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The faltering Indian econo-my plunged to a seven-

year-low in terms of GDPgrowth rate which has comedown to 5 per cent for theApril-June quarter of 2019-20. The GDP figure wasannounced soon after FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanannounced mega merger ofpublic sector banks to arrest thegrowth deceleration.

Both the announcementmay have been prescheduled,but the fact remains that in theknow of the GDP calculations,the Government has swunginto action and announced aseries of measures to deal withthe alarming decline in theeconomy.

Sitharaman, who had lastweek announced tax sops andmeasures for sectors such asauto, announced merger of tenbanks into four new sets ofbanks — Punjab NationalBank, Oriental Bank ofCommerce and United Bank ofIndia will combine to form thenation’s second-largest lender;Canara Bank and SyndicateBank will merge; Union Bankof India will amalgamate withAndhra Bank and CorporationBank; and Indian Bank willmerge with Allahabad Bank.

The GDP collapsed due toa sharp fall in the manufactur-ing sector and sluggish agri-culture output, according toofficial data released on Friday.The previous low was record-ed at 4.9 per cent in April-June2012-13.

The gross value added(GVA) growth in the manu-facturing sector tumbled to0.6 per cent in the first quarterof this fiscal from 12.1 per centexpansion a year ago. Similarly,farm sector GVA growth

remained subdued at 2 per centas compared to 5.1 per cent inthe corresponding period of theprevious fiscal.

Construction sector GVAgrowth too slowed to 5.7 percent from 9.6 per cent earlier.However, mining sector growthclimbed to 2.7 per cent from0.4 per cent a year ago.

“GDP at Constant (2011-12) Prices in Q1 of 2019-20 isestimated at �35.85 lakh crore,as against �34.14 lakh crore inQ1 of 2018-19, showing agrowth rate of 5 per cent,” theNational Statistical Office(NSO) said in a statement.

Gross Fixed CapitalFormation (GFCF), which is abarometer of investment, atconstant (2011-12) prices wasestimated at �11.66 lakh crorein the first quarter as against�11.21 lakh crore a year ago.

The decline in the growthwas by and large anticipatedbut few had expected such

sharp collapse in the economy.Several foreign rating agencieshave already cut India’s growthforecast and pegged it below 7per cent for the ongoing fiscal.

China, which is in themidst of an intense trade warwith the US, has done far bet-ter than India despite theadverse economic climate.China’s economic growth was6.2 per cent in April-June quar-ter of 2019, which was theweakest expansion in 27 years.It is obvious that the “dragon”remains way ahead of India.

The RBI had marginallylowered the GDP growth pro-jection for 2019-20 to 6.9 percent from 7 per cent projectedearlier in the June policy, andunderlined the need foraddressing growth concernsby boosting aggregate demand.

“Real GDP growth for2019-20 is revised downwardsfrom 7 per cent in the June pol-icy to 6.9 per cent — in the

range of 5.8-6.6 per cent forfirst half of 2019-20 and 7.3-7.5per cent for the second half —with risks somewhat tilted tothe downside,” RBI had said inthe monetary policy statement.

The continuous fall in theGDP shows that the countryhas still not recovered from thedisastrous fallout of the demon-etisation which sucked out liq-uidity from the system andslowed down consumption invarious sectors. The hastyimplementation of the GST,which had to be tinkered withseveral times since its incep-tion, is also seen as a major cul-prit for pulling down the GDP.

The falling economy hasled to flight of foreign invest-ment from the country andweakening of Rupee. Post-Budget, the stock market hasseen major correction and theforeign institutional investorscontinued to dump sharesdespite the Government

announcing a series of steps toplacate them.

Beset with such grim sce-nario, the Government onFriday unveiled a mega plan tomerge 10 public sector banksinto four as part of plans to cre-ate fewer and stronger global-sized lenders as it looks to boosteconomic growth from a five-year low.

The bank merger exercise,seen together with the previoustwo rounds of bank consolida-tion, will bring down the num-ber of nationalised public sec-tor banks to 12 from 27 in2017. This, the Governmentfeels, will make bank balancesheet stronger with greatercapacity to lend.

Oriental Bank ofCommerce and United Bankmerger will merge into PunjabNational Bank to create a bankwith �17.95 lakh crore businessand 11,437 branches,Sitharaman told a news con-ference here.

The merger of SyndicateBank with Canara Bank willcreate the fourth largest publicsector bank with �15.20 lakhcrore business and a branchnetwork of 10,324. AndhraBank and Corporation Bank’smerger with Union Bank ofIndia will create India’s fifthlargest public sector bank with�14.59 lakh crore business and9,609 branches.

The merger of AllahabadBank with Indian Bank willcreate the seventh largest pub-lic sector bank with �8.08 lakhcrore business with strongbranch networks in the south,north and east of the country,she said, adding that Bank ofIndia and Central Bank ofIndia will continue to operateas before. Last year, theGovernment had merged DenaBank and Vijaya Bank withBank of Baroda, creating the

third-largest bank by loans inthe country. After the mergers,the country will have 12 pub-lic sector banks, including StateBank of India and Bank ofBaroda. Also, Indian OverseasBank, Uco Bank, Bank ofMaharashtra and Punjab andSind Bank, which have strongregional focus, will continue asseparate entities.

The Finance Minister alsounveiled governance reforms inpublic sector banks, sayingtheir boards will be givenautonomy and enabled to dosuccession planning.

Also, bank boards will begiven flexibility to fix sitting feeof independent directors, shesaid, adding that non-officialdirectors will perform roleanalogous to independentdirectors.

“To make managementaccountable to board, boardcommittee of nationalisedbanks to appraise performanceof general manager and aboveincluding managing director,”she said.

Post consolidation, boardswill be given flexibility to intro-duce chief general managerlevel as per business needs.They will also recruit chief riskofficer at market-linked com-pensation to attract best talent.

Sitharaman had last weekunveiled the first of threeplanned stimulus packages thatincluded a reduction of taxes,improvement of liquidity in thebanking sector (formal andshadow), increasedGovernment spending on autoand infrastructure, and accel-erated refunds of goods andservices tax (GST).

This was followed by lib-eralisation of foreign invest-ment rules in four sectorsincluding coal mining, contractmanufacturing, single brandretail and digital media.

��� 789�.8:0�

Prime Minister’s PrincipalSecretary Nripendra Misra

on Friday stepped down fromhis post after serving PrimeMinister Narendra Modi sincethe latter took office over fiveyears ago. However, Modirequested Misra to continue fortwo weeks, praised him for hisoutstanding service, and saidMisra taught him a lot when hewas new to New Delhi in 2014.

The PM wished Misra forthe “new phase” of his life.“Nripendra Misra is among themost outstanding officers, whohas a great grasp of public pol-icy and administration. WhenI was new to Delhi in 2014, hetaught me a lot and his guid-

ance remains extremely valu-able,” Modi wrote on Twitter.

After serving the PMO“assiduously and diligently”for over five years and makingan indelible contribution toIndia’s growth trajectory, Misrawill be embarking on a newphase of his life, said Modi. “Mybest wishes to him for hisfuture endeavours,” said thePM.

In a statement, Misra said,

“It has been a privilege toserve the country under Modi.I am deeply grateful to him forthis opportunity and the com-plete confidence he has placedin me.

“It is now time for me tomove on, even as I remaindevoted to public causes andnational interests. I thank allcolleagues, within and outsidethe Government, friends andmy family for this support. Iwish Modi, the PM, success ashe leads our country into abright future.”

Speculation is rife thatMisra may be considered forthe posts of Governor or LtGovernor. There are also talksabout him joining politics.

Former Cabinet SecretaryPK Sinha has been appointedas Officer on Special Duty inthe Prime Minister’s Office. Itis widely believed thatAdditional Principal SecretaryPK Mishra will be elevated tothe post of Principal Secretaryto the PM and Sinha would beposted in place of PK Mishra.

���� 789�.8:0�

The Supreme Court said onFriday evening that the

woman law student, who hadgone missing after levellingharassment allegations againstformer Union Minister andBJP leader SwamiChinmayanand and was foundstaying with her friends inRajasathan, did not want to goto her home State UttarPradesh.

The judges had an in-cam-era interaction with the womanwho was brought to the apexcourt by the UP Police on itsdirection.

“The woman wants to be inDelhi till her parents comehere,” a Bench comprising jus-

tices R Banumathi and ASBopanna said in an open courthearing.

The Bench said the womanwill be in the national capitalfor four days and the apex courtregistry will ensure her safestay. The top court directedDelhi Police Commissioner toensure safe travel of thewoman’s parents from UP’sShahjahanpur to Delhi to meet

her. The SC said that thewoman has told it she had leftShahjahanpur with her threecollege mates in order to pro-tect herself. The apex court saidthat the woman has told themthat she would not go back toUP until she meets and talks toher parents.

The SC said that it wouldhear the matter again onSeptember 2 and till then thewoman will not talk or meetanyone except her parents.

The Bench said that thewoman has told them thatafter meeting and talking to herparents she will take decisionon her future course of action.

The Bench directed that aDelhi Police team should besent to Shahjahanpur at the ear-liest to safely bring the woman’sparents here.

The top court concludedthe hearing and said policeteam which will go to bring thewoman’s parents to Delhi willcontinue to provide them secu-rity till further orders.

See Also Page 4

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Central Board of DirectTaxes (CBDT) Member

Akhilesh Ranjan, who wasoverlooked for the post of theBoard’s chairman, has writtento the Government seekingvoluntary retirement from ser-vice, sources said on Friday.

They said Ranjan, whorecently submitted a report onthe new direct tax code toFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman, has sought retire-ment from service owing to“family and personal reasons.”

They, however, added thatthe IRS officer “would havecontinued” in the service hadhe been elevated to the post ofCBDT chairman.

The Government onThursday gave a one-yearextension to CBDT ChairmanPC Mody, who was set to retireon August 31. Ranjan was nextin the succession line for theCBDT chief.

Continued on Page 4

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Asubmission by PChidambaram and its

endorsement by the CBI thatthey were in “mutual agree-ment” on keeping him in policecustody till September 2 left aDelhi court fuming during thehearing on the Congressleader’s custodial interroga-tion in the INX Media corrup-tion case on Friday.

“Then you both discussand decide how much custodyis required. What is the use ofthis court,” the judge said.

The remarks came aftersenior advocate DayanKrishnan, appearing forChidambaram, told the court

that the accused as well as theprosecution had agreed in theSC on the extension of the peri-od of his custodial interroga-tion till September 2, when theSC would hear the INX Mediacase.

During the arguments,Krishnan said, “We agreedbefore the Supreme Court forthe extension of his custody tillMonday. We are opposing thecustody more than that period.”

“You are not going todecide the period of the cus-tody Mr counsel. This is for thecourt to decide. Are you oppos-ing the plea for further custodyor not?,” Special Judge AjayKumar Kuhar asked Krishnan.

Continued on Page 4

��������/���� 789�.8:0�

Massively hunted forChinese medicines, Tokay

Gecko, an endangered speciesof lizards usually found inNorth-East India can now havea certain level of protectionfrom exploitation with thewildlife global summit bringingit under the Appendix II list.

Appendix II means that theanimal or its body parts cannotbe traded unless it can beshown that it wouldn’t threat-en their chances of survival.Tokay Geckos were not previ-ously protected underConvention on InternationalTrade in Endangered Species of

Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES),the treaty that governs theinternational wildlife trade.

A senior UnionEnvironment Ministry officialsaid at the recently concluded18th meeting of the Conferenceof the Parties to the UnitedNations, CITES approved ourproposal to bring the lizardunder Appendix II. Philippines,the European Union and theUSA too had supported ourproposal, he added.

The CITES Secretariat hastemporarily concluded thatregulation of the internationaltrade in Tokay Geckos may berequired to counter furtherdecline. Given the patchynature of both trade and pop-ulation data of Tokay Geckos,a listing would help in gather-ing data on these aspects, the

official added.Geckos are listed in

Schedule III of India’s Wildlife

Protection Act, 1972, as a“highly endangered animal”.However, this has not much

helped to curb its smuggling.According to various

reports and seizures from timeto time by wildlife officials,hundreds of locals in thenortheastern States smuggleTokay Geckos to centres ofChinese medicine across Asiato be used for its reported med-icinal values. Also, they sell thelizards to international wildlifetraffickers.

It is believed that theGecko’s parts are used in tra-ditional Chinese medicine totreat cancer, asthma, diabetes,skin disorders and a range ofailments, though there is noscientific proof to substantiatethe purported medicinal prop-erties of this reptile species.

Besides North-East India,these reptiles are found inBhutan, Nepal, and

Bangladesh, throughoutSoutheast Asia, including thePhilippines and Indonesia,New Guinea.

While the overall volumeof the Tokay Geckotrade/smuggling is not clearlyknown, last year, global wildlifetrade monitoring networkTRAFFIC estimated thatIndonesia alone has beenexporting 1.2 million driedTokay Geckos annually. Inrecent years, Taiwan hasimported 15 million Geckosfrom different countries.

TRAFFIC also warnedthat the wild population of theTokay Gecko in Southeast Asiawas in grave danger as it ishunted to meet demand inChina, Hong Kong, Taiwan,Vietnam and other Asian countries.

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The agricultural growth hasdropped to 2 per cent in

the first quarter of 2019-20,down from 5.1 per cent dur-ing the same period last fiscal,as per the data released by theMinistry of Statistics andProgramme Implementation.

Crops, including fruitsand vegetables, account forabout 53 per cent, the livestockproducts 32 per cent, andforestry and fisheries 15 percent share of Gross ValueAdded ( GVA includes taxes,but excludes subsidies) in agri-culture, forestry, fishing sector.

As per the latest kharifcrops cultivation report, sow-ing of kharif crops is expect-ed to be lowered by 17.67 percent till date. Both Skymet andCRISIL Research have pro-jected lower kharif yield due toflood and excessive rain.

According to officials ofAgriculture Ministry, thegrowth rate in agriculture sec-tor has dropped to 2 per centin the first quarter due to slow-down in economy. “Extremeweather seems to have animpact on farmer incomesand growth rate. Due to this,consumption has beenreduced. The slowdown ineconomy impacted the food-grain production in the cur-rent crop year. This also meansIndia is no longer the fastestgrowing major economy in theworld,” said officials.

Besides, floods and exces-sive rain in 15 States including

Maharashtra, Odisha, Keralaand Andhra Pradesh, besidesweak rain in West Bengal andthe Marathwada region ofMaharashtra, are expected toaffect the kharif crop this year.High-intensity rain in Augustis likely to increase pest attackon maize and paddy. Besides,over 240 districts have receivedless rain this year which hasimpacted the agriculturegrowth rate.

According to theAgriculture Ministry report,1,009 lakh hectare land areunder cultivation of kharifcrops so far as against the 1,029lakh hectare last year due todelay rain, excessive rain andfloods in several States.

The RBI annual reportreleased on Thursday said thatit was difficult to diagnose thereason or nature of India’sslowdown. “The diagnosis isdifficult, these conditions arehard to disentangle cleanly, atleast in the formative State,” theRBI report said.

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When inspectors ofLucknow Municipal

Corporation raided a promi-nent sweetmeat shop at thebusy Bhoothnath market andconfiscated plastic boxes andcontainers on the ground thatplastic and polythene werebanned, the traders wereshocked as they were never toldby the administration that evenplastic boxes and containerscame under single-use plasticand were banned.

The LMC officials imposeda fine of �25,000 and seized 9.5kg of plastic containers andboxes in which the shop packedkulfi and other sweets.

A fuming owner of thesweetmeat shop, DarshanSingh, said that no one toldhim that these plastic boxes andcontainers were also banned.

“There has been no adver-tisement, no notice. Themunicipal corporation offi-cials swooped on my shop andseized plastic boxes and threat-ened that the shop will besealed if I did not pay the fine.The challan they gave meshows that I have been fined forillegal possession of polythenewhile not a single polythene orplastic carry bag was seizedfrom my shop,” he said.

“I even spoke to the districtmagistrate and he said thatplastic boxes were not banned.If so, why plastic boxes wereseized (from my shop) in thename of ban on plastic andpolythene? The challan that theLMC gave me also says that�25,000 has been charged forconfiscating polythene but wedo not keep polythene bags,”Singh said showing the challanto this reporter.

This incident clearly indi-cates that the municipal corpo-ration officials do not knowwhat exactly is banned andwhat they are supposed toseize. One big question is thatwhen the government issuesbig advertisements almostevery day on government pro-jects, why did it not publicisewhat items of plastic arebanned and what are not.

Traders are angry over thelack of transparency in theseraids. “The government should

issue a guideline on whichplastic is banned and which isnot. Today only, we came toknow that even plastic boxescome under single-use plasticcategory and thus are banned,”said president of BhoothnathTraders’ Association, DevendraGupta.

“I deal with garments.Shirts and girls’ dressing mate-rials come in polythene pack-ing. Is it banned? Neither wenor the government has clari-ty about it,” he said, showingshirts neatly packed in plastic.

Another traders’ leader,Sandeep Bansal, said that thegovernment should clarifywhat was good plastic andwhat was bad plastic.

“The government is allow-ing sale of mineral water inplastic bottles and brandedchips in plastic bags but isharassing poor traders andhawkers. At least keep thetrader on the same page and tellhim what he should use andwhat he should not,” he said.

Officials also are not clearabout the category of bannedpolythene and plastic. “Wehave been told that polytheneless than 50 micron thicknessis banned. But there are poly-thene and plastics that areused as packaging material.Whether they too are banned,we do not know. We seize onlythose items which our seniorsask us to do,” the officer toldthis reporter on condition ofanonymity.

Amid the confusion,Additional Chief Secretary(Home) Awanish Awasthiwarned that if traders werefound using plastics and poly-thene, they would be fined andtheir shops would be sealed.“We have received complaintsthat traders are using polythenebags for every item they sell.This should end or tradersshould get ready to cough upfines,” he said.

The UP government wentinto an overdrive to ban plasticafter Prime Minister NarendraModi’s independence speechin which he pitched for freedomfrom single-use plastic.

Swati Singh Sambyal ofCentre for Science andEnvironment (CSE) in NewDelhi said that polythene and

plastics were banned in oneform or the other in almost 22states of India but barringMaharashtra and Tamil Nadu,the ban was not much effective.

“The reason is that govern-ments issue notifications but donot publicise them. It is theresponsibility of the govern-ment to widely publicise (thenotification on ban) so thatthere is clarity. So when gov-ernment imposes ban on poly-thene and plastic, people stopusing it for a few days and thenstart reusing them again,” shetold this reporter over phonefrom New Delhi.

“You need to give an alter-nate to the people. You need toinvolve NGOs and civil societyto educate people why theyshould not use polythene andwhat are the substitutes avail-able to them,” Sambyal said.

The other day ShalabhSaxena bought flavoured milkpouch from government-

owned Parag milk outlet. Theshopkeeper gave him the pouchof milk but not the straw say-ing it was banned.

“I bought the milk for myson but without a straw howcould he to drink it. If plasticstraw is banned, give us analternative,” he said.

Plastic packaging accountsfor nearly half of all plasticwaste and much of it is thrownaway within minutes of its firstuse.

Dr SK Pandey of RMLHospital in Lucknow said thatplastic waste was a big environ-mental hazard as it blockeddrainage systems, collected inwaterways and caused otherenvironmental and healthproblems.

“There is evidence thattoxic chemicals added duringits manufacture transfer to ani-mal tissue, eventually enteringhuman food chain,” Pandeysaid.

��� :5�=7&9

Reiterating his commit-ment to fight malnutri-tion, Chief Minister Yogi

Adityanath said that theBharatiya Janata Party govern-ment was committed to tacklethe problem through betterco-ordination between differ-ent departments of the govern-ment.

“District magistrates mustchalk out proper strategies totackle malnutrition in theirrespective districts and imple-ment it effectively. They mustalso appoint nodal officers forproper monitoring,” the ChiefMinister said in Lucknow onFriday.

He was addressing the dis-trict magistrates and officers ofICDS and others departmentsthrough video conferencingover preparations for ‘RashtriyaPoshan Maah’ (NationalNutrition Month).

The Chief Minister alsosaid that if Anganwadi work-ers staged protests despiteincrease in their honorari-um, the district magistratesshould take stern actionagainst them.

Lucknow (PNS): Leave alone thecommon man, now even a DelhiPolice team got the taste of rumoursof bachcha chor (child-lifter) when itwas thrashed by a mob in Bareilly.Luckily, the local police responded ontime and rescued their Delhi counter-parts.

As per reports, a police team ofNorth-East Delhi’s welcome police sta-tion area, in plain clothes, visited Bhurahamlet of Bhojipura area of Bareilly toserve summons in connection with adowry case on Thursday evening.However, they were attacked by localswho termed them as bachcha chor.

The Delhi cops were severely

thrashed but were later rescued byBhojipura police personnel after theyinformed them about the incident.

In Rae Bareli, four persons, includ-ing a telecom engineer, were thrashedby locals on suspicion of being child-lifters. Amar Kumar Verma (35), anengineer working with a private tele-com company, was attacked by a mobof around 50 people when he wasreturning from Kesarua village inLalganj Kotwali police station limits,after checking a mobile tower onWednesday. Some villagers were arrest-ed.

In another incident, residents ofMadauli village under Khairo police

station assaulted an elderly man fromBihar, suspecting him to be a child-lifter on Wednesday morning.

In another incident, a mob caughta woman and claiming that she wasdragging a 10-year-old girl, in Gorahilocality under Salon police station,assaulted her. The police rescued her.

In the fourth incident atMajharganj Majre Bahai village inLalganj Kotwali area, a young man,who got down from his SUV after itdeveloped a snag, was targeted bylocals on suspicion of being a child-lifter. The villagers hurled stones at himbut he somehow managed to convincethem of his innocence.

��� :5�=7&9

Uttar Pradesh Policeclaimed to be getting assis-

tance from three lakh volun-teers in keeping a tab on child-lifting rumours on socialmedia. These volunteers arealso helping the cops in iden-tifying people involved in anti-social activities.

As per reports, more than100 incidents of mob attackhave been reported from acrossthe state in August alone.Rumours of bachcha chor(child-lifters) are spreading atan alarming rate and havekept the police and otherauthorities on their toes.

‘’The social media cell ofUP Police is working round theclock to keep a check on mis-leading messages and rumourson social media. As a matter offact, it doesn’t look like rumoursare part of any plan, rather it isunpredictable. Since it is diffi-

cult to identify the source of thevideos, we are seeking helpfrom around three lakh digitalvolunteers across the state. Theyhave been asked to clarify fakenews to members of WhatsAppgroups they are added to,” IG(Law and Order) PraveenKumar told reporters inLucknow on Friday. These vol-unteers are usually short listedby the Cyber Cell and comefrom different walks of life.

Besides, the police havetaken up awareness pro-grammes. So far 106 peoplehave been arrested for incidentsrelated to rumours of child-lift-ing. These incidents werereported largely from Jhansi,Meerut, Bareilly, Sambhal,Amroha Jaunpur, Unnao andRae Bareli.

A senior official of CyberCell revealed that most grue-some viral videos of child-lift-ing and organ trafficking arefrom foreign countries. “The

rumours of ‘child-lifter’ is notbeing spread for the first time,but this time the element thatis triggering panic among peo-ple on such a massive scale arevisuals showing people rippingout organs from a body and apile of bodies allegedly of peo-ple who died after their organswere taken for trafficking. Thevideos are shared with falsenarrative and with a false claimthat they are from India,’’ theofficial added.

On Thursday, the state gov-ernment made way for slappingNational Security Act againstthose involved in rumour-mon-gering about child-lifters andmob violence after a spike insuch incidents in UP.

A mentally unstable manwas lynched in Amroha on sus-picion of being a child lifter onThursday while two brotherswere assaulted in Sambhalwhen they were going withtheir nephew to buy medicines.

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“There was a pendingdemand of Aanganwadi work-ers for increase in honorariumthat this government has ful-filled. Now, there is no reasonfor them to protest,” he said.

In February this year, thehonorarium of Anganwadiworkers was increased by Rs1,500 per month.

Referring to the impor-tance of Rashtriya PoshanMaah, Yogi Adityanath said,“We have to reach out to everyhousehold and every village

during this campaign. SchoolChalo Abhiyan can also belinked to this campaign andchildren can be associated withthe campaign during theprocess of enrolment.”

The Chief Minister saidthat cleanliness and potabledrinking water was the prima-ry requirement for eradicationof malnutrition. He asked alldepartments to launch aware-ness campaign on clean drink-ing water.

Highlighting the harmfuleffects of water sold in the mar-ket, Yogi Adityanath said thatconsuming water sold in jars inthe market was risky as therewas no guarantee of quality.

The Chief Ministerappealed to the people to con-sume hand pump water andadvised them to boil and coolthe water before drinking it inorder to stay away from all dis-eases.

“Campaign for cleandrinking water should be heldin all the slums and grampanchayats as well,” he said.

Yogi Adityanath said thatvarious schemes could help inachieving the target of overallhealth for citizens.

“Basic Shiksha Parishad

must ensure the appointmentof basic education officers in allthose districts where theseposts are lying vacant,” he said.

Mentioning Anganwadiworkers, Yogi Adityanath said,“Accountability should befixed. There are several organ-isations that keep a watch onCDPOs (child developmentproject officers) andAnganwadi workers and theymust supervise them continu-ously.”

The Chief Minister alsoasked officers at district level,BDOs (block developmentofficers) and other staff toconduct field visits in order toachieve the target of nutritionmonth.

“Nodal officers and minis-ters concerned must reviewongoing events from time totime. They must inspect suchAnganwadis or locality wherethe campaign needs to be pro-moted,” he said.

Minister of State forWomen and Child WelfareSwati Singh, Chief SecretaryAnup Chandra Pandey, prin-cipal secretaries of SecondaryEducation and Health depart-ments and other officers werepresent on the occasion.

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Lucknow (PNS): The UttarPradesh government on Friday issueda Government Order (GO) mergingseven important departments to set upthe new Jal Shakti department on thelines of the Union government.

Dr Mahendra Singh, who wasrecently elevated to the Cabinet rankduring the expansion of the council ofministers, has been given the charge ofthe new department.

Official sources said that sevendepartments which have been mergedto form the Jal Shakti department areNamani Gange, Rural Drinking Water,Irrigation and Water Resources, RuralEngineering Services (RES), MinorIrrigation, Sodic Lands Reclamationand Flood Control.

“This government is committed tofulfilling the dream of the PrimeMinister, who has a vision to end watercrisis through proper conservation.The focus area has been identified anda blueprint of the project will be laidout soon,” a spokesman told thisreporter.

Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA) is a time-bound, mission-mode water conserva-tion campaign. The JSA will run in twophases. Phase 1, which started fromJuly 1, ends on September 15 in allstates and union territories. Phase 2 willrun from October 1 to November 30,in all states and UTs receiving retreat-ing monsoon (Andhra Pradesh,Karnataka, Puducherry and TamilNadu).

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Over a dozen people sustained injuriesin a road accident close to the flyover

near Bhaisakund under Hazratganj policestation in the wee hours of Friday. Theinjured were rushed to Civil Hospital.

Police said two roadways buses col-lided head-on at 4 am, leaving over 12 pas-sengers injured.

As per reports, a roadways bus (UP70FT1065) of Kaiserbagh depot was on itsway to Kaiserbagh bus stand fromBarabanki while another bus (UP77AN0512) of Jhansi depot was going toFaizabad. The vehicles collided head-onnear the flyover. The driver and conduc-tor of another bus raised an alarm afterwhich locals came out of their houses torescue the injured.

Those injured were identified as RamAchal, Shalini Pandey, Sunil KumarPandey, Qamar Jahan, Dildar Hussain,Akhilesh Pandey, Ram Milan, Pankaj

Singh, Mohammad Khalid Ansari,Shabnam, Suman and Saleem Qureshi.

Doctors attending to the injured at thehospital said the condition of SaleemQureshi, Ram Achal and Shalini Pandeywas critical and they might be referred toKGMU Trauma Centre. Hazratganjinspector RR Singh said the police wereengaged in collecting the details of the pas-sengers and contacting UPSRTC author-ities to know whether their drivers or con-ductors were also injured in the accident.

Meanwhile, a youth, identified asShivam Tiwari (25), was killed while hisfriend Aman sustained injuries after he lostcontrol of his two-wheeler which rammedinto a divider. The mishap occurred nearthe office of Sadar tehsil on Shaheed Pathin Gomti Nagar Extension. Shivam wasadmitted to Dr Ram Manohar LohiaHospital where he succumbed to injuries.His friend was referred to KGMU TraumaCentre where his condition was said to becritical.

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Actor Sanjay Dutt said onFriday that he was dedicat-

ing his movie ‘Prasthanam’,which has been shot inLucknow, to the politicians ofUttar Pradesh. He admitted thatalthough he was playing a polit-ical role in the film, he was notinterested in entering politics. The actor made thisstatement during a press con-ference held in Lucknow as apart of film promotion. Duttsaid he loved the cuisine ofLucknow so much that he hadrelocated the shooting of his filmnear a well-known hotel so thathe could savour the deliciousfood while shooting. “Lucknowand Kanpur are like home to meand I have often visited theseplaces since childhood. I love thetehzeeb and people of the city ingeneral,” he stated.

Talking about the film, hesaid it was a political drama andfight for legacy in the familyand he chose to shoot in

Lucknow because the city hasa feel of the history and cultureof India required for the movie.However, he admitted thatanother reason was the subsidywhich they had sought from‘Film Bandhu’.

“Ours is a fictional film andwe are not copying any politi-cal figure. It’s a powerful filmand we are hoping that we bagan award for this film like the

south movie from which it isinspired,” he added.

Dutt’s wife Manyata, who isthe producer of the film, saidthey shot in Lucknow becauseshe felt it would be the mostappropriate place for moviebased on politics. “It’s not thatwe are shooting every other filmin Lucknow,” she said.

Regarding the instructionsby her husband when she took

the mantle of being a produc-er, she said he was clear that thespot boys should be fed firstbefore the star cast so that theycould have lunch early.

“Usually, the spot boys onthe sets eat only after othershave eaten and sometimes it isas late as 4-5 pm,” she added.

As an actor, Dutt said hestill gets butterflies in his stom-ach when his film is due for arelease. “I am hoping the filmturns out to be a hit even if itfalls short of Rs 100-crore busi-ness,” he said. About the newcrop of actors, Dutt said the starkids were very smart and theyknew where they were goingand what they were doing. Theactor will be constructing a hos-pital in the name of his moth-er at a village near Allahabad.

Actor Ali Fazal, whobelongs to Lucknow, said itwas great being in the city as hegot to meet his loved ones.About the film, he said it hadtouched upon all aspects of rela-tionships.

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Union Minister for Health,Science and Technology

Harsh Vardhan will deliverthe address at the 24thConvocation of SGPGI onSaturday. GovernorAnandiben Patel will also bepresent on the occasion.

SGPGI director RakeshKapoor told mediapersonson Friday that for the firsttime, primary schoolchild-ren would be participating inthe convocation so that theycan take inspiration from thisgrand ceremony. About thehighlights and achievementsof the institute, the directorsaid over 13,736 major surg-eries had been performed.

“Robotic surgery was per-formed for the first time at theinstitute and five surgeonswere trained for the same.Under the BPL, Antyodayaand Adhaya Rog schemes,110 patients below povertyline have received financialassistance to the tune of Rsone crore in the year 2018-19while 313 patients receivedfinancial assistance to thetune of Rs 5 crore in the year2018-19. More than 740patients have benefited underthe Ayushman scheme,” hepointed out.

With the rise in the num-ber of patients, there has beenan increase in the facilitiesextended to patients.

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After contesting two elec-tions in alliance with the

Congress and the BahujanSamaj Party and courting dis-aster, Samajwadi Party hasdecided that it would not forgealliance with any party in futureand would contest all elec-tions on its own.

The SP contested the 2017UP Assembly elections inalliance with the Congress andfollowed it up by joining handswith BSP in the 2019 LokSabha polls. Unfortunately,both the experiments ended indisasters for the party.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadavhas held marathon meetingswith party leaders and partycandidates of 2019 Lok Sabhaelections to get first hand infor-mation from ground zero.

The defeat of SP candidatesin Kannauj, Firozabad andBudaun shook the foundationof the party. These three LokSabha seats were held by mem-bers of SP’s first family. EvenAkhilesh’s wife and a two-termMP from Kannauj, DimpleYadav, was defeated in the2019 election.

Right from SP patronMulayam Singh Yadav to theparty cadre, all were opposedto the alliance with theCongress in 2017 and the BSPin 2019. All prominent SPleaders aspiring to contest thelast Lok Sabha polls weredenied opportunity due to thealliance with the BSP and theywere up in arms against theparty brass.

Meanwhile, AkhileshYadav attacked Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath in Agra onFriday, saying that `jungle raj’prevailed in Uttar Pradesh.

The SP has stepped up its

attack on the BJP governmentas bypolls to over a dozen UPAssembly seats are around thecorner.

The SP chief termed theBJP as anti-farmer, anti-traderand anti-people and said thatthe new definition of the BJPwas Enforcement Directorate,Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) and fear.

Akhilesh said that the BJPwanted to spread fear andhatred in India and rule bydividing the people. He chargedthat the BJP had no controlover corruption and the YogiAdityanath government hadfailed to control law and order.

The SP chief also claimedthat BJP governments at theCentre and in UP had a com-mon agenda of burdening peo-

ple with tax hikes and increas-ing prices of petrol and diesel.

“The economic situation isalarming as millions of peoplehave lost jobs due to recessionand farmers are committingsuicide. To divert public atten-tion from pressing issues, theBJP is pursuing divisive agen-da of hate... No investor is inter-ested in putting his money inUP,” the SP chief said.

Akhilesh further said,“Financial markets and banksare in distress. Even taka, thecurrency of Bangladesh, is per-forming better than Indianrupee and people are now say-ing that flagship programmesof Prime Minister NarendraModi like Make in India andStartup India had failed todeliver.”

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Atheft was committed in thehouse of a civil engineer,

identified as Akhilesh Pandeyof South City under PGI policestation, on Friday. The thievesmade off with valuables worthRs 2.5 lakh, electronic goodsworth Rs 75 lakh and Rs 25,000in cash. There was no one inthe house as Pandey had goneto his office while his wife,along with children, went tomeet her ailing father. Hecame to know about the theftwhen he returned from theoffice around 6 pm. Pandeylives on the second floor of a6-storeyed apartment. Thethieves managed to enter thehouse from the back door.The thieves broke open the

almirahs and collected thebooty before decamping. Heinformed the SHO on hismobile and later went to thepolice station to lodge a com-plaint. The police said investi-gations were underway.

Earlier, two houses wereburgled in different places ofthe state capital. The thievessneaked into the house ofAyyub Khan, a resident ofRahimabad under Malihabadpolice station, and made offwith valuables worth lakhs ofrupees and Rs 50,000 in cash.No one was in the house whenthe theft was committed.Police said Ayyub and hisfamily members went toattend a function at a relative’shouse in a nearby village onThursday evening. When they

came back on Friday morning,they found the locks brokenand doors wide open. Thethieves also broke the locks ofan almirah and fled with thebooty. The thieves thenentered the house of RamAvtar, an immediate neigh-bour of Ayyub. The housewas locked from outside. RamAvtar said in a complaint thathe and his wife had gone to seea doctor on Thursday evening.When they returned, theyfound Rs 10,000 in cash, andvaluables missing from thehouse.

Meanwhile, the body of aman, identified as Ram Naresh(30), was recovered from apond in Sarojini Nagar. He lefthis house on Thursdayevening for some work and

told his wife Shanti that hewould be back by night. Thedeceased was a farmer andlived with his wife and his chil-dren — Sachin (11) and Soni(9). Naresh’s wife becameapprehensive when he failed tocome back to the house. Sheand some neighbours startedsearching for him, but in vain.Meanwhile, farmers who weregoing to their field in the weehours on Friday spottedNaresh’s body in the pond.They informed his wife aboutthe incident. The police said hemight have slipped into thepond as he was said to be in adrunken state. His wife alsotold the police that he used toconsume liquor. The policesaid further investigationswere on.

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Lucknow (PNS): Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadavon Friday announced Maharaj Singh Dhangar as party can-didate for Tundla Assembly bypolls. The Election Commissionis yet to announce the bypoll schedule for Tundla Assemblyseat in Firozabad district. The bypoll has been necessitated bythe resignation of sitting BJP MLA SP Singh Baghel follow-ing his election to Lok Sabha from Agra Lok Sabha seat.

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To mark Mahatma Gandhi’s150th birth anniversary, the

Uttar Pradesh Assembly will holdan uninterrupted 48-hour specialsession in October. The date of thesession will be announced soon.

UP Assembly Speaker HridayNaryan Dikshit convened an all-party meeting in Lucknow onFriday that was attended by ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath and lead-ers of all parties. Opposition mem-bers in attendance included leaderof opposition Ram GovindChaudhary (SP), Lalji Verma (BSP)and Ajay Kumar Lalu (Congress).The opposition parties unani-mously endorsed the idea of a spe-

cial session. “To commemoratethe 150th birth anniversary ofBapu, UP Assembly will be holdinga special session. It is likely inOctober first week and dates will befinalised after consulting leaders ofall parties and the Chief Minister,”Dikshit said. “In 2015, UnitedNations Organisation had adopteda resolution for sustainable devel-opment goals to remove poverty,illiteracy and malnutrition acrossthe globe. India is a signatory to thisresolution. The special session of theAssembly has been convened to dis-cuss as to how to bring qualitativechange in the lives of common peo-ple and achieve sustainable devel-opment goals. The session will beuninterrupted for 48 hours where

every MLA will get an opportuni-ty to speak,” the Speaker said.

Parliamentary Affairs MinisterSuresh Khanna said, “The specialsession is an innovative idea ofChief Minister Yogi Adityanathand UP will lead the nation inachieving Gandhiji’s dream ofsocial, economic and politicalempowerment of the people ofIndia.” During the two-day session,a first in any Assembly of India,members would discuss Gandhianphilosophy and ideology and alsoreflect on issues like nutrition,cleanness, education, health andintegrated development. A specialsession of UP Legislative Councilwill also be convened along with theAssembly session.

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Lucknow (PNS): A headconstable, identified as DeviShanker Mishra died undermysterious circumstances inthe premises of police securityhead office in Old Hyderabadunder Mahanagar police stationon Friday morning. He was 55years old.

Deceased’s brother, whoreached Lucknow from Unnaoin the afternoon, alleged that hewas being harassed by his seniorwho was demanding Rs 50,000and had warned Mishra that hewould be removed otherwise.However, police spokesman SBShukla claimed that thedeceased shot himself from hisservice revolver. No suicidenote was recovered from thescene though. The head con-stable lived at his official resi-dential all alone in ReservePolice Line. Reports said hecame to the office as usualaround 10 am on Friday andalso signed the duty register. Heworked for a while before goingto the toilet where he shot him-self with his service revolver.

The gunshot drew theattention of his colleagues whorushed to the spot and foundhim lying in a pool of blood. Hewas rushed to KGMU TraumaCentre where he succumbed toinjuries during treatment. Hewas a native of Unnao district.His brother alleged thatMishra’s senior was buildingpressure on him to grease hispalms or else he would begiven an insignificant post. Theservice record of the deceasedwas said to be up to the mark.He would always be deployedfor security of VIPs coming tothe state. Meanwhile, his broth-er and other family membersstaged demonstration at themortuary, demanding animpartial probe into the caseand stern action against the offi-cer in question.

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The new web series ‘MissionOver Mars’ is inspired by

the latest venture of ISRO andshowcases the life of fourwomen scientists as they grap-ple with the daily struggles oftheir lives even as they put inefforts for the mission.

This was stated by actressNidhi Singh who was in thecity for promotion of the webseries. She agreed that therehas been a shift in the choiceof characters from the ‘saas-bahu’ to women scientists.The girl plays a native ofVaranasi in the web series.

She said she was aware ofChandrayaan-2 Lucknow con-nect. “The web series depictsthe inspiring story of fourwomen scientists who helpIndian Space Agency over-come a seemingly impossibletechnical deficit to launch thesuccessful Mars OrbiterMission. I will be seen along-side Sakshi Tanwar, MonaSingh and Palomi Ghosh. I amessaying the role of RituKaridhal, head of theTelematics Team for theMangalyaan Mission, who isjuggles between her responsi-bilities towards the house andthe mission,” she said.

She said the women sci-

entists would be seen tacklingtheir day-to-day problems. “Iam a girl from Varanasi who isgood in mathematics and want

to start a family like my hus-band, but I am entrusted withresponsibilities. Sakshi Tanwarplays a senior scientist who hasto deal with the problem of herchild not studying. We are allheaded by actor AsheeshVidyarthi who has done abrilliant job playing a seniorscientist,” she added.

Nidhi said that she wouldalso be seen as a spiritual sci-entist who believes in astrolo-gy and consults ‘panchaang’before doing anything. “This isto show in which science andreligion are not opposed toeach other,” she pointed out.

“It is a privilege for me tohave worked on a historicproject with such fine actors.It’s a real privilege to be con-sidered worthy to be in theshoes of the character that Iportray, which was writtenkeeping in mind the brainsbehind the Mangal Mission. Ican’t wait for our audience towatch the series,” she added.

About being in the city,Nidhi said she had been com-ing to Lucknow since child-hood as she had many relativeshere. “I am overwhelmed bythe love that I have receivedfrom Lucknow for my lastweb series ‘Apharan’. It’s alwaysa pleasure being here,” shesaid.

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The Research Designs andStandards Organization (RDSO)on Friday organised a special‘Mega Vendor Meet’ in Lucknowas a significant move to expandvendor base and greater businessopportunities in railways sector.Around 500 representatives fromindustries across the countryparticipated in the meet. DG,RDSO, Virendra Kumar talkedabout the various steps taken bythem to expand the vendor base,especially of items having lessthan three vendors and enhance-ment in doing ease of business,in line with the Centre’s ‘Make inIndia’ initiative. “This will bringcompetitiveness and reduce costs

��������� ������� :5�=7&9

Actor Namish Taneja said hehad to work on himself to

play the character of a districtmagistrate for his new show‘Vidya’, which is based on edu-cation. The actor was in the cityfor the promotion of showalong with actress MeeraDeosthale. He said he hadtried to be as real as he couldget.

About the show, he said ithad a touch of humour with astress on education in ruralparts of the country. “Setagainst a small village in UttarPradesh, the show brings tofore Vidya, the main protago-nist's apprehensions and strug-gles as she steps into the role ofa school teacher to financiallysupport her family after herhusband’s demise. In theprocess, she has an encounterwith the village pradhan whoposes a big hindrance in herouting. As she goes along in herjourney, Vidya discovers manyloopholes in her school and theoverarching education system.There is only one person, DMVivek Vardhan Singh, whorecognises Vidya’s efforts andacts as her support system.

Ultimately, she not only endsup winning over her personalstruggles but also pins downthe people plaguing the edu-cation system,” he elaborated.

Incidentally, Vidya is anilliterate army widow who getsa compensatory governmentjob as an English teacher.

“While it is an unfamiliarlanguage to her, she gathers allthe courage and strength toteach English, incorrectly at firstbut gradually learns and over-shadows her weaknesses. Thereis a lot of humour in the show,”he added.

Namish said that his char-

acter was simple yet persuasive.“I am hoping for a goodresponse from the audience.Lucknow is known to be anepitome of art, culture andmusic and I am excited to behere. I am looking forward toexploring the city as I haveheard so much about the lip-smacking cuisine, especiallythe kebabs,” he added. Theshow will see Vaquar Sheikhand Lilliput playing pivotalroles.

Meera, who is essayingthe role of Vidya Singh, said:“As an actor, I always dreamtof playing a character that isimpactful and creates a stir. Iam fortunate to have receivedan opportunity to play such apowerful character for thesecond time in a row. WhenI heard the narration of Vidya,it ticked all the right boxes,and hence I decided to take itup. The show chronicles thelife of an under-confident anduneducated girl and her strug-gles in the way of becoming anEnglish teacher through aslice-of-life concept and I amlooking forward to it. I hopepeople of Lucknow appreciateour effort and give us theirlove and support.”

���%�������6$"7‘Reflections-2019’, the 4-day

International Festival of History andCivics, organised by City MontessoriSchool, Mahanagar, will kick off onSaturday. It will be inaugurated bySpeaker of UP Legislative Assembly

Hriday Narain Dikshit at 5 pm. CMSstudents will present colourful educa-tional-cultural items. Teams from Indiaand abroad continued to arrive atLucknow to participate in the event. OnFriday, teams from Sri Lanka,Bangladesh, Nepal and various states of

India were accorded warm welcome bythe CMS students and teachers.

�������%������/Delhi Public School, Indira Nagar,

celebrated National Sports Day andparticipated in Fit India Movement. The

students participated in various sportsand also a quiz competition. The studentstook a pledge to be physically active, doexercise on a regular basis and motivateothers to be fit and healthy. PrincipalGhazala Afsar appealed to everyone toparticipate in the movement.

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of procurement and service. Asa result of proactive actiontaken by RDSO, average timefor registration has reducedsignificantly. At the same time,about double the number ofvendors are registering onRDSO portal,” he said. The DGalso said that they had set upa monitoring system to addressand dispose of grievances andcomplaints of vendors.Additional member of Stores,Railway Board, OP Khare saidhuge industry participation inthis meet was beyond imagi-nation. “Considering the size ofthe country, it is surprising thatthere are several items with lessthan three approved sources.At the same time, it is anopportunity for the industry.Indian Railways is growingfast, but this is not possiblewithout active support fromindustry,” he said. Chairman of

Railway Board VK Yadav alsoaddressed the participants anddelegates through video-con-ferencing and exhorted theindustry fraternity to be apartner in the progress ofIndian Railway and strength-ening of IR’s supply chain.

������6$"7Prof Suneela Dhaneshwar

addressed at 3rd WorldCongress on Biotechnologyand Healthcare in Malaysia.She is the director of AmityInstitute of Pharmacy anddeputy dean of research. Thetheme of BIOHE-2019 was‘Recent biotechnologicalapproaches to enhance thecurrent healthcare system.BIOHE-2019 is aimed at amal-gamating innovative acade-mics and industrial experts inthe field of biotechnology andhealthcare to a common

forum. This conference isaimed at promoting researchand developmental activities inbiotechnology and healthcareand encouraging scientificinformation interchangebetween researchers, develop-ers, students, and practitionersworking around the world.Dhaneshwar delivered a talk on“Drug repurposing: New tricksfor old drugs with specialemphasis on ulcerative colitis’.

����������The Mass Communication

department of Babu BanarasiDas University organised acontemporary photographyexhibition on the theme ‘Wallof Fame’. Vice-Chancellor ofBBD University AK Mittal,along with DSW SMK Rizvi,inaugurated the photographyexhibition covering four sub-themes focusing on the differ-

ent exhilaration of expressions.

�������*Central Institute for

Subtropical Horticulture(CISH) will be training womenbelonging to Scheduled Castein making eco-friendly hand-icraft items. CISH directorShailendra Rajan said the train-ing would begin in Septemberand October and women farm-ers from UP in batches of 10would be sent to Kolkata. Hesaid ICAR institutes were pro-moting handicraft items madeof environment-friendly mate-rials through entrepreneur-ship development. These prod-ucts do not harm the environ-ment unlike those made ofleather or any other parts ofanimal. CISH has tied upICAR-NINFET (Kolkata) forthis training.

�������������%%/The recruitment rally for

enrolment of Women MilitaryPolice (Soldier General Duty) inIndian Army of all districts ofUttar Pradesh and Uttarakhandregion will be conducted fromSeptember 12 to 20 at AMCCentre and College in Lucknow.As many as 4,458 female can-didates have been shortlistedand they can print their admitcard through individual loginsat www.joinindianarmy.nic.in.The rally comprising physicalmeasurement, physical fitnessand documentation will beheld from September 12 to 14.Those who qualify these testswill be put through a medicalexamination. The candidateswill be permitted entry into therally site only on production ofvalid admit cards generatedonline through the official website.

��������� ������� :5�=7&9

Uttar Pradesh Police finallymade a breakthrough

when they traced the missingLLM student fromShahjahanpur, whose fatheralleged that she was sexuallyharassed by BJP leader and for-mer Union minister SwamiChinmayanand.

The young woman, miss-ing since August 24, and herfriend, identified as Sanjay,were recovered from a hotel inJaipur (Rajasthan) on Fridaymorning, confirmed DIG(Bareilly Range) Rajesh KumarPandey. “We are bringing thewoman to Shahjahanpur andwill produce her before a mag-istrate to record her statementunder Section 164 of the CrPC.Any further action will dependupon the revelations shemakes,” Pandey said .

Meanwhile, after SupremeCourt directed the UP Police toproduce the woman before ajudge in New Delhi, Pandeysaid, “We will abide by theorders of the apex court andwill do as directed by thecourt.” The Supreme Court

took up the matter after somelawyers approached the courton the issue. However, theDIG said that investigationswould progress only on thestatement made by the womanand if required the BJP leaderwould also be questioned.

The LLM student wasmissing since August 24, a dayafter she posted a video onsocial media alleging that theBJP leader was harassing herand threatening to kill her andher family members as she hadevidence that could land him in

trouble. She sought help fromPrime Minister Narendra Modiand Chief Minister YogiAdityanath.

Former Union Minister ofState for Home SwamiChinmayanand has said that aconspiracy has been hatchedagainst him by four men andthe woman and he has done nowrong. He told reporters, “It isan attempt to malign the imageof the Yogi Adityanath gov-ernment. I am being framedjust like Kuldeep Singh Sengar(rape accused Unnao MLAnow in jail).’’ Superintendent ofPolice of Shahjahanpur, SChanappa said that the formerUnion minister was bookedunder IPC sections 364 (kid-napping or abducting in orderto murder) and 506 (criminalintimidation) based on thecomplaint of the LLM stu-dent’s father. “Our team isinvestigating. The woman’sfather has been provided secu-rity,’’ he added. The UPWomen’s Commission had alsosought a report fromShahjahanpur district admin-istration on the student’s dis-appearance.

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�����%����000At this juncture,

Chidambaram intervened, say-ing he was opposing theCentral Bureau ofInvestigation’s (CBI) plea. “Weare opposing the custody. Butsince both my counsel andtheir (CBI) counsel made amutual agreement in the apexcourt to keep me there (in CBI

custody) till Monday, we can-not hide that truth from thiscourt. “There is simply no jus-tification to put me in custodyand ask the same questions.The same three files are beingshown to me again and again,”the former Union ministertold the court. The court thenextended the period ofChidambaram’s custodial inter-

rogation till September 2, not-ing that “the accused is willingto join the probe till Monday”.

���������������000Ranjan is stipulated to

retire in April next year. A1982-batch Indian RevenueService officer, Ranjan wasappointed to the CBDT inNovember last year. Before

this, he was posted as a prin-cipal chief commissioner of I-T in Delhi. The CBDT is head-ed by a chairman and can havea maximum of six members. Ithas two vacancies at present.

On August 19, Ranjan,along with other experts andmembers, submitted theirreport on the new Direct TaxCode to Sitharaman. The offi-

cer was the convenor of thetask force. The new code whichseeks to replace the existing I-T Act. In a similar pattern, for-mer finance secretary S CGarg had applied for voluntaryretirement from service lastmonth after he was shiftedfrom the high-profile charge tothe power ministry as its secretary.

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The CBI, in association withthe Vigilance Officers of

various Government depart-ments, Ministries andOrganisations, on Friday, con-ducted over 150 joint surprisechecks (JSCs) at various places of suspected corrup-tion across India.

"The searches are primar-ily being conducted at suchpoints and places of corruptionwhere common citizens orsmall businesspersons feelmaximum pinch of corruptionin Government machinery.This special drive will sensitiseall stakeholders about possibleavenues of corruption a com-mon citizen faces, while seek-ing services from such departments. It also strives toidentify and highlight pointsand places vulnerable to cor-ruption," the CBI said in astatement.

The departments coveredby under the searches include— Railways, coal mines andcoalfields, medical/healthcareorgainisations, Customs, FCI.Other departments such aspower, municipal corporations,ESIC, transport, CPWD,Directorate of Estates, FireServices, sub registrar office,GST Department, Port Trust,National Highways, DAVP,Airport Authority of India,Public Sector oil companies,DGFT, Public Sector banks,ASI, Shipping Corporation,BSNL, steel PSU, mines and minerals.

These JSCs will be followedby extensive campaign by CBIbranches all over India to makecommon citizens aware of howthey can reach out toGovernment departments andredress their complaints.

Various cities/towns wherethe JSC are being conductedinclude — Delhi, Jaipur,Jodhpur, Guwahati, Shillong,Chandigarh, Srinagar, Chennai,Madurai, Kolkata, Bhuba-neswar, Hyderabad, Bangalore,Mumbai, Gandhinagar, Bhopal,Raipur, Nagpur, Jabalpur,Patna, Lucknow, Ghaziabad,Dehradun, Ranchi,

Visakhapatnam, Guntur,Vijaywada, Cochin, Kollam,Hanamakonda, Karimnagar,Chirmiri, Secunderabad, Katni

— Bina, Vadodara, HimmatNagar, Dhanbad, Kasauli,Samastipur, Danapur andMokama.

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The Adjudication Authorityunder Foreign Exchange

Management Act (FEMA) hasheld controversial Kashmiribusinessman Zahoor AhmedShah Watali guilty for contra-ventions of provisions ofFEMA and thereby imposedpenalty to the extent of �62lakh in a case of operating non-resident savings accounts inHSBC Bank at New Delhi inunauthorised manner.

Investigation under FEMAwas initiated against Watalion the basis of information ofcertain suspicious foreignexchange transactions. Duringinvestigation, it was revealedthat that Watali was maintain-ing Non-Resident SavingAccounts (both NRE and NROaccounts) in HSBC Bank,Greater Kailash-I in the nation-al capital.

At the time of openingthese accounts, Watali hadsubmitted documents like. thecopy of the Passport issued atWashington DC, resident visaamong others claiming himselfas a Non-Resident Indian,whereas during this period heneither remained outside Indiafor more than 182 days in thepreceding financial year norwas his intention to remainoutside India for an uncertainperiod. During the period 2003to 2009, Watali received inward

remittances to the tune of �.62,93,711.

He continued holding ofthe accounts and allowedremittances in this accountand violated the provisions ofFEMA, 1999 and Regulation ofthe Foreign ExchangeManagement (Deposit)Regulation, 2000.

Earlier, in another PMLAterror funding case, HafizSayeed (Founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jamaat-Ud-Dawa)and Mohammad Yusuf Shahalias Salahuddin (Head of ter-ror group Hizb-ul-Mujahideen) property worthRs 8.94 crore of Watali, was

attached for his involvement infund raising and as a financialconduit for Hurriyat leaders.

Watali along with other

nine accused are undergoingjudicial custody at Central Jail,Tihar in connection with theterror funding probe.

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Congress has demanded thata financial emergency be

declared in the country and awhite paper be released on the"shrinking economy and risingfrauds". The grand old partyaccused the BJP government ofdestroying the credibility of thecountry's economy and bank-ing system and demanded thatit should declare the names of

wilful defaulters, along with thedetails of their non-performingassets (NPAs).

Congress leader PriyankaGandhi Vadra too attacked theGovernment over an RBIreport showing bank fraudshave gone up by 15 per centyear-on-year in 2018-19, askingwho is the guarantor allowingsuch "big bank frauds".

"The Congress demandsthat a financial emergencyshould be declared in the country. We reiterate that theBJP government should release a white paper on theshrinking economy and risingfrauds.

It is getting clearer by theday that the country is headingtowards a major recessionaryphase. This is a classic case ofrecession under expansionarytrends, as whenever there arethree continuous quarters ofgrowth recession (reductionin growth quarter-on-quarter),the chances of slipping into afull-blown recession are sig-nificantly higher," saidCongress spokespersons JaiveerShergill and Gaurav Vallabh ata special AICC Press briefing.

They added that once theJune 2019 quarter numberswere announced, it would beclear that India was witnessinga reduction in growth for fiveconsecutive quarters.

Vallabh said the problemsthat this phenomenon put forthwere that natural recovery didnot occur and the country hadto solely rely on monetary pol-icy actions, while the short-term stimulus remained short-term and only helped inassuaging wounds.

"The questions we want toask the government are what isits response to the prolongedreduction in growth? Does ithave any clue of what is actu-ally wrong and who's respon-

sible for the same," Shergill said.As a responsible opposi-

tion, the Congress wanted thegovernment to immediatelyissue a white paper on the stateof economy, he added.

He also alleged that fraudsin the banking system shot upby 74 per cent to � 71,543 crorein the 2018-19 financial year,compared to frauds worth �41,167 crore committed in the2017-18 financial year.

Priyanka said the number of cases of fraudsreported by banks saw a jumpof 15 per cent year-on-yearbasis in 2018-19, with theamount involved increasing by73.8 per cent in the year, theReserve Bank of India's annu-al report showed.

"Country's biggest bankinginstitution RBI is saying thatbank frauds are increasingright under the nose of the gov-ernment. In 2018-19, this thefthas increased," PriyankaGandhi said. "Banks havebeen duped of � 72,000 crore.But, who is the guarantor whois allowing such big bankfrauds to occur," the Congressgeneral secretary asked.

��� 789�.8:0�

Congress leader RahulGandhi on Friday criti-

cised Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for not visit-ing flood-hit areas in Keralaand said the State was await-ing a relief package. His criti-cism came through a tweet asModi said that Kerala was"special" to him and he visit-ed Guruvayur Sri KrishnaTemple in the state after win-ning his second term.

"Dear Mr Modi, Afteryour visit to Guruvayur - ahuge flood visited Kerala,causing death and destruction.A timely visit then wouldhave been appreciated. Keralais suffering and still awaits arelief package, like those givento other flood hit states. Thisis unfair," Rahul Gandhi post-ed.

In his tweet, Gandhi, whowas on a four-day visit to hisLok Sabha constituencyWayanad, which is among theworst-affected areas in thestate, also tagged a post by thePrime Minister Office's han-dle.

The PMO tweet said,"Kerala is also special for me,personally. I have had numer-ous opportunities to visitKerala. One of the first thingsI did after the people blessedme yet again with a bigresponsibility is visiting theGuruvayur Sri KrishnaTemple: PM." The prime min-ister made the commentswhile addressing the 'MalayalaManorama News Conclave'in Kochi via video link fromthe national Capital.

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Aday after launching the'Fit India movement',

Prime Minister Narendra Modion Friday said that Ayush andYoga were its strong pillars evenas he attributed his health toYoga, Pranayama andAyurveda.

Addressing a programmeon Ayush and Yoga here, hesaid that there are "profession-al hazards" related to politics interms of health, which are to betaken care of with the help ofNaturopathy and Yoga.

The Prime Minister saidthat to transform the healthcaresystem of the country and todevelop a healthy society, thereis a need to think holisticallyand integrate the traditionaland modern medicines for sus-tainable development and bet-ter health solutions.

The Prime Minister saidthat the government has set atarget of setting up � 1.5 lakhhealth and wellness centresacross the country of which12,500 will be AYUSH centres.

Four thousand such centreswill be established this yearitself, he said.

The main focus of thesecentres will be empowering thecommunity for self care byimbibing AYUSH basedhealthy food and lifestyle, socialbehaviour and use of medici-nal plants for primary health

care.He also gave away Yoga

Awards to the winners forOutstanding Contribution forPromotion and Developmentof Yoga in New Delhi andexpressed happiness that 'Sowa- Rigpa' has become the sixthmember of the AYUSH fami-ly after Ayurveda, Yoga andNaturopathy, Siddha, Unaniand Homeopathy.

Pitching for linking tech-nology with tradition in thepractice of Ayush medicine,Modi also stressed for the needto create a homogenous systemby creating an "Ayush grid" onthe lines of one nation, one taxand one nation, one mobilitycard. He said this will removesilos in the area of Ayush.

During the ceremony,Modi released 12 commemo-rative postal stamps to honoureminent scholars, practitionersand Great Master Healers ofAYUSH Systems.

These commemorativepostal stamps highlight thegreat work and acknowledgethe achievements of the GreatMaster Healers of AYUSH

Systems. He also launched ten

AYUSH Health and WellnessCentres located in Haryana. Hesaid the government was work-ing towards bringing in moreprofessionals in the field ofAyush and necessary steps arebeing taken to that effect.

AYUSH Minister ShripadYesso Naik said that Yoga is aninsurance of health for whichwe don't have to pay money.

Winners of the year 2019yoga awards were SwamiRajarshi Muni of Life Mission,Gujarat in Individual-Nationalcategory, Ms. Antonietta Rozzi,Italy in Individual-International category, BiharSchool of Yoga, Munger, Biharin Organisation-National cat-egory, and Japan Yoga Niketan,Japan in Organisation wonawards under InternationalOrganisation category whilewinners of 2018 yoga awardswere bagged by VishwasMandalik, Nasik, Individual-National category and theYoga Institute, Mumbai,Organisation under theNational category.

��������� �������789�.8:0�

It's not only the persons withhaemophilia — a bleeding

disorder — who need constantmedical and emotional help,their caregivers too need earlyaccess to support service tohandle bleeding episodes,chronic pain, job status and thepresence of inhibitors in thepatients, psychologists and doc-tors say.

Ironically, haemophiliapopulation's need ofPsychosocial Support (PSS) isunderestimated due to myths,stigma and lack of knowledge.

To deliberate the issuethreadbare, two-day nationalconference on mental healthand bleeding disorders is beingheld here from Saturday whichwould be attended by healthexperts, psychologists and rep-resentatives from governmentand haemophilia sector amongothers.

Dr Nita Radhakrishnan,Assistant Professor,Department of PediatricHematology Oncology,SSPH&PGTI, Noida, explained

that since haemophilia is anuncommon genetic bleedingdisorder that disrupts bloodclotting, patients and caregivers have tough time dealingwith the burden.

Caring for a child withchronic pain has a high over-load, she added.

Those suffering fromhemophilia have prolongedbleeding mostly in their joints.It is caused by the absence of acertain blood clotting factor inthe blood.

Prolonged bleeding mayoccur after sustaining an injuryor can happen on its own. Atthe conference, VinitaSrivastava from Union HealthMinistry will throw light on thesteps the Government is takingfor the welfare of sector whileVikash Goel, President,Haemophilia Federation willdwell on country's perspectiveon psychosocial support inbleeding disorders.

Neelam Kumari, nursefrom SSPH&PGTI, Noida willshare nurse's role when takingcare of persons withhaemophilia.

Interventions to support

the psychosocial needs ofpatients and their families,such as offering informationand assistance, clarifyingdoubts, and teaching copingstrategies to minimize theimpact of disabilities, may helpto maximize patient outcomesand improve quality of life fortheir families, said Dr RichaMohan, psychologist and direc-tor of Empowering Minds, anorganisation engaged inempowering the sector.

In fact a recent Europeanstudy "The burden of bleedsand other clinical determi-nants on caregivers of childrenwith haemophilia (the BBC

Study)," which was publishedin the journal Haemophiliatoo recommends early access topsychosocial support servicesto help caregivers.

Caring for a child withhaemophilia, particularly whencoping with poor joint health,leads to emotional stress, achanged perception of thechild, and the need for moremedical management, said thestudy.

"Almost from the time oftheir child's diagnosis, parentsof children with hemophiliaface additional stresses such asbleed recognition, treatment,including pain managementand uncertainty about thefuture," it said, adding thathealthcare professionals "areknown to have poor recogni-tion and understanding of painmanagement" in children withhaemophilia.

The researchers focusedon the difficulties parents feelwhen dealing with their child'sbleeds, a time they say ismarked by a "loss of controland additional stress," particu-larly when hospital visits arerequired.

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CPI(M) general secretarySitaram Yechury, who

returned from Srinagar onFriday after the Supreme Courtallowed him to go there,claimed the situation on theground was "completely con-trary" to what the Governmentwas saying.

Yechury, who went toSrinagar to meet his ailingparty colleague MohammedYousuf Tarigami, refused toelaborate, saying he would sub-mit a detailed report to theapex court.

The CPI (M) leader, whohad filed a habeas corpus peti-tion in the Supreme Courtseeking Tarigami to be pro-duced before it, was grantedpermission to visit the formerMLA in Srinagar. The courthad, however, said Yechuryshould not indulge in any kindof political activity during hisvisit to Srinagar.

"I visited Tarigami andenquired about his health. I willfile an affidavit in court regard-ing his health condition and alsoreport on what I saw there,"Yechury told reporters here,adding that during the drivefrom the airport to Tarigami'shouse, he saw that the situationon the ground was "complete-ly contrary" to what the BJP-ledGovernment was saying.

The Left leader said afterhe landed at the Srinagar air-port, he was told by officialsthat he would have to returnthe same day, but he con-vinced them that he couldonly leave the next day aftergetting a status report on hiscolleague's health condition ashe had to report to the apexcourt about it.

"I met him (Tarigami) onThursday and again on Fridaymorning and all I can say thatin this condition, he needsperiodic reviews. He was get-ting treated at the AIIMS andhe needs to go there for treat-ment," Yechury said.

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The CBI has taken over theinvestigation into the alleged

sexual exploitation of minorgirls in a shelter home in Deoria,Uttar Pradesh and another relat-ed case for obstructingGovernment officials while res-cuing the victims from theNGO's premises.

The agency has registeredtwo FIRs against Director Girija

Tripathi and SuperintendentKanchan Lata Tripathi of theMaa Vindhyavasini MahilaEvam Balika Sanrakshan Grihain Deoria. The move comesover a year after the UttarPradesh Government recom-mended a CBI probe.

In August last year, author-ities rescued 24 girls from theshelter home, which had 42inmates. A medical examina-tion of the victims confirmed

the sexual abuse of 34 inmatesout of 42.

The two FIRs originallyregistered by the Uttar Pradeshpolice which have now beentaken over by the CBI relate towrongful confinement, traf-ficking, sexual harassment, sex-ual assault, assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge ofhis duty under IPC, provisionsof the Protection of Children

from Sexual Offences andJuvenile Justice (Care andProtection of Children) Act,2015 among others.

The issue at Deoria's shel-ter home surfaced in the back-drop of the alleged sexual abuseof young girls at a state-fundedshelter home in Bihar'sMuzaffarpur which led to apublic outcry. The Muzaffa-rpur's case also being probed bythe CBI.

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Senior Karnataka Congressleader D K Shivakumar on

Friday appeared before theEnforcement Directorate (ED)for being questioned in amoney laundering case.Shivakumar arrived at theagency's headquarters here inthe evening for recording hisstatement under thePrevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA). InSeptember 2018, the ED had

registered the money laun-dering case againstShivakumar, Haumanthaiah,an employee at KarnatakaBhavan in New Delhi, andothers.

The ED case was been filed after taking cog-nizance of a charge sheet(prosecution complaint) filedby the Income TaxDepartment against him lastyear before a special court hereon charges of alleged tax eva-sion and Hawala transactionsworth crores of rupees.

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Confusion over an abbrevi-ation led NIA to summon

leading cardiologist UpendraKaul in a terror funding caserelated to banned terror groupJKLF leader Yaseen Malik.Kaul appeared before theagency on Friday.

Documents seized fromMalik had mentioned a figureagainst abbreviation INR andthe NIA presumed it to beIndian Currency but ques-tioning cleared air as the termreferred to InternationalisedNormalised Ratio with refer-

ence to blood test reports. "I explained to them that thefigure mentioned was relatedto his (Malik's) blood reportsand not money. The officerswere convinced and that's all,"Kaul said after the question-ing. Kaul has been cardiologistof Malik for over two decades.

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Fresh restrictions wereimposed in the city and

other parts of the KashmirValley as a preventive measurein view of Friday congrega-tional prayers which passed offpeacefully, officials said.

Restrictions under Section144 of the CrPc wereannounced on public addresssystem. People have been askednot to venture outside andbarricades have been placed.

Public transport remainedoff the road and motorists facedhardships as several roads ,leading to religious places, andother vulnerable areas remainedout of bounds. Heavy deploy-ment of security personnel weremade across sensitive places toprevent assembly of people after

the Friday prayers. Concertinawires were rolled out to blockentry and exit routes of down-town areas of Srinagar.

Normal life remained dis-rupted across the KashmirValley for the 26th consecutiveday, with markets closed andpublic transport off the roads.

While landline telephoneservices have resumed in manyparts of the valley, mobile tele-phone services and all Internetservices continue to remain

suspended since 5 August afterthe Centre's move to abrogateArticle 370, that provided spe-cial status to Jammu &Kashmir, and bifurcate theState into two union territories.

Meanwhile, Governor,Satya Pal Malik, visited Kargilon Friday to meet and interactwith the representatives of thepeople of Kargil to understandtheir concerns following theformation of the UnionTerritory of Ladakh.

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Srinagar: Incoming mobileservices have been restored forpost-paid subscribers inKashmir Valley's Kupwara dis-trict, officials said on Friday.

All post-paid subscribersof state-run BSNL, Jio andVodafone in the northKashmir border district willbenefit from the decision, theysaid.

According to the officials,there was a technical issue inallowing outgoing mobile ser-vices and it would take sometime to overcome the problem.

Services for pre-paid sub-scribers, who don't get month-ly bills, have not been openedyet, they said.

Landline, mobile andinternet services were sus-pended on August 5 when thecentre revoked Jammu &Kashmir's special status underArticle 370. PTI

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AH-64E attack helicopters willbe inducted into the Indian AirForce at Pathankot in Punjabon September 3, an official saidon Friday.

The first four of the 22 heli-copters was handed over to theair force by US aerospace majorBoeing on July 27.

The IAF is organising aninduction ceremony of ApacheAH-64E helicopters at thePathankot air force station onSeptember 3, DefenceSpokesman Lt Col DevenderAnand said.

Air Chief Marshal B SDhanoa will be the chief guestfor the event, he said.

The delivery of the firstbatch of Apache helicopters tothe IAF at the Hindan air basecame nearly four years after amulti-billion dollar deal for thechoppers was sealed.

The AH-64E Apache isone of the world's most

advanced multi-role combathelicopters, and is flown by theUS Army. The IAF had signeda multi-billion dollar contractwith the US Government andBoeing Ltd in September 2015for 22 Apache helicopters.

Additionally, the DefenceMinistry in 2017 approved theprocurement of six Apachehelicopters along with weaponssystems from Boeing at a costof �4,168 crore for the Army.

This will be its first fleet ofattack choppers.

By 2020, the IAF will oper-ate a fleet of 22 Apaches, andthese first deliveries are aheadof schedule.

The AH-64E Apache forthe Indian Air Force complet-ed successful first flights in July2018. The first batch of IndianAir Force crew began theirtraining to fly the Apache in theUS in 2018. PTI

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Kochi: Union Information andBroadcasting Minister PrakashJavadekar on Friday said theBJP-led Government at theCentre was committed toensuring media freedom andrecalled party leaders' fightagainst Emergency in 1975 toprotect press freedom.

Noting that there are morethan one lakh publications, over700 TV channels, many weband news portals in the coun-try, the Minister said because ofsocial media platforms, nobodycan be stopped from commu-nicating with another.

That is the power of com-munication, he said.

"During students move-ment days, we fought againstEmergency in 1975 and went tojail to protect media freedom.

"That commitmentremains today and forever toprotect the freedom of media,"the minister said at an event -- "New India: Government andMedia" at the Manorama NewsConclave here which was ear-lier inaugurated by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi viavideo conference from Delhi.

Javadekar further saidresponsible freedom is theessence of a democratic societyand explained that responsiblefreedom does not mean regu-

lated freedom but beingresponsible while enjoying free-dom.

Asserting that theGovernment was committed tomedia freedom, freedom ofexpression and protests, hesaid, "Freedom is the essence ofdemocracy and we will ensurethat a vibrant democracy wantsall these freedom. That we willensure."

The Union Minister, how-ever, said it must be also under-stood that in a democraticcivil society, freedom has to beresponsible.

"Responsible freedom isnot regulated freedom; it is self-regulation using our ownmethods," he said.

Javadekar said incidents ofmob lynching are occurring inthe country due to rumoursspreading on social media.

This happens due toabsence of an authority or self-regulatory mechanism in socialmedia, he said.

The Minister said theessence of the Narendra ModiGovernment's concept of NewIndia is "corruption-free NewIndia, terror-free New India,casteism-free New India, com-munalism-free New India,poverty-free New India anddirt-free New India." PTI

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Army Chief General BipinRawat on Friday directed

the local commanders toremain in a state of 'high alert'in order to meet emergingsecurity challenges 'effectively'in the wake of increased infil-tration attempts from across theLine of Control.

Soon after his arrival inSrinagar, Army Chief wasbriefed by the localCommanders on the existingCease Fire Violations, groundsituation and the measurestaken.

Accompanied by the ChinarCorps Commander Lt Gen KJSDhillon, Army Chief also visit-

ed various formations and unitsdeployed along the Line ofControl to boost morale of thefoot soldiers on ground zero.

According to officialsources, Pakistan has activatedmultiple launch pads along theline of control to push heavilyarmed infiltrators inside theIndian territory.

In the last one month,more than 270 infiltration bidshave been attempted by theseinfiltrators with the active sup-port of Pakistan army regularsdeployed in the forward areasclose to the line of control.

Ministry of Defence PROin a statement said, "during hisvisit Army Chief General BipinRawat appreciated the robustcounter infiltration grid whichhas neutralised multiple infil-tration attempts of terrorists".

"He shared intelligencereports of a large number ofterrorists ready to infiltratefrom multiple launch padsacross the Line of Control. Heexhorted all troops to be readyfor any contingencies",

Defence PRO said. During his interaction with

the soldiers on ground, helauded them for their high lev-els of morale and motivation.

Meanwhile, one local resi-dent of Digwar area of Poonchreceived bullet injury on hisright shoulder in Pak firing lateThursday night. The injuredyouth,identified as Mohd Zafarwas shifted to the district hos-pital in Poonch where he wasprovided first aid. Doctors areexpected to remove bullet dur-ing separate surgery. A closerelative of Zafar told reporters,he was sleeping in his housewhen he was hit by Pakistan fir-ing around 11.00 pm lateThursday night.

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Kota (Rajasthan): A 45-year-old man was killed by at leastfive people in Rojjya village ofJhalawar district, followingwhich the accused, whichincludes two women, werebooked, police said on Friday.

On seeing BhanwarlalGujjar grazing his cattle in afield on Thursday afternoon,five people attacked him withsticks, iron rods and sharpweapons which causing griev-ous injuries, SHO of BhaltaPolice Station SatyanarayanMalav said.

He was immediatelyrushed a nearby hospital,where doctors declared himbrought dead, he said.

The body was handed overto his family after post mortemand a case has been registeredagainst Kalulal Gujjar, BalwantGujjar, Parvat Singh Gujjar,and two women NanibaiGujjar and Dhapubai Gujjarunder relevant sections of theIndian Penal Code (IPC),police said. PTI

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All these years, ATMs meantAutomated Teller

Machines installed by Banksfor the benefit of customers towithdraw and deposit moneywithout visiting the branches.Over a period of time, theBanks themselves starteddescribing them as Any TimeMoney machines. There was atime in Tamil Nadu when theprosperity of a city/town/villagewas measured by the numberof ATMs installed by theBanks in these places.

But the Kelagampatti vil-lage near Harur in Dharmapiridistrict, the ATM denotes AnyTime Milk. A hi-tech milkdispenser in the village installedby an entrepreneur has takenthe village by storm. Themachine dispenses undiluted,unprocessed and unadulterat-ed ‘desi’ milk round the clockon reasonable rates to the vil-lagers who were hithertodepending on milk f rom pri-vate dairies. Not any more.They are getting quality milkat rates ranging from �10/-,�20/-, �50/- and �100/- fromthese unmanned machines. Allthat the customers have to dois to insert the currency note ofrequired denomination intothe ATM. There is only onecondition; the customers haveto bring their vessels to collectthe milk from the dispenser asno plastic packet us served

from the machine.The Any Time Milk dis-

penser is the brain child ofMurugan, a history graduate-turned-farmer. The milk dis-penser was bought fromHaryana market at a proce of�4 lakh. “As on date , there are30 subscribers who have takenRadio Frequency Identification(RFID) cards from me and thedemand is increasing impres-sively. Though there are milkdispensers operating in TamilNadu, what makes this one dif-ferent is the absence of plasticbags. I insist customers comewith vessels to collect the milk,”said Murugan. This ATMplays an important role inmaking the village free of plas-tic. The demand for Murugan’sATM is growing by the day.The machine dispenses 150litres of milk daily and thedemand is growing as TamilNadu is gearing up for the fes-tival season. Many people havebought the debit card issued byhim. There are householdswhich have bought �500/-worth debit card though cardsof smaller denominations tooare available. “This is a bigrelief for us because we weredependent on the retail storesselling milk packets which shutdown quite early. But the ATMsare open 24X7 and we can getfresh and safe milk any time,”said Vijayashree Ramesh, whoexpressed her happiness overthe state-of-the-art milk dis-penser.

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Rae Bareli (UP): Four per-sons, including a telecomengineer, were allegedlythrashed by locals on the sus-picion of being child-lifters indifferent incidents in this dis-trict of Uttar Pradesh, policesaid on Friday.

Amar Kumar Verma (35),an engineer working in a pri-vate telecom company, wasallegedly attacked by a mob ofaround 50 people when hewas returning from Kesaruavillage within the LalganjKotwali police station limitsafter checking a mobile toweron Wednesday, they added.

A case was registered on a complaint from Vermaand some villagers werearrested. PTI

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Bareilly (UP): Mistaken for"child lifters", a visiting DelhiPolice team in plain clothesescaped mob fury here after thelocal police came to their res-cue, officials said on Friday.

The incident took place onThursday when the team fromDelhi's Welcome police stationreached Bhura village in

Bhojipura area here in con-nection with a dowry caseprobe, they said.

"The Delhi Police teamwas in plain clothes due towhich some confusion mighthave arisen," DeputyInspector General (DIG) ofPolice, Bareilly Range, RajeshPandey, said. PTI

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Amid intense speculationthat former Chief Minister

and Maharashtra SwabhimaniPaksha (MSP) founder chiefNarayan Rane might merge hisparty with the ruling BJP onSeptember 1, Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis said hereon Friday that the MSP’s merg-er with his party would nothappen unless and until hetook the Shiv Sena leadershipinto confidence in the matter.

When his attention wasdrawn to a report in a sectionof the regional that Rane wouldmerge MSP with the BJP at aparty function at Solapur to tobe attended by party’s nation-al president Amit Shah,Fadnavis said: “Unless the

issue is discussed the issue withthe Shiv Sena and take itsleaders into confidence, theBJP will not take a decision onthe MSP’s merger with ourparty”.

Quoting Rane, a fewregional newspapers had saidrecently that he would take adecision on his joining the BJPalong with his former MP-sonNilesh Rane and sittingCongress MLA-son NiteshRane, in the next 10 days.Friday’s newspapers that SrRane would merge his partyMSP with the BJP at its rally tobe held in Solapur onSeptember 1.

Sr. Rane was elected toRajya Sabha with the supportof the BJP on March 15 lastyear.

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The family members of ateenaged girl, who died at a

Government hospital duringtreatment five weeks after shewas brutally gangraped, refuseto accept the victim girl’s bodytill arrests were made in thecase, even as the NCP workersstage a protest in front of theChunabhatti police station innorth-central Mumbai.

On a day when the NCPMP Surpriya Sule-led scores ofparty men to Chunabhattipolice station to demand aninquiry by the SpecialInvestigation Team (SIT) intothe alleged gangrape, the victim

girl’s family members refused totake the body and perform lastrites till the police arrested thefour culprits behind the crime.

Talking to media personsafter staging a dhana in front ofthe Chnnabhatti police sta-tion, Supriya charged that theconduct of the both state gov-ernment and the local policeappeared “suspicious” anddemanded that an impartialinvestigations be ordered underthe SIT. Meanwhile, theMaharashtra State Commissionfor Women (MSCW) hasordered the Chunabhatti PolicStation to submit its detailedinvestigation report bySaturday.

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An FIR has been registeredagainst former

Chhattisgarh chief minister AjitJogi in Bilaspur district, daysafter a government-appointedcommittee rejected his claim ofbeing a tribal, police said onFriday. A high-level castescrutiny committee set up bythe state government had lastweek dismissed Ajit Jogi’s claimof belonging to a ScheduledTribe (ST) and cancelled hiscaste certificates. Subsequently,Ajit Jogi, who served as the firstChief Minister of Chhattisgarh,has been booked for allegedlyfraudulently obtaining castecertificates, the police said. The73-year-old politician’s claim ofbeing a tribal has been reject-ed multiple times in the pasttoo. The case against Ajit Jogiwas filed on Thursday nightunder section 10 (1) of theChhattisgarh Scheduled Castes,Scheduled Tribes and OtherBackward Classes (Regulationof Certification of Social Status)Rules, 2013, at the civil linespolice station on the directionof the district administration,Bilaspur SP Prashant Agrawaltold PTI. The FIR was lodgedby TR Bhardwaj, tehsildar ofBilaspur, around 120km fromhere, on behalf of district col-lector, he added. The districtadministration has pointed outthat the scrutiny committee hadcancelled Jogis caste certifi-cates in its order dated August23, he said.

The panel had authorisedthe Bilaspur collector to carry

out necessary proceedingsunder the Chhattisgarh ST/SC/OBC (Regulation of SocialStatus Certification) Rules, 2013in the matter, Agrawal said.Subsequently, the collectorwrote to the tehsildar to lodgean FIR in this connection, theSP said.

However, Ajit Jogi, a sittingMLA and a formerCongressman, is yet to bearrested as the investigation intothe matter is underway, headded. According to policeofficials, the section 10 (1) isinvoked against those whoacquire caste certificate whichlater turns out to be invalid dur-ing scrutiny.

It’s a non-bailable section,they said. Reacting to the move,Amit Jogi, the son of Ajit Jogi,dubbed it as “political vendet-ta” and targeted Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel over the issue.

Ajit Jogi is chief of theJanata Congress Chhattisgarh(J), a party floated by him afterparting ways with the Congressin 2016. “The state is being gov-erned by the ‘rule of Bhupesh’not by the rule of law. The gov-ernment is doing vendetta pol-itics against my father, AmitJogi alleged.

“We had filed a writ peti-tion against the order of thehigh-powered committee inthe HC on Thursday. Today(Friday) it will be mentioned inthe HC, he added. Notably, thescrutiny committee that lookedinto Ajit Jogi’s caste status wasformed on the order of theChhattisgarh High Court in2018.

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Accusing the BJP-led gov-ernment in Maharashtra of

being “insensitive” towardswomen safety, NCP MPSupriya Sule on Friday led theparty’s protest march here,demanding an SIT probe intothe death of a woman after shewas allegedly gang-raped inChembur. The Lok Sabha MPfrom Baramati, who wasaccompanied by NCP Mumbaichief Nawab Malik and MLCVidya Chavan, pitched forforming a special investigationteam (SIT), contending theon- going probe into the mat-ter not being carried out “prop-erly”.

The NCP called for imme-diate arrests of the accused.

The protest march was takenout from the Lal Dongar areain suburban Chembur to theChunabhatti Police Stationhere.

The 19-year-old woman,who was allegedly raped byfour of her friends in Mumbaiin the first week of July, died ata state-run hospital inAurangabad city in centralMaharashtra on Wednesdaynight. “The probe is not beingconducted in a proper manner.The matter has to be investi-gated through the SIT. We arewith the family. “We will notrelent till the victim gets jus-tice,” Sule told reporters aftershe met officials at theChunabhatti Police Station.

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Alleged Trinamool workerson Friday attacked the

vehicle of Bengal BJP presidentDilip Ghosh and heckled himeven as he tried to meet thepublic at the Lake Town area ofnorthern Kolkata, sources said.

Ghosh who had recentlystarted a public relation exer-cise under a scheme called“Chai pe Charcha,” meeting thepeople at various localities wasallegedly heckled by a mob ofTMC supporters who wouldnot allow the senior saffronleader to hold such meetings intheir area.

Ghosh who went to LakeTown along with his support-ers was surrounded by a TMCmob that raised “go back” slo-gan against the saffron leadereven as a scuffle between thetwo sides ensued forcing theState BJP chief to beat a hastyretreat.

His car was given a chasefor quite distance, even as theTMC supporters assaulted the

local BJP men until the policeintervened, locals said.

Commenting on the earlymorning skirmish StateMinister and TMC leader SujitBasu who is also the localMLA said “TMC was notinvolved in the incident,”adding “the people who wereprotesting against some out-siders who were trying to pol-lute the area chased them (BJP)away.”

Ghosh in his part“thanked” the TMC for “givingme additional publicity.Returning from a morningwalk I had settled down in a teashop sharing tea with somepeople when some TMC goonsattacked me making it news. Ithank them for giving me thispublicity as they do on everyoccasion.”

Meanwhile in a similarincident a BJP MLA fromBongaon was attacked by theTMC workers giving him someminor injuries, sources saidadding his car was also dam-aged in the attack.

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The Mamata BanerjeeGovernment on Friday

took the effective step to curbmob lynching by passing theAnti-lynching Bill. After thismove, Bengal became the thirdState after Manipur andRajasthan to pass the Anti-lynching Bill.

While both the Congressand the Left supported theBill the BJP abstained allegingthe new law would be used tosettle scores.

Chief Minister MamataBanerjee who had continu-ously been critical of the BJP-ruled States and the Centre fornot taking action against peo-ple accused of mob lynchingsaid in the Assembly that herGovernment had to introducethe Act as the Centre hadfailed to discharging its duty bymaking a comprehensive lawagainst lynching.

She said “the CentralGovernment did not bring any

law to prevent lynching where-as it should have taken the firstinitiative. It should havebrought a law against lynching.As they failed to do so we arebringing this law in our State tocurb mob assault of innocentpeople.”

Insisting that there was aneed to raise public awarenessagainst mob lynching she saidthe people should stand upagainst such crime. “This is asocial evil and all of us have tocome together to fight againstthis evil. Though the SupremeCourt has given a directive tomake appropriate laws no lawhas been framed as yet,” shesaid reminding “no one has anyright to take other people’slives.”

On a separate issue theChief Minister attacked theCentre for targeting theOpposition leaders so as to fin-ish the entire Opposition andset up a one-party rule in thecountry saying “today they aretargeting the senior Opposition

leaders like Chidambaram andSharad Pawar who dared toquestion their policies, tomor-row they will do it to the entireOpposition parties.”

It was high time theOpposition parties united onan emergency basis in order tocheck the dictatorial attitude ofthe BJP Government she said.

When asked to commenton the BJP’s ambiguous standon the anti-lynching laws whenthe Congress and the Left thetwo arch enemies of the ChiefMinister backed the Bill, BJPleaders said they would notsupport the Bill as it would beused to target the innocentpeople and settle politicalscores.

The Bill stipulates a rigor-ous life imprisonment for lifeand a fine up to �5 lakh for theaccused in case the victim diesafter public lynching.

In case of serious injuriesin a mob lynching the accusedwill get a punishment of up to10 years and a fine of �3 lakh.

������ �+����������������Bengaluru: Senior Congressleader DK Shivakumar onFriday said the ED has issuedfresh summons asking him toappear before it in a moneylaundering case and termedthe action a 'conspiracy' todefame him and his party.

The former Karnatakaminister said the EnforcementDirectorate has asked him toappear before it in Delhi onFriday by 1 pm and he wasconsidering all legal options.Shivakumar told reporters thathe will face it "legally, politicallyand socially".

On whether he was feelingtargeted by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and HomeMinister Amit Shah, he said"whoever has done... I wishthem best... I have done myduty for the party. I'm proud todo my job. Whatever is in myfate will happen."

The ED move comes after

the Karnataka High Court onThursday dismissedShivakumar's petition chal-lenging the summons issued tohim in the money-launderingcase registered by the agencyagainst him and a few otherson the basis of an alleged taxevasion and hawala transac-tions case.

Shivakumar indicated thathis "instrumental role" inensuring safe stay of GujaratCongress MLAs in a Karnatakaresort during the Rajya Sabhapolls in 2017, amid allegationsthat the BJP was trying topoach them, was the reason forthe searches and subsequent I-T and ED action on him.

"When the ED summonscame (earlier), I had said thatthis is an Income Tax case, EDhas nothing to do with it, Ihave had no foreign transac-tion or was cheating the gov-ernment, and have been pay-

ing taxes, there was no con-spiracy involved," Shivakumarsaid.

Ahead of his travel toDelhi the Congress leader saidthat he had sought time andapproached the court chal-lenging the summons, but yes-terday it dismissed his appli-cation.

Stating that he was yet toreceive copy of the court order,he said, when he arrived homelast night, ED officers fromDelhi and Bengaluru cameand issued the summons ask-ing him to appear at 1 pm inDelhi on Friday.

"I cannot attend by 1 pm asI had family and personalcommitments, but I willrespect the summons and go toDelhi to appear before ED. Ihave all the right to use all mylegal options to protect myselfand respond to this conspira-cy," Shivakumar said. PTI

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Kishanganj (Bihar): FiveBangladesh nationals have beenarrested here while trying tocross over to their native coun-try, a senior Border SecurityForce (BSF) official said.

The Bangladeshis, all resi-dents of Thakurgaon district ofthe neighbouring country,claimed that they have beeneking out a living at Kulgam inJammu and Kashmir and theyarrived Kishanganj onWednesday evening, BSF DIGAmritlal Tirkey said.

Although Kishanganj rail-

way station is barely 30 km fromthe international border, theychose to stay back and plannedto leave on Thursday morning,he said. "We had, in the mean-time, received information aboutthe Bangladeshis and their plansto cross the border. When BSFpersonnel spotted them, they gotscared and began to run awaybut were eventually caught"Tirkey said. They have beenidentified as Bakkar (20), MohdJaleel (22), Mohd Rubel (20),Mohd Mehboob (20) and MohdMasoom (19), he said. PTI

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Mathura: Two toddlers diedand eight others were taken illat a Government-run orphan-age, prompting the districtadministration to order a probe.

The authorities have takensample of the milk being fed tochildren at the Rajkiya ShishuSadan here, Mathura DistrictMagistrate Sarvagya RamMishra said on Friday.

Ten children of thenorphanage fell ill on Wednesdaywith two of them dying of

diarrhoea within the last threedays, Mishra added.

Of the ten ailing children,four serious cases were referredto Agra medical college, whilerest are being treated inMathura district hospital here,he said.

He said despite the bestpossible treatment, two childrenbelow one and half years of agecould not be saved and theydied in Agra, the district mag-istrate added. PTI

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Mumbai: A 2008 Malegoanblast victim on Friday opposedthe prosecution's plea to thespecial anti-terror court hereto hold in camera trial of the"communally sensitive" case,saying terror has no religion.

"A terrorist is a terrorist.Why make it communal?What has the terror got to dowith religion?" said victim'scounsel B A Desai, opposingthe NIA's plea to hold in cam-era trial of the case on theground that it was a "commu-nally sensitive" one.

The victim's counsel alsoopposed the NIA plea, con-tending that he feared a col-lusion between the prosecu-

tion and the accused if the trialis held in camera.

"We want the trial to beheld openly as we fear collu-sion between the prosecutionand the accused. The prose-cution is protecting theaccused, not the victims bywanting to make it in camera,"he argued.

Several media persons andone of the blast victims havefiled applications opposingthe NIA plea for in cameraproceeding.

While media persons havesaid in their application thattheir fundamental rights willbe violated if the trial is held incamera, the victim's counsel

Desai said his client fear col-lusion between the prosecutionand the accused persons.

BJP MP from Bhopal,Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakurand Lt Col Prasad Purohit areamong the accused in the2008 Malegaon blast case.

The blast, which tookplace on September 29, 2008,killed six people and injuredover 100 others when a bombattached to a motorcycle wentoff near a mosque.

The trial court has so farexamined around 130 wit-nesses in the case. The prose-cution has named 475 wit-nesses.

The accused have been

charged under various provi-sions of the UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Actand the Indian Penal Code.

NIA counsel AvinashRasal argued that when thecase is of a serious and sensi-tive nature, it is necessary totake precautionary measures."We are not saying the mediashould not publish any newsarticle on the trial. We are onlysaying when the trial pro-ceedings are on, there shouldbe no interference. The mediacan take necessary informa-tion from the NIA's investi-gating office present in courtfor writing their article," Rasalsaid. PTI

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Guwahati: Ahead of the publication of final NRC, AssamChief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Friday asked peoplenot to panic and said the state government will take all pos-sible steps to help genuine Indians prove their citizenship andprovide legal assistance to the poor.

Sonowal also said exclusion of anyone's name from thefinal list of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) to be pub-lished on Saturday, does not mean that he or she has becomea foreigner as such a decision can be taken only by aForeigners Tribunal (FTs) after following proper legalprocess. "No one should be worried. No one should panic.Government is here to take care of everyone”, he told PTI. PTI

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Guwahati: Nabarun Guhashuffles uneasily in his chair,signs of worry writ large on hisface.

The journalist has visitedthe NRC Sewa Kendra (NSK)twice for hearing after hisname did not appear in theinterim and final draft, and isuncertain whether he will beable to make it to the finalRegister of Citizens when it ispublished on Saturday.

Guha is a grandson ofrenowned historian, econo-mist and poet of AssamAmalendu Guha and his fam-ily has lived in upscale Ulubarilocality of Guwahati since1930. All in the family butNabarun figure in the draftNRC. "My parents have passedaway, so the question of inclu-sion of their names does notarise. My father's name was inthe electoral rolls of 1966 and1970. I used his legacy codesand showed my linkage tohim through my voter ID card.Still my name was not includ-

ed," Guha said."It really baffles me. I don't

know whether my name will befinally included or not. If a mis-take can happen twice, it canhappen for a third time aswell," Guha told PTI, his fur-rowed forehead betraying theanxiety. Guha is not alone.Lakhs of households acrossAssam are on edge a day beforethe publication of the hugelycontentious NRC, which willdetermine bonafide Indian cit-izens as well identify illegalimmigrants from Bangladesh.

Monowara Begum, 45, adomestic help, is waiting forthe NRC on a wing and aprayer.

Though she and her hus-band Lal Bahadur Ali figuredin the draft NRC, the names ofall her four children--Laili,Anna, Monirul and Sahidulwere missing.

"I am so worried that Icannot sleep at night. I justdon't know what will happenif their names are not there in

the final list," she said despair-ingly.

When reminded of thegovernment's assurance thatnobody whose name does notappear in the list will bedetained and that they canappeal before a foreigners tri-bunal, a sob tore at her throat.

"We have already spentour hard earned money forattending hearings. If we haveto go to tribunals now, we willhave to sell our land andhome," she said.

Ganesh Rai of SolmariKalyanpur village in Goalparadistrict belongs to the indige-nous ethnic Rajbangshi com-munity but apprehends hewould fail to make it to thefinal NRC as he has beendeclared a (doubtful) D-Voter.He had voted in the 2016assembly elections and neverreceived any notice about hischanged status, which wasrevealed to him during aninquiry at a NSK. Many Bodosand tea tribe people in

Bodoland Territorial AreaDistricts (BTAD) are not over-ly worried. They assert they areindigenous people of Assamand nobody can uproot themfrom their land.

"We are the sons of thesoil. If we are not included inthe NRC, then who will be?"is the comman refrain amongthe ethnic communities here.

Amid criticism frompolitical parties over allegedfaulty inclusions and exclu-sions, the NRC will be in pub-lic domain on Saturday, andstate authorities have clampedprohibitory orders in vulner-able areas, including inGuwahati, under section 144CrPC to enforce public order.

This has been done toensure the normal functioningof offices, movement of pub-lic and traffic flow, officialssaid.

Section 144 Cr PC pro-hibits assembly of more thanfive persons, any agitation,demonstration or procession

inciting communal violence,carrying of firearms, ammu-nition, explosive substances orweapons in public places orvehicles, as well as use ofloud speakers.

Ahead of the publicationof final NRC, Assam ChiefMinister SarbanandaSonowal on Friday askedpeople not to panic and saidthe state government willtake all possible steps to helpgenuine Indians prove theircitizenship and provide legalassistance. "

No one should be wor-ried. No one should panic.Government is here to takecare of everyone. Even thosewho will be excluded fromfinal list will get enoughopportunity to prove theirIndian citizenship," he toldPTI in an interview.

Assam has seen a hugeinflux from other places, par-ticularly Bangladesh, sincethe early 20th century. It didnot stop even af ter

Independence, with a largenumber of illegal immigrantsfrom Bangladesh, bothHindus and Muslims, settlingthere. Identification, deten-tion and deportation of suchimmigrants was a majordemand over which the AllAssam Students Union(AASU) launched a 6-yearmovement which ended withthe signing of the AssamAccord in 1985.

Though the SupremeCourt had ordered updatingthe NRC in 2013 to identifybonafide citizens and weedout illegal immigrants, theactual exercise began inFebruary 2015. The part pub-lication of draft NRC wasdone on the midnight ofDecember 31, 2017, and thecomplete draft was publishedon July 30, 2018.

A total of 2,89,83,677people out of 3,29,91,384applicants were found eligi-ble for inclusion in the reg-ister. PTI

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The I-T depart-ment on

Friday dismissedsocial mediareports whichclaimed that theGovernment hasextended the duedate for filing ofincome taxreturns (ITRs) bya month and advised taxpay-ers to complete the process bythe set deadline of August 31.

“It has come to the noticeof CBDT that an order isbeing circulated on socialmedia pertaining to exten-sion of due dt (date) for filingof IT Returns. It is categori-cally stated that the said orderis not genuine. Taxpayers areadvised to file Returns withinextended due dt (date) of31.08.2019,” the Income-Taxdepartment said on its officialTwitter handle.

The handle,@IncomeTaxIndia, is operat-ed by the Central Board ofDirect Taxes that frames pol-icy for the I-T department.

The clarification cameafter a fake order dated August29 started doing the rounds onvarious social media plat-forms, including Twitter andWhatsApp groups, claiming

that the government hasextended the due date for fil-ing income tax returns forindividuals (financial year2018-19) by a month tillSeptember 30.

The I-T department alsoput up a photo of the fakeorder on its Twitter handle andput a red cancellation crossacross it making clear that thecontents are not genuine.

On July 23, theGovernment had extended thedue date for filing income taxreturns by individuals forfinancial year 2018-19 by amonth till August 31. Theearlier deadline was July 31.

Individuals, includingsalaried taxpayers, and enti-ties- who do not need to gettheir accounts audited — arerequired to file their ITRs forfiscal 2018-19 (assessmentyear 2019-20) by Saturday,August 31.

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State Governments need tocapitalise their credit

institutions to get access tolong-term finance and havebetter control over theircredit flow, a Niti Aayog offi-cial said.

The states have no con-trol over the long-termf inance r ight now butnobody is stopping themfrom recapitalising financecorporations which will allowthem to on-lend at attractiverates to entrepreneurs, NITIAayog Special SecretaryYaduvendra Mathur said.

“States can’t just wait thatsomething will come fromthe Centre then we will moveahead. It is a proactive worldnow and a proactive world isabout choice, taking actionsand the State Governmentsare choosing to take bigcourse correction action.

“We need the StateGovernments to have accessto one of the factors input,which is credit, long-termcredit which the StateGovernments right now haveno control,” Mathur said atthe ‘Indian States Summit2019’ organised by the IndianChamber of Commerce here.

He said that the stategovernments need to seri-ously invest in their creditinstitutions and have a betterhold on their credit flow.

Nobody is stopping thestate governments f rom

recapitalising their financecorporations, and throughthis, they can on-lend at anattractive rate to their entre-preneurs, Mathur said.

Right now the states haveno control over the avail-ability of long term credit.Land, labour, electricity, basicinfrastructure are under thecontrol of states but when itcomes to financing or capitalneeds, they have no role toplay as banks are owned bythe central government,Mathur said.

Also, there are issuesrelated to ease of doing busi-

ness are of great concernwith respect to states, how-ever, policy tweaking hashappened over the past sev-eral years on the exportpotential of states.

Earlier, the role of thestate governments was ratherminimal in designing thenational export strategy.

The Commerce Ministry,other central government agen-cies were really not into greaterdialogue with state govern-ments. But now every stategovernment is being asked toprepare its own export strate-gy. As a result, about 17-18states governments have comeout in the public domain withtheir export strategies, the NITIofficial said.

“The Commerce min-istry, DPIIT, NITI Aayog —we are all engaging with thestates and have discussedexport index to rank thestates.

Mathur said that the stategovernments need to supporttheir industries so that theycan compete in the globalmarket because unless theyare channelised to the glob-al value chain, India will notbe able to deliver the resultsthat are desired to a reach a$5 trillion economies.

“So we will encouragestate governments to designtheir own industrial policiesand supporting structure sothat they can compete glob-ally and realise their exportpotential,” he added.

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Congress leader PriyankaGandhi Vadra attacked

the government on Fridayover an RBI report showingbank frauds have gone up by15 per cent year-on-year in2018-19, asking who is theguarantor allowing such “bigbank frauds”.

Some people spend the better part oftheir lives on providing education tostreet children; some on extending

medical aid to the poor. Some devote them-selves to collecting clothes for, and distrib-uting the same, among pavement dwellersand some to running relief organisationsthat help those hit by natural calamities likefloods and cyclones. Some live to demandceaselessly that all stray dogs be killed.

The urge to kill — and even perpetratemass murder — is as much a part of thehuman psyche as the one to extend succourto the unprivileged and the distressed. Thewars, genocides and other violent activi-ties and crimes like murders, that haveoccurred throughout history, bear this outand underline the fact that hatred is as cen-tral, and sometimes more powerful, anemotion as love and compassion.

The most extreme form of the desire tokill is to perpetrate it on a mass scale, whichis genocide. Only a handful of people can per-petrate the latter as it would require statepower or an organisation like Hitler’sSturmabteilung (SA, the original Nazi para-military body), to do it. More, given the oppro-brium that has come to be attached to geno-cides, which are now regarded as crimesagainst humanity. Anyone calling for theslaughter of any community or class of peo-ple would find himself/herself shunned anddenounced. One, therefore, should not be sur-prised if people redirect their genocidalinstinct to stray dogs and, in the process, gainthe bonus of being able to project themselvesas protectors of human beings from death andfrom rabies numbering, according to the threefigures most commonly cited, 30,000, 25,000and 20,565 respectively.

The question is: Where do these figurescome from? The first two appear inAssessing the burden of rabies in India:WHO-sponsored national multi-centricrabies survey 2003 by the Association forPrevention and Control of Rabies in India(APRCI), which states, “However, from1985, India continues to report every year25,000 to 30,000 human rabies deaths,which today accounts for 60 per cent of theglobal report of 50,000 (WHO, 2002).”

The survey further states, “The abovefigure of 25,000 was an estimate worked outon the projected statistics of isolation hos-pitals in the country in 1985…” What wehave then is not an actual figure but an esti-mate and that, too, arrived at on the basisof not actual but “projected” statistics. Oneis reminded here of the famous statement,attributed to Charles Darwin, “A mathemati-cian is a blind man in a dark room lookingfor a black hat which isn’t there.”

As to the figure of 30,000 deaths, WHO’sWorld Survey of Rabies No. 34 for the year 1998cites this as the number of rabies deaths inIndia in that year. The survey’s annexure 3,showing “global trends and distribution bycountry and continent”, had the entry “mostparts” against India in the column under the

heading, “Geographical distrib-ution.” The space against India inthe column under the heading“Trends” was left blank. WHO’sWorld Survey of Rabies No. 35 forthe year 1999 describes the geo-graphical distribution of the inci-dence of rabies in India as beingconfined to “limited areas.” Theentry in the column under theheading of “Trend” is “Decrease.”How can, in the course of oneyear, the incidence of rabies in thecountry contract from “Mostparts” to “Limited areas?” Evenmore glaring is the fact that the1999 survey does not give any fig-ure for the number of humandeaths for rabies in India thatyear! Clearly, the figure of 30,000appears far from credible.

This brings us to theAPCRI’s survey with its figure of20,565 human deaths fromrabies every year. Again, it is amere projected estimate andnot the total of recorded deathsfrom hospitals in various parts ofthe country. Also, it is based oncritical inputs, which are them-selves of questionable validity.The survey, for instance, states,“For estimating rabies incidence,the current reported incidence ofthree cases per 100,000 popula-tion (or 30,000 for one billionpopulation, WHO 2002) wasconsidered. Based on this, as perthe planned precision of 90 percent confidence level and 10 per-missible error, about 9.1 million

or 10 million (round figure) pop-ulation coverage from 21 med-ical coverage with marginal cov-erage variations due to local fac-tors was envisaged.”

As seen, the estimated annu-al figure of 30,000 rabies deathsin India needs to be viewed withserious reservations. It is at besta conjecture of uncertain valid-ity. This in turn raises seriousquestions about the acceptabili-ty of the APCRI’s survey and itsconclusions. These questionsappear all the more warrantedgiven the official figures onrabies’ deaths. Since 2005, theUnion Government’s Ministry ofHealth and Family Welfare’sCentral Bureau of HealthIntelligence (CBHI) has beenannually publishing a NationalHealth Profile for the country.According to its 2018 edition,there were 97 cases of humandeaths from rabies in 2017.According to the relevant preced-ing annual National HealthProfiles, there were 86 humandeaths from rabies in 2016, 113in 2015, 125 in 2014 and 132 in2013. Nor were the figures evenremotely approaching 30,000,25,000 or 20,565 in earlier years.There, for example, were 386, 365and 485 deaths from rabies in1997, 1998 and 1999 respective-ly. The number was 486 in 2000and 488 in 2001.

The argument that the ver-tiginous difference between the

actual numbers recorded andthe incredibly higher estimatedones in circulation is due tounder-reporting of humanrabies deaths, holds little water.No amount of under-reportingcan explain such a massive dif-ference and certainly not whenthe reach of the print and elec-tronic media extends to everypart of the country and reportsof human-animal conflict fea-ture regularly.

Besides, the methodologyof the APCRI’s survey raisesserious questions. These includeidentification by respondents,without laboratory verification,of rabies cases which could beas many as five years old in ruraland three years old in urbanareas. The chances of people notbeing able to correctly recall thesymptoms of the disease killinga person, and attributing torabies deaths caused by otherdiseases, are very real, particu-larly when almost all of therespondents are not medicalpractitioners.

These grossly exaggeratedfigures serve only to whip upmass hysteria against stray dogs,boost the sales of anti-rabiesvaccines and spread disinfor-mation about India abroad,undermining its standing as aninvestment destination.

(The writer is ConsultantEditor, The Pioneer, and anauthor)

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Opening up for what?”(August 30). The announce-ment allowing 100 per centForeign Direct Investment (FDI)in commercial coal miningsounds good. However, its exe-cution will be crucial. TheGovernment failed to open theindustry to competition despiteliberalisation of the economyyears ago because of bureaucrat-ic indecision.

The Union Cabinet had alsoapproved policies for openingcoal mining to private minersand partially removing restric-tions on the sale of coal pro-duced at the so-called captivemines but these, too, have notbeen implemented.

It is a paradox that with theworld’s fifth-largest reserves offuel, we imported over 40 percent more coal during January toApril this year compared to lastyear. That the dip in globalprice of coal should dictate thepace of our self-sufficiency in avital sector as coal is but a fig leafover goal clarity.

R Narayanan Navi Mumbai

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Sir — Saint Teresa’s selfless anduntiring service to the poorest ofthe poor, orphaned and sick peo-ple on the streets of Kolkata isincalculable and worthy of studyand praise. Blessed with profoundempathy, unwavering commit-ment and unshakable faith, sheturned her back to worldly plea-

sures and focussed on servingmankind at a young age of 18.

After years of service as ateacher and mentor, she experi-enced a call within her religiousfaith that changed her course oflife, making her what she isknown as today.

Who would’ve thought that afragile nun from Albania couldmake it to India and care for thenaked, the disabled and the dis-

eased? St Teresa made Indiaproud by spreading the messageof peace, compassion and solidar-ity all across the world.

Today, because of theMissionaries of Charity, manynew-born babies, who are aban-doned by their parents and left onthe streets to die, are seeing thelight of the day.

Jubel D’Cruz Mumbai

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Opening up for what?”(August 30). A cyclical slow-down seems to have hit theIndian economy. TheGovernment has taken two cru-cial decisions pertaining to theeconomy. First came the FinanceMinister’s announcements to perkup investments. This was fol-lowed by an RBI transfer ofmoney to the Government.

In yet another move to boostthe economy, it announced newForeign Direct Investment (FDI)rules for coal mining, contractmanufacturing and digital media,while considerably easing rulesfor single-brand retail.

All these measures point tothe fact that the Government isfinally taking note of the down-fall in the economy. However, thebuck must not stop here. TheGovernment must pursue eco-nomic reforms with the same zealto bring out the best from entre-preneurs.

Gourang NaryaniUjjain

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Over the last few years, nationalism hasbeen the subject of discussion in practi-cally every sphere of our society. While

a healthy debate on the subject is always wel-come, invariably we find this discussion onnationalism spinning out of control and evolv-ing into arguments and political slugfests. Thisblame game certainly does not bode well for ournation and society. Nationalism is a process thatbinds a country and should promote love andharmony among the citizens. It cannot be a cat-alyst to cause cultural, social, economic, geo-graphical, historical or religious rift in the coun-try. On the contrary, it is supposed to safeguardthe interests of the common man and should bea catalyst in the progress and prosperity of thenation.

As per Chanakya, “The key to happiness isprosperity.” As per him, it’s the duty of the headof the nation to ensure prosperity of citizens.However, I doubt if this can be achieved by clash-es of ideology or by demeaning each other.

Chanakya further elaborates on the fourduties of the State. These duties are to expandfacilities in wealth and resources, to guard thegains that have been obtained, to increase/expandwhat has been obtained/achieved, to equally dis-tribute the resources and wealth among the peo-ple of the country. A great State must focus onthese four principles and be guided by them.

India remained subjugated under foreignrule for a long period but never let go of its spir-itual identity that propagated universal broth-erhood, love, tolerance, humanity, compassionand truth. Though India is an amalgamation ofmyriad religions, castes, creeds, cultures and lan-guages, our spiritual identity has kept us unifiedand finally led us to liberty. India’s freedom fight-ers contributed immensely to the struggle forIndia’s independence but by and large our fightfor liberty had a unique, amazing and dominantidentity — non-violence. Perhaps it was becauseIndia’s DNA had non-violence and tolerancedeeply embedded in it. Our respect for our diver-sities is the key to keeping India united.

It’s incumbent upon the leaders of thecountry to work towards providing better ser-vices and infrastructure to the citizens. The lead-ers must work for more equitable distributionof resources and improvement of infrastructure.People should be free to choose and pursue tra-ditions, lifestyle, language, religion and so on.This liberty to choose is the fundamental cor-nerstone of a conflict-free society and shallensure that India stands tall among the nationsof the world. Clashing on language, religion, race,colour and gender will shatter the idea that isIndia.

Being the guardian of the East, it’s incum-bent upon India and Indians to symbolise unityin diversity. India must give out a message thatit looks at the world as one brotherhood popu-lated by men and women without conflict of cast,creed or colour. If a section of people tries to tiedown or define another section of people intoboundaries, the consequences shall be disastrous.Every human being aspires to establish individ-uality and in pursuit of individuality shall trylevel best to break the barriers imposed by oth-ers. A nationalism governed by boundaries shallnever let a nation stand united.

India is a large and diverse coun-try and can progress only if the cornerstones and principles of theConstitution are respected and adheredto. The profusion of aggressive slogansand the naked display of might that weare witnessing today are damaging thenation. Hitler is a glaring example ofwhat happens when a leader propagatesracial superiority. History is witnessthat his actions and thought processvirtually destroyed Germany whilepursuing his ridiculous racial agenda.

It’s imperative that citizens be leftfree to decide their slogan, whether itwill be “Bharat Mata ki Jai”, “VandeMataram”, “Jai Hind”, “Jai Bharat” or“Hindustan Zindabad.” Eventually theyall convey the same sentiment. A citi-zen serving the nation by adhering tothe principles of the Constitutiondeserves the freedom to decide how toexpress love and respect for the nation.If a citizen has been responsibly fulfill-ing his duties towards the country, thenhe has the right to expect that politi-cal parties and their leaders shall ful-fill their obligations towards him andthe nation to the best of their abilities.Good governance certainly does notmean misleading the citizens and com-plicating core issues and deficiencieswith aggressive slogans.

True nationalism lies in providingemployment to the youth of the nation,ensuring a better minimum supportprice to the farmers, creating a simpli-fied tax regime for the traders, provid-ing protection to women, promotingcommunal harmony, ensuring freedom

of Press, securing and safeguarding theborders of the nation and most impor-tantly respecting the tenants of theConstitution. Political parties and lead-ers should be judged and evaluated bythese guiding principles of nationalism.Sports, cinema, telecom revolution,ease of transport, availability of region-al food pan-India, migration of stu-dents from different regions to univer-sities across the nation are a few fac-tors that have been great catalysts inunifying the nation. 1985 saw threemajor revolutions — automobiles, tele-vision and communication — furtherunifying the citizens.

It’s important to understand thatIndia can best progress following thetraditional progressive principles of cul-ture. Chanakya’s principle is that everycitizen is free to live life in accordancewith his/her beliefs and principles andif need be to lay down one’s life to safe-guard them. Let’s consider the twomain religious sects of the nation,Hindus and Muslims. Since timeimmemorial, the followers of SanatanDharma are free to worship idols orwhatever form of God they choose.Sanatan Dharma stresses on freedomto pursue personal beliefs. On the otherhand Islam is founded on the basictenet of equality as it accords a uniformstatus to all Muslims.

Ilama Iqbal has summed it upbeautifully in the following lines whichstate that all are equal in the eyes of theAlmighty — “Sultan and slave stoodside by side. Then there was no servantnor master, nothing did them divide.”

These fine traditions make India acountry that accords its citizens com-plete personal freedom.

If we reflect on the struggle forIndia’s Independence, different peopleand parties took different paths in theirfight for liberty but no one branded theother anti-national. Even those who didnot participate in this noble cause werenot criticised. Sadly, in today’s Indiathere is a mad rush to certify nation-alists and nationalism. It is not enoughto be a nationalist; one has to be a cer-tified nationalist. The question is dothose certifying qualify as nationalists?Fact is, as compared to today’s lead-ers, those during the Independencestruggle and nascent years of the for-mation of our nation were men andwomen of true character and patri-ots. When I say character, I mean thatour freedom fighters never market-ed their nationalism. For them, serv-ing the nation was a privilege and nota tool to grab power. Citizens of Indiashould be driven and inspired by thenationalism of both RabindranathTagore and Mahatma Gandhi. Theyboth propagated a nationalism encom-passing humanity and compassion.

Practising true nationalism, today’spoliticians should work towards creat-ing a fear-free nation and societywhere the rights of the citizen aresacred and protected. In conclusion, Istate that those who agree with mythoughts are as much nationalist asthose who disagree with me.

(The writer is a national spokesper-son, Indian National Congress)

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Many Indian cities have limitedmunicipal revenues and hencethey fail to provide urban infra-

structure and services, which in turn, comein the way of harnessing their potential ascritical drivers of economic growth anddevelopment. However, the problem ofmunicipal revenue deficit is not insur-mountable and can be addressed byincreasing existing local taxes and strength-ening the revenue-raising capacity ofmunicipal bodies or Urban Local Bodies(ULBs) by broadening sources. Suchfinancially sound ULBs would then attractprivate investors. Property Tax (PT),levied on ownership of any building andland within the municipal area by ULBs,is a significant source of revenue envisagedfor the development and maintenance ofurban areas. However, PT collections aresignificantly lower and roughly constitute0.2 per cent of India’s GDP, while in coun-tries like Canada and the US, they con-tribute up to 3 to 4 per cent. Even a mod-est increase in PT can help ULBs raise rev-enue and enhance development.

The potential of PT is under-utilisedbecause of under-assessment, poor collec-tion and widespread exemptions. Mostproperties are valued on the basis of gross

Annual Rental Value (ARV). Owing to theuse of discretionary and corrupt practices,prevailing PT rates hardly correspond totheir actual market value and yield very lit-tle tax revenue. Wide prevalence of theRent Control Act has capped potential rentincreases to a maximum of 25 per cent ofthe 1948 benchmark and has given orig-inal tenants the right to pass property onto their heirs, preventing any futureincrease in rent.

In fact, assessed values have beenfound to be approximate 8-10 per cent ofthe market value, with varying tax rates fordifferent kinds of properties. Globally, PTis generally around one to two per cent ofthe market value of the property. However,given the under-assessment of marketvalue in India, the PT rates would be mere-ly a fraction of that. Deficiency in tax man-agement is also pronounced and ULBsgenerally do not have any system in placeto count the actual number of taxableproperties under their jurisdiction oreven carry out reforms and technologicalupgradation to the collection system.

On an average, only 37 per cent of thetax demanded is collected, with the corre-sponding figures being as low as 55 per centfor a city like Mumbai. In spite of penal pro-

vision for delayed payments or non-pay-ments, ULBs rarely bring any penal actionagainst defaulters, highlighting the role oflocal political economy and poor commit-ment. Further, exempted properties con-stitute approximately 10 per cent of totalurban properties and about 11 per cent ofassessed properties. Interestingly, PT ischaracterised as the tax everyone loves tohate because its visibility and other char-acteristics make people particularly awareof it and, therefore, any reform initiativesentail significant local political challengesand administrative difficulties. Primarily,PT reforms involve four key areas ofintervention — broadening of tax base,assessing property valuation, setting tax rateand collecting taxes.

Past experiences have shown that awell-functioning tax system applies a lowtax rate across a broad taxbase. Up-to-dateinformation on properties are required fortaking tough decisions like what to tax orexempt and whom to make liable for thistaxation. ULBs, presumably endowed withlocal knowledge of land and property use,are best placed to develop such physicalcadastre. Harmonising existing propertyrecords with data from utility companies,records from Government departments

and digitising these dynamic databases canbe useful for bringing a higher number ofproperties under the tax net and enhancedevelopment. Serious rethinking on PTexemptions is required to minimise rev-enue loss. Sometimes exemptions are jus-tified for providing tax incentives toattract businesses. However, such incen-tives, as evident from experiences in UScities, may turn out to be counter-produc-tive with a deterioration of the tax baseand financial health of the ULBs. This inturn results in lower levels of urban ser-vice delivery.

Two distinct assessment methodolo-gies in India — value-based assessmentand area-based assessment (with the for-mer being divided into rental and capitalvalue approaches) — have failed to cap-ture the real value of properties. Non-availability of extensive data on markettransactions of properties (or the corre-sponding from revenue departments)makes the valuation under capital valueapproach inaccurate.

Cities like Bengaluru, Chennai,Hyderabad, Indore, Kolkata, Patna andPune have introduced the Self-AssessmentSystem as a reform measure. Self-assess-ment, if supported by a proper legal frame-

work, is genuinely an appealing procedurefor our cities with little administrativecapacity.

However, the possibility of underes-timation could produce significant rev-enue losses. Fair initial assessment andperiodic re-evaluation of propertiesreflecting changes in value could be use-ful for addressing PT inelasticity andvolatility. While most ULBs follow a pro-gressive PT rate structure, Bengaluruand Ludhiana have a flat tax rate, with dif-ferentiation between residential and non-residential units and lower rates forowner-occupied as compared to rentedhouses. Differential tax rates increase com-plexity as well as administrative costs.Given the low administrative capacity ofULBs, a single rate may be the best optionfor policymakers. It is crucial to allowULBs to set the tax rate as that wouldmake them accountable for tax decisionsat the municipal level, leading to improvedmunicipal services with accountability.

Such PT reforms may result in majortax shifts. Attendant political resistanceand public resentment can be mitigatedby strengthening the linkages betweenlocal taxes and local expenditure andinvolving citizens at each stage of the

design and implementation of municipaltax policy processes. Undoubtedly, peo-ple are happier to pay taxes when theyrelate them with improvements in servicedelivery and when they are consulted andkept informed about the reform process-es and a firm, predictable policy.

Phase-in mechanism, in which taxchanges are spread out over several yearsalong with improved services, can also beused to make tax reform acceptable andsustainable. Instead of tax rebate, tax defer-ral schemes, that defer tax increases untilthe property is passed to someone else, canalso be used to help asset-rich but lowerincome people. It is important to makepeople aware about PT payments byshowcasing various costs and benefits ofcompliance or non-compliance.

The Centre’s push for urbanisationand competitiveness among cities (SmartCities Mission), rankings (SwachhSurvekshan), ratings (credit ratings ofULBs), should also prioritise empower-ment of ULBs through capacity develop-ment to harness PT as a primary sourceof revenue.

(Chattopadhyay is Assistant Professorof Economics at Visva Bharati Universityand Kumar is Director of IMPRI)

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Markets overcame amid-session spell ofweakness to close with

robust gains on Friday asinvestors accumulated banking,FMCG and metal stocks amidhopes of more measures fromthe government to bolstergrowth.

Positive global cues and astrengthening rupee added tothe buying momentum, traderssaid.

After gyrating 568 pointsduring the day, the 30-shareSensex ended 263.86 points, or0.71 per cent, higher at37,332.79.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty rose 74.95 points, or 0.68per cent, to close at 11,023.25.

On a weekly basis, theSensex advanced 631.63 pointsor 1.72 per cent, while the Niftygained 193.90 or 1.79 per cent.

Top gainers in the Sensexpack on Friday included YesBank, Sun Pharma, IndusIndBank, Tata Steel, HUL, Vedanta,Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, ITC,HDFC and Bajaj Auto, that roseup to 3.75 per cent.

On the other hand,PowerGrid, ONGC, HCL Tech,Kotak Bank, L&T, NTPC, SBIand Asian Paints fell up to 2.12per cent.

“Markets demonstrated

resilience today, in what could becalled a reversal day, with indicesbeing down most of the day andending up strongly at the close.With the government, FinanceMinistry and RBI working intandem, sentiment will recoverin time as will growth... Metals,PSUs and FMCG led the rally onthe hope of further measures tobe announced by the FinanceMinister...

“Buoyant global marketssupported the gains. India hasunder-performed emergingmarket peers as well as thedeveloped markets over the pastfew months,” said Sunil Sharma,chief investment officer,Sanctum Wealth Management.

Investors were also awaitingthe official estimate of GDPgrowth for Q1 FY20.

Sectorally, BSE metal,FMCG, healthcare, realty,finance, teck and IT indices roseup to 1.77 per cent.

However, power, capitalgoods and oil and gas indicesslipped up to 0.60 per cent.

The broader BSE midcapand smallcap indices followedthe benchmarks, ending up to1.01 per cent higher.

Meanwhile, the ReserveBank of India on Thursdayplayed down deepening slow-down as just “soft patch mutat-ing into a cyclical downswing”.

In the annual report forFY19, the central bank conced-ed that diagnosing the exactproblems was “difficult”, butreiterated that the issues werenot structural in nature.

Global equities moved high-

er on expectations of a tradetruce between the US andChina.

In Asia, Hang Seng, Kospiand Nikkei settled on a positivenote, while Shanghai CompositeIndex ended marginally lower.

Equities in Europe weretrading higher in their respectiveearly sessions.

Meanwhile, the Indianrupee appreciated by 38 paise toclose at a two-week high of 71.42against the US dollar on Friday.

At the interbank foreignexchange, the rupee opened upat 71.76 and gained furtherstrength to touch a high of71.38 against the US dollar.The domestic currency finallysettled with a gain of 38 paise of0.53 per cent at 71.42, a level notseen since August 16.

The rupee sentimentrevived as concerns over US-China trade friction recededafter China said it would notretaliate against the latest US tar-iffs, dealers said.

The dollar index, whichgauges the greenback’s strengthagainst a basket of six currencies,rose 0.05 per cent to 98.55.

The 10-year governmentbond yield was up at 6.57 percent.

Brent crude futures, theglobal oil benchmark, slipped0.17 per cent to USD 60.39 perbarrel.

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India’s top oil and gas producer ONGCon Friday unveiled a USD 15-16 bil-

lion investment plan to double outputfrom its domestic and overseas fieldsand expand its refining capacity threefolds alongside diversification intorenewables in a new vision documentfor 2040.

“The new strategy document aimsto transforms ONGC in a new ‘avatar’ inthis new energy landscape as a diversi-fied energy company with strong con-tribution from non-E&P businesses,” Oiland Natural Gas Corp (ONGC)Chairman and Managing Director ShashiShanker told reporters here.

ONGC Energy Strategy 2040 envi-sions the company as “A diversified ener-gy company with a strong contributionfrom non E&P business; 3x revenues andabout 5-6x market capitalisation,” he said.

The firm produced 24.23 milliontonne of crude oil in the 2018-19 fiscalyear and 25.81 billion cubic metres ofnatural gas from its domestic fields.Another 10.1 million tonne of oil and4.736 bcm of gas was produced from itsoverseas assets. It had a turnover of�1,09,654 crore and a net profit of�26,715 crore in the year ended March31, 2019. As on August 16, it had a mar-ket capitalisation of �1,64,458 crore.

“Our fields are old and ageing, 30-50 years old and have reached plateau. Sowe are investing in re-development pro-jects to arrest the fall and extend the life,”

he said.The company is investing around

�86,000 crore in 27 major projects toboost oil and gas production, which hasstagnated over the last few years. Theseprojects will yield 76 million tonnes ofoil and 121 bcm of gas. The overall plan,which includes overseas projects, expand-ing refining capacity and investing inrenewables, will entail USD 15-16 billioninvestment. “These numbers will changeas we progress,” ONGC Director(Finance) Subhash Kumar said.

Shanker said the ‘Energy Strategy2040’ entails ONGC achieving “threetimes revenue distributed across explo-ration and production, refining, mar-keting and other businesses; four timescurrent profit-after-tax (PAT), with 10 percent contribution from non-oil and gasbusiness; and 5-6 times current marketcapitalisation.”

“The strategic roadmap envisions afuture-ready organisation whose growthis predicated on a few important planks:consolidation of our core upstream busi-ness (domestic and international); expan-sion into value accreting adjacencies inthe oil and gas value chain (downstreamand petrochemicals) and diversificationinto renewables (offshore wind) andselect new frontier plays through dedi-cated venture fund,” he said.

It targets cumulative upstream out-put (local and overseas) almost doublingfrom current levels with 2 per cent and5 per cent CAGR in domestic and inter-national operations respectively.

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/1>7��>�����A>1;���� ����New Delhi (PTI): After crossing record �40,000-mark, gold

price on Friday declined �500 to �39,720 per 10 gram in thenational capital, according to the All-India Sarafa Association,as positive developments in US-China trade talks reduced safe-haven appeal of the yellow metal. The yellow metal on Thursdayrose by �250 to touch a record high of �40,220 per 10 gram inthe national capital.

Silver also dropped �450 to �48,600 per kg on reduced off-take by industrial units and coin makers.

Ease in demand from jewellers in the domestic spot mar-ket amid sluggish trend overseas mainly led to a decline in goldprices, traders said. Besides, appreciation in the rupee alsoweighed on precious metal, they added.

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New Delhi (PTI): The government’s fis-cal deficit touched �5.47 lakh crore in the Junequarter, which is 77.8 per cent of the budgetestimate for 2019-20. In absolute terms, the fis-cal deficit or gap between expenditure and rev-enue was �5,47,605 crore at July-end, as per thedata released by the Controller General ofAccounts (CGA) on Friday.

The fiscal deficit stood at 86.5 per cent of2018-19 budget estimate in the year-ago peri-od. The government estimates the fiscal deficitto be at �7.03 lakh crore during 2019-20. It aimsto restrict the deficit at 3.4 per cent of the GDPin the current fiscal, same as the last fiscal.

The CGA data showed that revenuereceipts of the government during April-July,2019-20 remained unchanged at 19.5 per centof the Budget Estimate (BE) compared to thecorresponding period last year. In absoluteterms, revenue receipts stood at �3.82 lakhcrore at July-end 2019. During the entire year,the revenue receipts has been pegged at �19.62lakh crore.

The capital expenditure was 31.8 per centof the BE. This compares with 37.1 per cent inthe year-ago period, the CGA said.

Total expenditure during April-July peri-od stood at �9.47 lakh crore or 34 per cent ofthe BE. It was 36.4 per cent of BE in the cor-responding period last fiscal. The governmenthas pegged its total expenditure during the fis-cal ending March 2020 at �27.86 lakh crore.

The CGA further said the fiscal deficitfigure in monthly accounts during a finan-cial year is not necessarily an indicator of fis-cal deficit for the year. Its data gets impact-ed by temporal mismatch between flow ofnot-debt receipts and expenditure up to thatmonth on account of various transitional fac-tors both on receipt and expenditure side,which may get substantially offset by the endof the financial year.

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Script Open High Low LTPRCOM 0.90 0.92 0.85 0.87YESBANK 58.00 60.90 55.55 59.50IBULHSGFIN 449.40 461.20 434.60 455.35RELIANCE 1247.00 1254.00 1220.85 1248.35IDEA 4.93 5.45 4.90 5.37SBIN 276.25 277.90 266.95 273.70TATASTEEL 341.70 347.00 337.15 344.95RBLBANK 323.25 330.50 313.70 327.45TATAMOTORS 115.00 117.10 112.05 116.75SUNPHARMA 433.60 453.50 430.15 450.65BANKBARODA 92.60 93.60 89.10 92.60VEDL 137.60 140.55 135.05 139.30GRUH 266.10 268.95 255.70 258.40KOTAKBANK 1448.70 1458.10 1422.00 1431.70SPICEJET 128.50 133.80 127.10 132.80AXISBANK 666.70 668.35 640.50 663.75LICHSGFIN 419.60 427.00 414.60 424.95BOMDYEING 80.70 86.25 80.30 84.00ICICIBANK 408.40 412.80 402.80 410.40JINDALSTEL 96.45 98.20 94.30 96.60LT 1343.45 1357.00 1302.30 1328.10UJJIVAN 290.50 305.80 285.85 303.80HDFCLIFE 544.90 559.45 542.20 557.05BAJFINANCE 3348.00 3348.00 3260.00 3335.00HDFCAMC 2444.00 2591.55 2444.00 2558.50INDUSINDBK 1358.00 1401.20 1330.50 1397.25ASHOKLEY 65.90 66.00 63.05 64.45RPOWER 2.99 3.29 2.96 3.24MARUTI 6145.00 6158.85 6055.00 6121.60

HDFC 2144.00 2171.35 2118.90 2166.50ITC 241.70 247.05 239.15 245.55DHFL 47.90 48.75 46.50 47.60BBTC 868.70 934.90 868.70 900.65RELINFRA 36.40 39.45 35.80 38.85DISHTV 22.50 22.80 21.20 21.90HDFCBANK 2235.00 2260.00 2223.25 2228.90ONGC 123.90 125.65 119.65 121.20RELCAPITAL 34.60 35.20 33.25 34.90DLF 165.00 169.30 161.40 168.00INFY 808.00 817.50 802.00 814.60COALINDIA 190.50 190.50 182.20 184.60SPARC 153.00 162.90 149.40 159.50SRTRANSFIN 973.35 980.45 942.70 966.20IDFCFIRSTB 43.00 44.00 42.20 43.45NTPC 123.05 123.55 115.65 121.70IOC 124.90 125.00 120.00 122.45JSWSTEEL 214.50 218.95 211.40 218.00CANBK 224.00 224.60 216.80 220.55PNB 65.40 65.95 63.35 64.95BANDHANBNK 479.00 495.00 461.15 469.25SBILIFE 837.20 846.80 811.50 839.35SAIL 31.70 32.25 30.45 31.20EDELWEISS 117.80 117.80 110.00 110.40HINDALCO 182.00 187.05 181.50 184.50ZEEL 363.60 376.20 362.25 373.45PEL 1984.00 2049.95 1974.90 2048.45FEDERALBNK 81.70 83.35 80.20 83.00BIOCON 228.00 237.15 224.50 235.25ESCORTS 517.00 518.70 502.05 510.25BEL 104.60 105.05 100.70 102.85IBREALEST 68.25 69.70 64.75 67.80J&KBANK 37.10 42.80 37.05 41.55VENKYS 1377.15 1463.95 1359.60 1430.35ICICIPRULI 426.35 427.00 419.70 424.50HINDPETRO 265.00 265.00 252.60 260.10ADANIENT 132.50 138.25 132.45 137.20L&TFH 94.15 94.70 91.55 94.35STRTECH 116.00 120.00 112.50 114.15TCS 2236.05 2266.10 2218.00 2258.05HINDZINC 219.90 222.15 214.40 216.60APOLLOHOSP 1517.00 1541.30 1496.35 1507.30MCX 941.65 980.70 935.00 977.20NBCC 37.55 37.55 34.25 35.35TECHM 692.55 700.00 676.35 696.05GRAPHITE 276.10 280.80 265.50 268.65POWERGRID 206.00 207.00 194.10 200.55DELTACORP 163.85 180.00 163.85 176.55DMART 1556.55 1577.70 1555.05 1575.00NATIONALUM 40.40 42.00 38.95 41.70ULTRACEMCO 4109.85 4117.45 4014.65 4052.55HINDUNILVR 1838.50 1886.25 1827.40 1880.10BAJAJFINSV 7000.00 7142.95 6965.60 7125.00FRETAIL 398.00 400.00 388.55 394.90ACC 1549.00 1549.00 1484.50 1519.05PETRONET 264.00 267.75 262.45 266.70SWANENERGY 109.90 118.00 108.35 112.75RADICO 303.95 313.35 300.15 308.85GAIL 129.95 133.15 125.35 129.65BANKINDIA 66.95 67.00 63.80 65.55BHEL 51.70 51.70 49.65 50.55AVANTI 309.00 328.15 307.90 318.30

ADANIPOWER 57.65 59.20 57.25 58.45WIPRO 250.00 255.25 249.20 254.35INDIGO 1660.35 1696.45 1651.80 1689.95LUPIN 736.00 744.00 720.55 740.25NCC 56.55 57.60 53.70 54.70HEG 938.70 954.90 930.00 954.00IBVENTURES 173.60 179.90 165.85 178.20JUBILANT 430.00 448.00 426.65 440.15TATAGLOBAL 275.95 280.55 274.95 277.80ORIENTBANK 68.20 74.20 66.95 73.50MGL 849.50 854.70 835.00 845.35TATACHEM 575.00 588.80 566.75 584.50MARICO 391.00 393.30 388.45 391.00JUSTDIAL 702.40 721.50 693.00 718.20SUZLON 3.78 3.84 3.65 3.71M&M 534.00 534.00 519.10 528.90TITAN 1108.00 1112.35 1095.00 1102.90GLENMARK 388.95 391.00 380.00 386.20UNIONBANK 60.10 60.30 57.65 58.90REDINGTON 111.35 114.90 106.05 108.35AUROPHARMA 593.90 603.75 590.85 600.70MANAPPURAM 122.00 122.75 117.80 118.85BATAINDIA 1500.00 1545.75 1500.00 1541.95TATAELXSI 636.50 636.50 621.55 632.00OBEROIRLTY 549.40 574.45 549.40 569.35ADANIGREEN 45.55 47.90 45.55 46.20HCLTECH 1125.00 1125.00 1083.35 1102.40EQUITAS 110.50 112.40 107.50 112.10SUNTV 441.30 441.80 422.35 436.45RNAM 273.50 277.00 269.25 273.75BHARTIARTL 345.40 349.30 338.95 347.05ENGINERSIN 106.45 107.60 100.60 102.65MOTHERSUMI 98.00 98.45 96.20 97.95UPL 558.25 564.90 547.25 562.70COLPAL 1252.60 1278.00 1232.00 1274.35EICHERMOT 16638.00 16652.25 15985.95 16260.35NIITTECH 1485.00 1510.00 1448.20 1489.00PFC 102.00 105.80 100.75 105.45TATAPOWER 55.60 57.00 55.00 56.75INDIANB 195.00 202.80 183.95 200.20NMDC 80.45 83.55 79.90 83.10ITI 71.90 71.90 68.05 68.70ASIANPAINT 1615.00 1621.95 1595.75 1615.20FORCEMOT 1224.85 1241.85 1199.45 1214.20PHOENIXLTD 685.00 706.05 679.25 696.80ASTERDM 118.00 119.30 116.40 119.20HEROMOTOCO 2585.00 2585.00 2520.00 2571.85GRASIM 718.00 718.00 699.25 711.05INDIACEM 76.00 77.00 73.25 73.95TATAMTRDVR 53.50 53.80 51.25 53.50GODREJCP 602.30 611.90 588.75 607.65BAJAJ-AUTO 2769.15 2796.35 2727.25 2789.55JUBLFOOD 1210.65 1219.80 1182.50 1188.70BPCL 354.75 356.40 345.70 354.20NESTLEIND 12764.00 12946.15 12568.50 12849.95UFLEX 210.05 210.90 203.15 203.90IGL 328.50 337.05 327.55 336.50MINDTREE 684.00 690.00 668.65 688.50TATACOFFEE 74.35 76.65 72.80 75.20KAJARIACER 473.00 483.50 470.20 472.00ICICIGI 1240.20 1261.75 1236.95 1250.10WOCKPHARMA 247.00 248.90 243.10 244.80CREDITACC 528.00 586.95 524.80 559.60HAVELLS 665.00 681.30 663.00 680.25JAICORPLTD 73.50 76.50 73.15 74.35ADANIGAS 144.00 144.45 139.00 140.40CUB 193.85 204.00 193.25 201.95LAKSHVILAS 38.50 39.45 36.85 38.65INFRATEL 256.05 258.00 247.60 250.35DCMSHRIRAM 392.75 392.75 375.30 383.90DABUR 444.90 450.00 444.05 448.75GNFC 177.90 182.60 177.35 179.70AMBUJACEM 201.25 202.90 199.20 202.25CHOLAFIN 269.25 271.70 263.15 268.55VIPIND 428.50 441.00 422.10 434.55IDBI 26.10 27.00 25.90 26.75PCJEWELLER 33.25 34.00 32.50 33.40CUMMINSIND 570.85 581.00 558.55 575.00GODREJPROP 904.80 905.65 900.00 900.00STAR 373.45 382.30 371.85 381.25BLISSGVS 104.50 111.40 104.50 106.55ADANITRANS 239.00 239.95 230.85 233.00CIPLA 465.95 475.00 461.70 472.55APOLLOTYRE 169.60 172.00 168.85 171.15TVSMOTOR 355.55 359.50 344.15 352.15PVR 1539.50 1547.45 1504.00 1541.65IRB 80.85 80.85 75.95 76.30VOLTAS 630.55 643.70 624.00 640.85BRITANNIA 2691.95 2725.35 2687.55 2704.80ADANIPORTS 368.05 368.10 359.75 364.10ABCAPITAL 88.90 90.00 87.80 89.15CENTURYTEX 845.00 858.65 840.00 851.80RECLTD 140.00 145.15 138.25 144.20RAJESHEXPO 724.00 724.00 697.35 701.40DBL 365.00 375.60 357.30 359.70BEML 800.00 809.50 785.75 789.90M&MFIN 320.00 323.00 314.25 320.05PIDILITIND 1380.00 1382.00 1365.00 1380.00AJANTPHARM 998.70 1030.00 989.00 1016.00SUNTECK 471.00 475.80 458.00 466.45FCONSUMER 27.70 28.00 26.55 27.75GSFC 74.05 76.35 73.60 76.00KTKBANK 75.65 75.70 74.80 75.15TORNTPHARM 1688.65 1718.85 1685.60 1705.80JMFINANCIL 70.60 74.20 70.60 73.35CEATLTD 913.50 918.10 899.65 907.30GODREJIND 424.70 425.00 414.15 420.30RAYMOND 564.40 572.35 553.15 569.05INFIBEAM 39.55 41.70 39.45 40.00

REPCOHOME 315.80 316.95 307.00 308.25MINDACORP 96.10 103.00 96.10 99.00CANFINHOME 400.20 415.00 395.00 412.45MAHINDCIE 153.00 157.55 148.10 153.85DCBBANK 201.50 209.45 200.45 208.00DRREDDY 2528.20 2568.15 2514.00 2561.50BHARATFORG 387.00 389.10 380.10 385.25MUTHOOTFIN 615.00 615.00 598.00 605.90RAMCOCEM 743.00 744.40 723.60 729.95ALBK 34.55 35.50 34.00 35.30MEGH 45.40 45.80 44.30 45.50JAMNAAUTO 32.75 34.50 31.05 34.05BERGEPAINT 375.00 375.00 367.85 369.00CADILAHC 219.00 226.30 219.00 225.20PHILIPCARB 112.85 113.85 109.50 111.80OIL 146.60 148.60 142.80 148.00RCF 40.00 41.65 40.00 41.00LALPATHLAB 1185.25 1261.95 1178.10 1237.25GMRINFRA 15.56 15.56 14.94 15.06COFFEEDAY 74.75 75.15 74.75 74.75SYNDIBANK 30.80 33.80 30.05 32.35NOCIL 87.80 89.25 86.25 86.95ESSELPRO 99.45 107.15 99.00 107.15JKTYRE 58.45 58.50 57.00 58.50RAIN 80.05 81.70 78.65 80.20TAKE 119.10 121.95 117.65 119.20PIIND 1117.00 1152.45 1099.35 1141.80LTTS 1611.00 1637.15 1608.50 1634.10SCI 27.95 28.25 27.20 27.90TORNTPOWER 279.85 281.80 275.45 278.00PAGEIND 17910.00 18773.75 17815.15 18681.90SIEMENS 1160.10 1207.30 1160.10 1204.05MMTC 20.55 20.55 19.65 20.05JINDALSAW 67.95 70.00 67.45 69.40HEXAWARE 387.30 392.35 385.40 386.60INTELLECT 212.00 214.80 210.40 213.30JSLHISAR 61.60 63.35 60.95 62.00SOBHA 537.00 548.15 528.25 535.10NAVINFLUOR 710.00 741.40 709.95 730.10WELCORP 118.95 122.30 118.00 122.30SRF 2749.05 2786.00 2741.70 2773.65LEMONTREE 54.00 54.95 53.55 54.00OMAXE 196.15 196.15 193.45 193.50HATHWAY 32.15 34.00 31.90 33.45DIVISLAB 1633.90 1641.95 1602.00 1628.90FSL 47.85 48.60 47.80 48.20KANSAINER 466.30 468.80 450.00 464.70ENDURANCE 890.05 932.80 890.00 932.80SONATSOFTW 316.05 316.35 306.40 307.50CONCOR 496.75 510.30 495.50 508.50TRENT 469.65 473.75 465.75 469.30MFSL 428.05 432.85 418.00 419.70EMAMILTD 298.50 300.90 295.30 296.50PGHL 4220.00 4309.00 4105.00 4115.00THOMASCOOK 133.75 144.40 132.05 140.90RITES 223.90 226.00 220.75 221.95IBULISL 83.30 85.00 79.95 81.25HUDCO 36.90 37.15 35.45 36.30OFSS 2992.60 3094.10 2971.00 3075.00ISEC 225.00 225.30 213.30 214.90VINATIORGA 2121.05 2195.00 2089.40 2121.95JBCHEPHARM 377.50 389.80 377.50 380.80GODFRYPHLP 1034.40 1047.00 1018.10 1024.95DCAL 170.00 173.00 161.85 170.40DEEPAKNI 281.60 284.25 275.10 275.20BAJAJELEC 393.05 398.35 385.70 390.50TIMKEN 703.90 703.90 691.00 693.95GAYAPROJ 107.30 109.70 103.65 104.70PTC 56.20 56.65 55.90 56.40MINDAIND 333.20 338.50 327.35 337.00APLAPOLLO 1289.45 1338.00 1289.45 1331.70RELAXO 457.00 460.00 448.00 459.00NATCOPHARM 559.00 559.00 539.85 545.00PNCINFRA 181.80 183.50 177.10 177.15JYOTHYLAB 144.00 146.80 138.85 142.60SUVEN 260.00 260.80 255.55 257.50ANDHRABANK 18.25 19.85 18.10 19.75INOXLEISUR 273.30 284.00 266.70 280.80AMARAJABAT 611.40 622.50 608.50 619.65VGUARD 231.20 232.55 227.25 231.00SOUTHBANK 11.00 11.24 10.84 10.89MAHABANK 11.98 12.65 11.80 12.53MAHLOG 340.00 340.00 325.00 328.00WABAG 278.45 280.50 275.05 275.70WELSPUNIND 49.25 50.50 49.00 50.35GICRE 167.00 186.60 167.00 180.50TATACOMM 421.50 431.80 420.80 431.20HSCL 78.20 78.80 77.00 77.70IPCALAB 948.10 970.00 946.70 966.40NAUKRI 2007.55 2039.50 2007.50 2031.00BALKRISIND 748.00 748.30 729.20 747.00CYIENT 430.75 430.75 414.00 421.00CENTRALBK 19.30 20.05 18.95 19.75NLCINDIA 52.55 54.80 52.00 54.25ERIS 374.25 381.45 371.85 377.00UBL 1367.00 1375.00 1353.00 1372.70ABB 1345.00 1353.00 1327.85 1334.35KRBL 221.25 221.85 211.30 213.65CHENNPETRO 190.00 196.00 185.15 193.75EIHOTEL 161.25 163.00 154.25 159.30EXIDEIND 177.80 180.60 176.50 178.55IDFC 34.00 35.65 33.80 35.50BASF 1018.00 1080.00 990.80 1080.00GUJGAS 177.95 179.65 176.50 179.65LTI 1636.55 1640.80 1621.20 1624.00HEIDELBERG 198.00 199.45 194.50 195.85HINDCOPPER 32.75 32.75 31.35 31.60ABFRL 189.85 190.90 188.40 189.35CORPBANK 17.90 19.00 17.25 18.85

CAPPL 412.80 432.40 410.20 431.60KEC 249.00 249.00 241.70 244.65UCOBANK 15.00 16.45 14.65 15.75ASHOKA 97.00 99.90 96.55 98.65PNBHOUSING 653.00 658.40 640.15 644.40KALPATPOWR 448.60 450.00 438.05 444.20AUBANK 665.00 679.95 656.10 677.20WESTLIFE 285.80 286.00 280.00 281.10BLUESTARCO 730.00 733.10 713.00 715.30BOSCHLTD 14165.30 14550.00 13975.40 14376.45SUPRAJIT 171.50 171.50 162.75 165.95TATAINVEST 760.00 775.00 753.00 764.50NILKAMAL 983.70 1008.00 980.00 996.15BAJAJHLDNG 3310.05 3310.05 3245.00 3251.75PFIZER 2899.00 2945.00 2860.00 2942.00HERITGFOOD 355.00 358.10 340.00 344.00GODREJAGRO 454.40 455.15 447.10 449.20AEGISLOG 191.60 191.70 188.15 189.65CROMPTON 226.10 231.75 226.10 229.45QUESS 467.00 477.45 462.50 476.75HFCL 18.80 19.10 18.70 18.85LAOPALA 176.55 184.10 171.00 180.20JSWENERGY 67.25 68.05 66.45 66.80NETWORK18 22.00 23.40 21.40 22.60TRIDENT 55.65 56.65 55.30 56.30JKCEMENT 1050.00 1056.80 1018.80 1024.60GSPL 221.25 222.20 218.35 219.55FINOLEXIND 508.00 509.05 501.20 504.00CENTRUM 27.00 28.35 26.50 26.55SADBHAV 130.60 137.40 126.70 137.40ASTRAZEN 1850.00 1890.05 1833.00 1890.00GRANULES 91.20 91.80 89.65 90.65PERSISTENT 536.50 544.80 530.75 540.00SUNDRMFAST 432.25 433.00 419.00 430.00NHPC 23.15 23.40 23.00 23.35FORTIS 123.20 125.30 120.65 124.10VMART 1913.65 2020.00 1900.20 2002.80GREAVESCOT 123.80 123.80 120.25 120.90HIMATSEIDE 129.30 130.00 125.75 126.90CASTROLIND 121.70 123.80 121.40 122.60AAVAS 1510.80 1520.00 1482.00 1488.25KNRCON 215.95 216.90 209.00 212.90JISLJALEQS 20.00 20.35 19.50 19.55GSKCONS 7940.00 8126.80 7932.65 8112.85GICHSGFIN 175.00 176.45 170.40 172.95DEEPAKFERT 80.70 81.55 78.60 78.95RALLIS 155.50 159.55 155.20 157.45IFBIND 665.10 668.00 639.05 648.40TATAMETALI 510.00 518.50 501.75 517.00SHREECEM 18509.40 18609.75 18271.75 18581.90COROMANDEL 385.40 387.00 377.60 381.90WHIRLPOOL 1539.50 1553.85 1539.50 1553.85INDHOTEL 139.00 139.50 136.35 138.80KEI 473.00 473.00 468.30 469.50TTKPRESTIG 5810.00 5878.80 5730.00 5731.35GLAXO 1198.00 1220.00 1194.00 1210.15MOIL 126.70 127.75 125.10 125.10TV18BRDCST 20.40 21.05 20.25 20.45CHAMBLFERT 154.35 155.00 153.15 153.50MRF 57855.00 58950.00 57611.65 58690.00LAXMIMACH 3725.00 3751.00 3680.00 3705.20GDL 96.90 98.60 96.10 98.50ATUL 3474.30 3549.45 3474.30 3530.15PARAGMILK 138.70 140.40 138.10 140.20PRESTIGE 294.65 296.50 292.80 296.10BALMLAWRIE 172.60 173.45 171.50 172.25JPASSOCIAT 2.15 2.16 2.10 2.13IOB 10.00 10.55 9.90 10.40ASTRAL 1309.00 1324.00 1287.00 1312.25ORIENTCEM 81.50 82.60 80.90 82.00HAL 650.00 651.45 639.30 650.00CENTURYPLY 133.90 136.50 133.55 134.45ZYDUSWELL 1634.20 1686.40 1634.20 1647.90INOXWIND 31.80 33.15 31.45 32.90SYNGENE 305.45 310.40 304.30 308.70VBL 652.00 653.20 632.00 641.15GUJALKALI 385.00 393.30 384.50 388.00AIAENG 1552.70 1553.10 1520.85 1536.00PRSMJOHNSN 89.15 89.15 87.80 88.65JSL 30.50 31.25 30.30 31.05GESHIP* 238.25 241.35 237.10 238.30CARERATING 540.00 540.75 529.65 538.00TNPL 190.70 193.80 186.75 187.15VTL 876.75 887.45 865.00 865.00ALLCARGO 95.20 95.20 90.40 90.55JETAIRWAYS 42.40 42.40 39.70 39.70GILLETTE 7156.00 7329.90 7156.00 7254.95MOTILALOFS 582.00 584.00 575.00 575.00MASFIN 587.90 606.85 575.95 606.85NIACL 106.80 107.50 104.50 105.00PGHH 10189.95 10255.00 10018.55 10255.00SHANKARA 262.05 267.85 257.10 260.053MINDIA 20680.00 20820.00 20202.00 20202.00INDOSTAR 283.20 283.20 274.65 276.20CARBORUNIV 285.00 288.00 280.10 282.35CCL 238.10 239.35 234.50 234.50MPHASIS 970.20 978.90 963.70 974.25SJVN 24.30 24.70 24.10 24.60APARINDS 538.50 543.70 529.55 534.25IRCON 337.00 340.00 337.00 338.25ABBOTINDIA 9096.00 9169.40 9096.00 9130.00UNITEDBNK 9.49 10.49 9.47 10.40ZENSARTECH 218.55 223.90 217.15 217.15SHK 132.60 133.00 125.00 125.00GRINDWELL 546.30 565.85 544.80 548.00MAHSEAMLES 378.60 380.60 373.40 374.50SOMANYCERA 290.00 290.00 283.15 290.00COCHINSHIP 344.65 346.65 343.50 343.65BIRLACORPN 533.00 536.40 530.45 534.15

IEX 133.00 134.40 131.10 133.35MAHLIFE 369.75 375.70 364.85 367.85SREINFRA 11.08 11.10 10.82 11.00TCNSBRANDS 677.70 677.70 662.40 673.00APLLTD 496.70 502.15 496.50 499.70CHOLAHLDNG 440.50 452.65 427.00 452.65SANOFI 5985.00 6168.20 5980.00 6168.20MAGMA 66.25 66.25 63.25 65.20FINEORG 1420.55 1450.00 1417.35 1436.50SUPREMEIND 1067.00 1123.05 1067.00 1103.60EIDPARRY 155.25 155.50 152.35 153.60THYROCARE 465.75 467.00 460.70 462.65JCHAC 1538.00 1640.00 1538.00 1640.00TIINDIA 338.25 340.25 334.85 338.80GEPIL 779.00 779.00 761.00 763.00GMDCLTD 63.75 64.80 63.40 64.05IFCI 7.00 7.20 7.00 7.08BAJAJCON 253.05 254.20 251.65 253.00ITDCEM 69.80 69.95 67.00 69.30GULFOILLUB 837.35 864.90 837.35 864.50ITDC 173.70 174.20 167.70 168.60EVEREADY 81.50 81.55 80.35 80.50CRISIL 1295.00 1295.00 1278.00 1278.75DBCORP 138.55 138.55 133.35 133.50TVSSRICHAK 1781.25 1799.90 1772.00 1799.90TEJASNET 80.10 81.00 77.10 78.90ORIENTELEC 153.15 160.00 152.70 158.10SHILPAMED 212.55 216.00 208.00 212.55MAHSCOOTER 3812.15 3859.20 3797.00 3825.05MHRIL 216.90 216.90 213.75 216.65TVTODAY 303.00 307.90 303.00 303.20ADVENZYMES 148.00 148.25 146.50 148.25LUXIND 1053.10 1081.00 1053.10 1070.75BAYERCROP 3099.65 3147.00 3076.00 3147.00BDL 280.65 289.85 278.05 279.45JKLAKSHMI 325.30 326.45 324.55 326.45MRPL 46.05 46.50 45.65 46.05THERMAX 1004.60 1005.75 990.85 995.35ALKEM 1820.00 1825.00 1810.00 1813.70TIMETECHNO 62.25 62.50 60.00 60.85LAURUSLABS 326.00 334.00 326.00 328.05ELGIEQUIP 241.10 247.45 241.00 246.00TRITURBINE 99.80 101.65 97.90 99.00FDC 160.55 161.90 160.05 160.40MAXINDIA 59.15 60.30 59.05 60.00FLFL 434.95 434.95 425.55 425.55SCHNEIDER 75.60 77.90 75.45 77.80ECLERX 448.95 452.90 448.95 449.20CGPOWER 10.40 10.40 10.40 10.40BLUEDART 2199.40 2299.00 2198.05 2248.45VARROC 430.65 444.95 430.65 444.95GALAXYSURF 1298.90 1305.00 1289.65 1289.65DHANUKA 317.55 321.00 310.00 320.80AKZOINDIA 1715.85 1732.85 1699.40 1732.85SYMPHONY 1234.25 1269.25 1233.30 1269.25FINCABLES 363.35 368.05 359.20 366.00WABCOINDIA 6150.00 6155.65 6103.25 6103.25SUDARSCHEM 312.90 318.95 312.90 317.35GHCL 194.50 194.50 190.90 192.85NESCO 526.05 529.05 525.30 526.00GPPL 78.10 79.00 78.00 78.00LINDEINDIA 499.25 504.90 497.80 504.40SFL 1226.50 1226.50 1200.00 1223.60

RATNAMANI 915.00 915.00 910.00 915.00SCHAEFFLER 4015.05 4065.00 3968.35 4065.00HONAUT 24900.00 24996.90 24751.00 24800.00JAGRAN 63.95 64.40 63.50 64.30TEAMLEASE 2716.00 2730.60 2688.80 2708.00KPRMILL 561.75 565.85 561.75 563.60CERA 2461.00 2461.00 2425.65 2425.65MONSANTO 2030.25 2037.10 2009.55 2020.00NH 234.85 236.00 231.75 236.00SKFINDIA 1837.65 1857.90 1837.65 1855.85SIS 761.80 761.80 755.30 756.00SHOPERSTOP 396.15 402.50 392.50 402.50STARCEMENT 96.75 96.85 95.80 96.00GET&D 151.90 151.90 149.25 149.45HATSUN 599.80 607.75 599.20 601.05SHRIRAMCIT 1343.35 1345.75 1330.60 1334.60SOLARINDS 1122.15 1122.15 1112.00 1115.55ASAHIINDIA 184.00 184.00 181.55 181.60NBVENTURES 81.25 82.10 81.25 81.95JSWHL 2725.00 2774.95 2725.00 2740.00

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 10987.80 11042.60 10874.80 11023.25 74.95YESBANK 58.25 60.95 55.50 60.40 3.00SUNPHARMA 432.95 453.40 429.75 452.15 17.50ZEEL 363.60 376.00 362.25 375.45 13.35INDUSINDBK 1359.05 1401.65 1330.15 1397.60 47.05TATASTEEL 342.00 347.50 337.20 346.70 11.15VEDL 137.65 140.60 135.00 140.20 4.45JSWSTEEL 215.00 218.95 211.25 218.00 6.05HINDUNILVR 1834.20 1886.40 1827.15 1882.45 49.50HINDALCO 182.25 187.00 181.45 184.50 4.80WIPRO 250.10 255.25 249.15 254.00 5.20BAJAJFINSV 6997.00 7146.55 6965.00 7122.05 142.20TATAMOTORS 115.60 117.30 112.00 116.50 2.20ITC 242.75 247.20 239.05 245.50 4.30ICICIBANK 406.50 412.85 402.65 411.35 6.95HDFC 2137.70 2171.25 2118.00 2165.00 36.55CIPLA 468.00 475.20 461.45 473.00 7.80GAIL 129.65 133.10 125.20 130.05 1.55DRREDDY 2530.20 2568.00 2513.00 2558.15 30.35TCS 2241.00 2266.00 2218.00 2259.00 25.55BAJAJ-AUTO 2766.10 2796.90 2726.15 2787.65 29.85BRITANNIA 2690.00 2726.45 2687.50 2705.00 28.15BAJFINANCE 3310.15 3347.00 3260.00 3331.55 32.25INFY 810.00 817.35 802.00 814.75 7.80BHARTIARTL 345.00 349.60 338.75 346.80 3.30RELIANCE 1245.50 1254.40 1221.00 1253.00 11.25UPL 559.00 565.25 547.15 563.00 4.65TECHM 693.00 700.70 675.85 696.00 4.85AXISBANK 664.90 668.60 640.10 665.50 4.35IBULHSGFIN 450.00 461.40 435.00 452.10 2.80BPCL 353.75 356.80 345.15 355.45 1.40HEROMOTOCO2559.85 2579.00 2520.55 2557.25 9.50M&M 530.60 532.90 519.05 529.80 1.80HDFCBANK 2233.50 2260.00 2222.00 2231.90 4.95ASIANPAINT 1616.00 1622.50 1595.10 1618.55 3.30GRASIM 713.00 716.00 699.05 710.10 1.25TITAN 1107.05 1113.00 1095.00 1103.60 1.80MARUTI 6144.00 6159.25 6052.90 6108.35 -1.85SBIN 275.95 277.95 266.85 273.40 -1.10ADANIPORTS 368.45 368.85 359.40 364.20 -2.00ULTRACEMCO 4095.00 4118.00 4016.05 4044.90 -29.00NTPC 122.90 123.65 115.60 121.95 -1.15LT 1344.95 1356.90 1302.90 1327.75 -14.70KOTAKBANK 1448.10 1459.60 1423.10 1434.85 -16.00IOC 124.20 124.45 120.00 122.20 -1.45HCLTECH 1115.70 1115.80 1083.20 1101.20 -16.55POWERGRID 205.35 207.20 194.00 201.45 -3.35ONGC 123.50 125.75 119.50 121.20 -2.05EICHERMOT 16563.80 16666.00 15967.05 16260.00 -278.00COALINDIA 189.75 190.45 182.15 184.70 -4.30INFRATEL 257.85 257.85 247.35 250.10 -8.35

SE 500B

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 26155.65 26457.20 26001.45 26405.05 358.15IDEA 4.90 5.45 4.90 5.40 0.55GICRE 169.10 185.60 168.05 181.05 11.95HDFCAMC 2440.65 2593.90 2440.65 2586.00 153.50PAGEIND 18039.35 18763.95 17810.05 18670.00 841.70NMDC 80.50 83.65 79.60 83.00 3.45BIOCON 227.95 237.20 224.50 235.60 7.65PEL 1982.00 2050.00 1962.10 2047.00 65.40MCDOWELL-N 618.05 632.40 614.45 632.40 18.85BOSCHLTD 14050.00 14555.00 13929.05 14385.00 386.00CADILAHC 220.80 226.40 219.00 225.80 6.00CONCOR 497.00 510.45 494.20 510.00 13.25HDFCLIFE 542.00 559.40 542.00 555.60 13.90SIEMENS 1180.00 1209.00 1166.10 1206.00 30.05HAVELLS 664.95 684.50 662.50 680.95 16.40OFSS 3005.85 3092.30 2970.00 3061.00 70.10NHPC 23.00 23.45 23.00 23.45 0.50MRF 57660.00 58950.00 57660.00 58800.00 1254.35AUROPHARMA 593.95 603.65 591.00 603.00 11.90DLF 166.50 169.20 161.35 168.10 3.00DIVISLAB 1611.60 1643.35 1601.45 1643.35 28.35DMART 1555.45 1578.00 1555.40 1574.00 26.95COLPAL 1257.70 1278.65 1251.10 1274.00 21.60INDIGO 1664.95 1696.10 1652.00 1684.30 28.05PETRONET 262.65 267.80 262.15 266.90 4.25GODREJCP 608.00 612.10 588.15 609.50 9.10L&TFH 93.75 94.80 91.50 94.35 1.35HINDZINC 215.95 222.30 214.00 216.05 3.05PGHH 10144.00 10262.80 10026.00 10248.00 139.85ACC 1507.00 1524.55 1484.05 1518.10 18.00DABUR 444.70 450.35 444.00 448.10 5.25MOTHERSUMI 97.95 98.45 96.20 98.05 1.10BANKBARODA 92.30 93.55 89.10 92.80 1.00LUPIN 735.90 744.55 720.05 743.00 7.95AMBUJACEM 201.00 202.95 199.15 202.10 2.05ICICIGI 1239.00 1260.00 1237.35 1247.35 10.25UBL 1363.90 1375.45 1352.75 1374.95 11.05BANDHANBNK 485.10 497.65 461.65 468.95 3.55MARICO 390.00 393.60 388.20 391.50 2.70SBILIFE 840.00 847.00 810.00 840.00 4.90SHREECEM 18570.00 18614.95 18279.00 18600.00 80.00ICICIPRULI 425.25 427.30 419.40 424.20 1.65ABB 1336.00 1354.00 1327.05 1337.00 4.70PIDILITIND 1377.95 1382.50 1364.80 1377.10 2.95BHEL 50.70 51.20 49.60 50.70 0.10SRTRANSFIN 973.00 981.00 942.50 966.00 -1.15SAIL 31.75 32.30 30.40 31.25 -0.05NIACL 107.55 107.75 104.65 104.85 -1.70BAJAJHLDNG 3324.00 3324.00 3235.00 3255.00 -55.30ASHOKLEY 65.65 65.90 63.05 64.45 -1.30HINDPETRO 265.00 265.00 252.55 259.50 -6.40

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Opponents of PrimeMinister Boris Johnson’s

move to suspend parliament inthe final weeks before Brexitlost the first of several legal bidsto stop him on Friday.

Scottish judge RaymondDoherty rejected the requestfor a temporary injunctionpending a full hearing in thecase on September 6.

“I’m not satisfied thatthere’s a need for an interimsuspension or an interim inter-dict to be granted at this stage,”Doherty said in his ruling.

Queen Elizabeth II hasalready given the go-ahead toshutter parliament betweenmid-September and October14 — just two weeks before theBrexit date of October 31.

The move was widely seenas limiting the time for parlia-mentarians to move againstJohnson, who has said Britainmust leave the EU with or with-out a deal.

Legal bids to halt the sus-pension have also beenlaunched in Belfast andLondon.

Former prime ministerJohn Major, a strong support-er of EU membership, has saidhe will seek to join the Londonlegal action.

Johnson announced the

surprise decision Wednesday todismiss parliament — knownas proroguing — next monthfor nearly five weeks.

The move sent shockwavesthrough British politics, trig-gering a furious outcry frompro-Europeans and MPsopposed to a no-deal exit.

Wrong-footed, Johnson’sopponents labelled the sus-pension of parliament a “coup”and a “constitutional outrage”.

Britain’s Foreign SecretaryDominic Raab said onlyaround four days of parlia-mentary time would be lost.

“The idea that this is somekind of constitutional outrageis nonsense.” Britain’s Brexitnegotiators are to meet theirEU counterparts twice a weekthroughout September in abid to reach a new divorceagreement.

Johnson said he wants to“step up the tempo” in talkswith the European Union tostrike a new Brexit deal.

Johnson wants the so-called backstop, the fallbackprovisions regarding the Irishborder, scrapped completely.

“While I have been encour-aged with my discussions withEU leaders over recent weeksthat there is a willingness to talkabout alternatives to the anti-democratic backstop, it is nowtime for both sides to step up

the tempo,” he said.There are growing con-

cerns among some major play-ers in the EU that Britain willnot be able to come up withrealistic alternatives to thebackstop in time.

A spokesperson for theEuropean Commission saidthey were willing to work “24/7throughout this long process”.

“We expect the UK tocome forward with concreteproposals as President (Jean-Claude) Juncker made clear toPrime Minister Johnson earli-er this week.” The backstop isincluded in a divorce deal theEU agreed with Johnson’s pre-decessor, Theresa May, whichparliament has rejected threetimes.

Ireland’s Foreign MinisterSimon Coveney said Britainhad come up with “nothingcredible” to replace the back-stop. “If that changes, great,” hesaid in Helsinki.

German Foreign MinisterHeiko Maas said after meetingRaab at the summit: “It is nownecessary for time reasons toput the (proposals) on thetable as soon as possible.”Luxembourg’s Foreign MinisterJean Asselborn added: “I stillhope that reason will prevail.”

Beyond the courts,Johnson’s opponents are plan-ning all manner of moves to

stop him in his tracks.Shami Chakrabarti,

Labour’s chief legal advisor,warned on BBC radio: “We willuse any means necessary toprevent this undemocraticbehaviour — that includes peo-ple taking to the streets.”Protests are planned Saturdayin several cities, with someorganisers calling for roadsand bridges to be occupied.

The leaders of the sixopposition parties in parlia-ment said they believed amajority of MPs were againstJohnson’s move.

“We demand that theprime minister reverses thisdecision immediately or allowsMPs to vote on whether thereshould be one,” they said of thesuspension.

“The prime minister isshutting down parliament withthe sole aim of stopping MPsfrom avoiding a no-deal Brexit.”Labour opposition leaderJeremy Corbyn said he wouldtry to start a parliamentaryprocess that would allowJohnson’s opponents to legislateto prevent Britain leaving theEU without a deal and to stopthe suspension of business.

Corbyn is also mulling ano-confidence vote in Johnson’sConservative government,which commands a fragile 320to 319 majority.

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Britain has come up with“nothing credible” to

replace the controversial Irishbackstop in its deal to leave theEU, Ireland’s foreign ministersaid Friday.

Prime Minister BorisJohnson wants the backstop —the fallback provisions for theborder between EU memberIreland and UK-ruledNorthern Ireland — to bescrapped completely.

With the clock tickingdown to the October 31 depar-ture date and Johnson insistinghe will not postpone, the EU ispressing Britain to come upwith workable alternatives.

“We all want to get a dealbut at the moment nothingcredible has come from theBritish government in the con-text of an alternative to the

backstop,” Simon Coveney saidas he arrived for a meeting ofEU foreign ministers inHelsinki.

“If that changes, great. We’lllook at it in Dublin but moreimportantly, it can be the basisof a discussion in Brussels butit’s got to be credible.” Aftertalks with his British counter-part Dominic Raab on thesidelines of the Helsinki meet-ing, German Foreign MinisterHeiko Maas said London mustcome up with ideas soon.

“I have once again made itclear that it is now necessary fortime reasons to put the (pro-posals) on the table as soon aspossible,” Maas told reporters.

Fears among Brexit-sup-porters that the backstop couldleave Britain tied indefinitely toEU rules were a major reasonwhy British MPs voted downthe current divorce deal three

times.Brussels and Dublin insist

the backstop is essentially tosafeguard the EU single marketand avoid risking the return ofsectarian violence in NorthernIreland.

Johnson wants to replacethe backstop with a commit-ment to find so-called “alter-native arrangements” in thefuture, but Coveney said thiswas not good enough.

“We will not allow a reallyimportant element of the with-drawal agreement to beremoved... to be replaced withsomething that doesn’t standup to scrutiny and is simply apromise that we’ll do our bestto solve the problem but notexplain how,” he said.

“That is not an approachthat either Ireland or the EUwill support.” Dutch ForeignMinister Stef Blok echoed the

call for concrete proposalsfrom London, saying “you can-not solve that (the Irish borderproblem) without details”.

Brexit negotiators from thetwo sides are to meet twice aweek throughout September ina bid to find a way through thedeadlock, London said onThursday.

Johnson insists Britain willleave on October 31 comewhat may — even if it meanscrashing out in a chaotic “nodeal” Brexit that causes eco-nomic turmoil.

Luxembourg’s ForeignMinister Jean Asselborn saidthe prospect of no deal alarmedhim. “No-deal is a catastrophefor both sides, and could costthousands and thousands ofjobs and create misery for noreason,” he said.

“I still hope that reason willprevail.”

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President Donald Trump hasformally launched the US

Space Command, which hesaid will ensure that America’sdominance in space is “neverthreatened,” amidst advancesmade by countries like Russiaand China. The command’sestablishment comes as the UShas grown increasingly con-cerned about threats to itssatellites from countries likeRussia and China.

“Those who wish to harmthe United States, to seek tochallenge us on the ultimatehigh ground of space, it’s goingto be a whole different ball-game,” he said on Thursday ata White House ceremonymarking the command’s estab-lishment.

Describing the establish-ment of the 11th CombatantCommand as a landmark

moment, Trump said it recog-nises the centrality of space toAmerica’s national security anddefence.

Gen John W Raymondwill be the commander of theUS Space Command, whichhas been established as the 11thUnified Combatant Commandof the American armed forces.

The command will initial-ly consist of just 287 personneland its final location has yet tobe determined. Its responsibil-ities will be transferred pri-marily from US StrategicCommand, according to CNN.

“It’s a big deal. As thenewest combatant command,SPACECOM will defendAmerica’s vital interests inspace — the next war-fightingdomain,” Trump, also theCommander-in-Chief of theUS military, said.

“SpaceCom will ensure thatAmerica’s dominance in space

is never threatened,” he said.“This is a landmark day,

one that recognises the cen-trality of space to America’ssecurity and defence,” he said.

The Trump administra-tion has identified Russia andChina as the countries whopose threat to the United Statesin space.

“Our adversaries areweaponising Earth’s orbits withnew technology targetingAmerican satellites that arecritical to both battlefield oper-ations and our way of life athome.

“Our freedom to operate inspace is also essential to detect-ing and destroying any missilelaunched against the UnitedStates,” he said.

“Just as we have recognisedland, air, sea, and cyber as vitalwar-fighting domains, we willnow treat space as an inde-pendent region overseen by a

new unified geographic com-batant command,” said the USpresident. The SpaceCommand, he said, will soonbe followed by establishment ofthe United States Space Forceas the sixth branch of theUnited States Armed Forces.

The launch was attendedamong others by Vice PresidentMike Pence and DefenceSecretary Mark Esper.

“To ensure the protectionof America’s interests in spacewe must apply the necessaryfocus, energy, and resources tothe task – and that is exactlywhat Space Command willdo,” Esper said.

“Establishing the UnitedStates Space Command as aunified combatant command isthe next critical step towardsthe creation of an independentSpace Force as the sixth branchof the armed forces,” he said.

“Assured access to space is

vital across the full range ofmilitary operations. This stepputs us on a path to maintaina competitive advantage in thiscritical war fighting domain,”said Chairman of the JointChiefs of Staff General JosephDunford. Notably, it is re-establishment of the US SpaceCommand, which existedbetween 1985 and 2002.

“Space is the new war-fighting domain and we areunder constant threat fromhostile foreign actors like Chinaand Russia, who are currentlygearing up to take on theUnited States in space. It’sabundantly clear we must takethese threats seriously,”Congressman Michael Waltzsaid.

Waltz is a member of boththe Science, Space andTechnology Committee, andthe House Armed ServicesCommittee.

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European countries will stepup diplomatic efforts to

save the beleaguered Irannuclear deal, Germany’s foreignminister said Friday after talkswith Britain and France.

Tensions have spikedrecently in the Gulf, where Iranhas seized Western tankers asTehran and Washington havelocked horns over the 2015deal.

US President DonaldTrump last year unilaterallypulled out of the accord thathanded Iran relief from sanc-tions in return for curbs on itsatomic programme.

The move alarmedEuropean powers, which seethe deal as the best way to stopIran acquiring nuclearweapons, and infuriated theIslamic republic.

The foreign ministers ofBritain, France and Germany— the three European partiesto the deal — were joined byEU diplomatic chief FedericaMogherini for talks on thesidelines of an EU meeting in

Helsinki.Germany’s Heiko Maas

said the trio wanted to build onmomentum from last week-end’s G7 summit, where Trumpindicated willingness to talk toIran.

“Our priority is to open thedialogue window between theUS and Iran,” Maas toldreporters.

“Especially after the G7summit in Biarritz we are all ofthe opinion that the momen-tum that perhaps exists, thereadiness for dialogue on bothsides... must now be used.”Mogherini said Thursday theEU would support such a move— provided the current dealwas preserved.

The Europeans haverepeatedly said they are com-mitted to saving the deal, butefforts to shield Iran’s economyfrom the reimposition of USsanctions have so far borne lit-tle fruit.

“We will be discussing fur-ther diplomatic efforts togeth-er with the French and theBritish — including in theregion with all the countries

bordering the Gulf,” Maas said.Ahead of the meeting,

British foreign ministerDominic Raab also said hewanted to “build on themomentum of the positive G7talks on Iran”.

As well as mooting thesummit with his Iranian coun-terpart Hassan Rouhani,Trump also appeared open toa French suggestion that Iranbe given a line of credit to helpstabilise its economy.

“The nuclear deal is theonly deal on the table that pre-vents Iran from getting anuclear weapon and we willcontinue working together toencourage Iran to uphold theagreement in full,” Raab said.

“We also need the broad-est international support pos-sible to tackle the threats tointernational shipping in theStrait of Hormuz.” Britain,along with Australia andBahrain, has joinedWashington’s OperationSentinel mission to protectcommercial shipping on thecrucial oil trade routes throughthe Gulf, in particular the Strait

of Hormuz.Other European countries

have been cool on the idea,fearing greater naval presencein the region could risk esca-lating an already febrile situa-tion.

The idea has been floatedof a European observation mis-sion in the Strait, a strategicchoke point at the mouth of theGulf, but a number of EUcountries have voiced reserva-tions. Maas said there were sill“different views” and stressednothing should be done thatmight imperil diplomaticefforts.

Mogherini on Thursdaygave a cautious welcome to theidea of US-Iran talks butstressed “first and foremostwhat is existing needs to be pre-served” — including the 2015deal.

In response to the USpulling out of the deal andreimposing sanctions, Tehranhas breached certain limits onits nuclear production imposedby the accord, but the EUinsists it has so far not takenany irreversible steps.

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Pakistan observed the“Kashmir Hour” on Friday

to express “solidarity” with theKashmiri people as many ral-lies were held across the coun-try, weeks after India revokedthe special status of Jammu andKashmir.

The nationwide, half anhour protest began as the clockstruck noon. It was followed bythe blaring of sirens acrossPakistan, with traffic grindingto a halt for few minutes inmany Pakistani cities.

The main event was held atIslamabad’s ConstitutionAvenue where Prime MinisterImran Khan delivered anaddress to a flag-waving andslogan-shouting crowd.

“Today, all of Pakistan,wherever there are Pakistanis,whether they are our students,or shopkeepers or labourers, allof us are standing with theKashmiris,” Khan said.

“The Kashmiris are going

through a difficult phase.Approximately 8 millionKashmiris for the last fourweeks have been locked undercurfew,” he said.

The prime minister saidthe purpose of observing thenationwide protest was toapprise the Kashmiris thatPakistan shared their “griefand pain” and “fully stand bythem”.

“We will stand with themtill the last breath,” he said.

Khan said Pakistan wouldgive a “befitting response” ifIndia attempted to launch a“false f lag operation” inKashmir.

“There are reports thatIndia might resort to an oper-ation to divert internationalattention from the situationin Kashmir…The PakistanArmy is fully prepared tothwart any external aggres-sion,” he said.

Khan said the world shouldrealise that a clash between thetwo nuclear armed countries

might result into a loss to thewhole world.

Another event is beingheld at the Aiwan-e-Sadr wherePresident Arif Alvi addressedthe crowd.

Education institutions,government and private offices,banks, traders, lawyers andmilitary authorities took part inthe rallies.

Tensions between Indiaand Pakistan have escalatedafter New Delhi on August 5revoked Jammu and Kashmir’sspecial status and bifurcated itinto two union territories.

Reacting to India’s move onKashmir, Pakistan downgrad-ed its diplomatic ties with NewDelhi and expelled the IndianHigh Commissioner.

India has categorically toldthe international communitythat the scrapping of Article370 was an internal matterand also advised Pakistan toaccept the reality.

Prime Minister Khan ear-lier this week gave a call for

weekly protests by the nationand designated August 30 asthe day for the first suchdemonstration to show “soli-darity” with the Kashmiris.

According to the railwaysministry, all trains stopped forone minute and all railwayworkers took part in the rallies.

The weekly protest willcontinue till September 27when prime minister Khan isexpected to address the UNGeneral Assembly.

Different local leaders alsoaddressed the gatherings.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’sSenate, the upper house ofParliament on friday unani-mously passed a resolutionstrongly condemning India forrevoking the special status ofJammu and Kashmir.

The resolution noted thatNew Delhi’s decision was anattempt to undermine the UNCharter, international law andrelevant UN Security Councilresolutions on the Kashmirissue.

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UN Secretary GeneralAntonio Guterres has said

the legacy of nuclear testing is“nothing but destruction,” andin a world of rising tensions,“our collective securitydepends” on bringing a globaltreaty into force that bansnuclear explosions.

Guterres in his message forthe International Day AgainstNuclear Tests on Thursdaysaid, “I reiterate my call for allStates that have not yet done so,to sign and ratify the CTBT(Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty), especially thosewhose ratification is needed forthe treaty’s entry into force,”

The treaty, known world-wide by the acronym CTBT, isa central pillar of internation-al efforts to advancing nucleardisarmament.

However, despite beingwidely supported – with 184signatories and 168 ratifyingStates – it has not yet enteredinto force, more than twodecades after its adoption.

“Honouring those victimsrequires bringing nuclear test-ing to a permanent end,” saidthe Secretary-General, stressingthat “yet, an effective and legal-ly-binding prohibition remainsone of the longest unfulfilledgoals of nuclear disarmament.”

The UN chief stressed thatthe CTBT is vital to ensuringthere are no more victims; it isalso essential to advancingnuclear disarmament.

The International Dayagainst Nuclear Tests marks theclosing, in 1991, of the nucleartest site in Semipalatinsk,Kazakhstan, the largest in theformer Soviet Union. Morethan 450 tests took place there,

with impacts still being feltdecades later.

The ComprehensiveNuclear-Test-Ban TreatyOrganisation (CTBTO) is aVienna-based internationalorganisation that will be estab-lished upon the entry intoforce of the CTBT. It will betasked with verifying the banand will operate therefore aworldwide monitoring systemand may conduct onsite inspec-tions. The PreparatoryCommission for the CTBTO, aUN partner forum, was set upin 1997 and consists of a ple-nary body composed of allStates signatories to the Treatyand a Provisional TechnicalSecretariat.

Lassina Zerbo, ExecutiveSecretary of the CTBTO andBeibut Atamkulov, Minister ofForeign Affairs of Kazakhstan,also issued a joint statement to

mark the International Day.“Kazakhstan and the

CTBTO encourage States andthe civil society to join forcesto put an end to nuclear test-ing through advancing themuch needed entry into forceof the CTBT,” they said.

The joint statement furthermentioned the “NazarbayevPrize for a Nuclear-Weapons-Free World and GlobalSecurity”, which to be awardedto CTBTO and late DirectorGeneral, Yukiya Amano, ofthe International AtomicEnergy Agency (IAEA).

Saying that it is “high time”to bring the treaty into force,the joint statement urged coun-tries to “take the last steps ofthis long journey and finish oneof the longest sought interna-tional instruments in the areaof non-proliferation and dis-armament.”

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Google security expertsuncovered an “indiscrimi-

nate” hacking operation that tar-geted iPhones over a period ofat least two years and usedwebsites to implant malicioussoftware to access photos, userlocations and other data.

In a post Thursday on theblog of Google’s Project Zerosecurity taskforce, cyber expertsdid not name the hacked web-sites hosting the attacks, but estimatedthey received thousands of visitors a week.

“Simply visiting the hacked site wasenough for the exploit server to attackyour device, and if it was successful, installa monitoring implant,” said Project Zero’sIan Beer.

Once installed, the malicious software“primarily focused on stealing files anduploading live location data,” Beer said,

adding it had been able to access encrypt-ed messenger apps like Telegram,WhatsApp and iMessage.

Google hangouts and Gmail had alsobeen affected, he added in the post, whichprovided a detailed breakdown of how themalicious software targeted and exploit-ed iPhone vulnerabilities.

Most of the vulnerabilities targetedwere found in the iPhone’s default Safari

web browser, Beer said, addingthat the Project Zero team haddiscovered them in almost everyoperating system from iOS 10through to the current iOS 12version.

Once embedded in a user’siPhone, the malicious softwaresent back stolen data, includinglive user location data back toa “command and control serv-er” every 60 seconds.

Beer said Google hadinformed Apple of the attacks in

February, and Apple subsequently releaseda security patch for the iOS 12.1.

Long the driver of Apple’s money-making machine, iPhone revenue overallwas down 12 percent from last year to $26billion.

The tech giant sent out invitations onThursday to a September event at itsSilicon Valley campus where it is expect-ed to unveil a new-generation iPhone.

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Prominent democracyactivists were arrested

Friday in a dragnet acrossHong Kong - a move describedby rights groups as a well-worntactic deployed by China to suf-focate dissent ahead of keypolitical events.

The sweep comes after amajor rally planned by a civilrights group on Saturday wasbanned by police on securitygrounds.

Hong Kong has beenlocked in three months ofpolitical crisis, with increas-ingly violent clashes betweenpolice and protesters that haveprompted an escalating publicrelations campaign fromChina.

Protesters had planned yetanother mass rally on Saturday— the fifth anniversary ofBeijing’s rejection of a call foruniversal suffrage in the semi-autonomous city.

It was a pivotal moment,sparking the 79-day UmbrellaMovement in 2014, whichseeded the ground for today’s

protests.But organisers on Friday

afternoon said they would notmarch, complying with thepolice banning order.

Earlier, two of the UmbrellaMovement’s leaders, JoshuaWong and Agnes Chow —both still well-regarded amongthe city’s youth — were arrest-ed in dawn swoops bothaccused of “inciting others totake part in unauthorisedassembly” among othercharges.

The pair were charged incourt on Friday afternoon. Themain charge carries up to fiveyears in jail.

Hours before another vocalindependence campaignerAndy Chan was detained atHong Kong’s airport.

The arrests are a sign of the“spread of ‘white terror’towards Hong Kong protesters”,said Issac Cheng of Demosistoparty, co-founded by Wong,deploying a commonly-usedterm for China’s efforts to frag-ment and harass the protestmovement.

More than 850 people have

been arrested in connectionwith protests since June.

But that has failed to snuffout the leaderless protest move-ment.

Chan’s small independenceparty was outlawed last year onthe grounds it posed a nation-al security threat, the first suchban since the former Britishcolony returned to Chineserule in 1997.

A fourth pro-democracycampaigner, Rick Hui a coun-cillor for the working-class ShaTin district, was also detainedby police on Friday, accordingto a post on his Facebookpage, without detailing why.

Former student leaderAlthea Suen was also arrestedfor entering parliament build-ing during a July break-in byprotesters.

Amnesty Internationaldecried the “the ludicrousdawn swoops”, condemningthe arrest of Wong and Chowas an “outrageous assault on therights to freedom of expressionand peaceful assembly” and as“scare tactics straight out ofBeijing’s playbook”.

The arrests come as HongKong’s crisis-hit governmentscrambles to find an appropri-ate response to the unprece-dented pro-democracyprotests, which have by turnsseen millions march, closed theairport and left city streetsstrewn with bricks and shroud-ed in tear gas.

The protests started as akickback against a bill allowingextraditions to mainlandChina, but quickly billowed outinto wider calls for democracyand police accountability.

Permission for anothermass rally on Saturday wasdenied on security grounds,raising the likelihood of anoth-er weekend of clashes betweenpolice and protesters.

In a letter to rally organis-ers the Civil Human RightsFront (CHRF), police said theyfeared some participants wouldcommit “violent and destruc-tive acts”.

After an appeal to hold therally was rejected, BonnieLeung of the avowedly peace-ful CHRF said “no option butto cancel the march tomorrow”.

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Adramatic late-night callfrom an Australian judge

to a plane bound for Sri Lankahas temporarily spared a fam-ily of four — including twoAussie-born toddlers — fromdeportation and fuelled a polit-ical firestorm Down Under.

Australia’s conservativegovernment had ordered theTamil family to be taken fromimmigration detention inMelbourne, put on a planeand deported to Sri Lanka lateon Thursday.

But an injunction made bya phone call from FederalJudge Heather Riley after theplane took off forced pilots toland the aircraft and deposit thefamily in the far north city ofDarwin.

The case has become a

new f lashpoint over theAustralian government’s hard-line immigration policies,which include turning awayrefugees arriving by boat andde facto offshore detention,both measures condemnedby the United Nations.

The parents arrived inAustralia by boat separately in2012 and 2013 seeking asylum.

Their daughters Kopika,aged four, and Tharunicca,aged two were born inAustralia and have never beento Sri Lanka but do not havethe right to Australian citizen-ship by birth.

Home Affairs MinisterPeter Dutton insisted the fam-ily were not refugees and didnot deserve Australian protec-tion.

“I would like the family toaccept that they are not

refugees, they’re not owed pro-tection by our country,” Duttontold local media on Friday.

“They came here by boatand we’ve been very clear thatthey wouldn’t stay.” TamilRefugee Council spokesper-son Aran Mylvaganam insist-ed the family “face danger totheir lives in Sri Lanka. SriLanka is a very dangerousplace for Tamils.”

Shadow minister for HomeAffairs Kristina Keneally calledon Prime Minister ScottMorrison to intervene.

“This is a family that wasallowed to stay here for a peri-od of time, allowed to setdown roots, allowed to con-tribute to their local commu-nity and now, in the middle ofthe night, in dramatic scenes,being ripped out of this coun-try,” she said.

“I appeal to him as a fatherand a fellow Christian... showcompassion, show somehumanity and show that youare listening to the local com-munity.” The family was takeninto immigration detention inMarch last year after the moth-er’s temporary visa expired.

On Friday, a Melbournejudge barred the governmentfrom taking any further stepsto remove the youngest daugh-ter from Australia untilWednesday.

Dozens of protesters gath-ered outside the court withsigns chanting “let them stay”.

Family friend Brad Coathsaid after the ruling that themother was “very distraught,very distressed.” “But they stillmaintain hope that this is notover and they hope to be ableto stay in Australia.”

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External Affairs Minister SJaishankar on Friday

called on President of theEuropean Parliament DavidMaria Sassoli and discussedthe India-EU strategic part-nership on regional, globaland multilateral issues.

Jaishankar arrived inBelgium from Poland wherehe held talks with his Polishcounterpart JacekCzaputowicz on many sub-jects of bilateral, regionaland multilateral importance.The two countries agreed toconfront terrorism in all itsforms, particularly cross-bor-der terrorism.

“A meeting between nat-ural partners and largedemocracies! EAM SJaishankar called on H EDavid Maria Sassol i ,President of EuropeanParliament and leaders dis-cussed the India-EU StrategicPartnership on regional, glob-al and multilateral issues,”External Affairs Ministryspokesperson Raveesh Kumarsaid in a tweet.

“It was a pleasure to callon HE David Maria Sassoli,President of EuropeanParl iament today. TheEuropean Parliament andthe Indian Parl iament together represent the two largest functioningdemocracies in the world,”Jaishankar wrote in the visi-tor’s book.

The External AffairsMinister said he was lookingforward to work with Sassolito build the mutual under-standing and cooperationbetween the EuropeanParl iament and theParliament of India.

Earlier, Jaishankar alsovisited Russia on Tuesday tofinalise the preparations forPrime Minister NarendraModi’s forthcoming visit tothe country.

It was his first visit toMoscow since assumingoffice in May. His visit camedays ahead of the EasternEconomic Forum inVladivostok from September4 to 6 where Pr ime Minister Modi will be thechief guest.

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Beijing told visitingPhilippine President

Rodrigo Duterte that its posi-tion on the South China Seawas not up for negotiation, aspokesman for the leader saidFriday.

China claims most of thecontested sea, including watersclose to Philippine shores, andhas rejected a UN-backedinternational tribunal rulingthat said its assertion to the Seais without legal basis.

Duterte is under growingpressure at home to challengeChina — after largely settingaside the standoff for years —with tensions high after aChinese fishing trawler hit andsank a Filipino boat in June inthe contested waters.

In a meeting between thePhilippine leader and ChinesePresident Xi Jinping onThursday evening, Xi reiterat-ed his government’s position ofnot recognising the tribunalruling “as well as not budgingfrom its position”, said Duterte’sspokesman.

The pair agreed to worktogether to “manage” the issueand recognised “the impor-tance of self-restraint andrespect for freedom of naviga-tion in — and overflight above— the South China Sea”, hesaid.

The decision to raise theissue marks a turnaround forDuterte, who had revived once-icy diplomatic ties with Beijingafter being elected in 2016when he set aside the maritimeruling in favour of wooingChinese aid, trade and invest-ment.

Renato de Castro, professorof international studies atManila-based De La SalleUniversity, said Duterte wasexpected to bring up the issueon his visit to “go through the

motions”.“At this point in time, he

has nothing to lose because hehas only three years to go”, hesaid.

“So (he) might as well raiseit expecting that President XiJinping would basically ignoreit or reject it. It’s... a classic cha-rade.” According to a statementfrom China’s foreign ministry,Xi said the two countriesshould “put aside disputes,eliminate external interference”over the South China Sea, and“make greater strides in thejoint development of offshore

oil and gas” in the region.Parts of the South China

Sea are also claimed by Taiwan,Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam.

China invokes the so-called“nine-dash line” to mark its his-toric rights to the territory,which is based on a vague mapthat emerged in the 1940s.

Despite the territorialissues, Manila and Beijingsigned a series of agreementsover joint cooperation in fieldsincluding education, andDuterte hailed the “friendshipand the value of our ties”between the two countries.

�������������������� ���������$8��'��1���������#���Karachi (PTI): China plans to launch 27 new projects inPakistan under the second phase of the USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) this year, a media reporton Friday quoted a senior Chinese diplomat as saying.

The ambitious CPEC links China’s Kashgar city in Xinjiangprovince with Pakistan’s Gwadar port in Baluchistan througha network of roads, railways and highways.

“There will be 27 new projects in the second phase of theCPEC,” said Consul General of China in Karachi, Wang Yu dur-ing a meeting organised by the Karachi Council on ForeignRelations on Thursday.

Following the signing of the memorandum of understandingbetween China and Pakistan for the second phase of CPEC ear-lier this year, work on these 27 new projects was expected tobegin by the end of the year, the Dawn newspaper quoted Wangas saying.

“Agriculture, education, vocational training, industry,increase in water supply, etc, are all part of our plans for thenext phase,” he said.

Replying to a question about investment from China, hesaid the last two to three months had seen more Chineseinvestors coming to Pakistan.

“They are eager to invest here but they also need to knowthat the investments they make are sound and that they willalso earn money here and for this there is a need for a fine trans-port system for the transportation of goods, new airports, etc.

“We are here for business and trade, but we are not in a deci-sion-making position,” he said.

Responding to a question about security, Wang said therewas no economic development without security.

Education and employment is also affected by a lack of secu-rity, he said.

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North Korea has elevatedleader Kim Jong Un to a

status approaching his grand-father, the country’s founderKim Il Sung, analysts saidFriday after Pyongyang revisedits constitution to reinforcehis authority. Kim was under30 when he inherited power inlate 2011 on the death of hisfather Kim Jong Il, but has sincefirmly established his authori-ty, ruling the country with aniron fist, overseeing four of itssix nuclear tests and executinghis uncle for treason.

Kim is officially chairmanof the ruling Workers’ Partyand chairman of the StateAffairs Commission (SAC),the top government body,although his late grandfatherremains the country’s EternalPresident despite dying in 1994.

The Supreme People’sAssembly, the North’s rubber-stamp parliament, approved aseries of constitutional changeson Thursday to ensure what thelegislature’s head Choe RyongHae called Kim’s “monolithicguidance”.

The new clause declaresthe SAC chairman the

“supreme leader of the Party,state, and armed forces of theDPRK in accordance with theunanimous will and desire ofall the Korean people, both inname and reality”, Choe wasquoted as saying by the officialKorean Central News Agency.

DPRK are the initials forNorth Korea’s official name.

As the SAC chairman, Kimwas authorised to issue decreesand appoint or recall diplo-matic envoys.

His status “has been fur-ther consolidated to firmlyensure the monolithic guidanceof the Supreme Leader over allthe state affairs”, Choe added.

The KCNA dispatch usedthe adjective “monolithic” fivetimes to describe Kim’s leader-ship, although he was not pre-sent for the session.

Cheong Seong-chang, ananalyst at the Sejong Institutein Seoul, said the amendments“further guaranteed Kim’s one-man rule in overall nationalaffairs”. “Under the new con-stitution, Kim’s mission andauthority as chairman of theState Affairs Commission haveapproached closer to that ofKim Il Sung when he waspresident,” he told AFP.

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Donald Trump’s personalassistant Madeleine

Westerhout resigned onThursday after she sharedinformation about the presi-dent’s family with journalists,US media reported.

Westerhout’s unexpecteddeparture came after Trumplearned that she had talkedabout his family and WhiteHouse matters with reporters atan off-the-record session dur-ing the president’s recent work-ing vacation in New Jersey, TheNew York Times reported cit-ing unnamed sources.

Later, other outlets —including CNN and Politico —also reported her departure cit-ing unnamed sources.

CNN said Westerhout hadfailed to make clear during theinteraction with journalists thather comments were off therecord, and one reporter dis-closed the conversation to theWhite House. Westerhout’soffice was in front of the OvalOffice and she had beendescribed as Trump’s “gate-keeper” in US media. She hadbeen his personal assistant fromthe beginning of his presidency.

���������6#��G���� )���������#Moscow (AFP): Russia onFriday announced that Syriangovernment forces would ceasefire in the northwesternprovince of Idlib from Saturdaymorning. An agreement wasreached on “a unilateral cease-fire by Syrian governmentforces in the Idlib de-escalationzone, from 6:00 am on August31,” the Russian ReconciliationCentre for Syria said in a state-ment.

The announcement cameafter Russian-backed regimeforces advanced in the jihadist-held bastion, one of the lastholdouts of opposition toPresident Bashar al-Assad’sregime.

The statement said theceasefire aimed “to stabilise thesituation” in Idlib and urgedanti-government fighters to“abandon armed provocationsand join the peace process”.

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The significance of hearing oftengoes unrecognised and under-appreciated until it’s no longer

available. And for those who havebeen born like that and lived their livesin silence, education might prove to bea challenge. While many theories haveemerged over the years as to whatapproach could be the most effective,experts say that the teaching methodsshould adhere to the individual stu-dent’s capabilities, needs and personal-ity.

Navit Hagar Malachi, an Israeliteacher of sign language, who, beingdeaf herself, belongs to the special edu-cation team, believes so too. She hadrecently travelled to the city and con-ducted different activities for youngdeaf children at Promilabai ChavanSchool for the Deaf, Karkardooma andNoida Deaf Society. She feels that such

students should be provided “after-school enrichment classes,” which donot appear as boring classes to themand rather make them “want” to be apart of it.

Giving a reference from Israel andtalking about the differences betweenIsraeli teaching methods and that ofIndia, she says, “There are organisationsthat hold activities and provide enrich-ment after graduation for deaf or hardof hearing children. Once in a week,every child chooses her/his favouriteactivity and learn and develop it indepth. Whether it be sports, theatre,lessons for students with learning dif-ficulties, nature activities and more,everything is available and children arefree to pick up their field of interests.We should apply this to schools for deafin India as well for the extra nourish-ment of these students.”

It’s very surprising that most chil-dren are not even diagnosed as hearing-impaired until they are three to fiveyears ago. Malachi suggests that thisshould be checked upon during achild’s early years of growth to avoid adelayed education and conditioning.She suggests other learning approach-es like day schools, early interventionand pre-school programs, residentialschools for the deaf, self-containedclassrooms, mainstreaming and inclu-sion in general education settings andhome-schooling environment.

Knowledge is power and whenpresented visually, one remembers it, orso she believes and suggests that it isvery important to put up the learningmaterial on the walls of the classroomsand make them more interactive. “Thewalls should specify the names of thesubjects which are to be studied and

beneath them, the material and syllabusshould be mentioned. For instance, for-mula in mathematics should be writtenon the walls to avoid confusion. It willhelp the students remember the topicswhich are being taught. A world mapmust be put up on the classroomwalls,” she says and recalls one of hermajor observations in Indian schools.“In almost every school I visited, therewas no world map on the walls. Thestudents did not know where can wespot Israel on the world map,” she adds.

Malachi, who is the chairman of theHushim (Senses) Association, a non-profit organisation for the Jewish com-munity in Israel, talks about herapproach of teaching the differently-abled children. She says, “First, the textis introduced to the students. I moveand read along with them with empha-sis on hard words or new words andthen ask questions from it. This waythey keep practising. Eventually, thestudents write the text in their ownwords.”

It was at a time when she was look-ing for a job that the opportunity to workwith the Hushim Association came toher. “I decided to work for deaf childrenwhen I felt that I had done enough toempower myself in the world of hear-ing and now I could invest the same forother people of my own kind,” says she.Well, if her teaching strategies succeedand the kids are able to understand andlearn a new and challenging thing, forher, it’s an achievement and she feels thatshe has been able to “help someone.”

The organisation, Hushim Ben Dan,she says, is actually a Chabad (a term forJewish movements) for the deaf. She tellsus, “It builds international connectionswith Jewish communities and dealswith making Judaism accessible to thedeaf. “It holds activities like summercamps, vacations and trips in the coun-try on the emphasis of Judaism, syna-gogue, Torah lessons, workshops andeverything that is accessible in theIsraeli sign language.”

Many schools for deaf students arealso adopting modern teaching tech-niques like using interpreters for easiertranslation of the learning material aswell using advanced tools for enhancedauditory abilities. Malachi suggests,“Experience sharing with the education-al team for recommendations andideas of techniques. One can also teachthrough the Ministry of Education inIsrael, programmes and educationalwebsites that hold games and presen-tations.”

From posting our personal achievementsto flaunting our latest vacation pictures,

it has all been out there on social media.And due to the instant notifications tech-nology, we’re on the constant lookout forlikes and comments on our posts. It hasbecome as though a part of our body, whichis very crucial for our existence. Just for anhour, if the servers go down, it becomesheadline news and could even act as a‘career lost’ scenario to numerous “influ-encers” and “bloggers” out there.

However, ever wondered why thismadness? This addiction is one suchaspect that BBC special and producerDiana Martin’s film Smartphones: TheDark Side explores.

�How did the idea come into being?There had already been a lot of focus

in the media about data and how the bigtech companies were monetising our dataand using it in ways that we were complete-ly unaware of. But we felt there was anoth-er big question around social media — howaddictive was it? And could social mediacompanies and phone companies beexploiting the habit forming nature of socialmedia to get us hooked? All of us on theproduction team use smartphones andother devices and are well aware of the ben-efits — but we were also acutely aware ofhow much time we were spending on thesedevices. Two of us had children, teenage or

younger, and were frustrated by the amountof time they were spending on theirdevices. How much screen time should weallow them was a constant worry. So wewanted to know — are these applicationsaddictive — and are the tech companies thatdevelop and promote them aware of this?We wanted to speak to insiders who hadworked for the social media companies tounderstand to what degree the companieshad been aware of the potentially addictivenature of these technologies.

�What are the reasons people are increas-

ingly getting addicted to their gadgets andcan’t do without them for more than a fewminutes?

We spoke to several scientists and readmany scientific reports. The jury is stilldoubtful on whether social media orsmartphones are actually addictive. Somescientists say that they are not addictive inthe way like heroin or tobacco, but are mere-ly habit-forming. Others say it is an addic-tion. One clinician we spoke to, MandySaligari of Charter Harley Street, said,‘Giving your child a smartphone was tan-tamount to giving them cocaine.’ Whether

you think it’s habit-forming or addictive, weare all aware how we are drawn to oursmartphones and social media apps. Wehave spoken to many tech insiders in thefilm who had worked for some of thebiggest tech and social media companieswho now had some regrets about the habit-forming power of their technologies. Twopeople we spoke to who had both workedfor Facebook, told us they no longer usedit because they were worried about itsimpact on them.

They believed that the reasons we feelwe can’t do without our gadgets is because

the technology within them has beendeliberately designed to hook us. The likebutton, the endless scroll, even the coloursand sounds you see and hear, are deliber-ately designed to keep us coming back.

Ramsay Brown, an app developer witha background in neurosciences, explainedto us that our behaviour is driven bydopamine, a brain chemical central to thecycle of reward, motivation and addiction.A social media click gives us a little hit ofdopamine and we keep going back for more.

�What are the various impacts of socialmedia on our psychological health? Howdo ‘likes’ impact self-confidence levels?

Some doctors and psychologists believethat the prevalence of social media is likehaving a detrimental impact on mentalhealth — particularly young people’s. First,because it can be habit-forming and there-fore take them away from other activitieslike exercise, school work, spending timewith friends and families. Second, becauseit can negatively affect our self-esteem. Andfinally, because it is an additional opportu-nity for bullying and hate.

Leah Perlman, who worked as a prod-uct manager at Facebook until 2011 and wasone of the team members at Facebook,helped developed the like button. She nolonger works at Facebook. She has describedher concern about how the like button fedher own insecurities and affected her self-esteem. She has given up Facebook now.

This doesn’t mean it has a negativeeffect on all of us. For many of us, socialmedia is a great way to keep in touch withfriends and family and to share ideas, andmany of us are able to keep our use of socialmedia under control.

�What measures would you suggest toreduce phone use and addiction to differ-ent gadgets and websites?

I’m not really here to tell people toreduce their phone use. However, I hope ourfilm gives people a bit more understandingabout how certain aspects of social mediaand smartphone technology have beendeveloped apparently deliberately to keepus on our screens as much as possible. Andarmed with that knowledge, people willmake the right decision for themselvesabout whether they want to reduce their ortheir children’s screen time.

�Do you think social media giants andapp-owners are deliberately inventinghabit-forming technologies to get peoplehooked?

Certainly, social media companies andtech giants are creating technologiesdesigned to keep people on their apps or

devices. In a way, it’s understandable — allcompanies try to promote their goods andservices as much as possible to make themattractive to their market. But this filmshowed that in a sophisticated and delib-erate way they did develop technologies —the like button, the endless scroll, all thecolours, and bells, and notifications — thatwill hook us. The founding president ofFacebook, Sean Parker, effectively admit-ted this at a conference in 2017, he said,‘Building these applications was all about— how do we consume as much of yourtime as possible? You’re exploiting a vulner-ability in human psychology. The inventorsunderstood this consciously. And we did itanyway.’

�Do you think people form an opinionof themselves or their self-worth throughtheir social media profiles?

Certainly, some people do. Andteenagers can be particularly vulnerable tothis. We spoke to one parent, LucyAlexander, whose teenage son, Felix hadtragically killed himself — after being bul-lied on social media. Of course, as with anysuicide it’s impossible to state this was thecause of his suicide — but his motherdescribes how even after she took him outof the school where he was being torment-ed by bullies, the bullying continued online.She now regularly visits schools and givestalks about the dangers of bullying on socialmedia.

�What do you think is the future ofsmartphone and social media use? Youcan answer in both positive and nega-tive terms.

I think smartphones have changed ourworlds in an enormously positive way —they have made it much easier for mostof us to do our jobs; much easier to accessinformation about anything. They’vebeen brilliant for education and the shar-ing of ideas. It’s much easier to do busi-ness and pay for things. And it’s muchmuch easier to keep in touch with friendsand families. There are thousands of otherbenefits I can’t go into. And I imagine inthe future these benefits will multiply. Butas with any new technology there’s a dan-ger that unforeseen problems will emerge.Our role as journalist is to consider thepros and cons — and make people awareof the possible dangers, and to make gov-ernment aware of the need to ensure newtechnologies are sufficiently regulated toprotect consumers from the potential darksides.

(Smartphones: The Dark Side pre-mieres on August 31 at 9 pm on Sony BBCEarth.)

Actor Shraddha Kapoor says that shefeels proud of those girls who are

making their mark in the professionalfield that was earlier dominated by menand for her gender equality is all aboutequal opportunity that is not limited bygender but based on skill-set.

As the portrayal of the female char-acters is changing in Bollywood films,asked about how she looks at the change,Shraddha said, “I think whether it is inour entertainment business or in our soci-ety, the casual sexism is going away andit was bound to happen. It is wonderfulto see how gender is not limiting a jobprofile. There are no such things as a‘man’s job’ anymore. All those notions thatwere previously practised are being chal-lenged now.”

She added, “That is why, many par-ents are fine with the decision of theirchildren when they do not follow a so-called timeline to get married, to have ababy or even not having either of them.”The actor is quite excited about her lat-est film Saaho, opposite South Indianactor and heartthrob Prabhas.

Making her debut in 2010 with thefilm Teen Patti, Shraddha has spent nineyears in Bollywood now and deliveredsome of the successful films like Aashiqui2, Haider, Ek Villain, ABCD 2.

Citing an example of how women arefinding space in every corner of the soci-ety, Shraddha said, “When I started mycareer, I saw a few female photographersand never got papped by any femalepaparazzi. In the last three years, I seethere are four female photographers whoare also doing paparazzi just like othermen, I feel so proud of those girls.”

She added that there should be moreopportunities for women as they also haveequal skills as men. “There should beopportunity only based on our skills andnot based on our gender. There aremany such examples where women aremaking their marks in the field that is pre-dominated by men. This is what genderequality means for me,” explained theactor who will be seen next in Chhichhoreopposite Sushant Singh Rajput and VarunSharma.

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Pause and think for a moment.Is life a dream or a reality? Itmight seem silly initially thathow can one deny the existenceof the world around us but

doesn’t the idea provoke you to ponder?This tussle between the real and the

imaginary pushed actor Pankaj Kapur toexplore the blurry lines between the two,through his play Dreamz-Sehar. Talkingabout his fascination with the world,which seems vague to him, the actor says,“It is a story that came to my mind a fewyears ago and I transformed it into a playbecause it always intrigued me. We alldream, don’t we? While some people feelthat there is certain reality to life, thereare philosophers and saints who feel thatthis too is a dream and will pass.” ThoughKapur says that he doesn’t want to let outthe details of the play but the storylinedoes give a hint that the play is knittedaround the blurred lines of humanexistence.

Kapur plays the character of a pro-fessor named Sanjay Mishra, who visitsKasauli for a long weekend. One day, onhis morning walk, he encounters amysterious woman named Sehar. She issearching for her sister Nisha who haseloped with her boyfriend. The profes-sor gets drawn towards this “very oddcharacter” and gets entangled into thetumultuous events, wherein Sehar callshim in the middle of the night for help.Every scene in the sequence is ominousand mysterious. After spending the

night together, Sehar leaves the profes-sor with a confusing letter remindinghim of a meeting 15 years ago. The playends on an open note and its charactersare baffling as they can be interpreted inthe way the audience wants to.

Explaining how theatre has shapedhim as an actor and to what he is today,Kapur says, “Theatre is like a mother,which lets the child understand how tosit, stand and walk. It has taught me allthe basics which I know today or pre-tend to know (Laughs).” He feels that hehas only explored a tiny bit of himselfwhile the major part of it still remainsunexplored. He adds, “The thing is thata human being is so complex, that it takesa lifetime to explore even the smallestpart.”

Since the play is written by Kapur,it’s quite evident that he understands hisrole better as each character is backed bythe another. He says, “As the characteris perceived and written by me, it hashelped me to play the character in a morenuanced way. Since I am an actor, it givesme the ability to think about what mys-tery does my character hold and how Iwould portray it in front of the audience.”

Talking about his character, he saysthat it is a fairly straight character with-out much complexities, however, keepsits mysteriousness intact. “He is like any-one one of us, who comes across a sit-uation and is so intrigued by it that hebecomes a part of the situation. And justlike a usual person, he too would be per-

plexed about what to do.”The actor is also a part of another

play, titled Dopehri, which is a dramat-ic presentation of a novella written byhim. It revolves around an old, lonelywoman, Amma Bi who sits in a gigan-tic laal haveli in Lucknow. The dramaaims to transport the audience throughAmma Bi’s journey from loneliness toself-discovery.

Talking about how he executed theplay, Kapur says, “I present it as anevening where I read out the novella tomy audience in the way I have perceivedit. Through the central character, I havefocussed on how she looks at life andwhat happens to her.” He adds that inDopehri, we would discover that there isso much more to human existence thanwe actually think. “You realise how this65-year-old woman goes through thejourney of her life and then discovers orrediscovers herself so as to find her trueidentity,” he says.

In a bid to create something that isfresh and hasn’t been repeated over thetime, “except for some classic adapta-tions,” the actor-director, in the two plays,has tried to add bits which he hasobserved in real life like — how he react-ed to some situations. He says, “I wantto give a different view and feel to it.When I did Dopehri, a lot of people won-dered why novella reading has beenturned into a drama but when they sawthe play, they experienced theatre rightfrom the writing to rendering to presen-tation.”

Talking about the interest of youthin theatres and how it has evolved overthe years, the actor says that it is a greatmedium to connect directly with theaudience. “If you have any ideas, prin-ciples ideologies, way of life, way of dress-ing, way of communicating, you havethis platform where you can makethings interesting. It is an endless medi-um which can satiate you as a humanbeing or as a performing artist,” says he.

With the advent of digital media, isit losing its charm? He disagrees. “No.Not at all. It has created more avenuesto showcase your talent. When I per-form, I see a lot of young people com-ing in. The online thing is just one aspectof life. When television came, even thenpeople thought that theatre would be lostbut it survived. It’s an art form that cannever die. Also, every medium has itsown place, be it TV, online or live the-atre. It can never be taken away by any-one, nothing can replace it,” says he.

(As part of the Delhi Theatre Festival,organised by Alchemist Live, Dopehri willbe staged today at 2 pm at Siri FortAuditorium.)

She draped the saree inGujrati style and a large redbindi adorned her fore-

head, her gajra just aptly fixedon her bun. Her catchphrase,‘Hello.. how are you? Khaanakha ke jaana,’ actor SupriyaPathak’s Hansa from Khichhdihas been ever favourite.

She has indeed come a longway from that. And today, as sheplays the character of Sehar inthe play Dreamz-Sehar, she talksabout what attracted her themost about the character. Shesays, “The sensitive line betweenreality and imagination mademy character very interesting. Iget a lot of space to experimentthrough it. Even Pankaj (Kapur)ji used to tell me that there aredifferent ways in which you canperform a different characterand I am glad, Sehar was one.”

She says that the play has avery simple story without muchdrama in it, but yet is equallyintriguing. “It is more interest-ing due to one more fact thatwhen you come out of the char-acter and recall the phase youhave gone through, it’s fulfilling,but the very next moment youfeel that yeh toh simple kahaanithi,” she adds.

The character, she says, hasimpacted her in such a way thatfor once, she wants someone elseto play her role and watch it asan audience. However, as anactor, she doesn’t get to do that.

Well, the actor’s theatrejourney has been a special onetoo. She says, “I started my act-ing career through theatre. As Ididn’t have any schooling in act-

ing. The only schooling I hadwas directly performing in frontof a live audience.” However, shecherishes this phase of her life asit taught her the basics of acting.She adds, “It is an experiencewhich nobody can take awayfrom you. You’re immediatelytold whether you’re good or badbecause of the live audience.”Pathak feels that getting thiskind of exposure is unparalleledand overwhelming.

Talking about her evolutionand journey of life, she says, “Myaudience has taught me whetherI was good or bad. They taughtme how to stand in front ofthem and how should I presentmyself.” She shares that her firstteacher was her mother who had

put her on the stage. And nowthe teacher who really workedhard with her on her skills is, shesays, “my co-actor Pankaj Ji. Hedidn’t teach me directly butbecause of the way he was, Iobserved him and learntthrough that. He made me whoI am today.”

She has nailed roles likeShanta, Ganga mausi,Rambhateri, Hansa and manyothers. So talking about theplethora of roles she has played,she says, “Every role is a move-ment upward. Today, I am calledShanta in one and Sehar in theanother.” She believes that theyhave all enriched her journey insome way or the other.“However stupid the film orhowever small the role is, as anactor, I have gone through agamut of emotions which givesme an experience and allows meto take a step forward,” she adds.

Theatre still has kept itscharm intact in the digital era.Supriya says that we havebecome more individualisticwith time and digital is an addi-tion to this. “People are seekingfor activities which are collectivein nature. This increases thevalue of plays and dramas,” sheadds.

She recalls how the play hasmade her explore the unex-plored version of herself andhow deeply it touches with suchsimplistic storytelling. She ques-tions “Is life a mystery or is it adream or a reality?” and thenanswers it herself in a per-plexed tone, “I would love toknow that myself too.”

Filmmaker Abhishek Sharma,who has worked with actorAngad Bedi in his upcoming

film The Zoya Factor, says the lat-ter has played his role “excellently.”

Angad will be seen essaying therole of antagonist Robin Rawal inthe film starring Sonam Kapoorand Dulquer Salmaan, and basedon novelist Anuja Chauhan’s bookof the same name.

The film tells the tale of aRajput girl, Zoya Solanki (Sonam),who meets the Indian cricket teamthrough her job as an executive inan advertising agency and ends upbecoming a lucky charm for theteam at the Cricket World Cup.

Talking about Angad’s charac-ter, Abhishek said, “Robin is theantagonist of the film, the ex-cap-tain of the team who feels he hasbeen shortchanged by Dulquer’s

character because he was replacedas captain overnight for one badseries. He is a more consistent bats-man and a master strategist butnow he’s full of negativity due towhich he uses his cleverness todemolish Dulquer’s image. He’sthe Duryodhana of thisMahabharata who uses Zoya’s luckfactor as a final throw of dice to

oust Dulquer from captaincy.” Healso praised Angad for his perfor-mance.

“For Robin, we were huntingfor an actor who could look suaveyet threatening. He should be analpha male who, like a woundedlion, is struggling to win back histerritory. Angad had all thesequalities and more. He brought inan extra charm and sense of vul-nerability which masks his villainyperfectly. It gives credibility to ourantagonist who is not pure evil butsomeone who genuinely feels thathe has been wronged. Angad hasplayed the character excellentlywith great comic timing and inten-sity in equal measures,” Abhishekadded.

The film will release onSeptember 20.

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Fifteen-year-old American sensationCoco Gauff set up an eye-catchingUS Open showdown with defend-

ing champion Naomi Osaka whileRafael Nadal’s path to the title eased fur-ther on Thursday as he received awalkover into the third round.

Reigning Wimbledon championSimona Halep, meanwhile, crashed outearly in New York for a third year run-

ning, blowing a match point in a tensethree-set loss to 116th-ranked TaylorTownsend.

Gauff, who made a remarkable runto the fourth round at Wimbledonbefore falling to Halep, defeatedHungarian qualifier Timea Babos 6-2,4-6, 6-4 to become the youngest playerin the last 32 at a US Open since AnnaKournikova in 1996.

“It has been amazing. I’m just sohappy to get through,” Gauff said as

chants of her name rang out aroundLouis Armstrong Stadium.

“I had to dig really deep today. I’mjust proud of the way I fought and I’mglad it was all worth it in the end.”

Asked about her impending clashwith world number one Osaka,Gauff said her primary focus is onFriday’s doubles match with 17-year-old partner Caty McNally.

“Saturday, I’m going to thinkabout the match, but tomorrow(Friday) I’m worried about mydoubles match,” she said.

Three-time US Open championNadal advanced without striking a ballwhen injury-plagued Australian ThanasiKokkinakis pulled out of their scheduledevening tie on Arthur Ashe with a rightshoulder problem.

The Spanish 18-time Grand Slamwinner will meet South Korean quali-fier Chung Hyeon for a spot in the last16.

His path to a fourth title, alreadyhelped with “Big Three” rivals NovakDjokovic and Roger Federer on theopposite side of the draw, cleared fur-ther having already seen four top-10rivals dumped out in the first round.

Alexander Zverev, the sixth seed, isthe highest-ranked player remaining onhis side of the draw, as the German sur-

vived a second successive five-setmarathon by outlasting AmericanFrances Tiafoe 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 toequal his best US Open run.

��������������Townsend upended women’s fourth

seed Halep 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), theRomanian consigned to another prema-ture exit at Flushing Meadows, havingbeen knocked out in the opening roundin 2017 and 2018.

“I was not inspired at all today, butI fought. I thought when I came backthat I will take it and I will win it. Butsometimes it goes the other way,” Halepsaid.

Townsend recovered from wastingtwo match points to then save one andforce a tie-break she dominated toclaim her first win over a top-10 play-er.

“This means a lot. It has been a longjourney,” said a tearful Townsend, whomatched her run to the French Openthird round on her Grand Slam debut in2014.

Top seed Osaka proved too strong for53rd-ranked Magda Linette ofPoland, sweeping to a 6-2, 6-4 victory.

“I feel like I had mymoments where I played real-ly well,” Osaka said. “I thinkthe main thing for me was that

I was able to adjust whenever I figuredout something was going wrong, so Ithink I’m heading in the right direction.”

Men’s fifth seed Daniil Medvedev,coming off a maiden Masters title inCincinnati, was struck down by crampduring a 6-3, 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 win overBolivia’s Hugo Dellien.

Stan Wawrinka, the 2016 US Openchampion, beat Jeremy Chardy in foursets and is on a fourth-round collisioncourse with Djokovic, while Australian28th seed Nick Kyrgios rolled past104th-ranked French wildcard AntoineHoang 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.

Andrea Petkovic knocked out Czechsixth seed Petra Kvitova 6-4, 6-4, while15th seed Bianca Andreescu and two-time runner-up Caroline Wozniackialso progressed.

���� 789�A&,=

Simona Halep said she was“not inspired at all” in

Thursday’s US Open loss to116th-ranked American quali-fier Taylor Townsend as her mis-erable run in New York contin-ued.

The reigning Wimbledonchampion saved a pair of matchpoints but then failed to convertone in the final set of a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) defeat.

“I was not inspired at alltoday, but I fought. I thoughtwhen I came back that I will takeit and I will win it. But some-times it goes the other way,”Halep said, digesting anotherearly Flushing Meadows exit fol-lowing first-round losses in2017 and 2018.

“I’m used to it. It’s the thirdyear. I’m disappointed. I hadexpectations from myself thatI’m confident and I feel thegame. But today was different. Iwas very close. I had match ball.But, you know, sometimes ithappens.

“She played really well. Shereally deserved to win it becauseshe gave everything and she did-n’t think of losing. She went all

the way with 100 percent belief.”Fourth seed Halep, whose

best US Open run came whenshe reached the semi-finals in2015, admitted she struggled tocope with Townsend's commit-ted serve-and-volley approach.

“Never, never. I never playedwith someone coming so oftento the net,” Halep said.

“She was way more inspiredthan me. Many balls I hit on the

sides, she was there. That’s whyI say I was not inspired. I playedall the time where she was.”

Halep had not dropped a setin three previous meeting withTownsend, whose victory overthe Romanian represented herfirst over a top-10 player.

The most recent of thoseclashes came last March inMiami, where Halep impartedsome friendly advice toTownsend after she inflicted a 6-1, 6-3 defeat on her.

“After we played together,she came in the locker room andshe asked me what she has toimprove to be better. So she didit today,” Halep said, with a wrysmile. “Next time I will not sayanything.

“I played few times againsther, and I knew how she’s play-ing,” she added.

“But today she changed.She went for all the balls to thenet. So it was a little bit differ-ent. At one point I lost therhythm in the second set, and Ididn’t really know what I have tochange. Even the touch, I didn’thave it.

“But always when you playwith a top player, you havenothing to lose.”

���� 789�A&,=

World number one Naomi Osaka is ready tojoin Kei Nishikori for mixed doubles at the

Tokyo Olympics, but first she needs to practicedoubles for the first time ever.

Defending champion Osaka advanced to thethird round of the US Open on Thursday bydefeating Poland’s Magda Linette 6-2, 6-4.

The 21-year-old Japanese star was asked afterthe match about Nishikori, a former US Openrunner-up, saying he would see if she was inter-ested in joining forces for mixed doubles at nextyear’s Olympics.

Osaka, the reigning Australian Open cham-pion also, is excited by the prospect, but also morethan a bit intimidated.

“The thing is anyone that knows my doublestrack record knows that I’m down,” Osaka said.

“I would play. I would definitely play withhim. I just, I would actually need to prac-tice doubles for the first time in mylife.”

The pride Osaka would feel inplaying for her homeland is tem-pered by the massive responsibility sucha “Dream Team” would carry.

“Because you cannot play mixed doubles withKei Nishikori and lose in the first round of theOlympics in Tokyo,” Osaka said.

“That would be the biggest — like, I wouldcry. I would actually cry for losing a doublesmatch. Definitely I think that would be so his-toric in a way. And I would love to do it. But Ineed to practice my doubles.” Osaka had a fanamong the spectators who burst into tears at justseeing her.

“I’d rather people don’t cry. It kind of makesme emotional, too,” Osaka said.

“It’s really crazy for me. The past year hasbeen, like, insane. I think it’s moments like thatthat sort of make me realize it.

“I’m really grateful and I’m honestly reallyhumbled by it, because I know as a kid I had myfavorite players. They’re kind of still playing rightnow. Yeah, it’s crazy.”

���������� ����Among those lucky enough to sit in Osaka’s

players’ box for the match were five-time NBAchampion Kobe Bryant, the retired Los AngelesLakers star guard, and former NFL quarterbackColin Kaepernick, whose kneeling protest becamea national symbol for champions of social justiceand racial equality.

“I did want to play well,” Osaka said of herspecial guests. “It’s just funny to me. Last year com-pared to this year, there’s no way Kobe would sitin my box Kaepernick, too. It’s just crazy who yourun into in life.

“For me, it wasn’t pressure. It was just like Ireally didn’t want them to sit in the sun too long,

honestly. That was the thing that was on my mind.I was like, I don’t really want to play a third set.”Bryant, a two-time Olympic champion, is a friendand adviser for Osaka.

“I know Kobe. This is actually the first timeI’ve ever met Colin,” Osaka said. “Kobe gives mereal-life advice. He’s someone I look up to as anathlete and also as a person. I’m really gratefulthat I even have the opportunity to talk to himand stuff.”

Asked what causes she supports with a nodto Kaepernick’s protest move, Osaka’s was sim-ple and admirable.

“It’s going to sound corny as heck, but I justbelieve in being nice to people. Treat people likehow you want to be treated,” she said.

“I don’t know how anyone’s day has been. Idon’t know the circumstances that led to thembeing the way they are. So for me I would neverjudge a person, especially when I haven’t walkedin their shoes.

“Someone told me that for me to take one sec-ond out of my day to sign someone’s ball couldbe the highlight of their day, and they could havehad a really bad day. I took that really into per-spective. Just want to spread kindness and pos-itivity even though sometimes I don’t do that onthe court. But I’m working on it.”

���� 789�A&,=

India’s Divij Sharan made afirst-round exit from the US

Open with partner Hugo Nysafter losing in straight sets toRobert Carballes Baena andFederico Delbonis, here.

The Indian and his partnerfrom Monaco lost 4-6, 4-6 tothe players, who are bothranked outside top-100 brack-et.

Sharan and Nys did not getany break-point in the 72-

minute clash while their rivalsbroke them once each in boththe sets to move to the nextround.

“We probably needed toput more pressure on their ser-vice games. Delbonis madesome really good returns in thegames we got broken. It’s obvi-ously a tough loss as I wouldhave liked to do better in thelast slam of the year,” Divij said.

“I’ll look to regroup andwork towards doing well in theremaining tournaments of the

year.”This is the second time this

season that left-handed Sharanhas made a first-round exitfrom a Grand Slam, losing atthe same stage at the AustralianOpen also. The result meansthat he is likely to drop a rungto 48 when the new rankingswill be issued after the conclu-sion of the last Grand Slam ofthe season.

Reaching the Wimbledonquarterfinals in 2018 remainshis best show at the Majors.

Rohan Bopanna andLeander Paes are also in themen’s doubles draw with theirrespective partners.

Bopanna and his Canadianpartner Denis Shapovalov areup against French fourth seedsPierre-Hugues Herbert andNicolas Mahut.

Paes has paired withArgentina’s Guillermo Duranand they will open their cam-paign against Serbia’s MiomirKecmanovic and Norway’sCasper Ruud.

���� ,�&�.8�-�78�,&

Asian Games medallist AbhishekVerma won the Gold while teen

sensation Saurabh Chaudharyclaimed the Bronze as Indian shoot-ers dominated the podium in themen’s 10m air pistol event of theongoing ISSF World Cup here.

Verma, a part-time lawyer, shot244.2 in the eight-man final onThursday, while the 17-year-oldChaudhary’s 221.9 was good enoughto get him the Bronze after five Goldmedals this year.

The Silver medal went to Turkey’sIsmail Keles, who aggregated 243.1 inthe season’s fourth ISSF World Cupfor rifle and pistol shooters.

India are now placed at the topof the medals tally with two Gold, oneSilver and a Bronze.

India have already exhaustedthe maximum Olympic quotas avail-able per country in this event, withboth Verma and Chaudhary secur-ing the sports in the previous quali-fying events.

In the qualification round onThursday, Chaudhary was fourthwith 584 points and Verma enteredthe finals in fifth position with 582

points, while Gaurav Rana was 44thwith 571.

Verma, who won Bronze in theJakarta Asiad last year, andChaudhary ended the second day ofcompetitions on a high note for India.

For a change, Chaudhary had tosettle for a Bronze this time — hissixth ISSF World Cup medal of theyear. He had earlier won a phenom-enal five Golds.

Earlier in the day, Chinki Yadavcame close to making it to the finals,finishing just a point behind the finalqualifying mark in the women’s 25mPistol event.

She shot a 294 in the Rapid Fireround, ending up with a solid 584 toclaim 10th spot.

Switzerland’s Heidi Gerber, whobagged the eighth and final qualify-ing spot, shot 585 even as Hungary’sVeronika Major claimed her thirdISSF World Cup Gold of the year inthe event.

Annu Raj Singh, making a come-back to the Indian team, shot 579 toend in 25th spot while AbhidnyaAshok Patil shot 572 to finish 53rd.

Indian shooters in the non-com-petition Minimum QualificationScore section also had a great day.

���� :&7.&7�

Alexis Sanchez joined Italian giants Inter Milan ona season-long loan deal from Manchester United,

both clubs announced on Thursday.Sanchez, 30, has endured a miserable time in

Manchester since joining the Red Devils in January2018 as reportedly the highest paid player in thePremier League.

The Chilean scored just five goals in 45 appear-ances for United and has not featured so far this sea-son.

“Alexis Sanchez is officially an Inter player. TheChilean has joined the Nerazzurri from ManchesterUnited on a loan deal that will last until 30 June 2020,”Inter said in a statement.

Sanchez will join forces with a former Unitedteammate Romelu Lukaku, who moved to Italy in a65-million-euro move earlier this month, as Inter hopeto end Juventus’ eight-year domination of Italian foot-ball in Antonio Conte’s first season in charge.

Lukaku scored as Conte’s reign as Inter coach gotoff to a perfect start with a 4-0 win over Lecce.

However, reviving Sanchez’s fortunes will be a big-ger ask of Conte’s management after 18 months in thedoldrums at Old Trafford.

United have cut their losses on the formerBarcelona and Arsenal star, but are still reportedly setto pay a large chunk of Sanchez’s £400,000 a weekwages after his form and fitness deserted him over thepast two seasons.

���� +8,:�7�

Ex-Germany goalkeeper OliverKahn will join Bayern

Munich’s board in January to begroomed to replace club chair-man Karl-Heinz Rummenigge,the Bundesliga giants announcedon Friday amid a backroomupheaval.

The appointment of Kahn,who played for Bayern from1994 until 2008, was approved byBayern’s board late Thursday, justhours after club president UliHoeness, 67, officially informedthe club that he is stepping downin November.

Current chairmanRummenigge, 63, will eventual-ly hand the reins to Kahn onDecember 31, 2021, after show-ing his successor the ropes, whileformer Adidas boss HerbertHainer is poised to replaceHoeness as club president in theNovember elections.

Kahn, a former captain ofboth Germany and Bayern whomade more than 600 appear-ances for the club, will sign a five-year contract and will join theclub’s board from January 1,2020, serving a two-year appren-ticeship before taking over fromRummenigge.

Hoeness sees Kahn as the“perfect solution” to replaceRummenigge as the 50-year-oldhas served as “an importantplayer in the history of the club”after he won the Bundesliga titleeight times and was part of theteam which won the ChampionsLeague in 2001.

Kahn “carries the DNA ofthe club in him”, added Hoeness,who stressed how important it isto have a former Bayern playerdirecting the club at boardroomlevel.

“It would be very difficult toestablish someone in the positionwho has not played football at ahigh level,” said Hoeness, whoadded that Kahn made “an excel-lent” impression on the boardduring Thursday’s meeting.

“When you’re talking to big-name players, like RobertLewandowski or JoshuaKimmich... It’s important thatthey take it for granted youknow how to stop a ball.” Kahnsaid it was a “great honour” to beaccepted onto the board and feels“deeply connected with the club,it has strongly shaped my life”.

After retiring 11 years ago,Kahn has earned an MBA ingeneral management and builtup his own business while serv-ing as a TV expert for broadcast-er ZDF.

���� �08:68�

Frank Lampard’s first season atChelsea remains a work in

progress but the emergence ofMason Mount and TammyAbraham means there arealready significant positives tobe drawn from the new era atStamford Bridge.

Lampard — whose side faceSheffield United at home thisweekend — promised to pro-vide opportunities to youngplayers when he returned tohis old club this summer.

The former midfield-er’s position was partlydriven by the transferembargo imposed on theclub, but also a belief in thereserves of talent at in the club’sacademy that have too oftenbeen overlooked by Lampard’spredecessors.

And if early season formis anything to go by, Mount

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and Abraham could be features ofthe Chelsea line-up for some time

to come.Mount has been at Chelsea

since the age of six and havingspent last season on loan with

Lampard at Derby Countyin the Championship, hisabilities are well known tothe manager who hasdemonstrated great faith

in the player by startinghim in all three of Chelsea’s

league games so far.Mount has responded with

goals in his last two games, andwas joined on the scoresheet inlast weekend’s 3-2 win atNorwich City by Abrahamwho struck his first two goalsfor the club at Carrow Road.

Abraham showed hispotential by striking 37 goalsduring Aston Villa’s promo-

tion-winning season beforereturning to Chelsea this sum-

mer.

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Australia captain Tim Painebelieves Steve Smith’s returncould be decisive in their quest

to retain the Ashes.Paine’s men were on the brink of

going 2-0 up with two to play only forEngland all-rounder Ben Stokes’ stun-ning 135 not out to condemn them toa dramatic one-wicket loss in the thirdTest at Headingley last week.

Smith, however, missed that matchwith concussion after being hit by a92mph bouncer from Jofra Archer inthe drawn second Test at Lord’s.

The 30-year-old is now set to playin next week’s fourth Test at OldTrafford provided he comes throughthis three-day tour fixture unscathed.

“Without Steve Smith playing Idon’t think we were given any chanceof winning that Test match, I thinkmost people wrote us off in that Test,so we’re tracking ok,” Paine toldreporters after Thursday’s close.

Australia were 77-0 withoutloss at stumps in reply toDerbyshire’s first-innings 172.

Marcus Harris was 52 notout and stand-in skipper UsmanKhawaja, playing against his oldcounty, 18 not out.

Both batsmen have strug-gled in the Ashes and onecould make way for Smithwhile the other partnersDavid Warner at the top ofthe order at Old Trafford.

“Steve Smith is going tocome back in and play. Soobviously someone from thelast Test is going to miss out,”said Paine, who replacedSmith as Australia captainafter the ball-tampering scan-dal.

“There’s no doubt about that.You have the best player in theworld coming back into yourline-up.”

He insisted Australia had “movedon” from a remarkable reverse atHeadingley.

“We had some honest conversa-tions and we now we made someerrors as a team and as individuals, butwe can’t be holding onto that,” he said.

“We’ve moved on, we’re ready forManchester, the group’s in a really goodspot,” added Paine, looking to leadAustralia to their first Ashes series winin England for 18 years.

Stokes was dropped late in his

Headingley innings by Harris.And with England needing to two

to win, Stokes might have been lbw tooff-spinner Nathan Lyon — who theball before had missed a clear chanceto run out Jack Leach.

But umpire Joel Wilson ruled inEngland’s favour and, although replayssuggested Stokes would have been lbw,Australia were unable to challenge thedecision as they had run out of reviews.

Paine, asked how Australia couldbest dismiss all-rounder Stokes, who

also made 115 not out at Lord’s,replied: “Hold our chances would be agood start.

“I think Nathan Lyon in the last twoTests alone would have got him out fiveor six times had we held our catches orreferred our lbws.”

“Lyono’s still a huge weapon againsthim,” added Paine, rested from theDerbyshire match.

“But he (Stokes) is a world-class player, he puts bowlersunder pressure andmakes them do thingsand captains dothings that youwouldn’t normallydo.

“That’s a hugeweapon Englandhave got and one we’vegot to try and contain inthe last two Test match-es.”

Mitchel l Starc,Australia’s World Cup spear-head but yet to feature in thisAshes, took three late Derbyshirewickets in one over.

Paine, however, said there wasmore to the left-arm fast bowler thanjust cleaning up the tail.

“He’s been working on his lengthand I think he showed some reallygood control in his first spell.”

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England star James Anderson has been ruled outof the remainder of the Ashes series with a calf

injury, the England and Wales Cricket Boardannounced on Friday.

Anderson, England’s all-time leading wicket-taker, has not bowled in the series since breakingdown with the injury after sending down just fourovers in Australia’s 251-run win in the first Test atEdgbaston.

There had been hopes the 37-year-oldLancashire paceman would be fit for the fourth Testat his Old Trafford home ground starting onWednesday.

But after bowling during a second XI matchagainst Durham this week he has been declaredunfit for the final two Tests of the series.

“England and Lancashire seamer JamesAnderson has been ruled out for the rest of theSpecsavers Ashes series,” said an ECB statement.

“Whilst bowling in the ninth over on Thursdayin Lancashire’s second XI four-day friendly againstDurham at Chester Boughton Hall Cricket Club,Anderson became aware of right calf pain follow-ing on from 20 overs he had bowled on Tuesday.

“He immediately sought a medical assessmentfrom Lancashire and was withdrawn from the

remainder of the game,” the statementadded.

“Further review with the ECBmedical team has confirmed that hewill be unavailable for the remain-ing two Specsavers Ashes Tests.”

Anderson has taken 575 wicketsin 149 Tests at 26.94.

His tally is the most byany quick bowler, withAnderson fourth in the all-time list of leading Testwicket-takers.

England have nowadded Somerset quickCraig Overton into a 13-man squad for thefourth Test.

Overton is nowback in a Test squad forthe first time sinceMarch 2018 when heplayed in England’s lossto New Zealand at EdenPark, Auckland.4th Test squad: RoryBurns, Jason Roy, Joe

Root (capt), Joe Denly,Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow

(wkt), Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes,Jofra Archer, Stuart Broad, JackLeach, Sam Curran, CraigOverton.

���� �0877��

Former India batsman Ambati Rayudu hasexpressed his willingness to come out of

retirement and represent Hyderabad in allthree formats, a little less than two monthsafter he drew curtains on his cricketing career.

Rayudu, who announced his retirementafter being ignored for the 2019 World Cup,wrote to Prof Ratnakar Shetty of the BCCI,who is also one of the members of theCommittee of Administrators (CoA) of theHyderabad Cricket Association (HCA),expressing his willingness to play forHyderabad again.

“Ambati Rayudu has conveyed his desireto withdraw his earlier decision of retirementand made himself available for HCA in all for-mats of the game,” Shetty said on Friday.

The 33-year old cricketer had sent an e-mail to HCA on Thursday, stating that hewould like to come out of retirement and playin all formats for Hyderabad. He had alsothanked Chennai Super Kings, India greatVVS Laxman and Hyderabad selectioncommittee chief Noel David for their sup-port.

An emotional Rayudu had also statedthat he had taken the retirement decision inhaste.

Shetty said the decision taken by Rayuduwas a hasty one and it was good that he hasrealised it and chosen to withdraw it now.

“I was surprised when he took the deci-sion to retire which I feel was a hasty deci-sion,” Shetty, a veteran BCCI administrator,said.

He also said it is good that Rayudu hadrealised his mistake after being spoken to bysenior players including former India starLaxman.

“It is good that he (Rayudu) has realisedhis mistake after being spoken to by seniorplayers including VVS Laxman and hasdecided to withdraw his retirement decision,”Shetty added.

“He has a lot of cricket left in him andhis presence will help the youngsters inHyderabad CA,” the veteran administratorpointed out. “Ambati (Rayudu) is known tome since 2000 when he was a part of theunder-15 team and was a promising talent.It is good that he’s back.”

���� 789�.8:0�

Out-of-form senior openerShikhar Dhawan has

been included in the India Aside for the last two unofficialone dayers against SouthAfrica A to get back someform after a wretched tour ofthe West Indies.

The veteran left-hander,who made a comeback froma hand fracture sustained dur-ing World Cup, totalled 65runs across five internationalgames that included threeT20s and two ODIs.

He had scores of 1, 23 and3 in the T20 Internationals,while he made 2 and 36 in thetwo completed ODIs.

“The All-India SeniorSelection Committee onFriday decided to add MrShikhar Dhawan to India Asquad for the fourth and fifthone-day against South AfricaA,” the BCCI said in a release.

However, it was anothersetback for Tamil Nadu all-rounder Vijay Shankar, who isnow out of the ‘A’ series witha thumb injury.

“Vijay Shankar has beenruled out of the series owingto an injury to his rightthumb,” the press relase stat-ed.

Shankar was forced toleave the World Cup cam-paign midway when he sus-tained a toe injury due to ayorker bowled by JaspritBumrah. He recently made acomeback in the TamilNadu Premier League (TNPL)and was included for the Aseries.

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Australia star Steve Smith was out forjust 23 in his first innings since

being felled by England fast bowler JofraArcher and suffering concussion in thesecond Ashes Test.

Smith took to the crease in thethree-day tour game at Derby on Friday,coming in with Australia 179-2 inreply to Derbyshire’s first innings 172.

He played his opening ball fromHamidullah Qadri defensively and laterslogged the off-spinner for four.

But his 38-ball knock came to anend when he sliced a drive off MattCritchley, a leg-spinner whose previous59 first-class wickets had come at anexpensive average of 51.86. Qadri, run-ning in from the cover boundary, helda well-judged catch.

Australia were then 237-3 in the70th over.

Smith, who was in the middle for47 minutes, faced 38 balls and strucktwo fours.

But the only five balls he faced thatweren’t from a slow bowler came frommedium-pacer Anuj Dal.

Smith kept his pads on after walk-ing back into the pavilion and soonafterwards headed into the nets in thecompany of Australia opener DavidWarner, not playing against Derbyshire.

Warner, using the ‘dog-thrower’device to simulate fast bowling, sentdown deliveries to Smith.

This was former his first matchsince being hit on his unprotected neckby a 92 mph bouncer from Archer dur-ing the drawn second Test at Lord’s.

But against Derbyshire he was bat-ting with a stem guard neck pro-tector on his helmet despite previous-ly saying he felt uncomfortable usingone.

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Uttar Pradesh’s ParulChaudhary completed her

golden double as she outsprintsfavourite Sudha Singh in thewomen’s 3000m steeplechaseon the concluding day of thethe 59th National Inter-StateAthletics Championships atthe 35th Bt PAC Stadium hereon Friday. Parul bagged the5000m gold on the openingday.

The last day proved to befruitful for the hosts as UP ath-letes garnered 11 medals,including two gold, fiver silverand three bronze. However, theoverall championship went toKerala with 144 points. Keralaalso bagged the men’s andwomen’s championships trophywith 64 and 80 points respec-tively.

Mahdi Piijahan of Iranwas adjudged best athlete whilewomen’s title went to Anjali Deiof Haryana.

Star sprinter Dutee Chandof Odisha also failed in herattempt to touch the WorldChampionships standard inthe women’s 100m. She wonthe race in 11.38 seconds, 0.14seconds slower than the targettime of 11.24. She is, however,likely make it to Doha as she iscurrently inside the targetnumber — 48 — of competi-tors in women’s 100m in theWorld Championsips.

The 24-year-old AvinashSable of Maharashtra ran at acomfortable pace to claim thegold with a meet record time of8:33.19. He could have chal-lenged his own national recordof 8:28.94 but the humidity wasof little help, despite his eventbeing scheduled as the last onthe track.

The World Championshipsqualifying mark for men’s3000m steeplechase is 8:29.00and Sable has already qualifiedfor the showpiece event.

Sreesankar hit sand at7.83m on his second jumpand raised hopes that he wouldgo past the 8-metre mark. The20-year-old made a massiveeffort in his final jump but dis-appointingly over-stepped rosee the red flag being raised.

The Kerala long jumper,who has a personal best of8.20m, has also already quali-fied for the World

Championships for whichwhich the required mark is8.17m. Tamil Nadu’s women’ssprint quartet held its own bysetting the other meet record.Dhana Lakshmi, R NithyaRamraj, V Revathi andArchana Suseendran combinedto finish the 4x100m relay in45.69 seconds, improving onthe 45.96 set by the Kerala teamin 1997.

Except for Anjali Devi,who won gold in women’s400m on Friday, none couldtouch the WorldChampionships mark in anyother event during the four-daychampionships.

Anjali was adjudged thebest female athlete while Iran’sMahdi Pirijahan, who won the400m hurdles, was named thebest male athlete. Kerala wasdeclared the overall championsas well as the men’s andwomen’s champion team ofthe event.

The day also saw a ratherhilarious scene during themen’s 4x400m relay final when

Muhammed Anas, one of themembers of the main Indianquartet representing AFI-Ahere, took the baton from arunner of AFI-B after his team-mate Alex Antony pulled out200m into the third leg appar-ently due to a muscle problem.Anas was running the final legand he picked up the baton ofthe AFI-team B member whoran at the third leg — Sajin.

The AFI-A team of AmojJacob, Noah Tom, Antony andAnas took part in the 4x400mrelay in a bid to improve itstiming. The team is currentlyat 16th and last place for a qual-ification spot of the WorldChampionships to be held inDoha from September 28 toOctober 6. In the official result,the AFI-A team was shown as‘DNF’ (did not finish) while theAFI-B team was disqualified.

THE RESULTS:Men’s: (100m:) 1. Vidya Sagar(Karnataka) 10.59 seconds; 2.Nuzrat Ali (Haryana) 10.66; 3.Safikul Mondal (West Bengal)

10.69. 1500m: 1. Ajay KumarSaroj (Uttar Pradesh) 3:44.66;2. Ajeet Kumar (Gujarat)3:45.07; 3. Rahul (Delhi)3:45.47. 110m Hurdles: 1.Siddhanth Thingalaya (AFI)13.99 seconds; 2. MaymonPaulose (Kerala) 14.00; 3. ParasPatil (Maharashtra) 14.36.3000m Steeplechase: 1.Avinash Sable (Maharashtra)8:33.19; 2. Durga Budha (UttarPradesh) 8:57.27; 3. RakeshSwami (Rajasthan) 9:07.37.Hammer Throw: 1. BajinderSingh (Punjab) 63.36m; 2.Mohammed Aftab Alam (UttarPradesh) 63.23; 3. Meraj Ali(Uttar Pradesh) 60.71. JavelinThrow: 1. Rohit Yadav (UttarPradesh) 78.98m; 2. P Manu(Karnataka) 76.24; 3. Rajender(Haryana) 76.04. Long Jump:1. M Sreeshankar (Kerala)7.83m; 2. Samit Singh (UttarPradesh) 7.40; 3. RishabhRishishwar (Uttar Pradesh)7.38. 4x100m relay : 1.Karnataka (Suhas Gowda,Vidya Sagar, Rohith and RohanKumar) 41.43 seconds; 2.Maharashtra 41.48; 3. WestBengal 42.00. 4x400m relay: 1.Sri Lanka, 2. Kerala 3:16.76; 3.Delhi 3:17.09(Women’s): 100m: 1. DuteeChand (Odisha) 11.38 sec-onds; 2. Archana Suseendran(Tamil Nadu) 11.50; 3.Himashree Roy (West Bengal)11.63. 1500m: 1. Lili Das (WestBengal) 4:21.59; 2. PU Chitra(Kerala) 4:22.03; 3. WKLArachchi Nimali (Sri Lanka)4:25. 100m Hurdles: 1. JyothiYarraji (Andhra Pradesh) 13.91seconds; 2. C Kanimozhi(Tamil Nadu) 13.94; 3. RitwikaSingh (Uttar Pradesh) 13.98.3000m Steeplechase: 1. ParulChaudhary (Uttar Pradesh)10:04.19; 2. Sudha Singh (UttarPradesh) 10:04.55; 3. PritiLamba (Haryana) 10:13.42.Shot put: 1. Abha Khatua(West Bengal) 15.36m; 2.Navjeet Kaur Dhillon (Punjab)15.14; 3. Pinki Rawat (UttarPradesh) 13.99. Heptathlon: 1.Sowmiya Murugan (AndhraPradesh) 5321 points; 2.Mareena George (Kerala) 5238;3. Laimwn Nazary (Assam)4540. 4x100m relay: 1. TamilNadu (45.69 seconds) 2.Karnataka (46.07); 3. Kerala(47.17). 4x400m relay: 1.Karnataka (3:39.41); 2. Kerala(3:45.64); 3. Delhi (3:46.71).

���������������/The Lucknow leg of JBC season 5 was

inaugurated at UP Badminton Academyon Friday with 562 shuttlers taking partin the tournament. PNB MetLife chiefmarketing officer Nipun Kaushal, said:"During the last edition of PNB MetLifeJunior Badminton Championship, wewere able to reach out to more than 8000badminton enthusiasts from across thecountry and in this edition we aspire totake this to the next level.” Lucknow is the9th city of this year's JBC tournament,which is scheduled to be held across 10cities of India.

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KINGSTON: India laboured their way to 72 for 2under testing conditions after opener K L Rahul andCheteshwar Pujara were dismissed cheaply in theopening session of the second World TestChampionship match against the West Indies hereon Saturday.

Rahul and Pujara were out for 13 and 6 respec-tively after India were put into bat on a Sabina Parkpitch which had some grass on it.

Captain Virat Kohli and the other openerMayank Agarwal were batting at 41 off 99 balls and5 off 30 deliveries respectively at the lunch break.India faced 30 overs in the session.

After West Indies captain Jason Holder optedto field, Rahul and Agarwal negotiated the first halfan hour without taking any risk on a tricky pitch.

Opening bowlers Kemar Roach and ShannonGabriel, however, could not get much movementfrom the pitch.

Holder introduced himself in the seventh overand immediately got the breakthrough by havingthe wicket of Rahul to break the 32-run openingstand.

It was a peach of a delivery which jagged awayfrom middle stump with Rahul edging it toRakheem Cornwall at first slip for a comfortablecatch. Rahul hit two fours in his 26-ball innings.

Holder was getting the bounce and movementand debutant Cornwall made the Indians toil forruns with his tight off-spin bowling.

India were 36 for 1 in 13 overs at the drinksbreak. Pujara, who came after Rahul’s departure inthe seventh over, struggled again as he took 15 deliv-eries to open his account and was finally out for 6which came from 25 balls.

The bounce extracted by 26-year-old off-spinner Cornwall, who stands at 6ft and 5 inchesand weights more than 140kg, did brought Pujara’sdownfall as he hit straight to the hands of ShamarhBrooks.

India were 46 for 2 in the 17th over at the fallof Pujara but Kohli and Agarwal ensured that thevisiting side do not lose any further wicket. The duoadded 26 runs in 13.1 overs for the unbroken thirdwicket.

Agarwal has so far hit five fours from the 99balls, while Kohli’s 5 came from 30 deliveries.BRIEF SCORE:India first innings: 72 for 2 in 30 overs (MayankAgarwal 41; Jason Holder 1/7).

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