16
A mid the latest disclosures of a CIA report on Punjab extremism, the political parties in the State have sharpen their attack on Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal indicating that he sided with extremists during dark days of militancy. As the State Congress pres- ident Capt Amarinder Singh on Tuesday blamed Badal for the spread of terrorism in the state while vowing to make him pay for his sins, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) asserted that the “opportunist” Badal instigated violence to build his political career. AAP, at the same time, questioned the BJP for its alliance with SAD and bon- homie with Badal family. Making a scathing attack on Badal at a public rally in Bathinda Rural assembly seg- ment, Capt Amarinder said that the Akali leader was clear- ly responsible for the killings of thousands of innocent people at the hands of terrorists dur- ing Punjab’s darkest days. He referred to the CIA report to point out that Badal had always been working “to promote his personal fortunes by heading his own SAD dis- sident party and siding with Sikh extremists against the State Government”. Capt Amarinder recalled that Badal had failed to turn up for discussion a day before the attack on Golden Temple as he was in the know about impend- ing military operation and had clearly decided to run away instead of facing the situation. He earlier swore at Akal Takht that he would stop the army at any cost, even if it meant sacrificing his life but ran away when the crisis erupted, Capt Amarinder pointed out, adding that Badal had played the communal card even earli- er to promote his political and electoral interests. The latest incidents appeared to be an attempt by the Akalis to create communal polarisation ahead of the Assembly polls, he said. Mounting its attack on Badal for his alleged links with the extremists and instigating violence in the border state to meet his vested political inter- ests during the dark decade of militancy in the 80s, AAP’s Punjab convener Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi said that the fresh revelations on Operation Blue Star and spread of mili- tancy in Punjab has unmasked an opportunist face of Badal. The document ‘India and the Sikh challenge’ posted on the website of CIA has under- lined the fact that Badal had stood with the extremists against the state to further his political career. “Badal is solely responsi- ble for exploiting sentiments of Sikhs in the name of religion and fomenting confrontation with the state to make his polit- ical fortunes. Thousands of Sikh youth, innocent Sikhs and Hindus were killed during troubled periods. Badal is fully responsible for the turmoil and its consequences that Punjab continue to face even after four decades,” Ghuggi added. Also questioning SAD’s ally, the BJP, for having politi- cal ties with Akali Dal and bonhomie between Badal and leaders of RSS, BJP, the AAP leader asked the BJP leadership to explain the motive of keep- ing alliance with SAD and must clarify its stand on expo- sures made in CIA papers. “What Badal was doing 36 years back, his son Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal has been playing same mischief of sparking communal strife in Punjab to promote his politi- cal interests. Sacrilege of holy Guru Granth Sahib, the Geeta and Quran Sharif are acts in same lineage. Badal family is most hated family in Punjab’s recent history and their sins are unforgiveable,” Ghuggi said. He accused Sukhbir for launching a “sinister cam- paign” against AAP leaders blaming them for links with radicals and also branding NRIs from Canada as terrorists to make political gains. “Sukhbir Badal himself promoted radical groups and gangsters to use them for polit- ical purposes. CIA document is slap on the face of Sukhbir Badal,” Ghuggi added. W ith the arrival of party vice-president Rahul Gandhi for campaigning in Punjab on Friday, the Congress is expected to go on a mega offensive against the Badals and Majithia. PCC president Capt Amarinder Singh and party’s star campaigner Navjot Singh Sidhu would join Gandhi in the campaign. Rahul will arrive in Punjab on a three-day electioneering tour, the highlights of which will be joint public rallies with Capt Amarinder and Sidhu in Majitha, Jalalabad and Lambi- -the constitiuencies of Bikram Singh Majithia, Sukhbir Badal and Parkash Singh Badal. Rahul Gandhi’s campaign will scale up the Congress offensive in all these three assembly segments and will further strengthen the wave in the party’s favour in the state. Besides these three key assembly constituencies, Rahul Gandhi will also campaign in Rampura Phul. Talwandi Sabo and Bathinda Urban, besides Majthia, on the first day (January 27), followed by Jalalabad, Budhlada and Dhuri on January 28, when he will also meet industrialists in Ludhiana. January 29 has been sched- uled for Rahul Gandhi’s public meetings in Gidderbaha and Lambi. A s the fledgling Samajwadi Party and Congress alliance plans its strategy to take on the formidable BJP and BSP in a three-corner battle of Uttar Pradesh, for the first time Congress had included Priyanka Gandhi in the list of “star campaigners”, while for- mer State SP president Shivpal Singh Yadav, the man who recently brought the party on the verge of a vertical split, found no mention Akhilesh’s list of star campaigners which includes party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, who did not turn up at the manifesto launch ceremony of the SP two days ago. Priyanka’s inclusion in the list of star campaigners can be beginning of a new chapter in the Congress politics. While it is not clear if Priyanka will campaign outside Rae Bareli and Amethi, but it is obvious that she has decided to be more than a mobiliser for her mother Sonia Gandhi and brother Rahul Gandhi in these two family bastions. Poster are already out, showing Priyankla and Dimple Yadav, MP and wife of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, indicating the role the two parties might have planned for Priyanka. Priyanka’s name figures among the 40 star campaigners that the Congress has finalised and forwarded to the Election Commission for the first phase of Uttar Pradesh polls. Though she does not hold any political post in the Congress, Priyanka has turned active ever since Rahul assumed a leadership role after Sonia Gandhi start- ed not keeping well. Party sources said the efforts being made from both sides of the alliance partner to organise a mega rally com- prising Akhilesh Yadav, Dimple, Rahul and Priyanaka during the month-long cam- paign. Party sources confirmed so far Priyanka is slated to cam- paign in Amethi, Rae Bareli, Chandauli, Ghaziabad and Saharanpur as well. Her inclusion in the star campaigners list also assumes significance as there have been demands by partymen for her playing a more active role in Uttar Pradesh elections. Sonia and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are also among the star cam- paigners list for UP. Besides, AICC general sec- retary in-charge of UP affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad and UP Congress chief Raj Babbar and former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who was earli- er projected as the party’s chief ministerial face in the State but bowed out after a pre-poll alliance with the SP, are also in the list. Former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, former Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, party general secre- taries Janardan Dwivedi, Ahmed Patel, Kamal Nath, Mukul Wasnik also figure in the list. Former Chief Ministers of Haryana and Rajasthan Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Ashok Gehlot; UP leaders Pramod Tiwari, Pradeep Mathur, Nirmal Khatri and PL Punia; in-charge of communi- cations department Randeep Surjewala; besides Manish Tiwari, who was denied a party ticket in Punjab; and actor Nagma, who unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, are among the star cam- paigners. I n a move to reach out to senior citizens and farmers, the Modi Government on Tuesday cleared a pension scheme with assured eight per cent interest for ten years irre- spective of market conditions and a crop loan interest waiv- er proposal respectively. The pension scheme will be implemented through the Life Insurance Corporation of India under which the LIC will provide a guaranteed return of eight per cent for ten years. The scheme will be imple- mented during the current financial year to provide social security and protect people aged 60 years and above against any fall in their inter- est income due to uncertain market conditions. As per an official state- ment, the Union Cabinet gave its post-facto approval for launching of the Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana 2017 (VPBY 2017). “The scheme will provide an assured pension based on a guaranteed rate of return of eight per cent per annum for ten years, with a choice to opt for pension on a monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or annu- al basis,” it said. It also said that the differ- ential return – the difference between the return generated by LIC and the assured return of eight per cent per annum - would be borne by the Government as subsidy on an annual basis. “VPBY-2017 is proposed to be open for subscription for a period of one year from the date of launch,” the statement said, adding that the scheme is a part of the Government’s commitment for financial inclusion and social security. Meanwhile, in a major relief to farmers reeling under a cash crunch on account of demonetisation, the Cabinet gave its ex-post facto approval to waive off interest for the months of November and December 2016. The interest pertains to short-term crop loans from Cooperative Banks. The total amount will be around 660.50 crore. “Farmers in the whole of India availing short-term crop loans from Cooperative Banks will be benefitted. The decision intends to ensure availability of resources with Cooperative Banks to help farmers in eas- ily accessing crop loans to overcome the difficulties in view of the reduction in avail- ability of cash for carrying out Rabi operations,” said a Government statement. “A sum of 15,000 crore allocated during 2016-17 to implement the Interest Subvention Scheme (ISS) has already been utilized,” said the statement. T ragedy hit superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s promotional campaign ‘Raees by Rail’ for his upcoming movie late on Monday night when a man died of cardiac arrest during a mas- sive rush to have a glimpse of the actor at Vadodara Railway Station in Gujarat, that also left two Railway Protection Force personnel injured. The Gujarat Railway Police ordered an inquiry into the chaos and sub- sequent death of the man. The victim, identified as Farid Khan Pathan, 45, a politi- cian from Vadodara, died of a heart attack caused by suffoca- tion after an estimated 15,000- strong crowd went berserk in the rush to have a look at the 51- year-old superstar when the Mumbai-Delhi August Kranti Rajdhani Express train made its scheduled halt in Vadodara at 10.30 pm. Khan had boarded the train along with the film’s director Rahul Dholakia, actress Sunny Leone and producer Ritesh Sidhwani for its promotion. Several fan clubs of the star had apparently shared details of his journey on the social media and people had gathered at Vadodara Railway Station to meet and see the actor. Among others, cricketers Irrfan and Yusuf Pathan, who reside in Vadodara, were also at the station to meet Khan, who came out of his coach and greet- ed his fans for just 20 seconds. It was during the scramble to see the Bollywood star that Pathan fell unconscious on the platform. He is stated to have had a heart attack due to suffocation. Though Pathan was rushed to a hospital nearby, he was declared dead on arrival by doctors. Two RPF men were also injured in the melee as the crowd went out of control when the train halted in Vadodara and some of them started banging at the window panes. Police had to resort to mild lathi-charge to control the situ- ation. Two other women also complained of breathlessness. Pathan was a member of the Gujarat unit of the Samajwadi Party and earlier served as its State minority cell president. He then resigned from the post in 2012. Later, Khan described as “really unfortunate” the death of Pathan, who was a uncle of one of the journalists travelling with him. He had apparently come to meet his niece when the tragic incident happened. Khan told reporters at Delhi’s Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station, “One of our col- leagues was travelling. Her uncle came down to see her at Vadodara. He suffered from a cardiac arrest. It was really unfor- tunate. We started the journey thinking we all will travel, spend time with each other. When one of your own loses someone one on a trip like this, it saddens us all. On behalf of everyone, our prayers and blessings are with the whole family. She has reached there. I just spoke to her...We have some of our people with the family members there.” A RPF official said that the crowd had begun gathering at the platform to get a glimpse of the star from 9.00 pm on Monday, adding, “The authori- ties even closed the ticket win- dow at around 9.30 pm as a pre- ventive measure. The Railway authorities also diverted the train to a different platform than usual for better crowd management.” A ctor Shah Rukh Khan’s promotion of his upcom- ing film ‘Raees’ that was hit by tragedy on Monday night became mired in controversy on Tuesday with senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya comparing the actor to underworld don and India’s most wanted Dawood Ibrahim. While Khan regretted the death of a man in the melee at the Vadodara Railway Station, the Railway Ministry has ordered a probe into the tragedy. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu directed the Railway Protection Force (RPF) to investigate the matter and take stern action against those responsible for any lapses. Meanwhile, Vijayvargiya said public convenience should be kept in mind and films should be promoted without causing trouble to people. “Crowds will turn out even if Dawood Ibrahim comes out in public,” Vijayvargiya said targeting Khan over the death of the man during the heavy rush. Vijayvargiya also took to Twitter to praise Prime Minister Narendra Modi and hit out at Congress vice-pres- ident Rahul Gandhi using the titles of two upcoming Bollywood films, saying our country’s ‘Kaabil’ is better than the ‘Raees’ of the other country, apparently referring to Gandhi’s foreign roots. Later, he posted a graph- ic on Twitter, saying “The Raees’ who is not of his coun- try, he is of no use. One should stand with a ‘Kaabil(worthy) patriot. It is now the turn of ‘Kaabil’ people of the country whose rights cannot be taken away by any dishon- est ‘Raees’ (wealthy)”. In another tweet, which was accompanied by a pho- tograph of Modi and Rahul Gandhi, with his torn ‘kurta’, he said, “If someone is ‘Kaabil’, a tea seller can also become a Prime Minister, otherwise a Raees’, who has been born with a silver spoon in his mouth, also wears a torn kurta.” D ecks were cleared on Tuesday for enabling the prestigious Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) to award Degrees instead of Diplomas to students. The Union Cabinet approved the long pending IIM Bill, 2017, which provides for complete autonomy to these institutions. Through the leg- islation that is likely to be pre- sented before Parliament in the upcoming Budget Session, the chain of 20 IIMs located across the country would also be declared as institutions of National Importance. HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said it was a “historic decision to give IIMs real autonomy and grant degrees”. “This reflects the vision of the Narendra Modi Government for higher education,” the Minister tweeted. “Being societies, the pres- tigious IIMs are presently not authorised to award degrees and have been awarding Post Graduate Diploma and Fellow Programme in Management. Continued on Page 4

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Page 1: 0 1-23 -! ˙ ˙#˚$!˙%&ˆ& $’()˚ *# · PDF filecontested the 2014 Lok Sabha ... India under which the LIC will ... launching of the Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana 2017 (VPBY 2017)

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Amid the latest disclosures ofa CIA report on Punjab

extremism, the political partiesin the State have sharpen theirattack on Chief MinisterParkash Singh Badal indicatingthat he sided with extremistsduring dark days of militancy.

As the State Congress pres-ident Capt Amarinder Singh onTuesday blamed Badal for thespread of terrorism in the statewhile vowing to make him payfor his sins, the Aam AadmiParty (AAP) asserted that the “opportunist” Badalinstigated violence to build hispolitical career.

AAP, at the same time,questioned the BJP for itsalliance with SAD and bon-homie with Badal family.

Making a scathing attackon Badal at a public rally inBathinda Rural assembly seg-ment, Capt Amarinder saidthat the Akali leader was clear-ly responsible for the killings ofthousands of innocent peopleat the hands of terrorists dur-ing Punjab’s darkest days.

He referred to the CIAreport to point out that Badalhad always been working “topromote his personal fortunesby heading his own SAD dis-sident party and siding withSikh extremists against theState Government”.

Capt Amarinder recalledthat Badal had failed to turn upfor discussion a day before theattack on Golden Temple as hewas in the know about impend-ing military operation and hadclearly decided to run awayinstead of facing the situation.

He earlier swore at Akal

Takht that he would stop thearmy at any cost, even if itmeant sacrificing his life but ranaway when the crisis erupted,Capt Amarinder pointed out,adding that Badal had playedthe communal card even earli-er to promote his political andelectoral interests.

The latest incidentsappeared to be an attempt bythe Akalis to create communalpolarisation ahead of theAssembly polls, he said.

Mounting its attack onBadal for his alleged links withthe extremists and instigating

violence in the border state tomeet his vested political inter-ests during the dark decade ofmilitancy in the 80s, AAP’sPunjab convener GurpreetSingh Ghuggi said that thefresh revelations on OperationBlue Star and spread of mili-tancy in Punjab has unmaskedan opportunist face of Badal.

The document ‘India andthe Sikh challenge’ posted onthe website of CIA has under-lined the fact that Badal hadstood with the extremistsagainst the state to further hispolitical career.

“Badal is solely responsi-ble for exploiting sentiments ofSikhs in the name of religionand fomenting confrontationwith the state to make his polit-ical fortunes. Thousands ofSikh youth, innocent Sikhsand Hindus were killed duringtroubled periods. Badal is fullyresponsible for the turmoil and its consequencesthat Punjab continue to faceeven after four decades,”Ghuggi added.

Also questioning SAD’sally, the BJP, for having politi-cal ties with Akali Dal and

bonhomie between Badal andleaders of RSS, BJP, the AAPleader asked the BJP leadershipto explain the motive of keep-ing alliance with SAD andmust clarify its stand on expo-sures made in CIA papers.

“What Badal was doing 36years back, his son DeputyChief Minister Sukhbir Badalhas been playing same mischiefof sparking communal strife inPunjab to promote his politi-cal interests. Sacrilege of holyGuru Granth Sahib, the Geetaand Quran Sharif are acts insame lineage. Badal family ismost hated family in Punjab’srecent history and their sins areunforgiveable,” Ghuggi said.

He accused Sukhbir forlaunching a “sinister cam-paign” against AAP leadersblaming them for links withradicals and also brandingNRIs from Canada as terroriststo make political gains.

“Sukhbir Badal himselfpromoted radical groups andgangsters to use them for polit-ical purposes. CIA documentis slap on the face of SukhbirBadal,” Ghuggi added.

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With the arrival of partyvice-president Rahul

Gandhi for campaigning inPunjab on Friday, the Congressis expected to go on a megaoffensive against the Badals andMajithia. PCC president CaptAmarinder Singh and party’sstar campaigner Navjot SinghSidhu would join Gandhi in thecampaign.

Rahul will arrive in Punjabon a three-day electioneeringtour, the highlights of whichwill be joint public rallies withCapt Amarinder and Sidhu inMajitha, Jalalabad and Lambi--the constitiuencies of BikramSingh Majithia, Sukhbir Badal

and Parkash Singh Badal. Rahul Gandhi’s campaign

will scale up the Congressoffensive in all these threeassembly segments and willfurther strengthen the wave inthe party’s favour in the state.

Besides these three keyassembly constituencies, RahulGandhi will also campaign inRampura Phul. Talwandi Saboand Bathinda Urban, besidesMajthia, on the first day(January 27), followed byJalalabad, Budhlada and Dhurion January 28, when he will alsomeet industrialists in Ludhiana.

January 29 has been sched-uled for Rahul Gandhi’s public meetings in Gidderbahaand Lambi.

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As the fledgling SamajwadiParty and Congress

alliance plans its strategy totake on the formidable BJP andBSP in a three-corner battle ofUttar Pradesh, for the firsttime Congress had includedPriyanka Gandhi in the list of“star campaigners”, while for-mer State SP president ShivpalSingh Yadav, the man whorecently brought the party onthe verge of a vertical split,found no mention Akhilesh’slist of star campaigners whichincludes party patriarchMulayam Singh Yadav, who didnot turn up at the manifestolaunch ceremony of the SP twodays ago.

Priyanka’s inclusion in thelist of star campaigners can bebeginning of a new chapter in

the Congress politics. While itis not clear if Priyanka willcampaign outside Rae Bareliand Amethi, but it is obviousthat she has decided to bemore than a mobiliser for hermother Sonia Gandhi andbrother Rahul Gandhi in thesetwo family bastions. Poster arealready out, showing Priyanklaand Dimple Yadav, MP andwife of Chief Minister AkhileshYadav, indicating the role thetwo parties might have plannedfor Priyanka.

Priyanka’s name figuresamong the 40 star campaignersthat the Congress has finalisedand forwarded to the ElectionCommission for the first phaseof Uttar Pradesh polls. Thoughshe does not hold any politicalpost in the Congress, Priyankahas turned active ever sinceRahul assumed a leadershiprole after Sonia Gandhi start-ed not keeping well.

Party sources said theefforts being made from bothsides of the alliance partner toorganise a mega rally com-

prising Akhilesh Yadav,Dimple, Rahul and Priyanakaduring the month-long cam-paign. Party sources confirmedso far Priyanka is slated to cam-paign in Amethi, Rae Bareli,Chandauli, Ghaziabad andSaharanpur as well.

Her inclusion in the starcampaigners list also assumessignificance as there have beendemands by partymen for herplaying a more active role inUttar Pradesh elections.

Sonia and former PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh are

also among the star cam-paigners list for UP.

Besides, AICC general sec-retary in-charge of UP affairsGhulam Nabi Azad and UPCongress chief Raj Babbar andformer Delhi Chief MinisterSheila Dikshit, who was earli-er projected as the party’s chiefministerial face in the State butbowed out after a pre-pollalliance with the SP, are also inthe list.

Former Lok Sabha SpeakerMeira Kumar, former UnionHome Minister SushilkumarShinde, party general secre-taries Janardan Dwivedi,Ahmed Patel, Kamal Nath,Mukul Wasnik also figure inthe list.

Former Chief Ministers ofHaryana and RajasthanBhupinder Singh Hooda andAshok Gehlot; UP leadersPramod Tiwari, PradeepMathur, Nirmal Khatri and PLPunia; in-charge of communi-cations department RandeepSurjewala; besides ManishTiwari, who was denied a partyticket in Punjab; and actorNagma, who unsuccessfullycontested the 2014 Lok Sabhapolls, are among the star cam-paigners.

��'�������-��������"�����������./���� ������������������������������������ �� ���!�� � �����*�� ��������������������������������0����'�� ����������'�������-��� �"������������� ������������������! ������������������������� ���+����������� ������'�������!��� ��������"��� ����������� ������%�"�������)��"����������� � � � ����������������������������������������� ���������"����!�����������������������'����� ������)��������1� �)%������!���� ��������"����������������)�������)���� �������%��"� �����������������-����������� ��������������!�)��%�'������ �" �������������� �2"����������1� �)%!�� � ����"��"�����������������"� � �������������'�!� ������

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In a move to reach out tosenior citizens and farmers,

the Modi Government onTuesday cleared a pensionscheme with assured eight percent interest for ten years irre-spective of market conditionsand a crop loan interest waiv-er proposal respectively.

The pension scheme willbe implemented through theLife Insurance Corporation ofIndia under which the LIC willprovide a guaranteed return ofeight per cent for ten years.The scheme will be imple-mented during the currentfinancial year to provide socialsecurity and protect peopleaged 60 years and above

against any fall in their inter-est income due to uncertainmarket conditions.

As per an official state-ment, the Union Cabinet gaveits post-facto approval forlaunching of the VarishthaPension Bima Yojana 2017(VPBY 2017).

“The scheme will providean assured pension based on aguaranteed rate of return ofeight per cent per annum forten years, with a choice to optfor pension on a monthly,quarterly, half-yearly or annu-al basis,” it said.

It also said that the differ-ential return – the differencebetween the return generatedby LIC and the assured returnof eight per cent per annum -would be borne by theGovernment as subsidy on anannual basis.

“VPBY-2017 is proposedto be open for subscription fora period of one year from thedate of launch,” the statementsaid, adding that the scheme isa part of the Government’scommitment for financial

inclusion and social security. Meanwhile, in a major

relief to farmers reeling undera cash crunch on account ofdemonetisation, the Cabinetgave its ex-post facto approvalto waive off interest for themonths of November andDecember 2016. The interestpertains to short-term croploans from Cooperative Banks.The total amount will bearound �660.50 crore.

“Farmers in the whole ofIndia availing short-term croploans from Cooperative Bankswill be benefitted. The decisionintends to ensure availability ofresources with CooperativeBanks to help farmers in eas-ily accessing crop loans toovercome the difficulties inview of the reduction in avail-ability of cash for carrying outRabi operations,” said aGovernment statement.

“A sum of �15,000 croreallocated during 2016-17 toimplement the InterestSubvention Scheme (ISS) hasalready been utilized,” said thestatement.

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Tragedy hit superstar ShahRukh Khan’s promotional

campaign ‘Raees by Rail’ for hisupcoming movie late onMonday night when a man diedof cardiac arrest during a mas-sive rush to have a glimpse of theactor at Vadodara RailwayStation in Gujarat, that also lefttwo Railway Protection Forcepersonnel injured. The GujaratRailway Police ordered aninquiry into the chaos and sub-sequent death of the man.

The victim, identified asFarid Khan Pathan, 45, a politi-cian from Vadodara, died of aheart attack caused by suffoca-tion after an estimated 15,000-strong crowd went berserk in therush to have a look at the 51-year-old superstar when theMumbai-Delhi August KrantiRajdhani Express train made itsscheduled halt in Vadodara at10.30 pm.

Khan had boarded the trainalong with the film’s directorRahul Dholakia, actress SunnyLeone and producer RiteshSidhwani for its promotion.Several fan clubs of the star hadapparently shared details of hisjourney on the social mediaand people had gathered atVadodara Railway Station tomeet and see the actor.

Among others, cricketersIrrfan and Yusuf Pathan, who

reside in Vadodara, were also atthe station to meet Khan, whocame out of his coach and greet-ed his fans for just 20 seconds.

It was during the scrambleto see the Bollywood star thatPathan fell unconscious on theplatform. He is stated to have hada heart attack due to suffocation.Though Pathan was rushed to ahospital nearby, he was declareddead on arrival by doctors.

Two RPF men were alsoinjured in the melee as thecrowd went out of control whenthe train halted in Vadodara andsome of them started banging atthe window panes.

Police had to resort to mildlathi-charge to control the situ-ation. Two other women alsocomplained of breathlessness.

Pathan was a member of theGujarat unit of the SamajwadiParty and earlier served as itsState minority cell president.He then resigned from the postin 2012.

Later, Khan described as“really unfortunate” the death ofPathan, who was a uncle of oneof the journalists travelling withhim. He had apparently come tomeet his niece when the tragicincident happened.

Khan told reporters atDelhi’s Hazrat NizamuddinRailway Station, “One of our col-leagues was travelling. Her unclecame down to see her atVadodara. He suffered from a

cardiac arrest. It was really unfor-tunate. We started the journeythinking we all will travel, spendtime with each other. When oneof your own loses someone oneon a trip like this, it saddens usall. On behalf of everyone, ourprayers and blessings are with thewhole family. She has reachedthere. I just spoke to her...Wehave some of our people with thefamily members there.”

A RPF official said that thecrowd had begun gathering atthe platform to get a glimpse ofthe star from 9.00 pm onMonday, adding, “The authori-ties even closed the ticket win-dow at around 9.30 pm as a pre-ventive measure. The Railwayauthorities also diverted thetrain to a different platformthan usual for better crowdmanagement.”

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Actor Shah Rukh Khan’spromotion of his upcom-

ing film ‘Raees’ that was hit bytragedy on Monday nightbecame mired in controversyon Tuesday with senior BJPleader Kailash Vijayvargiyacomparing the actor tounderworld don and India’smost wanted DawoodIbrahim.

While Khan regretted thedeath of a man in the meleeat the Vadodara RailwayStation, the Railway Ministryhas ordered a probe into thetragedy.

Railway Minister SureshPrabhu directed the RailwayProtection Force (RPF) toinvestigate the matter andtake stern action against thoseresponsible for any lapses.

Meanwhile, Vijayvargiyasaid public convenienceshould be kept in mind andfilms should be promotedwithout causing trouble topeople. “Crowds will turn outeven if Dawood Ibrahimcomes out in public,”Vijayvargiya said targeting

Khan over the death of theman during the heavy rush.

Vijayvargiya also took toTwitter to praise PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andhit out at Congress vice-pres-ident Rahul Gandhi using thetitles of two upcomingBollywood films, saying ourcountry’s ‘Kaabil’ is betterthan the ‘Raees’ of the othercountry, apparently referringto Gandhi’s foreign roots.

Later, he posted a graph-ic on Twitter, saying “The‘Raees’ who is not of his coun-try, he is of no use. Oneshould stand with a ‘Kaabil’(worthy) patriot. It is now theturn of ‘Kaabil’ people of thecountry whose rights cannotbe taken away by any dishon-est ‘Raees’ (wealthy)”.

In another tweet, whichwas accompanied by a pho-tograph of Modi and RahulGandhi, with his torn ‘kurta’,he said, “If someone is ‘Kaabil’,a tea seller can also become aPrime Minister, otherwise a‘Raees’, who has been bornwith a silver spoon in hismouth, also wears a tornkurta.”

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Decks were cleared onTuesday for enabling the

prestigious Indian Institutesof Management (IIM) to awardDegrees instead of Diplomas tostudents.

The Union Cabinetapproved the long pendingIIM Bill, 2017, which providesfor complete autonomy to theseinstitutions. Through the leg-islation that is likely to be pre-sented before Parliament in theupcoming Budget Session, thechain of 20 IIMs located acrossthe country would also bedeclared as institutions ofNational Importance.

HRD Minister PrakashJavadekar said it was a “historicdecision to give IIMs realautonomy and grant degrees”.“This reflects the vision of theNarendra Modi Governmentfor higher education,” theMinister tweeted.

“Being societies, the pres-tigious IIMs are presently notauthorised to award degreesand have been awarding PostGraduate Diploma and FellowProgramme in Management.

Continued on Page 4

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After issuing directions tostep up surveillance to deal

with any eventuality during theproposed Jat reservation agita-tion starting January 29 in 19districts of Haryana, the ChiefMinister Manohar Lal onTuesday directed his cabinetministers to keep vigil in theirconstituencies during the pro-posed protest.

The Chief Minister hasasked the ministers to remainpresent in their constituenciesduring the proposed protestsand also, held talks with the Jatleaders in their areas to ensurepeaceful quota protests acrossthe state this time.

Manohar Lal, during hisroutine informal cabinet meet-ing on Tuesday, also reviewedthe preparedness of the civiland police administration tomaintain law and order situa-

tion during the Jat protests.The Chief Minister also

held a meeting of BJP legislativeparty, later in the evening andasked the BJP MLAs to remainin their constituency during theJat protest. He also asked themto hold talks with Jat and Khapleaders in their constituenciesand apprize them about theGovernment’s commitment onJat reservation issue.

The BJP MLAs have alsobeen asked to keep in contactwith civil and police adminis-tration in their constituencyand keep a strict vigil on sen-sitive areas where the protestswill be held.

Akhil Bharatiya JatArakshan Sangharsh Samiti(ABJASS) led by Yashpal Malikhas announced fresh agitationin 19 districts of the state fromJanuary 29. Malik hadannounced that peaceful indef-inite dharnas in villages

will be held till their demandsare fulfilled.

The Jats are demandingreservation, compensation tothe next of the kin who diedduring Jat agitation last year,withdrawal of FIRs registeredagainst innocent Jat youth inHaryana.

In view of the proposed agi-tation, Haryana Governmenthas sent already sent a requisi-tion for 55 companies of centralparamilitary forces to the Centreand has also issued call outnotice to depute 7,000 HomeGuards in the state.

Notably, the Jat agitation inFebruary last year in Haryanahad hogged national headlinesafter it had crippled road andrail traffic in much of northernIndia and also caused a watercrisis in Delhi. The violentquota agitation had left 30people dead and more than 200injured in Haryana.

At that time, the ManoharLal Khattar Government hadappeared powerless to containthe escalating violent agita-tion of Jats who were demand-ing reservation in government

jobs and educational institu-tions. Even as the army wascalled in to restore the deteri-orating law and order situationin the state, the Jat agitators hadlast year defied curfew orders

and poured out on the streetsin various parts of the state formore than ten days, damagingprivate and public propertyworth crore of rupees.

After February’s Jat agita-

tion, Haryana Governmenthad brought in a law to providereservation for Jats and fiveother communities under anewly carved Backward Classes(C) category. However, the

Punjab and Haryana HighCourt had stayed it, acting ona public interest litigation

The second Jat agitationwas organised in June lastwhich ended peacefully.

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Four days after the CentralAdministrative Tribunal

(CAT) snubbed the Himachalgovernment for bypassingseniority of two senior IAS offi-cers in appointment of ChiefSecretary, the state governmenton Tuesday posted two aggriev-ed bureaucrats, Deepak Shananand Vineet Chawdhry on theposts of Principal Advisors.These new ex-cadre posts havebeen created just to accommo-date the two senior IAS officers.

As per the notificationissued by office of ChiefSecretary, Vineet Chowdhry hasbeen placed as Principal Advisorin ‘Redressal of PublicGrievances’ while DeepakShanan, who is due to retire onJanuary 31, has been givencharge of Principal Advisor forAdministrative Reforms andTraining. CAT, in its orders onJanuary 20 had directedHimachal Government to placeChaudhary and Shanan, inde-pendent of the purview of ChiefSecretary. Both the officers hadproceeded on leave, after the stategovernment had appointed V CPharka as Chief Secretary, super-seding both last year.

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While an Inspector Generalof Police (IGP) in

Haryana has been awardedPresident’s Police Medal for hisdistinguished service, 12 otherpolice personnel have beenawarded Police Medal for their meritorious service on the occasion ofRepublic Day.

“Om Prakash Singh, IGP,Hisar has been awardedPresident’s Police Medal for dis-tinguished service,” said aspokesman of Haryana Police.

The other 12 police per-sonnel who have been award-ed Police Medal for their mer-itorious service included anIGP, one Deputy InspectorGeneral (DIG), twoSuperintendents of Police (SPs),

a Deputy Superintendent ofPolice (DSP), two Inspectors,two Sub Inspectors, twoAssistant Sub Inspectors and aLady Exemptee Assistant SubInspector, he said.

They are Rajender Kumar,IGP Panchkula; Sibash Kabiraj,DIG Madhuban; Ashok Kumar,SP Bhiwani; Om Prakash, SPFatehabad; Suresh Chand, DSPAmbala Cantonment; Amar

Singh, Inspector Madhuban;Watan Singh, InspectorMadhuban; Ramesh Chand,Sub Inspector Madhuban;Satpal Singh, Sub InspectorPanchkula; Shamsher Singh,Assistant Sub InspectorPanchkula; Naresh Kumar,Assistant Sub InspectorPanchkula and Sukhjinder PalKaur, Lady Exemptee AssistantSub Inspector, Panchkula.

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Ahead of the proposed Jatquota agitation beginning

from January 29 in the State,Haryana Government hasdirected the divisional com-missioners and deputy com-missioners to send situationreport relating to their divi-sions or districts to ChiefSecretary’s office everyday.

“The concerned officialshave been asked to send thereport by 2 pm daily. Thereport could also be sent to

secretariat control room, saida spokesperson of HaryanaGovernment.

To maintain peace andharmony in the state duringthe protest, the StateGovernment has also asked theCivil and PoliceAdministration to undertakepeople contact programme.

In a written communica-tion addressed to all adminis-trative secretaries, divisionalcommissioners, inspector gen-eral of police, deputy com-missioners, commissioners of

police and superintendents ofpolice, Haryana Governmenthas directed them to closelymonitor the situation and takenecessary steps immediately.

The spokesman said thedeputy commissioners, com-missioners of police and super-intendents of police have beendirected to undertake peoplecontact programme in thewake of the call for agitation.

They have been asked toensure the security of all majorcritical points like drinkingwater supply to Delhi in Karnal

and Sonipat. Also, trafficmovement on the GT road androadways depots should alsobe secured, he said.

He said all departmentsshould also secure their owninstallations and services withthe assistance of their own staffand the police whereverrequired.

The spokesman added thatdistrict administration hasbeen directed to be prepared todeal with the situation andmust ensure that law and orderis maintained.

Haryana Police has alreadycancelled leaves of all its per-sonnel till further orders inview of the proposed reserva-tion protest.

The State Government hasalso cancelled leave of divi-sional commissioners, deputycommissioner, additionaldeputy commissioners, subdivisional officers, tehsildars,district development & pan-chayat officers, block development & panchayat officers, naib tehsildars tillfurther orders.

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Lght to moderate snowfallwas witnessed in higher

reaches of Kullu, Chamba,Keylong, Chamba and Kinnuaron Tuesday even as the Metdepartment expects medium toheavy snowall in several otherareas on Wednesday.

The chill of winters is like-

ly to increase in the next 48hours as the Meteorologydepartment has issued warn-ings of heavy rain or snowfallin most of Himachal Pradeshon January 25 and 26. AsShimla remained overcast, therewas light drizzling in the cityalong with Kufri and Narkanda.

Meanwhile, due toinclement weather on Tuesday,

Chief Minister VirbhadraSingh had to take the road toKullu, where he is to attend the47th Statehood Day celebra-tions on Wednesday. Cloudysky in Shimla and rains inKullu, did not allow helicoptersorties to take place.

The CM was scheduled totake his helicopter flight fromAnnadale ground int he after-

noon, but due to overcast con-ditions in Shimla, he left forKullu by road. Later, he tookhelicopter from Luhnu groundin Bilaspur and reached Kullu.Chief Secretary VC Pharkaand Director General of PoliceSanjay Kumar are also accom-panying CM to Kullu.

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The minimum temperaturehovered above normal

across Punjab and Haryanaon Tuesday with the MetDepartment predicting possi-bility of rain in the two statesover the next three days.

Chandigarh recorded aminimum temperature of 9.7degrees Celsius, four notchesabove normal.

Karnal in Haryana record-ed a low of 6.6 degrees Celsius.Ambala settled at minimumtemperature of 10.2 degreesCelsius, up four degrees fromnormal level, Hisar’s low settledat 8.9 degrees Celsius, up twonotches and Narnaul recorded10.5 degree Celsius, which wassix notches above normal.

In Punjab, the minimumtemperature at Amritsar settledat 9.7 degrees Celsius, up sevennotches against normal.Ludhiana recorded a low of 9.3degrees Celsius, up five notch-es while Patiala’s minimumsettled at 9.1 degrees Celsius,up three degrees.

A Met official said a west-ern disturbance lies overNortheast Afghanistan andneighbourhood, which waslikely to bring showers inHaryana and Punjab over thenext few days.

“On Wednesday evening,rain is likely to occur at a fewplaces in Punjab and Haryana,including in Chandigarh. OnJanuary 26 and the subsequentday, rain is likely to lash mostplaces in the two states and theunion territory,” he said.

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Senior AICC spokesman Shakeel Ahmed on Tuesdayflagged off the NRI Express bus with a large num-

ber of NRIs here from UK and Canada to join theCongress campaign in Punjab.

Carrying the Congress message to the voters of thestate, the NRIs will highlight the party’s agenda for thedevelopment and progress of Punjab, which stands atcrossroads today, with only the Congress equipped tobring about the much-needed change in the state.

Flagging off the bus, etched in the Congresscolours, Ahmed said the NRIs had come specially toparticipate in the Punjab elections by campaigning vig-orously for the Congress candidates.

Indian Overseas Congress (UK) president DaljitSingh Sahota said though they were staying abroad,the hearts of the NRIs still beats for Punjab and theywanted the state to prosper under the leadership ofCaptain Amarinder Singh.

Expressing the confidence that the Congress wouldbe elected to power with a thumping majority,Canadian Davinder Garcha said the NRIs had cometo be a part of the victory. They would contribute tothe campaign by spreading awareness about thepromises made in the Congress manifesto.

Harjinder Singh from Germany and GurpalSingh from UK said they wanted to adopt their con-stituencies to campaign for the Congress, which wasthe only party that could save the state from furtherdoom.

Ahmed said the NRIs were concerned about theplight of Punjab and had decided to join the Congresseffort to alleviate the sufferings of the people of thestate by joining the party campaign.

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Banking on its past, the rul-ing Shiromani Akali Dal

(SAD) on Tuesday promisedwhat other major players havealready promised, but with anassurance to deliver.

Releasing its manifesto forthe February 4 election, theAkali Dal made an attempt towin over its huge vote bank ofState’s farming community thathas been reeling under crisis bypromising �100 bonus overand above the minimum sup-port price (MSP), besides aloan waiver as alreadypromised by the Congress andAam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Alike its ally — the BJP, andthe Congress, SAD toopromised to continue with itsambitious Atta-Dal schemewith the inclusion of two moreitems — sugar and ghee — atlow rates to all the blue-cardholders in the State.

SAD, similar to AAP andCongress’ promises, hasannounced to enhance pen-sion up to �2,000, creating 25lakh jobs, houses for all, amongother things. One thing thatmake SAD to stand apartamong all in his long list ofpromises it had made in previ-ous elections, and delivering thesame — something the partyhas prominently placed in itsmanifesto under the slogan, “jokeha, so kar vakhaya” (we did,what we said) covering 18 pagesof 54-page manifesto.

“We have delivered whatwe have promised earlier be itmaking the Punjab power sur-plus, introducing unique wel-fare schemes like aata-daal andShagun, to providing 100 percent water and sewerage facil-ities in 165 towns across theState,” said SAD presidentSukhbir Badal, who releasedthe manifesto in Ludhiana on

Tuesday. He added, “Now we will do

the same in all 12,000 villagesbesides making cementedstreets and putting up solarlights. We are similarly com-mitted to delivering on thepromises made today.”

Right from the promise offree power to the farmers theparty made ahead 1997 elec-tions, to 100 per cent sewer andwater supply to all cities alongwith farm indebtedness relief billpromised in 2012, SAD listeddetailed account of its accom-plishments in the manifesto.

Once again counting on thefarming sector, SAD manifestofor Punjab elections andpromised �100 as fertilizer inputincentive support over and abovethe MSP to all farmers, �2 lakhinterest-free annual farm loan forpurchase of agriculture inputs tothose farmers who had less thanfive acres land, waiving off farmsdebts of small farmers, tubewellconnections for every farmer, 10-hour daytime free power supplyto farmers, among others.

It also promised to extendthe pension and Shagunscheme to marginal famers,

besides the poor in general cat-egory, along with the imple-mentation of Swaminathancommittee’s recommendations.

“If voted to power, SAD willpursue a multi-pronged initia-tive to help farmers under debtin collaboration with the Centreand the banks,” he said addingthat Lok Adalatas for settlementof farmer debt cases would beset up in every district.

SAD’s poll document alsopromised 25 lakh jobs for theyouth of Punjab which will beprovided through Governmentjobs and projects like Mohali IThub, new Chandigarh medicaltourism hub, Bathinda textilehub, Ludhiana hosiery hub,Amritsar tourism hub.

It also announced toimpart skill to 10 lakh youth in25,000 skill centres with oneskill centre catering to five vil-lages. Those doing the skillcourses will be eligible for �10lakh interest free loan.

The alliance Governmentwill also facilitate 50,000 youthto acquire taxis without downpayment and soft loans.

Under atta-dal scheme, SADpromised to give five kg sugar at

the rate of �10 per kg and two kgghee for �25 per kg. All blue-cardholders would also get free gasconnections. Besides, a one-stop shop which will dispense‘aata daal’. Sewa kendra will beopened in the villages.

For the blue-card holdersother than the small farmers,petty traders and constructionworkers, SAD announced toincrease medical treatment to�1 lakh per annum. Stating thatcontrolling crime and contin-uing its fight against drugs wasa top priority for the SAD-BJPalliance, SAD announced thatCCTV cameras would beinstalled on all entry and exitpoints of villages and cities tocheck crime.

Declaring “war on drugs”,the party promised to upgraderehabilitation centres and initi-ating a new policy of incentivi-sation to encourage addicts toleave drugs. Notably, the rulingAkalis have been under mount-ing attack from Opposition par-ties, including the Congress andthe AAP over failure to check thedrug menace in Punjab.

“A special border area forcewill be constituted to form a

second line of Defence andcheck infiltration,” said Sukhbir.

To ameliorating the lot ofthe weaker sections, SADpromised to make all kutchahouses into pucca and thehouseless will be given jobs.

The manifesto promisedthat economically backwardamong general category citi-zens will also be eligible for allsocial welfare schemes meant forSC/BC categories. The partyhas also increased all welfarepensions from the present �500per month to �2,000 per month,while raising the Shagun amountfrom �15,000 to �51,000.

Promising 33 reservationin Government jobs, the partyannounced to give sewingmachines to matriculatewomen, enhancing girl childassistance from �61,000 to�1.25 lakh, among others.

Outlining its “vision” forthe industry, the partypromised to make Malwaregion a textile hub and anindustrial park will be createdover 2,500 acres in Rajpura,besides setting up trade faircentres will come up in Mohali,Ludhiana and Amritsar.

“Similarly world class IThubs will be created in Mohaliand Amritsar. A manufacturinghub will be created in Ludhianaby way of the Cycle Valley. Apharmaceutical hub will becreated in Rajpura and medic-ity at Mullanpur,” said Sukhbir.

Also assuring a turnover of�22 crore per annum, SADannounced that all the traderswould no longer have to main-tain books and can do self-cer-tification and pay lumpsum tax.Currently, this facility is avail-able for traders with a turnoverof �1 crore.

With a main focus on theholy city of Amritsar, SADannounced that in the next fiveyears, the entire walled city

would be given a world classheritage look.

In addition, the partyrepeated its previous promisesof saving river waters and notallowing construction of theSYL canal, transfer ofChandigarh and other Hindispeaking areas, workingtowards assuring punishmentto victims of 1984 riots besidesrehabilitating them, morepower to the state, and main-taining peace and communalharmony.

����� 2����

Rubbishing the ShiromaniAkali Dal (SAD) poll man-

ifesto as a bunch of lies aimedat misleading the people,Punjab Congress presidentCapt Amarinder Singh onTuesday said the Badals hadfailed to implement even 20%of the promises they made

during the last elections. Were they sleeping all these

years, Captain Amarinderasked, rejecting their offer offarm loan waiver as a meregimmick with an eye on thepolls and reiterating theCongress commitment to takeover all the loans of the debt-ridden farmers and agriculturallabourers immediately after

assuming power in the state.Lamenting the pitiable

condition in which the Badal-led SAD-BJP government hadleft the state after 10 years ofshameful misrule, CaptainAmarinder said they failed todo anything for the people in10 years, and now, just 10 daysbefore the polls they are askingpeople for another five years.

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Aam Aadmi Party onTuesday rejected the elec-

tion manifesto of ShiromaniAkali Dal) saying it is pack of liesand crude reminder of unac-complished promises of previouselections of 2007 and 2012.

AAP campaign committeechairman Bhagwant Mann in astatement said that SukhbirBadal was more popular asbluff master than the presidentof SAD. He said that SukhbirBadals’ lies were nailed timeand again and he still thinksthat he would be-fool people

with fake promises. This government had two

terms of five years each to ful-fill the promises, SAD hadmade in 2007 and 2012. Thealliance government hasmessed up with economy ofstate, made state bankrupt andpeople the beggars, said Mann.

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Accusing Pakistan of supplying drugs in Punjab, the UnionHome Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday warned the

Asian neighbour of dire consequences if it does not mendits ways. BJP stalwart, while addressing an election rally inthe poll-bound state, assured that whosoever promotes suchactivity will have to face severe circumstances.

At the same time, Singh blamed Pakistan for the rise innumber of drug addicts in the state as banned substancesare smuggled from the neighbouring country to Punjab.

He urged the voters to cast their votes in favour of theSAD-BJP alliance yet again as they will provide corruption-free government in Punjab. “There has been no corruptionallegations levelled against the Centre in the last two and ahalf years,” he added.

Singh also expressed his disap-pointment over the recent incidentwherein a shoe was hurled at PunjabChief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

“If you don’t want to vote thenplease don’t, but will you lathi

charge or throw shoes at thecurrent chief minister ofPunjab Prakash Singh

Badal?” he said. A shoe was hurled at

the Chief Minister Badalearlier this month by a

relative of a radicalSikh leader duringa poll campaign inLambi constituency

reportedly in protest againstseries of sacrilege cases.

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Political parties in Punjab arestill not fair to the fair sex. Just

about seven percent women can-didates are in fray for the February4 elections in Punjab.

Out of the total 1145 candi-dates in fray for 117 assembly seg-ments, just 81 are females, includ-ing 32 contesting as independents.If that is not enough! About 56 per-cent of the assembly segments, thatis 65 out of total 117 seats, do nothave even a single female candidate.

Punjab’s four major politicalparties — Congress, ShiromaniAkali Dal (SAD), Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP), and Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) — have, in fact, fielded only26 women candidates against 117seats — just 7.40 per cent.

At the time when all theseparties are pitching for 33 per centreservation for the womenfolk,there meagre share in ticket allo-cation speaks volume about theirefforts towards the same.

Notably, a total of 336 femalecandidates had filed their nomi-nations, out of which a whopping217 faced rejections while 38withdrew their claims — leavingonly 81 in electoral race.

Maximum number of femalecandidates were fielded by theCongress party, currently headedby a female itself, Sonia Gandhi.Out of 117 candidates, the grandold party has given tickets to its11 women leaders — with a per-centage of 9.40 — far beyond the33 per cent mark.

Owing to ‘one family, one

ticket rule’, its four female leaders— Preneet Kaur, Charanjit KaurBajwa, Guriqbal Kaur andKaranjit Kaur Chowdhry — vacat-ed their seats or gave up theirclaims on the ticket for the malemembers of their family, otherthan former BJP leader Dr NavjotKaur Sidhu.

At the same time, the partyretained its faith on five sitting leg-islators including Rajinder KaurBhattal, Karan Kaur Brar,Harchand Kaur, ArunaChaudhary, and Rajwinder Kaur

Bhagike — former SAD MLAwho joined Congress ahead polls.

Besides, the party has giventickets to singer Satwinder Bitti,Satkar Kaur, Razia Sultana, RanjitKaur Bhatti, Dr Manju Bansal, andstudent leader Daman Thind Bajwa.

Following close behind is AAPwhich has fielded nine female can-didates at the rate of 8.04 per cent,including its women wing headBaljinder Kaur, and scion of Tohrafamily Kuldeep Kaur Tohra.

AAP is contesting on 112seats in alliance with the Lok

Insaaf Party led by Ludhiana’sBains brothers, which has notgiven any ticket to the women.

The SAD-BJP combine haslaid its bet on total seven femalecandidates, with the saffron partygiving tickets to two of its sittingMLAs out of 23 seats of its share— 8.70 per cent, and SAD field-ing just five female contestantsagainst 94 seats it contests — 5.34per cent.

While BJP’s sitting MLAsSeema Kumari and Sukhjit KaurSahi will be defending their seatsthis elections, SAD has fielded for-mer minister Dr Upinderjit Kaur,sitting MLAs — Mohinder KaurJosh, Harpreet Kaur Mukhmailpur,and Vaninder Kaur Loomba,besides Amarjit Kaur Sahoke.

SAD’s senior leader and sit-ting MLA from Bholath Bibi JagirKaur has surrendered her seat infavour of her son-in-law.

Interestingly, none of thesefour major players has fielded anyfemale candidate in eight districts— Amritsar, Tarn Taran,Kapurthala, Jalandhar, FatehgarhSahib, Roopnagar, Faridkot, andFazilka. Highest female partici-pation is seen in Patiala districtwherein eight assembly segmentshave five women candidates,including three from AAP andtwo from SAD.

Ghanaur Assembly segmenthas highest four female candi-dates, including Anu Randhawafrom AAP, Harpreet KaurMukhmailpur from SAD, andtwo independents — AnupinderKaur Sandhu and Surinder Kaur.

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The BJP on Tuesdayreleased its third list of 67

candidates for the UttarPradesh Assembly polls,reposing its faith in a goodnumber of turncoats as wellcommitted workers. The partyhas so far declared names of370 candidates.

The party has accommo-dated turncoats like SwamiPrasad Maurya (Padrauna),RK Chaudhry (Mohanlalganj),RK Patel (Manikpur), FatehBahadur ((Campiarganj),Rajesh Tripathi (Chillupar),Phagu Siungh Chauahn

(Ghosi), and DinanathBhaskar (Aurai). All of themwere Ministers in thenMayawati Government.

Phagu Singh Chauhan wasearlier in the BJP and was evenMinister in Kalyan Singh’scabinet, but he left the BJP tojoin the BSP in 2012. Recentlyhe returned to the BJP.

Former legislators whohave found favour with theBJP leadership are: Surya BhanSingh (Sultanpur), BajrangBahadur (Farenda),Gyanendra Singh (Paniyara),Suresh Tiwari (Barhaj), ArunYadav (Phulpur Pawai), SriRam Sonkar (Mohamadabad),

Ram and Iqbal Singh (Rasra).The party has pitted Alka

Rai, widow of slain BJP leaderKrishnand Rai, againstMukhtar Ansari, who ischarged with killing Rai onNovember 29, 2005, while thelatter was attending a familywedding in his native village inGhazipur district.

He had been made awareof a death threat by SpecialTask Force officers, whowarned him of hired killers atthe residence of MukhtarAnsari, a lawmaker fromMohamadabad. Alka Rai hadfiled a case against MukhtaarAnsari.

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From Page 1While these awards are

treated as equivalent to MBAand PhD, respectively, theequivalence is not universallyacceptable, especially for theFellow Programme,” said asenior HRD Ministry official.

The Bill was first intro-duced by then HRD MinisterKapil Sibal in 2011. However,it got stuck due to difference ofopinions among the IIMs.Javadekar’s predecessor SmritiIrani too made futile efforts for

this IIM Bill after some of thepoints which she stuck too trig-gered a tussle between theHRD Ministry and the PMO.

Later, Irani roped in entre-preneur Kiran Mazumdar Shahto bring on board all the agi-tated IIM Directors followingwhich a significant portion ofthe Bill was redrafted withcontroversial clauses thatthreatened IIMs’ autonomybeing dropped. Javadekar isbelieved to have completelyagreed to the PMO line andfurther redrafted the Bill givingIIMs “complete autonomy”, forwhich Irani wasn’t too inclined.

The HRD Ministry’s offi-cial statement after the Cabinetapproval maintained that IIMswould now be able to grantdegrees to their students. TheBill provides for completeautonomy to the institutions,combined with adequateaccountability and also pro-poses a structure where themanagement of theseInstitutions would be Board-driven, with the Chairpersonand Director of an Institutionselected by the Board. A greaterparticipation of experts andalumni besides inclusion ofwomen and members fromScheduled Castes and Tribes inthe Board too is laid down.

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Eighty per cent of the re-contesting legislators of

both ruling and the opposi-tion parties in Punjab VidhanSabha prospered during thepast five years.

A look at the assets oftotal 94 sitting MLAs, con-testing their seats in theFebruary 4 polls, revealedthat some of the CongressMLAs thrived more than theirrivals in the ruling party. Infact the top three MLAs interms of assets belong to theCongress.

Under attack by the oppo-sition for amassing hugewealth while ignoring state’sinterests, the Chief MinisterParkash Singh Badal, hisdeputy son Sukhbir Badaland Sukhbir’s brother-in-lawBikram Majithia did find aplace among the top 10 but atnumber 9, 6 and four posi-

tions, respectively. Besides the trio, all MLAs

in Top-10 belong to theCongress — including RanaGurjit Singh, Sunder ShamArora, Sunil Kumar Jakhar,Surinder Kumar Dawar,Kewal Singh Dhillon, OmParkash Soni, and BalbirSingh Sidhu.

Congress MLA fromKapurthala Rana Gurjit Singhhas turned out to be the rich-est candidate in fray for 2017elections with assets worth Rs169.90 scrores witnessing Rs101.41 crore jump as com-pared to his assets in 2012,that was Rs 68.48 crores. Onthe second spot is Congressnominee from HoshiarpurSundar Sham Arora whoseassets jumped by Rs 22.83crore (105 per cent) in 2012to Rs 44.60 crore during 2017polls.

The former CongressLegislative Party (CLP) leader

and party’s candidate fromAbohar Sunil Jakhar has seena rise of Rs 17.21 crore (252per cent) in assets size. Jakharhas declared his assets size ofRs 24.05 crore in his affidavitfiled for contesting 2017 polls,as compared to Rs 6.84 crorein 2012.

In terms of percentage,the highest increase in assets— whopping 2783 percent —was witnessed by BJP MLAfrom Bhoa Seema Kumariwho would be contesting hersecond election this time.From just Rs 2.81 lakh in2012, her assets increased toRs 81.01 lakhs — an increaseof Rs 78.20 lakhs.

Amid 19 MLAs whosemonies witnessed a dip in agap of five years, BJP’s DasuyaMLA Sukhjit Kaur Sahi fin-ished at the bottom. Herassets drop by 92 percent, thatis by Rs 7.27 crore, from Rs7.88 crore to Rs 61 lakhs. She

was elected Dasuya MLA inJuly 2012 by-elections afterher husband, he sitting MLA,breathed his last.

The figures compiled bythe Association forDemocratic Reforms, on thebasis of information provid-ed by the candidates in theirnomination papers, revealedthat the average percentageincrease in the assets of 94 re-contesting MLAs was 28 percent.

The assets comparison ofthese MLAs show that theaverage assets in 2017 is Rs13.79 crore, as increase of Rs2.98 crore as compared to Rs10.81 crore in 2012.

As per the report, theaverage increase in assets ofcandidates of SAD, Congressand BJP was Rs 1.67 crore(17.26 per cent), Rs 4.96 crore(35.64 per cent) and Rs 1.20lakh (0.44 per cent) respec-tively.

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After adopting a policy tofacilitate private investment

in infrastructure, HaryanaGovernment has now finalizeda panel of pre-qualified transac-tion advisors to assist the con-cerned line departments ororganisations for Public PrivatePartnership (PPP) projects.

“The implementation of thispolicy requires capacity buildingas well as providing transactionadvisory services to the linedepartments or organizationsfor identifying and developingPPP projects,” said a spokesmanof Finance Department.

He said the empanelment oftransaction advisors had beenundertaken through a compet-itive bidding process. The eval-uation for their empanelmenthas been undertaken on the basisof evaluation criteria, whichrequired each agency to satisfyminimum threshold require-ments of annual turnover, expe-rience in transaction advisoryservices and human resourcecapability for PPP projects incore infrastructure or socialinfrastructure sectors.

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New Delhi: Those not coveredunder the Pradhan MantriAawas Yojana (Grameen) canlook towards a new schemeapproved by the Union Cabineton Tuesday.

Aimed at promoting ruralhousing in the country, theGovernment would provideinterest subsidy to every ruralhousehold under the newscheme which would run ver-tical to the PMAYG.

Officials in the Union RuralDevelopment Ministry said thatthe scheme would enable peoplein rural areas to construct newhouses or add to their existingpucca houses to improve theirdwelling units. The beneficiary

who takes a loan under thescheme would be provided inter-est subsidy for loan amountupto �2 Lakhs under the newscheme which is yet to be named.

The National HousingBank would implement thescheme. The Governmentwould provide net presentvalue of the interest subsidy of3 percent to the NationalHousing Bank upfront whichwill, in turn, pass it to thePrimary Lending Institutions(Scheduled Commercial Banks,NBFCs etc.). As a result theequated monthly installment(EMI) for the beneficiarywould be reduced, the officialadded. ���

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Crown Prince of Abu DhabiSheikh Mohamed bin

Zayed Al Nahyan arrived hereon Tuesday to a warm hugfrom Prime Minister NarendraModi who received him at theairport. Al Nahyan is on athree-day visit to New Delhi.He is the chief guest ofRepublic Day celebrations andwill hold talks with PM Modiwith several important agree-ments, including on StrategicCooperation, expected to besigned.

“Welcome to India, HH

Mohamed bin Zayed AlNahyan. We are honoured tohost you & delighted that youwill join our Republic Day cel-ebrations. India & UAE sharestrong bonds of friendship &extensive cooperation. Lookingforward to building on this &further cementing ties,” Moditweeted.

This is the second visit ofthe Crown Prince to India inthe last one year. From theIndian side, Modi had visitedDubai in August 2015, whichwas the first visit by an IndianPM in 33 years, last being for-mer PM Indira Gandhi in

1981.Al Nahyan is also the

Deputy Supreme Commanderof the UAE armed forces. It isexpected that cooperation incounter-terrorism will get aboost as the two leaders discussthe existing and potentialthreats, including radicaliza-tion. The two countries arealready working strongly onterror cooperation.“Cooperation in intelligencesharing and exchange of infor-mation about the specificthreats is always part of the dis-cussions between the twocountries”, Secretary

(Economic Relations) AmarSinha said.

Describing UAE as a keypartner in the Gulf region,Sinha said under the defenceand security cooperation thetwo sides were looking at arma-ment, armoured personnel car-riers, joint production of air-craft, and joint manufacturing.

The two sides are alsoexpected to sign agreementspacts in the field of Researchand Development, agriculture,space, renewable energy. Indiahas identified few projects inhighway and railways sectorsfor UAE investments.

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The Centre has decided towithdraw its January 8,

2016 notification allowingJallikattu with certain restric-tions. The decision comes at atime when the Supreme Courtis expected to deliver its judg-ment on the validity of the saidnotification since it runs con-trary to the May 2014 judg-ment of the apex court banningJallikattu.

Attorney General MukulRohatgi informed this deci-sion to the Court on Tuesday.

The Centre is currently inprocess of preparing an appli-cation in this regard. Once it isfiled, it will be listed before abench of Justices Dipak Misraand Rohington Nariman, whichhad reserved orders in the case.

Rohatgi approached abench headed by Justice DipakMisra and said that the Centrewished to withdraw the notifi-cation issued by the Ministry ofEnvironment and Forests onJanuary 8, 2016 regardingJallkattu. Justice Misra said,“You make a mention beforethe bench which is hearing the

matter.” A-G informed it will bedone after the application inthis regard is filed.

The notification said thatwhile bull is in the list of pro-hibited performing animals,“bulls may be continued to beexhibited or trained for eventssuch as Jallikattu in TamilNadu and bullock cart races inMaharashtra, Karnataka,Punjab, Haryana, Kerala andGujarat”. The apex court hadstayed the operation of thenotification on a petition filedby Animal Welfare Board andPETA.

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New Delhi: BJP on Tuesdayraked up again the contentiousissue of Ram Temple before thefirst phase of Uttar PradeshAssembly elections on February11, saying a “grand” temple willbe built in Ayodhya if BJPsecures an outright majority.

“Ram Mandir is a subject offaith. It is not going to be builtin two months. The temple willbe constructed after the elections.BJP will come to power with afull majority,” party’s UttarPradesh chief Keshav Prasad

Maurya told reporters here.He also hit out at Akhilesh

Yadav, saying the UP chief min-ister is neither with BackwardClasses nor Dalits, “he onlybetrays”. His remark came afterAllahabad High Court directedthe Uttar Pradesh government toensure that no fresh caste cer-tificates are issued to thosebelonging to 17 Other BackwardClasses (OBC) groups.

Asked about the SP-Congress alliance, Maurya said:“SP is a sinking ship and thatof Congress had sunk longback. Even if BSP joins it, they

will not be able to salvage it.”Alleging that the entire gov-

ernment machinery under Yadavwas embroiled in corruption, hesaid that after coming to power,BJP will conduct a probe and ifneeded, “send them to jail”.

He accused the UP chiefminister of cheating people andclaimed there were irregularitiesin admissions, women safetyissues were not accorded prior-ity and dial 100, launched toimprove police services, wasnowhere to be found. ���

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Finding the existing vacancyof sanctioned police posts in

the country to be close to 4.73lakh, the Supreme Court onTuesday directed State HomeSecretaries to indicate thevacancy position among policeforce in their respective Stateswithin three weeks.

The Bench headed byChief Justice JS Khehar askedthe States to treat the issue seri-ously since most of the Stateswere not represented when theCourt dealt with the issue in aPIL filed by an advocateManish Kumar. The Bench,also comprising Justices NVRamana and DY Chandrachud,also stated in its order thatHome Secretaries of thoseStates which fail to file affidavitswill remain personally presentin Court on the next date.

Kumar argued that a directlink exists between the vacan-cy position among police andthe deteriorating law and ordersituation. He submitted thatout of the total sanctioned postsfor police in the country, almost

22 per cent remain vacant. Hesupported this fact with a recentstatistics showing 4.73 lakhvacancies across all police ranksin the country as on January 1,2015. Taking this figure as thebasis, the bench called out thenames of several states but nolawyer turned up to argue.

Some States such asChhattisgarh filed an affidavitindicating the vacancy positionof 3,362 posts as in the year2014. Under the latest statisticsavailable with the petitioner,the vacancy position amongpolice in Chhattisgarh rose toover 10,000.

The bench said, “In view of

the importance of the issue, werequire Home Secretaries of allthe State Governments to fileaffidavits in this court depict-ing the vacancy position…Inorder to ensure compliance ofthe order, we direct Centre tocommunicate the instant orderto all the Home Secretaries ofState Governments within oneweek.”

The Court was of the viewthat once the vacancy positionis settled, the police force willnot work under pressure.Kumar sought a slew of direc-tions in his PIL aimed at mak-ing the police force functionaland responsive.

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The Cabinet on Tuesdaygave its approval to ratify

the second commitment peri-od of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol- extending from 2013 to 2020— for checking the emission ofGreen House Gases. The sec-ond phase was adopted in2012, with 65 countries havingratified the Second

Commitment Period so far. “In view of the critical role

played by India in securinginternational consensus on cli-mate change issues, this deci-sion further underlines thecountry’s leadership in thecomity of nations committed toglobal cause of environmentalprotection and climate justice,”said an Environment Ministrystatement after the Cabinet

meeting.The Kyoto protocol recog-

nized that developed countriesare principally responsible for thecurrent top levels of GreenhouseGas (GHGs) and that the pro-tocol places commitments ondeveloped nations to undertakemitigation targets and to providefinancial resources and transferof technology to the developingnations.

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BJP received donations thricethe aggregate declared by

the Congress, NCP, CPI, CPMand AITC combined in 2015-16. Interestingly, the BJP’s kittyswelled more through fewerdonors compared to Congress,which had larger number ofdonations but lower contribu-tions. The trend of the party inpower raking in the moolahcontinues.

The BJP collected �76.85crore from 613 donations in2015-16 while the Congress�20.42 crore from 918 dona-tions, a report by Associationfor Democratic Reforms(ADR) and National ElectionWatch (NEW) maintained.

According to the report,political parties received �7,833crore funding from unknownsources between 2004-05 and2014-15, which is 69 per cent oftheir total income, with Congressand BJP witnessing maximumincome from such sources.

“Total income of the partyis increased by 2,057 per centfrom �5.19 crore to �111.96

crore. The Congress has thehighest total income of�3,982.09 crore between 2004-05 and 2014-15, this is 42.92per cent of the total income ofthe six parties during the sametime. BJP has the second high-est income of �3,272.63 crorewhich is 35.27 per cent of thetotal income of the 6 nationalparties. Interestingly, totalamount of donations above�20,000 declared by the sixnational parties was �1,405.19crore. BJP tops the list and hasdeclared a total of �917.86crore as received through vol-untary contributions above�20,000,” the report said.

Income of political partiesfrom known donors was�1,835.63 crore, which is 16 percent of their total income. Also,total income of political partiesfrom other known sources (saleof assets, membership fees,bank interest, sale of publica-tions, party levy etc) stood at�1,698.73 crore or 15 per cent.

As per the ADR report,during the 11 years, 83 per centof total income of IndianNational Congress (INC)

amounting to �3,323.39 croreand 65 per cent of total incomeof BJP amounting to �2,125.91crore came from unknownsources.

Among the regional par-ties, �766.27 crore or 94 percent of total income ofSamajwadi Party (SP) and

�88.06 crore or 86 per cent ofShiromani Akali Dal (SAD)came from unknown sources.

Income of national partiesfrom unknown sourcesincreased by 313 per cent, from�274.13 crore during 2004-05 to�1,130.92 crore during 2014-15,ADR said. Income of regional

parties from unknown sourceshas also increased by 652 percent from �37.393 crore to�281.01 crore.

According to report, SP hasthe highest total income of�819.1 crore followed by DMKwith �203.02 crore andAIADMK with �165.01 crore.

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Chief ElectionCommissioner Nasim

Zaidi on Tuesday said thatholding simultaneous polls toLok Sabha and State Assemblieswill require Constitutionalamendment and additionalresources. He was speaking atthe sidelines of a seminar on“Strategies for EmpoweringYoung and Future Voters”organised by the ElectionCommission of India on the eveof 7th National Voters Day.

The CEC said theCommission’s view has alreadybeen conveyed to the Law

Ministry as well as a parlia-mentary panel that such aproposal requires amendmentsin the Constitution through aprocess of “political consensus”.

“The Commission, with cer-tain additional resources, canundertake the exercise of(holding) simultaneous elec-tions in future. But there aretwo pre-conditions.

“One, there should be anamendment in theConstitution through a processof political consensus and wewill need some additionalresources in terms of electronic

voting machines ,” Zaidi said.Last year, the Election

Commission supported thegovernment’s idea to holdsimultaneous elections to Lok

Sabha and state assembliesbut made it clear that it willcost a lot and the Constitutionwill have to amended to cur-tail or extend the term of cer-tain state assemblies. The LawMinistry had asked theCommission to give its viewson the report of a parliamen-tary standing committee whichhad batted for simultaneouspolls.

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As many as 14 States, includ-ing those ruled by the BJP,

have failed miserably in imple-menting the Centre’s ambi-tious bid to use green tech-nology for construction ofrural roads under the PradhanMantri Gramin Sadak Yojana(PMGSY). Into the last quar-ter, just 10 per cent of the tar-get set for the current fiscal hasbeen achieved as a result.

According to the data avail-able with the Union RuralDevelopment Ministry, whichoversees the rural road schemein the country, just 1,078 kmroads have been made using thecost-effective technology dur-

ing April 2016 to December, 20,2016 against the target lengthof 10,063 km for 2016-17 inthese States. (See Box)

Officials in the Ministryadmit that given the dismalresponse, the States will not beable to even construct 1,500 kmlength of roads in the full fiscal.

This, despite the Centremaking it mandatory for theStates to use at least 15 per centlength of their annual propos-als under PMGSY to be basedon new or non-conventionalmaterials/technology including,jute and coir geo-textiles, as perthe “Guidelines of Technologyinitiatives under PMGSY”,issued by the Ministry in 2013.

The Sates have been given

wide ranges of options for imple-menting environment-friendlytechnologies like fly ash, iron andcopper slag, mining waste, geo-textile, lime and cement stabil-isation, Zydex Nano-Technologyand waste plastic among others.

In the last two years ie2014-15 and 2015-16, a total2,700 km of rural roads wereconstructed across the countryusing eco-labour-friendly andcost-effective green technologies.

This seemed encouragingthat time as in the last 14 years(2000-2014), out of more than4.80 lakh km of roads only 800km were built using greentechnologies. The Governmenthad kept an ambitious overalltarget length at 7,000 km for

2016-17 which was laterincreased to 10,063 km. RajeshBhushan, Joint Secretary (RuralConnectivity) of the RDMinistry, while, expressing hisunhappiness at the poor pace inusing green technologies hasnow asked the erring States totake personnel interest in thematter to reach to the target.

The RD Ministry alongwith the Textile Ministry isalready providing support to theNorth-Eastern States for build-ing roads made of environ-ment-friendly coir and jutegeo-textiles in the regionthrough its programme“scheme for promoting usage ofgeotech-textiles in the North-Eastern region.”

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Amid beefed up security inKashmir Valley ahead of

Republic Day, security forcesshot dead two terrorists, sus-pected to be foreign nationalsbelonging to the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) outfit, in anencounter at Hadoora Villagein Ganderbal district onTuesday morning.

A Defence spokesman saidthat police, paramilitaries andArmy soldiers cordoned offHaddora Village in Phak quar-ter of Ganderbal District earlyon Tuesday following specificinformation that terroristswere hiding in the village.

While the cordon wasbeing laid in the village, the ter-rorists came out of their hide-out and engaged in a gunfightwith the security forces.

The exchange of fire con-tinued for over an hour till boththe terrorists were shot dead.There was no report of anycasualty on the security forces’side.

The encounter took place,two days ahead of the RepublicDay celebrations in Kashmiramid reports that terroristswere planning to disrupt the

official functions across theState.

The State police chief SPVaid on Monday took stock ofthe security situation and askedofficers to remain on highalert.

On the ground, despitecontinuous snowfall and lowtemperature, police and secu-rity forces launched friskingand search operations acrossthe Valley to exhibit alertness.

The police and CentralReserve Police Force (CRPF)have intensified surprise check-ing of vehicles and pedestriansin capital Srinagar while theArmy launched several searchoperations in far-off villagesand towns.

“We are extra cautiousahead of the Republic Day.There are reports about themovement of terrorists fromSrinagar City besides northernand southern parts of theValley,” CRPF spokesmanRajesh Yadav said.

The security forces con-ducted house-to-house searchin Arampora Village of northKashmir’s Sopore area on thesuspicion that terrorists wereon a move in the belt.

The main Republic Day

function in summer capitalSrinagar would be held atBakshi Stadium, where a three-tier security cover would beestablished to secure the area.All separatist groups includingthe Joint Resistance Forum(JRF), a loose grouping ofprominent separatist outfitsthat spearheaded the publicuprising in Kashmir last yearand Muzaffarabad-basedUnited Jehad Coucil (UJC)have called for a completeshutdown and observance of“black day” on January 26.

The security forces areextra-cautious in the backdropof recent unrest and attemptsby terrorists to spring nasty sur-prises on such important occa-sions. Last year, onIndependence Day, LeTlaunched a massive fidayeenattack in Nowhatta part of oldSrinagar and killed a CRPFCommandant and a Constable.

The frequency of terrorists-security forces conflict hasincreased in the Valley since theonset of winter as terroriststend to hide in the populatedareas. At least nine terroristshave been killed in variousencounters across the Valleysince January 1, 2017.

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One infiltrator was killed bythe alert troops along the

Line of Control (LoC) inSunderbani sector of Rajouriearly on Tuesday morning.

The jawans posted in theforward area had detected themovement of terrorists alongthe LoC.

The Defence spokesman inJammu said, “The troopsengaged the infiltrating terror-ists with effective automatic firewhile drawing heavy retaliato-ry fire”.

One terrorist was elimi-nated in the operation whilethe others f led towardsPakistan-Occupied-Kashmir.

The body of the eliminat-ed terrorist has been recoveredwith a weapon and ammuni-tion.

Meanwhile, BSF jawansarrested a Pakistani nationalfrom RS Pura Sector around 12pm in Jammu.

The Pakistani national,identified as Mohd Ahmadhailing from Kot Din DhanVillage of Sialkote had crossedthe International Border andwas moving suspiciously inthe area when he was taken into custody by the BSF jawans.

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The Oommen ChandyGovernment has issued a

notification to sabotage theRTI Act because it fears that itwill be kicked out if its truecolour is known to the people.This is perfect proof of thehypocrisy of the Chief Minister(Oommen Chandy) who keepsboasting about hisGovernment’s transparency…Bid to weaken the RTI Act inthis manner is unacceptable.”

CPI(M) leader PinarayiVijayan has been quoted asspeaking these words in March,2016, just over two monthsbefore he became Kerala’s ChiefMinister, about the refusal ofthe then Congress-led UDFGovernment to divulge infor-mation regarding the contro-versial decisions the StateCabinet had taken towards theend of its tenure.

The LDF Government hastaken a position that informa-tion on certain decisions can-not be divulged till their imple-mentation and RTI activists saythat this is a violation of theprovisions of the RTI Act.

The CPI(M)-led LDFGovernment headed byPinarayi is now accused of cit-ing the same reasons the for-mer regime had cited to justi-fy its refusal to give out infor-mation regarding decisions

taken at Cabinet meetings.Kanam Rajendran, State secre-tary of the CPI, second biggestpartner of the LDF, had theother day launched an attackagainst the CPI(M) andPinarayi over this.

The former ChandyGovernment had faced thecharge that most of the deci-sions the Cabinet had takentowards the end of its tenurewere in violation of the rules.However, the UDF regime wasallegedly determined not todivulge information on thosedecisions. The CPI(M) andthe LDF had made this one oftheir main campaign pointsagainst the UDF in the lastAssembly election.

After the LDF came topower, the State’s then ChiefInformation CommissionerWinson M Paul ordered hand-ing over of information regard-ing the Cabinet decisions to anRTI activist but the PinarayiGovernment effectively reject-ed the directive. Instead, it

approached the court to earnlegal sanctity for its decision.

The new Government hadin its very first days constitut-ed a Ministerial sub-committeeto review the controversialdecisions taken by the formerUDF Cabinet, the report ofwhich is yet to come out evenas Pinarayi Government hascompleted eight months inoffice.

According to RTI activistsand legal experts, informationon Cabinet decisions, reasonsfor such decisions and thefacts that had led to thosedecisions could be given outunder the Act. “But the formerGovernment was and the newGovernment is depending oninterpretations of the condi-tions to deny information onCabinet decisions to those whoseek it,” said an RTI activist.

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In a setback to accused of UnaDalit flogging, the Gujarat

High Court denied bail appli-cations of 20 accused and askedthem to file another applicationafter three months.

Of the total accused, whofiled bail petitions before thecourt, two were juveniles. Asthe bail application came on theboard, complainants’ advocateobjected petitions of the 20accused and in the case of twojuvenile, he didn’t object.

As the proceeding contin-ued and knowing the inclina-tion of the court not grantingthe bail application, the accusedwithdrew their plea. Howeverin the case of two juvenile, thecourt granted them bail.

The Gujarat CID (Crime),which investigated the floggingof seven Dalits in Una by cow

vigilantes (gaurakshaks) forskinning a dead cow, had pro-duced photographs of each ofthe accused along with reportsof identification parade in thecharge sheet against them.

As many as seven Dalitswere brutally beaten by self-styled cow protection vigi-lantes near Mota SamadhiyalaVillage in Una taluka of GirSomnath District in Saurasthraon July 11, 2016 for skinning adead cow.

The issue became a hottopic on national political sceneas after the incident, nationalleaders including RahulGandhi, Arvind Kejriwal,Minister of State forPanchayatiraj ParashotamRupala, then Gujarat ChiefMinister Anandiben Patel andothers visited MotaSamadhiyala to show sympathytowards the victims.

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Even as the TelanganaRashtra Samiti (TRS) was

trying to go out of the way toaddress issues of minorities, theaction by certain officials evict-ing the State minorities com-mission from a Governmentbuilding has raised the hacklesof the community.

During the weekend hol-iday Government officialsmoved the TelanganaMinorities Commission officefrom Raghava Sadan near RajBhavan to a two-bed room flat.

At a time when staff of theminorities commission wasaround the GeneralAdministration department,officials carted away the furni-ture and files to the flat.

Chairman of the MinoritiesCommission Abid RasoolKhan reacted strongly to themove and alleged that this wasa conspiracy to give a badname to the government andweaken the commission.

Pointing out that theCommission was shifted thriceover the last three years throw-ing it out of the state secretari-at, Abid Rasool Khan urged theChief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao to order aprobe and identify the culprits.

Abid Rasool Khan, whowas appointed as the head ofthe panel in 2013 by the thenCongress Government, told amedia conference that he was

working and trying to strength-en the commission withouttaking a rupee as salary andspending money from his ownpocket.

He expressed suspicionthat his recent letter to theCentral Burau of Investigationseeking a probe into the irreg-ularities of Waqf properties inthe State may have caused thisaction.

Pointing out that the com-mission was doing a good jobfor the last three years, heappealed to the Chief Ministernot to weaken it. Pointing outthat the Minorities commissionwas statutory body, hedemanded that it should berespected like the BC, SC andST Commissions.

The row has erupted at atime when the KChandrasekhar RaoGovernment appointed aretired IPS officer AK Khan asadvisor on the minorities affairsand the term of the SudhirCommittee on the 12 per centreservations for Muslim wasextended by one year.

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In a bid to intensify the agitation for the special category sta-tus (SCS) to Andhra Pradesh the popular Telugu film star and

fonder of Jana Sena Party, Pawan Kalyan on Tuesday released aprotest music album under the title of “Desh Bachao” (save thecountry) on the social media at Vijayawada.

The move was seen as a part of the stir created in AndhraPradesh, following the success of the mass agitation in supportof Jallikattu, which forced the State and the Central Governmentto bow before the public demand.

Though the Jana Sena party, through posters declared thatthe music album was a voice of protest against opportunistic, divi-sive and criminal politics, the album was mostly an attack onthe Center over its failure to deliver on the promise of grantingspecial category status to Andhra Pradesh following the bifur-cation of the State. Originally the album was scheduled to bereleased on February 5 but Pawan Kalyan advanced the date inview of the protest program on January 26, source said.

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The Upper House of theJammu & Kashmir State

Legislature on Tuesday adopt-ed a historic resolution rec-ommending a State holiday onSeptember 23, the birthanniversary of last Dogra kingMaharaja Hari Singh.

The resolution was movedby Ajatshatru Singh, grandsonof Maharaja Hari Singh and aBJP member in the UpperHouse.

This is for the first time aformal resolution was movedand later adopted by theHouse with a voice vote.

While moving the resolu-tion Ajatshartu Singh saidthat the historic contributionof Maharaja Hari Singh,whohad signed instrument ofaccession on October 26, 1947before acceding the princelyState with the union of India,needs to be acknowledged. Itwould be a tribute to him ifthe State declares official hol-iday on his birth anniversary.

The Opposition memberswho had earlier staged a walkout from the House during theQuestion Hour were not pre-sent in the House when the

Private Members Resolutionwas adopted.

The resolution was sec-onded by Vikramaditya Singh,elder grandson of MaharajaHari Singh, who is himself aPDP member in the House.

Minister for Educationand Leader of the House,Naeem Akhtar, Minister forForest, Ecology andEnvironment, Choudhary LalSingh, Deputy Chairman,Legislative Council, JehangirHussain Mir, legislators AshokKhajuria, Vikramaditya Singh,Surinder Mohan Ambardar,Ramesh Arora, Firdous Tak,Surinder Kumar Chowdharyand Vibod Gupta participat-ed in the discussion.

While participating in thediscussion Naeem Akhtar saidthe State already observes 51holidays in a calendar year in

Government offices, finan-cial institutions, educationalinstitutions. In comparisonthe Union Govrnment nor-mally prescribes 17 Gazettedholidays and 2 restricted hol-idays during a calendar year.Given the existing number ofholidays being observed atvarious levels in the State itmay not be feasible to furtherincrease the number as thesame is likely to affect thedelivery of public services.He even requested the mem-ber to withdraw the resolutionwhile assuring that it could beconsidered after holding dis-cussion with all other stake-holders. But Ajatshatru Singhstood his ground and pressedfor the resolution . The reso-lution was later passed byvoice vote. Out of 14 memberspresent in the House 11 mem-bers voted in support whilethree others opposed it.

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New Delhi: The Jammu &Kashmir Government hasidentified 100 acres of land ateight places in the Valley forrehabilitation of KashmiriPandits who migrated fromthe State in the early 1990s fol-lowing outbreak of militancy.

These pockets, whereKashmiri Pandits are likely tobe rehabilitated, will be spreadacross all 10 districts of theValley, officials in the UnionHome Ministry said onTuesday.

According to the officialfigures, as many as 62,000Kashmiri migrant familieswere registered with theGovernment out of which40,000 were registered inJammu, 20,000 in the nation-al Capital and remaining 2,000in the rest of the country.

The NDA Government,after assuming office in 2014,had earmarked �500 crore forrehabilitation of the KashmiriPandits, who had migratedfrom the Valley since January19, 1990 following the rise inmilitancy.

Union Home MinisterRajnath Singh had written tothe then Chief Minister OmarAbdullah to identify land forresettling them. PTI

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Unidentified militants firedat a convoy of trucks car-

rying fuel and other essentialcommodities to blockade hitManipur on Tuesday even asthe security officials suspecthands of the anti-talk faction ofNSCN (K) militants behind theincident.

The incident took place atAwanakhu Village in newlycreated Noney district ofManipur on Tuesday morning.“A convoy involving close to300 trucks carrying fuel andother essential commoditieswere on its way from Silchar inAssam to Imphal through theNH 37. However, one of the

trucks came under firing at theAwanakhu village. There is,however, no injury or anycausality,” said NoneySuperintendent of Police, TKAnal.

The Road Opening Parties(ROP) of the Assam Rifles, whohave been engaged by the stategovernment for area domina-tion, also retaliated to the fir-ing immediately.

It may be mentioned herethat the Manipur governmenthas been using the NH 37—from Silchar in Assam toImphal through Jiribam—dueto the ongoing blockade of twoother highways in ManipurNH 2 and NH 53 sinceNovember 1 last year.

The Manipur governmenthad arranged to airlift six dieseltankers with a total capacity of96 kilolitres from Guwahati toImphal on Monday to meet thefuel crisis in blockade hit

Manipur. Defence sources saidthat C- 17 heavylift transportaircraft was deployed for thepurpose.

“We have been planning tobeing the fuel and essentialcommodities to the statethrough convoy of 300 vehiclesunder tight security throughthe NH 37. Our plan is to bringin at least 1200 trucks in fourconvoy of 300 trucks in a weekon alternate day basis,” saidManipur Chief Secretary, ONabakishore.

He said that the govern-ment has engaged the AssamRifles in area domination oper-ation in the NH 37 so that safe-ty could be ensured to truckscarrying essential commodities.He said that there is no crisisof medicines in the state so faras essential medicines havebeen airlifted from Delhi withthe help from Ministry of civilaviations.

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Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday urged PrimeMinister Narendra Modi to implement total prohibition in

all the BJP ruled States. Referring to the PM's praise on prohi-bition, he said that he has forcefully imposed the scheme not onlythrough the law but also by involving people in this campaign.

Addressing a meeting to observe birth anniversary of greatSocialist leader and former CM Karpoori Thakur, the CM alsoasked the PM to reveal to the nation the positive results of thedemonetisation as now 77 days have passed since the note banand the PM had promised relief to the people after 50 days. "Inthe coming Union Budget, the Centre should clearly mentionhow much money was deposited and how much was black money.The nation is waiting for such announcement as the national eco-nomic growth has slowed down and people have suffered a lot,"said Nitish.

Nitish, who is also national president of JD(U) and support-ed demonetisation, said that the poor people who financially suf-fered due to note ban should be compensated . "We supported thismove because we are always against black money and corruption.Our support was interpreted in different manners and rumourswere spread that I was inching closer to certain political party. Butas a matter of fact we support what is right and the support todemonetisation should be seen in the context of our support toGST when BJP was opposed to it and also to back PranabMukherjee during Presidential election when BJP supported anoth-er candidate," said Nitish without giving any hint on reviewingstand on note bandi.

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With the growing demandfor lifting the ban on

Kambala, following theJallikattu ordinance by TamilNadu, Karnataka too is plan-ning an ordinance for holdingthe traditional Buffalo racecalled Kambala which is anannual ritual in coastal districtsof Dakshina Kannada andUdupi in Karnataka. Withassembly polls to be held in2018 Congress government ledby Chief MinisterSiddaramaiah can't ignore thisopportunity to in road in to thecoastal districts which are theBJP bastion.

Siddaramaiah on Tuesdaydeclared if necessary the StateGovernment will bring an ordi-nance for holding the event.He said his Government wasin favour of holding the tradi-

tional sport event and asked theCentre to take a favourablestand as it did for Jallikattu inTamil Nadu. However,'Kambala' is different fromJallikattu event, which are ruralsports.

"We are in favour ofKambala. It is an old traditionalgame and it has to be contin-ued. We will examine it thatwhether to bring an ordinanceor not. If necessary, we will doit," said Siddaramaiah . Afterthe revocation of ban onJallikattu following huge agita-tions, the Kambala committeesare reportedly planning to holda large-scale protest in TamilNadu on January 28 inMoodbidri in DakshinaKannada district.

Kambala is a traditionalannual buffalo race in themarshy fields in coastal districtsof the state.

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Call is strengthening inKerala for the resumption

of Kalavayal, the famous bullracing event at Kakkoor inThirumaradi Panchayat, some55 kilometres east of Kochi, inErnakulam district and sim-ilar events in other places inthe State following the agita-tions in Chennai and otherplaces of Tamil Nadu overJallikattu.

The Maramadi bull race,part of the four-day Kalavayalcattle fair, an annual post-har-vest festival in Kakkoor, hadstopped in 2014 following theban on Jallikattu.

A demonstration callingfor the resumption ofMaramadi associated withthe fair was held the otherday by the local residents ofKakkoor and nearby townPiravom.

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In stark contrast to the Black Monday which saw most of theState getting engulfed in a near riot situation, Tuesday

remained by and large peaceful as Tamil Nadu limped back tonormalcy. The city police arrested 72 persons from different partsof the city foe the untoward incidents on Monday which saw van-dals trying to set ablaze the Ice House police Station in the BeachRoad . According to sources in the City Police, a total of 142 vehi-cles including 52 police vehicles were damaged by the miscre-ants who threw petrol bombs and stones at them.

Marina Beach, venue of the sit-in staged by the Jallikkattucrowd is getting spruced up for Thursday's Republic Day Parade.A heavy posse of police force has been deployed along the beachand entry has been curtailed to ensure a trouble-free parade.

The presence of anti-national forces in the Jallikkaatu demon-stration in various places in the State got official confirmationwith S George, Chennai City Commissioner of Police acknowl-edging the same late Monday night. Speaking to journalists,George, who led the police team at Koodankulam in 2013 to fightthe anti-nuclear reactor agitation by the People's MovementAgainst Nuclear Energy, said anti-national elements and forceshad hijacked the Jallikkattu agitation. "We tackled only the anti-national and anti-social elements among the demonstrators," saidGeorge.

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In what the critics called a bidto use the name of Netaji

Subhas Chandra Bose to scorepolitical brownie pointsMamata Banerjee dug up theissue of his disappearance ask-ing the Centre to declassify filesrelated to his escape fromIndia.

This even as the BJPdemanded creation of a regi-ment in the Indian Army afterthe "Azad Hind Fauz" or the"Indian National Army" thatNetaji had unsuccessfully led todrive away the British fromIndia.

Banerjee who was inDarjeeling said, "I want thetruth behind Netaji's disap-pearance to come out. He wasone of the greatest freedomfighters who continues to berelevant in the contemporaryIndian politics which is beingdivided by some self-seekingpeople along communal andcaste lines."

The Chief Minister whopm Monday created a numberof new autonomous councilsin Darjeeling --- based onsub-castes like Gurung ---told her audience that she

was against playing divisivepolitics and "Netaji had taughtus to remain united and notdivided."

She said her Governmenthad declassified the Netajifiles when it came to powerand now "it remains upon theCentre to fulf i l l its promises."

Speaking on the 121thbirth anniversary of Netaji shesaid, "History has failed tothrow any light on the greattragedy around his disappear-ance. I want the truth to comeout. The Government of Indiahas so many files which shouldbe declassified. The mysterywould have been solved hadproper investigation been doneall these years."

Banerjee allotted Rs 10lakh to renovate a buildingwhere Netaji had lived duringhis visit to Darjeeling.

Curiously Baner jee 'sdemand to declassify Netajifiles came almost in tandemwith a demand by some BJPmembers to create a regi-ment in Indian Army afterAzad Hind Fauz which wasactual ly created byRashbehari Bose --- who hadleft India in 1911.

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Chief of Indian Army, General Bipin Rawat visited theEastern Command on Tuesday and reviewed the security sce-

nario with the Corp Commanders in the strategically importantcommand headquarters in the region

Although the top Army brass here termed the visit as a rou-tine one after Rawat took over as the Army Chief, yet the visitassumes significance as it came days after the northeastern mil-itants ambushed an Assam Rifles convoy in eastern Assam'sTinsukia district on Sunday that led to killing of two jawans andinjury of two others.

Security forces had been conducting counter insurgency oper-ations along the Assam-Arunachal border following the attackand security apparatus across the state had been reviewed in therun up to Republic Day celebrations.

The General visited the strategic Gajraj Corps on the eve ofthe Republic Day and Lt. Gen. Praveen Bakshi, GOC-in- C EasternCommand and Lt. Gen. AS Bedi, GOC Gajraj Corps received theGeneral. The Chief, accompanied by the Eastern ArmyCommander and the Corps Commander visited Tawang and theforward areas in Western Arunachal Pradesh.

Rawat was also briefed by the Corps Commander on the secu-rity situation in the Corps, both from external threat and inter-nal security point of view.

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The regional and rural banks operating in the northeasternregion would have to submit the details of cash deposits to

the Directorate of Income tax by January 31, this year.A senior official of the Directorate of Income tax said this

here on Tuesday and said that the Directorate of Income Tax(Intelligence and Criminal Investigation) has also decided to orga-nize an outreach programme tomorrow to sensitize these coop-erative banks and rural banks in the region.

"The new obligation is to furnish to the Income TaxDepartment a statement of financial transactions (SFT) by January31, 2017 in respect of cash deposits made by account holdersbetween November 8 to December 30, 2016," said the officialwhile adding that all the banks including cooperative banks andpost offices have to furnish details of cash deposits by personsfor amount involving Rs. 12.5 lakh or more in current accountsand Rs. 2.5 lakh or more in accounts other than current accounts.

It may be mentioned here that there are more 31 cooperativeand rural banks having their head offices in the northeastern regionand all of them would be required to furnish the details of suchcash deposits.

Huge amount of cash has been deposited by account hold-ers in the post demonetization period, which is roughly estimatedto be over Rs. 600 crore deposited in over 4000 accounts and alarge percentage of which could be from unrecorded sources.

"The income tax department would use this information forconducting inquiries in select cases for ascertaining the sourceof such deposits and whether these deposits are from explainedand recorded sources or not," he said.

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Gandhinagar: In connectionwith demonetisation move ofModi Government, IncomeTax (IT) sleuths conductedsearch and survey operationsin Gujarat on nearly 40traders and companies deal-ing in bullion and jewelleryon Tuesday.

Sources close to the devel-opment said that more than150 IT officials were called infrom all over the state andpressed in to service acrossAhmedabad and a few placesin North Gujarat areas sinceearly morning.

Of the 40 establishments,survey operations were heldat 23, while search operationswere carried out at theremaining 17.

The search and surveyoperations were learnt to be asa follow up of an enquiry I-T

department had had carriedout at Memnagar branch ofAxis Bank in Ahmedabad.According to sources, the I-Tdepartment had received cer-tain sensitive informationregarding "suspicious" trans-actions. Among the estab-lishments as Patidaar Bullion,Jhaveri Bullion, ZinzuwadiaJewellers, Manek Jewellers,Parker Jewellers, KundanJewellers, Mahavir Jewellers

"Basis this information,we contacted other banks andzeroed in on these bulliontraders and jewelers who webelieve could have played akey role in helping convertcash in to jewellry. Our hopeis that we would be able tounearth lot of benami trans-actions post these operations,"a senior I-T official said oncondition of anonymity.PNS

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The move of the seniorSamajwadi Party leader

Beni Prasad Verma to ensurea ticket for his son RakeshVerma from Bharatiya JantaParty (BJP) seems to havefailed as the veteran leader isnot ready to quit his RajyaSabha seat.

Verma, who already madeup his mind to give AkhileshYadav’s blue eyed boy ArvindSingh Gope a serious challengeon Ramnagar Assembly seg-ment in Barabanki, is likely tonow field Rakesh Verma onLok Dal ticket.

Interestingly, AkhileshYadav just not denied Rakesha ticket from Ramnagar buthad also not included name ofBeni Prasad Verma in Party’sstar campaigner list released onTuesday.

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Page 8: 0 1-23 -! ˙ ˙#˚$!˙%&ˆ& $’()˚ *# · PDF filecontested the 2014 Lok Sabha ... India under which the LIC will ... launching of the Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana 2017 (VPBY 2017)

In a dynasty obsessed polit-ical culture and climate,where great energy andstrategic capital is put touse so that dynasties and

families can be protected, per-petuated and installed, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s exam-ple sticks out. To a peopleresigned to a political environwhere, for the last seven decades,perpetuation of family membersis the norm and de rigueur,Modi’s detachment and non-involvement with his immediateand extended family is striking.

In a polity which has seensome of the most debilitatingnational phases of ravaging cor-ruption just because some fam-ily members needed to beresource stacked, or becausesome immediate family members needed to be accom-modated and provided for,Modi’s distance from his fami-ly and his reiteration of beingconcerned with the welfare of125 crore Indians — is inspiringand refreshing.

It challenges a degenerativedynasty driven narrative, espe-cially strengthened and oxy-genated in the last decade, whichsaw a series of scams and megacorruption scandals, driven anddirected by one single politicalfamily. What Uttar Pradesh iswitnessing today and what TamilNadu has seen for a while now— the feud within the DravidaMunnetra Kazhagam parivar —and a number of other minipolitical families each scram-bling for turf, pelf and power,each providing for the other orsparring with some other, are anexpression of this degenerativenarrative. In some parties, thedisease of dynastism hasadversely affected their workingand thinking, the Congresstoday is an apt example of such an affliction.

So acute is this dynasticdisease within the party that itsapex leadership refuses to see oris unable to grasp that the party’serstwhile intellectual capital,political finesses and dexterity israpidly eroding with the partybeing turned into a politicalrump under a self-styled leaderwhose only obsession is withtheatrics. So entrenched is thissense of “family” within theparty that the Congress dare notundertake a free assessment ofits existential dilemma.

The BJP, on the other hand,under party president AmitShah and Modi, and contrary tofalse stereotypes, is the only

party which remains free of thedynastic debilitation and growsby recognising grassroots talentand potential.

Three decades of communistrule in West Bengal, all in thename of the proletariat, was notfree of nepotism and familysagas, nor is Trinamool Congresschief Mamata Banerjee’s ruletoday free of the dynasty andfamily virus. Banerjee’sunabashed projection of hernephew, her patronage of herbrothers and immediate familymembers smacks of dynastism.For most of these family matri-archs and patriarchs, the concernfor the common and margin-alised citizen is a veneer, a clev-erly articulated foliage, whichcamouflages the primal andcompelling urges of heredity.

For these types — some ofwho have been theatrically vocalsince November 8, 2016 — theideas and concepts of nation,welfare, citizens’ wellbeing,inclusion and prosperity, are allclaptraps to be employed atconvenience for their own per-petuation and for that of theirbloodline. No earthy connect or

fellow feeling really binds themto the soil and to the people.

Amidst this motley and vol-uble conglomeration of politicalfamily enthusiasts, PrimeMinister Modi stands out bybeing starkly different andbecause he stands out on thiscount, intolerance or denigra-tion is seen spewed towardshim by those in whom familyworship is deeply ingrained.

In their approach to him,Modi’s family too is unique andhas broken the norm and goneagainst the habit. As a recentstory revealed and as has beenknown for years now to thosewho have worked closely withhim or have seen him, membersof Modi’s immediate andextended family have lived andcontinue to live in quiet digni-ty, leading simple lives, silentlyfacing challenges, pursuingdreams and fulfilling promises.

So stoic and staunch is thissense and training, that even hismother went up to a bank toexchange old notes without fuss,without entourage. Members ofhis family have never ever beenheard reminding people of who

they are, what their connectionsare and to whose clan and lega-cy they belong to. A habit thathad become commonplace andnear institutionalised in India’spolitical culture. It is such anapproach, such an esprit filialwhich reinforces the collectivefaith in the founding ideals ofour democratic polity.

When Modi talks aboutbeing solely concerned with thewelfare of 125 crore Indians,when he talks of his undividedattention for India’s well-beingand resurgence, when heexpresses this concern andattention through a gruellingmulti-tasking, he seems to bedoing it from a deeper connect.

In his early peripatetic years,he criss-crossed India, minglingwith the people, absorbing theirhopes, internalising their aspira-tions, identifying with theirdreams and expectations andoften reflecting on their future.And in each stop, in each inter-action he added a new dimen-sion to his learning and to hisdiscovery of India.

To listen to him speak ofthose years is a journey in itself.As one learns of those years, onedistinctly locates the origin of hisidentification with 125 croreIndians — it is a narrative andvision that was largely shapedduring those wanderings —when family ties receded and thenation began to dominate.

Tyaga — sacrifice in theIndian tradition — parampara— has always captured the col-lective imagination and instilledconfidence. In his approach tohis family, Modi has always dis-played that spirit of sacrifice.Allusions to Tyaga, may be seenas quaint and outmoded in thepolitical atmosphere of presentday India, derided by the major-ity of the elite and opinion mak-ers, but it is real when it comesto Narendra Modi.

The ancient Indian adagespoke of giving up one’s kula —family, lineage for the sake andfor the welfare of the village andof the collectivity; it spoke ofgiving up one’s small self for thewelfare of the larger self, whilemany in the political worldshrink from such an exhorta-tion, Modi embraces it by merg-ing with the larger self. It is thatwhich separates him from therest and it is that which endearshim to the teeming millions ofthis perennial land...

(The writer is director, Dr.Syama Prasad MookerjeeResearch Foundation, New Delhi)'

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Sir — This refers to the editorial, “Anew American order” (January23). As feared, soon after assumingoffice, US President Donald Trumphas started acting against the initia-tives taken by his predecessor,Barack Obama. Hours after assum-ing office, Trump’s target wasObama healthcare. This makes hisintention clear: He wants to undoall old schemes and initiatives. Itwould not be an exaggeration to saythat India needs to be worried aboutTrump’s ‘Buy American and HireAmerican’ policy. His protectionistapproach would hit world hard.

Bal GovindNoida

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Keeping Jallikattu alive” (January24). The issue of Jallikattu wasburning for a long time.Ultimately, it yielded to the per-sistent demand and sentiments ofthe masses — the Government inTamil Nadu gave its nod to con-duct the bull-taming sport.

Though this Ordinance pavedthe way to carry out the sport, it isdisappointing that even now, theprotestors are relentless, seeking ban

of PETA and enactment of a law inlieu of the Ordinance.

While the game, in its verynature, is a cruelty against ani-mals and there is every possibil-ity of death or injury to thosewho indulge in it, it is strangethat people in the State areadamant about it, in the name ofculture and tradition.

TT Sarkaria Delhi

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Sir — This refers to the editorial, “Anew American order” (January23). The amazing and almostincredible has now attained fruition:Donald Trump is the US President.Americans may deserve to be gov-erned by the Presidents they elect.But after 200 years of its experiencein unbroken constitutional democ-racy, others are bewildered at thechoice America has made.

It is not so much the victory ofTrump that has upset many people,as the style and tone of his campaignand his continuing avowal of hismore controversial campaign slo-gans. The man could not switchfrom the campaign mode and riseto the inaugural occasion.

The ceremony was grand asusual, but the speech was all angerand no joy and the message was

petulant and dark. India must takethe heed: From now on ‘it’s goingto be America first.’ Its borders willbe protected not only for security,but also for prosperity. There willbe two simple rules: ‘Buy Americanand Hire American.’

J AkshobhyaMysore

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Demonetisation brigade silenced”(January 23)by Sanju Verma. TheGovernment’s demonetisationmove is a step in the right directionto free the economy from all evils.Most of us have experienced diffi-culties, but these are now endingand the country, and peoples willsoon receive benefit on all fronts.

Demonetisation alone cannoteliminate black money, but it willsurely contain it to a large extent,and Prime Minister Modi haspromised more strikes on blackmoney and corruption. TheOpposition has criticised thismove vehemently because it mustcriticise everything that the BJPGovernment does.

Ashok Mehta Via web

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After months of ‘will-they-wont-they’ suspense, theCongress and the

Samajwadi Party have finallysealed an alliance for the ensu-ing Assembly polls in UttarPradesh. This will be for the firstthat both parties will cometogether. Now, the Congress willbe a junior partner in the alliance.The party, which had ND Tiwarias its last Chief Minister in 1989,had been languishing since then,unable to make a come back.

In the final deal, out of a totalof 403 seats, the Samajwadi Partywill contest from 298 seats, whilethe Congress will fight 105 seats.With this, it is clear, that it willbe a triangular contest in UttarPradesh between the BahujanSamaj Party (BSP), the BJP andthe Samajwadi Party-Congress.

Undoubtedly, the tie-up isdue to politics of compulsion.The question is whether therewill be enough time for the twoparties to launch their cam-

paigns and bring some synergy.After all, till yesterday, they hadbeen fighting against each other.The Samajwadi Party has grownon an anti-Congress platform.

Despite doubts, the alliancecould be a win-win situation forboth the parties, if handled right-ly. This can be a disadvantage forboth, the BJP and the BSP. TheSamajwadi Party needs theCongress for its brahmin andDalit votes, while the Congressneeds the Samajwadi Party’sYadav-Muslim votes.

The Samajwadi Party hadbeen hit hard by the family feudwhich ended only last week withUttar Pradesh Chief MinisterAkhilesh Yadav emerging victo-rious after the ElectionCommission allotted him theparty’s cycle symbol. This will bethe first time that party supremoMulayam Singh Yadav will takea back seat. Already, after thescripted family drama, nobody istalking of his lack of administra-

tion or deteriorating law andorder, as Akhilesh Yadav hasemerged a clean leader. He wantsto convert this advantage intovotes. If Akhilesh Yadav wins inUttar Pradesh, he can dream ofmoving to the national stage.

It will be an acid test forAkhilesh Yadav. It is to be seenis he will be able to keep theYadav and Muslim votes in tact.After all, the battle in UttarPradesh is to divide or unite thecrucial Muslim votes.

Muslims, who constituteabout 18 per cent of the State, arecrucial in many constituencies.The aim of the alliance is to keepthe Muslims votes in tact so thatthe secular alliance can be ben-efitted. The danger loominglarge is about a reverse polarisa-tion, as it happened in the 2014Lok Sabha polls, when peoplevoted for prime ministerial can-didate Narendra Modi.

For Congress vice presidentRahul Gandhi, it has come a full

circle for he had been advocat-ing an ekla chalo policy. The twoyoung leaders have decided totake this risk. Despite an earlycampaign launched by RahulGandhi, the tempo had subsidedpast week. The party lacks organ-isational skills at the grossrootlevel. There is no local leadership.

What came as anotherembarrassment for the Congresswas that it had announced thename of former Delhi ChiefMinister Sheila Dixit as its chiefministerial candidate somemonths ago. Now, she has to takea back seat because AkhileshYadav is the face of the combine.

This is not the first time thatthe Congress has become ajunior partner. It had also beenin alliance in 1996 with theBahujana Samaj Party, but sinceit did not benefit, the BSP was notkeen to align with the Congress.

The question, however is:Why did the Congress go for atie up? Because it wants to ensure

a better performance from itspresent 28 seats in the Assembly.Second, a good show in UttarPradesh will boost the image ofRahul Gandhi. Third, animproved tally will come as amoral booster for the Assemblypolls in Gujarat and HimachalPradesh later this year and alsofor the polls next year. Fourth, theCongress wants to deflate the BJPwhich is, at present, riding high.

The immediate gain is thatthe two parties have won the per-ception game. Second, it is goodarithmetic to combine together.Third, the risk is that it is not clearwhether the Samjawadi Partyand the Congress can transfereach other’s votes. While the BSPvotes are easily transferred, it isnot the case with other parties

There can be the domi-nance of two youth leaders inUttar Pradesh pitted againstPrime Minister Modi. Both,Rahul Gandhi and AkhileshYadav, by becoming the deciding

factors in their parties, have senta signal that they have come outof the shadow of their parents.

Yet another factor is theemergence of Priyanka Gandhiwho is said to have played a cru-cial role in the tie-up. DimpleYadav, wife of Akhilesh Yadav,too was visible. The two dynas-ties have proved that they couldreach a deal by adopting a give-and-take in seat sharing.

Apparently, PriyankaGandhi and Dimple Yadav toohave developed good rapport.When talks were almost broken,it was a phone call from PriyankaGandhi to Dimple Yadav onSaturday night, followed by SoniaGandhi’s phone call to AkhileshYadav, which clinched the deal.The alliance is a gamble the twoparties have undertaken.Whether it succeeds or not theresults will show.

(The writer is a politicalcommentator and syndicatedcolumnist)

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It is appalling that even as India’schild population saw a rise from450.5 million in 2001 to 472.1 mil-lion in 2011, the issue remainslargely de-prioritized and neglect-

ed. The working group on child rightsfor the 12th five-year plan (2012-2017),in its vision, had emphasised that moreinclusive growth begins with children.It recommended certain amount of out-lays for fulfillment of the mandates ofchildren’s right to survival, development,protection and participation.

However, budgetary allocations inthe last few years do not reflect on theGovernment’s intent of treating chil-dren as a supremely important asset.The total child budget as a percentageof total Union Budget shows a declin-ing trend since 2012-2013 and stood atonly 3.32 per cent in the Union Budget2016-2017.

A reflection on the 2016-2017Budget for children reveals the trendand puts in perspective our expectationsfrom the future. The increased outlayin social sector focused marginally onchildren. While the child budget lastyear saw an increase of �1,123.36 croreto �65,758.45 crore over a Budget of�64,635.09 crore in 2015-2016 (RE), itresulted in minimum impact on thechild at the grass root level. More than75 per cent of this increased budget wasin the schemes of mid-day meals andNational Nutrition mission.

The Government intended tostrengthen children’s primary educationand increased allocation under theSarva Shiksha Abhiyan from �22,000crore (2015-2016) to �22,500 crore

(2016-2017). The increased investment in

Budget barely reflects if we see the sit-uation on ground. Even after six yearsof the implementation of Right toEducation, many mandatory require-ments have not been met, major onebeing infrastructure with more thanone-third of the schools offering ele-mentary education in the country sillnot providing electricity, boundarywalls or playgrounds.

Teacher’s training still remained atthe back burner even when 20 per centof existing teachers in Governmentschools are untrained. (Ministry ofHuman Resource Development 2014).The five per cent increase in the mid-day meal allocation did not hold muchsignificance, in the background ofmajor budgetary cut in 2014-2015.With serious concerns of inflationover the years and the dire need toimprove the quality of mid-day meal,for around 197 million children, a high-er investment is imperative.

Secondary education budgetaryallocation remained below expectationslast year. The budgetary allocation forRashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyanincreased by 3.8 per cent from �3,565crore to �3,700 crore, which is a dropin the ocean, considering only 32 outof every 100 children in India finishschool education at age appropriately.The 12th Five Year Plan envisaged near-universal enrollment in secondaryeducation, with enrollment exceeding90 per cent, India is currently at 80 percent gross enrollment ratio and it is only51.2 per cent net enrollment ratio.

The allocation for the IntegratedChild Development Scheme, whichprovides for care, nutrition health andearly learning for the youngest of ourchildren, declined by 9.6 per cent, from�1,5483 crore (2015-2016) to �14,000crore (2016-2017). The scheme is esti-mated to cover only about 50 per centof the population of children through1.34 million anganwadi centres. As onMarch 2015, 14,673 posts of anganwa-di supervisor, 62,970 posts of anganwa-di workers and 1,18,609 posts of angan-wadi helpers were vacant, which hasworsened, adversely impacting thedelivery of services.

In the Union Budget 2016-2017,allocation to Integrated Child ProtectionScheme (ICPS) experienced a slightdecline of five crore rupees from �402crore to �397 crore. This cut has beenworrisome if we look at the statistics.Over the last 10 years, the number ofcrimes against children has increased bymore than 500 per cent, from 14,975 in2005 to 94,172 in 2015. The rate ofcrimes against children has shocking-ly increased by more than 15 times.

Given the significant deficits in var-ious development indicators regardingchildren, it is imperative that theGovernment must allocate sufficientlyfor various programmes schemes ear-marked for the children in the upcom-ing Budget. Hopefully, for the 2017-2018 Budget, there will be acceleratedinvestment for children of all age group.

Early years in childhood are foun-dational years. Hence, it is imperativeto look at adequate budgetary invest-ment in skilled human resource, appro-

priate infrastructure and filling up of vacant positions in orderto make the vision of restructured ICDSa success.

School education requires seriousinvestment, especially in States whichhave not met the required targets set outon onset of Right to Free andCompulsory Education (RTE).Approximately, 37 million children inthe age group of 15-18 years are not inschool. The budgetary allocation forschool education should factor in thefact that along with strengthening theframework of elementary education,equal importance should be given forsecondary education as well.

For making sure that every childwho passes out of class eight continueseducation and not fall in trap of childlabour, adequate investments needs tobe carried out in efforts to universalisesecondary education. The proportionof budget allocated for ensuring thatchildren are safe, protected is negligi-ble. Growing crime against childrenundoubtedly is a great concern whichrequires protective mechanism to be setup for children at multiple levels,which is only possible if it is prioritised.

The Union Budget 2017-2018 willbe a crucial test for the ModiGovernment. In the midst of the pur-suit of economic growth, theGovernment must ensure that children,who survive in an unequal world,with huge disparities in education,health and participation, get their due.

(The writer is director, Policy,Research and Advocacy for CRY — ChildRights and You)

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�������� ��Targeting shell com-panies, the Government onTuesday issued new tax rulesrequiring foreign firms to pay taxesin India if the effective control ofbusiness, management decisionsand majority of board meetingstake place within the country.

The long awaited Place ofEffective Management (POEM)rules, to be effective from the cur-rent fiscal (April 2016), will notapply to companies having aturnover or gross receipts of �50crore or less in a financial year.

The rules require foreigncompanies in India and Indianfirms with overseas subsidiaries topay local taxes based on where thebusiness if effectively controlled.

“The intent is to target shellcompanies and companies whichare created for retaining incomeoutside India although real controland management of affairs islocated in India,” CBDT said.

The rules require company’sresidency to be determined by per-sons exercising effective controlover decision making and theplace where such control is exer-cised from, according to the guide-lines issued by CBDT on Tuesday.

This would help target shellcompanies, or holding companies,incorporated overseas to evadetaxes by showing their residencyas a tax haven even though themanagement and effective deci-sion making takes place in India.

“The place where these man-

agement decisions are taken wouldbe more important than the placewhere such decisions are imple-mented.

For the purpose of determi-nation of POEM it is the substancewhich would be conclusive ratherthan the form,” the CBDT said.

As per the GuidingPrinciples, “place of effectivemanagement” is defined as aplace where key managementand commercial decisions thatare necessary for the conduct ofthe business of an entity as a

whole are, in substance, made.The guidelines provide for an

Active Business Outside India(ABOI) test, so as not to covercompanies outside India whichare engaged in active business.“The intent is not to target Indianmulti-nationals which are engagedin business activity outside India,”CBDT said.

EY Tax Partner RajendraNayak said the guidelines strikesthe right balance between pro-viding certainty to taxpayers aswell as ensuring that offshore

companies with no substance oractivities, which are controlledfrom India, are subject to Indiantax jurisdiction. The guidelinesattempt to differentiate betweenshareholder control, manage-ment control and routine deci-sions, said KPMG in IndiaNational Head of Tax GirishVanvari.

The place of effective man-agement in case of a companyengaged in active business outsideIndia shall be presumed to be soif the majority meetings of itsboard of directors are held outsideIndia.

“However, if on the basis offacts and circumstances, it isestablished that the board ofdirectors of the company arestanding aside and not exercisingtheir powers of management andsuch powers are being exercisedby either the holding company orany other person(s) resident inIndia, then the place of effectivemanagement shall be consid-ered to be in India,” the guidelinessaid.

For the purpose of determiningwhether the company is engaged inactive business outside India, theaverage of the data of the previousyear and two years prior to that shallbe taken into account. In cases ofcompanies which do not have activebusiness outside India, there will bea two-stage process for determiningthe place of effective management toassess their tax liability. ��

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�������� � A �1,000 subsidy forpurchase of smartphones by non-tax assesses and small merchantsand a cash transaction tax on with-drawals of �50,000 and above inbanks have been recommended bya Chief Ministers’ panel today toencourage digital payments.

The Chief Ministers’ Panelreport, which was submitted toPrime Minister Narendra Modi bycommittee representative ChiefMinister of Andhra Pradesh NChandrababu Naidu, has also madea case of lower/zero merchant dis-count rate (MDR) for all digital pay-ments to government entities andcap on cash in all type of big tickettransactions.

The ‘Merchant Discount Rate’is charged to a merchant by a bankfor providing debit and credit card

services.The committee comprising

Maharashtra Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis and MadhyaPradesh Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan has also asked theCentre to promote AadhaarEnabled Payment System (AEPS)by incentivising and not chargingMDR.

The other recommendationsinclude tax incentives for microATMs, biometric sensors etc. Andtax refund for consumers using dig-ital payment up to a certain pro-portion of annual income.

When asked how sure he wasabout incorporation of these rec-ommendations in the forthcomingBudget on February 1, Naidu said,“I am very confident about that.”

Explaining about advantage of

digital payments, he said that thereare lots of cost of handling physicalcurrency because of its printing,movement and security while thereis no such cost for digital currency.

Naidu also elaborated thatwith the increase of volume of dig-ital transitions, the cost will reduceand there is huge opportunity inIndia because non-cash paymenttransitions by non-banks per capi-ta per annum is 11 in the countryas compared to 26 in China, 728 inSingapore, 355 in the UK, 142 inBrazil, 70 in South Africa and 32 inMexico.

Similarly, the report highlightsthat the number of (cashless) paypoints per million people are 1,080in India as against 31,096 inSingapore, 30,078 in the UK, 25,241in Brazil, 7,267 in South Africa, 7,189

in Mexico and 16,602 in China.The panel made a case for relief

in prospective taxes for encourag-ing merchants to accept digital pay-ments and no retrospective taxationto Merchants doing digital trans-

actions.It also suggested that for

Aadhaar Pay, Biometric (FP & Iris)sensors should be provided at 50 percent subsidy to all merchant points.

The panel said in its interim

report that all payment banks andbanking correspondents should bemade interoperable through AEPSand also provide infrastructure for1,54,000 post offices by way of inter-operable Aadhaar enabled Micro-ATMs.

Naidu also suggested insurancefor all digital transactions to safe-guard the interest of people goingcashless. The Chief Ministers’ panelhas also pitched for creating fundfrom savings generated throughcash-less transactions for incen-tivising acquiring bank acceptanceinfrastructure creation in semi-urban and rural areas.

It said the contactless paymentsshould be promoted for travellingin buses and suburban trains inmetro cities and UPI App shouldcontain a common interoperable

UPI QR Code besides banks toencourage the common QR Codeat merchant location.

It also said the rural and urbancooperative banks should beonboarded to digital transactionsmode immediately.

Explaining about the con-straints being faced by the govern-ment to encourage digital transac-tions, the panel said there is a needto bring about attitudinal changeamong people to encourage themto go for cashless transitions throughtraining.

The panel has also drawnattention towrads other constraintslike lack of hardware with merchantslike (digital payment) acceptanceinfrastructure.

It also stressed on the need forimproving the Internet connectiv-

ity and data infrastructure to boostdigital transactions.

Naidu also spoke about lack ofinteroperability of various modes ofdigital payments and cyber securi-ty for the purpose.

Besides, Naidu also suggestedthat there should be a legislation toaccommodate digital transactions.

The panel has also asked theCentre to device appropriate digi-tal payment mode for high valuetransactions and also expressed con-cerns that digital transactions arecostlier than cash ones.

The panel to suggest measuresto enable all sections of the popu-lation to migrate to the digital pay-ments was constituted onNovember 30, 2016.

The panel had four meetingsand video conferencing. ��

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�������� ��The NK Singh panel has suggesteda liberal approach on fiscal consolidation toensure that the Government’s power tospend on development is not restricted evenas its member Arvind Subramanian, CEA, hasexpressed some reservations on certainaspects of the report.

The panel headed by former RevenueSecretary submitted its four-volume report onmodifying the 13-year old FiscalResponsibility and Budget Management(FRBM) Act to Finance Minister ArunJaitley yesterday.

According to sources, there were somereservations of a member on some points, noton the entire report.

They said Subramanian, Chief EconomicAdviser, has given a dissenting view statingthat the main focus of the Government shouldbe the primary deficit and not fiscal deficit.

In the mid-year economic review last year,he had made a case for relaxing fiscal deficittarget to push growth.

However, Jaitley pursued the fiscal con-solidation roadmap in the budget and kept

the target for 2016-17 at 3.5 per cent of GDP.The panel has also suggested improve-

ment in computation of public debt anddeficit.

According to sources, the committee hastaken a liberal view on fiscal consolidationamid enhanced global uncertainty and volatil-ity in the currency market.

Since the recommendations of thereport are being utilised for Budget mak-ing it has not been made public. Jaitley willbe presenting the Union Budget for 2017-18 on February 1.

“The Government will examine theFRBM Committee Report and take appro-priate action,” the Finance Ministry had said.

Other committee members were RBIGovernor Urjit R Patel, former FinanceSecretary Sumit Bose, and Director of NIPFPRathin Roy.

When asked when the report would bemade public, Singh had said “that is in thehands of the Government, whether they wishor do not wish to make it public”.

Among other things, the Committee wasasked to examine the need and feasibility ofhaving a ‘fiscal deficit range’ as the target inplace of the existing fixed numbers (per-centage of GDP) as the goal.

The first volume of the report addressesthe issue of the fiscal policy, fiscal roadmap,international experience and recommenda-tions therein.

Volume two refers to internationalexperience while the third volume dealswith Centre-State issues. The fourth vol-ume deals with domain experts’ views onfiscal consolidation. ��

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Telecom service providerBharti Airtel on Tuesday

announced over 54 per cent fallin consolidated net profit to�503.7 for the October-December quarter due to tur-bulence owing to the continuedpredatory pricing by RelianceJio.

The company had posted anet profit of �1,108.1 crore in thesame period a year ago.

The consolidated income ofBharti Airtel declined by 3 percent during the reported periodto �23,363.9 crore from

�24,103.4 crore in correspond-ing period of 2015-16.

Bharti Airtel MD and CEOfor India & South Asia GopalVittal in a statement said, “Thequarter has seen turbulence dueto the continued predatory pric-ing by a new operator. The pre-sent termination costs at 14 paisewhich are well below cost hasresulted in a tsunami of minutesterminating into our network.

“This has led to anunprecedented year-on-yearrevenue decline for the indus-try, pressure on margins and aserious impact on the financialhealth of the sector.”

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HCL Technologies on Tuesday announced a 7.8 per centjump in net profit at �2,070 crore for the December quar-

ter, helped by growth in public services business and infra-structure services.

Revenues for the country’s fourth-largest IT company wereup 14.2 per cent at �11,814 crore in the said quarter over theyear-ago period, in line with Street expectations.

In dollar terms, the top line was higher by 11.4 per centat $1.74 billion while profits grew 5.2 per cent to USD 306million. The company has announced a dividend of �6 pershare.

The Noida-based firm has maintained its revenue growthoutlook of 12-14 per cent for 2016-17 (based on averageexchange rates for 2016-17) in constant currency.

“We continue our robust financial performance with a rev-enue growth of 3 per cent q-o-q and 13.8 per cent y-o-y inconstant currency terms... We expect our 2016-17 revenuesto be in the middle of this range,” HCL TechnologiesPresident and CEO C Vijayakumar told reporters here.

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���� ���� �� Guarding itselfagainst any accusation of ‘taxterrorism’, CBDT today saidtaxmen will have to take priorapproval of a 3-member col-legium before declaring thatan overseas company haseffective management controlin India and hence liable topay tax under the POEMrules.

In first such step to beimplemented, the concept ofcollegium comprisingPrincipal Commissioners ofIncome Tax is aimed at pro-viding comfort to tax payersand reducing chances of

harassment.The collegium system will

also be followed under theGeneral Anti Avoidance Rules(GAAR), which are slated totake effect from April 1, 2017.

Under the Place OfEf fect ive Management(POEM) rules, which werenotified today, AssessingOfficers (AOs) will alsohave to seek prior approvalof the Pr incipalCommissioner before initi-ating any proceedings forholding a company incor-porated outside India onthe basis of its POEM asbeing resident in India. ��

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NEW DELHI: Smartphonesales in the top 50 Indiancities fell sharply by 30.5 percent in November 2016 overthe previous month, hit bydouble whammy of liquid cashcrunch and cyclical softnesspost festive season, researchfirm IDC said on Tuesday.According to IDC's report,the slowdown was seen acrossall city tiers, with a de-growthof 31.7 per cent in tier I citiesand 29.5 per cent in tier II, IIIand IV cities in Novemberover October.

“This downward trend canbe attributed to demonetisa-tion and resulting cash crunchalong with the cyclically leanperiod after festive season in

October,” IDC said. The smart-phone industry is believed tohave sold around a third ofentire years' volume during thefestive season in October.

Cash purchases make upa significant portion of thesepurchases in both online andoffline channels, hence theimpact seen was immediateand more in below $200 pricerange (about �13,600) whichstill makes up a large portionof the market, IDC said.Demonetisation impacted thesmartphone market at almostall levels, including customerdemand and stock movementin distribution channels, IDCIndia Senior Market AnalystUpasana Joshi said. PTI

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Ahead of the Union Budget,markets regulator Sebi has

asked the Government to con-sider rationalisation of taxes incapital markets including that ofmutual funds and other prod-ucts. In its budget proposal tothe Finance Ministry, Sebi hasrecommended reducing thesecurities transaction tax (STT)on stock trading, sources said.

Presently, all stock markettransactions attract STT in therange of 0.017 to 0.125 per cent.It has also suggested lowering theperiod of holding in respect oflong-term debt fund units to 12months from 36 months.Besides, the regulator has soughtan increase in the investmentlimit for tax-saving equity mutu-al fund schemes to �2 lakh fromthe current �1.5 lakh.

These suggestions are aimedat attracting more investors.Further, mutual fund industrybody Amfi has also proposedthat debt-linked savings scheme

should be given tax benefitsunder Sec 80 CCC of IncomeTax Act, the sources said. Onlyequity-linked savings schemes(ELSS) qualify for tax benefitsunder Section 80 CCC of theIncome Tax Act, for an invest-ment limit of up to �1.5 lakh ina fiscal year.

Also, the Association ofmutual funds in India (Amfi)made a proposal to extend the taxbenefits available under RajivGandhi Equity Savings Scheme(RGESS) to all equity fundinvestors. To promote invest-ments in equities, the governmenthad introduced RGESS in 2012for first-time investors with annu-al income below �12 lakh a year.

Further, AMFI has pro-posed for extending Sec 54 ECbenefit for mutual fundschemes with lock-in period of3-5 years. Section 54 EC ofIncome Tax Act, 1961 pro-vides an option to save tax oncapital gain arising from trans-fer of long-term capital assetsubject to certain conditions.

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NEW DELHI: Investments indomestic capital markets throughparticipatory notes (P-Notes) haveplunged to 41-month low of�1.57 lakh crore in December.Market experts believe the trendis likely to continue as Sebi mayfurther tighten the regulationsgoverning P-Notes amid persist-ing concerns that this route isbeing used for illicit fund flows.

P-Notes are issued by regis-tered foreign portfolio investors(FPIs) to overseas investors whowish to participate in Indian mar-kets without registering themselvesdirectly. But they still need to gothrough a proper due diligenceprocess. According to Sebi data, thetotal value of P-Note investmentsin Indian markets -- equity, debtand derivatives -- plunged to�1,57,306 crore in December-end from �1,79,648 crore at the

end of November. This was thelowest level since July 2013 whenthe cumulative value of suchinvestments stood at �1,48,188crore. The investment through theroute has been falling sinceSeptember last year, when it was at�2,12,509 crore. It fell to �1,99,987crore in October-end, and furtherin November.

Of the total, P-Note holdingsin equities were at �1.01 lakh crorein December-end and the remain-ing holdings were in debt andderivatives markets. The quantumof FPI investments via P-Notesdecreased to 6.7 per cent inDecember, from 7.5 per cent inthe preceding month. Last week,a senior Sebi official said the reg-ulator is looking at further tight-ening the norms for P-Notes toaddress concerns raised by theSIT on black money. PTI

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NEW DELHI: The IndianGovernment is expected to con-tinue with fiscal consolidationand deliver a ‘popular, but not apopulist’ budget with a fiscaldeficit target of 3 per cent in 2017-18, says a report. According toJapanese financial services majorNomura, a populist budget is notlikely, though there are concernsthat the Government may betempted to provide such measuresamid derailment of growthmomentum post demonetisation.

“While the theme of demon-etisation will inevitably be presentin the budget, we expect a popularand prudent plan, not a populistone, with the Government stickingto its fiscal consolidation targets,aided by higher revenue collections,”Nomura said. It further said thebudget is expected to aim at cor-porate tax rationalisation, promot-ing ‘less cash’ economy and higherspending on rural sector, affordablehousing and public infrastructure.Government is scheduled to presentthe Union Budget 2017-18 onFebruary 1. Nomura expects thefiscal deficit target of 3.5 per centfor 2016-17 to be met and to beconsolidated further to 3 percent of GDP in 2017-18. PTI

NEW DELHI: TheGovernment’s 10 per cent stakesale in MOIL Ltd opened to anenthusiastic response on Tuesday,with the shares reserved fornon-retail investors getting over-subscribed in the post noontrade. The 2-day offer for sale(OFS) of the government's 10 percent stake in MOIL at a floorprice of �365 opened for non-retail investors on Tuesday. Theshare sale got fully subscribedwith bids coming in for over 1.06crore shares reserved for the non-retail segment at 1345 hours, asper stock exchange data.

The MOIL stock was trad-ing 2.97 per cent down at�371.35 on BSE at 1346 hours.The shares will be available forsubscription by retail investorson Wednesday. Retail buyers willbe allocated shares at a discount

of 5 per cent to the cut-off price.In all, the Government is selling1.33 crore shares through theOFS route at a floor price of�365. The share sale would fetch�480 crore to the exchequer.

The Government currentlyholds 75.58 per cent in MOIL,formerly known as ManganeseOre India Ltd. Earlier this fiscal,the government had raised about�794 crore through share buy-back of MOIL. The Governmenthas so far raised about �30,000crore through minority share saleby way of OFS, share buybackand CPSE ETF so far in the cur-rent fiscal. Last week, theDepartment of Investment andPublic Asset Management(DIPAM) launched the secondtranche of CPSE ExchangeTraded Fund (ETF), which wasover-subscribed 2 times. PTI

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NEW DELHI: Gold extendedgains for the second straight dayby adding another �10 to �29,725per 10 grams on Tuesday, main-ly driven by a firm globaltrend and pick up in wed-ding season demand fromlocal jewellers and retailers.Silver also strengthened by�40 to �41,840 per kg due toincreased off-take by indus-trial units and coin makers.

Bullion traders said afirming trend overseas where goldrose to the highest since Novemberafter protectionist signals fromDonald Trump’s unsettled finan-

cial markets and weakened the dol-lar, which triggered demand for themetal as a safe haven. Globally, goldrose 0.64 per cent to $1,217.70 an

ounce and silver 0.82 per centto $17.20 an ounce in NewYork on Monday. Besides,pick up in buying by localjewellers to meet ongoingwedding season demand atdomestic spot market alsosupported the uptick, theysaid.In the national capital,

gold of 99.9 per cent and 99.5 percent purity edged up by �10 eachto �29,725 and �29,575 per 10grams, respectively. PTI

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MUMBAI: A set of strong cor-porate earnings numbers gave themarket enough comfort as theSensex soared by over 258 pointson Tuesday to end at 27,376, a 2-month high, with covering ofshort positions ahead of deriva-tives expiry making the job easi-er. The big domestic trigger com-ing up next is Union budget,which is slated for February 1.

Encouraging results from blue-chips led by HDFC Bank, TataCommunications and HCL Techgot investors going, with moodturning positive after a higher

opening in Europe. The 30-sharepack resumed higher and movedin a range of 27,393.35 and27,140.85 before ending at27,375.58, a sharp gain of 258.24points, or 0.95 per cent. This is itshighest closing since November 10,2016, when it closed at 27,517.68.

It had gained 82.84 points in theprevious session. The NSE 50-share Nifty also recaptured the8,400-mark by rising 84.30 points,or 1 per cent, to end at 8,475.80. “Themarket extended gains with increas-ing focus on the upcoming budgetwhich induced participants forshort-covering ahead of the expirytomorrow (Thursday). Positivequarter results have also influencedthe investors to participate in the pre-budget rally,” said Vinod Nair, Headof Research, Geojit BNP ParibasFinancial Services. The rupee tooclosed higher against the dollar. PTI

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London: In a huge setback forBritish Prime Minister TheresaMay that could delay her Brexitplans, the Supreme Court onTuesday ruled that she cannottrigger the process of takingBritain out of the EuropeanUnion (EU) unilaterally andmust seek Parliament's consentover it.

The judgement means theBritish Prime Minister cannottrigger Article 50 of the LisbonTreaty to officially begin Brexitnegotiations with the EU untilBritain's MPs and peers givetheir backing.

The Government hadargued that it already had theexecutive powers to triggerArticle 50 but Supreme Courtjudges rejected the case by amajority of eight to three.

Reading out the ruling,Supreme Court President LordNeuberger said: "By a majori-ty of eight to three, theSupreme Court today rulesthat the Government cannottrigger Article 50 without anAct of Parliament authorisingit to do so."

The official judgement inthe case concludes: "Thechange in the law required toimplement the referendum'soutcome must be made in theonly way permitted by the UK

constitution, namely by legis-lation."

In a joint judgment of themajority, the Supreme Courtholds that an Act ofParliament is required toauthorise ministers to givenotice of the decision of theUK to withdraw from theEuropean Union."

The Government had losta High Court case brought byanti-Brexit campaigners lastNovember, leading to the land-mark appeal in the SupremeCourt heard by all 11 justicesof Britain's highest court.

The hearing also includedarguments from Scotland,Wales and Northern Ireland asinterested parties in the case.

The Supreme Court, how-ever, ruled that the devolvedScottish Parliament and Welshand Northern Ireland assem-blies did not need a say in theformal Brexit process.

Gina Miller, the lead cam-paigner in the case, said: "Brexitis the biggest decision for a gen-eration. But this case was aboutprocess, not politics.

"Only Parliament can grantright to the British people andonly parliament can take themaway. No prime minister, noGovernment, can expect to beunanswerable or unchallenged.

Parliament alone is sovereign."UK Attorney General

Jeremy Wright said the gov-ernment was "disappointed"but would "comply" and do "allthat is necessary" to implementthe court's judgement.

Downing Street stressedthat the ruling will not derailMay's timetable to triggerArticle 50 by the end of March.

"The British people voted

to leave the EU, and theGovernment will deliver ontheir verdict — triggeringArticle 50, as planned, by theend of March. Today's rulingdoes nothing to change that," aDowning Street spokespersonsaid.

"It's important to remem-ber that Parliament backed thereferendum by a margin of sixto one and has already indi-

cated its support for getting onwith the process of exit to thetimetable we have set out. Werespect the Supreme Court'sdecision, and will set out ournext steps to Parliament short-ly," the spokesperson added.

UK Secretary of State forExiting the European UnionDavid Davis is expected tomake a statement in the Houseof Commons. PTI

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Australia and New Zealandon Tuesday said they

hoped to salvage the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) byencouraging China and otherAsian countries to join thetrade pact after US PresidentDonald Trump kept a promiseto abandon the accord.

The TPP, which the UnitedStates had signed but not rati-fied, was a pillar of former USPresident Barack Obama's pol-icy to pivot to Asia.

Japanese Prime MinisterShinzo Abe has touted it as anengine of economic reform, aswell as a counter-weight to arising China, which is not aTPP member.

Fulfilling a campaignpledge, Trump signed an exec-utive order in the Oval Officeon Monday pulling the UnitedStates out of the 2015 TPPagreement and distancing theUnited States from its Asianallies.

Australian Prime MinisterMalcolm Turnbull said he hadheld discussions with Abe,New Zealand Prime MinisterBill English and SingaporePrime Minister Lee HsienLoong overnight about thepossibility of proceeding with-out the United States.

"Losing the United Statesfrom the TPP is a big loss, thereis no question about that,"Turnbull said in Canberra onTuesday. "But we are not aboutto walk away ... certainly thereis potential for China to jointhe TPP."

In Beijing, Foreign Ministryspokeswoman Hua Chunyingdid not say directly whetherChina would be interested injoining the TPP but that at a timeof economic uncertainly theAsia-Pacific should make itsown contributions to growthwith openness.

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Astana: Russia, Iran and Turkeyon Tuesday announced theywill establish a trilateral mecha-nism to support the ceasefire inSyria and urged the SyrianOpposition to take part inGeneva peace talks.

"The delegations of Iran,Russia and Turkey support thenegotiations between theGovernment of Syria and armedopposition in Astana, January23-24, 2017," said a statementissued at the end of talks and readout by Kazakh Foreign MinisterKairat Abdrakhmanov. Moscow,Tehran and Ankara agreed thatthe Syrian crisis can be onlyresolved through a politicalprocess and that there can be nomilitary solution.

The sides also agreed to ajoint fight against militants fromthe Islamic State, which along-side Al Nusra front has not beenincluded in the negotiations.The trio also suggested separat-

ing the terrorists from Syrianarmed opposition groups. Theyalso welcomed the implementa-tion of UN Security CouncilResolution 2254 on the Syriancrisis.

The countries said that theysupport the willingness of thearmed opposition groups to takepart in the next round of talks,which are scheduled forFebruary 8 in Geneva.

Syria has seen almost sixyears of a bloody civil war thathas claimed over 250,000 civil-ian lives. Syrian pro-democracyprotests in March 2011 escalat-ed into the civil war as rebelgroups were formed to fight thegovernment of President Basharal-Assad. The conflict has nowacquired sectarian overtones,pitching the country's Sunnimajority against Shias, anddrawn in regional and worldpowers, including Russia, the US,Turkey. IANS

Washington: In a stern warn-ing to China, the US has saidit will protect its interests in thedisputed South China Sea anddefend international territo-ries from being taken over by"one country".

"I think areas in the SouthChina Sea that are part ofinternational waters and inter-national activities... I think theUS is going to make sure thatwe protect our interests there,"White House Press SecretarySean Spicer told reporters at hisfirst news conference.

"So it's a question of ifthose islands are in fact in inter-national waters and not part ofChina proper, then yes, we'regonna make sure that wedefend international territo-ries from being taken over byone country," Spicer said.

He was responding to aquestion related to a recentstatement made by Secretary ofState nominee Rex Tillersonthat US would deny Chinaaccess to these islands as theyare in international waters.

China in a strongly word-ed statement had warned US ofa war if it is denied the access.

The US President, Spicersaid, understands that China isa big market — for US goodsand services.

"When he met the head of

Alibaba a couple of weeks ago,that was part of the point.There's huge market issuethere. But in many cases, it's nota two-way street," he said.

"There are so manyChinese businesses and indi-viduals frankly, who can haveease of access in the UnitedStates to sell their goods or ser-vices," he added.

"I think that whether or notyou're talking about the finan-cial services or the banking,you know, the other serviceindustries, or our manufactur-ing goods and services, orsome of the IP problems thatwe have with China, that it real-ly is not a two-way street,"Spicer said.

"So he understands themarket that China has and ourdesire to further penetrate thatmarket.

"But he also recognises,there's a lot of concerns withhow we are treated enteringinto China's market, and weneed to review that," he said inresponse to a question. PTI

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Washington: A steady streamof nicotine normalises geneti-cally-induced impairments inbrain activity associated withschizophrenia, according to anew study that could lead tonew non-addictive, nicotine-based treatments for the 51million people worldwide whosuffer from the disease.

The finding sheds light onwhat causes the disease andwhy those who have it tend tosmoke heavily. It could alsopotentially have applicationsfor treating addiction,Attention Deficit HyperactivityDisorder, Bipolar disorder andother psychiatric conditions.

"Our study provides com-pelling biological evidence thata specific genetic variant con-tributes to risk for schizophre-nia, defines the mechanismresponsible for the effect andvalidates that nicotine improvesthat deficit," said Jerry Stitzel,researcher at the Institute forBehavioural Genetics (IBG) inthe US. The study found thatwhen mice with schizophreniccharacteristics were given nico-tine daily, their sluggish brainactivity increased within twodays. Within one week it hadnormalised.

"Basically the nicotine iscompensating for a genetical-ly determined impairment. Noone has ever shown thatbefore," said Stitzel. PTI

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Phnom Penh: Thousands ofCambodian villagers will beevacuated after two US tear gasbarrel bombs from the Vietnamwar era were found near a pri-mary school, a demining teamsaid on Tuesaday.

The 200-kilogram bombsare thought to have beendropped by US warplanes inFebruary 1970 against commu-nist forces on Cambodia's south-eastern border with Vietnam.

Heng Ratana, director gen-eral of the Cambodian MineAction Center (CMAC), saidvillagers, including 200 stu-dents, will have to be evacuat-ed before deminers move intothe village in Svay Riengprovince.

"We will have to evacuatestudents because the bombscontain chemical and explosivesubstances," he told AFP.

Heng Ratana said the two

barrel bombs are believed to bepacked with CS — a form of teargas that was extensively used byAmerican forces to smoke outenemies from jungle hideouts.

The bombs are believed tobe among a total of four piecesof ordnance dropped over theprovince by US warplanes inFebruary 1970. Locals toldCMAC that two of the bombsexploded and damaged aBuddhist dinning hall.

Nearly three decades ofcivil war starting in the 1960sleft Cambodia, along withneighbouring Laos, one of themost heavily bombed andmined countries in the world.

Between the late 1960sand early 1970s, the UnitedStates dropped upwards of 2.7million tons of bombs onCambodia during its efforts tocut off supply routes to north-ern Vietnam. AFP

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Much to the chagrin ofDemocrats, President

Donald Trump used his firstWhite House meeting withCongressional leaders onMonday to make assertion thathe would not have lost the pop-ular vote to Hillary Clinton inthe November election if onlysome three to five million “ille-gals” had not fraudulently par-ticipated in the voting.

Trump apparently opted tostir the pot all over again onthis claim in the face of ques-tions that critics continue toraise about the legitimacy of hiselection. He had made similarassertions back in November,but election officials rejectedthem, saying there was no evi-dence of people having votedillegally.

In a split electoral verdict,Trump secured the presidencyby winning the ElectoralCollege vote (304-227), whileClinton won the popular voteby bagging almost three millionmore votes than him. Underthe US Constitution, it is theElectoral College that decidesthe winner.

Hosting a reception forCongressional leaders of bothparties on Monday evening,Trump brought up the issue ina freewheeling discussionbefore seeking to build upbipartisan support for an ambi-tious legislative agenda thatincludes the repeal and replace-

ment of Obamacare, a largeinfrastructure investment,making changes to immigra-tion laws and overhauling thetax system.

While there was no imme-diate word from the WhiteHouse on Trump’s renewedclaims over the popular vote,Democratic sources told USmedia outlets that he did bringup the subject. On this veryissue, back in November,Trump had tweeted: “In addi-tion to winning the ElectoralCollege in a landslide, I won thepopular vote if you deduct themillions of people who votedillegally.”

Congressional leaders toattend the meeting includedHouse Speaker Paul Ryan,House Majority Leader KevinMcCarthy, Senate MajorityLeader Mitch McConnell andSenate Majority Whip JohnCornyn, all Republicans. TheDemocratic representativesincluded House MinorityLeader Nancy Pelosi andSenate Minority Leader ChuckSchumer. On another front,namely relations with the newsmedia, the Trump administra-tion appeared to be keen tomove on by declaring a truceafter two days of a public spatover the size of the audience forTrump’s inaugural on Friday.

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According to a recent report bythe World Health Organisationand World Bank Group, 10 per

cent of the world’s population isaffected by mental disorders and closeto 20 per cent of children suffer fromsome form of mental disorder. Themental disorders account for 30 percent of the non-fatal disease burdenworldwide and 10 per cent of the over-all disease burden, including death anddisability.

Being a global burden, mental ill-ness is also costly for a country’s econ-omy. In 2010, the cost of mental dis-orders worldwide was estimated to beapproximately $2.5 trillion; by 2030,that figure is projected to go up by 240per cent, to $6.0 trillion. This is a seri-ous issue when nearly 80 per cent ofthe people, likely to experience anepisode of a mental disorder in theirlifetime, come from low and middle-income countries.

Given the extent and impact ofmental illness there is a critical needfor prevention, treatment and care ser-vices, and for a highly skilled and edu-cated workforce. It isn’t surprising thatmore and more students are opting tostudy psychology.

Psychology is the scientific studyof how people think, feel and behave.The discipline covers all aspects of thehuman experience, including the waythe brain works, the way peopledevelop over the lifespan, the way peo-ple relate to each other in socialgroups and society, their personality,and mental health. Those with pro-fessional training in this field arerequired in fields like schools, hospi-tals, research centres, corporate, andeven advertising firms and NGOs.

������������ � � � ��An undergraduate (UG) degree

provides students with a foundation-al knowledge of all the major areasencapsulated by the discipline.Different countries have different eli-gibility criteria. To be eligible to pur-sue an undergraduate psychologydegree in India, a student must havequalified 10 plus 2 or equivalentexamination in any stream. Manyreputed institutions require a mini-mum of 50 to 60 per cent marks in 10plus 2 as qualifying criterion to secureadmission. While in the US, a studentmust be a high school graduate ormust have completed his GeneralEducation Development (GED). Alsofor students whose first language is notEnglish, foreign universities ask foreither TOEFL (test of English as for-eign language) or IELTS (InternationalEnglish Language Testing System) orboth as admission criteria.

In the UK, most universities askfor five General Certificate ofSecondary Education(GCSE)/Ordinary-Level exams andminimum of three Advanced-Levelexams with advanced grades. InAustralia, students graduating fromany stream in high school can gener-ally apply to enter UG programmes inPsychology, and the marks requiredvary from university to university, andcourse to course.

The profession is heavily regulat-ed, and standards of training are stip-ulated by Government or Governmentagencies to ensure that graduates

have the knowledge and skills towork safely and ethically with peoplewho seek their help or services. InIndia, to become a licensedPsychologist, an UG degree inPsychology, from a university accred-ited by the University GrantsCommission is needed. In the US, theAmerican Psychological Associationaccredits courses while in the UK, thisis done by the British PsychologicalSociety. In Australia, a student needsto complete a sequence of coursesaccredited by the AustralianPsychology Accreditation Committeeto become eligible for registration asa psychologist.

At present, this involves a mini-mum of five years of study at univer-sity followed by an internship. Forendorsement in a specialist field anapplied masters or doctorate isrequired, and this will involve six orseven years of study. These courses aredesigned for specialist fields of psy-chological practice, including clinicalpsychology, forensic psychology,organisational health psychology,counselling psychology, sports psy-chology, neuropsychology, and com-munity psychology. While in most

countries the completion of UG psy-chology studies does not qualify a grad-uate to become a registered (licensed)psychologist, the training they havecompleted is inevitably relevant anduseful in their lives and work.

�������� ���Graduates may take up a wide

range of work opportunities like alliedhealth services, community work,coaching/counselling, youth work,drug and alcohol services, policydevelopment, the justice system,human resources, marketing, socialresearch, health and human servicescounselling. Some of the most popu-lar specialist areas include clinical,forensic and organisational psycholo-gy. Clinical psychologists specialise inthe assessment and treatment of men-tal health problems, and are much indemand in the current age of demand-ing and stressful environment. Theseprofessionals usually practice at pub-lic and private clinics and hospitals, orset up a clinic of their own.

Organisational psychologists pro-vide advice and consultation in areassuch as recruitment and selection,change management, performance

management and well-being, stressand work-life balance. Forensic psy-chologists are experts in the assess-ment and treatment of perpetrators ofcrime, as well as victims of crime.

Other specialists in the fieldinclude Geropsychologists, Child psy-chologists, Social Psychologists,Community psychologists, environ-mental psychologists, etc. Also, aspostgraduate (PG) and doctoral pro-grammes include research, one can alsopursue either a research or teaching jobin this field. With specialist PG qual-ifications in these areas, young psy-chologists can up their game for bet-ter opportunities and remuneration. Apsychologist is expected to work eightto nine hours a day and could be askedto be present whenever called.

������ ��To become a registered psychol-

ogist also requires dedication andhard work, as the education pathwayis long. However, by the time a stu-dent graduates and secures a position,he or she will be rewarded with ful-filling work and a good salary. In theUS a psychologist can earn anythingbetween $50,000 and $150,000 perannum, depending on the branch hespecialises in.

In the UK, the wages for clinicalpsychologists range from £28,313 to£37,326 per year. Senior clinical psy-chologists can expect to earn between£36,112 and £43,335. In Australia, theaverage salary for a clinical psychol-ogist is around $AUS74,000 per year.For a general psychologist, withoutspecialised PG training, the salary isaround $AUS67,000. However, salariesvary substantially depending onwhether a psychologist works in theprivate or public sector, and in whichfield of psychology he/she works. InIndia, a psychologist’s salary can rangebetween �30,000 to �1.2 lakh pm,depending on specialty, location etc.

���������$There are opportunities for inter-

national applications of psychology.For example, psychologists are col-laborating internationally to conductresearch, train and help people in car-rying out humanitarian work duringpost wars and disaster distresses.

In the coming years, psychologists— especially those without specialistPG clinical training — are likely to facetough competition from masters’degree counsellors in the servicedelivery fields. However, several psy-chology sub-fields are poised for agrowth and hold a bright future, par-ticularly industrial-organisational(I/O) psychology (scientific study ofhuman behaviour in the workplace),marketing and customer psychology(understand, predict and manipulateconsumer behaviour). Or neuropsy-chology (deals with nerve-relatedmental conditions like Alzheimer’s),geropsychology (mental health disor-ders, depression and aging, anxiety,and age-related illnesses of olderadults), coaching psychology (motivatein areas like personal life, work andeven sports) and environmental psy-chology (physical surroundings affect-ing psychological state).

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���������The Apeejay School of

Management (ASM) hasannounced admission to its two-year Post Graduate Diploma inManagement (PGDM) for the session2017-19. The programmes offer spe-cialisations in Marketing, Finance,Human Resource Management, International Business, IT andOperations

Eligibility: Bachelors or equivalent in any discipline withminimum 50 per cent aggregate marks from a recognised uni-versity. Candidates in their final year can also apply (providedthat their aggregate up to the final year must be 50 per cent orabove).

Selection Process: The institute considers CAT/ MAT/CMAT/ XAT/ GMAT scores; however, the final selection of acandidate depends upon the overall performance including theprevious academic performance, written test, group discussionand personal interview.

Application Procedure: Application form can be obtainedpersonally from the Institute or procured by post. It can also bedownloaded from http://www.apeejay.edu/asm/index.php/admis-sions.

Scholarship: The institute also offers merit-cum-meansscholarships.

Deadline to apply: Before February 15, 2017.

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Hughes Global Education IndiaLtd (HGEIL), the education

business Subsidiary of HughesCommunication India Ltd (HCIL)and XLRI’s Xavier School ofManagement have joined hands tolaunch Direct to DesktopExecutive DevelopmentProgrammes (e-MDP) for work-ing professionals and self-employed.

At present, only two shortduration e-MDP courses are beingoffered under this Direct toDesktop (D2D) programme —Executive DevelopmentProgrammes in Human ResourcesDevelopment (EDPHRD) andExecutive Development

Programme in StrategicManagement (EDPSM).

The Executive DevelopmentProgrammes in Human ResourcesDevelopment (EDPHRD) pro-gramme aims at providing basicknowledge and better under-standing of HRD theory andpractices for HR/HRD profes-sionals and line managers who areassociated with HRD activities intheir respective organisations. Thelast date to apply for this course isJanuary 31, 2017.

The other programme —EDPSM intends to explicate the

role of industry analysis, innova-tion focus and resource basedthinking in strategising for growth.Many leaders and managersimplicitly use the resource basedlogic in making strategic decisions.The last date of application for thiscourse is February 27, 2017.

The fee for both the coursesare �77,000 plus taxes payable intwo installments. To register, logon to http://www.hugheseduca-tion.com/xlri-jamshedpur/edphrdfor EDPHRD andhttp://www.hugheseducation.com/xlri-jamshedpur/edpsm for EDPSM.

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Here are the five reasonswhy aspirants should reg-

ister for the Test of English as aForeign Language (TOEFL)Massive Open Online Courses(MOOC)� It’s your all-access pass to theTOEFL Internet-based test (iBT)test. This six-week course willget you up to speed on the sec-tions of the test, the skills that aretest, how to score well, and howit is used by higher educationcolleges and universities. � It was designed by the expertswho created the test. The teamthat developed the TOEFL iBTtest is the same team that builtthis course. You can trust thatevery aspect of the MOOC isdesigned to benefit you, and thatthis is the most in-depth, insid-er’s look that you will find. � It enables you to connectwith participants worldwide.Through the discussion boards,you will get to meet students

from all over the world andexchange tips and experiences. � It’s interactive. Not only willyou be able to communicatewith other participants, but youwill have unprecedented accessto expert instructors. During thespeaking and writing lectures,the team that developed theTOEFL test will review a hand-ful of responses and provide

feedback. Plus, the test expertswill be monitoring discussionboards and hosting a liveFacebook event to conclude thecourse.� It’s free and it’s accessible withan Internet on most devices.

The next TOEFL testpreparation: The Insider’sGuide kicks off on Wednesday,January 25, 2017. The six-week

course provides you with theopportunity to have an insider’slook at the TOEFL test and theEnglish skills necessary to suc-ceed in university classrooms.You will walk away with a broadunderstanding of the four sec-tions of the test as well as help-ful tips to prepare.

Weekly commitment to theMOOC is no more than twohours per week. And althoughthe course is free, you will havethe option to sign up for a paidcertificate that will highlightthe knowledge and skills yougained upon completing theMOOC.

To register through edX, logon to https://www.edx.org/course/toeflr-test-prepara-tion-insiders-guide-etsx-toeflx-1.

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The result of the computer basedexam for Company Secretaries

Foundation Programme held inDecember last year is scheduled tobe declared at 11 am on Wednesday,January 25, 2017 on the websitewww.icsi.edu. There will be subject-wise break-up of marks and e-result-cum-marks statement as well. Thenext computer based exam forCompany Secretaries FoundationProgramme will be held on June 3and 4, 2017.

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�Your school has beenencouraging a lot of studentsto turn writers…

Last year, we came up witha collection of stories which waswritten by our students for cre-ative writing programme. Oflate, Manvi Handa, a Class IXstudent has launched her noveltitle Let Me By Your Side whichis about a teenager’s take onfriendship, infatuation, jealousyand love. Our students alsoparticipate in Science OlympiadsFoundation. We expose our stu-dents to a variety of extra-cur-ricular activities so that they canidentify where their interest liesand help them pursue it. �The school also doingstudent exchangeprogrammes...

We started this in 2010with a school from Germanyand currently we have theexchange programme runningwith Germany and France.Every year, a new lot of studentscome with their teachers toDPS Sushant Lok and get achance to stay with Indian stu-dents at their home and experi-ence our way of living. Theystudy together in the classroomand work on various projects.This way both internationaland Indian students get to learn.�What kind of projects dothese children do?

Apart from cultural relatedactivities where students aretaught traditional dance etc, weteach them about Vedic Mathswhich is meant to increase yourcalculation speed and requires alot of practice. This practise istaught in the coaching instituteswhere students are preparedfor entrance exams like engi-neering, and many others. �How does this help thestudents?

The more we expose thestudents to diversity, the moretolerant and adaptable they willbecome. Our understandingabout life and human relationsbroadens and they become morecompassionate individuals. Theacceptance of differences is very

important. Students, who havecome from other countries,have faced problems adjustingwith the Indian students and arereserved and restricted to theirown comfort zone, their cultureand people. Before their visit,they should be informed aboutthe culture and learn the lan-guage of that country. We’ve toorient our students that what isokay with us may not be okaywith them in terms of food pref-erences, behaviours, etc.�How does the embassyhelp in this?

We can’t do studentexchange programme indepen-dently. We approach embassieswith the idea of collaborationwith the schools of their coun-try or sometimes we get theschools on board and ask for theembassy to support the two-week programme. The embassyensures that there is education-al compliant to the visit. Afterthe programme gets over, wesend them a CD of the activi-ties and projects done by theforeign students. Similarly, wesend our children to othercountries like Japan for Indo-Japan cultural summit, a USvisit to NASA, etc.�What’s in the pipeline?

We are expanding ourexchange programmes toBelgium and Finland and work-ing out on a trip to Australiawhich is not be an exchange pro-gramme but falls under theumbrella of international dimen-sion to education for which wehave been acknowledged withBritish Council ISA award.

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Page 14: 0 1-23 -! ˙ ˙#˚$!˙%&ˆ& $’()˚ *# · PDF filecontested the 2014 Lok Sabha ... India under which the LIC will ... launching of the Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana 2017 (VPBY 2017)

Adelaide ScholarshipsInternational (ASI) are openfor pursuing higher degree byresearch (masters/doctoral)at University of Adelaide.International students canapply for these scholarships.

How to apply: Submit aformal application for admis-sion and a scholarship online.The university is unable toprovide an assessment of eli-gibility for candidature and/ora scholarship until a formalapplication is submitted andassessed. We strongly recom-mend that all applicants sub-mit their application and allrequired documents wellbefore the closing date.

Application deadline:The deadline is January 31,2017.

Internshala hasannounced its annual schol-arship — Internshala CareerScholarship for Girls 2017.The scholarship is meant tohelp advance one girl’s careerin her chosen field. The schol-arship is to recognise a girlwho has fought against oddsto pursue a career of herdreams in any field (acade-mics, Sports, and Arts etc).

Eligibility: Any Indiangirl studying in college,between the ages of 17 to 23years (as of December 31,2016), that is born betweenJanuary 1, 1993 and

December 31, 1999with a career objective is eli-

gible to apply.Scholarship amount and

purpose: The scholarship is aone-time reward of �25,000and is meant to advance thegirl’s career in some way — beit an allowance for pursuingan internship or undertakinga project in the chosen field,payment towards a specialisedtraining programme, specialequipment, etc.

Deadline: January 31,2017. For application link:http://bit.ly/ICSG-Avenues.

The University ofNottingham is offering 105scholarships for studentsstarting full-time mastersdegree programmes inSeptember 2017.

Eligibility: Are a nation-al of Africa, India, or one ofthe countries of theCommonwealth, Are classedas an overseas student for feepurposes, Have not alreadystudied outside of your homecountry, Are not currentlystudying at a University ofNottingham or are not aUniversity of Nottinghamgraduate, Hold an offer tostart a full-time mastersdegree programme, includingMRes, at Nottingham forSeptember 2017 in an area ofstudy within Faculty ofEngineering, Faculty ofMedicine and HealthSciences, Faculty of Science,Faculty of Social Sciences

How to apply: It is online.Deadline: The deadline is

March 24, 2017.

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A media workshop was organised by CreativesWorld Media Academy and ICMEI at Kalka PublicSchool, Alaknanda. SS Dogra, senior journalist andmanaging editor of Dwarka Parichay was the keyspeaker. He interacted with Class XII students andgave a lecture on the the branches of media and howit benefits the students. He also gave tips and encour-aged student participant. The pointers that were givenduring the lecture were appreciated by the studentswho then asked several relevant questions related tothe industry.

Over the years, Dogra has conducted severalworkshops with the aim to motivate and create a pos-itive image of the media among school and college

goers. Apart from the utility and uses of media, top-ics like career options in mass communication werediscussed.

Honey Sehgal, alumni of Kalka Public School waspresent and presented his book Journalism AroundUs to Anju Malhrotra, principal of Kalka PublicSchool. Sehgal talked his journey from the school toa career in journalism. He also shared his experiencesand explained the importance of media and news intoday’s scenario.

The workshop concluded with short speech byMahrotra who appreciated Dogra for his innovative,motivational and productive workshop. She also con-gratulated Sehgal who for a bright future ahead.

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Under the guidance of thefounder-chairman, RyanInternational Group of InstitutionsDr AF Pinto and MD Grace Pintothe students of Class XI from RyanInternational School, Vasant Kunjwent on a knowledge drive in

Mahipalpur and Vasant Kunj toteach residents andshopkeepers aboutcashless transactions.

The studentschose smaller storeoutlets ones even on

the pavements to spread awarenessamongst the shopkeepers regarding

the various ways to make cashlessmoney transactions. They weretaught about the various modes ofpayment like UPI, e-wallets, plasticmoney, Aadhar Card payments andmaking transactions through theirmobile phones without Internet.

This initiative has also instilledin our students, the value of gen-erosity and compassion. The stu-dents were also socially sensitisedtowards existing issues of the soci-ety, arousing a feeling of responsi-bility.

The School for SocialEntrepreneurs (SSE) India, an ini-tiative supported by PwC invitesapplications for the second batchof the Social Start-up FellowshipProgramme 2017 in New Delhi onJanuary 5, 2017. The announce-ment was made at the functionhosted by Jagriti Yatra which is a15-day long journey which takespotential leaders across the lengthand breadth of India, to under-

stand and build the India of smalltowns and villages through enter-prise.

The school chose 16 candi-dates, out of over 100 applicants,based on raw passion for their ideaand its implementation. The ensu-ing nine-month long trainingfocused on helping these socialentrepreneurs equip themselves tocreate social change.

Shalabh Mittal, CEO of School

for Social Entrepreneurs Indiasaid: “Jagriti Yatra is a strategicpartner for us and we find a greatvalue in this association since thisis our first step to the recruitmentprocess. We announce opening ourapplications while on the Yatra andyatris effectively become our firstapplicants. The efforts will findfruition with some getting into SSEfellowship programme to createtheir enterprises.”

�4��>���B.�����������'���������( '�)�����( *+,�*-./

$ ! �

+&,31�� �����,���11�11�.�E��.��1��13����$ >��� ����� �����$ ���'�, !�� �������� ����"�������� ������������(�����)� ���What inspired you to start youth4work?

During my campus selection, the firstcompany was Mahendra and they ran-domly picked anyone for any depart-ment. They picked my friend who could-n’t speak English to work in a departmentdealing with foreign trade! There was nocheck. What mattered was — ‘Btech hai,kahin bhi daal do’. This disturbed me andI started my start-up. I decided to start atechnology which will assess you and yourskills. �What are the facilities?

There is a youth journey that happens.While you were in college you wantedinternships, then came exam preparations,then you apply for jobs which are based onskills. Now you want to know your skillsand talents and a suitable job for that. This,from entering into college to getting a job,is a journey. So we capture the youth intheir journey at least till their second job.For this all facilities are provided in our app,self assessment tests, talent tests, jobs open-ings and everything. �How is it different from other apps andjob providers?

We are ‘not’ a job provider. We are ayouth platform which helps peopleupskilling, skilling and showcasing theirtalent. Job is a byproduct of your skills andtalents. We don’t want to belabeled as job providers.We are not meant forthat. �Why should peo-ple prefer this app?

The app helps‘you’. It helps the usersin understandingthemselves. It will helpyou above a particulartransaction. In India,understanding oneself isthe biggest missing crite-ria. Youngsters ko ya mujhebhi nahi pata ki hummein kya skill hai basengineering karli yadegree leli. Degreeis the worst crite-ria to judge peo-ple. I would prefera skilled personrather than hav-ing a less skilledperson with manydegrees. �Are youinvolved in pro-jects like SkillIndia? If yes, how?

Yes, we won theInnovation Award inskill India. We are

doing a lot in Skill India. Our tools are help-ing them for skilling people and gettingthem jobs. We are partners with the sec-tor skill council in India. We’re also help-ing Medical Student PerformanceEvaluation. There are about 50 more part-ners who would be using our platform toupskill. �How do you propose the mindset ofpeople who still look for job openings innewspaper?

There are two parts of this problem.The first one is to actually find these peo-ple. Second, upskill them and aware themabout their skill talent and technology.

The first problem is not beingaddressed. Once the first problem isaddressed, second will automatically bedone. Take an example. There’s a person inAjmer who is preparing for Core Java. Ifthis data is available, we can use it power-fully and tell him about his skill, guide himand second problem is also solved. So thisdata with some information is very nec-essary. Mobile phones are nowadays verycommon. Just a name and number is need-ed and we can solve both these problems. �Isn’t providing too many facilities con-fuse the users?

Confusers are looking only for onething. A job. So that is a business trick now.The technology will show you what youwant. But it will change with your desires.

System move karega. Technology aisi haiki jo chahiye wohi dikhega. �Tips for people who want to starttheir own start-up.

The only tip is to stay focused andfight the pain. People think that get-ting funding is the real pain but the realpain starts after you get the funding.These days, start-ups and entrepre-neurships are showcased in a very dif-ferent manner. Everyone fantasies it.

Shows like TVF pitchers and socialmedia has made it look so glamorous.

Sabko lagta hai har entrepreneur billionairebanta hai. But in reality, the journey

is very tough. Second, it is theidea. Your basic idea should be

to make real business and notto make a lot of money.�Future plans.

India needs youthwho need help in their

journey. There areplans to expand

outside India.There arep a r t n e r swho arechasing us

and want toopen up in

Spain.

Starting a business is difficult.Launching a start-up is even more so.Attempting to build a company from

the ground up, many entrepreneurs havelittle prior experience in the businessworld. Even when they have an awesomeidea, complex problems arise like manag-ing the young enterprise, handling financesand hiring employees on a budget. Mistakesand entrepreneurship go hand-in-hand.Even with meticulous planning, you arebound to make mistakes. Some will makeyou a better entrepreneur while others willflat out ruin your business. Knowingwhich ones to avoid beforehand can saveyou a lot of time, money, and heartache.Below are some start-up mistakes to avoid.

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Keep your personal and professionallife separate. Your business should not affectyour personal life and vice-versa. Never letyour personal life affect your business. Asuccessful entrepreneur knows how to keephis personal as well as professional life sep-arate.

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Struggling entrepreneurs often thinkthat if they can just raise another round offinancing, their problems will be solved. But

money doesn’t work like that. If your busi-ness model isn’t sound, throwing moneyat it is not going to work. You have to fixthe problem first, and then raise themoney. Doing it the other way around willonly get you in more trouble.

������������ ������� �The biggest mistake you can make is

to be afraid of failure. Failure is the key toyour success. How you pick up after fail-ure and learn from your mistakes is the keyto great success. Change the mindset. Youdidn’t fail —you ran an experiment that willimprove your next business. Although ithurts a little bit each time, now you’ve learntsomething, and you can apply that lessonto move forward.

��� �������������When you have a solid busi-

ness plan that looks good onpaper, it’s easy to get carriedaway with implementingyour idea that you forgetthe most crucial part ofyour business: Your cus-tomers. Start-ups thatmake this mistake end upwith unfavourable resultssince customers are thebackbone of every compa-ny. If you want to stay out of

the list of start-ups that fail, you need to putas much focus on meeting the needs of yourtargeted customers as you do with imple-menting your ideas.

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Having a solid business plan plays avital role in determining future success. Abusiness plan, after all, serves to guide thestart-up in the right direction by answer-ing the following questions: What is thepurpose of the company? Who are thepotential customers? What are the mission?What’s the direction desired for the com-pany? Who are the company’s competitorsand what are they doing? How can thecompany measure success?

A sound business plan determinesevery aspect of the start-up. Whenever

the company is stuck or a newventure is to be launched,

refer to the business plan.There’s no need to gocreating a business planin as formal a manneras someone would inbusiness school. Buthaving a business planis recommended since

it will help determinethe company’s direction

over the long term.

������� �������K��� ��The biggest mistake an entrepreneur

can make (and most do) is to believe that,just because they are an expert at what theydo, they have what it takes to run their ownbusiness. Find an expert whose job is toknow exactly what you need to do.

����������� ��������One of the biggest mistakes is spend-

ing too much, which may occur when abusiness owner or founder becomes over-ly eager and hires a lot of people. At first,the entrepreneur may believe all the newemployees are needed. But this will justmean burning through the start-up’sfinances faster. To avoid this, hire those onlythose truly needed.

A founder may be tempted to blowthrough a lot of cash quickly, spending onunnecessary expenses. As an entrepreneur,it’s easy to fall in love with your businessidea and fail to understand or appreciatethe economics. To avoid mistakes in yourplanning and launch, entrepreneurs muststart off with a clear P&L and cash flow planthat details what your business metrics needto be in order to survive in the short andlong term. Without proper managementand use of its finances, a new business maynever set sail. Be sure that someone goodwith numbers can help out with this.

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Wriddhiman Saha's career-bestfirst-class knock of 203 was the

stand-out performance as Rest ofIndia lifted the Irani Cup after effort-lessly chasing down a 379-run targetset by Gujarat with more than two ses-sions to spare here on Tuesday.

Saha's 203 and skipperCheteshwar Pujara's unbeaten 116helped Rest of India overhaul the tar-get with six wickets still in hand.

Wicketkeeper Saha and Pujara,unbeaten on 123 and 83 respective-ly last evening in a team score of 266for four, carried on in imperious fash-ion on the fifth and final morning tosteer the team home an hour beforelunch in 19.1 overs at the BrabourneStadium here.

This was 15th time in the last 19editions that Rest of India had wonthe tournament, which is in its 55thyear.

Rest of India finished with 379 forfour in 103.1 overs to cruise home instyle.

The duo's fifth wicket unbrokenpartnership was worth 316 runs in78.5 overs. It was the second-best inthe tournament's history after thehighest of 327 for the fourth wicket

between Ravi Shastri and PraveenAmre for Mumbai against the Rest atBengaluru in 1990-91.

8������������ �� ����Wriddhiman Saha remained

unfazed in his finest cricketing hourand said his twin half centuries

against New Zealand in Kolkatacarry "more value" than his unbeat-en 203 in the Irani Cup, perhaps oneof his best knocks.

"You can call this one of my bet-ter batting efforts alongside my cen-tury against the West Indies at GrosIslet. But if you ask me about theinnings closest to my heart, then it hasto be the twin half-centuries againstNew Zealand at Kolkata," a composedWriddhiman said on Tuesday.

"The unbeaten knocks of 54 and58 were special because the pitch was-n't an easy one to bat on. Also you hadone of the best exponents of swingbowling, Trent Boult, using all hisvariations. It was a quality NewZealand attack and that's what makesit more special," said Wriddhiman.

His decision to stand at least twofeet outside the crease was talkedabout and he said the lack of pace ofthe Gujarat seamers had a lot to dowith it.

�� �� 202���

Known for his proficiency inTests and a prolific scorer in

first class cricket, CheteshwarPujara has set himself a task -of forcing people to take noticeof his prowess in the T20 formattoo and play in the upcomingIndian Premier League season.

"I definitely want to make amark in that particular format.I have done well in T20 match-es. I played in DY Patil T20tournament (in Navi Mumbai)and got a hundred and twofifties.

“I am very confident that Ican play well in other formats ofthe game," said Pujara after lead-ing Rest of India to a six-wicketvictory over new Ranji Trophychampions Gujarat in the IraniCup match here on Tuesday.

Pujara, who has been in topform in first class cricket, has notbeen seen in the same light in thelimited over formats, especially inthe slam-bang T20 matches anddid not play in the last two IPL editions.

�� �� 202���

Chairman of selectors MSK Prasad onTuesday indicated that Wriddhiman Saha

will regain his rightful place in the Indian Testsquad for upcoming matches as he was outowing to injury and the Irani Cup game wasnot his trial but a case of testing his fitness.

"We had made it clear that someone whois coming back from injury, had to play in adomestic game and this was the best oppor-tunity. Right now, Saha and Parthiv are the bestNos 1 and 2 that we have. It was only to testfitness that we had Saha play here."

While Parthiv had a good comeback inTests with two half-centuries followed by RanjiTrophy winning hundred against Mumbai,Wriddhiman played one of the best knocks inIrani Trophy history as his 203 not outenabled the Rest of India to chase down a near400-run total on Tuesday.

"Personally, I can say that Wriddiman Sahawas out of the team because of injury and not

because he was out of form. He was 'Man ofthe Match' in the Kolkata Test against NewZealand and got a hundred in West Indies," saidPrasad.

"I am happy how Parthiv has respondedto the call-up. He is a fighter to the core. Hesingle-handedly brought Gujarat from nowhereto being the Ranji Champions. He is in ourscheme of things. There is just a minor differ-ence between the two. When it comes to Testcricket, it is always the man who keeps betterwho gets the nod," Prasad gave ample hint

about what the selectors' decision will be.Prasad felt the glove work of Parthiv has

also improved considerably but Wriddhimanstill has better hands.

"Parthiv's glovework has definitelyimproved. But Saha has got better hands andthat's where he scores little more points thanParthiv. With today's batting, Saha showed whyhe is the number one keeper-batsman in thecountry. When he came out to bat yesterdaythe team was struggling at 63-4, and to takethe game away from Gujarat, is phenomenal.So it's a healthy competition between the two."

Prasad was also full of praise for the rolesplayed by senior pros, Mahendra Singh Dhoniand Yuvraj Singh, in the 2-1 series win in theODI series against England, while saying it wastoo early to say whether they will be part ofIndia's campaign in the 2019 World Cup inEngland. "It's not just about the series win, itwasn't an easy win and we had to fight hard.This tournament has thrown us some wonder-ful opportunities and some of the calls that weas selectors took have worked well.

���� ���� �� In a major boost towomen's football, the All IndiaFootball Federation on Tuesdayannounced the launch of IndianWomen's League that will feature sixteams in its first season.

Speaking on the occasion, theAIFF president Praful Patel said thatthe creation of this league wouldbring about an era of professionalismin women's football, as a result ofwhich players could look at the sportas a good career option.

The six teams are FC Pune City(Maharashtra), Eastern SportingUnion FC (Manipur), FC Alakhpura(Haryana), Aizawl FC (Mizoram) andRising Student Club (Odisha).

India captain Bala Devi expressedsatisfaction over the AIFF's decision tocarve out this league, "We have beendemanding a league of this kind formany years and we are happy thatAIFF has supported us."

Meanwhile, captain of Aizawl KLalruaizeli too felt that the leaguewould give a boost to the sport in herhome state. "In Mizoram football isvery popular but is mostly played byboys only. With the arrival of thisleague, women of the state will alsotake up football."

Dalima Chibber, who is a local girland captain of Pune city, was also opti-mistic about the future of the sport inIndia. "Because of this league, girls andtheir parents would look upon footballas a viable career option and therewould be more participation in it."

While the tournament is set to kickoff on 28th January at the Ambedkarstadium in the capital, Patel said thatthere would be changes in league mov-ing forward. The name of the leagueis likely to be changed in order toinclude the word football and thenumber of teams would also beincreased. PNS

���� ���� �� The Supreme Court onTuesday decided to allow the Board ofControl for Cricket in India and theCentre to have a say in appointingAdministrators to run the apex cricketbody and assist the Justice LodhaCommittee in implementing the reformsaimed at making the Board's function-ing accountable and transparent.

Giving time till Friday to bothBCCI and Centre to submit names in asealed cover, the bench of Justices DipakMisra, AM Khanwilkar and DYChandrachud said it will take a call onMonday on the number and names ofAdministrators to be selected, based onthe suggestions given by the Centre,BCCI and a two-member panel formedby Court comprising amicus curiaeGopal Subramanium and senior advo-cate Anil Divan. All suggestions must beclear of the disqualifications laid downby Lodha panel, the bench said.

When the counsel for the petition-er (Cricket Association of Bihar) andother state cricket associations wished tosuggest names, the bench refused andsaid that the purpose to invite suggestionswas to introduce "transparency andobjectivity" in the selection.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgiwho represented Railways, Services ofArmy, Navy and Air Force, andAssociation of Indian Universities, saidthat no person chosen as Administratorshould be above 70 years as they wouldequally incur disqualification as perLodha Committee reforms that put an agecap of 70 years for Board members anda nine-year cap on tenure served in BCCIor state cricket bodies. The bench assuredBCCI and Centre that no member above70 years will be selected as Administrator.In a related relief, the bench also allowedBCCI to submit a list of three persons ofwhich one could be sent as a nominee ofBCCI to participate in a meeting held byICC from Feb 2-4. The names will be sup-plied in a separate sealed cover to theCourt by Friday. PNS

���� 2*,�?0�*

It was a long time coming for VenusWilliams, who reached her 21st GrandSlam semifinal but her first at the

Australian Open in 14 years.CoCo Vandeweghe advanced to her

first major semifinal, anywhere, beatingGrand Slam winners in back-to-backrounds. The one sure outcome when theymeet this week will be an American in thefinal at Melbourne Park.

There'll be an all-Swiss semifinal inthe top half of the men's draw after 17-time major winner Roger Federer andStan Wawrinka won their quarterfinals instraight sets.

Returning from a six-month injurylayoff, the 35-year-old Federer lifted hisgame in 6-1, 7-5, 6-2 win over MischaZverev, the player who eliminated top-seeded Andy Murray from the tourna-ment two nights earlier.

Federer won the first five games in 12minutes, setting up a straight-forward winto reach his 41st Grand Slam semifinaland his 13th at Melbourne Park.

"I'm pleased with the way I started thematch ... after that, naturally everything'seasier," Federer said. "Second set was def-initely a key to shut it down for him. Thenin the third set I think I was rolling."

The 36-year-old Williams beat No 24-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 7-6 (3) on Tuesday, becoming the oldestplayer to reach the semifinals here in theOpen era.

She'll be meeting a confidentVandeweghe, who dictated play againstFrench Open champion GarbineMuguruza in a 6-4, 6-0 quarterfinal win.

The No 35-ranked Vandeweghe upsettop-ranked Angelique Kerber, who wonthe Australian and US titles last year, inthe fourth round. She followed it up withanother commanding win, the 10th in hercareer against a Top 10 player.

Vandeweghe saved the only breakpoint she faced in the first set with an ace,and only conceded 10 points in the 28-minute second set. Of her 31 winners, 14were from her powerful forehand side.

"Once I got rolling in the second, itwas like a freight train," she said, "Youcouldn't stop it."

Reaching a semifinal against the U.S.Open champion was more than Federerexpected in his first major back.

"Not to play Stan in the semis, I'll tellyou that," he said when asked what hisexpectations were. "I thought I was goingto maybe make a few rounds."

Wawrinka, who had his major break-through in Australia in 2014, beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-3 - hisfourth straight win against the

Frenchman.On Wednesday, the men's semifi-

nalists from the other side of the drawwill be determined when 14-time majorwinner Rafael Nadal plays Milos Raonicand David Goffin takes on GrigorDimitrov.

Serena Williams, aiming for arecord 23rd Grand Slam title, playsJohanna Konta and Karolina Pliskovameets Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in theremaining women's quarterfinals.

Venus Williams has advancedthrough the tournament without drop-ping a set, and isn't ready to stop in thesemifinals in the latest installment of hercareer revival.

"It's wonderful to start the year outwith this appearance," said VenusWilliams, who hadn't reached the semi-finals in Australia since 2003, the yearshe lost the final to sister Serena. "I wantto go further. I'm not happy just withthis. But I'm so happy to be in the posi-tion to like go further."

Williams didn't reach the quarter-finals at any of the Grand Slams from2011 - when she was diagnosed with theSjogren's syndrome, which saps energyand causes joint pain - until the 2015Australian Open. She lost in the firstround here last year, but returned toreach the semifinals at Wimbledon.

Vandeweghe also lost in the firstround here last year, and at the U.S.

Open in September, but has foundher form in Melbourne thisyear. As well as the wins overKerber and Muguruza, she has

had wins over No. 15-seededRoberta Vinci and Eugenie

Bouchard, who reached the semifi-nals here and the final at Wimbledon in2014.

Williams said the quarterfinal resultswere a "great win for the U.S."

"I'm sure (Vandeweghe is) going towant to be in her first final," Williamssaid. "I'm going to want to be in only mysecond final here. So it's going to be awell-contested match."

With her run to the Wimbledonsemifinals last year, Williams becamethe oldest woman since MartinaNavratilova (at 37 years, 258 days) in1994 to advance so far at a major.

There's also the possibility of anoth-er all-Williams final.

But Venus doesn't plan to be think-ing about who was on the other side ofthe net. She is focused on

Grand Slam title No. 8."I try to believe," she said. "I'd like

to be a champion, in particular this year.The mentality I walk on court with is:'I deserve this'."

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Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna setup a mixed doubles quarterfinal

clash against each other at the AustralianOpen after winning their respectivematches, here on Tuesday.

Bopanna and his Canadian partnerGabriela Dabrowski knocked out thefifth-seeded team of Yung-Jan Chan andLukasz Kubot 6-4, 5-7, 10-3 in their sec-ond round match.

Later, Sania and her partnerCroatian Ivan Dodig, seeded second,overcame stiff resistance from SaisaiZheng and Alexander Peya to triumph2-6, 6-3, 10-6.

Austrian Peya served a double faultat 5-5 in the decisive Super Tie-Breakerbut after that the second seeds reeled offfive straight points to seal the issue.

One Indian is now certain to featurein the semifinals and if Leander Paesmanages to win his quarterfinal withpartner Martina Hingis, the semifinalwill again feature two Indians.

Paes and Hingis are up against localfavourites Samantha Stosur and SamGroth.

Meanwhile, in the juniors events,Siddhant Banthia reached the boys dou-bles quarterfinal with Turkish partnerKaya Gore with a 6-3, 7-6(6) win oversixth seeds Zizou Bergs and Yshai Oliel.

However, Mihika Yadav went downfighting in girls singles second roundwith a 2-6, 1-6 defeat against 10thseeded Japanese Mai Hontama.

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