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  •  · 2019. 3. 4. · The residence of Vijaya Bhaskar had been raided by the Income-Tax Department in April 2017 and details of large cash transactions were seized. ... hood of thousands
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A head of the year-end Assembly elections in three States and general election next year, caste politics of a differ- ent kind is raising its head. This time upper castes are joining hands with the OBC to express their resentment over the restoration of the stringent provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. While several upper castes and OBC outfits, pri- marily based in Madhya Pradesh, have given a Bharat bandh call on September 6, the Congress is openly playing the Brahmin card. This is the first time in the post-Mandal era that upper castes and OBC are coming together in a big way on a caste- based issue. The political par- ties have kept away from the protest in view of its sensitive nature and out of the fear that it could antagonise their Dalit constituency. But at ground level, upper castes and OBC are ganging up against the Modi Government for restoring the SC/ST Act after it was diluted by the Supreme Court. While the Congress has not come in favour of the bandh call or the upper caste and OBC protest, it is wooing the Brahmins, who are in the fore- front of the ongoing movement against the SC/ST Act. A day after MP Congress president Kamal Nath promised cow shelter in each district of MP, Randeep Singh Surjewala said, “Brahmin DNA is in the Congress blood.” This comes at a time when Congress chief Rahul Gandhi is visiting Mansarovar. This is interpret- ed as an attempt by the Congress to play the soft “Hindutva” card, something Rahul practised successfully in Gujarat and Karnataka Assembly polls. The MP Government has imposed Section 144 in five districts of the State ahead of the proposed nationwide bandh by several outfits to protest against the SC/ST Amendment Bill passed in Parliament last month. The bandh call has been given by around 30-35 organ- isations on social media. Section 144 has been imposed in Gwalior (city), Bhind, Shivpuri, Guna and Ashok Nagar districts. On Tuesday, members of Khatriya Mahasabha, Gujjar Mahasabha, Parshuram Sena and other organisations gathered against the amendment to the atroci- ties Act at a Swabhiman Sammelan held in Gwalior. However, it is Surejewala’s brazen overture to the Brahmins that gives away the Congress strategy for the upcoming polls. The Congress seems to have sensed that the Brahmins have got a raw deal under the BJP, which made Rajputs as Chief Minister of politically important Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring Uttarakhand. Similarly, while veteran Kalraj Mishra was dropped from the Council of Ministers on age criteria. So far he has not been accommodat- ed as Governor as was being speculated. The BJP has been pushed on the defensive and several party leaders have come out in open to express their apprehensions and concerns over the repercussion of the upper caste unrest. “It is a pity that my party did not listen to me when I said (including on Twitter) that the BJP should accept the SC ver- dict on the SC&ST Act, that there was no need to make immediate arrest but must do so within a week if prima facie evidence is there,” Subramanian Swamy tweeted. Senior BJP leader and MP from Deoria Kalraj Mishra has also called for a relook at the SC/ST Act and its provisions. “It is the responsibility of all political parties, including that in power, that the provisions of the Act should be re-looked into,” he said. Party’s MLA from Ballia Surendra Singh too joined the chorus and said, “This Act is misused to frame innocent people. If political parties are so keen to impress the Dalits then why not make a Dalit PM for next 10 years.” BJP Rajya Sabha member from Rajasthan Harshwardhan Singh Dungarpur has called for revision of the entire reserva- tion system and said the recent amendment of the SC/ST Act to bring back the stringent provisions has come as setback to some sections of society. Surjewala, who attended the State-level Brahmin semi- nar on Monday, said, “One of my colleagues asked why is a Brahmin conference being held using Rahul Gandhi’s photo and under the Congress party flag and the Tricolour? I said that I will respond to this from this platform one day. Indian National Congress is that party, my friends, in whose blood Brahmin Samaj’s DNA is pre- sent.” Surjewala also promised that the Congress would pro- vide 10 per cent reservation to the poor, set up Brahmin Kalyan Board, and offer 100 crore soft loan at 4 per cent interest and scholarships to needy Brahmin youths for set- ting up business and students to pursue higher education. After the Modi Government restored the tough provisions of the SC/ST Act, which were quashed by the Supreme Court, political par- ties welcomed the decisions for obvious reasons, but social media saw angry reactions from the upper caste people. Slowly and steadily, the resent- ment has spread and now caste outfits are indirectly backed by Opposition parties. In MP, the upper caste mobilisation against the BJP over the SC/ST Act has culmi- nated in the call of Bharat bandh. The resentment among the upper castes and OBC against the SC/ST Act has seen violent protests during the last few days in Morena, Bhind, Gwalior, Mandsaur and Neemuch. The protesters have especially targeting legislators, demanding that the SC verdict should be resorted. Some upper caste supporters also threw shoes at Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at a rally two days ago. T he Tamil Nadu Government on Wednesday faced a major embarrassment as sleuths of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) swooped down on the residences of Health Minister C Vijay Bhaskar, State police chief TK Rajendran and high- profile former Commissioner of Chennai Police S George, former Minister BV Ramana and many others in connection with the gutkha scam. The raids, which began at 7 am simultaneously at 40 locations in Chennai and else- where in Tamil Nadu, are being led by sleuths from New Delhi. The residence of Vijaya Bhaskar had been raided by the Income-Tax Department in April 2017 and details of large cash transactions were seized. Wednesday’s CBI raids are in connection with the inves- tigation into the alleged pay- offs running to 40 crore allegedly made by the manu- facturers of MDM Gutkha to political leaders, Ministers, police officials and bureau- crats to facilitate the sale of gutkha in Tamil Nadu. The State had banned the produc- tion and sale of gutkha during J Jayalalithaa as Chief Minister. Continued on Page 4 A s many as 1.76 crore poul- try, 46,000 cows and 20,000 goats were washed away in the recent floods in Kerala. The Home Ministry data shows the flood has ravaged a whop- ping 5.54 lakh acre (2,24,374 hectare) of agricultural land in Kerala, Karnataka, Assam, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. The Home Ministry data has not included the crops affect- ed in Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and several North-eastern States due to flood. According to data, hun- dreds of farms and cattle sheds were destroyed and the liveli- hood of thousands of dairy farmers were destroyed. Kerala lost 57,024.31 hectare of crops in Kannur, Kollam, Kasaragod, Alappuzha, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Palakad, Malappuram, Pathanamthitta, Ernakulam, Kottayam, Idukki, Thiruvananthapuram and Wayanad districts. Besides affecting cash crops such as pepper, coffee, the devastating floods washed away vegetables, medicinal plants and horticulture crops and hundreds of acres of paddy in the State. The deluge in Kerala has had a cascading effect on the cage fish farming and commercially valuable fish such as Pearl Spot, Sea Bass and Red Snapperwere. Officials of the Kerala Agriculture Department said the department was able to res- cue at least 50,000 cattle and house them in relief shelters across eight districts. “These cattle had been left behind by their fleeing owners when the water levels rose. There is also widespread fear about a break- out of communicable cattle diseases. There is a huge scarci- ty of roughage, including straw and green fodder,” said officials. Kerala has an estimated six lakh milch cattle requiring nearly 600 tonnes of feed, but pro- duces just 30 per cent locally. After Kerala, it is Uttar Pradesh which lost more crops during flood. As per the Ministry’s data, 50,873 hectare of crops in 23 districts, includ- ing Faizabad, Farrukhabad, Bijnor, Kanpur Dehat, Kanpur Nagar, Gonda, Barabanki, Behraich, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sitapur, Pilibhit, Mau, Kushinagar, Basti, Azamgarh, Badaun, Ballia, Balrampur and Moradabad, have been dam- aged. As many as 3,000 animals are affected here. Continued on Page 4 T he Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and the Delhi Metro on Wednesday rubbished as “misleading and falsification of facts” a report by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), which claimed ridership of Delhi Metro is falling and is the sec- ond most unaffordable Metro system in the world. Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri contended that Delhi Metro’s passenger flow has gone up while Delhi Metro MD Mangu Singh cited the examples of other Metros like Lucknow, Chennai and Kochi that have higher fares than Delhi Metro. Speaking at a function organised by CPWD, the Union Minister said if there is a possibility that Metro rider- ship is not realising its “poten- tial”, it is because Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is not giving approval for Metro’s phase-IV project. “I have a story going on today that Metro ridership has fallen, which is complete falsi- fication of facts. Metro rider- ship has gone up to two lakh and it is going up. If there is a possibility that Metro ridership is not realising its potential, it is because Arvind Kejriwal is not giving me approval for Metro phase-IV,” the Union Minister said. In February 2016, the AAP Government had given its in- principle approval for the con- struction work of the phase-IV project, but the Delhi Cabinet is yet to take final decision on it. The CSE in its report said DMRC is the second most unaffordable Metro system in the world in terms of percent- age of income spent for using it while asserting the Delhi Metro has received nearly 32 per cent less than the number of daily passengers it had hoped to serve this year. Reacting to the report, Kejriwal said he is “very sad” that such an impor- tant means of transport has become out of reach of com- mon man while asserting that all those who have given up Metro are now contributing to Delhi’s pollution by using road transport. The Minister reiterated that if the Delhi Government did not come on board for Metro’s phase-IV project, his Ministry will find a way. In May this year, Puri had said the Centre would take a decision on the execution of the Metro’s much-awaited phase-IV project if something was “lacking” on the Delhi Government’s side. Meanwhile, the Delhi Metro called the CSE study misleading and not based on facts and data. “This study is conveniently comparing DMRC with much selected Metros across the world. Why don’t you compare with big Metros,” said Singh. The other cities considered in the report were — Buenos Aires, Cairo, Hanoi, Jakarta, Kiev, Manila, Mexico City and Mumbai. “Metros like Jakarta do not exist yet. It will come into operation in January 2019. So how could there be comparison with a Metro that isn’t opera- tional,” Singh said. Delhi Metro chief said there are other Metros like Lucknow, Chennai and Kochi within the country that have higher fares than Delhi Metro. So how can it be second most unaffordable Metro in the world? He also refuted the CSE’s claim that Delhi Metro has received nearly 32 per cent less than the number of daily pas- sengers it had hoped to serve this year, saying its earlier pro- jection included phase-III which has not become opera- tional yet. “It is seen from the report that ridership of DMRC is 29 lakh as against project ridership of 39 lakh. The 39.5 lakh rid- ership is projected after com- pletion of phase-III. The phase- III is yet to be fully operational and stabilised. Therefore, any such comparison at this stage, is only misleading and unreal- istic,” said Singh. Continued on Page 4 T he Gujarat CID officials arrested sacked IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt on Wednesday from his residence in Ahmedabad in connection with two-decade-old case of alleged abduction and framing a Rajasthan-based lawyer in a crime related to narcotics. In 1996, a Rajasthan-based lawyer Sumer Singh Rajpurohit was allegedly abducted and framed in a narcotics case on the instruction of Bhatt (when he was Banaskantha SP) from a hotel in north Gujarat town Palanpur. Subsequently, Rajpurohit had filed a case against Bhatt and several oth- ers in Pali, Rajasthan. In connection with the case, the Gujarat High Court had ordered to form a CID SIT. The SIT found that Bhatt had framed Rajpurohit by filing false case. Continued on Page 4 F inance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday termed Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s allegations in Rafale deal as “ignoramus”, saying other Congress leaders are also parroting the allegations to “satisfy the ego of an ‘ill- informed gentleman.” Addressing the media on Wednesday evening after the Cabinet meeting, Jaitley reit- erated that the price of the Rafale Jet negotiated by the NDA is nine per cent lesser than the UPA’s deal and claimed that it is 20 per cent lesser considering “weapon- to-weapon” attached to the jet. “This is a Government-to- Government deal and no pri- vate party is involved. All 36 planes straight away come from France and not even a screw is fitted in India. It is the foreign supplier prerogative to engage their Indian partners. Many Indian private firms will ben- efit as we wanted the state-of- the-art technology of foreign players are shared here. Be it Tata, Mahindra and even HAL, they all will get work from for- eign players. It is the Congress style that buys from abroad without technology transfer. They are the ones who took bribes in Defence deals which is well documented in the case of Bofors,” Jaitley said coun- tering the allegations raised by the Congress. Slamming Rahul Gandhi without naming him, Jaitley added, “What can we say when the ‘gentleman’ from the dynasty is ignorant of the fact and repeating the same thing. It is proved that in dynastic par- ties ignorance is contagious. The party leaders have no options but to satisfy the ego of the ill-informed gentleman. Let the contagious problem remain with the Congress. Leaders like Abshishek Singhvi and all are repeating what he says.” Earlier in the morning, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra briefed the Union Council of Ministers on the fighter aircraft deal with France in a bid to provide the leaders with facts to counter the alle- gations being levelled against it. Sources said the NSA and Mitra National made a detailed presentation on various aspects of the deal in the meeting, which lasted more than two- and-a-half hours. Continued on Page 4 ❝

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    Ahead of the year-endAssembly elections in threeStates and general election nextyear, caste politics of a differ-ent kind is raising its head.

    This time upper castes arejoining hands with the OBC toexpress their resentment overthe restoration of the stringentprovisions of the SC/ST(Prevention of Atrocities) Act,1989. While several uppercastes and OBC outfits, pri-marily based in MadhyaPradesh, have given a Bharatbandh call on September 6, theCongress is openly playing theBrahmin card.

    This is the first time in thepost-Mandal era that uppercastes and OBC are comingtogether in a big way on a caste-based issue. The political par-ties have kept away from theprotest in view of its sensitivenature and out of the fear thatit could antagonise their Dalitconstituency. But at groundlevel, upper castes and OBC areganging up against the ModiGovernment for restoring theSC/ST Act after it was diluted

    by the Supreme Court.While the Congress has not

    come in favour of the bandhcall or the upper caste and OBCprotest, it is wooing theBrahmins, who are in the fore-front of the ongoing movementagainst the SC/ST Act. A dayafter MP Congress presidentKamal Nath promised cowshelter in each district of MP,Randeep Singh Surjewala said,“Brahmin DNA is in theCongress blood.” This comes ata time when Congress chiefRahul Gandhi is visitingMansarovar. This is interpret-ed as an attempt by theCongress to play the soft“Hindutva” card, somethingRahul practised successfullyin Gujarat and KarnatakaAssembly polls.

    The MP Government hasimposed Section 144 in fivedistricts of the State ahead ofthe proposed nationwidebandh by several outfits toprotest against the SC/STAmendment Bill passed inParliament last month.

    The bandh call has beengiven by around 30-35 organ-isations on social media.

    Section 144 has been imposedin Gwalior (city), Bhind,Shivpuri, Guna and AshokNagar districts. On Tuesday,members of KhatriyaMahasabha, Gujjar Mahasabha,Parshuram Sena and otherorganisations gathered against

    the amendment to the atroci-ties Act at a SwabhimanSammelan held in Gwalior.

    However, it is Surejewala’sbrazen overture to theBrahmins that gives away theCongress strategy for theupcoming polls. The Congress

    seems to have sensed that theBrahmins have got a raw dealunder the BJP, which madeRajputs as Chief Minister ofpolitically important UttarPradesh and neighbouringUttarakhand. Similarly, whileveteran Kalraj Mishra was

    dropped from the Council ofMinisters on age criteria. So farhe has not been accommodat-ed as Governor as was beingspeculated. The BJP has beenpushed on the defensive andseveral party leaders have comeout in open to express theirapprehensions and concernsover the repercussion of theupper caste unrest.

    “It is a pity that my partydid not listen to me when I said(including on Twitter) that theBJP should accept the SC ver-dict on the SC&ST Act, thatthere was no need to makeimmediate arrest but must doso within a week if prima facieevidence is there,” SubramanianSwamy tweeted.

    Senior BJP leader and MPfrom Deoria Kalraj Mishra hasalso called for a relook at theSC/ST Act and its provisions.“It is the responsibility of allpolitical parties, including thatin power, that the provisions ofthe Act should be re-lookedinto,” he said.

    Party’s MLA from BalliaSurendra Singh too joined thechorus and said, “This Act ismisused to frame innocent

    people. If political parties are sokeen to impress the Dalits thenwhy not make a Dalit PM fornext 10 years.”

    BJP Rajya Sabha memberfrom Rajasthan HarshwardhanSingh Dungarpur has called forrevision of the entire reserva-tion system and said the recentamendment of the SC/ST Actto bring back the stringentprovisions has come as setbackto some sections of society.

    Surjewala, who attendedthe State-level Brahmin semi-nar on Monday, said, “One ofmy colleagues asked why is aBrahmin conference being heldusing Rahul Gandhi’s photoand under the Congress partyflag and the Tricolour? I saidthat I will respond to this fromthis platform one day. IndianNational Congress is that party,my friends, in whose bloodBrahmin Samaj’s DNA is pre-sent.”

    Surjewala also promisedthat the Congress would pro-vide 10 per cent reservation tothe poor, set up BrahminKalyan Board, and offer �100crore soft loan at 4 per centinterest and scholarships to

    needy Brahmin youths for set-ting up business and studentsto pursue higher education.

    After the ModiGovernment restored the toughprovisions of the SC/ST Act,which were quashed by theSupreme Court, political par-ties welcomed the decisions forobvious reasons, but socialmedia saw angry reactionsfrom the upper caste people.Slowly and steadily, the resent-ment has spread and now casteoutfits are indirectly backed byOpposition parties.

    In MP, the upper castemobilisation against the BJPover the SC/ST Act has culmi-nated in the call of Bharatbandh. The resentment amongthe upper castes and OBCagainst the SC/ST Act has seenviolent protests during the lastfew days in Morena, Bhind,Gwalior, Mandsaur andNeemuch. The protesters haveespecially targeting legislators,demanding that the SC verdictshould be resorted. Some uppercaste supporters also threwshoes at Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan at a rally twodays ago.

    "!������������ �30))"�

    The Tamil NaduGovernment onWednesday faced a majorembarrassment as sleuths of theCentral Bureau of Investigation(CBI) swooped down on theresidences of Health MinisterC Vijay Bhaskar, State policechief TK Rajendran and high-profile former Commissionerof Chennai Police S George,former Minister BV Ramanaand many others in connectionwith the gutkha scam.

    The raids, which began at7 am simultaneously at 40locations in Chennai and else-where in Tamil Nadu, are being

    led by sleuths from New Delhi.The residence of Vijaya

    Bhaskar had been raided by theIncome-Tax Department inApril 2017 and details of largecash transactions were seized.

    Wednesday’s CBI raids arein connection with the inves-tigation into the alleged pay-offs running to �40 croreallegedly made by the manu-facturers of MDM Gutkha topolitical leaders, Ministers,police officials and bureau-crats to facilitate the sale ofgutkha in Tamil Nadu. TheState had banned the produc-tion and sale of gutkha duringJ Jayalalithaa as Chief Minister.

    Continued on Page 4

    �(���� "!��� )0-�1023�

    As many as 1.76 crore poul-try, 46,000 cows and 20,000goats were washed away in therecent floods in Kerala. TheHome Ministry data showsthe flood has ravaged a whop-ping 5.54 lakh acre (2,24,374hectare) of agricultural land inKerala, Karnataka, Assam,West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.The Home Ministry data hasnot included the crops affect-ed in Uttarakhand, MadhyaPradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar andseveral North-eastern Statesdue to flood.

    According to data, hun-dreds of farms and cattle shedswere destroyed and the liveli-hood of thousands of dairyfarmers were destroyed. Keralalost 57,024.31 hectare of cropsin Kannur, Kollam, Kasaragod,Alappuzha, Thrissur,Kozhikode, Palakad,Malappuram, Pathanamthitta,Ernakulam, Kottayam, Idukki,Thiruvananthapuram andWayanad districts.

    Besides affecting cashcrops such as pepper, coffee,the devastating floods washedaway vegetables, medicinalplants and horticulture cropsand hundreds of acres of paddyin the State. The deluge inKerala has had a cascadingeffect on the cage fish farmingand commercially valuable fishsuch as Pearl Spot, Sea Bass andRed Snapperwere.

    Officials of the KeralaAgriculture Department saidthe department was able to res-cue at least 50,000 cattle andhouse them in relief sheltersacross eight districts. “Thesecattle had been left behind bytheir fleeing owners when thewater levels rose. There is alsowidespread fear about a break-out of communicable cattle

    diseases. There is a huge scarci-ty of roughage, including strawand green fodder,” said officials.Kerala has an estimated six lakhmilch cattle requiring nearly600 tonnes of feed, but pro-duces just 30 per cent locally.

    After Kerala, it is UttarPradesh which lost more cropsduring flood. As per theMinistry’s data, 50,873 hectareof crops in 23 districts, includ-ing Faizabad, Farrukhabad,Bijnor, Kanpur Dehat, KanpurNagar, Gonda, Barabanki,Behraich, Lakhimpur Kheri,Sitapur, Pilibhit, Mau,Kushinagar, Basti, Azamgarh,Badaun, Ballia, Balrampur andMoradabad, have been dam-aged. As many as 3,000 animalsare affected here.

    Continued on Page 4

    ����� )0-�1023�

    The Ministry of Housingand Urban Affairs and theDelhi Metro on Wednesdayrubbished as “misleading andfalsification of facts” a report byCentre for Science andEnvironment (CSE), whichclaimed ridership of DelhiMetro is falling and is the sec-ond most unaffordable Metrosystem in the world. UnionHousing and Urban AffairsMinister Hardeep Singh Puricontended that Delhi Metro’spassenger flow has gone upwhile Delhi Metro MD ManguSingh cited the examples ofother Metros like Lucknow,Chennai and Kochi that havehigher fares than Delhi Metro.

    Speaking at a functionorganised by CPWD, theUnion Minister said if there isa possibility that Metro rider-ship is not realising its “poten-tial”, it is because Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal is notgiving approval for Metro’sphase-IV project.

    “I have a story going ontoday that Metro ridership has

    fallen, which is complete falsi-fication of facts. Metro rider-ship has gone up to two lakhand it is going up. If there is apossibility that Metro ridershipis not realising its potential, itis because Arvind Kejriwal isnot giving me approval forMetro phase-IV,” the UnionMinister said.

    In February 2016, the AAPGovernment had given its in-principle approval for the con-struction work of the phase-IVproject, but the Delhi Cabinetis yet to take final decision onit. The CSE in its report saidDMRC is the second mostunaffordable Metro system inthe world in terms of percent-age of income spent for usingit while asserting the DelhiMetro has received nearly 32per cent less than the numberof daily passengers it had hopedto serve this year. Reacting tothe report, Kejriwal said he is“very sad” that such an impor-tant means of transport hasbecome out of reach of com-mon man while asserting thatall those who have given upMetro are now contributing to

    Delhi’s pollution by using roadtransport.

    The Minister reiteratedthat if the Delhi Governmentdid not come on board forMetro’s phase-IV project, hisMinistry will find a way. InMay this year, Puri had said theCentre would take a decisionon the execution of the Metro’smuch-awaited phase-IV projectif something was “lacking” onthe Delhi Government’s side.

    Meanwhile, the DelhiMetro called the CSE studymisleading and not based onfacts and data. “This study isconveniently comparingDMRC with much selectedMetros across the world. Whydon’t you compare with bigMetros,” said Singh. The othercities considered in the reportwere — Buenos Aires, Cairo,Hanoi, Jakarta, Kiev, Manila,Mexico City and Mumbai.

    “Metros like Jakarta donot exist yet. It will come intooperation in January 2019. Sohow could there be comparisonwith a Metro that isn’t opera-tional,” Singh said. Delhi Metrochief said there are other

    Metros like Lucknow, Chennaiand Kochi within the countrythat have higher fares thanDelhi Metro. So how can it besecond most unaffordableMetro in the world?

    He also refuted the CSE’sclaim that Delhi Metro hasreceived nearly 32 per cent less

    than the number of daily pas-sengers it had hoped to servethis year, saying its earlier pro-jection included phase-IIIwhich has not become opera-tional yet.

    “It is seen from the reportthat ridership of DMRC is 29lakh as against project ridership

    of 39 lakh. The 39.5 lakh rid-ership is projected after com-pletion of phase-III. The phase-III is yet to be fully operationaland stabilised. Therefore, anysuch comparison at this stage,is only misleading and unreal-istic,” said Singh.

    Continued on Page 4

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    The Gujarat CID officialsarrested sacked IPS officerSanjiv Bhatt on Wednesdayfrom his residence inAhmedabad in connectionwith two-decade-old case ofalleged abduction and framinga Rajasthan-based lawyer in acrime related to narcotics.

    In 1996, a Rajasthan-basedlawyer Sumer Singh Rajpurohitwas allegedly abducted andframed in a narcotics case onthe instruction of Bhatt (whenhe was Banaskantha SP) froma hotel in north Gujarat townPalanpur. Subsequently,Rajpurohit had filed a caseagainst Bhatt and several oth-ers in Pali, Rajasthan.

    In connection with thecase, the Gujarat High Courthad ordered to form a CID SIT.The SIT found that Bhatt hadframed Rajpurohit by filingfalse case.

    Continued on Page 4

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    Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyon Wednesday termedCongress president RahulGandhi’s allegations in Rafaledeal as “ignoramus”, sayingother Congress leaders are alsoparroting the allegations to“satisfy the ego of an ‘ill-informed gentleman.”

    Addressing the media onWednesday evening after theCabinet meeting, Jaitley reit-erated that the price of theRafale Jet negotiated by theNDA is nine per cent lesserthan the UPA’s deal andclaimed that it is 20 per centlesser considering “weapon-to-weapon” attached to the jet.

    “This is a Government-to-Government deal and no pri-vate party is involved. All 36planes straight away come fromFrance and not even a screw isfitted in India. It is the foreignsupplier prerogative to engagetheir Indian partners. ManyIndian private firms will ben-efit as we wanted the state-of-the-art technology of foreignplayers are shared here. Be it

    Tata, Mahindra and even HAL,they all will get work from for-eign players. It is the Congressstyle that buys from abroadwithout technology transfer.They are the ones who tookbribes in Defence deals whichis well documented in the caseof Bofors,” Jaitley said coun-tering the allegations raised bythe Congress.

    Slamming Rahul Gandhiwithout naming him, Jaitleyadded, “What can we say whenthe ‘gentleman’ from thedynasty is ignorant of the factand repeating the same thing.It is proved that in dynastic par-ties ignorance is contagious.The party leaders have nooptions but to satisfy the ego of

    the ill-informed gentleman. Letthe contagious problem remainwith the Congress. Leaders likeAbshishek Singhvi and all arerepeating what he says.”

    Earlier in the morning,National Security Adviser AjitDoval and Defence SecretarySanjay Mitra briefed the UnionCouncil of Ministers on thefighter aircraft deal with Francein a bid to provide the leaderswith facts to counter the alle-gations being levelled against it.Sources said the NSA andMitra National made a detailedpresentation on various aspectsof the deal in the meeting,which lasted more than two-and-a-half hours.

    Continued on Page 4

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    Not more than 5 per centof the total researchdone in Jawaharlal NehruUniversity (JNU) seeksapproval from the varsity's“Institutional Ethics ReviewBoard (IERB)”. Failing which,the premier varsity is pro-ducing all types of researchincluding the ones whosefindings might create “dishar-mony” in the society andmay even evoke feelings thatare antagonistic to the“national integration”.

    Having certificate fromIERB which evaluates aresearch on ethical parame-ters is not mandatory, more-over, there is a general appre-hension among the facultyand students that going toIERB might unduly delay theapproval and fate of theirresearch might hang in peril.A JNU official said thatIERB evaluates not morethan 100 researches in ayear while the varsity pro-duces more than 2500research papers.

    IERB board is of diversenature having experts fromvarious fields onboard.Lawyers and experts fromthe field of philosophy, liter-ature, life-sciences, social-sci-ences and others constitutethe board. IERB evaluates aresearch on four basic para-meters that includes “origi-nality” of research, its “malef-icence”, “beneficence” and“independence”.

    A member of IERB boardsaid that the parameter of“maleficence” is to checkwhether or not there is anymalicious purpose or wrongintent behind the researchand its findings. While“beneficence” helps in inden-

    tifying whether or not a par-ticular research is done withthe purpose of benefittingthe researcher. The “origi-nality” ensures that only thoseresearch works which are notplagiarized or are not just cut,copy and paste should begiven certificate of approval,he said.

    The parameter of “inde-pendence” is to detectwhether the research is doneunder some undue influenceor under persuasion or not,the member added.

    Recently, the researchwork of a senior professor on“sensitive” topics like“Muslims in Delhi” and“Tribals in Chhattisgarh” werefound inappropriate to get theIERD nod or approval.

    JNU Professor AmitaSingh, member secretary ofIERB said that boardapproval or certificate shouldbe made mandatory for allthe research work in JNU.She said that the board usu-ally evaluates a researchwithin 10-15 days of receiv-ing the proposal and there isno delay. She also rued“shortage of fund” as themain reason behind notinviting experts from out-station in the board.

    Another member saidthat though less than 5 per-cent of researchers seek IERBcertification, many Professorsfrom different schools in JNUand who in normal coursedoesn't suggest students forIERB certification, didn't hes-itate to seek IERB approval ifrequired.

    “In many cases, IERBapproval is a must and eventhe teachers who generallydiscourage students inapproaching IERB, seekapproval sometimes,” said themember.

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    Former UN Secretary-General BanKi-Moon and former NorwegianPrime Minister Gro HarlemBrundtland will visit Delhi's MohallaClinics on Friday, the DelhiGovernment said on Wednesday.

    Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal'smedia advisor Nagendar Sharma saidthe delegation, which will visit DelhiGovernment run clinics, will comprisemembers from “The Elders”, an inde-pendent group of global leaders work-ing together for peace and humanrights. Kejriwal and Health MinisterSatyendar Jain will accompany the del-egates.

    “The delegates have been in touchwith the Health Minister for a longtime. They had also written to Kejriwalappreciating the infrastructure andservices provided by Mohalla Clinicsin the city,” Sharma said.

    The Mohalla Clinics are a flagshipproject of Delhi's ruling Aam AadmiParty (AAP) where medicines, diag-nostic tests and consultation are providedfree of cost.The Delhi Governmentsays 187 Mohalla Clinics are now oper-ational in the national capital and siteshave been identified to set up another426. The AAP says it wants to open atotal of 1,000 Mohalla Clinics soon.

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    The much awaited corridor of DelhiMetro on Pink Line is soon going to beopened for the public as the Delhi Metro RailCorporation (DMRC) have started the trialruns on the 9.7 km stretch between LajpatNagar and Mayur Vihar Pocket-1. Thestretch is the extension of the already run-ning 59 km long Majlis Park - Shiv Vihar cor-ridor (Line 7) of Phase-III.

    Pink Line has proved to be a majorboon for the commuters as well as the busi-ness persons. Opening of this stretch, willbe very helpful to the commuters of theareas such as Ashram and Mayur Vihar. Itwill help the passengers to reach the rail-way station and the Inter State BusTerminal (ISBT) as the Hazrat NizamuddinMetro station on this stretch will connectthe Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway station aswell as the Inter State Bus Terminal at SaraiKale Khan.

    Earlier, people had to walk a long dis-tance after deboarding the metro train andcity buses to reach Sarai Kale Khan railwaystation or to reach the ISBT.

    “During these test runs, the interface of themetro train will be checked to ensure that thereis no physical infringement with civil infra-structure during the movement of the train onthe track and also testing of various subsys-tems of coaches shall be done. Further, the new

    signaling technology known asCommunication Based Train Control (CBTC),which is being used on the Pink and MagentaLines, will also undergo rigorous testing instages,” said Anuj Dayal, Edecutive Director(Corporate Communications), DMRC.

    The extension of the Pink Line will runfrom Lajpat Nagar to Mayur Vihar Pocket-1 with consisting five stations namely VinobaPuri, Ashram, Hazrat Nizamuddin, MayurVihar-1 and Mayur Vihar Pocket-1. Out ofthis five stations, Mayur Vihar-1 and MayurVihar Pocket-1 are the elevated station andrest three stations are underground.

    “The response of the train at differentspeeds, braking of the train and the inter-connection with the Operations ControlCentre (OCC) will also be monitored dur-ing the trials. The behavior of the track sys-tem and the Over Head Electrification(OHE) will be checked repeatedly,” Dayaladded further.

    Moreover, the official said once the entiresection will open, Pink Line will become thelongest Line of Delhi Metro. The new linewhich is expected to start by end of theSeptember has five station with two inter-change station at Mayur Vihar-I to provideconnectivity to the Blue Line( DwarkaSector-21 to Noida City Centre/ Vaishali.Also, DMRC has constructed a 63 metre longFoot Over Bridge (FOB) at the interchangeMayur Vihar-I station.

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    To combat air pollution inthe city, Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) led Government isgoing to launch mega planta-tion drive on Saturday.Claiming the plantation drive—biggest ever in the history ofDelhi—the Government willplant five lakh trees and shrubs.

    “The unprecedented driveaims to effectively enhance thegreen cover of Delhi which willhave a long-lasting effect on airpollution control,” said DelhiGovernment spokesperson.600 different locations havebeen finalised by theGovernment, moreover 1.25lakh school children will par-ticipate in this drive.

    Environment and ForestsMinister Imran Hussainreviewed the preparation forthe mega plantation drive withthe senior officials of con-cerned departments and green-ing agencies on Wednesday.

    The meeting was attendedby all senior officers of theEnvironment and Forestdepartments, Delhi PollutionControl Committee (DPCC),District Magistrates, SDMs,senior officers of the three

    MCDs, Delhi DevelopmentAuthority (DDA), Delhi Parksand Gardens Society, NewDelhi MunicipalCouncil(NDMC), DelhiCantonment Board, DelhiMetro Rail Corporation(DMRC), CPWD, PWD;Education & HealthDepartments, DSIIDC, DelhiJal Board, Delhi Urban ShelterImprovement Board (DUSIB)and the Power Discoms.

    “Delhi Government is

    seeking active participation oflocal residents, ResidentWelfare Associations (RWAs),market associations, eco-clubs,school and college studentsetc., with the purpose to createawareness about air pollutionand means to combat theadverse effects of air pollutionby carrying out plantation,”said a Government's official.

    It was also informed thatthe greening agencies havealready communicated the

    details of sites or locationswhere the plantation will becarried out on Saturday.

    Officers of the ForestDepartment informed theEnvironment minister thatdetails of around 600 sites/loca-tions spread all over Delhihave been uploaded on thewebsite of the ForestDepartment.

    A helpline with toll free no.1800118600 has already start-ed functioning for helping thegeneral public to know thelocation of the plantation sitesas per their convenience forparticipation in plantationdrive on Saturday.

    Hussain also asked theDistrict Magistrates and Sub-Divisional Magistratesto coor-dinate and monitor plantationdrive within their respectiveDistricts. They were also alsoasked to ensure mobilization ofresidents, students, NGOs,Market Associations, LionsClub, Rotary Club.

    It was also directed thatfeasibility of procuringmachines for geo-tagging ofplantation be explored at theearliest so as to trace and keeptrack of the survival of planta-tion.

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    Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal onWednesday said the BJP willface the wrath of the poor for“deliberately cancelling rationcards in Delhi” and warned ofstrict action against officerswho followed the Centre'sorders.

    Kejriwal's reaction cameafter Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) MLA Gulab Singhtweeted a video whichshowed a woman fromMatiala constituency pleadingwith Lieutenant-GovernorAnil Baijal urging him toprovide her a ration card -which was cancelled - so thatshe could feed her two chil-dren.

    Sharing the tweet,

    Kejriwal said: “The BJP willface the heat from the poorfor pressurizing the officers todeliberately cancel rationcards. Strict action should betaken against the officers whoillegally followed BJP'sorders.”

    On Sunday, the DelhiGovernment ordered therestoration of 2.53 lakh rationcards in the national Capitaland warned officers that theywould be personally respon-sible for starvation deaths ofeligible beneficiaries.

    Between July and August,the Delhi Governmentclaimed that over 2.50 lakhration cards were cancelledallegedly by Delhi's FoodCommissioner despite strongobjections by Food and CivilSupplies Minister ImranHussain.

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    Islamabad: Pakistan’s newly-elected President Dr Arif Alvishares an interesting connec-tion with India as his father wasa dentist to India’s first PrimeMinister Jawaharlal Nehru,according to the ruling PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.

    Alvi, 69, a close ally ofPrime Minister Imran Khanand one of the founding mem-bers of the PTI, was elected asthe new President of Pakistanon Tuesday.

    The former dentist defeat-ed Pakistan Peoples Party can-didate Aitzaz Ahsan and thePakistan Muslim League-Nnominee Maulana Fazl urRehman in a three-way contestto become the 13th president.

    Being a son of Nehru’sdentist is not the only connec-tion that Alvi has with India. Heis yet another PakistaniPresident whose family migrat-ed to Pakistan from India afterpartition. PTI

    Washington: India buying amissile defence system fromRussia and oil from Iran wouldbe part of the 2+2 dialogue, butnot the talks’ primary focus, USSecretary of State MikePompeo has said.

    Pompeo and DefenceSecretary Jim Mattis arrived inIndia for talks on Thursdaywith External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj and DefenceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman.This is the inaugural 2+2 dialogue between the twocountries.

    “They are (missile systempurchase from Russia and oilfrom Iran) part of the conver-sation. They are part of the rela-tionship. “They will certainlycome up, but I don’t think theywill be the primary focus ofwhat it is we are trying toaccomplish here,” Pompeo saidon Tuesday to a question fromreporters who are travellingwith him to Pakistan and thento India.

    India is expected to conveyto the US during the dialoguethat it is going ahead with the

    �40,000 crore deal with Russiato procure a batch of S-400Triumf air defence missile sys-tem. “There are half-a-dozenthings on the agenda that weare really intent on makingprogress on. Those decisionsare important, they are impor-tant to the relationship forsure, but I don’t see us resolv-ing those or have intention toresolve those during this set ofmeetings of the strategic dia-logue,” he said.

    “They are really aboutthings that are big and strategicand will go on for 20, 40, 50years. Those are the kinds oftopics that secretary Mattis andI are hoping to address — notthat those are not important, butthey are not part of the struc-tural relationship between thetwo countries,” Pompeo said.

    He regretted that the dia-logue had to be postponedtwice in the past. “I regret it wasmy fault the second time. I had

    to travel to Pyongyang. But sec-retary Mattis and I are bothlooking forward to this,” hesaid. The twice-delayed dia-logue was earlier scheduledfor July 6 in Washington, butwas postponed by the US onJune 27, citing “unavoidablereasons”.

    “We have a true strategicpartner who, frankly, is ouronly major defence partner,right, the only designatedmajor defence partner, withwhom we have a great rela-tionship and who is veryimportant to our success in ourIndo-Pacific strategy — enor-mous country with incrediblyopportunity and capacity forwealth creation,” Pompeo said.

    “We hope we can findopportunities to continue toexpand the relationship notonly diplomatic and military-to-military but a good set ofbusiness relationships as well,”he said. PTI

    Sofia: India and Bulgaria onWednesday signed four MoUs,including one on civil nuclearcooperation, as President RamNath Kovind held detailedtalks with his Bulgarian coun-terpart Rumen Radev andinvited the Balkan nation tobecome a key partner of Indiain the Defence sector.

    “We both agreed to sub-stantially upgrade our eco-nomic partnership, one thatwould truly reflect the depth ofour robust political relations,”Kovind said in a joint pressstatement after the talks.

    He said India-Bulgaria tiesare deeply rooted in historyand on its strong foundation,the two nations have “togeth-er built a contemporary part-nership based on shareddemocratic values and com-mitment to global peace andsecurity”.

    Kovind arrived here onTuesday from Cyprus on thesecond leg of his eight-daythree-nation visit to Europe to

    continue India’s high-levelengagements with Europeancountries.

    The President held

    detailed talks with Radev andlater the two leaders witnessedsigning of four MoUs betweenIndia and Bulgaria on invest-ment, tourism, civil nuclearcooperation and the establish-ment of Hindi Chair at SofiaUniversity.

    A programme of coopera-tion was also signed to enhancescientific cooperation. “TheMoU on civil nuclear co-oper-ation would facilitate collabo-ration on the peaceful uses ofnuclear energy, includingnuclear safety and research,”Kovind said.

    “Bulgaria can become a keypartner for India in the defencesector under our ‘Make InIndia’ programme and in tech-nology intensive sectors such asIT, logistics and infrastructureunder our Digital India andSmart Cities programme,” headded. PTI

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    Bhubaneswar/New Delhi: TheBiju Janata Dal (BJD) onWednesday requested theElection Commission to holdOdisha Assembly polls alongwith the Lok Sabha elections in the event of the latter being advanced.

    The letter, which was givento the poll panel in the nation-al capital by party MP PinakiMishra, stated that holdingsimulations elections will savethe state an extra expenditureof around `1,000 crore.

    Elections in the state are duein April-May next year. Odishais among the few States whereelections to both the Lok Sabhaand the assembly are beingheld simultaneously since 2004.“On behalf of the BJD, werequest you that in the event anydecision is taken by the CentralGovernment to prepone theLok Sabha polls, before they arescheduled to be held in 2019, we

    would request you to makeadequate preparations to holdelections to the OdishaAssembly simultaneously, so asto save the extra expenditure ofalmost �1,000 crore, which anupcoming state like Odisha canill-afford,” the letter stated.

    Mishra said the partymoved the ElectionCommission amid speculationthat the general elections mightbe held ahead of its schedule inMarch-April next year.

    The BJD MP said there isspeculation that Centre may gofor simultaneous elections toLok Sabha and 11 StateAssemblies. “Odisha must beincluded in the one nation, onepoll proposal,” he said. “Thereis no immediate reason behindour move. But, we wanted toinform the EC that the rulingBJD will like to go to pollsalong with the Lok Sabha elec-tions,” Mishra said. PTI

    ��� )0-�1023�

    Congress president RahulGandhi, who is on a pil-grimage to KailashMansarovar, put out pictures ofthe “tranquil and calm” watersof the lake and said there “is nohatred here”.

    “The waters of lakeMansarovar are so gentle, tran-quil and calm. They give every-thing and lose nothing.Anyone can drink from them.There is no hatred here. Thisis why we worship these watersin India,” he said on Twitter.

    Gandhi posted two pic-tures of the lake and its sur-roundings.

    He also put out pictures ofthe Rakshas Tal lake.

    “The stunning beauty oflake Rakshas Tal,” he tweeted.

    The 48-year-old leader isundertaking the KailashMansarovar Yatra in accor-dance with a wish he expressed

    in April when his planeplunged hundreds of feet dur-ing the campaign for theKarnataka polls.

    On April 26, the planecarrying Gandhi and someothers from Delhi to Hubballiairport in Karnataka developeda technical problem and tiltedheavily on the left side. Theplane dipped steeply with vio-lent shuddering, but soonrecovered and landed safely.

    Three days later, on April29, Gandhi announced duringa rally that he wanted to under-take the pilgrimage.

    The arduous pilgrimageto Mount Kailash, which isconsidered the abode of LordShiva in Hindu mythologyand is in the TibetanHimalayas, is organised everyyear between June andSeptember.

    Gandhi left the nationalcapital on August 31 for under-taking the Yatra.

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    Mumbai: Veteran actor DilipKumar was admitted toMumbai’s Lilavati Hospital on Wednesday, after he com-plained of chest infection and uneasiness.

    “Saab has been admitted toMumbai’s Lilavati Hospital ashe was bit uneasy due to a chestinfection. He’s recuperating.Requesting your duas andprayers,” A tweet put out onthespian’s behalf stated.

    This is not for the first timethat the veteran actor has beenhospitalised. “@TheDilipKumarhas been admitted to Lilavatiafter he complained of breath-lessness. Due to advance age,Saab has been routinely visitingthe hospital for overall healthcare and health management,”an acquaintance of the actorFaisal Farooqui tweeted. PNS

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    From Page 1After UP, it is West Bengal

    that has lost more agriculturalland. West Bengal lost48,552.580 hectare of cropsAfter Kerala, it is West Bengalthat has lost more agriculturalland. West Bengal lost48,552.580 hectare of crops inNorth 24 Parganas, Birbhum,Paschim Burdwan, PurbaBurdwan, Bankura, Alipurduar,Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling, Nadia, Coochbehar,Hooghly,Kalimpong, PaschimMedinipur, Jhargram, South24 Parganas, Purulia, Purba

    Medinipur, Uttar Dinajpur,Dakshin Dinajpur andMurshidabad. Kharif sowing isat peak in the State.

    “In Odisha, 35,102 hectareof crops has destroyed in thefloods. More details are await-ed,” said officials.

    In Assam, the flood dam-aged crops at 27,964.55 hectarein Dhemaji, Lakhimpur,Sonitpur, Nalbari,Biswanath,Udalguri, Barpeta , Chirang,Kokrajhar, Nagaon. Hojai,Karbi-Anglong East, Karbi-Anglong West, Golaghat,Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Majuli,Charaideo Karimganj,Sivasagar, Hailakandi, Cacharand Dima Hasao district.

    The flood destroyed 3,521

    hectare of crops in 11 districtsof Karnataka including Udupi,Uttara Kannada, DakshinaKannada, Kodagu,Chikkamgalur, Hassan,Mysore, Shivamogga, Bellary,Davanagere and Raichur.

    As per the Home Ministry,over 1,400 people, whichinclude 488 in flood-batteredKerala, have lost their lives dueto rain, floods and landslides in10 States across the country sofar this monsoon season. Asmany as 254 people have diedin Uttar Pradesh, 210 in WestBengal, 170 in Karnataka, 139in Maharashtra, 52 in Gujarat,50 in Assam, 37 inUttarakhand, 29 in Odisha and11 in Nagaland.

    From Page 1According to Ashish Bhatia,

    DGP CID (crime), police per-sonnel arrested Bhatt in the caseand also detain seven others inthe same matter.

    The Rajasthan lawyer in hiscomplaint claimed that he wasabducted by police in civildress in order to oblige then sit-ting judge of Gujarat HighCourt justice RR Jain.Rajpurohit alleged that the falsecase was filed against him toforce his family to evict a rent-ed commercial property

    belonging to Justice Jain’s sisterin Pali town of Rajasthan.

    He went on to say that hewas not only abducted by impli-cated in a false Narcotic Drugsand Psychotropic Substances(NDPS) case after Gujaratpolice found nearly 1 kg opiumfrom a hotel in Palanpur.According to him, he neverbooked a hotel room inPalanpur and when the policeraided the hotel, he was in Pali.

    Rajpurohit further allegedthat after abducting him, Bhattand his juniors pressurised himto vacate the rented propertyand threatened him to frameunder NDPS Act. According to

    him, he had no other option butto vacate the property at thatpoint of time. The 1988 batchGujarat cadre IPS officer camein controversy in the year 2011after he submitted an affidavitin the apex court accusing thethen Chief Minister of Gujaratand current Prime MinisterNarendra Modi of complicity inthe 2002 riots. Later on he wassuspended in the same yearaccusing him of unauthorisedabsence from duty, not appear-ing before an inquiry commit-tee and using his official carwhile not on duty. Four yearslater in the year 2015, he wassacked from service by the

    state Home Department fol-lowing his sex video CD thatwent viral on social media.

    In July 2018, the VijayRupani Government had with-drawn security of former IPSofficer. In protest to the StateGovernment’s move, Bhatt hadwritten a letter to Gujarat CMnot to remove security covergiven to him as directly or indi-rectly security of his entirefamily was under threat. In2012, Gujarat Assembly polls,Bhatt’s wife Shweta contestedagainst Modi on Congress tick-et from Maninagar constituen-cy. She however lost by morethan 70,000 votes.

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    From Page 1The I-T Department in a raid on the

    premises of the MDM Group hadseized documents which stated thatcrores of rupees were paid to Ministersand officials to facilitate the sale ofgutkha in the State. Though the I-TDepartment wrote to then ChiefSecretary Rama Mohan Rao asking forthe State Government’s cooperation towiden the investigation into the pay-off,there was no response from the latter.The then Chief Secretary had stated thathe had forwarded the same to the ChiefMinister’s Office.

    I-T officials, who raidedJayalalithaa’s residence in November2016, had seized the letter written by theI-T Department to the Chief Secretaryfrom the room used by VK Sasikala,Jayalalithaa’s associate who is serving jailterm in Bangalore in the dispropor-tionate assets case.

    The Government of EdappadiPalaniswamy had handed over the caseto the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-

    Corruption (DVAC) which reportedlysoft-pedalled the probe much to theanguish of the Opposition parties.Though the DVAC registered a case inSeptember 2017, it failed to file achargesheet within the stipulated peri-od of six months. One of the DMK lead-ers approached the Madras High Courtwith a plea to transfer the investigationto the Central agency as there were manyCentral Government officials listed asaccused in the case.

    The Madras High Court ordered thetransfer of the case to the CBI. Thoughthe State Government challenged theHigh Court order, the Supreme Courttoo upheld the CBI probe.

    The Anti-Corruption Wing of theCBI had filed a case against unknownofficials of various departments in theCentral and Tamil Nadu Governments.

    Last week saw the agency grillingMadhava Rao, proprietor, MDMGutkha and his associates who arebelieved to have acted as couriers ofmoney to all concerned.

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    From page 1Secondly, the report claims that 22% of a

    commuter’s income is going for transportationin the lower income group. That is also anextreme case, he said. “As per our exact figure,a total of �268.84 crore was the actual fare earnedin July and the total number of passengers whotravelled on the Metro were 7.79 crore.

    So the revenue per trip comes to �34.50. Hisexpenditure will be �1,518 per month and aver-age per capita income in Delhi is �27,424,according to economic survey done by DelhiGovernment,” the DMRC Chief said.

    So based on these calculations, 5.53% andnot 22% of income of a commuter is spent whiletravelling on Metro, Singh said. However,Anumita Roy Chowdhury, the ExecutiveDirector of the research and advocacy group,clarified that they were talking about the over-all picture of the transport system in the report.

    The CSE in a report on Tuesday said that ithas found that after the fare hike last year, DelhiMetro has become the second-most unafford-able service in the world among the cities thatcharge less than half a US dollar for a trip. Ofnine metropolitan cities across the world wherethe cost for a 10-km trip is less than half-a-USdollar, the Delhi Metro remains the second-mostunaffordable system in terms of percentage ofincome spent for using it, the CSE studyclaimed.

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    As the Modi Governmentrace against time to achievethe targets of making the coun-try Open-Defecation Free(ODF) by 2019 under its ambi-tious Swachchh BharatMission, a huge backlog ofdefunct toilets is proving aheadache to it. The latestGovernment data shows thattill July this year, just half of thetotal 53,24,794 defunct toiletsacross the States have beenmade operational under theCentral f lagship scheme,Swachchh BharatMission(SBM).

    Prime Minister NarendraModi had launched the SBMwith much fanfare in 2014.

    However, while construc-tion of new toilets is moving atthe satisfactory pace, it is not sowith the defunct toilets in theabsence of water and adequatedrainage system. Senior offi-cials in the Union Water andSanitation Ministry, a nodalbody for implementing theSBM in the rural areas said thatas per the statistics, still,53,24,794 loos are yet to bemade usable.

    There are at least 1,11,730villages which have defunct

    loos which are now being usedas stores or other purpose.Most of these toilets were con-structed under the NirmalBharat scheme during the UPAGovernment and becamedefunct over the years due tothe Government’s short slight-ness. Under the SBM, the ModiGovernment has doled outfunds to make these defuncttoilets workable.

    However, the States seemsnot to be keen in this regard.Among poor performers Statesare Uttar Pradesh (26 per centconversion), Jharkhand(49 percent), Bihar(18 per cent),Arunanchal Pradesh(22 percent). In contrast, States likeWest Bengal and Maharashtrahave performed better byrepairing the defunct loos at afaster pace to make them func-tional. (See Box)

    Sources in the Ministry

    say that the num-ber could be onthe higher side asin some villages itwas found thatnewly construct-ed toilets underthe flagship pro-gramme wererarely used due tovarious reasons

    pertaining to the quality of con-struction and scarcity of water.This was pointed by aParliamentary panel too in itsreport submitted in Parliamentin March. Taking cognisance ofthe situation, the panel hasasked the Government toensure that the constructedtoilets are safe and sustainableso that they can be utilised fora long period of time.

    A panel of the Niti Ayogtoo had too recently notedthat the main challenge inachieving ODF status byOctober 2, 2019 is reviving thedysfunctional toilets by pro-viding adequate funds. TheGovernment on its part, toensure availability of fund forconversion of the toilets fromdysfunctional to the usableone has given wide options tothe States

    To meet the financial

    need, the Government in 2014set up SBK to facilitate chan-nelisation of philanthropiccontributions and CorporateSocial Responsibility (CSR)funds. The fund for the pur-pose (to make the defunct toi-lets usable, World Bank fund-ing to States have beenapproved. Also, the States havebeen given option to use funds

    being provided under theMGNREGA, Member ofParliament Local AreaDevelopment Scheme(MPLADS), State FinanceCommission under ProvidingCore Civic Services andDistrict Mining Fund for anydistrict affected by mining-related operations,” the officialadded.

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    The Group of Ministers(GoM), headed by HomeMinister Rajnath Singh, dis-cussed on Wednesday the rec-ommendations of the secre-taries panel set up to suggestways to check incidents ofmob lynching.

    One of the key recom-mendations of the committeeof secretaries, headed by UnionHome Secretary Rajiv Gauba,is to put to task country headsof the social media platformssites. This was the first meetingof the GoM and the Ministerswere briefed about the recom-mendations of the committee,a Home Ministry official said.

    The panel is also believedto have recommended tight-ening of law by inserting claus-es in the Indian Penal Code andthe Code of CriminalProcedure through parliamen-tary approval. The GoM isexpected to hold further meet-ings over the next few weeks tofinalise its recommendationsand would subsequently thesame to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for a finaldecision, the official said.

    The members of the GoM

    are External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj, TransportMinister Nitin Gadkari, LawMinister Ravi Shankar Prasadand Social Justice and

    Empowerment MinisterThawar Chand Gehlot. TheGoM and the committee of sec-retaries were set up after near-ly 40 people were lynched innine States in the past one year.In July, the Home Ministry hadissued advisories to States andunion territories followingSupreme Court’s directives tocheck incidents of lynching.

    The Centre had also askedthem to appoint an officer ineach district at the level ofSuperintendent of Police, set upa special task force to gatherintelligence, and closely mon-itor social media to preventmob attacks on suspicion ofbeing child-lifters or cattlesmugglers.

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    Thousands of farmers andworkers affiliated to Left-wing outfits took out a protestmarch in the national CapitalWednesday, demanding imple-mentation of remunerativeprices for farm produce, loanwaiver, labour laws and a min-imum wage of �18,000 amonth.

    The ‘Mazdoor KishanSangharsh Rally’ — beingorganised jointly by the Centreof Indian Trade Unions(CITU), All India Kisan Sabha(AIKS) and All-IndiaAgricultural Workers’ Union(AIAWU) — began from theRamlila Maidan amidst rainsand passed through variousroads to culminate at theParliament Street.

    Carrying red flags, themarchers raised slogans againstthe policies of the BJPGovernment and also assailedthe ruling party’s “communaland divisive” agenda.

    AIKS general secretaryHannan Mollah, alleged theGovernment has not doneanything for farmers since itcame to power. “For the last

    four years, this BJPGovernment has fooled us. Ithas never done anything forthe farmers. We have alwaysdemanded that theGovernment should give farm-ers remunerative price as perthe recommendations of theSwaminathan Committee. Wehave asked for the minimumwage for the workers whichshould be not less than �18,000per month,” he said.

    He alleged thatGovernment has ignored theirdemands. “Now it is high time.We will continue our struggle

    till our demands are met,”Mollah told the gathering. Theleaders warned that they wouldcontinue their struggle till they“change the CentralGovernment”.

    “Workers and farmerscoming together has enthusedthe other sections of the soci-ety. Now the Youth Federationhas decided to organise a rallyon November 3 protestingagainst unemployment in thecountry. Before that, they willhold a 24-hour dharna in frontof all Central Governmentoffices in all districts,” said

    Tapan Sen, the general secretaryof Centre of Indian TradeUnions (CITU).

    He said that after the dhar-na, all other farmers organisa-tions will come together, holda long march and come toDelhi on November 30. “Tradeunions will also hold a two-daystrike by the end of the year,”he said.

    “So, we will continue ourstruggle throughout the year. Inthis process of struggle, peoplewill gradually understand theirno. 1 enemy and accordinglythey will decided what to do inthe coming elections,” Sen said.

    The rally was also sup-ported by artists, academi-cians and left-wing intellectu-als who came in support offarmers and workers anddemanded the Centre accepttheir demands.

    Meanwhile, traffic wasaffected in the Lutyens’ Delhidue to the rally. The DelhiTraffic Police tweeted updateson the march. The ParliamentStreet, Janpath and KG Margwere closed for traffic move-ment which led to congestionon the alternate routes, thepolice said.

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    In a direct message to theDMK leadership onWednesday, MK Alagiri, elderson of the late MKarunanidhi, former partypresident and five-time ChiefMinister of Tamil Nadu, madeit clear that he could not beignored anymore as he com-manded a big following in theDravidian major.

    “All I want from the DMKleadership was the reinstate-ment of me and my followerswho were expelled from theparty at the instance of MKStalin,” Alagiri told a TV newschannel just before the com-mencement of the rally. Herepeated his charge that thegeneral council of the DMKthat elected Stalin, his youngerbrother, as party chief, was afake entity.

    “The general council thatmet on August 28 to electStalin as president was consti-tuted by Stalin jam-packing it

    with his henchmen. But thecadre is with me,” said Alagiri,who had hitherto confined hisactivities to southern TamilNadu. The rally held onWednesday was Alagiri’s firstforay into Chennai, consideredas a forte of Stalin.

    He also said that his latefather had wanted his rein-

    statement into the DMK. “Butby 2016, he fell ill and was fullyunder the control of Stalin.Whenever I met my father, hehad told me that he wanted meback in the party and would dothe needful for the same. ButStalin did not allow him to doanything,” said Alagiri.

    The Madurai strongman

    reiterated his stance that hewould not do anything to harmthe DMK and would be a loyalparty worker like he had been inthe past. “But I want the DMKleadership to take me and myassociates into the party,” he said.Wednesday’s rally is seen by vet-eran DMK observers as Alagiri’solive branch to the DMK lead-ership. “The fact that Alagiricould organise a rally like this inChennai speaks volumes abouthis organisational skill. Stalincould ignore Alagiri at his ownperil especially in the backdropof the two assembly by-electionsto be held at Thiruvarur andThirupprankundram shortly,”said Ravindran Duraisamy, lead-ing political commentator whohas close ties with theKarunanidhi clan.

    The RK Nagar bye-electionheld early this year saw theDMK finishing a poor third andforfeiting its security, a develop-ment unheard of duringKarunanidhi’s lifetime. “Stalinhas to answer for the R K Nagarfiasco. If he fails to win at least

    one of the by-polls, then therewould be lot of fireworks in theDMK,” said Duraisamy.

    The DMK leadership hadbeen cautious while reacting toAlagiri’s statements. DuraiMurugan, treasurer, and a closeassociate of Stalin, feignedignorance when asked aboutAlagiri’s rally. A second rungleader, Ravi, who went toChennai airport on Tuesday toreceive Alagiri was ousted fromthe party without issuing anyshow-cause notice. “If this isthe case, they may have to expelall the party activists in south-ern Tamil Nadu,” said Alagiri.

    The rebel leader was accom-panied by his son Dhaya andpoestess daughter Kayalvizhiduring Wednesday’s rally. Mostof the participants inWednesday’s rally were fromMadurai and other southernregions of the State and wereidentifiable because of their dis-tinct appearance as most ofthem are farmers, casual employ-ees, farm workers and ordinaryvillagers.

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    It’s time for a bit of navel-gazing beforeelection season is truly upon us. Is itpossible for professional media, and weuse the term in a platform-agnosticsense, to achieve a consensus on nomen-clature and terminology used in reportage ofand commentary on competing narratives andadversarial contemporary discourse? That thisis a desirable outcome, even a primary philo-sophical good, ought to be evident to anyoneinterested in the contestation of ideas in a civil,or at least non-violent, manner. But to entera caveat at the outset, and narrow the con-stituency addressed for a practicable, work-able solution as opposed to merely theoreti-cal neatness, it may be more productive tofocus the endeavour on players in print media(and their digital arms).

    Not, we hasten to add, because of eitheran aesthetic or normative bias against

    Television and Online media platforms butbecause both of them are not part of anyextant independent regulatory architecture. Ofcourse, responsible newspaper television net-works and Online portals do self-regulate asthey should, just as Print does, and that is asine qua non for the very existence of publicinterest journalism, even an extension of thesocial contract between the people and thepowers-that-be.

    But Print is the only section of non-Government media in India which is subjectto both content (editorial) and corporate(commercial) regulatory mechanisms inde-pendent of exclusively peer-reviewed ones. Towit, the Press Council of India (PCI), Registrarof Newspapers in India (RNI), Directorate ofAudi Visual Publicity (DAVP), Cabinet noteof 1955 governing the ownership and activ-ities of news agencies operating in the coun-try and its 2002 amendment allowing limit-ed FDI et.al.

    Now, this is not to suggest in any wayeither that the current composition, function-ing and power of the above bodies is ideal orthat there are no specific laws which apply tosatellite news television which has at least fivemajor Government departments —Information and Broadcasting, InformationTechnology, Finance, Home and CorporateAffairs — to deal with on the commercial-

    operational side for ownership/investmentrules and uplink-downlink permissions, et cetera. (Cable television is in a grey area andhas a host of issues that need resolving beforethe long-delayed complete roll out of Direct-To-Home or DTH services.)

    But the fact which needs to be underlinedis that on the content regulation aspect fornews television, it is essentially self-regulationand industry peer bodies which are the finalarbiters apart from the occasional advisoriesfrom the Information and BroadcastingMinistry albeit without any structured processwith rules laid down for transparent interac-tion, while Print has an extensive, arguablyexcessively intrusive, framework in which ithas to operate. Exclusively digital profession-al media which is currently outside thepurview of any independent regulatory frame-work obviously does not even come into playfor the purpose of this discussion. And socialmedia is a different species altogether and wemake no comment on it whatsoever here.

    The above is only a limited, broad strokesoverview of the Indian professional mediascene to provide the context in which we canadvance our suggestion for nomenclaturalnormality, to begin with in Print.

    We will use three examples of nomencla-ture frequently used in media reportage andcommentary, randomly selected, to make our

    case. The immediate provocation for thiseffort is the advisory issued by theInformation and Broadcasting Ministry, inci-dentally not suo moto but based on an orderof the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court,which has asked media outlets to refrain fromusing the term ‘Dalit’ and stick to theConstitutionally kosher Scheduled Castesand/or Scheduled Tribes. This is perfectlyacceptable and sensible as long as it is limit-ed to when used in a descriptive sense for thesubject group. However, it should not includeto mean the word Dalit can or should be‘banned’ either in reportage or commentary.

    For example, there are many for whom theword carries ideological resonance and theymay choose to assert their normative prefer-ence by using the word to describe the sub-ject group whether in a book, article or tele-vision discussion. That is their right. But pro-fessional media outlets which may have theirown views/editorial line for or against suchterminology which is representative of a par-ticular ideological stand can always througheven very basic style guides ensure that it isrepresented as a choice made by the contrib-utor in his/her comment and is not theConstitutionally kosher terminology. Inreportage, it is even easier to do — always useSC/ST unless in direct quotes attributable tothe person making the statement whether at

    a public meeting or in a book and choosingto use ‘Dalit’.

    Next, let’s take a dekko at the causal useof the phrases ‘extreme Right-wing’ and‘ultra Left-wing’. It is not only a rather deriv-ative discourse but also swallowing whole ofboth the knowledge claims of the Western sec-ularised Christian discourse in the social sci-ences apart from being breathtakingly con-text-free historically. Our suggestion: Aslong as there is no violence indulged in, pro-moted, or supported/normalised in words,actions or logistics against State institutions,individuals or class/caste/other groups, allorganisations of an extreme ideological per-suasion drawing inspiration from the erst-while Chairman of the Communist Party ofChina can safely be termed Maoist, which initself is no crime. With the same conditions,the term for extreme socially conservativeIndic dharmic organisations could beRevanchist. And the term for extreme theo-logically-cum-social ly conser vativeAbrahamic-religions based advocacy/interestgroups should consistently be prefixed withChristian, Muslim and so on. If and whenthere is an overlap or alliance of the above,the nomenclature could get interesting! Butthe bottom line is all individual members ofthe above groups are Indian citizens andunless violent they have a right to exist, even

    if at times in cloud cuckoo land. The third nomenclatural notion is simplic-

    ity itself. Any individual and/or group whochallenges the monopoly over violence by theIndian state may fairly be described as a ter-rorist if a direct participant or terror sympa-thiser if s/he is demonstrably so. Of course,eternal vigil is required to ensure our stateinstrumentalities follow due process but thereis neither any justification nor equivalence tobe drawn. Oh, and ‘Militant’, ‘Separatist’ andthe like are meaningless terms if the state hasmonopoly over violence and the territorialintegrity of India is inviolable which are sure-ly unexceptionable notions.

    A lot of the above may be seen even bythose simpatico to the argument beingadvanced as making a mountain out ofnuances or even mere nomenclatural nitpick-ing. Critics of such our argument, on the otherhand, are likely to discern evil sophistry withan agenda in such an essay. Our purpose willbe served if it makes all think about the issueand come up with their own argument whichis slightly more intellectually engaging thanchalta hai or let sleeping dogs lie. Nation-build-ing in India which began in the ‘modern’ sensepost-1947 is a work in progress and the wordswe use to define our positions will inform thekind of nation we will eventually become.

    (The writer is Consulting Editor, The Pioneer)

    ��������������Sir — Unprecedented floods in Keralalast month taught the world a numberof lessons. One thing is for sure thateven though India has different Statesand Union Territories, they stand unit-ed in the hour of need. Even globalcommunities and the entire worldplunged into helping the beleagueredState of Kerala.

    Numerous NGOs, social organisa-tions and even individuals rushed to theheavily flooded Kerala for rescue andrelief operations. Undoubtedly, thethree wings of the Armed Forces — the

    Army, Navy and Air Force — as alsothe Coast Guard played a vital role incarrying out rescue operations. It is insuch situations that the world gets tosee the entire world come together tofight for a cause.

    Hansraj BhatMumbai

    ������������������

    Sir — The official numbers of out-of-school children in India are either out-of-date or contradictory. According tothe 2011 Census, the number of out-of-school children between 5-17 agegroup was four to eight crore.

    However, according to a survey com-missioned by the Ministry of HumanResource Development in 2014, thenumber of out-of-school children in6-13 age group was 60-64 lakh. Thisis gross underestimation. It is quiteunlikely that the number of out-of-school children came down so dras-tically from 2011-2014.

    But recently their number reachedto around four to five crore. All suchcontradictory reports paint a bad pic-ture for education in our country. It’sa request that the Ministry of HumanResource Development must pay atten-tion towards childrens’ education, oth-

    erwise India’s literacy rate, which isalready poor, will suffer a massive blow.

    Najmul HudaMumbai

    �������������

    Sir — This refers to the article, “Generalconcern in Pakistan” (September 4) byNadeem Paracha. The article gives avivid account of the Army’s role inPakistan. But what is more interestingis that the first two British ArmyChiefs in the Pakistan Army dissuad-ed Pakistan Governor General MAJinnah from an invasion of Kashmir bythe Pakistan Army. This exposes Jinnah

    and his ill-intentions about Kashmir inparticular and truncated India in gen-eral. It is indeed unfortunate thatmany Indians, including top leaders ofthe BJP, praised Jinnah, who should infact, be classed along with mass mur-derers like Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalinand later Mao Tse Tung. This provesthat Jinnah’s August 11, 1947, speechwas a mere eye-wash to hoodwink theinternational community.

    SC PandaBhubaneswar

    -���))�'�������:�������.���&&�3+&)7�)8��3954%��*:)4�

    �����������������

    ������������������


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