16
T he contentious Article 370 is part of the history now. In a predictable move after days of troop buildup in the Kashmir valley, the Modi Government on Monday scrapped Article 370 to do away with Jammu & Kashmir’s special status and also proposed the bifurcation of the State into two union territories, Jammu & Kashmir, and Ladakh. By doing so, the BJP-led dispensation hopes to fulfill its poll promise and deal with a protracted militancy move- ment that has been ravaging the State for past three decades. Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced the decision in the Rajya Sabha, which approved the resolu- tion and the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Bill. Both will now come up in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. The Government’s effort to tackle head-on the vexatious 72-year-old problem wrack- ing the soul of the nation sent a wave of jubilation among BJP supporters and others, but pro- voked outrage from the National Conference and the PDP, the principal political parties in Jammu & Kashmir. According to the resolution moved by the Home Minister, Article 370 ceases to be oper- ative from Monday itself. “The President on the recommen- dation of Parliament is pleased to declare as from 5th of August 2019, all clauses of the said Article 370 shall cease to be operative...,” the resolution stated. Shah also moved a Bill proposing bifurcation of J&K into two union territories — Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. The union territory in Ladakh will have no legislature like Chandigarh. The other union territory of Jammu & Kashmir will have a legislature like Delhi and Puducherry, where key subjects like law and order are with the Centre. Shah said full statehood will be restored to Jammu & Kashmir at “appropriate time” and after “normalcy” returns. The Government will not allow the situation to turn into another battle torn Kosovo, he said. The Government hopes that abrogation of Article 370 that accorded special status to Jammu & Kashmir and the consequential end of Article 35A that defines the permanent residents of the State will help in the integration of the erst- while J&K State into the Union of India like any other state or union territories and cease special rights enjoyed by its cit- izens on land, business and employment. As the Government moved a Bill to convert J&K into a union territory with an Assembly and a Lieutenant Governor and thereby the Centre wielding major power over it, the State has “lost” its privileged status like Assembly enjoying six-year tenure, out- siders not allowed to buy land and Kashmiri women marry- ing outside forfeiting their rights over land in Kashmir. Twenty four seats which fall in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) shall remain vacant in new Assembly of J&K union territory. Continued on Page 4 A triumphant Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday termed the Modi Government’s landmark deci- sion to scrap Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that gave special status to Jammu & Kashmir as “historical” saying it came in the way of integra- tion of the State into India. While tabling the resolu- tion in the Rajya Sabha, Shah said Article 370 was intro- duced in the Constitution on October 17, 1949, and almost 70-year-long provision led to lack of development, corrup- tion and loot by “three families’ for so long. Shah said decision to abro- gate Article 370 ensures that there will be no “do nishan, do samvidhan” (two flags, two Constitutions) in Jammu & Kashmir. “This decision is a tribute to all the patriots who made the supreme sacrifice for a united India. Congratulations to the entire nation. Today, Modi Govt has corrected a long overdue historic wrong,” Shah tweeted later congratu- lating Modi for “his unwaver- ing commitment towards ensuring unity and integrity of our motherland”. The revocation comes against the backdrop of Shah asserting during the election rallies before the recent Lok Sabha elections that if his party retains power, the long standing demand for repealing Article 370 will be fulfilled. Shah, who received a standing ovation from his party colleagues when he entered the House minutes before proceedings in the Rajya Sabha commenced, termed the move as “historical”. In his half an hour reply, Shah highlighted the “monu- mental injustices” of the past and presented the Government’s vision for the people of J&K in the Rajya Sabha in the presence of the PM. T wo former Chief Ministers of Jammu & Kashmir, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, were arrested within hours after the Rajya Sabha on Monday passed the Bill to bifurcate State into two Union Territories (UTs). According to official sources, first PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti was escorted to the State guest house by the security personnel and later Omar Abdullah was taken into police custody. Early in the day, both these politicians had reacted adverse- ly to the historic move of scrapping of Article 370. Omar in a press state- ment said, “The Government of India (GOI)’s unilateral and shocking decisions today are a ‘total betrayal of trust’ that the people of Jammu & Kashmir had reposed in India when the State acceded to it in 1947”. “The decisions will have far reaching and dangerous con- sequences. This is an aggres- sion against people of the State as had been warned by all par- ties meeting in Srinagar on Sunday. A long and tough bat- tle lies ahead,” he added. Mehbooba, Omar Abdullah and Sajjad Lone, the three most prominent politi- cians from Jammu and Kashmir, were earlier placed under house arrest after mid- night on Sunday in an unprece- dented lockdown. Mehbooba tweeted, “Today marks the darkest day in Indian democracy. Decision of J&K leadership to reject 2 nation theory in 1947 & align with India has backfired.” T he Congress, along with some regional parties, on Monday vehemently opposed the Modi Government’s move to abolish the provision of the Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, terming the deci- sion as a “catastrophic step”. Registering his protest in the Rajya Sabha, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said Article 370 was his- torical as people of J&K joined India in 1947 after then Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession. “I say that Maharaja Hari Singh didn’t chose Pakistan over India despite being of the same religion because he trust- ed in our secular framework. But, that trust has been bro- ken,” Azad said. “Lakh of people from the State, including political party leaders, sacrificed their lives to uphold the unity of India since then and revoking the Article is tantamount to ‘murder’ of the Constitution,” said Azad. He said the entire Kashmir valley is under curfew and three former Chief Ministers of the State and political leaders have been arrested. He want- ed the situation to be dis- cussed first before the resolu- tion was moved in Parliament. Former Home Minister P Chidambaram said, “We antic- ipated a misadventure, but did not think in our wildest dreams that they will take such a catastrophic step. Today is a black day in the constitu- tional history of India.” Former Law Minister Kapil Sibal pointed several flaws in the the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Bill in the current format and said it will fail the test of judiciary if challenged. Azad said the Government had on Monday “cut off the head of India” and destroyed the history of J&K for votes. P akistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday termed India’s move to revoke Article 370 of the Constitution which gave spe- cial status to Jammu & Kashmir as “illegal” and said it will “further deteriorate” relations between the nuclear- capable neighbours. Imran made the remarks while speaking separately with his Malaysian counterpart Mahathir Mohamad and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He said changing the status of Kashmir was “illegal and a violation of UN resolu- tions”. P eople from a cross section of society including Chief Minister Raghubar Das today hailed the step taken by the Central Government to strike off provisions of Article 370 and removing Article 35A of the Constitution. The CM, while congratulating PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, said that the step is aimed at realising public aspirations and con- struction of a united India. Das said that Kashmir is an inseparable part of the country. Pakistan, which is notorious for spreading terrorism across the world, wants to spread anarchy by waging a proxy war and ter- rorism in Kashmir and other parts of the nation, he said. “In the leadership of PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah noose is being tightened around terrorism. Crores of countrymen want Kashmir to be free of terrorism and devel- opment takes place in the region just like other parts of the country,” he added. The CM said that after 2014 nationalism has been revitalised in Indian politics. “I and obliged with the decision of Supreme Court to take deci- sion of daily hearing of Ram Mandir issue. Lord Rama is icon of Indian culture. It is appealed from people of all religion and communities to help in construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya,” he said. Continued on Page 4

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Page 1: ˘ˇ - The Pioneer...LTT Jnaneshwari Express remained cancelled. Moreover, Mumbai rains have not only made life deject-ed there but in the city mem-bers of Marathi community are also

����� ��������

The contentious Article 370is part of the history now.

In a predictable move after daysof troop buildup in theKashmir valley, the ModiGovernment on Mondayscrapped Article 370 to doaway with Jammu & Kashmir’sspecial status and also proposedthe bifurcation of the Stateinto two union territories,Jammu & Kashmir, andLadakh.

By doing so, the BJP-leddispensation hopes to fulfill itspoll promise and deal with aprotracted militancy move-ment that has been ravagingthe State for past three decades.

Union Home MinisterAmit Shah announced thedecision in the Rajya Sabha,which approved the resolu-tion and the Jammu & KashmirReorganisation Bill. Both willnow come up in the Lok Sabhaon Tuesday.

The Government’s effort totackle head-on the vexatious72-year-old problem wrack-ing the soul of the nation senta wave of jubilation among BJPsupporters and others, but pro-

voked outrage from theNational Conference and thePDP, the principal politicalparties in Jammu & Kashmir.

According to the resolutionmoved by the Home Minister,Article 370 ceases to be oper-ative from Monday itself. “ThePresident on the recommen-dation of Parliament is pleasedto declare as from 5th ofAugust 2019, all clauses of thesaid Article 370 shall cease tobe operative...,” the resolutionstated.

Shah also moved a Billproposing bifurcation of J&Kinto two union territories —Jammu & Kashmir andLadakh. The union territory inLadakh will have no legislaturelike Chandigarh. The otherunion territory of Jammu &Kashmir will have a legislaturelike Delhi and Puducherry,where key subjects like law andorder are with the Centre.

Shah said full statehoodwill be restored to Jammu &Kashmir at “appropriate time”

and after “normalcy” returns.The Government will not allowthe situation to turn intoanother battle torn Kosovo,he said.

The Government hopesthat abrogation of Article 370that accorded special status toJammu & Kashmir and theconsequential end of Article35A that defines the permanentresidents of the State will helpin the integration of the erst-while J&K State into the Unionof India like any other state or

union territories and ceasespecial rights enjoyed by its cit-izens on land, business andemployment.

As the Government moveda Bill to convert J&K into aunion territory with anAssembly and a LieutenantGovernor and thereby theCentre wielding major powerover it, the State has “lost” itsprivileged status like Assemblyenjoying six-year tenure, out-siders not allowed to buy landand Kashmiri women marry-ing outside forfeiting theirrights over land in Kashmir.

Twenty four seats whichfall in the Pakistan-occupiedKashmir (PoK) shall remainvacant in new Assembly of J&Kunion territory.

Continued on Page 4

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Atriumphant HomeMinister Amit Shah on

Monday termed the ModiGovernment’s landmark deci-sion to scrap Article 370 of theIndian Constitution that gavespecial status to Jammu &Kashmir as “historical” sayingit came in the way of integra-tion of the State into India.

While tabling the resolu-tion in the Rajya Sabha, Shahsaid Article 370 was intro-duced in the Constitution onOctober 17, 1949, and almost70-year-long provision led tolack of development, corrup-tion and loot by “three families’for so long.

Shah said decision to abro-gate Article 370 ensures thatthere will be no “do nishan, dosamvidhan” (two flags, twoConstitutions) in Jammu &Kashmir. “This decision is atribute to all the patriots whomade the supreme sacrifice for

a united India. Congratulationsto the entire nation. Today,Modi Govt has corrected along overdue historic wrong,”Shah tweeted later congratu-lating Modi for “his unwaver-ing commitment towardsensuring unity and integrity ofour motherland”.

The revocation comesagainst the backdrop of Shahasserting during the electionrallies before the recent LokSabha elections that if hisparty retains power, the longstanding demand for repealing

Article 370 will be fulfilled.Shah, who received a

standing ovation from hisparty colleagues when heentered the House minutesbefore proceedings in the RajyaSabha commenced, termedthe move as “historical”.

In his half an hour reply,Shah highlighted the “monu-mental injustices” of the pastand presented theGovernment’s vision for thepeople of J&K in the RajyaSabha in the presence of thePM.

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Two former Chief Ministersof Jammu & Kashmir,

Omar Abdullah and MehboobaMufti, were arrested withinhours after the Rajya Sabha onMonday passed the Bill tobifurcate State into two UnionTerritories (UTs).

According to officialsources, first PDP chiefMehbooba Mufti was escortedto the State guest house by thesecurity personnel and laterOmar Abdullah was taken intopolice custody.

Early in the day, both thesepoliticians had reacted adverse-ly to the historic move ofscrapping of Article 370.

Omar in a press state-ment said, “The Governmentof India (GOI)’s unilateraland shocking decisions todayare a ‘total betrayal of trust’that the people of Jammu &Kashmir had reposed in India

when the State acceded to it in1947”.

“The decisions will have farreaching and dangerous con-sequences. This is an aggres-sion against people of the Stateas had been warned by all par-ties meeting in Srinagar onSunday. A long and tough bat-tle lies ahead,” he added.

Mehbooba, OmarAbdullah and Sajjad Lone, thethree most prominent politi-cians from Jammu andKashmir, were earlier placedunder house arrest after mid-night on Sunday in an unprece-dented lockdown.

Mehbooba tweeted, “Todaymarks the darkest day in Indiandemocracy. Decision of J&Kleadership to reject 2 nationtheory in 1947 & align withIndia has backfired.”

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The Congress, along withsome regional parties, on

Monday vehemently opposedthe Modi Government’s moveto abolish the provision of theArticle 370 of the IndianConstitution, terming the deci-sion as a “catastrophic step”.

Registering his protest inthe Rajya Sabha, Leader ofOpposition Ghulam NabiAzad said Article 370 was his-torical as people of J&K joinedIndia in 1947 after thenMaharaja Hari Singh signedthe Instrument of Accession.

“I say that Maharaja HariSingh didn’t chose Pakistan

over India despite being of thesame religion because he trust-ed in our secular framework.But, that trust has been bro-ken,” Azad said.

“Lakh of people from theState, including political partyleaders, sacrificed their lives touphold the unity of India sincethen and revoking the Articleis tantamount to ‘murder’ ofthe Constitution,” said Azad.

He said the entire Kashmirvalley is under curfew andthree former Chief Ministers ofthe State and political leadershave been arrested. He want-ed the situation to be dis-cussed first before the resolu-tion was moved in Parliament.

Former Home Minister PChidambaram said, “We antic-ipated a misadventure, but didnot think in our wildestdreams that they will takesuch a catastrophic step. Todayis a black day in the constitu-tional history of India.”

Former Law MinisterKapil Sibal pointed severalflaws in the the Jammu &Kashmir Reorganisation Bill inthe current format and said itwill fail the test of judiciary ifchallenged.

Azad said theGovernment had on Monday“cut off the head of India” anddestroyed the history of J&Kfor votes.

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Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan on Monday

termed India’s move to revokeArticle 370 of theConstitution which gave spe-cial status to Jammu &Kashmir as “illegal” and saidit will “further deteriorate”relations between the nuclear-capable neighbours.

Imran made the remarkswhile speaking separately withhis Malaysian counterpartMahathir Mohamad andTurkish President Recep TayyipErdogan. He said changing thestatus of Kashmir was “illegaland a violation of UN resolu-tions”.

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People from a cross sectionof society including Chief

Minister Raghubar Das todayhailed the step taken by theCentral Government to strikeoff provisions of Article 370and removing Article 35A ofthe Constitution. The CM,while congratulating PMNarendra Modi and HomeMinister Amit Shah, said thatthe step is aimed at realisingpublic aspirations and con-struction of a united India.

Das said that Kashmir is aninseparable part of the country.Pakistan, which is notorious forspreading terrorism across theworld, wants to spread anarchyby waging a proxy war and ter-rorism in Kashmir and other

parts of the nation, he said. “Inthe leadership of PM NarendraModi and Home Minister AmitShah noose is being tightenedaround terrorism. Crores ofcountrymen want Kashmir tobe free of terrorism and devel-opment takes place in theregion just like other parts ofthe country,” he added.

The CM said that after2014 nationalism has beenrevitalised in Indian politics. “Iand obliged with the decisionof Supreme Court to take deci-sion of daily hearing of RamMandir issue. Lord Rama isicon of Indian culture.

It is appealed from peopleof all religion and communitiesto help in construction of RamTemple in Ayodhya,” he said.

Continued on Page 4

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Page 2: ˘ˇ - The Pioneer...LTT Jnaneshwari Express remained cancelled. Moreover, Mumbai rains have not only made life deject-ed there but in the city mem-bers of Marathi community are also

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Following heavy rains inMumbai and water logging

of tracks in Central Railway ,two trains were cancelled whilemovement of a few other trainswere affected on Monday.

The Howrah- MumbaiGeetanjali Express ( 12859)and Howrah-Mumbai DurontoExpress ( 12262) were cancelledtoday. Both the trains travel viaTatanagar railway station.

" In view of heavy rain fol-lowed by water logging and col-lapsing of a boulder on the rail-way tracks in Central Railwayboth the trains were cancelledtoday," said an official circularissued by the office of ChiefPassenger Traffic Manager (CPTM), South Eastern Railway.

An extra counter wasopened at Tatanagar railwaystation for facilitating passen-gers to cancel their tickets andget back necessary refunds.Movement of as many as threetrains from Mumbai includingHowrah-bound Mumbai Mailwas affected. The train wasrunning 15 hours behindschedule. On Sunday Howrah-Mumbai Mail and Howrah-LTT Jnaneshwari Express

remained cancelled.Moreover, Mumbai rains

have not only made life deject-ed there but in the city mem-bers of Marathi community arealso worried lot. Parents of stu-dents studying there have beenconcerned for their children.The family members are rely-ing on social networking sitesto get connected.

Ram Mohan of Sonari,said that his son studies thereand is facing hardships. He hasbeen calling from somewhereelse just to inform us that he issafe. “I am worried. Though sit-uation was normal recentlybut now the downpour has cre-ated a havoc,” said Mohan.

Meanwhile, passengerstraveling to other places in

Maharashtra are facing har-rowing times. Due to cancella-tion of trains they have nochoice left to travel to otherplaces. Due to this, the rush inother trains has increased somuch so that the authoritieshave issued a no-room fortrains.

An official of Tatanagarrailway station said that they gotan information from GardenReach headquarters of SouthEastern Railway ( SER) regard-ing cancellation, late runningand rescheduling of trains. "Railway has been badly hit dueto the heavy rains in Mumbaifor the last couple of days. It hasled to disruption in movementof trains in the Mumbai-Howrah route," he said.

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Three-day (5-7 August, 19)national seminar on ‘coal

quality’ has begun with focuson quality of coal and otherrelated issues at Indian Instituteof Coal Management (IICM),Kanke, Ranchi. The pro-gramme is organized by IICMwith objective for a sustainableenergy future in the country.

Chairman-cum-ManagingDirector, CCL Gopal Singhwas the Chief Guest of the pro-gramme, which started withlighting up ceremonial lamp bythe CMD, Gopal Singh;Director (Fin),N K Agarwal;CSIR-CIMFR, Dr. T GouriCharan; Prof. M.P Dixit, IITKhargpur and P C Mishra,Executive Head, IICM.

The Chief Guest applaud-ed the efforts of organizers forchoosing Coal Quality as a sub-ject of national seminar ascoal continues to be one of themost important sources formeeting the domestic energyneeds and it accounts for 62 %of the country’s total energysupplies. He further said that itis very important to provideelectricity to the consumers at

the cheapest price so that thepoor of the poorest families canconsume electricity and raisetheir living standards. “ It is our

moral responsibility as a citizenof India,” Sri Singh said.

Indian coal has high ashcontent. The average ash con-

tain in Indian coal is 35-38 percent while imported coal ashcontent 10-15 per cent. TheChief Guest in his address said

that we must reduce ash con-tent in coal for the survival ofthe industry. “It is a matter ofjust our mindset. Washing,segregation of stone etc willhelp to reduce the ash content,”Singh said. He directly inter-acted with participants andsatisfied their quarries inrespect to coal quality.

The Chief Guest furtherstated that it is mandatory tosupply 100 per cent crushedcoal of (-) 100 mm size topower sector consumers andother categories of consumers.

Different technical sessionsare lined up during three-daylong programme on variousissues related to coal quality likemethodology of grading coal,coal quality: the need for con-trol, issues in sampling andanalysis of India coal etc.

IICM has been meeting thecontinuing educational & train-ing need of different corporatebodies in general and compa-nies in Coal Sector in particu-lar. Coal India and its sub-sidiaries, Singareni CollieriesCo. Ltd., etc. regularly partici-pate in the training pro-grammes offered by the insti-tute.

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Khush Mohammad andManohar Mahato, farmers

of Chandha village under Chasblock of Bokaro district havecreated a benchmark in thefield of agriculture. Both ofthem not only changed theirlives but transforming the livesof other farmers too.

Farming has never been soexciting and rewarding forthem in the last 35 years.Thanks to Israeli farming tech-nique, Khush, Manohar andhundreds like them have spot-ted a financially viable veg-etable farming opportunity.

By adopting Israeli farmingtechniques both of them areproducing vegetables in hugequantity in their fields andearning a good deal of money.Not only they are earning onlyfor their own but also havegiven employment to dozens ofvillagers in their work.

Under the state govern-ment initiative both Khushand Manohar went to Israel ona four-day trip in the month ofSeptember last year to learnmodern farming methods andstarted farming in Chas.

"Unlike in the past, now wecan have better quality andincreased yield of vegetables.Today, we are producing largequantities of vegetables usingbetter technology and earning

in lakhs," said KhushMohammad.

"We have also givenemployment to dozens of vil-lagers in our works," he added.

“During our trip to Israel,we have learnt how to getmaximum produce by usingwater efficiently.

We had also learnt how touse traditional farming meth-ods in a scientific way toincrease our production,” saidManohar.

“Earlier we have used tocultivate a little bit, but the gov-ernment helps and our Israelvisits changed our vision. Nowour interest increased in agri-culture and gradually our pro-ductions are also increasing,”they said.

“In Israel we have alsolearnt the use of a variety oftools that helps in producing abetter crop on less land. Welearnt various techniques offarming, fishery, fruit produc-

tion, other farming techniquesalong with animal husbandry,Cow and Goat rearing there,”said Manohar.

“Now we have planted ladyfinger, gourd and maize on 4acres of our farmland and nowproducing maize 50 kg daily.While about two quintals ofladyfinger and gourd were pro-ducing weekly,” whichincreased our income signifi-cantly today, Khush said.

Recalling their experiences

at Israel Khush said, a team of26 farmers was sent to Israel bythe state government on in lastSeptember to learn moderntechniques of farming withlimited resources.

"The most remarkablething is that people in Israelhave been getting bumper pro-duce by purchasing water fromthe government, whereas we inIndia still lag far behind despitehaving plenty of water availablefree of cost. They are makingoptimum use of water by giv-ing respect to each and everydrop of it," he added.

Whether it is paddy farm-ing, fish farming or dairy farm-ing, every activity is done joint-ly in a scientific way, utilizingminimum resources afterforming a cooperative of atleast 100-200 farmers, saidManohar.

"Despite adopting modernscientific ways of farming, theyare still practising traditionalways of farming, making min-imum use of chemical fertiliz-ers and getting bumper crops.I learnt that technique andimplemented here and got bet-ter produce," he said.

"One more thing we haveobserved there that, they doeverything in a planned way toearn maximum foreign cur-rency, in spite of getting theentire produce sold out in theirown country," they added.

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In yet another recognition toits CSR initiative, Central

Coalfields Limited (CCL),

Ranchi was conferred with“SCOPE Corporate ExcellenceAward 2019”, during theSCOPE CorporateCommunication Summit 2019

organised on August 2 and 3 atSCOPE Convention Centre,Lodhi Road, New Delhi. Theaward was given to CCL in thecategory of “Brand Building

Through Inclusive GrowthInitiative” acknowledging theefforts of the company.

The award credits CCL’s sig-nificant and exemplary servicesunder its “Kayakalp Schemes” forholistic development and inclu-sive growth of all its stakehold-ers and society at large, in last 7years. Altogether 183 public sec-tor enterprises participated forthe coveted award.

CCL has been conferredwith “SCOPE CorporateExcellence Award 2019” inappreciation of its signi?cantcontribution through its wel-fare schemes, better known as“Kayakalp Schemes” in thefield sports, education, health,skill development, drinkingwater etc running across eightdistricts of Jharkhand. CCL wasselected among more than 150Public Enterprise who partic-ipated in the event.

GM (CSR), CCL AK Singhand others received the award onbehalf of CCL from Dr BPSingh, former Governor, Sikkimand Ex-Home Secretary, GoI.VM Chanela, Director (HR),HAL, Dr. JD Agarwal,Chairman,IIF, PK Sinha,Program Director, SCOPE alongwith other dignitaries were pre-sent to grace the occasion.

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In a tragic incident twoyouths were shot dead by

Maoists on Sunday nightunder Arki Police Station inKhunti District.

Khunti Superintendent ofPolice, Alok informed thatthe incident took place inBadani Village under ArkiPolice Station around 50Kilometers away from KhuntiDistrict Head Quarter andthe spot is last village inKhunti District situated atborder of Saraikela District.

“A group of Maoists firedbullets on both of the youthsand dropped pamphlets neartheir dead body.

After committing thecrime the ultras fled towardsforests. Police have not beenidentified the deceased so farbecause family members ofthe deceased have not confirmtill now,” said Alok. ArkiPolice Station InchargeVikrant Kumar, said that theKhunti Police recovered thebodies and sent for post-mortem at Sadar Hospital,Khunti.

The Maoists al legedthrough the pamphlets thatthey were police informer.During this incident theMaoists also torched theyouth’s motorcycle, he added.

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Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) has accorded

Utkrisht Seva Padak toJharkhand CRPF IG SanjayAnand Lathkar. The MHAworks on its CRPF officials forits two most coveted medalscalled by its Hindi version AtiUtkrisht Seva Padak andUtkrisht Seva Padak saidCommandant of 134 battalionof CRPF, A D Sharma whosaid a signal to this effect thatIG Lathkar is a recipient ofUtkrisht Seva Padak hasreached CRPF battalionsacross the country from theDirectorate General office ofCRPF.

Lathkar has in his kitty 60such varied recognitions andappreciations and among the60 is one Mahatma GandhiShanti Samman Puraskar thatwas bestowed upon him by theMaharashtra MinorityCommission.

Lathkar, was a bit hesitantto share his mantra of successthat brings him strings of lau-rels finally said that he has no‘feudal mentality’.

He said, “I take my groundstaff into confidence and givesthem ears to their suggestionsand opinions. Repose trust inyour personnel.

Have faith in them andsee they deliver better and

fast. This is how youdraw the best of every officials.And, when they do goodrecognition does not lagbehind. It comes in just 10days time.”

The 1995 batch IPS officerof Jharkhand cadre is on dep-utation in CRPF and hasserved in Bihar & Maharashtraas well.

On CRPF’s tackling ofextremism here Lathkar said,“ Extremists are out for theirsurvival. Their very existenceis at peril.

They indulge in aberra-tions just to remind that theyare around but their teethhave gone.”

He said, “Jharkhand hasseen four Lok Sabha electionsbut the latest one in 2019 hasbeen the most peaceful one interms of extremists’ violence,which has gone down quiteconsiderably.”

“Maoists cannot fight usstraight way. They torch vehi-cles and equipment of con-tractors and civilians like a fewincidents of arson by them inLatehar district and they knowalso that time for them isrunning out and securityforces will neutralize them,”reiterated the IG.

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Additional Secretary, RasikaChoubey along with

Director, Dr. Rohit YadavMinistry of Steel, Governmentof India, reached Bokaro on abrief visit on Monday.

On their arrivals, PK Singh,CEO, Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL),Executive Director and othersenior officials have welcomedthem.

At Bokaro Chaube and Dr.Yadav first planted trees in theorganic garden. Thereafter,they visited Bokaro Steel Plantwhere they oversaw the pro-duction flow and visited majorunits like Coke Oven, BlastFurnace No-2, CCS, Hot StripMill and CRM-3.

Later they left forJamshedpur, BSL PR officialinformed.

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The State Police headquarterhas alerted all SPs and

DIGs to ensure that law andorder is maintained followingamendment of Article 370 ofConstitution. The State policeheadquarter has alerted all SPsafter Ministry of Home Affairsasked States and UnionTerritories to be on maximumalert.

The State police head-quarter has issued directives ontwo fronts first celebrationafter following amendment ofArticle 370 of Constitutionshould not spread as commu-nal and second to providesecurity to Kashmiri studentsand traders living in State.

State Director General ofPolice (DGP), KN Choubeysaid, “Directives has beenissued on two fronts to all SP,firstly to check communal vio-lence spreading after abroga-tion of Article 370 and second

to ensure safety and security ofKashmiri students and traders.”

Choubey said, after theabrogation of Article 370 ofconstitution people have goneon celebration mode celebrat-ing the day at various parts ofstate, we have ensured thatthese celebration should not betargeted against any particularsection of society. “Peoplecelebrating the day should not

be allowed to disturb commu-nal harmony in any parts ofstate,” added Choubey.

The DGP also said that afterthe amendment of Article 370,security of Kashmiri studentsand traders should be ensured.DGP said, “I have asked all SPsto find out the number ofKashmiri students living at ISMDhanbad, BIT Mesra and othereducational institutions in State

and ensure that they are pro-vided with security and safety incampus. Also security will betightened in the areas whereKashmiri traders are living.”

Sources said that the Statepolice have the informationabout 12 Kashmiri students atDental College in Hazaribag.The Hazraibag DIG and SPhave been asked to senuresecurity and safety of students.

Apart from ensuring safe-ty and security of Kashmiri stu-dents/ traders and checking cel-ebrations, security has beentightened in minority domi-nated areas so as to checkcommunal violence spreadingout after the Prime MinisterNarendra Modi Governmentscrapped 70 year old Article370 and 35 (A) of Constitution.

Security has also beentightened at vital installationssuch as Government buildings,railway stations, airports, partyoffices and others. Sources saidthat State intelligence agencieshas also been put on alert, theState police will also carry outchecking of hotels and lodges indays to come.

Meanwhile, the Ministry ofHome Affairs (MHA) has direct-ed all Central Armed PoliceForces and Central security agen-cies to take necessary precautionsand step up protection and theircampuses and movements byissuing specific advisories.

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State BJP SpokespersonPratul Shahdeo today said

that the youths of Jharkhandhave rejected the politics ofJharkhand Mukti Morcha andSoren family. “For a long timeJMM had made tall claimsthat more than one lakh peo-ple will attend today’s rally butjust a few people took part inthe rally. Hemant Soren wasalso filled with so much hope-lessness and despair that hestarted using words like “polit-ical Sendra”, which is not jus-tifiable in any way. Sorenshould understand that thetribals and original inhabi-tants of the State are notgoing to fall in the trap,” hesaid.

“The people of Jharkhandknow that the Central govern-

ment and the State governmentkeep their promises -- whetherit is a matter of the removal ofArticle 370 from Kashmir orthe link between tribal peopleof Jharkhand to the main-stream of development.

Today Hemant is talking ofgiving 25 crore contracts to thelocal people but when he him-self was in power, he snatchedthe sand ghats from the GramSabha and sold them to themerchants of Mumbai. This isthe difference between thewords and actions of JMMand this is also their reality,”headded.

Shahdeo said that the man-ner in which the JharkhandMukti Morcha's youth protestrally is flop, there is a clear sig-nal for the JMM that the end ofhis political journey has start-ed.

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The Junior doctors atRajendra Institute of

Medical Sciences (RIMS) todaywent on day-long strikeprotesting against the NationalMedical Commission (NMC)Bill, 2019, which is facingmajor resistance from medicalfraternity even after gettingpassed in Lok Sabha. However,the doctors called off theirstrike after assurance fromRIMS director Dr D.K Singh.

Due to doctors strike theoutdoor patients in RIMS suf-fered as OPD services stayedsuspended due to strike. Thestriking doctors claim thatwith the introduction ofNational Medical Commission(NMC) bill, it will legitimizequacks in the country.

RIMS Junior DoctorsAssociation (JDA) presidentDr Ajit Kumar said, “Throughthe National MedicalCommission Bill, the Centralgovernment is taking a step thatwill transfer medical science inthe hands of those who havenot studied medical science.The new system will promotequacks. The will affect thepoor the most.”

The National MedicalCommission (NMC) Bill, 2019portrayed as the biggest reformsin medical education in India is

facing major resistance frommedical fraternity even aftergetting passed in the Lok Sabha.The bill will repeal the IndianMedical Council Act, 1956 andreplace the Medical Council ofIndia (MCI). The MCI will haveresponsibilities such as approv-ing and assessing medical col-leges, conducting commonMBBS entrance examinationand regulating medical coursefees.However, the IndianMedical Association (IMA) hasraised concern over some sec-tion of the NMC Bill that pro-vides for licensing of 3.5 lakhnon-medical persons or com-munity health providers topractice modern medicine.

As the doctors at RIMSwent on strike still afternoon,poor patients seeking OPDservices at Government hospi-tal faced the brunt of the strike.Though emergency servicesand other departments wereout of ambit of strike, manypatients reaching OPD ser-vices had to return back homedue to closure of OPD.

The biggest problem wasfaced by patients coming fromother districts of State. RakeshLal, a resident of Latehar hadcome to OPD for treatment ofhis wife, but as the OPD ser-vices were closed he had toreturn back.Lal said, “My wifesuffers from breathing prob-lem. The doctors at Latehar hadreferred her at RIMS, but wehave wiat for one more day asOPD service was closed.” LikeRakesh there were many oth-ers who had no other alterna-tive but to return back due toclosure of OPD services.

However, the OPD ser-vices resumed after 1 PM.Long queues of patients wereseen outside OPD

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The biggest public sector steelmaker to theNation, Steel Authority of India Limited

(SAIL) has been awarded in two categoriesduring the SCOPE CorporateCommunications Excellence Awards-2019for Crisis Communications and InternalCommunications. The awards were givenduring the SCOPE CorporateCommunications Awards – 2019 orga-nized at SCOPE Complex on August 03 atNew Delhi. Sumita Dutta, ExecutiveDirector, Corporate Affairs Division, SAILalong with her team, received the awards onbehalf of the Company from FormerGovernor, Sikkim Dr. BP Singh. SAILreceived the award in crisis management cat-egory for being a responsible, honest andtransparent corporate which earned the trustof media, employees and people. SAIL’sproactive approach during crisis not onlyhelped to maintain its brand image but alsoestablished its trustworthiness. The crisismanagement of SAIL was not only appre-ciated by media but is also taken as a casestudy by other public & private sector cor-porates.

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In an attempt to intensify its attackon ruling Bharatiya Janata Party

(BJP) for its “wrong employmentpolicy”, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha(JMM) held a ‘Yuva Aakrosh Rally’to demand jobs for local and tribalyouths in all district head quartersacross the State including the StateCapital on Monday.

The party organised the marchto catch attention of youths and stu-dents before the State AssemblyElection which is scheduled in theend of this year. A large numbers ofyouths participated in the march.

The march led by JMMExecutive president and formerChief Minister of the State, HemantSoren and it started from RanchiCollege Football Ground and cross-ing through Radium Road, KutcheryChowk and finally ended at RajBhawan and culminated in a publicmeeting

Addressing the crowd at the RajBhawan during public meeting,Soren said that the party called ‘YuvaAakrosh Rally’ against wrong job

policies of the State Government,which resulted in employment ofoutsiders and forced the youths ofthe State to migrate to earn their liv-ing. “The State Government’s jobpolicy is completely against thelocal and tribal of the State, duringthe tenure of present StateGovernment the local and tribal ofthe State has not been given jobs inany of the State Government’s

department and all the jobs weresold to outsiders,” he added.

Hitting hard on the govern-ment for its wrong job policies theformer Chief Minister said that thegovernment is playing with thefuture of the youths and the studentsto make a particular section happy.During the last five years the StateGovernment has not been success-fully completed a single recruitment

through Jharkhand Public ServiceCommission, he added

Announcing the party’s stand ifvoted to power in the upcomingState Assembly Elections, Soren saidthat the party will constitute a spe-cial job policy for the local and trib-al of the State. “The party will pro-vide 75 per cent reservation to localand tribal to jobs of private compa-nies which are settled in the State.The party will also make provisionto give 50 per cent reservation towomen in all State Government’sjob,” he added.

“The party will start recruitmentin mission mode in the first year ofits tenure to fill all five lakhs vacantposts in the State Government’svarious departments and those whoare working as contractual employ-ee of the State Government for a longtime will also be regularised,” saidSoren.

It has also been announced atthe meeting that the local will get pri-ority in tender of up to Rs 25 croreof all State Government’s contract.

Almost all senior leader of theparty were present in the march.

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Clearing the air over PalamuTiger Reserve (PTR) not

having any tigers, the officialsof State Forest Department onMonday informed that theyhave an evidence of at leastthree tigers being in the reserveas of now.

The Status of Tigers in Indiareport 2019 released by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onJuly 29 showed that while thereare five tigers in Jharkhand, noneof them have been spotted atPTR.Additional Chief Secretaryof Forest, Environment andClimate Change Department,Indu Shekhar Chaturvediinformed that there has beensighting of three tigers, twomale and one female in the PTRfrom February till date, whichhas been captured in the cam-era traps.

The official informed thatwhile 85 per cent of tracking isdone by camera traps the restare done by indirect methodslike pug marks and scat.

The officials of forestdepartment informed that thesurvey was conducted betweenthe period of June to October2018 in which indirect method

of tracking was used as thecamera traps were installed inPTR only after September.

“During this time marks offive tigers were found, onenear Hazaribag and four on thesouth eastern side of PTR.However, after the camera trapswere installed now we haveconcrete evidence of at least

three tigers in PTR,”Chaturvedi said.The secretaryalso informed that as there hasbeen evidence of tiger move-ment near Hazaribag, thedepartment is planning onimprovement of entire zonefrom Hazaribag, Chatra,Latehar, Lohardaga and furtherup to Chhattisgarh as the areais considered a tiger habitat.

Talking about steps takento ensure that tigers are not dis-turbed at PTR during combingoperations by the armed forcesso that they are not forced tomigrate, Chaturvedi said, “Wekeep organizing meetings withthe commandants of the localcamps in the area to sensitizethem about organizing silentoperations. Also, we are our-selves focusing to ensure thatour patrolling is also silentand based on intelligence ratherthan manual.

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Riddhi Sharma, a 22 year oldModi fan ended up getting

herself inked on Monday withnone other than the portrait ofPrime Minister Narendra Modihimself.

An ardent fan, Riddhi saidthat she took the decision to getthe tattoo made after revoca-tion of Article 370 fromKashmir, thus becoming thefirst person in Jharkhand andBihar to get the tattoo done.

“I have been a huge fan of

our prime minister and thesteps he has been taking for thedevelopment of our country.On Monday when I heard thenews of revocation of article370, I decided that as a citizenof India this is the best way toshow my appreciation for him,”she said. Riddhi said that therevocation of article 370 willfinally make India a sovereigncountry and is a big steptowards development ofJammu and Kashmir.

“All his policies and deci-sions have been favourable forevery aspect of the society, beit the cancellation of tripletalaaq which gives Muslim

women their rights to demon-etization to curb black money.I am not a political person butas a citizen of the country I

believe that he is the best PMever,” Sharma said.

This year, Sharma castedher first vote in the Lok Sabha

elections, in favour of BJP. “Iturned 18 after the elections of2014 took place and when I sawthe changes Modi brought tothe country I could not wait tocast my vote in his favouragain,” she said.

Despite Modi’s visit toRanchi several times, Riddhinever got a chance to attend hispublic addresses. “I was alwayscaught up in work and nevergot a chance to visit the rallies.However, it is my heart’s desireto the PM at least once in mylifetime,” she said.

One being asked aboutwhether she has concernsabout the tattoo being perma-

nent and staying on her skinforever she said, “That is thebest part! Modi is my hero andwhat is wrong with sporting atattoo of your hero? People doit all the time!”

Vinay Soni, the tattoo artistwho made this tattoo was alsothrilled to get an opportunityto tattoo a portrait of the PM.“I have made many portraitsbut this is the first portrait ofModi that I am making.Usually people get portraits oftheir lovers or parents madebut this is for the first time thatI am seeing someone get a por-trait of their hero made. Hatsoff to such fans,” he said.

Appreciates revocation ofArticle 370, triple talaq

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Maintaining old traditions,Chief Minister Raghubar

Das walked nearly four km ina kalash yatra from HariMandir premises in Baridih toSurya Mandir in Sidhgora inabout an hour on Monday toperform ‘jal abhishek’.

Das dressed in saffron T-shirt and white pant took partin the kalash yatra organised bythe Surya Mandir Committeeto mark the third Somvari ofauspicious month of Shravan.More than, 20,000 devotees,took part in the kalash yatraduring the function.

The Chief Minister reachedthe Surya Temple, and thenwent inside the temple to offer‘jal abhishek’ at the Shivalaya.

After offering ‘jal abhishek’,Raghubar Das said that heprayed for the welfare of theState. He said that his prayersare for the welfare of the State.

“Today is auspicious occa-sion as it also marksNagpanchami. We shouldalways think on positive linesfor betterment of society,” said

Das.The Chief Minister along

with his son Lalit Das after per-forming the jal abhishek tookPrasad (khichdi, puri, andmixed vegetable) which wasarranged for nearly 30,000 per-sons.

With the auspicious seasonof Shravan the city is grippedwith religious fervour.

The 'HarHarMahadev'

chant and sounds of bell res-onated across the city as thou-sands of devotees throngedtemples to seek blessings ofLord Shiva on the thirdMonday of the auspiciousShravan month.

Temples in the city havebeen decked up with colourfullights and flowers.

The devotees waited inlong queues since early morn-

ing to offer prayers to the deityand sung bhajans.

In the temples, devoteespoured milk, curd, honey, gheeand bael (bilwa) leaves onShivlingas and prayed for thewell-being and prosperity ofthe family. People also offeredprasad (sweets) to the deityalong with flowers which werelater distributed among devo-tees.

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The State Forest,Environment and Climate

Change department is all set tolaunch a wildlife crime controlcell by the end of this year.

Talking to media personshere on Monday AdditionalChief Secretary of the depart-ment Indu ShekharChaturvedi said, “A wildlifecrime control bureau is alreadyfunctional at centre and thecell would be made at the Stateheadquarters, having all themodern equipment and GISsystem. It will not just be forpreventing crime againstwildlife but other issues as wellincluding sightings and con-flicts. We plan to bring allthese issues under one plat-form.”

The officials informedabout the new initiatives of thedepartment in the durationincluding natural regenerationof forest on 36,310 hectare ofland which is 1.5 per cent of thetotal forest land which wasstarted in 2018-19, expansionof trees outside forest areaunder which beneficiaries aregiven 75 per cent of subsidy onbuying saplings, constructionof 820 check dams in forestareas for water conservationamong others.

The secretary informedthat the State of Forest Report2017 showed that there hasbeen a forest and tree coverexpansion in the State on an

area of 37,300 hectare as com-pared to 2013. Also, the reportmentioned that the forest areain the State has increased to33.21 per cent. The growingstock in State, which was 15.97crore cubic metre increased to18.2 crore cubic metre in 2017,which is an increase of 14 percent.

Compared to 2011, the

bamboo producing area hasincreased from 867 sq km to4470 sq. km in 2017. Also, thetotal area of water bodies whichwas 147 sq. km in 2005increased to 211 sq. km in2015, registering an increase of44 per cent.

Chaturvedi informed thatin the monsoon of 2018 and2019 a total of 16.20 lakh

saplings were planted on theriver banks across State,stretching on an area of 408kms.

Talking about wildlifepreservation he said, “In 2018-19, 11 quick response teamswere formed to deal with theman animal conflict.Construction of wild life rescuecentre has already started.”

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From Page 1 Union Tribal Affairs

Minister Arjun Munda alsocongratulated the PM andHome Minister and said that inone country, one rule and oneemblem has been made. RajyaSabha MP Mahesh Poddar saidthat today J & K is reborn andit is a historic day for thecountry. The Narendra Modi'sgovernment has taken a boldstep. With this decision, the res-olution of ‘Ek Bharat ShreshthaBharat’ has been realised, hesaid.

AJSU Party chief SudeshKumar Mahto said on theoccasion that amendment inArticle 370 is a step further inthe way of national integrationand is a brave and historic deci-sion. Mahto congratulated PM

Modi and Home Minister AmitShah on the occasion.

Meanwhile, PrincipalOpposition party of the State,Jharkhand Multi Morcha, hasalso welcomed the decision ofthe Centre with positive criti-cism.

A letter issued by JMMGeneral Secretary SupriyoBhattacharya stated that theparty welcomes the decision,though it would have beenmuch better if the assent of thelegislative Assembly of Jammuand Kashmir had been takenbefore the decision. The partysaid that since the State of J&Kis under President’s Rule thedecision is an attack on the fed-eral structure of governance inthe State.

Toeing the line of its highcommand, State Congressmedia incharge Rajesh Thakursaid that the party is with theConstitution of India. “TheBJP is neglecting the values ofConstitution just for the sake ofits political benefits. We areafraid that the BJP would endthe CNT, SPT Acts inJharkhand. The party is mak-ing an environment of fear inthe country to benefit the cap-italists,” he said.

From Page 1Abrogation of Article 370

and Article 35-A would permitcitizens outside Kashmir tomove in, settle and start busi-ness in the new union territo-ry of J&K, barring specialrestrictions imposed by itsGovernment. The UnionGovernment would now play acentral role in controlling Statepolice and land issues.

Lt Governor who will “con-sult the Election Commission”will have final powers overdeciding the disqualification ofAssembly members in J&K. ItsAssembly will not legislate on“public order” and “police”.Law of Parliament “shall pre-vail” if a law made in State listin the seventh schedule to theConstitution “is repugnant toany provision of law made byParliament”.

Similarly, “a Bill or amend-

ment shall not be introduced inLegislative Assembly excepton recommendation of the LtGovernor” on imposition, abo-lition, remission, alternation ofany tax or relation to consoli-dated fund of India, seats forSC/STs would be reserved inJ&K Assembly.

According to theGovernment, the abolition ofArticle 370 will “completelyintegrate” the State with theIndian Union like other prince-ly States in 1950 and its resi-dents will enjoy equal rightslike other citizens.

The large population of

young Kashmiris, studying andworking in other States ofIndia will get the “power andconfidence” to be equal citizensof India, without they beingcategorised as a special citizen.

According to Governmentofficials, the ease with whichprivate and public investmentwill flow into both these newUTs will lead to much fasterdevelopment of the economy,the development of high-qual-ity educational institutions andthe flow of a large corpus offunds to develop tourism inthese underdeveloped regions,they said.

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Page 5: ˘ˇ - The Pioneer...LTT Jnaneshwari Express remained cancelled. Moreover, Mumbai rains have not only made life deject-ed there but in the city mem-bers of Marathi community are also

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court onMonday directed the Uttar PradeshGovernment to "airlift" during theday the Unnao rape survivor, whosuffered critical injuries when hercar was hit by a truck last week,from Lucknow for better medicalcare at AIIMS here if her treatingdoctors declare her "fit" for thetransfer.

The lawyer of the rape survivorcame rushing to the courtroomminutes after the apex courtadjourned to August 9 the issue oftransferring her and her injuredadvocate to AIIMS in Delhi andsought a direction for airlifting her.

"At this stage, counsel appear-ing for the family members of thevictim has put in appearance andstates that since the victim hasdeveloped Pneumonia, her moth-er now wants that she be shifted toAll India Institute of MedicalSciences (AIIMS) at New Delhi,"said a bench of Justices DeepakGupta and Aniruddha Bose.

The top court made clear thatbefore transferring the girl toDelhi, the opinion of the doctorsat the Lucknow hospital "shall be

obtained" to ascertain as towhether she was she was in "a fitcondition to be transferred".

"In case the doctors opine thatshe is in fit condition to transfer,then she shall be transferred toAIIMS at New Delhi. In view of therequest of the mother, we direct theState of Uttar Pradesh to airlift thevictim by air-ambulance to Delhiand transfer her to AIIMS todayitself, if so permitted," it said in theorder.

The authorities at AIIMS aredirected to make necessaryarrangements for her proper treat-ment and care, it said, adding thatthe responsibilities of the AIIMS"starts from the tarmac of theAirport of Delhi".

It also said the same facility beaccorded to the injured lawyer alsoif his family members make thesame request.

"In case the family members ofthe lawyer of the victim make asimilar request to the State author-ities at Lucknow..., he shall also beairlifted along with the victim, fol-lowing the same procedure as laiddown for the victim," it said.

The woman, allegedly raped byBJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in2017 when she was a minor, is bat-tling for life after a truck rammedinto the car she was travelling inwith some family members and herlawyer. Two of her aunts died in theaccident recently.

The bench was informed thatMahesh Singh, uncle of the Unnaorape survivor had been trans-ferred to the Tihar jail in Delhifrom a jail in Uttar Pradesh in pur-suance of its earlier direction toensure his safety.

Singh's wife was in the illfated car and had died in the acci-dent. He participated in her cre-mation on Wednesday after theAllahabad High Court grantedhim parole for a day.

He has been convicted in a 19-year-old case and sentenced to 10-year jail term on a case filed bySengar's brother, Atul Singh.

The top court had on Fridayput on hold its earlier order trans-ferring the case of the collisionfrom a Lucknow court to Delhi toenable the CBI to complete itsinvestigation. PTI

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Once again a BJP supporterwas found dead in myste-

rious circumstances at NarangaDighi village at Pingla, WestMidnapore, sources said.

Pintu Manna (19), areported BJP supporter was onMonday found hanging from atree near his house on Sundaymorning, sources said. Theincident happened atNarangdighi area of Pingla.The body of the boy had beensent for autopsy, police said.

The BJP later alleged aTrinamool Congress hand inthe death of the person. “He(victim) had gone to his uncle’s

house where he had gone tohave his dinner. But he did notreturn till late in the night. Ataround 11 pm, a local, who waspassing by the area, saw abody hanging from the tree.When police came, we foundout that it was him,” a relativeof Manna said, adding sus-pecting TMC hand in thekilling.

However, Sheikh Sabrati,TMC's Pingla block presidentsaid he had committed suicidealleging the BJP was trying toadd political colour to the inci-dent. The BJP claims to havelost scores of supporters topolitical violence in the pastcouple of years.

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Parliament on Monday passedamendments to the Motor

Vehicles Act as well as theNational Medical Commission(NMC) Bill after Lok Sabhaapproved minor changes madeby Rajya Sabha. On August 1,Rajya Sabha cleared the NationalMedical Commission Bill forreplacing the Medical Council ofIndia (MCI) with a new body.The Bill was already passed byLok Sabha but since the UpperHouse made two amendmentsit came back to Lok Sabha.

Health and Family WelfareMinister Harsh Vardhan movedthe Bill for passage mentioningabout amendments made byRajya Sabha in the Bill. Thisincluding providing for a med-ical education system thatimproves access to quality andaffordable medical educationand ensures availability of ade-quate and high quality medicalprofessionals in all parts of thecountry.

Minister of State for RoadTransport and Highways Gen(Rtd) VK Singh on Mondaymoved the Bill to amend MotorVehicles Act in the LowerHouse. On July 31, Rajya Sabhacleared the bill that seeks to weed

out corruption, improve roadsafety and usher in use of tech-nology to regulate traffic, withcertain amendments. Sincesome changes were made byRajya Sabha, it was againbrought to Lok Sabha for clear-ance.

This apart, the Lok Sabhapassed Transgender Persons(Protection of Rights) Bill 2019and Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill,2019. The transgender protec-tion of rights bill was passed bya voice vote amid noisy protestsby some opposition parties overCongress leader Adhir RanjanChowdhury not being allowedto speak on his adjournmentnotice. Replying on the bill,Minister of State for SocialJustice Rattan Lal Kataria said itmakes provision for establishinga national authority for safe-guarding rights of transgen-

ders. The Minister said accord-ing to the 2011 census there aremore than 4.80 lakh transgen-ders in the country.

A contentious provisionthat criminalised begging bytransgender people has beenremoved from the bill. The pro-vision was part of the bill whenit was introduced by the previ-ous government.

Moving the Surrogacy(Regulation) Bill, 2019 in theLok Sabha for considerationand passage, Vardhan said that"A rough estimates says there areabout 2,000-3000 surrogacyclinics running illegally in thecountry and a few thousand for-eign couples resort to surroga-cy practise within India and thewhole issue is thorougly unreg-ulated." The bill, he said "was theneed of the hour." It seeks to bancommercial surrogacy.

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The Indian MedicalAssociation (IMA) has

given a call for a strike onAugust 8 to protest againstcertain provisions of theNational MedicalCommission (NMC) Bill.

It said the medical stu-dents will continue their strikeacross the country under IMAMedical Students Network.

"The call is for all themodern medicine doctors toleave their work place acrossthe sectors at all levels,"according to a statement bythe IMA.

The doctors' body hasalso called for demonstra-tions and hunger strikes at itslocal branches and urgedmedical students to boycottclasses and proclaim solidar-ity with the IMA.

On Sunday, resident doc-tors of AIIMS and SafdarjungHospital had called off theirstrike and resumed dutiesafter Union Health MinisterHarsh Vardhan assured themthat their concerns over theNMC Bil l wil l be dulyaddressed.

The doctors had beendemonstrating against cer-tain provisions of the billsince its passage in Rajya

Sabha last week."The NMC Bill 2019 is

unacceptable to the medicalfraternity in the current for-mat. The community healthproviders envisaged in thebill is a direct threat to thou-sands and thousands of poorvulnerable marginalised ruralpatients. The health of thenation is at stake. We demandthat the government of Indiaengage the modern medicalfraternity on meaningful dia-logue and address the issueurgently," the IMA said.

The NMC Bill providesfor setting up of a NationalMedical Commission in placeof the MCI for developmentand regulation of all aspects ofmedical education, professionand institutions.

Doctors are demandingcertain amendments in thebill. According to them, if notamended, the bill will lead todeterioration of medical edu-cation and degradation ofhealthcare services.

The fraternity was oppos-ing section 32(1), (2) and (3)of the bill, saying it willencourage quackery by pro-viding licence to practicemodern medicine as commu-nity health providers for per-sons other than those pos-sessing MBBS degrees.

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Jaipur: The RajasthanAssembly on Monday passed aBill providing for a significantraise in salaries and allowancespayable to State Ministers.

The House passed theRajasthan Ministers' Salaries(Second Amendment) Bill,2019 by a voice vote.

The bill was introduced bystate's Parliamentary AffairsMinister Shanti Dhariwal todayand was passed after a briefdebate on it.

Introducing the bill,Dhariwal said looking to thepresent level of prices, the exist-ing salary and sumptuary andother allowances payable tothe chief minister and otherstate ministers, including par-liamentary secretaries appearedto be inadequate.

"Under these circum-stances, it has been consideredexpedient to increase the salaryand allowances payable tothem," Dhariwal told theHouse. Following the passage ofthe Bill, the salaries and variousallowances payable to variouscategories of ministers, includ-ing the chief minister, ministersof State, deputy ministers andparliamentary secretaries willgo up. PTI

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Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and RajyaSabha Chairman and Vice President M

Venkaiah Naidu on Monday urged PrimeMinister Narendra Modi to include theexpansion and modernisation ofParliament building in his resolution for the'New India' on the completion of the 75years of India's freedom in 2022. Both madethis statement in Lok Sabha and RajyaSabha during the proceedings.

"I want to make a request to the PrimeMinister that on the 75th anniversary of thefreedom of India in 2022, the modernisa-tion of the Parliament House is undertak-en. The parliament is the biggest temple ofthe Indian republic. It has completed 92golden years. All political decisions of theworld's biggest democracy are taken in thistemple of democracy," said Naidu address-ing Rajya Sabha.

On the need to modernise theParliament complex, Naidu said theParliament Building has become quite oldand during his tenure as UrbanDevelopment and Parliamentary Affairs

Minister, he had held meetings on theprospective modernisation of the parlia-ment premises.

"I want to assure the public that the par-liament's sovereignty will be held intact.The country's most sacred institutionresponsibility has increased and has raisedthe expectations of the people too. The par-liament should become even grander," saidNaidu.

Presiding over the proceedings of theHouse, Birla said it is the aspiration of allof us that Parliament building of thelargest republic and the largest democra-cy of the world should be the most mag-nificent and attractive. Stating that all polit-ical decisions were taken in this most hal-lowed temple of the Indian republic, Birlasaid the Parliament building has complet-ed 92 glorious years of its existence. He alsoassured, on behalf of all Members ofParliament, that the sanctity and dignity ofParliament will be kept intact.

The Parliament House was designed in1912-13 by Edwin Lutyens and HerbertBaker. The construction of the buildingbegan in 1921 and was completed in 1927.

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New Delhi: The Supreme Courton Monday said it would con-sider on the administrative sideas to whether there would berecording of day-to-day hearingin the Ayodhya land dispute casewhich is scheduled to com-mence before a Constitutionbench from Tuesday.

A plea, filed by former RSSideologue KN Govindacharyaseeking live streaming or record-ing of the day-to-day hearing inthe Ayodhya case, was men-tioned for urgent hearing beforea bench comprising Justices SABobde and BR Gavai.

"We don't know if we haveequipment for live streaming orrecording of proceedings," thebench told senior lawyer VikasSingh, appearing forGovindacharya.

Singh told the bench that ifthere was difficulty in live-streaming of the proceedings,then recording of the hearingmay be done. The bench, whilerefusing to accord urgent hear-ing on the plea, observed that it

is an issue which is "somethinginstitutional".

The apex court said theissue would be considered on theadministrative side.

On September 26, 2018,the apex court had allowed live-streaming of court proceedingsof cases of constitutional andnational importance, saying thisopenness was like "sunlight"which is the "best disinfectant".

Govindacharya referred tothe last year's verdict and saidthat the right to know is a fun-damental right and necessaryorders be passed for live stream-ing of proceedings in theAyodhya matter.

A five-judge Constitutionbench headed by Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi had on August 2said it would hold day-to-dayhearing from August 6 to decidethe politically-sensitive RamJanmabhoomi-Babri Masjidland dispute in Ayodhya, as theefforts to arrive at an amicablesettlement through mediationhave failed. PTI

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Eleven days after its Mumbaiunit chief Sachin Ahir quit

the party and joined the ShivSena, Nationalist CongressParty (NCP) on Mondayappointed its senior leader andchief spokesperson NawabMalik in Ahir’s place as theparty’s Mumbai unit president.

Making an announcementat the behest of party-founderpresident Sharad Pawar, StateNCP president Jayant Patil saidthat Malik’s appointment asthe party’s Mumbai wouldcome in handy in not onlystrengthening the party inMumbai, but it would also helpreach the party’s policies andprogrammes to the commonpeople in the metropolis.

Sixty-year-old Malik is afour-time MLA — elected tothe State Assembly thrice fromKurla’s Nehru Nagar con-

stituency and once fromAnushakti Nagar constituencyin north- central and north-eastMumbai respectively.

Born at Duswa in UttarPradesh, he migrated toMumbai in 1970. He was a min-ister the erstwhile Congress-NCP governments handling avariety of portfolios. He, how-ever, resigned as the minister in2005 following allegations ofcorruption made against himby social crusader AnnaHazare. Later he returned to thecabinet and was appointed aGuardian Minister of Mumbai.He is considered close to thePawar family.

With Malik at the helm ofthe party affairs in Mumbai, theNCP hopes to expand its basein the metropolis in the run-upto the State Assembly polls tobe held in Uttar Pradesh. Theparty thinks he is an aptreplacement for Ahir.

It may be recalled that Ahirhad quit the NCP and joinedthe Shiv Sena on July 25.“Sometimes one has to takehard decisions. Only time willtell whether my decision (tojoin the Shiv Sena) is proper ornot. I am happy that I am join-ing the Shiv Sena. At the sametime, I am not so happy to leavethe NCP," Ahir had said.

Forty-seven-year-old Ahir,who had steadily moved upwithin the NCP ranks tobecome its Mumbai unit pres-ident, had said: “I am goingfrom one stream of ideology toanother. I tried to meet Pawarsaheb. I wanted to tell himabout my plans to join the ShivSena. But, I could neither meethim nor talk to him over phone.But, Pawar saheb will alwayshave a permanent place in myheart. But, I had in the pastbriefed him about the situationin my constituency in the past".

*#����������*�"�(�'��������"�'$�(����������� Chennai: Vellore parliamen-

tary constituency recorded near-ly 72 per cent polling onMonday, officials said.

There were no untowardincidents, police said, even asthere were some reports ofEVMs and VVPATs malfunc-tioning.

Tamil Nadu Chief ElectoralOfficer (CEO) Satyabrata Sahoosaid "about 72 per cent" of thetotal 14.32 lakh voters cast theirvotes on Monday in the sixAssembly constituencies coveredunder the Vellore Lok Sabha seg-ment. "The final figures are stillawaited," he said. The con-stituency is witnessing a fightbetween AIADMK and DMK,with A C Shanmugam of the rul-ing party taking on KathirAnand, son of senior DMKleader Durai Murugan.Counting of votes of will betaken up on August 9.

The poll outcome is beingkeenly awaited as a win for theAIADMK would be seen as an

endorsement of Chief MinisterK Palaniswami's two year rule,although the party had little toboast of in the April 18 polls.

If DMK wins, it will be per-ceived as a verdict against theruling party, with the statepoised to face the general elec-tions in 2021 at the end of thecurrent term.

Both Palaniswami andStalin had embarked on a hec-tic campaign schedule, fightinghard to reaffirm their respectiveparties' dominance.

Though polling was origi-nally scheduled in Vellore onApril 18 along with the rest ofthe 38 Parliamentary segmentsin Tamil Nadu, it was thenrescinded after Income Tax offi-cials seized money allegedlymeant to bribe voters. Earlier, theDMK-led alliance had swept theApril 18 Lok Sabha elections inTamil Nadu, winning 37 con-stituencies in the state and thelone segment in the neighbour-ing Puducherry. PTI

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Mumbai: The Bombay HighCourt on Monday dismissed aplea filed by a witness in thealleged fake encounter case ofsuspected gangsterSohrabuddin Sheikh, his WifeKasuar Bi and their aide, chal-lenging the acquittal of 22 peo-ple in the case by a special courthere.

The witness, MahendrasinhZala, had challenged theDecember 2018 order of thesessions court acquitting 22accused, 21 of them junior-levelpolicemen from Gujarat andRajasthan, in the case, whichwas probed by the CentralBureau of Investigation (CBI).

A bench of Justices IndrajitMahanty and A M Badar dis-missed Zalas plea, saying thesame was not maintainablesince he was not a victim in thecase.

Therefore, he did not havethe legal right to appeal, the

judges noted.In his plea, the prosecution

witness in the encounter case ofSohrabuddin, his wife and theiraide Tulsiram Prajapati, hadtermed the lower courts verdictas a mockery of justice".

Zala had alleged that someof the accused policemen in thecase, including former GujaratATS chief D G Vanzara, hadtried to extort Rs 15 lakh fromhim and threatened to "kill" himin "another fake encounter sim-ilar to Sohrabuddin's" incase hefailed to pay the amount.

He thus, approached thehigh court arguing that sincethe now acquitted police offi-cers had also been charged forextortion in the Sohrabuddincase, and that the same officershad tried to extort money fromhim, he be considered a victimin the matter and his appeal beentertained.

The CBI, through its coun-

sel, Additional Solicitor GeneralAnil Singh, had, however,opposed Zala's plea in the courtduring its hearing in the past.

The central agency hadargued that Zala's plea was notmaintainable since Section 372of the Criminal ProcedureCode (CrPC) permitted onlythe prosecution, the state andthe central government, thecomplainant or the victim in acase to file an appeal.

Since Zala was merely awitness and not a victim, hisappeal must not be entertained,Singh had argued.

The high court took note ofSingh's arguments and also ofthe provisions of Section 372 ofthe CrPC. The bench notedthat Zala did not have anydirect connection with theSohrabuddin encounter caseand therefore, could not beconsidered as a victim in thesame matter. PTI

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Thiruvananthapuram: KeralaIAS officer SriramVenkitaraman was suspendedon Monday and a special inves-tigation team formed by theG`overnment, two days afterhis arrest for alleged drunkendriving that caused the death ofa journalist here.

The 33-year-old officer,under judicial remand, wasunder observation at theIntensive Care Unit of theGovernment Medical CollegeHospital here even as police saidthe result of his blood test wasnegative for alcohol trace. PTI

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New Delhi: Against the back-drop of nearly 60,000 pendingcases in the Supreme Court, aBill to increase the number ofjudges in the top court from 30to 33 was introduced in theLok Sabha on Monday.

As of now, the SupremeCourt has a sanctionedstrength of 30 judges, plus thechief justice of India -- 31judges.

Once the bill getsParliamentary approval, itssanctioned strength will go

up to 33, plus the CJI, accord-ing to the Supreme Court(Number of Judges)Amendment Bill introduced byLaw Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad.

The apex court is func-tioning with its full strength.

The bill comes days afterChief Justice of India RanjanGogoi requested PrimeMinister Narendra Modi toincrease the number ofSupreme Court judges.

Due to paucity of judges,

the required number of con-stitution benches to decideimportant cases involvingquestions of law were notbeing formed, the CJI said.

"You would recall that wayback in 1988, about threedecades ago, the judge strengthof the SC was increased from18 to 26, and then again aftertwo decades in 2009, it wasincreased to 31, including theCJI, to expedite disposal ofcases to keep pace with the rateof institution," he wrote. PTI

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Gaurav Pandya has filed anelection petition in the GujaratHigh Court challenging theElection Commission's deci-sion to hold separate bypolls totwo Rajya Sabha seats in theState.

The elections to the seatswhich fell vacant after BJPleaders Amit Shah and SmritiIrani were elected to the LokSabha from Gujarat'sGandhinagar and UttarPradesh's Amethi respectivelywere held on July 5.

Pandya had lost from oneof the seats to Minister ofExternal Affairs S Jaishankar.

Through his lawyerBabubhai Mangukiya, Pandyahas sought the court's directionto quash the election, as well asnotification issued by the ECannouncing the holding ofpolls separately.

He has also sought thecourt's direction to the pollpanel to hold the election to thetwo seats afresh simultaneous-

ly through single ballot, and notthrough two ballots.

The petition is likely tocome up for hearing this week.

It claimed the EC notifica-tion was unconstitutional andviolated the Representation ofPeople Act 1951.

As per the Constitution,election to the vacant seats ofthe Rajya Sabha should beheld together so that the systemof proportional representationby means of single transferablevote can be applied, he said inhis petition.

He said the EC notificationannouncing bypolls to the twoseats in Gujarat was therefore

illegal.The Supreme Court had

earlier rejected a plea by theGujarat Congress just after theEC notification was issued.

The SC, in its June 25order, had, however, grantedliberty to Congress to file an'election petition' after conclu-sion of polls.

The EC notification hadclarified that vacancies forbypolls to all Houses, includingthe Rajya Sabha, are considered"separate vacancies" and sepa-rate notifications are issuedand separate polls are held,though the schedule can be thesame. PTI

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The Army and Air Force hasbeen put on high alert

along the Line of Control (LoC)in Jammu & Kashmir to effec-tively repulse any possiblePakistani misadventure in thewake of the Centre scrappingArticle 370.

And the Union HomeMinistry issued advisory to allStates to keep the securityforces on “maximum alert” to“pre-empt” and “prevent anybreach of security”. More para-

military forces are expected tobe dispatched to the Valley,depending on situation.

National Security AdvisorAjit Doval and CRPF DGP RRBhatnagar are already campingin Srinagar, coordinating withground commanders. Apartfrom other forces, CRPF hasdeployed more than 75,000personnel to maintain law andorder in Kashmir in the wakeof recent developments.

Top Army commanders inJ&K are closely monitoring theoverall security situation in theState to thwart any civil distur-bances following the Centre’sdecision to end special status toJammu & Kashmir. Sourcessaid Pakistan may try to triggerunrest in the Kashmir Valleyand there may be spurt in vio-lence, including IED blasts andfidayeen attacks, following theGovernment’s bold deci-

sions.”The security forces arefully prepared to deal with anysituation. We will not allow thesituation to go out of hand,” saida senior military official.

Sources said there may beattempts to create unrest sim-ilar to the protests and violencethat followed the killing ofHizbul Mujahideen operativeBurhan Wani in July 2016.Wani’s killing triggered wide-spread unrest in Kashmir that

lasted nearly four-and-halfmonths. “We will not allowsimilar cycle of violence inKashmir,” said the official.

Sources said the IndianAir Force (IAF) has also beenmaintaining high levels of alert.The IAF has remained alert inJammu & Kashmir since theBalakot strikes and subsequentPakistani retaliation. Sourcessaid there was specificIntelligence inputs about aPakistan-based terror groupplanning to target theAmarnath Yatra followingwhich the government issued asecurity advisory last weekasking tourists and pilgrims tocurtail their pilgrimage.

Union Home Ministry hasalso told the State Governmentsthat “special care” should betaken of Jammu & Kashmirresidents and students residingin their State. “Adequate pub-licity may be given to the mea-sures taken by state govern-ments and Union Territoryadministration to inspired con-fidence in the sections con-cerned and to sensitise the

public against any mischief orbreach of peace,” it said.

Suitable instructionsshould be issued to lawenforcement agencies to main-tain vigil against circulation offalse, unverified news,rumours, and unscrupulousmessages on social mediaaimed at disturbing peace andpublic tranquility and incitingviolence and communal dis-cord, it said.

New Delhi/Kolkata: TheGovernment’s decision to abro-gate Article 370, which gavespecial status to Jammu &Kashmir, evoked mixedresponse from legal expertson Monday as some hailed it as“historic” and “long overdue”step while others called it“political misadventure”fraught with danger.

The Modi Government hasabolished Article 370 andsimultaneously moved a sepa-rate bill to bifurcate the stateinto two separate UnionTerritories of Jammu &Kashmir, and Ladakh.

Senior advocate and con-stitutional law expert RakeshDwivedi said, “It (the decision)is completely legal. There is nochance of succeeding of pleaagainst the Government’s deci-sion.” “It was a long overduehistoric step. It should go andit is no more required. It is awelcome step. Kashmir wasalso open for outsiders so I

don’t understand why thereshould be Article 35 A.”

On the other hand, formerUnion Law Minister and seniorCongress leader and advocateAshwini Kumar said, “Thedecision of the Union Govt toalter the status of the Jammu &Kashmir is fraught with serious political consequencesfor the nation.”

While former AttorneyGeneral Soli Sorabjee was ofthe view that “nothing revolu-tionary has been done (by theGovernment)” as now the lawswhich were not applicable tothe state till now will be applic-able now.

“It is very complicated legalsituation and I have not fullyanalysed it. It appears what they(Centre) have superseded theold Presidential order,” formerSolicitor General and senioradvocate Harish Salve said.

In Kolkata, FormerSupreme Court judge Justice(retd) Ashok Kumar Ganguly

said that abolition of Article370 is “apparently” not uncon-stitutional. He said the decisionto grant special status toJammu and Kashmir underArticle 370 of the Constitutionwas temporary and transition-al, and as such it cannot last for-ever. “That temporary provi-sion continued for more than70 years, how long can it con-tinue? I cannot say whether itis politically wise or not, butapparently, it is not unconstitutional,” Ganguly toldPTI here.

He said if the abrogation ofArticle 370 is challenged incourt, it might take a differentview on a deeper probe, but“apparently there is no uncon-stitutionality in it”.

Ganguly said that underArticle 370 (sub-article 3),there is a provision for with-drawing this special status,which can be done by thePresident in consultation withthe State Assembly. PTI

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Bollywood was mostly silenton the Centre’s decision to

abolish Article 370, which gavespecial status to Jammu &Kashmir, with a handful ofindustry insiders coming out insupport of the move but bigstars maintaining their dis-tance.

The move was hailed byknown Government backerssuch as actors Anupam Kherand Paresh Rawal with otherslike Gul Panag and VikrantMassey also joining them incongratulating the Centre forthe move while directorAnubhav Sinha was measuredin his response.

There were no tweets fromthe Bachchans, the three Khans— Aamir, Shah Rukh, Salman— or Akshay Kumar, who hasemerged as something of aposter boy for socio-politicalmovies, including “Toilet: EkPrem Khatha” and “MissionMangal”. Home Minister AmitShah moved the resolution onArticle 370 and a separate bill to bifurcate the State intotwo separate Union Territoriesof Jammu & Kashmir, and Ladakh.

Reacting to the news,Rawal, a former BJP MP, saidthe country had become one inits truest sense today.

“Today is the true andcomplete independence of our

motherland. Today in the truesense of the word INDIAbecomes ONE! Jai Hind,” theactor wrote on Twitter.

Panag hailed the decisionas “an incredibly bold move”. “Ido hope that the lives of theaverage Kashmiri will changefor the better in the future. Andalso, for now, that their con-nectivity is restored so we canhear what they have to say too.#370Abolished,” she added.

Kher, who was in NewYork, said he had woken up tothe best news of his life. Thatthe announcement took placeon the day of the release of hisautobiography was a gift, headded.

On Sunday, he had posted

a cryptic tweet, saying,“Kashmir Solution has begun.”

Sinha, known for filmssuch as “Mulk” and “Article 15”,declined to comment whenreached by PTI. However, inresponse to Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal’stweet supporting the Centre’smove and expressing the hopethat it would bring peace anddevelopment in the State, he tweeted, “Peace Sir???Really???”.

Calling it a “historical day”and an issue that was longpending, Jammu-born actorMohit Raina said the move willonly help create education andemployment for the people inthe Valley.

“This movement will onlyget Kashmir in the forefront forall the right reasons. Theinvestors will create numerousjob opportunities for the com-mon man which will in turnboost economy of the State andthe youth will not fall prey topeople with malicious inten-tions which will indirectlyreduce violence in the Valley,”Raina said in a statement.

Massey expressed grati-tude towards the Centre.“Never did I think I’d say this.But, THANK YOU!@BJP4India @AmitShah &@narendramodi It had to go!#Article370 Those warning of‘dangerous consequences’SHAME ON YOU!

#OneNationOneLaw,” the actorwrote on the microbloggingsite.

Mirza wished for the“peace, prosperity and sus-tainable development for thepeople of #Ladakh and#JammuAndKashmir.”

The actor recently starredin Kashmir-set web series“Kaafir”. Actor RaveenaTandon said she wished for a“peaceful growth” for Kashmirand Kashmiris.

Srinagar-born NationalAward-winning actor ZairaWasim posted a prophetictweet on Sunday.

“This too shall pass!#Kashmir,” Wasim, who recent-ly quit films, said.

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After its historic decision onArticle 370, India on

Monday reached out to globalcommunity by briefing theenvoys of five permanent mem-bers of the UN Security Counciland several other nations

In the briefings, it wasconveyed that the decisionswere internal to India and theyare aimed at providing goodgovernance, promoting socialjustice and ensuring econom-ic development in Jammu &Kashmir, official sources said.

It was learnt that ForeignSecretary Vijay Gokhale briefedthe envoys of the US, Britain,France, China and Russia, thefive permanent members of theUNSC. Other senior officialsapprised envoys of a number ofother countries about theGovernment’s decision onJammu & Kashmir.

In the light of interestexpressed by members of thediplomatic community, seniorMEA officials briefed theenvoys of several countries,the sources said.

The Government revokedArticle 370 which gave specialstatus to Jammu & Kashmir andproposed that the State be splitinto two Union Territories,Jammu & Kashmir, and Ladakh.

Pakistan has always soughtto internationalise the Kashmirissue by raking it up on all glob-al forums. The ModiGovernment had in its firstterm launched a major diplo-matic blitzkrieg to reach out tothe international communityexposing Pakistan on its sup-port to terrorism and sought toisolate Islamabad.

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In an indication of the shift-ing geopolitical dynamics in

the region, the South ChinaMorning Post, a Chinese statemedia, posted an article onAugust 1 referring to Ladakh aspart of the "Indian State ofJammu &Kashmir" instead ofits earlier stance of mentioningJ&K as a "disputed territorybetween India and Pakistan."

Amid the troop buildup inJammu & Kashmir, the ChineseGovernment also withdrew 60engineers from the China-Pakistan Economic Corridorwith the help of PakistaniDefence forces in the wee hoursof Friday.

The labour force was sub-sequently extricated from PoK,bringing to a halt the works oninfrastructure and manufac-turing units, sources said.

The Chinese moveassumes significance as Ladakhis also referred to as "LittleTibet" due to the local inhabi-tants following TibetanBuddhism.

The article in South ChinaMorning Post titled "Ladakh:the good, bad and ugly sides toIndia's 'Little Tibet', high in theHimalayas underscored theshift in the introduction saying,"Known as Little Tibet due toa shared cultural and religiousheritage, Ladakh, in the IndianState of Jammu & Kashmir isabout the size of England, witha population similar in numberto that of the Hong Kong dis-trict of Wan Chai.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's ISIproxies are projecting devel-opments related to the scrap-ping of Article 370 from theState as an "an extension ofIndian aggression in the Valley"even as Islamabad has launchedhectic lobbying through spon-sored organise against scrap-ping of Article 370 byParliament. Islamabad hasdirected the lobbying organi-sations sponsored by it toorganise conferences andprotests to convince worldleaders against the latest Indianlegislative move in Jammu &Kashmir. Pakistan is also like-ly to vociferously raise the

issue in the upcoming UnitedNations General Assembly(UNGA) in September.

Pakistan's ruling partyPakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf,which maintains offices in for-eign capitals, has directed theseoffices to organise protestsincluding in London, Brusselsand Quala Lumpur.

India on its part alsobriefed the ambassadors onthe issue and the counter diplo-matic offensive to be launchedin major world capitals.

On the dirty tricks front,Pakistani social media gettingflooded with pictures of socalled Hindu terrorists prepar-ing to attack Kashmiri Muslimsand masses. The ISI proxieshave warned netizens of impli-cations of scrapping of Article370 in the form of reprisalattacks. Incidentally, similarwarnings were given by Jamat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh(JMB) operatives in Bangladeshbefore initiating series of ruth-less killings of progressive blog-gers in Dhaka.

The Pakistani proxies arealso building the narrative thatthe troop deployment in theValley is as an extension ofIndian aggression in Kashmir,sources said adding the hard-liners like Fazlur Rahman mayunseat Pakistan PM ImranKhan with the help of theArmy there.

However, panic has grippedPakistan-sponsored terrorgroups in the Valley withHizbul Mujahideen asking itscadres to remain safe and carryminimum number of weapons.

Amid the evolving situationin Kashmir, Hizbul Mujahideenmay offer to talk directly to theCentre on the eve of upcomingEid, soruces said.

"The Government has to becautious and vigilant to ensurePakistan-influenced Kashmirisare confined in terms of enhanc-ing their ideological influence toIndian Muslims in other partsof the hinterland. Containingthe influence of Pakistan-backed agents is the upcomingchallenge for the governmentand the security agencies," saidCounter-Terrorism expert DrRituraj Mate.

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After the abrogation ofArticle 370 that gives spe-

cial status to Jammu &Kashmir, the ModiGovernment is expected to setup a Delimitation Commissionto redefine the electoral boundary of the constituenciesin the State.

The Jammu and KashmirReorganisation Bill, 2019, pro-vides for an increase in seatsfrom 107 to 114 through adelimitation exercise and all theseven new ones will be created.

Top sources said that theElection Commission (EC) willstart the process of delimitationof the constituencies in Jammu& Kashmir once the bill tobifurcate the state into twoUnion Territories is passed.Delimitation would be carriedout on the basis of the 2011Census data.

The DelimitationCommission will redraw themaps of assembly and parlia-mentary constituencies ofJammu and Kashmir, whichconverted into a UnionTerritory after the PresidentialOrder 2019.

EC officials said that theCommission will have to carryout the exercise after aDelimitation Commission isappointed. The delimitationcommission will submit itsrecommendation to the

Narendra Modi governmentwith regard to the number ofassembly constituencies only.

Presently, the state ofJammu and Kashmir has 87assembly constituencies andsix Lok Sabha constituencies.Of them, four assembly andone Lok Sabha constituenciesare in Ladakh region, which isgoing to be a separate UnionTerritory.

Kashmir Valley has 46(more than 50 per cent) assem-bly and three (half of) parlia-mentary constituencies allocat-ed to Jammu and Kashmir.Jammu has 37 assembly and twoLok Sabha seats. Theoretically,24 assembly seats are earmarkedfor Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.The last time a delimitationexercise took place in the statewas also under President’s rule,in 1995, by Justice (retd) KKGupta Commission when J&Kwas divided into 87 Assemblyconstituencies. While Muslimmajority Kashmir Valley has 46seats, Hindu majority Jammuregion has 36 and Buddhist dominated Ladakhdivision four.

For Ladakh, according toGovernment’s Jammu &Kashmir reorganisation pro-posal, will have no legislature,the delimitation commissionwill have the task of lookinginto the number and demar-cation of both the Assemblyand Lok Sabha constituenciesin Jammu and Kashmir regionsof the existing State.

This comes in the back-drop of complaints — particu-larly from people living inJammu region — that a small-er in size and dense in popu-lation, Kashmir Valley hasenjoyed overwhelming pres-ence in state assembly andundue share in the Lok Sabha.

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BJP leaders termedGovernment’s decision to

revoke Article 370 as “bold”,“historic” and “monumental”.Over the years, abrogation ofArticle 370 has had alwaysbeen one of BJP’s pre-pollpromises in its manifestos.

Party patriarch LK Advanisaw it as “historic” decisiontowards strengthening “nation-al integration”. Advani, thelongest serving BJP president,said the scrapping of Article370 has been a part of the BJP’score ideology since the days ofJan Sangh. “I congratulatePrime Minister Shri NarendraModi and Home Minister ShriAmit Shah for this historic ini-tiative and pray for peace,prosperity and progress inJammu, Kashmir and Ladakh,”he said in a statement.

He said he is happy withthe government’s decision torevoke Article 370 and believes that it is a bold steptowards “strengthening nation-al integration”.

Former Finance MinisterArun Jaitley in a blog said that

no dynamic nation can allowthis situation to continue. “Ahistorical wrong has beenundone today. Article 35Acame through the back doorwithout following the proce-dure under Article 368 of theConstitution of India. It had togo,” he said.

“The decision of theGovernment will help the peo-ple of Jammu and Kashmir themost. More investment, moreindustry, more private educa-tional institutions, more jobsand more revenue will come,”he said.

Kashmir’s regional leadersnow feel that they will not beable to whip up the fake issueof ‘sentiment verses benefit tothe people’, Jaitley said.

“A bold and historic deci-sion. We salute our Great India— one India,” former foreign Minister SushmaSwaraj tweeted.

BJP leader Ram Madhavhailed the government’s deci-sion on Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and saidthe martyrdom of its ideo-logue Dr Shyama PrasadMukherjee for complete inte-

gration of the state into Indiahas been “honoured”.

The national general sec-retary and the party’s point per-son in the state said that thecomplete integration of Jammuand Kashmir was a longstand-ing demand of the nation.

“What a glorious day.Finally the martyrdom of thou-sands starting with Dr ShyamPrasad Mukherjee for completeintegration of J&K into IndianUnion is being honoured andthe seven decade old demandof the entire nation beingrealised in front of our eyes; inour lifetime.

Ever imagined?” he tweet-ed moments after Shah madethe announcement inParliament.

Amidst acrimoniousscenes in Parliament, the gov-ernment also moved a billproposing bifurcation of theState of Jammu & Kashmir intotwo Union Territories —Jammu & Kashmir divisionand Ladakh.

“PM @narendramodi ji nekamaal kar diya. Desh kiummeedon pe khare utre.Many many congrats to

@narendramodi ji and@AmitShah ji on this historicdecision regarding #Article370.This has opened up the path ofgrowth and development for#JammuAndKashmir,” tweetedparty spokesperson ShahnawazHussain.

After scrapping of Article370, the government’s nextagenda should be to get backthe Pakistan occupied Kashmir(PoK), Rajya Sabha nominatedmember Subramanian Swamy.

“Return of the territory inthe possession of Pakistan is thenext agenda item for us. Ihope the decisiveness withwhich Prime Minister andHome Minister have taken thisstep, will take the next step alsowhen we are ready to recoverthe land as per the resolutionof this Parliament,” he saidsupporting the resolution onremoval of Article 370.

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Fissures in the headlessCongress appeared over the

Modi Government’s decisionon Article 370 with RajyaSabha MP and chief whipBhubaneshwar Kalita resigningfrom the membership of theRajya Sabha opposing theparty’s stand and senior partyleader Janardan Dwivedi pub-licly supporting the ruling dis-pensation’s decision.

Rajya Sabha Chairman MVenkaiah Naidu announcedin the House that he has accept-ed Kalita’s resignation.

“I was asked by the party toissue a whip but this is againstthe mood of the nation. Theparty as it is on its way towardsdestruction and I can’t be a con-tributor to it,” he said in a letter.

Kalita is a Rajya Sabhamember from Assam. He hadonly a few months left in histenure and was due to retire onApril 9, 2020. He is the second

Congress MP from Rajya Sabhato resign in the recent past afterSanjay Sinh, a member of theerstwhile Amethi royal familywho has joined the BJP.

“I have resigned fromRajya Sabha membershiptoday,” Kalita said. Asked abouthis future plans, he said he willdisclose them after a few days.He did not confirm if he wasjoining the BJP.

For his part, Dwivedi’sassertion came even as theCongress staunchly opposedthe Government’s decision.

Dwivedi said: “My politicalguru Ram Manohar Lohia jiwas always against this Article.A mistake of history has beencorrected today, albeit late. Iwelcome this.”

Dwivedi speaking againstthe party’s line of action isn’tsurprising, as it comes whenthe Congress is facing a severeleadership crisis — one that hasled the party to lose itsGovernment in Karnataka and

its Goa MLAs, who switchedover to the BJP giving it a stran-glehold of the western coastalstate.

Several top Congress lead-ers like Shashi Tharoor,Amarinder Singh, Anil Shastri,Karan Singh amongst othersvoiced concern over lack ofclarity over the leadership issue

The party on Sundayannounced that CongressWorking Committee (CWC)will meet on August 10 to finda successor to Rahul Gandhi tolead the party. The meetingwould be the first since Rahulannounced his decision to quitas the party chief following theparty’s Lok Sabha debacle.

Many have opined thatPriyanka Gandhi was the needof the hour. However, Priyankahas said she is not ready to takethe baton since she was newerto the party as compared to hersibling Rahul too has ruled outthe possibility of a Gandhifamily member succeeding him

Tharoor even said that theparty should appoint an inter-im president and then holdinternal elections to seniorleadership positions whichwould allay all concerns.

The party is undergoing adeep crisis and elected repre-sentatives at national and Statelevel including Karnataka andMaharashtra have quit thegrand old party to join the rul-ing BJP. Leaders of the partyhave cited indecision and con-fusion within the rank and fileof the party after Rahul’s res-ignation as a reason to quit.

A host of leaders holdingparty positions, a majority ofthem in the middle-level, hadresigned after Rahul quit toenable restructuring of theparty. Top Congress leadershave been pondering over whocould succeed Rahul and sev-eral rounds of meetings havetaken place, but a decision onhis successor has not beentaken yet.

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The Constitution(Application to Jammu &

Kashmir) Order, 2019 super-seded ‘the Constitution(Application to Jammu &Kashmir) Order, 1954’. The1954 presidential proclama-tion, which was not passed byParliament, is what gave Article370 expression on ground.

Signed by the PresidentRam Nath Kovind, “it shallcome into force at once, and shall thereupon supersedethe Constitution (Applicationto Jammu & Kashmir) Order, 1954 as amended fromtime to time.

It is important to note thatArticle 370(1)(c) explicitlymentions that Article 1 of theIndian Constitution — whichlists the States of the Union —applies to Kashmir throughArticle 370. This means that itis Article 370 that binds theState of Jammu & Kashmir tothe Indian Union.

The notification modifyingArticle 370 declared: in provi-so to clause (3) of article 370 ofthis Constitution, the expres-sion “Constituent Assembly ofthe State referred to in clause(2)” shall read “LegislativeAssembly of the State”.

According to it, the provi-sions of only Article 1 andArticle 370 applied to the State.Article 1 states that India shallbe a Union of States and theterritory of India is composedof territories of States, theUnion Territories and any

acquired territories. Constitutional expert and

noted lawyer Harish Salve saidthat Article 370 provides for apresidential order. The presi-dential order of 1954 is nowsuperseded. The bill that’s beenintroduced is for reorganisa-tion. “You’ve had reorganisa-tion of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh,etc. There is no amendment ofArticle 370. No requirement ofthe amendment. There was apresidential order earlier, there’sa new order now. It may havefar-reaching political conse-quences but legally it’s fine,”Salve added.

Under Article 370, theCentre has no power to declarefinancial emergency. ThisArticle grants an autonomousstatus to Jammu & Kashmir.Citizens from other States can-not buy property in Jammu &Kashmir. While Article 35A,incorporated into theConstitution in 1954, providesspecial rights and privileges tothe citizens of the State.

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Wronged and displacedfrom the Valley in the

1990s, Kashmiri Pandits onMonday hailed the scrappingof Article 370 of theConstitution as a “historicevent” and hoped it wouldpave the way for return totheir homeland with honourand dignity.

Global Kashmiri PanditDiaspora (GKPD), a bodyrepresenting the communityacross the world, said thedecision cements territorial,political and cultural unity ofthe Indian Union.

“August 5, 2019 will godown in the history of thecountry as a day that has putthe lasting seal on the sover-eignty of Parliament over theentire Indian Union,” it said ina statement.

“The draft bill presentedby Home Minister Amit Shahin Parliament vindicates theideals of our great leaders likeSyama Prasad Mukherjee,Deendayal Upadhyaya, AtalBihari Vajpayee and otherswho dedicated or sacrificedtheir lives for the integrity andsovereignty of India,” theGKPD said.

This is for the first time

that the exiled communityhas heaved a sigh of relief thatits identity, culture and sym-bols of heritage will find fullprotection and perpetuationunder the Union territory dis-pensation, the statement said.

“With the abolition ofArticle 370, the Governmentof India will be able to bringJammu and Kashmir nearer tothe rest of the nation,” saidManoj Bhan, president of theJammu and Kashmir Vichaar Manch.

The Kashmiri Panditcommunity hopes that theModi government will chalkout a road map of their returnto the Valley soon, he said.“We want a separate settle-ment in the Valley where allKashmiri Pandits, who bornethe brunt of forced exodus,can live together,” Bhan said.

“August 5 will go down asKashmir Liberation Day.Liberation from dynastic rule,liberation from corruption,liberation from an unjustState. Liberation for everypart of this diverse state.Liberation for all,” PadamShri KN Pandita said.

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Page 8: ˘ˇ - The Pioneer...LTT Jnaneshwari Express remained cancelled. Moreover, Mumbai rains have not only made life deject-ed there but in the city mem-bers of Marathi community are also

Former Mumbai PoliceCommissioner and Director-General of Police, Gujarat andPunjab, Julio Ribeiro, recentlyexpressed unhappiness with the

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for inducing 10Congress MLAs to its side in Goa, deviatingfrom its political philosophy and ethics.Recalling his friendship with Laxmi KantaChawla and Hit Abhilashi in terrorism-afflict-ed Punjab, Ribeiro says he felt the BJP woulduphold “a different type of politics.”

He himself “never voted for the BJPbecause the general run of minority think-ing is that it is an exclusively Hindu party.”What a strange political orthodoxy to espouse.However, he explains, “My Hindu ancestorsin Goa were converted by the Portuguesemore than four centuries ago. Since then, wehave become a minority in our own countryand our vote goes to those who will protectour culture and identity.”

The officer misses the deep introspectionthis should have triggered. He does not sayif his ancestors converted out of attractiontowards the faith of the new conquerors orout of fear to escape the cruel Inquisition.Historical evidence suggests it was the latter.Did the new converts in Goa feel inferior tothe White invaders, and does the sense ofbeing “a minority in our own country” orig-inate with those tyrants? Or was it vis-à-visthe British, who dominated India until 1947,though Portugal retained its Goan colony tillIndia expelled it in 1961?

Obviously, this refined sense of minor-ityhood began with independence in Hindu-majority India, possibly due to subtle men-toring by the outgoing colonial masters.Unlike Jinnah and the Muslim League,Christians did not demand a separatehomeland but the church did eye and con-tinues to eye large tracts of India as aChristian lebensraum. The church has anacute political sense and has instilled deeppsychological separatism in the minds of itsflock. Priests openly suggest which party tosupport during elections, a diktat followedscrupulously. Hence, though Hindus cele-brate diversity and pose no threat to any-one’s culture or identity, a minority vote bankhas been created for political bargaining.

Simultaneously, 49 self-styled consciencekeepers of the nation (film-maker ManiRatnam later backed out) wrote to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi (July 23) demand-ing an end to the “lynching of Muslims, Dalitsand other minorities.” Projecting the allegedlynching as a routine affair, they demandedthat the offence be made non-bailable, whichmeans that anyone accused of a crime can bejailed without bail until the courts take up thematter. This is too clever by half.

In recent times, allegations of Muslimsbeing forced to say Jai Shri Ram have provedfalse on police investigation. Yet, the authorsof this inchoate letter plead they should notbe branded as anti-Government when theyexercise free speech. The wide dissemination

of their letter proves that freemedia and free speech areblooming in India. Interestingly,one of the signatories was con-victed of sedition in 2010 and ison bail during pendency of hisappeal.

The senior police officerand 49 eminences (minus one)are part of an ecosystem uniqueto India. The Hindu majority isdubbed as communal anddemonised; vicious propagandais spread against it within thecountry and in the West (main-ly London, Washington and UNbodies), even as the “consciencekeepers” are embedded inGovernment structures in Indiaor receive other forms of Statepatronage, if not both (foreignawards are separate). However, inrecent years, the narrative isbringing diminishing returns asHindus shun political formationsthat demean them. Its demiseabroad is a matter of time, thanksto Western economic decline.

The open letter is an attemptto extend the shelf-life of theirfalse narratives. So selective istheir truth that they kept a deaf-ening silence when separatistleaders in the Kashmir Valley qui-etly sent their offspring abroad tostudy, work and settle down,while exhorting poor families tosend their wards to pelt stones atsecurity forces. Being part of thesame ecosystem, this “Lutyensextended family” was aware ofthe truth, but kept quiet asteenagers bunked school to nee-

dle security forces that werecompelled to retaliate — allaimed at showing the world thatthe Indian state is keepingKashmir by force.

Despite ignoring the truth inJammu & Kashmir, these emi-nences cringe from accepting theanti-national tag. They professcompassion for the sufferingmultitudes but have never said aword in support of the KashmiriPandit community which wasdriven out of the Valley in thewinter of 1989-1990. Later, theyshamelessly blamed the thenGovernor Jagmohan, whoarrived in Srinagar on the morn-ing of the exodus and was pow-erless to prevent it.

The signatories have neverspoken up for tribal victims ofNaxal terror but lionise “urbannaxals” as human rights cru-saders. They maintained silencewhen calls to dismember Indiarang out in the heart of the cap-ital and showed more compas-sion for Ajmal Kasab, who per-petrated unspeakable horror inMumbai in 2008 and for AfzalGuru, mastermind of the attackon Parliament in 2001.

In West Bengal, the last bas-tion of secular-minority irre-dentism, the Chief Ministerordered imprisonment of thosechanting Jai Shri Ram; violencewas unleashed during thePanchayat elections in 2018 andthe Lok Sabha elections in 2019;students were fired upon inDaribhit High School for

demanding a teacher of Englishand computers; temples werevandalised in Kaliachak,Deganga, Baduria and Raniganj.There have been many episodesof violence against BJP workers,but not one eminence called theChief Minister or TrinamoolCongress (TMC) workers toaccount.

In July 2019, a temple wasvandalised in Chandni Chowkin the heart of the capital; pub-lic anger ensured that the inci-dent could not be hushed up.But the “Lutyens united fami-ly” remained unfazed. Its great-est moment came in September2018, when the Supreme Courtruled that women of all agescould enter the SabarimalaTemple, breaking a centuries-old restriction on women of acertain age group. Despite aspontaneous #Ready-to-waitmovement, non-believers eggedon by Kerala Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan tried to gate-crash the temple precincts tohumiliate the devotees.

We thus see a narrative of“majority oppression” coupledwith strong advocacy of every-thing Hindus consider unfairand unjust. For these stalwartsto complain of threats to theirfreedom of speech is just anoth-er perversion of the public dis-course in India.

(The writer is Senior Fellow,Nehru Memorial Museum andLibrary; the views expressed arepersonal)

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Sir — It is welcome that the LokSabha Speaker has provided theoption of delivering papers onlineto the members in lieu of physi-cal copies from the next sessiononwards. The decision to gopaper-free, while optional fornow, must be made mandatorymeasure. As most of the membershave access to emails and technol-ogy, it is high time that both theLok Sabha and the Rajya Sabhawent paper-free and ensure seam-less communication.

The Lok Sabha Secretariatmay also adopt the best practicesof the other bodies like theEuropean Union, the UnitedNations Secretariat and the UNGeneral Assembly, which followa robust paper-free documenta-tion system. Further, effortsshould be made by the Ministryof Parliamentary Affairs to pro-vide the details of private mem-ber Bills and Bills amended/tabledthrough a news website regular-ly. Extensive effort is necessary todisseminate regular updates ofparliamentary proceedingsthrough news portals.

Varun DambalBengaluru

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Food democracy” (August 2).It has become fashionable forpeople to misuse the social mediaforum to create needless contro-versy so as to create divisions onreligious lines. This was aptlyproved by the Zomato episodewhere a customer cancelled an

order as the person, who wasassigned to deliver his order, wasa “non-Hindu”. Later, he eventook pride in the fact that he hadcancelled his order and, thus, for-gone the refund.

This episode reflects on thehighly polarised times that we areliving in. However, this is not forthe first time that such bigotry hasbeen reported. Earlier, one cus-tomer had refused to ride a cab

since the driver happened to befrom a particular community.

Imagine what would happenif people from other communitiesstarted following the same lines?The Madhya Pradesh police hasfiled a case against the customerbut the Central Governmentmust take harsh measures to pre-vent such religious appeasement.

N NagarajanVia email

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Food democracy” (August 2).While Zomato’s response to acustomer, who refused to acceptfood from a delivery executivewho happened to belong to theMuslim community is laudable,the fact of the matter is that thedream of an egalitarian societystill remains elusive.

Kudos to Zomato for notyielding to such a ranciddemand and emphatically refus-ing to do so by saying, “Food hasno religion.” This bravo act ofZomato is more praiseworthy insuch polarised atmosphere.Again, this unpleasant shockreeks of deeply imbedded big-otry in our psyche and the onuslies on each and every individ-ual to shun any kind of bigotryto make this world a more tol-erant place to live. Any form ofreligious appeasement andexcessive recourse to religiousdogma in the public space mustbe avoided.

Rohit KaushikVia email

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In this article, I have divided my view into twoparts. In the first, I have asked why the super-rich must pay their fair share in nation-build-

ing and other avenues to raise future revenues.The second half is a plea to facilitate and enthusethe industry instead of throttling India Inc, thegolden goose that pays taxes and creates jobs.

“Gandhiji’s trusteeship principle stated thatlegitimate profit earnings cannot be devoid ofsocial responsibility.” This means individuals,who are recipients of windfall gains unprecedent-ed in the economic history thus far, must paytheir fair share of progressive taxation onincome — whether it’s the highest high net worthindividuals (HHNI), the affluent farmers or CSRnon-compliant companies. The Indian economyis in a “negative uncharted territory” with feweravenues left to collect revenue. Perhaps it’s timefor the Government to even think of taxing big-tech internet companies, unafraid of US PresidentDonald Trump’s tantrums, by taking a leaf fromthe French Government. France became the firstcountry to approve a three per cent tax on localrevenues (instead of taxing only profits) from UStech giants. Japan and Singapore are expected tofollow suit.

While super-rich individuals are obliged topay higher taxes relative to their income, the con-verse is also true that India needs to enthuseentrepreneurial spirit to realise its distant dreamof becoming a $5 trillion economy. It mustremove the impediments to its growth. This canstart with the lowering of corporate taxes on the6,000 largest firms, who continue to be taxed at30 per cent, as compared to 17-21 per cent in thedeveloped countries in next year’s budget; firm-ly admonishing overzealous tax officials to stoptax terrorism; addressing liquidity crunch thathas bought credit supply to a standstill; andfuelling a virtuous cycle of consumption. Till eco-nomic activity does not revive on all cylinders,neither will jobs, savings or Government’s rev-enue improve from the current six per cent.

With dismal economic data on sectoral loss-es due to contraction in investments, consump-tion and external demand coming to light on adaily basis, there is a prevailing sense of déjà vuthat presages a 2008-like economic crisis. Eachday, post the budget, the Sensex has chipped awaya few hundred points. This has been attributedto the 9,400 Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPI)pulling out a net of �11,000 crore in July fromthe Indian markets in a tantrum response to thesurcharge on the super-rich. Policy interventionsare desperately needed to ring-fence specific FPI’strust entities through the directive under Section119 of the IT act as their exodus has weakenedmarket sentiments, affecting retail investors andnot only HNI’s. Once resolved, considering theearning opportunities in India, this is a tempo-rary phase as FPIs will ultimately return andincrease their holdings as valuations turn moreattractive once the markets bottom out.

As the Budget did not increase the tax burdenon the middle classes, the surcharge specific to indi-viduals was one avenue for the Government tomobilise revenue for its welfare schemes. Acrossdeveloped nations, the ultra-rich, 0.01 per cent ofthe likes of Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and big-techcompanies, are volunteering to pay higher taxa-tion, proportionate to their windfall gains.

Second, there is a moral quotient involved

herein where philanthrophic instincts inIndia are so minimal that theGovernment had to make CorporateSocial Responsibility (CSR) mandatoryunder Section 135 of the Companies Actin 2013. Despite making two per cent ofprofits earned over an average of threeyears compulsory, many profitableindustries remain non-compliant asper the latest findings by the Comptrollerand Auditor General of India (CAG).The rich are now getting richer withsharper increases in the value of theirpersonal wealth, relative to national percapita income and savings. India todaystruggles with a Gross National Income(GNI) of around $2,000 per capita ascompared to China, with a GNI per capi-ta of $9,800.

To widen the tax net, theGovernment must find ways to tax therich farmer. The CAG found that agri-cultural income of nearly �500 crorewas allowed as exemption in 2017-18by the income-tax authorities withoutadequate verification. The TARC hadrecommended that farmers with agri-cultural income of �50 lakh plus shouldpay income tax. As the decision to levya tax on agriculture income lies with theState Governments, this can be imposedonly if they pass a resolution underArticle 252 of the Constitution, autho-rising the Centre to do so.

One grants that Governments can-not have a “rob from Peter to pay Paulattitude” towards the rich, nor resort tooppressive tax terrorism — a pre-existing malady of the IT departmentfrom the UPA era. In the case of thetragic suicide of Cafe Coffee Dayfounder VG Siddhartha, what warrant-

ed the attachment of assets premature-ly when the assessments were incom-plete and his business needed to mon-etise assets to repay debt? Businesses failbut failure cannot be criminalised.This has made India Inc unite in vent-ing suppressed anger at using coercivemeasures to raise arbitrary demands byassessing officers, forced to meet unre-alistic targets upon which theirappraisals are based.

Consider this factoid that the ITdepartment is the biggest litigant witha petition rate of above 80 per cent andsuccess rates of under 30 per cent. Inits haste to cleanse the system, is theGovernment failing to distinguishbetween genuine business failures andwilful defaulters and tax evaders, whopreviously gamed the system?

These are challenging times andwhat the business community needs arepredictability, stability of policies andsustained dialogue with theGovernment to recalibrate policy. TheIndian economy was driven by the twinengines of growth: Domestic con-sumption and Government-fundedpublic investments — both of whichneed expansionary monetary and fis-cal stimulus. Further, newer incentivesare needed for the dwindling exportsector as de-globalisation has hurtexports due to protectionist policies ofthe West. Besides, while Phase I of theglobalisation relied on outsourcingfrom low-wage countries, in Phase II,that wage-arbitrage has narrowed withonly 18 per cent of the global goods cur-rently traded involving exports tohigher-wage countries. Key enablers forglobal competitiveness are rationalising

power tariffs, labour and land laws.Lastly, the build up of toxic assets in

the banks has hampered their ability tolend further. The much-needed liquid-ity infusion of �10,000 crore must findits way into priority sector lending byproviding credit for MSME’s, automo-bile, retail and housing finance compa-nies to lend for affordable housing — allof which will raise the Gross DomesticProduct (GDP). Because India’s $2.7 tril-lion economy needs real growth ratesclose to nine per cent if we have to reachthe $5 trillion-mark by 2024-25.

The other great worry is the rise ofleverage in sovereign, personal and cor-porate debt globally with the nationalaverage debt of advanced economiessurpassing 100 per cent of the GDP.Easy credit in the past fuelled asset bub-bles in stocks markets and the housingsector, presaging recession, which last-ed longer and made deeper cuts.Government borrowings through sov-ereign loans at low interest rates couldbecome a dangerous practice of relyingon cheap loans to continually fund pop-ulist schemes. Though sovereign bor-rowings bring money into the econo-my at lower interest rates, it is impor-tant “monetary policies support growth,without the risky build-up of leverage”.

Modi 2.0 will hopefully get moreproactive instead of a reactive stanceto economic challenges as even reme-dial policies take a minimum of sixmonths to kick in. The first step is toenthuse India Inc, the golden geesethat lay the golden eggs.

(The writer is an author, columnist andchairperson for the National Committee forFinancial Inclusion at Niti Aayog)

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On July 23, a two-judge Benchof the Supreme Court ofIndia, consisting of Justice

Arun Mishra and Justice UdayLalit, delivered a historic judgementin the case of writ petition (civil) No940/2017, Bikram Chatterji andothers vs Union of India and others,to bring governance back on therails. The move has, thus, ensuredjustice to more than 42,000 hassledhome buyers of Noida and GreaterNoida. The Executive miserablyfailed on this count.

The verdict will long be remem-bered as one of the finest judicialdecision taken in recent times. Thecourt’s decision came after a deepstudy of facts and chasing the

wrongdoers to their graves. At thesame time, the court also unearthedone of the biggest real estate scamconducted under the very nose andconnivance of officials and politi-cal leaders. The court was ablyassisted by senior lawyer MLLahoty, the National Company LawTribunal, forensic auditors and flatbuyer crusader, Amit Gupta, whotook a lot of personal risk in pur-suing the case to its logical end.

While quoting the forensicauditors appointed by it, the apexcourt stated that a “serious fraud”has been played by the Amrapaligroup. It was done in connivancewith authorities in Noida andGreater Noida. Money was divert-ed to personal accounts of thecompany’s directors and otherdummy firms. Bogus bills in viola-tion of the Foreign ExchangeManagement Act (FEMA) werecreated as they obtained invest-ments and over valued them tosiphon off the home buyers’ money.The court has ordered theEnforcement Directorate to nab theculprits. The criminals left no stone

unturned to launder the money.They obtained loan from banks inthe name of home buyers andswindled it. The bank officialsworked in tandem with theAmrapali group, ignored regula-tions and turned a blind eye to thefraud committed by the directors ofAmrapali. On top of all this, thesethugs did not prepare accountsfrom 2015 to 2018, knowing it wellthat it was all going to be over.

To set things right, the courtordered the cancellation of the reg-istration of the Amrapali groupunder the Real Estate (Regulationand Development) Act, 2016, can-celled the lease deeds signed betweenthe builder and the authorities andvested the rights of these deeds to thereceiver, senior advocate VenkatRamani, appointed by the court.

It is of equal importance thatbesides pulling up the Amrapaligroup, the court castigated the Noidaand Greater Noida authorities as wellas the banks for their connivance andpalpable negligence. In order toensure that the buyers get possessionof their dream homes soon, the court

appointed the National BuildingConstruction Corporation (NBCC),which has been assisting it in assess-ing the cost and time, for the com-pletion of the housing projects thathave been lying in limbo. The NBCChas pegged its fee at eight per centof the construction cost. The courtalso rightfully debarred the Noidaand Greater Noida authorities fromstaking claim to the �3,600 crore bal-ance with the Amrapali group.

This writer had always beenhighlighting the fact that the author-ities had no business to make moneyout of an acquired land from thefarmers by invoking extraordinaryclauses and then auction them forhousing to mint money. In fact, thisis a very lethal concept of befoolingthe political leadership to createthese agencies to get away withGovernment rules and then dowhatever they like to do. The Centraland State Government must reviewthis culture of constitution of suchpompous bodies and put properchecks and balances.

However, the best part of theSupreme Court’s judgement was

that the buyers have been asked todeposit the balance money as perthe builder-buyer agreement underthe supervision of the court receiv-er. It further directed the authori-ties to smoothly register the prop-erties and that the dues to the tuneof �3,600 crore should be recoveredby selling off the attached proper-ties of the Amrapali group.

However, a few niggling issuesremain. First, once the buyersdeposit 100 per cent of the dueamount in the Supreme Court, acommittee of buyers should beformed for each project so as toassist the court receiver. This com-mittee should also help the receiv-er in auditing the work of theNBCC so that payments are linkedto the progress of construction.

Second, the court invoked theviolation of the Public Trust Doctrineby the Noida and Greater Noidaauthorities and held them equallyaccountable for the fraud. The homebuyers’ funds were utilised by theAmrapali group’s directors/promot-er vis-à-vis payments to the landauthorities, which amount to more

than �500 crore as stated by bothauthorities. As per the court order,the lease has been terminated andRERA registrations of all projectshave been cancelled. The authorityhad no claim on this as they failedto check the fraud. This amountshould immediately be depositedwith the NBCC so that it can start thework as per its project report submit-ted before the court. This fund canbe used as “seed capital” to kick offconstruction, may be as an alterna-tive to the demand of “stress funds”by Amrapali home buyers.

The Government of India needsto use this judgement to reform thereal estate sector. At the same time,the Uttar Pradesh Governmentneeds to take strict action againstofficials and authorities, who madea mockery of governance. Thisjudgement may bring a new era inthe real estate sector and preventfrauds. But the Centre as well asState Governments will have to fol-low the court orders in the truespirit to end it for all.

(The writer is a former civil servant)

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Equity benchmark SensexMonday crashed over 418

points to slip below the 36,700-level, a near five-month low, asmassive global sell-offs andgrowing political uncertain-ties in Kashmir rattledinvestors’ sentiment.

Likewise, the NSE gaugeNifty dived nearly 135 points toclose at 10,862.60.

Both benchmark indices —Sensex and Nifty — saw anintense volatility throughoutthe session due to multipleheadwinds like escalation inUS-China trade war, weak cor-porate earnings, rupee down-fall and political tensions inJammu and Kashmir.

After cracking over 700points in day trade, the 30-share index pared losses toclose at 36,699.84, still down by418.38 points, or 1.13 per cent.It hit a low of 36,416.79 and ahigh of 36,844.05.

The 50-share Nifty plungedby 134.75 points or 1.23 percent to close at 10,862.60 pointsas 38 of its constituentsdeclined.

Among the top losers inthe Sensex pack were: Yes Bank(8.15 per cent), Tata Motors(5.25 per cent), PowerGrid(4.42 per cent), RIL (3.48 percent) and Kotak Bank (3.13 percent).

On the other hand, BhartiAirtel, TCS, Tech Mahindra,HDFC and Bajaj Auto emergedas top gainers.

Sectorally, except IT otherindices ended in the red led byenergy (down 2.7 per cent) fol-lowed by metal, bank, auto,FMCG, infra and pharma. BSESmallcap and Midcap index fellover 1 per cent.

“Multiple headwinds led tomarket volatility for the day.Concerns of political crisisdeveloping in J&K and no fur-ther cues on exclusion of sur-charge to FPI’s added to volatil-ity in the market. Selling wasbroad based despite late recov-ery witnessed in auto andbanks while IT held on withgains due to weakening rupee.Consolidation may extendgiven the headwinds in globaltrade negotiations and riskaversion strategy by FPIs,” saidVinod Nair, Head of Research,Geojit Financial Services Ltd.

The government onMonday abolished Article 370that gave special status to

Jammu and Kashmir andmoved a separate bill to bifur-cate the state into two separateunion territories of Jammuand Kashmir, and Ladakh,amid massive oppositionuproar in Rajya Sabha.

The rupee declined sharplyby 90 paise to 70.50 in after-noon trade following jitters inthe global currency markets.

The Chinese yuan slipped to7.03 level against the US dollar,which investors consider as a keythreshold, amid reports thatBeijing was devaluing its cur-rency to support exporters, andneutralise US President DonaldTrump’s decision to imposefresh 10 per cent tariffs on USD300 billion in Chinese goods.

In Asian markets, ShanghaiComposite Index, Hang Seng,Nikkei and Kospi declined onMonday, following intensifyingtrade war between the US andChina and a sharp fall in yuan.

The global oil benchmarkBrent crude futures were trad-ing 0.74 per cent lower at 61.43per barrel.

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The rupee on Mondaycrashed by 113 paise — the

biggest single-day drop in pastsix years — to close at a five-month low of 70.73 due toheavy capital outflows byinvestors anxious over the US-China trade tension, a sharpdevaluation in yuan and uncer-tainty over Kashmir issue.

This was the third straightsession of fall for the rupee,during which it lost a massive194 paise.

The US-China trade-relat-ed concerns weighed on theinvestor community and keptthe pressure on the Indianrupee, forex traders said.

“India’s rupee tumbled themost since December triggeredby depreciating Yuan. ChineseYuan weakened beyond 7 perdollar for the first time since2008, signalling a new phase inthe trade war between US andChina,” said V K Sharma, HeadPCG & Capital MarketsStrategy, HDFC Securities.

Rahul Gupta, CurrencyResearch Head, Emkay GlobalFinancial Services said follow-ing the global trade turmoilbetween US-China and politi-cal imbalance in Kashmir ledUSD/INR the rupee opened ona weak note.

Many forex traders wouldnow likely rush to protect theirpositions in emerging mar-

kets currencies and get out asChina seems more than willingto let its currency crumble in aneffort to shore up trade vol-umes and negate the pricingimpact from US tariffs, saidRajesh Cheruvu, The ChiefInvestment Officer, ValidusWealth.

“The ramifications forChina would, of course, be thecapital markets outflows fromthe country. The INR shouldalso mirror some of the sameweakness and FPIs may con-tinue their dumping spree ofIndian assets resulting in ableak near term outlook for theINR,” he projected.

In a highly volatile trade,the rupee opened at 70.20 at theinterbank forex market andtouched a low of 70.74 and ahigh of 70.18 against theAmerican currency.

The currency finally settledat 70.73 against the US dollar— a level not seen since March1 — down 113 paise or 1.62 percent over its previous closingprice. This is the highest single-day fall for the rupee sinceAugust 2013.

Traders said the near termfocus will be on the RBI’smonetary policy meetingscheduled to announce out-come on August 7th. The mar-ket has already priced in 25 bpscut in interest rate amid lowercore CPI and persistent eco-nomic slowdown.

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Industry leaders on Mondayhailed Narendra Modi-led

government’s decision to scrapArticle 370 which gave specialstatus to Jammu and Kashmir,saying the “historic” move willnot only empower its peoplebut make India stronger.

The industry leaders alsosaw the development as the BJPfulfilling its election promise todo away with the Article andsaid it would pave the way forJammu and Kashmir to attractlarge-scale investments.

“What the nation sawtoday will be truly historic if itopens the gateway for devel-opment and peace in#JammuAndKashmir. It willnot just empower the Kashmiripeople but make India stronger.#Article370,” Adani GroupChairman Gautam Adanitweeted.

“Of course, it (scrapping ofArticle 370) will pave the wayfor Jammu and Kashmir toattract large-scale investments,”President of PHD Chamber ofCommerce and Industry

Rajeev Talwar told PTI.He further said since

doing away with Article 370was a part of the BJP’s mani-festo, it has the support of amajority of people in thecountry who voted the partyto power with a decisive man-date in the recently held gen-eral elections.

Earlier in the day before theannouncement was made,Mahindra group ChairmanAnand Mahindra tweeted,“Cannot pretend this is justanother Monday morning. Theentire country is waiting toexhale over Kashmir. Can onlypray for the safety of everyonethere & for an outcome thatmakes the nation stronger &the future more positive.”

Later in another tweet,Mahindra said: “There aresome decisions, which whentaken, evoke the reaction “Whycouldn’t this have happenedearlier?” Today’s decision fallsin that category. It’s time for usall to embrace Kashmiris as anindistinguishable & inseparablepart of our national commu-nity”.

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The Reserve Bank of India isexpected to cut key policy

rates by 25 basis points onWednesday taking the bench-mark repo rate to 5.50 per cent,says a DBS report.

According to DBS, mone-tary policy easing will have tocontinue with a sub-targetinflation on hand. Moreover,soft numbers (auto, cementsales, production, PMIs, con-struction sector) underscoresweak economic activity.

“Consensus expects theReserve Bank of India tolower its repo rate by 25 bpsto 5.50 per cent at its mone-tary policy meeting on August7,” DBS said in a researchreport. The Monetary PolicyCommittee (MPC) will meetduring August 5 to 7, 2019 forthe Third Bi-monthlyMonetary Policy Statementfor 2019-20.

In its June policy review,while reducing the rate for thethird time in a row, the RBI hadsignalled more easing as itlooked to support an economygrowing at the slowest pacesince the BJP first came topower in 2014.

India’s economic growthrate slowed to a five-year lowof 5.8 per cent in the January-March quarter of 2018-19, dueto poor performance in theagriculture and manufacturingsectors.

New Delhi: Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has suc-cessfully commissioned one more pumping unit (Unit 5) of 116MW of the 7x116 MW Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (LIS)Package-6 in Telangana. BHEL has earlier commissioned 4 Unitsof the same project in April and May, 2019. Significantly, the pumpfor each unit is designed to lift 89.16 cumecs (cubic metres persecond) of water by 105.5 metres. Being developed by theIrrigation & CAD (I&CAD) department of the Government ofTelangana, the greenfield lift irrigation project (formerly knownas Pranhita Chevella) is located in Peddapalli district ofTelangana. In the project, water shall be lifted from SripadaYellampalli reservoir to Medaram reservoir and will be used forirrigation and water supply in nearby areas. PNS

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China allowed its yuan to fallbelow the politically sensi-

tive level of seven to the US dol-lar on Monday for the first timein 11 years, prompting concernthat Beijing might use devalu-ation as a weapon in a tariff warwith Washington.

The central bank blamed theexchange rate’s decline on “tradeprotectionism.” That followedPresident Donald Trump’s threatlast week of more tariff hikes onChinese goods in a bruising fightover Beijing’s trade surplus andtechnology policies.

The currency weakened to7.0391 to the dollar by lateafternoon, making one yuanworth 14.2 cents, its lowest levelsince February 2008.

The weakness of the yuan,also known as the renminbi, or“people’s money,” is amongU.S. Grievances against Beijing.American officials complain itmakes Chinese export pricesunfairly low, hurting foreigncompetitors and swellingBeijing’s trade surplus.

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The Government onMonday said it will soon

hold discussions with repre-sentatives of foreign portfolioinvestors, amid continuingoverseas fund outflow from themarkets following the deci-sion to impose surcharge oncertain class of such investors.

Briefing reporters here,Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman also said “nothingmore” has been done on theproposed issuance of sovereignbonds apart from theannouncement in the UnionBudget.

Economic Affairs SecretaryAtanu Chakraborty would holddiscussions with representa-tives of Foreign PortfolioInvestors (FPIs) soon, the min-ister said.

“I am quite open to hearthem out what they (FPIs)have to say,” she added.

FPIs pulled out �2,881.10crore from debt and equity seg-ments on August 1 and 2. InJuly, they had withdrawn a netamount of �2,985.88 crorefrom the capital markets.

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Page 11: ˘ˇ - The Pioneer...LTT Jnaneshwari Express remained cancelled. Moreover, Mumbai rains have not only made life deject-ed there but in the city mem-bers of Marathi community are also

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India is home to the world’s second largest population, withrheumatological disorders affecting 6 per cent to 24 per cent

of the population. However, certain chronic rheumatological con-ditions like Ankylosing Spondylitis are becoming increasinglyprevalent in India, largely affecting the millennial population.

Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) is an irreversible, inflammato-ry and autoimmune disease that affects the joints of the spineand of the lower limbs. Also known as ‘arthritis of the spine,’ itoccurs when an overgrowth in the spine’s bones causes them tofuse together to form a rigid spine. Prevalent amongst one in 200to 500 of the adult population, AS more commonly affects youngmen, especially in their teens and between their early twentiesand thirties.

The condition which affects men during the most active andproductive years of their lives, can lead to ‘structural damage pro-gression.’ This means, if the condition is left untreated and undi-agnosed, it can severely disrupt mobility, cause damage to pos-ture, which can bend the spine and neck to an extent that it maybecome impossible for one to lift their head high enough to seeforward. In some cases, patients can become wheelchair bound.

�Signs: Key signs include pain during early mornings, espe-cially 30-45 minutes after waking up which can last upto sever-al weeks or more despite taking painkillers. AS is generally diag-

nosed through physical exami-nation, X-Ray, MRI and a seriesof blood tests.

Most people with AS have agene called HLA-B27 whichcan be detected by a blood test.While this gene is not theabsolute cause of AnkylosingSpondylitis, it can contribute toit. Also, if one has this gene, itdoes not necessarily mean thatthe person would definitely beaffected by AS.

�Treatment: Painkillers,anti-inflammatory drugs andsteroids are prescribed by doc-tors to ease inflammation andaccompanying pain. While com-monly used painkillers helpreduce pain, they provide short-term relief. Medical experts alsorecommend newer andadvanced treatment options likebiologics, that help slow downstructural damage progressionand aim at preventing bonefusion, which could be dis-

abling. Many patients are on treatment with biologics and thishas changed the treatment paradigm from simple anlfesic andpainkillers to definitive therapy that reduces the disease’smarch.

AS is mistaken for regular spondylitis or general back painand therefore leads to delayed diagnosis among the patients.

Apart from the prolonged, physical burden, AS can also haveserious emotional repercussions on the patients.

It is advisable that patients should visit a rheumatologist withnecessary blood reports sooner rather than later.

�Management: In addition to medical treatment, self-helpand maintaining a healthy lifestyle is equally significant for themanagement of AS. Patients are advised physiotherapy,hydrotherapy, exercise and posture modification to improve theirquality of life.

They should also maintain a healthy dietary regimen, as gutand urinary infections might cause flare ups of AS. Patients arealso advised to avoid smoking and consumption of tobacco.

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���!�0 The peach is a juicy fruit that belongs to the genusPrunus. Peaches are rich in antioxidant which helps

reduce wrinkles and improves skin texture. It also helpcombat the formation of free radicals known to causecancer.

The dietary fiber in peaches helps regulate and improvedigestion. And in addition to being good for digestion, thefruit also acts as a diuretic — it helps cleanse your kidneysand the bladder.

Studies have shown that eating peaches regularly alsohelps in improving eye sight.

The fiber, potassium,Vitamin C andcholine content inpeaches all supportheart health. Italso provesbeneficial inDiabetes.

Moreover,peaches help tofight dehydrationand boost yourenergy levels.

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A retrospectiveanalysis of dataaround viral

hepatitis (A, B, C and E) bySRL Diagnostics — revealsthat viral hepatitis is predominant in the agegroup of 16 to 30 years (49 per cent). As perthe SRL data, the water-borne hepatitis Evirus was found to be the most common(23 per cent) laboratory diagnosed viralhepatitis in India. This was followed byhepatitis A virus (19 per cent). A total of3978 samples were selected and analysedwherein tests for all four hepatitis viruseswere done in one person in one go.

The study highlighted that all four typesof viral hepatitis are more common inyounger age groups of between 16 and 30years. The waterborne virus infections,hepatitis A virus (HAV) infections were par-ticularly common in the young adult agegroup of 16-30 years followed by hepatitisE virus (HEV). HAV is the most commoncause of acute hepatitis in paediatric agegroup (1–3 years). However, with theimprovement in socioeconomic condi-tions and vaccination, early childhoodexposure to HAV has decreased marked-ly. Hence, there has been a gradual shift inthe age of acquiring the infection fromchildhood to adulthood.

Viral hepatitis is a cause for majorhealth care burden in India. Despite asmany as 400 million people being affectedby the disease globally, hepatitis has large-ly been ignored. Amongst major cities, themost prevalent hepatitis in Delhi-NCR washepatitis A (53 per cent).

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Hair fall and thinning isbecoming common.There are several rea-

sons for the same. Change inseason being one of them.When we wash our hair, theybecome moist. Duringmonsoon, when theair is already satu-rated, frequentwashing ofhair will makethem wetter.This leads tomore hairfall. Here iswhat one cando to preventthis:

First, do notwash your hair fre-quently. Keep hair dry. Thiswill help minimise the chancesof breakage and damagecaused by dampness andhumidity.

Second, use a mild sham-poo. However, this is some-

thing that one should follow allthrough the year. In fact, oneshould use reetha, amla andshikakai to wash ones hair. Notwill will it keep the hair healthyand shiny, it will prevent hair

fall.Third, what

you eat makesa difference.

Eat a bal-anced dietw h i c hincludesproteinslike eggs,fish, nuts

and greenleafy vegeta-

bles.Four, don’t use

styling tools and chem-icals to style the hair. Duringmonsoon, the hair loses itsbounce and there is tendencyto use products. Excessive usecan lead to hair fall and alsocause dandruff.

Change of season, be it summeror monsoon, brings with it hair

fall due to humidity and moisture. ROSHANI DEVI sharessimple home remedies to not only

keep the tresses healthy but toprevent their fall as well

Being more socially active in 50s and 60sis associated with a lower risk of devel-

oping dementia later on, a new researchhas found. “People who are sociallyengaged are exercising cognitive skillssuch as memory and language,which may help them to devel-op cognitive reserve while itmay not stop their brains fromchanging, cognitive reservecould help people cope betterwith the effects of age and delayany symptoms of dementia,” saidsenior author Gill Livingston,Professor at University College London.

The research, published in the jour-nal PLOS Medicine, used data from theWhitehall II study, tracking 10,228 partic-ipants who had been asked on six occa-sions between 1985 and 2013 about theirfrequency of social contact with friendsand relatives. The same participants alsocompleted cognitive testing from 1997

onwards, and researchers referred to thestudy participants’ electronic healthrecords up until 2017 to see if they wereever diagnosed with dementia.

For the analysis, the research teamfocused on the relationships

between social contact at age 50,60 and 70, and subsequent inci-dence of dementia, and whethersocial contact was linked tocognitive decline, after account-

ing for other factors such as edu-cation, employment, marital sta-

tus and socioeconomic status.The researchers found that increased

social contact at age 60 is associated witha significantly lower risk of developingdementia later in life. The analysis showedthat someone who saw friends almost dailyat age 60 was 12 per cent less likely todevelop dementia than someone who onlysaw one or two friends every few months.

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The birth of a baby is a unique and admirableexperience for any parent and there are

many touching moments and emotions involvedduring a baby’s growth. The nap time, the firstlaugh and funny faces — moments that bringtogether a bundle of surprises, laughter and fun;these memories get even more precious whenmoments like bathing, changing and moistur-ising come alive as a daily routine embracingthe bonding. That feeling is amazing when helooks right into your eyes or when she startslaughing or she abandons herself into your arms.Parenthood brings many enjoyable moments inyour life along with a concern of keeping thelittle one safe from anything harmful. In orderto attain complete protection for the toddler, it’snecessary to begin with right choice of prod-ucts.

When shopping for a toddler, the goldenrule is to look for products especially for babiesavoiding the products formulated for every age.As researched and scientifically proven, ababy’s skin is more dedicate and prone to catchdiseases like skin irritation, burns, dryness andlocal allergies.

The maturation process that turns baby skininto adult skin is significant especially duringthe first months and continues during the earlyyears; the skin continues to develop and evolvenaturally in terms of structure, composition andfunctions. Hence, the mindset of a parent shouldbe to protect the natural essence of the baby’sdelicate skin.

Putting some light on the details of parabensin products, they are widely used as a preser-vative because of their affordability and capa-bility of rapidly excreted from the body. At thesame time, studies have shown that parabenswhen contained in baby products might harmas the baby’s delicate skin is more likely toabsorb different toxins than an adult’s skin.Apart from this, perfume, soap and alcohol,often found in adult products, can all irritateyour baby’s skin or even cause an allergic reac-tion; skincare products made for babies shouldhave lower levels of fragrance and should notcontain soap or alcohol.

To err on the safe side, it’s best to replacethe products your baby use to ones that are total-ly paraben-free and can help maintain the pHbalance of the skin. Going with natural ingre-dients and organic products is the safest for thelittle one. Plant-based natural raw materialsderived from rice,sweet almond, wheat germand avocado have been chosen for their leni-tive, moisturising, protective andemollient fea-tures. The line is also characterised by the pres-ence of Vitamin E, with its repairing action,andof panthenol, with its remarkable moisturising,emollient and lenitive properties.

You should always make sure that the skin-care products have natural ingredients and noharmful or toxic chemicals. For example, a mas-sage oil, baby wash, hair oil, baby lotions; allthese are beneficial for the growth and devel-opment of the newborn. It strengthens thebaby’s bones and muscles and stimulates theproductive growth of the whole body.

In some cases, where the baby’s skin is sen-sitive and prone to allergic rashes, please per-form a patch test before use. Pour few drops oflotion/oil/cream on the baby’s hand to check.Use the product only if you see no signs of irri-tation and allergy, its essential to be cautiouswith these daily routines. As always, keepingyourself and your little one happy and healthyis of utmost importance in everything you do!

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Thyroid gland is a butterfly-shaped glandwhich is located in the front of our neckand is an endocrine gland. Hormones are

stored and are produced in the thyroid glandand it affects the functioning of the variousorgans in the body. The hormones regulate thebody’s metabolic rate as well as heart and diges-tive function, brain development, musclecontrol, bone maintenance and mood.

Part of the endocrine system, the thyroidis critical to maintain everyday health. It pro-duces two major hormones known as theThyroxin or T4 (Tetraiodothyronine) and T3(Triiodothyronine).The pituitary produces aThyroid Stimulating Hormone which controlsand monitors the amount of T4 & T3 producedand released by the Thyroid gland.

A damaged or sluggish thyroid gland is adisorder of the endocrine system, causinginsufficient levels of thyroid hormone to beproduced. Body gets affected when thyroid lev-els fall. It has been estimated that about 200million people suffer from thyroid disordersworldwide. In India, Thyroid disorders are ona rise with more than forty two million peo-ple suffering from different types of thyroid dis-orders. Most Thyroid problems cannot becured but can be completely managed or con-trolled. Around 18 per cent of the populationbetween the age group of 31 to 45 years werefound to have positive thyroid antibodies.Women tend to be more susceptible to thyroidrelated problems as compared to men but itis still a threat.

SYMPTOMSThyroid issues often go undetected for long

periods, as the symptoms can be vague.Below are some of the early symptoms of var-ious types of thyroid.

�Hypothyroidism: One in 10 adults in Indiasuffer from hypothyroidism. It is a disorder ofthe endocrine system in which the thyroidgland is incapable of producing enough thy-roid hormone for the body to function prop-erly. Some of the symptoms are:

�Lethargy�Weight gain�Excessively cold�Muscle pains and cramps�Hands and feet get swollen�Sometimes, it becomes difficult to con-

ceive�Constipation and other gastro- intesti-

nal issues�Some women may even face prolonged,

excessive, and irregular period bleeding.�Hyperthyroidism: It is seen in patientwhen the thyroid gland releases abnormallyhigh level of thyroid hormone. It can producea rapid heart rate and Grave’s disease is the mostcommon cause of hyperthyroidism. Symptomsinclude:·

�Nervousness�Bulging of eyeballs�Considerable weight loss�Frequent bowel movements�Disturbed sleep and even insomnia�Some elderly people may also suffer from

heart attack�Palpitations coupled with hand and

entire body tremors.�Thyroid goitre: It is the swelling in the neckdue to abnormally enlarged thyroid gland. Itis one of the most common thyroid disordersare often harmless. Symptoms include:

�Hoarseness of voice�Difficulty in swallowing�Breathing may be little difficult.

�When to get testedLiving with an endocrinological condition may

seem difficult, however, regular screening and mon-itoring is the key to long-term management. It is rec-ommended to get yourself tested:

�If you are pregnant�If you have past the age of 60�If the LDL cholesterol level is increasing�If your weight is increasing unexplainably�If you have definite symptoms of hypothy-

roidism�If you immediate family have the medical his-

tory of thyroid�If you are a woman as women of all ages are

more likely than men to have low thyroid hormonelevels.

With early diagnosis, thyroid hormone replace-ment, a safe and effective treatment, can be imple-mented. It helps manage symptoms and prevent fur-ther complications. In Subclinical hypothyroidism, amilder form of hypothyroidism, functions just belownormal level is a silent disease which is being increas-ingly diagnosed in the Indian population. It is the mostwidespread thyroid dysfunction in India is not thatunexpected, as without regular testing this conditionremains clinically undetected.

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Consult a doctor. It isextremely importantto consult a con-

cerned doctor if you are suf-fering from thyroid disor-der. Thyroid cannot becured but it certainly can becompletely controlled.

Regularly check yourthyroid: A physician maysometime completelydepend upon the blood testfor diagnosis and may missout on thyroid disorder.This leaves many peopleundiagnosed. Therefore, it

is important to check thy-roid levels on daily basis.

Stay hydrated: Drinkplenty of water. It helpsregulate the body tempera-ture, keeping skin hydrated,eliminating fatigue andlethargy and loosening ofstool. Hypothyroid patientsare required to drink 8-10glasses of water to speeds upthe metabolism resultingin speedy weight loss.

Exercise regularly:Exercise helps to restoreinsulin levels and improve

metabolic function in thethyroid patient. Some mod-erate cardiovascular exercis-es, strength and weighttraining exercises areextremely beneficial.Exercise also helps to accel-erate the treatment of mostof the thyroid conditionsand compliments the med-ications as well.

Avoid smoking andalcohol: Thyroid patientsshould immediately stopdrinking and smoking.Alcohol suppresses the thy-

roid gland functions as it isa depressant. Tobaccoequally harmful as it blocksthe hormones.

No self-medication:Self medication is associat-ed with risk of misdiagno-sis and using of incorrectdosage of drugs for a pro-longed period of time canbe fatal for the life of theperson. Hence, one shouldalways opt for prescribedmedicines after the properdiagnosis and evaluationof thyroid.

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Hong Kong riot policeclashed on Monday with

pro-democracy protesters for athird straight day, as the city’sleader warned the global finan-cial hub was nearing a “verydangerous situation” and a rarestrike caused transport chaos.

Clouds of tear gas billowedacross multiple locations onMonday afternoon as the citybuckled under a general strike,which protesters pushed toemphasise they still had broadpublic support following twomonths of increasingly violentunrest.

In a rare public appearancesince the crisis began, chiefexecutive Carrie Lam warnedprotesters she would not caveto their demands.

“(They) have seriouslyundermined Hong Kong’s lawand order and are pushing ourcity, the city that we all love andmany of us helped to build, tothe verge of a very dangeroussituation,” Lam said.

She later referenced chantsby protesters for a “revolution”,describing this as a challenge tothe “one country, two systems”framework under which Hong

Kong has been ruled since itreturned from British toChinese rule in 1997.

“I dare say they are tryingto destroy Hong Kong,” saidLam, who was appointed by apro-Beijing committee.

China’s cabinet-level StateCouncil said it planned to hold

a press conference on Tuesday.Lam spoke on a day that

saw widespread civil disobedi-ence across the city. Activistsdescended on subway stationsduring morning rush hour,deliberately keeping opendoors to stop trains departingand paralysing large parts of a

network that millions of peo-ple use daily.

In the afternoon they heldsimultaneous rallies at sevenlocations and besieged multiplepolice stations, stretching theresources of a force that hasbecome a lightning rod forpublic anger.

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Despite two deadly shoot-ings at its stores in less than

a week, American retail giantWalmart has no plans to stopselling guns and ammunition, aspokesman said on Sunday. Aman opened fire with an assaultrifle at a Walmart in Texas onSaturday, killing 20 people, justfour days after a disgruntledemployee shot dead two cowork-ers and wounded a respondingpolice officer at one of the mas-sive chain’s stores in Mississippi.

“We are focused on sup-porting our associates, ourcustomers and the entire ElPaso community,” spokesmanRandy Hargrove said.

Following the El Pasoshooting, Walmart CEO DougMcMillon posted a note onInstagram saying he “can’tbelieve” it was the second suchin a week.

“My heart aches for thecommunity in El Paso, espe-cially the associates and cus-tomers at store 2201 and thefamilies of the victims,” hewrote.

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President Donald Trump onMonday condemned week-

end shootings in Texas andOhio as “barbaric” attacks andcrimes “against all humanity”as he called for bipartisancooperation to strengthen thenation’s gun laws.

Trump said he wants leg-islation providing “strong back-ground checks” for gun users,but he provided scant details and has reneged onprevious promises after massshootings.

“We vow to act with urgentresolve,” Trump said Monday.

Trump spoke Mondayfrom the White House aboutshootings that left 29 deadand dozens wounded. He sug-gested early on Twitter that abackground check bill could bepaired with his long-soughteffort to toughen the nation’simmigration system.

But he didn’t say how orwhy he was connecting theissues. Both shooting suspectswere US citizens, and fderalofficials are investigating anti-

immigrant bias as a potentialmotive for the El Paso, Texas,massacre.

“In one voice, our nationmust condemn racism, bigotryand white supremacy,” Trumpsaid, adding that he had direct-ed the FBI to examine steps toidentify and address domesticterrorism.

“These sinister ideologiesmust be defeated. Hate has noplace in America,” hesaid.Trump has frequentlysought to tie his immigrationpriorities — a border wall andtransforming the legal immi-gration system to one that pri-oritises merit over familial ties— to legislation around whichhe perceives momentum to bebuilding.

Over the weekend, Trumptried to assure Americans hewas dealing with the problemand defended his administra-tion in light of criticism fol-lowing the latest in a string ofmass shootings.

“We have done much morethan most administrations,” hesaid, without elaboration. “Wehave done actually a lot. But

perhaps more has to be done.” Congress has proven

unable to pass substantial gunviolence legislation this session,despite the frequency of massshootings, in large part becauseof resistance from Republicans,particularly in the GOP-con-trolled Senate. That politicaldynamic seems difficult tochange.

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The US is acting aloneagainst Tehran and its allies

are too “ashamed” to join itsforces in the Gulf, Iran’s topdiplomat said Monday, dis-missing Washington’s calls fortalks as a sham. ForeignMinister Mohammad JavadZarif also confirmed he hadturned down an offer to meetPresident Donald Trump lastmonth despite the threat of USsanctions against him.

“Today the United States isalone in the world and cannotcreate a coalition. Countriesthat are its friends are tooashamed of being in a coalitionwith them,” Zarif told a newsconference.

“They brought this situa-tion upon themselves, withlawbreaking, by creating ten-sions and crises.” Tehran andWashington have been lockedin a battle of nerves since lastyear when Trump withdrew theUS from a landmark 2015 dealplacing curbs on Iran’s nuclear

programme and began reim-posing sanctions. Tensionshave soared since the Trumpadministration began steppingup a campaign of “maximumpressure” against Iran. Droneshave been downed and tankersseized by Iranian authorities ormysteriously attacked in Gulfwaters, while Britain hasdetained an Iranian tanker offGibraltar.

At the height of the crisis,Trump called off air strikesagainst Iran at the last minutein June after the Islamic repub-lic’s forces shot down a USdrone. Iran said on Sunday itsforces had seized a “foreign”tanker carrying smuggled fuelin what would be the third suchseizure in less than a month inGulf waters — a conduit formuch of the world’s crude oil.

Last month the Guardssaid they had impounded thePanama-flagged MT Riah foralleged fuel smuggling as wellas the British-flagged StenaImpero for breaking “interna-tional maritime rules”.

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Chinese officials are threat-ening to stop all police

cooperation with France afterit gave political asylum to thewife of the former Interpolchief, a Chinese national nowlanguishing in prison oncharges of bribery, a Frenchsource close to the matter saidMonday.

“There hasn’t been anyofficial request to suspend thecooperation but an informalexpression of intent,” the sourcetold AFP.

French daily Le Mondereported over the weekendthat the security attache atFrance’s embassy in Beijinghad been told of the impend-ing move.

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Talks between the US and the Talibanstretched into a third day on Monday, with

no immediate indication that a historic dealbetween the longtime foes had been reached.

The two sides are meeting in Doha for aneighth round of talks to thrash out a deal thatwould slash the presence of American troopsin Afghanistan. In return, the US is demand-ing that the Taliban prevent the country frombeing used as a safe haven for jihadist groupsincluding Al-Qaeda.

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US President Donald Trumpcalled on Monday for all

Americans to condemn whitesupremacy after two shootingsleft 29 people dead and sparkedaccusations that his rhetoricwas part of the problem.

“The shooter in El Pasoposted a manifesto online, con-sumed by racist hate,” the pres-ident said in a televised addressto the nation from the WhiteHouse.

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ANigerian court on Mondaygranted bail to a detained

Shia leader and his wife to flyto India for medical care, in amove that could defuse ten-sions after his group wasbanned following a spate ofbloody protests.

Ibrahim Zakzaky, thefounder of the pro-IranianIslamic Movement in Nigeria(IMN), has been in custodyalong with his wife ZeenahIbrahim since their arrest in

December 2015.The judge in the northern

city of Kaduna “ordered thatZakzaky be flown to India forproper medical attention”,lawyer Femi Falana told AFP.

Another member of thedefence team said his wife wasalso allowed abroad for treat-ment.

The Government late lastmonth outlawed the IMN on“terrorism” grounds afterprotests demanding Zakzaky’srelease descended into blood-shed.

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Designer Masaba Gupta doesn’twant to be mediocre. Or fall intoher own trap. Which is why she

is reinventing her portfolio by venturinginto collaborations that require herdesign sensibilities. Drawing on hereclectic, vibrant and quirky prints, she hasnow done up a palette with cosmeticbrand Nykaa. Earlier, she had launchedher capsule collection in collaborationwith the makers of Game of Thrones, aline of sarees with the Banaras brand,Ekaya, and the Africa-inspired jewellerywith Tribe by Amrapali.

On stretching herself in all the direc-tions, Masaba says, “We are a youngbrand, so the time to experiment is now.I don’t think brands can do this after 40years. I have the energy and a lot of inter-est. Also, I do prints which are easy toexperiment with as I can put it on any-thing.” The designer feels that the new-age consumer is always looking for newconversations, so it is important to keepoffering them something.

Cosmetics, of course, have been hereasy playground. “I understand thissphere quite a bit. It’s strange that thereare so many brands in India but nobodyis really going for a dedicated line onmakeup. So it was the right time for meto jump into it.”

The collection, Masaba by Nykaa,features 25 products — 12 lipstickswhich range from red to nudes with 12matching nail paints and one nail enam-el remover. The lipsticks have distinctive-ly appealing names like Kale-ing me soft-

ly, Cool guy, Pataka, Can’t deal, etc. Thenail paints are packed in her signaturestyle, Cow and Bindi. Masaba hasattempted to flatter all Indian skin tonesso that there is something for “girls withgreat skin to the ones who get tanned eas-ily.” The shades are everyday wear.Masaba says, “The way I have curated theshades is very different. Everybodyexpected me to come up with bright popcolours but I wanted to be a part of theconsumer’s routine and embellish it witha touch of my signature.”

She has been using social media plat-forms like Facebook and Instagram tospread the word about her collection andcollaboration. Masaba says, “If the prod-uct is not Instagrammable, it’s not fun. So,the names are kept keeping in mind thenew age social media customers.” This

helped her attract eyeballs and make thepeople aware about the features of eachproduct. “I wanted girls to talk about myline but I did not expect them to take toa new product so quickly and own it,” sheadds. Giving an example of one of hershades, nimbu paani, which is a warmtoned nude, she is overwhelmed that ithas become an instant favourite.

Talking about her learning experi-ence during the course of two years, whenshe was preparing the products, Masabasays, “I learnt a lot of technical things, likelipsticks have to be kept in a container forsix months. This helped me increase mypatience game. The consumer psyche inthis industry varies from that of fashion,so it’s an interesting experience altogeth-er.” All of this helped her in learning theintricacies of the beauty business and get-ting a deeper insight into this industry.

So how does she choose her brands?Rolling her curls, Masaba says, “It’simportant to have a synergy of thoughts,ideas and a belief system, which is whywe are here. Any brand has to have theexpertise and knowledge of the productand distribution. We just lend our cre-ative eye to it by bringing the prints,colours and names.”

The designer has been marred bycontroversy after being exposed by DietSabya (anonymous Instagram accountdedicated to exposing imitations, appro-priations, or even blatant copies in fash-ion) that her packaging, which Masabafeels is a distinctive feature, is a copy ofSephora (Health and beauty brand). Butshe defends herself saying, “There are alot of things said about me but peopleneed to understand that when youlaunch a product it’s not only in physi-cal form, it becomes a part of me as I givea life to it. I have understood the fact thatpeople will always have things to saywhen there’s a big launch and big prod-uct range. I just have to take the opin-ions heads on and forget.”

We ask if this association is alsoshort-term like her short collaborationwith cosmetic major Lakme in 2017.Masaba says, “That collection was onlyeight to 12 chubby sticks, not really print-ed. I had not put my heart and soul intoit. It was merely a passing collaborationbut this is a marriage. I worked on thisfor two years as if it was my own baby.It is a much more accessible product andI think we have done a better job withit.”

This collaborative measure seems tobe an attempt to look inward towardsIndia and our products, as Masaba feelsthat we are done obsessing with thebrands in the West. “It is high time wecelebrate where we come from and vali-date our existence,” she adds, summing up.

The manner in which we (jour-nalists) accomplish our work

is as important as the work itself.”The statement had come from aleading news organisation’s Codeof Ethics once. Indeed, when talk-ing about investigative journalismand the multiple challenges facedby truth seekers, it has becomeincreasingly difficult in the cur-rent environment for investigativejournalism to prevail because ofthe persecution of whistle-blow-ers.

Journalist Aatish Taseer, thewriter of the Time article ofDivider-in-Chief,’ as part of apanel at The Media Rumble atIHC, wondered why does gather-ing credible news sometimesquestion the ethics of journalism?The conversation escalated tohow investigative journalism haslessened down the years andquoted David Usborne, fromQuest Research andInvestigations (QRI), who movedfrom being an investigative jour-nalist with The Independent to aprivate investigating firm. Hehad said that he had expected tobecome a ‘Sherlock Holmes’ butinstead became a “journalist onhire,” being paid by wealthyclients to investigate cases. But hestarted using his subjective dis-cretion to choose cases that donot question journalistic ethics.Adding to this, Josy Joseph, aNew Delhi-based award-winningjournalist, said, “The kind ofmedia censorship and fear thatthe current government hasspread has not been seen inIndia since the days of theEmergency.” He added that the

days of ‘beat journalism’, wherereporters had unfiltered access tocorridors of power, are over.Sources have dried up becauseprotection of such disseminatorsis becoming increasingly difficult.

Among others, the panel dis-cussion The Layers of Identity inWriting and Journalism sawMadhu Trehan, co-founder andeditor-in-chief of Newslaundry,journalist Aatish Taseer, formerjournalist and novelist PrayaagAkbar and Raj Kamal Jha, chiefeditor of The Indian Express.

Moving further, the paneltalked about the common themesof their respective books and howtheir identities have affected theirwriting, beliefs and worldviews.The panel expounded the differ-ences between writing fictionand writing for news, focussingupon the role of identity, legacyand historical baggage in writing.Raj, talking about his book TheCity and the Sea, said, “For me,fiction is a place where I get thespace I don’t get in the newsroom.Two plus two equals to four is anestablished fact but while talkingabout freedom, I mean that thespace to show your respectiveinterpretation of that ‘two’ isalso important. My book is aboutmy interpretation and imagina-

tion of a certain story. So a per-sonal touch cannot be applied injournalism.” This is why, he men-tioned, he hadn’t tried to assert ormoralise the incidents in hisbook despite knowing their reg-ular occurrence.

Looking at another aspect ofwriting in journalism, Aatishtalked about how his upbringingin India and Pakistan helpedshape his identity and under-standing of political perspec-

tives and how an increasing useof social media is actually darkfor Indian politics but could be arising step for the youth. “Twitterhas become a court of its own.There was a time in this country,a decade ago, when people werenot very active while talkingabout its democracy but now weare blown away by politics. Socialmedia and numerous opinions onthe feeds have completely rede-fined journalism and news-gath-

ering amongst youngsters inIndia,” he said.

The conversation went on tohighlight the importance ofyoung people coming into a newsorganisation with fresh thoughts,akin almost to a method ofreverse mentorship. Trehanpointed out at how the younggeneration is increasingly movingforward to not only politics, buta social reeling where the under-privileged are now driven by

ambition and drive. They arepushing away the post colonialgeeks and rising to the top. Onesuch example being Gully Boy,which she called “realistic.”

However, Prayaag believedthat some people still remain iso-lated from the rest of the Indiansociety when it comes to politi-cal and social understanding of it.“Even my book, Leila, showsthat the urban spaces are becom-ing fragmented. And I felt likeinvestigating that. There’s only aset of people who have a controlover the say of people. Not everypart of the country’s populationis engaging in its developmentprocess. And to bridge this gap,we need more avenues of expres-sion. The internet has done to anextent but more needs to bedone. Change has to be broughtto a level where you are respect-ed for your opinions even if youare in dissent,” said he.

The panel also saw discus-sions about the collaborationwith smaller newsrooms aroundthe world especially to discussglobal issues that have local res-onance. It concluded on the notethat there is a lot of criticismabout this from the media itselfbut one can’t afford to not trysomething new. However, as longas the people, we are working for,are benefitting, the industry willthrive. It needs to look beyondnewsrooms. “It is the essence ofcollaborative journalism to workwithin conflicted relations whichis much better than workingwithin newsrooms that are basi-cally echo chambers,” saidTrehan.

Several actors, includingSanjay Dutt, Alia Bhatt andSidharth Malhotra, were

scheduled to shoot in Kashmirfor forthcoming projects over thenext few months but the repealof Article 370 has putBollywood’s plans to shoot inKashmir on hold for now.

It has had a ripple effect onthe shooting schedules. Sidharthwas supposed to shoot forCaptain Vikram Batra’s biopicShershaah in the Valley. Directedby Vishnu Varadhan from a storywritten by Sandeep Srivastava,the film is backed by KaranJohar’s Dharma Productions.According to a source close to theactor, the shooting schedule hasbeen pushed, with no new dategiven yet.

Sadak 2 makers had plans toshoot an important segment of

the film with Sanjay, Alia andMakarand Deshpande, whoessays role of a godman in thefilm.

It marks the return ofMahesh Bhatt as director, and thefilmmaker had planned to shootsequences pertaining to the pro-tagonists reaching the godman’sashram. The shooting is on holdfor now.

Without revealing the names,line producer Md Abdullah ofHami Asto Productions, whoarranges shoots in the Jammuand Kashmir regions, said thattwo to three Bollywood films andone big Telugu film were slatedto arrive over the next fewmonths for shooting.

“There were some big pro-jects in line — two to three

Bollywood films and one Telugufilm. Now, we can’t say if that willhappen because of the disturbedenvironment. Maybe they willpush the schedule or maybe theywill go to a different location,”Abdullah said.

“We just wrapped up shoot ofthe Telugu film Venky Mama,which stars Venkatesh. They shotin Pahalgam and Sonmarg. The

month-long shot was wrapped upin June. One big Bollywood filmwas supposed to start shooting inAugust-end. They all are stucknow,” added Abdullah, who isworried about what the futureholds for local line producers likehim.

“Yeh achanak se hua (thishappened all of a sudden). Now,it has been done. Inshallah, thingswill get settled soon. If that does-n’t happen, it will be a big prob-lem for us because this is our rozi-roti (bread and butter),” addedthe line producer, who hasworked on John Abraham’sRomeo Akbar Walter, AbhishekBachchan’s Manmarziyaan andArjun Rampal’s Final Call in thepast.

The production houses mighthave to bear additional expens-es owing to the shuffle of theschedule, although the amountswill probably not be exorbitant.

“There is some unrest and

confusion going on in Jammuand Kashmir. The governmenthas taken measures. So, all theplanned shoots in the regionwill be delayed for a while. It willnot have much negative impactin terms of cost escalation,because productions of thesefilms were yet to start,” film andtrade expert Girish Johar said.

“Cost would have been aproblem had they started shoot-ing in Kashmir and were forcedto come back. Now, there will bea nominal increase in the cost,”Johar added.

The love affair betweenBollywood and Kashmir is long-standing. From Sharmila Tagoreto Alia Bhatt, and from lateShammi Kapoor to Salman Khan,Indian actors down the genera-tions have starred in blockbustersthat saw filmmakers capture thebeauty of the region in theirfilms.

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South India is a place of worship forartists. The region is replete with rich

and vast culture and traditions. Eventhough they have kept their age-old tra-ditions intact, they haven’t shied awayfrom embracing modernity. Its historyand monuments are evidence of the sto-ries for the rest of time.

For filmmaker, art-historian andphotographer Benoy K Behl,Kanchipuram became a place of inspira-tion. He depicts that in his documentary,Imperial City of Kanchipuram. Behl saysthat Kanchipuram is one of the sevenmost holy cities for Hindus in India.

Many famous Buddhist philosophersand thinkers were born in the cityincluding Bodhi Dharma, who intro-duced Zen Buddhism in China at theShaolin temple in the 6th century. Theword Zen comes from Dhyana and thisform of Buddhism also spread to Japan,where it made a landmark contributionto Japanese culture. It is also believed thatBodhisena, who was invited by theEmperor of Japan to inaugurate the 8thcentury temple of Todaiji in Nara, wasfrom Kanchipuram.

Large numbers of Roman coins havebeen found in this part of Tamil Nadu, sowe know that Romans did extensive tradein the area. The considerable trade andinteraction with South East Asia is seenfrom the fact that the Pallava alphabet isstill used in many of the scripts of SouthEast Asia. Romans came to Kanchipuramfor spices and because it was a major cot-ton weaving centre. The cotton of coursecame from further North from theDeccan, it was brought here and theweavers developed this very fine art ofweaving the Kanchipuram cotton saree.

Behl, in his documentary, showcas-es the rich history of the city. He tells usthat Kanchipuram was also one of thegreatest centres for the study of Sanskrit,Pali and Tamil. Today, it is known as acity of a thousand temples. KingRajasimha made the gloriousKailashanatha Temple here for his per-sonal worship. A foundation inscriptionstates that he erected this great house ofShiva “to reflect his own glory and thelaughter of the Lord.” The temple is ded-icated to Shiva Gangadhara, the bearerof the river Ganga.

“The entire complex of this royaltemple is grand and lavishly sculpted.Rampant lions and a royal symbol of thePallavas are made everywhere. Theydisplay the vigour and courage of thespirit within us, to fight the demons ofour ignorance. They also display the gloryof the Pallava king, who made the tem-ple. It has many images of Durga as

Mahishasur Mardini. It is one of the mostexpressive images of Indian art. Durgapersonifies the energy and power with-in us to face and to destroy the demonof our ignorance,” says Behl and adds thatthere is a panel of ganas, only thirty inch-es in height, which runs along the baseof the temple. It displays the high qual-ity of carving everywhere in the temple.Ganas are an important motif in Shivatemples and they depict the joyous spir-it of the worship of the lord.

The filmmaker shares that the tem-

ple presents the essential features of thestyle of South Indian temples, which wereto follow. Near Kanchipuram is a town-ship now called Chinna Kanchipuram,which means little Kanchipuram. In theolden days, this may have been JainaKanchipuram. The Vaishnava and Jainaestablishments would have been there,while the Shaivite and Buddhist were inthe main city. “Indeed, Kanchipuram wasalso a great centre of Jaina and Buddhistlearning in ancient times,” says Behl andgoes on to add, “Adi Shankara established

Mathas all over India, the four main onesbeing at Jyotirmath, Dwaraka, Puri andSringeri. He also made a Peetha inKanchipuram and after his time there hasbeen continuity of Shankaracharyas,who have had a very major role in thehistory of the development of Hinduismin this region. Also belonging toKanchipuram was another very greatVaishnava saint Ramanuja.

Behl says that Kanchipuram, histor-ically has been a great centre ofHinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.

It has been said that postcards werethe Instagram equivalents of the

early 20th century. Those were theyears when they were at the height oftheir popularity but even now, they areconsidered as the best means of com-munication, especially for Indian sol-diers on the go, dropping a line fromtheir remote areas. And picture post-cards continue to be a part of travelsouvenirs.

���!�� ��-�������-���Curated by artist and writer

Bhupendra Asthana, the exhibition,Salute for Indian Army on IndianPostcards, comesall the way fromLucknow to LalitKala Akademi.“The exhibitionwas createdbecause we feltthat the postalnetwork is wide-spread all over thecountry and itreaches easily toremote areas,”Asthana says andgoes on to add,“Postcards have acertain unique-ness about them.They carry an everyday reality of per-sonal thoughts but technology hasdrastically changed the practice ofsending messages. That era has almostcome to an end. It has a major tributeto art. The idea is to draw attention toit as a medium of communication andalso reflecting our reverence andrespect for the Indian Army. Throughthe exhibition, we will remember thedeeds of service, protection and secu-rity the Army has given over the years.”

The guardians of our nation, inthese postcards, are seen fightingheroic battles and reassuring patriot-ic messages that help us be witnessesof a period of war that we, as a popu-lation, may or may not have beenexposed to.

��!��� ����#�The participation of 200 artists,

poets, writers from all over the coun-try makes this endeavour an epic one.The exhibition of artworks made at the

All India postcards at first in Lucknowin June in Uttar Pradesh is a debut ofdevotion and dedication. Artists fromacross the country displaying along-side the works of poets, and writersis indeed commendable. It also

includes works of painters, photogra-phers, poets and authors.

The moment, the portrait, theaction and the emotion make a mun-dane incident from the daily grind oftrench warfare and battlefields huge-ly tel l ing. The choice topaint/sketch/draw ordinary soldiers,resting rather than in combat, is alsoa completely new approach to depict-ing war.

Together with the sharp diagonalsof the scenes in terms of treatment andhandling — up which a soldierglances, legs outstretched and handspocketed — it serves as a reminder ofthe compelling force of the army per-sonnel and their role as protectors.

There is also a more experimen-tal style one thought of as very effec-tive in rendering the unprecedentedexperiences of the Army men. Thepostcards provide a more intensereality than ‘realism’.

�#���� ������$Truth and memory create paint-

ings of meaning, and images that gobeyond the narrative of the battlefield— each human and life is precious. Ittells us that nationalism and patriotismare both vital components of our livesand we must look at these images asmirror of history. These are postcardsof purpose and meaning and theyserve as benchmarks of a period ofgreat sacrifice and service.

The exhibition will travel to Goa,Maharashtra, Assam, Uttar Pradesh,Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh,Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh,Punjab, Haryana, Bihar. When it trav-els everyone will be a part of the rich-ness of action and the beauty of self-less service to man.

(The exhibition is on display tillAugust 12 at the Lalit Kala Akademi.)

Created between the 17thand 19th centuries for the

Rajput and Pahari courts ofNorth India, a selection of 30paintings will focus on one ofthe major epic narratives ofIndian and South Asian liter-ature, the Ramayana, com-posed by the Sanskrit poetValmiki around the 5th centu-ry BC. It will go on as a year-long exhibition at The MetFifth Avenue, South AsianExhibition Gallery, New York.

Drawn largely from TheMet’s collection, the show titledSita and Rama: The Ramayanain Indian Painting will show-case paintings that narrate theheroic and adventurous tale ofRama’s rescue of his wife. Thepaintings and textiles capturethe collective visual imagina-tion of court artists to give formto the 2,500-year-old Sanskritnarrative, which consists of

more than 24,000 verses.The Ramayana is attrib-

uted to the poet-sage Valmiki(ca 400 BC) and has long beenpopular across South andSoutheast Asia. It recounts thelife of Rama, a legendaryprince, whose wife, Sita, wasabducted by the evil kingRavana. Together with hisbrother Lakshmana and his allyHanuman, Rama assembled amassive army of monkeys andbears and travelled to Sri Lankato confront Ravana and rescueSita. The Ramayana also poses

deep philosophical questionsabout kingship, morality, andRama’s role as a divine mani-festation (avatar) of Vishnu.

The highlight of the exhi-bition is a rare 19th centurypainting titled, Tantric Form ofMonkey God Hanuman whichis displayed for the first time.Other great works of the exhi-bition include an early 19thcentury masterpiece Rama,Sita and Lakshmana Begin theirLife in the Forest that representsthe sophisticated late Paharipainting tradition, a 18th cen-tury textile piece, The Combatof Rama and Ravana and animportant group of six paint-ings from The ShangriRamayana series dated 1690-1710.

(The exhibition is organisedby Kurt Behrendt, associatecurator and will conclude inAugust 23, 2020.)

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Page 15: ˘ˇ - The Pioneer...LTT Jnaneshwari Express remained cancelled. Moreover, Mumbai rains have not only made life deject-ed there but in the city mem-bers of Marathi community are also

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Harry Maguire became theworld's most expensive

defender on Monday whenManchester United signedhim for a reported fee of 80million pound.

"Manchester United isdelighted to confirm the sign-ing of Harry Maguire fromLeicester City," the club said ina statement on its website.

"Harry signs on a six-year contract, with the optionto extend for a further year."The England international,26, was strongly linked withboth Manchester clubs overthe summer but Leicester heldout for their valuation and thefee surpasses the 75 millionpound Liverpool paidSouthampton for Virgil VanDijk in January 2018.

"I am delighted to havesigned for this great club,"Maguire told United's offi-cial website.

"I have thoroughlyenjoyed my time atLeicester and would like to

thank everyone at the club,and the fans, for their fantas-tic support over the past twoseasons.

"However, whenManchester United comeknocking on your door, it is anincredible opportunity.

"From my conver-sations with themanager, I amexcited about thevision and plans hehas for the team.It's clear to see that Ole(Gunnar Solskjaer) is build-ing a team to win trophies.I am now looking forward tomeeting my new teammatesand getting the season start-ed."

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Zheng Saisai knocked offher fourth seeded oppo-

nent of the week to capture herfirst career WTA title with astraight sets win over ArynaSabalenka in the final of theSan Jose WTA tournament onSunday.

The unseeded Zheng, whoalso beat Sabalenka in theironly other career meeting,used a solid serving perfor-mance to beat the second seedfrom Belarus 6-3, 7-6 (7/3).

"I don't have so muchexperience because it is thefirst time for me," a nervousZheng said on the court dur-ing her trophy presentationspeech. "I am very excitedabout how I played the wholeweek.

Zheng said the San Josetournament had special mean-

ing for her even before shewon on Sunday.

"Five years ago I got myfirst WTA singles win here andnow I win my first WTA titlehere," she said.

Zheng clinched the victo-ry in the second set tiebreak-er when Sabalenka doubledfaulted on the first champi-onship point.

Sabalenka also doublefaulted to get to championshippoint as she finished witheight double faults comparedto just five for Zheng.

After the 25-year-oldZheng downed eighth-seededAmerican Danielle Collins,she beat fourth-seeded USteen Amanda Anisimova in a

three-set quarter-f inalmarathon. In the semis, Zhengousted No.7 seed MariaSakkari in straight sets.

Zheng, who was not bro-ken in the one hour, 45 minutematch, won 72 percent of herfirst serve points compared to52 percent for Sabalenka.

"She played great tennis,"Sabalenka said of Zheng.Sabalenka, 21, was playing inher first final since winningthe Shenzhen Open in Chinain January.

She lost in the first roundof qualifying at this event lastyear but then went on a runthat saw her shoot from 36thin the world to her current No10 ranking.

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Shaking off back spasms toblast 18 aces, Australia'sNick Kyrgios kept his com-

posure and captured the ATPWashington Open title Sunday,defeating Russia's 10th-rankedDaniil Medvedev 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/4).

The 24-year-old Aussie,who struggled through theopening set, claimed the$365,390 top prize and his sixthcareer ATP crown at the USOpen tuneup event.

"This is probably my bestmemory of a final," Kyrgios said.

"I left it all on the court."Kyrgios, 5-1 this year againsttop-10 rivals, won his secondtitle of the season after Acapulcoin March and will jump 25 posi-tions to 27th in Monday's newrankings, his first top-30appearance in 43 weeks.

"This has been one of thegreatest weeks of my life. I'vemade massive strides," Kyrgiossaid.

"This whole week has beenamazing. It's a week I won't for-get."

Known for his fiery tem-perament and inconsistency,Kyrgios was resilient all week,breaking racquets but holdinghis emotions together — "superproud" of his composure.

"In the past six months, it'scrazy to think how much I'vebeen able to turn it around,"Kyrgios said.

"I lost faith that I could stillhave weeks like this and behappy. I've got to thank (myfamily) for not losing faith.

"I just wanted to cleanmyself up and have a healthyattitude. I showed what I can dothis week."

While saying his bestmemory of the week was "howprofessional I was off thecourt," Kyrgios also noted, "I'vegot a long way to go." AmericanJessica Pegula captured herfirst WTA singles title by rip-ping Italy's Camila Giorgi 6-2,6-2 in the Washington women'sfinal.

The 25-year-old daughterof NFL Buffalo Bills owner andnatural gas magnate TerryPegula took a $43,000 topprize.

Kyrgios won a match thatfeatured no break points or

deuces after 94 minutes withback-to-back aces, the last histournament-best 110th of theweek.

Medvedev, 23, was brokenonly twice this week but lost hislone sets to Kyrgios. He'll equalhis career-best ranking of ninthon Monday.

Kyrgios denied Medvedevon set point with a 124-mphace, then hit a passing winnerand won it when Medvedevsent a forehand wide. In the lastbreaker, two Kyrgios aces madehis Washington's first unseed-ed ATP champion since 2011.

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Barcelona captain LeoMessi is out of action

less than two weeksahead of the opening ofLa Liga season afterinjuring his right calf intraining on Monday.

The Argentina starhas already been ruledout of the team's trip toFlorida for a one-offfriendly against Napoliin Miami onWednesday.

"Tests carried outhave diagnosed a grade1 calf strain," theSpanish champions saidin a statement, an injurythat can require aroundtwo weeks of recupera-tion.

"Messi will remainin Barcelona and willnow not travel to theUSA for the club's tour.His availability to comeback to action will bedictated by his recoveryfrom the injury."

The club open thenew La Liga campaignat Athletic Bilbao onAugust 16.

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Defending world bad-minton champion

Carolina Marin is to sit out thismonth's world championshipsto properly recuperate from anoperation to repair a rupturedanterior cruciate ligament inher right knee.

The 25-year-old Spaniard,a winner of three of the pastfour world titles and alsoOlympic gold medallist, hurtherself in the IndonesiaMasters final in January andwas forced to retire while lead-ing Saina Nehwal of India.

"My team and I havedecided that we are not goingto the World Cup because itcomes too soon," Marin said.

"The rehabilitation is goingvery well, the knee is stillresponding very well so we willwait for the tournaments thatI have in September."

The world championshipswill be held in the Swiss city ofBasel between August 19-25.

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South African cricket isembracing a football-style

setup as part of a radical over-haul in the wake of their WorldCup debacle with chief coachOttis Gibson making way for ateam manager who will enjoysweeping powers in selectionmatters.

This means Gibson willnot be the coach for the team'stour of India starting inSeptember, when his contractalso expires with the Proteas.

The plan is to adopt a foot-ball-style management struc-ture, where there will be a teammanager, who will select his owncoaching staff and captains inthe three formats of the game.

The medical staff andadministrative staff will alsoreport to the manager, who inturn will report to the directorof cricket, working under thechief executive.

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All the top players, led byPrajnesh Gunneswaran,

were on Monday named in theIndian Davis Cup squad thatwill travel to Pakistan but theAITA selection committeechairman Rohit Rajpal saidthey will look into the 'unavail-ability' of Sumit Nagal.

There was no scope forsurprises with top singles anddoubles players being automat-ic selection.

Gunneswaran andRamkumar Ramanathan willlead the singles challenge whileRohan Bopanna and DivijSharan will make the doublespair for the grass court tie,scheduled to be held inIslamabad on September 14-15.

Since Nagal has made him-self unavailable, citing aninjury, the five-member com-mittee chose to retain Myneni,who can play both singles anddoubles, as the next best play-er on ranking charts.

Young and talented SasiKumar Mukund was selectedas a reserve member.

While Rajpal and BalramSingh sat in the meeting,Zeeshan Ali, Nandan Bal andAnkita Bhambri attended it viatele conference.

Myneni was named inIndia's last tie, when the coun-try hosted Italy on grass courtsof Calcutta South Club last yearin September but he did not get

a match in team's 1-3 defeat.Myneni last played in

September 2018 when Indiatravelled to Serbia for theWorld Group Play-offs, losingin straight sets with Bopannato Nikola Milojevic and DaniloPetrovic.

Myneni, 31, won the dou-bles title at the ChengduChallenger last week with com-patriot Arjun Kadhe but hasnot got the best of singlesresults this season with just onesemifinal appearance(Jerusalem) in 14 tournamentson the Challenger Tour.

"It was straight forwardselection this time. We need-ed an all-rounder, so Myneniwas picked. He has a big serveand he plays well on grass,"Rajpal told PTI.

When asked about Nagal'sunavailability, Rajpal said theyoung player had written tothem that he has twisted hisankle in Germany.

"He sent an e-mail, sayinghe is injured. Carrying aninjured player to a tie is worsescenario but we are not goingto accept just the letters. Goneare the days. We will ask for amedical certificate. If playersare making themselvesunavailable for national duty,it's a serious issue.

"We have to see that it's agenuine case. If he is genuine-ly injured that's fine but if youare faking an injury then I willput it on record and take thematter to AITA Executive

Committee. We will be watch-ing. This is not acceptable,"asserted Rajpal.

India have never lost toPakistan in six Davis Cupcontests so far and the cleanrecord is likely to remain,considering that Pakistan doesnot even have one singlesplayer, who is ranked on theATP chart.

India's Prajnesh is ranked90 in the world whileRamkumar is placed 184.Myneni is 271.

Aisam ul haq Qureshi isworld number 55 in doubles.

Bopanna and Aisam onceformed a formidable team,dubbed Indo-Pak Express bymedia. They made the USOpen final in 2010, losing tolegendary Bryan brothers —Mike and Bob.

"We are surely a strongteam but we will not takePakistan lightly," added Rajpal.

Asked if Myneni will get toplay on the first day of the tiesince he is good on grass,Zeeshan said," We will see theconditions and players' formnear the tie. It's too early to sayanything now."

For the first time theIndian Davis Cup team will beaccompanied by a TeamManager.

Maharashtra State LawnTennis Association (MSLTA)secretary General Sunder Iyerhas been named as the man-ager by the AITA in a pressrelease.

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Pakistan's veteran singles playerAqeel Khan has admitted that

growth of tennis in India is much bet-ter than his country but remained opti-mistic of upsetting the fancied neigh-bours in the upcoming Davis Cup tiein Islamabad.

Pakistan and India will be playingagainst each other in a Davis Cup tieafter 13 years. The last tie between thetwo nations was played in Mumbai in2006, which India won 3-2.

An Indian tennis team will travelto Pakistan after 55 years. The last timethey sparred on Pakistan soil was wayback in March 1964 in Lahore, whereIndia won 4-0.

"It is not going to be an easy pas-sage for us to the World GroupQualifiers as India is way ahead of usin tennis with better facilities, more

money and professionalism, and goodtalent," Aqeel said.

"India has progressed a lot in ten-nis and it is not the same for us but Ithink with the experience Aisam andI have of playing together in theDavis Cup and our understanding as

a doubles pair and plus the advantageof playing at home, we can cause anupset as a team," Aqeel said.

The Pakistan Tennis Federation(PTF) has announced that Aisam willsoon return to Islamabad and join thetraining camp for the tie.

Aisam, 39, is Pakistan's best-known player on the Pro circuit with17 ATP doubles titles to his credit.

Aqeel who earlier this month wonanother national ranking event inKarachi said it was unfortunate youngtalent was not coming up.

"But I think when India comeshere and we play the Davis Cup tie itwill lift the profile of the sport in ourcountry."

Aqeel said that India's decision tosend its team to Pakistan for the DavisCup didn't surprise him as theInternational Tennis Federation (ITF)had given clearance to to host the tie.

"If they had refused to come toIslamabad, the ITF would have dockedthem (impose penalty) and also finedthem heavily. It would have hurt themin the Davis Cup World Group so theyhad to come for the Davis Cup tie," hesaid.

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Indian football team coachIgor Stimac on Monday

named his list of 35 probablesfor the preparatory camp forthe forthcoming 2022 FIFAWorld Cup Qualifiers againstOman and Qatar.

The players will be assem-bling at the camp on August 19in Goa, with practice kickingoff from the next day.

India begin their campaignagainst Oman on September 5in Guwahati followed by anaway game against Asianchampions Qatar in Doha onSeptember 10.

Afghanistan andBangladesh are the other twoteams in the group.

Winger HalicharanNarzary, who featured in everymatch of India's 2019 AFCAsian Cup campaign, got acall-up for the camp, his firstunder Stimac.

Besides, three players fromIndian Arrows' batch of 2018-19 -- Narender Gahlot, Anwar

Ali (Jr) and Amarjit Singh alsoearned call-ups.

The list of 35 probablesstay as follows:

GOALKEEPERS: GurpreetSingh Sandhu, AmrinderSingh, Kamaljit Singh, VishalKaith.

DEFENDERS: RahulBheke, Nishu Kumar, PritamKotal, Anas Edathodika,Sandesh Jhingan, Anwar Ali(Jr.), Narender Gahlot, SarthakGolui, Adil Khan, SalamRanjan Singh, Subhasish Bose,Jerry Lalrinzuala, Mandar RaoDessai.

MIDFIELDERS: NikhilPoojary, Udanta Singh,Anirudh Thapa, RaynierFernandes, Vinit Rai, SahalAbdul Samad, Amarjit Singh,Pronay Halder, Rowllin Borges,Brandon Fernandes,Lallianzuala Chhangte,Halicharan Narzary, AshiqueKuruniyan.

FORWARDS: BalwantSingh, Sunil Chhetri, JobbyJustin, Farukh Choudhary,Manvir Singh.

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Bengaluru FC's new sign-ing Suresh Wangjam convertedfrom the spot in the 81st minuteto help his side salvage a 1-1draw against Army Red in the129th Durand Cup here onMonday.

Playing with their reserveside, the Indian Super Leaguechampions struggled to copewith the energy-sapping humidconditions, failing to convert aflurry of chances as Army Redforward Liton Shil gave themthe lead at the stroke of halftime.

Bengaluru FC earned apenalty when defenderNamgyal Bhutia was broughtdown in the rival box by substi-tute Alwin E.

Suresh stepped up andcalmly slotted the spot kickhome to level scores in what washis first appearance in a Blueshirt.

The point meant BengaluruFC moved up to second on thetable behind leaders East Bengal(3 points) and ahead of Army

Red (1 point) in Group A. Naushad Moosa opted to

start all of his seven first-teamplayers with Aditya Patra ingoal, Gursimrat Singh Gill,Sairuat Kima and Parag Shrivasin defence, Ajay Chhetri andSuresh Wangjam in the midfieldand Edmund Lalrindika leadingthe attack.

With the Blue Colts control-ling possession for longer peri-ods, the Army Red side bankedon frequent counter attacks.

Patra pulled off a wonder-ful save when he denied rivalskipper Suresh Meitei frompoint blank range in the 38thminute when the Army manwas left unmarked in the BFCbox.

A goal down, Moosa decid-ed to make his first change send-ing on midfielder Emanuel L inplace of Chhetri as he looked toadd more attacking threat.

Four minutes after theirequaliser from penalty,Bengaluru had a great chance tokill the game in the 85th minutewhen Suresh set on a counterdown the right.

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Page 16: ˘ˇ - The Pioneer...LTT Jnaneshwari Express remained cancelled. Moreover, Mumbai rains have not only made life deject-ed there but in the city mem-bers of Marathi community are also

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The series pocketed, India arelikely to experiment withtheir line-up in pursuit of a

whitewash when they take on anembattled West Indies in thethird and final T20 Internationalhere today.

India concluded the two-match US leg of the series by tak-ing an unassailable 2-0 lead afternotching up a 22-run win in thesecond game on Sunday.

Their performance wasn't themost fluent in the first match butVirat Kohli and his men were backto being a dominant force in thesecond match, though, the out-come was decided by theDuckworth-Lewis method afterthunderstorm and consequentrain did not allow the game tocontinue.

While the batting line-up maynot change much, India may trya new combination in bowling.

"...Sealing the series gives thechance to bring few guys in. Ideais always going to be to win first.But winning the first two gamesgives the cushion," Kohli saidafter Sunday's win.

It will not be a surprise if KLRahul is drafted into the playingXI, replacing the strugglingRishabh Pant. The young Delhibatsman managed scores of 4and 0 in the first two matches.

Skipper Kohli has backedPant to the hilt and it will be inter-esting to see if the 21-year-old ris-ing star gets another chance.

Neither Rohit Sharma norShikhar Dhawan are likely to berested.

For Dhawan, it's his firstseries after missing the World Cupdue to a thumb fracture and sincehe has not scored many runs inthe first two matches, he will beeager to get some before theODIs and Tests.

There is a strong possibilitythat leg-break bowler RahulChahar may make the cut inplace of young paceman Navdeep

Saini.Deepak Chahar, cousin of

Rahul, may also find a place in theplaying XI and Ravindra Jadejacould be the one who is rested.

For hosts, putting up a coher-ent performance remains a chal-lenge. Considered a force in theshortest format, they have notlived up to their reputation.

The likes of Kieron Pollardand skipper Carlos Brathwaite

are due a big knock.If they can manage to walk

away with a win on Tuesday, it willbe a confidence-booster for theside ahead of the ODIs and Tests.

�A#� �India: Virat Kohli (captain),

Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan,KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, ManishPandey, Rishabh Pant, KrunalPandya, Ravindra Jadeja,

Washington Sundar, RahulChahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar,Khaleel Ahmed, Deepak Chahar,Navdeep Saini.

West Indies: John Campbell,Evin Lewis, Shimron Hetmyer,Nicolas Pooran, Kieron Pollard,Rovman Powell, Carlos Brathwaite(c), Keemo Paul, Sunil Narine,Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas,Anthony Bramble, JasonMohammed, Khary Pierre.

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Nathan Lyon took six wickets asAustralia thrashed England by

251 runs at their Edgbaston 'fortress'to win the first Ashes Test on Monday.

England, set a daunting 398 forvictory, lost four wickets for 12 runseither side of lunch on the last day asthey collapsed to 97-7.

They were eventually dismissedfor 146 in their second innings, withoff-spinner Lyon taking 6-49 — a haulthat included his 350th Test wicket —and fast bowler Pat Cummins 4-32.

Victory gave Australia their firstwin at Edgbaston in any format since2001 — the last time they won anAshes series in England — and endedEngland's run off 11 successive winsat the Birmingham ground.

England resumed on 13 withoutloss after Australia star Steve Smith'ssecond hundred of his comebackTest following a ban for his role in aball-tampering scandal had allowedthe tourists to declare late on Sunday'sfourth day.

Rory Burns, whose first-innings133 was his first century at this level,became just the 10th cricketer to havebatted on all five days of a Test.

But he had added just four runsto his overnight seven when he wasundone by an excellent seaming andrising Cummins delivery that lobbedoff his gloves to Lyon in the gully.

Number three Root, on four, wasgiven out leg before to James Pattinsonby umpire Joel Wilson.

But in a match full of overturneddecisions, Root successfully chal-lenged the verdict.

Root had made eight when henearly played on to Cummins beforeJason Roy, who made a superb 85 ineventual champions England's WorldCup semi-final win over Australia atEdgbaston last month, drove himthrough extra-cover for four.

Root had moved on to nine whenhe was again given out leg before byWilson, this time off the bowling ofpaceman Peter Siddle. But the bats-man's immediate review revealed aninside edge.

That meant umpire Wilson hadequalled an unwanted record with aneighth overturned decision in a Testmatch.

Roy swept Lyon for four butthen, in a shot more appropriate fora one-day match than a side trying tosave a Test, charged down the pitchand was clean bowled for 28 Lyonremained a threat on a wearing pitch

offering turn and bounce and he hadJoe Denly (11) caught off bat and padby Cameron Bancroft at short leg toleave England 80-3.

And the Australia pair combinedagain to dismiss Root for 28.

England's 85-4 at lunch soonbecame 85-5 when Jos Buttler (one)was bowled by a Cummins deliverythat kept low.

Cummins then had his 100th Testwicket when Jonny Bairstow (six)gloved a rising ball to Bancroft in theslips.

England's collapse continuedapace when Ben Stokes was also outfor six, well caught by wicketkeeperTim Paine off a sharply spun Lyondelivery.

Moeen Ali, who in the firstinnings had succumbed to Lyon whenhe was bowled for a duck playing noshot, fell to the bowler for the ninthtime in 11 Ashes knocks when caughtin the slips for four to leave England136-8.

It marked the end of a miserablematch for England off-spinner Moeen,comprehensively outbowled by Lyon.

Lyon had Stuart Broad caught inthe slips next ball before JamesAnderson survived the hat-trick afternot bowling at all in Australia's secondinnings because of a calf injury.

Chris Woakes, who played sever-al fine shots, was dropped in the slipsby Smith. But former Australia captainSmith had the last word, catchingWoakes (37) in the slips off Cummins,with England all out inside 53 overs.

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Series in their bag, India may exper-iment with their line-up in the final

match against the West Indies, skip-per Virat Kohli has hinted.

Kohli lauded his players for "clin-ical" performance and dropped hintsthat he may try out players, who didnot get chance to play in the first twomatches.

"Winning is always going to be apriority. But sealing the series gives thechance to bring few guys in. Idea isalways going to be to win first. Butwinning the first two games gives thecushion," Kohli said during the postmatch presentation ceremony.

The teams will now travel toGuyana for the final match, to playedat Providence stadium on Tuesday.

Shreyas Iyer and leg-break bowlerRahul Chahar stand a good chance tocompete in the third Twenty20. It willnot be a surprise if Deepak Chahar,cousin of Rahul, too finds a place inthe playing XI.

It remains to be seen if Kohli per-sists with wicket-keeper RishabhPant, who scored 4 and 0 in the twomatches or gives him another chance.KL Rahul can replace him if the teammanagement decides to drop Pant.

Talking about the second match,

Kohli said the pitch was good to baton early on. "The new ball was com-ing on nicely. We set up a good foun-dation. Good finish from Jadeja andKrunal to get us past 160. The way wewere going, could have got to 180, butpitch slowed down considerably in thelatter half," he said.

The Indian skipper had words ofpraise for spinner Washington Sundar,who was asked to open the bowlingin both the matches. The Chennaibowler succeeded in providing thebreakthrough in both the games.

"Starting with the new ball, theway Sundar has bowled against guyswho come hard at the ball, he's donea tremendous job. The composurehe's shown has been outstanding. He'sbecome fitter, leaner and is veryhandy with the bat as well. He is def-initely going to be a factor for us," hesaid.

West Indies captain CarlosBrathwaite said his side could havewon if the match could be complet-ed.

“I really don't think it wentwrong. We didn't have the start withthe ball we wanted but we pulled itback. Had a solid base with the bat.We backed ourselves to get 70 off 26even though it's a difficult task," hesaid.

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All-rounder Krunal Pandya,who starred in India's win in

the second T20 against the WestIndies, said support from pacecolleagues makes the jobeasy for spinners in target-ing the middle-order lineup.

The 28-year-oldsmashed a quick-fire 20 off13 balls before dis-missing NicholasPooran (19) andd a n g e r - m a nR o v m a nPowell (54)with his left-arm spin inthe weatherhit game onSunday.

"Whenyour fastbowlers pickup early wick-ets, it makes our

job quite easy. If they are 2-3down then we (spinners) cancome and focus on the middleorder," Krunal said at the post-match conference.

Rohit Sharma's half-centurypowered India to 167 for fiveafter electing to bat. India's new-ball bowlersBhuvneshwar Kumar andspinner Washington Sundar

then provided earlybreakthroughs toreduce West Indiesto eight for two inthe first threeovers.

"In both thegames we got thebreaks up front,Washington alsobowled well and

Bhuvi is world class.It's a good that every-one is contributing inthe team with the bat

and the ball."The 28-year-old, who

was also adjudged man-of-the-match, said the wicket aidedspinners and performances likethese help boost the confidence.

He returned with the figuresof 1/20 and 2/23 in the first andsecond game respectively.

"I'm happy with how I'vebowled in the series. I bowledfour overs in the first game andtoday also I bowled three. Thewicket was slightly helpful for spinwhich helped me as well. It's agood confidence booster whenyou represent your country, con-tribute to wins and get these kindsof wickets."

Nisarg Chokshi, one ofKrunal's childhood friend hadcome to watch and support hisGujarat mate play.

"It's a proud feeling for me (tobowl in front of friends and fam-ily) and I'm sure they are proudalso. He is my childhood friendand we used to play together inthe under-12 and under-14. Goodto see him come and support me."

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Pakistan head coachMickey Arthur has

recommended to thePCB's Cricket Committeethat Sarfaraz Ahmed besacked from captaincy ashe himself sought twomore years to deliver"remarkable results".

The Committeereviewed team's perfor-mances in the last threeyears, including the WorldCup, where Pakistan couldnot qualify for the semifi-nals.

According to a source,Arthur suggested to themembers that ShahdabKhan should replaceSarfaraz as captain in thelimited-over formats whileBabar Azam should be

given the reins of the Testside.

"Arthur did have somenegative things to say aboutSarfaraz's captaincy skills tothe members," the sourcesaid.

"I need two more yearswith the Pakistan teamand then I can deliverremarkable results," Arthuris believed to have told the

Committee, headed byPCB Managing DirectorWasim Khan.

Khan will have onemore session with themembers on Wednesdaybefore forwarding recom-mendations on theappointment of the newteam management to theboard Chairman EhsanMani.

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Australia captain Tim Paine on Mondayhailed Steve Smith as "probably the best

Test batsman we've ever seen" after his man-of-the-match performance in the first AshesTest at Edgbaston.

The tourists beat England by 251 runs towin the first game of the five-match series.

England, set an imposing target of 398 towin, collapsed to 97-7 in the post-lunch ses-sion on the fifth and final day before beingbowled out for 146.

Off-spinner Nathan Lyon took 6-49 andfast bowler Pat Cummins 4-32 as Australiaenjoyed their first win in all formats atEdgbaston since 2001 — the last time theywon an Ashes series in England.

The match was a personal triumph forAustralia's Steve Smith, who in his first Testsince a 12-month ban for his role in a ball-tampering scandal, scored 144 and 142.

Smith was the hero for Australia as theybattled back from 122-8 in the first innings.

"I thought we were certainly up against itat that stage but we had the best player in theworld at the crease," said Paine.

"Steve showed his class in both innings.We're running out of things to say aboutSmithy. He's probably the best Test batsmanwe've ever seen. We're lucky to witness it.

"Nathan bowled superbly but our threequicks took a lot of pressure off him at theother end as well. The seamers were sensation-al.

"We thought we could improve on ourfirst-innings performance with the ball. Allthose guys are world-class performers. This

morning all four of them were sensational."We know every Test we play in England,

the crowd will be against us. I thought the guyshandled themselves really well and we've comeout on top."

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South African Dale Steyn, one ofthe great fast bowlers of the

modern era, on Mondayannounced his retirement fromTest cricket in a bid to extend hislongevity in the shorter forms ofthe game.

Steyn, who made his interna-tional debut against England in2004 and last played a Test inFebruary against Sri Lanka, isstill contracted in the white-ballform of the game for the 2019/20season and therefore remainsavailable for South Africa in one-day internationals and T20s.

"Today I walk away from a for-mat of the game I love so much,"said the 36-year-old Steyn, hiscountry's leading Test wicket-taker of all time and one of the top10 in the history of the game.

"In my opinion Test cricket isthe best version of this game. It

tests you mentally, physically,emotionally. It's terrible to consid-er never playing another Testagain but what's more terrifying isthe thought of never playing againat all.

"So I will be focusing on ODIsand T20s for the rest of my careerto maximise my full potentialand ensure my longevity in thissport... I look forward to contin-uing to play for the Proteas in theshorter formats."

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Joe Root described England's comprehensive 251-run defeat by Australia in the first Ashes Test at

Edgbaston on Monday as "bitterly disappointing".World Cup winners England, set an imposing

target of 398 to win, collapsed to 97-7 in the post-lunch session on the fifth and final day before beingbowled out for 146.

The matchwas a personaltriumph forAustralia's SteveSmith, who inhis first Testsince a 12-month ban forhis role in a ball-tampering scan-dal, scored 144and 142.

"It does hurt.It is bitterly dis-appointing," saidcaptain Root.

"We played really good cricket in the majorityof the Test match. Credit to Australia. They foughthard to get back in it.

"Smith two brilliant innings. We have to keepworking hard to get him out. Obviously it was hardthat we lost Jimmy early on. These things happen.We have to take it on the chin and come back hardat Lords." Aus capitalised on the absence throughinjury of Anderson, who only sent down four first-innings overs before breaking down with a calf prob-lem that meant he did not bowl again in the match.7�����+����$����������� ����� ������

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