((˚# ˆ...vikas aghadi (mva) in gen-eral and pawar family in par-ticular. ajit was being persuaded...

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In an anti-climax to a month-long unprecedented political

drama in Maharashtra, theBJP’s surreptitious effort toinstall its Government fizzledout on Tuesday afternoon asChief Minister DevendraFadnavis resigned from hispost after the NCP’s rebelleader Ajit Pawar, the DeputyChief Minister, pulled out ofthe new dispensation undertremendous pressure from hisparent party.

Within hours after theSupreme Court put a break toa possible horse-trading byordering a floor test in the StateAssembly by 5 pm onWednesday, Fadnavis’ 80-hour-long stint as the Chief Ministerended.

Things moved rapidly onthe Shiv Sena-NCP-Congressalliance front, as the three par-ties and other allies, includingShetkari SwabhimaniSanghatana, Samajwadi Partyand Peasants and Workers’Party (PWP) — at the first jointlegislature party meeting atthe Hotel Trident in theevening — floated“Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi”(MKS), which they said waswedded to the principlesenshrined in the preamble andprovisions of the Constitutionand would work for the welfareof the State and its people.

At the meeting, Sena pres-ident Uddhav Thackeray waselected as the leader of theMVA and elected as the ChiefMinister-designate of the newGovernment to be installed inthe State.

With Uddhav to lead Sena-Cong-NCP Government, theswearing-in will be held atShivaji Park in Central Mumbaion November 28, NCP supre-mo Sharad Pawar said.

After Sharad mooted the

proposal, the NCP’s LegislatureParty leader Jayant Patil moveda resolution nominatingUddhav as the Chief Minister-designate with CongressLegislature Party (CLP) leaderBalasaheb Thorat secondingthe proposal. The resolutionwas passed unanimously by theMLAs present at the meeting.

After the MVA meeting,the legislature party leaders ofthe Sena, the NCP and theCongress — Eknath Shinde,Jayant Patil and BalasahebThorat respectively — drove toRaj Bhavan at night, metGovernor Bhagat SinghKoshyari and submitted a for-mal letter, along with signaturesof the supporting MLAs, seek-ing an invitation to form aGovernment under the lead-ership of Uddhav.

Congratulating Uddhav on

his election as the ChiefMinister-designate of theimpending MVA Government,Sharad recalled his associa-tion with late Sena chief BalThackeray with whom —despite the political rivalry —he had personal relations. Heexpressed confidence that theUddhav-led MVA Governmentwould do justice to the peopleacross the State.

Thanking Sharad,Congress president SoniaGandhi, all legislators and lead-ers for reposing confidence inhim and electing him, Uddhavsaid, “It is not three parties. Itis our family. It is ourGovernment. It is aGovernment of the commonpeople.”

In a significant announce-ment, Uddhav said after takingover as the Chief Minister of

the State, he would go to Delhiand meet Home Minister AmitShah and Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

It was speculated thatNCP’s breakaway leader Ajit

Pawar — who had earlier in theafternoon, resigned as theDeputy Chief Minister andreturned to the parent party —would attend the MVA’s jointlegislature party meeting, buthe was not present there.

The NCP leaders attributedAjit Pawar’s absence to hisuneasiness and hesitation to beat the meeting, especially afterthe developments in the lastfew days.

Earlier, talking to mediapersons before handing overhis resignation to theGovernor, Fadnavis said hehad decided to put in hispapers, “after Ajit met him,expressed his inability to con-tinue in the BJP-ledGovernment and tendered hisresignation to me”.

“At a time when there wasuncertainty over the continu-ity or otherwise of President’sRule in the State, NCP’sLegislature Party leader Ajitcame forward and offered hiscooperation to form aGovernment in the State. Aftera discussion, he handed meover a letter of support. Basedon the letter of support weformed the Government,”Fadnavis said.

Continued on Page 4

�� /31�567

The Sunni Central WaqfBoard of Uttar Pradesh on

Tuesday decided that it wouldnot file a review petition againstthe November 9 SupremeCourt verdict in the RamMandir-Babri Mosque disputecase, but is yet to take a call onwhether to accept a five-acrealternative plot for a mosque,its chairman Zafar AhmedFarooqi said.

“The Waqf Board has con-sidered the ruling of theSupreme Court passed in theBabri Masjid case. The Boardhas reiterated its stand that itwill not file any review petitionin the apex court,” Farooqisaid in a press release issuedafter a meeting of the Board.

The meeting was attendedby seven of its eight members.

Six members were against fil-ing a review petition against theAyodhya verdict. Two mem-bers, Abdul Razzaq Khan andImran Mabood Khan hadopposed the chairman’s deci-sion not to file the review.However, Mabood was absenton Tuesday.

The Sunni Waqf Boardwas a main litigant in the RamMandir-Babri Mosque titlecase.

The meeting also consid-ered whether to accept thefive-acre alternative land givenby the apex court for buildinga mosque in Ayodhya, Farooqi

said, adding that the membersfelt they needed more time todecide on the matter so as toensure that it was appropriateas per the shariat (Islamic law).

“All further action in com-pliance with the order of theSupreme Court, including theissue of five-acre land inAyodhya, are still in consider-ation of the Board and nodecision has yet been taken.The members of the board haveasked for more time to formu-late their views. As and whenany decision is taken, it will becommunicated separately,” therelease said.

�� 587�08/�*

Union Housing and UrbanAffairs Minister (HUA)

Hardeep Singh Puri onTuesday introduced theNational Capital Territory ofDelhi (Recognition of PropertyRights of Residents inUnauthorised Colonies) Bill,2019 in the Lok Sabha to grantownership rights to 40-50 lakhpeople living in 1,731 unau-thorised colonies in Delhi.

The provision of the Billdoes not apply to 69 affluentcolonies identified by the DelhiDevelopment Authority(DDA), including SainikFarms, Mahendru Enclave andAnantram Dairy.

The decision is politicallysignificant as it will benefit mil-lions of poor migrants whohold the key to the Assemblyelections due early next yearand had backed the AAP inlarge numbers in the 2015Delhi polls. With this, the BJPis hoping to counter AAPGovernment’s freebies such aselectricity and water in thecoming Assembly polls.

�� 587�08/�*

The Opposition partiesskipped a joint sitting of

both Houses of Parliament onConstitution Day on Tuesdayto mark their protest againstthe BJP’s alleged high-handed-ness in Maharashtra.

President Ram Nath Kovidemphasised the importance ofabiding by “constitutionalmorality” by all the organs ofthe State, persons holding con-stitutional posts and membersof civil society. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi reminded peo-ple of their “duties”.

Upset over political devel-opments in Maharashtra, theOpposition parties, includingthe Congress, the DMK, the SP,the NCP and the Left parties,boycotted Constitution Daycelebrations in the Central Hall

of Parliament and held a jointprotest in front of theAmbedkar statue insideParliament complex.

In a first, the Shiv Senasupported the Congress in theprotest. The protest was led byCongress chief Sonia Gandhi,ex-PM Manmohan Singh andparty leader Rahul Gandhi.Sonia led the protesters in tak-ing a pledge to uphold theConstitution. She read out thePreamble and resolved to standby the fundamental values ofthe Constitution.

The President said BRAmbedkar, while underliningthe importance of constitu-tional morality, had empha-sised that its essence was toregard the Constitution assupreme and to follow consti-tutionally-mandated proce-dures. “All the three organs ofthe State, persons gracing con-stitutional posts, members ofcivil society and common cit-izens of India are expected toabide by constitutional moral-ity,” he said quoting Ambedkar.

Continued on Page 4

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The Supreme Court’sTuesday morning order

directing Maharashtra ChiefMinister Devendra Fadnavis tohold trust vote on Wednesdaycame as a big setback for theBJP and triggered a chain ofevents, forcing rebel NCPleader Ajit Pawar to quit asDeputy CM and leaving nooption for Fadnavis to contin-ue as the CM.

In ordering urgent floortest, the SC went by previousdecisions of the apex court insimilar situations and sent aclear message that it would notallow Governors to use theirdiscretions in any manner thatsuited them.

As a month has elapsed

after the declaration of resultsof the Assembly elections, it isincumbent upon the court toprotect the democratic valuesfor which immediate floor testis the most effective mecha-nism to curtail unlawful prac-tices such as horse trading aswell as to avoid uncertaintyand to effectuate smooth run-ning of democracy by ensur-ing a stable Government, itsaid.

The court order pressedthe panic button in the BJP

camp and was also used by theSharad Pawar camp to con-vince Ajit Pawar of the futili-ty of his rebellion when he hadjust 24 hours to manage thenumbers.

The apex court had askedMaharashtra Governor BhagatSingh Koshyari to appoint aPro-tem Speaker and ensurethat all the elected members ofthe House are sworn in onWednesday itself by 5pm forpaving the way for floor test.

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After the State NCP leadersmade unsuccessful

attempts to bring party’s break-away leader Ajit Pawar back toparty fold during the last threedays, it was ultimately partychief Sharad Pawar’s wifePratibha Pawar who played akey role in prevailing upon himto resign as the Deputy ChiefMinister and return to theparent party.

Informed sources in theNCP said on Tuesday thatPratibha, who had never takenpart in the political activities ofSharad during the latter’s 52-year-old career, met Ajit withthe help of her son-in-lawSadhananda Sule, husband ofPawars’ only daughter SupriyaSule, at an undisclosed locationand succeeded in persuading JrPawar to return to the NCP.

Ajit is the son of Sharad’selder brother Anantrao Pawar,a filmmaker. He lost his fatherat an early age and he wasbrought up by Sharad andPratibha like their son.

Ajit’s resignation as theDeputy CM and return to theNCP fold came as a big reliefto the NCP and MaharashtraVikas Aghadi (MVA) in gen-

eral and Pawar family in par-ticular.

Ajit was being persuadedby his cousin Supriya Sule, SrPawar’s grand nephew RohitPawar and various senior NCPleaders. Interestingly enough,Ajit — who had earlier in theafternoon handed over his res-ignation to Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis promptingthe latter to put in his papersleading to the collapse of the80-hour-long Government —called on NCP chief Sharad lateon Tuesday night, at the latter’s“Silver Oak” residence in southMumbai.

It was Supriya, who greet-ed him at the entrance of SrPawar’s residence.

This was the first timethat Ajit met Sharad after hebroke away from the NCP andjoined hands with the BJP.

Though Sharad has beenupset with Ajit, he had neverspoken against him during thelast three days. All Sharad haddone was to rubbish the “mis-leading” claims by his nephewAjit that he was still with theparent party and charged thatthe breakaway group leaderwas trying to create “confusion”and “false perception” in the

minds of the people.Pratibhatai was very upset

that Ajit had chosen to moveaway from the Pawar familyand joined hands with theBJP. “Ever since he was swornin as the Deputy CM in theBJP-led Government, Pratibhawas keeping a close watch onthe political developments. Asnothing was happening,Pratibha decided to get into theact,” a family source said.

She enlisted the help of herson-in-law Sadanand Sule, alow-profile businessman, toreach out to Ajit. “BothPratibhatai and Sule met Ajit.During the meeting, Pratibhamade an emotional appeal toAjit. Ajit, who has huge respectfor Pratibha, agreed to herrequest and decided to resignfrom his post and return to theNCP,” the family source said.

State NCP leadersChhagan Bhujbal and DilipWalse Patil held four-hourlong meeting with Ajit at theVidhan Bhavan on Sunday, inan effort to convince him tosevere his relations with the BJP.

Afterwards, Sharad’s grandnephew and newly electedMLA Rohit Pawar had taken tosocial media to make an emo-

tional appeal to Ajit to returnto the parent party.

Rohit, who has been elect-ed to the State Assembly fromKarjat-Jamkhed Assembly con-stituency, wrote in a Facebookpost, “... Ajit should bow toPawar’s wishes and returnhome. Sharad has never mixedpolitics with family affairs. Heis unlikely to do so in future aswell.”

“... When I lost my grand-father Appasaheb Pawar(Sharad Pawar’s brother), it was‘Pawar Saheb’ who first con-soled my father Rajendra… Ihave witnessed how, when Ajitlost his father Anantrao, againit was ‘Pawar Saheb’ wholooked after him (Ajit).. Afterthe death of Ajit’s father, it wasPawar Saheb who gave father’slove to him. On his part, AjitPawar reciprocated in equalmeasure by standing up forPawar Saheb whenever he wasin crisis,” Rohit wrote.

“... I feel this is the time forthe family to stand united andwe must all remain behindPawar sahib,” Rohit stated.

Rohit had also posted aphotograph on his twitter han-dle that showed him posingwith Sharad, Supriya Sule andAjit in good times.

�� !��"#�� Mumbai: MaharashtraGovernor Bhagat SinghKoshyari on Tuesday appoint-ed BJP MLA KalidasKolambkar as pro-temSpeaker of the Assembly.Eight-time Wadala MLAKolambkar was one of the can-didates recommended for thepost to the Governor.

“The Governor hasadministered oath toKolambkar as pro-temSpeaker. Kolambkar willadminister oath to remaining287 MLAs in the Assembly,”said an official.

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3.44 pm: Maharashtra CMFadnavis tells press conferencethat he will go to Raj Bhawanto tender resignation.3.20 pm: Maharashtra DeputyChief Minister Ajit Pawar hasresigned: Sena MP Sanjay Raut.3.16 pm: Uddhav Thackeray tobe Chief Minister for five years: Sanjay Raut after meeting ofShiv Sena-NCP-Congressalliance leaders11.39 am: NCP chief SharadPawar says he is grateful to SCfor upholding democratic val-ues.10.39 am: Floor test inMaharashtra Assembly forChief Minister Fadnavis toprove his majority in theassembly will be held onWednesday: SC

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President Ram Nath Kovidon Tuesday emphasised the

importance of abiding by"Constitutional morality" byall thee organs of the State, per-sons holding constitutionalposts and members of civilsociety , while Prime MinisterNarendra Modi reminded peo-ple of their "duties".

Addressing a joint-sittingof Parliament in the Centralhall, celebrating the 70thanniversary of the adoption ofthe Constitution, the Presidentsaid B R Ambedkar, whileunderlining the importance ofconstitutional morality, hademphasised that its essencewas to regard the Constitutionas supreme and to follow con-stitutionally-mandated proce-dures.

"All the three organs of theState, persons gracing consti-tutional posts, members ofcivil society and common cit-izens of India are expected to

abide by constitutional moral-ity," he said quoting Ambedkar.

It is the duty of every citi-zen to abide by theConstitution and respect itsideals and institutions and tocherish and follow the nobleideals of its freedom struggle,he said.

President said theConstitution enshrines theideal of building an inclusivesociety to "bring about revolu-tionary changes peacefully byway of constitutional amend-ments".

Referring about rights andduties, Kovind quoting theFather of the Nation MahatamaGandhi said the true source ofrights is duty.

"If we all discharge ourdu-ties, right will not be far to seek.If leaving duties unperformedwe run after rights, they escapeus like a will-o-the-wisp,Kovind said quoting Gandhi.

Constitution day-'Sambidhan Divas'- is observedannually on November 26 as on

this day country's Constitutionwas adopted by the Constituentassembly in 1949. Constitutioncame to effect on January 26,

1950.In his address to the joint

sitting Prime Minister said theConstitution has helped a

large segment of society toachieve equality and it hasstood test of time. PrimeMinister made a subtle refer-

ence to the Emergency, whichwas imposed by the then PrimeMinister Indira Gandhi, sayingthat countrymen failedattempts targeting theConstitution and that itremained unwavering.

Modi said a special aspectof the Indian Constitution isthat it highlights both rightsand duties of citizens.

"Let us think about how wecan fulfill duties enshrined inour Constitution," Modi said.He said Gandhiji had wellunderstood that there was anunbreakable and balancebetween rights and duties.

Prime Minister asked peo-ple to be more aware not onlyabout their rights but alsoabout their duties enshrined inthe Constitution.

Opposition parties boy-cotted the event to protestpolitical developments inMaharashtra following theGovernor's decision to swear inBJP's Devendra Fadnavis as theState's Chief Minister.

Modi said there had beenan emphasis on people's rightsin the last many years as a vastnumber of people felt deprivedof equality and justice.

The demand of the presenttime is that society shoulddeliberate on its duties andresponsibilities as well, he saidand asserted, "We cannot pre-serve our rights without ful-filling our responsibilities".

Noting that theConstitution begins with "wethe people of India", he saidpeople are its strength, inspi-ration and aim.

"Our effort should be toensure focus on our duties inour conversations and meet-ings," he said.

"Our Constitution is asacred book that contains ourtraditions and beliefs and alsooffer solutions to new chal-lenges," he added.

Bhim Rao Ambedkar, akey architect of theConstitution, had asked peopleif the country can uphold free-

dom and democracy it envi-sions, Modi noted and said hadhe been alive, he would haveprobably been the happiest.

He said November 26 is ahappy occasion as India cele-brates Constitution Day but italso is a sad reminder of theMumbai terror attacks, whichhad taken place on this day in2008. He paid tributes to thosekilled in the attack.

In his observation , Vice-President and Chairman ofRajya Sabha M VenkaiahNaidu said, "We have progres-sively put the `public` at thecentre of `Republic' " andgrew as vibrant , pluralistic cul-ture with a flourishing parlia-mentary system withConstitution working as a bul-wark in protecting the rights ofa free society.

Lok Sabha speaker OmBirla, in his address, said " Mostof the problems being faced bythe nation can be solved bypursuing fundamental duties."

�� 587�08/�*

In a move to do away with'The Press and Registration

of Books (PRB) Act, 1867', aBritish era regulation, theInformation & BroadcastingMinistry has come out with adraft of the "Registration ofPress and Periodicals Bill 2019.The draft bill proposes a sim-ple system of registration of e-papers/digital media.

Through the draft bill, theMinistry has proposed to doaway with prosecution provi-sions of imprisonment of pub-lishers and to simplify imple-mentation of the registrationprocess through a newly-cre-

ated Press Registrar General.The proposed draft also pro-hibits a person from bringingout a publication who has beenconvicted by any court for anoffence involving terror acts orunlawful activities and for hav-ing done anything against thesecurity of the State.

Currently, in the PRB Actoffences are punishable with animprisonment term of up to sixmonths as part of the penaltiesclause for improper disclosureof information. "The Bill pro-poses to do away with the ear-lier provision under the PRBAct, 1867 of prosecution ofpublishers," the Ministry stat-ed in the draft Bill which has

been uploaded on its website toseek views from stakeholdersand public.

The draft Bill states that"publishers of news on digitalmedia shall register themselveswith the Registrar ofNewspapers of India". Itdefines news on digital mediaas the news in digitised formatthat can be transmitted over theinternet, computer or mobilenetworks and includes text,audio, video and graphics. Theproposed Bill will help theGovernment to grant adver-tisements to digital media. Themove is significant as the leg-islation has been proposed bythe Narendra Modi

Government, which has beenfacing criticism over the yearsfor its tough position on media-related issues.

The Bill enables theCentral Government and theState Government to frameappropriate rules/ regulationsto regulate the criteria/ condi-tions for issuing Govt adver-tisements in newspapers,accreditation of newspapersand provide any other benefitto the periodical or its own-ers/employees.

The draft Bill proposes todo away with the existing pro-cedure of furnishing of decla-ration by publishers/ printersbefore the District Magistrate

and its subsequent authentica-tion.The draft bill proposesthe process of title and regis-tration of periodicals includingnewspapers is proposed to beeffected centrally by the PressRegistrar General as a simul-taneous process.

The draft Bill also propos-es to remove the existing pro-visions relating to registration ofbooks. In the draft Bill, cancel-lation or suspension of regis-tration norms now also includea provision that States that if thepublisher has been convicted byany court for an offence, "involv-ing terrorist act or unlawfulactivity," it may result in can-cellation of registration.

�� 587�08/�*

The Lok Sabha MPs cuttingacross party lines demand-

ed on Tuesday setting upNational Institute of Design(NID) in all States during thepassing of the Bill which seeksto declare four NationalInstitutes of Design in AndhraPradesh, Madhya Pradesh,Assam and Haryana as insti-tutions of national importance.

The National Institute ofDesign (Amendment) Bill,2019 was passed by the LokSabha by a voice vote. It hasalready been cleared by theRajya Sabha. During thedebate, MPs said NID shouldbe established across the coun-try, saying it will help createskilled manpower and generatejob opportunities.

DMK MP Kalanidhi

Veeraswamy said theGovernment should establishan institute in any district ofTamil Nadu. Congress leaderHibi Eden too asked for settingof an institute in Cochin as thecity has ancient churches andother heritage buildings. "Weneed an institute in Kerala. AnNID can be considered inCochin," he said.

The Bill seeks to declarefour National Institutes ofDesign in Andhra Pradesh,Madhya Pradesh, Assam andHaryana as institutions ofnational importance. It willallow the four institutes togrant degrees and diplomas.Trinamool Congress parlia-mentarian Satabdi Roy toosaid that West Bengal shouldhave such an institute. KiritSolanki of the BJP said thatevery state should have one

NID because all states haveskills and design capacity. Healso said that there should besome kind of scholarship forwomen, SC and ST candidatesin these institutes.

Ritesh Pandey of the BSPsaid that Uttar Pradesh andBihar too should have NIDs asthese will help create jobs. B BPatil of the TRS said that NIDin Andhra Pradesh should beshifted to Telangana. CPI-M member A M Ariff saidthere are 134 institutes whichhave the tag of institute ofnational importance and thereis a need to increase the qual-ity of faculty in these centres.Kirron Kher of the BJP sug-gested that the NID governingcouncil should have a repre-sentative from the Ministry ofTribal Affairs as various tribeshave rich sense of design.

�� 587�08/�*

Congress on Tuesdaydemanded apologies from

both BJP's Devendra Fadnavisand NCP leader Ajit Pawar formisleading the people of Stateand country by first takingcharge as Chief Minister andDeputy Chief Minister andthen quitting the posts withintwo days realising they will failthe floor test.

The Congress also soughtto ensure accountability of thePrime Minister Narendra Modiand Home Minister Amit aswhy the Governor used as apuppet and why did they hurtthe stature of the President. Theparty also said the turn ofevents in Maharashtra has alsoput the role of the Presidentunder scanner but did not

elaborate.The grand old party which

is one of the main constituentsof the Shiv Sena led NCP-Sena-Congress combine pitching tostake claim in Maharashtra,

stated the second termFadnavis Government wasbased on "defections" and felllike a "house of cards".Congress has now askedGovernor Bhagat Singh

Koshiyari to invite its alliancewith the Shiv Sena and theNCP to form the Governmentin the state.

Minutes after DevendraFadnavis' announcement thathe is resigning, formerMaharashtra Chief Ministerand Congress leader PrithvirajChavan said he has requestedKoshiyari to accept it and invitethe Shiv Sena-NCP-Congressalliance led by Sena chiefUddhav Thackeray to formthe Government.

"Devendra Fadnavis andAjit Pawar should apologise tothe people of Maharashtra.Their Government was basedon lies and defections and felllike a house of cards," he said.

Congress' chief spokesper-son Randeep Surjewala posedquestions to Prime Minister

Narendra Modi and HomeMinister Amit Shah, asking"why such a spectacle ofdemocracy was created inMaharashtra?"

Claiming that the lack ofnumbers of those "who kid-napped the people's mandate"stands exposed with the devel-opments, Surjewala said,"it isnow clear that 'Chanakyaniti'(political strategy) in BJPmeans abduction of democra-cy."

"Why was the country'sCabinet paralysed? Why wasthe naked dance of defectionsand horse trading? Why was aminority Government formeddrama done of having majori-ty for so long? Why corruptioncases were taken back?Whywas the Constitution torn intoshreds?" Surjwala asked.

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Deafness can be detectedwithin four hours of birth

and if kids born with such dis-ability are stimulated at anearly age with sound, they canlearn speech easily, and livetheir life to the fullest, say doc-tors.

But despite of availability oflatest technology to manage thedisability, majority of childrenin India reach for medicalintervention when they arearound four-year old, by whichtime, in most of the cases seri-ous damage could have been

done."Early detection helps in

faster and effective treatments.Parents may not always beable to identify the hearing lossin their children, which is whyhaving Universal NewbornHearing Screening (UNHS)programme becomes crucial. Itis adopted in many countries tosolve the problem of hearingdisability. It is high time Indiatoo go for it," Dr SC Sharma,ENT specialist from AIIMS inDelhi says.

Currently, Kerala is theonly state to have successfullyachieved 98 per cent UNHS

across all Government hospi-tals.

According to researches,there are 5-6 infants every1,000 neonates in India whoface hearing problems.

Dr Sharma says, "Thereare many medical interven-tions like Cochlear implantsand hearing aids which canhelp a child to lead a dignifiedlife."

International cricket legendBrett Lee who is global hearingambassador for Cochlear-anhearing implant company-wasin Delhi on November 14 to batfor making UNHS mandatory

in hospitals like it is in coun-tries like the USA, Singapore,Australia and the UK.

Dr Alok Thakkar, ENTspecialist from the AIIMSechoed similar views. "Thebest results with a cochlearimplant can be observed if theimplantations is done betweeneight months and 2 years of ageas 80 per cent of the braindevelops during this period oflife. The results of the Cochlearimplants done within the age offive will also be good but thechild will require a lot of speechtherapy," he said.

A cochlear implant is per-

formed on patients who havelost all or most of their usefulhearing in both ears and notbenefited by conventional hear-ing aid. "We have done 900implants till date. The numberis meager against the demand,admitted Dr Kapil Sikka, assis-tant professor (ENT) AIIMS.There is a waiting list of ninemonths due to manpower andinfrastructure challenges.

Moreover, the fact thatcochlear implants come withthe cost--starts from Rs. 6.5lakh and depending on fea-tures, goes up to Rs.16 lakh-andparents find difficulty in

arranging fund arrangement isnot easy, the delay in hearingidentification just add to theagony of such kids.

"Poor parents who can'tafford the treatment have tofind funding agencies.Thankfully, help is comingfrom NGOs and corporate sec-tor who support the treat-ment," points out Dr Sikka.

Dr Ashok Kumar,Consultant ENT Surgeon, RMLHospital pitched for reducingcost of the cochlear implantsbeing provided under theGovernment programme."Also as there is no provision

of maintenance cost after threeyears of implant, the devices aredumped by the users as theycan't afford the extra cost," hesays. Cochlear implant is aninner device and has no risk tothe life of the patient. TheCochlea is a part of the ear,where sound energy is con-verted intobio electrical signalsand sent to the brain. Thisimplant is placed on to thepatient's skull surgically. Andthe electrode inserted into theCochlea which is attached tothe hearing nerve.

Those having severe toprofound hearing loss in both

ears are chosen for cochlearimplant while for others we rec-ommend hearing aids, adds DrSikka.

Implanting the Cochlear isnot sufficient. After theimplant, children also need tobe taught to listen and under-stand. For that to happen, theyneed to undergo audio thera-py for a minimum of twoyears, he says.

Though the CentralGovernment has made provi-sion to sponsor 500 numbersunder its ADIP Scheme, it isminuscule in comparison toactual requirement.

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In an effort to boost themorale of Armed forces,

Defence Minister RajnathSingh on Tuesday approved aproposal to extend the reten-tion of Government accom-modation by families of battlecasualties to one year from theexisting three months.

The nod for this majorrelief came after reviewing therequirements and demands ofthe armed forces, officials saidhere adding the benefit willcover personnel all the threeServices. The Minister okayedthe proposal after goingthrough the existing provi-sions and then recommended

the extension of the period ofretention, they added.

At present, the families ofarmed forces personnel killedin action against enemy forcesor whilst enemy air attacks orfighting terrorists are permit-ted retention of Governmentaccommodation for threemonths.

The benefit also coverssoldiers who die in cross-bor-der firing or ceasefire violationon the Line of Control(LOC)asthe martyred personnel aretreated as battle casualties.

The latest welfare mea-sures comes a month afterSingh approved a four-foldhike in assistance to the next ofkin of all categories of battle

casualties from Rs lakh to Rseight lakh. The amount will begranted under the Army BattleCasualties Fund(ABCWF).

The ABCWF was institut-ed in July 2017 and was imple-mented with effect from April2016. It was set up underDepartment of Ex-ServicemenWelfare (ESW) after a largenumber of people offered toprovide monetary assistance tothe families of battle casualtiesfollowing an incident inFebruary 2016 at Siachenwhere 10 soldiers were buriedin an avalanche. This fundwas set up in addition to thevarious existing schemes for thewelfare of next of kin of battlecasualties and their children.

�� 587�08/�*

With Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis

forced to quit after three daysin the CM's chair in his secondterm, the BJP lost one moremajor State it had ruled andwhich it had sought to add toits saffron basket by tacticalmoves, exposing the 'faultlines' in the 'Chanakya Niti' ofits stalwarts.

The coup in Karnatakawhere ' Operational Kamal'dismantled Congress-JDS dis-pensation in July and the suc-cess of similar moves inArunachal Pradesh and Goamay have psychologicallyemboldened BJP to upscaletheir statecraft in Maharashtra.

The political developments

in the key western state, how-ever, proved a kind of anti-cli-max for the BJP as it has ignit-ed opposition unity that wasnowhere in sight until recent-ly. It has virtually broughtSharad Pawar , the NationalistCongress Party (NCP) leader,sitting on the margins, to thecentre-stage of Opposition pol-itics.

The surprise move by theBJP in installing Fadnavis in theCM's chair gave the Oppositionparties a cause to get back atthe BJP by reaching out to theSupreme court and attackingthe saffron party for allegedlythrowing to winds theConstitutional proprieties.

The Maharashtra power-play seemed to have become acementing factor for the dis-

arrayed opposition which since2014 was not being able to puta joint-fight - be that ideolog-ical or strategic- vis-à-vis theBJP.

A view even among theBJP sympathisers is that theMaharashtra episode may havegiven an unwanted attentiontowards BJP's 'political machi-nations' and rendered a ratherlethargic and dying opposition

a new life. The unholy speed with

which Fadnavis was sworn-inwith the help of Ajit Pawar-led-NCP faction and the wayPresident's rule was with-drawn in Maharashtra hadunwittingly given a high moralground to the opposition.

In a way the saffron dampsquib in Maharashtra has alsoslashed down the `invincibili-ty aura' surrounding'Chanakyas' of the BJP as it hasalso exposed the limitation of'cloak and dagger' moves inpolitics.

The Maharashtra episodealso reflects that the increas-ingly powerful BJP underShah-Modi was not too will-ing to accommodate its allieswhich was the not the case

under Atal Bihari Vajpyee. The jettisoning of its old-

est 'ideological ally' for gainingtotal dominance inMaharashtra politics has onlydriven Shiv-Sena to the oppo-sition camp which is now a lit-tle ignited with its rainbowcombination .!

Somehow, similar may bethe experience of the JD (U)leader Nitish Kumar whoseleadership was also questionedby some state BJP leadersbefore Amit Shah put the lid onthe controversy saying thatBihar assembly polls would befought with Kumar at the helmin the state. In Haryana, BJPdid not share seats with allyShrimoni Akali Dal, andinstead stole its sole MLAbefore the October poll.

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The Government on Tuesdayintroduced in the Lok

Sabha a bill to merge UnionTerritories Daman and Diu, andDadra and Nagar Haveli intoone. The proposed legislation -The Dadra and Nagar Haveliand Daman and Diu (Merger ofUnion Territories) Bill 2019 -was introduced in the House byUnion Minister of State forHome G Kishan Reddy.

"In view of the policy of theGovernment to have 'MinimumGovernment, MaximumGovernance", considering smallpopulation and limited geo-graphical area of both theUnion Territories and to use the

services of officers efficiently, ithas been decided to merge theUTs of Dadra and Nagar Haveliand Daman Diu into a singleUT," Reddy said. The mergedUnion Territory will be namedas Dadra and Nagar Haveli andDaman and Diu.

The merger of the twoUTs, located along the westerncoast near Gujarat, is done forbetter administration and checkduplications of various work. Sofar, both the Union Territorieshave separate budgets and dif-ferent secretariats even thoughthey are just 35 km apart.Dadra and Nagar Haveli hasjust one district while Damanand Diu has two. Both UTswere under the Portuguese rule

for a long time. They were liberated from

Portuguese rule in December1961. Since 1961 to 1987,Daman and Diu was part of theUT of Goa, Daman and Diu. In1987, when Goa got statehood,Daman and Diu was made aseparate UT. Dadra and NagarHaveli was occupied by thePortuguese in June 1783.Residents of Dadra and NagarHaveli got liberated themselvesfrom the Portuguese rule onAugust 2, 1954. Since, 1954 to1961, the territory was admin-istered by a citizen's councilcalled the Varishta Panchayat ofFree Dadra and NagarHaveli.and its division intotwo Union Territories.

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RAIPUR | WEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 27, 2019chhattisgarh 03

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Chhattisgarh state assemblypassed the second supple-

mentary budget of `4546.81crore by voice vote on Tuesday,the second day of winter sessionof the assembly. This hasenlarged the budget size of the

state to 1 lakh 4 thousand 787crore.

The main budget for the year2019-20 was 95,899,45 crorewhile the first supplementarybudget was of `4341.52 crore.

Citing the RBI report for theyear 2019-20, ChhattisgarhChief Minister Bhupesh Bagheladdressing the discussion onsupplementary budget saidChhattisgarh’s fiscal manage-ment is better than other statesand that it stands first in thecountry in spending for devel-opmental oriented works.

The social sector spending isalso more than national averagewhile its spending is minimum fortotal loan and interest payment.

He said to reduce and keepthe budgetary deficit, steps willbe taken for slashing the non-productive expenses along withmaintaining prudence in spend-ing while at the same time con-centrating on steps to enhancerevenue so to peg the deficit at

3% of GSDP.Chief Minister listed out the

development of ‘Shri Ram VanGaman Path’, SwamiVivekananda Smriti Sansthan,establishment of fast track courtto deal with cases of women-children atrocities and others.

He also provided details ofthe steps taken by his govern-ment in extending benefits tocross section of the society.

Supplementary budgetof `4546.81 crore passed

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghelon Tuesday reiterated his

government’s commitment to pay tofarmers `2500 for per quintal ofpaddy.

While participating in the dis-cussions on second supplimentarybudget tabled on Monday heannounced in the state assemblythat the cabinet sub-committeeformed to explore the ways to paythe “balance amount” will submit itsreport well before the end of theongoing winter session of the stateassembly. A new scheme would beinitiated to reimburse this amount,he added.

The state government onMonday decided to procure thepaddy from state farmers on theMSP prescribed by Centre i.e. theMSP for common grade paddy at`1,815 per quintal and for Grade Acrop at `1,835.

The state government hadpromised that the paddy would be

procured from state farmers at therate of `2500 per quintal. But it hadto settle for the central government’sprescribed rate as otherwise theCentre because of its policy decisionwould not be able to take the surplusrice from state for central poolunder National Food Security Act(NFSA) through Food Corporation

of India (FCI)”, the CM said.Keeping in view the technical

difficulty the government onMonday formed a five member cab-inet sub-committee to suggest howto pay the balance amount of `685per quintal to state farmers as theCongress government in the statehad promised of procuring paddy at

the rate of `2500 per quintal.Notable, the procurement of

paddy for this Kharif season inChhattisgarh will begin onDecember 1 and continue tillFebruary 15 next year. This paddyhas to be procured by the state

government through primarycooperative societies.

The state government had set atarget of procuring 85 lakh metricton (LMT) of paddy from farmersthis Kharif season, and intends tocontribute surplus rice for NationalFood Security Act (NFSA) throughFood Corporation of India (FCI).

If the surplus rice, whichamounts to be half of the set targetof 85 lakh metric ton, is taken bycentre then there would be no prob-lem of storage too as the rest halfwould be distributed under publicdistribution system (PDS).

New scheme for farmerson the cards: BaghelCabinet sub-committee to submit report by the end of winter session

Assembly Winter Session


Health and family welfareminister T. S. Singhdeo on

Tuesday, replying to a queryraised by Congress MLADhanendra Sahu on deathsreported due to chronic kidneydiseases (CKD), said scientifical-ly it cannot be reported as thecause of death is generallyrecorded at the last moment.

Citing an example, he said ifa person dies due to drowningthe postmortem reports willmention the cause of death asdue to asphyxia and not bydrowning. Same is the case withdiabetes, where death is reporteddue to heart dilation or cardiacarrest even though prolonged

treatment of disease is done.Here also same is the case asvillagers are yet to cooperate inconducting postmortem, he said.

Dhanendra Sahu has raisedthe question of death reporteddue to CKD and compensation

given, which was nil in the reply.The reply stated around 6 waterfilter plants have been installedalong with arrangement for sup-plying water from Tel river, assis-tance to probe the causes hassought from ICMR, Jabalpur,technical team from NCDC,Government of India has beenconducted while regular clinicalfollow up is being done throughholding special clinical campsand free treatment is beingprovided to the patients. Thetreatment is being providedthrough Sanjeevani Fund.

Dhanendra Sahu insisted ondefining the deaths due to kidneyfailure for taking the issue seri-ously while welcoming the initia-tives of the state government.


Health and FamilyWelfare minister T. S.

Singhdeo said if the MedicalCouncil of India permitsand the High Court orders,students from the zero-yearprivate medical college, suchas the Durg based ChandulalChandrakar MedicalCollege, will be shifted.

Answering to a queryraised by Durg MLA ArunVora on Tuesday, he empha-sized that already all thegovernment colleges havespecific number of seatswithin the restricted limits

of infrastructure and ifadditional students areadded it would further putpressure on it. Ministerassured to protect the rightsof students as per norms.

Arun Vora had soughtdetails of total number ofseats in both governmentand private medical collegesin the state and in whichcolleges the zero-year wasdeclared due to lack of fac-ulty and other basic infra-structure and how manycolleges are linked with dis-trict hospitals. Is there anyplan to open Medical collegein 550- bed district hospital,Durg? He further asked.

Minister in the reply hadstated there are six govern-ment medical colleges havingtotal 770 seats and three pri-vate colleges having around

450 seats. Medical collegeRaipur has 118 post graduateseats, CIMS Bilaspur has 6post graduate and Jagdalpurhas 6 DNB seats.

He further stated that inyear 2017 GovernmentMedical College Ambikapurand Chandulal ChandrakarMemorial Medical College,Durg was declared zeroyear, in 2018, ChandulalChandrakar MemorialMedical College, Durg, ShriShankracharya Institute ofMedical Science, Bhilai andRaipur Institute of MedicalScience, Raipur and in year2019, Government MedicalCollege Ambikapur and

Chandulal ChandrakarMedical College Durg weredeclared as zero year.

Three district hospitalsof Raigarh, Rajnandgaonand Ambikapur are linkedto medical colleges, headded.

In Durg, as the pre-scribed 25-acre of land is notavailable, it will not be possi-ble to open a new college.

Former CM Ajit Jogiforwarded suggestion foradjusting zero year studentsto government colleges likein other states to save futureof students when state isalready facing shortage ofdoctors.


Industries and excise ministerKawasi Lakhma said as norms for

sending clinkers to other states arelaid down by the central govern-ment, the state has no control overit.

Meanwhile, Panchayat andRural development minister T SSinghdeo intervening said,Chhattisgarh is facing a loss ofaround `3000 crore as the GST isimposed not on point of productionbut on point of consumption.

BJP MLA Saurabh Singh soughtreply from minister over the NuvocoVistas Cement Plant, Arasmeta-based cement factory in Janjgir-dis-trict where around 75% of itsinstalled capacity of cement produc-

tion is taking place while the clinkeris being sent to states of Jharkhandand West Bengal, causing loss ofaround `300 crore, as per replygiven in the House.

The other members raising con-cern suggested that during GSTmeeting, state facing revenue loss

due to GST should be raised toprotect state’s due right.

Saurabh Singh raising asupplementary question sought toknow what steps the stategovernment will take to stop suchrevenue loss and asked thegovernment to take necessary steps.


Chief Minister BhupeshBaghel said that

country's fourth largest gemsand jewelry park, afterMumbai, Kolkata and Surat,will be established in capitalcity Raipur.

This park will beone-of-its-kind centre ofattraction for the entireworld. Chief Minister wasaddressing the 'AbhinandanSamaroh' organized byRaipur Sarafa Association.

Before that, ChiefMinister visited Rishabh DevMandir situated in SadarBazaar and prayed for peaceand prosperity in the state.

Chief Minister said that

this park would be devel-oped in nearly 10 lakh sq ftarea. It would be a 10-storey

well-equipped building withtwo thousand shops andproper security arrange-

ments. Baghel said that Sarafa

Association has deliberated

upon the design of thisbuilding. ChhattisgarhIndustrial DevelopmentCorporation officials havebeen sent to Kolkata to studygems and jewelry park there.Thereafter, these officialswill be sent to Mumbai forthe same purpose, so that thegems and jewelry park tocome up in Raipur turns outto be the best of its kind interms of facilities andfeatures.

Chief Minister thankedthe association for the warmwelcome and extendedgreetings of ConstitutionDay to all the people presentin the programme.

Chairman Raipur SarafaAssociation Harak Malu toldthat the association had

requested development ofgems and jewelry park inRaipur on November 13, andin the cabinet meetingchaired by Chief Minister onNovember 15, the requestwas approved.

Malu said that construc-tion of gems and jewelrypark will make Chhattisgarhthe hub of goldsmiths,refineries, cutting and pol-ishing, also employmentopportunities will be gener-ated for local people. On theoccasion, Raipur SarafaAssociation Chairman HarakMali,. Inderchand Dhariwal,Jitendra Barlota, TrilokBaradia, Mahendra Kocharand various office-bearers,members and prominentcitizens were present.

‘Difficult to say deaths causeddue to chronic kidney diseases’

‘Zero year’ medical colleges students willbe shifted if MCI, court permit: Minister

In Durg, asprescribed

25-acre of landis not

available, it willnot be possibleto open a new

college

Country's fourth largest gems &jewelry park to come up in Raipur

Members concerned over revenueloss on clinker shipments


School students in thestate will now get to

know more about preamble,fundamental duties, anddirective principles of theConstitution as they wouldmandatorily be taught thesein schools after prayer.

An announcementregarding the same wasmade by Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel in the stateassembly on the occasion of70th anniversary of theConstitution Day on

Tuesday.CM speaking on this

occasion said schools couldbe a better medium to con-vey the fundamental princi-ples of democracy. To makechildren more responsibleand in order to createawareness among them,preamble of Constitutionmust be taught everyMonday after prayer whilethe fundamental rights,fundamental duties anddirective principles shouldbe taught on second, thirdand fourth Mondaysrespectively, the CM said.


Chhattisgarh BJP state presi-dent Vikram Usendi has crit-

icized and condemned the stategovernment for its decision toprocure the paddy at the mini-mum support price (MSP) pre-scribed by the Centre instead of`2500 per quintal as promised.

He termed the state govern-ment’s announcement as a blackchapter in the history as itmarked breach of promise by thestate government.

The BJP leader said the stategovernment first delayed the pro-curement by one month, thenpromised to procure paddy at`2500 and then finally announcedthat the paddy would be procuredat `1815 and `1835 per quintal inthe state, which is a deceit tofarmers. The state government isindulging in political drama, hesaid, adding the formation of five-member ministerial committee to

explore how to pay balanceamount to farmers is just eyewash.

The BJP will stand for rightsof farmers and ensure that noinjustice is done to them, heclaimed. “The party is commit-ted to stand with the farmers andwill fight on the roads for farm-ers,” he said. He added that forprocurement of paddy at `2500per quintal, the party workerswill stage demonstration andcreate awareness among thefarmers across the state. Thedemand for 2 years of bonus aspromised before election willalso be raised, he added.

BJP to fight for rightsof farmers: Usendi

Salient features ofConstitution to betaught in schools

COA’s adhoccommittee tomeet todayRAIPUR: A meeting of the ChhattisgarhOlympic Association (COA)’s AdhocCommittee has been convened onNovember 27 at 11.30 am to discuss itselection, sports events and other issues at aprivate hotel.

According to information given byfounder member Bashir Ahmed Khan, thecommittee will hold discussion on prepara-tion for eligibility of sports associations forthe 2020 Goa National Games, winningmedals in senior men and women champi-onship for year 2019-20, financial aid/assis-tance from state government, recognitionto be provided to all sports associations(non-Olympic) but recognized by ministryof Sports and Youth Welfare, Governmentof India and election of the COA.

JJMPdeclaredunlawfulRAIPUR: State governmenton Tuesday declared theJ.J.M.P (Jharkhand Jan MuktiParishad) as unlawful organi-zation for a period of one year.

The notification was firstissued by deputy secretary,home department,Government of Chhattisgarh,under sub section (1) section3 of the Chhattisgarh ViseshJan Suraksha Adhiniyam, onNovember 13, 2018 declaringthe organisation unlawful.The notification is furtherissued to extend the ban,which will remain in force forone year in Chhattisgarh witheffect from November 15,2019.

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Muzaffarnagar: Three per-sons were arrested in connec-tion with the murder of a 35-year-old sadhvi, whose bodywas found in a field last week,in Uttar Pradesh'sMuzaffarnagar district onTuesday, police said.

The accused -- Baba KapasNath, Manjit and Umesh --were arrested from Bhokarhedivillage under Bhopa police sta-tion, they said.

During interrogation, theaccused confessed to havekilled Sadhvi Sunita Nath. Theytold police that the murder wasplanned by a MahantShankerdas of SikanderAshram who was embroiled ina property dispute with her,Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Abhishek Yadavsaid.

Mahant Shankerdas, andhis friend and another accusedManoj Kumar are absconding.A police team is on the look-out for them, he said.Nath's naked body was foundin a sugarcane field inBhokarhedi village onNovember 21, the police said. PTI

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Haryana Government willrun 128 buses from other

districts of the state toKurukshetra at 50 per cent con-cessional fare for the pilgrimsvisiting Kurukshetra duringthe celebrations of ongoingInternational Gita Mahotsav(IGM).

This facility will be pro-vided from December 1 to 10,Haryana Transport MinisterMool Chand Sharma said onTuesday.

He said directions havebeen issued to Panchkula,Amabala, Yamunanagar,Karnal, Kurukshetra, Kaithal,Jind, Panipat and Sonipatdepots of Haryana Roadways tooperate eleven buses each fromtheir respective destinationsto Kurukshetra. Similarly, twobuses each will operate fromSirsa, Hisar, Bhiwani, Rohtak,Charkhi Dadri, Narnaul,Jhajjar, Rewari, Gurugram,Fatehabad, Faridabad, Nuh andPalwal from their respectivedestinations or depots toKurukshetra. Thus, a total of

about 128 buses from all otherdistricts will be plied toKurukshetra during the IGM-2019.

He said buses will be oper-ated from 6 am to 8 am fromother districts to Kurukshetraand from 5 pm to 6 pm fromKurukshetra to their respectivedepots. Apart from this 50 percent of the fare will be borne bythe traveller and 50 per cent ofthe total fare given as conces-sion will be borne byKurukshetra DevelopmentBoard or the StateGovernment.

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The law student, who hasaccused former Union

minister SwamiChinmayanand of rape, was onTuesday stopped from appear-ing in her LLM third-semesterexamination due to low atten-dance, officials said.

The 23-year-old student,who had on Monday appearedin her first-semester back paperamid tight security, was notallowed by the MahatmaJyotiba Phule RohilkhandUniversity in Bareilly toappear for the third-semester

exam. She did not have the

required 75 per cent atten-dance, officials said.The lawstudent, accused of demandingextortion money fromChinmayanand, is presentlylodged in Shahjahanpur jail.

She was taken to Bareillyon Tuesday amid tight securi-ty for appearing in the exam,jailor Rajesh Kumar Raisaid.

The head of the law depart-ment of the MJP RohilkhandUniversity, Amit Singh saidthe law student had come togive her third-semester exambut she did not have the admitcard because of attendanceshortage.

Singh said that there wereno instructions from the courtto allow her to appear in theexam in case she did not have75 per cent attendance.

The woman, who wasstudying at Chinmayanand'sSwami Shukdevanand LawCollege, was given admission tothe Bareilly college on SupremeCourt's directions in order toensure that her education con-tinues.

The post-graduate studenthas alleged that she was phys-ically exploited by the 72-year-old BJP leader for over ayear.

Chinmayanand, sent tojudicial custody after his arrest,was booked under section376C of the IPC, which is usu-ally applied in cases where aperson abuses his position to"induce or seduce" a womanunder his charge to have "sex-ual intercourse not amountingto the offence of rape".

This is a lesser charge thansection 376, under which a rapeconvict faces a maximum pun-ishment of life imprisonment.The punishment under section376C is between five and 10years in jail.

The woman and three ofher friends have been arrestedfor demanding Rs 5 crore fromthe BJP leader.

New Delhi: Renowned cartoonist Sudhir Dhar, who had a longassociation with the Pioneer, died on Tuesday morning after suf-fering a cardiac arrest, his family members said. He was 87. Ina career spanning 58 years, Dhar's works graced several othernewspapers.

Dhar began his career with The Statesman in 1961 after whichhe moved to Hindustan Times. His cartoons have also appearedin The Independent, The Pioneer, Delhi Times, New York Times,Washington Post and Saturday Review among others. PNS

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Lucknow: Terming abrogationof Article 370 provisions andArticle 35A in Jammu andKashmir historic, UttarPradesh Governor AnandibenPatel on Tuesday said the movewas in accordance with thespirit of the Constitution.

She was addressing a spe-cial joint sitting of both hous-es of state legislature to com-memorate 70 years of adoptionof the Constitution even as theCongress boycotted the pro-ceedings alleging that the BJPwas "killing" the Constitution.

"Abrogation of Article 370provisions and Article 35 A inJammu and Kashmir is historicand according to the pledge inPreamble of the Constitution.Now same laws will be applic-able in the entire country. Thedream of 'ek desh ek vidhan, eknishan' (one country, one lawand flag) has been fulfilled," thegovernor said.

In August, Jammu andKashmir was bifurcated intoUnion territories -- Jammuand Kashmir and Ladakh -- inaccordance with the Centre'sannouncement revoking thestate's special status underArticle 370. The SP, BSP andother parties were present dur-ing the governor's address.Patel who spoke on the aimsand ideals of the Constitution,

stressed on the important roleof governments in achievingthis goal.

She also referred to the suc-cessful holding of major eventslike 'Kumbh Mela' and 'DevDeepavali' by the UP govern-ment and thanked the peopleof the state for their coopera-tion and also highlightedschemes like 'one district, oneproduct' (ODOP).

She also appreciated thegovernment for making thestate open defecation free(ODF). Patel said on this day(November 26) in 1949, theConstitution was adopted, andalso recalled Dr Bhim RaoAmbedkar's contribution in it.Upset over political develop-ments in Maharashtra,Congress leaders boycotted theConstitutional Day celebra-tions. "While the BJP is laud-ing the Constitution inside theHouse, it is killing the same inMaharashtra. We stand by theConstitution but protest itsmisuse," Congress legislativeparty leader Aradhana ShuklaMona told PTI. The partymembers also protested insidethe assembly premises beforecommencement of the session,carrying placards which read"Maharashtra mein lokrantra kihatya" (murder of democracyin Maharashtra). PTI

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The Corbett tiger reserve isfamous for its tigers and

elephants. However, in the nottoo distant future, rhinoceroswill also become part of thewildlife in this famous forestdestination. This is becauseUttarakhand will reintroducethe rhinoceros in Corbett tigerreserve on an experimentalbasis.

This and other decisionswere taken in the 14th meetingof the State Wildlife Boardchaired by Chief MinisterTrivendra Singh Rawat here onTuesday.

In a presentation made inthe meeting, it was stated thatthe geographical and ecolog-ical features of Corbett aresuitable for the rhino.

There is zero possibilityof human-wildlife conflictinvolving the rhino and this

herbivore also proves benefi-cial for other creatures.

Reintroduction of therhinoceros in Corbett willalso boost tourism activitiessubstantially. Consideringthis, the State Wildlife Boardapproved the experimentalreintroduction of the rhino inCorbett.

Officials informed thatfor this purpose, a crash of 10rhinos will be brought fromAssam and West Bengal forthe project costing �4 crore.

It was also decided in themeeting that a study will beconducted to ascertain themaximum carrying capacityfor tigers and elephants inRajaji national park.

Further, as in the case ofHimachal Pradesh, a propos-al will be sent by Uttarakhandto the centre for declaringmonkeys vermin.

It was also decided that

construction of route on thehistorical Gartang Gali trailin Gangotri national parkwill be undertaken whileretaining the original form ofthe trail which was used forthe Indo-Tibet trade.

It was also decided in themeeting that voluntary villageprotection force should beformed soon in vil lagesaffected by human-wildlifeconflict. The help of YuvakMangal Dal, Mahila MangalDal and Van Panchayatsshould be taken to stop theuse of illegal methods forcatching fish. Priority shouldbe accorded to provide solarlights and basic facilities liketoilets as per the regulationsin villages near protectedareas. Those resettled fromprotected areas to other loca-tions should enjoy the samerights they had on their ear-lier lands.

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Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Tuesday said

the Delhi Government has beenworking according to the prin-ciples of the Constitutiondespite facing obstacles. Hewas addressing students andteachers at the concluding cer-emony of the ‘Constitution at70’ campaign which was carriedout in all Government schools.

Kejriwal also spoke abouthow the Government hasensured parity through varioushealth and education initiatives.

“We launched the ‘FarishteDilli Ke’ scheme under whichthe Delhi Government bearsthe cost of treatment of accidentvictims. Every life is precious forus. “...We have given the rightto live to Delhi,” he said. Healso hailed Dr BR Ambedkarfor writing the Constitution fora diverse country like India.

“Electricity and water,being the basic necessities forsurvival, were available to someand not available to others inDelhi. In the last five years, wehave worked to provide 24-hour electricity to all the resi-dents of Delhi. Affordable elec-tricity is available to everyone,and free electricity is availableto poor people,” he said.

Kejriwal further said theConstitution mentions eradi-cation of poverty, but that can-not be achieved merely bywords. “We increased the wagesof the laborers in Delhi and

provided them �15,000 permonth as a salary for their sus-tenance. We have tried to erad-icate poverty by providingmeans of sustenance to every-body,” he added.

The Chief Minister saidAmbedkar read the constitu-tions of other countries andgave us such a ‘great’Constitution. “When Britishershad left the country, they hadsaid India will not be able tostay united. But India is stillunited and is progressingbecause of our Constitution,” hestressed.

If the principles of theConstitution are implementedproperly even for one day in thecountry, our country canbecome the number one coun-try in the world,” he said.

Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia said the valuesarticulated in the preamble ofour Constitution rightly direct

us to live harmoniously andmeaningfully with others as anation.

“In this three month cam-paign, lakhs of students andthousands of teachers exten-sively reflected upon the visionbehind the principles of liber-ty, equality and fraternity, beau-tifully articulated in the pre-amble of our constitution alongwith their violations and short-comings in our times. They alsoexplored the ways to meaning-fully live these principles fur-ther, as envisioned by thefounding fathers of our consti-tution,” he said.

Sisodia also announcedDelhi Government’s decision toinclude the preamble of theConstitution in the textbooks asthe first page, irrespective ofsubjects, so that children shallbe constantly reminded of theconstitutional values andinspired to live them.

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Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwarion Tuesday said his party has

got a “reality test” conducted toestablish the veracity of ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal’s claimthat there is no problem relatedto water quality in the city.

Tiwari also launched ahelpline number — 8980189801— during a Press conference,inviting complaints related towater quality from city residents.

He said the complaints willbe “used to create pressure” onthe Arvind Kejriwal govern-ment. He said people can alsosend complaints related to dirtywater to [email protected].

Claiming Delhi’s water ‘pol-luted’, hundreds of MinorityMorcha workers gathered atVikas Minar, ITO, against theAam Aadmi Parrty (AAP) gov-ernment for forcing the peopleof Delhi to drink contaminatedwater.

Carrying placards in theirhands shouted slogans againstthe Kejriwal government, sayingthe water in Delhi is contami-nated, give clean water to thepeople, if you are not able to givethen leave power.

Leader of Opposition (loP)in Delhi Legislative AssemblyVijender Gupta said that theKejriwal government has start-ed new politics in the countryregarding water.

“Chief Minister of Delhi isnot able to give clean water to thepublic, but to get rid of his fail-ures, he has many false accusa-tions on the basis of whichattempts are made to mislead thepublic,” said Gupta.

“Water is the most impor-tant element of life, but today thepeople of Delhi are forced todrink contaminated water. TheChief Minister has only onedepartment and that is the DelhiJal Board but he has also com-pletely failed to run it properly,”he said further.

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With Assembly election isround the corner, Delhi

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwalon Tuesday launched a mobilenumber — 9509997997 onwhich people can give missedcalls to associate themselveswith the party campaign for theupcoming election.

Kejriwal was speaking atthe event held to celebrate theseventh foundation day of theAam Aadmi Party (AAP). Hesaid in the last seven years, hisparty has changed the narrativeof politics in Delhi and due toit, the BJP is not able to do“Hindu-Muslim” politics in thenational capital but is forced totalk on issues of electricityand education.

“In these seven years, weproved that corruption-free

govt can be run. We wereaccused of working just forpoor; we were not in pockets ofAmbani and Adani. Weshowed that elections can befought with honesty,” he toldhis volunteers.

Launching the mobile num-ber, Kejriwal said, “Throughthis, the people are saying theycan connect with the party andopt to volunteer for us.”

Addressing volunteers,Kejriwal said, “Voting again forAAP does not mean you arevoting just for Kejriwal, you arevoting for 24-hour electricity,you are voting for good condi-tion of government schools,you are voting for free bus ridefor women”.

“It is an election of eachand every parent whose chil-dren studied in governmentschool, for every woman who

availed the facility of free travel for women and of thosewho wanted to change politicsof this country,” he said amidslogans of “I love Kejriwal” and“Delhi Bole Dil Se KejriwalPhir Se” Delhi Deputy ChiefMinister Manish Sisodia saidvolunteers should not get over-confident and continue work-ing tirelessly to ensure that theAAP wins.

Senior AAP leader SanjaySingh said “AAP is a ray ofhope in these times”. “We arenot a jumla party but a partythat does work,” he said.

Senior party leader GopalRai said in the upcoming elections, AAP volunteers must ensure that even thesecurity deposits of the BJPcandidates get forfeited.Assembly elections in Delhi aredue early next year.

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From Page 1Fadnavis said “right from

the day one” the BJP had beensaying it would not “poach”MLAs from other parties orindulge in horse-trading. “Wehad formed the Governmentafter the entire group of NCPMLAs had extended their sup-port to us (through Ajit).After Ajit resigned, I also decid-ed to put in my papers withoutindulging in any horse-trading.After this press conference, Iwill go to Raj Bhavan andhand over my resignation to theGovernor”.

While extending his bestwishes to the new three-partyGovernment, Fadnavis said, “Iam confident that the threeparties will make a good effortto run the Government. Butthis Government will collapseunder its own weight. This isbecause there are so many dif-ferences between them. … Isaw yesterday Sena leaderswere taking pledges in thename of Soniaji. I realised thatthese people can become sodesperate for power. Thesepeople have come togetherwith BJP hatao agenda only forthe sake of power.”

“The three parties havenot even drafted CommonMinimum Programme (CMP).When they came together, allthey had was CommonMaximum Programme to keepthe BJP out of power,” Fadnavissaid, while comparing the threeparty-front to an auto rickshaw- three wheels of which arepulling the vehicle in differentdirections.

Fadnavis, who incidental-ly is the second longest servingChief Minister of Maharashtraafter Vasantrao Naik,became the shortest serving

Chief Minister - of being in theoffice for just three days.Earlier, P K Sawant was theChief Minister for nine daysbetween November 25, 1963 and December 4,1963.

Meanwhile, later onTuesday afternoon,Maharashtra Governor BhagatSingh Koshyari appointedKalidas Kolamdakar wasappointed as the ProtemSpeaker of MaharashtraLegislature Assembly.

Subsequently, theGovernor administered theoath to Kolambhkar at a briefswearing-in ceremony at RajBhavan in Mumbai.

Kolambhkar will adminis-ter oath to 287 newly electedMLAs from 8 am onWednesday.

Chief Secretary AjoyMehta, Principal Secretary Lawand Judiciary RP Ladda andSecretary Parliamentary Affairsand Vidhan Bhavan, RajendraBhagwat were present on theoccasion.

Earlier in the afternoon,Congress leader and eight-time MLA Balasaheb Thoratwas elected as the CongressLegislature Party (CLP) at ameeting of party MLAs held atthe Hotel JW Marriot underthe chairmanship of AICCgeneral secretary in-charge ofMaharashtra MallikarjunKharge.

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From Page 1In his address to the joint

sitting, Modi said theConstitution has helped alarge segment of society toachieve equality and it hasstood test of time. PrimeMinister made a subtle refer-ence to the Emergency, whichwas imposed by then PrimeMinister Indira Gandhi, sayingcountrymen failed attemptstargeting the Constitution andthat it remained unwavering.

Modi said a special aspectof the Indian Constitution isthat it highlights both rights andduties of citizens.

“Let us think about how wecan fulfill duties enshrined inour Constitution,” Modi said. He said Gandhijihad well understood that therewas an unbreakable and bal-ance between rights and duties.Among the leaders who joinedthe protest were DMK’s T RBaalu, Shiv Sena’s ArvindSawant, TMC’s Saugata Roy andNCP’s Majeed Memon.

The RJD and the IUMLalso participated in the protests.Rahul and Congress generalsecretary Priyanka GandhiVadra also spoke on the occa-sion.

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Donald Trump’s top aidesmust comply with sub-

poenas to appear in theimpeachment investigationagainst the president, a USappeals court judge ruled.

In a case involving formerWhite House counsel DonMcGahn, who was subpoe-naed in May by the HouseJudiciary Committee, judgeKetanji Jackson ruled Mondaythat administration officialscannot claim absolute immu-nity from testifying based ontheir closeness to the US leader.

While Jackson ruled specif-ically on McGahn's case, shesaid it had broad application toall current and former presi-dential aides.

"Presidents are not kings,"Jackson wrote in her decision.

"No one, not even the headof the Executive branch, isabove the law."

She said Congress has thepower to subpoena any of thepresident's advisors, whetherthey are involved in domesticpolicies or sensitive nationalsecurity issues.

"It goes without saying thatthe law applies to former WhiteHouse Counsel Don McGahn,just as it does to other currentand former senior-level WhiteHouse officials," she wrote.

That ruling could open apath for the House Intelligence

Committee -- which is build-ing a case for impeachmentcharges against Trump -- toforce testimony from three topwitnesses: former nationalsecurity advisor John Bolton,White House Chief of StaffMick Mulvaney and Secretaryof State Mike Pompeo.

All are believed to havedirect knowledge of Trump'salleged demand that UkrainePresident Volodymyr Zelenskyopen investigations intoTrump's Democratic rival JoeBiden in exchange for a highprofile summit and much-needed military aid.

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Defense Secretary MarkEsper declared that

President Donald Trumpordered him to stop a disci-plinary review of a Navy SEALaccused of battlefield miscon-duct, an intervention thatraised questions aboutAmerica's commitment tointernational standards forbattlefield ethics.

Esper's commentsMonday were the latest twistin the case of Chief PettyOfficer Edward Gallagher,which led to a conflictbetween Trump and armedservices leaders over militarydiscipline. The dispute peakedover the weekend with the fir-

ing of Navy Secretary RichardV Spencer.

Gallagher was acquitted ofmurder in the stabbing deathof an Islamic State militantcaptive but convicted by a mil-itary jury of posing with thecorpse while in Iraq in 2017.

Esper initially favoredallowing the Navy to proceedwith a peer-review boardwhich could have resulted inGallagher losing his SEALstatus, but he said he wasobliged to follow Trump'sorder. Still, Esper also directed the Pentagon's legaloffice to review how servicemembers are educated in thelaws of armed conflict andtrained to wartime behavioralstandards.

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Pakistan's Supreme Courton Tuesday suspended the

three-year extension given tothe powerful Army chiefQamar Javed Bajwa tillWednesday and said the entireprocess was "upside down", ina blow to Prime Minister ImranKhan who cited "regional secu-rity environment" for his deci-sion to grant the top generalanother term in office.

The unprecedented moveby the apex court to suspendPrime Minister Khan's decisionon August 19 could raise thetension between the judiciaryand the powerful PakistanArmy. It also came just threedays ahead of 59-year-oldBajwa's retirement onNovember 29 as the Chief of theArmy Staff in his first stint.

"The entire process wasupside down. First, the Cabinetshould have given the approval,then the prime minister andpresident should have beenadvised," Geo News quotedChief Justice Asif Saeed Khosaas saying.

The petition againstBajwa's extension was filed bya person named Raiz Rahi, wholater field an application towithdraw it. However, the chiefjustice rejected his withdraw-al bid and took up the petitionas a public interest litigationunder Article 184, Pakistanimedia reported.

During the hearing, thechief justice said the govern-

ment notification on August 19mentioned an 'extension' whilethe notification issued by thePrime Minister's Office says thearmy chief has been 'reap-pointed'.

"As per rules, there is noauthority of extending armychief 's tenure or his reap-pointment. The governmentcan only suspend his retire-ment and the army chief hasnot retired yet," Khosa said.

The chief justice after sus-pending the government's noti-fication adjourned the hearinguntil Wednesday.

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Hong Kong’s deeply unpop-ular leader Carrie Lam

acknowledged on Tuesday thatpublic dissatisfaction with herGovernment fuelled a landslidewin by pro-democracy candi-dates in local elections, butoffered no new concessions toresolve months of violentprotests.

In China, state media soughtto downplay and discredit theweekend ballot that delivered astinging rebuke to the financialhub's pro-Beijing establishmentin what was widely seen as a ref-erendum on Lam's handling ofthe unrest.

The city's chief executivepledged to "improve governance"in the wake of the district coun-cil elections, which she acknowl-edged revealed concern over"deficiencies in the government,including unhappiness with thetime taken to deal with the cur-rent unstable environment."

In a rout that stunned thesemi-autonomous territory, can-didates campaigning againstgreater control by China seizedan overwhelming majority of 452elected seats in the city's 18 dis-trict councils, bodies that havehistorically been firmly in thegrip of a Beijing-aligned estab-lishment.

The result -- the first voteheld since protests engulfed thecity -- was a humiliating rebuketo Beijing and Lam, who hasdismissed calls for politicalreform and repeatedly suggest-ed that a silent majority sup-ported her administration.

In the wake of the polls, pro-democracy politicians havestepped up calls for Lam toaddress the movement's key

demands — such as direct pop-ular elections for the city's lead-ership and legislature, and aprobe into alleged police brutal-ity against demonstrators.

But in Tuesday's weeklypress briefing, she sidesteppedthose calls, denouncing the streetviolence and repeating an earli-er pledge to open a dialogue onthe unrest, a proposal that oppo-nents have dismissed as too lit-tle, too late.

Millions of Hong Kongers

took to the streets earlier this yearafter Lam's government intro-duced a bill to allow extraditionsto China's opaque judicial sys-tem.

Although it was eventuallywithdrawn under public pres-sure, the bill added fuel to grow-ing fears that Beijing was tight-ening its grip on the city,unleashing broader publicdemands for reform and leadingto violent clashes between policeand protesters.

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Officials at a Hong Konguniversity where police

and protesters clashed violent-ly a week ago said Tuesday theyhad searched the entire campusand found just one remainingholdout in a sign the campussiege may be near an end.

Hong Kong PolytechnicUniversity (PolyU) emerged asthe epicentre of the territory'sincreasingly violent protestmovement when clashes brokeout on November 17 betweenpolice and protesters armedwith bows, arrows and Molotovcocktails.

The standoff then quicklysettled into a tense stalemateduring which hundreds fledthe campus -- some attemptingto get out through sewer lines-- leaving a dwindling core ofholdouts.

But university officials saidtheir search turned up just one

remaining female protester."We have swept through

the whole campus systemati-cally and we found one pro-tester in the student unionbuilding," the university's vicepresident Wai Ping-kong toldreporters.

He said the individual wasover 18 and not a student at theuniversity. He gave no furtherdetails on her identity but saidthe university was trying toconvince her to leave.

As the standoff set in, itbecame a guessing game as tohow many protesters remainedsince they largely kept them-selves hidden in buildingsacross the campus.

The university sent inteams earlier on Tuesday tolook for holdouts, sealing doorswith tape after rooms hadbeen searched, but Wai saidofficials could not rule out thepossibility that other protestersremained hidden.

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A27-year-old femalePakistani journalist was

killed here on Monday alleged-ly by her husband, also a scribe,for not quitting her job.

The couple got married seven months ago but then the relations turnedsour soon, according to anFIR.

Urooj Iqbal was associatedwith a Urdu daily and wasentering her office situated inQila Gujjar Singh in centralLahore when her husbandDilawar Ali shot her in thehead, leaving her dead, DostMohammad, a senior policeofficer said.

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Goar Vartanyan, one half ofa legendary Soviet spy cou-

ple who helped prevent a Naziassassination of allied leaders inTehran in 1943, has died at age93.

Goar, who with her hus-band Gevork worked as a secretagent on numerous missionsabroad, died on Monday,Russia's SVR foreign intelli-gence service said.

She was to be buried atMoscow's prestigiousTroyekurovskoe cemetery, pos-sibly on Friday, SVR spokesmanSergei Ivanov told AFP.

Goar helped thwartOperation Long Jump -- a Naziplot to assassinate Joseph Stalin,Winston Churchill andFranklin Roosevelt at the firstmeeting between the "Big

Three" in Tehran in 1943.Born on January 25, 1926

in Gyumri in what was thenSoviet Armenia, Goar movedwith her family to Iran in theearly 1930s.

She joined an anti-fascistgroup at the age of 16 and even-tually worked with Gevork toexpose German agents.

When Hitler ordered theplot to kill the "Big Three" at aconference in Tehran, theirgroup reportedly followed Naziagents and exposed the plan.

The couple moved to theUSSR in 1951 and had a longcareer as secret agents.

The SVR -- one of the suc-cessor agencies to the Soviet-eraKGB -- said they were involvedin "active intelligence work" in"extreme conditions in manycountries" but did not provideany details.

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Pakistan has opposed India'scandidacy to the UN

Security Council's permanentand non-permanent membership, citing theKashmir issue.

Addressing the world bodyhere on Tuesday, Pakistan'sPermanent Representative tothe UN Munir Akram said, "at least one of the G4 does notin our view qualify for membership of the securitycouncil permanent or non-permanent."

The G4 nations comprisingBrazil, Germany, India, andJapan support each other's bidsfor permanent seats on theSecurity Council.

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Pakistan's Law MinisterFarogh Naseem

resigned on Tuesday to repre-sent the government in a caseregarding Army chief GenQamar Javed Bajwa's extensionin the Supreme Court, a seniorminister said after an emer-gency meeting of the Cabinet.

Addressing a Press con-ference after the meeting,Railways Minister SheikhRashid Ahmed said thatNaseem had tendered his res-ignation during the Cabinetmeeting.

"Prime Minister ImranKhan accepted Naseem's res-ignation," he said.

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Rescue crews with excavatorssearched for survivors

trapped in toppled apartmentbuildings Tuesday after a pow-erful pre-dawn earthquake inAlbania killed at least 16 peopleand injured more than 600.

The magnitude-6.4 quakewas felt across the southernBalkans and was followed bymultiple aftershocks, with sev-eral above magnitude 5. In near-by Bosnia, another temblor witha preliminary magnitude of 5.4struck southeast of the capitaland rattled Sarajevo. Therewere no immediate reports ofcasualties and only minor dam-age in that earthquake.

The quake in Albania col-

lapsed at least three apartmentbuildings while people slept, andrescue crews were working to freepeople believed trapped. Therewas no indication as to howmany people might still be buriedin the rubble. Local television sta-tions showed footage of a youngboy being pulled from a collapsedbuilding in the coastal town ofDurres, 33 kilometers (20 miles)west of the capital Tirana, after anexcavator moved a broken slab ofconcrete and local men pulledmangled reinforcement bars outof the way.

Hours later, live TV footageshowed people cheering asanother child was found alive ina collapsed building in Durreswhere a body had been foundearlier.

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There is now heightened awarenesson the crucial need for the worldto take action against human-induced climate change. Thisincludes initiatives by

Governments, businesses, civil society and,in general, the public at large. It was in 2011that the Intergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange (IPCC) brought out a special reporton Managing the Risks of Extreme Events andDisasters to Advance Climate ChangeAdaptation, which altered perceptions aboutclimate change. The public then understoodand associated with climate change, theincrease in frequency and intensity of extremeevents all over the world. While nationalGovernments have the prime responsibilityfor action under the Paris Agreement, thereis also a need for regional initiatives.

There are, no doubt, universal efforts onmitigating the emissions of greenhousegases (GHGs) and carbon dioxide in partic-ular. But some of the fundamental changesthat would be required to minimise the risksfrom the impacts of climate change in thefuture are not fully understood. Pope Francisin his message on the “World Day of Prayerfor the Care of Creation” stated: “It is also aseason to reflect on our lifestyles and howour daily decisions about food, consumption,transportation, use of water, energy andmany other material goods can often bethoughtless and harmful. Too many of us actlike tyrants with regard to creation.”

Lifestyles, unfortunately, across the globe,in both developed and developing countries,are being directed towards a monoculture ofexcessive consumerism and escalating gen-eration of waste. There are societies which areignoring their own historical and culturalroots, blindly embracing the lifestyles estab-lished in the developed world, particularly inthe US. There is a growing need for societiesto look within, pursue culturally consistentlifestyles through opportunities for cooper-ation among countries, which face similarproblems as a result of climate change.

Nature does not recognise geographicalboundaries. While sharing common cultur-al and geographical features, several nationsfail to see the common good in workingtogether to meet the serious challenge of cli-mate change. South Asia is one such region,which ignores this reality, leading to a neglectof poverty, which would be exacerbated withthe impacts of climate change.

The IPCC clearly stated in its fifthassessment report, “Climate change willamplify existing risks and create new risks fornatural and human systems. Risks areunevenly distributed and are generally greaterfor disadvantaged people and communitiesat all levels of development.” It also stated thatclimate change is projected to increase dis-placement of people and some would “expe-rience higher exposure to extreme weatherevents, particularly in the developing coun-tries with low income” along with increasedrisks of violent conflicts resulting from dri-

vers of these conflicts such aspoverty and economic shocks.South Asia could see an increasein these unfortunate trends.

South Asia has a shared cul-ture and history and high vulner-ability to climate change impacts.If we take only the landmassextending from Afghanistan tothe southern tip of India, exclud-ing Sri Lanka and the Maldives,this landmass is home to around1.75 billion people.

Regional impacts of climatechange, which are rapidly on theincrease, show that a decline inwheat productivity would varyfrom seven per cent for a 1.5oCincrease in temperature to 24 percent at 3oC. South Asia is vulner-able to extreme events, the fre-quency and intensity of which isincreasing. These would affecthuman health, security, liveli-hoods and poverty.

The IPCC identified anincrease in heat waves, heavy rain,floods and droughts, some ofwhich would lead to an increasein diarrhoeal disease, denguefever and malaria. The monsoon,which provides the bulk of watersupply for this region, will seefuture increase in precipitationextremes and in contrast a declinein productivity of rainfed agricul-ture in semi-arid areas. A largepart of the population in thecountries of South Asia lives inlow-lying coastal zones and floodplains, which leaves them vulner-able to sea level rise.

Since island States like SriLanka and the Maldives faceproblems somewhat different

from the landmass of SouthAsia, for the present, we mayinclude them in separate effortsinvolving adaptation and miti-gation initiatives. As yet inSouth Asia, the spirit of coop-eration even on issues of com-mon concern has been largelymissing. Given the high densi-ty of the population in thisregion, the large number ofhuman beings exposed to cli-mate change impacts is perhapshigher than in any other regionof the world.

South Asia has sufferedgrievously from terrorism,which has been fostered bysome countries as a part ofGovernment policy. It should beobvious that carrying on the das-tardly practice of terrorism alsoresults in serious and long-termdangers for countries that breedand support terrorism. If theyare serious about the welfare oftheir people, they have to movefrom terrorism to terra-ism.

There are, unfortunately,serious political differencesamong some of the countries ofthe region but given the com-mon challenge of climatechange, perhaps rising abovehostile and contentious issuethrough a programme of mutu-ally beneficial action would bein the interest of all. Such an ini-tiative should include adaptationmeasures in Afghanistan,Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,Nepal and Pakistan and cost-effective mitigation measures.

Developing country negotia-tors have argued for several years

under the United NationsFramework Convention onClimate Change (UNFCCC) for“common but differentiatedresponsibilities”, whereby the his-torically high emitters of GHGsare required to do much more inmitigating their emissions thanthose nations, which are on thethreshold of development.

There is also a rationale forthe developed nations to pro-vide financial resources to helpdeveloping countries as part ofcollective action to deal with cli-mate change. Unfortunately,the principles behind thesedemands have been forgotten bythe developed countries. Thenations of South Asia couldraise their collective voice forprojects to be funded by theindustrialised nations.

South Asia, with its excel-lent insolation and wind ener-gy potential, would be in aunique position to collaborateboth in scientific and econom-ic terms across national bound-aries. Can the leadership ofSouth Asia rise above currenttensions and political differencesto serve the interests of theirown deprived populations,which would be exposedincreasingly to the growingimpacts of climate change?Perhaps as a beginning, this sub-ject could be a serious area ofresearch and advocacy at therecently established South AsianUniversity.

(The writer is former chair-man, Intergovernmental Panelon Climate Change, 2002-15)

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Sir — As we witnessed theunfolding of drama and dilem-mas in the formation of a govern-ment in Maharashtra, we mustponder over BR Ambedkar’s pre-scient words on the adoption ofemergency provisions such asthe President’s Rule. He statedthat “every part of theConstitution” could be abused forpolitical purposes.

It is pointless to talk of moral-ity, Constitutional values andgubernatorial excess when noneof the players involved in themonth-long drama showed anyconcern for the very same prin-ciples and proprieties.

It was a naked power gamewhere all parties played theircards well. Dilly-dallying, delib-erate dalliance or deft design —put it in any way —proves theold adage that politics is an artof improbabilities and impossi-bilities.

J AkshobhayaMysuru

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Sir — Although the Home

Minister’s idea of compiling anationwide National Register ofCitizens (NRC) has its merits, oneis not sure whether the exercisewill actually help in identifyingillegal immigrants.

The implementation of theNRC in Assam has already raisedquestions about the Government’scompetence. Over 19 lakh people,many of whose families havebeen living in Assam for gener-ations, were excluded from the

final list. These administrativeflaws need to be addressed first.

While some argue thatrefugees and illegal migrants canbe a financial burden on a coun-try, the process of identifyingthem must not jeopardise therights of the Indian citizens. Thesituation in Assam should be alesson for the Government toexercise caution.

NR RamachandranChennai

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Sir — Union Home MinisterAmit Shah’s proposition of updat-ing the National Register ofCitizens (NRC) in Assam hasfinally been welcomed byHimanta Biswa Sarma, theFinance Minister of the State, onthe basis that there are shortcom-ings in the final list as of now. Itis disheartening to see that after

spending enormous resources,the exercise is being consideredunsatisfactory by the very peoplewho undertook it. When Shahproclaims that no person, nomatter what their religion, needsto be afraid, one wonders ifthese assurances are akin to theCentre’s repeated declarationsthat the situation in the KashmirValley is “normal.”

The NRC exercise in Assamhas led to the installation ofdetention camps for alleged ille-gal migrants. The eventual cre-ation of concentration campslike those in Nazi Germany doesnot seem impossible. There, thesegregation began with theGovernment demanding that allJewish people register their assetsexceeding a certain limit withauthorities. At that time, suchacts had been carried out underthe guise of nationalism.Considering the rise of Hindutvaand the enthusiasm for the imple-mentation of the NRC, one won-ders if atrocities similar to thoseof the Third Reich’s might berepeated here.

Bidyut Kumar ChatterjeeFaridabad

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Worldwide, gender diversity in the board-rooms is on the rise, as appointingwomen in leadership roles has tangible

and intangible gains for businesses. These ben-efits can be categorised into four sections:Financial performance; leveraging talent; reflect-ing the marketplace and building reputation;increasing innovation and group performance.

Women evaluate information differently,have a capability to deal with risk effectively andhave different insights into consumer behaviourwhen compared to men. This is particularly trueof industries where women are the primary pur-chasing agents and their perspective leads toimproved decision-making.

After all, women drive 70-80 per cent of allconsumer purchases through their buying powerand influence. In addition, women exhibit high-er levels of trustworthiness and cooperation. Notonly do they better address the concerns of cus-tomers, employees, shareholders and the localcommunity, they also tend to focus on long-termpriorities, thus improving boardroom dynamics.Having at least one women director on boardmakes a significant contribution to corporate gov-ernance, with several studies showing increasein attendance at meetings and improvement inCorporate Social Responsibility ratings.

Apart from this, women directors serve asrole models and therefore, improve femaleemployees’ performance and boost the firms’image and reputation. Several rating agencies andinvestment funds use the extent of genderdiversity as one of their investment criteria. Astudy by Boston Consulting Group and TechnicalUniversity of Munich also found that presenceof women in management teams can increaseinnovation significantly.

Finally, from the standpoint of public poli-cy, gender diversity is an important social valueand one that is consistent with equality.Notwithstanding these benefits, women still findit hard to reach the top. Globally, one-third ofbusinesses still do not have women in seniormanagement roles. At this pace, women will notreach parity with men until 2060.

In its most literal form, diversity is definedas “differences” and it becomes a purposeful,strategic direction once these differences are val-ued. On boards, diversity brings together indi-viduals with different backgrounds and a num-ber of benefits, including new ideas, better com-munication, debate and corporate governanceprocesses. Studies have shown that compared tohomogeneous groups, diverse groups exhibitincreased information search and a greaterrange of perspectives. Further, they generate morealternative solutions to problems.

Understanding the importance and relevanceof promoting gender diversity in the true sensein Indian corporate boards, it is critical to eval-uate what it takes to reach the board, that is, thehuman and social capital that help women reachapex positions. Gender diversity in the board-room is an issue that has received increased atten-tion both in academia and in the popular Pressduring the last decade. Studies concerning thepractice have been conducted in a number ofcountries, including the United States (US),Canada, the United Kingdom (UK), France, NewZealand, Australia, Spain, Jordan, Tunisia,Denmark, Iceland and Norway.

From a resource perspective, the board mem-bers’ contributions are typically based on their

human capital which can be defined asa combination of human resources, i.e.the knowledge and skills embodied inpeople, acquired over a number of yearsand the outcomes of the developmentof these human resources, throughcareer experience, learning and special-isation. Each director brings a uniqueset of human capital resources to theboard. Research on top managementteams shows that managers’ pre-exist-ing knowledge systems and repertoireof skills are derived from prior profes-sional experiences, which help explainand predict managerial inclinations,strategic choices, biases, and accom-plishments.

Here are some of the variables:Director education and experience:Human capital investment in educationand particularly advanced education isa starting point for development ofindependent thinking, a key facet ofrole requirements for non-executivedirectors. It is evident that minoritygroups can gain public and objectivecredentials through education, partic-ularly postgraduate qualifications,thereby levelling the playing field andcompensating for the effects of any dis-crimination and subjective bias inselection and promotion. Educationalqualifications are valued by the publicand employers can then benefit fromthe expertise and credibility of the edu-cational human capital of their staff anddirectors.

Reputation: Reputation is associ-ated with human capital derived frominvestments in education and other vis-ible individual attributes that stand asproxies for the actual capabilities of theperson. Individuals gaining director-ships are likely to have acquired repu-tational capital that signals competenceand reduced risk to the beholders whouse their social networks to select andappoint new directors. A noticeable fac-tor in the profile of women directors inthe Financial Times Stock Exchange

100 since the 1980s is that significant-ly more women than men, have titles,whether academic, aristocratic, civic orpolitical. There is also a preference inthe US for “branded women” directors,including those with a degree from IvyLeague universities, which signalsupper-class status to senior managers.The same could be said for the repu-tational capital value of degrees fromOxford and Cambridge universities inthe UK, which are well-represented inthe higher echelons of business andGovernment. Another facet of reputa-tional capital is the extent to whichdirectors appear in the Press and indirectories of well-known people. Asrole models, these high-profile womenoften make speeches or are featured inthe Press, so their names are likely tobe picked up by internet search enginessuch as Google.

Previous experience: Previously,women were more likely to work part-time or to settle for lower paid but con-venient jobs, and hence would be lesslikely to participate in on-the-job train-ing for more senior roles, as neither theynor their employers would gain a rea-sonable return on the investment intraining. But in recent times, womenhave invested in education, and adopt-ed a lifetime work pattern similar to thatof men. So today’s women workers areacquiring more senior-level experiencethan did previous generations andinequalities such as the gender pay gapare reducing, albeit slowly.

Hence all directors are expected tohave successful and relevant careerexperiences in their sectors and profes-sions before their appointment.However, given that women are oftenmore attracted to public and not-for-profit sector careers, it is also expect-ed that women directors’ work experi-ence human capital would be biased infavour of those sectors, in contrast totheir male peers. The human capital ofwomen directors could also be differ-

ent from their male peers in terms ofprofessional background, with moremale directors with career experiencein traditional “masculine” sectors wheremen comprise the majority of thoseemployed, such as engineering and sci-ence.

International work experience:Given recent trends in globalisation andthe increasing numbers of cross-nation-al mergers and acquisitions of manylarge corporations, it is expected thatinternational experience will play anincreasingly important role as directorsare being asked to monitor, govern andadvise on corporate activities andopportunities across a range of coun-tries and different national and businesscultures.

International experience is regard-ed as highly developmental as it buildson and integrates other related humancapital management experienceacquired in the home environment.However, it may be more difficult or lessattractive for women to acquire thisform of human capital as traditionallymen are more internationally geo-graphically mobile than women.

Human capital theory leads us toexpect that directors’ appointments arebased, in part, on the human capital(knowledge, skills, experience) they canprovide to the firms. Women have beenpresent in the full-time workforce formany years now. Hence, proper stepsneed to be taken to ensure that womenare not absent from corporate board-rooms and are not being used astokens when they are present there. Weneed to question ourselves to examineif women have failed to accumulate suf-ficient relevant human capital? If not,then what steps are being taken toencourage their growth and develop-ment in an organisation and make themacquire relevant experience to be onboards and contribute meaningfully?

(The writer is Assistant Professor,Amity University)

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In October, protests erupted on thecampus of the BalochistanUniversity. Even though the protests

were against the alleged harassment ofsome students by the university’sadministration, the renewal of studentunions also became one of thedemands. Recently, various youthactivists in Punjab and Sindh haveraised similar demands, with a solidar-ity march being planned on November29.

What’s more, Sindh’s ruling party,the PPP moved a resolution to restorestudent unions and this was adopted bythe Assembly on November 5. Studentunions were banned in Pakistan by theGeneral Zia dictatorship throughMartial Law Orders in February 1984.In his 2009 book Revisiting StudentPolitics in Pakistan, Iqbal Haider Butt

interviewed many former student lead-ers, most of whom became successfulpoliticians and journalists. Almost allof them lamented that the 1984 bannegatively impacted the quality ofpolitical leadership and participation.They said that at least two generationsof Pakistanis lost touch with howdemocracy worked and what it stoodfor when activities like electoral cam-paigning, participating in polls andnegotiating better academic and recre-ational facilities through student unions,were outlawed. Thus, generally speak-ing, those demanding a revival of stu-dent unions in this context, have a con-vincing case which can be favourablyargued with some compelling evi-dence. However, it is equally importantto understand that the nature of studentpolitics that culminated in a ban in 1984was largely a Cold War phenomenon.It cannot be reactivated in its originalshape in today’s changed scenario. Forexample, many forget that the ban wasrepealed in January 1989 by the firstBenazir Bhutto regime (1988-90). Butdespite the fact that elections for stu-dent unions were successfully held inPunjab’s many State-owned universities,

the venture soon collapsed on itself.Violence between student groups

had become pandemic in the 1980s.And when it flared up again after the1989 revival of student unions, a 1992petition against their restoration wasaccepted by the Supreme Court and in1993 it banned all political activity oncampuses. But whereas there had beenviolent protests by student groupsagainst the 1984 ban, none took placein 1993. One of the reasons for this wasthe erosion of the traditional forms ofstudent politics. This erosion was large-ly triggered by a new reality, in whichyoung people were increasingly optingfor privately-owned universities where-as much of the country’s customary stu-dent politics had been centred in State-owned educational institutions.

Those against the ban on studentunions had argued that the violence thathad engulfed campus politics in the1980s, had been largely due to Zia’s dic-tatorship and (after 1984) due to thecurbing of the students’ democraticrights. However, the court observed thatthe restoration of student unions in1989 had failed to stem violence and itcould only be checked with a blanket

ban on all political activities on cam-puses. Indeed, by the early 2000s, theviolence had greatly receded. But,again, the reasons were far more com-plex than simply the restriction orrestoration of student unions. Privately-owned (and apolitical) colleges and uni-versities had swelled and State-ownedones had become pale reflections ofthemselves. The memory of studentpolitics being just about violence entire-ly drowned the fact that, till the late1970s, it had been a vibrant democra-tic cornerstone on campuses.

Another reason for the attrition oftraditional student politics was the grad-ual disinterest of mainstream politicalparties, that had founded and fundeda majority of student outfits. With thedeclining influence of conventional stu-dent politics, the parties simply beganto use their student groups as props tobe exhibited at rallies, instead of beingtheir electoral extensions on campus-es. The fact is, the decline of student pol-itics in Pakistan was part of a univer-sal trend. Student politics and activismhad witnessed a peak globally in the1960s. But this peak had begun torecede from the mid-1970s onwards. In

Blood & Rage, Michael Burleigh writesthat one of the reasons behind the riseof student activism in the 1960s was thata large number of middle and lower-middle-class men and women hadbegun to enrol in colleges and univer-sities after the end of World War-II.

According to Burleigh, althoughmost European countries, the US andmany new post-colonial realms inAsia and Africa enjoyed economicbooms of one kind or the other in the1960s, their colleges and universitieswere not able to accommodate such alarge influx of students. This creatednumerous logistical and administrativeproblems that left students feeling dis-gruntled and angry.

Burleigh writes that many studentschannelled this anger through radicalpolitical ideologies, mainly those of theLeft. By the 1970s, and due to the grad-ual disillusionment towards Left-lean-ing ideas, similar feelings of disgruntle-ment began to be expressed throughrightest gesticulations. However, asconditions in educational institutionsbecame more accommodating, and, incase of Third World countries, privatecolleges and universities swelled, these

eventually rendered traditional 20th-century student politics obsolete.

Yet, in Pakistan — from 2007onwards — and also in many othercountries, there is once again a clearfeeling of restlessness among the youth.Indeed, one can explain this as govern-ments and educational institutions areonce again falling short of accommo-dating the changing socio-politicalneeds of another generation. But thoselooking to revive organised student pol-itics will have to apply brand new strate-gies and offer newer models instead ofthe ones that have become obsolete dueto the reasons already discussed.Whatever the newness in this contextis, or can be, it will have to get the atten-tion of mainstream centres of power.And, on a lighter note, it cannot sim-ply rely on the many meaningless newbuzzwords that have been flying fromleft to right (and vice versa) on socialmedia; and/or terms that have actual-ly trivialised even the most urgent andalarming issues. They have simply“gamified” radicalism. So, the first stepin this context should be to become avoice taken seriously, and not just noise.

(Courtesy, Dawn)

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Once being the only secondChief Minister in Maharashtra

to complete the full five-year term,BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis nowholds the dubious distinction ofbeing the CM with the shortesttenure of four days in the last 59years, a downhill journey whichunderlines transient nature of politics.

On Tuesday afternoon,Devendra Gangadharrao Fadnavis,49, resigned from his post, onlythree days after he made a dramat-ic comeback as the Chief Ministerfor a second term with the supportof NCP leader Ajit Pawar, who hadbroken ranks with his parent partyto lend support to the BJP.

However, what was supposed tobe a dream run for Fadnavis cameto an abrupt end in afternoon afterAjit Pawar stepped down as deputyCM, exposing the BJP’s claim thatit had majority in the 288-member

Assembly.Earlier P K Sawant held the

record of being the MaharashtraCM with the shortest term-- fromNovember 25 to December 4, 1963.He was made the caretaker chiefminister after the death of his pre-decessor Marotrao Kannamwar.

Fadnavis’ previous term as thechief minister lasted from October31, 2014 to November 12, 2019,making him only the second CMafter Vasantrao Naik of theCongress to last the full five-yearterm.

The second tenure of Fadnavislasted from November 23 toNovember 26, 2019.

The four-day-old BJP-ledGovernment collapsed on the eve ofthe supreme court-ordered floor testin the Assembly, after Ajit Pawarquit as deputy CM citing “person-al reasons”.

Fadnavis too resigned whileadmitting that the BJP had lostmajority in the House.

The collapse of the nascentgovernment capped the month-long uncertainty in Maharashtrapolitics, which witnessed manytwists and turns since the results ofthe Assembly elections weredeclared on October 24.

Fadnavis remained CM tillNovember 8, as the tenure of the13th Legislative Assembly hadended.

He submitted his resignation onNovember 8 and changed his twit-ter bio to “caretaker” Chief Ministerof Maharashtra.

�� 3�4.*

An effigy of Abu Asim Azmi, chiefof the Maharashtra unit of the

Samajwadi Party, was burnt inBhiwandi town near here to protest theparty’s decision to support Congress-NCP-Shiv Sena alliance to formGovernment.

Protesters also put a garland ofshoes around an effigy of local SPleader Raees Sheikh, MLA fromBhiwandi East during the incident onMonday night.

The protesters shouted slogansagainst Azmi and the SP, for “betray-

ing” voters from the minority com-munity. Kumbharwada police arrest-ed one person in connection with theprotest on Tuesday.

When contacted for reaction,Azmi, MLA from Mankhurd here,said, “It was necessary to extend support to Sena-NCP-Congress in the State, because ourprime objective is to keep the BJP outof power.”

He had discussed the issue withsenior SP leaders, Azmi said, addingthat those who protested his decisiondid not know the political situation.

Mumbai: Senior BJPleader Eknath Khadseon Tuesday dubbedAjit Pawar’s resigna-tion as Deputy ChiefMinister ofMaharashtra a “facesaving act”.

Bringing anoth-er twist in the see-sawing political drama in Maharashtra,NCP leader Ajit Pawar, who had joinedhands with the BJP and took oath asdeputy CM on November 23, steppeddown from his post.

The development resulted into thefour-day-old BJP-led Government losingits majority and Chief Minister DevendraFadnavis resigning on Tuesday afternoon.

“Ajit Pawar stepping down as DeputyChief Minister is a face saving act. Itwould have been more humiliating forAjit Pawar had he waited for tomorrow’sfloor test in the Maharashtra Assembly.It was expected that he (Ajit Pawar) wouldquit today,” Khadse told reporters.

The senior BJP leader, who is in polit-ical wilderness for last four years, said hisparty and the Shiv Sena should have ami-cably resolved the issues between them,

post the verdict of theOctober Assembly elec-tions.

“Had they foundsome solution, it wouldhave been better forMaharashtra,” Khadsesaid apparently refer-ring to the Sena and BJPparting ways over the

former’s demand for the Chief Minister’spost.

A known detractor of Fadnavis,Khadse said he was not aware whetherthe promise of sharing the CM’s post forequal term was made to the Sena by theBJP.

“I feel finding a solution (for thestand-off between the BJP and the Sena)was not an impossible thing,” he said.

Ajit Pawar had supported BJP asleader of the 54-member NCP legislatureparty and with his resignation earlier inthe day, the Government has lost major-ity.

Addressing reporters, Fadnavis said,“We don’t have majority after Ajit Pawar’sresignation as Dy CM. I will be submit-ting my resignation to Governor after thismedia briefing”. PTI

�� 3�4.*

Maharashtra Congress pres-ident Balasaheb Thorat

has been elected as the party’slegislature wing leader, theCongress said on Tuesday.

AICC general secretary in-charge for MaharashtraMallikarjun Kharge made theannouncement at a meeting ofthe party MLAs held at a hotelhere.

“The Congress president(Sonia Gandhi) has approvedthe name of Balasaheb Thoratas the Congress LegislatureParty leader in the MaharashtraLegislative Assembly,” Khargetold the MLAs.

Thorat is an eight-termMLA and currently heads theMaharashtra Pradesh CongressCommittee.

The Congress has tied-upwith the NCP and Shiv Sena to

form Government inMaharashtra.

The Supreme Court onTuesday directed that the floortest for Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis to prove hismajority in the MaharashtraAssembly be conducted onWednesday.

It also directed GovernorKoshyari to ensure that allelected members of the Houseare sworn in on Wednesdayitself.

The apex court also saidthat the entire proceedingshave to be telecast live. Votingin the Assembly shall not be onthe basis of secret ballot, it said.

Mumbai: Floral tributes were paid onTuesday to those who laid down theirlives while fighting Pakistani terroristswho had attacked Mumbai on this day11 years ago.

Maharashtra Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis was among thedignitaries who paid homage at the26/11 police memorial site at MumbaiPolice Gymkhana in south Mumbai.

“I pay homage to the brave police-men who fought for Mumbai’s safetyand laid down their lives for us on26/11. We are proud of them and wewill strive hard for the safety and secu-rity of our state,” Fadnavis said.

Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyarialso paid tributes to the martyrs.

State Chief Secretary Ajoy Mehta,Director General of Police SubodhKumar Jaiswal, Mumbai Police

Commissioner Sanjay Barve, and fam-ily members of the policemen who losttheir lives during the attacks were alsopresent during the ceremony.

On November 26, 2008, 10Pakistani terrorists arrived by searoute and opened fire indiscrimi-nately at people killing 166, including18 security personnel, and injuring

several others, besides damaging prop-erty worth crores.

The then Anti-Terrorism Squad(ATS) chief Hemant Karkare, ArmyMajor Sandeep Unnikrishnan,Mumbai’s Additional PoliceCommissioner Ashok Kamte, SeniorPolice Inspector Vijay Salaskar andAssistant Sub-Inspector (ASI)Tukaram Omble were among thosekilled in the attack.

The attacks had begun onNovember 26 and lasted till November29. The Chhatrapati Shivaji MaharajTerminus, the Oberoi Trident, the TajMahal Hotel, Leopold Cafe, CamaHospital and the Nariman HouseJewish community centre, nowrenamed Nariman Light House, weresome of the places targeted by the ter-rorists. PTI

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In a joint operation with UttarPradesh forest division, five

sloth bear were seized fromwildlife traffickers and later trans-ferred to the Agra Bear Rescuefacility for required medical treat-ment by Wildlife SoS on Tuesday.

According to Wildlife officials,these bear were intended for saleto other middleman by traffickers.

Surprisingly, organ of bearsare used in making of Chinese tra-ditional medicine. “Bear bile, gallbladders and other body parts areused in Chinese traditional med-icine and make the bear a vul-nerable target for this reason,” saida member of rescue team.

Elaborating the condition ofthese animals, an official saidthat the offenders had alsosmashed the teeth of the bearswith metal rods and mutilated themuzzles to insert a rope to train

the bears for street performance.”“By the timely rescue of thesebears, they have been saved fromtrafficking and a lifetime of tor-ture,” he added.

Initially these bears wereplaced under temporary care and treatmentinitially at Bhagwan BirsaZoological Park in Ranchi how-

ever following the orders fromChief Wildlife Wardens ofJharkhand and Uttar PradeshForest Departments, the bearshave been transferred to the 165acre Agra Bear Rescue Facility, thelargest bear rehabilitation centerin the world for this species, runby Wildlife SOS in collaborationwith Uttar Pradesh Forest

DepartmentDr. S. Ilayaraja, Deputy

Director of Veterinary Services atWildlife SOS said, “Our first pri-ority is the health of the bears andto provide them intensive veteri-nary care. Every bear will be sub-jected to a detailed veterinaryhealth examination.”

Kartick Satyanarayan, Co-founder and CEO Wildlife SOSsaid, “The timely intervention bythe enforcement authoritieshelped to rescue these bears frompoachers. Sloth bears are targetedby poachers for their body partsand to be traded as live animals forstreet performance. Poachers takeadvantage of porous internation-al borders to move wildlife con-traband and live animals across &conceal themselves in remoteareas. Sloth bears are a vulnerablespecies and poaching species fromthe wild severely impacts the wildpopulation.”

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Hours after MamataB a n e r j e e

announced regularisa-tion of refugee coloniesboth on private andG o v e r n m e n t lands peopleliving in the refugeecamps in North 24Parganas and Nadiaerupted in joy thanking theBengal Chief Minister for providing them some defenceagainst what they called “dread-ed” National Register forCitizens.

Hundreds of people atBongaon and Thakurnagar inNorth 24 Parganas andHanshkhali-Ranaghat in Nadiaexpressed their gratitudetowards the Chief Minister forproviding them “place of permanent residence” decadesafter they migrated to Bengalfrom the other side of the bor-der.

Millions of people hadmigrated to Bengal postIndependence and particular-ly in and around theBangladesh war in the wake ofpersecution.

Banerjee earlier had saidthat attempts would be madeby her Government to regu-larise refugee colonies on pri-vate and Government lands —

including those owned even bythe Central Government.

She said that such peoplewould be provided with pattasor land deeds and rights by herGovernment. Coming againstthe backdrop of the Centre’sannouncement that the NRCwas inevitable in Bengal as itwould be carried out through-out the country.

“We were under tremen-dous pressure ever since theCentre announced that theNRC is inevitable in Bengal.We are born and brought uphere, doing government jobs,giving votes but are now facedwith the prospect of beingevicted. The land deed willprovide us with some reason toclaim citizenship,” said middle-aged Nirmal Basak of Bongaon.

The State Government hadearlier regularized 94 refugeecolonies which were on stategovernment land, she said aftera Cabinet meeting.

�� 6/�.�.

Hours after Maharashtra dramareached its climax with Chief

Minister Devendra Fadnavis ten-dering his resignation as his partyBJP fell far short of the magic fig-ure, Bengal Chief Minister onMonday slammed the “Governors”for failing to act constitutionally.

In a loaded remark Banerjeesaid she was aware of the historyoffreedom struggle and knew thatIndependence was won at thestroke of midnight but “I haveheard of freedom of midnight but Inever heard of a situation when aGovernment is formed in the midnight,secretly… When there is no majoritythen why he is called … the politicalparties and MLAs concerned shouldhave asked whether letters of supportthus presented were genuinely given bythem.”

Wondering why the MaharashtraGovernor called Fadnavis to form aGovernment without speaking to theother parties Banerjee said “Governoris a constitutional post and should …the dignity of this post should be pre-served and maintained.”

Apparently the Chief Minister’sacerbic remarks tended to come in thebackdrop of the deteriorating chemistrybetween Nabanna (State secretariat)and the Raj Bhavan in Bengal with theruling outfit and its senior ministersregularly attacking the BJP, CentralGovernment and the Governor for“running a parallel Government inBengal.” Both the “It’s a federal struc-ture. Central and State Government’sare elected by the people and have theirrespective place in the Indian consti-

tution. They have their own limitswhich should not be violated.

They should not violate theConstitution,” Banerjee said addinghow the Central Government hadbeen regularly interfering in the State’sbusiness.

Making a veiled reference to StateGovernor Jagdeep Dhankhar, the ChiefMinister said “I know who sent himhere and why… I know on what pur-pose he is working here. Whose cut outwill be used where and why is alsodecided by you.”

Incidentally in a rare occurrence(on Constitution Day) — catching theeyes of all and sundry present at theAssembly House — both the Governorand Chief Minister came nose to nosetwice but refused to acknowledge eachother’s presence, let alone exchangingpleasantries.

The two constitutional posts havebeen at loggerheads for the past cou-ple of months with the State Governorregularly complaining against theGovernor’s alleged attempt to interferein the affairs of the State and “runninga parallel Government.”

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The war of nerves being foughtbetween Tamil Nadu Government

and a retired officer of the Indian PoliceService saw the opening of yet another battle front in the MadrasHigh Court on Monday.

AG Ponn Manickavel, InspectorGeneral of Police, Idol Wing (CID) ofthe Tamil Nadu who retired from ser-vice on November 30, 2018 on reach-ing the age of 60 but was appointed bythe Madras High Curt as the Officer onSpecial Duty for a period of one yearto complete the probe into the case ofmissing temple idols had approachedthe court citing the impedimentsbeing created by the Tamil NaduGovernment from preventing him tofunction independently and requestingfor an extension of his tenure by twoyears.

A Bench consisting of Justice RMahadevan and P D Audikesavalu toldthe officer on Monday to wait till theSupreme Court takes a decision as theTamil Nadu Government has filed a pleabefore the apex court requesting for adirective to Manickavel to hand over thecharge and details of the idol missingcases to Abhay Kumar Singh, the addi-tional director general of police. TheSupreme Court had asked theAdditional Advocate General BalajiSrinivasan to request the Madras HighCourt to adjourn its proceedings tillDecember 2 when the former is sched-uled to hear the plea by Tamil NaduGovernment.

The Government of Tamil Nadu, topreempt any move by Manickavel toseek extension of his tenure as Special

Officer had directly approached theSupreme Court last week asking for adirective to the officer to hand over thecharges to the ADGP.

Manickavel, who is supported bythe devotees because of his stern anduncompromising stance against polit-ical pressure has already traced manyidols which were stolen from the tem-ples under the Hindu Religious andCharitable Endowment Department ofthe Tamil Nadu Government. Morethan 5,000 antique idols dating back tothousands of years have gone missingfrom the temples of the State since 1967.Some of them found their way to pri-vate art museums across the globe.

Manickavel, in his petition to theMadras High Court had stated that theState Government with the active con-nivance of the Director General of Policewas creating all kind of obstacles to pre-vent him from going ahead with theinvestigation into the missing idols.

“Interestingly, the AIADMK and theDMK are on the same side of this caseas both the parties want Manickavel tobe out from this investigation. Itshould be noted that a joint commis-sioner of HRCE was arrested by PonManickavel in the case of a missing idoland the department employees went ona day’s strike against the arrest. Thisshows that the HRCE department itselfis hand in glove with the perpetratorsof the crime,” said T R Ramesh, presi-dent, Temple Worshippers Society.

Parthasarathy, an entrepreneurbased in Sreerangam said that the gov-ernment was not comfortable withManickavel’s investigation as it wasafraid that the probe may reach its owndoorsteps.

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Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath onTuesday vowed to return “everysingle paisa” of the State powerfirm employees’ provident fundafter confiscating properties ofthose behind the scam ofinvesting the money in taintedDHFL.

“We will not let the inter-est of any employee be harmed.The properties of all thoseinvolved in this scam will beconfiscated and every singlepaisa of each and every employ-ee will be returned,” the ChiefMinister said.

Adityanath made thepromise while addressing aspecial session of the state leg-islative council, convened tomark 70 years of the adoptionof the Constitution. “No onewill be allowed to go scot free.The Government has said it andwill do it,” he asserted.

Talking about the formermanaging director of the UPPower Corporation Limitedarrested for his alleged role inthe scam, Aditynath said, “Themastermind of the PF scam wasa favourite officer of the previ-ous (SP) Government. Ourgovernment has put himbehind bars.” PTI

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Mumbai: When Sharad Pawaraddressed a rain-soaked rally inMaharashtra’s Satara during cam-paigning for the October 21Assembly polls, few thought thatthe 79- year-old would be the dri-ving force behind the newGovernment.

With the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress all set to assume powerin Maharashtra, the patriarch ofthis unlikely anti-BJP combine isthe one left smiling, having out-witted stalwarts from the BJPcamp.

Having brought his party outof a virtual existential crisis ahead

of the Assembly polls, Pawar’sefforts suffered a setback, albeitmomentarily, when nephew AjitPawar shocked him by aligningwith the BJP to form theGovernment.

That regime lasted just 80hours, before Ajit quit as DeputyCM citing personal reasons, leav-ing Devendra Fadnavis, into hissecond stint as the CM high anddry. Within hours, Fadnavis alsoquit, paving way for the non-BJPcombine to assume reins of theState.

With the NCP hit by multipledesertions ahead of the

Maharashtra polls, Sharad Pawarassumed charge of the campaignand traversed the State.

His efforts paid off, with theparty winning 54 seats, 13 morethan its 2014 tally in the 288- mem-ber House.

A dauntless Pawar was instru-mental in stitching the unlikelyalliance with rival Shiv Sena toform a Government in theState to keep the BJP away from

power.Pawar has been a Defence

Minister, opposition leader in theLok Sabha and three-timeMaharashtra Chief Minister in a

career spanning 52 years in elec-toral politics.

He was a member ofMaharashtra Legislative Assemblyand the Lok Sabha for seven timeseach.

At 27 he was already a legisla-tor in the Maharashtra Assembly,and at 38 he managed to pull downthe Congress Government in thestate.

Pawar shot to fame in 1978when he dislodged the thenVasantdada Patil dispensation inthe state to form a Governmentwith the Janata Party. He was only38 at the time and is Maharashtra’s

youngest Chief Minister till date.He went on to become chief

minister of the State two moretimes, from June 1988 to June 1991and from March 1993 to March1995.

Pawar served as defence min-ister from June 1991 to March1993. He parted ways with theCongress in 1999 over party pres-ident Sonia Gandhi’s foreign ori-gin issue and formed the NCP thesame year.

The Congress and NCP cametogether after the 1999 Assemblyelection in Maharashtra to formGovernment in the State. PTI

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Anewly elected ViceChairman of the Block

Development Council, Doorualong with an employee of theAgriculture Department wereboth killed while four othersreceived injuries in a major ter-ror strike, aimed at derailingflagship program ‘Back toVillage’ of Rural DevelopmentDepartment in Anantnag dis-trict on Tuesday.

In a second grenade attack,which took place outside one ofthe gates of Kashmir Universityin Srinagar, at least five civiliansreceived injuries while panicstricken local shopkeepersdowned their shutters after theattack.

Meanwhile, the joint teamsof security forces early Tuesdaymorning recovered anotherdead body of a slain terroristfrom the encounter site inPulwama. The encounter tookplace between the joint teamsof security forces and the hid-

ing terrorists late Mondayevening.

According to police, “In aterror incident at Hakura,Anantnag, 2 civilians got seri-ously injured who later onsuccumbed to their injuries onTuesday”.

Official sources claimed,“large number of local vil-lagers along with panches and

sarpanches and several gov-ernment employees wereattending the ‘back to village’ programme atPanchayat Ghar in Hakooraarea of Anantnag when terror-ists lobbed grenades to targetthem”.

Local reports claimed, fir-ing was also reported in thearea but till the time of filing

the report the police hasnot issued a detailedincident report.

Official sourcessaid, “Sheikh Zahoor,an employee of the agri-culture department andSyed Rafiq, ViceChairman of BlockDevelopment Council,Dooru were killed inthe terror attack whilefour others receivedinjuries”.

In Srinagar, largenumber of people werestanding near Sir Syedgate of KashmirUniversity on Tuesday

morning when the grenadeattack around 1.10 p.m shat-tered window panes of severalvehicles and shops in the area.

In Pulwama, police identi-fied the two terrorists killed inthe encounter as Irfan AhmadSheikh & Irfan Ahmad Rather.They were both affiliated withproscribed terror outfit HizbulMujahideen.

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Jammu & Kashmir LieutenantGovernor GC Murmu on

Tuesday asked the police chief tostrengthen security of shrinesacross the Union Territory fol-lowing an attack on the Dargah ofMir Syed Mohammad Hamdani inTral area of south Kashmir.

The Sufi shrine, adjacent to alocal mosque at Kounsarbal(Krusbal) Mohalla in the Old TralTownship, was allegedly set ablazeby miscreants on the interveningnight of November 25-26.

According to police, the struc-ture was partially damaged andsome window panes and mattingwere charred by the time the firewas put out.

Condemning the attack bycalling it “cowardly”, the LG saidsuch acts are designed to arousepassion among the people and

hurt their sentiments but they willnot be tolerated, an officialspokesperson said.

He said that the perpetratorsof the heinous act will not bespared and shall be brought to jus-tice, he added.

Police have registered a caseand launched a manhunt to nabthe culprits, the spokespersonsaid.

Murmu has appealed to thepeople to maintain peace andcalm and not get swayed byrumours.

The LG has further directedthe Director General of Police(DGP) to strengthen the securityof shrines across J&K.

He has also asked theDivisional Commissioner ofKashmir to take immediate mea-sures to restore the vandalised Sufishrine to its original pristine con-dition, the official said.

New Delhi: Train services in the Srinagar-Banihal sectionof Kashmir Valley has resumed fully, more than threemonths after it was suspended due to security reasons, therailways said on Tuesday. A limited passenger service oftwo pairs of Trains between Srinagar-Baramulla was start-ed between 10 am to 3 pm with effect from November 12.Later, two more pairs of train services were allowed to oper-ate between Srinagar and Banihal from November 17.

Sixteen services are presently running in the Valley,the railways said, adding the duration of train services havebeen increased from five hours to nine hours -- 8 am to5 pm. Further, the Srinagar-Banihal section has beenrestored to its normal speed of 100 kmph. The resump-tion of services came after days of trial runs.

“The Railways has restored train services to benefitthousands of local commuters to travel by train over theentire area between Baramulla and Banihal (138 km). Thedecision to re-start train services in Kashmir Valley wastaken after due security audits and assurance byGovernment Railway Police, Jammu and Kashmir,” the rail-ways said. Train services in the Valley were suspended onAugust 3, ahead of the Centre’s decision to abrogate spe-cial status to Jammu and Kashmir given under Article 370of the Constitution and divide it into two Union territo-ries. PTI

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Ending an over 12-hour-long standoffwith devotees opposing the entry of

women in the menstrual age group intoSabarimala temple, a team of genderrights activists led by Trupti Desai onTuesday night called off their decision tovisit the hill shrine of Lord Ayyappa.

Desai announced the decision to goback to Maharashtra after police, citingsecurity reasons,denied them protectionamid protests by devotees, members of aright wing outfit and BJP here, againsttheir entry into the shrine.

We had discussions with the policeofficers of the Kochi police commission-erate. Police told us that there is a threatto our life and will be insecure here.

So we decided to go back but we willreturn to Sabarimala. We will continue ourfight,” Desai told reporters.

She also condemned the attack onactivist Bindu Ammini, allegedly by aHindu right wing activist outside the officeof the commissionerate.

Desai reached here early Tuesdayalong with five others to proceed to theSabarimala temple to offer prayers.

She had announced that she wouldleave Kerala only after visiting Sabarimala.

The Kerala government dubbedDesai’s attempt to visit Sabarimala as a“conspiracy”.

As soon as the team of activists land-ed at the airport here, they went to the citypolice commissionerate seeking protectionto proceed to the hill shrine.

However, police declined to grant pro-tection to them, citing the recent SupremeCourt decision to review its 2018 orderpermitting women in all age groups intoSabarimala.

A large number of Ayyappa devotees,activists of the BJP and Sabarimala KarmaSamiti gathered outside the commission-erate chanting ‘’Ayyappa Saranam’’ mantrasprotesting against Desai’s visit.

Activist from Kerala, Bindu Ammini,who had joined Desai’s team at the airport,was attacked by a right wing group mem-ber using pepper spray when she came out

of the office of the commissioner to takesome papers from their vehicle, policesources said.

Visuals aired by TV channels showedher being attacked. The man identified asSrinath Padmanabhan has been arrested,police said. He has been charged with anon-bailable offence, they added.

Ammini, who was admitted to the

general hospital here, has been dischargedafter treatment, her lawyer said.

The agitators ended the protest fol-lowing assurances from police officials thatthe women activists would not be givenprotection to visit the temple.

The Pune-based Desai had made anunsuccessful attempt to enter the templein November last year, weeks after the

Supreme Court lifted the ban that pre-vented women and girls between the ageof 10 and 50 from entering the famousshrine.

Scripting history, Ammini andKanakadurga were the two womenactivists who had offered prayers at theSabarimala Ayyappa temple in January fol-lowing the apex court order of Septemberlast year.

Reacting cautiously, the CPI(M)-ledLDF Government condemned the attackon Ammini but made it clear that nowomen in the age group of 10 and 50would be given police protection to climbthe holy hills unless they get an order fromthe Supreme Court in this regard.

Kerala Devaswom MinisterKadakampally Surendran alleged con-spiracy behind Desai’s decision to visitSabarimala.

“The government suspects a conspir-acy behind Trupti Desai’s decision to goto Sabarimala. She has come from Pune,a stronghold of the RSS and the BJP,” theMinister told reporters at Thalassery.

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Eleven Sabarimala pilgrims were injured,six of them seriously, early on Tuesday

when a tree fell on them as they were pass-ing through the Marakootam-Chandranandana route, police said.Theincident occured around 2 am this morn-ing, they said. It is not clear if the pilgrimswere returning after the darshan.

The tree fell due to strong winds in thearea.

Following the incident, electric andtelephone cables got snapped.

With help from the emergency opera-tions team, NDRF, the branches wereremoved and the injured were rushed toPamba hospital. At least six people havebeen referred to Kottayam Medical collegehospital, police said.

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Bru refugees lodged in reliefcamps in Tripura have

urged the Centre to restart itssubsistence allowances, daysbefore the TripuraGovernment puts an end tothe free ration supply to thedisplaced people.

The Ministry of HomeAffairs (MHA) had discon-tinued its allowances, includ-ing ration supplies and cashdole, to the Bru refugees fromSeptember 30.

However, following claimsof starvation deaths of sixpeople in the refugee campsand over a week-long roadblockade by the displacedfamilies, the state govern-ment decided upon provid-ing free ration to them ear-lier this month.

“The Tripura govern-ment would supply the freeration to the Brus tillNovember 30 and it isunclear whether it will becontinued beyond that date,”official sources said.

Altogether 4,447 dis-placed Bru families, lodged inrelief camps at Kanchanpurand Panisagar sub-divisionsof North Tripura district, arescheduled to return to neigh-bouring Mizoram fromwhere they started fleeingsince 1997 following ethnic

clashes.The ninth and “final”

round of the repatriationprocess of the Bru refugees willcome to an end on November30.The Mizoram BruDisplaced People’s Forum(MBDPF), in a communica-tion to the Centre on Monday,demanded resumption of thesubsistence allowances.

The displaced Brus wouldnot agree to be repatriated toMizoram “until and unlesstheir small and simpledemands are fulfilled,” theMBDPF said in a letter to A PMaheshawari, SpecialSecretary (Internal Security),Ministry of Home Affairs.

Patna: The Bihar Assembly onTuesday passed two Bills amiddin by Opposition membersover the demand for a resolu-tion to prevent the implemen-tation of the National Registerof Citizens (NRC) in the State.

The two Bills passed wereBihar Goods and Services Tax(Amendment) Bill, 2019 andBihar Taxation DisputesResolution Bill, 2019.

Opposition members con-tinued with sloganeering allthrough the proceedings thatlasted for 30 minutes in thepost lunch session and thebills were passed beforeSpeaker Vijay KumarChoudhary adjourned theHouse till 11 am onWednesday.

During the debate on thetaxation disputes resolutionbill, Deputy Chief MinisterSushil Kumar Modi said thatthe government has broughtout a ‘One Time Settlement’(OTS) scheme for resolution ofall pending cases under old taxlaws/statutes which were inforce before the introduction ofGoods and Services Tax (GST).

The GST was implement-ed on July 1, 2017 in the coun-try. Cases relating to sales tax,electricity duty, luxury, enter-tainment and advertisementtax, entry tax and others can beresolved under the OTSscheme which will be in forcefor three months, said Modi,who also holds the financeportfolio.

The tenure for the schemecan also be extended by anoth-er three months by the stategovernment, he said, addingthat around half a dozen statesincluding West Bengal, Kerala,Harayana and Rajasthan havealready come out with suchprogramme.

Speaking on the anotherbill, the deputy chief ministersaid it proposes to increase thethreshold limit from ��20 lakhto � 40 lakh for getting tradersregistered under GST Act.Furnishing “Aadhaar” numberhas been made mandatory forregistration and a provision hasalso been made to acquire thesame from traders who havealready been registered underthe Act, he said. PTI

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Employees of the TelanganaState Road Transport

Corporation were allegedlyturned away by officials andpolice on Tuesday when theyreached bus depots to resumework, a day after they called offtheir 52-day-long strike.

Emotional scenes were wit-nessed at some places aswomen employees started cry-ing after they were not allowedto rejoin duty and police sentthem away.

We are finding it difficultto pay school and college fees(of children), a weeping womanconductor told reporters.

We appeal to the CM sir totake us back for duty, anotherwoman conductor said.

Police said hundreds ofemployees, including scoresof women employees, weretaken into preventive custodynear bus depots in various dis-tricts across the State onTuesday.

Security was tightened nearbus depots and bus stands inthe state to prevent any unto-ward incidents, they said.

RTC officials were notimmediately available for com-ment on the situation followingthe strike’s withdrawal.

A release from the ChiefMinister’s office said theTelangana cabinet would meeton November 28 and 29 here todiscuss issues relating to RTCemployees and others.

The Government’sannouncement came a dayafter the TSRTC employees’unions called off their two-month old strike on Monday.

“The two-day Cabinetmeeting will discuss at lengthon the measures to be taken toend the RTC impasse in thestate,” it said.

The RTC said in a releasethat it was trying, not only toimprove alternative measuresfor passengers, but continuework in offices with limitedstaff.

The release said 6,475buses were operated with11,055 temporary staff in 11regions of the Corporation.

Congress MPs fromTelangana N Uttam KumarReddy,who is state Congresspresident, KomatireddyVenkata Reddy and ARevanth Reddy on Tuesdayexpressed deep anguish andagony at the inhuman mannerin which RTC employeesare being treated by ChiefMinister K. ChandrasekharRao.”

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ISRO chief K Sivan onTuesday offered prayers at

this famous hill shrine here, aday ahead of the launch ofIndia’s imaging satellite, CAR-TOSAT-3.

ISRO is all set to launch theearth imaging and mappingsatellite CARTOSAT-3 alongwith 13 other nano-satellitesfrom the US, from Sriharikotaon Wednesday.

Sivan offered prayers to thepresiding deity of LordVenkateswara at Tirumala here.

Later, speaking to reportershere, Sivan said Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter was doing well andsending a lot of informationabout the Moon. Lander‘Vikram’ from Chandrayaan-2had crashlanded while attempt-ing a soft landing on the lunarsurface on September 7.

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Market benchmark BSESensex retreated from its

record high level to close downby around 68 points onTuesday mainly due to profitbooking in telecom, IT andauto stocks amid growth con-cerns and evolving politicaldrama in Maharashtra.

The 30-share indextouched its all-time intra-dayhigh of 41,120.28 before clos-ing down by 67.93 points or0.17 per cent at 40,821.30.

The broader Nifty of theNational Stock Exchange alsosoared to a new peak of12,132.45 in day trade beforegiving up gains to end lower by36.05 points or 0.30 per cent at12,037.70.

Bharti Airtel was thebiggest loser among Sensexstocks, dropping by 4.34 percent after ICRA downgradedthe long-term rating of thecompany due to higher-than-anticipated provision pertain-ing to the Supreme Courtjudgement on dues payable

towards license fees on adjust-ed gross revenues (AGR) aswell as spectrum usage chargein the latest quarterly results.

Key IT stocks TCS andInfosys also dropped by 1.6 percent and 1.05 per cent, respec-tively, as investors preferred tobook profits at high levels.HCL Tech fell by 1.29 percent. Auto stocks also declineddue to growth concerns. Maruti

fell by 1.52 per cent, M&M by1.67 per cent and Tata Motorsby 1.36 per cent. PowerGriddropped by 2.26 per cent, SunPharma by 1.75 per cent,

Fitch group firm IndiaRatings and Research said thatIndian economy may haveslowed for the sixth consecutivequarter in July-September to4.7 per cent while lowering itsGDP growth forecast for the

current fiscal for the fourthtime.

“Market elevated to arecord high coupled with glob-al cheer on trade deal anddomestic earnings revivalexpectation. However, volatil-ity ahead of derivative expiry,political drama and caution onupcoming GDP data ledinvestors to book some profit,”Vinod Nair, Head of Researchat Geojit Financial Services

Rising foreign inflows andconfidence that governmentwill address the fiscal gapsthrough divestment can main-tain the buoyancy in the mar-ket, he added.

“Profit booking was clear-ly on investors’ radar ahead ofexpiry and before the crucialGDP data due on Friday asinvestors avoided taking longpositions,” Paras Bothra,President of Equity Research,Ashika Stock Broking, com-mented. Among the gainers,ICICI Bank rose 2.26 per cent,IndusInd Bank by 1.46 percent, Tata Steel by 1.17 per centand ITC by 0.52 per cent.

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Google on Tuesday saidIndia is among the top

markets for its ‘Shopping’ fea-ture and has received strongresponse from small andmedium businesses that areusing it to connect to morebuyers.

In December last year,Google had launched ‘Shopping’in India to allow users to easilyfilter through offers, reviewprices from multiple retailersand find products to shop.“We’ve witnessed incrediblemomentum since launch ofGoogle shopping last year.Indian shoppers engage with ourshopping experience more often,and for longer periods of timecompared to other markets,”Google Shopping Vice President- Product Management SurojitChatterjee told PTI.

He added that there arenow over 200 million offers available on GoogleShopping.

“We have seen a strongtraction, especially for smalland medium businesses... clickson listings that direct to smalland medium business web-sites have increased by 30 per-cent,” Chatterjee said.

He added that the compa-ny is now introducing newtools to help businesses connectwith shoppers easily.

Through Google MyBusiness (GMB), any localretailer can create an onlinestore and connect with millionsof shoppers searching for prod-ucts online.

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The Government has com-pulsorily retired another

21 “corrupt” tax officers in thefifth tranche of its crackdownon errant officials accused ofcorruption and other mal-practices, finance ministrysources said.

The Central Board ofDirect Taxes (CBDT) — theagency that overseas incomeand corporate tax collections —compulsorily retired 21 GroupB officers of the rank of IncomeTax Officer underFundamental Rule 56 (J) in thepublic interest, due to corrup-tion and other charges and CBItraps, they said.

Since June, this is the fifthround of sacking of corrupt taxofficials. With this, 85 officers,including 64 high ranking taxofficers, have been compulso-rily retired. Of the high rank-ing officers, 12 were from theCBDT.

The last round of sackingwas in September when 15Central Board of Indirect Taxesand Customs (CBIC) — theagency that overseas GST andimport tax collections — werecompulsorily retired.

Sources said the officersretired in the latest roundinclude three in the Mumbaioffice of the CBDT and two inadjoining Thane district. Otherofficers sacked were posted inVishakapatnam, Hyderabad,Rajahmundry, Hazaribag inBihar, Nagpur in Maharashtra,Rajkot in Gujarat, Jodhpur,Madhopur, and Bikaner inRajasthan and Bhopal and

Indore in Madhya Pradesh.Sources said the action

was in line with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s address to thenation from the ramparts of theRed Fort when he had saidsome black sheep in the taxadministration may have mis-used their powers and harassedtaxpayers, either by targetinghonest assessees or takingexcessive action for minor orprocedural violations.

“We have recently takenthe bold step of compulsorilyretiring a significant number oftax officials, and we will not tol-erate this type of behaviour,” hehad said.

More than half of the offi-cials retired were those whowere were arrested by the CBIfor allegedly receiving illegalgratification. One of them wascaught accepting a bribe of�50,000. One official allegedlyhad over �20 lakh cash in hisbank locker while a Thaneofficer had acquired immov-able and movable assets worthover �40 lakh in his and hiswife’s name, the sources said.

In June, the Governmenthad compulsorily retired 15commissioner-level officials ofCBIC on charges of corruption,collecting and giving bribes,smuggling and even criminalconspiracy.

Thereafter, theGovernment had compulsori-ly retired 12 senior IRS officialsfrom the Income Tax depart-ment over charges of corrup-tion, sexual harassment, dis-proportionate assets underRule 56(J) of the Central CivilServices (Pension) Rules.

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India’s new liberalised petrolpump norms require

licensees to set up a minimumof 100 outlets with at least 5 per cent of them in remoteareas. According to a Gazettenotification detailing the normsfor setting up petrol pumps, thelicensee would also be requiredto “install facilities for market-ing at least one new generationalternate fuels like compressednatural gas (CNG), biofuels,liquefied natural gas, electricvehicle charging points etc attheir proposed retail outletswithin three years of operationalisation of thesaid outlet.”

The government had lastmonth relaxed norms for set-ting up petrol pumps, allowingnon-oil companies to marketfuel in the world’s fastest grow-

ing market.Prior to this change, to

obtain a fuel retailing licence inIndia, a company needed toinvest �2,000 crore in eitherhydrocarbon exploration andproduction, refining, pipelinesor liquefied natural gas (LNG)terminals.

“Any entity seeking autho-risation for retail marketingonly should have a minimumnet worth of at least �250 croreat the time of making theapplication to the centralGovernment,” the notificationsaid.

It fixed the application feeat �25 lakh.

“The entity needs to set upat least 100 retail outlets, out ofwhich at least 5 per cent of theproposed retail outlets shall beset up in the notified remoteareas within five years of thegrant of authorisation,” it said.

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Indian economy may haveslowed for the sixth consec-

utive quarter in July-Septemberto 4.7 per cent, Fitch group firmIndia Ratings and Researchsaid on Tuesday, as it loweredGDP growth forecast for cur-rent fiscal for the fourth time.

The Indian economyexpanded 5 per cent in April-June, its slowest annual pacesince 2013. The 4.7 per centprojection for the second quar-

ter of the current fiscal wouldmark six consecutive quartersof slowing growth, a first since2012. This comes despite arecent series of fiscal stimulus,including reduction in corpo-rate tax rates.

“India Ratings andResearch has revised its GDPgrowth forecast for FY20 to 5.6per cent. This is the fourth revi-sion and has come in after theagency had revised its FY20GDP growth forecast only amonth ago to 6.1 per cent,” the

rating agency said in a state-ment.

The revision, it said,became “inevitable as the high-frequency data now suggeststhat the agency’s estimate of2QFY20 GDP growth comingin a little higher than 5 per centis unlikely to hold”.

“The new projection sug-gests that 2QFY20 GDP growthis likely to be 4.7 per cent,” itsaid. Second-quarter GDPnumbers are likely to beannounced on Friday.

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The Indian rupee on Tuesdayrose by 24 paise to settle at

an over two-week high of 71.50against the US dollar as persis-tent foreign fund inflows andhopes about US-China tradelogjam breakthrough boostedforex market sentiment.

After starting off on astronger note, the domesticunit further strengthened itsposition tracking a host ofpositive factors. It traded in therange of 71.49-71.68, beforesettling at 71.50 a dollar, clock-ing a gain of 24 paise — thebiggest single-day rise sinceOctober 17.

The rupee gain was furtherstrengthened by weakening ofdollar against the key rivalcurrencies. The dollar index,which gauges the greenback’sstrength against a basket of sixcurrencies, fell 0.01 per cent to98.31.

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Reserve Bank deputy gover-nor MK Jain on Tuesday

warned bankers about thegrowing stress in Mudra loans,which has crossed more thanRs 3.21 lakh crore RPT croresystem-wide, and asked themto monitor such loans closely asunsustainable credit growth in the sector can riskthe system.

Prime Minister NarendraModi had launched the Mudrascheme in April 2015 withmuch fanfare to offer speediercredit up to Rs 10 lakh to smallbusinesses which are non- cor-porate, non-farm small/microenterprises and which nor-mally do not get bank fundsdue to their poor and mostly nocredit rating. These loans areextended by banks, NBFCs,RRBs, cooperative banks andsmall finance banks.

Interestingly, it can berecalled that within a year ofthe launch of the scheme, thethen Reserve Bank governorRaghuram Rajan had warnedof asset quality troubles bub-bling in the scheme but thethen finance minister ArunJaitely had brushed aside theconcerns.

“Mudra loans are a case inpoint. While such a massivepush would have lifted manybeneficiaries out of poverty,there has been some concernsat the growing level of non-per-forming assets among theseborrowers,” Jain told a Sidbievent on microfinance.

The commercial-banker-turned central banker saidbanks need to focus on therepayment capacity at theappraisal stage itself and mon-itor loans through the life cycleof the account much moreclosely.

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India were one of the favouritesto win the 2019 World Cup tilla 15-minute spell from the

New Zealand fast bowlers inManchester changed everythingand the world came crashing downfor the Men in Blue in the semi-final stages of the showpiece event.Things could have easily gonedownhill from there had it not beenfor the guidance of head coach RaviShastri. He has used the stick in thelast few years as much as he has pat-ted the back of the players when themorale has been down and todaythis Indian team is often comparedto the legendary Windies unit in the1970s and 1980s.

Speaking after completinganother series whitewash, this timeagainst Bangladesh, Shastri threwlight on what made him believe thatthis team could be world beaters,the future of MS Dhoni, how tal-ents like Rishabh Pant need to bebacked and most importantly thejoy of seeing a former cricketer takeover as BCCI President in SouravGanguly.

The World Cup exit was a bit-ter pill to swallow and Shastri saysit has been amazing how the boysdecided to not let that disheartenthem and have only grown instrength from that fateful day —July 9.

“For me, the intensity shown bythis team is fabulous. The way theyhave bounced back after those 15minutes in Manchester. That wasa bitter pill to swallow and hurt oneand all. But then, the ferocity andintensity they have shown after thatin the last three months is unbeliev-able. This is remarkable and that iswhy I say if you look back 5-6 years,this will have to be one of the mostconsistent Indian teams ever acrossall formats,” he said.

The past can’t be changed, butthe road ahead has the World T20in 2020 and winning that will go along way in establishing the invin-cibility tag that has been given tothis team under skipper ViratKohli. But then, a question oneveryone’s mind is whether MSDhoni will take that flight. Thecoach wants one and all to wait, tillthe IPL.

“It all depends on when he

starts playing and how he is play-ing during the IPL. What are theother people doing with the wick-et-keeping gloves or what is theform of those players as opposed toDhoni’s form. The IPL becomes amassive tournament because thatcould be the last tournament afterwhich more or less your 15 is decid-ed.

“There might be one playerwho might be there and there-abouts in case of an injury or what-ever. But your team I would saywould be known after the IPL.What I would say is rather thanspeculating of who is where, waitfor the IPL to get over and then youare in a position to take a call onwho are the best 17 in the country,”he said.

Coming back to the present,this Indian team has moved fromstrength to strength under Shastriand Kohli and now we have anoth-er former captain coming into theBCCI as President in Ganguly.

The loudest cheer at the EdenGardens was actually saved for

when the two men — Shastri andGanguly — shook hands after thewin on the third afternoon. Knownto speak his mind, Shastri says hecouldn’t have been happier thanseeing a former cricketer come inas the BCCI chief at such a crucialjuncture.

“I think it is fantastic. I was oneof the first to congratulate himwhen he became the Presidentbecause I was delighted that moreimportant than anything a BCCIwas back in place to put Indiancricket where it belongs both onand off the field. And I was evenmore delighted that a cricketershould be at the helm at thisimportant phase of Indian cricket.

“And Sourav having been a fab-ulous player and captain and beenaround as an administrator, himbecoming the President adds a lotof value,” he explained.

From a former captain to ayoung turk. Rishabh Pant is the hottopic in Indian cricket at present.While some love him, others liketo pull him up, but for Shastri, there

is a superstar in that lad whojust needs to be given thatcushion to settle down andfeel at home.

So what does hetell a Pant?

“ No t h i n g .Just tell him thatyou are youngand nobodyexpects youto learneverything inone day. You arebound to make mistakes,but as long as you sitdown and thing aboutways to rectify those mis-takes, you know that iswhat this game will teachyou. You are not going tobe a superstar in one day.You will have your ups andyour downs. That is life,but the more you workharder, the more the sac-rifices you make, the bet-ter you will become,” hesmiled.

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England players will rallyaround an “emotiona” Jofra

Archer after the paceman wasracially abused by a spectator inNew Zealand, director of crick-et Ashley Giles said on Tuesday,as local officials scoured CCTVfootage to identify the culprit.

“It’s a shame that sort ofthing is still in society,” Giles toldreporters after Archer was sub-jected to racist comments afterbeing dismissed late on day fiveof the opening Test in MountMaunganui.

The Barbados-born bowlertweeted after the match that itwas “a bit disturbing hearingracial insults today whilst bat-tling to help save my team”.

The 24-year-old later toldESPNcricinfo that the abuser wasa solitary New Zealand specta-tor making comments “aboutthe colour of my skin”.

Archer has been a powerfuladvocate for diversity in crick-et and Giles, when asked howthe player was faring, replied:“The tweet, it was obviouslyemotional, it hurts.

“We fully support Jof, thereis no place for racism in the

game... you know what ourteam is like, they’ll rally roundhim.”

Black Caps captain KaneWilliamson described the tauntas “horrific”, while New ZealandCricket said the culprit would bereported to the police and facea life ban if identified from thevenue’s CCTV footage.

Williamson said suchracism was “against everythingthat we as Kiwis are about”.

“It’s a horrific thing. In acountry and a setting where it isvery much multi-cultural,” hetold news website stuff.co.nz.

“It’s something we need toput to bed quickly and hopenothing like that ever happensagain.”

Both Williamson and NewZealand Cricket chief executiveDavid White apologised toArcher.

New Zealand and Englandare working together to investi-gate the incident and BlackCaps coach Gary Stead said hewanted the person responsiblecaught.

“Hopefully, it was just oneidiot in the crowd and they dealwith it,” he told Radio NewZealand.

highest ranked bowler in the for-mat and arguably most potentweapon, makes it even moreimpressive.

The trio of Ishant Sharma,Mohammed Shami and UmeshYadav were almost unplayable inthe two matches.

“I can’t say how long ago, butwhen I first came here, you wouldhave Madan Lal opening thebowling,” Simmons was quoted assaying by ‘ESPNcricinfo’.

“Now you have guys bowlingat 90 miles per hour opening andyour premier fast bowler(Bumrah) was injured for thisTest, so you still have him to comeback. It’s exciting for world crick-et.

“Teams know now that youhave to play properly on bothsides — you have to have properfast bowlers and proper spinnersto beat India. Fast bowling fromanybody is exciting, so it’s great tosee that happen.”

He was impressed with whathe had seen of India’s inauguralday-night, pink-ball Test at theEden Gardens.

"I did watch the first day. Itwas exciting to see Eden Gardensfull. It's an awesome sight,"Simmons said. PTI

�� 6/�.�.�

Indian cricket icon SachinTendulkar feels BCCI

President Sourav Gangulyshould initiate a revamp of theDuleep Trophy as players com-peting in the event seem morefocussed on individual perfor-mances than their teams.

The batting maestro feelsthat team bonding is missingfrom the four-day tournament,which can be reinvented bybringing in four Ranji Trophysemifinalists along with twoteams of promising U-19 and U-23 players.

“I want him (Ganguly) toconsider looking at the DuleepTrophy...I feel Duleep Trophy isone tournament where one isgetting to hear that players arepossibly more focused on theirown performances and what thenext tournament is and they playaccordingly,” Tendulkar said.

“For instance if there’s anIPL auction, or an upcomingT20 tournament or one-day,players end up playing in thatmode and not for their team orlooking at the need of the hour,”he said.

The Duleep trophy was afive-team zonal tournament butnow features India Blue, IndiaGreen and India Red in a round-

robin format.As the former captain gears

up for the BCCI’s first AnnualGeneral Meeting on Sunday,Tendulkar wants him to sparesome focus on Duleep Trophy.

“This is one change I wouldlike to see because cricket hasalways been a team sport. It is allabout team spirit bonding andplaying together as a team. Notas individuals,” he said.

Explaining his idea on howto revamp the Duleep Trophy,Tendulkar said to get players tocompete as a team, it should beheld right after the Ranji Trophyfinals and among the four semi-finalists, who play the whole sea-son together.

“Top four Ranji teams andthere should be two more teamsbecause there would be a num-ber of teams with talented indi-viduals but which did not qual-ify. You pick these players fromvarious teams, also promotetalented age-group players fromUnder-19 and Under-23.

“If there’s someone excep-tionally talented U19 then youcan look at those players. Bringthem and have this tournamenttogether.”

“So you have got the best ofboth. You have got four leadingRanji teams who have beenplaying together,” he added.

�� 1.�8��675

West Indies cricketing heroChris Gayle demanded more

respect on Monday after wavinggoodbye to South Africa’s MzansiSuper League with his team JoziStars yet to win a game in the cur-rent campaign.

Former West Indies captainGayle, 40, scored just 101 runs in sixinnings before his stormy departurefrom a disastrous season for defend-ing champions Stars in theTwenty20 championship.

“As soon as I don’t perform fortwo or three games, then ChrisGayle is the burden for the team,”said Gayle, who plans to take therest of the season off.

“I am not talking for this teamonly,” added Gayle, who has playedfor a multitude of sides over his 20-year career.

“This is something I haveanalysed over the years playingfranchise cricket. Chris Gayle isalways a burden if I don’t score runs.

“It seems like that one particu-lar individual is the burden for theteam. And then you will hearbickering.

I am not going to get respect.People don’t remember what youhave done for them. I don’t get

respect.”Stars have lost all six of their

matches so far in this year’s MSL,while Gayle had struck just 47runs in his first five matches.

However he hit 54 off 28 ballsin his final match for the Stars,which was also his 400th T20appearance, as his team lost from awinning position against Spartans.

They are unsurprisingly bottomof the MSL zero points, a whop-

ping 19 behind league leadersNelson Mandela Bay Giants.

On Tuesday, chief executiveof the Jozi Stars franchise JonoLeaf-Wright rode to Gayle’sdefence, describing the WestIndian batsman as “sensitive”in an interview with The Starnewspaper.

“In Chris’s head, he feelsthat when he doesn’t perform,because there are such expec-

tations, from the franchise, thefans, that he’s the reason the team

is not performing.“I know Chris well, he seems

like he’s the big character, lots ofbravado, the swag and all that stuffbut he’s actually a sensitive guy,and unfortunately, when he does-n’t perform he really takes it toheart. He’s certainly no burden on

our side.”

�� 587�08/�*

An eight-member FIFA dele-gation on Tuesday arrived in

Kolkata for an official inspectionto evaluate the progress andpreparations for the U-17Women’s World Cup in 2020.

Ahead of the inspection,Project Lead of U-17 Women’sWorld Cup, Oliver Vogt said, “Weare looking forward to seeinghow things are shaping up. Wesaw the potential of football in

India in 2017 with the men’s edi-tion, and understand how big asuccess it was here in Kolkata.”

The FIFA and LOC delega-tion will inspect the stadiumand training sites in Kolkata onWednesday, and follow it upwith an inspection in Guwahation Thursday.

“We are confident that everystakeholder will work hard toensure the FIFA U-17 Women’sWorld Cup India 2020 is a suc-cess and that the tournament alsomakes its mark in the history ofwomen’s football.

“In this visit, besides theinfrastructure of the stadiumand training sites, we are interest-ed to see the plans that the dif-ferent venues have for the furtherdevelopment of women’s footballin the country.”

The tournament will be heldfrom November 2 to 21 next year.

�� 587�08/�*

World ChampionshipsBronze-medallist Vinesh

Phogat and Olympic medal win-ner Sakshi Malik will be the starattractions among women in the2019 Senior National WrestlingChampionships, to be held inJalandhar from November 29 toDecember 1.

Over 500 wrestlers will bevying for top honours in themen’s freestyle, greco roman andwomen events during the cham-pionship.

The field in the women’s com-petition includes Tokyo Olympicsmedal hopeful Vinesh (55 kg), RioOlympics Bronze-medallist SakshiMalik (62 kg), the promisingDivya Kakran (68 kg), SeemaBisla (50 kg), Sarita More (57 kg)and Navjot Kaur (65 kg).

The tournament will also wit-ness some sizzling rivalries. WhileKakran is expected to get a toughfight from Pinki in the 68kg cat-egory, Navjot Kaur will have to get

past Gargi Yadav in her weightclass to claim the podium.

Greco Roman ace Sajan(77kg), along with ace freestylewrestlers Gaurav Baliyan (74kg),Sumit Malik (125kg), SatywartKadian (97kg) and Rahul Mann(70 kg), will be among the stars towatch out for among men.

Meanwhile, for the first timethe wrestling nationals will bestreamed live in the Indian sub-continent.

“This is yet another initiativeto popularise the sport across allwalks of alive. Live streaming ofnational championship will bringthe best domestic wrestling actionto the fans and wrestling fraterni-ty and I appreciate this gesture andcommitment of our commercialpartners Sporty Solutionz for this,”Wrestling Federation of Indiapresident Brij Bhushan SharanSingh said in a statement.

“It will help the next genera-tion of Indian wrestlers under-stand how the sport is played at thetop.”

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India captain Virat Kohli rode on his command-ing century in the Day/Night Test to close in on

top-ranked Steve Smith, while opener MayankAgarwal made his maiden entry into the top 10 inthe ICC Test rankings issued on Tuesday.

Kohli (928 rating points), who hit 136 againstBangladesh in the second Test in Kolkata, reducedthe gap from 25 to three points with AustralianSmith (931) to retain the second spot.

Agarwal, who struck a double century in thefirst Test against Bangladesh in Indore, jumped oneplace to 10th with 700 points. He is the fourth Indianbatsmen in the top 10 list. Cheteshwar Pujara (791)and Ajinkya Rahane (759) remained at fourth andfifth positions respectively.

England all-rounder Ben Stokes also reachedthe top 10 for the first time by jumping three places

after scores of 91 and 28 against NewZealand.

Bangladesh’s Mushfiqur Rahim gainedfour slots to reach 26th after scoring a fight-ing 74 in the second innings of the KolkataTest while Liton Das is up eight slots to 78thposition.

India fast bowlers Ishant Sharma andUmesh Yadav achieved career-high points

after victories over Bangladesh.Ishant has 716 points but is in

the 17th place, way behindhis career-best seventh placeachieved in July 2011.Umesh has 672 pointsand has jumped oneplace to 21st.

Senior India spin-ner RavichandranAshwin moved oneplace up to ninth with772 points, while

injury-sidelined JaspritBumrah lost one spot to

be at fifth with 794 ratingpoints.Ravindra Jadeja, who

jumped one spot to 15th amongbowlers with 725 points,retained his second spot, behindWest Indian Jason Holder, in theall-rounders’ rankings.

Ashwin, meanwhile, hasmoved down one place to fifthamong the all-rounders.

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�� 3� A part of the formidable West Indiesteams of the late 1980s and early 90s, PhilSimmons says the current Indian pace attack makesworld cricket exciting.

India’s fast bowlers demolished Bangladesh toclinch the Test series 2-0, and that they haveachieved it without Jasprit Bumrah, the country’s

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World champion P V Sindhu, was onTuesday retained by Hyderabad

Hunters for � 77 lakh in the auction forthe fifth season of the Premier BadmintonLeague here.

World number 1 women’s singlesplayer Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei wasalso bought for joint highest amount of� 77 lakh by defending championsBengaluru Raptors after a bidding warwith the Pune 7 Aces.

There was intense bidding for India’smen’s doubles poster boy, SatwiksairajRankireddy, who won the ThailandOpen in August alongside Chirag Shetty.

The 19-year-old eventually went to theChennai Superstarz for a whopping � 62lakhs.

“I am really happy to be a part of theChennai team. I have many friends inChennai and I am looking forward to playthere. Every time we have played here thecrowd has been exceptional and to rep-resent them this season will surely besomething that I am looking forward to,”said Rankireddy.

Korea’s world No 22 doubles ace KoSung Hyun and Hong Kong’s world No24 singles exponent Lee Cheuk Yiu werethe only other shuttlers to cross the � 50lakh mark as the former went to AwadheWarriors for � 55 lakhs while the latterwas purchased by the North EasternWarriors for ��50 lakhs.

2014 Commonwealth Games cham-pion Parupalli Kashyap was the nextcostliest Indian shuttler to be sold toMumbai Rockets for � 43 lakhs whileLakshya Sen, who won four titles in thepast two months, will turn out forChennai colours after the Season 2champions purchased him for � 36 lakhs.

Another top Indian player B SaiPraneeth was also retained by BenagluruRaptors for � 32 lakh.

Among other Indians who wereretained by their respective franchises aremen’s doubles players B Sumeeth Reddy(� 11 lakhs by Chennai Superstarz) and

Chirag Shetty (� 15.5 lakhs by Pune 7Aces).

World number 9 American women’ssingles player Beiwan Zhang too has beenretained by Awadhe Warriors for � 39lakhs.

National badminton coach PullelaGopichand's daughter Gayatri Gopichandwas picked up by Chennai Superstarz for� 2 lakh, while young Assamese shuttlerAshmita Chaliha was bought by her hometeam North Eastern Warriors for �� 3lakhs.

The PBL season 5 lost some sheenafter London Olympics Bronze medallistSaina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanthpulled out of the event to focus on theirinternational careers.

While Saina, who played for NorthEastern Warriors in the last PBL, pulledout of the 2020 event to prepare herselffor the next international season, Srikanthwanted to focus on international eventsahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

154 players, including Sai Praneeth,Lakshya Sen, and men’s doubles pair of

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and ChiragShetty, were also part of the auction.

The next edition of PBL will see atotal of 74 Indian shuttlers in action fromJanuary 20 to February 9.

Seven teams — Awadhe Warriors(Lucknow), Bengaluru Raptors(Bengaluru), Mumbai Rockets (Mumbai),Hyderabad Hunters (Hyderabad),Chennai Superstarz (Chennai), NorthEastern Warriors (North East) and Pune7 Aces (Pune) — will compete in the 21-day event to be played in Bengaluru,Chennai, Hyderabad and Lucknow.

Each franchise has a purse of � 2 crorebut they cannot spend more than � 77lakh for a player. The teams will comprisea maximum of six foreign players and aminimum of three female shuttlers in asquad of not more than 11.

Among the seven teams vying for thePBL 5 trophy, title holders BengaluruRaptors and Awadhe Warriors exhaust-ed their entire purse of � 2 crores whilePune 7 Aces saved � 23.5 lakhs.

Pune and Chennai were the onlyteams to reach the maximum quota of 11as 71 players were picked from a pool of154 players at the end of the auction.

The format of the upcoming editionof the league remains the same with eachtie consisting of five matches — two mensingles, one women singles, one men dou-bles and one mixed doubles.

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Jose Mourinho says there is “no chance” ofTottenham signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic after the vet-

eran forward was linked with a move to the club fol-lowing his exit from LA Galaxy.

Mourinho worked with Ibrahimovic at InterMilan and Manchester United but said signing the38-year-old would not make sense with Harry Kaneat his disposal.

“You are right about the connection, we have morethan a connection,” Mourinho said when asked onMonday whether he would be trying to sign theSwede. “I would say also passion and understanding,an amazing player and an amazing guy, but I wouldsay ‘no’. No chance.

“We have the best striker in England, we have oneof the top two or three strikers in the world, it does-n’t make any sense for a striker of Zlatan’s dimension,obviously in his late 30s, but still a striker that can playin any club in the world.”

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Borussia Dortmund hopegoal-scoring defenderAchraf Hakimi will again

be their Champions League“weapon” to shoot downBarcelona today and relievepressure on under-fire coachLucien Favre.

With two group games left,a last 16 place is still firmly in thehands of the Germans, who sita point behind pool leadersBarcelona, thanks to Hakimi’stwo goals in a stunning 3-2home win over Inter Milanthree weeks ago.

However, dreadfulBundesliga results in the mean-time leave Favre needing a goodperformance in Barcelona tosafeguard his job, putting theonus on Madrid-born Hakimiand his team-mates to turnthings around at Barcelona’sCamp Nou.

Hakimi, who joined on loanfrom Real Madrid in July2018, has been a regularstarter under Favre atDortmund. He has scorednine goals and set up 10more in 47 matches aseither a full-back on eitherflank or even up front asa winger.

He has scored four ofDortmund’s five ChampionsLeague goals, dazzling by scor-ing twice out of position on theleft wing in October’s 2-0 win atSlavia Prague, where club cap-tain Marco Reus described himas “a weapon” in Dortmund’sattacking armour.

“He’s incredibly fast. Fromthat point of view, he’s always aweapon,” said Reus.

Having proved his versatil-ity in Prague, Hakimi celebrat-ed his 21st birthday with anoth-er two goals — this time fromfull-back — in the come-backwin over Inter as Dortmundcame from two goals down.

‘HATS OFF’“Hakimi was everywhere,”

said Favre.“Hats off to him: he scored

twice, but the others fed (pass-es into him) well too.” Hakimi isrelishing the freedom in the sec-

ond of his two sea-sons on loan fromReal, where he madebarely a dozenappearances.

The Moroccointernational is athis best using hispace and strengthto power through

defenders.Much like the team around

him, Hakimi has creases tosmooth in his defensive game.He is too often caught out ofposition when opponentscounter attack.

Since the high of the homewin over Inter, the wheels havethreatened to come offDortmund's season.

STILL WIDE OPENMeanwhile, Barcelona also

come to this game, on the backof a goalless draw at home toSlavia Prague earlier this monththat means qualification from

Group E is far from guaranteed.Anything other than a win

is likely to leave them needing atleast a point against Inter Milanat the San Siro in a fortnight’stime.

Valverde would appearunlikely to throw Messi, Suarez,Griezmann and Dembeletogether again for Dortmund,who will offer a sterner test thanbottom-club Leganes.

But his eagerness to roll thedice last weekend with four for-wards, and Messi in a deeperrole, suggests he recognises thelack of creativity and has begunto reach for more daring solu-tions.

In defence, Valverde mighthave to be imaginative too. JordiAlba is out with a hamstringstrain while Nelson Semedoand Clement Lenglet are bothstruggling with calf problems.

Gerard Pique is also missingas he serves a one-match ban,meaning there could be a placefor Samuel Umtiti, who hasmade only three appearancesthis season.

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Spain striker Paco Alcacerwill sit out Borussia

Dortmund’s crunch clash at hisformer club Barcelona today.

Dortmund, who are a pointbehind group leaders Barcelona,flew to Spain on Tuesday with-out their striker, who has scoredseven goals in 13 games this sea-son, as the 26-year Alcacer hasa gastrointestinal infection,according to his club.

A win at Barcelona’s NouCamp stadium will put eitherclub in the last 16. Alcacer alsoinjured his knee in the first-halfof last Friday’s disappointing 3-3 draw at home to Bundesligabottom club Paderborn, whenthe hosts were three goals downat half-time.

Germany forward MarioGoetze is most likely to start inplace of Alcacer, who joinedDortmund on loan fromBarcelona in August 2018, butwas signed permanently for thestart of this season in a dealreportedly worth 21 millioneuros ($23m).

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Liverpool manager JurgenKlopp says he has no con-

cerns about Mohamed Salah’sfitness ahead of their clashwith Napoli.

Salah was an unused sub-stitute in the 2-1 win at CrystalPalace after missing trainingwith an ankle problem.

“Mo Salah looks reallygood,” Klopp said at his pre-match press conference onTuesday. “I’m not worried aboutit.”

Klopp also provided anupdate on the fitness of defend-er Joel Matip, who has beensidelined with a knee injury.

“Joel is improving but issome time away. There will bea scan this week and then wewill see how it is.”

Klopp said he had plans tocope with Liverpool’s fixturepile-up over the next few weeks.

Their involvement in theFIFA Club World Cup in Qatar,plus their progress in theLeague Cup, mean Liverpoolhave been forced to play twogames within 24 hours of eachother, over 4,000 miles (6,400kilometres) apart in mid-December.

“We have plans for every-thing, as you can imagine, andwe change them constantly. Ihave two smartphones andwhen one of them is ringing itis really rare it is good news,”

said Klopp.“You only get the mes-

sages when a player is not fine,so then we have to make newplans and we don’t know exact-ly how many players we’ll haveto train.

“We know in the long termwhat we have to do, we knowthat’s all set. The athletic part ofthe sessions, we try to adapt tothe specific situation of the play-ers. The tactical things dependon the games we play.”

Victory over CarloAncelotti’s side on Wednesdaywould ensure defending cham-pions Liverpool finish top ofGroup E with a game to sparebut Klopp said he could notafford to look past the match.

Napoli are the only side tohave beaten Liverpool this sea-son but are currently seventh inSerie A.

“The biggest mistake wecould make is that we have wonit already and what would hap-pen if we win it,” Klopp said.

“These things are not in ourmind. Of course we try to winthe game, it would be massivefor us after the start we had.Napoli are a dangerous oppo-nent.

“There are two weeksbetween tomorrow night andthe Salzburg game (final matchof the group) and we have threegames in between. Why shouldI think about the Salzburggame now?”

��*/.5�

Napoli head for Liverpooltoday for a Champions

League Group E game whichcould prove crucial to coachCarlo Ancelotti’s future at thetroubled Italian club.

The three-timeChampions League winningcoach’s second season at theStadio San Paolo has proved tobe a complicated one, afterleading them to second inSerie A in his first year.

His team’s fortunes havewaned after the high of open-ing their Champions Leaguecampaign with a 2-0 win overreigning European championsLiverpool, with dressing roomunrest amid friction betweenthe players and club manage-ment.

Napoli are still oncourse to qualify for theChampions Leagueknockout rounds asthey are second inGroup E behindLiverpool, fourpoints ahead ofthird-placedSalzburg withtwo games toplay.

They willreach the last16 if they beatLiverpool or if

Salzburg do not beat Genk,having failed to advance pastthe group stages last season.

But they come up againsta Liverpool side who have aneight-point advantage on topof the Premier League tableand whose only loss this sea-son came at the San Paolo.

To add to their problemsNapoli will be without captainLorenzo Insigne, who hurt hiselbow in Saturday’s match.

The Italian forward hasscored five times for Napolithis campaign, and also scoredthe last gasp winner againstLiverpool in last season’s 1-0group stage victory in Naples.

Forward ArkadiuszMilik has an abdominalinflammation, joining aninjury list which already

includes defensive duoKevin Malcuit and

Faouzi Ghoulam.B u t

Portuguese full-back Mario Ruiand Spanish mid-fielder FabianRuiz, absentagainst Milan,

have been namedin the squad.

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