· brand ambassador of the amrapali group which is fac- ing prosecution for duping thousands of...

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T he odd-even scheme will be rolled out in the nation- al Capital from November 4 to November 15, said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday. He also announced a slew of measures to mitigate pollution during winter months due to stubble burning in neighbouring States. Kejriwal laid emphasis on seven-point action plan to combat winter air pollution. The Government has set spe- cial plans for 12 pollution hot spots in the city. Among them mass distribution of masks, mechanised sweeping of roads, tree plantation are high on the Government agenda. Citing Energy Policy Institute of University of Chicago (EPIC’s) air pollution report, prepared during the pilot project of odd-even in January 2016, Kejriwal said the policy implementation resulted in a drop in Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5 by 14-16 per cent as compared to that in neighbouring cities Faridabad, Gurugram and Rohatak. The car rationing scheme was implemented in Delhi then and a fine of 2,000 was imposed on violators. Elaborating on the logic behind the scheme this year when only a few days ago the Central Pollution Control Board data showd a 25 per cent dip in the pollution level in Delhi, Kejriwal said, “Before preparing the Winter Action Plan (WAC) to combat air pol- lution, we invited suggestions from the public. “We have received 1,200 suggestions. Many residents and experts have strongly sup- ported implementation of the scheme in peak pollution peri- od. Their recommendation was that odd-even policy is a very effective measure, particularly in winter months. We have started making preparations to implement the odd-even scheme in Delhi.” Kejriwal said the details of the 12-day scheme will be shared with Delhiites in com- ing days. Vehicles are expect- ed to ply alternately on odd and even dates as per their regis- tration numbers during the implementation of the scheme. Addressing a Press confer- ence, the CM said, “Ten or eleven months of the year, Delhi’s air has seen a marked improvement. But every November, because of the smoke that comes from Punjab and Haryana, Delhi turns into a gas chamber. The Centre and these States are trying to prevent this from happening. But until that happens, we must take steps to protect our- selves from the toxic air creat- ed due to stubble burning.” To address pollution men- ace, the Delhi Government said it will organise a commu- nity Diwali laser show on the eve of the festival. “The Supreme Court has prohibited the bursting of crackers in Delhi. In the winter season, the temperature inversion leads to stagnation of the polluted air and causes breathing troubles for humans and animals. “Using crackers to celebrate Diwali will exacerbate the prob- lem. All of us will come together and celebrate on the eve of Diwali with a mega laser show. Entry to the event will be free. Venue and other details will be announced in the coming days,” said the CM. Efforts will also be made to control dust pollution of on roads, a major factor to PM 10 contribution. For this purpose, the City Government is to work with local civic bodies. “In order to control dust on roads, the frequency and area of water sprinkling will be increased. Sweeping the roads will be completely mechanised and will collaborate with MCDs in this respect,” said the Delh CM. With the collaboration of Residents Welfare Associations (RWAs), the Delhi Government will ensure no garbage or leaf burning takes place, Kejriwal said. For this, the city Government has pre- pared a plan to depute civil marshals in each ward. The Kejriwal Government is also launching Delhi tree challenge as part of the anti- pollution measures. “Whoever wants to plant a sapling in or around their homes, the Government will deliver the sapling at people’s homes. It would then be the people’s responsibility to take care of the plant,” he said. The Government is also setting up a war room to look into complaints and grievances. Awareness cam- paigns will be launched in schools to educate students about pollution. T he RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) dominated the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) polls by win- ning three of the four top posts on Friday. The Congress- backed National Students Union of India (NSUI) won the post of secretary. According to officials, ABVP’s Akshit Dahiya defeat- ed NSUI’s Chetna Tyagi by record 19,039 votes for the post of president. ABVP’s Pradeep Tanwar defeated NSUI’s Ankit Bharti by 8,000 votes for vice- president post. Shivangi Kharwal of ABVP defeated Abhishek Chaprana of NSUI by 2,914 votes for the joint secretary post. The lone NSUI winner, Ashish Lamba, defeated Yogit Rathi of the ABVP by 2,053 votes for the post of secretary. Sidharth Yadav, ABVP’s Delhi State secretary, said, “Our presidential candidate has won by the highest ever margin in recent times. ABVP will start working on the promises made in the manifesto and ensure better hostel facilities, better campus and timely dec- laration of exam dates, results.” BJP working president JP Nadda termed ABVP’s victory “historic”. “Congratulations to the ABVP for its historic win in the DUSU polls by bagging three seats. These youngsters are our country’s future and every worker of the ABVP is dedi- cated to society and organisa- tion. This is a victory of nation- alist ideology among students,” Nadda tweeted. Last year also, NSUI had secured just one post in DUSU elections. Commenting upon the performance of the NSUI, Akshay Lakra, Delhi State pres- ident of NSUI, said DU stu- dents have rejected the violence ideology of ABVP by defeating Yogit, who was president at Ramjas College during the infamous Ramjas sedition con- troversy in 2017. The vote counting sched- uled to start at 8.30 am began two hours later as the candi- dates turned up late, an official said. The election process ended amid allegations of EVM malfunctioning. C oming down heavily on misleading advertisements, including those featuring sev- eral celebrities, the Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI) has issued directions for their removal from all media platforms — print, digital, elec- tronic and social. The misleading advertise- ments include Asian Paints endorsed by film actors Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone; Fena Superwash Powder featuring Priety Zinta, cricketers KL Rahul and Ravichandran Ashwin; Eureka Forbe RO by Madhuri Dixit; CricPlay online game by crick- eter-turned politician Gautam Gambhir and housing firms ads by actress Vidya Balan. Asian Paints in its adver- tisement of the “anti-bacterial paint” featuring Bollywood celebrities Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone claims that its anti-bacterial technology kills bacteria that enter the house. The advertisement also claims that it is recommended by the Indian Medical Association (IMA). This was not adequately substantiated. “The advertisement was misleading by implication that the IMA has endorsed the product, whereas IMA had permitted the use of their logo for the “Asian Paints Silver Ion Technology” and not for the product as a whole. The adver- tiser did not provide any evi- dence showing that the celebri- ties had done due diligence prior to the endorsement. The advertisement was misleading due to ambiguity regarding the nature of germ kill and omission with respect to the required contact time, the ASCI said in its order. The ASCI also pulled up Bollywood actress Madhuri Dixit Nene for claiming in the ad that Dr Aquaguard NRICH Reverse Osmosis (ROs) of Eureka Forbes instantly incor- porate the benefits of copper in the purified water, equating it with water stored overnight in copper vessels. “The advertiser’s claim as translated from Hindi ‘Aquaguard ki nayi Active Copper technology de paani ko tambe ki shakti, instantly’ (Aquaguard’s new Active Copper Technology instantly gives the power of copper to water). The advertiser did not intend to associate the claims with any health benefits. Hence it was concluded that the use of the claim “tambe ki shakti, instantly” is misleading. In the Fena Superwash Powder advertisement featur- ing Preity Zinta, cricketers KL Rahul and Ravichandran Ashwin, claimed to be number 1 choice of millions of con- sumers, it was not substantiat- ed with verifiable market sur- vey data to prove that they pre- ferred Fena over other brands in the detergent/bar category. “The advertisement had a misleading claim of it being consumers’ choice for its prod- uct quality,” the ASCI said. A claim endorsed by famous cricketer-turned-MP Gautam Gambhir for a gaming app being “India’s Favourite Fantasy Cricket Game” was also not substantiated. This is not the first time that renowned celebrities from Bollywood and cricket, were found endorsing mis- leading advertisements. Former Indian cricket cap- tain MS Dhoni was once the brand ambassador of the Amrapali group which is fac- ing prosecution for duping thousands of homebuyers in NCR. His name features in the forensic auditors’ report sub- mitted in the Supreme Court on the doings and “bogus expenses” incurred by Amrapalli group. The ASCI has investigated complaints against 334 adver- tisements, of which 106 adver- tisements were promptly with- drawn. The independent Consumer Complaints Council of ASCI upheld complaints against 190 advertisements, out of 228 advertisements eval- uated by them. Of these 190 advertisements, 112 belonged to the education sector, 40 belonged to the healthcare sec- tor, 10 to personal care, 7 to the food & beverages sector, 5 to the media/ broadcasting sector, 5 from consumer durables and 11 from the ‘others’ category. “India’s No 1 Affordable Housing Company” featuring Vidya Balan was not substan- tiated with verifiable data of the advertiser’s housing company and other housing companies in India. The source for the claim was not mentioned in the TVC,” ASCI said. A mid confusion over the use of electronic docu- ments, the Road Transport and Highway Ministry on Friday decided to issue a fresh advisory to the States and Union Territories and all stake- holders to treat digitised doc- uments as valid papers. Those carrying driving licence, motor insurance papers, vehicle registration and other related papers in the Government-approved apps such as Digilocker, M- Parivahan, Saarthi, etc, will not be penalised. This comes in the wake of grievances received in the Ministry wherein citizens have complained that documents stored in Digilocker or the m- Parivahan app are not consid- ered valid by the traffic police or the transport department. The Centre has already directed Insurance Information Board (IIB) to upload and make available online insurance relat- ed documents in the VAHAN database on a routine basis. “In view of this confusion in recent days, the enforcement officers would be made aware of the new provision so that cit- izens are not harassed. In November 2018, the Government had issued noti- fication to legalise the use of digital traffic documents,” said the official. States using any such online enforcement solution through alternative database have been asked to transfer the relevant information electron- ically through web service of VAHAN/Sarathi database. As per the amended pro- vision, the citizen can produce the transport related docu- ments such as registration, insurance, fitness and permit, driving licence, certificate for pollution under control and any other relevant documents if required in physical or elec- tronic form on demand by an uniformed police or any other officer authorised by the State Government on this behalf. “If the vehicle registration details are there on Digilocker, VAHAN, Saarthi, m- Parivahan/eChallan app then the requirement of a physical copy of the insurance certificate will not be mandatory,” said the official. S everal close family members of a PDP leader, including his father and elder brother, on Friday survived 12-hour long hostage crisis after three gun- totting terrorists barged into their house in Kishtwar’s Gurian and fled with the ser- vice gun of the leader’s securi- ty guard after thrashing him. The sensational incident, second in the last six months, prompted district authorities to immediately impose curfew in Kishtwar to prevent escape of this group of terrorists. Additional forces were deployed on ground zero to cordon off the area before a massive manhunt was launched. Before fleeing in the one of the family cars of the PDP leader, the terrorists kept the leader’s father, elder broth- er, women and children hostages in separate rooms. The incident came to light after the security guard, tied with ropes, freed himself and rushed to the nearest police sta- tion to inform the snatching of his service weapon by a group of terrorists. Detailed report on P6 U nion Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has frowned at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s decision to introduce the odd-even road rationing scheme in the national Capital from November 4 to November 15, saying that already anti-pol- lution measures are in place. While Kejriwal said the move was aimed at combating high levels of air pollution in winters when crop burning takes place in neighbouring States, Gadkari claimed works underway in Delhi would ensure it is pollution-free in the next two years. Gadkari was speaking to the media after inaugurating a CNG out- let in Nagpur. “Now there is no such need (odd-even scheme) because the new ring road we have built is helping reduce pol- lution in Delhi to a certain extent. Besides, my Ministry is pursuing road works of about 50,000 crore. Cleaning of the Yamuna river and other works to curb pollution are also underway,” he said. “I think Delhi will be pol- lution free in two years time,” he asserted. Bhopal: Eleven youths drowned after their boat capsized which was carrying around 19 people in two boats during Ganesh idol immersion at Lower Lake of the state capital in the wee hours on Friday; six persons were rescued. In a heart wrenching inci- dent 11 devotees of 100 Quarter area of Piplani of state capital who went for Ganesh idol immersion drowned after their boats capsized. District administration, SDRF, NDRF and police teams rushed to the spot and started rescue operation but managed to save only six while fished out bodies of 11 youths in the res- cue operation which till the early morning hours. Four people who have facil- itated boats for immersion have been arrested. The four are identified as Akash Batham, Changu, Shubham Batham and Abhisek Batham of Bhoipura. Police have registered a case of death caused due to negligence against the nabbed accused. It was found that Prempura ghat along the lake was desig- nated place for immersion but the group went to another ghat at Khatlapura and despite an NDRF team’s presence none of the members of team stopped them from mounting the boat. Shockingly ambulance was also not present at the spot. On the part of BMC which is responsible for organizing the immersions safely has failed miserably and it has suspended Deputy City Engineer RK Saxena and Fire Officer Sajid Khan. DIG Irshad Wali after find- ing that ASI Shivvachan Yadav posted at Aishbagh police station deployed at Khatlapura ghat was not present on duty was sus- pended. Revenue Inspector Anil Gawhane was suspended by District Collector Tarun Pithode after it was that Anil failed to deliver duties which he was assigned. He was assigned to check arrangements from 2 in the night till the end of the immersion. The deceased were identi- fied as Parvez (22), Rohit Maurya (30), Karan Kumar (18), Harsh Hari (22), Sunny Thakare(22), Rahul Verma(20), Vicky (19), Vishal(23), Arjun Sharma(18) , Rahul Mishra(18) and Karan (26) all were resident of 100 Quarters area Piplani. Chief Minister Kamal Nath announced financial assistance of 11 lakh each to the families of the deceased and has ordered a magisterial probe into the matter. Also, he said that culprits will not be spared. SR RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008

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The odd-even scheme willbe rolled out in the nation-

al Capital from November 4 toNovember 15, said Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal onFriday. He also announced aslew of measures to mitigatepollution during wintermonths due to stubble burningin neighbouring States.

Kejriwal laid emphasis onseven-point action plan tocombat winter air pollution.The Government has set spe-cial plans for 12 pollution hotspots in the city. Among themmass distribution of masks,mechanised sweeping of roads,tree plantation are high on theGovernment agenda.

Citing Energy PolicyInstitute of University ofChicago (EPIC’s) air pollutionreport, prepared during thepilot project of odd-even inJanuary 2016, Kejriwal saidthe policy implementationresulted in a drop in ParticulateMatter (PM) 2.5 by 14-16 percent as compared to that inneighbouring cities —Faridabad, Gurugram andRohatak. The car rationingscheme was implemented inDelhi then and a fine of �2,000was imposed on violators.

Elaborating on the logicbehind the scheme this yearwhen only a few days ago theCentral Pollution ControlBoard data showd a 25 per centdip in the pollution level inDelhi, Kejriwal said, “Beforepreparing the Winter ActionPlan (WAC) to combat air pol-

lution, we invited suggestionsfrom the public.

“We have received 1,200suggestions. Many residentsand experts have strongly sup-ported implementation of thescheme in peak pollution peri-od. Their recommendation wasthat odd-even policy is a veryeffective measure, particularlyin winter months. We havestarted making preparationsto implement the odd-evenscheme in Delhi.”

Kejriwal said the details ofthe 12-day scheme will beshared with Delhiites in com-ing days. Vehicles are expect-ed to ply alternately on odd andeven dates as per their regis-tration numbers during theimplementation of the scheme.

Addressing a Press confer-ence, the CM said, “Ten oreleven months of the year,Delhi’s air has seen a markedimprovement. But everyNovember, because of thesmoke that comes from Punjaband Haryana, Delhi turns intoa gas chamber. The Centreand these States are trying toprevent this from happening.But until that happens, wemust take steps to protect our-selves from the toxic air creat-ed due to stubble burning.”

To address pollution men-ace, the Delhi Governmentsaid it will organise a commu-nity Diwali laser show on theeve of the festival. “TheSupreme Court has prohibitedthe bursting of crackers inDelhi. In the winter season, thetemperature inversion leads tostagnation of the polluted air

and causes breathingtroubles for humansand animals.

“Using crackers tocelebrate Diwali willexacerbate the prob-lem. All of us will

come together and celebrate onthe eve of Diwali with a megalaser show. Entry to the eventwill be free. Venue and otherdetails will be announced in thecoming days,” said the CM.

Efforts will also be made to

control dust pollution of onroads, a major factor to PM 10contribution. For this purpose,the City Government is towork with local civic bodies.

“In order to control dust onroads, the frequency and areaof water sprinkling will beincreased. Sweeping the roadswill be completely mechanisedand will collaborate withMCDs in this respect,” said theDelh CM.

With the collaboration ofResidents Welfare Associations(RWAs), the DelhiGovernment will ensure nogarbage or leaf burning takesplace, Kejriwal said. For this,the city Government has pre-pared a plan to depute civilmarshals in each ward.

The Kejriwal Governmentis also launching Delhi treechallenge as part of the anti-pollution measures. “Whoeverwants to plant a sapling in oraround their homes, theGovernment will deliver thesapling at people’s homes. Itwould then be the people’sresponsibility to take care of theplant,” he said.

The Government is alsosetting up a war room to lookinto complaints and grievances. Awareness cam-paigns will be launched inschools to educate studentsabout pollution.

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The RSS-affiliated AkhilBharatiya Vidyarthi

Parishad (ABVP) dominatedthe Delhi University Students’Union (DUSU) polls by win-ning three of the four topposts on Friday. The Congress-backed National StudentsUnion of India (NSUI) won thepost of secretary.

According to officials,ABVP’s Akshit Dahiya defeat-ed NSUI’s Chetna Tyagi byrecord 19,039 votes for the postof president. ABVP’s PradeepTanwar defeated NSUI’s AnkitBharti by 8,000 votes for vice-president post.

Shivangi Kharwal of ABVPdefeated Abhishek Chaprana ofNSUI by 2,914 votes for thejoint secretary post. The loneNSUI winner, Ashish Lamba,defeated Yogit Rathi of theABVP by 2,053 votes for thepost of secretary.

Sidharth Yadav, ABVP’sDelhi State secretary, said, “Ourpresidential candidate has wonby the highest ever margin inrecent times. ABVP will startworking on the promises made in the manifesto and

ensure better hostel facilities,better campus and timely dec-laration of exam dates, results.”

BJP working president JPNadda termed ABVP’s victory“historic”.

“Congratulations to theABVP for its historic win in theDUSU polls by bagging threeseats. These youngsters are ourcountry’s future and everyworker of the ABVP is dedi-cated to society and organisa-tion. This is a victory of nation-alist ideology among students,”Nadda tweeted.

Last year also, NSUI hadsecured just one post in DUSU

elections. Commenting upon the

performance of the NSUI,Akshay Lakra, Delhi State pres-ident of NSUI, said DU stu-dents have rejected the violenceideology of ABVP by defeatingYogit, who was president atRamjas College during theinfamous Ramjas sedition con-troversy in 2017.

The vote counting sched-uled to start at 8.30 am begantwo hours later as the candi-dates turned up late, an officialsaid. The election processended amid allegations of EVMmalfunctioning.

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Coming down heavily onmisleading advertisements,

including those featuring sev-eral celebrities, the AdvertisingStandard Council of India(ASCI) has issued directions fortheir removal from all mediaplatforms — print, digital, elec-tronic and social.

The misleading advertise-ments include Asian Paintsendorsed by film actors RanbirKapoor and DeepikaPadukone; Fena SuperwashPowder featuring Priety Zinta,cricketers KL Rahul andRavichandran Ashwin; EurekaForbe RO by Madhuri Dixit;

CricPlay online game by crick-eter-turned politician GautamGambhir and housing firmsads by actress Vidya Balan.

Asian Paints in its adver-tisement of the “anti-bacterialpaint” featuring Bollywoodcelebrities Ranbir Kapoor andDeepika Padukone claims thatits anti-bacterial technologykills bacteria that enter thehouse. The advertisement alsoclaims that it is recommendedby the Indian MedicalAssociation (IMA). This wasnot adequately substantiated.

“The advertisement wasmisleading by implication thatthe IMA has endorsed theproduct, whereas IMA had

permitted the use of their logofor the “Asian Paints Silver IonTechnology” and not for theproduct as a whole. The adver-tiser did not provide any evi-dence showing that the celebri-ties had done due diligenceprior to the endorsement. Theadvertisement was misleadingdue to ambiguity regardingthe nature of germ kill andomission with respect to therequired contact time, theASCI said in its order.

The ASCI also pulled upBollywood actress MadhuriDixit Nene for claiming in thead that Dr Aquaguard NRICHReverse Osmosis (ROs) ofEureka Forbes instantly incor-

porate the benefits of copper inthe purified water, equating itwith water stored overnight incopper vessels.

“The advertiser’s claim astranslated from Hindi‘Aquaguard ki nayi ActiveCopper technology de paani kotambe ki shakti, instantly’(Aquaguard’s new ActiveCopper Technology instantly

gives the power of copper towater). The advertiser did notintend to associate the claimswith any health benefits. Henceit was concluded that the use ofthe claim “tambe ki shakti,instantly” is misleading.

In the Fena SuperwashPowder advertisement featur-ing Preity Zinta, cricketers KLRahul and Ravichandran

Ashwin, claimed to be number1 choice of millions of con-sumers, it was not substantiat-ed with verifiable market sur-vey data to prove that they pre-ferred Fena over other brandsin the detergent/bar category.

“The advertisement had amisleading claim of it beingconsumers’ choice for its prod-uct quality,” the ASCI said.

A claim endorsed byfamous cricketer-turned-MPGautam Gambhir for a gamingapp being “India’s FavouriteFantasy Cricket Game” wasalso not substantiated.

This is not the first timethat renowned celebrities from Bollywood and cricket,were found endorsing mis-leading advertisements.

Former Indian cricket cap-tain MS Dhoni was once thebrand ambassador of theAmrapali group which is fac-ing prosecution for dupingthousands of homebuyers inNCR. His name features in theforensic auditors’ report sub-mitted in the Supreme Courton the doings and “bogusexpenses” incurred byAmrapalli group.

The ASCI has investigatedcomplaints against 334 adver-

tisements, of which 106 adver-tisements were promptly with-drawn. The independentConsumer Complaints Councilof ASCI upheld complaintsagainst 190 advertisements,out of 228 advertisements eval-uated by them. Of these 190advertisements, 112 belongedto the education sector, 40belonged to the healthcare sec-tor, 10 to personal care, 7 to thefood & beverages sector, 5 tothe media/ broadcasting sector,5 from consumer durables and11 from the ‘others’ category.

“India’s No 1 AffordableHousing Company” featuringVidya Balan was not substan-tiated with verifiable data of theadvertiser’s housing companyand other housing companiesin India. The source for theclaim was not mentioned in theTVC,” ASCI said.

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Amid confusion over theuse of electronic docu-

ments, the Road Transportand Highway Ministry onFriday decided to issue a freshadvisory to the States andUnion Territories and all stake-holders to treat digitised doc-uments as valid papers.

Those carrying drivinglicence, motor insurancepapers, vehicle registration andother related papers in theGovernment-approved appssuch as Digilocker, M-Parivahan, Saarthi, etc, willnot be penalised.

This comes in the wake ofgrievances received in theMinistry wherein citizens havecomplained that documentsstored in Digilocker or the m-Parivahan app are not consid-ered valid by the traffic policeor the transport department.

The Centre has alreadydirected Insurance InformationBoard (IIB) to upload and makeavailable online insurance relat-ed documents in the VAHANdatabase on a routine basis.

“In view of this confusionin recent days, the enforcementofficers would be made awareof the new provision so that cit-izens are not harassed. InNovember 2018, theGovernment had issued noti-fication to legalise the use ofdigital traffic documents,” saidthe official.

States using any suchonline enforcement solutionthrough alternative databasehave been asked to transfer therelevant information electron-ically through web service ofVAHAN/Sarathi database.

As per the amended pro-vision, the citizen can producethe transport related docu-ments such as registration,insurance, fitness and permit,driving licence, certificate forpollution under control andany other relevant documentsif required in physical or elec-tronic form on demand by anuniformed police or any otherofficer authorised by the StateGovernment on this behalf.

“If the vehicle registrationdetails are there on Digilocker,VAHAN, Saarthi, m-Parivahan/eChallan app thenthe requirement of a physicalcopy of the insurance certificatewill not be mandatory,” said theofficial.

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Several close family membersof a PDP leader, including

his father and elder brother, onFriday survived 12-hour longhostage crisis after three gun-totting terrorists barged intotheir house in Kishtwar’sGurian and fled with the ser-vice gun of the leader’s securi-ty guard after thrashing him.

The sensational incident,second in the last six months,prompted district authorities toimmediately impose curfew inKishtwar to prevent escape ofthis group of terrorists.Additional forces weredeployed on ground zero tocordon off the area before amassive manhunt waslaunched. Before fleeing in theone of the family cars of thePDP leader, the terrorists keptthe leader’s father, elder broth-er, women and childrenhostages in separate rooms.

The incident came to lightafter the security guard, tiedwith ropes, freed himself and rushed to the nearest police sta-tion to inform the snatching ofhis service weapon by a groupof terrorists.

Detailed report on P6

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Union Transport MinisterNitin Gadkari has frowned

at Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal’s decision to introducethe odd-even road rationingscheme in the national Capitalfrom November 4 to November15, saying that already anti-pol-lution measures are in place.

While Kejriwal said themove was aimed at combatinghigh levels of air pollution inwinters when crop burningtakes place in neighbouringStates, Gadkari claimed works

underway in Delhi wouldensure it is pollution-free in the next two years. Gadkari

was speaking to the mediaafter inaugurating a CNG out-let in Nagpur.

“Now there is no suchneed (odd-even scheme)because the new ring road wehave built is helping reduce pol-lution in Delhi to a certainextent. Besides, my Ministry ispursuing road works of about�50,000 crore. Cleaning of theYamuna river and other worksto curb pollution are alsounderway,” he said.

“I think Delhi will be pol-lution free in two years time,”he asserted.

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Bhopal: Eleven youths drownedafter their boat capsized whichwas carrying around 19 peoplein two boats during Ganesh idolimmersion at Lower Lake of thestate capital in the wee hours onFriday; six persons were rescued.

In a heart wrenching inci-dent 11 devotees of 100 Quarterarea of Piplani of state capitalwho went for Ganesh idolimmersion drowned after theirboats capsized.

District administration,SDRF, NDRF and police teamsrushed to the spot and startedrescue operation but managed tosave only six while fished outbodies of 11 youths in the res-cue operation which till theearly morning hours.

Four people who have facil-itated boats for immersion havebeen arrested.

The four are identified asAkash Batham, Changu,Shubham Batham and AbhisekBatham of Bhoipura. Policehave registered a case of deathcaused due to negligence againstthe nabbed accused.

It was found that Prempuraghat along the lake was desig-nated place for immersion butthe group went to another ghatat Khatlapura and despite anNDRF team’s presence none ofthe members of team stoppedthem from mounting the boat.

Shockingly ambulance was alsonot present at the spot.

On the part of BMC whichis responsible for organizingthe immersions safely has failedmiserably and it has suspendedDeputy City Engineer RKSaxena and Fire Officer SajidKhan.

DIG Irshad Wali after find-ing that ASI Shivvachan Yadavposted at Aishbagh police stationdeployed at Khatlapura ghatwas not present on duty was sus-pended.

Revenue Inspector AnilGawhane was suspended byDistrict Collector Tarun Pithodeafter it was that Anil failed todeliver duties which he was

assigned. He was assigned tocheck arrangements from 2 inthe night till the end of theimmersion.

The deceased were identi-fied as Parvez (22), RohitMaurya (30), Karan Kumar(18), Harsh Hari (22), SunnyThakare(22), Rahul Verma(20),Vicky (19), Vishal(23), ArjunSharma(18) , Rahul Mishra(18)and Karan (26) all were residentof 100 Quarters area Piplani.

Chief Minister Kamal Nathannounced financial assistanceof �11 lakh each to the familiesof the deceased and has ordereda magisterial probe into thematter. Also, he said that culpritswill not be spared. SR

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Food-Civil Supplies andConsumer Protection

Minister Pradyuman SinghTomar has said that registrationfor purchase of Kharif crops onsupport price will begin fromSeptember 16. The registrationprocess will continue till 8 pmon October 16.

Tomar has urged the farm-ers to get registered within thetime-limit. He said that regis-trations can be done at MPKisan App, e-procurementmobile app and e-procure-ment centres.

Minister Tomar said thatregistration is being done forpaddy, jowar and millet inKharif crops. This time paddycommon will be purchased bythe state government at a sup-

port price of �1,815, paddy, A-grade at �1,835, jowar at �2,550and millet at �2,000 per quin-tal. After registration the com-plete information of the farmerwill be displayed on the mobile

screen. Information of regis-tration will be provided to thefarmer via SMS and the printout can be taken from the pro-curement portal. Shri Tomarinformed that new farmerswill also be able to registerthrough mobile app.

Pradyuman Singh Tomarhas said that landowners arenot required to submit docu-ments for registration. TheSikmi and farmers possessingforest pattas will have to give acopy of the Sikmi contract andcopy of the patta. Farmershave been provided with bankaccount number and OTPbased modification facility inthe mobile numbers. Tomarinformed that the farmers canavail CM helpline 181 toresolve their grievances andcomplaints.

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Miscreants targeted a houseat Danish Kunj and

escaped with valuables worth�1 lakh on Friday; Kolar policehave started investigation.

Police said that the victimRajesh Katiyar along with hisfamily had gone to Kanpur tomeet his relatives and when hereturned valuables were foundburgled.

A complaint was lodged bythe victim with the Kolar policeand in his complaint, he stat-ed that he along with his fam-ily had gone to Kanpur onSeptember 9 and when hereturned on Friday the lockswere found broken.

The police have registereda case under section 457 and380 of the IPC and started fur-ther investigation.

The victim works as pro-fessor with MVM College and

has claimed that three goldchains, one pair of gold earrings and silver jewelry worth�1 lakh.

Meanwhile, valuablesworth Rs 80000 were burgledfrom Mahaveer Basti underGandhi Nagar police on Friday.

Police said that the victimAmit Dahunk was asleep at hersister’s house as his parentshave gone to Uttar Pradesh andwhen he checked in the morn-ing on Friday valuables werefound burgled.

A complaint was lodged bythe victim with the GandhiNagar police. The victimclaimed that gold and silverjewelry and a motorbike worthRs 80000 were burgled.

Based on the complaintafter the preliminary investi-gation the police have regis-tered a case under section 454and 380 of the IPC and havestarted further investigation.

������� ���� ��� 4�75��

STF Bhopal has registered case againstDigiana Pvt Ltd and SR Media Ltd

for fraud and infringement of copy rightfor illegally broadcasting signals ofVishesh Media Pvt. (Anadi Cable TV)MP Nagar.

The complainant Lokendra Singhlodged complaint with Special DGSTF, Purushottam Sharma stating thatVishesh Media Pvt. (Anadi CableTV)all entertainment and news chan-nels signals broadcasted illegally byDigiana Pvt Ltd and SR Media Ltd.

Earlier also such activities were alsodone in the entire Madhya Pradesh bystealing the signals of Star Channel andcomplained in the past by STF PoliceStation, Bhopal.

The theft signals are still beingbroadcast by installing another systemat another place which is completelyagainst the Guideline and falls under

the category of crime of the said act.In this case, Anadi has lodged com-

plaint with Telecom DisputesSettlement and Appellate Tribunal(TDSAT) against SR Media and others,on which TDSAT passed orders againstSRMedia Pvt. Ltd. and Digiana but thetwo without complying continuedtransmission of signals illegally.

ADG Ashok Awasthi constitutedSIT by holding the case to STF and onApril 6, 2018 and in the investigationit was found that stealing of the signalsof Star India Pvt Ltd is done by DigianaProjects Pvt Ltd and broadcasted atabout 26 locations across the country.

A case under section 420,467,468,471, 379, 120B of the IPC andsection 63 Copyright Act 1957 and sec-tion 66C IT Act against Digiana Pvt Ltdand their directors Sukhdev Ghumanand Tejinderpal Singh Guman andother accused has been registered.

������� ���� ��� 4�75��

To honor grandparents as lovinglegacy of traditions and to treasure

stories and moments, Sagar PublicSchool, Ratibad, Katara Extension andSaket Nagar observed GrandparentsDay.

‘A Salute to Our Roots’ marked thecelebrations at Sagar Public SchoolRatibad with Mr Rahul Mishra,General Manager Operations SISTecas its chief guest in presence of grand-parents.

At Sagar Public School SaketNagar, ‘Love and Care’ marked the cel-ebrations which grandparents fill inour lives whereas Sagar Public SchoolKatara Extension marked witnessedgrandparents day celebrations in pres-ence of KK Dubey, Director HumanResources, Sagar Group as its chiefguest.

The celebrations began with wel-coming and greeting of belovedgrandparents by Sagarites and light-ing of ceremonial lamp. Sagaritesfrom Nursery to Class III welcomed

grandparents by a song followed byscintillating performances of songs,skit – ‘Dadi Maa Ke Nuskhe’, dancesand enactments.

They also presented a selfdesigned greeting card with theirhandprint as souvenir for the day fol-lowed by clicking of photographs atvarious selfie booths to capture thebeautiful bond between the two gen-erations.

Grandparents were astonished tosee the performances of their grand-children and their happiness reflect-ed in their participation in short vers-es, riddles, interactive games andwords of wisdom.

The celebrations concluded withblessings and appreciation of grand-parents with spending quality time.

The Principal, Vice Principal andHeadmistress of schools thanked thegrandparents for their enthusiasticparticipation and highlighted theirpivotal role in the upbringing of thecoming generation and shower ofunconditional love, affection andblessings.

Gwalior: A Dabra based fer-tilizer trader who was in thecity to make payments to hissuppliers was allegedly robbedby an auto driver and his twoaccomplices. Later, the busi-nessman was dumped in thejungles of Dholpur from wherehe contacted his family and thepolice.

According to the busi-nessman Balwant Rawat, hehad reached the Gwalior rail-way station by the passengertrain and had engaged an autoto go to Bharahdhari in Morar,where he was supposed tomake a payment of �2.5 lakhsto one Ankit Kumar ofBhawani Traders. He told thepolice that when he boardedthe auto two people werealready sitting in it. Accordingto Rawat one of the men hada beard while the other was inhis mid thirties. When heasked the auto driver about the

two men the driver said thatthey too were going to Morarand requested Rawat to allowhim to take them also.

Rawat in his complaint tothe police further said that helost consciousness within fiveminutes of boarding the autoand when he regained con-sciousness he was in the jun-gles of Dholpur, almost 60kilometers away from Gwalior.

He walked all the wayfrom the jungle to the Dholpurrailway station from where heborrowed a mobile fromsomeone and contacted hisson-in-law after which thepolice and his relatives reachedDholpur and brought him toGwalior.

A case under various sec-tions of the IPC has been reg-istered at the Padav police sta-tion against unidentifiedassailants and further investi-gations are on. PNS

������� ���� ��� 4�75��

The residents in Bhopalfind is difficult to accept

the fact that 11 persons diedas a boat capsized duringimmersion of lord Ganeshaon the intervening night ofThursday and Friday.

Eye witnesses said therewas none from administrationto oversee safety or regulateimmersion process.

Public Relations MinisterPC Sharma had visited theKhatlapura ghat of lower lakeat around 2.30 in the nightand did not find any safetymeasures there.

Kamal Rana, a resident ofslum area in Piplani in Bhopalwas part of the group of 17persons including someminors, is one of the survivors

in the tragedy.“There were some police-

men who only were regulat-ing the traffic and weren’tbothered who goes forimmersion inside the lake,”said Kamal whose brotherHari died in the mishap.

There were two-threeboats and we struck the dealfor immersion for Rs 600after the boatmen demandedRs 1,000, added the youngman claiming the boatmenhad conjoined two boats witha wooden plank to ensure thebig idol was carried on thestructure.

Nothing seemed properas the boat had started tiltingat one end as the heavy idolwas placed on the boat andthe boatmen asked the boys tobring in more youths so as to

balance the boat by sitting atone end.

Soon more youths from

the group joined in and as theboat reached midway of thelower lake, the group pushedthe statue tied with ropesinside the water and at thesame time, one end of one ofthe boats got tilted andplunged into water.

"One of the boatmenasked us to come to the otherside and we did but the boatseventually capsized," Kamaltold, adding there was nodivers or any boat to deal witheventualities. No one wasthere to give us life jackets aswell, said Kamal adding thishas been the scene in last fewyears as well.

Some boatmen fromnearby boats had jumped intothe water and started the res-cue effort, he added claimingthe State Disaster Relief Force

(SDRF) only reached site after30 minutes when all was lost,said the youngster.

To add, the headquartersof the SDRF and HomeGuards as well is situatedopposite to the lakeside.

“I and others did notknow and started gasping forbreath and suddenly a near-by boat came to us and wehanged on to it and savedourselves,” Kamal recounted.

His father Ragho Ranaalso demanded action againstthose responsible for thedeath of 11 lives.

The family of Parvez (15)one of the victims was alsoinconsolable. “He had told ushe was going nearby andwould come back after sometime,” one of his relativessaid.

������� ���� ��� 4�75��

Tribal Welfare MinisterOmkar Singh Markam has

said that strict action will betaken if cent percent of theamount of tribal sub-plan isnot used under variousschemes in 89 blocks of theState this year.

Minister Markam wasaddressing a meeting of theofficers of various depart-ments at the Mantralaya onWednesday.

Principal Secretar yDeepali Rastogi was also pre-sent in the meeting. An allot-ment of about �33 thousand466 crore has been given inthe tribal sub-plan this year tovarious departments.

Markam said that thebasic objective of the tribal

sub-plan is to increase theeconomic status of tribal fam-ilies and to provide basicamenities in tribal-dominatedvillages. Along with this, con-necting the tribal-dominatedvillages to the main roads isalso the priority of the stategovernment. With theseobjectives in mind, 21.10 per-cent amount in proportion tothe scheduled tribe populationhas been earmarked in thebudget of the state for the trib-al sub-plan. Minister Markampoint wise reviewed the bud-get allocated in the tribal sub-plan for the year 2016-17,2017-18 and 2018-19 and theexpenditure incurred by thedepartment.

He sought informationfrom the officials of variousdepartments on the action

plan prepared for utilisingthe allocated amount in theyear 2019-20.

Markam instructed theDepartment of Social Welfarefor the construction of MahilaAshrams to accommodateelderly women and to preparea scheme to run these ashramsin tribal areas.

Shri Markam said that byorganizing tribal youththrough cooperatives, theycan be provided betteremployment opportunities.

He said that there is aneed to increase the activitiesof animal husbandry and fish-eries in tribal-dominatedareas. Apart from this, healso stressed on creatingemployment opportunitiesthrough Khadi and cottageindustries.

������� ���� ��� 4�75��

Few relations are made to be kept for-ever. A relationship between a grand-

mother and her grandson was beautiful-ly depicted through a Hindi play ‘Daadi’.The play was performed on Friday atKalibadi hall.

Directed by Lokendra Pratap Singh,the play was performed by the artists ofThe Rising Society of Art and Culture(RiSAC). The play was based on differentsituations and the love and affectionbetween both of them.

Notably, the play was performed tomark the conclusion of a 15 day theatreworkshop.

In this play, a kid Chakku, once asksfor 10 paisa from his grandmother to buya kite. He becomes angry with her whenshe refuses her grandmother and runsaway from the house, and goes to the train

station, boards in the train.After some time he realizes his mis-

take on the way. He realizes that he is with-out ticket. So he gets down at a desertedstation where there was no one but a beg-gar. When he goes near her, he founds, thatshe is dead. He thought of his grandmotherand he runs to his grandma.

The director of the play said,"Grandma, after listening to this one word,we have an image of our beloved grand-mother in our imagination, the same is ourdrama "Grandmother", the story based onGulzar, ten paisa and grandmother, in thisplay Gulzar, Manas Bhardwaj and othersby combining the poems of many poets,we have prepared this drama. we haveadded the childhood innocence andimmaturity in this play."

The play was beautified with the useof poetries in between. It was a wonder-ful performance.

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Nitin Batham, a pedestrian,who was

passing fromthe areawhere thei n c i d e n toccurred, hads p o t t e dyouths whowere trying tosave theirlives. He immediately rushed tothem and saved six youthsreportedly.

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The Bhopalites wereenthralled to watch the cre-

ativity of the artists of the citydisplayed in a group paintingexhibition.

The painting exhibitionentitled ‘Riddhi Siddhi' beganfrom Friday at Swaraj Vithika(Swaraj Art Gallery), RavindraBhawan premises. The exhibi-tion was inaugurated by arenowned artist of the cityLaxmi Sadho.

The artists of the city haveshowcased their creative skillsthrough the imagination inform of paintings they createdover canvas. As many as 17works of 17 artists are on displayat gallery which was appreciat-ed by the spectators on the open-ing day.

They have presented theircreativity about Lord Ganeshausing various mediums includ-ing pencil, coloured pencil,shading, oil, water, oil pastels and

acrylic on paper or canvasadding more essence in theircreations.

Notably, these paintings givean impression of their broadimagery and how they see thingsin their surroundings. The artistspainted Madhubani art, Warli

Art and Gond Art as well.From the abstract art to the

beautiful colours added to LordGanesha's potrait, the artistshave portrayed their perspec-tives over the canvas.

The every stroke by theartists communicates beautiful-

ly about their perception andconcept to art lovers. It is like amesmerising experience for thespectators to watch the colorfulworld created by the students asthey walked through the gallery.The exhibition will be on viewtill Sunday.

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Tourism Minister SurendraSingh Baghel has said that

the villages will be developedfrom the point of view oftourism through NGOs.Employment opportunitieswill also be explored for thevillagers.

Baghel gave this infor-mation at the workshop on'Experience Sharing byLeaders of Community HomeStay in India”.

He said that the state gov-ernment would first identifythe villages connected to themajor tourist destinations.Villages near historical andreligious sites will be added toit.

Minister Baghel said thatfor rural tourism, goodarrangements will be made bythe NGO along with the vil-lagers to stay in the villageenvironment and providefood etc. to the tourists.

The houses in rural sur-

roundings will be equippedwith necessary facilities. Localcuisine and food will be madeavai lable to tourists.

They will also be givenmedical facilities. SecretaryTourism Faiz Ahmed Kidwaiinformed that the DistrictTourism Promotion Councilwill play an important role indeveloping rural tourism.Mall ika Virdi (Founder

Himalayan Arch), ParasLumba (Founder GlobalHimalayan Expedit ion),Sumit Suri (Chairman Hoteland Restaurant Association ofWestern India, MPCommittee), Pooja Srivastava(Air BNB), Anwar Jaffrey(Friends of Orchha), VidyaVenkatesh (Manager, LastWilderness Foundation),Malini Gourishankar (F5Scapes), Savini Sonwaria

(Founder Pashu Pakshi),Aastha (Booking.com),Anurag Tamhankar(Homestay Constructions)attended the workshop.

Additional ManagingDirector, Tourism BoardBhavna Walimbe, Director(Skill Development) MadhyaPradesh Tourism Board, ShriManoj Singh and senior offi-cers of Tourism Departmentwere present.

������� ���� ��� 4�75��

Player of Madhya PradeshState International Shooting

Academy Rituraj Bundela hasshowcased a brilliant perfor-mance at and bagged a goldmedal.

The 12th Sardar SajjanSingh Sethi Memorial MasterCompetition that was beingplayed at Madhya Pradesh StateShooting Academy concludedhere on Friday. ADG StateCrime Records Bureau (SCRB)Adarsh ??Katiyar felicitated thewinners during the velidictoryceremony. Academy playerRituraj Singh Bundela broughtglory to Madhya Pradesh bywinning a gold medal in theSkeet Junior Men's Eventplayed today under MasterCompetition. This is the firsttime any academy player haswon a gold medal in the

national tournament's skeetevent. In the second place,Abhay Singh Sikon of Punjaband Bhavtej Singh Gill ofPunjab were in third place. Inthe final event of the SkeetEvent Senior Men's, AngadvirSingh Bajwa of Punjab won thegold medal, Anantjit SinghNaruka of Rajasthan won thesilver and Uttar Pradesh play-er Miraj Khan won the bronze.

Similarly, in Senior andJunior Women's Skeet events,Ghanimat Sikon of Punjabearned one gold each, DarshanaRathore of Rajasthan earnedone silver each. In the seniorwomen's event of Skeet, JahraMafdal of Tamil Nadu andKritika Shaktawat of Rajasthanwon one bronze medal each injunior women's event.

ADG State Crime RecordsBureau (SCRB), Chief GuestAdarsh ??Katiyar honored the

medal winning players bywearing the medal. Addressingthe closing programme, ADGAdarsh ??Katiyar said that aftermany years he had the oppor-tunity to come to MadhyaPradesh State ShootingAcademy and was happy thatsportspersons are being pro-vided world class sports facil-ities, it is a pride for MadhyaPradesh.

He congratulated and con-gratulated the medal winningplayers. On this occasion,Assistant Director Uma Patel,K.K. Khare, Pradeep Rawatand Shipra Srivastava and theAcademy's Technical Advisorand Chief Instructor MansherSingh, Chief Referee AmarJung, Co-ordinator SanjaySingh Tanodia, ShotgunInstructor Hemraj Rana,Assistant Instructor IndrajitSikdar were present.

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Active systems are less like-ly to provide relief from the

harsh heavy and incessant rain-fall for the next one week andonly after September 19 thespell of heavy rainfall wouldfade away.

More than 30 districts arelikely to receive heavy rainfallaccording to the warningissued by Met department.

In the next 24 hours Rewa,Satna, Sidhi, Neemuch,Mandsaur are likely to receiveheavy rainfall.

State Capital recorded 4 cmof rainfall till Thursdayevening. During the day clearsky and sun shine was wit-nessed which remained for lit-tle time and later it pouredheavily.

Weatherman said that lowpressure area is formed overNortheast Madhya Pradeshand adjoining southeasternUttar Pradesh and the cycloniccirculation associated with thislow pressure area.

Monsoon trough fromAnuppgarh, Alwar, Gwalior,Northeast Madhya Pradeshand adjoining southeasternUttar Pradesh to Daltonganj,Berhampur and Southeast Bayto the Bay of Bengal. Cyclonictransmission associated with a

low pressure area located oversouthwestern Madhya Pradeshto Himalayan West Bengal,northeast Madhya Pradesh andadjoining southeastern UttarPradesh and under the influ-ence of the above weather sys-tems, heavy to very heavy rain-fall with rainfall from manyplaces in most places in west-ern Madhya Pradesh duringthe next 24 hours.

North Madhya Pradeshand adjoining South West UttarPradesh and under the influ-ence of low pressure area wouldinduce heavy to very heavyrainfall at most places frommost places in Madhya Pradeshon most days duringSeptember 13 to 18, 2019.

The relief would comeaccording to the forecast from19 to 25 September 2019 asrainfall activity is likely todecrease in most parts of thestate.

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Chief Minister Kamal Nathsaid that human rights

cannot be protected only byenacting laws.

It is necessary to have asense of protection of humanrights in people's thinking.

He further said that cleanwater is a human right. In orderto deal with the challengesrelated to water in future, thestate government has made aplan to revive the rivers alongwith enacting the 'Right toWater' law.

Nath was addressing the‘Jal Ka Adhikaar-ManavAdhikaar ' seminar on the 25thFoundation Day of MadhyaPradesh Human RightsCommission at the Water andLand Management Instituteon Friday.

The Chief Minister saidthat constitutional status hasbeen given to the human rightsof every citizen in the consti-tution.

There are many laws forthe protection human rights,but apart from laws, the basicthinking of protecting theserights is essential in humannature.

He said that awarenesstowards human rights will haveto be generated in people.Water is the only need thataffects every person and crea-ture in the world.

Shri Nath said that as theMinister of Environment of theGovernment of India, he hadattracted the attention of theWorld towards the future chal-lenges related to water and pre-sented a plan at the EarthSummit held in Brazil.

The Chief Minister saidthat we have started workingon effective schemes to meetthe challenges related to waterin future in Madhya Pradesh.

Along with the revival ofrivers, new technology is beingused to save and conservewater.

We are going to give ‘Rightto Water’ to the people. He fur-ther mentioned that Madhya

Pradesh is rich in water andallied resources.

Forests, rivers and ponds inlarge number are available here.

The need is that how canwe save water for future by con-necting water conservationwith new technology.

He said that 70 percentpopulation of the state isdependent on agriculture. Wecannot even imagine farmingwithout irrigation.

Saving water is the biggestneed of today.

The Chief Minister saidthat it is the moral responsi-bility of every person to workas a trustee of the future gen-eration and contribute in mak-ing adequate water storageavailable for the future gener-ation.

The Chairman of MadhyaPradesh Human RightsCommission Justice NarendraKumar Jain appreciated andcongratulated the ChiefMinister Kamal Nath for tak-ing a decision to enact the 'JalKa Adhikaar-Manav Adhikaar’Law. Jain said that the draft ofthis law is almost ready.

In this, the State WaterManagement Authority will beempowered to make wateravailable and with financialrights related to it.

He said that the Article 21of the Constitution mentionsabout the availability of pureand clean water in sufficientquantity.

Highlighting the activitiesof the Commission, Shri JusticeJain said that the Commissionhas resolved 2 lakh 66 thousand960 out of 2 lakh 70 thousand286 complaints since its foun-dation year.

He informed that 'AayogAapke Dwaar' scheme has beenlaunched to resolve complaintsof human rights violation onthe spot itself.

Hearing has been con-ducted in 12 districts under thescheme.

Members of theCommission Sarabjeet Singhand Manohar Mamtani werealso present on the occasion.

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Under ‘Abhinayan’, a week-ly series of drama, Play

Heer Ranjha was staged atMadhya Pradesh TribalMuseum. Heer Ranjha, thelove saga was performed inChamota style in the museumauditorium.

The play was directed byKhushi Mohammad (Punjab)and was performed here onFriday.

The story is about twolovers, Heer a beautiful villagegirl from a rich and noblefamily; and Ranjha, a poorfarm boy.He looked after Waterbuffaloes belonging to Heer'sfather. They both fell in love butHeer's parents were againsttheir marriage. Heer was mar-ried by force to a rich youngman. Ranjha, very saddened bythis, became a hermit, a personwho lives alone away fromother people and spends histime meditating about God. Helater tried to meet Heer but he

failed, and they both died in theend of broken hearts.

The play begins withRanjha, who runs away fromhis home and comes to the vil-lage of Heer and starts workingwith Heer. After some time, thepeople of Heer come to knowabout the love of Heer andRanjha. Therefore, Heer's fam-ily marries Heer elsewhere.

When Ranjha learns allthis, then Ranjha takes theform of a yogi and goes to thein-laws of Heer.

Where he meets Heer andthen both leave the village andrun away. On one side, Heerand Ranjha run away and onthe other side, they are search-

ing for the Heer. One day theking's soldiers capture Heerand Ranjha and both werepresented before the king.

But Heer tells Ranjha to getmarried. Having said this, Heercomes to her house and Ranjhagoes to her village to bring aprocession. Meanwhile, thefamily of Heer mixes milkwith poison and when he dis-covers this, he also dies alongwith Heer.

With this, 'Heer Ranjha' inChamota style ends the the-atrical performance. The timelimit of this theatrical perfor-mance was about 1 hour 30minutes. The play was muchenjoyed by the theatre lovers.

Jabalpur: Jabalpur AgrawalSabha and 17 associate institu-tions would organise 5146anniversary of AgrasenMaharaj – father of socialismin world from September 14,2019 to October 2, 2019 inwhich religious, social, cultur-al, entertaining and informativeseries of programmes would beorganised during the 18 dayevent.

At the start of the pro-gramme Amrit Mahotsav wouldbe organised in which 32 seniorof the community would befelicitated. The Amrit Mahotsavwould be organised onSeptember 14. On the occasionof Agrasen Jayanti on September29 a massive procession wouldbe carried out. The processionwould start from Chote Fuhareat 4 in the evening and wouldculminate at AgrasenMandapam after passing frommain routes of the city. PNS

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With a case being regis-tered in Rajpur police

station after a minor accuseda senior student stating that hesexually molested him,Dehradun SeniorSuperintendent of Police(SSP), Arun Mohan Joshi, hasinstructed Circle Officer(Sadar) Lokjit Singh to con-duct a thorough check of thesecurity details of the educa-tional institution on RajpurRoad in which both theminors are studying.

However, an official ofthe institution said that suchreports have been made in thepast also, but authorities for-get to take follow up action onit.

SSP Joshi said, “CO Sadarhas been ordered to make adetailed report about the entiresecurity details of the institute’spremises, hostels and otherplaces which the students fre-quently visit. He has also beendirected to check what proce-dures are followed for studentsto interact with outsiders or

who issues them out-passwhen they go outside thepremises.

The aim of the check is toensure that such cases do nothappen again. We will be tak-ing necessary steps once we getthe report.” However, an offi-cial of the institution raisingquestions on the working pro-cedure of local authoritiesstated that in the past fewyears, cases of sexual harass-ment and sexual molestationhave tainted institution’s imagecountry-wide.

Even when local authori-ties and commissions promiseto keep regular check on theinstitution they never followup on the earlier reports or thetake compliance of the ordersthat were earlier issued inorder to prevent these casesfrom happening in the future.

According to sources, onFriday, the purported victimhas recorded his magisterialstatements along with fewother students. The investiga-tion officer also went toinspect the alleged crime sceneat the institution.

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The State administration andMunicipal Corporation of

Dehradun (MCD) have madeclean Doon their priority butthe most important componentfor achieving this is still lack-ing in numbers. Even with therecent appointment of 500members in ward sanitationcommittees in the month ofJuly, the existing number ofsanitation workers and otherstaff is not enough to clean all100 municipal wards. Whenasked about this issue munic-ipal commissioner, VinayShankar Pandey, said that theMCD authorities are trying tofigure out a way to reduce theexcess work pressure on sani-tation workers and still get thework done.

According to the infor-mation provided by municipalcommissioner, Pandey, at pre-sent, there are 700 permanentsanitation workers employed,119 members of Nala Gang, 75workers for night sweeping,650 members of ward sanita-tion and five contractual work-ers. He also said that 500more members have beenappointed by the ward sanita-tion committees.

When asked about the lessnumber of sanitation workershe said, “We are trying toaddress the gaps in this mat-ter. It will be solved soon.”

He also said that accord-ing to norm, for every 500people, there should be onesanitation worker. That way,earlier when there were only60 wards about 2,100 sanita-tion workers were required.Now with the 100 wards, thecalculation will have to bedone again.

State president ofRashtriya Safai MazdoorSangh, Naresh Vaidh said,“The authorities have beenneglecting the need for moresanitation workers for a longtime. The workers also are notready to get appointed any-more as the pay is less and theareas where they are sent areway far. Most of the times what

they earn gets spent on theirtransportation charges. MCDneeds to address this issue atthe earliest.”

One supervisor on thecondition of anonymity said,“I have five sanitation workersfor the entire ward. Theysweep the roads, they collectgarbage, they clean the drains,they do everything, but theyare not enough.

Even with overtime it isimpossible for five sanitationworkers to cover the entireward area. Sometimes, whenthey clean a drain once andfind it in the same situationfew days later even they getfrustrated and refuse to cleanit again. There are also some

practical issues. Many citi-zens do not even treat sweep-ers decently.”

A local resident of Majraward said, “Few days ago, weasked a sanitation worker toclean the drains nearby ourhouse, he directly asked formoney. When told that theyare being paid by MCD for thispurpose, he simply said that heis doing more work than hebargained for. We also cannotcomment on that. It appearsthat MCD has kept their san-itation workers over workedand the workers in turn venttheir frustration by not clean-ing the drains and streetswhich ultimately affects com-mon public.”

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The Municipal Corporationof Dehradun (MCD) will

be issuing challans for the useof prohibited polythene bagsfrom October 2 onward.Municipal commissioner VinayShankar Pandey said that MCDis planning to distribute atleast one cloth bag in eachhousehold under the MCDarea from September 25.However, amidst this cam-paign, several citizens havenow started to raise demandstating that MCD should alsoprovide or at least suggestalternatives for the plastic andpolystyrene disposables whichare also prohibited.

Municipal commissionerPandey said, “We will be dis-tributing cloth bags fromSeptember 25. We are planningto distribute around 2.5 lakhsuch bags, at least one for eachhousehold. After October 2,challans will be issued to thosefound violating the prohibi-tion.”

He further clarified, “Theidea is not to harass citizens,which is why, we are first pro-viding them with alternativeand asking them to donate

polythene bags to us. Theentire campaign was designedto sensitise common peopleabout the harmful effects ofpolythene use and then askthem to stop using the poly-thene.”

However, a citizen presentat MCD stated that just likecloth bags are alternative ofpolythene bags and Kullad canbe used as alternative of dis-posable plastic glasses. TheMCD should also sensitisepeople about alternatives forother banned items.

He said, “Even though weknow that plastic and poly-thene can cause a number ofside effects and even cancer,what we cannot see directly issomething we are less con-cerned about. It is great to raisepublic awareness but unlessthere are some reliable alter-natives to fall back upon thisban on polythene will not beeffective for long.”

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In a two day-workshop onskill development in waste

management as per waste man-agement rules 2016, UrbanDevelopment Minister MadanKaushik said that to keep thecity clean, the onus lies on themunicipal corporation but thisdoes not mean that the wholesystem of waste managementcan be tackled by a single offi-cial or a workman rather it isa teamwork. He said it was allthe more necessary in a city likeHaridwar where millions oftourists come during festivals.Every workman should do hisduty with responsibility, thenalone something can beachieved

Pointing to the announce-ment made by the StateGovernment for rewarding theurban local bodies whichachieve among top positions inthe national rankings, he saidthat one has to work with ded-ication to come in that list. Hesaid that because of the mis-management, such targets were

not being achieved inHaridwar. Citing the exampleof Indore city, Kaushik said thatit had the same resources asHaridwar but it had topped incleanliness while Haridwar waslagging behind.

He also said that Petroleumministry was interested in gen-erating fuel from the plasticwaste collected in the districtand purchase it too. If thiscould materialise, there wouldbe additional income for themunicipal corporation.Municipal commissioner UdayRana and other officials of thecorporation were also presentduring the workshop.

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The chairman of theUttarakhand Public Service

Commission, LieutenantGeneral (retd) A S Rawat hassaid that the students shoulddream big for achieving successin life as dream is the seed ofthe reality. He was addressingthe students during a workshoporganised by the Career coun-

selling training and placementcell of Doon University here onFriday. He said that every per-son faces adverse conditions atsome point of his or her life butthe one who bravely faces themand overcomes the challengesis the true leader. Lt Gen Rawatalso elaborated about whitecollar, blue colour and yellowcollar jobs to the students. TheVice Chancellor (VC) of the

Doon University C S Nautiyalhis primary objective is to cre-ate congenial environment foracademic and research activi-ties in the university.

He also informed about theacademic activities of the uni-versity. Dean Student Welfare(DSW) Professor H C Purohit,other members of faculty andstudents were present on theoccasion.

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Dehradun RegionalTransport Office on Friday

issued a challan to a 9-year-oldboy driving an e-rickshaw andhas seized the vehicle.

The juvenile has been senthome and challan under theMotor Vehicles (Amendment)Act 2019 has been sent tocourt. Assistant RegionalTransport Officer (ARTO)Arvind Pandey said that onFriday, the department issuedtotal 60 challans and five vehi-cles were seized.

ARTO Pandey said, “OnFriday we conducted cam-paign at Rajpur Road andMussoorie Road, during whichseveral challans wereissued to people talking onphone while riding or driving,over speeding and riding with-out helmet.

Citizens are requested tonot give their juveniles vehiclesto operate as under theamended act parents or vehicle owner can be penalisedwith heavy fine or sentencedto jail or maybe both,” headded.

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Uttarakhand TransportMahasangh conducted a

review meeting of the com-pounding rates with all trans-port unions of State inRishikesh on Friday. In themeeting, it was decided thateven though the reduction incompounding rates for sometraffic offences has providedsome relief to the unions, thereare still certain aspects of theMotor Vehicles (Amendment)Act 2019 that need revision, forwhich Mahasangh is planningto submit a memorandum tothe Chief Minister Trivendra

Singh Rawat and to TransportMinister Yashpal Arya.

The Mahasangh presidentSudhir Rai said, “During themeeting it was decided thateven though the rates have notbeen reduced as per our expec-tations, it is still better than itwas before.

However, there are stilltwo-three demands that wewould like to keep in front ofthe CM or to the transportminister.

These demands includeprohibiting police departmentfrom issuing challan to thecommercial vehicles operat-ing here. This will reduce the

chances of corruption and willalso save time of the passengersas well the vehicles owners.”

He further said, “In addi-tion to that we are also goingto point out our earlier demandthat if a driver is found drivingdrunk he should be penalised,but the vehicle should not beseized.

As vehicle owners we can’tbe held responsible for thedriver drinking halfwaytowards the destination.

For this it is important forthe state to do revision of theliabilities set in this matterand make sure that the citizensdon’t get harassed.”

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Athree-day BusinessExcellence Summit on the

‘Innovating Business’ by theXavier Institute ofManagement, Bhubaneswar(XIMB) began here on Friday.

Chief Secretary AsitTripathy, Tata Steel TQM andSteel Business President AnandSen, Xavier University Vice-Chancellor Antony Uvari SJ,Registrar EA Augustine andAcademic Dean Dr ShridharKumar Dash graced the inau-gural event as guests.

Focusing on the theme ofthe summit Tripathy said,“Unless you have empathy forthe people at the bottom of the

pyramid, it doesn’t make goodbusiness sense.”

Sen spoke what marketleaders do in tough times thatmake them better than therest. He emphasised howimportant it is for organisationsto focus not just on the profits,but to cater to the needs of allthe stakeholders with a view onsustainable growth with a focuson cross functional manage-ment. On the penultimate day,a panel discussion on “Invest,Innovate and Integrate” withvarious co-founders and CEOsof CDS Development CentreLLP, BiziBean, Sequioa Fitnessand Sports Technology, Lenovoshall take centre-stage duringthe morning session.

An analytics workshop on"Delivering Propositionthrough Analytics" by L&TFinancial Services AnalyticsHead Ashesh Kumar will beconducted.

The final day shall com-mence with a leadership talk byThe Thickshake Factory co-founder Yeshwanth Nag fol-lowed by a panel discussion onthe burning question “IsDisruptive Innovation the onlyway to create value?”.

UTI Mutual Funds EVPSiddharth Dash will deliver aleadership talk that would befollowed by DXC TechnologiesDirector Sabyasachi Das on“How to Tame AutomationSprawl?".

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Leveraging the recast invest-ment climate in Punjab,

leading Japanese steel manu-facturer Aichi Steel has collab-orated with Ludhiana-basedVardhman Special Steels givingfurther impetus to the export,employment and steel manu-facturing potential in the state.

The Aichi Steel — an affil-iate of Japan’s Toyota MotorCorporation — would intro-duce cutting edge technologyin the state through Vardhmanbesides improving quality of itsproducts, reducing operationalcost and bring process effi-ciencies.

“Earlier to this develop-ment, deliberations betweenPunjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh andAmbassador of Japan to IndiaKenji Hiramatsu took placethrice at New Delhi andChandigarh regarding indus-trial and investment scenario inPunjab. This partnership isaimed at achieving sustain-able growth with the ChiefMinister’s ‘Make in Punjab’vision,” said an officialspokesperson of Invest Punjab.

Pertinently, VardhmanSpecial Steels’ vice-chairmanand managing director SachitJain accompanied by Japan’sAmbassador in India KenjiHiramatsu had apprised theChief Minister about the agree-ment during pre-summit inter-action with foreign missions byCapt Amarinder in New Delhi

last week. The Chief Ministerhad assured fulsome supportand cooperation from StateGovernment to further boostthe steel and automotive sectors.

Spokesperson said that thispartnership will also set a sig-nificant precedence for otherplayers in the region to aug-ment their product portfoliowith similar technological col-laboration with internationalcompanies. It will also give a fil-lip to FDI in India and willdirectly be in line with NationalSteel Policy of achieving300MT of crude steel capacityby 2030, said the spokesperson.

Briefing about the part-nership, Vardhman’s Jain saidthat one of the key objectives ofthis partnership is “to developspecial steel grades for auto-motive companies in India so

as to help fill the gap of pro-viding substitution of steel thatis currently being imported. Weplan to later export this specialgrade of steel to South Asia andEurope as well”.

Japan keen to invest inelectronics, IT and food sectorin Punjab Union FoodProcessing Industries MinisterHarsimrat Kaur Badal onFriday said that Japan hadevinced interest in investing inthe field of electronics, infor-mation technology and foodprocessing sector in Punjab.

Harsimrat said that thiswas conveyed to her by theJapanese envoy KenjiHiramatsu during a meeting inDelhi on Friday. “Besidesevincing interest in invest-ments in Punjab, the Japaneseenvoy had also gave an updateon projects and MoUs signedbetween Japanese and Indianfirms of food processing sectorduring World Food India 2017.Based on this update, I canconfidently state that Japaneseinvestment in India is set to riseexponentially in the next fewyears,” she added.

The Minister said that thediplomat also extended an invi-tation to her to attend theWorld Assembly for Women(WAW) in Japan. “Hiramatsualso conveyed his government’swillingness to support NGOsworking for women's empow-erment and girl child in India.I am sure this collaborationwould be of immense benefitfor all”, she added.

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Adifferently abled girl whodreams of becoming an

IAS officer on Friday got a tasteof what the job involves.Ferozepur's DeputyCommissioner Chander Gaindinvited 15-year-old, class-11student Anmol Beri to hisoffice and involved her in hiswork on Friday.

Gaind invited Anmol,impressed by her performanceat an anti-drug seminar at herschool, despite suffering fromlocomotor disabilities anddwarfism. Barely two feet eightinches tall, she has problemswalking.

At the seminar, she toldGaind that she wants tobecome an IAS officer oneday. An impressed Gaindpromised her that he wouldmake her the DC for a day, andeven take her advice on variousadministrative issues.

On Friday morning, anofficial vehicle picked Anmolfrom her home and a red car-pet was rolled out for her at theDC's office with Gaind himselfwaiting to receive her. Anmolwas given a chair next to theDC.

“It is a big day in my life. Iwant to become an IAS officer.I have been given this rareopportunity to discharge dutylike DC 'sir' does," said an effu-sive Anmol. "Before reachinghere, I had decided to give fivesuggestions, including one on

how we can make our roadsbetter because they are thekey to our progress,” Anmoltold reporters at the DC's office.

Smiling and posing forpictures, Anmol, who wasaccompanied by her parentsChanchal and Amit Beri, evenattended a few calls meant forthe DC. Gaind told reportersthat he had met her at theschool when he had gone therefor the drug awareness pro-gramme.

"I came to know of her bril-liant academic record. Sheexpressed her desire to becomethe DC and I thought she canlive her dream,” he said. “Sheinteracted with various officersin my office and gave her opin-ion and suggestions on variousissues,” he said.

The girl's mother turnedemotional and said, “Somepeople used to make fun of mydaughter's short height whenwe went on holidays." "But thisdid not affect us or her as shehas got tremendous supportfrom her school and her fam-ily,” she added.

“It's a proud moment forher and us today when heradvice is being sought on var-ious issues. We are thankful tothe deputy commissioner," shesaid.

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Union Home Minister AmitShah will open the fifth

International RamayanaFestival here betweenSeptember 17 and 19 as part ofthe Modi government's exerciseto project the cultural aspect ofIndia's soft power.

The Indian Council forCultural Relations (ICCR) isorganizing the three-day festi-val in the national Capital whichwould show-case Indian cultureand traditions as depicted in theepic tale of Ramayan. The fes-tival, subsequently, would alsotravel to Lucknow and Pune.

Shah will inaugurate the

festival, which will see partici-pation of groups from eightcountries, including Thailand,Cambodia, Indonesia,Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, ICCRpresident Vinay Sahasrabuddhetold newspersons on Friday.

All these countries despitehaving different religionsincluding Islam have continuedwith staging of Ramayan withunique innovations.

After the national capital, thefestival will be held in Lucknowbetween September 20-22 and inPune on September 21.

The foreign troupes will alsovisit Ayodhya, the holy townwhere Lord Ram is believed tohave been born. The first festi-

val in 2015 was inaugurated byPrime Minister Narendra Modi.

Asked if they will also visitthe Ram temple at the disput-ed site, the exact place whereHindus believe Ram was born,Sahasrabuddhe said it is "nat-ural". There will be, however,no performance in the town.

He said cultural dimensionis an important aspect of softpower and the Union govern-ment since 2015 has projectedit strongly.

Groups from Trinidad &Tobago, Mauritius and Fiji willalso participate in the festival,Sahasrabuddhe, a Rajya SabhaMP and the vice president ofthe ruling BJP, said.

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In a major boost to the navalvariant of the indigenously

designed and manufacturedTejas light combataircraft(LCA) Tejas, the planefor the first time performed an‘arrested landing’ on Fridayon Shore Based TestFacility(SBTF) in Goa. Aftermore such trials which includelanding on short strip, thepilots will then try to land ataircraft carrier INSVikramaditya. Once successful,a squadron of Tejas will bedeployed on the aircraft carri-er. The IAF has already induct-ed a few Tejas aircraft.

The two-seater fighter jetin the latest test used a hookmounted on its fuselage tosnare an arrestor wire to rapid-ly come to a halt after landingand this ability to halt in a veryshort distance is a key featureneeded for operations on boardan aircraft carrier when it ismoving or anchored. Moreover,the short landing is extremelyimportant given the limitedspace on the deck of the aircraftdemanding high skills of thepilot and the capabilities of theaircraft. At present, the lone air-craft carrier operates MIG-29s.

The test replicated the con-ditions on the aircraft carrierwhere the jets have to snag thewire on the deck of the ship soas to stop immediately withinthe limited length of the land-ing strip, Defence Research

and DevelopmentOrganisation(DRDO)sourcessaid here. The SBTF is specif-ically built to train naval pilotscomplex manoeuvres of land-ing on the short flight deck ofan aircraft carrier which isimportant step before theymove on to the actual carrier,they said adding the arrestedlanding feat has been achievedby very few countries includingthe US, Russia, UK, France andChina.

The naval LCA undertookits maiden flight in April 2012and two prototypes are nowflying as part of development.The first prototype of theNaval LCA made a successfulfirst flight from the SBTF in2014.

The naval variant of theLCA is designed with strongerlanding gears to absorb forcesexerted by the ski jump ramp

during take-off, to be airbornewithin 200 m, as against 1,000m required for normal run-ways. Its special flight controllaw mode allows hands-freetake-off, reducing the pilot'sworkload, as the aircraft leapsfrom the ramp and automati-cally puts the aircraft in anascending trajectory.

Incidentally, the then Navalchief Admiral Sunil Lanba hadstated during his annual pressconference in2016 that theLCA in the present form "doesnot meet the carrier capabilitywhich has been specified by theIndian Navy ", adding thatthey would continue to supportthe development programme.He had said in response to aquestion stated that the currentweight of the naval LCA withthe underpowered engine did not allow it to fly from anaircraft carrier.

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' ���������&�����"�!����� �!���$��� �+������"�0��� ������ ���+� ���� .�� /� 2 The Interpol hasissued a Red Corner Noticeagainst Nehal Modi, aBelgian citizen, who is stepbrother of prime accusedNirav Modi in the Rs 14,000crore PNB credit fraud case.The RCN comes at the behestof ED.

The ED had registeredtwo separate money launder-ing cases in Punjab NationalBank (PNB) scam againstNirav Modi , Mehul Choksiand others under the provi-sions of Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act on the basis ofFIRs registered by CentralBureau Of Investigation (CBI)under IPC sections relating tocriminal conspiracy andcheating besides provisionsof the Prevention ofCorruption Act.

They were booked by theCBI for allegedly cheating PNBin connivance with certainbank officials by fraudulentlygetting the Letters ofUndertaking (LOU) issued andForeign Letter of Credits(FLCs) enhanced, causingwrongful loss to the public sec-tor bank.

Nehal Modi is one of theaccused in the case againstwhom prosecution complaints(chargesheets) have been filedin the two cases before theSpecial PMLA Court, Mumbai.The Special Court had issuedtwo separate open-ended NonBailable Warrants (NBWs)against Nehal Modi.

"Accused Nehal Modi was

looking after the affairs ofTwin Fields Investments Ltd.,Bailey Bank for prime accusedNirav Modi. Both these com-panies had received aroundUSD 50 Million from dummycompanies of Nirav Modiwhich in turn received thisfund from the fraud commit-ted on PNB," the ED said in astatement.

For Nirav Modi, he becamethe protector and investmentadvisor of "The Ithaca Trust".The Trust got the tainted fundsto the tune of USD 30 Millionafter extensive layering andtwo immovable properties werepurchased in USA from thesetainted funds.

After the case surfaced,Nehal Modi had dealt with theProceeds of Crime and hadtaken away diamonds worthUSD 6 Million and 150 boxesof pearls from Hong Kong andcash of AED 3.5 Millionbesides 50 Kg gold (along withMihir Bhansali- another co-conspirator) from Dubai. Hewas also involved in destroyingthe digital evidence (MobilePhones and Server) pertainingto the case in Dubai.

In the case of MehulChoksi, Nehal Modi wasincharge of Samuels JewellersINC and Diamlink Inc. At hisinstance, these companies hadreceived around USD 19Million of Proceeds of Crime inthe guise of royalty andadvances from the Dubai-based shell companies of MehulChoksi. ���

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Congress-ruled States mustset an example of sensi-

tive and responsive gover-nance, Congress presidentSonia Gandhi on Friday out-lined for the Chief Ministersfrom the party. She had calledthe Chief Ministers to discussways to make their states rolemodels in good governance.

Amarinder Singh(Punjab), Ashok Gehlot(Rajasthan), Kamal Nath(Madhya Pradesh), BhupeshBaghel (Chhattisgarh) and VNarayanasamy (Puducherry)met Sonia at her residencehere.

Pradesh CongressCommittee chiefs ofCongress-ruled states, includ-ing Rajasthan Deputy ChiefMinister Sachin Pilot, werepresent during the meetingwith Gandhi, sources said.Chhattisgarh Congress chiefMohan Markam was the onlyPCC chief among these stateswho was not present due tothe ensuing bypoll inDantewada.

In a meeting of partygeneral secretaries , in-charges, PCC chiefs and CLPleaders here on Thursday,

Gandhi had said, "Let mealso say that we have a specialresponsibility in the stateswhere we are in power — Punjab, Rajasthan,

Madhya Pradesh,Chhatt isgarh andPuducherry."

"These states must standout as examples of sensitiveand responsive governance,accountable and transparentadministration," she said.

The Congress is keen onreversing its fortunes in morestates after having receivedthe worst-ever drubbing inthe recent general elec-tions.Sonia, who took overthe reins of the party after sonRahul

Gandhi quit as its chief,has taken up the challenge toundertake this uphill task ofbringing the Congress back topower.

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Union EnvironmentMinister Prakash

Javadekar on Friday said thatthe Government is committedto give land titles to all legiti-mate forest dwellers as they area part of the forest developmentstrategy.

He was addressing a pressconference here on the con-cluding day of the 14thConference of Parties (COP 14)to the United NationsConvention on Desertification(UNCCD) where the DelhiDeclaration was presented. Ithas called for land based solu-tions to tackle climate changethreats and biodiversity con-servation.

Javadekar said his govern-ment's stand is clear on therights of the forest dwellers, a

matter which is pending beforethe Supreme Court.

"The government believesand is committed to give landtitles to all legitimate forestdwellers. In the strategy for for-est development, tribals anddwellers are a part of it as theylive and protect the forest. Wehave allotted in last five yearsmillions of land titles," theminister said.

On February 13, theSupreme Court had orderedeviction of more than 11.8lakh tribal families and tradi-tional forest dwellers fromforestlands in 16 states.

The order was condemnedby conservationists and forestsdwellers' movements. After a nationwide protest, thegovernment approached thecourt asking it to stay its evic-tion order.

"When the first decisionof the Supreme Court came,we immediately filed the affi-davit in favour of forest rightsand that decision was stayedby the court itself," Javadekarsaid.

At the event, the DelhiDeclaration adopted by over190 nations stressed on theneeds to consider land-basedsolutions for climate action and biodiversity toachieve the long-term goals ofthe Paris Agreement.

"Promote opportunitiesthat support, as appropriate andapplicable, the long-term goalsof the Paris Agreement and thedevelopment of an ambitiouspost-2020 global biodiversityframework, taking into consideration land-based solu-tions for climate action andbiodiversity conservation and

the mutually supportive imple-mentation of the three Rioconventions," the documentsaid.

UNCCD executive secre-tary, Ibrahim Thiaw said theDelhi Declaration is a "power-ful" document and lists the important takeaways fromthe convention.

"My first takeaway is thatthere is a clear link betweenland, climate and biodiversi-ty. Carbon belongs to the soiland should not have beenemitted. Secondly, we needinvestments on land restora-tion," he said.

"Thirdly, the issue ofdrought was taken up seri-ously at the convention and lastly, that land restoration will not happen withoutputting people first," headded.

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The Union Home Ministryhas removed from its black-

list names of 312 Sikh foreignnationals involved in anti-Indiaactivities. Only two persons fig-ure in the list now. The MHA,however, did not reveal theidentity of the two.

The decision was taken onFriday after a review carriedout by different security agen-cies on the Central AdverseList or blacklist containing thenames of Sikh foreign nation-als.

A blacklist on Sikh foreignnationals maintained by vari-

ous Indian missions abroad hasalso been discontinued by thegovernment.

"The Government of Indiahas reviewed the Adverse Listcontaining 314 foreign nation-als belonging to Sikh commu-nity and brought it down to justtwo," an official said. TheseSikh foreign nationals are noweligible to avail visa services tovisit their families in Indiaand reconnect with their roots.

In the 1980s, many SikhIndian nationals and foreignnationals belonging to the Sikhcommunity were involved inanti-India propaganda. SomeSikh Indian nationals fled

India to escape authorities,became foreign nationals andtook asylum outside India.They were placed in the black-list till 2016, making themineligible to avail visa servicesto visit India.

One major issue coming inthe way of grant of con-sular/visa services to asyleesand their family members,mostly belonging to the Sikhcommunity, was maintenanceof local adverse lists by IndianMissions abroad. This practicehas also been discontinued,another official said.

Consequently, all IndianMissions/Posts abroad have

been advised to grant appro-priate visa to all categories ofasylees and derivative asylees(i.E. Family members) whosenames do not figure in theCentral Adverse List, in linewith the procedure followed forother categories of applicants ofthat nationality.

Secondly, all categories ofasylees who become eligible forissuance of long term Indianvisa will also be eligible to applyfor registration as OverseasCitizen of India (OCI) card-holder after they have appliedfor and held normal visas for a period of twoyears, officials said.

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Unsettled by the tight secu-rity measures on the

ground, Ansar Ghazwatul Hindalias Al Qaeda Kashmir hasissued a statement threateningthe police personnel andsarpanches from the State thatthey will be killed withoutwarning as they are playing therole of Government just formonetary gains and are againstIslamic interests post-abroga-tion of Article 370 of the IndianConstitution.

"The freedom movementof Kashmir is on the last stageand the sacrifices of theKashmiris and their blood willbring a fruitful result. Everypart of Kashmir has proved thatno matter what the hurdles are,they will not care about it andwill achieve its own goaltowards freedom eliminatingthe atrocities of the Indiangovernment," claimed thebanned terror group's state-ment which echoes the senti-ment of the Pakistan army-ISIcomplex.

"After abrogation of Artile370, it has proved that thepoliticians and their leaders ofKashmir have made a gravemistake by trusting and sup-porting the Indian govern-ment and the detention ofOmar Abdullah , FarooqAbdullah, Mehbooba Mufti,Sajjad Lone has proved thateven if you side by these Kuffar(non-believers of Islam), theycan never be your well wishers,"it further said.

"Indian government forthe sake of their own benefi-tused the trust of the commonpeople and the leaders of

Kashmir, on 5th of August theIndian Government revokedthe autonomy of Jammu andKashmir. Common Kashmiriand the mainstream leaders areforced to come under one ban-ner. This was the final betray-al which was needed to achievethe success of freedom. Despitethis some police officers, SOG(Special Operations Group),Panchs, Sarpanches, are playingtheir role for the Indian gov-ernment just for monetarygains," it said.

Warning the police offi-cials, SOG personnel and theSarpanches, it said, "Finally,thetrue face of these people thesepeople has been revealed. Andnow these corrupted officersare sarpanches will punished bydeath without arning."

It went on to warn even thepublic by articulating, "Wewarn the general public tomaintain distance from thesepeople. Now there is no placefor them in Kashmir. Our fightis not only for freedomofKashmir but also to conquerHind (India) and liberate itfrom the Kuffar and establishthe rule of Allah on his land.We welcome our mujaheedbrothers from Hind to join us."

It further said, "We warnthe Indian Government not toeven think about settling inKashmir for else will makeKashmira graveyard for theKuffar. By the will of Allah, this

war will be fought through inevery nook and corner ofIndia."

The statement added thatthis message could not be pub-lished through the officialmedia channel of the outfit "AlHurr" due to communicationblackout in Jammu andKashmir. This admissionapparently justifies the com-munication blockade in theValley, Intelligence officialssaid.

Counter terrorism expertDr Rituraj Mate said, the out-fit is seeking to penetrate thefollower base of the main-stream political parties for awidened base and manipula-tion in governance at a futuredate as they will be the first toagain join the mainstream gov-ernance structure. "

The outfit is also seeking torope in the Muslims from theIndian hinterland due to theincompetence of the Kashmirijehadis due to which it isunable to implement the grandstrategy of jehad in entireIndia. It is also compelled to actbecause of the influence of theISIS in the region following thedeadly blast in Colombo earli-er this year.

The outfit will aim to enlistthe support of the ultraMuslims in South India inparticular and communitymembers from other States ingeneral, Dr Mate added.

3�&���������!����-&"$���4 �"�"����� ����New Delhi: The Uttar PradeshGovernment Friday told theSupreme Court that it hascomplied with its directionand extended the tenure of aspecial judge who is conduct-ing trial in the 1992 BabriMasjid demolition case involv-ing BJP veterans L K Advani,M M Joshi and Uma Bharti.

Special judge SurendraKumar Yadav, who is con-ducting the trial in Lucknow,was set to retire on September30. The apex court on July 19

ordered extension of his tenuretill delivery of verdict in thecase.At the outset, the benchsaid it has gone through theaffidavit filed by the chief sec-retary of Uttar Pradesh as wellas the September 5 officememo in this regard.

"We take the affidavit andoffice memo on record.According to the office memo,the compliance of our order iscomplete. We are satisfied thatthe needful has been done," thebench said while disposing of

the matter.Senior advocate

Aishwarya Bhati, appearingfor Uttar Pradesh, told thebench that they have compliedwith the top court's earlierdirection in the matter regard-ing extension of tenure of thespecial judge.

The bench told Bhati thatit has received a communica-tion from the special judge inwhich he pointed out that hehas to remain under theadministrative control of the

Allahabad High Court.Bhati said it was not specif-

ically mentioned in the officememo but since the apex courthad already said this in its July19 order, this would be fol-lowed.

The top court had onAugust 23 asked the UttarPradesh government to lookinto the requests made by thespecial judge in his letter to theapex court, considering theenormity of the work done byhim. PTI

New Delhi: Muslim partiesopposing claims of Hindusover the disputed RamJanambhoomi-Babri masjidsite Friday faced some search-ing questions from theSupreme Court which askedwhy the 'janmsthan' or birthplace of Lord Ram cannothave legal rights like a "juris-tic person" to seek title of theproperty.

A f ive-judge

Constitution bench headedby Chief Justice RanjanGogoi was told by senioradvocate Rajeev Dhavan,appearing for Sunni WaqfBoard and others includingoriginal litigant M Siddiq,that for the first time in1989, deity 'Ram Lalla Virajman' and thebirthplace moved the courtas parties to seek claim over the disputed site. PTI

� .�� /�2 The SupremeCourt on Friday questionedthe maintainability of a pleaseeking permission for re-construction of Guru RavidasTemple in the Tughlaqabadforest area here which wasdemolished by the DelhiDevelopment Authority(DDA) on the apex court'sdirection.

The petition has been filedby two former members ofParliament — Ashok Tanwar

and Pradeep Jain Aditya,whohave sought enforcement oftheir right to worship which,they alleged, "is being denied tothem due to demolition" of thetemple and 'Samadhi' inTughlaqabad.Temple's demoli-tion had led to a series ofprotests in places such as Delhi,Punjab and Haryana and theapex court had on August 19directed the authorities in theseareas to ensure that no law andorder situation is created PTI

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On September 7, US PresidentDonald Trump announced thecancellation of the secret sum-mit in Camp David, his privateretreat in Maryland, attributing

his decision to a terror attack in Kabul onSeptember 5, which killed 12 people, includ-ing a US soldier. At the summit, to have beenheld on September 8, President Trump wasto have had separate talks with PresidentAshraf Ghani of Afghanistan and “major lead-ers” (his words) of the Taliban. Then he toldWhite House reporters on September 9, “Asfar as I’m concerned, they [the talks] are dead.”

What happens now to the peace process,which had stretched over nine meetings,between representatives of the US and theTaliban at Doha? One which had reported-ly yielded a draft peace agreement, whichincluded the provision that the US wouldwithdraw 5,400 troops in 20 weeks while theTaliban gave the guarantee that Afghanistanwould never again be allowed to become abase for terrorism? The draft agreement,reportedly hammered out shortly before thesummit, was expected to have been adoptedat it and made public thereafter.

The prospects of the peace process goinganywhere in the near future are now dim.President Trump has said in a series of tweets,“If they cannot agree to ceasefire during thesevery important peace talks, and would evenkill 12 innocent people, then they probablydon’t have the power to negotiate a mean-ingful agreement anyway.” The Talibanhave also reacted sharply. Their spokesman,Zabiullah Mujahid, told the AFP onSeptember 10, “We had two ways to end (sic)occupation in Afghanistan, one was jihadand fighting, the other was talks and nego-tiations. If Trump wants to stop talks, we willtake the first way and they will soon regretit.” In fact, the fighting has already started— a development underlined by PresidentTrump’s statement that the US military’sonslaught on the Taliban guerrillas was at itsfiercest level in a decade.

Will this daunt the Taliban? Imtiaz Gul,author of The Al Qaeda Connection: TheTaliban and Terror in Pakistan’s Tribal Areasand The Most Dangerous Place: Pakistan’sLawless Frontier, referred in an article in TheTimes of India dated February 6, 2010, to a$ 500 million fund established to woo theTaliban. He said that it would not helpbecause the majority of Taliban fighters, “arag-tag army of a few thousand, take up armsout of commitment and not for economicconsiderations.”

What goes for money, goes for militaryforce. The Taliban’s commitment to theircause, which prepares them for sacrificingtheir lives, is boosted by their conviction thatultimate victory will be theirs as sooner thanlater, the Americans will leave following anagreement carrying the stamp of a Taliban vic-tory. Releasing the Taliban’s post-talk-cancel-lation statement, Zabiullah Mujahid reiterat-ed the militia’s belief that the Americans will

come back to the discussiontable. He added, “Our fight forthe past 18 years should haveproven to the Americans that wewill not be satisfied until we wit-ness the complete end of theoccupation.”

Hence, President Trumpshould realise that the Afghanwar can end either in a completevictory for the US and destruc-tion of the Taliban or an igno-minious defeat for Washington,DC. There is no third way. Also,he must understand that themain reason for the Taliban’sgains in Afghanistan has been theextraordinary nature ofAmerican involvement, whichcan only be described as fightingthe war and yet not fighting it.This has manifested itself on theground in periodic enhance-ment of its presence in terms ofmen, armament and materialand/or unleashing of militaryoffensives and yet not pressing forconclusive victory and allowingits initiatives to lose momentum.On each occasion, this hasenabled the Taliban and AlQaeda (before its waning) tocome back fighting.

It all started with the US-ledoffensive that began inAfghanistan in October, 2001,following 9/11. By December2001, it had thrown the Talibanand Al Qaeda out of Afghanistanlock, stock and barrel.Unfortunately, the invasion ofIraq, which began on March 19,

2003, led to the shifting of a largenumber of American militarypersonnel as well as criticalweaponry and equipment fromAfghanistan to Iraq. This weak-ened the US’ presence inAfghanistan, as did the diversionof George Bush Jr’s administra-tion’s (2000-2008) attention toIraq, relegating the Afghan Warto the back burner. As a result,American commanders weredenied the manpower andresources that they badly need-ed to win in Afghanistan.Recognising its opportunity, theTaliban, which was regaining itsstrength in safe havens inPakistan, provided by the latter’sInter-Service Intelligence (ISI)Directorate, began to push backin Afghanistan from 2005.

Any argument that theTaliban cannot absorb punish-ment indefinitely and theircommitment would eventual-ly wear thin, does not wash. Itdid not weaken after they weretrounced in 2001. They have tobe defeated and not allowed tostage a comeback through con-tinued military presence. Allthis will cost continued loss ofAmerican lives and money.Can Washington, DC afford it?Can the US make the kind ofmilitary effort required todefeat the Taliban?

For an answer to the firstquestion, one must begin withanalysing the consequences ofa Taliban victory. To begin

with, what would it mean forAfghanistan? Announcing hisnew policy on Afghanistanand Pakistan on March 27,2009, the then US PresidentBarack Obama had said, “Forthe Afghan people, a return toTaliban rule would condemntheir country to brutal gover-nance, international isolation,a paralysed economy, and thedenial of basic human rights tothe Afghan people — especial-ly women and girls.” This holdstrue even now. The Talibanhave not changed their spots.

As to the consequences forthe US, one must first consid-er what would happen to thejihadi world and the Taliban.The former, in bit of a disarrayfollowing the rout of the IslamicState in West Asia and the fad-ing of the Al Qaeda, wouldreceive a massive shot in thearm from a Taliban victory.More, gaining immensely inprestige, the Taliban wouldemerge as the jihadi world’sheroes, attracting to themselvesthe remnants of jihadi groupsscattered globally — leading tothe rise of a massive, unitedjihadi movement under theirleadership and committed toenforcing Sharia rule worldwideby force. A resurgent burst ofterror attacks would then hit theUS and the West.

(The writer is ConsultantEditor, The Pioneer, and anauthor)

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Sir — It has been reported thatFacebook and Google have beenstanding up to anti-trust investiga-tions in the US, which have toughrules and regulations. There mustbe strong support and encourage-ment for technology hubs acrossthe world. Opposition to and fre-quent lawsuits against Google arean act of harassment. In general,most millennials use technology toadvance their knowledge. Let therebe a balance of power to ensuremaximum reach of technology inthe best interests of all.

P Senthil Mumbai

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Sir — The Centre has beendirecting banks not to be toughin dealing with defaulters ofbank loans of up to �2 crore.Recently, the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) made it compulsoryfor banks to link the repo ratewith interest rate but it was notmade applicable for non-bankingfinancial institutions (NBFCs).Likewise, a complete waiver offoreclosure charges on prepay-

ment of bank loans was also notmade applicable to NBFCs.

Since NBFCs also act likebanks, all such guidelines shouldbe uniformly applicable to them,too. Also, as NBFCs give loans,the TDS provision on the inter-est portion of EMIs must not be

applicable for NBFCs as mostborrowers do not claim TDSfrom them, which becomes prof-it for the latter. NBFCs should bedirected to deposit unclaimedTDS in Government account.

Madhu AgrawalNew Delhi

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “The messenger is wrong”(September 13). Before address-ing any big issue, it has to beacknowledged first. This is where

it has faltered. The Governmenthas to first admit that indeed weare witnessing an economic slow-down. Latest data point to aneconomy fast losing steam. Grossdomestic product (GDP) grew atfive per cent in the first quarter(April-June), the weakest growthin six years. Unemployment is ata 45-year high.

Nobody else but theGovernment is to be blamed forthe current scenario. There havebeen tepid interventions by theGovernment at a time when theactual need is to formulate a com-prehensive plan to revive theeconomy. Irresponsible state-ments from some Ministers haveonly added anxiety.

There are multiple reasonswhy almost every sector is in thedoldrums — there are massive jobcuts in the automobile industryand agriculture remains in per-petual distress. The Governmentwill do well to introspect and lookat each factor separately before itstarts finding a solution to reviveeconomic growth and employ-ment rates.

Bal GovindNoida

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The pursuit of growth over social justice, whichhas been the defining credo of classical econ-omists, has brought prosperity to most devel-

oping societies. But it has also created hugeinequalities. The argument that economic growthis the road to social justice has been relentlessly advo-cated for a long time, with several negative conse-quences for poor societies.

In search of inclusive growth: The question thathas for long engaged development economists andproponents of social justice is, does acceleratedgrowth translate into inclusive growth? Amartya Senbelieves that to think in terms of only income ratherthan achievements of particular living conditions,like health and well-being, is to miss something crit-ical. Despite considerable economic growth andincreasing self-confidence as a major global play-er, modern India is a disaster zone in which mil-lions of lives are wrecked by hunger and by pitiableinvestment in health and education services, heargues. It is now an acknowledged reality that eco-nomic growth has failed to quell social dissatisfac-tion around the world.

India continues to systematically under-per-form on most social indicators — education, health,sanitation, life expectancy, child mortality, genderequality — for its level of income. It’s also system-atically under-performing on improvements in theseindicators for its rate of Gross Domestic Product(GDP) per capita growth over time. In other wordswe can also call this phenomena, “growth withoutdevelopment.” Large inequalities exist between menand women, between urban and rural areas andbetween regions. The donor and Government-sup-ported social assistance programmes that sought toaddress these lags have not succeeded. This followsa long history of failed Government and aid pro-grammes to address social lags.

Equity is now considered instrumental to thepursuit of long-term prosperity in aggregate termsfor society as a whole. This can ensure that econom-ic benefits of growth are broadly shared. All this callsfor research on the relationship between growth,inequality, poverty and health. We need to ask hardquestions rather than assuming the answers

GDP is a partial picture: It is now being wide-ly argued that GDP is far from a robust indicatorof social welfare. GDP simply totals up everythingmade within an economy in a year, from widgetsto whizzy financial products, at their market value.Dubbed as one of the greatest inventions of the 20thCentury, GDP has long been a closely watched met-ric for politicians, administrators, policy doctors andjournalists alike. But it is no longer lionised and ourlove affair with it may be coming to an end because,as economic historian Adam Tooze calls, it is “a nar-row and somewhat arbitrary slice of reality.”Economic indicators such as the GDP were neverdesigned to be comprehensive measures of prosper-ity and well-being. Initially used to measure the effec-tiveness of the US economy during World War II,the concept quickly became a universal measure ofeconomic health and progress. An increasingGDP is often seen as a measure of welfare and eco-nomic success. However, it fails to account for themulti-dimensional nature of development or theinherent shortcomings of capitalism, which tendsto concentrate income and, thus, power. GDP is not,on its own, an adequate gauge of a country’s devel-opment. Development is a multi-dimensional con-cept, which includes not only an economic dimen-

sion but also involves social, environmen-tal and emotional dimensions.

One of the dangers of excessive focuson GDP growth is manifested in the tun-nel vision it has created among viewers.Issues affecting the poor and the margin-alised have been sidelined and their sta-tus quo continues to persist. The rich con-tinue to accumulate wealth, both by legit-imate and illegitimate means. The resultis a no-brainer, a greater inequality. GDPgrowth does not take into account a num-ber of important things such as equity indistribution of wealth or quality of life andwell-being. GDP growth also does notconsider the extent of institutional corrup-tion, which is one of the biggest obstaclesin achieving equitable, quality growth anddistributive justice. A major example is themiserable state of the banking sectorwhich is plagued with a gigantic size ofnon-performing loans and where default-ers are enjoying near-immunity.

A multi-dimensional approach:There are several social economists whobelieve that inclusive growth has to begrounded in inclusive governance. In theabsence of inclusive governance, thepeople at the grassroots, that is, the intend-ed beneficiaries of social programmes, areleft desperately dependent on a bureau-cratic delivery mechanism over whichthey have no effective control. The alter-native system would be participatorydevelopment, where the people them-selves are enabled to build their futurethrough elected representatives responsi-ble to the local community and, therefore,responsive to their needs. Successfuldevelopment practitioners have alwaysrecognised the richness of this local wis-dom. It is in this context that real devel-opment paradigms based on participato-ry processes argue for involvement of localcommunities in all strategies andapproaches designed for their well-being.Development expert Dani Rodrik laid

major emphasis on the importance of localknowledge and argued that standardisedblueprints must not emphasise at theexpense of local learning and local exper-imentation. He believed that participato-ry and decentralised political systems arethe most effective ways for processing andaggregating local knowledge. By involv-ing local communities in development, wecan ensure more equitable and justgrowth — something which is not cap-tured by the GDP.

The GDP is a challenge for the cred-ibility of economics or that of the policy-makers who rely on it for ideation. GDPwas not meant to be an anchor metric fortargetting national economic perfor-mance or a measure of national well-being. It had several other purposes butat some stage in its journey it became auniversal indicator for all things.

There are many alternative measures,including the Human Development Index(HDI), introduced by the United Nationsin 1990, and the OECD’s (Organisationfor Economic Co-operation andDevelopment) Better Life Index, which arefar superior measures of the quality of lifeand well-being.

We need to have a broad and integrat-ed view of development. This emphasison inclusive growth should not imply thatwe should not pursue growth as a keyderiver of financial progress or thatinclusive growth is an oxymoron. Boththeoretically and empirically, growth andchanges in income distribution should gohand-in-hand in order to achieve inclu-sive growth. But this positive relationshipshould neither imply that an increase inincome inequality is inevitable, nor thatit is desirable.

Growth is actually the size of the pieincreasing. In principle, a bigger piemakes it feasible to give everyone a pieceof it and if it is growing, the size of the pieshould increase, not necessarily in the

same proportion. This is the essence of theso-called Pareto criterion invoked by econ-omists. But markets do not guarantee thatall the slices of the pie will increase — theycan also get smaller. It is here that policyplanners will have to work out a prior bal-ance so that both growth and equity geta leg-up. This tide should lift both theboats.

Why balance?: A robust inclusivegrowth strategy requires a combination ofpolicies that stimulates economic growthand fosters equality of opportunity, whileproviding a social security net to the mostvulnerable. As such, economic policiesdirected at promoting structural transfor-mation and creating productive employ-ment for poor people will have to be com-plemented by investments in human cap-ital and other interventions that advancesocial inclusion, and equal access tojobs. There is consensus also on the needfor social protection measures for the mostvulnerable groups in society. It is also beingemphasised that Governments mustwiden their tax base to meet socialspending expenditure to sustainably sup-port inclusive growth.

Our original ideas of developmentwere quite well-grounded and realistic.However, at some point along the way, wehave ended up reducing the very conceptof development to soaring GDP growthrates and lost sight of the very purpose ofdevelopment itself: Improving people’swell-being.

Growth is a necessary but not suffi-cient condition for robustly raising medi-an living standards. Accordingly, policy-makers and citizens have been asking foran alternative, or at least complementary,bottom-line metric that measures the leveland rate of improvement in shared socio-economic progress.

(The writer is Member, NITI Aayog’sNational Committee on Financial Literacyand Inclusion for Women)

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It was about noon whenPadmabati Naik, an AuxiliaryNurse Midwife (ANM), set off to

check on a pregnant woman. It wasa hot day and she was about to pulla water bottle out of her bag whenshe heard a noise. She quickly tookrefuge behind a tree and waited withbated breath as an elephant lumberedacross the road. Once the pachydermwas out of sight, she breathed a sighof relief and continued her journey.

This was not Naik’s firstencounter with an elephant. As anANM at a Primary Health Centre(PHC) located in Kaptipada block, apredominantly tribal area in Odisha’sMayurbhanj district, Naik has tocross a forest to reach the villages

scattered along the way. Although shehas been traversing this path for thelast 25 years, Naik still feels a bit ner-vous. However, this hasn’t stoppedher from ensuring that all the 1,000households under her charge receivetimely health care.

It’s this dedication and determi-nation that has brought down mater-nal and Infant Mortality Rates (IMR)in the areas where she works.

Over the last decade, there hasbeen no maternal and infant deathin the three villages and 33 hamletsunder her care. This is a big achieve-ment for a State where the MaternalMortality Ratio (MMR) of 180 (for100,000 live births) is way above thenational average of 130. Naik alsosteps in to conduct deliveries in theabsence of a doctor. “I have receivedtraining to do so. I have conductedabout 88 deliveries at the PHC. Thewomen also feel confident as theyknow me. Since I monitor them fromthe beginning of their pregnancy, ithelps me identify high risk mothers.When I feel these would-be mothersneed specialised care, I give them redcards and refer them to the

Government hospitalin Cuttack. So far,200 high risk moth-ers have had safedeliveries at theCuttack hospital. Infact, all deliveries inmy area have been ina health facility,” saysNaik. Odisha hasrecorded a 45 percent drop in IMRover the last 12 years.An analysis of theIMR trend over the2005-17 periodrevealed that theState has reducedIMR from 75 for1,000 live births in 2005 to 41 in2017. However, it is still higher thanthe national IMR of 33.

In fact, the latest SampleRegistration System survey 2017data indicates that of every 1,000children born in Odisha, 33 of themdo not survive to celebrate their firstbirthday.

Sadly, Odisha has the third-highest IMR in the country behind

Assam and MadhyaPradesh.

Naik is awarethat her State lagsbehind others in thecountry and hasmade special effortsto follow up on thechildren. Withimmunisation beingan important way toprotect childrenfrom preventablediseases, disabilitiesand death, Naik hasmade sure that noneof the 852 children inthe zero to three agegroup, in the areas

under her care, has missed vaccina-tions. This is why the work done byfrontline health workers like Naik isvital to improving maternal andchild mortality and morbidity, all keyindicators of the health and well-being of women and children. Theirwork becomes critical especially forthe marginalised communities livingin difficult terrains, who often fallthrough the cracks.

In August 2019, Naik receivedthe annual Plan India Impact Awardfor her commitment and dedicationto bring down maternal and infantmortality.

“The award recognises the con-tribution of frontline health workerslike Naik as well as volunteers andyoung people who have made a dif-ference, and celebrates their roles aschange makers in their communities.We wanted to honour the last milechampions who brave several chal-lenges to bring about change. Wereceived over 190 nominations from21 States. After a rigorous evaluationprocess, nine national winners werechosen. Naik has been honoured forher tireless efforts as an ANM totransform lives in her community,”says Anuja Bansal, ExecutiveDirector Plan India.

However, the fact remains thatbefore transforming the communi-ty, Naik had to change herself. Thiscame about after she realised thatcommunicating health messages inOdia, the State language, was nothaving the desired effect. Naikrealised that she had to learn the local

language of the Santhal and Kolotribes to build a rapport with thecommunity.

“I could not expect them to learnOdia. So I learnt their language. Ittook some time but once I beganspeaking in their language, theawareness improved and changewas quicker,” recalls Naik.

The first visible change came inthe form of increased attendance atVillage Health, Sanitation andNutrition Day (VHSND). Prior to2008, VHSND sessions had notbeen held in the area. But after Naik’sintervention, these sessions werestarted and attendance steadilyincreased.

“The women had never dis-cussed reproductive and sexualhealth or menstrual hygiene before.They didn’t understand the impor-tance of exclusive breast-feedingand nutrition. Child marriage is thenorm among the community. But Iwas able to stop 15 such marriages.I am happy I could bring somechange. But I want to do more,” saysa beaming Naik.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

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Shalini Khanna (68), fightingfor justice for the last three

decades on behalf of her mar-tyred husband, SquadronLeader Ravi Khanna, is gettingready to fight another 'decisive'battle of her life.

In her own words, ShaliniKhanna told reporters, "I recent-ly suffered a massive strokeand was admitted in the ICU forabout one month and here I amsitting in front of you". She said,"I was reborn. I had taken apledge to fight this battle till mylast breath. Now I leave it to thewisdom of Judges to punish thekillers of my husband as per lawof the land".

Referring to the reopeningof murder case against separatistleader Yasin Malik, responsiblefor killing her husband andthree other IAF personnel onJanuary 25, 1990, ShaliniKhanna said, "if theGovernment has decided toreopen the case, I think they aregoing to deliver justice".

"They have not done so tomake mockery of the system".

The present dispensation hasalready made it clear that theyare going to adopt policy of'Zero tolerance' towards acts ofterrorism. Let us see what hap-pens in this case now. "Thewhole world is watching us. Itis high time we should get jus-tice now", she said making apassionate appeal.

According to officialsources, JKLF Chairman YasinMalik could not be producedbefore a TADA court here onWednesday. Now the TADAcourt in Jammu has ordered thatYasin Malik be personally pro-duced for trial on October 1.

Speaking to reporters ather home in Jammu, ShaliniKhanna also posed some direct

questions to the Government ofIndia while giving vent to her ireagainst the 'successive'Governments at the helm ofaffairs. "I am the first victim, Iwant to ask Defence Ministryand the Government of Indiawhether names of Indian AirForce Personnel, including myhusband killed by Yasin Malikappear in the National WarMemorial in New Delhi. If yes,please inform me on whichnumber plate and if not why itis so? She said, no one decorat-ed my husband despite makinga supreme sacrifice. Ironically,politicians ganged up togetherto shield Yasin Malik.

Remembering the supremesacrifice made by her husbandin Uniform, Shalini Khannasaid, “Yasin Malik not onlymurdered my husband. Hekilled my parents. My mother-in-law, my father-in-law and mymother died barely 10 monthsafter the killing of my husband.I was left alone with two minorkids. "No one came forward toconsole me. I was not RubaiyaSayeed. My father was notstanding with me, she said.

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In a major setback to formerKolkata Police

Commissioner Rajiv Kumar,Calcutta High Court on Fridayturned down the senior IPSofficer’s petition seeking fur-ther protection from arrest bythe Central Bureau ofInvestigation in connectionwith the Saradha and other chitfund cases.

The Court of JusticeMadhumati Mitra vacated theorder granting him protec-tion from custodial interroga-tion earlier granted by thesame court.

Rejecting his argumentthat he was being singled outand targeted by his interroga-tors, the Court said that Kumar— currently the AdditionalDirector General of CID —should act like an honest and

law-abiding officer and coop-erate with the central agency.

Service of notice forappearance before the CBIcould not be termed as malafide, the court said adding “ifwe do not remove protectionthen we will be interfering withthe investigation.”

The order leaves Kumarexposed to the CBI’s option —on whether to arrest him ornot.

A senior officer in theCentral Agency said the topcop had been served with anotice of appearance by 10:00am on Saturday and added hewould be dealt with “accordingto his conduct.” He said “if hecooperates in the investigationhis liberty may be consideredand if he does not then we willhave to think of available legalprocedures.”

Even as a Dy SP and anInspector of the CBI servedsummon notice at the ParkStreet bungalow of the seniorIPS officer highly placedsources in the Agency said he

was “not traceable and notconnectable” adding repeatedattempts at catching him on hismobile phone had failed.

Kumar had earlierobtained temporary protec-tion from Supreme Courtbefore the Apex Court vacat-ed its own order directing himto approach the lower courts.On whether he had otheroptions available a seniorcounsel appearing on behalf ofthe CBI said there was nooption of appeal against crim-inal revision in High Court.“He can however move theApex Court against Friday’sorder once again or else he canapply for anticipatory bailseither in Barasat District Courtor the High Court.”

Kumar had headed theSpecial Investigation Team toinvestigate the �2,500 crore Saradha chit fund casebefore the Supreme Courthanded the case over to theCBI which has ceaselessly beencomplaining of non-coopera-tion by the top cop.

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Chennai: Coming down heav-ily on the Tamil NaduGovernment over illegal hoard-ings, the Madras High Court onFriday wondered how manymore lives should be lost as aresult of such banners, endan-gering the lives of people.

A day after a 23-year oldwoman techie came under thewheels of a water tanker after shefell down losing balance whenan illegal hoarding crashed onher in a city suburb, the courtasked if the government will takea firm stand against such unau-thorised banners.

"How many more litres ofblood the state governmentneeds to paint the roads with,"a Division Bench of Justices MSathyanarayanan and NSeshasayee wondered.

The court asked whether atleast now Chief Minister KPalaniswami will be willing toissue a statement against suchunauthorised banners.

"There is zero respect forlives in this country," the courtsaid pointing to "sheer bureau-cratic apathy."

"We have lost faith in thisgovernment," the courtobserved.

The observations weremade came when the benchheard a plea by social activist

'Traffic' Ramaswamy and anurgent mentioning by advo-cates V Lakshminarayanan andV Kannadasan.

They brought to the court'snotice the techie's death onThursday following crashing ofthe illegal hoarding.

"Just imagine the girl couldhave contributed to the GDP ofthis nation. Couldn't that politi-cian have conducted the familymarriage without banners?" thecourt asked.

At least now the politicalparties must start a movementagainst such illegalities, the courtsaid. The bench then directedthe appearance of police officersand Chennai corporation offi-cials in charge the area where theaccident occurred to be presentin the court later in the day andadjourned the plea's hearing.

The techie riding a two-wheeler lost balance and felldown after an illegal hoardingput up by an AIADMK func-tionary crashed on her and shewas run over by a water tankerthat came just behind her. PTI

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Arrah (Bihar): A court here onFriday issued a non-bailablewarrant against a sitting RJDMLA in a case relating to sex-ual abuse of a minor girl.

District and Sessions JudgeRK Singh, who holds the chargeof special POCSO court, issuedthe NBW against Sandes MLAArun Yadav following an appli-cation filed by the districtpolice.

"The MLA has beenuntraceable for some time evenas a special investigating teamhas been conducting raids at hisproperties here and in Patna,"Superintendent of Police ofBhojpur, Sushil Kumar, said atthe district headquarters here.

"We have put his mobilephone on surveillance but it has

been switched off for nearly 48hours. Bodyguards providedto him by the police have alsobeen withdrawn. We hope thatwith the NBW having beenissued, he will surrender," hesaid.

The 12-year-old girl hadalleged that a woman namedAnita Devi took her to Patnaunder the pretext of getting hergood education and employ-ment, he said.

In her FIR lodged in July,the girl also claimed that she ranaway from a rented house inPatna where she was lodged byAnita Devi and from where thekingpin of the racket SanjayPaswan used to send her andother girls of her age to clients,the SP said. PTI

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Several close family membersof a PDP leader in Kishtwar,

including his father and elderbrother, on Friday survived12-hour long hostage crisisafter three gun-totting terror-ists barged into their house inGurian area of Kishtwar andfled the house after thrashinghis security guard along withhis service weapon.

The 'sensational' incident,second in the last six months,prompted district authorities toimmediately impose curfew inKishtwar to prevent escape ofthis group of terrorists.Additional forces weredeployed on ground zero tocordon off the area beforelaunching a massive manhuntin the area.

Before fleeing, in the one ofthe family cars of a PDP leader,three terrorists kept his father,elder brother, women and chil-dren as hostages in separaterooms for about 12 hours in thehouse.

The incident came to lightafter the security guard, tied inrobes, freed himself and rushedto the nearest police station toinform the snatching of his ser-vice weapon by a group of ter-rorists.

Narrating their 12-hour

long ordeal, Dr Sheikh Nazir,elder brother of PDP leaderAdvocate Sheikh Nasir, toldreporters in Kishtwar, "Threeterrorists barged into theirhouse on Thursday nightbetween 11.30-12.00 pm andconfirmed the identity of mybrother."

He said my brother is a dis-trict president of PDP inKishtwar. They snatched hismobile phone and pressurisedhim to call his PSO. Heclaimed, they spent the wholenight in great trauma. "Thechildren were scared andwomen were kept in separaterooms," he added. Dr ShiekhNazir also claimed, the terror-ists repeatedly claimed theyhave been directed to kill PDP

district president along with hisPSO.

Dr Sheikh Nazir alsoinformed reporters, "One of thethree terrorists were holdingAK rifle while two others werearmed with pistols." He said,"On Friday morning around 9am they directed all of us toassemble in one room and tiedhands of one of the servantswith ropes."

Dr Sheikh Nazir said,"They threatened my brother,by placing pistol on his fore-head, to call his PSO to reporton duty. On his arrival, "theseterrorists beat him up andsnatched his service weaponand also tied him with robes inone of the rooms." Dr SheikhNazir claimed, "They demand-

ed us to hand over some ricebags to hide service weaponand sped away in one of thefamily cars after my brotherrefused to hand over keys of hisown car." "While stepping outof the house they had evenlocked the main gate of ourhouse," Dr Nazir told reporters.

Dr Nazir claimed, "First ofall the PSO managed to escapefrom the window of a roomafter freeing himself and it isthen local police and other offi-cers reached the spot.

The incident was reportedbarely 24 hours after threeJeM terrorists were arrested bythe Kathua police while theywere ferrying 6 AK-rifles viaPunjab to Kashmir valley onThursday.

Meanwhile, DeputyCommissioner, Kishtwar,Angrez Singh Rana told ThePioneer. "We have imposedcurfew in Kishtwar town aftera gun-snatching incident wasreported on Friday morning.He said, a large number ofsecurity personnel weredeployed on ground zero totrack down these terrorists.The police teams were search-ing whereabouts of these ter-rorists. Earlier, terrorists hadsnatched service weapon ofhis own PSO in the month ofMarch 2019 this year from his

rented accommodation.For last over one year,

Kishtwar is witnessing terror-ist related violence. The peaceprevailing in the hilly districtwas shattered with the killingof Parihar brothers inNovember 2018. Later, a seniorRSS functionary along with hisPSO was killed inside districthospital by unidentified gun-men in April 2019.

"As per our inputs, namesof Lashkar's Osama and hisaccomplice Zahid and oneunknown militant, have sur-faced in snatching of a weaponfrom the PSO of a politicalleader in Kishtwar," Jammu &Kashmir Director General ofPolice, Dilbagh Singh said.

Singh said that the securi-ty forces, Army and police areafter them, adding, "We are onjob and have launched search-es in the Kishtwar district toapprehend them."

The J&K Police Chief saidthat they will soon be trappedand added, "The militancy is inits last leg in Jammu & Kashmirand the remaining self-styledcommanders of different out-fits will also be neutralisedsoon."

He however, said that so far137 terrorists have been killedin the Valley by the SecurityForces.

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Within days after the StateHome department

accepted his resignation,Mumbai’s former senior policeinspector and yesteryear’sprominent encounter-special-ist Pradeep Sharma formallyjoined the Shiv Sena on Friday.

In a development thatcame ahead of the ElectionCommission declaring theschedule for the MaharashtraAssembly polls, 57-year-oldSharma joined the Shiv Sena inthe presence of Sena presidentUddhav Thackeray.

Thackeray welcomedSharma into the Sena, tiedhim a ‘Shiv-Bandhan’ andhanded him party flag.

The Shiv Sena will in like-lihood field Sharma as its can-didate from Nala Sophara con-stituency located on the out-skirts of Mumbai. This con-stituency has a large number ofnorth-Indian immigrants.

Sharma had resigned fromthe police service in the secondweek of July this year afternearly 36 years of servicemarred by many controversies.

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In what came as a relief toRadhakrishna Vikhe Patil and

two other members of theDevendra Fadnavis Cabinet, theBombay High Court on Fridayrefused to quash their appoint-ment as Ministers, even whiledisapproving the appointmentson moral ground and saying thatthey were done “merely forpolitical gains and convenience”.

Apart from Vikhe Patil, thetwo other newly-appointedMinisters who got reprieve wereShiv Sena leader JayduttKshirsagar and RPI (A) leaderAvinash Mahatekar.

Dismissing a petition chal-lenging the appointment ofVikhe Patil and two otherMinisters, a HC division benchof Justices SC Dharmadhikariand GS Patel observed thatinspired by the electoral victo-ry of the BJP, leaders from otherpolitical parties had joined theruling saffron alliance.

Describing the appoint-ments as “morally incorrect”, theHC bench noted that theseappointments were done for“merely for political gains and

convenience”, but IT refused todisqualify them on the groundthat they had not “defected” tothe ruling alliance.

"The Ministers have beeninducted in the State Assemblymerely for political gains andconvenience. We do not endorsethis. What has been done maystrictly not be morally correctand may have been a politicalplot but we cannot hold that theMinisters defected and are dis-qualified," the two judges noted.

Fadnavis inducted Vikhe-Patil and two others into hisMinistry when he expandedhis Cabinet on June 16 this year,by bringing in 13 new Ministers— eight Cabinet ranked onesand five Ministers of State —into the State Cabinet and drop-ping six existing Ministers fromhis Cabinet.

Vikhe-Patil, whose sonSujay had quit the Congress inMarch this year and won theLok Sabha polls by a margin of2.81 lakh votes fromAhmednagar constituency on aBJP ticket, was rewarded with aministerial berth by the rulingBJP even before he formallyjoined the BJP.

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Ahmedabad: Shweta Bhatt,the wife of dismissed IPS offi-cer Sanjiv Bhatt, who movedthe Gujarat High Court lastyear seeking protection for herfamily, has demanded a freshassessment of the `threat per-ception'.

In an affidavit filed beforeJustice S H Vora on Thursday,she said she was seeking pro-tection for her and her familyand not for her husband whois behind bars for the last oneyear.

Last month theAhmedabad police told thecourt that Sanjiv Bhatt's secu-rity cover was removed in July

2018, two months before hewas arrested in a drug planti-ng case, as neither he nor hisfamily were found to have anythreat.

The decision to withdrawsecurity of 64 persons includ-ing Bhatt was taken after areview of threat perception ofa large number of people as perthe norms, the police had saidin response to Shweta Bhatt'splea.

Her affidavit rebutted the police's contention, sayingthat seeking protection washer fundamental right. TheHC should direct the police to conduct a fresh analysis of

the threat perception, shedemanded.

In her petition she hadsought "armed police protec-tion at the cost of the state"claiming threat to her and herfamily members' lives.

Sanjiv Bhatt, a Gujarat-cadre IPS officer dismissed from service in 2015, was arrested by theCriminal InvestigationDepartment of police inSeptember 2018 for allegedlyplanting drugs to frame up aman when he wasSuperintendent of Police in Banaskantha district in 1996. PTI

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Kolkata: Amidst accusations bythe ruling Trinamool Congressthat BJP is politicising DurgaPuja, Bengal's biggest festivalwhich is less than a month away,a city Puja committee hasrequested Union HomeMinister Amit Shah to inaugu-rate their puja this year.

Senior BJP leader, MukulRoy said on Thursday that thedecision to invite Shah had beentaken by the puja organisersthemselves and the party hadno role to play in it.

The letter to Shah was senton September 11.

Charging the state unit ofthe saffron party with "politi-cising" Durga Puja festival,senior Trinamool Congressleader, minister and patron of

the well known EkdaliaEvergreen Durga Puja com-mittee, Subrata Mukherjee said"BJP is setting a bad trend."

A spokesman of the pujocommittee of Friends Club ofTriangular Park in southKolkata said on Friday, "We arenot associated with any politi-cal party, we don't have anypolitical colour.

"We are inviting Shri AmitShahji as the union home min-ister. His presence will make thepeople of the locality proud, thespokesman said.

Roy denied that BJP is try-ing to meddle with the DurgaPuja celebrations in the state.

He showed newsmen acopy of the letter to Shah's officeby the puja organisers and said

"We (BJP) don't believe indoing politics with Bengal'sbiggest festival with which theemotion and sentiment of thepeople are involved."

"We (state BJP) had mere-ly forwarded the letter to Shah'soffice as requested by the clubauthorities," he said.

Mukherjee said, "Now aparty has suddenly come upwhich is not even hesitating tospoil the mood of Durga Pujacelebrations by bringing in per-sons who had never been partof our Durga Puja". Sanghasree,an old and well known com-munity Durga Puja had todrop its plans to invite Shah forthe inauguration after protestsby Trinamool sympathisers init about a month ago. PTI

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Patna: The estranged wife ofRJD chief Lalu Prasad's elderson Tej Pratap Yadav was onFriday seen storming out of thehouse of her mother-in-lawRabri Devi with tears in hereyes.

Although Tej Pratap'sdivorce petition filed sixmonths after their marriage inMay last year is pending beforea court, his wife Aishwarya Royhas been known to spend a lotof time at her in-laws' placewhich is a few hundred metresfrom the house of her father,RJD MLA Chandrika Roy.

However, an hour afterAishwarya reached RabriDevi's 10, Circular Road resi-dence, in the afternoon onFriday, her car was summoned.

After a few minutes,Aishwarya was seen walkingout of the house hurriedly,wiping tears with the dupatta

she was wearing along with ayellow salwar suit.

Television news channelsshowed her carrying a coupleof bags as she walked towardsthe car, boarded it and left.

Close aides of either fam-ily were tight-lipped about theincident. They only said it wasa "private matter".

Yadav's decision to seekdivorce was met with strongdisapproval from his family,who stood by Aishwarya anurbane management graduatefrom Delhi whose late grand-father Daroga Prasad Rai was

the chief minister of Bihar inthe 1970s.

Repeated attempts by LaluPrasad, who is in Ranchi serv-ing sentences in fodder scamcases, to make his mercurialelder son withdraw the divorcepetition bore no fruit.

Tej Yadav had thrown a fitwhen the party, in an apparentbid to placate Chandrika Roy,fielded him as its Lok Sabhacandidate from Saran, a strong-hold of the RJD supremo.

After his humiliating defeatat the hands of sitting BJP MPRajiv Pratap Rudy, Roy blamedit on "non-cooperation" fromLalu Prasad's family, RJDsources said.

Roy recently made his dis-pleasure public when heskipped a meeting of party leg-islators and has refused to gethis membership of the organ-isation renewed. PTI

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Banda (UP): A 70-year-old man wasbeaten to death by a group of peopleon the suspicion that he was a childlifter at Pinhai Railway Station inChitrakoot district, the police said onFriday.

The deceased, who was wearingsaffron robes, was mistaken for a childlifter by the people on the railway sta-tion on Wednesday and severelybeaten up, Station House Officer,Manikpur, KK Misra said.

The police rushed to the spot afterbeing informed by the station masterand shifted him to the communityhealth centre from where he wasreferred to the district hospital, Misrasaid.

In his statement to the policebefore succumbing to injuries, thedeceased identified himself as RamBharose of Shahjahanpur district andsaid some passengers thrashed him,the SHO said.

A case has been registered againstunidentified persons and investiga-tions are on, the SHO added.

Several cases of innocents beingbeaten up following rumours of childlifting have been reported in UttarPradesh. PTI

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Mumbai: The Bombay High Court onFriday refused to quash the case lodgedagainst civil liberties activist GautamNavlakha in the Koregaon-Bhima violenceand for having alleged Maoist links, not-ing that there was prima facie substancein the case.

"Considering the magnitude of thecase, we feel a thorough investigation isrequired," a division bench of JusticesRanjit More and Bharati Dangre said.

The case is not without basis andabsence of material," it added.

The bench dismissed the petition filedby Navlakha seeking to quash the FIRlodged against him by the Pune police inJanuary 2018 after the Elgar Parishad heldon December 31, 2017 that had alleged-ly triggered violence at Koregaon Bhimain Pune district the next day.

The police had also alleged thatNavlakha and other accused in the casehad Maoist links and were workingtowards overthrowing the government.

"The offence is not limited toKoregaon-Bhima violence. There aremany more facets to it. Hence, we feelinvestigation isrequired," the court said.

After the bench pronounced its judg-ment, Navlakha's counsel Yug Chaudharysought an extension of the interim pro-tection from arrest granted to Navlakha

by the high court after he had filed thepetition. The bench agreed and extend-ed the protection from arrest to Navlakhafor a period of three weeks to enable himto approach the Supreme Court in appealagainst the HC order.

Navlakha and the other accusedwere booked under the provisions of theUnlawful Activities Prevention Act(UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code.

Navlakha's lawyer Yug Chaudharyhad argued that the activistwas an authorand a peace activist and was a specialiston conflict zones.

"He was in the past appointed as amediator by the government of India

when Naxals had kidnapped six police-men. He is in contact with Naxals but thatis only for his books and other fact-find-ing research. How can this contact attractprovisions of the UAPA," Chaudhary said.

"Navlakhahas made democracy pos-sible for those living on the margins. Sucha person should be cherished and cele-brated. But the government is persecut-ing him with charges like waging waragainst the nation and sedition," heargued.

BesidesNavlakha, four others —Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, VernonGonsalves and Sudha Bharadwaj, areaccused in the case. PTI

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Shahjahanpur (UP): The spe-cial investigation team (SIT)probing a post graduate stu-dent's rape allegation againstBJP leader Chinmayanandgrilled him for seven hours andsealed the bedroom at the for-mer union minister's residencehere, police sources said onFriday.

The SIT, which has beenformed on the orders of theSupreme Court, also broughtthe college student toChinmayanand's residence onFriday morning to continuethe probe in her presence andcollect evidence, the sourcessaid.

Chinmayanad was ques-tioned on Thursday night foraround seven hours at thepolice lines and his bedroom atDivya Dham residence wassealed, the sources said.

A team of forensic expertsis also present at the resi-dence, the sources said.

Sources said the BJP leaderhas been asked by the SIT notto leave Shahjahanpur till thecompletion of the probe andpolicemen in large numbers

have been deployed in andaround his residence.

The college administra-tion has declared a holiday fortoday and a notice in thisregard has been pasted on thegate.

The postgraduate studenthas alleged that she was rapedand "physically exploited" fora year by the BJP leader, whoseorganisation runs several col-leges.

The two principals whohead colleges where thewoman has studied were alsoquestioned by the SIT onThursday.

In a letter on the SIT onWednesday, the woman allegedthat some vital evidence wasremoved from her hostel roomby Chinmayanand's supportersbefore it was sealed by thepolice. Her father alleged thatthe supporters removed fromthe room a pair of spectacleswith a camera fitted in them,suggesting that this containedevidence against the BJP leader.The woman also alleged thatthey planted some things thereto tarnish her image. PTI

Jodhpur: The Rajasthan HighCourt on Friday said it willhear on September 23 a plea byself-styled godman Asaramfor suspension of life impris-onment awarded to him forraping a girl in his ashram in2013.

The Jodhpur bench of thehigh court deferred the hear-ing after the public prosecutorsought time for certain for-mality in relation to the appli-cation.

"We were ready for argu-ments but the public prosecu-tor sought 2 weeks time forarguments in the name of cer-tain formalities,” said PradeepChoudhary, counsel forAsaram.

But rejecting the prosecu-tion prayer for 2 weeks time,the division bench of JusticesVinit Kumar Mathur andSandeep Mehta listed the mat-ter for hearing on September23.

This is the second appli-cation for sentence suspensionby Asaram in the high courtafter the first plea was with-

drawn as not pressed by hiscounsels in March this year fol-lowed by the dismissal of theapplication by the court.

Before this, the high courthas rejected an appeal byAsaram to hear his petitionchallenging the life sentence onpriority basis on the groundsof illness and old age.

"But the court rejected hisplea stating that appeals shallnow be listed for hearing in theappropriate order of priority asper the custodial period suf-fered by the accused”, said oneof the prosecution counsel P CSolanki.

In March last year, aJodhpur court had convictedAsaram and two of his associ-ates in a 2013 rape case. He iscurrently serving a life sentencein the Jodhpur central jail.

Two co accused, Shilpialias Sanchita Gupta andSharat had also been sen-tenced to life imprisonmentbut both of them are out onbail after the application of sen-tence suspension by them wereallowed. PTI

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Patna: The Bihar Cabinet onFriday decided to provide �3,000as "immediate assistance" to allthe families living in 896 pan-chayats of 18 districts affected bydeficit rainfall or less crop sow-ing this year.

Approving the DisasterManagement Department's pro-posal, the Cabinet also sanc-tioned �900 crore from theBihar Contingency Fund (BCF)for this purpose, PrincipalSecretary Pratyaya Amrit toldreporters here after the cabinetmeeting. Families living in these18 districts, which have alreadyreceived �6,000 as gratuitousrelief during the floods in Julywill not get the assistance. PTI

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At least 62 people wereinjured, five of them griev-

ously after the police on Fridaylathicharged and fired tear gasshells on a Left Front rallywhich marched 35 km fromSingur towards the StateSecretariat at Nabanna in questof adequate employment oppor-tunities and cheaper education.Five policemen were alsoinjured in the melee when thecrowd pelted stones at them,sources said.

Five of the injured protest-ers undergoing treatment atvarious hospitals of the city werestill in a comatose stage almostfive hours of the action, former

CPI(M) MP Samik Lahiri saidalleging ruling TrinamoolCongress goons joined thepolicemen and threw brickbatsand bombs from the buildingssurrounding Mullick Fatak areawhere the incident took place.

Social media posts showedthousands of protesters affiliat-ed to the Students Federation ofIndia and the Democratic YouthFederation of India and otherLeft Front parties marchingtowards the Nabanna whenthey were stopped by the police.“They threw stones at the policeforcing them to retaliate,” aHowrah Deputy Commissionerof police said adding five police-

men were also injured in theskirmish. The Left Front hascalled for black days to beobserved on Saturday andSunday.

The Friday’s incident comesclose on the heels of a similarmarch taken out by the BJP atCentral Avenue in Kolkataprotesting high electricity tariffin Kolkata. The Left workers hadstarted the protest march onThursday from Singur 35 milesaway the site of botched TataNano plant where thenOpposition leader MamataBanerjee started an anti-landacquisition movement in 2006 toget catapulted to power in 2011.

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India’s eco-nomic growth

is “much weak-er” than expect-ed, according tothe IMF, whichattributed it tothe corporateand environ-mental regulato-ry uncertaintyand lingeringweaknesses insome non-bankfinancial compa-nies.

India’s GDPgrowth rate slipped to 5 percent in the first quarter of2019-20, the lowest in over sixyears, according to latest offi-cial data.

The InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF) in Julyprojected a slower growth ratefor India in 2019 and 2020, adownward revision of 0.3 percent for both the years, sayingits Gross Domestic Product(GDP) will now grow respec-tively at the rate of 7 per centand 7.2 per cent, reflecting aweaker-than expected outlookfor domestic demand.

However, India will still bethe fastest growing major econ-omy of the world and muchahead of China, theWashington-based globalfinancial institution had said.

“We will have a fresh set ofnumbers coming up but therecent economic growth inIndia is much weaker thanexpected, mainly due to cor-porate and environmental reg-ulatory uncertainty and lin-gering weakness in some non-bank financial companies,”IMF spokesman Gerry Ricetold reporters at a news con-ference here on Thursday.

The risks to the outlook aretilted to the downside, he said.

Responding to a questionon the recent GDP figures ofIndia, Rice said the IMF willmonitor the economic situationin the country.

Sharp deceleration inmanufacturing output and sub-dued farm sector activity pulleddown India’s GDP growth to

over six-year low of 5 per centin the April-June quarter of2019-20, according to officialdata released last month.

The previous low in GDPgrowth was recorded at 4.3 percent in January-March quar-ter of 2012-13. India’s eco-nomic growth stood at 8 percent in the same quarter of2018-19.

“The GDP at Constant(2011-12) Prices in Q1 of 2019-20 is estimated at �35.85 lakhcrore, as against �34.14 lakhcrore in Q1 of 2018-19, show-ing a growth rate of 5 per cent,”the National Statistical Office(NSO) said in a statement.

“We will update that assess-ment in the upcoming worldeconomic outlook,” IMFspokesman said.

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The all-powerful GSTCouncil will at its Goa

meeting next week considerdemands for reducing taxes onproducts ranging from cars tobiscuits keeping in mind therevenue position as any cutwill have a direct impact onearnings of states, a seniorgovernment official has said.

The GST Council, headedby Union Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman and com-prising representatives of allstates and Union Territories(UTs), is scheduled to meet onSeptember 20 in Goa amidst aclamour for a cut in tax ratesfrom various industries tobeat the slowdown in theeconomy.

The economic growth hita six-year low of 5 per cent forthe first quarter of the currentfiscal and the government hasannounced a slew of measuresto reinvigorate the sagginggrowth.

There have been demandspouring in from various sec-tors from biscuits to automo-biles and FMCG to hotels toreduce tax rates in the wake ofperceived economic slow-down, the official said.

The argument propagatedhas been to boost the con-sumption and the domesticdemand by reducing Goodsand Services Tax (GST) ratesfurther.

However, this argument isnot breaking the ground asmost of the states are of theview that slowdown in thesesectors is because of cyclicaland structural issues and notbecause of GST rates, the offi-cial said.

“If any proposal of ratereduction for any sector comesfor the consideration of theCouncil, the member wouldfirst have to review the revenueposition and only then decide,”said an official in the knowl-edge of the matter.

According to the sources,the states are aware that itwould not be tax prudent toallow GST rate reduction atthis stage as the compensationcess fund which is utilised tocompensate the states as perthe GST Act, in case the rev-enue is below the targetedgrowth rate, has turned nega-tive.

The compensation cesscollected during 2017-2019(till August in the currentyear) amount to �1,98,963crore. Out of which �1,75,572crore has already been releasedby July this year to the statesas compensation.

The balance fund left isonly �23,391 crore.

The states would acknowl-edge the situation of the com-pensation cess fund, beforeconsidering any rate rational-isation proposal, said the offi-cial.

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The rupee marched higherfor the seventh straight

session on Friday to close at70.92 per US dollar, up 22paise, as softening crude oilprices and easing US-Chinatrade tensions bolsteredinvestor sentiment.

Most Asian currenciesgained following signs of rap-prochement between US andChina over their trade dispute.

US Treasury SecretarySteven Mnuchin on Thursdaysaid that Washington wants tomake ‘meaningful progress’ inChina trade talks.

Robust buying in domesticequities and a weakening dol-lar also propped up the domes-tic unit, forex traders said.

The Indian currency hasappreciated by 147 paise in thelast seven trading sessions.

At the interbank foreignexchange market, the rupeeopened at 70.94 a dollar. Itshuttled between a high of70.86 and low of 71.15, beforefinally settling at 70.92, up 22paise over its previous close.

The rupee had finished at71.14 against the greenback onThursday.

On a weekly basis, thelocal unit has gained 82 paise.

The dollar index, whichgauges the greenback’s strengthagainst a basket of six currencies,slipped 0.29 per cent to 98.02.

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The Government on Fridayimposed a minimum

onion export price of $850per tonne to curb its ship-ments and help bring downspiralling domestic prices.

Onion prices have risen toabout �40-50 per kg in thenational capital from Rs 20-30per kg few days back.

The Minimum ExportPrice (MEP) is the rate belowwhich no exports are allowed.

“Export of all varieties ofonions...Will be allowed onlyon letter of credit subject toa minimum export price of$850 FOB (freight on board)per metric ton till furtherorders,” the DirectorateGeneral of Foreign Trade(DGFT) said in a notifica-tion.

The Centre last monthwarned of strict action againsthoarding of onion amid sup-ply disruption fears due tofloods in parts of major grow-ing states — Maharashtra andKarnataka.

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China said Friday that someUS agricultural products

including pork and soybeanswill be exempt from added tar-iffs, ahead of trade talksbetween Beijing andWashington scheduled forOctober.

“The Customs TariffCommission of the StateCouncil will exclude some agri-cultural products such as soy-beans and pork from the addi-tional tariffs on US goods,”China’s state news agencyXinhua reported, citing sources.

The announcement is the

latest in a series of appeasementmeasures between the world’stwo biggest economies, who forthe past year have been locked ina bitter trade war resulting in tit-for-tat tariffs on hundreds of bil-lions of dollars in bilateral trade.

It comes after US PresidentDonald Trump on Wednesdaysaid he would postpone anOctober 15 tariff increase onChinese products representing$250 billion in annual imports.

On the same day, Chinasaid it would temporarilyexempt 16 categories ofAmerican products from addi-tional tariffs implemented overthe past months.

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The US on Friday expressedconcern over the trade

deficit with India and the chal-lenges being faced by Americancompanies to invest here.

Addressing the Indo-USEconomic Summit here, USMinister Counselor forCommercial Affairs AileenNandi however hoped toexplore possibilities at the US-India Business CEO Forum tostrike a trade balance betweenthe two countries.

As per the Indian govern-ment data, India’s exports to theUS during 2018-19 were worthabout $52.4 billion whileimports bill stood at $35.55 bil-lion.

The US trade deficit withIndia during 2018-19 stood at$16.85 billion, lower than$21.26 billion in the precedingyear, the data showed.

“Bilateral trade relation-ship with India is broad andcomplex. The trade betweenthe two countries has increasedevery year in the recent past....However, we are concernedabout the trade deficit that wehave with India,” Nandi said.

The two-way tradebetween the US and India

stood at $142 billion during2018. During January-July2019, the bilateral trade hasincreased 10.5 per cent over thelast year period, she added.

Nandi also noted that theUS was aware of the chal-lenges that American compa-nies continue to face in India.

She however observed thatwith Indo-US Business CEOForum, having its interface reg-ularly, the issues of mutual con-cerns relating to Indo-US tradewould get resolved and invest-ments from India to the US andvice-versa would apportion.

Nandi, in a statement latersaid, since the political rela-tionship between India and theUS has begun to grow anddiversify with conciliatory modeand big ticket Indian business-men aggressively making theirinvestments in the US, the two-way trade would flourish in amanner that would address theconcern of increasing tradedeficit of the US towards India.

Asserting that there isscope to further boost tradewith the US, Indo-AmericanChamber of CommerceNational President S K Sarkarsaid the target is to achieve abilateral trade of $500 billion by2022.

����� ��������

The Government will meetCEOs and topbrass of elec-

tronics and smartphone mak-ers, including Apple andSamsung,on September 16 todiscuss challenges being facedby them and incentivesandschemes that can be offered toposition India as the ‘electron-icsfactory’ of the world.

The meeting comes at atime when India has set its sighton creatinga $400 billion(around �28.43 lakh crore)electronic manufacturinge-cosystem by 2025.

The meeting called byMinister for Electronics and ITRavi ShankarPrasad is expect-ed to see participation of lead-ing players like Vivo,Oppo,Qualcomm, Xiaomi, Dell, HP,Bosch, Cisco, Flextronics,Foxconn,Nokia, LG, andPanasonic. Other participantsinclude Intel, Wistron,andSterlite Technologies.

The meeting would be rep-resented by all major verticals ofelectronicssector such as mobilehandsets, consumer electronicsand strategic electronics.

����� ���/�.

Greece on Friday soughtpermission from the euro-

zone to repay loans to the IMFbefore their maturity date, amove Athens hopes will rebuildinternational trust in its econ-omy.

Greece’s new centre-rightfinance minister ChristosStaikouras made his request athis first meeting with his euro-zone counterparts since takingoffice in July.

“I welcome such an earlyrepayment for a very simplereason: because it increasesthe debt sustainability ofGreece,” said Klaus Regling, thehead of the European StabilityMechanism, the eurozone’sbailout fund.

Regling said once official-ly launched, the approvalprocess would take about twomonths.

Regling’s ESM, which isgoverned by the eurozone 19finance ministers, holds mostof the public debt owed byGreece after a decade of EUand IMF bailouts.

Greece’s overspending trig-gered a major eurozone crisisa decade ago, and nearly led tothe demise of the single cur-rency bloc.

Since then, Athens has car-ried out painful reforms inexchange for three bailoutsworth 289 billion euros ($330billion) from the EuropeanUnion, the European CentralBank and the InternationalMonetary Fund.

The country exited its thirdand final international bailoutin August 2018.

Nevertheless, its debt loadremains high — with publicdebt standing at 335 billioneuros ($372 billion) or 180 percent of GDP last year.

New Delhi: Days after participating in the Demo Day organisedby India Accelerator, five Delhi based startups have raised closeto �30 million from various Angel Investors. These include Prithvi,DROR, The Knotty Tales, VAPP and FIO. India Accelerator isa seed-stage accelerator program that helps startups grow by nur-turing and mentoring them at various stages including provid-ing peripheral services like Legal & HR. IA had organised a DemoDay for the startups in its program last month at Palm Town &Country Club, Gurugram. PNS

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Mumbai: Union telecom min-ister Ravi Shankar Prasad onFriday said the 5G spectrumauction will be conducted thisyear-end or early next year. "The communications policy isalready in place, and by the endof the year or the beginning ofthe next year, we propose to go

for auction of spectrum. We arevery sure that India's auction ofspectrum will be done in fairand transparent manner," he saidat an event here. Initially in June,the Department of Telecom,outlined plans to hold the nextspectrum sale first since 2016by December 2019. PTI

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Describing Pakistan as the“hub of terrorism”, India

has strongly hit back at thecountry for raking up theKashmir issue at the SecurityCouncil, saying Islamabad mis-used the UN forum to spread“baseless and deceitful” narra-tives about it.

Pakistan’s envoy to the UNMaleeha Lodhi raised theKashmir issue during a General

Assembly session on Report ofthe Security Council for 2018 onFriday, and referred to India’sAugust 5 decision to abrogateArticle 370 of the Constitutionwhich ended the special statusof Jammu & Kashmir.

Lodhi said India’s action torevoke Jammu & Kashmir’sspecial status was “in flagrantviolation of multiple SecurityCouncil resolutions”.

She said the Security

Council must press India to liftthe curfew, end the communi-cation blackout and release thedetainees. “There has been yetanother attempt by one dele-gation to misuse this forum tospread baseless and deceitfulnarratives about my country.Such attempts have not suc-ceeded earlier and will notsucceed now,” First Secretary inthe Permanent Mission of Indiato the UN Sandeep Kumar

Bayyapu said on Thursday.“The truth is that the del-

egation represents a geograph-ical space that is now widelyknown as the hub of terrorismthat has jeopardised innocentlives in our region and beyond.We do not wish to dignify suchbaseless diatribes with aresponse,” he said.

On the report of theSecurity Council, Bayyapuasserted that many of the flawsin the functioning of the Council

were structural and its compo-sition is demonstrably out oftouch with the ground realities.

“The Council neitherreflects nor represents the aspi-rations and views of the largermembership. Like most others,we remain convinced that theonly remedy is a comprehen-sive reform of the SecurityCouncil, involving expansionin its permanent and non-per-manent categories,” he said.

Bayyapu said that since

performance assessment hasbecome one of the focus areasat the United Nations, theSecurity Council too needs toprove its credibility andimprove its performance.

The annual report continuesto be a statistical compilation ofevents, a bland summary andlisting of meetings and outcomedocuments even though themembership of the GeneralAssembly has repeatedly request-ed the Council that the annualreport be more analytical andincisive rather than a mere nar-ration of the meetings of the 15-nation organ of the UN, he said.

Dhaka: Forty-eight years afterBangladesh’s independence,Pakistan’s name engraved onthe border pillars installed afterthe partition of the Indiansubcontinent have beenremoved on the orders ofPrime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

All Bangladeshi border pil-lars have been renamedBANGLADESH/BD instead ofPAKISTAN/PAK, said a state-ment by the Border GuardBangladesh (BGB) on Thursday.The BGB started replacing thelabels on the pillars followingPrime Minister Hasina’s order inwhich she observed that some ofthe pillars of the bordering areasstill show Pakistan’s name.

After the partition of India-Pakistan in 1947, more than8,000 pillars were installed, inwhich “IND-PAK/INDIA-PAKISTAN” label wasengraved, the Daily Star report-ed. PTI

Paris: A massive strike para-lyzed Paris public transports onFriday as unions protested asweeping pension reform byFrench President EmmanuelMacron’s government.

Paris public transport com-pany RATP said 10 metro lineswere closed and several others,including the RER suburbanrail, were severely disrupted.Buses and trams were alsoaffected.

On platforms, messages inFrench and English were warn-ing passengers of the strike, thebiggest since 2007.

Trains that were still cir-culating were noticeably lesscrowded than usual, as author-ities recommended people liv-ing in the Paris region to workfrom home or choose othermeans of transport.

AFP

Hong Kong: Thousands ofHong Kong pro-democracyactivists used torches, lanternsand laser pens to light up twoof the city’s best-known hill-sides on Friday night in an eye-catching protest alongside anannual festival.

Friday evening marks thestart of the mid-autumn festi-val, one of the most importantdates in the Chinese calendar,and is traditionally a time forthanksgiving, spending timewith family and praying forgood fortune. But as HongKong convulses from morethan three months of politicalunrest, activists used the nightas a way to keep their move-ment buoyant with no signs ofprotests abating.

Throughout the eveningthousands of activists withtorches on their heads hikedtheir way up hill trails leadingto the top of Lion Rock. AFP

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Boris Johnson will meet EUchief Jean-Claude Juncker

in Luxembourg on Monday,officials said, as the Britishprime minister bids to brokera Brexit compromise ahead ofthe October 31 deadline.

Johnson will “hold talkswith President Juncker onBrexit,” his Downing Streetoffice said without providingfurther details.

EU spokeswoman NatashaBertaud told reporters that thetwo would have a workinglunch that was arranged by“common accord”. The Britishpound gained one percentagainst the dollar in Fridaytrading on speculation thatthe two sides were edging clos-er to a compromise over thecontentious Irish border issue.

Johnson refuses to sign off

on an agreement that includesthe “backstop,” a compromiseintended to keep the frontieropen for trade and crossings inall post-Brexit scenarios.

It was accepted by his pre-decessor Theresa May butrepeatedly failed to win back-ing in the British parliament.Eurosceptics fear the stop-gapmeasures designed for the bor-der between EU memberIreland and the UK province ofNorthern Ireland would keepBritain indefinitely trapped inbloc’s trade zone.

The Times reported onFriday that the DUP, a smallNorthern Irish party that hadhelped the ruling Conservativesin London form a majority inParliament since 2017, wasnow ready to abide by some EUrules. But DUP leader ArleneFoster denied the report, call-ing it “nonsense”.

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Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidanesaid on Friday that big-money summer

signing Eden Hazard has been passed fit andwill make his long-awaited La Liga debutagainst Levante today.

“We all want to see Eden,” said Zidane.“There’s a lot of pressure on him, a lot

of expectation. But he is ready and that isthe most important thing.”

Hazard was expected to make hisdebut in Vigo in the opening round in mid-August after joining Madrid for an initial100 million euros from Chelsea in June.

But the Belgian pulled up with a thighstrain at the club’s training base inValdebebas and had to sit out the first threeweeks of the season during which Realstruggled, collecting one win and twodraws.

Zidane, however, called for patience asHazard finds his feet again.

“We have to go gently,” he said.“He (Hazard) was injured for three

weeks, he has been back for a week.“We have seven games in 21 days and

we will have to go gently. It will be up to meto keep an eye on his minutes and his play-ing time, because we need him over a longperiod, for several matches, not for one.”

Hazard’s return is timely for Madridwho also start their Champions Leaguecampaign against Paris Saint-Germain nextweek, especially as Luka Modric was ruledout this week with a groin strain.

“The season starts now,” said Zidane.“We have seven games in 21 days and

I think that’s what we need, anyway, to play,make matches, compete... That’s what play-ers want.”

The Frenchman also shrugged off crit-icism of the team following their indiffer-ent start to the season.

“The comments, everything that is said,that’s not going to change,” he said.

“We know what we want to changewithin (the team), we will do everything todo things well. Enough talk, we have per-form on the pitch.”

����� 5�6/�

Neymar could return to actionfor Paris Saint-Germain today

after four months of injury-enforced absence after theBrazilian was selected in thematchday squad for the Ligue 1match against Strasbourg.

PSG coach Thomas Tuchelsaid: “We have ‘Ney’ in our squad,

for sure”, adding “he needs to makehis comeback”.

Neymar, the world’s mostexpensive player, has had to cometo terms with the prospect of athird season in Ligue 1 after PSGand his former club Barcelonafailed to agree terms on a movebefore the transfer window shut onSeptember 2.

Neymar has since been away

on international duty for Brazil intwo friendly matches in the UnitedStates, scoring one goal and mak-ing another in a 2-2 draw withColombia and then coming on asa substitute in a 1-0 loss to Peru.

Those were his first appear-ances this season after the 27-year-old was left out of PSG’s openingfour league games amid the uncer-tainty over his future.

�����������/��6�

Paul Pogba heads a lengthy Manchester United injurylist for the visit of in-form Leicester City to Old

Trafford today with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer potential-ly missing seven first-team players.

Luke Shaw, Anthony Martial, Diogo Dalot andEric Bailly will also definitely miss the clash with theFoxes, while Jesse Lingard and Aaron Wan-Bissakaare both doubtful after withdrawing from England’sEuro 2020 qualifiers against Bulgaria and Kosovo.

Pogba twisted his ankle in the 1-1 draw atSouthampton two weeks ago and did notplay for France in their two matches dur-ing the international break, with themidfielder expected to return for thematch at West Ham on 22 September.

Shaw (hamstring) and Martial(thigh) have still not recoveredfrom the injuries sustained in the2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace on 24August, while Dalot (hip) andBailly (knee) are longer-terminjuries.

“The treatment room hasbeen busy and it still is,” saidSolskjaer. “We don’t reallyknow who is going to beavailable.

“Maybe Aaron andJesse will make it but that isit from the ones that pulledout.

“Paul will not be fit,not unless he has a mirac-ulous recovery. He has notbeen ready to do trainingat 100%.”

United are lookingfor their first win since theopening day of the seasonwith draws at Wolves andSouthampton either side of the Palace

����� ��������

Senior India footballerSandesh Jhingan on Fridaysaid that his team “defend-

ed with our lives” during thecountry’s unexpected goal-lessdraw against Asian championsQatar in their World CupRound 2 qualifiers match inDoha.

India survived waves ofopposition attack to deny Qatarany goal in a Group E match onSeptember 10 in Doha whichwas completely dominated bythe home side. It was one of thebest results for India in recenttimes.

“We defended with ourlives. We stuck to the basics,and Adil, Rahul, and Mandarand myself backed each otherup. We were together, the com-munication was sublime, wewere solid at the back,” Jhinganwrote on the official AIFF web-site.

Indian goalkeeper GurpreetSingh Sandhu was the star ofthe visiting side as he single-handedly stopped the Qatarisfrom scoring any goal, andJhingan described him as oneof the best in the business inAsia.

“I have always had confi-dence in the players around me.And when I look around, myconfidence grows. Gurpreet isone of the best in Asia at themoment, and players likeUdanta, Chhangte, Sahal,Brandon, Thapa Ashique are allGod’s gift to Indian Football,”the central defender said.

He said since his interna-tional debut in 2015, the goal-

less draw against Qatar was ahistoric one.

“To come to Doha, andplay against the Asian champi-ons, and take away a point fromtheir kitty is a really big thing,I am really happy and now wehave to make sure we keep ourfeet on the ground,” he said.

“After the Oman game(which India lost 1-2 at home)there was a slight feeling of dis-appointment in the team.Looking back, we still feel weshould have taken points fromthat.”

The 26-year-old defensivemainstay said the team headed

to Qatar with nothing to loseand thinking that India cantake something from thematch.

“I always say ‘it is aboutdreaming big, if you can dreambig, you can achieve big goals’.I am extremely proud of thisteam, the characters and per-sonalities associated with it.They are just so big.

“In the team meeting westuck to the basics — do thework, stay disciplined, stick tothe system keeping the rightmindset.”

Talking about seniormostplayer and talisman SunilChhetri missing out the Qatarmatch due to fever, he said,“Sunil bhai’s presence in thedressing room was a big missagainst Qatar. He’s the leader ofthe team. We were feeling badfor him because I know howbadly he wanted to play. Butthat’s life, and that’s football.”

Jhingan said India will haveto win against Bangladesh andAfghanistan before thinkingof “surprising” Oman in theaway match next year.

“Moving on, we need to berealistic. The forthcomingmatches in October, andNovember are too crucial. If wedon’t win against Bangladeshand Afghanistan, and manageaway points from the Omangame, this point won’t mattermuch.

“To value this hard earnedpoint, we need to win ourother games. We are gettingbetter as a team, and as individ-uals. If we keep working likethis, the sky is the limit for thisbatch.”

��������5V?

RB Leipzig coach JulianNagelsmann has called on his

team to confirm they are Bundesligatitle contenders when they facereigning champions Bayern Munichin one of two top-of-the-tableclashes this weekend.

Leipzig host Bayern todayevening, just hours after fellowChampions League participantsBorussia Dortmund and BayerLeverkusen do battle in Dortmund.

The two games are expected toset the tone for what many are pre-dicting will be a three or four horsetitle race.

Germany great LotharMatthaeus claimed last week thatLeipzig, who finished third last yearand reached the German Cup final,were definite title contenders undernew coach Nagelsmann.

“I am always happy whenexperts like Matthaeus see theteam’s development positively —now we have to confirm it.” saidNagelsmann on Thursday.

“The game will not be decisivefor the title race, but a win can giveus a lot of confidence,” he said.

The 32-year-old coachingprodigy said that in-form strikerTimo Werner could make the dif-ference against Bayern.

Werner, 23, has scored fivegoals in three games already thisseason. “He is on a good run, andhe can really hurt Bayern,” warnedNagelsmann.

The champions, who trailLeipzig by two points in secondplace due to their opening day drawwith Hertha Berlin, can go top witha win today.

“This is where the season getsgoing,” said coach Niko Kovac on

Thursday.“We have six games until the

next break, and we want to positionourselves high in the table.”

“The game against Leipzig isimportant in that regard.”

Yet Kovac also insisted thatLeipzig were not Bayern’s only con-tenders for the Bundesliga title thisseason.

“You also have to mentionBorussia Dortmund and BayerLeverkusen,” he said.

“Those were the top four teamslast year, and I think they will sharethe spoils this year as well.”

Yet Dortmund, who sit one spotbehind Leverkusen in fifth, areunder growing pressure after arecent dip in form.

Coach Lucien Favre has facedcriticism in the German media fol-

lowing a shock 3-1 defeat away topromoted side Union Berlin at theend of August.

Bild newspaper claimed onWednesday that some players weredisgruntled with Favre’s selectionand tactics, calling the atmospherearound the club a “powder keg”.

On Thursday, Favre insistedthat he still had the support of thedressing room.

“We have lost one game. Thetrust is still there. We need to lookforward and be positive,” said theSwiss.

“We know about Leverkusen’squality. It is no coincidence that theyfinished fourth last year,” he added.

Today’s game will seeLeverkusen coach Peter Bosz returnto Dortmund for the second timesince his ill-fated, six-month spell

in charge of the club in 2017.The Dutchman’s reign at

Dortmund ended in disaster aftera nine-game winless run, but he hassince restored his reputation byleading Leverkusen into theChampions League last season.

Dortmund midfielder JulianBrandt will also come up against hisformer colleagues today, having leftLeverkusen for 25.5 million euros($28.1m) in June.

With Belgian winger ThorganHazard still out injured, Brandt isexpected to start against his oldclub.

Elsewhere this weekend,Cologne host local rivals BorussiaMoenchengladbach in the Rhinederby, while David Wagner’sSchalke travel to promoted sidePaderborn on Sunday.

����� �����

Cristiano Ronaldo returns to Italianleague action after his four-goal

spree for Portugal as Juventus head forFiorentina today also boosted bycoach Maurizio Sarri’s highly-antici-pated debut on the bench after a boutof pneumonia.

The ex-Chelsea coach missed hisfirst two league games with the SerieA champions against Parma and hisformer club Napoli.

But the 60-year-old will be on thebench for the first time today asJuventus look to make it three wins thisseason before their Champions Leagueopener at Atletico Madrid midweek.

Ronaldo’s four goals in Portugal’sEuropean qualifying win overLithuania during the week wereenough to send shivers down thespines of Fiorentina fans.

The 34-year-old overtook Ireland’sRobbie Keane as the all-time topscorer in Euro qualifiers, with 25goals, and will be looking to impressfurther with the winner of the BestFIFA Football Awards to be named inMilan on September 23.

Ronaldo will lead the Juventusattack along with Douglas Costa andGonzalo Higuain, the Argentine alsoin-form on his return to Turin after aloan spell at Chelsea.

Fiorentina have also changed own-ers and coach with former AC Milanand Sevilla manager VincenzoMontella overseeing two defeats in asmany games on his return to the club.

“Great stories are born of impos-sible challenges,” said Montella, whoseside last beat their fierce rivals inJanuary 2017.

The rivalry has been fuelled fur-ther after Juventus wrapped up theireighth consecutive title with a 2-1 winat the expense of the Tuscans last April.

“I’d like to start a new chapter in

Fiorentina’s history by doing some-thing special against Sarri’s team,”Montella told Gazzetta Dello Sport.

And Montella believes that newFrench signing Franck Ribery canmake the difference for the team.

“Franck played the friendly againstPerugia as if he was playing theChampions League final,” he said.

“He’s different, as Ronaldo is dif-ferent. We talk of stars who excelthrough sacrifice. They are wonderfulexamples for everyone.”

“It will be hard, very hard, butwe’re convinced that we will see a newgreat Fiorentina,” said new Italian-American owner Rocco Commissohoping to build a team who can addto their Serie A titles in 1956 and 1969.

ANCELOTTI 'OUTRAGE'Carlo Ancelotti’s Napoli, who are

midtable, need to pick themselves upafter Kalidou Koulibaly’s own goalhanded Juventus a 4-3 win in Turin lastweekend. But they play their first

match at home this season againstSampdoria with doubts over whethertheir San Paolo stadium will be readyin time.

The Serie A outfit played theiropening two league games away fromhome, at Fiorentina and Juventus, dueto the reconstruction of the stadium.Ancelotti said he was “outraged” afterseeing the state of the changing roomsmidweek with their ChampionsLeague opener against Liverpool nextTuesday.

The contractors have howeverinsisted the work will be completed byFriday. Inter Milan welcome Udineseto the San Siro also looking to extendtheir maximum points with AntonioConte’s side ahead of both Juventusand Torino on goal difference.

Inter are also in ChampionsLeague duty against Slavia Prague atthe San Siro on Tuesday and need toavoid a slip-up against Udinese whoshocked AC Milan 1-0 in their seasonopener.

����� ������/��6

Manchester City managerPep Guardiola has con-

firmed that influential defend-er Aymeric Laporte faces up tosix months out after undergo-ing knee surgery.

Laporte damaged carti-lage and the lateral meniscusin his right knee after a clashwith Brighton’s Adam Websterin City’s 4-0 win on August 31.

City reported that Laportehad undergone successfulsurgery in Barcelona, but didnot specify how long theyexpected the Frenchman to besidelined.

Guardiola confirmed theFrenchman will not returnbefore next year and couldeven miss the start to theknockout stages of the

Champions League inFebruary, should the Englishchampions advance to the last16.

“Long (time). Fivemonths, six months,” saidGuardiola when asked howlong he expected to be with-out his defensive lynchpin.

“Next year (for) sure.January or February.”

Laporte will be missedwith centre-back one of thefew positions where City arenot blessed with great strengthin depth.

The Premier Leaguechampions did not buy areplacement for departed for-mer captain Vincent Kompanyin the summer transfer win-dow.

Midfielder Fernandinhois expected to deputise at the

heart of the defence with JohnStones and Nicolas Otamendithe only two senior centre-backs available to Guardiola.

City may be tempted toreinforce their defence whenthe transfer window re-opensin January.

However, speaking aheadof his City testimonial thisweek, Kompany said he trust-ed Guardiola to find the solu-tion.

“By losing Laporte youlose a big player. You need bigplayers in the bigger games butthe key strength of thisManchester City team is rely-ing more on the system thanthe individuals,” said theBelgian.

“I don’t see City weaken-ing. Pep is way too aware ofthis danger to let it happen.”

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defeat leaving them down in eighth, three points adrift ofLeicester in third.

Under former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers,Leicester are aiming to return to the top six at the expenseof the likes of United, Chelsea, Arsenal or Tottenham, threeyears on from their

remarkable PremierLeague title triumph.

“Leicester is always atough game. They are aclub that want to pushinto the top four, they

have good players and a proventop manager,” added Solskjaer.“Brendan’s teams always play

good football, so we have to play wellto get the three points.”

Leicester’s visit will mean an earlyreunion with his old club for Harry Maguire,

who swapped the Foxes for Old Trafford thissummer in an 80 million transfer that made himthe world’s most expensive defender. Anddespite mixed results, Solskjaer is delighted withwhat Maguire has brought to the club in his firstmonth at United.

“Harry has been brilliant for us,” said theNorwegian. “He has come into the dressing roomand been a leader there and a leader on the pitch.

“He is going to be a big part of the future ofthis club. We watched him enough to know heis the guy we wanted.

“Leicester did not want to lose him and thatis why we spent the money we did on him.”

Solskjaer also believes Maguire has the traitsthat mark him out as a potential future captainof United. “He is definitely a character and per-sonality that can be captain of a big club.

“He is a leader in the dressing room, bothin his performances, his stature and hisbehaviour.

“Harry is a character you would like tofollow. Some are technical leaders, some areleaders by voice, but he has got the lot.”

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Angry people tend to curse,swear, or speak in highly col-orful terms that reflect theirinner thoughts. When you'reangry, your thinking can get

very exaggerated and overly dramatic.Try replacing these thoughts with morerational ones. For instance, instead oftelling yourself, "oh, it's awful, it's terri-ble, everything's ruined," tell yourself, "it'sfrustrating, and it's understandable thatI'm upset about it, but it's not the end ofthe world and getting angry is not goingto fix it anyhow."

Be careful of words like "never" or"always" when talking about yourself orsomeone else. "This !&*%@ machinenever works," or "you're always forgettingthings" are not just inaccurate, they alsoserve to make you feel that your anger isjustified and that there's no way to solvethe problem. They also alienate andhumiliate people who might otherwise bewilling to work with you on a solution.

Remind yourself that getting angryis not going to fix anything, that it won't

make you feel better (and may actuallymake you feel worse).

Logic defeats anger, because anger,even when it's justified, can quicklybecome irrational. So use cold hard

logic on yourself. Remind yourself thatthe world is "not out to get you," you'rejust experiencing some of the roughspots of daily life. Do this each time you

feel anger getting the best of you, and it'llhelp you get a more balanced perspec-tive. Angry people tend to demandthings: fairness, appreciation, agree-

ment, willingness to do thingstheir way. Everyone wants thesethings, and we are all hurt and dis-appointed when we don't getthem, but angry people demandthem, and when their demandsaren't met, their disappoint-ment becomes anger. As part of

their cognitive restructuring,angry people need to become

aware of their demanding natureand translate their expectations

into desires. In other words, saying,"I would like" something is healthier

than saying, "I demand" or "I musthave" something. When you're unable toget what you want, you will experiencethe normal reactions—frustration, disap-

pointment, hurt—but not anger. Someangry people use this anger as a way toavoid feeling hurt, but that doesn't meanthe hurt goes away.

Sometimes, our anger and frustrationare caused by very real and inescapableproblems in our lives. Not all anger ismisplaced, and often it's a healthy, nat-ural response to these difficulties. Thereis also a cultural belief that every prob-lem has a solution, and it adds to ourfrustration to find out that this isn'talways the case. The best attitude to bringto such a situation, then, is not to focuson finding the solution, but rather onhow you handle and face the problem.

Make a plan, and check your progressalong the way. Resolve to give it your best,but also not to punish yourself if ananswer doesn't come right away. If youcan approach it with your best intentionsand efforts and make a serious attemptto face it head-on, you will be less like-ly to lose patience and fall into all-or-nothing thinking, even if the problemdoes not get solved right away.

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The torrent of words flows thick andfast. It is as if the words are havinga tough time catching up with the

thoughts that come crowded in bundles.Just like the numerous descriptions thatactor, lyricist, music director, singer, screen-play writer and now theatre directorPiyush Mishra juggles with, his expressionstoo are multifarious.

Mishra, who returns to the stage aftera hiatus of 16 years, is directing GaganDaman Bajyo on the revolutionary BhagatSingh which was staged for the first timein 1994. One wonders if a revisit means thatthe play has undergone some change. Sayshe, “The situation has not changed. Thestoryline of the play ends in 1994 when thelast of Bhagat Singh’s comrade, Shiv Vermadied and we make an announcement to theeffect at the beginning of the play.”

Mishra, who is a cult figure, thanks tohis poetry which has stuck a chord amongthe millenials, is in thrall of the martyr. “Ahistorical figure, which should have beenplaced on the same footing as MahatmaGandhi and Netaji Subhash ChandraBose, has been relegated to two pages inthe class VIII NCERT books where onlythree things are mentioned about him. Thathe threw a bomb in the assembly, killedSanders and escaped. When I startedwriting this play, I realised that I did noteven know his surname. I asked Hindustanand I was not the only one.”

As he read more to develop his play,Mishra got pulled into the vortex andrealised that he was dealing with a giant ofa figure. “History books had not done jus-tice to him as Bhagat Singh had foughtagainst the ideology of the ruling dispen-sation that came to power afterIndependence. But they couldn’t complete-ly finish him or his legacy as he was sucha big symbol. Where have you seen a ‘23.5year old’ boy, who wrote so much beforedying? If you look at the revolutionaries ofthe world, whether it is Giuseppe Mazzini,Che Guevera, Raza Khan, Lafayette, FidelCastro or Mahatma Gandhi, none ofthem was martyred so young,” he assertspassionately, floundering sometimes as hefinds himself at a loss for words so over-come he seems to be with emotions. Headds after a slight pause, “He was a genius,an intellectual and extremely good-look-ing person. He wrote about love, politicsand bomb. One of his popular essays was,Why I am an atheist. When he wasimprisoned and sentenced to death around1930-31, his popularity was at par, if notmore, than Mahatma Gandhi as letterspoured in from all over the world to savehim.”

Mishra says that while there were anumber of people who were ready to giveup their lives for the sake of the country,what made Bhagat Singh stand was that hebelieved these deaths would be in vain.“‘Don’t die till your death or every drop ofyour blood brings a revolution,’ is what hebelieved in. And he proved it by his actions.He threw the bomb in the Assembly whenmedia from India and abroad were presentbut did it at a place where no one wouldget hurt. Then he started an entire move-ment from jail, which created a revolutionin the country,” says Mishra.

While many know that Bhagat Singhrefused to get married, thanks to the cultfilm Rang De Basanti, which had the lineAazadi meri dulhan hai, not many areaware that he was not against love per se.“He said that in a servile country there wasno place for something as pure as love,”points out Mishra.

But not just his thoughts on love, it isthe ones on Independence that Mishrafinds himself in complete coherence with.“Bhagat Singh said that if get Independencein the wrong manner, the Whites will bereplaced by the Browns and nothing willchange. And that is what happened. He felt

that a revolution cannot be brought aboutby bombs and blasts but by thoughts andchange,” says Mishra.

The persona of Bhagat Singh hascome alive several times in films likeShaheed (1965), Rang De Basanti (2006),23rd March 1931: Shaheed (2002) and TheLegend of Bhagat Singh (2002). The scriptof the last one was taken from GaganDaman Bajyo. Mishra feels that films cannever match live interaction that theatrecan create. “The resonance that happenswhen you have a live audience is hard toachieve in cinema. Very few films can cre-ate it,” he says.

When he wrote the play 25 years ago,it was published and sold out within sevendays. Mishra says, “I was not expecting thatit would be so popular. I really feel that itwas Sardar Bhagat Singh in heaven whomade it possible. I don't know how I wroteit within two months. Even though therewere very a few shows at that time but now,it is staged all over the world on both hisbirth and death anniversaries.”

However, it is not just as a playwrightthat Mishra has made his mark, he has alsoestablished himself as an actor par excel-lence. He first burst onto the consciousnessof the audience in the film Gulaal, wherehe played Prithvi Bana, the conscience ofthe characters. “The film started in 2002but was released in 2009 and none of uswere paid for it. I had just shifted toMumbai. I was passionate, very troubledand practically going helter skelter. And thecharacter was a little mad and aCommunist. The temperament of Gulaalwas such that people like that just blend-ed in. At that time Anurag (Kashyap) andI had a great rapport and he told me to doeverything from the lyrics to the music,”he recalls. Mishra was in thrall of theatreand greatly influenced by it so he felt hecould do just anything. The result was thathe wrote eight songs in seven days, someof them improvised from theatre like JabSheher Humara Sota Hai and Yaara Maula.“The film flopped on screen but is a greathit on the internet and one of the mostwatched ones especially in college campus-es,” he says.

However, his collaboration withAnurag ended with Gangs of Wasseypur asMishra does not have the stomach for theovertly sexual and violent films that thedirector is prone to making nowadays. “Sexand violence without any reason is some-thing that I have an objection to. I am ofa certain age and once you cross 50 youbecome more spiritual and toned down,”he says.

That is also the problem that he haswith web series. “The way the scenes areshot is often unaesthetic. I think a censorboard, therefore, is very important,” saysthe actor, who played the defence lawyerin Pink, who prefers Rajkumar Hirani’sclean films which can be watched with theentire family and are also a huge hit. Hegave the example of a web series called SaltCity on Mumbai where he plays the fam-ily patriarch which does not have explicitcontent.

However, while he has now dabbled indifferent media and their related art forms,as a child and later as a young man, he was

very confused at one time. “I had done the-atre, sculpture, painting, singing, playingthe sitar and poetry — all of this before classXII,” he recalls. But there was one thing thathe was very sure of — that he felt stifledin his hometown, Gwalior, and would doanything that it took to leave it. It was onaccount of this irritation and the desire toget away from everything familiar ratherthan the desire to be an actor that heapplied at National School of Drama. Hecleared it in the first attempt. Of his almamater he has only fond things to say: “Itplayed a huge role in my career. NSD is myhome and the Mecca of theatre acting evenin the worst of times. If you are willing tolearn, you will turn out to be exceptionaland even if you aren’t you will imbibe a lot.”

It was in the first semester of his sec-ond year that he met German director, FritzBennewitz, who Mishra considers to be hisguru. Bennewitz cast him in the title rolein Hamlet. “That was the beginning of agrand obsession called acting. Till then, Iwas not sure if that was what I wanted topursue. That madness has continued,” saysMishra. He realises in hindsight that he wasan amateur who just followed the lead ofthe director. It was only when he joined thetheatre group, Act One in 1990, that hedeveloped his own method and style.

Although he might not have had theclarity about his chosen profession, butthere was never denying the fact that he hada mind of his own from a young age.Mishra was called Priyakant Sharma andhad been adopted by his father’s sister andhe hated his name. “Who is calledPriyakant? People teased me as Priya, Priya.I asked my friends to call me PK but thenit took on the connotation of a drunk. I hadto change my surname to Mishra tobecome a part of my bua’s family. So along-side the surname, I changed my name tooby an affidavit,” says Mishra of the timewhen he was in class X.

Another thing rooted in the past washis affinity towards poetry. In class VIII hewrote his first poem Zinda ho haan tum koishak nahin (Yes you are alive; of this thereis no doubt). And it is this temperamentthat has continued in his present day worktoo. He elaborates, “My poetry is reac-tionary and that is because my thinking has

always been radical. I always felt that nei-ther my parents, relatives, nor my friendsunderstood me. It made me angry andreactionary. When people ask, ‘how canyou write this way?’ I say that, ‘this is theonly way that I can write’.”

A large part of his popularity can alsobe attributed to the poetry and the lyricsthat he writes. The songs that stemmed outof this poetry are performed by a groupcalled Ballimaran. “At gatherings, peoplealways wanted me to sing. NishantAgarwal, who is a friend, told me that weshould form a band which would singsongs from theatre and not films. We start-ed with a guitar and a tabla and now otherinstruments have been added to it.”

Given the fact that he juggles a lot ofdifferent things — acting, music, lyricsand script writing — one is naturally curi-ous how all of them interact with andinfluence each other. For Mishra, actingis the centre around which everything elserevolves. “I would not be able to do any-thing without acting as everything comesout of it. Writing comes from it. I haveto enact and then only I can see how eachcharacter will speak,” he says.

“I was earning money by doing cin-ema which gave me stability and helpedme bring up my family. But after a while,I felt I have become repetitive. My wifepushed me to do this as did RahulGandhi, my manager and the creator ofTamboo production house,” he adds.

Returning to the theatre felt like areturn to the roots. “I can’t say this is myfirst love and cinema, second, as with-out earning my livelihood in the latter,I wouldn’t have been able to do this play.Both are my girlfriends,” he says with alaugh.

A return after a long hiatus alsomeans that he can see the changes in theperforming art. “The platform is thesame but the entry of corporates haschanged it. Earlier it was not possible tosupport a family on the earnings fromtheatre. If you do a good play, you willearn money even if it might not be asmuch as cinema. You can create a prod-uct that you like where there are no cre-ative compromises. So it is a good placeto be in,” he says.

Given the change in content, he feelsit is a good time to be a part of thatindustry as well. “Roles are being devel-oped for a lot of character actors likePankaj Tripathi and Nawazuddin whohave come to the forefront not due totheir looks but their acting prowess.Pankaj is one of the busiest actors thesedays. It is a golden phase which wasnever there in Indian cinema and add toit the plethora of opportunities in theweb series.”

Looking forward, Mishra has alsowritten Shamshera for Yashraj, whichstars Ranbir Kapoor and Sanjay Dutt.He will be seen in the web series Law andOrder and two Indo Canadian films Palkiand Jail 50. A book of his writings issoon set to hit the market. Clearly, it isin juggling different things that Mishrahas found his oeuvre.

(The show will be staged onSeptember 15 at NSD.)

Mandira Bedi wears many hats. Overthe years, she has reinvented herself

from being the lead actress of the iconicTV series Shanti to hosting ICC CricketWorld Cup for five years, and from beinga fashion designer to a fitness icon whoinspires fans with workout videos on socialmedia, besides playing strong women onthe screen. The 47-year-old multi-talent-ed personality says her filmmaker husbandRaj Kaushal constantly inspires her to flyhigher.

“My husband is the wind beneath mywings. After my parents, the one personwho believed in me more than myself ismy husband. I come from a backgroundwhere I have no acting experience andwhen I did Shanti, I got a lot of supportfrom my parents,” Mandira, who hascompleted 25 years in show business, said,when asked about her constant inspirationand support.

“If I have managed to continue withmy career in the entertainment businessfor so many years, it is because of the con-stant support of my husband. Every timeI thought of doing an experiment as anactor, my husband motivated me to do it,”she said.

In the new season of Kiska HogaThinkistan 2 that is streaming on OTTplatform MX Player, Mandira featuresalong with Neil Bhoopalam and NaveenKasturia. Talking about her character onthe show, Mandira said, “It is one of themost lovely characters I have ever playedwhere a woman is the helm of all thingsand still loved by everyone. She really givescredit and encourages youngsters to grow.I remember when I was an intern in anadvertising agency right after my collegedays I saw how the ad world works.Somewhere I tried to bring those elementsin my character.”

On the constant talk of feminism andequal opportunity for both genders at theworkplace, Mandira said every relationshipshould be based on respect and parity. “Ihave grown up in an environment ofequality, so feminism is equality for me.I am married to Raj for the last 20 yearsvery happily, and that is only because weare in an equal relationship. He is my bestfriend. My father gave me and my broth-er equal opportunities while growing up,whether in education or choices. I choseto get into media and not business studylike my brother, who is an MBA. I neverhad the aptitude and my communicationskill has been strong from the beginning.My parents encouraged both of us to studywhat we wanted to. So, I think when wetalk about feminism, it should not be aboutmale bashing,” said the actress.

If short hair has become her trade-mark, Mandira says she has learnt to dealwith stereotypes gracefully. “I think peo-ple cannot imagine me with long hair any-more. When any acting project comes onmy way and the makers need the charac-ter to have long hair, I go through the looktest wearing hair extension. People justcannot identify with long hair. Having saidthat, I might grow my hair a little moreafter a while,” mentioned the actress.

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The lovely Kubbra Sait doesn’tlook at acting as simply a mat-

ter of career. “I got the chance towork with some beautiful soulswho are great teachers too. I could-n’t have asked for more,” she tells us,her voice sparkling and excitedover the telephone as she preparesfor her next online venture TheVerdict-State Vs Nanavati. It’s noteasy for an actor to imitate a char-acter or even an emotion withoutengrossing themselves in it. And herchanging roles have enabled her toplant memories and back storieswith each role, a reservoir fromwhich she draws life lessons andmore. “These roles are about cele-brating the small joys instead ofdwelling upon the cracks along theway. I jumped over the cracks,” saysshe.

Her latest show is an adaptationof the 1959 case of a NavalCommander Kawas ManekshawNanavati who killed his wife’s lover,Prem Ahuja in a rage. Kubbraplayed the role of Prem Ahuja’s sis-ter in the series. Since Mamie is oneof the least spoken characters in thebooks of history, Kubbra was keento know about her. So, when sheread about her life and the choicesshe made not just during the trailsbut post trail too, that attracted herthe most. She says, “People usuallylook at it only as a courtroomdrama. But the series is written soinclusively that it shows many sto-ries that take place outside thecourt. After seeing that you willrealise the depth and graph of ahuman being. This attracted meinstantly.”

Her character made her under-stand that everything in life can notbe black or white, there are greyareas too. This is one thing Kubbratook home from the journey of

Mamie. Talking about her role she says,

“It’s an honour to play it as it is. Itis about Mamie’s strength, convic-tion and her resolute to standagainst the society. She didn’t careabout what people thought of herand stood there fighting and believ-ing in what was right and just.”

She recalls the first few thingsShashank Shah (director) told her.He said, “You (Kubbra) are a personwho sees a character as it is. Youhave this edge. But Mamie is arounded personality, she needs to besoft and fragile. There needs to bea very strong will power but at thesame breadth there has to be theattitude of being broken down andthe fear of being outspoken.”Therefore, the actor says that thepreparatory process was about inter-nalising emotions. She had to por-tray sadness without crying andanger without screaming. “It wasinteresting to approach this charac-ter with the most minimalistic andsometimes in the most exaggeratedway. The idea was to flip a switchinternally to play Mamie. So, oncewe got that it was a smooth ride,” sheadds.

The case has inspired manybooks and films, Rustom being oneof them. But Kubbra feels it isimportant to show different inter-pretations of the same story, espe-

cially when it is a real life incidentbecause there are various dimen-sions attached to it. She questions,“How many times have we seenBeauty and the Beast or The JungleBook being made and remade? Andthen answers it herself, “Some sayit is a fairy tale while some don’t. Asingle film or series might not nec-essarily tell everything around a

story. This is why various remakesof the same story should be madeso that the audience knows all theshades. It should be left upon themto interpret it the way they want to.”

The series lays stress on thefemale driven characters. All the sto-ries that have been told about thiscase have revolved around KawasManekshaw Nanavati. They have

represented the male point of viewmajorly. “For the first time you willsee the female point of view. Thereare important characters like Sylvia,Mamie, and many others whose sto-ries needed to be told,” says she.

Her sequined gown, dark redlipstick, short sticky hair and furstole makes one remember of Kukooof Sacred Games, the role of atransgender bar dancer which ini-tiated many conversations anddebates in the society. The actorseems to enjoy the discussion andpopularity that character brought tothe table.

The immense joy in Kubbra’svoice while she was talking abouther character made it quite evidenthow much she loved it. She says, “Ihad no idea that a well written andwell perceived character can notonly impact the actor’s life but alsoof the people who are facing genderissues or are questioning themselvesabout their identity.” It was not easyfor her to play a character like thiswith so much grace and confidence.There are beautiful unansweredquestions about her role which shefeels will stay in the same state for-ever. Talking about this grey area shesays, “There were questions whetherKukoo killed herself and if that wasright or not, whether she was shotor not?” The beauty of the charac-ter is that it made the society discuss

about transgenders. When we startdiscussing the uncomfortable, thatis the first step towards normalisingthe issue and making it comfortable.

She has essayed the role ofNatasha in Amazon Prime VideoGoing Viral Pvt Ltd which was herweb debut. This made her experi-ence life as an actor for the first time.She says that when Anurag

(Kashyap) asked if she hassome work to show, she only

had this role apart fromsome shows that she hadhosted. I could sense herchuckle on phone as sheadds that the projectserved as her CV.

The digital world hastaken over the market inrecent times. It has servedas a platform to showcasepeople’s talent from allacross. In fact, for many it

is the only source of employ-ment. But, the actor feels thatit existed before too, we havetaken its notice today. Shesays, “It is a great time for

writers and directors to beinvolved with web series.Though, most people say it’sthe future but I feel it’s thepresent. So they need to revelin this present right now.”

The actor is all geared upfor her forthcoming Dolly Kitty

Aur Wo Chamakte Sitare.(The series will premiere on

ALTBalaji and Zee5 fromSeptember 30.)

Akshaye Khanna looksbroodingly intense mostof the time, making you

believe that he is in constantworkshop mode about thecomplex characters he plays.But he tells us that he really hasa simple process and that anactor’s reaction is always to aparticular story, character andnot to its legal implications orcomplexities, which are many.“For instance, suppose I amplaying a journalist, my focuswould be on what a particu-lar journalist is doing at aspecific time and context,which story is he followingbut I cannot understand thewhole grammar of jour-nalism, right? Any charac-

ter related to a professioncannot explain it compre-hensively but instead give aglimpse of it to make theviewers understand aboutthat role. Similarly, with

my role as a criminal defencelawyer in Section 375, I am

portraying my character with-in the confines of a specific nar-rative.” If you thought that hedid extensive research, then hedispels that cerebral thought.Perhaps, as a perceptive actor,he doesn’t need it. He anywaypicks up and grasps the rightaccents.

“It’s important for people toremember that an accused isinnocent until prosecutorsprove him guilty,” says theactor. “Sometimes when onetakes up a case, people havealready made up their mindsthat the accused is guilty evenif he’s not or he is innocent evenif in reality he is guilty. It hap-pens especially in the cases thataffect the public overwhelm-ingly. They tend to make theirown judgements even beforethe court has given out the ver-dict. This usually happens inhigh-profile cases, where a biglawyer is involved. People startsaying ‘isko yeh case nahi lenachahiye tha. Why did he eventake it?’ I think, every lawyer,in his/her entire career, hasbeen through it, where s/he isleft to question whether theyshould defend an accused orjust listen to his conscience.And this pressurises a lawyer tothe core,” says he.

While the actor has neverfailed to impress with his per-formances in every other film,he attributes their efficacy tothe script. Says he, “My charac-ter of Tarun Saluja is primari-ly based on writing. The under-standing of it doesn’t go beyondthat. Everything is within theparameters of the script. It’s dif-ficult for me to leave a mark onyou with an intelligent answer.”

The film raises many vitalquestions and makes peopleaware about Section 375 of IPC,which clearly defines rape assexual intercourse with awoman against her will, with-out her consent, by coercion,misrepresentation or fraud orat a time when she has beenintoxicated or duped or is ofunsound mental health and inany case if she is under 18 yearsof age. It’s not just a cinematicexperience but will lead tovery important conversationsthat we must have as a society.

As Khanna says, “It’s agreat story. And the way it’stold is something that I amsure it will force the audienceto think. It’s something that isway different from any otherexperience that you have had.”

The directness with whichKhanna speaks shows in hischaracters too. He knows thathe needs to imbibe the energyof any role to do it flawlessly.“The responsibility comes withevery role that I play. If I amplaying a journalist or a wait-er, a driver or a sportsman, thecommitment as an actor isalways the same. There’s no dif-ference at all. It’s not like if I amwearing a uniform, I will putmore efforts while playing thatrole. My devotion to it remainsthe same and I think, it shouldbe like that.”

Films are a very impactfulmedium, believes the actor,and the most expressive of theperformance arts. But heswears by the basic art ofstory-telling. “There is no art-form that precedes story-telling,” Khanna adds and says,“It’s the original, which is whyeven today, at a very basichuman level, story-telling isconsidered to be very attrac-tive, be it as a narrative of yourmother and grandfather, ameaningful film, an amazingbook or a great story by a jour-nalist. We need to be constant-ly told stories. As in the end,people want to hear about andreference themselves againstother people.”

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The debate over who reigns supreme asthe greatest rapper of the moment is

never-ending and never settled. From LLCool J vs Kool Moe Dee, Tupac vs Biggie,Jay-Z vs Nas, it’s a time-honoured discus-sion that’s likely to be heard in any barber-shop or boardroom where rap fans converge.

These days, while the names thrown outtend to be Kendrick Lamar and J Cole, therap matrix is trying to sort out an unexpect-ed entry — Rapsody. The witty, sharp-tonged MC may not only be the best femalerapper, but the best lyricist in the entiregenre — a compliment few women have gar-nered despite the genre being decades old.

“I’m honoured by it because I earned it.I worked hard for it,” said Rapsody, bornMarlanna Evans, of the recognition. Shelaughs and adds, “I never looked at it like,‘Oh, I’m gonna be the best female rapperever.’ No, I want to be one of the best if notthe best-ever. People are going to have theirpreferences, but I know I’m in the conver-sation. For some, I might be their favouritebut for some I might be the third favorite.But I know I’m in the top five.”

It’s a rare declaration from the seeming-ly reserved recording artist. “Rap,” as col-leagues refer to her, recently dropped herhighly anticipated album Eve, a follow-up to2017’s critically acclaimed Laila’s Wisdom.That breakthrough album earned her twoGrammy nominations including best rapalbum, which had her competing withLamar, Jay-Z, Migos and Tyler the Creator.

The North Carolina-born MC is hard-ly the first great female emcee. There wasMC Lyte, Lil Kim, rapper/songstress LaurynHill, Missy Elliott, Nicki Minaj, as well asQueen Latifah, who provided a rare guestrap verse for this new project. But they allfaced the same struggle, a fight for respectin this male-dominated music genre, thoughthings are improving. Cardi B became thefirst woman to win a Grammy for best rapalbum earlier this year.

Rapsody’s latest project, which includesfeatures from J Cole, D’Angelo, Wu-TangClan member GZA and more, consists of 16tracks, each named after black women, mostreal, some fictional that were influential toher. For instance, there’s Michelle (for theformer First Lady), Oprah, Myrlie (wife ofslain civil rights leader Medgar Evers),Cleo (named after one of the main charac-ters from the Set It off film), and Afeni,whose son was the legendary rapper TupacShakur.

“I wanted to show the spectrum of whatblack women are and their beauty. But alsoin naming them, I wanted to continue thelegacies of some of these names,” she saidand added, “And just to show our beauty andour brilliance, and to remind little girls orto introduce them to the fact you are a

queen, but you can still have fun within that.”Though no song on this album was

named after Hill, Rapsody cites her as oneof her most important influences. “She justrepresented her truth and honesty in themusic that she told. She was different fromeverything that came out at that time, andher artistry shined through. It just inspiredme to want to be more, to hold my headhigh,” she said.

Rapsody not only stands out because ofher lyrics, but her looks too. Unlike herfemale contemporaries, she doesn’t go for theglamorous, sexpot look. That has led someto use her as an example to chastise womenwho promote their sexuality in rap. ButRapsody, who says she is a huge Cardi B fan,doesn’t co-sign that logic.

“I was raised in a village of strong blackwomen. And my mom, aunts and sisters,taught me how be a part of a sisterhood. Iknew that in order to shine, I didn’t have todim anybody else’s light because there’s roomfor all of us,” said Rapsody.

Although she’s been in the rap game formore than a decade, part of her new visibil-ity is due to Jamala’s partnership with RocNation, the management and consultinggroup founded by Jay-Z.

Jay-Z’s recent decision to partner withthe National Football League has drawnbacklash from critics who claim he turnedhis back on Colin Kaepernick, the formerNFL quarterback who Jay-Z has called anicon. Kaepernick sparked a nationwidedebate after he began kneeling on the side-lines as a form of protest against racial injus-tice and has not been signed to a team in twoyears.

But Rapsody thinks the partnershipcould be fruitful because “we need our ColinKaepernicks to do what they do, but we needour Jay-Zs to do what they do, too.”

Like many of today’s lyricists, she grewup under the audio tutelage of Jay-Z, but shedoesn’t seek out advice from her larger-than-life associate, saying the lyrics in his catalogprovide all the counsel she needs. When theytalk, it’s about sports, or it’s “just jokes andlaughs, and he sends e-mails and just tells ushow proud he is of the work we’re doing.”

While Eve has the hip-hop worldbuzzing, Rapsody has began to look downthe line. She’s interested in communitywork, particularly with children’s literacy. Butshe also plans to produce documentaries, andeven pursue acting.

And as far as the debate of who’s current-ly the greatest rapper, what’s Rapsody’stake? “Who’s the greatest active emcee in thegame right now? I’m gonna say me,” she saidsoftly, but confidently. And with a slightsmile, she added, “But I respect my broth-ers.”

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Branded a limited-overs specialist at the beginningof his career, Indian pace spearhead Jasprit

Bumrah on Friday said it was nothing short of a dreamcome true when he made the Test side as success inthe longest format is what he has always craved for.

Bumrah is just 12 Tests old and already has 62wickets to his credit.

“For me, Test cricket was very important and Ialways wanted to play Test cricket and didn’t want tobe a cricketer who has played (only) T20s and ODIs.I gave a lot of importance to Test cricket...I alwayswanted to make a mark in Test cricket,” Bumrah saidat a promotional event

“I had the belief that I have done well in first-classcricket, then I could replicate that in Test matches. Thejourney has just started, just played 12 Tests...WhenI made my Test debut in South Africa after playingtwo years of international cricket, it was a dream cometrue (moment).

“Being there playing in the white jersey was a greatfeeling and then slowly contributing to team successgave me satisfaction,” the pacer, who became the thirdIndian to pick a hat-trick in Test cricket, said.

Asked to pick his ‘making it large’ moment,Bumrah singled out his first Test five-wicket haul, thathe took against South Africa at Johannesburg in 2018.

“For me, Test matches was a big thing, so gettingmy first Test fifer (five-wicket haul), which I got inJohannesburg playing in my first series... So I washappy and then the moment I got my fifth wicket (Iwas like), now I have got a Test fifer and no one cantake it away from me and that was ‘making it large’moment.”

While Bumrah has been rested for the T20 seriesagainst South Africa, he will return for the three-Testseries against the Proteas beginning with the open-ing match at Visakhapatnam on October 2.

“Each and every experience is important to me.I have played all my life in Ranji Trophy cricket in Indiaso it is not that it is alien conditions for me. I haveplayed in India before with the red-ball, so it is anoth-er challenge and looking forward to it,” he said.

“Playing international cricket in India in Testmatches will be a different challenge and hopefully thepreparations we put in will give(desired) results.”

The pacer uses the out-swinger very well and accord-ing to him playing in Englandgave him the confidence toexecute the skill.

Asked about his awaygoing ball, Bumrah said, “Notmastering it but I always hadthe out-swinger and notused it, but playing inEngland gave me a lot ofconfidence, the duke ballswings for a long time andthat gave me a lot of confi-dence.

“I became more andmore confident as I playedmore and more Testmatches and becauseof that I was able toexecute in Testmatches.”

Bumrah alsospoke on hisequation withb o w l i n gcoach BharatArun, whohas got an extension till 2021T20 World Cup to be held inIndia.

“He (Arun) has seen myprogress as a child. So he knowswhat are my strengths and weak-nesses and slowly I made progressinto international cricket, so he hasseen that (journey of mine), he hasgiven his inputs.

“We do a lot of hard work, and youhave seen the results that have come. Hehas obviously played a role and we arehappy that he is there (for another twoyears) and hopefully from nowonwards, we will try and contributemore (to the team's success)” saidBumrah, who has also played 58ODIs and 42 T20s.

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Wicketkeeper-batsman SarfarazAhmed was on Friday retained

as Pakistan’s ODI and T20International captain ahead of theforthcoming series against Sri Lanka.

Pakistan’s new head coach andchief selector Misbah-ul-Haq told themedia in Lahore on Friday that he washopeful of working well with Sarfarazto take the team forward.

Misbah also announced that bats-man Babar Zaman would be the vice-captain of the national team in the twoshorter formats.

Asked whether Sarfaraz had beenappointed just for the series against SriLanka or on long-term basis like in thepast, Pakistan Cricket Board ChairmanEhsan Mani said one should not readtoo much into it and speculate.

“We have a new management ofthe team and we are looking now atfinding the right balance,” Mani said.

Mani also insisted that Misbah andthe Board’s Chief Executive WasimKhan were already looking into theissue of Test captaincy.

“Since we don’t have Test match-es immediately we have announcedcaptain for white ball cricket and dueprocess will be followed for namingcaptain of red ball cricket and Misbahand Wasim will make their recommen-dations to me,” he said.

Sarfaraz has been Pakistan’s cap-tain in all three formats since last two

years and has led the team in white ballcricket since 2017, also winning theChampions Trophy.

Asked about Sarfaraz’s perfor-mances, Misbah said, “Overall if weassess Sarfaraz’s performances I stillbelieve the team has done well. He hasled the national under-19 team andnow senior team in last three years, I

think we are doing the right thing.“Our T20 performances have been

outstanding but in ODI we have beenup and down and we need to be moreconsistent. But we can’t just blame thecaptain or one individual, that iswrong. When your main players areout of form and don’t perform, theteam can’t win. In cricket 11 playershave to play and perform.”

Misbah made the point that hismain job would be to support the cap-tain in decision making and help himreduce the mistakes.

“I have been captain and some-times as a captain you need to bepushed as you tend to underestimateyourself and forget your role as a play-er in the team. That is the area I willwork with him and ensure he does notunder utilize himself and does perform.If he performs it will help the team,” hesaid. Misbah said he was not worriedabout the criticism over his appoint-ment as head coach and chief selector.

“I just think a person has to justfocus on his job because if I performwell or bad it will become clear in frontof everyone.”

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Areality check awaits India’stop wrestlers at the World

Championships where they willchase not only glory but alsoTokyo Olympics qualification,here from today.

The run-up to the Worlds hasbeen spectacular for BajrangPunia and Vinesh Phogat whiledecent results have provided adose of confidence to a few oth-ers like Divya Kakran.

Bajrang triumphed at all fourevents he competed this season —Dan Kolov, Asian ChampionshipAli Aliev and Yasar Dogu — andwill go into the Championships asthe world number one and topseed in 65kg.

For Vinesh, the season beganin a new weight category as shemoved up to 53kg from 50kg.

She took some time to settlein her new class but still made fivefinals, winning three Golds —Yasar Dogu, Grand Prix of Spainand Poland Open.

While skill is not an issuewith Vinesh, holding off strongcandidates for six minutes is a bigchallenge, she herself had admit-ted recently.

The big-stage competition

will help her make an assessmenton this count as she eyes a maid-en Worlds medal. A last-minuteelbow injury had forced her toopt-out of the BudapestChampionships last year.

No Indian woman has everwon a Gold at the Worlds andVinesh has it in her to end India’sdrought.

Bajrang has been in the formof his life but there is a chink inhis armour — the weak legdefence — and it will surely betested.

Only Sushil Kumar has wona World title in men’s freestyle inIndia’s wrestling history andBajrang would be keen to endIndia’s wait for a second medal.

The 25-year-old himself hastwo World Championship medalsbut not a Gold. His road thoughis full of challenges with thepresence of RussianGadzhimurad Rashidov andBahrain's Haji Mohammed Ali inhis category.

Two-time Olympic medallistSushil has been struggling of lateand is returning to the Worldsafter a gap of eight years.

He will be watched keenly inthe 74kg competition as his rel-evance is being discussed for

some time now. He remains bull-ish about his chances and Worldswill provide an opportunity to testhis claims.

Like Sushil, Rio OlympicsBronze medallist Sakshi Malik hasbeen struggling on the interna-

tional circuit. She has not won atitle since her triumph at the 2017Commonwealth Championships.

This season, ending runner-up at Dan Kolov has been her bestshow. She had stunned reigningworld champion Petra Olli before

eventually settling for a Silver.Not being able to handle

pressure has been her bane forlong. Staying defensive in the finalmoments of the bout has nothelped her and she has lost a fewbouts from advantageous positionlot of time.

Divya Kakran, in contrast, isa bundle of energy and remainsrelentless throughout her bouts.She has won two Gold and asmany Bronze medals this seasonand looks hungry for more.

Pooja Dhanda, who becameonly the fourth Indian woman towin a medal at the Worlds lastyear, could not book a berth in57kg, which is an Olympic cate-gory but will fight for her secondmedal in 59kg.

It will be interesting to seehow Sarita Mor, who shockedPooja in trials, fares.

Among other men’s freestylegrapplers, Deepak Punia is capa-ble of springing a surprise. He isheading into the Championshipsafter becoming India’s first juniorWorld champion in 18 years.

He outplayed his seniors dur-ing the trials. This is a perfectopportunity for him to announcehis arrival on the senior circuit.

Gurpreet Singh (77kg) and

Harpreet Singh (82kg) will beIndia’s best bet in Greco-Romanstyle.

However, India’s nationalGreco Roman Coach HargobindSingh says a lot would depend ondraw and a bit of luck.

The championship is offeringsix Olympic quotas in six cate-gories in all three styles.

SQUAD(Men’s Freestyle): Ravi Kumar(57kg), Rahul Aware (61kg),Bajrang Punia (65kg), Karan(70kg), Sushil Kumar (74kg),Jitender (79kg), Deepak Punia(86kg), Parveen (92kg), MausamKhatri (97kg) and Sumit Malik(125kg).(Men’s Greco-Roman): Manjeet(55kg), Manish (60kg), Sagar(63kg), Manish (67kg), Yogesh(72kg), Gurpreet Singh (77kg),Harpreet Singh (82kg), SunilKumar (87kg), Ravi (97kg) andNaveen (130kg).(Women’s Freestyle): Seema(50kg), Vinesh Phogat (53kg),Lalita (55kg), Sarita (57-kg),Pooja Dhanda (59-kg), SakshiMalik (62kg), Navjot Kaur (65kg),Divya Kakran (68kg), KomalBhagwan Gole (72kg) and Kiran(76kg).

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Steve Smith again provedEngland's nemesis on

Friday, passing 700 runs in theAshes series as the touristsreached 147-4 at tea on thesecond day of the fifth Test.

The former captain hasbeen in imperious form dur-ing the tour, with a lowestscore of 82 in five completedinnings so far.

He was 59 not out at thebreak, with Mitchell Marsh on12, as Australia look to wrapup their first Test series vic-tory in England since 2001.

Smith came to the creasewith Australia in trouble at14-2 in reply to England'sfirst-innings total of 294 afterpaceman Jofra Archer hadremoved openers DavidWarner and Marcus Harris.

Smith, who only returnedto Test cricket last month fol-lowing a year-long ban for hisrole in a ball-tampering scan-dal, was watchful at the begin-ning of his innings.

But he soon found histouch at the sun-bakedground in London, bringingup his 10th consecutive Ashesfifty with a six over midwick-et off left-arm spinner JackLeach.

Earlier, Warner, who wasalso banned over the ball-tampering scandal, was againdismissed for single figures,caught behind by wicket-keeper Jonny Bairstow, as afeisty Archer made earlyinroads into Australia's bat-ting line-up.

The opener was initiallygiven not out but Englandreviewed.

Slow-motion replays sug-gested there was a gapbetween bat and ball but thetechnology picked up a snickand the umpire overturnedhis initial verdict.

WARNER STRUGGLESIt was the eighth time that

Warner had been dismissedin single figures in the series.

Archer then struck againwith a 90 miles-per-hourthunderbolt, with Ben Stokes

holding onto a sharp chancefrom Harris at second slip.

That dismissal broughtSmith to the crease and hewas immediately greeted witha sharp bouncer, much to thedelight of the packed crowd.

Smith came into thematch with 671 runs underhis belt in just five innings atan astonishing average ofmore than 134.

He did not bat in the sec-ond innings of the secondTest at Lord's and missed thethird Test after being struckby an Archer bouncer.

Smith and MarcusLabuschagne repaired theearly damage, putting on 69for the third wicket beforeArcher struck again, trap-ping Labuschagne lbw for48.

Matthew Wade was lbwto Sam Curran for 19 asAustralia slipped to 118-4but the unruffled Smith wasplaying a different game, eas-ing to his half-century in 91balls.

World Cup winnersEngland, desperate to level thefive-match series at 2-2, addedjust 23 runs to their overnightscore, with Jos Buttler out for70.

Marsh returned figures of5-46 on his return to the Testside while Pat Cummins took3-84.

Australia won at OldTrafford last week to take a 2-1 lead in the series, meaningthey will retain the Ashes urnregardless of the result at theOval.

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