· intra-day low of 73.81 thursday. with this, market capitalisation of bse-listed firms slipped...

15
T he Union Government on Thursday announced a 2.50 a litre cut in petrol and diesel prices, factoring in excise duty reduction of 1.50 per litre and asking oil companies to absorb another 1 as the BJP and the NDA-ruled States decided to slash oil prices by matching the Central cut. Soon after the announce- ment, the NDA Governments in 13 States — Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Tripura, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Goa — fol- lowed the Centre’s footsteps announcing a cut of 2.50 per litre in fuel prices. Governor- ruled J&K too has slashed fuel prices 2.50 per litre. As Centre’s cut was matched by these States, the combined relief to the con- sumers would be to the tune of 5 per litre. The reduction fol- lowed petrol and diesel prices touching new highs. However, the BJP-JD(U) alliance Government in Bihar has not followed suit. Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Thursday remained non-committal on whether the State Government would reduce tax on petrol and diesel in view of the Centre’s appeal in this regard. The Opposition ruled States are yet to decide on cut- ting their shares of VAT on petrol and diesel; Karnataka has refused to cut the prices. Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy ruled out any further cut in fuel prices as it had already done it a fort- night ago. The State Government had slashed the petrol and diesel prices by 2 per litre on September 17 in view of the public outcry against spiralling fuel prices. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said it will be a test for those States whose leaders were only tweeting and indulging in lip service. “What will they do now? Last time also only BJP and NDA-led State Governments reduced VAT. This time if other State Governments do not do it then people will ask them,” he said. The Finance Minister said the excise duty cut would have an impact of 10,500 crore on Central Government’s tax rev- enues. He also asked State Governments to follow suit by cutting a sales tax or VAT by a similar amount. Jaitley said the move fol- lowed Brent crude oil touching four-year high of $86 a barrel on Wednesday and interest rates in US reaching seven-year high. The relief to consumers will be in three parts — Centre will cut excise duty by 1.5, and oil marketing companies (OMCs) will factor in 1 in their pricing, and States have been asked to cut VAT as they have raked in windfall gains due to ad valorem nature of the levy that results in higher real- isation whenever rates move up, the Finance Minister said. Inflation in India, howev- er, is still moderate at less than 4 per cent and higher direct tax collections give comfort with regard to fiscal deficit, he said adding domestic macroeco- nomic indicators are strong and stable, except for current account deficit (CAD). In Delhi, where the fuel prices are the lowest among all metros and most State capital, petrol is sold at 84 per litre and diesel at 75.45. Soon after the Central decision, Gujarat announced reduction of petrol and diesel prices by 2.50 per litre. In effect, the reduction will be to the tune of 5 per litre in Gujarat. Today’s petrol price in Ahmedabad was 83.21 per litre while that of diesel was 81.02 per litre. “Finance Minister Sh @arunjaitley Ji has announced 2.5 cuts in petrol & diesel prices. Reciprocating positive- ly to FM’s announcement, the Govt of Gujarat has also decid- ed to reduce 2.50 on both petrol & diesel. Thus petrol & diesel would be 5 cheaper in the State of Gujarat,” Rupani tweeted. Welcoming the decision, BJP president Amit Shah said that the reduction in petrol and diesel prices by 2.50 a litre shows the Narendra Modi-led Government’s sensitivity towards people’s welfare. At a Press conference, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra expressed the hope that people will get a total relief of 5 at the earliest as the Centre has asked States to effect an equal amount of tax cut in the oil prices. He also took a swipe at the previous Congress-led Government at the Centre, saying it had “pawned” nation- al resources by issuing oil bonds while the Modi Government showed its sensi- tivity by reducing the prices. The Centre has expressed confidence that it will fulfill its fiscal deficit targets, he said. A bloodbath on Dalal Street saw sensex crash by more than 800 points on Thursday amid all-round selling spurred by a falling rupee and rising crude oil prices. Similarly, the NSE Nifty cracked the 10,600- level by falling 259 points. Investors lost around 5 lakh crore in just two days of stock market crash where the BSE benchmark index plummeted by 1,357 points. Led by the sharp sell-off in equities, the market capitalisa- tion of BSE-listed companies tumbled 5,02,895.97 crore to 1,40,39,742.92 crore ($1.90 trillion). According to news agency PTI, the dollar figure has been arrived at by calcu- lating the m-cap from rupee’s intra-day low of 73.81 Thursday. With this, market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms slipped below the $2 trillion. Spooked by overnight sharp rally in Brent crude price which touched fresh four-year high of 86.68 before showing mild correction, markets wit- nessed severe selling on Thursday with the benchmark Sensex crashing over 806 points to end at 35,169.16 after the rupee hit a new intra-day low of 73.81 against the dollar. This is the lowest closing since July 2 when the index had set- tled at 35,264.41. The sensex had lost 550.51 points on Wednesday. The bear grip is so fierce on the market that no sector has survived the pain. For the last several weeks investors had used pharma and IT sector to “hide” from market fall since they were supposed to benefit from falling rupee. But during the last two days, the IT sector has also cracked with TCS leading the fall, losing as much as 10 per cent in two sessions. With blue chips companies like Maruti Suzuki and Nestle Eicher Motor shedding almost 28 per cent in two months, the large caps universe has also not remained immune to the sell- off. On Thursday, among the large-caps, RIL was the worst hit plunging 7.03 per cent fol- lowed by Hero MotoCorp 5.45 per cent and TCS 4.54 per cent. In the broader market, the S&P BSE midcap index fell by 1.93 per cent and small cap index 2.07 per cent. The situation is grim that nearly 400 stocks hit their 52- week low on BSE on Thursday. At the BSE, 1,889 stocks declined, while 775 advanced and 138 remained unchanged. Not only traders but long- term investors, including those holding mutual fold portfolios, have suffered heavy losses. Several mid-cap and small- cap MFs have lost as much as 30 per cent during the mayhem that started three weeks ago. With fix deposit interest rate falling, the investors had parked their money in a big way in the MFS, and now that the market has crashed, they are fleeing by cutting their losses. Continued on Page 4 M yanmar has conveyed to India that Rohingyas will have to be identified only on the basis of a separate bi-lingual nationality verification form provided by it and not through any other means. The Embassy of Myanmar has told the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) that it would not entertain any other verification method which does not match with its own data on Rohingyas. The development comes even as India on Thursday deported seven Rohingya immigrants, who have been staying in Assam illegally, to their country of origin — Myanmar — in a first such move with regard to the peo- ple from the Rakhine province of the neighbouring country. The illegal immigrants were detained in 2012 and since then were lodged in Cachar Central Jail in Assam’s Silchar. The confirmation of the Myanmarese citizenship of the illegal immigrants came after the Government of the neigh- bouring country verified their addresses in Rakhine State and all of them were given travel documents by Myanmar. Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court rejected the plea made by one of the Rohingya refugees seeking to restrain the Centre from deporting them to Myanmar. On Myanmar’s condition for taking back Rohingyas, the Ministry of Home Affairs has asked all State Governments to identify them strictly as per the Myanmar verification form. The MHA also advised the States to capture Rohingya immigrants’ personal particu- lars in the new bilingual nation- ality verification form and got signed by such illegal immi- grants and their guardians. The Ministry has also pre- pared a list of non-government organisations (NGOs) provid- ing assistance to Rohingyas in Delhi. On the repatriation of seven Rohingya immigrants staying in Assam, the MEA has stated that their repatriation was arranged after “recon- firming” their willingness to return and with “full concur- rence” of the Myanmarese Government. “The MEA has stated that Embassy of Myanmar has pro- vided them a separate nation- ality verification form and will not entertain any other form. Continued on Page 4 F acing enquiry over charges of nepotism and conflict of interest, ICICI Bank managing director and CEO Chanda Kochhar Thursday quit the bank, six months before her current tenure was to end. Soon after Kochhar’s resigna- tio, shares of ICICI Bank rose by 4 per cent, adding 8,051 crore to its market valuation. Kochhar, 57, has also resigned from all subsidiaries of the bank, including ICICI Securities where she had sought reappointment as the chairperson. The board elevated Chief Operating Officer (COO) Sandeep Bakhshi as the new managing director and CEO for five years until October 3, 2023, ICICI Bank said in a statement. The bank further said that the external enquiry instituted by the board against Kochhar in May will continue and the benefits to her would be sub- ject to the outcome of the probe. Following the board’s decision to institute an enquiry by retired Supreme Court Justice BN Srikrishna, Kochhar went on leave in May. Continued on Page 4 F earing repatriation to their homeland, the illegal Rohingya refugees in the national Capital are making all out efforts to marry off their young girls to Indian men as they think that this may pre- vent their daughters from being deported and would thus save them from being subjected to atrocities like “rape” and “mur- der” back home in Myanmar. A Rohingya woman in her late thirties living in a refugee settlement at Shram Vihar near Okhla told The Pioneer, “India is considered a safe country by the refugees as here they don’t have to face the situation sim- ilar to what prevails in their homeland.” Not willing to be identified, the woman said many families, including her own, are trying their best to find suitable matches for their daughters among the Indian Muslims although she admitted that it’s not an easy task as even the poor among the Indian Muslims “look down” upon refugees and don’t want to enter into matrimonial alliance with them. While she said it is “Ok” with most of the refugee fam- ilies even if their daughters are married to someone already married as finding an eligible groom as match for Rohingya girls is next to impossible. “Indian Muslim commu- nity usually avoids marrying Rohingya girls fearing ‘victim- isation’ by the community and even authorities,” she said. Fearing being rounded up for deportation, many of them have already started migrating to other States that they con- sider safe. Another Rohingya woman said many of the refugee women work as domestic helps in the localities nearby by hid- ing their real identities and they pose as settlers from States like West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh. She admitted that this not only helps them easily getting job at houses but also in gain- ing trust and confidence of locals with whom they want to marry off their daughters. However, refugees expressed their disappoint- ment with the local Muslim community as they were not of much help to them except in the month of Ramzan when they get “zakat”. Most of the refugees do menial jobs for their sustenance. Many of them even went up to the extent of breathing their last in India rather than being deported back home. Rohingya refugee Mohammad Osman said, “I would prefer dying on road coming under a moving vehi- cle rather than being sent back to “Burma”. They recalled that thou- sands have fled Myanmar over the years due to “religious per- secution” and “annihilation” and are in no mood to leave India. An elderly said those who migrate to other State find job as a labourer while women do household chores or work as maids. At the Shram Vihar refugee camp, which was established in 2014, there are about 82 families with a population of about 400 who live in deplorable condition. The Rohingya refugees alleged that they have to pay 500 to 1,000 per shanty as per its area to a person only after which they allow them to stay on the land. Octogenarian Dil Mohammad showed his United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) card and said many refugees have “Aadhaar” card, “PAN” card and also driving licence (DL) but none have the voter I-card. However, another man on con- dition of anonymity said some refugees have illegally managed to get the voter I-card. “We were assured by the UNHCR representative that they will pay half of our rent but it has been two years and they haven’t paid a “penny”. We also have to pay inflated elec- tricity bill to a middleman who then submits it on our behalf. We have come to know that till now he too has not paid the bill of last 8 months fol- lowing which there is a due amount of more than 70,000 for pocket of 21 families,” said Osman. While the UNHCR has given these refugees an identi- ty card having a reference number and mention of “coun- try of origin” as Myanmar. According to the UNHCR, the refugees having UNHCR card are protected from arbitrary detention or forcible return to her/his country or to any other country where she/he would face threats to his/her life or freedom.

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Page 1:  · intra-day low of 73.81 Thursday. With this, market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms slipped below the $2 trillion. Spooked by overnight sharp rally in Brent crude price which

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The Union Government onThursday announced a

�2.50 a litre cut in petrol anddiesel prices, factoring in exciseduty reduction of �1.50 per litreand asking oil companies toabsorb another �1 as the BJPand the NDA-ruled Statesdecided to slash oil prices bymatching the Central cut.

Soon after the announce-ment, the NDA Governmentsin 13 States — Uttar Pradesh,Assam, Himachal Pradesh,Haryana, Gujarat,Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh,Chhattisgarh, Tripura,Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh,Uttarakhand and Goa — fol-lowed the Centre’s footstepsannouncing a cut of �2.50 perlitre in fuel prices. Governor-ruled J&K too has slashed fuelprices �2.50 per litre.

As Centre’s cut wasmatched by these States, thecombined relief to the con-sumers would be to the tune of�5 per litre. The reduction fol-lowed petrol and diesel pricestouching new highs.

However, the BJP-JD(U)alliance Government in Biharhas not followed suit. BiharDeputy Chief Minister SushilKumar Modi on Thursdayremained non-committal onwhether the State Governmentwould reduce tax on petrol anddiesel in view of the Centre’sappeal in this regard.

The Opposition ruledStates are yet to decide on cut-ting their shares of VAT onpetrol and diesel; Karnataka

has refused to cut the prices.Karnataka Chief Minister

HD Kumaraswamy ruled outany further cut in fuel prices asit had already done it a fort-night ago. The StateGovernment had slashed thepetrol and diesel prices by �2per litre on September 17 inview of the public outcryagainst spiralling fuel prices.

Union Finance MinisterArun Jaitley said it will be a testfor those States whose leaderswere only tweeting andindulging in lip service. “Whatwill they do now? Last timealso only BJP and NDA-ledState Governments reducedVAT. This time if other State

Governments do not do it thenpeople will ask them,” he said.

The Finance Minister saidthe excise duty cut would havean impact of �10,500 crore onCentral Government’s tax rev-enues. He also asked StateGovernments to follow suit bycutting a sales tax or VAT by asimilar amount.

Jaitley said the move fol-lowed Brent crude oil touchingfour-year high of $86 a barrelon Wednesday and interestrates in US reaching seven-yearhigh. The relief to consumerswill be in three parts — Centrewill cut excise duty by �1.5, andoil marketing companies(OMCs) will factor in �1 in

their pricing, and States havebeen asked to cut VAT as theyhave raked in windfall gainsdue to ad valorem nature of thelevy that results in higher real-isation whenever rates moveup, the Finance Minister said.

Inflation in India, howev-er, is still moderate at less than4 per cent and higher direct taxcollections give comfort withregard to fiscal deficit, he saidadding domestic macroeco-nomic indicators are strong andstable, except for currentaccount deficit (CAD).

In Delhi, where the fuelprices are the lowest among allmetros and most State capital,petrol is sold at �84 per litre

and diesel at �75.45.Soon after the Central

decision, Gujarat announcedreduction of petrol and dieselprices by �2.50 per litre.

In effect, the reductionwill be to the tune of �5 per litrein Gujarat. Today’s petrol pricein Ahmedabad was �83.21 perlitre while that of diesel was81.02 per litre.

“Finance Minister Sh@arunjaitley Ji has announced�2.5 cuts in petrol & dieselprices. Reciprocating positive-ly to FM’s announcement, theGovt of Gujarat has also decid-ed to reduce �2.50 on bothpetrol & diesel. Thus petrol &diesel would be �5 cheaper inthe State of Gujarat,” Rupanitweeted.

Welcoming the decision,BJP president Amit Shah saidthat the reduction in petrol anddiesel prices by �2.50 a litreshows the Narendra Modi-ledGovernment’s sensitivitytowards people’s welfare.

At a Press conference, BJPspokesperson Sambit Patraexpressed the hope that peoplewill get a total relief of �5 at theearliest as the Centre has askedStates to effect an equal amountof tax cut in the oil prices.

He also took a swipe at theprevious Congress-ledGovernment at the Centre,saying it had “pawned” nation-al resources by issuing oilbonds while the ModiGovernment showed its sensi-tivity by reducing the prices.

The Centre has expressedconfidence that it will fulfill itsfiscal deficit targets, he said.

����� +,��-,./�

Abloodbath on Dalal Streetsaw sensex crash by more

than 800 points on Thursdayamid all-round selling spurredby a falling rupee and risingcrude oil prices. Similarly, theNSE Nifty cracked the 10,600-level by falling 259 points.Investors lost around �5 lakhcrore in just two days of stockmarket crash where the BSEbenchmark index plummetedby 1,357 points.

Led by the sharp sell-off inequities, the market capitalisa-tion of BSE-listed companiestumbled �5,02,895.97 crore to�1,40,39,742.92 crore ($1.90trillion). According to newsagency PTI, the dollar figurehas been arrived at by calcu-lating the m-cap from rupee’sintra-day low of 73.81Thursday. With this, marketcapitalisation of BSE-listedfirms slipped below the $2trillion.

Spooked by overnightsharp rally in Brent crude pricewhich touched fresh four-yearhigh of �86.68 before showingmild correction, markets wit-nessed severe selling onThursday with the benchmarkSensex crashing over 806points to end at 35,169.16 after

the rupee hit a new intra-daylow of 73.81 against the dollar.This is the lowest closing sinceJuly 2 when the index had set-tled at 35,264.41. The sensexhad lost 550.51 points onWednesday.

The bear grip is so fierce onthe market that no sector hassurvived the pain. For the lastseveral weeks investors hadused pharma and IT sector to“hide” from market fall sincethey were supposed to benefitfrom falling rupee. But duringthe last two days, the IT sectorhas also cracked with TCSleading the fall, losing as muchas 10 per cent in two sessions.

With blue chips companieslike Maruti Suzuki and NestleEicher Motor shedding almost28 per cent in two months, thelarge caps universe has also notremained immune to the sell-off. On Thursday, among thelarge-caps, RIL was the worsthit plunging 7.03 per cent fol-

lowed by Hero MotoCorp 5.45per cent and TCS 4.54 per cent.In the broader market, theS&P BSE midcap index fell by1.93 per cent and small capindex 2.07 per cent.

The situation is grim thatnearly 400 stocks hit their 52-week low on BSE on Thursday.At the BSE, 1,889 stocksdeclined, while 775 advancedand 138 remained unchanged.

Not only traders but long-term investors, including thoseholding mutual fold portfolios,have suffered heavy losses.Several mid-cap and small-cap MFs have lost as much as30 per cent during the mayhemthat started three weeks ago.

With fix deposit interestrate falling, the investors hadparked their money in a bigway in the MFS, and now thatthe market has crashed, theyare fleeing by cutting theirlosses.

Continued on Page 4

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Myanmar has conveyed toIndia that Rohingyas will

have to be identified only onthe basis of a separate bi-lingualnationality verification formprovided by it and not throughany other means.

The Embassy of Myanmarhas told the Ministry ofExternal Affairs (MEA) that itwould not entertain any otherverification method which doesnot match with its own data onRohingyas.

The development comeseven as India on Thursdaydeported seven Rohingyaimmigrants, who have beenstaying in Assam illegally, totheir country of origin —Myanmar — in a first suchmove with regard to the peo-ple from the Rakhine provinceof the neighbouring country.

The illegal immigrantswere detained in 2012 andsince then were lodged inCachar Central Jail in Assam’sSilchar. The confirmation of theMyanmarese citizenship of theillegal immigrants came afterthe Government of the neigh-bouring country verified theiraddresses in Rakhine State andall of them were given traveldocuments by Myanmar.

Earlier in the day, theSupreme Court rejected theplea made by one of theRohingya refugees seeking torestrain the Centre fromdeporting them to Myanmar.

On Myanmar’s conditionfor taking back Rohingyas, theMinistry of Home Affairs hasasked all State Governments toidentify them strictly as per theMyanmar verification form.The MHA also advised the

States to capture Rohingyaimmigrants’ personal particu-lars in the new bilingual nation-ality verification form and gotsigned by such illegal immi-grants and their guardians.

The Ministry has also pre-pared a list of non-governmentorganisations (NGOs) provid-ing assistance to Rohingyas inDelhi.

On the repatriation ofseven Rohingya immigrants

staying in Assam, the MEA hasstated that their repatriationwas arranged after “recon-firming” their willingness toreturn and with “full concur-rence” of the MyanmareseGovernment.

“The MEA has stated thatEmbassy of Myanmar has pro-vided them a separate nation-ality verification form and willnot entertain any other form.

Continued on Page 4

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Facing enquiry over chargesof nepotism and conflict of

interest, ICICI Bank managingdirector and CEO ChandaKochhar Thursday quit thebank, six months before hercurrent tenure was to end.Soon after Kochhar’s resigna-tio, shares of ICICI Bank roseby 4 per cent, adding �8,051crore to its market valuation.

Kochhar, 57, has alsoresigned from all subsidiaries ofthe bank, including ICICISecurities where she hadsought reappointment as thechairperson.

The board elevated ChiefOperating Officer (COO)Sandeep Bakhshi as the newmanaging director and CEOfor five years until October 3,2023, ICICI Bank said in astatement.

The bank further said thatthe external enquiry institutedby the board against Kochharin May will continue and thebenefits to her would be sub-ject to the outcome of theprobe. Following the board’sdecision to institute an enquiryby retired Supreme CourtJustice BN Srikrishna, Kochharwent on leave in May.

Continued on Page 4

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Fearing repatriation to theirhomeland, the illegal

Rohingya refugees in thenational Capital are making allout efforts to marry off theiryoung girls to Indian men asthey think that this may pre-vent their daughters from beingdeported and would thus savethem from being subjected toatrocities like “rape” and “mur-der” back home in Myanmar.

A Rohingya woman in herlate thirties living in a refugeesettlement at Shram Vihar nearOkhla told The Pioneer, “Indiais considered a safe country bythe refugees as here they don’thave to face the situation sim-ilar to what prevails in theirhomeland.”

Not willing to be identified,the woman said many families,

including her own, are tryingtheir best to find suitablematches for their daughtersamong the Indian Muslimsalthough she admitted that it’snot an easy task as even thepoor among the IndianMuslims “look down” uponrefugees and don’t want toenter into matrimonial alliancewith them.

While she said it is “Ok”with most of the refugee fam-ilies even if their daughters aremarried to someone alreadymarried as finding an eligiblegroom as match for Rohingyagirls is next to impossible.

“Indian Muslim commu-nity usually avoids marryingRohingya girls fearing ‘victim-isation’ by the community andeven authorities,” she said.

Fearing being rounded upfor deportation, many of themhave already started migrating

to other States that they con-sider safe.

Another Rohingya womansaid many of the refugeewomen work as domestic helpsin the localities nearby by hid-ing their real identities and theypose as settlers from States likeWest Bengal, Bihar, Odisha

and Uttar Pradesh. She admitted that this not

only helps them easily gettingjob at houses but also in gain-ing trust and confidence oflocals with whom they want tomarry off their daughters.

However, refugeesexpressed their disappoint-

ment with the local Muslimcommunity as they were not ofmuch help to them except inthe month of Ramzan whenthey get “zakat”. Most of therefugees do menial jobs fortheir sustenance. Many of themeven went up to the extent ofbreathing their last in Indiarather than being deportedback home.

Rohingya refugeeMohammad Osman said, “Iwould prefer dying on roadcoming under a moving vehi-cle rather than being sent backto “Burma”.

They recalled that thou-sands have fled Myanmar overthe years due to “religious per-secution” and “annihilation”and are in no mood to leaveIndia. An elderly said thosewho migrate to other Statefind job as a labourer whilewomen do household chores or

work as maids. At the ShramVihar refugee camp, whichwas established in 2014, thereare about 82 families with apopulation of about 400 wholive in deplorable condition.

The Rohingya refugeesalleged that they have to pay�500 to �1,000 per shanty asper its area to a person onlyafter which they allow them tostay on the land.

Octogenarian DilMohammad showed his UnitedNations High Commissionerfor Refugees (UNHCR) cardand said many refugees have“Aadhaar” card, “PAN” cardand also driving licence (DL)but none have the voter I-card.However, another man on con-dition of anonymity said somerefugees have illegally managedto get the voter I-card.

“We were assured by theUNHCR representative that

they will pay half of our rentbut it has been two years andthey haven’t paid a “penny”. Wealso have to pay inflated elec-tricity bill to a middlemanwho then submits it on ourbehalf. We have come to knowthat till now he too has not paidthe bill of last 8 months fol-lowing which there is a dueamount of more than �70,000for pocket of 21 families,” saidOsman.

While the UNHCR hasgiven these refugees an identi-ty card having a referencenumber and mention of “coun-try of origin” as Myanmar.According to the UNHCR, therefugees having UNHCR cardare protected from arbitrarydetention or forcible return toher/his country or to any othercountry where she/he wouldface threats to his/her life orfreedom.

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Page 2:  · intra-day low of 73.81 Thursday. With this, market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms slipped below the $2 trillion. Spooked by overnight sharp rally in Brent crude price which

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The Delhi Police has arrest-ed five people, including a

40 year-old woman suspectedto be the ‘kingpin’ of goldsmuggling gang, operating atIndira Gandhi International(IGI) Airport.

“The woman identified asUrmila was revealed by a pas-senger, who had arrived fromDubai on Sunday and wascaught trying to smuggle goldinto the country weighingaround 2.8 kg with marketvalue of �86.58 lakh at THEDelhi airport,” said DrAmandeep Singh, AdditionalCommissioner of Customs.

“During interrogation, thewoman passenger told cus-toms officers that she wasallegedly used as a carrier inlieu of money by Urmila. It wasalso claimed that she was thekingpin of a gold smugglingracket,” said Dr Singh.

“Based on the woman’s

claim, the customs officersdecided to carry out search atthe residential premises ownedby Urmila. Once the teamreached the premises, Urmilastarted abusing the officersand assaulted the team follow-ing which additional personnelfrom IGI airport and policeassistance was simultaneouslyrequisitioned,” said Dr Singh.

“Some people pelted stonesat customs officials’ vehicles todeter them from carrying outtheir duty. We have registered

a complaint in theMaurya Nagarpolice station,” DrSingh added.

“The incidentoccurred onSunday. We havefiled a FirstI n f o r m a t i o nReport (FIR)under Section 186(obstructing pub-lic servant in dis-charge of public

functions), 332 (voluntarilycausing hurt to deter public ser-vant from his duty), 353(assault or criminal force todeter public servant from dis-charge of his duty) and otherrelevant sections of the IndianPenal Code (IPC). We have alsoarrested five people, includingUrmila. The other four arrest-ed are relative of Urmila. Theywere produced before a localcourt that sent them to 14 daysin judicial custody,” said thesenior police official.

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The Delhi Police on Thursdayarrested three people from

Mehrauli in connection withmurder of a 34-year-old Rupesh,a resident of Taimur Nagar.

“The accused are identifiedas Ajay, Akash and Suraj. Thethree were arrested in anothercase of robbery in the area.During interrogation Akash andAjay confessed to the killing ofRupesh in Taimur Nagar on 30September night ,” said VijayKumar, Deputy Commissionerof Police, (DCP) South district.

“During interrogation theaccused also told police official

that they had stolen Honda citycar from Jangpura area andafter committing the crime theydumped the car in LajpatNagar,” said the DCP.

The entire incident was cap-tured in CCTV camera installedat a nearby house. After the inci-dent on the same night localsstaged protests and accused

police of being hand in glovewith the accused. Enraged localseven burned two motorcyclesand pelted stones at the policepersonnel who were trying tomanage the crowd. A policemanwas injured in the attack.

Locals had also alleged thatRupesh was shot at by two men,suspected to be linked to drugpeddlers. His family claimed thathe had opposed the sale ofdrugs in the area and that is whyhe was attacked, they added.

Residents alleged that illegalimmigrants from Bangladeshresiding in the nearby JJ clusterwere involved in drug traffick-ing and petty crimes in the area.

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An Inter-State narcotic drugscartel has been busted with

the arrest of two members, whowere caught trying to deliver 20kgs of high quality heroinworth �80 crore in the inter-national market. The accusedpeople working under oneRafequat were arrested fromthe Golf Course gate inBhalaswa by the team fromDelhi Police’s Special Cell(Northern Range).

According to the SpecialCell of Northern Range, offi-cers got tipoff about the drug

mafia of Fatehganj, UttarPradesh one Rafequat comingto the area. He, along with hisother active partners, procuredcontraband drugs from NajaelHaque from West Bengal andtransported them to Delhi andUP through his dedicated car-riers.

“Information was receivedon October 1 last that twomembers of the cartel wereplanning to supply heroin onthe direction of Rafequat,”Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (Special Cell) SanjeevKumar Yadav stated.

“Accordingly, a raiding

party was constituted and atabout 2.15 pm, a vehicle camefrom Ring Road and stoppednear Golf Course gate. Oneperson was identified as Shahidand the other was identified asIrfan by the informer.

They were arrested andchecked and 20 kg fine heroinwere recovered from their backpack and from a cavity in thetool box of the vehicle,” DCPsaid.

“During interrogation,Irfan (36) disclosed that afterjoining Rafequat, on four pre-vious occasions he collecteddrug consignments from

Rafequat’s contact NajealHaque at Malda, West Bengaland on two occasions, the consignments were furtherdelivered by him in Delhi,” theDCP stated in the officialrelease.

“Shahid also revealed themodus operandi of kingpinRafequat and his source ofsupply at Malda. He revealedthat he used to hand over alocked bag which contained huge money, whichis kept inside a cavity created in the cabin of the vehi-cle and another lock is put onthe cavity. The carrier would

hand this bag to the source atMalda and within few minutes, the source at Maldawould pack the bag with drugsconsignment, after taking money from the bag,lock the same and handover thekey bag to the carrier,” the DCPsaid.

“Both the accused persons are on ten days policecustody remand to make sincere efforts to apprehend the kingpin, Refaquat and his source of supply at Malda. Further investigation ofthe case is in process,” theDCP added.

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Page 3:  · intra-day low of 73.81 Thursday. With this, market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms slipped below the $2 trillion. Spooked by overnight sharp rally in Brent crude price which

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Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Thursday

trashed the allegations beinglevelled by the Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) ruled East DelhiMunicipal Corproration(EDMC) that his Governmentwas not sanctioning requiredfunds to pay salaries of themunicipal staff. Kejriwalaccused BJP led municipal cor-poration of playing dirty poli-tics on sanitation workers issues.

The Delhi Governmentspokesperson said theGovernment has provided�770 crore to East MCD aloneso far this year. “East MCD get-ting double the amount nowthan what it got in BJP ruleduring 2014-15 then MCDs aresilent on �5,000 crore theycan get from the Central Govt?CM Kejriwal said in a Pressstatement.

Earlier, Kejriwal met rep-resentatives of several unions ofsanitation workers and placedfacts related to funds releasedby the Delhi Government tothe MCDs till date.

Clarifying facts on fundsdisbursed to MCDs, theGovernment in its official state-ment sated that in 2014-15,when BJP was controllingDelhi in President’s rule, thefund given to East MCD was�396 crore, and �45 crore wasdeducted as recovery of loanand in comparison, during2017-18, Delhi Governmentprovided �724 crore to EDMCand no interest on outstandingloan was deducted by the DelhiGovernment.

“How is it possible that theEDMC which could paysalaries in 2014-15 in half thefunds that it got from DelhiGovernment then and now unable to do so when it isgetting almost double theamount? the Government offi-cial asked. Why was there nostrike in 2014-15 over the san-itation workers salaries?, heasked.

It may be noted, EDMCsanitation workers, were onstrike for the last three weeksand on Thursday staged aprotest near the residence ofDelhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal for their demands.

The employees are onstrike since September 12demanding regular payment ofsalaries and regularisation ofworkers. “Sanitation workersare protesting outside my res-

idence. BJP has misled them. Iam going to talk to them andpresent facts before them. I amreally worried about the sanitation arrangements in thecity and the workers. Theyhave to protest every twomonths to get their salaries,”Kejriwal tweeted.

Explaining further on therelease of funds to civic agencies, the Government offi-cial said that for the currentfinancial year, the Delhi gov-ernment has already released�440 crore to East MCD with-in first six months, and theexcuse is being given that theydon’t have money to paysalaries?

On Wednesday, Delhi gov-ernment informed to SupremeCourt that it is providing anadditional �330 crore to EDMCalone to enable it to pay salariesof sanitation workers. From the

facts of funds provided to EastMCD, it is clear that money isbeing diverted for payment ofcontractors and sanitationworkers are not being paidtheir salaries, the officialalleged.

Pertinently, as per the 14thFinance Commission, the cen-tral government is supposed toprovide �488 per person toevery municipality in the coun-try.

“It is beyond any reason-able understanding that giventhe fact that when there is a BJPgovernment at the Centre andthis party also controls theMCDs, then why is the Centrenot providing this amount tothe MCDs ? asked thespokesperson.

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The sanitation work-ers of the East Delhi

Municipal Corporation(EDMC) staged aprotest near the resi-dence of Delhi ChiefMinister ArvindKejriwal to press fortheir demands onThursday.

The sanitationworkers of the civicbody are on strike forthe last three weeks.The employees are onstrike since September12 demanding regularpayment of salaries andregularisation of theirservices.

The EDMC hasaround 16,000 workers,half of whom are per-manent employees. TheBJP-led EDMC on September26 had decided to begin theprocess for permanent employ-ment of contractual sanitationworkers who were recruitedafter March 31, 1998.

A senior official said ameeting was underwaybetween east Delhi Mayor anda sanitation union leader to

resolve the issue. The Delhigovernment on Wednesdaytold the Supreme Court that itwould release �500 Crore within two days to civic bodies, which will help resolve the crisis that has arisendue to the ongoing strike by sanitation workers of East Delhi Municipal

Corporation (EDMC).The president of MCD

Swachhata Karmchari Union,Sanjay Gahlot had said thatsince there was no assurance ofthis resolution reaching its desired end from the authorities side, they wouldcontinue their agitation in eastDelhi.

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Education Ministers ofAfghanistan and the United

Arab Emirates (UAE) wereamong other dignitaries whoattended a “happiness class” onThursday at a Delhi Gover-nment school with Deputy ChiefMinister Manish Sisodia.

Education Ministers of dif-ferent countries and States werein the national Capital to attendthe Asian Summit on Educationand Skills organised by the DelhiGovernment.

“The delegation attended ahappiness class at Sarvodaya BalVidyalaya in Rouse Avenue andwas astounded by the cleanlinessof the school, the dynamism ofthe teachers, the responsivenessof the students and the impact ofHappiness Curriculum,” an offi-cial statement said.

“The group spent time inter-acting with the students of class6 and 7 on what is happiness forthem and how do they feelabout the happiness classes,” itadded. The happiness curricu-lum, introduced by the DelhiGovernment in July, involves adaily 45-minute class beginningwith mindfulness, followed by astory-telling, activities session.

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In a shocking incident, a 14-year-old boy was allegedly

shot and injured as he tried toresist a robbery in Delhi’sRohini area on Thursday.

The child was accompany-ing his father who runs a dairy.They were on their way todeposit cash at the bank whenthey were stopped by two rob-bers at broad daylight, policesaid.

According to police, thefather who runs a dairy atRohini Sector-3 was on his wayto deposit �3 lakh in cash at thebank along with his son. Theywere traveling in a scooty. Therobbers allegedly followed the

duo on a motorcycle and threwchili powder at the father. Theythen tried to snatch the bagcontaining cash when the boyallegedly resisted. The accusedpersons tried to threaten theboy with a gun but he failed.The accused then reportedlyfired at the child and he was hitin his lower abdomen.

Following this, the enragedpublic caught hold of one of therobber, thrashed him up, andcalled the police.

The other accused fled thespot but was arrested in theevening with a country madepistol, police said. “The childwas taken to the hospital. He isin a critical condition,” policeadded.

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Post December 16, 2012 gan-grape, the Delhi

Government has deployed1,200 marshals for a total of3,882 buses of the DelhiTransport Corporation (DTC)plying during evening hours.The main purpose of the mar-shals was to provide safety andsecurity to women passengers.The safety issue has once againtaken the center stage after theelder sister of a girl fromMumbai, who studies in aDelhi University college, post-ed a series of tweet last week,saying that her sister was phys-ically harassed and molestedfrequently in the bus routenumber-544.

A senior official of theDelhi Transport departmentsaid, “The Government hastaken a principled stand thatall buses will have marshals butas of now there are no marshalsin the clustered buses.” He fur-ther added, “Approximately

around 1,200 marshals havebeen deployed by DTC in itsbuses but the number has beendecreased due to their nonavailability. These marshalswere drawn from HomeGuards & Civil Defene andtheir main duty is to assistwomen passengers in case ofany unsavoury incident withthem.”

“The Government hasappointed a consultant for exe-cution of CCTV proposal in

DTC and cluster buses. Tenderis likely to be floated by thismonth end. CCTV cameras willbe installed in all the buses byMarch 2019,” said the official.

Moreover, during a realitycheck on Thursday, nine out often girls raised the question ofmarshals and CCTV camerasin the buses when The Pioneerspoke with Delhi girls. Girl stu-dents of Jesus and Marry col-lege (JMC), Maiteryi college forwomen, Atma Ram Sanathan

Dhan (ARSD) college, Gargi,Kamla Nehru College (KNC),voiced their concern about thepresence of louts in thesebuses during morning andevening hours.

The girls spoke in unisonabout incidents of eve-teasingand harassment in most of thebuses as it was not only limit-ed to bus route no 544. “Theissue is that in every single busof DTC, be it 544, 523, 540,623,611,448, Outer Mudrika, 522 ,lumpen elements misbehavewith girls and women”, theysaid.

“In Delhi, such incidenthappens daily. This time theissue raised but there are stu-dents and woman who are fac-ing the issue daily. I comefrom Naraina and I have to taketwo buses to reach the collegeand not a single days passeswhen we do not encountersuch an incident. Police isthere outside the college andcurrently since it has come outin the public domain. Now they

are checking buses in themorning but it will stop aftersome days. Our main requestfrom the government is todeploy more marshals, CCTVcameras,” said Olka Langeh, astudent of Political Science atGargi College of DelhiUniversity.

Aishwarya, a student ofMaitreyi College for womansaid, “Till September, a personwho the people called mental-ly retarded, use to come andunzip his pants and dancesometime and stare at girlscoming out of the colleges -JMC and Maitreyi.

He may had some mentalissues but it is dangerous andthe person came to the collegeon Thursday and Fridaybetween 3-5 pm without fail.So, the police which is tweet-ing and patrolling about theirwork these days should dothis daily to provide safety.Further, our demand is mar-shals and CCTV cameras inbuses.”

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Out of 23 Asiatic lions in GirNational Park, some died

due to Canine Distemper Virus(CDV) which finds its connec-tions in East Africa; however, thevirus can be restrained by usingthe available CDV vaccinations,confirms Indian Council of Me-dical research (ICMR) report.The report was submitted to theMinistry of Environment, Forestand Climate Change by ICMRon Thursday.

“We tested 24 samples of 12Asiatic lions for CDV and fivesamples were found positive.Out of these 12 lions, three werealready dead, eight were undertreatment and one had alreadyrecovered. Samples were foundpositive in three dead lions,one which recovered and onewhich was under treatment,”said a senior scientist of ICMR.

The samples were received

by ICMR-National Institute ofVirology (NIV), Pune afterinvestigations were done byDepartment of Veterinary,Pathology and AnimalHusbandry, the scientist added.

According to the report,the samples were collectedbetween September 19 andSeptember 24 2018 and werereceived by NIV on September26. Further on October 2, 22more samples were tested for thedisease and were found to benegative, suggested the report.

“Till date no completegenome of CDV is reportedfrom India. For the first time acomplete genome of CDV wasrecovered by ICMR-NIV, Pune.The sequence was compared toavailable CDV sequences and itwas found to be related to theEast African strains,” stated thereport.

In India, only a few reportsare available regarding the detec-

tion of CDV in captive wild car-nivores which included tigersand red panda, the report added.

Stating the cure, the reportfurther said, “It is felt that theexisting CDV vaccine shouldwork as a protective interventionfor lions during the currentCDV outbreak.” Vaccination oflions with CDV should be takenup on an urgent basis, added thereport. The report was sent tothe union environment ministryby the institute on Thursday. Ina letter sent to the ministry byICMR headquarters along withthe report said, “Full genomesequencing has been carriedout at ICMR-NIV. The genomeis closely related to the EastAfrican strains of CDV. Hence,we assume that the currentlyavailable CDV vaccine should beeffective in this outbreak.” As ofnow, 23 lions have been report-ed dead in Gir National Park,Gujarat.

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The Delhi Sentence ReviewBoard (SRB) on Thursday

rejected pleas for early release ofconvicts in the Jessica Lal,Priyadarshini Mattoo andTandoor murder cases. Out of102 pleas, the board recom-mended release of 22 convictson completion of their sentencesand rejected pleas of 86 others.

The panel, headed by DelhiHome Minister Satyendar Jain,reviewed the applications ofManu Sharma, convicted in thesensational murder case ofJessica Lal; Santosh Singh, con-victed in the brutalPriyadarshini Mattoo murdercase; and Sushil Sharma theformer President of DelhiYouth Congress, convicted in

the infamous Tandoor murdercase. The SRB rejected all thethree cases.

“The board has rejectedearly release applications of allthe three convicts. The boardrecommended release of 22convicts on completion of theirsentences and rejected 86 othercases,” said the governmentofficial.

In 1996, Santosh Singh,son of then serving IPS officerJP Singh, who was a AdditionalCommissioner of Police withDelhi Police and also served asInspector General of Police ofPuducherry, was arrested forthe rape and murder of third-year law student PriyadarshiniMattoo.

The 23-year-old was founddead at her house in VasantVihar in January 1996. Singhand Mattoo were fellow stu-dents at Delhi University.

In 1999, a city court acquit-ted Singh of the charges, high-

lighting inactionby Delhi Police.The verdict trig-gered protestsacross the coun-try. The policeappealed the sen-tence in Delhihigh court, whichconvicted him in2006.

M a n uSharma was con-victed in 2006 forthe murder ofmodel Jessica Lal

and given a life sentence. SushilSharma was convicted in 2006in the Naina Sahni tandoormurder and also sentence to lifeimprisonment.

According to sources,board members have given

positive reviews about theprison conducts of ManuSharma and Sushil Sharma, theboard deferred the cases of thetwo men during the July 24meeting. The two have alsobeen transferred to the ‘open’and ‘semi-open’ jail.

“As per the prison rules,after prisoner have served fora long term and have behavedwell in prison, we are duty-bound to include the namesand send it to the SRB forreview,” said a senior prisonofficial. The cases of SushilSharma, Manu Sharma andSantosh Singh were deliberated by the SRB but itwas found that releasing themon this basis alone would be atravesty of justice”, the officialadded.

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Delhi Environment MinisterImran Hussain on

Thursday inaugurated AravaliForest Centre at Asola BhattiWildlife Sanctuary. Aravali Hillrange has played a vital role inthe maintenance of ecologicalbalance of Delhi and surround-ing areas. “ Aravalis remain thelast refuge for wildlife and hun-dreds of species of herbs, shurbsand trees. Vegetation of Aravalishas evolved and adapted to itsspecial conditions over the agesacquiring peculiar features,” saidHussian.

“These hill ranges haveblocked the spread of desertsands to the Indo Gangetic plainsby directing the flow of rivers, byrecharging ground water and byacting as “green lungs” for theCity like Delhi and surroundingareas,” said Delhi governmentofficial, “Government decidedto set up Aravalis Forest Centrefor disseminating informationabout the cultural, social and geo-logical history of AravaliMountain Range. The ForestCentre has more than 60 native

plant species such as Peelu,Amaltas, Palash, Guggal,Moringa,” said the officail.

The Centre which is spread

over more than 4 acres has apond and a dry river bed todepict the typical topographyfeatures of Aravali’s. The Forest

Centre will also help the studentsand public in studying andappreciated bio-diversity ofAravali Forest Centre.

Over 400 school children,several teachers and parentsgathered on the occasion to cel-ebrate the event.

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Delhi University’s ExecutiveCouncil has decided to

seek legal opinion after aninternal enquiry found a pro-fessor of the varsity guilty ofsexual harassment, a DU offi-cial said Thursday.

The charge against thechemistry professor was dis-cussed for close to eight hoursWednesday in the councilmeeting, but several councilmembers alleged that the moveto seek legal opinion was a tac-tic to delay and shield the pro-fessor.

A teacher had accused theHead of Department ofChemistry of sexual harass-ment in December last year.

The matter was taken upby the Internal ComplaintsCommittee, which found himguilty and the findings were

submitted to the council.After deliberation, the

council decided to refer thematter for legal opinion, theofficial said.

He said the decision wasopposed by a few members,who felt that these are delayingtactics by the varsity since nodeadline had been set for thematter to be resolved.

Some members also saton a protest for close to two hours during the councilmeeting to protest against theissue.

In an unrelated case in DU,a professor at the Departmentof African Studies was foundguilty of sexual harassmentand a decision was made for hisremoval as a supervisor.

It was also decided thatfemale students won’t be placedunder his supervision for fiveyears, the official added.

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Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)national convener Arvind

Kejriwal demanded a �10 perlitre cut in fuel prices, hoursafter the Centre announced areduction of �2.5 per litre inprices of petrol and diesel onThursday.

Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal said the Modi gov-ernment raised excise duty onpetrol from �9.48 to �19.48,leading to a steep rise in itsprice despite a sharp decline ininternational prices of crudeoil. “Modi Government raisedexcise duty on petrol by �10and today reduced only �2.50.This is cheating. Centre shouldbring down petrol prices atleast by �10,” he said in atweet.

AAP spokespersonSaurabh Bhardwaj charged thatthe Centre is “fooling” people.“For four years, the prices ofpetrol and diesel wereincreased and now the Centreis fooling people by decreasingit by �2.50 per litre,” he said.

This is an attempt of pro-viding “fake relief ” to the peo-ple in view of “dipping popu-larity” of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and comingassembly elections in threestates, Bhardwaj alleged. ngdown petrol prices at least by�10,” he said in a tweet.

Delhi BJP chief ManojTiwari mocked the ChiefMinister, saying his commentmeant he wanted to help Delhiby reducing petrol prices by�10 a litre.

“It means@ArvindKejriwalJi wish to help Delhi by reduc-ing �10 per litre on petrol anddiesel, nice gesture!! Thankskejriwal Ji,” Tiwari tweeted.The Central Governmentannounced a �2.50 a litre cut inpetrol and diesel prices, factoring in excise duty reduc-tion of �1.50 per litre and ask-ing oil companies to absorbanother �1.

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Page 4:  · intra-day low of 73.81 Thursday. With this, market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms slipped below the $2 trillion. Spooked by overnight sharp rally in Brent crude price which

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New Delhi: In a setback toarrested former IPS officerSanjiv Bhatt, the SupremeCourt on Thursday dismissedhis wife’s plea challenging thepolice probe and his judicialcustody in a 22-year-old case ofalleged planting of drugs toarrest an advocate, and said hecould approach an “appropri-ate forum” for relief.

A Bench of Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi and Justices SKKaul and KM Joseph held itwas not appropriate for theapex court to interfere in theongoing investigation.

Senior advocate MukulRohatgi, appearing for theGujarat Government, saidSanjiv Bhatt was arrested onSeptember 5, in accordancewith law and produced beforethe jurisdictional magistrateat Palanpur of Gujarat within24 hours seeking his police cus-tody. He said the assertions ofthe petitioner Shweta Bhattthat the accused was notallowed to sign the ‘vakalatna-ma’ are factually wrong, incor-rect and contrary to the con-temporaneous record andappear to have been made tocreate prejudice against theinvestigation.

Rohatgi said Sanjiv Bhatt’scounsel had appeared beforethe magistrate to oppose theplea for police remand filed bythe probe agency and it wasrecorded in the order ofSeptember 6. PTI

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The Supreme CourtThursday granted one more

opportunity to mining majorArcelorMittal and Russia’s VTBCapital-backed NuMetal to bidfor Essar Steel if they cleartheir Non-Performing Asset(NPA) dues in two weeks.

A Bench comprisingJustices RF Nariman and InduMalhotra held that both thefirms were ineligible underamended Insolvency andBankruptcy Code to bid for thefirm but granted them a freshopportunity after taking note ofthe plea of Committee ofCreditors that it does not wantliquidation of Essar Steel.

The apex court exercised itsextraordinary power underArticle 142 of the Constitutionin allowing ArcelorMittal andNuMetal to make fresh bid forEssar Steel. The top court askedthe Committee of Creditors totake a decision within eightweeks on rival bids of NuMetaland ArcelorMittal for Essar Steel.

It also said time lost inNational Company LawTribunal (NCLT), NationalCompany Law AppellateTribunal (NCLAT) and apexcourt in dealing with casesunder insolvency code shall beexcluded from mandatory 270days resolution period.

The top court held that ifnothing materialises withineight weeks then Essar Steelshall go into liquidation.ArcelorMittal had allegedNuMetal was not eligible to bidfor Essar Steel on severalgrounds, including that it wasa “shell company” created by afirm in which Essar grouppromoters had majority shares,and if they had to become eli-gible they would have to cleartheir earlier debts.

NCLAT had ruled thatNuMetal’s second bid for EssarSteel was eligible, but the sameby ArcelorMittal would quali-fy only if it cleared the �7,000crore dues of two firms it waspreviously associated with.

While ArcelorMittal hadchallenged the order asking itto pay �7,000 crore to becomeeligible for the bidding,NuMetal had alleged thatNCLAT had “wrongly” appliedlegal provisions to enable itsrival bidder to pay the dues oftwo debt-ridden firms evenafter it had bid for Essar Steel.

NCLAT had ruled thatNuMetal’s second bid for EssarSteel was eligible but the sameby ArcelorMittal will qualifyonly if it cleared the �7,000 crore dues of the twofirms, Uttam Galva and KSSPetron, it was previously asso-ciated with.

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) on

Thursday attached assets worth�130 crore in connection withits money laundering probe inthe Rose Valley Ponzi scamcase, officials said.

The agency said it has issueda provisional order under thePrevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA), attach-ing immovable and movableproperties having a collective“market value” of �130 crore.

With the latest action, thetotal value of assets seized in thiscase stands at about �4,400crore, the ED said in a state-ment. The agency had registeredan FIR against the firm, itsChairman Gautam Kundu andothers in 2014 under the PMLA.Kundu was arrested by theagency in Kolkata in 2015. Atpresent, he is in judicial custody.

Multiple chargesheets havebeen filed in the courts inKolkata and Bhubaneswar bythe ED in this case. The grouphad allegedly floated a total of27 companies for running thealleged chit fund operations outof which only half-a-dozenwere active. The agency hasalleged that the firm had float-ed the scheme promising inflat-ed returns on investmentsbetween eight and 27 per centto gullible investors in variousStates.

New Delhi: A woman, who had challenged the provisions relat-ed to restitution of conjugal rights on the grounds that she hasa right to “sexually autonomy” and to be “left alone”, has failedto get any relief from the Supreme Court.

The woman, an engineering graduate working in a multi-national IT major, had moved the top court challenging the con-stitutional validity of provision of the Hindu Marriage Act 1955,after her estranged husband had filed a suit for restitution of con-jugal rights. The plea claimed that “coercive act” of state com-pelling sexual co-habitation infringes a woman’s fundamental rightto privacy, dignity, mental and physical health, personal libertyand right to equality under the Constitution. PTI

New Delhi: In a move toinvolve all voters in the elec-toral process, the ElectionCommission (EC) on Thursdaydirected States and UnionTerritories to provide transportfacilities to Persons withDisabilities (PwDs) on eachand every polling station on theday of polling.

The Government vehiclesare to be used for this purpose.The move is aimed at ensuringwider participation by peoplewith disabilities as there havebeen instances in the past wheresuch people could not vote.

“The deputy electoral offi-cer and returning officer should

be responsible for entire trans-portation exercise for PwDs,” theEC order said. The Commissionalso directed chief electoral offi-cer to appoint a transport nodalofficer for each district. “Eachand every PwDs should betagged polling station wise andhe/she should be picked upfrom his or her residence and bedropped back there, after he orshe has cast her/his vote,” the ECsaid. The EC is also working toprovide attendants to PwDs onthe day of polling.

EC has for the first timeappointed ‘accessibilityobservers’ to check and ensurethat people with disability are

able to cast votes. The observerswill ensure that necessary infra-structure is available at eachbooth where people with dis-abilities come and vote. As apart of making the pollingbooth more accessible to dis-abled people, centres will haveramp, where wheel-chairbound voter can cast his vote.

Disability Coordinatorswould be appointed at the lev-els of Assembly Constituencies,Districts and States and amobile app would be developedin-house for the such peoplewith disabilities to facilitatethem participate fully in elec-tion processes. PNS

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The Congress on Thursdayattacked the Narendra

Modi Government over issuesof fuel price and Rafale dealregarding which theOpposition party againknocked the door of theComptroller and AuditorGeneral (CAG).

The party accused FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley of “hid-ing the truth” of �13 lakhCrore ‘Fuel Loot’ which is nowin fact fueling the coffers ofNDA Government. It also saidthe FM is lying that the increasein Government revenueincrease is due to augmentationof tax base.

The party termed theminor cut in fuel price by theCentre as “band aid” after fac-ing public ire and an imminentdefeat in five Assembly elec-tions scheduled in five States.

“The Modi Governmentattempted to apply ‘Band Aid’on the thousand woundsinflicted by it by massive prof-iteering in the prices of petrol,diesel, kerosene oil, cookinggas, CNG, PNG and NaturalGas. Let the Prime Ministerremember that he cannotbefool the people of India. We

challenge the PM andF M

to answer to people on �13 lakhcrore loot,” AICC chiefspokesman Randeep Surjewala.

Earlier in the day, seniorparty leaders led by AhmedPatel called on CAG RajivMehrishi to carry out a foren-sic audit of the “�60,150 crore”Rafale fighter jet deal and bringall “facts” on record to enableParliament to fix accountabil-ity for the alleged scam in thecontract. The delegation pre-sented a memorandum to CAGalong with fresh documents. Ithad met the CAG onSeptember 19 and thereafterthe CVC on September 24 fora probe into the deal.

Subsequent to the submis-sions made before the CAGearlier in the Rafale ‘scam’, theCongress alleged that docu-ments and revelations made atthe highest level in India andFrance have “exposed a deeprooted sinister conspiracy anda clear cut case of loss to pub-lic exchequer”.

The party told the CAGthat all the contours of con-spiracy, corruption, endanger-ing of national security andcrony capitalism can only beuncovered thorough a probe bythe Joint ParliamentaryCommittee (JPC).

“It is expected that theCAG which has aConstitutional man-

date andauthorityto scruti-

nise everydocument, inthis case,

including originaltender, understand-

ing reached between Dassaultand HAL and the arbitrarydecision of the Prime Ministerwithout any mandate fromCabinet Committee onSecurity (CCS) will undertake

a forensic audit. We thereforerequest the CAG to bring allfacts on record to enableParliament to fix accountabil-ity for Rafale scam,” theCongress memorandum said.

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The National BuildingConstruction Company

(NBCC) will float tenders toappoint contractors in the next15 days for construction ofstalled projects of debt-riddenrealty firm Amrapali.

The Supreme Court hadearlier allowed the NBCC tofloat tenders for selectingbuilders to complete the stalledprojects of Amrapali Group.On September 12, the SupremeCourt had appointed NBCC todevelop stalled projects of theAmrapali Group following thecompany’s proposal that itcould complete 15 stalled pro-jects, comprising 46,575 flats,within 36 months at a con-struction cost of �8,500 crore.

Responding to a questionrelated to Amrapalli, NBCCChairman and ManagingDirector Anoop Kumar Mittalsaid the NBCC will float ten-ders in the next 15 days. “Thecompany will also prepare adetailed project report for allthe stalled projects within nexttwo months as directed by theSupreme Court,” he added. Onarrangement of funds, he saidthe company would go by theapex court’s directions and

also denied any talks withPiramal group to raise funds.

Mittal said the project man-agement fees proposed by thecompany for completingAmrapali projects are not on thehigher side. The companyexpects construction work tostart from December for the firstset of projects comprising over11,000 apartments. If this hap-pens, this would give a hugerelief to large number of home-buyers with stuck investments.

The NBCC, which is underthe administrative control ofthe Ministry of Housing andUrban Affairs, is present inthree main segments — projectmanagement consultancy

(PMC), real estate develop-ment and EPC contracting.

Asked about the sevenredevelopment projects inSouth Delhi that are on holdbecause of uproar over fallingof trees, he said the companywould abide by court’s direc-tions and follow all the gov-ernment regulations. “Thework has been stopped sincelast three months. The lossescan be worked out. If workstarts in these seven projects, ofwhich three are tasked withNBCC and four with CPWD,it will be good,” Mittal said.

Talking about the futureplans of the company, he saidthe order book of the compa-

ny is currently around �80,000crore and by the end of the year,plan is to increase the same to�1,00,000 crore. “We plan thatthe company grows with acompound annual growth rate(CAGR) of 30-40 per cent inthe next five years,” Mittal said.

Mittal highlighted that theNBCC has revamped PuranaQuila (Old Fort), and will soonstart work on Red Fort andQutub Minar as part of its ini-tiative to conserve, developand maintenance of heritageproperties. With an endeavourto refurbish the magnificentedifice, the NBCC adoptedPurana Qila under Ministry ofTourism’s ‘Adopt a heritage’scheme and executed the taskutilising its CSR funds. Thepress conference was held atredevelopment project atKidwai Nagar in South Delhi.

NBCC’s CMD said thecompany’s current order bookis worth �80,000 crore and thesame would touch �1 lakhcrore by March 2019. Mittalsaid the company expects togrow at a CAGR of 30-40 percent in topline as well as bot-tomline in the coming years.The company’s total incomestood at around �7,100 crorelast fiscal.

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Lawyer Prashant Bhushanand former Union Minister

Arun Shourie met CBIDirector Alok Verma onThursday and submitted adetailed complaint allegingcorruption in the Rafale air-craft deal and offset contractand sought probe against thePrime Minister NarendraModi, then Defence MinisterManohar Parrikar and othersfor alleged abetment under thevarious provisions of thePrevention of Corruption Act.

Along with the complaintunder the Prevention ofCorruption Act, Bhushan andShourie also submitted docu-ments buttressing their argu-ments for the need for a probeinto the mega defence deal.The duo also urged the CBIDirector to take permission ofthe Government to initiatethe investigation in accor-dance with the amendedPrevention of Corruption Act.

“CBI Director said he willlook into it very carefully. Wewill take appropriate action,”Bhushan told reporters after coming out of the CBIheadquarters. “Mr NarendraModi is a public servantpresently occupying the officeof the Prime Minister of India.Mr Anil Ambani is his longterm friend and close associ-ate who is the Chairman ofReliance ADA group of com-panies. Mr Anil Ambani’scompanies have been vergingat the point of insolvency.Creditors of his group com-panies have initiated proceed-

ings against his companies torecover their dues. RelianceADA group of companies forsome time has been in direfinancial health. Reliance ADAhas had to sell many of its pre-cious assets to pay off its inter-est obligations and stave offinsolvency proceedings,” thecomplaint alleged.

“In these circumstances, aconspiracy was hatched by thetwo of them, by way of whichMr Modi obtained an ‘undueadvantage’ from DassaultAviation , for awarding a con-tract for 36 Rafale aircrafts in‘fly away’ condition, by abusingthe authority of his office anddoing his public duty dishon-estly and improperly. The‘undue advantage’ has beenreceived by his close associateand friend Mr Ambani….MrModi compelled Dassault tochoose Mr Ambani as an off-set partner, by way of which MrAmbani received, and is receiv-ing, and will continue toreceive, for the next 40 years,an ‘undue advanatge’.” the com-plaint further alleged.

Dassault Aviation, themanufacturer of Rafale, hadchosen Reliance Defence as itspartner to fulfil offset obliga-tions of the deal. TheGovernment has maintained itdid not have any role in selec-tion of the offset partner byDassault. India had inked aninter-governmental agreementwith France in September 2017for procurement of 36 Rafalefighter jets at a cost of around�58,000 crore. Half of theamount has to be utilisedthrough offset mechanism.

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Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala,ravaged by the south westmonsoon in August, is bracingfor more rains with a low pres-sure area likely to form over theSoutheast Arabian sea, as theState Government stepped updisaster preparedness onThursday.

Kerala’s neighbour TamilNadu initiated preventive mea-sures following an IMD fore-cast that parts of the state mayreceive heavy to very heavyrainfall in most places andextremely heavy rainfall insome areas on October 7, offi-cials said.

The KarnatakaGovernment sounded an alertin 12 districts as the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD) said heavy rains werelikely in South interior parts ofthe southern State. An IMDbulletin said the low pressurearea could intensify into acyclonic storm, triggeringheavy to very heavy rainfall inseveral parts of Kerala.

In view of the IMD fore-cast, a red alert has beensounded in Idukki andMalappuram districts withheavy rain expected on Sunday.

Shutters of dams inThrissur and Palakaad dis-tricts were lifted this evening todrain out excess water. PTI

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From Page 1There are allegations of involve-

ment of Kochhar and her familymembers in a loan provided to Videocon group on a quid pro quo basis.

“The enquiry instituted by theBoard (against Kochhar) will remainunaffected by this and certain bene-fits will be subject to the outcome ofthe enquiry. Kochhar will also relin-quish office from the Board ofDirectors of the Bank’s subsidiaries,”the statement said.

“The Board of Directors of ICICIBank accepted the request of ChandaKochhar to seek early retirementfrom the Bank at the earliest,” it said.

Kochhar’s current five-year tenureas CEO was to end on March 31, 2019.

After Kochhar went on leave,ICICI Bank appointed Bakhshi, whowas MD and CEO of ICICI PrudentialLife Insurance, as the chief operatingofficer of the bank with effect fromJune 19.

Bakhshi has now been elevated asmanaging director and CEO.

“His appointment will be for aperiod of five years until October 3,2023, subject to regulatory and otherapprovals. The other terms and con-ditions of his appointment, such asremuneration, would remainunchanged,” it said.

Bakhshi, a Mechanical Engineerfrom Punjab Engineering College,Chandigarh, started his career withICICI Ltd in 1986.

He looked after the corporateclients for the Northern and Easternregions of ICICI Limited before join-ing ICICI Lombard in 2002. His workresponsibilities included businessdevelopment, project appraisals, pro-ject monitoring and business restruc-turing.

Meanwhile, independent directorM D Mallya too resigned from theboard for health reasons.

Shares of ICICI Bank closed at Rs315.55, up 3.94 per cent on the BSEeven as the benchmark index Sensexplunged by more than 2 per cent.

There are allegations of involve-ment of Kochhar and her familymembers in a loan provided toVideocon group on a quid pro quobasis.

It was alleged that VideoconGroup pumped money into NuPowerRenewables, a firm owned by DeepakKochhar, husband of Chanda Kochhar.

There are also allegations thatNuPower got investments of Rs 325crore from Mauritius-based FirstlandHoldings, a company owned byNishant Kanodia, son-in-law of EssarGroup co-founder Ravi Ruia.

The investments from Ruia’s son-in-law’s firm into NuPower started inDecember 2010.

Incidentally, the same monthICICI Bank was the lead banker in aconsortium of Indian banks thatextended a USD 530 million loan toEssar Steel Minnesota LLC onDecember 29, 2010. This loan was laterclassified as NPA.

The Reserve Bank in its 2016investigation in the matter had raisedquestions over the ownership of theMauritius-based entity, First LandHolding, which had invested Rs 325crore in NuPower.

From Page 1As per various estimates

and once specific by CAMS, amutual fund registrar whichcovers 85 per cent of the indus-try flows, cash plans or liquidfunds saw outflows of around�69,694 crore last month alone.

As market plunged onThursday, stocks of tyres, paintand chemical companiesturned distinctly weak as crudeis main raw material used bythese industries. Selling pres-sure was broad-based, while IT,teck, realty and oil & gas andauto stocks were the worst hit.

Foreign portfolio investors(FPIs) sold shares worth a netof �1,550 crore, while domes-tic institutional investors (DIIs)made purchases to the tune of�1,402 crore on Wednesday.

While Reliance Industriesand TCS, which fell by 7 and 4per cent respectively, other lag-gards were TCS 4.54 per cent,Adani Ports 4.17 per cent,ONGC 3.74 per cent, SunPharma 3.70 per cent, HDFCBank 3.46 per cent, Bajaj Auto3.04 per cent, IndusInd Bank3.03 per cent, HUL 2.97 per cent,Bharti Airtel 2.95 per cent, ITCLtd 2.49 per cent, Kotak Bank1.93 per cent, Asian Paint 1.90

per cent, Tata Motors 1.89 percent, Coal India 1.61 per cent,HDFC Ltd 1.33 per cent.

However, ICICI bankbucked the trend flaring byover 4 per cent on news thatChanda Kochhar has finallydecided to quit the bank.

Among other winners wasAxis Bank at 2.70 per cent. L&Trose 1.18 per cent, Yes Bankgained 1.08 per cent, M&M wasup 0.52 and Tata Steel added0.38 per cent. Sector wise, theBSE oil & gas index suffered themost by crashing 6.58 per cent,followed by IT 3.28 per cent,healthcare 3.02 per cent, teck2.97 per cent, FMCG 2.56 percent, PSU 2.54 per cent and auto1.84 per cent. Infrastructure,consumer durables, realty,power, metal, bankex and cap-ital goods indices too endedlower by up to 1.74 per cent.

The broader markets toocontinued to face heat with themidcap and small-cap indicesending notably lower asinvestors indulged in trim-ming their portfolios in linewith overall trends. Elsewherein Asia, Kong’s Hang Seng lost1.73 per cent, Japan’s Nikkeished 0.56 per cent, whileTaiwan plunged 1.33 per cent.

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From Page 1The new form includes some additional iden-

tifiers not included in the form circulated by thehome ministry in October, 2017. MEA has request-ed to provide completed personal data in new bilin-gual form in duplicate with two photographs toenable them to forward the forms for verificationto the Embassy of Myanmar,” the MHA said in the letter.

The letter further stated, “There are differencesin the figures or data on Rohingya population men-tioned by some of the State Governments and thosesupplied to the Home Ministry by the CentralSecurity Agencies. “The State Government may rec-oncile the data with the figures supplied by theMinistry while capturing the personal particularsof illegal Rohingya migrants,” it said.

Sources in the Home Ministry said the data onillegal Rohingya immigrants captured by theState Governments was shared with MEA to takeup the confirmation of their nationality with theMyanmar Government. “It was also found thatmost of the data of Rohingya migrants did notmatch with the records of the MyanmarGovernment,” said the sources.

The Home Ministry had earlier reviewed theRohingya migrants issue in the country. It wasfound that figures of Rohingya mismatch withsome of the State Governments and those suppliedto MHA by security forces. The Joint Secretary(Foreign) has made it clear that the instructionshave already been issued to the UIDAI for not issu-ing Aadhar card to illegal migrants.

“It was also apprised that India is not a signa-tory to the 1951 UN Convention relating to statusof refugees and the 1967 protocol thereon. As suchUNHCR cards have no relevance to the issuance ofAadhar cards which can be issued only to legal res-idents in India,” the minutes of the meeting onRohingya said. According to a reply in the RajyaSabha by the Government, the Rohingya popula-tion has increased to 40,000 in the past two years.

Page 5:  · intra-day low of 73.81 Thursday. With this, market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms slipped below the $2 trillion. Spooked by overnight sharp rally in Brent crude price which

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TRS Government’s plan todistribute 95 lakh sarees

among the Telangana womenon the occasion of“Batukamma” festival has beenbanned with the ElectionCommission of India puttingits foot down. Batukamma, tobe celebrated from October 9to 17 is a festival of flowers,which was being celebrated asa State festival since the for-

mation of Telangana.The election body has

refused permission to the StateGovernment for distributionof sarees saying it violated themodel code of conduct enforcedin view of the forthcomingState assembly elections.

After the State ChiefElectoral Officer Rajath Kumarsought clarification on whetherthe caretaker Government cango ahead with the distribution ofsarees, the CEC sent a commu-nication that it would be a vio-lation of model code of conduct.The CEC noted that though thescheme was old, it would amountto influencing the voters.

Rajath Kumar had soughtthe clarification after the mainopposition Congress partyobjected to the plans of freesaree distribution. Congressswung in to action after seniorMinister K Tarka Rama Raoannounced that the sareeswould be distributed onOctober 12.

CEC’s directive came just asthe State administration was

gearing up for the massive dis-tribution of sarees at a cost of�280 crores. The StateGovernment was making prepa-rations for the distribution of thenew cloths among women forthe past many months and theorders for the supply of sareeswere placed with the handloomweavers across the State. About50 lakh sarees were already keptready in the district headquar-ters while the remaining stockswere also being readied.

The program was a greathit last year as the ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao’s Government justified thedistribution of sarees sayingthat its objective was to ensurethat every woman in the Statewas able to celebrate the“Batukamma” festival.

However in view of thecomplaints that the sareessourced from Gujrat were notof good quality, the StateGovernment had decided toensure that only handloomsarees made in Telangana bythe weavers would be distrib-uted this year.

Similarly another pro-gram of distribution of checksamong the farmers under the“Rythu Bandhu” schemes wasalso l ikely to meet the same fate.

Taraka Rama Rao had saidthat the second phase of dis-tribution of cheques of �4,000per acre incentive to the farm-ers will be held in Novemberfirst week. CEC sources saidthat a decision will be taken onthe issue within a week.

The opposition Congresshad opposed the handing overof the cheques to the farmers bythe ministers of caretaker gov-ernment or the TRS leaders.They suggested that it shouldbe done by the StateGovernment officials.

#������=�� /A-,� 3 -

Amid the continuing rowover the electoral rolls of

Telangana, the Supreme Courton Thursday directed theHyderabad High Court to hearthe matter on Friday and if anyirregularities were found it canextend the date of publicationof the final list of voters.

A division bench headed byJustice AK Sikri also ruled thatthe High Court had the powersto stay the conduct of elections.On a petition filed by the seniorCongress leader MarriShashidhar Reddy questioningthe early elections in Telanganaand alleging irregularities in thepreparation of electoral rolls theSupreme Court asked theHyderabad High Court to hearthe case on Friday.

In his petition MarriShashidhar Reddy complainedthat a large number of genuinevoters were deleted from therolls and 65 lakh bogus nameswere include in the voters’ listin Telangana. He pleaded thatwithout correcting the mistakesholding the elections will not becorrect.

Counsel for the petitionerAbhishek Manu Singhvi drew

the attention of the apex courtthat because of the early final-ization of electoral rolls as manyas 18 lakh youth will not be ableto vote as they will attain the ageof 18 years by January 1.

The counsel for petitionerargued that because of theearly elections a large numberof first time voters would bedeprived on their right to voteas the electoral rolls were beingfinalized much ahead of theoriginal schedule.

After hearing the argu-ments the Supreme Courtdirected that the High Courtshould hear the petition alongwith four other petitionsalready pending before it on thesame issue.

Briefing the reporters laterpetitioner’s counsel JhandyalaRavi Shankar said that a writpetition would be filed in theHigh Court in Hyderabadtomorrow. He said that theSupreme Court referred thematter to the High Court onlyafter it was satisfied with the peti-tion. In case the irregularitieswere found in the electoral rollsthe Supreme Court has autho-rized the High Court to delaythe publication of the finalrolls beyond October 8.

��������������� 3,+! .4�4

Karnataka which producesmore than 70 per cent of

the nation’s coffee is witnessinga storm in the cup. The after-math of nature’s fury inKodagu, the coffee land,destroyed coffee plantationswhich has affected the pro-duction and coffee growersare staring at a bleak future.

The widespread destruc-tion of coffee across the hill dis-trict of Kodagu and part ofChikkamagaluru has put thefarmers in hardship andrequires many years to nor-malise situation.

According to availablestatistics Karnataka alone pro-duced 2.22 lakh tonnes, or 70per cent, of the national pro-duction of 3.16 lakh tonnes in2017-18. It’s followed byKerala that contributes 20per cent and Tamilnadu 5 fiveper cent to the national production.

The preliminary damageassessment has come up witha combined figure of 82,000tonnes of cof fee beansdestroyed in three southernStates, with the maximumloss in Karnataka.

According to CoffeeBoard director of research YRaghuramulu in Karnataka’shill district Kodagu alone

1500 hectares of coffee plan-tations has been affectedbadly due to landslides andheavy rains.

“The soft soil has beenwashed away in many areasour teams visited. Entire cropshave been lost in many areasmaking it a long-termimpact,” he said adding manyareas would take around 10years to grow new crops. Hesaid “Only the final damageassessment that is underwaywill give us a clear picture ofthe loss, which could be morethan our initial estimate.”

According to coffee boardsources many teams of expertsare currently working inKodagu and Chikkamagalurumaking the assessment thatwould help evaluate the quan-tum of compensation to thefarmers.

For Coffee growers inthese parts it’s from heavento hell situation. They areworried over its long impacton the economy of coffeegrowing which in turn affectsindividual grower.

BS Jairam, president ofKarnataka Growers’Federation said “but for someheavy rainfall and relatedlandslides in the early 1960s,we have never witnessed thiskind of crop loss.”

According to him the pre-

liminary assessment on thepart of the planters point at�1,500 crore crop losses inKodagu, Hassan andChikmagaluru districts.

“Kodagu suffered themost as many estates havebeen destroyed. We don’t evenknow the condition of manyplantations as they were cutoff when roads got destroyedin landslides,” said Jairamwho owns a plantation inSakleshpura in neighbouringHassan district.

Seventeen of the 28 villagesin Kodagu have been badly hitby the disaster. “At least a 3000people (mostly farm workers)are still in relief camps inKodagu,” he said.

While Karnataka’s share ofthe Indian coffee sector standsaround 70 per cent, plantationsin Kodagu alone has a share of40 per cent of the national production.

Kodagu alone produced19,550 tonnes of Arabica and97,000 tonnes of Robusta in2017-18.

CK Belliappa, secretaryof Codagu Planters’Association said that the eventhe preliminary assessmentpoints at the worst ever loss ofproduction. He says the farm-ers are staring at the biggestloss ever due to the fury of rains.

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Bihar Government has urgedthe 15th Finance

Commission for making somechanges in its formula andparameters for extendingfinancial assistance to thedeveloping States includingBihar so that the revenuereceipts and grant in aid forthese States is increased.

Briefing media about thecharter of demand submittedto the Finance Commissionchairman NK Singh onWednesday evening, DeputyCM Sushil Kumar Modi, whoalso holds finance depart-ment, said that Centre hasconceded long pendingdemand of making 2011 cen-sus as basis for the panel’s rec-ommendations instead of1971 census which was prac-ticed ti l l 14th FinanceCommission.Modi said the Bihar’s share incentral taxes has been declin-ing since 12th FinanceCommission and it hasdropped to 9.66 per centwhereas the share of devel-oped States has been increas-ing. Bihar got a share in cen-tral taxes in 13th FinanceCommission �1,72,944 crorewhich increased to � 4,09,489crore in 14th FinanceCommission with an incre-

ment of 136 per cent, but atthe same time the incrementin shares of Punjab,Maharashtra, Kerala,Karnataka and Gujarat washigher than Bihar.

“We have demanded thatdensity of population should bemade a parameter instead oftotal geographical area andforest cover. Bihar’s density ofpopulation is higher in thecountry, 1,106 persons per sqkm, and it was a major con-straint in moving ahead fordevelopmental projects becauseland acquisition is a majorissue in densely populatedareas,” said Modi.

For disaster managementtoo Bihar is getting less centralaid as against Maharashtra,Rajasthan, Odisha and MadhyaPradesh. Despite the fact thatBihar faces floods and droughtevery year it received grant ofonly �2,591 crore in 2015-20while the State spent an addi-tional �3,796 crore on disastermanagement from its ownresources.

Bihar also demandedincreasing the State share indivisive pool from 42 per cent

accorded by the 14th FinanceCommission to 50 per cent by15th Finance Commission.

The Government memo-randum to the Commissionstated that backwardness ofBihar implied extremely limit-ed fiscal capacity of StateGovernment and it wasmarkedly dependent on theCentral Government to sup-plement its limited revenuereceipts. More than threefourths of the total revenuereceipts are accounted for bycentral transfers. “The quantum of such centraltransfers is projected by thesuccessive FinanceCommissions but the actualtransfers often fail to match theprojections. There was a dropin Bihar’s share of central taxeswhich has seriously affected thedevelopment activities of StateGovernment and upset thedelivery of required pubic ser-vices,” it stated.

The memorandum saidthat in spite of the phenome-non of widening regional dis-parity, the successive FinanceCommissions have been reluc-tant to recommend higherdevolution o poorer States,including Bihar.

“The protagonists of‘competitive’ federalism try tojustify this unfair distributionpattern by maintaining thatgovernance in poorer States isweak and that they are inca-pable of utilising the resourcestransferred to them. Thisindeed is an unfair criticism,especially in the context of Bihar.”

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Kottayam (Kerala): The NairService Society (NSS), a body ofKerala's influential NairCommunity, Thursday said itwould file a revision petition inthe Supreme Court against itsorder permitting women of allage groups to enter the LordAyyappa temple at Sabarimala.

Since the NSS had been aparty to the case from thevery beginning itself, it hasdecided to file a revision peti-tion in the Supreme Court inthe matter, NSS general secre-tary G Sukumaran Nair said ina statement here.

Nair termed as "disap-pointing" the stand taken by theKerala Government and theTravancore Devaswom Board(TDB) that they would not filea review petition in the apexcourt against its verdict.

Slamming the TDB over theissue, the NSS said the board,which is an independent bodymanaging Lord Ayyappa templeand 1200 other temples, has theresponsibility to protect customsand traditions of these shrines.

These temples are managedby using the offerings beingmade by the devotees and notusing money contributed by theGovernment, it said.

The NSS, which had joinedas a party to the case in theapex court, also alleged that theState Government was showingunnecessary hurry in imple-menting the court order.

This stand of theGovernment and board hasforced the faithful to take neces-sary steps to protect their faith,it said. The NSS also urged theGovernment to take steps toamicably resolve the issue.

His statement comes a dayafter the Government rejectedthe opposition demand to filea review petition in the apexcourt against its order andsaid it would implement theverdict in the coming pilgrim-age season itself.

A high-level meeting of theTDB has also decided to makenecessary arrangements forwomen pilgrims visiting the hillshrine when it opens for theannual pilgrimage season onOctober 16.

The Sabarimala temple hadrestricted the entry of womenbelonging to the age group of 10-50 as part of its age-old tradition.

On October 28, a five-judgeconstitution bench, headed bythe then Chief Justice DipakMisra, lifted the ban on entry ofwomen of menstrual age into theshrine. PTI

Mumbai: Amid the competingpolitics over Ram temple, theShiv Sena on Thursdayannounced that its chiefUddhav Thackeray will visitAyodhya after Dussehra toreaffirm his party’s commit-ment to the issue.

The announcement came aday after Ram JanmabhoomiTrust chief Janmejay SharanjiMaharaj met Thackeray at theparty's headquarters SenaBhawan here.

Sharanji Maharaj invitedThackeray to visit Ayodhya,telling him that the trust need-ed the Sena's assistance for theconstruction of Ram temple,Shiv Sena sources said.

Thackeray will announcethe date of his visit to Ayodhyaat the party's annual Dussehrarally to be held in Mumbai onOctober 19, senior Sena leaderand Rajya Sabha MP SanjayRaut said.

He said his party has beenmaintaining that only the ShivSena has the "courage" to builda Ram temple in Ayodhya.

The Shiv Sena is of the viewthat if the Ram temple is notconstructed now, then it cannotbe constructed ever, he added.

Thackeray had recently saidthat the BJP would once again rakeup the emotive issue of Ram tem-ple in the run-up to the 2019 polls.

Ram temple construction

in Ayodhya has been one of thecore issues of the BJP, which isan ally of the Shiv Sena.

The Sena, which hasresolved to go solo in the futureelections, has often targeted theBJP for "delaying" the construc-tion of Ram temple in Ayodhyadespite having a majority.

"The Sena has always cham-pioned the cause of Ram templein Ayodhya. The BJP, despitebeing in power for four years, hasnot yet fulfilled its commitmentof building a grand Ram templethere," Raut said Thursday.

Sharanji Maharaj said hetold the Shiv Sena chief that hisfather late Bal Thackeray hadcontributed to the demolition ofthe Babri Masjid (on December6, 1992), he should now con-tribute to the construction ofthe Ram temple there. With theLok Sabha polls less than a yearaway, the pitch for contructionof Ram temple in Ayodhya hasbeen intensifying lately withinthe BJP, even as the matter issub-judice.

Senior Sena leader ArvindSawant said that before the2014 Lok Sabha polls, theNDA had given three assur-ances to people -to abrogateArticle 370 of theConstitution, construction ofRam temple in Ayodhya andto solve the Kashmir issue.

PTI

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ACentral relief of �2.50 onsky-rocketing petro prices

was less than peanuts for thetoiling masses of the country,Bengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee on Thursday saidasking the Narendra ModiGovernment to reduce oilprices by at least �10.

“The Government is givingthe people a small relief whenrising petroleum prices hasdriven the market crazy. Everyitem in the market: From foodto other products of daily is onfire. A relief of �2.50 is but ajoke,” Mamata said adding theCentre would have done theleast by reducing the price byat least �10 per litre.

“You (the Centre) haveimposed huge production cesson petroleu driving the marketcrazy,” Mamata said adding areduction of �10 at this juncturewas the least the Governmentcould have done. She was react-ing to the appeal made byFinance Minister Arun Jaitley tothe State Governments toreduce the oil prices propor-tionately after the Central relief.

Bengal had alreadyreduced oil price by �1 about

a month ago.Attacking the Modi

Government for making loudpromises but only adding topeople’s misery, Mamata said“instead of giving relief to thepeople they are trying to ter-rorise the people.”

Referring to the encounterdeaths in UP and lynching ofminorities in other States sheasked “why will the people beafraid of you?” adding “thisGovernment is only trying torule by terror. “A trueGovernment is one that adds

value to people’s lives and notadds fear to it. In India we havehigh regard for joint family sys-tem. But in such families themembers live with each otherpeacefully. But here you (cen-tre) are trying to create schismamong them.”

Attacking the Centre forruining the Indian economythrough demonetization shesaid “they imposed note bandiwhich yielded nothing. It onlyfilled the coffers of somepoliticians and political parties.

����������.����� ���+ ! �

Hizbul Mujahdeen outfithas threatened terrorist-

turned-BJP worker FarooqAhmad alias Saifullah whorecently filed nominationpapers to contest urban localbodies election from capitalSrinagar. Warning postersagainst Farooq and severalother contestants have goneviral on social media sites.Farooq had earlier challengedmilitants to prove him wrong.

The outfit’s unknown“Divisional Commander AbuUmair Al Hizbi” has also issuedwarning to a political workerImran Zargar alias Imran Billawhom Hizbul Mujahideendescribes “a turncoat workingat the behest of intelligenceagencies for helping differentcandidates to win elections inlieu of millions of rupees”.

Meanwhile, unknown per-sons attacked the residences oftwo candidates in old Srinagarcity who are contestingMunicipal elections forSrinagar MunicipalCorporation (SMC) with petrolbombs last evening.

Unknown persons hurled apetrol bomb on the house of aBhartiya Janta Party candidateat Gojwara in old city. Reportssaid that the door of the houseof Shoukat Raja of Gojwaraarea of old city caught fire dueto the attack. Raja was not pre-sent at his home at the time ofincident.

In another incidentunknown persons targeted carof an independent candidateNisar Chudisaz at KakaMohalla in Rainawari area ofold Srinagar. The car wasparked outside his house andits tyres caught fire. Nisar wasalso not at home at the time ofthe incident.

On the other side, Jointresistance leadership (JRL), anamalgam of separatist politicalparties, comprising of Syed AliGeelani, Mirwaiz Umar Faroand Yasin Malik called for acomplete shutdown in Jammu& Kashmir on October 8 toprotest against the com-mencement of municipal andPanchayat elections. A state-ment issued to media askedpeople to “observe subsequentprotest shutdown in their ownrespective areas as per the poll

schedule on 10th, 13th and16th October and show theircomplete disassociation andresentment against it.”

The arrest of JKLF chair-man Yasin Malik and thearrest of dozens of Hurriyatactivists and youth and raidson their homes, has beenresented by JRL.

The State Government hasformulated unprecedentedsecurity plan for the smoothconduct of upcoming UrbanLocal Bodies (ULB) andPanchayat elections in the State.The plan covers safety andsecurity of both contestants andthe voters in most sensitiveareas in Kashmir and else-where in the State.

The panchayat electionsare being held on non-partybasis. Additional 400 compa-nies of central security forceswould be deployed in the Stateover and above the securityforces already stationed.

The ULB elections arebeing conducted in four phas-es from October 8 andPanchayat elections in ninephases beginning November17. This would be a massiveexercise to elect more than 39,500 representatives.

In an unprecedented move,the Government employeesdeployed on election dutywould be paid a month’s addi-tional salary.

The two main regionalpolitical parties NationalConference and PeoplesDemocratic Party have decid-ed to boycott the elections asthey have asked the CentralGovernment to clear its standon the issue of Article 35-A andtake steps for its protection.The Communist Party of India(CPI) also decided not to par-ticipate in the polls keeping inview the prevailing situation inthe valley.

Meanwhile, a BorderSecurity Force man wasdetained along-with anotherperson as Police busted anOver Ground Workers(OGWs) module of terroristoutfit Hizbul Mujahideen thatwas operating in Lolab area ofnorth Kashmir’s Kupwara.

Security sources said thattwo locals of Tekipora Lolabarea in the district weredetained on the basis of specificinput who after sustained inter-rogation confessed to be OverGround Workers of HizbulMujahideen.

The arrested persons wereidentified as Shakir AhmadWani and Ghulam MustafaSheikh.

Sources said Shakir is a BSFman who is posted in North East

and was providing arms trainingto local terrorists. He hadreturned home on vacations.

Sources said a pistol wasrecovered on their disclosure.

The module was engagedin providing logistic support toterrorists apart from luringmore youth into militancy.

A case under relevant sec-tions of law has been registeredand further investigation initi-ated into the matter.

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Kolkata: A former IAS officerwas on Thursday interrogatedby the CBI in the Sharada chitfund case. The former officerwas asked to explain aGovernment order a few yearsago that apparently favouredthe Sharada group.

The former bureaucrat,then secretary in the HomeDepartment was in charge ofaffairs when the BengalGovernment had issued acircular asking the Statelibraries to keep newspapersof the Sharada group in their

study halls.The former official was

asked to disclose the facts thatled to the stated order. He wasasked to explain upon whosedirections his department hadissued such circulars that final-ly benefited the Sharada group,sources said. PNS

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Srinagar: The authorities inJammu & Kashmir have barredSpecial Police Officers (SPO) tobe detailed on personal securi-ty of protected persons. Thedecision has been taken after anSPO decamped with huge cacheof arms and ammunition froma legislator’s official residencebefore joining HizbulMujahideen outfit.

The SPOs are working onmonthly honorarium and theirservices are confirmed afteryears of ‘satisfactory work’.

The order to this effect wasissued by Additional DirectorGeneral, Security and Law &rder Muneer Ahmad Khan.The ADGP ordered that no unitor SSP shall deploy any SPO forPSO duties and all SPOs exceptSPO drivers, presently attachedwith protected persons beimmediately withdrawn.

The Order observed thatSPOs performing PSO dutieswith the protected personswas not in accordance withthe security norms as SPOswere not trained to performPSO duties.

A Special Police Officer(SPO) Adil Bashir Sheikhdeployed as Personal SecurityOfficer (PSO) of PDP legislatorrepresenting Wachi constituen-cy in south Kashmir's Shopiandistrict, decamped with 07 AK47 rifles alongwith ammunitionof police personnel deployed forthe security of the State

Assembly Member at his officialresidence at Jawahar Nagar insummer capital SrinagarSeptember 28. The SPO alsotook away one licensed pistol ofMLA. Security sources saidsince MLA was in Jammu, hisall seven PSOs had gone to theirrespective homes on leave, leav-ing their weapons in a trunk atJ-11 quarters at Jawahar Nagar.

On Thursday, Aijaz Miralleged that police officialsinvolved in the investigation ofthe weapon loot case werecompelling the family membersof his former PSOs to speakagainst him. The police havenot reacted to the allegation.Mir was quizzed by Police &NIA sleuths for at least threestraight days after commis-sion of act by SPO by lootingarms. Around a dozen otherPSOs deployed in MLA secu-rity unit were also questionedat legislator's official residencelast September 29.

Seven Police cops whoserifles were looted by SPO havebeen suspended. Officials saidthey were suspended for theircallous attitude towards dutiesand put under investigationnet. The suspended police per-sonnel continued to remainunder police detention facingseries of questioning sessionsby Police officials and sleuthsof National InvestigationAgency (NIA) and other inves-tigating agencies. PNS

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Gopalganj/Patna: Two cops have been arrest-ed in Bihar's Gopalganj district for allegedlyselling seized liquor, a of the alcohol ban inthe State, a senior officer said on Thursday.

The two policemen were arrested onWednesday following complaints by local resi-dents that they saw a liquor-laden truck leave the

Baikunthpur police station on the interveningnight of September 30 and October 1, GopalganjSuperintendent of Police Rashid Zaman said.

SHO Laxminarayan Mahto and ASISudhir Kumar were interrogated and the truckdriver, Kanhaiya Sharma, was also arrestedfrom the neighbouring Saran district, the SP

said.Mahto and Kumar have

been placed under suspen-sion.

Zaman said it is suspectedthat liquor seized during anoperation was not shown inthe records and later sold offby the accused in collusionwith others. PTI

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For an Asian region of peace, prosperitywww.dailypioneer.com

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Aremarkable initiative organisedannually in Latin America by theGlobal Embassy of Activists forPeace (GEAP) is a conference enti-tled, ‘The Peace Integration

Summit’ with the acronym of CUMIPAZ.Earlier this week, the 2018 Summit was held inGuatemala at which this writer delivered thekeynote address. What is particularly signifi-cant about the GEAP is the fact that this bodyconsists largely of academics and intellectuals,with a remarkable thinker Dr William SotoSantiago, as the prime mover. The GEAP hasvery lofty objectives: “Work towards theimprovement, welfare, happiness and peace ofthe human family and Mother Earth, promot-ing a global formation of the integral humanbeing and the formation of activists for peacein the framework of universal values and prin-ciples, for the defense of Human Rights and the

Rights of Mother Earth, through the develop-ment of programmes, projects and campaignsaimed at different areas in which humans oper-ate and interact.”

Significantly, we have no initiative of simi-lar profile in Asia, which fortunately does not haveconflicts such as those in several other parts ofthe world. But tensions are on the increase in theregion, as manifested by the recent near collisionbetween the US and Chinese naval ships in theSouth China Sea. Since Asia now has a growingnuclear arsenal, it is extremely important that weserve the future of humanity by creating anatmosphere and philosophy of peace that guidesrelations in this region. It was in recognition ofthis challenge, which Mahatma Gandhi foresaw,that India hosted the Asian Relations Conferenceduring March-April 1947, with leaders from allacross Asia as participants.

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, then the interimPrime Minister of undivided India, stated onthat occasion, “Asia is again finding herself ...one of the notable consequences of theEuropean domination of Asia has been the iso-lation of the countries of Asia from one anoth-er...Today this isolation is breaking downbecause of many reasons, political and other-wise...This Conference is significant as anexpression of that deeper urge of the mind andspirit of Asia which has persisted...In thisConference and in this work there are no lead-

ers and no followers. All countries of Asia haveto meet together in a common task.” The AsianRelations Conference was clearly a visionary ini-tiative, which for several reasons has not beenfollowed up in substance by the nations in Asia.

Perhaps a greater focus on the Asian iden-tity and creating a region of mutual trust, con-nected by common concerns and objectives, isnow extremely important. It would also be use-ful to recall that 40 years later in 1987, theGovernment of India held the Asian RelationsCommemorative Conference, which also drewparticipants from all across Asia. One of the majoroutcomes of that conference was a consensus tocoordinate energy policies across the continent.As a result, with the initiative of a remarkableForeign Secretary, Muchkund Dubey, the AsianEnergy Institute was established under the lead-ership of Dr Ali Shams Ardekani, later the DeputyForeign Minister of Iran, and this writer.

The Asian Energy Institute, which was anetwork of energy institutions across Asia, tookup as its first challenge the development of aplan for a pipeline to transport the enormousquantity of surplus natural gas from Iran toPakistan, India and later Nepal as well. This wasan extremely attractive option because Iran hadfound large reserves of natural gas, and theIranian Government was willing to provideattractive terms and low prices to Pakistan,India and Nepal for gas supply over a long peri-

od. Unfortunately, this visionary initiative wasblocked by mutual suspicions and mistrust. Hadit been pursued Iran’s place in the global com-munity would have been different and relationsbetween India, Pakistan and Nepal would havebeen much healthier.

Now that we are in the year of MahatmaGandhi’s birth anniversary, India has a uniqueopportunity to give substance to the memoryof that world apostle of peace. It would be rel-evant to create a zone of peace on the Asian con-tinent and convene a follow up of the AsianRelations Conference during its diamondjubilee year in 2022. There are, undoubtedly,growing tensions which must be contained andwill need to be channelled in the direction ofpeace, good neighbourly conduct and friend-ship. It would be extremely valuable to take theexample of CUMIPAZ and draw on the acad-emic community, forward-looking thinkers andactivists in Asia and elsewhere who believe thathuman society in the 21st century must relent-lessly pursue peace in this century.

Preparations should be taken in hand onGandhiji’s birth anniversary in 2019 by the IndianGovernment with political leaders, captains ofbusiness, academics and think-tanks acrossAsia to organise a major event that must have animpact on the thinking and actions of societiesacross Asia so that we become a region of stablepeace. In order to ensure that such an event is

not merely a talk shop but results in crucial under-standing in critical areas of human endeavouracross the world and certainly in Asia, it will beuseful to structure the diamond jubilee of theAsian Relations Conference into a set of very con-crete areas of cooperation.

This means that the next four years haveto be spent in adequate preparation by whichwe not only ensure clarity in defining the areaswhere cooperation and constructive engage-ment would be essential, but also involve majorAsian leaders such as the presidents ofIndonesia, South Korea and Kazakhstan, theprime ministers of Japan, Malaysia andSingapore and others in joining hands withIndia as partners in the conference.

Perhaps the best way to get started with thiswould be for a compact but diverse committeeto be set up which may be given the responsi-bility of coming up with a clear plan of action tobe debated and discussed by all the stakehold-ers. Once a plan is in place then action can beinitiated perhaps by the middle of next year,which will allow three full years for an initiativeof this nature, placing India at the centre of peacein Asia. Also, this will be held as a fitting tributeto Gandhiji’s vision and commitment, which haseven greater significance and relevance today.

(The writer is former chairman,Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2002-15)

���������Sir — This refers to the editorial, “Tothe rescue” (October 3). TheGovernment’s takeover of the keymanagement of infrastructure lenderInfrastructure Leasing & FinancialServices (IL&FS) raises hopes of its sur-vival and is the appropriate decision inthe given circumstances. IL&FS is fac-ing an enormous debt worth �91,000crore and is facing severe liquidity cri-sis. It is unfortunate that the checks andbalances were not in place as a resultof which IL&FS ran into this enormousdebt because of loan defaults.

Now that the Government hastaken over the reins, one expects thatthe projects delayed and not complet-ed would be completed, and as aresult, money would flow back to thecompany thus raising the prospects ofits survival.

Devendra KhuranaBhopal

��� ������������Sir — There can be no second opinionthat the Supreme Court, by allowingwomen of all ages to enter theSabarimala temple, has not only upheldthe rights of women to enter any tem-

ple, but also has dealt a death blow onthose who want to deny darshan ofLord Ayyappa to women.

This they do, harping on their con-demnable assertion that women areunclean due to menstruation, a biolog-ical manifestation.

They also conveniently forget thatParvati, wife of Lord Shiva for whomShiva gave half of his body was also awoman.

After all, the entire humanity owesits existence only to women and it is notonly inhuman and uncharitable but alsoa blatant exhibition of ungratefulnessto deny women their rights, including

in religious practices.Shalini Gerald

Chennai ��������������Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Moment of pride” (October 4). NobelPrize-winning scientist Dr DonnaStrickland’s breakthrough in laser is amoment of celebration for everywomen laureates. One cannot deny thepoor track record of gender gap orracial discrimination prevading theNobel Prize.

What’s more shocking is that evenafter Strickland’s work towards produc-

ing the shortest and the most intenselaser pulses that revolutionised laserphysics around the world, she did nothave a Wikipedia page until theannouncement. Earlier, an Italian sci-entist at the CERN particle physics lab-oratory in Geneva had sparked contro-versy over his statement “physics wasbuilt by men”. Strickland’s victory is anapt answer to the role of gender in sci-entific accomplishments.

Palak KwatraLudhiana

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We are against the concept of drugs. I amagainst it (the proposal to grow opium)

and Punjab will not do it. —Punjab Chief Minister

CAPTAIN AMARINDER SINGH

Cultivation of poppy and opium should belegalised. My uncle used to get opium as

medicine from hospital. He lived a long life. —Congress leader

NAVJOT SINGH SIDHU

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Infrastructure Leasing &Financial Services (IL&FS),originally promoted by HDFC,Central Bank of India and UnitTrust of India in 1987, operat-

ing via 169 subsidiaries, special pur-pose vehicles and joint ventures, haspioneered the infrastructure revolu-tion in more than one way, with path-breaking projects such as the Zoji Latunnel Pass, Delhi-Noida toll bridge,GIFT, Gujarat International FinanceTec-City and umpteen others. LIC,Orix Corporation of Japan and ADIA,Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, thathold 25.34 per cent, 23.54 per cent and12.56 per cent each in IL&FS, aretoday its top three shareholders.

Congress president RahulGandhi, who has been tweetingfeverishly in the last few days, ques-tioning the need for any potential bail-out by LIC, has conveniently forgot-ten that it was under the erstwhileCongress-led dispensation that LICacquired significant stakes in IL&FSin 2005, 2006 and, picking up as manyas 19.34 lakh shares in 2010. The factthat LIC pumped in �41,000 crore in2007-08 and �35,000 crore in 2008-09, with its outstanding exposure tothe Indian equity markets at a whop-ping �20,0000 crore by January 2009,amidst the Lehman meltdown, is atestimony to the fact that LIC used itsreinvestible surpluses to stabilisemarkets, then.

If anything, a series of measuresby the Narendra Modi Governmentto instill confidence in the moneymarkets, which had seen commercialpaper (CP) yields rising by 20-40bpsfor even top-rated issuers, in the after-math of the IL&FS imbroglio, deservepraise. For instance, the interbank liq-uidity deficit was addressed by allow-ing banks to carve out 15 per centholdings from their statutory liquid-ity reserves, against the earlier 13percent to meet liquidity coverage ratio(LCR) requirements, thereby boost-ing systemic liquidity by an addition-al rupees two lakh crore.

This, coupled with an open mar-ket operation’s (OMO) announce-ment of �36,000 crore for the monthof October by the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI), calmed the bond mar-kets, with benchmark 10-year bond

yields retracing from 8.23 per cent lastweek to 7.99 per cent on October 1.Three group companies of IL&FS arelisted on the Indian bourses, name-ly, IL&FS Investment Managers Ltd,IL&FS Engineering and ConstructionCompany Ltd and, IL&FSTransportation Networks Ltd.Importantly, many mutual funds,banks, insurance companies, nonbanking financial companies (NBFC)and housing finance companies, havedirect or indirect exposure to IL&FS.

Hence the National CompanyLaw Tribunal’s (NCLT) decision toallow the Government to take-overIL&FS and supersede the erstwhile 10member board, vide Article 241(2) ofthe Companies Act 2013, is a promptand timely one that saved the Indianfinancial system from any potentialcascading effects, limiting the collat-eral damage, if any. The alacrity, deci-siveness and sheer professionalismwith which the Modi Governmenttook charge of IL&FS, is unmatchedin Indian financial history.

The current embattled statewhich IL&FS finds itself in, thanks togross mismanagement by the erst-while board, is a temporary one aris-ing out of asset liability mismatch(ALM). In sharp contrast, the Lehmancrisis in 2008, with Lehman filing forChapter 11 Bankruptcy on September15, 2008, was one of the insolvencies.Hence, desperate attempts by a dis-jointed Opposition to draw parallelsbetween IL&FS and Lehman, smackof ignorance and a vested agenda todiscredit the Modi Government thathas been repeatedly praised by thelikes of the IMF and the World Bankfor turning around the Indian econ-omy into the sixth largest, globally,from a fragile state it had beenpushed to in 2012-13.

Do note, the size of debt assetsunder management of mutual fundsin India is over �18 lakh crore, withroughly 17per cent of that invested inNBFCs. Hence, IL&FS is simply toobig to fail. Again, IL&FS is a huge bor-rower accounting for two per cent ofthe outstanding CP market, one percent of the debenture market androughly 0.7per cent of banking sys-tem loans. Interestingly, despite thesheer scale of numbers involved, theresilience of the Indian financial sys-tem shone through, with IndiabullsHousing Finance raising more than�500 crore at 8.36 per cent via CPmarket, and a Tata group companyraising �3,488 crore via non convert-ible debentures (NCD) for the firsttime in 10 years at a rate of between8.70-9.1per cent last week, even as the

IL&FS issue raged on.Coming back to the IL&FS fias-

co, what triggered nervousness was adefault by IL&FS on repayment of a�1,000 crore short-term loan fromSmall Industries Development Bankof India (SIDBI) on September 5,2018, followed by a series of defaults.The fact that in less than a month ofthe IL&FS crisis and barely within 48hours of the IL&FS Annual GeneralMeeting that was held on September29 this year, management take-overhad been affected by the ModiGovernment by October 1, 2018,speaks volumes of the currentGovernment’s commitment to themillions of retail investors who haveparked their money in debt funds thatinvariably have some kind of exposureto IL&FS.

Do not forget that in a rather sim-ilar incident in 2009 wherein a pro-moter, Ramalinga Raju of SatyamComputers was summarily removedfor defrauding and cooking up thecompany’s books. The erstwhileCongress-led UPA Government backthen had allowed the entire Satyamcrisis to fester for seven long monthsfrom January till July 2009, beforereaching a tentative solution, doingirreversible damage to the Indianfinancial markets in the bargain.

The IL&FS issue, however, rais-

es questions about ‘conflict of inter-est’ plaguing credit rating agencies. Inthis entire issue, while the ModiGovernment and the RBI showedexemplary nimble-footedness in lim-iting collateral damage, the credit rat-ing agencies had assigned investmentgrade ratings till as recently as August,2018, which was then reduced to junkstatus by September 2018 in a classicknee-jerk reaction.

That the IL&FS group was over-leveraged and rumoured to haveborrowed between 10-18 times itsequity, to fund its infrastructure pro-jects, most of which bring in returnsover 20-25 years, was known to thecredit rating agencies. They simplyrefused to even blink till thingsreached an inflexion point.

Making things worse, IL&FS’borrowings were all repayable in theshort to medium-term of roughlyeight to 10 years. What abetted theasset liability mismatch was costoverruns and inability to roll overshort-term obligations. However, asthings stand now, on October 31,2018, the new board will submit a res-olution plan to the NCLT. That couldinvolve monetisation of unviableassets, reducing stakes in 25 odd pro-jects being operated by the company,possible Rights/NCD issues, raisingauthorised capital, deleveraging the

balance sheet by 38 per cent orroughly �30,000 crore, bringing innew partners for some projects andthe like.

At the core, IL&FS is an inherent-ly strong company with assets worth�1,15,815 crore as of fiscal 2018, witha standalone reported gearing ratio of3.04 and a regulatory gearing ratio of2.30. It has umpteen profit-makingsubsidiaries like the Khed SinnarExpressway, Amravati ChikhliExpressway, Barwa Adda Expressway,Fagne Songadh Expressway and oth-ers. Thanks to the Narendra Modi dis-pensation, by choosing not to hide theIL&FS issue by fraudulently ever-greening its loans, but by tackling theproblem head-on, including orderingan Serious Fraud Investigation Officeprobe to get to the bottom of things,the confidence in money markets hasbeen restored.

Needless to add, the big messagefor companies and investors from theIL&FS issue is, not to go overboardin “borrowing at the short end andlending at the long end of the mar-ket”, as asset-liability mismatches canbe a vicious cycle. That said, thoseindulging in fear-mongering by say-ing that IL&FS’ lenders will have totake a haircut of �15,000-20,000crore in a bid to save it, are complete-ly wrong. IL&FS has deep pockets,strong capital base with good opera-tional parameters, net assets higherthan net liabilities, and all it needs is,the renewed confidence of its share-holders and investors, to tide over thetemporary liquidity crunch.

If push comes to shove, even sell-ing a minuscule stake in one of its sub-sidiaries, from the umpteen profitableones it has in its kitty, can replenishits net worth and generate between�20,000-30,000 crore, giving it the fire-power to have the cash flows to ser-vice its debt obligations, without ero-sion in its core capital base.

And once market sentiment sta-bilises, given its excellent track recordin executing and financing some ofthe toughest infrastructure projects inthe country, IL&FS, with a newboard at the helm, should be able tocontinue to access the financial mar-kets at competitive rates and get backto doing what it does best... (—)pow-ering India’s superlative infrastructuregrowth story with projects like theChennai-Nashri road tunnel project,that is a befitting example of whatpolitical will under the NarendraModi dispensation has been able toaccomplish.

(The writer is an economist andchief spokesperson for BJP, Mumbai)

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Aweek or so ago, I happened to comeacross a rather intriguing poster. Whiledriving back from work in the evening,

I saw it wrapped around an electricity pole. Ithad a photoshopped image of Pakistan PrimeMinister Imran Khan in a sherwani and aJinnah cap. He was mounted on the back of awhite horse. His left hand held the reins andhis right hand stretched forward as if he wastelling people (or the horse) where he wasgoing. Over him flew a rather angry-lookingeagle. Apart from being unique, the intrigu-ing bit is that it is a continuation of a traditionintroduced by Field Marshal Ayub Khan.

I have, in my collection, two posters whichwere printed sometime in the early/mid-1960sduring the height of the Ayub Khan regime(1958-69). One shows a profile of his face infront of a painting of the great MughalEmperor Akbar. According to LawrenceZiring’s 1971 book, The Ayub Khan Era: Politicsin Pakistan, 1958-69, Ayub was a great admir-er of men such as Turkish nationalist leaderKemal Atatürk, the iconic French leaderCharles de Gaulle and Emperor Akbar.

Ayub often explained himself as a ‘mod-ernist’ Muslim. So probably he used the above-mentioned poster to subtly equate his ideolog-ical disposition with that of Akbar’s, who,according to Dr Mubarak Ali’s Ulema, Sufis &Intellectuals (1996), was one of the most “open-minded” Muslim rulers of India. The otherAyub Khan poster shows the field marshal ona white horse. He is wearing a three-piece suitand a Jinnah cap. The text in Urdu describeshim as a soldier of progress and a man of vision.Also in my collection is a similar poster of ZABhutto. It shows Bhutto in a three-piece suitand Jinnah cap, riding a white horse. He ispointing towards the sky. The text in Urdudescribes him as a soldier of Islam — a kindof Saladin of socialism.

In the early 1980s, the intransigent Zia-ul-Haq’s dictatorship (1977-88) published postersof Gen Zia riding a white horse in his militaryattire and charging towards a Soviet tank,almost like the eccentric Don Quixote charg-ing towards a windmill in Cervantes’ famous

17th-century novel. Unfortunately, I have mis-placed this poster. It described Zia as a cham-pion of the Muslim Ummah and the scourgeof Soviet communism. In 2003, paintedposters showing Gen Musharraf riding a gal-loping white horse, flanked by two fighter jets,appeared. I can’t recall what the text on theseposters said. So where do all these images ofPakistani leaders on white horses keep com-ing from? The roots of this tradition lie in asocio-political phenomenon which emergedin South Asia before Pakistan’s creation in 1947.

According to Markus Daechsel’s study ofSouth Asia’s middle-class milieu, The Politicsof Self Expression, various Muslim and Hinduactivists and thinkers — between the end ofthe First World War in 1919 and the 1940s —were smitten by the idea of the Übermenschdeveloped by the brilliant but controversial19th-century German philosopher, FriedrichNietzsche. The concept of the Übermensch iscomplex. So to put it in the most simplisticterms, it is about an imagined man who, aftertranscending and even rejecting the moralityof religion and the prevailing value systems,becomes an ‘overman’ (the Übermensch).Nietzsche believed that religious morality andprevailing human values limit the scope ofhuman creativity and intellectuality.

However, during the rise of radicalGerman nationalism in the early 20th centu-ry, the idea of the Übermensch was adoptedby racist German nationalists who describedGermans as a biologically and intellectuallysuperior race which was not (or shouldn’t be)circumscribed by the notions of convention-al religious morality and universal human val-ues. This was a clear distortion becauseNietzsche’s atheistic concept of the Übermen-sch was not at all racist. German nationalistsaltered Nietzsche’s ideas to make the Übermen-sch a biologically superior race of Germansinspired and led by a pure-blooded ‘Aryan’ whowas uninhibited by conventional morality andvalues. Adolf Hitler became such a man.

Markus Daechsel writes that radicalHindu nationalists, such as Vinayak Savarkar,and Muslim activists, such as InayatullahMashriqi, Ibrahim Chishti and Abdus SattarNiazi, lapped up the Nazis’ understanding ofthe Übermensch. Thus, Savarkar rejected thepacifism of Mahatma Gandhi and idealised theHindu nation and individual as having strongphysical qualities inspired by a ‘history’ ofHindu conquest, and unhindered by ritualswhich neutralised the Hindu nation’s ‘inher-ent’ masculine qualities. One such Hindu that

Savarkar admired was Maratha emperor BajiRao. There’s a statue of Baji Rao riding a horsewith a spear in his hand in Pune.

Mashriqi, who entered politics in the 1930sby forming the quasi-fascist Khaksar Tehreek,rejected the intellectually robust ‘Islamicmodernism’ of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan andMuhammad Allama Iqbal. JM Baljon, in his1961 book, Modern Muslim Interpretations,writes that Mashriqi visited Berlin in 1930 andmet Hitler. Baljon quotes Mashriqi as sayingthat Hitler’s Nazi movement inspired Mashriqito form the Khaksar Tehreek. According toDaechsel, Mashriqi claimed that those Muslimmen of action were required who were unde-terred by wasteful intellectual and spiritual pur-suits — “a true believer who is willing to severall ties to society at large and ready to becomea soldier.” Such a man became Mashriqi’s Über-mensch.

Not surprisingly, it was during this peri-od that photographs of Mashriqi gallantly rid-ing a horse emerged. In the late 1930s, youngIslamic scholars Abdus Sattar and IbrahimChishti published a pamphlet called “Scheme”.In it they put forward the idea of a “KhudaMard”. This Übermensch was to appear afterMuslims would ‘cleanse’ themselves from with-in and ‘renew their mission for world domi-nation’. The Khuda Mard had no issues in call-ing people of other faiths, “worse than animals”.Sattar and Chishti issued maps, flags and animage of the Khuda Mard mounted on a whitehorse and standing on top of a globe.

Perhaps the only Muslim thinker whomanaged to comprehend Nietzsche’s philos-ophy outside the Nazi perceptions of the same,was poet and philosopher Iqbal. Bilquees Darin her essay, “Perfect Man vs Superman”, inthe August 2013 issue of Journal of English &Literature, writes that Iqbal was critical ofNietzsche’s atheism, but appreciated hisinsight. Iqbal wrote: “Nietzsche’s mind was ofa disbeliever, but his heart is a believer.” Theidea of the Übermensch clearly inspired Iqbal’sidea of the qalandar (and later, theshaheen/eagle); ie a Muslim man who was astaunch individualist and then achieved thestate of ‘khudi’ after getting rid of the cobwebsof religious obscurantism and intellectuallethargy to form a robust community ofMuslims driven by a refreshed, dynamic andprogressive Islam. Iqbal’s shaheen appears invarious places in Pakistan. And it was last seenhovering over Imran Khan in the afore-men-tioned poster.

(Courtesy: Dawn)

Supermen on stallions

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Hacked Facebook accounts are being sold on the‘dark net’ days after the company admitted that 50million of its users had been compromised. Mediareports speak of Facebook accounts being sold for aslittle as three dollars on this section of the Internetaccessible only with specialised software. Brave newdigital world, anyone?

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Page 9:  · intra-day low of 73.81 Thursday. With this, market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms slipped below the $2 trillion. Spooked by overnight sharp rally in Brent crude price which

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Aday after relaxing over-seas borrowing norms for

oil companies, the Governmenton Thursday said State-ownedfuel retailers will have to com-plete $10 billion external com-mercial borrowing (ECBs)within a year and they wouldnot be required to hedge theexposure.

The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) on Wednesday relaxedpolicy on borrowing fromoverseas up to $10 billionexternal debt for working cap-ital needs amid depreciatingrupee.

“OMCs will borrow $10billion with a maturity of 5years in a phased manner, withan initial tranche of $4 billionfollowed by two tranches of $3billion each, all borrowingcompleted in a period of oneyear from now,” a Finance

Ministry statement said.Oil marketing companies

will not be required to hedgetheir exposure, it said.

Till now OMCs were notallowed to raise ECB for work-ing capital needs on a long-term basis. They could raise amaximum of one-year over-seas loan by way of buyerscredit, repay it within 12months and raise it againthereafter.

The move comes at a timewhen international oil priceshave touched four-year high of$86 per barrel and the rupeeplummeted to a low of 73 to thedollar.

Indian Oil Corp (IOC),Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd(BPCL) and HindustanPetroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL)will be allowed to raise overseasfunds with a minimum averagematurity period of 3 or 5 yearsunder the automatic route.

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Noting that the Adani PowerDahej Ltd (APDL), a sub-

sidiary of Adani Power, hasfailed to start actual construc-tion of proposed 2,600 MWimported coal-based plant atDahej in Gujarat even after get-ting clearance seven years ago,an expert panel of the UnionEnvironment Ministry has puton hold the company’s requestto give it further extension onenvironment clearance front.

The APDL had soughtextending validity of environ-mental clearance dated 25October 2011 for further periodfive years, i.e. till 25 October 2023.

However, the ExpertAppraisal Committee (ther-mal power) headed by NavinChandra in its meeting held in

August 2018, decided to deferthe approval after it noted thatactual construction work of thepower plant has not been start-ed yet. In fact, the progress ofthe construction work in thelast seven years has been bareminimum accounting toboundary wall, stores, SewageTreatment Plant, transmissionline and hostel.

When the project proponentclaimed that the constructionwork has not been initiated so farin the absence of the power pur-chase agreement (PPA), thepanel did not rule out furtherdelay in work, saying it would be48 months from the zero date.

A senior official in theMinistry explained that thevalidity of the green nod givenin 2011 was for five years, i.e.till 2016. As the environmentclearance (EC) is valid on thedate of environment impactassessment (EIA) amendmentnotification dated September14, 2016, the five years validi-ty automatically becomes sevenyears. Accordingly, the EC is

valid for seven years, i.e. tillOctober 24, 2018.

As per the EIAAmendment Notification dated14.9.2016, the validity can beextended by maximum periodof three years. Thus, the outerlimit of the validity of EC is 10years. However, the projectproponent has sought forextension of five years whichbecomes total validity of 12years from the date of grant ofEC, said the official. “Approvalwill be the violation of the reg-ulations,” the official said.

The project has notachieved any significant

progress interms of con-s t r u c t i o nactivities ofthe BTG andBOP. Thevalidity ofseven yearswill expire onOctober 24,2018. While asper the provi-sions of the

EIA Notification, only threeyears can be extended beyondseven years whereas projectproponent has sought exten-sion of five years. Moreover,three years’ extension can begiven only in cases where pro-jects have achieved substantialphysical progress so that theextension will enable them tocomplete balance works.

Deferring the proposal, thepanel has asked the ADPL tosubmit a chart showing thetimelines and completion of allthe activities for commission-ing the power plant withinthree years.

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Asports utility vehicle(SUV) to be developed as

per the agreement signedbetween diversified conglom-erate Mahindra Group andFord Motor company wasexpected to hit the marketsoon, a senior official said onThursday.

Talking to reporters onthe sidelines of the launch ofnew version of compact sedanAspire here, Ford India, gen-eral manager-parts, supply andlogistics, R Kanakaraj said,“Ford Motor and MahindraGroup signed a memorandumof understanding (inSeptember 2017) to come outwith electric vehicles.”

“Under the MoU, it wasalso proposed to introduce aSUV, which will be expectedsoon,” he said.

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State-owned NBCC onThursday said it has bagged

a project consultancy contract todevelop permanent campus ofIIM Ranchi at a cost of �400crore.

In a filing to BSE, NBCCsaid it has “received a Letter ofAward (LoA) of work from IIMRanchi to provide project man-agement consultancy for devel-opment of permanent campus(Phase-1 works) amounting�400 crore (approx)”.

NBCC, which is under theadministrative control of theMinistry of Housing and UrbanAffairs, is present in three mainsegments — ProjectManagement Consultancy(PMC), Real EstateDevelopment and EPCContracting.

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Washington: The US hasdecided to withdraw from theoptional protocol on disputes ofthe Vienna Convention,National Security Adviser JohnBolton said Wednesday, citinga Palestinian lawsuit challeng-ing America’s move to shift itsembassy from Tel Aviv toJerusalem as the reason.

The announcement by theWhite House came soon afterSecretary of State MikePompeo announced to termi-nate the 1955 Treaty of Amitywith Iran. PTI

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Iran’s Supreme LeaderAyatollah Ali Khamenei

vowed Thursday “never” toallow the Islamic Republic tobow to the demands of its ene-mies, at a time of increased ten-sions between Tehran andWashington.

“To entertain the idea, asdesired by the enemy, that theonly solution is to hand our-selves over to the enemy, is theworst act of treason towards theIranian nation, and that will nothappen,” Khamenei said in anaddress to tens of thousands ofmembers of the Basij, anIslamic volunteer militia, broad-cast live on state television.

“With God’s help, so long asI am alive and retain my capac-ities and with your help, I willnever allow such a thing to hap-pen,” he said in the speech atTehran’s Azadi stadium.

For Iran’s clerical estab-lishment, enemy refers firstly tothe United States which isdubbed the “Great Satan” and

with which relations have beensevered since the aftermath ofits 1979 Islamic revolution.

Khamenei played downthe impact of economic sanc-tions reimposed on Iran by theUnited States in August afterWashington pulled out of the2015 nuclear accord betweenTehran and world powers.

“Our national economycan overcome the sanctions,and, with the help of God, wewill overcome them, and thisdefeat will signal the defeat ofAmerica and a new slap forAmerica from the Iraniannation,” he said.

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The US has rejected Pakistan’s plea to facilitate talkswith India and pressed for the bilateral engage-

ment between the two South Asian neighbours,Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said.

Pakistan wants the US to facilitate talks with Indiaas the two nations are not engaging bilaterally, the topPakistani diplomat told a Washington audience onWednesday. “When we asked the US, to play facili-tating role...Why do we ask?

Simply because we are not engaging bilaterally.And that bilateral disengagement is…a distraction,”

Qureshi said in response to a question at the USInstitute of Peace, a US Congress-funded topAmerican think-tank.

“We want to focus, we want to move on the west-ern side of the border, which we are not being ableto because we have to watch our back from easternside (of the border with India). That is not a healthysituation to be in,” he said.

“Now can you (United States) facilitate (the talks)?The answer from them is no. They wanted bilateral-ly. But there is no bilateral movement,” Qureshi said,a day after he had meetings with Secretary of StateMike Pompeo and National Security Advisor John

Bolton, during which he raised the issue only to bepushed back by the Trump administration.

India is opposed to any third country mediationin its relations with Pakistan. Pakistan has continu-ously sought mediation to sort out the differences,including over Kashmir.

Qureshi warned that the absence of bilateral talkswith India could lead to escalation of tensionbetween the two countries. “If that lack of facilitationleads to escalation and some of the statements thathave come out of late have not been very helpful,” thePakistani foreign minister said in an apparent refer-ence to the remarks by Indian leaders.

Istanbul: Saudi Arabia’sAmbassador to Turkey was onThursday summoned to theforeign ministry after a promi-nent journalist critical ofRiyadh went missing, a Turkishdiplomatic source said.

Jamal Khashoggi, a con-tributor to the WashingtonPost, went to the Saudi con-sulate on Tuesday to receive anofficial document for his mar-riage and has not appearedsince then.

His Turkish fiancee report-ed him missing after the jour-nalist, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the US sincelast year to avoid possible arrest,was not seen after he enteredthe consulate on Tuesday after-noon for marriage procedures.

After an initial period ofsilence Saudi Arabia said theconsulate was working withTurkish authorities “to uncov-er the circumstances of the dis-appearance of Jamal Khashoggiafter he left the consulatebuilding”. AFP

Islamabad: Ignoring the role ofmadrassas in Pakistan andequating them with terrorismwas unfair, Prime MinisterImran Khan has told the coun-try’s top clerics as he under-lined that improving the edu-cation system was his govern-ment’s top priority.

Khan made the remarksduring his first meeting with aprominent delegation of Ulema(clerics), who called on him atthe Prime Minister Office todiscuss madrassa reforms andother related issues, mediareports said Thursday. PTI

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Love stories are get-ting a spin on tele-vision, this time by

looking back at history,legend, myths and epics.Welcome to the season ofromance between Salimand Anarkali, which isbeing posited as loveacross class divides,Radha and Krishna,which is about humanis-ing divinity or Karn andSangini, which is aboutthe maturity of a relation-ship that is an everydaystory against oddsinstead of an epic.

Reinventing history,Nitin Jai Shukla, creativedirector and producer ofthe show, Dastaan-e-Mohabbat: SalimAnarkali, says, “Theirstory has been told anumber of times and alot has been written inbooks about EmperorAkbar, his son Salim andkaneez (maid) Anarkali,who some consider to bea fictitious character. Thejourney of their separa-tion is the crux of ourstory as nobody knowswhat really happened.This curiosity is whatwe seek to address, draw-ing on several theories. Itis a classical cult romancefor the viewers.”

If you ask about theresearch that goes intosuch kind of shows, hesays, “The Mughal erahas so far been portrayedas being extremely high-pitched, be it costumes,drama, plots and warsequences. Yet that era

has been very well doc-umented. Both emperorsBabar and Akbar wrotedetailed autobiographiesand kept a record of theirreigns. But you cannotfind about the story ofAnarkali or who she was.Just like Jodhabai was fic-titious. Such characterswere probably deliberate-ly left out of empirerecords but are popularin folklore. So that areabetween fact and fictionis interesting to work onas a storyteller. You canbring a freshness of treat-ment only because thesestories have not beentold. Our aim is to bringa cinematic experi-ence of suchu n t o l dand eter-nal loves tor ie s .S a l i ma n dAnarkali havealways been ref-erenced againstM u g h a l - e -

Azam but we have goneto probe it layer by layerand at the human level.”

Writer, director andproducer SiddharthKumar Tewary of the

show Radhakrishna,says, “Radha and

Krishna is adivine lovestory andembodies the

essence oftrue love.And in ab i g o t e dworld thatloves too p e r a t e

within binaries andrigidities, it is an eye-opener and a treatise ofhuman relationships andtheir internecine con-flicts. Larger than lifethey may be, but also trueto life.”

Shashi Mittal, pro-ducer and writer of theshow Karn Sangini, haschosen to focus on socialconflicts and feudalismthat still plays out inmodern India. Says he,“The show is extremelyspecial to all of us as itbrings to light a newnarrative of an epic likeMahabharata. Love trian-gles always call for agood narrative and wethought why not probe agrey area and set onesuch triangle in the back-drop of the epicKurukshetra war? KarnSangini is the untold taleof Karn and Uruvi, whostood by him, transcend-ing class and social bar-riers. It’s a show thatproves love triumphsover all odds and willhave an interesting reso-nance in times of honourkillings of inter-castecouples.”

By retelling knowntales, the makers are try-ing to focus on contempo-rary issues and set themagainst an old templatewith implicit correctivesand lessons. While thismay work on the TRPcharts, it is sad that Indiantelevision still needs a ref-erence point to justifycontemporary realism.

Last week I wrote about theincredible fuel economy I

achieved in the new ‘mildhybrid’ Ciaz. So how can youimprove your fuel economy? I’lltry and give you some tips,even though some are fairlyobvious.

Everybody has their owntips and tricks to save fuel whiledriving, some of them are down-right dangerous, for example,tailgating. Following the car infront closely can make a signif-icant difference to fuel economy,especially at speed (if you havenoticed cyclists during raceevents, they take turns as the leadrunner). Because the car in frontis doing the hard work of cuttingacross the air for you, this is dan-gerous simply because of reac-tion times while braking; youwill have almost none if the carin front brakes hard for anastray cow. Hey, because this isIndia after all. But you can keepsome things in mind when youeither buy your next car ordrive a car today.

������� ����Even in an automatic, it

may not be a bad idea to man-ually change the gears if you havethat option through a shifter orwith paddles. How and whenyou shift gears can make aremarkable difference to yourfuel economy. Short shifting, thatis shifting early, is not a bad idea

but you can also end up shiftingtoo early. Many cars have aengine-revolution dial, called atachometer, so you do not needto always keep paying attentionto the engine note and decidewhen to change gears. Moderngearboxes are also more forgiv-ing of mistakes. Change a bit ear-lier, on a petrol car. If I am dri-ving with fuel economy in mind,I change above 1,500-1,800 rev-olutions per minute (RPM)instead of 2,000 RPM. If youchange too early, two thingshappen. You find yourself withno torque and that means youend up burning a lot of fuelrevving the engine hard. Everycar, however, is geared different-ly. That is one aspect that makesthe cars unique, so changing at1,500-1,800 on the Maruti-Suzuki Ciaz is not the case withsay the Hyundai i20. And useyour gears for braking as well.While cruising on neutral is avery Indian thing, again, in caseyou need power, you will find itlacking. Mash through the gearswhile slowing down and you willhave the right gear to acceleratewhen you need to as well as getthe advantages of cruising.

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We are all creatures of habit,but taking the same route homeeveryday from work or school isnot always a great idea. Unlessyour car has a ‘start-stop’ system

and a battery large enough tohandle the the load of an air-conditioner in traffic, you end upliterally burning money. Butyou can use Maps software,especially Google Maps to figureout if roads are crowded. Andsometimes it may not be a badidea to spend an hour longer inoffice, instead of spending anhour longer in your car. Believeme, waiting it out on a day theroads are clogged is not a badidea. And if you know you willbe stuck in traffic, try and switchthe engine off. While this is eas-ier said than done on a hot sum-mer day, you can spend a lot offuel while idling.

��������������1-�Again, easier said than done,

but once the car has cooleddown a bit, try and keep yourair-con at 24-degrees. This is anideal temperature and keeps thecar cool enough without usingthe compressor too much. Keepin mind, the car’s engine ispowering a generator that pro-duces all the electricity you useand the air-conditioner is by farand away the biggest user of elec-tricity in a car.

��������������Yes, buddy we know you can

drive fast but sensible drivingwith moderate acceleration andmeasured braking without real-ly pushing the speed limit at anytime, can really make your ridemore economical. Sure, theremight be a time and a place tobreak the speed limit, maybe youare rushing to hospital althoughone can argue that driving fastat most times rarely saves youtoo much time. Stick to thespeed limits, use your gearssmartly and you will see majorimprovements in your fuel econ-omy.

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Tucked some 180 km away from the nation-al capital of India, Rampur is a small townin Uttar Pradesh. Notorious for endowing

lazyness or meethi nesti (as the locals echo the sen-timent), it is one city where you can find a food-ie in every household. Being a Rampuri myself, Ican easily vouch for the fact that I have never evercome across a Rampuri who does not love theirtaar-tandoori, their khichdi and achar, their seekhkebab and pulao.

Much of the habit of being a foodie could beattributed to the fact that it has been a royal estate,where the Nawabs were great connoisseurs of food,their kitchens boasting of elaborate menus.Certain dishes which are unique to the place weredeveloped by their khansamas (chefs), and con-tinue to be a secret that the royal families guardfiercely.

But even the commoners delight in theunique food preparations and there are certain sta-ples which do not taste similar even if you followthe recipe in any other part of the world.

A Rampuri knows what place taar-tandooriholds in their hearts. Taar refers to the saalan(gravy) which has a single thread-like consisten-cy that is not supposed to break when transferredfrom the serving dish to your plate. Made of small,finely-chiselled cuts of meat, its aroma in itself canmake you hungry. Eaten with freshly made hugetandoori rotis, the size of which you won’t get any-where else, but was normal for us till a relative froma different city pointed out that it’s a novelty. Theserotis made in a tandoor are crisp and thin with awhiff of coriander which makes them unique. Iremember during my growing up years, nativeswho were settled far and away, during a visit wouldalways enquire if there was any waleema aroundthe corner so that they could tuck into taar-tan-doori to their heart’s desire. Why waleema (recep-tion)? Because it was the only standard dish forany reception, though the pattern has changedovertime and people have added other options tothe menus now. Also, earlier weddings were gen-erally held during the day and slow cooking thisdish overnight in a degh (huge cooking pot) wouldlend it an aroma which when cooked in a housein a pressure cooker or even a pot would be dif-ficult to attain.

Furthermore, one cannot miss out on theyakhni pulao. Realms have already been writtenand said about the variety of biryanis, and pulaosthat our country boasts of. However, the yakhnipulao of Rampur is one dish which is light and aro-matic despite its flavorful richness. The dish derivesits uniqueness from the meat broth into which apotli (bundle) of spices and condiments areadded, boiled till the flavour of green chillies, spicesand broth work up their magic and the pulao final-ly lands up on your plate. One can go on and onabout this light on stomach and hearty pulao whichis again a signature dish at both the weddings and

funerals alike (now you do realise the depth of ourlove for food, even in death, we don’t want to leavebehind a bad taste).

The next best thing this region offers are theseekh kebabs. While kebabs are common through-out the country these melt in the mouth. Succulent,piping hot, fresh off the iron grill kebabs have ataste that one can never forget. Anyone who hastasted the Rampuri variant will drool at the meremention of seekh kebab. Made from minced meatwhich is marinated with spices and then deftly puton each seekh or iron rod, these are made the tra-ditional way on charcoals and dipped in ghee later,which gives them a rich and smooth texture. Askids we used to compete over the number of kebabswe could eat during family gatherings, when a tra-ditional kebab wala was hired and we huddledaround him, without caring for the smoke enter-ing our eyes or the heat, or even the hot kebabswhich would often burn our tongues. We wouldsimply wait for our turn to dig into them or runaway with our plate before someone else pouncedupon it.

Our vegetarian fare boasts of dal straight fromthe kitchen of the Nawabs. When it comes to a del-icacy that is royal, eclectic and very simple, whatcomes to mind is the shahi dal. It’s a wonder howdelicately a dish as simple as dal has been infusedinto the royal kitchens and people have taken toit through generations. It is made from white uraddal, milk and desi ghee (clarified butter), temperedwith onion and sabut mirch (whole yellow chilli)in desi ghee, and garnished with finely-choppedginger, green chillies and coriander. No daawat inRampur is ever complete without this dal at thedinner table.

We are partial to the urad family, consumingit in different forms and being equally fond of allof them. Uradgosht is another dal andmeat combination whichRampuris relish. The fra-grance of whole blackurad legumes cookedin meat, which is a lit-tle high on spices iswhat ideal lunchesare made of. Bestrelished with plainrice, it is a com-plete meal untoitself.

One of themost populardishes, Urad kikaali dal ki khich-di, can be easilytermed as our comfortfood. This quintessential, sim-ple and most widely-eaten ricepreparation is a staple in every Rampuri house-hold. With the arrival of misty mornings, house-

holds wouldbe filled withthe aroma ofs i m m e r i n g

pots of thiskhichdi which

was relished withthe most elaborate

of layout.Accompanied with desi

ghee, mooli ka pani walaachar (pickled radish in a water

base), hare dhaniya and peeli mirch ki chut-ney (cilantro and yellow chilli chutney), shalgam

ka meetha achaar (pickled turnips), mooli (raw,sliced radish), gobhi gosht (cauliflower and meat),saag gosht (spinach and meat) and also fresh cream(yes, some of us prefer it that way), it is ambrosia,no less.

I remember my mother used to mix dal andrice together and keep it in a huge tin box andwould cook it every morning as brunch for myfather throughout winters, his love for it being sointense that he would have it every day withoutfail till summer arrived. The satiating pleasure ofa simple khichdi is incomparable to any of the fan-ciest of dishes in best of the restaurants, especial-ly when you eat it sitting on a charpoy with the win-

ter’s sun rays kissing you among the banter of yourfamily and loved ones.

We do not simply get satiated with the goodold makka ki roti and sarson da saag, as our saagsare generally combined with meat. Every kitchenin winters has waft of gobhi gosht, saag gosht orsaag kofte being whipped up. Cauliflower mixedwith spinach is cooked in meat, similarly spinachin meat or spinach and meatballs, all of which areblended with aromatic methi herb and then eatenwith makka ki roti.

No food talk can ever be complete without themention of a dessert. Rampuris’ very own sweetdish is fondly called Gulaththi. The name maysound ridiculous, but the dish is completely outof the world. A very rich sweet dish, its consisten-cy lies somewhere between the traditional kheerand its overdone cousin rabri, as Gulaththi isinfused with milk, maava/khoya, sugar, lots of dryfruits and garnished with a layer of Chandi ka warq(silver foil) and another whole layer of dry fruits(mostly cashews). It was a signature wedding dishtill the last decade or so. Still popular at weddingsand social gatherings, it is not commonly preparedin households as it is quite heavy on the stomachand one cannot have more than a bowl at a time.

Another dessert which is very rustic, earthy, sea-sonal as well as uncommon is the rasaawal derivedfrom ras wale chawal. Made from ganne ka ras (sug-arcane juice) and rice, rasaawal is generally eatencold with hot milk poured onto it. While some pre-fer it hot without milk. It is a local delicacy madeduring bitter cold when sugarcane is in abundance.Slow cooked over a couple of days on a tradition-al U-shaped chulha, it is a tedious process to cookit to perfection. The real essence of joint family sys-tem in India is at power play over here when dutieschange among family members to take care of thehot cauldron of rasaawal and increase or decreasethe firewood while churning the simmering pot inthe extreme cold. We have witnessed numerous suchsoirees playing, or chatting around while our elders,both men and women, of the family would takeequal interest and pleasure in such sojourns.

I can still go on about the aroma, tastes andeuphoric pleasure that we derive out of some of ouroverly-loved food items, but this small compilationthrows light on some specialties and peculiar fooditems associated with Rampur, that have delight-ed generations alike. It’s not just the taste and ingre-dients that make any food pleasurable and relish-ing but love, the company of people, and the mem-ories associated with it.

(The writer is a food blogger.)

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Teenage sensation Prithvi Shawannounced his arrival in top-flight cricket by becoming the

youngest Indian to score a Test centuryon debut, headlining the home team'smarch to 364 for four against WestIndies on day one of the series-open-er here.

Shaw (134 off 154) andCheteshwar Pujara (86 off 130) laid thefoundation for a big score with a 206-run partnership after the early loss ofK L Rahul (0).

Skipper Virat Kohli (72 not out off137) and his deputy Ajinkya Rahane(41 off 92) then took the innings for-ward with a 105-run stand in the finalsession, putting India in the driver'sseat before the latter was caughtbehind off spinner Roston Chase.

Kohli looked set for another hun-dred and was batting alongsideRishabh Pant (17 not out off 21) atclose of play. Eighty nine overs werebowled on day one with India scoringat 4.08 runs per over.

The West Indies, handed a big set-back even before toss with the last-minute withdrawal of captain JasonHolder, looked ordinary at best on thefield. Barring pacer Shanon Gabriel(1/66), none of the bowlers troubledthe Indian batsmen on a greenish sur-face which did not seem to do much.

The opposition attack was farfrom threatening but due credit mustbe given to Shaw, who batted like a sea-soned campaigner in his first match forIndia. His back-foot play off the pac-ers was a treat to the eyes and whenspinners were deployed, he was notafraid to use the long handle.

At 18 years and 329 days, Shawreached the milestone off just 99balls, adding to a host of records heholds in his blossoming career. He hadearlier made waves by reaching threefigures in his first Ranji Trophyappearance and was the youngest to hita century on Duleep Trophy debut.

In the process, Shaw also becamethe second youngest Indian to score amaiden Test ton after the legendarySachin Tendulkar.

Shaw, who was 75 not out atlunch, reached the three figures in theafternoon session with a typical punchto the cover, the same way he got hisfirst runs in international cricket.

More than half of his runs camethrough boundaries, 19 in total.Unfortunately, Shaw fell at the strokeof tea, in what was a soft dismissal ashe chipped one straight into the handsof leggie Devendra Bishoo.

He was not facing one of the bestattacks but he gave ample evidence ofhis brilliance on way to a memorablehundred. Pujara too looked at ease atthe other end until he was caughtbehind off debutant Sherman Lewis,missing out on a 16th Test ton.

In the morning, Shaw, whobecame the 293rd cricketer to repre-sent India in Tests, showed supremeconfidence from ball one, on which heoffered a watchful leave.

The Mumbaikar punched the sec-ond ball he faced towards the coverboundary for a three, his first runs ininternational cricket, easing whatevernerves left inside.

Gabriel was clocking in the high-er 140kph but that did not faze Shaw.Gabriel trapped his opening partnerRahul in front with a sharp incoming

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delivery to give the West Indies an early break-through. Rahul was better off not taking the DRSas the ball was clearly crashing into the stumps.

Shaw, however, continued batting with con-fidence and his first boundary came in the sec-ond over bowled by Keemo Paul, another backfoot punch towards the point boundary.

He got more aggressive in Paul's followingover, hitting him for three fours as the pacer wasduly punished for bowling far too many loosen-ers.

After Rahul's dismissal, Shaw and Pujaragave the innings a move on and did not look inany sort of trouble.

While Shaw punched and drove effortless-ly off pacers, he was equally comfortable againstthe spin duo of Bishoo and Chase.

The teenage prodigy collected two fours offBishoo in the 11th over and did the same toChase in the 20th over. He also produced adelightful straight drive on way to reaching hishalf-century which came off 56 balls.

The West Indians looked listless on the fieldas boundaries came at will for India. Their trou-bles had mounted even before the start of thegame as Holder pulled out with an ankleinjury, giving Kraigg Brathwaite a chance to leadthe team.

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Lionel Messi struck twice asBarcelona inflicted more

Champions League pain onTottenham with a 4-2 win at Wembleyon Wednesday, while Neymar hit abrilliant hat-trick in Paris Saint-Germain's 6-1 rout of Red StarBelgrade.

Philippe Coutinho scored afterjust two minutes for Barcelona, whoarrived in London winless in three LaLiga matches, with Ivan Rakiticdrilling in a magnificent second.

Messi, who had earlier twice hitthe post, then got on the scoresheetin between goals from Harry Kaneand Erik Lamela, before the Argentinasuperstar grabbed his second late onto seal victory.

"After a few bad results it wasimportant to do well today. Ourresponse was very good," said Barca

coach Ernesto Valverde.Barca head Group B on six points

alongside Inter Milan, but MauricioPochettino's side face a vital double-header against PSV Eindhoven afterfailing to collect a point from theiropening two matches.

The Tottenham boss admittedSpurs had few answers for Messi as histeam was left with an uphill struggleto reach the knockout stages.

"He's a fantastic player," saidPochettino.

"His average performance is thistype of game. He's always aboveeverything."

Inter, the last Italian club to winthe Champions League in 2010, againrecovered from a goal down to beatPSV 2-1 in the Netherlands.

A cracking Pablo Rosario strikeput PSV ahead, but Inter levelledthrough Radja Nainggolan momentsafter visiting goalkeeper Samir

Handanovic somehow escaped a redcard for handling outside his area.

Mauro Icardi, whose late goalstunned Spurs a fortnight ago, was thehero again for Luciano Spalletti'smen as he pounced on hesitantdefending to net the winner on thehour.

PSG rebounded from their 3-2defeat by Liverpool with an attackingmasterclass against 1991 EuropeanCup winners Red Star at the Parc desPrinces.

Neymar curled in a sublime free-kick to open the scoring on 20 min-utes, quickly doubling his tally beforeEdinson Cavani, Angel di Maria andKylian Mbappe also found the target.

Former Germany internationalMarko Marin popped up with a con-solation for Red Star, with Neymar

completing his hat-trick fromanother stunning free-kick.

"I really liked the effort madeby the whole team, but Neymarwas sensational," said PSG coachThomas Tuchel.

"He is one of the best play-ers in Europe and that is very,very important for us."

���� ����������8��Carlo Ancelotti 's

Napoli top Group C onfour points after LorenzoInsigne delivered a 90th-minute winner at home to

Liverpool, who are level on threealongside PSG.

Dries Mertens hit the bar forNapoli late on, but there was stilltime for Insigne to nick all threepoints at the death as he slid to pokein a cross from Jose Callejon.

Antoine Griezmann scored twogoals to lift Atletico Madrid, last sea-son's Europa League winners, to a 3-1 victory over Club Brugge in Spain.

Arnaut Groeneveld cancelledout Griezmann's opener with a thun-derous strike from the left wing, butthe France international restoredAtletico's lead before Koke made thepoints safe in stoppage time.

Borussia Dortmund lead Atleticoat the top of Group A on goal dif-ference following their 3-0 defeat ofa struggling Monaco outfit.

Jacob Bruun Larsen broke thedeadlock in Germany shortly afterhis introduction as a half-time sub-stitute, with Paco Alcacer finding thenet just minutes after smacking apenalty against the bar.

Marco Reus fired in a thirdfrom a Bruun Larsen cross, leavingDortmund and Atletico on six pointsapiece ahead of their upcominghome-and-away meetings.

In Group D, American interna-tional midfielder Weston McKenniehit an 88th-minute winner as strug-gling Schalke edged LokomotivMoscow 1-0.

Porto are joint-top with Schalkefollowing a 1-0 win over Galatasaraycourtesy of Moussa Marega's second-half goal in Portugal.

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