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T wo days after an attack on Nankana Sahib Gurdwara in Pakistan’s Punjab province by a Muslim mob, a Sikh minority community member Ravinder Singh was on Sunday murdered in Peshawar by an “unidentified” gunman, leading to a strong protest from India which condemned the “targeted killing” of the young Sikh man. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Pakistan should stop “prevaricating” and take immediate action to apprehend and give exemplary punishment to the perpetrators of the crime. Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal condemned the killing and tweeted, “A day after mob attacked our holy shrine #GurdwaraNankanaSahib, this brutal murder of Sikh youth in Peshawar shows the extent of persecution minorities face in Pak. I urge PM @naren- dramodi ji to imm take up the issue with @ImranKhanPTI & ensure the safety of Sikh brethren there.” Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh also tweeted, “Shocked & anguished over killing of Sikh youth Ravinder Singh in Pakistan, coming on heels of Nankana Sahib Attack. Imran Khan govt must ensure thorough investi- gation and strict punishment for the culprits. This is the time to act on what you preach.” The incident involving killing of 25-year-old Sikh man comes two days after a mob attacked, desecrated and van- dalised the most revered gur- dwara at Nankana Sahib. The victim Ravinder Singh was the brother of Public News anchor Harmeet Singh. He was shot dead in Peshawar by an unidentified man, according to media reports. Ravinder was a resident of Shangla district at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and was in Peshawar for shopping ahead of his planned wedding. His Peshawar visit came soon after he returned home from his Malaysia visit. After killing him, the murderer made a phone call to Ravinder’s fami- ly, a media report said quoting the Peshawar police. “India strongly condemns the targeted killing of minority Sikh community member in Peshawar that follows the recent despicable vandalism and dese- cration of the holy Gurdwara Sri Janam Asthan at Nankana Sahib and the unresolved case of abduction, forced conversion and marriage of a Sikh girl Jagjit Kaur,” the MEA said. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Pakistan should stop “prevaricating” and take immediate action to appre- hend and give exemplary pun- ishment to the perpetrators of the crime. “India strongly condemns the targeted killing of minori- ty Sikh community member in Peshawar that follows the recent despicable vandalism and desecration of the holy Gurdwara Sri Janam Asthan at Nankana Sahib and the unre- solved case of abduction, forced conversion and marriage of a Sikh girl Jagjit Kaur,” the MEA said. It said the Government of Pakistan should act in defence of their own minorities instead of “preaching sermons” about it to other countries. India had on Friday strong- ly condemned vandalism at the revered Gurdwara Nankana Sahib in Pakistan and called upon the neighbouring coun- try to take immediate steps to ensure the safety and security of the Sikh community there. P akistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday condemned the recent inci- dent of vandalism at the Nankana Sahib, saying it goes against his “vision” and the Government will show “zero toler- ance” against those involved in it. Gurdwara Nankana Sahib, also known as Gurdwara Janam Asthan, is a site near Lahore where the first Guru of Sikhs, Guru Nanak, was born. According to media reports, a violent mob had attacked the Gurdwara and pelted it with stones on Friday. A team of police had to inter- vene briskly to control the sit- uation. Breaking his silence on the incident, Khan said that there is a “major difference between the condemnable Nankana incident and the ongoing attacks across India on Muslims and other minorities”. “The former is against my vision & will find zero toler- ance & protection from the govt incl police & judiciary (sic),” he tweeted, referring to the Nankana Sahib incident. Khan claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “vision supports minorities oppression and the targeted attacks against Muslims.” He also alleged that the Indian police, supported by the Government, are leading attacks against Muslims. S everal students, including Jawaharlal Nehru University’s Students Union president Aishe Ghosh, general secretary Satish Chandra and teachers, were injured after a clash broke out between JNUSU and Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) members on the cam- pus on Sunday. The clash took place dur- ing a public meeting organised by the JNU Teachers’ Association. Violence broke out as masked men armed with sticks attacked students and teachers and damaged property on the campus, prompting the administration to call in police. The JNUSU said many stu- dents were injured in stone pelting by ABVP members. The Left-controlled JNUSU and the ABVP blamed each other for the violence that continued for nearly two hours. The ABVP alleged that its members were "brutally" attacked by students affiliated to Left student organisations SFI, AISA and the DSF. "Around 25 students have been seriously injured in this attack and there is no information as to the whereabouts of 11 stu- dents. Masked goons of Left entered the JNU today and beat up the students who went for registration," the outfit said. JNU Professor Sucherta Sen was thrashed and was taken to AIIMS for the treat- ment, said students. Several photos and videos of the inci- dents were doing rounds on social media. In a video, Aishe said she was attacked by goons wearing masks. Aishe suffered a head injury. JNU Registrar Pramod Kumar said, “There is a law and order situation on the JNU campus. Masked miscreants armed with sticks are roaming around, damaging property and attacking people. The JNU administration has called the police to maintain law and order. This is the moment to remain calm and alert. In view of the largeness of the campus, number 100 can also be dialed. Efforts are already being made to tackle the miscreants,” Meanwhile, condemning the attack on students on the JNU campus, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, “I am so shocked to know about the violence at JNU. Students attacked brutal- ly. Police should immediately stop violence and restore peace. How will the country progress if our students will not be safe inside university campus?” Issuing a statement, the JNUSU alleged that “ABVP members have been attacking students who are peacefully protesting against massive fee hike in JNU”. “On Saturday, a mob led by Ritwik Raj who is councillor from School of International Studies belonging to ABVP attacked students. Then they attacked JNUSU president and general secretary Aishe and Satish, and other students. Dripta’s, a 1st year MA student, leg was broken due to ABVP violence. Today they shamelessly attacked students again injur- ing a student from JNU’s Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health,” JNUSU’s statement read. However, the ABVP alleged that its members were brutally attacked by Left-affil- iated student outfits and 25 of them were injured. The JNUSU claimed that ABVP members wearing masks were moving around on the campus with lathis, rods and hammers. L iving in polluted cities is harmful for health. Earlier several studies have shown air pollution causes a range of medical issues such as lung cancer, stroke, heart diseases, asthma, dementia, depression et al. Now, a new study has warned that inhalation of toxic airborne particles emitted by diesel and petrol vehicles can weaken bones and speed up the ageing process. Researchers came to this disturbing conclusion after studying the health of nearly 4,000 residents from 28 villages just outside the city of Hyderabad, in southern India. The researchers, whose study is published in the JAMA Network Open journal observed that those who inhaled more toxic airborne particles had less bone mass in their spines and hips. Household air pollution did not have a clear association with bone mass. The bone mass loss due to the oxidative stress and inflam- mation was caused by the toxic particulate matters, said the study led by Otavio T Ranzani, from Barcelona Institute for Global Health, Barcelona, Spain. Osteoporosis is a health condition that weakens bones, making them fragile and more likely to break. The researchers took mea- surements of PM2.5 and black carbon in the atmosphere in each village. Total 28 villages were studied. PM2.5 is the finest type of particulate mat- ter, while black carbon is a larg- er toxin. Both come mainly from petrol and diesel vehicle exhausts. Analysis revealed average PM2.5 exposure was 33 micrograms per metre cubed (ug/m3) — far above the max- imum 10ug/m3 levels recom- mended by the World Health Organisation (WHO), said the researchers Carles Milà from National Institute of Nutrition, Indian Council of Medical Research, Hyderabad and Bharati Kulkarni from Department of Non-commu- nicable Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London. The researchers had cross- referenced pollution levels with X-rays measuring bone mass in participant’s lower back and hip. Results showed that expo- sure to air pollution were asso- ciated with lower levels of bone mass. For every 3ug/m3 increase in fine particulate matter, there was a decrease of -0.57g of bone mass in the spine and -0.13g in the hip, said the study titled ‘Association of Ambient and Household Air Pollution With Bone Mineral Content Among Adults in Peri- urban South India’. An increase of 1ug/m3 of carbon saw bone density shrink by -1.13g in the spine and - 0.35g in the hip, said Ranzani adding that “this study con- tributes to the limited and inconclusive literature on air pollution and bone health.” According to the WHO, air pollution causes an estimated seven million premature deaths a year worldwide — one third of deaths from stroke, lung can- cer and heart disease. The WHO also points out that every day around 93 per cent of the world’s children under the age of 15 years (1.8 billion children) breathe air that is so polluted it puts their health and development at seri- ous risk. Tragically, many of them die: WHO estimates that in 2016, 600,000 children died from acute lower respiratory infections caused by polluted air. A recent report by the global health agency notes that when pregnant women are exposed to polluted air, they are more likely to give birth pre- maturely, and have small, low birth-weight children. “Air pol- lution also impacts neurode- velopment and cognitive abil- ity and can trigger asthma, and childhood cancer. Children who have been exposed to high levels of air pollution may be at greater risk for chronic diseases such as car- diovascular disease later in life,” said the report. P resident Donald Trump has warned Iran that the US has identified 52 possible targets in the country and will hit it hard- er than ever before if Tehran, which has vowed “severe revenge”, carries out any attack against America to avenge the killing of top military com- mander Qasem Soleimani. Maj Gen Soleimani, 62, the head of Iran’s elite al-Quds force and architect of its region- al security apparatus, was killed when a US drone fired missiles into a convoy that was leaving the Baghdad International Airport early on Friday. The strike also killed the deputy chief of Iraq’s powerful Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force. Soleimani’s killing was the most dramatic escalation yet in spiralling tensions between Iran and the US. Related reports on P2 New Delhi: Amid spiralling US-Iran tensions over the killing of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday had a conversation with his Iranian counter- part Javad Zarif and said India remained deeply con- cerned about the levels of tension in the region. Jaishankar noted that devel- opments have taken a “very serious turn”. The External Affairs Minister also discussed the tense situation with Omani Foreign Minister Yusuf Alawi. Detailed report on P2 U nion Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday accused Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra of instigating “riots” by “mislead- ing” people on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and sought to reassure Muslims, saying the law has no provision about taking away citizenship of minorities. BJP launched a ‘Jan Jagran’ (public awareness) campaign to contact three crore families to counter the Opposition’s cam- paign against the CAA and inform the masses about its fea- tures. While Shah led the drive in the national Capital, other top party leaders like Rajnath Singh, JP Nadda and Nitin Gadkari were in different parts of the country as part of the campaign, which will end on January 15. As part of door to door campaign, Shah visited homes in Lajpat Nagar here and talked to people about the benefits of the amended citi- zenship law. He also distributed litera- ture on the subject and urged them to go through it.The rul- ing party also launched a toll free number to seek people’s support on the amended Citizenship Act, and asserted that it has undertaken a positive exercise to spread awareness about the law. The number, however, led to some contro- versy. Shah clarified that rumours were being spread about the number and noted that it belonged to his party and not to Netflix. The party later held a press conference to slam those spreading confusion over it. The CAA seeks to grant cit- izenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians, Jains and Parsis who had arrived in India by December 31, 2014 from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh due to religious persecution. While the Modi Government has asserted that it has so far not discussed the proposal for National Register of Citizens, NDA ally JD (U) general secretary Pavan Varma has asked party president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to categorically reject the “divisive CAA-NPR-NRC scheme”, saying this has “nefar- ious agenda to divide India and create a great deal of unneces- sary social turbulence”. RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015

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Page 1: 012%%3˘ * (*+,+,- + !ˆ˝˛ #˝˙˚$ %ˆ˜˝&’&˝(ˆ · 2020. 1. 5. · Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal condemned the killing and tweeted, “A day after mob attacked our

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Two days after an attack onNankana Sahib Gurdwara

in Pakistan’s Punjab provinceby a Muslim mob, a Sikhminority community memberRavinder Singh was on Sundaymurdered in Peshawar by an“unidentified” gunman, leading to a strong protestfrom India which condemnedthe “targeted killing” of theyoung Sikh man.

The Ministry of ExternalAffairs (MEA) said Pakistanshould stop “prevaricating”and take immediate action toapprehend and give exemplarypunishment to the perpetratorsof the crime.

Union Minister HarsimratKaur Badal condemned thekilling and tweeted, “A day aftermob attacked our holy shrine#GurdwaraNankanaSahib, thisbrutal murder of Sikh youth inPeshawar shows the extent ofpersecution minorities face inPak. I urge PM @naren-dramodi ji to imm take up theissue with @ImranKhanPTI &ensure the safety of Sikhbrethren there.”

Punjab Chief MinisterCaptain Amarinder Singh alsotweeted, “Shocked & anguishedover killing of Sikh youthRavinder Singh in Pakistan,coming on heels of NankanaSahib Attack. Imran Khan govtmust ensure thorough investi-gation and strict punishmentfor the culprits. This is the timeto act on what you preach.”

The incident involvingkilling of 25-year-old Sikh mancomes two days after a mobattacked, desecrated and van-dalised the most revered gur-dwara at Nankana Sahib. Thevictim Ravinder Singh was thebrother of Public News anchorHarmeet Singh. He was shotdead in Peshawar by anunidentified man, according tomedia reports.

Ravinder was a resident ofShangla district at Khyber

Pakhtunkhwa and was inPeshawar for shopping ahead ofhis planned wedding. HisPeshawar visit came soon afterhe returned home from hisMalaysia visit. After killinghim, the murderer made aphone call to Ravinder’s fami-ly, a media report said quotingthe Peshawar police.

“India strongly condemnsthe targeted killing of minoritySikh community member inPeshawar that follows the recentdespicable vandalism and dese-cration of the holy Gurdwara SriJanam Asthan at Nankana Sahiband the unresolved case ofabduction, forced conversionand marriage of a Sikh girl JagjitKaur,” the MEA said.

The Ministry of ExternalAffairs (MEA) said Pakistanshould stop “prevaricating” andtake immediate action to appre-hend and give exemplary pun-

ishment to the perpetrators ofthe crime.

“India strongly condemnsthe targeted killing of minori-ty Sikh community member inPeshawar that follows therecent despicable vandalismand desecration of the holyGurdwara Sri Janam Asthan atNankana Sahib and the unre-solved case of abduction, forcedconversion and marriage of aSikh girl Jagjit Kaur,” the MEAsaid. It said the Government ofPakistan should act in defenceof their own minorities insteadof “preaching sermons” aboutit to other countries.

India had on Friday strong-ly condemned vandalism at therevered Gurdwara NankanaSahib in Pakistan and calledupon the neighbouring coun-try to take immediate steps toensure the safety and securityof the Sikh community there.

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Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan on Sunday

condemned the recent inci-dent of vandalismat the NankanaSahib, saying itgoes against his“vision” and theGovernment willshow “zero toler-ance” against thoseinvolved in it.

G u r d w a r aNankana Sahib, also known asGurdwara Janam Asthan, is asite near Lahore where the firstGuru of Sikhs, Guru Nanak,was born. According to mediareports, a violent mob hadattacked the Gurdwara andpelted it with stones on Friday.A team of police had to inter-vene briskly to control the sit-uation.

Breaking his silence on theincident, Khan said that thereis a “major difference betweenthe condemnable Nankanaincident and the ongoing

attacks across Indiaon Muslims andother minorities”.

“The former isagainst my vision &will find zero toler-ance & protectionfrom the govt inclpolice & judiciary(sic),” he tweeted,

referring to the Nankana Sahibincident.

Khan claimed that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s“vision supports minoritiesoppression and the targetedattacks against Muslims.” Healso alleged that the Indianpolice, supported by theGovernment, are leadingattacks against Muslims.

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Several students, includingJawaharlal Nehru University’s

Students Union president AisheGhosh, general secretary SatishChandra and teachers, wereinjured after a clash broke outbetween JNUSU and AkhilBharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad(ABVP) members on the cam-pus on Sunday.

The clash took place dur-ing a public meeting organisedby the JNU Teachers’Association. Violence brokeout as masked men armedwith sticks attacked studentsand teachers and damagedproperty on the campus,prompting the administrationto call in police.

The JNUSU said many stu-dents were injured in stonepelting by ABVP members.

The Left-controlledJNUSU and the ABVP blamedeach other for the violence thatcontinued for nearly two hours.

The ABVP alleged that its

members were "brutally"attacked by students affiliatedto Left student organisationsSFI, AISA and the DSF."Around 25 students have beenseriously injured in this attackand there is no information asto the whereabouts of 11 stu-dents. Masked goons of Leftentered the JNU today and beatup the students who went forregistration," the outfit said.

JNU Professor SuchertaSen was thrashed and wastaken to AIIMS for the treat-ment, said students. Severalphotos and videos of the inci-

dents were doing rounds onsocial media. In a video, Aishesaid she was attacked by goonswearing masks. Aishe suffereda head injury.

JNU Registrar PramodKumar said, “There is a law andorder situation on the JNUcampus. Masked miscreantsarmed with sticks are roamingaround, damaging propertyand attacking people. The JNUadministration has called thepolice to maintain law andorder.

This is the moment toremain calm and alert. In view

of the largeness of the campus,number 100 can also be dialed.Efforts are already being madeto tackle the miscreants,”

Meanwhile, condemningthe attack on students on theJNU campus, Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwaltweeted, “I am so shocked toknow about the violence atJNU. Students attacked brutal-ly. Police should immediatelystop violence and restore peace.How will the country progressif our students will not be safeinside university campus?”

Issuing a statement, theJNUSU alleged that “ABVPmembers have been attackingstudents who are peacefullyprotesting against massive feehike in JNU”.

“On Saturday, a mob led byRitwik Raj who is councillor

from School of InternationalStudies belonging to ABVPattacked students. Then theyattacked JNUSU president andgeneral secretary Aishe andSatish, and other students.Dripta’s, a 1st year MA student,leg was broken due to ABVPviolence.

Today they shamelesslyattacked students again injur-ing a student from JNU’sCentre of Social Medicine andCommunity Health,” JNUSU’sstatement read.

However, the ABVPalleged that its members werebrutally attacked by Left-affil-iated student outfits and 25 ofthem were injured. The JNUSUclaimed that ABVP memberswearing masks were movingaround on the campus withlathis, rods and hammers.

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Living in polluted cities isharmful for health. Earlier

several studies have shown airpollution causes a range ofmedical issues such as lungcancer, stroke, heart diseases,asthma, dementia, depressionet al. Now, a new study haswarned that inhalation of toxicairborne particles emitted bydiesel and petrol vehicles canweaken bones and speed up theageing process.

Researchers came to thisdisturbing conclusion afterstudying the health of nearly4,000 residents from 28 villagesjust outside the city ofHyderabad, in southern India.

The researchers, whosestudy is published in the JAMANetwork Open journalobserved that those who inhaledmore toxic airborne particleshad less bone mass in theirspines and hips. Household airpollution did not have a clearassociation with bone mass.

The bone mass loss due tothe oxidative stress and inflam-mation was caused by the toxicparticulate matters, said thestudy led by Otavio T Ranzani,from Barcelona Institute forGlobal Health, Barcelona,Spain. Osteoporosis is a healthcondition that weakens bones,making them fragile and morelikely to break.

The researchers took mea-surements of PM2.5 and blackcarbon in the atmosphere ineach village. Total 28 villageswere studied. PM2.5 is thefinest type of particulate mat-ter, while black carbon is a larg-er toxin. Both come mainlyfrom petrol and diesel vehicleexhausts. Analysis revealedaverage PM2.5 exposure was 33micrograms per metre cubed(ug/m3) — far above the max-imum 10ug/m3 levels recom-mended by the World HealthOrganisation (WHO), said theresearchers Carles Milà fromNational Institute of Nutrition,Indian Council of Medical

Research, Hyderabad andBharati Kulkarni fromDepartment of Non-commu-nicable Disease Epidemiology,London School of Hygiene andTropical Medicine, London.

The researchers had cross-referenced pollution levels withX-rays measuring bone mass inparticipant’s lower back andhip. Results showed that expo-sure to air pollution were asso-

ciated with lower levels of bonemass. For every 3ug/m3increase in fine particulatematter, there was a decrease of-0.57g of bone mass in thespine and -0.13g in the hip, saidthe study titled ‘Association ofAmbient and Household AirPollution With Bone MineralContent Among Adults in Peri-urban South India’.

An increase of 1ug/m3 of

carbon saw bone density shrinkby -1.13g in the spine and -0.35g in the hip, said Ranzaniadding that “this study con-tributes to the limited andinconclusive literature on airpollution and bone health.”

According to the WHO, airpollution causes an estimatedseven million premature deathsa year worldwide — one thirdof deaths from stroke, lung can-

cer and heart disease.The WHO also points out

that every day around 93 percent of the world’s childrenunder the age of 15 years (1.8billion children) breathe airthat is so polluted it puts theirhealth and development at seri-ous risk. Tragically, many ofthem die: WHO estimates thatin 2016, 600,000 children diedfrom acute lower respiratoryinfections caused by polluted air.

A recent report by theglobal health agency notes thatwhen pregnant women areexposed to polluted air, they aremore likely to give birth pre-maturely, and have small, lowbirth-weight children. “Air pol-lution also impacts neurode-velopment and cognitive abil-ity and can trigger asthma, andchildhood cancer. Childrenwho have been exposed tohigh levels of air pollutionmay be at greater risk forchronic diseases such as car-diovascular disease later inlife,” said the report.

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President Donald Trump haswarned Iran that the US has

identified 52 possible targets inthe country and will hit it hard-er than ever before if Tehran,which has vowed “severerevenge”, carries out any attackagainst America to avenge thekilling of top military com-mander Qasem Soleimani.

Maj Gen Soleimani, 62,the head of Iran’s elite al-Qudsforce and architect of its region-al security apparatus, was killedwhen a US drone fired missilesinto a convoy that was leavingthe Baghdad InternationalAirport early on Friday. Thestrike also killed the deputychief of Iraq’s powerful Hashedal-Shaabi paramilitary force.

Soleimani’s killing was themost dramatic escalation yet inspiralling tensions betweenIran and the US.

Related reports on P2

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New Delhi: Amid spirallingUS-Iran tensions over thekilling of Iranian militarycommander QasemSoleimani, External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar onSunday had a conversationwith his Iranian counter-part Javad Zarif and saidIndia remained deeply con-cerned about the levels oftension in the region.Jaishankar noted that devel-opments have taken a “veryserious turn”.

The External AffairsMinister also discussed the tense situation withOmani Foreign MinisterYusuf Alawi.

Detailed report on P2

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Union Home Minister AmitShah on Sunday accused

Congress leaders Rahul Gandhiand Priyanka Gandhi Vadra ofinstigating “riots” by “mislead-ing” people on the Citizenship(Amendment) Act and sought to reassure Muslims,saying the law has no provisionabout taking away citizenshipof minorities.

BJP launched a ‘Jan Jagran’(public awareness) campaign tocontact three crore families tocounter the Opposition’s cam-paign against the CAA andinform the masses about its fea-tures. While Shah led the drivein the national Capital, othertop party leaders like RajnathSingh, JP Nadda and NitinGadkari were in different partsof the country as part of thecampaign, which will end onJanuary 15. As part of door to

door campaign, Shah visitedhomes in Lajpat Nagar hereand talked to people about thebenefits of the amended citi-zenship law.

He also distributed litera-ture on the subject and urgedthem to go through it.The rul-ing party also launched a toll

free number to seek people’ssupport on the amendedCitizenship Act, and assertedthat it has undertaken a positiveexercise to spread awarenessabout the law. The number,however, led to some contro-versy. Shah clarified thatrumours were being spread

about the number and notedthat it belonged to his party andnot to Netflix. The party laterheld a press conference to slamthose spreading confusion overit. The CAA seeks to grant cit-izenship to Hindus, Sikhs,Buddhists, Christians, Jains andParsis who had arrived in Indiaby December 31, 2014 fromPakistan, Afghanistan andBangladesh due to religiouspersecution.

While the ModiGovernment has asserted thatit has so far not discussed theproposal for National Registerof Citizens, NDA ally JD (U)general secretary Pavan Varmahas asked party president andBihar Chief Minister NitishKumar to categorically rejectthe “divisive CAA-NPR-NRCscheme”, saying this has “nefar-ious agenda to divide India andcreate a great deal of unneces-sary social turbulence”.

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Page 2: 012%%3˘ * (*+,+,- + !ˆ˝˛ #˝˙˚$ %ˆ˜˝&’&˝(ˆ · 2020. 1. 5. · Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal condemned the killing and tweeted, “A day after mob attacked our

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Amid escalating US-Irantensions over the killing of

Iranian military commanderQasem Soleimani, ExternalAffairs Minister S Jaishankaron Sunday talked to his Iraniancounterpart Javad Zarif andsaid India remained deeplyconcerned about the levels oftension in the region.

The External AffairsMinister noted that the devel-opments have taken a veryserious turn.

"Just concluded a conver-sation with FM @JZarif ofIran. Noted that developmentshave taken a very serious turn.India remains deeply con-cerned about the levels of ten-sion. We agreed to remain intouch," Jaishankar tweeted.

The conversation betweenthe two leaders comes threedays after Iran's top militarycommander Soleimani was

killed in a US strike in Baghdadon Friday.

US President DonaldTrump has warned Iran that theUS has identified 52 possibletargets in the country and willhit it harder than ever before ifTehran, which has vowed"severe revenge", carries out anyattack against America toavenge the killing of Soleimani.

Maj Gen Soleimani, 62,the head of Iran's elite al-Qudsforce and architect of its region-al security apparatus, was killedwhen a US drone fired missiles

into a convoy that was leavingthe Baghdad InternationalAirport early on Friday. Thestrike also killed the deputychief of Iraq's powerful Hashedal-Shaabi paramilitary force.

Soleimani's killing was themost dramatic escalation yet inspiralling tensions betweenIran and the US and is esti-mated to be more dangerous inrecent past since he was an uni-formed general unlike AlQaeda's Osama bin Laden andISIS' Abu Bakr al-Baghdaid,both of whom were known ter-

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Doing its bit to help mitigateclimate change, India, in

the last five years has installedover 1.03 crore smart environ-ment-friendly light emittingdiode (LED) streetlights tilldate, enabling an estimatedenergy savings of 6.97 billionkWh anually and an estimatedgreenhouse gas (GHG) emis-sion reduction of 4.80 milliontCO2 annually.

Similarly, over 36.13 croreLED bulbs have been distrib-uted across the country, result-ing in estimated energy savingsof 46.92 billion kWh per year,avoided peak demand of 9,394MW, and an estimated GHGemission reduction of 38 mil-lion t CO2 annually, said a

statement here on Sunday fromthe Energy Efficiency ServicesLimited (EESL), a joint ventureof PSUs under the UnionPower Ministry.

ESSL has been given themandate to implement theLED Street Lighting NationalProgramme (SLNP), theworld's largest streetlightreplacement programme andThe Unnat Jyoti by AffordableLEDs for All (UJALA), whichis also the world's largestdomestic lighting project.

"Energy efficiency is vitalfor India's efforts in mitigatingclimate change and achievinga sustainable future. These pro-grammes exemplify theGovernment's vision for a NewIndia, and the empowerment ofevery citizen, said SaurabhKumar, Managing Director,ESSL about the progress of thetwo energy efficient schemeswhich completes five years onSunday since their launch onJanuary 5th 2015 by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

In fact, accelerating adop-tion of Energy Efficiency (EE)technologies, and LED lightingin particular, have been iden-tified as key elements in achiev-ing the ambitious commit-ments under the ParisAgreement and transitioning toa low carbon global economy.

Lighting accounts for near-ly 6% of global CO2 emissions.A global switch to energy effi-cient light emitting diode(LED) technology could saveover 1,400 million tons of CO2and avoid the construction of1,250 power stations, as pervarious global studies.

Saurabh Kumar said thatUJALA project brought themarket transformation in ener-gy efficiency sector. Prices ofLED bulbs being distributedunder UJALA programmehave fallen to one-tenth oftheir rates in 2015 from Rs 310to Rs 38 in 2018.

The switch from inefficientincandescent bulbs to LEDs ishelping families reduce their

electricity bills while alsoenabling them to access betterbrightness in homes. With theaverage household electricitybills down by 15 per cent, theannual energy saving is equiva-lent to a week's average earning.

Now the ESSL is aiming toreplace 1.34 crore convention-

al streetlights in India withsmart LEDs under the SLNP byMarch 2020. This will enablepeak demand reduction ofabout 1500 MW, annual ener-gy savings of 9 billion kWh,and reduction in 6.2 Milliontons of CO2 per year, said astatement here.

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Asinister plot to target seniorBSF officer, posted in the

Samba sector of Jammu fron-tier, was foiled with the timelydetection of a parcel bomb lateSunday evening.

According to officialsources, "a motorcycle borneyouth had delivered a parcel,meant for deputy commandantof 173 Batallion, at the sentrygate of a BSF unit in Samba sec-tor on Saturday evening".

For some unknown rea-sons the packet could not bedelivered to the officer con-cerned on Saturday.

On Sunday evening, BSFjawans reported the issue ofnon delivery of a parcel, to bedelivered to a deputy com-mandant.

On learning the details, thedeputy commandant was con-

tacted but when he clarified hewas not expecting any delivery,the BSF officers suspectedsome foul play.

Following the standardoperating procedure, the localunit officers contacted localpolice and bomb disposalsquad.

The technical persons, aftercarefully examining the parcel,defused the same and foiled a

bid to target the BSF officer.According to official

sources, "an IED fitted parcel,with explosive material was dif-fused by the bomb disposalsquad late sunday evening inSamba".

Senior Superintendent ofPolice, Samba and DIG,Jammu-Kathua range also vis-ited the BSF unit late sundayevening to ascertain the details.

BSF authorities have hand-ed over the parcel bomb alongwith other material to thepolice authorities for carryingout further investigations in thecase.

The BSF authorities arealso looking at the footage ofthe CCTV camera to ascertainthe identity of the parcel carri-er who had actually deliveredthe parcel at the sentry gate ofthe BSF unit late Saturdayevening.

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With the reopening of theSupreme Court on

Monday after winter vacation,all eyes will be on the adjudi-cation of contentious issuesincluding controversialCitizenship (Amendment) Actand abrogation of provisions ofArticle 370 of the Constitution.

The year 2020 will alsowitness the apex court consti-tuting a seven-judgeConstitution bench to examinethe issue of entry of women ofall ages into the hill shrine ofhistoric Sabarimala temple,which was referred by a five-judge bench for fixing para-meters to deal with alleged dis-crimination against Muslimand Parsi women.

The first working day ofthe new year is also likely tohave a mention of the petitionfiled by Tata Sons PrivateLimited (TSPL) challengingthe December 18 decision ofNCLAT restoring Cyrus Mistryas the executive chairman ofthe group and saying the ver-dict had "undermined corpo-rate democracy" and the"rights" of its board of directors.

The top court will alsotake up the contentious issue ofwhether the creamy layer con-cept should apply to ScheduledCastes and Scheduled Tribeswhile giving them reservationin promotions.

In December 2019, theCentre had urged the SupremeCourt to refer its 2018 verdictexcluding the creamy layer

within the SC/ST communityfrom reservation benefits to a7-judge bench for a review.

The apex court will keep aneye on air pollution matter inwhich the court has been pass-ing slew of directions from timeto time.

On January 21, a five-judge Constitution bench head-ed by Justices N V Ramana islikely to resume hearing on abatch of petitions challengingCentre's August last year deci-sion to abrogate provisions ofArticle 370, which gave specialstatus to the erstwhile state ofJammu and Kashmir.

The top court had onDecember 12 indicated that itmay consider the question ofreferring the issue of challengeto the abrogation of provi-

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Over 1,100 children adopt-ed across the country have

been returned to child careinstitutions by their adoptiveparents in the last five years,according to the nodal adop-tion body CARA.

Most of the children werereturned due to adjustmentissues which is seen mainly incase of older children (over 8years of age), according to asenior Central AdoptionResource Authority official.

According to informationaccessed by PTI through anRTI, the highest number ofchildren were returned in 2014-15. A total of 387 out of a totalof 4,362 adopted children were returned in 2014-15 whilein 2015-16 a total of 236 out ofa total of 3,677 adopted chil-dren were returned by adop-tive parents, the RTI datashowed.

In 2016-17, a total of 195out of 3,788 adopted childrenwere returned while in 2017-18a total of 153 out of a total of3927 adopted children were

returned by adoptive parents,the data showed.

In 2018-19, a total of 133out of 4027 children werereturned by adoptive parents,the data showed.

The CARA official saidabout half of the older childrenwho are adopted are returnedby parents due to "adjustmentissues".

He stressed on the need toprepare children in childcareinstitutions so that they are ableto adjust with their families.

"At child care institutions,children are groomed in a dif-ferent way. They have to beprepared and counselled tostay and adjust with families,"he said.

He further said that inmany cases it is seen that chil-dren have developed a strongbonding with their caretaker atchild care institutions due towhich it becomes very difficultfor them to leave them andmove into a family.

The official said that fam-ilies also need to be preparedfor taking care of the children.

"Even the parents have tobe counselled and prepared.The parents think that as soonas they bring a child theywould put him in an age spe-cific class and the child shouldstart putting in effort due towhich the child feels he wasbetter off there at the CCI withhis or her friends and he

expresses a desire to comeback to the institution," hesaid.

The official also stressed onthe need to build social infra-structure at the ground level."Each state is supposed to havestate social welfare board butthese have become defunct inmost of the states, if theseinfrastructures are energisedand put in place then servicecan be delivered but that is yetto be made operational onground," he said.

He said CARA, the nodalbody of adoption, is conduct-ing a study to look at ways toprevent it.

Among states, the highestnumber of children werereturned in the last five yearsfrom Maharashtra at 273 fol-lowed by Madhya Pradesh at92, Odisha at 88, andKarnataka at 60, the datashowed.

Dr Nimish G Desai, direc-tor of the Institute of HumanBehaviour and Allied Sciences,said this experience can be"very traumatic" for the adopt-ed children.

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The Government is workingon an ambitious proposal

to transform various paramil-itary forces into leaner andcompact fighting units byundertaking probable stepslike merging and rotating oldertroops amongst them,informed officials said.

They said a special com-mittee of senior Central ArmedPolice Forces (CAPF) officersand Union Home Ministrybrass has been constituted todeliberate on the issue andpresent a final report to theMinistry by the middle of thisyear.

One of the proposals thatis being discussed by the com-mittee of the Directors General(DsG) and Special Secretary(internal security) in theMinistry of Home Affairs is tomerge some forces to makethem leaner, fighting fit andtask-oriented for a specificborder guarding role or a spe-cialised counter-terrorist task.

It is being discussed if thetwo border guarding forces,Indo-Tibetan Border Policeand the Sashastra Seema Bal(SSB), could be merged to cre-ate a uniform unit to guard the

entire eastern land border along countries likeChina and Nepal, a senior offi-cial told PTI.

At present, their task is sep-arate. While the ITBP guards the 3,488-km Line ofActual Control (LAC) withChina, the SSB mans the 1,751km front with Nepal andanother 699-km border withBhutan.

A few discussions havetaken place on the subject butmerits have to be analysedbefore going ahead with themerger of these two forces asagainst the post Kargil war pol-icy decision to have 'one forcefor one border', another officialsaid.

Both the forces are justunder one lakh personnel instrength and have their uniqueculture and regimentation.More discussions are in the off-ing and nothing has beenfinalised, officials said.

Another proposal in thediscussion stage is the merging of country's largestparamilitary force CRPF withthe counter-terror commandosforce, NSG.

The two forces are verydifferent from each other butthe discussion is to possibly

have a single command for thetwo forces, officials said.

While the CRPF is thelead force for maintenance oflaw and order, anti-Naxal oper-ations and counter-insurgency,the NSG is the premier feder-al strike force for counter-ter-ror and counter-hijack opera-tions.

The sheer core competen-cies of these two forces can beblended to achieve the target ofhaving a single force to combatterror and hijack incidents andMaoist and insurgency threats,they said.

However, the proposal isonly at discussion stage at pre-sent and many other issues areto be analysed before it isaccepted or rejected, the offi-cials added.

Another proposal in theworks is to have a physically fitprofile for the over 3 lakh per-sonnel strong CRPF in order touse it as the first instrument ofstrike in all theatres of the inter-nal security domain.

Union Home MinisterAmit Shah, who recently visit-ed the CRPF headquarters hereto review its operational pre-paredness, had asked the forceto see if policy steps can betaken to keep its profile young

and fit.CRPF then constituted a

six-member committee of offi-cers to prepare a blueprint if athreshold cut-off age can befixed after which its personnelcan be shifted to "relatively sta-tic duties" within the

organisation or such per-sonnel can be given less hardduties.

The committee headedwill also analyse if such per-sonnel can be "absorbed" inother CAPFs like the SSB or theairports security force CISF toensure better "rest and recu-peration" for them.

All the CAPFs comprisingthe CRPF, BSF, ITBP, CISFand SSB apart from theNational Security Guard (NSG)have been asked by the MHAto look for and induct moderntechnology and gadgetry toperform their duties eitheralong the borders or in the hin-terland, officials said.The home minister during hismaiden visits to the head officesof a number of these forces hasstressed on primarily two sub-jects: welfare of troops to keepthem motivated for their taskand using modern technologyto ease their hard task withoutfail, they added.

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Page 3: 012%%3˘ * (*+,+,- + !ˆ˝˛ #˝˙˚$ %ˆ˜˝&’&˝(ˆ · 2020. 1. 5. · Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal condemned the killing and tweeted, “A day after mob attacked our

RAIPUR | MONDAY | JANUARY 6, 2020chhattisgarh 03

Volunteers removing weeds from Dalpatsagar Lake of Jagdalpur during cleanliness drive on Sunday

New Delhi/Raipur (IANS)

Seven months after the unionministry of tribal affairs

decided to rehabilitate the peoplewho were internally displaced dueto Maoist violence 15 years ago,the Chhattisgarh government hasinitiated the process for theiridentification.

Around 16,000 tribals (5,000families) were uprooted fromChhattisgarh during 2004-05when Naxal violence escalated inthe state. Around 3,000 familiesmoved to over 150 villages in theforests of the neighbouring statesof Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Once identified and verified,the tribals will be eligible for theirreturn and rehabilitation in thestate under Forest Right Act (FRA)2006.

FRA grants land rights to allindigenous people who worked on

their land till December 12, 2005. The union ministry of tribal

affairs has also decided torehabilitate the internallydisplaced tribals at alternative landto their original habitation, underan ain situ' provision under clause3.1.m of the FRA.

In July last year, the NationalCommission for Schedule Tribes(NCST) held a meeting of theofficial representatives of all theNaxal-hit states -- Chhattisgarh,Andhra Pradesh, Telangana,Maharashtra and Odisha. SinceChhattisgarh is the most affectedstate by Maoist violence, the NCSTasked the state government tocomplete its survey of internallydisplaced people in three monthsand submit its report.

However the Bhupesh Bhagelgovernment is yet to conduct a surveyor submit its report. The Ministry ofTribal Affairs, according to official

sources, sent several reminders,the latest on December 20, askingit to immediately submit a reporton the status of the survey.

Finally, in a letter sent onDecember 27, Chief MinisterBhupesh Bhagel's office has askedthe Telangana government headedby KC Rao to help it with thesurvey of its displaced tribals livingin the state.

"We came to know that mostdisplaced people have moved toTelangana. So we have sent a letteronly to the Telangana governmentas of now," DD Kunjam, jointsecretary of SC & ST developmentdepartment in Raipur told IANS.

Kunjam said that thegovernment had also directed thedistrict revenue officials toconduct survey in Chhattisgarh.

The government, he said, is yetto figure out how to implement ainsitu rehabilitation' under FRA.

"There are other technical issues aswell but all of them will have to beaddressed once we have the survey.We have begun the process and wewill be conveying it to the Centralgovernment too," he said.

The NSCT and the union min-istry of tribal affairs had orderedthe survey of the internallydisplaced people following anapplication filed by CGNet SwaraFoundation, an NGO based inRaipur, headed by ShubhranshuChoudhary.

"The government has beenthoughtful about the refugees whohave come from the neighbouringcountries. But we have refugeeswithin the country and they areliving in deplorable conditions.The government must expedite theprocess to rehabilitate theinternally displaced people ofChhattisgarh," he told IANS.

C’garh govt begins survey to internally displaced tribals

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Chief Minister BhupeshBaghel on Sunday heaped

praise on police force for

reining in crime across thestate and dealing the menaceof Naxalism very effectively.

While addressing IPSConclave-2020 at NavaRaipur, he expressed satisfac-

tion that Naxal violence hadcome down to a whopping 40percent in state in 2019 main-ly because of excellent polic-ing.

Top police officials were

in attendance besides homeminister Tamradhwaj Sahuand chief secretary RPMandal at the Conclave.

Speaking on this occa-sion Baghel advised the offi-

cials to work for winningtrust of people and to con-tribute in development andwelfare works.

Specially mentioningthat Naxal incidents in state

which had recorded a sharpdecline in 2019, Baghel saidthat police officials shouldbehave with subordinates insuch a way that they keeptheir morale high.

He suggested the policeofficials to encourage sportsactivities among rural youthand motivate women for selfemployment and economicactivities.

Baghel lavishes praise on policeforce at IPS Conclave - 2020

RAIPUR: Additional DirectorGeneral of Police(Administration) Ashok Juneja(IPS) has been elected as presi-dent of Chhattisgarh IPSAssociation at the annual IPSConclave-2020 held at PoliceHeadquarters, Nava Raipur onSunday.

Inspector General of PoliceBilaspur Range Pradeep Guptahas been elected vice presidentwhile DIG Rajnandgaon RatanLal Gandhi as secretary.

JunejaelectedIPS Assnchief

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

The ruling Congress is all set to get itsnominee elected for mayor post in

Raipur Municipal Corporation onMonday for which the BJP is too trying

hard to woo corporators.In a 70-member house, Congress

needs support of 36 corporators but it fallshort of two members. There are sevenIndependent corporators who hold thekey. Sources said that the BJP is strug-

gling to win over Independent corpora-tors.

The Raipur Municipal Corporationto hold the oath-taking ceremony of itsnewly elected members, election ofRaipur Mayor, Speaker (Chairman) andthe Appeal Committee members will beheld on January 6 from 10.30 am.

The meeting will be presided over byPresiding Officer-cum- District ElectionOfficer and collector Raipur.

The meeting is scheduled at the con-ference hall of RMC Headquarters,White House at the 4th floor.

Commissioner, MunicipalCorporation Raipur, Shiv Anant Tayalhad issued the invitation to all electedcorporators to be present for theoath-taking ceremony.

Cong devises strategy toget Raipur mayor post

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Union minister for labour and employ-ment Santosh Kumar Gangwar said on

Sunday that Chhattisgarh Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel should specifically concen-

trate on development of his state rather thanmaking comments on federal functioning ofthe country.

He made the statement while addressingmedia persons in Raipur while launchingpro-CAA drive in Congress-ruled

Chhattisgarh.Endorsing Gangwar’s comment and

reacting to a recent statement of Baghel onNRC, former Chief Minister Raman Singhtold newspersons `CAA and NRC are total-ly different to each other’.

``Chhattisgarh can’t grant separate citi-zenship to anyone. Centre has its own sub-ject, state has its own while citizenship ismatter of union government’’ remarkedRaman Singh who was chief minister of thestate for 15 years.

He further stated that with large influxof Bangladeshis’ in Assam duringBangaldesh War in 1971, local residentsbegan protest in 1980 after which RajivGandhi in 1985 entered with a tri-partiteaccord with All Assam Students’ Union(AASU) and during Manmohan Singhregime too the central government didn’timplement the accord.

He informed that Supreme Court whileacting on a petition filed by an NGO hadlaid down the framework of NRC in subse-quent orders in 2013, 2015 and 2018 moni-toring the whole process of registration. So,it was just Assam specific NRC.

BJP launches pro-CAA drive in C’garhDo you know why many differ-

ent chemical compoundsfound in creams, cosmetics, andother topical consumer productstrigger allergic reactions in theskin? The way some chemicals dis-place natural fat-like molecules --called lipids -- in skin cells may bethe culprit, suggests new research.

This discovery, published inthe journal Science Immunology,raises the possibility that allergiccontact dermatitis could bestopped by applying competinglipids to the skin to displace thosetriggering the immune reaction.

Currently, the only way to stopallergic contact dermatitis is toidentify and avoid contact with the

offending chemical. Topical oint-ments can help sooth the rashes,which usually clear up in less thana month.

In severe cases, physicians mayprescribe oral corticosteroids, anti-inflammatory agents that suppressthe immune system, increasing therisk of infections and other sideeffects.

An allergic reaction beginswhen the immune system's T cellsrecognise a chemical as foreign. Tcells do not directly recognisesmall chemicals, and research sug-gests that these compounds need toundergo a chemical reaction withlarger proteins in order to makethemselves visible to T cells.

Some cosmetics maycause a skin rash

FILE PHOTO

Page 4: 012%%3˘ * (*+,+,- + !ˆ˝˛ #˝˙˚$ %ˆ˜˝&’&˝(ˆ · 2020. 1. 5. · Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal condemned the killing and tweeted, “A day after mob attacked our

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Under the special campaignbeing conducted by the

BJP in favour of CitizenAmendment Act- Door to doorcampaign on CAA, Leader ofthe Opposition in the StateAssembly, Gopal Bhargava, onSunday, visited Muslim familiesat Bazar ward of Garhakota inSagar district.

While talking to Muslimfamilies, Bhargava urged themto give a miss call on mobilenumber 88662-88662. Thiscampaign is being conductedto overcome the misconcep-tions regarding legal aspects ofthis Act.

In a statement, Bhargavainformed that he contactedfamilies of Rasheed Khan,

Lateef Khan, Nizam Khan andothers. They were also dis-tributed literature/ pamphletsrelated to the CAA.

On the occasion, Bhargavasaid that Congress is playingpolitics by spreading miscon-ceptions regarding the CAA.Informing the Muslims aboutthe CAA, he stated that the Actis not at all against theMuslims. “Muslims brothersare citizens of the country andthey should not get fearedwith this Act, as it provides cit-izenship and does not takeanybody’s citizenship,” headded.

He further said Congress isopposing this Act, only foropposing Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

On the occasion,

Municipality Chairman BharatChourasiya, Vice-chairmanManoj Tiwari, senior leaderSattar Bhai, Pawan Nayak,Kallu Ustad, Rajesh Gupta andother BJP leaders were present.

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The continuous 50 minutesrains on Friday evening

flooded the Indore BRTS withwater as the BRTS from Indorezoo till Noulakha square wasflooded with around 2 feetheight at many places andstretched till more than 100meters at some places at boththe side of BRTS road.

People were seen pullingtheir cars and bikes to give wayto the traffic. The most dan-gerous thing was that the street-lights running at the side of theBRTS were also drown in thewater and the possibility of cur-rent coming on road could notbe ruled out. It took more than4o minutes for the people todrive a distance of 1 km to crossNoulakha square.

Notably, Indore BRTSwhich is around 12 kilometerslong and is the lifeline of theIndore public transport.

There are more than adozen imp squares and dozensof side roads connected to this

BRTS. More than lakhs of vehi-cles and people move on thisroad daily and the outsiderswho come to Indore from anyside of Indore cross this BRTSroad to enter into the city.

According to sources thewater logging on the BRTSroads is due to the chokeddrains and at some places theroad is running below theground level.

Locals told that Indore isaspiring to be the number onein traffic and the maintenanceof this BRTS road should bealso connected under the pro-ject of better traffic system ofIndore.

Additional commissionerof Indore municipal KrishanChaitnya told The Pioneer thathe has instructed DevendraSingh and Tomar to look afterthe causes of water logging atBRTS.

Indore locals told thatwhen it took 40 minutes tocross the 1 km BRTS road howmany hours it will take tocross the 12 kms BRTS road.

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In the literary fest held onSunday at Swaraj Bhavan, the

poets and writers recited theircreations, leaving the literaturelovers awestruck.

The event was organised bySahitya Akademi, MadhyaPradesh Culture Council. Tobegin with Anshu Johri read hisselected works. Johri readselected compositions in hisway

Excerpts from the 'Yaadonke Sawal' story were also read.Excerpt from the second story'Deewar' were also read.

Many senior poets andwriters were also a part of theevent, but the aim was givinga place to young poets.

The poets and writers pre-sent at the programme andrecited their creations beforethe audience grabbing muchapplause.

The poets recited the poemover various issues concerningthe social issues majorly.During the programme, eachpoet recited two or three of hiscreations before the audienceand received much apprecia-tion. Further, the other partic-ipant poets also gave over-whelming performances beforethe audience as they read outtheir creations adding variousemotions, and expressions intheir poetry.

At the programme, thetransparency of literature wasappreciated by the audience.The literature lovers of thecity appreciated the creations ofsome of the poets for theirtremendous contribution inmounting up the literatureamong people.

The audience took thepleasure of the poets’ meetand enjoyed the show whole-heartedly.

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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar on

Sunday slammed Pakistan overreligious persecution of minori-ties after the recent NankanaSahib incident.

Citing the Nankana Sahibvandalism in Pakistan, ManoharLal said that this incident isenough to prove that theminorities in Pakistan and otherIslamic countries are being sub-jected to inhuman and step-motherly treatment.

“Protest would be made, ifrequired, against Pakistan andother countries like Afghanistanand Bangladesh so as to ensurethat the minorities residingthere are not oppressed in thename of religion and their rightsare protected,” he said whilecondemning the attack andstone-pelting on Sikh devoteesat the Gurdwara Nankana Sahib.

Manohar Lal was address-ing a gathering after launchingthe Sampark Abhiyan in sup-port of Citizenship(Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA)in Sector-10 at Panchkula.

He said that the Parliamenthas recently passed CitizenshipAmendment Act to providecitizenship of India to theminorities coming to Indiafrom neighboring countrieswho are being oppressed therein the name of religion. But fewopposition parties are misguid-

ing the people of the country byspreading false informationwithout understanding the pro-visions of the Act, Manohar Lalsaid.

He said that it is beingpropagated among the Muslimsthat it is a law to take away thecitizenship of the country fromthe Muslims, whereas in reali-ty, it is to give citizenship.Heexhorted the people to remaincautious and do not fall prey tothese rumours and considerthis Act as in the interest ofhumanity.

The Chief Minister saidthat this is not a new Act as ithas came into force in the year1955 as per which minoritycommunities like Hindu, Sikh,Buddhist, Jain, Parsi andChristian who are oppressed inPakistan, Afghanistan and

Bangladesh in the name of reli-gion come to India to lead arespectable life.

Earlier, it was mandatoryfor them to stay in India for 11years to get citizenship of Indiabut now Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has imple-mented a new provision as perwhich minorities who havecome to India before 2014 couldbe given citizenship of India, headded.

He further said that duringAtal Bihari Vajpayee’sGovernment in which LalKrishna Advani was the DeputyPrime Minister, Dr ManmohanSingh had himself said in theLok Sabha that such peopleshould be given citizenship assoon as possible. In Haryana,now decks have been cleared forgiving them citizenship, he

added.Manohar Lal said that a

number 8866288662 has beenstarted to register participationof people of Haryana in theSampark Abhiyan in support ofCAA.He said that people couldgive their consent in favour ofCAA by giving missed call onthis number.

Earlier, the Chief Ministeralso visited the houses of promi-nent people in Sector-10 atPanchkula as part of SamparkAbhiyan and garner support infavour of CAA.

Among those present onthis occasion included VidhanSabha Speaker Gian ChandGupta, Education MinisterKanwar Pal Gujjar, DeputyCommissioner Mukesh KumarAhuja, Deputy Commissionerof Police Kamaldeep Goyal andothers.

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Punjab Congress presidentSunil Jakhar on Sunday said

that the BJP-led NDAGovernment must resolve theincident of Sri Nankana Sahib bytaking up the matter with thePakistan Government instead ofpoliticising it.

Punjab Pradesh CongressCommittee president advisedthat the Union Government torefrain from politicizing the sen-sitive issue. “Rather, the UnionGovernment must follow PunjabChief Minister Capt AmarinderSingh, who has asked PakistanPrime Minister to intervene forimmediate action in the matter,”said Jakhar adding that insteadof politicking on the matterconcerned with the Sikhs’ psy-che, the Centre must take up thismatter with the PakistaniGovernment for its immediateresolution.

Jakhar said that the matterwas concerned with the emo-tions of the Sikhs and it wasunfortunate that the BJP-ledCentral Government was tryingto justify its draconian law bypoliticizing this incident.“SriNankana Sahib is a pious placefor the entire humanity in gen-eral and Sikhs inparticular…Politicization of thisunfortunate incident is reflectionof BJP’s myopic outlook,” saidJakhar while asking the Central

Government to use its diplo-matic relations with the neigh-boring country to ensure thesafety of our religious places inPakistan.

Slamming the BJPGovernment, PPCC chief saidthat it was unfortunate that byshedding crocodile tears on theissue, BJP is trying to justify itsCitizenship Act, which has beenframed in contrast with thebasic spirit of the IndianConstitution.He said that it washigh time that the PakistaniGovernment must be asked toensure severest of severe pun-ishment for the perpetrators ofthe heinous incident at SriNankana Sahib.

“The psyche of the Sikhs hasbeen bruised with this incidentbut the manner in which UnionMinister Hardeep Singh Puri hasreacted on it has further disap-pointed the Sikhs,” he said.Jakharadded that linking of this inci-dent with Citizenship Act by BJPwas reflection of its communaloutlook and hatred for theminorities. “It is shameful thatBJP is trying to use the feelingsof Sikhs for marketing of its dra-conian law,” he said whilereminding the BJP that Sikhswere not political currency of anypolitical party, which it could uti-lize for its vested interests.“Tohide its sin, BJP is doing the-atricals on this unfortunate inci-dent,” he said.

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Kanwar Pal Gujjar, Ministerof Education, Forests,

Tourism, Parliamentary Affairsand Hospitality, says that theGovernment is committed toprovide quality education to thestudents studying inGovernment schools inHaryana. He says Haryanatourism would further be pro-moted through digitisation ina big way in 2020.

59-year old, Gujjar won theAssembly election in 2019 forthe third time from JagadhiriVidhan Sabha constituency bydefeating Akram Khan ofCongress. He is among the fewsenior Haryana BJP leaderswho won the Assembly electionin 2019.

Inspired by SadhviRithambara, Gujjar jumpedinto the Ram Janambhoomimovement in 1989 and joinedthe BJP in 1990. He becamelegislator for the first time in2000 but quit the assembly toprotest Punjab government’s2004 move to scrap the water-sharing agreement. Gujjar wasearlier Speaker of the lastAssembly.

In an exclusive interviewwith The Pioneer, he reveals hispolitical journey and his expe-rience as a Minister of the State.Excerpts from the interview:

Your party had set target of75+ in the Assembly election2019 but BJP’s tally reduced to40 from 47 seats. Your com-ment

There is nothing much tosay on this now. But peoplehave given mandate to BJP inHaryana as we did work. Thefive or six independents whohave won are all BJP rebels whofought separately due to ticketissues so in this way, the BJPdid get a majority as the inde-pendents were our own.

Sometimes, there is a mistakein estimates on seats one willwin. But the bottom lineremains that we got three percent more vote share than lasttime, up to over 36 per centnow. The work Manohar LalKhattar has done as a State CMof running a non-corrupt gov-ernment was unheard of inHaryana in the past. Jobs weregiven in the most transparentmanner. Still, the new govern-ment will look into any short-comings and improve uponthem in the second.

Congress leaders say thatboth the parties -BJP and JJPfought election against eachother but jointly formed gov-ernment in the State. Will thiscoalition government com-plete its tenure of five years?Your comment

This is laughable as theCongress has won just 31 seats.If the mandate was forCongress, they would havecrossed the 45-mark. As far asJJP is concerned, it won 10seats. Also, JJP is now with usin the new government. Thisgovernment will complete itsfive year tenure. There is nothreat to this government.

Many senior BJP leaderslost the Assembly election.Eight out of 10 ministers of theprevious BJP-led governmentlost their seats. How did thishappen?

Maybe these ministers gottoo busy in running the gov-ernment and did not pay ade-quate attention to people intheir constituency. There is adelicate balance which must bemaintained as a minister ofrunning the government andattending to people in theconstituency.

What are the works you donein your constituency duringprevious five years’ of BJPgovernment?

All round developmenttook place in my Constituency.From hospitals, schools, col-leges and roads to rural elec-trification, developmentalworks worth Rs 1,100 crore areeither ready or near comple-tion. Two 30-bed hospitals areoperational, while work on a100-bed hospital will startsoon. I used to live with the

people and held Janata Darbars(open sessions) regularly tosolve problems of the people.I have done lots of work andensured better roads and aug-menting the sewerage systembesides the setting up of collegebuildings and ITIs.

How has your political jour-ney been so far?

Since school days, I wasinterested in politics. I was stu-dents’ leader and also contest-ed election of students’ unionin Maharaja Aggarsain College,Jagadhri. I was elected as apresident of students union inMaharaja Aggarsain College.Since school days, I was also avery keen sportsman. Initially,my family was associated withCongress. An incident has

changed my life forever. Therewas a programme of RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh (RSS)firebrand leader SadhviRithambara in my districtJagadhri in 1990 and I hadattended her programme. Herspeech was patriotic and moti-vational. I took membership ofRSS and later joined the BJP.In 1991, I contested the elec-tion first time as BJP candidateand lost the election by 4000votes. In 1996, I again lost theelection by 520 votes. But I waselected MLA in 2000 whenINLD-BJP ruled the state. In2009, I again lost the election.In 2014, I won by 40, 000 votesand got an opportunity tobecome a Speaker.

Cutting across the party lines,you as a Speaker were appre-ciated by leaders of ruling andopposition parties. How wasyour experience as a Speaker?How do you see your new roleas a Minister in the coalitiongovernment?

I am thankful to all lead-ers who appreciated my con-duct in the House. I was hon-est in my work during the ses-sion. I gave equal chance to alllegislators, including those ofopposition, to raise publicissues during session. Newlegislators were also givenequal chance to raise publicissues.

Unemployment is a big issuebefore the government. Whatare the steps being taken inyour departments to provideemployment opportunitiesfor the youth of the State?

Employment was given tolarge number of youth of theState during previous five yearsof BJP-led government.Moreover, the State govern-ment has now decided to

launch an employment projecton a pilot basis in five State col-leges. The project will belaunched in collaboration withprivate sector. Under this pro-ject, the unemployed graduateand post-graduate youth of theState will be given training onfreelancing platforms likeupworks.com, Guru.com,Odesk.com.

This type of training willgenerate self-employmentopportunities in selected col-leges for the excellence ofhigher education. After suc-cessful implementation oftraining in these colleges, grad-uate and postgraduate youth inother government colleges willalso be trained to start self-employment and will get anopportunity to work fromhome.

Being a tourism Minister,what are the steps being takento attract visitors to the state?

In the forthcomingSurajkund International CraftsMela, Uzbekistan will be the“Partner Nation”. This timeHimachal Pradesh will alsoparticipate as a theme-state.Due to the selection ofHimachal Pradesh as a theme-state, this time the Surajkundfair will be having theHimachali tradition. After 23years, cultural diversity ofMcLeodganj and Manali willbe seen in the 35thInternational Surajkund CraftFair. Himachal was made atheme-state in Surajkund Fairin 1996. Recently the PinjoreHeritage Festival was held andthis time, school students andsenior citizens visiting the fes-tival were provided the facili-ty of free entry at the Festival.Haryana Tourism Departmenthas signed an agreement withthe 'BharatP' company, so thepayment can be accepted

through UPI based 'QR' codescanning through more than120 applications like Paytm,Google-Pay, Bheem-UPI,Phone-Pe, HDFC-Payzapp, SBIYONO, Truecaller etc inHaryana government touristresorts and petrol pumps. Also,120 swipe-machines have beeninstalled at the department'sresort and petrol pump topromote digitization in thedepartment.

Many ministers (includingyou) of the Haryana govern-ment recently conductedraids in various departmentsand suspended the officials.What was the need for it?

Inspections should be con-ducted in departments fromtime to time so that services tothe people can be delivered ontime. During review meeting,I had directed to suspendJunior Engineer (JE) ofHaryana Bijli Vitran Nigam inKarnal for not performing hisduties properly.

How will you improve level ofeducation in governmentschools?

The Education board ispresently holding various aca-demic activities. To ensure thesmooth functioning, 100 per-cent computerisation has beenadopted by the Board. In manycases, the Haryana board hasadopted the transparent poli-cies of Central Board ofSecondary Education, (CBSE),which includes Internal andcontinuous assessment ofschool candidates.Government and privateschools of the State, which haveexcelled in the Board of SchoolEducation Haryana examina-tions were honoured by ChiefMinister Manohar Lal Khattar.

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Page 5: 012%%3˘ * (*+,+,- + !ˆ˝˛ #˝˙˚$ %ˆ˜˝&’&˝(ˆ · 2020. 1. 5. · Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal condemned the killing and tweeted, “A day after mob attacked our

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Washington: Secretary of StateMike Pompeo said Sunday thatany target the US military maystrike in Iran, in the event Iranretaliates against America forkilling its most powerful gen-eral, would be legal under thelaws of armed conflict.

Pompeo was asked onABC's "This Week" aboutPresident Donald Trump'sassertion Saturday on Twitterthat the United States has 52Iranian targets in its sights,"some at a very high level &important to Iran & the Iranianculture."

The laws of armed conflictprohibit the deliberate target-ing of cultural sites under mostcircumstances.

"Every target that we strikewill be a lawful target, and itwill be a target designed witha singular mission — defend-ing and protecting America,"Pompeo said.

He also said the Trumpadministration has abandonedthe previous US administra-tion's focus on counteringIranian proxy groups and sug-

gested the US Strike inBaghdad that killed IranianGen Qassem Soleimani was anexample of the new strategy.

"We're going to respondagainst the actual decision-makers, the people who arecausing this threat from theIslamic Republic of Iran,"Pompeo said.

In Baghdad on Sunday, theUS coalition combating theIslamic State group in Iraq andSyria announced that it has"paused" training of Iraqi secu-rity forces in order to focus onprotecting coalition personnel.

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Beirut: Iraq's parliament hasvoted to expel the US militaryfrom the country.

Lawmakers voted Sundayin favour of a resolution thatcalls for ending foreign militarypresence in the country. Theresolution's main aim is to getthe US to withdraw some 5,000US troops present in differentparts of Iraq.

The vote comes two daysafter a US airstrike killedIranian Gen. QassemSoleimani inside Iraq, dramat-ically increasing regional ten-sions.

The Iraqi resolution specif-ically calls for ending an agree-ment in which Washingtonsent troops to Iraq more thanfour years ago to help in thefight against the Islamic Stategroup.

The resolution was backedby most Shiite members of par-liament, who hold a majority ofseats.

Many Sunni and Kurdishlegislators did not show up forthe session, apparentlybecause they oppose abolish-ing the deal. AP

Tehran: The military adviser toIran's supreme leader said theIslamic republic's response to aUS strike that killed one of thecountry's top commanders willbe military, CNN reportedSunday.

Supreme leader AyatollahAli Khamenei vowed "severerevenge" after a US drone strikeFriday in Baghdad killedQasem Soleimani, the power-ful commander of theRevolutionary Guards' QudsForce foreign operations arm.

"The response for sure willbe military and against militarysites," Brigadier GeneralHossein Dehghan told CNN inFarsi, according to a translationby the US news network.

In a televised news confer-ence on Sunday, foreign min-istry spokesman AbbasMousavi said "Iran is not seek-ing a war but is ready for anysituation".

Mousavi said the final deci-sion would be made by "thesystem's leadership".

It would try to "devise aresponse in a way that wouldboth make the enemy regret"the assassination and "not bringthe Iranian nation to a war".

In his interview with CNN,Dehghan said: "It was Americathat has started the war. Therefore, they should acceptappropriate reactions to theiractions." "The only thing thatcan end this period of war is forthe Americans to receive ablow that is equal to the blowthey have inflicted," said theformer Iranian defence minis-ter.

In a statement on Friday,Iran's Supreme NationalSecurity Council said theIslamic republic would retali-ate in the "right time and place"for Soleimani's assassination.

Iran-US tensions have esca-lated sharply since 2018 whenPresident Donald Trump with-drew America from a landmarknuclear agreement and reim-posed crippling sanctions onthe Islamic republic. AFP

Tehran: Mourners flooded theIranian cities of Ahvaz andMashhad on Sunday, weepingand beating their chests inhomage to top general QasemSoleimani who was killed in aUS strike in Baghdad.

"Death to America," theychanted as they packed Ahvaz'sstreets and a long bridge span-ning a river in the southwesterncity to receive the casket con-taining Soleimani's remains.

As Shiite chants resonated inthe air, people held portraits ofthe man seen as a hero of the1980-88 Iran-Iraq war and forspearheading Iran's Middle Eastoperations as commander of theRevolutionary Guards' QudsForce.

In the northeastern city ofMashhad, scores took to streetsaround the Imam Reza shrineand, addressing the US, chant-ed "Be afraid of your own shad-ow". Soleimani was killed in aUS drone strike Friday near

Baghdad airport, shocking theIslamic republic. He was 62.

The attack was ordered byPresident Donald Trump, whosaid the Quds commander hadbeen planning an "imminent"attack on US diplomats andforces in Iraq.

In the face of growing Iraqianger over the strike, the coun-try's parliament was expected tovote Sunday on whether to oustthe roughly 5,200 Americantroops in Iraq.

Soleimani's assassinationratcheted up tensions betweenarch-enemies Tehran andWashington and sparked fears ofa new Middle East war.

Iran's supreme leaderAyatollah Ali Khamenei vowed"severe revenge" and declaredthree days of mourning.

But Trump warned lateSaturday that America was tar-geting 52 sites "important to Iran& Iranian culture" and would hitthem "very fast and very hard"

if the country attacks Americanpersonnel or assets. AFP

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Riyadh: Saudi Arabia was notconsulted by its ally Washingtonover a US drone strike that killeda top Iranian general, an officialsaid Sunday, as the kingdomsought to defuse soaring region-al tensions.

Saudi Arabia is vulnerable topossible Iranian reprisals afterTehran vowed "revenge" fol-lowing the strike on Friday thatkilled powerful commanderQasem Soleimani in Baghdad.

"The kingdom of SaudiArabia was not consultedregarding the US strike," a Saudiofficial told AFP, requestinganonymity.

"In light of the rapid devel-opments, the kingdom stressesthe importance of exercisingrestraint to guard against all actsthat may lead to escalation,with severe consequences," theofficial added.

Saudi Arabia's foreign min-istry made a similar call forrestraint at the weekend andKing Salman emphasised theneed for measures to defuse ten-sions in a phone call on Saturdaywith Iraqi President BarhamSaleh.

In a separate phone call withIraq's Prime Minister AdelAbdel Mahdi, Saudi CrownPrince Mohammed bin Salmanstressed "the need to makeefforts to calm the situationand de-escalate tensions", theofficial Saudi Press Agencyreported. The crown prince hasinstructed Prince Khalid binSalman, his younger brotherand deputy defence minister, totravel to Washington andLondon in the next few days tourge restraint, the pan-ArabAsharq al-Awsat newspaperreported. Prince Khalid willmeet White House and USdefence officials, the paper said,citing unnamed sources.

The killing of Soleimani,seen as the second most pow-erful man in Iran, is the mostdramatic escalation yet in spi-ralling tensions betweenWashington and Tehran and hasprompted fears of a major con-flagration in the Middle East.

US President DonaldTrump, who ordered the dronestrike, has warned thatWashington will hit Iran "veryfast and very hard" if the Islamic

republic attacks American per-sonnel or assets.

Saudi Arabia and the UnitedArab Emirates, both allies ofWashington, are also vulnerableto Iranian counter strikes, ana-lysts say. A string of attacksblamed on Iran has caused anx-iety in recent months as Riyadhand Washington deliberatedover how to react.

In particular, devastatingstrikes against Saudi oil instal-lations last September ledRiyadh and Abu Dhabi to adopta more conciliatory approachaimed at avoiding confrontationwith Tehran.

Analysts warn that pro-Irangroups have the capacity tocarry out attacks on US bases inGulf states as well as againstshipping in the Strait of Hormuz— the strategic waterway thatTehran could close at will.

"Expect Iranian reprisals(directly or through partnergroups in Iraq, Lebanon or else-where) to target US partners inthe region including SaudiArabia," said Thomas Juneau, anassistant professor at theUniversity of Ottawa. AFP

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London: Britain's PrimeMinister Boris Johnson is due toreturn Sunday to the UK, wherehe faces criticism for not cuttingshort his holiday to deal withsoaring Mideast tensions.

Johnson, who celebratedthe New Year on the Caribbeanprivate island of Mustique afterleading his Conservative Partyto a strong majority in theDecember 12 election, has beensilent over the US slaying Fridayof Iranian Gen. QassemSoleimani in a drone strike.

Soleimani's death stokedfears that heightened world ten-sions could spiral into war afterIran threatened revenge againstthe US, which has sent 3,000more soldiers to Kuwait.

British Foreign SecretaryDominic Raab has defendedJohnson, saying the two havebeen in constant contact duringthis time. The British govern-ment has upgraded its travelwarning for the Middle East anddispatched two warships toescort UK-flagged ships passingthrough the Strait of Hormuz, a

key shipment corridor for worldoil supplies. Jeremy Corbyn,the outgoing leader of the oppo-sition Labour party, said Johnson"should have immediately cutshort his holiday to deal with anissue that could have grave con-sequences for the UK and theworld."

In an op-ed in TheObserver, Labour's foreign pol-icy spokeswoman EmilyThornberry, who is in the raceto take over from Corbyn, saidshe was astonished Johnsonhadn't said anything 48 hoursafter the strike and wondered ifhe was afraid of angering USPresident Donald Trump, whoordered the slaying.

Ed Davey, the leader of asmaller party, the LiberalDemocrats, tweeted thatJohnson's silence was “deafen-ing.” Raab, appearing Sundaymorning on British newsshows, dismissed the criticism,telling Sky News that “thewhole government is workingclosely together. We're veryclear on strategy.” AP

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Hong Kong: Petrol bombswere hurled at a Hong Kongpolice station and dozens ofpeople were arrested Sundayfollowing a march against so-called parallel trading near theChinese border.

The Democratic Party saidabout 10,000 people marchedpeacefully in Sheung Shui dis-trict, but violence erupted afterpolice ordered protesters todisperse.

Several petrol bombs werethrown at the Sheung Shuipolice station, about 1.5 kilo-metres (a mile) from where therally took place.

The Sunday protest comesduring a period of heightenedanti-mainland sentiment inHong Kong, where a pro-democracy movementdemanding greater freedoms

from Beijing has raged fornearly seven months.

The marchers were protesting against parallel trad-ing, which sees thousands of

mainlanders cross the border every day to bulk-buy goods such as infant for-mula to sell at a profit inChina. AFP

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Nairobi: Somalia's al-Shababextremist group attacked a mil-itary base used by US andKenyan troops in coastal Kenyaearly on Sunday, destroying USaircraft and vehicles, Kenyanauthorities said.

Kenya's military said thepre-dawn assault was repulsedand at least four attackers werekilled.

It was the first known al-Shabab attack against US forcesinside Kenya, a key base forfighting one of the world'smost resilient extremist orga-nizations.

A plume of black smokerose above the base near theborder with Somalia, where al-Shabab is based.

Residents said a car bombhad exploded.

Lamu county commission-er Irungu Macharia told TheAssociated Press that five sus-pects were arrested and werebeing interrogated.

The US Africa Commandconfirmed the attack on CampSimba in Lamu county.

Spokesman Col.Christopher Karns called al-Shabab's claims, including thatits attack inflicted severe casu-alties, “grossly exaggerated."

There was no report of USor Kenyan deaths.

The camp, established morethan a decade ago, has under100 US personnel, according toPentagon figures.

A US flag-raising there inAugust signalled its change“from tactical to enduringoperations," the Air Force saidat the time.

An internal Kenyan policereport seen by the AP said twofixed-wing aircraft, a US Cessnaand a Kenyan one, weredestroyed along with two UShelicopters and multiple USvehicles at the Manda Bay mil-itary airstrip.

The report said explosions

were heard at around 5:30 amfrom the direction of the airstrip.

The scene, now secured,indicated that al-Shabab likelyentered “to conduct targetedattacks," the report said.

According to another inter-nal report seen by the AP,dated Friday, a villager that daysaid he had spotted 11 sus-pected al-Shabab membersentering Lamu's Boni forest,which the extremists have usedas a hideout.

The report said Kenyanauthorities did not find them.

Al-Shabab's claim ofresponsibility said Sunday'sattack destroyed US equipmentincluding aircraft and vehicles,and it posted photos of blazingaircraft it asserted were from theattack.

A second al-Shabab claimissued hours later assertedthat "ïntense close-quarterscombat" against US forcescontinued. AP

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Vienna: Austria's foreign min-istry has been targeted by a "seri-ous cyber attack", officials said,warning another country couldbe responsible.

The attack, which beganSaturday, was continuing onSunday and "experts say it couldlast several days," a foreign min-istry spokesman told AFP.

The interior and foreignministries issued a statementabout the attack which startedshortly before 11.00 pm (2200GMT) on Saturday.

"Due to the gravity andnature of the attack, it cannot beexcluded that it is a targetedattack by a state actor," thestatement said.

"In the past, other Europeancountries have been the target ofsimilar attacks. Immediate mea-sures have been taken and a"coordination committee" setup, the statement said. AFP

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Dhaka: An arrest warrant wasissued against Bangladesh's firstHindu chief justice SurendraKumar Sinha on charges ofembezzling 40 million taka,court officials said on Sunday.

Sinha, 68, who lives in theUS, has been described as a"fugitive" by the Anti-Corruption Commission(ACC) in its charge-sheet.

Judge KM Emrul Kayesh ofDhaka's Senior Special Judges'Court took cognizance of thegraft charges brought againstSinha and 10 others by theACC.

"The judge ordered his(Sinha's) arrest along with 10others as the ACC accusedhim of misappropriating andlaundering about 4 crore taka(USD 471,993) in 2016," pub-lic prosecutor Taposh KumarPal told reporters.

The rest of the accused areformer senior officials of

Farmers Bank including its ex-managing director.

The ACC in its charge-sheet described all the 11 to be"fugitives". It alleged that Sinhaand 10 others embezzling 40million taka from FarmersBank, which was later renamedas Padma Bank Limited, Palsaid.

The development camenearly three months after theACC said it found evidence offraud involving transactions of40 million taka borrowed withfake documents by two busi-nessmen from the bank whilethe amount was deposited inSinha's account.

Sinha, who is said to havesought asylum in the US, servedas the 21st Chief Justice ofBangladesh from January, 2015to November, 2017.

The case came days afterSinha's newly-launched autobi-ography brought him in politi-

cal spotlight over two yearsafter he was forced to quit amida row with the government.

The ACC earlier said ifrequired it would quiz Sinha bybringing him back home but"interrogation is not a manda-tory provision for investiga-tions".

In his autobiography "ABroken Dream: Rule of Law,Human Rights andDemocracy", Sinha said he wasforced to resign in 2017 intim-idation and threats, drawing asharp reaction from PrimeMinister Sheikh Hasina whoaccused some anti-governmentnewspapers of backing him.

In a media interview afterthe book launch inWashington, Sinha urged Indiato support the rule of law anddemocracy in Bangladesh, call-ing the incumbent AwamiLeague Government as a "auto-cratic" one. PTI

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Seven children and fourwomen were among 14

civilians, killed when a roadsidebomb blew up their bus innorthwestern Burkina Faso,the government said.

"The provisional toll is 14dead," a statement said, addingthat 19 more people were hurt,three of them seriously inSaturday's blast.

The explosion happened inSourou province near the Maliborder as students returned toschool after the Christmas hol-idays, a security source said.

"The vehicle hit a home-made bomb on the Toeni-Tougan road," the source told AFP. "The Governmentstrongly condemns this cow-ardly and barbaric act," thestatement said.

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Page 6: 012%%3˘ * (*+,+,- + !ˆ˝˛ #˝˙˚$ %ˆ˜˝&’&˝(ˆ · 2020. 1. 5. · Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal condemned the killing and tweeted, “A day after mob attacked our

An 1899 handbook on the TajMahal had said that your pres-ence at the monument wasenough to make the whole worldyour kin. No matter what the

asymmetry of cultures, the pristine symme-try of the structure and its elevated conscious-ness by the banks of the Yamuna seem to clearall the cobwebs of our minds into an incred-ible whiteness of perfection. The Taj has with-stood many assaults in its time — physical,cultural and ideological. Now it has even learntto live in splendid isolation like its creator andMughal emperor Shah Jahan, held captive bythe circumstances of our time.

I happened to be in Agra over theChristmas/New Year weekend quite bychance, it being the celebratory time of theyear when a record number of tourists con-gregate for a pilgrimage of sorts to witness theworld’s wonder but perhaps for the first timefelt unwelcome in a city under siege. Theadministration, fearing tension followingthe protests over the Government’s new iden-tity-based and divisive policies, had ensureda virtual lockdown with internet shutdowns,restricted entry, limited mobile telephony, bar-ricaded localities and chaperoned access. Agrahas not just been any other tourist town; ithas been the crown of India’s Golden Triangle,our most popular circuit, where heritage is liv-ing, the entirety of its local economy and iden-tity geared around its sense of hospitality.While the Taj has been the pivot of the touristeconomy, the attention span it commands hasseldom extended to other structures. Overlong years, successive Governments, cultureczars and tour operators have painstakinglyworked on “Taj by moonlight” sightings, cul-tural soirees, art walks, crafts workshops onpietra dura (the inlay work used in the mon-ument) Mughal spas and a host of other expe-rientials to hold the tourist. Though middleIndia sleeps early, the tourist enclaves havealways bustled with life and danced to aneclectic vibe. The jackboots not only destroyedthat spirit but years of hard work to make thetourist stay in the city and not run after thecustomary ritual of a day trip.

The desolateness echoed everywhere.Shops in the Taj complex itself downed shut-ters as many of their owners could not makeit past “troublesome” localities without beingasked why they needed to move outdoors inthe first place. The little that did open for busi-ness wound up early because the business wasnot worth the establishment cost; thereweren’t enough tourists going around. OnChristmas day, the Taj had the highest num-ber of visitors this season, which was dismal-ly low, less than half of what the monumentgets on that day every year. Tourist operatorshave been conservative in estimating a 40 percent drop in business. But unofficially, fear-ing stricter gag orders, they tell you that busi-ness has fallen by 80 per cent, the food busi-ness being hit the most severely. Cafes, proud-ly displaying free wi-fi, an attraction for youngtravellers on the move, looked bleak. Many

of them told us that the admin-istration had really nothing to fearas no rioting of consequence hadtaken place in the city. Neitherwould it be as even the most ghet-toised Muslim had been tamedinto submission by the brutal faceof organised repression and ran-dom pick-ups of innocents, sim-ply because they “looked” suspi-cious. In fact, they did not wantany activist to take up theircause, fearing a hitback. But thefear psychosis and aura of a policestate was chillier than theDecember cold, the face of thepoliceman more ominous withthe temporary power he hadbeen given to intimidate people,who wouldn’t have noticed himotherwise. The friendly touristpolice shut shop earlier thanusual, handing over charge to thespecial personnel on the ground.The unsaid dystopian future wassuddenly all too palpable.

It all began with the site.Much time was lost because ofthe elaborate entrance drillthrough circuitous pathways andone-man pass-throughs —something which was mostinconvenient to the elderly andthe wheelchair-bound — andbeing herded by the sternestminders. The Taj terrace hadmore security personnel thantourists, who were being escort-ed in batches. Low turnouts

meant fewer battery-operatedcarts and buses were available forferrying visitors, most of whomwere left waiting endlessly. Andas the fog rushed in from theedges post-sunset, the Taj touristcomplex crawled with militarypolice. Café El Clasico, whichserves light bites and beamsEuropean football alongside, wasempty. We were the third orfourth visitor group it had got thatday. The internet shutdownmeant no online bookings ortransactions could go through, noaggregator service, be it of foodor transport, was operable, noapps were serviceable and novideo chats were possible. Agrathat weekend had strandedtourists on the move, who com-pletely rely on online reservationsand forward linkages to plan theirholidays. Hotels were no better.The broadband worked lateevening at some properties in fitsand starts, with ridiculously lowspeeds. Cable TV was down, too,and where available, offered youmore free-to-air entertainmentchannels than credible news.Why would anybody want newson a holiday? Apart from “our”kind. What about telemedicinenetworks and online referrals athospitals then? Or even hotelsthemselves, which were off thegrid for prime bookings? Agrahotels were not only lowering tar-

iffs but even encouraging touriststo stay an extra day with compli-mentary benefits to ensure occu-pancy figures. Understandable asinternet blackouts had meant a 60per cent drop in Decemberbookings, according to operators.Over 200,000 domestic and inter-national tourists had either can-celled or postponed their trip tothe Taj in the last fortnight of2019.

The arrogance of power andmachismo may seem the newnormal but international trav-ellers, who are our actual brandambassadors, have clearly beenshocked by the new idea ofIndia as opposed to the onedepicted in guidebooks. Manywere cautious about talking, fear-ing they would be unnecessari-ly harassed or sent back.Everybody was aware about thedeportation of the GermanIITian and the Norwegian stu-dent for sympathising with andextending moral support to theprotesters. Their concerns aredeeply problematic for us becausefor the first time they felt therewere no shared values of democ-racy here anymore. Those drawnby the mysticism of the Orientwondered how India, as anancient civilisation that hadabsorbed millennial layers ofinfluences through the Silk andSpice routes but still held its own,

could disown its ethos of inclu-sivity and subscribe to alienideas of isolationism and racism?Some said they respected Indiafor making feel everyone athome no matter what the short-comings, simply because it wasnot like China. “Even there, theautocracy of the State doesn’t feelas overbearing. Yes they watchthe tourist districts but withintheir orchestrated confines, theydo not dilute the overall experi-ence,” said one of the travellers.Another cancelled his visit toVaranasi and decided to returnto Delhi the next morning.Others cut short their trips fol-lowing travel advisories fromtheir countries. Cancellationsare bad news for hoteliers duringthe busiest time of the year.Worst, European travellers, whohave been born of the coloniallegacy and have an unexplainedhappy feeling about coming toIndia and embracing it with itswarts and eccentricities, are goingback disturbed. Simply becausethe India in their genes is not theIndia today. Much like authorWilliam Dalrymple, who hadnever thought of leaving Indiabut is wondering whether heshould die here or not.Dangerously, some even asked ifthe clampdown had anything todo with eroding Mughal legaciesand their significance. Nobodydare ask an Indian this questionbut seen in the context of ChiefMinister Yogi Adiyanath’s earli-er statement that the Taj was notthat important a monument,one can understand why it isbeing raised in the first place.

No regime, no matter whatits colour of politics, can disregardthe economic value of the Taj.Especially, when Prime MinisterNarendra Modi himself haspitched tourism as the keygrowth driver of a slowing econ-omy. Government records showthat Mughal era monumentsattract the highest number oftourists and the Taj Mahal gen-erates the maximum revenue. Itattracts over 6.5 million touristsevery year, generating nearly $14million annually from entrancefees. And spends on its mainte-nance have remained almost thesame in the Modi years becauseof its economic and metaphori-cal value. But has the venom ofpolitics stained its walls deeperthis time? Politicians would tellyou otherwise but the truthemerged at the twilight hour. Asthe Taj darkened its silhouettewith the receding light of day, asmall temple behind it on theriver bank came alive with bellsand fire rituals. The birds camehome to roost on the domes,lulled by the dulcet beats. TheGanga-Jamuni tehzeeb can stillwithstand a rough tide or two.

(The writer is AssociateEditor, The Pioneer)

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Sir — The devastating fires thathave engulfed parts of Australiaprovide a glimpse of the new nor-mal that the world must brace upto. There has been enough criti-cism of the MorrisonGovernment’s response to thewildfires and to climate change inparticular. There was a hugebacklash for he was holidaying inHawaii while the fires burned outof control back home. And now,in a damage-control exercise, hehas been visiting the fire-ravagedvillages, shaking hands with angryand desperate residents.

Shaking hands is a positiveway to greet people and is consid-ered to be a sign of peace.Handshakes have come to sym-bolise change and hope. Thehandshake between NorthKorean leader Kim Jong-un andSouth Korean President MoonJae-in marked a milestone in arapid rapprochement aftermonths of global fears about anuclear conflict.

Prime Minister Morrison,too, has met many people with ahandshake but some refused to doso for various reasons. The prob-lem probably with him is that he

has been grabbing people’s handsand forcing them to shake hands.Realistically, this is an assault andcertainly offensive. There havebeen plenty of reports about hislack of empathy. We shouldalways greet people with a hand-shake or its cultural equivalentand if it is declined, accept thatand move on.

Dennis FitzgeraldAustralia

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Children of a lesser God”(January 4). Former SouthAfrican President NelsonMandela had said, “There can beno keener revelation of a soci-ety’s soul than the way in whichit treats its children.” The JK LonHospital incident is not a one-

off case wherein hundreds ofinfants succumbed to deathowing to systemic negligence. Itis a pity that we are addicted toget wise only when incidents likethese happen and several livesare lost. To make matters worse,instead of looking for a perma-nent remedy with a view toaverting a repeat, authoritiesget embroiled in a blame gameof sorts.

Those at the helm of affairscannot get away with downplay-ing the severity of the tragedy byreferring to laxities in anotherparty’s regime.

Azhar A KhanRampur

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Children of a lesser God”(January 4). The death of over100 children at the Government-run JK Lon Hospital in Kota,Rajasthan, points to a deeper cri-sis in the healthcare system.Both the primary as well as sec-ondary segments of healthcareneed to be upgraded. Hospitalsneed to be equipped with betterresources, equipment and morestaff so that the first response tocritical cases like these is ade-quate. The Government must getto the root o the problem anduse the Kota tragedy to bringmore reforms and improve theoverall heath scenario of thecountry.

Ramesh G JethwaniBengaluru

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Page 7: 012%%3˘ * (*+,+,- + !ˆ˝˛ #˝˙˚$ %ˆ˜˝&’&˝(ˆ · 2020. 1. 5. · Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal condemned the killing and tweeted, “A day after mob attacked our

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It is a chilly January morning and with theclock showing 5.30 am, Delhi is still dark andthe Air Quality Index (AQI) is still severely

poor. Sunlight finds it hard to penetrate a thickblanket of life-threatening smog. Visibility isunder a metre and our vision for a greener Earthand cleaner Delhi and National Capital Region(Delhi-NCR) is marred by propaganda of indus-try lobbyists from the automobile to the hydro-carbon sector.

Stubble doesn’t burn in the neighbouringStates of Uttar Pradesh (UP), Haryana andPunjab at this time of the year, yet Delhi-NCRchokes and shivers. The demagogues who want-ed to punish farmers lie exposed as the night dewdrenches our homes and loved ones with freshtoxic vapour residues. Neither the stubble burn-ing nor the pollution stopped but instead moretractors and happy seeders were sold throughGovernment-supported programmes, effective-ly increasing consumption of fossil fuels and prof-its of tractor makers.

We, as a society, made many environmen-tal blunders this year and each of them was madeintentionally.

Cars not farmers have darkened Delhi-NCR’s skies: Although the annual stubble burn-ing by farmers is an episodic source of pollution,social media and opinion makers left no stoneunturned to berate farmers for choking Delhi-NCR and darkening our skies. They effectivelydeflected attention from more serious polluters— cars and construction activities.

As we continue to asphyxiate long after thecrop residue burning season is over, the truth isout. Cars are the major source of pollution. Butthe lobbyists don’t care for the real pollution.When India buys lesser cars, they term it as badeconomic growth. And what does theGovernment do? The Odd-Even vehiclerationing scheme of the Arvind Kejriwal-ledDelhi Government did well to keep a few carsoff the Capital’s roads but this was not a perma-nent solution.

The expansion of the metro system is a greatstep forward but we need to do much more. Wehave to restrict taxis in the city and also heavi-ly tax new car purchases in the Delhi-NCRregion, just the way progressive places likeSingapore have done in order to bring down theirpollution levels. But a larger problem loomsunaddressed — Delhi’s darkened Sun. If you flyinto the Capital on a sunny day, it’s hard to missthe thick smog enveloping the city even at 20,000feet. The smog is making it harder for pure sun-light to reach us. It is harmful for us and ourplants as sunlight is refracted off smog particles.

However, just taxing cars won’t be enough.We need to create an alternative, carbon-free andsafe transportation system. There is a need to lookat cities like Copenhagen and so on and incen-tivise cyclists by building separate cycle tracksand infrastructure so more people can be linkedto the metro system in a few pedals from workor home.

Currently Delhi doesn’t even have one ded-icated corridor for cyclists, although Delhi hashundreds of thousands who use the cycle every-day to work or for chores. The policymakersshould understand there is a stark difference incycling to Parliament and cycling in areas like

Haus Khas. You could be dead in thelatter location if you’re not extra cau-tious. This needs to change and themore we pedal, the faster it will come.This is the first positive step we all cantake this New Year. Ditch the car, try acycle, even if once a week, for what isat stake is not just our air, it’s our sun-shine.

Plastic Satyagarha — Refuse,reduce and reuse: While the NarendraModi Government’s move to ban sin-gle use plastic is commendable, the rootof the problem is not extirpated. Theproblem of plastic is entwined with theprofits of the petrochemical industryand I doubt there will be any decreasein profits or production of plastic in itsvarious forms unless the demandplummets.

As plastic doesn’t only come in sin-gle use form, but in myriad forms start-ing from the phones to clothes to thetoothbrush, comb and food packagingmaterial. The irony, despite the ban onplastic, our landfills are filled with moreof the material than ever before. Plasticproducing giants like Coca-Cola andPepsiCo continue to pump plastics intothe country through their bottles andpackaging materials. It’s about time theModi Government took a bolder stepbased on the “polluter pays principle”and make these corporations liable forour overflowing landfills and contam-inated ground water. India needs to taxthem while at the same time ban plas-tic packaging. The food laws need to bere-imagined to curb the menace ofmicro-plastics in our food and waterthat are not just harming our health andthe health of our children but are alsohurting hapless animals who have no

role to play in the huge environmentalmess that we humans have created.

We need a holistic consumer cen-tric solution. For each person, we needto first follow a three-step principle, a“Plastic Satyagraha,” — refuse, reduceand reuse. We can refuse each time weare given plastics. One simple way istearing off all the packaging material atthe shop you buy it from. Carry min-imal or no plastic home. Next would beto reduce the use of plastic, or at leasttry and replace each plastic item you usewith some natural alternative and lasttry and reuse the plastic you have.

If we don’t act now the “trashmountains of Delhi” will be higher thanthe historic and iconic Qutub Minarsoon.

Don’t buy it, try and grow it:Delhi is the top destination for thou-sands of trucks each day carrying dif-ferent types of fruits, vegetables and soon. Whether it is the Azadpur Mandior other smaller wholesale vegetablemarkets, the transportation of food forDelhiites has a heavy carbon footprint.If you look closer, the whole system ofproduction that gets food to Delhi isextremely degrading.

From the growing stage, our foodis dozed with chemicals and thensometimes kept in cold storage andfinally trucked to a wholesale vegetablemarket near you. Try and imagine eachstep and the kind of pollution each stagecauses.

Social media has ample videosshowcasing adulterations in our food.But this is a necessary evil, as Delhi,much like other cities, cannot be self-sufficient in food supply and we needto depend on villages and the trucks to

send food to the city. But, nevertheless,we can ease this burden and reduce ourdependency on food grown outside thecity.

Change is coming to Delhi asurban gardening is proliferating aroundthe national Capital. City dwellers areleasing land collectively aroundGurugram and spending their week-ends working on the farms and help-ing grow their own vegetables.

Rooftop gardening is anotheractivity which finds much resonancewith young professionals in Indiancities. But to make this into a largemovement the municipal bodies or cityadministration can step in and helpconvert some parts of public parks asorganic horticulture zones. These zoneswill become carbon sinks and alsoattract local residents to pay the city togrow their own vegetables and herbs.This encourages public participationand also gives a chance for urbanites tolearn about horticulture. As a bigbonus this may also generate addition-al revenue for the municipal bodies.

This 2020, no matter if you live inDelhi or Chennai, try your hand at gar-dening. It doesn’t matter if you grow aherb or a pumpkin, the trick is don’t buyeverything, try growing somethingthis year. This is the only way we willreduce our carbon footprint and givefuture generations a fighting chance atsurvival. It is time that we took someresponsibility for our actions andimpact on the environment andstopped waiting for the Government todo something.

(The writer is Programme Directorfor Policy and Outreach at the NationalSeed Association of India)

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The regime of 13th century kingof France, Louis IX, formulatedand imposed what are consid-

ered to be the first formal laws that pre-scribed punishments for those foundto have committed blasphemy. Thepunishments included the mutilationof the tongue and the lips. HistorianNora Berend writes in her book At theGate of Christendom that Louis IXlargely used his blasphemy laws againstJews and Muslims and against hisChristian opponents. He also orderedthe burning of dozens of copies of theTalmud — the central text of RabbinicJudaism — after claiming its contentswere “blasphemous.”

There was no concept of such a lawin the Muslim world at the time. As

Fareed Zakaria (quoting the renownedSouth Asian Islamic scholar MaulanaWahiddudin Khan) points out in anarticle, “Nowhere does the Quranprescribe the punishment of lashes, ordeath, or any other physical punish-ment.”

Yet, a detailed 2017 report by theUnited States Commission onInternational Religious Freedom placedIran and Pakistan as the top two coun-tries whose blasphemy laws severelydeviated from recognised internation-al human rights principles. The reportstudied 71 countries where some formof blasphemy laws exist. It then inves-tigated the severity of these laws andprepared a list. The top two names onthe list were of Iran and Pakistan.

According to the report, the blas-phemy laws of these two countries werealso more likely to be misused and/orencourage vigilante violence. To under-stand how this happened, it is impor-tant to investigate how the idea of theblasphemy law evolved in Europe,where it had originated. After 13th cen-tury France, blasphemy laws alsoappeared in England in the 15th cen-tury during the reign of King Henry IX.

Between 1404 and 1504, dozens ofalleged “heretics” were killed for blas-phemy. The 13th century blasphemylaw in France was finally repealedalmost 500 years after it was firstenforced. It was cancelled in 1791 soonafter a revolution toppled the Frenchmonarchy and established a secularnationalist republic in France. England’s15th century blasphemy law was madepart of the British Common Law in the17th century, but without the deathpenalty. In 1949, a British judge ruledthat the law was a “dead letter” and “notrequired anymore.”

It is interesting to note that vari-ous forms of blasphemy laws wereenacted in Europe between the 13thand 19th centuries, but no such law wasever adopted by a Muslim-ruled region.The first Muslim-majority region toprescribe the death sentence for blas-phemy was Saudi Arabia, when thatcountry came into being in 1932.

In South Asia, the idea of the blas-phemy law was introduced by Britishcolonialists. It was first codified in Indiain 1860 and then, as tensions and vio-lence between Muslims, Sikhs andHindus increased, it was expanded in

1927. It did not carry the death sen-tence. In 1947, when Pakistan cameinto being, it adopted the 1927 law. Itcarried a one-year prison sentence ora fine. Pakistan thus became the sec-ond Muslim country to have a blasphe-my law. Libya adopted one in 1953 andIndonesia in 1965. None carried thedeath sentence.

However, the situation began tomutate rather drastically when Shiaclerics came on top during the 1979revolution in Iran. The new Islamicregime enacted stern blasphemy laws,making Iran only the second Muslim-majority country to prescribe thedeath penalty for blasphemy afterSaudi Arabia. Pakistan would becomethe third and Taliban-ruledAfghanistan, the fourth. In Pakistan,the intransigent military regime ofGeneral Zia that had come to powerin July 1977, upped the ante in 1980when it added two more years ofimprisonment to the 1927 law. Inresponse to Iran’s increasing“Islamisation”, Saudi Arabia began tofurther beef up its blasphemy laws. TheZia regime followed suit when, in 1982,it further expanded the law by prescrib-

ing life imprisonment for those foundguilty of “defiling the Muslim holytexts.” A year after the 1985 election,in which only pro-Zia parties and indi-viduals took part, a new Parliamentcame into being, led by Prime MinisterMuhammad Khan Junejo. Zia encour-aged the Parliament to legislate lawsthat would “truly turn Pakistan into anIslamic state.”

Human rights activist and lawyer,the late Asma Jahangir then delivereda scathing speech at a Women’s ActionForum (WAF) seminar in Islamabadin which she asked why the ulema(Muslim scholars) were being turnedinto a political class. A member of theJamaat-i-Islami Liaqat Baloch andanother member of Zia’s Parliament,Nisar Fatima, took slight at Jahangir’scriticism and demanded that WAF bebanned.Fatima then accused Jahangirof using inappropriate language forIslam. A former justice of the Ziaregime’s Federal Shariat Court, AftabHussain, disagreed. He told reportersthat he found nothing objectionable inJahangir’s speech. But Fatima contin-ued to demand action. With a few ofher colleagues in the Parliament, she

demanded that a Bill be tabled to addthe death penalty to the blasphemy law.In the “debate” that ensued, only anMNA from Jhang, Arif Khan, plead-ed that patience be exhibited to pass aBill prescribing the death sentence. Buthis voice was drowned out by thosewho claimed that “divine displeasureawaited those who would oppose theBill.” Ironically, the situation seemed tohave spiralled out of control for theJunejo regime because some ministerstried to stall the Bill. But they couldn’tand it was passed into a law whichmany experts believe is highly vague.

For example, a Multan courtrecently sentenced a professor to deathfor committing blasphemy, whereas theIslamabad High Court rejected a peti-tion against Prime Minister ImranKhan (for allegedly committing blas-phemy) when the court noted that “reli-gion was a private matter.”

From 1947 until 1985, just 14 peo-ple were charged under the blasphemylaw that carried a one-year sentence.

After 1986, when the death penal-ty was added, over 1,500 people havebeen charged.

(Courtesy: Dawn)

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JD(U) general secretary Pavan Varma on Sundayasked party president and Bihar Chief Minister

Nitish Kumar to categorically reject the “divisiveCAA-NPR-NRC scheme”, saying this has “nefar-ious agenda to divide India and create a great dealof unnecessary social turbulence”.

In an open letter to Kumar, Varma expressedhis surprise at the “unilateral” announcement ofBihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi, whois from the BJP, that the National PopulationRegister exercise will be carried out in the statebetween May 15-28 despite Kumar's stand againstthe National Register of Citizens.

“...In consonance with your own publicly stat-ed views, and long established secular vision, mayI request you now to take a principled standagainst the CAA-NPR-NRC scheme, and rejectits nefarious agenda to divide India and create a great deal of unnecessary social tur-bulence.

“A clear cut public statement by you to thiseffect would be a major step towards preserving

and strengthening the idea of India to which, Iknow, you yourself are committed. The politicsof principle cannot be sacrificed at the altar ofshort term political gain,” Varma said in the let-ter.

The JD(U) leader has been critical of hisparty's decision to support the Citizenship(Amendment) Bill in Parliament, and it has nowbecome a law following its passage in both Houses.

Protests have occurred in different parts ofthe country against the law, which seeks to givecitizenship to minorities from Pakistan,Afghanistan and Bangladesh who had arrived inIndia due to religious persecution by December31, 2014.

JD(U) vice president Prashant Kishor has alsospoken strongly against the CAA and said this,in combination with the NRC, can turn into a“lethal combo in the hands of the Governmentto systematically discriminate and even prosecutepeople based on religion.”

In his letter, Varma said the CAA-NRC com-bine is a direct attempt to divide Hindus andMuslims, and to create social instability.

����� �4-5���

Samajwadi Party presidentAkhilesh Yadav on Sunday

alleged that all deaths duringanti-CAA protests in UttarPradesh were caused by policebullets and said the BJP's campaign in support of the Actwas to “mislead” people.

Yadav, who visited the res-idence of Mohammad Wakilkilled during an anti-CAAprotest in the state capital,said, “He (Wakil) was notinvolved in the agitation. TheGovernment should probe as towhose bullet hit him. They(police) have the post-mortemreport now.”

“All the deaths during theagitation in the State werecaused by police bullets,” heclaimed.

Yadav also demandedcompensation, house and jobfor Wakil's family, currently liv-ing in a rented accommoda-

tion.He said families of all those

killed during protests should begiven adequate compensation.

The UP police initiallyclaimed that none of the deathswas caused by police firing, butsubsequently admitted somecasualties in police bulletswhen cops fired in “selfdefence”.

Officials have put the deathtoll at 19 in widespread clash-es in the state, though theopposition parties claimed ahigher figure.

Yadav asked theGovernment that if it wanted tomake someone from anothercountry its citizen, then whyhas it not given this “right” to Muslims.

“This is because you (BJP)want to divide the society andplay politics. Every Indian isagainst CAA and NCR. WhenAaadhaar has all informationwhy NPR?” he posed.

“In a village, who haspapers...From where will Ibring date of birth paper of mymother. Government wantsthe people to only search forpapers and not do daily chores,”he lamented.

He said his party will resortto “Satyagrah” by not filling theform.

Noting that people of allwalks, castes and religions werecoming out against CAA andNPR, Yadav said, “The BJPknows its decision is wrong andagainst the Constitution.”

Asked to comment on theBJP's campaign in support ofthe Citizenship AmendmentAct, he said it was to “mislead”people.

“The BJP is misleading thepeople. What will they tell thepeople now? They could notconvince us in Parliament.Now, they have come out tomislead the people,” he said.

Gorakhpur/Moradabad (UP):Uttar Pradesh Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath met Muslimcommunity members inGorakhpur on Sunday to dis-pel doubts about theCitizenship (Amendment) Actand said the move was in linewith India's tradition of givingshelter to persecuted people.

Adityanath's deputyKeshav Prasad Maurya, whotook part in a similar drive inMoradabad, hit out at theopposition parties, saying theywere trying to misguide thepublic against the citizenshiplaw to create unrest in the state.

The Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) on Sunday launched a10-day nationwide campaign insupport of the law.

In his home turf

Gorakhpur in eastern UttarPradesh, Adityanath walkeddown to the shop HajiChaudhari Kaif-ul-Wara andhanded him a booklet on thelaw which he said was meant togive citizenship to persecutedpeople.

“This is a booklet aboutCAA, read it and all doubts willbe cleared. I thought of beginning the awareness cam-paign from here,” he told Kaif-ul-Wara.

Kaifulwara promised tocreate awareness about CAAand requested the ChiefMinister to release people withno criminal background whowere holding protests againstthe CAA and the proposedcountrywide National Registerof Citizens (NRC) inGorakhpur on December 20,saying children make mistakes.

On his way to Kaif-ul-Wara's shop from theGorakhnath temple, of whichhe is the head priest,Adityanath met many Muslimcommunity members.

He explained to them thatit was a law to give citizenship.“Those who did not have citi-zenship and are living in India,this law gives them citizenship,”he said.

“It is the tradition of Indiato give shelter to persecutedpeople and Prime MinisterNarendra Modi brought CAAto give citizenship to such peo-ple,” Adityanath said.

He said it was not meant totake away anyone's citizenship,but the Congress, SamajwadiParty and its allies are “unfor-tunately” trying to misleadpeople by spreading confusion and violence. PTI

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Bahujan Samaj Party chiefMayawati on Sunday

asked the Uttar Pradesh gov-ernment to seek apology fromthe public for putting anti-cit-izenship law protesters behindbars without thorough inves-tigation.

She dubbed it as “highlyshameful and condemnable”.

“In Uttar Pradesh, espe-cially in Bijnor, Sambhal,Meerut, Muzzafarnagar,Firozabad and other districts,innocent people have beensent to jail for protestingagainst the CAA/NRC with-out an investigation. Thisissue has also been raised bythe media and is highlyshameful and condemnable,”the BSP national presidentsaid in a tweet in Hindi.

Accusing the YogiAdityanath led Governmentof jailing anti-CitizenshipAmendment Act protesterswithout any proper investiga-tion, she asked them to seekan apology from the public.

Her statement comes inthe backdrop of a local courtgranting bail on Saturday tosocial activist Sadaf Jafar andformer IPS officer SRDarapuri, besides 13 othersarrested in connection withanti-CAA protests inLucknow.

Mayawati also demandedfinancial assistance to thosekilled in the protests.

Officials maintain that 19persons died in clashes duringthe widespread protests acrossthe state in December, thoughopposition parties claim ahigher toll.

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Rajasthan Chief Minister AshokGehlot on Sunday ridiculed the

BJP's door-to-door awareness campaign about the merits of theCitizenship (Amendment) Act.

If the controversial legislation —which offers citizenship to non-Muslimrefugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan andBangladesh — had any merit, such acampaign would not have been neces-sary, he said, speaking to reporters here.

“There was a time when PrimeMinister Narendra Modi delivered`Mann Ki Baat' (his monthly radio talk),and the entire country listened to him.

“And now for the CAA, party lead-ers and ministers are forced to go fromdoor to door to convince people. It is alaughable situation,” the senior Congressleader said.

“Had the Act been good, theywould not have been forced to go door-to-door,” he said.

In the BJP-ruled Assam, 19 lakhpeople were found to have no docu-mentary proof of citizenship and 16 lakhof them were Hindu, Gehlot said, ask-ing why the Government was not giv-ing citizenship to them through the newlaw. “There are some 10,000 people inRajasthan who need citizenship. Theother day Union home minister Amit

Shah was in Rajasthan to address a rally,but he did not even mention offering cit-izenship to them,” he said.

“It means they are not seriousabout their own law,” he said.

A country formed on the basis ofreligion does not remain stable, he said.

“Pakistan was founded on the basisof Islam. Why did Pakistan split into twocountries during Prime Minister IndiraGandhi's time? Because it was formedon the basis of religion, you have seenwhat it leads to,” he said.

Gehlot also alleged that the BJP's“hidden agenda” was to turn India intoa “Hindu Rashtra”.

There were once secessionist ten-dencies in Tamil Nadu and Punjab, hesaid, adding “how many countries youwant to make out of India?”

The Rajasthan CM also demandedthat the government bring out a whitepaper on the state of economy.

“The economy has been crippledbecause of the Centre's policies. Formereconomic adviser Arvind Subramanianand former RBI governor RaghuramRajan have already expressed concernsabout the economy,” he said.

“Most of the economic indicatorsare going down...But instead of focus-ing on it, the Centre is diverting atten-tion to the Citizenship Act and NationalRegister of Citizens,” he said.

Lucknow: Union Minister and senior BJPleader Rajnath Singh on Sunday said peopleshould not have any misconception about theamended citizenship law.

On a day's visit to his Lok Sabha con-stituency, Singh visited the residence of JusticeKhem Karan here to mobilise support for theCitizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

“Our party has decided to give a messageto the people that they should not have any mis-conceptions about CAA. The Indian cultureteaches us 'Sarvdharma Sambhav' and aHindustani cannot discriminate on lines of casteand religion,” he said.

His visit comes days after widespread vio-lence during protests against the law, which offi-cials said left 19 persons dead.

The message of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam'(the world is one family) had gone from Indiato the entire world, Singh said, adding “Indiancultural values cannot by violated by our party.”

The Defence Minister also circulated pam-phlets on the CAA and requested the media andparty workers to go through them.

Asked by mediapersons about the NationalRegister of Citizens, he said the exercise was onin Assam on the directives of the Supreme Courtand not on the Centre's initiative.

“NRC is going on only in Assam and workhas been completed to some extent. It is goingon there on SC directives. There is no order ofgovernment in this regard. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has clarified it,” Singhsaid. PTI

����� �����4&4�

Karnataka RuralDevelopment Minister K S

Eshwarappa has received threatcalls asking him to stop issuingstatements on Article 370 andCAA, following which security for him has been tightened.

The threat calls werereceived on Friday, policesaid.Speaking to reporters inShivamogga on Sunday,Eshwarappa quoted the calleras having said, “You are talkingtoo much about article 370 andCAA, if you don't stop in 48 hours, we know what todo.”

He said he did not want togo into the details and wouldinform officials, based onwhich they will take actionagainst the culprits.

����� �����4&4

Karnataka Chief Minister BSYediyurappa on Sunday chal-

lenged Opposition leaders to provethat the Citizenship AmendmentAct will have its ill-effects on theMuslim community, as he accusedthem ofattempting to create confu-sion out of “malice.”

“There will not be any ill-effectson our Muslim brothers of the coun-try because of the CitizenshipAmendment Act. During JawarharlalNehru, Indira Gandhi and RajivGandhi's (former PMs fromCongress party) time also there wasconsensus on it,” Yediyurappasaid.

He said out of malice an attemptis being made to create confusionamong Muslim brethren and that isthe reason the BJP had decided toconduct door-to-door campaignsin

favour of the CAA.The party has plans to reach out

to three crore people across thecountry and 30 lakh houses in thestate, he added.

Amid growing opposition andprotests, the BJP on Friday hadannounced that it will be launchinga mega door- to-door campaign infavour of CAA across the country onJanuary 5.

Reiterating that the act will in noway affect Indian Muslims,Yediyurappa challenged oppositionleaders to prove to the people of thecountry that the law will affect thecommunity.

“We will also be visiting placeswhere Muslim community resides inlarge numbers and try to createawareness among everyone. We don'thave any difference towards Hindu,Muslim or Christian, we will informfacts to everyone, he added.

���������������� 5��5���

In a counter-drive againstanti-CAA campaign

launched by the Oppositionparties the Bengal unit of BJPhas launched a massive door-to-door campaign to hammerhome the utility of theCitizenship Amendment Actand drive away the allegedmisgivings regarding theamended citizenshiplaws.

“Senior State leaders likeBJP general secretary RahulSinha on Sunday went house tohouse to clear the air on CAA,”party sources said adding sim-ilar campaigns were also beingcarried out in districts of Northand South Bengal.

“Contrary to the generalperception fanned by the TMC,Congress and the Left thatCAA is a mischievous device tovictimize the Muslim popula-tion and the non-BJP popula-

tion it is in fact a positive Actthat will complete the work leftundone by the postIndependence Governmentsand their leaders,” a seniorState BJP leader said adding“the people are now convincedthat the TMC is falsely gener-ating a fear psychosis amongthe masses.”

State BJP president DilipGhosh said his party memberswere getting massive responsefrom the citizens who want theAct to be thoroughly imple-mented in all parts of the State.“Our people have been visitinghouses and the people are giv-ing overwhelming response tothe changed laws.

“In East and WestMidnapore we have been par-ticularly receiving goodresponse from the people,” hesaid adding the “popularresponse in receiving the BJPcadres was so much that theTMC goons resorted to van-

dalism and using physical forceto stop and scare our workersaway. They attacked and van-dalized our party offices. Butwe will not get intimidated by their strongarm tactic.”

The ruling TrinamoolCongress too went about col-lecting signatures from peopleto register their complaintsagainst the controversial laws.“Let the BJP go house to house,let them go room to room butthey will not succeed mislead-ing the people about the truenature of t he CAA which is infact a poison sweet laced withpoison being offered to thepeople,” said TMC’s KalyanBanerjee.

“The people initially werecarried away by their commu-nal campaigns which gavethem 18 seats in the parlia-mentary elections but the CAAhas proved how dangerous theBJP is and what dangerous

designs they really have,” saidBengal Minister JyotipriyaMullick.

“Interpreting the massiveturnout in Mamata Banerjee’smass rallies against the CAAwe can say that BJP will bewiped out in the coming elections,” the Ministersaid.

Meanwhile, the Left Frontand the Congress which havejointly called a general strikeagainst a host of issues includ-ing CAA-NRC have warnedthe Chief Minister against anybid to foil the bandh.

“If the Chief Minister isgenuinely against the CAAand if her public rallies are nota public pretense then she willnot use force to thwart thestrike — which she has beendoing for the past so manyyears to gag the working classpeople’s voices,” said CPI(M)Legislature Party leader SujanChakrabarty.

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On January 5, 2009 whenOmar Abdullah had taken

oath of office he not onlybecame the youngest ChiefMinister of Jammu & Kashmirbut also remained focal pointof media attention.

Close family friends, indus-try captains, bollywood celebri-ties and even political adver-saries had converged in thenewly opened Zorawar SinghAuditorium of Jammu univer-sity to witness historic oath tak-ing ceremony.

Former Chief Minister andhis father Dr Farooq Abdullahhad even dedicated a famoussong, “Papa Kahtain hain badanaam karega” to his dutiful sonwhile wishing him all the luckfor the most difficult job.

While occupying the 'hotseat' and running an allianceGovernment with the Congressparty in the erstwhile state ofJammu & Kashmir, Omar

Abdullah experienced manyups and down in his 'tumul-tuous' political career.

He faced first litmus testwhen under his watch the Statewitnessed prolonged cycle ofviolence between 2009 (in theaftermath of Shopian rape andmurder case) and 2010. Over100 protesters were killed insporadic incidents of stonepelting and several hundredwere put behind bars to restorenormalcy on ground zero.

Security forces had toresort to use to 'pellet' guns forthe first time to control therampaging mob on the streetsof Srinagar especially in volatiledowntown areas.

During his term in office,Omar even attempted to scaledown the foot prints of theIndian army and revoke ArmedForces Special Powers Act(AFSPA) from peaceful dis-tricts of the region but failed toassert his authority even whilechairing meetings of the

Unified command. Union gov-ernment at the helm of affairs,kept him in the 'waiting' mode.After promising 'moon' to thepeople of the state Omar couldnot do much to buy backpower projects from NHPC. Ashis innings came to an end his

report card was dotted withdark spots and was not 'impres-sive'.

After completing his sixyear long term in office whenOmar Abdullah went to theelectorate to seek reelection hefaced crushing defeat at the

hustings in December2014.

The NationalConference tallydeclined from 28 seats itwon in 2008 to 15 in2014. The party not onlylost sizeable chunk ofseats but its total voteshare also witnessedsteep decline.

As President of theparty and head of thealliance GovernmentOmar failed to fulfil thepromise of restorationautonomy whichremained high point ofNC’s election manifestossince Indra — SheikhAccord.

Sitting in the Opposition,Omar competed with the archrival, Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) and also flirted with theidea of promoting 'soft sepa-ratism' to woo electorate. WithBJP acquiring centre stage inthe national politics, Omar

choose to continue his friend-ship and alliance with youthcongress leader Rahul Gandhi.

He also lost a perceptionwar when he locked hornswith Prime Minister NarendraModi after propagating anoth-er lofty idea of reviving theposts of sadr-e-riyasat (presi-dent) and Prime Minister forJammu & Kashmir.

A decade later, OmarAbdullah is struggling to spendtime, all alone in his own com-pany.Since August 5, 2019 he isunder preventive politicaldetention.

Barring close family mem-bers, no other visitors areallowed to meet him. SinceAugust 5, only once a delega-tion of party leaders led by hisclose aide and provincialPresident, Jammu DS Ranacalled on him for about 30minutes in the first week ofOctober 2019. No other meet-ing with the party leaders fruc-tified since then.

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If the observation made by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi during

his speech at the inaugural ceremony of the 107th IndianScience Congress at Bangalorelast Friday is any indication,Chennai is set to emerge as thecountry’s hub for deep sea missionsakin to its feats in Space explo-rations. While ISRO has startedtraining astronauts for space far-ing, the country’s aquanauts arebeing trained for deep sea missions.

“We have to replicate theachievements made by the coun-try’s scientists in Space explo-ration in ocean too. The seasremain unexplored and untappedfor want of technology,” the PrimeMinister had said at Bangalore onFriday.

Interestingly, Modi began hisspeech from where Dr K Sivan,chairman, Space Commission, left

on New Year day by announcingabout the country’s manned Spacemission (Gaganyaan),Chandrayaan-3 and other inter–planetary explorations.

Even as Prime Minister Modiwas delivering his speech at the ISC, a group of scientists and engineersin the National Institute of OceanTechnology, Chennai, an elite insti-tution under the Ministry of EarthSciences were busy in perfectingthe nuances of Samudrayaan (thedeep sea manned mission) forexploring and exploiting the hith-erto unmeasured deep sea marinewealth.

“We hope to perfect the firstever manned mission to deep seaby 2022. The Samudrayaan hasmany constraints and hence theprogress is slow though steady,”said Dr Atmanand, director ,NIOT Chennai. For Dr Atmanandand his team of researchers, thebottom of the ocean is not astrange domain.

They have succeeded in send-ing unmanned mission to thedepth of the Indian Ocean as earlyas 2009 as part of the Samudrayaanmission.

The NIOT scientists had con-ducted a successful but silentSamudrayaan on April 13, 2009itself by planting the national tri-colour on the seabed at a depth of3000 meters using ROSUB-6000,a Remotely Operated Vehicle fordeep sea exploration.

“It was a successful missionand we proved the capability ofROSUB in exploring ocean depths.The machine has the potential togo up to 6000 meters but we wantto reach that depth in stages,” DrG A Ramadass, chief scientist, hadtold The Pioneer while declaringthe details of the mission.

Vice President M VenkiahNaidu while addressing the scien-tists of NIOT during its silverjubilee celebrations in November last had referred to the

importance attached by theGovernment of India to the oper-ations carried out by the institute.“NIOT is working on almost allaspects of the six priority pillars ofblue economy — Fisheries andAquaculture; Renewable OceanEnergy; Seaports and Shipping;Offshore Hydrocarbons andSeabed Minerals; MarineBiotechnology, Research andDevelopment and Tourism,” he hadsaid. India’s top priority is toexploit offshore hydrocarbons andseabed minerals whoich wouldelevate the country to a super eco-nomic entity, a NIOT veteran hadpointed out.

“While oceans already accountfor significant trade and com-merce in the fields of shipping, off-shore oil and gas, fishing, under-sea cables, and tourism, the emerg-ing industries such as aquaculture,marine biotechnology, ocean ener-gy and sea-bed mining have thepotential to create jobs and spur

worldwide economic growth,”Naidu had said.

The brief given to NIOT is tomine and bring out the vastdeposits of cobalt, nickel, man-ganese and copper present in theCentral Indian Ocean Region inthe form of polymetallic nodulesat a depth of 6000 meters.

A Manned Submersible vehi-cle which can reach the 6000meter depth is getting readied inthe laboratories of NIOT atChennai. Simultaneously, a mis-sion is on to train the country’saquanauts (the ocean equivalent ofthose known as astronauts). Ifeverything proceeds as planned,the sea craft carrying three aqua-nauts will touch the ocean bed by2022 and they will be back with thefirst consignment of polymetallicnodules.

Who knows, in another cou-ple of years, India will emerge asan exporter of copper, cobalt,nickel, manganese etc.

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Ahmedabad: After reportsabout deaths of over 100 chil-dren at a State-run hospital inRajasthan's Kota shocked thecountry, data shows that 111infants died at a civil hospitalin Gujarat's Rajkot district inDecember.

Further, in Ahmedabadcivil hospital, 88 infants diedlast month, it showed.Confronted by reporters overthe issue in Vadodara, GujaratChief Minister Vijay Rupaniwalked away, without givingany reply.

In Ahmedabad, HealthMinister Nitin Patel, whoshared the shocking data, saidcold weather in December was

one of the reasons for highernumber of deaths in Decemberand added that overall infantmortality had declined inGujarat.

Of the 388 infants admit-ted to the Pandit DeendayalUpadhyay General Hospital inRajkot in December last year,111, or 28 per cent, died.

As many as 87 and 71infants died in October andNovember last year, which was19.3 and 15.5 per cent of theinfants admitted to the hospi-tal's Sick Newborn Care Unit(SNCU), respectively, the datashowed. At Ahmedabad civilhospital, 88 infants died inDecember, which was 21.2 per

cent of 415 infants admitted.As many as 91 and 74

infants died in the hospital inOctober and November, 18.4and 16.4 per cent of the totalnumber of infants admitted,respectively.

Sharing the figures, Patelsaid that notwithstanding thehigher number of deaths inDecember, the infant mortali-ty in the state had dropped overtwo decades, from 62 per 1,000in 1997 to 30 in 2017, with fur-ther drop recorded in 2018 and2019. West Bengal, Karnataka,Jharkhand and Telangana havehigher infant mortality ratethan Gujarat, as per the Centre's2017 data, he said. PTI

Basti (UP): Two suspectedISIS terrorists have enteredUttar Pradesh, following whicha high alert has been soundedalong the India-Nepal borderin Maharajganj, Kushinagarand Siddharth Nagar districts,a top police official said onSunday.

“It has come to the fore thattwo wanted terrorists AbdulSamad and Iliyas can escape toNepal from Uttar Pradesh,” IG(Basti range) Ashutosh Kumarsaid.

The alert was soundedafter the intelligence input wasreceived, he said. The IG saidphotographs of the two havebeen widely circulated so thatthey could be identified.

The officer said he was notaware which outfit they were

affiliated to.Previously, they were spot-

ted in West Bengals' Siliguriand are suspected to be asso-ciated with the ISIS. Policehave launched a massive man-hunt to nab them, officialssaid.

India and Nepal share a1,751-km-long porous fron-tier which has reportedly beenused by Pakistani elementsand terrorists in the past. Anumber of such operativeshave been nabbed by Indianborder guarding agencies.

Uttar Pradesh shares a599.3-km-long open borderwith Nepal, touching sevendistricts - Pilibhit, LakhimpurKheri, Bahraich, Sravasti,Balrampur, Sidhharthnagarand Maharajganj. PTI

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In the much-delayed alloca-tion of portfolios carried out

by Maharashtra Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray on Sunday,the Nationalist Congress Party(NCP) walked away with plumportfolios like Home, Finance,Co-operation, WaterResources, Rural Developmentand Housing, while theCongress managed to landonly a couple of importantMinistries like Revenue andPublic Works Department(Excluding PublicUndertakings).

The Shiv Sena, which is theprincipal ruling party in thethree-party Maha Vikas Aghadi(MVS) Government, some-what got a raw deal in the port-folio distribution exercise thatlook six-long days sinceUddhav Thackeray expandedhis Cabinet, as it got very fewkey portfolios like UrbanDevelopment, Public Works (Public Undertakings),Agriculture and Industries.

While Uddhav Thackerayretained portfolios like GeneralAdministration, InformationTechnology, Law and Judiciary,Information and PublicRelations, he assigned hisCabinet minister-son AdityaThackeray the portfolios ofEnvironment, Tourism andProtocol.

Shiv Sena’s number two

man in the State CabinetEknath Shinde, whose namehad been discussed in the statepolitical circles as a chief min-isterial candidate beforeUddhav assumed the office, hasbeen given the key UrbanDevelopment and PublicWorks Department (PublicUndertakings) portfolios. ShivSena’s senior-most leaderSubhash Desai has been hand-ed Industries, Mining andMarathi Language portfolios.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar,who played a key role in cob-bling the Sena-NCP-Congressfront managed to corner amaximum of high-profile port-folios for his party, in the port-folio distribution that saw a lotof hard-bargaining among thethree constituents in the MVAand lobbying among the min-isters in the three parties.

Deputy Chief Minister AjitPawar, who was initially tippedto be Home Minister, hasinstead personally chosen theFinance and Planning portfo-lios –the two Ministries that SrPawar’s confidant and StateNCP president Jayant Patil heldearlier.

In place of the Financeand Planning portfolios that hehad held in the past and presentnine consecutive State budgetsin the previous Congress-NCPGovernment, Jayant Patil hasbeen given Water Resources(Known popularly as Irrigation)

and Command AreaDevelopment.

In what is being seen as ashrewd move, Sr Pawar hashand-picked his loyalistMinister Anil Deshmukh fromVidarbha. Deshmukh, who wasa minister of state in the ShivSena-BJP Government in thenineties, later served as both asa Minister of State and CabinetMinister in the Congress-NCPGovernment between 2001 and2014.

Elected to the StateAssembly from Katol con-stituency in Nagpur district,Deshmukh is understood tohave been vested with theHome portfolio to deal withformer Chief Minister andsenior BJP leader DevendraFadnavis, who is also fromNagpur and held the HomeMinistry in the previous BJP-Shiv Sena Government.

The NCP’s other influentialleaders like Dilip Walse-Patil,Jitendra Awhad and HasanMushrif have been given StateExcise & Labour, Housing andRural Development Ministriesrespectively. Sr Pawar’s anoth-er confidant Chhagan Bhujbal,who was in the past a deputychief minister in the previousCongress-NCP Government,has been assigned relativelyinsignificant portfolios of Food,Civil Supplies and ConsumerProtection.

Dhananjay Munde,

estranged nephew of late BJPleader Gopinathrao Munde,has been given relatively low-key portfolio of social justiceand special assistance, whilelow-profile Balasaheb Patil hasbeen vested with co-operationand Marketing portfolios.

NCP’s national spokesper-son Nawab Malik has beenvested with MinorityDevelopment, Aukaf, SkillDevelopment andEnterpreneurship portfolios.

The second-run NCP lead-ers like Rajesh Tope andRajendras Shingne have beengiven portfolios like PublicHealth & Family Welfare andFood & Drug Administrationrespectively.

On the Congress front,senior Congress leader AshokChavan, who had resigned asthe Chief Minister onNovember 9, 2010 following theexpose of the Adarsh societyscam, has returned to the StateCabinet after a gap of more thannine years. He has been vestedwith the Public WorksDepartment (excluding PublicUndertakings).

The Congress high com-mand’s decision to vest Chavanwith PWD portfolio has rubbedsenior party leader fromVidarbha Nitin Raut, who ini-tially held that portfolio, thewrong way. Raut has now beenassigned relatively lesser sig-nificant portfolio of Energy.

Maharashtra Congresspresident and senior ministerBalasaheb Thorat has beengiven the important Revenueportfolio, while late ChiefMinister Vilasrao Deshmukh’sson Amit Deshmukh has beenvested with the portfolios ofMedical Education andCultural Affairs.

The Congress’ two womenCabinet Minister YashomatiThakur qnd Varsha Gaikwadhave been given Women &Child Development and SchoolEducation portfolios respec-tively.

Former leader of theOpposition in the Assemblyand Congress leader fromChandrapur in Vidarbharegion Vijay Wadettiwar hasbeen given OBC, Khar landdevelopment, Relief andRehabilitation, while anothersenior Congress leader KCPadvi has been vested withTribal development.

The other portfolio alloca-tions made included: Shiv Sena:Dadaji D. Bhuse — Agriculture,Uday Samant — Higher &Technical Education, SanjayD. Rathod — Forest, DisasterManagement, R&R, GulabraoPatil — Water Supply &Sanitation, SandipanraoBhumre – EmploymentGuarantee & Horticulture, AnilParab — Transport &Parliamentary Affairs,Shankarrao Gadakh (KSK Part)

— Soil & Water Conservation.Congress: Sunil Kedar –

Animal Husbandry, DairyDevelopment, Sports & YouthWelfare and Aslam R. Shaikh –Textiles, Fisheries and PortsDevelopment.

Among the 10 Ministers ofState (MoS) are: Shiv Sena’sAbdul Sattar Nabi who hasbeen given Revenue & RuralDevelopment, Shamburaj Desai— Home (Rural), Omprakashalias Bachu Kadu — WaterResources, Command AreaDevelopment, SchoolEducation, etc., and Rajendra

Yadravkar (Independent MLA)— Public Health, FDA, etc.

NCP’s Dattatray Bharnehas been made Minister ofState for Public Works (exclud-ing Public Undertakings),Forests, etc., while other min-isters of state from the SharadPawar-led party are: SanjayBansode — Environment,Water Supply & Sanitation,etc., Prajakt Tanpure — UrbanDevelopment, Energy, etc., andAditi S. Tatkare — Industries,Tourism, etc.

Congress’s Satej Patil hasbeen made Minister of State for

Home (Urban), while anotherMminister of State Vishwajit P.Kadam has been vested withAgriculture, Cooperation, scialJustice and other portfolios.

It may be recalled that onNovember 28, UddhavThackeray had been sworninto office as the Chief Ministeralong with six Maha VikasAghadi (MVS) Ministers —Eknath Shinde, Subhash Desai(both from the Shiv Sena),Jayant Patil, Chhagan Bhujbal(both from the NCP),Balasaheb Thorat and NitinRaut (both from the Congress).

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One of the three people injured inthe station building collapse at

Burdwan on Saturday evening died inthe wee hours of Sunday, EasternRailways sources said.

The man was among a dozen ofpeople who were standing near theporch of the colonial structure whena part of it caved in. While some of theinjured were released after first aid twopersons were admitted to theBurdwan Medical College andHospital.

One of them died on the smallhours of Sunday. He is yet to be iden-tified sources said.

Meanwhile both the TrinamoolCongress and the Left Front have

questioned the lackadaisical approachof the BJP-run RailwayMinistry in providing publicservices.

“They were involved in decorat-ing and beautifying the premiseswhen the accident occurred. It onlyproves that this Government is onlysuperficial in its ways. A high levelcommittee should be instituted to lookinto fact,” Bengal Minister SwapanDebnath said.

CPI(M)’s Sujan Chakrabarty said,“the Railways are only interested inincreasing fare and not taking inter-est in other things.”

A three-member committee hasbeen formed to conduct an inquiryinto the cause of the incident, thespokesperson added.

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Page 10: 012%%3˘ * (*+,+,- + !ˆ˝˛ #˝˙˚$ %ˆ˜˝&’&˝(ˆ · 2020. 1. 5. · Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal condemned the killing and tweeted, “A day after mob attacked our

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Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Sunday said

the Centre has taken steps toaddress the challenges faced byvarious sectors without waitingfor the Budget.

She also said that GST col-lection, which crossed �1 lakhcrore per month mark duringthe last two months, willremain "good" in comingdays."The Government hasbeen regularly taking steps tohelp sectors which are facing

challenges. Without waitingfor the Budget, we are takingthe steps," the Minister said ata press conference here.

Stating that the Centredoes not differentiate betweenBJP ruled States and non-BJPruled States, she said that duesof States were not being heldback by the Centre, and fundswere being given as per the rec-ommendation of 14th FinanceCommission.

"The GST collection hasgone above �1 lakh crore permonth. It will remain good inthe days to come," Sitharamansaid.

She also said that creditwas made available to peoplethrough non-banking financialcompanies and banks duringthe festive season of Navratriand Diwali.

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Petrol and diesel prices rosefor the fourth straight day

on Sunday as global oil pricesjumped after the US killed a topIranian general, fanning freshfears of conflict in the crude-rich Middle East.

Retail pump price of petrolwas hiked by 9 paise per litreand that of diesel by 11 paise,according to a price notificationof State-owned fuel retailers.

Petrol in Delhi now costs�75.54 per litre - the highest inmore than a year, while a litreof diesel comes for �68.51.

While global stock marketswere mixed following the USkilling of Qasem Soleimani, oilprices jumped more than 3 percent on Friday. Oil markets willreopen on Monday after theweekend break. The killing ofSoleimani represents "a signif-icant spike in geopolitical risksand could lead to a direct con-frontation between the US andIran," Oxford Economics saidin a commentary.

India is 84 per cent depen-dant on imports to meet its oilneeds and any spike in globalprices has a direct bearing onits economy. Not just imports

but even domestic crude oil -which forms the raw materialfor making petrol, diesel andother petroleum products - ispriced according to interna-tional benchmarks.

Middle East accounts formore than two-thirds of thecountry's oil imports, with Iraqand Saudi Arabia being the topsuppliers.

Even though import baskethas been sought to be diversi-fied with oil being contractedfrom nations such as US, pric-ing in all the regions is governedby international benchmarksand rates went up everywherefollowing Friday's strikes.

Officials said there is noimmediate threat of any supplydisruption to India and theonly impact would be felt inprices.

For an economy that isstruggling to recover from asix-year low growth rate of 4.5

per cent, a spike in oil pricesposes significant risk as it willnot just stoke inflation butalso lead to higher outgo onGovernment subsidies oncooking fuel.

"Nowhere in the world hasseen any supply being stoppedbecause of US strikes. Oil con-tinues to flow as normal," anofficial said.

Sunday's price increase isthe fourth straight day of retailprices going up. Since January2, petrol price has increased by38 paise per litre while dieselrates have gone up 55 paise.

Prices were unchangedover the new year. Rates ofpetrol have been on theupswing since December 26and that of diesel sinceNovember 29, 2019. Dieselprices have increased by �2.78per litre over this period whilepetrol has become costlier by91 paise.

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In a major turn in the Tata-Mistry saga, Cyrus Mistry on

Sunday said that he would nottake up the chairmanship ofTata Sons or become directorof any Tata Group company butpursue all options to protect theShapoorji Pallonji Group'srights as minority stakeholder,including a seat at the TataSons' Board.

He said that his decisionhas been made in the interestsof the Tata Group, "whoseinterests are far more importantthen the interests of any indi-vidual".

"To dispel the misinfor-mation campaign being con-ducted, I intend to make it clearthat despite the NCLAT orderin my favour, I will not be pur-suing the ExecutiveChairmanship of Tata Sons, orDirectorship of TCS, TataTeleservices or Tata Industries.

"I will however vigorouslypursue all options to protect ourrights as a minority sharehold-er, including that of resumingthe thirty year history of a seatat the Board of Tata Sons and theincorporation of the higheststandards of corporate gover-nance and transparency at TataSons," he said, in a statement.

To recent media reportsattributed to Ratan Tata andothers questioning the NCLATjudgment ahead of an hearingin the Supreme Court, he con-tended these "profess an inter-pretation of corporate democ-racy as being one of brutemajoritarianism with no rights

for minority stakeholders"."The question in these legal

proceedings is whether oppres-sive actions of a majority thatstifles minority shareholders isbeyond reproach and outsidejudicial oversight," he added.

Mistry said that the found-ing fathers of the Tata Grouphad laid a strong ethical foun-dation that cared for all stake-holders and the relationshipbetween the Tata Group andthe Shapoorji Pallonji Group isone spanning multiple decadesthat was built on commonagreement and mutual faith.

"Former Tata leadersworked together with theminority partner to create valuefor all stakeholders."

The statement comes justdays after Tata Sons and itChairman Emeritus Ratan Tatamoved the Supreme Courtchallenging the NationalCompany Law AppellateTribunal's December verdictwhich ordered the reinstate-ment of Mistry as theChairman of Tata Sons.

Ratan Tata, in the petitionfiled in the top court onJanuary 3, had said that that theappellate tribunal's verdict was"erroneous" and it "pulleddown" the governance and cor-porate structure of the group.

On Mistry's replacement asthe Chairman of Tata Sons, hetold the apex court in his peti-tion that the relationshipbetween Mistry and Tata Trustshad become discordant and itwas felt by Tata Trusts that hecould not provide robust lead-ership to Tata Sons in future.

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Tata Consultancy Services(TCS) has filed an appeal

in the Supreme Court againstthe NCLAT judgement direct-ing reinstatement of CyrusPallonji Mistry as Director ofthe Company.

"The company has onJanuary 3 filed an appealbefore the Supreme Courtagainst the judgement ofNCLAT dated December 18,directing reinstatement ofCyrus Pallonji Mistry asDirector of the Company forthe rest of the tenure," saidTCS in a regulatory filing onSaturday.

Last month, NCLAT hadrestored Mistry as executivechairman of Tata Sons andruled that appointment of NChandrasekaran was "illegal".In response to this decision,Tata Sons moved the apexcourt.

Besides, Ratan Tata hadon Friday moved the SupremeCourt in his personal capac-ity challenging the NCLAT'sverdict reinstating CyrusMistry as Tata SonsChairman, alleging that inan instance of conflict ofinterest, Mistry was reluctantto disassociate himself fromhis family business even afterhe became the chairman of

Tata Sons.The former Tata Sons

chief moved the SupremeCourt in his personal capac-ity, a day after Tata Sonsmoved the apex court chal-lenging the NationalCompany Law AppellateTribunal's (NCLAT)December 18 judgement.

Ratan Tata in his petitionto the top court mentionedthat disassociation from hisfamily business, the ShapoorjiPallonji Group, was a pre-condition for Mistry'sappointment as Tata SonsChairman.

"Amongst the variousfronts where Cyrus Mistry'sleadership was lacking was his

reluctance to timely andmeaningfully disassociatehimself from his family busi-ness after he became theChairman of Tata Sons andaddress any conflict in thisregard, which was a conditionprecedent to his appointmentas Chairman of Tata Sons,"Ratan Tata's petition said.

The petition said thatMistry's leadership lacked onvarious fronts and in themonths before his replace-ment the relationship betweenhim and Tata Trusts becamediscordant. Tata also said thatTata Trusts strongly felt thatMistry could not providerobust leadership to Tata Sonsin future.

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The Government on Sundaysaid eight States, including

Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh,Punjab and Karnataka, havefinalised action plan for agri-culture export policy whichaims to double such exports.

"The Agri Export Policywas announced last year withan objective of doubling theexport and ensuring doublingof farmers' income. Many Stateshave nominated nodal agencyand nodal officer.Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh,Kerala, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu,Assam, Punjab and Karnatakahave finalised the State ActionPlan and other States are at dif-ferent stages of finalisation ofthe action plan," the Ministryof Commerce and Industrysaid in a statement.

The Agricultural andProcessed Food ProductsExport Development Authority(APEDA) has been adopting afocused approach for ensuringgreater involvement of the StateGovernments for effectiveimplementation of Agri ExportPolicy (AEP).

Throughout the yearAPEDA held a series of meet-ings with State Governmentofficials and other stakeholdersfor preparation of State action

plan which included all essen-tial components like produc-tion clusters, capacity building,infrastructure and logistics andresearch and development andbudget requirements for theimplementation of AEP, it said.

Several rounds of discus-sions were held with theMinistry of Agriculture andFarmers' Welfare, Departmentof Animal Husbandry &Dairying, Ministry of FoodProcessing Industries and otheragencies for seeking inputs forformulating a strategy toincrease exports and addressthe existing bottlenecks in thetrade.

State level monitoringcommittees have been formedin many of the States. Clustervisits have been made byAPEDA nodal officers to theproduct clusters, it added.

The roadmap for clusterdevelopment in the clustersnotified under AEP was pre-pared to address the identifiedinterventions during the clus-ter visits.

"As a result of cluster vis-its by APEDA, the cluster levelcommittee has been constitut-ed in the states viz. Potato inPunjab, isabgol in Rajasthan,pomegranate, orange andgrapes in Maharashtra andbanana in Tamil Nadu," thestatement said.

APEDA organised a num-ber of seminars and meetingsfor the implementation of AEPthroughout the year.

A Memorandum ofUnderstanding was signed withthe National CooperativeDevelopment Corporation toinclude co-operatives for activerole in AEP.

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Investments in Indian tech-enabled start-ups grew 18 per

cent to $14 billion (about�99,400 crore) in 2019, withDelhi-NCR and Bengaluruaccounting for a lion's share ofthe funds, a report by researchand consulting firm HexGnsaid.

India has performed betterboth in the number of deals aswell as funding in value termswith companies like Oyo,Paytm, Ola Electric, Udaan,Bounce and Delhivery raising large rounds, the reportsaid.

"While the number ofstartup deals in India fell byonly 15 per cent (down 27 percent globally and in Asia),funding in value terms in star-tups rose by 18 per cent (com-pared to a 22 per cent declineglobally and 56 per cent fall inAsia)," it added.

Globally, the total fundingfor technology start-ups is esti-mated to have dipped by 22 percent to $293 billion from $375billion in 2018, with a 27 per

cent drop in deals, the reportsaid.

In Asia, funding dropped by 56 per cent to $ 83 billion in 2019 from $158billion in the previous year.

HexGn analysed over60,000 deals and 1 milliondata points for the report.

Delhi-NCR attracted $7.4billion in funding, whileBengaluru-based start-upsreceived $4.4 billion in 2019, itsaid.

E-commerce has custom-arily been the sector to attractthe most funding in India andin 2019 too, it continued itsstrong march and attracted$2.2 billion in funding, thereport added.

Transportation and logis-tics start-ups attracted fundingof over $2.4 billion.

While fintech companiesraised over $4.1 billion, giventhe considerable potential ofthe sector and thrust towards transparency and digital payments from the Indian Government,it noted.

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With the US killing of thetop Iran commander

Qasem Soleimani tensions inthe Middle East have reignitedand any further developmenton this front would be the mostimportact factor for the Indianequity market, along with itsglobal conterparts, in the com-ing week.

Iran has vowed to take"tough" revenge and globalleaders have raised concernsover the the incident and itseventualities. US PresidentDonald Trump, on the otherhand, has warned Iran that hehas identified 52 Iranian targets

and will respond "very fastand very hard" to any reprisalfrom Tehran.

Oil and gold prices hadalready surged on Friday afterreports surfaced of the Generalbeing killed in Iraq, and boththe Sensex and Nifty50, alongwith global indices, tumbledduring the day.

The same nervousness andconcern is likely to follow in thecoming week.

"Escalation between USand Iran, will add crude pricesand geopolitical tensionsimpacting the performance inthe short-term," said VinodNair of Geojit FinancialServices.

Siddhartha Khemka, Headof Retail Research at MotilalOswal Financial Services said:"Markets could be volatilegoing ahead due to risk of pos-sible retaliation from Iran."

However, there are alsosome positive global anddomestic factors which arelikely to provide support to themarket in the coming days,including the Trump's recentannouncement to sign the firstphase of the US-China tradedeal.

In a major sign of improve-ment in the manufacturingsegment, the IHS Markit India

Manufacturing PMI rose to52.7 in December from 51.2 inNovember.

Further, the gross GST col-lection in December 2019announced last week, grew by8.92 per cent year-on-year to1.03 lakh crore, althoughremaining below the target of�1.10 lakh crore set by theGovernment.

This growth in GST col-lection is also likely to boostmarket sentiments, analystssaid, along with theGovernment's latest announce-ment of a �102 lakh croreinfrastructure pipeline.

"Few positive domesticdata, like improvement in GSTrevenue and India factory pro-duction to 7-month high, hasbrought a broad-based rally,"Nair said.

He added that the globalmarket may also trade in thepositive in anticipation ofimprovement in economy anduptick in steel prices post theannouncement of US-Chinafirst phase deal to be signed onJanuary 15.

Another major factor forthe domestic market senti-ments in the coming weekwould be the corporate earningresults for the quarter-endingDecember, analysts added.

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The National PensionScheme for Traders and

Self-Employed Persons hasfailed to gain traction as onlyabout 25,000 persons haveopted for the scheme as againstthe government's target toenrol 50 lakh by March-end.

As per Government data,only 84 traders and self-employed persons from Delhihave registered for the schemeso far, while 59 persons fromKerala, 54 from HimachalPradesh, 29 from Jammu andKashmir and two from Goahave registered.

No one has registered forthe scheme in Lakshadweepand Mizoram.

Uttar Pradesh has the high-est number of registrationswith 6,765 persons, followed byAndhra Pradesh (4,781),Gujarat (2,915), Maharashtra(632), Bihar (583), Rajasthan(549), Tamil Nadu (309),Madhya Pradesh (305) andWest Bengal (234).

The National PensionScheme for Traders and SelfEmployed Persons (PradhanMantri Laghu Vyapari Maan-dhan Yojana) is a voluntary andcontribution based central sec-tor scheme.

The Government launchedthe scheme, entailing monthlyminimum assured pension of�3,000 for the entry age groupof 18-40 years after attainingthe age of 60 years, with effectfrom July 22, 2019.

Under the scheme, theGovernment makes matchingcontribution in the subscribers'account.

Commenting on the luke-warm response to the scheme,Confederation of All IndiaTraders (CAIT) SecretaryGeneral Praveen Khandelwalsaid the entry age and the pre-mium for the scheme should beraised to encourage moretraders to join the scheme."�3,000 to be given after 30

years of paying premium willhardly have any value. Whyhave traders aged between 40and 55 years been kept out ofthe scheme? The Governmentcan increase premium for thisage group (40-55) instead ofdepriving them of the scheme'sbenefits. These are two bigdrawbacks," Khandelwal toldPTI.

He said the traders' bodyhad suggested to the govern-ment that a provident fund likeprovision be made whereby afund is created out of the totaltax paid by a trader throughouthis/her life, out of which everytrader can be paid monthlypension upon attaining theage of 60.

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Further escalation in the ten-sion between the US and

Iran will have implications onIndia's exports to the PersianGulf nation, apex exportersbody FIEO said on Sunday.

Federation of IndianExport Organisations (FIEO)Director General Ajay Sahaisaid so far exporters have notflagged any concerns relatedwith exports to Iran. "However,if the tensions will continue, itmay have affect on India'sexports to Iran," he said.

He added that due to exist-ing trade sanctions on Iran,Iranian shipping lines are onlytaking Indian consignmentsto that country.

Tensions between Iran andthe US increased after anAmerican drone strike killedtop Iranian general QasemSoleimani last week. Iran is akey trading partner of India. Itsmajor exports to India are oil,fertilisers and chemicals, whileit imports cereals, tea, coffee,basmati rice, spices and organ-ic chemicals, among others.India's exports to the PersianGulf nation in 2018-19 wereworth USD 3.51 billion.

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Business leaders take up moresocial responsibility pro-

jects when they disagree withWhite House, reveals a study.

Liberal CEOs invested morein socially conscious activities,like diversity initiatives and envi-ronment conservation, whenthey felt those values were threat-ened, found the researchers.

"Republican Presidentsaren't as interested in thosevalues, so business leaders think,'we need to do more to promoteand protect these values'," saidNara Jeong, Assistant Professorof Management at SanFrancisco State University in US.

When business leadersshared same political beliefs asPresident, support for sociallyconscious initiatives declined.

For left-leaning CEOs,more likely to engage in social-ly responsible activities, thoseefforts declined by an averageof 18 per cent, Jeong said.

Business leaders with samepolitical orientation asPresident might have an expec-tation that Govt "will deliver onsocial values they hold dear,"said the study published injournal Management Decision.

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Page 11: 012%%3˘ * (*+,+,- + !ˆ˝˛ #˝˙˚$ %ˆ˜˝&’&˝(ˆ · 2020. 1. 5. · Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal condemned the killing and tweeted, “A day after mob attacked our

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Espanyol’s Wu Lei became the firstChinese footballer to scoreagainst Barcelona on Saturday

and has revealed how the goal thatwent viral was planned while he waswarming up.

Wu earned Espanyol a dramatic2-2 draw at the RCDE Stadium afterhe fired in an 88th-minute equaliserto salvage a point in the all-Catalanclash of La Liga’s top against bottom.

The 28-year-old drove decisivelypast Barcelona’s stand-in goalkeeperNeto and into the far corner but hisgoal owed much to a brilliant reversepass too, executed by his team-mateMatias Vargas.

Both players had been intro-duced by new coach AbelardoFernandez in the second half and Wusaid after the match that Vargas hadpredicted he would give him a chance.

“I am very happy, not just becauseI scored but because of that assist,” Wutold Espanyol TV.

“When we were warming up,Matias told me he was going to put mein with a through ball. After 10 min-utes he played one to me and Iscored.”

Chinese media on Sundaydeclared the strike as heralding “a newchapter” in Chinese football while onerelated hashtag generated 370 millionviews on social media platform Weibo.

“Wu has now become the firstChinese player to score againstBarcelona in all competitions ever,”

state-run China Global TelevisionNetwork (CGTN) said.

The 28-year-old Wu “single-hand-edly revitalised Espanyol” against theSpanish champions, CGTN continued.

“A new chapter in history has beenopened,” it added. “For Wu, it was anight that will live long in the mem-ory.”

State news agency Xinhua saidWu’s dramatic leveller from a narrowangle “sparked a wave of praise frommedia and fans in China”.

Wu joined in the celebrations bywriting on Weibo: “Wonderful night,a new year, a good start.”

CHINESE MARADONAThe forward, dubbed the “Chinese

Maradona” as a youngster, joined

Espanyol from Shanghai SIPGin January last year and afterfinishing top scorer in theChinese Super League, hesaid he wanted to prove thecountry’s players could deliv-er at the highest level.

“Pressure is my drivingforce, it’s what pushes me for-ward,” he said last year.

“I want to show fans around theworld that there are players in Chinawho can shine in the best leagues inthe world.”

He has stayed true to his word andmore than justified his modest trans-fer fee of 2 million euros.

After making his debut at the startof February, Wu missed only onegame for his new club through to the

end of last season, playing 21 timesand scoring four goals.

This term, he has been evenmore effective, scoring six goals in28 appearances in all competi-tions, despite Espanyol’s poorform that has them languishing atthe bottom of the La Liga table.Yet Abelardo’s appointment seems

to have revitalised the team and Wubelieves their stirring performanceagainst Barcelona can now be a turn-ing-point in their fight against relega-tion.

“After the game in the dressingroom, you could see everyone’s con-fidence was up,” Wu said.

“It feels like we are going tochange the whole dynamic this year.Hopefully in the next game we can

get the victory because we are gain-ing momentum.

“We thank all the fans who sup-ported us because they give us unity.We are all a family together.”

China’s new coach Li Tie willalso hope Wu's form can help rescuethe country’s hopes of reaching the2022 World Cup in Qatar. They sitsecond in their qualifying group afterfour games, eight points behindSyria.

“He is currently the only Chineseplayer in one of the five major foot-ball leagues,” said Li Tie in his firstpress conference in charge onSunday.

“I watched the game last nightand this (goal) is really something thatbrings honour to Chinese football.”

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Spluttering Manchester United were forcedto settle for a dour 0-0 draw at Wolves in

the FA Cup third round, while holdersManchester City started their bid to retain thetrophy with a 4-1 victory against Port Vale onSaturday.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s troubled side didn’t managea single shot on target in a domestic game for the firsttime in five years.

Easily beaten by Arsenal in the Premier League onWednesday, United once again struggled to find anymomentum and now face an unwanted replay at OldTrafford later in January.

Defending the latest in a growing list of underwhelm-ing displays, Solskjaer said: “I'’m happier to be in thereplay than going out. It’s a fair result that we are bothstill in the cup.

“It’s a tough place to come. They had chances. SergioRomero made some great saves. He’s putting pressure onDavid de Gea and that’s what we want. We want the bestplayers in the world here.”

Solskjaer made seven changes at Molineux with theLeague Cup semi-final first leg against Manchester Citylooming tomorrow.

Knocked out by Wolves in the FA Cup quarter-finalslast season, disjointed United nearly fell behind when MattDoherty’s volley was superbly turned away by Romero.

Brandon Williams had a strong penalty appealrejected by VAR after the United left-back tumbled fol-lowing a challenge with Leander Dendoncker.

United substitute Marcus Rashford hit the bar withhis first touch, but Wolves nearly won it in the closingmoments as Raul Jimenez smashed against a post, leav-ing Solskjaer’s men with just two wins from their last fivematches.

At the Etihad Stadium, City boss Pep Guardiola madeseven changes, but Oleksandr Zinchenko got the scor-ing started against fourth-tier Vale after 20 minutes.

Port Vale striker Tom Pope had memorably mockedJohn Stones last year, claiming he would love to playagainst him after being underwhelmedby the City defender's performanceduring an England match.

And with Stonesreturning for Cityafter a month outwith a ham-string injury,the 34-year-oldP o p ebackedup hiss o c i a lmedia taunts by equalis-ing with a glancing head-er in the 35th minute.

Sergio Aguero restoredorder when he fired Cityback in front with his 15thgoal of the season three min-utes before half-time.

Taylor Harwood-Bellissealed the win from Stones'flick in the 58th minute andPhil Foden got the fourth inthe 76th minute.

“We are in the next roundafter an incredible amount ofgames. We played seriously.First half we struggled a bitbut second half was better,”Guardiola said.

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Stefanos Tsitsipas whipped anerror-strewn Alexander

Zverev to win the battle of thebig guns at the ATP Cup onSunday, inflicting a second suc-cessive defeat on the German inhis warm-up for the AustralianOpen.

On day three of the inaugur-al 24-nation team event inSydney, Brisbane and Perth,world number 11 David Goffinwas another loser, along withItaly’s Fabio Fognini, rankedone place below him.

Greek star Tsitsipas, whowon the 2019 season-endingATP Finals in London and isnow ranked six, was in a differ-ent league to Zverev, who onlybegan hitting balls a week agoafter an off-season curtailed bya lucrative exhibition tour.

The lacklustre Germanworld number seven sent down10 double faults and made just45 percent of his first serves, aworrying sign ahead of theopening Grand Slam of theyear.

He lost to Australia’s Alex deMinaur in his opening match onFriday, throwing away a one-setlead.

“I worked very hard for thiswin, I found solutions, found myrhythm and my pace and knewwhat I was doing on court,” saidimpressive 21-year-old Tsitsipasafter his 6-1, 6-4walloping inBrisbane.

The BorisBecker-cap-t a i n e dGermans havenow won one oftheir opening ties, while Greecehas lost both of theirs.

The Grigor Dimitrov-ledBulgaria won their second tie ina row, beating Moldova 2-1, tobe in a commanding position inGroup C, while Australia alsomade it two-out-of-two inGroup F with De Minaur againon fire in their 3-0 sweep ofCanada.

Belgium’s Goffin saved fivematch points against Dan Evans,but it was too little, too late as hecrashed 6-4, 6-4 in Sydney forone of the biggest wins of theBriton’s career.

Jamie Murray and JoeSalisbury won the deciding dou-bles to secure the tie for Britain2-1.

Fognini was beaten byemerging Norwegian 21-year-old Casper Ruud, who claimed

his second big scalp after upset-ting American John Isner in hisfirst match on Friday.

Ruud, whose fatherChristian is Norway’s captain,won 6-2, 6-2, although it wasn’tenough to prevent Norway los-ing 2-1 to Italy.

Mercurial Australian NickKyrgios pulled out of his coun-try’s tie against Canada justhours before it started withback soreness.

But John Millman seamless-ly stepped in to stun FelixAuger-Aliassime in straight setsbefore De Minaur again showedthe fighting qualities for whichhe is renowned.

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Elina Svitolina believes theprogress she made in 2019 will

help her achieve her ultimate goalof becoming the first Ukranianwoman to win a Grand Slam sin-gles title.

Speaking ahead of the season-opening Brisbane International,the 25-year-old insisted she isready to take the next step afterpromising so much over the pastfive years.

Svitolina has long been tout-ed as a future major champion, butdespite reaching a career-highworld ranking of three and win-

ning 13 titles on the WTA tour,until 2019 she had never reachedthe semi-final stage at a GrandSlam.

However, last year she madethe semi-finals at both Wimbledonand the US Open and she said thisshowed she was on the right path.

“Making semi-finals definite-ly brought me the belief that Icould take one step further,” shesaid.

“I had the chance to play onthe biggest stages and that gave melots of confidence at that particu-lar point.”

Svitolina had a mixed year in2019. Although she also made the

decider at November’s WTAFinals, where she fell to worldnumber one Ashleigh Barty, shealso failed to win a title for the firsttime since 2012.

“I think maybe 2019 wastough because there were more sadmoments, I would say. But also, it’stough to really understand what’sgoing on because the year is verylong,” she said.

“You have to lose almost everysingle week, so you have to take lotsof positives somehow, and that’s, Ithink, what I learned from the pastyear, that you have to stay reallypositive in even bad momentsand try to move forward.”

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Mario Balotelli warded offthe insults from travelling

Lazio fans to strike the first goalof the decade in Italy but thetitle-chasers hit back with aCiro Immobile double tosnatch a late win at ten-man Brescia on Sunday.

Simone Inzaghi’s sidestretched their winningstreak to nine consecutiveleague games and with agame in hand are threepoints behind leaders InterMilan and Juventus who playtoday.

Immobile struck the win-ner after 91 minutes having alsoconverted from the penaltyspot before the break.

Felipe Caicedo had the ballin the back of the net early forLazio off an Immobile cross butit was ruled offside.

But Italian internationalBalotelli picked up where he leftoff before the winter breakopening the scoring after 18

minutes for the promoted side.The 29-year-old pulled

clear of Luiz Felipe to volley inhis first home goal for Bresciaand first of the decade.

He also scored the first goalof the previous decade in

January 2010 withInter Milan.

Balotelli was tar-geted by insultingchants from Lazio fanswith the referee inter-rupting the game inthe first half and anannouncement made

that play would be suspendedif they continued.

Brescia fans tried to drownout the insults with whistles andcheering which Balotelliapplauded.

Relegation-threatenedBrescia were hit after AndreaCistana was sent off for a sec-ond yellow card after bringingdown Caicedo just before thebreak.

And Serie A top scorerImmobile pulled Lazio back on

level terms from the penaltyspot on 42 minutes.

Lazio dominated the sec-ond half with Immobile bring-ing his league tally to 19 goalsconnecting with a Caicedocross to fire in the injury timewinner.

It was the 12th time thisseason that the team havescored a late winner.

Inzaghi meanwhile equalsSven Goran Eriksson’s record ofnine consecutive league winsset in the 1998-99 season.

“We will try to continuelike this. We absolutelywant to hit theChampions League,” saidInzaghi, whose sidedefeated Juventus to liftthe Italian SuperCup trophylast month.

Inter Milan recommencethe title battle with Juventustoday, with both sides level on42 points after 17 games.

Antonio Conte’s side trav-el to Napoli with Juventus athome against Cagliari.

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Stan Wawrinka hopesthe Qatar Open ends

his worrying title droughtalthough the fanfare sur-rounding the newly-creat-ed ATP Cup more than10,000km away inAustralia means his effortsthis week may struggle toregister barely a blip on theglobal tennis radar.

The 34-year-oldWawrinka, a three-timemajor winner, is top seedin Doha which boasts arespectable $1.4 millionprize fund.

Wawrinka has notwon a title since pocketingthe 16th of his career onthe Geneva clay in 2017.

His last outdoor hardcourt trophy was in 2016when he captured his thirdand most recent GrandSlam at the US Open.

Wawrinka, runner-upto Andy Murray in Dohain 2008 and a quarter-finalist 12 months ago,will face French veteranJeremy Chardy or a qual-ifier in his opening matchin the Qatari capital.

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There was bone-chilling cold. Then therewas a Real Kashmir outfit used to suchextreme conditions but Mohun Bagan

still, making light of both, won theirI-League match 2-0 here onSunday.

After a barrenfirst half, Joseba Beitia

(71st minute) and NongdambaNaorem (73rd) scored for theKolkata giants in a span of two min-utes, shattering the hopes of home fans.

It was a chilly morning, with the tempera-ture dipping to 1 degree, but 11,500 Kashmirispectators still enthusiastically watched the gameagainst one of India’s biggest and oldest clubs.

For tickets, they queued up since 9 o’clockin the morning, but quite a few of them stillcould not make it to the ground. Such was thecraze.

The game started at 11.30 am at the TRC

ground because of bitting cold, but the harshweather conditions failed to stop the visitorsfrom showing their skills.

The green and maroons had the lion’s shareof possession and more shots on target but thehome side had more attempts and five more cor-ners in a game which could have gone eitherway.

Mohun Bagan have 10 pointsfrom five games, while Kashmirdropped to eighth spot with fivepoints from four games.

Mohun Bagan coach Vicunaexpressed his joy and said, “We won against atough opponent, but it was not out best match.Real Kashmir were going with their set piece,but we played better football against Churchillbrothers.

“Today we played good football, andcopped with the difficulties of conditions.”

The Mariners will next host Indian Arrowson January 9 while the Snow Leopards will hostPunjab FC one day later.

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World number one AshBarty will donate all

her winnings from thisweek’s BrisbaneInternational to the RedCross to help the victims ofAustralia’s bushfire crisis.

Barty revealed onSunday that she hadalready donated Aus$30,000 to the RoyalSociety for the Preventionof Cruelty to Animals(RSPCA) to help withinjured wildlife, after seeingthe effects of the fires backin November.

But she has now decid-

ed to do more and will giveher Brisbane winnings —potentially US$250,000 —to the Red Cross.

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Page 12: 012%%3˘ * (*+,+,- + !ˆ˝˛ #˝˙˚$ %ˆ˜˝&’&˝(ˆ · 2020. 1. 5. · Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal condemned the killing and tweeted, “A day after mob attacked our

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Agritty 85 not out from opener Dom Sibley ground downSouth Africa's bowlers as England took control on the

third day of the second Test against South Africa atNewlands.

Sibley, playing in only his fourth Test, came in duringthe morning session after James Anderson had picked upthe last two South African wickets to finish with 5-40 andgive England a first innings lead of 46.

By the close, Sibley was still there and England hadreached 218 for four, stretching their overall lead to 264.

Sibley's 85, his first Test half-century, came off apainstaking 222 balls in just under six hours and includ-ed 13 boundaries.

It was slow going but it consolidated England's advan-tage after Anderson and Ben Stokes combined to securean important first innings lead.

Anderson completed his 28th Test five-wicket haul -an England record - and Stokescaught last man Anrich Nortjeto set an England Test record offive catches by a fielder.

Zak Crawley made astreaky 25 when England started their second innings, withSibley making only three in an opening stand of 28, beforethe day settled into a battle of attrition.

Sibley and Joe Denly (31) used up 33 overs in adding73 for the second wicket before Denly hooked

Nortje to fine leg.England captain Joe Root was more

aggressive as he and Sibley added 116 for thethird wicket.

Root made 61 off 98 balls beforebeing caught at slip off Dwaine

Pretorius shortly before the close.The ball that got Root was an

exception in deviating from acrack outside off stump that

was far more of a factor onthe first two days.

Dom Bess, whosuffered a golden duckin the first innings,came in as night-watchman and sur-vived until the lastball of the day whenhe was adjudged tohave gloved a bounc-er from Nortje to

wicketkeeper Quintonde Kock, thus collecting

a 'pair'.Those two late wick-

ets marked the high pointof the day for the toiling

South Africans who will bewary of the potential damage

that Stokes and Jos Buttler couldinflict on Monday.

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Nitish Rana made a gritty 92 beforepacers reduced Punjab to 44 for

four in their second innings to put Delhiin a strong position on day three of theirRanji Trophy match here on Sunday.

Not many gave Delhi a chanceagainst table leaders Punjab going intothe match but the Dhruv Shorey-ledsquad has upped its game.

After Shorey’s 96 on day two, Rana(92 off 189) batted sensibly alongsideJonty Sidhu (41) to take Delhi pastPunjab’s first innings score of 313.

Lalit Yadav (39) also made a cruciallower-order contribution as Delhiended their first innings at 339.

After a spirited showing with thebat, pacers extended Delhi’s advantage,especially the young Simarjeet Singhwho continues to impress in his secondfirst-class season.

He removed Sanvir Singh (11)before removing the in-form GurkeeratSingh Mann (15).

Opener Shubman Gill (4), whocourted controversy in the first innings,failed for the second time in the game.The India batsman was dismissed bySubodh Bhati in the third over.

Punjab captain and first innings’top-scorer Mandeep Singh was in themiddle on 8 when stumps were drawn.Punjab lead by just 18 runs going intoday four.

KARNATAKA THRASH MUMBAI � ;����Putting up an all-round show,Karnataka defeated Mumbai by 5 wick-ets in their Elite Group B game at BKC,

inside two-and-half days.This was Mumbai’s second consec-

utive loss at home, following theirdefeat against Railways.

It is also Karnataka’s fourth outright

win against Mumbai since the 2013-14season.

Chasing 126 for an outright win,Karnataka openers R Samarth (34;2x4) and Devdutt Padikkal (50; 5x4,

2x6) gave the team a solid start and thevisitors were racing towards the targetas they were 77/0 at lunch.

However, post lunch offie ShashankAttarde (4-52) pegged back the visitorsby taking wickets.

But Shreyas Gopal (5 not out) andB R Sharath (4 not out) took the sidehome without any further damage.

Earlier, resuming the day on 109/5,left-arm pacer Prateek Jain (4-11)grabbed all the wickets in the morningsession as he ran through the Mumbai’slower order.

Meanwhile in Vadodara, Barodathrashed Railways by 99 runs.

SERVICES GAIN BONUS���� ������� Medium-pacers DiweshPathania and Sachidanand Pandey tookfive wickets each as Services thrashedMaharashtra by an innings and 94 runsin a Group C match.

Resuming at their overnight scoreof 93 for five, Maharashtra’s secondinnings folded for just 147.

The visitors lost Naushad S Shaikh(41) for the addition of just one runwhen Pandey (5/56) induced an edge,taken by wicket-keeper Nakul Verma.

Opener Murtaza Trunkwala, whohad retired hurt on Saturday returnedto the crease but didn’t last long, fallingto Pathania (5/49) for 9 after hitting twoboundaries.

Vishant More, who was batting on

33 overnight, added only three runs tohis score before being bowled byPandey.

There was brief resistance from thelower-order but eventually Maharashtrawere bundled out in 48.1 overs.

BIHAR BEAT MIZORAM�������Medium pacer Abhijeet Saketproduced a magical spell during whichhe dismissed seven batsmen withoutconceding a single run to fashionBihar’s six-wicket win over Mizoram ina plate group match.

Saket eventually ended the matchwith his career-best figures of 7/12 asBihar completed the win inside threedays.

Mizoram opener C Lalrinsanga’s (0)first-over dismissal marked the begin-ning of Saket’s electrifying spell. FourMizoram batsmen could not even opentheir account.

Taruwar Kohli soon followed suitwith a first-ball duck in the the 24-year-old’s second over. Lalhruaizela (1),Lalhmangaiha (3) , Lalruatdika (0),Pratik Desai (0) and G Lalbiakvela (0)were Saket’s other victims.

His efforts helped Bihar bundle outMizoram for 68 in their second innings,setting Bihar a 185 run target.

In reply, Bihar cruised to the targetin 33.4 overs with opener IndrajitKumar (98 not out) and Babul Kumar(61) hitting comfortable half centuries.

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Australia took a com-manding 243-run lead

over plucky New Zealand inthe third Test in Sydney onSunday, looking set for aclean sweep of the series.

The Australians dis-missed the Black Caps for251 to lead by 203 runs onthe first innings before bat-ting a second time in a bid tobuild an overwhelming totalwith two days remaining.

At stumps on day three,the hosts were 40 without losswith David Warner on 23and Joe Burns not out 16, andwere expected to bat on forsome time on the fourthday.

Off-spinner NathanLyon captured five for 68 tolead the Australian bowlingattack, with Kiwi Test debu-tant Glenn Phillips top-scor-

ing with a charmed knock of52.

“We’re in a very goodposition here,” said Lyon,who has now taken a career385 Test wickets.

“A lot of work to do inthe morning and we have tosee what lead we the batsmenwant to get to.

“It is pretty special to playhere in front of your homecrowd, in front of your fam-ily and friends. Nice to go upon the honours board.”

Phillips, who only flew inon the eve of the Test as coverfor a team weakened by avirus outbreak, was droppedtwice and given a reprievewhen caught off a no-ball.

Lyon put down the twocaught-and-bowled chanceswhen Phillips was on twoand 17.

The Kiwi batsmandodged another bullet on 28

when he was caught by TravisHead at deep midwicket onlyto be recalled when JamesPattinson was found to haveover-stepped for a no-ball.

Phillips hit a crackingpull shot off Pat Cummins toraise his debut half-centurybefore Cummins got himtwo balls later, rippingthrough his defences to takeoff-stump for 52.

Lyon bowled WillSomerville and Neil Wagnerfor ducks and fast bowlerMatt Henry came out to batdespite fracturing his lefthand earlier in the match.

Henry ducked out ofthe way of a couple ofMitchell Starc thunderboltsdirected at his body before hewas stumped off Lyon’s bowl-ing to end the New Zealandinnings.

It was the longestinnings of a disastrous lost

series for the Kiwis, better-ing the 71 overs they faced inthe second innings of thesecond Test in Melbourne.

The Black Caps lostthree wickets in the middlesession with the experiencedRoss Taylor out lbw toCummins for 22 in the sec-ond over after lunch.

Taylor remains 20 runsaway from becoming thehighest-scoring NewZealand batsman in Tests,behind Stephen Fleming(7,172).

Wicketkeeper BJWatling chopped a wideStarc delivery on to hisstumps for nine off 30 ballsto put his team under morepressure.

Colin de Grandhommewas needlessly run out for 20,taking on Matthew Wade’sthrow from the deep towicketkeeper Tim Paine

while attempting a sec-ond run.

Lyon grabbed twokey wickets in the morn-ing session, removingMelbourne Test centurionTom Blundell and recalledJeet Raval.

Raval, who was droppedafter twin batting failures asan opener in the first Test inPerth, batted positively atnumber three before he wasleg before wicket to Lyon for31 off 58 balls.

Tom Latham was outtwo balls later in the nextover from Cummins, doneby a fuller delivery and chip-ping straight to Starc at mid-on.

The new skipper,deputising for the sidelinedKane Williamson, wasdenied a deserved half-cen-tury on 49 in his 133-ballvigil.

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New Zealand batsman Leo Carteron Sunday emulated the likes of

Ravi Shastri and Yuvraj Singh whenhe entered the history books bybecoming the seventh cricketer in theworld to hit six sixes in an over.

Carter achieved the feat during hisside Canterbury Kings’ win overNorthern Knights in New Zealand’sdomestic Twenty20 tournament SuperSmash.

The 25-year-old left-handed bats-man smashed left-arm spinner AntonDevcich six times over the HagleyOval boundary during his stunningunbeaten knock of 70 off just 29 ballsto seal a seven-wicket win for his sidewhile chasing an imposing 220.

Overall, Carter is the seventh play-er in world cricket to record the featacross all formats in both domesticand international level. He entered theelite list that includes the likes of Gary

Sobers, Shastri, Herschelle Gibbs,Yuvraj, Worcestershire’s Ross Whiteleyand Afghanistan’s Hazratullah Zazai.

Carter also became only thefourth batsman to achieve the feat inT20 cricket in both domestic andinternational level.

The other batsmen to achieve thefeat in T20s include India’s Yuvraj(2007), Whitely (2017) and Zazai(2018).

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Former India pacer IrfanPathan on Sunday said he

never lost his swing, contraryto the general perception at thattime, and added blaming thencoach Greg Chappell for hisdownfall was a cover-up.

Pathan, 35, announced hisretirement here on Saturday,saying “most players start theirIndia career at 27-28 but Iended up playing my last gameat that stage”.

Pathan was 27 when hemade his final appearance in2012. There was also a timewhen there was speculationover the left-arm pacer’s inten-tion to play all three formats.

“All thesediscussions…people talkingabout Greg Chappell they arejust covering up. (The discus-sion that) Irfan was not inter-ested, it was coming fromsomewhere. All the aura they

made that Irfan lost his swing,people need to understand,that you are not going to get thesame kind of swing that you getin 10 overs.. I was still gettingthe swing,” Pathan said.

“People talk about my per-formance, but my job was dif-ferent. I was given job to con-tain because I was bowling firstchange. I had been told this is

your job. I remember gettingdropped after winning thegame in Sri Lanka in 2008, whogets dropped after winningthe game for the country with-out any reason?” he ques-tioned.

Pathan featured in 29 Tests(1105 runs and 100 wickets),120 ODIs (1544 runs and 173wickets) and 24 T20Is (172

runs and 28 wickets).He also praised his former

captains Sourav Ganguly,Rahul Dravid and AnilKumble.

“When I came into theIndian team, Ganguly knew Icould do well with the new ballin Australia. He eventuallygave me the confidence. I thinkthat was the start,” he said.

“When Dravid became thecaptain, he utilised my poten-tial one step ahead. (He) usedme higher in the batting order(when) besides bowling withthe new ball,” he said.

“Anil bhai was the kind ofsenior I was lucky to havealongside Sachin paaji(Tendulkar), who always gaveme the right advice.

“His leadership was out-standing. He is matured inhandling tough situations andhe showed that during theMonkeygate episode,” hesigned off.

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