· 2 days ago · mla govardhan dangi, the grand old party has been reduced to 88 seats in mp...

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A mid criticism of the Uttar Pradesh Police for its han- dling of the Hathras case, the Union Home Ministry on Saturday issued a fresh advisory to States and UTs on the mandatory action to be taken in cases of crimes against women. It outlined that the probe in rape cases should be complet- ed within two months, that the dying declaration of a victim can’t be discarded merely because it has not been record- ed by a Magistrate and that there has to be a mandatory medical examination, with the individual’s consent, by a qual- ified medical professional with- in 24 hours of receipt of infor- mation of such a crime. The detailed three-page advisory of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) also said there should be compulsory registration of an FIR in case of a cognisable offence under the CrPC, and any failure of police to adhere to laid down rules does not augur well for the delivery of justice. The law also enables the police to register an FIR or a “Zero FIR”, in case the crime is committed outside the juris- diction of police station, in the event of receipt of information on commission of a cognisable offence, which includes cases of sexual assault on women, said the detailed MHA advisory. “However, even with strin- gent provisions in law and sev- eral capacity building mea- sures undertaken, any failure of police to adhere to these mandatory requirements may not augur well for the delivery of criminal justice in the coun- try, especially in the context of women safety,” said the advi- sory, adding that stringent action and investigation must be initiated against the officers responsible for the lapses in handling crimes against the women. The MHA told the States that the Section 173 of CrPC provides for completion of police investigation in relation to rape in two months and Section 164-A of CrPC provides that in rape or sexu- al assault investigation, the victim should be examined by a registered medical practi- tioner under consent within 24 hours from the time of receiv- ing the information. The advi- sory said the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, provides that the statement, written or verbal by a person, who is dead, shall be treated as relevant fact in the investigation when the state- ment is made by a person as to the cause of his (or her) death or as to any of the circum- stances of the transaction which resulted in his (or her) death. The advisory pointed out that the Supreme Court in a order dated January 7, 2020 said that “that a particular statement, when being offered as dying declaration and satis- fies all the requirements of judi- cial scrutiny, cannot be dis- carded merely because it has not been recorded by a Magistrate or that the police officer did not obtain attesta- tion by any person present at the time of making of the statement”. It is necessary to use the Sexual Assault Evidence Collection (SAEC) kits in every case of sexual assault reported for which the Home Ministry has been regularly conducting training and Training of Trainers (TOT) programmes on procedure for collection, preservation and handling of forensic evidence for police and prosecutors and medical officers respectively. In order to facilitate the State police to monitor compliance, the Home Ministry said, an online portal called Investigation Tracking System for Sexual Offences (ITSSO) for monitoring the same has been available exclusively to law enforcement officers. S eeking to send a positive sig- nal amid all-round despair due to the coronavirus pan- demic, the Centre on Saturday showcased how for the second consecutive day after a month India’s active Covid-19 cases remained below the 9-lakh mark as the number of recov- eries continued to surpass the fresh infections’ tally. There are 8,83,185 active cases of Covid-19 which con- stitute merely 12.65 per cent of the total cases of the country, the Ministry said, adding these are nearly 1/8th of the total cases in the country. In the last 24 hours, 82,753 patients recovered while there were 73,272 fresh infections. The total Covid-19 recoveries stand at 59,88,822 now while India’s Covid-19 caseload mounted to 69,79,423 by early Saturday. The death toll climbed to 1,07,416 with 926 people succumbing to the dis- ease, as per the Centre’s data. “For the second day after the active cases dropped below the 9-lakh mark after a month, the progressive decline con- tinues,” it said adding that the national Covid-19 recovery rate has progressed to 85.81 per cent. As many as 18 States and Union Territories have record- ed recovery rates more than the national average, said the Ministry. “This is the result of a col- laborative action by States and UTs under the Centre’s strate- gy of comprehensive testing, tracking, quick hospitalisation and adherence to the standard treatment protocol,” it said. As many as 76 per cent of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in 10 States and UTs namely Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Delhi, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh, the Ministry added. Maharashtra continues to contribute the maximum with more than 17,000 single- day recoveries. The second-most-affected country by active and total cases, and third by fatality, India’s coronavirus cases has crossed over 70 lakh on Saturday. India now accounts for 10.84 per cent of all active cases globally. A s the season of festivals is approaching, the Uttar Pradesh Police on directions of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday announced it will carry out a special campaign on the safe- ty of women and girls during the Navratri festival that will begin from October 17. Additional Chief Secretary Home, Awinish Awasthi held a meeting with top officials on the prepara- tions for Durga Puja and Navratri. During the meeting he directed the officials con- cerned to ensure the safety of women and to follow the Covid-19 guidelines during festival season. Awasthi said that a cam- paign for the empowerment of women will be organised from October 17 to October 25 in the State. The awareness campaign will aim to strengthen the safety of the women and children, he said. He said under the direc- tions of the Chief Minister a special police team will be deployed for the safety of women. Orders have also been issued to the officials in this regard. Awasthi has directed the Anti-Romeo Squad to remain active at crowded and sensi- tive places. “The mere pres- ence of police helps in con- trolling crimes,” he said. T he campaigning for the tough ever by-elections in Madhya Pradesh is on full- swing now. The elections are important, as they would decide the fate of the present BJP gov- ernment in the State. Seeing the numbers stacked in Madhya Pradesh assembly presently, it seems an uphill task for Congress party which had regained power in Madhya Pradesh after 15 years in year 2018 but lost out on the oppor- tunity soon after, mostly due to departure of own men led by senior leader Jyotiraditya Scindia. Congress numbers in MP assembly had seen a bumpy ride in last one year and half. Starting from 114 seats after 2018 assem- bly polls, Congress was bol- stered with another seat through veteran Kantilal Bhuria in a bypoll in Jhabua. However, with the demise of senior MLA Banwarilal Sharma in Joura, the party returned to 114 mark, two short of magic majority figure of 116 which the party had attained with the help of four indepen- dents, two BSP MLAs and an MLA from Samajwadi Party. The real jolt came in March when 22 MLAs left with Jyotiraditya Scindia and joined the BJP, bringing down Congress numbers to 92. With three more—Sumitra Devi Kasdekar, Pradyumn Singh Ldhi and Narayan Patel, fol- lowed them in the ruling party weeks later, the Congress was depleted to 89 seats. Following the recent demise of Biaora MLA Govardhan Dangi, the grand old party has been reduced to 88 seats in MP assembly. While the BJP after losing Jhabua bypoll and demise of Agar MLA Manohar Untwal, still sits comfortably at 107 seats in assembly, just nine away from majority mark on its own. Still the opposition party has been oozing out confidence in the past few months and are hopeful of coming back to power. “Ye ladai asli aur nakli Congressiyon ke beech hai, BJP ke sath nahin It’s not a fight with BJP, but a fight between real and fake Congressmen,” Congress media cell vice president Bhupendra Gupta said claiming the public is anguished with those who betrayed us and such candidates won’t get any support. “We will return to power easily,” said Gupta urging to look at the huge crowd in Bhander in Kamal Nath’s meet despite the fact BJP implemented ‘nefari- ous’ agenda to malign party can- didate. Congress MLA Kunal Chaudhary said the party is going all out 28-win target. Even if we fell short by some seats, our old allies with back us, he added. BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal lambasted Congress claims saying the public will offer a fitting reply to the oppo- sition for the massive corruption and betrayal to public in Kamal Nath government. He added that there are no issues and Shivraj government will easily cruise well beyond majority mark. Meanwhile, the BSP, SP and four independents (all for- mer Congressmen) who were shelved after BJP returning to power with Congress rebels, could be at the helm in case both the mainstream parties could not muster clear majori- ty after bypolls. These seven MLAs hold crucial importance to Congress plan than BJP, which just needs nine wins out of 28 byelections. M edical practitioner of Jabalpur Rajkumari Bansal, who is accused of pos- ing as fake sister-in-law of Hathras victim and stayed at her home for two days was spotted in Jabalpur. While talking to media per- sons on Saturday, she claimed that she never posed as sister-in- law of the victim, it was all ‘cooked up’ story of the media channels. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) which is probing into the Hathras case is also enquiring into the alleged plans to trigger riots by PFI and nax- als over the incident, had zeroed in on a woman who allegedly posed as victim’s sister in law and also stayed at her home. The physician from Jabalour is accused of prompting victim family for making certain state- ments before the media. Dr Bansal works at Netaji Subash Chandra Bose medical College. She claimed that she was present at victim’s house and if someone identifies her fake sis- ter in law of the victim, she can’t help. "Did I say I was the sister in law of the victim, said Dr Bansal. When asked about the pur- pose behind her visit to Hathras, the woman doctor said it was purely on humanitarian grounds as she was quite upset with growing ‘atrocities’ in last few years and the incident (Hathras) had saddened her and she was not able to sleep properly so she decided to visit the family think- ing if the VIPs and media isn’t allowed to go there, she won’t be prevented as she is a woman and a government officer. “I had planned to extend some financial help and I also offered them a cheque of my one month salary,” she said adding that she planned to return the next day after spending some hours with the family but the family seeing her compassion for them and long arduous journey she underwent, requested her to stay there for 1 or 2 days to which she agreed. She said she learnt that UP SIT is linking her with naxals and claimed that when they (SIT) come to meet me, then only I could know what kinds of links they are probing against me. I am born and brought up in MP, married here and did my job here so I am also curious to know who is linking me with what outside the state, she added. RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008

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Page 1:  · 2 days ago · MLA Govardhan Dangi, the grand old party has been reduced to 88 seats in MP assembly. While the BJP after losing Jhabua bypoll and demise of Agar MLA Manohar Untwal,

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Amid criticism of the UttarPradesh Police for its han-

dling of the Hathras case, theUnion Home Ministry onSaturday issued a fresh advisoryto States and UTs on themandatory action to be takenin cases of crimes againstwomen.

It outlined that the probe inrape cases should be complet-ed within two months, that thedying declaration of a victimcan’t be discarded merelybecause it has not been record-ed by a Magistrate and thatthere has to be a mandatorymedical examination, with theindividual’s consent, by a qual-ified medical professional with-in 24 hours of receipt of infor-mation of such a crime.

The detailed three-pageadvisory of the Ministry ofHome Affairs (MHA) also saidthere should be compulsoryregistration of an FIR in case ofa cognisable offence under theCrPC, and any failure of policeto adhere to laid down rulesdoes not augur well for thedelivery of justice.

The law also enables thepolice to register an FIR or a“Zero FIR”, in case the crime iscommitted outside the juris-diction of police station, in theevent of receipt of informationon commission of a cognisable

offence, which includes cases ofsexual assault on women, saidthe detailed MHA advisory.

“However, even with strin-gent provisions in law and sev-eral capacity building mea-sures undertaken, any failure ofpolice to adhere to thesemandatory requirements maynot augur well for the deliveryof criminal justice in the coun-try, especially in the context ofwomen safety,” said the advi-sory, adding that stringent

action and investigation mustbe initiated against the officersresponsible for the lapses inhandling crimes against thewomen.

The MHA told the Statesthat the Section 173 of CrPCprovides for completion of police investigation in relation to rape in two monthsand Section 164-A of CrPCprovides that in rape or sexu-al assault investigation, thevictim should be examined by

a registered medical practi-tioner under consent within 24hours from the time of receiv-ing the information. The advi-sory said the Indian EvidenceAct, 1872, provides that thestatement, written or verbal bya person, who is dead, shall betreated as relevant fact in theinvestigation when the state-ment is made by a person as tothe cause of his (or her) deathor as to any of the circum-stances of the transactionwhich resulted in his (or her)death.

The advisory pointed outthat the Supreme Court in a

order dated January 7, 2020said that “that a particularstatement, when being offeredas dying declaration and satis-fies all the requirements of judi-cial scrutiny, cannot be dis-carded merely because it hasnot been recorded by aMagistrate or that the policeofficer did not obtain attesta-tion by any person present atthe time of making of thestatement”.

It is necessary to use theSexual Assault EvidenceCollection (SAEC) kits in everycase of sexual assault reportedfor which the Home Ministry

has been regularly conductingtraining and Training ofTrainers (TOT) programmeson procedure for collection,preservation and handling offorensic evidence for policeand prosecutors and medicalofficers respectively.

In order to facilitate theState police to monitor compliance, the HomeMinistry said, an online portalcalled Investigation TrackingSystem for Sexual Offences(ITSSO) for monitoring thesame has been available exclusively to law enforcementofficers.

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Seeking to send a positive sig-nal amid all-round despair

due to the coronavirus pan-demic, the Centre on Saturdayshowcased how for the secondconsecutive day after a monthIndia’s active Covid-19 casesremained below the 9-lakhmark as the number of recov-eries continued to surpass thefresh infections’ tally.

There are 8,83,185 activecases of Covid-19 which con-stitute merely 12.65 per cent ofthe total cases of the country,the Ministry said, adding theseare nearly 1/8th of the totalcases in the country.

In the last 24 hours, 82,753patients recovered while therewere 73,272 fresh infections.The total Covid-19 recoveriesstand at 59,88,822 now whileIndia’s Covid-19 caseload

mounted to 69,79,423 by earlySaturday. The death tollclimbed to 1,07,416 with 926people succumbing to the dis-ease, as per the Centre’s data.

“For the second day afterthe active cases dropped belowthe 9-lakh mark after a month,the progressive decline con-tinues,” it said adding that thenational Covid-19 recoveryrate has progressed to 85.81 percent.

As many as 18 States andUnion Territories have record-ed recovery rates more than thenational average, said theMinistry.

“This is the result of a col-laborative action by States and

UTs under the Centre’s strate-gy of comprehensive testing,tracking, quick hospitalisationand adherence to the standardtreatment protocol,” it said.

As many as 76 per cent ofthe new recovered cases areobserved to be concentrated in10 States and UTs namelyMaharashtra, Karnataka,Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, TamilNadu, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha,Delhi, West Bengal andChhattisgarh, the Ministryadded. Maharashtra continuesto contribute the maximumwith more than 17,000 single-day recoveries.

The second-most-affectedcountry by active and totalcases, and third by fatality,India’s coronavirus cases hascrossed over 70 lakh onSaturday. India now accountsfor 10.84 per cent of all activecases globally.

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As the season of festivals isapproaching, the Uttar

Pradesh Police on directionsof Chief Minister YogiAdityanath on Saturdayannounced it will carry out aspecial campaign on the safe-ty of women and girls duringthe Navratri festival that willbegin from October 17.

Additional ChiefSecretary Home, Awinish

Awasthi held a meeting withtop officials on the prepara-tions for Durga Puja andNavratri. During the meetinghe directed the officials con-cerned to ensure the safety ofwomen and to follow theCovid-19 guidelines duringfestival season.

Awasthi said that a cam-paign for the empowermentof women will be organisedfrom October 17 to October25 in the State. The awarenesscampaign will aim to

strengthen the safety of thewomen and children, he said.

He said under the direc-tions of the Chief Minister aspecial police team will bedeployed for the safety ofwomen. Orders have alsobeen issued to the officials inthis regard.

Awasthi has directed theAnti-Romeo Squad to remainactive at crowded and sensi-tive places. “The mere pres-ence of police helps in con-trolling crimes,” he said.

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The campaigning for thetough ever by-elections in

Madhya Pradesh is on full-swing now. The elections areimportant, as they would decidethe fate of the present BJP gov-ernment in the State.

Seeing the numbers stackedin Madhya Pradesh assemblypresently, it seems an uphill taskfor Congress party which hadregained power in MadhyaPradesh after 15 years in year2018 but lost out on the oppor-tunity soon after, mostly due todeparture of own men led bysenior leader JyotiradityaScindia.

Congress numbers in MPassembly had seen a bumpy ridein last one year and half. Startingfrom 114 seats after 2018 assem-bly polls, Congress was bol-stered with another seat throughveteran Kantilal Bhuria in abypoll in Jhabua.

However, with the demiseof senior MLA BanwarilalSharma in Joura, the partyreturned to 114 mark, two shortof magic majority figure of 116which the party had attainedwith the help of four indepen-dents, two BSP MLAs and anMLA from Samajwadi Party.

The real jolt came in Marchwhen 22 MLAs left withJyotiraditya Scindia and joinedthe BJP, bringing downCongress numbers to 92. Withthree more—Sumitra DeviKasdekar, Pradyumn SinghLdhi and Narayan Patel, fol-lowed them in the ruling partyweeks later, the Congress wasdepleted to 89 seats. Followingthe recent demise of BiaoraMLA Govardhan Dangi, thegrand old party has beenreduced to 88 seats in MPassembly.

While the BJP after losingJhabua bypoll and demise ofAgar MLA Manohar Untwal,still sits comfortably at 107seats in assembly, just nineaway from majority mark on itsown.

Still the opposition partyhas been oozing out confidencein the past few months and arehopeful of coming back topower.

“Ye ladai asli aur nakliCongressiyon ke beech hai, BJPke sath nahin It’s not a fight withBJP, but a fight between real andfake Congressmen,” Congressmedia cell vice presidentBhupendra Gupta said claimingthe public is anguished withthose who betrayed us and

such candidates won’t get anysupport.

“We will return to powereasily,” said Gupta urging to lookat the huge crowd in Bhander inKamal Nath’s meet despite thefact BJP implemented ‘nefari-ous’ agenda to malign party can-didate.

Congress MLA KunalChaudhary said the party isgoing all out 28-win target.Even if we fell short by some

seats, our old allies with back us,he added.

BJP spokesperson RajneeshAgrawal lambasted Congressclaims saying the public willoffer a fitting reply to the oppo-sition for the massive corruptionand betrayal to public in KamalNath government. He addedthat there are no issues andShivraj government will easilycruise well beyond majoritymark.

Meanwhile, the BSP, SPand four independents (all for-mer Congressmen) who wereshelved after BJP returning topower with Congress rebels,could be at the helm in caseboth the mainstream partiescould not muster clear majori-ty after bypolls. These sevenMLAs hold crucial importanceto Congress plan than BJP,which just needs nine wins outof 28 byelections.

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Medical practitioner ofJabalpur Rajkumari

Bansal, who is accused of pos-ing as fake sister-in-law ofHathras victim and stayed at herhome for two days was spottedin Jabalpur.

While talking to media per-sons on Saturday, she claimedthat she never posed as sister-in-law of the victim, it was all‘cooked up’ story of the mediachannels.

The Special InvestigationTeam (SIT) which is probinginto the Hathras case is alsoenquiring into the alleged plans

to trigger riots by PFI and nax-als over the incident, had zeroedin on a woman who allegedlyposed as victim’s sister in law andalso stayed at her home.

The physician from Jabalouris accused of prompting victimfamily for making certain state-ments before the media. DrBansal works at Netaji SubashChandra Bose medical College.

She claimed that she waspresent at victim’s house and ifsomeone identifies her fake sis-ter in law of the victim, she can’thelp. "Did I say I was the sisterin law of the victim, said DrBansal.

When asked about the pur-pose behind her visit to Hathras,the woman doctor said it waspurely on humanitarian groundsas she was quite upset withgrowing ‘atrocities’ in last fewyears and the incident (Hathras)had saddened her and she wasnot able to sleep properly so shedecided to visit the family think-

ing if the VIPs and media isn’tallowed to go there, she won’t beprevented as she is a woman anda government officer.

“I had planned to extendsome financial help and I alsooffered them a cheque of my onemonth salary,” she said addingthat she planned to return thenext day after spending somehours with the family but thefamily seeing her compassion forthem and long arduous journeyshe underwent, requested her tostay there for 1 or 2 days towhich she agreed.

She said she learnt that UPSIT is linking her with naxalsand claimed that when they(SIT) come to meet me, thenonly I could know what kinds oflinks they are probing againstme. I am born and brought upin MP, married here and did myjob here so I am also curious toknow who is linking me withwhat outside the state, sheadded.

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Page 2:  · 2 days ago · MLA Govardhan Dangi, the grand old party has been reduced to 88 seats in MP assembly. While the BJP after losing Jhabua bypoll and demise of Agar MLA Manohar Untwal,

She is known for her straightforwardattitude and doesn’t believe in sugarcoating things at all. Not to mention

her passion towards whatever work shetakes up, be it playing her true self in BiggBoss or Shah Turkan in Razia Sultan orMahua in Gudiya Humari Sabhi PeBhari of late.

Meet Sambhavna Seth, an actor,dancer and also a vlogger, who is creatingwaves on social media with her YouTubechannel, Sambhavna Seth Entertainment.that has recently reached the 1Mmilestone.

Ask Seth of what attracted her to playMahua and she is quick to reply — thequirkiness and lots of shades in thecharacter.

“Mahua is neither a negative nor apositive character. There are many shadesto it. This was one of the reasons that Isaid yes to the role. Also I haven’t donea comedy show before, so I got to dosomething different in this show. Thecharacter does have grey shades but thenthere’s a reason behind it, otherwiseMahua is a very good and loving person,”she tells you.

The role, she says, gave her space tonot just act but also show her groovymoves with a pinch of comedy.

“I have only played out and outnegative roles till date. Mahua wassomething different and I was veryexcited to play it,” she adds.

During Corona, this is Seth’s firstouting and her experience, she says,has been good.

“One can’t just stay cooped upin his house. Yes, things are nottoo good, but then we don’thave an option. Corona is forreal and it can happen to anyoneany where. In such a situation,there are only two options —one, live with the constant fear ofcatching infection and two, takeprecautions and face things. Butthis doesn’t mean one has to go outfor no reason. We have to accept thefact that this virus is not goinganywhere till the mid of 2021 atleast.Hence, we can’t live with the constantfear. Also, work is just as important,” Sethexplains.

Apart from her work in the industry,what earned Seth much love and fame isvlogging. So much so that she is oftenstopped by her fans on road to click apicture or two.

“I call myself an accidental vlogger.Vlogging was not on my cards at all, itwas my husband Avinash, whoencouraged me to take this up. Andonce I stepped into this, there was no

looking back. It has become a hobbynow,” she tells you.

It is because of vlogging, she says, thatshe is able to showcase her true self andchange people’s perspective towards her.“I was misunderstood for all these years.It was only when I started vlogging thatI was able to show people how actuallySambhavna is. The audience got to knowabout the real me. The way peopleperceived I was, did bother me a lot. Itfelt bad when people said somethingnegative about me,” she says.

While vlogging is not everyone’scup of tea, Seth feels that it is not thatdifficult. However everything has its prosand sons.

“If you are showing your true self inyour vlogs than vlogging is not tough.The challenge comes in when people tryto act differently in front of the camera.But yes, now people come to my houseand at my shoots, even during thepandemic I have people waiting outsidemy building. It becomes a bit difficult tostop them and ask them not to. Peoplerecognise me whenever I am out on theroad and come to meet me. It does feelthat our lives are quite public but then it’sfine. It is because of their love that I amhere. And it is much better from the dayswhen people didn’t know me and spokerubbish about me. Now they atleastknow me and love me for who I am,” shesays.

She tells you that out of dancing,acting and vlogging, dancing comesnaturally to her and vlogging is where herheart is.

“I am a born dancer. I can dance withmy eyes closed. Dancing comes easy tome. Even on the sets of Gudiya HumariSabhi Pe Bhari, there was no assigned

choreographer. They just played thesong and I started dancing. As far as

acting is concerned, it doesn’tcome naturally to me, but if

others can do it, I can do it too.A dancer can definitely be agood actor, but an actor isnot always a good dancer.

And vlogging is somethingvery new to me, but I enjoy

doing it. I switch on the cameraand start talking, that is all. So both

dancing and vlogging actually comenaturally to me,” she tells you.

For all those aspiring vloggers, Sethhas a piece of advice to share.

“Be true to your self. Don’t imitateothers, it wont help you in the long run.Come up with your original content.Be inspired from popular vloggers butdon’t become one if you don’t want itfrom all your heart,” she tells you.

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If one is looking for a movie that is notthought provoking or makes one to anintrospection, then Ginny Weds Sunny is

the perfect film to watch. Sit back and enjoythe lighter moments that it touches upon —Punjabi people who believe that there areonly two things that they have to call theirown — emotions and paneer.

Directed by debutant Puneet Khanna,Ginny Weds Sunny is sweet, peppy and funfor most of the time. Other times, there isconfusion — whom to marry. Definitely abig problem for our hero played by VikrantMassey (Sunny) who is desperate to getmarried so that he can open his restaurant.Go figure this one out and unravel it. Butthen, the film is set in Delhi-NCR. Peopleliving here will understand the dilemma, ourprotagonists face.

While the film has a few drawbacks,there are plenty of laughs. Take this forexample. Ginny’s real name is PrincessSimran — not that she is from the royal

family. But they are Punjabis and what morecan be expected of them Or the Jonty WedsRimpi sign or the fun interaction betweenRajiv Gupta (Sunny’s father) and AyeshaRaza Mishra (Ginny’s mother). Theirdialogues are funny and entertaining.Unfortunately, their screen presence islimited and hence one doesn’t get to seemuch of their rather great performance here.

Massey and Gautam are brilliant as well.Though Ginny’s character lacks theconviction she wants to portray. She says shedoesn’t need a man in her life, but she wantsto get married. She gets angry when she feelsthat Sunny has betrayed her, yet when he isall set to marry another, she wants to marryhim. And which man spends an entire daywith a woman, when he is getting marriedto another the next day? But then the titleof the movie gives the entire plot away. Noguesses what happens in the end despite thetwists and turns.

The soundtracks and the songs arepeppy and one will hum them for the nextfew weeks and Mika and Badshah’s SawanMein Lag Gayi Aag is bound to be playedby almost all DJs in the coming weeks.

Overall, the movie is a lightentertainment.

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Since Halloween is an alien concept forus here in India, we really don’tunderstand what the hullabaloo is all

about. But that doesn’t mean we don’tunderstand how big this is world over withsome of the witchery magic ending up in ourbackyard.

Most of us have grown up listening tostories about how people were executedbetween 15th and 18th centuries.

We have also heard of Salem,Massachusetts, US, a town for its witch trials.Now, bring the two together and one hasHubie Halloween even though it is not onetill October 31. Why would the makers wantto release the movie at least three weeks in

advance, makes one scratch one’s head.The sad part is that the movie is sad for

the most part. Imagine a grown 40-something man, still continues to be bulliedand not just by people his age but kids too.

Why? Because of his way of talking orbecause he is too nice or because he getsspooked easily? Apparently, it is all three. Butif one can get past this, Hubie Halloween isa nice, sweet and funny film to watch.

Sandler with his funny accent,sometimes difficult to follow what he issaying is entertaining as he rides through theSalem streets ducking things that are thrownat him by people and kids alike.

For most part, one will end laughing tillsomething happens to make you cringe. Butthese are far between and one can enjoySandler’s goofiness and part stupidity.

While nothing here is original, nobodysaid that stupidity can’t be funny and makeone laugh.

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1%�������� ����'����������������� ����/7<&�&�E,<��'� ����&��������� �������� �� ��� ��� �����������!���!����*(� �����#�������>����������#���� ������� � � ������ �$��6���6���� ������ ��'���� $�� �����.�-&�&���7�,����� �����������������E'����� ����� ����� ����L#�� ������� �� ���������������+�����How did you get into TV?

I love watching the RoadiesXtreme show. My job inMumbai meant that I was ableto go for an audition with myfriend. Everyone, since I was achild, would tell me that Iexuded confidence. I am alsohealth conscious and work outbut am not a fitness freak.People think that Roadies is allabout being fit but this is notthe case. One just has to followa healthy lifestyle. What theshow is looking for is howconfident one is and the 360-degree dimensional personality.This made me an idealcandidate for the show.�From a GST Officer to BiggBoss 12. How did thathappen?

Bigg Boss 12 was offered tome after Roadies Xtreme. Inthat show, I was the mostpopular contestant. That ishow the Bigg Boss teamcontacted me. I saw no reasonto turn it down. After all, it isa Salman Khan show. I am surethere are very few people whowould turn down theopportunity to be part of ashow where he is the host.�How have the two showschanged your life?

The shows have definitelychanged my life for the better.Before I was on TV, I was aGST officer and the girl nextdoor. People in theneighbourhood don’t recogniseyou apart from those withwhom you work. After thesetwo shows, people on the streetstop and acknowledge me andgreet me and shower so muchlove and warmth sometimes itis overwhelming. I get giftsfrom people (fans). �Was it tough to be in frontof the camera for the firsttime?

It was not that tough. I havealways been a confident person.I used to participate in extra-curricular activities in school.I represented India in Pakistanat the International Theatre andDance Festival. Facing thecamera was not as challenging.�You are a GST officer and

Bigg Boss as a show isdifferent. Was it tough toperform for the House and yetbe within the ambit fit for anInspector?

My being a GST Inspectoractually helped me when I wasin the House. I was clear whenI entered the show that I wouldnot compromise on thereputation that I have tomaintain because I am aGovernment servant primarily.I have to at all times uphold mydignity and dignity of my

office. The GST was introducedin India right before I enteredRoadies Xtreme. Because ofthat people came to knowmore about GST, the rules andhow it works. There was anarticle in a newspaper thatsaid that I have taken GST ona national level. This made meproud.�What was your family’sreaction when you told themyou would be on TV?

Actually, my family hasalways been supportive of

whatever I have wanted to do.They were proud when Ibecame a GST Inspector.Almost 32 lakh people took thisexam and only 3,000 werechosen. I was one of them. Myparents were thrilled for me.Doing a TV show was a featherin cap. Due to my popularity,people now recognise myparents too. They are happythat I have met Salman Khanand Rannvijay Singh.�Do your colleagues see youin a different light now?

I have not changed. I amthe same with my friends. I ama grounded person. But peoplewho don’t know me, think thatI am a celebrity. But that is notthe case. Of course, fans sendme gifts or just land up to geta selfie at the office address.People at the office smile andlook at me a bit differently.�Is it difficult to do your jobwhen you are out in the field?

Sometimes, it does. It doesbecome difficult to do thework that I am supposed to.Bigg Boss as a format is sodifferent for the other shows onTV. Also, it is not alwayspossible to get leave to be onTV. My department has beenvery kind to me but it is not fairto keep asking for leave all thetime. I try to either push thework over the weekend or doit after office hours.�How did you get associatedwith #vocalforlocal?

I take pride in being anIndian. I support Indianproducts and services. Thisinitiative is taking things on amuch larger platform to thepublic. This is a great app andeach Indian must subscribe toit.�Are there any upcomingprojects?

I have signed a film as alead. The shoot was to begin inApril but now it has beenpostponed for November-December. I have done a webseries as well. There is a musicvideo that I am part of. Thelockdown has put things on aslow burner but things will getback on track soon.

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Page 3:  · 2 days ago · MLA Govardhan Dangi, the grand old party has been reduced to 88 seats in MP assembly. While the BJP after losing Jhabua bypoll and demise of Agar MLA Manohar Untwal,

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Critical Skills Appraisal Skillsfor Public Health

Reporting programme will berolled out in Madhya Pradeshas part of joint work ofMakhanlal ChaturvediNational University ofJournalism and MassCommunication and UNICEFin Madhya Pradesh. This wasshared in the zoom meetorganised as part of orientationon CAS by MCU and UNICEF.

Prof K G Suresh, ViceChancellor of the NationalUniversity of Journalism andMass Communication, who asthe then Director General ofIndian Institute of MassCommunication was one of thepioneers for rolling this inIndia, shared his experiences ofCAS and said that we in part-nership with UNICEF will behappy to roll this in the State ofMadhya Pradesh. He spokeabout the need for evidenceand its analysis for mediareporting on health, which thisprogramme will help. He fur-ther stressed on the importanceof accuracy and objectivitywhen reporting on health,which this programme ofCritical Skill Appraisal will beable to help strengthen and theefforts of health reporting in

the State. Dr Santosh Shukla,

Additional Director,Department of Health andFamily Welfare, Government ofMadhya Pradesh thanked themedia for all the support onhealth, and in particular immu-nization efforts of the depart-ment. He shared how withtheir support, State have beenable to spread right informationto people and spoke on theimportance of reporting basedon right and correct scientificinformation on vaccination,and helps in reaching out withthe right message to commu-nities.

Sonia Sarkar,Communication Officer(Media), UNICEF India, PublicHealth Journalism CAS initi-ated in year 2014-15 gains

renewed importance as it helpsfight misinformation, stigmaand discrimination and stress-es on using evidence in healthreporting.

Dr Vandana Bhatia, HealthSpecialist, UNICEF, MadhyaPradesh shared the progress ofMP on indicators of newborncare. immunisation and child-hood illness, and the chal-lenges we still need to over-come.

Anil Gulati,Communication Specialist,UNICEF, Madhya Pradeshcoordinated the meet and saidthat we will work with theUniversity to help strengthenmedia efforts for health report-ing in the State. Around 40 par-ticipants from academia,media, media institutions hadjoined the meet.

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Arecent survey reveals thatyoung professionals must

use their time during the lock-down to their advantage byeducating themselves to be intune with the growing trends inorder to remain ahead of theirpeers.

This includes the youngprofessionals in the HVAC&Rindustry – this is the timewhen opportunities are open-ing up for learning using thevirtual platform.

ISHRAE being the singlelargest, technical body ofHVAC sector in the country,has embarked upon a sus-tained training programme tobridge the gap to bring aboutuniform quality standards forthe field technicians, supervi-sors and engineers.

As part of the ISHRAEInstitute of Excellence, ISHRAE

has started the ICP (ISHRAECertified Professional) trainingcourse, a training programwith theory and practical ses-sions to improve the technicalskills of the HVAC&R profes-sional who needs these train-ing modules especially whenthere are new guidelines for airconditioners in public places.

The course at ISHRAE willfamiliarise professionals with

relevant standards, new andbetter filtration methods for airconditioners and clean roomprotocols (among others) basedon international standards, andinverters, VRV/VRF Systems.

The Indian Society ofHeating, Refrigerating &Airconditioning Engineers(ISHRAE) was started in 1981.After four decades, ISHRAEtoday has a membership of13,000 professionals and 43chapters across India with astudent membership of 14000;it has spread its wings withChapters in USA, Dubai andNepal.

ISHRAE NationalPresident Richie Mittal says,“The faculty not only teach the-ory and practicals, but alsoshare a considerable level ofpractical wisdom which is arare commodity these days,and cannot be imparted by reg-ular teachers.

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As per a recent World HealthOrganization (WHO)

report, there are approximate-ly 120 million smokers in Indiathat accounts for 12 per cent ofthe worlds total smoking pop-ulation.

The report further statedthat each year, over 1 millionpeople die in India due toconsumption of tobacco. Of thetotal Indian smoking popula-tion, 70 per cent of the adultmales in India smoke while thenumber of adult female smok-ers is between 13 15 per cent.

Santosh Agarwal, ChiefBusiness Off icer, LifeInsurance, Policybazaar.comsaid, "According to the IndianHeart Association (IHA), dueto such a high population oftobacco consumers in India,the country accounts for 83

per cent of the world's heartdisease burden, despite havingless than 20 per cent of theworld's total population."

Santosh Agarwal, ChiefBusiness Off icer, LifeInsurance, Policybazaar.comfurther said that smokingdoes not only affect yourhealth, but it even affects thepremium of your life insur-ance policy considerably. Asper several life insurers under-writing rules, the policy pre-mium of a customers lifeinsurance is affected more bythe smoking habits than thejob profile.

The life insurance premi-um for people with low riskjob profiles like software engi-neers, bankers and marketingconsultants is lower than pro-fessionals with high risk jobprofiles that include con-struction workers and prisonofficers.

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Chief Minister Shivraj SinghChouhan will virtually

dedicate 1,584 infrastructuresconstructed at a cost of �106.04crore in rural areas of the stateby the Panchayat and RuralDevelopment Department onSunday, October 11.

Chief Minister Chouhanwill also hold discussion onvarious issues concerning ruralareas with the panchayat headsof some districts during thededication programme inMinto Hall at 10 am. Ministerof State for Panchayat andRural DevelopmentDepartment Ram KhelavanPatel will also be present in theprogramme.

The Panchayat and RuralDevelopment Departmentstarted such works of infra-structure development in rural

areas through which ruraldevelopment besides availabil-ity of employment at the locallevel has been ensured duringCorona disaster.

Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan will virtuallydedicate 1,584 fully-equippedstructures costing � 106.04crore constructed in the ruralareas including 318 gram pan-

chayat bhawan at a cost of�44.21 crore, 262 communitybhawan at a cost of �34.06crore and 1,004 SamudayikSwachhata Parisars construct-ed at a cost of �27.59 crore.

All these infrastructuresto be dedicated are in the 33districts unaffected by-elec-tions. Construction works ofdistricts where assembly by-elections are to be held are notincluded in this programme.Chief Minister Shri Chouhanwill hold discussions with pan-chayat heads in some districtsduring the dedication pro-gramme.

In the virtual programme,departmental officers and pub-lic representatives posted indistricts including state levelsenior officers will also be pre-sent. The programme will alsobe broadcast oncmevents.mp.gov.in.

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Chola Mandir police has booked two miscreants

who attacked two youths withsharp-edged weapons at Cholaarea; condition of one of thevictim is reportedly critical.

The accused attacked thevictims with sharp-edgedweapon at around 11.30 pm onFriday.

According to the police,the victim Nimma alias NirmalLodhi and Rahul Maratha wasattacked by two miscreantsSalman and Saifu with sharpedged weapon when he waswith his friend Rahul Maratha.

The injured victim wasrushed to a nearby hospitalwhere his condition is report-edly critical. Police said thatattackers were angered overdispute in selling tea in trainsand to take revenge theyattacked Nirmal late in thenight on Friday.

At around 11.30 pm when

the victims were standing theaccused came and started toabuse which the victimsopposed and later the twowere attacked with sharpedged weapons and whenthey raised alert locals rushedto their rescue which forcedthe accused to escape thespot.

The accused escaped thespot after the attack and arestill absconding, police havestarted search for the attack-ers. After the preliminaryinvestigation, the police reg-istered a case under sections307 and 34 of the IPC andstarted further investigation.

Police said that the twogroups have fight in the pastover the same issue but thefight was pacified by the inter-vention of the locals andaccused wanted to settle score.Condition of Rahul is report-edly critical while Nimma isstable. The two have sus-tained multiple injuries.

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To help the industry frater-nity in developing solu-

tions to problems, introducingnew strategies, and fuellingcollaboration across the organ-isation, CII in Madhya Pradeshorganised the second edition ofCII CXO CONCLAVE onlineon Saturday.

Addressing the InauguralSession, R. Mukundan, MDand CEO, TATA ChemicalsLtd. emphasized on the need toshowcase soft side by a CXO inthese tough times and said that“Care, Compassion andCollaboration have been thethree pillars for an organizationin past to grow and would con-tinue to be so in near future”

Lt. Gen. Retd. DeependraSingh Hooda also addressedthe conclave and shared hisexperiences of forming warstrategies and cited his experi-ence of crisis managementwhen earthquake jittered Uriand Indian Army had to taketough decisions in adjustingmanpower in a small remain-ing building where the living,the dead and the injured had tolive simultaneously.

Renowned motivationalspeaker Anil Bhasin, President,

Havells India Ltd. highlightedthe importance of accepting,sharing and being open.“Under any circumstances andin a situation of uncertainty,like now, ‘Acceptance’ stirsPositivity and transforms Fearto Adventure. When someoneelse has what you desire, accep-tance brings Inspiration andremoves jealousy, when hurt,Acceptance impartsForgiveness in you and eradi-cates hatred” he said.

Other eminent speakersincluded the famous motiva-tional speaker Kartika Taneja,Director, Google London,Manish Verma, Head –Technology, SonyLIV andManish Gulati, ExecutiveDirector, HEG Ltd.

Anurag Shriavastava,Chairman, CII MP gave thetheme-setting remarks whileSiddharth Chaturvedi,Chairman, CII Bhopal gave thewelcome remarks and moder-ated the session along withother members of CII MadhyaPradesh.

Conclave received over-whelming response witnessingparticipation of CXO’s, Headsof Organization, Key Govt.officials from across centralIndia and nearby areas.

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Water purifiers and spare ofRO goods turned into

ashes after a massive fire brokeout at godown at godownbehind State BJP office atHabibganj in the morning onSaturday.

The godown of KirshnaEnterprises was gutted in firedue to short circuit borne fire inthe early morning hours andlocals informed fire brigade andit took over two hours to paci-fy the fire.

The fire which broke outaround 7 am was pacified by firetender vehicles with hard effortsof two hours. The water pressurewas used to pacify fire as therewas only a single shutter to enterthe shop and godown and densesmoke was coming out andwhen the smoke was cleared firetenders entered the godownand pacified fire completely.

Panic prevailed in the areaafter the fire broke out andWater purifiers and spare of ROgoods and other goods were gut-ted in fire.

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Chief Minister Shivraj SinghChouhan reviewed the

arrangements being made inconnection with the purchase ofpaddy and other crops in thestate. The Agriculture and FoodDepartment was directed tomake necessary arrangementsfor procurement as per the con-venience of farmers during themeeting.

The process of registrationfor sale of Kharif crops by farm-ers in the state is in progress. Itwas informed in the meetingthat detailed instructions arebeing issued regarding pro-curement of paddy in the state.Special arrangements will bemade in paddy producing dis-tricts. Detailed discussion onpurchase of paddy, payment offunds to farmers and storage ofprocured paddy was held in the

meeting.Chief Minister Chouhan

directed to begin procurementsoon in view of the arrival ofmore paddy, jowar and bajra inthe mandis of the state than pre-vious year. According to thedates fixed earlier, the paddyshould be purchased before dateof its procurement on November25 and jowar and bajra shouldbe purchased before November15.

Chief Minister Chouhansaid that it should be ensuredthat farmers do not face anyproblem during procurement. Itwas informed at the meeting thatthe 1509 fine variety of paddysown in Gwalior and Chambaldivisions should also be pur-chased and farmers should getthe benefits of support price.

Chouhan directed that 600more centres should be openedin Kharif procurement so that

farmers can sell produce at sup-port price without any hassles.This will increase the number ofcentres to 1500 . Currently thereare about 900 centres. As manyas 5.96 lakh farmers of paddy,10,000 of jowar and 29,416bajra farmers in the state havegot registered till October 9.Similarly, 54,926 cotton farmerswhich is more than the previousyear have been registered. Thelast date of registration isOctober 15.

Agriculture MinisterKamal Patel, Chief SecretaryIqbal Singh Bains, AgricultureProduction CommissionerK.K. Singh, Principal Secretaryto Chief Minister Shri ManishRastogi, Principal SecretaryFood Faiz Ahmed Kidwai,M.D. Markfed P. Narhari,Commissioner Public RelationsDr. Sudam Khade and otherofficials were present.

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Vehicles of Water ResourceDepartment were stoned

and and the team was attackedwith wooden sticks by villagersof Majeedgarh over construc-tion of dam in the area withoutproviding compensation to thevillagers. The team had gone tosurvey the area Nazeerabad.Police have registered caseagainst five persons.

Ruckus was created by thelocals who opposed survey bythe team, which reached thespot at the village on October7.

Initially the team faced ver-bal spate which soon turnedviolent after locals started tostone pelt the vehicles andattacked team with woodensticks forcing the team to leavethe spot and later on Fridaythey approached the Eithkhedi

police and lodged complaint.During the investigation

police found that around dozenmen of the village weredemanding that compensationshould be provided to them astheir agriculture land would beaffected by the construction ofthe dam and during the dis-cussion with the team whichhad gone for conducting surveyvillagers turned hostile andattacked.

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Page 4:  · 2 days ago · MLA Govardhan Dangi, the grand old party has been reduced to 88 seats in MP assembly. While the BJP after losing Jhabua bypoll and demise of Agar MLA Manohar Untwal,

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A24 year old, tea shop work-er was stabbed allegedly by

two in southeast Delhi's KalindiKunj area after he refused togive them a cigarette. The inci-dent occured on Friday.

Police said that the victim,identified as Ezaz, was taken toa hospital where his conditionis stated to be stable.

Meanwhile, both theaccused identified asMohammad Sakib Khan (19)and Abdul Hannan (30), whostabbed the victim with a blade-cutter, have been arrested.

According to R P Meena,the Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (DCP), Southeast, on

Friday, when police were at acheck post during a routinechecking of vehicles, they hearda quarrel and rushed to thespot, where they found Ezazlying with stab injuries.

"Police apprehended one ofthe accused and shifted theinjured to AIIMS TraumaCentre while another accusedwas nabbed after a short spanof time. Ezaz told the police thathe works with his brother-in-law Aamir at a tea shop. OnFriday, Hannan came to theirshop and took a cigarette," saidthe DCP.

"After some time, he alongwith his friend again came tothe shop and asked for anoth-er cigarette but by then the vic-

tim had closed the shop. WhenEzaz refused to give cigarette tothe accused, they started beat-ing him and Aamir," said theDCP.

"Khan took out a blade-cut-ter and stabbed Ezaz in hisabdomen. He also inflictedinjuries on the victim's forearm.A case was registered atShaheen Bagh police stationand both the accused werearrested, the DCP said.

"During interrogation, theaccused disclosed that onFriday, they asked for a cigaretteand when Ezaz refused, theylost their temper and thrashedhim and his brother-in-lawwhile Khan stabbed Ezaz," hesaid.

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Following huge participa-tion from the children of

Delhi in the fifth week of the 10Hafte 10 Baje 10 Minute anti-dengue campaign has enteredinto its sixth week.

The campaign this weekseeks to encourage families tocome together to defeat dengueby inspecting their houses

every Sundayfor 10 min-utes for stag-nant cleanwater anddraining it.

D e l h iC h i e f

Minister Arvind Kejriwal said"We will stop the breeding ofdengue mosquitoes with activeparticipation and protect ourfamily and all of Delhi fromdengue," he added.

Last week, Kejriwal tweet-ed, "Delhi's campaign againstdengue continues. Today, onthe fifth Sunday of the cam-paign, I replaced the water athome and eliminated the pos-sibility of breeding of denguemosquitoes. I urge everyone tobe a part of this campaign everySunday. #10Hafte10Baje10Minute Har Ravivaar, DenguePar Vaar."

This year, the Delhi gov-ernment has also launched aDengue helpline - 01123300012and WhatsApp helpline -8595920530 to assist the gen-eral public with dengue.

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Delhi Police has arrested a 34year old African national for

allegedly supplying drugs in thecountry. Police also recovered340 gram of heroin from his pos-session. Police said that theaccused identified as GnakpaNestor was held on Friday nightwhen the police had deployed itstechnical and manual surveil-lance to nab drug peddlers.

According to Deepak

Purohit, the DeputyCommissioner of Police (DCP),West district, police had laid atrap after receiving specific infor-mation that an African nation-al involved in drug peddling willcome to Janakpuri area to deliv-er a consignment. The accusedcame there on a scooter and wassoon overpowered by the policeteam. "On checking, the policerecovered 340 gram of high-quality heroin from the accused.During interrogation, the

accused told police that he is anarcotic drug peddler and oper-ates in India, Nepal andBangladesh," said the DCP.

"Nestor came to India lastyear and had been living in TilakNagar area posing as a busi-nessman. He had been sellingand supplying heroin and otherdrugs since last year. Police aretrying to ascertain the source ofthe contraband substance seizedand arrest other members of thedrug cartel," the DCP added.

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Responding to charges by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Mayorof North Delhi Jai Prakash said that the Health Minister of

Delhi Government Satyendra Jain is doing politics by saying thatCovid patients admitted in Hindu Rao Hospital will be shiftedto Delhi Government hospitals.

DDMA has instructed the North Delhi MunicipalCorporation via phone to transfer the patients to DelhiGovernment hospitals in view of the low number of patients atHindurao Hospital and restore normal services at HinduraoHospital," he said.

Mayor said that ever since the Hindu Rao Hospital has beenconverted into a Covid-19 hospital, till date the Delhi govern-ment has not given a single penny for the Hindu Rao Hospital.He said that Corporation officials also said in a meeting held withthe Delhi Disaster Management Authority that the number ofCorona patients in Hindu Rao Hospital is very less.

Jai Prakash further said that the Delhi government wants tofinancially cripple the corporation by continuously cutting thefunds of the Corporation or by not giving the outstanding funds.

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Railways Minister PiyushGoyal on Saturday met

automobile Industry leadersto give boost to automobileloading through Railways.

Representatives of SIAM(Society of Indian AutomobileManufacturers), Tata Motors,Hyundai Motors, Ford Motors,Mahindra and Mahindra,Honda India, and MarutiSuzuki Ltd, The AutomobileFreight Train Operators(AFTOs), Automotive TyreManufacturers’ Association(ATMA), attended the meetingand lauded the initiative andcommitted to work in part-nership with Indian Railways tofacilitate transportation of auto-mobiles through railways.

"Indian Railways is attain-ing new heights in transporta-tion of automobiles. The totalloading of automobiles through

Railway was only 429 rakes in2013-14, which has increasedto 1,595 rakes 2019-20. And inthe first six months of the cur-rent year (Apr to Sep), IndianRailway has loaded 836 rakes ofautomobiles against 731 rakesin the previous year (despitealmost negligible loading in thefirst two months)," the ministrysaid in a statement.

Railways are aiming to

achieve a modal share of 20 percent by the end of 2021-22, anda modal share of 30% by 2023-24, it said.

The participants in theinteraction were informedabout the steps taken byRailways to promote loading ofautomobiles, which has led tothis quantum jump and wereasked to bring more loading toRail.

The ministry said that slewof steps have been taken tofacilitate automobile loading.

Representatives of theindustry were all praise for theRailways for the help and sup-port being extended to themand confirmed that efforts willbe on to bring more and moreloading towards Railway, itsaid. Participant were informedthat more terminals beingopened up for Automobiletraffic (as per demands of theindustry) Charodi (WR),Bakshi Ka Talab (NER), Mesra(ECR). Also, export toBangladesh in BCACBM rakesbeing planned in coordina-tion with Bangladesh Railway,it added.

The ministry further saidthat participants were assuredthat all possible help will beextended to them and all theirconcerns and issues will beaddressed on priority.

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Mayor of South DelhiMunicipal Corporation

(SDMC) Anamika said that theAam Aadmi Party (AAP) isplaying politics over the issueof health trade license as it isvery necessary to issue suchlicense to ensure safety andsecurity of people visitingeatries in the city.

The statement came a dayafter AAP alleged theCorporations of non- corpo-ration over the issue. "The alle-gation of corruption in grant-ing license is baseless as thewhole process of grantinglicense is online and the appli-cant does not need to visitphysically to Corporationoffices," she said.

Mayor said that accordingto the provision of DMC act1957, licenses is issued underproper rules and guild lines toeating establishment underjurisdiction of SDMC.

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Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia reviewed

the content of Deshbhakti cur-riculum and emphasised thatthe proposed learning goalsshould be simple and clearenough for the parents tounderstand and be an activeparticipant in their child'slearning.

The Deputy Chief Ministerchaired the third joint reviewmeeting of the board and new

curriculum committee onSaturday to take stock of theprogress so far.

The Curriculum and boardcommittees were consituted inJuly 2020 to recommend newcurriculum for children uptothe age of 14 years and settingup of Delhi ExaminationBoard. Both committees arelikely to submit their recom-mendations by mid November.

The work on introducingthe Deshbhakti curriculumstarted last year after theannouncement of Chief

Minister Arvind Kejriwal.Explaining the key fea-

tures of Deshbhakti, Sisodiasaid that assessment would bethe basis of DeshbhaktiCurriculum.

"Issues like inclusiveness,gender, different forms of dis-crimination, integrity, care forpublic property and naturalresources, etc would be the keyto enable the child to becometrue Deshbhakt," he said.

Moving further, the newcurriculum committee is man-dated to recommend new cur-

riculum for children below 14years presented the curriculardesign for enabling children inthe age group of 3-8 yearswith diversity of knowledge,competencies, values and atti-tudes.

Along the similar lines,the committee will recom-mend curriculum for childrenin the age group of 8-11 and11-14 as well, the governmentsaid in a statement.

Sisodia appreciated theapproach of the CurriculumCommittee which seeks to

connect the curriculum withreal life situations.

The deputy chief ministersaid “During the parent teachermeetings, I have often seenteachers and parents talkingonly about the subjects andmarks obtained by the students.Through our new curriculumand assessment practice, theconversation between the par-ents and teachers should shiftto overall growth of the child”.

Sisodia said, "Assessment isan integral part of Curriculum.Learning does not happen only

inside the schools; a childlearns from his/her environ-ment outside school also. Arobust assessment systemshould capture every aspect ofa child’s growth".

Sisodia asked the commit-tee members to create tools forparents also by which theycan see the progress of theirchild.

He appreciated the effortsof the committee membersand said that their work is verycritical in transforming theeducation system of Delhi.

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Days after the resident doc-tors of the north

Corporation run Hindu RaoHospital went on a "symbolicindefinite strike" over non-payment of their due salariesfor the last three months, theDelhi Health MinisterSatyendar Jain on Saturdayordered shifting of all coron-avirus patients from Hindu

Rao to its own hospitals. Jain said that the MCD

must release the salaries of thedoctors and staff of these hos-pitals.

"If the Corporation isunable to pay then it shouldhand over hospitals to theDelhi government. They can goto any of the government hos-pitals treating Covid-19patients. There are currently 20COVID patients admitted to

Hindurao and they will beshifted to the Delhi govern-ment hospitals by Sunday," hesaid.

Jain said, "The positivecases were 2807 and around50000 tests were conductedyesterday. The positivity ratiois 5.82 per cent. There were 39deaths and 3098 people weredischarged from the hospitalsyesterday. The net positivecases in Delhi are less than

22000, which were 32000 at onepoint."

"I want to request the MCDto pay the salaries of the MCDas soon as possible and if theNorth MCD cannot pay thesalaries of Kasturba GandhiHospital and Hindu Rao hos-pital, it can handover these hos-pitals under the Delhi govern-ment. We will run these hos-pitals better than them andrelease all the salaries to the

staff," he said. BJP is doing politics over

the issue, they earn through several taxes, and ifthey can't run their hospitals,then they should hand themover to the Delhi government,"Jain said.

Hindu Rao Hospital is thelargest municipal hospital inDelhi with 900 beds, and is cur-rently a dedicated COVID-19facility.

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The Crime InvestigationAgency of the Haryana

Police has nabbed a wantedcriminal, carrying a reward ofRs 10,000, from Metro ViharPhase-1, Holambi Kalan inNew Delhi on Thursday.

A police spokespersonsaid on Friday, the arrestedaccused have been identifiedas Prabhat Kumar alias Sonualias Shakal alias Bengali.

The dreaded criminalswere involved in more thantwo dozen cases of attempt tomurder, theft, robbery, housetrespass and Arms Act whichhe had committed in Delhiand NCR region for the past 7years.

The Gurugram police hadannounced a cash reward of Rs10,000 on his head, in a caseof theft which the accused hadcommitted at Sushant Lokarea in 2013 since than he wasabsconding.

A case in this regard hadbeen filed at the Sushant Lokpolice station in 2013.

A team of the crime

branch sector-40 of the districtpolice nabbed the accused fol-lowing a tip-off.

ACP (crime) Preet PalSangwan informed the mediaon Friday that the police willseek police custody of theaccused for further question-ing.

"During preliminary inter-rogation, the accused con-fessed involvement into thetwo dozens of cases which hehad committed in the past 7years. To avoid police arrestthe accused had changed hisname around 11 times,"Sangwan said, adding that theculprit was also a bed elementof the Morya Enclave,Pitampura police station ofDelhi.

He was also included inthe most wanted criminal listof the Gurugram police since2014, he said.

"We will seek police cus-tody of the accused from thecourt for further questioning.During the remand periodwe will gather more informa-tion about his accomplice.Further investigation is on,"Sangwan added.

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The Misrod police hasbooked two ex-employees

of logistic company for dupingcompany to the tune of �17lakh by unloading goodsscheduled to be delivered inIndore.

Police said that the accusedOm Prakash Mishra andShobhit Porwal who used towork with Zinka logistics werebooked after they obtainedgoods worth Rs 17 lakh in

Bhopal which was scheduled tobe delivered in Indore.

A complaint was lodged byAshwin Kumar of Indore andworks as Procurment Officerafter he found that the truckfailed to reach the destination.He checked and found that thegoods were unloaded atShirram Nagar without anyprior permission and by unau-thorised persons who havebeen removed from services.The two were identified asOm Prakash Mishra and

Shobhit Porwal. The incidenttook place in July and after thetwo refused to return goodspolice complaint was lodged bythe company.

During the investigation itwas found that the two wereaware of the online trackingand other operations and usingthe same they asked driver tounload goods in Bhopal insteadof Indore and driver who wasnot aware that the two were notworking with the company.

The two left the company

after irregularities were foundand after they obtained thegoods they forced the compa-ny to settle their dues which thecompany was not willing as itwas not the correct way to set-tle the dues.

After the complaint waslodged police have registeredcase on the completion of theinvestigation. A case undersection 406 and 120 A of theIPC was registered by the policeon Saturday.

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Ravana may have been great,powerful and with his

strength and might, he hasconquered all the three worlds,but he has not been saved fromthe pandemic Corona. Thistime the corona will over-shadow on Ravana effigy burn-ing.

Ravana effigy burning willhappen on the city but onlysymbolically. Actually, the

arrival of people in RavanaDahan programs will not beorganized. The organizers ofthe Ravana Dahan ProgramCommittee, which has beenheld for years at the DussehraGrounds and Karthik MelaGrounds in Ujjain on Saturday,gave a joint press briefingabout the Ravana Dahan pro-gram to be held in the Coronaperiod and appealed to thepeople to symbolically orga-nize and do not participate in

the Ravana effigy burning pro-grams to prevent the coronaepidemic. The organizers alsoinformed that these symbolicevents of Ravana Dahan eventswill be broadcast live so thatpeople can enjoy RavanaDahan programs from home.

The two big events in thecity are in memory of two per-sonalities of the city. AtDussehra ground event is orga-nized in memory of LalaAmarnath Khatri in Ujjain

which is being organized forthe last 75 years.

At the same Karthik Melaground, a program of Ravanaeffigy burning is organized inthe memory of former MayorPrem Narayan Yadav. OnSaturday, Om Prakash Khatriand Chetan Yadav of RavanDahan Program Committeejointly gave information aboutorganizing Ravan Dahan pro-gram by holding press confer-ence.

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Even as the lakhs of saplingsin the nurseries of the for-

est department contributetowards environmental con-servation and enrichment, theblack plastic bags in whichthese saplings were grown havebeen proving a detriment tothis cause. However, now theforest department has found analternative to these plastic bagswhich are damaging to theenvironment. However, someobservers are still skepticaland point out that the alterna-tive is not the best option eventhough it may appear to be bet-ter than the plastic bags.

After the plantation ofsaplings from the departmen-tal nurseries, the black plasticbags used to end up causingenvironmental contamination.To overcome this problem, thedepartment has now under-

taken the innovative step ofusing biobags instead of theplastic bags. These bio bags willnow be used to grow thesaplings in the departmentalnurseries instead of the plasticbags.

It is estimated that crores ofsuch plastic bags are used in thedepartmental nurseries forgrowing the saplings. In theNarendranagar forest divisionmore than two lakh such plas-tic bags are used in preparationof the saplings in the depart-mental nurseries in Bemunda,

Bhadrakali and other loca-tions. These polythene bagshave been used for this purposefor decades. This polythene isquite thick and used mainly asit is convenient and durable forthe purpose of holding andtransporting the saplings.

However, after the saplingsare planted, the plastic ends upas garbage scattered even inenvironmentally sensitivelocations. Apart from damag-ing the environment andaffecting the soil quality, attimes, such polythene bags

end up in the stomachs of ani-mals. So far, no viable alter-native had been found forthese plastic bags which arepopular in both departmentaland private nurseries. TheNarendranagar forest divisionhas prepared bags using 70GSM non-woven fabric as analternative to the polythenebags used in the nurseries. Thetrial of such bags has been suc-cessful in the herbal nursery atBhadrakali. The department isnow preparing a plan to usebags made from this materialin all its nurseries instead ofthe plastic bags. TheNarendranagar sub divisionalofficer MS Bisht said that theuse of polythene bags damagesthe environment. It takes along time for the polythene todecompose. To overcome thisproblem, the department hasopted for bio bags made fromnon woven fabric.

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Page 5:  · 2 days ago · MLA Govardhan Dangi, the grand old party has been reduced to 88 seats in MP assembly. While the BJP after losing Jhabua bypoll and demise of Agar MLA Manohar Untwal,

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With the stand-off at theLine of Actual

Control(LAC)continuing, thearmed forces are preparing fora long haul and digging in forthe fast approaching wintermonths in Ladakh. In thisbackdrop, Army Vice Chief LtGeneral S K Saini on Saturdaycalled for attaining self reliancein manufacturing special win-ter clothing and mountaineer-ing equipment.

His observation here cameas the army is gearing up forsustaining thousands of troopsin Ladakh where temperaturewill dip to minus 30 in the nextfew weeks. Realising the grav-ity of the situation, theGovernment has relaxed someprocurement rules to enablethe army to buy prefabricatedhuts and additional sets ofwinter clothing includingboots.

A parliamentary commit-tee was also recently apprisedof the army’s preparedness andassured that more than ade-quate stocks of winter clothingare available.

Addressing a webinarorganised by the Centre forJoint Warfare Studies, the ViceChief said “A large number ofour troops are deployed insuper high altitude areas where

the temperature touches -50degrees celsius. However, weare still importing cold-weath-er equipment, mainly due tothe lack of viable indigenoussolutions. A collaborative effortneeds to be put in this field tofulfil our vision of“Atmanirbhar Bharat.”

At present, the Indiantroops are deployed at heightsof more than 13,000 to 14,000feet at most of the stand-offsites in eastern Ladakh.

With no signs of the situ-ation improving in the nearfuture, the Indian securityestablishment has ramped upits logistical support to thefront line troops, sources said.

Despite the volatile situa-tion and military build up byboth the sides, India has allalong favoured talks to resolvethe complex issue. The seventhround of Corps Commanderlevel talks are scheduled forMonday next.

After the sixth round onSeptember 21, the two com-manders decided not sendmore troops to the border.Relative calm prevails sincethen, sources said.

Meanwhile, Saini also high-lighted security of defenceestablishments and vital instal-lations and ImprovisedExplosive Devices (IED) anddrones as major threats. On the

security of defence establish-ments and vital installations, hesaid efforts have been focussedon this in the last few years asthese present “lucrative andhigh profile targets.”

“Though the industry hasstepped up to the challenge, thesolutions provided, however,lack innovation and integra-tion,” he said calling for effortsto ensure reduction in man-power commitment by inte-grating physical and electron-ic surveillance and incorporat-ing automation and innovation.

The IEDs are emerging asthe favoured tool for terroristsand anti national elements. “Itends up causing both physicaland psychological trauma andseriously impairs own readi-ness, by forcing us to commit scarce resources forown protection,” he said statingtechnological innovation is keyto combating this threat.

The Vice Chief saidamongst other threats, dronesand Unmanned Aerial Vehicles(UAV) stand out in their inno-vative employment anddestructive potential.Considering their low cost,multi-use and dense prolifera-tion, he said “both hard kill andsoft kill counter-drone solu-tions including swarm tech-nology are the need of thehour”.

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Despite the on-going coron-avirus pandemic and the

nationwide lockdown till June,India agricultural exports havebeen booming the past sixmonths, while many sectors ofthe economy suffered. Export ofessential agricultural com-modities between April and

September, 2020 has increasedby 43.4 percent to �53,626.6crore as compared to �37,397.3crore in the same period lastyear. As per the data, wheatexport growth recorded to 206percent, followed by non-Basmati rice 105 percent, refinedsugar 104 percent, and ground-nut 35 percent.

According to agricultureministry’s data, farm exports

stood at �37,397.3 crore duringthe April-September period of2019-20. In September 2020,agri exports rose by 81.7 percentto �9,296 crore from �5,114crore in September 2019. Thebalance of trade during April-September 2020 has been sig-nificantly positive at �9,002Crore as against trade deficit of�2,133 during the same periodin 2019.

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As World Mental HealthDay is observed on

Saturday this year against thebackdrop of Covid-19 pan-demic, organizations likeWHO and health experts in thesector have stressed on increas-ing awareness and higherinvestments to deal with thelooming mental health crisis.

“The vast social and eco-nomic impact of COVID-19highlights the critical need forall countries in the Region toinvest in quality mental healthcare, which must be part of anoverall increase in healthspending,” Dr PoonamKhetrapal Singh, WHORegional Director for South-East Asia said on Saturday.

The theme of this year’sWorld Mental Health Day cam-paign is ‘Move for mentalhealth: let’s invest’.

Dr Smita Deshpande,senior psychiatrist from Delhi-based RML Hospital pointedout that even under normal cir-cumstances, good mentalhealth is crucial to the func-tioning of society. During apandemic like Covid-19, how-ever, it can affect how werespond and recover. “It is hightime that we give importance tothis area,” she added.

Dr RC Jiloha, ex-psychia-trist from GB Pant Hospital,Delhi pointed out that evenpeople who are not directlyimpacted with Covid-19 arefacing depression and anxietydue to financial stress and dis-ruption in social lives.

He echoed the WHO sur-vey released recently thatreveals that most countries areexperiencing some disruptionto mental health services, withthe greatest impact on com-munity-based and preventionand promotion services. Backhome, various organizationsincluding educational institu-tions have started focusing onthis long-neglected mentalhealth arena.

For instance, IIM BodhGaya’s mindfulness center‘Samatvam’ which aims to honefuture leaders to be more

mindful and grow holistically,partnered with ‘YourDost’ - anonline counseling and emo-tional wellness coach with anaim to normalize the conver-sation around seeking profes-sional help to attain mentalwell-being.

The center also launchedits weekly mindfulness series

‘Bodhi Pravaah’ which willhost a spectrum of activitiessuch as ‘Music therapies’,‘ASMR meditation’, ‘Five sensemeditation, and much moreevery Sunday. IIM Bodh GayaDirector Dr Vinita Sahay spokeon the importance of mentalhealth. On the occasion, asmall film, ‘What makes you

happy’ was also showcased, inwhich students spoke about thethings or people that makethem beam in joy.

“The purpose behind thisvideo was to highlight the factthat often, the things thatmake us the happiest are verytrivial - something whicheveryone needs to ponderupon,” said Dr Nidhi Mishra,Chairperson- Mental Health &Well-being committee, IIMBodh Gaya.

Similarly, on the occasionof the World Mental HealthDay, Shri Guru Gobind SinghCollege of Commerce in Delhiorganized a Mental HealthTherapy Webinar in collabo-ration with its InternationalCell, SGGSCC wherein KartikNaidu, transpersonal thera-pist and trainer, Green AuraHolistic talked about impor-tance of mental health and howthe students can help under-stand and tackle their anxieties.

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The Covid-19 pandemicprovides an opportunity to

reset the global economy andreverse decades of ecosystemand species losses, but mostcountries are failing to investin nature-related economicreforms or investments,according to researchers.

Indeed, some countries,including the United States,Brazil and Australia, are back-tracking on existing laws andrelaxing regulations andenforcement actions aimed atprotecting nature but notmuch is happeneing, accordingto lead author PamelaMcElwee, an associate profes-sor in the Department ofHuman Ecology in the Schoolof Environmental andBiological Sciences at RutgersUniversity-New Brunswick.

“Just last week at theUnited Nations, more than 60heads of state spoke at a vir-tual summit and pledged theirsupport to tackle the biodi-versity crisis. But when welook at what countries aredoing, either in their priorbudget and policies or espe-cially in their post-Covid plan-ning and recovery packages,very few governments areputting their money where

their mouths are,” McElweepointed out.

“We still see huge amountsof financial support for harm-ful practices, such as subsi-dizing overfishing or fossilfuel production or buildinginfrastructure that will harmecological integrity. Only asmall number of countriesare addressing the biodiversi-ty crisis in the serious mannerit deserves.”

The paper, by economists,anthropologists and environ-mental scientists at many insti-tutions on three continents, ispublished in the journal OneEarth. It explores the changesin global economic systems -including incentives, regula-tions, f iscal policy andemployment programs - thatare necessary to shift awayfrom activities that damagebiodiversity and move towardthose supporting ecosystemresilience.

The paper observationshold importance in the back-drop of the 2019 GlobalAssessment Report onBiodiversity and EcosystemResources which says thatunless action is taken, around1 million species face extinc-tion, many within decades,and the global rate of speciesextinction will accelerate.

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The countr y’s topdrug regulator has

asked the Hyderabad-based drug manufac-turer Bharat Biotech tosubmit complete safetyand immunogenicitydata of the ongoingphase-2 trial of its vaccinecandidate ‘Covaxin’ besidesproviding some clarifica-tions, before proceeding forthe next stage ie phase-3clinical trials for the vaccine.

The pharma firm hadsought the Drug ControllerGeneral of India (DCGI)nod for carrying out thirdphase trials.

The vaccine candidateis being indigenously devel-oped by the Bharat Biotechin collaboration with theIndian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR).

According to officials,the Hyderabad-based vac-cine maker applied to theDCGI on October 2, seek-ing its permission to conduct

phase-3 randomised dou-ble-blind placebo-controlledmult icentre tr ia l of itsCoviD-19 vaccine candidate.

The firm in its applica-tion said that the studywould cover 28,500 subjects aged 18 years andabove and would be con-ducted in 19 sites — includ-ing Delhi, Mumbai, Patnaand Lucknow -- across 10states.

The phase-2 trial of theCovaxin is going on and thesecond dose is yet to begiven to volunteers at somesites. “The company pre-sented phase-3 clinical trialprotocol along with interimdata of phase 1 and 2 clini-cal trials,” an official said.

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The Tamil NaduGovernment has told the

Supreme Court that the sub-committee meant to supervisethe safety and other aspects,including water levels, in theMullaperiyar dam has beendoing its job properly.

The apex court had soughta reply from the state govern-ment on a plea filed by JoeJoseph in which he expressedapprehensions that there waslack of supervision of safety inthe over-a-century-old dam.

In an affidavit, filedthrough advocate M YokeshKanna, the Tamil Nadu gov-ernment said the plea allegingthat it has abdicated its dutieswas “wholly misconceived”.

“The prayer proceeds onan erroneous assumption thatthe Sub-Committee constitut-ed by the SupervisoryCommittee amounts to abdi-cation of duties by theSupervisory Committee, con-stituted pursuant to the direc-tions of this court judgmentdated May 07, 2014 … is whol-ly untenable,” the affidavit said.

The affidavit said the sub-committee is chaired by theexecutive engineer of theCentral Water Commission(CWC) and has members fromKerala and Tamil Nadu.

The sub-committeeinspects the dam, collects dataand gives details to the super-visory committee.

“The sub-committee mem-bers do not have any powers togive direction to the states. It isonly doing the job of collectinginformation and data pertain-ing to the dam once in everytwo months, and if required,more frequently, as per direc-tions of the chairman of thesupervisory committee, andfurnishing the same to thecommittee,” the affidavit said.

The contention that therehas been inordinate delay infinalising and implementingthe Rule Curve and GateOperation Schedule on theMullaperiyar dam is whollymisplaced, it said.

“The answering respon-dent states that the operation ofthe spillway gates during floodtime was framed long back dur-ing the year 1974, vide… As perthe procedure then laid down,based on long experience,before operating the spillwaygates during flood time, warn-ing would be issued well inadvance to the downstreamauthorities concerned of theState of Kerala before releasingwater through the spillway,” itsaid.

“The answering respon-dent ensures and takes care thatno release is made without anywarning, and sudden releasesare not made through the spill-way. The releases are made insteps so as not to cause anyproblem to the people who areliving downstream of the dam.Thus, it is submitted that Gate

operation procedure was avail-able for long,” it added.

Before operating the spill-way gates during flood time,warning would be issued wellin advance to the downstreamauthorities concerned beforereleasing water through thespillway, the affidavit said.

Tamil Nadu ensured thatno water is released withoutany warning, and suddenreleases are not made throughthe spillway, it said, adding that“the releases are made in stepsso as not to cause any problemto the people who are livingdownstream of the dam”.

“The supervisory com-mittee duly assisted by thesub-committee are monitoringthe system with reference to allsafety aspects of the dam,” theaffidavit said.

The top court, in 2006, hadpermitted Tamil Nadu to raisethe storage level ofMullaperiyar dam up to 142 ft.It had also permitted TamilNadu to carry out furtherstrengthening measures as sug-gested by CWC and had hopedthat Kerala would cooperate inthe matter.

“The State of Kerala and itsofficers are restrained fromcausing any obstruction. Afterthe strengthening work is com-plete to the satisfaction ofCWC, independent expertswould examine the safety anglebefore the water level is per-mitted to be raised to 152 ft,”the apex court had said.

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Plans are afoot to providelawyers and the legal com-

munity hands-on trainingthrough live demonstrations one-filing of complaints, sum-mons and payments once thecoronavirus-induced restric-tions are lifted and courtsresume normal functioning, asenior official said on Saturday.

The Department of Justicein the Union Law Ministry, inassociation with the e-com-mittee of the Supreme Court,plans to start such live demon-strations.

While e-filing videos havebeen uploaded on YouTubeand manuals are available fordownload, since everyone isnot tech savvy, live demon-strations will start soon in thecorridors of courts, said JointSecretary in the Department ofJustice G R Raghavender.

He made these remarks ata webinar on enforcing con-tract organised by AssociatedChambers of Commerce andIndustry of India(ASSOCHAM).

Noting that India is plan-ning to further improve andbreak into top 50 in terms ofthe World Bank’s Ease of DoingBusiness ranking, he saidenforcement of contracts is akey performance indicator.

India has moved from therank 178 in 2016 to 163 in2020.

“A lot has been done butthe impact has not been felt,” he

was quoted as saying by anASSOCHAM statement.

The enforcing contractindicator is measured on thebasis of three important para-meters -- time estimate, costestimate and quality of judicialprocess index.

He explained that in India,for resolving a commercial dis-pute in a district commercialcourt it takes 1,445 days whichis worse than South Asianaverage of 1,101 days, in OECDhigh-income countries it isjust 557 days, in Singaporeand New Zealand it takes 164days.

While in terms of costestimates, in India 31 per centgoes as the legal expenditure ofthe dispute, whereas in SouthAsia it is 29.6 per cent, inOECD countries it is 21.5 percent and in Iceland it takes onlynine per cent, in Bhutan it is 0-1 per cent.

In terms of the quality ofthe judicial process index, it hasan 18-point score.

“India’s score is 10.5,despite scoring above averagewe still have not fared better,while South Asian average is 7,OECD is 11 and in top 20countries it is 15.5 per cent,” hesaid according to the statement.

Noting that case manage-ment needs to be improved toreduce the time taken andreduce pendency, he suggestedthat lawyers need to use courtmanagement tools available onthe department’s website.

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The State ElectionCommission of Rajasthan

on Saturday announced theelection for the six municipalcorporations in Jaipur,Jodhpur and Kota.

Under this, voting forward councillor in these cor-porations will be held in twophases, according to theElection Commissionspokesman.

The public notification for

the election will be released onOctober 14. In the first phase,on October 29, voting will beheld for Jaipur Heritage,Jodhpur North and KotaNorth Municipal Corporationwhile Jaipur Greater, JodhpurSouth and Kota South munic-ipal corporations will go topolls on November 1.

There are 35.97 lakh eligi-ble voters in the six municipalcorporations, including over18.76 lakh male and 17.21 lakhfemale voters.

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The Central Reserve PoliceForce on Saturday said it is

looking into the “authenticity”of a video, posted by Congressleader Rahul Gandhi onTwitter, in which some troopsallege that they are being madeto move for operational dutiesin a non bullet proof vehicle.

“CRPF has adequate pro-tective vehicles to meet variedoperational requirements,”force spokesperson DeputyInspector General MosesDhinakaran said in a state-ment.

“The authenticity of thevideo is being probed into byCRPF,” the statement said.

The about 3.25 lakh per-sonnel-strong CRPF is thelead internal security force ofthe country and is deployedextensively for conductinganti-Naxal operations in vari-ous states.

Gandhi attacked the gov-ernment over provision ofnon-bullet proof vehicles forsoldiers, while spending Rs8,400 crore to procure aircraftfor Prime Minister NarendraModi.

“Is this justice?” he askedon Twitter along with a videoof a purported conversationamong soldiers being trans-ported in non-bullet proof

vehicles.“Our jawans are being sent

in non-bullet proof trucks toget martyred and a Rs 8,400crore aircraft is brought for thePM! Is this justice,” he said ina tweet in Hindi. The videoshows a conversation betweensoldiers objecting to theirtransportation in a non-bulletproof vehicle, while theirseniors were using bullet-proofvehicles.

They also complained thatby doing so their lives werebeing compromised and theauthorities were playing withtheir and their families’ lives.

The government hasbrought two VVIP planes fortravel of the President, PrimeMinister and Vice President,even as it maintained that theprocess for procuring the twoaircraft had begun under theUPA government, and the cur-rent dispensation has onlybrought it to a logical conclu-sion.

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The total number ofCoronavirus cases in

Gujarat crossed the 1.5 lakhmark and rose to 1,50,415 withaddition of 1,221 cases onSaturday, the state healthdepartment said.

The state’s COVID-19death toll rose to 3,560 after tenmore patients succumbed tothe virus, it said.

At the same time, 1,456patients were discharged, tak-ing the tally of recovered casesto 1,30,897.

Gujarat’s recovery rate thusimproved to 87.02 per cent,thedepartment said in its release.

As many as 51,288 testswere conducted in the state inthe last 24 hours, at the rate of789.05 tests per day per millionpopulation, taking the totalnumber of samples tested so farto 49,61,455.

Surat continues to report thehighest number of daily cases inthe state, with 252 cases record-ed in the district on Saturday.

Ahmedabad remained atthe second spot with 176 newcases,followed by Vadodara with119 and Rajkot 114 cases.

Among other districts,Jamnagar reported 96 newcases, Gandhinagar andJunagadh 37 each, Mehsana35, Banaskantha and Bharuch34 each.

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Page 6:  · 2 days ago · MLA Govardhan Dangi, the grand old party has been reduced to 88 seats in MP assembly. While the BJP after losing Jhabua bypoll and demise of Agar MLA Manohar Untwal,

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Commerce and IndustryPiyush Goyal on Saturday

reviewed the progress of con-struction activities at PragatiMaidan which is being rede-veloped into an IntegratedExhibition-cum-ConventionCentre (IECC).

Minister of Housing andUrban Affairs H.S.Puri,Principal Advisor to the PrimeMinister, P K Sinha, Officersfrom the Ministry ofCommerce and Industry,ITPO, NBCC, and other agen-cies involved in the activitytook part in the virtual meet-ing, an official release said.

After going through thepresentations and videos on thestatus of the construction activ-ities, Goyal expressed satisfac-tion over the progress, as all thecritical activities are undercontrol.

Construction activities,which had suffered earlier dueto lockdown and subsequentmigration of labour, gainedmomentum in June, and thesame is being maintained.About 4800 workers arepresently engaged in variousactivities at the site.The com-plete project is likely to behanded over by October 2021.

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Mortgage lender HDFCLtd’s CEO Keki Mistry on

Saturday said the “worst isbehind us” and the economicrecovery has been faster thanexpected.

Stating that theDecember quarter growthcould outperform the expan-sion logged in the corre-sponding quarter a year ago,Mistry said that the Indianeconomy has shown its resilien-cy.

Benign interest rate regimewill continue going forwardand that rates will go up onlyafter economic activity gathersmore pace and inflation pres-sure rises, Mistry, vice chair-man and CEO, HDFC Ltd, saidat an online dialogue organisedby the All India ManagementAssociation (AIMA).

He, however, said thatinterest rates have bottomedout.

The government shouldidentify the job creating sectorsand address their issues on pri-ority, AIMA said in a releasequoting him.

Mistry said housing andreal estate sector is the biggestemployer in the economy afteragriculture, and that 80 per centof the workforce in the sectorrequire minimal skills.

He also sought prioritysupport for the manufacturingsectors. Talking about therepayment issues in the hous-ing and the real estate sector,Mistry said that he expectednon-performing loans to be insingle digits. The veteranfinancial sector player also saidthat most of the job losses dur-ing COVID-19 were confinedto low-income workers and thejob losses for the kind of peo-ple who borrow money werenot alarming.

The non-performing indi-vidual loans could be in therange of 2.5-4 per cent, whichis also the extent of loans thatthe RBI has allowed to restruc-ture, Mistry added.

On the economic condi-tion, Mistry said the Indianeconomy had proved to beresilient.

“The worst is behind usand the recovery has beenfaster than expected. By the end

of December, the economywould be at the pre-COVIDlevels for most sectors. TheDecember quarter growthcould be better than the growthin the December quarter lastyear,” he said.

However, Mistry qualifiedhis optimism saying that a lotdepended on whether anothervirus wave hits in the winter.Still, he said, the governmentwas aware that India could notafford another lockdown.

Job creation and leavingmoney in the hands of the peo-ple should be the top two pri-orities of the government,Mistry said. Consumptionbeing 60 per cent of the Indianeconomy, the recovery andgrowth efforts have to be led byboosting consumption, he said.

“The cost of loweringtaxes would not be too highwhereas the benefits from high-er consumption would far out-weigh the revenue loss to thegovernment. While the corpo-rate tax rates had gone down,the peak rate for individual taxrate had gone up from 35 percent to 44 per cent,” Mistrysaid.

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Exports of agri-commoditiesrose by 43.4 per cent to

�53,626.6 crore in the firsthalf of the current fiscalnotwithstanding the ongoingCovid-19 crisis, the UnionAgriculture Ministry said onSaturday.

Farm exports stood at�37,397.3 crore during theApril-September period of the2019-20 fiscal, it said.

In September 2020, agriexports rose by 81.7 per cent to�9,296 crore from �5,114 crorein September 2019.

“The consistent and con-certed efforts of the govern-ment to boost agriculturalexports are bearing fruit asdespite of the on-going Covid-19 crisis, the export of essentialagri commodities for thecumulative period of April-September, 2020 has increasedby 43.4 per cent to �53,626.6crore,” the ministry said in astatement.

Positive growth wasrecorded in export of ground-nut (35 per cent), refined sugar(104 per cent), wheat (206 percent), basmati rice (13 percent) and non-basmati rice(105 per cent) during the April-September of this fiscal fromover the year-ago, it said.

Furthermore, balance oftrade during April-September2020 was significantly positiveat �9,002 crore as against trade

deficit of �2,133 crore in thesaid period, it added.

To boost agri exports, thegovernment announcedAgriculture Export Policy, 2018which inter-alia provides forcluster-based approach forexport-centric farming of cashcrops like fruits, vegetables,spices, etc.

Whereby clusters for spe-cific agri products are identifiedacross the country and focusedinterventions are carried out inthese clusters.

Eight Export PromotionForums (EPFs) have been setup under the aegis of agri-export promotion bodyAPEDA to boost export ofagriculture/ horticulture prod-ucts.

The EPFs are created onbanana, grapes, mango, pome-granate, onion, dairy, rice bas-mati and rice non-basmati.

The EPF are making con-certed efforts to identify, doc-ument particulars of, andreach out to stakeholdersacross the entire production/supply chain of export forincreasing these exports sig-nificantly to the global market,through various interventions,it said.

That apart, the govern-ment has also announced Agri-Infra Fund of Rs 1 lakh croreto improve agri business envi-ronment which will promoteagri exports in due course, theministry said.

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Several trade bodies haveurged The Centre to set up

a regulator to deal with the ris-ing freight charges, amid theproblem of container shortagesthat exporters are facing.

Engineering ExportPromotion Council of India(EEPC) claimed that shippinglines are demanding highfreight charges as inward traf-fic from different countries,particularly from China, hasdeclined for which theexporters are required to pay ahigher amount for outboundconsignments.

“Imports from China havefallen and the liners haveincreased freight rates. Noshipping company likes to sailempty after delivery of exportconsignments,” Sanjay Budhia,chairman of CII national com-mittee on exports and imports,told PTI.

He said all the exportersacross the country are facing

this problem.“This is leading to a situa-

tion where cargo is lying atports. We urged the govern-ment to set up a shipping reg-ulator to control the freightrates,” Budhia said, adding thatexports have started to pick updespite the coronavirus crisis.

After contracting for sixmonths in a row, the country’sexports grew by 5.27 per centto USD 27.4 billion inSeptember.

The shipping companieshave raised freight rates due tofalling imports from China asliners do not have much cargowhile they are returning, anofficial of the engineeringexporters’ body said.

“This is making Indianexports uncompetitive in theglobal markets,” an EEPC offi-cial said.After witnessing asharp fall, engineering exportshave somewhat steadied,though the contraction con-tinues, he added.

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Economic activity hit byCovid-19 pandemic may

be gradually returning back tonormal levels of last year as ten-dering activity, a good barom-eter to gauge the level of eco-nomic activity, growing by astaggering 43 per cent inSeptember as compared tosame month last year.

Though the high growthduring the month is largely onthe back of low base YoY, stilltendering in September hasreached the highest level sinceMarch 2019, Emkay GlobalFinancial Services said in aresearch report.

With the gradual lifting ofthe lockdown, tendering andawarding activity had pickedup in July but slipped againmodestly in August and wasstill below the normal run-ratedespite a low base, it h aslicked up now in September.

The bulk of the pick-up intendering during the monthwas driven by Water Supply (up24 per cent yoy) and Roadways(up 57 per cent yoy) whileIrrigation (down 34 per centyoy) was weaker than recentrun-rate.

Average monthly run-rateof tender value after FY19 hasbeen around Rs 45,000 crore as

compared to which September2020 was at Rs 74,100 crore.The September 2020 tenderingactivity is still down 15 per centyoy despite a low base in thesecond half of the previouscomparable period.

Emkay said that despitesigns of a pick up, in FY21 withthe fiscal situation of both theCentre and State governmentsalready under pressure andfurther worsening likely due toCovid-19, tendering andawarding activity shouldremain subdued.

The awarding activity inSeptember 2020, in valueterms, was up 25 per cent yoy.The total awards stood atRs28700 crore for the monthwhich compares with a month-ly run-rate of Rs 30,000 croreuntil FY19 and

L&T has so far reported anorder inflow (ex-services) ofonly Rs 17,500 crore for theentire Q2FY21 as compared toa normalized run-rate of morethan Rs 30,000 crore, the bro-kerage said. The breakdown ofthe orders suggests that bulk ofthe increase is due to orderssuch as a charter lease of FPSOfrom ONGC and renewableenergy sector orders bagged bySterling & Wilson, some ofwhich may not be relevant orsustainable.

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The accelerated rise in equi-ties will continue at least in

the near future, as investorsexpect a stimulus bonanza forthe economy right before thestart of the festive season.

Accordingly, traders arealso expected to remain invest-ed on the back of anticipatedhealthy quarterly results andthe Reserve Bank’s decision tocontinue with the accom-modative policy.

However, volatility mightrise on account of profit book-ing due to expensive proposi-tions along with the upcomingmacro-economic inflation andindustrial data points.

“After a large weekly gain,the Nifty is close to a resistanceband of 12,113-12,246. Hencethe Index may inch up gradu-ally, we may see a lot of stockand sector performances basedon results and otherannouncements,” DeepakJasani, Head of Retail Researchat HDFC Securities, told IANS.

“For traders this is a goodperiod for short term flipping.The support from RBI in itsrecently concluded MPC meet

removes one macro concern.”“Hence the correction in

terms of index also may be lim-ited as and when it begins.Banks seem to have some moreupside in store.”

The Reserve Bank made anexpected move last Friday byretaining key lending rates,but cheered investors and homebuyers by giving a liquidityboost and an optimistic out-look. The RBI said it will resortto on-tap long-term repo oper-ations and open market bondpurchases to ensure liquidity inthe banking system.It has alsoeased capital requirements onhome loans to spur lending tothe real estate sector.“Developments around stimu-lus package both from the USand the Indian governmentwould keep the sentimentspositive,a said SiddharthaKhemka, Head - RetailResearch, Motilal OswalFinancial Services.

“Going ahead, market isexpected to remain positive butwith very sector or stock spe-cific actions. Investors wouldnow track earnings season andwatch out for managementcommentaries.”

A positive outlook guid-ance from IT majors might alsotrigger fresh buying, cited ana-lysts.

Next week, IT firms Wipro,HCL Tech and Infosys may givesome guidance on the outlook.

“Markets are expected tocontinue their rally in theshort-term in anticipation offurther measures from theIndian government to providea bonanza of stimulus,” saidVinod Nair, Head of Researchat Geojit Financial Services.

“Upcoming hearing ofmoratorium is also expected todrive the domestic market nextweek.”

According to S. Hariharan,Head - Sales Trading, EmkayGlobal Financial Services: “AsNifty approaches lifetime highs,we can expect rotation of per-formance among sectors withsideways movement in broad-er indices and a consolidationof strong market performance.”

“Defensive sectors can beexpected to outperform in thenear-term in such a scenario.Overall fund flow pictureremains strong with DIIs andFIIs net buyers incrementallyover the last few sessions.”

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Although the banks remainflush with liquidity and

interest rates lowered signifi-cantly, credit offtake frombanks was very low and“anaemic” during the first halfof the current financial year(2020-21).

The low credit offtake canbe attributed to the weakdemand and persistent uncer-tainty amid the pandemic.

“During H1 2020-21, bankcredit offtake was anaemic,reflecting weak demand anduncertainty in the wake of thepandemic,” showed theMonetary Policy Report for theOctober 2020 released by theReserve Bank of India (RBI).

It showed that non-foodcredit growth (y-o-y) was 5.1per cent as of September 25,2020, lower than 8.6 per cent ayear ago, driven by weakmomentum and base effects.

It noted that the slowdownin credit growth was spreadacross all bank groups, espe-cially foreign banks.

Credit growth of the pub-lic sector banks remained mod-est, although with some upticksince March 2020.

“Of the incremental cred-it extended by the scheduledcommercial banks (SCBs) on a

year-on-year basis (September27, 2019 to September 25,2020), 62.3 per cent was pro-vided by the public sectorbanks and 41.2 per cent by theprivate sector banks, while theshare of the foreign banksturned negative,” said thereport.

The deceleration in non-food credit growth was broad-based, with credit offtake slow-ing down in all the major sec-tors.

Though personal loans andcredit to agriculture registeredsome improvement in July2020, the momentum could notbe sustained in August.

Credit growth to servicesand industrial sectors has alsotapered off after showing somepromise in the Q1 of FY21.

Personal loans accountedfor the largest share of totalcredit flow in August 2020, fol-lowed by services. While theshare of personal loans, servicesand agriculture increased inAugust 2020 vis-a-vis the pre-vious year, the share of indus-try contracted.

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Fuel consumers did not faceany change in petrol and

diesel prices for the entireweek as stable global oil pricesensured that oil marketingcompanies did not need to gofor a revision.

Diesel price has stayed atthe same level since lastSaturday, completing one fullweek when the fuel did not seeany revision. Petrol prices havebeen stable for a longer period,completing 18 days onSaturday. With no revision infuel prices on Saturday, in thenational capital, diesel contin-ues to be priced at Rs 70.46 perlitre. Similarly, prices of the fuelin Mumbai, Chennai andKolkata, is also stable at �76.86,�75.95 and �73.99 respective-ly.

The price of petrol inDelhi, Mumbai, Chennai andKolkata remains at �81.06,�87.74, �84.14 and �82.59 perlitre respectively.

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The pandemic may havebrought economic activities

to a standstill but fund raisingthrough public and rights ofissue of equities increased near-ly 28 per cent to Rs 76,830 croreduring the first half of financialyear 2020-21.

During the same periodlast year, last fiscal, funds worthRs 60,133 crore were raisedthrough issue of equity shares.

“Resource mobilisationthrough public and rightsissues of equity increased to Rs76,830 crore during H1 2020-21 from Rs 60,133 crore in thecorresponding period of theprevious year,” said theMonetary Policy Report forOctober 2020 released by theReserve Bank of India (RBI).

It also showed that ForeignPortfolio Investors (FPI) turnednet buyers in the Indian equi-ty market after panic sales inMarch due to flight to safety .

Mutual funds, however,were net sellers to the tune of

Rs 24,801 crore during first halfof the FY21.

After undergoing intensevolatility in the fourth quarterof 2019-20, following theCOVID-19 outbreak with amassive disruption in busi-ness activity, the Indian equi-ty market made a strong V-shaped recovery in the first halfof FY21.

The BSE Sensex gained46.5 per cent in April-September 2020-21 after hittinga low of 25,981 on March 23,2020. Strong rallies in globalequity markets on the back ofmassive fiscal and monetarystimuli in major countries andthe measures undertaken inIndia boosted domestic marketsentiments.

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The Income Tax (I-T)Department, based on

credible intelligence, performeda search and seizure action inAhmedabad on a groupengaged in real estate, con-struction and land tradingbusiness.

The search was conductedat 27 premises on Thursday,which included the offices andresidences of some associates ofthe group.

During the search, unex-plained cash of around Rs 69lakh and jewellery wortharound Rs 82 lakh were seized.

Besides, 18 bank lockershave been found and placedunder restraint. A large num-ber of incriminating docu-ments and digital data inmobile phones, pen drives andcomputers have also beenfound and seized.

The group had around 96companies at a few commonaddresses, which were beingused for routing money and forland holding. Most of the com-panies were found to have noreal business and very fewreturns of income have beenfiled. Many have not filedreturns with the ROC. Somedirectors of these concerns,other than the main familymembers, have accepted to bedummy directors with meresigning roles. Innovative meth-ods of tax evasion by increas-ing the cost of propertiesthrough intra-group transac-tions, on which tax is not paid,have been noticed by thedepartment.

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Page 7:  · 2 days ago · MLA Govardhan Dangi, the grand old party has been reduced to 88 seats in MP assembly. While the BJP after losing Jhabua bypoll and demise of Agar MLA Manohar Untwal,

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Taipei: Taiwanese PresidentTsai Ing-wen said on Saturdayshe has hopes for less tensionswith China and in the regionif Beijing will listen to Taipei’sconcerns, alter its approachand restart dialogue with theself-ruled island democracy.

Speaking at Taiwan’sNational Day celebrations onSaturday, Tsai took note ofrecent remarks by Chineseleader Xi Jinping in a videomessage to the UN GeneralAssembly that China wouldnever seek hegemony, expan-sion or to establish a sphere ofinfluence.

“As countries in the regionand around the world are nowconcerned about China’sexpanding hegemony, we hopethis is the beginning of gen-uine change,” Tsai said in herannual address at thePresidential Office in down-town Taipei.

If Beijing can “heedTaiwan’s voice, change the wayit handles cross-strait rela-tions, and jointly facilitatecross-strait reconciliation andpeaceful dialogue, I believethat regional tension can sure-

ly be resolved,” Tsai said.China’s ruling Communist

Party claims the self-governingisland as Chinese territory tobe annexed by force if neces-sary.

Beijing cut contacts withTsai’s government followingher election to a first term in2016 and has steadilyincreased diplomatic, militaryand economic pressure on theisland of 23 million people tocompel her to endorse its con-tention that Taiwan and themainland constitute a singleChinese nation, which it refersto as the “1992 Consensus.”

In Beijing, a spokespersonfor the Cabinet’s TaiwanAffairs Office responded toTsai’s address by renewingChina’s demand for conces-sions and accusing her of “dis-rupting the exchanges andcooperation” between thesides, according to state broad-caster CCTV.

Zhu Fenglian also accusedTsai of “deliberately mislead-ing the people of Taiwan” and“warning the Taiwan author-ities to adhere to the 1992Consensus.” AP

Karachi: For the first time,Pakistan’s two major Oppositionparties have come out openlyagainst the country’s powerfulmilitary, accusing it of riggingthe 2018 elections that broughtImran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf party to power.

In the past, political leadershave only indirectly pointed tothe involvement of the militaryestablishment in the country’spolitical affairs but this is thefirst time that the leaders of thetwo main Opposition parties -- the Pakistan Peoples Party(PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim

League Nawaz (PML-N) haveopenly criticised the military.

Former prime minister andPML-N supremo Sharif, who isin London since November lastyear and facing a number of cor-ruption cases, fired the firstsalvo at the inaugural meetingof the Pakistan DemocraticMovement, an alliance formedby Opposition parties lastmonth to oust Prime MinisterKhan.

Sharif alleged that the mil-itary rigged the 2018 electionsto bring Prime Minister Khanto power.

He said interfering in poli-tics in uniform amounts totreason under the country’sConstitution.

His allegations sparked anangry response from Khan,who said Sharif was “playing avery dangerous game” by humil-iating the military and intelli-gence services. He dismissed theallegations of rigged elections asbaseless.

Sharif served as Pakistan’sprime minister three times,first removed by a president in1993, then by military rulerPervez Musharraf in 1999. A

court in 2017 ousted him frompower over corruption allega-tions. Khan, a former cricketer,came to power in 2018.

After Sharif, PPP chairmanBilawal Bhutto Zardari onFriday accused the military ofrigging the 2018 elections.

Bilawal warned that anyinterference in the coming leg-islative assembly elections inGilgit-Baltistan would lead to astrong reaction from his party,including a siege of Islamabadand a sit-in in the city.

“Such things were neverwitnessed even in dictatorships

of General Zia and GenMusharraf,” Bilawal was quotedas saying by the Dawn newspa-per.

“I wonder how you deploya soldier inside and another out-side the polling station. Thatwas so strange. Even if you (mil-itary establishment) have donesomething wrong or not, youwould be blamed either way.This should not happen,” hesaid.

He said the “PPP would notallow anyone to steal the peoplesmandate in the coming electionsin Gilgit-Baltistan.” PTI

Kathmandu: Nepal onSaturday reported the highestsingle day spike of 5,008 newCOVID-19 cases, taking thenational tally to 105,684, thehealth ministry said.

A total of 19,320 PCR testswere conducted in the last 24hours across the country.

This is the highest single-day COVID-19 spike in thecountry since the first case wasreported on January 23 thisyear.

As many as 1,229 peoplewere discharged during theperiod from hospitals afterrecovery. With this, the num-ber of total recovered patientshas reached 74,252.

A total of 1164,557 PCRtests have been conductedacross the country so far, it said.

At present, there are 30,818COVID-19 active people acrossthe country.

The total number ofCOVID-19 deaths in the coun-try has reached 614. PTI

Columbus: Nearly 50,000 vot-ers received incorrect absenteeballots in the county that ishome to Ohio’s capital andlargest city, elections officialssaid Friday as they promisedcorrected ballots would bemailed within 72 hours.

With about 240,000 ballotsmailed, that meant one in fivevoters received a wrong ballot.

The error happenedSaturday afternoon whensomeone changed a setting ona machine that places absenteeballots into mailing envelopes,Franklin County elections offi-cials said Thursday.

Some ballots had an incor-rect congressional race, whileothers had the correct infor-mation but were sent to votersin a different precinct. TheFranklin County ElectionsBoard said 49,669 votersreceived incorrect ballots out of237,498 that were mailed.

That represents 6 per centof Franklin County’s approxi-mately 880,000 registered vot-ers, and 0.6 per cent of the 8million voters registeredstatewide in the presidentialbattleground.

The process to print, stuffthe replacement ballots inenvelopes and mail them wasunderway Friday, the FranklinCounty Elections Boardannounced.

The board also said it willmail postcards to all affectedvoters detailing the situationand highlighting voters’ optionsmoving forward. Those optionsinclude voting in-person atthe board’s offices on the city’snorth side.

The elections board saidmultiple checks are in place toensure only one voter can casta ballot, including rejectingany replacement ballots ifsomeone went ahead and votedin person.

The news of the incorrectballots brought renewed focuson an election seeing anunprecedented number ofabsentee ballot requests,spurred by the coronaviruspandemic and concerns aboutin-person voting. On Tuesday,Ohio’s elections chiefannounced that Ohio’s 88 elec-tions boards received a recordnumber of absentee ballotapplications. AP

Addis Ababa: Israeli PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahuhas told his Ethiopian coun-terpart that his country has theintention to “immediately”bring over some 2,000Ethiopian Jews.

The announcement cameFriday after a phone call withPrime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

Netanyahu’s office said thedecision comes “out of hiscommitment to the continuedaliyah of Jews to Israel.” Some

13,000 Ethiopian Jews are inthe capital, Addis Ababa,and in Gondar, most of themwaiting to be taken to Israel,which they call home.

Most live in dire condi-tions and have threatened to

stage a hunger strike if they’renot allowed to travel to their“homeland.” Many say theyhave family members who havesettled in Israel.

“Some 250 people have leftfor Israel within the past yearuntil COVID-19 came. Now thetravel has stopped, but Israeliofficials are conducting inter-views online,” Nigusie AlemuEyasu, program director for theEthiopian Jews Community,told The Associated Press. AP

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Anew report estimates that29 million women and girls

are victims of modern slavery,exploited by practices includingforced labour, forced marriage,debt-bondage and domesticservitude.

Grace Forrest, co-founderof the Walk Free anti-slaveryorganisation, said Friday that means one in every 130women and girls is living inmodern slavery today, morethan the population ofAustralia.

“The reality is that there aremore people living in slaverytoday than any other time inhuman history,” she told a UNnews conference.

Walk Free defines modernslavery “as the systematicremoval of a person’s freedom,

where one person is exploitedby another for personal orfinancial gain,” she said.

Forrest said the global estimate of one in 130 womenand girls living in modern slavery was made based onwork by Walk Free, theInternational LabourOrganisation and theInternational Organisation forMigration, both UN agencies.

“What this report hasshown is that gender stacks theodds against girls from con-ception throughout their lives,”she said.

According to the report,titled “Stacked Odds,” womenaccount for 99 per cent of allvictims of forced sexualexploitation, 84 per cent of allvictims of forced marriage, and58 per cent of all victims offorced labour.

Washington: The second pres-idential debate between DonaldTrump and Joe Biden set forOctober 15 has been cancelled,the organisers have announced,after the incumbent USPresident refused to do a vir-tual face-off with hisDemocratic challenger despiteconcerns over his COVID-19diagnosis.

In a statement, the non-partisan (CPD) confirmed onFriday that the second versionscheduled to be held in Miamai,Florida, would be scrapped.The CPD said it was preparingfor the next debate to held onOctober 22 in Nashville,Tennessee, less than two weeksahead of the November 3 pres-idential election.

The first presidentialdebate between Trump andBiden was held on September29 in Cleveland, Ohio. Theone-off debate between thevice presidential candidatesMike Pence and Kamala Harristook place on October 7 in SaltLake City, Utah.

“On October 8, CPDannounced that for the healthand safety of all involved, thesecond presidential debate,

scheduled for October 15 inMiami, would be conductedvirtually,” the CPD said in astatement, officially announc-ing the cancellation of the sec-ond debate.

“Subsequently, the cam-paigns of the two candidateswho qualified for participationin the debate made a series ofstatements concerning theirrespective positions regardingtheir willingness to participatein a virtual debate on October15, and each now hasannounced alternate plans forthat date.”

“It is now apparent therewill be no debate on October15, and the CPD will turn its

attention to preparations for thefinal presidential debate sched-uled for October 22,” the CPDadded.

The cancellation is the cul-mination of a furious 48-hourback-and-forth between thecommission and theRepublican and Democraticcampaigns over the format ofthe second presidential debate.

The commission, with thebacking of their health advis-ers, announced on Thursdaythat -- because Trump testedpositive for the coronavirus --the debate that was scheduledfor Miami would be held vir-tually, with the two candidatesappearing from remote loca-

tions. Trump swiftly rejected that

plan, saying he would not showup and setting off a series ofevents that put the future of allgeneral election debates intoquestion.

The Trump campaign hasalleged that the commissionwas “biased” towards Biden,while the Democrat’s teamaccused the president of duck-ing the debate.

Trump has been accused ofdownplaying the seriousness ofCOVID-19, which has killedmore than 213,000 people inthe US where 7,664,000 con-firmed cases have been report-ed, making the country theworld’s worst-hit nation.

Biden has reacted to thecancellation of the second pres-idential debate in a statementthrough a spokesperson, call-ing it “shameful” that PresidentTrump “ducked the only debatein which the voters get to askquestions.”

“Vice President Bidenlooks forward to making hiscase to the American peopleabout how to overcome thispandemic, restore Americanleadership and our alliances in

the world, and bring theAmerican people together,” hiscampaign spokesman AndrewBates said.

“It’s shameful that DonaldTrump ducked the only debatein which the voters get to ask thequestions -- but it’s no surprise.Everyone knows that DonaldTrump likes to bully reporters,but obviously he doesn’t havethe guts to answer for his recordto voters at the same time asVice President Biden.”

Trump’s communicationsdirector Tim Murtaugh criti-cised the “biased” commissionfor cancelling the seconddebate, saying “there’s no med-ical reason to stop” it.

The primary mission of theCommission on PresidentialDebates is to ensure, for thebenefit of the American elec-torate, that general electiondebates are held every fouryears between and among theleading candidates for theoffices of President and VicePresident of the United States.

The CPD has sponsoredgeneral election presidentialdebates in every election since1988, according to the com-mission’s website. PTI

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New Delhi: Any peace dealwith the Taliban “will not andshould not be detrimental” tothe national security of anycountry including India, and itis for New Delhi to decidewhether to engage with themilitant outfit, top Afghanpeace negotiator AbdullahAbdullah said on Saturday.

In an interview to PTI,Abdullah, the chairman of thepowerful High Council forNational Reconciliation, alsodispelled India’s apprehensionsthat a prominent role for theTaliban as part of a possibleoutcome to the ongoing intra-Afghan peace talks could bedetrimental to its strategicinterests.

“It is not in our interest ifany terrorist group has anyfoothold in Afghanistan. Theagreement should be one whichis acceptable to people ofAfghanistan. It should be dig-nified, sustainable and durable,”Abdullah said.

The influential Afghanleader also said if a peace dealis struck with Taliban, then allother terror groups “freelanc-ing in mountains and deserts ofAfghanistan and launching

attacks on us or any othernation” will have to cease theiractivities.

“Peaceful settlement willnot be and should not be detri-mental to any country’s nation-al security including India.India is a country which hashelped Afghanistan, con-tributed to Afghanistan. It is afriend of Afghanistan,” he saidwhen asked whether he canassure that the outcome of thepeace talks will not be detri-mental to India’s security inter-ests.

There have been appre-hensions in New Delhi thatPakistan might leverage itsinfluence over the Taliban tostep up cross-border terrorismin Jammu and Kashmir if themilitant group regains politicalprominance after a possiblepeace deal between it and theAfghan government.

Abdullah arrived here on Tuesday on a five-day visit as part of his efforts to build a regional consensusand support for the historicAfghan peace process.

During his stay, he briefedPrime Minister Narendra Modion the peace talks, and held

meetings with External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar andNational Security Advisor AjitDoval.

Asked whether he got anyindication of India’s willingnessto engage with the Taliban,Abdullah said,”personally, Iencourage engagement of Indiain the peace process. I did notmake the suggestion. It is forIndia to decide how to engagewith a group or not engage witha group. I did not pursue it,” hesaid.

The Taliban and theAfghan government are hold-ing direct talks, aimed at end-ing decades of war that haskilled tens of thousands ofpeople and ravaged variousparts of Afghanistan.

On September 12, an Indian delegation attendedthe inaugural ceremony marking the launch of directtalks between the Taliban andthe Afghan government inDoha. Jaishankar joined itthrough a video conferencewhich was attended by a num-ber of key leaders from sever-al countries including USSecretary of State MikePompeo. PTI

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Moscow: With Russia’s media-tion, Armenia and Azerbaijanagreed to a cease-fire inNagorno-Karabakh startingSaturday following two weeks ofheavy fighting that marked theworst outbreak of hostilities inthe separatist region in morethan a quarter-century.

The countries’ foreign min-isters said in a statement that thetruce is intended to exchangeprisoners and recover the dead,adding that specific details willbe agreed on later. Minutesafter it entered force at noon(0800 GMT), Armenia andAzerbaijan accused each otherof breaching the cease-fire withnew attacks. The claims could-n’t be independently verified.

The announcement of thetruce followed 10 hours of talksin Moscow sponsored byRussian Foreign Minister SergeyLavrov, who read the state-ment. It stipulated that thecease-fire should pave the wayfor talks on settling the conflict.

If the truce holds, it wouldmark a major diplomatic coupfor Russia, which has a securi-ty pact with Armenia but alsocultivated warm ties withAzerbaijan.

The latest outburst of fight-

ing between Azerbaijani andArmenian forces beganSeptember 27 and left hundredsof people dead in the biggestescalation of the decades-oldconflict over Nagorno-Karabakh since a separatist warthere ended in 1994. The regionlies in Azerbaijan but has beenunder control of ethnicArmenian forces backed byArmenia.

The talks between the for-eign ministers of Armenia andAzerbaijan were held on invi-tation from Russian PresidentVladimir Putin, who brokeredthe cease-fire in a series of callswith President Ilham Aliyev ofAzerbaijan and Armenia’s PrimeMinister Nikol Pashinian.

Since the start of the latest

fighting, Armenia said it wasopen to a cease-fire, whileAzerbaijan insisted that itshould be conditional on theArmenian forces’ withdrawalfrom Nagorno-Karabakh, argu-ing that the failure of interna-tional efforts to negotiate apolitical settlement left it noother choice but to resort toforce.

Russia has co-sponsoredpeace talks on Nagorno-Karabakh together with theUnited States and France as co-chairs of the so-called MinskGroup, which is working underthe auspices of the Organisationfor Security and Cooperation inEurope. They haven’t producedany deal, leaving Azerbaijanincreasingly exasperated. AP

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Bogota (Colombia): Powerfulex-Colombia President ÁlvaroUribe was ordered freed fromhouse arrest Saturday while heis investigated for possible wit-ness tampering.

A judge ordered Uribe’srelease in a case that has divid-ed this South American nationand exposed lingering ten-sions over Colombia’s peace

accord for ending a half-cen-tury conflict with leftist guer-rillas. The Court ordered Uribedetained in August during theinvestigation, shockingColombians and unleashingprotests in favour and againstthe decision. He was the firstpresident in Colombia’s recenthistory to be ordered placed onhouse arrest. AP

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Page 8:  · 2 days ago · MLA Govardhan Dangi, the grand old party has been reduced to 88 seats in MP assembly. While the BJP after losing Jhabua bypoll and demise of Agar MLA Manohar Untwal,

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Bruised and batteredafter a string of

defeats, RajasthanRoyals will hope the

presence of BenStokes gets theadrenaline flowingas they seek a revivalof fortunes against ac h a r g e d - u pS u n r i s e r sHyderabad in theIndian PremierLeague on Sunday.

Rajasthan arestruggling at thepenultimate spoton the pointstable after twowins and fourstraight defeats,

while Sunrisers have won threeout of their six games so far andoccupy the third position.

The Royals will be relieved tohave the services of Stokes whocompletes his mandatory quaran-tine on Saturday. His absence hasseverely impacted the team’s cam-paign, as the inaugural seasonchampions struggled to figure outtheir best combination.

Stokes had taken compas-sionate leave in the middle ofEngland's home Test series againstPakistan in August and travelledto New Zealand to attend to hisfather who had been diagnosedwith brain cancer.

It was Stokes’ father whoreminded the star all-rounder ofhis duty towards his job and thatmight be playing in the 29-year-old's mind.

It is to be seen whether theWorld Cup winner, who has beenout of action for some time now,is afforded the luxury of somepractice or is played straight up.

“Stokes hasn't had a lot ofpractice, he gets out of quarantinetomorrow, so we'll see if he playsthe day after tomorrow,” skipperSteve Smith had said after thematch against Delhi Capitals.

Rajasthan, having lost toDelhi Capitals by a big margin of46 runs, will look to stage acomeback.

An aggressive bowling dis-play coupled with some goodfielding saw them restrict DelhiCapitals to 184 for eight.However, the batsmen, saveYashasvi Jaiswal (34) and RahulTewatia (38), struggled duringthe chase.

The top guns — Jos Buttler,Smith and Sanju Samson — willagain need to live up to theexpectations by contributing ina big way.

Samson (176) and Smith(157) scored runs in their firsttwo matches, twice taking theside past the 200-mark.

Rajasthan’s bowling is shoul-dered by pacer Jofra Archer andspinners Tewatia and ShreyasGopal.

The Royals were off to a fly-ing start, winning both theirgames at Sharjah but the formerchampions have since struggledto replicate those performances.

Having a slightly better sea-son than their beleaguered oppo-nents, Sunrisers were on theirway to suffer back-to-backdefeats before opener Jonny

Bairstow and star spinner RashidKhan helped them beat Kings XIPunjab by three wickets onThursday.

For Sunrisers, Bairstow hasbeen in prime form this season,smashing 97 off 55 balls againstKXIP, and the English openerwas at his explosive best againstthe Delhi Capitals and RoyalChallengers Bangalore, too.

Skipper David Warner, whohas scored 227 runs so far, wouldlike to carry on with his goodform after smashing 52 off 40balls in the last match.

Manish Pandey and KaneWilliamson are batsmen who canuse the long handle to good effectwhile youngsters Priyam Garg,Abdul Samad and AbhishekSharma are trying to carve aniche for themselves.

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Many small battles areexpected to unfold when

the season’s two most consis-tent teams — Mumbai Indiansand Delhi Capitals — crossswords in a clash of equals inthe Indian Premier Leaguehere on Sunday.

Be it a potent top-order, astrong middle-order or a lethalbowling attack, there is hardlyanything that separates thetwo sides.

If at all one team has aslight upper hand in anydepartment, it’s the experiencein Mumbai Indians’ pace bowl-ing arsenal. Both JaspritBumrah and Trent Boult, withyears of experience behindthem, could be the differencein the most sought-after con-test of this edition.

It means that ShikharDhawan will have to striveharder to give the Capitals asolid start. The left-handedbatsman has got starts inthe last few games butneeds a bigger inningsunder his belt and if itcomes in a big contest,Capitals will have gaineda lot.

In a way, young PrithviShaw and the in-form Rishabh

Pant will face their first stiff testwhen they face Bumrah andBoult, who can trouble anybatsman with their pace andaccuracy.

The good news for Capitalsis Shimron Hetmyer getting histouch back with the inningsagainst Rajasthan Royals onFriday. He seemed to be theonly weak link in Capitals’ranks but his six-laden knockagainst Royals has removedthat worry.

Capitals' skipper ShreyasIyer has been very impressiveso far both as a batsman and asthe leader of the pack. It will beinteresting to see how he useshis resources against his in-form counterpart RohitSharma and his smashing mid-dle-order due of Hardik Pandyaand Kieron Pollard.

They can change the com-plexion of the game withinminutes and handling themwill be the key. Krunal Pandya,too, is capable of conjuring upcameos that can turn thingsaround for Mumbai Indians.

Iyer has the exciting SouthAfrican pace duo of KagisoRabada and Anrich Nortze todo the job in that department.The guile of RavichandranAshwin further adds sting toCapitals' attack.

Axar Patel has nicely set-tled into the side after hereplaced the injured AmitMishra. His all-round abil-ity is another plus for theCapitals.

At the big AbuDhabi ground, a score inthe vicinity of 170 is

normally par for anyother side in the IPL, butfor Mumbai Indians and

Delhi Capitals, even 200may not appear safe.

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Sunil Narine and Prasidh Krishnadisplayed ice-cool temperamentat the death as Kolkata Knight

Riders pulled off a stunning two-runvictory over a self destructive KingsXI Punjab in an IPL game onSaturday.

Dinesh Karthik’s side pulled offyet another Houdini Act after theywere seemingly down and out whenKXIP opening pair KL Rahul (74)and Mayank Agawal (56) had put on115 runs in 14.2 overs while chasing165. It looked like it would be onlya matter of time when KXIP wouldwrap up the match and snap theirfour-match losing streak.

But in the end, KXIP made amess towards the end of their runchase to suffer their sixth defeat fromseven matches and fifth on the trotwhile KKR notched up their fourthwin in six matches. KXIP will nowneed a mathematical miracle toqualify.

The Mohali-based outfit need-ed 22 from the final three overs butthe match turned on its head in the18th over. Nicholas Pooran (16) gift-ed his wicket in the over bowled byNarine who conceded just two runs.

Needing 20 runs in the last twoovers, KXIP lost two wickets in thespace of three balls, including that of

Rahul, in the penultimate overbowled by pacer Prasidh Krishna.

KXIP needed 14 runs from thelast over and six of the final deliveryto take the match to Super Over butGlenn Maxwell could only score aboundary for KXIP to lose thematch by two runs.

Earlier, Rahul and Agarwal, thetop two run getters in this IPL, avoid-ed taking undue risk while gettingthe odd boundaries to keep the ask-ing rate under control. They were 47for no loss after powerplay with PatCummins bowling three of the firstsix overs.

Rahul was dropped by AndreRussell off the bowling of PrasidhKrishna in the second over when hewas on two. Russell hurt himselfwhile fielding after a few overs butreturned in the 11th over only toleave the field again in the 13th over.

KXIP were 76 for no loss at thehalfway mark and the duo kept ongetting the ones and twos withoutmuch trouble with the KKR sudden-ly finding a death over bowler lesswithout Russell.

KKR finally got the break-through with Agarwal holing out toSubhman Gill in the 15th over butnew man in Pooran went for anunnecessary shot that led to his and

KXIP’s downfall.Opting to bat, a counter-attack-

ing 58 off just 29 balls by skipperDinesh Karthik and openerShubman Gill's 57-run knock helpedKKR post 164 for 6.

Karthik's decision to bat firstseemed to be backfiring as KKR werestruggling at 63 for 3 in the 11th overbut he changed the complexion of

the innings with a magnificentknock which included eight foursand two sixes.

The KKR captain, who was runout in the last ball of the innings, hadsome exquisite shots and his place-ments were brilliant, besides his top-class running between the wicket.His fifty came off just 22 balls.

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BCCI President SouravGanguly’s request for a

shorter than mandated quar-antine period for the Indianteam in Brisbane, ahead of itstour of Australia, is likely tobe rejected, said a report inthe Sydney Morning Herald.

The COVID-19 pan-demic has changed the rulesof the game, which restartedwith the Test series betweenEngland and the West Indiesin July. Players have to be inquarantine for two weeksand be tested for the virusbefore they can take the field.

“Queensland health offi-cials are set to make cricket'smost powerful nation adhereto strict national protocols,details of which have delayedCricket Australia announcinga revised schedule for itsUSD 300 million summer,”the daily wrote in its report.

India is keen on areduced quarantine andwants the players to beallowed to train in a bio-secure bubble instead ofbeing restricted to a hotel

room, which, the BCCI fears,can take a toll on the fitnessof its players.

“We just hope the num-ber of quarantine days getreduced a bit. Because wedon’t want the players to goall that far and sit in hotelrooms for two weeks. It isvery, very depressing anddisappointing. We are look-ing at that, the quarantinething,” Ganguly had said inJuly.

The report added thatthe BCCI has filed an appli-cation, requesting that anextended playing squad,coaches, support staff andfamilies land in Brisbanedays after the final of theongoing Indian PremierLeague in the UAE onNovember 10, which is underconsideration.

“Queensland Health iscurrently assessing an appli-cation received from theIndian cricket team. We willwork directly with the teamas the assessment progresses,”a QH spokeswoman said.

India are set to travel toAustralia with a jumbo squad

comprising 23 to 25 playingmembers across formats con-sidering the requirements ofthe series to be played in bio-bubble amid the COVID-19pandemic.

Test specialistsCheteshwar Pujara, HanumaVihari and the support staffled by head coach RaviShastri are likely to have asix-day quarantine in Dubaiduring the business end ofthe IPL before flying off toAustralia.

It is understood that thetwo-sides will play the white-ball series before the Testwith the three-match ODIsin Brisbane (tentativelyNovember 26, 28 and 30) ,followed by T20s at theAdelaide Oval (December 4,6, 8).

The four-match Testseries is slated to start onDecember 17.

Recently, the NewZealand's women's team alsohad to go through a 14-dayquarantine in Queensland,where it was allowed to train,before its series againstAustralia.

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Kolkata Knight Riders spinnerSunil Narine said he was feeling

the pressure but managed to keep hiscalm while bowling a successful finalover that earned his team a narrowtwo-run win against Kings XIPunjab in an IPL match here onSaturday.

KKR were seemingly downand out when KXIP needed 22from the final three overs butNarine tilted the match inhis side's favour by dismiss-ing Nicholas Pooran andconceding just two runsin the 18th over.

Narine also bowledthe final over of which

KXIP needed 14 runs. They need-ed a six off the final ball to take thematch to Super Over but GlennMaxwell could only score a bound-ary to hand KKR a two-run win.

“When the last ball went up inthe air, I thought I was going to bowlfull and wide, I bowled full and wide,

but then I thought I had made amistake,” Narine said at thepost-match presentation.

“It is not ideal (for me tobowling at the death) but

someone has to do that. Iam used to doing it inthe past. Inside the pulseis racing, but this calmis just how I am,” theWest Indian off-spin-ner added.

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Pakistan’s young batsmanHaider Ali says while he

admires India's Rohit Sharma andwants to play like him but compar-isons with the Indian great makeshim uncomfortable.

Haider, who made his T20debut for Pakistan recently on theEngland tour and scored a blazinghalf century, said Rohit is a veryaccomplished player and there wasno comparison with him.

Haider insisted he had a longway to go to be recognised as a topbatsman.

“He is a top batsman and I feeluncomfortable when anyone com-pares us. There is no comparison.He has already achieved so much,”said Haider.

The youngster said he hadlearnt a lot just by watching videosof other great batsmen and con-ceded he loved watching Rohit’sinnings and taking tips fromthem.

The youngster said that hewould love to be part of Pakistan’steam in all three formats and notjust be confined to one format.

“I can perform in all three for-mats as I enjoy playing in them. Ihad a good first class season and

our coach, Muhammad Wasimhad given me good guidance at theNortherns side,” he said.

Haider, 20, said playingdomestic cricket was important forany young player and if a headcoach gives confidence to hisplayer at this level it makes a bigdifference to the development ofthat player.

“I have always felt that if yourcoach gives you confidence itmakes a big difference to theconfidence of a player and he per-forms to his full potential.”

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Abrilliant unbeaten 90 by captain Virat Kohli poweredRoyal Challenger Bangalore to a competitive 169 for

4 after a slowish start against Chennai Super Kings in anIPL match here on Saturday.

Kohli, who walked in at the fall of Aaron Finch in thethird over, led from the front with a majestic 52-ball knockthat was the finest blend of skill and peak fitness.

His innings had four fours and as many sixes but insearing Dubai humidity ran four doubles in the final over,a testament to the hours put in physical training.

The RCB captain was involved in two half-century part-nerships - one with opener Devdutt Padikkal (33 off 33balls) and Shivam Dube (22 off 14 balls) for the fifth wick-et, an unbeaten 76-run stand, which powered the total.

The last five overs yielded 74 runs as the CSK bowlersappeared to falter after having allowed RCB to score only95 in the first 15 as Kohli and the left-handed Dube wenton the overdrive.

Deepak Chahar finished with 1 for 10 from three overswhile Shardul Thakur (2/40) was the best in terms of wick-ets. Veteran Dwayne Bravo (0/29 in threeovers) again showed his value by beingeconomical at the death.

RCB did not get off to a rapid startas the CSK bowlers kept them on aleash after an out-of-sortsAaron Finch (2) went early.

Young Padikkal andskipper Kohli kept thescoreboard ticking butthere were no big hits tobe seen. Padikkalhoisted leggie KarnSharma for ahuge six in the10th over.

However, hisattempt to clear mid-offdid not materialise as he ended upgiving a catch to Faf du Plessis togive Thakur his first wicket.

Three balls later, Thakur strucka huge blow for CSK, getting AB deVilliers to nick one to Dhoni witha cross-seam delivery with theSouth African ace not troubling thescorers.

Earlier, CSK made one change byhanding N Jagadeesan a debut in placeof the struggling Kedar Jadhav whileRCB made a couple of changes bringingin Chris Morris and Gurkeerat Singh forMoeen Ali and Mohd Siraj respectively.

Page 9:  · 2 days ago · MLA Govardhan Dangi, the grand old party has been reduced to 88 seats in MP assembly. While the BJP after losing Jhabua bypoll and demise of Agar MLA Manohar Untwal,

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Don’t we love to be entertained.What started many thousandsof years ago as cave art andguttural sounds around anevening fire has now become

much more refined as endless series of con-tent to see on YouTube, Netflix, Amazon,and the like. We have a near infinity ofbooks that we can read both digitally andphysically. We have so many TV channelsto choose from that many of us feel likegiving up during the selection process itself.And, if you wanted a quick fix, you can gocheck out the latest gossip on one of theWhatsApp groups you are in or just go toTikTok, make one choice and then let theapplication take it from there.

Being 46 and having grown up in NewDelhi, entertainment for me, when in myteens, consisted of reading the newspaperin the morning and, after that, mostly ofvisiting someone’s house and enjoying play-ing some board or card games there. Thedays of cable TV, smartphones and thecapability to see whatever I wanted, when-ever I wanted to, was still quite a few yearsaway.

Look around you for a second. If youare affluent enough, and at home, chancesare there is a TV, with a remote, nearbysomewhere and that you are in possessionof at least one smart mobile device. You aretherefore just one or two button clicks awayfrom choosing whatever form of entertain-ment you want, right from the luxury ofwherever you are sitting right now.

��������� �������������We are what we eat and breathe, but we,

usually, become what we see. Our brainslove learning and we are all sponges whenwe sit in front of our chosen entertainmentmedium. Be it a print newspaper or an elec-tronic medium. We enjoy knowing aboutothers and, in turn, we desire to tell otherswhat is happening to us.

Technology has made things much easi-er. Any one of us, with enough drive, candecide to become an Instagram influencer, aYouTube celebrity or a TikTok personality.No need to purchase an expensive camerarig or procure and learn how to operate avery complex video editing software. Justusing a smartphone, you can do whateveryou wish.

The near ubiquitousness of mobiledevices and the availability of free or reallycheap software for the same has allowed foruser generated content (UGC) like neverbefore. Furthermore, platforms such asYouTube and TikTok allow for the distribu-tion of such content in a very easy manner.You can even take steps on those, and other,platforms to market the content and makesure that it gets the desired number of eye-

balls on it. At one point, people needed tobuild bridges and buildings to be remem-bered. Now, all you need is an Instagramaccount. If you are an author you can publishand print books on demand. If you are anartist you can go to a website like Etsy and,suddenly, the whole world is your oyster.

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A good word from someone you knowgoes a long way. Content aggregation plat-forms know this. Most applications andecosystems are now designed with recom-mendation engines in mind. You are toldwhat your friend watched or what someoneelse experienced so that you can be catal-ysed into taking a similar decision.

Apps and platforms are designed withliking content in mind so that everyone canbe a critic. We are provided with the abilityto share our experiences and this data isharvested, accumulated and shown to thecrowd in a, supposedly, averaged sense. We,as a part of the crowd, are then influencedby this data that we are shown. Would younot go to a place that had a higher Zomatorating than a lower one? Wouldn’t yourather buy that brand of clothing that theYouTuber you had subscribed to spokeabout? Be careful to separate the wheatfrom the chaff though. You need to have anunderstanding as to which endorsementwas paid for and which was not.

Chances are quite good that the firstfew entries you see on Zomato or Googleare there because someone paid for them toget that top billing. Entertainment and con-tent ecosystems similarly also allow foraudience targeting. Advertisers and pro-moters can choose data sets that includeyou based on your geography, your maritalstate, your economic status, your earlierpurchasing activity, the list only goes onand on.

Additionally, content is now being cre-ated, keyworded and headlined in ways thatare engineered to grab our attention.Something gossipy or scandalous is alwaysmore likely to get hits. After all, why shouldone create content that only thousands willsee when you can create something else thathundreds of thousands may be interested inso that you can get a higher rating or moread revenue from the same? Creating con-tent that can go viral is the holy grail formost marketing companies today.

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When Netflix started, they only shippedDVDs that were created by others. Evenwhen they started streaming content, theyhad no choice but to license the same fromother film and TV studios and related pro-

duction companies. But Netflix understoodthat, if they wanted to remain masters oftheir own destiny, then they needed theirown catalog of content. Since Netflix hadbeen shipping discs and streaming for a bitof time now, they had access to a lot of data.Data that we consumers had given them. Allthe shows we saw, that we stopped and neverwent back to, the genres of content that weconsumed more than others, all gave Netflixa lot of valuable information about ourbehaviour as consumers.

Using this data, they figured out thatactor Kevin Spacey and director DavidFincher would be a great sellable combina-tion for their viewers. They also realised thata lot of people liked political dramas. Thus,the US episodic version of House of Cardswas conceptualised and executed. As thenumbers had suggested to them, it was ablockbuster hit for Netflix.

Big data technologies are also being usedby platforms like Facebook, YouTube andTikTok in order to promote content that theythink we will like. Clearly, it is in their bestinterest to have us glued to our screens con-suming as much content, as is possible, fromthem. So, they pattern match what we see,what our friends see, what others, as a groupsee, and then provide recommendations tous. If you have not wanted to leave yourscreen and, at some point, noticed that whatstarted as a two min viewing session for you,became a two hour marathon, then you canrest in peace with the knowledge that thealgorithms and the artificial intelligence (AI)and machine learning (ML) models that theprogrammers have created, are doing theirjob pretty well.

Yes, we as consumers may be gettingwhat we want, but, there is an ugly side to ittoo. We are now susceptible to filter bubbles.This is when a platform, in filtering contentthrough to us that they think we will like,only promotes content to our immediateattention that closely matches what we hadconsumed in the past. In doing this, we havethe risk of going into a filter bubble. A bub-ble where we only see what reinforces whatwe saw before and hardens what philoso-phies we may hold. In not being showing adiversity of content, and in us choosing notto search for it, we now have the risk ofgoing deeper into a rabbit hole that we maybe in. We become more prone to see onlyour side of an argument and not see theother side, though the other side may be inexactly the same position as we are.

This becomes an endless feedback loop.The more we see something, the more theplatforms show it to us, the more they pro-vide information to the creators that thesomething we saw is what we want and themore, new, closely matching things are creat-ed in turn to feed our demand.

���� � ������Of late, newer forms of immersive enter-

tainment experiences like augmented reality(AR) and virtual reality (VR) have startedemerging. AR and VR are still in theirnascent stages. As these technologies andplatforms develop, how will we adapt tothem, sociologically speaking? What sort ofcontent will we create for them? Will welook at them simply as ways to augment ourcurrent entertainment experiences? Gamesand simulations that straddle the digital andreal worlds, perhaps making a Minecraftbuilding inside your house or looking atyourself virtually trying on a new lipstickwhen you visit Sephora. Or, will we usethese technologies in ways that tangiblybenefit us as a whole? Using them one cancreate 3D digital art and edifices impossiblein the real world. We can attend collegewith friends and go on vacations with fami-ly just as they were right next to us. Will wegive up the real world as we know it andaccept a digitally enhanced version of thesame? Or will we be creative and drivenenough to make both the real and thedigital worlds as beautiful as we can inlockstep?

��������Simply put, the future is what we make

of it. We, as consumers of all that is present-ed to us, make active choices, every secondof every day. These choices matter. Even ifwe are not paying attention, the machinesare. As are the people that read the reportsgenerated by the machines and take deci-sions on how to give us more of what wedesire.

Yes, we may be knowing, sentient beings.However, we can also be addicts and slavesto our desires. We can choose to consumesomething just to pass our time. Or we canchoose to create something new, somethingof value. Both of value to us and to others.Something that we create, not just becausewe desire the celebrity or the money, butbecause we know that in our creating it andin others viewing it, both parties derivesome wholesome benefit from what exists asthe end product. Technology should belooked at as a vehicle that we can choose todrive wherever we wish. So please be carefulof what you do with that vehicle. There aremany paths ahead for our individual andcollective journeys that we can choose from.Let us try to head in directions that bring ustogether, that make us happier, and thosethat we can look back at proudly many gen-erations later.

The writer is a technologist, entrepreneur,and artist. As the CEO of TSN Group, Inc., he

is currently working on a new, safer socialnetworking solution

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Page 10:  · 2 days ago · MLA Govardhan Dangi, the grand old party has been reduced to 88 seats in MP assembly. While the BJP after losing Jhabua bypoll and demise of Agar MLA Manohar Untwal,

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The one word that describes the global response to coro-navirus pandemic is kerfuffle. As confusion, chaos,and cacophony still reign supreme, the considered

response is drowned in the din. It is ironic that the humanmind is still clueless about a plausible solution to the prob-lem, our reactions largely replicating that of the experimen-tal pigeon in a Skinner’s box. Psychologist BF Skinner in hisfamous operant conditioning experiments on learning hadplaced a hungry pigeon in an apparatus he had designedand hence it is called the Skinner’s box. The box was sodesigned that there is a button on one side which whenpecked by the pigeon would give a food pellet with a tin-kering sound. But pigeons are not supposed to peck but-tons so the animal has to learn the response. However, itwas first important to lead the animal to the button and forthis Skinner devised a mechanism called successive approx-imation. Thus, for every move towards the button, the ani-mal would be rewarded with a food pellet so that it is ableto reach to the button in due course. Interestingly, it alsomade the pigeon acquire a superstitious behaviour, that is,it would link reward with the move it made in the processof reaching the button. So if the button is on the left andthe animal takes two steps left and gets a food pellet it wouldrepeat the move thinking that food pellet came as a resultof taking those steps to the left. Similar is the global humanresponse to the pandemic. Everyday one new solution isbeing suggested, and as weird as injecting sanitisers or drink-ing a few drops of Dettol mixed in water. Despite world levelagencies of health, like WHO and others, which spend bil-lions of dollars on health care research, pointing out thatthe virus can be deactivated by simple soap solution andcan be kept at bay by cloth masks. Unfortunate, but theresponse is a large scale trial and error exercise, a kind ofsolutioneering rarely seen before. The trillion dollars’ phar-ma industry is helpless and the all knowing medical frater-nity befuddled as governments all over are trying to dealwith it with a heavy handed bureaucracy imposing extremelaws. Rather than administrate, there is need to innovate.But amid all this Kerfuffle, the thing that has been provedbeyond doubt is that the grandmother’s prescriptions hadmuch more science behind them than what medical sciencetouted. Interestingly, many such prescriptions are workingtoo, while so-called well researched medical solutions arenot. In these corona times when there are too many ques-tions and too few answers, we now realise how and why ourspices exports in ancient times made the subcontinent theprosperous Golden Bird. While corporate hospitals are charg-ing a fortune from the Corona patients, the medicines pro-vided are largely desi but for those strong antibiotics andantiviral drugs that work less and damage more. It is timewe reconsidered our views on these home made potionswhich form a part of what the west calls alternate medicine.In fact, we must question why this nomenclature “AlternateMedicine” after all when they are working in many cases.

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Though God is one, and isomnipotent, omniscient andomnipresent, we, small souls, are

important to Him. After all, we areparts of Him. (The Gita 15.7) This factnever changes, i.e. God always remainsthe whole and we continue as partsonly. This is the Cosmic Design, andthis is how it can be.

We are aware that God creates,keeps it functioning till the time of dis-solution comes and, then. He activates“pralaya” and the material creation aswe see it now is no longer there. Theseare the major activities of God. Then,He is always busy in doing His duties,which are many. In Bhagawad Gita, Hemakes it quite clear that His eyes, ears,etc. are pervading all. (13.13)

Then, He is privy to everything wethink of. As a matter of fact, God andus, individual souls, only know ourinnermost secrets; nothing is unknownto God. (13.2) Then comes the rewardpart. All prayers made by whoever areresponded to in an appropriate man-ner, which God and God alone decides.No prayer is ever wasted. (2.40) Godmust respond but not necessarily theway we want. I have prayed all of mylife, but God has invariably given mewhat turned out to be highly beneficialto me, whereas my prayers were forsomething else, which were not in myfavour. By the way God is never adebtor; He doesn’t have to be.Remember whatever we see is ownedby Him only; we only get to use themas ordained by our karmaphalas.

God guides if prayed to. There isa catch here though. One must havebecome purified enough to be able toreceive God’s guidance. Similarly, Godhelps when prayed to. There is a differ-ence here also; we must deserve His

help. God supports His devotees as onlyHe can, being omnipotent. Don’t wealways need support from others? IsGod not the best choice? Besides guid-ance, God also gives intuitions tothose connected with Him and are ableto receive God’s communication. Godsometimes forgives our earlier indiscre-tions if He decides that justice will beserved better that way. However, it mustbe remembered that God alwaysupholds “dharma” and will do nothingagainst it. Does God not incarnate tore-establish dharma? (4.7-8)

Only God can give peace. He, whocan really protect, is the one who cangive peace. God is that person. Goduses human beings as His instru-ments, as He famously used Arjuna inthe Mahabharata. However, the respon-sibility lies with the Lord only. Toadvanced devotees God begins torespond. Finally, God liberates thebest devotees from the painful cycle ofbirth and death.

Those, who haven’t traversed thespiritual path, have no idea what theyare missing. The quality of life for them

will be ordinary at best, while a com-mon man may assume that whateverhe has achieved is the best possible.How wrong one can be, ask a devotee.In the material world things are chang-ing in many ways like this virus sud-denly appeared, though this is rare, i.e.once in a hundred years. We need God’shelp to navigate through life right now.

Therefore, let us get started, if notalready; let us connect with God.There are three stages in our relation-ship with God. The first is to pray forgetting out of trouble or for gettingsomething material. The next stage isto do some rituals, normally not withmuch love for God. The third and thefinal stage is to do spiritual practiceswith love for God. He is always avail-able. We, all, are important to Him, nomatter how many we are. We will neverbecome zero, being parts of God,therefore, we will always be of conse-quence. No one should ever lose hope,even though feeling lost. God is wait-ing for us to make contact, to link.� ���� ��� ������ �����������������������

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Doctors often prescribe amedication called corti-sone to reverse inflam-mation and swelling ofsome bodily organs.

However, doctors caution to use itonly sparingly as over time, cortisonehas the effect of breaking down thebodily organs. It ultimately weakensparts of our body. Organs start hav-ing trouble. Thus, instead of keepingthe body strong, over time we aremaking weaknesses in the body. Wemay only use cortisone prescribed bythe doctor for extreme circum-stances, but what scientists and doc-tors have come to realise is that weproduce our own natural cortisol inthe body. We have hormones such asadrenaline and cortisol which arereleased when we are in fear. Thesehormones give the body the fight orflight reaction. It either gives thebody a burst of strength to fight offa threat to our lives, or to give us thespeed to run faster to escape apredator. These are useful hormonesfor survival. However, in moderntimes, we no longer face threats suchas running away from large ele-phants, lions, bears, unless in a jun-gle. Instead, we react to problemsthat are not life threatening withsame fight or flight hormones.

Since people do not know howto deal with problems in a calm way,they deal with them with anger.When angry, we are releasing thecortisol and adrenaline hormonesinto our system. When we stay in anangry state for a long time, the cor-tisol rushing through our systembegins to cause damage to ourorgans just as prescribed cortisonecan do when administered too fre-quently to the body. We are causingproblems to our physical body,which is supposed to remain sturdyand strong for the work that ourmind needs to do to help our soul goback to God.

Similarly, the cortisol in thebody affects the mind. When angry,it keeps our attention focused onnegativity. Instead of focusing on thetrue purpose of life which is to knowGod, we are focused on the problemsof the world.

There are many ways our misdi-rected attention distract us fromfocusing on God. The saints exhortus to live as if we were godly. By dailymeditation and cultivating ethicalvirtues, we can lead a godly life.

How can we purify our mind andinculcate ethical virtues in ourlife?

Self introspection is a chiselingtool for us. If we are a clay sculpture,

self introspection is a chisel bywhich we can smooth our roughedges and imperfections so we canbe the masterpiece God intended usto be. The imperfections are not justfor the sake of beauty. The imperfec-tions are the flaws that the mind usesto keep us from returning to God.The imperfections are the weakness-es we have in which the mind winsover the soul.

For example, if we have theimperfection of anger, the minduses that to its advantage to keep our

mind engaged in thoughts of gettingeven with someone, feeling hurt bysomeone, feeling injustice, or want-ing to seek revenge. All thesethoughts occupy our mind and donot let it be calm. When we areangry, we become absorbed in thereason for the anger, and we feelupset over what someone has doneto us. We ruminate in our mindswhat happened and we obsess overwhat to do about it. Some peopledwell on their thoughts of anger fora few moments and some people

carry their anger over years. Thinkof how much of our lifespan isspent in anger. Then think of whatbetter use we can make of our timeby meditating or remembering God.Self Introspection shows us whetherwe are wasting our time with uselessanger, or whether we can make bet-ter use of the time by sitting with astill mind and remembering God.The choice is ours to make. Selfintrospection helps us to make thecorrect choice.

Another example of how wecan use the tool of self introspectionto help us progress spiritually is toweed out greed. Greed keeps usengaged in wanting more and moreof the world. The mind finds thiseasy to use as a way to keep us fromfinding God. The world has nodearth of offerings that instil in usa desire to have more and more.

Ego is another imperfection thatthe mind uses to its advantage. Itmakes us think too much of our-selves instead of thinking aboutGod. Ego makes us think we areintelligent, beautiful, rich, powerful,and gifted and hence better than oth-ers. It makes us forget God. We mayeven think we do not need God. Weforget that God is the giver of anygifts we have. When we forget God,the mind fills us with the thoughtsof ourselves. We start thinking moreabout our wealth, our beauty, ourintelligence, and our talents. Insteadof stilling our mind in meditation,our mind thinks about its vast king-dom of gifts and dwells on them. Wemay even begin to hurt others whodo not have the gifts we have. Then,we begin thinking about not onlyhow great we are but also howinsignificant everyone else is. Themind is happy that it has distractedus. If we recognise this imperfectionthrough the process of introspection,we can overcome ego and gainhumility. When we gain humility inlife, we are like an empty cup wait-ing to receive God’s gifts. Then, theLight will pour forth and we can shiftour awareness to the regions ofLight within us.

Therefore, we may have receivedthe grace to have a connection to theLight and Sound of God but we needto be careful and vigilant in ourintrospection to sanitise our mind ofany imperfections that it may use todistract us. In this way, we can makechoices that will lead us back to God.We can then choose the soul byswitching our attention to absorptionin God to enjoy the bliss and eter-nal ecstasy that awaits us withinthrough the practice of meditation.

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The bigger than the creation of sound, iswhy living beings prefer some soundsto others. Why do one set of frequen-

cies feel sweeter than another? And how is itpossible that just a few notes placed togetherin a specific way can bring tears to our eyes?Studies have shown that cows produce moremilk when they are listening to music. Andnot just any music. In one study, Beethoven’sPastoral Symphony and Simon & Garfunkel’sBridge Over Troubled Water were theirfavourites!

Shakespeare was not a scientist, nor amystic. But he understood human beings -their characters, their motives and the pas-sions that drove them. He had tremendousinsight into human psychology. He knewthat music was deeply connected to the veryessence of the soul. Another revealing fact isthat the Sama Veda, written around 1200BC, (considered to be the Rig Veda set tomusic) combined text and philosophy withmelodic and rhythmic motifs. And LordKrishna himself states in Chapter 10, Verse22 of the Bhagvad Gita “I am the Sama Vedaamongst the Vedas…”. The ancient onesknew the power of music.

Why look to others and ancient texts forproof that music can heal and transformus… It’s obvious that music can move us,transport us to another dimension. Music isas essential to humans as our own breath.People say music is a language but there isone essential difference — languages pointto something else. They refer to somethingoutside of the words. Music refers to itself. Ithas no inherent meaning other than whatwe ourselves perceive. The C Major chord isa happy sound. The C Minor is a sadder,more melancholic sound. Rag Yaman is ahappy raga. Malkauns raga creates a sense oflonging or sadness. But if one were to askwhy, there is no answer. There is simply nological reason why a certain combination ofnotes should make us happy and another

make us sad. Even though there is no logicalreason for this, does not make it untrue.

Could this be in fact a ‘proof ’ of that factthat we do have something intangible like asoul? So far science has not been able to seeit nor capture it or measure it. But then, norhas science been able to measure happiness,joy, a sense of peace or bliss. Children whostudy some form of music in school havebeen found to perform much better in allthe other subjects. So we have empirical evi-dence that music is highly effective in notonly calming us but even sharpening ourother areas of the brain. And yet when weattempt to get the exact formula for whichnotes can heal us or be therapeutic to us —emotionally and physically, it’s impossible.

People are not machines. They areunique. What is pleasing and relaxing forone person may not be for another. So thebest way to actually find the truth aboutsomething is not to find the absolute truthbut to find ‘your own’ truth. This may lookillogical because truth should be common toall. But as often as it is, it also isn’t. To findout if anything works, one has to try it. Yoga

has been tremendously effective in helpingpeople with back problems and depression.But if you’re searching for a definite proof,you may not find it.

Music can be healing, energising, reflec-tive, contemplative, expanding, and reward-ing in many ways. But the only way to dis-cover this is to try. Experiment. The nexttime you are upset, sad or angry, instead ofcalling your friend and complaining aboutwhat is wrong, try listening to Mozart’s 40thsymphony. Or try playing the RagaMalkauns by Rashid Khan, a melancholicbut haunting piece that can literally trans-form your sadness into meditation. If you’refeeling depressed try listening to Rag Rasiyaby the legendary Pandit Ravi Shankar. Andif you’re feeling lonely or alone try ‘Au Lait’or ‘If I could’ by the Pat Metheny Group. Atthe end of the song, you may have madepeace with your loneliness and gotten a littlebit closer to what the true nature of yoursoul is — oneness.

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Page 11:  · 2 days ago · MLA Govardhan Dangi, the grand old party has been reduced to 88 seats in MP assembly. While the BJP after losing Jhabua bypoll and demise of Agar MLA Manohar Untwal,

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!"�������" ����������"���������#�������� ����"����Former top CAG official

KK Srivastava the inter-nationally acclaimed poet

and author’s recent book“Esthetic Blend of Flames ofthe Minds” on “Mann Ki Baat”programme of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has been wellappreciated as it brings out thebest features of 60 longepisodes of “Mann Ki Baat” injust 4,000 words. Srivastava,before retiring as AdditionalDeputy CAG last month, hada long career, spanning over 36years, believes an auditorshould not venture into thedomain of policy auditing asthat means an attempt to usurpthe role of a public represen-tative. In a freewheeling con-versation with The Pioneer’sSwarn Kumar Anand, KKSrivastava talks about his expe-riences and more…

The Pioneer: On Google,I read articles; your conversa-tions with poets/writers aboutyour fourth book Soliloquy ofa Small-Town Uncivil Servant,and articles you wrote. I wantto engage you with some arti-cles and your service experi-ences. Leading a retired life, isspending time an issue?

KKS: No. I spend muchtime in thinking; I take outbooks I have not read fordecades. Before Covid-19 pan-demic, I occasionally used tomeet friends from your frater-nity over lunch or dinner inPress Club of India. The milieuand discourses with journalistsand writers are soothing. Ioften write articles/reviews.Now retired, I try to spendsome time in company of mywife which, for reasons bestknown to her, she does notseem to relish much.

The Pioneer: I understandyou wrote your first review in2011. You analysed a single,short poem, ‘I’ by a Romanianpoetess. It is a long psycho-analysis of a small poem. Pleasegive some background.

KKS: I don’t remember ifit was the first review but cer-tainly it was one of the earliestones. I knew Veronica’s worksearlier. She is sober, quiet andperceptive with limited literaryoutput. This poem ran on herimagination of an arrivingtrain at a platform. I analysedit which became longish. InSoliloquy of a Small-TownUncivil Servant, she wentthrough two sample chaptersand made suggestions. In 2013,I introduced her to WorldPoetry, Canada International.They published her. I don’tknow if she still writes or not.

The Pioneer : Whatprompted you to write ‘EstheticBlend of Flames of the Minds’on “Mann Ki Baat” programmeof Prime Minister NarendraModi. It is a mammoth piecewhich brings out the best fea-tures of sixty long episodes of“Mann Ki Baat” in just fourthousand words.

KKS: Because it is apoliti-cal and creative. “Mann KiBaat” is about creativity of notonly one mind i.e of that of thePrime Minister but of minds ofmillions of Indians. It connectsIndians to India and India toIndians. Being collectivethoughts of millions of Indians,“Mann Ki Baat” represents anunprecedented onenessbetween the Prime Ministerand the people of the countryand vice versa. Listening to“Mann Ki Baat” is a must for allpublic, including civil servants.They ought to know India, itspast glory and emerging NEWINDIA through the minds ofmillions of Indians. It givesphysical, mental and spiritualsolace.

The Pioneer: You reviewedVinod Rai’s book, Not Just anAccountant: The Diary of theNation’s Conscience Keeper inKitaab Singapore. How didyou view the book as a review-er?

KKS: I read a much lesserpublicised book by anotherCAG, late CG Somiah: TheHonest Always Stand Alone.Somiah’s was a complete book:a book of ease, Rai’s was a hur-ried attempt. As a critic, I haveto do justice with a book beingcritiqued. For me the book: itscontent, threads, influencesand temperament matter. Thewriter stays invisible. I likedSomiah’s book. It offered his

holistic life story. You digestcomplete, not partially coveredperiods unless you have thesecond volume. If you read myreview in Kitaab Singapore, youwill find in second but con-cluding paragraph my expec-tations of the same from VinodRai. Six years past, I am notsure if second volume cameabout his whole life experi-ences.

The Pioneer: Who are thewriters in India you interactwith or living Indian writerswhose works you read?

KKS: Jayanta Mahapatra,the renowned poet fromCuttack, Odisha. He is aboveninety and we have beenexchanging hand-written let-ters for last fifteen years. Hismental and intellectual alert-ness is amazing. Sometimes, Iphone him. When he returnedPadma Shri in November 2015,I wrote to him why I expectedhim not to do so. Columnistand writer A Surya Prakash’sbooks and articles interest me.I critiqued Chief Editor ofIndian Express Raj Kamal Jha’sbook SHE WILL BUILD HIMA CITY in my fourth book andcurrently reading his latestbook The CITY AND THESEA. I cherish eccentricity ofhis hallucinating themes instylish prose. I planned to callon him after retirement butCovid has vitiated everything.I am also reading Vinod KumarShukla’s Hindi poems.

The Pioneer: You had along career, spanning over thir-ty-six and half years. You wentin capacities fromDeputy/Senior DeputyAccountant General,Accountant General, PrincipalAccountant General, toPondicherry, Allahabad,Bombay, Ranchi, Jaipur, Rajkot,Delhi as Chief Auditor, NewDelhi Municipal Corporation,Gwalior, Thiruvananthapuramand at the end CAG officeDelhi and superannuated asAdditional Deputy CAG. Yourvast experience across thecountry and varied literarybackground gives you an envi-able position to share yourexperiences with readers andcivil service aspirants.

KKS: I feel amused youtook the trouble of seeing myprofile. If I saw India, its peo-ple, its cultural and intellectu-al strength, its different shades,it is through the organisation ofCAG of India. Mine being aCentral service with all Indiatransfer liability, my postings toso many different places taughtme uniqueness of Indian peo-ple: the oneness within differ-ent shades. I could know lifepeople live. I could handletough associations in places likeAllahabad, Ranchi, Rajkot,Gwalior andThiruvananthapuram. Withmy growing experience, I couldeasily relate to staff, their anx-ieties and strength. When I gotposted as Principal AccountantGeneral, Kerala atThiruvananthapuram, the verynext day of my assumingcharge, I visited each section,met and shook hands witheach and every member ofstaff. Towards the end, I visit-ed Association room and metmembers of the associationpresent there. The depressingatmosphere started becomingdiminutive immediately. I didthis every station I was postedto. It gave me confidence; itgave the staff confidence; itgave a relationship of easevitally needed to run a bigoffice. Similarly, I had interac-tion with Principal Secretariesin various States. In retrospectI feel happy to have an aug-mented life, courtesy learningfrom experiences of life ofthousands of wonderful people.

The Pioneer: Did thesetransfers never affect your fam-ily?

KKS: The family stayedwith me throughout.

The Pioneer: We hear var-ious State Governments don’trespond to audit. Which Statewas most responsive to audit?Please share a few experiences?

KKS: I had cordial rela-tionship particularly withPrincipal Secretaries (Finance)in every State. It facilitatedresponse from theGovernment. But Gujarat,where I was stationed at Rajkot,

was where officers showedinherent keenness to discussparticularly draft PerformanceReviews and that too at veryhigh level. There was an issue.Immediately, after taking overin 2008, I called on the thenChief Secretary who under-stood issues from me and with-in a month or so, remedialmeasures were taken by StateGovernment with detailedwork plan for a year in place.Similarly, in 2009, PerformanceReview on Modernisation ofPolice Scheme was to be dis-cussed and the then ACS(Home), chaired the meetingspending full half-day inGandhi Nagar conferenceroom where many senior offi-cers were present. He readeach and every line of thedraft report himself andrequested authorities torespond and give com-ments/constraints, if any. Hewanted me to appreciate andreflect these in the review. Ilearnt a lot from him duringdiscussion. At the end, bothaudit and administration weresatisfied. I moved from Gujaratbut think the review featured inthe Audit Report.

Kerala was equally respon-sive at very high level, thoughI was heading Accounts Office.Early 2016, perhaps January orFebruary, one evening, ACS(Finance) telephoned meregarding a portion of work ofour office and told me to meetChief Minister without anydelay. I sought appointmentfrom him. Next day, it was aState holiday but he called meat his residence. I briefed twoother PAsG located at the sta-tion and urged them to accom-pany me. They promptlyagreed. Next day, we met theChief Minister and I explainedto him how functioning ofthat work had improved verysignificantly in our office andshowed him data. My two col-leagues supported my con-tention wholeheartedly. Thenhe came up to the door whereI, folding my hands, said,“Namaste, Sir. Kindly keep ourrequest in view. Our office isperforming well.” He looked atme; it was reassuring. Thatimportant portion of workstayed with us. On taking overas DG in CAG office, I calledon my earlier boss and told herabout that episode saying“Ma’am, I did not bother you.I solved it locally.” Appreciatingit, she told, “That’s why we callyou, KK.” Unfortunately, welost her sometime back.Normally, I tried to solve issueswithout flagging these as bigissues.

The Pioneer: Recently,when GC Murmu, an IAS offi-cer of 1985 batch, was appoint-ed as CAG, there were talksabout his superseding sixIA&AS officers (three from1983 and three from 1984batch). Is it IAS versus IA&AS

issue? Is it discouraging for theofficers and organisation?

KKS: When I joined theservice at the then Staff College,Shimla, a faculty memberexplained to us the meaning ofthe word, “cadre” in the contextof IA&AS as a cadre. He clar-ified that the post of CAG is anex-cadre post. The post ofCAG is not a cadre post forIA&AS. Second issue is IASversus IA&AS. No doubtIA&AS as a service is an excel-lent service, but its aspiringmembers cannot claim a com-parison with IAS officers whenit comes to appointment ofCAG. IAS officers have widerange of experiences from thelowest ebb in a district to thetop posts of Secretary toGovernment of India. Theywork with different regimes ofpolitical leadership which is abig learning opportunity forthem. They have public deal-ings, they meet public, come togrips with people’s grievanceson day-to-day basis; they are apart of micro and macro socio-economic problem solvingprocess. They prepare ground-work for political leadership indeciding policies and under-stand the essentials of policy

making. They are certainlybetter placed as compared toany other service includingIA&AS, to occupy the chair ofCAG of India. I agree thatknowledge of audit andaccounts may be beneficial foran outsider CAG, but thatknowledge alone is not the solecriterion. Wise people acceptimmutably universal facts anddon’t lament over spilt milk atthe last moment.

The Pioneer: What aboutthe supersession of six IA&ASofficers?

KKS: My answer is embed-ded above. I will clarify myunderstanding once more.Supersession is within a par-ticular service. Supersession isnever with reference to otherservices. It is unbelievable thatan IA&AS officer of 1983 batchhas been superseded by an IASofficer of 1985 batch, though itis quite possible and a fact anI A&AS officer of 1983 batchbeing successfully supersededby IA&AS officers of 1985batch and who knows it betterthan me. Hence, GC Murmuhas superseded no IA&AS offi-cer. The post of CAG is a con-stitutional post and the Prime

Minister has the final word onhis selection. I visited GCMurmu’s Wikipedia page.Though it might seem prepos-terous on my part to say so, inmy view, he is a very suitableselection for the post of presentCAG and seems to be a downto earth man. Organisationneeds such a CAG.

The Pioneer: It is allegedthat there is lack of trans-parency in selection of CAG.How would you react?

KKS: First, I have nomeans to ascertain whether theprocess is transparent or not.Second, as I understand thisissue has also seen judicialscrutiny in the past. Third, ifcertain individuals and groupsthink process is non-transpar-ent, they should take timelyand appropriate steps to elevatediscussion, debates to higherplateau.

The Pioneer: Why onlyIAS officers? Why not otherprofessionals like economists,chartered accountants, acade-mics, scientists or even jour-nalists?

KKS: I tend to agree. Thisshould be debated in variousforums.

The Pioneer: As a writer,your perception of issues willhave a more matured inter-pretative value. A person candraw meaningful conclusionsfrom your views. What areyour suggestions to new CAG?

KKS: I am not sanguine ifothers will be so sure of whatyou say but still I will share myhonest views. My point of viewis CAG of India means he isCAG for 138 crore Indians.Audit Reports get processedand discussed through PublicAccounts Committees andCOPU. That is a fine arrange-ment constitutionally mandat-ed. We chalk out audit plans forboth Centre and States. I don’tfind any say by even a segmentof Indian population on theirsuggestions. There is AuditAdvisory Committee whereexperts are invited but theseexperts are not substitutes for138 crore people. Therefore,my first suggestion to newCAG will be to open its web-site for one month in advancebefore the process of prepara-tion of Audit Plans begins.During that month, publicshould be free to offer sugges-tions for topics to be covered inaudit in next audit cycle. It willhave two advantages. First,when nation is aiming tobecome an inclusive society,audit should open its gate toinclusion of nation’s popula-tion. Let people express them-selves. CAG’s decision on auditplans will be final. Second, itwill increase awareness in pub-lic about this august institutionwhich is not there at present asit should be. When SustainableDevelopment Goals were being

finalised, views were calledfrom across countries throughits website.

Second, last month, I wrotean article Kiran raises hopes fora robust New India. Lateevening of the day articleappeared, I got a call from aProfessor of Psychiatry, AIIMSwho had read the article. Heinvited me to join as a panelistfor a webinar on “India’s firstMental Health Access Summit”,organised by AIIMS in collab-oration with Mental HealthFoundation, India. I partici-pated in it on 4th of thismonth. I shared my little bitwith mental health profes-sionals. The picture of mentalhealth issues that came duringpanel discussion was alarming.

An All India PerformanceReview on Assessment ofextent of mental disorders,population affected, availabil-ity of infrastructure and pre-paredness to handle this invad-ing behemoth is the need of thehour. This report will be veryhandy to Government, MedicalInstitutes, and NGOs generat-ing keenness in PublicAccounts Committee and pub-lic. I am not sure if this exer-cise was done in recent past.CAG may like to consider it.

The Pioneer: I came acrossan interesting set of statistics.I saw profile of some officers indifferent batches from 1981 to1990. There were/are someofficers who stayed/are stayingin Delhi and adjacent States likeJaipur, Chandigarh, Faridabador even Noida for 20/25 years,including deputation period indifferent spells. They had/haverepeated postings inDelhi/CAG office. A few ofthem from this group wentabroad for posting. This trendis seen even in case of currentlyserving officers. There are clus-ters of some officers havingthese three commonalities inselected batches spendingalmost 60 to 70 per cent of theirservice in Delhi and aroundplaces alone? It seems there isan elite group. Does it not affectefficiency?

KKS: You remind me of aHindi proverb, “Haath Kanganko Arsi Kaya.” The same thinghas been felt by a majority ofIA&AS officers over last somany years, even decades.Statistics is cited and statisticsdoes not tell lie. Your observa-tion is correct. It might affectefficiency at various levels.

The Pioneer: What are theexpectations from new CAG inthis respect?

KKS: New CAG may liketo look into trends flagged. Hemay like to consider institu-tionalising steps as he deemsnecessary so that these end andcorrective measures are taken.The new CAG seems to be adown to earth man.

The Pioneer: There have

been media reports about delayin finalisation of audit reportsin recent past. Any comments?

KKS: During last aboutthree years before retirement,I had nothing to do with pro-cessing of audit reports.Therefore, I cannot answeryour question.

The Pioneer: Any com-ments on delay in placing thereports in Parliament/Assemblies.

KKS: The decision to placethe reports has to be taken bythe Government. The CAGhas no role in it. His role endswith sending the reports to thePresident and Governors withthe request to cause these to belaid in Parliament/StateAssembly.

The Pioneer: Some auditreports become controversial.Why?

KKS: Late ST Kenghe wasDirector of IA&AS StaffCollege, Shimla when I was aprobationer. He was a scholar.He quoted in Sanskrit fromVedas and Upanishads whiletalking to probationers. Hewas fond of saying, “Act as anauditor but don’t adopt holierthan thou attitude”. He wrotethe same thing in an articlepublished in a book during lateTN Chaturvedi’s period.

Two lessons emerge fromabove. An auditor should neverthink he is a paragon of virtue.Second his reports shouldspeak, if at all necessary.Controversies arise if an audi-tor talks about his “achieve-ments”. An audit report is aconsequence of incessant hardwork of more than hundredstaff/officers. It should be keptin view. If these two criteria arerespected, Reports will berespected.

The Pioneer: There wereissues in the past weather anauditor can audit policies.What are your views and whatrole do you envisage for auditin current times?

KKS: I think an auditorshould not venture intodomain of policy auditing, Letme explain how I look at it.Political parties when they goto elections, go with their man-ifesto: a set of promises madeto people. When a party comesto power, in order to convertthe manifesto into action, theydecide policies. Thus, a policylinks public representativesand people through manifesto.Once an auditor tries to auditpolicies, he starts meddlingwith this link and thereby triesto usurp the role of a publicrepresentative which is barredin constitution. But he canalways audit the outcome ofpolicy which is normally done.Coming to the role of audit incurrent times, late CG Somiah,the then CAG’s advocacy“Audit as an aid to adminis-tration” should be respectedand followed. Audit shouldfacilitate reforms undertakenby Government and help information of a NEW INDIA.

The Pioneer: Any advice toyoung IA&AS officers?

KKS: It is said of the com-munity of auditors they neverwelcome advice to them but arefirst to offer unsolicited adviceto others. It’s in lighter vein.Audit organisation has intelli-gent and hardworking youngofficers. They should work forthe organisation which has along, glorious history. Theyshould not suffer from ‘fixityand rigidity’ and should con-tribute to ‘collective personal-ity’ of IA&AS and therebystrengthen the hands of CAGof India. Therefore, they shouldponder over and learn fromthese lines of Salman Rushdie’sTHE GOLDEN HOUSE, “Inthese our degenerate times,men bent on nothing but vain-glory and personal gain-hollow,bombastic men for whomnothing is off-limits if itadvances their pretty cause…and calling all who opposethem liars, envious, little peo-ple, stupid people, stiffs, and ina precise reversal of the truth,dishonest and corrupt.” Mybest wishes to them.

The Pioneer: Do you haveany plans to write your auto-biography?

KKS: The bridge is not vis-ible to me. We will cross it if itever comes.

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Many a times a counsellor has tobear with unpleasantmoments. Taking it as a part

of professional hazard, he has to digestit all without any sense of rancour ordispleasure. There are people whoremain stuck to their own delusionarydream perceptions, not keen to lookbeyond in search of a better option ifany. Some of them even lack the will togo on their own. Such people wish tobe vetted by some others. So, theymeet a counsellor, but not to seek hon-est opinion. They rather try to puttheir idea in the consultant’s mouth,and just wish confirmation. They can’tdigest if an honest consultant ever triesto make them aware of truth. Suchpeople vent out their frustration onthe consultant.

Recently, I had to digest unsavouryremarks made by such a person, whichgot communicated by a dear friendwho had introduced him to me. Thisman wanted resolution to some of hisconcerns: “Sir, although I was finan-cially and otherwise quite comfortablewhile in USA, but had to bear with fre-quent job changes — six career changesin four years. I could not bear with

social environment either. So, I quit myjob in a state of desperation, with theintent to build up my career here in mynative country. Almost a year has gonebye, and I am yet to find a job. Whendo I get a job and where? Recently, Iliked a girl, but she doesn’t seem to becoming around, as she is stuck to herold boyfriend. I am not able to getalong with my parents either. Pleaseshow me the way.”

Well, everybody comes to thisworld with their own Karmic carryoverfrom the past, which they have to bearwith. A look into your chart revealsthat you are running Venus dasha,which being 2nd lord identified withearning, is posited in the 10th houseidentified with career. So, your careerhas to go strong. But then Venus iscombust, and occupies the constella-tion owned by Moon conjunct Mars,both tenanted in a movable sign. So,you were due for frequent careerchanges, so long as the sub-periods ofplanets occupying movable signs wereoperative. That often proved emotion-ally upsetting. Those sub-periods beingover, you may have long tenure now.But ‘change being your nature’, you

can’t stick to a job for long. In so far asbeing ignored by a girl already in rela-tionship with someone else is con-cerned, how can you expect from herto submit to your asking? About yourcareer prospects, it is expected to flour-ish in a foreign land, and so, you mayhave to seek a job abroad once again.

The problem with you, however, isthat you seem to be stuck to your ownself-assumed delusionary perceptions,quite distant from ground reality, com-ing as it may as both the luminaries areplaced adverse to mischievousNeptune. You won’t look beyond for areality check. You won’t acknowledgetruth on its first appearance. You ratherprefer to pursue your dream percep-tions on hope against hope till pushedto the wall. Given the present direction— the progressed Sun placed adverseto natal Neptune, this attitude is play-ing out to its full.

You are born in an Aries lagna, afiery and a movable sign, with its lordMars in debilitation, which is conjunctmind signifying Moon in a watery signand in another movable sign Cancer.That, in the first place, reflects yourimpulsive, aggressive, irritable, impa-tient, intolerant and a domineering

nature. You wish to live in a demand-ing mode. In fact, ‘my way or highway’seems to be your approach. Second,you wish to be always in the lead, andresent subordination, even of yourseniors. Third, you are rash and jumpinto action without applying properforethought. You apply your mind onlywhen you land into problem. Fourth,you are emotionally volatile, and so getover-exercised even on trivial issues,.

Intelligence signifying Mercury isplaced adverse to erratic Rahu, whichmakes you restless, often engaged inconflicting thoughts. Consequently,you fail to look at issues in hand objec-tively. The result is there to see. Youmust remember that the world doesn’tnecessarily move to your asking. Youneed to work upon your fault lines,particularly inter-personal relationshipskill, otherwise it will be difficult to getalong with any, and hold on to anyrelationship for long either.

The man did not like being shownhis mirror image, and hence his out-burst.

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