7 ˝ 8978989: ˛ 08 ˚˜ ! #!$˛˝%&!%& ’((! ˇˆ · on thursday to resume the dia-logue...

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S upreme Court-appointed interlocutors advocates Sanjay Hegde and Sadhana Ramachandran visited the Shaheen Bagh protest site on Wednesday and held talks with the protesters for almost three hours but could not persuade them to shift from the spot. Former CIC Wajahat Habibullah accompanied the two interlocutors. Refusing to budge from the their earlier stand of continu- ing their sit-in until the CAA is scrapped and NPR and NRC process stopped, protesters told the interlocutors that hey are open to further talks. Hegde and Ramachandran said they will visit the protest site again on Thursday to resume the dia- logue with the protesters. Protesters have blocked an important arterial road con- necting Delhi and Noida since December 15 last year, causing trouble to commuters and schoolchildren. First, Hegde explained in detail the SC order to the pro- testers, who had turned up in large number. It was translated into Hindi by Ramachandran. Later addressing protesters, Ramachandran said, “The SC has upheld your right to protest but then other citizens also have their rights and it should also be maintained. We want to find a solution to the problem. We will listen to everyone.” During the talks, women, young and old, tried to explain their point of view to the inter- locutors. There were tears and defiance too as they poured their hearts out to the two interlocutors on Wednesday, the first attempt to reach out to those sitting in protest against the citizenship amendment legislation for more than two months. Responding to the con- cerns raised by the women, Ramachandran said all the points will be put forward before the SC and discussed in detail. “However, I want to say one thing. A country that has daughters like you can never face any threats,” she said. A woman broke down while talking to the mediators. She said they are protesting to save the Constitution but peo- ple see only the inconvenience of commuters who have the option of taking so many other roads. “Aren’t we facing incon- venience sitting here in cold nights taking our children to the protest. We are ourselves so troubled, what trouble will we cause to citizens?” she said She scotched the allega- tions that they are not letting ambulances and vehicles pass. “The road hasn’t been blocked by us. In fact, it is the Centre that has blocked freedom in this country,” she added. Bilkis, an elderly woman, said they wouldn’t move an inch even if someone fires a bullet. She said the main tent where the podium has been erected covers only 100 to 150 metres of the road. She claimed, “We have not blocked the whole stretch. It is the Delhi Police which barri- caded the whole road in the name of security. Why don’t you get that removed first? We never asked police or any authority to block the roads for us. It is they who did it and are now blaming us.” “We are being called trai- tors. When we pushed Britishers out of the country, who is Narendra Modi and Amit Shah? You remove NRC and CAA, we will clear the site in no time,” she added. Another woman described their ongoing protest as men- tal trauma. She said they jump up even at the slightest noise at night, fearing police action. On Monday, the SC observed that the blockade of the road at Shaheen Bagh was troubling and suggested the protesters go to another site where no public place would be blocked. It, however, upheld their right to protest. The SC asked Hegde to play a constructive role as an interlocutor to persuade the protesters to move to an alter- native site. M ahant Nritya Gopal Das was elected president and VHP leader Champat Rai gen- eral secretary of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirth Kshetra Trust at its first meeting here on Wednesday. The meeting, held at the residence of senior lawyer K Parasaran, also elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s for- mer principal secretary Nripendra Misra as the head of the temple construction com- mittee of the trust. The meeting was aimed at working out modalities to speed up the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. It was also decided to open an account in Ayodhya’s State Bank of India branch for dona- tions for the Ram temple con- struction, Champat Rai told reporters after the meeting. Swami Govind Dev Giri of Pune was appointed as trea- surer of the trust. Among those present at the meeting were the Central Government representative, Additional Secretary in Home Ministry Gyanesh Kumar, UP Government’s representative Avinash Awasthy and Ayodhya District Magistrate Anuj Kumar Jha. After the Supreme Court verdict, Modi had announced the formation of the 15-mem- ber trust in Parliament on February 5. The Trust has seven members, five nominat- ed members and three trustees. Senior lawyer Parasaran was named as the head of the trust and its other members include Jagatguru Shankracharya, Jyothishpeethadheeshwar Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati Ji Maharaj from Allahabad, Jagatguru Madhavacharya Swami Vishwa Prasannatheerth Ji Maharaj, Pejawar Math in Udupi, Yugpurush Paramanand Ji Maharaj from Haridwar, Swami Govinddev Giri Ji Maharaj from Pune and Vimlendra Mohan Pratap Mishra from Ayodhya. P rime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump will hold exten- sive talks here on February 25 on a whole range of bilateral issues, including defence and trade. Trump is scheduled to arrive in India on a two-day visit starting February 24. While looking forward to his visit, Trump said he is saving the “big deal” in trade for later and voiced concerned over “India not treating US” well in trade. Explaining the contours of the high-profile visit, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shrigla said on Wednesday Modi and Trump will hold talks to deepen cooperation in a range of key sectors, includ- ing defence and trade. The US President will be accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump and a high- level delegation, he said, adding India and the US have an unprecedented level of con- vergence. Though Trump is not happy with the bilateral trade ties, he praised Modi and said he is looking forward to his visit to India. “I happen to like Prime Minister Modi a lot,” Trump said. “He (Modi) told me we’ll have seven million people between the airport and the event. And the stadium, I understand, is sort of semi under construction, but it’s going to be the largest stadium in the world. So it’s going to be very exciting... I hope you all enjoy it,” he told reporters in Washington on Tuesday. He was referring to a scheduled joint public rally with Modi at the newly-built Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad. Shringla said the ‘Namaste Trump’ event in Ahmedabad on February 24 will be similar to the ‘Howdy Modi’ event that was held in Houston last year. The couple will visit Agra later the same day. Meanwhile, Trump said he is “saving the big deal” with India for later and does not know if it will be signed before the presidential election in November, signalling that a bilateral trade pact may not materialise during his maiden visit to New Delhi. Continued on Page 4 T he Congress may induct bigwigs like Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Randeep Surjewala into the Rajya Sabha amid reports that the Opposition strength in the Upper House could reduce further and the Congress may lose 9 or 10 seats — of its 19 seats falling vacant — in the elections slated later this year to fill up 68 vacancies. The ruling NDA does not have a majority in the Rajya Sabha and the Government has to seek the support of friendly parties such as the AIADMK and the BJD to get crucial legislations passed in the Upper House. The BJP has the maxi- mum of 82 members and the Congress 46 in the Rajya Sabha, which has a total strength of 245. There are 12 nominated members in the Upper House, eight of whom have aligned with the BJP. Sources in the Congress said the party is confident of retaining nine seats on its own and winning one or two more with the help of its allies. It is likely to gain seats in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, where it is in power. “The Opposition strength will fall after elections are held to fill up 68 vacancies in April, June and November, that may lead to the ruling NDA slowly inching towards the majority mark in the Rajya Sabha. While 51 seats in the Rajya Sabha are falling vacant in April, five more in June, one in July and 11 in November this year,” sources in Congress explained. Top Congress leaders Motilal Vora, Madhusudan Mistry, Kumari Selja, Digvijaya Singh, BK Hariprasad and MV Rajeev Gowda are among the top Congress leaders whose tenures are ending in April and June. T he Modi Government on Wednesday approved major changes in the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) making it voluntary for farmers with existing crop loans or those willing to take new ones, as it seeks to address the concerns raised by farmers’ body and States in implemen- tation of these programmes. After the Cabinet meeting, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the Government has decided to revamp PMFBY and Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS). The Cabinet approved modification of certain para- meters/provisions of ongoing PMFBY and RWBCIS schemes. “Enrolment under the scheme to be made volun- tary for all farmers (both PMFBY/ RWBCIS),” the Agriculture Minister said. He said currently 58 per cent of total farmers are loanee and the remaining 42 per cent are non- loanee. The number of farmers opting for these crop insurance schemes may drop immediately but the enrolment would even- tually pick up, Tomar said. These modifications will help in addressing the concerns raised about the PMFBY scheme by farmers organisa- tions and States, he said. Among other modifica- tion, Tomar said the allocation of business to insurance firms through tender process would be done for three years as against the current policy of one to three years. The Minister said insur- ance claims worth 60,000 crore have been cleared, and 13,000 crore premiums col- lected. As per modification, States will not be allowed to implement these schemes in subsequent seasons in case of considerable delay in release of requisite premium subsidy to insurance companies beyond a p r e s c r i b e d time limit. A head of US President Donald Trump’s maiden visit to India, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved a $2.6- billion deal for buying 24 multi-role Naval helicopters. The deal is likely to be announced during Trump’s visit to India. The helicopters manu- factured by Lockheed Martin will be procured through the Foreign Military Sale (FMS) wherein the US Government will stand guarantee for all issues, including meeting time lines, spare parts and other contractual obligations. Incidentally, India and US defence trade has crossed the $18 billion mark in the last few years. The 24 MH-60R Seahawks will replace the age- ing Seaking and Kamov heli- copters flown by the Indian Navy. The approval for buying new helicopters was given by Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) in 2018. At present, the Navy has 12 British made Seakings and ten odd Russian manufactured Kamovs. These fourth-generation MH-60Rs “Romeos” heli- copters will come loaded with both torpedoes and missiles which can be used to target submarines. A 30 per cent off- set clause could be a part of the deal. The deal could include training, support, spares and air-to-ground weapons also. From the day of signing the contract, these helicopters will be delivered in five years. India will pay an initial 15 per cent installment for the heli- copters. The first lot of heli- copters will be delivered in two years, sources said. MH-60 was earlier select- ed through a competitive process for 16 helicopters with an optional clause for eight more, but the deal fell through due to pricing issues and other development lead- ing to tender’s cancellation. RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015

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Page 1: 7 ˝ 8978989: ˛ 08 ˚˜ ! #!$˛˝%&!%& ’((! ˇˆ · on Thursday to resume the dia-logue with the protesters. Protesters have blocked an ... District Magistrate Anuj Kumar Jha

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Supreme Court-appointedinterlocutors advocates

Sanjay Hegde and SadhanaRamachandran visited theShaheen Bagh protest site onWednesday and held talks withthe protesters for almost threehours but could not persuadethem to shift from the spot.Former CIC WajahatHabibullah accompanied thetwo interlocutors.

Refusing to budge from thetheir earlier stand of continu-ing their sit-in until the CAAis scrapped and NPR and NRCprocess stopped, protesters toldthe interlocutors that hey areopen to further talks. Hegdeand Ramachandran said theywill visit the protest site againon Thursday to resume the dia-logue with the protesters.

Protesters have blocked animportant arterial road con-necting Delhi and Noida sinceDecember 15 last year, causingtrouble to commuters andschoolchildren.

First, Hegde explained indetail the SC order to the pro-testers, who had turned up inlarge number. It was translatedinto Hindi by Ramachandran.Later addressing protesters,Ramachandran said, “The SChas upheld your right to protestbut then other citizens alsohave their rights and it shouldalso be maintained. We want tofind a solution to the problem.We will listen to everyone.”

During the talks, women,young and old, tried to explaintheir point of view to the inter-

locutors. There were tears anddefiance too as they pouredtheir hearts out to the twointerlocutors on Wednesday,the first attempt to reach out tothose sitting in protest againstthe citizenship amendmentlegislation for more than twomonths.

Responding to the con-cerns raised by the women,

Ramachandran said all thepoints will be put forwardbefore the SC and discussed indetail. “However, I want to sayone thing. A country that hasdaughters like you can neverface any threats,” she said.

A woman broke downwhile talking to the mediators.She said they are protesting tosave the Constitution but peo-

ple see only the inconvenienceof commuters who have theoption of taking so many otherroads. “Aren’t we facing incon-venience sitting here in coldnights taking our children tothe protest. We are ourselves sotroubled, what trouble will wecause to citizens?” she said

She scotched the allega-tions that they are not letting

ambulances and vehicles pass.“The road hasn’t been blockedby us. In fact, it is the Centrethat has blocked freedom inthis country,” she added.

Bilkis, an elderly woman,said they wouldn’t move aninch even if someone fires abullet. She said the main tentwhere the podium has beenerected covers only 100 to 150metres of the road.

She claimed, “We have notblocked the whole stretch. It isthe Delhi Police which barri-caded the whole road in thename of security. Why don’tyou get that removed first? Wenever asked police or anyauthority to block the roads forus. It is they who did it and arenow blaming us.”

“We are being called trai-tors. When we pushedBritishers out of the country,who is Narendra Modi andAmit Shah? You remove NRCand CAA, we will clear the sitein no time,” she added.

Another woman describedtheir ongoing protest as men-tal trauma. She said they jumpup even at the slightest noise atnight, fearing police action.

On Monday, the SCobserved that the blockade ofthe road at Shaheen Bagh wastroubling and suggested theprotesters go to another sitewhere no public place would beblocked. It, however, upheldtheir right to protest.

The SC asked Hegde toplay a constructive role as aninterlocutor to persuade theprotesters to move to an alter-native site.

����� -9!�/9:�6

Mahant Nritya Gopal Daswas elected president and

VHP leader Champat Rai gen-eral secretary of the Shri RamJanmabhoomi Tirth KshetraTrust at its first meeting here onWednesday.

The meeting, held at theresidence of senior lawyer KParasaran, also elected PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s for-mer principal secretaryNripendra Misra as the head ofthe temple construction com-

mittee of the trust. The meeting was aimed at

working out modalities tospeed up the construction ofthe Ram temple in Ayodhya. Itwas also decided to open anaccount in Ayodhya’s StateBank of India branch for dona-tions for the Ram temple con-struction, Champat Rai toldreporters after the meeting.

Swami Govind Dev Giri ofPune was appointed as trea-surer of the trust.

Among those present at themeeting were the CentralGovernment representative,Additional Secretary in HomeMinistry Gyanesh Kumar, UPGovernment’s representativeAvinash Awasthy and AyodhyaDistrict Magistrate AnujKumar Jha.

After the Supreme Court

verdict, Modi had announcedthe formation of the 15-mem-ber trust in Parliament onFebruary 5. The Trust hasseven members, five nominat-ed members and three trustees.

Senior lawyer Parasaranwas named as the head of thetrust and its other membersinclude JagatguruS h a n k r a c h a r y a ,JyothishpeethadheeshwarSwami VasudevanandSaraswati Ji Maharaj fromAllahabad, JagatguruMadhavacharya Swami VishwaPrasannatheerth Ji Maharaj,Pejawar Math in Udupi,Yugpurush Paramanand JiMaharaj from Haridwar,Swami Govinddev Giri JiMaharaj from Pune andVimlendra Mohan PratapMishra from Ayodhya.

���,���� -9!�/9:�6;!+'�6-)�<-

Prime Minister NarendraModi and US President

Donald Trump will hold exten-sive talks here on February 25on a whole range of bilateralissues, including defence andtrade. Trump is scheduled toarrive in India on a two-dayvisit starting February 24.While looking forward to hisvisit, Trump said he is savingthe “big deal” in trade for laterand voiced concerned over“India not treating US” well intrade.

Explaining the contours ofthe high-profile visit, Foreign

Secretary Harsh VardhanShrigla said on WednesdayModi and Trump will holdtalks to deepen cooperation ina range of key sectors, includ-ing defence and trade.

The US President will beaccompanied by First LadyMelania Trump and a high-level delegation, he said, addingIndia and the US have anunprecedented level of con-vergence.

Though Trump is nothappy with the bilateral trade

ties, he praised Modi and saidhe is looking forward to hisvisit to India. “I happen to likePrime Minister Modi a lot,”Trump said.

“He (Modi) told me we’llhave seven million peoplebetween the airport and theevent. And the stadium, Iunderstand, is sort of semiunder construction, but it’sgoing to be the largest stadiumin the world. So it’s going to bevery exciting... I hope you allenjoy it,” he told reporters inWashington on Tuesday. Hewas referring to a scheduledjoint public rally with Modi atthe newly-built MoteraStadium in Ahmedabad.

Shringla said the ‘NamasteTrump’ event in Ahmedabadon February 24 will be similarto the ‘Howdy Modi’ event thatwas held in Houston last year.The couple will visit Agra laterthe same day.

Meanwhile, Trump said heis “saving the big deal” withIndia for later and does notknow if it will be signed beforethe presidential election inNovember, signalling that abilateral trade pact may notmaterialise during his maidenvisit to New Delhi.

Continued on Page 4

����� -9!�/9:�6

The Congress may inductbigwigs like Priyanka

Gandhi Vadra, JyotiradityaScindia and Randeep Surjewalainto the Rajya Sabha amidreports that the Oppositionstrength in the Upper Housecould reduce further and theCongress may lose 9 or 10 seats— of its 19 seats falling vacant— in the elections slated laterthis year to fill up 68 vacancies.

The ruling NDA does nothave a majority in the RajyaSabha and the Governmenthas to seek the support offriendly parties such as the

AIADMK and the BJD to getcrucial legislations passed inthe Upper House.

The BJP has the maxi-mum of 82 members and theCongress 46 in the Rajya Sabha,which has a total strength of245. There are 12 nominatedmembers in the Upper House,eight of whom have alignedwith the BJP.

Sources in the Congresssaid the party is confident of

retaining nine seats on its ownand winning one or two morewith the help of its allies. It islikely to gain seats inChhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan and Maharashtra,where it is in power.

“The Opposition strengthwill fall after elections are heldto fill up 68 vacancies in April,June and November, that maylead to the ruling NDA slowlyinching towards the majoritymark in the Rajya Sabha. While51 seats in the Rajya Sabha arefalling vacant in April, fivemore in June, one in July and11 in November this year,”sources in Congress explained.

Top Congress leadersMotilal Vora, MadhusudanMistry, Kumari Selja, DigvijayaSingh, BK Hariprasad and MVRajeev Gowda are among thetop Congress leaders whosetenures are ending in April andJune.

����� -9!�/9:�6

The Modi Government onWednesday approved

major changes in the PradhanMantri Fasal Bima Yojana(PMFBY) making it voluntaryfor farmers with existing croploans or those willing to takenew ones, as it seeks to addressthe concerns raised by farmers’body and States in implemen-tation of these programmes.

After the Cabinet meeting,Union Agriculture MinisterNarendra Singh Tomar said theGovernment has decided torevamp PMFBY andRestructured Weather BasedCrop Insurance Scheme(RWBCIS).

The Cabinet approvedmodification of certain para-meters/provisions of ongoingPMFBY and RWBCIS

schemes. “Enrolment underthe scheme to be made volun-tary for all farmers (bothPMFBY/ RWBCIS),” theAgriculture Minister said. Hesaid currently 58 per cent oftotal farmers are loanee and theremaining 42 per cent are non-loanee. The number of farmersopting for these crop insuranceschemes may drop immediatelybut the enrolment would even-tually pick up, Tomar said.

These modifications will helpin addressing the concernsraised about the PMFBYscheme by farmers organisa-tions and States, he said.

Among other modifica-tion, Tomar said the allocationof business to insurance firmsthrough tender process wouldbe done for three years asagainst the current policy ofone to three years.

The Minister said insur-ance claims worth �60,000crore have been cleared, and�13,000 crore premiums col-lected. As per modification,States will not be allowed toimplement these schemes insubsequent seasons in case ofconsiderable delay in release ofrequisite premium subsidy toinsurance companies beyond ap r e s c r i b e dtime limit.

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Ahead of US PresidentDonald Trump’s maiden

visit to India, the CabinetCommittee on Security (CCS)chaired by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi onWednesday approved a $2.6-billion deal for buying 24multi-role Naval helicopters.The deal is likely to beannounced during Trump’svisit to India.

The helicopters manu-factured by Lockheed Martinwill be procured through theForeign Military Sale (FMS)wherein the US Governmentwill stand guarantee for allissues, including meeting timelines, spare parts and othercontractual obligations.Incidentally, India and USdefence trade has crossed the$18 billion mark in the lastfew years.

The 24 MH-60RSeahawks will replace the age-ing Seaking and Kamov heli-copters flown by the IndianNavy. The approval for buyingnew helicopters was given by

Defence Acquisition Council(DAC) in 2018. At present,the Navy has 12 British madeSeakings and ten odd Russianmanufactured Kamovs.

These fourth-generationMH-60Rs “Romeos” heli-copters will come loaded withboth torpedoes and missileswhich can be used to targetsubmarines. A 30 per cent off-set clause could be a part ofthe deal. The deal couldinclude training, support,spares and air-to-groundweapons also.

From the day of signingthe contract, these helicopterswill be delivered in five years.India will pay an initial 15 percent installment for the heli-copters. The first lot of heli-copters will be delivered intwo years, sources said.

MH-60 was earlier select-ed through a competitiveprocess for 16 helicopterswith an optional clause foreight more, but the deal fellthrough due to pricing issuesand other development lead-ing to tender’s cancellation.

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Page 2: 7 ˝ 8978989: ˛ 08 ˚˜ ! #!$˛˝%&!%& ’((! ˇˆ · on Thursday to resume the dia-logue with the protesters. Protesters have blocked an ... District Magistrate Anuj Kumar Jha

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With no let up in coron-avirus cases in China, the

Niti Aayog on Wednesday helda meeting with pharma indus-try to discuss the impact of dis-ruption in supplies of activepharmaceutical ingredients(APIs) while a Governmentpanel has suggested a ban onexport of the 12 APIs and formulations, includingantibiotics, such asChoramphenicol, Neomycin,Metronidazole and VitaminsB1, B12, B6 along with prog-esterone, among others.

India has a high dependenceon China for fermentation-based APIs and intermediates.

In the meantime, the thirdand final batch of 406 inmates quarantined at theITBP facility here after beingevacuated from the coron-avirus-hit Chinese city ofWuhan was discharged afterbeing declared free of coron-avirus by the doctors.

Sources said Niti AayogCEO Amitabh Kant had ameeting on Wednesday whichwas attended byPharmaceutical DepartmentSecretary PD Vaghela andBiocon Chairperson andManaging Director Kiran

Mazumdar Shaw, among oth-ers to discuss hosts of measuresaimed at boosting domesticmanufacturing of APIs toreduce dependence on importsof the APIs from China.

“Fruitful, constructive &positive meeting with captainsof industry in pharmaceuticalsector to discuss the options fordomestic manufacturing ofcritical APIs on which India isimport dependent. Consensusarrived at on a range of policymeasures for creating ecosys-tem in India,” Kant said in atweet after the meeting.

According to the sources,Kant told industry captainsthat they should try to becomeglobally competitive to beatChina that accounted for 67.56per cent of the total imports ofbulk drugs and drug interme-diates at USD 2,405.42 millionto India in 2018-19.

Zydus Group ChairmanPankaj Patel had on Tuesdaysaid that the prices of the keypharmaceutical ingredientscould rise if the coronavirus sit-uation in China does notimprove soon.

The Government commit-

tee formed to monitor supplyof raw materials for drugs fromChina has recommendedrestrictions on exports of 12APIs and formulations in thewake of the coronavirus out-break, according to an officialcommunication.

In a letter to the DirectorateGeneral of Foreign Trade(DGFT), Deputy Secretary atChemicals and FertilisersMinistry MK Bhardwaj soughtrestricting exports of the 12APIs and formulations.

The Department ofPharmaceuticals had formed a

committee under the chair-manship of joint drug con-troller, Central Drugs StandardControl Organisation(CDSCO) that has been close-ly monitoring supply of APIsand intermediates which areimported from China andeffect of the coronavirus epi-demic in the country on theirsupply to India.

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman had on Tuesdaymet the representatives of vari-ous sectors, including pharma-ceuticals, textiles, chemicals,electronics and IT hardware,solar, auto, surgical equipments,and paints, to review the situa-tion following the outbreak ofthe deadly virus in China.

She had said theGovernment would soonannounce measures to dealwith the impact of the coron-avirus outbreak on the domes-tic industry.

There has been no supplyfrom the neighbouring coun-try for the past 20-25 days,mainly due to Chinese NewYear holidays, sources had said.Companies have been main-taining 2-3 months inventoryof these APIs and intermedi-ates, Indian PharmaceuticalAlliance (IPA) SecretaryGeneral Sudarshan Jain hadearlier said.

����� -9!�/9:�6

The Union Cabinet onWednesday approved the

Assisted ReproductiveTechnology (Regulation) Billwhich proposes establishmentof a national registry and reg-istration authority for all fer-tility clinics and medical pro-fessionals serving in the field.The Bill also proposes stringentpunishment for those practic-ing sex selection and sale ofhuman embryos or gametes.Giving details of the Bill, UnionMinister Smriti Irani said sexselection and sex determina-tion prohibited are under theproposed legislation.

“Ensuring confidentialityof the commissioning couples,women and donors will also bedone under the aegis of thisproposal of the Cabinet. TheBill also has a provision thatthose involved in traffickingand sale of embryos will befined �10 lakh at first instanceand in second instance theperson could be imprisoned forup to 12 years,” she said. Iranisaid the Bill also seeks to pro-tect the reproductive rights ofnot only the commissioningcouple but also the lady whowill be part of this process.

“This particular decision ofthe Cabinet seeks a centraldatabase in the countrythrough which details of allclinics and banks, including thenature, kind of services pro-vided, outcome of the servicesprovided will be obtained on aregular basis,” she said. “Thedata generated from the nation-al registry will also be used forresearch purposes in this par-ticular segment of health,” sheadded.

According to an officialstatement, the national boardlays down code of conduct tobe observed by persons work-ing at clinics, to set the mini-mum standards of physicalinfrastructure, laboratory anddiagnostic equipment andexpert manpower to be

employed by clinics and banks.The States and UnionTerritories will constitute theState boards and State author-ities within three months of thenotification by the Centre. TheState board shall have theresponsibility to follow thepolicies and plans laid by thenational board for clinics andbanks in the State, the state-ment said.

The major benefit of theAct would be that it will regu-late the assisted reproductivetechnology services in thecountry. Consequently, infertilecouples will be moreensured/confident of the ethi-cal practices in ARTs. The Billfollows introduction inParliament of the SurrogacyRegulation Bill 2020, and theapproval of the MedicalTermination of PregnancyAmendment Bill 2020, saidthe Minister, detailing the pro-visions of the new Bill.

���������������� -9!�/9:�6

The ongoing ‘Hunar Haat’ atRajpath here had a special

guest on Wednesday. It wasnone other than PrimeMinister Narendra Modi whopaid a surprise visit to ‘HunarHaat’, where he relished ‘litti-chokha’ and ‘kulhad’ tea andinteracted with artisans.Minority Affairs Minister MANaqvi accompanied the PMwho headed to the Haat soonafter chairing the meeting ofthe Union Cabinet.

Later, Naqvi told ThePioneer that the ‘Hunar Haat’,which is making the rounds ofseveral cities in the countrywith the next destination beingRanchi, Jharkhand, has alreadygiven employment to overthree lakh artisans in threeyears. “It is a revolutionaryevent,” he insisted.

The Haat is organised bythe Ministry of MinorityAffairs. Works of artisans, foodand music were in full play indifferent stalls as visitorsstreamed in and out, enjoyinga balmy afternoon.

Officials of the Ministry atthe event were surprised whenthey came to know about thePrime Minister’s visit. Moditweeted several photographsfrom his visit to the Hunar Haatin which he is seen interactingwith the artisans and appreci-ating the traditional handi-crafts at various stalls.

Modi, who stayed in thevenue for over 50 minutes satin a woven cot and ‘mooda’(cane chair) and ate litti-chokha, a dough ball made ofwhole wheat flour and stuffedwith sattu, and paid �120 for it.The dish is popular in Bihar,eastern Uttar Pradesh and

Jharkhand.He also had tea served in

kulhad with the MinorityAffairs Minister and paid �40for two cups. The PrimeMinister along with Naqviwent round the Haat andstopped at several stalls tointeract with master crafts-men and artisans and madequeries on various fine artifacts.

Master artisans, craftsmenand culinary experts, includingmore than 50 per cent women,from across the country areparticipating at the Haat.

“Spent a wonderful after-noon at Hunar Haat on IndiaGate. It showcases the best ofproducts including handicrafts,carpets, textiles and of course,delicious food! Do visit it,”PM Modi tweeted. The partic-ipation of people from allacross India makes ‘HunarHaat’ a vibrant place, he said.

“Had tasty Litti Chokha forlunch along with a hot cup oftea...,” he said in another tweet.

The Prime Minister alsopicked up a traditional musicalinstrument at a stall and triedplaying it.

Artisans participating inthe event told Modi that tradi-tional arts were dying, but the ‘Hunar Haat’ initiativehad given a new lease of life tothem.

Modi interacted with aspecially-abled painter whobenefited from the govern-ment’s Hunar Haat initiative.

The ‘Hunar Haat’, whichwill be open until February 23in the national Capital, willmove to Ranchi, Gurugram,Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata,Dehradun, Patna, Bhopal, Goa,Kochi, Guwahati andBhubneshwar, among otherplaces in coming months.

����� -9!�/9:�6

Ecological degradation, cli-mate change and exploita-

tive marketing practices thatpush heavily processed fastfood, sugary drinks, alcoholand tobacco are fast taking atoll on the health and future ofthe children with no countrytaking adequate protectingmeasures.

Painting a gloomy pictureon the status of the future of thechildren, the report, “ A Futurefor the World’s Children?” ,released on Wednesday by aCommission of over 40 childand adolescent health expertsfrom around the world noteswith concern that every childworldwide now faces existen-tial threats from climate changeand commercial pressures.

The experts have calledfor a new global movement dri-ven by and for the children.

While the poorest countriesneed to do more to support

their children’s ability to livehealthy lives, excessive carbonemissions — disproportionate-ly from wealthier countries —threaten the future of all chil-dren, said the Commission con-vened by the World HealthOrganization (WHO), UNICEFand The Lancet.

“Despite improvements inchild and adolescent healthover the past 20 years, progresshas stalled, and is set to reverse,”said former Prime Minister ofNew Zealand and Co-Chair ofthe Commission, Helen Clark.“It has been estimated thataround 250 million childrenunder five years old in low- andmiddle-income countries are atrisk of not reaching their devel-opmental potential, based onproxy measures of stunting andpoverty. But of even greater con-cern, every child worldwidenow faces existential threatsfrom climate change and com-mercial pressures.

“Countries need to overhaul

their approach to child andadolescent health, to ensurethat we not only look after ourchildren today but protect theworld they will inherit in the

future,” she added.The report includes a new

global index of 180 countries,comparing performance onchild flourishing, including

measures of child survival andwell-being, such as health, edu-cation, and nutrition; sustain-ability, with a proxy for green-house gas emissions, and equi-

ty, or income gaps.According to the report,

while the poorest countries needto do more to support their chil-dren’s ability to live healthylives, excessive carbon emis-sions -disproportionately fromwealthier countries - threatenthe future of all children.

The only countries on trackto beat carbon emission percapita targets by 2030, while alsoperforming fairly (within thetop 70) on child flourishingmeasures are Albania, Armenia,Grenada, Jordan, Moldova, SriLanka, Tunisia, Uruguay, andVietnam, shows the analysis.

“From heads-of-state tolocal government, from UNleaders to children themselves,this Commission calls for thebirth of a new era for child andadolescent health. It will takecourage and commitment todeliver. It is the supreme test ofour generation,” says Dr RichardHorton, Editor-in-Chief of TheLancet family of journals.

New Delhi: Terming theprocess adopted for appoint-ment of the next ChiefVigilance Commissioner(CVC) as “illegal, unlawfuland unconstitutional”, theCongress on Wednesdaydemanded its immediate scrap-ping. The party also said USPresident Donald Trump’sremarks ahead of his India visitis an insult and affront tocountry’s dignity.

The Congress said arbi-trariness in top judicial insti-tutions is fatal for democracyand alleged there is no place fortransparency, accountabilityand constitutional processesin Prime Minister NarendraModi’s ‘New India, which wasfatal for democracy.

Congress chief spokespersonRandeep Surjewala charged thatappointments of CVC and CIC

are being made arbitrarily on thelines of “khul ja sim sim” (opensesame). “The appointments ofCVC and CIC are being made onthe lines of ‘open sesame’. Bringout names from the pocket andmake appointments, that’s it.There is no place left for trans-parency, accountability, consti-tutional processes and compli-ance of law in Modi ji’s ‘NewIndia’,” he charged on Twitter.

Sanjay Kothari, theSecretary to the President, hasbeen selected as the new CVCby a high-powered committeeheaded by the Prime Minister.The committee has also chosenby a majority decision, formerInformation & BroadcastingSecretary Bimal Julka, current-ly serving as an InformationCommissioner, as the new CICin the Central InformationCommission. PNS

���������������� -9!�/9:�6�

Following the visit of UnionHome Minister Amit Shah

to the headquarters of variousparamilitary forces, the borderguarding forces are working ona proposal to conduct vulner-ability mapping of the respec-tive borders under their area ofresponsibility and prepare anaction plan to reduce threatalong the frontiers in the nextfive years.

As an outcome of Shah’svisit, vital installations in theborder areas are proposed to bebrought under the coverage ofanti-drone technology.

The proposal for revamp-ing the border security will alsoincorporate quality and numberof manpower, technical require-ments and budgetary provisionsneeded to securing the frontiersand reducing vulnerabilities.

The Ministry has also invit-ed suggestions for recruiting 50per cent of the personnel in theborder guarding forces fromthe States along the borders.

The border guarding forceshave also been advised to iden-tify groups of young officerswho will cover the frontiers onmotor bikes and identify loop-holes in the security parapher-nalia along the frontiers.

The plan to strengthen theborders also includes a pro-posal to train jawans in the lan-guages spoken by people acrossthe borders. A training schemeis proposed to train the jawansin such languages.

The forces have also beenasked to identify vacant land inthe bordering areas to settle for-mer paramilitary forces’ per-

sonnel to check migration ofpopulation from such areas. Theforces have also been asked toseek suggestions from the jawansto check migration of populationfrom bordering areas.

Officials said there is alsoa proposal to formulate amechanism for reporting by theborder guarding forces withtheir respective headquartersfor holding institutional meet-ing by the forces with the dis-trict/state administration inthe border areas.

The border guarding forceshave been asked to tie up withthe Border Security Force(BSF) to install ComprehensiveIntegrated Border ManagementSystem (CIBMS) on a trialbasis along the frontiers withNepal, Bhutan and Myanmar.

Two pilot projects coveringabout 71 km on India-PakistanBorder (10 km) and India-Bangladesh Border (61 km) ofCIBMS last year. The next phas-es of CIBMS seek to coverabout 1,955 km of the borderwhich cannot be physicallyfenced. The CIBMS project willvastly improve the capability ofBSF in detecting and controllingthe cross border crimes like ille-gal infiltration, smuggling ofcontraband goods, human traf-ficking BESIDES and cross bor-der terrorism smart fencingcomprising an array of techno-logical gadgets.

While the BSF guards theIndo-Pakistan and Indo-Bangladesh borders, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP)secures the frontier alongChina. The Sashastra SeemaBal (SSB) guards the frontiersalong Bhutan and Nepal.

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New Delhi: Union Cabinetalso approved creation ofempowered Technical Groupand 22nd Law Commission.The term of the previous lawpanel had ended on August 31,2018. With the Cabinetapproval, the Law Ministrywill now notify the new panel,which will have a term of threeyears. The panel will have afull-time chairperson, four full-time members (including amember secretary), and lawand legislative secretaries in thelaw ministry as ex-officiomembers.

Cabinet approved consti-tution of a 12-MemberTechnology Group with thePrincipal Scientific Adviser toGovernment of India as itsChair. PNS

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Page 3: 7 ˝ 8978989: ˛ 08 ˚˜ ! #!$˛˝%&!%& ’((! ˇˆ · on Thursday to resume the dia-logue with the protesters. Protesters have blocked an ... District Magistrate Anuj Kumar Jha

RAIPUR | THURSDAY | FEBRUARY 20, 2020chhattisgarh 03

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Chief Minister BhupeshBaghel on Wednesday

attended a business meetingwith US-India StrategicPartnership Forum atConsulate General of Indiain New York.

Baghel said in hisaddress that Chhattisgarhhas tremendous scope ofinvestment in sectors such asIT, electronics, biofuel, tex-tile, pharma, ayurved andservice industry. He gavedetailed information aboutthe new industrial policy ofChhattisgarh Government.

Consulate GeneralSandeep Chakrabarty formal-ly commenced the meeting.

Chief Minister in hisaddress to the meeting,

informed in detail about theinnovations and variouspublic welfare schemes

being conducted inChhattisgarh. He providedinformation to the investors

present in the meeting aboutthe scope of industrialinvestment in Chhattisgarh

and invited them to invest inthese sectors. Chief Ministersaid that Chhattisgarh,

Odisha and Jharkhand arethe states of India, whereiron, coal and bauxite arefound. Chhattisgarh has dia-mond mine as well, but themining work is yet to begin.

Baghel said thatChhattisgarh is rich in natu-ral resources and hasnumeruos industries in thecore-industry.

Over the years, the elec-tricity production capacity ofChhattisgarh has increasedfrom 4500 MW to 22 thou-sand MW. Chhattisgarh sup-plies electricity to manystates including Goa,Telangana, Delhi, Gujarat,Maharashtra and other statesof India. Korba district inChhattisgarh has coal block,which has electricity produc-tion capacity of 10 thousandMW.

CM meets US-India Strategic Partnership Forum

STAFF REPORTER nSURAJPUR/KAWARDHA

Enraged over the attitudeof society manager of

procurement centre ofvillage Silaphili of Surajpurdistrict, the farmers threwpaddy on National Highwayand set it on fire.

The agitating farmerssaid that society managerrefused to procure thepaddy. On information, theTehsildar and police rushedto the spot.

Farmers were givenassurance of action againstmanager and resolving theirissues, the situation wasbrought under control. Forthe first time in the historyof Chhattisgarh, after its for-mation, the agitated farmershas set paddy on fire.

As per informationreceived, with final date ofpaddy procurement onFebruary 20, there has beenrush of farmers atprocurement centres to selltheir produce. But theprocurement is deniedciting one or other reason.

Such a situation arose inSilaphili when farmersstanding for hours got agi-tated when manager deniedto procure the paddy. Thefarmers alleged that for thelast three days with the tokenissued, they are arriving atcentre for procurement.

The manager denied toprocure it citing that he hadgot orders from higher upsnot to procure paddy. Thisprompted the farmers to venttheir anger by throwingtwo-three sacks of paddy onNational Highway andsetting it on fire.

Similar reports offarmers’ agitation alsoreceived from differentregions of Surguja division.At Maadisarai centre ofBharatpur of Koriya district,more than 20 farmersreached in tractors, no onearrived at procurement

centre, even after waitingfor hours in open. Theangry farmers then put uproad blockade. A similarsituation arose at Jilda ofKhadgaon tehsil in Koriyadistrict where farmerscommenced agitation aftercreating road blockade over

non procurement of thepaddy.

In Kawardha district,the farmers are stillcontinuing their agitation,laying a siege at Collector’soffice demanding the exten-sion of date of procurementand resolving their issues.

Paddy farmers upsetover ‘non-procurement’

STAFF REPORTER nSUKMA/NARAYANPUR

Two Naxals were killed and aSpecial Task Force (STF)

jawan was injured in separateencounters in Maoist-hit Sukmaand Narayanpur districts onWednesday, police said.

In the Sukma incident, theskirmish took place in a forestnear Tondamarka village whena team of the District ReserveGuard (DRG) was out on acounter-insurgency operation,Inspector General of Police(Bastar range) Sundarraj Psaid.

In another face off thatoccurred near Kasalpad village,one STF jawan was injured, headded.

Separate squads of theDRG, CRPF's elite unit CoBRA(Commando Battalion forResolute Action) and theSpecial Task Force (STF) onTuesday launched theoperation in the forest, locatedaround 450 km from the statecapital Raipur, he said.

When a DRG patrollingteam was cordoning off a forestarea on Chintagufa-Chintalnarjunction this morning, an

exchange of fire broke outbetween the two sides, he said.

The body of an ultra waslater recovered from the spot,he said.

When security forces werereturning after the operation, anexchange of fire took place inthe forest near Kasalpad that leftone STF jawan injured, he said.

On Tuesday, a CoBRAcommando was killed andanother injured in a gunfightwith Naxals in Kistaram area ofSukma.

In another incident, a Naxalwas gunned down in anencounter with the securityforces in Abhujmad area ofNarayanpur district near Ikulvillage, police said.

Abhujmad is a Naxalstronghold nestled in deepforests, located around 350 kmsaway from the state capital.

"After a brief exchange offire, ultras escaped into thedense forest. During the search,the body of a Naxal wasrecovered from the spot," saidsuperintendent of police,Narayanpur, Mohit Garg.

The identity of thedeceased ultra was yet to beascertained, he added.

Two Naxals killed,one Jawan injured inseparate encounters

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Against the target of 85LMT of paddy procure-

ment on support price forKharif crop season 2019-20,the state government tillWednesday had procured81.53 LMT of paddy. Apayment of Rs 14,469 crorehas been made directly to theaccounts of farmers.

Information regardingthe same was provided byofficials of food departmentat a review meetingconducted by Food and CivilSupplies Minister AmarjeetBhagat on Wednesday

evening.Food Secretary Dr

Kamalpreet Singh informedthe meeting that ascompared to the Kharif year2018-19, 2.34 lakh morefarmers have sold theirproduce till date. Previous

year 15.71 lakh farmers hadsold their crop while thisyear the number increasedconsiderably, he said.

Regarding shortage ofgunny bags at certain pro-curement centers, the officialinformed that at several

places the sale of paddy wasincreased to a great extent.Like, in Kondagaon theincrease in sale as comparedto previous year was 18%.Additional new bags werehence arranged for thisdistrict later on, he added.

94% of paddy procurementtarget already achieved

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Leader of Opposition inChhattisgarh State

Assembly DharamlalKaushik has condemned theincident of cane charging onagitating farmers at Keskhalof Bastar division andtermed the action insensitiveact of Congress-led stategovernment.

He said for several days,the farmers were agitating forpaddy procurement atminimum support price butno one heard their voice.They were continuing withtheir agitation in democraticmode.

Kaushik said theindifferent state governmentby cane charging wants toinstill a sense of terroramong the farmers but theywill continue to standagainst the governmentraising their demand.

Backing the farmers’lawful demands, the BJPleader said across the state,justice will be sought andvoice will continued to beraised. He added that hadthe demands of agitatingfarmers at Keshkalresolved on time, such asituation could have beenavoided. State governmentsat over the issue as theagitations spread to otherareas like Bijapur,

Dantewada, Jagdalpur,Kondagaon and Keshkal.Now, February 20 beingthe last day of pro-curement, there would beextra-rush and centres donot have required req-uisite of gunny bags. Thiswill lead to pro-curement of paddy lesserthan the set target.

Kaushik demandedcompensation for thoseinjured in incident andextending free health servic-

es to them. All the demandsof agitating farmers shouldalso be fulfilled. Healleged that the situation isfrom Konta to Kota andfrom Mainpur to Mainpat, isvolatile.

Leader of OppositionDharamlal Kaushik said thatBJP has constituted afive- member committee toprobe the incident. Theteam has already left forKeshkal from state BJPheadquarters, Kushabhau

Thakre premises. The fivemembers are former minis-ters Kedar Kashyap, LataUsendi, former MLA SevakRam Netam, BJP KisanMorcha state presidentPoonam Chandrakar and itsformer state presidentSandeep Sharma.

Kaushik added thatbased on the report forprotecting rights of farmers’concrete steps will be taken.The whole issue will beraised in the state assembly.

BJP slams lathicharge on agitatingfarmers, dubs action ‘insensitive’

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Home MinisterTamradhwaj Sahu has

ordered a probe into theincident of cane-charge onfarmers at Keshkal inKondagaon district of thestate.

The minister whiletalking to media personshere at Congress’s stateheadquarters Rajiv Bhawanon Wednesday said thatAdditional DistrictMagistrate (ADM) hadbeen asked to enquire intothe matter.

The minister howeversaid the farmers should

have put their demandsbefore the senior official

instead of taking law intotheir own hands.Meanwhile, a probe wasordered and whosoeverwould be found guiltywould be punished, hesaid.

Notable, as the paddyprocurement works wasstalled at procurementcenters in the Keshkalregion, irate farmersresorted to a chakka jam inNational Highway-30 whichconnects Bastar to the statecapital. In a bid to dispersethe crowd and clear theroad, the police allegedlyunleashed cane charge onthem.

Minister orders probe

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Putting an end to all speculationrelated to coronavirus, state govern-

ment on Wednesday claimed that not asingle person has been found affected bythe virus in Chhattisgarh so far.

Health department officialsinformed that blood samples of peoplewho had recently returned from Chinaand were having flu-cold like symptomswere tested and no one was found

positive.“Health department appealed the

residents of the state not to pay heed tohoaxes and baseless news,” healthdepartment officials stated in an officialpress release.

The department has however askedthe residents of the state to be aware ofcoronavirus. Its symptoms are highfever, cough and problem in breathing.It can lead to pneumonia or kidneyfailure in few patients and can turn fatal.

There are no vaccines available forcoronavirus, they said.

Doctors have suggested not to go tothose nations who are currently facingcoronavirus outbreak and pay attentionon personal hygiene like washing handson regular interval with soaps andcovering mouth while sneezing orcoughing. Information about nationsfacing coronavirus outbreak is availableon the website of World HealthOrganization (WHO) www.who.int.

Coronavirus: all suspectedcases in C’garh test negative

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

With the budget sessionof the Chhattisgarh

State Assembly to commencefrom February 24, thenumber of questions tillTuesday has reached 2215,out of which 1203 questionsare starred and 1012 areun-starred.

As per information puton website of Chhattisgarhstate Assembly, the sessionwill commence fromFebruary 24 and continue tillApril 1, as budget sessionwith total 22 sittings. Keeping

in mind the large number ofdays, both the ruling andopposition members haveregistered their questions tobe answered in the session.

As per the detailsavailable, on February 24, thesession will begin withGovernor’s address. Thesession will continue tillFebruary 28. There will beno sitting from March 7 toMarch 15 as, Holi festivalfalls during this period. Thesittings will then commencefrom March 16 and continuetill April 1. There will be nosittings on Saturdays andSundays, during the session.

MLAs rush withtheir queries forbudget session

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London: UK Home SecretaryPriti Patel on Wednesdayunveiled a new points-basedvisa system to attract the'brightest and the best' from theworld, including from India,and to reduce the number ofcheap and low-skilled workerscoming to the country.

The new system will comeinto force from January 1, 2021at the end of the transition peri-od after the UK's exit from theEuropean Union (EU) onJanuary 31, which will formal-ly end free movement of peo-ple within the economic blocfor the UK as a non-member.

The new post-Brexit sys-tem, which will apply equally tothe EU and non-EU countrieslike India, is based on assign-ing points for specific skills,qualifications, salaries and pro-fessions, with visas only award-ed to those who gain enoughpoints.

"Today is a historicmoment for the whole country.We're ending free movement,taking back control of our bor-ders and delivering on thepeople's priorities by intro-ducing a new UK points-basedimmigration system, whichwill bring overall migrationnumbers down," said Patel,the senior-most Indian-originCabinet minister.

"We will attract the bright-est and the best from aroundthe globe, boosting the econo-my and our communities, andunleash this country's fullpotential," Patel, in charge ofthe UK's visa and immigrationsystem, said.

Under the scheme, foreignworkers who wanted to cometo the UK would have to speakEnglish and have the offer of askilled job with an 'approvedsponsor'. They would beawarded 50 points if they ful-fil these criteria.

In total, immigrants wouldhave to reach 70 points to beable to work in the UK, withpoints also being awarded forqualifications, the salary onoffer and working in a sectorwith shortages.

The UK Home Office saidthe new system is a directresponse to the 2016 referen-dum in favour of Brexit, whichwas seen as a vote to end thecountry's reliance on cheapmigrant labour and reduceoverall levels of migration withtighter security.

"The new single global sys-tem will treat the EU and non-EU citizens equally. It will givetop priority to those with thehighest skills and the greatest tal-ents, including scientists, engi-neers and academics," it said.

In New Delhi, ActingBritish High CommissionerJan Thompson said, "The newPoints-Based ImmigrationSystem is great news for Indiannationals looking to work inthe UK. It puts Indian appli-cants on a level playing field,and prioritises those with thegreatest skills and talent—something which India has inabundance."

The Global Talent Scheme,a fast-track visa to be in oper-ation from Friday, will alsoapply to the EU citizens fromnext year to allow highly-skilled scientists andresearchers to come to the UKwithout a job offer.

Changes to the systemwould be implementedthrough an immigration billneeding approval from MPsand peers to come into force,the BBC reported.

Opposition Labour Partysaid the "hostile environment"will make it hard to attractworkers.

Liberal Democrat homeaffairs spokeswoman ChristineJardine said the proposals werebased on "xenophobia".

Professor Alice Gast,President of Imperial CollegeLondon, said: "British scienceis global. The new post-studywork and Global Talent visas

will help us to attract theworld's brightest students andresearchers, wherever theycome from.

"From the race to developa coronavirus vaccine to cleanenergy, British science's inter-national collaborations driveinnovation and excellence."

The government said thepoints threshold for the newsystem will be carefully set toattract the talent the UK needs.Skilled workers will need tomeet a number of relevant cri-teria, including specific skillsand the ability to speak English,to be able to work in the UK.

All applicants will berequired to have a job offer and,in line with the MigrationAdvisory Committee's recom-mendations, the minimumsalary threshold will be set at25,600 pounds - lower than theprevious 30,000 pounds levelfor Tier 2 work visas.

The new points-based sys-tem will also expand the skillsthreshold for skilled workers.

Those looking to live andwork in the UK will need to bequalified up to A-level or equiv-alent, rather than degree-levelunder the current system.

This will provide greaterflexibility and ensure UK busi-ness has access to a wide poolof skilled workers, the Home

Office said. In line with PrimeMinister Boris Johnson's man-ifesto commitment in theDecember 2019 election, therewill be no specific route forlow-skilled workers.

"It is estimated 70 per centof the existing EU workforcewould not meet the require-ments of the skilled workerroute, which will help to bringoverall numbers down infuture," the Home Office said.

Those wishing to study inthe UK will need to demon-strate that they have an offerfrom an approved educationalinstitution, that they can sup-port themselves financially andthat they speak English.

To address the specific

labour concerns of the agri-cultural sector reliant on sea-sonal workers from the EU, theSeasonal Workers Pilot will beexpanded in time for the 2020harvest from 2,500 to 10,000places. EU citizens and othernon-visa nationals will notrequire a visa to enter the UKwhen visiting the UK for up tosix months.

However, the use of nation-al identity cards will be phasedout for travel to the UK and theHome Office highlighted thatas part of its post-Brexit offer,those EU citizens resident inthe UK by December 31, 2020can still apply to settle in theUK through the EU SettlementScheme until June 2021. PTI

���������� ��������������������������� ������������London: Indian industry andstudents' groups in the UKhave widely welcomed the newpoints-based visa systemunveiled by Home SecretaryPriti Patel on Wednesday toattract the "brightest and thebest" from around the globe.The new post-Brexit policy ispitched as a "firm and fair"mechanism that will treat allmigrants equally as the freemovement of people from with-

in the European Union (EU)comes to an end from January1 next year. The magic number ofpoints required to apply underthe new system will be 70,accrued in increments of 20 or10 based on professional skills,English language proficiency, ajob offer from an approvedsponsor and salary levelsbetween 20,480 pounds and25,600 pounds or above. PTI

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The CBI has arrested a con-vict in the Bhopal Gas

Tragedy case, SI Qureshi whowas absconding since 2016.

Qureshi was one of theconvicts in the case who will beproduced before a court inBhopal after his arrest fromNagpur on Tuesday, officialssaid.

The CBI had registeredthe case on December 6, 1984on the request of MadhyaPradesh (MP) Governmentand took over the investigation

of the case originally registeredat Police Station Hanumanganj,Bhopal on December 2, 1984.

It was alleged that on theintervening night of December2 and 3, 1984 from 12.00 -12.45 AM onwards hazardousgas methyl isocynate (MIC)started to escape from Tank 610in the UCIL (Union CarbideIndia Limited) factory atBhopal in large quantities caus-ing deaths of thousands ofpersons and animals and affect-ing the health of lakhs of peo-ple.

On conclusion of trial, the

court of Chief JudicialMagistrate, Bhopal held all theaccused persons guilty andconvicted them. S. Qureshi anemployee of Union CarbideBhopal was also one of the con-victed persons.

Aggrieved with theimpugned order of the Court,the convicted persons filedappeals in the Court of SessionsBhopal. CBI also filed an appealagainst the order of CJM andrequested for enhancement ofthe sentence. The case present-ly is at argument on appealsstage, agency officials said.

During pendency ofappeal, SI Qureshi abscondedfrom 2016. The Court issuedNon-Bailable Warrant (NBW)against Qureshi. InitiallyMadhya Pradesh Police tried toexecute the NBW but could notdo so. CBI was requested toexecute the NBW.

It was alleged that Qureshialongwith his family went to anunknown destination. Afterstrenuous efforts, CBI arrestedthe absconding accused onTuesday in Nagpur, officialsadded.

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Shimla: Six Chinese nationals, who arrivedin Himachal Pradesh in the past few days,were put under surveillance here onWednesday in view of the novel coronavirusoutbreak in China, an official said.

The Chinese nationals, who arrived herein two batches on February 13 and February16 via Kolkata, were 'asymptomatic'.

The state health department got to knowabout their presence here on Tuesday night.

They have been put under surveillanceand advised to report to the health officialsin case of symptoms of cough and fever, theofficial said.

Officials of the integrated disease sur-veillance programme (IDSP) on Wednesdayvisited the home stay in Lakkar Bazar wherethey have been staying and found that theywere "asymptomatic".

None of the six Chinese nationals visit-ed Wuhan, the epicentre of the novel coron-avirus outbreak, after January 15, the officialsaid.

Five of them came to India from Chinaon January 28 and 29, whereas the sixthChinese national came from Malaysia onJanuary 29. The five Chinese were screenedin China before leaving for India and theywere again screened at the Kolkata airport.

Visas of the five-member group are validtill February 27, whereas the sixth person's visais valid till June. PTI

Thiruvananthapuram: A woman medico treatedfor novel coronavirus tested negative for the sec-ond time, marking the recovery all three cases ofthe infection in India reported from Kerala, the stategovernment said on Wednesday.

Two other students— one from Alappuzha andanother Kasaragod — had been discharged recent-ly after they too tested negative for the virus in freshtests days after being infected by it.

A decision on discharge of the woman,India's first coronavirus patient and undergoingtreatment in the isolation ward of the ThrissurMedical College Hospital since her return fromWuhan in China last month, would be taken by theMedical Board which will meet on Thursday, theofficials said.

All the three Keralites had earlier tested pos-itive for the coronavirus on their return fromWuhan, the epicentre of the deadly outbreak thathas left over 2,000 people dead in China, trigger-ing a scare in the state.

"The health condition of the third patient atThrissur Medical College Hospital is satisfactory.The second consecutive test result of the blood sam-ple of the student, sent to the National Institute ofVirology in Pune, has returned negative," HealthMinister K K Shailaja said in a release.

The health department said a total of 2,242people are under observation across the state, outof which, eight are in isolation wards of various hos-pitals and other under home quarantine. PTI

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Trump, forcefully pursuinghis ‘America first” policy, haspreviously described India as a“tariff king” for imposing“tremendously high” tariffs onAmerican products, alsoexpressed dissatisfaction overthe US-India trade ties. “Well,we can have a trade deal withIndia, but I’m really saving thebig deal for later on,” Trumptold reporters at the Joint BaseAndrews outside Washingtonon Tuesday when askedwhether he expects a trade dealwith India before the visit.

During his interaction withjournalists, Trump once againvoiced his concern over US-India trade relations. “We’renot treated very well by India,”the US president said. The USand India could sign a “tradepackage” during Trump’s visit,according to media reports.

US Trade RepresentativeRobert Lighthizer, the point-person for trade negotiationswith India, may not accompa-ny Trump to India, sourcessaid. However, officials havenot ruled it out altogether.

Multiple rounds of talkshave taken place betweenCommerce Minister PiyushGoyal and Lighthizer in thepast few weeks over telephone.India is demanding exemptionfrom high duties imposed bythe US on certain steel and alu-minium products, resumptionof export benefits to certaindomestic products under theirGeneralised System ofPreferences (GSP), greater mar-ket access for its products fromsectors including agriculture,automobile, auto componentsand engineering.

On the other hand, the USwants greater market access forits farm and manufacturingproducts, dairy items and med-ical devices, and cut on importduties on some ICT products.The US has also raised con-cerns over high trade deficitwith India which was USD 16.9billion in 2018-19. In NewDelhi, sources said India andUS do not want to rush in final-ising a trade deal and both sideswill take a decision on it con-sidering a long-term view.

They also said somedefence deals may fructify dur-ing Trump’s visit.

Listing out the schedule inNew Delhi, Shringla said Modiwill host a lunch for Trump,while President Ram NathKovind will host a banquet inhonour of the visiting dignitary.

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Mobile phones were seizedfrom five Madhyamik

examinees on Wednesday,while one of them was detained

in Malda district for allegedlymaking a TikTok video of theEnglish question paper andsharing it on social media,officials said.

A student appearing for the

class 10 state boards exam inBaidyanathpur High School inRatua police station area ofMalda was handed over topolice after he was found witha mobile phone.

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Sacramento (US): MikeBloomberg would sell thefinancial data and media com-pany he created in the 1980s —which bears his name andmade him a multibillionaire —if he is elected US president, atop adviser has said.

Bloomberg would putBloomberg LP into a blindtrust, and the trustee wouldthen sell the company, adviserTim O’Brien said Tuesday.Proceeds from the sale would

go to BloombergPhilanthropies, the charitablegiving arm that funds causesfrom climate change to publichealth and grants for Americancities.

The only restrictionBloomberg would put on thesale is that it not be sold to aforeign buyer or a private equi-ty company, O’Brien said.Bloomberg, a Democrat, iscurrently chief executive ofthe company.

“We want to be 180 degreesapart from Donald Trumparound financial conflicts ofinterest,” O’Brien told TheAssociated Press.

“We think it’s one of thebiggest stains on the presiden-cy, and Trump’s record is hisrefusal to disengage himself inhis own financial interests.And we want to be very trans-parent and clean and clearwith voters about where Mikeis on these things.” AP

Washington: Ahead of his visitto India next week, US PresidentDonald Trump has reiteratedthat he sees “a chance” of a peacedeal with the Taliban to with-draw troops from Afghanistan.

The US has been negotiat-ing with the Taliban and Trumpearlier, too, suggested there hadbeen progress between the twosides to reduce violence in thewar-torn country and endAmerica’s longest war, for 19years.

“We are negotiating withthe Taliban. We’ve been negoti-

ating with them for a while. Wewill see what happens. There’s achance of making a deal. There’sa chance,” Trump told reportersat Joint Base Andrews Tuesdayafternoon local time.

Marvin G Weinbaum,Director for Afghanistan andPakistan Studies at the MiddleEast Institute, has said the USappears well on its way to sign-ing an agreement with theTaliban later this month. Trumpis scheduled to visit India onFebruary 24 and 25.

PTI

Washington: Donald Trumpwill have a triumphant visit toIndia, a top diplomat in theprevious Obama administra-tion has said, asserting the USpresident has energised theIndian-Americans as a result ofwhich Democrats might not beable to hold on to this com-munity as they did in the past.

“My expectation will be —my guess is that PresidentTrump will have a triumphantvisit in Delhi,” Kurt Campbell,a former assistant secretary ofstate for East Asian and PacificAffairs, said.

Currently the chairmanand CEO of Asia Group,Campbell said Trump’s prima-

ry interest is not aboutAmerica’s role in the world.“His primary interest is hisreelection. It’s how that willmanifest in terms of his poten-tial reelection in November,” hesaid in response to a questionat an event at the BrookingsInstitute think-tank last week.

PTI

Chicago: Rod Blagojevichwalked out of prison Tuesdayafter President Donald Trumpcut short the 14-year prisonsentence handed to the formerIllinois Governor for politicalcorruption.

The Republican presidentsaid the punishment imposedon the Chicago Democrat andone-time contestant on Trump’sreality TV show “CelebrityApprentice” was excessive. “Sohe’ll be able to go back home,”Trump told reporters. “Thatwas a powerful, ridiculous sen-tence in my opinion and in theopinion of many others.”Blagojevich landed at Chicago’sO’Hare airport on Wednesdaya free man, promising judicialand criminal justice reformwhile maintaining his inno-cence. “Ï didn’t do the thingsthey said I did and they lied onme,” Blagojevich told WGN-TV as he walked through theairport shaking the hands oftravelers who welcomed himhome. AP

Paris: Boeing said on Tuesdaythat it found debris contami-nating the fuel tanks of some737 Max jets that it built in thepast year but was unable todeliver to airline customers.

A Boeing official said thedebris was discovered in “sev-eral” planes but did not give aprecise number. Boeing builtabout 400 undelivered Maxjets before it temporarily halt-ed production last month.

The fuel tank debris wasdiscovered during maintenanceon parked planes, and Boeingsaid it immediately made cor-rections in its production sys-tem to prevent a recurrence.Those steps include moreinspections before fuel tanksare sealed.

A Boeing spokesman saidthat the issue would not changethe company’s belief that theFederal AviationAdministration will certify theplane to fly again this summer.

An FAA spokesman saidthe agency knows that Boeingis conducting a voluntaryinspection of undelivered Maxplanes.

The FAA “increased itssurveillance based on initialinspection reports and willtake further action based on thefindings,” said spokesman LynnLunsford.

Metal shavings, tools andother objects left in planesduring assembly can raise therisk of electrical short-circuit-ing and fires. AP

Brussels: Europeans couldinclude the issue of stolen cul-tural artefacts, especially Greekor Roman antiquities, in nego-tiations on their future relation-ship with Britain, according tothe draft of the EU negotiatingmandate. The mandate, seen byAFP, sets out the EU’s objectivesand red lines and now includesa call on the parties to “returnunlawfully removed culturalobjects to their countries of ori-gin”. Early reports, denied by offi-cials on Wednesday, said themention pertained to theParthenon marbles, the ancientsculptures commonly known asthe Elgin marbles that are on dis-play in the British Museum inLondon. AFP

London: Low-skilled workerswould not get visas under post-Brexit immigration plansunveiled by the British gov-ernment. It is urging employ-ers to “move away” from rely-ing on “cheap labour” fromEurope and invest in retainingstaff and developing automa-tion technology, the BBCreported on Wednesday.

The Home Office said EUand non-EU citizens coming tothe UK would be treated equal-ly after UK-EU free move-ment ends on December 31.

Labour said a “hostile envi-ronment” would make it hardto attract workers. IANS

Beijing: The death toll from thecoronavirus epidemic in Chinacrossed the 2,000-mark onWednesday with the death of136 more people, while theoverall confirmed casesclimbed to 74,185,authorities said.

The NationalHealth Commissionsaid in its daily report that2,004 people had died of thedisease known as COVID-19.NHC said 1,749 new cases ofnovel coronavirus infection havebeen confirmed.

Of the new deaths, 132were reported from the worst-hit Hubei Province and one eachfrom Heilongjiang, Shandong,Guangdong and Guizhou.

Another 1,185 new sus-pected cases have been report-ed. On Tuesday, 236 patients

became seriously ill, while 1,824people were discharged fromhospital after recovery.

The commission added that11,977 patients remained in

severe condition, and 5,248people were suspected ofbeing infected with thevirus, the state-run

Xinhua news agencyreported.By Tuesday, 62 confirmed

cases including one death hadbeen reported in Hong Kong, 10confirmed cases in Macao and22 in Taiwan including onedeath. China’s daily number ofnewly recovered novel coron-avirus patients has surpassedthat of new confirmed infectionsfor the first time, according toNHC.

So far, 14,376 patientsinfected with the novel coron-

avirus had been dischargedfrom hospital after recovery,NHC said.

On Tuesday, Dr LiuZhiming, president of WuhanWuchang Hospital in Hubei,died of the novel coronaviruspneumonia highlighting therisks posed by virus to the med-ical staff.

Liu was a leading neuro-surgeon in Wuhan.

Last Friday, the NHC said atotal of 1,716 medical workershad been confirmed contractingthe infection. As of February 11,six medical workers were killedwhile treating patients. Thisincluded the whistle-blowerophthalmologist, Dr LiWenliang who was reprimand-ed by police for alerting aboutthe virus over the social mediain December. PTI

Seoul: South Korea reported 20new confirmed cases of thenovel coronavirus onWednesday — increasing itstotal by nearly two-thirds —including a cluster of at least 16centred on the southern city ofDaegu.

The trade-dependentnation has been hit by the eco-nomic fallout from the virusoutbreak in neighbouringChina, but until Wednesday’s

jump, its own case numbershad hardly changed for sever-al days.

The Korea Centres forDisease Control andPrevention (KCDC) said in astatement that 20 new coron-avirus cases had been con-firmed, raising its total from 31to 51. Of those, 18 were inDaegu and neighbouringNorth Gyeongsang province,with 15 of them believed to be

linked to a single patient, a 61-year-old woman.

Fourteen of them attendthe same church as the woman,the KCDC said, while the otherone had come into contactwith her at a hospital.

She had first developed afever on February 10 butreportedly refused to be testedtwice for the coronavirus on thegrounds that she had notrecently travelled abroad.AFP

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���������� �!�"�#��$��%�!�&�&�!'�&�(�&��)*+++Yokohama: Relieved passen-gers began leaving a coron-avirus-wracked cruise shipin Japan on Wednesday aftertesting negative for the dis-ease that has now claimedmore than 2,000 lives inChina.

The Diamond Princesshas proved a fertile breedingground for the virus with atleast 542 positive cases, andthere is mounting criticism ofJapan’s handling of quarantinearrangements as passengersready to disperse into thewider world.

The ship is the biggest

cluster outside China, wherenew figures showed the deathtoll surging beyond 2,000with more than 74,000 infect-ed. Hundreds more caseshave been reported in twodozen countries.

For some 500 passengersallowed to disembark aftertesting negative, a difficult 14-day quarantine period hascome to an end after theirdream cruise turned into anightmare of fear and crush-ing boredom confined inmany cases to small win-dowless cabins.

AFP

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Hong Kong: An elderly HongKong man who contracted thenew coronavirus died onWednesday, authoritiesannounced, the second fatali-ty from the outbreak in thesemi-autonomous Chinese city.

“A 70-year-old male patientwho was infected with thenovel coronavirus deterioratedand succumbed in PrincessMargaret Hospital this morn-ing,” the Hospital Authoritysaid in a statement.

Officials said the man wastaken to hospital on 12February after a fall at home.He had a fever and tested pos-itive for the virus, dying aweek later. AFP

Beijing: Wang Feng, house-bound by China’s virus out-break, counts on the parka-claddelivery drivers of e-commercegiant JD.Com to keep herkitchen stocked. Demand foronline food vendors has surgedsince China’s Government toldthe public to stay home as partof the most sweeping anti-dis-ease controls ever imposed.

On Tuesday, Wang’s phonebuzzed with a text message thata delivery had arrived. Theretiree bundled up against thewinter cold, put on a face maskand emerged from her apart-ment complex to collect walnutmilk and other goods. AP

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'�����������������&������������� ������,�����������������Tehran: Two people in Iran

tested positive onWednesday for the deadlynew coronavirus, the HealthMinistry said, in the Islamicrepublic’s first cases of thedisease. Kianoush Jahanpour,a Ministry spokesman, saidthe cases were detected in theholy city of Qom, south ofthe Iranian capital. “In thepast two days, some suspectcases of the new coronaviruswere observed in Qom city,”he said, quoted by state newsagency IRNA. AFP

Beijing: Chinese President XiJinping called for greater pro-tection of medical workersfighting the coronavirus aftercausalities among them showedan upward trend as the deathtoll from the epidemic crossedthe 2,000-mark on Wednesday,authorities said.

China’s National HealthCommission (NHC) in its dailyreport said that 136 people diedon Tuesday taking the totaldeath toll to 2,004 so far due tothe virus also called COVID-19. PTI

Beijing: China on Wednesdayexpelled three Wall Street Journalcorrespondents, the largestexpulsion of overseas mediamen from the country in morethan three decades, after thenewspaper declined to apologisefor a column which Beijing crit-icised as “racist” and tarnishingits efforts to combat the coron-avirus epidemic. Chinesespokesman said China maderepeated representations to theUS newspaper over the opinionpiece which had the headline:“China is the real sick man ofAsia”, but regretted that it had notoffered a public apology. PTI

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Women soldiers would be aserious problem if andwhen they happen to betaken prisoner. But ascommanding officers, they

would seldom be in the first line of infantryfighting. Nor are cavalry officers acutely vul-nerable. This question of prisoner of warpossibly confused the entire issue of com-mand qualities. The question of strengthand stamina has fortunately been resolvedas infantry weapons have become light andfire-efficient. There is no comparisonbetween the .303 and today’s assault rifles.Even this writer found the former heavy tolift and carry for long.

For the rest, the issue of women asjawans or officers was highly relevant, dom-inated by the bias of tradition and mind-set. Until firearms came into existence,prospects for women were indeed not thatbright as the “sword” or the “lance” washeavy and needed strong arms. Womenwere also weaker due to the quality of dietand the number of childbirths. MumtazMahal, queen of Shah Jahan, who was pos-sibly the wealthiest man in the world of histime, bore 14 children, of whom only sevensurvived. Imagine the waste of female sta-mina and strength; how could they be sol-diers? She, who cannot be a soldier, can-not be an officer and in turn a comman-der. To add to this was the patriarchy thatrefused to see women as anything else,except as householders and mothers.

The invention of the musket in the 16thcentury sprouted the first ray of hope forthe woman as a soldier. The gender of anindividual pressing the trigger makes no dif-ference to the target. Early models, howev-er, were very heavy and were often oper-ated by two soldiers resting the weapon ona portable table. This innovation by itselflimited chances for women. As the weaponbecame better and lighter, the lesser was themuscle required. The better and strongerthe vehicle, the lesser was the stamina need-ed. The lesser the child-bearing, thestronger the woman remained. We havearrived so far through four to five centuries.

There has been a new dawn for the mil-itary. The armed forces have many morepotential candidates to choose from now.Women can make equally good fightingstock whether on land, air or sea. In fact,in defensive engagements, they could wellbe superior to men. For instance, a tigressor any female animal protects her young,quite ferociously. Arguably, the male maynot be so determined while defending evenhis own house. When a woman defends herhomeland, this writer believes, she wouldbe equally committed to saving her prog-eny. A brave man would defend his coun-try with equal zeal but when he finds hissituation hopeless, he is likely to retreat oreven surrender. A woman is less likely togive up on protecting her own people, likeher own children. An order like “victory or

death” is less difficult for awoman to obey than for aman. Apparently, the braver thecommander, the more coura-geous should be the battalion.

The recent doubt, whichthe Supreme Court had to clearabout whether women officerswould make equally effectivecommanders, is unusual. Themale ego fattened since thebeginning of time, which, it iswidely believed, could find itdifficult to obey a woman inpublic. In private, it is differentand even a stronger, wiser per-son has been listened to readi-ly. Shorn of such mindsets, theissue is one of leadership. In the1960s, who could have believedthat former Prime MinisterIndira Gandhi would havemade a leader superior to say,Morarji Desai? This question isone of leadership and neither ofstatesmanship, nor prime min-istership.

Indira Gandhi retained theleadership of her party, theCongress, until her death. True,she had the advantage of beingformer Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru’s daughter,which gave her an enviablestart. After that, she had to relyon her own wit and resourcesin order to survive and succeed.

The problem hitherto isthat women do not get theexposure and opportunity to be

able to perform on the rightplatform and at the right level;at least in most fields. KanshiRam, the founder of theBahujan Samaj Party (BSP),gave a start to Mayawati and shecame up to be the ChiefMinister of Uttar Pradesh.Trinamool Congress (TMC)chief Mamata Banerjee hasrisen exclusively on her owninitiative; she has demonstrat-ed eloquently the qualitiesneeded to make nine crorepeople of West Bengal to follow.

For some time, maybesome years, women comman-ders would have to developsuperior qualities such as mil-itary knowledge, bold initiativesand quick decision-making.Leaders must be superior totheir followers. Once that isdemonstrated, there should beno difficulty. There is a phe-nomenon generally not remem-bered and at times not known.This writer can communicate itthrough his experience duringphysical training in college.The Elphinstone College inMumbai had no ground and,hence, its physical training (PT)classes were occasionally held atthe neighbouring Oval maidan.The entire class of 110 studentswould together move to thisground. There were less than 25boys, the rest were girls. The lat-ter were given light exercises,

which could be done whilewearing sarees (this is whatmost girls wore 65 years ago).However, boys had to sprint, dosit-ups, push-ups et al. Thiswriter was neither strong norpractised and by himself, coulddo no more than 15 to 17 sit-ups and push-ups. At the Oval,however, in the presence ofgirls, he could go up to 50 ofthem. The only explanationfor this was gender pride. Howcould he let his pride down? Ifthis gender pride could perco-late to the armed forces, we canexpect extraordinary perfor-mance from our sailors, soldiersand airmen in an inclusiveatmosphere.

When we move from thecommander to the level of asenior general, the situationwould change. The progressfrom tactics to strategy is a bigleap. The former is adequate fora skirmish or a limited battle.Anything bigger or more on-going would call for greatermilitary imagination to be ableto visualise what is neithervisible nor obvious. Andwomen make for good strate-gists. A well thought-out strat-egy must ensure that the warplan is not upset even if thefuture brings forth enemyaction that is surprisingly dif-ferent. World War II GermanField Marshal Erwin Rommel

is probably the most famousGeneral. But when comparedwith Field Marshal Erich vonManstein, Rommel is consid-ered an exceptional tactician.Whereas Manstein, by hisdefence and in-depth strategy,delayed the Russian Army fromreaching Germany by a wholeyear. The Manstein brilliancelay in retreating faster than theRussians could move, thenwait on the sidelines until theReds had arrived, only to besurrounded and taken prison-ers in thousands.

France has six bordersbeginning with the North Seain the west, then Belgium, thenthe German border, which wasdefended by a chain of fortress-es called the Maginot line. TheArdennes forest was consideredimpassable as it would have ledto Germany, then Switzerlandand finally Italy. Berlin was insearch of a point of utter sur-prise attack. Manstein suggest-ed the presumably impassableArdennes forest. France had leftit undefended; his idea wasaccepted. It took only 40 daysto compel France to surrender.That was gem of a strategy. Anintegration of genders wouldmean that many evolved mindsare at play.

(The writer is a well-knowncolumnist and an author. Viewsexpressed are personal)

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Lead from the front”(February 18). India has a his-tory of women commanders,who fought wars against formi-dable adversaries. The name ofRani Lakshmibai tops this list.While we often cite the protec-tive-destructive capabilities ofShakti, Durga and Kali, it is iron-ical that it took a SupremeCourt order for female officersin the Army to get the same sta-tus as their male counterparts.

The top court’s order,upholding the right of women toequal opportunity in the Indianarmed forces, is landmark. It haspaved the way for all servingShort Service Commission(SSC) women officers to be eli-gible for permanent commissionat par with their male col-leagues. They will now get thesame kind of promotion, rank,benefits and pension as that oftheir male counterparts but innon-combat support servicesonly.

Women are still excludedfrom combat roles. This shouldchange. Women should not justhave the right to permanent

commission but the right tocommand combat troops, too.The mission is of utmost impor-tance and women are equallycapable of helming it. We musttake cue from the US, the UKand Israel, who have women intheir combat forces.

Padmini Raghavendra Secunderabad

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Sir — Whereas the US dictatesmonetary transactions globally,China has usurped the manufac-turing sphere so much that itstransient, if extended, disruptionwill make every nation feel thechill. Over the past three decades,

China has quietly become the axisof the global economy. Even as itrules heavy industries such ascoal, steel, cement and rare-earths among others, it holdsequal strength on items as variedas electronic components, solarcells, clothing and air condition-ers, to name a few. High volumesof production have brought down

costs of items to such a level thatadvanced nations have beenforced to wind down their owncapacities. We may find faultwith China’s autocratic nature butthe fact is, its politics was madeto subscribe to the economy. Yet,when it came to combatingCoronavirus, China did not givea second thought to the perils ofan economic plunge. It went onto take unprecedented andperemptory steps to contain thevirus. It is this singular goal clar-ity that has made it what it istoday.

R Narayanan Navi Mumbai

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Sir — Supreme Court judgeJustice DY Chandrachud recent-ly expressed his views on “dissent”,calling it a vital ingredient of avibrant democracy. One needs totake inspiration from MahatmaGandhi, who had the courage andfortitude to express his dissent ina peaceful manner.

AshishVia email

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Climate change is a grim reality faced not justby mankind but everyone who inhabits theEarth. The rising global temperatures are

affecting seasons, so winters have become shorterand spring is early to arrive. These shifting seasonsimpact many life cycle events which in turn have amajor impact on agriculture and global food pro-duction. What is challenging is that the changes arehappening too fast and many species may not be ableto adapt to these unprecedented fluctuations. TheIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)has reported a global warming of 1.5 °C, which isenough to put 20-30 per cent of species at the riskof extinction. Sadly, many of us are not even awareof it, let alone work towards mitigating them. Andthis goes for individuals, societies and businesses.Of the three, businesses all around the world are thebiggest contributors to global warming since theyare responsible for at least 70 per cent of all carbonemissions. So, on humanitarian grounds, thereshould be an extreme urgency by businesses to slowdown and reverse climate change. Sustained activ-ity, both in words and actions, backed by strong lead-ership is the need of the hour to achieve the goal ofnet-zero emissions by 2050. This can only be doneby being a part of the solution rather than a part ofthe problem. And this is how some companies aredoing it:

Investments in renewable energy sources:Several big firms are investing in renewable ener-gy sources to reduce their greenhouse gas targets.McDonald’s is leading the way with the large-scalepurchase of virtual power that will support wind andsolar energy. This renewable energy generation canbe equated to taking 140,000 cars off the road forone year. In the furniture industry, IKEA has invest-ed $2 billion into renewable energy projects and isplanning to build 416 wind turbines. It has alreadyinstalled around 750,000 solar panels on its stores.One of the most powerful corporations in the worldand Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc, has alsobeen named as one of the most eco-friendly firms.All offices and company buildings, includingGoogle headquarters in Silicon Valley, are poweredby 100 per cent renewable energy, which removesan estimated five million tonnes of carbon dioxidefrom the atmosphere each year. By purchasing a 1.6-gigawatt renewable energy package, Google hasmade its clean energy portfolio large enough topower a country of the size of Uruguay. Similarly,Microsoft boosted its renewable energy portfolio tomore than 1,900 MW, which is enough to power 1.5million homes. Swiss fragrance and flavour manu-facturer Firmenich is one of the most sustainablecompanies in the world, operating on 78 per centrenewable energy and working with other CEOs andpoliticians to help limit global warming to above pre-industrial levels. Apart from Firmenich, L’Oréal wasthe only other firm to receive an ‘A’ (the highest score)across all three areas of the CDP’s (formerlyCarbon Disclosure Project) rankings — climatechange, deforestation and water security. It is com-mitted to zero deforestation by this year-end and hasrevamped more than one-fifth of its entire productrange to reduce dependence on petrochemicals andencourages the use of plant-based, renewableresources. Johnson & Johnson has taken several stepsto ensure that all packaging is recyclable, reusableor compostable by 2025. Its operations are current-ly powered by 31 per cent renewable energy and itplans to increase this to 100 per cent by 2050.

Collaborating for saving the envi-ronment: Earth cannot be saved withoutproper collaboration among differentactors in society. One of the major effortstowards this is found in the collaborationbetween Walmart, several environmentalgroups and over 1,000 suppliers, knownas project Gigaton, to overhaul the com-pany’s supply chain worldwide by reduc-ing greenhouse gas pollution by about abillion tonnes by 2030. Nearly 94 millionmetric tonnes of emissions have alreadybeen reduced since its launch. Anotherglobal corporate leader and a championfor environmental sustainability isUnilever that is collaborating with farm-ers worldwide to reduce harm to the envi-ronment. It is aiming to procure its agri-cultural materials from sustainable sourcesby the end of this year and eliminating sin-gle-use plastic packaging in the UK by2025. It also plans to become carbon pos-itive by 2030 by reducing or totally elim-inating the use of fossil fuels and gener-ating more renewable energy than it con-sumes. Several food companies have alsocollaborated with sustainable managementconsultants to assess the deforestation riskdeveloped due to their operations and takesteps to create a sustainable food system.Nestle, the largest food company onEarth, uses satellite technology to ensurethat no deforestation is taking place in itssupply chain. It has also committed tousing 100 per cent responsibly-sourcedpalm oil by 2020. It has been severely crit-icised in the past for using palm oil thatled to deforestation. Danone, a companyproducing yogurts, water and plant-based food and drinks, is working in col-laboration with farmers to reduce soildegradation and water usage, in theprocess reducing the company’s carbonfootprint by 25 per cent.

Say “no” to plastics: In India, thePhilippines and Indonesia, Unilever hasfound itself under pressure over plasticpackaging. Earlier this year, the compa-ny was named by the “Break Free FromPlastic” campaign as one of the firms mostresponsible for plastic pollution in thesecountries. On its part, to help the environ-ment, IKEA plans to ban single-use plas-tic products from its shops and restaurantsby 2020. The company wants to purchase100 per cent renewable energy by 2020and use only renewable and recycled mate-rials in its products by the same year. Itplans to make its deliveries emission-freeby 2025.

Innovation to save the environ-ment: As it is rightly said, “Necessity is themother of all invention.” Stopping andreversing climate change is the necessityto save our planet now. However, organ-isations lack awareness on specific tech-nologies that can help them reduce emis-sions and boost sustainability. Severalentrepreneurs globally are trying to bridgethis gap and start-ups are being funded tohelp companies solve sustainability chal-lenges and make progress toward the 2025climate goals. Danish shipping companyMaersk is using biofuels to help it achievea carbon-neutral status by 2050. It pilot-tested biofuel made from cooking oil torun its cargo ship from Rotterdam toShanghai and in the process reduce an esti-mated 1.5 million kg of carbon emissions.Tesla, the electric-car maker, has a holis-tic environment protection policy wherethey make sure that the suppliers workwithout harming the environment,responsibly manage all waste and efficient-ly use water and energy resources.Microsoft, on the other hand, is using newage technology like artificial intelligencefor several sustainability initiatives, fore-

casting wildfires and risks related tothem, minimising the environmentalcosts of farming, planting trees and pro-tecting endangered species. The Nike Airrange of trainers uses at least 50 per centrecycled materials and diverts more than95 per cent of waste from landfills. Plusthe company is soon to release a range oftrainers coloured with plant-based dyes,which reduces pollution of waterways.

Accepting climate change at the pol-icy level: Voluntary efforts are good butnot enough to tackle the real threat of cli-mate change. Businesses should be opento developing climate policies and govern-ments should support companies inimplementing the same. This trend hadstarted now with CEOs of several compa-nies like Dow Chemical, BASF andLafarge Holcim stressing on bringingabout new regulations that check andpenalise higher carbon emissions andincentivise lower carbon footprints.

This brings us to the question whethertrying to protect the planet is also econom-ically viable? Data suggests so. Companiesin 35 countries, including the US, haveexperienced growth in the last 15 yearswhile reducing their emissions.

According to the New ClimateEconomy report, the decision to reduceemissions will be good for the job mar-ket as it will create 65 million new low car-bon emission jobs while generating enter-prise value worth $26 trillion till 2030. Byreducing emissions, companies will wit-ness two-pronged benefits — a higher eco-nomic value and a boost to reputationvalue, from the point of view of the entirestakeholder group, including employees,investors, suppliers and customers. It is awin-win for all.

(The writer is Associate Professor,Amity University, Noida)

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Recently, we celebrated 71 yearsof India’s existence as a Republicand thus it would be pertinent

to remember Article 21 of theConstitution, which deals with funda-mental rights without which a repub-lic would mean nothing. The funda-mental right to life as enshrined inArticle 21 includes the right to work.It is time for civil society to start talk-ing collectively about livelihood whichis recognised as a human right inmany communities.

We need to get a more inclusiveunderstanding of what we mean bylivelihoods: Life engagement withland, water, forest, right to food,income, food security and the like. So,the first step in building up a narra-

tive is building up a common under-standing of what we mean by right tolivelihoods.

As we know, livelihood encom-passes issues of productive resourcesand access to resources and involvesconcerns in labour and goods markets.Work conditions in all sectors are cen-tral to the discourse and in particu-lar recognition of work, generatingemployment, job security and wages.

The mining sector in India haswitnessed largescale loss of liveli-hoods in recent times. On one handIndia is aiming for a $5 trillion econ-omy and on the other we are now find-ing it difficult to compete with emerg-ing economies like Vietnam andEgypt. It is imperative to focus signif-icantly on the mining sector with con-certed efforts to regain its three percent share and more in the GDP by2024-25. The sector’s GDP share in2018-19 was 2.6 per cent, down fromthree per cent in 2011-12. Ever sincethe Supreme Court cancelled 88 min-ing leases in Goa on February 7, 2018,life has come to a grinding halt formore than 3,00,000 mining depen-

dents. The State, once the richest econ-omy in India, is now sluggish and thecomplete closure of mining activitieshas devastated families and broughtabout unimaginable misery in the livesof people. In neighbouring Karnataka,too, the ban on ore exports, e-auctionsand quota systems in ore productionhave led to a floundering economy,severely denting the State’s develop-ment and growth.

The recently-published source-book of FIDR, Mining: A PrudentPerspective, is based on a survey of2,415 people from five major Stateswhose economies are mainly mining-driven, namely Goa, Chhattisgarh,Jharkhand, Odisha and Karnataka. Itwould not be an exaggeration to saythat this is the first-ever such reportabout the people’s perception and atti-tudes toward the mining industry. Thestudy has clearly brought out theimpact of the uncertainties due to theban on mining in these States. Thesocial set-up and the families of min-ers are in the doldrums due to jobless-ness and deprivation of livelihoods.

In Goa, the closure of mining has

resulted in a State-wide economic cri-sis of sorts. Karnataka has witnessedsimilar economic plight in the wakeof the curbs. The FIDR survey indi-cates that in the five States, miningcontributes to over 12 per cent (on anaverage) of the State’s GDP. In Goa,stoppage of iron ore mining hasimpacted revenues worth �34 billionand the livelihood of several depen-dent segments as it has left stakehold-ers without an alternate source ofincome. This repeated stoppage ofmining in Goa, Odisha and Karnatakahas also led to loss of investor confi-dence which would have a long-termimpact on their economies.

Almost all the respondents (over90 per cent) agree that the mining sec-tor has brought significant econom-ic benefits for their communities andgenerated fiscal revenue, export earn-ings, relieved constraints to invest-ment, spurred economic growth andcreated jobs. It has also contributed toinfrastructure building. However, theyalso opine that realising and enhanc-ing these benefits require action, pri-marily from the Government, but also

from mining companies, local com-munities, employers and businesses inthe country. Fiscal revenues from theextractive industry — taxes, royaltiesand other payments — are the majorreasons why governments seek to pro-mote its growth in their States.However, revenues from mining andbenefits from them do not flow inautomatically. To translate fiscal rev-enues from the extractive industry intosustainable development benefits,governments need to design andinstitute fiscal regimes that ensure afair share of benefits to theStates/country, which are also attrac-tive for investors.

About half of the respondentsbelieve strongly that mining driveseconomic growth through its linkageswith the rest of the economy, such asby buying goods and services fromsuppliers (backward linkages) and bysupplying minerals (forward link-ages). Barring about 13 per cent, amajority (about eight of 10 stakehold-ers) describe mining as beneficial aslong as the industry works to mitigateits impacts or it is properly regulated.

The findings from the survey suggestthat the more the participants felt thatmining created economic, employ-ment and community benefits, thegreater was their acceptance of it. Thissounds obvious but should be viewedin relation to the unshakeable faiththese communities repose in nature,the ecology and the environment. Likein Odisha, all the mines are located inthe remote, low-income, tribal-inhab-ited geographies. The forest dwellershave deep faith in nature, the flora andfauna which they revere. Hence sociallicence to operate in these areaswould directly relate to how commu-nity perceptions of mining associat-ed impacts and benefits relate to itsendorsement.

It is clear, that the closure of mineshas spiked vulnerability of the com-munity. The survey observed a strongconnection between unemploymentdue to mining closure and mental dis-tress across States. Workers exposedto the negative labour demand shockare facing very low chances of re-enter-ing employment. Either they lack therequired skill set appropriate for other

industries and line of work or there areno available employment opportuni-ties. This is leading to long unemploy-ment spells resulting in spiralling oflarge-scale mental health problems.One in every five persons is sufferingfrom depression and other forms ofmental issues.

The survey also discovered thatthe psychological cost of parentalunemployment has been higher onchildren, leading to general despon-dency, while teenagers are starting tofeel pressured to take on more respon-sibility in the family. Many havebecome more aware of the social stig-ma associated with having jobless par-ents. It is imperative that the judicia-ry, legislature and the executive takecognisance of the grim livelihoods sce-nario threatening all of us. Necessaryremedial measures need to be takenat the earliest to help these States, par-ticularly Goa, tide over a catastropheof inconceivable ramifications —social, economic and intergenera-tional.

(The writer is an author andTED speaker)

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Lucknow: NCP chief SharadPawar on Wednesday said thedefeat of the BJP in the DelhiAssembly elections signals"beginning of the change".

"The BJP is tasting defeats- be it in the elections inMadhya Pradesh, Rajasthan orDelhi. In Delhi, the BJP had putall its strength and even PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andUnion Home Minister AmitShah campaigned there," Pawarsaid at a party workers' meet-ing here.

"UP Chief Minister YogiAdityanath and chief ministersof other BJP-ruled states alsocampaigned in Delhi. But peo-ple of Delhi showed that thebeginning of change has start-ed," he said.

The Aam Aadmi Party

(AAP) stormed back to powerin Delhi by winning an impres-sive 62 seats, while the BJPcould work its magic only inthe remaining eight seats in thenational capital.

On the Ram temple issue,Pawar said, "We accept theconstruction of Ram temple.The way in which a trust wasset up for it, there should be asimilar body for mosque. Thecountry and the governmentbelong to everyone and everyreligion".

Noting that the atmos-phere in the country was "dif-ferent" now, the NCP leaderlamented, "Those in power areignoring problems of commonman. Uttar Pradesh gave manyleaders to the country, so thestate has an important role in

politics. The state has thecapacity to bring the countryon the right track". S e n i o rNCP leader Praful Patel said hisparty has decided to strength-en its organisation in UttarPradesh. "We have startedestablishing party organisationat every district and village levelin the state," he said, addingpeople were disappointed bythe politics of SP and BSP inUttar Pradesh, which was cap-italised by the BJP and it cameto power in the state with amajority.

Patel later told reporters thatthere was no difference of opin-ion among the NCP, Congressand Shiv Sena over theCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA) and National Register ofCitizens (NRC). PTI

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�����������������B���$��Panaji: Goa Forward Party (GFP) chief VijaiSardesai on Wednesday said the Centre shouldlearn from Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawantand withdraw its 'anti-people' policies.

He was referring to the Sawant-ledGovernment's recent decision of withdrawing sec-tion 144 of the CrPC in North Goa and the roll-back of the order notifying 56 villages in the stateas urban areas.

Speaking to reporters in Margao, Sardesaicongratulated Sawant for withdrawing the noti-fications that had met with Opposition from var-ious quarters.

"I appreciate the Chief Minister for rollingback anti-people decisions," the Fatorda MLAsaid.

The Centre should take cue from Sawant andwithdraw the anti-people laws, he added. "The Union Government and the nation-al leadership of the BJP should learn from Sawantand roll back their anti- people policies," hesaid. PTI

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Guwahati: PAN card, land andbank documents do not proveone's Indian citizenship, theGauhati High Court has observedwhile dismissing a woman's pleaagainst a tribunal order that reject-ed her citizenship claim.

A division bench comprisingjustices Manojit Bhuyan and PJSaikia dismissed Jabeda Begum’splea as the documents submittedby her could not establish her link-age to her projected father orbrother.

Begum submitted 14 docu-ments, including her PAN cardand ration card, two bank pass-books, the NRC details of herfather Jabed Ali, voter lists wherethe names of her grandparents,parents and her along with herhusband were published and sev-eral land revenue receipts.

The Foreigners Tribunal inBaksa district had earlier issued anotice to her on the basis of a ref-

erence made by theSuperintendent of Police (Border)to prove her Indian citizenship.

She appeared before the tri-bunal and filed her written state-ment along with the 14 docu-ments, claiming to be a citizen ofIndia by birth.

The tribunal held that villageheadmen are not entitled to issuecertificates supporting the citi-zenship of a person and alsorejected the bank documents asthese adequately do not prove tobe her's.

The tribunal held that thepetitioner failed to file documentslinking herself with her projectedparents.

She appealed against the tri-bunal's ruling in the high court,which observed that it has care-fully gone through the direction ofthe tribunal and found that shecould not file any documents tolink herself with her projected par-

ents.The high court had already

held in another case in 2016 thatPAN card and bank documentsare not proofs of citizenship, thedivision bench observed.

Certificates issued by a 'GaonBura' or village headman alsocannot be the proof of citizenshipas such a certificate can only beused by a married woman toprove that after her marriage shehad shifted to her matrimonial vil-lage, the court ruled.

The court observed that thetribunal has correctly appreciatedthe evidence placed before it andthere was no perversity in thedecision of the tribunal.

The judges ruled that thepetitioner has failed to prove herlinkage with her projected fatherand her projected brother and assuch this writ petition is devoid ofmerit and disposed of according-ly. PTI

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Patna: Defending his 'pichhlaggu'(underling) barb at Bihar ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar, poll strate-gist-politician Prashant Kishor onWednesday said he was upset withthe JD(U) chief ’s ‘surrender’ beforethe BJP just to cling to power with-out extracting any benefit for theState.

Facing flak for linking the BJPwith (Nathuram) Godse, while hav-ing worked with the party in the past,Kishor asserted that public praise ofMahatma Gandhis assassin by amainstream political outfit was “arecent phenomenon, seen in the lastsix to eight months”.

He said in the seven decadessince Independence only fringe ele-ments extolled Godse here and there.

"It has been only after the lastLok Sabha polls that we have seenworkers of a mainstream party

chanting slogans in his praise, evena Member of Parliament doing thesame on the floor of the House," hetold a news channel here, referringto the incident involving Bhopal MPSadhvi Pragya Thakur.

The expelled JD(U) vice presi-dent lamented the pity was that,"those aligned with the BJP, did notmuster the courage to even condemnthe outrageous act".

Bihar Deputy Chief MinisterSushil Kumar Modi had on Tuesdaytaken a swipe at Kishor, saying theman who had cut his teeth as an elec-tion strategist for Narendra Modi in2014, was now accusing the BJP offollowing "Godse".

"As regards the controversy overpicchlaggu remark, I have beenexpressing my reservations aboutpeople of the state accepting a leaderwho appears to be playing second

fiddle (to the BJP). I might bewrong, but that is my view," the elec-tion strategist said.

"However, I was ready to acceptthe surrender before the BJP had itbeen for extracting benefits for thestate from the party in power at theCentre. If the capitulation is just toensure continuance in power in thestate, that might be detested by thepeople", he added.

Former BJP president and UnionHome minister Amit Shah hasalready announced that Kumarwould be the face of the NDA in theBihar assembly polls to be held laterthis year. During his press conferencethe previous day, Kishor had referedto denial of special status to Bihar bythe Centre and Prime MinisterNarendra Modi not entertainingKumar's request for grant of centralstatus to Patna University. PTI

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From Citizenship Amendment Actto freedom of speech, from

Uniform civil code to judicialaccountability, a wide range of con-stitutional and legal issues, whichhave rocked the country for some-time, were debated by India’s bestknown legal experts, academiciansand civil right activists at a three-dayconference at International Centre ,Goa between February 14 and 16.International legal experts also sharedtheir insights and experiences so thatthe benefits of global best practicescould be dovetailed into the pro-ceedings.

The conference-the fifth editionof Difficult Dialogues-came out withseries of recommendations forimproving the State of the law in thecountry. The policy recommenda-tions would be published in the formof actionable white papers that couldmake a difference.

The highlight of the engage-ments was a panel discussion on Freespeech, censorship, and the media

attended by Kerala Governor ArifMohammad Khan. Supreme Courtadvocate Geeta Luthra and tworetired judges.

The panelists agreed that dissentwas a key element of any democra-cy and diversity of opinion has to berespected. The Governor, whoseemed to reluctantly endorse thisview, insisted that right to dissent did-n't mean any one has the right toimpose his views on others.

Later, in an interaction with themedia persons when the Governorwas asked for his reaction on ten-dency to brand traitors those dis-senting against the Government's pol-icy, the Governor referred to a reportby a Pakistani NGO that more than1000 Hindu women were kidnappedand forcibly converted in that coun-try. " When such things happenedacross the border, these are bound tofind an echo in India, too," he said.

When asked what it has to dowith the right of the citizen's dissentagainst the Government , the gover-nor virtually lost his cool and saidmost of those out on the streets arefollowing " fatwas' issued by their

masters. While CAA remained a topic of

discussion, both formally and infor-mally, at the conference, the panelistsalso went at length into others issuessuch as: After the Aadhar judgment:Do individuals have right to privacyin India? Accountability vs indepen-dence of Judiciary: Is the balanceright? Reforms in the administrationof justice: What can help?Discrimination law and minorities: Isjustice done? Making environmentallaws effective: How to achieve sus-tainability?

Commenting at the conclusion ofthe three day summit, Surina Narula,Founder & CEO of DifficultDialogues said, "In the fifth editionof Difficult Dialogues this year, wewere able to discuss the State of Lawin the country, identify the variousissues and problems that exist, andcome up with action points that couldhelp in the speedy and equitable dis-pensation of justice to all. As an out-come of the Difficult Dialogues 2020,we will be documenting all the rec-ommendations that were tabled in theform of actionable white papers for

the benefit of all."This year the Knowledge Partners

for Difficult Dialogues include theCentre for Socio-Legal Studies,University of Oxford, (CSLS, Oxford),Bar Association of India (BAI), O PJindal Global University, Centre forthe Study of Law and Governance,Jawaharlal Nehru University (CSLG,JNU), the Goa University (GU), andthe International Centre Goa (ICG).

The conference concluded with:Daring Debates" -a platform for thestudents-in which eight finalists fromdifferent colleges from across thecountry took part. The regional win-ners were invited for the grand finalewhere the topic was 'EnvironmentProtection: A Case for StateSurveillance or Individual Discipline?' The debate was moderated bywildlife film-maker Malaika Vaz.Erenbeni Humtsoe of St.Anthony'sCollege, Shillong was declared thewinner with Manish Kumar Jha ofIMS Law College, Delhi adjudged asthe first runner-up and Sasha D'Souzaof DnyanprassarakMandal's Collegeand Research Center, Goa adjudgedas the second runner-up.

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Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee is likely

to attend the Eastern ZonalCouncil meeting on February28, on internal security to bechaired by Union HomeMinister Amit Shah atBhubaneshwar, StateGovernment sources said.

The meeting will be attended by all the ChiefMinisters of the eastern states.

Sources at State secretari-at Nabanna said that the ChiefMinister has been invited bythe Union Home Ministry onFebruary 28. “There will be aEZC meeting on internal secu-rity where Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee has beeninvited,” sources said adding“the Chief Minister is likely toattend the meeting.”

Sources also said that if theChief Minister got preoccupiedin other engagements thenState Finance Minister AmitMitra could be sent to attendthe meeting.

Apart from Banerjee ChiefMinisters of Bihar, Jharkhand,Odisha and Sikkim have alsobeen invited and all the ChiefMinisters are likely to remainpresent in the meeting.

With Banerjee taking thecentre stage in her consistent

anti-Narendra Modi and anti-BJP campaigns galvanizing theother parties in one place withparticular reference to theongoing struggle against thecontroversial CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA) andNational Register for Citizens(NRC) all eyes are likely to beon the outcome of theBhbaneshwar summit.

While the top TMC lead-ers refused to make open com-ment on any likelihood ofMamata-Shah parley in thesidelines of the main meetingcritics said the Chief Ministermight hold talks with Shah ona number of issues like the State’s financial dues.

“She even met PrimeMinister Narendra Modi atthe peak of anti-CAA move-ment when he came to Kolkatain January,” said BNChakrabarty a professor ofpolitical science and politicalanalyst.

After his meeting with thePrime Minister the ChiefMinister told the media thatshe had met him as it was thetradition to welcome a guestadding how the talks betweenthe two leaders remained con-fined to the financial demandsof the State Government.

If the meeting between

Shah and Banerjee takes placeat Bhubaneshwar it will be thesecond such meeting in thepast five months or so as thetwo leaders met in Delhi latelast year when Banerjee went tothe Capital to meet the PrimeMinister and the HomeMinister leading the oppositionparties to attack the ChiefMinister for her double stan-dards.

Incidentally Banerjee’sDelhi visit had coincided withthe CBI’s relentless pressure onthe then ADG CID RajivKumar who was allegedly goneunderground with the Agencysleuths hot in pursuit.

Kumar was wanted by theCBI for his role in the investi-gation of the multi-croreSharada chit fund case. Even asin subsequent hearing Kumargot reprieve in Calcutta HighCourt which provided shield tohim from arrest the StateOpposition cried foul allegingthe CBI once again withdrewinto its shell followingBanerjee’s urgent visit toDelhi.

Reacting to the February28 summit State Congressleader Manoj Chakrabarty said“whether this meeting inBhubaneshwar is really oninternal security or the TMCleaders’ security will only berevealed subsequently.”

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Bengal Chief Minister MamtaBanerjee on Wednesday

slammed Narendra ModiGovernment for taking out hispolitical revenge on theOpposition parties. Speaking atthe funeral of Bengali cine starand former TMC MP Tapas Paulwho died in Mumbai on Tuesdaysuffering a severe heart attack,Mamata said that Paul was a vic-tim of BJP's vendetta politics.

“Tapas Paul was a great actorwho had to pay with his life for nofault of his. He had to die untime-ly because of Center’s politicalvendetta and tormenting psy-chological pressure brought onhim by a Central Agency. He wasput in jail for more than a year justbecause he worked as a BrandAmbassador of some companyunder investigation.”

The Chief Minister wasapparently referring to the CBIInvestigation into the multi-croreRose Valley chit fund case.

“All the film personalitieswho work as Brand Ambassador’sare at a risk of being framed bythis Government.......Tapas wasthe third victim of this vendettapolitics. Earlier our MP SultanAhmed and the wife of anotherMP Prasun Banerjee died a sim-ilar death” Banerjee said.

Reacting to her comments,Congress leader of Lok SabhaAdhir Chowdhury and SeniorCPIM leader Samik Lahiri saidthat Banerjee too followed simi-lar vendetta politics in Bengalputting hundreds of Oppositionworkers in jail. Lahiri said Pal'sdeath is a glaring example show-ing whosoever gets close toMamata Banerjee is at a risk offacing similar faith.

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Gaya: Suspected Maoist rebels blew up aschool building in Bihar’s Gaya district andleft behind pamphlets denouncing the CAA-NPR-NRC and the ‘fascist BJP Government’,a senior police official said on Wednesday.

Rajeev Mishra, the Senior Superintendentof Police of Gaya, said nobody was injured inthe blast that razed the empty school build-ing in Banke Bazaar police station area lateTuesday night. A CRPF contingent was sta-tioned there till recently.

"A team of 153 Battalion of CRPF hadbeen camping in the area since March 18 lastyear when naxals had carried out an attackahead of the Lok Sabha polls. They had beenputting up at Sonedaha High School and shift-ed to their own camp in the thick of the jun-gle nearby on February 08," Mishra said.

Hand-written pamphlets have been recov-ered from the site which bear slogans against"Brahminvadi, Hindutvavadi fascist BJPGovernment," and question "occupation" ofschool buildings by security forces.

The pamphlets also urge people to "uniteagainst draconian measures like CAA, NPRand NRC", the SSP added.

We have inputs about Maoists active inthe area lending their support to the protestsagainst CAA-NPR-NRC. On Sunday last, nine

women suspected of naxal links were round-ed up in Gaya town while they were on theirway to Shanti Bagh where a round-the-clockdemonstration has been under way," he said.

The SSP claimed that during interroga-tion one of the women confessed to being anactive member of the banned CPI (Maoist)and others said they had received Rs 300-400each for attending the Shanti Bagh protest.Joint search operations by CRPF, CombatBattalion for Resolute Action (COBRA) andSTF of Bihar police were on to track downthe perpetrators, Mishra said. PTI

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Amassive demonstrationheld by Federation of

Tamil Nadu Islamic andPolitical Organisations inChennai on Wednesday againstthe CAA concluded peaceful-ly without any untoward inci-dent reported from anywherein the city.

Thousands of peoplebelonging to the Islamic com-munity marched through thestreets of Chennai, shoutingslogans against Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, HomeMinister Amit Shah and theCitizen Amendment Act.

More than 5,000 policepersonnel have been postedalong the route to Fort SaintGeorge (Tamil NaduSecretariat) and unmannedaerial vehicles were deployed tomonitor the movement of peo-ple.

Though the Madras High

Court on Tuesday had deniedpermission to representativesof various Islamic organisationto lay siege to the Secretariat,the FTNIPO, claiming to rep-resent 23 Islamic organisationsundertook the rally demandingthe scrapping of CAA. Theyalso demanded the Tamil NaduLegislative Assembly to pass aresolution demanding thenegation of the CAA.

Since the police had barricaded the one kilometrestretch from Anna Salai toSecretariat, the demonstratorscalled off the rally after thecommunity leaders deliveredthe routine speeches. The rally

came to an end at 12:45 pmwith the participants singingthe National Anthem.

MH Jawahirullah, leader ofTamil Nadu Muslim MunnetraKazhakam, who addressed therally said that the demonstra-tion was for the entire Indiansbecause the CAA would makeit difficult for all Indians to sur-vive in the country. “Had MGR(former Chief Minister ofTamil Nadu) been alive today,it would not have been possi-ble for him to live in TamilNadu because his birth placewas Kandy in Sri Lanka,” saidJawahirullah.

Elsewhere in the State,members of Islamic commu-nity staged rallies condemningthe CAA. But all rallies anddemonstrations were peacefulas no untoward incidents werereported. The sit-in atWashermenpet area in Chennaicontinued for the fifth daywithout any unpleasant expe-rience.

Bengaluru: A poet and a jour-nalist have been arrested inconnection with recital of apoem against CAA and NRC ata Government sponsored func-tion in Koppal district ofKarnataka last month, policesaid on Wednesday.

The arrests were madebased on a complaint from aBJP functionary alleging thatSiraj Bisaralli, a poet had recit-ed an anti-CAA poem at'Anegundi Utsava' inGangavathi town of Koppaldistrict in January andRajabaxi, editor of an onlinenews portal uploaded it onsocial media.

Police had registered a caseagainst them under section505 of IPC (statements con-ducing to publicmischief).

On Tuesday, Bisaralli andRajabaxi surrendered before acourt in that district, whichrejected their bail plea andremanded them to police cus-tody for investigation into thematter.

"Siraj had recited the poemand Rajabaxi had shared it on

the social media. Based on acomplaint by a BJP leader thecase was registered under sec-tion 505 of the IPC.They wentabsconding after that and sur-rendered before the court onTuesday," a police officer toldPTI.

The duo sought an inter-im bail, which the public pros-ecutor objected to and soughtpolice custody to conductinquiry.

The court granted sentBisaralli and Rajabaxi to policecustody till Wednesday after-noon.

"We may not seek furtherextension of their custody untilsome fresh evidences surface.We have seized their mobilephones to ascertain whom theyhad shared the details with,"police said. PTI

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Three dreaded terrorists ofpro-Pakistan Hizbul

Mujahideen (HM) terror out-fit were eliminated by the jointteam of security forces inSherabad area of Tral in SouthKashmir’s Pulwama districtearly Wednesday morning.

Director General of Jammu&Kashmir Police, DilbaghSingh, in Srinagar said, "in theongoing anti-terrorist opera-tions, three Hizbul Mujahideenterrorists were gunned down bythe security forces in Sherabadarea of Tral early Wednesdaymorning".

He said since January 2020,a total number of 23 terroristshave been eliminated by thesecurity forces in 10 operationsacross the State.

DGP said, "the three ter-rorists killed during the oper-ation were identified asJahangir Rafiq Wani, RajaUmer Maqbool and Uzair Bhat.He said two of them were res-idents of Tral and the third onewas native of Bijbehara. Hesaid, Jahangir had taken overthe command of HizbulMujahideen in the area afterthe elimination of another topcommander Hamad Khan inJanuary 2020."

"Jahangir along with RajaMaqbool were involved in at

least eight terrorism relatedincidents and had spread reignof terror in the area. They wereinvolved in civilian killings,torching religious places,chemist shop, trucks and tar-geting security personnel",DGP added

Referring to the securitymeasures to prevent any terrorstrike in the run up to the visitof US President Donald Trumpto India, DGP said, "We aretaking all necessary mea-sures...we are hopeful that thisvisit (of the US president) willpass off peacefully,"

Singh said foreign digni-taries visited Jammu andKashmir recently and theirvisits passed off without anyincident. "Two groups (ofambassadors) visited Jammu &Kashmir and they left withoutany incident taking place here,"he said.

The DGP said Pakistanwas trying its best to keep themilitancy going in Jammu &Kashmir by sending in mili-tants from across the Line ofControl (LoC) and the inter-

national border under thecover of ceasefire violations,especially after the abrogationof Article 370 of theConstitution, which gave aspecial status to the erstwhilestate of Jammu & Kashmir, onAugust 5 last year.

"The number of ceasefireviolations has increased afterAugust 5, 2019. Pakistan is try-ing to keep the borders hot inorder to push in as many ter-rorists as possible. While someattempts of infiltration havebeen successful, many havebeen foiled," he said.

Singh said a Pakistanidrone recently flew over a BSFpicket in the Ghagwal area ofthe Jammu region for around10 minutes, but was pulledback after the troops of the bor-der-guarding force opened fire.

In response to a question,the DGP said he would not beable to give the exact numberof militants waiting to infiltrateinto Jammu and Kashmir fromacross the LoC, but main-tained that terror launchpadswere active during the wintermonths as well.

"Normally, there would notbe much activity at the launch-pads during the winter monthsas snow would cover the pass-es. This winter, however, themovement at the launchpadsdid not reduce," he said.

Gandhinagar: The populationof whale sharks, one of theendangered migratory species,has declined by 63 per cent inlast 75 years in the Indo-Pacificregion, a nature conservationbody has said while urging theGovernment to intensify stepsand train enforcement agenciesto conserve the species.

Wildlife Trust of India(WTI) said whale sharks, thelargest living fish in the world,are vanishing from the face ofthe earth due to factors like cli-mate change, rampant fishingand ocean pollution.

However, a senior officialfrom the Union EnvironmentMinistry said efforts were on torevive the number of whalesharks and if needed, theGovernment will spend around�2-3 crores annually for its con-servation.

Whale sharks have beenclassified as endangered in thered list of International Unionfor Conservation of Nature(IUCN), and are also called'Gentle Giants' with maximumaggregation off the Gujaratcoast.

Sajan John, marine expertfrom WTI, said these giants aremainly targeted for their meatbut ocean pollution and warm-ing were also affecting them.

"India needs to have astronger dialogue with coun-tries to protect this mega fauna

which migrates from one coun-try's coast to another and getskilled on the way.

"The population of theselarge and vulnerable aquaticanimals which are deliberate-ly targeted for meat, hasdeclined by 63 per cent in thelast over seven decades, alsodue to other factors like climatechange, ocean pollution andfishing pressure," John said atthe sidelines of The 13thConference of Parties to theConvention on Conservationof Migratory Species of WildAnimals (CMS COP 13) here.

WTI is working with theGujarat government to rescuewhale sharks which get stuck infishing nets along its coast.John said fishing of whalesharks is also done to collectand trade its fins.

"Though government hasbanned export of shark fins,illegally it is still being done,"said the WTI official.

John also urged that thegovernment should be proac-tive and intensify its steps toconserve the species. PTI

Erode (TN): FourBangladeshi nationals havebeen arrested at nearbyPerundurai for not havingproper travel documents,police said.

They were later sent toPuzhal prison in Chennai,the police said.

The four were standingnear a Magaliamman templenear Perundurai in Erode dis-trict of Tamil Nadu onTuesday and were interrogat-ed by the police on routine

rounds.On inquiry, one of them

identified himself as FarroqHaji (38) employed in SIP-COT as a casual labourer,they said.

The remaining three wereHemul Islam (22), Siraj Haji(45) and Rafiul Islam (35).None of them had properdocuments, they said.

So, the police arrestedthem and checked the premis-es where the four were resid-ing on rent. PTI

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Wednesday expresseda desire to interact with UnionTransport Minister NitinGadkari in open court on theCentre’s plan for introductionof electric vehicles(EVs), not-ing he has been making state-ments on this subject for reduc-ing vehicular pollution.

The top court, however,did not seek Gadkari's presenceafter the law officer, appearingfor the Centre, raised objec-tions, saying there could be a"political issue" if the ministermakes a court appearance.

The court, hearing a PILseeking implementation ofNational E-Mobility MissionPlan (NEMMP), 2020 said itwould like to interact with theminister as he has been talking

about the use of alternativefuels in private and publictransport vehicles modes. Theplan recommended gradualconversion of public transportand government vehicles intoEVs,

"Your minister talks aboutit. We would like to hear him.Somebody responsible shouldcome," Chief Justice S A Bobde,who headed a three-judgebench, told Additional SolicitorGeneral ANS Nadkarni, whowas representing the Centre.

The bench, which alsocomprised justices B R Gavaiand Surya Kant, then asked canthe minister come and explainthe proposal to introducenon-polluting vehicles that canrun either on electricity orhydrogen. PTI

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Wednesday tookstrong note of rampant illegalsand mining in Rajasthan anddirected the State Government,collectors and SPs to takeimmediate steps to stop it andfile an action taken report(ATR) within four weeks.

"We find that it is not dis-puted by anybody that illegalsand mining is rampant in thestate of Rajasthan and thiscannot be allowed to contin-ue," the top court said, comingdown hard on the authorities.

"Therefore, we direct thestate of Rajasthan, DistrictCollectors and Superintendentof Police (of each district) totake immediate steps to stopillegal sand mining as there wasno doubt that...Illegal sandmining is likely to damage theenvironment irreparably," itsaid.

A bench comprising ChiefJustice S A Bobde and JusticesB R Gavai and Surya Kant alsodirected the apex court-appointed Central EmpoweredCommittee (CEC) to look intothe issue of illegal sand miningin Rajasthan and submit adetailed report including sug-gesting measures to deal withthe issue within six weeks.

The apex court, which hadstopped the sand mining in thestate by its order in 2017, saidthat the CEC was empowered

to go into the issue of illegalsand mining and the problemsfaced by the traders, trans-porters and other stakeholder.

"It will be necessary for theCEC to also go into the ques-tion of illegal sand mining andsuggest measures for stoppingthe illegal sand mining," thebench said.

It said that CEC shall havethe power to summon anyperson including Governmentofficials for the purposes of itsinquiry and will be authorisedto receive the copy of courtrecords for this purpose. PTI

New Delhi:The Supreme courton Wednesday directed theCBI to file fresh status reportwithin four weeks on probeinto the charges of 'abuse ofofficial position' by formeragency chief Ranjit Sinha andthe progress made in over 50coal scam cases.

A bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde and Deepak Guptagranted time to the agency afterit sought time.

Sinha is accused of tryingto impede the CBI's investiga-tion into the cases, whichemerged in 2012 after a reportof the Comptroller and AuditorGeneral (CAG) was leaked tothe media. The apex court dis-missed the plea field by lawyerM L Sharma seeking a direc-tion to the CBI to take coercivesteps against Naveen Jindal,allegedly main beneficiary ofcoal scam cases. PTI

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As they exchanged charges andcounter charges over the revela-

tions in Mumbai’s former PoliceCommissioner Rakesh Maria’s book“Let Me Say It Now”, the rulingCongress on Wednesday rubbished theBJP’s efforts to use contents of book tomislead the people and the BJPdemanded re-investigation into the26/11 terror attacks.

On a day when State BJP leaderand senior MLA Atul Bhatkalkar shotoff a letter to Chief Minister UddhavThackeray demanding re-investiga-tion into the 26/11 attacks,Maharashtra Pradesh CongressCommittee Secretary Sachin Sawant

said: “Here is a party (BJP) that hasshielded accused in the terror acts likeMalegaon blasts and Samjota Expressblasts and put pressure on the publicprosecutors to water down the chargesand seek the release of the accusedfrom the cases. Its demand for re-inves-tigation into the 26/11 sounds like Ultachor kotwal ko daante.”

“It was the Congress Governmentthat caught 26/11 attack accused AbdulAjmal Kasab alive and executed himafter a proper judicial process due towhich real face of Pakistan and its sup-port for terrorism got exposed inter-nationally, whereas the tacit support ofthe BJP helped the accused inMalegaon bomb-blast go scot-free,”Sawant said.

Reacting to the BJP leaders’ claimthat the pharse 'Hindu terror' wascoined post 26/11 attacks, Sawanttweeted: “The book of Rakesh Maria

hypothetically discusses if Kasab wasnot found alive, media would have pro-jected him a Hindu. It doesn't mentionany conspiracy. #BJP can stoop to anylevel because of its dirtymindset”.

“#PragyaThakur in failed attemptto pull wool over people's eyes is usingRakesh Maria's book with a false pre-tense. Book mentions nothing that'snot included in Kasab's chargesheet.Crime of Kasab is same as to what sheis charged for. Unfortunate that Anti-India BJP gave her ticket,” Sawant saidin another tweet.

In his letter to the Chief Minister,BJP’s Bhatkalkar made a strong case forthe re-investigation into the 26/11attacks. “After the 26/11 attacks, theCongress leaders indulged in a falsepropaganda that it was not Kasab butthe Hindu terrorists who killed likeHemant Karkare and Ashok Kamte

who were among the senior police offi-cers martyred in the 26/11 attacks”.

“In view of the revelation made byMaria who investigated the 26/11attacks that Pakistan’s intelligenceagency ISI attempted to depict Kasabas the Hindu terrorist, it is essential forthe Maharashtra Government to ordera comprehensive re-investigation intothe Mumbai terror attacks. The re-investigation is essential as it involvesnational security,” Bhatkalkar said.

Bhatkalkar claimed that formerUnion home secretary in the RajivGandhi Government and former chiefsecretary of Maharashtra, RamPradhan, who headed a two-membercommittee appointed by the thenCongress-led DF Government, had ina media interview said that there was“local connection” to the 26/11 attacksand that then Union Minister andsenior Congress P Chidambar had

asked Pradhan not to reveal the “localconnection”.

Contesting Bhatkalkar’s claim,Sawant said: “Nowhere in the interviewcited by Bhatkalkar, Ram Pradhan hassaid that Chidambaram told him towithhold information about the pur-ported local connection. Hence,Bhatkalkar’s claim is baseless”.

Alluding to senior BJP leader andUnion Minister Piyush Goyal’s claimabout “Hindu terror” conspiracyhatched allegedly at the behest ofChidambaram, Maria’s statement inhis book that LeT wanted to pass offthe 26/11 attacks as a case of Hindu ter-rorism and reference to “red thread”around Kasab’s wrist, Sawant tweeted:"The confessional statement of TerroristAjmal Kasab mentions following clar-ification about his Identity card and redthread on his wrist. This exposesAnti-India #BJP”

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An FIR was lodged against local BJPMLA Ravindra Nath Tripathi

and six others here on Wednesday forallegedly raping a woman repeatedlyfor a month in 2017, police said.

The 40-year-old woman, who is awidow, had lodged a complaint onFebruary 10, they said.

The woman alleged that she wasfirst raped by Tripathi's nephewSandeep Tiwari, who has also beennamed in the FIR, in 2016. She saidshe did not lodge a complaint backthen as Tiwari had promised to marryher, Superintendent of Police (SP)Ram Badan Singh said.

She has alleged that in the run-upto the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assemblypolls, she was kept at a hotel for amonth by Tiwari. All the sevenaccused would visit the hotel andrepeatedly rape her, the officer said.

She also claimed that she got preg-nant and was forced to undergo abor-tion, he added.

A probe in this regard was hand-ed over to Assistant Superintendent ofPolice Ravindra Verma. On the basisof his report, an FIR was registeredagainst the seven men at the city policestation, the SP said. Singh said thewoman's statement will be recordedbefore a magistrate and further actionwill be taken in the matter as per law.

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����*��������"�������)��������,�$��������������*���Mumbai: A court in Maharashtra's Parbhani district hasawarded death sentence to a man for raping and brutal-ly killing a five year-old girl, observing the crime was 'morecruel' than the act of the most dreaded animal.

Special Judge (POCSO cases) S G Inamdar in his orderon Tuesday pronounced the accused, Vishnu Gore (30),guilty under Indian Penal Code Section 302 for murderand provisions of the Protection of Children from SexualOffences Act.

According to the prosecution, the girl lived with hergrandparents, who worked as farm labourers, at a villagein Parbhani, located around 500 km from here.

On October 27, 2016, when the grandparents returnedhome from work, they did not find the girl at home.

After unsuccessful attempts to locate her, they fileda missing person's complaint at Sonpeth police station twodays later.

During the course of investigation, the police foundthe girl's body in a well near a field in the village on October31, 2016 following which they arrested the accused, whoworked as a labourer and resided in the same district.

As per the prosecution, the accused kidnapped the vic-tim from outside her house, sexually assaulted her and thenstrangulated her to death with a nylon rope. He thenwrapped the body in a gunny bag and threw it into thewell.

While there was no direct evidence, the prosecutionrelied on circumstantial evidence to prove its case.

They examined 23 witnesses, including the victim'sgrandfather and the person who had last seen the girl withthe accused.

Additional Public Prosecutor S D Wakodkar told thecourt that the case was proved beyond all reasonable doubt,and sought death sentence for the accused.

"This falls under the ambit of the 'rarest of rare' case.It is a case of aggravated penetrative sexual assault on theminor girl and killing her," Wakodkar told the court whilepraying for capital punishment.

Finding merit in the prosecution's arguments, the courtawarded death sentence to the accused, observing that heacted in a manner "highly repugnant to the morals andcommitted diabolic, premeditated,brutal, pre-plannedaggravated penetrative sexual assault and cold-bloodedmurder" . PTI

Muzaffarnagar: A 16-year-old Dalit girl has alleged shewas sexually harassed by threeyouths when she was on herway to a brick kiln at a villagein Shamli district, police saidon Wednesday.

They said the incidenthappened at Bhabisa villageunder Kandhla police stationon Tuesday when the girl wasgoing to the brick kiln sitewith lunch for her kin.

Station House Officer SKDube said the girl's brotherhas filed a complaint, allegingthe three youths allegedly sex-ually harassed her on the wayto the brick kiln.

Dube said the threeaccused, one of whom hasbeen identified as a 23-year-old man, have gone abscond-ing.

An investigation in thematter is underway. PTI

Mumbai :A special court herehas sentenced a martial artsinstructor to four years of rig-orous imprisonment for sexu-ally harassing his 13-year-oldgirl student during a camp insuburban Borivali in 2015.

Special Protection ofChildren from Sexual Offences(POCSO) Act court judge, SUBaghele, convicted the manand awarded the sentence onMonday.

The accused knew the vic-tim and her family for eightyears before the incident, theprosecution told the court. Heused to run martial art classes,

which the girl would attend.In February, 2015, the man

had organised a karate trainingcamp at the Sanjay GandhiNational Park in Borivali,which was attended by the girland five other students, theprosecution said.

After the camp got over,the accused asked other stu-dents to proceed to theirhomes. Thereafter, he asked thevictim to accompany him onhis motorcycle.

As she was pillion riding,he stopped his two-wheeler ata secluded place and sexuallyharassed the girl, the prosecu-tion said. PTI

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The Department of Telecomis still working on final

adjusted gross revenue duesthat service providers have topay as it has detected variationin accounting practices adopt-ed by different circle offices,according to official sources.

The licence finance wing ofthe telecom department (DoT)on February 3 issued a letterwith guidelines to all con-troller General ofCommunication Accounts toreconcile AGR dues and askedthem to give 15 days time to

operators for the submission ofappeals and documents relatedto deductions they make in thefinal payment, sources said.

The letter was a follow upto a previous note sent by thelicence finance wing onDecember 4 and a follow-up onDecember 13 to the circles forre-verification of debit vouch-er reports (DVR).

“The department has beenfacing a challenge in carrying outthe revised assessments due tovarious issues related to DVRs.Telecom operators, includingAirtel and Vodafone Idea, havechallenged many DVRs.

“Also, circle offices have notadopted uniform practice inaccounting. The DoT has askedthem to re-verify DVRs at theearliest in the light of SupremeCourt judgement,” an officialsource said.

Telecom operators havebeen submitting two separateaudited details of deductiontowards interconnection usagecharges and roaming fee to theDoT. In one set, deductionshave been claimed by telecomoperators on a paid basis whileon an accrual basis on theother.

“DoT noticed that many

Controllers of CommunicationAccounts have been cherrypicking the figures claimed bytelecom operators in their finalDVRs. In some cases, DoTguidelines regarding deduc-tion verification issued in 2014,2015 and 2016 have not beenfollowed. There have been caseswhere one CCA has allowedone kind of deduction andanother has disallowed,” thesource said.

According to estimates pre-pared by the DoT, Airtel owesnearly �35,586 crore, includinglicence fee and spectrum usagecharges, to the government.

Vodafone Idea is staring atdues worth �53,000 crore,which includes up to �24,729crore of spectrum dues andanother �28,309 crore inlicence fee. Tata Teleservicesowes around �13,800 crore,BSNL �4,989 crore and MTNL�3,122 crore.

While the deadline tomake AGR payment ended onJanuary 23, 2020 as perSupreme Court order, the DoThas been following up with cir-cle offices to verify DVRs of 10years starting from 2006-2007which involve around millionsof entries in a quarter and then

start verification for 2017-18and 2018-19.

The DoT on December13, 2019, gave 15 days time tosubmit the re-verified accountsbut the same could not be donein absence of uniform guide-lines.

“The headquarters will alsoneed time to check DVRs oncethey are submitted by the cir-cle office. Thereafter noticewill be sent to telecom opera-tors for submitting appealsand documents related toclaims that are not admissible,”the source said.

The apex court on

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Vodafone Idea’s shares onWednesday closed over

38 per cent amid reports thatthe government in unlikely toinvoke the company’s bankguarantees as of now.

On the BSE, the stockgained as much as 48.18 percent to �4.49 during the day. Itclosed 38.28 per cent higher at�4.19.

On the National StockExchange (NSE), the scrip rose48.33 per cent to touch a highof �4.45. Later, after sheddingsome gains, it settled 40 percent up at �4.20.

The stock has ended theday in green after declining forseven consecutive sessions.

The NSE saw an exchange

of more than 100 crore sharesof Vodafone Idea, and over 14crore units were traded on theBSE. In this regard, the BSEsought a clarification from thetelecom service provider aboutthe sudden movement in thestock price.

The company said all theinformation furnished by it isin public domain and there isno price-sensitive informationpending which is to be dis-closed to the stock exchanges.

“There is no suchannouncement or price-sensi-tive information, which ispending to be intimated by thecompany to the stockexchanges.

“All the information fur-nished by the company is inpublic domain and the com-

pany will comply with theSebi Regulations, 2015, andduly keep the stock exchangesinformed of all the price-sen-sitive information,” the com-pany said in its clarification tothe BSE. According to the lat-est media reports, the govern-ment is unlikely to invokebank guarantees of VodafoneIdea as of now.

Encashing of the bankguarantees may sound thedeath knell for companies suchas Vodafone Idea which hasbeen struggling to garner thedues.

A financial bank guaranteeis equal to two quarters oflicence fee and other dues. Thisamount could be in the rangeof �5,000 crore each for Airteland Vodafone Idea.

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The slowing economy andweakening consumer sen-

timent will continue to weighon auto sales and the margin-al improvement seen inDecember quarter, driven byfestive discounts, is unlikely tosustain, a report said onWednesday.

The GDP growth sloweddown to 6.1 per cent in 2018-19 and is projected to hit a 10-year low of about 5 per cent in2019-20, primarily due tofalling consumer demand andpoor financing options forhigh-value items like automo-biles.

“Slowing growth and weakconsumer sentiment will con-tinue to weigh on auto salesand the marginal improve-ment seen in the Decemberquarter driven by festive dis-counts is unlikely to sustain,”Fitch said in a report, withoutstating when the volumes willbegin to pick up or how longthe slump will persist.

Vehicle sales have been

hampered by weak consumersentiment and still-weak avail-ability of financing followingtighter liquidity at non-bank-ing lenders since the middle of2018. The sector also facesadditional challenges from theadoption of stricter emissionstandards from April 1, thereport said.

Automakers could also faceproduction disruptions if thenovel coronavirus outbreak inChina leads to a prolonged haltin supply of required autocomponents, as the industrysources as much as 27 per centof its demand from Chinaworth around $5 billion,according to many analysts.

Many auto original equip-ment manufacturers (OEMs)like Mahindra have warnedthat if the Chinese epidemiclasts beyond February and ifthe supplies don’t normalise byearly March, the transition toBS-VI will be a challenge andthey may have to move theSupreme Court to get someconcession to sell BS-IV mod-els beyond April 1 deadline.

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The textiles ministry onWednesday said the

domestic industry should takeadvantage of the huge $20-bil-lion space vacated in the glob-al apparel market by China,which is going through a toughtime following outbreak of thedeadly coronavirus.

Addressing a symposiumon emerging opportunities forIndian textiles, TextilesSecretary Ravi Capoor saiddomestic textile exports haveplateaued during the past 5-7years, which is a “very worry-ing proposition for the gov-ernment”.

“India should step in at thisstage to take the advantagealthough not a good way toproject ourselves but every cri-sis has its own silver lining andI think while we are withChina with all our emotionsand financial, political anddiplomatic help but still thereappears to be a big economicopportunity which is comingup our way,” he said.

In this background,Capoor said it would be theright time to bring the indus-try together and have a smalldialogue to “see how the indus-try associations are preparedfor this opportunity”.

As the exports haveplateaued, he said the govern-ment understood that one of

the major issues is that “take upthe space that has been vacat-ed by China other than thispresent crisis (coronavirus)”.

The secretary said $20 bil-lion worth of apparel space,mostly in the man-made fibre,has been vacated by China inthe past three years and takenaway by Vietnam.

“Now is a situation wherewe are in a position and the(textile) minister has just spo-ken to Finance Minister(Nirmala Sitharaman) also thismorning. We are workingtowards seeing that the GSTinversion on man-made fibre isalso taken care of.

“With all the efforts, if weare able to succeed in theremoval of the inversion, thenman-made fibre itself becomesa huge opportunity whereverChina cedes space. Indiashould step in a very big way,”Capoor said.

Textile minister SmritiIrani was also present at thesymposium.

���� -9!�/9:�6

The coronavirus outbreakwill have a limited impact

on India but the global GDPand trade will definitely getaffected due to the large size ofthe Chinese economy, RBIGovernor Shaktikanta Das hassaid.

Only a couple of sectors inIndia are likely to see some dis-ruptions but alternatives arebeing explored to overcomethose issues, he said.

The deadly virus hasbrought a large part of theworld’s second-largest economyChina to a standstill and itsimpact has been felt acrossindustries. India’s pharmaceu-tical and electronic manufac-turing sectors are dependent onChina for inputs and they maybe impacted, Das told PTI in aninterview here.

“It is definitely an issuewhich needs to be closely mon-itored by every policymakerwhether in India or any othercountry. Every policymaker,every monetary authorityneeds to keep a very closewatch. So coronavirus issueneeds to be closely watched,” he said.

���� -9!�/9:�6

With the Supreme Court-mandated liability push-

ing telecom companies to thebrink, industry honchos SunilBharti Mittal and KumarMangalam Birla on Wednesdaymet Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman as their firmsscrambled to meet paymentdeadlines.

While the two refused tocomment on discussions theyhad with Sitharaman, Mittalsaid the telecom sector hasbeen under stress for the lastthree-and-a-half years and thegovernment should focus on itssustainability.

Mittal, who heads mobileservice major Bharti Airtel,first met Telecom SecretaryAnshu Prakash before going forthe meeting with the financeminister. Birla, who is thechairman of Vodafone IdeaLtd, had met the telecom sec-retary on Tuesday.

It was not immediatelyclear if the two telecom tycoonsmet Sitharaman together orseparately. Emerging out ofthe North Block after meetingSitharaman, Mittal toldreporters that the issue ofpending dues arising out of theSupreme Court ruling onAdjusted Gross Revenue(AGR) was not discussed.

The telecom industry, hesaid, is vital to India’s digitalagenda.

“This industry is very vitalto the nation’s digital agenda,and many other industries thatride on it....Employment, gov-ernment taxes...The only thinggovernment needs to focus onis how to ensure sustainiabili-ty of the sector,” Mittal said.

Mittal -- whose companyBharti Airtel is confronted withover Rs 35,000 crore of statutorydues -- did not elaborate on therelief mechanism that the telcois pitching for. The industry assuch has been batting for reduc-tion in levies like licence fee andspectrum charges.

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The first 5G-enabled hand-set in India to be launched

by Chinese smartphone maker,realme, is likely to cost around�50,000, a company officialsaid on Wednesday.

The ‘realme’ that came intoexistence in 2018 is all set tobecome the first brand tounveil 5G ready smartphone inIndia on Febaruary 24, eventhough the “network is notavailable in the country”, heclaimed.

“realme 5G handset will bepowered with 865 snapdragonchipset and available at around�50,000,” an official, who didnot wish to be identified, toldPTI. A leading website, whichcompares mobile phones, esti-mates that the price of 5Gsmartphone handset with alower chipset version could beavailable at �25,790 per unit.

The company wants tooffer future-ready productsand people, who travel aboard,can use the handset as the tech-nology is available in manydeveloped countries, the offi-cial said. The X50 Pro 5Ghandset will be launched simul-tenously in Spain and India byrealme after the world’s largestmobile trade show

���� -9!�/9:�6

India will switch to the world’scleanest petrol and diesel

from April 1 as it leapfrogsstraight to Euro-VI emissioncompliant fuels from Euro-IVgrades now - a feat achieved injust three years and not seen inany of the large economiesaround the globe.

India will join the selectleague of nations using petroland diesel containing just 10parts per million of sulphur asit looks to cut vehicular emis-sions that are said to be one ofthe reasons for the choking pollution in majorcities.

Sanjiv Singh, Chairman ofIndian Oil Corp (IOC) - thefirm that controls roughly halfof the country’s fuel market,said almost all refineries beganproducing ultra-low sulphurBS-VI (equivalent to Euro-VIgrade) petrol and diesel by theend of 2019 and oil companieshave now undertaken thetedious task of replacing everydrop of fuel in the country withthe new one.

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Ahead of US PresidentDonald Trump’’s visit to

India next week, the Indianalcoholic beverage industryhas urged the government notto reduce customs duty onwine and spirits.

The US President has beenpushing for reduction of cus-toms duty on American liquor,particularly bourbon whiskey,and Indian liquor manufac-turers fear that any tinkeringwith customs duty vis-a-visUS imports would have adomino effect as EuropeanUnion would also push forslashing of customs duty.

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)�&��������������������� �������*������������������+��New Delhi: The Governmentwill frame rules and set up anauthority to implement thenew Consumer Protection Actby April this year, Food andConsumer Affairs MinisterRam Vilas Paswan said onWednesday while stressing onthe regulation of the e-com-merce sector with a rise inonline transactions.

Parliament last yearapproved ‘The ConsumerProtection Bill 2019’, replacingthe Consumer Protection Act,1986. The law seeks to revampthe process of administrationand settlement of consumerdisputes, with strict penalties,including jail term for adulter-ation and misleading ads byfirms. PTI

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Liverpool were the victims of anold-fashioned Atletico Madridmasterclass on Tuesday as Diego

Simeone’s side ground out a 1-0 win inMadrid to give themselves hope ofreaching the Champions League quar-ter-finals.

Saul Niguez raised the roof at abouncing Wanda Metropolitano byscoring in the fourth minute beforeAtletico’s defence kicked in, suffocatingthe European champions and denyingthem a single shot on target.

“Tonight is one of those nights youdon’t forget,” said Simeone. “We haven’tgone through but we have beaten thebest team in the world.”

If Alvaro Morata had not slippedat the crucial moment, Atleti mighteven have taken a two-goal lead toAnfield, where they can expect anonslaught next month.

“We are not 5-0 down,” said JurgenKlopp. “We don’t think it will be easybut as long as we can get 11 players inLiverpool shirts we will give everythingwe have. And for all the Liverpool fansthat can get a ticket — welcome toAnfield.”

If Liverpool remain favourites to gothrough, the roar from the Atleti fansat the final whistle, aimed at their fist-pumping players on the pitch, suggest-ed Simeone’s team now have belief.

Few had tipped them to keep thistie even alive for the second leg giventheir own stuttering form, in contrastto Liverpool, unbeaten in the PremierLeague, and gunning for a treble.

Jurgen Klopp said on MondayAtletico were a “results machine” butthe temptation was to see his words asplatitudes, not an accurate reflection ofa side that sits 13 points behind La Ligaleaders Real Madrid and had alreadylost six times this season.

Yet Atletico under Simeone havealso become synonymous with upset-ting the odds, just as they did whenwinning the Spanish title in 2014 andthen twice reaching the ChampionsLeague final.

For all their failings this season,they summoned that spirit here to pro-duce a throwback performance full oftenacity, resilience and guts that wasalways going to be needed to give themany chance of success.

He sprung a surprise by startingThomas Lemar for the first time thisyear while Alvaro Morata and DiegoCosta both returned from injury, theformer from the start and the latter offthe bench in the second half.

Liverpool, who began with theirexpected eleven, have blitzed numer-ous opponents with explosive starts butthey were the ones rocking early on asAtletico snapped at their heels, pressedhard and relished being first to everyloose ball.

They took the lead, aided by a hint

of fortune as Liverpool failed to clearthe corner and the ball cannonedback off the foot of Fabinho for Saul tostab in from three yards.

On the sideline, Simeone beckonedhis players to stay calm but they werecelebrating in the corner while in thestands, the fans were delirious and givenhope. Atletico were given a lead todefend and the rest of the game waslargely a picture of Liverpool dominat-ing the ball but failing to break downthe 10 red and white shirts in front ofthem.

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Teenage record-breaker Erling Braut Haalandscored twice as Borussia Dortmund sealed

a 2-1 win over Paris Saint-Germain, for whomNeymar scored on his return to action, inTuesday’s Champions League last 16, first leg inGermany.

Forward Haaland took his tally to 11 goalsin seven games since Dortmund paid Salzburg20 million euros ($22 million) for the 19-year-old with second-half goals either side ofNeymar’s equaliser.

Having also scored eight times forSalzburg in the group stage, Haaland nowhas 10 goals in just seven ChampionsLeague games this season.

“These are the moments you playfootball for. I really enjoyed it,” beamedthe Norwegian.

His performance left KylianMbappe and Neymar in theshade, with the latter strugglingto truly make his mark havingbeen kept on the sidelines for thelast two weeks ahead of thisgame due to a rib injury.

However, the Brazilian super-star’s away goal means PSGremain very much in contentionto reach the quarter-finals afterthree consecutive exits in the last16.

The presence of the world’smost expensive player was amajor boost for his team, after hemissed last season’s surprise last-16 loss to Manchester Unitedwith a foot injury.

He also sat out the second legof their defeat by Real Madrid atthe same stage in 2018.

However, Dortmunddeserved the win as PSG’s star-studded attack, with Angel DiMaria supporting Mbappe and Neymar, wasrepeatedly frustrated by the home side, for whomthe midfield duo of Axel Witsel and Emre Can

regularly helped snuff out attacks.There was little to separate the teams in the

first half although Dortmund’s English wingerJadon Sancho squandered one chanceon the counter-attack and then forceda fine save from Keylor Navas just beforethe half-hour mark.

After the goalless first half,Dortmund poured forward and kept

finding spaces to exploit downthe flanks.

Dortmund’s Swiss coachLucien Favre then brought onGiovanni Reyna, who onlyturned 17 last November, forhis Champions League debutmidway through the secondhalf.

Moments later Haalandgot the breakthrough when hestabbed past Navas from closerange after Thiago Silva hadblocked a Raphael Guerreiroshot.

The game had now cometo life, and with their Germancoach Thomas Tuchel frantical-ly urging them on, PSG drewlevel six minutes later whenMbappe unpicked theDortmund defence and pre-sented Neymar with a straight-forward finish.

However, the scene was setfor Haaland to continue his

phenomenal scoring run with a stunning fin-ish from the edge of the area following a Reynapass.

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The game of poker is majorly a gameof skill which decides the winner

says India Poker Championship 2020winner Rubin Labroo, who won thisyear’s championship which took placeat Big Daddy Casino in Goa lastmonth.

“Technically Poker is a mind gameplayed with a lot of strategies.Obviously, luck is involved but a lot ofit can be beaten by your skills and howgood you understand how the game is.It’s a very strategically motivated game”,says Ruben who was introduced to thesport during his college days back in2006.

Talking about the skills involved,he said: “It’s a long term game and theresult doesn’t depend on what happensin one game.

“On a given day one might beat mebut on the long term you will not beable to do so, that’s the idea of a game.It’s long term strategy you put in vol-ume, numbers and over a period oftime. If your math is strong and you arestrategically better you will definitelybeat the odds.”

“In terms of skills edge, there is alot of maths involved, selling and buy-ing courses. There’s a lot of studiesinvolved, people study online, live and

books written on this and it’s basical-ly a statistical probability game. Andalso there is a lot of live tells that youcan pick up on the table. Different kindof people drop hints via hand move-ments and this all understanding willcome with experience.

The 2020 edition was his secondappearance in the IPC and speakingabout the experience of playing in it,he said: “I was playing in some othertournament before the IPC and was notin good touch, so I booked my ticketback home and decided to skip theevent. But then on my friends’ insis-tence, I decided to play and I am gladthat I stayed back and won the tourna-ment,” he said.

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��������� The Ranji Trophy quarterfi-nals begin across four venues today withusual suspects such as Saurashtra andKarnataka taking on the lesser teamscapable of springing a surprise.

On paper, the most well contestedquarterfinals should be betweenSaurashtra and Andhra in Ongole,Andhra Pradesh as both teams go intothe knockouts from the elite cross pool.

Last year’s runners-up Saurashtra areexpected to go past Andhra, havingshown solid form in the league stage tofinish with three wins, four draws and aloss from eight games.

Seasoned pacer Jaydev Unadkat willbe expected to fire once again, havingtaken 51 wickets this season at an aver-age off 11.90, continuing his stellar formfrom last season. In the batting depart-ment, Sheldon Jackson has stepped up inthe absence of Cheteswar Pujara and isthe leading scorer of the team with 605runs at an average of 55.

Andhra go into the game after back-

to-back losses towards the end of theleague stage. However, their rampagingrun in the first half of the season, whenthey were leading the table, helped them

advance in the competition. They will relya lot on in-form medium-pacer K VSasikanth and batsman Ricky Bhui in themust-win game.

In Jammu, the mighty Karnataka takeon the spirited bunch of J&K players.

Karnataka finished third in theelite pool behind Gujarat andBengal and scripted importantwins over Tamil Nadu andMumbai.

They play Group C top-pers J&K, who lost only toHaryana in the league stage.Captain Parvez Rasool has led fromthe front scoring 403 runs at 44.77 and25 wickets at 14.56. Another player whohas contributed massively to the successof the team is batsman Abdul Samad whohas amassed 547 runs.

In Cuttack, a comfortable win isexpected from Bengal against Odisha.Their confidence must be sky high fol-lowing memorable victories overRajasthan and Punjab in the last two

games. They chased down 320 againstRajasthan before beating Punjab in a low-scoring game on a difficult track inPatiala.

Manoj Tiwary has been their go-tobatsman and left-arm spinner ShahbahAhmed their stand out bowler.

At the Sardar Patel in Valsad,hosts Gujarat would be overwhelm-ing favourites against Goa whoadvanced from plate group havingsuffered relegation last year.

Gujarat made it to the last eightafter topping the elite cross pool with

five wins from eight matches and threedraws.

Goa will have their hopes pinned ontheir leading run-scorer Amit Verma(791 runs) and S K Patel (751 runs) andwould want them to play another cru-cial knocks in the marqee clash. But thequarterfinal will be a different ball gameas they face a formidable Gujarat attackled by Roosh Kalaria, who has taken 30wickets so far. PTI

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India captain Harmanpreet Kaur onWednesday said her team has the ability

to put pressure on any side in the upcom-ing ICC Women’s T20 World Cup if it staysin the right frame of mind.

Insisting that positivity is the biggeststrength of this Indian team, Harmanpreetsaid they are eagerly waiting to face four-timechampions and title holders Australia in thetournament opener tomorrow.

“The nerves do start to kick in becausewe are very excited about that opening gameand we’re looking positive in that,” saidHarmanpreet, who knows the city well afterher stint with Sydney Thunder in theWomen’s Big Bash League.

“We are a side that can put pressure onany team, we just look to stay in the rightmindset and play in the way we can becausethat is our biggest strength.

“In sport, sometimes you are in goodform and others you are not. I know thateveryone playing in this tournament willlook to be positive, and that is good for ourteam,” she added.

With less than two days remaining fortheir clash against Australia at the SydneyShowground, Harmanpreet said a slowtrack and a huge Indian diaspora augurs wellfor her side.

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India’s Ashu and Aditya Kunduwon a bronze medal each in 67kg

and 72kg Greco-Roman categoriesrespectively on the second day ofthe Asian Wrestling Championshipshere on Wednesday.

Ashu beat Syria's AbdulkarimMohammad Al-Hasan 8-1 whileKundu defeated Nao Kusaka ofJapan 8-0 inside one and a half min-utes in a lop-sided 72kg Bronzemedal bout.

India has so far won four

medals in the championships, afterSunil Kumar's historic Gold in87kg and Arjun Halakurki's Bronze

in 55kg Greco-Roman category onTuesday.

Gyanender, however, lost 0-6 inthe 60kg Greco-Roman Bronzemedal bout on Wednesday. Thegold was won by Kenichiro Fumitaof Japan, who beat Kyrgyzstan'sZholaman Sharshenkov 4-0.

The other Bronze in 60kg waswon by Mehdi Seifollah MohsenNejad who beat Kazakhstan's AidosSultangali 4-3.

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Sofia Kenin lost her firstWTA match since winning

the Australian Open earlierthis month as she went down6-7 (2/7), 6-3, 6-3 to ElenaRybakina on Tuesday at theDubai Championships.

American Kenin played apair of non-Tour Fed Cupmatches immediately after herMelbourne win over GarbineMuguruza, who cut short KimClijsters’ comeback onMonday.

The 21-year-old wentdown in just over two hours toher 19th-ranked opponentwho stood 192nd in the worlda year ago.

“There’s a bit more pres-sure coming from my side

(after first Grand Slam win).But I’ve just got to try tomanage it for the next tourna-ments,” said Kenin.

“I just didn’t feel my gamereally well. I just made toomany unforced errors, I did-n’t take my chances. I feltreally off the whole match.”

Kazakh Rybakina won theHobart title in January andreached the final last weekendin St Petersburg.

“I prepared with goodpractice. I didn’t expect that Iwould win. I tried to do mybest,” she said.

“I wasn’t nervous (afterflying here from Russia) at allbecause I knew it’s going to betough.

“I didn’t think about thatshe just won the AustralianOpen, I know that now every-one can beat everyone," sheadded.

Seventh seed ArynaSabalenka set up a potentialquarter-final clash with worldnumber two Simona Halepafter seeing off Greek MariaSakkari 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.

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India’s Olympic Bronzemedallist shuttler

Saina Nehwal advancedto the women’s singlessecond round of the$170,000 BarcelonaSpain Masters with a 21-16, 21-14 win overGermany’s Yvonne Lihere on Wednesday.

Sania took just 35minutes to beat heropponent in the firstround match.

Pranaav JerryChopra and Sikki NReddy also won theirmixed doubles firstround match againstDenmark’s MathiasChristiansen and

Alexandra Boje 10-21,21-16, 21-17.

However, H SPrannoy lost toMalaysian Daren Liew18-21, 15-21 to bow outof the tournament.

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All-rounder DanushkaGunathilaka will miss the

three-match one-day interna-tional series against the WestIndies due to injury, the crick-et board said Wednesday.

The 28-year-old wasexcluded from the 15-membersquad as a recurring back injuryhad worsened, a board officialsaid.

He is replaced by ShehanJayasuriya.

The first ODI is on Saturdayin Colombo, while the secondtakes place in Hambantota onFebruary 26.

The final will be held onMarch 1 in Kandy.

After the ODI series thesides will play two Twenty20matches.Squad: Dimuth Karunaratne(c), Avishka Fernando, KusalPerera, Shehan Jayasuriya,Niroshan Dickwella, KusalMendis, Angelo Mathews,Dhananjaya de Silva, ThisaraPerera, Dasun Shanaka,Wanindu Hasaranga, LakshanSandakan, Isuru Udana, NuwanPradeep and Lahiru Kumara.

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India captain Virat Kohli is prepar-ing himself for a “rigorous three

years” of playing all three formatsafter which he might reassess hisworkload amid a “transition phase”setting in.

The world’s premier batsman islooking at the “bigger picture” inIndian cricket with two T20 and one50-over World Cup in the nextthree years after which he mightdecide on playing two of the threeformats.

“My mindset is on the bigger pic-ture as I prepare myself for a rigor-ous three years from now and afterthat we might have a different con-versation,” Kohli replied when askedif he is having second thoughtsabout quitting at least one formatafter the 2021 World T20 in India.

“It’s not a conversation you canhide away from in any manner. It isaround eight years now that I havebeen playing 300 days a year, whichincludes travelling and practice ses-sions. And intensity is right upthere all the time. It does take a tollon you,” the Indian captain wasforthright in his reply.

The skipper understands hispresence and peak performance iscrucial till the 2023 World Cupafter which he understands that thenext phase of transition will set in.

“I can keep going on with thesame intensity and also understandthat the team wants a lot of my con-tribution in the next two to threeyears, so that I can ease into anoth-er transition that we faced five-sixyears ago,” he said referring to theretirements of Sachin Tendulkar,Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman.

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India captain Virat Kohli onWednesday droppedenough hints to indicate

that seniormost pacer IshantSharma and young openerPrithvi Shaw will be in theplaying XI for the first Testagainst New Zealand at BasinReserve.

If India’s net session onWednesday is taken into con-sideration, Wriddhiman Sahais starting as the wicketkeep-er ahead of Rishabh Pant forthe series opener beginningtomorrow.

Hanuma Vihari, team’sdesignated No 6 batsman foraway Tests, will be the fifthbowling option with JaspritBumrah, Mohammed Shamiand Ishant being three special-ist pacers.

Ravichandran Ashwin isin the mix for the lone special-ist spinner’s spot thoughRavindra Jadeja’s all-roundskills can’t be ignored either.

Ishant, who was out forthree weeks with ankle injurysustained during the RanjiTrophy game, bowled full tiltat the nets and even earnedappreciation for troublingbatsmen with his pace andbounce.

“He (Ishant) looked pret-ty normal and pretty similar towhat he was bowling beforethe ankle injury. He is hittinggood areas again and he hasplayed (Test cricket) in NewZealand couple of times, so his

experience will be useful to us.It was really good to see himbowling with pace and ingood areas,” Kohli said duringmedia interaction.

The skipper also said in asmany words that the teamwouldn’t like to change Shaw’snatural stroke-play which wasa good enough hint thatShubman Gill will have towarm the benches for now.

“Prithvi is a talented play-er and he has his own gameand we want him to follow hisinstincts and play the way hedoes. Look, these guys have nobaggage and are not desperate

to perform in any manner,” theskipper said.

The skipper wants Shawto take a leaf out of MayankAgarwal’s performance inAustralia back in 2018-19when he hit back to back half-centuries in Melbourne andSydney.

“They don’t have anynerves to do well overseas.Like a clear head with whichMayank played in Australia,Prithvi can do the same inNew Zealand.

“A bunch of guys playingwith fearlessness, somethingthat can motivate the whole

team, gives us start that theteam wants and not get intim-idated by the opposition in anyway.”

The skipper downplayedIndia’s below-par show in thethree-match ODI series, espe-cially that of Agarwal.

“Prithvi, I think you cancall him relatively inexperi-enced and Mayank, I would-n’t call him that inexperi-enced because he has scoreda lot of runs last year. So heunderstands what his game islike in Test cricket.

“I think sometimes inwhite ball cricket we try to do

too much but once you comeinto red ball cricket, you fallinto that disciplined mode ofbatting, which obviously suitshim much more at this stage.”

While he didn’t give ananswer on the Saha-Pantdebate, the burly Delhi keep-er had precious little to do atthe main nets and was seenspending more time doing hiskeeping drills and only got anopportunity to bat when thefirst team completed its rou-tines.

New Zealand are likely togo with an all-pace attack butthe Indian captain wants tostick to his team’s strengthswhich is play with one spinnerin the four-pronged bowlingattack.

“If it had been aJohannesburg pitch, I couldhave said it’s a possibility (toplay four pacers) but our teamhas that skill that we canbowl out other teams withonly three fast bowlers,” hesounded confident.

“But you need one worldclass skillful spinner, who cantake wickets on any pitch. Wewon’t copy the home team. Wewould rather figure out whatis the most lethal combination,which gives us balance,” headded.

“As a bowling group it’sbetter than the one that cameto NZ last time and that is whywe have got so many teams allout in last two and half years.We would like to repeat thathere also,” Kohli added.

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Afit-again Ishant Sharmawill add a fresh dimension

to India’s bowling attack, saysseasoned New Zealand bats-man Ross Taylor, who foreseestrouble for his team if it focuss-es only on tackling JaspritBumrah during the upcomingTest series.

Taylor is only two daysaway from becoming the firstcricketer to play 100 gamesacross formats. Less than threeweeks away from his 36th birth-day, he has already competed in231 ODIs and 100 T20I.

“I think if we just look at

Bumrah, we are in trouble. Ithink their whole bowling line-up is fantastic. Obviously,Sharma coming back will bringnew dynamics to the team,”Taylor told reporters.

Ishant is returning to theIndian squad after recoveringfrom an ankle injury sustainedduring a Ranji Trophy clash lastmonth.

“They have got a world-class batting line-up as well andwe have to get through that. Butthey are the No 1 team in theworld for a reason and weknow we have to be on ourgame to be successful againstthem,” he added.

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Will play all formatsfor at least 3 moreyears: Kohli

����� ���New Zealand on Wednesday called in pacerMatt Henry for the first Test against India as cover for NeilWagner, who is awaiting the birth of his first child.

Wagner is among New Zealand's senior pacers along-side Trent Boult and Tim Southee. The left-arm fast bowlerhas an impressive record in Tests, having taken 204 wick-ets in 47 games at an average of 26.63.

“Neil Wagner will not be joining the squad inWellington ahead of the first Test as he and his wife Lanaawait the birth of their first child. Wagner will remain inTauranga until the birth. Matt Henry joins the squad tonightas cover,” the Black Caps tweeted.

Though Kyle Jamieson is in line to make a Test debut,Henry, who has played 12 Tests and 52 ODIs, is also in themix. PTI

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ISHANT, SHAW TO PLAY IN 1ST TEST

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����� �� India captain Virat Kohlion Wednesday rated the World TestChampionship as the biggest among allthe ICC events in the wake of revela-tions that the game’s governing bodyis planning to have more flagship whiteball tournaments during the nexteight-year cycle from 2023-2031.

According to ICC’s proposed 2023-2031 Future Tours Programme (FTP)cycle, a proposed T20 Champions

Cup is earmarked for 2024 and 2028and an ODI Champions Cup in 2025and 2029, alongside the T20 WorldCups in 2026 and 2030, and the ODIWorld Cups in 2027 and 2031.

“I think World Test Championshipas an ICC tournament should be rightup there. All the other tournaments forme they start under that. This is prob-ably the biggest of them all as everyteam wants to make it to the final at the

Lord’s. We are no different. “We are in that zone. We want to

make sure that we qualify as soon aswe can and be in that frame of mindto hopefully win that (championship),”said the Indian skipper ahead of firstTest against New Zealand.

Kohli has no doubts that WorldTest Championship has added a con-text to the traditional format makingthe contests more exciting with points

on offer.“It has made Test cricket more

exciting and that’s something we haveexperienced as a side although wehaven’t had too many games away fromhome. Couple of games in the WestIndies and we haven’t had a tour ofAustralia as a part of TestChampionship. This is our first awaytour since the start of home season,”said Kohli. PTI

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