a Hindi tweet late onSaturday night, Maurya said thatit seemed by Priyanka Gandhi'sbehaviour that her party hasbecome a 'danga karao party' andit cannot tolerate the peacefulatmosphere and development inUttar Pradesh.

He said the State was a sym-bol of Hindu-Muslim unity andadded that the Congress and theSamajwadi Party were getting dis-turbed, seeing their dark politicalfuture.

"Congress leader PriyankaGandhi does not want the welfareof the people of Lucknow.'Nautanki' (dramatics) will notfetch votes for the Congress, andwhat's remaining of the party willalso be finished.

"Everyone in UP knows thatthe Congress only has memberswho are interested in getting theirphotos clicked. By misleading thecountry on the issue of CAA, theCongress has become a villian inthe eyes of the public," Mauryasaid.

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Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birlaon Sunday expressed con-

cern over the death of infantsat a Government hospital inRajasthan's Kota district andurged the State Government toact with sensitivity.

Birla, representing the Kotaparliamentary constituency,visited JK Lone Maternal andChild Hospital to take stock ofthe situation where 77 infantshave reportedly died in the last24 days. He also directed theofficials to make adequatearrangement to ensure suchincidents do not occur infuture.

"The untimely death of 77infants in 24 days in the largesthospital in Kota-Bundi parlia-mentary constituency is a mat-ter of serious concern. The stategovernment should act with sensitivityso that such incidents do not

occur in future," Birla tweeted

in Hindi."The untimely death of any

infant due to lack of medicalequipment and resources isworrying. According to theadvice of doctors, the availability of necessarylife-saving equipment andresources will be ensured in thenext 15 days by public support," he said in anothertweet.

During the visit to the hos-pital, Birla termed the death ofnewborns tragic and painfulwhile instructing officials tomake adequate medicalarrangements.

On Saturday, RajasthanChief Minister Ashok Gehlothad held a high-level reviewmeeting on the infants' deathsat at the hospital in Kota.

The Chief Ministerinstructed health departmentofficials to take proper care ofnewborns in all hospitals in thestate and do intensive moni-toring.

Mumbai: It's never over untilit is over. This would be thetakeaway from year 2019 forthe Sharad Pawar-ledNationalist Congress Party.

If anyone thought that aregional party with an agingpatriarch and eroding base didnot have much of a future inthe face of BJP juggernaut,Lok Sabha polls proved themright, but MaharashtraAssembly elections was a dif-ferent story.

The NCP continued itsalliance with the Congress forthe Lok Sabha, but both theparties fared badly.

The Pawar-led party onlyretained its 2014 tally of fiveseats, four of which came fromMaharashtra. The Congresswas reduced to a single seat inthe state.

As Assembly electionsdrew near, the NCP was besetby desertions. The party, madeup mainly of leaders who ruleover individual pocket-bor-oughs across the sugar-belt ofwestern Maharashtra, saw sev-eral of them jumping theship. PTI

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Even good news is bad newsin Tamil Nadu, a State ver-

tically divided between theAIADMK and the DMK as thetwo poles of the political spec-trum. So, the recent announce-ment by the Union Ministry ofPersonnel, Public Grievancesand Pension that Tamil Naduhas topped the GoodGovernance Index among 18big States in the country, acommendable achievement byany standard, not only failedto cheer up the OppositionDMK but even earned thewrath of the Leader of theOpposition MK Stalin whodescribed the ranking flawed.

“This is a feat which has tobe appreciated as Tamil Naduhas done reasonably well insome of the crucial parameterswhile it has averaged in certainsectors,” said T Ramakrishnan,author and chronicler of theState’s political history. He saidthis was the first achievementof its kind by Tamil Nadu inrecent past.

The rankings in GoodGovernance Index is deter-mined by the overall perfor-mance of the States in ten cru-cial sectors over a period oftime. “This is not an yearly rit-ual but an ongoing exercisewhere the achievements andperformances are ranked basedon development and short-comings ” explained Dr CMurukadas, author and seniorprofessor of economics, MadrasUniversity.

According to the unionministry, Tamil Nadu hastopped five out of the six para-meters which helped it to walkaway with the honors. TheState leads others in public

infrastructure, judicial andpublic security, and publichealth among others. But theState could finish only in the14th position in crucial areaslike commerce and industries.

The ministry zeroed in onTamil Nadu based on its per-formance in ten sectors.“Agriculture and allied, com-merce and industries, humanresources development, publichealth and public infrastructureand utilities, economic gover-nance, social welfare and devel-opment , judicial and publicsecurity, environment and cit-izen centric governance arethe areas in which Tamil Naduscored over others,” saidRamakrishnan.

The ministry said that topranking in judicial and publicsecurity was due to the con-viction rate and availability ofpolice personnel, proportion ofwomen police personnel anddisposal of court cases.

Prof Murukadas, whoseassessments on economy iswidely regarded as sharp andobjective, felt that the gover-nance by EdappadiPalaniswamy was in the rightdirection and the State haswitnessed good progress. “Youhave to take into account thetenure of former chief ministerJ Jayalalithaa who facilitatedhigh speed social and eco-nomic progress,” he said.

But Stalin is not amused bythe feat achieved by TamilNadu and this has surprisedmany including some of theDMK leaders. The DMK chiefdescribed the GGI awarded toTamil Nadu as a ploy by theBJP to ensued that the Statedoes not make any progress.“We all know that the BJP hasno base in Tamil Nadu andthey do not want the State to

prosper. There is also a closerelation between the BJP andthe AIADMK. Hence one mayhave to doubt this honor as astrategy by the BJP to prop upthe AIADMK Government inthe State. A thorough probeshould be ordered into therankings as Tamil Nadu hasdone well only in two out of thenine parameters,” said Stalin ina release.

Prof Murukadas said thattop position is arrived on thebasis of average overall perfor-mance. “Stalin may not beaware of the methodology toarrive at the top position. It isindisputable that in many fieldsTamil Nadu during EPS aschief minister has performednotably,” he said.

The AAIADMK on its partchose to react cautiously to thefeat. “It is a New Year Gift, nodoubt,” said D Jayakumar,Tamil Nadu minister for fish-eries who is also the officialspokesman of the Government.He said the top priority of theGovernment was to make upfor the shortcomings if any inthe commerce and industriessectors where the State’s per-formance was not as impressiveas expected.

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Maharashtra Congresschief Balasaheb Thorat

on Sunday said there was noneed to pay heed to BJPleader Radhakrishna VikhePatil's comments that he contemplated joining the saf-fron party a few years back.

Vikhe Patil himself quitthe Congress before theAssembly elections in the

state this year and joined theBJP.

Both he and Thorat hailfrom Ahmednagar district,and are known to be bitterrivals.

Reacting to the BJPleader's claim, Thorat, who isa minister in the currentMaharashtra Government,said, "I never compromisedon my principles and com-mitment towards theCongress. There is no need to

give any importance to hiscomments."

He also took a swipe atVikhe Patil's performancewhen he was leader of oppo-sition in the MaharashtraAssembly from 2014 to 2019.

"The entire state knowswhat kind of work he did forthe growth of the Congress asleader of the Opposition.However, I have alwaysstayed with the Congress

even in difficulttimes,"Thorat said.

"He (Vikhe Patil) is in theopposition now, hence free tocomment on any issue with-out any responsibility," theCongress leader quipped.

Talking to reporters inShirdi on Saturday, VikhePatil said, "Thorat was think-ing of joining the BJP somethree years ago. What he has got today (aCabinet post) is by accident.

He could not campaign out-side his constituency duringthe Assembly polls."

Thorat is currently rev-enue minister in the ShivSena-led StateGovernment.

The Shiv Sena forged analliance with the NCP andCongress to formGovernment after partingways with pre-poll ally BJPover the issue of sharing thechief ministerial post.

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Little over a month after heassumed the office,

Maharashtra Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray will onMonday undertake the firstexpansion of his Cabinet, anexercise in which he is expected to induct at least 36new ministers into his team.

While former senior NCPleader Ajit Pawar will in likeli-hood be sworn in as the deputychief minister, as many as 35ministers will be sworn into theoffice at a swearing-in cere-mony to be held on the VidhanBhavan premises at 1 pm onMonday.

"Unless there is a lastminute change in the plan, 36ministers, including 26 of theCabinet rank, will be sworninto office at one go tomorrow,"a senior minister in the MahaVikas Aghadi ( MVA) govern-ment said here on Sundayevening.

Of the 36 ministers to besworn in, 13 ministers each willbe from the Shiv Sena and NCP(10 each of Cabinet rank andthree ministers of State each from the two par-ties), while 10 ministers will befrom the Congress (8 ofCabinet rank and three minis-ters of state).

With Monday’s expansion,the number of ministers in theUddhav Thackeray Cabinetwill go up to 43, including thatof the chief minister.

When he formed theGovernment on November 28,Uddhav had inducted six MVAministers – Eknath Shinde,Subhash Desai (both from theShiv Sena), Jayant Patil,Chhagan Bhujbal (both fromthe NCP), Balasaheb Thorat and Nitin Raut (both

from the Congress).Ajit Pawar’s induction into

the State Cabinet will mark hisreturn to the Maharashtra gov-ernment in the same post aftergap of one month.

It may be recalled thatAjitdada – as Ajit Pawar isknown in the state political cir-cles – had resigned as thedeputy chief minister in theBJP-led government onNovember 26, leading to theresignation of then chief min-ister Devendra Fadnavis andsubsequent collapse of the gov-ernment in a brief span of 80hours.

When he is sworn in as thethe deputy chief minister in theUddhav Thackeray Cabinet,Ajitdada will be holding thenumber two post in the StateCabinet for the fourth time. Hewas the deputy chief ministerbetween from November 10,2010 to September 25, 2012,from October 25, 2012 toSeptember 26, 2014 and fromNovember 23 2019 toNovember 26 2019.

It may be recalled Ajitdadahad resigned from the deputychief minister’s post onSeptember 25, 2012, following media reports onthe alleged irregularities in theawarding of 38 irrigation con-

tracts worth Rs 20,000 crore inVidarbha region during 2009.He returned as the deputychief minister a month later.

Ajitdada’s possible induc-tion as the deputy chief minis-ter comes in the wake of a sec-ond “clean chit” he received latelast week from the State AntiCorruption Bureau (ACB) inthe much-discussed Rs 70,000crore irrigation scam.

In an affidavit filed beforethe Nagpur bench of theBombay High Court onDecember 19, 2019, StateDirector-General of Police(ACB) Parambir Singh, allud-ed to Ajit Pawar’s role in thecase and said: “No criminal liability is dis-

closed during the course ofinquiry/investigations by theSpecial Investigation Team”.Earlier on November 27 – a daybefore the Maha Vikas Aghadi(MVA) government was sworninto office, another ACB offi-cial – had filed an affidavitbefore the Nagpur bench of thehigh court, giving a “cleanchit” to Ajit Pawar.

In Monday's expansion,Uddhav is likely to induct intohis Cabinet the followingMLAs from the Shiv Sena:Anil Parab, Ravindra Waikar,Sunil Prabhu, Sunil Raut (all

from Mumbai), Uday Samant,Bhaskar Jadhav, Vaibhav Naik,Pratap Sarnaik (all fromKonkan region) ShamburajeDesai, Prakash Amberkar (both from WesternMaharashtra), Sanjay Shirsat,Abdul Sattar, Tanaji Sawant ( allfrom Marathwada), AshishJaiswal, Sanjay Raimulkar,Bacchu Kadu, Sanjay Rathod(all from Vidarbha), GulabraoPatil, Dada Bhuse, SuhasKhande ( all from northMaharashtra).

From the NCP side, thosewho will make it to the UddhavThackeray Cabinet will include:Ajit Pawar, Dilip Walse-Patil,Hasan Mushrif, Bala sahebPatil, Datta Bharane (westernMaharashtra), DhananjayMunde, Rajesh Tope, DrRajesh Shingane(Marathwada), Nawab Malik ((Mumbai), Jitendra Awhad (Thane), Hasan Mushrif, AnilDeshmukh

(Vidarbha) Aditi Tatkare(Konkan region) and Dr KiranLahamate (northMaharashtra).

It remains to be seen ifboth senior Congress leadersand former chief ministersChavan and Ashok Chavanor one of the two Chavans willbe inducted into the StateCabinet in Monday's expansion

The other Congress MLAswho are expected to find aplace in the State Cabinet in theexpansion will include: for-mer leader of the OppositionVijay Wadettiwar (Vidarbha),Amit Deshmukh(Marathwada) VarshaGaikwad, ( Mumbai), SunilKedar, Satej Patil, VishwajitKadam ( both from westernMaharashtra) K C Padvi(North Maharashtra)and SunilKedar.

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Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman joineda sea of mourners at the National College grounds

here in paying their last respects to Pejawar Math headVishwesha Theertha Swamiji, who passed away onSunday.

The Finance Minister is a Rajya Sabha memberfrom Karnataka. Karnataka Chief Minister B SYediyurappa, former Chief minister Siddaramaiah,deputy chief minister Govind Karjol and Karnataka rev-enue minister R Ashoka also paid their homage.

The body of the 88-year-old seer, who passed awayat Udupi earlier in the day, was flown to Bengaluru ina special Indian Air Force helicopter.

The body was then taken to the National CollegeGround, the same venue where the seer had addressedgatherings on several occasions in the past, in a flowerbedecked vehicle.

A stage was set up under the marquee, where thebody of the seer, decked in a saffron cloth with gold-en border, was placed in a Padmasana posture insidea basket like palanquin.

Seers of various prominents Maths in the state,Shivaratri Deshikendra Swamiji of Suttur Math,Charukeerthi Bhattaraka Swamiji of Sravana BelagolaJain Math were among those who paid their lastrespects. The last rites will be performed at PoornaPrajna Vidyapeetha, which the seer had established.Elaborate security arrangements were made at theNational College to manage the crowds.

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Ahost of leaders, includingPrime Minister Narendra

Modi, condoled the death ofPejawar math head VishweshaTheertha Swamiji on Sunday,recalling his service to societyand hailing him as an epitomeof humanity and kindness.

Union Home MinisterAmit Shah, Congress leaderRahul Gandhi and KarnatakaChief Minister BS Yediyurappawere among the other promi-nent leaders who mourned thedemise of the 88- year old seerwho died in Udupi after a briefillness.

The Prime Minister saidSri Vishwesha Teertha Swamijiwould remain in the heartsand minds of lakhs of peoplefor whom he was always aguiding light.

"A powerhouse of serviceand spirituality, he continu-ously worked for a more justand compassionate society.Om Shanti," he said in tweets.

Recalling his close associationwith the seer, Modi said: "Iconsider myself blessed tohave got many opportunitiesto learn from Sri VishveshaTeertha Swamiji. Our recentmeeting, on the pious day ofGuru Purnima was also amemorable one. His impecca-ble knowledge always stoodout. My thoughts are with hiscountless followers."

Congress leader RahulGandhi too condoled thedeath of the seer.

He tweeted, "Im sorry tohear of the passing of SriVishwesha Teertha Swamiji ofPejawara Matha, Udupi. Mycondolences to all his follow-ers around the world. OmShanti." In his message,Yediyurappa said: "The ancientIndian culture has sufferedan irreparable loss in the pass-ing away of Udupi PejawarMath seer Sri VishweshaTeertha Swamiji.

His life and his contribu-tion to our society will remain

etched in memory forever.May Lord Sri Krishna givestrength to the lakhs of his fol-lowers to bear the loss."

Union Home MinisterAmit Shah too mourned thedemise of Vishwesha TeerthaSwamiji.

"Deeply pained to learnabout the demise of Sri SriVishwesha Teertha Swami ji ofthe Pejawar mutt, Udupi. Hewas an epitome of humanity,kindness and knowledge. Hisselfless contribution towardsthe welfare of people and soci-ety has no parallels," Shahtweeted.

Sharing a photograph ofhim with the seer on Twitter,Shah said: "Sri VishweshaTeertha Swamiji was an end-less source of positivity. Histeachings and thoughts willalways continue to guide us. Iwas fortunate to have receivedhis blessings. His passing awayis an irreparable loss to thespiritual world. Condolencesto his followers. Om Shanti."

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Veteran BJP leader LK Advani expressed his deepsadness on Sunday at the death of Sri Vishwesha

Theertha Swamiji of Pejawar Math in Karnataka anddescribed him as an embodiment of kindness, com-passion and humility.

"In my long association with him, apart from hisnumerous achievements and contributions as a spiri-tual leader, I always admired the person that he was -- an embodiment of kindness, compassion and humil-ity. His simplicity and austere living were other stellarqualities that always inspired me," the former deputyprime minister said in a statement.

The seer was a highly admired and respected spir-itual leader who relentlessly worked towards the ser-vice and welfare of humanity, he said and recalled hislong association with him.

Pejawar Swamiji's lifelong selfless service to thesociety will continue to inspire and guide everyone foryears to come, Advani said. The 88-year-old seer, whowas closely associated with the Ram Janmabhoomimovement, breathed his last on the premises of PejawarMath in Udupi on Sunday.

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Page 8: +ˇˇˆ ˇ , ’) !% ’˚(*+,- 3 - 9 ˛˙!/ˆ !0&.12 5/13! 5/05.˙ 2# #./ˆ #ˆ30 ... · 2019-12-29 · Mahatma Gandhi’s statue at Morhabadi Ground. ... Congress leader Priyanka

As another year draws to aclose, it is pertinent to rumi-nate Janus-like, once again,over past and future genderparity trends both in India

and abroad. And the picture is not a pleas-ant one. In fact, the year is ending on agrim note for women all over the world,with the Global Gender Gap Report 2020predicting that as things stand current-ly, overall, gender parity will not beattained for another 99.5 years. Thereport, which is being prepared by theWorld Economic Forum (WEF) since thelast 14 years, examines gender parity in153 nations on the basis of four dimen-sions: Economic participation and oppor-tunity, educational attainment, health andsurvival and political empowerment.

Despite its gloomy forecast, thisyear’s report offers a mixed bag. Whileflagging greater political participation ofwomen across countries, it asserts thatgender parity has, in fact, been achievedin 40 of the 153 countries it surveyed.And the best performers, as usual, are theScandinavian countries, with Iceland,Finland, Norway and Sweden leading thepack. Nicaragua, New Zealand, Ireland,Spain, Rwanda and Germany followedclose behind to line up the top 10. Asmany as 101 countries succeeded inimproving their scores over the 2019rankings, even as nations like Albania,Ethiopia, Mali and Mexico rose abovetheir economic challenges to grant con-sistent greater economic empowermentto their women.

But where does India figure in thiscount? In the bottom 50, coming in atrank 108 out of 153. This poor showingby an ostensibly rapidly growing econo-my is largely the result of a gender pay gapemerging from Indian women’s decisionto stay out of the workforce or drop outof it due to various factors. Pointing outthat India ranked lower on all the foursegments being assessed, the WEF high-lighted the need for India to “makeimprovements across the board — fromwomen’s participation to getting morewomen into senior and professionalroles.” The report goes on to say that theeconomic gender gap runs particularlydeep in our country and has gotten sig-nificantly wider since 2006, with thecountry also being the only one amongthe 153 countries studied where the eco-nomic gender gap is larger than the polit-ical gender gap.

This curious decline in women’s eco-nomic participation despite a rise in theireducation levels has also been documentedby the India Human Development Survey(IHDS), a nationally representative multi-topic panel survey of 41,554 households, con-ducted in two waves in 2004-05 and 2011-12 by the National Council of AppliedEconomic Research (NCAER) in collabora-

tion with the University ofMaryland. The IHDS not onlycovered a wide range of topicsconcerning health, education,employment, economic status,marriage and fertility but alsocanvassed an exclusive moduleadministered to 33,510 ever-married women aged 15-49years during the survey.According to IHDS data, manynations have experienced a U-shaped relationship betweeneconomic development, growthand women’s workforce partic-ipation. However, in India,unlike other South Asian coun-tries, women have failed to riseabove the bottom of the U-curvefor several decades, irrespectiveof consistent economic growth,perhaps because the country’sformal economy has grownwithout offering any specific orsubstantial opportunities towomen through feminisation ofthe labour force.

According to IHDS,women’s Labour ForceParticipation Rate (LFPR) fellalarmingly from 31.12 per centin 2005 to 24.77 per cent in2012. The IHDS findings havealso been endorsed by the 68thRound of the National SampleSurvey Organisation (2011-12),which, in turn, records a corre-sponding fall in the femaleLFPR, from 28.7per cent to 22.5

per cent since the previousNSSO survey. Concomitantly,the WEF report also loweredIndia’s gender ranking for eco-nomic opportunities from 139in 2017 to 142 in 2018.

Another observationpeculiar to India is the para-dox of a decreasing Child SexRatio (CSR) or the ratio ofgirls to boys, which in 2016was reportedly at the lowestlevel since 1951, notwithstand-ing progressively higher edu-cational attainment amonggirls. Thus, even though moreparents across States and com-munities have started sendingtheir daughters to school andcollege, they still express apreference for sons for a vari-ety of reasons, ranging fromthe prevalence of dowry, theburden of ensuring safety ofgirls and the support provid-ed by sons in old age. As CarolVlassof, Professor at theUniversity of Ottawa and long-time researcher on genderissues in India, avers, “The biasagainst daughters can endonly if women’s education isaccompanied by social andeconomic empowerment.”

Even worse is India’s gen-der-based performance in thedomain of health and survival.The WEF report ranks thecountry third lowest for this

parameter, just aboveArmenia and China, cate-gorising it as the “leastimproved country” on thissub-index over the pastdecade. This result comes asno surprise, considering thefact that by and large, Indianwomen have little autonomyin decision-making even inmatters of personal health.

Here, too, the IHDS reportin 2005, which had surveyedover 74 per cent of the women,stated that they needed permis-sion just to visit a health cen-tre, let alone exercise controlover their bodies and health-related issues. And this figurehad gone up to 80 per centwhen IHDS revisited its sam-ple households in 2012.

Interestingly, among thewomen reporting the lack ofagency in health matters, 80per cent affirmed that theyhad to seek permission fromtheir husbands, 79.89 per centfrom a senior family memberand even more significantly,79.94 per cent revealed thatthey had to consult a seniorfemale family member forsuch permission. The implica-tion inherent in this finding —that women in dominant fam-ily roles tend to exercise strin-gent control over their lessassertive female counterparts

in the family — also has seri-ous implications for femalesorority and mutual support.

It is obvious that withoutpolicy and legislative changesand in view of persistent refusalto alter conventional mindsetsthat perpetually relegatewomen to household and careduties, India’s female popula-tion is unlikely to emerge fromthe morass of poor economicperformance, coupled with lowhealth outcomes and unequalaccess to opportunities.

Coming back to the 2020Gender Gap Report, Indiawould do well to heed theadvice of the WEF Founder andExecutive Chairman, KlausSchwab that “only countriesthat are able to harness all theiravailable talent, (both male andfemale), will succeed in theFourth Industrial Revolution.Proactive measures that supportgender parity and social inclu-sion and address historicalimbalances are, therefore, essen-tial for the health of the globaleconomy as well as for thegood of society as a whole.” IsIndia listening? Or does it wantto retain its dismal position onthe Gender Index next year, too?

(The writer is ConsultantEditor at the National Council ofApplied Economic Research. Viewsexpressed are personal)

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Sir — Kudos to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and hisGovernment for dedicating twopublic welfare and utility schemesto Atal Bihari Vajpayee on hisbirth anniversary. The projects —one about groundwater manage-ment and the other on easingtransportation, enhancingtourism and national security —are milestones in our nation’sprogress. The Atal Bhujal Yojanawill help in supplying water toevery household. The PrimeMinister also named the Rohtangpassageway as the Atal Tunnel.The decision to construct a strate-gic tunnel below the Rohtang Passwas taken in June 2000 whenVajpayee was the Prime Minister.

M PradyuKannur

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Sir — The Citizenship AmendmentAct (CAA) holds the mirror totoday’s India. The Act goes againstthe principle of “equality” asaffirmed in the Constitution.Phrases such as “reasonable” and“intelligible differentia” cannot

rationalise a blatantly discriminato-ry law that seeks to shake the foun-dation of the country. People of allcastes and communities have livedhere for generations here. Why areour leaders trying to divide India on

the basis of religion? The BJP is try-ing to divide the country on com-munal grounds, causing confu-sion in the minds of people.

Jubel D’CruzMumbai

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Sir — This refers to the unneces-sary criticism by Opposition par-ties on Army Chief General Bipin

Rawat’s statement, wherein hequestioned the violence in univer-sity campuses during protests.There is no politics in his state-ment, which is based on practicalaspects. At times, the Army has tobe called to control escalated sit-uations. The Army Chief, like allother citizens, is pained due tolarge-scale damage incurred dur-ing incidents of violence.

SC AgrawalDelhi

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Sir — The BJP’s loss in the just-concluded Assembly electionsin Jharkhand indicates that theModi wave is limited to theGeneral Election. When it comesto State affairs, the commonman prefers bread and butterissues over others like the abro-gation of Article 370 and the Ramtemple. The party must not takeits thumping mandate in theLok Sabha elections for granted.Rather, it must adopt a federalapproach to social development.

SrishtiVia email

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Page 9: +ˇˇˆ ˇ , ’) !% ’˚(*+,- 3 - 9 ˛˙!/ˆ !0&.12 5/13! 5/05.˙ 2# #./ˆ #ˆ30 ... · 2019-12-29 · Mahatma Gandhi’s statue at Morhabadi Ground. ... Congress leader Priyanka

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From election to election, year to year, weIndians have got used to living withhopes for the better. Every new yearbegins with a lot of expectations but usu-ally ends in dismay. However, of late,

there has been a change in this trend. We have aGovernment in place, which not only believes inflagging issues of national importance but alsowalks the talk by attempting a closure of issues,no matter how controversial. It doesn’t want to“sleep over the problem.” Another year is on thehorizon and people expect changes that wouldnot only make their lives better but take our nationto greater heights so that it can occupy its justplace among the comity of nations. A secure India,both at the borders and in the hinterland, is thedesire of many Indians because only a safe andsecure nation can concentrate on developmentthat is needed to make a quality difference.

India has embarked on the path of becom-ing a superpower. This is why it needs to treadthe path of strategic alliances carefully, keepingin mind the nation’s interests. We have succeed-ed in unifying the world to fight the menace ofglobal terrorism but are yet to see a world thatis free of it. To my mind, the fight against ter-rorism must continue in 2020, both at home andabroad. For us to be taken seriously worldwide,we need to establish India as a military powerfrom a military force. We need to prepare our-selves to meet the twin threats emancipating fromChina and Pakistan, through capability andcapacity-building. Terror threat in our immedi-ate neighbourhood as also back home must con-tinue to be our main focus area in the immedi-ate future.

In order to negate Pakistan’s nuclear black-mail, there is a need to regain the conventionaledge over its armed forces through modernisa-tion of our own. Development versus security isa dilemma faced by every developing nation butthe ones, which have not compromised on secu-rity, have emerged stronger in the given timespace. The success story of modernisation ofChina’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and itsunparalleled economic growth is a classic exam-ple. We need to spend at least 2.5 to three percent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) con-secutively for a decade to modernise our armedforces.

Without a strong military, no nation can claimto be a formidable power. The existing deficien-cies and future requirements to cater to newerconventional and non-conventional threats needto be beefed up. Procurement procedures needto be made efficient and accountable. We also haveto be prepared to meet the challenges from theneighbourhood. Any instability in the neighbour-hood will effect India as well. We need to devel-op capability for regional intervention as well asfor regional and maritime projection. India, beingan emerging power, needs to cater to multiplecontingencies and, hence, have multiple options.Adequate deterrence capabilities across all spec-trums — from sub-conventional to nuclear — willmake us a perfect military power.

Pakistan, with its failing economy and Chinabeing cautious of its international image, willincreasingly resort to hybrid warfare, whichemphasises on tactical level and grey-zone con-flicts and incorporates a long-term strategic

dimension in international disputes.Such type of operations occasionally passthe threshold of war. Response to thistype of a warfare is not purely militarybut collective, including political andeconomic. Thus, there is a need to beprepared across different spectrumsand spheres to meet growing chal-lenges. Hybrid warfare and grey-zoneconflicts are usually considered to besynonymous but they are not. On theone hand, India has to ward off China’s“unrestricted warfare” threat, particular-ly in the North-east and in our neigh-bourhood. On the other hand, we facehybrid threat based on unconventionalmeans and employment of non-stateactors, particularly in our northernand western borders.

While the former closely approxi-mates the grey-zone conflict with strate-gic intent, the latter resembles thehybrid warfare based on tactical andoperational level acts, basically aimed atfragmenting our country. Thus, in 2020,the Government must concentrate onformulating protocols and procedures tomeet the challenges posed by these twinthreats.

A beginning has been made withthe much-anticipated appointment ofa Chief of Defence Staff (CDS). Notonly the selection but even the conceptof CDS is nascent and would need timeto stabilise. “Purplisation” of the Indianarmed forces would not be that easy.The Government needs to be compli-mented for taking the bold decision andsetting the process in motion. Themuch-needed reforms in the DefenceMinistry to curb the widening gulfbetween the bureaucrat-led Ministryand the armed forces, whose profes-sional advice is generally overruled bygeneralist bureaucrats, is the next boldstep the Government needs to take.

Perfect harmony and professionalrespect will be needed between thethree service heads and the CDS for theidea of “first among the equals” to suc-ceed. Also, a clear line will have to bedrawn between the charters of CDS andthe National Security Advisor (NSA).The idea to succeed would need unbri-dled support from the political hierar-chy, which so far needs to be moreinclined towards the bureaucracy.

To stake our claim as a formidablepower, we have to ensure that we haveenough means militarily, and otherwise,to ensure protection of our vital nation-al interests and security objectives.There is a need to identify weaknessesand gaps in our security structure andtake measures to plug them. For this,the need is to formulate a national secu-rity doctrine, which is long overdue. Inthe absence of a doctrine, variousorgans of the Government and otherstakeholders are unable to prepare acoordinated response to meet threatsand challenges to our national securi-ty. From the doctrine will flow thenational security strategy, which willenable different stakeholders in theGovernment to carry out an “ends ver-sus means” analysis and prepare theperspective plans for their respectiveMinistries. 2020 is the year when themuch-awaited national security doc-trine may see the light of the day.

Internal security situation in thecountry appears to be moving towardsnormalcy. Certain peripheral militantgroups are trying to raise their uglyheads to undermine peace, tranquilli-ty and communal harmony. PopularFront of India (PFI) is developing intoa potent threat and its political wing,Social Democratic Party of India(SDPI), has a significant following inthe Southern States and is spreading its

wings in the Eastern States, too.Growing links between the PFI and var-ious illegal immigrant organisations isanother cause of concern. PFI also hasa big hand in growing radicalisation inSouth India.

As far as Jammu & Kashmir is con-cerned, Pakistan will continue to be anirritant till it is forced to give up the pol-icy of State-sponsored terrorism.Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, whileaddressing the passing out parade ofGentlemen Cadets at Indian MilitaryAcademy, Dehradun, comprehensive-ly summed up the deep State ofPakistan, “Besides following terrorismas State policy, several non-State actorshave become much powerful in thatcountry and State actors have beenreduced to mere puppets.”

While Pakistan would continue tofoment trouble, the Over GroundWorkers (OGW) network, which isdeep-rooted in the State, will have to bebrought under control in order to rootterrorism/militancy. The entire ecosys-tem in Kashmir is very badly subvert-ed. OGWs are a major part of this sys-tem but very difficult to identify andsegregate. They have infiltrated everyorgan of the State. Most of them havea dual face. They are hardcore nation-alists when in a gathering that demandsso, and are die-hard sympathisers ofjihadis when away from that environ-ment. They are the masters of the artof “biting the hand that feeds them.”The present relative calm prevailing inKashmir cannot be taken at its facevalue. A crackdown on the OGWs in2020 is mandatory for lasting peace, theultimate aim, for which Article 370 hasbeen abrogated.

(The author is a Jammu-based vet-eran, political commentator, politicalanalyst, security and strategic analyst)

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The just-concluded 25th UN conferenceon climate change held in Madrid wasa massive climate congregation com-

prising 25,000 participants from across theworld, including Greta Thunberg, the teenageSwedish activist. Although unrest caused theoriginal venue, Santiago, Chile, to be changedto Madrid at the last minute, the fervorremained unchanged in the form of all-nightclimate debates between delegates andMinisters. In the opening address, UNSecretary General, Antonio Guterres, under-lined the need to have an environmentalcourse correction and stressed on the impor-tance of increased ambition and commitmenttowards nature conservation.

Outcomes: A positive mood was set inmotion with “ambition”, “action” and “com-mitment” being highlighted as the key dri-ving forces for this year’s COP. The hashtag#TimeforAction was the official tag for theconference with stress being laid on “climateambition alliance” to accelerate progress

towards the Paris goals. But this enthusiasmfizzled out as the conference struggled tomake progress on almost all fronts.

The COP25 was meant to finalise the rulebook for the Paris Agreement and specificpolicies were to be discussed to mitigate lossand damage. It deals with unavoidable andirreversible impacts of climate change, wheremitigation has failed, and adaptation is notpossible. But none of them could materialise.However, COP25 sent a strong message tothe participants to be well prepared as 2020would be most critical — it marks the dead-line for the carbon emission reduction tar-gets set by participating nations. It also marksthe deadline for the $100 billion in financeto be provided to the developing countries,a commitment made by the developedcountries in Paris.

Barring the tepid proceedings of COP25,the Gender Action Plan (GAP) proved to bean exception. Participating Governmentsadopted a new five-year GAP that progres-sively builds upon the first one and enablesgender-just climate solutions. The GAP notonly aims to provide gender equality in theUNFCC processes but also takes into accounthuman rights and challenges faced by indige-nous people in ensuring climate justice andcommunity protection.

The conference also saw vociferous rep-resentation and arguments by nations belong-

ing to the Like Minded Developing CountriesGroup (LMDC), including India, in favourof an expedited climate finance corpus thatcould be set up by the developed nations tohelp the developing ones build capacity andmeet climate commitments. India also raisedthe important issue at COP25 of whether thedeveloped nations were actually doingenough to cut down emissions.

A lost opportunity: The dismay due tolack of meaningful progress at the COP25 waswrit large. It was summed by Guterres whenhe expressed his personal disappointment onthe outcome of COP25. Even though the con-ference overshot its scheduled end by over44 hours, this year’s COP was conspicuousfor its inability to reach consensus in manyimportant areas, thanks to charged updebates that yielded no concrete decisions.As a result, pertinent matters got pushed intothe next year’s conference. The discussionsgetting bogged down in technical debatesconcerning carbon market mechanisms andother issues ensured that swift conferenceprogress becomes a casualty.

Moreover, year after year, what hasbeen seen is a triangular disconnect betweenthe UNFCC procedures, the aspirations of theparticipants and the demands of the environ-mental protests world over. This year’s COPwas no different. The UNEP Emissions GapReport released on the sidelines of the COP

admitted the widening chasm between setgoals and required action. According to theUNEP report, even if Nationally DeterminedContributions (NDCs) are met, the emissionsin 2030 will still be 38 per cent higher thanwhat is required to meet that target. Unlessthe UN procedures become agile and caterto the rising expectations of the global com-munity, there’s a risk that subsequent climateconferences, too, may end up in a limbo. Thiscan have a severe impact on the credibilityof the annual COP event.

Takeaways for India: The COP25 maynot have ended in taking remarkable deci-sions but the outcomes brought clarity tobring global green house gas emissions downto 45 per cent from 2010 levels by 2030. Thiswas accompanied by the urgent need to limitrising global temperatures to 1.5oC. Thesemeasures will be instrumental in achievingglobal carbon neutrality by 2050. For India,it is critical to integrate these goals and ensureconcrete progress in environmental conser-vation. This is possible only through a par-ticipative civil society led by a strong and com-mitted Government.

The adoption of GAP is crucial for India,where gender-related complexities are aplen-ty in all spheres, including the fight againstclimate change. For example, the women pop-ulation in the country stands at 48 per centwhereas their representation in the legisla-

ture is only 12 per cent. This watered-downrepresentation translates into an insipid roleof women in fighting climate action, justiceand conservation. This skewed imbalance hasbecome the unfortunate norm and must bechallenged. The integration of GAP intoGovernment policies can do just that and leadto equal representation of women.

During the adoption of GAP at COP25,it was specifically highlighted that proper andsuccessful implementation by participatingnations will ensure overall global success ofthe initiative. To make this a reality and deriveequal participation of women in climate ini-tiatives, the Government of India mustfocus on capacity-building and enhanceimplementation of gender responsive climateaction at all levels in the form of genderresponsive technology solutions. These mea-sures will help secure the rightful place ofwomen and ensure gender equality. If theGovernment is able to expedite GAP imple-mentation by executing relevant policies andengaging the civil society adequately, Indiacan proudly show the progress it has madeat the next COP26 in Glasgow, the UK.

During the course of the conference, theAssociation of Small Island States (AOSIS)charged India, Brazil and China for block-ing ambitious outcomes in Article 6 discus-sions pertaining to carbon markets. This neg-ative comment on our nation was both

embarrassing and avoidable. But parallelly,India, along with China, the US and the EU,accounted for almost 60 per cent of the car-bon dioxide emissions in 2017. So, it is essen-tial for India to get its act together and bringdown the fossil fuel combustion levels dras-tically by the end of 2020 so that enoughprogress is visible. The fast-tracking ofrenewable power generation and creation ofadditional carbon sink for CO2 can helpachieve that.

Looking ahead: A lot of expectations arenow attached with COP26. Chief concernremains the loss and damage, carbon mar-kets, transparency and, crucially, the rulebookfor the Paris Agreement. Most importantly,member nations will have to boost their car-bon cuts if the world is to achieve the targetof limiting of global temperatures to under1.5oC. Similarly, the developed nations willhave to show intent by achieving NDCs andalso extending a helping hand to the devel-oping nations in achieving their goals as wellas by providing the promised $100 billion cli-mate finance support. Of late, COP eventshave become sites of protests, loopholenegotiations and blame-games. This has tostop. The world must sit down as a family anddiscuss the imminent common threat of cli-mate change and take sincere action.

(The writer is an environmental journalist)

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India is expected to overtakeGermany to become fourth-

largest economy in 2026 andJapan to become third largestin 2034, according a recentreport by the UK-based Centrefor Economics and BusinessResearch (CEBR).

It further said India is alsoset to reach a gross domesticproduct (GDP) of $5 trillion by2026, 2 years later than theGovernment’s target.

“India has decisively over-taken both France and the UKto become the world’s fifth-largest economy in 2019. It isexpected to overtake Germanyto become fourth largest in2026 and Japan to become thethird largest in 2034,” thereport, titled ‘World EconomicLeague Table 2020’, said.

Japan, Germany and Indiawill battle for third positionover the next 15 years, accord-ing to the CEBR.

Referring to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi-ledgovernment’s target of takingthe economy to 5 $trillion by2024, it said, “India is also setto reach a GDP of $5 trillion by2026 — 2 years later than thecurrent government target.”

But, dark clouds gatheringall over the economy are lead-ing many to question the maintainability of the target.

Recently, former ReserveBank governor C Rangarajan,said that at the current growthrate, reaching the $5-trillionGDP target by 2024-25 is “sim-ply out of question”.

Noting that Indian datarevisions mean that 2019 was

the year when the country’seconomy finally overtook theUK and France, the reportsaid, “But, slow growth during

the year has increased pressurefor more radical economicreforms.”

Despite the rapid ascent of

countries such as India andIndonesia, it is striking how lit-tle an impact this will have onthe US and China’s dominant

roles in the global economy,said Pablo Shah, senior econ-omist at Cebr.

India, which till recentlywas hailed as the world’s fastest-growing major economy, hasseen growth rate decline to asix-year low of 4.5 per cent inthe September quarter of 2019-20.

This has largely beenattributed to the slowdown ininvestment that has now broad-ened into consumption, drivenby financial stress among ruralhouseholds and weak job cre-ation.

The World EconomicLeague Table is an annual cal-culation by Cebr jointly pub-lished by Cebr and GlobalConstruction Perspectives. Thebase data for 2019 is taken fromthe IMF World EconomicOutlook.

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India’s economy is expectedto rebound in 2020 on the

back of measures taken by thegovernment and the RBI cou-pled with easing of globaltrade tensions, industry bodyCII said on Sunday.

The chamber also sug-gested a flexible fiscal policythat will set a central govern-ment’s target for the deficit inthe range of around 0.5 to 0.75per cent, and said it is likely tohave a significant multipliereffect on the economy.

It said that as we are set toenter the new year, there arenascent signs that the econo-my is on a better footing thanwhat it was in the year gone by.“With the proactive measurestaken by the government andthe Reserve Bank of India(RBI), industry believes thatthe slowdown will be over-come, and a gradual recoverywill soon be in place.”

“Nascent signs of recoveryare noted in the form ofimproved PMIs (PurchasingManagers’ Index) of manu-facturing and services, jump inpassenger air traffic, sharpmoderation in the decline insales of passenger cars, amongothers,” said CII PresidentVikram Kirloskar.

He added that though theeconomy may continue to seea subdued GDP print in thethird quarter as well, the quar-ters thereafter are likely to seea rebound.

According to theConfederation of IndianIndustry (CII), with the initialdifficulties associated with thegoods and services tax (GST)and the Insolvency andBankruptcy Code (IBC) get-ting gradually ironed out, theindustry is hopeful of sub-stantial benefits for the econ-omy. It said that while 2019will be remembered as onewhere the systemic clean-up ofthe financial sector picked uppace, which might have result-ed in “short-term pain”, this

tidying up will have extensivepositive ramifications for theeconomy in the short-to-medium term.

“On balance, all these fac-tors will have a significantbearing on growth in the nextfiscal. Add to this, the easingof global trade tensions alongwith lagged impact of mone-tary easing coupled withimproved transmission, andwe are in for a gradual recov-ery getting firmly entrenchedby the next fiscal,” Kirloskarsaid.

CII believes that with thesharp moderation in growth,the time has come to adopt anexpansionary fiscal policy.

“Just like our medium-term inflation target range, wecan have a flexible fiscal poli-cy target which will set a cen-tral target for the fiscal deficitwith a range of around 0.5 to0.75 per cent. The additionalavailability of funds may bespent on key infrastructureprojects which can be imple-mented quickly. This is likelyto have a significant multipli-er effect on the economy,”said CII President-DesignateUday Kotak.

In the subsequent years,there can be a glide path toconverge to the FiscalResponsibility and BudgetManagement trajectory over a2-3-year time frame, he added.

Besides, the chamber sug-gested that in order to increasethe tax base and ensure high-er compliance, it is necessaryto simplify and reduce thenumber of GST rates andincrease its coverage.

Once it is converged, thepractice of reviewing rates atevery meeting of the GSTCouncil must be discontinued.Similarly, a rational structureof customs duty needs to be inplace. The principle of highercustoms duty on final productswith lower duty on interme-diate goods and the lowest onraw materials needs to be fol-lowed, without exception, said CII.

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China will revise its histori-cal regional GDP data

under a unified accountingmechanism from early nextyear, the National Bureau ofStatistics said, amidst the con-tinued slowdown of the world’ssecond largest economy.

The Chinese economygrew at an annual pace of 6.0per cent in the July-Septemberquarter, the slowest growthsince 1992. The slowdown isexasperated by the ongoingtrade war between the US andChina. In November this year,China revised its 2018 GDP,saying the economy was 2.1 percent bigger than earlier esti-mated, revising the grossdomestic product (GDP) for2018 to 91.93 trillion yuan($13.1 trillion) from $12.8 tril-lion.

A new GDP data under aunified accounting mechanismto be introduced early nextyear, state-run Xinhua newsagency quoted the NationalBureau of Statistic (NBS) asreporting on Friday.

The new mechanism willunify the standards and pro-cedures for calculating nation-al and local GDP numberswhich had been calculated

under different accountingmethods adopted by local andnational statistics authoritiessince 1985, the bureau said.

The reform is expected toclose the current discrepancybetween national and region-al figures, improving data qual-ity while enhancing the credi-bility of the government sta-tistics, it said.

To ensure data compara-bility, the country will alsorevise historical local GDP fig-ures and publish them in 2020,the bureau said.

As the economic activitiesof some government institu-tions are only reflected in thenational GDP, the combined

regional number will be slight-ly lower than the nationalamount, it said.

China and the US havebeen locked in a longstandingtrade war that has threatenedto roil the global economy.

The US, the world’s biggesteconomy, has imposed tariffson $250 billion of Chinesegoods, having accused thecountry of unfair trade prac-tices. Beijing hit back withduties on $110 billion of USgoods, blaming the US forstarting “the largest trade warin economic history”.

The IMF has warned thata full-blown trade war wouldweaken the global economy.

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Telecom operator BhartiAirtel on Sunday hiked its

mandatory minimum rechargefor pre-paid customers to �45from �23. “...It will be manda-tory to recharge with a vouch-er of �45 or above, every 28days to avail services,” thecompany said in a publicnotice. The new minimumrecharge plan will come intoeffect from Sunday. Theannouncement pertained toprepaid subscribers of BhartiAirtel and Bharti Hexacom inall service areas, it added.

“In case of non rechargewith a voucher of �45 or aboveat the end of tariff validity peri-od, Airtel reserves the right toprovide the plan benefits in acurtailed manner at its own dis-cretion during the grace peri-od of up to 15 days.

“In case of non rechargewith voucher of �45 of above,all services will be suspendedpost the grace period,” thecompany said.

Amid a turbulence in thedebt laden sector, Bharti Airtelchairman Sunil Bharti Mittalhad recently said a combinationof rock-bottom tariffs and highconsumption is killing the tele-com industry and sector regu-

lator Trai needs to urgentlyintervene to strike a balancebetween the needs for protect-ing investments and consumerinterest.

“We are unnecessarilykilling this industry in a man-ner and way that is not con-ducive for our industry, andthat’s why we need Trai inter-vention,” Mittal had said.

The comments of theAirtel chief had come just daysafter the Telecom RegulatoryAuthority of India (Trai) initi-ated talks to prescribe floorprice for call and data, and alsodeferred by one year the scrap-ping of the charge paid bymobile phone users for callsmade to rival networks.

The two moves came as abig boost to old operators likeAirtel and Vodafone Idea thatare staring at a liability ofthousands of crores in unpaidpast statutory dues following a

Supreme Court ruling.Through their association,

the operators had been pitch-ing to policy makers for fixinga floor rate for calls and data.

The telecom call and datarates are at present under for-bearance or not regulated.

But, Trai has now releaseda consultation paper to fixminimum or floor rates formobile phone calls and data —a move that will effectively endthe regime of free calling anddirt cheap data.

The outcome is likely tolead to further hike in mobilecall and data cost as the indus-try wants average revenue peruser to reach �300 per monthfrom about �125 at presentover a period of two years —better revenue realisation peruser will offer a much-neededbreather to the stressed telecomindustry where debt levels havesoared to �7.8 lakh crore.

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Seeking a bigger slice of pub-lic procurement pie, the

micro, small and mediumenterprises (MSMEs) sectorhas proposed small-ticket ten-ders so that they could partic-ipate in the bidding.

In its Budget suggestions,Federation of Indian Microand Small & MediumEnterprises (FISME) has saidthat smaller firms are gettingelbowed out from public pro-curement as orders are gener-ally bundled up making theirsize very large.

Adding to the problems,government is increasingly get-ting projects executed on turn-key basis through large corpo-rates which do not fall underpublic-private-partnership(PPP) for the MSMEs.

“These practices need to bechecked and remedial stepstaken,” the industry body haswritten to Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman.

Public procurement as apercentage of GDP in the coun-try is estimated at 20-22 percent. Given the size of Indianeconomy ($2.7 trillion), thepublic procurement amountsto nearly $500 billion annual-ly. Central Public SectorEnterprises (CPSEs) are a

major contributor to publicprocurement of works, goodsand services.

As per the current policy,every central ministry, depart-ment and PSUs are required tomandatorily procure 25 percent of their supplies annuallyfrom the MSME sector. ButMSMEs have been complain-ing that many governmententities do not adhere to theguideline.

The FISME has proposedgenerous payment terms fromthe government to encouragegreater number of participantsin the bidding process espe-cially MSMEs.

It cited the example ofSouth Korea where MSMEscould be given advance up to70 per cent of the purchaseprice. Similarly, an SME net-work loan program enablesSMEs to obtain bank loans forup to 80 per cent of the relevantcontract price to cover thecosts of contract execution.

South Korean governmentalso gives special visibility toinnovative products fromSMEs by including them in aspecial procurement KONEPScatalogue. A similar initiativecould be undertaken throughGeM (Government E-market-place) platform in India,” theFISME has said.

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The Deposit Insurance andCredit Guarantee

Corporation has received atotal claim of about �14,100crore in case of defaulting co-operative banks amid massivescam at the now-crippledPunjab & MaharashtraCooperative Bank, according tothe RBI.

However, the regulator, inthe Financial Stability Report,added that all the claims maynot materialise at the same timeand some may even revive.

The extent of devolvementon the Deposit Insurance andCredit Guarantee Corporation(DICGC) in the event of all thebanks “under direction” orweak banks going into liqui-dation or ordered to be woundup, would be �14,098 crore asof September-end, said theRBI’s Financial Stability Report

released recently. Cooperativebanks have been under stressfor long and the ongoing PMCBank crisis, which involves ascam of �6,500 crore that is 73per cent of its total assets ofaround �9,000 crore, is relatedto a single entity, the bankruptHDIL, which has been gamingthe bank since 2008.

The scam came out inSeptember after an insiderwhistleblower approached theReserve Bank of India (RBI)forcing it to supersede thebank’s management and put itunder an administrator.

“It needs to be noted thatbanks which are under direc-

tion/weak will go under liqui-dation over a period, nottogether at a particular point oftime. Weak banks may also wit-ness a revival,” the RBI said inthe report.

Since January this year,nearly 30 cooperative bankshave been placed under RBIadministrators. The break-upof the claim with DICGCshows �3,414 crore in the caseof state cooperative banks anddistrict central cooperativebanks, and �10,684 crore in thecase of urban cooperativebanks, including PMC Bank,according to the RBI.

DICGC came into lime-light since the RBI imposeddeposit withdrawal restrictionson PMC Bank which hasdeposits of around �11,800crore. As a percentage of thedeposit insurance fund, thesedeposits are about 13.9 percent, the RBI said.

Johannesburg: South Africa’scentral bank has sanctionedDurban-headquartered HBZBank, with roots in Pakistan, forviolating the country’s MoneyLaundering and TerroristFinancing Control Regulations.

The South African ReserveBank (SARB) cautioned HBZnot to repeat the conduct whichled to the non-compliance with“suspicious and unusual trans-action” reporting requirementsof the Money Laundering andTerrorist Financing ControlRegulations and for the failureto comply with trainingrequirements of the FIC Act.

HBZ escaped any financialpenalties. It was one of the foursmaller banks together withone of the big four banks —Standard Bank — which havecome under the SARB scanner.

PTI

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Amid concerns that CoalIndia Ltd (CIL) may fall

short of its 660 million tonne(MT) production target forthe current fiscal, the miner hasplanned to ramp up daily out-put to meet the goal, officialssaid. Till December, the mineris expected to produce close to390 MT of coal and will requireanother 270 MT in the lastquarter of this fiscal to meet theannual production target.

Currently, Coal India pro-duces 1.8 MT per day while theasking rate to achieve the tar-get is 2.9 MT, they said.

Internally, Coal India hasplanned to raise its productionto 3 MT per day at least inFebruary and March next yearto inch closer to the target, CoalIndia officials told PTI.

According to the provi-sional data, the miner pro-duced 330.38 MT of coal dur-ing April-November in the2019-20 fiscal, down by 7.8 percent from 358.30 MT in theyear-ago period. Unless theminer increases its daily pro-duction to 2.5 MT per day fromJanuary to March period, it willstruggle to surpass the pro-duction figure of the last fiscal,company sources said.

In 2018-19, Coal Indiaproduced 606.89 MT whiledispatch was at 608.14 MT.

Coal India’s offtake at363.63 MT during April-November period was down by7.2 per cent from 392.02 MTsupplied in the year-ago peri-od. CIL officials said the coalofftake was at 410 MT tillDecember 27, 2019 as againsta target of 467 MT.

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With the workforce trans-formed significantly over

the last decade, a study hasrevealed that hiring is no moreabout recruitment but aboutattracting as there are increas-ing number of dropouts, andattrition rate has peakedbeyond 22 per cent.

About 78 per cent of com-panies in a survey admit thathiring and retaining hasbecome more difficult com-pared to the previous year,according to ‘The 2020 TalentTechnology Outlook’ study byresearch-backed innovative tal-ent solution provider SCIKEY.

Longer time to hire,increasing number of dropoutsand attrition that has peakedbeyond 22 per cent indicatethat hiring has not just become

expensive and difficult, butalso the inability to attractright talent is impacting thebusiness, the study showed.

About 68 per cent ofemployees are partially or fullydisengaged, leading to billionsof dollars in productivity loss,it said.

The study also showed thatorganisations in 2020 will wakeup to this reality and see tech-nology going beyond people-

intensive hiring to a tech-dri-ven and branding-focused ini-tiative that will attract talentfaster.

Companies will deploybranding and marketingexperts to spruce up theirimage that would strike theright note with their prospec-tive workforce. Social mediawill start playing even moremeaningful role in HR mar-keting.

The study is an analysis ofinputs from 100-plus C-suiteand human capital leadersacross four continents, includ-ing in India, by SCIKEY,through surveys, social mediainputs, interviews and paneldiscussions.

Further, it showed thatexpensive workforce will drivecompanies to hire more con-tractual and gig workforce.

About 54 per cent of therespondents said they will usecrowd resources in the next twoyears for some part of theirbusiness, it said.

Unpredictability with full-time work will move morepeople to contractual or gigeconomy and with the avail-ability of talent marketplaces,2020 will start seeing the shiftof employee and employer’smindset, it added.

New Delhi: Foreign investorsremained net buyers inDecember by investing �2,613crore in the domestic markets,mainly due to expectation of arevival in corporate earning,quantitative easing by the USFed and infusion of funds bycentral banks globally.

According to the deposito-ries data, a net amount of�6,301.96 crore was invested byforeign portfolio investors (FPI)into equities, while �3,688.94was pulled out of the debt seg-ment. This resulted into a totalnet investment of �2,613.02crore between Dec 2-27.

“Despite challenges on theeconomic front and policyroadblocks, FPIs continue tohave faith in the Indian equitymarkets ...What has kept them

hooked to the Indian equitymarkets is expectation of arevival in corporate earning inthe coming quarter, quantita-tive easing by US Fed andinfusion of funds by centralbanks globally,” said HimanshuSrivastava, senior research ana-lyst, manager research atMorningstar.

Barring January, July andAugust, FPIs have been netbuyers for rest of the months in2019. This year, they haveinvested a net sum of�73,276.63 crore in the Indianmarkets (both equity and debt).

“In 2019, FPIs remainedbullish on India on account ofmany factors including corpo-rate tax rate cut, RERA, amongothers have helped in thisregard. PTI

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President Donald Trumpstarts the new year knee-

deep in daunting foreign poli-cy challenges at the same timehe’ll have to deal with a likelyimpeachment trial in theSenate and the demands of areelection campaign.

There’s still no end in sightto America’s longest war inAfghanistan. North Korea has-n’t given up its nuclear weapons.Add to that simmering tensionswith Iran, fallout from Trump’sdecision to pull troops fromSyria, ongoing unease withRussia and Turkey, and erraticties with European and otherlongtime Western allies.

Trump is not popular over-seas, and being an impeachedpresident who must simulta-neously run for reelectioncould reduce the time, focusand political clout needed toresolve complex global issueslike North Korea’s nuclearprovocations. Some foreignpowers could decide to justhold off on finalizing any dealsuntil they know whetherTrump will be reelected.

Trump himself hasacknowledged the challengein his December 26 tweet:“Despite all of the great successthat our Country has had overthe last 3 years, it makes itmuch more difficult to dealwith foreign leaders (and oth-ers) when I am having to con-stantly defend myself againstthe Do Nothing Democrats &their bogus ImpeachmentScam. Bad for USA!”

At the same time, there iswidespread expectation that

Trump never will be convictedby the Republican-controlledSenate, so 2020 could wellbring more of the same fromthe president on foreign poli-cy, said Ronald Neumann,president of the AmericanAcademy of Diplomacy.

“America still has an awfullot of power,” said Neumann, athree-time ambassador andformer deputy assistant secre-tary of state. “With a year to go,a president can still make a lotof waves, impeachment or not.”

For Trump, 2019 was a yearof two steps forward, one stepback — sometimes vice versa— on international challenges.Despite claiming that “I knowdeals, I think, better than any-body knows deals,’’ he’s still try-ing to close a bunch.

Trump scored high marksfor the US military raid in Syriathat killed the leader of theIslamic State, but US militaryleaders worry about a resur-gence. He is credited with coax-ing NATO allies to commit tospend billions more on defense,but along the way has strainedimportant relationships.

His agreement on a “Phase1” trade deal with China hasreduced tensions in their ongo-ing trade war. But the deallargely puts off for later complexissues surrounding US assertionsthat China is cheating to gainsupremacy on technology andChina’s accusation thatWashington is trying to restrainBeijing’s ascent as a world power.

A deeper look at the state ofplay on three top foreign policychallenges on Trump’s desk as2020 begins:

US-NORTH KOREANUCLEAR TALKS LOSE TRACTION

The US is watching North Korea closely for signs ofa possible missile launch ornuclear test.

Pyongyang had threatenedto spring a “Christmas surprise”if the US failed to meet KimJong Un’s year-end deadline forconcessions to revive stallednuclear talks. Trump speculat-ed maybe he’d get a “beautifulvase” instead. Any test flight ofan intercontinental ballisticmissile or substantial nucleartest would further derail thediplomatic negotiations Trumpopened with Kim in 2018.

Washington didn’t acceptKim’s end-of-year ultimatum,but Stephen Biegun, the top USenvoy to North Korea, said thewindow for talks with the USremains open. “We are fullyaware of the strong potentialfor North Korea to conduct amajor provocation in the daysahead,” Biegun, the new deputy

secretary of state, said recent-ly. “To say the least, such anaction will be most unhelpfulin achieving lasting peace onthe Korean Peninsula.”

In recent months, NorthKorea has conducted a slew ofshort-range missile launchesand other weapons tests.

In 2017, Trump and Kimtraded threats of destruction asNorth Korea carried out testsaimed at acquiring the ability tolaunch nuclear strikes on the USmainland. Trump said he wouldrain “fire and fury” on NorthKorea and derided Kim as “lit-tle rocket man.” Kim ques-tioned Trump’s sanity and saidhe would “tame the mentallyderanged U.S. dotard with fire.”

Then the two made up andmet three times — in Singaporein 2018, in Vietnam lastFebruary and again in Junewhen Trump became the firstU.S. president to set foot intoNorth Korea at theDemilitarised Zone.

While the get-togethers

have made for good photo-ops,they’ve been devoid of substan-tive progress in getting Kim toget rid of his nuclear weapons.

Trump has held out NorthKorea’s self-imposed morato-rium on conducting nucleartests and trials of long-rangeintercontinental missiles as amajor foreign policy achieve-ment. “Deal will happen!” hetweeted. Trump’s formernational security adviser does-n’t think so.

“The North Koreans arevery happy to declare thatthey’re going to give up theirnuclear weapons program, par-ticularly when it’s in exchangefor tangible economic benefits,but they never get around todoing it,” John Bolton toldNational Public Radio.

US-IRAN TENSION ESCALATING

Tensions with Iran havebeen rising ever since Trump lastyear withdrew the US from the2015 nuclear deal that Tehranhad signed with the U.S. and fiveother nations. Trump said thedeal was one-sided and gave Iransanctions relief for rolling back,but not permanently disman-tling, its nuclear programme.

After pulling out of thedeal, Trump began a “maximumpressure” campaign, reinstat-ing sanctions and adding morethat have crippled Iran’s econo-my. His aim is to force Iran torenegotiate a deal more favorableto the US and other nations thatare still in the agreement.

In response, Iran has con-tinued its efforts to destabilisethe region, attacking targets inSaudi Arabia, interrupting

commercial shipping throughthe critical Strait of Hormuz,shooting down an unmannedU.S. aircraft and financing mil-itant proxy groups. Since May,nearly 14,000 US military per-sonnel have deployed to theregion to deter Iran.

Iranian President HassanRouhani said his country’snuclear experts are testing anew type of advanced cen-trifuge. Iran recently startedexceeding the stockpiles ofuranium and heavy waterallowed by the nuclear deal andis enriching uranium at a puri-ty level beyond what is per-mitted. Tehran’s violations,which it says are reversible, arean attempt to get France,Germany, Britain, China andRussia — the other nations thatsigned the JointComprehensive Plan of Action— to offer new economicincentives to offset theAmerican sanctions.

The White House says itspressure campaign is working.The Iranian economy is col-lapsing, inflation is high. Andcrushing U.S. sanctions block-ing Iran from selling its crudeoil abroad have helped fuelnationwide protests.

Earlier this month, therewas a rare diplomatic break-through when a Chinese-American Princeton scholar,Xiyue Wang, who has held inIran for three years, was freedin exchange for a detainedIranian scientist in the US.Trump said the prisonerexchange could be a “precursoras to what can be done.”

Iran says other prisonerswaps can be arranged, but

there will be no other negoti-ations between Tehran and theTrump administration.

AFGHANISTANWhen Trump made his

first visit to Afghanistan onThanksgiving Day, heannounced that negotiationswith the Taliban, which hadfallen apart in September, wereback on track. He claimed themilitant group wanted to finda political resolution to the war,now more than 18 years old.

“We’ll see if they want tomake a deal,” he told US troopsat Bagram Air Base. “’It’s got tobe a real deal, but we’ll see. Butthey want to make a deal.”

Less than two weeks later,talks were back on pause afteran attack outside Bagram killedtwo Afghans and wounded 70others, including members ofthe US-led coalition force. TheTaliban later claimed respon-sibility for the attack, whichalso damaged the base.

It’s no secret that Trumpwants US engagement inAfghanistan to end, but criticsworry that this will lead him tomake too many concessions tothe Taliban.

Despite progress in thenegotiations, Trump abruptlycanceled the talks in Septemberwhen violence continued anda US service member waskilled. This time around, theUS is seeking a reduction inviolence with the end goal ofgetting the Taliban to agree toa permanent ceasefire and startall-Afghan talks to find apeaceful future for the country.

Former Defence SecretaryJames Mattis, who resigned

from the Trump administrationover his opposition to the pres-ident’s decision to removetroops from Syria, said theTaliban have not proven trust-worthy in the past so instead of“trust and verify,” the USshould “verify and then trust.”

But he added, “I think thepresident was right to start thenegotiations with the Talibanand I think he was right to callit off when the bombingsoccurred.”’

Gen. Mark Milley, the chair-man of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,told Congress this month thatthe Pentagon is considering sev-eral options to reduce the num-ber of troops in Afghanistan.One option would mean shift-ing to a leaner counter-terrorismmission. That would leave onlya minimal US footprint inAfghanistan to battle Islamicextremists.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who visited Kabul thismonth, said Trump mightannounce an American troopdrawdown from Afghanistanbefore the year’s end. He saidthat beginning next year, thepresident could reduce troopnumbers to 8,600, down fromthe current estimate of 12,000.

Graham has opposed awithdrawal before, but says8,600 US troops would beenough to make sure thatAfghanistan doesn’t become alaunching pad for another9/11-style attack on the US.The Taliban have said anypeace agreement must includegetting all American troops outof the country, where morethan 2,400 American servicemembers have been killed.

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North Korean leader KimJong Un has convened a

key meeting of top ruling partyofficials, state media said onSunday, ahead of a year-enddeadline for Washington toshift its stance on stallednuclear talks.

The plenary session, whichopened on Saturday, followswidespread speculation thatPyongyang is preparing to testan intercontinental ballisticmissile — as a threatened“Christmas gift” forWashington.

Kim presided over themeeting which discussed anew “transparent, anti-imperi-alist independent stand”, theofficial Korean Central NewsAgency (KCNA) reported. Theruling Workers’ Party of Koreawill also “discuss importantmatters arising... In the build-

ing of the state and nationaldefence”, KCNA added.

Talks on denuclearisingthe Korean peninsula havebeen largely deadlocked sincethe second summit betweenKim and US President DonaldTrump collapsed in Hanoi atthe start of this year.

The opening of the plenarycomes a week after Kim held ameeting of top defence officialsand discussed boosting militarycapabilities. Pyongyang hascarried out a series of static testsat its Sohae rocket facility this

month, after a number ofweapons launches in recentweeks — some of themdescribed as ballistic missiles byJapan and others.

North Korea is bannedfrom carrying out such testsunder UN sanctions. “We’llfind out what the surprise isand we’ll deal with it very suc-cessfully,” Trump said whenasked about the North Koreandeadline. “Everybody’s got sur-prises for me, but let’s see whathappens. I handle them asthey come along.”

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Taiwanese President TsaiIng-wen said on Sunday

that the self-governing island’sdemocracy remains underdirect threat from rival China, underscoring her callsfor closer ties with the US andother allies.

Tsai was speaking at a tele-vised debate against Han Kuo-yu of the main oppositionNationalist Party and veteranpolitician James Soong of thePeople’s First Party. Elections forpresident and the legislature areset for January 11. Most pollsshow Tsai leading in her questfor a second four-year term.

Tsai said she would pre-serve Taiwan’s freedoms andway of life, but would make nochanges to the constitution orthe island’s official name, theRepublic of China, whichmoved its seat of Governmentto Taipei, the island’s capital,following the CommunistParty’s seizure of power onmainland China in 1949.

“Taiwan’s most pressingchallenge arises from China’s expanding ambitions,”Tsai said.

“The situation in ourregion is ever-more complex and Taiwan’s sovereignty — its free, demo-cratic way of life — is underthreat of being stripped awayand undermined.”

“We need to deepen andstrengthen our internationalrelations, and at present we aredoing so in terms of econom-ics and across the board withmany countries,” she said.

Sydney: Australian authoritieson Sunday asked thousands oftourists and residents to evac-uate a popular natural area inthe southeast of the countrydue to forest fires.

Victoria state fire chiefChris Hardman urged anyonein the East Gippsland forests toleave the area immediately inthe face of the danger of firesamid high temperatures,reports Efe news.

“The message today if youare in Forests or Parks in EastGippsland time to Leave Now,the large fires in the landscapeswill get much bigger tomor-row,” he tweeted. “Leave Now,it will be very very dangerousbe in the bush today or tomor-row. Leave Now!”

The fires have alreadyburned around 100,000 of themore than 300,000 hectares ofEast Gippsland, a place popu-lar with visitors in the summermonth due to its naturalwealth. IANS

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Three Indians were killedand 13 others injured when

two buses carrying touristscrashed into a truck in Egypt’sSuez governorate, the Indianembassy here said on Sunday.

The buses were heading tothe beach-resort town ofHurghada on Saturday whenthey collided with the trucknear Ain Sokhna town, about120 kilometres east of Cairo.

“We regret to inform that3 Indian citizens have lost theirlives in the bus accident thatoccurred on 28 December nearAin Sokhna. Others who areinjured are receiving medicaltreatment at various hospitalsin Egypt,” the Indian embassyin Egypt tweeted.

It said the relatives of thedeceased and the injured havebeen contacted and all assis-tance is being provided tothem. “Embassy officials arepresent at the hospitals and intouch with hospital authorities,”the mission said.

The embassy said therewere 16 Indian tourists on thebuses. The injured Indianshave been admitted to threehospitals.

Eight Indians are at SheikhZayed hospital in Giza, one atNational Bank hospital inMaqqatem, Cairo and theremaining four are receivingtreatment at Suez HealthInsurance hospital in Suez gov-ernorate, the embassy said.

According to the localmedia, the deceased alsoinclude two Malaysians andthree Egyptians. A total of 24people were injured in theaccident and have been admit-ted to hospitals.

Road accidents occur inEgypt mainly due to damaged roads and poor traf-fic regulations.

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An intruder stabbed andwounded five people at a

rabbi’s house in a New Yorksuburb late Saturday, in anincident the state governorsaid was “an act of terrorism”after a spate of attacks onJewish targets.

Local media reported thata man with a machete enteredthe rabbi’s property in Monsey,Rockland County, during cel-ebrations for the Jewish festivalof Hanukkah, knifing severalpeople before fleeing.

Victims were rushed tonearby hospitals, with no offi-cial details on their injuries.Police said a suspect was laterarrested. “This is an act of ter-rorism. I think these are domes-tic terrorists. They are trying toinflict fear,” New York GovernorAndrew Cuomo told reportersat the scene on Sunday.

“They’re motivated by hate.They are doing mass attacks.These are terrorists in ourcountry perpetrating terror-ism on other Americans, andthat’s how we should treat it.”

Last year a white suprema-

cist walked into a Pittsburghsynagogue and killed 11 peo-ple — the deadliest attackagainst the Jewish communityin the United States.

Earlier this month six peo-ple, including two suspects,were killed in a Jersey Cityshooting at a kosher deli, whichauthorities said was fueled inpart by anti-Semitism.

A report in April from theAnti-Defamation League(ADL) stated that the numberof anti-Semitic attacks in 2018was close to the record of2017, with 1,879 incidents.

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Sydney’s iconic New Year’sEve fireworks will go ahead

despite the wildfire crisis toshow the world Australia’sresiliency, the Prime Ministersaid, while authorities onSunday braced for conditions todeteriorate with high tempera-tures. Prime Minister ScottMorrison also announcedfinancial support for some vol-unteer firefighters in New SouthWales, the state worst hit bywildfires ravaging the nation.

“The world looks at Sydneyevery single year and they look

at our vibrancy, they look at ourpassion, they look at our suc-cess,” he said. “In the midst of thechallenges that we face, subjectto the safety considerations, I can

think of no better time to expressto the world just how optimisticand positive we are as a country.”

The City of Sydney Councilgave the green light althoughfire authorities warned that thefireworks could be canceled ifcatastrophic conditions aredeclared. Morrison said that eli-gible volunteer firefighters willreceive 300 Australian dollars($209) a day, up to AU$6,000($4,190) in total, if called out tobattle blazes for more than 10days. The compensationfocused on people who are self-employed or work for small andmedium businesses.

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Hundreds of people plungedinto the chilly ocean at a

Massachusetts beach onSaturday to honor Peter Frates,the former college baseballplayer whose battle with LouGehrig’s disease helped spreadthe ALS ice bucket challenge.

About 1,000 peopleshowed up for the final “Plungefor Pete” at Good Harbor Beachin Gloucester, and more thanhalf of those braved the frigidwaters on what would havebeen Frates’ 35th birthday.

The event, in its eighth year,raised money for the Pete Frates#3 Fund, which helped pay forFrates’ medical bills. “He islaughing so hard right now at megetting into the ocean,” saidFrates’ wife, Julie, who partici-pated in the plunge for the first

time wearing the bikini she hadon when she first met her hus-band. “This is the best birthday

party he could ask for and wher-ever he is, he is very grateful.”

The former Boston College

baseball player, who lived inBeverly, a suburb north ofBoston, died December 9 aftera seven-year battle with amy-otrophic lateral sclerosis.

The family has accumulat-ed roughly USD 500,000 indebt for their son’s medicalcare, Pete’s father, John Fratessaid, and the final fundraiserwill hopefully help close thegap. The family will continue toraise money for the separatePeter Frates FamilyFoundation, which helps otherALS patients cover homehealth care costs, he said.

The number of people whosigned up to take the actualplunge far exceeded the peak of250 participants who partici-pated in 2014, the year the icebucket challenge went viral andraised more than $200 millionfor ALS research worldwide.

The ice bucket challengeinvolved pouring a bucket ofice water over one’s head andposting a video of it on socialmedia, and then challengingothers to do the same or makea donation to charity. Mostpeople did both.

The challenge began in2014 when pro golfer ChrisKennedy challenged his wife’scousin Jeanette Senerchia,whose husband has ALS.Patient Pat Quinn, of Yonkers,New York, picked up on it andstarted its spread, but whenFrates and his family gotinvolved, the phenomenonexploded on social media. ALSis a progressive neurodegener-ative disease that leads to paral-ysis because of the death ofmotor neurons in the spinalcord and brain. There is noknown cure.

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Riyadh: A Saudi court sen-tenced a Yemeni man to deathSunday for a knife attack on aSpanish theatre group, statetelevision said, amid a contro-versial push to ease decades-oldrestrictions on entertainment.

Court also sentenced anaccomplice to 12 and a half yearsin jail for the November 11 attackduring a live performance inRiyadh, which state media linkedto al-Qaeda, and which Madridsaid left four performers wound-ed. “The criminal court issues apreliminary ruling handing thedeath sentence to the perpetra-tor of the terrorist attack... InRiyadh,” the official Al-Ekhbariya television reported.

The assailant, identified bySaudi police as 33-year-oldYemeni, went on a stabbingspree during a musical in KingAbdullah Park, one of thevenues hosting “Riyadh Season”entertainment festival. AFP

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The Taliban on Sunday saidthey have agreed to a tem-

porary ceasefire nationwide. Itprovides a window duringwhich a peace agreement withthe US could be signed.

A peace deal would allowWashington to bring home itstroops from Afghanistan andend its 18-year military engage-ment there, America's longest.The US wants any deal to includea promise from the Taliban thatAfghanistan would not used asa base by terrorist groups. TheUS currently has an estimated12,000 troops in Afghanistan.

The Taliban chief mustapprove the agreement but thatis expected. The duration of thecease-fire was not specifiedbut it is being suggested it

would last for 10 days.our members of the

Taliban negotiating team metfor a week with the rulingcouncil before they agreed onthe brief cease fire. The nego-tiating team returned onSunday to Qatar where theymaintain their political offic

The Taliban officials famil-iar with the negotiations spokeon condition of anonymitybecause they were not autho-rized to talk to the media. A keypillar of the agreement, whichthe US and Taliban have beenhammering out for more thana year, is direct negotiationsbetween Afghans on both sidesof the conflict. Those intra-Afghan negotiations areexpected to be held withintwo weeks of the signing of aUS-Taliban peace deal.

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�-*�"*��.A science-fiction comedy

that’s touted as Veep meets StarTrek, it sees space captain RyanClark (Hugh Laurie) trying tobefriend new people in thespace tourism industry.Directed by ArmandoIannucci, it releases on January20 on Hotstar.

��*��#"�/$)*���Based on Stephen

King’s bestsellingeponymous novel, TheOutsider is the story of adetective who isexploring the truthbehind the mysteriouscircumstancesurrounding a youngboy’s murder. Directedby Andrew Bernstein,Jason Bateman andCharlotte Brändström, itreleases on January 13on Hotstar.

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From India’s Chandrayaan 2mission to the first all-

women spacewalk and com-mercial crew milestones byUS-based companies, 2019offered several excitingmoments for space enthusiasts.

India’s ambitious andkeenly watched lunar mission,Chandrayaan 2, was expectedto make its soft landing on thesurface of the Moon onSeptember 7. While the wholenation waited with batedbreath, Chandrayaan 2’s landerVikram lost communicationwith the ground stations. Butthe Orbiter component ofChandrayaan 2 spacecraftmade it to the Moon withoutany glitch.

In a huge milestone forChina, which is attempting toposition itself as a leadingspace power, the country’sChang’e-4 lunar probe onJanuary 3 became the firstspacecraft to make a soft land-ing on the far side of theMoon. The probe, comprisinga lander and a rover, toucheddown at the pre-selected land-ing area at 177.6 degrees eastlongitude and 45.5 degreessouth latitude on the far side ofthe Moon. The programmeChang’e (named in honour ofa goddess who, according toChinese legend, lives on theMoon) intends to send amanned mission to the satel-lite in the long term andalthough no deadline has beenset, some experts indicated itmay be around 2036.

India also conducted itsfirst anti-satellite missile test -

Mission Shakti in 2019. PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onMarch 27 announced that thecountry’s anti-satellite missilesuccessfully targeted a livesatellite on a low earth orbit injust three minutes. India is onlythe fourth country in the worldto achieve this feat after the US,Russia and China.

In October, astronautsJessica Meir and Christa Kochmade history with the first all-female spacewalk during anexcursion to repair a powerunit on the International SpaceStation. The women spentseven hours and 17 minutesworking outside the ISS as itcircled the Earth at 27,600km/h (17,100 mph), Efe newsreported. Koch and Meirpaused in their work for a fewminutes to take a call from USPresident Donald Trump.

In a big leap for NASA’sCommercial Crew

Programme, SpaceX andBoeing conducted theuncrewed flight test of theirspacecraft to the InternationalSpace Station. The Elon Musk-owned SpaceX’s Crew Dragoncapsule completed its historicunmanned flight test in Marchwith a splashdown in theAtlantic Ocean right on time.Boeing’s passenger spacecraftwas launched on its firstunmanned flight test to the ISSatop a United Launch Alliance

(ULA) Atlas V rocket inDecember, but the BoeingStarliner spacecraft did notreach the planned orbit thoughit docked at the InternationalSpace Station. As planned,Boeing was able to complete anumber of test objectives dur-ing the flight related to NASA’sCommercial CrewProgramme. The landing ofthe spacecraft in White Sands,New Mexico, was successful.

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Jab taj uchale jaenge...Jab takht girae jaenge...

Iqbal Bano’s sonorous voicespirals and echoes. Theapplause that follows is thun-

derous so the ghazal singerrepeats the line from Faiz AhmedFaiz’s immortal nazm. Hearingthe recording of public renditionof Hum Dekhenge which wassung in Lahore in 1986 to opposeZia-ul-Haq’s dictatorial regime isenough, even when we are 33years removed from the actualperformance, to give a persongoosebumps. And for a longtime, the subcontinent swore bythis very poetic and, at thesame time, public exhortationto the masses. However, oflate, revolutionary poetry hasseen a resurgence of sorts pow-ered by rejection by students ofmany norms set by the gener-ation that holds the reigns of

power and, in effect, makesrules.

So while Hum Dekhenge con-tinues to occupy a legendarystatus befitting its lyrics, VarunGrover’s Hum Kagaz NahiDikhayenge has spiralled up thepopularity charts with three dif-ferent renderings having a totalof 2,77,000 views within six daysof them being aired on YouTube.The poem which itself takesinspiration from Rahat Indori’sSabhi ka khoon shaamil hai yahanki mitti me, which too has foundits way in posters and slogans atdifferent places, 30 years after itwas penned. Of course set againstthe backdrop of the CAA-NRCprotests that have rocked the cap-ital and many other Indian cities,it was bound to gain traction.

Another old poem doing therounds is Habib Jalib’s Dasturrendered by Shashi Bhushan, avisually impaired student fromJawaharlal Nehru University. Thesong talks of dismissing estab-lished norm.

“Poetry, slogans and somesort of symbols are what make astrong imprint on people’s mind,”says Yashasvi Chawla, a part of acollective called Ankahi Unitedconsisting of about 10-15 peoplewho engage in poetry, streettheatre and videos and more onweekends.

He goes on to point out thatsongs are easier to put any mes-sage across. “We actually makethe songs in a way so that peo-ple can join in. In the song, Ki wodono politician the has a choruswhich says ‘Kaho galat kahi?Nahin sarkar’ which makes itengaging. We try to make themcomical so that it sticks in theminds of the people,” addsYashasvi. Though the group doeshave some intense numbers likePinjra which talks about internetshutdown in the country. “Oneout of a 1,000 speeches will stick

in your mind. You will throwaway the pamphlet. But, a song,you will remember,” he adds.

Harshveer, who runs theInstagram pageStorysellercomics agrees, “A jin-gle gets more attention, is moresharable and engaging. It is wit-tier and thus makes more of animpact because it is more inter-esting. Even if someone does notknow about an issue, if they heara four line poem, just by virtueof it they will get interested in theissue.”

Harshveer who writes allkinds of poetry, some of which isalso socially relevant says that theinternet and thus the availabili-ty of a number of channels havemade the space for poetry moredemocratic. When we share it, itreaches out to at least 10 peoplewho react and share their opin-ions and thoughts. Moreover, ina family of four, each receivesinformation from differentsources which is shared amongfamily members, thus dissemi-nating it further.”

Another thing that he has

noticed is that women, who wereearlier marginalised, have comeout in large numbers to protestagainst the new Act. And this hebelieves has also to do with thefact that a lot of the art is drivenby them in contemporary times.

Poet and singer Amir Aziz,who release his first protest song,Ache Din Blues on the eve of the2019 General Elections says,“While I can’t say where revolu-tionary poetry will go but thereare two important things. Theseare historical documentationsabout what is going on in thetimes. So someone has to write itin a way that it can communicatethe feeling of the day. It can alsomake people feel heartened,which is a positive thing.”

However, having said that,Amir strikes a discordant aboutpoetry holding out a beacon ofhope. “Saying that poetry holdshope is a contradiction as wehave seen so many failures dur-ing revolutions. We will have toaccept that we have been mistak-en and betrayed during revolu-tions so our poetry needs to

reflect that too unlike that fromthe 60s or the 70s. During thefreedom struggle for instance,one could say ‘Sarfaroshi kitamanna,’ but no longer. We arestill living in the nostalgia of thatkind of poetry and drawinginspiration from it. I also do thatwhen I look to John Lennon orBob Dylan when writing mywork,” he says.

However, Ankahi United hasanother aim as well. Not justinspiration, the group whichstarted out with Naveen Choure,Yashasvi Chawla, Gargi andHarsh Sharma, wants it to be asource of information as well. “Inbetween performing two or threesongs we also talk to people andtell them about the things that weknow. So even if people areaware of an issue, they might haveincomplete information. Our aimis that if they come with 40 percent knowledge, they go backwith about 70 per cent aboutwhat the whole point of theprotest is,” says Yashasvi.

Yashasvi emphasises that thegroup is against violence whether

inflicted by the protesters or thepolice and says, “I think protestand poetry are intertwined. Ifthere are protests at a very largescale for a right reason and crossa certain scale where a lot manypeople are affected then poetrycannot be stopped from beinglinked with the protests becauseit is the best way to make theaudience aware while ensuringthat they do not lose focus of theissue,” he says.

Yashasvi says that the aim oftheir performances is also toraise questions which are neces-sary especially the ones whichweren't being raised or put outthe opinions of those who can'tvoice them. “The answers arealready there. All we need to dois make the people aware,” hesays. So during the currentprotests they highlight, howaccording to them, the CAAalone is wrong and when com-bined with NRC how it willaffect the country, how it is notneeded, especially the economy,is going south. “We should getaway from CAA-NRC and also

highlight the things that we wantwhich include getting the econ-omy back on track, jobs, anyother thing that is not right,” headds.

Amir has another interestingpoint to make in the context ofthe the songs that he has writtenand especially about the currentprotests. “While writing, I amstuck in an identity even if I wantto escape from it because the kindof society that we have builtensures that my name is enoughto classify me as a Muslim. I amnot trapped in this identity as Idon’t say the words through thelens of being a Muslim. Butwhile documenting the timeswhen one community has beensingled out, I will have to nameit. For instance while talking ofNazi Germany we can’t just saythat people were killed as thatwon’t make sense. Jews werekilled and that has to be docu-mented. So even though it mightappear that I am trying to assertthe identity of a community, it isessentially humanitarian innature. In the song Strange Fruit,Nina Simone refers to black bod-ies after all because that was thereality of that time.”

Yashasvi points out that theprotests are not powered by anypolitical party. “Personally, as agroup, we are not talking to anyparty or leader. We are doing itas per our own understanding ofwhat is going on. People whomwe have met during our groupperformances at Jantar Mantarand India Gate or at individualones at Shaheen Bagh are prettymuch aware of the issue and it isnot as if someone is putting thisthought in their mind or manip-ulating them. This is best illus-trated by the instance thatPriyanka Gandhi was told not topoliticise the issue at India Gateby some of the protesters them-selves,” he says.

Amir who first started aYouTube Channel before per-forming on streets and has onemore observation. “When I readout the poetry live, the enthusi-asm is much lesser as comparedto what it is on the internet. I cangauge if my performance is goodor bad so that is not the reasonfor the somewhat less warmresponse. Maybe if reading outpoetry continues, then peoplewill start responding more,” saysthe singer whose Ballad of PehluKhan documented the lynchingof the dairy farmer from Alwar.

But at the end of the day,what all these groups and indi-viduals are setting out to do is fol-low what German playwrightBertolt Brecht said,

“In the dark timesWill there also be singing?Yes, there will also be singing.About the dark times.”

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This series (picturedabove) stars Rob Lowe asa New York firefighterwho relocates to Austin,Texas with his son. There,he must learn to balancehis personal andprofessional life as hestarts life anew. Directedby Bradley Buecker, itreleases on January 21 onHotstar.

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As we enter another year, there’s a lot of anticipa-tion about what it holds for us. People celebrate

the New Year with much fanfare as if everything in theworld is going to change for the better the next day.With such high hopes and dreams, we exchange greet-ings, party hard and make resolutions hoping to bringabout a positive change in our life. Interestingly, NewYear resolutions also commonly include things liketreating people better, making new friends and pay-ing off debts. It’s been the same since ages. TheBabylonians would return borrowed objects. Jews seekand offer forgiveness. The Scots go ‘first footing,’ vis-iting neighbours to wish them well. How does all thissocial “resolving” connect to survival? Simple, we aresocial animals. We haveevolved to depend on oth-ers, literally, for our healthand safety. Hence, treatingpeople well is a good wayto be treated well.

Over the years, NewYear celebrations havebecome more extravagant,unruly and louder. Peoplespend a lot of money toparticipate in singing,dancing, wining and din-ing on its eve and oftenend up getting drunk andsick on the very first day ofthe year. Many miss theirwork because of the latenight parties they attend. Often these parties make theinebriated youth indulge in misbehaviour, dangerousdriving and even criminal activities. The media andthe markets create a lot of hype and glamour aroundthe turn of the calendar. There is a frenzy around sell-ing and buying gifts and entertainment tickets. Thenews channels churn out yearly reviews and flashbackswhile the soothsayers and fortune-tellers are indemand for doling out predictions for those that puta lot of stake in their stars. All in all, New Year meansa lot of memories, dreams and business for differentpeople in the world.

If we think about it deeply, does it really bring anynewness in our lives? We all are very much aware thatthe world we live in has become old, dilapidated andvicious where we have so many big and small prob-lems that seem to have no lasting solution despite allefforts by humans to create better means to improvetheir lives. But with so much violence going on in theworld, do we really have any good reason to celebratethe onset of another year?

Practically speaking, only when we give up our oldhabits and behaviour and wear a new attitude of com-passion, co-operation, harmony and respect, can weexpect a new era to begin. Before that really happens,how can anything be celebrated as new in this oldworld? Does it really make sense? Not really. It is likeselling old wine in a new bottle, because nothing in thisworld can be truly new as all human souls and elementsof nature have become very old, impure, weak anddestructive. On the contrary, everything in the forth-coming golden age will be brand new, wherein not onlythe sanskars or traits of human souls will be renewedbut also the entire nature and its elements will be reju-venated to its original pristine quality. There will benothing of this old world in the golden age. Even thehuman bodies will be pure and pristine — free fromany disease. Remember, the world becomes new onlywhen human souls are completely pure in the presentby eliminating the vices and sin within themselves. Soin the coming New Year, let us all take a determinedstep forward to change our negative attitude and shareonly positive energy of peace, joy and love. Let eachone of us make a promise to reflect our best thoughts,words and actions because when we change, so will theworld.

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If the holidays leave you morestressed than centred, some

experts say daily meditation ses-sions can help. The only question:Who has time to meditate whenit takes 20 minutes just to findparking at the mall? Perhaps amore practical approach isImmediate GratificationMeditation. Try these tongue-in-cheek chants to maintain yourserenity — or at least your sanity— all season long.

MANTRA 1: “I see the best in allhouseguests.” When hostingovernight guests, you’ll want tomake them feel at home. Andwhen they feel too much at home,you’ll want to mutter this mantraunder your breath. Chant it in thebathroom and relax as youremove wet houseguest towelsfrom the floor, plunge a toiletclogged with foreign houseguestmatter, and extract a clump ofhouseguest hair from the showerdrain. Chant it in the kitchenwhile custom-cooking meals thatconform to their many dietaryrestrictions, and washing an end-less stream of dishes while theyattend to urgent Facebookupdates. Finally, chant this mantrain the living room, and welcomethe feeling of calm that comes over

you as you figure out what theydid to the remote control tomake it stop working.

MANTRA 2: “I celebrate theunique gifts of others.” Chant thismantra instead of chanting, “I cantell that you put zero thought intothis present.” Neutralise negativ-ity as you unwrap an Amazon giftcard from your spouse. Expressgratitude for that re-gifted bottleof prosecco selected especially foryou — by the person you gave itto last year, after someone gave itto you the year before. Floatabove mobs at the mall like asongbird, chirping this mantra asyou try to return a sweater that isthree sizes too small and did notcome with a gift receipt.Remember, this mantra is easilyrecited in workplace settings aswell. Try it during Secret Santaceremonies where everyone isonly allowed to spend 10 bucks.Before you know it, you’ll findyour Zen when Muriel inAccounting gives you another barof soap/pair of wacky noveltysocks/box of Tic Tacs from thecheckout counter at CVS.

MANTRA 3: “I will be my bestself once we’re done celebrating.”This all-purpose mantra is best

chanted when holiday traditionstake their toll on your tranquili-ty. Begin by whispering it whenselecting and/or decorating aChristmas tree with the patholog-ical perfectionist of your choice.Later, allow yourself to chant it ina louder, more expletive-strewnmanner when the tree topples tothe floor, shattering each delicateornament and strangling youwith a string of twinkling lights.This versatile mantra may also bechanted while preparing tradi-tional holiday treats such as theHanukkah latke, which translatesfrom ancient Hebrew to: “labour-intensive potato pancake thatalways comes out soggier thanthe frozen ones from TraderJoe’s.” And when it’s finally timeto gather together for your hol-iday feast, recite this mantrawith a powerful aperitif. You willattain instant inner peace whenyour seating plan is ignored,and you’ll marvel at the colour-ful conversation between UncleMo in the red MAGA cap andcousin Cathy the climate changeresearcher.

MANTRA 4: “Everything will bedifferent next year.” Chant thisyear, next year, and all subsequentyears. E��

Peering over the side of his skiffanchored in the middle of NewHampshire’s Great Bay, Fred

Short liked what he saw. Just below thesurface, the 69-year-old marine ecol-ogist noticed beds of bright green sea-grass swaying in the waist-deep water.It was the latest sign that these plantswith ribbon-like strands, which haddeclined up to 80 per cent since the1990s, were starting to bounce backwith improved water quality. Sevenrivers carry pollution from 52 commu-nities in New Hampshire and Maineinto the 1,020-square-mile (2,650-square-kilometer) watershed for thebay.

“It actually looks better than it didlast year at this time and better thanhas in many years,” said Short, anoted seagrass expert who coordinatesthe monitoring of 135 sites around theworld from his University of NewHampshire lab. “You see here,” he said,glancing into the water. “It’s nearly 100per cent cover. You look to the bottom.You can’t see the mud. You just see eel-grass. That is as dense as it gets. That’sa really good sign.”

Seagrass beds in New Hampshireand along shorelines around the worldare important because they have beenfound to provide food and shelter forfish, shellfish and sea turtles. They alsoblunt the impacts of ocean acidifica-tion, reduce coastal erosion and keepthe water clean by filtering out exces-sive nutrients.

Their comeback in the Great Baygives hope for recovery elsewhere. Themore than 70 species of seagrasses areamong the most poorly protected butwidespread coastal habitats — morethan 1,16,000 square miles (300,000square kilometers) have been mapped,though there could be 10 times that.

They are found along coastlinesaround the world except Antarctica’s.

Seagrasses, which cover less than0.2 per cent of the world’s oceans, storetwice as much carbon in a given areaas temperate and tropical forests, astudy by the United Nations-affiliat-ed Blue Carbon Initiative found. Butseagrass meadows in many places areimperiled by coastal development,overfishing, runoff from farm waste,and the growing threat from climatechange. They have declined roughlyseven per cent annually since the1990s, a peer-reviewed study found.That is on par with the declines oftropical rain forests and coral reefs.

Some seagrass declines haveoccurred with stunning speed. CentralCalifornia’s scenic Morro Bay has lostmore than 90 per cent of its eelgrasssince 2007. “It’s certainly not a prettypicture and may not get any prettierbecause of the climate change issues weare all dealing with,” said VirginiaInstitute of Marine Science’s RobertOrth, a professor who has studied sea-grass for decades. “These plants arevery sensitive to environmental char-acteristics — water quality, tempera-ture.”

In parts of the United States andother developed countries, there isgrowing recognition of the importanceof seagrass and its sensitivity to nitro-gen-rich runoff from sewage treatmentplants and other sources. Too muchnitrogen can spike algae growth,which clouds the water and blocks thesunlight seagrass needs to grow.

“We think this is a problem thathas to be solved,” said Ken Moraff,water division director for USEnvironmental Protection Agency’sNew England region. Communitiesaround the Great Bay have spent

about $200 million to upgrade waste-water treatment plants, resulting insome cutting nitrogen releases by upto 70 per cent, according to EPA andofficials in several Great Bay commu-nities. “We’ve seen other areas wherereductions in nitrogen do result in theecosystem starting to come back,”Moraff said.

Studies have documented sea-grass recovery in Boston, Tampa Bayand Long Island Sound. BostonHarbor was once known as the dirti-est harbor in America because mostwaste went into the waters untreated.Then the state invested $3.8 billion ina treatment facility on Deer Island thatwas completed in 2001 and allowedwastewater to be piped almost 10 miles(16 kilometers) out into MassachusettsBay. The state has documented an 80

per cent decline in nitrogen levels inthe harbor.

Tay Evans, a seagrass specialistwith the Massachusetts Division ofMarine Fisheries, said there has beena corresponding 50 per cent increasein eelgrass from 2006 to 2016. Nowseagrass is growing in GovernorsIsland Flats near Logan InternationalAirport. “It was astounding me,” Evanssaid. “I dove there and saw what wewould call a moonscape that was justmud. You come back and it’s a lushmeadow and then you’re going to seeall the animals — the winter flounderswimming through there, lobster walk-ing around.”

In Tampa Bay, seagrass beds arereaching levels not seen since the1950s. More than $2.5 billion wasspent on upgrades to sewage treatment

plants, measures to address stormwa-ter runoff and curbs on nitrogenemissions from power plants. Thatresulted in two-thirds less nitrogengoing into the bay compared to the1970s, according to Ed Sherwood,executive director of the Tampa BayEstuary Program.

Seagrass area nearly doubled toabout 63 square miles (163 square kilo-meters). The water quality improve-ment along with a gill net ban has con-tributed to the recovery of several fishspecies including striped mullet, reddrum and spotted sea trout. But suchstories can’t mask the challenges.

Some recoveries such as those inparts of the Boston Harbour and theGreat Bay are at risk from dredging.In other places, such as ChesapeakeBay, a decline in nitrogen has benefit-ed many underwater plants but noteelgrass, which has declined since the1990s.

Brooke Landry, a MarylandDepartment of Natural Resourcesbiologist who monitors the bay’sunderwater vegetation, said that eel-grass, a coldwater species, may bemore susceptible to heat events as seenin 2005 and 2010 — or to overlycloudy waters in the bay.

Scientists are also struggling tounderstand why eelgrass hasn’t comeback in California’s Morro Bay. “Wehave some theories,” said JenniferO’Leary, who studied the bay as aCalifornia Sea Grant researcher. Shesaid the eelgrass decline has occurredin waters that are warmer, saltier,cloudier and less oxygenated than thebay’s mouth, where eelgrass did well.

In New Hampshire, eelgrass hasrecovered about 20 per cent in partsof the Great Bay, though it hasn’treturned to several areas. Some con-servationists argue that bayside com-munities need to further reduce nitro-gen releases through tens of millionsof dollars in treatment plant improve-ments.

But several towns counter theyhave already made signif icantupgrades to their plants and that theyshould focus on cheaper options.“You want to put your money whereit’s going to do the most good,” saidPortsmouth Deputy City AttorneySuzanne Woodland.

The EPA is considering allowingcommunities to hold off on treatmentplant upgrades while they try toreduce nitrogen from stormwaterrunoff and septic tanks. Some commu-nities upgraded sewage treatment vol-untarily while others made upgradesto settle EPA enforcement actions.

Walking to his lab with his latestseagrass samples, University of NewHampshire’s Short says that approachallows communities to avoid thepainful steps necessary to ensure fullrecovery. “It’s easier to say no, no letthe next guy pay for it,” he said. “Butnow we are at the point where it’s caus-ing a huge issue. You don’t have tobelieve the science. Go out there andlook.”

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Chelsea ruined Arsenal manag-er Mikel Arteta’s home debutas Tammy Abraham’s late

strike sealed a dramatic 2-1 win afterBernd Leno’s horrific blunder turnedthe tide in a thrilling London derbyon Sunday.

Leading through Pierre-EmerickAubameyang's early goal at theEmirates Stadium, Arteta was justseven minutes away from securinghis first victory in his second gamein charge.

But Gunners goalkeeper Lenomade a hash of coming to catch afree-kick and Jorginho tapped in tospark a Chelsea fightback that cli-maxed in Abraham firing homewith three minutes left.

After dominating the first half,it was a shocking but familiar col-lapse from Arsenal, whose lack ofsteel was the key element in thedownfall of Arteta’s predecessor UnaiEmery.

In their final game of the decade,Arsenal showed just how much workArteta has to do to steer the Gunnersback to respectability in his firstmanagerial role.

After coming from behind to res-cue a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth inhis first match on Thursday, Artetawould have been encouraged bytheir bright start — but not the woe-ful meltdown that leaves Arsenalwith only one win in their last 15games in all competitions.

Arsenal, 12 points adrift of thetop four, have lost four consecutivehome fixtures in all competitions forthe first time in 60 years.

They also suffered three succes-sive top-flight home defeats for thefirst time since 1977.

While Arteta held his head indespair after Abraham’s winner,Frank Lampard’s wild celebrationshowed Chelsea's need for the winafter a difficult period of their own.

Fourth placed Chelsea had lostfive of their last seven league games,but a second successive away win —following their recent impressivesuccess at Tottenham — moves themfour points clear of fifth placedManchester United.

There was no fanfare for Artetabefore kick-off, the Spaniard quiet-ly take his place on the bench toapplause from Arsenal fans but with-out any elaborate introduction.

Chelsea went close early onwhen Willian’s quick free-kick caughtArsenal flat-footed, allowing MasonMount to drift into space for afierce strike that stung Leno’s palms.

������.����#�But, initially vibrant in posses-

sion and tireless without the ball,Arsenal exposed Chelsea's ownproblems at the back to take the leadwith a well-rehearsed set-piece rou-tine in the 13th minute.

Calum Chambers was posi-tioned perfectly to rise above FikayoTomori and glance Mesut Ozil’scorner towards Aubameyang.

The Gabon striker, who alsoscored in Arteta's first game, appliedthe f inishing touch, escapingEmerson's slack marking to guide a

diving header past KepaArrizabalaga for his 15th goal of theseason.

Arteta didn’t hide his delight,fist-pumping in celebration of thefirst home goal of his reign.

Aubameyang’s goal meantChelsea had kept just two cleansheets in their last 11 league fixturesand, with Arsenal well on top andthreatening to score again, Lampardwas forced to take drastic action.

In a bid to shake Chelsea out oftheir lethargy, Lampard hauled offBrazilian wing-back Emerson and

sent on Italy midfielder Jorginho ashe ditched his 3-4-3 formation afterjust 33 minutes.

The switch proved an inspiredmove but not before Mount, N’GoloKante and Antonio Rudiger were allbooked in quick succession asChelsea used brute blunt Arsenal’smomentum.

Chelsea were on top in the sec-ond half and teenage debutant TariqLamptey led the charge when hissurge ended with Abraham's shotbeing blocked by David Luiz.

Leno’s game-changing 83rd

minute howler was truly farcical, theGerman lying with his head in hishands after his misjudgement ofMount’s high free-kick allowedJorginho to tap into the empty net.

Suddenly, Arsenal reverted totheir nervous former selves andChelsea took full advantage to com-plete a remarkable fightback fourminutes later.

Willian broke into the Arsenalarea and crossed to Abraham, whoturned unchecked by the ponderousShkodran Mustafi to fire a cool strikeunder Leno.

��#�� !1.�1.

Andy Murray said he felt“gutted” to be missing

next month’s Australian Opendue to injury after being ruledout of the first Grand Slam ofthe new year with a pelvicinjury.

The 32-year-old Scot suf-fered the injury playing forGreat Britain in the Davis Cuplast month and Murray saidSaturday: “I’ve worked so hardto get myself into a situationwhere I can play at the top leveland I’m gutted I’m not going tobe able to play in Australia inJanuary.”

“After the AO (AustralianOpen) this year, when I wasn’t

sure whether I’d be able to playagain, I was excited aboutcoming back to Australia andgiving my best, and that makesthis even more disappointingfor me.

“Unfortunately I’ve had asetback recently and as a pre-caution, need to work throughthat before I get back on courtcompeting.”

Murray had hoped tomake his return to Grand Slamaction in Melbourne followinga hip operation in January.

But concerns over the fit-ness of Murray, five times a los-ing Australian Open finalist,were raised when he cancelledas scheduled block of trainingin Miami.

#���� .�2���!/�

History-making perfor-mances, quite a bit of

selection drama on the side-lines and some ignominydue to big-ticket dope fails —Indian boxing was all thisand much more in an action-packed year dominated bypint-sized dynamo AmitPanghal.

To count the positives,the 23-year-old Panghalfetched India its first ever sil-ver at the men’s world cham-pionships, the redoubtable MC Mary Kom was mostly intop form and medals pouredin internationally courtesy adeep talent pool.

In the professional cir-cuit, Vijender Singhremained unbeaten, stilllooking for an opponentwho can stand up to the rawpower of his punches.

On the downside, a flip-flop selection policy led tosix-time world championMary Kom being draggedinto an unsavoury controver-sy, and the accomplishedduo of Neeraj Phogat(women’s camp) and SumitSangwan (men’s camp)

flunked dope tests, sendingdown shockwaves within thefraternity.

For most part, Indianboxing had lots to celebrateand it started with the sea-son-opening StrandjaMemorial, one of Europe’soldest and most competitivetournaments.

Panghal’s 2019 gold rushbegan in the tournament,which was also his last com-petition in the 49kg catego-ry.

Former junior worldchampion Nikhat Zareenand Meena Kumari Devibecame the first set of Indianwomen boxers to finish on

top at the same event. Zareenlater went on to hit the head-lines by vociferously raisingthe demand for a trial againstMary Kom.

Panghal moved up to52kg in March and thoughhe sounded a bit nervousabout the shift, the resultstold a different story. Hegrabbed a gold immediately,at the Asian Championshipsin April, to assert hissupremacy in the new divi-sion.

Pooja Rani, a boxer whofelt shy about wearing glovesat the start of her career,ensured that women toowent home with a gold withher best ever performance atthe event. Mary Kom gave ita miss to prepare herself forthe world championships.

Then came the worldchampionships in Septemberand October, the blue-ribandevent which lost some of itssheen after being stripped ofOlympic Qualifier status bythe International OlympicCommittee due to thealleged administrative messand financial mismanage-ment in the InternationalBoxing Association (AIBA).

����� .�2���!/�

Nikhat Zareen and MaryKom exhibited emotions

that were polar opposite of eachother in the aftermath of themuch-awaited bout betweenthe two on Saturday at thewomen’s trials for the Olympicqualifiers in New Delhi.

Mary was clearly chargedup, yanking her hand awayfrom Nikhat when the latter ini-tiated a hug immediately afterthe bout and later lashed out atthe 23-year-old and the mediain her interaction with thereporters. Nikhat, on the otherhand, was composed, applaud-ing her opponent while the ref-eree lifted Mary’s hand andlater tried to pacify her support-ers, including her father, whowere incensed by the result ofthe bout.

It was clear that Mary hadtaken everything that Nikhathad done over the past fewmonths personally. She said onSaturday that she did not feel likereciprocating Nikhat when thelatter came to shake hands andhug her after the bout becauseMary felt that the youngerpugilist had shown her norespect.

Nikhat, however, maintainsthat her fight was not againstMary but against a system thatwas not giving her a fair chanceto prove herself in her weightcategory and go for the big com-petitions.

“Even I never imaginedthat all this will happen,” Nikhattold IANS on Sunday. “It wasvery new for me. I never expect-ed that she will get so angry onme for going on Twitter andwriting a letter to the sportsminister. If she is taking all thatpersonally that’s her choice, Ican’t comment on that. I wasfighting for a fair trial. I wasfighting against the system, notMary Kom or the federation. Iwas saying that there should bea proper trial before every com-petition. That’s it.”

There were murmurs thatthe trials before the 2019women’s World Championships,which is where the saga betweenthe two boxers had started, didnot happen at Mary’s behest. Shehas voiced her disdain at havingto give trials in the months since.On Saturday, Mary said thatHigh Performance DirectorsSantiago Nieva and RaffaeleBergamasco had said that selec-tion would be done on thebasis of performances in inter-national competitions and shehad asked for an exemption onthat basis.

Nikhat however feels thatMary should be ready to go fortrials so as to give the youngerboxers a chance to get a measureof themselves, if not anythingelse.

“She is a legend so sheshouldn't have anything to fear.We are all juniors in front of her.She should always be ready forthe trials and be a good exam-ple for the youth. Now she hasdefeated me and gone for theOlympic qualifier and everyoneis happy which would not havebeen the case if she had gone

directly without giving anyoneelse a chance to even assessthemselves against her. Humebhi pata chale hum kitne paanime hai (We should also knowwhere we stand). We shouldknow where we are lacking andfor that I stood up and raised myvoice. There should be a trialbefore every competition. I lostthe bout but I won hearts on thatday and I am happy,” she said.

Nikhat’s fight for a fair trialstarted with the events beforethe women’s WorldChampionships that took placein Russia in October. She hadtravelled from Hyderabad toNew Delhi for the 51kg trials forthe competition, only to learnthat it had been called off andMary had been selected in thatweight category. It was thendecided that those who win goldand silver at the worlds wouldget an automatic place in theIndian contingent that will trav-el to China for the Olympicqualifiers. Mary won bronze butthen BFI president Ajay Singhstirred the pot by indicating thatshe may be allowed to go for thequalifiers anyway.

����� !1.�1.

English Premier League side WestHam on Sunday sacked their man-

ager Manuel Pellegrini after the club lost2-1 at home to Leicester City — theirninth loss in the past 12 games.

“It is with great disappointment thatwe’ve had to make this decision,” joint-chairman David Sullivan was quoted assaying by BBC.”

It has become clear that a change isrequired to get the club back on trackin line with our ambitions this season.

“We felt it was necessary to act nowin order to give the new manager asmuch time as possible to try andachieve that goal.”

Pellegrini was with West Ham for 18months having been appointed in May2018 on a three-year deal.

West Ham midfielder Declan Rice,who skippered the outfit againstLeicester, said the unit lacked confi-dence.

��#�� �1#,80.�

Borussia Dortmund havesigned teenage goalscor-

ing sensation Erling BrautHaaland from RB Salzburg, theGerman Bundesliga outfitannounced on Monday.

In a statement, Dortmundrevealed that the 19-year-old,who scored eight times in thegroup stage of this season’sChampions League, had signeda contract until 2024 but didnot mention a fee.

Haaland has caught theeye of clubs around Europeafter scoring 28 goals in 22games in all competitions so farthis campaign, with RB Leipzigcoach Julian Nagelsmannadmitting earlier this monththat they were trying for theNorway striker’s signature.

“From the beginning I hadthe feeling I definitely wantedto switch to this club, to walkthis path,” Haaland said.

In a video posted to theDortmund website, he wishedDortmund fans a happy newyear as he pored over a 2020 to-do list topped with “learnGerman”.

Earlier in December, theforward had been spotted bylocal media landing in thewest German city to meet withclub representatives.

“Despite many offers fromthe very top clubs acrossEurope, Erling Haaland haschosen the sporting challengeat BVB (Dortmund),” chiefexecutive Hans-JoachimWatzke said in a statement.

“We can all look forward toan ambitious, athletic and

physically strong centre for-ward... at 19, Erling is right atthe start of what will hopeful-ly be a great career.”

Haaland became the thirdyoungest player to score aChampions League hat-trickwhen he netted three times ina 6-2 victory over Genk inSeptember.

Only Wayne Rooney,England’s record goalscorer,and Spain great Raul managedthe feat at a younger age.

Haaland, the son of formerManchester City midfielderAlf-Inge Haaland, scored in hisfirst five Champions Leaguematches.

Despite his impressiveform Salzburg failed to reachthe last 16 following a 2-0 lossto defending championsLiverpool in their final groupgame this month.

Dortmund, currentlyfourth in the Bundesliga, arelooking for a new striker withMario Goetze and Spain inter-national Paco Alcacer strug-gling for consistency this sea-son.

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Dortmund sign teenstriking prodigy Haaland

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Melbourne Park, the scene of anemotional press conference lastyear where he suggested he mightretire as a result of his hip injury.

Despite being less than fully fitMurray then took part in a gru-elling five-set loss to RobertoBautista Agut.

A fortnight later doubleOlympic gold medallist Murray,twice a Wimbledon championand the winner of the 2012 USOpen singles, had hip resurfacingsurgery and started his return toaction at the Queen’s Club grass-court event in London in June.

October saw Murray win theEuropean open in Antwerp, a vic-tory that suggested he could stillcontend for major honours.

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Proteas captain Faf du Plessisgave a ringing endorsement

of the changes in managementin South African cricket after hisside won the first Test againstEngland by 107 runs atSuperSport Park on Sunday.

The win broke a five-Testlosing sequence for the Proteasand gave them their first pointsin the World Test champi-onship.

“We’ve got the right peoplein the right jobs at the top ofCricket South Africa,” he said ofthe appointment of former cap-tain Graeme Smith as directorof cricket and Mark Boucher ashead coach after a period ofupheaval in the local game.

“Leadership always comesfrom the top and filters down,”said Du Plessis.

“I feel it set the tone for theway that we are playing rightnow. That’s a start for us as ateam. Now you can trust thesystem a little bit more and justfocus on playing cricket.”

An enthralling Test was stillin the balance at lunchtime onthe fourth day. After a tensemorning when England couldscore only 50 runs in 25 oversfor the loss of overnight bats-men Rory Burns (84) and Joe

Denly (31), England were 205runs short of their target of 376but had their best batsmen,captain Joe Root and Ben Stokesat the crease.

Immediately after lunch,with 14 overs to be bowledbefore the second new ball wasdue, Root and Stokes upped thetempo, adding 30 runs in fiveovers. Thirteen of those runscame from one over from left-arm spinner Keshav Maharajbut Du Plessis persevered withthe spinner.

It was Maharaj who madethe crucial breakthrough, bowl-ing Stokes for 14 when the left-hander tried to play a cut shotagainst a ball which pitched in

a rough area and deflected offhis glove onto the stumps.

“We had a lot of confidencein Kesh,” said Du Plessis.

“We kept saying that wehad a feeling that in the secondinnings he was going to get BenStokes out. He has got him outa few times and the way thatStokes plays he is going to takethe game on. We had a gut feel-ing that it was going to happen.It was a massive wicket for us.”

When the new ball wastaken seven overs later the endcame quickly as Kagiso Rabadaand Anrich Nortje blasted outthe remaining batsmen.

Rabada took four for 103and Nortje three for 56.

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Nathan Lyon took four wickets asAustralia thrashed New Zealand by247 runs to win the second Test at

Melbourne and the series Sunday with abattling century from opener Tom Blundellproving futile.

The Black Caps, chasing a massive 488to win, were in serious trouble after a fieryJames Pattinson ripped through the top

order to leave them reeling at 38 for three.But some fighting partnerships spear-

headed by Blundell delayed the inevitableuntil Lyon worked his magic as the pitchdeteriorated.

Blundell was last man out for a swash-buckling 121— his second Test centuryand his first for two years — as NewZealand were dismissed for 240 with TrentBoult not batting after fracturing hishand in the first innings.

It was the second heavy defeat for theBlack Caps, who lost by 296 runs in Perthand will be playing for pride only in thefinal Test at Sydney later this week.

.����������������It was Head’s first innings century and

Paine’s quick-fire 79 that took the Test outof New Zealand’s reach after captainKane Williamson's bold decision to bowlafter winning the toss.

No team had ever chased down morethan 418 in Test history, though the recordwas set against Australia by the WestIndies in Antigua in 2003.

Pattinson, playing for the injured JoshHazlewood, did the early damage. NewZealand had reached 32-0 when hesnared the key wickets of Tom Latham,batting linchpin Williamson and theexperienced Ross Taylor for three justruns.

Latham, scorer of a dogged 50 in NewZealand's 148 first innings, fell for eightwhen he edged a thunderous delivery tothe diving Paine.

Williamson soon followed withoutscoring, lbw after unsuccessfully review-ing the umpire’s original decision.

Taylor didn’t fare much better, drag-ging onto his middle stump to leavePattinson with figures of 3-5 at lunch offtwo overs.

Henry Nicholls was the only wicket tofall between lunch and tea, cleverlystumped for 33 by Paine off Lyon just oneball after he smashed the spinner for six.

Blundell, in only his third Test, and BJWatling put on 72 before Lyon finally

broke their dangerous partnership, tempt-ing an outside edge from the New Zealandwicketkeeper that flew to David Warnerat slip and he was gone for 22.

Lyon then mopped up Colin deGrandhomme and Mitchell Santner beforeTim Southee was run out in a horror mix-up, with Blundell swinging his bat beforehe was caught by Lyon off MarnusLabuschagne.

Paine earlier declared Australia’s sec-ond innings on 168 for five after Head wasbowled by Neil Wagner for 28. MatthewWade was unbeaten on 30 with Wagnertaking 3-50.

They had resumed at 137 for four,building on their first innings 467.

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New Zealand captain KaneWilliamson said his team

need to mirror the fighting spir-it of century-maker TomBlundell if they are to bounceback from their second-Testthrashing by Australia.

“Obviously it was hardwork out there, the taskwas immense. But you lookat some small positives...That was a truly fantasticinnings,” he said afterthe 247-run defeat— their secondTest loss insidefour days.

"”He ledthe way andit is impor-tant that weall takesomethingfrom that.

“ T h eeffort fromthe bowlersthroughoutwas somethingthat is inspir-ing to us as ateam, thatnever-give-upattitude.

“But at thesame time if weare looking for

areas to improve there are a fewof them. We do need to try andput Australia under a bit morepressure before their first inningstotal gets past that point of con-

trol.”Australia took

the game awayfrom NewZealand on day

one afterW i l l i a m s o nwon the toss

and took a gam-ble by putting

them in to bat.It turned out to

be a poor decision, buthe insisted it was areasonable one at thetime.

“I felt like therewas enough in thesurface to bowl firstand it was obviouslyvery important for usto be on top of ourgame and the sur-face did offer somesideways move-ment and swing,”he said.

“But creditto Australiafor gettingthrough thatfirst sessionand put 400

on the board.”

��#�� "�.,0#�1.

South Africa broke down stub-born England resistance to

win the first Test of their WorldTest Championship series by 107runs at SuperSport Park onSunday.

England needed 376 to winbut despite some committed bat-ting were bowled out for 268 onthe fourth day of the five-dayencounter.

An enthralling contest swungSouth Africa’s way when left-armspinner Keshav Maharaj bowledBen Stokes to halt a brief flurryof strokes as Stokes and captainJoe Root tried to lift the scoringrate before the second new ballwas due.

The new ball then had animmediate impact with KagisoRabada having Jonny Bairstowcaught at gully before AnrichNortje claimed the crucial wick-

et of Root, who made a fighting48 before he was caught behind.

It was the second time in theday Nortje claimed a wicket withthe second ball of a new spell afterhe made the first breakthrough ofthe day by dismissing top-scor-er Rory Burns for 84.

The remaining wickets fellquickly, with Rabada finishingwith four for 103 and fellow fastbowler Anrich Nortje claimingthree for 56.

Maharaj, who brokeEngland’s first wicket stand of 92on Saturday when he dismissedDom Sibley, took two for 37.

South Africa produced a dis-ciplined bowling performance,making scoring difficult on apitch which always offered some-thing to the bowlers with somesideways movement and unevenbounce.

England added only 50 runsin 25 overs while losing two wick-ets during the morning.

Rory Burns took hisovernight score of 77 to 84 beforemistiming a pull against Nortje tobe caught at mid-on, while Joe

Denly was leg before wicket toDwaine Pretorius for 31.

Burns and Denly saw off thethreat of Vernon Philander andRabada but found scoring diffi-cult.

Philander conceded only onerun in five overs. Rabada gave up23 in six overs, which includedtwo hooked sixes by Denly.

Burns, who faced most ofPhilander’s bowling, adding onlyseven runs off 37 balls. Thechange to Nortje brought animmediate result for South Africaas Burns attempted to pull the fastbowler’s second delivery andsent the ball looping to Rabadaat mid-on.

Nortje made a second crucialbreakthrough when SouthAfrican captain Faf du Plessismade an inspired bowlingchange.

First innings destroyerVernon Philander sent downthree overs with the second newball but was not making the bats-men play many deliveries, so DuPlessis called on Nortje withimmediate success.

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Veteran Australian bowler PeterSiddle announced his internation-

al retirement Sunday after a 67-Testcareer, with national coach JustinLanger praising him as giving his“heart and soul” to the team.

The 35-year-old had been called upto the second Test squad in Melbournebut was not selected in the side to faceNew Zealand and decided to call itquits.

“Just being able to play, to walk out,wear the baggy green — I’d watchedguys like Punter (Ricky Ponting), SteveWaugh, guys like that wear it, representAustralia,” he said.

“Every time I stepped out wasamazing, I don’t think I could pick onespecial one. “At the end of the day, toplay one is amazing, to end up playingwhat I did is truly special.”

Siddle, who played a key role inhelping Australia retain the Ashes inEngland earlier this year, went to theAustralian dressing room at theMelbourne Cricket Ground to tell histeammates personally.

“The year after I retired from play-

ing, Matty Hayden and Ricky Pontingwere raving about this guy called PeterSiddle,” Langer said.

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Captain Tim Paine pointed to team-work on Sunday as the crucial fac-

tor in Australia winning all four homeTests so far this summer — and allinside four days.

After crushing Pakistan twice, theyhave now done the same to NewZealand, wrapping up their three-Testseries against the Black Caps with a 247-run thrashing in Melbourne.

A first-innings Travis Head centu-ry, 85 from Steve Smith and 79 by Painetook the game away from the visitorsafter Australia lost the toss and were putinto bat.

Pat Cummins, James Pattinson andNathan Lyon then led the attack in dis-missing New Zealand twice.

Paine said it was all about playersstepping up when others were havingan off day.

“I think it shows that we’re startingto spread the load,” he said.

“When we work together as a teamand build pressure — one day it’sgoing to be Pat (Cummins), the nextday it’s going to be Nathan (Lyon), thenext day it’s going to be James Pattinson,another day it’s going to be MitchellStarc.

“We just keep driving that home toall our team,” he added.

“If we keep building pressure as ateam we’ve got some absolute firepow-er and we know that all of them aregoing to have their day in the sun.”

Paine said the same applied to thebatting, where some fired in Melbourneand others didn’t.

“The same with the batting, tryingto build partnerships, trying to taketeams’ bowlers really deep, make thembowl lots of overs,” he said.

“At some stage we’re all going to geta chance to score lots of runs as well.”

Paine said he wanted the sameintensity for that game, which meantmuted celebrations in Melbourne withsuch a short turnaround.

“We want to win every Test match,there’s no doubt about that,” he said.

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India seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar is notsure when he will make a comeback to

competitive cricket as it is yet to be ascer-tained whether a surgery is required to treathis sports hernia.

The senior seamer, who is expected to beout for an indefinite period of time, doesn’twant to blame the National Cricket Academyfor allegedly bungling his rehabilitation. He,though, is a bit surprised as to why his her-nia couldn’t be detected earlier.

“World T20 is still good nine monthsaway. I am not thinking about that. First thingis getting fit and I don’t know when I will getfit,” Bhuvneshwar told PTI.

Asked about the NCA’s role, the 29-year-old was predictably defensive and said it’s bestthe BCCI brass deals with it.

“It’s up to BCCI as to how they are goingto take it. They must have had a chat withthe NCA.

“NCA must have tried their best but Idon’t know what went wrong and why theycouldn't diagnose. Still I am not the right per-son to comment on that as it might say some-thing else and BCCI will come up with some-thing else,” said Bhuvneshwar.

Bhuvneshwar also offered a dead defencewhen asked if players are wary of going tothe NCA.

“It’s an individual’s responsibility orwish whether he want to go to the NCA ornot.”

On his recovery process, he said that heis waiting for the doctor’s appointment, afterwhich a clearer picture could emerge on theneed for a surgery.

“There is no surety of surgery, but gen-erally, the standard procedure in case ofsports hernia is surgery. But we still need totake an appointment and I am not sure whereit's going to be. But we are trying to get it assoon as possible.

“Till I consult a doctor, can't say whenwill be the comeback as it will depend on thediagnosis and treatment plan.”

Bhuvneshwar, after being out due to sidestrain post the tour of the West Indies, hadmade a comeback against the same side inthe T20 series earlier this month before beingsidelined again.

“Injuries can be frustrating at times butI am not at all heartbroken. It’s part and par-cel of our journey. I was in good rhythmagainst the West Indies.

“I want to be back at my best but as I saidI don’t know what will be the treatment like.So whatever the doctor says will go with thatthing only,” he said.

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