˘ˇˆ˙˘˝˛˚˚˜ - The Pioneer scheme under the tag line DDA Awasiya Yojana-2017. The ... SBI, Kotak Mahindra, HDFC, ICICI and Canara Bank. These different category DDA flats are

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Services on Delhi Metro'sViolet Line were severely hit

during the morning rush hourson Friday due to a major sig-nalling glitch.

Services slowed downalong the entire corridorstretching between Faridabadand Kashmere Gate after trainslost touch with the controlcentre, a metro official said.

As the centralised controlmechanism snapped, trains hadto be manually controlled, fromeach station, on this sectionbetween 8 am and 9 am, lead-ing to long delays. "The issuewas resolved at 9 am and trainsare now being regulated as pernormal schedule on Line-6," aDelhi Metro Rail Corporation(DMRC) official said.

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Police have arrested twoaccused in connection with

the murder of a property deal-er in Sector-9 area on June 22.One countrymade pistol of .32bore and five live cartridgeshave been seized from theirpossession.

The accused have beenidentified as Shashikant aliasSunny and Arjun, a resident ofvillage Basai in Gurugram.Two of their accomplices Sumitand Lalit alias Moni are still atlarge.

Following a tip-off, both theculprits were nabbed by theSpecial Investigation Team (SIT)led by Inspector Sajjan Singh,In-charge Crime InvestigationAgency (CIA), Palam Vihar

and Inspector Bijender SinghSHO of Sector-9 police stationfrom village Chandu on June 29.

During the interrogation,the accused revealed that therewas some old dispute betweenthe two groups which prompt-ed them to kill Kataria. On June22, the assailants arrived on twobikes and shot the victim seventimes.

According to police, two ofthe four accused have pastcriminal records. Lalit andArjun were the prime accusedin the case as they both shotdeceased Narender Kataria.

Meanwhile, police havegiven a clean chit to LajpatKaushik and Vijay Kaushikwho were under suspicion inthe crime as the victim's fam-ily alleged the involvement ofthe two brothers.

The 28-year-old Kataria wasshot dead by the accused personson June 22 when he was return-ing home after playing bad-minton around 7.30 pm, fromKataria market in Sector-9 area.

Police had registered a caseon the complaint of the victim'sbrother under Section 302(murder), 34 (act done by sev-eral persons with commonintention), including 25-54-59Arms Act of the Indian PenalCode (IPC) at Sector-9 policestation.

"The two more accusedare still absconding. Teams areconducting raids about theirhideout and will nab the cul-prits soon, said DCP (crime)Sumit Kuhar. The arrested duowas on Friday produced beforethe court that remanded themto four-day police custody.

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Shri Jagannath and OrissaArts & Culture Centre,

Delhi celebrated the 50th RathYatra of Lord Jagannath start-ed from the Jagannath Temple,Tyagraj Nagar and covered a3 kilometre route and returnedto the Mausi Maa temple in thetemple premises.

The deities of LordJagannath, Balabhadra and sis-ter Subhadra were installed onthe rath by the pandas andthereafter it was pulled out ofthe temple with "kirtan" by thesea of devotees. On its way itgave darshan to the Delhiteesgathered on the way. The fes-tival symbolizes unique unionof devotee with the lord irre-spective of caste, creed, genderand religion.

Deputy Chief Minister,Manish Sisodia was the chiefguest of the festival withMeenakshi Lekhi, Madan Lal,Vinod Karotia, gracing theoccasion. The chief guest alsoreleased a souvenir to commemorate the celebration.

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Irked by the attempts to curbpower theft, a mob attacked

BSES Rajdhani Power Limited(BRPL) inspection team inMundka (Village Ranholla) inWest Delhi. Three BSES offi-cials and one Delhi Police Sub-Inspector were injured. DelhiPolice has registered an FIRand arrested two villagers.

The team comprises fifteenmember, including threewomen, was undertaking a lossreduction exercise in the area.The mob gathered and startedpelting stones on the team.

A discom official said thatthey attacked suddenly andeven the presence of around 20Delhi Police personnel accom-panying the BSES team in thishigh power theft area did notdeter the mob.

According to a BSESspokesperson, "This is not anisolated incident. Efforts ofdiscom teams to check theirregularities are often thwart-ed by the law-defying peoplewho function like organisedgangs. Whenever teams reach

these ‘sensitive’ areas,unscrupulous elements 'gherao'them and obstruct officials inimparting their duties.

"This attack was undertak-en by people who are indulgedin power theft in an organisedway. Power theft has takenshape of organised crime andactive police support is neededto curb this menace," he added.

Officials said cases ofpower theft shoot up substan-tially during the summermonths, which leads to severeover-loading of the distributionsystem (transformers/feeders)at places, resulting in tripping.

It is also a potential safetyhazard.

"Despite intensive efforts toreduce power theft, VillageRaholla (a prominent Village indivision Mundka) continues tohave massive losses of around40 per cent. In the last twoyears, around 450 cases ofpower theft having a connect-ed load of around 1,200 KWhave been unearthed in thearea," he added.

BRPL & BYPL are premierpower distribution companiesand Joint Ventures betweenReliance Infrastructure Limitedand GoNCT.

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Union Urban DevelopmentMinister Venkaiah Naidu

has launched a new housingscheme under the tag line DDAAwasiya Yojana-2017. Thescheme is linked to 'PradhanMantri Awas Yojana' under theCredit Linked Subsidy Scheme(CLSS). At initial stage, the landowning agency is disposing ofmore than 12,000 flats of fourdifferent categories, including87 flats for High Income Group(HIG).

The urban body has tied upwith ten banks for the sale ofapplication forms and scheme-related transactions. The banksare Axis Bank, Yes Bank, IDBI,Bank of Baroda, Central Bank,SBI, Kotak Mahindra, HDFC,ICICI and Canara Bank. Thesedifferent category DDA flats arelocated at Rohini, Dwarka,Jasola, Pitampura, Paschimvihar, Jankapuri, Vasant Kunj,Narela, Siraspur.

DDA also claims that theflats have been constructed

following the green buildingnorms to reduce Carbon footprints. Interestingly, this time,DDA has removed 'lock-inperiod' for all its flats thatimplies; people who get flatscan sell it whenever they want.The application forms for thisscheme will be available fromSaturday.

While launching thescheme, Naidu said that pro-viding house to every citizen ofIndia is a dream of NDAGovernment. "Various suchschemes are running in otherStates of India," the Ministeradded.

DDA Vice Chairperson

Uday Pratap said that DDA hasset a target to provide 20,000flats per year under the abovesaid scheme until 2022.

"Applicant will have todeposit registration money of�1 lakh for Janta and LowIncome Group (1 Bedroom)and �2 lakh for Middle IncomeGroup and High IncomeGroup (HIG) flats," DDA offi-cial said. "The cost of the formhas been fixed as �200 and itwill be available in the banks,"he added further.

While launching thescheme in Nirman Bhavan,DDA official further said thatthe draw of lots will be con-ducted in the presence of inde-pendent outside observers afterthree months of the closure ofthe scheme. The draw of lotswill be web streamed.

"DDA will refund registra-tion money of the unsuccess-ful applicants through theNodal Branches of the Banks,"official said further.

Out of 12,000 flats, 404 fall

under the category of MIG and11,197 for LIG while 384 areJanta flats.

This may be noted that,previously in 2014, DDA hadoffered 25,040 flats across thecategories with prices rangingbetween �7 lakh and �1.2 crore.

The online response was somassive that the DDA's officialwebsite crashed soon after thelaunch. The one-bedroom flatswere offered in Dwarka,Rohini, Narela and Siraspurareas.

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With an aim to provideexposure to the domestic

mango industry, Delhi Tourismon Friday organised 29thMango Festival, showcasingvarieties of mangos producedin the country. Visitors weregiven an opportunity to tastethe flavour of mangoes. Thefestival also offers a packagedeal of fun and frolic for bothchildren and other familymembers. The festival will becontinuing till July 2.

A senior tourism officialsaid that among 17 participantsin this festival, nine areGovernment organisationssuch as APEDA, IARA, andCISH. Out of them, eight areprivate orchard owners andfarmers namely Javed Amin(West Bengal), Ramveer SinghChauhan (Saharanpur),Mustafa Orchards, society forconservation of Mangoes etc.The aforesaid traditional grow-

ers of mangoes have attainedexpertise over generationsexcelling in research and prop-agation of this fruit, which hasindeed strengthened their faithin their occupation.

"An assortment of rare aswell as commercially popularmangoes such as Fajri, Husn-E-Ara, Jannat, Jonariya,Temuriya, Moosabala,Sadaphal, Makhkhan, Litchi,Haathijhool, Begum Pasand,Toffee Mango, Choosta, Yogi,Shareefa etc are available on thedisplay this year," he said.

Mango has been an insep-arable part of Indian culturesince ancient times. From cui-sine to ceremonies, mangoplays an important role andthus it deserves a celebration.

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Aday after the DelhiAssembly adopted a reso-

lution seeking 85 per centreservation in admission forlocal students in 28 collegesunder University of Delhi thatwere funded by the DelhiGovernment, the Assemblyadopted a resolution seeking 85per cent reservation for grad-uates of universities in Delhi inthe recruitment of permanentor guest teachers across schoolsin the national Capital onFriday.

Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia said the exist-ing recruitment rules wouldhave to be amended for thispurpose and the 9,000-oddposts of guest teacher beingfilled currently would not haveany quota.

During a discussion in theAssembly, Sisodia said theongoing recruitment process,for which around one lakhapplications had been received,would have a provision of "nor-malisation", under whichlocalites would not be in a posi-tion of disadvantage.

Sisodia who also holds theEducation portfolio said formerL-G Najeeb Jung had rejecteda proposal to regularise around17,000 guest teachers but theGovernment was open to send-ing the file pertaining to theissue to incumbent L-G AnilBaijal.

Earlier, AAP MLA NitinTyagi initiated the discussion,pitching for quota for Delhiitesin teachers' recruitment. Hesaid the candidates from Delhifound themselves in a positionof disadvantage due to a host of

reasons, which was "unfair".Citing examples of States suchas Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, WestBengal and Mizoram, Tyagialso claimed that educationstandards in other States werenot as good as in Delhi, "so wecannot afford to play with thefuture of Delhi's children".

Basing its argument on thepremise of "disadvantage", theAssembly adopted the resolu-tion opining that for all futurerecruitments, whether for per-manent teachers or for guestteachers, preference be given tocandidates graduating fromuniversities in Delhi. "...TheDirectorate of Education toensure 85% quota for perma-nent and guest teacher posi-tions for candidates graduatingfrom universities in Delhi forall future processes of recruit-ment," it said.

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Delhi Police has arrestedtwo persons who were pre-

viously involved in cases of rob-beries, carjacking and ArmsAct. Deputy Commissioner ofPolice, South-West district,Surender Kumar said the arrest-ed accused have been identifiedas Rahul(21) and Sachin (22).

"The accused were arrest-ed on Friday and one VernaCar, one Swift Dzire Car, twocountrymade pistols with fourlive cartridges and a gold chainhave been recovered from theirpossession," said the DCP.

“On the intervening nightof Tuesday and Wednesday,two incidents of carjackings ongun point were reported in thearea of Najafgarh and Dwarka,”the DCP further added.

"The first incident wasreported in Najafgarh. Raju, ataxi driver, reported to policethat when he reached Najafgarhfrom Gurgaon in his SwiftDzire taxi and dropped the pas-sengers, he was overpowered bytwo man on gun point andbundled into his car after theysnatched his car keys," thepolice official said, adding,"The criminals took the car toDwarka area and intercepted awhite Verna car by blockingtheir way with the Swift Dzire.The offenders left the SwiftDzire and took out the ownerof the Verna car SatvinderSingh, snatched his gold chainand at gun point and then spedaway with his car."

On June 29, police teamreceived information from theirsources that carjackers whoare involved in Najafgarh andDwarka are planning anotherrobbery. As a result policeteams were briefed with thedetails and a trap was laid forthe same near an MCD School.

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Food and Civil SuppliesMinister Imran Hussain on

Friday reviewed the situationarising out of the sudden andundue increase in the retailprices of tomato in the marketsof Delhi. During the meeting,the Minister expressed seriousconcern about the sudden risein the prices of tomato inDelhi.

He directed Commissioner,Food and Civil Supplies toinstruct Market IntelligenceUnit to depute teams in themarket for ascertaining thereasons for abrupt increase inthe prices.

The Minister directed that

the teams should also gatherinformation about instancesof hoarding or black marketingof tomato, if any, so that theconcerned departments couldinitiate necessary legal actionagainst them.

Food and Civil SuppliesDepartment has been entrust-ed with the responsibility ofchecking the availability andprices of various food items inDelhi.

"Food and Civil SuppliesDepartment has constituted aMarket Intelligence Unit whichregularly reviews the availabil-ity and fluctuations in the pricesof various food commodities inDelhi," Delhi Government pressrelease stated.

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South Delhi MunicipalCorporation (SDMC) has

entered into an agreement withNBCC for constructing it newheadquarters building at IPEstate near Pragati Madian.The MoU was signed by theSDMC Commissioner PuneetKumar Goel and AnoopKumar Mital CMD of NBCCon Friday. The headquarterswill come up with an estimat-ed cost of about �525 crore overa five acre land.

Union Urban DevelopmentMinister Venkaiah Naidu,Railway Minister SureshPrabhu and SDMC MayorKamaljeet Sehrawat were alsopresent on this occasion.

The proposed modern steel

and glass building with an openup view of the River Yamunawould be an iconic green build-ing with 3-star GRIHA Ratingwith incorporation of maxi-mum smart features, with twolevel basements with seamlessconnectivity with City Tunnel.

The building will have greenfeatures such as zero waste dis-charge, solar power generation

to meet about 6 per cent of ener-gy needs, real time response toclimatic day light and func-tional variation, an automatedcontrols for efficiency throughuse of sensors, grey water recy-cling, gain water harvesting,low energy consumption, use ofautomated shades to reduce daylight energy, use of water effi-cient fixtures etc.

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New Delhi: Two Delhi Policepersonnel — a Sub-inspectorfrom Kahsmere Gate police sta-tion and a Head Constable ofthe Special Cell — have beenarrested for allegedly stealing1,355 kg of sandalwood from agodown in North West Delhi’sBhalswa Dairy.

The alleged theft took placeon Tuesday evening when SIAnuj and HC Manoharlalalong with two others visitedthe godown twice, first to con-duct a reconnaissance on thepretext of making enquiriesand then to take away bags fullof the precious wood.

According to godown secu-rity guard Maniram, they wereboth wearing uniforms at thetime of the theft. The godownis owned by Mohammad Ikhlaqwho was not present there at thetime of the incident.

Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (North West) MilindDumbere while confirming thearrests did not disclose the iden-tities of the other two accused.

In his statement, Maniram

purportedly told police that heand his 11-year-old nephewwere in the godown when twomen were knocking the gate.

“One of them was wearinga police uniform and he askedme if the godown belonged toTiku to which I named the realowner in response. Two othersalso came soon, one of themagain wearing a police uniformand they asked me a few moredetails about the godown,” saidManiram in his complaint.

Later that evening, all fouraccused returned and parkedtheir car and a tempo they haddriven to outside the godown.

“They asked me where thesandalwood was kept and whenI did not reply, they snatched myphone. They broke a window tolook into a locked room and sawthe sandalwood. They asked meto open the lock and when I toldthem that I didn’t have the keys,they broke the lock and loadedthe sandalwood in the tempo.Before leaving, they took out theSIM card from my phone,” saidManiram. ��

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India on Friday warned Chinathat it should not underesti-

mate India’s military potential asUnion Defence Minister ArunJaitley said that the situation in1962 was different from that ofIndia of 2017. Breaking itssilence over the face-off betweenthe Indian Army and thePeople’s Liberation Army (PLA)in the Sikkim sector, the IndianGovernment made it clear toChina that its unilateral act ofaltering boundaries can haveserious implications.

Reacting to the statementsby Chinese military spokesper-son asking India to learnlessons from the past and stopdangerous clamour for war,Jaitley said, “If they are tryingto remind us, the situation in1962 was different, the India oftoday is different.”

The cause of the latestface-off in the North East sec-tor is the Chinese attempt tobuild a road in the strategical-

ly key area of Donglong whichis a link to the Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet tri-junction. On June 16,2017 the PLA entered theDoklam area in Bhutan withearthmovers and constructionmachines and attempted toconstruct a road which couldgive China a major militaryadvantage over India.

The Royal Bhutan Army,which objected to the construc-tion, was outnumbered andpushed back to their post by thePLA following which the IndianArmy was called for help. IndianArmy and Bhutan Army dojoint patrolling at the tri-junc-tion. The Indian forces askedPLA to stop the measure to alterthe status quo in the region.

Ambassador of the RoyalGovernment of Bhutan(RGOB) had lodged a protestwith the Chinese Governmentthrough their Embassy in NewDelhi on June 20. The ForeignMinistry of Bhutan also issueda statement underlining thatthe construction of the road

inside Bhutanese territory is adirect violation of the 1988 and1998 agreements betweenBhutan and China and affectsthe process of demarcating theboundary between these twocountries. They have urged areturn to the status quo asbefore June 16, 2017.

Speaking at a functionorganised by a media house,Jaitley added that theGovernment of Bhutan hadmade it clear that China wastrying to claim Bhutanese land.“After the statement of the

Government of Bhutan, I thinkthe situation is absolutely clear.It is Bhutan’s land, close to theIndian border, and Bhutan andIndia have an arrangement toprovide security. Bhutan itselfclarified ... China is trying toalter the status quo. After this,I think the issue is absolutelyclear. To say we will comethere and grab the land of someother country is what China isdoing and it is absolutelywrong,” the Minister said.

The Ministry of ExternalAffairs, on the other hand,

said that the construction of aroad will cause a significantchange of status quo, and is aviolation of a 2012 under-standing with China. It addedIndia is committed to workingwith China to find a peacefulresolution to all issues in theborder areas through dialogue,while asking for restraint andrespect for bilateral under-standings of not to change thestatus quo unilaterally.

China, on the other hand,alleged that Indian bordertroops crossed the boundaryline in the Sikkim sector andentered Chinese territory. Itasked India to withdraw itstroops from the Donglong areaas a precondition for mean-ingful dialogue to settle theboundary issue.

Interestingly, the face-offcomes in the backdrop ofPrime Minister NarendraModi’s meeting with ChinesePresident Xi Jinping in Astanalast month on the sidelines ofthe Shanghai CooperationOrganisation where Modireportedly told Xi: “Don’t letdifferences becomes disputes.”

Continued on Page 4

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In view of China blocking theNathu-La route for the

Kailash Mansarovar Yatra fol-lowing a face-off between secu-rity forces of the two countriesin Doklam area, the IndianGovernment on Friday can-celled pilgrimage tours throughthis side. However, the yatra

through the Lipulekh Pass inUttarakhand will continue asscheduled. Indians can alsotravel to Kailash Mansarovarthrough the Nepal route.

Eight batches, each com-prising around 50 pilgrims,were scheduled to have takenthe Nathu La route toMansarovar in Tibet.

Continued on Page 4

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On the stroke of Saturdaymidnight, with the sound-

ing of a gong in Parliament andfireworks in different parts ofthe country, India stepped intoa new era of “economic free-dom” marked by the megalaunch of the Goods andServices Tax (GST).

President PranabMukherjee and Prime MinisterNarendra Modi launched thehistoric tax reform measure inthe Central Hall of Parliamentin the presence of FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley, MPs,Chief Ministers, and dignitariesfrom different walks of life.However, the Congress andseveral other Opposition partiesskipped the function.

Former Prime MinisterManmohan Singh, who hadunsuccessfully tried to imple-ment the GST, was not presenton the high table.

This was the fourth timesuch a Joint Session ofParliament was convened. Thefirst will be remembered for“Tryst with Destiny” speech offirst Prime Minister JawaharlalNehru on the occasion of India’s

Independence in 1947. The sec-ond such Session took place in1992 to mark the 50th anniver-sary of Quit India Movement in1942. The third midnight JointSession was called in 1997 tomark the 50th anniversary ofIndia’s Independence.

In his speech, the Presidentsaid that GST was the culmi-nation of 17-year-long journey.“It had many issues of con-tentions. But I was confidentthat the GST was a matter oftime and that gradually it willbe implemented,” he said.

Pranab said the GST roll-out was a moment of person-al satisfaction for him. “As aFinance Minister, I had moved

the Constitutional AmendmentBill,” he said.

Speaking on the occasion,Modi said the GST was a fineexample of cooperative feder-alism. “From Sri Ganganagar toItanagar, from Leh toLakshadweep, there will beone nation and one tax...GSTwill eliminate the compound-ing effects of multi-layered taxsystem,” Modi said.

Underlining the signifi-cance of the Central Hall assem-bly, which was dubbed as“tamasha” by Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Modisaid, “This place is witness toAugust 14 midnight. And today,after so many years, we assem-

ble here for economic reform.There couldn’t have been a bet-ter place for this occasion.”

The PM said the GST hasunited country the way SardarPatel had done afterIndependence. He tried tonegate the impression that theGST could lead to price hikeand cause hardship to the poor.

“This mechanism will helpus reach out to the poor. Therewill be no ‘kachcha bill’ and‘pakka bill’ from tomorrow”,said Modi, adding, “after 70years of Independence, there isa lot that is yet to reach thepoor of the country. The GSTwill help us in that direction.”

Describing the GST as“Good and Simple Tax”, Modisaid the GST was not a mere‘tax reform’, but it is an eco-nomic reform that will soonbecome a social reform as well.

“GST will play an impor-tant role in realising the dreamof a ‘New India’,” Modi said.

In his inaugural speech,Jaitley said, “The old India waseconomically fragmented, theGST will help the New India increating regime of one tax, onemarket and for one nation.”

Continued on Page 4Related reports: P5, 6

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Now, farmers have enoughreasons to cheer as the

Goods and Services Tax (GST)Council on Friday slashed therate on fertilizer from 12 percent to 5 per cent, a move toreduce the burden on farmers.The GST Council, in anothermove to give relief to farmers,also reduced the tax rate onexclusive parts of tractors from28 per cent to 18 per cent.

Just a couple of hoursbefore the historic rollout of thenew indirect tax regime atmidnight, Finance MinisterArun Jaitley said it was decid-ed by the GST Council that taxrate on fertilisers will be at 5 per

cent, not 12 per cent which wasdecided earlier.

“Some States had kept VATon fertilizer at lower rate.Keeping that in mind, there wasa consensus in the GST Councilto bring the rate to 5 per cent,”Jaitley, who heads the GSTCouncil, told reporters afterthe 18th meeting of the Council.

“Besides, we have alsodecided to reduce the tax rateon exclusive parts of tractorsfrom 28 per cent to 18 percent,” he added.

The Council meeting wascalled more as a thanksgivingmeet with no formal agenda.But it did take up the cause offarmers at the meeting.

Continued on Page 4

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While big players are gearedup to welcome the era of

Goods and Services Tax (GST),traders are restive about theimpact of the mega tax reform on their future. In dif-ferent parts of the country,traders went on protests onFriday and threatened to inten-sify their agitation until theGovernment agreed to lookinto their concerns.

Most of the busy marketsin the national Capitalremained closed on Friday astraders protested against theimplementation of the GST.They alleged that the new taxregime will signal the ruin ofsmall and medium-sized indus-

tries and create large-scaleunemployment. The strike wassupported by the Delhi Traders’Congress.

While traders led by ‘AkhilBharatiya Udyog VyaparMandal’ leader GyanendraMisra protested at the Lucknowrailway crossing and Kanpur,and stopped local trains. Thetrade and industry bodies inHyderabad asked the Gover-nment to be lenient for at leastone year on filing of returns.

In Uttar Pradesh, Kanpurwas one of the main centres ofthe protests; reports of protestsalso came in from Varanasi,Allahabad, Jhansi, Faizabad,Shahjahanpur and Ghaziabad.

Traders in Delhi NCR willdown their shutters from

Continued on Page 4

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Hectic deliberations con-tinued in Kashmir on

Friday to fast track implemen-tation of the Goods andServices Tax (GST) even as thePDP-BJP alliance failed toensure the crucial rollout alongwith the rest of country on July1. The Government decided toresume the Assembly Sessionon July 4 to seek concurrenceof the State Legislature for theimplementation of uniformtax regime, a pre-requisite forapplication of any Central lawin Jammu & Kashmir in thebackdrop of its special consti-tutional position.

Chief Minister MehboobaMufti called upon formerDeputy Chief Minister andMP Muzaffar Hussain Beigh todiscuss ways and means toensure smooth passage of GSTBill in the special AssemblySession. Beigh is heading All-Party Consultative Group(APCG) that held two meetingsto iron out differences on theGST issue.

Continued on Page 4

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As the whole nation comesunder the uniform tax

regime — Goods and ServicesTax (GST) — on Saturday, theFinance Ministry on Fridaysaid out of the 80 lakh taxpay-ers of VAT, services tax andothers, more than 66 lakh haveactivated their accounts at theGST portal. The rest 14 lakhtaxpayers are in the process toregister soon, said a seniorFinance Ministry official,adding, “We expect around 5lakh will enroll in August itselfand the rest will follow suit ina couple of months.”

With the launch of thebiggest tax reform sinceIndependence, businesses andcitizens across the country arebracing for economic chaos.Sources said, “Some large com-panies have assigned staff full-time to the transition, whileothers worry their thousands ofsmall-time suppliers will find itdifficult — if not impossible —to register online and complywith filing requirements.Everyone from businesses tothe central bank will now watchfor the first signs of stress as thetax ripples through India’slargely informal economy.”

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Winning accolades for itsquality and punctuality,

the Khadi and VillageIndustries Commission(KVIC) had bagged repeatorders of nearly �12 croresfrom Air India and RaymondLtd.

Giving this information,KVIC chairman Vinai KumarSaxena said that to promote theuse of indigenous fabric and toincreasing its sourcing fromKVIC, national carrier AirIndia had decided to use nat-ural and eco-friendly khadiproducts on its flights, and hadplaced an order worth nearly�7.98 crore with KVIC for get-ting 65,500 units of amenitykits for its first class and busi-ness class passengers.

"The products will be sup-plied by Khadi GramodyogBhawan , a flagship retail unitof the KVIC. The orders aresecured through competitivetendering and quality checks,thus upholding the value forprice nature of Khadi and vil-lage industries products,"Saxena said, adding, "Earlier inSeptember 2016, the Air Indiahad placed a big order forsupplying 5.75 lakh khadi soapcakes at a cost of Rs 45 lakhwith the commission. Prior toit, in June 2016, it had placedan order worth �8 crore withKVIC to source 1.85 lakh unitsof amenity kits. Similarly, inDecember 2015, the Air Indiaplaced a trial order worth �1.21crore to the KVIC for the sup-ply of 25,000 units of amenitykits."

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In lines with GujaratGovernment's successful ini-

tiative 'Khel Mahakumbh', theCentral Government will start'Khele India' in which crores ofplayers would participate fromacross the country in nearfuture, said Prime MinisterNarendra Modi inAhmedabad on Friday eveningbefore boarding flight to NewDelhi.

Addressing a function tomark launch of the �500 crorestate-of-the-art stadium nearhistoric Kankaria Lake situat-ed in Maninagar constituencyfrom where he used to getelected as MLA, Modi saidthat he wanted India to wingold medals in Olympics.

He also launched KhelMahakumbh - 2017 in which

more than 30 lakh players inmore than 20 sports areexpected to participate. KhelMahakumbh is the brainchildof Modi when he was GujaratChief Minister to promotesports culture in Gujarat. Firstedition of Khel Mahakumbhstarted in 2010 which receivedoverwhelming response.

He insisted that there wasneed to begin a movement inIndia to make sports an inte-gral part of people's lives.

He remarked thatsportspersons requiredencouragement from familyand society coupled with basicinfrastructure.

PM Modi who had nighthalt at Governor's House inthe State Capital Gandhinagarbegan his second day of his 2-day visit to Gujarat by inau-gurating �550 crore Narmada

project based water supplyscheme for over 600 villages inNorth Gujarat at Modasa townof Aravalli district.

Addressing a gatheringthere he said that the Gujaratmodel of development wasbeing discussed in great detailsas the BJP Governments in theState and at the Centre hadfocused on holistic approachof development and findingpermanent solutions to theproblems.

"Our Governmentsstopped unnecessary earthdigging carried out as part ofthe relief works duringdrought period only to drawelectoral mileage," he said,adding that his Governmenthad ensured that the farmersacross the state were receivingwater through various irriga-tion schemes.

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From Page 1He added that given the

uncertain global politics it is inthe interest of India and Chinato be more predictable. It islearnt Xi was in agreement withModi’s suggestion.The MEAfurther said that the matter hasbeen under discussion betweenIndia and China at the diplo-matic level in the ForeignMinistries since then, both inNew Delhi and Beijing and itwas also the subject of a BorderPersonnel Meeting at Nathu La

on June 20.“India has consistently

taken a positive approach to thesettlement of its own boundarywith China, along with theassociated issue of the tri-junc-tions. India cherishes peace andtranquility in the India-Chinaborder areas. It has not comeeasily. Both sides have workedhard to establish institutionalframework to discuss all issuesto ensure peace and tranquili-ty in the India-China borderareas. India is committed to

working with China to find apeaceful resolution of all issuesin the border areas throughdialogue,” the MEA said.

Meanwhile, the top officialsof the Indian Government andArmy reviewed the situation inthe Sikkim sector. In a meetingattended by National SecurityAdvisor Ajit Doval, ForeignSecretary S Jaishankar, ArmyChief General Bipin Rawat andother officials, a detailed analy-sis was made of the overall sit-uation in the sensitive areas.

From Page 1As per the Finance Ministry

statement, Goods and ServicesTax Network (GSTN) has beencreated to function as a com-mon pass-through portal fortaxpayers. “On this commonportal, taxpayers will submittheir registration applications,file returns, make tax payments,claim refunds etc. GSTN hasbeen provided with a robust ITplatform and it will provideinterface to 80 lakh taxpayersand thousands of tax officials.More than 66 lakh taxpayershave activated their account atthe GST portal,” it said.

All filings under GST, itadded, will be done electroni-cally. “While GSTN remains a

front-end, at the back end, theIT systems of CBEC and dif-ferent States interface with theGSTN IT network to provide aseamless end-to-end process-ing of tax returns for the tax-payers. Around 64,000 officialshave been trained on the GSTportal from February till June2017. The GSTN IT systemshave undergone load tests, per-formance tests, vulnerabilitytests, security and all othermandatory tests,” it said.

On the other hand, indus-try associations that expectthe transition will be painful forSMEs. “Small and mediumenterprises are jittery about thetransition,” said APK Reddy,President, Federation of Small

and Medium Enterprises.“SME sector has been usingbasic tallying technologies only.That may create some issueswith GST compliance. While amajority of them have got theGST numbers, we’re all jitteryabout complying with thereturn processes,” he added.

With the deadline ending,protests and industrial strikesbroke out across the countryover tax rates and complianceburdens. In the States of TamilNadu, Gujarat and Rajasthan,tens of thousands of textileworkers went on strike, whilethe association that representssellers of seeds, pesticides andfertilizers protested in the agri-cultural state of Punjab.

From Page 1The State Government had in an

unplanned manner summoned a spe-cial four-day Assembly Session onJune 17 but it was closed sine die whenOpposition parties, including theNational Conference (NC), soughtamendments to the draft Bill to ensuresafeguards to the special status of theState. The PDP-BJP coalition insiststhat the GST would not erode the spe-cial status and fiscal autonomy of theState.

The new five-Day session would beheld despite the failure of theConsultative Group to arrive at a con-sensus to implement the SGT regime.

Meanwhile, several groups ofKashmiri traders called for a generalshutdown against the implementationof GST. The traders have threatened tohold sit-in against the new tax regime.

Addressing a Press conferenceYasin Khan, president of KashmirTraders and Manufacturers’Federation said the traders were notagainst paying taxes but they resent-ed the implementation of GST thatwould infringe the special status of theJ&K State. “Confusion is being createdthat traders are against tax. We areagainst the implementation of GST in

the State as it will infringe the specialstatus of the J&K,” he said.He said thatthey won’t al low the StateGovernment to implement the Indianlaw in J&K.

Influential trade body, KashmirChamber of Commerce & Industry, ina statement, also opposed any attemptby the Government to “forcibly or clan-destinely implementing GST in its pre-sent form”. The group said the GSTwould take away “our financial auton-omy enjoyed in terms of Section 5 ofthe Constitution of Jammu &Kashmir”.Finance Minister Dr HaseebDrabu has clarified that theGovernment will ensure adequate safe-guards for protecting the special con-stitutional position of J&K as enshrinedin Article 370 of the IndianConstitution.

“The way ahead to harmoniseGST in the State could be by extensionof only such limbs of the ConstitutionalAmendment 101 to the State which arealready applicable to J&K in one formor another with some other provisionsof technical nature required for har-monization of our taxation structurewith the new tax regime,” Dr Drabusaid.

Regarding GST, Drabu said it

would be an integrated tax regimewhich would replace 16 taxes current-ly being levied by the Centre and theState Government. The taxes to be inte-grated under GST include CentralExcise Duty, Duties of Excise,Additional Duties of Excise, AdditionalDuties of Customs, Special AdditionalDuties of Customs, Service Tax, StateVAT, Central Sales Tax, Luxury Tax,Entry Tax in lieu Octroi, EntertainmentTax, Taxes of Advertisement, PurchaseTax, Taxes on Lotteries, Betting andGambling and State Cess.

The Finance Minister said theexisting tax incentives under theIndustrial Policy will be continued andthe cross-LoC trade can be maintainedin the current form. “In case the GSTis not extended to the State, the busi-nesses will be crippled as no traderfrom J&K will be able to do businesswith their counterparts from otherparts of the country,” Dr Drabu saidand added that the consumer in J&Kwill be the worst hit due to double tax-ation.

Dr Drabu said in the absence ofan alternative trading link, J&K is lit-erally integrated with mainland Indianmarket. Entire requirements areimported from it and everything pro-

duced or manufactured in J&K isexported to the same market. “Twintaxation systems dissociated fromeach other will entail costs to businessand to public finance system. Tradingprocesses will be subjected to twin tax-ation systems making everything cost-ly in J&K, a cost that ultimately theconsumer shall have to bear,” he saidand added that traders will have to paymore for managing twin systems andit could create a situation that J&Kmay not get buyers or sellers for itsproducts.

Hinting that Opposition to GSTimplementation would create problemsfor the State, Beigh to ConsultativeGroup of Thursday that it would opena Pandora’s box. “If we talk of bring-ing a separate law, the Centre will haveto amend two chapters in theConstitution to delegate powers of tax-ation to the state of Jammu andKashmir.

It will become a huge political issueacross the country. Besides, it will alsoentail amending Section 5 of J&KConstitution which can’t be done.More so, any attempt on fiddling withSection 5 will open a Pandora’s boxwhich will have huge political ramifi-cations for J&K in future,” he said.

From Page 1Saturday to press for

amendments in certain provi-sions of the GST before thescheduled implementation ofthe new tax regime nextmonth. The Uttar PradeshUdhyog Vyapar Mandal hascalled for the strike demand-ing that the provisions of GSTbe made more “traders-friend-ly”.

Traders also protested bygiving a bandh call against cer-tain provisions of the GST invarious parts of Punjab. InAmbala, Haryana too, thecloth merchants have beenholding protest, demandingzero GST on cloth.

Central Delhi’s businesshub Chandani Chowk wore adeserted look as traders haddowned shutters. South Delhi’sLajpat Nagar and AmarColony markets remainedclosed over the promulgationof GST.

Sadar Bazar TradesAssociation also participatedin the strike and all the mar-kets in the area were closed. Apeaceful protest march wasalso taken out from ChowkBara Tooti. Traders said theGovernments to look intotheir demands and come upwith an interim solution tillthe issues regarding GST arenot amended.

Meanwhile, DisabilityRights Group (DRG) onFriday took out a candlelightvigil at Jantar Mantar as almostall aids and appliances that dis-abled people use such as awheelchair, or a Braille type-writer or a hearing aid willbecome at least 5 per centmore expensive someorthopaedic appliances such ascrutches and surgical beltswill get 12 per cent moreexpensive some orthopaedicappliances such as crutchesand surgical belts will get 12per cent more expensive and70 million disabled people arethere in India.

Anticipating trouble,

police at different locationssaid adequate personnel willbe deployed in order to pre-vent any untoward incidentfrom taking place.

“Option of filing GSTreturn must be quarterly. Notrader should be prosecuted incase of any error in docu-mentation and only pecuniaryfine should be imposed. Also,GST should be fixed at 15 percent only,” said State presidentof UPUVM Subhash Chabda.

“The GST-related proce-dure should not be madefully online as there is nointernet connectivity inremote areas,” said Chabda,who also suggested that theGST be implemented in themonth of September insteadof July.

According to RavindraModi, president of theFederation of Telangana andAndhra Pradesh Chambers ofCommerce and Industry, thereare several slabs under GSTand that it should be called onecommodity-one tax, and notone nation-one tax. He said itwould take at least six monthsfor the trade to get accustomedto the new regime as there areseveral confusing elementswhich even some of theGovernment officials are notwell versed with.

From Page 1The first batch was to cross

over to China through NathuLa on June 20 and the last batchon July 31. It would have takena batch 21 days to complete thepilgrimage.

China had issued visas forfirst two batches and applica-tions for the other pilgrimswere put on hold because of thetension along the border. Thefirst batch of KailashMansarovar pilgrims had toreturn from the Nathu La bor-der post after China refused toopen its gates following thestand-off between the IndianArmy and People’s LiberationArmy (PLA) of China in theSikkim sector near Bhutanborder.

The pilgrims returned toGangtok on June 23 after stay-ing in Nathu La for three daysawaiting permission fromChina for the onward journey.The second batch of devoteeswas stopped at Gangtok andthe third batch was not allowed

to leave from Delhi followinguncertainty at the borders.

Interestingly, the face-offbetween the two sides has notimpacted trade relations astrucks carrying goods fromboth sides crossed the borderseven till Friday.

The Sikkim route toMansarovar was opened for thepublic in 2015 followingChinese President Xi Jinping’svisit to India. The pilgrimage toKailash Mansarovar, locatedat an altitude of 15,160 feet,takes place from June toSeptember each year throughthe two routes. Several Indiansalso travelled through theNepal route by taking permitfrom the Chinese Embassy inKathmandu.

However, this year theChinese Government stoppedissuing permits for Indiansfrom Kathmandu and askedthem to take visa from itsEmbassy in New Delhi. TheNepal route is still open forIndians.

From Page 1Prime Minister Narendra

Modi also attended a dinner forthe GST Council members asa special thanks-giving for thedecisions the panel took since

its formation in September lastyear.Since its first meeting onSeptember 23, 2016, theCouncil has met 18 times anddecided on range of issues --from drafts of supporting leg-

islations to GST rules, rates oftaxes and fitting over 1,200goods and services in the four-tire structure of 5 per cent, 12per cent, 18 per cent and 28 percent.

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After repeatedly evading EDsummons, former Finance

Minister Karti Chidambaramhas sought more time from CBIto appear before the investiga-tors in the FIPB kickbacksrelated to NewsX TV channel.The agency had on June 15asked Karti to appear in theDelhi head quarters in betweenJune 27 and June 29.

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Senior advocate KKVenugopal's name has been

cleared for appointment as theAttorney General for India fol-lowing the decision of MukulRohatgi to step down as the toplaw officer.

The proposal to appointthe 86-year-old veteran lawyeras the successor of Rohatgi wasdiscussed before the depar-ture of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on his recentvisit to the US, Portugal and theNetherlands.

"Venugopal had a meetingwith Modi before his departureto a three-nation tour," sourcessaid.When contacted today andasked about his priorities as theAttorney General, Venugopalsaid "I will speak only after thenotification is issued."He toldPTI that the notification is like-ly to be issued in a day ortwo.The Law Ministry hadrecently referred the file relatingto the appointment of Venugopalas the Attorney General to thePrime Minister's Office for a finalcall, sources had said.After thedecision is finalised, thePresident has to sign the Warrantof Appointment of the AttorneyGeneral.

A noted constitutionalexpert, Venugopal is the recip-ient of Padma Vibhushan andPadma Bhushan. He wouldbecome a law officer for thesecond time after being anAdditional Solicitor General

during the Morarji DesaiGovernment during the sev-enties.

He has been associated withseveral Government instru-mentalities and has been rep-resenting them as a senior advo-cate. Lately, he has been appear-ing for the CBI and theEnforcement Directorate beforethe Supreme Court in the 2Gspectrum allocation scam.Theapex court had asked him tocontinue in the matter despiteVenugopal's replacement by theED after he had taken a viewdifferent from the agency andthe Government on the removalof an investigation officer.

He also represented theMadhya Pradesh Governmentduring the hearing of NationalJudicial AppointmentsCommission Act in which hesupported the validity of thecentral law to do away with thecollegium system of appoint-ment of judges for the higherjudiciary.However, his associ-ation with the BJP regime goesback to the Ayodhya move-ment when he had appeared forthe then Kalyan SinghGovernment in Uttar Pradeshby assuring the Supreme Courtthat the disputed medievalstructure would be protected.

Later, when on Decemeber6, 1992, the structure wasbrought down by the karsevaks, he had appeared beforea bench of then Chief Justice MN Venkatachaliah at his resi-dence in the evening.

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Rail Land DevelopmentAuthority on Friday joined

hands with National BuildingConstruction Corporation forredevelopment of 10 railway sta-tions across the country onglobal standards.

The Railways has embarkedon an ambitious project to rede-velop 403 stations with the par-ticipation of private players,public sector and foreign agen-cies.

The identified stations to betaken up initially by NBCC forredevelopment are Tirupati,Sarai Rohilla (Delhi), Nellore,Puducherry, Madgaon,Lucknow, Gomtinagar, Kota,Thane (New), and Ernakulam.

An MoU was signedbetween RLDA, an arm of theRailways for commercialexploitation of rail land, andNBCC, a PSU of UrbanDevelopment Ministry forimplementation of station rede-velopment projects for the 10identified stations.

Speaking on the occasion,Railway Minister Suresh Prabhusaid that the Railways has takenup this programme of stationredevelopment in a big way,adopting a multi-pronged strat-egy to accomplish the mam-moth task.We have chosen PPPmodel and are roping in variedagencies to execute the projectnamely Railways' own PSUs,other Central government PSUs,foreign countries throughGovernment-to-Governmentcooperation and StateGovernments".

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From Page 1Asserting that the GST

reform showed that India canrise above narrow politics andembrace inclusivity, Jaitley saidwhile implementing the GST,neither the Centre nor anyState will give up their sover-eignty.

“This (the launch of GST)displays a high point of Indianpolitics….The New India willcreate one tax, one nation andone market…both the Centreand States will work towardsone goal — shared prosperity,”he said.

The Central Hall was fittedwith new carpets and soundsystems for the big night. Theevent started at 11 pm andextended till midnight to usherin the GST. Nearly 1,000important personalities includ-ing Industrialist Ratan Tata aswill RBI Governor Urjit Patel,former Governors Bimal Jalanand YV Reddy were present.

Opposition parties like theCongress, the Left, the TMC,the DMK and the RJD boy-cotted the event. Members ofthe the Samajwadi Party, theNCP and the BJD attended thefunction. Bihar Chief MinisterNitish Kumar skipped thelaunch but a senior Ministerfrom his Government was pre-sent. Senior JD(U) leadersSharad Yadav and KC Tyagialso skipped the launch.

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I, Avnish S/o Lt. Sh. R.K.Verma, R/o Pre - 1304,Omaxe Palm Greens, Sector-Mu, Greater Noida havechanged my daughter'sname from Jaisika VermaTo Eshita Verma for allfuture purposes.

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The Supreme Court onFriday sought the Centre's

response on a plea to set asidethe IIT Joint EntranceExamination 2017 rank listafter a candidate who appearedin the examination questionedthe policy to award extra marksfor those who appeared in theJoint Entrance Examination(JEE) Advanced 2017.

Calling the policy as dis-criminatory for persons whodid not take the JEE Advancedtest, the petitioner AishwaryaAgarwal sought a stay on thecounselling process that com-menced on Thursday. TheVacation Bench of JusticesAbhay Manohar Sapre andSanjay Kishan Kaul refused toorder stay. However, the Courtissued notice to Ministry ofHuman ResourcesDevelopment (MHRD) andIIT Madras (organiser of IIT-JEE 2017) for their response.The Bench will hear the peti-tion on July 7.

The petition attacked theexamination on two fronts. Itsought court's direction todeclare the action of awarding"bonus marks" to candidateswho had appeared in the JEE

(Advanced)- 2017 examina-tion as wrong and violative ofrights of other students simi-larly situated to her. The peti-tion demanded that after scrap-ping the bonus marks award-ed to such candidates, a freshmerit list should be drawn out.

The second plank on whichthe petitioner attacked the IIT-JEE rank list was based on theincorrect questions that sur-faced in this year's questionpaper. Accepting there wereerrors, the IIT-JEE organizersannounced 18 bonus marks toall candidates, irrespective ofwhether or not they attemptedthe faulty question. The IITaspirant sought a direction torectify the scores of JEE(Advanced) by awarding marksfor the incorrect questions tothose candidates who attempt-ed the right answers. The peti-tion said that the policyannounced by IIT was "clearlyarbitrary" and violated the rightsof candidates who successfullysolved the said questions.

As an alternative, the peti-tioner said the institutionshould conduct fresh exami-nation or grant all studentsanother opportunity to appearin the examination to be con-ducted next year.

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Congress vice-presidentRahul Gandhi, who is

abroad on a holiday for the pastfortnight, on Friday dubbed theGST implementation as a"tamasha" and said the taxreform measure was beingrushed through in a "half-baked" manner and as a "self-promotional spectacle".

Rahul hit out at theGovernment accusing it ofbeing "insensitive" even as hissenior party colleague AnandSharma slammed the BJP-ledNDA Government for holdingthe GST roll out function inParliament's Central Hall,terming it as an "insult" to itsprestige and a "publicity" tool.Sharma asserted the party willnot participate in the launch.

The party like other oppo-sition members includingTrinamool Congress and Leftare boycotting the event ongrounds that proper ground-work has not been done and ataxation reform could not beequated to midnight celebra-tions of Indian Independencethe Central Hall witnessed onAugust 15, 1947, and later onthe silver jubilee of freedom in

1972 and the golden jubilee in1997. Congress also tookexception over the invite for theevent which stated PMNarenda Modi will launch GSTin the presence of PresidentPranab Mukherjee.

Rahul said theGovernment was rolling outthe GST without planning,foresight and institutionalreadiness, as it did duringdemonetisation. "A reform thatholds great potential is beingrushed through in a half-bakedway with a self-promotionalspectacle #GSTTamasha (sic),"he said on Twitter.

"Unlike demonetisation,GST is a reform that@INCIndia has championed &backed from the begin-ning...But like demonetisation,GST is being executed by anincompetent & insensitive Govt

w/o planning foresight &insti-tutional readiness#GSTTamasha (sic)," he said ina series of tweets.

Hours before the roll out ofthe new indirect tax regime,Sharma said, "If they had con-ducted it outside the CentralHall, invited us with respect, wewould have gone." He said thereason behind the Congressboycotting the GST launchevent was "ideological" andnot political in nature.

Asserting that the Congresssupports the Goods and ServicesTax, Sharma said the partywants a trial run to be carriedout initially to gauge the issuesfaced by businesses. The formerMinister of Commerce Congressquestioned why petroleum,alcohol, real estate and electric-ity were being kept out of GST.

Asked about the JD(U) par-ticipating in the GST launch,Sharma said every politicalparty has a right to have its ownviews and that parties thatunderstand which events shouldbe organised in the Central Hallof Parliament are not going.Sharma refused to comment onreports about Bihar ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar's grow-ing closeness with the BJP.

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The Ministry of UrbanDevelopment(UDM) has

asked officials of Delhi andHaryana to undertake a jointinspection of the Najafgarhdrain over the next two days forundertaking desilting ifrequired as a part of measuresto be taken up to preventflooding in Gurugram thatcreated a havoc last year. Thiswas decided at a high levelmeeting, chaired by Secretary(Urban Development) DurgaShankar Mishra, to discussreasons that caused last year'sflooding and measures to betaken to prevent its recur-rence.

Sources said that the meet-ing was convened further inview of Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar's requestto Urban Development MinisterM Venkaiah Naidu in a recentletter to facilitate such a dis-cussion in the matter. "The out-come of the joint inspection willbe reported to Mishra byMonday for further considera-tion and for undertaking nec-essary measures. Officials ofDelhi Government have assuredthat if required, machines willbe deployed immediately for

desilting the Najafgarh drain toenable smooth flow in thedrain," sources said.

At the meeting, UmaShankar, MunicipalCommissioner of Gurugramgave a detailed account of theflood water flow into Gurugramincluding from Aravali hills,network of three natural drainsavailable that carry this flowinto Najafgarh, measures takenup in the light of last year'sflooding and further measuresto be taken up. He furtherinformed that in the backdropof last year's experience, theNational Highway Authorityof India has doubled the watercarrying capacity of the culvertunder the NH passing throughthe city and the ongoing worksincluding widening of the

drains that carry the waterflows from Aravalis intoNajafgarh drain.

While the Delhi officialsstated that the Najafgarh drainhas huge carrying capacity todrain out flood waters fromGurugram, the city commis-sioner and other Haryana offi-cials referred to the possible silt-ing in Najafgarh drain that ispreventing free flow of floodwaters from Gurugram.

Heavy rainfall in Gurugramhad created a flood-like situa-tion last year, which forced thepolice and administration toissue instructions to Dilliwalasto avoid visiting the city toreduce congestion on the roadsconnecting Gurugram.

A high level committee setup by the Urban DevelopmentMinistry found that the threedrains (Bajghera, Dharampur,and Badshahpur) that woulddivert water away from thecity were "under construction".Water was being divertedthrough smaller drains, whosecapacity did not suffice duringthe rains. Of more concern isthe blocking of natural drainagepathways through construc-tion activity and encroachmenton catchment areas, riverbedsand lakebeds.

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Election CommissionerAchal Kumar Jyoti, a 1975

batch IAS officer, is all set totake over as new Chief ElectionCommissioner of India. Jyotiwill take over the charge fromChief Election CommissionerNasim Zaidi, who will retire onJuly 8. Jyoti had earlier workedat various capacities includingthe post of Chief Secretary ofGujarat from January 1, 2010 toJanuary 31, 2013 whenNarendra Modi was ChiefMinister of the State. Jyoti hadjoined the ElectionCommission on May 7, 2015.

Sources in the ElectionCommission confirmed thatJyoti would be new CEC afterZaidi's retirement.

Jyoti, 64, retired fromactive service in 2013. Born onJanuary 23, 1953, Jyoti willneed to step down from thepost of Chief ElectionCommissioner when he willturn 65, as per laid down rules.An EC or CEC has a tenure ofsix years in the office or till heor she attains the age of 65 years

whichever is earlier. Jyoti served as the

Chairman of the Kandla PortTrust between 1999 and 2004and as the Managing Directorof the Sardar Sarovar NarmadaNigam Ltd (SSNNL). He hasalso worked as Secretary in theIndustry, Revenue and WaterSupply Departments.

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Appealing against giving apolitical or communal

twist to the recent killings inthe country, Union Minister MVenkaiah Naidu on Friday saidlynching of any human beingas " condemnable and barbar-ic" that can not be accepted bya civilized society.

"Lynching or killing anyhuman being is condemnable,barbaric and civilised societycannot accept it. It is for the lawenforcement agencies of therespective States to take thestrongest possible action,"Naidu told PTI.

The Minister commentedin the backdrop of a series ofincidents of lynching of peopleof minority community, the lat-est being a Muslim killed by amob for allegedly carrying beefin a van in JharkhandThursday.

Earlier this month, 17-year-old Junaid Khan was stabbed todeath onboard a train betweenDelhi and Mathura. The groupof attackers had allegedly hurledcommunal slurs and attackedthe victim after an altercationover seats.

A few days ago, over a 100-strong mob attacked a Muslimman on the suspicion of

slaughtering a cow after find-ing the carcass of a bovine nearhis house in Giridih district ofJharkhand.

In April, 55-year-old PehluKhan was killed allegedly bycow vigilantes in Rajasthan'sAlwar while he was transport-ing cows for his small dairyfarm.

"Let us not give it a reli-gious colour. Let us not dividethe society," Naidu said, whenasked about the Jharkhandlynching case.The UnionMinister asserted that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hadmade the stand of the govern-ment very clear through hisremarks that no one shouldtake the law into their hands inthe name of cow protection.

"Some people are trying tooverplay, some are trying topoliticise it and some are try-ing to communalise it. I appeal(to them) not to politicise orcommunalise such incidents,"he said.

On the incidents of killings,Naidu said it was the duty ofthe respective state govern-ments to "take appropriate,prompt and strong actionagainst the people who areresponsible".Such acts bringbad name to the society and thecountry, he said.

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The Union RuralDevelopment Ministry on

Friday claimed that in the firstquarter of this fiscal, nearly 80lakh to one crore labourershave been given jobs under therural job scheme, MGNREGA,of which 86 per cent was paidwages within 15 days.

"Under the scheme, Aprilto June, 2017 has seen a sig-nificant demand for wagelabour especially for water con-servation works. Nearly 75crore person days of work hasalready been created and moreis expected by 15th July, 2017.This means that nearly 80lakhs to 1 crore workers arecoming everyday for work in

different parts of the countryunder MGNREGS. Over 86%of them are paid within 15days," said an official from theMinistry here.

He said that the thrust onagriculture and allied activities,is showing at the field level with74 per cent expenditure onthese works. 2,264 waterstressed blocks have receivedspecial attention for naturalresource management, waterharvesting and water conser-vation. 2.62 lakh water con-

servation works have beencompleted in the current finan-cial year including 1,31,789farm ponds across the country.

"The MGNREGS has cre-ated over 91 lakh hectares irri-gation potential in the last 2years which is currently beingevaluated by the Institute ofEconomic Growth (IEG), NewDelhi. The report is expectedby September end.

On the performance of theDeen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural LivelihoodMission (DAY-NRLM) whichwas launched in June, 2011, theofficial said that they have ahigher number of livestockassets as compared to uncov-ered areas. The scheme waslaunched with the objective to

organize all rural poor house-holds in the country and con-tinuously nurture and supportthem till they come out ofabject povertyThe study of thescheme also showed a higherproclivity to save in formalinstitutions, though the differ-ence in the quantum of savingsis not statistically significant.

The study also found thatthe households covered underthe scheme have 22 per centhigher (net) income than thehouseholds in the uncoveredareas, largely due to incomefrom enterprises. In fact, thepropensity scores estimate thatcovered villages on an averagehave 25 enterprises comparedto an average of 14 enterprisesin the uncovered villages.

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Tamil Nadu is ushering inGoods & Services Tax (GST)

amidst chaos, confusion and cel-ebrations. Many trade bodiesdowned their shutters all overthe State to protest the move bythe Government to switch overthe GST without addressingtheir basic demand for ratio-nalisation of tax structure. At thesame time, some of the shoppingmalls have been filled withshoppers awaiting the stroke ofmid-night. Some of the shop-ping hubs have offered mega dis-count of 20 per cent from themoment the GST comes intoeffect. These shopping centreswill remain opened till 2 am.

But Saturday will see mostof the retailers in Chennaidowning their shutters demand-ing reduction in the GST.Sivakasi, the fireworks capita ofthe country with 800 fireworksfactories employing 6 lakhworkers wear a deserted look asall the factories remainingclosed since Wednesday. “Thetax on firecrackers have beenincreased from 12.5 per cent to28 per cent with the switchingover to GST. This is a heavy bur-

den on the manufacturers as weare already facing onslaughtsfrom China in the form ofsmuggling of cheap and unsafefirecrackers into India,” said TS Kathiresan, manager, TamilNadu Fireworks and AmorcesManufacturers’ Association(TANFAMA). He said the asso-ciation had given many repre-sentations to the union gov-ernment asking for the reduc-tion of the tax to 12 per cent.

Proprietor of a leading con-sumer goods market said thatprices of items like refrigerators,colour TV, music system, air-conditioners and high end fastmoving goods would increaseby a minimum of �2,500. “Butwe do not expect any fall insales. The segment of peoplewho frequent shops like ourswould accept any price hikewithout any grumble,” he said.

Eateries are likely to see ahike in the prices of all productsranging from Chennai’sfavourite filter coffee to all eat-ables. “We are yet to work outthe details. It will take anothercouple of weeks to tell about anypossible increase in prices. Butit is certain that prices willincrease,” said the manager ofa restaurant chain. He pointed

out that the tax structure fixedby the commercial tax depart-ment is unreasonable as well asunscientific

Nawab, a retail shop owner,said he has not been told by theauthorities about the transitionin the tax structure. “If only theconcerned Government offi-cials had briefed us about thenew tax structure, we wouldhave complied with theregime,” said Nawab.

Most of the Trade andbusiness bodies are bullishabout the new tax regime.“There are people who refuseto change and organise them-selves to face the new taxregime. While the bigger oneswould have a smooth transi-tion, the small shops an theneighbourhood kirana shopsmay have to change with thetime. Otherwise they would beleft high and dry,” said Chitra,spokesperson of HindustanChamber of Commerce.

Interestingly, Tamil NaduGovernment had reservationsand apprehensions against thetax regime. A Governmentrelease issued ion Friday said thecommercial tax department wasfully equipped for a transitionfrom the present structure.

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The Congress Governmentin Karnataka captained by

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah isopposed to using Goods andServices Tax (GST) as a pro-paganda tool by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi. Addressingthe media at Belagavi on Fridayin Karnataka, Chief MinisterSiddaramaiah made it clearthat he was opposed to GSTbeing used as a tool of propa-ganda by the Prime Minister.However, he said his party wasnot opposed to GST.

He said, “…They are doingit for propaganda. We are notagainst GST, but the way they aredoing it.” The Congress had y

decided to keep away from thespecial midnight June 30 meet-ing convened by the Governmenton GST implementation.

“Prime Minister NarendraModi as Gujarat Chief Ministerhad opposed GST. Now Byorganising a midnight event,they are now projecting asthough they are bringing in agreat economic reform for thecountry. It was the Congress-led UPA Government that hadproposed GST”, he added.

Responding to a questionon GST’s impact on tax rev-enues and the State’s exchequer,the Chief Minister said, “Thereare apprehensions that it mayget lowered, but it has beendecided in the GST council that

losses incurred have to be borneby the Central Governmentupto five years.” According toState Government officials,about six lakh traders and firmsin Karnataka have registered forGST regime so far.

“After Independence, onlythree midnight events have beenorganised in the Parliament’s

central hall, firstly when India gotfreedom, to celebrate 25 years ofindependence and thirdly, tomark 50 years of Independence.But — why organising a similarevent for GST at Central hall”, hequestioned.

However, Karnatakaregarded as a tax reform-ori-ented State, is set to implementthe new taxation law with oversix lakh firms/traders enrollingfor GST. Telangana, Assam,Punjab, Rajasthan, and Keralaare the other States whereenrolment has touched 100per cent. To provide legal backup, Karnataka unanimouslypassed the GST Bill 2017.

According to BT Manohar,chairman, State Taxes

Committee, Federation ofKarnataka Chamber ofCommerce and Industry(FKCCI), the GST will bringdown the prices and checkinflation. He said “GST will cer-tainly bring down prices andcheck inflation. However, pricefluctuations are sector specific.In the medium to long term,prices of a whole range ofproducts and services shouldcome down.” He said FKCCIhas conducted 120 workshopsin the last few months to cre-ate awareness on the new law.

Chief MinisterSiddaramaiah has said thatKarnataka is expected to incurrevenue loss and the Centre haspromised to compensate it.

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Worried about the negativeimpact of the GST on the

State revenue, the TelanganaGovernment has adopted twopronged strategy. On the onehand the State has appealed tothe Centre to exempt its majorprogrammes like 2 BHK hous-ing scheme for the poor, irri-gation projects, and MissionKakatiya and MissionBhagiratha from the GST. Ifthese programmes come underthe GST, the State will have topay more than �19,200 crore.

Ahead of the rollout of theGST by the Centre on Fridaynight, Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao, has writ-ten to Finance Minister ArunJaitley, seeking exemption tocertain sectors.

On the other hand theTelangana Government hastook a leaf out of the book ofneighbouring Andhra Pradeshto completely avoid paying anyGST on the license fee of barand liquor shops.

While, liquor is out of the

purview of the GST, the StateGovernment has to pay 18 percent GST on the bar and liquorshop license fee.

The Governments of boththe Telugu States have comewith a devious method to savecrores of rupees every year bymerely changing the nomen-clature. They have changedthe name of license fees of barsand liquor shops to excise tax

which will not come underGST.

While, TelanganaGovernment has promulgatedan ordinance, Andhra PradeshGovernment has reduced thelicense fee to mere 2 per cent.Under this move if license fee

was �1 crore, it will be reducedto only �2 lakh and remaining98 lakh will be collected asexcise duty. With this the Statewill have to pay GST only on�2 lakh per license and save alot of money.

With this measureTelangana Government isexpected to save �36 crore tillOctober when the new exciseyear will commence.

The State Government isexpected to issue new rules forthe next excise year when freshlicenses for the bars and liquorshops will be issued to contin-ue to avoid GST.

Another issue of concernfor Telangana is that with aGSDP of 17.9 per cent, it wasnot going to get any compen-sation from the Centre. Onlythe States with GSDP of 14 percent or less will get the com-pensation.

Telangana FinanceMinister Estela Rajender saidthat the service tax collectionin the State was expected toincrease by 20 per cent and col-lect �20,000 crore under GST.

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Panaji: The Goa Governmentwill abolish its much criti-cised entry tax on the Stateborders as a fallout of theintroduction of Goods andServices Tax (GST) from mid-night Friday.

“The entry tax which wasimposed on the vehicles enter-ing the State from neighbour-ing States would be abolishedfrom tonight onwards,” PublicWorks Department ministerSudin Dhavalikar toldreporters on Friday.

The vehicles entering fromneighbouring Karnataka andMaharashtra were worst affect-ed with the tax which wasimposed since the year 2013.

The State Government hadrefused to abolish the taxdespite agitation by tradersfrom the neighbouring States.

A notification issued bythe Goa Government onFriday stated that “the entry feewhich was being charged bythe Public Works Departmentat the entry checkpost will bediscontinued from midnightFriday in view of the imple-mentation of GST.” PTI

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The Congress led UDFOpposition has decided to

boycott the Government func-tion to be held at Kochi onSaturday as part of rolling outof GST from midnight, toprotest against not discussingand passing the State GST Billin the Assembly.

“The protest is against theimplementation of the lawthrough an ordinance insteadof discussing the same in thestate assembly,” Oppositionleader Ramesh Chennithalasaid on Friday.

The GST Bill has beenpassed by all States, exceptJammu & Kashmir.

Though Kerala had anopportunity to do so,Government had brought anordinance in this regard makingthe house a ‘scarecrow’, he said.

Chennithala also said thatimplementing a law significantto the State without a discus-sion in the Assembly amount-ed to “showing disrespect todemocracy.”

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Friday’s trade bandh againstthe implementation of

Goods and Services Tax (GST)from July 1, called by BharatiyaVyapar Udyog Mandal, evokedpartial response in Bengal withthe wholesale market atBurrabazar in Kolkataremained completely closedwhereas the retail business inother parts of the city — savethe colonial New Market —functioned almost normally.

The bandh followed almostsimilar pattern in other parts ofthe State with wholesale busi-ness in Siliguri, Asansol andother bigger cities remainingtotally closed whereas theretailers and malls did briskbusiness through the day.

In what seemed to be theoutcome of fear for unknownmost traders said they weren’tsure of what to do with thechanged tax regime differentassociations of businessmentook out huge rallies at Posta-Burrabazar the largest whole-sale market in Asia.

“We are protesting not somuch against the implementa-tion of GST itself, rather we areagainst the shabby way it isbeing implemented.

It seems that theGovernment itself is not awareof the magnitude of hardship ithas forced on the lakhs of

traders in the country,” said anoffice bearer of Federation ofWest Bengal Trade Associations.

Rabindranath Koley theGeneral secretary of Forum ofTraders Organisation ofPaschimbanga which hadopposed the bandh howeversaid only four out of the 46Kolkata Municipal CorporationMarkets remained closed.

“It seems that the protest isnot because of the traders donot want to comply with theGST regime rather they are agi-tated about the complexities ofthe new tax system. Most ofthem are protesting againstthe three returns to be filed in

a month which they will takemuch time out of their businesshours” said DharamdasAgarwala a wholesale clothmerchant.

Rafiq Jumadin a wholesaletrader wondered “why theGovernment is taxing the tex-tile industry. This is going tothrow many people out of job.”However, Shantanu, a CA saidthe new regime would onlycreate more jobs as the “traderswill now have to appoint pro-fessionals expert in computersand taxation.”

9��0��)0��7*;�:��:�*):��)��:��5�)��Hyderabad: The implementa-

tion of GST regime would leadto “chaos” similar to what hadhappened in the aftermath ofdemonetisation of high valuenotes last year, AIMIM presi-dent Asaduddin Owaisi said onFriday.

The Hyderabad Lok Sabhamember said he was not surehow far the new taxation sys-tem will be implemented in an“organised way”.

“Government is rushingand doing it. I see that there willbe chaos...When demonetisa-tion happened, it led to chaos

because no proper planningwas done. Now also, theGovernment is rushing andpushing and this will lead tochaos,” he said.

Owaisi added that eco-nomic and tax experts hadexpressed “lot of concerns”vis-a-vis the Goods andServices Tax (GST). PTI

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Hyderabad: The CPI chose toboycott the midnight launchevent of GST as the new taxregime “hurts” the interests ofthe States and allegedly con-centrates revenue resources inthe hands of the Centre, asenior party leader said.

“We feel a midnight specialsession is not necessary as thissystem hurts states and con-centrates revenue resources inthe hands of the Centre,” CPIgeneral secretary S SudhakarReddy told reporters on Friday.

Though the CPI supportedGST “in principle”, it is alive to

the concerns being expressed byvarious sections against the GST,he said. The GST is being rolledout without taking into consid-eration the views of certain sec-tions that the slab system in it is“unscientific”, Reddy alleged.

He demanded that the gov-ernment revisit the slab systemand make changes so as toreduce the inconvenience causedto large sections of people.

Talking about PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’sremarks against cow vigilan-tism, Reddy said the reaction is“too late and too little”. PTI

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Minister for RailwaysSuresh Prabhu has

announced that theGovernment is working on ascheme to develop 500 railwaystations across the countrywith local tourism potentialunder the Public-private part-nership (PPP) mode.

“We are looking at meth-ods and means to monetise thehuge railway property andmake effective use of land forraising finances to offer better

travel experience to the pas-sengers,” Prabhu said, whilespeaking during fire-side chatat the AGM of IndianMerchants Chamber (IMC) onThursday.

Prabhu said that world-class stations were being devel-oped at Gandhinagar, Suratand Habibganj (Bhopal).

Elaborating on the PPPmode to develop 500 railwaystations, Prabhu said,”Raisingrevenue for the railways fromfreight and fare is no longer agood business model”.

Alluding to the subject ofthe chat “Enhancing India’sCompetitiveness in a RapidlyChanging World”, Prabhu saidthat even though robotics andartificial intelligence were gain-ing more ground, the need tohave a human touch could notbe undermined.

Speaking at another func-tion here, Prabhu said thatIndia was all set to become agame changer in the world innear future due to new initia-tives such as “Make in IndiaCampaign”, “Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan” and the intro-duction of GST among others undertaken bythe BJP-led Government at theCentre.

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One pilgrim was killed andsix others were injured en

route Mata Vaishno DeviShrine on Friday morning.

The pilgrims were hit by amassive landslide near DeviDwar on cable car route aheadof ArdhKuwari temple around11:30 am. Inclement weatherconditions prevailed in thearea for last 24 hours. Followingincessant rain in the area vul-nerable areas along the routewitnessed landslides.

On Friday, when a group ofpilgrims, were passing throughDevi dwar area near Himkoti,a massive landslide hit thetrack injuring seven pilgrims.The rescue operations werelaunched by the Shrine Boardstaff to shift the injured to near-by hospital in Katra.

According to local police,“seriously injured Suman W/oRajveer hailing from Rewari inHaryana succumbed to herinjuries after she was shifted to

CHC Katra.A five year old Saksham and

Rajveer were both admitted inNaryana Hospital by the Shrineboard authorities as they need-ed specialised treatment.

Four other injured pil-grims identified as Baby Tanvi6 yrs D/o Yogendra Kumar R/oBawal, Rewari (Haryana),Yogendra Kumar 34 yrs S/oRajinder Prasad R/o Bawal,Rewari (Haryana), Asha Devi38 yrs W/o Girijesh Sahni R/oBhagwat Pur, Madhubani(Bihar), Giri Raj Sahni 42 yrsS/o Jugal Kishore Sharma R/oBhagwat Pur, Madhubani(Bihar) were shifted to CHC,Katra for medical treatment.

Last year, one head consta-ble of Central Reserve PoliceForce (CRPF) was killed after hewas hit by a landslide at gatenumber 3 of Mata Vaishno DeviBhawan shrine on August 25.

Four pilgrims were killedand seven others were injuredwere injured after a big stonerolled down and hit them nearcave shrine on August 6, 2016.

The annual Amarnath Yatrathat was suspended due toinclement weather on Fridayresumed after the improvementin weather. An officialspokesman said that one secondday of the pilgrimage, 8,150yatris paid obeisance at the holycave. As many as 14,247 pilgrimsvisited the cave in two days.

Reports said that variousareas en-route holy cave in Baltaland Pahalgam witnessed heavyrainfall on Thursday night.

Meterological departmenthas predicted more rains incoming days. Witnesses saidthat thousands of yatris hadreached Baltal and Pahalgam tostart their Yatra on Fridaymorning. However, they werestopped and not allowed toproceed towards the holy cave.

An official said that pil-grimage was suspended tem-porarily and due to improve-ment in weather, the yatraresumed from both Baltal andPahalgam routes and thousandsof stranded yatris started theirjourney towards holy cave.

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Ahead of the beginning ofpeak monsoon season the

Border Security Force (BSF) hasredoubled strength of jawans atborder outposts (BOPs) locat-ed close to the water bodies inorder to prevent fresh infiltra-tion bids by small groups ofheavily armed terrorists.

BSF jawans deployed in thearea have also increased theirpatrolling especially along thewater bodies to detect anyinfiltration bids.

In the past heavily armedgroup of fidayeen have adopt-ed this strategy of breaching thefence by taking water bodiesroute to sneak inside the Indianterritory.

Following fresh Intelligencereports the entire security gridwas alerted by the top brass of

the police and army to maintainstrict vigil along the borderareas to foil any infiltration bidduring the Amarnath yatra.

Thousands of pilgrims passthrough the National Highwaybefore reporting at Amarnathyatra base camp in Jammu.

Along the Jammu-Pathankot National Highwayvarious socio-religious organ-isations have been runningcommunity kitchens for pil-grims to provide them refresh-ment and snacks.

Para-military forces andjawans of State police aredeployed in large numbers toprotect these camps. In addi-tion army has stationed QuickReaction Teams and casper

vehicles along the Jammu-Pathankot National Highway tofoil any terror strike.

Every year during mon-soon season flash floods arereported along Basantar, Devakand Ujh rivers in Samba-Kathua sector due to which sev-eral low lying areas along theInternational border includingforward BOP’s get affected.Similarly BSF jawans are alsopatrolling low lying areas alongChenab river in Akhnoor sec-tor to foil infiltration bids fromacross the border.

To avert any mishap BSFalong with civil authoritieshave been carrying out crucialtask of strengthening embank-ments to prevent flooding of

BOP’s in the area.BSF spokesman in Jammu

said, “Our jawans have been car-rying out round the clockpatrolling along theInternational border to foil anyinfiltration bid by Pakistan basedterrorists”. He said during mon-soon season we redouble thestrength of jawans to make surethey remain alert and carry outround the clock patrolling inorder to foil any infiltration bidat any time of the day.

“Our jawans and boatsremain deployed for 24x7patrolling duties along thewater bodies in the forwardareas”, BSF spokesman said.

Meanwhile, in fresh incidentof ceasefire violation along theline of control a young womanhailing from Basooni village inBalakote sector of Poonch wasinjured after she was hit by splin-

ters of mortar shells.According to ground

reports, unprovoked firingfrom the Paksitan side startedin the wee hours of Friday.

Pak Army also targetedover half a dozen villages usinglong range mortars and auto-matic weapons.

According to local villagersin the area over half a dozen vil-lages namely

Shari, Panjani, Ramlutta,Sohala, koala, Baloni and Goldwere targeted by the Pakistanarmy for over eight hours.Intermittent firing in the areawas recorded till 12:30 pm.

The injured woman iden-tified as Naseem Akhtar, w/oGul Ahmad was rushed tonearby hospital in Rajouriwhere she was undergoingtreatment for her splinterinjuries.

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The assault on a young front-line actress in February, the

refusal by the cine workers’ out-fits to respond to it appropri-ately, statements made by lead-ing male actors insulting theassault victim and the inabili-ty of the actors’ association totake action against them haveforced the women working inthe Malayalam film industry tolaunch a bid to end male dom-ination in the sector.

The Women in CinemaCollective (WCC), an associa-tion formed by women work-ing in the Malayalam filmindustry just a few weeks ago,has petitioned the Kerala StateCommission for Womenagainst the male actors whohad issued statements humili-ating the assault victim as a firststep in the Malayalam movie

women’s war against maledomination in the industry.

Most actresses and otherwoman film workers are irkedby the refusal of the Kerala cineactors’ outfit, Association ofMalayalam Movie Artists(AMMA), to even discuss in itsforums the issue of the assaulton the actress and to seekexplanation from the maleactors who had issued humil-iating statements against her.AMMA had held a generalbody meeting on Thursday.

“However, not even a sin-gle woman film worker hadshown the courage to questionthis serious lapse at the meet-ing and that proves the inten-sity of male domination inAMMA and the Kerala filmindustry. This situation shouldchange. We are not sure as tohow this will be possible but weshould work for a change,”

said a leading actress who isalso a member of the collective.

Leaders of the collective areaccusing — though not openly— top leaders of the actors’ asso-ciation, including a Lok Sabhamember and two MLAs, ofspending more time for defend-ing superstar Dileep, whom thepolice had questioned for 13long hours in connection withthe alleged conspiracy behindthe attack on the actress thandiscussing the issue of the attack.

Dileep had the other dayshocked the Kerala society byalleging that the victim and hertormentor were close friendswhile a frontline male actor while commented through a FBpost that the victim should under-go polygraph test and anotherrevealed her identity. However,AMMA has so far refused to seekexplanation from them enragingthe actresses’ community.

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One person was killed andseveral others injured after

police fired at a group of agi-tators who blocked a NationalHighway in Assam’s Golaparadistrict on Friday protestingagainst the Government’s apa-thy towards the problems of ‘D’voters and over the issue ofNational Register of Citizens(NRC).

The incident took place atKharubosa area in Golaparadistrict when over hundredpeople took to the streetsprotesting against theGovernment’s alleged apathytowards the problems of ‘D’

voters in Assam and over thealleged harassment to a sectionof citizens on the pretext ofinclusion of their names in theNRC.

“The protestors did nottake permission for holding theprotest in the area. However,our forces tried to desist themfrom holding the protest block-ing the National Highway No37. Our force first resorted tolathi charge to disperse thecrowd,” said Golapara SP,Amitabh Sinha.

“A section of the agitators,however, regrouped later andattacked the security forcespelting them with stones. Theyalso attacked the vehicles plying

on the National Highway forc-ing the security forces to resortto blank firing,” said the SPwhile adding that one of the agi-tators Yakub Ali got injured inthe firing and died instantly.

Police said that the agita-tion was organized by an advo-cate Nazrul Islam, who wasinvolved in attacking a judgein a foreigners tribunal ofGolapara district on Februarythis year. Islam and few of hiscolleagues had in Februarythis year attacked a judge inforeigners tribunal in the dis-trict after the judge declaredsome people as i l legal foreigners.

Police said that the situa-

tion is under control now andsecurity had been intensified inand around the area so that itdoes not escalate.

The advocate and his col-leagues also ransacked theoffice of the judge. Islam andhis colleagues were arrestedand sent to judicial custodylater. Islam was out on bailrecently.

According to officialrecords, there are a total of1,36,448 D voters or doubtfulvoters in Assam. The names ofthe doubtful voters are includ-ed in the electoral rolls but theycannot cast their votes due todoubtful credentials about theirIndian citizenship.

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Former speaker of Lok Sabhaand presidential candidate

of United Progressive Alliance(UPA) Meira Kumar on Fridaykick-started her campaign aftervisiting Mahatma Gandhifounded Sabarmati Ashram inAhmedabad.

Accompanied by seniorGujarat Congress leadersKumar paid homage to thefather of nation and spuncharkha at the historic Ashrama day after Prime Ministervisited there. After payinghomage to Mahatma, she saidthat one gets inner power byvisiting this place.

“The unity of Opposition isbased on ideology that we havelearnt from Mahatma Gandhi.So after filing the nominationand scrutiny, the first thing I didwas to visit Sabarmati Ashramand pay my respects,” She said

while talking to media persons.At a Press conference con-

vened at Congress party’s Stateheadquarters — Rajiv GandhiBhavan, she reiterated that hercontest against NDA candidateRam Nath Kovind would bebasically the battle of ideology.The main focus of her cam-paign would be freedom ofspeech, equality in society,poverty alleviation and removalof casteism, she said.

Replying a question over theDalit vs Dalit contest, she saidthat is ironical that even in 2017people are being judged by theircaste. She also made a remarkthat in the past presidential pollswere fought amongst upper castecandidates but never the issue ofcaste emerged. ‘’We must criti-cise the mind set of caste inIndia. If such elections werefought on basis of racism any-where in the world, we wouldhave criticised it,’’ she opined.

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'"��"��B>>�8��,,,��,�� Lucknow: Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said

that like ‘Ujjawala Yojana’, power connections willbe given to all BPL families free of cost anddeclared that the region where line loss was lessthan 10 per cent, would get power for 24 hours.

“It is matter of pride for us that Powerdepartment has decided to give free connectionsto over 60 lakh BPL families. The ModiGovernment at the Centre is giving free gas con-nections under ‘Ujjawala Yojana’ and now weare giving free power connections. Villages arenow illuminated because of our commitment ofpower for all,” Yogi said while dedicating 10power stations built at the cost of �580 crore ata function held in Lucknow on Friday.

The CM also launched e-Nivaran mobileApp that will be one stop redressal system forconsumers. Yogi said that the BJP Governmentwill provide power without any bias. “This isthe first Government in Uttar Pradesh whichdoes not have a VIP quota as far as power sup-ply is concerned. We have decided to povidepower 24x7 where line loss is less than 10 percent,” the CM said.

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Lucknow: The Yogi Adityanath Government willpresent its first annual Budget in the upcomingSession of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, which willstart on July 11.

The Budget Session is likely to conclude onJuly 28 and will have around 15 sittings.

The Assembly was last in session on May 15to May 19, during which the State GST (Goodsand Services Tax) Bill was passed unanimously.

The Budget is expected to include measuresto mop up additional resources to offload �36,000crore meant for crop loan waiver and �34,000 crorerequired to meet expenses for implementation ofthe seventh pay panel’s recommendations.

The Akhilesh Yadav Government had inDecember last year presented a vote on accountbudget for the period ending July 31 this year.

“The next sitting of Uttar Pradesh LegislativeAssembly have been fixed by Assembly Speakerfrom July 11,” Pradeep Kumar Dubey, principalsecretary of the state Legislative Assembly said ina statement on Friday. PTI

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Exactly how successful wasPrime Minister NarendraModi’s visit to Washington,DC, and summit meeting withPresident Donald Trump? To

answer that, one should consider howother visitors and interlocutors wouldassess the Modi visit. The JapanesePrime Minister, whose trip to Trump’sAmerica was held up as a model for otherworld leaders, had to promise Japaneseinvestment and cajole America's newchief. The Chinese President made tradeconcessions, and had to stomach Trumpsurprising him with news of a UnitedStates missile attack on Syria, against aregime backed by its (China’s) Russian ally.

The Saudi Arabian royals had to mol-lify Trump with substantial militarypurchases. The Chinese are providingcustomers to businesses run by theAmerican President’s extended family.The Germans and the French have hadarguments with the TrumpAdministration and meetings have beenfrosty. In contrast, Modi has achieved amiracle. He has given away little, gaineda fair bit — some of it notional, some tan-gible — and left Washington, DC, with-out being snubbed by a Trump remark ortweet. If all that the domestic Oppositioncan quibble about is why the US describesthat part of the Indian State of Jammu &Kashmir that is under Indian control as“Indian administered”, then clearly thereis not much to complain about.

It is to the credit of Team Modi thatit managed to pull off perhaps the mostconventional summit meeting in theTrump term so far. India has had to con-cede little other than a full paragraph onNorth Korea’s “continued provocations”and “weapons of mass destruction”, andagreeing to a “comprehensive review oftrade relations with the goal of expedit-ing regulatory processes; ensuring thattechnology and innovation are appropri-ately fostered, valued, and protected”. Thisis not much or new. It is the continua-tion of an old American argument aboutaccess to Indian markets, particularly foragricultural and pharmaceutical prod-ucts, as well as greater protection forintellectual property — again a pettheme of Big Pharma.

India cannot agree to all of this, atleast not till its economy is substantial-ly stronger. Yet, in accepting there is roomfor a conversation, Prime Minister Modihas bought himself time. At some stagethis issue will balloon again, but for themoment the “comprehensive review” isa low-cost concession that will keep tradenegotiators busy.

No doubt, when discussions on “freeand fair trade” — an expression used in

the joint statement released by the twoleaders — come up, Indian negotiatorswill talk of access for Indian skilled labourand human capital. This again is a larg-er subject, not limited to just H1-B visas.It remains a worry in an America that isbecoming more protectionist. Even so,Modi saw no reason to engage in philo-sophical debates with a White House res-ident who has little patience for suchstuff. The Indian leader left those widermatters of multilateralism to hisEuropean friends and to Trump’s Franco-German interlocutors. He picked upwhatever bilateral balls he could and ranwith them.

What specifically did India gain?There are five points to consider here.First, Trump recognised India as a part-ner in a pan-Asian geography: SoutheastAsia, South Asia and West Asia. For aPresident committed to withdrawingfrom providing security underpinning infar-off Asian frontiers, Trump signed offon a document that described India andthe US as “responsible stewards in theIndo-Pacific region”. There was no dis-agreement on Afghanistan, and India’sThink West outreach to the Gulf andArab states was welcomed with a promiseto “increase cooperation” and “tangible collaboration”.

Second, on terrorism, PresidentTrump did not distinguish between hisadversaries in Syria and India’s adver-saries in Pakistan. What this translatesinto in real terms remains to be seen. For

now, India can come away with the sensethat an American administration hasacknowledged that at least parts of theviolence and militancy in the Kashmirvalley are offshoots of the global terror-ist jihad. This is no small gain, especial-ly as the summer promises to be a toughone in Kashmir.

Third, the Barack ObamaAdministration had moved strongly ondefence relations with India. The Trumppresidency has blessed that process andnot disagreed at all. “Shared maritimeobjectives” and “new [naval] exercises”beyond Exercise Malabar have been spo-ken about. This is more comfort thanTrump has given traditional US allies inEurope, Japan or South Korea. The saleof Sea Guardian UAVs to India is a firstto a non-Nato country. It has India giv-ing Trump what he seems to relish most— military purchase orders — but doesso for a product category that India cov-ets and needs to monitor the seas it shareswith China

Fourth, while China and the Belt andRoad Initiative (BRI) are not specifical-ly mentioned, the joint statement endors-es India’s objections when it announcedits boycott of the BRI Forum. The jointstatement talks of “regional economicconnectivity” projects that entail the“transparent development of infrastruc-ture and the use of responsible debtfinancing practices, while ensuringrespect for sovereignty and territorialintegrity, the rule of law, and

the environment”. This stress on sovereignty and sus-

tainability, with very similar language, iswhat the Indian statement on the BRI hadcaptured. In Germany, France and nowthe US, these parameters and the unfairtrade practices of the BRI have beenflagged. It may lead to nothing more inthe short run, but it does mean Modi hasbeen heard and is far from isolated.

Fifth, in a period when he is focusedon trying to keep people out of America,President Trump has “welcomed India’s for-mal entry into the International ExpeditedTraveller Initiative (Global Entry pro-gramme) in order to facilitate closer busi-ness and educational ties between the cit-izens of India and the United States”.Frankly, India deserves to be part of thisinitiative — but it is still worth noting thatTrump, for all his constituency’s isolation-ist instincts, has gone along.

This visit does not mean all problemswith America have been resolved. Thisvisit does not mean India has zero con-cerns about the Trump era. This visit doesnot mean America is not inherentlythinking transactional and tactical.Nevertheless Prime Minister Modi hasaccomplished a visit that is as strategicin its outcomes as America’s and itsPresident’s current tactical mood willallow. Indian diplomacy can derive muchsatisfaction from that.

(The writer is distinguished fellow,Observer Research Foundation. He can bereached at [email protected])9

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “In Maharaja’s honour” (June30). It is distressing that theMaharaja of skies, which hasbeen reeling under a debt of�52,000 crore, has decided totake the exit route. It was one ofthe country’s monopoly airlines,with 360 flights daily and 18 mil-lion passengers flying annually.That it failed to compete withother private airlines is a matterof concern. Unwarranted delaysand cancellations, besides poorservice made people to opt forprivate air services.

Not only Air India but manyother public sector units toohave incurred losses due to poorperformance, competition andgood ser vices. While the private sector shines, the sickpublic sector is a matter of con-cern. The Maharaja, however,will be missed.

Gururajana RamachandranChennai

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “The Yogi’s report card” (June28). People who don’t do theirduty with due diligence are des-tined to go through frequenthumiliations. This is the law ofnature. However, if humiliationcomes after perfect duty, it is dueto mistakes made in the pastwhich are being paid now. Thistoo is the law of nature. Let usacknowledge and encourage hisharsh reality of life.

Narasimham Via email

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“The Yogi’s report card” (June 28).Barring law and order situation,which is a colossus conundrum fora huge State like Uttar Pradesh andcannot be overtaken overnight, theUttar Pradesh Government ismoving in the right direction.

In other fields, the YogiGovernment has an edge over hispredecessors. The other positivi-ty which distinguishes him fromthem is the reining in on the masscopying in Uttar Pradesh Boardexam. The nitty gritty of the mat-ter is that the report card of YogiAdityanath Government is excel-lent, if not outstanding. Theregime must continue concentrat-ing on the augmentation of lawand order problem, regardless ofthe comments of Bahujan SamajParty supremo Mayawati, whogave it zero mark out of 100.

Sagar SinghNew Delhi

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“The Yogi’s report card” (June 28).His biggest challenge is to makethe moribund bureaucracy workand find honest and trustworthyofficers, as most have got accus-tomed to only self-development.Uttar Pradesh’s police force isdeficient in manpower andrequires re-orientation to per-form in a professional manner.

ArunVia web

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The United States of America longingly intends to make the NATO and otherallied nations pay for the American security umbrella and the attendant

concerns of climate. Still, the urge and the penchant for “Regally Regulating”the New World Order in an age of multi-polarity and multiple power centerscome with a cost. America is at risk of being disparaged and lampooned as amessiah forcing its “do-gooder instincts and philanthropy” at the litany of nationstates, especially after the deemed exit of the nation from the Paris ClimateChange Accord.

The million dollar question is: can the world live up and match the foot-steps of President Donald Trump as he “Trumps up” the ante for the roller-coaster ride with the renewed vigour of American leadership? That’s why itneeds to be investigated his closing the “Fortress’ Gates” with his anti-immi-gration policy (which was always in the offing with the previousAdministrations), his interventions in the Korean Peninsula, the attitude inthe South China Sea, along with mollycoddling of Taiwan. Thus, a great trailof events-filled global politics is on the offing with the resurfacing of a “NewWorld Order Interventionism” of America, but with an all-encompassing amal-gamative zeal. The above written policy prescriptions should have been theidle staple fare but President Trump has thrown an isolationist streak in themix of foreign policy.

The clarion call President Trump has given to the larger masses and theinternational community by walking out of the Paris Climate Accord is a kindof interventionism which reeks of a sequestration and isolation (withdraw-al) from the global high seat of negotiations and power. Trump has also soughta new injunction from one of the Circuit Courts in the US, wherein, the lim-itations on the immigration ban on seven Muslim nations have been askedto be rescinded. Thus, the clarion call has received a new well-defined byte:“In representing the people of Pittsburgh, not Paris,” which is something heechoed in the city of Pittsburgh which has seen the rise and fall of the indus-trial rust and coal belt. It is not sheer populism that we are referring to here,but, the idiom of American reflexivism and progression into a novae worldorder as President Trump comprehends it to be. Still, how can the American

dictum of the American dream andthe notion of “America First” beachieved by the American exit fromthe Climate Change Accord remainsto be seen in a functional manner.

It has been reported by a nation-al daily, “Carbon reduction targets thatthe US set under the Paris Accordwere aimed at reducing emissions by26-28 per cent in a decade. The US hasstopped contributing to the GreenClimate Fund (GCF) set up under theParis Climate Agreement to supportdeveloping nations meet theirrequirements. The ObamaAdministration had committed $ 3 bil-lion for the fund, out of which only aquantum of $1 billion has been trans-ferred to the Green Climate Fund.”This can be perceived as a decision to

mark out the recalcitrant strain of the American President and the new estab-lishment. Now, the responsibility to meander across the slew of climate actionnegotiations lies with the European Union under the leadership of nations suchas Germany, Italy, and France; with China and India too adhering to the wayof these nations to spawn a climate proactive platform in order to reinventthe idea of Collective Climate Action, once America turns truant. The mul-tipolar world has to adhere to the dictum of “common but differentiated respon-sibilities” with nearly all the Sustainable Development Goals being linked upwith the notion of climate change and Food security.

The American decision to exit the Paris Accord might be an offering indisguise as some of the observers have pointed out. Much worse might havehappened with the US remaining in the Pact’s frame. This might have gonedown with the some of the developing nations in such a manner that someof them might have walked out of the Paris Climate Agreement. This is a fargone possibility and an exercise to place the entire blame on the Americannegotiating side. President Trump too has called for a renegotiation of the ParisClimate Agreement, which none of the developing nations have agreed to.

The US being the ideational “Regulator High seat” of the global polity,trade and commerce and climate themes, Trump could have done well to stayput in the Paris Agreement. The historical theme of the Paris plan would involvethat around 195 nations signed the accord in December, 2015 while it wasratified in December 2016, but when the shove had to come to a push, thenat that crucial juncture, Trump decided to move out of the crucial accord.

Some of the observers are also calling it as the great climate change denial.According to a research exercise, Trump has tweeted climate change skepti-cism 115 times. A few of the tweets stands out. It runs like this in 2012, “It’sextremely cold in NY and NJ, not good for flood victims. Where is global warm-ing?” Thus, the stylistic and personalised negation of the globally acceptedand bandied about concerns and phenomenon, remains a quintessential hall-mark of the Trumped up American dream. That’s vintage Trump for you! Theflamboyant American President has always stressed the indigenousness of devel-opment and the Truslowian “American Dream”. He does not care so much aboutthe ideals of Neo-Wilsonianism and the “American idea’” as championed bythe likes of Dean Acheson. In another 2012 tweet, Trump, as a realtor then,contended, “We can’t destroy the competitiveness of our factories in order toprepare for nonexistent global warming. China is thrilled with us.” Thus, thePittsburgh factor instills a policy incline which might be perceived as an anti-globalisation and anti-regime tilt which more or less leaves the climate changeregime in a strategic lurch.

It’s necessary to transform the way the commoners think about develop-ment, civilisation and environment. In one reading of the scenario, it can becontended that one aspect of the climate change debate is about the dispar-agement brought out by the ides of non-industrial and developing nations.This argument might be serving the wrong side as America is also responsi-ble for the pollution which ensues in the larger environmental vortex. Still,the assertion can be somewhere between the twin ideals of changing the domes-tic consumption and energy consumption patterns in the US and acceptingthe moral responsibility to delve inside the rubric of climate change dysfunctionin the “Third World.” Historically looking too, because of domestic develop-mental and economic concerns, the Americans have not been clear about theother agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol. The US is a signatory to the KyotoProtocol but has not ratified the much deliberated upon Protocol; and Canada,too, moved away from the Protocol despite its glittering role in other humansecurity paradigms. America accounts for 36.1 per cent of the 1990 emissionlevels of Annex I nations. It was accepted that the US would cut down its dis-turbing emissions by an average of 7 per cent below 1990 levels. One method-ology for the US could have been to contain the polluting corporates. TheAmericans called it “economically irresponsible” and thus paved the way fora separate American Climate Change policy paradigm. Still, positing the lead-ership role of the US in the climate change negotiations, Washington Post con-tended that the US ought to lead with confidence as GOP can rethink the entireTrump decision and look into some market-based solutions to reduce car-bon dioxide emissions. Granted, protectionism is the order of the day for GOP,but how can a “total screech of a separation” from the Paris Accord be ten-able for America?

(The writer is Faculty, International Relations and International organisa-tions, Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi)

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Recently, External AffairsMinister Sushma Swaraj re-

emphasised the role of the region-al connectivity as a facilitator fordevelopment, with a potential toadvance the quality of the lives,people-to-people exchanges, andenhance trade and investment.This was mentioned against thebackdrop of both India andASEAN celebrating the 25thanniversary of their partnershipthis year. The regional and intra-regional connectivity is the core ofIndia’s Act East Policy and it formsone of the crucial components ofIndia’s rejuvenated thrust towardsAsia-Pacific. This explains why anexamination of the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral(IMT) Highway, which is one of theconnectivity endeavours India took

in the eastern neighbourhood in2002, is important.

The 1,360 km IMT Highwaystarts from Moreh in Manipur andreaches Mae Sot in Thailand viaMyanmar. Originally supposed tobe finished by 2014, the projectdeadline is now extended to 2020,according to the Indian envoy toMyanmar Vikram Misri. The India-Myanmar Friendship Road — con-necting Moreh in Manipur withTamu, Kalemyo and Kalewa inMyanmar, constructed by theBorder Roads Organisation in 2001— forms the first segment of theIMT Highway. Right now, India isworking to repair 69 bridges onTamu-Kalay Road and the seg-ment between Kaleya-Yargyi road(120 km). From Yargyi, the roadgoes to Monywa (65 km); fromMonywa, it stretches towardsMandalay (136 km). This 136 kmroad is already available for publictransport. From Mandalay, theHighway will pass throughMeikhtila bypass, Nay Pyi Taw,Taungoo, Oktwin, Payagyi,Theinzayat, Thaton, Hpaan,Kawkareik, Myawaddy and MaeSot. In Phase I of the TrilateralHighway, India is supposed to con-struct 78 km of new roads, upgrade58 km of existing roads and re-build132 km road further withinMyanmar. Thailand’s role is toupgrade and repair a total of 292 kmroad in two phases. In May 2015,Indian Ambassador to ThailandBhagwant Singh Bishnoi mentionedthat once the repairing of thebridges is finished, the highwaycould be opened for transportation.In the mid-way, the Highway willalso be connected with the eco-nomic zone in Sittwe, which isaround 100 km away from the cur-rent route alignment of the IMTHighway. Given the potential of the

project, there are a few aspects relat-ed to the IMT Highway whichshould be prioritised immediately.

First, once completed, the con-cerned authorities need to ensureseamless connectivity on theHighway in an order to encouragepeople to travel through it. At pre-sent, the Indian, Thai andMyanmar Governments are dis-cussing the proposed MotorVehicle Agreement, much in linewith the BBIN Motor VehicleAgreement. In November 2015,Vijay Chibbar, Union RoadTransport and Highways Secretary,mentioned that elections inMyanmar in late 2015 caused adelay in signing of the MotorVehicle Agreement. However, theformation of the new Governmentin Myanmar in early 2016 causedmore tension in the signing of theagreement as they arguably cameup with more negotiation points.Hence, signing of this agreementremains pending. Signing andimplementation of the MotorVehicle Agreement is essential forensuring smooth and continuoustransport of cargo, people andvehicles on the highway.

Second, even after many dis-cussions, the accommodation ofpeople’s interests, particularly thosefrom North-East India, in theHighway remains negligible. This

has happened even though the con-cept of the IMT Highway was visu-alised to provide a boost to thesocio-economic profile of theNorth-East by making it a com-prehensive partner in the connec-tivity projects between India andSoutheast Asia. The idea was tomake North-East India not just aconnecting point, rather to devel-op it by making it India’s gatewayto Southeast Asia. Proposals arealready on the table to integrateNorth-East India with the IMTHighway, vis-à-vis other cross-border connectivity projects link-ing the region with India’s easternneighbours. Unfortunately, afterthe trial of the bus service betweenMoreh and Mandalay in 2016,nothing has moved in that direc-tion. Recently Manipur’s ChiefMinister Biren Singh proposedthat travel from Myanmar toManipur should be hassle-free.This looks as an urgent require-ment as Manipur receives manypatients from Myanmar for bettermedical care. Apart from that, theborder haats in Moreh and Tamuattract thousands of traders fromboth sides of the border. However,even after India’s concerted efforts,the Integrated Check Post in Morehis still not operational, leading toundesirable hassles to the everydayborder trade between the twocountries. Therefore, the need is torealise the fact that without people’sinvolvement, it would be difficultto translate a developmental pro-ject into a successful endeavour.

Besides boosting the directconnectivity between India andSoutheast Asia (initially tillThailand and later connecting theother countries), the IMT Highway,along with the other transportand connectivity projects, is expect-ed to augment regional tourism

and cross-border energy ties,among many other benefits.Thailand already receives approx-imately 11 million tourists fromIndia every year. Direct road con-nectivity will add to this number,albeit on both sides. A hike in thenumber of international tourists inNorth-East India will eventuallybenefit the region’s economy. In theenergy sector, facts about Indianinvestments in Myanmar arealready in the public domain.Recently, Assam’s NumaligarhRefinery Ltd, a division of BharatPetroleum Corp, has expressedwillingness to sell gas and oil tocater to the demands of the north-western Myanmar. These are a fewinstances of tangible benefits fromIndia’s Act East Policy.

The IMT Highway will providethe much needed impetus to India’sborder trade and its relations withthe near-east countries. India mustmonitor and review seriously theprogress of this project since thisis one of the highlights of India’scurrent “Act East” policy. Under thedynamic leadership of PrimeMinister Modi, India’s “Act East”Policy has been brought to region-al limelight. The urgent need is toactualise the existing projects in theregion and to review whether thesehave progressed well to intensifyIndia’s engagement with the neigh-bourhood. Contemplation on theprogress of IMT Highway shouldbe a priority for New Delhi. A suc-cess of the IMT Highway will onlyaccentuate India’s positioning in theneighbourhood, and that wouldundoubtedly proof India as aparagon example of a responsibleactor in the region.

(The writer is a researcher at theInstitute for Defence Studies andAnalyses (IDSA), New Delhi.)

Today, Hong Kong is celebrating20 years of returning to the

Chinese socialist system. On thisvery day, Britain ceded the islandterritory to mainland China afterruling it from 1842 till 1997. TheFirst Opium War was fought fromSeptember, 1839, to August, 1842,between Britain and China; itcame to an end with the signing ofthe historic Treaty of Nanking byboth the Queen of England and theEmperor of China. After the end ofthe war, the Hong Kong Islandcame under the suzerainty ofBritain. Ironically, the Treaty ofNanking made the mark of beingone of a series of “unequal treaties”concluded between the East AsianStates and Western powers inthose days. Later in October 18,1860, Kowloon Peninsula was leftto be ruled by Britain under theConvention of Peking, which even-tually resulted in the conclusion ofthe Second Opium War. But onlyin July 1, 1898, China leased therural “New Territories” i.e. themainland area adjacent to Kowloonand 235 islands to Britain for aperiod of 99 years. This is how thehistoric journey of Hong Kongbegan under the royal Britishadministration during which theIsland had witnessed unprece-dented economic growth andknown to the rest as a “world-classtrade centre”. Unfortunately, thecity had indeed never seen the lightof “democracy” in the clutches ofthe British for this entire saga of the“blessed rule” as manyHongkongers still talk about.

Way back in March 1979, onhis first official visit to the main-land, the then Governor of HongKong, Murray MacLehose, raisedthe issue of the island with Chineseleader Deng Xiaoping. Deng madeit very clear that China will reassertits authority over the island afterJune 30, 1997. The very idea of gov-erning Hong Kong under the “onecountry, two systems” came upwhen former British PrimeMinister Edward Heath met Dengas a special envoy of then PrimeMinister Margaret Thatcher. Hetold the visiting dignitary that thispeculiar system will come intoplace only after the special regionreturns to the socialist system.After Thatcher’s visit to Beijing inSeptember 22, 1982, the D-daycame up for a final call on the sta-tus of the Island. And on December19, 1985, the historic Sino-BritishJoint Declaration was signed inBeijing, shifting Hong Kong toChina on the midnight of June 30,1997. This all happened only afterfour months of wrangling betweenthe two sovereign nations.

Hong Kong’s return to Chinawas, in fact, a reassertion of theBeijing’s supremacy not only overthe Island but also over a fadingimperial power. This hinted theemergence of China as a “newpower centre” in Asia. Many were

overjoyed. Some were clearly hes-itant about the hidden agenda ofBeijing. Frankly, though it was nota pell-mell decision for theCommunist veterans to introducea new system for governing HongKong, many experts conceded that“one country, two systems” is an“untested formula” for a territorywhich was long ruled by a strongGovernor as the sole representativeof the Queen in England. So, thereexisted persistent doubts aboutthe viability of the new policy andChina’s strong commitmenttowards honouring the Islanders.But then, following the smoothhandover, the internal complexitiesand contradictions illuminatemany, especially the Hongkongers,about the practical challenges in theimplementation of the new system.

By June 1985, a 58-memberBasic Law Drafting Committeewas formed in Beijing to prepareHong Kong’s new miniConstitution, later popularly knownas “Basic Law”. By April 1990,China’s National People’s Congressfinally approved the “Basic Law”and made it ready for ruling theHong Kong Special AdministrativeRegion (HKSAR), as it is known ininternational lexicon.Unfortunately, before the handovercame into effect, the StandingCommittee of the National People’sCongress voted to repeal or amendvarious existing laws in regard tocivil liberties in Hong Kong. Butafter June 30, 1997, the Mainlandleaders scrupulously followedhands-off approach, allowing theIslanders to maintain a free hand intheir administration with fullautonomy, except managing thecrucial defence and foreign affairs.Under the Basic Law, Hong Kongwill “continue to protect its capitalistsystem as well as the way of life, therights and freedoms of its residents.These include equality before thelaw, private ownership of property,freedom of assembly, freedom ofmovement, freedom of religiousbelief, freedom of academicresearch, and freedom to join tradeunions”. Besides, the courts wouldcontinue to administer independentjustice and the territory will have itsown police, immigration, customs,excise and anti-corruption systemlike before. This was more than suf-ficient to bring home confidence tothe people of Hong Kong, who weretearfully bidding goodbye to amodern colonial rule.

Hong Kong is today governedby a Chief Executive and aLegislative Council (popularlyknown as LegCo). However, all isnot well with the Basic Law, whichliterally administers the Island,though the law was lauded by Dengas “law of historic and internationalsignificance” and a “creative mas-terpiece”. Was it really so? Let’s havelook at Hong Kong after twodecades of embrace by the Chinesesocialist rule.

First of all, the SpecialAdministrative Region (SAR) isnow directly governed by theCentral Government based inBeijing through the ChiefExecutive and the LegCo. And theChief Executive has to report to theMainland Government annually.Beyond this, what has irked theHongkongers is the very presenceof the permanent office of the“Liaison Officer”, which is regard-ed as the “resident organ” of theCentral Government in HongKong. Moreover, “its duties involvecommunication with the Office ofthe Commissioner of the Ministryof Foreign Affairs in the HKSARand the PLA Hong Kong Garrison,the promotion of exchange andcooperation between Hong Kongand Mainland in various areas,communication with personagesfrom all sectors of Hog Kong soci-ety and the handling of affairs,involving Taiwan”. Today manylocals feel that the Liaison Officegoes beyond its official duties andreally acts as a strong arm of theChinese Communist Party.Recently, the office played a centralrole to lobby for the smooth elec-tion of new Chief Executive CarrieLam. Because of its creeping arm,many Hongkongers openly call thisoffice the “Second Team” whichactually governs their island.

Second, in the past when city’sfirst administrator Tung Chee-hwa(1997-2003) attempted to pass ananti-subversion law demanded byhis super bosses in Beijing, massiveprotests were staged across HongKong. Eventually, he had to resign.Indeed, the entire two terms underTung, the Island’s distrust of the realintentions of Beijing persisted.

Then came the second ChiefExecutive of Hong Kong, Sir DonaldTsang, who ruled it from 2005 till2012. He somehow saved the Islandfrom the 2008 global financial cri-sis. However, his period was markedby massive complaints of corruptionin public offices.

Third, after coming to power,Xi Jinping wanted to foist on thecity’s schools a programme ofCommunist inspired patriotic edu-cation just to make sure that thechildren grow up in the rich tra-ditions of Mao-era primarily. Butthis time also, commoners cameout on the roads and raised slogansagainst such devilish agenda of theMainland. Leung Chun-ying, whowas elected as the third ChiefExecutive, barely got 689 votes out

of 1,200 selected electorate. Mostlyhe acted as a pro-Beijing manthroughout and experienced themost vociferous pro-democracycampaign till date. The most wide-spread mass movement came up in2014 in the name of “UmbrellaMovement”. It led to the formationof the Demosisto (a fusion of theGreek word “Demos” meaningpeople and the Latin word “Sisto”referring to “I stand firm”) Party;it truly reflected its founders soliddefence of democratic rights.Significantly, umbrella was used asa popular symbol of defiance byprotesters and Leung patientlywore down a large group of teenagerevolutionaries, led by JoshuaWong, Nathan Law, Oscar Lai andAgnes Chow. This movementshowcased the most bitter feelingof the Hongkongers, particularly bythe youngest lot.

Fourth, now many in theIsland are planning to wait foranother three decades till 2047,when the “12-basic principles”that are currently governing HongKong will come to an end. In fact,it is mentioned in the 12th princi-ple that “the above stated (i.e. all theother 11 principles) policies wouldbe stipulated in the Basic Law of theHKSAR by the NPC of the People’sRepublic of China (PRC) and theywould remain unchanged for 50years”. So young members of theLegCo, like Nathan, are eagerlywaiting for this day to see HongKong in its new look. Who knowswhat will happen? China mayabruptly change the entire systemof governance of the HKSAR.

Finally, though Hong Kong isgearing up for the grand ceremo-ny to mark the completion of twodecades under China with thepresence of Xi, the ordinary citizensof the city are in deep distrust ofthe Mainland, fearing further cur-tailment of their freedoms. ChiefExecutive-elect Lam, who is thefirst woman head of the HKSAR,will also take over the reign fromLeung in the presence of Xi. Butconsidering her proximity to theCentral Government, manyHongkongers doubt her sincerity.It is feared that events like the sud-den kidnapping of book publish-ers by the agents of Beijing from thecity may continue right under hernose. Such attempts for “mainlan-disation” by the Xi regime maycontinue, they fear.

Nevertheless, the new admin-istrator, Lam, will have to tread very

carefully. At a time when the move-ment for “radical localism” is scal-ing up and a new generation of peo-ple, mainly teenagers who had notwitnessed the handover ceremony,are sharply on the rise, it would bea hard task for the Mainland toimpose any new policies and pro-grammes on the Islanders. Xi’sDeng-style tactics and Mao-eramanoeuvres may not be truly suf-ficient for the Hongkongers tomeet their greed for freedom, par-ticularly their outright demand forchoosing the governors of the cityby the locals. Lam, having a longstint in bureaucracy, may not havethe zeal to fight for preserving thedistinctiveness of Hong Kong as shehad always served a system large-ly swayed and guided by the poli-cy works from the inner circles ofthe Communist Party in Beijing.With Xi, she will have to refurbishher agenda in such a way that theIslanders experience more cooper-ation than conflagration in the nearfuture. Growing tendency for“Umbrella” style movements willonly offer more opportunities to theCommunist hardliners to press fortighter control of Hong Kong. Andthis will altogether raise furtherdebates and dialogues about the fea-sibility of the “one country, two sys-tems” and Beijing’s tall promisestowards the citizens of Hong Kong.Deng once put forwarded the sci-entific concept “one country, twosystems” for a peaceful reunificationof China, but this ingenious designwas first applied to solve the ques-tion of Hong Kong first. Therefore, the Hongkongers canexpect more hurdles on the road torealise their dreamland. This is justthe beginning.

(The writer is an expert oninternational affairs)

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India is all set to witness one of itsbiggest economic reforms since

independence in the GST rolloutfrom July 1. However, this far-reach-ing indirect taxation system isbeing implemented not without itsshare of unawareness and doubtsamong both business owners andconsumers. Given so, as the count-down towards a 'one nation- one tax'regime begins, The Pioneer bringsthe low-down on what the Goods& Service Tax really is and how itwill affect your life.

"To give a broad overview, afterGST around half of taxable goodsand services will remain at similarprices as earlier, 30 per cent itemswill become cheaper and the pricesof 20 per cent of taxable goods andservices is likely to go up. TheGovernment has done a fair job infixing GST rates to suit the eco-nomic disparities of India's popu-lation,"said Verendra Kalra, man-aging partner of Verendra Kalra &Co. Chartered Accountants, in anexclusive discussion with ThePioneer on GST. He, however, alsopointed out that businesses inUttarakhand are poorly prepared toadopt GST. "Only a day is left andmany business owners are noteven aware of the essentials, like thatthey require new invoice formats etc.for filing GST returns. There is a lotof confusion regarding the new taxrates and process," said Kalra.

Here are the basics- GST willreplace all indirect taxes levied byState and Central Governments.There are four slabs for GST for bothgoods and services - 5 per cent, 12per cent, 14 per cent and 28 per cent.There is an additional cess on spe-cific items like luxury goods.Certain items have been exemptedfrom the tax base completely.GSThas two components- Central GST(CGST) that will be levied by the

Centre, State GST thatwill be levied by Statesand there will also beanother componentof Integrated GST(IGST) levied byCentral Governmenton inter-State supply ofgoods and services.

And how will life change forthe common man come July 1?

Daily needs essentials like freshvegetables, fresh fruit, food grains,pulses, meat (except frozen), fish,fresh chicken, natural honey, eggs,generic (non-branded) curd, buttermilk and cottage cheese, bread haveexemption from taxation.Clothesabove �1,000 will cost more afterGST while luxury cars likeMercedes, Audis &BMWs will becheaper with lesser duty on thesemodels. Currently the tax on luxu-ry cars ranges from 45 to 55 per centbut under GST with the maximum

cess on luxury cars get-ting capped at 15 per-cent, the maximumduty a buyer is likely topay is 43 per cent.There will be only a

marginal increase in theduty on small cars, thus no

significant price hike for this seg-ment. From the consumer's pointof view, the biggest advantage ofGST would be in terms of reduc-tion in overall tax burden on goods.Services, depending on their nature,have been placed under four taxrates of 5 per cent, 12 per cent, 18per cent and 28 per cent.Service Taxfor many services like insurance andtelecom will increase from 15 per-cent to 18 percent, making manyservices costlier. However, theimpact will not be so strong so asto change what services the com-mon man buys, feel experts.

Meanwhile, it is raining sales on

consumer electronics and homeappliances to clear stocks before theGST kicks in on July 1. Gold, con-sumer durables, cigarettes, mobilephone bills will cost more underGST while movie tickets will cost alittle less.

Economy-class air travel willbe taxed at 5 per cent against the pre-sent 6 per cent. However, businessclass air tickets will be costlierattracting 12 per cent tax against thepresent 9 per cent. A.C and first-class train travel will remain moreor less the same after GST, as the ser-vice tax levied will increase from 4.5per cent to 5 per cent. Non-ACtravel will remain exempted fromtax. Air-conditioned restaurantswill attract GST at 18 per cent onfood bill. Non-AC restaurants willattract a 12 per cent GST.Educationand healthcare have been exempt-ed from GST.

In the opinion of many likeAnand Gupta, owner of the'Anandam' restaurants and of 'GuptaSweets and Namkeen', the appre-hensions that business owners haveregarding GST are due to lack ofknowledge about this taxation sys-tem or it is those who have been con-ducting their businesses in shadyways so far. "There will be teethingproblems when such a huge changeis executed, and there will be someinitial inconveniences to businessowners, however, we need to riseabove personal interests and wel-come a step that will do good toour country. GST is an importantmilestone in India's transition totransparency and efficiency for astronger democracy. Dehradun'straders' associations have been orga-nizing GST awareness workshopsand having learnt from one of these,I support this new taxation systemwholeheartedly. Both business own-ers and consumers will benefitfrom the removal of cascading taxeffect after the implementation ofGST," he told The Pioneer.

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��2�The landmark Goodsand Services Tax will not alter theprices of essentials and daily useitems like salt and soaps as they haveeither been exempt or tax on themhas been kept at the current level.

Unbranded food staplesincluding vegetables, milk, eggs andflour will be exempt from GSTalong with health and educationservices.

Tea, edible oils, sugar, textilesand baby formula will attract only5 per cent tax.

These essential and daily use

items make up for about 80 per centof the goods used. Luxury itemsincluding motorcycles, perfumeand shampoo, which account forabout 19 per cent of all taxableitems, will be taxed at 18 per centor higher.

GST, the biggest tax reformsince Independence, will unify 16different central and state taxes likeexcise, service tax and VAT, to cre-ate a uniform rate of tax across thecountry from midnight tonight.

The tax department has beenworking overtime to inform peo-

ple about GST, Revenue SecretaryHasmukh Adhia said, adding thatthe new regime "will bring intransparency, help cut tax evasionand benefit honest taxpayers".

Earlier, traders with turnoverof above Rs 10 lakh were payingVAT at full rate, but they wereexempt from excise. But now, atrader with turnover of �20-75 lakhwill have to pay 2.5 per cent tax.

Businesses with turnover of�20 lakh will be exempt.

"For small businesses, we havecomposition scheme. It is very sim-

ple," Adhia said.Under the composition

scheme where the turnover doesnot exceed �75 lakh, manufactur-

ers will have to pay 1 per cent ofturnover as GST, traders - 2.5 percent and 0.5 per cent of turnoverin state in case of other suppliers.

CBEC in advertisements saidsingle tax GST will bring downprices for most household. "GSTa boon for households. 81 per centof items to fall below or in 18 percent GST slab," it said.

Butter, ghee, almonds, fruitjuice, mobiles and umbrella havebeen placed in 12 per cent taxbracket while 18 per cent ratewould be levied on hair oil, tooth-paste, soap, ice cream, and print-ers.

The highest tax of 28 per centwill be levied on chewing gum,

chocolates, custard powder andwaffles containing chocolate.Besides, cars, aerated drinks, AC,refrigerators and capital goodsand all industrial intermediarieswill attract the highest rate.

The new tax regime, to beeffective midnight tonight, willreplaces the messy mix of morethan a dozen state and central leviesbuilt up over seven decades, witha one national GST unifying thecountry's $2 trillion economy with1.3 billion people into a commonmarket.

GST will require businesses tofile their returns online, for whichthe company providing the ITbackbone GST Network has beenworking on the modalities.

The returns are to be uploadedonce a month by retailers follow-ing which the return form are tobe matched for availing inputcredit and thereafter the comput-er will generate the tax liability.

"Today Income Taxreturns are also filed online, sonothing is impossible, it iseasy," Adhia said. '��

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German luxury carmakerlaunched the latest seventh

generation of their executive 5-series sedan. This is the thirdgeneration of the car to be offi-cially offered in India sinceBMW began operations in2007. Speaking at the launchVikram Pawah, the recentlyappointed President of BMWIndia said that this new carwould be the cornerstone ofBMW’s growth strategy inIndia.

The new car has been

launched with three diesel andone petrol variant with post-GST ex-showroom all-Indiaprices ranging from �49.9 lakhto BMW launches new 5series61.3 lakh. It features somevery innovative new technolo-gies for this segment, includinga smart key. The 5-series com-petes against the Mercedes-Benz E-Class that was recent-ly launched in a long wheelbasevariant, the Audi A6 and theJaguar XF.

Since beginning operationsa decade ago, BMW has sold66,000 vehicles in India and the

5-series has been a best-selleraccounting for thirty per centof the carmakers volumes.However, Pawah admitted thatIndia is still a small market forluxury vehicles. But it remainsa market with growth potential,with BMW clocking 3533 unitsof sales in India in 2017 tillMay, a growth of eight per cent.Just for comparison, BMWsold over 310,000 vehicles inChina in 2016. But Pawahbelieves that following a fewyears of sustained economicgrowth, the market for luxurycars in India will explode.

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��2�Commerce MinisterNirmala Sitharaman on Fridaysought to allay industry con-cerns over the anti-profiteeringclause in the GST law, sayingthere is nothing to fear if ben-efits of reduced tax rates arepassed on duly to consumers.

In order to ensure thatbusinesses pass on the benefitsof tax rate reduction under thenew indirect tax regime, theCentral GST Act provides for ananti-profiteering section.

As per the rules, a five-member Nat ional Anti-Profiteering Authority willbe set up, which will havethe powers to order reduc-tion in price commensuratewith the lowering of inci-dence of taxation under the

new indirect tax regime.The proposed anti-profi-

teering authority can cancelregistration of any entity or busi-ness if it fails to pass on to con-sumers the benefit of lowertaxes.

"I would want to allay thatfear (of industry). Every con-cession or reduction in therates, we want that to be passedon to the end consumers...Thisobjective has to be served bythose who are dealing with thematter and if you dealt with it,there is nothing to be worriedabout it," she said at an Aaj TakConclave on GST.

She said there were times inIndia before GST that many ofthe incentives and subsidieswere never passed on to the end

consumers and there are veryclear violations.

"So, there is a need for us tohave a provision to questionwhy it (benefits) has not reachedto the consumers," the ministeradded.

When asked about the

opposition political parties boy-cotting the mid-night launchprogramme, Sitharaman saidthis is a moment of happinessand pride.

“It should be some sense ofownership for all of us. Its nofestivity only for me, it is not mydiwali versus your diwali. Thisis a gigantic and historic step...Sowhere is the politics in this," sheadded.

Further, she added that theindustry should not be con-cerned about the complianceissues of GST as everythingwould be online.

Replying on the protest bythe textiles industry, the minis-ter said textiles players in SouthIndia are very excited about thenew tax regime. '��

+�(�� 2� Infosys Co-Founder NR Narayana Murthyon Friday said India should notbe worried about the perceptionof foreign investors on GSTregime, but hoped the respectfor the country will improve intheir eyes once they realise thatthe system is hassle-free.

"I don't think India is veryhigh on the radar screens ofmost nations.That is the reali-ty, but this initiative will reducehassles for anybody who wantsto operate in India."

"Once they start their oper-ations in India then they willrealise that this system is com-parable to what they have expe-rienced in developed nations. Sothen their respect for India willimprove," Murthy told the newsagency.

He said there may be more(global) investments coming inand they would be much moreenthusiastic to participate."That is how I look at it. I don'tthink we should worry whethersome foreigner is saying, this isgood or bad," he added.

Asked what GST meansfor India in economic terms

globally if the country boosts itsGDP by two per cent ahead ofChina, he pointed out thatChina has the second largesteconomy in the world, whoseGDP was four times that ofIndia.

"Therefore I don't think weshould lose time in boastingabout ourselves vis a vis China.That is not necessary, but wehave to work harder andenhance our GDP growth rateand make the country strongerin terms of public infrastructureand defence, among otherthings."

To a query, he said it is truethat Government had notincluded certain GDP-drivingcommodities like petroleumproducts, but that he wouldrather look at the issue with the'extraordinary tenacity' PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hasshown in making this happen.

"It was very easy to say let uspostpone by another year, but hedidn't do that. He and theFinance Minister said we willimplement it. I would like to takethat view frankly."

Asked if he sees taxes falling

due to GST implementation infuture,Murthy said the new taxsystem would help Governmentcollect data on various products,which would allow it make 'zil-lions of analysis' and enable it toget huge insights into the taxregime to make taxation easierand simpler.

On the demand from vari-ous sectors, including solutionproviders, to postpone GSTimplementation as they are notready, Murthy said "I often usedto say ships are safe at harboursbut they are not meant to bethere. They have to go into thehigh seas. Face storms and reachthe comfort of a desirable desti-nation. Hence let us not need-lessly worry about possible prob-lems."

He suggested setting up ofrapid reaction warranty teams toattend to problems with utmostalacrity on 24/7 basis.

"This is a must whether it isin the US, U.K., Japan, Australiaor China, so I am not frankly thatmuch concerned because life isfull of problems, but we have tomake progress in spite of theproblems," Murthy said. '��

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�� 2� Housing priceswill come down after the GSTrollout, Union Minister MVenkaiah Naidu on Fridaysaid, while expressing confi-dence that the landmark taxregime along with property lawwill bring big relief to homebuyers.

Naidu, the minister forUrban Development andHousing & Urban PovertyAlleviation, said only fly-by-night operators and habitual taxevaders are opposing theGoods and Services Tax (GST).

"GST plus Real Estate(Regulation & Development)Act (RERA) will definitelybring big relief to house own-ers. There is no scope forevading anything in the GST.Input credit will also be trans-ferred," he said at the Aaj Tak-GST conclave. The RERAregulations, which came intoforce from May this year, aresuch that there is no way toescape, he added. "As a UrbanDevelopment and HousingMinister, I am the happiestman that with the GST, pricesof houses will definitely comedown," Naidu said. '��

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��2�Mobile phonebills are expected to go upwhile recharges would yieldless talktime for prepaidcustomers from Saturdayunder the new GST taxregime.

Under the Goods andServices Tax (GST), telecomservices would be taxed at18 per cent compared to 15per cent currently.

This means that a userwould get a talktime ofabout �80 on a recharge of�100, compared to about�83 earlier.

Similarly, costs for post-paid users would also go upto the extent of three per-centage points. So, for amonthly usage of �1,000,users will have to pay�1,180 instead of �1,150currently.

However, it remains tobe seen whether telecomoperators choose to absorbsome impact of theincreased tax levy (as theycan claim input credit) orpass it on entirely to theircustomers. Emails to tele-com operators remainedunanswered.

A number of retailers inthe city remain cluelessabout the impact of the newtax regime on telecom ser-vices. '��

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�!� �+��2�Trade and industry bodies want theGovernment to be lenient for at least one year onfiling of returns as many more businesses come underthe GST regime for the first time from midnight onFriday.

The Centre is all set to roll out the Goods andServices Tax (GST) at an event planned in the CentralHall of Parliament at midnight today.

The GST in various slabs will be implementedthroughout the country abolishing the old tax struc-tures.

According to Ravindra Modi, president of theFederation of Telangana and Andhra PradeshChambers of Commerce and Industry, there are sev-eral slabs under GST and that it should be called onecommodity-one tax, and not one nation-one tax.

He said it would take at least six months for thetrade to get accustomed to the new regime as there

are several confusing elements which even some ofthe government officials are not well versed with.

"The implementation of GST is historic for ourcountry. This is one of the bold reforms that the gov-ernment undertook after independence. But thereare some issues that need clarity. We will learn aboutit only after implementation," Modi told the newsagency.

"Many more new traders and service providerswill now come under the tax fold. They need sometime to become familiar with the taxation and fil-ing systems. So, the government should be lenientfor at least one year in order to facilitate all the smalltraders to get accustomed to the system," he said.

Citing an example, he said the sweets fall underfive per cent slab while the confectionery comesunder 18 per cent bracket, leaving some confusionon the category products. '��

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The Government has low-ered interest rate on small

saving schemes like PPF, KisanVikas Patra and SukanyaSamriddhi by 0.1 per cent forthe July- September quarter, amove that will prompt banks tolower deposit rates.

The rates have been loweredby 0.1 per cent across the boardcompared to the April-Junequarter. However, interest onsavings deposits has beenretained at 4 per cent annually.Since April last year, interest ratesof all small saving schemes havebeen recalibrated on a quarter-ly basis. A finance ministrynotification said investments inthe public provident fund (PPF)scheme will fetch lower annualrate of 7.8 per cent.

Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP)investments will yield 7.5 percent and mature in 115months. The one for girl childsavings, Sukanya SamriddhiAccount Scheme, will offer8.3 per cent annually, from 8.4per cent at present.

The investment on 5-yearSenior Citizens Savings Schemewill yield 8.3 per cent. The inter-est rate on the senior citizensscheme is paid quarterly. Term

deposits of 1-5 years will fetch alower 6.8-7.6 per cent that willbe paid quarterly while the 5-year recurring deposit has beenpegged lower at 7.1 per cent.

“On the basis of the decisionof the Government, interestrates for small savings schemesare to be notified on a quarter-ly basis,” the ministry said whilenotifying the rates for secondquarter of financial year 2017-18.

While announcing thequarterly setting of interestrates, the ministry had said therates of small saving schemeswould be linked to Governmentbond yields. The move isexpected to prompt banks tolower the deposit rate in linewith the small savings rate asoffered by the Government.

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SpiceJet CMD Ajay Singh onFriday said the airline was not

keen on buying out Air India atpresent, as it is ‘not strongenough to take on a gamble’even though he considered thenational carrier a ‘good asset’.

Rival and market leaderIndiGo has already written to theGovernment showing its keen-ness to buy out the national car-rier’s flight operations, particu-larly the international services,with the Union Cabinet givingits in-principal nod for the dis-investment of Air India. Singhsaid despite the huge turn-around the airline had wit-nessed since it nearly shut downtwo-and-a-half years ago, it wasnot in a position to stake itsclaim on Air India.

“We are not very confidentthat we are strong enough to takeon a gamble like Air India at thispoint of time,” he told reportershere. SpiceJet was recently laud-ed by US President Donald

Trump during PM NarendraModi’s visit for its order of 100planes with American aircraftmanufacturer Boeing and themassive jobs this would create inthe country.

The budget carrier has afleet size of 55 aircraft, includ-ing Boeing 737NG and 20Bombardier Q-400s. It has alsoplaced a firm order for 175Boeing 737 Max and 25Bombardier Q-400s. The newaircraft will be inducted into thefleet from April next year andthe process will continue fornearly eight years.

SpiceJet also serves 39domestic and 7 internationaldestinations and recorded amarket share of 12.6 per cent inMay. However, the airline CMDsaid, “I feel SpiceJet is too smallan airline to look at what isundoubtedly a good asset. It hasthe Air India brand itself.”

According to global consul-tancy PricewaterhouseCoopers,Air India is an ‘excellent’ acqui-sition target for an existingIndian airline seeking to expandas well for a new entrant into theaviation industry. “It has a verylarge asset base, 120 aircraft withreplacement orders for 43already placed. Most impor-

tantly, it has the largest numberof routes and slots and nearly 15per cent domestic and over 17per cent international marketshare,” said, Partner - PwCIndia, Dhiraj Mathur, in a pressstatement.

He said Air India also has a‘terrific brand name’ and theGovernment must insist thebuyer retains it, a sentimentexpressed by top officials in the

Ministry of Civil Aviation,including Minister of StateJayant Sinha. To a question onthe plans to acquire wide-bodyaircraft for long-haul opera-tions, Singh said, “There isconceptually a market there,but we are not confident of theeconomics of that (aircraft).”“We are studying it and some-time in the future, we willthink about it,” he added.

NEW DELHI: Low-cost air-line SpiceJet on Fridayopened its first ‘SpiceStyle’retail store in the nationalcapital region (NCR). Thecompany, which is looking toincrease its ancillary revenue,is expecting a revenue of�150 crore from its onlineventure this fiscal.

“From this venture, wewant to take our ancillary rev-enue to 20 per cent,” saidSpiceJet CMD Ajay Singh. Hefurther said: “This segment

has witnessed a phenomenalgrowth in the last two yearsfrom 6 per cent to 17 per cent.”The company, apart from sell-ing its merchandise fromSpiceStyle.Com, would also sellproducts at its channel partnersAmazon and PayTm platforms.SpiceStyle offers productsacross 17 different categoriesincluding a signature RohitBal, noted fashion designer.Presently, SpiceStyle offers 12fashion and lifestyle brandsunder its portfolio. PTI

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NEW DELHI: The growth ofeight core sectors slowed to 3.6per cent in May due to fall in out-put of coal, fertiliser and steel. Thegrowth rate of eight infrastructuresectors -- coal, crude oil, naturalgas, refinery products, fertilisers,steel, cement and electricity -- was5.2 per cent in May last year.

Coal and fertiliser pro-ductions recorded negativegrowth of 3.3 per cent and6.5 per cent, respectively, asper the Government datareleased on Friday.

Steel output dipped to 3.7 percent last month as against 13.4 percent in May 2016. Slow growth inkey sectors would also have impli-cations on the Index of IndustrialProduction (IIP) number as thesesegments account for about 41 percent to the total factory output.

However, growth in refineryproducts and electricity outputgrew by 5.4 per cent and 6.4 percent in May as against 3.3 per centand 6.2 per cent, respectively inthe same period last year. PTI

'�� !"

Having joined the race to buyout Air India, IndiGo

President Aditya Ghosh has toldemployees that it will not embarkon the journey if it is not profitableand jeopardises interests of the air-line. Making its intention clear tobecome a world-class interna-tional carrier, IndiGo became thefirst airline to formally expressinterest in loss-making Air Indiasoon after the Government decid-ed on its disinvestment even as themodalities are being worked out.

IndiGo, the country's largestairline with a domestic marketshare of a little over 41 per cent, iskeen on snapping up the interna-tional operations of Air India aswell as its profitable low-cost armAir India Express. As an alterna-tive, the budget carrier is ‘equallyinterested’ in buying out all theoperations of Air India and Air

India Express, according to the let-ter sent by Ghosh to the civil avi-ation ministry.

After showing its interest inAir India disinvestment -a devel-opment which was firstannounced by the ministry -Ghosh wrote to IndiGo staff list-ing out the reasons behind themove and sought to assure themthat every action would be in thebest interest of the airline.

“Let me be very clear that if itis not profitable and does not addvalue to our employees, customersand shareholders, we will notembark on this journey,” Ghosh,who is also a Whole-TimeDirector, told employees onThursday. “As one of those whobleed blue and who have helpedbuild this great organisation, youcan est assured that your leader-ship team and the founders ofIndiGo will never do anything tojeopardise what you helped build

and will always act in the bestinterest of IndiGo,” he said.

Noting that IndiGo is pri-marily interested in Air India'sinternational operations, Ghoshsaid that over the past decade, a sig-nificant domestic network hasbeen created which gives confi-dence to build a world-class inter-national airline in the scale andscope of some of the largest airlinesin the world. With a fleet of near-ly 135 aircraft, IndiGo operatesover 900 flights on an average

every day. Besides, the carrier hasmore than 450 planes on order. Inhis letter to the employees aboutinterest in Air India, Ghoshstressed that without IndiGo'sdomestic feed network, it does notmake sense to embark on this jour-

ney. “... If we do go down this path,it would require significant restruc-turing of the acquired operations.In that journey, we are not goingto take on debt and liabilities thatcould not be supported by the newrestructured operations,” he noted.

NEW DELHI: With the launchof the new Goods and ServicesTax (GST), those planning todine out tonight may find them-selves caught in minor disputesover payments, if they stay onpost midnight. Diners may bepresented with two bills in someplaces - one before midnight,and one after 12 AM.

With a single tax replacingthe current system of multipletaxes, eating out may becomecheaper, but restaurants arelooking at ways to bill their mid-night diners tonight.

At The Leela AmbienceConvention Hotel, dining willbecome cheaper with theimplementation of GST, with a20 per cent tax on alcohol and18 per cent on food, as opposedto the current 26 per cent and18.5 per cent respectively. PTI

NEW DELHI: The Competition Commission has given approvalfor telecom major Bharti Airtel's spectrum deals with Videocon andAircel announced last year. In a tweet on Friday, the CompetitionCommission of India (CCI) said it has cleared Bharti Airtel’s acqui-sition of Aircel’s ‘right to use of spectrum in 2300 MHz band’. Inanother tweet, the regulator said that it ‘approves acquisition by Airtelof Videocon’s Right to Use of Spectrum in 1800 MHz band’. Underthe deal, Bharti Airtel was to acquire the spectrum of VideoconTelecommunications Ltd (VTL) in six circles. In this regard, bothhad entered into a definitive agreement last March. This deal, val-ued at around �3,500 crore was also announced last year. PTI

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NEW DELHI: Shares ofInterGlobe Aviation, the parent ofIndiGo airline, slumped 6 per centafter it showed interest in buyingout Air India’s global operations.The stock lost 5.82 per cent toclose at �1,164.95 on BSE. Duringthe day, it dived 6.2 per cent to�1,160.20. On NSE, shares of thecompany dropped 5.69 per centto end at �1,166.55. In terms ofvolume, 1.79 lakh shares of thecompany were traded on BSE andmore than 21 lakh shares changed

hands at NSE during the day. Thestock had fallen over 2 per centin the previous session as well.

In two days, the company’smarket valuation has declined by�3,523.49 crore to �42,124.51crore. IndiGo President AdityaGhosh wrote to Minister ofCivil Aviation Gajapathi Rajusoon after the Cabinet onWednesday gave its in-principleapproval to Air India’s disin-vestment, showing interest inbuying overseas business. PTI

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Regulator Sebi on Friday putin place a new framework

for consolidation in debt secu-rities as part of its efforts todeepen the corporate bondmarket. Liquidity in the sec-ondary market for corporatebonds will be increased by wayof minimal number of ISINs(International SecuritiesIdentification Numbers).

ISINs code, which has 12characters, is used for uniquelyidentifying securities like stocks,bonds warrants and commercialpapers. Generally, investorstrade in corporate bonds that arefreshly issued by a particularissuer. As a result, the out-standing securities of the sameissuer become mostly illiquid.

In order to increase liquid-ity as well as ensure that anissuer's ability to raise funds

through debt securities is notcurtailed, Sebi has focused onminimising the number ofISINs. Under the new frame-work, an issuer will be permit-ted a maximum of 17 ISINsmaturing per financial year, theSecurities and Exchange Boardof India (Sebi) said in a circu-lar. A maximum of 12 ISINsmaturing per financial year willbe allowed only for plain vanil-la debt securities.

Within the limit of 12, anentity can issue both securedand unsecured non-convert-ible debentures while no sepa-rate category of ISINs will beprovided to them. Furthermore,an entity can issue up to fiveISINs every fiscal ‘for structureddebt instruments of a particu-lar category’.

Sebi said these restrictionswill not be applicable to debtinstruments that are used for

raising regulatory capital andaffordable housing as well ascapital gains tax bonds. Toaddress the issue of bunching ofliabilities, the regulator said theissuer can as a one-time exercisemake a choice of having bulletmaturity payment or make stag-gered payment of the maturityproceeds within a particularfinancial year. The watchdogalso said issuer would have atime period of six months tomake an enabling provision inits Articles of Association tocarry out consolidation and re-issuance of debt securities.

Also, an issuer would haveto submit a statement to thestock exchange where its debtsecurities are listed, as well as tothe depository containing dataabout ISIN number, issuance aswell as maturity date andcoupon rate among others with-in 15 working days.

NEW DELHI: Employees ofpublic sector banks havethreatened to go on a day longnation-wide strike on August22 against the Governmentproposal to merge state-owned lenders.

Besides, they want the gov-ernment and the Reserve Bankto declare wilful default as acriminal offence and desistfrom writing off of corporatenon-performing assets (NPAs)or bad loans, United Forum ofBank Unions (UFBU) said.

An umbrella body of 9unions, UFBU has also askedthe government not to increaseservice charges in the name ofGST. Goods and Service Tax(GST), which will be effectivetomorrow, has raised tax from15 per cent to 18 per cent forall services offered by banks.

Government has recentlymerged five associates withSBI and there are talks of thesecond round of consolidation

among state-owned bankswhich may materialise by theend of the current fiscal. TheGovernment wants to createfive large banks of global sizeusing the inorganic route.There are 21 state-ownedbanks in the country at present.

India's banking sector issaddled with NPAs or badloans amounting to �8 lakhcrore, of which around �6 lakhcrore is accounted for by thestate-owned banks alone.

“Instead of taking urgentremedial measures to recoverthe alarmingly increasing badloans which are threatening todrive the banks into a seriouscrisis, the government is takingsteps like MOU, PCA, NPAOrdinance and IBC that areonly aimed to cleaning the bal-ance sheets at the cost of thelenders who represent hardearned savings of the people,”AIBEA General Secretary C HVekatachalam told PTI. PTI

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MUMBAI: Deputy GovernorViral Acharya on Friday con-firmed the Reserve Bank hasasked banks to set aside 50 percent provisions for accountsbeing resolved through theinsolvency law, and termed thesame as ‘very reasonable’".

“I think it is better tomark the books ahead of time,I think 50 per cent is a veryreasonable level of provision-ing given...The historicalrecord,” Acharya told reportershere. “I think the provisionsare very reasonable based onany historical recovery ratesthat banks even on secureddebt have typically earned inout system,” he added. The

deputy governor incharge ofmonetary policy making saidtill now, the banks haveneglected the crucial aspect ofprovisions against the expect-ed losses which have resultedin lack of success in earlier res-olution attempts.

“If you think about theCDR (corporate debt restruc-turing) scheme or the SDR(strategic debt restructuring)scheme, they have been pri-marily used to not provisionfor these assets rather than toactually resolve the underlyingassets,” Acharya explained.

“In my opinion, goingabout the same way, again thethird time will not be appro-

priate,” the academic-turned-central banker said. Mediareports earlier this month hadsaid that the banks have beenasked to set aside 50 per centas provisions on the 12 iden-tified accounts to be dealtwith under the provisions ofthe insolvency and bankrupt-cy code (IBC). The RBI hadnot come out with a notifica-tion on the provisions aspectafter declaring the names ofthe accounts to resolved.

Some estimates hadpegged the total provision tobe made against the exposuresat Rs 40,000 crore, which hadled to investor anxiety whichwas seen in correction in

banking stocks. Country's largest lender

SBI said that it does not expecta huge hit on the bottomlines,while third largest from theprivate space, Axis Bank, cameout with details of exposuresand provisions made to drivethe point of it being guardedadequately. The largest 12accounts named by RBI areBhushan Steel, Lanco Infra,Essar Steel, Bhushan Power,Alok Industries, Amtek Auto,Monnet Ispat, ElectrosteelSteels, Era Infra, JaypaeeInfratech, ABG Shipyard, andJyoti Structures. These com-panies together owe more than�2 trillion to banks. PTI

NEW DELHI: India’s demographic dividendis also its biggest challenge as the country isup against problems of employment genera-tion and employability, Hindustan UnileverLtd (HUL) Chairman Harish Manwani saidon Friday. Businesses will have to work witheducators and Government to frame skilldevelopment programmes in order to ensurethat the workforce of tomorrow has future-ready skills, Manwani said while addressingshareholders at HUL’s 84th AGM. India hasthe youngest population profiles in the worldwith over 65 per cent of its population belowthe age of 35.

“While this can become a demographicdividend for the country, herein also lies India's

biggest challenge. Thechallenge is two-fold: ofcreating enormousemployment generationopportunities and raisingthe employability andskills of the ndianyouth,” HUL said in astatement quotingManwani. He said busi-

nesses must step in to lift the capabilities andput as much emphasis on developing shopfloorworkers as managerial talent.

Manwani, however, said India is well posi-tioned to leapfrog with the technologicaladvances and avoid the trap holes that the rest

of the world has experienced in their journeyfrom 'developing' to 'developed'.

Stressing on how technology can be adouble-edged sword, he said it has the poten-tial of restructuring not just global businessmodels but the nature of work. “Companieswill need to stimulate innovation, acceler-ate digital transition, reduce costs and runtheir businesses more efficiently to face thechallenges of this new world,” he added. On theimportance of innovating for the future, Manwanisaid businesses need to constantly innovate in orderto grow. “This requires companies to embracetech-nology and creativity and bring both ‘magic andlogic’ into their product experience and go-to-market models.” PTI

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MUMBAI: The Reserve Bankon Friday said the ongoing accel-erated reform initiatives like GSTand continuing political stabilitywill push the economic growthscale to 7.3 per cent in terms ofGVA in the current fiscal year. TheFinancial Stability Report 2017,released on Friday, bases itsoptimism to the lower fiscaldeficit at 3.2 per cent for this yeardown from 3.5 per cent in 2016-17, increasing public capex andsupport to poorer households,small businesses and the ruralsector, to oil the economy. PTI

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NEW DELHI: Any individualor enterprise that is party to acombination will not be requiredto seek approval of fair trade reg-ulator CCI within 30 days offinalising the particular deal, theGovernment said on Friday.

Currently, combinationsbeyond a certain thresholdneed to be intimated to theCompetition Commission ofIndia (CCI) within 30 days ofbeing finalised by the partiesconcerned. PTI

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Abidjan: The UN peace-keeping mission in Ivory Coast comes to an end onFriday, 13 years after it inter-vened to implement a peace agreement as the WestAfrican economic power-house was split in two by civil war.

While many praise themission’s success in stabilizingthe country after years ofconflict and post-electoralviolence, others point to arecent ser ies of army mutinies as a sign that peaceremains tentative. AP

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Moshe Holtzberg, the Israelichild who was just two

years old when he lost his par-ents in the 2008 Mumbai terrorattack, is looking forward to seePrime Minister Narendra Modi,who in a special gesture, willmeet the boy during his visithere next week.

Modi’s decision to meetMoshe, now 10, has been wel-comed by the child’s familywhich said that the gesture madethem realise that Indians sharetheir pain and they have not beenforgotten. Modi will also meetMoshe’s Indian nanny SandraSamuels, who managed to escapewith him from the NarimanHouse which came under attackby Pakistan-based LeT terrorists,and his grandparents Shimonand Yehudit Rosenberg.

“I could not believe my earswhen I got a call from theIndian envoy saying that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi wantsto meet us. My immediatethoughts were that we have notbeen forgotten and that Indiansshare our pain,” Rabbi ShimonRosenberg told PTI.

“I am deeply moved andcan’t explain how good I feel atthis gesture from the IndianPrime Minister. We are lookingforward to that opportunity,”Rabbi Rosenberg added.

Asked what he would tellModi when he meets him,Rosenberg said that he wantedto do his grandson’s ‘bar mitvah’,a ceremony performed forJewish boys at the age of 13which Indian scholars in Israelcompare with upnayana or thethread ceremony, in Mumbai forwhich he would invite Modi.

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China is not doing enoughon North Korea which

continues to violate interna-tional norms by conductingnuclear and missile tests, USNational Security Advisor LtGen H R McMaster has said.

“I don’t think China is doingenough now because the prob-lem is not resolved. So the ques-tion is, how much more must wedo together to address this, shortof a military solution,” McMastersaid at a news conference.

“So that’s the kind of dis-cussions that we will continueto have with the Chinese lead-ership as we work togetherwith them — not pressuringthem — but working withthem,” McMaster said.

Islamabad: Pakistan hasbanned terrorist Hafiz Saeed-backed outfit Tehreek-eAzadi-Jammu & Kashmir (TAJK), agroup that is primarily arebranded Jamaat-ud-Dawa(JuD), the mastermind behindthe 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

Pakistan has now put thisJuD proxy on the list of pro-scribed organisations, as ofJune 8, according to the website of Pakistan’s NationalCounter Terrorism Authority.

JuD, though, still remainsonly ‘under watch’.

In late January, Pakistanput Saeed under ‘house arrest’and the JuD on the ‘underwatch’ list.

Pakistan banning JuD’sproxy outfit could well be seenas a response to the Donald

Trump administration hintinga harder line against Islamabad.

A report 10 days ago camethat Trump’s administration iscontemplating amplified dronestrikes on terror camps inPakistan.

The banning also comesahead of the inter-governmen-tal Financial Action Task Force(FATF) scheduled to update itsassessment of “high-risk andnon-cooperative jurisdictions”next month, which theAssociated Press (AP) report-ed about earlier this June.FATF was set up to implementlegal, regulatory and opera-tional measures to combatmoney laundering, terroristfinancing and other relatedthreats.

Earlier this month, AP

reported that Pakistan recent-ly froze the accounts of asmany as 5,000 suspected mili-tants, ahead of the FATF updat-ing its list.

A senior US Government

official reportedly conveyed toPakistan it would be put on theFATF’s blacklist if Islamabaddid not take action againstJuD and other similar outfitsand their funding mechanisms.

India, Afghanistan andeven many US lawmakers havesaid many times that Pakistanfosters terror safe havens. Thevery fact that it allows outfitslike the JuD to operate withimpunity is a clear signPakistan is culpable in stokingterror, say analysts.

Consider that the JuD itselfarose from terrorist outfitLashkar-e-Taiba, (LeT) whichPakistan was forced to ban in2002 after the US declared it aterrorist organisation in 2001.Saeed is the man who found-ed LeT as well, to focus onattacks on India.

The LeT morphed into theJuD, and with the JuD put onan ‘under watch’ list, aroseTehreek-eAzadi-Jammu &Kashmir. Agencies

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China on Friday stronglyprotested a US plan to sell

$1.4 billion worth of arms toTaiwan and demanded thatthe deal be canceled.

Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Lu Kang said thesale would severely damageChina’s sovereignty and secu-rity interests and run counterto Washington’s commitmentto a “one-China” policy.

He asked the US to imme-diately stop the sale to avoidharming relations with Beijing.

“We stress that nobodycould sway our determinationto uphold our territorialintegrity and sovereignty,” Lusaid at a regular daily briefing.“We oppose any external inter-ference in our internal affairs.”

The US State Departmentapproved the arms sale onThursday, the first such dealwith Taiwan since PresidentDonald Trump took office.

The sale was broadly wel-comed on Taiwan as a show ofUS support, despite concernsabout the strain on financesand Beijing’s angry response.Taiwan’s defense departmentsaid the sale would enhance theisland’s self-defence capability.

China considers Taiwan tobe part of its territory and haslong opposed any arms sales tothe self-governing island by for-eign entities. It insists on even-tual reunification, through

force if necessary.The US State Department’s

approval of the sale — the first since December 2015—follows a tense year betweenChina and Taiwan.

Beijing cut ties with thegovernment of TaiwanesePresident Tsai Ing-wen short-ly after she took office in Maylast year and has been steadilyratcheting up diplomatic andeconomic pressure. Her rulingDemocratic Progressive Partysays it wants stable relationswith Beijing, but hasn’t fol-lowed her predecessor, MaYing-jeou, in endorsing the“one-China” principle.

“We can’t disregard theimportance of strengtheningour military capabilities justbecause we are at peace now,”Tsai said Friday. “The best wayto stop battle is to always bewell prepared for battle. We willcontinue to enhance ourstrength and maintain peace. “

China’s hostility towardTsai is a big concern, said LeeChun-yi, a ruling party legis-lator. “Most people will supportthis arms sale because we needto strengthen our defense”amid strained relationsbetween the sides, he said. Theparty favors a strongerTaiwanese identity.

About 66 per cent ofTaiwanese oppose unificationwith Beijing, a TaiwanIndicators Survey Researchpoll found in May 2016.

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Ascaled-back version ofPresident Donald Trump’s

travel ban is now in force,stripped of provisions thatbrought protests and chaos atairports worldwide in Januaryyet still likely to generate a newround of court fights.

The new rules, the productof months of legal wrangling,aren’t so much an outright banas a tightening of already-toughvisa policies affecting citizensfrom six Muslim-majority coun-tries. Refugees are covered, too.

Administration officialspromised that implementa-tion this time, which started at8 pm EDT (0000 GMT), wouldbe orderly. Customs andBorder Protection spokesmanDan Hetlage said his agencyexpected “business as usual atour ports of entry,” with allvalid visa holders still beingable to travel.

Still, immigration andrefugee advocates are vowing tochallenge the new require-

ments and the administrationhas struggled to explain howthe rules will make the UnitedStates safer.

Under the temporaryrules, citizens of Syria, Sudan,Somalia, Libya, Iran andYemen who already have visaswill be allowed into theUnited States. But peoplefrom those countries whowant new visas will now haveto prove a close family rela-tionship or an existing rela-

tionship with an entity like aschool or business in the US.

It’s unclear how signifi-cantly the new rules will affecttravel. In most of the countriessingled out, few people havethe means for leisure travel.Those that do already faceintensive screenings beforebeing issued visas.

Nevertheless, human rightsgroups girded for new legal bat-tles. The American CivilLiberties Union, one of thegroups challenging the ban,called the new criteria“extremely restrictive,” ‘’arbi-trary” in their exclusions anddesigned to “disparage andcondemn Muslims.”

The state of Hawaii filedan emergency motion onThursday asking a federaljudge to clarify that theadministration cannotenforce the ban against rela-tives — such as grandparents,aunts or uncles — not includ-ed in the State Department’sdefinition of “bona fide” per-sonal relationships.

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Tehran: Iranian ForeignMinister Mohammad JavadZarif said on Friday that thenew US ban on travellersfrom six Muslim countrieswas “truly shameful”.

“US now bans Iraniangrandmothers from seeingtheir grandchildren, in a trulyshameful exhibit ion of blind hostility to all Iranians,”Zarif tweeted.

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Doha: Qatar’s Ministry of Defence has announced the arrival of anew group of Turkish armed forces to the military base where Turkeybegan its training mission last week. The forces are set to take partin joint exercises within the framework of a defence agreement signedbetween Doha and Ankara aimed at raising Qatar’s defence capa-bilities, supporting “counter-terror” efforts, and maintaining secu-rity and stability in the region.

Khalid bin Mohammed al-Attiyah arrived on Thursday toAnkara where he is scheduled to meet with his Turkish counter-part Fikri Ishik as well as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.Turkey’s parliament on June 8 approved 2015 deal with Qatar aimedat strengthening military cooperation between the two states, whichgave Turkey the right to establish military bases in Qatar and deploymilitary forces. Agencies

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The UN voiced outrage onFriday at the demand from

Gulf countries that Qatar-basedbroadcaster Al-Jazeera shutdown, describing it as “anunacceptable attack on theright to freedom of expressionand opinion.”

The closure of the broad-caster is one of 13 wide-rangingdemands placed on Doha bySaudi Arabia and its allies as theprice for lifting an almost month-long “blockade” on Qatar.

The four countries havegiven Qatar a 10-day deadlinefor implementation endingon July 4. UN rights chief ZeidRa’ad Al Hussein “is extreme-ly concerned by the demandthat Qatar close down the AlJazeera network, as well asother affiliated media out-lets,” his spokesman RupertColville told reporters.

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Jakarta: A suspected Islamic terrorist stabbedtwo policemen with a bayonet inside a mosqueon Friday before being fatally shot by anotherofficer, Indonesian police said. The attacker useda bayonet to stab the two policemen after theyfinished Friday night prayers at a mosque nearthe national police headquarters in Jakarta,national police spokesman Setyo Wasisto said.

The officers were hospitalized with injuriesto the ear and neck. AP

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An investigation by the internationalchemical weapons watchdog confirmed

that sarin nerve gas was used in a deadly April4 attack on a Syrian town, but a report releasedon Friday stopped short of saying who wasresponsible. The attack on Khan Sheikhounin Syria's Idlib province killed more than 90people, including women and children.

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It’s six in the evening and colourful trucks havestarted lining up on one side of a park. Lightingstrobes and cool graphics draw one’s attention

as eyes wander from one truck to the next. But itis the food that these offer out of their roll-downwindows that makes people stay and become reg-ular customers. I am waiting for my serving of veg-etarian Manakeesh from a Lebanese counter, aspongy, spice-crusted bread for any season.

Though I am not a big foodie, thanks to my hus-band I have experimented with a variety offlavours and cuisines. This quest for good food hasmade me realise that it is not dependent on loca-tion. It is as easy or as difficult to find at a fine din-ing restaurant or a roadside vendor. It was thissearch that found me one day making my way toGurgaon, which of late, has become synonymouswith food trucks. At the happening Sector 29, thereare 60 vans as compared to last year, when the num-ber was much lower.

But what is it about the food truck that makesit stand out from the food vans of yore? Space,hygiene and cleanliness, things which often fell bythe wayside in vans, are essentials here. And thereis more. Subhasree Bhaduri, owner of Romeo,which serves English food, says, “Earlier we hadChinese food vans which were very simple. Peopledidn’t modify them as we do now. A smart andmodern stainless steel kitchen is a must for the kindof fare that we prepare.”

While the food truck business is not a new con-cept, a whole new spin has been added. While coun-tries like United States, China, Australia, Englandhave a large number of food trucks, in India a clutchof entrepreneurs has come up with different ideasto attract people and serve a variety of food.

Satya Pratap Singh owner, The Rolling Kitchen,“My partner Gaurav Rathi and I got together a yearback to start this business. Initially, we bought a sec-ond-hand truck and painted it. Then we decidedto do something different and opened a Lebanesefood joint so that our menu is different from therest. Many of our customers tell us that we are theonly ones who offer authentic Lebanese in DelhiNCR.” The employees of The Rolling Kitchen, justlike their cuisine, stand out, thanks to their chic uni-forms.

Regular customers vouch for the food that theyserve. Sunil Kumar, who used to work in Gurgaon,often made his way to The Rolling Kitchen but since

his shift to Greater Noida, the visits have becomeinfrequent. “Whenever I am around, I make sureto have Chicken shawarma.” The speciality shawar-ma and fish are their specialities. The RollingKitchen also has rolls, mezze platter, hummus pitaand kebabs. “Not only that, we are the only one whoserve Manakeesh with zaatar and sumak spreadswhich we import from Dubai,’’ says Satya. TheManakeesh is a crispy and a little chewy Lebaneseround dough that is filled with different spreads likezaatar, cheese and vegetables. It is baked in a tra-ditional open flame oven. One bite and I was a con-vert for life. For now, if I had to pick just one foodto eat for the rest of my life, Manakeesh it wouldbe!

Not just Lebanese, you can dig into Thai cui-sine, savour wood-fired oven pizzas, Indian andeven speciality ice creams. There are various Asiancuisine outlets as well as those with American burg-ers, hot dogs, salads and fries. The latest champsare different Latin and South American dishes andnouvelle attempts at fusion.

Anup Sharma and his partner Abhijan camefrom Guwahati and decided to stir up the marketwith something different. They started Freeze Up,which serves ice-cream rolls and nitrogen icecreams. “The concept is from Thailand. We use thecream as the base on an extremely cold steel sur-face that resembles a pizza pan. Metal spatulas arethen used to chop toppings on the base and scrapethem around to beat in air. Once the base is frozensolid, it is spread thinly and scraped at an angle tocreate the magnificent rolls of ice cream. The rollsare then placed carefully in a cup and topped withitems of your choice and flavour.” Within a month,people have started placing orders for events and

wedding orders with them.Manish Trivedi started New Your Pie-Zzeria six

months ago. “We realised that there is no wood firepizza oven here and decided to fill the gap.Another thing that is different is the use of Indianflavour in the pizzas,” he says. The wood-fired ovenis superior to other ovens as it can reach the soar-ing temperatures required for a properly cooked,slightly charred and crusted Italian-style pizza.

Another truck called Menu started its opera-tions recently in June. Yogesh Sharma, owner, says,“Earlier I have worked in the real estate sector andthen followed it up with mobile. If this works out,I will follow it up with a restaurant, which needsmore investment.”

Clearly, the concept of food trucks has foundfavour with the customers. Says Rashmi Shah, a reg-ular visitor, “I love to eat out and head to the foodtrucks at least once a week. I mostly prefer fusionfood because it’s a creative process of blending ele-ments and practices of different regions around theglobe. Every time I come here, I try something new.”

Not just customers, the food truck business isa win-win situation for the owners as well. For manywould-be restaurateurs, they are a slightly lessexpensive way to test waters. Building a successful

restaurant brand takes time and a wrong turn makesthe journey even more circuitous and longer sincere-branding takes time.

Prateek Khera, owner of Me So Hungry, says,“I started the food truck one year ago with Thai cui-sine and also ran a catering business. Right now, Ihave one truck and in two years I see myself goingup to eight to ten trucks.” Khera is not keen to openany restaurant as the costs involved vary based onconcept, atmospherics, design and the signaturemenu. Opening a high-end dining establishmentcan begin at �30 lakh and run into the millions.

On the other hand, a food truck with an iden-tical menu can cost as little as �2 to 3 lakh. “By start-ing small, you will learn many of the same lessonsin a truck as you would in a restaurant. Operatingany food service business is risky but if your ideafails, you would rather have a smaller investmentto lose than a much larger one,” says Khera.

With the growing number of trucks and real-ising that the business is here to stay, a licence isnow essential to start your window to the world.A local inspector can drop in anytime. And the lureof food them will not be good enough!

,��:�,��%��

Comebacks are diff icult.Especially when you have past

glory to live up to. For actor ShivDarshan, it’s about proving that heis a worthy successor of his father,the hit filmmaker Suneel Darshan.For music director Nadeem, whohad a sunshine run with Shravan asa hit musical duo in the early 90s,it is about proving his genius, cloud-ed by charges of complicity in themurder of music baron GulshanKumar.

After having a shaky Bollywooddebut with Karle Pyaar Karle in2014, actor Shiv Darshan returnswith debutante Natasha Fernandezin a romantic thriller, Ek HaseenaThi Ek Deewana Tha. Nadeem hasdone the musical score for this pro-ject.

With so many young actorsmaking it big in the industry, tak-ing a step back and returning afterthree years, one stands a weakchance. But Shiv held on, waiting fora script that tested him. “I got sev-eral offers but I decided to take astep back and learn my techniquesbefore stepping into the shoes of acharacter. So, I started crafting my

skills, hit the gym, took acting andgymnastic classes. I tried my best toturn all my flaws into strength. Afterreading the rough script of EkHaseena Thi Ek Deewana Tha,which my father had written in justtwo hours, my first reaction was‘wow’. The mysterious, enigmaticand passionate nature of the char-acter had me there and then,” Shivtold us during an interaction.

Talking about his experienceworking with his father, Shiv said,“The most challenging part was toseparate the fact from my mind thatthe director of the film is my father.As there were a lot of love-makingscenes with the lead actress, shed-ding inhibitions was the challenge.I am a very greedy actor. When I amon set, I believe in delivering mybest. So I don’t see my father... I seethe director Suneel Darshan andpledge to live up to his expectations.Even he takes professionalism veryseriously. He has never scolded mein real life but has badly scolded meon set whenever I’ve fumbled or for-got my lines.”

An industry child, Shiv alwayswanted to be a part of the familiar

terrain in some capacity but neveras an actor. “There was this incidentin class X, which changed my mind.I got a call at 1 am from my fathersaying he needed me on set as soonas possible. I was supposed to playa body double for the actor and justwalk for a minute. After I wore thecostume, got my make-up and lookand faced the camera, I realised Ihad to be an actor. Then I began inright earnest. I enrolled in classesand workshops, went to New York,met Mr Anupam Kher and workedon myself before my first launch in2014”, Shiv added.

Music director Nadeem, whospoke to us via Skype from Dubai,said the film would mark the returnof melody to film music as it did inthe 90s. He doesn’t want toWesternise his genre of music. “If asong is good, it will be praised by theaudience, irrespective of the type ofmovie it is featured in. Sajid-Wajidoften say that they compose songskeeping my genre of music in mind.I look forward to bringing back thistype of music. Good songs are whatevery newcomer needs. I have donemore than 65 songs with debutantes

in the industry. If we don’t workequally for them just as we did forthe rest, we would not get stars likeShah Rukh or Salman.”

Away from India since 2000 fol-lowing the murder charges ofGulshan Kumar, Nadeem said, “Myheart lies in India. I have been liv-ing abroad but my heart and soulbelongs to India. I am a victim ofinjustice and even after being provedinnocent in all courts, I am not get-ting the respect I deserve. I have notbeen involved in anything wrongever and will return to India if I amcalled with respect. I am a pureIndian and I love my India”.

Director Suneel Darshanexplained why this movie was dif-ferent from all other romantic filmshe has done so far. “All my films aretimeless. My digitally released filmsregistered 150 million hits in notime. This one’s a totally fresh takeon romance and you will not be dis-appointed for sure”, he said. Heinsisted that he cast his son onlybecause he was right for the role anddid not customise his script as a dad.

Coming from a middle classfamily, actress Natasha Fernandez

didn’t know how to start her jour-ney in Bollywood. She was scared ofthe casting couch but once she wasspotted by Suneel Darshan at a party,it changed her perception. Herfamily continues to be unaffectedand are happy if she is content. “Ialways wanted to become an actor.As a child, I loved dance and dramaand participated in them avidly.”She lived her character for fourmonths, learning dancing fromSaroj Khan and watching films ofher role model Aishwarya RaiBachchan like Hum Dil De ChukeSanam.

Sharing her equation with herco-stars, she said, “These two arestriking handsome gentlemen, gen-uinely charming and unique intheir own way. Any girl would fallin love with them. They made meso comfortable both on and offscreen. Shiv never took advantageof being the director’s son and wasvery professional. He ate with us,worked with us and alwaysaddressed seniors as ‘sirs.’ UpenPatel was very motivational.”

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Fighting half centuries from AjinkyaRahane and Mahendra Singh

Dhoni allowed India to post a com-petitive 251 for four against the WestIndies after a slowish surface tested thevisitors' high profile batting line-up inthe third ODI here on Friday.

In reply, West Indies suffered anearly jolt when opener Evin Lewiswas out early, bowled by an UmeshYadav delivery that kept low.

West Indies were 30/1 in sevenovers when reports last came in withthe other opener Shai Hope battingon 10 and his brother, debutant KyleHope on 7.

Indian batsmen found the run-scoring tough before the efforts ofRahane (72 off 112) and Dhoni (78not out 79) took India past the 250-run mark.

Kedhar Jadhav (40 not out off 26)too played his part well while battingalongside Dhoni as India amassed 100off the last 60 balls.

It was not a surprise that WestIndies captain Jason Holder chose toput the opposition in to bat afterovernight rain left moisture in thepitch, also delaying the match start by45 minutes.

The wicket offered spongybounce early on and its slowness madebatting difficult. The heavy rain lastnight also made the outfield slow.

The conditions led to India feel-ing the heat for the first time in theseries with the in-form ShikharDhawan (2) and skipper Virat Kohli(11) back in hut by the 10th over, leav-ing the visitors at 34 for two.

Dhawan was caught while tryingto guide a short ball off MiguelCummins over the third man bound-ary.

Kohli was out to a brilliant catchby debutant Kyle Hope at gully afterthe premier batsman poked at aHolder delivery that rose off the pitch

sharply.Last match's centurion Rahane then

resurrected the innings alongside YuvrajSingh (39 off 55) as the duo shared a 66-run stand.

However, with the odd ball stoppingon the batsmen, run scoring did not getany easier as the innings progressed.

When Yuvraj fell lbw to leggieDevendra Bishoo (1/38) after a success-

ful review, India were 100 for three in 26.2overs. What followed was a 70-run standbetween Rahane and Dhoni.

Rahane, playing in place of the rest-ed Rohit Sharma, continued from wherehe left off at Port of Spain. Strokemakingwas tough but the Mumbai batsman stillfound a way to score his 18th ODI halfcentury, and his third 50- plus score in asmany games.

His innings comprised just fourboundaries, showing it was all hard workout in the middle. Dhoni took the inningsforward after Rahane perished to a spec-tacular running catch from Bishoo in thedeep, making it 170 for four in 42.2 overs.

The onus was on Dhoni to providethe final flourish and he did that in histrademark style.

He completed his 63rd half century

with a single. The former India captainhad hit only three fours until then butneed of the hour was the big hits from hisbat. He finally cut loose in the 47th over,smashing Holder for consecutive sixes,one over the bowler's head and the otherover square leg after picking it from out-side off. Jadhav too supported him wellin the death overs, smashing four bound-aries and a six.

'�� A4�A�9�

Sourav Ganguly on Friday usedthe oft-repeated remark 'crick-

et is a captain's game' before say-ing "man-management and situa-tion-understanding skills" makegood coaches, apart from skills.

Speaking in the wake of theVirat Kohli-Anil Kumble saga,former skipper Ganguly said: "Ithink cricket is a captain's game.Coach should be someone whocan help and get the team going."

Now a member of the CricketAdvisory Committee (CAC),Ganguly, who had an infamousspat with former coach GregChappell, added, "An impressivepresentation does not make you agood coach. Various things areneeded to make a good coach —like man-management skill, situ-ation-understanding skill.

"Maybe someone will be bet-ter skill-wise but will lack at man-management. You just have tomove on."

He said the Kohli-Kumblestory was "past and should be leftbehind".

"We will do whatever we think

is good for the Indian cricket. Wedid the same in appointingKumble as well. He also gave us

results."We played in the final of the

Champions Trophy. We will try

and do our best," Ganguly, who hasformer colleagues SachinTendulkar and VVS Laxman in thethree-member CAC, which hasbeen again entrusted with thetask of finding the next Indiacoach, said. Kumble's appoint-ment last year was a high-profileone. India's leading wicket-takerand third in the world, Kumblewas appointed as head coach tohelp out the Indian spinners,Ganguly revealed.

"India's strength is spin. So wethought he would be able to helpour spinners. We thought Anilwould handle it properly, havingplayed at the top level for somany years and becoming suc-cessful,"said Ganguly.

After stepping down as Indiacoach, Kumble has said the BCCIhad told him that the captain hadreservations with his style andtermed his partnership with Kohli"untenable".

Ganguly, who had earlier saidthe situation should have beenhandled better, said it's normal tohave differences.

"This is normal in life whenyou are together somewhere there

will be difference of opinions.Even at work, you have differences.You just have to deal with it," hesaid.

Ganguly said he has seenVirender Sehwag's CV for the joband it's not a two-liner as report-ed in the media.

"I've seen Sehwag's CV and it'snot a two-liner one. He has a com-plete CV. But can you become theIndia coach by sending a CV?" heasked.

"Coach is made on the ground.And he is Sehwag, a known per-sonality. Everyone knows him andhis cricketing skills. He's notsomeone who has come fromMidnapore district of WestBengal," he quipped. "So I don'tthink it's an issue. We will sit, talkand finalise. Difficult to take aname at the moment."

The top names for the coach'sposition include Ravi Shastri,Sehwag, Tom Moody, RichradPybus, Lalchand Rajput, DoddaGanesh.

"Whoever is good will get thejob, be it Shastri, Sehwag or some-one else. We will take an opinionand decide."

'�� !"

Rahul Dravid has chosen India overIndian Premier League, and will

continue as coach of the country's 'A'and U-19 teams for the next two years,at the expense of mentoring IPL fran-chise Delhi Daredevils.

The BCCI on Friday announcedthat the former India captain will con-tinue to work as coach of India A andU-19 teams.

Dravid was first appointed as coachfor the two teams in 2015 and under hisleadership, the youngsters have achievedoutstanding results, at home and away.

Dravid was appointed mentor ofDelhi Daredevils in March 2016. Earlier,it used to be a 10-month contract for thenational team, and a two-month win-dow for IPL.

Daredevils CEO Hemant Duacouldn't thank Dravid enough for theservices rendered.

"It was an honour and privilege tohave Rahul Dravid as mentor of theDelhi Daredevils over the last twoyears. We truly enjoyed our associationand nurtured some great young talent

together. We are sad that he will not con-tinue with us as mentor as he choosesto serve India A as a coach.

"Being a true servant of cricket hebelieves he still has a lot to give back tothe game and help nurture young Indiatalent. We wish him all the best," Duasaid.

The contract extension comes in thewake of historian and former CoAmember Ramchandra Guha's allega-tions about national coaches moon-lighting for IPL franchises.

�)'�� #��

Solomon Mire smashed his maiden one-daycentury on Friday to take Zimbabwe to a his-

toric six wicket win over Sri Lanka and pile pres-sure on the beleaguered Asian nation.

Mire hit 112 off 96 balls as Zimbabwe reached322-4 to pass Sri Lanka's 316-5 with more thantwo overs to spare. It was the first time in morethan 200 one day internationals in Sri Lanka thata visiting team has scored more than a 300 runtarget to get a victory.

Sri Lanka have been criticised in recent daysby the country's sports minister for being over-weight and unfit. Captain Angelo Mathews alsolaid into his players after the defeat.

"Having 315 on the board, I thought it wasenough," he said. "Our bowling was poor and ourfielding was pathetic. It was a good batting effortby them."

Mire, known for his quickfire hitting, wastwice dropped as Sri Lanka virtually gave the gameaway. Sikandar Raza hit an unbeaten 67 and SeanWilliams 65 as Zimbabwe stunned the home sidein the first one-day international to be held in Gallefor 17 years.

The day did not start badly for the home side.Kusal Mendis blasted 86 off 80 balls as Sri Lankaplundered runs off the Zimbabwe attack on a slowpitch. Upul Tharanga hit 79 and DanushkaGunathilaka 60 after Mathews won the toss andchose to bat.

From there, Zimbabwe, one of the minnowsof world cricket, went off script.

Mire, who also bowled seven overs beforecoming out as opening batsman, hit 14 fours and

his third-wicket stand of 161 with Williams putthe African side well on the way to victory.

Raza claimed the winning runs with a six tocompound the humiliation.

Raza praised Zimbabwe's selectors for keep-ing faith with the squad.

"A lot of cricket behind us has helped us pulloff this fantastic win," he said.

"I kept telling myself that this had to be forSolomon. For someone to play in this kind of heatafter bowling his heart out, that was sensational.I wanted to do it for him."

Zimbabwe captain Graeme Cremer said thewin was a huge confidence booster.

"To chase down a score like that, to post ourfirst win here was amazing."

Cremer called Mire "a real asset to the team,not just with the bat but also with the ball. He'slovely to watch."

�'�� 4�!"

Just how much Leon Goretzka want-ed to seize his opportunity in an exper-

imental Germany squad became clearafter only eight minutes against Mexico.

With two goals in the space of 109seconds on Thursday, Goretzka put thedefensively-ragged Mexicans on theback foot and set Germany on its wayto the Confederations Cup final with aclinical 4-1 victory.

Germany coach Joachim Loew isusing the World Cup warm-up tourna-ment to assess his pool of talent, restingall but three of his world champions from2014. Silverware was never the priority.But the World Cup will have another tro-phy for company if Loew's fledglings canbeat Chile on Sunday in St. Petersburg.

Germany drew 1-1 with the SouthAmerican champions in the groupstage, recovering after conceding in thesixth minute — and learning from thelax start.

All three German scorers in thesouthern Russian resort of Sochi wereplayers making their tournament debuts.After Goretzka netted in the 6th and 8thminutes, Timo Werner and AminYounes scored in the second half.

"They have developed really well,"Loew said through a translator in theFisht Stadium. "Over these weeks, wehave become a genuine team and that isimportant. They are very ambitious andyearning to be part of the national team."

Despite the emphatic score line,Germany goalkeeper Marc-Andre TerStegen was kept busy. There were 25

shots on goal but he only conceded inthe 89th minute, when he was beaten byMarco Fabian's long-range swervingshot.

Mexico will now head to Moscow toplay Portugal in the third-place matchon Sunday after paying the price foraffording Germany too much space tocut through its defense.

"We didn't have a good start of thegame, and they took advantage," Fabiansaid. "We have to acknowledge that wedared to play as equals.

It was a misplaced header by captainHector Moreno that freed Goretzka to

launch the attack that he completed toput Germany in front. Goretzka seizedpossession around the halfway line,passed to Benjamin Henrichs on theright flank and accelerated to receive theball back before sweeping in a low shotfrom 20 yards.

Mexico was jolted and had notregrouped when its defense was shred-ded again. Werner threaded the ballthrough for Goretzka to slot under thelegs of goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa atthe near post and claim his third goal ofthe competition.

"His special forte is that he can run

longer distances," Loew said after theSchalke midfielder's eighth internation-al appearance. "Running those longdistances sets him apart from the rest."

If anything concerned Loew, it wasthe way his team eased up.

Germany squandered the opportu-nity for a third goal when Werner struckstraight at Ochoa. Soon Ter Stegen wasbeing repeatedly called into action,using his outstretched right leg to cleara shot from Giovani Dos Santos and div-ing to block the follow-up from JonathanDos Santos.

Mexico had an even better chanceto pull one back. The ball broke forJavier Hernandez and the striker onlyhad Ter Stegen to beat but the shot waslifted too high. Raul Jimenez wasthwarted by Ter Stegen at the start ofthe second half before Germany extend-ed its lead in the 59th minute. A flow-ing move saw captain Julian Draxler andJonas Hector combine to set up theunmarked Werner to pass into anempty net.

Germany looked set for its firstclean sheet of the tournament until aquickly-taken free kick left the defenseunprepared to close down Fabian,who unleashed a strike that TerStegen could not stop.

But Germany still had the finalsay, with Younes released by EmreCan and striking across the face ofgoal to find the net.

"They have bonded together as anexcellent team," Loew said. "They arefighting for one another and collec-tively they have won."

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