16
A n atrocious suicide attack killed 43 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in highway village of Lethpora in south Kashmir on Thursday as a suicide bomber rammed explosive-laden SUV into a Srinagar-bound convoy. This is the biggest attack on security forces in three decades of insur- gency in Kashmir. Pakistan- based Jaish-e-Muhammad out- fit claimed responsibility for the attack saying a 21-year-old local terrorist Adil Dar carried out the attack. Gory pictures of splattered body parts of the slain troop- ers, blood-soaked tattered clothes and mangled vehicles went viral soon after the after- noon attack that signals major shift in terrorists’ tactic in Kashmir. The all-time high fatal casualty figure even sur- passed Uri attack on Indian Army on September 18, 2016 when 19 soldiers were killed by a group of LeT fidayeen. Large scale condemnation has poured in against the attack. Home Minister Rajnath Singh is likely to visit Kashmir on Friday to assess the situation in the aftermath of the attack. Official sources said that an alert has been sounded in the Valley to check the escalating situation. Sources said that 21-year- old local Jaish cadre Adil Dar rammed the explosive-laden SUV into a convoy of CRPF buses at Lethpora, 17 kilome- ters from Srinagar at around 3.15 pm. The major impact of the blast was on a bus packed with off-duty troopers while four other buses in tow were also badly damaged. At least, two personnel deployed for road safety and not part of the convoy, were also killed. Sources said more than a couple of dozen personnel were wounded in the attack. Most of the personnel died on the spot even as many injured were evacuated to hos- pital for treatment. Attacker Dar hails from Kakapora village, 5 km from the blast site. He had joined the JeM outfit in April last year. He is second Kashmiri suicide bomber who carried out attack on security forces. Afaq Shah, 21, had blown himself off out- side the XV corps headquarters in year 2000. Sources said that Dar had recorded a video before embarking on the suicidal path and it was uploaded by his out- fit almost simultaneously with the attack’s timing. Such was the bang of the blast that it shat- tered windowpanes of the houses in a diameter of 5 km and it was heard in many parts of Srinagar city. Sources said that more than hundred kg of explosive has been used in the attack. The attack was carried out at a time when security forces had upped the ante against ultras in the Valley especially in the south Kashmir region. The attack is also significant in the wake of preparations for the upcoming Assembly and par- liamentary polls. Several top officials of the State led by Chief Secretary BVR Subramanyam are scheduled to hold a crucial meeting in New Delhi on February 18 to decide poll possibilities in the embattled State. The security forces blocked traffic on the national highway after the blast leading to major chaos on the highway. Continued on Page 4 T he deadly car bomb attack carried out by the Jaish-e- Mohammad on a convoy of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on Thursday in Pulwama district in Jammu & Kashmir is similar to terror strikes in Afghanistan, Syria and some other trouble-torn parts of the West-East. Intelligence had informa- tion about the attack for the last one year but no counter-mech- anism could be put in place. Officials in the security establishment said attack of such magnitude and sophisti- cation on Thursday has been unseen before in the Valley which is a marked shift in the terror tactic in Jammu & Kashmir amid a clear admin- istrative and Intelligence failure. “The initiative always lies with the terrorists and the security and intelligence com- munity have clearly failed in assessing such an attack before- hand. It also indicates the capa- bilities and capacities to execute terror attacks in a repeated fashion by the JeM continue with impunity. The JeM was involved in the Pathankot air- base terror strike on January 2, 2016,” the official said. Last such attack was recorded on November 2, 2005 when a suicide bomber blew up his car at Nowgam, near the private residence of then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, killing three cops and six civilians. Another major car bomb strike was registered on Oc- tober 1, 2001 when terrorists tr- iggered a car bomb outside the old Legislative Assembly Co- mplex in Srinagar in which 38 persons were killed while three terrorists were also neutralised. The first “human bomb” was used on April 19, 2000 in which two soldiers were killed in the suicide car bomb at the Army headquarters at Badamibagh area in Srinagar. Sources in the security agencies and counter-terror experts said the planner for the terror strike could have been of Pakistani military background who had put in a well-engi- neered system to maximise impact and inflict maximum damage. Continued on Page 4 I n a major setback to the AAP Government in Delhi, the two-judge Bench of the Supreme Court on Thursday agreed that the Centre should have the final word on posting and transfer of bureaucrats in the national Capital adminis- tration, but their disagreement on finer details resulted in a split verdict and the matter got referred to a larger Bench. The Bench, which was called upon to decide on six vexatious issues pertaining to a long-running feud between the Central and the national Capital Governments, gave an unanimous verdict on the remaining five counts and ruled that the Delhi Government’s Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) cannot probe the Centre’s employees in cor- ruption cases. Out of six contentions issues, the Delhi Government won in three and lost to the Centre on two critical aspects of investigating power to probe Central Government employ- ees and for setting up of enquiry commissions. While the court left it for a larger Bench to conclusively decide who will have control over administrative services in Delhi, the Bench of Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan unanimously ruled the the power to appoint enquiry com- missions would rest with the Centre as “there is no ‘State Government’ in the Union Territory and the State Government (for this purpose) shall mean the Central Government”. In its 202-page verdict, the court, however, held that the elected Delhi Government will have the right to appoint pub- lic prosecutors to decide land revenue matters and also to appoint or deal with electrici- ty commission or board. On the most contentious issue, Justice Sikri said, “The transfers and postings of sec- retaries, heads of departments and other officers in the scale of Joint Secretary to the Government of India and above can be done by the Lieutenant Governor and the file submitted to him directly.” “For other levels, including DANICS officers, files can be routed through the Chief Minister to the L-G. In case of difference of opinion between the L-G and the Chief Minister, the view of the L-G should pre- vail and the Ministry of Home Affairs can issue a suitable notification,” he said. Justice Sikri noted all trans- fers and postings for Grade III and IV DASS (Delhi Administration Subordinate Service) are done by the Secretary (Services), while those for Grades I and II are done by the Chief Secretary. Continued on Page 4 W est Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said Opposition par- ties will meet in the national Capital during the last week of this month to finalise how to collectively take on the Modi Government in the Lok Sabha polls. She said one round of meeting with top Opposition leaders, including Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, NCP’s Sharad Pawar, TDP’s N Chandrababu Naidu and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal among others, has already taken place while next crucial round is scheduled for February 26-27. Batting for Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), she said Kejriwal is keen on an alliance with the Congress in Delhi for the upcoming parliamentary polls and it is for Congress to recip- rocate. “Kejriwal wants an alliance with the Congress in Delhi,” said Mamata, adding that the AAP supremo had struggled hard to become the Chief Minister of Delhi and that he is continuing to struggle. Earlier in the day, Kejriwal said the Congress had “more or less” declined to have an alliance in Delhi for the general election. He also said the BJP would benefit in a three-cor- nered poll contest in the national Capital. Also, Mamata said it is wrong to ask her about being the PM face of the alliance and said that all the leaders of Opposition parties were qual- ified to lead the country. Continued on Page 4 A fter Uttar Pradesh (UP), the Haryana Government has also given green signal to the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of 106 kilometers (km) Delhi-Gurugram SNB (Shah- jahanpur-Neemrana-Behror Urban Complex) Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor. A total of 6,436 crore has been allocated for the Rapid Rail project. The decision was taken in the recent Cabinet meeting of the Haryana Government held on Wednesday. The Cabinet has also awarded a seed money of 500 crore for the financial year 2019-20. The UP Government, in last month also approved the DPR of Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS project. The DPR of the Delhi- Gurguram-SNB corridor was first approved by the imple- menting agency i.e, National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) Board, in December 2018. After that, it was placed in the Cabinet meeting for final assembly, said an official at the NCRTC. Continued on Page 4 T erming the Supreme Court’s verdict on the con- tentious issue of control of services in the National Capital Territory (NCT) as anti-con- stitution and anti-democracy, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said it is an injustice to the people of Delhi and that the AAP Government will seek legal remedies. Soon after the court’s ver- dict, Kejriwal accused the BJP- led Government at the Centre of creating hurdles in the func- tioning of the AAP dispensa- tion and appealed to the peo- ple to elect AAP candidates in all the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi to help the party achieve full-Statehood for Delhi. While the AAP used pop- ular Bollywood dialogue “tareekh pe tareekh” to describe a split verdict after four years of litigation, the BJP promptly accused Kejriwal of “declaring a war on the Supreme Court” and said it is considering filing contempt of court proceedings against him. Advising Kejriwal, Delhi Congress Pradesh president and former Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit said fighting is no solution. “Constitution has defined the power Delhi has, it’s not unlimited. The Centre, the Lieutenant Governor, and the Home Ministry handle many things in the Capital. So fight- ing is no solution, make changes if needed,” Sheila said. Rebutting her advice, Kejriwal said, “I respect Sheilaji. I appeal to her not to make such comments. We don’t even have 10 per cent of the power that her Government had. Didn’t she have the power to transfer officers? Still, in the last four years we have done more work than her Government did in 15 years,” he said. Continued on Page 4 Bhopal: Chief Secretary SR Mohanty said that certificate distribution activities under the Jai Kisan Fasal Rin Maafi Yojana will start from February 22. This process will be completed with- in a week. All the programmes related to loan waiver will be held at tehsil level also. Chief Minister Kamal Nath will also participate in the tehsil level programmes. Mohanty was addressing the Commissioners and Collectors through video conferencing. The Yuva Swabhiman Yojana, Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana and other ongoing activities were reviewed during the video conference. CS Mohanty said that the state is going to complete major scheme like loan waiver within two months. We have succeed- ed to face this challenge with the cooperation and team spirit of banks, cooperative societies and employees. The Principal Secretary Famers Welfare and Principal Secretary Cooperative also gave methodical directives for execution of the scheme. In connection to the Yuva Swabhiman Yojana, it was informed that registration begun from February 12 under the scheme, being started with an objective to provide 100 days employment in a year to unemployed youth of the age group 21 to 30 years. A total of 14,000 youth have got themselves registered under the scheme. Ten day training will be started by the urban bodies from February 21. A process of training will start in skill devel- opment centers from March 6. A monitoring committee com- prising 3 members will be formed in each ward of the urban bodies. Remuneration to the trainee youth will be given on March 22. For this minimum 70 per cent attendance at skill devel- opment centers and minimum 33 per cent attendance during the working days of the urban bodies is mandatory. Mohanty also gave instruc- tions that payment will be made to youth under the scheme on fulfilling qualifica- tions and required attendance. He also gave directives to ensure proper arrangement for electricity supply, drinking water in the coming days besides redressal of revenue cases, compliance of the elec- tion commission’s instructions and for maintaining constant law and order system, sensi- tiveness and activeness. He said that the Collectors and Commissioners must take deci- sions at their won level in con- nection to the works of their respective areas. Bhopal: Even 24 hours after the news spread, confusion still pre- vailed over the situation, whether IPS officer’s father is dead or alive. IPS officer, posted as Addl DG Rajendra Mishra in the Police Headquarters (PHQ) on Thursday claimed that it was his personal matter and nobody including media has right to interfere. Police are in a fix as no action could be taken against its own senior official as no com- plaint has been lodged against him. While talking to media per- sons, Addl DG Rajendra Mishra (Selection) claimed that it was his personal matter and media should not take his personal life to public. Regarding his father, he said that his father is responding positively to the Ayurvedic and home treatments at his house. Notably, on January 13, the officer’s father, KM Mishra was admitted to Bansal hospital and later declared dead on January 14 and death ‘Certificate’ was issued by the hospital. KM Mishra was accompanied back to home and Ayurvedic treatment was start- ed and after around a month when the SAF personnel posted at Rajendra Mishra’s house start- ed to talk about treatment of Rajendra’s death father. Few of the staff members at Rajendra’s residence went on leave as they fell sick from the pungent odor which is emanat- ing but on the other side neigh- bours have not reported about pungent smell. Senior officials and DGP are aware of the issue and have claimed that they would talk to ADG Rajendra Mishra over the issue. Staff Reporter RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008

ˇˆ - dailypioneer.com · 1 day ago · tioning of the AAP dispensa-tion and appealed to the peo- ... induct the word socialism in the country’s Constitution that was still being

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An atrocious suicide attackkilled 43 Central Reserve

Police Force (CRPF) personnelin highway village of Lethporain south Kashmir on Thursdayas a suicide bomber rammedexplosive-laden SUV into aSrinagar-bound convoy. This isthe biggest attack on securityforces in three decades of insur-gency in Kashmir. Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammad out-fit claimed responsibility for theattack saying a 21-year-oldlocal terrorist Adil Dar carriedout the attack.

Gory pictures of splatteredbody parts of the slain troop-ers, blood-soaked tatteredclothes and mangled vehicleswent viral soon after the after-noon attack that signals majorshift in terrorists’ tactic inKashmir. The all-time highfatal casualty figure even sur-passed Uri attack on IndianArmy on September 18, 2016when 19 soldiers were killed bya group of LeT fidayeen.

Large scale condemnationhas poured in against theattack. Home Minister RajnathSingh is likely to visit Kashmiron Friday to assess the situationin the aftermath of the attack.Official sources said that analert has been sounded in theValley to check the escalatingsituation.

Sources said that 21-year-old local Jaish cadre Adil Dar

rammed the explosive-ladenSUV into a convoy of CRPFbuses at Lethpora, 17 kilome-ters from Srinagar at around3.15 pm. The major impact ofthe blast was on a bus packedwith off-duty troopers whilefour other buses in tow werealso badly damaged. At least,two personnel deployed forroad safety and not part of theconvoy, were also killed.Sources said more than a couple of dozen personnel werewounded in the attack.

Most of the personnel diedon the spot even as manyinjured were evacuated to hos-pital for treatment.

Attacker Dar hails fromKakapora village, 5 km fromthe blast site. He had joined theJeM outfit in April last year. Heis second Kashmiri suicidebomber who carried out attackon security forces. Afaq Shah,21, had blown himself off out-side the XV corps headquartersin year 2000.

Sources said that Dar hadrecorded a video beforeembarking on the suicidal pathand it was uploaded by his out-fit almost simultaneously withthe attack’s timing. Such was

the bang of the blast that it shat-tered windowpanes of thehouses in a diameter of 5 kmand it was heard in many partsof Srinagar city. Sources saidthat more than hundred kg ofexplosive has been used in theattack.

The attack was carried outat a time when security forceshad upped the ante againstultras in the Valley especially inthe south Kashmir region. Theattack is also significant in thewake of preparations for theupcoming Assembly and par-liamentary polls. Several topofficials of the State led by ChiefSecretary BVR Subramanyamare scheduled to hold a crucialmeeting in New Delhi onFebruary 18 to decide pollpossibilities in the embattledState.

The security forces blockedtraffic on the national highwayafter the blast leading to majorchaos on the highway.

Continued on Page 4

�%����%������� 7�9����.2�

The deadly car bomb attackcarried out by the Jaish-e-

Mohammad on a convoy of theCentral Reserve Police Force(CRPF) on Thursday inPulwama district in Jammu &Kashmir is similar to terrorstrikes in Afghanistan, Syriaand some other trouble-tornparts of the West-East.

Intelligence had informa-tion about the attack for the lastone year but no counter-mech-anism could be put in place.

Officials in the securityestablishment said attack ofsuch magnitude and sophisti-cation on Thursday has beenunseen before in the Valleywhich is a marked shift in theterror tactic in Jammu &Kashmir amid a clear admin-istrative and Intelligence failure.

“The initiative always lieswith the terrorists and thesecurity and intelligence com-munity have clearly failed inassessing such an attack before-hand. It also indicates the capa-bilities and capacities to executeterror attacks in a repeatedfashion by the JeM continuewith impunity. The JeM was

involved in the Pathankot air-base terror strike on January 2,2016,” the official said.

Last such attack wasrecorded on November 2, 2005when a suicide bomber blew uphis car at Nowgam, near theprivate residence of then ChiefMinister Mufti MohammadSayeed, killing three cops andsix civilians.

Another major car bombstrike was registered on Oc-tober 1, 2001 when terrorists tr-iggered a car bomb outside theold Legislative Assembly Co-mplex in Srinagar in which 38persons were killed while threeterrorists were also neutralised.The first “human bomb” wasused on April 19, 2000 inwhich two soldiers were killedin the suicide car bomb at theArmy headquarters atBadamibagh area in Srinagar.

Sources in the securityagencies and counter-terrorexperts said the planner for theterror strike could have been ofPakistani military backgroundwho had put in a well-engi-neered system to maximiseimpact and inflict maximumdamage.

Continued on Page 4

����������� � ��������� ��������

���� 7�9����.2

In a major setback to the AAPGovernment in Delhi, the

two-judge Bench of theSupreme Court on Thursdayagreed that the Centre shouldhave the final word on postingand transfer of bureaucrats inthe national Capital adminis-tration, but their disagreementon finer details resulted in asplit verdict and the matter gotreferred to a larger Bench.

The Bench, which wascalled upon to decide on sixvexatious issues pertaining toa long-running feud betweenthe Central and the nationalCapital Governments, gave anunanimous verdict on theremaining five counts andruled that the DelhiGovernment’s Anti-CorruptionBranch (ACB) cannot probethe Centre’s employees in cor-ruption cases.

Out of six contentionsissues, the Delhi Governmentwon in three and lost to theCentre on two critical aspectsof investigating power to probe

Central Government employ-ees and for setting up ofenquiry commissions.

While the court left it for alarger Bench to conclusivelydecide who will have controlover administrative services inDelhi, the Bench of Justices AKSikri and Ashok Bhushanunanimously ruled the thepower to appoint enquiry com-missions would rest with theCentre as “there is no ‘StateGovernment’ in the UnionTerritory and the StateGovernment (for this purpose)shall mean the CentralGovernment”.

In its 202-page verdict, thecourt, however, held that theelected Delhi Government willhave the right to appoint pub-lic prosecutors to decide landrevenue matters and also toappoint or deal with electrici-ty commission or board.

On the most contentiousissue, Justice Sikri said, “Thetransfers and postings of sec-retaries, heads of departmentsand other officers in the scaleof Joint Secretary to theGovernment of India andabove can be done by theLieutenant Governor and thefile submitted to him directly.”

“For other levels, includingDANICS officers, files can berouted through the ChiefMinister to the L-G. In case of

difference of opinion betweenthe L-G and the Chief Minister,the view of the L-G should pre-vail and the Ministry of HomeAffairs can issue a suitablenotification,” he said.

Justice Sikri noted all trans-fers and postings for Grade IIIand IV DASS (DelhiAdministration SubordinateService) are done by theSecretary (Services), whilethose for Grades I and II aredone by the Chief Secretary.

Continued on Page 4

��� 7�9����.2

West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee on

Thursday said Opposition par-ties will meet in the nationalCapital during the last week ofthis month to finalise how tocollectively take on the ModiGovernment in the Lok Sabhapolls.

She said one round ofmeeting with top Oppositionleaders, including Congresschief Rahul Gandhi, NCP’sSharad Pawar, TDP’s NChandrababu Naidu and DelhiCM Arvind Kejriwal among others, has alreadytaken place while next crucialround is scheduled forFebruary 26-27.

Batting for Aam AadmiParty (AAP), she said Kejriwalis keen on an alliance with theCongress in Delhi for theupcoming parliamentary pollsand it is for Congress to recip-rocate.

“Kejriwal wants an alliancewith the Congress in Delhi,”said Mamata, adding that the

AAP supremo had struggledhard to become the ChiefMinister of Delhi and that heis continuing to struggle.

Earlier in the day, Kejriwalsaid the Congress had “more orless” declined to have analliance in Delhi for the generalelection. He also said the BJPwould benefit in a three-cor-nered poll contest in thenational Capital.

Also, Mamata said it iswrong to ask her about beingthe PM face of the alliance andsaid that all the leaders ofOpposition parties were qual-ified to lead the country.

Continued on Page 4

� � ��������������� ����� ��� �����

����������� 7�9����.2�

After Uttar Pradesh (UP),the Haryana Government

has also given green signal tothe Detailed Project Report(DPR) of 106 kilometers (km)Delhi-Gurugram SNB (Shah-jahanpur-Neemrana-BehrorUrban Complex) RegionalRapid Transit System (RRTS)corridor. A total of �6,436crore has been allocated for theRapid Rail project.

The decision was taken inthe recent Cabinet meeting ofthe Haryana Government heldon Wednesday. The Cabinethas also awarded a seed moneyof �500 crore for the financialyear 2019-20. The UPGovernment, in last month

also approved the DPR ofDelhi-Ghaziabad-MeerutRRTS project.

The DPR of the Delhi-Gurguram-SNB corridor wasfirst approved by the imple-menting agency i.e, National

Capital Region TransportCorporation (NCRTC) Board,in December 2018. After that,it was placed in the Cabinetmeeting for final assembly,said an official at the NCRTC.

Continued on Page 4

������� ������� 7�9����.2

Terming the SupremeCourt’s verdict on the con-

tentious issue of control ofservices in the National CapitalTerritory (NCT) as anti-con-stitution and anti-democracy,Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal said it is an injusticeto the people of Delhi and thatthe AAP Government will seeklegal remedies.

Soon after the court’s ver-dict, Kejriwal accused the BJP-led Government at the Centreof creating hurdles in the func-tioning of the AAP dispensa-tion and appealed to the peo-

ple to elect AAP candidates inall the seven Lok Sabha seats inDelhi to help the party achievefull-Statehood for Delhi.

While the AAP used pop-ular Bollywood dialogue“tareekh pe tareekh” to describea split verdict after four yearsof litigation, the BJP promptlyaccused Kejriwal of “declaringa war on the Supreme Court”and said it is considering filingcontempt of court proceedingsagainst him.

Advising Kejriwal, DelhiCongress Pradesh presidentand former Chief MinisterShiela Dikshit said fighting isno solution. “Constitution has

defined the power Delhi has, it’snot unlimited. The Centre, theLieutenant Governor, and theHome Ministry handle manythings in the Capital. So fight-ing is no solution, makechanges if needed,” Sheila said.

Rebutting her advice,Kejriwal said, “I respect Sheilaji.I appeal to her not to makesuch comments. We don’t evenhave 10 per cent of the powerthat her Government had.Didn’t she have the power totransfer officers? Still, in the lastfour years we have done morework than her Government didin 15 years,” he said.

Continued on Page 4

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Bhopal: Chief Secretary SRMohanty said that certificatedistribution activities under theJai Kisan Fasal Rin Maafi Yojanawill start from February 22. Thisprocess will be completed with-in a week. All the programmesrelated to loan waiver will beheld at tehsil level also.

Chief Minister Kamal Nathwill also participate in the tehsillevel programmes. Mohanty wasaddressing the Commissionersand Collectors through videoconferencing. The YuvaSwabhiman Yojana, KisanSamman Nidhi Yojana and otherongoing activities were reviewedduring the video conference.

CS Mohanty said that thestate is going to complete majorscheme like loan waiver withintwo months. We have succeed-ed to face this challenge with thecooperation and team spirit ofbanks, cooperative societies and

employees. The PrincipalSecretary Famers Welfare andPrincipal Secretary Cooperativealso gave methodical directivesfor execution of the scheme.

In connection to the YuvaSwabhiman Yojana, it wasinformed that registrationbegun from February 12 underthe scheme, being started withan objective to provide 100days employment in a year tounemployed youth of the agegroup 21 to 30 years.

A total of 14,000 youth havegot themselves registered underthe scheme. Ten day training willbe started by the urban bodiesfrom February 21. A process oftraining will start in skill devel-opment centers from March 6. Amonitoring committee com-prising 3 members will beformed in each ward of theurban bodies. Remuneration tothe trainee youth will be given on

March 22. For this minimum 70per cent attendance at skill devel-opment centers and minimum33 per cent attendance duringthe working days of the urbanbodies is mandatory.

Mohanty also gave instruc-tions that payment will bemade to youth under thescheme on fulfilling qualifica-tions and required attendance.He also gave directives toensure proper arrangement forelectricity supply, drinkingwater in the coming daysbesides redressal of revenuecases, compliance of the elec-tion commission’s instructionsand for maintaining constantlaw and order system, sensi-tiveness and activeness. Hesaid that the Collectors andCommissioners must take deci-sions at their won level in con-nection to the works of theirrespective areas.

Bhopal: Even 24 hours after thenews spread, confusion still pre-vailed over the situation, whetherIPS officer’s father is dead oralive.

IPS officer, posted as AddlDG Rajendra Mishra in thePolice Headquarters (PHQ) onThursday claimed that it was hispersonal matter and nobodyincluding media has right tointerfere.

Police are in a fix as noaction could be taken against itsown senior official as no com-plaint has been lodged againsthim. While talking to media per-sons, Addl DG Rajendra Mishra(Selection) claimed that it was hispersonal matter and mediashould not take his personal lifeto public. Regarding his father, hesaid that his father is respondingpositively to the Ayurvedic andhome treatments at his house.

Notably, on January 13, theofficer’s father, KM Mishra wasadmitted to Bansal hospital andlater declared dead on January 14and death ‘Certificate’ was issuedby the hospital. KM Mishra wasaccompanied back to home andAyurvedic treatment was start-ed and after around a monthwhen the SAF personnel postedat Rajendra Mishra’s house start-ed to talk about treatment ofRajendra’s death father.

Few of the staff members atRajendra’s residence went onleave as they fell sick from thepungent odor which is emanat-ing but on the other side neigh-bours have not reported aboutpungent smell. Senior officialsand DGP are aware of the issueand have claimed that theywould talk to ADG RajendraMishra over the issue. StaffReporter

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The AIIMS Bhopal will sup-port and collaborate in

research in Homoeopathy,Ayurveda and Unani. AIIMSBhopal director, Dr SarmanSingh said, “Our aim is that sci-ence should progress. We areready to assist in research inany ‘pathy’.

He was speaking at a work-shop on ‘Basic research and itsmethodology in the light ofethics’, organised by MPGovernment HomeopathicMedical College and Hospital(GHMCH), here on Thursday.

He further said, “Let therebe scientific evidence and onlythen we could look at supple-mentary treatment throughAyush. Experts have often citedthat success stories are high-lighted by Ayush. However,scientific and statistical data isnot comprehensive enough to

back the claims.”Modern sci-

ence has oftend i s m i s s e dh o m e o p at hy,A y u r v e d a ,Unani and othersystem of Indianmedicine. Therehave been vari-ous medicalpapers callinghomeopathy aplacebo effect.Ayurveda hasfound it toughto get USFDAapprovals. In2016, US federaltrade commis-sion report stat-ed homeopathicremedies on themarket are just extremely dilut-ed versions of plant or animalextracts believed to bring reliefto symptoms.

However, high level of gov-ernment funding research inAyush has titled the scale.“There is a lot of money (in

Ayush). We are not shy toexplore,” said an AIIMS expertat the workshop which wasattended Ayush medical offi-

cers, post graduate and PhDscholars.

Agreeing that science andevidence is lagging, GHMCHprincipal Dr SK Mishra saidthat once quality of research isassured by AIIMS, it would cre-ate an opening and opportunityto complement and coordi-nate.

AIIMS Bhopal facultywould assist GHMCH studentsand faculty. Quality control,observation and analysis ofmore than one statistical out-come variable at a time, singleblind and a double blind studyalong with basics of preparationof research proposal would becarried out.

“It has been found thatafter switching over to home-opathy drug resistance (toGentamicin) came down,” saidGHMCH, nodal officer andconsultant research, Dr NishantNambison.

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Dedicating the Sanyam KirtiStambh and Vidyasagar

Upvan at Raja Bhoj Setu dur-ing the 50th Diksha Divas pro-gramme of Acharya VidyasagarMaharaj, Religious Trust andEndowments Minister PCSharma on Thursday said thatAcharya should be honouredwith the Bharat Ratna by theCentral government. He saidthat if the Central Governmentdoes not make this announce-ment, we will honour Acharyawith Bharat Ratna afterCongress comes to power.

Sharma said that the stategovernment is constantly work-ing to promote religious activ-ities. The government will buildgau-shalas in every gram pan-chayat. The government willextend all possible support tourban bodies if they constructgau-shalas and affiliate themwith the temples.

Sharma said that the gov-ernment has given a three-timehike in the honorarium ofpriests. The government is total-ly committed towards religion.He said that no one can stop theperson who acquires the bless-ings of Jain Munis from movingahead in the world. Sharma saidthat the Sanyam Kirti Stambhdedicated to the public willinspire not only the Jain com-munity but all the communities

for control. Remembering LateAshok Jain Bhabha, he said hewas ‘Ajatshatru’ (one who has noenemy).

Expressing concern overthe disappearance of girls in thecountry, Acharya Vidyasagarsaid that so far 1,82,000 girls inthe 18 to 25 age group havegone missing in the country. Hesaid that the administrativeofficers are assigned the com-mand of the district at the ageof 25. In order to become MPand MLA in the elections, theage of 25 has been fixed. Themarriageable age of girls shouldbe fixed at 25 so that the pro-tection of girls is ensured.

Endowments Minister PCSharma, Mayor Alok Sharmaand Municipal CorporationChairman Surjeet SinghChouhan were felicitated withshawl, shriphal and mementos.

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A23-year-old army personnelcommitted suicide by hang-

ing from the ceiling at storeroomunder three EMI centre underBairagarh police station area inthe night on Wednesday;deceased committed suicidewhile he was on duty.

Police said that thedeceased Mohit Kumar Senwas found hanging with theceiling of the store room wherehe had gone to bring goods butwhen he returned to fail otherarmy personnel checked storeroom and found him hanging

and was rushed to hospitalwhere he was declared dead.After the death police wereinformed and a police teamreached the spot and startedinvestigation.

In the initial investigationpolice found that the deceasedwas deployed at store room andhad gone to bring some goodson the orders of senior but notreturned and took extremestep inside the store room.The deceased used to live inCant area and posted as armypersonnel. During the investi-gation police found that theMajor Vibhuti informed the

police regarding the death. Police have not found any

suicide note which could help inthe revealing the reason behindthe suicide. The reason behindthe suicide would be investi-gated as in the investigation noreason has been found.

The family of deceasedwas informed regarding theextreme step taken by thedeceased. After the preliminaryinvestigation the body was sentfor the post mortem and a caseunder section 174 of the CrPC.Police have started furtherinvestigation. The case wouldbe investigated by CSP.

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Asplendid Kathak perfor-mance was presented here

on Thursday at Antarang Hall,Bharat Bhavan wherein theKathak artists showcased theirenormous talent. The perfor-mance by renowned Kathakdancer Shama Bhat end hertroupe marked the second dayof 37th foundation anniversary.

The excellent commandof rhythm, as well as their nat-ural flair for profound expres-sion, marked their perfor-mance. Their exuberance andthe blend of Kathak mudraswas a pleasure to watch.

Their performance wonhuge round of applause fromkathak lovers. Shama in thisperformance refined the dra-matic and rhythmic aspects,delighting audiences with theperformance over rhythm andthe stylized presentation. Fortheir effortless pirouettes,amazing footwork and won-derful expressions, the dancerswon hearts of the audience inBhopal with their delightfulperformance.

Facial expressions wereincorporated with the musicalsequences. The dance was keptsimple yet innovative. The ele-gant costume and simple lookof the performers was anotherreason of attraction of theshow.

It is to be noted that Guru

Shama Bhate also known asShama Tai, is among theKathak exponents in Indiatoday. Her career spans over 38years and she has been learn-ing and performing Kathakfrom the age of 4 and has beena teacher and is involved withchoreography and trainingmany Kathak dancers in India.She is also the artistic directorof her Dance AcademyNadroop in Pune.

Guru Shama Bhate’s chore-ographic work is extensive.She has experimented withboth traditional as well as con-temporary format of Kathak.She has created a repertoire oftraditional and classical com-positions Taals, Taranas,Thumris with her own per-spective.

Her performance made theevening a delightful one for theBhopalites.

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The 40th NTPC JuniorNational Archery Contest

concluded on Thursday at theCity State Sports Complex.The medal winners were felic-itated by Minister of PublicRelations PC Sharma.

He encouraged the playersto play diligently and said thatplay a lot, go ahead and illu-minate the name of the coun-try. They congratulated theplayers and congratulated them.

On this occasion, DirectorSports and Youth Welfare, S.L.Thoussen apprised the publicrelations minister of depart-mental achievements. Prior tothis he welcomed Minister ofPublic Relations, P.C. Sharma Onthis occasion, BVP, President,

Indian Archery Association Rao,Secretary, Mahasingh andTreasurer of Indian ArcheryAssociation, D.K. Student,Assistant Secretary, GanujanEraval, M. Vinod Kumar, VicePresident, Madhya PradeshArchery Association, Mr. JointDirector Khalid Dawn Otherofficers including VinodPradhan were present.

In the individual competi-tion of recurve round eventplayed on the last day of thecompetition, SSCB player GoraHo won gold, plyer Rajat wona silver medalandMaharashtra's YashadeepBhoge earned bronze medals.In the qualification round ofthe Recurve event, player ofMaharashtra won a gold medal,Paras Hooda Rajat of Haryana

won a silver medal and JagdishChaudhary of Rajasthan won abronze medal.

In the same competition,girl category Karmalika Bari ofJharkhand won a gold medal,Sukhpreet Kaur of Punjab wona silver and Jharkhand's AnkitaBhagat got bronze.

Similarly, in the recurveteam event of the competition,Maharashtra's team baggedfirst position, Assam teamstood second and Haryanateam got third position. In thegirls' recurve team event,Haryana first, Jharkhand wassecond and Punjab team was inthird place. In the recurve mixteam event, West Bengal teamwon the first, Haryana secondand Jharkhand's team got thirdplace.

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The Indira Gandhi RashtriyaManav Sangrahalaya is

organising National TribalHealers Workshop at theSangrahalaya premises, Bhopalfrom February 19 to 23, 2019.

Shikha Dubey, AdditionalChief Secretary, Department ofAyush, Madhya Pradesh) willinaugurate the workshop at11.30 am on February 19 atMandapam of the ManavSangrahalaya. The representa-tives from Tribal Healers andTribal Research Institute from

different places in Country areparticipating in this workshop.

The people of the city cantreat their old and complicat-ed diseases with medicinesmade to herbs from all tribalhealers. The steam bath ofKerala has special importancein the workshop. Steam roomis made to take steam.

The steam room closesaround and there are smallpores to steam it. In this way,the patient is kept in that roomfor approximately 10 to 12minutes it until more sweat.About 65 types of herbs are

boiled in a special vessel insteam bath. Massages are donebefore this. After this the wholebody of the patient is steamed.By which the body's folliclesopen well. And it seems tocause excessive sweating. Withthis sweat, our body gets poi-son slip out.

At the same time, makingproper corrections in our dietand lifestyle creates ourimmune system, resulting inthe recovery. This workshop isopen from 11.00 am to 8:00 pmat Mandapam of the ManavSangrahalaya.

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A20-year-old youth, whomet accident near St

Xaviers School underGovindpura police station areaon November 30, 2018, died onThursday while undergoingtreatment at a private hospital.

Police said that thedeceased identified asMohammad Asif met accidenton November 30, 2018 whileon his way to home in AshokaGarden.

He was rushed to Chirayuhospital and later he was shift-ed to Hamidia hospital wherehe died on Wednesday.

After the preliminaryinvestigation body was sent forthe post mortem and a caseunder section 174 of the CrPCwas registered. Police havestarted further investigation.

Deceased remained incoma for around four monthsand died on Wednesday. Thedetails of the accident would beinvestigated said the police.

Meanwhile, a 50-year-oldman died of electrocutionwhile working at farms nearBypass road under SukhiSewania police station area inthe afternoon on Thursday.

The deceased identified asGopal Singh was injured afterhe came into contact with livewires and was rushed to near-

by hospital where he wasdeclared dead. The incidenttook place at around 2 pm.

Police said that he hadgone for watering at farms andgot electrocuted. After the pre-liminary investigation bodywas sent for the post mortem.The police have registered acase under section 174 of theCrPC.

Police said that investiga-tion would be conducted toreveal that the death occurreddue to negligence or it was anaccident and in case if it isfound that the death occurreddue to negligence case wouldbe registered against theresponsible person.

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Due to various diseases andlifestyle and professional

reasons, the pain in differentparts of the body is now pos-sible by remedies that are farless difficult. For discussionsabout world-class innovativetechniques coming in thisdirection, a seminar was heldon 14th of February in JKHospital on the topic of mini-mally invasive technology forpain relieving. Expert fromCanada Dr. Kulvir Singh Billingand local specialist Dr. RupeshJain addressed the seminar.The seminar was speciallybased on Trigeminal neuralgiadisease. Dr. Jain also informedthat the treatment of pain withminimal invasive technique ofpain relief is now possible inBhopal. In this disease, there isa pain like current in thepatient’s body, and creates pres-sure on the fifth number ofbrain nerve that is calledTrigeminal nerves. Treatmentof this disease is done by med-icines, radio frequency ablationor surgery according to itscondition. He further said thatin addition to Trigeminal neu-ralgia, this seminar also dis-cussed about waist pain, kneepain and Saitika. In this semi-nar two patients who are recov-ering from Trigeminal tech-niques were also introduced tothe media.

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Minister for Public WorksSajjan Singh Verma met

the Union Minister for RoadTransport Nitin Gadkari inNew Delhi on Thursday.Verma discussed in lengthabout the pending issues ofnational highways. During thedeliberations, approval in prin-ciple was granted to the ele-vated corridor of Indore by theUnion Government.

Verma assured the UnionMinister Gadkari that landacquisition cases of the nation-al highways will be resolvedwithin the prescribe time limit.He informed that orders havealready been issued for landacquisition in connection to 116

km long Bhopal-Indore ExpressWay. Besides, consent has beenreceived under the CentralRoad Fund for construction oflong awaited elevated corridorfrom LIG to Navlakha for con-venient and smooth trafficmovement in the middle ofIndore city. The proposed ele-vated corridor includes part ofLIG Square, Palasia Square,Bangali Square, Shivaji StatueSquare and Navlakha Square.

Verma further mentionedthat an amount of Rs 151 crorehas been approved under theone time settlement for seg-ments of such roads of theurban areas of the nationalhighways of Madhya Pradeshwhich are not presently includ-ed in any scheme due to the

construction of new bypasses.Under this, consent has alsobeen granted for works likeconstruction of 6 lane seg-ment from Maksi BypassSquare to Bhopal Square of oldNH-3 of Dewas city, roaddevelopment from BhopalSquare to District SessionCourt, beautification and cen-tral lighting.

Besides, Verma hasinformed that the UnionMinister Shri Gadkari has toldhim to send the traffic data ofKurwai-Mugawli-ChanderiNational Highway and Pachore-Jeerapur National Highway,which were pending due to thetechnical reasons. Approval willbe issued on the basis of data.

During the meeting, the

Union Minister Gadkari grantedapproval to new Ujjain-Garothnational highway, which willconnect Baroda to New Delhi. Healso directed to invite tenders toconvert Bhawar Kuan to TejajiNagar Chouraha Khandwabypass into 6 lane bypass.

The PWD Minister hasinformed that approval hasalso been given by the UnionNational Highways in the timeescalation cases of pendingfour lane construction works ofBhopal-Jabalpur national high-way. He mentioned thatGadkari has given assurancefor starting Bhopal-Khandwa-Icchapur four lane road short-ly and directed the concernedofficer to initiate a process oftender.

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Higher Education MinisterJitu Patwari on Thursday

inaugurated the annual SnehaSammelan at GovernmentMaharani Laxmi Bai GirlsPostgraduate College.

Patwari said that wherethere are daughters, there iseconomic prosperity and well-being. He said that daughtersare the strengths, who aremoving ahead and winningacclaim.

Minister Patwari said thatthe plan is to develop 200 col-leges of the state as ideal col-leges in the coming one andhalf years. He said that MLBCollege has been awarded ‘A’grade certificate by NAC. Aprovision of Rs 20 crore hasbeen made in the World BankProject for this college. With

this, the college will beequipped with modern labo-

ratory, classroom with e-board etc. Apart from this

CCT V cameras wil l beinstalled so that 80 percentattendance of both the stu-dents and the professors willbe ensured. Minister Patwaridirected to restart HindiLiterature, Sociology, Urduand Botany subjects in thecollege on students’ demand.

Higher EducationMinister Jitu Patwari dedi-cated the new Vigyan Bhavanbuilt in GovernmentMaharani Laxmi Bai GirlsPost Graduate Collegepremises. Patwari reviewedthe exhibition based onMahatma Gandhi organizedat the college.

MLA Kunal Choudhary,Principal Government MLBPG College MamtaChansoriya and a large num-ber of students were presenton the occasion.

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The Gwalior Smart CityProject which is being

carried out in the city will nowbe aimed at promoting the cityas a global tourist centre. Thecity boasts of many heritageplaces, palaces, monuments,various fairs and festivals thatare potential spots for devel-opment of heritage tourism.

This was stated by SSDubey, the CentralGovernment appointedDirector of Smart City Projectduring a meeting of the Boardof Directors of the project inGwalior.

During the meetingDubey said that the varioushistorical monuments will begiven a face lift without dis-turbing their unique identityderived from their history.He added that it is importantto conserve and maintainthese monuments which inturn will attract national aswell as foreign tourists.

Addressing the twelfthboard meeting of the GwaliorSmart City DevelopmentCorporation Ltd, S S Dubeyasked the directors to speedup all the smart city projects.

He further said that it isimperative that the imple-mentation of the various pro-jects gain momentum. Hefurther asked the directors tofix time frames for variousprojects.

The Director took a crit-ical view of the delay in theimplementation of a few pro-jects like the setting up of theCommand and Control Roomat Moti Mahal and the up gra-dation of the Gorkhi School toa Smart School. He also askedthe officials to submit adetailed report in the nextmeeting about such projectsthat need any amendments.

It was also decided at theBoard Meeting to take citizensof the city into confidencewhile deciding and imple-menting Smart City projects.The Directors observed thatcitizen’s participation in theimplementation and decision-making of the schemes is vitalfor the success of the variousschemes. The meeting wasalso attended by the Districtcollector, Bharat Yadav, MahipTejaswi, the CEO of the SmartCity project and various offi-cials of the Project, amongothers.

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Achildren’s film about fewbrave kids ‘Diler Bachche’

was screened at MadhyaPradesh State Tribal Museum.The film was screened here onThursday under the Ullas seriesof children’s films.

The film was directed byVadiraj and features ShashiKumar, Baby Anuradha andSrikant.

Kids in an orphanage runby a rich patron are maltreatedby those who run the place. Thewarden, the cook and the othercaretakers make life unbearablefor them. Distressed at thistreatment and realizing that nohelp will come to them, the kidsdecide to run away and find thepatron and inform him of thetruth. On the way theyencounter challenges in theshape of wild monkeys, thieves

and kidnappers. Can the littlekids manage to put their wits togood use and succeed in theirgoal? This adventurous filmattempts to impress upon kidsthat often self-help is the besthelp and that courage can over-come any odds.

Vadiraj started his career asactor in Kannada and Tamiltheatre, acting in over 1500stage shows. He debuted infilms in 1954 with ‘Kokilavani’and acted in over 75 Kannada,Tamil and Telugu films. Heturned producer in 1962 andhas produced 14 Kannadafilms, many of which havewon state and national awards.‘Navajivana’ and ‘Naandi’, bothproduced by him in 1964, wonNational Awards. He turneddirector in 1979 and directedfive Kannada films. He servedon several state and nationalaward juries. He died in 2004.

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BHEL Bhopal received pres-tigious QCI-DL Shah Silver

Award for its project ‘Qualityand Productivity Improvementand Up-gradation of load car-rying capacity of Thrust andGuide Bearing assemblies usedin vertical AC motors’.

Patent application has alsobeen registered for this innova-tive project. The DL Shah awardwas presented by HK Taneja ofDL Shah Trust to BHEL Teamcomprising of MK Sharma,Additional General Manager(Quality), Ravi Gera, Sr DeputyGeneral Manager (MotorsDesign) and AfaqueKibria,Deputy Manager (MotorsDesign) in an award presentationceremony held at Pune.

The award process includ-ed initial scrutiny by awardjury followed by presentation ofproject in front of jury by theproject team and on-site assess-

ment of the project. The on-siteassessment was done by VNChoudhary on January 30, 2019.

BHEL- Bhopal hadreceived Gold and silver awardsearlier also. The award sym-bolizes BHEL efforts taken onquality front by top manage-ment to face stiff competitionfrom multinationals.

Executive Director DKThakur, MS Kinra, GeneralManager (Quality) and HKNigam, General Manager (EM)congratulated the team andemphasized for striving forfurther excellence. The project

had also been conferred withBHEL ‘Excel Award’.

Quality Council of Indiawas established in 1997 byGovernment of India in asso-ciation with three Chambers ofCommerce viz CII, FICCI andASSOCHAM. The Chairmanof Quality Council of India isappointed by Prime Minister.National Accreditation boardsfor Certification bodies,Education and Training,Hospitals and Healthcareproviders and Testing and cal-ibration Laboratories are partof QCI.

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Dharampur (Guj): Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi wastaken by surprise when awoman kissed him on cheekahead of his rally in Gujarat'sValsad district on Thursday.

The woman told mediathat it was a spontaneous ges-ture and had nothing to do withthe Valentine's Day fervourtoday, adding that the Congresschief was "like her brother".

She planted a kiss onGandhi's cheek after climbingonto the stage along with otherwomen party workers to gar-land Gandhi before his publicrally here.

The woman, who appearedto be in her late 60s, claimedthat she was a senior Congressworker.

Asked if she kissed the

Congress president becausetoday is Valentine's Day, thewoman, who identified herselfas Kashmiraben, replied in thenegative.

"I am a senior party work-er from Surat. I am also a Parsi.I am in the Congress for over

48 years now. I am RahulGandhi's well-wisher. He is likemy brother," she said.

"I am very excited that heis here," she added.

Kashmiraben exuded con-fidence that Rahul Gandhi willbecome Prime Minister. PTI

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The Supreme Court onThursday grilled Amrapali

Group CMD Anil KumarSharma for �94 crore of home-buyers’ money being shown inhis bank account and alsowarned that it would send himto jail for his “reluctance” indisclosing the identity of aperson, who had bought com-pany’s shares worth �140 crorefrom the multi-national firm JPMorgan.

The top court gave Sharmaone last opportunity to return�6.55 crore of homebuyers’money, which he had trans-ferred to his daughter, byFebruary 28 and sought expla-nation of �94 crore shown inhis bank account. It alsoappointed a valuer to ascertain

the exact value of 5,229 unsoldflats including those booked byAmrapali for just �1, �11 and�12 and asked the valuer tosubmit its report by the nextdate of hearing.

A Bench of Justices ArunMishra and UU Lalit alsobrought ‘The Royal Golf LinkCity Projects Pvt Ltd’ under its

scanner and sought its shareholding pattern, names of pro-moters and balancesheet. Thecourt was informed by theforensic auditors that land forthe project were purchased byAmrapali and in all possibilityit appears to be a front com-pany of the embattled realestate firm.

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Expressing concern that thereal estate sector had

recently come under severescrutiny by the Apex court andstatutory Consumer rightsbodies due to some unethicalpractices followed by certainplayers, Vice President MVenkaiah Naidu on Thursdaycalled upon the industry bod-ies to institutionalise a codeconduct and a self regulationmechanism to curb unethicalpractices in the segment.

Addressing the youngentrepreneurs and profession-als at the 3rd YouthCon orga-nized by realtor’s bodyCREDAI here, Naidu pointedout that the sector had comeunder severe scrutiny by theapex court and statutory con-sumer rights bodies due tosome unethical practices fol-lowed by certain players.

Naidu said that the grow-ing NPA in real estate had notonly affected banks but alsodried up bank loans to the sec-tor from 63 per cent in 2013 to17 per cent in 2016, therebyaccentuating the stress.

“You owe as much to yourcustomers and the workers asyou do to creditors and sup-pliers. More than financial via-bility, it is social obligation andtrust that is at stake”, he said.

Quoting the recent reportof CAG on real estate sector,

the Vice President said that 95per cent of the real estatedevelopers, builders and agentsdid not have mandatory PAN.He also pointed to surveysfrom the sources like CREDAIand RERA and said that out ofaround 3000 entities surveyed;more than 500 didn’t fileIncome Tax Returns.

Saying that the CAG reportmust be the point of reference,Naidu wanted the industry topromote digital transactionsand enhance transparency andethical facet of the sector.

Considering that the realestate sector contributes 7.9 percent to the GDP of the coun-try and provides employmentto more than 50 million peo-ple, he said that a transparentand predictable regulatoryregime was essential tostrengthen the real estate mar-ket by creating greater confi-dence in the consumers.

Naidu said that the sectorwas essential for healthy, inclu-sive and equitable growth of theeconomy. The Vice Presidentadded that programmes likeAMRUT, HRIDAY and the pioneering initiatives like 100Smart Cities, Housing for all by2022 and PMAY present a greatopportunity for the sector. He wanted organisations like the CREDAI to take lead inimparting the skill-sets requiredfor new employment opportu-nities.

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From Page 1Meanwhile, Delhi unit of

the BJP welcomed the Court’sverdict and said it removesambiguities in the powers ofthe Delhi Government.

Delhi BJP president ManojTiwari said, “The SupremeCourt in its judgement hasdecided on six issues. On theissue of transfer-posting, thecourt held the Anti CorruptionBranch (ACB) andCommission of inquiry areunder the jurisdiction ofCentral Government,” state-ment of Kejriwal that werespect the court but the ver-dict is injustice to the people ofDelhi is quite unfortunate,”said Tiwari.

From Page 1The pre-construction

work such as Geotechnicalinvestigation has also startedrecently in Gurugram.Tenders for Pile LoadingTest have also been floated bythe NCRTC for this corridor.

The 106-km Delhi-Gurugram SNB corridorwould be constructed withboth elevated and under-ground stations. The first 71km will be elevated corridorwith 11 stations and theremaining 35 km will beunderground with five sta-tions, mostly in Delhi andGurugram. Once construct-ed, the corridor is expectedto bring down the travel

time between Delhi-SNB toabout 70 minutes from threehours.

Officials at the NCRTCfurther added that the cor-ridor will converge withother RRTS corridors thatwill be constructed at SaraiKale Khan to provide inter-change facilities to the com-muters. Besides, Sarai KaleKhan station, there will besix other major interchangestations on the RRTS corri-dor such as Jor Bagh,Munirka, Aerocity Airport,Udyog Vihar, Kherki Daulaand Panchgaon.

“These interchange sta-tions will constructed on thepattern of Multi-ModalTransit Connection, wherecommuters will have theopportunity to get the facil-ity of multi-modes of trans-port hub at one place. For

instance, at Sarai Kale Khan,commuters can interchangefor metro, Railway (HazratNizamuddin Railway sta-tion) and Inter State BusTerminal (ISBT). Further,passengers will reach theAirport and ISBT in an hourfrom Gurugram andHaryana,” said the NCRTCofficial.

The official furtheradded that this corridor willbe a major boost for thefarmers and students espe-cially from Gurugram,Rewari, Manesar, Daruheda,Bawal and as the RRTS smartline will pass through theurbanised and industrialisedareas of Haryana and con-nect Delhi airport with theRRTS network, increasingthe overall productivity of theNCR. It will also reduce airpollution level and de-con-

gestion of traffic. RRTS trains with opera-

tion speed of 160 kmph andaverage speed of 100 kmphwill be available at a fre-quency of every 5-10 min-utes. These trains will be air-conditioned with transverseseating and overhead luggagespace for commuter comfort.Also, it will have a separatebusiness coach with facilitieslike aeroplanes.

As per the officials close-ly involved with the RRTSproject, the Delhi-Gurugram-SNB corridor willbe implemented in threestages. In the first stage,D e l h i - Gu r u g r a m - S N BUrban Complex will be con-structed. In the second phase,the SNB corridor will beextended to Sotanala andthen to till Alwar in the finalphase.

From Page 1For “greater transparency” in

transfer and posting of officers ofthis cadre, he suggested a civilservices board headed by theSecretary (Services) for theGrade III and IV officials and bythe Chief Secretary for theGrade I and II.

However, Justice Bhushan, inhis dissenting view, was moreblunt and held that the power toregulate transfer and posting ofofficers working for the DelhiGovernment was not available toits Assembly in the first placeunder the Constitution.

“With regard to ‘services’, theGNCTD (Government ofNational Capital Territory ofDelhi) can exercise only thoseexecutive powers, which can beexercised by it under any lawframed by Parliament or it may

exercise those executive powers,which have been delegated to it,”he said.

The split verdict is likely tolead to a fresh round of litigationbetween the Centre and theDelhi Government and the ChiefJustice of India will have toform a larger Bench now todecide the row over services. Onthe issue of jurisdiction andpower of the ACB, the Benchupheld the Delhi High Court’sfindings and said the the publicorder, police and land did not fallunder the Delhi government’slegislative and executive domain.

“In respect of ‘police’,GNCTD does not have eitherlegislative or executive power.This court is required to lookinto the substance of such anexclusion and cannot be guidedby hyper technicalities.. .Therefore, what has been specif-ically denied to GNCTD, it can-not venture to gain that power onsuch a plea,” the Bench said

unanimously.“...The ACB is not empow-

ered to investigate into theoffences of the CentralGovernment employees underthe Prevention of CorruptionAct. Admittedly, this investiga-tion is carried out by the CBI.Therefore, it obviates the duali-ty and conflict of jurisdiction aswell,” it held.

A five-judge Bench had onJuly 4, 2018 laid down broadparameters for Governance ofthe national capital, which haswitnessed a power strugglebetween the Centre and theDelhi Government ever since theAAP came to power in 2014.

In the landmark verdict, ithad unanimously held that Delhicannot be accorded the status ofa state but clipped the L-G’spowers, saying he has no “inde-pendent decision makingpower” and has to act on the aidand advice of the elected gov-ernment.

From Page 1The Trinamool supremo,

who is head-on with BJP inWest Bengal, said the mediashould not mix the kind ofalliance in States and at Centre.While political parties mayhave difference of opinion local-ly, but they are determined todemolish the Modi juggernaut.

“They (NDA) Governmentis a misfit in this country anddon’t deserve to be in power.They will vanish soon as theyhave crossed the expiry datewhich is hazardous in medicalparlance,” Mamata said at aPress meet in Press Club ofIndia.

Amidst speculations thatthe CPI (M) and the Congresswere heading for a tactical tie-up in the State, Mamata said shehas not spoken to the Left par-ties about an alliance in Bengal.“I do not know whether the Leftwill come with us or not. Wedidn’t talk,” she said. Mamatasaid she is used to fighting unit-ed Congress and Left in Bengal.

CPI (M) general secretarySitaram Yechury has main-

tained that their alliances willdepend on equations at theState level and has virtuallyruled out being part of any“mahagathbandhan”. At theAAP rally on Wednesday, theLeft leaders had vacated thestage upon Mamata’s arrivalindicating that they were notkeen on any strategic alliance inBengal with the TMC whichhas been its traditional rivals inthe state.

Mamata said she respectedthe decisions of those politicalparties which have not gone forpre-poll alliances. “There arepolitical compulsions in States.At the national level we must gofor pre- poll alliances so thatafter elections we can claim toform the Government.

“However, the partieswhich cannot take decisions onpre-poll alliances, it’s okay, Irespect that they have politicalcompulsions,” she said.

Reacting to a query on theBengal Government denyingBJP leaders to hold rallies in theState, Mamata said they were“liars”. “They are lying about usnot allowing them to carry onrallies. He (Amit Shah) hadswine flu, discharged himselffrom hospital and still had arally. They are liars,” she said.

Speaking on the BJP’schances in Bengal, the TMCchief said now the saffron partyhas two seats, in 2019, theseats will be “zero”. “The BJPwon’t get even one seat inBengal...they will get zero. Letboth (Modi and Shah) contestelections in Bengal, they willlose,” she said.

From Page 1Initial assessments suggest

the JeM has used a cocktail ofmore than one explosive andcould have possibly usedCNG/LPG cylinder and theScorpio SUV for the attackwhich was triggered in betweentwo buses of the convoy of 78vehicles that were carrying 2,547personnel from Jammu toSrinagar.

The nature of the smokewhich is whitish in colour sug-gests use of LPG/CNG gas as

high explosives generate blacksmoke. However, some explosivecould have been used as part ofthe triggering mechanism. Theattackers had hit in a mannerthat the fuel of the 76 Battalionbus was also suspected to havebeen calculated to maximise theimpact.

Meanwhile, a team of foren-sic experts of the NationalInvestigation Agency will reachSrinagar on Friday to assist theJammu & Kashmir police inforensic evaluation of the sceneof crime, NIA IG Alok Mital saidin a statement.

Union Home Minister

Rajnath Singh named Pakistan-backed JeM as the outfit behindthe Thursday attack and assuredthe nation that a strong responsewill be given to the attack.

This is one of the worst ter-ror strikes in the State since theUri attack in 2016 that triggeredthe surgical strikes againstPakistan.

The Intelligence agencieshave tracked a 10-minute videoof the fidayeen Aadil Ahmadalias Waqas Commando whowas a resident of Gundi Bagh inPulwama district who hit the busnumber HR 49 F 0637 carrying42 paramilitary personnel.

FromPage 1Sources said the convoy of 78 battalion was on

way to Srinagar from Jammu. The convoy hadstarted off the journey from Jammu at 3.30 amdespite inclement weather and worse road condi-tion. The Srinagar-Jammu National highwayremained closed for most of the time during pastthree weeks.

“It was a large convoy and about 2,500 per-sonnel were traveling in multiple vehicles,” CRPFDG RR Bhatnagar was quoted as saying. Sourcessaid it was a convoy of 78 vehicles.

The bus that suffered the major impact of theblast belonged to 76th battalion of the force andhad 39 personnel on board, officials said. “It seemsnone of the personnel from the ill-fated bus sur-vived,” an official said. The slain personnelbelonged to 76, 45, 3, 176, 115, 92, 82, 7561, 35,21 and 118 battalions of the CRPF.

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Rudrapur (Uttarakhand):Prime Minister Narendra Modion Thursday addressed a rallyhere by mobile phone afterbad weather stopped him fromreaching the venue.

Modi was to blow the pollbugle for the State at the meet-ing, named ‘Shanknaad' — orthe blowing of conch shells —to indicate just that.

Uttarakhand ChiefMinister Trivendra SinghRawat, State BJP president AjayBhatt and party MPs BhagatSingh Koshiyari, RameshPokhriyal Nishank and MalaRajya Lakshmi Shah sat on thedais, as the sound systemrelayed the brief speech.

Modi arrived at Dehradun'sJolly Grant airport on schedule

at about 7 am, and was to trav-el ahead by helicopter.

He waited there for overfour hours for the weather toclear up for the Mi-17 heli-copter to take off.

The Prime Minister left byhelicopter for Kalagarh at 11.15am, and then travelled to theDhikala zone of the CorbettTiger Reserve. PTI

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Electronic goods worth Rs 2.5lakh were burgled from a

mobile shop at Mahalaxmi Parisarunder Bagh Sewania police sta-tion area; case was registered onWednesday.

Police said that a mobilephone store was targeted byunidentified miscreants whoescaped with mobile phones andaccessories worth lakhs of rupees.

The victim Ajay KumarGupta lodged complaint with theBagh Sewania police stating thathe closed shop in the night onTuesday and on Wednesday lock

of the shop was found broken andon entering shop goods werefound burgled. In the burglarytotal loss was around Rs 2.5 lakh.

CSP Misrod Vishesh Agrawalsaid that mobile phone store wastargeted and investigation hasbeen started after victim lodgedcomplaint. He confirmed thatCCTV grabs of miscreants whichwent viral are of the same shopwhich went viral.

Replying to question of twomore shops been targeted andburgled CSP Agrawal denied ofsuch incidents and said that vic-tim who suffered loss after hismobile store was targeted came

and lodged complaint while noother complaints have been made.The police have registered a caseunder sections 457 and 380 of theIPC and have started furtherinvestigation.

Two shops have been target-ed in the night on Tuesday. Asweets shop at Sarvodaya complexwas targeted and Rs 17000 cashwere burgled.

In the third incident a cos-metic shop was targeted in BaghSewania area and miscreantsescaped with laptop and cosmet-ic goods but police are yet to reg-ister any case as no complaint hasbeen lodged.

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Arecord procurement of 21lakh MT paddy on the sup-

port price has been set in theState. While informing aboutthis, Minister for Food, CivilSupplies and ConsumerProtection Pradhuman SinghTomar said that an amount of Rs3675 crore is being paid by thestate government to the farmersagainst the procurement.

Minister Tomar said thatan additional payment arrange-ment has been made by thestate government to resolvethe problem of payment beingfaced due to some technicalreasons in Balaghat, Jabalpurand Seoni district.

Under this, farmers are beingpaid through District Officers ofthe procuring agencies ie MadhyaPradesh State Civil SuppliesCorporation and Madhya

Pradesh State CooperativeMarketing Federation in place ofpayment from Bhopal level. Anamount of �200 crore to Balaghatdistrict, �150 crore to Jabalpurdistrict and �128 crore to Seonidistrict has been released for thepayment. Payment in the bankaccounts of the farmers will bedeposited from February 15,2019. Within the next few days,the payment will reach in thebank accounts of the farmers, he added.

Besides, Tomar said that asufficient amount is availablewith the procuring agencies,Madhya Pradesh State CivilSupplies Corporation andMadhya Pradesh StateCooperative MarketingFederation for payment to thefarmers. The amount will betransferred as per the dailyrequirement to the districtoffices from the state level.

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Chief Minister Kamal Nathhas expressed profound

grief over the tragic incidenceat Pulwama district of Jammuand Kashmir killing soldiers inthe terror-attack by extremists.He described it as a cowardlyact. Nath conveyed heart-feltsympathies to the grief-strick-en families of the brave jawans.He wished the injured Jawansspeedier recovery.

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The issue of alleged “politici-sation” of the Sikh’s mini par-

liament, Shiromani GurudwaraParbandhak Committee(SGPC), rocked the PunjabVidhan Sabha on Thursday. Somuch so, that a Congress’ seniorlegislator even declared to con-test polls to the Sikh body.

With majority of legislatorsaccusing the Badals-ledShiromani Akali Dal (SAD) oftaking control of the Sikh bodyand “deliberately delaying elec-tions”, the House authorised theChief Minister Capt AmarinderSingh to take up with the Centrethe issue of expediting theprocess of holding SGPC elec-tions.

The House, including theCongress, and Aam AadmiParty (AAP) legislators, passeda resolution “authorising theChief Minister to take up theissue with the Government ofIndia” regarding appointing the

Gurudwara ElectionCommissioner and holding theelections to elect SGPC’s newexecutive body at the earliest.

During the Zero Hour,Dakha MLA HS Phoolka raisedthe issue pointing that he hadreceived a reply to his letter fromthe Prime Minister which stat-ed that the term of the SGPC’scurrent house stands completedin December 2016, and theHouse should pass a resolutionurging the Centre to hold elec-tions and appoint gurudwaraelection commissioner soon.

Phoolka, who has resignedas AAP and had also submittedhis resignation twice with theVidhan Sabha Speaker RanaKP Singh, also requested theChief Minister to meet theUnion Home Minister to take upthe matter.

Agreeing with Phoolka,Chief Minister said that theelections were not being helddeliberately since past threeyears and it was the right of

every body in Punjab to electtheir representatives in the Sikhbody.

On this, SAD MLA NKSharma objected urging theSpeaker to make it clear“whether Phoolka is still amember of the House...whetherhe has withdrawn his resigna-tion”. Soon, AAP MLAs opposedSharma’s assertion, coming outin open support of Phoolka.

Amidst hullabaloo, CaptAmarinder moved the resolu-tion to authorise him to take upthe matter with the Centre,which was passed by the Houseright away.

However, SAD MLABikram Majithia alleged that theHouse is facing a constitution-al crisis as it was totally unclear“who is in AAP, and who is inrebel party...It seems it isCongress’ “B-team”. At the sametime, he made it clear that SADwas “not opposed to elections,rather it welcomes any democ-ratic process”.

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India and Russia will sign aninter-governmental agree-

ment on Friday for a joint ven-ture to manufacture the icon-ic Kalashnikov rifle, popularlyknown as AK-47, at ordnancefactory in Amethi, UttarPradesh (UP). The contractworth over Rs 12,000 crore isfor more than seven lakh rifles,which will replace the currentlyused INSAS rifles by the Army.

Prime Minister NarendraModi will inaugurate the pro-ject at the factory on February28, and President VladimirPutin is likely to announcehanding over at least 1,000readymade rifles through videoconferencing.

The AK-203 rifles, the lat-est in the series of the AK-47rifle, will be manufacturedunder a transfer of technologypact with Russia and an Indian

Major General will head theproject, officials said onThursday while giving detailsabout the ambitious project.The two countries will also inkan agreement to explore pos-sibilities to export rifles pro-duced in Amethi to friendlyforeign countries, they said.

Elaborating upon the rea-son for opting for AK or

Kalashnikov rifles, officials saidthis weapon has proved itsmettle for the last 60 years as itis rugged, almost defect proof,easy to handle, requires littletraining, easy to carry andadaptable to all kinds of oper-ations. The proposed rifles tobe manufactured will be 7.62mm and will replace the cur-rent 5.56 mm INSAS rifles

used by the army besides para-military forces. Moreover,almost 100 per cent Indiancontents, including metallurgybesides other items needed forrifle manufacturing will figurein the proposed contract as partof ‘Make in India’ of the presentNDA Government, they said.

Once this project takes off,the plan is to manufacture 12lakh more AK-23 rifles for thepara-military forces. Currently,the army and the para-militaryforces import AK series of riflesfrom Bulgaria and Romania.

During negotiations lastyear for the deal, the Adanigroup was proposed by Russiagiven the fact that India want-ed to involve private sector inmanufacturing state of the artweapons, However, the IndianGovernment rejected the offerand opted for a joint venturebetween Ordnance FactoryBoard (OFB) and Russia,

sources said.As regards appointing a

Major General, most probablyfrom the infantry, to overseethe project at Amethi, they saidhe will be able to guide themanagement about the nittygritty of the rifles needed by theArmy. Giving an example, theyalso said some docks manu-facturing warships in India forthe Navy have a retired RearAdmiral with experience inship building as the head andthis has proved successful.

Incidentally, India inked acontract on Tuesday for buying73,000 Sig Sauer rifles manu-factured by a US company onfast track basis. These rifles willbe inducted within a year andthe total deal is worth over Rs700 crore. Most of the rifles willbe issued to frontline troopsdeployed on the LoC withPakistan and Line of ActualControl facing China.

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Expressing concern that thereal estate sector had

recently come under severescrutiny by the Apex court andstatutory Consumer rightsbodies due to some unethicalpractices followed by certainplayers, Vice President MVenkaiah Naidu on Thursdaycalled upon the industry bod-ies to institutionalise a codeconduct and a self regulationmechanism to curb unethicalpractices in the segment.

Addressing the youngentrepreneurs and profession-als at the 3rd YouthCon orga-nized by realtor’s bodyCREDAI here, Naidu pointedout that the sector had comeunder severe scrutiny by theapex court and statutory con-sumer rights bodies due tosome unethical practices fol-lowed by certain players.

Naidu said that the grow-ing NPA in real estate had notonly affected banks but alsodried up bank loans to the sec-tor from 63 per cent in 2013 to17 per cent in 2016, therebyaccentuating the stress.

“You owe as much to yourcustomers and the workers asyou do to creditors and sup-pliers. More than financial via-bility, it is social obligation andtrust that is at stake”, he said.

Quoting the recent reportof CAG on real estate sector,the Vice President said that 95per cent of the real estatedevelopers, builders and agentsdid not have mandatory PAN.He also pointed to surveysfrom the sources like CREDAIand RERA and said that out ofaround 3000 entities surveyed;

more than 500 didn’t fileIncome Tax Returns.

Saying that the CAG reportmust be the point of reference,Naidu wanted the industry topromote digital transactionsand enhance transparency andethical facet of the sector.

Considering that the realestate sector contributes 7.9 percent to the GDP of the coun-try and provides employmentto more than 50 million peo-ple, he said that a transparentand predictable regulatoryregime was essential tostrengthen the real estate mar-ket by creating greater confi-dence in the consumers.

Naidu said that the sectorwas essential for healthy, inclu-sive and equitable growth of theeconomy. The Vice Presidentadded that programmes likeAMRUT, HRIDAY and the pio-neering initiatives like 100Smart Cities, Housing for all by2022 and PMAY present a greatopportunity for the sector. Hewanted organisations like theCREDAI to take lead in impart-ing the skill-sets required fornew employment opportunities.

Naidu said that it washeartening to note that the realestate sector was showing signsof revival due to measures likeRERA and GST.

Pointing that the SupremeCourt has acknowledged Rightto Shelter as a FundamentalRight, he said “we have a mas-sive task at hand” He saidthere was a shortage of 19 mil-lion housing units in India and96 per cent of those affected bythis shortage were peoplebelonging to economicallyweaker sections and middleincome groups.

���� 7�9����.2

The Supreme Court onThursday grilled Amrapali

Group CMD Anil KumarSharma for Rs 94 crore ofhomebuyers’ money beingshown in his bank account andalso warned that it would sendhim to jail for his “reluctance”in disclosing the identity of aperson, who had bought com-pany’s shares worth Rs 140crore from the multi-nationalfirm JP Morgan.

The top court gave Sharmaone last opportunity to returnRs 6.55 crore of homebuyers’money, which he had trans-ferred to his daughter, byFebruary 28 and sought expla-nation of Rs 94 crore shown inhis bank account.

It also appointed a valuer toascertain the exact value of5,229 unsold flats includingthose booked by Amrapali forjust Rs 1, Rs 11 and Rs 12 andasked the valuer to submit itsreport by the next date ofhearing.

A Bench of Justices ArunMishra and UU Lalit alsobrought ‘The Royal Golf LinkCity Projects Pvt Ltd’ under itsscanner and sought its shareholding pattern, names of pro-moters and balancesheet. Thecourt was informed by theforensic auditors that land forthe project were purchased byAmrapali and in all possibilityit appears to be a front com-pany of the embattled realestate firm.

“We want to know, whopaid the money for the landand how much money. Whoare the promoters in the com-pany and who are the share-holders. We also want to knowwhat is the present valuation ofthe land. If it is honest invest-ment we will not touch it but

if it’s not then we will take itover,” the bench told advocateNikhil Nayyar appearing forRoyal Golf Link Projects Ltd.

The bench also restrainedRoyal Golf Link from alienat-ing its properties till furtherorders. It also asked the valuerto explain the transaction madeby JP Morgan Real Estate fundand Amrapali Group and howit sold the real estate firm’sshares to two little knowncompanies ‘Neelkant’ and‘Rudraksh’ for Rs 140 crore.

The bench noted that‘Neelkant’ and ‘Rudraksh’ com-pany was owned by ChandanKumar, who was a peon in theoffice of statutory auditor ofAmrapali and Vivek Mittalwas his relative.

Counsel for JP Morgansaid that there was one moreperson as director in the‘Neelakant’ and his name wasAtul Mittal but his relation withothers is not known.

“We will seek informationfrom Amrapali CMD AnilKumar Sharma about AtulMittal and send him to jailstraightaway if he do not dis-close his identity and rela-tions. This is a serious kind of

fraud. How does the officeboy and a small time contrac-tor have Rs 140 crore money topurchase shares of Amrapali,”the bench said.

The court asked Sharmaabout Atul Mittal, to whichSharma very reluctantly repliedthat he was one of the relativeof company’s statutory auditor.It asked Sharma to explain ashow does Rs 94 crore of home-buyers’ money was shown inhis account and told him thatif it is company’s money thenit should be returned byFebruary 28.

The court said that if anyfacts are suppressed by thecompany or its promoters itwill be viewed seriously andwould be considered as “aggra-vated contempt”.

On February 11, the apexcourt had taken strong excep-tion to two prime properties ofAmrapali, including a five-starhotel, finding no bidders in anauction and said that primafacie it looks like “cartelisationis at work”. The top court saidthat it is “shocking and dis-turbing” that bankers are notcoming forward to finance theproperties.

��� 7�9����.2

Former Finance Minister PChidambaram on Thursday

slammed the CAG report onthe Rafale deal as “useless”, say-ing the institution has alloweditself to become a “joke”. Thereport contains no usefulinformation or conclusion andits motive is to hide the truth,the senior Congress leader saidat AICC Press briefing.

He reiterated his party’sdemand for a joint parliamen-tary committee probe into thedeal, saying only it can call forall relevant records. The CAGis not God, he said, apparentlyrejecting the ruling BJP’s con-tention that the national audi-tor’s report should be the finalword on the contentious issue.

Chidambaram cited a

Defence Ministry letter to theauditor watchdog forcing it toredact the commercial aspect ofthe deal from the purview ofthe audit.

According toChidambaram, the some of thepages in CAG copy brings tolight the hidden aspects of thedeal that explain matters relatingto number, pricing, delivery etc.

Reading out an extractfrom the Preface of the CAG,Chidambaram quoted it sayingDefence Ministry on January15, 2019 had requested CAGOffice to redact commercialdetails of MMRCA in the AuditReport citing reference to a par-ticular Article of the Inter-Governmental Agreement.

“This Office had taken upthe issue with MoD vide letterdated February 5, 2019, where-

in Ministry was intimated aboutCAG’s reluctance/refusal tocarry out the redaction of priceinformation, on account of dif-ficulties in comprehension andlack of precedence of redactionof commercial details in theAudit Reports. However,Ministry strongly reiteratedtheir stand for redaction ofcommercial details in MMRCAcase on the grounds of securi-ty concerns and the saidAgreement vide their letterdated February 6, 2019.Accordingly, commercial detailsin the Audit findings of theMMRCA contract have beenredacted,” Chidambaram quot-ed the Preface of CAG copy.

He further went on tocomment the CAG’s Report issignificant not for what it hassaid but for what it has not said.

New Delhi: A day after the lastsession of the current Lok Sabha,the Road Safety Network haswritten to the Union Minister ofRoad Transport and HighwaysNitin Gadkari to bringOrdinance on Road Safety.

The Motor VehiclesAmendment Bill, 2017 thatsought to carry out the much-required overhaul of the MotorVehicles Act of 1988 hadreceived the assent of the LokSabha on April 10, 2017 andwas introduced for considera-tion and passage in the RajyaSabha in the Winter Session of2017. However, after the failureto get the Bill passed, the net-work has urged theGovernment to take the extra-ordinary measure of issuing anordinance to save lives.

“The Government hadcommitted to bringing a strongroad safety law since 2014 andmany statements of the Ministerindicated his commitment toreduce road casualties. Since hisefforts in Parliament to pass theMotor Vehicles AmendmentBill has failed to garner support,we urge the Minister to bringOrdinance in interim period onthis important issue so thatlives can be saved,” said AshimSanyal of Consumer Voice.

He said regrettably India hasthe dubious distinction of beingworld number one in road crashdeaths and every year nearly 1.5lakh people are killed in roadcrashes and another five lakh areseverely injured, many of themdisabled for life. PNS

�������������������7�9����.2

Pressure mounted on theGovernment to teach a les-

son to Pakistan after 43 CRPFjawans were killed by the ter-rorists in a terrorist attack inJammu & Kashmir’s Pulwama.The political compulsion inview of the forthcoming LokSabha polls may force the ModiGovernment to take urgentsteps avenge the attack. Primeminister Narendra Modi whilecondemning the attack clearlysaid that “ sacrifice made bythese jawans will not go in vain.”

Dropping clear hints thatthe the Centre would takesome swift action to avnegt ehtekilling of the jawans, RSSchief Mohan Bhagwat said aresponse is expected from theModi Government.”

Speaking to the media inNagpur, Bhagwat said, “It is acowardly act, we strongly con-demn it. We expect action inresponse to this incident.”

“We have tolerated a lotand are still doing so, as seenfrom today’s incident,” he said.“They will get a reply (to theattack),” Bhagwat said.

Condemning the terrorattack, the Prime Minister said,”“Attack on CRPF personnel inPulwama is despicable. I strong-ly condemn this dastardlyattack. The sacrifices of our

brave security personnel shallnot go in vain. The entirenation stands shoulder to shoul-der with the families of thebrave martyrs. May the injuredrecover quickly,” said Modi.

“Spoke to Home MinisterRajnath Singh Ji and other topofficials regarding the situationin the wake of the attack inPulwama,” the PM added.

Home Minister RajnathSingh on Thursday eveningspoke to Jammu & KashmirGovernor Satya Pal Malik andtook stock of the situation inthe State after the deadly attackon a CRPF convoy by terrorists,officials said. He also cancelledall his political engagements inBihar Friday will visit Jammu& Kashmir along with topsecurity brass.

He called up the Governor,who apprised him about theprevailing situation in the State.Singh also spoke to UnionHome Secretary Rajiv Gaubaand Director General of CRPFRR Bhatnagar and gave themnecessary instructions, a HomeMinistry official said. The min-istry is also closely monitoringthe situation.

In a tweet, Singh said,“Today’s dastardly attack onCRPF in Pulwama (J&K) isextremely painful and disturb-ing. I bow to each and everyCRPF jawan who has sacrificedhis life in service to the nation.

I pray for the speedy recoveryof the injured.”

Union Home Secretary RajivGauba, who reached Bhutan onThursday on an official trip, isrushing back to Delhi after cut-ting short his visit in view of theterror attack in J&K, officials said.

Gauba had reachedThimpu for a Home Secretary-level dialogue with hisBhutanese counterpart. Hespoke to Union Home MinisterRajnath Singh after the terrorattack. “In view of the terrorattack in Pulwama, the home

secretary is rushing back toDelhi,” a Home Ministry official said.

Minister of State for HomeAffairs Kiren Rijiju said the“cowardly” terror attack inJammu & Kashmir will not gounpunished and it will beavenged in “all way possible”.

“We will definitely givebefitting response to this cow-ardly attack. It will not gounpunished. We will avenge inall way possible,” Kiren Rijiju,Union Minister of State forHome, said in a tweet.

��� 7�9����.2

Condemnation poured infrom across the country

against the terror attack inPulwama district in Jammu &Kashmir on Thursday.

President Ram NathKovind said the entire nationstands united in the fightagainst the forces of terror andevil. “Strongly condemn the

terrorist attack in Pulwama,J&K. Thoughts and prayerswith the families of martyrs andwishing an early recovery tothose injured. The entire nationstands united in the fightagainst the forces of terror andevil,” he tweeted.

Congress president RahulGandhi condoled the killing ofCRPF personnel and termed theterror attack as cowardly one.General Secretary PriyankaGandhi Vadra urged theGovernment to take concnretesteps to ensure such terrorattacks do not happen in future.NCP Chief Sharad Pawar con-demned the terror attack.

“I am deeply disturbed bythe cowardly attack on a#CRPF convoy in J&K in whichmany of our brave CRPF menhave been martyred and a largenumber wounded, some criti-cally. My condolences to thefamilies of our martyrs. I prayfor the speedy recovery of theinjured,” said Rahul.

Mourning the death ofCRPF jawans, West BengalChief Minister MamataBanerjee said, “Saddened that13 CRPF jawans became mar-

tyrs today in Pulwama. Wesalute our brave jawans andextend our solidarity and con-dolences to their families. Ourprayers for those injured. Wewish them a speedy recovery/”.

Priyanka cancelled herPress conference in the wake ofthe terror attack. She expressedher deepest condolences to thefamilies of the security per-sonnel killed in a terror attackin Pulwama, Jammu andKashmir. “I can very wellunderstand the pain and griefof losing a loved one in thefamily,” she said in a statement.

Not only the Congressparty, but the entire country isstanding shoulder to shoulderwith the families of the bravesoldiers, she said. “But, we mustalso reflect and be concernedabout the high number of casu-alties in Kashmir. We demandthat this government take con-crete steps to ensure such ter-ror attacks don’t happen in thefuture,” Priyanka said.

NCP chief Sharad Pawaron Thursday condemned theattack on CRPF personnel inJammu and Kashmir’sPulwama in which 30 CRPFpersonnel were killed. He alsoextended condolences to theirfamilies.

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BJP’s Delhi unit observed“Black Day” on Thursday,

marking fourth anniversary ofthe AAP Government, and“purified” Jantar Mantar withGanga jal, where the rulingparty hosted Opposition lead-ers in its ‘Tanashahi Hatao,Loktantra Bachao Rally’ tar-geting the Modi government.

Delhi BJP president ManojTiwari accused the ArvindKejriwal Government of com-mitting 74 “frauds” with Delhipeople, saying BJP workerswill expose the AAP all acrossthe national Capital in the runup to the upcoming polls.

“We have come here topurify Jantar Mantar with the

sacred Ganga jal because yes-terday an alliance of sinfulpersons with negative thinkingwas seen here,” Tiwari toldreporters.

The AAP Government inDelhi has committed “frauds”by not fulfilling its 70 pollpromises and also by “mis-leading” voters, saying theirvotes have been deleted.

They also did not imple-ment 10 per cent reservationfor economically weaker sec-tion, “obstructed” AyushmanBharat scheme, and blamed theprime minister for its ownfailures, Tiwari said.

Union Minister Vijay Goeland BJP MPs Ramesh Bidhuri,Parvesh Verma, Udit Raj andseveral other senior Delhi unitleaders attended the protestevent at Janar Mantar.

Goel said that except vic-tory in Delhi election,Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Partycould not secure votes morethan even NOTA in otherStates. “The people of thecountry have learnt lesson fromthe results of his Governmentin Delhi,” he said.

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First, let’s get the obvious out of theway. Government-formation afterthe 2019 general election willdepend on the numbers. Not ide-ology, not alliances and certainly

not personal chemistry between politicalleaders; these will be played out during theelection. It’s when the votes are countedthat, depending on the tally of various polit-ical parties/groupings, it will be decidedwho will lead the next Government ofIndia.

Naturally, the issue itself will be ren-dered moot if any of the three players inthe fray — broadly the BJP-led NationalDemocratic Alliance (NDA), the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) andthe still amorphous Third/Federal Frontcomprising non-BJP/non-Congress region-al parties — win 272 seats on their own.That, however, according to every credi-ble, independent opinion poll, is unlikely.We are not arguing that it can’t happen bythe time polling day comes along. Just thatas of today the consensus among pollstersis that it won’t.

In fact, apart from pollsters and largesections of the media, there is anothergroup of people whose assessment is sim-ilar and who are planning their nextmoves factoring this in. These are thesmaller parties in and around the NDA or,as we term them, the potential jokers in thepost-poll pack.

There should be no misunderstandingabout what is being said. These parties,which bring a different play to the 2019national electoral game, will quietly fall inbehind the BJP as purportedly old andtrusted allies or as regional parties resort-ing to that old trope of offering issue-basedsupport to the party ruling at the Centrein the interest of the State if Prime MinisterNarendra Modi leads his party back topower. But they also recognise that’s not thekind of certainty it was a year ago. So, theyseem to be preparing a Plan B.

There are two clearly discernibleprongs to this political-electoral strategy.For current NDA members, it is to pushthe BJP into conceding many more seatsto its allies than the saffron party wouldhave ideally liked to part with. Ever sincethe perception has taken root that theRampant Modi narrative is stutteringthanks to the string of by-election andAssembly poll defeats for the BJP in 2018,this has become a feasible ploy. The con-cessions extracted by the Janata Dal Unitedin Bihar, where the two allies have split theseats 50:50 despite the BJP having more sit-ting MPs, is a case in point.

It has also become a template for otherNDA allies to emulate, as can be seen inthe Shiv Sena arguing for a similar divisionof seats for Maharashtra with Big BrotherBJP. JD-U vice president Prashant Kishore’shighly publicised visit to Mumbai to con-fabulate with Shiv Sena chief Uddhav

Thackeray last week can fairlybe surmised to be a part of thiseffort. Only the Akalis are outof this matrix. And that’sbecause despite the tempta-tions, the Shiromani Akali Dalleadership, which is the Badalfamily, shares a close personalrelationship with the NarendraModi-Amit Shah-Arun Jaitleytroika and the party still facesresidual voter resentment for itsdecade of alleged misrule inPunjab. So it is not expected towin more than a couple of LokSabha seats, if that, in 2019.

For currently non-NDAparties such as the Biju JanataDal, Telangana Rashtra Samithi,YSR Congress and All IndiaAnna Dravida MunnetraKazhagam/Rajinikanth, andincluding the Asom GanaParishad and other North-east-ern parties, which have fallenout with the BJP over theCitizenship Amendment Bill,the idea is to contest the LokSabha poll on their own and/orwith tactical adjustments towin the maximum number ofseats. All of these parties, whichare technically equidistant fromboth BJP and Congress, arehighly unlikely to be temptedby the UPA and view, at least forthe moment, the conglomera-tion of regional satraps thatcomprise the putative

Third/Federal Front as funda-mentally unstable.

Interestingly, however,nearly all of them have inrecent weeks established infor-mal contacts with the NDA’scurrent allies, hinting at a jointpost-poll strategy if the BJPalone is unable to win 272 seatsor come reasonably close to thatmagic number of seats in theforthcoming general election.

So, what a block of parties,including but not limited to theShiv Sena, Janata Dal-United,YSR Congress, TelanganaRashtra Samithi,AIADMK/Rajinikanth, BijuJanata Dal and the North-eastregional parties bring to thetable are between 50 to asmany as 100 Lok Sabha seatsdepending on how they per-form at the hustings.

The BJP is aware of thesedevelopments but sounds con-fident of ensuring throughvarious means the loyalty ofthis group of parties in/aroundthe NDA. The Congress, on theother hand, with ambitions ofre-building the party underRahul Gandhi, knows thatthese parties operate in Stateswhere, bar say a Tamil Nadu,the potential for its rejuvena-tion going ahead is certainlythere. It is the Third/FederalFront — for which the

Samajwadi Party, TrinamoolCongress, Aam Aadmi Party,Telugu Desam Party, RashtriyaJanata Dal, NationalConference and Bahujan SamajParty are currently doing mostof the running — that perhapsneeds most to fine-tune itsstrategy to deal with the emerg-ing jokers in the pack.

For, the choices for theseparties are actually more thanfor the three main players inthe fray. They could back aModi-led Government if theBJP numbers are good. Theycould back a non-Modi BJP-ledgovernment if the BJP is thesingle largest party but wellshort of a majority. They could,if their poll performance resultsin them winning closer to 100seats as opposed to 50, evenconceivably ask the BJP toback them in forming a non-BJP-led NDA Government.They could, finally, in the eventof a hung House with noparty/formation in even strik-ing distance of the halfway-mark, open negotiations withthe Third/Federal front to forma Government of regional par-ties backed by either of the twonational parties.

Interesting times lie ahead.(The author is an indepen-

dent journalist and commenta-tor based in New Delhi)

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Sir — This refers to the report,“NDA’s Rafale deal 2.86% cheap-er than UPA’s: CAG” (February14). The Comptroller and AuditorGeneral’s (CAG’s) 141-pagereport blunts all the criticisms byCongress chief Rahul Gandhiabout the fighter acquisitionprocess. Earlier, the SupremeCourt had found no irregularitiesin the deal either. The report alsofinds that the HindustanAeronautics Limited (HAL) failedto clinch the contract within therequired time-frame.

Therefore, Gandhi’s criticismfor not including HAL as a part-ner sounds hollow. Congressleader P Chidambaram has beenusing the report to target theModi Government but UPA’spricing benchmark was said to be“unrealistically low.” Everything inthe Rafale deal was done practi-cally and was definitely betterthan the UPA’s version. Anothersatisfactory aspect of the deal isthat it has been done withoutmiddlemen. Still the Congress isharping on a probe by the JointParliamentary Committee.

KV SeetharamaiahHassan

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Sir — Prime Minister NarendraModi has inaugurated severalprojects worth �������crore inArunachal Pradesh. Besides, healso laid the foundation stone forthe construction of a greenfieldairport at Hollongi and inaugu-rated an upgraded airport atTezu in Lohit district.

All these measures will go a longway in developing our northeast-ern frontier State. These new pro-jects will not only make it easierto cover long distances but willalso improve the connectivity ofArunachal Pradesh with that ofother States. The new UnionGovernment must keep up thegood work.

Shahid Hasan Lucknow

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Map of aggression” (February 14)by Claude Arpi. It is interesting thatChina, which routinely interferes inIndia’s internal matters, has object-ed to Indian leaders visitingArunachal Pradesh. It has evenquestioned Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s recent visit to the

State. But what’s the problem ifIndian leaders visit the State? Chinamust rein in its aggression. It isessential that the two countriesmaintain peaceful negotiations.

Z HassanKolkata

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Sir — Elections or no elections,below-the-belt remarks by politi-cians not only discredit them butundermine the Constitutionalposts they occupy. Unbecoming oftheir respective stature, both PrimeMinister Modi and AndhraPradesh Chief Minister MChandrababu Naidu stooped toolow to attack each other personal-ly. While Modi called Naidu “fatherof Lokesh”, Naidu spoke about theestrangement of Modi’s wifeJashoda Ben. By throwing restraintand decorum to the winds, lead-ers demonstrate that they can godown to any depths to run downtheir rivals in the hot pursuit ofpower. Issues that concern peopleget overshadowed.

JS AcharyaHyderabad

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The US Defence Intelligence Agency recent-ly released a report titled, ‘China MilitaryPower: Modernizing a Force to Fight and

Win’, where it stated that China was increasingits capacity and warned about how it couldlaunch a regional conflict. Beijing has indeedincreased its military presence at several places.The report also pointed out that besides conven-tional weapons, China was concentrating oncyber and outer space, too. Nonetheless, thereport mentioned that Beijing was not capableto deploy defence forces all over the world butwas competent to engage its enemy anywhere inthe world through its space, cyber space andnuclear competence.

The US also reported that the People’sLiberation Army (PLA) of China had come backin the Doklam area and inaudibly re-commenced construction work, which ithad to discontinue because of a 73-day standoffbetween the Indian Army and the PLA from Juneto August 2017. The Indian Government hasstrongly refuted the US’ claims. Clearly, relationsbetween the US and China are becoming tense.The US, which is the sole super power, is feel-ing threatened because of the spectacular rise andincreasing assertiveness of Beijing. China claimssuzerainty over East China Sea and SouthChina Sea and also dictates terms to countriessuch as Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Bruneiand Taiwan.

India shares about 3,488 km of border withChina, which at several places is not delineated.Hence, it is based only on perception. There isno habitation for thousands of miles and, there-fore, there are disagreements along the border.Maps of both countries differ. China claims about90,000 sq km in Arunachal Pradesh and about10,000 sq km in Uttarakhand. The Dragonalready grabbed the Aksai Chin area during the1962 war and Pakistan also handed over a fewareas of Jammu and Kashmir.

There are several differences between NewDelhi and Beijing, including border disputes, thegrant of an asylum to the Dalai Lama and his fol-lowers, China’s objections to India’s membershipto the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group, construction ofthe China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC),which passes from Pakistan-occupied Kashmirand Gilgit and Baltistan areas. China also insti-gates Pakistan to carry out terrorist activities inIndia and subvert New Delhi’s efforts in theUnited Nations to declare Masood Azhar, chiefof the Jaish-e-Mohammed, as a global terrorist.

Yet despite such hostilities, the condition ofour border infrastructure is quite appalling. Lastyear, around 120 Indian soldiers had to walk forabout 19 hours to reach Doklam and stop theChinese troops from constructing a road in theabsence of a motorable route. In view of this mis-erable situation, the Cabinet Committee onSecurity approved a revised budget of �3,482.52crore to construct 73 strategic roads along theIndo-China border on November 10, 2018. Theseroads had been approved in 2005 and meant tobe completed by 2012. But the project missedseveral deadlines and is now expected to be com-pleted by 2020. Construction agencies claim thatinclement weather, difficult terrain and rig-maroles of Government procedures are respon-

sible for missing deadlines. A report bythe Comptroller and Auditor-General(CAG), in fact, criticised the BorderRoad Organisation (BRO) for ineffici-ciencies, delays and pushing severaldeadlines. Out of 73 roads, the BRO hasto build 61 while 12 have been assignedto the Central Public WorksDepartment (CPWD). Besides roads,22 foot tracks are also in the pipelinein Arunachal Pradesh to facilitate themovement of the Indo-Tibetan BorderPolice (ITBP).

Beijing considers India as its poten-tial adversary and, hence, it is necessaryfor India to develop infrastructure onareas abutting China. CPWD’s annualreport for 2018-19 mentioned that theorganisation will be constructing 44strategically important roads on theIndia-China border. These roads will beskirting Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim,Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh andJammu and Kashmir. Fortunately for us,traffic on Bogibeel Bridge in Assam,too, began from December 2018. Thebridge will help improve road and railconnectivity in the region and will ben-efit the public and security forces.

The Indian side had, however, notdeveloped the required infrastructurealong the border areas uniformly as itpresumed China could use it for its owndesigns. Second, even as infrastructurewas developed, it had to be defendedand maintained, involving both humanand monetary resources. However, thisdefeatist policy was abandoned in 2006and the Cabinet Committee on Securitydecided to develop the border areas andconstruct new roads, bridges and tun-nels.

In case our infrastructure was in

place, it could have facilitated trade andcommerce opportunites for locals onboth sides. Meanwhile, China speedi-ly developed infrastructure on theborder areas, which has given its mil-itary an edge. The Chinese have builtroads, railways and also laid fibreoptics. This has helped them improvetheir communication system. Theyhave even constructed roads up to theborders they control.

On the other hand, even after theDoklam episode, India still lags behindin the development of infrastructuralprojects at the borders. This has becomea big strategic disadvantage for us.Indian troops need acclimatisation athigh-altitude areas. The non-availibil-ity of infrastructure hampers theirsustenance while the Chinese forcesenjoy superior mobility and enforce-ment. The Indian Government mustunderstand that while recruitment andraising of more units may not beenough, our troops must be providedwith better infrastructure, logisticsand armaments to win the war.

India’s failure to develop infrastruc-ture has been the result of a flawed pol-icy of several decades and bureaucrat-ic hurdles. According to reports, mosttimes the concerned Ministry wasunable to use the allotted funds becauseof sluggish or zero construction activ-ities along the border areas. The mon-itoring system, too, was faulty. InChina, its Army controls the borderwhile in India, the Army, the AssamRifles, Border Security Force (BSF) andthe ITBP share vigil duties. The pres-ence of multiple agencies delays thework. It appears that the presentGovernment has earmarked several

important projects along the bordersand the amount is also sanctioned.Now, only the work needs to be expe-dited.

China, which is working hard tobecome a superpower, has also encir-cled India. It has compelled Sri Lankato lease out the Hambantota port.Pakistan’s Gwadar port, too, is under itscontrol. Besides, Maldives leased outtwo of its islands and China has posi-tioned its nuclear-powered submarineat Marao Islands. A signal Intelligenceunit has also been installed at the CocoIslands of Myanmar.

Prime Minister KP Oli of Nepal isa communist leader who is very closeto China. His main aim is to end Nepal’sdependence on India and inculcateclose relationship with the biggerneighbour. Beijing has also financed acontainer shipping facility inChittagong port of Bangladesh. It hasinaugurated a naval base at Djibouti inAugust 2017. Hence, India should becareful and must take remedial mea-sures to counter such imperialism.

As a first step, we must strengthenour forces and then try to inculcatefriendly relations with countries whofeel threatened because of China. Theseinclude Japan, South Korea andVietnam. The United States, too, wantsto check the increasing strength ofChina. Analysts claim that smallernations like Maldives, Sri Lanka, andBangladesh among others also feeldefenceless but are in no position tochallenge China. India can try toinfuse confidence among them too.

(The writer is member, UnitedServices Institute of India and Institutefor Defence Studies and Analyses)

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In his 1984 paper, ‘What’s in aname?’ (Journal of SoutheastAsian Studies), Stanford

University’s Donald Emmersonwrote that “names are rooted neitherin reality nor custom but expressinstead the power of the namer.”Emmerson was talking about howStates and Governments in theWest name regions that were onceunder their domain.

Reshmi Lal, in an April 2016 arti-cle for The National, paraphrasedEmmerson to understand why manyGovernments in former Britishcolonies changed the names of cities.For example, Lal explained the recentspree of changing the names ofsome cities in India as nothing more

than “a symbolic gesture.” The idea behind these changes

was to replace names of cities thatwere named by India’s formerMuslim and British rulers. But thefact is, many such cities were found-ed by these rulers. So, renaming themin accordance with India’s ancientHindu past requires the engineeringof some convoluted histories andmyths to rationalise the change.

As Emmerson would put it, ithas nothing to do with reality butrather it is an expression of powerof the namer — in this case the rul-ing Hindu nationalist party, theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The practice of changing namesof cities and roads has also beenquite common in Pakistan. MarkusDaechsel, in his book, Politics of Self-Expression, wrote that names in thiscontext meant more than the thingsthey were meant to designate.

Daechsel was discussing thefascination certain Indian Muslimshad for giving “Islamic-soundingterms” to Western economic andpolitical ideas. For example, in apamphlet distributed by a group of

radical clerics just before Pakistan’screation in 1947, the authors decid-ed to call the State Bank Baitul maal.

Daechsel wrote that the urge wasto do away with the Western-sound-ing State Bank but, in this pursuit,the clerics did not offer an immedi-ate Urdu translation but an Arabicone to conjure up a link betweenIndian Muslims and ancient IslamicArabia. This practice of replacingnames of ideas, roads and cities thathave Western origins with those con-jured from Arabia’s ancient Islamicpast, has been rather frequent inPakistan ever since the 1970s.

Take for instance, the idea ofsocialism. In the Foundation Papersof the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP),the word ‘socialism’ largely appears.The party was conceived as a social-ist party in 1967. However, afterbeing critically attacked from theright by religious groups, the partyadded the prefix Islamic to the wordsocialism. The term ‘Islamic-Socialism’ was not new, as such, hav-ing been used by scholars such as GAhmad Parvez and Khalifa AbdulHakim and even by the country’s

first Prime Minister Liaquat AliKhan. The rationale behind it wasthat Islam was inherently an egali-tarian system and the socialismbeing advocated by Pakistanis wasactually the socialism of the welfarestate based on this egalitarianism.

By the time the PPP came topower in December 1971, conserv-ative Opposition groups were notconvinced by the term IslamicSocialism as well. During a heateddebate between the treasury bench-es and the right-wing opposition ina March 1973 session of the National

Assembly, a PPP ideologue, S RashidAhmad, moved the Assembly toinduct the word socialism in thecountry’s Constitution that was stillbeing authored.

The Opposition was livid. Rashidthen offered to add the prefix ‘Islamic’.But the opposition disagreed, despitethe fact that PPP MNA Kausar Niazipointed out that the clerics were okaywith the term ‘Islamic Democracy’but not with ‘Islamic Socialism’. Acompromise was reached when theGovernment offered the termMusawaat-i-Muhammadi (literally

‘The Egalitarianism of the Prophet(PBUH)’.)

However, at the core of IslamicSocialism, Islamic Democracy orMusawaat-i-Muhammadi was stillsocialism and democracy as modernideas developed in the West. Just asbasic parliamentary dynamics andmodern banking were at the core ofterms such as Majlis-i-Shoora andIslamic Banking during the reac-tionary Gen Zia dictatorship.

Recently, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) regime and PrimeMinister Imran Khan have repeat-edly used the term “Riyasat-i-Madina” (or the State of Madina).The emergence of this term can bevaguely traced back to the 1940s,when some Muslim activists inIndia began to propagate the cre-ation of a Muslim-majority countrythat would resemble ‘Islam’s firststate’ in the seventh century.

Even though Indian authorssuch as Venkat Dhulipala (in his 2015book Creating a New Madina) claimthat, indeed, the idea of Pakistan wasformulated as such, his claims havefaced severe rebuttals. For example,

American historian, Gail Minault,and Oxford University’s Faisal Devji,completely deconstructed Dhulipala’sthesis by remarking that a bulk ofDhulipala’s sources included populistnewspapers, activists, ideologuesand even fringe groups, who weremore or less operating indepen-dently from the actual founders ofPakistan. What’s more, as Minaultput it, most of the sources that driveDhulipala’s thesis belonged to a sin-gle dominant sect of Islam (in India).

More likely than not, the termRiyasat-i-Madina is probably noth-ing more than what Musawaat-i-Muhammadi or Majlis-Shoora were.It is a way of saying that we admirethe entirely secular idea of theScandinavian welfare state, but thisidea was present in an ‘early IslamicState’, so it is inherently Islamic andnot secular. But it is. This can bemasked with a term that conjures upimages of an Arab religious past, butnot the fact that with the core ideaof the Western welfare state lies theinsistence that faith must be separat-ed from politics.

(The Dawn)

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Srinagar: Chronological list ofall major terror attacks on secu-rity forces in Jammu & Kashmirin the last two decades:

� 26 August 2017 — ThreeJaish terrorists storm DistrictPolice Lines Pulwama, killingeight security force personnel,before the assailants were shotdead.

� 29 November 2016 —Three terrorists storm Armyartillery camp at Nagrota inJammu, killing seven soldiers,before the assailants were elim-inated.

� 18 September 2016 —Four Pakistani terrorists storman Army camp at Uri inBaramulla district, killing 18soldiers, most of them were insleep. The assailants were alsokilled. The incident led toreprisal surgical strikes insidethe Pakistan occupied Kashmirby Indian Army.

� 25 June 2016 —Terrorists open indiscriminatefiring on a CRPF bus, killingeight jawans at Pampore onSrinagar-Jammu NationalHighway.

� 3 June 2016 — Terroriststarget a CRPF bus at Pampore,killing two personnel before

taking refuge in a Governmentbuilding. Two-day encounterends with killing of three sol-diers including two officersand the two assailants. Onecivilian was also killed.

� 5 December 2014 — Sixheavily-armed terrorists storman Army camp at Mohra in Uri.Ten soldiers were killed in thegun battle with the intruders,who were all shot dead.

� 24 June 2013 —Terrorists ambush a bus carry-ing unarmed Army personnel atHyderpora in Srinagar. Eightsoldiers were killed in the attack.

� 19 July 2008 — Ten sol-diers were killed when terror-ists triggered an IED planted bythe roadside at Narbal onSrinagar-Baramulla highwayon the outskirts of the city.

� 2 November 2005 — Asuicide bomber blew up his carat Nowgam, near the privateresidence of then ChiefMinister Mufti MohammadSayeed, killing three cops andsix civilians.

� 20 July 2005 — A suicidecar bomber blew his vehicle byramming it into a vehicle ofsecurity forces. Three securityforce personnel and two civil-

ians were killed.� 24 June 2005 — Nine

army soldiers were killed in acar bomb triggered by terroristson the outskirts of Srinagar.

� 4 August 2004 — NineCRPF jawans were killed in aterrorist attack on their camp atRajbagh in Srinagar. One ter-rorist was also killed in retalia-tory action.

� 8 April 2004 — 11 per-sons were killed in a grenadeattack by terrorists on a PDPrally at Uri in Baramulla district.The PDP was demanding open-ing of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad Road.

�22 July 2003 — Eight sol-diers, including a Brigadier,were killed in a terrorists attackon their camp at Akhnoor.Several other senior Army offi-cers sustained injuries in theattack.

� 28 June 2003 — 12 sol-diers, including an officer, werekilled in a suicide attack by ter-rorists on Sunjwan Army camp.Two terrorists were neutralised.

� 14 May 2002 — In oneof the biggest strikes on anArmy installation, 36 personswere killed by three terroristswho stormed the Kaluchak

Army Cantonment in Jammu.The assailants were also killed.

� 17 November 2001 —Terrorists storm a securityforces base in Ramban (thenpart of Doda district), killing 10security forces. Four terroristswere also killed.

� 1 October 2001 —Terrorists trigger a car bomboutside the old LegislativeAssembly Complex in Srinagar.38 persons were killed whilethree assailants were also elim-inated.

� 10 August 2000 —Terrorists hurl a grenade atResidency Road in Srinagar. Asthe security officials assem-bled at the spot, they triggereda car bomb, killing 11 personsand a photojournalist.

� 19 April 2000 — The"human bomb" was used for thefirst time in Kashmir insur-gency. Two soldiers were killedin the suicide car bomb at theArmy headquarters atBadamibagh area in Srinagar.

� 3 November 1999 —Terrorists storm theBadamibagh Army headquar-ters, killing 10 soldiers includ-ing Defence Public RelationsOfficer Major Purshottam. PTI

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Srinagar: Former Jammu &Kashmir Chief Ministers,Omar Abdullah and MehboobaMufti condemned the killing ofat least 43 CRPF personnel ina terrorist attack in Pulwamadistrict on Thursday.

The CRPF personnel werekilled when a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist rammedan explosive-laden vehicle intothe bus they were travelling in.

"Terrible news comingfrom the valley. A number of

CRPF soldiers are reported tohave been killed & injured in anIED blast. I condemn thisattack in the strongest possibleterms. My prayers for theinjured & condolences to thefamilies of the bereaved,"Abdullah tweeted.

The vehicle was blown upon the Srinagar-Jammu high-way in the district's Awantiporaarea.

"Disturbing news comingin from #awantipura . Twelve

of our security personnel havebeen martyred and severalhave been injured. No wordsare enough to condemn thegruesome terror attack. Howmany more lives will besnuffed out before this madnessends?" Mehbooba tweeted.

Several other mainstreampoliticians took to social mediato condemn the attack.

"Very sad news comingfrom Lethpora , any form ofkilling must be condemned byone and all," People'sConference leader ImranAnsari said.

The Jaish-e-Mohammedhas claimed responsibility forthe incident, officials said.

The casualties are likely togo up.

Several people were injuredin the terror attack, whichreduced the bus to a mangledheap of iron. PTI

4���*����,,���������������Srinagar: The scene of devas-tation and destruction causedon Thursday by the suicide carbomb attack, that killed at least43 security personnel, sent chillsdown the spine of unsuspectinglocals who witnessed the bloodbath in Pulwama district'sAwantipora area, about 20 kmfrom here.

The explosive used in theattack was so strong that theblast was heard from 10-12 kmaway, including some parts ofSrinagar adjoining the Pulwamadistrict, locals said.

Body parts of the terrorist,identified as Adil Ahmad, andthe CRPF personnel killed inthe attack were strewn on theJammu-Srinagar Highway,where the incident happened.

Some of the bodies were so

badly blown up that officials feelit may take some time to iden-tity them. This was the first sui-cide car bomb strike in Kashmirsince the 2001 attack on the J&KLegislative Assembly that left 41persons, including three suicideattackers, dead.

More than 2,500 CentralReserve Police Force personnel,many of them returning fromleave to rejoin duty in theValley, were travelling in theconvoy of 78 vehicles when thesuicide bomber rammed hisvehicle into a bus carrying 39-44 jawans, officials said.

There was nothing at thescene of the incident to suggestwhich type of vehicle was usedto carry out the attack except themangled heap of iron of the busthat was the target.

As soon as the explosiontook place, people started run-ning for safety. The shopkeep-ers at Lethpora market, whichis less than 300 metres from thescene of the attack, downedtheir shutters and fled.

The scene of the incident isnot very far from theCommando Training Centreat Lethpora, which was stormedby Jaish-e-Mohammad terror-ists on December 31, 2017,killing five CRPF personnel.

The Jammu-SrinagarHighway has been witness toseveral terror attacks on thesecurity forces. CRPF bore thebrunt of an attack at Pampore,less than seven kilometres fromLethpora, in June 2016, losingeight jawans while 22 others sus-tained injuries. PTI

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Jammu: Jammu & KashmirGovernor Satya Pal Malik hasdirected immediate enhance-ment of surveillance and reviewof the security management ofall important installations andestablishments in the State, inthe aftermath of a major terrorattack on a CRPF convoy, killingat least 18 personnel in Pulwamaon Thursday.

He has also said such terrorattacks will not deter the resolveof our security forces and peo-ple. The Governor strongly con-demned the attack on a CentralReserve Police Force (CRPF)convoy in Pulwama, in which atleast 18 personnel were killedand many injured.

He has urged all the securi-ty forces' commanders toenhance surveillance on everyfront and directed the District

and Divisional Civil and PoliceAdministration to immediatelyreview the security manage-ment of all important installa-tions and establishments, anofficial spokesperson said.

Malik has conveyed his griefand sincere sympathy to thefamilies of the brave soldiers,who lost their lives in the attack,and prayed for an early recoveryof the injured, he added.

Expressing serious concernon the attack, the governor hasobserved that the forces respon-sible for insurgency in Jammuand Kashmir are desperate andfrustrated and just want to provetheir presence.

Visibly, it seems to be guid-ed from across the border asterror group JeM has claimedthe responsibility, the Governorsaid. PTI

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The Bengal PradeshCongress leadership has

once again claimed that thereis no possibility of any alliancewith the Trinamool Congressin the State. However, they havenot ruled possibilities of elec-toral adjustments with the LeftFront if a proposal comes fromthe other side.

“It is clear that there is nopossibility of any alliance withthe TMC in Bengal as wehave been continuously fight-ing against them in the State.Our workers will simply nottake the alliance and may notcome out for campaigning oreven go hostile during theelections if any alliance isimposed from above,” a seniorPCC leader said adding “evenour PCC president SomenMitra had gone on record on

this issue.”Mitra had earlier said that

there was no question of anyalliance with the Trinamool as“no proposal has come fromthat side.” The PCC seems tobe vertically divided over theissue with leaders likeBehrampore MP AdhirChowdhury, AICC memberOP Mishra, former MinisterManoj Chakrabarty, formerMP Deepa Dasmunshi oppos-ing the alliance and those like

Subhankar Chakrabarty,Pradip Bhattacharya and oth-ers preferring a softer line.

“How shall we convinceour grassroots workers aboutthe alliance after almost sevenyears of sustained struggleagainst the TMC highhand-edness?” a PCC member saidadding “our workers are get-ting targeted, by theTrinamool, many leaders havebeen forced to join them.Even during the Left rule wedid not face this kind of per-secution from the ruling party.So it will not be possible forthe two parties to work togeth-er in near future.”

The leaders however saidthat “there are two options:either go it alone or consider apre-electoral understandingwith the Left Front if any pro-posal comes from that side.”

The CPI(M), the biggest

partner of the LF has howevergone silent in the past fewweeks after initial curiosityabout the Congress. Accordingto inside sources a majority ofthe LF leaders are not averse toleaving a few seats for theCongress or going for a “friend-ly fight” in some seats like thatof Adhir Chowdhury, but ingeneral they are in favour ofgoing it alone.

“The recent Brigade rallyhas shown the kind of supportbase we still have in Bengal.The TMC does not allow ourvoters to vote but they allow theBJP to vote in many places pro-jecting them as the biggestOpposition party. By any stan-dards our Brigade rally wasmuch bigger than that of theTMC. Most of the workerswant to go it alone,” said aCPI(M) central committeemember.

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Gorakhpur(UP): The mainaccused in the hooch tragedyin neighbouring Kushinagardistrict, which left nine peopledead, has been arrested inBhilwara district of Rajasthan,police said.

The accused, HarendraYadav, is a native of Bihar andwas arrested Wednesdayevening. He is likely to bebrought to Kushinagar onFriday, Kushinagar SP RNMishra said.

As many as nine peopledied last week after consumingspurious liquor in an areaunder the Tarya Sujan policestation limits.

After registering a caseagainst unidentified people onFebruary 8, police had arrestedtwo people, Rajendra Jaiswal andHari Nishadand, the SP said.

During interrogation ofthe duo, it surfaced that oneHarendra Yadav of Gopalganj,Bihar who is the main accusedhas escaped soon after theincident.

Police traced Yadav's loca-tion using his mobile phone.He was arrested in Rajasthan'sBhilwara, the SP said. PTI

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Indulging in hard bargainingwith its senior saffron ally

over an alliance for the LokSabha polls, the ruling Shiv Senaon Thursday told its ally that itwas prepared to have an elec-toral tie-up with the latter, pro-vided the Amit Shah-led partyagreed to accept the 1995Assembly poll seat-sharing for-mula and offered the ChiefMinister’s post to it.

Seeking to have its pound offlesh in the proposed seat-shar-ing arrangement with the BJP

for the Lok Sabha polls, the ShivSena formally linked theimpending LS poll tie-up withthe seat-sharing arrangementsfor the State Assembly pollswhich in the normal course arescheduled to be held in Octoberthis year.

Significantly enough, theShiv Sena gave a 48-hour ulti-matum to the BJP for comingout with a seat-sharing offer forthe Lok Sabha polls. The Senais understood to have conveyedto the BJP leadership that if nodecision is taken on the alliancefor the Lok Sabha polls in the

next 48 hours, its candidateswould start campaigning for thepolls. While the Shiv Sena lead-ership has agreed to re-consid-er its earlier oft-repeated standof not contesting the Lok Sabhapolls in an alliance with the BJP,the Amit Shah-led party is notready to ink the seat-sharingdeal on the dotted line as sug-gested by the Sena.

While the BJP has offered50: 50 seat sharing formula anda Rajya Sabha seat, the Sena haschosen to link the LS poll tie-upwith the seat-sharing arrange-ment for the State Assembly.

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Within days after SharadPawar agreed to recon-

sider his earlier decision not tocontest the Lok Sabha polls, theNCP on Thursday announcedthat its president Pawar wouldcontest the Lok Sabha pollsfrom Madha constituency inwestern Maharashtra.

Talking to media personsafter Pawar confabulated withsenior party leaders and officebearers on the preparationsfor the Lok Sabha polls, seniorNCP leader Praful Patel said:“At the previous meeting, wehad requested Pawar saheb tocontest from Madha con-stituency. He has accepted ourrequest and will contest the LokSabha polls from Madha con-stituency”.

Patel expressed confidencethat the Congress-NCPa l l i a n c e - l e dMahaghatbhandan would win35 out of total 48 seats in the

Lok Sabha polls. At the meeting held earli-

er in the afternoon, the NCP isunderstood to have finalisedthe names of a majority of itscandidates for the Lok Sabhapolls. “We (NCP and Congress)have come to an informalunderstanding about the shar-ing of seats for the Lok Sabhapolls. Currently we are in talks with other constituents of Mahaghatbhandan. Weintend to announce the list of all Mahaghatbhandan candidates little over a weekfrom over now,” a senior NCPleader said.

Pawar, who was elected tothe Rajya Sabha for the firsttime in April 2014, had earli-er been elected to Lok Sabhafor seven terns. Of the sevenLok sabha terms, Pawar hadrepresented his home con-stituency of Baramati for sixterms, while Madha con-stituency sent him to the lowerParliament once in 2009.

Mumbai: NCP leaderDhananjay Munde took a jibeat the BJP and Shiv Sena onValentine's Day, calling themthe "best couple" who contin-ue to be together despite con-stant bickering.

The BJP and Sena are inalliance in Maharashtra as wellas at the Centre.

However, the UddhavThackeray-led party has beenfrequently taking potshots at itssaffron partner in the last fewyears. It is also uncertain if theywould form alliance for the

c o m i n gLok Sabhapolls.

"Couldthere be abest couplethan this?They are still together despiteeveryday bickering betweenthem for the past five years,"Munde said in a tweet with#Valentinesday.

"...How much do they loveeach other, don't they?" said theLeader of Opposition in thestate Legislative Council. PTI

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Morigaon: Six illegal immi-grants from Bangladesh, allmembers of a family, werearrested early on Thursday inAssam's Morigaon district, asenior police officer said here.

The family went missingfour months ago after theSupreme Court rejected theirplea challenging a Gauhati HighCourt order, which declaredthem as illegal migrants, DeputySuperintendent of Police(Border), Morigaon, D R Bora,said.

The apex court had alsodirected them to surrenderbefore police, the DSP said.

"The arrested immigrants,including two women, weredeclared 'foreigners' by theForeigners Tribunal here and theGauhati High Court also upheldthe decision.

"The family thenapproached the Supreme Court,which rejected their petition andasked them to surrender," Boratold reporters.

The immigrants who were arrested on Thursday havebeen identified as Amez Ali, Sirazul Hoque, SometAli, Golap Ali, Yumuri Begumand Robisa Begum, he said. PTI

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Ahmedabad: Almost 17 yearsafter the Godhra train burningincident, the GujaratGovernment on Thursdayannounced compensation of�five lakh each for the familiesof 52 victims.

In an official release, theState Government said thedecision has been taken as perthe Gujarat High Court order

of 2017. The compensationwill be paid from the ChiefMinister's Relief Fund.

The Godhra train burningincident had led to one of theworst riots in the country inwhich around over 1,000 peo-ple, mostly of minority com-munity, were killed in Gujaratin 2002.

Since seven out of the 59

victims remained unidentifiedtill date, a cumulative com-pensation of �260 lakh wouldbe paid to the kin of theremaining 52 victims, therelease said.

The high court had direct-ed the State Government aswell as Railways to pay com-pensation to the kin of thosekilled in the tragedy, it said. PTI

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Ahmednagar: Social activistAnna Hazare was on Thursdayadmitted to a hospital here aftercomplaining of weakness due tolack of blood supply to hisbrain, doctors said.

Hazare, 81, last week brokehis week-long fast over hisdemand for appointment ofanti-corruption watchdogs.

"Anna is suffering fromweakness and other health issuesdue to lack of blood supply to hisbrain," Dr Bapu Kandekar, whoexamined the activist, said.

Hazare, who lives inRalegan Siddhi village inAhmednagar district, com-plained of some health problemsand was brought here in themorning, his aide said. PTI

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Revitalising RainfedAgriculture Network (RRA

N) in collaboration withNational Rainfed AreaAuthority (NRAA), Ministry ofAgriculture and FarmersWelfare, Government of India& National Institute ofAgricultural ExtensionManagement (MANAGE)organised a NationalConvention on ‘RevitalisingRainfed Agriculture —Restructuring Policy andPublic Investments to addressAgrarian Crisis at the IndiaInternational Centre (IIC),New Delhi on Thursday.

More than 450 farmers,policy makers, researchers, aca-demicians, and civil societypractitioners participated inthe two-day convention. AshokDalwai, CEO, National RainfedArea Authority and Chairman,

Committee on doubling ofFarmers Income was the chiefguest and lunched the RainfedAtlas.

The objective of the con-vention is to find pragmaticsolutions by kicking aroundideas pertaining to rainfed agri-culture, build a consensus andemphasize on different policiesand programmes at the Centreand States. The focus is toidentify rainfed agriculture asan issue of national importance.

Apart from an inauguraland a plenary session, thethought-provoking conventionwitnessed various theme-basedsessions such as Agroecologyand Living Soils — The PolicyProblem, AlternativeBudgetary Framework forRainfed Agriculture, DraughtAnimal Use in RainfedAgriculture — Potential andPolicy Imperatives andEvolving Appropriate SeedSystems for Climate ResilientAgriculture to StimulateGrowth, spread over two days.

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Struggling carrier Jet AirwaysThursday reported a stand-

alone net loss of �587.77 crorefor the third quarter endedDecember 31.

The company had posted astandalone net profit of �165.25crore in the same quarter pre-vious fiscal, Jet Airways said ina regulatory filing.

The carrier said revenuefrom operations during thequarter under review stood at�6,147.98 crore as against�6,086.20 crore in the year-agoperiod.

Total expenses in the thirdquarter shot up to �6,786.15

crore as compared to �6,042.58crore in the same quarter lastfiscal, it added.

Aircraft fuel expensesstood at �2,387.72 crore ascompared to �1,840.08 crorein the corresponding periodlast year, while aircraft andengines lease rentals were at�730.35 crore as against�583.67 crore.

Domestic revenue stoodat �2,560.44 crore, down from�2,749.05 crore in the samequarter last fiscal, while thesame for international opera-tions was also down to�3,587.54 crore as against�3,337.15 crore, the filingadded.

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Cash-strapped Jet Airwayson Thursday said its board

has approved bank-led resolu-tion plan (BLRP), entailingconversion of lenders’ debtinto equity, making them thelargest shareholder in the air-line.

The provisional restruc-turing plan (BLPRP) has beencarried out by lenders, led byState Bank of India, under theReserve Bank of India’sFebruary 12, 2018 circular.

“The BLPRP currentlyestimates a funding gap of�8,500 crore (including pro-posed repayment of aircraftdebt of �1,700 crore) to be metby appropriate mix of equityinfusion, debt restructuring,sale/sale and lease back/ refi-nancing of aircraft, amongother things,” the airline said ina filing to exchanges.

The BLPRP contemplatesconversion of lenders’ debtinto 11.40 crore shares of �10each by allotment of equityshares to the lenders.

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The Reserve Bank onThursday said it has imposed

�3.5 crore penalties on threepublic sector banks, includingPNB and OBC, for violation ofvarious banking norms.

The monetary penalty onthe banks has been imposed fornon-compliance with variousdirections issued by the RBI onmonitoring of end use of funds,exchange of information withother banks, and on restructur-ing of accounts, the ReserveBank of India said in a statement.

A penalty of �1.5 crore hasbeen imposed on Oriental Bankof Commerce (OBC) and �1crore each on Punjab NationalBank (PNB) and Bank of India.

The RBI, however, addedthat the fines have beenimposed due to deficiencies inregulatory compliance and isnot intended to pronounceupon the validity of any trans-action or agreement enteredinto by the banks with theircustomers.

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Modi Enterprises Groupcompany Indofil

Industries Ltd, a �2500 croregiant in crop protection andspeciality chemicals, onThursday announced its JointVenture with world’s leadingpolymer additives manufac-turing company, Italy-basedReagens, with a consolidatedgroup turnover of Euro 230million. The new venture,Indo-Reagens PolymerAdditives Pvt Ltd will startmanufacturing and offeringGreen Stabilizer range fromtheir unit at Ankaleshwar.

The venture will also beginoffering state-of-the-art spe-cialty additives from Reagensunits in Europe from 1st April2019. The JV will also be con-structing a new a state-of-arttechnology plant in GujaratIndustrial DevelopmentCorporation’s SpecialEconomic Zone in Dahej in2019 to offer all green polymeradditives to the Indian Polymerprocessing industry.

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Renault profits fell sharplylast year, the French

automaker said on Thursday,releasing its first annual resultssince the shock arrest in Japanof former boss Carlos Ghosn.

Meanwhile, Renault’s newchairman Jean-DominiqueSenard, elected after Ghosnresigned, arrived in JapanThursday for talks with partnerNissan in a bid to smoothrelations which grew strainedunder Ghosn’s leadership.

Renault’s net profit for2018 plunged 37 percent froma record 5.1 billion euros ($5.75billion) the previous year, hit byshrinking profits at Nissan andchanges in exchange rates insome emerging countries.

“This decline came main-ly from Nissan’s contribution,down 1.282 billion, whichnotably benefited in 2017 froma one-off gain of 1.021 billion,”Renault said in a statement.

Nissan on Tuesday slashedits full-year forecast as its nine-month net profit dropped 45percent.

The results came asRenault, Nissan and the thirdpartner in their alliance,Mitsubishi Motors, seek toturn the page after Ghosn’sarrest in Tokyo in November.

Ghosn is accused of under-reporting millions of dollars insalary as head of Nissan, the

biggest partner by sales in analliance that Ghosn built intothe world’s top-selling autogroup.

Last month he resigned asCEO of Renault, havingalready been stripped of hischairman titles at Nissan andMitsubishi.

He has been in a detentioncentre in Tokyo for threemonths with little prospect ofrelease before a trial that couldtake months to materialise.

Renault’s new chairmanSenard, who is to have a seriesof talks with top Nissan offi-cials, told reporters before leav-ing for Japan he intended to“re-establish confidence, trans-parency and loyalty” betweenthe partners.

He is due to join Nissan’sboard in April, but the questionof overall chairmanship of theNissan-Renault group remainsa bone of contention, with theJapanese fearing conflicts ofinterest and anxious to avoidany hegemonic rule by anoth-er Ghosn-like figure.

Senard, quoted by Kyodonews agency on arriving inJapan, said it was “too early” todiscuss the joint chairman-ship.

Renault last monthannounced record sales of 3.9million vehicles in 2018.Operating margins fell 6.3 per-cent to 3.61 billion euros, or 6.3percent of revenues.

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The Government has raised�10,000 crore by addition-

al offering of Bharat-22Exchange Traded Fund (ETF)on Thursday.

The additional ‘on-tap’offering of Bharat-22 ETF wasopened for a single day with abase issue size of �3,500 croreand an option to retain over-subscription.

The issue was over-sub-scribed 10 times and receivedbids for �4,00,000 crore till7pm. Bids will pour in till8pm, the Finance Ministry said.

“The Bharat-22 ETF issuereceived overwhelmingresponse from all categories ofinvestors including retail

investors. The Governmenthas decided to retain approxi-mately �10,000 crore as itsdivestment proceeds,” the min-istry said in a statement.

The proceeds from the ETFsale would help the Governmentmove towards meeting the�80,000 crore disinvestment tar-get set for the current fiscal.

With the successful Bharat-22 ETF offering, theGovernment has mopped upapproximately �46,000 crore byway of disinvestment.

The Government has so farraised �22,900 crore throughthe Bharat-22 ETF. While�14,500 crore was raised inNovember 2017, another�8,400 crore was raised in June 2018.

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Concerned over mountingcane arrears ahead of Lok

Sabha polls, the Governmenton Thursday hiked the mini-mum selling price of sugar by�2 per kg to �31 to help millersclear farmers’ dues.

The minimum selling price(MSP) is the rate below whichthe mills cannot sell sugar inthe open market to whole-salers and bulk consumers likebeverage and biscuit makers.

Industry body ISMA hadrecently said cane arrears stoodat around �20,000 crore at theend of January.

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Traders’ body CAIT onThursday urged Prime

Minister Narendra Modi tomove foreign trade underthe administrative control ofthe External Affairs Ministryso that the C ommerceMinistry can focus solely ondomestic trade.

In a letter to the primeminister, the Confederationof All India Traders (CAIT)also sought his interactionwith the trading community.

“The retail trade in Indiaaccounts for about 42 lakhcrore annual turnover andafter agriculture, the sec-

ond-largest sec tor foremployment generation. Thetrading community like othersectors also earnestly wish tohave direct interaction withyou on various core issues,”CAIT Secretary GeneralPraveen Khandelwal said inthe letter.

He also complimentedModi for bringing internaltrade under the Ministry ofCommerce and creation of adepartment for it.

Khandelwal suggestedthat foreign trade should beput under the charge of theMinistry of External Affairsas it is well in touch with therest of the world.

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Apregnant Bangladeshi-British teenager, who fled

London in 2015 to join theIslamic State terror group inSyria, says she is not the same“silly” girl now, but wants toreturn to the UK as she is wor-ried about the health of herunborn child.

Shamima Begum, 15, wasone of three British schoolgirlswho ran away from theirhomes in the UK in 2015 to bejihadi brides, causing muchconcern in the country on theimpact of online radicalisation,especially among the youth.

Speaking from a refugeecamp in Syria, Begum, now 19,has lost two children, told theTimes newspaper that she wasnine months pregnant andwanted to return to the UK forher baby.

She said she remainedscared her unborn baby wouldbecome ill in the refugee campafter she fled the jihadists’ lastremaining enclave in Baghuz,eastern Syria.

“That’s why I really want toget back to Britain because Iknow it will be taken care of -health-wise, at least,” she said.

She said she should be giv-ing birth “any day now”.

“I’ ll do anything required just to be able tocome home and live quietlywith my child.” Begum said shehad two other children whodied in infancy from malnu-trition and illness.

Begum and two of her fel-low Bethnal Green academystudents, Kadiza Sultana andAmira Abase, made headlineswhen they flew from Gatwickto Turkey in February 2015,then entered Syria.

Begum and Abase wereboth 15, while Sultana, anoth-er Bangladeshi-British, was 16.They had told their parentsthey were simply going out forthe day. Begum said Sultanawas killed in an air strike onRaqqa, the stronghold of theISIS.

But Begum expressed noregrets about fleeing from theUK. “I’m not the same silly lit-tle 15-year-old schoolgirl whoran away from Bethnal Greenfour years ago,” she said.

“I don’t regret cominghere,” she said.

After arriving in Raqqa,she stayed at a house with othernewly arrived brides-to-be, she

told the Times.“I applied to marry an

English-speaking fighterbetween 20 and 25 years old,”she said.

Ten days later she marrieda 27-year-old Dutch man whohad converted to Islam.

She has been with himsince then, and the coupleescaped from Baghuz — thegroup’s last territory in easternSyria - two weeks ago.

Begum said her husbandwho had fought for ISIS, sur-rendered to Syrian fightersallied to the US-supportedSyrian Democratic Forces(SDF) weeks ago and that shehad not seen him since.

She is now one of 39,000people in a refugee camp innorthern Syria.

Asked whether her experiences of living in the one-time IS stronghold ofRaqqa had lived up to her aspi-rations, Begum said: “Yes, itdid. It was like a normal life.The life that they show on thepropaganda videos - it’s a nor-mal life.

“Every now and then thereare bombs and stuff. But otherthan that...” She said that see-ing her first “severed head” ina bin “didn’t faze me at all”.

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US Secretary of State MikePompeo said on Thursday

at a security conference inWarsaw that Iran is the topthreat in the Middle East andconfronting the country is keyto reaching peace in the entireregion.

Pompeo met with IsraeliPrime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu before the openingsession at the conference andsaid “pushing back” againstIran was central to dealingwith all the region’s other prob-lems. “You can’t achieve peaceand stability in the Middle Eastwithout confronting Iran. It’sjust not possible,” Pompeo saidalongside Netanyahu.

The Israeli leader laudedthe participation of high-profileArab dignitaries at the confer-

ence, saying it signaled a shiftin regional priorities.

“In a room of some 60 for-eign ministers, an Israeli primeminister and the foreign min-isters of leading Arab countriesstood together, and spoke withunusual force, clarity and unityagainst a common threat of theIranian regime,” Netanyahusaid before his meeting withPompeo.

“I think this marks achange, an important under-standing of what threatens ourfuture.” The U.S. And Poland aresponsoring the conference,which they say is aimed at pro-moting peace and security in theMideast but appears to be main-ly focused on isolating Iran. Iranhas denounced the gathering asan American anti-Iran “circus”aimed at “demonising” it.

US Vice President Mike

Pence is attending along withrepresentatives from numerousArab countries. But France andGermany are not sendingCabinet-ranked officials, andEuropean Union foreign poli-cy chief Federica Mogherini isstaying away. Russia and Chinaaren’t participating, either, andthe Palestinians, who havecalled for the meeting to beboycotted, also will be absent.

For Netanyahu, a longtimeopponent of the 2015 Irannuclear deal, the gathering

marks a culmination of his callto unite the world againstIsrael’s arch-enemy of Iran. He’slong boasted that Israel hasclandestinely developed goodrelations with several Arabstates, despite a lack of officialties. On Wednesday, he metwith Oman’s foreign minister,Yusuf bin Alawi, and atThursday’s opening session hewas seated next to the foreignminister of Yemen, as repre-sentatives of Kuwait, Qatar andothers looked on.

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President Hassan Rouhanivowed revenge on

Thursday against the “merce-nary group” behind a suicidebombing which killed 27 peo-ple in southeastern Iran andaccused the US and Israel ofsupporting “terrorism”.

“We will certainly makethis mercenary group pay forthe blood of our martyrs,” theofficial IRNA news agencyquoted the Iranian presidentas saying in response to

Wednesday’s attack.“The main root of terror-

ism in the region is Americaand Zionists, and some oil-producing countries in theregion also financially supportthe terrorists,” he added.

Rouhani was speaking atTehran’s Mehrabad Airportbefore leaving for the Russianresort of Sochi for a summitwith his Russian and Turkishcounterparts Vladimir Putinand Recep Tayyip Erdogan onthe future of war-batteredSyria.

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The Taliban said on Wed-nesday its negotiators would

next week meet the top US andPakistani officials includingPrime Minister Imran Khanduring a key round of talks inIslamabad as part of the ongo-ing Afghan peace talks. NeitherWashington nor Islamabadimmediately confirmed theannouncement by the Taliban.

On the “formal invitation ofthe government of Pakistan,another meeting is scheduled totake place between the negoti-ation teams of the IslamicEmirate and the US on 18th ofFebruary, 2019 in Islamabad,”Taliban spokesman ZabiullahMujahid said in a statement.

The Taliban’s delegationwould also meet Prime MinisterKhan, the statement said.

Mujahid said the regularround of talks was alreadyscheduled to be held onFebruary 25 in Qatar. He saidthat in the meeting with Khan,Taliban would have “compre-hensive discussions about Pak-Afghan relations and issues per-taining to Afghan refugees andAfghan businessmen”.

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London: British PrimeMinister Theresa May wasscrambling on Thursday toavoid another defeat on herBrexit plans amid oppositionfrom members of her own

party who claim she is movingin the wrong direction inefforts to overcome the impasseblocking a deal.

Hard-line pro-Brexit law-makers in May’s Conservative

Party said a motion to be votedon in Parliament later effec-tively rules out the threat ofBritain leaving the EuropeanUnion without an agreementon departure terms and futurerelations, a move they sayundermines Britain’s bargain-ing position.

“Conservative MPs (mem-bers of Parliament) really oughtnot to be associated with any-thing, express or implied,which seems to take ‘no deal’off the table,” said Brexit-back-ing Conservative lawmakerSteve Baker in a tweet. AP

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Apure match-winner, aback-up opener and aneffortless six-hitter in

the class of Rohit Sharma —Rishabh Pant merits selectionin India's World Cup squad andthere are more than one rea-sons for it, feels former pacerAshish Nehra.

Nehra, who has trackedPant's progress in Delhi andinternational cricket since hefirst joined the Sonnet Club,

gave five elaborate reasons forthe dynamic youngster's inclu-sion in the playing XI of themega-event.

"In a team, there will alwaysbe contributors but at a bigevent like the World Cup, youneed players with X-factor.Rishabh Pant is not a mere con-tributor but a pure match-win-ner who should be picked forthe World Cup," Nehra said onThursday.

Nehra, a key member of the2011 World Cup-winning

team, feels there are three tofour specific reasons to pickPant.

"If you look at India's bat-ting line up, save Shikhar(Dhawan), there aren't anyleft-handers in the top seven.You need variety with a left-right combination, whereRishabh perfectly fits," he rea-soned.

The 21-year-old Pant is aleft-hander and scored Testhundreds in his first series inEngland and Australia.

"Secondly, Rishabh can batat any position between No 1to 7 and so Virat (Kohli) andthe team management can usehim as a floater," said Nehra,who also played the 2003World Cup final in SouthAfrica.

The third reason cited byNehra was Pant's ability to hitsixes effortlessly from the wordgo. Nehra said the fearlessapproach comes in handy inpressure situations.

"If it comes to effortlesslyhitting sixes, Rishabh comessecond only to Rohit Sharmawith his big-hitting ability.India will need that in abun-dance during the World Cup,"Nehra said.

And last but not the least, Nehrafelt Pant has shown the ability to winmatches singlehandedly.

"No disrespect, this team hasthree clear match-winners and theyare Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma andJasprit Bumrah. For me, the fourth oneis going to be Rishabh Pant.

"Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhavand Dinesh Karthik are all fantasticplayers but they are all in the samemould. You need X-factor which thisboy possesses," said Nehra, an artistwith the white kookaburra, during hisbest days.

Asked whether a seasoned finish-er like Karthik could be overlooked atthe expense of a rookie, Nehra saidboth the players can make it.

"As I have already said, Rishabhcould also be your third opener, so DK(as Karthik is referred to) could beyour middle order batter," he said.

But is it wise to have three keep-ers in the 15? The veteran said look-ing at Pant and Karthik as second andthird keepers is wrong.

"I don't look at it from that per-spective. If Rishabh and DK are beingpicked ahead of specialist batsmen likeManish Pandey and Shreyas Iyer,then you are looking at them as spe-cialist batsmen.

"So why complicate the thoughtprocess. As it is we have the peerlessMS Dhoni behind stumps so treatboth as specialist batsmen," he con-cluded.

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Zeroing in on players for a cou-ple of available World Cup

spots, including a toss-up betweenleft-arm pacers Jaydev Unadkatand Khaleel Ahmed, will be theselection committee's primary focuson Friday when it picks the Indiasquad for the limited-overs seriesagainst Australia.

India will play two T20Internationals and five ODIs, start-ing February 24, in what will betheir last international assignmentbefore the World Cup, which beginsin England on May 30.

The series against Australiawill also be an indicator as to whoamong Rishabh Pant and DineshKarthik will board the Heathrow-bound flight as a specialist-bats-man-cum-second-wicketkeeper.

KL Rahul is back in the mix asthe third opener after a couple ofgood innings for India A againstEngland Lions in the two unofficialTests.

While the two T20 matches willbe a pre-cursor to the ODI series,vice captain Rohit Sharma is like-ly to be given a short break to reju-venate and come back fresh for theODIs.

The selectors have already iden-tified 13 certainties for the WorldCup and they are Virat Kohli,Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma,Ambati Rayudu, Mahendra SinghDhoni, Kedar Jadhav, HardikPandya, Vijay Shankar, YuzvendraChahal, Kuldeep Yadav,Bhuvneshwar Kumar, JaspritBumrah and Mohammed Shami.

Skipper Kohli and pace spear-head Bumrah will be back in actionfor the final dress rehearsal and theselectors are unlikely look beyond16 to 17 players, who are now in thescheme of things for the WorldCup.

There are at least four con-tenders for the last two slotsdepending on the combinationthe team management would want.

While Bumrah, Shami and

Bhuvneshwar are certainties inthe pace department, the bone ofcontention is a left-arm seamerwho will add variation to the line-up.

Khaleel, the young Rajasthanspeedster, played in Australia andNew Zealand but he looked like awork in progress who could be allat sea in a mega-event like theWorld Cup.

Unadkat, who has only sporad-ically played for India since hisdebut in 2010, is suddenly back incontention after a good RanjiTrophy season where he ledSaurashtra to the final.

Unadkat is a matured bowlernow with more variations and anincrease in pace. He is also moreexperienced courtesy his IPL stints.

A shoot-out is expectedbetween Pant and Karthik, who areboth finishers in their own right.

Pant could also double up asthe third opener although Rahul isalso in contention as he has theteam management's backing.

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Dale Steyn and his fellow fast bowlers enabled South Africa to gain an advan-tage over Sri Lanka on the second day of the first Test against Sri Lanka

at Kingsmead in Durban on Thursday.Steyn took four for 48 as South Africa took a first innings lead of 44. They

stretched their lead to 170 by reaching 126 for four at the close.South Africa's decision to pick five specialist bowlers meant that their advan-

tage was some way short of being decisive, with Faf du Plessis (25 not out) andQuinton de Kock (15 not out) their last two recognised batsmen going intoday three.

Sri Lanka were bowled out for 191 and were unable to build on a good firstday when their inexperienced bowlers surprised the South African batsmen,who could manage only 235 in their first innings.

Steyn andV e r n o nPhilander soonput their stampon the gamewhen Sri Lankaresumed at 49 forone on Thursday,taking threewickets in thefirst ten overs ofthe morning.

Kusal Pereraplayed some boldand occasionallylucky strokes inmaking 51 off 63balls for SriLanka and thehosts were frus-trated when abarrage of short-pitched bowlingcould not break astubborn ninthwicket partner-ship of 32, thejoint second-highest of theinnings, betweendebutant LasithEmbuldeniya and Kasun Rajitha.

It was particularly frustrating for Steyn, who bowled unchanged for a ten-over spell after lunch in a bid to claim the 27th five-wicket haul of his Test career.

He had already taken four wickets when Rajitha, on ten, gloved what lookeda simple chance to Dean Elgar in the gully, only for the fielder to put it down.

The stand was eventually ended by a smart run-out of Rajitha by AidenMarkram at short leg.

Steyn took his career tally to 437 Test wickets, passing India's Kapil Dev(434) and drawing level with Stuart Broad of England in joint seventh placeon the all-time list.

With bright sunshine following the morning's overcast conditions, the stageseemed set for South Africa to move into a commanding position as Markramstruck the ball crisply in making 28 off 31 balls in an opening partnership of36 with Elgar.

But Markram played one attacking shot too many when an attempted backfoot force off Rajitha flew to Kusal Mendis at second slip.

Three more wickets fell reasonably cheaply as South Africa's top-order bat-ting again proved fragile.

Hashim Amla edged Vishwa Fernando to gully before Embuldeniya fol-lowed up his courageous innings of 24 off 63 balls by dismissing TembaBavumgrabs advantage for south Africa and Elgar with his left-arm spin bowl-ing.

Bavuma was leg before wicket for three when he missed a sweep and Elgarfell for 35 to a superb return catch when he skipped down the wicket and hitthe ball hard but close enough for the bowler to take a reflex catch to his left.

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Cristiano Ronaldo is set for a rarestart on the bench as Juventus

host struggling Frosinone on Fridaylooking to pull 14 points clear inSerie A with an eye towards nextweek's Champions League trip toAtletico Madrid.

Portuguese star Ronaldobrought his tally to 20 goals forJuventus in all competitions lastweekend in a 3-0 win over Sassuolo.

But the 34-year-old will start onthe bench for just the second timethis season before the former RealMadrid player returns to theSpanish capital next week.

Paulo Dybala returns to thestarting line-up, forming an attack-ing trident alongside MarioMandzukic and FedericoBernardeschi.

Juventus coach MassimilianoAllegri's defensive problems havebeen eased with trio AndreaBarzagli, Leonardo Bonucci andGiorgio Chiellini back training.

Juventus captain Chiellini isexpected to return on Friday.

Second-placed Napoli droppedpoints last weekend with a goallessdraw against Fiorentina and face apotentially tricky test at homeagainst Torino.

Walter Mazzarri's Torino arefour points off the Europa Leagueplaces.

Napoli will be without mid-fielder Marek Hamsik for the firsttime since the former skipper hav-

ing sealed his move toChinese Super League clubDalian Yifang.

Lorenzo Insigne takes onthe captain's role and insistedmotivation remained highdespite Juventus' charge towards aneighth consecutive league title.

"Juventus haven't sapped ourmotivation, we knew it would behard to keep up with them," saidInsigne.

"We know they're a great team,but we're no worse than them.

"The championship is still long.We left some points on the roadthat we deserved, but we certainlydo not give up."

��������������Meanwhile, third-placed Inter

Milan, nine points behind Napoli,are in turmoil as they hostSampdoria days after stripping star

forward Mauro Icardi of thecaptain's armband.

Icardi's contractual situa-tion, with his current dealexpiring in 2021, has becomean increasingly divisive issue

between club bosses and the play-er's wife Wanda Nara, who is alsohis agent.

The Argentina forward hitback by refusing to travel for theirEuropa League round of 32 first-leggame at Rapid Vienna on Thursdayand is uncertain to play against hisformer club Sampdoria, who areninth, on Sunday.

"It was a difficult and painfuldecision because we know hisworth," said Inter coach LucianoSpalletti.

"It was done exclusively for thegood of Inter. There are somethings concerning the player thathad to be sorted."

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Landanmawia Ralte struck a hat-trick asa rampaging East Bengal toyed with

Shillong Lajong FC for a 5-0 thrashing, theirfourth consecutive win in the I-League, hereThursday.

Ralte struck in the 8th, 27th and 61stminutes while Jobby Justin (28th)andEnrique Esqueda (45th) scored one each inthe first half, helping East Bengal cut thedeficit to three points with leaders ChennaiCity FC with a match in hand.

Their fourth win on the trot took EastBengal past their Sunday's opponentsChurchill Brothers to the third place in thetable, giving their maiden I-League title pur-suit a huge boost in front ofabout 25,000 turnout.

Real Kashmir are second inthe table with 32 points, havingplayed 16 matches, compared toEast Bengal's 15.

By denying Shillong Lajong a single goal,East Bengal's goal difference (14) also got abig fillip. Chennai City have a goal differenceof 15.

Fresh from two wins in a row, the bot-tom-placed Shillong Lajong FC came outwith a lot of hopes, but the young outfit weresimply outplayed and left demoralised by thehome side.

Starting up front in place of JaimeColado, Enrique Esqueda, along with Jobby,pressed hard from the beginning and thehome side completely dominated the posses-sion.

The opening goal came from a clinicalLalrindika Ralte corner when Laldanmawiascored from a free-header.

Two minutes later, Jobby almost doubledthe lead from a Lalrindika freekick only to

see his header go wide.East Bengal maintained the majority of

possession and the Shillong out-fit did not get a single chance tillSamuel Kynshi's 22th minutefreekick sailed over the bar.

The red-and-gold brigadekept pressing hard and Laldanmawia capi-talised on a long through ball by BorjaGomez to double the lead in the 27th minute.

Before the visitors could blink, EastBengal made it 3-0, this time Jobby scoring,heading home into an empty net fromEsqueda's clever placement.

It was Antonio Dovale who set it up forEsqueda with a long ball and the Mexicanbrilliantly shot the ball over Shillong goal-keeper Phurba Lachenpa.

Lalrindika Ralte set up another goal forEast Bengal and this time Esqueda found thename on the scoresheet to give them a 4-0lead at half time.

Jaime who is recovering from a neckinjury was brought at the hour mark and theSpaniard brilliantly dribbled past a Shillongdefender before setting up Landanmawia'sthird goal.

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Little-known and battingwith the tail, Akshay

Karnewar struck his maidenfirst-class century to handVidarbha a crucial 95-runfirst-innings lead before Restof India, riding on a fightingpartnership, erased the deficitin the Irani Cup on Thursday.

With Ajinkya Rahane(25) and Hanuma Vihari (40)walking back unbeaten atstumps, the third day's playended on an even keel.

The hosts, who resumedthe day on 245 for six, endedtheir first innings at 425,courtesy Karnewar's unbeat-en knock of 102 off 133 balls.The hosts had bowled Rest ofIndia out for 330 in their firstessay.

First-innings centurionVihari then showed defianceand added 56 runs for thethird wicket with skipperAjinkya Rahane, which helpedthe visitors wipe off the deficitand finish the day seven runsahead at 102 for two on a dete-riorating pitch at the VCAStadium.

Earlier, Karnewar, whohas played just 11 first-classmatches and also bowls slowleft-arm spin, proved his met-tle with the bat.

After Wadkar (73) andKarnewar (15 not outovernight) added 79 runs forthe seventh wicket and when

the former was cleaned up byyoung leg-spinner RahulChahar.

Karnewar not only heldthe innings, but also took theopposition bowlers to task,striking 13 fours and twosixes.

Seasoned off-spinnerAkshay Wakahre (20) andpacer Rajneesh Gurbani (28not out) too played handyknocks as the hosts extendedtheir lead.

For ROI, Chahar (4-112)was the pick of the bowlers,while Karnataka spinner KGowtham (2-33), Saurashtraspinner DharmendrasinhJadeja (2-111) and UP pacerAnkit Rajpoot (2-84) werealso among the wickets.

In their second essay, ROIopener Anmolpreet Singh (6)fell cheaply while India inter-national Mayank Agarwal,who had scored 95 in the firstessay, was dismissed on 27.

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India 'A' bundled out EnglandLions for 140 to take a 252-run

first-innings lead and the upperhand in the second unofficial Teston Thursday.

Following on, the visitorsended the second day at 24 for noloss in their second innings, stillbehind by 228 runs.

Earlier, the Lions fought backstrongly to stop India A at 392after the hosts had resumed at 282for three.

Test discard Karun Nair did-n't add to his overnight score of14, nicking one to keeper OlliePope off Zak Chappell.

Wickets tumbled as theEngland bowlers stuck to theirtask. Only K S Bharat, a centuri-on in the last game, made a sig-nificant contribution, with a bel-ligerent 46 before being the lastman out.

Chappell was the best bowlerfor the Lions with 4 for 60 whilespinner Danny Briggs recoveredfrom a tough first day to finishwith 3 for 71.

The England openers startedpositively, making 23 in the firstfive overs before Max Holdendeparted for 19, leg-before toNavdeep Saini.

The Indian bowlers came tothe fore, striking at regular inter-vals to dismiss the Lions in 48.4overs.

The talented Ollie Pope wasthe top-scorer with 25 as the restof the line-up faltered against thevaried bowling attack which sawmedium-pacer Saini and left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeempick up three wickets each.

Aaron, who has been out ofthe national set-up for a whilenow, bagged two wickets as didKerala all-rounder Jalaj Saxena,with his off-spin.

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������� Australian pace spearhead JoshHazlewood said on Thursday he is confi-dent of being fit for the World Cup, withscans this week set to determine when hecan make a comeback.

The vice-captain missed Australia'stwo recent Tests against Sri Lanka with aback injury and has also been ruled out oftheir upcoming one-day tours against Indiaand Pakistan.

Cricket Australia physiotherapist DavidBeakley previously said he was suffering anearly stage stress fracture, similar to one that sidelined him for sixmonths last year.

Hazlewood told reporters he is targeting World Cup warm-upgames for his return, with a follow-up scan on Friday set to shed morelight on his progress.

"I think we'll know a lot more after tomorrow, to be honest.Hopefully in the coming weeks we'll start working through it," hesaid. "Hopefully it's going along to plan. AFP

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Whatever your child's age, it'simportant to be consistentwhen it comes to disci-

pline. If parents don't stick to therules and consequences they set up,their kids aren't likely to either.

Punishing kids frequently canmake them more stubborn andaggressive. It can also give riseother behavioural issues in them. So,it is necessary to avoid punishingkids to avoid such behaviouralproblems in them. Let us take a lookat the 10 golden rules to avoid pun-ishing kids.

Punishment like corporal pun-ishment, verbal abuse should bestrictly off limits for children as ithas several negative repurcurrsions.Child counsellors say that when ahealthy loving relationship existsbetween parents and children, a sin-gle look of disapproval or noncommunication is enough to con-vey to children that what they havedone is wrong. Here is what youcould do to avoid punishing yourkids.

Judge the Age Appropriatenessof behavior. Mentally ask yourselfthe question “is the behaviourexhibited by my kid age appropri-ate?” If the answer is yes then quitthe idea of punishment. For exam-ple, if your three year old describesa guest as “that fat man” you shouldnot get angry as it is age appropri-ate for toddlers to describe what

they see without negative intent.Explanation works better than pun-ishment in such situations.

Teach the difference betweenright and wrong. Kids are not bornwith an inbuilt moral compass andit becomes very difficult for themwhen they get punished for doingwrong things unknowingly. Forexample, your five year old may havelied to save his skin not knowingthat lying is ethically unacceptable.Instead of punishment sit down withyour kids and make them under-stand the moral differentiationbetween right action and wrong.

You need to act as a role modelfor your children if you really wantthem to imbibe good behaviour nat-urally. This means that you need topractice things like not lying, speak-ing politely and leading a disciplinedlife yourself. When your kids see youdoing things that you have told themto do, they automatically get moti-vated. This means that they will tryto be on their best behaviour mostof the time and it will becomeunnecessary for you to inflict pun-ishment.

Mostly kids behave badly asthey are extrinsically motivated bythe reward and punishment system.Parents need to teach the concept ofintrinsic motivation where theoption of doing a good thing auto-matically generates a feeling oforganic happiness.

The closer you are to your kidsemotionally and the more aware youare of their needs and wants; it willbecome easier for you to ensuregood behaviour. When a child feelsclose and loved by parents goodbehavior automatically follows byintrinsic motivation and the desireto impress.

Use a level and cool tone ofvoice when you are reprimandingthem for some wrong doing. Thistone automatically makes kids feelthat they have done something

wrong and they are motivated to lis-ten carefully. Punishment can followonly if your kids do not listen torepeated use of this tone.

Not punishing kids does notmean not disciplining them. Drawup appropriate rules for behaviourin your home and ensure that theyare followed. Discipline should be apart of everyday life and not justreserved for special occasions.

Publically appreciate kids whenthey have behaved well as this willfurther encourage them to keep upgood behaviour. Repeated appreci-ation of good behaviour will workwonders and actually prove to bemore effective than any punishmentsystem.

Punishment imparted in amoment of fury and anger alwaysfoes more harm than good.Whenever you feel yourself gettingangry, take a few moments to calmyourself down. If necessary, walk outof the room for some time.

If behaviour problems persistthen consider taking kids to a childcounsellor where issues can beeffectively addressed. This is a muchpreferred mode of action thaninflicting punishment which couldfurther alienate your children.

Not only does overly harsh dis-cipline cause resistance and retali-ation, it can easily encourage lying.A child will focus on covering upmisdemeanours to avoid punish-

ment, rather than changing theiractual behaviour. Finally, rememberthat punitive consequences fail toteach your child self-control. Achild who is always reprimandedwithout discussion fails to developproblem-solving skills or an ‘innervoice’ that helps them think throughbehaviour before acting.

Additionally, there is extensiveresearch that physical punishmentputs children at substantial risks forfuture defiant and aggressive behav-ior, increased mental health con-cerns, as well as greater risk of seri-ous injury and abuse. Recent brainscience research has shown thatharsh physical punishment mayactually have detrimental effects onthe development of a child's brain.

The negative effect of punish-ment, physical or otherwise, extendsto our schools as well. Many schoolsadopt “zero tolerance” policies, butin order for those to work, educa-tors must discipline students inharsher ways, often with little effect.

What’s more, consistent use ofpunishment in schools causes chil-dren to become fearful and avoidantof school and teachers, and inter-feres with positive, pro-social rela-tionships. Brain science is showingus that warmth and nurture areessential to brain development.Academic success — one of the bestindicators of adult success —is bestachieved in a school climate that is

warm, welcoming, and promotespositive behavior and positive inter-actions with adults and peers. Inorder to reduce the use of physicalpunishment, we must have otheroptions.

Children learn to behave whentheir parents notice and respond totheir behavior appropriately. Whena child misbehaves, it is essential thatparents remain calm and commu-nicate the appropriate way to get itright next time. Techniques such asteaching behaviors that you want tosee; reinforcing specific behaviorsasking them to keep their hands tothemselves or positive reinforce-ment when they do the behavior;modeling appropriate behavior par-ents keep their hands to themselves;and combining a low preferredbehavior doing homework with ahigh preferred behavior playing agame are effective ways to encour-age appropriate behavior.

The risks to physical punish-ment are huge and well outweigh theshort term reduction of a negativebehavior. It's time to change the cul-ture of discipline in our country, andto show parents that there is a bet-ter way. Rather than debate itseffectiveness, let’s educate on itstremendous risks, and on morepositive approaches to discipline. Itis not too late to change our educa-tional and parental discipline prac-tices. Our kids deserve better.

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The new generation Toyota Camry is a very serene car being both comfortable and economical at the same time

Ramoji Film City is in theGuinness Book of WorldRecords as the largest film set

in the world, and it is truly massive.However when you are drivingaround inside it in the new ToyotaCamry, space becomes a relativething. That is because the Camryitself is such a large, spacious vehi-cle, both at the front and the back.In fact, on the size front, this car isas big as German executive sedanssuch as the Audi A6 and theBMW 5 series.

But size is not the Camry’sparty piece because Toyota assuresus that this new vehicle is actuallyengaging to drive. And that wouldbe a nice change indeed, becausesince the Camry was introduced inIndia a decade and a half ago,Toyota has sold a shade over 11,000of them. But, when they firstbrought it, it almost always was acar to be driven around in, andwhile the Camry has always beenvery comfortable, calling it anengaging and driver-oriented carare not adjectives that you woulduse with previous versions of thecar.

So what about this iteration?Well, the eight-speed eCVT trans-mission is clearly tuned towardseconomy but when you do put yourfoot down, this thing can move.Think of this car as more of an ath-lete towards the middle of his or hercareer, someone who still hasexplosive speed but would rathercruise, but also an athlete that hasbecome better over time withexperience. That analogy comesinto play with the handling of thecar. Now this is still a long andheavy car but that does not meanthat it rolls like a boat. Far from it,the Camry is surprisingly taut andit achieves that despite having avery comfortable ride.

But you know what sets apartan experienced athlete from aninexperienced one is how theyexpend energy, particularly inlonger sports. If a tennis match goesto five sets, you do not want to losebecause you are out of juice. Thatis where the Camry shines, thanksto its fourth generation ToyotaHybrid system. The Japanese car-maker has definitely made a namefor itself in hybrid technology andthis car uses the same system thatyou see on the new Prius. As theToyota engineers themselves tellyou, it is not just about the batterytechnology, this car uses NickelMetal Hydride cells (NiMh) insteadof Lithium-ion cells which areheavier. But the new Power ControlUnit (PCU) is in fact a very fastcomputer that is constantly evalu-ating driving styles and powerrequirements and decides whatsource the car needs. Sure, at lowcity speeds you can enable the full‘EV’ mode that has the car functionas a fully electric vehicle but atspeeds above 50 kmphyou can’t do that.However that doesnot mean the carcan’t run in fulle l e c t r i c

mode at higher speeds.Indeed on Hyderabad’s excel-

lent Outer Ring Road, you can eas-ily set the Camry to cruise controland watch the displays tell you whatpower source the car is using. Thedisplays often show that the car isdriving solely on battery power at100 kmph. However, when you hit

a flyover or if the

battery was running low, the enginekicks in as well. All this happens soquickly and so quietly that you haveno sensation that the engine hasengaged. And despite the fact thatthe Camry has a big 2.5 litre petrolengine, thanks to the hybrid sys-tem, the car can easily deliver over16.5 kilometres per litre withouttrying too hard. If I drove the carto be even more economical I’msure, I could have pushed themileage even higher.

On the inside, the Camry is asmentioned above quite spa-

cious indeed.

The rear seats recline a fair amount,enough in fact, to catch a snoozequite easily. The central armrest hasa very zippy touchscreen con-troller and you can also fit option-al screens on the headrests. Thefront seats are very comfortable aswell and being equipped with in-seat ventilation. The car, like allToyota’s does not come with eitherApple CarPlay or Android Autoand the infotainment system suf-fers as a result but hooking up yourdevice via Bluetooth or using thelatest versions of the Mirror Linksystem which some of the latestAndroid devices are compatiblewith work just fine.

Are there any negatives aboutthe Camry? Well, to start off it isn’twhat one would call handsome.The front end of the car seemsextremely busy with far too manyelements and while darker shadesof paint hide the busy nature of theside profile that is also very busy.Also, while the car is more engag-ing than previous versions of theCamry, it isn’t what I would call anexciting drive. It is howeversupremely comfortable and givenToyota’s excellent build quality, theCamry like other stablemates willbe mechanically bulletproof. Andthanks to the hybrid system itscores over most other rivals (savethe Honda Accord) in terms of fueleconomy. But here is the thing, asnice and as practical as the Camryis, if I wanted a vehicle that was ascomfortable albeit not as econom-ical (in petrol) I would look at theToyota Innova. But as hybridsincreasingly become common inIndia as new emission and efficien-cy norms kick in, the Camry isleading the pack. Priced at an intro-ductory �36.95 lakh ex-showroomall-India, it is not value at all for atechnology leader.

If a recent survey is anything to goby, then we will be clued into musicon the move or in our mindsphere

most of our waking hours. “India is amusic-loving society with consumersspending almost 21.5 hours everyweek listening to melodies and songs

against the global average of 17.8hours. Helping to satisfy this love

for music is the audio OTT(over-the-top) industry which is

at an inflection point today,” saidBlaise Fernandes, President andCEO, The Indian Music Industry(IMI).

According to a report by IndianMusic Industry (IMI) and Deloitte,the Indian audio OTT industry isvalued at $280 million with rev-enues from it contributing to 67per cent of the total recordedmusic revenue in India. AudioOTT includes delivery of digitalmusic content over the internet tothe consumer by independentlyhosted applications that procurecontent from music labels, publish-ers and other distributors. Digitalmusic revenues as a percentage ofIndian music industry revenueshave shown steady growth from 51

per cent in 2013 to 78 per cent in 2017.The launch of various Indian audio

OTT platforms like JioSavaan, Gaana,Hungama, Wynk and Vodafone-Idea, aswell as international platforms like AppleMusic, Amazon Music, Google Play andthe impending arrival of Spotify offerimmense potential for the growth of the

audio OTT industry not just in India butin south Asia as a whole.

“If a Despacito can become a hit inIndia, if K-Pop can cross geographicalboundaries, then the scope for musicfrom India is infinite, with differentregional languages poised to dominatelocal and international markets driven bythe reach of audio OTT platforms,” saidFernandes.

The report also highlights the con-tribution of the recorded music industryto the growth of audio OTT platformswith all major stakeholders, from lyricists,music composers, performers to film pro-ducers, actively creating for and licens-ing content to the digital platforms toboost music consumption, further dri-ving the growth for music streaming ser-

vices. The expected growth in smart-phone users to 829 million in 2022 fromjust 404 million at the end of 2017, high-lights a digital revolution, where anincreasing number of people will shift todigital platforms to consume music.

As at the end of December 2018,there were nearly 150 million musicstreaming users in India, while seeming-ly large are numbers make for the onlinevideo audience. This indicates a signifi-cant growth opportunity with audioOTT platforms emerging as the preferredmedium to consume music in the coun-try, and the audio OTT market valued atover US $280 million in January 2018,poised to show strong growth in the nextfew years.

The writing is already on the wall with

physical sales of CDs showing a steep dropfrom 35.5 million in 2013 to 0.4 millionunits in 2017. Audio OTT platforms willbe a key driver of growth in the future –digital revenue has already shown anincrease from $74.4 million in 2016 to US$102.1 million in 2017.

The report also examines the impli-cations of piracy with $250 million losteach year on account of it. It evaluates theanti-piracy measures in India by musiclabels, regulatory bodies, governmentand other stakeholders to curb this majorsource of money leakage. India’s recentapproval for accession and ratification ofWorld Intellectual Property Organisation’s(WIPO) internet treaties to protect theintellectual property rights of artists andcontent owners reflects the level of IPR

awareness in the country. It examines suc-cessful initiatives in countries like Chinato curbs piracy and encourage moreusers to subscribe.

FDI and FII represent major sourcesof investment for the audio OTT indus-try in India, with investors like Tencent,Tiger Global, Liberty Media, and Xiaomiinvesting over $300 million in the audioOTT industry.

The report also examines the variouschallenges faced including piracy. Thereis a need for free-market licensing normsto help sustain the digital ecosystem, wherecontent owners and creators are sufficient-ly remunerated, in order to sustain andencourage investments in content. It isthen that India can take a major positionin the global recorded music space.

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Officers of the Board ofDirectors of the Academy of

Motion Picture Arts and theSciences (AMPAS) have sent aletter to members trying to allayconcerns about the decision tohold four Oscar presentationsaway from the live broadcast onFebruary 24.

“As the Academy’s officers,we’d like to assure you that noaward category at the 91st Oscarsceremony will be presented in amanner that depicts the achieve-ments of its nominees and win-ners as less than any others,” theletter read.

“Unfortunately, as the resultof inaccurate reporting andsocial media posts, there hasbeen a chain of misinformationthat has understandably upsetmany Academy members.

“We’d like to restate andexplain the plans for presentingthe awards, as endorsed by theAcademy’s Board of Governors.”

The officers then went on tobreak down how these presenta-tions will work:

��All 24 Award categoriesare presented on stage in the

Dolby Theatre, and included inthe broadcast.

� Four categories —Cinematography, Film Editing,

Make-Up and Hairstyling, andLive Action Short — werevolunteered by their branchesto have their nominees and

winners announced by presen-ters, and included later in thebroadcast. Time spent walking tothe stage and off, will be edited

out.��The four winning speech-

es will be included in the broad-cast.

��In future years, four to sixdifferent categories may beselected for rotation, in collab-oration with the show producers.This year’s categories will beexempted in 2020.

This change in the showwas discussed and agreed to bythe Board of Governors inAugust, with the full support ofthe branch executive committees.Such decisions are fully deliber-ated.

The letter states that showproducers have “given great con-sideration to both Oscar tradi-tion and our broad global audi-ence. We sincerely believe youwill be pleased with the show,and look forward to celebratinga great year in movies with allAcademy members and with therest of the world.”

The letter was signed by

President John Bailey, VicePresidents Lois Burwell, SidGanis and Larry Karaszewski,Nancy Utley, Treasurer JimGianopulos and Secretary DavidRubin.

Just before the email wentout to members, it was sharedthat an open letter to AMPASPresident John Bailey had beensent, signed by more than 40high-profile cinematographersand directors, from Spike Leeand Quentin Tarantino to RogerDeakins and Emmanuel Lubezki.

Many have called for theAcademy to reverse course onthe matter, but given that it wasa board decision, the only way toreverse it would be to convenethe body for another meeting inthe next seven days.

It was earlier reported thatthe AMPAS was to hand out fourawards during commercialbreaks in the hope of trimmingthe show’s run time.

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Even though you are in thecapital, as soon as you walk inthrough the big wooden door

with an extremely homely vibe, youfeel transported to a home in southIndia. Zambar at Ambience Mall,which is one of the trendiest placesin Gurugram, is among the fewrestaurants that offers non-vegetar-ian South Indian cuisine. Thedécor is simple and elegant. Thereare golden jhoolas at each seatingarrangement and small brass bowlsfilled with water and rose petals reston top of each table. There are fauxwindows that frame posters offamous monuments in the South.Sitting there, one feels as thoughone is relaxing in a verandah thatoverlooks these monuments. Tomake the décor a little quirky,there are pop art posters of famoussuperstars.

Zambar, has put together anAndhra/Telangana Food Festival

and the head Chef Vetri, says, “Wewanted to offer something extreme-ly authentic to our customers wherethey could sample the food that iscooked in homes in the region. Wewanted them to get a sense of theroots.”

Without further adowe are welcomed withpapads and chutneys.The Tomato mirchi pachi-di is sour and hot alongwith a bit of sweetnesstowards the end,thanks to thetomato. Nextthere is theC a b b a g epachidi whichconsists ofshards of cabbagewith milder spices whichsurprisingly is lip-smack-ingly good. Last, there is theKundru pachidi which is low

on spices but leaves a subtle heat onthe palate along with the dominantflavor of curry leaves.

For starters, there is the Rasamvadai and stuffed Mirchi baji. TheRasam vadai comes in a tall coffeeclass. Sipping on the salty and tangystaple called rasam, which is backedwith flavours of garam masala,leaves a mild heat in the mouth.

Paired with the vadai, which isas light and soft as a clouddespite being deep-fried, itis nothing short of a touchof a miracle in a dish. Thebhaji is a long wide mirchior fat chilli which is cutopen from the centre, filled

with a spicy paste, toppedwith onions and peanuts,

dipped in chickpea flour anddeep fried. This bhaji is layered

to perfection. Even though oneexpects it to be very spicy, it isn’t.

It strikes the right balance offlavours and the onions and thepeanuts give an extra sweetness,crunch and a nutty flavour.

The thali consists of theDappalam, Andhra chicken curry,Prawn Iguru, Chepala pulusu and

Chicken 65. This is served alongwith rice and bread or chapatis. Oneexpects Andhra cuisine to be sourand hot but this thali is more on thelines of sweet and tangy. TheDappalam is a curry made withdrumsticks and okra which istangy and salty. Even though thebroth has a good dash of spices, itis the tanginess in the dish thatoverpowers all the other flavours.The Chicken 65 is beautifully coat-ed with spices and melts in themouth even though it is deepfried. It does justice to the classicchicken 65 in terms of its spicy tex-ture. The Prawn Iguru is a browncurry which has sweetness butderives most of its flavors from cin-namon and the flavours of thecurry have seeped in beautifully inthe meat. The Andhra chickencurry is mildly spicy and the cen-tre of the dish is the succulentchicken breast which is cooked toperfection. There is a dominantflavour of the curry leaves that addsto the beauty of the dish. Chepalapulusu is traditional sour fish currywhich derives its acidity and sweet-ness from the tomato. It is just abeautiful, authentic, home-cookedfish curry that comforts you.

To end this thali. there is thesweet potato payasam which has athick consistency. It tastes a lot likethe North Indian kheer, milky,rich and has a slight aroma of saf-fron in it. It has some potential totake one to the seventh heaven.

An afternoon spent eatingauthentic Andhra/Telangana cui-sine sitting on a jhoola and observ-ing the simplicity of living in thesouth is a humbling experience.What a trip it is, I want to pick upmy bags.

One can almost imagine beingtransported to a huge hall inTuscany with off-white walls,candlesticks on the tables giv-ing a sun-dappled vibe even in

the dark with the wine flowing and the pastabowl never seeming to be empty.

The warm ambience at La Piazza atHyatt Regency is welcoming and perfect tospend a cozy evening with friends or part-ners. The brown-chequered floor-tiles,black candlesticks and round white candleson the tables give a typical vintage Italianvibe. The decor looks like the 500-year-oldfortified walls of an Italian palace while itsfood is a modern take on the cuisine fromRome.

The night I dined there, the Italian cafe-cum-restaurant was celebrating its comple-tion of 25 years where the chef HermannGrossbichler served his specially-curatedmenu that combined traditional classicsfrom 1994 as well as new additions that drewinspiration from the dynamism of Italiancuisine.

The meal began with Zuppa whichproved that Italian food is more than justpizza and spaghetti. It was my first encounterwith the white-coloured Cannellini bean ornavy bean that appeared like macaroni. Thesoup’s broth was filled with chunky exoticvegetables that exploded in a blast of

flavours in my mouth.The second dish was Antipasti. The raw

beetroot ravioli, in other words, was anItalian version of what sweet dumplingswould look and taste like. The purple beet-root ravioli, with horseradish dressing andwalnuts all around the green leaves was per-fectly presented. The finely-grated lemonrind was sprinkled on top, giving a mix offlavours — sweet and sour.

While I wasn’t done savouring it, thePortata principale made its way to my plate.The dish was served in a crushed white par-

cel, full of vegetables, smokedscamorza (south Italian cow’s

milk cheese) and proseccosauce. While I gorged onthe dish with utmostdesire, the presentationin a pothli-like parcel failed

to make its way to myheart. I preferred

the dish’s fulfill-ing taste to itspresentation.

Moving on,I also had

Sanguine red wineto accompany my next

dish which was Pizza La Piazza,which is the signature at the diner. I wassmitten with the thin crust and then its top-ping of mozzarella and goat cheese, sun-dried tomato, basil pesto sauce and roast-ed garlic, which made it the most sought-after dining experience. Indeed, the bestmeal of the evening. It reminded me of thefamous saying — ‘The problem with Italianfood is that it makes you hungry and crav-ing for it again after two days of consum-ing it’ — which proved true for me.

Next one, the Paste again reminded mewhat a delicious chestnut and New Yorkcheese dumpling had once tasted like.Though it had completely different ingre-dients, the Ricotta and truffle-filled tortelli-ni tasted of potato cream and organicrocket. It looked like a white bowl-likedumpling with cheese filling and turned outto be a complete scrumptious package.

Last, it was the time for desserts andthere came Dolci, the ultimate one. Eventhough a fulfilling meal wouldn’t leave spacefor more, this one had my heart. The cupfilled with vanilla bean Balsamic ice creamhad a flavour of fresh strawberry, toppedwith chocolate and hazelnut biscotti. I canvouch for it — it was bewitchingly heart-melting.

Well, with the same dessert also camethe tiramisu. Who wouldn’t love that cher-ry on the cake? Served like coffee in a cof-fee mug with choco powder sprinkled on thetop, the Italian classic perfectly balanced thesweet element.

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Real Madrid needed a late winner from MarcoAsensio and VAR's debut in the Champions

League to beat a spirited Ajax 2-1 in the first leg ofthe last 16 on Wednesday.

Ajax have not beaten Madrid in 24 years andthought they were on their way at the Johan CruyffArena when Nicolas Tagliafico headed home aftera Thibaut Courtois error.

But referee Damir Skomina judged Dusan Tadicto be offside upon review and Madrid showed no pityon their youthful opponents, Karim Benzema andAsensio scoring two precious away goals in the sec-ond half.

Hakim Ziyech's equaliser at least keeps Ajax intouch heading into the second leg at the SantiagoBernabeu but Asensio's 87th-minute winner was asucker-punch in a match the Dutch team had large-ly dominated.

Their ruled out opener will only add to the senseof what might have been and it was no surprise tosee a cluster of red and white shirts surrounding theofficials at the final whistle.

VAR has been introduced to the ChampionsLeague for the first time in this year's knock-outstages and leaflets were distributed to the mediabefore kick-off, one of the points explaining howreviews should only be for "clear and obvious mis-takes".

Still, there was more than an hour to play andAjax were twice too easily undone on the counter-attack. Frenkie de Jong, who will join Barcelona inthe summer, and Matthijs de Ligt, who could followhim, were each dealt a lesson in the ruthlessness oftop European football.

Gareth Bale was reinstated to the Madrid start-ing line-up but there was no place for Marcelo, whomissed his first Champions League knock-out gamein four years.

The crowd jeered at half-time and Benzema com-pounded their misery soon after. It was a goal to sumup Madrid's resurgence in recent weeks as LukaModric flicked a ball for Vinicius Junior to race after.

He tore past one, jinked inside two moreand teed up Benzema, who found the

top corner.Ajax refused to fade. David Neres

and Tadic both went close beforeNeres skipped free down the left andcrossed for Ziyech to slide in the

equaliser. Madrid wanted a free-kick fora foul on Lucas Vazquez in the build-

up but this time the goal stood. Adraw might have appeased

the home fans atAmsterdam but

they weredenied eventhat as a slick

m o v et h r o u g hm i d f i e l df r e e dCarvajaldown theright. His

c u r v i n gcross foundAsensio, whocould not miss.

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Ace paddler SharathKamal, who is current-

ly ranked 33 in the world, onThursday said he aimed toburst into the top 20 in2019 and the next big thingon his mind is the 2020Tokyo Olympics.

The 36-year-old playeralso believes that the twotable tennis Bronze medalswhich India won at lastyear's Asian Games held inIndonesia have given themthe confidence that a medalat the 2020 Olympics is apossibility.

"Personally, for myself in2019, the goal would be toget into top 20 in the worldranking and 2020 OlympicGames is the next big thing,"Kamal said.

"The major thing in theplan is the Tokyo OlympicGames 2020, especially afterwinning medals at the AsianGames. Those medals giveus a lot of belief that even at

the Olympics it is a possibil-ity (to win medals).

"Because in the AsianGames the competition isvery high and more or lessthey are the recurring teamsat the Olympics, apart froma few European nations. Ifwe can win a medal at theAsian Games, a medal at theOlympic Games is not ashot too far," explainedKamal.

According to the pad-dler, preparations have

begun for the Tokyo Games."We have started our

preparations. At thismoment we have chosen alot of tournaments, but inthe end we will narrow itdown as we start playing," hesaid.

"So, beginning of 2020will be the first qualifiers forthe Olympics. Then in Apriland May, so there are lots ofqualifiers coming up. Weneed to be ready for them,"he added.

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Asian Games Gold-medallistAmit Panghal (49kg) on

Thursday got a first-round bye intothe quarterfinals of the 70th StrandjaMemorial Boxing Tournament inSofia, Bulgaria.

Amit, who is in pursuit of a sec-ond successive Gold, will be upagainst Ukraine's Nazar Kurotchynin the last-eight stage on Sunday. Awin will assure him of a consecutivemedal at the prestigious Europeanevent.

Also, Naman Tanwar (91kg)was handed a bye into the pre-quar-terfinals and he will face Poland'sMichal Soczynski in his openingbout on Saturday.

Among the women, last edition'sSilver-medallist Meena Kumari Devi(54kg) was given a direct entry intothe quarterfinals, while Neeraj(60kg) got into the pre-quarterfinalsin the draws.

Gaurav Bidhuri (56kg), who isreturning to top-flight action after

recovering from a back injury, willbe up against local favourite EmanuilBogoev in the opening round onFriday. Gaurav Solanki (52kg) willface American Abraham Perez in hisoepning bout.

Ankush Dahiya (60kg) will starthis campaign against Azerbaijan'sSarkhan Aliyev, while MandeepJangra will square off againstUkraine's Viktor Petrov.

In the women's draw, SoniaLather (57kg) has Serbian JelenaZekic to contend with in the firstround, while Pinki Rani (51kg) is tostart off against Filipino Irish Magno.

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Rising Greek star StefanosTsitsipas said he "lost to

himself " after suffering a shockdefeat at the ATP event inRotterdam by Bosnian DamirDzumhur on Wednesday.

The 20-year-old, whodumped out Roger Federer enroute to the Australian Opensemi-finals last month, savedtwo match points late in thethird set but still slumped to a6-4, 1-6, 7-5 loss.

It was Dzumhur's first winsince October after a run offour straight defeats, andTsitsipas was left frustratedby an erratic display.

"I lost to myself, not tohim," said the world number12.

"He fools you, waits for youto make mistakes. He standseight metres behind the base-line and plays with yourstrengths. He played nothingcrazy or special, but you don'tget any rhythm with him.

"The momentum was onmy side but he kept putting theball into the court and run-ning."

Tsitsipas was seeded thirdat the Ahoy Arena, but hasnow lost three of his last fourmatches after following hisMelbourne last-four thrashingby Rafael Nadal with a quar-ter-final exit at the hands ofGael Monfils in Sofia lastweek.

Stan Wawrinka, the 2015champion, ended a three-

match losing run against MilosRaonic as he defeated thefourth-seeded Canadian 6-4,7-6 (7/4) to reach the lasteight.

"I was moving much bet-ter in this match than some ofthe others against him," saidthe three-time Grand Slamtitle winner.

"This was my best matchin many months. Some of mylosses this season were closecalls. I'm trying to push myself,I'm looking for results."

Wawrinka will play hissecond quarter-final of theseason after Doha when hetakes on Denis Shapovalovafter the Canadian teenagerbeat former champion TomasBerdych 6-4, 6-3,

Earlier on Wednesday, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga continued hisstrong form with a 6-1, 6-4defeat of Italy's ThomasFabbiano.

Russian fifth seed DaniilMedvedev won his openingmatch of the week, beatingFrance's Jeremy Chardy 7-6(7/2), 6-2. Hungarian MartonFucsovics put out 2016Rotterdam champion MartinKlizan 7-6 (7/4), 6-4.

Like Tsonga, Medvedev,who turned 23 on Monday,also arrived in the Netherlandsafter winning a title, havingclaimed his fourth ATP tour-nament win in Sofia.

Monfils reached the quar-ter-finals on Wednesday atthe expense of Italy's AndreasSeppi, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.

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Tottenham took a huge steptowards reaching theC h a m p i o n s

League quarter-finalsas Son Heung-mininspired their 3-0 winover BorussiaDortmund in the last 16first leg.

Mauricio Pochettino'sside had been under thecosh as Dortmund dominat-ed the first half at Wembley onWednesday, but Hugo Lloriskept them level with a series offine saves.

That set the stage for a sublimesecond half from Tottenham, whowere sparked into life by a fine fin-ish from South Korea forward Son.

Son's fourth goal in his last fourappearances took him to 16 for theseason, but none have been as price-less as this one.

Tottenham defender JanVertonghen capped his own powerfulperformance when he swept in their sec-ond goal in the closing stages and sub-stitute Fernando Llorente's late third putthe seal on a remarkable result.

Although Tottenham still have to sur-vive the second leg at Signal Iduna Parkon March 5, they have a golden oppor-tunity to reach the Champions Leaguequarter-finals for the first time since 2011.

It was an especially impressive suc-cess for Pochettino given he was withoutthe injured Harry Kane, Dele Alli, DannyRose and Ben Davies.

Pochettino devised a clever game-plan that eventually frustrated Dortmundand secured Tottenham's first everChampions League knockout-round winat home.

With Rose and Davies sidelined,Pochettino deployed centre-back Vertonghen out ofposition at left wing-backand switched to a three-man defence that stifledthe Bundesliga leaders.

Pochettino had insist-ed Tottenham would beable to ignore the drainingeffects of a gruelling sched-ule which he felt left them ata "massive disadvantage".

And his passionate talk of seeingthe "energy" in his players' eyes

as they looked forwardto a big Champions

League nightproved prescientas they workedtirelessly to leaveDortmund help-

less to stem the tide.Lucas Moura

gave Tottenham an earlyspark when he latched onto

Davinson Sanchez's header andsmashed a volley just wide from the

edge of the area.Juan Foyth gifted Dortmund their

first sight of goal when he dwelt on theball too long and was alertly dispossessedby Christian Pulisic.

But Lloris spared Foyth's blushes ashe blocked Pulisic's shot at the near post.

�����������������Dortmund's rapier attacks were led

by Jadon Sancho, who left ManchesterCity to join Dortmund in 2017 withoutever playing for the Premier Leagueteam.

Just two years later, the 18-year-oldwinger made his first appearance backon home soil now established as an

England international rated as one ofEurope's hottest prospects.

Sancho hit top gear on severaloccasions in a mesmerising first-halfdisplay, leaving two Tottenham mid-fielders for dead and linking withPulisic, whose shot was blocked at thelast minute.

It took Tottenham over half an hourbefore they finally forced 'keeper RomanBurki into action after Son wriggledthrough the visitors' defence.

Lloris made a superb save to denyDortmund on the stroke of half-timeas Dan-Axel Zagadou met Sancho'scross with a header that theTottenham captain clawed out at fullstretch.

Despite being pushed back formuch of the first half, Tottenham hadrefused to surrender and their per-severance was rewarded in the 47thminute.

When Vertonghen swung over across from the left, Dortmund's defencewere out of position for the first timeall night and Son timed his runperfectly behind Zagadou tocaress a fine volley past Burki.

Suddenly, Tottenhamhad all the momentum andVertonghen rampaged for-ward to fire over.

Tottenham were ram-pant and Llorente complet-ed a memorable nightwhen he glanced a close-range header past Burkifrom Christian Eriksen'scorner three minutes later.

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Olympic Silver medallist PV Sindhu sailed into the

quarterfinals with a straightgame win but three pre-quar-terfinals of the 83rd SeniorNational BadmintonChampionship had to berescheduled after SainaNehwal refused to play due touneven surface of the court onThursday.

A former champion,Sindhu, top seed, took time toget into the groove beforeopening her campaign with a21-11, 21-13 win overNagpur's Malvika Bansod inthe women's singles, whiletop seed Sameer Verma, play-ing the next match at theAssam Badminton Academycourts, conceded a men's sin-gles encounter againstAryamann Tandon midway at21-16, 1-8 after aggravating aachilles heel problem.

Like last year, the playersranked within top 50 in theBWF ranking and top shut-tlers in the BAI ranking, filledup the top eight places, whowere given direct entry in thesingles pre-quarterfinals aftera super draw was conductedon Wednesday night.

Along with Sindhu, fourthseeded Assamese AshmitaChaliha, third seed ShriyanshiPardeshi, Riya Mookerjee,Aakarshi Kashyap, veteranNeha Pandit and VaishnaviBhale also made it to the lasteight round.

In men's singles, formerchampion Sourabh Verma,Lakshya Sen, KaushalDharmamer, Harsheel Dani,Ar yamann Tandon andBodhit Joshi also progressedto the quarterfinals.

Sourabh defeated KartikJindal 21-8, 21-15, Lakshyabrushed aside Ansal Yadav 21-11, 21-8 and Harsheel stunned

fourth seed and 2018SaarLorLux Open championSubhankar Dey 21-15, 21-17.

In men's doubles, topseeds Arjun MR and ShlokRamchandran defeated RohanKapoor and Saurabh Sharma21-11, 21-18 to enter thesemifinals, while Pranaav

Jerry Chopra and ChiragShetty got the better off veter-an pair of Rupesh Kumar andV Diju 21-8, 18-21, 22-20 tomake it to the last four stage.

Arun George and SanyamShukla and Krishna Prasad Gand Dhruv Kapila alsoadvanced to the semifinals.

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Controversy erupted atthe Senior National

Badminton Championshipon Thursday with defendingchampion Saina Nehwalrefusing to play her singlesmatch, citing a "poor playingsurface" at the venue here.

Saina, who had suffereda shin injury late last year,took the court after SameerVerma conceded his men'ssingles tie following anachilles heels problem dur-ing his match.

Up against ShrutiMundada in the pre-quar-ters, Saina had a look at thesurface and immediatelymade it clear that she won't

risk playing on it given thatthe All EnglandChampionship is around thecorner.

The officials, led byBadminton Association ofIndia Secretary (event)Omar Rashid, swung intoaction to sort out the issue.The BAI officials later con-vinced Saina, Kashyap andSai Praneeth to play in theevening.

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