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˘ˇˆ˙˘˝˛˚˚˜ - The Pioneer · buzzword in skill development, a reality check for Odisha is while Odisha didn’t earn a place ... country in Smart City list, is nowhere in

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Page 1: ˘ˇˆ˙˘˝˛˚˚˜ - The Pioneer · buzzword in skill development, a reality check for Odisha is while Odisha didn’t earn a place ... country in Smart City list, is nowhere in

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Page 2: ˘ˇˆ˙˘˝˛˚˚˜ - The Pioneer · buzzword in skill development, a reality check for Odisha is while Odisha didn’t earn a place ... country in Smart City list, is nowhere in

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When the catch-phrase‘Skilled in Odisha’ has

been Odisha Government’sbuzzword in skill development,a reality check for Odisha iswhile Odisha didn’t earn a placein top-10 States with maxi-mum hiring in 2018, it alsofailed to make into top-10 Stateswith maximum employable tal-ent in coming new year 2019.

The worse is outlook forhiring intent in Odisha in 2019looks dim as industries hereshow meagre interest in hiringin the New Year.

More shocker isBhubaneswar, which topped

country in Smart City list, isnowhere in top-10 employ-able cities, where Guntur(Andhra Pradesh) at number 3and Thane (10th), Nashik (7th)from Maharashtra have madetheir way into top-10 in 2018.

Employability meansworkforce joining jobs marketthat can get readily absorbed inthe industries as per their skillrequirement.

Such a grim noting was tothe fore in recently releasedIndia Skills Report-2019.Wheebox, India’s leadingonline talent assessment com-pany, PeopleStrong, India’sleading HR solutions and tech-nology company, CII, Pearson,World’s learning company,AICTE and Association ofIndian Universities (AIU) haveconducted a WEST (WheeboxEmployability Skill Test) and

India Intent Hiring surveyacross 29 States covering overa three lakh plus students,120-plus employers to assessground situation of employa-bility, employment in country.The survey and WEST wereconducted during July –November 2018.

According to Hiring Intentsurvey, Odisha didn’t figure intop-10 States nationally withmaximum hiring activity in thecountry, where neighbouringBihar sits prettily at number 2and West Bengal at number 10nationally. The damning fact tofore in the survey is Odisha fig-ured in bottom-10 as below 2per cent employers in Odishaexpressed intent to go for hir-ing in 2019, despite the fact thatnationally Core Sector (steel,minerals, power, oil and gas)figuring among top-3 hirers in

2019.This makes it pretty clear

that the core sector in theState is not in the pink of healthand Odisha model of skillinglooks unable to stand tall.

Odisha didn’t make intotop-10 States in the country inindex of talent availability,despite State’s skilling missionis led by noted expert SubrotoBagchi. Andhra Pradesh (1st),Uttar Pradesh (9th), WestBengal (10th), figured in top-10 list in talent availability.Coincidentally, none of min-eral-bearing States, exceptGujarat, Karnataka and AP,figured in top-10 States in tal-ent availability.

This again means new-agejob churning States walk awayas a big drawer of employmentin THE country. India SkillReport 2019 shows States hav-

ing a well entrenched new-agejobs infrastructure are amongthe top-10 in employment.

The report has a big hintfor Odisha as it says the threemost sought- after skills in thecountry in today’s businessenvironment are: communica-tion skills, adaptability andlearning agility. Moreover, insector-wise hiring, companiesscout mostly for financial ser-vices, hospitality and travel,engineering and automotive.Software and IT sector is tostart hiring in 2019.

With the State betting bigon skilling by depending onITIs and polytechnics, reportsays the ITI and polytechnicstudents’ employability is achallenge among all domainstudents because of less focuson industry alliance and coreemployable skills.

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The 113-year-old ‘TheChurch’ in the mission

compound here as well as the107-year-old ‘CommunityCentre’ in the leprosy homeMurgabadi near here are short-listed as heritage buildings, forwhich steps have been taken asstated by Union Minister ofCulture Dr Mahaesh Sharma.

He assured a delegation ofthe Etani Trust led by DrSubhankar Ghosh when theyapproached him. The EtaniTrust earlier passed a resolutionin its board meeting to pursuethe matter with the Centre toconsider these two buildings asheritage structures.

‘The Church’ is an epitomeof God’s love for the peoplewho are mostly leprosy suffer-ers. Under the British regime,the Mayurbhanj Maharaja’sregent and Mrs Kidell, MrsGilbert, Grace Allenby andmany more came fromAustralia and England time totime. Later Miss Alcorn and

Miss Stevens were joined withthe ‘Charitable missionaries’leprosy services and especiallyboth had very popular stand-ing with the people ofMayurbhanj.

Then as the last expatriatemissionaries of the mission,Graham Staines also served theleprosy people in the samechurch and building.

Graham’s wife GladysStaines received Padmashreeaward for her lifelong servicesin Mayurbhanj and left unfor-gettable memories along withthe church buildings and thecommunity centre.

The then Mayurbhanj

Maharaja Shree RamachandraBhanjadeo had gifted the landto Miss Kate Alanby, a mis-sionary from Australia in 1896.Miss Alanby constructed thechurch in 1905 in the missioncompound. In a similar man-ner in 1907, for the benefit ofleprosy-affected people ofMayurbhanj, a communitycentre was constructed in theleprosy home campus. TheMaharaja had provided all thesupport for both the buildingsalong with campuses.

Dr Subhankar Ghoshexplained to Minister DrSharma about the importanceof the buildings and why it isnecessary to declare them asheritage buildings.

Dr Ghosh said, “A struc-ture of more than a hundredyears old in its original formscan be considered as a heritagebuilding. Though it is not toolate, the Center has taken ini-tiative in this regard. This is apride for Odisha and an hon-our to the Late MaharajaShreeram Chandra Bhanjadeo.”

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Individuals and companiesnow can use drones for wed-

dings, events and other pur-poses in areas other than thosebarred for security reasons.

But prior to that one has totake permission from the localpolice for using drones. Incase of violation one has to facelegal action. After the CivilAviation Ministry introducednew regulations for use ofdrones effective fromDecember 1, the Odisha policehave obtained informationregarding use of drones byprivate players in the State.

As per reports, the Odishapolice have procured twodrones for surveillance inSwabhiman Anchal (cutoffareas) of Malkangiri district as

part of its anti-Maoist strate-gies. Besides, around 500drones are being used by pri-vate players in the State, main-ly in Jharsuguda, Rourkela,Puri, Bhubaneswar, Brahmapurand Cuttack.

The private drones aremainly used for wedding, films,TV shows and documentaries,and political events. Thoughsuch usages of drones wereunregulated earlier, now onehas to follow a set of new rulesand regulations.

For flying Nano drone, theuser will now have to take per-

mission from the local police.Besides, he or she will have togive a statement in writing atthe local police station assuringthat the drone will not invadethe privacy of any person.

Flying of drones by privateplayers without permission oflocal police will be consideredas illegal and action will betaken against the owner of thedrone for the same, sources said.On December 1, the DirectorateGeneral of Civil Aviation(DGCA) launched a new DigitalSky Platform on its officialwebsite for granting permissionfor civil use of drones.

According to the DGCArules, drones have been divid-ed into five categories based ontheir weight. They are Nano,Micro, Small, Medium andLarge drones.

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The Bharatiya Janata YuvaMocha (BJYM) would hold

a youth conference titled ‘NuaOdisha Yuba SanjojakaSammilani’ involving youthconvenors of all 147 Assemblyconstituencies here onWednesday to decide actionplans to fight against alleged PC(percentage) taking practiceand press for creation ofemployment opportunities inthe State.

“The State Government hasmade rules to distribute projectsworth up to Rs 5 lakh withouttenders. Now, BJD MLAs haveturned contractors in disguiseand are taking all projects.Thus, unemployed youths havebeen deprived of getting incomesources,” alleged Morcha Statepresident Tankadhar Tripathyon Tuesday.

Tripathy said BYJM con-venors from all Assembly con-stituencies would gather here todecide strategies against suchillegal practices being adoptedduring the Naveen PatnaikGovernment. He said UnionMinister Dharmendra Pradhanwould attend the conference aschief guest.

He further informed thatslogans be given to the effectthat youth activists would go topeople and make them knowhow BJD leaders have becomecontractors and taking awayGovernment funds and callupon youths to get united andfight for their rights.

Among others, Morchanational vice-president ThakurRanjit Das, State general sec-retaries Bishwaranjan Jena andN Rajendra Kumar and secre-tary Om Prakash Mishra werepresent.

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The BJD has severely criti-cised Union Petroleum

Minister Dharmendra Pradhansaying that he made false alle-gations that the StateGovernment changed ‘no ten-der’ norms in public worksfrom Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh and, thus, encouragedcorruption.

“Union Minister Pradhandoesn’t know that the UnionMinistry of Road Transportand Highways had framed sucha rule to which the OdishaGovernment followed. His alle-gations are false and baseless.It seems that Pradhan is des-perately trying to hoodwinkpeople of Odisha,” said BJDspokesperson Dr Sasmit Patra

in a statment.Patra said the Ministry of

Road Transport and Highwaysfirst changed the norms for ‘notender’ in public works from Rs50,000 to Rs 5 lakh. Later, theState Government, intending toimplement it, brought the mat-ter before the Public AccountsCommittee (PAC) of theOdisha Legislative Assemblywhich has representations fromthe Congress and BJP MLAsapart from the BJD. The PACrecommended that such anorm change should be under-taken. Accordingly, the StateGovernment implemented theCentre’s financial norms.

“Unaware of Centralnorms, the Union Minister iswasting too much of his timein touring Odisha neglectinghis own work in Delhi. Hisrepeated false statements areunbecoming of a CentralMinister and he should checkfacts before making irrespon-sible comments,” said Patra.

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Prof Gautam Mohanty, atheosophist from Odisha,

has received fellowship inTheosophical studies from theKrotona Institute ofTheosophy, USA recently.

Prof Mohanty was award-ed the fellowship for whitebrotherhood, humanity andcompassion for universal reli-gion. He received the fellow-ship from Dr Pablo Sender inthe presence of Dr ChitaranjanSatapathy and Michele Sender

from America.Mohanty, a research

theosophist and a manage-ment faculty, has developedseveral management theoriesand founded the B-SchoolForum. He works for youngchildren, helping them for theirbright career. Prof Mohanty isa representative of All IndiaManagement Association, andhas rights to deliver TRIZCertification courses and tocertify training courses. He isalso a recipient of “RashtriyaGaurav Award”.

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The revised price list ofAbadha (Mahaprasad)

would be pasted in AnandaBazar in the Shreemandirpremises here in a few days’ time, said Shree Jagannath TempleAdministration (SJTA)Chief AdministratorPradipta Moahaptra on Tuesday.

Mohapatra said that theSJTA supplied requiredration items and engaged‘Suars and Mohasuars’(cooks) in cookingMahaprasad for cost assessment on anexperimental basis. The cooks would giveexpenditure details of all items to a com-mittee within a few days and then the com-mittee would fix prices of different itemsof Mohaparasad and bring in a final ratechart for public in the Ananda Bazar with-in a week, he said.

He said fixing a rate chart for Abhadaitems is a part of administrative reformsand would ensure that devotees would getMahaprashad at right prices.

Mohapatra further informed that tem-

ple administration wouldsoon oust all unotherisedoccupants from the AnandaBazar soon.

Regarding the proposed‘online ticket system forDarshan of the Trinity, theSJTA chief said the managingcommittee (MC) memberfrom the Pratihari Nijog hasbeen assigned the charge ofdrafting a modality in thisregard.

The ticketed systemwould be implemented onbasis of report, saidMohapatra.

He said that many devo-tees want special views of

deities on payment like ‘ParimanikDarshan’. The proposed ticketed darshanis only meant for such devotees, he said.

Besides, he informed that the arrange-ments and time schedules for ‘PahiliBhoga’ (dawn offerings) rituals onDecember 16, January 1 and ‘MakarSankaranti’ would be prepared.

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Rajnagar Congress MLA Anshuman Mohantyhas served a legal notice to Food Supplies and

Cooperation Minister Surjya Narayan Patro overhis comments on the paddy procurement scamin Kendrapada district. Mohanty stated that Patroshould tender an apology over his controversialremarks on the scam.

Reportedly, Patro had levelled allegationsagainst Mohanty that the relatives of the MLA areonly involved in the false paddy procurementscam as per the CAG report.

In response to Patro’s comments, Mohantyhad challenged him saying that if the Minister canprove involvement of any of his blood relatives inthe scam, he would retire from politics. He hadfurther challenged Patro to resign if he failed toprove the charges.

Mohanty has also threatened to file a defama-tion case against the Minister if the latter fails totender an apology. Besides, he informed that hehas written a letter to Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik apprising him about the matter.

“The charges levelled by the Minister are falseand baseless and if he does not tender an apolo-gy immediately, I would file a defamation caseagainst him,” stated Mohanty.

However, the Minister is yet to comment onthe matter.

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BHUBANESWAR: BloodBank services resumed acrossthe State as the State BloodBank Association withdrew itscease-work agitation onTuesday following discussionswith Health and FamilyWelfare Minister Pratap Jena.

The association was hold-ing cease-work agitation sinceNovember 26, pressing for var-ious demands. “The Ministerassured hat Blood Bankemployees will get remunera-tion at Government rate and 1per cent incentive over thebasic pay. Besides, he assuredprovisions of ESI and EPF forthe employees,” said associationAnil Kumar Mohanty.

Total of 191 employees indifferent cadres belonging to 55Government Blood Banks hadresorted to cease-work. PNS

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Hundred of guests invitedto the Konark Festival

fumed over the hospitality ofthe OTDC staffs during a din-ner. After witnessing the fes-tival, they had a dinner inOTDC restaurant. However,the manner the restaurant staffstreated irked the guests.

The guests have now raisedquestions on hospitality of theOdisha Tourism whose ethicshave long been based on ‘AtithiDebo Bhaba’ (guests are equalto God). On the opening day ofthe Konark Festival, more thana hundred of guests, includingartists, journalists, besides emi-nent personalities were invitedby the Tourism Department.OTDC buses carried them toKonark from Bhuabaneswar

and Puri besides other places.At the end of the festival, theguests were taken toChandrabhaga beach by bussesfor visiting the sand art exhi-bition. Before return they hadtheir supper at the nearbyOTDC restaurant.

However, a rude reminderfor guests was that they had towait in a queue before the foodcounter for half an hour withplate in hand. In the middle ofthe dinner, many guests walkedto counter for supplementarydishes as no waiter came totheir tables. Many complained

of food scarcity while seek-ing for second time. Evensome guests preferred toenter private eaterieswatching a shameful con-dition here. For serving somany guests there were

few waiters in the cafeteria.“I was ashamed to watch

the hospitality of OTDCtowards its invitees. If it is forus then what would have beenfor the tourists,” questionedBijay Mishra, a Puri basedsenior journalist. “Really it wassad to join the dinner hosted byOTDC. I was better to choosea private restaurant than enter-ing here,” commented tabla-artist Sankar Behera, whoreturned home emptied stom-ach. He charged the higherauthorities of Odisha tourismfor mismanagements.

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The Social Security and Empowerment ofPersons with Disabilities (SSEPD)

Department celebrated the State-levelInternational Day of Persons with Disabilities(PwDs) at the National Career Service Centrefor Differently Abled (NCSCDA) campushere on Monday.

SSEPD Minister Prafulla Samal, PrincipalSecretary Niten Chandra, Director SusantaKumar Mahapatra, Deputy Director J Mahalaand NCSCDA Assistant Director(Employment) Ram Kishor Sharma attendedas guests. The Minister also inaugurated thethree months module residential free pre-recruitment coaching programme for PwDs forcompetitive examinations in which 300 grad-uates would be given free coaching each yearat the NCSCDA.

Besides, the district Collectors of Sonepur,Mayurbhanj and Koraput and 18 persons in13 categories were felicitated for their remark-able work in empowering PwDs along with tal-ented PwDs. Self-employment tool kits andlaptops were also distributed.

During the programme, three bookletsnamely ‘The Achievers’, ‘Ama Katha’ and‘Unique Trio Initiatives for EmpoweringPwDs through Skill Development TrainingProgramme’ were released.

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SAMBALPUR: As ugly situa-tion has emerged in the VeerSurendra Sai UniversityTechnology (VSSUT), Burla.

The students of Rohinihostel for girls and many oth-ers are up against a letter fromthe warden denying them to goout of hostel after evening andtalk in road side with boys.

The public of Burla, thepassersby and sensitive peopledidn’t take it easy as the boysand girls are gossiping in theopen. They might have broughtthe matter to the notice of theuniversity authorities and theVC might have been prompt-ed to pass such an order due tothis.

But the order has not gonedown well with the students. “Itis a direct encroachment on our

independence,” they said withpostings in social media. “Weare not children. We haveresponsibility too. We are capa-ble enough to take care ofourselves including our digni-ty,” they said.

But VSSUT VC AtalChoudhury said that such anotification was necessary asthere were a lot of discussionsas to the particular incident ofboys and girls gossiping onroad.” “I also request the stu-dents, both boys and girls, tomaintain the dignity their uni-versity since their activitiescame under virulent criticism.Even some elite people broughtthis matter to the notice of theBurla police. Hence, we havetaken the measure,”Choudhury said. PNS

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Page 3: ˘ˇˆ˙˘˝˛˚˚˜ - The Pioneer · buzzword in skill development, a reality check for Odisha is while Odisha didn’t earn a place ... country in Smart City list, is nowhere in

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As the general elections drawnear, speculations are rife

whether Union MinisterDharmendra Pradhan wouldcontest from an Assembly or aLok Sabha constituency orwould not fight elections in theState at all.

Of late, what Pradhan hasindicated is that he may contestfrom the Pallahara Assemblyseat in Angul district, fromwhere he had been elected inthe 2000 polls when his BJPwas in coalition with the BJD.He also won the Deogarh Lok

Sabha seat in 2004 when theBJD-BJP alliance was intact.But he lost the Assembly fightfrom Pallahara to the BJD’sRabi Narayan Pani in 2009when the BJD had snapped itsties with the BJP. He refrainedfrom contesting polls in 2014.

However, Pradhan seemsto be still undecided about his

constituency as he officiallysays that he can contest fromany of the State’s 147 Assemblyconstituencies.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, sit-ting Pallahara BJD MLAMaheswar Sahu challengedPradhan to face him in the 2019elections from this constituen-cy. Sahu said Pradhan has toexplain to the people what con-tributions he and his family havefor the development of the area.(Notably, Dharmendra’s fatherDr Debendra Pradhan was oncethe Pallahara MLA and theDeogarh MP.)

Sahu further stated that he

does not think Dharmendrawould at all contest the comingelections either to the Assemblyor the Parliament.

As political observers feel,Dharmendra, who is perceivedas the BJP’s face in Odisha as perthe party high command’sscheme of things, would shyaway from electoral fight in theState only to confirm his oppo-nents’ taunt that he has lost rootsin his State’s grassroots politics.He is presently a Rajya Sabhamember from Madhya Pradeshwhile he was previously electedto the Upper House ofParliament from Bihar.

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Ateam led by PCC president Niranjan Patnaik vis-ited the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in New

Delhi on Tuesday and handed over a cheque of�20,20,504 to officials for early upgrading of the IGHRourkela to a super speciality hospital.

“The Prime Minister had promised to upgradethe IGH to a super speciality hospital. A youth ofRourkela walked long to reach New Delhi toremind the Prime Minister of his promise. However,the demand has not been fulfilled yet,” alleged thePCC team.

The PCC team handed over a cheque of�20,20,504 collected online through crowd fundingas per a request of AICC president Rahul Gandhi forthe purpose, informed the team.

Among others, AICC secretary Anil Chowdhury,joint secretary Aditya Sharma, MLA George Tirky,senior leader Anant Sethi, Jagannath Pattnaik,Rourkela DCC president Rabi Ray, Media cell chair-man Satyaprakash Nayak, Social media coordinatorAbhisek Mahanand and Suchitra Mohanty were inthe team.

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Senior officers of the prison depart-ment have taken cognisance of

certain videos showing illegal andunauthorised items available withinmates of the Choudwar Circle Jailand started investigations into thesource of the videos and the authen-ticity of their contents.

Two videos, one showing aninmate of the jail exhibiting a mobilephone and a charger with him andanother in which he is flashing a stripof medicines claiming the same to benarcotic tablets, went viral recently.Seemingly intentional, the videosspeak volumes about jail security.

Jail DIG Gopabandhu Mallick has started investigations

into the incident. “We are lookinginto the source of the videos and try-ing to find out as to who shot thevideos in the jail premises,” Mallicktold reporters, attributing the same tobe the handiwork of an insider withulterior motive.

The DIG has reportedly sum-moned the Jail Superintendent forquestioning in this connection. Onthe other hand, Jail SuperintendentRabindranath Swain claimed that theviral videos are very old clippings andthey were illegally and intentionallyshot by some discontented staffs.

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Good News India’s BeltikiriDream Centre Shelter

Home managing director FayazRehman, who was arrested bythe Dhenkanal police on thecharge of sexual harassment ofgirl inmates of the home, wastaken on a two-day remand bypolice on Tuesday.

Police would interrogateRehman to unearth more infor-mation about the illegal func-tioning of the shelter home andwould also likely to questionhim over the allegations ofsexual harassment and reli-gious conversion of the inmates.

Earlier, Special Protectionof Children from SexualOffences (POCSO) Court hadgranted permission to police totake Rehman on remand.

Women and ChildDevelopment Minister PrafullaSamal on Tuesday said, “A probeis on to find out the number ofunregistered shelter homes inthe State and appropriate action

would be taken accordinglyafter the district administrationsubmits the report.”

“But no complaint hasbeen lodged in connectionwith the video showing reli-gious conversion so far,” addedSamal. Meanwhile, the DreamShelter Home’s centre in Puriwas sealed on the day. Officialsof the district administrationarrived at the shelter home andsealed it as per the direction ofthe Women and Child

Development Minister.The inmates of the shelter

home would be handed over totheir guardians, an official ofthe district Child WelfareCommittee (CWC) said.

The inmates will beallowed to return to shelterhome after examination of itsdocuments, the official added.

Similarly, after raids werecarried out on the Good NewsIndia shelter home on outskirtsof Paralakhemundi in Gajapati

district, a private hostel namedSafe Children Home inChandragiri of the district cameunder the scanner of the districtadministration on Tuesday.

Sources said the shelterhome was raided because it hassome financial dealings withNGO Goods News India. Thecentre run by one Milan KumarNayak has 109 inmates.

But it was found that thecentre was functioning as perthe guidelines.

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BHUBANESWAR: The StateGovernment would auction 16mines, including 10 iron ore mines,by the end of March 2019, said MinesMinister Prafulla Mallick on Tuesday.

Mallick said, “We have written aletter to the Centre seeking its per-mission for auction of 16 mines.Once we get the approval, we willauction the mines by March-end,2019.” On December 1, the StateGovernment had cancelled the leas-es of six mines as the leaseholdersfailed to pay the penalty imposed onthem for excess mining.

The Minister further said thatwhile 31 mining companies have notpaid the penalty, 25 of them havebeen granted stay order by theRevisional Authority.

The leases of rest six mines,which have not got the stay order,have been cancelled due to non-pay-ment of compensation. These mineshave been restricted from carryingout mining operations. The districtCollectors have been asked to initi-ate certificate cases against the lease-holders and collect the fine amount,Mallick added. PNS

/�!������-�����12�(�����3��� �.)��� BHUBANESWAR: Journalist

Abhijit Iyer Mitra, who is in jailover his anti-Odisha remarks, islikely to be released soon as theState Government on Tuesdaydecided not to accord sanction ofprosecution against him in thecases where prosecution has been sought andalso to take steps to withdraw other casespending against him.

The Government took the decision con-

sidering Mitra’s request of withholding sanc-tion to prosecute him in certain crim-inal cases pending against him,informed a Home Department release.

“Iyer Mitra has appealed to accepthis apology and contrition in havingwounded the sentiments of people ofOdisha without intention. He toomentioned that the Odisha Legislative

Assembly pardoned him on November 16,2018 considering his apology against his‘without malice and mal-intent’ remarks,”informed the release. PNS

BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik on Tuesday urged Prime MinisterModi to initiate steps for passing a Bill to pro-vide one-third reservation to women in theParliament as well as in the State legislatures.

“Odisha is a pioneering State so far asempowerment of women is concerned. In theearly 1990s, the legendary leader Biju Patnaik,for the first time in the country, brought womento the realm of political decision making byreserving one-third of all seats in panchayatsand Urban Local Bodies for them. In 2011,Odisha enhanced this reservation to 50 per cent.This decision has empowered the women of andhas encouraged them to join the mainstreamof the development process. Recently theOdisha Assembly adopted a unanimous reso-

lution to provide one-third reservation towomen in the Parliament as well as the StateLegislatures,” the CM wrote in a letter to the PM.

He mentioned that empowerment ofwomen is the empowerment of the nation.No household, no society, no state, no coun-try has ever moved forward without empow-ering its women.

“Recently, the Odisha Assembly adopteda unanimous resolution to provide one-thirdreservation to women in the Parliament aswell as the State Legislatures. Kindly take lead-ership in passing a bill in this regard in theParliament. I assure full support of myGovernment in providing women their right-ful place in the decision-making process,”mentioned the Chief Minister. PNS

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Bulandshahr Police hasarrested four persons for

the murder of InspectorSubodh Kumar Singh Rathorwho was posted at Siana policestation in the district.

Subodh was murdered bya mob of Bajrang Dal activistswho were protesting the pres-ence of a cow carcass in sugar-cane field of Mahav villageunder the jurisdiction of Sianapolice station on Monday.

“It appears to be a cold-blooded murder as rioters hadcome fully armed with arms,iron rods, spears and woodensticks and they specifically tar-geted Inspector Subodh,” apolice officer said on the con-dition of anonymity.

Circle Officer (CO) ofSiana Satya Prakash Sharmaescaped death as police forcearrived on time and he wastaken out to safety from alocked room.

Inspector Subodh couldnot escape as rioters attackedwith deadly sharp weaponsand did not allow the rescue

team to take him to hospital. Bythe time he was taken to hos-pital, he had succumbed to bul-let injuries in the head.

Bajrang Dal district con-

vener Yogesh Raj, main accusedin the killing, is on the run,police officials said.

According to sources inBulandshahr Police, it appears

that those behind the murderof Inspector Subodh Kumarhad come prepared to bumphim off as they did not heed tothe continuous assurance given

by him to lodge an FIR after acarcass of cow was found hang-ing in a sugar field on Mondaymorning.

“Inspector Subodh Kumar,who had reached the spotimmediately after getting thecall, tried his best to assuage theirate crowd and he was joinedby the Sub-DivisionalMagistrate (SDM) of Siyanawho kept on announcing via aloudshailer that exemplaryaction was being taken againstthose found guilty of killingcoes. However, there were cer-tain elements who were not ina mood to listen and theyegged on the irate crowd to takerevenge. Situation went out ofhand and soon there was freeof all as the police team led byInspector Subodh Kumar wasoutnumbered. The mob, thatwas baying for his blood, tar-geted Inspector Subodh Kumarand snatched away his .32 borelicensed gun and three cell-phones, including the one withthe CUG number of the UttarPradesh Police. They shot inthe head with his revolver. Asother policemen tried to takehim to hospital, the mob

attacked them,” said police. Police have named 27 per-

sons in the FIR under variousIPC Sections and Section 7 ofthe Criminal Amendment Act.

According to the FIRlodged on the statement of Sub-Inspector Subhash Chand ofthe Siana Police station who

witnessed the gory murder ofhis immediate superior SubodhKumar, 27 accused who wereidentified have been named inthe FIR. They are: Yogesh Raj,Vishal Tyagi, Satendra Rajput,Chaman, Devendra, UpendraRaghav, Ravi Saini, AshishChauhan, Shikhar Agrawal,

former Pradhan Raj Kumar,Jeetu alias Fauzi, Sachin,Ramesh Joshi, Vineet, Saurabh,Sumit, Chhotu, Satish, VikasTyagi, Pawan, Vikrant Tyagi,Bablu, Ankur, Robin, Tinku,Guddu and Harendra. Namesof about 60 persons have beenmentioned as unidentified.

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The son of the police inspec-tor killed in mob violence

over alleged cow slaughter inBulandshahr said his fatherwanted him to be a good citi-zen who doesn’t provoke vio-lence over religion.

“My father has lost his lifein this Hindu-Muslim dispute.Whose father is next?”Abhishek Singh said.

Inspector Subodh Singh,who had initially probed the2015 lynching of Dadri residentMohammed Akhlaq overrumours about beef consump-

tion, and a 20-year-old manwere killed Monday during anattack on policemen.

Lucknow: Defending VishwaHindu Parishad and BajrangDal in the Bulandshahr vio-lence on Monday, DeputyChief Minister Keshav PrasadMaurya on Tuesday said thatit would be premature toname a Hindu outfit for thefracas before the probe wascompleted.

“I am deeply saddened bythe incident in Bulandshahr.The State Government hasconstituted a SIT which isprobing the matter thread-bare,” he said.

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In a big diplomatic victory, theIndian Government on

Tuesday night brought backAgustaWestland chopper scamprime middleman ChristianMichel from the UAE.

On arrival at the IndiraGandhi International Airport,Michel was formally arrestedand taken the CBI headquar-ters. He will kept in a safehousebefore being produced inPatiala House Court onWednesday. The agency willseek his custodial interrogation,said a senior CBI official.

The CBI press release saidthe deportation of Michel fromthe UAE was coordinated byNational Security Adviser AjitDoval and CBI interim chief MNageswar Rao.

According to senior offi-cials, the UAE Governmentordered Michel’s deportationon Tuesday afternoon andwithin hours Michel was hand-ed over to Indian authorities,led by CBI Joint Director SaiManohar, who were in Dubaifor the past two days.

UAE Government’s final

order on the deportation cameafter Michel lost his appeal inthe apex court there.Incidentally, External AffairsMinister Sushma Swaraj is inDubai for high-level talks withher UAE counterpart.

The Modi Governmenthad approached Dubai author-ities in early 2015, demandingthe deportation of Michel, whowas the main middlemenaccused of bribing topCongress leadership for thecontroversial purchase of 12VVIP helicopters from Italianfirm AgustaWestland.

Michel entered into con-spiracy with co-accused,including public servants, byaltering the tender guidelinesand downgrading service ceil-ing from 6,000 metres to 4,500

metres. Service ceiling denotes the

operational height at which ahelicopter can operate.

During the trial court pro-ceedings in Italy, the prosecu-tion produced documents andcommunications betweenMichel and his partner GuidoHaschke and alleged thatMichel paid around �400 croreas a bribe to senior politiciansand Indian Air Force officialsin the �3,600 crore deal.

The communicationsshowed Michel claiming toHaschke that he (Michel)shared proximity with thenCongress president SoniaGandhi and her political sec-retary Ahmed Patel, who isnamed in the communicationas AP.

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Page 4: ˘ˇˆ˙˘˝˛˚˚˜ - The Pioneer · buzzword in skill development, a reality check for Odisha is while Odisha didn’t earn a place ... country in Smart City list, is nowhere in

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Ayoung physicianYagnadatta Rath hailing

from Patilo village under Tirtolblock in Jagatsinghpur districthas been chosen to receive theprestigious Indian MedicalAssociation [IMA] Dr ThakarAward 2017-18 for deliveringbest community health service.The award would be given at afunction of IMA NATCON2018 on December 27 and 28at Bangaluru.

Dr Rath had come underintense public debate not onlyin Odisha but across the coun-try for his benevolent act whilehe was working inTumudibandha CommunityHealth Centre [CHC] inKandhamal in March 2018.

Reports said that the youngdoctor had trekked about twokm to cross a hill and river andreached a Maoist infestedremote tribal village to attenda pregnant tribal woman.

The IMA Dr CT Thakar

Award selection committeerecognized Rath’s benevolentact and selected him for theaward.

Sources informed that theresidents of Patilo were jubilantafter knowing about the devel-opment. They proposed to cel-ebrate the event at the village.

Dr Rath’s grandfatherMuralidhar Rath expressed hishappiness and described theaward as God’s blessing and aprofessional determination of ayoungster.

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Vigilance officials on Tuesdayraided several places

belonging to Chinmaya Behura,senior clerk at the office of theDeputy Director of Mines inJajpur, for his allegedly amass-ing assets disproportionate tohis known sources of income.

As many as five teams ofthe anti-corruption agencyconducted the simultaneousraids at Behura’s office inKaliapani here, house atSukinda, in-laws’ house, ances-tral home and such other placesin the morning. Multiple cor-ruption-related allegations hadbeen levelled against Behurathe recent past, sources said.

Till last reports came in,the raids were in progress. Thetotal cost of the assets of Behurahas been calculated by theVigilance at Rs 1.02 crore,

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Two private buses parkednear Caltex Square here

caught fire and later reduced toashes triggering panic in thelocality on Tuesday. However,no casualty or injury wasreported.

Sources said some localsfirst spotted the fire at around6.30 am and informed the Fire

Services about it. A firefightingteam rushed to the spot anddoused the flames. Police alsoreached the site and began aninvestigation into the incident.

The two buses had beenstationed in the area for the lasttwo years. Though the exactcause behind the fire was yet tobe ascertained, locals suspect-ed it to be the handiwork of afew antisocials.

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The shifting of the Sales TaxAssessment Office from

Talcher to Angul has causedresentment among the localshere. Since Talcher is a businesshub with several mines andindustries in operation, sale taxfiling here is high and hence,the locals have demanded thatthe office be reopened in theTalcher Sub-Collector officecampus.

It has been over fivemonths now since the Sales TaxAssessment Office at Talcherwas shifted to Angul. Despitean assurance given by the taxadministration to the AngulDistrict Chamber of

Commerce and Industries(ADCCI) to resolve theimpasse regarding the buildingof the office in a week’s time, noconcrete step has been taken sofar by the authority to hire anew building on rent for func-tioning of the office.

It is learnt that MahanadiCoalfields Ltd (MCL) has allot-ted a quarter for functioning ofthe sale tax office at Talcher, butthe possession of the allottedquarter is yet to be taken overby the Sales Tax Department.

This apathetic attitude ofthe department towards a rev-enue generating place likeTalcher has caused widespreadresentment in the locality.

Besides serving as a revenuecollection centre, the tax assess-ment unit has also been func-tioning as a facilitation cell andhelpdesk for over 4,000 dealerssince its inception in 2008.

A large number of com-

puter illiterate dealers still lookup to the assessment unit forhelp in registration, return fil-ing and other related works inthe new tax regime.

Ever since the office wasshifted to Angul against the willof the people, the dealers feelcheated by the department asthe unpopular decision hascaused unease and complianceproblems to the dealers.

When there is a thrust inthe Government on ease ofdoing business, it is but natur-al that they would quite expect-edly prefer to take the help ofa Government office locatednearby.

In view of the difficultiesbeing faced by the dealers inthe GST regime, there is ademand for up-gradation of theoffice into a circle. However,vested interests sitting higherup in the administration andunscrupulous elements in the

business have allied together toallow unrestrained flow ofunaccounted goods into thearea without fear of beingcaught.

This has resulted in sub-stantial loss of tax revenue forthe State and contraction ofbusiness for local dealers. Thereis a widespread demand in thebusiness community to bringback the office to Talcher at theearliest for larger interest of thelocality.

Talcher MLA BrajakishorePradhan discussed with theCommissioner of CommercialTaxes in his office atBhubaneswar and theCommissioner assured thatcommercial tax office wouldnot be shifted to Angul.

But many apprehend if theoffice will not be operatedwithin December, then nodealer will file their returnand pay their taxes to the State.

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Environment lovers, waterconservationists and the

intellectuals of Baleswar onMonday under the banner ofCivil Society Balasore submit-ted a memorandum to districtCollector Ramesh Rout,protesting a project whichenvisages drawing river water.

Expressing concern they saidthat overdrawing of water woulddry up the rivers and the agri-culture land would turn barren.

Rout assured the protestersthat he would convene a meet-ing soon in that regard.

Water conservationistSudarshan Das said, “It wouldspell catastrophe if we exploitriver water mindlessly withoutconsidering its impact on theecology. The bearing on the

small and marginal farmerswho are depending on theserivers would be massive.”

“A through scientific studyshould be made by the expertsbefore the water is diverted,” hedemanded.

Activist Manoj Nayak said,“The work undertaken about ayear ago was stalled after agi-tations and demonstrations.Again the State Government istrying to take up the project.For any project involving use ofnatural resources there shouldbe Gram Sabha as per directiveof the Supreme Court. Herethis norm is overlooked.Without approval of GramSabha, the work is undertakento suit the interest of the indus-tries ignoring peasants andriverside residents.”

Anataryami Pradhan,Laxmidhar Behera , MahendraPrasad Dhal , GourangaPanigrahi , Sairul Haque ,Sambhu Singh , Archana Nandi, Krishna Shah and SadanandaDas were among the protesters.

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Police and unidentified mis-creants exchanged fire near

Power House Square in Jeyporetown of the district in the weehours of Tuesday.

Sources said the Townpolice received an input abouttransportation of ganja andintensified patrolling to nabthe anti-socials. Two motorbike-borne miscreants providingescort to a suspicious vehiclespotted the police patrol andopened fire at the cops.

The police team also retal-iated in self-defence. However,the anti-socials managed to slipeven though the police gavethem a hot chase. “We chasedthem continuously but theystarted firing near the bypassroad, and thereafter increasedtheir speed. They also openedfire at Jaynagar chhak and man-aged to escape. We have seized9 mm cartridges from the spot,”Town Police Inspector-in-Charge Baleswar Gidhi said.

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In a broad daylight robbery,unidentified miscreants loot-

ed cash and mobile phones froma school teacher at gunpoint onthe Badahara forest road inKaniha of the district on Tuesday.

Sources said the teacher ofthe Kumanda Jarasinga HighSchool, Bijay Kumar Pradhan,was returning home on hismotorcycle, when three motor-bike- born miscreant hit the for-mer’s bike deliberately frombehind. When Bijay fell down,the miscreants looted �15,000cash and two mobile phonesfrom him by brandishing guns.Bijay, who sustained injuriesduring the confrontation, wasadmitted to a hospital. Later, helodged a complaint with theKaniha police. Acting on thecomplaint, police began an inves-tigation and are making efforts totrace and nab the three accused.

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What could be more dis-turbing when the hus-

band of a jailor is managing theaffairs of a jail as its de factohead! The fact has come to lightwhile Madhabananda Jyotish ,hubby of Nilgiri Sub jailMamtabala Patra seen work-ing in jail office.

A video footage showingJyotish operating from jailoffice has gone viral on socialmedia. In defence, Patra saidthat her office computer in jailoffice encountered certain soft-ware related snags and shehad sought help of her husbandJyotish to remove the glitch.

“Whenever I come acrosscomputer related system prob-lems I ask my husband orexperts to rectify them. Sincemy system had problem I hadurged my husband to fix it,”said Patra.

She further said that one

supply contractor might havemade the video public in orderto take revenge on her as she hadsought explanation from himfailing to deliver items in time.

Sources said Patra hasjoined as jailor in the Nilgirisub jail about two years ago andher husband used visit jail reg-ularly. He used to interfere inall the affairs of the jail includ-ing manpower deployment,leave, ration procurement etc,acting as de facto head.

Further sources said, theincident is being probed by asenior officer of the jail depart-ment. In the meantime, sever-al intellectuals of the area raisedthe question about the safetyand security of jail and itsinmates.

“The jailor and her hus-band should be taken into taskafter an inquiry. It is unbe-coming on their parts and thematter should be treated seri-ously,” said former Nilgiri MLAPratap Sarangi.

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The Anganwadi Workers’demonstration under the

banner of the All OrissaAganwadi Ladies Workers’Association before the StateAssembly entered its ninth dayon Tuesday.

Hundreds of workers fromRayagada joined the stir press-ing for fulfilment of their var-ious demands, including statusof Government employees.

The workers also demand-ed a hike in their minimum

monthly pay to Rs 18,000 forWorkers and Rs 9,000 forHelpers, a minimum pensionof Rs 3,000, a revised insurancepolicy and its immediate imple-mentation and otherGovernment benefits.

Alleging the StateGovernment is not respondingto their demands, associationgeneral secretary SumitaMahapatra threatened that allthe Aganwadi Centres wouldremain closed until thedemands are fulfilled.

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Procurement of pulses andoilseeds by the Government

from farmers shot up by 13times during the four-and-half-year rule of the Modiregime as compared to theprocurement done during theUPA period. This benefitted asmany as 54 lakh farmers whoseannual income registered anincrease of �80,000 on an aver-age, the Government hasclaimed.

According to theAgriculture Ministry, between2009-10 and 2013-14 — whenthe Congress — led UPA wasin power-only 7.28 lakh met-ric tonnes of pulses andoilseeds valuing �3,117.38crore was procured at theminimum support price(MSP) whereas from 2014-15to 2018-19, a quantity of 93.97lakh MT of pulses and oilseedsvaluing �44,142.50 crore wasprocured. Of these, procure-ment of 78.84 Lakh MTamounting to �35,800 crorealone has been contributed bythe States of Madhya Pradesh,

Gujarat, Rajasthan, UttarPradesh, Maharashtra,Telangana and AndhraPradesh.

"The country has reportedproduction of 25.23 MT ofpulses during 2017-18 againstproduction of 14.66 MillionTonnes in the year 2009-10, anincrease of 72.10 per cent.Similarly, the production ofoilseeds has increased from24.88 Million Tonnes to 31.3Million Tonnes during thesame period, registering anincrease of 25.80 per cent," thenote said. For the procurement,the Cabinet has already sanc-

tioned an additional guaranteeof �15,053 crore, it said.

As against a Governmentguarantee of �2,500 crore up tothe year 2013-14, aGovernment guarantee of�18,250 crore for the Years2018-20 has been made avail-able for smooth conduct ofPrivate Procurement andStockist Scheme (PPSS)."Besides, this is the first timethat Food Corporation of India(FCI) is participating in theseoperations for ensuring MSPfor pulses and oilseeds growingfarmers," it said.

In 2017-18, prices of most

crops including pulses andoilseeds fell below Governmentannounced support prices fol-lowing a record harvest. Part ofthe reason for the plunge inprices to levels significantlylower than MSP is the missingtrader-the key price maker inthe market.

Food Corporation of Indiaand National AgriculturalCooperative MarketingFederation of India Ltd(NAFED) will procure 44 lakhtonne of oilseeds and pulsesunder the new scheme —Pradhan Mantri Annadata AaySanraksHan Abhiyan (PM-AAASHA) — aimed at ensur-ing assured and better returnsto farmers.

The NABARD All IndiaRural Financial InclusionSurvey (NAFIS) shows thataverage agriculture householdincome has increased from�6,426 to �8,931 per month in2016-17. Apart from a paltryincome, farmers are facing ris-ing indebtedness, lesser finan-cial inclusion, and absence ofinsurance facility, accordingto the report.

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New Delhi: Blaming the Congress foragrarian distress, Finance MinisterArun Jaitley on Tuesday said the poli-cy of the NDA Government to pump inmore resources into rural areas hasimproved agricultural productivity andthe quality of lives of the people in vil-lages.

Jaitley said with the current level of investment in the nexttwo decades, the infrastructure in rural areas will come at parwith that in the cities.

The Minister's remarks came in the backdrop of Oppositionparty's allegations of ignoring rural India and agriculture sec-tor and the last week's massive protest in the national Capitalby farmers across the country. "The NDA Government haspumped in resources into the rural areas, which have improvedinfrastructure, the quality of life of people living therein andincreased agricultural productivity, Jaitley wrote in a blog titled''India's rural sector'.

The Government, he noted, has increased expenditure on ruralroads, housing and healthcare as well as launched schemes likeSwachh Bharat, rural electrification, JanDhan, Ujjwala Yojana andMudra Yojana with an aim to improve the agrarian sector. PTI

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) has

attached movable and immov-able properties worth �117crores of Prakash Industries ina money laundering case inconnection with coal blockallocation scam.

The CBI had registered anFIR against Prakash IndustriesLtd., alleging that the compa-ny had applied for allocation ofCoal Block vide an applicationdated January 12, 2007 to theMinistry of Coal in response toan advertisement issues onNovember 13, 2006.

According to the CBI FIR,the application was found to becontaining false net-worthdetails and on the basis of suchmisrepresentation, the com-pany got allocated FatehpurCoal Block on February 6,2008. The block was subse-quently de-allocated in theyear 2014 after the coal scamwas unearthed. Taking cog-nizance of the CBI FIR, the EDregistered a case underPrevention of MoneyLaundering Act August 30,2014.

The ED probe revealedthat the company filed falsedeclaration with the BombayStock Exchange (BSE) onNovember 17, 2007 intimatingallocation of the coal blockwhich was actually awarded on

February 6. 2008 jointly toPrakash Industries Ltd. andSKS Ispat Power Ltd.

"As a result of filing of thisfalse declaration, the shares ofM/s Prakash Industries record-ed an astronomical rise intheir value. At one point intime i.e. on 02.04.2007, theshare price was �31 per sharewhereas on 04.01.2008, theshare price was �351 pershare," the ED said in a state-ment.

In order to encash the arti-ficially created rise in the sharevalue, the company issued62,50,000 preferential shares ata premium of �180 per shareand sold these shares to fiveselected companies. In theprocess, the company generat-ed �118.75 crores in the formof share capital.

The amount of �118.75crores, which was generated asa result of the offence underPMLA and amounted to "pro-ceeds of crime".

"On investigation to theeffect, it was found that theabove said proceeds of crimehad been generated and used inthe continuous expansion relat-ed to manufacturing activi-ties, therefore the value of�117.09 crores was attached inthe form of movable andimmovable properties of thecompany under the provisionsof PMLA," the agency state-ment added.

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The Congress on Tuesdayurged the Election

Commission (EC) to issue anotice to BJP chief Amit Shah fora statement he had made inTelangana, which the Oppositionparty alleged was aimed at cre-ating a communal atmosphere inthe poll-bound State.

Senior Congress leadersAhmed Patel, Kamal Nath andKapil Sibal met EC officials andraised a number of issues, rang-ing from EVM-related com-plaints in Madhya Pradesh andShah's statement to the arrest ofthe Opposition party's workingpresident in Telangana.

Shah's statement inTelangana was absolutely falseand misrepresented some pointsof the Congress's poll manifestoin the southern State, Sibal told

reporters after meeting the ECofficials. The statement of theBJP chief was aimed at creatinga communal atmosphere, healleged, adding that the Congresshad urged the poll watchdog to

issue a notice to Shah for hisremarks.

Sibal said the other issuethey raised with the EC was ofthe arrest of Telangana Congressworking president A Revanth

Reddy, who had called a "bandh"to protest against TelanganaRashtra Samithi (TRS) chief andthe state's caretaker ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Rao'spublic meeting in the Kodangal

Assembly constituency. "He (Reddy) was arrested at

3 am and was not told why washe arrested. We requested (theEC officials) that such arrestsshould not be made during thetime of elections," he added.Reddy was taken into preventivecustody early Tuesday. The otherissue that was raised with the ECwas of the Telangana ChiefMinister calling a Cabinet meet-ing and giving directions, Sibalsaid.

Sibal also criticised UttarPradesh Chief Minister YogiAditynath for choosing to attendelection campaigns in Telanganainstead of looking after the sit-uation in his State where seniorpolice official was killed by amob identified from right winggroup.

Nath said the issue of com-plaints related to electronic vot-

ing machines (EVMs)at variousplaces in Madhya Pradesh wasalso raised with the EC officials."We have demanded that actionbe taken against the officials atthese places, from where suchcomplaints are coming," theMadhya Pradesh Congress chiefsaid. Sibal said they cited exam-ples such as EVMs being trans-ported in private school buseswithout registration numbers.Another issue that was raisedwas that the second round ofcounting of votes should startonly after the process for the firstround was over, he said.

While Assembly electionshave already been held inChhattisgarh, Madhya Pradeshand Mizoram, Rajasthan andTelangana will go to polls onDecember 7 and the results forall the five States will beannounced on December 11.

New Delhi: Foreign SecretaryVijay Gokhale on Tuesday heldtalks with Chinese Vice ForeignMinister Kong Xuanyou andreviewed the progress made inthe bilateral ties since theWuhan summit between PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andPresident Xi Jinping.

The External AffairsMinistry said the two sides alsoexchanged views on regionaland international issues ofcommon interest.

"The two sides reviewedthe progress made in India-China bilateral relations sincethe Informal Summit betweenthe Prime Minister andPresident Xi Jinping in Apriland discussed the agenda forbilateral engagement in thecoming months," it said.

The meeting betweenKong and Gokhale took place10 days after border talksbetween National SecurityAdvisor Ajit Doval and ChineseState Councillor Wang Yi atDujiangyan in China's south-western Sichuan province.

In their informal summitin Chinese city of Wuhan,Modi and Xi decided to issue"strategic guidance" to theirmilitaries to strengthen com-munications so that they canbuild trust and understanding.

The informal summit hadtaken place seven months afterthe Doklam standoff.

Troops of India and Chinawere locked in a 73-day face-off in Doklam from June 16 lastyear after the Indian sidestopped the building of a roadin the disputed area by theChinese Army. The impasseended on August 28. PTI

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Tuesday asked Biharand Kerala to set up specialcourts in each of their districtsfor the trial of pending crimi-nal cases against present andformer MPs and MLAs.

Earlier in the day, the topcourt was informed that therewere 4,122 criminal cases pend-ing, some for over threedecades, against present andformer members of Parliamentand legislative assemblies.

A bench of Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi and Justices S KKaul and K M Joseph passedthe directions for setting upspecial courts in every districtof the two states and alsosought compliance reports fromthe Patna and Kerala highcourts by December 14.

The apex court directed thehigh courts to send back casesfrom special courts, which werealready constituted, to juris-dictional district courts.

The Supreme Court hasgiven the liberty of constitutingas many courts as required inthe districts of these two statesfor trial of cases against the leg-islators.

The apex court also said thespecial courts would take up lifeterm cases on a priority whilehearing pending matters againstMPs and MLAs.

The court was hearing a PILfiled by lawyer and BJP leaderAshwini Upadhyay seeking a lifetime ban on politicians con-victed in criminal cases besidesthe setting up of special courtsto expeditiously try cases involv-ing elected representatives.

The apex court had soughtdetailed data on the pendingcriminal cases against the pre-sent and former legislators fromthe states and various highcourts so as to enable the set-ting up of adequate number ofspecial courts for expedited

trial in these cases.Senior advocate Vijay

Hansaria who is assisting thecourt as amicus curiae in thematter along with advocateSneha Kalita had filed the datareceived from states and highcourts and submitted it to theapex court.

The data compiled hadstated that in 264 cases, trial hasbeen stayed by high courts.Further, the report said in sev-eral cases which have beenpending since 1991, chargeshave not yet been framed.

In a previous hearing, theapex court had considered thesubmission of Hansaria thatearmarking a particular court ineach district both at sessionsand magisterial level and direct-ing them to treat the cases ona priority basis could be aviable option to ensure timelycompletion of proceedings.

The top court was alsoinformed that 12 special courtsset up to try lawmakers exclu-sively have not been constitut-ed on a uniform pattern, andtheir number needs to be raisedto 19 for trying cases at the ses-sions level. PTI

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Against the backdrop of therow it generated, the HRD

Ministry has withdrawn theKashmiri translations of cer-tain sentences under its“Bhasha Sangam” initiative.

Last week, the Ministry'sDepartment of SchoolEducation and Literacy hadinitiated the “Bhasha Sangam”,a celebration of linguisticdiversity, with an aim to famil-iarise every child with simpledialogues in all the 22 lan-guages under Schedule 8 of theConstitution.

The row erupted over thewrong translations of sen-tences from English toKashmiri, from Kashmiri toRoman and from Kashmiri toDevanagari.

"Sentence translations inKashmiri under BhashaSangam were prepared by NCERT in association with language experts fromDept of Education, J&K &University of Kashmir.@HRDMinistry is sensitive tothe comments raised & hastherefore decided to withdrawthem," the Ministry said in atweet.

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With an aim to build a con-sensus for a smooth con-

duct of the proceedings in theUpper House, Rajya SabhaChairman M Venkaiah Naiduhas called an all-party meetingon December 10, a day beforethe commencement ofParliament's winter session.

The Rajya Sabha chair-man has called the meeting ofthe floor leaders of all the par-ties in the Upper House at hisresidence. Among others, themeeting is expected to beattended by Leader ofOpposition Ghulam Nabi Azadand the Leader of the House,Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

This will be the last full-fledged Parliament sessionbefore the 2019 Lok Sabhapolls and the Bharatiya JanataParty-led Government will bekeen to make it productive. Forthe Opposition, it will be thelast chance to take on theGovernment in the House.

The Government will pushfor the passage of the "tripletalaq" bill pending in the RajyaSabha in the upcoming session.

It had earlier promulgated anordinance to make the practiceof instant triple talaq a penaloffence.

The results of the Assemblyelections in five states, in whichboth the ruling BJP and theCongress have high stakes, arebound to cast a shadow on theparliamentary proceedings. Theresults of the Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh,Telangana and MizoramAssembly polls will beannounced on December 11.

On several occasions,Naidu has expressed concernover the deadlock between theruling and the opposition sidesthat has halted the smoothfunctioning of the House.

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Jaipur: Stepping up his attackagainst the Congress, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onTuesday alleged Kartarpurwent to Pakistan at the time ofindependence because theparty leaders of that time hadno vision and did not respectSikh sentiments.

Referring to the recentopening of the Kartarpur Sahibcorridor across the India-Pakistan border, Modi said,"Correcting Congress's mis-takes was my destiny."

As electioneering forDecember 7 assembly polls inRajasthan nears its end, theprime minister addressed ral-lies in Hanumangarh, Sikarand Jaipur.

Congress president RahulGandhi also held a series of

public meetings in the state.At one rally, Modi took on

Gandhi for mocking him forchanting ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai' atevery meeting. The prime min-ister said he will continue to doso despite Gandhi's ‘fatwa' on it.

Gandhi had taunted inAlwar that Modi should beginhis meetings by saying 'AnilAmbani ki Jai', 'Mehul Choksiki Jai', 'Nirav Modi ki Jai' and'Lalit Modi ki Jai'.

Modi suggested that theCongress leadership had bun-

gled during Partition."They could not see any-

thing beyond the 'Rajgaddi'(power), so Kartarpur went toPakistan,” he said.

"The then policy makers ofthe Congress in the countrywere in a hurry to come topower. Partition happened andin that too several mistakeswere made because of whichKartarpur Sahib went toPakistan," he said.

"A little bit of wisdom andsensitivity at that time wouldhave ensured that Kartarpur,which is just 3 km away (fromIndia), would not have beentaken away from us. It was theirlack of vision and sensitivitythat they did not respect thesentiments of the Sikh com-munity," Modi claimed. PTI

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Farrukhabad (UP): Tibetanspiritual leader the Dalai Lamaon Tuesday said Muslim coun-tries like Bangladesh, Pakistanand Syria should learn aboutreligion from India so thatthere is peace in the world.

"There are various religionsand traditions in India havingpopulation of over 125 crore.Muslim countries should learnfrom India. So that there ispeace. There is coordinationamong all the religions here anddue to non-violence principle,modern India is developing,"the Dalai Lama told reportersduring a brief interaction here.Asked about Doklam dispute,the spiritual guru only said,"Both the countries should sitand resolve the issue. The slo-gan of 'Hindi-Chini bhai bhai'should be relevant." PTI

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An international conspiracyto subvert the proposed

Container Trans — ShipmentTerminal has come to light fol-lowing the detention andrelease of two local journalistsof Kanyakumari district inTamil Nadu. D Anandakumarand M Sriram were detainedand released by Tamil NaduPolice to interrogate them fol-lowing reports that they hadassisted two French citizens,claiming to be accredited jour-nalists of that country.

“The French citizens whowere accompanied by the localjournalists visitedKanyakumari and surroundingareas and videographed pic-tures of various locationsincluding the proposed sitefor the international port. Laterthey held a secret meeting atthe residence of a retiredGovernment servant who isactively campaigning againstany kind of development worksin Kanyakumari,” said Sundar,who is in charge of theKanyakumari office of UnionMinister of State for Financeand Shipping PonRadhakrishnan.

Sundar said the meetingheld at the residence of theretired Government official onNovember 24, was attendedamong others by eight to tenCatholic Church priests and theFrench citizens. “I do not knowwhat happened in the meetingand it is the responsibility of theintelligence wing of the policeto find the same. But the wholeoperation of the French citizens

was enmeshed in mystery,”said Sundar.

Pon Radhakrishnan, whilespeaking to The Pioneer toldthat he suspects of some kindof subversion with regard to theInternational Trans-ShipmentContainer Terminal in the dis-trict. “There are many forcesworking against this project. Iwas told by media persons inKanyakumari about the visit ofthe French citizens and theiractivities which has arousedsuspicions in their minds,” saidthe Minister who expressedhis shock over the participationof activists who were opposedto the Kudankulam NuclearPower Plant in theKanyakumari meeting.

He pointed out that theFrench citizens checked into thehotel at Kanyakumari under theguise of Indian journalists.“What is the need for them tocheck-in under fake names if itis for honest work?. There issomething which misses theordinary eyes,” said PonRadhakrishnan. He said thereare some forces inKanyakumari district whichopposed any kind of develop-mental activities under the pre-text of environmental destruc-tion. “We have alreadyannounced that the port project

in no way would affect the ecol-ogy and environment in the dis-trict. But the activists havesome hidden agenda,” he said

M Ravinson, president,Kumari Maha Sabha , anorganisation of professionalsfrom various fields in the dis-trict said that any developmentof Kanyakumari would be pos-sible only if the Trans ShipmentTerminal project was imple-mented without delay. “Peoplewith ulterior motives are caus-ing roadblocks for all kind ofdevelopmental works in thedistrict,” alleged Ravinson,himself a lawyer.

An organisation by nameAlliance For Media Freedomhas questioned the logic behindthe police detaining the TamilNadu journalists M Sriram andD Ananthakumar who hadaccompanied the French citi-zens. “The French citizens hadcome to Kanyakumari to studythe impact of beach sand min-ing and also about the threatsto the safety of the journalists,”said the proprietor of a dailypublished from Chennai. Butno explanation was forthcom-ing about the trips made by theFrench citizens to the port siteas well as Indian Rare Earths,which come under the pro-tected areas list.

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BJP legislators here onTuesday accused JD(U)

National vice-presidentPrashant Kishor of meddling inthe Patna University Students’Union (PUSU) elections, forwhich voting is scheduled onWednesday.

BJP MLAs Nitin Nabin,Sanjiv Chaurasia and ArunSinha, along with other partyleaders, sat on a dharna outsidethe Pirbahore police stationhere, protesting the arrest ofAkhil Bharatiya VidyarthiParishad (ABVP) activists forvandalising the vehicle ofKishor on Monday night, afterhe came out of the universityVice Chancellor’s residence.

The ABVP activists hadalleged that Kishor’s visit to theVC’s residence violated themodel code of conduct that wasin force in view of the PUSUelections, and pelted his vehi-cle with stones.

Kishor later tweeted,addressing the ABVP, an affil-iate of the BJP’s parent bodythe RSS - “You need to do bet-ter than let a few hooligans andanti-social elements becomeyour face in Bihar. The ner-vousness over the possibility ofa defeat in PUSU polls will notgo away by hurling stones atmy vehicle”.

The BJP legislators saidthat the poll strategist- turned-politician was “flouting” allnorms to boost the prospects ofChhatra JD(U) and the admin-istration, and police is “vic-timising” the ABVP to remainin the good books of the ruling

party.“We urge Bihar Chief

Minister Nitish Kumar to takenote... We demand all theABVP activists be released andthat Kishor hand himself overto the police by way of‘prayashchit’ (repentance),” thelegislators added.

Asked about their ownmeeting with Governor LaljiTandon late on Monday nighton the issue, the MLAs toldreporters that they wanted todraw his attention to the allegedbreach of regulations.

“The Governor is also thechancellor of all State univer-sities. So, we had visited the RajBhavan to draw his attentiontowards the flouting of normsin Students’ Union polls, whichseems to have the tacitapproval of the ViceChancellor. The Governor hastaken note of our complaintand assured that he will lookinto the matter,” they said.However, JD(U) spokesmanSanjay Singh said Kishor was atthe VC’s residence when ameeting on setting up of a dis-aster management centre at thePatna Science College wasunderway.

“He was accompanying arelative who was taking part inthe meeting. Those jittery overthe growing support base of theJD(U) are coming up withbaseless allegations,” Singh said.

Trouble has been brewingbetween the alliance partnersever since some ChhatraJD(U) candidates wereroughed up near the PatnaWomen’s College last week,leading to a police raid on theABVP office in the city, whichwas strongly condemned byBJP legislators staging thedharna in a joint statementissued on Sunday.

The BJP lawmakers had atthat time refrained from men-tioning Kishor’s name, refer-ring to him in an obliquemanner.

Meanwhile, the episodehas also drawn criticism fromthe Aam Aadmi Party (AAP),which alleged that members ofits students’ wing CYSS wererounded up as well on Mondaynight, for staging a protestoutside the VC’s residence.

RJD heir apparentTejashwi Yadav attacked NitishKumar in a series of tweets andtook potshots at Deputy CMSushil Kumar Modi, a seniorBJP leader, for keeping mumover the issue, even as MLAsof the party were staging ademonstration.

Rashtriya Lok SamataParty chief and UnionMinister Upendra Kushwaha,too, slammed the CM and hisparty, alleging blatant violationof Lyngdoh Committee rec-ommendations for Students’Union elections.

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The Panaji bench of theBombay High Court on

Tuesday directed Goa ChiefSecretary to file an affidavitspecifying the health status ofChief Minister ManoharParrikar on Wednesday.

The direction by JusticeRM Borde follows a petition bylocal politician TrajanoD’Mello, who had sought toknow the health status ofParrikar, who is suffering fromadvanced pancreatic cancerand has not attended any official meeting or functionoutside his private residence for more than a month now.

D’Mello in his petitionfiled earlier this month hadasked the court to direct StateChief Secretary DharmendraSharma to evaluate the formerDefence Minister’s health by apanel of expert doctors andrelease a medical report in

public domain.Parrikar has been in and

out of hospitals in Goa,Mumbai, New York and Delhifor nearly nine months.

He returned from NewDelhi’s All India Institute ofMedical Sciences on October14 and has not moved out of hisprivate residence for any offi-cial event since then.

The Opposition as wellruling coalition allies havebeen demanding the resigna-tion of the Chief Minister,

claiming that the administra-tion has come to a standstilldue to Parrikar’s absence.

Ever since Parrikar’shealth started deteriorating,there has been no health bul-letin, as demanded by theOpposition, from the ChiefMinister’s Office, barring sev-eral informal intimations tothe media from Parrikar’soffice, which suggested thathe was suffering from “indi-gestion” and “mild pancreatitis”.

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Ruling BJP ally, IPFT, willrestart its agitation from

Wednesday to press for itsdecade-old demand for a sep-arate State for the tribals inTripura, a party leader said hereon Tuesday.

The Indigenous People’sFront of Tripura (IPFT) aspart of its agitations wouldobserve a 12-hour shutdown inthe Tripura Tribal AreasAutonomous District Council(TTAADC) region onWednesday.

It will also hold a sit-indemonstration in Delhi onDecember 11 and submit amemorandum to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andHome Minister Rajnath Singhdetailing the party’s demands,the tribal leader said.

“The IPFT and its sevenfrontal organisations havecalled for the strike onWednesday in the TTAADCareas in support of the party’slong pending demands,” IPFT’sspokesman and AssistantGeneral Secretary MangalDebbarma told the media.

The other demands includeintroduction of the NationalRegister of Citizens (NRC) inTripura, withdrawal of theCitizenship (Amendment) Bill,2016, introduction of inner-linepermit in the TTAADC areasand inclusion of tribals’Kokborok language in the 8thSchedule of the Constitution.

The IPFT has been agitat-ing since 2009 for a separateState to be carved out byupgrading the TTAADC,which has a jurisdiction overtwo-thirds of the State’s 10,491sqkm area, home to over12,16,000 people.

In the nine-memberCouncil of Ministers, there aretwo IPFT Ministers — RevenueMinister Narendra ChandraDebbarma (IPFT President)and Tribal Welfare and ForestMinister Mevar Kumar Jamatia(General Secretary).

Meanwhile, another tribalbased party — IndigenousNationalist Party of Tripura(INPT) — has also called aroad and rail blockade inTripura on December 10 onalmost the same lines.

The State’s oldest tribal-based political party, INPT, aswell as the ruling BJP, opposi-tion Congress and CommunistParty of India-Marxist-led LeftFront have, however, beenopposed to IPFT’s separatestatehood demand.

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All is not too well in theKarnataka Congress. At

the time former Chief Ministerand chairman of the coordina-tion committee Siddaramaiahis fighting hard to finalise thelist of some of the Congresscandidates to be included in theexpansion of the four monthsold fragile coalition, the rebel-lion hit century old party is onthe defensive and shaken.

Siddaramaiah has said theparty will take a decision ofinclusion of candidates andexpansion on Thursday, alreadywaves of dissent has started hit-ting them, making them morecautious in their entire opera-tion. Kumaraswamy has beeninvited to attend the meeting.

In a significant politicaldevelopment on Tuesday apowerful Congress leader fromthe Belagavi and MLA SatishJarkhiholi who turned a rebelto the Congress leadership hasopenly said that many MLAs inthe party are unhappy andparty leadership is trying toconvince them. This has sentshock waves and the Congressand JD(S) leaders whichinclude Chief Minister HDKumaraswamy, powerful lob-byist and Congress strongmanDK Shivakumar and formerChief Minister Siddaramaiah inconsultation with JD(S) supre-mo HD Devegowda have beentrying to douse the fire.

“Some of them are nothappy. They may not be 25 to30 in numbers but there are 6to 7 of them. MLAs are unhap-

py and our leadership is con-vincing them,” Jarkiholi said.

“The opposition party istrying since the beginning toform the government by thesupport of Congress legislatorsby horse-trading the MLAs, butas of now, there are only 6-7MLAs who are unhappy and wewill convince them.” He added.

Jarkiholi also said that he,however, is not leaving theparty and claimed to be morepowerful than many ministers.

“I had a word with our pres-ident Dinesh Gundu Rao onthis issue. The high commandis active and our State leadershipis working on it,” he said. “Theyare not going anywhere andespecially I am not going to anyparty or anywhere else. I ammuch powerful than some min-isters but I have asked for onemore ministerial post forBelgaum district. Let us wait andsee, everything will be clearedsoon,” he added.

Meanwhile BJP chief BSYeddyurappa has got into a reju-venating centre in Kerala for hispain in the hand amidst allthese developments. Even if BJPpoaches 7 to 8 MLAs can desta-bilise the present coalition gov-ernment ahead of 2019 elections.

In May this year, the elec-tion result for 222 out of 224assembly constituencies ofKarnataka had resulted in afractured mandate, with theBharatiya Janata Party emergingas the single largest party with104 seats, only nine seats shortof the simple majority mark of113. However, the Congressparty with 78 seats and JD(S)

with 37 seats, along with twoindependent candidates,stitched up a post-poll alliancewith a total of 117 MLAs.

In another related politicaldevelopment an audio-clip con-taining an alleged conversationbetween a confidant of a formerBallari BJP MP B Sriramulu anda Dubai-based businessman hastriggered allegations of attemptsbeing made by the BJP to top-ple the Congress-JD(S) coalitionGovernment in Karnataka.However Sriramulu stronglyrefuted the charges and blamedthe Congress hatching a con-spiracy to defame the BJP.

In the audio, which hasgone viral, the confidant isallegedly saying at least 10 to 11lawmakers from the Congressand JD(S) were ready to switchsides with specific names beingmentioned.

“They have been offered�20 crore to �25 crore and min-istership. By the second week ithas to happen,” the confidant isallegedly saying in the audio.

Former Karnataka ChiefMinister and the convener of theCongress-JD(S) coordinationcommittee Siddaramaiah hit outat the BJP for its alleged attemptsto dislodge the Government.

Slamming the BJP,Siddaramaiah said, “Where willthey get the money if they aresaying that they will pay �25crore (to each MLA)? Whosemoney it is? It is corruptmoney. Aren’t they ashamed fortrying to topple theGovernment? ThisGovernment will continuedespite their attempts.”

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Aday after the murder ofBulandshahr police inspec-

tor West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee on Tuesdayalerted her own police officersagainst getting lynched by “riot-mongers” and asked them tokeep strict vigil along the bor-ders of Jharkhand and Odisha.

“We are running throughbad times when riot-mongersare on the prowl,” she warnedadding “they are out to set onecommunity against the other,”so as to polarise the electoratebefore the next year’s elections.

“You have to remain cau-tious. All the inspectors in-charge and other police offi-cials should watch out for sus-picious elements and move-ments. Keep a strict vigil alongthe borders of Jharkhand andOdisha. Employ CCTV cam-eras at vantage points if needbe because these people go toany extent,” Banerjee said.

“Only yesterday an honestpolice officer was murdered fordischarging his duties without

bias,” Banerjee said. “I am toldthis officer was investigating alynching case,” she addedwarning her own police brassto take supreme care againstmischief mongers.

“We will have to be extracautious because festival seasonis round the corner. We havethe Ganga Sagar Mela andChristmas coming. It is uponyou to see that no untowardincident like the one in UPtakes place here,” Banerjeesaid. The Chief Minister wasaddressing officials during hertwo-day visit of Midnapore.

Upping the ante on theUttar Pradesh Governmentanother senior Bengal Ministerand new Kolkata Mayor Firhad

Hakim said, “Today UP is intotal chaos and the Governmentthere has miserable failed totame the situation.”

Attacking UP ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath for hisalleged ‘communal ways’ Hakimsaid, “There are two kinds ofsadhus. Like the genuine saffronclad monks there also those fakeand communal ones. The pre-sent UP Government is ruled bythese fake sadhus.”

Attacking Yogi he said “heis a communal person who hasruined the law and order situ-ation of the State. Today the UPGovernment is run by uncul-tured, uncivilised gang of peo-ple who have no regard for theConstitution.”

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Kolkata: The BJP has onceagain rescheduled PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’sBengal tour. Now the PrimeMinister who was supposed tobegin his Bengal tour onDecember 24 with a rally atKrishnagar, will not start hiscampaign from Siliguri instead.

Modi’s rally at the NorthBengal city will take place onDecember 16, State BJP sourcessaid adding the reschedulinghad been done following arequest from the PrimeMinister’s office. Modi hadexpressed his wishes to start thecampaigns from North Bengal.

The Prime Minister willaddress four mass meetingsduring the course of RathYatras in the State. The pro-posed rallies would be inaddition to the fifth and finalone at the historic BrigadeParade Ground in Kolkatapresumably on January 23.

“The Prime Minister him-self has expressed his willing-ness to address these rallies inthe course of the Yatras,” BengalBJP president Dilip Ghoshearlier said adding the Stateparty was elated and was intouch with the Prime Minister’soffice for the purpose.

The rallies were likely to beheld at Durgapur, Birbhum,Siliguri and most probablyCoochbehar in North Bengal.The State BJP will take outthree Rath (chariot) Yatrasfrom Ganga Sagar, Birbhumand Coochbehar. The threeYatras will commence onDecember 5, 7 and 9 and willbe inaugurated by BJP presi-dent Amit Shah.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Tuesday alleged

that the Congress party wastrying to stop him from raising‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ slogan inelection rallies.

Addressing a rally here,Modi said that the Congressparty’s ‘naamdar’ (an allusionto Congress President RahulGandhi) had issued a ‘fatwa’against him to stop him fromsaying ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’.

Modi raised the slogansmultiple times before he beganhis speech.

“Who are they (Congress)to stop the youth of this coun-try from hailing Bharat Mata?This is a slogan jawans raisewhile conducting surgicalstrikes (across LoC),” Modisaid.

He claimed that somesenior Congress leaders stoppeople from raising such slo-gans in their meetings andinstead ask people to say ‘SoniaGandhi Ki Jai’.

Rajasthan is due to vote fora new Assembly on December7.

Earlier, addressing an elec-tion rally at Jhunjhunu inRajasthan, Rahul Gandhi saidModi shouts “Bharat Mata KiJai’ in every rally but it sounds‘hollow’ coming from him.

He said Modi did not talkabout issues of farmers, womenand youth — who comprise‘Bharat Mata’ — and onlyraised slogans.

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Amid freezing cold and sepa-ratist sponsored shutdown in

several poll bound areas, theauthorities on Tuesday conduct-ed seventh phase of panchayatpolls in Jammu & Kashmirrecording anoverall poll per-centage of 75. 3 per cent turnout.

According to the ChiefElectoral Officer J&K ShaleenKabra an impressive 84.8 per-cent polling was witnessed inJammu division and 30.3% inKashmir division.

Giving district-wise details,Kabra said that Bandipora wit-nessed 25.2% polling , Kupwara45%, Baramulla 17.8%,Ganderbal 30.9%, Budgam13.1%, Anantnag 15.5%,Ramban 83%, Reasi 86.7%,Samba 85.5%, Jammu 83.7%,Rajouri 84% and Poonch 86.6%.

The polling was held at2714 polling stations across theState including 576 in Kashmirdivision and 2138 in Jammudivision.

At the end of 6 Phases ofPanchayat Polls, an overallvoter turnout of 73.6% wasrecorded across the State, witha poll percentage of 46.1% inthe Kashmir division includingLeh & Kargil and 82.8% in theJammu division for the first 6phases.

Pertinently in phase 6 ofpanchayat polls held onDecember 1, overall poll per-centage of 76.9% was wit-nessed across the State includ-ing 84.6% in Jammu divisionand 17.3% in Kashmir division.In Phase-5 which went to pollson November 29, the Statewitnessed a polling percentageof 71.1% including 33.7% inKashmir division and 85.2% in

Jammu division. In Phase-4,the state witnessed a pollingpercentage of 71.3%, including

82.4% polling was witnessed inJammu division and 32.3% inKashmir division.

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Nagapattinam: More than 1.77lakh people, including 29,000children, are staying in 252 reliefcamps in cyclone-Gaja hit areasof Nagapattinam district, TamilNadu Handlooms Minister OSManian said Tuesday.

Relief works have beentaken up on a war footing inthe district, he said.

“A total of 2.32 lakh treeshad been uprooted in thecyclonic storm and we havecleared 1.99 lakh trees. Of the46,000 electric poles that weredamaged, 28,600 poles havebeen re-erected. Over 440transformers have beenreplaced,” the Minister said.

“About 6,200 personnel ofthe electricity department areworking on power restorationworks,” he said. More than12,000 workers from otherdepartments such as PWD,agriculture, horticulture, localadministration, animal hus-bandry and health departmentswere engaged in relief works inthe district, Manian said.

Rural development minis-ter SP Velumani, senior IASofficers J Radhakrishnan andGagandeep Singh Bedi wereamong those present at thereview meeting.

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Defending Vishwa HinduParishad and Bajrang Dal

in the Bulandshahr violence onMonday, Deputy ChiefMinister Keshav PrasadMaurya said that it would bepremature to name a Hinduoutfit for the fracas before theprobe was completed. “I amdeeply saddened by the inci-dent in Bulandshahr where aninspector and a youth werekilled. The State Governmenthas constituted a SpecialInvestigation Team (SIT) whichis probing the matter thread-bare and will submit its find-ings in the next two days.Hence, it will be hasty to holda Hindu outfit responsible forthe incident," said Maurya inLucknow on Tuesday.

“We should wait for the SITfindings and until the probe iscompleted it will not be properto draw conclusions,” he assert-ed. “What happened inBulandshahr was deeply tragicand we are saddened by the inci-dent. The locals should haveshown restraint and the police

should also have been careful indealing with the development.Tragedy has struck the famliesof inspector Subodh KumarSingh and 20-year-old Sumit,who died in the incident. I wantto assure that those responsiblefor the incident will be broughtto justice,” said the DeputyCM.

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The son of the policeinspector killed in mob

violence over alleged cowslaughter in Bulandshahr saidhis father wanted him to be agood citizen who doesn’t pro-voke violence over religion.

“My father has lost his lifein this Hindu-Muslim dis-pute. Whose father is next?"Abhishek Singh said.

Inspector Subodh Singh,who had initially probed the2015 lynching of Dadri resi-

dent Mohammed Akhlaq overrumours about beef con-sumption, and a 20-year-oldman were killed Monday dur-ing an attack on policemen.

The Inspector’s sisteralleged the killing was a “con-spiracy” by the police.

“My brother was killed ina conspiracy by the police ashe was probing a cow slaugh-ter case (the Akhlaq lynchingcase),” Sunita Singh toldreporters Tuesday.

“He should be given amartyr’s status and a memor-

ial should be constructed inhis name in our native place,"she said.

“The cow is our mother, Iaccept that. My brother hasgiven his life for her. The CMused to chant ‘gau, gau, gau’.Why can’t he come for cowprotection?” she said in anemotional outburst againstChief Minister YogiAdityanath.

Abhishek Singh said thelast time his father called heasked about his studies and ifhe had eaten.

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Samajwadi Party leaderAzam Khan on Tuesday

questioned the circumstancesleading to the slaying of inspec-tor Subodh Kumar inBulandshahr on Monday andasserted that if carcasses foundin the vicinity were indeed ofcattle, it must be probed as tohow the remains were broughtthere.

Khan also questioned thecredibility of SpecialInvestigation Team set up bythe State Government to probethe violence in Bulandshahr.

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Page 8: ˘ˇˆ˙˘˝˛˚˚˜ - The Pioneer · buzzword in skill development, a reality check for Odisha is while Odisha didn’t earn a place ... country in Smart City list, is nowhere in

James Baldwin, a renowned novel-ist and one of the most recognisedand respected voices of the civilrights movement in the UnitedStates of America, famously said,

“Not everything that is faced can bechanged but nothing can be changed untilit is faced.” Baldwin’s quote eloquentlyexplains that while dealing with any formof exploitation or injustice, it is nearimpossible to move forward from itwithout exposing it in its barest and mostbrutish form. In this week’s article, I willfocus on how we as a country need toexamine the state of tribals in India anddiscuss the historical injustice that hasbeen meted out to them to enable us tomove forward and actually begin to healthe wounds of the past.

The tribal population in India hap-pens to live in States that are extremelyrich in minerals and other resources, suchas the State of Jharkhand. Though it maybe difficult for many to appreciate, therelationship of tribals with their land is notone of mere ownership or possession buta relationship with significant cultural sig-nificance. Since land is considered to besacred to a number of tribes who view thepreservation of their land as preservationof their culture, each tribe has its own cus-tomary laws that typically govern theirland and these customary laws have beenin existence even prior to British rule. Thenature of this unique relationship oftribals with their land was recognised bythe British as well as the IndianConstitution, as is evident from the FifthSchedule of our Constitution.

Over time, however, these rights havebeen increasingly diminished as the rightsof the tribals to their land were weighedagainst the need to develop such areas andthe demand for the resources in this land.This led to a systematic diminishing ofrights, which has now made the tribalsamong the most exploited communities inthe country, where even though tribalsaccount for less than 10 per cent of the totalpopulation of the country, they account forover 40 per cent of the total population thathas been displaced due to infrastructureprojects in India since Independence.

What is worse is that more than 75 percent of the tribals who have been displacedare estimated not to have been rehabili-tated in any way, leaving them without ahome, any means of earning a livelihoodand devoid of their cultural heritage. Tomake matters worse in Jharkhand, theRaghubar Das-led BJP Government hasthrough its tenure pushed amendments tothe Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act, 1908 andthe Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act, 1949and introduced the Right to FairCompensation and Transparency in LandAcquisition, Rehabilitation andResettlement (Jharkhand Amendment)

Act, 2017, all of which are anti-tribal and have madethe displacement of tribalsmuch easier.

We, therefore, as a coun-try must take a moment andintrospect. The question ishow do we try to move for-ward and exhibit sincerityand commitment in address-ing these wrongs? One way inwhich atrocities of the pasthave been dealt with in othercountries is through a truthcommission that examinesand documents the extent ofinjustices that has been suffered.

The Truth andReconciliation Commissionin South Africa is probably themost well-known commissionwhich sought to heal SouthAfrica by uncovering the truthabout the human rights viola-tions that occurred during theperiod of apartheid. While allsuch truth commissions seemto have a common threadrunning through them, that oflaying bare the truth of theexploitation suffered by a com-munity, an examination of theTruth and Justice Commissionin Mauritius may be especial-ly instructive.

The Mauritian Truth andJustice Commission exam-ined a system of deprivationof land that extended to over300 years and the mandate ofthis Commission was to gath-er information and enquireinto the legitimate claims ofpersons and families whowere dispossessed of theirland, among other things.

The Commission as part of itsmandate examined socio-eco-nomic class abuses and thepossibility of reparations forthe community.

While arguing for the cre-ation of the Commission, thePrime Minister of Mauritius,Navin Chandra Ramgoolam,stated: “This Commission willpave the way to reconciliation,social justice and nationalunity through the process ofre-establishing the historicaltruth. It is the legitimate expec-tation of everyone to know ourtrue history. It is only after wehave been faced with this real-ity that we can consolidateunity in our country. It isimportant, therefore, that werecognise our past history andlay that past to rest so that wecan move on to reconciliation,justice and national unity.”

As part of its report, theCommission recommendedcertain steps to heal the coun-try, including memorialisingslavery and encouraging abetter and more inclusiveaccount of Mauritian historyand culture.

A similar approach is nec-essary and called for in thecontext of tribals in India inrelation to the displacementthat has been suffered bythem. It is imperative for us toknow our entire historyincluding this one. Only aftersuch recognition and docu-mentation can we begin toheal the wounds of the pastand start a constructive dia-logue with those who havebeen displaced. Without it, we

will remain in the dark and beleft prodding at the problemwith willful ignorance ratherthan illuminating knowledge.

Critics of such anapproach may state that estab-lishing such a commissionand conducting an enquiry todetermine the displacement oftribals will require resources,commitment and a stomachfor uncomfortable questions. Itmay also be argued that anexamination of TruthCommissions around theworld, including the MauritianTruth and Justice Commission,suggests that a number of rec-ommendations of theseCommissions have not beenincorporated as yet and, there-fore, the results are far fromsatisfactory.

To these critics, I wouldlike to draw their attention tothe words of MahatmaGandhi: “Truth stands, evenif there be no public support.It is self sustaining.” Therefore,while there will be hurdles, wemust strive to improve thestate of tribals and put ourbest foot forward in imple-menting the recommenda-tions of such a commission; itis important to rememberthat the pursuit, determina-tion and documentation ofthe displacement and abusesuffered by tribals in ourcountry are in itself a goalworth striving for and an endworth achieving.

(The writer is JharkhandPCC president, former MPand IPS officer. Views are per-sonal)

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#�������������������������������������������������������������� �� ���� ��������������5����������������������������������������������������������� ����������� ����/������� ������� ���������������������� ������(�����������������������������&����������������(��������������������������������1���2�����������������������������������������)�����#����5:$�� ��������� �����0�������������������(��������(������������;<=>������������������������� ����������,����1���������������������������� ��� �������������������������������� ������������������5���������� �������������������������������������������������������������������������� �/�������������������������������������������� �������,����������������5:$������������ ���������������������������������������������������������������������������)������� �������?>������������� ���@��������� �����������#��������������,�������������������������������������������������������� ���������������������� ������ ����)�,��������,����1������������������������������� �������;>,�����������������+����#��������������������������������������������������������������������������������)�����������������������������������+#������������������� ����������������������� �������������(���������������������������,���������������������������� �)����������������������������������������������������������5����������������������������������������������������� �7��������� ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������

5��� �����!��"�����-����!�������"� ������ ���#� ���� ����)�"�� �����! ������� �����������#�� � ������������ �� ������! �����

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“A curious case” ( December 3).No one is indispensable in anyfield and that includes sports.There is no iota of doubt thatMithali Raj’s contribution toIndian women’s cricket has beenimmense.

In fact, she brought glory tothe nation on several occasions bymemorable knocks at the interna-tional tournaments. It is unfortu-nate that due to politics taking anupper hand, Mithali was sidelinedin a crucial match in an interna-tional tournament. Even thoughshe is at the fag end of her longillustrious cricketing career, thetreatment meted out to her bycoach, Ramesh Powar, and amember of BCCI, Diana Edulji, isdeplorable.

Careers of many eminentIndian cricketers were cut shortdue to ego clashes. Hence, MithaliRaj should consider that aspect inthis profession and continue toconcentrate on her career. She hasstill got a few more years leftbefore hanging up her boots andexit gracefully in style.

KR SrinivasanSecundèrabad

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Farmers’ plank” (December 3). Itis ironical that our farmers haveto work hard in fields under allweather conditions to feed ourmouths but themselves go to bedon an empty stomach. At timesthey even take extreme stepsunder mental stress following

outstanding bank loans and debts.This burning problem cannot

be afforded to be tackled by wayof waiving short-term loans aloneunless and until farmers areallowed to retrieve their costs andcontrol over resources, like land,water for irrigation, insurance,knowledge management andmarket, and are also facilitated bythe state-of-the-art agriculturaltechnologies in terms of the cli-

mate resistant measures. A per-manent solution to this perenni-al agrarian crisis is not only in thefarmers’ interest but in the nation-al interest as well. Aggrieved overthis very sorry state of affairs, therevolutionary Urdu poet DrMohd Iqbal had said: “Jis khet sedehqan ko mayassar nahi rozi uskhet k har khosayen gandum kojalado” (fire should be set toevery corner of the field that can-

not provide two square meals tothe farmers themselves).

Azhar A KhanRampur

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Sir — The recent claim of JusticeKurian Joseph drew the attentionof the entire nation creating anew controversy. He claimedthat the previous Chief Justice ofIndia, Dipak Misra, was workingunder the influence of an “exter-nal source”, and this had impact-ed the delivery of justice.

Of course, it is a matter ofconcern that even our country’sjudiciary system is not sparedfrom external interference. It istrue that the entire nation blind-ly trusts the apex court but thiskind of controversial remarkserodes the trust factor. Everyinstitution, be it the CBI, RBIand now the Supreme Court, isgetting tainted by allegations.The authorities must protecttheir autonomy.

Mohd UsmaniMumbai

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Page 9: ˘ˇˆ˙˘˝˛˚˚˜ - The Pioneer · buzzword in skill development, a reality check for Odisha is while Odisha didn’t earn a place ... country in Smart City list, is nowhere in

Farm distress refuses to go away.This time around, the steeprise in prices of fertilisers — a

key input used in crop production— during the current year hasincreased farmers’ miseries. DuringKharif (April-September) 2018, theprice of di-ammonium phosphate(DAP), a major source of phosphateor ‘P’ nutrient supply, increased by30 per cent over Kharif (April-September) 2017. Likewise, theprice of complexes and muriate ofpotash (MoP) — main source of ‘P’and ‘potash’ or ‘K’ nutrient —increased by 15-60 per cent duringKharif 2018 over Kharif 2017.

The escalating trend continuedduring Rabi (October 2018-March2019) season as well. The price of

DAP had increased by a further 12-13 per cent during Rabi (October18-March 19) over the level prevail-ing during Kharif 2018. The priceof MoP during Rabi (Oct 18-March19) is higher by 25-30 per cent overthe Kharif 2018. This has affectedfarmers as minimum support price(MSP) for crops do not capture theimpact of higher fertiliser price.

According to rating agencyICRA, whatever benefit they got onaccount of implementing the Dr MSSwaminathan Commission recom-mendation by the ModiGovernment (it allows them 50per cent profit over the productioncost), has been nullified by higherfertiliser price.

Under the Nutrient BasedSubsidy (NBS), the Centre fixes uni-form subsidy on per nutrient basisfor all manufacturers/importers ofcomplex fertilisers/MoP. The latterin turn arrives at the MRP of thesefertilisers after deducting the sub-sidy amount from the cost of pro-duction/import and distribution.

The Government determines

the subsidy keeping in mind itsoverall budgetary position and noti-fies the rates well before com-mencement of the year. Given theoverarching need to maintain fiscaldeficit within the target, it eitherkeeps the subsidy unchanged oreven reduce it. Rarely in the past, ithas sanctioned any hike.

For the current fiscal (April2018-March 2019), the Governmentkept the subsidy rates unchangedeven as there was increase in thecost of raw materials viz phos-phoric acid, ammonia and MoPused in the production of complexfertilisers. This left the manufactur-ers/ importers with no other optionbut to increase the MRP.

Meanwhile, the MRP of urea —a major source of nitrogen or ‘N’ —has remained unchanged despitesignificant increase in the price ofgas, the fuel used in its productionas well as increase in cost of import-ed urea (this contributes over 20 percent of its consumption). TheGovernment controls its MRP at alow level and excess of the cost over

it is reimbursed as subsidy to man-ufacturer/importer.

Given its enormous appeal tovote bank politics, the urea MRP isalmost cast in stone. The currentprice is more or less the same as itwas one-and-a-half decades ago. Itwon’t be hiked till March 31, 2019 asper the decision taken by theNarendra Modi dispensation in 2015to freeze it at the prevailing level. Thisimplies ever increasing subsidy butgives no jolts to the mandarinstasked with reining in fiscal deficit.

While handing out step-moth-erly treatment to P and K, policy-makers often forget that these nutri-ents are as much important as N toincreasing yield and crop quality. Yet, for close to threedecades, successive Governmentspursued discriminatory policiesresulting in excessive use of ‘N’ vis-à-vis ‘P’ and ‘K’. Diminishing returnsto fertiliser use, deteriorating soilhealth and adverse impact on theenvironment and human health —seen in most parts of the country —are the inevitable consequence of

the increasing imbalance in fertiliser use.

It is not as if they are unawareof these problems (read theEconomic Survey presented on theeve of Union Budget). Yet, anycredible action to alter the course isstymied by sheer populism. But thiscannot be postponed indefinitely.

There is an urgent need forincreasing urea MRP and reducingthe price of DAP/complex fertilis-ers/MoP. One way is to reduce sub-sidy on the former and increase onthe latter even as the Governmentcontinues with extant controls andsubsidy regime. But this stereotypedapproach is not sustainable.

A preferred course would be todecontrol urea (non-urea fertilisersare already decontrolled) and stoprouting subsidy through fertilisermanufacturers/importers. The sub-sidy — computed as per kg nutri-ent rate multiplied by quantity ofnutrient N, P, K used per hectare —should be directly transferred tofarmers’ account.

Sans subsidy, the manufactur-

ers/importers will set prices under amarket-driven environment. Thecompetition will force them to keepprice low. The farmer will be able toput subsidy to better use by buyingmore of P&K fertilisers and less urea.There can’t be a better way of com-bating the problem of imbalance infertiliser use. This will also entailhuge saving in subsidy by curbinginefficient use and inflated pay-ments to manufacturers/importersgermane to existing cost-based dis-pensation.

India is overwhelmingly depen-dent on import for meeting its fer-tiliser requirements viz 100 percent in ‘K’, 90 per cent in ‘P’ andnearly two-third in ‘N’. That makesus vulnerable to changing globaldemand-supply scenario. Theindustry will, therefore, need toexplore innovative ways to increaseself-reliance. A market-driven envi-ronment will give a big push to theseefforts as well. Is the governmentlistening?

(The writer is a freelance jour-nalist)

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While corporate social responsibility(CSR) was for a long time consid-ered a voluntary matter to be exer-cised by companies in the interestsof stakeholders, it is increasingly

acquiring legal status in different countries, partic-ularly like India, whereby, with the passage ofCompanies Act 2013, every company of a certain sizehas to offer a CSR policy. Following this amendment,India is the first country in the world to make CSRmandatory. Businesses can invest their profits in areassuch as education, poverty, gender equality and foodsecurity. Large companies are required to spend astipulated amount, ie, at least two per cent of theiraverage net profits made during the three immedi-ately preceding financial years, in pursuance of theirCSR policy towards specified activities.

Over the past few years, CSR as a concept hasbeen the focus of many deliberations and research.It has grown in importance both academically as wellas in the business sense. It captures a spectrum ofvalues and criteria for measuring a company’s con-tribution to social development. As the term CSR isused continually, many complementary and over-lapping concepts, such as corporate citizenship, busi-ness ethics, stakeholder management and sustain-ability have emerged. These extensive ranges of syn-onymously used terms indicate that multiple defi-nitions have been devised for CSR, mostly from per-spectives and by those in facilitating roles like the cor-porate sector, Government agencies, academics andthe public sector.

Worldwide, there are enough examples of com-panies that have incorporated CSR in their opera-tions. The New York-based natural foods company,KIND Snacks, which in its first 10 years has grownfrom zero to over 450 million units sold and withits famous rainbow-wrapped bars found in over150,000 retail stores, believes in both “making prof-it and making a difference” by achieving mass dis-tribution and making healthy products. There areseveral companies from start-ups to huge conglom-erates that are increasingly incorporating social andenvironmental initiatives in their strategies. Microsoftpartners with the non-profit NetHope to create ITapprenticeships in Kenya. The Disney Company isproviding $ 3 million in conservation grants this yearto protect wildlife. Gap Inc. has a programme thatteaches health awareness and literacy to women gar-ment workers in Cambodia and India. JPMorganChase has The Fellowship Initiative, a programmedesigned to help American Black young menachieve academic and professional success. Mattelis committed to using sustainably sourced paper andwood fibre in its packaging and products.

Although good to achieve, initiating and sustain-ing social initiatives takes time, talent and resources.But increasingly, it is what investors, customers,employees and other stakeholders have come toexpect and demand, particularly the young gener-ation which makes for the industry’s new and futurecustomers and casts a particularly keen eye on com-panies’ commitment to social impact. So how are thecompanies from emerging countries, who are fight-ing for survival and success in the global economy,paying attention to CSR? There are some high-pro-file examples of emerging multinational companiesengaged in socially or environmentally impactfulactivities. Chinese battery maker BYD brought outthe first mass-market electric plug-in car in 2008 and

despite a rocky entry into the US market,it has built more than 1,000 electric busesand sold them in Asia, South America andEurope. Natura Cosmeticos, one ofBrazil’s top cosmetics manufacturers,focusses on sustainability and socialresponsibility and is serving as a found-ing member of the Union for EthicalBioTrade, which promotes biodiversityconservation and uses only natural ingre-dients in its formula. It has forgedalliances with indigenous Amazon Basincommunities to source herbal raw mate-rials. India’s Tata Group, one of India’slargest conglomerates with revenues ofover $100 billion, as a company, is longrenowned for its commitment to socialpurpose and carries out various CSR pro-jects, most of which are communityimprovement and poverty alleviationprogrammes. Through self-help groups,it is engaged in women empowermentactivities, income generation, rural com-munity development, and other socialwelfare programmes.

In the field of education, the TataGroup provides scholarships and endow-ments for numerous institutions. Thegroup also engages in healthcare projectssuch as facilitation of child education,immunisation and creation of awarenesson AIDS. In some cases, CSR should bedesigned to address the concerns ofstakeholders and are strategic, not justphilanthropic. For example, CSR pro-grammes of big soda companies such asCoke and Pepsi are often focussed onissues such as obesity and water usage indeveloping nations. These are pro-grammes addressing issues that people areconcerned about with those companies.By addressing them, they reduce the like-lihood of protest and aggressive regula-tion, and they also build relations withstakeholders who could otherwise beattacking them.

An ongoing project by Coke, in whichthe company is investing in numeroussmall African mango plantations, is help-ing small farmers in Africa to grow theirlivelihoods beside also creating a muchbigger stock of mangoes for Coke to cre-ate a mango-based beverage globally.Through this the company is achieving theultimate metric of CSR success of driving

shareholder value and accomplishinglong-term sustainable performance.

However, when it comes to socialimpact, there are some differencesbetween developed-world firms andemerging multinationals. In the developedcountries, more companies have beendragged into this and they now realise thebenefits whereas emerging markets dis-play much more polarised strategies withsome companies embracing corporatesocial responsibility from the beginningwhile other companies are reluctant or failto see the value of it.

It is seen that Chinese companies inparticular are slow in adopting sociallypurposeful activities overseas because oftheir own political system. They are of theopinion that the Government shouldundertake CSR activities as that is whathappens in China and social developmentin the country is the Communist Party’sresponsibility. Businesses do not getinvolved. In other countries whereChinese multinationals operate, theyhave begun to build up CSR after a lot ofprotests for not being more responsibleand for not doing the kind of things thatWestern companies do.

This clearly shows that an emergingmultinational’s attitude toward socialpurpose may stem from the way itachieved its original business success. Itmight have had to “survive in a very dif-ficult, fraught environment” and hencemight be more inclined towards socialresponsibility. On the other hand, thecompanies that have been successful intaking advantage of a gap in the marketand, therefore, built monopoly, throughcorruption or any Government kickbacks,don’t think at all about CSR.

Odebrecht, a Brazilian conglomer-ate with a large construction subsidiary,is an example of a business that surviveda difficult situation and nearly wentbankrupt when the CEO reached out tosuppliers and buyers for financial back-up. The company survived the crisis, andas a result, the CEO has always had thisreally strong relationship with his stake-holders — with the people in the supplychain and all around his facilities. Thecompany, which does business in Africa,is involved not just in big construction

projects but is also trying to win the heartsof the people. For example, while compet-ing for a large construction contract inLuanda, Angola, Odebrecht took theunusual step of taking on a street-sweep-ing contract, which gave them some veryvisible PR — the employees, sportingorange Odebrecht vests, were seen tack-ling one of downtown Luanda’s funda-mental problems by cleaning up itsstreets. Another bonus was that many ofthese individuals, who would eventuallywork on Odebrecht’s construction sites,were acquiring basic job skills such as fol-lowing processes and arriving on time.Odebrecht projects itself as a company thatknows what it means to come from a poorcountry with a clear understanding of thebasic problems and as a result, an abilityto make a connection with the people.

By contrast, Brazil’s EBX is a multi-national that ignored CSR. Its chairman,Eike Batista, had a net worth of $30 bil-lion in 2012 but his wealth sank to $200million due to debts and his company’splummeting stock prices. His mines hadnothing in terms of socially responsiblebehaviour and his company wasn’t basedon success in the community, which ulti-mately led to bankruptcy.

An emerging multinational in thehealthcare space and the one very muchfocussed on social purpose is NarayanaHrudayalaya in India. This not-for-prof-it company, founded in 2000 and nowwith 56 facilities in India and one in theCayman Islands, was started by heart sur-geon Devi Shetty to provide low-cost orfree cardiac procedures to the poor. It hassince expanded to treat other medical con-ditions as well.

For any company, profit-making isthe most important agent for its sur-vival. At the same time, it should notturn a blind eye towards social oblig-ation. Worldwide, businesses havemoved from a shareholder model to themore encompassing stakeholder model.And to stay in tune with the times, com-panies have to recognise their respon-sibilities towards employees, customers,neighbourhoods and regions in whichthey operate.

(The writer is Assistant Professor,Amity University)

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The new simplified GSTreturn forms will be rolled

out from April 1, 2019,Revenue Secretary AjayBhushan Pandey said onTuesday.

He exuded confidence thatthe Government will achievethe budgeted target for Goodsand Services Tax (GST) col-lection and said the revenuedepartment is getting inputsabout entities which are evad-ing taxes.

In the first eight months(April-November) of the cur-rent fiscal, the government hasmopped up over �7.76 lakhcrore from GST. The 2018-19budget had estimated annualGST collection at �13.48 lakhcrore, which means a month-ly target of �1.12 lakh crore.

“We are short by �4,000crore this month (November).To arrive at any conclusion wehave to have some moremonths’ data. But we are con-fident that we will be able toachieve our target. Our month-ly target is around �1 lakhcrore. This we want to increaseto �1.10 lakh crore,” Pandey

said. GST collection inNovember was �97,637 crore.

Speaking to reporters onthe sidelines of the Directorateof Revenue Intelligence (DRI)Foundation Day, the secretarysaid the refund process is beingfurther streamlined to make itcompletely online and taxpay-er friendly.

When asked about the roll-out of the simplified returnforms, Pandey said, “we are tar-geting from April 1”.

In July, the Central Board

of Indirect Taxes and Customs(CBIC) had put up in publicdomain draft GST return forms‘Sahaj’ and ‘Sugam’ and soughtpublic comments. These formswould replace GSTR-3B (sum-mary sales return form) andGSTR-1 (final sales returnsform).

Pandey further said thenext meeting of the GSTCouncil, chaired by UnionFinance Minister and com-prising state counterparts, willbe held this month.

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The dispute settlement bodyof World Trade

Organisation (WTO) hasagreed to set up a panel toassess if high customs dutiesimposed by the US on certainsteel and aluminium productsinfringes global trade norms,an official said.

India had approachedGeneva-based WTO for settingup of the dispute panel as boththe countries failed to resolve theissue in a bilateral consultationprocess under the dispute set-

tlement mechanism of the WTO.“The dispute settlement

body has agreed to establish apanel to rule whether additionalduties imposed by the US onimports of certain steel and alu-minum products comply withWTO rules,” the official added.

Consultation is the first stepof the dispute settlement processat the WTO. If the two countriesare not able to reach a mutual-ly agreed solution through con-sultation, a country can requestfor a WTO dispute settlementpanel to review the matter.

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Market benchmark indicesbroke their six-session

rising streak on Tuesday as cau-tious investors weighed a hostof factors like depreciatingrupee, rising crude prices andweak global cues.

Besides, a caution ahead ofRBI policy meet outcome anduncertainty over the longevityof recently enforced US-Chinatrade truce impacted marketsentiments.

The BSE Sensex endedlower by 106.69 points, or 0.29per cent, to close at 36,134.31.Similarly, the broader NSENifty edged up by 14.25 points,or 0.13 per cent, to end at10,869.50.

Pharma major Sun Pharmaremaind the worst loser in theSensex pack for the second dayin a row after report that reg-ulator Sebi may reopen theinsider trading case againstthe company.

HDFC twins were theother major laggards in the 30-share index.

The Indian rupee Tuesdayfurthered losses by 19 paise to

70.65 (intra-day) against the USdollar amid strengthening ofthe US dollar and rising crudeprices.

Brent crude, the interna-tional benchmark, was trading2.40 per cent up at $63.17 perbarrel.

Meanwhile, market par-ticipants are keenly awaitingthe Reserve Bank’s bi-month-ly policy meet outcome, to beannounced Wednesday after-noon, which is expected to setthe tone for the markets in thenear term.

Analysts said market trad-ed range-bound with somenegative bias amid cautionahead of RBI policy meetresults and rebound in oilprices.

“Rupee gave up some gainswhile the fall in India’s 10 yearbond yield to 7.5 is giving a signof dovish policy from the RBI,”they added.

Investor sentiment was alsocautious on weak cues fromglobal markets after the eupho-ria over US-China trade settledand uncertainty over negotia-tions between the two countriesresurfaced.

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Ahigh-level panel on Tuesdayrecommended market reg-

ulator Sebi to allow direct list-ing of Indian companies onoverseas bourses and of foreignfirms on Indian exchanges.

Currently, Indian compa-nies can list their sharesthrough depository receiptsabroad, while foreign compa-nies need to go through theIndian Depository Receiptroute for listing of equities.

Moreover, Indian firms canlist their debt securities directlyon international exchangesthrough a security instrumentknown as ‘Masala Bonds’.

In its 26-page report, thecommittee has suggested fordirect listing of Indian companiesoverseas and vice versa. It hasrecommended that the frame-work should allow listing only onspecified stock exchanges in‘Permissible Jurisdictions’.

Permissible Jurisdiction,includes a jurisdiction whichhas treaty obligations to shareinformation and cooperatewith Indian authorities in theevent of any investigation.

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Weeks after public bicker-ing between two top CBI

officials, Finance MinisterArun Jaitley on Tuesday laidout cardinal principles forinvestigative agencies rangingfrom maintaining the utmostlevel of professionalism toremaining faceless and resist-ing the temptation of rushingto media when a probe starts.

He said the Directorate ofRevenue Intelligence (DRI),which is the apex intelligenceand investigative agency formatters relating to violation ofthe Customs Act and smug-gling, should maintain highestintegrity and professional stan-dards and endeavour tobecome a “near perfect organ-isation”.

“If I look at the cross sec-tion of various investigativeagencies, including the policewhich is the basic investigativeagency with largest network inthe country, it goes to thecredit of DRI that by and largeit has remained free from anycollateral controversies,” hesaid.

DRI has concentrated in itscore area of competence anddeveloping expertise in areawhere it is primarily supposedto check the economic harmbeing done to the country and

national security, he added. Speaking at the 61st foun-

dation day of DRI, the minis-ter laid out “few cardinal prin-ciples” which every investiga-tive agency should follow toachieve the utmost level ofperfection.

These principles includethe need for investigative agen-cies to maintain utmost level ofprofessionalism and be guidedby one sole purpose, which isdetection of crime.

The investigating officers,Jaitley said, have to make surethat no innocent is harmed orharassed, but at the same timethey have to ensure that noguilty gets away.

“They have to resist thetemptation of making a lot ofsong and dance when the ini-tial investigation starts andthen rushing to the media.They must, as professionals,concentrate on strengtheningthe investigative processes andevidence,” he said.

“The lesser it is in mediacontroversy or news, the betterit is for them. No news is goodnews as far as investigativeagencies are concerned.Therefore, tom-toming suc-cesses (of initial probe) andthen the cases not being estab-lished do not add to the statureof the investigative agencies,”the Minister said.

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Petrol and diesel may soonagain become cheaper in

Delhi as compared to adjoiningcities of Uttar Pradesh as advalorem duty structure hastranslated into a bigger reduc-tion in daily prices in thenational capital.

While petrol and dieseltraditionally have been cheap-er in Delhi than most States inthe country, due to lower localsales tax or VAT, the October5 cut in the VAT by BJP-ruledStates led to fuel being availableat cheaper rates in places suchas Ghaziabad and Noida - theUP towns that adjoin thenational capital.

However, the differencethat had peaked to over �3 perlitre in case of petrol and about�2.3 in diesel on October 5, hasnow come down to just 44-57paisa in petrol and about �1 indiesel, an analysis of the dailyprice revision notificationissued by State-owned oil firmsshowed.

Petrol prices in Delhi onTuesday stood at �71.72 a litreas compared to �71.15 inGhaziabad and �71.28 inNoida. A litre of diesel in thenational capital is priced at�66.39 as opposed to �65.31 inGhaziabad and �65.44 inNoida.

Industry sources said thegap will extinguish in the nextfew days if the falling trend

continues. Fuel in Delhi may bynext week turn cheaper in thenational capital when com-pared with adjoining towns,they said.

While the slump in inter-national oil prices has led to analmost equal reduction in baseprice of petrol and diesel acrossthe country, the actual cut inrates differs from State to Statedepending on local VAT.

Retail pump price is cal-culated after adding centralexcise duty, dealers commissionand VAT to the base price.While excise duty is fixed at�17.98 per litre in case ofpetrol and �13.83 a litre indiesel and do not change withany variation in base price, theincidence of VAT in most stateschanges as the levy is ad val-orem or a percentage of thetotal of the base price plus cen-tral excise duty.

According to price notifi-cations, Delhi levies a VAT of27 per cent on petrol. The sameon diesel is 16.75 per cent plus�250 per kl air ambiencecharge.

VAT on petrol in UttarPradesh is 23.78 per cent or�14.41 a litre, whichever ishigher. In case of diesel, VAT is14.05 per cent or �8.43 a litre,whichever is higher.

Sources said when rates arefalling, VAT in Uttar Pradesh islevied on fixed per litre termbecause that is higher than advalorem rate. And so the reduc-

tions in the States have beensmaller when compared withDelhi.

The Union Governmenton October 4, slashed thepetrol and diesel price by �2.50by reducing excise duty andasking State-owned oil firms tobear subsidy. This was matchedby several States which reducedlocal sales tax or VAT.

BJP-ruled UP too followedsuit. Prior to the cut, it levied26.80 per cent or �16.74 alitre, whichever is higher asVAT on petrol and 17.48 percent or �9.41 a litre on diesel.

Since Haryana too cut VAT,petrol in Gurugram costs�70.51 a lire and diesel �65.51Tuesday.Petrol price has beencut by �11.11 per litre anddiesel by �9.3 in Delhi in thepast six weeks in step with thereduction in international oilrates.

Rates have been on thedecline since October 18. Thishas wiped off all of the pricehike on petrol and diesel in twomonths beginning August 16.

Petrol price had touched arecord high of �84 per litre inDelhi and �91.34 in Mumbaion October 4. Diesel on thatday had peaked to an all-timehigh of �75.45 a litre in Delhiand �80.10 in Mumbai.

Prices had started to climbfrom August 16. Petrol in Delhiwas priced at �77.14 per litreand in Mumbai, it cost � 84.58on August 15.

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The Gems andJ e w e l l e r y

Export PromotionCouncil (GJEPC)on Tuesday said itwas struggling toretain the creditlimit for theindustry.

The gems andjewellery sector has alreadyseen a credit squeeze afterbanks imposed extra caution-ary measures in the aftermathof the $2-billion PNB fraudcase.

“We will be happy if thecurrent total credit limit for thesector is retained at about�60,000 crore for 2019-20 giventhe circumstances,” GJEPCexecutive director SabyasachiRay said.

“GJEPC is urging to offerthe credit in dollar terms as atleast 80 per cent of our creditis used to import diamond andgold meant for exports,” hesaid.

Ray said the industry wasalso facing credit crunch withthe banking system not dis-bursing the ‘standby credit’,despite the sector losing 10-15per cent of its limit due todepreciation of the rupee.

In the last six months, theIndian currency has depreci-ated by 15 per cent, he said.

“The sector wants that col-lateral demand from banksshould be restricted at about 30per cent and not beyond,” Raysaid, adding, the council has ascheduled meeting with financeministry officials next week.

The gems and jewellerysector has witnessed a dip inexports, with April-Octobershipments contracting by 4.35per cent in dollar terms, hesaid.

Ray, however, expects thatthe Christmas season willimprove trade, led by theUnited States.

The US is the largest mar-ket for diamonds from India,GJEPC chairman P K Agarwalsaid. It accounted for 19-20 percent of total industry exports ofaround $33 billion in 2017-18.

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The telecom industry woesaccording to ICRA is

expected to persist amidintense competition and pric-ing pressures. A recovery,backed by restoration of pric-ing power with the telcos, is stillnot in sight.

The recovery, which wasanticipated on the back of aconsolidated industry struc-ture and data usage withgreater price-inelasticity, hasbeen prolonged. To add tothese, the recent rupee depre-ciation and increase in dieselprices would hurt the industryfurther.

The sector has been goingthrough a phase of turbulenceduring the last few years, withintense competition and pric-ing pressures leading to adecline in revenues and prof-itability.

Consistent downward revi-sion in prices has resulted inone of the steepest falls in theindustry average revenue peruser (ARPU) levels with theestimated blended ARPUfalling from �169 in Q1FY2017 to �116 in Q1 FY2019– with the industry adjustedgross revenue (AGR) fallingfrom �44,570 crore to �25,580crore in the same period.

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Page 11: ˘ˇˆ˙˘˝˛˚˚˜ - The Pioneer · buzzword in skill development, a reality check for Odisha is while Odisha didn’t earn a place ... country in Smart City list, is nowhere in

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Himachal Pradesh in undergoing awave of transformation under thenew government and has set its

course towards development. The ChiefMinister of Himachal Pradesh, JAI RAMTHAKUR, informs that his governmenthas identified some priority sectors,under which 30 projects have beenmarked with proper budget provisions,and is working with a focused approachto achieve the goals in a time-boundmanner. Excerpts from the interview:

● How is the government workingtowards the socio-economic upliftmentof the senior citizens of the state?After coming to power, in one of ourfirst meetings, we reduced the age limitof social security pension for the old agepersons from 80 years to 70 years thattoo without any income criteria. Thisdecision has benefitted about 1.3 lakhelderly people of the state. We are tryingto not only provide social security butalso give the senior citizens an opportu-nity to live a respectable life. The socialsecurity pension is being provided toabout 4.47 lakh people in the state. Abudget provision of �443 crore has beenmade in this current financial year.Various social security pensions arebeing provided to the eligible people inthe state including the Old-Age Pension,the National Old Age Pension, theNational Widow Pension, the NationalDisability Pension, and the DisabilityRelief Allowance and so on. The old agepension of �750 is being provided forthose above 60 years old where the annu-al income does not exceed �35,000 andfor those who are above 70 years or morewill be given a monthly pension of �1300barring any income criteria.

● Please elaborate on the ‘Gramin JanManch’ programme of the governmentIt has been observed that citizens oftenface difficulties in accessing benefits pro-vided by the government in vital sectorslike pensions, health, and education andso on. For registering such grievanceswith the local authorities they have tospend both time and money. We believein the ‘government at the door step of thepeople’ and thus we announced the con-cept of ‘Jan Manch’ which was envisagedas a high level grievance redressal mech-anism. Under this programme, all the

ministers of the state government regu-larly organise ‘Jan Manch’ in the remoteareas of every district to solve the prob-lems of the people at the spot. The offi-cers of each department are to be presentto facilitate decision making. The objec-tives are to identify and resolve the griev-ances effectively, especially of the under-privileged. It is seen as an equitable,accessible, friendly and approachableprogramme to debunk the perceptionthat only the work of the influential getsdone. Apart from grievance redressal, the‘Jan Manch’ also targets delivery of citi-zen centric services like delivery of vari-ous kinds of certificates and completionof documentation under variousschemes; saturation of select governmentschemes such as 100 per cent immunisa-tion, 100 per cent LPGfication, 100 per-cent piped drinking water supply to allhouseholds; physical inspection of opera-tional schemes and ongoing workamongst others. However, it does notdeal with issue like transfers, court cases,demand for government jobs and newschemes. It is organised assembly con-stituency-wise on the first Sunday ofevery month and the Ministers-in-chargerotate every month to cover all the con-stituencies, systematically. Publicity cam-paign is conducted 15-20 days before thedesignated date, informing the citizensabout the proposed ‘Jan Manch’ which isto be held at the designated venue. Thismodel has been so successful that manyother state governments are now lookingat it as a case study to implement in theirrespective states.

● Himachal Pradesh launched its ownscheme to provide LPG connections tovarious households of the state. What isthe purpose of this?The Prime Minister Narendra Modi, hadlaunched the Pradhan Mantri UjjwalaYojana to provide LPG connections tothe women in the households in order toreduce the usage of coal and other non-renewable sources as fuel. Though thescheme has been quite successful, weobserved that many households in ourstate could not get the benefit of thescheme.Thus, on the sidelines of thesame, we introduced the GrahiniSuvidha Yojana (GSY) under which thestate government is giving LPG facility toall the families for two years. Besides, the

government will also provide securityamount to get LPG connection and a gasstove to those families who were not cov-ered in Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana.A budget of �12 crores has beenapproved for this. Within four months ofthis scheme, almost 35,000 families havebeen given gas stoves in their homes,thus fulfilling the larger objective of asustainable environment.

● What are the measures being intro-duced to stem the tide of migration ofyoungsters from the hills in search oflivelihood?The youth are the strength of the coun-try and the future. However, there isrampant unemployment among themand it is not possible to provide govern-ment jobs to all. Thus, to offer incen-tives to the youth to become entre-preneurs, we introduced theMukhyamantri Yuva SwavalambanYojana (MYSY) for the unem-ployed youth in the state. All theunemployed youth between theage group of 18 to 35 years areeligible for this scheme. Thejobless young citizens arebeing given a subsidy of 25per cent on machinery onmaking an investment of�40 lakh in the industryof their livelihood,whereas the womenhave are being given asubsidy of 30 per centunder the same. Onloans up to �40 lakhs,the government willprovide an interest sub-sidy of five percent forthree years and has alsooffered to provide govern-ment land to the youth onrent at just one per cent. Wehave also announced to reducestamp duty from six per centto three per cent on the pur-chase of land. This schemewill ensure that adequateself-employment opportuni-ties are created in the stateto reduce the unemploy-ment problem. Moreover,each youth will be self-suffi-cient and will also hopefullybecome a job creator. We

have made a provision of �80 crore forthe successful implementation of thisscheme.

● Tourism has been identified as a cru-cial project in Himachal. What are theplans in place to develop the state forthis sector?Himachal Pradesh is known as ‘DevBhoomi’ and is renowned world-overfor its natural resources and scenicbeauty. The law and order in the state isalso quite good, which attracts a lot oftourists, both domestic and foreign. Weare working on this sector with afocused approach and plan to developsome virgin, unknown destinations,

beyond the popular ones. For this, wehave introduced a projectnamed—‘Nayi Rahein, NayiManjhile’. We have got anapproval for a �1,900 croretourism infrastructure devel-opment project to be fundedby the Asian DevelopmentBank (ADB). This project willfocus on diversification oftourism and spreading it tonew areas by developingrelevnt infrastructure. It willhave both hard and soft com-ponents and will include beau-tification of towns, develop-ment of unexplored areas, con-servation and restoration ofheritage buildings, infrastruc-

ture development in adventure,eco and rural tourism with

emphasis on community partici-pation. It will also help us to gener-

ate employment for the local youthand showcase Himachal Pradesh as thebest nature tourism destination. Thisproject has been designed based on thedetailed baseline data, a study conduct-ed of 324 sites in 12 districts of the state,suggestions obtained from over 90,000tourists and is designed in line with thesustainable tourism guidelines for theHimalayan states. Some of the new des-tinations that have been identified arethe Chanchal area, Janjehli, Kangra andthe Pong Dam. The Chanchal area hasbrilliant slopes that are apt for skiingand this would be further developed foractive, hard adventure activities. Janjehliwill be developed from the perspectiveof eco-tourism. Bir Biling in the Kangra

district will be developed as an interna-tional destination for paragliding whilethe lakes and the Pong dam in the statewill be developed for water sports activ-ities as a new tourism product to thetourists to the state.

● How is the state addressing issues ofconnectivity?Connectivity, to and from various loca-tions in Himachal Pradesh, has been achallenge for us over the years. We aretrying to address the same with projectsin place to improve road, rail and airconnectivity. Under the Udaan-II schemeof the government, various destinationsin the state will be connected by air asflights will be made operational fromJanuary 2019 onwards. The ChiefMinister of the states is provided with ahelicopter for quick visits. However,times when the helicopter is sitting idle,we have offered to deploy it betweenShimla and Chandigarh three times aweek for the purpose of heli-taxis. Soon,we will also begin joy rides to Rohtang.

● The state is also working on increas-ing its power capacity. What are thenew projects?Himachal Pradesh was known as thepowerhouse of the country but overthe years we have not been able tomake much progress in the power sec-tor. Our Power Policy has had somestringent rules which discouragedmany investors to come to the state.We have identified these issues andtried to crease out the hiccups aftermeeting with the investors. Also, wehave recently allocated the 780-MWJangi-Thopan- Powari hydro electricproject in the Kinnaur district to thepublic sector, Satluj Jal Vidyut NigamLimited (SJVNL) on a Build, Own,Operate and Transfer (BOOT) basis fora period of 70 years. The company is inthe process of implementing variousprojects, which are at different stages ofdevelopment. Upon completion, theywill add 4,018 MW capacity. We planon conducting an Investor’s Meet nextyear where we will bring together alltypes of industries including agricul-ture, horticulture, pharmaceuticals,power, and tourism and so on to bringmore funds to the state for the fast-track development of Himachal.

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New Delhi: Online food ordering and delivery platform FoodpandaIndia Tuesday said smaller cities and towns are now contributing over 40per cent to the company’s business in the country. The company is alsolooking to double the number of on-board restaurant partners from thepresent 60,000 by January 2019, Foodpanda said in a statement. “We arethrilled about bringing the first online food experience for millions of cus-tomers in many of these tier 2 and 3 cities,” Foodpanda India CEO PranayJivrajka said. These markets are already contributing to over 40 per centof the company's national business and we are confident that they will fuela majority share of business in the near future, he added. “Cities like Jaipur,Lucknow, Bhavnagar, Rajahmundry, Bikaner, Ajmer, Jodhpur, Ujjain aresome of our fastest growing markets today and we are thrilled to buildsuperior food experiences for our customers in India’s 100 cities andbeyond,” Jivrajka said.

.�����".�*��� ���".�)��=�0��New Delhi: South Korean auto major Kia Motors will launch one model

every six months once it starts selling vehicles in India from mid-2019but is not considering the high-volume compact cars segment, a top com-pany official said on Tuesday. The company, which has set a target to beamong top five players in three years in India, is looking to position itselfas a premium brand in the mass segment. “Yes, we are considering sixmodels in three years, which is one model every six months,” Kia MotorsIndia CEO and managing director Kookhyun Shim told PTI here. The com-pany, however, is not considering the compact cars segment which accountsfor about 70 per cent of the total Indian passenger vehicles (PV) segmentthat stood at around 3.3 million units in 2017-18.

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New Delhi: Farmers' Welfare tops the agenda of the Govt. In contextof the objective of Doubling Farmers Income by 2022, the Govt. has striv-en to ensure a remunerative and stable price environment for farmers toincrease the production and productivity. In this regard the Governmenthas undertaken various interventions to boost the pulse and oilseeds pro-duction during last four and a half years to achieve the self-sufficiency inthe country.

The country has reported production of 25.23 Million Tonnes of puls-es during 2017-18 against production of 14.66 Million Tonnes in the year2009-10, an increase of 72.10%. Similarly, the production of oilseeds hasincreased from 24.88 Million Tonnes to 31.3 Million Tonnes during thesame period, registering an increase of 25.80%.

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Auto major Tata Motors isplanning a large-scale over-

haul of its sales network acrossthe country over the next oneyear as it prepares to bring innew products, including premi-um SUV Harrier, a top compa-ny official on Tuesday said.

The company, which plansto have all its future products onjust two platforms -- Omegaand Alpha, currently hasaround 790 dealerships acrossthe country. “We acknowledgethat our showrooms and work-shops need complete overhaul-ing and accordingly we havehired a global consulting agencyto look into upgrading all ourshowrooms,” Tata MotorsPresident Passenger VehiclesBusiness Unit Mayank Pareektold PTI in an interview.

The work on upgrading theshowrooms starts from nextmonth and would go on for atleast one year, he added.

It would include bringingin new technologies, enhancingambience and workforce acrossthe dealerships, he added.

“We have decided to havewi-fi in all the showrooms.There should be lounge whereyou can come and sit and notjust necessarily buy a car,”Pareek said. Similarly, the com-pany is upgrading its work-shops and is in the process of

hiring over 800 sales executivesjust for Harrier, which is set forlaunch in January.

Tata Motors is also lookingto more than double the num-ber of its dealerships by the endof financial year 2021-22, withhalf of the number expected tobe based on virtual experi-ence.

“We plan to have 2,000dealerships by 2021-22 andthese will not be all brick andmortar (showrooms). We aregoing to use digital technologyspecially with 4G and 5G,which is expected to come,”Pareek said. It is possible toutilise augmented reality andvirtual reality platforms to cre-ate showrooms experience, headded. When asked if the com-pany would phase out oldermodels like Safari, going aheadwith the company deciding tohave all its products on just twoplatforms, Pareek said: “Slowlysome of them will go. Honestlyit is a natural thing to do. Howlong can you sustain a prod-uct?” “And also, it would bevery difficult to upgrade someof these products with newnorms coming in...We havedecided all our new productwould be on two new plat-forms,” he added.

Tata Motors has alreadyphased out models like Indica,Indigo, Manza and Vista.

“The Indian market ismaturing so we need newproducts. So we will comewith new products,” Pareeksaid adding that the process isa trade-off whether “you investin existing products” or you donew products.

“We want to have a newshowroom with all new-look-ing cars,” he noted.

On electric cars, Pareeksaid that all future Tata Motorsproducts would be electricready. Currently, four of itsproducts — Tiago, Tigor, Boltand Zest have design capabil-ity allowing them to be con-verted them into electric vehi-cles.

Speaking about having justtwo platforms going ahead,Pareek said: “Harrier is firstproduct based on Omega andour next product will be onAlpha. We will just have thesetwo platforms...a product basedon Alpha platform can comearound second quarter of nextyear (July-September).”

When asked if the compa-ny plans go for a price hike,Pareek said the company is inthe process of working out thequantum. “We are in a doublejeopardy. On one hand, inputcosts have gone up, and sec-ondly sales have been declin-ing. We want to grow on a sus-tainable basis. Because of thiswe will have to take a call onthis in the second half of thismonth,” he added.

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The task force set up to redraftIncome Tax law will focus on

removing the ambiguities, rather thansuggesting dramatic policy changes andtweaking of tax rates, the panel's con-venor Akhilesh Ranjan said Tuesday.

Ranjan said the 6-member taskforce formed to redraft the over 50-yearold I-T law will meet shortly to draft anew law which will be more comprehen-sible.

“Tax rate is prima-facie not the mainfocus area of this task force.... (task forcewill focus on) simplification which canremove the ambiguities,” Ranjan toldreporters here. He said there are claus-es, provisos and explanations which havebeen added to the I-T Act, 1961 overtime which need to be streamlined insimple language.

“We have been adding provisionsafter provisions, explanations afterexplanations, they have become incon-sistent, ambiguous. So let us clarify thereal intent of the law. In that processthere may be some new policy initiativeswhile trying to make things clear.

“The focus is not on coming outwith a new tax policy but focus is onmaking the law more comprehensible,”said Ranjan, who is member legislationin the Central Board of Direct Taxes(CBDT). The task force was set up bythe finance ministry in November last.Arbind Modi was made the convenor ofthe panel and he retired on September30. On November 26, Ranjan wasappointed as the new convenor, who hasbeen mandated to submit the report byFebruary 28, 2019.

Asked if the panel would submit any

report before the interim budget onFebruary 1, Ranjan said it is unlikely.

The NDA government would bepresenting its interim Budget for 2018-19 on February 1. The full 2018-19Budget would be presented after thegeneral elections due sometime in themid of 2019.

In September last year, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, had said in anevent that the Income-tax Act, 1961needs to be redrafted.

Other members of the task forceinclude Girish Ahuja (chartered accoun-tant), Rajiv Memani (Chairman andRegional Managing Partner of EY),Mukesh Patel (practicing tax advo-cate), Mansi Kedia (Consultant,ICRIER) and G C Srivastava (retired IRSand advocate). “I am having a meeting(of task force) very shortly. I'm sure thatthey have done a lot of work and I wouldlike to know what is the work that hasbeen done till now and we will take itforward,” Ranjan said.

The panel was tasked to draft directtax laws in line with the laws prevalentin other countries, incorporating inter-national best practices, and keeping inmind the economic needs of the coun-try. Former Finance Minister PChidambaram had in 2009 proposed adirect taxes code (DTC) to replace thecumbersome IT law to embody the prin-ciple of keeping taxes low and remov-ing exemptions. The NDA govern-ment, since coming to power in 2014,has already implemented general anti-avoidance rules GAAR. In 2016, FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley also promised tolower corporate tax rate to 25 per centin 5 years.

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Residential real estatedemand may pick up in the

medium-term followingimprovement in end-user par-ticipation on rising affordabil-ity, increasing launch of unitswith mid-income ticket sizesand implementation of RERA,according to a report.

Resolution of the recentliquidity issues in non-bankfinance companies (NBFC),however, would be key, Crisil

Ratings said in a report.In the short term, demand

is likely to remain muted andprices will remain under pres-sure on account of slowdown involumes due to on-going liquid-ity concerns.

As of FY19, affordability in

most cities is estimated to be inthe range of 6-8 times comparedwith 11-13 times five yearsback, it said.

Ticket sizes, it said, havebeen coming down as develop-ers launch units with reducedaverage area per house, led by

both market needs and theimpetus to affordable housing,it said.

The capital values in the res-idential segment have beenunder pressure of late, with adecline of 5-20 per cent acrossmicro-markets in the last 2-3years, and are likely to remainrange-bound because of unsoldinventory, it added. mplemen-tation of Real Estate (Regulationand Development) Act, 2016,(RERA), is also expected to givea fillip to demand, which has

been lacklustre so far.With most RERA websites

operational and a grievance-handling mechanism in place inkey states, end-user participa-tion is expected to improvegradually for under-construc-tion properties as well, thereport said.

“Between fiscals 2019 and2021, residential demand isestimated to log a compoundannual growth rate of 4 per centled by key micro-markets ofBengaluru, Hyderabad and

MMR. Though marginal, thegrowth will be driven by firsttime buyers eyeing units inmid-income tickets typicallypriced between �25 lakh to � 1crore,” Crisil research directorRahul Prithiani said.

Meanwhile, the report saidthe commercial portfolio is see-ing steady lease rentals andhealthy demand, with a goodnumber of assets changinghands. With large private equi-ty firms and property managerson the prowl, just 15 of the larg-

er marquee deals over the lastfive fiscals have totalled around�30,000 crore.

This has helped cushion theblow for developers, who havebeen refinancing and taking onmore debt for construction asresidential demand remainstepid.

With limited incrementalfunding to the sector frombanks, which grew at just 2 percent in fiscal 2018, NBFCs andHFCs came to the developers’rescue.

However, given the currentpressure on liquidity for NBFCs,a potential cascading effect onselect projects and developers,could make access to fundingmore difficult.

For the top 20 developersalone, support extended to theresidential segment from theircommercial portfolio hastotalled around �33,000 crore inthe last three years, boththrough sale of assets and addi-tional top-up debt in opera-tional properties.

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Iran’s President HassanRouhani struck a defiant

stance against US sanctions onTuesday, renewing his threat tocut off international oil salesfrom the Gulf.

“America should know... itis not capable of preventing theexport of Iran’s oil,” Rouhanisaid at a televised rally inSemnan province.

“If it ever tries to do so... nooil will be exported from thePersian Gulf,” he added.

Since the 1980s, Iran hassaid repeatedly it would block-ade the Gulf in response tointernational pressure but hasnever carried out the threat.

Washington has reimposedsanctions, including an oilembargo, since withdrawingfrom a landmark 2015 nucleardeal between Tehran and majorpowers in May.

It has vowed to reduceIran’s oil sales to zero, but hasgranted temporary waivers toeight countries.

Rouhani last threatened toclose the Gulf in July when hewarned the US “should not playwith the lion’s tail.” The presi-dent downplayed the econom-ic impact of sanctions, accus-ing the media of exaggeratingthe country’s problems.

“No hyperinflation, nomassive unemployment willthreaten us. People should stopsaying such things in thepapers,” he told the crowd.

The latest inflation report

from Iran’s central bank saysfood prices rose 56 percentyear-on-year in October.

Rouhani acknowledgedthere were “some problems”,but said these would beaddressed in the new budgetplan to be presented onDecember 16.

He said the governmentwould maintain subsidies onessential goods and increasepublic sector wages and pen-sions by 20 per cent.

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The French Government’sdecision to suspend fuel tax

and utility hikes on Tuesday didlittle to appease protesters, whocalled it a “first step” and vowedto fight on after large-scalerioting in Paris last weekend.

In a major U-turn for thegovernment, Prime MinisterEdouard Philippe announcedin a live televised address thatthe planned increases, whichwere set to be introduced inJanuary, were now being post-poned until the summer.

The backpedalingappeared to be designed tocalm the nation, coming threedays after the worst unrest onthe streets of Paris in decades.

“No tax is worth puttingthe nation’s unity in danger,”

said Philippe, just three weeksafter insisting that the govern-ment wouldn’t change courseand remained determined tohelp wean French consumersoff polluting fossils fuels.

Protesters wearing theirsignature fluorescent yellowvests kept blocking several fueldepots Tuesday and manyinsisted their fight wasn’t over.

“It’s a first step, but we willnot settle for a crumb,”Benjamin Cauchy, a protestleader.

More than 100 people wereinjured in the French capitaland 412 arrested over the week-end in Paris, with dozens ofcars torched. Shops were loot-ed and cars torched in plushneighborhoods around thefamed Champs-ElyseesAvenue.

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The world needs a “realitycheck” on the threat posed

by climate change, NASA astro-naut Mae Jemison said Tuesdayat a UN summit to chartmankind’s path away fromrunaway global warming.

Jemison, the first African-American woman in space,brought a little galactic per-spective to the COP24 talks inPoland, calling on delegatesfrom nearly 200 countries totackle “the most difficult prob-lem we’ve ever faced.”

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British Prime MinisterTheresa May on Tuesday

prepared to open a debate inthe House of Commons on herBrexit deal, setting the stage fora showdown with MPs acrossparty lines opposed to the pro-posals on offer.

The marathon debate is setto last five days before a crunchvote on the WithdrawalAgreement struck with theEuropean Union on December11. An embattled May hasbeen combatting pressure fromdifferent sides of the House,including the Northern IrishDemocratic Unionist Party(DUP) which props up herConservative Party govern-ment by providing crucial 10MPs for a majority in theCommons. The deal negotiat-ed by her and the EU has to bebacked by a majority of MPs ifit is to come into force.

While the prospects of itpassing through Parliamentremain in doubt, the govern-ment faced a rare a contempt-of-Parliament challenge over itsdecision not to release the fulllegal advice on the Brexit deal.

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Embattled MahindaRajapaksa on Tuesday filed

an appeal in Sri Lanka’sSupreme Court against a courtorder that barred him from act-ing as Prime Minister.

The Court of Appeal in aninterim order Monday tempo-rary halted Rajapaksa and hisCabinet from functioning intheir positions in response to acase filed by 122 legislatorsagainst his disputed govern-ment. The court set the hear-ing of the case for December 12and 13.

MP Gamini Lokuge saidthe appeal was filed in theSupreme Court against the

interim order issued by theCourt of Appeal, Daily Mirrorreported.

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In a strong message toPakistan, US Defence

Secretary Jim Mattis has said itis time for “every responsiblenation” to support the efforts ofthe UN, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and all thosewho are trying to maintainpeace in South Asia.

Pakistan must take on asubstantive role in peace talkswith the Taliban if the war inneighbouring Afghanistan is tobe ended, he said.

Mattis was responding to aquestion from reporters abouta letter written by PresidentDonald Trump to PakistanPrime Minister Imran Khan.

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The humanitarian crisis inYemen, already the world’s

worst, will deteriorate in 2019,the UN said on Tuesday, warn-ing that the number of peopleneeding food aid is set to jumpby four million.

The grim forecast for theembattled country came as theUnited Nations humanitarianoffice OCHA released its pro-jected needs assessments fornext year.

“The country with thebiggest problem in 2019 isgoing to be Yemen,” OCHA chief MarkLowcock told reporters inGeneva.

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Colombo: Likening Sri LankanPresident Maithripala Sirisenato Adolf Hitler, the country’stoppled Prime Minister RanilWickremesinghe on Tuesdaysaid he was not afraid of snappolls but was against the use ofreferendums by “dictators”. OnMonday a lower court tem-porarily barred Sirisena-appointed PM Rajapaksa fromperforming his duties. PTI

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Page 13: ˘ˇˆ˙˘˝˛˚˚˜ - The Pioneer · buzzword in skill development, a reality check for Odisha is while Odisha didn’t earn a place ... country in Smart City list, is nowhere in

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/��)!�The Strathclyde Business

School, Glasgow, is invitingapplications for MSc FinancialTechnology course starting inSeptember 2019. The course is12 months full-time, with twosemesters of classes followed byprojects during the summer.

Financial Technology(FinTech) is the future. It com-bines the theory and knowl-edge behind capital marketswith the technology thatmakes financial transactionsmore efficient. The courseteaches the big data techniques,computer programing and ana-lytics that banks and insurancecompanies prize.

The MSc FinTech is joint-ly provided by the top rankeddepartments of Accounting,Finance and ManagementScience.

Students will gain a com-prehensive skill set using ablended learning approach thatcombines theory, intensivepractice and engagement withFinTech start-ups.

Eligibility: An honoursdegree, or equivalent, inaccounting, economics, busi-ness studies or a subject areawith a strong quantitative bias.The programme requires noprior knowledge of finance.IELTS (Academic): 6.5 overall(no individual band less than5.5)

Fee: The fee for overseasstudents is £21150 for 2019/20.For more information email [email protected] log on tohttps://www.strath.ac.uk/cours-es/postgraduatetaught/finan-cialtechnology/

�)!�The NIIT University (NU),

a not-for-profit, announcesearly admissions for its BTechprogrammes in ComputerScience Engineering;Electronics andCommunication Engineeringand Biotechnology along withfour-year Integrated MBA andfive-year Integrated MTechprogrammes.

Integrated MBA pro-gramme offers specialisation inMarketing & MarketingAnalytics, Family Business andEntrepreneurship, Finance,Banking & Fintech, BusinessAnalytics, Communication &Media Studies, and Digital &Social Media Marketing.

Students applying for earlyadmissions will get a provi-sional admission to the pro-gramme of their choice, evenbefore their Class XII exam.They will also get an opportu-nity to experience campus lifeat NU before joining the uni-versity through Camp Future –a unique two-day programmeat NIIT University for Class XIIStudents to experience the uni-versity life.

Selection process:Admissions are processedthrough a unique AdmissionInteraction Process (AIP).AIP consists of three parts—questionnaire, a test basedon Class XII subjects andPersonal Counsell ingInteraction (PCI). The PCIbetween the applicants andtheir parents/ guardians withdesignated officials from NUis an important prerequisite.AIP can be scheduled as perthe student’s preferred time,online or at any nearest AIPlocation.

Scholarship: To encourageand support meritorious can-didates, NU has implementedvery distinctive merit scholar-ship programme — NUScholar Search Programme.Merit scholarships are availableon first-come-first-servedbasis.

Deadline: The last date toapply for round one of earlyadmissions is December 22,2018. Students can apply onlineat www.niituniversity.in.

The annual South Zone InterUniversity Women’s

Badminton began at VelloreInstitute of Technology havebegun. Kondi Mani, Charge d'Affaires, Embassy of Togo,inaugurated the tournamentthat will be held over five days.CA Bhavani Devi, winner ofthe Gold Medal for fencing atthe Commonwealth Games,was the guest of honour.

More than 400 playersfrom 82 universities from allover South India are takingpart in the tournament.

Speaking on the occa-sion, Mani said that the twocountries had great ties witheach other and wished stu-dents to perform to the best oftheir abilities and earn laurelsfor their excellent perfor-mance.

Bhavani Devi, who wonthe Gold in Fencing at theCommonwealth Games heldin Sydney, hoisted the tour-nament flag and said thatwomen athletes were beinglaurels to the country, whenonce upon a time, they wereonly looked at as being deco-rative objects. For women totake part in sports and gamesand to excel, it required the

support of the family andsociety. She said that it wasimportant for women ath-letes to possess a burningdesire to excel and win inwhichever sports they take up.Bhavani Devi said that athletescould win only if they practicevery hard every day andadded that she was an exam-ple. “The Government hadmade arrangements for fundsand has also created the nec-essary sports infrastructureand young athletes shouldmake proper use of thesefacilities, practice well and winin tournaments,” she said.

S Narayanan, Pro Vice-Chancellor, hoisted the tour-nament flag and formallydeclared open the tourna-ment. He also handed overmementoes to the guests whotook part in the inauguralfunction. The first four teamsin the South Zone InterUniversity Tournament will betaking part in the All IndiaWomen's BadmintonTournament, to be held at VITfrom December 10, 2018.

Sixteen teams fromNorth, East, West and Southwill be competing in the four-day tournament.

�)����.'�'���� 1�7�$�:30�

Following the success of Hindi Word of theYear in 2017 which declared Aadhaar the

word of the Year, Oxford Dictionaries is nowcalling on Hindi speakers from across thecountry to help choose a Hindi Word of theYear for 2018. The 2018 Word of the Year willbe announced in January 2019 at the JaipurLiterary Festival.

It will be a word or expression that hasattracted a great deal of interest over the last12 months. The chosen word should reflectthe ethos, mood, or preoccupations of theyear. It is not necessarily a new word, butshould be one that is strongly linked some-how to 2018. Following the public sugges-tions, the Word of the Year will be chosen bythe Hindi Dictionaries team at OxfordUniversity Press along with an advisory panelof language experts who each bring a uniqueperspective.

The panel includes Ashok KumarSharma, Hindi Language Champion, advi-sor, Public Relation Society of India; KritikaAgrawal, Hindi Language Champion, lawyer(Oxford), polyglot, and Indian languageexpert; Namita Gokhale, writer, publisherand festival director; Randhir Thakur, asso-ciate commissioning editor, Hindi, OxfordUniversity Press India and many others.

How to apply: People are invited to sub-mit suggestions on the Hindi LivingDictionaries website at https://hi.oxforddic-tionaries.com/hindi-word-of-the-year.

Deadline: The last date to apply isDecember 9, 2018.

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The Election Commissioner CertifiedEducational Consultant (CEC) des-

ignate Sunil Arora recently gave awaydiplomas to 24 scholars from 16 devel-oping countries at the valedictory sessionof the 70th diploma course in develop-ment journalism at IIMC, Delhi.

While appreciating the effort of theIIMC in designing and implementingsuch courses, Arora, said: “Impartingknowledge of positive and negative sideof social media among the journalism stu-dents is very crucial.”

Farhod Arziev, Amabassador ofUzbekistan to India and an alumnus of

IIMC was the guest of honour. Speakingon the occasion, Arziev emphasised on theclose relation with India in the field ofeducational diplomacy. He also men-tioned about the proposed MoU betweenIIMC and the Uzbekistan NationalUniversity of journalism countries for stu-dent exchange programme.

DG KG Suresh of IIMC, ADGManish Desai, course director Prof MukulSharma, faculty members, members of thediplomatic corps and students partici-pated in the event. In his address Suresh,said: “IIMC has trained 1600 journalistsfrom 128 countries since 1969.” Hedescribed them as India’s unofficialambassadors.

Sports in India is one of the fastestgrowing sectors thanks to thecommercial growth of sports

sector in our country. The commer-cial part of it has opened floodgatesfor various skilled professionalsincluding the growth of professionalsports management companies, eventorganisers, sports and physical edu-cation curriculum providers, andnonprofessional sports teams andleagues in India.

According to reports, India con-tributes a mere 0.35% of the $700 bil-lion global sports industry. However,with the increase of professionalcourses in India, the numbers are seento improve. India is now investing inmillion dollar deals and is organisingevents worth crores.

Considering the fact that mostsports enterprises are driving towardsthe data driven model where theystudy the game and players on thebasis of the data analytics available,shows the huge opportunity that pro-fessionals have today.

While many people dream ofrepresenting their country at nation-al and international tournaments,playing a sport is not the only part ofit. People who have the exquisiteknowledge and understanding of thegame are much needed in the market.This can be done by gaining theknowledge of the same at the educa-tional level.

A proper course in sports man-agement helps a student analyse theintricacies of every aspect of a sport,

starting from the rules of the game tothe rules of the business.

�� ��'.�)��"���("�)KApart from the packages and

excitement that sports managementoffers, there is a whole array ofopportunities that it opens up for anindividual. �Widens career opportunities fora person: The profession offershandsome packages as and when youbecome expert in this domain. Indiais a country which is crazy about itssports and teams, and hence this isone field which can never go intodepression. �Converts your sports passioninto a career choice:

Someone who is passionateabout sports but could not manageto be part of any team or leagues, stillgets an option to work closely withthe game. �Gain skills relevant to the busi-ness world: Ones love for sports cannever go in vain. No matter whicharea of sports management oneworks in, they have great opportu-nities to build their network, improvetheir communication skills, build aportfolio of their professional workand be of huge demand in theindustry.

In order to choose this field, oneneeds to do a bachelors degree insports management and/or pursuean MBA degree/ Masters in SportsManagement. Post this, there are var-ious job opportunities to choose

from. Some of the interesting jobs tochoose from are listed below:

"��0)��(��'!��*��)A sports marketing specialist is

responsible for handling the mar-keting/ public relations for a partic-ular event/ game/ brand. They areresponsible for deciding on the tac-tics of the game, coordinating activ-ities for the event, planning thepromotions for the event and every-thing from media partners to spon-sorship partners.

�'.�)���(�)�Sports agents are responsible

for negotiating the contracts andproduct endorsement deals.Successful sports agents are bestnegotiators and are best at network-ing to find the best deals for theirclients. Apart from being on theirtoes, they have the perfect knowledgeand expertise in marketing, financeand legal sectors. An MBA degreecomes a lot handy because it preparesthe students for this.

��/.�"�)�.�����!).�A sports information director is

responsible for being the channelbetween the teams and the media.They are responsible for creating thepress releases and maintaining rela-tions with the media on behalf of thecompany. They also organize pressconferences for the players and thecoaches. They are also responsiblefor ensuring that the company has a

positive light in the minds of people.The entire content that goes out inthe media is handled by the sportsinformation director.

)�*�)�"���(�A degree in Sports Management

gives you a podium to become a tal-ent manager. Let’s tell you the funpart: You will be able to get your fairshare of tickets for sporting events.A lot of the job will involve the per-son making sure that the players areselected and trained and hence oneneeds to keep his ears and eyesalways open on the ground. Talentmanager generally spends a lot oftime at sporting events, not onlykeeping an eye on their currentclient, but scouting for others.

*!)���A person with a degree in Sports

Management, can become a lectur-er. Apart from imparting the knowl-edge about every sport and its prac-tices, they can teach about the legaland ethical part of sports manage-ment. It is really an interesting pro-fession for a person who is interest-ed in being a lecturer and also is pas-sionate about sports.

Thus, by getting a degree insports management, an individualcan not only turn his passion ofsports into a career option, but canalso earn a lot of respect and revenuein this domain. $����������������� �3� ���� �� �� �� �

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The Institute of CompanySecretaries of India (ICSI) has

signed an MoU with LovelyProfessional University (LPU),Jalandhar, for mutual cooperation —recognition to Company Secretaryqualification as equivalent to PGdegree for admission to PhD inManagement or Commerce or Lawon November 28, 2018 at Jalandhar.

Under this partnership, the ICSI

will conduct specialised training pro-grammes at the university for the fac-ulty, research scholars and students inareas of mutual interest. The univer-sity will nominate ICSI members foracademic Board/syllabus reviewBoard of colleges/university. Exchangeof faculty members will allow sharingof expertise for training programmesor workshops organised by ICSI.

Joint organise workshops, semi-nars, continuing education and train-ing programmes like training of

trainers (ToT) for professionals, cor-porate executives and faculty mem-bers, research scholars and studentsof LPU will be organised as well. TheICSI and university will work jointlyfor teacher congruence by organisingspecialised programmes together.

Moreover, regularly an exchangejournals published by the partieswill also get featured in each other’spublications. There will be exchangeof course materials, case studies,research publications and other aca-

demic and research inputs. With theJoint Meeting of CurriculumDevelopment Committees, both willalso extend help and co-operation indeveloping each other’s academiccurriculum and education pro-grammes.

The ICSI and the university willalso undertake joint research projectsand will reciprocate participation intheir National and International con-ferences.

The university will be providingan exemption in university subjectsfor the students of ICSI in topics suchas Corporate Governance. The ICSImay also assist LPU in devising up aGovernance Code for the university.

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The EuroSchool, a network of K-12 schools, has announced the

launch of its new campus in Pune —EuroSchool West Campus in Wakad.This will be the third school in Puneand the 11th across the country.

EuroSchool’s unique engage-ment programmes focus on buildinglateral and critical thinking, creativ-ity, logical reasoning and essential lifeskills that help in holistic develop-ment and building 21st-century cit-izens.

The campus will follow the cur-riculum in accordance with the

ICSE Board, providing the best inclass learning for students fromJunior KG to Class X. The new cam-pus has been envisioned in a 2.25acre plot with state-of-the-art edu-cational and co-curricular facilities.The well-equipped campus will con-sist of a football field, swimmingpool, skating rink, squash court, 300-seater auditorium, indoor sportsarena and fully functional labs as wellas activity rooms for dance, musicand art, to provide a holistic learn-ing experience for students.

The campus aims to provide anenvironment that stimulates, inspiresand promotes learning with class-

rooms that feature the latest audio-visual systems for tech enabled cur-riculum delivery.

The seating arrangements areergonomically planned to promotegood posture and comfort for stu-dents. EuroSchool has been recog-nised as India’s first certified safeschool network and thus safety andwellness of the students is of top pri-ority.

The campus will also look intothe wellness of its students byemploying the Student Bag Weightloss programme, which mandatesthat children carry school bagsweighing only 10 per cent of their

body weight.“Our new school marks a sig-

nificant milestone and reinstatesour position as a leading education-al brand in India. We have a proventrack record of adopting best prac-tices and innovative learningmethodology for Delivering the Joyof Learning. Through our philoso-phy of Discover Yourself, we encour-age children to recognise their latenttalent, certain areas of interest andhone individual skills so that theydiscover varied facets of their per-sonality,” said Prajodh Rajan, co-founder and group CEO, EuroKidsInternational.

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The IIT Delhi, in partnershipwith IBM, will join the AI

Horizons Network as part of amulti-year research collaborationon artificial intelligence (AI). Theaim is to discover novel AI tech-niques which can help organisa-tions take informed decisions bybeing able to logically reason withtheir AI systems.

The solutions will be trained tocomprehend complex questionsusing natural language techniquesand derive new insights usingdomain knowledge.

Today, an AI system is nottrained to explain its decisionmaking process. The IBMresearchers will partner with stu-

dents and professors from theDepartment of Computer Scienceand Engineering at IIT Delhi toaddress this issue and conductjoint research to inculcate in AIsystems some key traits like rea-soning, comprehension and infer-encing. The research will benefitsectors like healthcare and medi-cine, finance, and customer sup-port which deal with complex setof questions and require reasoning.

“While working with AI sys-tems, organisations require explic-it reasoning and comprehension toreach a particular conclusion. Webelieve advancement in AI can

tackle such problems. We areexcited to collaborate with IITDelhi to focus on this area ofresearch and empower organiza-tions to make informed decisionsby infusing key characteristics likereasoning, comprehension andtransparency in their AI systems,”said Michael Karasick, VP, GlobalLabs, IBM Research.

The teams plan to publishtheir research in peer-reviewedacademic journals and releasedatasets and open challenges to theresearch community to identifynew areas in making AI decisionsbetter.

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The Commonwealthof Learning (COL)

announces the appoint-ment of DrVenkataraman Balaji asthe next vice presidentof COL. He will take up theappointment on January 1,2019.

Since joining COL, Dr Balajihas contributed to its reputationas an innovative organisationthrough various initiatives,including Aptus, MOOC forDevelopment, as well as a num-

ber of publications andcutting-edge knowl-edge management andtechnology services.

Prior to joiningCOL in 2010 as direc-tor, technology andknowledge manage-

ment, he worked at theInternational Crops ResearchInstitute for the Semi-AridTropics (ICRISAT) as the glob-al leader for knowledge man-agement and sharing. Beforethen, he was director ofInformatics at MS SwaminathanResearch Foundation.

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The University ofWarwick is offering WMGExcellence Scholarships forUK and international stu-dents. Scholarships will beawarded to students com-mencing full-time MSc pro-gramme beginning inSeptember 2019.

Eligibility: Applicantsmust hold an offer to study ona WMG full-time MSc coursestarting September 2019.Should have an excellent aca-demic track-record and/orstrong professional profile inorder to qualify. Scholarshipsare for self-funded studentsonly. Scholarships are paidtowards tuition fees only andcan’t be paid in cash ortowards accommodation ormaintenance costs. Englishlanguage requirement:Applicants must have IELTS6.5 (or IELTS 6.0 + pre-ses-sional).

How to apply: A complet-ed application form & applica-tion fee. A personal state-ment, which can be includedin the online application. Ascan of your transcript ofmarks awarded so far (if youare currently studying) or anoriginal copy of final tran-script/degree certificate.English test result (if applica-ble). One reference. If youcompleted studies less thantwo years back, this should beacademic references. If you

grad-uated more than two

years back, we will acceptprofessional references. Thereference must be submitteddirectly to us by the referee.

Application deadline:The last date to apply is April1, 2019.

Imperial CollegeBusiness School is pleased tooffer Riley FamilyScholarship for the full-timeMBA commencing inSeptember 2019. Internationalstudents are eligible to apply.

Eligibility: A very strongacademic background and anexcellent track record of pro-fessional achievement, A highand well-balanced GMATscore, which must also be sub-mitted by 25 January 2019,Your performance during theadmissions process, whereacademic and professionalmerit will be judged, Yourprofessional references.English language require-ment: IELTS (academic): Ascore of 7.0 with minimumscores of 6.5 in all elements,TOEFL iBT: A score of 100overall with minimum scoresof 22 in all elements. Degreestudied in and awarded by anEnglish-speaking country.

How to apply: As essayon: What life experiences haveshaped who you are today andhow have you overcomeadversity to excel in educa-tion? How do you think theseexperiences will help you intoday’s rapidly changingworld? (700 words max).

Application deadline:January 25, 2019.

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The biggest challenge of educationsystem today is to maintain highquality standards and to develop

institutional capacity to meet the demandof current industry. To this end the qual-ity of education and compliances aresupervised by the Ministry of HumanResources Development through its reg-ulatory body-UGC. Apart from this AllIndia Council for Technical Educationand National Assessment andAccreditation Council has played amajor role in enriching the quality of edu-cation. Under privatisation of higher edu-cation a number of institutes have grownrapidly in last three decades. Some ofthem have shown excellence in provid-ing quality education and developing rel-evant skills, however many of them havebecome centre for selling degrees. Suchinstitutions are more in professionalcourses like Engineering, Pharmacy,Education and Management. This hasreflected in employment statistics,according to McKinsey almost 75% ofIndian engineering graduates are notemployable and the reason is substandardeducation which is outdated and irrele-vant, not meeting the current demand ofthe industry. This has led higher educa-tion governing bodies to bring in radi-cal reforms.

Students look for better optionsrather than taking admission in sub-standard institutes. For last two decadesmany students have preferred westernuniversities. The various reasons are easeof admission, high quality education andimmigration. However, for last five years,the west is going through a number ofissues. Their economic and politicalscenarios are in trouble. Their own cit-izens are unemployed due to lack of jobopportunities. Industries in the UK andthe US are not creating enough jobs fortheir locals. This has made theirGovernments to enforce stringent visarules for foreigners to work in their owncountries. Such initiatives by theirGovernment have put Indian students introuble as most of them choose to studyabroad expecting jobs there after com-pletion of the studies. Non-availability ofjobs and difficulty in obtaining work visacompel Indian students with foreigndegrees to return home. However,

although they spend huge amount ontheir study many of them feel that thereare better opportunities in their homecountry due to economic growth andimproved job prospects.

Looking at the pace with which Indiais moving forward in creating world classinfrastructure and urban development toboost the national economy is excep-tional. I am of an opinion that the younggeneration must capture this opportu-nity to make career in this sector whichwill become world’s third largest con-struction market by 2025. TheGovernment has realised the require-ment of human resources to meet thedemand supply gap and skills required.

Huge spending by the IndianGovernment in construction sector,demand supply and skill gap. SkillIndia has attracted local and well-known foreign institutes in built envi-ronment to collaborate with Indianuniversities. Such collaborations havebrought in good pedagogy practices,thus developing students with requiredskill sets and standards to serve the con-struction industry which is at par withwell-known foreign institutions.Constant monitoring from higher edu-cation governing bodies enforcing high-er pedagogy standards has raised thelevel of Indian education.

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The Indian Institute of ForeignTrade (IIFT) 2018 exam wason December 2 for admis-

sion to the institutes located inDelhi, Kolkata, and Kakinada (AP).The test was conducted acrossvarious centres in the country.The two hour exam had no sec-tional time limit. However, therewere six sections this time —Verbal Ability (VA) and ReadingComprehension (RC) as separatesections along with LogicalReasoning (LR) and DataInterpretation (DI). Students need-ed to manage their time across sec-tions deftly to ensure that they gopast the sectional cut-offs.

There were six sections thisyear as against four last year. Eachof the sections had sectional cut-offs applicable. Below is the snap-shot of various sections (Set — A).

Section 1: The RC passages,though fairly lengthy, were defi-nitely readable. A person withmoderate to good reading skillsshould not have faced much of aproblem in reading the passages.However, most of the questions thatfollowed the passages were difficultin nature owing to the ambiguityof the options. The big change isthat there were five passages, withfour having three questions eachand one having four questions. Thepassages were from similar areas.While one was on Culture, anoth-er one was on Sociology. There wasone on economics. The remainingtwo were on Information (Science)

and Liberal Arts. The cut-off in thissection could be around three-fourmarks. Around seven-nineattempts can be considered verygood in this section. The cut-off inthis section is expected to be in therange 2.33 to 3.

Section 2: The questions in theVA were predominantly on vocab-ulary — jumbled words, origin, Fillin the blanks, and word-analogies.English Grammar did have a pres-ence but in the form of two differ-ent models of sentence-correctionquestions — both reasonably sim-ple. The vocabulary part was rea-sonably challenging, with quite afew unfamiliar words making anappearance.

The questions based on originwere challenging. The two para-jumbles could be worked out moreby elimination than by actuallysolving. Overall the section waschallenging barring a couple ofgrammar questions, and onlysomeone who understands wordswell would have been able to get agood score. 10-12 would be agood number of attempts in thissection. The cut-off is expected tobe around 3-3.5.

Section 3: The difficulty levelof QA this section was higher ascompared to that from last year onaccount of lengthier and tougherquestions. There were only aboutfive questions which could be clas-sified as relatively easier ones —two from Logarithms, one fromSimple Equations, one from Time

& Work, one from Time &Distance. The remaining questionswere either moderate or difficult tohandle during the test. A good can-didate would’ve been able to attemptaround seven-nine questions in QA.The cut-off in this section is expect-ed to be three-four marks.

Section 4: Another of thenever-ending difficult sections inthe test, DI was a definite tough nutto crack. With large quantum ofdata/graphs to work with, there wasno relief to the students.

There were a total of five setsof four questions each. All the setswere based on Tables and or LineGraph/Bar Graph. Almost all thequestions were calculation intensiveand were very lengthy. However,there was one set (related to LPIindicators) where the calculationswere easier.

Section 5: The LR questions onInput-output were time-consumingand would have needed a goodamount of concentration. Thequestions based on ‘distribution’ —job fair, though a little time con-suming were relatively easier tosolve. The missing number ques-tion might have seemed slightlytrickier in the first glance; howev-er, it was actually pretty simple.

The case-let on VennDiagrams, which had a minorerror was on the tougher side (if themistake is not identified). Theselections based question needed agood grasp of basic concepts.Compared to last year, this year’s LR

section was relatively much moredifficult. The overall difficulty levelof this section can be classified asmoderate-difficult. A good num-ber of attempts in this section canbe considered to be 6- 8 questionswhile the cut-off is expected to bearound 4 to 4.67 marks.

Section 6: (GeneralAwareness): This section, thougheasier than last year, still was onthe tougher side. The questionswere from diverse topics likePersonalities, sports, corporatelogos, corporate entities,International trade organisationsand currencies. This implies thatthe students needed to beextremely well prepared to clearthe cut-off in this section.

Unlike last year, the questionswere not lengthy in nature. Thiswould have enabled students toattempt the section in five-10minutes. Some very difficult ques-tions like the one on ‘SouthIndian sea ports’ must have baf-fled the students. Historically,the sectional cutoff for this sectionhas been very low, though thisyear there may be a tiny move-ment northward.

The cut-off in this section lastyear was 0.82 marks and is expect-ed to be little higher this year —to around one-two marks. Six-eight questions could be consid-ered to be a good number ofattempts in this section.

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Delhi Daredevils was renamed asDelhi Capitals on Tuesday with a

hope that it would bring a change in for-tunes of the franchise after a poor trackrecord over the past 11 IPL seasons.

Co-owners Parth Jindal, represent-ing JSW Sport, and KiranKumar Grandhi of GMR,unveiled the new name ofthe team.

Jindal, whose JSWsport acquired a 50 percent stake in the Delhifranchise last year, alsoannounced that ShreyasIyer will continue to leadthe team despite the presence of ShikharDhawan.

Dhawan returns to Delhi for the2019 season after being traded bySunrisers Hyderabad. Australian greatRicky Ponting will continue to coach theteam.

Jindal explained why his team zeroedin on the new name of the team.

"Delhi is the power centre of thecountry, it is the capital, therefore thename Delhi Capitals," he said.

The team has retained the old redand blue colour in the new team logo.

"Our logo has been inspired by the

design of Parliament House. Tiger is ournational animal and the three tigers ideais derived from the Ashok Chakra," saidJindal.

Delhi have Rs 25 crore to spend atthe IPL auction on December 18 andJindal said the team has its plans in place.

"We obviously can't share them withyou. The core of the teamhas remained the same forthe last couple of years. Weneed to invest more in theyouth and going forward,that is something we willcontinue to focus on," saidJindal.

"With Dhawan, wehave got more solidity at

the top. And the young guys who havebeen with us (Prithvi Shaw and RishabhPant) are doing well for India. The cap-tain and coach are the same, there is con-tinuity there," said the JSW Director,when asked about the team's dismal runseason after season.

Pravin Amre remains a part of thesupport staff and joining him next sea-son will be Mohammad Kaif.

The team had finished at the bottomof the standings last year when GautamGambhir stepped down as captain mid-way into the IPL. Iyer was then given theleadership role.

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Veteran Indian opener Gautam Gambhir,who played a pivotal role in India's two

World Cup triumphs, on Tuesday announcedretirement from cricket, saying the "irritablenoise of 'It's over Gauti'" has triumphed overhis will to continue.

The 37-year-old, in a video message onhis social media pages, said the Ranji Trophygame against Andhra Pradesh startingThursday will be his last competitive match.

The aggressive opener was India'stop-scorer in the finals of the 2007 WorldT20 in South Africa and the 2011 ODIWorld Cup, both of which the country won.

"The next Ranji Trophy game againstAndhra will be my last day in the sun. It iscoming to an end where it all started at theFeroz Shah Kotla ground," Gambhir saidin the more than 11-minute long video post.

Gambhir, one of the most successfulbatsmen for India, has been out of favourwith the national team for a while now aftera dip in form and last played a Test backin 2016 against England.

"The thought has been with me day andnight. It has travelled with me on flights likean irritable excess baggage; it has accompa-nied me to practice sessions, mocking at melike a menacing bowler. On certain otherdays, it has made my dinner taste horrible,"

Gambhir said, elaborating on his thoughtprocess leading up to Tuesday's decision.

Gambhir made 58 Test appearances forIndia, accumulating 4154 runs at an averageof 41.95. His 147 ODI games fetched 5238runs, while in 37 T20 Internationals, hescored 932 runs.

The capricious left-hander, whocourted controversy of late for his out-spoken views on political issues as well, hada prolific first-class career, which spanned197 matches and produced 15,041 runs. HisList A run count stands at 10,077.

Gambhir, who recently drew criticism forcherrypicking his Delhi Ranji appearances,said he tried hard to make a comeback in thisyear's IPL but could not make it count.

"After a decent 2017 domestic season, Ientered this year's IPL with confidence as my

best buddy. I thought all those negativenoises were dead. But I was wrong. Sixgames of IPL for Delhi Daredevils it wasback. And this time it was louder thanbefore. Perhaps, my time was up. Yes, mytime was up," he said.

"So, here I am, after more than 15years of cricket for my country I want toretire from playing this beautiful game,"he added.

He refused to call his internationalcareer, which began in 2003 with an ODIagainst Bangladesh, completely satisfactory

but certainly the kind he would look back atfondly.

"I feel I was good enough for a lot more,"he said.

In the video, Gambhir thanked hiscoaches, teammates and family members forstanding by him.

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Indian vice-captain Ajinkya Rahaneon Tuesday tagged Australia as thefavourites ahead of the first Test and

said the visitors will have to come upwith long partnerships to win theirmaiden series Down Under.

Rahane cited the example of his262-run partnership with Virat Kohli atMelbourne in 2014-15 and said that theAustralian focus on the India's star bats-man helps other batsmen do their jobsilently at the other end.

"Each and every batsman's role willbe to contribute for the team and I thinkfor us it is important to get those longpartnerships together (like last time).That will be really helpful in (winningthe series) in Australia," said Rahane.

"Last time both of us really enjoyedthat partnership at the MCG. MitchellJohnson was going after Virat Kohli andI was enjoying from the end as well asplaying my own game. Virat at the otherend was really aggressive and going afterthe bowlers, verbally as well.

"That really helped me focus on mygame and I played my natural attackinggame at the other end. But I was still bat-ting completely opposite to Virat. As anindividual you have to understand thateveryone's role is completely different.This is a team sport and Virat alsounderstands that."

The Indian batting line-up hascome under immense criticism fortheir twin failures in South Africa andEngland, wherein Kohli was the only

one to defy the opposition."People will criticise or appreciate,

but for us it matters to stay together indifficult times. In England conditionswere really challenging and even Englishbatsmen struggled a lot. Apart fromAlastair Cook's last Test innings, no onescored (big runs) for them. So it isimportant not to focus on criticism oreven on people who appreciate," saidRahane.

"It is important to start fresh in eachand every series. In England and SouthAfrica, we learnt a lot and there are def-initely areas to improve. When you tour

abroad, in countries like England, SouthAfrica and Australia, it is important tostart well." When asked about his per-sonal growth as a batsman since he firstcame here as part of the 2014-15 tour-ing party, Rahane said, "As a batsmanin 2014, personally I thought I did real-ly well but what the team's performancematters more. When you do well as ateam, you feel really good."

His focus is on playing long."Personally I learnt a lot from last

tour (in Australia). In South Africa,Johannesburg match was really crucialfor me. I thought I did well.

"In England I got a couple goodstarts - 80-odd in Nottingham andanother half-century in Southampton.For me as a number five batsman, it isimportant to convert those starts intobig hundreds rather than thinkingabout targets."

There is also intense spotlight on theAustralian batting line-up and how theywill cope in the absence of Steve Smithand David Warner. Rahane said thatplaying at home, Australia start asfavourites.

"I feel any team that plays at homeis really good and Australia are stillfavourites to win the series. Yes they willmiss Smith and Warner but I don't thinkthey are vulnerable. Look at their bowl-ing attack - they have really goodbowlers. When you have to win Testmatches and Test series you have to havea good bowling attack.

"Definitely Smith and Warner are

quality players, and I will not take any-thing away from them. But on a givenday anyone can score runs. UsmanKhawaja and Aaron Finch are equallydangerous in their conditions. Theyknow how the wicket behaves and it isall about intent as batsmen."

After enjoying a day off on Monday,India got down to business in a bid toprepare for the first Test. All top-orderbatsmen had an intense work out in thenets, with the team management like-ly to go in with six full-time batsmen.

The new-ball bowlers —Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrahand Ishant Sharma — worked upintense pace in the nets and troubled thelikes of KL Rahul and Murali Vijay.

Rahane said that irrespective ofwhether there is another specialist bats-man after him or not, his role in the sideis to bat as long as possible and converthis starts/half-centuries into tall scores.

"When you bat at number four orfive, it is important to give yourself sometime, first 15-20 minutes, and youshould visualise the situation fromdressing room.

"Then, when you bat with lower-order batsmen, you perhaps knowwhether to attack or play a defensivegame and have a partnership withthose guys.

"Kookaburra ball, after 30-35 overs,is relatively easy to bat against. Whenyou bat in England against Duke's ball,you know you are never set in those con-ditions. You have to go with a positivemindset,” he said.

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The talk is all about Virat Kohli right now but the Australianbowlers' preparation for other Indian batsmen is as detailed

and anyone who thinks otherwise is plain "silly", all-rounderMitchell Marsh said on Tuesday.

Gearing up for the four-match Test series that startsThursday here, Marsh said his team's bowlers have strategiesin place and would be aiming for perfect execution when theaction begins.

"We all know Virat is a great player. We'll have our plansfor him and hopefully we can execute them. But if people thinkwe're not prepared for the other batsmen in the Indian team,who are all very good players, then they'd be pretty silly," saidMarsh.

Marsh said thenew faces and inex-perience in theAustralian battingline-up should beseen as an opportu-nity, rather than asign of weaknessfor the hosts.

"There's obvi-ously been a lot oftalk about that andit's been a big buildup to this Testmatch but there's agreat feeling aroundthis group...Now it'sabout going out there and hopefully putting it together as abatting unit. But we all feel really good at the moment," hesaid.

The Australian vice-captain was also asked about the spinchallenge that India poses and the fact that the visiting tweak-ers have never had a particularly good run in this country.

"We know R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadejda and Kuldeep Yadavare all world-class spinners. History shows that Indian spin-ners haven't had as much impact over here as they have inIndia. But they're world-class bowlers and we're very preparedfor them. It will be a great contest," he replied.

Marsh is expected to return to the Australian middle-orderdespite a poor outing in the UAE against Pakistan.

He and brother Shaun Marsh will form the backbone ofthe home team's middle-order and look to replicate their formfrom the Ashes last summer.

"He's my brother and my best mate. I look up to him inevery single way... Hopefully people respect him for the facthe's never given up. He keeps coming back, keeps workinghard. Hopefully he can keep proving a few people wrong. Ijust want him to have a great summer," he said.

The all-rounder said he is also fully fit to bowl and hopesto be a vital fifth cog in the Australian attack, comprising ofthree pacers and Nathan Lyon.

"I have got some good overs under my belt the last cou-ple of weeks for Western Australia. My goal for this summeris to start chipping in with the ball and get a few more wick-ets for the team.

"I love coming on in the graveyard shift, 70 to 80 overswhen the ball's doing nothing and trying to sneak in a wick-et. I really want to take my bowling to the next level in thisteam," he said.

"I think number six is a great position to bat especially ifyou've bowled a few overs. I'm doing my best to make the num-ber six position my own in this team, so that's all I can do,"he added.

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Azhar Ali struck a fighting half cen-tury to help Pakistan recover to 139-

3 at close on the second day of the thirdand final Test against New Zealand inAbu Dhabi on Tuesday.

It marked a good recovery from 17-2 after Kiwi pace bowler Trent Boultripped out openers Imam-ul-Haq andMohammed Hafeez.

Azhar was unbeaten on 62 at theclose having shared a dogged, unbrokenfourth wicket partnership of 54 withAsad Shafiq who will resume on 26.

Pakistan are still 135 runs adrift ofNew Zealand's first innings total of 274in which BJ Watling made a gutsy andvital 77 not out.

Azhar remains key for Pakistan ifthey are to build any kind of firstinnings lead.

The 33-year-old dropped anchor andfound the boundary just four times as hecrawled through to his 32nd Test half

century. His 62 not out was carvedpainstakingly from 169 deliveries as thePakistan scoring rate struggled to riseabove two an over.

The equally-experienced Shafiq hitthe same number of fours in his 26 whichhas so far occupied 85 balls.

However, Pakistan's top order wasjolted by Boult's double strike either sideof lunch.

Hafeez has been struggling for form

for a while, having made just 66 runs inseven innings since scoring a hundredagainst Australia in Dubai in October,following his recall to the Test side aftera two-year absence.

It was no surprise when Boult hadhim caught low down at second slip byTim Southee for a fourth-ball duck in hisfirst over, right before the lunch inter-val.

In the fourth full over after the break,Imam-ul-Haq took his eye off a Trentbouncer and was hit on the back of thehelmet. Next ball, he edged to Southeeat third slip and was on his way for justnine.

It was Watling, with an unbeaten 77,who carried New Zealand's overnighttotal from 229-7 and added an invalu-able 45 runs over the last three wicketsto frustrate Pakistan.

During his five-and-a-half-hourknock in his 56th Test Watling becamethe 14th New Zealander to pass 3,000runs.

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Pakistan's seasoned bats-man Muhammad

Hafeez on Tuesdayannounced his retirementfrom Test cricket after fail-ing again in the firstinnings of the third andfinal match against NewZealand in Abu Dhabi.

Hafeez, who was play-ing in his 55th Test, fell fora duck on the second day andannounced his retirement,insisting that he had been pon-dering over the decision for thelast two weeks. He, however,said that he will continue to

play limited-over cricket."It is a personal decision and

I have not taken it under any pres-sure. I have no regrets taking thisdecision," he told reporters afterthe day's play in Abu Dhabi.

The 38-year-old Hafeezmade his Test debut in 2003

against Bangladesh andsince then has appeared

in 54 matches,besides playing in

203 ODIs and 89 T20Internationals.

Before this Test, Hafeezhas scored 3644 runs at an

average of 38.35, with 10hundreds to his kitty. He

has also taken 53 wickets.

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Two-time champions Australiafirmly remained on course for a

hat-trick of titles by becoming thefirst team to qualify for the quarter-finals of the men's hockey World Cupwith a comfortable 3-0 win overEngland in a Pool B match here.

World number 1 Australia scoredthree goals in the final quarter to reg-ister their second consecutive win inPool B at the Kalinga Stadium.

The win took Australia to the topof Pool B with six points from twogames and secured their place in thequarterfinals of the 16-team event.

The Kookaburras became thefirst to seal a direct quarterfinal berthafter China sprang yet another sur-prise by holding higher-rankedIreland to a hard-fought 1-1 draw inthe other Pool B match.

Jin Guo scored from a penaltycorner for China in the 43rd minutebefore Ireland's Alan Sothern drew

parity in the very next minute.The Kookaburras had earlier

defeated Ireland 2-1 in their tourna-ment opener, while China drew 2-2with England.

While Australia will finish at thetop of the pool, world number 17

China are placed second ahead ofIreland (1 point) and England (1).

Australia play China in their lastpool match on December 7, whileEngland will be up against neigh-bours Ireland.

The battle between world's num-

ber one side Australia and number 7England witnessed a dull first quar-ter with both the teams struggling tomake inroads into the rival citadel.

It took Australia 21 minutes tocreate a real scoring chance in theform of back-to-back penalty cornersbut an alert George Pinner in frontof England goal averted danger onboth occasions.

England got their first penaltycorner a minute away from half-timebut wasted the chance as both the

teams failed to break the deadlock inthe opening two quarters.

The game continued in the samevein after the change of ends as thethird quarter witnessed just a penal-ty corner awarded to Australia, whichwent abegging.

After the barren three quarters,the Kookaburras looked a complete-ly different side in the final 15 min-utes of the game as they pumped intwo goals in a span of four minutesto race to a 2-0 lead.

Whetton finally broke the dead-lock in the 47th minute when hescored after receiving a pass fromTom Craig. Three minutes later,Govers doubled Australia's lead byslamming from the top of the circlepast England goalkeeper GeorgePinner.

Four minutes from the finalhooter, Australia pumped in anoth-er goal through Corey Weyer whosereverse hit crashed into the Englandgoal past Pinner.

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Luka Modric saw off competitionfrom a host of French World Cupstars as the Real Madrid and Croatia

midfielder won the 2018 Ballon d'Or onMonday, ending the 10-year strangleholdon the award by Cristiano Ronaldo andLionel Messi.

Modric, 33, was announced as thewinner of the prestigious prize in a glitzyceremony held in Paris. Ronaldo was sec-ond, with France and Atletico Madridstriker Antoine Griezmann completingthe podium.

Paris Saint-Germain's teenage for-ward Kylian Mbappe came fourth, leav-ing Messi to settle for fifth position.Another Frenchman, Modric's Madridteammate Raphael Varane, was sev-enth, just behind Liverpool's Egyptianforward Mohamed Salah.

"As a kid we all have dreams. Mydream was to play for a big club and winimportant trophies," Modric said.

"The Ballon d'Or was more than justa dream for me and it is really an hon-our and a privilege to hold this trophy."Mbappe, who does not turn 20 until laterthis month, picked up the consolationprize of the Kopa Trophy for the bestyoung player.

The gala ceremony also saw awomen's Ballon d'Or named for the firsttime, with Lyon's prolific Norwegianstriker Ada Hegerberg taking that award.Modric — the oldest winner since Italy'sFabio Cannavaro, also 33, in 2006 — wascrowned after an outstanding year inwhich he starred in the Real side thatretained the Champions League beforeheroically helping drag his country to thefinal of the World Cup for the first timein their history.

The prize comes after Modricclaimed the Golden Ball for the best play-er at the World Cup before picking upUEFA's prize for player of the season andFIFA's best player award in September.

Ronaldo and Messi were among 30nominees for the Ballon d'Or, organisedby France Football magazine and whichtakes votes from 180 journalists fromaround the world.

The Portuguese star played withModric in the Madrid side that won theChampions League before moving toJuventus in a typically prolific year, whileMessi has again been outstanding withBarcelona.

The pair had won the prize fivetimes each in the last decade but bothare now in their 30s and neither stampedtheir authority on the World Cup. Messi

finishes outside the top three in the vot-ing for the first time since 2006.

The World Cup was always likely toplay a key role, and France had hopedto see one of their stars take the awardon home soil.

J��(��)'E�The last time a Frenchman won the

Ballon d'Or came in 1998, whenZinedine Zidane was rewarded for star-ring as Les Bleus won that year's WorldCup. But perhaps the lack of a singlestandout French candidate cleared thepath for Modric — Hugo Lloris, Paul

Pogba and N'Golo Kante had also beenin the running, as had TottenhamHotspur and England striker HarryKane, the World Cup's top scorer.

"I won the Europa League and theWorld Cup, so it's been a great year, butit is true that it was a little bit disap-pointing after I was told what the podi-um was," said Griezmann.

Modric has won 14 trophies sincejoining Real in 2012, including fourChampions Leagues. He could add tothat as Real take part in the Club WorldCup later this month.

Hegerberg, 23, won the women'sprize after starring for French side Lyonas they successfully defended theChampions League title and won a 12thconsecutive French title.

"I want to say thanks to my team-mates because this would not havebeen possible without them, my coachor our president Jean-Michel Aulas," Adasaid. "I also want to thank FranceFootball. This is a huge step for women'sfootball."

�/'��*0: 1�

Inter Milan's Argentina striker Mauro Icardi won theSerie A Footballer of the Year award at the Gran Gala

del Calcio ceremony in Milan on Monday night.The 25-year-old becomes the first player outside

Juventus to win the Italian Players' Association award,voted for by his peers, since Zlatan Ibrahimovic with ACMilan in 2011.

Icardi was joint top scorer with Lazio's CiroImmobile in Serie A last season with 29 goals.

The Argentine also won the best goal award for hisspectacular backheel during a four-goal haul againstSampdoria last March.

Icardi disagreed with the choice, insisting his "one(goal) at AC Milan was more beautiful".

Juventus were voted top team with MassimilianoAllegri winning coach of the year after the Turin sidewon a league and Cup double for the fourth consecu-tive year.

"It's a group of great men, with a great club behindus," said Allegri, who has won the award four times.

"I'm fortunate to have worked with so many mar-vellous players and tonight I see the maestro Andrea Pirlotoo." Allegri's side are on track for an eighth straight SerieA title, with Allegri hailing the impact of five-time Ballond'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo who arrived last sum-mer.

"Ronaldo has brought professionalism, competi-tiveness and is a humble guy," said Allegri.

Fiorentina's Italian international defender AliaGuagni won the Serie A women's Player of the Yearaward.

Roma legend Francesco Totti and former AC Milanand Juventus great Pirlo both received LifetimeAchievement Awards.

Meanwhile, Gianluca Rocchi won the award for thebest referee 24 hours after being whistled off the pitchat the Stadio Olimpico over his decision not to awardRoma a penalty in a 2-2 draw against Inter Milan.

�/'��* 1�3����9

Jose Mourinho needs to liftManchester United's morale

quickly as a deflating run of per-formances threatens to throwtheir season off track completelybut he faces a daunting taskagainst a revitalised Arsenal.

Mourinho's team have notlooked themselves at Old Traffordfor much of the season, with theirpast two matchesproducing aninsipid goallessdraw against CrystalPalace and anunconvincing late ChampionsLeague victory over Swiss sideYoung Boys.

On their travels, they hadlooked as if they were getting backto form as October turned toNovember, with the side produc-ing fine displays in drawing atChelsea and beating Juventus.

Yet perhaps those perfor-mances were just papering over thecracks. United recovered from atwo-goal deficit to draw atSouthampton on Saturday andRomelu Lukaku scored his firstclub goal since September 15 butthere was much to be alarmedabout.

Mourinho claimed his players,with the exception of MarcusRashford, were meek, lacking thespirit of what he called "maddogs".

According to Duncan Castles,a British journalist with close

links to Mourinho'sagent Jorge Mendes,the United managercompared midfielder

Paul Pogba to "a virus" afteranother poor performance atSouthampton, saying the Franceinternational lacked respect forboth his teammates and fans.

The manager's frustra-tion at not being able to signa top-class centre-back hasbeen raked over repeatedlybut his defensive team selec-tion at Southampton baffledeven his most loyal sup-porters.

With Chris Smalling and EricBailly unfit, Mourinho elected toplay two midfielders — ScottMcTominay and Nemanja Matic— in a three-man central defenceagainst a team that had not wonat home all season. It did not work.

Failure to win on the southcoast further damaged United'schances of finishing in the top four— the ticket to Champions Leaguequalification — and Mourinho

himself appears to believethat is now a long shotwith his team lagging eightpoints behind fourth-placed Arsenal.

Asked by Braziliantelevision what his aims

were for the remainder of the sea-son, he said: "Try to win as manypoints as possible and try (toachieve) almost the miracle of fin-ishing fourth.

Arsenal, like United, spent rel-atively little in the close-season,bringing in Bernd Leno, SokratisPapastathopoulos, Lucas Torreiraand Matteo Guendouzi for rela-tively modest sums, yet look revi-talised under Unai Emery's man-

agement.They have gone 19 games

unbeaten in all competitions sincelosing their first two matches of theseason, and are playing a thrillingbrand of aggressive, high-pressingfootball.

According to Uruguay mid-fielder Torreira, the manager'swords are making as much of animpact as his actions — as evi-denced by his half-time team talkon Sunday before the Gunnersrecovered to beat Tottenham 4-2.

"He told us to be calm,"Torreira said. "We listened to themanager and we improved manythings. That worked for us to getthe victory."

�/'�� 1�) :��

Arkadiusz Milik came off thebench to snatch a late 2-1 win

for Napoli over Atalanta onMonday that consolidated secondplace in Serie A and reduced thegap on leaders Juventus toeight points.

Polish forward Milikscored the winner five min-utes from time shortly aftercoming on after Fabian Ruizhad put the visitors aheadjust two minutes into theclash in Bergamo and for-mer Napoli man Duvan Zapata hadpulled Atalanta level 11 minutesafter the break.

Napoli close the gap onJuventus, who pulled 11 pointsclear with a 3-0 win at Fiorentinaon Saturday.

"It's a very, very important goalfor all of us," said Napoli coachAncelotti.

"Milik went through a difficultperiod because he didn't play con-sistently, but he remained moti-vated and focused, so deservesthis."

Ancelotti's side came out fir-ing on all cylinders after their titlehopes took a serious hit with a

goalless draw against bot-tom club Chievo last week-end.

The coach stuck withthe same starting line-upthat beat Red Star Belgrade3-1 in the ChampionsLeague midweek.

Captain Marek Hamsikstarted the move that led to theopener with just a minute on theclock, passing to Lorenzo Insignewho crossed for Spaniard Ruiz totap in his third goal since joiningNapoli from Real Betis.

Insigne was ruled offside earlyas his volley rattled the bar with alob shortly after the Italian inter-national forward shot wide as he

slipped.Zapata tested Napoli goal-

keeper David Ospina in the firsthalf with defender Raul Albiol alsoclearing off the Colombian afterthe break.

But the former Napoli forwardbroke though on 56 minutes whenHans Hateboer headed the balldown and he blasted in from closerange.

Milik came on for DriesMertens after 81 minutes and fourminutes later picked up a MarioRui cross to fire in the winner forhis fifth goal this season.

And the Polish striker said thewin gaves his side confidenceahead of next week's decisiveChampions League clash againstLiverpool at Anfield.

"Before the ChampionsLeague, we have another toughSerie A game against Frosinone. Ofcourse we want to beat Liverpool,we know it won't be easy, but webelieve in ourselves," said Milik.

�/'��* 1�3����9�

Pep Guardiola is confident thatwinger Leroy Sane will sign a

new long-term deal with ManchesterCity despite delays in ongoing con-tract negotiations between the twoparties.

The 22-year-old has recoveredwell from the disappointment of asummer in which he was not select-ed in Germany's World Cup squadand then returned to England to dis-cover he had lost his starting placeunder Guardiola.

Sane has still only started sevenof City's 14 league games this seasonbut four goals in his past fivePremier League games suggests heis rediscovering his impressive formof the past two seasons.

And even though Sane is yet tojoin a list of senior stars such asSergio Aguero, David Silva, KevinDe Bruyne, Raheem Sterling,Ederson, Gabriel Jesus and NicolasOtamendi in signing new long-term contracts with the club,Guardiola is convinced that will hap-pen.

"I don't have any info about theclub, about being in trouble withLeroy," said the City manager, whoseside travel to Watford on Tuesday.

"The last info I had was that it'sgoing well but the process is not oneday — Raheem Sterling it was notone day. Except Kevin De Bruyne,it was in one or two days done, theother ones sometimes take longerbut hopefully he can stay here formany, many years." Sane's task atCity this season has been further

complicated by the summer club-record signing of $76 millionLeicester winger Riyad Mahrez.

The pair have been effectivelyengaged in a straight fight for thewide left position in Guardiola'sattack, with Mahrez having madeone less start than Sane but havingbeen involved in one more leaguegame when substitute appearancesare factored in.

Pep has not ruled De Bruyne,who has played just 81 minutes ofleague football this season due to twoknee injuries, out of the weekendvisit to Chelsea. "He's started train-ing. It's day by day," he said.

"This kind of situation, if theplayer himself decides it feels good,he will train with the team. We willsee."

�/'�� :81$81

Spanish international CesarAzpilicueta, one of the longest-

serving players at Chelsea, signed anew four-year contract on Tuesdaywhich if he sees it out will take himto 10 years with the Premier Leagueclub.

The 29-year-old defender —who joined the Blues in 2012 fromFrench outfit Marseille and has wonthe Premier League title twice as wellas captained them this season in the

league — says his desire to fight forthe club is stronger than ever.

Azpilicueta, who is two appear-ances short of 300 for the club, hasbeen a pivotal player in the brightstart to the Maurizio Sarri reignwhich sees them lying in third spot.

"Delighted to be a blue until2022," the 25-times capped Spaniardsaid on his Twitter account.

"Since I arrived in 2012, mydesire has been always to give my bestand fight for this club, and now morethan ever, I feel the responsibility tobring more success to this family."

Azpilicueta's previous deal wasdue to expire in 2020 after he signeda three-and-a-half-year contractextension in 2016.

Club director Maria Granovskaiasaid Azpilicueta's new contract wasreward not only for his loyalty butalso his consistently high-level dis-plays.

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