16
A head of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Tashkent for the annual meet- ing of Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO), France on Wednesday came out in support of India for the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) mem- bership. France joined the United States of America and Russia in seeking support for India and asking members to take a “positive decision” on New Delhi’s bid while saying India’s entry into NSG will bolster global efforts for com- bating proliferation. “France considers that India’s entry into the four mul- tilateral export control regimes — NSG, MTCR, The Australia Group, The Wassenaar Arrangement — will bolster international efforts on com- bating proliferation. India’s par- ticipation in these bodies will help better regulate the export of sensitive goods, whether they are nuclear, chemical, bio- logical, ballistic or conven- tional materials or technolo- gies. In line with its active and long-standing support to India’s entry to the NSG as a full- fledged member, France called on its members, who are meet- ing on June 23 in Seoul, to take a positive decision,” the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International development plan said in a statement. Co-incidentally, the meet- ing of both SCO and NSG, where India’s membership application will be considered, begins on Thursday. While India and Pakistan have been given membership to the SCO, both countries are lobbying hard for a place in the elite 48-nation NSG. Pakistan certainly has China’s backing while most of the other coun- tries with India. In fact, India has spent a lot of diplomatic capital over the last few years to garner this support despite having a waiv- er in 2008 from NSG rules gov- erning civil nuclear trade. At that point, then External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had pledged to maintain moratorium on test of nuclear weapons by India. Accepting his pledge, the NSG decided to hold an emergency session in case New Delhi carried out a nuclear test in the future. However, India now wants NSG membership to be able to trade freely for its civil nuclear projects in energy sector and expand its export market. Interestingly, at the time when the 48-nation grouping of the NSG will be discussing India’s application in Seoul, Modi will be meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Tashkent to persuade him to support India’s bid. The meet- ing between two leaders will take place on the sidelines of the SCO meeting on Thursday where India will be joining as a new member. T he NDA Government on Wednesday rallied around Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) Arvind Subramanian as senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy demand- ed the CEA’s sacking for allegedly pursuing an “anti- India stance” on economic issues while serving in the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and his deputy Jayant Sinha backed the CEA, saying the Government had full con- fidence in him, while Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu said Swamy’s views were not the party’s views. Hours after Swamy came out with explosive tweets against the CEA, in a terse statement, Jaitley said it was wrong to criticize people who cannot defend themselves. “To what extent should we attack those whom... disci- pline and constraints of office prevent from responding. And this has happened more than once,” Jaitley said. The BJP also did not endorse Swamy’s tirade against a bureaucrat who was hand- picked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The BJP Government had in October 2014 appointed IIM- Ahmedabad alumnus Arvind Subramanian as CEA. “The party does not agree with his views. This is com- pletely his personal opinion,” said the BJP’s national secre- tary Shrikant Sharma at a Press conference when asked about the party’s views on Swamy’s demand that the CEA be removed. Swamy who is also a National Executive member of the BJP, had earlier launched a no-holds-barred attack on RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan. Rajan last week announced that he would not be seeking a second term in the Central bank. The Rajya Sabha MP’s attack comes in the wake of reports of Arvind Subramanian being among the probable successors of Rajan as the RBI’s chief. Karachi: Amjad Sabri, one of Pakistan’s finest Sufi Qawwals best known for his soul-stirring renditions of mystic poetry, was on Wednesday killed by unidentified gunmen who shot him in the head in a tar- geted terror attack in Karachi. Sabri, 45, and an associate were travelling in a car in Karachi’s congested Liquatabad when two unidentified bike-borne gun- men fired at their vehicle, crit- ically injuring them. The two were rushed to Abbasi Shaheed hospital, where both succumbed. Sabri was shot twice in the head and once on the ear. “Two attackers riding a motorcycle intercepted his car and tar- geted Amjad Sabri, who was driving,” said Sindh police chief Allah Dino Khawaja. There was no immediate claim of responsibility but a senior police official said, “It was a targeted killing and an act of terrorism.” E ven as the Jagannath Temple at Puri owns land- ed property of more than 57,000 acres spreading across different districts of the State, it only gets annual share from less than 7,000 acres as greater part of this is under the con- trol of encroachers. The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) has managed to obtain record of rights (RoR) of land measuring only 27,711 acres and 274 decimal out of the total temple land of 57,181 acres and 249 decimal, said sources adding that SJTA is yet to obtain RoR of more than 30,000 acre of land. The SJTA is getting owner share from 11, 850 share croppers who cultivate 6,638 acre and 763 decimal of tem- ple land. The revenue earned from this portion of temple land is too meager, said a source in know of the matter. According to records, there are as many as 400 acres of land located across six other States except Odisha which were donated by devo- tees to the temple. Sources said while more than 150 land disputes are pending for disposal before courts of several Tehsildars across the State, encroachers are happily enjoying the land under their possession. From 2005-06 till date the SJTA has earned more than Rs 7.30 crore by disposing of nearly 200 acres of temple land. In many places, unscrupulous encroachers are happily enjoying the forest produce and minerals extract- ed from temple land in the State. In spite of having such abundance of landed proper- ty, the SJTA has to fall back upon the State administration and donations given by devo- tees for running the show. Even as the Union Government through the ASI bears the expenses of repair and maintenance of the thir- teenth century shrine, the SJTA with support from State Government meets the expenditure required for observing various rituals and festivities in the temple. It is indeed a matter of great shame that no one has shown urgency to retrieve landed property of the temple being enjoyed by many an encroacher, said members of civil society of Puri who lamented that even landed properties belonging to many deities across the State, including Lord Lingaraj of Bhubaneswar, are under con- trol of such encroachers. E xpressing deep concern over the devotees touching the deities at the Snan Mandap in Puri on Monday night, Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingh Deb on Wednesday reiterated that touching the deities except the authorised servitors is strictly prohibited as per the Hindu scripture and, thus, a Mahapap (great sin). The Puri King, first servi- tor of the Lord Jagannath, said, “I want to make it very clear that touching the deities is strictly prohibited in the scrip- tures. Swami Nischalananda Saraswati of the Gobardhan Peeth in November 2013, also recommended this and there is no scope for any question or debate on this issue. But a most surprising and unfortunate incident took place at the Snan Mandapon Monday night where some devotees sudden- ly crossed the barricades and touched the deities when the deities were about to be taken on Pahandi (ceremonial pro- cession).” The Gajapati king also said the Temple Managing Committee had immediately agreed to implement the deci- sion taken by the Shankaracharya in November 2013. Besides, the Orissa High Court, in its order in June 2014, had made it clear that the decision of the Shankaracharya would be strictly obeyed by the Government and the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA). “Acting on the decision of the Shankaracharya and the directive of the High Court, the SJTA in a circular in 2015 had debarred devotees from touch- ing the deities at the Snan Mandap,” he informed. The Shankaracharya has also expressed his anguish over the development and blamed the administration for the devi- ation. V igilance sleuths on Wednesday arrested for- mer Cuttack DSP and present Additional SP of Sunabeda Basanta Kumar Pradhan, for- mer HRPC SC & ST Protection Cell, Cuttack Senior Steno Pracheta Kumar Mishra, Axis Computer, Cuttack proprietor Asutosh Mishra and general manager Chandi Charan Patnaik and Dev Graphics, Cuttack proprietor Mamata Rout for illegal disbursement of 88 lakh to the Axis Computer from the Government. According to a complaint, former IGP Joydeep Nayak in connivance with the former DSP and other arrested persons showed undue official favour and disbursed an amount of to the Axis Computer without floating any tender and by furnishing false and fabricated documents, bills, utilisation certificates and flout- ing orders, for which the Government sustained a huge loss. The Vigilance case was also registered against Joydeep Nayak. Now, an FIR has been lodged against him. The DSP and other arrest- ed persons were forwarded to court later in the day. A n FIR was lodged at the Gosainnuagaon police sta- tion in Ganjam district on Wednesday against arrested Oscar chit fund company CMD Prabhas Rout’s son Priya Rout and five others for mak- ing threat calls to some Maharashtra-based investors. Members of the Brahmapur-based Pramila Devi Mahila Sangh and some duped investors from Maharashtra lodged the FIR seeking immediate police action against the culprits and protection of the threatened persons. According to Sangh presi- dent Pramila Tripathy, some miscreants had been threaten- ing investors, who took her help for justice not to further raise their voice against the Oscar chit fund company, from two mobile numbers, 9078302675 and 8984629582. Tripathy said the callers warned the investors of dire consequences if they raise their voice against the Oscar group. Meanwhile, a team of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch, which is currently in Surat in Gujarat for probe, visited var- ious branch offices of the Oscar company and collected crucial documents. The company had seven offices there. Besides, the com- pany chief has five residential houses and seven plots in Surat. A ccording to information available, 903 hotels are operating illegally in the State without consent from the Odisha State Pollution Control Board. Out of these hotels, 542 exist in Puri and the Orissa High Court has granted inter- im order of status quo to all hotels in Puri. The issue was raised by Orissa High Court advocate Biranchi Narayan Mahapatra before the National Green Tribunal, Eastern Zone Bench, Kolkata. The NGT bench comprising Justice SP Wangdi (Judicial Member) and Prof PC Mishra (expert member) earlier admitted the case and issued notice to the Odisha Chief Secretary and Member Secretary, State Pollution Control Board, Odisha for filing their reply within stipulated period and also called for detail status and action taken report from the Chief Secretary and State Pollution Control Board, sources said. The tribunal, in the meantime, also directed the State Pollution Control Board to take necessary measures in respect of the hoteliers who without taking consent have established their hotels and are operating their business in the respective area within Odisha and to file action taken report. The Odisha State Pollution Control Board, other than issuing directions to the Regional Officers, has not taken any further steps. What the Odisha PCB was required to do was to issue notices upon the applicants and proceed to recover the compensation/penalty imposed by the tribunal. It is more than one month since the order on March 29 last was passed. But till date, the PCB did not take any steps to recover the penalty. This mat- ter will appear on July 5 before the NGT. A t a time when the debate on mysterious disappear- ance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is still on, RTI documents provided by the Union Home Ministry reveals that Bose died in a plane crash on August 18, 1945 in Taihoku in Japan. In an RTI reply, the Union Home Ministry revealed, “The Government of India had con- stituted three commissions, Mukherjee, Shah Nawaz and Khosla. These commissions were constituted to inquire into the death/disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.” The RTI reply further stat- ed, “Shah Nawaz and Khosla Commissions conclude that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose died in plane crash at Taihoku on August 18, 1945, and he was cremated in Taihoku cremato- rium and his ashes were taken to Tokyo and preserved in the Renkoji temple there.” Balangir-based RTI activist Hemanta Panda had sought the information. H istory sheeter Susanta Das alias Khasua (35) was killed by unknown mis- creants near Sovarampur hereon Wednesday evening. Tension prevailed in the town following the incident. Recently, reports regard- ing Khasua had made head- lines sue to his alleged links with some local BJD leaders. Khasua, a hardened criminal, had allegedly helped the campaigns of the leaders, including local MLA Jiban Pradip Dash, during the last Assembly elections.

0 %˛% & % !˜ ’( # $ )=9 1/?699< 6@ 09< 6@>’*= 6 ˜ /( /(/6:;( Venkaiah Naidu said Swamy’s views were not the party’s views. Hours after Swamy came out with explosive

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Ahead of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s visit to

Tashkent for the annual meet-ing of Shanghai Co-operationOrganisation (SCO), Franceon Wednesday came out insupport of India for the NuclearSuppliers Group (NSG) mem-bership. France joined theUnited States of America andRussia in seeking support forIndia and asking members totake a “positive decision” onNew Delhi’s bid while sayingIndia’s entry into NSG willbolster global efforts for com-bating proliferation.

“France considers thatIndia’s entry into the four mul-tilateral export control regimes— NSG, MTCR, The AustraliaGroup, The WassenaarArrangement — will bolsterinternational efforts on com-bating proliferation. India’s par-ticipation in these bodies willhelp better regulate the exportof sensitive goods, whetherthey are nuclear, chemical, bio-logical, ballistic or conven-tional materials or technolo-gies. In line with its active andlong-standing support to India’sentry to the NSG as a full-fledged member, France calledon its members, who are meet-ing on June 23 in Seoul, to takea positive decision,” the FrenchMinistry of Foreign Affairsand International developmentplan said in a statement.

Co-incidentally, the meet-ing of both SCO and NSG,where India’s membershipapplication will be considered,begins on Thursday.

While India and Pakistanhave been given membership tothe SCO, both countries arelobbying hard for a place in theelite 48-nation NSG. Pakistancertainly has China’s backingwhile most of the other coun-tries with India.

In fact, India has spent a lotof diplomatic capital over thelast few years to garner this

support despite having a waiv-er in 2008 from NSG rules gov-erning civil nuclear trade. Atthat point, then ExternalAffairs Minister PranabMukherjee had pledged tomaintain moratorium on testof nuclear weapons by India.Accepting his pledge, theNSG decided to hold anemergency session in caseNew Delhi carried out anuclear test in the future.However, India now wantsNSG membership to be ableto trade freely for its civil

nuclear projects in energysector and expand its exportmarket.

Interestingly, at the timewhen the 48-nation groupingof the NSG will be discussingIndia’s application in Seoul,Modi will be meeting ChinesePresident Xi Jinping inTashkent to persuade him tosupport India’s bid. The meet-ing between two leaders willtake place on the sidelines ofthe SCO meeting onThursday where India will bejoining as a new member.

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The NDA Government onWednesday rallied around

Chief Economic Adviser(CEA) Arvind Subramanian assenior BJP leaderSubramanian Swamy demand-ed the CEA’s sacking forallegedly pursuing an “anti-India stance” on economicissues while serving in theInternational Monetary Fund(IMF).

Finance Minister ArunJaitley and his deputy JayantSinha backed the CEA, sayingthe Government had full con-fidence in him, while UrbanDevelopment MinisterVenkaiah Naidu said Swamy’sviews were not the party’sviews.

Hours after Swamy cameout with explosive tweetsagainst the CEA, in a tersestatement, Jaitley said it waswrong to criticize people whocannot defend themselves.“To what extent should weattack those whom... disci-pline and constraints of officeprevent from responding. Andthis has happened more thanonce,” Jaitley said.

The BJP also did notendorse Swamy’s tirade against

a bureaucrat who was hand-picked by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi. The BJPGovernment had in October2014 appointed IIM-Ahmedabad alumnus ArvindSubramanian as CEA.

“The party does not agreewith his views. This is com-pletely his personal opinion,”said the BJP’s national secre-tary Shrikant Sharma at aPress conference when askedabout the party’s views onSwamy’s demand that the CEA

be removed. Swamy who is also a

National Executive memberof the BJP, had earlier launcheda no-holds-barred attack onRBI Governor RaghuramRajan. Rajan last weekannounced that he would notbe seeking a second term in theCentral bank.

The Rajya Sabha MP’s attackcomes in the wake of reports ofArvind Subramanian beingamong the probable successorsof Rajan as the RBI’s chief.

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K a r a c h i :Amjad Sabri,one of Pakistan’sfinest SufiQawwals bestknown for hissoul-st irr ingrenditions of mystic poetry,was on Wednesday killed byunidentified gunmen whoshot him in the head in a tar-geted terror attack in Karachi.Sabri, 45, and an associatewere travelling in a car inKarachi’s congestedLiquatabad when twounidentified bike-borne gun-men fired at their vehicle, crit-ically injuring them.

The two were rushed toAbbasi Shaheed hospital,where both succumbed. Sabriwas shot twice in the headand once on the ear. “Twoattackers riding a motorcycleintercepted his car and tar-geted Amjad Sabri, who wasdriving,” said Sindh policechief Allah Dino Khawaja.

There was no immediateclaim of responsibility but asenior police official said, “Itwas a targeted killing and anact of terrorism.”

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Even as the JagannathTemple at Puri owns land-

ed property of more than57,000 acres spreading acrossdifferent districts of the State,it only gets annual share fromless than 7,000 acres as greaterpart of this is under the con-trol of encroachers.

The Shree JagannathTemple Administration(SJTA) has managed to obtainrecord of rights (RoR) of landmeasuring only 27,711 acresand 274 decimal out of thetotal temple land of 57,181acres and 249 decimal, saidsources adding that SJTA isyet to obtain RoR of morethan 30,000 acre of land.

The SJTA is getting ownershare from 11, 850 sharecroppers who cultivate 6,638acre and 763 decimal of tem-ple land. The revenue earnedfrom this portion of templeland is too meager, said asource in know of the matter.

According to records,there are as many as 400acres of land located across six

other States except Odishawhich were donated by devo-tees to the temple.

Sources said while morethan 150 land disputes arepending for disposal beforecourts of several Tehsildarsacross the State, encroachersare happily enjoying the landunder their possession. From2005-06 till date the SJTA hasearned more than Rs 7.30crore by disposing of nearly200 acres of temple land.

In many places,unscrupulous encroachers are

happily enjoying the forestproduce and minerals extract-ed from temple land in theState.

In spite of having suchabundance of landed proper-ty, the SJTA has to fall backupon the State administrationand donations given by devo-tees for running the show.Even as the UnionGovernment through the ASIbears the expenses of repairand maintenance of the thir-teenth century shrine, theSJTA with support from StateGovernment meets theexpenditure required forobserving various rituals andfestivities in the temple.

It is indeed a matter ofgreat shame that no one hasshown urgency to retrievelanded property of the templebeing enjoyed by many anencroacher, said members ofcivil society of Puri wholamented that even landedproperties belonging to manydeities across the State,including Lord Lingaraj ofBhubaneswar, are under con-trol of such encroachers.

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Expressing deep concernover the devotees touching

the deities at the Snan Mandapin Puri on Monday night,Gajapati Maharaja DibyasinghDeb on Wednesday reiteratedthat touching the deities exceptthe authorised servitors isstrictly prohibited as per theHindu scripture and, thus, aMahapap (great sin).

The Puri King, first servi-tor of the Lord Jagannath, said,“I want to make it very clearthat touching the deities isstrictly prohibited in the scrip-tures. Swami NischalanandaSaraswati of the GobardhanPeeth in November 2013, alsorecommended this and there isno scope for any question ordebate on this issue. But a mostsurprising and unfortunateincident took place at the SnanMandapon Monday nightwhere some devotees sudden-ly crossed the barricades andtouched the deities when thedeities were about to be takenon Pahandi (ceremonial pro-cession).”

The Gajapati king also saidthe Temple ManagingCommittee had immediatelyagreed to implement the deci-

sion taken by theShankaracharya in November2013. Besides, the Orissa HighCourt, in its order in June 2014,had made it clear that thedecision of the Shankaracharyawould be strictly obeyed by theGovernment and the ShreeJagannath TempleAdministration (SJTA).

“Acting on the decision ofthe Shankaracharya and thedirective of the High Court, theSJTA in a circular in 2015 haddebarred devotees from touch-ing the deities at the SnanMandap,” he informed.

The Shankaracharya hasalso expressed his anguish overthe development and blamedthe administration for the devi-ation.

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Vigilance sleuths onWednesday arrested for-

mer Cuttack DSP and presentAdditional SP of SunabedaBasanta Kumar Pradhan, for-mer HRPC SC & ST ProtectionCell, Cuttack Senior StenoPracheta Kumar Mishra, AxisComputer, Cuttack proprietorAsutosh Mishra and generalmanager Chandi CharanPatnaik and Dev Graphics,Cuttack proprietor MamataRout for illegal disbursement of�88 lakh to the Axis Computer

from the Government.According to a complaint,

former IGP Joydeep Nayak inconnivance with the formerDSP and other arrested personsshowed undue official favourand disbursed an amount of���������� to the AxisComputer without floating anytender and by furnishing falseand fabricated documents, bills,utilisation certificates and flout-ing orders, for which theGovernment sustained a hugeloss.

The Vigilance case wasalso registered against JoydeepNayak. Now, an FIR has beenlodged against him.

The DSP and other arrest-ed persons were forwarded tocourt later in the day.

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An FIR was lodged at theGosainnuagaon police sta-

tion in Ganjam district onWednesday against arrestedOscar chit fund companyCMD Prabhas Rout’s son PriyaRout and five others for mak-ing threat calls to someMaharashtra-based investors.

Members of theBrahmapur-based PramilaDevi Mahila Sangh and someduped investors fromMaharashtra lodged the FIRseeking immediate policeaction against the culprits andprotection of the threatenedpersons.

According to Sangh presi-dent Pramila Tripathy, somemiscreants had been threaten-ing investors, who took herhelp for justice not to furtherraise their voice against the

Oscar chit fund company, fromtwo mobile numbers,9078302675 and 8984629582.

Tripathy said the callerswarned the investors of direconsequences if they raise theirvoice against the Oscar group.

Meanwhile, a team of theEconomic Offences Wing(EOW) of the Crime Branch,which is currently in Surat inGujarat for probe, visited var-ious branch offices of the Oscarcompany and collected crucialdocuments.

The company had sevenoffices there. Besides, the com-pany chief has five residentialhouses and seven plots in Surat.

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According to informationavailable, 903 hotels are

operating illegally in the Statewithout consent from theOdisha State Pol lut ionControl Board.

Out of these hotels, 542exist in Puri and the OrissaHigh Court has granted inter-im order of status quo to allhotels in Puri.

The issue was raised byOrissa High Court advocateBiranchi Narayan Mahapatrabefore the National GreenTribunal, Eastern ZoneBench, Kolkata. The NGTbench comprising Justice SPWangdi (Judicial Member)

and Prof PC Mishra (expertmember) earlier admitted thecase and issued notice to theOdisha Chief Secretary andMember Secretary, StatePollution Control Board,Odisha for filing their replywithin stipulated period andalso called for detail statusand action taken report fromthe Chief Secretary and StatePollution Control Board,sources said.

The tribunal, in themeantime, also directed theState Pollution Control Boardto take necessary measures inrespect of the hoteliers whowithout taking consent haveestablished their hotels andare operating their business in

the respective area withinOdisha and to file actiontaken report.

The Odisha StatePollution Control Board,other than issuing directionsto the Regional Officers, hasnot taken any further steps.What the Odisha PCB wasrequired to do was to issuenotices upon the applicantsand proceed to recover thec o m p e n s a t i o n / p e n a l t yimposed by the tribunal. It ismore than one month sincethe order on March 29 lastwas passed. But till date, thePCB did not take any steps torecover the penalty. This mat-ter will appear on July 5before the NGT.

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At a time when the debateon mysterious disappear-

ance of Netaji Subhas ChandraBose is still on, RTI documentsprovided by the Union HomeMinistry reveals that Bose diedin a plane crash on August 18,1945 in Taihoku in Japan.

In an RTI reply, the UnionHome Ministry revealed, “TheGovernment of India had con-stituted three commissions,Mukherjee, Shah Nawaz andKhosla. These commissionswere constituted to inquireinto the death/disappearance ofNetaji Subhas Chandra Bose.”

The RTI reply further stat-ed, “Shah Nawaz and KhoslaCommissions conclude thatNetaji Subhas Chandra Bosedied in plane crash at Taihoku

on August 18, 1945, and he wascremated in Taihoku cremato-rium and his ashes were takento Tokyo and preserved in theRenkoji temple there.”

Balangir-based RTI activistHemanta Panda had sought theinformation.

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History sheeter SusantaDas alias Khasua (35)

was killed by unknown mis-creants near Sovarampurhereon Wednesday evening.

Tension prevailed in thetown following the incident.

Recently, reports regard-ing Khasua had made head-lines sue to his alleged linkswith some local BJD leaders.

Khasua, a hardenedcriminal, had allegedly helpedthe campaigns of the leaders,including local MLA JibanPradip Dash, during the lastAssembly elections.

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On this day 55 years ago,Biju Patnaik was sworn in

as Chief Minister in 1961 aftertrouncing HarekrushnaMahtab, his predecessor-men-tor-adversary. By the late 1970,he became a colossal public fig-ure adored immensely for hisdaringly revolutionary ideasfor developing Odisha.Although he, once in a while,identified Odisha with the cultof Lord Jagannath, he nevercommitted one blunder to hurtthe sentiments of non-Hindus.He was so secular in spirit andbelief that he never hesitated tocondemn the BJP for its slight-ly fundamentalist Hindu agen-

da like building a Ram templeon a property where allegedlya mosque had been put up byMuslim rulers after demolish-ing the said temple. Further, thedream of Bijubabu on whichthe BJD leaders have been liv-ing so far was a straight andsimple one. At a public gath-ering in 1992, during his sec-ond stint as Chief Minister,Bijubabu had said, “In mydream of the 21st century forthe State, I would have youngmen and women who put theinterest of the State beforethem. They will have pride inthemselves, confidence inthemselves. They will not be atanybody’s mercy, except theirown selves. By their brains,intelligence and capacity, theywill recapture the history ofKalinga.” The BJD loudmouthsof today would hardly know allthis. Most of them keep sayingthey are tirelessly engaged inmaking the Biju dream cometrue without ever knowingwhat it’s all about.

Damodar Rout is amongone of Bijubabu’s oldest livingfollowers who keeps the mediavibrant and happy with hisamusingly taunting jibes and

quips, no matter if the target isfrom his own party.Unfortunately, some of the lateentrants into the BJD foldmanaged to get closer toNaveenbabu and have beendoing their best to influence thesupremo against those whodon’t give a damn to them.Rout told the world that whilehe boarded an SUV onNaveen’s request after a localevent, he found three speech-less, seemingly immobile, crea-tures occupying the entire pas-senger seat. There was not aninch of space left to push hisbottom into to become a happyco-passenger. Since it was darkand the three stony figures nei-ther laughed nor wept, he wasfrightened that they were‘ghosts’. Moments later, herecognised them as DebashishSamantaray, Bishnu Das andPratap Jena who chose toremain frozen perhaps due tofear of the boss and hatred forthe animal doctor for his caus-tic and taunting comments hekept making at them on a reg-ular basis. Damababu couldneither raise hell nor scare the‘ghosts’ away as he did notknow exorcism.

Among the three, Pratap isa bonus beneficiary with aportfolio, though ineligible onevery score. He speaks like asix-year-old kid and uses moreHindi words than Odia as ifbrought up in a chaste Hindiregion. An avowed sycophant,he claims to be an advocate andlover of music and explorer ofnew places. Bishnu andDamodar would empty count-less magazines if equippedwith guns if put face to face.Debashish and Dama havesuch enmity as never happensin the same political family --jealousy and bad blood of theworst kind oozing out nonstop.If the three guys only had sac-rificed a couple of inches each,the animal doctor would havehugged them forgetting all bit-terness. At least the 50-year-oldbaby in the crowd could haveused his ‘toddler tongue’ to buyover the animal physician,which he never did. Damawent public; media gaineddesired matter and all funcame the people’s way.

BJD spokespersons, par-ticularly the loudmouths, couldnever convince the masses thatthere is no problem and all is

fine. The BJD is strong, forsure; but no single MLA has anappropriately functioning spineto talk straight because theyknow too well they are onlybasking in the Naveen glory asthey have no individual starattraction at all.

Now onto the God story.Around Nabakalebar times ayear ago, it was conclusivelydecided by the temple admin-istration that deity touchingwould not be allowed. Theseer, the monarch and thecommittee led by an adminis-trator took the strong decisionthat chariot climbing and deitytouching would not be tolerat-ed. Even the High Court ruledno chariot climbing. But theguilefully greedy servitorspulled up sinning devoteesonto the chariot platform andseveral ‘deity hugging’ mediareports have been makingrounds since. The Brahmatransfer event turned out to bea disaster, and the devotees whohad loaded the Daitapatis withlove, adulation and money,particularly in Cuttack, got sowild that they made effigies ofthe most boastful ones, canedand kicked them before TV

cameras and finally consignedthem to flames with namesemblazoned. The then DGPhad nearly broken his spine bybending down 180 degrees totouch the feet of a politicianDaitapati in theatre attire, to beremoved from the post afterbeing reprimanded by theChief Minister for offendinguniform and going low instature. This unfortunate for-mer top cop has just beenforced to bite dust in an elec-tion battle in Jharkhand. TheJagannath Temple administra-tion has failed to tame and con-tain the servitors who do notseem to have learnt any lessonfrom the Nabakalebar disaster.

On the divine bathingevent three days ago, the unrulyservitors facilitated touching ofthe deities by wealthy devoteeslate at night. They had also con-stantly blocked public view bystanding in front of the deitiesall day except for a fewmoments. As per the record ofrights, at the most 75 servitorsfrom different communitiesare to be inside the templeacross a whole day. So, whenthe temple administration hasruled severally that no non-

serving servitor should be seenaround, it’s strange that rule-violators are allowed to treadand pose to be important func-tionaries inside the forbiddenarea of the temple. The ChiefAdministrator is slowly becom-ing lax with the worthlessservitors, whom the masseshave started hating ever sincethe big event last year. Theproblem is likely to continueuntil exemplary punishment isawarded to violators or theirhereditary rights as servitorsare scrapped for good. The12th-Century Act is horren-dously obsolete and archaic.Those days, servitor successorsnever came forward to walkinto the shoes because the jobwas essentially voluntary withbare minimum sustenancegranted to them. Lest therewould be none left, the rulingmonarchs made it mandatoryfor the servitor families tohave all male offspring declaredservitors in those difficult days.The servitors were expected tostick to the noble professionwith a keen sense of service tothe poor and needy devotees asservice to God. Now withunthinkable publicity all over,

they have become public fig-ures without any contributionor service to any. The soonerthe archaic law amended thebetter. All servitors have tocome under scrutiny to ensurethey are BPL class to get pecu-niary benefits from the templeadministration or else keepserving as a volunteer. Most ofthem today are filthy rich withmoney extracted from gullibledevotees. They now own hotels,malls, shops, and many ofthem have tonnes of moneyclandestinely put into illegallending business with crimi-nally high rates of interest.The gods are only suffering likemad. Hopefully, the secularNaveen administration wouldfix the system to tame roguessooner than people imagine.

If the temple Acts are notamended instantly, the soul ofthe secular Biju would suffermore than people are able tofathom. Servitors must be fixedto keep the image of Odias highas in the ancient times ofKalinga.

(The writer is a coremember of Transparency

International, Odisha)

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Formulation of Vision 2020-30 for Odisha has been put

on table. A high-level meetingto this effect was held under thechairmanship of ChiefSecretary Aditya Prasad Padhiat the State Secretariat onWednesday.

The deliberations weremade for formulation of thevision document in line with

SDG (SustainableDevelopment Goals) set by theUnited Nations and the NITIAyog’s initiation on it.Considering the suggestionsmade at the meeting, Padhiadvised officials to cluster thesimilar SDGs and constitutesubject-specific groups to setthe vision in each targetedarea.

It was decided that a cred-ible professional agency havingOdisha experience would bepicked up as the technicalpartner for the purpose. Threeinterconnected documentswould be formulated. Thesewould be Vision Document

2030 which would be co-ter-minus for achievement ofSDGs.

A seven-year strategy forthe period from 2017-18 to2023-24 would be formulatedto convert the longer visionsinto implementable policies.The third document would bea three-year Action Documentfor the period from 2017-18 to2019-20 aligning it to the finan-cial resources.

D e v e l o p m e n tCommissioner R Balakrishnansuggested alignment of theVision 2030 with the StateVision Document 2036. It maybe noted that Odisha on its

own has initiated Vision 2036keeping in view completion ofthe 100th year of the State’s for-mation. The Planning &Convergence Departmentwould be the nodal departmentfor this exercise. SDG cellswould be set up in each depart-ment by the first week of July.

Around 17 focus areas likeend of poverty, sustainableproduction and consumption,health and wellbeing, genderequality, clean water and san-itation, affordable clean ener-gy, reduced inequalities, socialpeace and justice, develop-ment of partnerships, climatechange action, life below water,

life on land, decent work andeconomic growth, industry,innovation, infrastructure, sus-tainable cities and communi-ties, etc., were identified to beincluded in the VisionDocument 2030.

These goals were clusteredto seven bread categories andseven thematic working groupswere constituted to look in tothese clusters. The thematicworking groups would developthe roadmap for SDG imple-mentation. Experts from pri-vate sector, civil society, acad-emicians and technical expertswould be involved in theprocess to bring in innovative

perspectives.The Chief Secretary told

reporters that the thematicworking groups would submittheir suggestions within twomonthswhich would be put tothe Government for consider-ation before onward transmis-sion to the NITI Ayog.

Additional SecretaryPlanning & CoordinationPradeep Kumar Biswal out-lined the broad objectives andprocedures for preparation ofthe vision document. PrincipalSecretaries and Secretaries ofvarious departments along withother senior officers partici-pated in the deliberations.

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The BJP on Wednesday camedown heavily on

Sambalpur BJD MP NagendraPradhan’s “baseless” remarkon Kandhamal riot and said theBJD leaders are making suchstatements being scared of pos-sible success of the PradhanMantri Ujjwala Yojana(PMGY).

“The MP (Pradhan),though invited, did not attendthe launching ceremony of theUjjwala Yojana at Sambalpur.He made a baseless allegationthat the BJP had killed hun-

dreds people in Kandhamaldistrict. Pradhan and otherBJD leaders are making suchvague statements being scaredof the Ujjwala Yojana thatwould shake Naveen Patnaik’sChief Minister post,” said BJPState chief spokesperson SajjanSharma at a Press conferencehere.

Sharma sought a clarifica-tion from Pradhan as to onwhich ground he made such anallegation.

“Swami LaxmananandaSaraswati had already informedthe Government about thethreat to his life. The ChiefMinister, who is in charge ofthe Home Department, didn’tprovide security to him.Consequently, the 84-year-oldsaint was killed. The ChiefMinister should make people

know why he couldn’t protectSaraswati’s life,” demandedSharma.

He too refuted Pradhan’scharge that the BJD-BJP tie uphad been snapped forKandhamal riot in which manypeople have been killed. “Whenthe ghastly incident occurred in2008, BJD and BJP were togeth-er in Government. The alliancewas snapped over disagree-ment in seat sharing just before2009 general elections. HencePradhan’s allegation is com-pletely baseless,” he observed.

Sharma too slammed theBJD Government for not invit-ing BJP MLAs and MP to pro-grammes which are imple-mented with Central funds.

Among others, partyspokespersons Sudipta Ray andDillip Mohany were present.

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As part of the probe into theillegal financial transac-

tions of arrested soothsayerSurendra Mishra alias SuraBaba and Sarathi Baba aliasSantosh Raul, the EnforcementDirectorate (ED) onWednesday interrogated twoclose aides of the two self-pro-claimed godmen.

According to sources,Mishra’s accountantManoranjan Acharya wasgrilled by the ED sleuths forover four hours.

ED sleuths are trying toobtain vital information aboutthe income of the ashram,donors and investments of theashram, the sources said.

Sources in the ED said

Acharya was questioned on thesource of funds of the ashramrun by the godman and invest-ment of it thereafter.

The ED also questionedSisir Khatua, a close aide ofanother self-proclaimed god-man Sarathi Baba.

Sources revealed that theED quizzed Khatua on thefinancial affairs of the ashramrun by Sarathi at Barimul inKendrapada. He was grilled forthree hours. Both the self-pro-claimed godmen are now in jailafter their wrongdoings wereexposed.

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The State ConsumerDisputes Redressal

Commission, Cuttack onWednesday held global touroperator Thomas Cook (India)Ltd guilty of service deficien-cy and asked it to pay com-pensation �50,000 to the cus-tomer, lawyer Tapesh Roy.

Roy had booked ticketsfor the European Grand Tourfor his family commencingfrom May 20, 2013 by paying

an advance amount of �60,000to the Thomas Cook. But it didconfirm the bookings or theitinerary rather asked him topay further advance of �1 lakh.Roy objected it and wantedrefund of the previous amountpaid.

But the tour operator arbi-trarily deducted an amount of�23,711and refunded the bal-ance amount. Then Royapproached the commissionto get back his money.

Considering the case, thecommission found ThomasCook guilty for deficiency ofservice and asked to pay�50,000 as compensation alongwith �23,711 plus interest at 18per cent per annum. The mat-ter was argued by Roy.

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The Economic OffencesWing (EOW) of the Crime

Branchon Wednesday arrestedInmobile Vision directorSatyaprakash Mohanty in Delhiin connection with internettower fraud and was beingbrought to the State.

The EOW sleuths with thehelp of Delhi police nabbed

Mohany and produced him ina local court in New Delhi.

He was charged with �2-crore fraud in setting up ofInternet towers in Odisha.

Mohanty was abscondingafter the scam came to the fore.

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Miscreants on Tuesday latenight vandalised and

looted a statue of MahatmaGandhi that was installed infront of a foreign liquor shopon Paradip-DaitaryExpressway on Tuesday by theNisa Nibarana Samiti ofJamadhar panchayat and theDuhuria Bazar Committee.

The intellectual massescondemned the act saying it is

purely unfortunate that thestatue within 24 hours of itsinstallation was vandalized andlooted.

The Duhuria BazarCommittee and the NisaNibarana Samiti of Jamdhargram panchayat later com-plained before the districtCollector and the IIC ofKendrapada Sadar police sta-tion. Acting on the information,a police team led by IICPadarbinda Tripathy rushed tothe spot to take stock of the sit-uation. The Nisa NibaranaSamiti alleged that one liquortrader of the locality and his sup-

porters were involved in the act. Acting on the FIR, the

police registered a case andwere conducting an inquiry.Nobody had been arrested,stated IIC Tripathy.

Meanwhile, demanding thearrest of the accused and alsore-installation of a Gandhistatue on the spot, the localsstaged an agitation near the dis-mantled pedestal.

It may be noted that thelocals had demanded closure oftwo licenced liquor shops atDuhuria Chowk -the entranceroad to Kendrapada and hadheld demonstration and dha-

rana in the past. But, the dis-trict administration had notpaid heed to their demand.Later, the locals with the helpof Duhuria Bazar Committeeon Tuesday expressed theirprotest in a unique way byinstalling two statues of Gandhiin front of the two liquorshops. The panchayat peopleand bazaar committee spentmoney from their own pocketsfor the statue construction.On Tuesday, the statues wereunveiled by KendrapadaPanchayat Samiti chairpersonNibedita Samal and Gandhianleader Kumar Chandra Mishra.

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To protest commercialisa-tion and communalisation

of education, the All IndiaStudents’ Bloc (AISB), OdishaState Committee launched asix-month-long State-widecampaign ‘Shiksha Banhao,Desh Banchao’ hereWednesday.

As part of the campaign,the body staged a dharna infront of the Raj Bhavan on theday under the leadership ofAISB State convenor SoumyaRanjan Rout.

AISB co-convenor JyotiRanjan Mohapatra saidEducation has become a prof-itable business these days. Theeducation system inGovernment-run institutions

has been paralyzed. “Takingadvantage of the scenario, edu-cational entrepreneurs are onlyexpanding their business.Resulting this, many poorscholar students are deprived ofgetting higher education,”Mohapatra lamented.

The students also con-demned both the Union andState Governments for theiranti-students and anti-educa-tion polices. Later, a five-mem-ber team submitted a memo-randum to Governor SC Jamir.

The demands include fillup of vacant seats in educa-tional institutions, check thefees hike trend and unneces-sary political interference ineducational institutions,employment guarantee to stu-dents, etc, said convenor Rout.

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The Odisha Durneet iSangharsa Mancha has

appraised the Panchayati RajDepartment about variouscorruptions al legedlyoccurred in various develop-ment works in Marthapurgram panchayat underKhordha district’s Balipatnablock.

In the letter sent to thedepartment Secretary onTuesday, the Manch said ithas received complaints frompeople of Marthapur grampanchayat regarding corrup-tion in various developmen-tal works.

Though an amount of Rs1 lakh was provided from theTFC Fund for a road to GiriGobardhan Mandap, but no

road has been constructedand a fake bill made.

The money has been mis-appropriated with the knowl-edge of the JE, the EO and the Sarapanch, al legedManch.

Similarly, under thePrime Minister Gram SadakYojana, Rs 3 lakh was pro-vided for construction of aroad from the GP toAisaneswar Temple. But peo-ple alleged that while onlyabout 50-feet-long road withtwo inch metal concretemade, bill has been made forthe entire amount.

Besides, �25,000 had beensanctioned in 2013-14 fromthe GP fund for colouring ofthe Marthapur panchayatbuilding, but a fake bill wasmade without work. Similarly,Rs1.20 lakh was provided forthe Talapadia-Harijan Padiadrain renovation, a huge por-tion of it has been bungled.

The Manch demanded aVigilance probe into the irreg-ularities.

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MSMEs constitute over 90per cent of total enter-

prises in most of the economiesand account for the highestrates of employment growthand a major share of industri-al output and exports. Theyproduce more than 8,000 prod-ucts with a 40 per cent share inoverall industrial output. It isestimated that in terms ofvalue, the MSME sectoraccounts for about 45 per centof manufacturing outputs and40 per cent of the total exportsand 7 per cent of the GDP inIndia.

The sector serves the vitalfunction of linking the agri-cultural and industrial seg-

ments of the economy. Thereare certain measures taken bythe Government to promotethis sector, as it has the poten-tial to transform the rurallandscape of India by improv-ing the value of agriculturalproduce, ensuring better remu-neration to farmers, and at thesame time creating favourabledemand for Indian agro-prod-ucts in the world market. Asper available statistics, the sec-tor employs an estimated 31million persons over 12.8 mil-lion enterprises, and the labourintensity in the MSME sectoris estimated to be almost fourtimes higher than that of thelarge enterprises.

Notwithstanding its impor-tance, the MSME sector isbeset with a variety of problemsof sickness. Currently, morethan 1.04 lakh units areencountering industrial sick-ness. The MSMEs are facingproblems of finance, skills,supply chain, low productivityand quality. The situation inIndia is special and requires atailor made approach.

Indian MSMEs are unor-ganized; therefore, models andmethodologies are requiredconsidering the actual prob-lems (low productivity, high

cost, and internal failure) andlimitations of the IndianMSMEs. Under such volatileconditions, MSMEs also faceissues such as lack of optimaluse of resources, lack ofadvanced technology, ineffi-cient supply chain, global com-petitions, lack of finance andskill, increase in wastage,uncertain demand pattern ofproduct due to global factors,and changing customer pref-erences. To tackle these issues,MSMEs need to optimize theirresources and skills to increasegrowth and profitability bydecreasing wastage and inven-tory. There is a need to ensureoptimal utilisation of resourcesand also to integrate the processof MSMEs by ensuring a seam-less supply chain is introduced.

Besides optimisation, thereare also other ways in whichproductivity of MSMEs can beenhanced. Outsourcing of tech-nology development helpdeskto accounting back-office andeven high-end equity researchby large corporations across theglobe has taken solid roots inIndia. A similar phenomenonof outsourcing locally by com-panies, especially MSMEs, hasstarted gaining traction, whichif nurtured and adopted wide-

ly, can greatly improve theproductivity of MSMEs.

Secondly, the concept of“Cluster Development” alsooffers new insights into thepotential role of MSMEs. It isestimated that there are about400 MSME clusters in thecountry. A cluster may bedefined as a local conglomer-ation of enterprises (mainlyMSMEs) that produce and sella range of related and comple-mentary products and ser-vices. An example can be alocalised toy industry, includ-ing battery-operated units,plastic assembly spaces, minia-ture merchandise producers,designers, food processingunits and craftsmen. The clus-ter also helps in the minimisa-tion of transportation cost,implementation of Just In Time(JIT), integrating all actors ofsupply chain, etc.

Thirdly, online mecha-nisms should be provided toMSMEs to carry out all thenecessary transactions for con-ducting business in the domes-tic and international markets.The Government should alsoprovide online access to rulesand regulations, electronicmethods for registration andelectronic applications for

schemes, certificates, licencesand realisation of incentives.This will help in the minimumcost of purchasing, inventoryand information management.The present system of e-mailaccess and telephone is rather“sometimes working” system.

Fourthly, something calledInteger Linear Programming(ILP) is especially suited forIndian MSMEs. Linear pro-gramming is a powerful prob-lem-solving tool that aids themanagement in making deci-sions about how to allocate itsresources to various activities tomeet its organisational objec-tives. It uses a mathematicalmodel to represent the problembeing studied. ILP is a mathe-matical technique for opti-mum allocation of scarce orlimited resources, such aslabour and material, to sever-al competing activities likeproducts, services, and sys-tems operations. Once theproblem is accurately diag-nosed, the next step is to for-mulate the problem. Thisinvolves several technical stepssuch as determining decisionvariables and framing an objec-tive function that can help anMSME to maximise its totalprofit. The whole process of

ILP is a novel and underutilizedtechnique which holds greatbut untapped potential to helpa company make a concrete,systematic and targetedapproach to profit maximisa-tion.

A major problem IndianMSMEs face is the availabilityof adequate and timelyfinances. In India, banks are theproviders of funds to the indus-try, especially for MSMEs.Their importance to theMSMEs becomes all the moreevident owing to the fact thatthe latter does not have accessto capital markets. From theyear 2005 onwards, theGovernment of India and thecommercial banks have start-ed to pay considerable attentionto the MSMEs as they comeunder the priority sector lend-ing. Indian banks are requiredto give a minimum 40 per centof the adjusted net bank cred-it to the priority sector and for-eign banks have a minimum 32per cent exposure to the pri-ority sector (RBI catalogues,March 2009).But this positionneeds to be evaluated in an eco-nomic climate that holds greatpromise with regards to theIndian MSMEs.

In 2006, the Government

enacted Micro, Small andMedium EnterprisesDevelopment Act so as to facil-itate the promotion, develop-ment and competitiveness ofMSMEs. This was done withthe intention of enhancing therole of MSMEs as a catalyst forchange in a slumping economy.As under the Act, the SmallIndustries Development Bankof India (SIDBI) was an envi-sioned to be an apex forum forpromotion, financing anddevelopment of the MSMEs.SIDBI’s role has, however, notbeen fully exploited in therecent years and it needs to befully harnessed with a view ofrestoring the strength in theMSMEs that they currentlylack.� �10,000 crore be deployedfor rehabilitation of potential-ly-viable NPA MSMEs. � Identification of such pro-jects to be assigned to theSFCs.� The SFCs of the respectiveStates to carry out a survey andundertake the total rehabilita-tion of the units till their turn-around takes place.�Working capital tie-ups withbanks for rehabilitated units bedocumented simultaneouslyduring the rehabilitation

process. �The SLIIC (State Level InterInstitutional Committee) bevested with statutory powersand its decision be binding onall agencies including banks.�Before filling of suits againstMSMEs by banks and FIsapproval from SLIIC beobtained.�The banking ombudsman beempowered to adjudicate allbanking issues including com-mercial matters.�Roll back the NPA period forMSMEs to 180 days of defaultfrom 90 days as on date untilinfrastructural development insectors like electricity,telecommunication, IT, avail-ability of need based bankfinance, Government clear-ances etc. are at par with high-ly developed countries where90 days NPA norms are feasi-ble.� To introduce various, pro-ductivity linked Labour Lawslikes allowing ladies to works inthe night shift, privatizing ESI,PF, Etc.

(The writer is workingchairperson, EFCAI, ex-chair-man, Orissa Assembly of Smalland Medium Enterprise, Email: [email protected])

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A38-year-old tout has beenapprehended by the

Chandipur police on the chargeof cheating and committingforgery. The accused isBodhiswata Parida alias Tuan,a native of Niali of Cuttack dis-trict currently residing atLaxmisagar in Bhubaneswar.

He had brought a group ofyoung people to Chandipuron the pretext that they had gotjobs in the PXE (Proof andExperimental Establishment)

through his channel.The group of eight was

rounded up by police whenthey were found loiteringaround saying that they had gotjobs in the PXE as technicalassistants through Parida andhad come for familiarisationwith the Chandipur area.

Police too found that threeof them possessed PXE identi-

ty cards, which were later foundto be fake after verification bythe PXE authorities.

During interrogation, itwas learnt that these young menare diploma qualified, andParida had issued identity cardsto four of them. Parida hadtaken �2 lakh from each ofthem in advance for jobs andwould further have taken

another �2 lakh following theirgetting jobs. Although he issuedidentity cards to them yet hehad failed to issue any appoint-ment letters. Parida, duringinterrogation, said a retiredcaptain, Abhay Barik, a residentof Choudwar, is also involvedwith him in the crime.

A total of 10 people, includ-ing Parida and the eight so-

called appointed persons andfather of a jobseeker, had comefrom Bhubaneswar on Tuesdayby two SUVs. Towards eveningthey were spotted in therestricted Defence areas.

“Parida has confessed to thecrime and said he had taken Rs2 lakh each from 22 persons,including these eight candi-dates. He got the identity cardsprepared. As per his version, aretired captain is the master-mind of the racket. However,we are yet to verify the truth inhis statement and role of thecaptain. There could be morearrests,” said Chandipur policestation IIC Rajendra Das

He added that the accusedhave been booked under sec-tions of cheating and forgeryof IPC.

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Kshirod Mishra alias Guruji,a gang member of dread-

ed criminal Timan Kumbhar,on Wednesdaysurrenderedbefore police at the Sadar policestation here. Besides, two othermembers of the Timan gangwere arrested by the Townpolice.

Police had on May 29issued non-bailable warrants(NBWs) against Mishra andnine other gang members anddeclared them as absconders.

Mishra, a teacher by pro-fession, is allegedly involved inseveral cases of land grabbing.Earlier this month, the districtadministration had demol-ished a building illegally con-structed by Mishra on aGovernment school land atShantipada here.

“I have surrendered at theSadar police station. Most ofthe people in Balangir knowthat I am an honest person. Iwas never involved in grabbingGovernment lands and sellingthem to others. I have norelation with Timan.Apprehending threat to my

life, I had absconded,” saidMishra.

Balangir SP Ashish KumarSingh said, “Khirod Mishrasurrendered before the Sadarpolice station today. We willinterrogate him in connectionwith several cases lodgedagainst him.”

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The Bileimunda tribal inhab-itants in Sundargarh dis-

trict have been holding ananti-liquor agitation for last 82days but their demands still fallon the deaf ear of the adminis-tration. The protesters are nowcontemplating to file a PIL inthe Orissa High

Court in this regard. According to sources, the

villagers of Garjanjor panchay-at are holding the agitation forthe shifting of a local shopalleging that the shop has been

the root cause of many distur-bances in their locality.

Significantly, the locals areholding an agitation for last 80days demanding eviction ofthat liquor shop. A relay hungerstrike has also been continuingthere since April11 last.

During the hunger strike,Hemgiri Tehsildar Lalat KumarLuha and Hemgiri police offi-cials had discussed with the pro-testers to withdraw the strike,but in vain. As a result, severalof the agitators had been hos-pitalised. The villagers had alsodiscarded a Gram Sabha inprotest against the apathy of theadministration.

The protesters claimed thatthey will not withdraw their stirtill the demand was not met.

On May 8, a large numberof women staged a rally on theMother’s Day and took oath to

drive out liquor from the village. A 12-member team under

the banner of BileimundaGrambasi and Anchalbasi inSundargarh had met districtCollector on May 9 for evictionof the country liquor shop butthe district Collector BhupinderSingh Punia had refused tofulfil their demand.

On June 15, thousands oftribals, including youths, girls,women and old persons ofBileimunda, staged a massrally and gave slogan thatwhen tribals here have beendemanding for eviction of theliquor shop for the better-ment of society and develop-ment of the area, the StateGovernment and the districtadministration are not listen-ing to them. The tribals alsowarned of intensifying theiragitation in coming days.

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The 2nd International Day ofYoga was celebrated by the

Paradip Port Trust (PPT) withmuch enthusiasm on Tuesday.

PPT Chairman RinkeshRoy inaugurated the celebra-tion at the Officers’ Clubpremises in the morning. PPTofficers and employees, CISFpersonnel of the PPT unit,students of different schoolsand residents of the PortTownship actively participated

in large numbers in the pro-gramme organised at theOfficers’ Club premises as wellas at the Gopabandhu Stadium.

Rajayoga teacher BrahmaKumari Asmita and yoga teacherRam Krishna Pattanayak of thePrajapita Brahma KumarisIshwariya Vishwa Vidyalayaconducted the yoga programmeat the Officers’ Club whilePattanjanli Yoga Samity MandalPrabhari Kapil Taunk conduct-ed the event at the GopabandhuStadium.

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The International Yoga Daywas celebrated by city-

based NOG Sakar at the SriVasavi Kanyaka ParameswariTemple at Khaspa Street hereon Tuesday.

A total of 310 participantsattended the event presidedover by Sakar president SPAdinarayan, who spoke on thesignificance of the day.

Yogadham DirectorKrishna Gopal Dasji Maharaj

joined the event as chief guestand said one should practiseyoga in proper way. NICDirector RK Dash joined aschief speaker and spoke on ben-efits of yoga in daily life andexplained the meaning andsymbol of Ayush. The partici-pants later shared their experi-ence. Naturopath and diabeteseducator SN Sahoo spoke onimportance of the right type offood in life to check variouslifestyle diseases. Sakar secre-tary Swarupa also spoke.

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To provide supplementaryincome support to dairy

farmers, The State Governmenthas entered into an agreementwith the JK Trust for a “cattlebreeding and small ruminantimprovement project” to beimplemented in 13 districts.

The pact was signed withRK Trust in presence ofMinister Pradeep Maharathyon Tuesday. The project wouldbe implemented this year witha financial support of Rs 12.85crore under Rashtriya KrushiVikash Yojana.

The project will coverabout 4,500 villages inMalkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada,Nabarangpur, Kalahandi,Ganjam, Nuapada, Bargarh,Sundargarh, Baleswar,Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar andBoudh. A total of 510 inte-grated livestock development(ILD) centres would be estab-lished in as many gram pan-chayats. Each ILD would havea rural youth to be engaged as

‘Gopal’ to oversee the activitiesof the project that aims toproduce 25,000 cross bred andupgraded female calves of highgenetic merit.

Maharathy said the projectwould boost the dairy farmers’income and help reduce thevulnerability of farmers againstcrop failure.

Fisheries and Animal

Resource DevelopmentSecretary Bishnupada Sethisaid the project would com-plement efforts of the depart-ment to upgrade the geneticpotential of the bovine popu-lation as envisioned in theOdisha Bovine BreedingPolicy-2015. JK Trust’s senorState project manager ArunUppadhyaya was present.

Bhubaneswar: The OdishaMilk Farmers’ Association(OMFA) on Wednesday saidthe State Government-JKTrust pact for setting up of 510integrated livestock develop-ment (ILD) centres wouldfurther damage the dairyfarmers’ economic conditionas the Government hasalready failed to check distresssale of milk.

“As a time when the StateGovernment has failed to pro-vide fodder at subisidised rateand check distress sale ofmilk, the plan to providemore cross-bred cattle is noth-

ing but a farce. Our associa-tion is strongly opposing thepact with the JK Trust,” saidOMFA president Rabi Beherain a statement.

Behera, also theSamajawadi Party state pres-ident, demanded that Fisheriesand Animal ResourcesMinister Pradeep Maharathyshould fix minimum supportprice of Rs 30 per litre of milkfor farmers and order a probeinto the irregularities of theOmfed. He said farmerswould intensify stir if all milkare not procured by theOmfed at right prices. PNS

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Athrilling LED Van displayas part of a State-wide

campaign titled ‘Smart Odisha’saw excellent involvement ofcitizens at Gandhi NagarSquare here on Wednesday.

The campaign providedan avenue for the people toexpress their thoughts, opin-ions and suggestions for accel-erating the State’s develop-ment. Citizens are taking activeinterest in the campaign bysharing their thoughts andmessages on the messageboards placed at critical pointslike railway stations, bus stands,colleges, corporate offices, traf-fic signals, malls, popular foodoutlets and tourist spots, acrossthe State includingBhubaneswar, Cuttack,Rourkela, Puri, Baleswar,Brahmapur, Sambalpur,Jhasuguda, Bhadrak,Dhenkanal.

All the messages on themessage board would be saved

and scanned daily. Ten bestideas would be selected eachday from all locations and beannounced on the radio.

The ideas would alsoappear in the LED Van dailyand people can track thesevans by listening to the radioannouncements.

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The Bharatiya Janata YuvaMorcha (BJYM) members

criticised actors-cum-BJD lead-ers for their alleged involve-ment with the Oscar chit fundcompany.

They burnt the effigies ofBrahmapur MP SiddhantMahapatra and Rajya Sabhamemer Anubhab Mohanty,MLA Akash DasNayak andPapu Pompom on Wednesday

here at the old bus-stand.Under the leadership of

district Yuva Morcha presi-dent Sidhhanta Gangadeb, themembers also organised a pro-cession and demanded thearrest of the BJD leaders.

They condemned the StateGovernment for giving pro-tection to the actors. SanjayChaudhury, TumbeswarNayak, K Kiran Kumar, BikeshPanigrahi of the Yuva Morchawere present, among others.

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Acting on the direction ofdistrict Collector Debaraj

Senapati, the BDOs of Aul,Derabish and Rajnagar blockslodged FIRs on Tuesday againstthe ineligible beneficiaries ofNFSA in their respective policestations.

The move followed afterthese ineligible beneficiarieswere found in the specialinquiry that they managed toget NFSA ration cards by sub-mitting fake documents andhave been lifting the subsidisedfood grains under NFSA-2013.

According to Senapti, sev-eral allegations had come to his

notice from Aul, Rajnagar, andDerabish blocks that some eli-gible poverty stricken peoplehad failed to get ration cards inthe district whereas severalineligible persons had becomebeneficiaries and were gettingsubsidised rations after obtain-ing ration cards under NFSA.As a result, he directed a spe-cial inquiry in Aul ,Derabishand Rajnagar blocks.

Later, the BDOs of Aul,Derabish and Rajnagar sub-mitted the special inquiryreport in which it wasunearthed that as many as 61persons in the three blocks hadbeen lifting subsidised foodgrains with their ration cards.

These ineligible beneficiariesmanaged to obtain the rationcard by submitting forged doc-uments.

In Derabish block as manyas 46 ineligible persons ofKaupada gram panchayat hadbeen identified, whereas threeineligible beneficiaries eachwere identified in Aul block’sAragala and Patrapur pan-chayats respectively.

Similarly, nine ineligibleration card holders, includingsix ineligible beneficiariesunder Dera Gram Panchayatand three ineligible beneficia-ries under Iswarpur panchay-at, were identified underRajnagar block.

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To strengthen the grievanceredressal mechanism and

provide relief to people atdoorstep, Baleswar MP RKJena conducted a grievancemeeting at Basta block onTuesday.

As many as 750 people put

forth their grievances beforethe MP. The grievances weremainly pertaining drinkingwater, electricity, road, IAY,ration card and pension. Whilesome of the grievances weredisposed off on the spot, somewere referred to the line depart-ments.

“The objective of conduct-ing such programme is to reachout to people and redress theirgrievance at the doorstep. Asmany as 750 people petitioned

on various issues. We wouldhold similar exercises in otherblocks too in phased manner,”said MP Jena.

Local MLA NityanandaSahu, Sub-CollectorRamchandra Palta, BastaSDPO Gobinda Chandra Sethiand district Labour OfficerBenudhar Jena were present,among others. Later, identitycards and cheques for cycleswere distributed amongNirman Shramiks.

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Ganjam district’sS a n d h a m u l a

Revenue CircleRevenue Inspector ASrikanta Kumar Doraon Wednesdaywasarrested by Vigilanceofficials for demand-ing and acceptingbribe of �2,000.

Dora had demanded thebribe from one Rabindra NathRout of Malabelapada villageunder Kodala PS in the districtfor mutation of land and alsoto issue land patta.

Rout alleged that his moth-

er had applied to the KodalaTehsildar for mutation of landand also to issue land patta

(ROR) in her name.As per the directionof the Tehsildar,Rout attached all thedocuments at thetime of submissionof application.Subsequently, theland patta was pre-

pared, but the accused Dorademanded the bribe to han-dover the ROR.

On Rout’s complaint, atrap was laid and Dora wascaught red-handed byVigilance officers.

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To mark the InternationalYoga Day on Tuesday, 600

cadets and staff members of theSainik School Bhubaneswarperformed yoga at theVivekananda Auditorium hereunder the guidance of PatanjaliYoga Samiti yoga instructorKhitish Pattanaik.

Sainik School,Bhubaneswar Principal Capt(IN) Kanchan Mukherjee inau-gurated the event. He empha-sised on the need of the innerdevelopment and soul purifi-cation for being a good citizenof the country. He spoke aboutthe importance of thepranayam and yoga in thedaily life by activation of the

energy system of the body.“A few weeks practice of

yoga will create a noticeableimprovement in our health.Our body chemistry willimprove. We will be more bal-anced, energetic and it canreduce our stress level,” hesaid. Sainik School staffs and LtCol Shreyash Mehta were pre-sent, among others.

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The Dalmia Bharat Cement,the country’s largest pro-

ducer of slag cement, launchedtwo new products in the Stateon Wednesday.

The two products areDhalai Special, i.e., DalmiaDSP Cement and DalmiaCement. The products wouldbe made available through 650dealers and network partners.

Dalmia Bharat Group CEOMahendra Singhi launched thebrands and said, “DalmiaBharat believes in constantinnovation and allows us toachieve market leadership.”

He also said, “AsBhubaneswar strives to achievethe number one position as aSmart City, we believe theDalmia Bharat Group with its75 years of expertise can act as

a pillar of strength in creatingthe blueprint for tomorrow’sgrowth and prosperity in termsof infrastructure.”

The group’s target is 75,000tonne per month in currentfinancial year.

Elaborating the features ofthe new products, OCL IndiaLtd and Dalmia Cement East

Ltd Director and CEOAmandeep said, “The DalmiaBharat Group brings the best oftechnological innovation andtrust of quality that had andwill last for generations.”

Senior Executive DirectorBK Singh and OCL ExecutiveDirector Indrajit Chatterji werepresent.

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Expecting visit of large num-bers of people to Puri dur-

ing Rath Yatra scheduled onJuly 6, the State Government onWednesday decided to run 300more buses to the pilgrimtown.

A preparatory meeting ofthe State Transport Authority(STA) held under chairman-ship of TransportCommissioner ChandrasekharKumar took this decision. PuriSP, Cuttack DCP, RegionalTransport Officer (RTO) andoffice-bearers of All OdishaPrivate Bus Owners’Association were present.

Kumar said in addition tothe 200 buses presently plyingto Puri, 300 more intra-Stateand inter-State buses would be

diverted to the holy city duringthe grand festival.

“These additional buseswould ply July 5 to 7 andagain during Bahuda Yatra andSuna Besha. Passengers will becharged normal bus fare fortheir visit to Puri during thesedays,” Kumar told reporters.

He also said a temporaryrest house would be set up inTalabania area near ShriGundicha temple while provi-sions for drinking water wouldbe made in the bus stand forthe convenience of the pas-sengers in Puri.

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The Orissa High Court onWednesday asked the

Archaeological Survey of India(ASI) to submit a report on thePuri Shreemandir repair worksby July 20.

Sources said the High

Court issued this directionwhile acting on a petition thatsought court’s order for earlyrepair of the Jagamohan.

The court has issuednotices to all authorities con-nected with the JagannathTemple excepting GajapatiMaharaja Dibya Singha Deb.

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Indian Space ResearchOrganisation (ISRO) broke

new barriers in space technol-ogy on Wednesday by deploy-ing 20 satellites, including theindigenously-developed CAR-TOSAT-2, an Earth observa-tion spacecraft, into pre-deter-mined orbits, a feat describedby Prime Minister NarendraModi as a “monumentalaccomplishment.”

At the stroke of 9.25 am, aPolar Satellite Launch Vehicle(PSLV) blasted off from thesecond launch pad of SatishDhawan Space Centre atSriharikota, India’s gateway tothe stars, 80 km north offChennai with 20 satellites onboard.

While the CARTOSAT-2,weighing 727.5 kg was themain passenger on board thelaunch vehicle PSLV-C34, twostudent satellites from Indianuniversities and 17 satellitesfrom foreign countries includ-ing the USA, Canada andGermany had a piggyback ride.

Within 26 minutes of itslaunch, the PSLV, described asIndia’s trusted and time-testedworkhorse deployed all thesatellites, one after another,into pre-determined orbits.

“This is a technologicalmarvel. While reiterating thedependability of the PSLV, weproved to the world that wehave mastered the MultipleLaunch Adapter technology, anexpertise with which we areable to launch a number of pay-loads in a single mission,” saida veteran ISRO scientist.

In 2008, ISRO hadlaunched ten satellites in a sin-

gle mission. On April 28, 2008,the PSLV-C9 had launchedCARTOSAT-2A, a remotesensing satellite, Indian MiniSatellite-1 and eight nano satel-lites.

According to an ISROrelease the pictures sent by theCARTOSAT-2 satellite couldbe used in cartographic appli-cations, urban and rural appli-cations, coastal land use andregulation, utility managementlike road network monitoring,creation of land use map andwater distribution.

The pictures, to be takenusing the panchromatic andmultispectral cameras on-board the satellite, would havea resolution of 60 cm. Thismeans, any object on the sur-face of the Earth, measuring 60cm in height will be clearly vis-ible to these cameras.

While Wednesday’s mis-sion too had a bouquet ofnano satellites, one payloadwhich stood out was the SkySatGen2-1, an Earth observationsatellite designed and devel-oped by Terra Bella, a Googlecompany. This 110 kg satelliteis capable of sending out sub-meter resolution pictures andhigh definition videos.

Out of the 17 foreign satel-lites deployed by the PSLV inWednesday’s mission, 13 werefrom the USA, two were fromCanada, one each fromGermany and Indonesia. Twoof the Indian satellites werebuilt by educational institu-tions. Except for the CAR-TOSAT-2 and the SkySatGen2-1 satellites, all othersbelonged to the category ofmicro and nano satellites. “20satellites in a go! ISRO contin-ues to break new barriers.

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Monsoon hit Bihar onTuesday with a bang that

brought death and devasta-tion. No doubt the first show-ers brought big relief for thebeleaguered farmers and theirparched lands, but the accom-panying lightning took a heavytoll of 57 lives across the Stateon Tuesday and Wednesday.

Such a high casualty due tothunder and lightning wasunheard of in recent memory.Disaster Management principalsecretary Vyasji confirmed thedeaths and said theGovernment was providing acompensation of Rs 4 lakh tothe kin of each victim.

Most of the casualties werereported from Sasaram, Patnaand Bhabua. In Patna districtfive people including twowomen in Bihta and Naubatpur.Over a hundred people havesuffered burn injuries in theState who are under treatment.

According to reports anumber of cattle heads also per-ished in the lightning. Thereports of the loss of humanlives came from Buxar,Aurangabad, Saran, Katihar,Saharsa, Purnia, Munger,Kishanganj, Nalanda, Gaya,Bhojpur, Samastipur andChamparan. In Munger, afather-son duo was killed bylightning.

On the first day of mon-soon, heavy rain lashed almostentire Bihar with Purnia record-ing 83.8 mm rain while Patnareceived 17.2 mm rain.

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Bihar got a major infra-structural bonanza on

Wednesday with the UnionCabinet approving the upgra-dation of the Mahatma GandhiSetu in Patna and simultane-ously, the Railway Ministryintroducing four passengertrains in the region.

The Cabinet Committeeon Economic Affairs (CCEA)approved the project for reha-bilitation of four-lane 5.575-km-long Mahatma GandhiSetu at NH-19 on Ganga Riverin Patna in Bihar. The Cabinetalso approved the develop-ment of four laning of Hubli-Hospet Section of NH-63 inKarnataka with an estimatedcost of �2,272.20 crore. Thetotal length of the road to bedeveloped is approximately144 kms.

“The Gandhi Setu will beconstructed after dismantlingthe damaged pre-stressed can-tilever arms superstructure andsubsequent re-decking by steel

truss. The project will be inEngineering, Procurement andConstruction (EPC) mode. Thecost is estimated to be � 1742.01crore,” Road Transport MinisterNitin Gadkari told the mediaafter the Cabinet meet. UnionMinisters Ravi Shankar Prasad,Ram Vilas Paswan and RadhaMohan Singh, all belonging toBihar, were present during thebriefing.

The project is covered in theregion of Patna-Hajipur con-necting North and South Bihar.It will help in expediting theimprovement of infrastructurein the State besides reducing thetime and cost of travel for traf-fic, particularly heavy traffic,plying between North andSouth Bihar. The rehabilitationof Mahatma Gandhi Setu willalso help in uplifting the socio-economic condition of thisregion in the State.

The Setu in Patna on GangaRiver was constructed during1980s by State Government ofBihar. The distressed Bridge isa very important link betweenNorth Bihar and South Bihar

and is a route for several eco-nomic as well as socio politicalactivity. The business of Nepaland Bhutan also flows throughthis connection.

A Government commu-niqué said the Ministry of RoadTransport and Highways hasmade efforts to rehabilitate thisBridge since last 15 years but theefforts were not successful. Aftera lot of studies through nation-al and foreign experts it has nowbeen decided that only remedyleft is to dismantle the existingsuperstructure followed by sub-sequent re-decking by steeltruss. Accordingly, a detailedestimate has been prepared forrehabilitation of superstructureof Mahatma Gandhi Setu inPatna.

Besides as part of its greeninitiative, Gadkari said theRoad Ministry will plant treesalong 1,500 km of highways onJuly 1. This will be a part of �5,000-crore initiative as theMinistry has alreadyannounced earmarking of 1 percent of the about ��5 lakh croreprojects for plantation and

transplantation.For his part, Railway

Minister Suresh Prabhu,through video-conferencing,flagged off new train servicesbetween Danapur and Saharsa,extension of the Jaynagar-Saharsa Janki Express toKatihar, Patna-Murliganj KoshiExpress extended up to Purneaand extended services ofJasidih-Chandan passengertrain up to Banka.

The Jasidih-Chandan willbe the first passenger train torun on the newly constructedChandan-Banka line which wasa dream project for the thenMinister of State for Railwayslate Digvijay Singh in the AtalBihari Vajpayee cabinet.

Describing the event as a“happy occasion”, Prabhu said,“We always try to cater to thedemands of the people. Stepsare being taken for expansionof the rail infrastructure in thestate to launch more such ser-vices.” Prabhu said new trainsservices in these areas willimprove socio-economic con-dition of the people.

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In a bid to make it easier forpharma firms to do business

and to improve the safety andefficacy of locally produceddrugs, the Union Cabinet onWednesday decided to with-draw the Drugs and Cosmetics(Amendment) Bill, 2013,which had been introduced inthe Rajya Sabha last year.

A Standing Committee ofParliament had made a num-ber of recommendations forchanging the provisions ofthe Bill. The Bill will bereplaced with new measureskeeping in mind advance-ments made in various fieldsincluding stem cell researchand clinical trials in keepingwith the Modi Government’s‘Make in India’ initiative.

The Cabinet chaired byPrime Minister NarendraModi, has, keeping in view therole of the sector in managing

public health, decided that itwill not be appropriate tocarry out further amendmentsin the present Act especially asnewer areas of biological, stemcells and regenerative medi-cines, medical devices andclinical trial/investigation, etc.cannot be effectively regulat-ed under the existing law,according to an official state-ment here.

Also, keeping in view theobjective of ‘Make in India’campaign, it has been decid-ed to comprehensively reviewthe existing law with two foldobjectives viz. to facilitate theease of doing business andsubstantially enhancing thequality and efficacy of ourproducts, the statementadded.

The Health Ministry,accordingly, “has undertakenan exercise at two levels --toframe separate rules under theexisting Act for regulatingmedical devices and to bring

out separate legislations forregulating medical devicesand Drugs and Cosmetics.While, after extensive discus-sions with all stakeholders, thedraft rules for regulating med-ical devices have been pre-pared and will be draft noti-fied shortly, work on draftingthe new legislation has alsocommenced.”

The regulations holdimportance given that India isone of the largest manufac-turers of pharmaceuticalproducts in the world. Theannual production of suchproducts is in excess of � 2lakh crore. Out of this, over 55per cent is exported to over200 countries of the worldincluding the developednations. As such, the phar-maceutical sector in Indiaplays a vital role in managingthe public health in largenumber countries at a sub-stantially lower cost, the state-ment said.

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To promote people-centricplanning and smooth exe-

cution of its flagship schemessuch as Swachchh BharatMission, the Ministry of UrbanDevelopment has approved set-ting up of district-level adviso-ry and monitoring panels, a firstof its kind, to be headed by MPsand MLAs across the country.

A senior official from theMinistry said that UrbanDevelopment MinisterVenkaiah Naidu has alreadyapproved setting up of suchcommittees which will meet atleast once in 3 months andsubmit reports.

These Committees willoversee, review and monitorimplementation of urbandevelopment, affordable hous-ing and urban poverty allevia-tion programmes.

Implementation ofschemes to be monitored bythese Committees are -SwachhBharat Mission, Atal Missionfor Rejuvenation and UrbanTransformation (AMRUT),Heritage City Development

and Augmentation Yojana(HRIDAY), Pradhan MantriAwas Yojana-Housing for All(Urban) and DeendayalAntyodaya Yojana-NationalUrban Livelihoods Mission,the official explained.

States/UTs will appoint thesenior most Member ofParliament as the chairperson ofthe Committee. Two more MPs,one each from Rajya Sabha andLok Sabha will be the Co-chair-persons. All MLAs from respec-tive districts representing theurban local bodies, mayors andchairpersons of ULBs, chair-persons and chief executives ofurban development authoritiesin districts, commissioners andchief executive officers of ULBs,senior most representatives ofthe department of public healthengineering and senior mostofficials of parastatal bodies likewater board, sewerage board willbe the members of the DistrictLevel Advisory and MonitoringCommittees.

No daily allowance or trav-elling allowance would be paidany member for attending themeetings of the committees,the official clarified.

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In a countrywide operation,the CBI on Wednesday con-

ducted searches at 17 locationsin Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore,Chennai, Hyderabad andKhammam in connection witha case relating to alleged cor-ruption by nine senior IncomeTax officials.

The agency has registereda case against nine seniorIncome Tax officials, includingPrincipal CommissionerIncome Tax, Delhi SK Mittaland three private persons forallegedly indulging in corruptpractices.

Those against whom casehas been registered are Mittal,Additional Commissioner(exemption) Bangalore T NPrakash, DeputyCommissioner (Investigation)Chennai S Murali Mohan,Commissioner (Audit-2)Chennai Vijayalakshmi,Additional CommissionerMumbai S Pandian,Commissioner (DR) ITATMumbai G LakshmiBaraprasad, AdditionalDirector General (Systems-4)Ghaziabad Vikram Gaur and

Additional Director(Investigation) MumbaiRajendra Kumar, agencysources said.

The agency has alsobooked a CharteredAccountant Sanjay Bhandariand his sons Shreyansh andDivyang, the sources said.

These accused officialswere allegedly availing favoursincluding stay, conveyance andflight travel at the expense ofthe chartered accountant andhis sons and as a quid pro quohelped him in favourable set-tlement of the cases of hisclients.

Besides the IT officials,residential and official premis-es of Bhandari were alsosearched.

The CBI recovered docu-ments related to propertiesworth �2.6 crore, cash of �16lakh, 4.25 kg of gold jewellerybesides 13 kg of silver articlesduring searches at the premis-es of one of the officials, offi-cials said.

From another official’spremises, Fixed DepositReceipts worth �68 lakh wererecovered. The recoveries couldyield much more as the search-

es continued till filing of thereport.

The present case stemmedfrom another case registered bythe agency in January, 2015 inwhich Bhandari was namedalong with Joint CommissionerSallong Yaden who was arrest-ed while allegedly ‘receiving’the bribe amount fromShreyans Bhandari of SHBhandari and Co, CharteredAccountants.

Yaden had allegedlydemanded and accepted thebribe for giving a ‘favourable’report on the Income Taxsearch conducted on a city-based private company, theCBI said.

During the probe, CBIfound a deep rooted nexusbetween Bhandari and seniorIncome Tax officials who wereallegedly giving favourablereports for his clients in lieu offavours received from him.

The CBI registered a freshcase after putting them on sur-veillance for about a year.

After due scrutiny of theseized documents, dispropor-tionate assets may also follow.

The accused officials willbe called soon for questioning.

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Aiming to bolster the com-munication outreach of

two of Centre’s key flagship pro-grammes — ‘Swachcch Bharat’and ‘Ganga Rejuvenation’, thefirst meeting of its High-Powered Committee onWednesday called for strate-gising the respective commu-nication campaigns to impactgeneral behavioural change ofthe general masses.

Information &Broadcasting Minister ArunJaitley, who heads this com-mittee, called for innovativeintegrated communicationstrategies by incorporating keymessages, tools and effectiveoutreach that would help inraising awareness, visibility,ownership and thereby impact-ing general behavioural changetowards the Swachchh BharatMission and Namami Gange.One way in doing this accord-ing to him, is to link the natureof contents used in the mes-sages with the target audience.

Jaitley pointed out that foran effective outreach andimpact it was critical to iden-tify the effective mass mediaforums for both urban andrural areas. He stressed forinnovatively engaging different

institutions both public andprivate to enhance citizensparticipation.

The meeting also reviewedthe progress made under theschemes besides coordinatingand monitoring MultimediaCampaigns for their dissemi-nation, outreach and advocacy.

The meeting was attendedby Uma Bharti, Minister ofWater Resources & GangaRejuvenation, Maneka Gandhi,Minister of Women and ChildDevelopment, Birender SinghChaudhary, Minister ofDrinking Water & Sanitation,Smriti Irani, Minister ofHuman ResourcesDevelopment and Col.Rajyavardhan Rathore Ministerof State for Information &Broadcasting. The Secretariesof the concernedMinistries/Departments alongwith senior officials were alsopresent during the meeting.

Meanwhile, the terms ofreference of the committee,that is expected to meet atleast once a month include,outlining the communicationroadmap for Swachh BharatMission and GangaRejuvenation for the respec-tive stakeholder institutions,vocations and segments ofpopulation.

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Almost six years after theresults of the first Global

Adult Tobacco Survey (GATSIndia 2010) were released,forcing the Government to situp and take note about theextent of tobacco consump-tion in the country, the secondround of the survey (GATS-2)was kicked off on Wednesday-this time for systematicallymonitoring adult tobacco useand tracking key tobacco con-trol indicators.

In one of the largest sur-veys in the country, GATS-2will interview about 76,000males and females aged 15years and above, from about2,500 selected geographicalunits across the 30 States andtwo Union Territories.

According to the GATS-

India 2010, about 35 per centof adults in India consumetobacco in some form or theother. The estimated numberof tobacco users in India is27.5 crore, with 16.37 croreusers of smokeless tobacco, 6.9crore only smokers and 4.23crore users of both smokingand smokeless tobacco.

After launching the sur-vey, Health Minister JP Nadda

said that as most of the majorNCDs, generally labeled as‘lifestyle diseases’ are acquired,there is an urgent need forpaying attention to their pre-ventive aspects.

Social behaviour changeplays a major role in prevent-ing the NCDs, he stated.

Emphasising on the needfor creating wide awarenessamong the people regarding

healthy living, the HealthMinister also launched amedia campaign on NCDsthat shall leverage on differentmedia forms.

Shripad Yesso Naik,Minister for AYUSH stressedon the need to integrate tra-ditional medicinal practicesand healthy lifestyle for lead-ing a healthy life while B PSharma, Secretary (Health)stated that diseases, includingNCDs impose a high financialburden on the families.

Dr Saumya Swaminathan,DG, ICMR said that there isa huge potential for controland prevention of NCDsthrough early screening andemphasized on understandingthe social-economic and cul-tural contexts in counteringthe rising NCDs and laidstress on social behaviorchange.

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Citing China’s plan to cut itsmeat consumption by 50

per cent, animal rights bodyPeople For Ethical Treatment ofAnimals (PETA) onWednesday wrote to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi totake similar steps for sustain-able environment in India. Itsaid cutting down meat con-sumption will save animal lives,reduce heart ailments and cer-tain types of cancer, besideshelping avoid the effects of cli-mate change.

In another incident, animalactivists have regretted the deci-

sion of Pune courts to send backblind and sick elephants back tocircus from rescue center.

Poorva Joshipura , PETAIndia CEO, in her letter to thePrime Minister said China’s cutin meat consumption by 50 percent would reduce carbondioxide equivalent emissionsfrom its livestock industry by1bn tonnes by 2030, from a pro-jected 1.8bn tonnes in that year.

PETA further said India’seconomy is predicted to beamongst the most heavilyimpacted by climate change by2025 and the annual cost ofenvironmental degradationalready amounts to 5.7 per centof the GDP.

Numerous studies haveshown a strong correlationbetween animal-derived foodsand climate change, with meat-

eaters responsible for almost2.5 times diet-related green-house-gas emissions per daycompared to vegans, it said.

PETA pointed out UN hasconcluded that a global shifttowards a vegan diet is vital tosave the world from hunger,resource poverty and the worstimpacts of climate change.

In another incident deci-sion, the animal activists havelamented on the decision ofPune’s court for the return offour debilitated elephants backto Rambo Circus, According toan elephant veterinarian Dr.Yaduraj Khadpekar , the blindand injured elephants havehad a small taste of freedom.All the efforts in providingthem medical care and treat-ment will be lost if they arereturned to the circus.

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Indian educational institu-tions which enter into acad-

emic tie-ups with foreign insti-tutes will have to ensure thatstudents who opt for thesecourses will study at least onesemester for post-graduatedegrees and two semesters forunder-graduate degrees abroad.

At a meeting held today,the University GrantsCommission (UGC) decided toamend the existing guidelines.

As per the decisions,Indian institutes which get topaccreditations will now be ableto approach the UGC to seekits nod for entering into acad-emic tie-ups with highly-ratededucation institutions abroad.

Under the previous norms,only foreign institutes could

seek permission for academiccollaborations.

"Today, the UGC has takena decision as per which thehighest graded Indian institu-tions can engage in academiccollaboration with foreign edu-cational institutions of highestgrade in their country or thosewho have crossed the thresholdlimit," HRD minister SmritiIrani told reporters as sheannounced the decisions.

As per the new norms, thename of the foreign institutewill also be mentioned on thedegree certificate for suchcourses. The norms, whichwill soon be notified, also spec-ify a minimum degree of col-laboration as per which at leastone semester for post-graduatedegrees and two semesters forunder-graduate degrees have

been specified.A window of one year has

been provided for instituteswhich already have a globalpartnership, to get their pactsapproved by UGC, the HRDminister said. A committee ofexperts will examine the pro-posals for these collaborations.

Irani said there have beeninstances where institutes fraud-ulently advertise collaborationswith foreign institutions creat-ing problems for students. It hasbeen decided that the UGC willapproach the state governmentconcerned for action in suchcases, she said. The MoUs willprovide sufficient autonomy tothe institutions, officials said,adding that students from for-eign institutions will also beallowed to come to Indian cam-puses under these norms.

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BJP MP Kirit Somaiya onWednesday demanded that

the Rajasthan Government reg-ister a criminal case againstfirms linked to Robert Vadra inconnection with a land deal.Somiaya, who has been target-ing Vadra, wrote a letter to theDirector General of RajasthanPolice, a day after the ED issueda notice to a firm allegedly con-nected to the son-in-law ofCongress chief Sonia Gandhi.

"I would once again requestthe Rajasthan Government'sauthorities concerned to regis-ter a criminal conspiracy caseagainst Vadra group of compa-nies," he said. Vadra has dis-missed the charges against him.

The ED issued the notice inconnection with its probe intoalleged money laundering in aland deal in Bikaner district.

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Thiruvananthapuram: Hurtby allegations of corruption lev-elled against her by State SportsMinister EP Jayarajan, India’slone athletics WorldChampionship medal winnerAnju Bobby George onWednesday resigned as presi-dent of the Kerala SportsCouncil.

Announcing her decision toquit, the celebrated long-jumpersaid it was not proper to con-tinue in the post after “allega-tions” and “misunderstandings”cropped up against her.

An emotional Anju alsosaid, “anybody can kill sports butnobody can defeat a sports star”.

Besides the iconic athlete,13 other members of the coun-cil, including noted volleyballplayer Tom Jose, also resigned.

“It is not proper to contin-ue even after hearing all theseallegations. Me and my coun-cil members do not want tocontinue in the wake of suchmisunderstandings and allega-tions against us,” Anju told aPress meet here.

She declared the decision

after an hour-long meeting atthe Council headquarter.

She said those who did notlike her decision to form anethics commission to exposecorruption and illegal deal-ings in the Council in the pastwere behind the cropping up offalse allegations against her.

“I do not think the allega-tions had occurred due to anyissue from the side ofGovernment or the Council.Those who fear the proposedethics commission are the oneswho are behind all this,” shesaid without naming anybody.

“As a revenue official andan athlete, who participated ina number of international com-petitions, I could easily find out

many malpractices in theSports Council, when I tookcharge. I think the problemsbegan there,” she alleged.

“Even my e-mail ID washacked. In such circumstancesme and my council membersdecided to form an ethics com-mission to expose the corrup-tion, harassment and otherillegal dealings there,” the 39-year-old said.

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With a UK court ruling infavor of a full trial in the

famous Hyderabad Fund Case,interest has renewed in the�322 crore fund frozen in aBritish Bank due to the disputeamong India, Pakistan and theNizam family, the rulers oferstwhile Hyderabad State.

The origin of the case liesin the transfer of about one mil-lion Pound from HyderabadGovernment to Pakistanthrough the then British HighCommissioner to LondonHabib Ibrahim Rahimtoola onSeptember 20, 1948, days afterHyderabad State was merged into Indian Union.

Asserting that the fund wastransferred by Moin NawazJung, Hyderabad’s representativeto the Security Council withouthis authority and knowledge,Hyderabad ruler Nizam MirOsmani Ali Khan sent a wire tothe Westminister Bank onSeptember 27, 1948 demandingthe return of the money.

However the bank rejectedhis demand saying it can bedone only with the mutualunderstanding of all the parties,triggering a long drawn legalbattle which is likely to con-tinue far into the future.

Though the money trans-

ferred was only 1007,940pounds and nine shillings,which was frozen by the bank,it has now grown to a sizeableof �322 crores with threeclaimants in the Governmentsof India and Pakistan and thelegal heirs of the Nizam.

The latest ruling by the UKcourt in favor of a full trial to set-tle the claims has brought thecase to the center stage generat-ing a lot of interest in Hyderabad.

Nawab Najaj Ali Khan, oneof the grandsons of the last MirOsman Ali Khan said that theUK Court’s ruling has givenroom for Pakistan to participatein the trial. “India wanted tostrike out Pakistan but theEnglish court has rejected it”, hesaid adding that the case willdrag on for some more time.

Even as India and Pakistanwere locked in an intense legalbattle to get the Fund trans-ferred to them, the Nizamfamily had impleaded in theBritish Court case back inMarch 2014.

Mohammed Safifullah, aheritage activist and the Headof the Deccan Heritage Trustfeels that the time was ripe nowfor settling the dispute bydividing the fund among thethree claimants.

He said that it was wrong toinfer from the latest development

that the Pakistan had won and itwas going to get the fund. “Onlythis which has happened is thatthe court has ruled in favor of afull trial and it will go on for acouple of more years”, he said.

Safiullah says that the bestsolution for all the partieswould be to arrive at some sortof a settlement to divide thefund into three equal parts. Hepointed out that the last rulerof Hyderabad had wished thatthe money should be dividedbetween his two eldest grand-sons and they should get onepart of it the remaining twogoing to the Governments ofIndia and Pakistan. “I think thisis eventually going to happen”.

Other experts ofHyderabad history were of theview that India’s claim over thefund was very strong.“Historically whateverbelonged to the Nizam shouldcome back to India”, said anoth-er Heritage activist ofHyderabad Sajjad Shahedadding that there was no jus-tification in the transfer offund to Pakistan.

Another writer InamurRahman Ghayur was of theview that in the fight betweenIndia and Pakistan, it wasEngland and it’s the bank whobenefitted immensely fromthis dispute.

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$4*�!�'�*�)�5*����� �� )�*�"������ *��=������&�����>13 OTHER MEMBERS OF THECOUNCIL ALSO RESIGNED

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Taking the issue of poachingof rhinos in Assam seri-

ously, Assam Chief MinisterSarbananda Sonowal onWednesday asked the DeputyCommissioners (DCs) andSuperintendent of Police (SPs)to go all out to stop the rhinopoaching even as theGovernment on Wednesdayeffected a major change ofguards in the National Park.

Sonowal on Wednesdayheld a high level meeting withthe DCs and SPs of Jorhat,Golaghat and Nagaon dis-tricts—that surrounds theKaziranga national park—andasked them to leave no stoneunturned to protect the rhinosfrom falling prey in the handsof poachers. Sonowal said thatthe State Government will takehelp from international expertsif needed to stop poachingand added that anyone foundlinked to the poaching of rhi-nos in Kaziranga National Parkwill not be spared.

“To save rhinos fromextinction you have to take itup as a mission to protectthem from poachers. To savethe pride of Assam we willextend all possible support toyou to stop it from extinction,”Sonowal said.

“Whatever measures needto be undertaken will be adopt-ed for protecting the rhinos andKaziranga National Park, theWorld Heritage site. We willtake advice from internationalexperts on protection of rhi-nos” Sonowal said.

The Chief Ministerappealed to the people living onthe fringes of the park toremain alert against rhino

poachers and urged them toalso identify poachers andthose having links with them.Sonowal also appealed to thejournalists to help theGovernment in its efforts tostop the killing of rhino onceand for all.

Meanwhile, the AssamGovernment on Wednesdayposted Assistant Conservatorof Forests (ACF) of CacharWildlife division in the State,Tejas Nariswamy as the ACFEastern Assam WildlifeDivision, under which theKaziranga National Park falls.Similarly, Kushal KumarDeka, the existing ForestRanger of Karimganj wildlifedivision in Barak Valley wastransferred and posted as for-est ranger of the Bagori rangeof the Kaziranga nationalpark.

Deputy Conservator ofForest (DCF), Pallav Deka whowas attached to the PrincipalChief Conservator of Forests(PCCF) headquarters inGuwahati was posted in thesame rank in the park. Dekawas attached to the Director ofthe park.

Another DCF, AltamusBaig, who was attached to thePCCF (Wildlife) in Guwahatiwas also posted as the DCF tothe Kaziranga National Park.

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Amid tight security in thesouth Kashmir region on

Wednesday, around 34 percentvoters turned out to pollingbooths in Anantnag Assemblysegment where Chief MinisterMehbooba Mufti is contestingby-election, the first test of herpopularity after she assumedpower in April.

The election went onpeacefully though no enthusi-asm was witnessed among vot-ers in any part of theConstituency. There were nolong queues and voters pre-ferred to silently show up toexercise their franchise.

The by-election was neces-sitated after the demise of for-mer Chief Minister MuftiMuhammad Sayeed. Hisdaughter has to become themember of one of the twoHouse of J&K Legislature with-in six months of taking oath asthe Chief Minister.

“Out of a total 8,4067 elec-tors including 4,229 migrantvoters, a total of 28,446 casttheir votes during the pollingperiod between 7 am and 6

pm,” Shantmanu, chief electoralofficer said.

He said 13 polling boothshad been set up at Jammu formigrant voters and one each atUdhampur and Delhi.

The CEO said the pollingwas held in a peaceful atmos-phere and so far no case ofviolation and untoward inci-dent was reported from anypart of the constituency.Counting of votes shall beheld on June 25.

Mehbooba Mufti vigor-ously campaigned in theConstituency and even skippedthe Budget Session of theAssembly at a time when dis-cussion on demands for grantsfor the departments held by herwere being held. Former ChiefMinister Omar Abdullah tooka jibe at her absence saying thatit has never been the precedentthat Chief Minister skips thediscussion when her depart-ments are discussed in theHouse. “You will win the elec-tion. Congratulations for that.But you should have listened tothe members when the grantswere discussed in theAssembly,” Omar said.

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When the inmates of award in Beur jail in Patna

tried to ask Lalkeshwar PrasadSingh what crime he commit-ted and why he was in jail, thesexagenarian former chairmanof Bihar School ExaminationBoard (BSEB) just stared in theair and did not respond. Hethen unrolled the blanket onthe floor in one corner of theward which is now his abode.About 25 inmates mostlythieves, pickpockets, burglars

and petty criminals were sur-prised to see the new entrant inthe prison who was old, indis-posed and crestfallen.

They knew little aboutSingh who is seen as main cul-prit in the inter exam scandalthat produced toppers whodid not have basic knowledgeof the subjects in which theygot distinction marks.

Singh and his wife UshaSinha, a former JD(U) MLA,who were arrested fromVaranasi after remaining elu-sive for almost a fortnight.

Singh, said to be close to ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar andalso a former Principal of PatnaCollege, has been put in AmadWard of the jail. And his wife,who also served as principal ofGanga Devi Mahila College, islodged in the Mahila Ward ofthe same prison.

The Special InvestigationTeam (SIT) constituted to lookinto the infamous scam is seek-ing the remand of the couple tointerrogate them in presence ofother accused. The team has sofar arrested 19 people in con-

nection with this scam thatbrought immense embarrass-ment to the Bihar Government.

With the inclusion of thesections of Anti CorruptionAct, the topper scandal case thematter is expected to be heardin the Special Vigilance Court.The SIT produced all theaccused in the vigilance courtand all of them have been sentto judicial remand till July 4.

Even as Singh, his facecovered with a scarf, repeatedno comment to each questionfrom the media, his former

legislator wife screamed, “Thisis a conspiracy to implicateus.”

Usha Sinha is said to be themastermind of the toppersscam and everything was final-ized after payment of heftyamount. She was very domi-nant and BSEB chairman didnot dare to say no to her on anyissue.

Former Chief MinisterJitan Ram Manjhi made a sen-sational allegation that beforefleeing to Varanasi, the coupletook shelter in the official res-

idence of a Minister in Patna.Leader of opposition PremKumar asked the governmentto disclose where the couplehad been hiding and whypolice did not arrest them for13 days.

The SIT headed by PatnaSSP Manu Maharaaj arrestedthe accused couple fromVaranasi on Monday from thehouse of their relative DilipJaiswal, a liquor mafia ofWestern UP. The couple hadalso stayed in a hotel there forfive days under fake identities.

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The Tamil NaduGovernment has decided

to do away with the system ofdirect election to the post ofmayors in the municipal cor-porations in the State. Withfour months to go for the elec-tion to local bodies in theState, SP Velumani, Ministerfor Local Administration onWednesday moved a Bill TamilNadu Municipal CorporationLaws (Amendment Act) 2016in the House which does awaywith the present system ofcivic heads getting directlyelected by the people.

The Amended Act speci-fies that the corporationcouncillors in their first meet-ing after the civic electionswould sit together and electone of them as mayor. Themajor corporations in theState has been witnessinghigh voltage campaign andelectioneering for the mayoral

election hitherto.“It has been brought to

the attention of theGovernment that councils ofcertain corporations are notfunctioning properly sincemayor does not enjoy thesupport of the councillors. Itis considered that if the mayorof a corporation enjoys thesupport of the majority ofcouncillors, the councillorscan function in a better man-ner,” said Minister Velumaniwhile moving the Bill.

The term of the currentlocal bodies in the State iscoming to an end by thethird week of October. Hencethe State is all set to witnessyet another high decibel elec-tion to the local bodies byOctober. Last time, the elec-tion to the post of mayors andother civic heads in the Statedrew national attention fol-lowing the defection of BJP’smayoral candidates to theAIADMK at the peak of elec-tion campaign.

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Even as the KChandrasekhar Rao

Government in Telangna wasbusy in preparations for theofficial Iftar party inHyderabad and other districtheadquarters for the Muslimcommunity and also distrib-uting new pairs of cloths to2,00000 Muslim families, theCongress party has given a callfor its boycott.

Greater HyderabadCongress Committee (GHCC)Minorities Department chair-man Shaik Abdullah Sohail hasurged the Muslims to stayaway from the Iftar of the ChiefMinister alleging that it was aploy to divert the attention ofthe community from the realissues of its socio economicbackwardness and promise of12 per cent reservations.

“The Government wantsto divert the attention from itsfailure to fulfill the promise of12 per cent reservations”, hesaid in a statement. “Iftar par-ties and distribution of freeclothes among a few poorMuslims are aimed at silencingthe rising anger of Muslimcommunity towards the TRSGovernment. KCR hadpromised to give 12 per centMuslim reservation withinfour month after coming topower. He also promised tojudicial powers to Waqf Boardand made several otherpromises during the last twoyears. None of the promises

made by TRS Governmenthas been fulfilled. KCR is host-ing these Iftar parties only todivert the attention from thesefailures,” he said.

Another senior Congressleader Mohammed Ali Shabbiralso strongly criticised theTRS Government for the lop-sided priorities in respect ofminorities committee. At anIftar party he hosted inNizamabad, Shabbir told theGovernment that the Muslimyouth don’t need Iftar Parties.“They need the power of thepen and they can get it onlythrough reservations”, he saidreminding the Chief Ministerof his promise of 12 per centreservations.

Chief Minister KCR wasscheduled to host the Iftarparty in Hyderabad’s NizamCollege Grounds on June 26.As Eid gift, the Governmentwas also planning to distributecloths among the poor mem-bers of the community acrossthe State.

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Thiruvananthapuram: KeralaSports Minister EP Jayarajan,who had locked horns withOlympian Anju BobbyGeorge, on Wednesdayexpressed “happiness” overher resignation as the StateSports Council president.

The Minister had courtedcontroversy earlier this monthafter Anju alleged that she was“insulted” by him after she lev-elled corruption chargesagainst her.

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In a major jolt to the BahujanSamaj Party (BSP) ahead of

the next year's UP Assemblyelections, its senior leader andalso Leader of Opposition inthe Assembly Swami PrasadMaurya on Wednesday quit the party, saying he felt"suffocated".

Terming the BSP chief as'daulat ki beti' and not 'Dalit ki

beti' , Maurya chargedMayawati of auctioning ticketsoverlooking the deserving can-didates.

Meanwhile, BSP supremoMayawati retaliated by saying'thank' for Maurya leaving theparty and dared her formerman friday to tell the publichow much money did he payher while seeking party ticketsfor his family members andhimself.

"We were going to expelMaurya from the party and Iam thankful that he took thedecision on his own. However,I would like to know howmuch did he pay me for gettingtickets for himself and his fam-ily members," said Mayawati.

The BSP chief also tried to

take the charges on her light-ly. "My parents named me'Maya' so I was never faced withdearth of 'Maya' as my workersand leaders all over the coun-try make contributions whichhas made the outfit economi-cally sound and there is nodearth of 'Maya'," she quippedwhile laughing over Mauryacalling her 'daulat ki beti'.

Mayawati accused the for-mer party general secretary ofpromoting 'dynasty' politicsand claimed that since sherefused to field ticket to his sonand daughter in the 2017Assembly polls, Maurya left theparty and is likely to join aparty which promotes dynasticpolitics.

The firebrand leader also

took a jibe on Mulayam Singh'sfamily politics commenting"The SP chief first promotes hisbrothers, then their sons andfurther their sons which con-tinues till the last of the clan isaccommodated discountingthat there were other deservingpeople in the party.

When referred to Maurya'sclaimed of having the supportof all BSP MLAs, Mayawatisaid, "You will get to knowabout his fate very soon."

On the impact of Maruya'sexit, Mayawati said, "Mauryawas first in Lok Dal and laterin Janta Dal but failed to win anelection. Looking for greenerpastures, he joined the BSP. In2007, he lost from Padraunabut on the advice of party

leaders, he was given a ticketfor the by-elections. I haveobserved that he no commit-ment towards the party's ide-ologies and was always pro-moting his family. Enough isenough and I happy that he lefton his own and I did not haveto expel him," Maaywati said.

In 2012 Asembly polls,Maurya's son and daughterlost as BSP candidates while hewon from Padrauna. In 2014Lok Sabha polls, his daughtercontested as BSP candidatefrom Mainpuri againstMulayam Singh Yadav but lostbadly.

After leaving the BSP,Maurya is expected to join theruling Samajwadi Party and isreported to be getting a minis-

terial berth during the expan-sion slated next Monday.

His announcement of quit-ting the party was announcedin a Press conference held hereon Wednesday and shown a 16-page letter which he purport-edly written to the party leaderexpressing his annoyance overthe 'auctioning' of party ticketsand others.

"Mayawati is busy makingmoney at the cost of party's ide-ology. The BSP boss has beenauctioning tickets ever sinceshe took over as the leader fromparty founder Kanshi Ram. Infact 130 candidates wererefused tickets just for failing topay up. I was really feeling suf-focated and hence decided toquit the party," he charged.

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Maharashtra’s formerdeputy Chief Minister

Chhagan Bhujbal and hisnephew Sameer were onWednesday granted bail by aSpecial ACB court in the newMaharashtra Sadam scam case.However, the two will contin-ue to remain behind the bar asthey are currently in a judicialcustody in a money launderingcase filed against them by theEnforcement Directorate (ED).

Following a productionwarrant issued against them bythe ACB court on June 1, SrBhujbal and his nephewSameer were produced beforethe special court which grant-ed them bail on a surety of�50,000 each in the newMaharashtra Sadan case.

The State ACB is investi-gating the role of former PWDMinister and his nephew inalleged irregularities in the con-struction of new MaharashtraSadan in New Delhi.

Though Sr Bhujbal andSameer were granted bail in thenew Maharashtra Sadan scamcase, they will not be walkingout of the jail since they arecurrently in judicial custody ina money laundering case filedby the ED.

While Sameer was arrest-ed on February 1, Sr Bhujbalwas arrested by the ED onMarch 14 in connection withtwo money laundering casesregistered against him, his fam-

ily members and associates.Bhujbals and their associ-

ates are being investigated inthree corruption cases.Maharashtra’s Anti CorruptionBureau (ACB) had filed acharge-sheet against Sr Bhujbal,Sameer and 15 others in thenew Maharashtra Sadan scamcase in February this year

The State ACB on March28 filed a second voluminouschargesheet against him and sixothers for having allegedlyreceived huge kickbacks tolease a plot of land to a privatedeveloper for the constructionof a central library at the Kalinacampus of the MumbaiUniversity.

On March 30 this year, theED filed a 11,500—pagechargesheet against ChhaganBhujbal, his son Pankaj,nephew Sameer, corporatehouses like DB Realty, Balwagroup of companies, NeelkamalRealtors and Builders PrivateLimited, Neelkamal CentralApartment LLP and KakadeInfrastructure, in the moneylaundering case.

In the new MaharashtraSadan scam case in which SrBhujbal and nephew Sameerwere granted bail onWednesday, the ACB had fileda 20,000-page chargesheetagainst Sr Bhujbal, Sameer and15 others, on the basis of doc-umentary evidence, includingfund transfers and bank trans-actions.

The ACB’s case againstBhujbals and others in thenew Maharashtra Sadan case isthat the contractors had“earned 80 per cent profit”,while as per the Governmentcircular such contractors wereentitled to “only 20 per centgain”.

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After the CPI(M) centralcommittee it is the turn of

second-biggest Left Front allyForward Bloc to chastise theBengal Marxists on the issueof Left-Congress electoralalliance. Close on the heels ofa CPI(M) central committeedrubbing the Bloc onWednesday an uncharacteris-tic attack on its political bigbrother question the wisdombehind the pre-Assembly pollalliance with the tri-colourparty.

Raising the issue seniorBloc leader Debabrata Biswassaid the “alliance struck by theCPI(M) with the Congresspolitically flawed as suchopportunistic alliances for thesake of winning electionshardly work.”

Hailing the CPI(M) cen-tral committee’s decision toreject the proposals of con-tinuing with the allianceBiswas said “the decisioncomes as a solace for a largenumber of Left workers who

had withdrawn from politicsin the wake of this alliance.”

Being in power for 34years had filled the Left circleswith some vested interestswho promote “political oppor-tunism in order to win elec-tions but for a Leftist beingwinning elections and beingin power cannot be the soleaim,” he said adding allyingwith the Congress was a bigblunder and the Left politicshad to pay dearly for that.

The CPI(M) leaderswould not comment onBiswas’ statements but said allthe issues of importancewould be discussed in theFront meeting.

Nudged by the centralcommittee the CPI(M) onWednesday started a solomovement against price riseand ongoing violence inBengal. Unlike the generalseen in the past couple ofmonths the Congress flag wasconspicuous was by itsabsence.

State CPI(M) sources alsosaid that State party secretarySur yakanta Mishra was

unlikely to attend a similarrally called by the Congress.

However, the two groupson Wednesday said a jointwalk-out in the Assemblyafter a Trinamool CongressMLA allegedly used unpar-liamentarily words againstthem. “Floor coordinationbetween us will continue andthere is no problem if wejointly fight the political vio-lence by the Trinamool inBengal,” said a CPI(M) leader.

Fighting jointly theCongress had benefited win-ning 44 seats while the LeftFront won 33 seats concedingthe Principal Opposition’s sta-tus to the tri-colour party.Mishra and pro-alliance grouphad earlier said that the Leftwould have got lesser seatshad they not struck an alliancewith the Congress.

Meanwhile, speaking onthe issue senior Congressleader and Rajya Sabha MPPradip Bhattacharya said thatby breaking ties with theCongress the Left had com-mitted another historicalblunder.

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Aday after the NationalCommission for Women

(NCW) sought an explanationfrom Salman Khan for his “feltlike a raped woman” remark,the Maharashtra StateCommission for Women(MSCW) on Wednesday sum-moned the Bollywood actor toappear before it at 2 pm on June29 and offer his personal expla-nation over his remark.

Invoking the section 10(2) of Maharashtra StateCommission for Women Act,1993 under which it has pow-ers to summon a person fromany part of the state and exam-ine him on oath, the MSCWissued summons to Salman toappear before it at its Bandraoffice in north-west Mumbai.

Confirming the issuance ofnotice to Salman, MSCWchairperson Vijaya Rahatkartold The Pioneer in the evening,“Yes. Taking suo motu cogni-sance of a controversy over theactor’s remark which we find itboth “insulting” and “defama-tory” towards women, we haveserved summons on the actorto appear before the commis-sion at 2 pm on June 29”.

Despite continued clamourfrom various women organi-sations for an apology fromSalman for his remark that hefelt like a “raped woman” aftera gruelling shoot of a wrestlingbout for his forthcoming filmSultan, the 50-year-old actorhad till Wednesday eveningnot tendered his apology for hisquestionable remark which hascaused public furore acrossthe country.

At a time when Bollywoodbigwigs have by and large cho-

sen not to condemn Salman forhis controversial comment, thenational award-winning actressKangana Ranaut onWednesday displayed courageto call spade a spade, when shecondemned the “insensitive”rape analogy used by the actor.

Interacting with mediapersons at the launch of ShirishKunder's short film Kriti,Kangana said, “We all agreethat it is a horrible thing to say,it is something which isextremely insensitive".

"But what I would like to sayis let's not encourage the men-tality where we want to point fin-gers at each other and want tofeel greater by just running peo-ple down by trolling them...As asociety we have to take respon-sibility... It is disgraceful to thewhole society and not an indi-vidual," Kangana said.

In the audio recording of aninterview that he gave to aBollywood website as part of thepromotion of his flim Sultanwhich is due to release on July 6,Salman had said that the shoot-ing of wrestling bouts was so gru-elling that he felt like a “rapedwoman” while he would walk outof the ring after the shoot.

"While shooting, duringthose six hours, there'd be somuch of lifting and thrusting onthe ground involved. That wastough for me because if I was lift-ing, I'd have to lift the same 120-kilo guy 10 times for 10 differ-ent angles. And likewise, getthrown that many times on theground. This act is not repeat-ed that many times in the realfights in the ring... "When I usedto walk out of the ring, after theshoot, I used to feel like a rapedwoman. I couldn't walk straight,"the actor said in the interview.

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The announced depar-ture of RaghuramRajan, in about 75 days,as Governor of theReserve Bank of India

(RBI), has not disturbed thebourses, or the value of the rupee,as was feared in some quarters.But, having got the impact ofRajan’s departure wrong, thesenaysayers have retreated to pre-dicting ‘medium term’ conse-quences, so as to save face fromtheir dire predictions not comingto pass immediately.

Rajan’s sudden announcementduring the weekend past, that hewould not seek a second term asGovernor, did put the spotlight onhis legacy in a manner slightly dif-ferent, from the way he pitched ithimself. It has, in fact, raisedsome uncomfortable questions.Rajan, who has been in the FinanceMinistry, in senior advisory capac-ities, since 2007, before commenc-ing his three-year stint as Governorof the central bank, apparentlymade no suggestions to prevent thebuild-up of the humongous baddebts during the UPAGovernment. At least nothing thatis out in the public domain.

But, if there is an abiding fea-ture of his tenure as Governor ofthe RBI, it is his highlighting ofbad debt, discovering the extentof the non-performing assets inpublic bank books, and the pro-motion of moves to ‘clean it up’,meaning write-offs, or spin-offs to‘bad banks’, set up for the purpose.

These moves would, obvious-ly, get various UPA era borrowersoff the hook, scott-free, while thepublic exchequer would absorblakhs of crores of rupees in loss-es! For a crusading and highlyvocal fiscal conservative likeRajan, this appears to be a curi-ous caper. But, no matter, theattention has now shifted to spec-ulation on his probable successor.

The market, opening thisweek, is not only unperturbed byRajan’s departure, it is buoyant,with the fears of Brexit vote on the23rd receding, as I write this; andthe prospect of a good monsoonupon us, after a couple of consec-utive years of drought.

But since a concern or two,referred to as the ‘wall of worry’in bull markets, always lurks in theshadows, the next speculation is,will the US raise interest rates inJuly? Perhaps it will, though theUS Federal Reserve is being verycautious, but India can reliablylook forward to interest rate cuts,and other spurs to growth, oncethe new central bank Governorgets settled in.

The good monsoon shouldsee an economic revival in ruralIndia, and an easing of foodinflation, that has, at presentbegun to creep up. The monsoonparliamentary session should alsosee the passage of the muchdelayed goods and services taxBill, on which a near consensushas emerged. Though theCongress and AIADMK are notyet on board, they might comearound too by the time Parliamentis convened.

All this has come not amoment too soon, because if theBJP voter feels let down by thisGovernment, it is in the one areaof economic benefit, that, likeGodot, has simply failed to appear.Where is the more money, morejobs, more options, an air of can-do optimism?

The GDP has risen, but with-out touching the lives of people,echoing the Vajpayee era’s disas-trous slogan of ‘India Shining’. TheNDA thought it was enough thatthe economy was growing at nineper cent then, without, however,making any tangible difference to anybody.

It so enthused the BJP inter-nally, that elections were actual-ly preponed, resulting in the

Government being thrown out in2004. It is as if this Government,in its multiple preoccupations, andmany commendable initiatives, isrepeating the mistakes of thefirst, and only, NDA Governmentbefore this one.

Still, it is not too late to fixthis. The Prime Minister enjoysenormous respect and goodwill,the public has been patient, andthe economy has already beenbrought back from the brink.Nevertheless, something drastichas to be done immediately toproduce visible results for ordi-nary people who elected NarendraModi with high hopes.

The GDP will, at the presentpace, touch eight per cent soon,notwithstanding some scepticismon how it is calculated. It hasgrown, principally based on theGovernment’s infrastructurespending, and on a much small-er oil import Bill.

The FDI inflow too is, inabsolute terms, the highest ever inthe history of independent India.As are the healthy foreignexchange reserves, again at all-time highs, at around $370 billion,edging towards $400 billion. Wewill not have any problems retir-ing $25 billion worth of foreign

currency bonds this December. But, for the rest, industry and

business, jobs and promotions, areall in the doldrums. Fresh invest-ment in private, or for that matter,in the public sector, for expansion,is still minimal to non-existent.The rupee is reasonably stable,albeit with a weakening bias againstthe US dollar, but our exports sta-tistics are depressed nevertheless,as buyer markets in the EU andAmerica are going through arecession, or showing weakgrowth. The presidential electionin the US will throw up a winnerby November and quell quite a bitof the global uncertainty too.

Domestically, the perfor-mance of the Finance Ministry, itssmugness and disconnect with thepublic, leaves a lot to be desired.It has not managed to revive busi-ness, industry or agriculture, forthat matter. It has burdened thesalaried middle class with morelazy taxes. Its revenue collectionsare inadequate. The country’s fis-cal deficit has been controlled, butmainly because there is very little happening.

Is there a case for urgentchange at the Finance Ministrytoo? And is it finally time toresolve the problem of a narrowdirect tax base that preys on lessthan one per cent of the popula-tion? The problem of so-calledblack money, a uniquely Indianconcept, alongside capital flight,hawala transactions, secretmoney in hard currencies,stashed in bank accounts abroad,the steady acquisition of foreignproperty, even overseas businessacquisitions, and the trendtowards becoming non-residentIndians to avoid Indian taxation,can all be solved.

Rajya Sabha MPand Harvard-trained economist SubramanianSwamy recently renewed his peri-odic call to abolish income tax;substituting it, with a near univer-sal expenditure/bank transactiontax instead. If this is done, it willremove the distinction between‘white money’ and the tax-evad-ed ‘black money’ growing everlarger and distorting the workingsof the Indian economy. Punitivemeasures being enforced areunlikely to work when even elec-tions are fought and won withblack money.

Rajan’s exit from the RBI,removed the brakes that werebeing applied to monetary policyand bank regulation. So whatabout energising the FinanceMinistry, in a manner designed topromote rapid growth and pros-perity for all?�

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Sir — This refers to the brainstormer, “Rexit — OOF! So heart-breaking!”(June 20). Too much ofnoise is being created on ReserveBank of India Governor RaghuramRajan’s exit. Far more eminent andaccomplished persons in variousfields have passed on and their workhas been carried on by their succes-sors even in a better way than theydid and this too shall pass. Skieshave not fallen. It is a safe bet thatall the hullabaloo is more becausethis issue is a convenient stick tobeat the Modi Government.

NS Rajan Via web

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Sir — This refers to the brainstormer, “Rexit — OOF! So heart-breaking!”(June 20). I hold no brieffor Reserve Bank of India GovernorRaghuram Rajan or his critics. ButI know Rajan as a man whodescribed the country’s PrimeMinister as a ‘one-eyed king in theland of the blind’, who insinuatedthat Prime Minister Narendra Modiis Hitler. Rajan is a man who wasappointed by someone else and onewho retained his loyalty to thatsomeone as was implicit in his pub-

lic statements, a man who is choos-ing to go back to America and serveits interests. Well if he is not givena second term, so what?

BhartiVia web

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Sir — This refers to the brainstormer, “Rexit — OOF! So heart-breaking!”(June 20). A person notopting for a second term is beingequated with that of his sacking.From when did Reserve Bank ofIndia Governor Raghuram Rajanbecome a person with a magicwand for the Indian economy?

Managing the RBI is all aboutteam work and collective respon-sibility and it is not an individualssuccess or failure. People who liveby the sword will die by the sword.People who live by politics will dieby politics.

Swaminathan Ranganathan Via web

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Celebrating Yoga Day” (June 21).Never before has yoga been sopowerfully projected, trulyunprecedented was the massiveresponse, globally and domestical-ly. Leaving aside the issue whether

yoga needs one special day, sinceit involves daily practice, what isundeniable is that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi scored more thanone political point.

For one thing, the idea caughtthe imagination of a large sectionof urban India. That it became apopular spectacle cannot entirely beexplained by the hype and public-ity that surrounded the event.Modi successfully demonstratedthat he can reach out to the peopleand their imagination while his so-called rivals flounder. It was quitea political triumph though notquite a yogi’s nirvana.

Vani A Hyderabad

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Find best man for the job” (June21). I don’t know why various sec-tions of the media, the Congressand the communists wants to dic-tate terms to the Modi Government.When the Congress was in power,nobody questioned its decisions.The Modi Government has all theright to take its decisions.

Rajendra VoraVia web

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In a welcome development,the European Commission(EC) on June 15, came out

with a draft policy on scientif-ic criteria for the identificationof Endocrine-DisruptingChemicals (EDCs). EDCs andpotential EDCs are mostlyman-made, found in variousmaterials such as pesticides,metals, additives or contami-nants in food, and personalcare products.

EDCs have been suspect-ed to be associated with alteredreproductive function in malesand females; increased inci-dence of breast cancer, abnor-mal growth patterns and neurodevelopmental delays in chil-dren, as well as changes inimmune function.

The policy is based on thedefinition of EDCs as stipulat-ed by the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) and theInternational Programme forChemical Safety.

The two organisationsdefine an EDC as “an exoge-nous substance or mixture thatalters functions of theendocrine system and conse-quently causes adverse healtheffects in an intact organism, orits progeny”.

The European FoodSafety Authority (EFSA) of theEC began its drive againstEDCs in 2011 when it pub-lished a scientific report, ‘Stateof the Art Assessment ofEndocrine Disruptors’, whichprovided an overview of theexist ing knowledge onendocrine active substancesand of the challenges for riskassessment in relation to foodand feed, as well as a summa-ry of current initiatives atnational, EU and internation-al levels.

By establishing the scien-tific criteria, the EC has set ahigh level of protection forhuman health and environ-

ment especially in the EU andhas received much appreciationfrom member nations such asFrance and Sweden.

The EFSA initiative isexpected to have an impact ona wide range of stakeholders.These will include the gener-al population, in terms of theprotection of human healthfrom potentially harmful sub-stances and economic opera-tors such as the chemical,electronic, consumer prod-ucts, packaging, food andmedical devices industries,including small and medium-sized enterprises and farmers.

In spite of the possiblerepercussions for businessesand industry, the EFSA is expe-diting the policy towards rapidexecution in the best interestsof public health and environ-mental protection.

However in India, the sit-uation is dismal as EDCs havenot found adequate mention at

the policy-level and this trans-lates to a lack of enforceable setof regulations on EDCs.

Due to the absence of clearrules, exposure to EDCs inIndia is growing and in theprocess, it is causing interfer-ence with the body’s hormon-al system and seriously impact-ing normal human growth.Recent studies have proventhe role played by EDCs inhealth disorders such as dia-betes and hyperthyroidism.

Bisphenol A (BPA), forinstance, is a knownendocrine disruptor and isused to manufacture plasticsproducts in India that areused by babies and children.Besides disrupting the func-tioning of hormones in babies,BPA negatively impacts thebehavioral and emotionalaspects of girls up to threeyears of age group.

Among boys, it leads todepression and anxiety, while

general epidemiological stud-ies have found that it leads toheart diseases, liver toxicity anddiabetes. BPA is also linked todevelopment of early pubertyin girl child.

Apart from adverselyaffecting human health, EDCshave the potential to irre-versibly harm the wildlife aswell by altering the bodyfunction and impacting theimmune system. Given thissituation, the Governmentmust get its act together andform an effective strategy totackle the problem.

In order to ensure efficacyof the policy and its implemen-tation the Government mustnot bend under the pressure ofthe business community whoseinterests may be compromiseddue to regulations on EDCs.

The Government must setup a task force panel with amandate to phase out the dan-gerous EDCs currently in use.

The panel must also focus ondeveloping healthier substi-tutes that are also eco-friend-ly. Countries across the globeespecially the US and EU havemade commendable progressin regulating and reducing theuse of EDCs in daily life.

This has been made possi-ble due to the exhaustive andcomprehensive policies framedby the respective Governments.The control on EDCs and theirgradual eradication is onlypossible with a strategy thatcomprises of comprehensivepolicy, effective implementa-tion assisted by continuousresearch and development.

The success of this strate-gy can enable India to matchthe global benchmarks in elim-inating the use of EDCs. EDCsare a peril that need to beweeded out before they impactthe next whole generation ofIndia besides ruining the ecological balance.

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Media reports fromJhalawar in Rajasthan tellus about an order passedby the bureaucracy whichassigned the teachers a

never-before-assigned task: Teachers areunder orders to be on duty at 5.00 am inopen fields which is used for open defe-cation. They will have to persuade every-one who loiters on their territory with alota full of water for you-know-what. Ifthe persuasion fails, which may happenwith those in a hurry, the teacher willenter into an alternate strategy — take aphotograph. The more enthusiastic onesmay opt for a video.

We stand informed that there is nogender discrimination; both male andfemale teachers have been assigned toperform this national duty and be a partof nation-building. The basic understand-ing among bureaucrats about teachers is:Use them elsewhere, so they don’t go toschools in time anyway! Does one expectthat a teacher, after completing hisJhalawar duty, will prepare his/her lessonsand lesson plans that he/she is supposedto use in her/his interaction with the chil-dren in the school? To what extent shallhe/she remember that his/her task is to‘enhance the quality of education’?

In India, the quality of educationinvariably features prominently in prac-tically every discussion and deliberationon value education, manpower planningand how to take advantage of the much-hyped demographic dividend. The man-ner in which public-funded schoolshave gone down in performance andcredibility is the prime factor that no moreneeds reforms but a total transformation.The private initiate, which commandedconsiderable aura in the past, now standsinfested with ‘investors’ whose prime con-sideration is dividend alone, whatever bethe official pronouncements.

Unfortunately, wider grounds arebeing made available to private sectoras, after practically having sufferedpublic snub, several State Governmentsare closing down Government schoolsas ‘not viable’ or in the name of merg-er for consolidation. In Kerala, 5,573schools out of 12,615 are classified asun-economic as enrollments havedeclined from 52.49 lakh in 1999-2000to 37.70 lakh in 2015-2016. Obviously,children have shifted to better privateschools, as the public perception goes.

Gujarat has received considerableappreciation for its Gunotsav initiativebut even there students of classes six toeight could not write simple words andsolve mathematical sums. Even if thispercentage is low, it is a cause of con-cern. The assessment of their level ofunderstanding, creativity and curiosi-ty come only afterwards. Such a situa-tion, obviously, demands greater per-formance levels from teachers. That cancome only when teacher education atpre-service stage is indeed rigorous andfurther, a serious scrutiny of interestand inclination of the aspirant teach-ers is conducted as pre-requisite to theirentry in a college of education.

That majority of such colleges arenow in private sector, run by investorswhose prime interest is not that ofimparting knowledge and skills in ade-quate and appropriate measure to the

student-teachers, particularly in childpsychology and emerging pedagogy. Inmost of the States, decisions on teacherpreparations come from bureaucracyand even institutions like SocialC o m m u n i c a t i o n / E m o t i o n a lRegulation/Transactional Support andtextbook corporations are headed byadministrative officers.

The growth of academic leadershipin such cases stands stunted, and that hasserious implications for quality. Many oldtimers will recall the scenario that last-ed in the mid-1970s, practically in everyState, when State-level institutions like theDirectorate of Education, the SchoolEducation Board, Textbook Bureau,State Institute of Education, and the likewere headed by seasoned academics.

They were known for their profes-sional commitment and integrity, apartfrom being fully conscious of the ‘context’of the children and teachers under theircharge. Someone who may know thediversities of, say, Madhya Pradesh, maynot fit in the State of Kerala. To maintainequivalence of learning levels, theNational Council Of EducationalResearch And Training (NCERT) wasestablished and had earned niche for itscontributions within the first decade ofits existence. As the numbers of schools,enrollments and teachers increased, theclamor for more positions emerged as anatural corollary to the situation and thesewere generously created at higher levels.

As the process was, and is, under thecontrol of Indian Administrative Service(IAS) officers, it was also ensured thatmost of these positions be occupied bytheir own brethren! Bureaucratisation wasaccomplished in full and the conse-quences are before everyone. Why should

an IAS officer be heading a TextbookCorporation or be the chairperson of theBoard of School Education?

One of the recent decisions taken bythe Ministry of Human ResourceDevelopment gives considerable hopeand expectations that better equippedteachers shall be prepared and that it willimpact the quality in Governmentschools. It is indeed a bold and vision-ary decision to enhance the duration ofthe BEd course from one year to twoyears and recommending a four-yearintegrated courses after +2 levels.

It must be recalled that four-year inte-grated courses were initiated in fourregional institutes of education of theNCERT in mid-1960s and its productsestablished their superiority within fewyears of coming out of the first batch.Similarly, NCERT, at the recommenda-tion of the National Council For TeacherEducation (NCTE) initiated two-year BEdcourses in 1999 in its institutes and GujaratVidyapith came in to join voluntarily.

Once again, the quality of productswas found far superior than regular one-year products. However, the powers-that-be did not take notice of this successfulinnovation and ignored it for over 10years. Both of these models of teacherpreparation are outcomes of academicleadership which have now been formal-ly accepted for implementation.Managing teachers, academic institutionsand systems in education just cannot beequated with managing law and order ina district. This is what in fact, has beendone during the last four decades.

The subtle and sensitive differencebetween academic leadership andbureaucratic authority has just beenignored. As a consequence, one often

comes across media images depictingpolicemen beating ruthlessly para teach-ers — both men and women, withoutany gender discrimination — demand-ing regularisation of their service. Theirhandling technique is no different fromthe one applied in controlling violentmobs burning buses and shops.

Academic leadership need not befaceless as is expected from bureaucracy.Academics are not known by sirens andred beacons but by the example they setup before others. They command respectbecause they do not expect it as a matterof their being in a certain exalted position.They influence by example and theirimpact on others can last a lifetime. Theyinnovate continuously and are not justmanaging the system depending onrules, regulations and authority.

A true academic leader strives toascertain ‘what is wrong’ and not ‘whois wrong’. He enthusiastically partic-ipates in professional deliberations asan equal which is rather impossible fora ‘senior’ bureaucrat who generallyprefers to keep aloof. Bureaucracyinvariably evokes apprehension andeven fear of authority as against affec-tion and empathy that comes from aseasoned academician. One who visu-alises his task only as ‘managing thesystem’ will avoid challenges, looktowards precedence to find solutions.

Educational institutions need aleadership that accepts challenges, iswilling to take risks and helps othersin growing up. May be, some day,India will have an Indian educationservice in place. Policy-makers mustaccept that institutional managementis an art and not a craft as is clearlyevident in the Jhalawar-duty.

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As stocks, bonds andrupee turned volatile

ahead of the ‘Brexit’ referen-dum on Thursday, RBI onWednesday promised liquid-ity support and all necessarysteps to ensure orderly con-ditions in financial marketswhi le S ebi and stockexchanges also beefed uptheir risk management sys-tems.

The Reserve Bank said itis keeping a “close vigil” ondevelopments in the wake ofthe uncertainties about thepoll outcome triggering aturbulence in global financialmarkets, including in India.

“In the run up to the ref-erendum in the UnitedKingdom on its continuing inthe European Union (Brexit),uncertainty about the polloutcome has resulted in someamount of turbulence inglobal financial markets,including in India,” the RBIsaid in a statement.

“The RBI is maintaininga close vigil on develop-

ments, and will take all nec-essary steps, including liq-uidity support, to ensureorderly conditions in finan-cial markets,” it added.

The UK will vote onThursday on whether toremain in the 28-nationEuropean Union or to leave.Britain’s exit from the EU, orBrexit, is being debated glob-ally as it could have implica-tions for the internationalf inancia l markets andexchange rates.

India has signif icanttrade with the UK as well asthe EU. It also receives largeinvestments from Europe.

The stock market bench-mark Sensex was down near-ly 270 from its opening ses-sion high at one point of timein early afternoon amidBrexit uncertainties. It final-ly closed down by 47 pointsin a highly volatile tradingsession.

Continuing its slide forthe third straight day, therupee opened 11 paise lowerat 67.59 against the US dol-lar on sustained demand for

the American currency fromimporters and banks. It, how-ever, ended the day flat at

67.48 per dollar.Official said Sebi and

stock exchanges have also

beefed up their surveillancemechanism, including forcurrency derivatives market,

to deal with any excessivevolatility in the run up to the‘Brexit’ referendum whose

outcome is keenly awaited bythe investors.

The domestic capitalmarket has a robust surveil-lance and risk managementframework in place and buthas been beefed up to dealwith any eventuality ema-nating from the ‘Brexit’ ref-erendum and the uncertain-ties before that, they added.All steps are being taken toring fence the capitalmarketfrom any adverse fallout aswell as ensure that excessivevolatility is contained, theofficials said.

Federal Reserve ChairJanet Yellen on Tuesday saidBritain’s exit from theEuropean Union would havea significant economic reper-cussions.

“One development thatcould shift investors senti-ment is the upcoming refer-endum in the UnitedKingdom. A UK vote to exitthe European Union couldhave significant economicrepercussions,” the US FederalReserve Board ChairwomanJanet L Yellen had said.

Britain’s exit from thebloc, widely described as‘Brexit’, is being debated glob-ally as such a developmentcould have far reaching impli-cations for the internationalfinancial markets, exchangerates and the world economyas a whole.

There are also fears thatexit of Britain from the EUcould trigger significant cap-ital outflows, including fromthe Indian market.

According to the officials,Sebi and the bourses wouldalso keep a close tab onmanipulators looking toexploit the volatile trendsexpected in stocks and deriv-atives, including those linkedto rupee’s movement againstother foreign currencies.

A strict vigil would also bekept on brokers, portfoliomanagers and other marketintermediaries for anyattempts to lure small retailinvestors into promises ofhefty gains from the futuresand options trading, espe-cially in banking stocks andindices, the official added.

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British politicians onWednesday made their

final pitch to a bitterly divid-ed electorate on the eve a cru-cial referendum to persuadeundecided voters of the mer-its of remaining in or leavingthe 28-member EU with pollsshowing a razor-tight racewhose outcome could shapeEurope’s future.

In the biggest backing yetfor the “Remain” camp, 1,280business leaders, which includ-ed representatives of 51 FTSE100 companies, signed a letterwarning that Brexit - orBritain’s exit from the EU -would mean “economic uncer-tainty and put jobs at risk”.

Their warning came onthe last day of the four-month-

long campaigning beforepolling booths open at 7 amlocal time tomorrow with thefinal result expected early onFriday.

More than 46 million peo-ple are eligible to vote in thereferendum in which peopleare being asked to choosewhether the UK should stay inthe European Union or leavein the first vote on the UK’slinks with Europe for morethan 40 years.

Opinion polls have sug-gested that while big businessis broadly in favour of stayingin the EU, small firms havebeen evenly split in what lookslike a photo-finish with onepoll showing “Remain” at 45per cent and “Leave” 44 percent, with 11 per cent unde-cided.

Prime Minister DavidCameron welcomed the sup-port from top businesses as hekicked off the final hours of hiscampaigning, stressing thatthe UK enjoyed a “special sta-tus” within the EU and the“best of both worlds”.

Cameron, who hasappeared alongside formerPrime Minister John Majorand former Labour leaderHarriet Harman in Bristol,said that the decision will beirreversible and there will nocoming back if the UK votesto leave.

“You can’t jump out theaeroplane and then clamberback through the cockpithatch,” he told BBC Radio 4’son Wednesday.

Leaving the EU would bea “massive problem” for the

UK, he said, doing “untolddamage” to economic growth,jobs and family finances andhindering the opportunitiesand life chances of future gen-erations.

Speaking to the BBC, hesaid “We are not shackled to acorpse. You can see theEuropean economy’s recovery.It’s the largest single market inthe world.

Making a personal plea tothose who fear greaterEuropean control, hedescribed himself as a “deeplypatriotic person”.

“We have not been invad-ed for 1,000 years, we’ve gotinstitutions that have served uswell. I don’t want to give thatup to some sort of ‘UnitedEurope’ and that’s not whatwe’re going to do.

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Hotting up the low-fareswar among airlines,

SpiceJet on Wednesday rolledout a new scheme offering basecosts as low as �444 on somedestinations on its domesticnetwork with a select bookingperiod and limited number ofseats.

No sooner did the no-frillscarrier announce its MonsoonBonanza Sale, flyers body AirPassengers Association of India(APAI) wrote to aviation regu-lator DGCA, seeking to knowif it was mulling any action onsuch “bogus” schemes by air-lines.

The five-day sale launchedon Wednesday will be open tillthe midnight of June 26, the air-line said, adding the travelperiod under the offer standsbetween July 1 and September30.

The SpiceJet promo one-way base fare of �444 are forselect sectors, includingJammu-Srinagar, Ahmedabad-Mumbai, Mumbai-Goa, Delhi-Dehradun and Delhi-Amritsarroutes.

Fares would vary accordingto sector, depending on thetravel distance and flight sched-ules, and timings are subject toregulatory approvals andchange(s), it said.

Besides SpiceJet, IndiGo,GoAir and Air Asia India hadrecently come out with simi-lar low-fare offers.

Alleging that the airlineswere “taking for a ride” thepassengers with such schemes,APAI wrote to DirectorateGeneral of Civil Aviation toraise concern over the issue.

“This has reference to theadvertisement released bySpiceJet in todays news papers... We started getting com-plaints from as early as 10.20AM from many of our mem-bers stating that no such fareis available even for short dis-tance of less than 500 km,”APAI founder and nationalpresident D Sudhakara Reddysaid in the strongly-wordedletter.

According to APAI, itsmembers found that most ofthese fares offered in the flashsale are for flights originatingfrom Delhi and for nearby des-tinations such as Amritsar,Chandigarh, etc.

“We then asked our officeto try for other destinations.(Here also) even in the firsthalf of the day when the adver-tisement has appeared, nosuch fares are available. Sowhat is the logic for suchoffers?,” APAI said.

“We strongly believe thatthese are nothing but gim-micks and the gullible pas-sengers are being taken for aride (in the name of such lowfare schemes,” he said.

Reddy, in his letter, alsosought to know the “action”the DGCA intended to takeover such offers by the airlines.

����� ����� OutgoingGovernor Raghuram Rajanon Wednesday rejected sug-gestions for RBI to infuse itssurplus funds to capitalise ail-ing public sector banks --proposed by CEA ArvindSubramanian -- saying it is a“non-transparent” idea thatcan create “conflicts of inter-est”.

Rajan, who last weekendsurprised everyone by makingpublic his no to a secondterm, said RBI should contin-ue paying as much dividend aspossible to the Government,which in turn should be recap-italising the public sectorbanks.

“The Economic Surveyhas suggested the RBI capi-talise public sector banks. Thisseems a non-transparent wayof proceeding, getting thebanking regulator once againinto the business of owningbanks, with attendant con-flicts of interest,” Rajan told anAssocham event here.

The suggestion made inthis regard in the latestEconomic Survey, preparedby Chief Economic AdvisorSubramanian, is has reportedlyfound traction with the gov-ernment, though there is noofficial word in this regard asyet.

Rajan, however, said ratherthan this, RBI should pay asmuch dividend as possible to

to the Government, whichover the past two years has runinto billions of dollars .

Rajan, who will return toacademia after his three-yearterm at RBI ends onSeptember 4, added that RBIhas paid all of its surplus to theGovernment for the last threeyears.

In 2013-14 the RBI hadtransferred a surplus of Rs52,679 crore to theGovernment, which in 2014-15 rose to �65,896 crore. Thesurplus transfer in 2010-11was much lower at �15,009crore.

According to a mediareport published days afterRajan’s surprise decision, theGovernment is mulling to useup to �4 trillion of RBI capi-tal. The Governor stressedthat the Government shouldcontinue to capitalise its banksand clarified that a higherdividend payout by RBI andbank-recapitalisation shouldnot be linked.

If the Government cannotarrange the required capital,Rajan suggested issuing to thebanks “Government capital-ization bonds” in exchange forequity.

“The banks would holdthe bonds on their balancesheet. This would tie up partof their balance sheet, butwould certainly be capital,” heexplained. ��

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RBI Governor RaghuramRajan on Wednesday

said he will be around “a lotin India” even after leavingthe central bank and shouldnot be written off as yet.

The comments comewithin days of Rajan mak-ing public his no to a secondterm at Reserve Bank afterhis current three- yeartenure ends on September 4.

“I feel like in the last fewdays I have read a lot of myobituaries and I’m still here.I’m still here for two-and-half months in this job.After that I’m going to stillbe around somewhere inthe world, probably a lot inIndia, so don’t write meoff,” Rajan Said.

During the question-and-answer session, he fur-ther said, “The only thing Iwill say is that... I readthese obituaries in thepapers, I am still alive. I willleave this office inSeptember, but I certainlywill be coming in and out ofthe country on numerousoccasions.”

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Japanese conglomerate SoftBank onWednesday said Ken Miyauchi, head of the

group’s Japanese telecommunications opera-tions, would replace Nikesh Arora as presidentand chief operating officer. Arora had onTuesday abruptly resigned from his positionafter it became clear that Chairman and CEOMasayoshi Son wanted to continue in his cur-rent post for another 5-10 years.

Miyauchi held 1,101,230 shares of SBG asof March 31, 2016, according to a statement bySoftBank. Arora, who was touted as heirapparent at SoftBank, had said he can’t be “CEO-

in-waiting past his sell-by date” as his 58-year-old boss Son wanted to continue.

Arora, who was hand-picked by Son twoyears ago to succeed him, was among the top-paid executives globally. He will remain in anadvisory role at SoftBank for a year.

Arora’s exit came just a day after he got aclean-chit from a special committee set up bySoftBank to look into the allegations againsthim from some shareholders about his con-duct and qualifications. He was also report-edly criticised by a SoftBank investor forpumping huge money in India and one of theinvestment went through rough weather in arealty business based web portal.

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��1� � ���� State-run telecomfirm MTNL will submit itsrevival plan to the Departmentof Telecommunications (DoT)by August this year which aimsto bring the loss making publicsector undertaking (PSU) out ofthe red.

“We are in advanced stagesof finalising the report on therevival plan for MTNL and willsubmit it to the DoT by August,”MTNL CMD PK Purwar toldthe news agency.

On the revival plan, he saidit includes suggestions for expan-sion of service network, ways toincrease the Navratna firm’smarket share as well as cost opti-misation measures.

The plan includes partner-ing with State-run BSNL to pro-vide equipment for its mobileservices in Delhi and Mumbaicircles as managed serviceprovider on revenue sharingbasis.

The roadmap also includesexpanding basic or fixed servicesnetwork in partnership withprivate players on a revenueshare basis.

Besides, MTNL is also tar-

geting a revenue of Rs 1,000 crorein two years from asset moneti-sation as it looks to turn prof-itable in this fiscal ending March2017.

The asset monetisationincludes �750 crore from opticfibre and �50 crore from towerbusiness.

Last fiscal, MTNL’s stand-alone net loss narrowed to�2,005.74 crore, from �2,893.39crore a year-ago.

MTNL had been a profitmaking company till 2008-09and has contributed around�43,023 crore to government inform of tax/fee/dividend till2014-15.

Since 2009-10, there hasbeen a continuous reduction inits revenue as against almostfixed operating cost, which hasaffected its profitability. ThePSU has been unable to invest inexpansion of its networks due tofinancial distress.

The Government has pro-vided financial assistance toboth for refund of surrenderedbroadband wireless access(BWA) spectrum. Under thishead, �4,533.97 crore has been

refunded to MTNL throughbonds.

MTNL was given broad-band and 3G spectrum for whichit paid �11,000 crore in 2010 thathas impacted its balance sheet.

Labour Minister BandaruDattatreya assured MTNLemployees that he will discuss therevival plan with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and TelecomMinister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

In his address to MTNLMazdoor Sangh on the revival ofthe Navratna company, the min-ister told employees that theyshould focus on providing bet-ter services to consumers.

MTNL Mazdoor Sangh isaffiliated to RSS-backed BhartiyaMazdoor Sangh (BMS).

“I have asked MTNL CMDto submit a report on the revivalplan to the government and alsoto me and I will take this to thePrime Minister,” he said.

The minister told theemployees that they shouldwork together with the com-pany officials in upgrading theservices and come up withsuggestions that can helprevive the PSU. ��

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The International MonetaryFund warned the United

States on Wednesday over pover-ty and rising inequality in thecountry, saying both could holdback its economic potential.

The IMF cut its outlook forUS economic growth this year to2.2 per cent, compared to 2.4 percent forecast at the beginning ofthe year. It cited the impact ofslower global growth overall,the contraction in the energyindustry due to low oil prices,and a slowdown in domesticconsumer spending.

The Washington-basedglobal crisis lender said the USeconomy is in “good shape”generally, growing more strong-ly than other leading advancedeconomies, with unemploymentat a nearly nine year low andinflation in check.

The world’s largest economy“has repeatedly demonstrated itsresilience in the face of financialmarket volatility, a strengtheningdollar, and subdued globaldemand,” the report said.

Yet it identified stark trendsthat it said will slowly choke offavenues to future growth if notaddressed soon, particularly a

very high level of poverty for arich country and increasinginequality.

The IMF said the ageing ofthe US population, with a surgeof baby-boomers moving intoretirement, is combining with atroubling stall in productivitygains and lack of investment inworkers and physical capital topresent a new challenge to theeconomy.

On top of that, it said thegrowth of inequality and per-sistence of high poverty wouldexacerbate those trends.

It noted that 46.7 millionAmericans -- one out of sevenpeople -- are living in poverty,including 20 per cent of allchildren. Working Americans’share of all income in the coun-try has fallen by five percent in15 years, and the middle class isthe smallest it has been in threedecades.

The polarisation in incomedistribution, the Fund said, haseffectively cut consumerdemand by 3.5 per cent since1999 -- the equivalent of losingone year’s consumer spendingout of 15. That trend will onlyfurther crimp the economy, saidIMF Managing DirectorChristine Lagarde.

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Environment MinisterPrakash Javadekar on

Wednesday said the ban ondiesel cars and SUVs withengines above 2,000cc inDelhi-NCR by courts ‘isnot the right way’.

Calling it ‘unfortunate’, hesaid the Government is alreadytaking measures to curb pol-lution and the ban has result-ed in vehicles with latest tech-nologies not being allowedwhile old polluting vehiclescontinue plying on the roads.

“I am very sure that courtswill also appreciate that therehas to be a certainty of policyand execution. Policy and exe-cution are the job of the exec-

utive, legality of any decision isthe job of the judiciary,”Javadekar said here. He furthersaid: “Legislature’s job is to leg-islate and these are the feworgans, which are created by theConstitution, which must workindependently. We must sustaineach other and we must workindependently that is the realneed of the hour. When all will

move in one direction, we willachieve goals more than whatwe have planned to achieve.”

Commenting on the banimposed on registration of bigdiesel cars and SUVs in Delhi-NCR since December last year,the Minister did not refer to theSupreme Court by name butjust mentioned courts and theNGT. “I think that this is not theright way, it’s unfortunate...Court also needs to appreci-ate that because you are ban-ning the latest vehicles and oldvehicles are plying on the roadsthat are more polluting,” he said.

Javadekar was apparentlyreferring to the Supreme Court,which has extended the banuntil the next hearing which isexpected in July. Air pollution

has not increased only in lasttwo years. It has aggravated overthe last ten years, he added.

“Judiciary now should alsoappreciate that the Governmenthas taken steps...(like) migra-tion to Euro VI to fight pollu-tion,” the Minister added. Hefurther said: “In the environ-ment ministry we have madeemission norms more stringentpractically for all industriesand that’s the right direction incontrolling pollution.

So we are taking deci-sions we are making allefforts.” Javadekar was speak-ing at the inauguration of anew �100-crore plant of ForceMotors from where the com-pany will supply engines andaxles to Mercedes-Benz India.

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GENEVA: Expressing concernsover the spurt in number of traderestrictive measures by G20economies, the WTO has said itcould have a ‘chilling effect’ ontrade flows. According to aWTO report, during mid-October to mid-May 2016, G20economies applied 145 newtrade-restrictive measures asagainst 100 in the same periodprevious years.

The G20 economies, a groupof developed and developingcountries are India, Australia,Brazil, China, France, the US andthe UK and EU. WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo said:“We have long been concernedabout the growing stockpile oftrade- restrictive measures, andour report suggests that this

worrying trend is continuing.“A rise in trade restrictions

is the last thing the global econ-omy needs on Wednesday withGDP growth sluggish and 2016expected to be the fifth year in arow that trade has expanded byless than 3 per cent.”

He said these trade-restrictivemeasures, combined with a notablerise in anti-trade rhetoric, ‘couldhave a further chilling effect on tradeflows’, with knock-on effects for eco-nomic growth and job creation.

Azevedo added “if we areserious about addressing sloweconomic growth, then we needto get trade moving again, not putup barriers between economies.”He urged the countries to act ontheir commitment of notputting up barriers. PTI

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NEW DELHI: Policy makersand industry leaders will delib-erate upon inclusive growththrough digital transformationat the WEF India summit, asenior official said. WorldEconomic Forum’s (WEF)India summit is slated to beheld on October 6 and 7.

“The theme of this year’sannual meeting would be fos-tering an inclusive India throughdigital transformation,” WEF’sManaging Board MemberMurat Sonmez told PTI. Leadersfrom business, Government,civil society, NGOs and acade-mia would be participating inthe summit, being organised inpartnership with the CII.

“These people will explorehow to collectively shape policiesfor inclusive growth and harness

the 4th Industrial Revolution - atechnological revolution - that ischanging the scale, scope andcomplexity of the opportunitiesand challenges that we face,”Sonmez said. Key issues of nation-al and regional importance underthree thematic pillars - masteringthe Fourth Industrial Revolution,driving sustainable and equitablegrowth and improving the ease ofdoing business - would also bedeliberated upon at the event.

“We are planning to invitePrime Minister Narendra Modiand all ministers of theGovernment for the summit,” hesaid. Senior officials of leading cor-porates including Mahindra &Mahindra, Infosys, RelianceIndustries, Adani, Wipro and TataConsultancy Services are expect-ed to attend the summit.

According to Sonmez, it is the righttime for India’s economy to soaras the country has a strong demo-graphic dividend, a growing entre-preneurial ecosystem and a largedomestic market.

Asked about the theme for theannual WEF summit at Davos nextyear, Sonmez said: “Governancesystem for the Fourth IndustrialRevolution is expected to be on theagenda for the annual summit.” Allthe heads of states are generallyinvited for the Davos meet, headded. Talking about new visionfor agriculture initiative (NewVision for Agriculture or NVA),Sonmez said it is a global initiativeof the WEF to strengthen foodsecurity, environmental sustain-ability and economic opportunitythrough a market-based, multi-stakeholder approach. PTI

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The Government is lookingat consolidation among the

27 state-owned banks to create4-5 large sized lenders, aprocess that will begin with themerger of SBI and its associatesin the current fiscal. It is alsolooking at its stake in IDBIBank coming down from 80per cent to 60 per cent if stakedilution happens via QIP, afinance ministry official said.

“Finance Ministry’s view isthat there should be 4-5 lendersafter consolidation of PSUbanks. To begin with, SBI andits associate banks are to bemerged, while decision on otherbanks will be taken in duecourse,” the official added.

The official said thatmerger of SBI with associatebanks is likely to happentowards the end of this fiscal.Last week, the Cabinet hadapproved the merger betweenSBI and its associate banks.

“Trade unions will have tobe taken on board before theconsolidation exercise starts,”the official said. SBI, PNB,Canara Bank and Bank of Indiaare among the large state-ownedbanks in the country.

In his Budget speech,Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyhad announced that theGovernment will unveil aroadmap for consolidation ofpublic sector banks (PSBs) whichare expected to get an infusionof �25,000 crore this fiscal.

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State-run LIC will ‘shortly’announce setting up of a cred-

it enhancement fund to provideguarantees for infrastructure sec-tor companies to help themaccess funds from domestic andoverseas markets at lower cost.

“We expect LIC to announceit shortly,” Secretary in theDepartment of Economic AffairsShaktikanta Das told PTI in an inter-view. When asked about the impactof this move, he said if infrastruc-ture sector companies ‘get a creditenhancement, they will be able toaccess funds from the market bothdomestic and overseas at lower costbecause of the credit enhancementwhich they get’. The infrastructurecompanies, Das said will be able toleverage on this and get creditenhancement. Citing an example,the secretary said that if “somebody,say is ‘AAA-’, he/she can become a'AAA' by utilising this facility.”

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The Centre on Wednesdayextended the timeline till

March next for the states to join theUDAY scheme for revival of debt-laden power distribution utilities.“The deadline for transferring dis-coms’ debt to State budget and issu-ing bonds for 50 per cent out-standing was March 31, 2016. TheUnion Cabinet decided to extendthis date to March 31, 2017,”Finance Minister Arun Jaitley saidat a press conference after theUnion Cabinet meeting.

“Many States have alreadysinged on it (agreement) to join theUDAY scheme,” he said. With theapproval for extension of timeline,

the States shall take over 75 percent of discoms’ debt as onSeptember, 30, 2015 by March 31,2017 by issuing bonds, an inter-vention to lower the interest bur-den, an official release said.

The States which could not joinso far would get a chance to joinUDAY and put the DISCOMreforms on accelerated path, itadded. The Union Cabinet chairedby PM Narendra Modi in its meet-ing has approved an extension oftimeline for taking over 50 per centof the Outstanding Debt ofDISCOMs, as existing onSeptember, 30, 2015, by States andborrowings by J & K under UDAY- a scheme for operational andfinancial turnaround of DISCOMs.

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Varun Beverages, franchiseefor soft drinks maker

PepsiCo, on Wednesday filedpreliminary papers with Sebifor an IPO to raise over �1,000crore. The IPO entails sale ofup to 2.5 crore shares, includ-ing fresh issue of 1.5 croreshares and offloading of stakeby promoters.

The compoany has filed thedraft red herring prospectus withthe Sebi, it said in a release.Sources said Varun Beveragesexpects to raise more than �1,000crore through the Initial PublicOffer. Apart from fresh issue of1.5 crore equity shares, therewould be offer for sale of up to5,000,000 shares each by VarunJaipuria and Ravi Kant Jaipuria &Sons (HUF), the release said.

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Campaigners on both sidesof the crucial vote over

whether Britain should remainin the European Union criss-crossed the countryWednesday, their last day to winsupport from the undecided.

Prime Minister DavidCameron outlined his visionfor a future with Britain retain-ing its place in the 28-nationbloc, bristling at the notion thatthe country would be headedin the wrong direction if itstayed in. He flatly rejected thecharge that the institution ismoribund.

“We are not shackled to acorpse,” Cameron told the BBC.“You can see the European econ-omy’s recovery. It’s the largest sin-gle market in the world.”

The most notable figure inthe “leave” campaign, formerLondon Mayor Boris Johnson,kicked off a whirlwind tour ofEngland as he pushed for a

British exit — or Brexit.Touring the Billingsgate FishMarket, Johnson mugged forthe cameras with fish in hand— a not-so-subtle reminderthat this is an island nation —and one very proud of its inde-pendence and self-assurance.

“It’s time to have a totallynew relationship with ourfriends and partners across

the Channel,” Johnson said. “It’stime to speak up for democra-cy, and hundreds of millions ofpeople around Europe agreewith us. It’s time to break awayfrom the failing and dysfunc-tional EU system.”

Voters go to the pollsThursday after a campaignthat has been unusually heat-ed, even by the lively standards

of British politics.Nigel Farage, a “leave”

campaigner and leader of theU.K. Independence Party,resisted fresh calls to apologizefor a poster showing hundredsof migrants making their wayacross Europe along with thewords “Breaking Point.”

The poster, labeled racistand misleading by opponents,was unveiled hours beforeLabour lawmaker Jo Cox waskilled in a knife and gun attackoutside a library in herYorkshire constituency lastweek. She had been an out-spoken supporter of migrants.Friends and family planned tohold a celebration of Cox’s lifein cities around the worldWednesday, which would havebeen her 42nd birthday.

“I apologize for the timingand I apologize for the fact thatit was able to be used by thosewho wish us harm,” saidFarage. “But I can’t apologizefor the truth.”

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President Vladimir Putin onWednesday slammed NATO

for ratcheting up its rhetoric andaggression close to Russia’s bor-der and warned that Moscowwas being forced to increase itsmilitary capacity.

“NATO is stepping up itsaggressive rhetoric and itsaggressive actions close to ourborders,” Putin told lawmakers.

“In these conditions weare obliged to dedicate specialattention to resolving tasksconnected with heighteningthe defence capabilities of ourcountry.”

Speaking on the 75thanniversary of the invasion ofthe USSR by Nazi GermanyPutin accused the West ofrejecting overtures from Russiato help tackle the common foeof “international terrorism” --as it once ignored the SovietUnion’s warnings of Hitler -- asit seeks to isolate Moscow overthe Ukraine crisis.

“We once again, as it wason the eve of World War II, arenot seeing a positive response,”Putin said.

Relations between Russiaand the West have slumped totheir lowest point since theCold War over Moscow’s 2014annexation of Crimea from

Ukraine and its alleged mas-terminding of a separatistuprising.

Fears of Russian expan-sionism have sent a chillthrough NATO members suchas Estonia, Latvia, Lithuaniaand Poland and seen the US-led alliance bolster its presencein eastern Europe.

NATO announced lastMonday that it would deployfour battalions to Estonia,Latvia, Lithuania and Poland tocounter a more assertiveRussia, ahead of a landmarksummit in Warsaw next month.

Russia bitterly opposesNATO’s expansion into itsSoviet-era satellites and lastmonth said it would createthree new divisions in its south-west region to meet what itdescribed as a dangerous mil-itary build-up along its borders.

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NATO would currently beunable to protect the

Baltics against a Russian attack,the commander of US groundforces in Europe, General BenHodges, said in a news reporton Wednesday.

“Russia could take overthe Baltic states faster than wewould be able to defend them,”Hodges was quoted as saying ina German-language article bynews weekly Die Zeit.

The general said he agreedwith an assessment by militaryanalysts that says Russian forcescould conquer the capitals ofBaltic states Latvia, Lithuaniaand Estonia within 36 to 60hours.

Hodges also said NATOforces had found numerousdeficiencies during the recent“Anaconda” military exercise inPoland, according to the arti-cle from Thursday’s edition ofDie Zeit released early to AFP.

Baghdad: Iraqi forces inFallujah are facing resistancefrom holdout Islamic Stategroup fighters in just twonorthern neighbourhoods ofthe city, the operation’s overallcommander said onWednesday.

“The northern and centralparts of Fallujah have almostbeen cleared of Daesh,”Lieutenant GeneralAbdulwahab al-Saadi told AFP,using an Arabic acronym for IS.

“There are few IS fightersleft, only in the Al-Mualleminand Jolan neighbourhoods inthe north of the city,” he said.

“The militants in Jolan areoffering some resistance butwe’re pushing back and we’vekilled a number of them,” hesaid. Operations against IS innorthern Fallujah were beingconducted by the elite counter-terrorism service and forcesfrom the federal and provincialpolice.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi launched the offensiveagainst the jihadist stronghold,50 kilometres (30 miles) westof Baghdad, a month ago. AFP

Brussels: The European Unionhas reached agreement to setup a new border and coast-guard force that could inter-vene in front-line countrieslike Greece and Italy to curb theinflux of migrants.

Negotiators for the 28 EUmember states and the EuropeanParliament said on Wednesdaythey had endorsed a proposalfrom the European Commission,the bloc’s executive, to set up theforce by the summer.

The parliament is expect-ed to vote on the issue in a keycommittee next week, and if itclears that hurdle, to act on itin a full session in the Frenchcity of Strasbourg next month.

“The agreement on thecreation of a European Borderand Coast Guard shows thatEurope is able to act swiftly andresolutely to deal with commonchallenges,” said EuropeanCommission President Jean-Claude Juncker. AFP

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The bodies of 12 Nepaleseguards who were killed in a

Taliban suicide attack inAfghanistan were onWednesday flown back to Nepalin a special chartered flight.

The Nepal Airlines char-tered flight that landed atTribhuvan InternationalAirport also broughtback 24 Nepaleseguards who workedwith the ones killed inAfghanistan, officials atForeign Ministry said.

A Taliban suicidebomber killed 12Nepalese securityguards on June 20 in a blast tar-geting their Kabul minibus.Nine other people werewounded, including fiveNepalese and four Afghans.The Nepalese worked for pri-vate security company SabreInternational to guard the

Canadian embassy.Prime Minister KP Sharma

Oli and Foreign MinisterKamal Thapa received the bod-ies at the airport.

The bodies have been hand-ed over to the family membersand relatives of the victims.

Nepal sent a chartered flightas otherwise the bodies had to

be brought fromKabul InternationalAirport via three con-necting flights.

Five otherNepalese who wereinjured in the attackhave been airlifted toDelhi for further treat-ment, the officials said.

Meanwhile, theParliamentary committee onLabour and InternationalAffairs has directed the gov-ernment to provide compen-sation to family members ofthose killed in the terror attackin Kabul.

Cairo: Fierce clashes in Libyabetween pro-government mili-tiamen and Islamic State (ISIS)militants in the city of Sirte andan explosion at a depot near thecapital, Tripoli, left more than60 dead in just one day, aspokesman and a Libyan statenews agency reported onWednesday.

In Sirte, the last bastion ofthe Islamic State group in theNorth African country, yester-day's clashes killed 36 militia-men aligned with the newly-UN brokered Government.

The militias, mainly fromthe western town of Misrata,have been leading an offensivesince early May to take full con-trol over Sirte.

At first, the militiamenrapidly advanced into the citybut the push got bogged downin recent days amid a series ofsuicide bombings by ISIS.Along with the 36 militiamenkilled, mostly in direct gun bat-tles with ISIS militants, Misratahospital spokesman Abdel-Aziz Essa also said that about140 were wounded in yester-day’s battles.

ISIS fighters reportedlyhave hunkered down at themilitant group’s headquarters inSirte, the sprawlingOuagadougou convention cen-ter that was built by late dicta-tor Moammar Gadhafi. AP

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Japan and Russia onWednesday held talks aimed at

resolving a territorial dispute dat-ing back to World War II, whichhas prevented the neighboursfrom signing a peace treaty for-mally ending wartime hostilities.

The two countries havediplomatic relations but tieshave been strained by a disputeover four islands, known inJapan as the NorthernTerritories and in Russia as partof the Kuril Islands.

Chikahito Harada, Japan’sspecial envoy for Japan-Russiarelations, and Russian DeputyForeign Minister IgorMorgulov met in Tokyo for theone-day meeting.

“We’re going to tackle thisissue in a new way to break thedeadlock that has lasted untilnow,” Harada said, according toJiji Press news agency. He didnot elaborate.

Islamabad: Pakistan has raisedthe issue of the recent USdrone strike that killed theAfghan Taliban chief, in theUN Security Council, describ-ing it as an “unacceptable andblatant violation of its sover-eignty” and of the UN charterand international law.

Speaking in the quarterlydebate on Afghanistan in theCouncil, Pakistan’sAmbassador Maleeha Lodhisaid the Afghan peace processwas undermined by the USdrone attack of May 21 whichkilled Afghan Taliban leaderMullah Akhtar Mansour inBalochistan province close tothe Afghan border.

This action has dealt “ablow to the Afghan peaceprocess” and added to theintensity and complexity ofthe Afghan conflict, sheadded. PTI

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In a scathing attack,Afghanistan has accused “ele-

ments within the state structureof Pakistan” of facilitating mostof the terrorist groups active inthe region and said the coun-try needs political will andnot ‘nuclear deals or F-16s’ totake action against terrorists.

In his statement to thepowerful UN Security Councilon the debate on UNAssistance Mission inAfghanistan (UNAMA) hereyesterday, Afghanistan’sPermanent Representative tothe UN Mahmoud Saikal saidTaliban leader Mullah AkhtarMansour was “tracked” andkilled in Pakistan’s Balochistanin an American drone strike.

The incident “exposed”that Mansour had a Pakistani

passport in a fake name that hehad used to fly numerous timesfrom Pakistani airports.

“Despite this, the charadeof plausible deniability, duplic-ity, and blame of Afghan weak-nesses continues, which mustcome to an end if we are to suc-ceed in counter-terrorism,” hesaid.

Saikal accused “elementswithin the state structure ofPakistan” of facilitating most ofthe terrorist groups active inthe region and warned that acountry using “good and badterrorists” against each other is“playing with fire”.

He further pointed outthat in the past 15 years,numerous leading figures ofterrorism, including bin Ladenand Taliban leaders Mullah

Omar and Mansour havelived and died in Pakistan.

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Presumptive Republicanpresidential nominee

Donald Trump has questionedhis Democratic rival HillaryClinton’s commitment to herChristian faith, saying that lit-tle is known about her spiritu-al life even though she has beenin the public eye for decades.

“We don’t know anythingabout Hillary in terms of reli-gion,” Trump told a group ofevangelical leaders.

A video of the meeting wasposted on social media.“Now, she’s been in the publiceye for years and years, and yetthere’s no — there’s nothing outthere,” he said.

“There’s like nothing outthere. It’s going to be an exten-sion of Obama but it’s going tobe worse, because with Obamayou had your guard up. WithHillary you don’t, and it’s goingto be worse,” 70-year-oldTrump said.

In response to Trump’sremarks, the Clinton campaignreleased a statement by evan-gelical leader Deborah Fikes,who has served as an ExecutiveAdvisor to the WorldEvangelical Association.

“Hillary Clinton is theleader who people of faith arelooking for,” Fikes said.

“There is a troubling trendunderway in America today.Donald Trump — a majorparty’s presumptive presiden-tial nominee – has used evenmore disturbing language to

mock women, Latinos, andpeople with disabilities,” saidFikes.

“He has repeatedly calledfor a ban on Muslims enteringour country. And he haspromised to surveil Muslimneighbourhoods in cities andsuburbs across the UnitedStates.

As an evangelicalChristian, it troubles me deeplyto see abuse of the vulnerableand intolerance toward reli-gious minorities on the rise,” hesaid.

Fikes, who also announcedto endorse Clinton, saidTrump’s proposals are not justun-Christian – they are un-American and at odds with thevalues Americans holds dearest.

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To make his character come to life and looksas believable as possible, Vicky Kaushalstarted to smoke three to four packets of cig-

arettes a day to embody his character of a chainsmoker and drug abuser. His character was soengrossing that he ended up losing sleep on mostnights and gradually developed a habitual insom-nia, only to later overcome it.

He even disconnected himself socially andfrom his family while the shoot was underway,and became a loner. We talked to the actor aboutthe film and his role and he had some interest-ing insights to share about his role and also theindustry.

�Tell us something about your role in RamanRaghav 2.0.

I’m playing a cop. His name is Raghavan andhe’s not the ideal cop that you would think of. He’sgot his own issues. He’s walking on the edge. Sohe might either fall on his face or fall off the cliffanytime. Basically he’s a pretty shaken up and atwisted guy. He’s into substance abuse and a lotof stuff that’s against the law. So this sort of a copcharacter becomes really interesting and challeng-ing to play.

�This role is quite a departure from those youplayed in Masaan and Zubaan. What kind ofpreparation did this role involve?

When you get a character which you can’trelate with at all, you know how he acts and

reacts to situations, you need to break awayfrom your own environment and try to livelike the character would. You need to aban-don the way you’re used to living in, to beable to live like the character and get intothe skin. My responsibility as an actor is tobelieve in the character completely, believethat I am him. I had to look dehydrated andhad to lean down. So I drank less water andate food with no salt, to look that way. I start-

ed smoking and sleeping very little. Since itwas a quick 21 day shoot, I was actually pret-

ty tired, but then that actually worked out tomake me look the part.

�We read that you shut yourself in for fivedays to prepare for the role.

Yeah, I did. I had isolated myself for fivedays in a house. There was no phone, no TV,no computer, no WiFi, and no newspaper. Itwas just me and the script I was given for theaudition.

�What was it like working withNawazuddin Siddiqui?

It was surreal. I have no otherword for it. Never in my wildestimagination did I think I wouldget to act in a film with Nawazbhai. When I started out in theindustry, I never in my wildestimagination thought that fiveyears down the line I would beacting alongside Nawaz bhai ina film directed by AnuragKashyap. Ever since I saw him act,I was blown away. I respect him a lotand that’s why it was really special forme.

�You have worked with Anurag Kashyap ear-

lier, having assisted him in a few films. But whatwas the experience like being directed by himin one?

The best part about Anurag sir is that he’s real-ly intimate with his actors and gives them timeto prepare for the part. So, in many ways, this helpsthe actors a lot. He understands their requirementssince he’s himself been an actor and done a fairshare of theatre. He helped me a lot with the char-acter throughout the film shoot.

�Kashyap is known for the dark, brooding char-acters that he creates for his films. Did you referto any characters from his films or any otheractor’s role in another film?

Well, the most important thing was to under-stand the psyche of the character I was playing.So there was no reference as such. With the drugthing though, I did a lot of study, especially withthe method of taking it. It had to look real andnot staged. So I had to learn how to make it andsnort it. For that we used a combination of

Glucon-D and corn-flour while filming thescenes.

�Your father has beena well-known actiondirector in Hindifilms. Do you some-day wish to be in anaction film?

Of course! I’mdying to be in an actionfilm someday. As anaudience I love watch-ing action films and asan actor, too, I’m wait-ing for a great role in anaction film. It would begreat to be part of such

a film that has a good story and a good charac-ter for me. I hope it happens really soon.

� What about a mainstream commercialBollywood film?

Why not? Actually, my next film is actuallyan out and out mainstream commercial filmwhich is nothing like what I’ve done so far. It isa little early to talk about it though, but somethingis definitely happening.

� Just a few days before Father’s Day, we saw youin a Google ad, The Hero. How did that happen?

It was pure co incidence. One day, the direc-tor, Ravi Sharma and I were working out at thegym and that’s where he narrated the story to me.Then he asked me if I wanted to be a part of itand I said, “Yes, of course!” It was special to mefor many reasons. One definitely being the trib-ute to fathers and another to Bollywood. It was

an honour for me to be a part of it.

�Thanks for talking to us and wish youall the best for your film.

Thank you.

Their chemistry was quite palpable in Sanam Re and with-in a year, the duo Pulkit Samrat and Yami Gautam are

back with their next Junooniyat. No points for guessing thatthe narrative is that of a love story — Samrat in the role ofan army man named Jahan, in love with a girl from Amritsar,Suhani (Gautam).

“The conflict in the story is one of the unique points asSuhani is also from a family background and the story getsinteresting because of that and we have also tried to rekin-dle that old school charm with shaayari,” said Gautam.

She shared that Suhani isthe first character in her careerthat is close to her real self. “Sheis like me in so many ways —energetic, talkative and full oflife,” she added and quicklycredited Samrat for his excel-lent dancing skills, too, not for-getting to mention that it wastough for her to keep up. In herwords, “The movie will helppeople explore the differentshades of an army man otherthan their tough life.”

Samrat offered to explainthe real meaning of the title. Hestressed on the fact thatalthough the movie narratesthe love between a man and a woman but also the passionthat an army officer feels for his country. “It is also a way howa girl harbours love and affection for her family and also forthe one she loves. As far as the characters are concerned, itsduty versus love, and family versus love, for both of them.And that is the reason behind this name,” he pointed out.

During the conversation Samrat decided to share somestories about his struggling days. Did you know that he soldpetro cards at petrol pumps, sometimes even in the rain? Orthat he sat for an IT exam and was also pursuing a coursein advertising before he got a breakthrough? He very metic-ulously summed up his entire struggle, “If you walk one steptowards your ultimate aim, it will take 20 steps towards you.The only thing you need to do is to keep believing.”

The fashionableevening by Kotwara

was a show of timelessaesthetics weaved withcontemporary silhou-ettes. It was an intricateblend of exquisiteAwadhi embroidery onmodern cuts had an oldworld charm to it.Kotwara, a label ofMeera and Muzzafar Alishowcased a speciallydesigned couture whichis inspired by the coloursof HP’s thinnest laptop Spectre 13. Hedesigned a special sleeve for this laptopwhich he fondly referred as tribute withina tribute.

“We are launching something which istruly out of this world, something which isvery inspiring and something which is theneed of the hour and also need of thefuture”, said Muzzafar Ali when helaunched the company’s new laptopSpectre 13. It’s the world’s thinnestlaptop. Ali also said, “Every day weneed technology in every way andit has taken a big leap.” Implyinghow important technology hasbecome in our lives and its growthin recent years, Meera Ali added,“I can’t live without technologyand if technology can be madeattractive, aesthetic and artis-tic then why not?” This iswhat Meera and Muzaffar Alidid with Spectre 13. KetanPatel, director, personal sys-tems business, HP said, “Weare launching world’s thinnestlaptop and also new logo. As atechnology company we pushourselves to better technologyday in and day out.” He talkedabout why there was a need ofroping in a designer likeMuzzafar Ali in this collabora-tion and said that there is nomeaning of technology withoutstyle, “fashion and style quo-tient has become an importantpart of technology.”

Muzzafar Ali, painter, film-maker, designer talked with usin detail about his prestigiouslabel Kotwara where moderni-ty meets old world charm,“The label was born 26 yearsback and born from specialidea Dwar pe rozi (workman-ship at home) which will solvemany problems of democracy.It will give the villagers a pur-pose to live in the village and my

father, King of Kotwara wanted the villagersto have some form of employment so theydon’t suffer due to hunger. It all cametogether and Kotwara was born.” Meera Alicame together with him to make his pas-

sion come to life which is associated with anoble cause. Ali added, “I am a passionate

designer and I design things in adetailed manner and my wife,

Meera helps me in it. My craft issimple and well crafted.” Hepoints out that both filmmak-ing and painting is his passionbut painting is his first pas-sion. Paintings helps him tocreate his films, sketch hisframes, work out thepalette’s and do a lot of

things through it. Design aesthetics

according to him is, “It’sarriving at a balancebetween humanity and aes-thetics, a relationshipbetween the wearer and the

maker. It’s an interesting balance ifthe aesthetics are genuine.” His lat-est collection is inspired by thefemale form, “I like to see womenlook beautiful, so I have done thatin my films like Umrao Jaan inwhich I made Rekha look beauti-ful. How you address beauty of awoman is really the most inspi-rational part of designing.” He tellsus about how has his workevolved since he began, “It’s beenan uphill task. The challenges aremuch greater than they were,marketing is very difficult nowand ideas are uncompromising.”He said with pride, “Anybody Idesign for can become acelebrity and I design for any-body who wants to wear myclothes. I don’t want to put

clothes onto people who don’tdeserve those clothes.” His adviceto young designers is ‘look at thehuman aspect of fashion.’

In its 2014 listing of 25 greatestIndian rock songs in the last 25

years, a popular music magazine fea-tured ‘But it rained’, a single byParikrama, recorded back in 1996.Twenty years down the line, the songstill does not fail to ignite thecrowd’s passion.

Hard Rock Café (HRC) hadorganised a series of simultaneousgigs across the country to spread thefervor of beats and rhythms for theWorld Music Day.

To those of you who are notaware, Parikrama, completed 25years in the music circuit on June 17.You would be further amazed toknow that Parikrama started out asa four month project, according tothe organist cum band manager ofParikrama, Subir Malik. “Let alone25 years, we did not even expect tolast six months as a band. I was sup-posed to take hold of the familybusiness of motor parts dealingsafter the four month stint. But then

in our first season itself weplayed over 40 gigs, which cameas a big surprise to us. And,needless to say, we were hookedon to the music scene,” is whatMalik told us after delivering ascintillating performanceonstage.

As a band, they have a rep-utation of not only doing awaywith the rulebook but alsotearing out the pages. Unlikemost bands today, Parikrama

gives out their music for free onits official website. The bandboasts of millions of downloadsfrom their site and other relatedpages and does not have anypolicies against their music beingcopied and distributed as such.

Malik told us that the mem-bers do not completely rely onmusic for their bread and butter.“The music season lasts fromSeptember to March and theremaining period tends to be

somewhat lean. To complement

our earnings from our perfor-mances, each of us have alternatemodes of earning. I, for one, am intoartist management and SonamSherpa, the lead guitarist, is incharge of the Parikrama School ofMusic,” he said. According to him,this actually helps the band becausewhenever they come together, freefrom their respective strenuous jobs,they are eager to get down to mak-ing some good music.

The band has survived throughthick and thin, but the last 25 yearshave been a piece of cake whichMalik humbly attributed to the bril-liant chemistry that the membersshare. According to him, “Eachmember of the band brings to thetable his own individual brilliance.It is this varying individuality whichgives Parikrama its own individualsound.” And needless to say, therehave been numerous humorousincidents throughout. “This mightnot seem funny to you, but in the late90s, one of our female fans tattooedNitin’s name on her arm. We suspectit was done in a drunk stupor. Wemet her a couple of years back; sheis married now, has a couple of kidsand still flaunts the tattoo. Thewhole incident was hilarious to us,now that I think of it only Nitin didnot find it funny,” Malik laughed.

When we asked him about hisfavourite bands, Malik named TheWho, Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd

as notable groups which haveinspired Parikrama’s music. Butthen he asserts the fact that Indianbands ought not to be written off,and are much worthy of our atten-tion. “Back in my college heydays,when I was in Kirori Mal, IndusCreed, which went by the name ofRock Machine back then, held a con-cert at our college. At that time, Icould do nothing but gape in awe atthe phenomenal group, but thenlater I knew that that was what Iwanted for myself too, to be up onthe stage, catering to thousands ofmusic lovers,” he recounted.

Indus Creed still happens to bea notable name in Indian rockmusic scene but now there arenumerous acts which are worthy ofour attention. “Some time back, Ihappened to witness a Delhi basedband, The Circus, live. And I wasastounded at their electrifying per-formance, and it's not just them. Iam happy to know that there arethousands of bands which have sur-faced in the past decade, with eachhaving its own distinct tunes,”smiled Malik.

He vehemently agreed that intoday’s times, the rock and roll sce-nario in India is definitely not dull.In fact it seems to be burningbrighter than ever before. Andbeing the only musical geniusaround at that moment, we werebound to believe him.

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The BSF contingent of 200 men won the‘Best Yoga Performer Trophy’ of

Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt of India.The Nodal Officer for the event, IG CISFDelhi Sector, Sikha Goyel, IPS presentedthe trophy. The DG, BSF felicitated thewinners at a ceremony in the CGOComplex. Addressing the gathering andcongratulating the winners, DG, BSF, KKSharma stated that, “Yoga can be special-ly useful for our jawans and officers whowork under stress and are faced with enor-mous challenges. The enthusiasm exhib-ited by our men and women across thecountry today on yoga day is remarkable.Our sincere gratitude to the PM for infus-ing a contagious excitement across theglobe, on this momentous celebration ofmind and body. Other than creatingincredible awareness on yoga, this day hasbrought together, the whole country to col-lectively believe in a single philosophy ofspiritual and physical well being as well as

un-parallel awakening.”Sharma led a yoga session of 500 BSF

officers at BSF Camp, Chhawla, Najafgarhin New Delhi. They performed variousasanas, helpful to improve concentrationand increase will power. While address-ing BSF officers after the yoga session hesaid, “I pray a healthy and happy life foryou all.”

Yoga is a perfect practical system of self-culture and an exact science which aims

at the harmonious development of the body,mind and soul. This was observed by theUnion Minister for Urban DevelopmentShri Venkaiah Naidu. He was speaking at the2nd International Yoga Day, organised byNDMC in collaboration with Ministry ofAYUSH at Connaught Place in New Delhi.

The minister said that the body is but atemporary manifestation of the self. The realself is always there, blissful and unchangeable.He added that to realise this, to identify withthe blissful self is yoga. Yoga is not a religion,it is a way of living whose aim is ‘a healthymind in a healthy body’, he said.

He called upon the people to make yogaa part of their life and a part of their dailyschedule to transform their life. And to makeyoga a mass movement, connecting peopleand strengthening the bonds of humanity.

Lt. Governor of Delhi, Najeeb Jung in hisaddress said that the whole world is lookingtowards India and the yoga has crossed theboundaries and had been popularised in over-seas.

Member of Parliament from NewDelhi,Meenakashi Lekhi said that yoga is apart of our traditional preventive health careaspects from ancient period and added thatit is an ancient physical and spiritual disci-pline and branch of philosophy.

In order to promote yoga and general wellbeing of the citizen, the chairman, NDMCNaresh Kumar said that they are committedto popularise yoga in its schools and NewDelhi area. The yoga programme would becontinued on regular basis, in the morninghours at its main gardens for the purpose.

About 12,000 people took part in the yogasession at CP and surrounding areas likeLodhi Garden, Nehru Park and TalkatoraGarden and diplomats from the 40 countriesincluding Afghanistan, Russia, Sri Lanka,Mexico, Ghana, Belgium et al participated.

On the occasion of International Yoga Day, the National Book Trust, India organ-ised a workshop on Yoga for its employees at the NBT premises. The session was conducted by Rahul from Morarji Desai National Institute of

Yoga, New Delhi.While inaugurating the workshop, Rita Chowdhury, director, NBT said that we

all are under a lot of stress which is the outcome of our day to day activities andsedentary lifestyle. To lead a healthy life, we need to detoxify our body as well asour mind and soul; and yoga is the best tool for that. Hence, we should all prac-tice yoga everyday.

Defining asana, Rahul said that asana is a posture in which one can breatheeffortlessly and keep his or her mind in a peaceful state. During the session, Rahulintroduced various asanas (postures), including Vrajasana, Tadasana, Shavasana,Bhujangasana among others. He informed that these asanas can be practiced reg-ularly as they are helpful for the people suffering from stress-related diseases likediabetes, high blood pressure, spondylitis, cervical et al. The programme ended witha mediation session.

�What major schemes are you planningfor better distribution system across coun-try? What role are you playing in ensur-ing food security for poor in India?

The National Food Security Act wasnotified on 10 September 2013. Under thisAct food security is being ensured in India.A historical Law - effective 5 July 2013

Coverage: Two third of the population- From a total population of 121 crores near-ly 81.33 crore people, that is, nearly 16.6 crorefamilies. This coverage is substantiallyhigher than the coverage and allocation tothe families below the poverty line, underthe existing TPDS. Legal Right: Legal rightsto procure food grains at the maximum con-cessional rates.�After witnessing what happened duringthe last negotiations at WTO regardingfood security, what should be India’sstrategy to ensure food security? Westerncountries do not seem to be in support offood security. What are your views on that?

In reply, the Joint Secretary (Impex andIEC) informed that the matter relates to theCommerce Ministry and the Ministry ofAgriculture Cooperation & Farmers Welfare.The note “WTO and Food Security in India”dated, provided by the Commerce Ministryis attached. �What role innovative technologies canplay in food distribution system?

As mentioned above the followingbenefits are expected through computeri-sation:

1. Real time information on all benefi-ciaries can be obtained through data digi-tization and duplication of beneficiaries canbe stopped.

2. Online allocation will help to imme-diately know the quantity of cereals/foodgrains allocated to the states and the quan-tity and to whom has the state governmentfurther allocated the food grains in the state.This information is also given to the bene-ficiaries through sms.

3. Point of Sale (e-PoS) devices ensureallocation of cereals to the right beneficia-ries.

4. Through DBT the amount due to thedeserving beneficiaries are transferred totheir bank accounts at the right time, so thatthe beneficiaries can purchase cereals at afair price from the market, as they desire.

5. Construction of silos to reduce stor-

age loss. This storage technique helps in stor-ing large quantities of food grains in the bestpossible manner and the the quality of thefood grains can be maintained for anextended period of time.�How the incumbent government is tack-ling with corruption in food distributionsystem?

The government has taken the follow-ing steps to tackle corruption:

1. Enhanced usage of computerisa-tion/information technology at all levels forfood grain distribution

2. Digitisation of ration cards and link-ing with Aadhaar number.

3. Direct transfer of cash in lieu of foodgrains into the bank accounts of the bene-ficiaries.

4. Transparency at all levels and provideinformation on the PDS portal of all impor-tant notifications, orders and data.

5. All states to form an internalGrievance Redressal Machinery which is atwo-tier system, that is, at the first level agrievance redressal officer and at the secondlevel, the state government commission.

6. To ensure food grains are distributedto only the right beneficiaries at fair prices,Point of Sale (e-PoS) devices are beinginstalled. Up till now 1.23 lakh devices havealready been installed at the Fair Price Shops.

7. beneficiaries are informed via sms andafter sale of food grains to the beneficiariesa sms is again sent. This ensures trans-parency in the distribution.�How can we ensure betterment of farm-ers by improving food distribution?

The following steps are being taken forthe betterment of farmers by improving fooddistribution:

1. To ensure farmers receive paymentseasily and on time the government fixedminimum support price for their yield/foodgrains.

2. The amount is credited to the bankaccounts of the farmers without any diffi-culty.

3. To frequently discuss with the stategovernment regarding the disbursement ofthe fixed price to the sugarcane farmers. Tolaunch a scheme for the mill owners for thispurpose.

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Lots of initiatives have been taken by Airport Authorityof India towards the development of air cargo in India

under the guidance of MoCA. Airport Authority of Indiahas prepared a road map for the creation of common userdomestic air cargo terminal at 24 Airport Authority of Indiaairports in a phased manner, AAI has awarded the O&Mcontracts for the facilities in Madurai, Mangalore, Vizag,Indore, Raipur, Ahmedabad and Aurangabad Airports andalso commenced running of these cargo departments atChennai, Kolkata, Amritsar, Bagdogra, Goa andBhubaneshwar airport during financial year 2015-2016.Similarly, E-Commerce policy and NIT has been preparedfor exploiting the huge potential at AAI Airports. A pathbreaking initiative for corporatisation of cargo operationsin AAI has also been approved by Airport Authority of Indiaboard recently.

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Spain's 12-year unbeaten run at theEuropean Championship endedwhen Croatia rallied for a stunning

2-1 win on Tuesday, sending the two-timechampions into an intense, high-profileknockout match against Italy in theround of 16.

Ivan Perisic's 87th-minute winner forCroatia not only ended Spain's unbeat-en run at the tournament that stretchedback to 2004, it also relegated the defend-ing champions into second place inGroup D. A draw would have beenenough for Spain to secure first place inthe group and a potentially easier second-round game.

Spain will face the Italians at the Stadede France in Saint-Denis on Monday —a repeat of the 2012 final that Spain won4-0. Croatia will play one of the third-place teams in the northern French cityof Lens on Saturday.

"It's not the best path for us, but younever know where the danger will be,"Spaincoach Vicente Del Bosque said. "Wewanted to advance in first place but weare prepared to overcome this."

It had all started so well for Spain,when striker Alvaro Morata put his sideahead in the seventh minute, redirectingthe ball into the net after a shot by mid-fielder Cesc Fabregas.

Nikola Kalinic equalized just before

halftime when he steered a Perisic crossinto the net with a nice back-heel flick.

Spain had a chance to retake the lead,but defender Sergio Ramos saw hispenalty saved by Croatia goalkeeperDanijel Subasic in the 72nd minute.

It proved to be a costly miss whenPerisic finished off a fast counter attackwith a low left-foot shot that beat Spaingoalkeeper David De Gea at his near post.

Both teams had entered the match at

the Stade the Bordeaux guaranteed a spotin the knockout stage. However, bothteams wanted to win especially as therunner-up in the group will meet Italy.That was evident in the starting lineupthat Del Bosque picked — the same 11that won its first two games.

"We have to get over this," Del Bosquesaid. "Now we have to prepare well."

The result ended Spain's 14-gameunbeaten streak at the EuropeanChampionship over two tournaments. Italso ended the team's run of sevenstraight games without conceding a goal.The last time it had conceded was in a1-1 draw against Italy in its first groupmatch in the 2012 tournament — 734minutes ago.

"It's better to lose now than onMonday (against Italy)," Spain strikerManuel "Nolito" Agudo said. "It will beharder now, but you have to beat every-body to be the champion. We still dependon ourselves. We will be ready to play Italy."

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Lionel Messi pretty much ended the UnitedStates' Copa America hopes in less than three

minutes.Argentina's diminutive dribbling and scor-

ing machine showed the skills, speed and bril-liance that made him a five-time world playerof the year, exposing the huge gap between theUS and football's elite.

Messi set up Ezequiel Lavezzi's opening goal175 seconds in, scored on a free kick to breakArgentina's career scoring record and assisted onthe second of Gonzalo Higuain's two goals in a4-0 rout Tuesday night that put La Albicelesteinto the Copa America final.

Messi flicked the ball over the defense to anopen Lavezzi for the opener, then doubled thelead in the 32nd minute with his 55th interna-tional goal, his fifth of the tournament. Higuainadded goals in the 50th and 86th minutes, thelatter off Messi's pass.

Argentina had 67 percent possession andoutshot the US 10-0 — nine of them on goal.

"Once we were 1-nil down, we had far toomuch respect," US coach Jurgen Klinsmann said."After that early goal, I think just that our play-ers could feel that they are just probably in everyposition on the field just better than we are."

US players seemed shocked after theirlargest margin of defeat in a competitive matchsince a 5-0 loss to Mexico in the 2009 CONCA-CAF Gold Cup final. While saying he respect-ed Klinsmann's opinion, U.S. captain MichaelBradley also said: "Please don't make it out to beanything like that."

Argentina seeks its first major title since the1993 Copa — and its first since Messi's debut in2005 — on Sunday in East Rutherford, NewJersey, against the winner of Wednesday's semi-final between Chile and Colombia.

"We deserve it, for all the good work we'vebeen doing all these years," Messi said.

Argentina will be missing Lavezzi, who brokehis left elbow when he fell backward over anadvertising sign board in the 63rd minute whiletrying to chest a pass.

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Turkey rebounded from two losses at theEuropean Championship to beat the Czech

Republic 2-0 on Tuesday and keep alive itschances of reaching the knockout stages fromGroup D.

With their team having failed to score in itsdefeats to Spain and Croatia, some Turkish fanscelebrated with firecrackers and flares that land-ed on the pitchafter the secondgoal at the StadeBollaert-Delelis.

Turkey mustnow wait until thefinal groupmatches areplayed onWednesday todiscover whetherit can advance asone of the fourbest third-placeteams. Spain hassix points,Turkey has threeand the Czechs areeliminated withone point, 20 years after their team reached thefinal and 40 years after becoming Europeanchampions as Czechoslovakia.

Both teams in Lens on Tuesday needed a winto advance.

Turkey coach Fatih Terim stuck by strikerBurak Yilmaz, despite his disappointing perfor-mances in earlier matches, and the act of faithpaid off. Yilmaz struck early, rounding off a swiftcounter attack just 10 minutes into the game.Emre Mor broke down the right flank beforecrossing for Yilmaz, who beat Czech goalkeep-er Petr Cech at the near post with a first-timeright shot.

Ozan Tufan doubled the lead in the 65thminute, hammering a rising shot past Cech fromclose range following a free kick by Selcuk Inan.

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India survived a mighty last-ballscare before clinching the T20

series 2-1 with a nervy three-runvictory over a spirited Zimbabwe inthe third and final Twenty20International here on Wednesday.

The series decider went rightdown to the last ball after Zimbabwerestricted India to 138 for six and gotclose to the target before ending at135 for six. Earlier, Kedar Jadhavbailed India out of trouble with atimely 58 off 42 balls.

Zimbabwe, needing 21 runs offthe final over, were in touching dis-tance of a famous series win untilBarinder Sran held his nerve for adramatic finish to the game.

Elton Chigumbura (16) andTimycen Maruma (23 not out)almost pulled off the chase in thefinal over as Sran conceded a six off

the first ball, followed by two foursincluding one on a no-ball.

A four was needed off the finalball but Chigumbura ended up hit-ting a low full straight into the handsof Yuzvendra Chahal at cover, trig-gering wild celebrations by theaway side.

The home team made a confi-dent start to the run chase, reach-ing 40 for one in the first six overs.

After the early departure of

Chamu Chibhabha, the experi-enced duo of Vusi Sibanda (28) andHamilton Masakadza (15) lookedcomfortable against the Indian paceattack.

Sran, who ended with figures of4/10 on his T20 debut on Monday,was not at his best on Wednesdayeven though he provided the firstbreakthrough and held his nerve inthe final over.

Masakadza was adjudged lbw

after attempting a sweep off left-armspinner Axar Patel before Kulkarnitrapped Sibanda in front of thestumps.

Peter Moor got into the act afterSibanda's dismissal, punishing awayward Chahal for three sixes. Theleggie finally removed Moor but thetarget was very much within reachas Zimbabwe needed 51 off the last36 balls.

However, two tight overs byJaspirt Bumrah and Patel made lifetougher for the opposition.

Earlier, Jadhav struck his maid-en Twenty20 International half-century as India overcame a poorstart to post a competitive total.

With Manish Pandey run outafter a brilliant direct hit fromElton Chigumbura, India werestruggling at 29 for three in six overs.

Dhoni did not get going withthe bat but added another feather tohis illustrious cap when he walkedout for the toss. By playing thisgame, he equalled Ricky Ponting'srecord of captaining in 324 interna-tional matches to be at the top of thelist alongside the Australian.

Brief scoresIndia: 138/6 (Yadav 58; Tiripano3/20) beat Zim: 135/6 ( Sibanda 28;Kulkarni 2/23) by 3 runs.

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The Indian national whowas arrested for alleged

rape in Zimbabwe, has beenabsolved of all charges andreleased with immediate effectby the High Court there, hiscompany claimed on Tuesday.

The second-string Indiancricket team's tour ofZimbabwe was struck by acontroversy last Sunday after itemerged that two men havebeen arrested on charges ofrape even as the officials con-firmed that none of the Indiancricketer was involved in theincident.

One of the two arrestedpersons is an official associat-ed with one of the sponsors ofthe series.

"The High Court Judge atHarare Justice Mawadze,Zimbabwe, after consideringmerits of the case found no rea-son to continue to hold theConsultant of ITeamWorks, incustody for an alleged crime,and released him with imme-diate effect," the company said

in a statement.It added, "The accused,

being represented by DumisaniMthombeni and Hon JonathanSamukange, claimed innocenceand judiciary release was basedon the support, cooperationand evidence presented by theaccused parties."

The storm erupted after theZimbabwean media reportedthat an unnamed Indian crick-eter had been arrested oncharges of rape.

The reports stated thatIndia's ambassador to theAfrican nation, R Masakui,had tried to prevent the play-er's arrest at a Harare hotel.

However, Masakui out-rightly rejected the mediaspeculation by clarifying thatthe people arrested were notassociated with the Indiancricket squad, which is cur-rently engaged in a limited-overs series against Zimbabwe.

The BCCI had alsostepped in to clarify that noneof its players or officials wereinvolved in the alleged inci-dent.

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The high-profile cricket advisorycommittee will submit its final

report to the BCCI on the appoint-ment of a new India coach during theBoard's working committee meetingin Dharamsala on Friday.

Former captain Anil Kumblealong with ex-India cricketers PravinAmre and Lalchand Rajput onTuesday made their respective presen-tations as the BCCI's three-membercricket advisory committee, compris-ing Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Gangulyand VVS Laxman, took interviews forthe coveted job in Kolkata.

After another round of deliber-ations to evaluate the candidates, thecommittee decided to submit itsreport on Friday morning to BCCISecretary Ajay Shirke.

"The Committee appointed bythe BCCI for the selection of HeadCoach of the Indian Cricket Teammet today to deliberate further on theoptions and possibilities based on thepresentations made by the applicants.

"After detailed deliberations itwas decided that they would furthergo through the finer details andsubmit their report to the HonorarySecretary of the BCCI on the morn-

ing of June 24, 2016," the BCCI saidin a statement on Wednesday.

�������������9��������8��������� ��� BCCI PresidentAnurag Thakur wants the mediamanagers of various state associationsto focus more on "engagement withfans as well as mediapersons" ratherthan looking after "traditionalarrangements". Thakur addressedthe media managers of various stateassociations, who had gathered herefor the first ever Annual Conclave ofthe BCCI.

"The focus should be on engage-ment and not mere arrangement. Themedia managers should now be ableto tell the story of Indian cricket andalso be responsible in highlighting thegood work done by their respectivestate associations using the digitalplatform," Thakur told. "I want themedia managers to reach out tothose young fans on social media withrelevant informations, which will bea way to engage them. We havealready asked each state association tohave their official FB and Twitter page,where information will be uploaded.”

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Pole vaulterY e l e n aIsinbayeva had

nearly abandoned allhope of ending her stel-lar career with a third

Olympic gold inRio, saying shewould hang up her

spikes at a far lessglamourous eventon the banks of the

Volga.But the

International OlympicCommittee's announce-

ment on Tuesday thatRussian athletes who are

individually screened byworld athletics governing

body, the IAAF, might beallowed to compete in Rio underRussia's flag has revived the two-time Olympic champion's Riodreams.

"Today I have to admit thatdeep down there is hope,"Isinbayeva told reporters after win-ning the Russian championship in

Cheboksary with a 4.90-metre vault."It hasn't died completely."The crowd-pleasing athlete, 34, asked for

the bar to be raised to 5.07m to the rhyth-mic clapping of an extatic crowd, in anattempt to beat the 5.06m world record sheset in 2009.

Isinbayeva missed but celebrated hernational championship victory with a back-flip on the landing area in what was her firstofficial competition since 2013 due to giv-ing birth to a daughter in 2014.

Russia's pole vault tsarina had said thatTuesday's national championship final inCheboksary — a Volga port city some 650kilometres east of Moscow — would be thelast track and field meet of her profession-al career if she could not compete in Rio.

IAAF's decision last week to upholdRussia's suspension over evidence of state-sponsored doping in athletics had castheavy doubt about whether Isinbayeva — thefirst woman to clear the 5-metre bar —would be taking part in her fifth and finalOlympics in Rio.

The IAAF left the door ajar for a fewclean Russian athletes to compete in Rio asneutrals — a prospect Isinbayeva rejected,saying she would only compete under hercountry's flag.

But the IOC's announcement might nowgive Isinbayeva a loophole to end her careeron the world stage after all.

"Now it means that the end of my career,I hope, will be in Rio," she said. "I was des-perate yesterday, but I'm very optimistictoday."

Isinbayeva, who has always steeredclear from doping scandals, has often foundherself surrounded with few rivals who couldchallenge her dominance in the sport.

In Cheboksary on Tuesday, she remind-ed her foreign opponents that her reign isnot over.

"The main thing we should all be happyabout is that Yelena Isinbayeva has theworld's best result of the season. A big hellofrom Russia to my rivals," she said, wavingto the cameras.

When IAAF suspended Russia inNovember, Isinbayeva said her foreigncompetitors would be upset by her absencefrom international competitions becausethey would have no-one to vault against.

"She pushed me to do to my best," saidpole vaulter Anzhelika Sidorova, who fin-ished second behind Isinbayeva at thenational championship with a 4.85m vault."If I had won, it would have been toomuch."

Former Olympic runner Yur yBorzakovsky, who now serves as the headcoach of the Russian athletics team, toldAFP it would be "very tough" for Isinbayevato wrap up her career at the Russian nation-al championship.

Isinbayeva is also the queen bee ofRussian athletics, forging her reputation as

a fierce competitor with a fiery character andsharp tongue.

Isinbayeva — who had endorsed IAAFpresident Sebastian Coe when he ran forthe post last year — took a jab on Mondayat the IAAF, calling the members of itscouncil "pricks" on camera before shesmirked and walked away.

During the 2013 World Championship,she earned the ire of Western press andcompetitors after backing Russia's contro-versial law banning "homosexual propa-ganda" to minors, vaguely-worded legisla-tion critics say violates the rights of the

LGBT community.Her comments sent shockwaves

through the athletics world and saw someSwedish track and field stars competing inMoscow paint their nails in rainbowcolours.

Ahead of Tuesday's final Isinbayevaimplored her peers to carry on with theirsport in spite of the ban.

"Keep practising track and field thesame way — with dedication, love and zeal— because all this will go away, and youwill remain," R-Sport news agency quot-ed Isinbayeva as saying.

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Novak Djokovic cannot faceAndy Murray until the

final at Wimbledon after theywere seeded first and second,respectively, on Wednesday forthe third tennis Grand Slam ofthe year.

It means Djokovic andMurray will be in separatehalves of the draw when it ismade on Friday.

Seedings were based on thecurrent world rankings butrearranged to reflect players'grass-court achievements.

Richard Gasquet, the 10th-ranked player of France and atwo-time Wimbledon semifi-nalist, is No. 7 and 13th-rankedMarin Cilic, a quarterfinalist atWimbledon the past two years,is No. 9.

The women's seedings fol-low the WTA rankings, withsix-time Wimbledon champi-on Serena Williams at No. 1and Garbine Muguruza at No.2, followed by AgnieszkaRadwanska, Angelique Kerberand Simona Halep.

Murray has lost 13 of his

last 15 matches againstDjokovic, including at theAustralian and French Openfinals this year, but he has wontheir last two meetings on grass.

Seventeen-time majorchampion Roger Federer isseeded third, immediatelyahead of Swiss compatriot StanWawrinka. Kei Nishikori ofJapan is No. 5, while MilosRaonic, who has hired JohnMcEnroe as coach, is sixth.

Play starts on Monday.

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Golfing great Rory McIlroydelivered a blow to Ireland's

hopes of an Olympic medaltoday when he said he wouldnot be going to the Rio Gamesover fears of the Zika virus.

"After much thought anddeliberation, I have decided towithdraw my name from con-sideration for this summer'sOlympic Games in Rio deJaneiro," the 27-year-old four-time major champion said in astatement on Wednesday.

"After speaking with thoseclosest to me, I've come torealise that my health and myfamily's health come beforeanything else.

"Even though the risk ofinfection from the Zika virus isconsidered low, it is a risknonetheless and a risk I amunwilling to take.

"I trust the Irish people willunderstand my decision. Theunwavering support I receiveevery time I compete in a golftournament at home or abroadmeans the world to me," addedMcIlroy, who was present at theEuro 2016 match between hisnative Northern Ireland andGermany in Paris on Tuesday.

The decision by McIlroy —the latest of several major win-ners to announce they would

not go to the Games despite itreturning to the quadrennialsports extravaganza for thefirst time since 1904 — left theOlympic Council of Ireland(OCI) dejected.

"The OCI is extremelydisappointed not to be takingRory with us to Rio," read astatement from the Council,whose president is IOCExecutive Board member PatHickey.

"However, as we havealways said, it is down to theindividual and of course werespect his decision, which hehas taken for personal reasons.

"Rory was set to be one ofthe big stars of Rio 2016, butnow there is an opportunity foranother Irish golfer to take upthe chance to become anOlympian and participate ingolf 's historic return to theOlympic Games after a 112-year absence.

"The OCI and our medicalteam have taken our lead fromthe IOC on the Zika situation,as we do in all matters. Theyhave provided us with everyassurance and we have totalconfidence that the Games willbe safe for all athletes."

Despite Hickey's reassur-

ances, McIlroy is the latesthigh profile golfer to pull out.Adam Scott, Louis Oosthuizen,Charl Schwartzel, MarcLeishman and Vijay Singh havealready said they will not trav-el to Brazil.

American star JordanSpieth has said he still intendsto go although he added lastweek that that situation couldchange as his health outweighsthat of being an Olympian.

Replacing McIlroy willprobably be his Ryder Cupteam-mate and fellowNorthern Irishman GrahamMcDowell alongside the high-er-ranked Shane Lowry, wholed the US Open going into thefinal round last Sunday.

More than 60 countriesand territories have been affect-ed by the ongoing Zika out-break. Most of them are inLatin America, the Caribbeanand the South Pacific.

The mosquito-borne Zikavirus can cause the birth defectmicrocephaly, leading babies tobe born with unusually smallheads and deformed brains.

The World HealthOrganisation (WHO), howev-er, said earlier this month thatthere was a "very low risk" ofthe Zika virus spreading fur-ther internationally as a resultof the Olympic Games.

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Former Olympic race walk-ing champion Alex

Schwazer is facing anotherdoping case, the Italian trackand field federation saidWednesday.

The Gazzetta dello Sportreported on Wednesday thatSchwazer and the Italian feder-ation (FIDAL) were informeda day earlier that a May 12retest of a Jan. 1 doping controlsample showed positive tracesof steroids.

The retest was conductedafter Schwazer qualified for theOlympics in Rio de Janeiro.

FIDAL confirmed to TheAssociated Press that theGazzetta report was accurate,adding that it would likelycomment further laterWednesday.

"At the moment I'mshocked," FIDAL presidentAlfio Giomi said. "We'reattempting to understand it."

Schwazer's lawyer, GerhardBrandstaetter, said the newspa-

per report was "false and unbe-lievable," and threatened legalaction.

Schwazer and his lawyerwere expected to hold a newsconference later Wednesday.

Schwazer, who wasbanned for three years andnine months after testing pos-itive for EPO before the 2012Olympics, returned to compe-tition and won the 50-kilome-ter event at the world cham-pionships in Rome in May.

He also won the 50K atthe 2008 Beijing Games.

Back in 2012, Schwazerheld a news conference in Italyafter it was revealed he hadtested positive and brokedown in tears while recount-ing how he hid the bannedsubstance in the home he was

sharing with star figure skaterCarolina Kostner.

Schwazer said he hadflown alone to Turkey theprevious September with1,500 euros (now $1,700) tobuy the blood booster at apharmacy. He said he dis-guised it in a box of vitaminsin a refrigerator at Kostner'shome in Germany, where hewas staying in July in thebuildup to the 2012 Games.

Schwazer said he learnedhow to use EPO through theInternet and injected it dailyin a bathroom to preventKostner and his parents fromknowing what he was doing.

However, Kostner wasbanned for 16 months by theItalian Olympic committeefor helping Schwazer evade atest and other infractions.

The 31-year-old Schwazer,who was also handed an eight-month suspended prison sen-tence by a court in Bolzano inDecember 2014, had said hewas quitting the sport butlater changed his mind.

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Australia displayed the com-posure and assurance of

world champions to chasedown a target of 283 andadvance to the final with a six-wicket victory over the WestIndies in the seventh match ofthe Tri-Nation One-DayInternational Series atKensington Oval in Barbadoson Tuesday.

Marlon Samuels' first-everhundred against Australia anda record-breaking partnershipwith Denesh Ramdin liftedthe West Indies to a competi-tive 282 for eight batting first.

But half-centuries by cap-tain Steven Smith and all-rounder Mitchell Marsh,together with a quickfireunbeaten 46 from GlennMaxwell ensured that the tar-get was reached with eightballs to spare.

West Indies and SouthAfrica will now meet in the lastpreliminary match on Friday

with the winners to face theAussies in Sunday's final. Smithand Marsh steadied Australia'seffort following the loss ofthree early wickets with a 122-run fourth-wicket partnershipthat set the World Cup-holdersback on course.

However, when Smith wasrun out for 78 in the 42nd over,any hopes the West Indies hadof claiming the victory thatwould have eliminatedAustralia were extinguishedby Maxwell.

Displaying his full range ofunorthodox shots, he crashedfive fours and two sixes off just26 balls to banish any lingeringanxiety among his teammates inthe dressing room. Marsh wasleft unbeaten on 79, his matureknock going a long way towardsfulfilling a lot of the promise thathas been expected of him inAustralia's middle-order.

"Mitch played really well allthe way through and Glennwas brilliant at the end there,"said a delighted Smith after thematch. "We knew it was chal-

lenging target but we alwaysbacked ourselves to get home."

It was so different at thehalfway point of the match fol-lowing Samuels' superb knock,an effort that earned him the"Man of the Match" award.

Dismissed off the last ball ofthe innings for 125 whichincluded 14 fours and two sixesoff 134 deliveries, Samuels' tenthone-day hundred followed amatch-winning 92 in the lastmeeting between the two teamsin St Kitts a week earlier.

Ramdin, who matched hissenior partner shot-for-shotin an entertaining innings of91, joined Samuels at the creasewith the West Indies falteringat 31 for three in the ninth overafter Smith had won the tossand chose to field.

They put on 192 for thefourth wicket, a new record forthe West Indies againstAustralia as it surpassed themark of 149 set by Clive Lloydand Rohan Kanhai in the inau-gural World Cup final at Lord'sexactly 41 years earlier.