16
T he Maharashtra political crisis saw no prospect of an early resolution even as NCP chief Sharad Pawar met Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi on Monday and discussed the possibility of stitching a historic NCP-Congress-Shiv Sena alliance to keep the BJP out of power in the financial hub of the country. The Pawar-Sonia meet has not led to any breakthrough that could bring the Shiv Sena closer to the Chief Minister’s chair. Sources said while Pawar is ready for forming such an anti-BJP alliance in Maharashtra, the Congress was divided on joining hands with the Sena fearing it could dent the party’s secular credentials. In the meeting that lasted over half an hour, sources said the two leaders discussed the possibilities of forming an alter- native government and support the Shiv Sena in case “it decides to move out of its alliance” with the BJP. “We decided to meet again.The mood of the people is against the BJP, not favourable to the BJP,” Pawar told reporters. Reiterating that people have given them a mandate to sit in Opposition, Pawar said he briefed Sonia on the political situation in Maharashtra. However, he said, “We have not discussed exactly about the formation of Government.” According to sources, both side, however, sought to explore the scenario if Sena choses to “walk out of the alliance”. This could mean Sena withdrawing its Minister from the NDA Government at the Centre. At the same time, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday met party president Amit Shah and said there was need to form a Government in the State. “There is need to form the Government in Maharashtra at the earliest. I am sure, I am confident that the Government will be formed,” Fadnavis told reporters after the meeting. He later met BJP general secretary Bhupendra Yadav, who was in charge of elections in Maharashtra. The BJP-Sena stand-off appears to be reaching a climax with the Shiv Sena pressuring its senior ally for 50-50 power- sharing and the NCP looking at possible opening in the power game and play a role as a kingmaker. The NCP with 54 and the Congress with 44 seats in 288- strong Maharashtra Assembly have the clout to install a Government, backing either of the two warring allies in the State. Meanwhile, a Shiv Sena delegation comprising party spokesperson Sanjay Raut and party leader Ramdas Kadam met Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, dis- cussed the current political situation. Talking to the media, Raut said, “We have urged the Governor to expedite the process of formation of a new Government in the State. We have told him clearly that we will not create any impediments in the formation of a new Government in the State.” Expressing his view of the Governor, Raut said, “It has been a tradition in Maharashtra that the Governor has over the years acted very much under the ambit of Constitution. The Governor does not belong to any political party. He takes a neutral stand. From what I understood after speaking to him, after many years Maharashtra has got a very experienced person as a Governor who has good under- standing of the country, politics and law.” The strategy behind the Shiv Sena meeting the Governor is to ensure that if the BJP did not come forward to stake a claim to form the Government, the latter should invite outgoing Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who has been re-elected as the BJP’s Legislature Party leader, to form the Government. Given that the BJP has not initiated talks with the Shiv Sena for formation of a Government in the State, it is quite likely that Fadnavis may try to form the Government without the support of the Shiv Sena in the hope that he would muster numbers during the course of time, somehow prove his majority. The BJP, which won 105 seats, has claimed that togeth- er with 15 Independents or smaller party MLAs, it has a total strength of 120 MLAs. T he Supreme Court on Monday directed neigh- bouring Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to stop stubble burning and all construction and demolition activities as well as garbage and waste burn- ing in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) till fur- ther orders. A Bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta directed the Chief Secretaries of the three States as well as the District Collectors and the police machinery to ensure that not even a single instance of stubble burning takes place there henceforth. The Bench said in case of violation of its directions regarding steps to curb stubble burning, it would haul up the entire administration, right from the Chief Secretary to the gram panchayat and sarpanch level, and they all would be held responsible. The top court summoned the Chief Secretaries of Punjab, Haryana and UP on November 6 saying the time has come to “fix accountability” for this kind of situation which violates the right to life of citizens. The top court further said 1 lakh penalty will be imposed on construction or demolition activities in Delhi- NCR and the offenders involved in garbage or waste burning would be penalised by 5,000. “People in Delhi-NCR are losing precious years of their lives and cannot be left to die due to the atrocious pollution situation which reflects a shocking state of affairs” the SC said on Monday. The court issued a series of tough punitive directions to curb the alarming pollution levels in Delhi-NCR, region and said citizens cannot be evacuated from the national Capital. P unjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday reiterated that the Centre should give financial assistance to farmers to wean them away from the practice of stubble burning. He also lashed out at the Centre for its alleged apathet- ic attitude towards the problem of paddy residue burning. “The ball is in the Centre’’s court and it should take con- crete decisions to resolve the problem,” he said when asked to comment on the issue of finding a lasting solution to paddy straw burning. The Chief Minister under- lined the need for financial assistance to farmers to gradu- ally bring a halt to the practice of stubble burning, pointing out that 75 per cent of Punjab’s farmers had land holdings of less than two acres and it was not viable for them to manage the paddy straw scientifically. On Sunday, he had tweet- ed, “Compensation by Central Govt to the farmers for stubble management is the only solu- tion in the circumstances. I had written to PM @NarendraModi ji on 25th Sep & had written to him yesterday as well. The Central Govt has to step in and find a consensus to resolve the crisis.” In September, he had writ- ten to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking compensation of 100 per quintal paddy to motivate farmers against stub- ble burning in open field. J ust about a week ahead of the inauguration of the much- awaited Kartarpur Sahib corri- dor, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday minced no words to say that Pakistan’s “sudden” decision to accept the 70-year-old demand for opening the passage indi- cated an “ulterior motive”. He, at the same time, also reiterated his stand to be cau- tioned against “Pakistan’s nefar- ious designs as evident in the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor and other recent ini- tiatives of their government to mark the 550th prakash purb”. “The Sikh community had been asking for opening of the passage to the sacred Kartarpur shrine for the past 70 years but Pakistan’s sudden decision to accept the demand indicated an ulterior motive, aimed at putting a wedge between the Sikh community by exploiting their religious sen- timents,” he said. He added, “While I do not expect Pakistan to dare to do any mischief through the cor- ridor, it is important, as a bor- der state, for Punjab to remain on alert.” The Chief Minister main- tained that Punjab was keeping close tabs on the situ- ation and was maintaining heightened alert. Condemning Capt Amarinder for “trying to sab- otage Kartarpur Corridor”, SAD president Sukhbir Badal dubbed the Chief Minister’s statement as “crass political”. “It is shocking that an elected Chief Minister is play- ing with the faith of crores of Sikhs by raising questions on the very existence of the Corridor. The chief minister has changed his statements on the Corridor repeatedly. First he opposed it. Then he wel- comed it and said he would lead the first jatha to Pakistan. Now three days before its his- toric opening, he has again cast a shadow on its viability which has hurt Sikh sentiments and is a direct interference in their religious affairs,” he said. Asking the Chief Minister to behave responsibly, Sukhbir said, “Your antics are not only bringing disrepute to you but also causing confusion and concern about the Sikh com- munity. You are needlessly try- ing to create a fear psychosis among Punjabis by referring to repeated threats from the ISI. Let me assure you, these threats are well known to the Union Government and our security forces are well equipped to han- dle them. You should not use these threats as a tool to deny the Sikh community the real- ization of its ‘ardas’ to have ‘khule darshan deedar’ of Gurdwara Darbar Sahib at Sri Kartarpur Sahib”. The SAD president said the Chief Minister was resorting to such statements solely to deflect attention from the sin com- mitted by him by defying the edict of Sri Akal Takth Sahib to join in the main celebrations being organised on November 12 by the SGPC. G iving cricketer-turned- politician Navjot Singh Sidhu his due, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has extended the first formal invi- tation to his friend from the cricketing days. The first invite with serial number 1, from the “Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan for the Inauguration Ceremony of Gurudwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur Corridor, Narowal, Pakistan on Saturday, 9 November, 2019”, through the “High Commission for Pakistan, New Delhi” was sent at Sidhu’s Amritsar residence. Sidhu’s much talked about visit in August 2018 to attend Imran Khan’s swearing in cer- emony had revived the hopes of opening the Kartarpur cor- ridor — a fact acknowledged by Pakistan but apparently not by the Indian Government and his own party. Notably, Sidhu’s name did not find a place in the list of first batch of pilgrims from India to the Gurudwara Kartrapur Sahib in Pakistan, even as the party has sent the names of all its MLAs and MPs. Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had maintained that Sidhu had also been invited to join the all- party ‘jatha’ going from Punjab to Kartarpur Sahib via the cor- ridor on November 9. “The Deputy Commissioners had contacted the MLAs in their respective districts, and the Amritsar DC had been pursuing the matter with Sidhu’s office, but the lat- ter had failed to respond,” Capt Amarinder had stated. Already, Sidhu had, through a letter to Punjab Chief Minister Singh and the Union Ministry of External Affairs, sought the permission to visit Pakistan. Amarinder had told that Sidhu’s “request letter” had already been for- warded to the Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh for neces- sary action on the same day. H aryana Chief Secretary Keshni Anand Arora on Monday called upon the Deputy Commissioners and all-district officers of the State to give their utmost con- tribution towards environment protection. Presiding over a meeting with the Deputy Commissioners and all-dis- trict officers held through video conferencing here, the Chief Secretary directed the officers to carry out intensive campaign to prevent increasing pollution problem. She said with the help of mobile parties, officers should immediately reach the area where stubble burning is being done and strict action should be taken against those doing stubble burning. She also directed the Deputy Commissioners to pro- vide a report of the FIRs filed, by evening, against the farm- ers involved in stubble burning. She said that fire brigade should reach the earliest at the places where stubble is being burnt, and control the fire. She said expenses of the fire brigade should be charged from the farmers. Apart from this, Gram Sabhas should also be organ- ised in the villages for the next two to three days in which the names of the farmers who burnt stubble should be informed by the sarpanch and so that his action should be strongly condemned in the panchayat. She said the village secretary, patwari and Numberdars should also be involved and help to improve stubble management. The Chief Secretary added orders should be strictly fol- lowed to prevent pollution caused by construction, brick- lins, broken roads, stubble, garbage, vehicle jams, illegal parking, etc. She said water should be sprayed on trees to reduce pollution level. If there is a shortage of water fountains in a district, they can apply for this by writing a letter to the headquarters, she added.

- .ˆ / -/ˆ˙+#-0˘ ˚123 & )!)&!2 #&%’ 01 4!’ ˛ ˚ 7˘ˇ˙ ;5 54 ) ) ) 4 ) 0 ) · 2019-11-04 · SAD president Sukhbir Badal dubbed the Chief Minister’s ... Punjab Chief

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Page 1: - .ˆ / -/ˆ˙+#-0˘ ˚123 & )!)&!2 #&%’ 01 4!’ ˛ ˚ 7˘ˇ˙ ;5 54 ) ) ) 4 ) 0 ) · 2019-11-04 · SAD president Sukhbir Badal dubbed the Chief Minister’s ... Punjab Chief

�������������������������� �

The Maharashtra politicalcrisis saw no prospect of an

early resolution even as NCPchief Sharad Pawar metCongress president SoniaGandhi in New Delhi onMonday and discussed thepossibility of stitching a historicNCP-Congress-Shiv Senaalliance to keep the BJP out ofpower in the financial hub ofthe country.

The Pawar-Sonia meet hasnot led to any breakthroughthat could bring the Shiv Senacloser to the Chief Minister’schair. Sources said while Pawaris ready for forming such ananti-BJP alliance inMaharashtra, the Congress wasdivided on joining hands withthe Sena fearing it could dentthe party’s secular credentials.

In the meeting that lastedover half an hour, sources saidthe two leaders discussed thepossibilities of forming an alter-native government and supportthe Shiv Sena in case “it decidesto move out of its alliance” withthe BJP.

“We decided to meetagain.The mood of the peopleis against the BJP, notfavourable to the BJP,” Pawartold reporters.

Reiterating that peoplehave given them a mandate tosit in Opposition, Pawar said hebriefed Sonia on the politicalsituation in Maharashtra.However, he said, “We have notdiscussed exactly about the

formation of Government.”According to sources, both

side, however, sought to explorethe scenario if Sena choses to“walk out of the alliance”. Thiscould mean Sena withdrawingits Minister from the NDAGovernment at the Centre.

At the same time,Maharashtra Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis on Mondaymet party president Amit Shahand said there was need to forma Government in the State.

“There is need to form theGovernment in Maharashtra atthe earliest. I am sure, I amconfident that the Governmentwill be formed,” Fadnavis toldreporters after the meeting.

He later met BJP generalsecretary Bhupendra Yadav,who was in charge of electionsin Maharashtra.

The BJP-Sena stand-off

appears to be reaching a climaxwith the Shiv Sena pressuringits senior ally for 50-50 power-sharing and the NCP lookingat possible opening in thepower game and play a role asa kingmaker.

The NCP with 54 and theCongress with 44 seats in 288-strong Maharashtra Assemblyhave the clout to install aGovernment, backing eitherof the two warring allies in theState.

Meanwhile, a Shiv Senadelegation comprising partyspokesperson Sanjay Raut andparty leader Ramdas Kadammet Maharashtra GovernorBhagat Singh Koshyari, dis-cussed the current politicalsituation.

Talking to the media, Rautsaid, “We have urged theGovernor to expedite the

process of formation of a newGovernment in the State. Wehave told him clearly that we will not create anyimpediments in the formationof a new Government in the State.”

Expressing his view of theGovernor, Raut said, “It hasbeen a tradition in Maharashtrathat the Governor has over theyears acted very much underthe ambit of Constitution. TheGovernor does not belong toany political party. He takes aneutral stand. From what Iunderstood after speaking tohim, after many yearsMaharashtra has got a veryexperienced person as aGovernor who has good under-standing of the country, politicsand law.”

The strategy behind theShiv Sena meeting the

Governor is to ensure that if theBJP did not come forward tostake a claim to form theGovernment, the latter shouldinvite outgoing Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis, who hasbeen re-elected as the BJP’sLegislature Party leader, toform the Government.

Given that the BJP has notinitiated talks with the ShivSena for formation of aGovernment in the State, it isquite likely that Fadnavis maytry to form the Governmentwithout the support of theShiv Sena in the hope that hewould muster numbers duringthe course of time, somehowprove his majority.

The BJP, which won 105seats, has claimed that togeth-er with 15 Independents orsmaller party MLAs, it has atotal strength of 120 MLAs.

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The Supreme Court onMonday directed neigh-

bouring Punjab, Haryana andUttar Pradesh to stop stubbleburning and all constructionand demolition activities aswell as garbage and waste burn-ing in the Delhi-NationalCapital Region (NCR) till fur-ther orders.

A Bench of Justices ArunMishra and Deepak Guptadirected the Chief Secretaries ofthe three States as well as theDistrict Collectors and thepolice machinery to ensurethat not even a single instanceof stubble burning takes placethere henceforth.

The Bench said in case ofviolation of its directionsregarding steps to curb stubbleburning, it would haul up theentire administration, rightfrom the Chief Secretary to thegram panchayat and sarpanchlevel, and they all would be heldresponsible.

The top court summonedthe Chief Secretaries of Punjab,Haryana and UP on November6 saying the time has come to“fix accountability” for thiskind of situation which violatesthe right to life of citizens.

The top court further said�1 lakh penalty will be imposedon construction or demolition activities in Delhi-NCR and the offendersinvolved in garbage or wasteburning would be penalised by�5,000.

“People in Delhi-NCR arelosing precious years of theirlives and cannot be left to die

due to the atrocious pollutionsituation which reflects ashocking state of affairs” the SCsaid on Monday.

The court issued a series oftough punitive directions tocurb the alarming pollutionlevels in Delhi-NCR, regionand said citizens cannot be evacuated from thenational Capital.

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Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on

Monday reiterated that theCentre should give financialassistance to farmers to weanthem away from the practice ofstubble burning.

He also lashed out at theCentre for its alleged apathet-ic attitude towards the problemof paddy residue burning.

“The ball is in the Centre’’scourt and it should take con-crete decisions to resolve theproblem,” he said when askedto comment on the issue offinding a lasting solution topaddy straw burning.

The Chief Minister under-lined the need for financialassistance to farmers to gradu-ally bring a halt to the practiceof stubble burning, pointing outthat 75 per cent of Punjab’sfarmers had land holdings ofless than two acres and it wasnot viable for them to managethe paddy straw scientifically.

On Sunday, he had tweet-ed, “Compensation by CentralGovt to the farmers for stubblemanagement is the only solu-tion in the circumstances. I hadwritten to PM @NarendraModiji on 25th Sep & had written tohim yesterday as well. The Central Govt has to step inand find a consensus to resolvethe crisis.”

In September, he had writ-ten to Prime Minister NarendraModi, seeking compensation of�100 per quintal paddy tomotivate farmers against stub-ble burning in open field.

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Just about a week ahead of theinauguration of the much-

awaited Kartarpur Sahib corri-dor, Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on Mondayminced no words to say thatPakistan’s “sudden” decision toaccept the 70-year-old demandfor opening the passage indi-cated an “ulterior motive”.

He, at the same time, alsoreiterated his stand to be cau-tioned against “Pakistan’s nefar-ious designs as evident in theopening of the KartarpurCorridor and other recent ini-tiatives of their government tomark the 550th prakash purb”.

“The Sikh community hadbeen asking for opening of thepassage to the sacred Kartarpurshrine for the past 70 years butPakistan’s sudden decision toaccept the demand indicated anulterior motive, aimed atputting a wedge between theSikh community by exploiting their religious sen-timents,” he said.

He added, “While I do notexpect Pakistan to dare to doany mischief through the cor-ridor, it is important, as a bor-der state, for Punjab to remainon alert.”

The Chief Minister main-tained that Punjab was keeping close tabs on the situ-ation and was maintainingheightened alert.

Condemning CaptAmarinder for “trying to sab-otage Kartarpur Corridor”,SAD president Sukhbir Badaldubbed the Chief Minister’sstatement as “crass political”.

“It is shocking that anelected Chief Minister is play-ing with the faith of crores ofSikhs by raising questions onthe very existence of theCorridor. The chief ministerhas changed his statements onthe Corridor repeatedly. Firsthe opposed it. Then he wel-comed it and said he wouldlead the first jatha to Pakistan.Now three days before its his-toric opening, he has again casta shadow on its viability whichhas hurt Sikh sentiments and isa direct interference in theirreligious affairs,” he said.

Asking the Chief Ministerto behave responsibly, Sukhbirsaid, “Your antics are not onlybringing disrepute to you butalso causing confusion andconcern about the Sikh com-munity. You are needlessly try-ing to create a fear psychosisamong Punjabis by referring torepeated threats from the ISI.

Let me assure you, these threatsare well known to the UnionGovernment and our securityforces are well equipped to han-dle them. You should not usethese threats as a tool to denythe Sikh community the real-ization of its ‘ardas’ to have‘khule darshan deedar’ ofGurdwara Darbar Sahib at Sri

Kartarpur Sahib”.The SAD president said the

Chief Minister was resorting tosuch statements solely to deflectattention from the sin com-mitted by him by defying theedict of Sri Akal Takth Sahib tojoin in the main celebrationsbeing organised on November12 by the SGPC.

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Giving cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh

Sidhu his due, Pakistan PrimeMinister Imran Khan hasextended the first formal invi-tation to his friend from thecricketing days.

The first invite with serialnumber 1, from the “PrimeMinister of the IslamicRepublic of Pakistan for theInauguration Ceremony ofGurudwara Darbar SahibKartarpur Corridor, Narowal,Pakistan on Saturday, 9November, 2019”, through the“High Commission forPakistan, New Delhi” was sentat Sidhu’s Amritsar residence.

Sidhu’s much talked aboutvisit in August 2018 to attendImran Khan’s swearing in cer-emony had revived the hopesof opening the Kartarpur cor-ridor — a fact acknowledged byPakistan but apparently not bythe Indian Government and hisown party.

Notably, Sidhu’s name didnot find a place in the list offirst batch of pilgrims fromIndia to the GurudwaraKartrapur Sahib in Pakistan,even as the party has sent thenames of all its MLAs and MPs.

Punjab Chief MinisterCapt Amarinder Singh hadmaintained that Sidhu had alsobeen invited to join the all-party ‘jatha’ going from Punjab

to Kartarpur Sahib via the cor-ridor on November 9.

“The DeputyCommissioners had contactedthe MLAs in their respectivedistricts, and the Amritsar DChad been pursuing the matterwith Sidhu’s office, but the lat-ter had failed to respond,” CaptAmarinder had stated.

Already, Sidhu had,through a letter to PunjabChief Minister Singh and theUnion Ministry of ExternalAffairs, sought the permissionto visit Pakistan. Amarinderhad told that Sidhu’s “requestletter” had already been for-warded to the Chief SecretaryKaran Avtar Singh for neces-sary action on the same day.

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Haryana Chief SecretaryKeshni Anand Arora on

Monday called upon theDeputy Commissioners andall-district officers of the State to give their utmost con-tribution towards environmentprotection.

Presiding over a meeting with the DeputyCommissioners and all-dis-trict officers held throughvideo conferencing here, theChief Secretary directed theofficers to carry out intensivecampaign to prevent increasingpollution problem.

She said with the help ofmobile parties, officers shouldimmediately reach the area

where stubble burning is beingdone and strict action shouldbe taken against those doingstubble burning.

She also directed theDeputy Commissioners to pro-vide a report of the FIRs filed,by evening, against the farm-ers involved in stubble burning.She said that fire brigadeshould reach the earliest at theplaces where stubble is beingburnt, and control the fire. Shesaid expenses of the firebrigade should be chargedfrom the farmers.

Apart from this, GramSabhas should also be organ-ised in the villages for the nexttwo to three days in which thenames of the farmers whoburnt stubble should be

informed by the sarpanch andso that his action should bestrongly condemned in thepanchayat. She said the villagesecretary, patwari andNumberdars should also beinvolved and help to improvestubble management.

The Chief Secretary addedorders should be strictly fol-lowed to prevent pollutioncaused by construction, brick-lins, broken roads, stubble,garbage, vehicle jams, illegalparking, etc.

She said water should besprayed on trees to reducepollution level. If there is ashortage of water fountains ina district, they can apply forthis by writing a letter to theheadquarters, she added.

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There will be no relief for thecity denizens from the hefty

challaning fee levied under theMotor Vehicles (Amendment)Act 2019. For, the ChandigarhAdministration on Mondaydecided not to reduce the high

traffic fines which came intoeffect from September 1.

Punjab Governor and UTAdministrator VP SinghBadnore on Monday held ameeting with the senior officersof Chandigarh Administrationto review the functioning ofTransport Department and dis-cuss the proposal related toreducing the penalties underthe Motor Vehicles(Amendment) Act 2019.

“After discussing the issuein the meeting, the ChandigarhAdministration has decidednot to reduce the hefty chal-laning fee and continue with

the amount of traffic fineswhich came into effect fromSeptember 1,” said ManojParida, UT Adviser toAdministrator while talking toThe Pioneer.

He said the Administrationhad got representations fromvarious quarters to reduce theheavy traffic fines. But afterdetailed discussion on the issue,it has been decided to contin-ue with the new rules as it hasproved to be great deterrent,Parida said.

So far, the UT Traffic Policehas collected around �67.5lakh from motorists as chal-

laning fee under various traf-fic violations in Chandigarh.To avoid paying heavy fines, thecitizens are following the traf-fic rules and violations havereduced, he added.

Notably, the MotorVehicles (Amendment) Act2019 had caused quite a stir notin the city but across the coun-try due to exorbitant challan feelevied under it.In the union ter-ritory of Chandigarh, the UTTraffic Police had issued morethan 4.000 challans under var-ious offences in just first 10days, collecting around �14lakh fine when the new rules

were implemented.A delegation of Chandigarh

Congress, Chandigarh basedNGO-ArriveSAFE amongother organisations hadapproached the UTAdministration urging it eithernot to impose the heavy chal-laning fee or bring it downunder various offences in thecity. From jumping the redlight signal to not wearing a hel-met, the challan had gone upmulti-fold under the new rules.The penalty for driving withouta license was increased from�500 to �5,000 while fine fornot wearing a seatbelt now

attracts a fine of �1,000 asagainst �100 earlier. The newrules had also enhanced thepenalty for drunken driving toimprisonment up to 6 monthsand/or fine up to �10,000 forfirst offence and imprisonmentup to 2 years and/or fine of�15,000 for the second offence.

Similarly, penalties forother traffic violations hadseen multifold increase.

However, States namelyWest Bengal, Chhattisgarh,Punjab among others had puton hold the implementation ofstricter fines to boost roaddiscipline.

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Himachal Chief Minister JaiRam Thakur on Monday

said foolproof arrangementsmust be made to ensure thatthe maiden mega eventbecomes a memorable one.

Presiding over the meetingto review the preparedness ofGlobal Investors Meet (GIM)slated to be held atDharamshala on 7-8November, Thakur said Prime

Minister Narendra Modi wouldpreside over the inauguralfunction and Home MinisterAmit Shah would be presidingover the valedictory function.

In addition to this seniorUnion Ministers would also beparticipating in the Meet, hesaid, adding that this event wasa first of its kind thus effortsshould be made that not evena single loophole was left unat-tended. He told officials thatlaxity in this regard would be

viewed seriously.The Chief Minister said

that since as many as 209 for-eign delegates were also expect-ed to attend the event and ade-quate arrangements must bemade for their comfort.

He said that exhibitionmust be attractive, informativeand eye catching, adding thateight sectoral sessions would beheld during the event besidesB2G meetings with the entrepreneurs.

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To provide quality healthcareservices in the Punjab’s

Government hospitals, the con-struction of nine more newMother and Child HealthCentres are in process acrossthe State which would be made operational latest bynext year.

“To further improve theIMR (Infant Mortality Rate)and MMR (Mother MortalityRatio), the State Government isestablishing the new MCHcentres at Moga, Tarn Taran,Fatehgarh Churian, Bham,Samana, Khanna, Sangrur,Malerkotla and Nakodar,” saidthe State Health and FamilyWelfare Minister Balbir SinghSidhu on Monday.

He said that CaptAmarinder Singh led PunjabGovernment has also proposednine more new MCH centres ina view to provide standardizedmother and child healthcareservices at Fatehgarh Sahib,Goniana, Khanna, Phagwara,Jagraon, Budladha, Malout andGidderbaha.

Divulging about the statusof Punjab’s IMR and MMR,Sidhu said that the StateGovernment has been consis-tently performing better than

most of the States in the coun-try in Child and MaternalHealth.

As per the SRS (SampleRegistration System) data of2017, Infant Mortality Rate(IMR) of Punjab is 21 per1000 live births as against 33per 1000 at the national level,he said adding that as per theSRS data special bulletin onMMR released in May 2018,Punjab’s figure stood at 122 perlakh live births as against 130per lakh at national level.

“Apart from modernizedinfrastructure, HealthDepartment has also beenimplementing skill-based train-ings with technical supportfrom developing partner toimprove competency of healthstaff and intra-partum and

immediate post -partum careservices,” he said.

Sidhu said that the StateGovernment is running thespecial campaign to motivatethe families to conduct thedeliveries of pregnant womenat the government hospitalsinstead of home.

“Public hospitals are wellequipped with the advancedinfrastructure, equipments,specialists, skilled MedicalOfficers and staff to save theprecious lives of women andinfants,” he said.

As per HMIS data (April-August 2019), Punjab hasrecorded the 98.3 per centinstitutional deliveries acrossthe State which is the key fac-tor of overall improvement ofthe IMR and MMR in Punjab.

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Haryana Deputy Chief Minister DushyantChautala on Monday assume the charge of

his office on the 5th floor of Haryana CivilSecretariat, here in the presence of ChiefMinister Manohar Lal Khattar.

After assuming the charge of the office, theDeputy Chief Minister said that making theyouth self-reliant and competent is the priori-ty of the new Government. He said that dedi-cated efforts will be made to ensure that the Stategovernment lives up to the hopes and aspira-tions of the people of State. He said theGovernment will work for the welfare of everysection of society. Apart from Khattar, JJP pres-ident Sardar Nishan Singh, as well as a largenumber of Deputy Chief Minister’s supporterswere present on the occasion.

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Page 3: - .ˆ / -/ˆ˙+#-0˘ ˚123 & )!)&!2 #&%’ 01 4!’ ˛ ˚ 7˘ˇ˙ ;5 54 ) ) ) 4 ) 0 ) · 2019-11-04 · SAD president Sukhbir Badal dubbed the Chief Minister’s ... Punjab Chief

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Panchkula MLA Gian ChandGupta was unanimously

elected the speaker of theHaryana Assembly on Mondaywhile senior Congress leaderBhupinder Singh Hoodabecame the Leader ofOpposition of the newly con-stituted House.

A chief Whip of the BJP inthe last Assembly and a two-time MLA from Panchkula,Gupta’s name was proposed byChief Minister Manohar LalKhattar and seconded byDeputy Chief MinisterDushyant Chautala. TheOpposition members toobacked him for the post.

Gupta said Hooda, whowas recently appointed as theleader of the CongressLegislature Party (CLP) in thestate by his party, “is recognisedas the Leader of Opposition”.

In the Assembly election,Gupta defeated Congress’’sChander Mohan Bishnoi, theson of former chief ministerBhajan Lal from Panchkulaneat Chandigarh.

Earlier, pro-tem speakerRaghubir Singh Kadian admin-istered oath to Khattar,Dushyant and other legislators.

Dushyant, Ram KumarGautam, Rajinder Singh Joon,Chiranjeev Rao, Jagbir SinghMalik and Bishan Lal Sainiwere among the MLAs whotook oath in English while three

members including KamalGupta took oath in Sanskrit.

Former hockey captain andBJP MLA Sandeep Singh wasthe lone member who tookoath in Punjabi.

After Khattar andDushyant, the pro-tem speak-er administered oath to ninewomen members that includ-ed three from the BJP, five fromCongress and the lone womanMLA and Dushyant Chautala’’smother Naina Chautala of thethe Jannayak Janata Party (JJP).

In the 90-memberAssembly, the strength of BJPis 40, its ally JJP 10,Independents seven, Congress31, and Indian National Lok

Dal (INLD) and HaryanaLokhit Party (HLP) one each.

Addressing the members,Chief Minister Khattar, who isthe Leader of the House, at theoutset congratulated Gupta,former mayor of theChandigarh MunicipalCorporation, for being electedunanimously. He said he wouldlike to appeal to members thatit is collective responsibility ofall the members to ensure thatthe House is run smoothly.

Khattar informed that asmany as 44 out of 90 MLAs of the 14th HaryanaAssembly have been elected forthe first time.

There are veterans like

Anil Vij of BJP and RaghuvirSingh Kadian of Congress,who have been elected for thesixth time, he said. “Ninewomen members have beenelected this time as against 13in previous assembly. DushyantChautala is the youngest mem-ber to have been elected thistime,” he said.

Khattar said Oppositionhas a crucial role to play in ademocratic set up. “If they playconstructive role, the state willbenefit. However, sometimescriticism for the sake of criti-cism does not help,” he said,adding, “I had said this lasttime too that members shouldrefrain from using such words

which can hurt sentiments ofany member or break theHouse decorum”.

In his address, Leader ofOpposition, Bhupinder SinghHooda congratulated Guptafor becoming Speaker of theAssembly and expressed hopethat he would do justice to hisjob and would give equalopportunity to each membersof the Assembly. He hoped thatthe Speaker would also giveequal chance to first time leg-islators. He said, “I agree thatsittings of Assembly sessionshould be increased and allshould come the Assemblysession with full preparations.”

Former CLP Leader KiranChoudhary said, she had per-sonally worked with Guptaduring the last Assembly andhe understands the issuesminutely. “I hope he will givejustices to his work as aAssembly Speaker,” she said.

Abhay Chautala told thenewly-elected speaker that allthe members, especially first-timers, will have great hopesfrom the Chair that he will discharge duties in animpartial manner.

He hoped that oppositionmembers will be given duetime to raise public importanceand other issues in the House.

The speaker thanked themembers for unanimouslyelecting him and sought theircooperation in running theHouse in a smooth manner.

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Chandigarh: For the first timein the history of HaryanaAssembly, a mother alongwith her son has taken theoath of office and secrecy asMLAs jointly. Deputy ChiefMinister Dushyant Chautalaalong with his mother NainaChautala took the oath ofoffice in the presence of hisfather Ajay Singh Chautala

who was sitting in the VIPgallery of the assembly.

Dushyant became MLAfrom Uchana Kalan in Jinddistrict and his mother NainaChautala represents Badhraassembly segment in Dadridistrict in the assembly. NainaChautala called it an emo-tional moment for her as shealong with her son took the

oath of MLAs jointly. She saidthat she has been feeling proudof her son who has becomedeputy chief minister of thestate at the age of 31. In thepast, former Chief MinisterBhajan Lal’s wife Jasma Deviand her sons Chander Mohanand Kuldeep Bishnoi had alsobecome MLAs but their termwas different. PNS

*+��$ �+*��Chandigarh: On the first dayof Haryana Vidhan Sabha ses-sion, Women empowermentwas witnessed during the oath-taking program of newly elect-ed members. The oath cere-mony was started with theoath of office and secrecytaken firstly by the Haryana

Chief Minister Manohar Laland then secondly by DeputyChief Minister DushyantChautala. Subsequently, allwomen MLAs took the oath ofoffice and secrecy.

Thereafter, the membersof the Vidhan Sabha wereadministered oath, district

wise in English alphabeticalorder. During the oath pro-gram, the members took theoath in different languages.Three MLAs took oath inSanskrit and two in Punjabilanguage while most of theother MLAs took oath inHindi and English. PNS

+������ ����������1���������)����Chandigarh: Before the elec-tion of the new Speaker, Haryana GovernorSatyadeo Narain Arya admin-istered the oath of office and

secrecy to Raghuvir SinghKadian, as the Pro-temSpeaker of the HaryanaVidhan Sabha, at Haryana RajBhawan.

Chief Minister ManoharLal Khattar, who was presentat the swearing in ceremony,wished Kadian on becomingthe Pro-tem Speaker. PNS

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Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on

Monday declared that theBadals would not succeed inwashing their “tainted” handsoff the Bargari and other sac-rilege cases with their desper-ate attempts to seize the lime-light in the historic 550thprakash purb celebrations ofGuru Nanak Dev.

“Evidently, the Badals hadnot learnt any lessons fromtheir total rejection by the Sikhcommunity for their failure toprevent the various cases of sac-rilege of Guru Granth Sahib, aswell as firing and killing ofpeaceful Sikh protestors undertheir watch,” said the ChiefMinister, in an informal chatwith the media persons afterattending the swearing-in cer-emony of the newly-electedMLAs at the Vidhan Sabha.

Pointing out that the Akalishad been rejected by the Sikhsangat in every election in thelast three years, CaptAmarinder noted thatHarsimrat Badal had barely managed to scrapethrough in the recent parlia-mentary elections.

The people had seenthrough their gimmicks andfrustrated attempts to exploitreligion for petty political gains,he added.

“It is unfortunate that theAkalis, under Sukhbir Badaland his wife and UnionMinister Harsimrat Badal, aretrying to divide the Sikh com-munity while celebrating thebiggest unifier the world hadseen in Guru Nanak, whoworked for inter-faith harmo-ny and dialogue,” he said.

Also lashing out at theShiromani GurdwaraPrabhandak Committee(SGPC), the Chief Ministeralleged that the SGPC, knownas Sikhs’ mini parliament, hasmade a “virtual mockery of thehistoric 550th prakash purb

celebrations by playing into thehands of the Badals”.

“Such major events havealways, traditionally, been cel-ebrated under the aegis of theState Government. But theSGPC, at the behest of theAkalis, has refused to supportthe State Government’s pro-grammes this time,” said theChief Minister.

He recalled that even the400 years of Sri Guru GranthSahib were celebrated by theState Government under hislast tenure, as were all other such historic reli-gious events.

“The State Governmenthas reached out in all possibleways to the SGPC to facilitatejoint celebrations, but the reli-gious body was clearly workingon the Akali agenda in the mat-ter,” he said.

Reacting to SGPC’s chargesof inadequate efforts by theState Government to ensurebefitting celebration of theoccasion, the Chief Ministersaid that all preparations for thegrand celebration were in place, and Punjab was fullygeared up to make this joyousoccasion a lifetime experiencefor the pilgrims.

Also congratulating threenewly-elected Congress MLAs,Capt Amarinder exhortedthem to work assiduously intaking forward the StateGovernment’s pro-people ini-tiatives and policies to thedoorsteps of the citizens.

Notably, the strength ofCongress party has gone upfurther in the Vidhan Sabha, with treasury benchesnow ensconced in 80 out of the117 seats.

Earlier, Punjab VidhanSabha Speaker Rana K P Singhadministered the oath of officeand secrecy to the three newly-elected legislators — RaminderSingh Awla from Jalalabad,Balwinder Singh Dhaliwalfrom Phagwara, and Indu Balafrom Mukerian.

PUNJAB ASSEMBLY SPECIAL SESSION

ON NOV 6Punjab Government is

organizing an event to celebratethe 550th prakash purb ofGuru Nanak Dev onWednesday, November 6, from11 am to 1 pm in PunjabVidhan Sabha hall, VidhanBhavan, Chandigarh whichwill be addressed by the emi-nent personalities and digni-taries, including the Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu.

Punjab Vidhan Sabha’s offi-cial spokesperson on Mondayadded that the Governor hasalso summoned the 15th PunjabVidhan Sabha to meet for itsSpecial (Ninth) Session onNovember 6 at 2.30 pm. At thesame time, the Aam AadmiParty (AAP), led by the Leaderof Opposition Harpal SinghCheema, has submitted a mem-orandum to the Speaker RanaKP Singh demanding extensionof the session dedicated to theSikhs’ first master.

PUNJAB ISSUES INFORMATION

BOOKLET FOR DEVOTEESThe Punjab Government

has come out with an infor-mation booklet containingdetails for the foreign and localdevotees who are visitingSultanpur Lodhi to be a part of the 550th birthanniversary celebrations ofGuru Nanak Dev.

Department for Tourismand Cultural Affairs has pre-pared this booklet in Punjabiand English languages to caterto information needs of 50lakhs devotees that will throngto pay obeisance at SultanpurLodhi. The 30-page booklet hasbeen divided into 11 partsincluding blueprint of events,historical importance ofSultanpur Lodhi, railway, airand road connectivity to reachSultanpur Lodhi, places to visit,facilities available for pilgrims,important administrative tele-

phone numbers, Punjab gov-ernment’s developmental worksinitiated in Sultanpur Lodhi,do’s and dont’s during the cel-ebrations and various infor-mative social media links havebeen listed. The booklet, avail-able free of cost at the helpdesks in Sultanpur Lodhi, alsocarries information about 70villages and cities that are asso-ciated with Guru Nanak Dev.Arrangements have been madefor lodging in tents for thedevotees besides providingdedicated parking places, shut-tle facility for devotees etc.

PUNJAB BHAWAN ATDELHI DECORATED

WITH LIGHTSThe administration of

Punjab Bhawan, New Delhi, hasdecorated the building withlights to mark the 550th parkashpurb of great Guru, founder ofSikhism. The administrationhas also installed hoardingsrelated with celebrations of550th parkash purb of GuruNanak Dev to make more andmore people aware of celebra-tions to revere the teachings andphilosophy of the great Guru.Besides, the administration hasalso illuminated the KapurthalaHouse, the official residences ofboth Punjab Chief Ministerand Punjab Governor in thenational Capital.

“As Punjab Bhawan admin-istratively represents the Statein the national capital and wit-nesses visits of prominent per-sonalities from various walks oflife, both the blocks of Bhawan,main entrance and exit gatesand other parts of Bhawanhave been illuminated withLED lights so that more andmore people in the nationalcapital should be aware of theongoing events on part of thePunjab Government to makethe celebrations of parkashpurb memorable for all times,”said Punjab Bhawan, NewDelhi, Resident CommissionerRakhee Gupta Bhandari.

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To enhance brand visibilityof Incredible India and to

promote Tourism to and with-in the country, Union Ministryof Tourism has given approval

for the usage of the ‘IncredibleIndia logo’ in the ‘InternationalGita Mahotsav’ event, beingorganized every year fromNovember 22 to December 10at Kurukshetra.

Gagandeep Singh , ChiefExecutive Officer (CEO),Kurukshetra DevelopmentBoard said that the Board hadsought permission from theMinistry of Tourism for theusage of the logo’ in the

‘International Gita Mahotsav’event.

He said the approval hasbeen given for the usage of the‘Incredible India logo’ on pub-lications in electronic and printmedia, website portals and onthe publicity material.

He said that ‘IncredibleIndia logo’ can also be used on the banners, hoardings andposters.

He said that permission for

the usage of the logo will bedone only for the ‘InternationalGita Mahotsav’ event.

He said that objective ofproviding logo support to thisevent is to enhance brand vis-ibility of Incredible India andto promote Tourism to andwithin the country. He saidthat during the events, thelogo will be prominently dis-played in the promotionalactivities.

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To disseminate the messageof environment conserva-

tion and check pollution,Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal along with all 39BJP MLAs walked to HaryanaVidhan Sabha from the ChiefMinister (CM) residence toattend the first day of VidhanSabha session Monday.

Talking to reporters on hisway to Vidhan Sabha, Khattarsaid that he has decided tocover the the distance from hisresidence to Vidha Sabha onfoot to generate awarenessamong the masses towardsenvironment conservation.Giving slogan of “ParyavaranBachao-Bhavishya Banao”, hesaid that people should makeall out efforts to minimise the

pollution as it would not onlyhelp them keeping good healthbut also make the environmentclean and green.

On being asked about theproblem of air pollution espe-cially in the national CapitalRegion due to the burning ofcrop residue, he said as a resultof the steps taken by theadministration and support ofpeople, the situation in

Haryana has been considerablyimproved. In the last 24 hours,only 70 cases of burning ofagriculture residue has beenreported in Haryana which ismuch lower than the casesreported in the neighboringState of Punjab.

He said that an extensivemass awareness campaign hasbeen launched in the State soas to further reduce the level ofair pollution.

In reply to another query,the Chief Minister said that theStates should refrain from play-ing blame game on the issue ofair pollution as this problem isnot confined to a particularstate. The affected states shouldmake joint efforts to addressthis problem; he said addingthat apart from the burning ofcrop residue, several other fac-

tors like construction activities,vehicular traffic and burning ofwaste also significantly con-tribute in increasing air pollution.

On being asked about thefunctioning of his governmentduring its second consecutiveterm, the Chief Minister saidthat he would continue to workfor resolving the problems ofpeople and making their lifemuch easier besides fulfillingall genuine demands of all sec-tions of the society.

Asked about the BJP strat-egy to counter the oppositionduring the Vidhan SabhaSession, the Chief Ministersaid it is the work ofOpposition to raise issues andwe are ready to answer theirevery question they raise in the Aassembly.

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The two new legislators fromDharamsala and Pachhad

Assembly constituencies, whowon the by-polls last month,were sworn in as MLAs to theHimachal Pradesh Assembly bySpeaker Rajiv Bindal on Monday.

The Speaker administeredthe oath to Vishal Nehriya, whohad won from Dharamsala,and Pachchad’s Reena Kashyapin the presence of ChiefMinister Jai Ram Thakur andCabinet Ministers MahinderSingh and Ram Lal Markanda,several MLAs and others.

A bypoll was conductedafter the seats fell vacant fol-lowing the election of sittingMLAs, Kishan Kapoor andSuresh Kashyap, to the LokSabha in May this year. Withthe bypoll results, the strengthof the BJP has gone up to 44and the party now has fourwomen MLAs in the hill State.

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Areport on ‘Road SafetyAnalysis and Identification

of Accident Black Spots’ forSAS Nagar (Mohali), Rupnagar(Ropar), and Fatehgarh Sahibdistricts has indentified 165black spots in these districts,wherein total 2,021 people losttheir lives and 1,961 were seri-ously injured in the past threeyears — making these Punjab’stop accident-prone districts.

The report, released joint-ly by the state Additional ChiefSecretary (Home Affairs) SatishChandra, and TandarustPunjab Mission director KahanSingh Pannu, has been pre-pared under Punjab VisionZero Accident Project func-tioning under the umbrella ofTandrust Punjab Mission.

“The report has been pre-pared to identify all the blackspots in all the three districtsand detail out the problemspertaining in these districts.The report sums up the data forpast three years, from 2016 to2018,” informed Pannu.

He said that the aimbehind this exercise is to bringdown the road fatalities inthese districts and promoteroad safety in a holistic man-ner.

As per the report, a total of165 black spots were identifiedin these three districts.Collectively, 2021 people hadlost their lives and 1961 wereseriously injured in these threedistricts in past three years, hesaid.

“Pertinently, these threedistricts are on top of the list ofmost accident-prone districts ofPunjab when calculated forper million population,” saidPannu.

Punjab has 155 fatalitiesper million population where-

as SAS Nagar has 259,Rupnagar has 280 andFatehgarh Sahib has 264 fatal-ities per million population.These districts have highestfatality rate hence were takenup as priority under PunjabVision Zero Accident Project,said Pannu.

Adding, he said that thereport comprises of micro levelanalysis of the districts whichis helpful for the Police andadministration to take neces-sary actions. The data analysedhas been already submitted toSenior Superintendents ofPolice (SSPs) and DeputyCommissioners (DCs) of thesethree districts to inform con-cerned authorities to takeappropriate actions.

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After years of negotiations,India on Monday pulled

out of the China-backed megaRegional ComprehensiveEconomic Partnership (RCEP)over unresolved “core con-cerns”, with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi saying the pro-posed deal would have adverseimpact on the lives and liveli-hoods of all Indians.

Modi conveyed India’sdecision not to join the RCEPdeal at a summit meeting of the16-nation bloc, effectivelywrecking its aim to create theworld’s largest free trade area having half of the world’spopulation.

“The present form of theRCEP Agreement does notfully reflect the basic spirt andthe agreed guiding principles ofthe RCEP. It also does not

address satisfactorily India’soutstanding issues and con-cerns. In such a situation, it isnot possible for India to joinRCEP Agreement,” Modi said.

Sources said China wasforcefully pushing for inkingthe deal during the RCEP sum-mit in an attempt to counter-balance the impact of its lin-gering trade war with the US aswell as to project the region’seconomic might to the West.

“India stands for greaterregional integration as well asfor freer trade and adherence toa rule-based internationalorder. India has been pro-actively, constructively andmeaningfully engaged in theRCEP negotiations since incep-tion. India has worked for thecherished objective of strikingbalance, in the spirit of give andtake,” the PM said.

“Today, when we lookaround we see during sevenyears of RCEP negotiations,

many things, including theglobal economic and trade sce-narios, have changed. We can-not overlook these changes,” headded.

“When I measure theRCEP Agreement with respectto the interests of all Indians, Ido not get a positive answer.Therefore, neither the Talismanof Gandhiji nor my own con-science permit me to joinRCEP,” Modi said.

Government sources saidthe PM stood firm on not

becoming a part of the RCEPdeal as India’s key concernswere not addressed. The RCEPnegotiations were launched byASEAN leaders and six othercountries during the 21stASEAN Summit in PhnomPenh in November 2012. Theobjective of launching RCEPnegotiations was to achieve amodern, comprehensive, high-quality, and mutually beneficialeconomic partnership agree-ment among the ASEAN mem-ber States and its FTA partners.

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Senior Opposition leaders methere on Monday to discuss the

slide in the economy as well as theongoing RegionalComprehensive EconomicPartnership (RCEP) negotiationsin Bangkok and the agreement’simplications for India. The tim-ing of the meeting coincidedwith Prime Minister NarendraModi’s participation in theSummit.

There was no representationfrom the Samajwadi Party, theBahujan Samaj Party and theAam Aadmi Party in the meetingwas convened by Congress leaderGhulam Nabi Azad, who is theleader of opposition in the RajyaSabha.

After the meeting, Azad saidthat the Opposition will hold ajoint protest on issues such aseconomic slowdown, RCEP, farmdistress and unemployment dur-ing the upcoming Parliamentsession. He also said Oppositionparties will meet again soon todiscuss the issue of snooping anddecide on the future course ofaction on the issue.

According to sources, dis-cussions focussed on the jointopposition’s strategy to corner theGovernment on poor economicindicators and India’s decision toconsider signing the RCEP. Theleaders at the meeting were delib-erating on a strategy to take onthe Government both inside andoutside Parliament.

The Congress leader said

Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government dealing withRCEP is like a “compounderoperating on a patient” in absenceof a registered Doctor. Criticisingthe government, Azad said thatboth RCEP and GST were theschemes coined by the Congressand were in progress but theModi Government implementedit badly in haste. “The Free TradeAgreement and RCEP, we werenot against it, in fact, it started inour time. The doctor had given

the dates to the patient foroperation and meanwhile,the doctor got transferredand compounder operatedon patient,” said Azad.

“The interest of ourcountry should have beenprotected. Our Milk prod-

ucts, agricultural products,marine products etc should allhave been protected. We have atrade deficit of US Dollar 70Billion with China. China isdumping its products in worldmarkets after RCEP several prod-ucts of China would be dumpedin Indian markets. Will Chinaallow access to our products in itsmarkets? There is no discussionon this issue,” said Azad.

Ahmed Patel and RandeepSurjewala of the Congress were

present in the meeting whichwhich also saw the presence ofRLSP chief and former Unionminister Upendra Kushwaha CPIgeneral secretary D Raja,CPI(M)’s T K Rangarajan, RJDleader Manoj Jha, TMC’s Nadeemul Haque, DMK’s T R Baalu, andSharad Yadav. Congress presi-dent Sonia Gandhi and NCPleader Sharad Pawar were notpresent at the meeting. Sourcesclose to Pawar said he was busyin a parliamentary standing com-mittee meeting. The Congressplans to hit the streets fromTuesday till November 15 tohighlight the “failures” of the BJPGovernment at the Centre onissues such as “economic slow-down, rising unemployment andfarm crisis”.

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Maintaining that stubbleburning is not responsi-

ble for air pollution in Delhi,the Agriculture Ministry hasasked States to identify causesfor the rising pollution and takemeasures.

Union AgricultureMinister Narendra SinghTomar on Monday asked StateGovernments of Delhi, UttarPradesh, Haryana and Punjabto identify other causes for therising pollution as crop residueburning is not responsible fac-tor to air pollution.

The Minister maintainedthat incidents of stubble burn-ing have fallen after the launchof a central scheme to buy farmmachinery to switch to clean-er methods of getting rid of thecrop residue. In the current fis-cal, the Centre has released�248 crore, �175 crore and�97.54 crore to Punjab,Haryana and Uttar Pradesh,respectively, under the scheme.Last year, it has released �575crore to them. Delhi-NCR has

been engulfed in a thick blan-ket of smog since the Diwalifestival on October 27.

Speaking on the sidelinesafter laying the foundationstone for the construction ofAgricultural ScientistsRecruitment Board (ASRB) inPusa Complex, the Tomar saidthat Stubble burning alone isnot responsible for pollution.“To address this issue, theModi Government haslaunched a scheme underwhich farmers of UttarPradesh, Punjab, Haryana andDelhi are being provided sub-sidy to buy farm machinery toswitch to cleaner to stop stub-ble burning,” the Minister said.Machines are being provided invillages and “there has beenreduction in stubble burning.Its contribution to pollution hasalso come down,” he said and

urged the neighbouring StateGovernments to create moreawareness among farmers andimplement the central scheme.

“I have written to the StateChief Ministers for properimplementation of the scheme.I hope State Governments willdo,” he added.

When asked farmers arebeing held responsible for pol-lution in Delhi, Tomar said:“Neither one person nor oneclass is responsible for pollu-tion. To get rid of pollution,everyone should think andwork seriously.”

There is a need for the StateGovernments to take measuresto contain pollution. “In thisdirection, all are trying butunfortunately the problem stillremains,” he added.

On the Punjab ChiefMinister’s demand to incentivisefarmers to stop stubble burning,Tomar said, “I don’t agree withwhat Captain Amrinder (Singh)says. The whole world knowswhat happens if subsidy is givenunless there is no solution forstubble clearance.”

New Delhi: In view ofthe dangerous pollu-tion levels in thenational Capital, notedAgriculture ScientistMS Swaminathan onMonday suggested to the ChiefMinisters of Delhi, Haryana,Punjab and Uttar Pradesh to setup rice bio parks to create eco-nomic value for the stubble. Ina series of Tweets, he suggest-ed that like in many countries,rice straw can be used formanufacturing paper, cardboard and production of ani-mal feed.

He pointed out that inSouth India, instead of burningthe rice straw, the farmers useit as animal feed.Swaminathan, popularlyknown as father of India’s greenrevolution and Chairman ofNational Commission forFarmers said that there is nopoint in blaming of farmers forstubble burning and he askedthe Chief Ministers to help thefarmers to convert stubble intoincome and employment.

“The air pollution in Delhihas become a matter of publichealth concern nationally andinternationally. Farmers arebeing blamed by many includ-

ing the Chief Ministerof Delhi for burningstubble and therebycausing atmosphericpollution. In SouthIndia stubble is not

burnt as there’s economic valueas animal feed. For years Ipointed out many economicuses of rice straw. We shouldadopt a do-ecology approachwith farmers to convert ricestubble into income ratherthan making them agents ofeco-disaster, he said.

Swaminathan pointed outthat MS SwaminathanResearch Foundation’s(MSSRF) rice bio park inMyanmar, which was inaugu-rated President of India hasshown how stubble can be uti-lized to make products includ-ing paper, cardboard and ani-mal feed. “I suggest that theDelhi, Haryana and UPGovernments put up RiceBioParks where farmers canconvert stubble into incomeand employment. We shouldstop blaming farmers since itwill take us nowhere. Insteadwe should propose methodswhich are economically & eco-logically desirable,” saidSwaminathan. PNS

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The slugfest between Centreand the Delhi Government

over the bad air quality in theState continued with UnionEnvironment Minister PrakashJavadekar on Monday lashingout at the AAP dispensationasking whether it was followingthe Central Pollution ControlBoard’s (CPCB) directivesaimed at combating the severeair pollution in the nationalCapital.

Responding to questionsover rising air pollution in theDelhi-NCR region, Javadekarsaid his ministry has alreadyheld several meetings with theneighbouring States of Punjab,Haryana, Uttar Pradesh andRajasthan over stubble burning.

Delhi-NCR has beenengulfed in a thick blanket ofsmog since the festival of Diwalion October 27.

“Pollution is genuine prob-lem. When I became theEnvironment Minister, I calleda meeting of all five statesregarding the issue. Seven toeight such meetings have

already been held. Anotherone will happen soon.

“The Delhi Governmentmust check out the directionsgiven by CPCB regarding pol-lution and should tell howmuch has it followed,” the min-ister said.

A slew of recommenda-tions have been given by a 10-member anti-pollution taskforce led by CPCB MemberSecretary Prashant Gargava totackle air polllution in theDelhi-NCR region.

“Delhi Government is ask-ing why have we given 40,000machines to a population of 22lakh farmers, I want to say thatwe have given �1,100 crores.Instead of spending �1,500crore on advertisements, theDelhi government should givethis amount to farmers toaddress the issue of pollution,”he told reporters after attend-ing an event here.

Meanwhile, Union HealthMinister Harsh Vardhan, whois a doctor by profession, tookto Twitter to impart someadvice on how to counter pol-lution-related problems.

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India and Russia will review the entiregamut of their defence and strategic ties

during Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’sthree-day visit to Moscow beginning onTuesday. He will also co-chair the 19theInter-Governmental Commission onMilitary and Military Technical Co-oper-ation set up some years back to promotejoint defence manufacturingin India.

The visit assumes significance asRussia is the most time tested ally of Indiafor last many decades. Moreover, theIndian armed forces use weapons andallied systems of Russian and erstwhileSoviet Union origin.

In fact, the Russian origin weapons

inventory in India is more than 70 per cent.

Giving details of Singh’s visit, defenceministry officials said here on Monday, theminister will hold extensive discussionswith his counterpart General Sergei Shoigucovering all areas of military-to-militarycooperation and defence industrial coop-eration.

Singh is also scheduled to inaugurate,along with Russian Minister of Industryand Trade Denis Manturov, ‘India-RussiaDefence Industry Cooperation Conference’.

The Conference will discuss ways topromote defence industrial cooperationbetween India and Russia, technologytransfer and investment in India in defenceindustry under the ‘Make in India’ programme.

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In an effort to hard sell theforthcoming international

Defence exhibition, Def Expoheld every two years in India,Defence Minister RajnathSingh on Monday held here around table conference withAmbassadors and AefenceAttaches of 80 countries. Thenext DefExpo, the 11th so far,will be held in Lucknow inFebruary next year. The objec-tive of the high-powered meet-ing on Monday was to show-case the growing defenceindustry in the country and ris-ing business opportunities inthe manufacturing sector.

Giving details of the con-ference, Defence Ministry offi-cials said the event was a majoroutreach to the Defence man-

ufacturing industries of theworld. It was aimed to outlinethe arrangements made forthe mega exhibition and elicitsuggestions from the envoys tofurther improve the experience.

Addressing the conference,the Defence Minister said theDefExpo will not only providecountries with the opportuni-ty to showcase their equipmentand platforms, but also be ableto explore the strengths andcapabilities of India’s defenceindustry for meeting opera-tional goals.

Observing that India’sdefence sector has maturedand is exploring mutually ben-eficial partnerships with friend-ly countries to set up industriesin India and abroad, Singhsaid, DefExpo will showcasethe government’s intent to

achieve a turnover of USD 26billion in aerospace anddefence goods and services by2025.

He added the event willshowcase India’s plans forDefence Industrial Corridors inUttar Pradesh and Tamil Naduwhere investment commit-ments of about USD 1 billionhave already been received.More than 100 business eventsand seminars are being plannedwith over 1,000 exhibitorsexpected at the mega event.

Singh also urged theAmbassadors to impress uponthe captains of their respectivedefence industries to partici-pate in DefExpo 2020 in a bigway so as to “dive deep into thestrategic and business oppor-tunities available and to estab-lish strategic partnerships”.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi and his Japanese

counterpart Shinzo Abe onMonday reviewed the evolvingsecurity scenario in the Indo-Pacific and agreed to further bolster bilateral coop-eration in third countries forpeace, prosperity and develop-ment in the region.

The two leaders held ameeting on the sidelines of theEast Asia Summit here duringwhich China’s fast expandingmilitary and economic expan-sionism in the Indo-Pacificregion figured prominentlyamong several other key issues,officials said.

Without giving specificdetails of the talks, the ExternalAffairs Ministry said the twoprime ministers reaffirmedtheir commitment towards afree, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region based on a rules-based order.

“They agreed to furtherstrengthen the bilateral coop-eration, including in thirdcountries, for achieving theshared objective of peace, pros-perity and progress of theIndo-Pacific region,” it said ina statement.

The resolve by Modi andAbe to work towards a stableIndo-Pacific came in the midstof rising disquiet among severalmember countries of the 10-nation ASEAN over China’sincreasing assertiveness in maritime limits in theregion.

The ministry said the twoleaders also deliberated oninaugural ‘two-plus-two’ Indo-Japan foreign and defence min-isterial dialogue later thismonth in India, noting that itwill help provide impetus to thesecurity and defence coopera-tion between the two sides.

In a tweet, Modi said it wasalways wonderful to meet “myfriend PM Abe.”

“Our meeting today wasvery good. We exchanged viewson multiple subjects includingfurther boosting the econom-ic partnership between ourcountries,” he said.

In a tweet, External AffairsMinistry SpokespersonRaveesh Kumar said the twoleaders prepared the ground for

India-Japan two-plus-two dia-logue and the annual summit in their “good discus-sion.”

The MEA said PrimeMinister Modi conveyed toAbe that he eagerly lookedforward to welcoming theJapanese prime minister inIndia next month for the annu-al India-Japan summit.

Modi also said that he wasconvinced of the success of theforthcoming annual summit infurther deepening the India-Japan special strategic andglobal partnership, accordingto the MEA.

It was the third meetingbetween Modi and Abe in thelast four months. Their previ-ous meeting was in Vladivostokin Russia in September.

“The leaders welcomed theincreasing economic engage-ment between the two coun-tries, propelled by high-levelexchanges. The leaders alsoreviewed the progress onMumbai-Ahmedabad HighSpeed Rail project and reaf-firmed their commitment toadvance mutual efforts to facil-itate the smooth implementa-tion of the project,” the MEAsaid.

It said Modi also congrat-ulated his counterpart on therecent coronation of JapaneseEmperor Naruhito, while Abewarmly recalled the participa-tion of President Ram NathKovind in the ceremony.

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The East Asia Summit, agrouping of 18 countries

including India, on Mondayvowed to scale up efforts to dealwith terrorism, radicalisationand transnational crimesincluding by ramping up coor-dination with anti-terrorwatchdog FATF and relevantUN agencies.

At the end of its 14th sum-mit here, the powerful bloccame out with a declarationlisting measures to be taken bymember countries to dealwith various security challenges facing the region aswell as on ways to counter nar-ratives of the terrorgroups.

The East Asia Summit isthe premier forum in the Asia-Pacific region to deal withissues relating security anddefence.

Since its inception in 2005,it has played a significant rolein the strategic, geopoliticaland economic evolution ofEast Asia.

Islamabad: A 178-memberdelegation has arrived inPakistan from the UK to takepart in the upcoming 550thbirth anniversary of GuruNanak Dev - the founder ofSikhism, slated to be held at theKartarpur Sahib Gurdwara inPunjab province. Soon afterlanding on Sunday, the 178-member group left for theGurdwara Janam AsthanNankana Sahib and GurdwaraSucha Sauda in Sheikhupuradistrict, Dawn news reportedon Monday. IANS

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Over one thousand Sikhs from India arrivedat Gurdwara Punja Sahib in Pakistan’s

Hassanabdal city on Sunday as part of the ‘NagarKirtan’, a religious procession, held to mark the550th birth anniversary of Sikhism founderGuru Nanak Dev. The gurdwara in PunjabProvince was decorated with colourful lights andpilgrims performed various rituals.

Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) DeputySecretary Shrines Imran Gondal said that morethan 1,100 Sikhs crossed the border throughWagah on October 31 via Ludhiana and Amritsar,the Dawn reported.

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Pakistan on Monday rejected as “baseless”the media reports about the presence of

alleged terrorist “training camps” in Punjabprovince’s Narowal district near the famedKartarpur Sahib gurdwara, calling them a“malicious” propaganda campaign.

According to reports, intelligence agencieshave spotted terrorist training activities in theborder district of Narowal in Pakistan’s Punjabprovince, the same district where KartarpurSahib Gurdwara is situated.

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Indian PrimeM i n i s t e r

Narendra Modi andMyanmar’s StateCounsellor AungSan Suu Kyi dis-cussed issues relat-ing to the opera-tionalising of theSittwe port, beingbuilt by New Delhi, as well asa section of the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit TransportProject and border demarca-tion.

During the talks on Sundayevening, the leaders cordiallyexchanged views on extendingcooperation between the twocountries, exchange of high-level visits, continued con-structive assistance from India,and ASEAN-India coopera-tion, based on common inter-est. They also discussed otherissues including cementingbilateral relations, trade, trans-port, operation of the SittwePort, a sector of Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport

Project, demarcation of theremaining part of the commonborder between Myanmar andIndia, arriving at a cross-bor-der traffic agreement, upgrad-ing of a female police trainingschool in Yamethin, capacity-building for public servants,and human resources devel-opment, said Mizzima, aMyanmar news outlet.

Suu Kyi reaffirmed theimportance her Governmentattached to the partnershipwith India, and her apprecia-tion of India’s consistent andsustained support for thewidening of democracy anddeepening of development inMyanmar.

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New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Monday expressedserious concern over theChhattisgarh Government tap-ping the phone of a senior IPSofficer — and allegedly also ofhis two daughters — and won-dered if “somebody’s privacycan be violated like this”.

“No privacy is left for any-body. What is happening in thiscountry?” the top courtobserved.

It asked the StateGovernment as to who orderedfor interception of the phonesof the senior police officerMukesh Gupta and his familymembers and directed it to filea detailed affidavit explainingthe reason for the action.

During the previous hear-ing in the case on October 25,Gupta had alleged that his andhis two young daughters’phones were being intercepted.

The State Government hadadmitted that his phone wasbeing tapped as he has beenevading arrest in two caseslodged against him. TheGovernment had denied inter-cepting the officer’s daughters’

phone though. The court hadthen restrained the state gov-ernment from intercepting thephones of Gupta and his fam-ily and granted him protectionfrom arrest in the cases lodgedagainst him.

But it had refused to quashthe FIRs lodged against the1988 batch IPS officer includ-ing one for alleged FCRA vio-lation by a trust running a eyehospital, founded by his father.

During the hearing onMonday, a bench of justicesArun Mishra and IndiraBanerjee asked theChhattisgarh government if an

individual’s phone can be inter-cepted just to trace him.

“Everyday something ishappening. What is the need ofthis? No privacy is left foranybody. What is happening inthis country,” the bench said,adding, “Can privacy of some-body be violated like this?Who ordered this? File adetailed affidavit”.

The top court also tookexception to a separate FIRlodged against an advocatewho is representing the IPSofficer before the apex court.

Senior advocate MaheshJethmalani, appearing for

Gupta, informed the benchthat the Chhattisgarh police hadcome to arrest his client and hislawyer Ravi Sharma called upthe police to know under whichFIR he was being arrested.

The bench said that thelawyer, as an officer of thecourt, has every right to knowfrom the police that underwhich FIR or provisions of law,his client was being arrested.

It stayed any further inves-tigation against the lawyer andsaid that no coercive action betaken against him till furtherorders.

The bench also toldJethmalani, and senior advo-cate Neeraj Kishan Kaul who isappearing for the Chhattisgarhgovernment, not to politicisethe issue by dragging the nameof Chhattisgarh Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel in the matter.

Senior advocate VivekTankha and Chhattisgarhstanding counsel Sumeer Sodhialongwith advocate general S CVerma told the bench that theChief Minister has nothing todo with the case and his nameshould be struck off from the

list of parties.The top court said that

politicising the case would nothelp anybody and directed thatthe CM’s name be removedfrom the memo of parties inthe petition.

In the petition, the IPS offi-cer has named the ChhattisgarhChief Minister as one of therespondents.

Kaul said that Gupta hadmanipulated the death of hissecond wife which tells muchabout his conduct.

Jethmalani objected toKaul’s submission and said thedeath happened in 2001 and hisclient has been exoneratedthree times in the case.

“Maybe his (Gupta) con-duct is very bad but that doesnot give any right to anybody totap his phones,” the bench said.

“You have exceeded every-thing. This is not good. This isshocking. Person’s right to pri-vacy cannot be breached in thisfashion,” the bench said andordered that the stay on furtherinvestigation in the two FIRslodged against Gupta to con-tinue till further orders. PTI

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New Delhi: The KarnatakaCongress on Monday requestedthe Supreme Court, hearing the17 MLAs’ disqualification case,to take on record a fresh audioclip in which Chief Minister BSYediyurappa is purportedly hit-ting out at his party leaders fornot recognising the “sacrifice” ofthe disqualified Congress-JD(S)MLAs, because of whom the BJPcould come to power.

A bench headed by JusticeNV Ramana said it will consultChief Justice Ranjan Gogoi forconstituting the bench onTuesday to consider the freshmaterial given by the KarnatakaCongress.

A purported audio clip ofYediyurappa expressing anguishagainst leaders at a recent partymeeting in Hubballi over theiropposition to giving tickets tothe disqualified Congress-JD(S)MLAs for the December 5Assembly bypolls in 15 con-stituencies had surfaced lastFriday.

In the audio, he is purport-edly saying that the rebel

Congress JD(S) MLAs, whowere later disqualified, werekept in Mumabi during thefinal days of the coalition gov-ernment under BJP nationalpresident Amit Shah’s watch.

Bypolls to 15 out of 17 seatsrepresented by disqualifiedMLAs, whose resignation andabsence from trust vote lead tothe fall of Congress-JD(S) coali-tion Government and madeway for BJP to come to power,will be held on December 5.

Amid opposition fromlocal party leaders in these 15constituencies, Yediyurappahad recently assured that tick-ets would be given to the dis-qualified MLAs if they wishedto contest for BJP and had

appointed party contenders forthe tickets there as heads ofboards and corporations.

Stating that it was a differ-ent matter whether the BJPwins or loses an election, hesays the disqualified MLAshave given the party an oppor-tunity to come to power byresigning the MLA’s posts andhave even moved the SupremeCourt with a plea that their res-ignations be accepted.

After the fall of the coali-tion Government, the thenSpeaker KR Ramesh Kumarhad disqualified them asMLAs, ruling that they cease tobe MLAs with immediate effecttill the expiry of the 15thassembly (in 2023). The dis-qualified MLAs have chal-lenged it in the Supreme Court.

The top court had onOctober 25 reserved verdict onthe batch of petitions chal-lenging the disqualification ofthe 17 Karnataka MLAs beforethe trust vote moved by theprevious HD KumaraswamyGovernment. PTI

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New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Monday dismissedthe parole plea of Vikas Yadav,who along with his cousinVishal Yadav is serving a 25-year jail term for killing busi-ness executive Nitish Katara in2002.

A bench comprising ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi andJustice Surya Kant did notallow the plea of Vikas who hadsought parole for four weeks onthe grounds that it was his con-stitutional right and he hadspent around seventeen-and-half years of total 25 years jailterm awarded to him in thecase.

“You have been sentencedfor 25 years of imprisonment,complete it,” the bench saidwhile dismissing his paroleplea.

The bench, meanwhile,also dismissed another plea ofVikas in which he had chal-lenged the constitutional valid-ity of the Delhi High Courtorder awarding him the jailterm without any remission.

The plea had said that thecourts are not permitted underthe statute to specify the time

limit of the imprisonment andput a condition that the jailterm will operate without anygrant of remission.

“The petitions are dis-missed,” it said.

On October 3, 2016, theapex court had awarded a 25-year jail term without any ben-efit of remission to Vikas Yadavand his cousin Vishal Yadav fortheir role in the sensational kid-napping and killing of Katara.Another co-convict SukhdevPehalwan was also handeddown a 20-year jail term in thecase.

Prior to this, the DelhiHigh Court, while upholdingthe life imprisonment awardedto Vikas and Vishal Yadav bythe trial court, had specified a30-year sentence, without anyremission, to both of them. Ithad awarded a 25-year jailterm to third convict Pehalwan.

During the brief hearingon Monday, the bench askedYadav’s counsel as to why hewanted to go out on parolewhen he has been awarded 25years of jail term by the apexcourt, that too without anyremission. PTI

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Aizawl/Agartala: An organi-sation of Bru refugees living inTripura claimed that a four-month-old baby died in a reliefcamp on Monday taking thetotal number of people losingtheir lives “because of starva-tion” to six and three otherinmates have been hospitalised.

The displaced people con-tinued with their road blockadefor the fifth day demandingresumption of free ration andcash-dole to them, which theCentre has stopped sinceOctober following commence-ment of the repatriation of therefugees to their homelandMizoram.

Tripura government offi-cials, however, said four Bruinmates of the relief camps havedied so far and medical teamshave been sent there.

They also said free rationsand cash-dole will not beresumed as per the order of theMinistry of Home Affairs.

“Six people died and three

persons were hospitalised dueto deprivation of free rationand cash-dole by the Centre

from October due to the ongo-ing repatriation scheduled to beconcluded on November 30,”

Mizoram Bru DisplacedPeople’s Forum (MBDPF) said.

MBDPF general secretary

Bruno Msha told PTI overphone that a four-month-oldgirl died in Hamsapara reliefcamp on Monday morning.

Three persons including anelderly man and a child ofNaisingpara camp died of star-vation on Sunday, Mshaclaimed.

Two inmates ofNaisingpara had died onThursday.

Sub-Divisional Magistrate(SDM) of KanchanpurAbhedananda Baidya said fourrefugees had died sinceThursday. The SDM had saidon Saturday that an enquirywas being conducted to ascer-tain the cause of death of thetwo inmates of Naisingpararelief camp on Thursday.

“Two medical teams havealready reached refugee campsto check the health condition ofthe refugees, especially thechildren,” Baidya said.

Tripura Additional ChiefSecretary Kumar Alok also

went to Naisingpara and helda meeting with refugee leadersto discuss the death of therefugees and the road blockade.

Road communication fromAnanda Bazar to Kanchapurvia Dasda has collapsed due tothe blockade, an official said.

Mizoram officials on dutyat Kanchanpur said the agitat-ing Brus were not blocking theroad targeting trucks carryingessential goods but trying tostop Mizoram officials who arethere repatriate the Bru families.

In the meeting, Alokurged the Bru leaders to with-draw the blockade which hasaffected the people of Dasda,Ananda Bazar and its adjacentareas, at the earliest.

“As per an agreement, thosewho repatriate to Mizoramwithin the next three days will get �25,000 extra. There isno question of resuming freeration to the refugees as direct-ed by the MHA,” Baidya said,quoting Alok. PTI

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Mumbai: Amid the stalemateover Government formation inMaharashtra, a Marathi daily,widely seen inclined towardsthe RSS, on Monday likenedShiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut to‘Betaal’, the mythological ghostknown for challenging KingVikramaditya with his wittyriddles.

Coming down heavily onRaut, Tarun Bharat , the

Nagpur-based publicationbelieved to be close to theSangh and its political exten-sion BJP, said he was hurtingthe chances of BJP-Senaalliance to come to power inMaharashtra.

Without naming Raut, itcalled him a “joker” and said“his attempts to portray a pic-ture that Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis is isolated

in the BJP is nothing but pureentertainment”.

Raut, the Sena’s RajyaSabha member and executiveeditor of its mouthpiece‘Saamana’, has been at the fore-front of voicing his party’sdemands over equal distribu-tion of power and sharing theChief Minister’s post with theBJP in the next MaharashtraGovernment.

He mocked the BJP onmultiple occasions by askingquestions like “Itna sannatakyon hai bhai...” (why is thereso much silence), using thepopular dialogue fromBollywood blockbuster“Sholay”, on the economicslowdown.

On Monday, Tarun Bharat

published an editorial titled‘Uddhav and Betaal’. The term‘Betaal’ is also used in Marathiwhere it means a personindulging in loose talks.

“Late Balasaheb Thackerayspent his entire life for wrestingpower from the Congress andNCP. But this Betaal is tryinghard to shatter his dreams andthere will be no disappointmentlike this to see the Sena drag-ging behind one loud-mouth,”the Marathi daily said.

Referring to Mahabharat, itsaid the Sena leader’s firstname — Sanjay — was also thatof a character from the epicwho gave a “live relay” of thewar between the Pandavas andKauravas to blind KingDritharashtra. PTI

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Nagpur: A court here onMonday issued notice toMaharashtra Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis on a pleaalleging non-disclosure oftwo criminal cases by him inan election affidavit.

The development cameafter the Supreme Court, onOctober 1, directed the mag-istrate’s court to go ahead withthe application filed by city-based lawyer Satish Uke seek-ing initiation of criminal pro-ceedings against Fadnavis inthe matter.

The magistrate’s court onMonday said the case wouldbe held as a summary crimi-nal case, and issued notice toFadnavis.

“Process (notice) is issuedagainst accused (Fadnavis)for offence punishable undersection 125A ofRepresentation of People Act,1951,” magistrate SD Mehtasaid in the order.

The Chief Minister hasbeen given time till December4 to respond to the notice.

Uke has contended thatthe BJP leader filed a false affi-davit in 2014 by not disclos-ing two pending criminalcases against him. PTI

Mumbai: Independent MLARavi Rana, who has extendedsupport to the BJP inMaharashtra, on Mondayclaimed that “some 25 MLAs” ofthe Shiv Sena were in touch withhim over formation of the nextGovernment.

The MLA from Badnera inAmravati district dubbed theSena as “very arrogant” andclaimed the Uddhav Thackeray-led party will split and nearly twodozen MLAs will join the BJP ifChief Minister DevendraFadnavis forms the next gov-ernment without its saffron ally.The Sena has 56 MLAs.

Rana, along with his wifeNavneet Kaur Rana, theIndependent Lok Sabha mem-ber from Amravati, metGovernor Bhagat SinghKoshyari here.

Speaking to reporters afterthe meeting, the MLA said,“The Shiv Sena has been veryarrogant in the last five years.Fadnavis should put a check toit. “In fact, there are some 25

MLAs of the Shiv Sena who arein touch with me for govern-ment formation. If Fadnavisforms a Government withoutthe Shiv Sena, in the next twomonths there will be a split in theSena and some 25 MLAs wouldjoin the party.” Rana slammedsenior Shiv Sena leader SanjayRaut, who has been at the fore-front of vociferously articulatingthe demand for equal distribu-tion of power and sharing theChief Minister’s post, saying heis a “parrot” of the party andneeds to be reined in. PTI

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Mumbai: With the Shiv Senaseeming firm on its demand ofsharing the Chief Minister’spost in the next MaharashtraGovernment, a BJP Ministeron Monday said some of hisparty leaders are willing for are-election in the State.

The BJP leaders expressedthis view during a reviewmeeting held in Dhule districton Sunday, state Tourism andFDA Minister Jaykumar Rawaltold a television channel.

“The party workers saidsenior leaders of the BJPshould not have forged analliance (with the Sena)...Giveus a chance again, we will con-test again and win this time,”said Rawal, who is consideredclose to Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis.

The meeting in Dhule was

attended by several BJP lead-ers, workers and candidateswho contested the recentAssembly polls, he said.

“Many of them are angryas we could not contest in someseats due to pact with the Senaand lost with a thin margin insome segments,” the Ministersaid. The BJP and its ally ShivSena are caught in a stalemateover the Chief Minister’s post,with the Sena demanding anequal division of the top post’stenure and the BJP rejecting it.

Unlike the last Assemblyelections, the BJP and theShiv Sena this time foughtelections in alliance with eachother. The BJP won 105 seatsand the Shiv Sena 56.

The term of the existing13th State Assembly ends onNovember 9. PTI

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With only National flagfluttering atop civil sec-

retariat complex, Darbar moveoffices reopened in Jammu onMonday amid tight securityarrangements to prevent anyterror strike.

Dogra folk dancers, per-forming traditional Kud dancein their finery, greeted newlyappointed LieutenantGovernor GC Murmu andsenior officers outside the civilsecretariat complex as theyarrived here to attend theiroffices.

Unlike previous years, nomajor protest demonstrationwas organised in the vicinityof the civil secretariat complex.Quick reaction teams andparamilitary forces weredeployed in large number ofguard the entry gates of thecivil secretariat complex.

On his arrival, Lt-Governor GC Murmu inspect-ed the ceremonial ‘Guard ofHonour’ by a contingent ofJ&K Police lead by a Dy SPrank woman off icer DrSunniya Wani.

He was later greeted byChief Secretary, BVRSubrahmanyam, DirectorGeneral of Police, DilbagSingh, AdministrativeSecretaries and a large numberof officers and employees ofthe Civil Secretariat.

Later, Lt. Governor held ameeting with AdministrativeSecretaries where discussedimportant and urgent admin-istrative issues. In another

meeting, Lt. Governor inter-acted with all the officers ofthe Civil Secretariat andsought their suggestions forfurther improving the qualityand pace of work, in an openhouse.

Lieutenant Governor reit-erated the resolve of theGovernment for tirelesslyworking towards ensuringresponsive and good gover-nance at all levels. He advisedthe officers to keep publicwelfare as a central mottowhile discharging their duties.

Lt. Governor also visitedthe Police Headquarters wherehe received a Guard ofHonour. Dilbag Singh, DGP,and other senior Police officersinteracted with the Lt.Governor and briefed himabout the law and order sce-nario and multiple challengesbefore the J&K Police.

Lt. Governor praised therole of the J&K Police formaintenance of law and orderand complimented the Forcefor peaceful conduct of elec-tions to the Panchayat andUrban Local Bodies. Headvised the Police Officers tostay alert and deal firmly withthe elements inimical to thesafety and security of state andstressed stern action againstpeople involved in economicoffences. He appreciated thesynergy existing between thePolice, Army, Central ArmedPolice Forces and CivilAdministration and urgedworking with same zeal formaintenance of peace andsecurity in J&K.

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Astreet vendor fromSaharanpur in Uttar

Pradesh was killed while threeSSB personnel and 14 othercivilians received injuries in agrenade attack on Hari SinghHigh Street in Srinagar onMonday.

The deceased street vendorwas identified as Rinku Singhby the local police. He wasearning his livelihood by sell-ing items of daily use.

Meanwhile, two seriouslyinjured civilians, identified asAijaz and Fayaz Ahmed, werebeing treated in SMHS hospitaltill the time last reports came in.

Large number of local res-idents were present in the areato purchase items of daily needwhen unidentified terroristshurled a grenade on SSB per-sonnel, deployed there on secu-rity duty around 1.27 pm.

This is the second grenadeattack in the same area in thelast one month. Five civilianswere injured in a similargrenade attack on October 12.

The aim behind targeting

local residents and security per-sonnel was to spread panic in thearea, witnessing routine businessactivity during day time.

Soon after the grenadeattack took place senior policeand officers of paramilitaryforces rushed to the area toassess the ground situation.Recently, police had arrested alocal terrorist from Sopore.He was tasked to throwgrenade in busy markets andpetrol pumps. In a statementpolice spokesman said, “returnof normalcy and opening of

shops is unnerving the terror-ists and their handlers sittingacross in Pakistan”.

In another incident, policeon Monday claimed they hadunearthed a terrorist hideoutinside Apple orchard in Soporearea. According to police, thehideout belonged to Lashkar-e Toiba terrorists Sajad Hyderof village Brat. Police said, theapple orchard was owned byhis maternal uncle. Police said,Sajad Hyder used to bring,hide and even train newrecruits inside the hideout.

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In an incident that shockedthe city, an on-duty woman

Tahsildar was set ablaze by aman at her office inAbdullapurmet on Mondayafternoon. According toreports, Vijaya Reddy, theTahsildar or Mandal RevenueOfficer (MRO), was alone inher office when she wasattacked by Kurra Suresh, whoset her on fire.

The officials fromRachakonda police said thatthere had been a falloutbetween the two of them over7 acres of land near Bacharamvillage. Vijaya Reddy was thefirst Tahsildar after the forma-tion of the AbdullapurmetZone. She was allegedly accusedof harassing Suresh for notdoing registration. Meanwhile,Suresh claimed before policethat she had asked for a bribe.

While Vijaya’s body wasshifted to Osmania GeneralHospital as per procedure, theassailant’s condition was alsosaid to be critical as he wasinjured in the incident.

Rachakonda PoliceCommissioner MaheshBhagawath said that there willbe a thorough and scientificinvestigation in this case. We

have learnt that dispute over aland was ongoing in the HighCourt, which could be theaccused’s motive to carry outthe attack by reportedly pour-ing kerosene over her at theoffice.

“This is a daylight murderof a Government official andthe accused will not be spared.We will see what all has led tothis incident. The man isalready in our custody. We arealso probing if anyone hadprovoked him. We will finishthe investigation in a limitedtime and take it to a fast track

court for swift punishment andsee that he is hanged for thecrime,” he said.

ACP Vanasthalipuram, SJayaram, said that the accusedhad suffered 63 per cent bodyburns and is being treated.“Two people were injured in thewhole fiasco including Suresh.We are collecting statementsfrom all the witnesses to pro-ceed with the investigation.We have already booked casesunder section 302 (murder) and307 (attempt to murder) of theIPC against the accused. Theevidence gathered from the

scene of offence, includingcloth and bottles etc are beingsent to laboratory to test” saidthe official.

Senior police officials andDistrict Collector Ranga Reddyvisited the spot. Meanwhile,Condemning the incident,Education Minister Sabita Indrasaid “Stringent punishment willbe given to the accused. If thepublic have any trouble withofficials, it should be brought tothe attention of the higher-upsto deal with the problem. Theseheinous acts will only makethings worse. We will order a

probe soon.”The Minister urged the

District Collector and the PoliceCommissioner to look into thematter and investigate whathad led to such a heinouscrime.

In June this year, ForestRange Officer Ch Anitha wasattacked by a mob while per-forming her duty as a fight hadbroken out in Sarsala villagebetween officials and forestdwellers in Kagaznagar subdi-vision of Asifabad district.

The brawl was the result ofa conflict over a plantationdrive taken up by the StateGovernment. In the commo-tion, Anita was attacked by amob with sticks which wascaught on video. The mob hadbeen led by TRS leader KoneruKrishna, the brother of SirpurMLA Koneru Konappa.

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Days after five workers fromBengal were gunned down

by terrorists in Jammu &Kashmir, the Mamata BanerjeeGovernment on Mondayensured the return of 138panic-stricken labourers fromthe Valley amid tight security.

Out of 138 labourers whoreturned to Kolkata by JammuTawi Express, five are fromAssam, senior State MinisterFirhad Hakim who receivedthem and escorted them out ofthe Howrah Station said, blam-ing the Centre for the currentsituation.

“They (Centre) have messedup the situation and commonpoor citizens of the country haveto bear the brunt,” he saidadding “Chief Minister MamataBanerjee is feeling relieved afterensuring the return of thelabouers from Bengal who weretrapped in Kashmir.”

The Monday’s develop-ment came a week after ter-rorists at Kulgam district ofJammu and Kashmir shot deadfive workers from Bengal.

“We found them in utterpanic,” Hakim said adding“now at least their family mem-bers will be relieved that theirsons have returned home.”

Echoing him a workerfrom Birbhum said, “now weare feeling relieved to havecome back home. We were

spending sleepless nights inthat State,” adding he wouldnever go to Kashmir again.Another worker from NorthDinajpur said the Army “camein the midnight and took usaway to their camp from wherewe were taken back to Jammu.We are happy that Mamata didihas done so much for us.”

Apart from reserving awhole bogie and escorting thereturnees back to Kolkata theState Government alsoarranged for them breakfastand five buses to ferry them

back to their home towns.When asked about their

earnings in Kashmir one ofthem said “we go there towork as we manage �12,000 to�15,000 every month. Out ofthat almost seventy five percentwe are able to send back home.”

Meanwhile, thousands ofsupporters of TrinamoolCongress Youth Congress onMonday took out a massivecandle light procession protest-ing the killing of Bengali citi-zens in Kashmir and demand-ing Government action to con-

trol the situation in the Valley.Shantanu Sen, a TMC MP

and doctor, who led the pro-cession said “We stronglyprotest against the killing ofgeneral people in Kashmir andthe candle light march is anopinion building measure.”Another leader said “the Centreshould learn from BengalGovernment how to controldisturbance. Mamata Banerjeesuccessfully controlled the sit-uation in Jangalmahal andDarjeeling Hills. The Centreshould take a cue from that.”

Ayodhya: Ahead of theSupreme Court verdict on theAyodhya land dispute case, thelocal administration hasimposed a ban on any eventmarking a “victory” or “mourn-ing” over the judgement.

In a series of restrictions,District Magistrate Anuj KumarJha on Saturday ordered againstthe use of social media to“insult” deities or to installidols and hold processions relat-ed to Ram Janmabhoomi.

He also extended tillDecember 28 the prohibitoryorder issued on October 12,mentioning apprehension ofbreach of peace ahead of theverdict.

The prohibitory order wasearlier imposed till December10. Those violating it would bebooked under Section 188 of theIndian Penal Code (disobedi-

ence of an order by public ser-vant).

The district magistrate hasalso banned hoarding andblack-marketing of ration, cere-als, vegetables, fruits, eggs andedible oils.

According to the order, alltypes of gatherings in privateand public places that couldhamper communal harmonyhave been banned. The districtmagistrate also barred “victorycelebrations” and “mourningprocessions”

“No attempt should beallowed to make any insultingremarks on great personalities,deities and gods on any socialmedia platform such asInstagram, Twitter andWhatsApp. Besides, no instal-lation of idols of any deity willtake place without permissionfrom the district administra-

tion,” the order stated.It said the restrictions were

imposed in view of festivals andother events during this period,including Chhath Puja, KartikPurnima, Chaudhari CharanSingh's birth anniversary, GuruNanak Jayanti, Eid-ul-Miladand Christmas.

The order, which was firstmade public on October 10, hasnow been revised with a set of30 detailed instructions. It hasput a complete ban on anyevent, public programme, pro-cession, rally and wall paintingsrelated to Ramjanmabhoomi.

The order has categorical-ly barred all individuals, exceptgovernment officers, from car-rying licensed weapons, unlesspermission is sought from thedistrict administration.

“No individual will keepacid or any item that compris-

es potent explosive substance orchemical formula. Also, no onewill carry stones, pebbles, bro-ken glass pieces or even emptybottles,” stated the order.

According to it, there wouldalso be a complete ban on anyevent, rally, street-corner meet-ing and cultural programme inthe district during this period.

There is a ban on throwingany non-vegetarian leftovers ata public place. “Besides, no saleor consumption of meat, fishand eggs will take place onKartik Purnima, Chaudahkosiand Panchkosi Parikrama Meladuring this period,” the orderstated.

Chief Justice of IndiaRanjan Gogoi is expected todeliver the verdict in the BabriMasjid-Ram Janmabhoomi landdispute case before his retire-ment on November 17. PTI

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The ongoing internal squab-bles within the bureaucra-

cy of YSR Congress partyGovernment in AndhraPradesh headed by YS JaganMohan Reddy led to the abrupttransfer of Chief Secretary LVSubramanyam on Monday.

Subramanyam was shunt-ed out of his post by the sameIAS officer Praveen Prakash,Principal Secretary (Political)in the Chief Minister’s office(CMO), against whom he hadissued a show cause noticethree days ago.

This is for the first time inthe history of Telugu States orany State that a CS has beentransferred abruptly. Normally,senior IAS officers towards thefag end of their career areappointed as CS and they retirefrom the civil services as CS.

Subramanyam, who is stillleft with five moths servicebefore he retires, was trans-

ferred as director general of APHuman ResourcesDevelopment Institute atBapatla in Guntur district, aninsignificant post for hisstature.

He was asked to handover the charge of chief secre-tary to another senior IAS offi-cer Neerabh Kumar Prasad,chief commissioner of landadministration. A 1983-batchIAS officer, Subramanyam isthe senior most IAS officer inthe State. He was ignored bythe previous TDPGovernment headed by NChandrababu Naidu in theappointment as chief secretary.Naidu preferred Anil KumarPunetha as the CS.

Interestingly, Subramanyamwas appointed as chief secretaryby the Election Commission ofIndia just a week before the LokSabha elections in April. He wasallowed by Jagan to work as thechief secretary because of hisseniority.

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Thiruvananthapuram: KeralaChief Minister Pinarayi Vijayanon Monday said it was not pos-sible for the state to bring in anylegislation to circumvent theSupreme Court verdict per-mitting women of all agegroups into the SabarimalaLord Ayyappa temple.

The apex court verdict ofSeptember 28 last year was notsimilar to that of the rulingrelated to Jallikattu or bullockcart race, he told the stateassembly in response to a ques-tion by the opposition UDF.

“The Supreme Court ver-

dict regarding the Sabarimalawomen entry is the one relat-ed to that of the fundamentalrights. The state government isbound to implement the apexcourt order,” Vijayan said.

The Supreme Court had inSeptember last year paved theway for entry of women of allages into the Ayyappa templeat Sabarimala, lifting the ban onwomen in the age group of 10to 50 from worshipping at theshrine.

A review petition has beenfiled against the September28, 2018 verdict and the top

court is expected to deliver itsorder on it later this month.

Barring women in men-strual age would amount to theviolation of their fundamentalrights and would go against theConstitution, the chief minis-ter said.

As per legal opinionreceived by the StateGovernment, it was not possi-ble to bring in any legislation toget around the verdict, he said.

Those who talk about bring-ing in legislation on Sabarimalawomen entry were “cheating”devotees, he said. PTI

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Mumbai/ Alibag: Five people,including a 3-year-old boy anda father-daughter duo, werekilled and 40 injured when abus fell into a valley on the oldMumbai-Pune highway inMaharashtra early on Mondaymorning, police said.

The mishap took placenear the Amrutanjan bridge inDasturi in Khandala ghat ataround 5 am, said seniorInspector Dhanaji Kshirsagarof Khopoli police station,adding that the bus fell into avalley 30-40 feet deep.

The private bus, carrying47 passengers, was movingfrom Karad in Satara district toMumbai and the accident waspossibly due to the driver los-ing control while navigating theghat stretch, said the official.

“Five people were killedand 40, including the driver,received injuries. They werereturning from Karad postDiwali vacations,” he said

Police identified thedeceased as Sarvadnya SachinThorat (3) from Karad, SnehaJanardhan Patil (15) and herfather Janardhan RamchandraPatil (42) from Ghatkopar inMumbai, Sanjay Shivaji Rakshe(50) from Powai and PramilaRamchandra Mohite (50) fromKarad.

The injured have beenadmitted in NagarpalikaHospital in Khopoli, LokmanyaHospital in Pune, PavanaHospital in Talegav and MGMHospital in Navi Mumbai. PTI

Itanagar: The ConsultativeCommittee on CitizenshipAmendment Bill (CAB) set upby the Arunachal PradeshGovernment on Monday heldan all-party meeting thatvowed to protect the rights ofthe state's indigenous people.

Held under the chair-manship of Home MinisterBamang Felix, the meetingwas attended by representa-tives of six political parties -the BJP, Congress, NPP, JD(U),PPA and the JD(S), besides allmembers of the committee,an official release said here.

The parties pledged toprotect the indigenous peo-ple's rights and shared theiropinions on the CAB whileFelix requested them to sub-mit their views in writing tothe member secretary of theconsultative committee at theearliest.

The nine-member panelwould meet communitybased organisations and stu-dents' unions on Tuesdayand Wednesday respectively,

the home minister said.Felix said the views offered

by various stakeholders wouldbe taken into considerationbefore finalising the commit-tee's recommendations to besubmitted to the state govern-ment, the release said.

The recommendationswill be based on the provisionsof the Constitution and vari-ous laws and rules that protectthe interests of indigenouspeople of the State. PTI

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Recently, Congress leader PriyankaGandhi Vadra claimed that SardarVallabhbhai Patel was a dedicat-ed Congress leader and a closeassociate of former Prime

Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. She also mockedat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for try-ing to appropriate the Sardar’s legacy.

Priyanka Gandhi is not the first from herparty to shower encomiums on SardarPatel and question the legitimacy of the BJPto celebrate his life. Many others have donethis over the last five years but it appears tobe a case of too little, too late because nobodyis buying this line. The reasons why theCongress’ present-day claims vis-a-vis theSardar sound hollow are many but there isone prime explanation – the insecurity andpettiness of the Nehru-Gandhis since thedays of Nehru. But before we address thisissue, let’s take a brief look at the extraordi-nary achievements of the unifier of India.

Sardar Patel is hailed as the Bismarck ofIndia because he took upon himself theunenviable task of integrating over 560princely States, who had the option duringIndia’s Independence day to remain indepen-dent or join Pakistan or India. Even if a fewof these princes had exercised the first twooptions, the unification of India would havebeen in doubt.

For example, the Nizam of Hyderabadand the Nawab of Junagadh decided toaccede to Pakistan and the ruler of Bhopalwanted to proclaim independence. Patelcoaxed, cajoled and when necessary, pres-surised these princes to fall in line. But forhis cool determination and single-mindedcommitment to the unification of the coun-try, the idea of India would never have takenoff. The India, which woke up to freedomin August 1947, would have been in tatters.Therefore, we owe our geographical andpolitical unity to Patel. He achieved this stu-pendous task despite failing health and hedied on December 15, 1950.

Let us take the Kashmir issue. WhileNehru was dilly-dallying and wonderingwhat to do, Sardar Patel got the Maharaja ofthe former State to sign the Instrument ofAccession and took a firm stand to fly outthe first contingent of troops to Srinagar onOctober 27, 1947, a day after it was signed.

Such was the situation that the thenGovernment was not sure whether this air-craft could land at the Srinagar airportbecause hordes of Pakistani infiltrators hadmoved into the former State. Luckily, the firstbatch of soldiers was able to land and securethe airport for the arrival of several morecontingents. The Indian Army then fannedout and re-captured many of the townsseized by the Pakistanis.

Meanwhile, even as the Army kept dri-ving out the intruders, Nehru took the fate-ful decision to move the United Nations, thusinternationalising the issue.

In fact, there is much more to the per-sonality of Sardar Patel than just being a

“man of steel.” He was a disci-plined soldier of the Congress,probably much more disciplinedthan Nehru because of the extra-ordinary sacrifice he made in1946. That year, the Congresshad to elect its new chief, whowould also become independentIndia’s first Prime Minister. TheAll India Congress Committeecalled for nominations fromthe 15 Pradesh CongressCommittees. Twelve of themvoted for Sardar Patel, whileother committees voted fornone. Thus, Nehru did not getthe support of a single PradeshCongress Committee. Despitethis, he made it known toMahatma Gandhi that he wouldnot play second fiddle to anyone.Gandhi, for reasons best knownto him, wanted Nehru as PrimeMinister and asked Sardar Patelto step down. Patel obliged.This was indeed a huge sacrificefor the sake of the unity of theCongress.

Since the Congress func-tioned like a private limitedcompany, owned and controlledby the Nehru-Gandhis, it dideverything since 1947 to belittlethe contributions of party lead-ers not belonging to this familyand exaggerating the achieve-ments of those who belonged toit. Although Nehru is hailed asa great democrat, this process

began in his lifetime itself.Among those who fell victim tothis family’s attempt to obliter-ate the great achievements ofothers were Sardar Patel, BRAmbedkar, Subhash ChandraBose, Lal Bahadur Shastri andmany others, including PVNarasimha Rao, one of thegreatest Prime Ministers Indiahas produced.

Sardar Patel gave us a uni-fied India yet Nehru did notconfer the Bharat Ratna on himafter it was instituted in 1954.Instead, Nehru gave it to him-self in 1955. Again, formerPrime Minister Indira Gandhigave herself the Bharat Ratna in1971 and it was conferredposthumously on Rajiv Gandhiin 1991 but none of them con-sidered either Sardar Patel orAmbedkar, who were worthy ofthe nation’s highest honour.

Finally, it was left to non-Congress Governments toaccord this honour to these twogreat Indians.

Nehru also ordered theUnion Government officers notto attend Sardar Patel’s funeralin Bombay in December 1950.

Similarly, the family wasmost unnerved by the phe-nomenal popularity andachievements of two PrimeMinisters — Lal BahadurShastri, who led the country to

victory in the India-Pakistan warof 1965 and PV Narasimha Rao,who between 1991 and 1996,ended militancy in Punjab andbailed out India, which wassinking into an unknown eco-nomic abyss after having mort-gaged gold to the Bank ofEngland for just $200 million.When he demitted office, India’sforeign exchange reserves stoodat over $50 billion. He was alsothe chief of the Congress for fiveyears. Yet, when he died in2004, “The Family” orderedthat Rao’s body would not enterthe premises of the party’sheadquarters on Akbar Road.

Fortunately, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s decision tobuild the world’s tallest statue forSardar Patel in Kevadia inGujarat and his efforts toenlighten the people have turnedthe focus on Patel’s huge contri-bution.

The people are also nowacquainted with the pettinessand cunning displayed by asingle political family over sevendecades to mask the achieve-ments of the “iron man ofIndia.” Try as they might, theycan never retrieve him becausehe now dwells in the hearts of abillion grateful people.

(The writer is an author spe-cialising in democracy studies.Views expressed are personal.)

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Sir — The President of Indiaissued a notification that the mapof the country had been redrawnto depict the newly-formed UnionTerritories (UT) of Jammu &Kashmir (J&K) and Ladakh.

But the big question is, will theUnited Nations (UN) recognisethis new political map of J&K andLadakh UTs? As it is China is notfalling for Indian assurances on theLine of Actual Control (LAC)and is interpreting the bifurcationas a challenge to Aksai Chin andits China-Pakistan EconomicCorridor in Pakistan-occupiedKashmir (PoK). Pakistan hasalready refused to accept the newmap and China is sure to counterit its own version. Another roundof pow-wow awaits.

Bidyut Kumar ChatterjeeFaridabad

�� ����������� Sir — This, refers to the report“Delhi pollution 3-year high”(November 4). A week after Diwali,Delhi’s Air Quality Index shot upto 625 on Sunday, the highest levelit has touched in three years.Twenty-one of the 37 air quality

monitoring stations recorded theAQI between 490 and 500 with airquality sensors at Aya Nagar,Ashok Vihar, Anand Vihar andAurobindo Marg peaking at 7

pm. In the National CapitalRegion, Faridabad with AQI (493),Noida (494), Ghaziabad (499) andGreater Noida (488), Gurugram(479), residents choked on toxic air.

A public health emergency hasalready been declared in thenational Capital and people arecomplaining of breathing prob-lems. Even 37 flights were divert-

ed due to the heavy smog.However, even as the citizens con-tinue to suffer, the DelhiGovernment and the CentralGovernment are indulging in ablame-game. It’s sad that whensomething as fundamental as thehealth of our children and theelderly is at stake, we are bickeringirresponsibly. The Governmentshould devise a more robust, per-manent solution to tackle theproblem of pollution, just like theUS and China.

T Anwar Bengaluru

�����������������Sir —The present crisis of govern-ment formation in Maharashtra isa sad reminder of a similar episodein Karnataka and is indicative ofthe malice that has penetrated ourpolitics. Politicians don’t seem tobother either about their ideologyor negating the verdict of theelectorate. As such hoisting on thepeople a Chief Minister from apolitical party with minimumseats is becoming a norm thanexception.

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The trans-community is not happy with theTransgender Persons (Protection of Rights)Bill, 2019 and some of its provisions are being

widely debated, criticised and opposed by it. “Somemay see it as positive socio-cultural change but thelegal aspect of this Bill is bad,” says Anirudh Gupta,an activist and member of the trans-community.Is the Government listening to these voices?

What has majorly upset the trans-communi-ty is that the Bill was drafted without taking anyinputs from it and there are many loopholes thatneed to be plugged.

The right to self-identification: The mainconcern of the community is that the Bill doesn’tgrant it the right to determine gender. Instead, itsmembers have to present their cases before aDistrict Magistrate (DM) to get certified as a trans-gender. Prior to applying for an identification cer-tificate, the Bill mandates them to secure a med-ical certificate from the area’s Chief Medical Officerconfirming their orientation. This, the communi-ty believes, is in gross violation of the 2014 SupremeCourt verdict in the National Legal ServicesAuthority vs Union of India case. The ruling haddirected the Central Government to allow trans-genders to determine their own gender irrespec-tive of hormonal or surgical interventions. This isalso contrary to another provision of the Bill thatthey would have the right of self-identification.

Shanthi Muniswamy, a member of the com-munity, says, “How can a screening committee beauthorised to confirm whether or not I am a trans-gender? The lawmakers should be sensitive. Whatif they need to prove their genders to officers andconfirm it with a certificate? There is no such lawfor a male and female. Then, is it justified to makeit a rule for the third gender?”

No room for appeal or review after rejectionby the DM: As per the Bill, if the DM refuses toacknowledge the medical certificate, the appellantwill not get the certificate of identification. Theapplication will not be reviewed after that. The factthat the petitioners will not have any forum toappeal to has the trans-community up in arms. Thisprovision is unjust to an extent where it will notonly deprive these individuals of their basicrights but even their identity. The trans-commu-nity has fought this battle of identity since birthand hasn’t succumbed to societal pressure. But asthis battle goes legal, its members will legally haveto live with the same situation and same identityfor the rest of their lives. Lawmakers need toacknowledge the fact that the rejection of a per-son not being a transgender can be due to sever-al reasons, including corruption and medical neg-ligence. In all legal matters, the Constitution accordsevery person the right to appeal to higher author-ities and even to the Supreme Court (SC). TheGovernment assigns a public prosecutor foralleged criminals. So the question arises why thisbasic right is being denied to the third gender?

If this Bill is for the emancipation of transgen-ders, then why are their basic rights differing fromthat of other citizens on the basis of gender? Thisin a way, violates Article 15 of the IndianConstitution, which prohibits discrimination ongrounds of race, caste, sex or place of birth.

Sex work is an issue which the Bill fails toaddress: Isn’t sex work a harsh reality of our soci-ety? The streets of Central Delhi at midnight areflooded with sex workers, including transgenders.The Government has failed to address this issue.

The extent of exploitation of transgen-ders in this trade is beyond imagination.They are beaten up, sexually assaultedand thrown into the streets. Their com-plaints are barely registered in such casesas a transgender getting molested orraped is not something that society wantsto accept.

A major explanation of this negationby society lies in the argument that thesex trade is exploitative, irrespective ofthe gender. But when we talk of womenin prostitution and rehabilitating them,then why aren’t we talking and thinkingabout transgenders the very same way?How can there be such a stark demar-cation of exploitation and brutalitybased on gender? Have we found a newcategory that we can discriminate? It isimportant to accept that trans people aremarginalised in layers. More than a meredrafting of a Bill, the Government needsto empower transgenders economicallyand socially.

Discrimination over the com-plaints of sexual harassment betweenwomen and transgenders: TheTransgender Persons (Protection ofRights Bill), 2019 states the period ofpunishment for sexual harassment andassault on a transgender to be sixmonths which can exceed up to two yearsin prison with penalty. A period of oneto five years is the least imprisonmentwhen the same cases are lodged for anassault on a woman.The punishment forsexual assault, harassment and bondedlabour is comparatively stringent incase of heterosexuals as compared totransgenders.

Definition of family: The Bill does-n’t recognise hijra households where theyall feel protected and find a sense ofbelonging. The Bill defines a family as agroup of people related by blood, mar-

riage or adoption. The community doesnot find this in consonance with the real-ity of their lives, where trans-children aremostly abandoned and disowned at atender age. Grace Banu, a transgenderwoman from Tamil Nadu, said “that myfamily got me admitted in an asylum afterknowing about my gender.” Since then,she herself has adopted seven trans-kids.Stories like these are neither rare norunreal. Therefore, how can the definitionof the family be so unreal and incom-plete?

Awareness in households, publicoffices, educational institutes, hospitalsand police stations: Despite making lawsand drafting Bills, there have been anumber of cases where transgenders havebeen harassed and discriminated inGovernment institutions.

The case of Shanavi Ponnusamy, atrans woman from Tamil Nadu, comesto mind. She was allegedly denied the jobof cabin crew by Air India despite clear-ing the exam. Another widely knowncase is of K Prithika Yashini, the firsttranswoman Sub-Inspector in India. Ittook an order from the Madras HighCourt for the Tamil Nadu RecruitmentBoard to appoint her.

Unfortunately we have a huge num-ber of cases like these where the basicopportunities of education and livelihoodof the transgenders have been ques-tioned. Therefore, there is a huge demandof sensitisation in all walks of public andprivate sphere.

The question arises, Are theMinisters themselves ready for this Bill?Why is this issue being discussed amidsome or the other scuffle? The historyof this Bill reflects the loopholes everysingle time it is drafted. The TransgenderPersons (Protection of Rights) 2018consisted of many lacuna such as illog-

ical and narrow defining of the transgen-der which was, “Somebody as not nei-ther wholly male nor wholly female.” Itcriminalised begging on the streetsexclusively for the transgenders. TheNational Council for TransgenderPersons was to have a psychiatrist in thepanel along with the DM. How then arethe Government and the so-called pol-icy makers any different from any otherill-informed person, who sees it as a men-tal illness which is to be treated by a psy-chiatrist. If the aim is to pass a Bill justfor the sake of having another law in thecountry, then it will face the same fate asmany other pre-existing laws. Forinstance, despite decriminalisation ofArticle 377, recently RasikaGopalkrishnan and Shivani Singh, twofemales in their early twenties, werethrown out of a Chennai hotel late atmidnight for holding hands and hugging.It is one of the trillion examples of theflawed implementation of laws.

This subsidiary and secondaryapproach towards deliberating and draft-ing a Bill for transgenders will result ina half-hearted implementation, leadingto forged data and stereotypes. It is cru-cial to realise that rights and justice havelately been denied to the “Third Gender”despite being recognised in 2014. It ishigh time for the Government to pay therequired attention while deliberating therights of these individuals. This is a mat-ter of identity, life, right and fight of ahuge part of society. The realisation thatit is not just any other issue will help theGovernment in taking all concerns intoaccount which will ensure better possi-bilities of the law being implemented onthe ground.

(The writer is post graduate scholar,Department of Political Science, Universityof Delhi)

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As the sun sets, a child jingles afew coins in his tiny hands,which are his earnings for

working 14 hours straight at a Delhi-based bangle manufacturing unit. Ithas been just a few months since hemoved to Delhi, with a bhaiyya(brother) from his village. Little didhe know that his bhaiyya had deviseda cunning ploy to push him into thedark and dingy world of child labour.Confined to the factory, he would toilall day and through the night to makebangles that would one day adorn thearms of women.

This is the story of Ashiq, aneight-year-old boy from the hinter-lands of Bihar, and that of thousandsof children like him, who are traf-ficked every year and forced to liveand unlawfully work in deplorableconditions. Among the children whoare rescued from bonded labour, traf-ficking and abuse, trauma is often adominant factor impacting theirdecisions, making them unsociableand aloof, even after being freed andrepatriated. The stigma associatedwith being rehabilitated often push-

es the children to believe that theyhave committed a crime. Their cop-ing mechanism fails to help them re-integrate with other children in thecommunity and they often end upgrowing into dysfunctional adults.

In the past decades, however,organisations, Government andNGOs have been working diligentlyat the grassroots with an aim to intro-duce mechanisms that would notonly ensure full protection of therights of children working as labour-ers in brick kilns, circuses, textile fac-tories, bangle factories and the car-pet industry but also help in rebuild-ing their lives.

A Nobel Peace Prize for India in2014 for fighting for the rights of chil-dren and youth was an importantturning point. Apart from the pub-licity that the movement receivedbecause of the award bestowed uponKailash Satyarthi, this period was alsomarked by a significant step forwardin the field of protection of childrights by way of improving andamending the existing child protec-tion laws such as the Juvenile Justice

Act, the POCSO Act and other pro-visions that support children in dis-tress. These amendments have furtherhelped a great deal towards creatinga safer environment for children insome communities while others stillremain vulnerable to incidences oftrafficking, forced labour and sexu-al abuse.

Currently, under the Child andAdolescent Labour (Prohibition andRegulation Act) 1986, children res-cued from labour may receive mon-etary benefits from the Governmentof up to �15,000, in addition to theirback wages. If the children are foundto have been bonded in their employ-ment, there are additional provisionsfor benefits of up to �3,00,000 underthe Central Sector Scheme for theRehabilitation of Bonded Labourers,2016. The nature of the rehabilitationsupport available today is plainlyfinancial, and the funds rationed bythe Government for providing for thesurvivors of child labour fall short byalmost 60 per cent.

When the rescued children arereunited with their families, they are

often looked down upon by their par-ents and society. Not only this, theemployers also threaten the parents.They are often made to believe thatbeing rescued means getting caughtand the child is responsible for theloss of income. For impoverished par-ents and children, this translatesinto direct pressure and they give into the threats of the employers. Insuch situations, factors such as delayin receiving compensation, lack ofawareness among parents about theavenues open for their children,social stigma and lack of communi-ty support, unavailability of educa-tional and vocational opportunities,poverty and the family’s lack ofaccess to social security schemesforces them to re-enter the world oftrafficking and slavery.

Since it’s known that the vulner-ability of a potential victim stemsfrom the lack of a feeling of security,it’s really important that the child isempowered and safe, once backhome. A comprehensive rehabilita-tion process must be implementedthrough a series of interventions that

span mental, social, psychological,physical, aptitudinal and scholasticgrowth of the children.

With a goal to offer proper reha-bilitation, shelter homes have been setup across the country that offer sup-port to survivors of the heinouscrimes of trafficking and forcedlabour. Many shelter homes also runprogrammes to provide immediatecare and protection to rescued chil-dren.

Rehabilitation programmes haveto be more efficient than the short-term solutions that focus only on pro-viding immediate care and support.There should be a pragmaticapproach towards designing pro-grammes with realistic time-framesthat must replace the current short-term yet seemingly never-endingprocesses. A comprehensive rehabil-itation policy that addresses the cur-rent challenges must be introduced.Besides this, efforts must be made totrain the stakeholders for effectiveimplementation of laws related tochild rights and protection. There isalso a need for comprehensive

research since there is hardly any doc-umentation on ideal rehabilitationpractices. An advocacy campaignmust be launched to ensure allocationof adequate funds for effective reha-bilitation of children. To operate ona scale as big as required, adoption oftechnology to efficiently deliver ser-vices is imperative.

The need of the hour is to makeconcerted efforts at the district levelin order to create maximum impact.District-level centres should be madewith facilities such as hostels, whereapart from lodging, a holistic learn-ing environment is provided to chil-dren. It is equally important to pro-vide counselling resources to parents.Awareness-building initiatives arealso necessary in order to ensure thatthe activities of agents are monitored.A lot of this work can be executedthrough consultants and volunteersoperating at the panchayat, block anddistrict level in partnership with thelocal administration. This will notonly help us research the issues in-depth but also get to the root causesof child trafficking and the mindsets

that cause problems in proper reha-bilitation.

Today, after years of continuous-ly learning about the problems facedby children, we have developedinsights in fields that not only direct-ly impact their protection and devel-opment but also provide a con-ducive environment for growth. Wehave greater understanding of howdeep-rooted the problems are. TheBal Mitra Grams’ participation-basedmodels have thrown up results.

It has taken India years to recog-nise the effects of child labour andgive at least some attention it reallydeserves. The significant reforms inthe child rights and protection poli-cies have been pivotal in the fightagainst child labour. However, we stillneed greater collective effort to beempathetic towards children in need.This would certainly secure thefuture generations. They are morethan capable of striking gold out ofwhatever they get.

(The writer is former Chairperson,Bihar State Commission for Protectionof Child Rights)

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Housing sales declined 9.5per cent during July-

September period across ninemajor cities to 52,855 units onlow demand as economic slow-down and liquidity crisisweighed on buyer sentiment, aPropEquity report said.

This is the fourth suchreport that has shown fall inhousing sales during the thirdquarter of the 2019 calendaryear.

PropTiger and Anarock,which are a major brokeragefirms in housing segment, havereported 25 per cent and 18 percent fall in housing sales,respectively, during July-September period. Real estateconsultant JLL India, which isa dominant player in leasing ofcommercial properties, sawone per cent decline.

According to data analyt-ics firm PropEquity, housingsales stood at 52,855 units dur-ing July-September 2019, down9.5 per cent from 58,461 unitsin the year-ago period.

“Demand has been defi-nitely impacted in the lastquarter with buyers delayingtheir decisions,” Samir Jasuja,founder and managing directorat PropEquity said.

“The downtrend observedwas mainly due to the eco-nomic slow down as well as theliquidity crisis in the market,”the report said.

PropEquity said that real

estate market is currently anend user-driven market withcustomers preferring ready tomove-in or nearing completionproperties.

“Furthermore, consumersare now looking for developerswith excellent track records interms of quality and execution,”it added.

New launches too fell 24per cent to 32,834 units. Unsoldhousing stocks came down to6,01,785 units from 6,21,806units at the end of June quar-ter. As per the PropEquitydata, housing sales fell in sevencities and increased only in twocities.

Chennai saw the maxi-mum fall of 25 per cent inhousing sales at 3,060 unitsduring July-September 2019as against 4,080 units in theyear-ago period.

Housing sales dropped 22per cent in Mumbai to 5,063units from 6,491 units, followed

by Hyderabad that saw 16 percent decline to 4,257 unitsfrom 5,067 units.

Kolkata witnessed a 12 percent fall in sales to 3,069 unitsfrom 3,487 units, while Noidasaw 11 per cent decline to 990units from 1,112 units.

Sales in Bengaluru, too,went down by 9 per cent to9,843 units from 10,816 units.Thane saw 9 per cent dip insales to 10,714 units from11,773 units.

However, Gurugram wit-nessed 7 per cent rise in salesto 1,190 units from 1,112 flatsand Pune saw one per centincrease to 14,669 units from14,523 apartments during theperiod under review.

PropEquity, which isowned by PE Analytics, is anonline subscription based realestate data and analytics plat-form covering over 1,15,225projects of 32,745 developersacross over 44 cities in India.

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Infosys on Monday said it isyet to receive any evidence to

corroborate anonymouswhistleblowers’ complaints thatalleged unethical practices bythe company’s top manage-ment.

“With respect to theanonymous complaints, there isno prima facie evidence thatthe company has received untildate to corroborate any of theallegations made,” Infosys toldthe National Stock Exchange.

On October 24, the NSEsought clarification from the ITmajor on the whistleblowers’allegations and why the com-pany had not disclosed thesame to the exchanges.

In its response, the compa-ny said the audit committee hasalready engaged law firm,Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas& Co, to investigate the matter,and had also started consulta-tions with an independentinternal auditor, Ernst & Young.The independent internal audi-tor was given a mandate toreview certain processes onthe basis of the allegation in theanonymous complaints.

“... Given the circumstancesat this stage, where there iscomplete absence of primafacie evidence and the anony-mous complaints are still underinvestigation, the company isnot in a position to determinethe concreteness, credibilityand materiality of the anony-mous complaints,” Infosysnoted. The company also said

it would keep stock exchangesinformed about the matter onthe basis of the findings of theinvestigation.

Shares of Infosys rose 3.23per cent to close at Rs 710.10apiece on the NSE.

In October, Infosysinformed the stock exchangesof having received anonymouswhistleblowers’ complaintsalleging certain unethical prac-tices by the top management.

Infosys Chairman NandanNilekani had said the whistle-blower complaint datedSeptember 20 as well as anundated complaint had beenreceived by one of the boardmembers on September 30.

In the letter, datedSeptember 20 and signed by‘Ethical Employees’, it wasalleged that CEO Salil Parikh aswell as Chief Financial OfficerNilanjan Roy engaged in forcedrevenue recognition from large

contracts not adhering toaccounting standards.

The complaints wereplaced before the audit com-mittee on October 10, and tothe company’s non-executiveboard members on October 11,also the day when Infosysannounced its second quarterresults.

US market regulator SEChas also initiated a probe on thematter, while Rosen Law Firmhad said it was preparing a classaction lawsuit to recover loss-es suffered by Infosys investorsin the US.

Back home, the Securitiesand Exchange Board of India(Sebi) had sought additionalinformation from the compa-ny, while the National FinancialReporting Authority (NFRA),part of the corporate affairsministry, — is looking intoalleged accounting lapses at thefirm.

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Some vendors of BSNL andMTNL are mulling to move

insolvency pleas against thestate-run firms for non-pay-ment of dues, estimated to bearound �20,000 crore, a seniorindustry body executive said onMonday.

The pending payments areagainst the supply of telecomgear and other goods to BSNLand MTNL as well as �45,000-crore rural broadband projectBharatNet, PHD Chamber ofCommerce TelecomCommittee chairman SandeepAggarwal told PTI.

“The total pending pay-ment of BSNL and MTNLvendors is around �20,000crore. Banks have startedputting pressure on vendors toclear their dues. All vendorswill jointly stage a protest onNovember 19. If payments arenot made within 10 days there-after, they will approach NCLTfor liquidation of BSNL andMTNL,” Aggarwal claimed.

Email queries sent to BSNLand MTNL over the pendingdues of vendors remainedunanswered till the filing of thestory.

The Telecom ExportPromotion Council on October31, 2019, wrote to the admin-istrator of Universal ServiceObligation Fund (USOF) topay long-pending dues ofaround �2,000 crore to variousvendors. USOF manages the

BharatNet project. These vendors include

Sterlite Technologies (�500 croredue), Tejas Networks (�314crore), HFCL (�219 crore),Paramount Wires and Cables(�168 crore), VNL (�150 crore)etc, according to the letter.

In a letter to telecom min-ister Ravi Shankar Prasad,Paramount said its bankers arepressuring the company toclear their dues at the earliest.

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Representatives of someemployee unions and offi-

cer associations of BSNL andMTNL met Telecom MinisterRavi Shankar Prasad onMonday and offered their fullsupport to the relief package,VRS and asset monetisationplans announced by the gov-ernment recently, sources said.

It may be recalled that thegovernment last month hadapproved a plum �69,000 crorerevival package for BSNL andMTNL that includes mergingthe two loss-making firms,monetising their assets andgiving VRS to employees sothat the combined entity turnsprofitable in two years.

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Australian Prime MinisterScott Morrison on Monday

said the door will remain “wideopen” for India to join the 16-nation RegionalComprehensive EconomicPartnership (RCEP) if itdecides to do so, as the otherswere on board in finalising thedeal without New Delhi.

Morrison and TradeMinister Simon Birminghamare in Bangkok to discuss theRCEP during the ASEANsummit.

The possible delay in firm-ing up the RCEP during thethree-day summit in the Thaicapital has been attributed toIndia’s “new demands” on mar-ket access, and tariff relatedissues. India has been forcefullyraising the issue of market

access as well as protected listsof goods mainly to shield itsdomestic market as there havebeen fears that the country maybe flooded with cheap Chineseagricultural and industrialproducts once it signs the deal.

“The door will always beopen to India,” Morrison wasquoted as saying by theAustralian Associated Press(AAP). He also said that thedeal would be bigger and bet-ter with India in it.

“It has always been ourview, and the view of manywho sit around the table, thatthis is a bigger and better dealwith India in it,” Morrisonsaid.

“I think patience is thevirtue in this,” he added.

When finalised, the RCEPwould become the world’slargest free trade area, com-prising half of the world pop-ulation and will account fornearly 40 per cent of the glob-al commerce and 35 per cent ofthe GDP.

The RCEP includes the 10ASEAN states — Indonesia,Malaysia, the Philippines,Singapore, Thailand, Brunei,Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar andCambodia — along withChina, India, Japan, SouthKorea, Australia and NewZealand.

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State-owned Life InsuranceCorporation (LIC) on

Monday permitted its policy-holders to revive their lapsedpolicies of over 2 years, a movethat will help improve persis-tency ratio.

The policies that havelapsed for more than two yearsand were not allowed to berevived earlier can also berevived now, LIC said in a state-ment.

After the Irdai Product

Regulation 2013, which cameinto effect from January 1,2014, revival period wasrestricted to two consecutiveyears from the date of firstunpaid premium, during whichthe policyholder is entitled to revive policywhich was discontinued due tonon-payment of premium, itsaid.

Earlier, all policies takenafter January 1, 2014 could notbe revived if they remained inlapsed condition for a periodexceeding two years.

New Delhi: Passengers flyingIndiGo faced long queuesacross airports on Mondaymorning after the airline’s serv-er collapsed.

“Our systems have beendown across the network sincemorning. As a result, we areexpecting our operations to beimpacted across the airports.All efforts are being made toresolve the issue at the earliest,”the airline said in a statement.

The largest carrier by fleetsize and market share, IndiGosaid it was proactively inform-ing passengers about the situ-ation. The airline offers close to1,500 daily flights and connects60 domestic destinations and23 international destinations. Ithas a fleet of around 245 aircraft. IANS

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Petrol prices dropped forthe fourth consecutive day

across the four metros onMonday, while diesel pricesalso registered a decline after atwo-day break. Petrol prices inDelhi, Mumbai and Chennaiwere reduced by nine paise perlitre, while in Kolkata there wasa reduction of eight paise perlitre. Diesel prices, on the otherhand, were reduced by fivepaise in Delhi, three paise inKolkata and Mumbai, and twopaise per litre in Chennai.

According to the IndianOil website, petrol prices inDelhi, Kolkata, Mumbai andChennai have come down to�72.65, �75.37, �78.33 and �75per litre respectively.

New York: McDonald’s chiefexecutive officer has beenpushed out of the companyafter violating company policyby engaging in a consensualrelationship with an employee,the corporation said.

The fast food giant onSunday said former presidentand CEO Steve Easterbrookdemonstrated poor judgment,and that McDonald’s forbidsmanagers from having roman-tic relationships with direct orindirect subordinates.

In an email to employees,Easterbrook acknowledged hehad a relationship with anemployee and said it was a mis-take.

“Given the values of thecompany, I agree with theboard that it is time for me tomove on,” Easterbrook said inthe email. AP

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The Reserve Bank onMonday issued compensa-

tion guidelines for whole-timedirectors and chief executivesof foreign, private, smallfinance, payments banks andlocal area banks mandatingthe cash component of variablepay at 67 per cent.

Banks should continue toformulate and adopt a com-prehensive compensation pol-icy covering all their employ-ees and conduct annualreviews, RBI said, adding thenew guidelines will be effectivenect April.

The regulator said if thevariable pay is up to 200 per-cent of the fixed pay, at least 50percent of it should be in non-cash, and if the variable pay isabove 200 per cent, 67 percent

of it should be paid via non-cash instruments.

It also wants banks to claw-back the non-variable pay com-ponents if there is divergencein provisioning for NPAs orasset classification exceeds theprescribed threshold for pub-lic disclosure.

“The policy should coverall aspects of the compensationstructure such as fixed pay,perquisites, performancebonuses, guaranteed bonuses,severance package, share-linked instruments likeemployee stock option plans,pension plans, and gratuity,”RBI said in a notification.

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The Bombay High Court onMonday sought to know

from the Reserve Bank of Indiawhat steps it has taken to pro-tect the interests of depositorsof the crisis-hit Punjab andMaharashtra Cooperative(PMC) Bank.

A division bench of JusticesS C Dharmadhikari and R IChagla was hearing a bunch ofpetitions filed by the bankdepositors, challenging restric-tions imposed by the RBI onwithdrawals.

On September 23, the RBIimposed regulatory restric-tions on the PMC Bank for sixmonths over alleged financialirregularities. The withdrawallimit for account holders wasinitially �1,000 per each cus-tomer for six months, whichwas later raised to �10,000and then to �40,000.

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In the wake of urbanisation and modernisation although weare making our lives comfortable, at the same time our health

is being affected the most. The air that we breathe is laden witha layer of poisonous pollutants and gases to an extent that it isposing risk to our lungs and is causing serious damage to therespiratory tracts. And result is rise in cases of asthma and pro-gression in respiratory ailments like chronic obstructive pul-monary disease (COPD). Various studies have revealed that thesituation of air we inhale is as bad as smoking some 40 cigarettesin a day!

In fact, it is predicted to be the third most common causeof death and fifth most common cause of disability globally by2020. And if we go by WHO estimates, approximately 80 mil-lion people are battling moderate to severe COPD these days.

It is exposure to such micro-particles emitted from vehicu-lar emissions, wide scale industrialisation, construction activi-ties and exhaust coming from cars which is a mixture of com-bustion gases and ultra fine particles coated with organic com-pounds that result into obstructive airway disease like COPD.The moment these particles enter our respiratory tracts, thesepollutants can activate an inflammatory cascade that results insevere damage to our lungs.

Earlier the problem was prevalent among elderly, smokersor was confined to rural areas where use of gobar gas and bio-mass was making things worse as people were exposed to fumes

from burning fuel for cookingand heating in poorly ventilat-ed spaces. But now due to vari-ous kinds of pollutants, soot andcarbon particles in the air whichis aided by changing weatherand smog is affecting the peoplein the city.

COPD primarily destroyslungs but along with causingbreathing problems and lunginfections, it can even lead tovarious heart problems and cancause a stroke. In fact, it hasbecome a multi organ diseasewhere all organs including ourbones get affected.

Now that we know the causeof Chronic ObstructivePulmonary Disease (COPD)which is characterised by nar-

rowing of the airways, it is important to understand how the dis-ease affects our health. In larger airways, the inflammatoryresponse is referred to as chronic bronchitis. At times it may evenlead to destruction of tissues lining our lung’s passage and causeemphysema — a long-term and progressive disease of lungs.

Treatment: Much of the treatment for COPD includes thingsthat one can do to manage the disease on their own. Howeverthe medicines prescribed to treat COPD can be for long termduration as these help to prevent/relieve symptoms. If you area patient of COPD, make sure you don’t skip or discontinue med-icines without consulting your doctor. Also, there is lack of aware-ness about non-invasive ventilation (NIV) treatment for COPDdespite the fact that it reduces respiratory distress and risk of deathconsiderably. A patient in moderate or advanced stages of COPDcan be treated with an NIV machine, which aids in bringing downthe carbon dioxide level in the blood thereby enabling the patientsto breathe normally.

Stay Indoors: Stay away from smoke and air pollution. Eventhough you quit smoking, it’s important to avoid places whereothers smoke because passive smoking can be equally harmfulfor the health of your lungs.

Keep your indoors smoke-free. Keep hydrated.Eat a healthy diet.

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������� The turnip is awhite, fleshy taproot. It

has a variety of healthbenefits and nutritionalvalues. It has high levels ofantioxidants andphytochemicals, whichreduce the risk of cancer. Italso has glucosinolates,which prevents as well asreduces the effect of cancer.

Turnips possess great anti-inflammatory propertiesdue to the presence of largeamount of Vitamin K.These help in preventingheart attacks, heart strokesand other heart ailments.Turnip greens aid indigestion by absorbingmore amount of bilewhich uses up the choles-terol present in the body.This results in the reduction of

cholesterol.The anti-inflammatory

properties can be attributed totheir high content of VitaminC which is a powerful antiox-idant. It also plays an impor-tant role in the proper func-tioning of the body’s immunesystem. The beta-carotene con-tent in turnips helps the body

in producinghealthy mem-branes.

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If you live in Delhi-NCR, there’s morebad news in store for

you. A whopping 41 percent of the Delhi-NCR pop-ulation are found to be suffering fromsevere heavy metal toxicity, according toa survey conducted by Daivam Wellness.

The shocking findings suggestextremely high levels of air and soil pol-lution, food contamination, plastic usageetc in the region.

Out of 165 patients, 68 patients werefound positive for some kind of severemetal toxicity. Metals like aluminium,mercury, lead, arsenic, and cadmium werethe most commonly found metals in thesepatients.

Before you wonder, apocalyptic pol-lution is seen as the major reason forincreasing metal toxicity in human body.The reason these findings are more thana cause for worry is because they can eas-ily stimulate multiple organ damage andlead to serious health issues.

The survey that was done over a peri-od of 6 months, from May 2019 toOctober 2019 covering people from agegroup of 20 to 65 years, has now sparkedoff a scare.

Health horrors like cancer too canresult from this. It may even result in con-genital defects and adverse pregnancies.Such high levels of metals in the humanbody can also lead to chronic kidney dis-eases, multiple sclerosis, arthritis, cardiacdiseases, infertility and epilepsy.

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Healthy lungs are criti-cial for our body asthey supply the much

needed oxygen. But the pre-sent situation in some cities inNorth India is such thatall one can do isbreathe the toxicair. However,there are a fewhome remediesthat one can fol-low to breatheeasy and reducethe harmfuleffects of the pol-luted air.

There are severalplants and herbs that have theability to fight the negativeeffects that air pollution canhave on the human body.Herb oils from eucalyptus

can help ease chest andnasal congestion.

Eat gur every day toeliminate toxins and dust

particles from the system. Guris a natural detox food as it ispacked with nutrients thathelp remove harmful elementsfrom the bloodstream, lungs,

respiratory tract and foodpipe.

If you areDiabetic and can’teat gur, drink 10-15 ml of tulsijuice everyday toclear your lungsof of pollutants.

Drink a glassof milk with haldi

every day. Diabeticscan also do this minus

the sugar. Eat citrus fruits like lemon

and oranges. The Vitamin Cwill help boost immunity andlessen the harmful effects of airpollution.

Eat ginger, garlic andonions to boost immunity andovercome infections.

Air quality in some cities ofNorth India is toxic.This is

leading to several health issues.ROSHANI DEVI shares home

remedies that can be followed tohelp one breathe easy

Forget going for anoutdoor work-out orwalking in the park on a beautiful morn-

ing, Air Pollution continues to be a seriouspublic-health threat. The consistentlydeteriorating air quality is confiningpeople to their homes in the post-harvest period (October toMarch) every year. This hasbecome a major cause ofconcern especially for resi-dents of Delhi and othernorthern states.

The culprit is vehicularemissions, stubble burningandconstruction. In the winterseason as cold air flows down-ward,ittraps all particulate matterand dustbringing them along to beinhaled. Dr (Maj) Rajesh Bhardwaj, ENTSpecialist tells you how one can stay safe.

�Stay Indoors in morning hours asthe air quality is extremely harmful in themorning

�Avoid going out when the air qual-ity is bad. Now-a-days' health departmentis regularly issuing advisory about pollu-tion levels and air qualityfor every region

�Wear face masks as they canprevent 90-95 particulate matter

and are reusable after washing�Keep your windows

closed, at home or whenyou travel in your car

�Use air purifiersif pos-sible as any clean air is goodair for your body’s immuni-

tySchool kids and elders

should take special precautionsduring winters, as they are more sus-

ceptible and vulnerable. They shouldwear face masks while travelling.

It is a myth, and a dangerous one thatexposing yourself to bad air increases one'simmunity. Bad air only causes harm- thereis no immunity against it.

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Many of us are lucky enough to have grownup in a loving and caring family environ-

ment, especially in the early years of our liveswhere this strong support ecosystem is of para-mount importance. Given that our formativeyears are where the major part of our develop-ment takes place, these are the years which arecrucial in laying the foundation for our physi-cal and mental health. The phrase ‘eat well,you’re a growing child!’, is something a lot of usmay be familiar with. A balanced diet is neces-sary for good health throughout one’s life.However, while the right nutrition is somethingthat most parents emphasise on, mental well-ness is equally important for overall physicalwellbeing. Here are some factors that highlightthe significance of nutrition and mental health,especially in the early years of a child’s life.

The impact of the right nutrition on phys-ical and mental health:

The right diet is important for both phys-ical and mental health, especially in earlier yearswhen the body and brain are at crucial stagesof development. Each of our bodies has differ-ent requirements and levels of activity. Forinstance, the recommended calorie intake formost kids between the age of 6 and 12 years isin the range of 1,600 to 2,200 per day, depend-ing on their level of activity. Hence, a child’s foodintake must be planned accordingly by the par-ent or guardian. A good diet consists of the rightbalance between the intake of protein, fiber, car-bohydrates, fats, iron, and calcium.

Protein-rich food such as eggs, chicken, daland other lentils play a key role in building cellsand breaking down food into energy. While car-bohydrates from sugar and empty calories fromchips and snacks lack nutrition, the good kindof carbs help the child’s body use fat and pro-tein to build tissue and are a major source ofenergy. These include foods such as bread, rice,poha, and potatoes.

Foods like dry fruits, nuts, rajma, andspinach are high in iron content. Iron is essen-tial to the healthy flow of blood and carriesoxygen within the body. For blood clotting, onthe other hand, calcium is the necessary com-ponent. It is found in foods like milk, cheese,yogurt, spinach, and paneer. Calcium helpswith building healthy bones and teeth in chil-dren’s bodies and is also imperative for opti-mal muscle and heart function.

WHO data recently revealed that India isthe most depressed country in the world, witharound 6.5 per cent of the population suffer-ing from some form of serious mental disor-ders. While it may not be as obvious, mentalillness can take a huge toll on a person and caneven be more difficult to deal with than a phys-ical ailment. Children, in particular, those ata young age, are more prone to external influ-ences from their immediate environment.

In essence, it is common knowledge thateating well, sleeping well and a good level ofactivity, are the keys to maintaining goodhealth. However, it is equally important toacknowledge the significance of mental healthon the body. This holds greater importanceduring early development making it necessaryto address the need amongst young children.

A healthy lifestyle incorporating theabove-mentioned factors can be inculcatedwith the right kind of family support andawareness. By creating such an ideal environ-ment to nurture the various facets of physi-cal and mental wellbeing, parents can ensurea strong foundation for the child’s overalldevelopment in the future.

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Osteoporosis is a disease inwhich the quality and densi-ty of bones decrease.

Symptoms of osteoporosis usually donot appear early. Our bones are madeup of many types of minerals besidescalcium, phosphorus and protein.But with irregular lifestyle andincreasing age, these minerals startgetting destroyed, due to which thedensity of bones starts decreasingand they start to weaken. Sometimes,the bones become so weak that evena small injury becomes a fracture.

Symptoms: While the initialcondition does not show any spe-cific symptoms of osteoporosisother than pain, but when fracturesoften occur even after a minorinjury, it is a major sign of osteo-porosis. In this disease, bones of thebody like the spine, wrist and handbone fracture quickly. Apart fromthis, getting tired very quickly,pain in the body again and again,especially in the morning, back painare also its symptoms. Initially, thereis mild pain in bones and muscles,but then gradually this pain increas-es. The pain intensifies especiallywhen there is slight pressure in thelower back and neck.

Causes: There are several rea-sons for osteoporosis, includinggenetic, protein deficiency, vitaminD and calcium deficiency as amajor cause, non-exercise, growingage, smoking, diabetes, thyroidand alcohol consumption. Apartfrom this, the use of seizure drugsand steroids can sometimes causethis problem. Drinking too manysoft drinks, eating too much salt,and early termination of periods inwomen can also give a chance tospread this disease.

Risks: Osteoporosis risk factorsincrease with age. Normally itstarts after the age of 35. Its factorscan be seen in women who are defi-cient in sex hormones. Asians andWhites are more susceptible to con-duct osteoporosis than other racialgroups. People over 5 feet 7 inch-es in height may be at risk of osteo-porosis. Genetic factors play animportant role. The risk of osteo-porosis increases if there is a fam-ily member already suffering from

osteoporosis. If a person over 50years of age with previous fracturesafter a low-level injury is more like-ly to receive a diagnosis of osteo-porosis.

��������������;��������Bone Mineral Density test: A

BMD is done to check for osteo-porosis. Apart from this, osteoporo-sis can also be detected by bonedensitometry test or dual-energy X-ray obstruction (DEXA) DEXA.This test usually takes 20 minutesto 40 minutes.

Urination test: If the doctorfeels it is necessary, the doctor takes

the help of urine test to find out.Blood test: This test is done to

check the level of vitamin D in theblood. As well as some other typesof tests, which determine bonehealth.

Treatment: If the test revealsosteoporosis, then the doctor, firstof all, advises you not to do heavywork and not to do jumping, exer-cise as it is prone to break bones.To prevent osteoporosis, you shouldeat a diet rich in calcium and mag-nesium. The intake of Vitamin Calso strengthens bones. Lack of cal-cium and Vitamin D is the maincause of osteoporosis. Calcium

makes bones strong while VitaminD works by absorbing calcium inthe body. Therefore, along with tak-ing calcium supplements or supple-ments, you should also take vitaminD in plenty. The best source ofVitamin D is sunshine. If you dolight-weight exercises like walking,aerobics, dance and light stretchingor do yoga, then the risk is reduced.Apart from this, climbing stairsdaily is also beneficial for you.

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4++�!�-+�- #�"#!$%#� Milk: It is a good source of well-absorbed calci-um. Its helps strengthen bones. Drinking milk twicea day regularly also gives you protein along with cal-cium. In addition to calcium, protein, potassium,phosphorus, Vitamin A, D, B12, and riboflavin areabundant in milk.� Cheese: Most cheese are excellent sources of cal-cium.Also our body absorbs the calcium in dairyproducts more easily than that from plantsources.Many types of cheese are also packed withprotein, such as cottage cheese.� Nuts and seeds: Nuts and seeds are good for bonehealth in many ways. Walnuts and flaxseeds are richin omega-3 fatty acids. Peanuts and almonds containpotassium which prevents the loss of calcium fromurine.Almonds contain calcium as well as vitamin Eand omega-3 fatty acids. Also, phosphorus present inalmonds makes bones and teeth strong. With this, therisk of getting related diseases also decreases.Alsoeating nuts may help reduce blood pressure,bodyfat and other risk factors for metabolic diseases.Whilethe seeds are tiny power-houses and providegood amount of pro-tein and healthy fats.Seeds like sesame,chia, pumpkin andpoppy are very helpfulfor bone health.� Sardines: Apartfrom milk and dairyproducts, sardines arealso an excellent sourceof calcium. A sardine

fish is a type of small fish, which is rich in calciumand omega 3 fatty acids. They are also a good sourceof protein. These include Vitamin D, B2, calcium,phosphorus, iron, zinc, iodine, magnesium, potassi-um. If one eats non-veg then one should prefer thisfish.� Dark leafy greens: Spinach,kale, collard greens arehigh in calcium.Also Spinach contains a lot of calci-um, iron and Vitamin K. The calcium and green ele-ments present in them strengthen bones. Also,Vitamin A is found in it.� Figs (anjeer): Both fresh and dried figs are ben-eficial for health. It is rich in iron and calcium whichis very useful for bones. Fresh figs contain phytonu-trients, antioxidants and various vitamins, while dried

figs are a good source of calcium, copper,magnesium, iron, selenium and zinc.

Fresh figs can be taken as saladand dried figs can be boiled

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Iran announced on Mondayits latest violations of the

nuclear deal with world pow-ers, saying that it now operatestwice as many advanced cen-trifuges banned by the 2015accord and is working on a prototype that’s 50 timesfaster than those allowed by the deal.

The announcement cameas the country marks the 40thanniversary of the 1979 USEmbassy takeover that starteda 444-day hostage crisis.

By starting up theseadvanced centrifuges, Iran fur-ther cuts into the one year thatexperts estimate Tehran wouldneed to have enough material

for building a nuclear weapon— if it chose to pursue one.

The comments by AliAkbar Salehi, the head of theAtomic Energy Organisation ofIran, came ahead of an expect-ed announcement by Tehran ofthe new ways it would breakthe accord.

Already, Iran has brokenthrough its stockpile andenrichment limitations, tryingto pressure Europe to offer it anew deal, more than a yearsince President Donald Trumpunilaterally withdrew Americafrom the accord.

Speaking to state TV, Salehisaid Tehran is now operating 60IR-6 advanced centrifuges —twice as many as before. Sucha centrifuge, an IR-6, can pro-

duce enriched uranium 10times as fast as the first-gener-ation IR-1s allowed under the

accord. The nuclear deal lim-ited Iran to using only 5,060first-generation IR-1 cen-

trifuges to enrich uranium byrapidly spinning uraniumhexafluoride gas.

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The whistleblower whoraised alarms about

President Donald Trump’s deal-ings with Ukraine and touchedoff the Democratic-ledimpeachment enquiry is will-ing to answer written questionssubmitted by HouseRepublicans, the person’slawyer says. But PresidentDonald says that’s not goodenough. Trump himself refusedto provide anything but writtenanswers in response to limitedquestions during the specialcounsel’s investigation intoRussian interference duringthe 2016 election.

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Forty-one migrants werefound alive in a refrigerated

truck in northern Greece onMonday, said police, who arrest-ed the driver. The migrants, ofapparent Afghan origin, weremostly in good condition butseven received first aid in hos-pital, the police said. “The truckcontained men and boys.Identifying their nationality willrequire a couple of days,” apolice source told AFP.

The truck was stopped bypolice on the Egnatia motor-way between the towns ofXanthi and Komotini.

The driver, a man fromGeorgia, was arrested.

Local media reported thatpolice were also seeking a sec-ond man from Turkey in con-nection with the incident.

The discovery came after39 people, all believed to beVietnamese nationals, werefound dead in a refrigeratedtruck in Britain last month,highlighting the risks of illegalmigrant routes to Europe, evenfor those avoiding periloustravel by sea.

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Washington and Beijingtraded tit-for-tat barbs

over the disputed South ChinaSea at a regional summit inBangkok on Monday, with theUS accusing the fellow super-power of intimidatingclaimants in the resource-richwaterway.

China hit back with aveiled criticism of the US,accusing it of ratcheting up ten-sions in the waters, a key glob-al shipping route.

Beijing lays claim to hugeswathes of the sea where it isaccused of building militaryinstallations and fake islands,and ramming fishing vessels.

The US has long accused itof bullying fellow claimants —Vietnam, Taiwan, Philippines,Malaysia and Brunei — callingfor freedom of navigation inthe area.

US National SecurityAdviser Robert O’Brien dou-bled down on America’srhetoric against China onMonday, speaking at theAssociation of Southeast AsianNations (ASEAN) summit.

“Beijing has used intimi-dation to try and stop ASEANnations from exploiting theiroffshore resources,” he said,addressing an ASEAN meetingon Monday.

“Big countries should notbully other countries,” he latertold reporters.

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Several Southeast Asian lead-ers snubbed a meeting with

US officials on Monday afterPresident Donald Trumpdecided not to attend a region-al summit in Bangkok.

Just three leaders from the10-member Association ofSoutheast Asian Nations(ASEAN) showed up to the ses-sion, along with a host of for-eign ministers.Trump has beenaccused of turning his back onAsian allies for pulling out of amajor trade pact, as fellowsuperpower China pursues itsown deals and investment pro-jects in the region.

Washington did not sendtop officials to the weekendASEAN summit, instead dis-patching commerce secretaryWilbur Ross and NationalSecurity Adviser RobertO’Brien.

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President Donald Trump hasinvited Southeast Asian

leaders to a “special summit” inthe United States early nextyear after skipping their ongo-ing annual summit in Thailand.

Robert O’Brien, theNational Security AdviserTrump sent in his stead, includ-ed the invitation in a letter fromTrump that he read at a US-ASEAN meeting on Mondayon the sidelines of the summitof the 10-nation Association ofSoutheast Asian Nations.

Monday’s meeting with theUS would normally would beattended by Presidents orPrime Ministers.

In a pointed adherence todiplomatic protocol, seven of10 Southeast Asian countriessent their Foreign Ministersinstead.

Only host Prime MinisterPrayuth Chan-cha of Thailandand the Prime Ministers ofVietnam and Laos joinedO’Brien and the foreign min-isters sent by other countries.

BAGHDAD: Anti-governmentprotesters clashed with Iraqisecurity forces on a third majorbridge in Baghdad on Monday,with at least one protesterkilled and two dozen wound-ed as gunfire echoed throughthe streets. An Associated Pressreporter saw dozens of pro-testers racing through thestreets carrying several wound-ed people. Some protestershurled rocks at security forces,who responded with tear gasand fired a water cannon.

The protesters have beentrying to breach barricades onbridges leading to the heavily for-tified Green Zone, where thegovernment is headquartered.They appeared to have crossedthe Al-Ahrar Bridge and reachedthe headquarters of Iraq’s state-run TV on other side. Police andhospital officials said at least oneperson was killed and 24 wound-ed in the clashes on the bridge,where security forces used liveammunition, rubber bullets andtear gas grenades. AP

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Tehran: Iranian forces willnot only target US but also itsallies in case of aggressionagainst Iran by Washington,Iran’s Armed Forcesspokesman has said. “Anyplace and any territorial pointsheltering the interests of theUnited States and its allieswould be threatened (in caseof aggression against Iran) asIran has proved that it is capa-ble of doing this,” AbolfazlShekarchi was quoted as say-ing by Press TV. IANS

Brussels: The EU warned itssupport for Iran nuclear dealdepends on Tehran fulfillingits commitments, after Iranianofficials announced a majorincrease in enriched uraniumproduction. Following a seriesof steps away from its com-mitments under the 2015accord, the head of the Iranianatomic energy agency saidMonday that production ofenriched uranium hadreached five kilos a day andtwo new advanced centrifugeshad been developed. AFP

Tehran: German ForeignMinister Heiko Maas saidIran’s latest step away from its2015 nuclear deal with worldpowers risks completelybreaking the entire agree-ment. Hass said Iran’s decisionMonday to operate a greaternumber of advanced cen-trifuges “unacceptable.”Speaking to reporters inHungary, he said “ultimatelyIran is doing nothing less thanputting the entire nuclearagreement at risk.” AP

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#������� �������� ���. ������ ���)���Washington: The Trumpadministration is sanctioningmembers of Iranian supremeleader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’sinner circle. Separately, admin-istration is issuing an up to $20million reward for informationabout missing former FBI agentRobert Levinson. He disap-peared in Iran in 2007 but theIranian Government has neveracknowledged arresting him.Senior administration officialsannounced the new steps againstIran on Monday as the countrymarks the anniversary of the USEmbassy takeover 40 years ago.The officials spoke only on con-dition of anonymity accordingto White House policy. AP

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Mythology, just like history, often nar-rates a tale from the perspective of

the victor. Mahabharata is no different.The very word conjures up images of anepic battle between siblings warringover Dharma. Told from the perspectiveof Pandavas by Ved Vyas, there have beenas many versions of the epic as there arecharacters over the years. There is theperspective of Draupadi, or the power-ful Bheem, warrior Karna, even that ofhis wife Uruvi and many more. There isalso a series from Duryodhana’s point ofview, a talewritten fromBhishma’s per-spective, andeven a bookthat says thatLord Krishnawas cursed.

So it wastime that thea n t a g o n i s t scame to the forewhen actor-director PuneetIssar decided toportray thisepic from theprism of wounded brothers, Duryodhanaand Karna. He says, “I am a firm believ-er that history has always been writtenfrom the view of the triumphant. So Ithought of making it from the antago-nists’ perspective because their storyneeds to be told too. You can see that inShakespeare, all the antagonists areimportant characters. But in our mytho-logical tales, we usually ignore them. Tosomeone, Draupadi would appeal whileBheem to someone else. Even a small andinsipid character like Vikarna wouldappeal to someone.”

He adds that if you try to get into theantagonists’ head, you will discover thatthey consider themselves protagonists. So,their point of view has to come out verystrongly in the play. Its focus is primar-ily on the friendship of Duryodhana andKarna that defies caste and class, a dif-

ference that is still a burning issue in thecountry. Narrated by Meghna Malik, whoalso portrays the role of Dharti, the playdelivers a message that is relevant at everystage of life and across generations.

To distinguish the play from others,Issar made sure that he is a notch high-er. So all his dialogues are in poetry form.It would not look like a normal Hindiplay but rather poetic cinema. The LED

background, live music, 3D effects andactors performing are likely to give youan adrenaline rush. The storyline and act-ing adds to the beauty of the play.

The actor grew nostalgic talkingabout Duryodhana’s role he played in the1988 Doordarshan magnum opus. Hesays, “I became a household name afterplaying that. So I thought it’s time for pay-back. People have not forgotten the show

and my role even after 31 years. I remem-ber that whenever I did theatre, peoplecame and asked me to render some linesof Duryodhana. They even asked why Ididn’t make something related to it.” Thatwas the time he realised that he shouldcome up with a version of his own.

The reason that Mahabharata holdssuch a sway on the imagination is that isit a tale is about relationships and fami-

ly dynamics, which are a crucial part ofIndian societal system and human emo-tions. Each character in the tale has some-thing to teach us. Bhishma teaches us thevirtues of commitment, Duryodhanateaches us the pitfalls of uncheckedambition. While Gandhari teaches us thebeauty of spousal love and sacrifice,Draupadi teaches us about the powers ofa woman. Krishna is the epitome ofenlightenment and Arjuna signifies theconstant battle between the head and theheart. These stories are as relevant todayas when they were written. Issar says,“People can relate to the epic in theireveryday ordinariness. In every house,you will f ind a Duryodhana,Dhritarashta, Arjun, Shakuni, Krishnaand almost all the characters. So it helpsus to lead our lives.”

Since the tale appeals on every front,Issar finds it difficult to pinpoint at a sin-gle fact that made him undertake this.However, after struggling with words fora few seconds, he says, “The mostappealing thing is that no character wascompletely white or black. They were allgrey, even Krishna. Though he is Vishnu’savatar but when he takes birth as ahuman, he also has faults.

Though Issar had earlier done thesame show and role on TV but theatrehas its own charm and challenges. “Thebest part about theatre, especially whenit’s Mahabharata is that you can let peo-ple tickle their thinking bone as they havemultiple options to think about,” says he.Though he has portrayed the tale fromthe antagonists’ perspective, he made surethat he did justice to other characters andmaintained their gravity.

The 59-year-old actor guffaws talk-ing about the challenges, “As age goes up,gravity pulls you down. Fortunately, myphysical fitness, workouts and martial artshave helped me a lot. For this role, I wenton a keto diet for almost a year and lost23 kg. I want people to see me and say,‘time has frozen for this man.”’

(The play will be staged on November9 and 10 at Kamani Auditorium).

Dust, soot, ozone, sulphur oxidesand particulate matter in the airare increasingly becoming a

major threat for billions of peoplearound the world. And with the rapidchanging weather, our skin is under evergreater risk from pollution and toxic ele-ments in the environment that it has notyet evolved enough to neutralise on itsown. Some skin experts suggest that theconsequences can range from irritationand premature ageing to organ damageand pore clogging, which further dete-riorates to acne and dullness and, at itsworst, leads to cancer. They say that theparticulate matter (PM) in air is espe-cially dangerous for skin as it can be acompounds of carbon dioxide, PAHs,and sulphur dioxide and can range insize from 10 microns and 2.5 microns.And our skin pore, most likely isaround 50-70 microns, which meansthat the PM can easily get into our poresand damage the skin. It’s no surprise thatthe beauty industry is looking to tack-le the damaging effects that pollutionwrecks on our skin. And to prevent theseserious ill effects, it is highly importantto take preventive measures beforehand.

To avoid skin from breakouts andpore clogging, Vidur Kapur, director ofO3plus, advises to cleanse the face atleast twice a day — once in the morn-ing and once in the evening after onecomes back fighting the several haz-ardous compounds in the air. “Duringthe day, the skin’s function is to protectitself against internal and externalaggressors. And at night, it needs toregenerate, repair and replenish what ithas lost. It is very important to exfoli-ate your skin. The routine must includea radiant tonic to oxygenate it. Alwaysuse a serum, especially at night, for theskin to breathe and repair. Additionally,masking twice a week will help in deal-ing with dullness,” says he.

The spike in air pollution and wors-ening AQI in the city aren’t just impact-ing our physical health and lungs butalso harm our skin in many ways andsome of the effects could be long termtoo, Dr Nirupama Parwanda tells us.“The pollution not only effects our skin’saesthetic appearance by increasing the

comedone (blackheads and whiteheads),acne, pigmentation and early wrinkleformation but also increases the inci-dence of skin allergies like eczema,urticaria and dermatitis,” she says andadds that daily exposure to higher con-centration of PM, nitric oxide and othertoxic gases tends to compromise the skinbarrier function and the skin hydrationto a significant extent.

She suggests some of the crucial stepsto protect the skin against pollution. Evenfor her, cleansing comes first. She urgeseverybody to use a facewash which is bestsuitable for the particular skin type andit should be used at least twice a day toremove the dirt, grime and pollution.Second, she suggests is the moisturiser.“The skin should be moisturised to helpstrengthen the skin barrier so that it is pro-tected against the high level of pollutionand allergens,” she adds. Third, she tellsus about antioxidants, “These containserums and creams and must be appliedon daily basis, which include Vitamin A,C, D, E and niacinamide (a form ofVitamin B3) to help fight against the highlevel of toxic pollutants.”

Lastly, she adds, “SPF is essential sinceUV rays tend to damage the skin. Usingsunscreen on a daily basis is very impor-tant. And it becomes even more crucialin the presence of other stressors like pol-

lution.”According to a study published by the

Lancet Journal, pollution in the air webreathe, the food we eat and the water wedrink, was responsible for 16 per cent ofpremature deaths globally in 2015. Andtoday, the situation is worsening day byday. As the levels in Delhi and NCRreached to a three-year high, it becomesessential to follow a skincare routine, saysRajat Mathur, senior manager, Kiehl’s.

If you are on the hunt for pollution-fighting products, Rajat explains the bestplace to start is with those packed withantioxidants as they are able to preventoxidation and mop up the free radicalsthat have a damaging effect on the skin.“Staying hydrated is the key. Eat freshvegetables as much as one can,” adds he.

More the pollution in our environ-ment more is the anti-pollution aware-ness among the youth, feels PlabitaSharma, skincare expert, The BodyShop India. “The extra-aware con-sumers and the growing consciousnessis now pushing brands to bring inproducts that can combat skin damage.Hydration and nourishment is needed allday long to maintain the skin’s supple-ness. From serum and moisturisers today creams, layer your skin well toreplenish it with the ingredients it needs.Also, pick and choose to exfoliate yourskin in every two days with a scrub. Thescrub removes the dead skin cells, reju-venates them and helps unclog yourpores and removes blackheads andwhiteheads too. Try choosing a scrub thathas tiny granules to exfoliate well.Vitamin C microdermabrasion is anamazing option,” she tells us.

Kiko Milano has come up with aspecial ‘BIA’ formula — Benefit >Ingredient > Application — in its anti-pollution skincare products. Its benefitis that it’s a moisturising emulsion andprovides an excellent make-up base. Theingredients are enriched with hyaluron-ic acid and an active complex that pro-tects the skin from pollution and dam-age of blue light. The applicationincludes applying and massaging gen-tly on the face.

Well, anti-pollution skincare is thenew beauty product.

Actor Bhumi Pednekar is one of theleading ladies in the forthcoming

comedy, Pati Patni Aur Woh, whichrevolves around adultery. She says, con-trary to perception of some people, thefilm does not intent to make a sexist state-ment on the subject of marriage. Rather,it tries to establish gender equality.

“When I read the script, all the doubtthat I had simply vanished. This film is funbut at the same time it is not frivolous. Thestory is very empowering to both genders.Nobody is black or white in the story, justas in real life. I think that the maker madesure that this does not turn into a sexist,baseless film,” said Bhumi, when asked ifshe was skeptical about the story beingreduced to a sexist comment on adultery.

“I do not think, anyone who is part ofthis film, including us actors, belong to thatschool. We were extremely conscious of thefact that we do not end up making it intoa sexist comment. The moment I read thescript I felt it was so beautiful. This is a sub-ject that could have gone wrong easily. Butthey (the makers) have been sensitive andcareful. I have to say it is a big achieve-ment,” said the actor, who is happy withthe success of her Diwali release Saand KiAankh and will next be seen in Bala.

Bhumi attended the trailer launch ofPati Patni Aur Woh with the other stars ofthe film, Kartik Aryan and Ananya Pandey.Co-actor Aparshakti Khurrana, directorMudassar Aziz, and producers JunoChopra and Bhushan Kumar were also pre-sent. Mudassir Aziz said, “I have always putwomen at the forefront in all my films, andthis film is no different. Once the filmreleases, the audience will realise that he(the pati or husband) is the situation andthese two women (patni and woh or thewife and the lover) are driving the situa-tion home.”

The film is a remake of the 1978 com-edy directed by Juno’s grandfather BRChopra. It featured Sanjeev Kumar, VidyaSinha and Ranjeeta Kaur. The new versionis set to release on December 6.

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Long before the art worldwoke up to my works, it was

Ebrahim Alkazi who bought myKali (1989),” Tyeb Mehta told mein 2005. “Alkazi was a brilliantartist too, he understoodWestern art genres and haddone many works. I wonderwhere they are? Maybe, some-where in a bundle.”

Little does Rahab Allana, hisdaughter, know that this waswhat Tyeb had spoken so manyyears ago. At Shridharani andArt Heritage in Triveni Alkazi’searly works done more than 60years ago come alive in OpeningLines curated by Ranjit Hoskote.And as Allana says, she found 99works on paper carefully knot-ted in a bundle.

�)B��������B�In 1996 he stunned Delhi

with a solo showing of FrancisNewton Souza his room mateand friend from his Londondays. When Souza came toDelhi during the winter in the1990’s he would stay at YatriNiwas and dining with Alkaziwas the norm.The magnificentopus of Souza’s works in 1996,which rendered the exhibitionchurch-like and thereforeallowed for the unfolding ofboth the sacred and its profana-tion, was unforgettable.

In the nation and the city ofDelhi, Alkazi the writer, thethinker, the play wright the col-lector was friend, gallerist and

peer to Indian artists like Souza,Tyeb Mehta, K G Subramanyanand many more. At Shridharaniand Art Heritage his daughterAmal Allana has created anoasis of drawings sculpturesand paintings with a neat nar-rative strung together.

����������������Alkazi was deft in his choice

of mediums, deeper in hisunderstanding of cubist,abstract, realist modes of trans-lating the human figure and theface and also trying his hand atsculptures. Carbon-tracing, frot-tage or textural rubbing, char-coal, inks, washes, printer’s ink,graphite, pastels, poster paints —this is a spread that educatesinforms and states that Alkazi isone of India’s greatest collectorsbecause he knew his art. Theonly oil-on-canvas in the exhi-bition, is a magnificent self-por-trait, that ticks off all the boxesfor expression, elegance andemotive evocation. Observationand a finer sense of deeper aes-thetics are what define Alkazi asan astute and accurate artist. Hislines are a lexicon of lithe lan-guor.

Alkazi directed magnumopus productions like Tughlaq,Asadh Ka Ek Din and evenHamlet and Othello. His leg-endary reputation as a theatredirector, an institution builderand a mentor to several gener-ations of actors was just a tip of

the iceberg because in the artworld he was not just patron toartists like Souza and TyebMehta but was also an archivistand gallerist.

���B�(���&This catalogue is a histori-

cal gem. Souza often spokeabout his early days with friend,philosopher and guide, Alkazi.And one remembers his wordsabout Souza’s epic work Family.“In the entire history of Indianart, he (Souza) is exceptional, inthe sheer power and develop-ment of his work to a truly dis-tinctive style, which sets it apart.In no period of Souza's work canyou mistake it with anyoneelse's. What is this quality in himthat sets him so uniquely apartand at the same time does notmake him derivative? His workhas incredible vitality and onehas to search for its basis,” hesaid.

One recalls Alkazi’s words ofthe early years in London. “…Iremember taking a handcart fullof Souza’s paintings and going upand down Oxford Street andBond Street trying to sell them."

Alkazi was friends with theProgressives but he was criticaltoo and pulled no puncheswhen he had to speak the truth.

In 1954 a Progressive ArtGroup show was published inthe Theatre Unit Bulletin, Alkaziquestioned their existence andwrote : “…what holds the group

together is not a common aes-thetic… but a herd instinct ofself-preservation and securityagainst the feeble attacks of anindifferent public.”

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Unlike some in the artworld today Alkazi is no trophyhunter. He was a true blue-blooded collector. He knew thepermutations of art as invest-ment and did not believe inboasting. At best, Alkazi unveilsas an archivist who loves histo-ry, literature and the wisdom ofall the world being a stage inwhich men and women aremerely players. This show isabout the beauty of a personaland private passion, it is aboutthe magic meandering of linesthat speak about people, places,paradigms and parallels in theworld of illustrations, emotionsand worlds within worlds.

Amal Allana’s design speaksto us about how integral andimperative a floor plan is to vital-ity of a show. In more ways thanone, Opening Lines is about art,it is about life and also about theinner journeys of India’s great-est collector who has the eye ofa historian. Never has the magicof monochrome been so rivet-ing as it is here in this multi-pronged curation. Indeedwhether sedimented, imperial,textured or brooding, the powerof drawing is unparalleled.

Tucked inside a museum on theHarvard University campus is a gallery

teeming with plants so lifelike in appear-ance you’d be forgiven for swearingthey’re real. But this foliage is glass — real-ly old glass.

There’s a red maple branch, forinstance, that looks plucked from aVermont tree during the fall peak season.There’s part of a budding cashew treeboasting two rust-coloured cashew applesand drooping nutshells, each leaf vein andstem intricate in detail.

These are only two examples of morethan 4,300 individual glass models in thecollection, which has at least 780 speciesfrom the plant kingdom represented.They are affectionately known as the GlassFlowers, or formally as the Ware Collectionof Blaschka Glass Models of Plants.

The detail and the anatomical exact-ness stuns onlookers like Erin Averill, a26-year-old from Orange County,California, who was recently perusing theflowers. “My first thought was thatthey’d be similar to Dale Chihuly’s work,”she said. But the Glass Flowers are under-stated in colour and size when comparedto Chihuly’s colourful, often toweringsculptures. “I’m really blown away by justhow real they look and the level of skilldemonstrated in the details,” Averill said.“This is really a lost art form.”

The Glass Flowers date back to the19th and early 20th centuries, and wereintended to dazzle the public while edu-cating botany students. They have been ondisplay continuously at Harvard since1893.

This third-floor gallery at the HarvardMuseum of Natural History is one of theinstitution’s most beloved — and most vis-ited — treasures. The Glass Flowershelped draw about 3,00,000 people tocampus last year, a significant number fora college museum situated in an urbanarea known for its art offerings.

“I’ve been at the museum for threeyears and in that time I’ve counted visi-tors from 54 countries,” said LewisBushnell, a Cambridge resident who vol-unteers inside the gallery one day aweek.

In August, an array of rotting fruits,rendered in glass, was pulled from thestorage room shelves. On display for thefirst time in 20 years is Fruits in Decay, atemporary exhibit until March 2020.Among the decaying lot is an apricotshowing signs of brown rot caused by afungus, a strawberry covered in mold, anda bruised pear, all in great detail.

The flowers’ story of origin is equalparts ingenuity and happenstance. In the19th century, there was no reliable medi-um for modeling or preserving plants tostudy. Wax was used, but its temperaturewas always a concern. Plants could bepinned to papier mache boards, but overtime the specimens’ shapes and coloursoften became distorted.

This is when Harvard professorGeorge Goodale heard of Leopold andRudolph Blaschka, a father-son team ofglass artists living outside Dresden,Germany. Goodale was aware of somesmall marine animals the Blaschka hadmade in glass. So he sailed across the

Atlantic to speak to the artists, and com-missioned his first glass model in 1886.The collection was completed almost 50years later.

Leopold, the father, died in 1895, butRudolf finished the job, dying three yearsafter completing the last flower. All thedecaying fruits were Rudolf ’s creations.“They worked from nature, so they knewand studied plants,” said Donald Pfister,a professor of systematic botany, and cura-tor of Harvard’s Farlow Library andHerbarium of Cryptogamic Botany.

Sometimes the creative process had theBlaschkas growing specimens in their gar-den so they could examine the plant upclose. “They informed themselves com-pletely,” Pfister said.

Early drawings, including a Canada lilyfrom 1892, are part of the exhibit, as aremany cross-sections and dissections of allparts of a plant. Over time, some of theglass models have been retouched andrepaired, but the flowers are largely thesame as when first displayed.

The temperature and humidity of theroom where they are kept are now con-trolled. And as science and technology pro-gressed, the plants were reclassified accord-ing to DNA sequencing. The cashewbranch resides next to a mango and somepoison ivy because they’re family.

The Glass Flowers are still as relevantas they were decades ago, said JennyBrown, manager of the collection. “Peoplevisit it once and they bring their friendsand relatives back to see it the next time,”she said. “They are very much loved.”

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Painted in greens, blues and greys,bordered with bright red, PirajiSagara’s wood texture-like artwork

is what comes into view as one enters theSotheby’s International Realty preview ofan array of artworks and sculpturesbeing displayed at The Leela Palace. Theriverside cityscape features geometricforms of houses. Shivajirao Gaekwar,deputy director and specialist at Sotheby’sIndia, says that Sagara’s works are knownfor their rich texture, which is his trade-mark. Priced at �15,00,000, Gaekwaradds, “He is a special artist because a lotof his work revolves around wood. Hecomes from a family of carpenters. Thiswork has mixed media on board.”

On its left is Nasreen Mohamedi’sUntitled ink on paper artwork, pricedfrom �30,00,000 to �40,00,000. The workfeatures an array of triangular shapes andlines, which have an ethereal quality tothem. A few viewers beside me describeit thus, “The comprehension of space inthe drawing is daring.” “It’s amazing howneatly it is drawn.” “It’s impeccable.” Thelines and larger triangles are crisscrossedwith smaller triangles, made in varyingtones. The changing of ink tone has beenused to differentiate the triangles, which,the artist had claimed, is reminiscent ofboth East Asian and Islamic calligraphy.The smaller triangles are placed symmet-rically, on top of each other, in a way thatthey create shadows, which look like theones reflected on an empty channel ofwater in Fatehpur Sikri.

The next one that grabs the attentionis The Last Supper by FN Souza. Mostremembered for his compelling paintingsof Christ and the power of eroticallycharged nudes, still life and landscapes,this painting combined printed imagerywith drawing and painting. Gaekwartells us, “The east, the west, the spiritualand the physical fuse together in thiswork,” very well giving credence to hisphilosophy, ‘whole meaning of life is lifeitself!’ The painting features the figure ofChrist in the centre, which is projectedto be a self-portrait of the artist, surround-ed by 12 alien-like figures that depict theApostles. The most striking parts of thiswork are its bright colours, 3D texture andthe fact that while some figures wear cas-socks, there are six figures which aredressed in modern-day suit and tie, tak-ing one back to his 1955 work, SixGentlemen of Our Times.

With the price starting from�3,50,00,000 to �5,00,00,000, it is one ofthe most expensive works to go under thehammer at this exhibition. However,Gaekwar averts and points out that it isn’t

as high as compared to what it would havefetched had it been auctioned in theWestern market. “As compared to theWestern market, it is not that highlypriced. Even when you open the cata-logue, the cheapest price you’ll findthere is $600. So rather than calling itexpensive, I would say that it is very well-priced given its size and its label, whichis quite huge,” adds he.

So what is the reserve pricing crite-ria for these works? “The paintings andsculptures hail from a particular time andthe textures, fabrics and designs are verymuch reminiscent of it. The works areevaluated according to a process. It isdecided by how much the sellers are will-ing to sell them at and how much, we, asauction-holders, are willing to sell themfor,” says Gaekwar.

Yamini Mehta, deputy chairman of

Indian and South Asian Art, Sotheby’s,adds, “It also depends on who are theartists, the quality of the work and age.It is a combination of various things. Evenit is a small piece, it could be priced veryhigh if the quality is good. It also dependson which collection it is coming from.”

Talking about the theme, Boundless:India, Gaekwar tells us why it is centredaround India and its heritage this time.He says, “These works narrate the vari-ous, multi-faceted stories of contempo-rary Indian artists. It covers many aspects— designs, popular culture, sculpture,ceramics, wood, paintings, mixed mediaon canvas and natural shades. Our aimis to just highlight this sophistication.This is important for the Indian art mar-ket.”

As we move towards the next pavil-ion, we come across Bhupen Khakar’s

Preparatory Study for The Celebration ofGuru Jayanti, priced at �20,00,000 to�30,00,000. The sepia-tinted drawing hasa number of figures, including a couple,about to be married, in a porch fencedwith flowers. A group of musicians andcooks can be seen in the distance.However, the eye settles on a bespecta-cled man in a white kurta-pyjama, whichviewers say is the artist himself.Interestingly, the work is only a prepara-tory study and the final painting is a lotdifferent yet similar to its initial compo-sition. Both the works depict the demar-cated scenes of human activity, separat-ed by wide areas of flat space, against thebackdrop of a cityscape. Timothy Hyman,Chemould Publications, had said, “It was-n’t the isolated protagonist” or the manin white kurta-pyjama, “but the ‘incon-sequential’ crowd that was the real con-

cern.”Next up is Sotheby’s star attraction,

the most expensive of the lot — VasudeoS Gaitonde’s Untitled. ‘Estimate OnRequest,’ reads its label. Gaekwar informsus that it is predicted to begin at�21,00,00,000. There are five orbs sus-pended in space which appear to be plan-ets. The abstract work can be read with-in those spaces as the canvas is dividedinto swathes of gold and bronze which arereminiscent of the horizon. “This paint-ing’s rich story is deeply intertwined withartistic, architectural and scientificmodernity in India,” says Gaekwar.

As per a report of 2017, the size ofthe Indian art market equalled to �1,460crore. However, Gaekwar says that withartists and works like these, the marketis certainly growing. “The Westernistsand impressionists have been connectingthe dots since time immemorial. India isstill an emerging market and it will taketime to reach that place. But they are stillat a very strong position,” he adds.

Even the response is “great” this time,says Gaekwar as he looks at the audiencearound and commends the number ofbuyers. He adds “Crowd doesn’t neces-sarily mean sales. But there are buyershere despite pollution taking over the citythese days. (Laughs) This does meansomething!”

(The auction is on November 15 inMumbai.)

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Lewis Hamilton clinchedhis sixth world title, butnot in the style he hoped

for on Sunday when he fin-ished second behind his tri-umphant Mercedes team-mateValtteri Bottas in an eventfulUnited States Grand Prix.

The 34-year-old Britonfought with ferocious determi-nation to win from fifth on thegrid, but was unable to resistthe Finn, who started frompole and, with a two-stopstrategy, had fresher tyres in

the critical final laps.After leading twice,

Hamilton was passed by Bottaswith three laps remaining andthen resisted Red Bull’s MaxVerstappen to take his 150thpodium finish and his 31stsuccessive finish in the points.

It sealed his sixth title,leaving him one adrift ofMichael Schumacher on seven.

Hamilton added the 2019title to previous triumphs in2008, 2014, 2015, 2017 and2018.

“I can’t believe it, thanks alot,” Hamilton said over the

team radio as he moved out ofa tie for five titles he held withArgentina’s Juan-ManuelFangio.

He added: “It’s just over-whelming if I’m really honest.It was such a tough race today,Valtteri did a great job. As anathlete I feel as fresh as can be.We’ll keep pushing for the restof the season.”

“I didn’t know if it wouldbe possible but I worked ashard as I could here with myteam back at the factory.

My mum, dad, step-mumand step-dad and my family

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Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has dis-missed Manchester City boss Pep

Guardiola’s allegation that Sadio Mane is adiver ahead of next weekend’s clash betweenthe Premier League title rivals.

Mane was booked after failing to wina penalty and then provided an assist beforescoring the winner in a last-gasp 2-1 vic-tory at Aston Villa on Saturday.

Guardiola, whose side also scored lateto beat Southampton, said of the Senegalinternational: “Sometimes he’s diving,sometimes he has this talent to score incred-ible goals in the last minute.”

Klopp, preparing the European cham-pions for their Champions League clashagainst Genk today, brushed it off, sayingon Monday: “I am not 100 percent sure ifhe spoke about Sadio or us in general.

“I didn’t hear Sadio’s name or knowhow we could have known so quick aboutany incident in the game.

“I can say Sadio is not a diver. Therewas a situation in the Aston Villa gamewhere he got contact and went down.Maybe it was not a penalty but there wascontact, it’s not as if he jumped over a legand went down.”

Klopp also refused to countenance talkabout next Sunday’s top-of-the-table clashwith City, currently six points behind hisside in second place, with the tie at hometo Genk to negotiate.

Liverpool are second in Group E on sixpoints after three matches, one behindNapoli.

“I am absolutely not in the mood todayto talk about Man City,” said Klopp.

Asked if he was banning the wordsManchester City until after Tuesday’smatch, Klopp said: “You can say the wordsMan City, you just cannot think about it.

“I don’t have to tell them that City ison Sunday, tomorrow is Genk.

“I don’t doubt my players at all. I wouldfeel a bit embarrassed if I had to tell them‘Don’t think about Man City already’.”

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Rafael Nadal’s return to the worldnumber one position for the

eighth time in his career was con-firmed when the ATP rankingswere released on Monday.

The Spaniard leapfrogs NovakDjokovic even though the Serbsealed his fifth Paris Masters title onSunday with a 6-3, 6-4 victory overCanadian Denis Shapovalov.

Nadal, whose last stint at the topended a year ago on November 4,2018, withdrew from his semi-finalagainst Shapovalov in Paris with anabdominal muscle strain.

Djokovic slips down the rank-ings because he loses the points thathe won a year ago in London whenNadal was absent. The 2019 battlebetween Nadal, winner of theFrench and US Opens, and Djokovicwho triumphed in Australia andWimbledon, is set to go to the wireas either could still finish the yearat number one.

If the Spaniard does not play orfails to win a round-robin match atthe World Tour Finals, Djokovicmust claim two group-stage victo-ries and make the final to pass him.

Djokovic would also be sure ofthe year-end top ranking should hewin the tournament and Nadaldoes not reach the semis.

Nadal first reached number oneon August 18, 2008 when he was

just 22. He has spent 197 weeks atthe top, the sixth highest in ATP his-tory behind Roger Federer (310),Pete Sampras (286), Djokovic (275),Ivan Lendl (270) and JimmyConnors (268).

Gael Monfils returns to the top10 for the first time since February2017 after reaching the semi-finalsin Paris while 20-year-oldShapovalov climbs 13 places to acareer-high 15.

BARTY TOPS END-OF-SEASONAshleigh Barty of Australia tops

the end of season women’s tennisrankings, a day after her triumph inthe WTA Finals in Shenzhen, Chinaon Sunday.

With 7,851 points, Barty, whohas topped the rankings since earlySeptember, eclipsed second-placedKarolína Plíšková (5,940 points)by almost 2,000 points.

Naomi Osaka (5,497) held on tothird place from Simona Halep, whomoved up one spot to fourth on5.462 points.

Barty dominated Elina Svitolinain Sunday’s final in Shenzhen, win-ning 6-4, 6-3 to collect the richestprize in women’s tennis of $4.4 mil-lion (4m euros).

Svitolina rose two places tosixth in the rankings while KikiBertens moved up one to ninth atthe expense of Serena Williamswho slipped to 10th spot.

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Cenk Tosun’s header eight minutes into stoppage timesalvaged a 1-1 draw for Everton against Tottenham

in a match overshadowed by a broken ankle sufferedby Everton midfielder Andre Gomes.

Spurs’ Son Heung-min was shown a straight red cardfor his foul on the Portuguese international, but theinjury occurred as Gomes’s momentum saw him crashinto Serge Aurier.

“It is a bad moment for us as a group and as a team.It’s more than a football game, this is the most impor-tant thing right now,” said Everton manager Marco Silva.

Tottenham led 1-0 at that stage thanks to Dele Alli’sstrike just after the hour mark.

The injury to Gomes proved a turning point withSon visibly upset even before he was shown a red card.

“He (Son) is devastated and in tears,” said Alli. “It’snot his fault. Son is one of nicest people you’ve ever met.He can’t even lift his head up, he’s crying so much.”

Later on Sunday, Everton confirmed the 26-year-old former Barcelona star Gomes had broken his rightankle and will undergo surgery on Monday.

“Everton Football Club can confirm Andre Gomeswill undergo surgery after sustaining an ankle injury intoday’s game with Tottenham Hotspur,” the Merseysiderssaid in a statement.

“After undergoing hospital tests, it was confirmedhe had suffered a fracture dislocation to his right ankle.The club will provide further updates in due course.”

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino said hisclub had the utmost sympathy for Gomes.

“We feel very sorry,” he said. “Was a really bad sit-uation, very bad luck how he landed in the action.

“We can only send our best wishes and (we are) dev-astated for the situation.”

However, Pochettino believed the red card shownto Son was harsh, particularly as referee MartinAtkinson had first produced a yellow card prior to see-ing Gomes’s injury.

“I cannot agree with the red card of Sonny,” addedPochettino.

“VAR must help the referee, I don’t know what isgoing on and what happens with this tool. Rather thanhelp the referee it is creating more confusion.”

Both managers were left frustrated at the use of VARas both sides saw a strong penalty claim turned downin the second half despite a lengthy delay to review theincidents.

A point does little to improve a poor start to the sea-son for either side with Everton still hovering just oneplace above the relegation zone, while Spurs remain inthe bottom half in 11th with 13 points from their first11 games.

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are here and it’s an hon-our to be here with sixtitles with those greats.

‘NEVER GIVE UP’“My dad told me

when I was like six orseven never to give upand that’s kind of thefamily motto.”

It was Bottas’s fourthwin of the season and theseventh of his career.

“It’s a good win,” saidthe Finn. “Personally, Ifailed on my target thisyear, but Lewis deservesit. He’s had a good sea-son.”

Hamilton parked hisMercedes in a space“reserved for the champi-on” before leaping intothe arms of his familyand friends.

Verstappen finishedthird ahead of CharlesLeclerc of Ferrari —some compensation toteam boss Mattia Binottoon his 50th birthday fol-lowing the early retire-ment, with broken sus-

pension, of SebastianVettel — with Alex Albonfifth in the second RedBull.

Daniel Ricciardo wassixth for Renault ahead ofthe two McLarens ofLando Norris and CarlosSainz, Nico Hulkenbergin the second Renaultand Toro Rosso’s DaniilKvyat.

‘DESERVE IT ALL’Sebastian Vettel said

that he told LewisHamilton 'he deserved itall ' after the BritishMercedes driver clinchedhis sixth world title at theUnited States Grand Prix.

"I think now is thetime for you to write asmany good things as youcan," Vettel informedreporters, referring towhat he said to Hamilton.

"If somebody winsthe title six times, hedeserves all of it. That'swhat I told him as well."

"Obviously I'm happyfor him," he added.

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He failed to help Tigers get past thefinish line when his team suf-fered a heartbreaking one-run

defeat against India during the 2016 ICCWorld T20 match on March 23 inBengaluru. But senior batsman and themost experienced player available in theBangladesh line-up during first Twenty20 match at Arun Jaitley stadium onSunday, Mushfiqur Rahim buried thedemons of past and take visitors tomaiden win over Men in Blue in theshortest format of the game.

The former skipper’s unbeatenknock off 60 runs which came in 43 ballshelped Bangladesh win the first-everT20 match against India in the ninthattempt.

Speaking after the match during thepress conference, wicket-keeper batsmantermed historic win as ‘great moment’.

“This is a great moment forBangladesh cricket because we haven’twon against them (India) in the T20 for-mat. We were missing a couple of keyplayers but the way youngsters sticktogether and all the bowlers bowled inthis track is outstanding. They set thegame.”

“And when we were chasing, it wasstill a defendable score because the wick-et wasn’t that easy to bat on, especiallywith the new ball and also later becauseof the quality of Indian spin attack butwe stick to the plan of taking the gamedeep and get the result in our favour.”

The senior pro added that “We hadnothing to lose coming into this gameand also in the series, so that gives us agreat cushion and freedom to play ourpotential and fearless cricket.”

The 32-year old said the strategywhile chasing was, one of the top fourbatsmen had to stay at the crease till 18or 19th over so that it gets easy to go forbig hits in the final over’s and that iswhat happened in the game also.

Rahim, who came to bat at 4, scoredfour consecutive boundaries in the 19thover bowled by Khaleel to take his sidejust a boundary short of the target.

“When I and Shomu (SoumyaSarkar) were batting in the middle, wehad a chat that if one of us stay till the19th over, we can get close to the target

because then we will need just one big16 plus or 20 runs over to take thingsunder control.”

Two years back in almost the simi-lar situation, needing two runs off lastthree balls, Bangladesh choked, butthis time they came prepared to dealwith such situation and Mushfiqur said,“As long as you are learning from yourmistakes that is the important part. Afterthat incident (World T20 match) I havebeen closing the games probably on 3-4 occasions in T20I and ODI format, sothat gives me a lot of confidence and alsoa bit of experience of what to do whenthe similar situation arrives rather thanwhat I did in the past.”

“I had a chat with Riyadh bhai(Mahmudullah) before the start of 20thover, making sure we get some ones andtwo’s and close in,” he added.

Discussing the impact of the win,the wicketkeeper-batsman said, “Wecame here to compete in each game. Playconsistent cricket and improve each day.After this win, we are now surely look-ing to win another game or two. And ifwe can fill the gaps in our death bowl-ing where we give 10-15 extra runs today(on Sunday), nothing is impossible inthe next couple of games also. We willtry our level best to take the series.”

He was pleased with the pacers’ per-formance and offer special praise to AfifHossain for his spell.

“It was a great start by our seamers.They haven’t played much in recenttimes but all of them chipped in and Afifbowled really well.”

Rahim said the “last two weeks werethe most difficult” in his 15-year career,referring to players’ protest followed byShakib Al Hasan’s two-year suspensionby the ICC for breaching anti-corrup-

tion code.“In my 15 years career, the last two

weeks were the toughest I face. So beforeleaving Bangladesh, I told journaliststhat everything can come on the righttrack if we win a couple of matches there(in India) and play really well. That’swhat we have done and it brings smileand calmness in our team and also thewhole nation, so we will try to contin-ue this form,” he concluded.

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Punam Raut starred with thebat before spinners put up a

fine performance to set upIndia's comfortable 53-run winover West Indies in the secondICC Women’s ChampionshipODI here.

India were able to defend amodest 191 by bowling outWest Indies for 138 in 47.2 oversand level the three-match ODIseries 1-1 here on Sunday night.

The spin troika of — left-arm orthodox RajeshwariGayakwad (2/27), leg-break spe-cialist Poonam Yadav (2/26)and off-spinner Deepti Sharma(2/25) returned with two wick-ets each to restrict the hosts tobelow-par score.

Opting to bat, India beganon a shaky note with openersPriya Punia (5) and JemimahRodrigues (0) departing cheap-ly, leaving the side reeling at 17for 2 in nine overs.

However, Punam (77), whowas the top scorer for India, andskipper Mithali Raj (40) andvice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur(46) steadied the ship putting upa modest target on the board.

Punam and Mithali shareda 66-run stand, scoring fourboundaries each before ShenetaGrimmond dismissed the latter

in the 29th over.Punam then joined forces

with Harmanpreet. The duokept the scoreboard movingwith a 93-run partnership beforethe Indian vice-captain wasbowled off an Aaliyah Alleynedelivery in the 48th over.

For West Indies, Alleyne(2/38) and Afy Fletcher (2/32)picked two wickets each, whileShabika Gajnabi (1/23) andGrimmond (1/22) scalped onea piece.

Chasing 192, West Indiesgot off to a bad start losing open-er Stacy-Ann King (6) in thefourth over. The home side wasstruck with a major blow in the25th over when opener NatashaMcLean (15) retired hurt.

Captain Stafanie Taylor (20)then joined ShemaineCampbelle in the middle butwas unable to lead her side tovictory as she was caught infront of the wickets by PoonamYadav.

The Indian bowlers led bythe spin trio of RajeshwariGayakwad (2/27), PoonamYadav (2/26) and Deepti Sharma(2/25), kept striking at regularintervals to deny West Indies ofa substantial partnership.

Campbelle (39) top-scoredfor West Indies as the home sidefolded for 138 in the 48th over.

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Indian team paid the price forRishabh Pant’s poor DRS calls

against Bangladesh and skipper RohitSharma says that he doesn’t want tojump to a conclusion yet whether theyoungster is good enough to taketricky review decisions.

India did not review the decisionwhen the umpire turned down anlbw appeal against Mushfiqur Rahimin the third ball of the 10th over,bowled by leg-spinner YuzvendraChahal.

Rahim was on six at that timeand went on to make an unbeaten 60to lead Bangladesh to a comfortableseven-wicket win.

“Of course, Rishabh is young andhe will need time to understand. It’stoo soon to judge whether he canmake those decisions. Plus, thebowlers as well. It’s a combinationwhen the captain is not in the rightposition to make that decision,”Rohit said at the post-match confer-ence.

In the last ball of that Chahal’sover, when the umpire turned downa caught behind appeal againstSoumya Sarkar, Rohit reviewed thedecision on Pant’s insistence but lostit since there was no edge.

“When you are not in the rightposition (as a fielder), you have totrust your bowler and the wicket-keeper. Based on that, you have tomake that decision, whichever formatyou play.”

Rohit felt that 148 was a defend-able score had they been smart on thefield.

“We would have defended it if wewere smart on the field. A couple ofdecisions we did not get it right onthe field and that went against us.That’s where we lacked in decisionmaking,” he said.

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If the Board of Control forCricket in India (BCCI) revolu-

tionised T20 cricket by introduc-ing the Indian Premier League(IPL), they are looking to take itone step further by bringing in theconcept of Power Player in the nextedition of the cash-rich league.Teams will be allowed to substitutea player at the fall of a wicket or atthe end of an over at any point inthe game.

A senior BCCI official saidthat the concept has already beenapproved, but will be discussed fur-ther in the IPL Governing Councilmeeting that will take place at theBCCI HQ in Mumbai today.

“We are looking at a scenariowhere a team will not name thePlaying XI. They will announce the15 and a player can be substitut-ed at either the fall of a wicket orat the end of the over at any pointin the game. While we are lookingto introduce it in the IPL, tryingthe concept first in the upcomingMushtaq Ali Trophy could be theideal way forward,” the official said.

Explaining how the idea willactually change the game, theofficial said the concept has thecapacity to change match situationsand induce out-of-the-box think-ing and strategising from the twoteams and engage even the fansfurther.

“Imagine you need 20 runs offthe last six balls and you haveAndre Russell sitting in the dug-out as he wasn’t a hundred percentand wasn’t part of the original XI.But now, he can just walk in andgo slam-bang and win you thegame.

“Similarly, say you need todefend six runs off the last over andyou have someone like a JaspritBumrah sitting in the dug-out. So,what does the captain do? Bringsin Bumrah at the end of the 19thover and there you go. The concepthas the potential to change thegame,” the official said.

Apart from deliberating onthis concept at the IPL GC onTuesday, the members will alsoreview the 2019 edition of thecash-rich league. The team willalso discuss how to go about mak-ing the next edition of the leaguebigger and better when it comes tonot just the game, but also fanengagement.