· Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the sister of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, on Wednesday finally plunged into active pol-itics ahead of the Lok Sabha ... to resume his work as

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Ending years of speculation,Priyanka Gandhi Vadra,

the sister of Congress presidentRahul Gandhi, on Wednesdayfinally plunged into active pol-itics ahead of the Lok Sabhaelections to take on the mightof the BJP and Prime MinisterNarendra Modi in the crucialHindi heartland that has 80Lok Sabha seats.

Dubbed as the “brahmas-tra” of the Congress, Priyankawill debut as the party’s gener-al secretary incharge of theeastern part of Uttar Pradeshhaving Modi’s constituency inVaranasi and also UP ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath bas-tion in Gorakhpur.

Congress leaders saidPriyanka’s entry into activeparty politics will galvanisethe workers, helping them takeon the dual challenge posed inthe State by the BJP and theSamajwadi Party-BahujanSamaj Party alliance.

The Congress hopes thatPriyanka will be able to the turnthe projected direct fightbetween the BJP and SP-BSPalliance into triangular contestwhere the Congress could ben-efit on a number of seats dueto division of votes.

Congress leaders also feelthat while it is too early toassess the impact of a possibleCongress revival underPriyanka stewardship on theprospect of the BJP and the SP-BSPP alliance, but care may betaken in the selection of can-didates to ensure that the BJPsuffers most.

Congress list of candidates,sources said, may be dominat-ed by upper castes, since theBJP hopes to capitalise on 10per cent reservation to gener-al category candidates in edu-cational institutions and

employment to woo the uppercaste voters. Priyanka can playvital role there in bringingback the traditional upper castevoters to the Congress fold.

Soon after her appoint-ment as an office-bearer inAICC, speculation is rife thatshe may be fielded as the partycandidate from Rae Bareli, theconstituency currently beingrepresented by her mother andUPA chairperson SoniaGandhi, who is not keepingwell of late.

Though no reactions cametill late evening from Priyankaas she is reportedly in NewYork and scheduled to returnon February 1, Rahul said he is

happy that Priyanka will assisthim in the Lok Sabha polls.

“I am very happy that mysister Priyanka will assist me inUttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabhapolls, she is very capable,”Rahul said at Amethi aftermaking some of the crucialappointments in the party sys-tem. The brother-sister duo willformally announce the begin-ning of Lok Sabha poll cam-paign in UP on February 4 ata Press conference.

Senior party leaderJyotiraditya Scindia will be onpar with Priyanka as AICCgeneral secretary for UttarPradesh West region. Rahuladded Jyotiraditya is a dynam-

ic youth leader. Both Priyankaand Scindia replace GhulamNabi Azad, who has beenappointed AICC general sec-retary for Haryana, where theparty is facing factionism.

“UP is central to buildinga new hope fulfilled. The newUP AICC team led by Priyankaand Jyotiradiyta will heraldthe dawn of a new kind of pol-itics in the State. We will offerthe youth in UP a dynamic newplatform to transform theState,” said Rahul.

Husban Robert Vadra con-gratulated Priyanka on aFacebook post:“Congratulations P... always byyour side in every phase of your

life.”The BJP has been repeat-

edly targeting Vadra, a busi-nessman being investigated forallegedly corrupt land deals inHaryana and Rajasthan and isfacing probes by theEnforcement Directorate.

The party is not immedi-ately clear on the division of the80 parliamentary seats betweenthe two new incharges butsources said it could be 40 each.Both Amethi and Rae Bareli,the two Gandhi family bas-tions, fall in eastern UttarPradesh and Priyanka has beenextensively campaigning since2004 in all national and statelevel elections.

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The BJP on Wednesdayinterpreted the entry of

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra intothe active politics in theCongress as an admission of hisbrother Rahul’s leadership fail-ure and likened the move to theparty opting for a “familyalliance” after having been“rejected by various parties inthe proposed mahagathban-dan”.

“Priyanka ji has becomethe general secretary, my goodluck to her. Since the party is afamily concern, these kinds ofpostings are nothing unusual,except to say with a caveat whyhas she been given the limitedrole of eastern UP? Perhaps herpersona merited a wider role,”said Union Law Minister andsenior BJP leader RavishankarPrasad.

Claiming that the appoint-ments made by the Congressreflected the outlook of theparty, Prasad said it was a caseof a brother (Congress presi-dent Rahul Gandhi) appointinghis sister to a party position.

Railway Minister PiyushGoel accused the party of car-rying out dynasty politics andsaid, “In the Congress partythere is reservation only for onefamily, nobody gets anything

beyond them.”BJP spokesperson Sambit

Patra claimed the new appoint-ment reflected crisis of confi-dence within the Congressagainst Rahul. “The Congresshas basically publiclyannounced that Rahul Gandhihas failed and needs crutchesfrom within the family. Becauseof his rejection by grandalliance parties, he has optedfor a family alliance,” Patra said.

Patra said it was naturalthat the Congress had to “coro-nate” somebody from withinthe family and added thatPrime Minister Narendra Modihas projected the Lok Sabhaelections as a battle between“naamdar” (dynasts) and“kaamdar” (those who have

worked).The new India is asking the

question who will be the nextleader in the Congress, Patrasaid referring to its successionline from Jawaharlal Nehru toIndira followed by Rajiv, Soniaand Rahul.

“All appointments are fromone family. And this is the fun-damental difference betweenthe Congress and the BJP. Inthe Congress, the family isparty. In the BJP, the party isfamily,” Patra said.

In 2014 elections, Congresscould win only two seats —Sonia from Rae Bareily andRahul from Amethi — fromUP which has the largest num-ber of 80 Lok Sabha seats in thecountry.

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The Standing Committee ofthe National Board of

Wildlife (NBWL) has given in-principal approval for divertingnearly 215 hectares of forestlandfor Prime Minister NarendraModi’s �1.1 lakh crore worthMumbai-Ahmedabad bullettrain project. However, theapproval for the high-speed railproject which has drawn flakfrom the conservationists hascome with certain conditions.

The patches of forest landwill be carved out from the eco-sensitive zone of Sanjay GandhiNational Park (SGNP),Tungareshwar wildlife sanctuary

and Thane creek flamingo sanc-tuary for the 500 km long railcorridor.

The NBWL in its meetingon January 10, 2019, alloweddiversion of 3.2756 hactares offorestland from Creek FlamingoWildlife Sanctuary and 97.5189hactares from deemed ESZ. In-principle approval was alsogiven for diversion of 32.75hectares of forestland and 77.30hectares of non-forestland fromSanjay Gandhi National Parkand 0.6902 ha of forestlandand 4.7567 ha of non-forestlandfrom Tungareshwar WildlifeSanctuary.

The NBWL, under theUnion Environment Ministry,

is responsible for framing India’spolicy and strategy for wildlifeconservation and one of its keytasks is to regulate developmentprojects to safeguard wildlife.

To ensure that the bullettrain project does not haveadverse impact on the adjoiningbiodiversity, the NBWL hasenlisted several conditions onthe project proponent beforeinitiating the construction,implementation of animal pas-sage plans on the basis of theDehradun-based WildlifeInstitute of India (WII) guide-lines “Eco-friendly Measuresto Mitigate Impacts on LinearInfrastructures on Wildlife”being the major one.

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The entry of PriyankaGandhi into active politics

and her appointment as AICCgeneral secretary incharge ofUttar Pradesh (east) has comeas a major boost for the partyworkers and leaders ahead ofthe Lok Sabha polls.

The morale of the youth-ful cadre received a further fil-lip as along with PriyankaGandhi, Congress presidentRahul Gandhi appointedJyotiraditya Scindia as AICCgeneral secretary incharge ofUP (west).

In his first reaction afterappointment of his sisterPriyanka as the party generalsecretary, Rahul said the deci-sion was taken to strengthenthe party and this two power-ful Congress leaders will paveway for the spread of theCongress ideology of theyouths, elders, and other sec-tion of the society.

“I trust Priyanka GandhiVadra and Jyoitraditya Scindia.We will not play on the backfoot,” he told reporters at

Fursatganj. He added the partyhas appointed both the leadersin a permanent basis in UPand had not sent Priyanka andJyotiraditya for just twomonths or till the Lok Sabhapolls.

“I have sent them to takeCongress’ ideology forwardin Uttar Pradesh. Our ideolo-gy is of standing and fightingfor the poor, for the youth, forthe farmers. Both Priyankaand Jyotiraditya are very capa-ble and dynamic, and willsurely take Congress forwardin UP,” he added.

The sudden appointmentof Priyanka on the day Rahulis visiting UP has changed thepolitical dynamics in the Statewhich will elect 80 Lok Sabhamembers.

When asked if Priyankawould be contesting the LokSabha polls, Rahul said, “It isup to Priyanka to take the deci-sion. I have already said thatthe Congress will not play onthe back foot and will only baton the front foot in UP andelsewhere.”

Related copy on P7

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Railway Minister PiyushGoyal was given the addi-

tional charge of the Financeand Corporate Affairs min-istries on Wednesday in view ofthe indisposition of ArunJaitley, who is currently under-going treatment abroad.

According to a RashtrapatiBhavan communique, thePresident, as advised by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,directed that during the peri-od of Jaitley’s indisposition, theportfolios of the Minister ofFinance and the Minister ofCorporate Affairs, held by him,be temporarily assigned toGoyal, in addition to his exist-ing portfolios.

Further, Jaitley has beendesignated as a Minister with-out portfolio during the period of his indisposition or till such time when he is ableto resume his work as the Minister of Finance and the Minister of CorporateAffairs.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi islikely to inaugurate the sewerage

treatment plant and river front comingup under the much acclaimed NamamiGange project in the State. Constructionof sewerage treatment plant and riverfront development under this project arebeing carried out on the banks of theholy Ganga in Sahibganj and Rajmahaldistricts.

While the exact date of the PM’svisit to Sahibganj has not been finalized,he is likely to inaugurate the project nextmonth. This will be Modi’s second visitto Sahibganj, as on April 2017 he hadvisited the town to lay the foundationstone of a multi-modal terminal on riverGanga.

State urban development depart-ment, secretary, Ajoy Kumar Singh inthis connection on Tuesday held areview meeting which was attended by

department officials. The urban devel-opment secretary directed the officialsto complete the construction process ofsix ganga ghats coming up at Sahibgangand Rajmahal districts. Singh said,“The construction work of two sewer-age treatment plants at Sahibgang dis-trict is completed and it will be func-tional by February, while the construc-tion work of sewerage treatment plantat Rajmahal is going on and it will becompleted by June this year.”

As per the plan, three seweragetreatment plants will be constructed inboth the town while six ghats will comeup in Sahibganj and Rajmahal district.In Sahibgang district, around 17000houses will be connected through sew-erage treatment plant, similarly inRajmahal district around 6000 houseswill be connected through the plant.

Anant Ojha, Rajmahal MLA whohas been working on Namami Gangaproject said, “Under the project �137

crore has been sanctioned for con-struction of sewerage plants and riverfront development in Sahibanj.Similarly, in Rajmahal town, �56 crorehas been sanctioned.”

He added, “As the two towns(Sahibganj having the population of onelakh and Rajmahal with 50,000) do nothave much industrial effluents, theconstruction of sewerage treatmentplants will help in checking flow of solidand liquid waste in the river.”

Sources said that entire 83 kmstretch of Ganga in Jharkhand will becovered under the programme. Theprojects will focus on making villagesalong the river free of open defecation.The major thrust of the Namami Gangaproject is to use technologies to ensureimproved access for managing solid andliquid waste which will help in improv-ing the health and quality of people life.

Replacing the National Missionfor Clean Ganga which was set up in

2011, the Modi government in 2014launched the ‘Namami Ganga’ underthe National Mission for clean Gangainitiative with an allocated budget of�20,000 crores for five years. The mainobjective of the project is to ensuresewage management, industrial dis-charge management and the beautifi-cation of several ghats along the Ganga.

However, the Opposition hastermed the inauguration of seweragetreatment plant as election gimmick.Pradeep Yadav, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha(JVM) leader and party MLA fromPoreyahat, which comes under SanthalPargana region said, “The inaugurationof sewerage treatment plant is sa elec-tion gimmick. The Union Governmentand State government have failed toclean the river.” Echoing the views ofYadav, city based environmentalist,Nitish Priyadarshi said, “Unless and untilthe Ganga is clean in upper catchmentarea, the river cannot be cleaned.”

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At least four persons werereported dead and around

half a dozen injured as the roofof a mine partially collapsed atKaparasa mines under Nirsapolice station of Dhanbad dis-trict—200 km west of State cap-ital.

Sources said that the inci-dent occurred when some per-sons had entered the mine forcarrying out illegal miningactivities. The place where theincident occurred is fiftymetres away from the mineswhich the Eastern CoalfieldLimited (ECL), a subsidiary ofCoal India Limited, has out-sourced to private company,Kanta Transport.

Sources claim that fourdeaths have been reported,including three men and onewoman, of which DineshPaswan and Kanto Rawaniwere identified while tworemain unidentified. However,officials claim only one death.

Dhanbad SeniorSuperintendent of Police (SSP),Kishore Kaushal said, “Theincident occurred at the mines

where illegal mining was beingcarried out. We have reports ofdeath of one person. However,the exact number of deaths canbe ascertained once the rescueoperation is completed.”

The SSP also said that asillegal mining was carried outin the area, FIR will be lodgedagainst the ECL and the out-sourced company (KantaTransport).

Kaushal said, “There hasbeen negligence on part of thecompany as they fail to follownecessary safety mining guide-lines. Neither there was fencingin the area nor red flaginstalled.”

As per mining guidelines,the company carrying out min-ing activates must fenced theprotected area along withinstalling signboards and flags,also regular patrolling shouldbe carried out in the area.

The ECL too claimed thatincident occurred where illegalmining was being carried out.Niladri Rai, technical secretaryto ECL, CMD said, “The inci-dent occurred at the mineswhere some people were car-rying out illegal mining.”

As the news of minesmishap spread, officials fromdistrict administration includ-ing Dhanbad DC AnjaneyuluDodde, SSP Kishore Kaushal,Superintendent of Police(Rural) Aman Kumar, SubDivisional Officer RajMaheshwaram and other offi-cials rushed to the spot.

Sources said that the inci-dent occurred in the morningwhen around fifty to sixty per-sons illegally entered the mines

for carrying out mining activ-ities. More than dozen peoplewere trapped when a portion ofthe mine suddenly caved in fol-lowing which the local resi-dents carried out rescue oper-ations. As the mining wasbeing done illegally, the localresidents were afraid of reveal-ing the names of the deceasedand injured persons.

Coal capital Dhanbad haswitnessed many mining acci-dents in past and in majority of

them the incident occurs dueto illegal mining activities.Sources said that despite dis-trict administration and ECL’sclaims to check illegal miningmany persons are engaged inunlawful activities.

Many people are in coalsmuggling business selling theblack stone to Jamtara andother adjoining districts cross-ing river Barakar. Coal is alsosmuggled to some factoriesoperating in Dhanbad andNirsa area.

(With inputs from SureshNikhar in Giridih)

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The iconic Aambaganground, plagued by

encroachments, was renamedNetaji Subhas Maidan-Aambagan to commemoratethe birth anniversary of thefreedom fighter on Wednesday.In a function held at theground, State food and civilsupplies minister Saryu Roy,along with members of thesocio-cultural outfit, SubhasSanskriti Parishad, announcedthe new name. He also inau-gurated a plaque announcingthe new name.

Roy said it is a matter ofpride that the ground has beennamed after the great leader.Roy promised to rid the groundof encroachments beforeembarking on beautificationplans of the ground which hasa mosque at its southern endand the state-run school,Rajasthan Vidya Mandir, at itsnorth.

Roy said he would take upthe issue with the districtadministration and ensure theground is maintained regular-ly. “It is the best to pay homageto legendary freedom fighterSubhas Chandra Bose, whohad visited Jamshedpur on sev-eral occasions and was alsopresident of Tata Steel’s tradeunion,” he said.

Parishad founder Sekhar

Dey appreciated the role playedby Roy in renaming the ground.He said that they would alsoapproach the state governmentfor removing the encroach-ments. “We plan to approachthe state government soon witha proposal for further beautifi-cation of the ground which isused by a large number of peo-ple,” said Dey, who is a directorof the Sreeleathers Group.

The function was alsograced by Jamshedpur MPBidhyut Baran Mahto, indus-trialist Bikash Mukherjee andothers.

The nine-decade old land-mark Aam Bagan in the heartof city at Sakchi is facingencroachment threat againthese days. So much so that thefour-acre ground used as aplay ground and for hostingsocio-cultural and religiousfunction has fallen victim tonegligence. More than fivemakeshift motor garages haveagain returned on the southeastern side of the Aam baganground barely two years afterthe administration hadremoved encroachment at theground in association withJusco. Not only this but longdistance buses, several two-wheelers and four-wheelers andSUVs can be found illegallyparked all around the groundfrom morning to evening.

“Aam Bagan is an impor-

tant landmark. Several seniorpoliticians have addressed ral-lies here. Moreover, we hadgrown up playing on thisground and I used to take partin morning walk. But I havestopped as there is no space leftfor morning walk on theground and that apart theground is not hygienic forwalking due to mounds ofgarbage and waste littered onthe ground,” said a functionaryof parsihad.

A member of the NetajiSubhash Sanskriti Parishad whohad also stated agitation forremoval of encroachment fromthe ground in 2014, said thatthe situation is pitiable atAambagan. The ground is fac-ing brunt of negligence. Evenlong distance buses have alsobegun to be parked in theground again. School studentsand general masses cannot usethe ground for morning walkand for playing due to suchpathetic situation.

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Chief Minister RaghubarDas offered floral tribute to

the statue of Netaji SubhashChandra Bose on his 122ndbirth anniversary at KutcheryChowk on Wednesday.

Netaji’s birth anniversarywas also observed at variousschools across the state.

In Delhi Public School,students of class one sang songsand recited poems in the hon-our of Netaji Subhash ChandraBose. Remembering Netaji,Principal Dr. Ram Singhechoed his words, “We must build up our nation’sdefense on such an unshake-able foundation that neveragain in our history, shall welose our freedom.”

At DAV Kapil Dev, stu-dents spoke about the life ofNetaji during a competition.Principal of the school, NKSinha said, “We celebrate birthanniversaries of famous per-sonalities to get inspirationfrom them. We should all bepatriotic like Netaji.”

In DAV Hazaribagh a quizcompetition was organized onthe life and work of NetajiSubhash Chandra Bose.

Director of St. StephensSchool, Promod Narangoffered floral tributes tothe statue of Netaji whilePrincipal Neeta Narang spokea few words on the life andwork of Netaji SubhashChandra Bose.

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Tata Steel AdventureFoundation (TSAF) team is

attempting a winter ascent ofStok Kangri (20,180 ft) locatedin Leh region. Stok Kangri isone of the most popular 6000mpeaks in Indian Himalayaswhich attracts climbers fromIndia and abroad during thesummer season. However,summiting the peak duringwinter is rarely attemptedowing to the extreme cold andsevere climatic conditionswhich call for superior techni-cal skills.

The expedition team led byHemant Gupta, secretary,TSAF reached Leh onWednesday and is likely toreach the peak of Stok Kangarion January 30. Gupta said thatthe TSAF winter expeditionwould be highly demanding onbody and mind of the partici-pants. “One would need to beprepared for tough days athigh altitude in harsh winter

environment as the expectedtemperature on summit day isaround -35° C, and factoring inthe wind chill, can go as low as-40°C,” he said.

The TSAF team willattempt this summit withoutany external support whichwill make their journey ardu-ous yet imbibe a spirit of self-sufficiency in the unique waywhich mountain adversity canteach. Normal support in termsof ponies, mules, porters, cooksand support staff will be avoid-ed. TSAF in its outdoor lead-ership course always focuses onself-cooking, carrying one’sown load and working withlimited resources. Such unaid-ed small groups help in reduc-tion of garbage generated dur-ing the trek as also in preser-vation of the environment andthe mountain trails. Hence,the winter summit expeditionthis year will attempt to reduceadverse impact on the ecologythrough zero waste and self-sustained trekking.

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Family of Santosh Mahto, a25-year-youth from Giridih

district of Jharkhand, who diedin an accident while workingon a high-rise transmissionline in Malaysia on January 19this year are still waiting for hisbody to be brought back home.

The family has been intouch with authorities to get thebody home but his body is stilllying at the mortuary of a hos-pital in Dubai due to bureau-cratic hurdles.

"We received the news ofhis death the same day througha friend working with him. Butunfortunately, we cannot con-duct his last rites as we are stillwaiting for the body,” saidGhanshyam Mahto, father ofthe deceased.

The family approachedBagodar MLA NagendraMahto regarding this issue andthe legislator said he broughtthe matter into the notice ofexternal affairs ministerSushma Swaraj on Monday.

"I spoke to the union min-ister soon after I received infor-mation about the case. On herdirective, I have mailed her allthe details provided by thefamily,” the MLA told thePioneer.

Santosh is survived by wife,one son, two daughters, fatherand mother. His family saidthat he got a job as a labour inMalaysia through a registeredcontract firm in November2018.

According to sources, thereare around six million Indianmigrants in the Gulf States ofBahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, SaudiArabia, Male, United ArabEmirates and Oman that havelong been best destinations formillions of poor labourers,most of whom work in trans-mission line construction,transport and other low-payingsectors.

The government and non-governmental groups havereceived hundreds of com-plaints from migrant workers,ranging from non-payment ofwages to torture and abuse overthe years.

Bagodar MLA said thatthe family is in distress and thatSantosh’s was not the sole inci-dent of an unwanted delay inbringing back the bodies of cit-izens working abroad.

In another case, the body ofNunchand Mahto, a resident ofTirla village under Bagodarpolice station, was broughthome after six months inJanuary this year,” he said.

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The district administrationon Wednesday signed a

Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) with theAirport Authority of India(AAI) for holistic developmentof 12 villages located around theBirsa Munda InternationalAirport.

The Ranchi deputy com-missioner Rai Mahimapat Rayand director of Birsa Mundaairport PR Deoria inked theMoU at the collectorate.

“The project costingaround Rs 6.19 crore would beimplemented in three years. Itis one the largest AAI project tobe implemented under its cor-porate social responsibility pro-gramme. The United NationDevelopment Programme willbe the implementing agency,”said the Ranchi DC.

The villages to be benefit-ted under the scheme includeHundru, Chota Ghagra, Hethu,Chandaghasi, Churu Lodhma,Karamtoli, Kachhatoli, Latma,Nariguttu, Khijri, Pokhartoliand Tombagattu. The projectaims to bring improvement inoverall living standards of peo-ple and achieve the goals envis-aged under the NITI Ayog’sTransformation of AspirationalDistrict Programme.

The villages would be pro-vided improved medical healthfacilities, which includestrengthening the capacity ofground functionaries. MobileMedical Units would also beoperated in these areas. Allthese provisions would alsohelp the administration achievethe objectives of National RuralHealth Mission.

Furthermore, the projectaims to bridge the existinggaps in education infrastructureand also increase the capabili-ties of teachers. There is stresson education as the villageshave low literacy rate and a highdrop-out rate from school.

Besides, proper drainagesystem will be built in the vil-lages which in turn would leadto lesser number of infectiousdiseases and a healthier com-munity.

The ideas envisaged in theswachh bharat mission wouldalso be incorporated under thescheme. The administrationsaid that vocational trainingprogramme will also be con-ducted under the project toenhance the employability ofyouths.

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Empowerment of tribalgroups that have 26.3 per

cent of Jharkhand’s total pop-ulation is one of the major pri-orities of the rulingGovernment, assured ChiefMinister Raghubar Das onWednesday.

The CM was speaking dur-ing the State level programmeorganised in the honour of‘Martyrs’ here. In addition, theCM said that nobody cansnatch away the lands of trib-al people until BJP is in power.The State registers total 32tribes (8 primitives) inhabitingin different districts.

“Jharkhand is the land ofMartyrs’ and great leaders,who not only played an impor-tant role in maintaining thetribal identity but also showedtheir courage during the trib-al revolts against the atrociousBritish regime,” he said.

“All attempts will be madeby the state government togive honour to martyrs. The

initiatives being taken by theState government is in thefavour of the tribal groups, whowere till date merely seen as avote bank. No opposition par-ties had ever shown any inter-est in bringing change in thelives of minority groups,” theCM added.

With a view to give a mem-orable tribute to the martyrs ofJharkhand who sacrificed theirlives for the well-being of peo-

ple and society, the ‘sacredsoil’ collected from 4,562 pan-chayats including 32,620 vil-lages covering all the 260 blocksof 24 district reached the StateCapital on Wednesday. A grandprocession was carried outfrom Morhabadi Ground to JailMore Park to mark the occa-sion.

In a much appreciated step,the State government inNovember 2018 declared col-

lection of sanctified soil fromthe ‘Sarna-Masna’ Sthal of themartyrs who broke the tyran-ny of autocracy. The collected‘sacred soil’ from the nativeplaces of the martyrs’ will beutilized in the carving of DhartiAbba – Bhagwan BirsaMunda’s statue being installedat the renovated ‘Old BirsaMunda Central Jail Campus’near Shahid Nirmal MahtoChowk.

Das on the occasion notonly elaborately discussedabout the sacrifices and theroles of each tribal martyr butalso spoke about the StateGovernment’s vision.

“The sacrifice of the mar-tyrs will not be wasted but willinspire every generation.Keeping a holistic approach,the Jail More Park is beingrevamped. Along with,Bhagwan Birsa Munda’s statue,figurines of Sido-Kanhu, Diva-Kishun, Gaya Munda,Nilambar-Pitambar, Veer-Budhu Bhagat, Tana-JatraBhagat, Telanga Kharia includ-ing others who sacrificed theirlives in 1857 revolts will beerected inside the park.

The park is being restoredupholding tribal culture,” hesaid.

Further, Minister of Statefor Tribal Affairs, GoI,Sudarshan Bhagat applaudedthe work of the state govern-ment, terming the efforts as agreat move towards fortifyingthe dying tribal culture. “In the

first of its kind attempt, thestate government has taken anappropriate decision to gathersacred soil from the nativeplaces of Martyrs. The step willpromote nationalist feelingsamong one and all. The reno-vated old jail campus is anaccolade for all those who sac-rificed their lives and we allmust feel proud for this andacknowledge government’sattempt,” he said.

Minister, Department ofWomen, Child Developmentand Social Welfare, GoJ LouisMarandi including other digni-taries’ expressed their gratitudefor holding a grand show in thehonour of martyrs. Marandisaid that the State governmentis taking all mandatory steps tobring change in the lives of trib-al groups by introducing arange of schemes covering allsectors. The Jail More Parkproject conceived by the stategovernment for endorsing trib-al traditions has received afinancial assistance of �25 crorefrom the centre.

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Dumka district administrationis all set to inaugurate an army

recruitment training camp, namedJai hind, on January 25, a day beforeRepublic Day.

The army recruitment drive isgoing to be organized for the firsttime in Dumka in the month ofApril. Deputy development com-missioner (DDC), Varun Ranjansaid, “Usually the army recruitmentrally is organized in Ranchi but thistime it’s being organized here on thedirection of chief secretary SudhirThripathy with the aim to recruitmore Santhal people in army.”

He added, “In 2018, only oneSanthali person was recruited in thearmy.” The enrolment for the prepa-ration camp has already begun andthe formal inauguration of the pro-ject is likely to be done by ChiefMinister Raghubar Das on Friday,before the cultural eve ahead of R-Day.

The camp aims to ensure max-imum recruitment in army from theSanthal region and would be orga-nized in two batches. A daily classwould be organized for those whoneed more training or have moretime and a weekend class to be orga-nized on Saturday and Sunday. “Wehave tied up with Sashastra SeemaBal (SSB) to train our youth. In thiscamp they would be given training

for the selection and would also betaught about the basic army eti-quettes. We will also provide themuniform for the camp and givethem a military style haircut,” Ranjansaid.

The district administration is allprepared for the R-Day celebrationson Saturday where the chief minis-ter will hoist the tri-colour. Apartfrom parade by platoons of NCC,NSS, Kasturba Gandhi BalikaVidyalaya, SSB, IRB and otherswould be followed by a series oftableau by various governmentdepartments.

DDC said, “The tableaux beingmade are trying to associate the newschemes and projects of the districtadministration and governmentdepartments.”

Some of the major tableaux to beshowcased include tableau on Jal HaiToh Jahan Hai scheme by MNRE-GA, representation of Bali footwear,Basuki Agarbatti, Shagun Sutamand Mayurakshi Silk which are dis-trict administration’s schemes toprovide employment by PRD, SwajalScheme by drinking water and san-itation department, MukhyamantriSukanya Yojna and model angan-wadi centres by integrated child pro-tection scheme and many more.

Ranjan informed that apt secu-rity measures will be taken at the cel-ebration venue as well as in andaround the town on the occasion andspecial arrangement for drinkingwater, toilet and other facilities willbe made for the onlookers of the R-Day parade.

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Ranchi district administration willincrease security in the state cap-

ital to ensure peaceful Republic Daycelebrations across the city and its sub-urbs.

Additional security forces will bedeployed in all sensitive parts of thecity on Saturday, Ranchi superinten-dent of police Sujata KumariVeenapani said on Wednesday.Security personnel from theJharkhand Armed Police (JAP) andother districts of Jharkhand will patrolthe various roads in Ranchi andmaintain a strict vigil on all sensitivepoints, she added. “ATS (AntiTerrorism Squad) will be active inRanchi on Republic Day. Besides,sniffer dogs will be deployed at allimportant points in the city,” saidVeenapani. She added that addition-al measures have been taken to ensurefoolproof security at the airport, rail-way stations, bus stands and otherpublic places. Malls too will be underpolice surveillance, the SP said.Governor Droupadi Murmu will

unfurl the national flag at Morhabadion Saturday, and elaborate arrange-ments have been made to ensure thereare no security lapses. “Metal detec-tors will be installed and armedpolicemen will be deployed in theperiphery of Morhabadi,” said a seniorpolice official involved in chalking outthe security plans for Ranchi.

Meanwhile, officers in-charge ofall the 47 police stations in Ranchi dis-trict have been asked to be on alert.While the urban areas will be underthe surveillance of the city police, secu-rity personnel will be deployed in therural areas to avert any untoward inci-dent planned by left wing extremistgroups, police said. Ensuring elaboratesecurity arrangements in and aroundRanchi on important days becomesone of the key responsibilities of thedistrict administration since the state’slargest Republic Day celebration isheld in the state capital. Besides, 21of 24 districts in Jharkhand are leftwing extremism-affected, and therebels are always on the lookout for anopportunity to create nuisance onimportant days.

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Emphasizing on the filmpolicy of Jharkhand, Chief

Minister Raghbuar Das saidthat generating employmentopportunities by promotingfilm industry in the State hasbeen a priority of theGovernment.

Addressing a BhojpuriMusic Award programme atHotel Radisson Blue onWednesday, Das said, "Thereare unlimited opportunities offilm making in Jharkhandkeeping which in view the filmpolicy 2015 was formulated.Since then, a number of filmshave been shot in the stateunder big banners ofBollywood which has led to even the localartists getting opportunity to work in thesefilms." CM said that the artists of Jharkhandand Bihar have left their mark and nation-al and international level and pointed outthat films help in fighting social evils.

"The young artists are showing brilliantperformance in the films and through thesefilms they are spreading awareness againstthe social evils," he said.

Talking about the Bhojpuri MusicAwards being organized for the first timeon the land of Birsa Munda, Das said thatmusic is very necessary to release stressfrom life. "Music helps in curing illness andproviding moments of relief in the busylives people are leading today," he said.

The CM congratulated the organizers,singers, actors and other artists related toBhojpuri film industry. He also appealed

to the artists in Bhojpuri film industry tocome to Jharkhand for shooting films inthe serene, scenic environment.

Speaking on the occasion, famousBhojpuri and Bollywood actor Ravi Kishanpraised the film policy of Jharkhand. Hesaid, "Film industry in Jharkhand got hugepromotion under the leadership of CMRaghubar Das and he has helpedJharkhand get recognition on the worldmap.” Kishan added, “Many big producersand directors have come to Jharkhand toshoot their films recently and the subsidybeing given by the state government formaking films has helped a lot.”

On this occasion the CM felicitated thefamous Bhojpuri singer Bharat VyasSharma, Padma Shri Malini Awasthi,musician Anand Mohan and actor RaviKishan.

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India and South Africa's rela-tionship is rooted deep in

history. Both the countrieshave gone through ups anddowns, hence, it is very impor-tant to nurture their relationwith warmth and empathy inorder to build a strong bond-ing between the two. In today’sday and age, the link betweenthe two nations has taken a

skyward approach, as PrimeMinister Modi has visitedSouth Africa twice since thetime he came to power in2014. Furthermore, since theyear 2019 marks the 150thbirth anniversary of MahatmaGandhi, President CyrilRamaphosa has agreed to gracethe occasion and be the ChiefGuest of the Republic DayCelebrations in New Delhi.He accepted the invitationextended by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and gave hisconfirmation during the G20Summit which was held inBuenos Aires, Argentina.

Initially, it was PresidentDonald Trump (United Statesof America), who was invitedto be the chief guest for the cel-ebration. But due to priorengagements and constraints,

he declined the request.Ramaphosa is likely to partic-ipate in the Pravasi BhartiyaDiwas (PBD) celebration,which will take place inVaranasi this year. PBD is cel-ebrated to exhibit the contri-bution of Overseas Indiancommunity and celebrateBapu’s return to India fromSouth Africa.

President Cyril Ramaphosacame to power after JacobZuma resigned; ending an eraof scandal and misrule. Zumawas ousted on count of racke-teering, corruption, moneylaundering, and was alsoaccused of taking bribes.

India-South Africa rela-tions date back centuries, whenIndia played a vital role inextending its support duringthe anti-Apartheid movement.

Today, there are around 1.5million people of Indian originin South Africa, comprisingaround three percent of thetotal population. Moreover inAsia, India is Africa’s sixthlargest trading partner, andthe trade has grown fromUS$4.7 billion (2007) to aroundUS$10 billion in 2018 (RohiniSingh 2018).

We share a very warm andcordial relationship with thecountry bilaterally, alsothrough other internationalorganisations like IBSA (India,Brazil and South Africa) andBRICS (Brazil Russia, India,China and South Africa). Thetenth BRICS summit was heldin South Africa in 2018, whichwas attended by PM Modiwhere he restated India’s adher-ence for promoting peace, and

bringing in development tothe country, by focusing muchon the South-South coopera-tion. Both the leaders alsojointly released a stamp hon-oring the heritage of Gandhiand Mandela. ThreeMemorandum ofUnderstanding was signedbetween India and SouthAfrica which are: a)Exploration and Use of OuterSpace for Peaceful Purposes, b)Cooperation in AgriculturalResearch and Education, and c)Setting up of the "GandhiMandela Centre ofSpecialisation for ArtisanSkills” in South Africa (MEA,2018).

Prior to this, Modi visitedSouth Africa in 2016, where heentered into eight agreementsand extended cooperation in

the fields of InformationCommunication Technology,Tourism, Sport, Culture,Grassroots Innovation,Renewable Energy, Audio-Visual and Visa SimplificationProcedures.

He termed the nation asthe land of Madiba (NelasonMandela) and the‘Karambhoomi’ of MahatmaGandhi. He also addressed theIndian community and saidthat in the last ten years, thetwo way trade between boththe nations have grown by 300percent which is a clearly sig-nifies India’s keen businessinterest in South Africa.

Areas where both countrieshave a scope of cooperatingincludes; minerals and mining,chemicals and pharmaceuti-cals, high-technology manu-

facturing; andinformation andcommunication technology(The Pioneer 2016).

Now, with the interestshown by PresidentRamaphosa to attend theRepublic day celebration thereare bright hopes for strength-ening our engagement withSouth Africa.

There is also an opportu-nity for both the nations to dis-cuss and cooperate in manyother areas and sectors. Areaslike health, skill developmentand digital sector are kept inpriority by Ramaphosa wherehe wants to boost relations withIndia. Also, at present thedefence industry of SouthAfrica is flourishing and grow-ing most in the African conti-nent.

Thus, the two sides are

enthusiastic to examine part-nership in joint production(Dipanjan Roy, 2018).President will also meet theIndian business community inNew Delhi in order to discuss,how with the help of SouthAfrica, India can conduct andbuild up trade relations withother African nations.

We hope, Ramaphosa visitto India turns out to be fruit-ful for both the nations, furtherdeepening our ties with SouthAfrica – since there is greatpotential in this partnership,and it’s a great occasion to bindbusiness as well as people topeople connection between thetwo countries.

(The writer is a AssociateFellow, VivekanandaInternational Foundation,New Delhi)

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The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) on Wednesday asserted that

it was unfazed by theMahagathbandhan in Jharkhand andconfident about emerging victorious inthe upcoming general elections.

Addressing the media onWednesday in Latehar, partyspokesperson Pratul Shahdeo said thatthe Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM),Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal(RJD) had joined hands in 2014 too,but they could not stop the BJP fromachieving a landslide victory.

“BJP got 40.71% vote share in the2014 general elections, which was 7%more than the total vote percentage ofother parties in fray. Now, the irrele-vant JVM-P has joined the UPAalliance, which hardly makes any dif-ference,” Shahdeo said.

The JMM, Congress, RJD andJVM-P have unanimously decided tocontest the upcoming elections togeth-er. Congress party will be the face ofthe alliance in the general elections andJMM in the state elections.

Shahdeo was in Latehar a day afterthe Raghubar Das-led governmenttabled its fifth and final budget of itsfive-year term in the state.

He lauded the government forcoming up with a budget that wouldbe beneficial for people from all walksof life, especially farmers.

“By increasing the agriculturebudget by 24% the government hasmade its stand clear that it is dedicat-edly working for the welfare of farm-ers. The decision of giving Rs.5000 peracre to farmers will also ensure thatthey don’t get trapped in bank loans,”said Shahdeo, adding that it was a his-torical move.

The BJP faced flak nationally in the

recent past after several cases of farmersuicides were reported and protestsstaged by farmers in the national cap-ital. In what appeared to be a politically-motivated move to the BJP, theCongress had waived off farmers’loans soon after coming to power inMadhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh andRajasthan recently.

Shahdeo on Wednesday said thatthe CM’s Bike Ambulance Scheme willensure quick health facilities to resi-dents of rural Jharkhand.

He also commended the govern-ment’s decision of providing four cowsto each of the Tana Bhagat families,which shows the government’s respectfor them.

Ranchi: The ElectionCommission of India (ECI) hasstarted preparations for 2019general elections. The EC is car-rying out preparations for con-ducting forthcoming electionsas per meticulously chalkedout schedule.

As the EC conducts theelection for world’s largestdemocracy, the election com-mission staff cascades into aPan-India organization co-opt-ing nearly 11 million persons atstate-level. The entire exerciseentails ensuring nearly 11 mil-lion personnel at state level,training of polling personneland observers, ensuring pollinginfrastructure personnel andmachines across length andbreadth of the country. Also ECcarries out necessary trainingintroducing IT solutions toemerging needs, enforcingmodel code of conducts, inter-alia handling abuse of moneypower and freebies in electionsas also the menace of paid/spon-sored news.

As per EC statistics, nearly88 crore voters will exercise itsfranchise in more than 10 lakhpolling stations spread over4120 assembly constituenciesand around 8200 candidates willbe in the fray. Sources said thatin the election more than 22lakh ballot units, more than 16lakh control units and morethan 17 lakh voter verifiablepaper audit trail machines willbe used in the election. PNS

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Attractive andc o l ou r f u l

tableaux show-casing the devel-opment ofJharkhand madeon differentfrontages willsteal the showon Republic Day(R-Day) here atM o r h a b a d iGround onS a t u r d a y .Presenting theglimpse of mod-ern and developing Jharkhandheading towards a new dawn,this R-Day, several governmentschemes of almost all depart-ments will be there to enthrallthe denizens.

Adding on some attractiveelements to capture the attentionof public while imparting impor-tant messages, the tableaux glo-rifying the dominance of femalesin every sector will be the cen-tre of attraction. PresentingJharkhand’s progress, thedenizens will get a glimpse ofmixed themes ranging fromexotic tourist circuits to stepstaken up to promotion of cottageindustries, role of Self HelpGroups (SHGs) and others.

A few popular devotionalsites and archeological heritageswill be showcased through thetableaux. According to thesources, tableaux will also show-case the life history of great trib-al leaders, besides, the impor-tance of solar energy, signifi-cance of skill development inuplifting the lives of severalpeople especially the down-trodden. Various initiativestaken up by the Department ofHealth and Family Welfare likeAyushmaan Bharat,

‘Mukhyamantri Swasthya BimaYojana’ including others willalso be showcased. Taking upimmunization, malnutrition and‘Aaganwadi’, the tableau byDepartment of women, childdevelopment and social securi-ty will convey the importance ofthese vital issues among the pub-lic.

Meanwhile, depicting thequintessence of Jharkhandblessed with abundance of for-est and natural resources, atableau focusing on employmentgenerated through cottageindustries while showing theimportance of value added for-est goods like LAC, Silk etc. willbe presented.

Also, the recent achieve-ment of the State in attaining theOpen Defecation Free (ODF)tag will be showcased as a primetheme. “Considering all ongoinggovernment schemes, eachdepartment was sent a requisi-tion. This R-Day, the State gov-ernment has planned to take upall major government schemesto ensure its maximum coverageby reaching out to the publicthrough major event like R-Day,”said Ranchi District PRO, IshaKhandelwal.

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TA Pai ManagementInstitute, Manipal, in

alliance with JamshedpurManagement Association(JMA), Jamshedpur, haslaunched TAPMI’s ExecutivePost Graduate Program inManagement (E-PGPM).

Announcing the programProf. Madhu Veeraraghavan,Director, TAPMI, remarked,“We are delighted to bringTAPMI brand of Managementlearning to Jamshedpur. Weintend to take learning to wherethe corporate executives are

located either through VirtualDelivery or regular classroomlearning mode. Executive learn-ing is of great strategic impor-tance to TAPMI as it providesan opportunity to engage inten-sively with professionals andstay connected with currentbusiness trends, issues andopportunities.”

The Executive Post-Graduate program will be deliv-ered during the weekends inregular classroom interactivemode by TAPMI faculty. Theprogramme is for working exec-utives who possess over twoyears of experience. It is a fast-

paced program of 11 months.TAPMI will ensure a high stan-dard in the selection process,assessment and delivery of theprogram at Jamshedpur. Theprogram will be delivered in amodular manner and offersgreat width in terms of subjects.The program will emphasiseapplied learning and facilitateintegrative learning throughthe capstone project.

This custom designed pro-gram for working executives inand around Jamshedpur marksa new chapter in TAPMI’sstrategic initiative to reach outand engage with Corporate.

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Security has been intensifiedat Bokaro railway station,

bus stands, hospitals, cinemahalls including sector marketareas ahead of Republic day.Following the high alertsounded by top police officersto tackle any untoward inci-dents across the district, secu-rity has been beefed up acrossthe district, said Kartik SSuperintendent of PoliceBokaro.

“Cops are keeping a hawk-eye vigil to spoil any possiblethreats,” he said.

SP added, “We are on moveto put the district in foolproofsecurity cover. On the directionfrom higher, a high alert hasbeen issued across the district.Police personnel are instruct-ed to tackle all adverse situa-tions and keep strong securityarrangements. Patrolling hasbeen intensified in the dis-tricts.”

A special escort team andthe civil squad have beendeployed at Bokaro RailwayStation and also in trains, said

RK Singh OC RPF Bokaro.“We are also keeping a

close watch with CCTV cam-eras as over 30 CCTV camerasare installed across the station,”he added.

Over 30 spots were identi-fied as the most sensitive zonesonly in Bokaro and polie havebeen asked to pay special atten-tion, sources said. Senior policeofficials have asked the DistrictSuperintendents of police ofBokaro, Dhanbad, Hazaribagh,Ramgarh, Girdih, Kodermaand Chatra to expedite thepatrolling in their zones totackle any such movements ofthe left wing extremists whosemovements in small groupshave been observed by thesecurity forces at Uparghat,Nawadih, Gomia, Vishnugarhborder area and Prasnath zone,police sources informed.

The Intelligence Bureauhas issued an alert stating thatLWEs could carry out strikesduring this occasion sourcesinformed, adding that theycould target police personneland government propertiestoo.

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With a view to conferresponsibility and

duty to youths of the Stateon occasion of 122th birthanniversary of freedomfighter Netaji SubhasChandra Bose on January 23,noted Non GovernmentalOrganization, Vikas Bharti held‘Rural Youth DevelopmentTalk’ at Bishunpur in Gumla,with participation of aroundfive thousand youths fromacross the State.

Addressing the gatheringSecretary, Vikas Bharti, AshokBhagat said, “This is very aus-picious day as it is the birthanniversary of one of the most

revered free-dom fighterof our coun-try. This yeara numbers ofyouth wereinvited fromacross the

State to exchange ideas ontheir duties and responsibilities.There should be a youth clubsin the every village, where theyoung people can meet andexchange their opinions.”

Bhagat said that it is dutyof the youths to develop theirvillages because the govern-ment, despite fulfilling all itsresponsibilities, can’t do thisalone.

“The time has come for theyouths to understand theirduty and work accordingly. If

they put their energy in theright direction the country willbecome one of most powerfulcountries of the world,” hesaid.

“India’s culture and religionare under threat. A numbers offactors are trying to destroy ourculture and only the youth ofthe county can fight against it,”Bhagat added.

He also told the audiencethat they should work towardsprotecting the forest, waterand land of the state for a bet-ter future.

Youths present in the pro-gramme vowed to protect theirvillage and culture, protect thewater, forest and land, destroyanti-national elements, sup-port development work andmake their villages clean.

Bokaro: The ADJ – II of Bokarocourt Janardhan Singh awardedlife imprisonment to two per-sons with a fine of rupees tenthousand each for killing aminor in a bid to grab his prop-erty.

The court awarded lifeterm to Jhingli Devi and hisuncle Bullet Mahato for killingVikash (8) on 3 September2014 after the court foundthem guilty. Jhingli Devi is thestepmother while BulletMahato is the uncle of thedeceased child. An FIR waslodged by Ramna Devi themother of the deceased atSiyaljori Police station, saidRK Rai Advocate of districtCourt Bokaro. On the charges

of brutally killing the child forproperty both were convictedby the court awarded life term,he informed. In another verdictthe ADJ – I Bokaro court RanjitKumar awarded seven yearsimprisonment with RI and a fineof rupees 20 thousand toHaripad Kumbhkar for sexual-ly exploiting a woman for a timespan of 12 years. Haripad is aresident of Sector 9 under Harlapolice station. An FIR waslodged by the woman at HarlaPolice station in 2013, said SKJha Advocate of district CourtBokaro. “On the basis of evi-dence and DNA test Haripadwas convicted by the court andawarded RI with fine,” addedJha. PNS

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Police arrested four men forattempting to circulate

counterfeit currency notes inGiridih on Wednesday. “Wehave seized bundles of the 500notes of 36 piece with a facevalue of Rs 24,000 and 3 pieceof Rs 2000 from all three cul-

prits, while 8 piece of Rs2000,and 24 fake currency ofRs 500 with a face value of theRs 28,000 from Srikant aliasShankar Mahto,” said SDPO JitWahan Orawn of Giridih.

Three other accused -RupLal Hansada,Sunil Toppo andMasih Baski were arrested hav-ing possession of fake curren-cy worth Rs 24,000. They usedthe west Bengal route to bringthe counterfeit currency toGiridih. SDPO said the fakecurrency has been printed soefficiently that a common manwould not be able differentiateit from the real notes.

On the basis of informa-tion provided by the three,police team nabbed anotherkey person Srikant aliasShankar Mahto who used toplay a pivotal role in the sup-ply of the fake currency.

Police said that theyreceived a tip off that counter-feit currency was being circu-lated in Ahilyapur area. Basedon the directions of Giridih SPSurendra Kumar Jha, a team ofpolice personnel was formed tomonitor the locality.

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The CBI has booked formerAir India Chairman-cum-

Managing Director ArvindJadhav for allegedly constitut-ing an illegal panel for makingsenior appointments and trans-fers.

Along with Jadhav, the CBIhas also named then ExecutiveDirector (Personnel) LPNakhwa (now retired) and for-mer Additional GeneralMangers (Operations) AKathpalia, Amitabh Singh andRohit Bhasin in its FIR regis-tered under IPC section relat-ed to criminal conspiracy andprovisions of Prevention ofCorruption Act pertaining toabuse of official position.

The FIR alleged that Jadhavhad constituted a panel in 2010

to promote officers to the rankof General Manager (opera-tions) in violation of laid downprocedures.

The three-member panelincluded then Chief OperatingOfficer Gustav Baldauf, then

Executive Director (operations)A Soman and former ExecutiveDirector (Personnel) LPNakhwa, the FIR said.

Nakhwa, who was GeneralManager (Medical Service),was given the rank of Executive

Director (Medical Services)after the post was upgraded asa temporary measure tillAugust 31, 2009.

It is alleged that Nakhwawas to be reverted to the postof General Manager (MedicalServices) from September 1,2009, but she continued in herposition as Executive Directorin clear violation of the CivilAviation Ministry’s directivedated March 6, 2009.

The CBI inquiry also foundthat Jadhav regularisedNakhwa in the post ofExecutive Director (MedicalServices) with effect from April1, 2010 without following thedue procedure, the FIR said.

The Civil AviationMinistry had annulled andreversed the irregular appoint-ment of Nakhwa as Executive

Director (Medical services). A human resources sub-

committee of the Board of AirIndia in an order datedSeptember 8, 2010 revertedNakhwa to the post of GeneralManager (Medical services)with immediate effect.

“Therefore, the promotionpanel so constituted by ArvindJadhav...For selecting suitablecandidates for promotions tothe post of GM (operations)should have been re-constitut-ed in the wake of reversion ofNakhwa from ExecutiveDirector(Medical services) tothe rank of General Manager,”it said. The CBI also allegedthat Nakhwa was not eligiblefor being a member of the saidpromotion panel but Jadhavnominated her against the pre-vailing rules and procedure.

��

Political parties received�8721.14 crore funding

from unknown sourcesbetween 2004-05 and 2017-18with the BJP and the Congresswitnessing maximum incomefrom such sources. More than50 per cent of the funds nation-al parties received during thefinancial year 2017-18 camefrom “unknown” sources thatincluded donations throughelectoral bonds and voluntarycontributions.

According to Associationfor Democratic Reforms(ADR), the income of theseparties from “unknown”sources was �689.44 crore,which is 53 per cent of theirtotal income. The BJP alonedeclared �553.38 crore as itsincome from unknownsources.. This income of BJPforms more than 4 times theaggregate of income fromunknown sources declared bythe other five national parties.

According to it, the totalincome of BJP, Congress, CPI,BSP, TMC, and NCP in 2017-18 was �1293.05 crore. Theincome of these parties from“unknown” sources was�689.44 crore, which is 53 percent of their total income.

Out of the �689.44 crore,the share from electoral bondswas �215 crore or 31 per cent,the report said.

The parties received�354.22 crore or more than 51per cent of the fund fromunknown sources through vol-untary contributions (below�20,000), it said, adding thetotal income from other mis-cellaneous unknown sources

was �4.5 crore.Thirty-six per cent of their

income or �467.13 crore from“known” donors, whose detailswere available from contribu-tion reports submitted to theElection Commission.

They got �136.48 crorefrom other known sources,such as from the sale of assetsand publications, membershipfees, bank interest, and partylevy, the report said.

According to donationreports (containing details ofdonations above �20,000), only�16.80 lakh was given in cashto the national parties.

The CPI(M), which is alsoa national party, was notincluded in the analysis as its“schedules or annexures wereunavailable for the financialyear 2017-18”. At present, polit-ical parties are not required todeclare the names of individu-als and organisations giving lessthan �20,000 nor of those whodonate via electoral bonds.

While the national partieswere brought under the Rightto Information Act by the CICruling in June 2013, they havestill not complied with thedecision.

The ADR also recom-mended that scrutiny of finan-cial documents submitted bythe political parties should beconducted annually by a bodyapproved by CAG and ECI soas to enhance transparencyand accountability of politicalparties with respect to theirfunding.

“The national and region-al political parties must provideall information under the Rightto Information Act. This willonly strengthen political par-ties, elections and democracy,”it said.

��

In a move that will benefitover 3 lakh Indians, includ-

ing 90,000 women working inKuwait, the Cabinet onWednesday approved signingof an agreement between Indiaand the Gulf country for coop-eration on recruitment ofdomestic workers.

The Memorandum ofUnderstanding provides astructured framework forcooperation on domestic work-ers related matters and provides strengthened safe-guards for Indian domesticworkers including female

workers in Kuwait, a state-ment said.

The pact is initially validfor a period of five years andincorporates provision forautomatic renewal.

A joint committee will beset up to follow up the imple-mentation of this MoU.

This will also promotebilateral cooperation in domes-tic workers related mattersbetween the two countries.

“Around 3,00,000 Indiandomestic workers are deployedin Kuwait. This includesaround 90,000 female domes-tic workers,” the statementadded.

��

Keeping in mind the tribalpopulation in the

Northeast ahead of the LokSabha polls, the NDAGovernment on Wednesdaytook a major decision to grantmore power and funds to 10autonomous councils in theregion.

The Union Cabinetapproved a “landmark” consti-tutional amendment toincrease the powers of theautonomous councils in theSixth Schedule areas of theNortheast. The FinanceCommission will be mandatedto recommend devolution offinancial resources to them, anofficial statement said.

The amendment also pro-vides for transfer of addition-al 30 subjects including depart-ments of Public Works, Forests,Public Health Engineering,Health and Family Welfare,Urban Development and Foodand Civil Supply to KarbiAnglong AutonomousTerritorial Council and DimaHasao Autonomous TerritorialCouncil in Assam.

“The Cabinet approveslandmark amendment toArticle 280 and Sixth Scheduleof the Constitution. The mostimportant part of these amend-ments is that these will signif-icantly improve the financialresources and powers of theautonomous districts councilsin Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoramand Tripura, fulfilling long-

standing aspirations of thetribal population in theseNortheastern States,” the state-ment read. A Bill in this regardis expected to be introduced inthe upcoming session ofParliament, a Home Ministryofficial said.

“This will be a gamechanger, as it will substantial-ly enhance the funds availableto these local government insti-tutions for undertaking devel-opment works in these tribalareas,” the official said.

The proposed amend-ments provide for elected vil-lage municipal councils, ensur-ing democracy at the grassrootslevel. The village councils willbe empowered to prepare plansfor economic development andsocial justice including thoserelated to agriculture, landimprovement, implementationof land reforms, minor irriga-tion, water management, ani-mal husbandry, rural electrifi-cation, small scale industriesand social forestry.

At least one-third of theseats will be reserved forwomen in the village andmunicipal councils in the SixthSchedule areas of Assam,Mizoram and Tripura and atleast two of the nominatedmembers in all autonomouscouncils in the North EastSixth Schedule areas resultingin empowerment of women.

There will be State ElectionCommissions for holding elec-tions to the autonomous coun-cils, village and municipal

councils in the areas of Assam,Mizoram and Tripura. Therewill be a provision for anti-defection too. Meghalaya hasfor the time being kept out ofthe purview of the provision forelected village and municipalcouncils and one-third reser-vations for women.

The amendments will ful-fil the commitments madeunder tripartite Memorandumof Settlements signed byGovernment of India, govern-ments of Assam andMeghalaya, United People’sDemocratic Solidarity (UPDS),Dima Halam Daogah (DHD)and Achik National Volunteers’Council (ANVC).

The amendments proposeto rename the existingautonomous councils as KarbiAnglong AutonomousTerritorial Council (KAATC),Dima Hasao AutonomousTerritorial Council (DHATC),Garo Hills AutonomousTerritorial Council (GHATC),Khasi Hills AutonomousTerritorial Council (KHATC),Jaintia Hills AutonomousTerritorial Council (JHATC)and Tripura Tribal AreaAutonomous TerritorialCouncil (TTAATC) as the pre-sent jurisdiction of these coun-cils extend to more than onedistricts.

There will also be increasein seats in KAATC (from 30 to50 seats), DHATC (30 to 40seats), GHATC (30 to 42),KHATC (30 to 40) and JHATC(30 to 34).

��

Delhi Metro network’sRithala-Dilshad Garden

Red Line will soon be extend-ed to Ghaziabad’s New BusAdda. The Union Cabinet onThursday approved the exten-sion of Delhi Metro corridorfrom Dilshad Garden to NewBus Adda Ghaziabad. Thiswould be the second metro linein Ghaziabad and the firstmetro link connecting the inte-riors of the city. It will passthrough Sahibabad IndustrialArea and is aimed at impactingthe nearby residential areas.

The 9.41-km-long corridorwhich is entirely elevated, hasmissed several deadlines. Thecorridor is ready for opera-tional.

“The trail run is going onon this corridor. Not only that,the Noida Metro Aqua line,connecting Noida to GreaterNoida, will also be thrownopen. Prime Minister NarendraModi is expected to flag offtrains on both the extendedDelhi Metro Red line and theNoida Metro Aqua line in thecoming days,” said the officialsof Ministry of Housing andUrban Affairs.

The extended corridor ofRithala-Dilshad Garden RedLine covers eight metro stationsin total - Shaheed Nagar, RajBagh, Rajendra Nagar, ShyamPark, Mohan Nagar, Arthala,Hindon river and GhaziabadNew Bus Stand metro stations.

The stretch also includes aninterchange facility. At theMohan Nagar station, peoplecan change for Blue Line.Ghaziabad DevelopmentAuthority (GDA) wrote to theUP government saying thatthe project was 99% completeand that December 25 could bea good day for commissioningof the line.

The Cabinet has alsoapproved contribution ofRs.324.87 crore as centralfinancial assistance for exten-sion at the total completion costof Rs.1,781.21 crore. The rollingstock is being provided byDelhi Metro Rail Corporation(DMRC) and land has beenprovided free of cost by theGhaziabad DevelopmentAuthority (GDA),” said officialsof Ministry of Housing andUrban Affairs (MoHUA).

The other line that will beopened by year-end, Noida

Metro’s Aqua line, is 29.7-kmlong. It has been under con-struction since the year 2015and will benefit people residingin Greater Noida by connect-ing the city’s vast stretches andlinking it firmly with thenational capital. The Aqua linewill run from the depot stationin Theta, Greater Noida toSector 71, Noida and will cover21 metro stations. Out of these21, 15 metro stations will oper-ate from Noida Sector 149 toNoida Sector 71, passingthrough Sectors 144, 137, 81, 50etc. and 6 metro stations willoperate from Greater Noida,passing through Delta 1, Alpha1, Alpha 2, Pari Chowk andKnowledge Park 2. Accordingto sources quoted in the report,the final documentation andinspections would be complet-ed in three weeks, making itpossible for the inauguration totake place in December.

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On the 122nd birth anniver-sary of Subash Chandra

Bose celebrated on Wednesday,Prime Minister Narendra Modiinaugurated a museum at theiconic Red Fort dedicating tothe life and his contribution tothe India’s freedom struggle.

The Prime Minister alsoinaugurated the Yaad-e-JallianMuseum on the JallianwalaBagh and World War I, theMuseum on 1857- India’s firstwar of Independence andDrishyakala-Museum onIndian Art within the Red Fortcomplex.

The Museum on NetajiSubhash Chandra Bose andIndian National Army pro-vides a detailed account ofSubhash Chandra Bose and thehistory of Indian NationalArmy, said a statement fromthe Union Culture Ministry.

It also showcases various

artefacts related to SubhashChandra Bose and INA. Theartefacts include wooden chairand sword used by Netaji,medals, badges, uniforms andother artefacts related to INA.

In a series of tweets, PrimeMinister said, it was extreme-ly humbling for him to inau-gurate four museums relatingto India’s rich history and cul-ture. He said the entire complexof museums will be known asKranti Mandir as a tribute tothe revolutionary zeal andcourage of the great freedomfighters.

Modi said museums onNetaji Bose and Azad HindFauj are a key part of KrantiMandir. History echoes from

these walls. In this very build-ing, brave sons of India,Colonel Prem Sahgal, ColonelGurbaksh Singh Dhillon andMajor General Shah NawazKhan were put on trial by thecolonial rulers.

The Prime Minister hasurged art lovers to visitDrishyakala, which will takepeople through the finestaspects of Indian art and cul-ture. There are four historicalexhibitions, spanning threecenturies, with over 450 worksof art.

Modi also said the works ofeminent Indian artists like RajaRavi Varma, Gurudev Tagore,Amrita Sher-Gil,Abanindranath Tagore,Nandlal Bose, GaganendranathTagore, Sailoz Mookherjea andJamini Roy are on display at theexhibition. Modi tweeted thatGurudev Tagore’s works atDrishyakala is a treat for artlovers to see.

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The Cabinet decided that thenational bench of the

Goods and Services TaxAppellate Tribunal to be locat-ed in the capital would haveone member each from Centreand States and a President. TheTribunal will expedite resolu-tion of disputes under GSTlaws.

This apart, the Cabinet

approved currency swap facil-ity to enable India to provide aprompt response to the currentrequest from SAARC membercountries for availing the swapamount exceeding the presentlimit prescribed under theSAARC Swap Framework. TheReserve Bank will negotiate theoperational details bilaterallywith the central banks of theSAARC countries availing theStandby Swap.

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Former Supreme CourtJudge, Justice Madan B

Lokur Wednesday expresseddisappointment over not bring-ing to public domain theDecember 12 decision of theapex court’s Collegium on theelevation of judges, which hasbeen at the centre of contro-versy.

Justice (Retd) Lokur, whodemitted office on December30, 2018, was part of the 5-member Collegium delibera-tions which had reportedlyagreed to recommend thenames of Justices PradeepNandrajog and RajendraMenon to the Supreme Court.

Later, however, Delhi HighCourt judge Sanjiv Khannaand Chief Justice of KarnatakaHigh Court Justice DineshMaheshwari were elevated asapex court judges, triggering apublic debate on the issue.

On the controversy aroundthe purported change in thedecision, Justice Lokur said hedid not know as to what addi-tional documents came afterhis retirement.

Speaking at an interactionhere on ‘State of the IndianJudiciary’, organised by a lawportal, the former judge how-ever rubbished the claim ofnepotism in the judiciary.

Justice Lokur said he did-n’t think that the Collegium

system has failed.Healthy discussions take

place at the Collegium meet-ings and agreements and dis-agreements are part of it, hesaid, adding that the discus-sions are confidential and trustis the important factor.

He advocated time-bounddecisions on the recommen-dations of the Collegium by theExecutive, saying that in theevent of no response from thegovernment, the recommen-dations can be deemed to beaccepted. He said there is aneed to bring some changes inthe Collegium system andsome mechanism has to bethere for adhering to time linein judicial appointments.

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The Supreme Court onTuesday granted regular

bail to four convicts in theNaroda Patiya massacre case inGujarat in which 97 peoplewere killed by a mob during the2002 riots in the state.

The Gujarat High Courthad on April 20 last year upheldthe conviction of 12 out of the29 accused who were pro-nounced guilty on variouscharges by the trial court andhad acquitted 17 others, includ-ing former BJP minister Maya

Kodnani.A Bench comprising

Justices AM Khanwilkar andAjay Rastogi Tuesday grantedregular bail to four convicts —Umeshbhai Surabhai Bharwad,Rajkumar, PadmendrasinhJaswantsinh Rajput andHarshad alias Mungda JilaGovind Chhara Parmar.

The top court also grantedinterim bail for a period of 19days to convict Prakashbhai SureshbhaiRathod (Chhara) to take partin his daughter’s marriage onFebruary 10.

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For the third straight day,three more terrorists were

killed in north Kashmir’sBaramulla district onWednesday taking the toll tonine. The terrorists were killedin a fierce encounter in Binnarvillage where police and secu-rity forces launched an opera-tion on specific information onmovement of terrorists.

The three slain terroristsare believed to be cadre ofLashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) out-fit, two of them suspected to beforeigners.

Security sources said that ajoint team of army, Police andCRPF launched a cordon-and-search operation at Binner vil-lage on the outskirts ofBaramulla district on the basisof inputs about the presence ofterrorists.

As the forces zeroed in onthe suspected spot, the hidingterrorists opened fire triggeringoff a gunfight. “As the search-es were going on, the searchparty was fired upon by the ter-rorists. The fire was retaliatedleading to a gunfight,” a police

spokesman said.“In the ensuing encounter,

three terrorists were killed andthe bodies were retrieved fromthe site of encounter. Theiridentities and affiliations arebeing ascertained,” he said.

“Incriminating materialincluding arms and ammuni-tion was recovered from the siteof encounter. Police have regis-tered a case and initiated inves-tigation in the matter,” he added.

“Citizens are requested notto venture inside the encounterzone since such an area canprove dangerous due to strayexplosive materials. People arerequested to cooperate withpolice till the area is complete-

ly sanitised and cleared of allthe explosive materials if any,”police spokesman said.

This was the thirdencounter in as many days inthe Valley. The three gunfightsin south, central and northernparts of Kashmir resulted intothe killing of nine terrorists. OnMonday, three terrorists werekilled in an encounter inHapatnar village of Chrar-e-Sharief area in central districtBudgam while three more werekilled in Shirmal village ofsouth Kashmir’s Shopian dis-trict on Tuesday. The encoun-ters took place ahead of tightsecurity arrangements in thewake of Republic Day.

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Tensions escalated along theLine of Control in Poonch

sector late Wednesday eveningfollowing 'unprovoked' cease-fire violation by the Pakistanarmy.

According to groundreports, the firing which start-ed from Sonagali around 4.00pm continued till late in thenight.

The entire stretch betweenBalakote and Mankote wasactivated and witnessed heavyexchange of fire. The Indianarmy jawans remained in astate of high alert to preventany strike by Border ActionTeam of Pakistan army or freshinfiltration bid.

The local villagers in thearea also remained closetedinside their houses as severalmortar shells landed in thecivilian areas close to the lineof control. Residents in Poonchclaimed the exchange of firealong the LoC was intense andwas audible in Poonch town.

Defence PRO in Jammu, LtCol Devendra Anand said, "Pakistan army initiated 'unpro-voked' ceasefire violation byusing small arms fire. Pakarmy also targeted forwardareas in Mendhar sector byshelling with mortars". "TheIndian army retaliated strong-ly and effectively", he added.

In plain areas of Jammu,especially along theInternational border, thecounter infiltration grid hasbeen beefed up to prevent anyinfiltration bid.Small groups ofheavily armed infiltrators werespotted in the areas by the bor-der guards close to theInternational border.

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Mumbai: The MaharashtraAnti-Terrorism Squad (ATS)has busted an “ISIS-inspired”group, which was planningmass casualty attacks using poi-sonous chemical mixtures at biggatherings, an official said onWednesday.

The ATS has also arrestedeight men and detained a minorboy — all suspected members ofthe group — following search-es in Thane and Aurangabadover the last two days, he added.

The arrests have come justdays ahead of the Republic Dayon January 26.

The ATS has seized liquids,chemical powders, a chemicalbottle with "hydrogen peroxide"written on it, six knives, six pendrives, six laptops, over 24mobile phones, several gad-gets, WiFi routers, DVDs, CDs,hard drives, graphics cards,modems and computer RAMs(random access memory), theATS official said.

The group, which had engi-neers in its ranks, had plannedto prepare toxic chemical mix-tures and blend those with foodor water at big events to causemass casualty, he added.

All the seized materialswere sent to the forensic science

laboratory for examination, hesaid.

"These people had createda terrorist gang inspired by theISIS called the Ummat EMohammadiya and hadplanned terror activities at var-ious places," the official saidwithout elaborating.

"The idea was to makesome poisonous mixtures andmix those in water or food atplaces of big events so that peo-ple consume it," he said.

The locations where thegroup had planned the terroractivities were being ascer-tained, he added.

"We will verify all theaspects, including (a possible)attack at the (ongoing) KumbhMela (in Prayagraj, Uttar

Pradesh) and at other big eventsas well," the official said.

The chemicals seized fromthe group were of experimentalquantities, he said, adding, "Weare also investigating whetherthe group had any associates inthe state or other parts of thecountry."

Among those arrested wasMazhar Abdul Rashid Sheikh,the son of Rashid Malbari — aunderworld criminal anddreaded sharp-shooter of theDawood Ibrahim gang — theATS official said. Sheikh wasarrested from Aurangabad incentral Maharashtra, he added.

The minor, who wasdetained, was aged around 17and was a student of class 11(Science), the official said. PTI

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Aday after Amit Shahcharged the Trinamool

Congress with unleashing syn-dicate raj in Bengal andpromised to clear the provinceof illegal cross-border infiltra-tors once it came to power, theState ruling outfit hit backcalling the BJP president anempty vessel whose party hadfailed to keep its earlier promis-es like repatriating black moneyand crediting �15 lakh each inthe citizens’ bank accounts.

While TMC Rajya SabhaMP Derek O’ Brien called theBJP a mad outfit, speaking outof nervousness and despera-tion, senior leader and StateMinister Partho Chatterjeecalled Shah an empty vesselwho was only capable of mak-ing large noises.

Referring to Shah’s speechin a Malda rally O’Brien said “it

is obvious that they are verynervous,” as “they know theirdays are numbered. They arepolitically scared. Their speech-es are low on facts and poor inState.”

Shah had on Tuesday tolda rally in Malda that“Trinamool Congress needs tobe uprooted from this State sothat its syndicate tax raj can beended.” Blowing the BJP’s elec-tions bugle he vowed to throwout all infiltrators from Bengal.“If we come to power we canassure you that the BJP willmake Bengal infiltrator-free.”

Reacting to Shah’s state-ments O’Brien tweeted, theBJP did not understand theethos of India and Bengal.“They are heading towards abig zero,” he said adding “someare saying they are desperate,some are saying they havegone mad … or is it a combi-nation of both?”

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Mumbai: The MaharashtraGovernment has decided toreserve 50 per cent residencesfor members of the ‘MantralayaAani Vidhimandal VartaharSangh’ in Mumbai under ahousing scheme of theMHADA, Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis announcedon Wednesday.

Fadnavis made the remarkshere at an award function, whenhe conferred lifetime achieve-ment award to veteran journal-ist Dinu Randive among others.

The Maharashtra Housingand Area DevelopmentAuthority (MHADA) is a State-run agency.

Speaking at the event,Fadnavis said the Governmenthas tried to give "stability" to thefourth pillar of democracy, themedia, in the past four years andlisted decisions his dispensation

has taken in this regard."The MHADA has pre-

pared a scheme for residences ofjournalists. It has been decidedthat members of the MantralayaAani Vidhimandal VartaharSangh will have 50 per centreservation in it.

"Location has been finalisedand the process concerned willbe completed in a month," headded.

Fadnavis also hailed 93-year-old Randive, who hadstarted his journalistic career in1956.

Randive also participated inthe freedom struggle, theSamyukta Maharashtra agita-tion and the Goa liberationmovement.

Award winners in othercategories included VishwasWaghmode, Mahesh Tiwariand Prajakta Pol. PTI

��--��

Tiruvannamalai, one of themost backward districts in

Tamil Nadu, is undergoing asilent transformation, thanks toinnovative and well-conceivedprogrammes and schemesworked out by the DistrictCollector.

“The district was known ashome to Lord AnnamalaiTemple and the ashram ofRamana Maharshi. Other thanthese two unique institutions,Tiruvannamalai was knownonly for child marriages, foeti-cide, illegal termination ofpregnancy and malnutrition,”said Kattumannarkoil Kannan,vice president, Cauvery DeltaFarmers Welfare Association,Tamil Nadu.

Being one of the most raindeficit regions in the State,Tiruvannamalai’s contributionto the State economy was neg-ligible. There are no industries

worth mentioning and thisresulted in many poor menopting to work as illegal woodcutters in the SeshachalamForests of neighbouring AndhraPradesh. Most of the wood cut-ters allegedly killed in “encoun-ters” inside the forest were from

Tiruvannamalai. All these couldturn out to be old stories as thedistrict in making big stridesthanks to K S Kandasamy, thedistrict collector.

Since the day he took overas collector in September 2017,Kandasamy went into action.

He was greeted by unprece-dented problems crying fordrastic solutions. Quacks oper-ated in various parts ofTiruvannamalai performingselective abortion of femalechildren. Women were afraid ofdelivering female children as

they knew life of girls would bea horrid affair.

“Infanticide, school drop-outs, child marriages, malnu-trition, lower educational sta-tus, high maternal mortalityrates, were some of the issueshaunting us. The maternal

mortality ratio was 111.1 forthe year 2017-2018.We broughtit down to 54.36 by 2018 to2019,” Kandasamy told ThePioneer on the eve of his depar-ture to New Delhi where he isbeing honoured on Thursdayby the Prime Minister.

Along with the MMR,Kandasamy succeeded inbringing down the infant mor-tality rate which stood at 11.9in 2018. “This is lower than theState average of 17. But we areworking to bring it down tozero. There are many factors forthis phenomenon and thisneeds multi-pronged strategy,”said the district collector.

Since early marriages andteenage pregnancy are the rootcause of the higher order birth,Kandasamy and his team havedecided to eradicate child mar-riages. “During 2017-2018 wehad stopped 168 child mar-riages. And during the currentyear and up to December 2018we have stopped 166 child

marriages in our district andlegal actions were initiated. Allthe children secured are beinggiven training, counselling andcareer guidance,” he said.

A simple but majestic eventheld at the initiative ofKandasamy turnd out to be thegame changer in the attitude ofwomen and men towards girlchild. “All rural women took apledge by holding burningcamphor that they would notmarry off their kids below theage of 18. This has paid richdividends,” said Kandasamy.

Vijayasree Ramesh, a socialactivist from Chennai is opti-mistic about the future ofThiruvanamalai. “The collectorhas taken the women commu-nity into confidence and hehimself has become a rolemodel in driving home the les-son that women should berespected. He had integratedschemes lile Beti Bachao BetoPadhao with the local issuesand this has paid good results,”

said Ramesh, a lawyer-turned-girl child activist.

One of the private collegesin the district came forward toimplement the “Role ReversalActivity” suggested byKandasamy. An equal numberof boys and girls were selectedfor the mission. For one day,they had the roles reversed.Boys became home makerswhile the girls had fun.

We cooked and cleanedand served them food of theirchoices. And the girls had funplaying games, dance, chit-chat, drive a battery operatedcar. It was a different experi-ence and our perspective aboutwomen got changed,” saidArun, one of the students whotook part in this mission.

These are few of the inno-vations being implemented byKandasamy and team. He isconfident that by the time hehas to move out, an irreversibleprocess of change would haveset in Tiruvannamalai.

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Aizawl: Thousands of people,including students, hit thestreets across different places inMizoram on Wednesday toprotest against the Citizenship(Amendment) Bill.

Effigies of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and UnionHome Minister Rajnath Singhwere torched, as protesterstook out rallies from here,seven district headquarters andat over 50 other places.

Raising slogans and carry-ing placards, the agitatorsdemanded the resignation ofthe PM and the HomeMinister, alleging that the con-troversial bill will endangerthe very existence of the Mizos.

The rally was organised bythe Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) orMizo students federation,which had also organised an11-hour, state-wide bandh onJanuary 8. PTI

Bengaluru: Karnataka HomeMinister MB Patil on Fridaysaid he was yet to be briefed onthe report of an enquiry com-mittee that went into charges ofpreferential treatment to oust-ed AIADMK leader V KSasikala at the prison here andwould take action afterdiscus-sions with department offi-cials.

Patil, who took over asHome Minister after theCabinet rejig on December 22,asserted that nobody was abovethe law andthere was no needto protect anybody.

"It has come to my noticethrough media reports aboutRTI... Nobody is above thelaw..." he told reporters here.

"There was inquiry...I'mholding discussions.OfficiallyI'm yet to be briefed on it. I can-not act on media reports.

Ihave taken cognisance ofmedia reports. I will discusswithour department officialsand whatever is needed will bedone. What is the need to pro-tect anybody," he added.

An RTI query revealedthat Sasikala was given specialtreatment in a prison here,where she is serving impris-onment in a corruption case,according to the report by aninquiry committee that wentinto the allegations by a seniorpolice official,

The 295-page report byretired IAS officer Vinay

Kumar confirmed that the thenDIG (Prisons) D Roopa'sclaims in July 2017that Sasikalawas given preferential treat-ment and a separate kitchenfunctioned for her at theParappana AgraharaCentralJailhere, RTI activistNarasimha Murthy had recent-ly said.

Kumar had submitted hisreport to the Government onNovember 17, 2017, but itscontents were not made public.

Asked if action would betaken based on thereport, Patilsaid "definitely...I have notbeen officially briefed about it...I have to ascertain about it asthe HomeMinister and willact accordingly." PTI

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Jaipur: Lashing out at theOpposition BJP on the issue ofcows, Rajasthan chief ministerAshok Gehlot on Wednesdaysaid 74,016 cows had died inHingonia gaushala in Jaipurduring the previousGovernment's five year rule.

He accused the BJP of call-ing the Congress a party ofMuslims but stated the Congresshad won elections in the 'cowbelt' of Rajasthan, MadhyaPradesh and Chhattisgarh.

"Politics was done in thename of cows. As many as74,016 cows died in Hingoniagaushala in five years. Congresswas called the party of Muslimsbut the party won elections inRajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and

Chhattisgarh," Gehlot said, in hisreply to the debate on theGovernor's speech in theAssembly. He said the Hinducommunity had realised theBJP raises the issue of Ram tem-ple ahead of elections.

The chief minister targetedthe former Vasundhara RajeGovernment "for weakeningschemes like free medicineswhich were initiated by the ear-lier Congress Government" andsaid his Government will notdiscontinue any public welfarescheme. He said the public gavehuge mandate to the BJP in 2013Assembly elections but theVasundhara Raje Governmentwasted five years and gave mis-rule to the public. PTI

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With the euphoria gener-ated by the alliance fol-

lowed by the mega meet ofOpposition leaders at Kolkata,the Samajwadi party and theBahujan Samaj Party are grap-pling with the ‘real politik’ ofseat sharing. Both the partiesare also grappling with thedissidence as many aspirantswill not be able to contest theelection following the alliance.

The entry of PriyankaGandhi has added to the woes

of the fledgling alliance. Themove has come as a setback forthe SP-BSP alliance as it has cre-ated fresh avenues for theprospective Lok Sabha candi-dates of both SP and BSP butdenied opportunity to contest asboth the parties have shared 38seats each and rest for the smallparties. The SP, BSP appearedover confident of their electoralarithmetic comprising of the SC,OBCs and minorities.

“The likely improvement

in the electoral fortune of theCongress has brought a newhope for those SP and BSPleaders who were at the deadend of their political careerbecause of the alliance of thetwo parties. Now they have theoption of knocking at the doorof the Congress,’’ said a politi-cal an analyst.

“Entry of Priyanka Gandhicould be setback for theSamajwadi Party-BahujanSamaj Party alliance. Thestrategist of the SP-BSP wereconfident that there will bedirect fight with the BJP, nowthe electoral battle is likely tobe triangular which may ben-efit the BJP’’, said the RajyaSabha MP of the Samajwadiparty. He added, “The forcefulentry of the Congress couldalso create dilemma for theMuslim voters and providingcredible alternative to the rebelsof SP, BSP and the BJP’’.

BSP former MP refusing tobe identified said, “The SP-BSPleaders should have made effortsfor the honourable accommo-dation of the Congress in thealliance’’. He said this wouldhave sealed the fate of the BJPand the tally of the ruling partyat the Centre could have beenreduced to a single digit.

“If 2017 UP Assemblyelection is the benchmark, thenthe alliance plus Congresswould have secured 52.08%vote share as compared to39.67% of the BJP.” said the BSPleader.

Political observers say thatvoters, particularly Muslims,have not forgotten Mayawati’sdecision to take the BJP’s sup-port to form the Governmentin Lucknow in 1995, and laterin 1997 and 2002. They saythese voters will not rule outthe possibility of this happen-ing again if the Opposition fails

to unseat Narendra Modi andthe BJP at the Centre. There isthis fear amongst Muslims thatMayawati could switch sidesafter the elections if she is notin a powerful position. Thisassumption that Muslims willvote only for the alliance issomehow misplaced.”

UP Congress general sec-retary Onkar Nath Singh said,“All sections of the society arelooking at the Congress as apossible alternative on seatsthat will be contested by BSPand SP. If they feel the Congressis in a strong position, theycould end up voting for theCongress instead of thealliance.”

The last time the SP andBSP had joined hands was forthe Uttar Pradesh Assemblyelections in 1993, when the BJPwas riding the Hindutva waveafter the demolition of theBabri Masjid the previous year.

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Slain journalist GauriLankesh’s sister Kavita

Lankesh has rubbished theclaim made by a US-basedself-styled cyber expert andhacker that Lankesh was killedbecause she was planning towrite an article on the hackingof Electronic Voting Machines(EVMs).

“I am aware of it and Ithink it is completely false. Idon’t think it is true at all. Idon’t know why it was said likethis. I don’t believe my sisterwas targeting for that at all,”Kavita Lankesh said.

Lankesh was shot dead onSeptember 5, 2017 eveningoutside her house.

Police have arrested 16

people, while two suspects areat large.

Police have claimed that aright wing criminal syndicate,which killed the left leaningjournalist Lankesh, wasinspired by the literaturebrought out by a right wingorganisation Sanatan Sansthaand assassinated her for being‘Durjan’ (evil person), as men-tioned in the book.

However, adding an out-landish twist to the story, theman identified as Syed Shujahad said he had met Lankeshand wanted the article on EVMto be published in her weeklywhen the assassination hap-pened.

Kavita said, “The murderwas a political conspiracy butI don’t believe in this kind oftwist. So far, the investigation

is going in a right direction.” When asked whether she

believed that there were polit-ical motives behind theclaims, she said, “I guess so. It’sa fake news.I don’t need to gointo it.”

The Election Commissionhas filed a complaint with theDelhi Police asking it to reg-ister an FIR against SyedShuja, who at a press confer-ence in London on Mondayclaimed EVMs can be hacked,and the 2014 Lok Sabha elec-tions were rigged.

In its complaint, the pollpanel asked the police to inves-tigate the matter “promptly” forviolation of certain sections ofthe Indian Penal Code dealingwith spreading rumour toalarm and “create fear” in theminds of the public.

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The BSF and the State policehave increased vigilance

along India-Bangladesh borderto check infiltration ofRohingya Muslims, DirectorGeneral of Police (DGP) AkhilKumar Shukla said onWednesday, two days after 30refugees were apprehended atChuraibari in Assam.

The immigrants, including12 children, were on their wayto Guwahati from Agartala ina bus Monday, when the AssamPolice held them at Churaibariin Assam’s Karimganj district,about 200 km from here.

They were sent to jail by adistrict court Tuesday. Lastweek, 31 Rohingyas were holedup behind the barbed wirefencing along the Bangladeshboundary in Tripura, as theborder guards of both sides

debated over their status.“The Border Security Force

(BSF) and the state police havebeen put on alert to ensure thatno new Rohingya Muslimsenter into our territory throughthe India-Bangla internationalborder,” Shukla said.

Tripura shares 856-km-long border with Bangladesh.C L Belwa, the deputy inspec-tor general of BSF (TripuraFrontier), said Rohingyas maketheir way to India throughdifferent routes in the east andthen move to other parts of thecountry for job and livelihood.

The refugees, who wereapprehended at Churaibari onTuesday, had actually enteredIndia through Assam, he said.

“They had come to Tripurato work in brick kilns, but theirlivelihood issues were notsolved here so they werereturning to Assam again,”

Belwa said.The 31 Rohingya Muslims,

who were holed up in no-man’sland since January 18, havebeen handed over to TripuraPolice by the BSF after talkswith Border GuardsBangladesh (BGB) failed.

They underwent a medicalcheck-up and were later pro-duced before a court in WestTripura district which sentthem to 14-day judicial custodyTuesday.

More than 700,000Rohingya Muslims f ledMyanmar’s Rakhine state toneighbouring Bangladesh sinceAugust 2017 after a militarycrackdown, triggering a mas-sive refugee crisis.

In October 2017, theMinistry of Home Affairs hadurged all states to take imme-diate steps to identify andmonitor Rohingya immigrants.

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Aday after BJP presidentAmit Shah ridiculed the

Opposition’s bid to forge agrand alliance, Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee onWednesday said those whowant to divide the country intopieces cannot be called nation-al leaders. Speaking at an eventhere to celebrate the 122ndbirth anniversary of NetajiSubhas Chandra Bose, Banerjeesaid “we will be successful onlywhen we are together”.

“Such persons are leadersof only a section of people ofthe country,” Banerjee said inan apparent dig at the BJP,without naming the saffronparty or any of its leaders.“Those who want to divide thecountry into pieces cannot benational leaders,” she added.

Kickstarting the party’sLok Sabha poll campaign inWest Bengal from a rally atMalda, Shah Tuesday scoffed atthe efforts by opposition par-ties to forge a grand alliance,saying it is driven by the “greedfor power” and with ninepotential prime ministerialcandidates in their ranks.

Taking a swipe at the opposi-tion rally convened by theTrinamool Congress supremoin Kolkata last Saturday, Shahsaid bringing in 20-25 leaderson one stage would not serveany purpose as Narendra Modiwill become prime ministeragain.

He had also describedTMC government as “facilita-tors of murders” and madeserious corruption chargesagainst it. TMC had organiseda mega rally at Brigade Paradeground in Kolkata on Saturdaylast in which over two dozenleaders of as many 22 anti-BJPparties had given a call to oustModi from power in the gen-eral elections.

Stating that Netaji hadtaken people from all commu-nities and races together, fromthe Hills to those in everyother part of the country informing the Indian NationalArmy (INA), Banerjee said hetalked of “togetherness andunity of all people of the coun-try”. She said Mahatma Gandhi,Maulana Abul Kalam Azadand Babasaheb Ambedkar weregreat national leaders as theystood for the good of all.

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Aman was arrested forallegedly impersonating as

an official of the Prime Minister’sOffice (PMO), according to astatement issued by the UttarPradesh Police’s Special TaskForce (STF) here on Wednesday.

Acting on a tip-off, the STFarrested Naresh Rai fromJiamau locality here onTuesday, it said.

The STF had received acomplaint that Rai used to callbureaucrats posing as a PMOofficial and ask them to givecontracts and jobs to some peo-ple, it said, adding that heused to take money for this. AnSUV was also seized, the state-ment added.

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Deputy Chief Minister ofRajasthan Sachin Pilot on

Wednesday said PriyankaGandhi’s appointment as AICCgeneral secretary for UP Eastwill inspire party workersacross the country.

“It is a welcome develop-ment. This will boost partyworkers across the country. Ithas been a long standingdemand of the workers to giveher (Priyanka) an official role.

“Until now, she chose torestrict herself to campaigningin Amethi and Raebareli butnow as a general secretary, shewill strengthen the party’s LokSabha campaign in the nextthree months,” he said.

Pilot said her new officialrole will make a huge differ-ence. “Today we understandIndia is going through a verychallenging time and people arelooking at the Congress togive an alternative and we needto really get our act togetherand give a very charged cam-paign...” said the Deputy ChiefMinister of Rajasthan.

Pilot’s boss, Ashok Gehlothas also welcomed theannouncement.

� ��

CPI leader D Raja onWednesday reiterated his

party’s demand for a JPC probeinto the Rafale deal, asking whythe NDA Government is‘afraid’ of facing the JointParliamentary Committe ifthere was no wrongdoing in theIndo-French pact.

The CPI national secretaryurged PMNarendra Modi to“tell the truth,” on the matter.“Neither the Defence Minister(Nirmala Sitharaman) nor theExternal Affairs Minister(Sushma Swaraj) was involvedwhen the deal was clinched. Itwas the Prime Minister, thePrime Minister alone who tookthe decision and decided the

deal,” he said.“JPC is a parliamentary

instrument and Parliament issupreme in our democracy. Ifthere is nothing (wrong) theycan very well accept JPC. Whyare they afraid of it,” he toldPTI. Raja’s remarks came inresponse to Sitharaman onceagain ruling out a JPC probeinto the Rafale deal onWednesday.

On the demand for a JPCprobe into the Rafale dealwhile speaking to reportershere Wednesday, Sitharamanhad said “it is not needed.”Unlike the 2G issue, no insti-tution like the Comptrollerand Auditor General or eventhe Supreme Court said any-thing against Rafale, she noted.

� ��

Bihar Chief Minister NitishKumar on Wednesday

defended Electronic VotingMachines (EVMs), saying itwas “perfectly fine” and sug-gested that there will not be anyproblem if voter verifiablepaper audit trails (VVPAT)are made available at everypolling stations.

Amid raging debate overEVMs, which Opposition lead-ers have been critical of, Kumarsaid he was not in agreementwith the things said.

In an apparent dig at theCongress, which is amongopposition parties who arecriticising EVMs, Kumar asked“during whose time the EVMsystem was introduced?”

“My stand on the use of

EVM is very clear. EVMs areperfectly fine. There will notbe any problem if VVPAT ismade avai lable at ever ypolling stations. I do notagree with things which arebeing said about EVM. In myview, EVM has strengthenedpeople’s right to vote,” Kumar

told reporters.He was talking to reporters

here after paying tributes tonationalist leader NetajiSubhash Chandra Bose on his122nd birth anniversary in thestate capital.

The incidents of bogusvoting and booth capturingused to be witnessed duringvoting through ballot paperbut things have improved withthe introduction of EVMsand the system would furtherimprove with the introductionof VVPAT, Kumar, who isalso JD(U) national presi-dent, said.

Kumar said voters’ slipmust be distributed in everyhousehold beside taking thereceiving from the families inwhich voters’ slips have beendistributed.

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Amid the row over a self-styled expert alleging that

EVMs could be tampered with,Union Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Wednesday hitout at the Congress for joininghands with elements in a for-eign country who claimed thatelectronic voting machinescould be hacked.

She dared the Congress tostep down from power inMadhya Pradesh where assem-bly elections were held recent-ly.

A self-styled cyber experthad days ago claimed thatEVMs could be hacked andalleged that the 2014 generalelections were rigged.

To a question on TamilNadu Congress demanding aninquriy into claims that EVMscould be hacked following ahackathon in London recently,she told reporters here that “ifthey win, EVM is workingproperly, if they lose EVMs donot function properly, and thattoo in a foreign country.”

The Defence Ministerattacked the Congress for whatshe termed pursuing the pathof weakening democracy. “Thisis an effort by the Congress toweaken democracy.”

“The Congress party wonthe Madhya Pradesh,Chhattisgarh and RajasthanAssembly elections onlythrough the Electronic VotingMachine,” she said and blamedthe Rahul Gandhi-led party forchanging stand on EVMsaccording to their convenience.

The Congress party shouldsay they will step down fromgovernment in MadhyaPradesh since they won thepolls through the EVMs.

“They should say that thereshould be some problem withthe EVMs and that was whythey won....otherwise theyshould say that they themselvesmanipulated the machines fortheir victory,” she said.

She queried if the Congressmanipulated EVMs for theirvictories in the past.

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When Netaji SubhasChandra Bose’s death inan air crash in Taipei onAugust 18, 1945, wasannounced, the British

Government suspected that this was acover for his escape to the Soviet Union.Their suspicions were confirmed a fewmonths later when transmitters inCalcutta’s Governor’s House caught threebroadcasts on shortwave band 31 byNetaji between December 26, 1945, andFebruary 1946. The broadcasts showedthat he was alive: Netaji said that he wasunder the “shelter of great world powers”and his utterances revealed that he wasaware “my men are being tried at the RedFort.”

Subhas Chandra Bose promised tocome to India and sit on judgement on“those trying my men at the Red Fort.” Healso said that the back of British imperi-alism had been broken and that theBritish could concede Independence toIndia in two years. Copies of these trans-missions have now been made public afterthe declassification of records pertainingto Netaji in 2015.

Due to inferior technology in thosetimes, transmissions never reached theears of millions of Indians for whom theywere meant, but the British masters weredefinitely alarmed on hearing them. Thealarm spread to the Congress circles aswell. Found among the records was a let-ter from Khurshed Naoroji, one of theSecretaries of Mahatma Gandhi to LouisFischer (on June 22 1946). It read: “At theheart, the Indian Army is sympathetic tothe Indian National Army (INA). If Bosecomes with the help of Russians, neitherGandhiji nor Jawaharlal Nehru or theCongress will be able to reason with thecountry.”

That Netaji was looming large on theBritish horizon was clear from the factthat on October 25, 1945, the thenBritish Prime Minister chaired a Cabinetmeeting for finalisation of a policytowards Bose, based on a confidentialnote on the subject from Lord Wavell, thethen Viceroy of India.

Incidentally, the file also mentionedthat Lord Mountbatten, who was theBritish Supreme Allied Commander forSouth East Asia Command, received adispatch from the British directorate ofmilitary intelligence that said: “WhenBose was preparing to leave Burma byplane, the Chinese intercepted a messagefrom the Japanese, asking him to remainin Burma. Bose subsequently escaped toThailand.”

The file also mentioned that the casein support of Netaji’s death in an air crashwas based on evidence provided by ColHabibur Rahman and Japanese doctor TYoshimi. But Habibur Rahman was “notwilling to come out with the truth” and

there were a multitude of dis-crepancies in his version.Obviously, the British did notbelieve that Netaji had died inany air crash.

The British obsession withNetaji was natural in view ofthe INA, whose wartimeactivities had given a newdimension to the Indian free-dom struggle. The INA hadtaken on the British IndianArmy in the North-East dur-ing the World War II. Due tocensorship in those parts (asa result of inner line restric-tions), news had not been cov-ered in mainland India andpeople did not know about theexploits of the INA (althoughthey had lost the war).

Fresh from the victory inWorld War II, the Britishthought they would teach alesson to the INA soldiers —like they had to the soldiers ofthe first war of Independence.They selected three soldiers —Hindu, Muslim and a Sikh —for trial for waging war againstthe King Emperor. This, theyaverred, would be a lesson toall Indians.

This policy had worked in1857, when the last MughalEmperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar,was tried in the Red Fort anddeposed to Rangoon. Butclearly, things had changed.The trial of the INA officersbrought out before Indians thebrave exploits of the INA.The British had thought pub-

licity of INA activities wouldlead to their being hated bythe Indian public. They werewrong; as Indians began tohear about the activities of theINA, their chests began to swell in pride.

Our men in the IndianArmy also became restive andNaval ratings mutinied. Therewas also trouble among Armyranks in Jabalpur. It was clearthat the colonialists, who hadused the Indian Army to con-trol India, would not be ableto do so any longer as the INAhad showed the Indian armymen a new way of reclaimingtheir country.

Lt General S K Sinha, oneof the most celebrated officersof the Indian Army, who alsobecame Governor of Jammu& Kashmir and Assam afterretirement, was a youngCaptain in August 1946 post-ed to the Military OperationsDirectorate (MOD) to replaceEnglish officers. Shortlybefore his death, Gen Sinhawrote in an English newspa-per on February 16, 2016, thatwhile going through the filesleft by his predecessor, hefound a report from MajorGeneral O’Brien of MilitaryIntelligence that raised seriousdoubts about the continuedloyalty of thousands of emer-gency commissioned officersof the Army, who had beenrecruited in the World War IIperiod and wanted to keep a

watch on them. More impor-tantly, Sinha found plans forOperation Gondola, by which43,000 British civilians wouldbe escorted out of the coun-tr y if the need arose.Obviously, the British wereplanning for an eventualityaverring trouble.

Although the British hadoriginally planned to leaveIndia in September 1948, theyquit earlier on August 15,1947, to avert trouble in theform of an uprising. TheBritish were keen on a peace-ful exit to keep its empire inother parts of the globe stable.If they were to be kicked outviolently from India, theircolonies elsewhere would bein threat.

Unfortunately, theCongress leadership, led byJawaharlal Nehru, collaborat-ed with the last Viceroy, LordMountbatten, to allow thisdesign that led to the Partitionof India along with its free-dom. What happened toNetaji one does not know.

Probably, he was packedby Stalin to the GulagArchipelago; although somesay he made his way to Indiaas a mendicant GumnamiBaba. But when India woke upto freedom, the man, whomade this possible, had beenlost. An unsavoury fact atthat.

(The writer is a seniorjournalist and an author)

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Sir — Judicial scrutiny will likelyrender the 10 per cent reservationfor the economically weaker sec-tions null and void. However,removing the age and attemptsbarrier will go a long way in pro-viding equal opportunity at theoutset without affecting the statusquo. In a highly competitiveatmosphere, this can go a longway in ensuring that nobody is leftout for want of chance and every-body gets to have equal access tojob opportunities.

Anoop HosmathMysuru

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Didi’s headline act” (January 21).The prime objective of Oppositionparties, especially West BengalChief Minister Mamata Banerjee,appears to be to defeat the BJP andPrime Minister Modi in particu-lar. It is an undisputed fact thatregional parties have no specificpolicy, programme or an ideologyfor the development of the nation.

Even if the mahagathbandhanis voted to power, the selection of

the Prime Minister will, undoubt-edly, be an insurmountable prob-lem for them. The winning of amajority of MPs in the Lok Sabhapoll by any party may not be a cri-teria to decide who will clinch thetop post. Regional parties willultimately look for a remarkablepersonality, who enjoys populari-ty and has adroit administrative

abilities. Except for Banerjee, noleader has the ability, skill and dex-terity to be the Prime Minister. ButBanerjee is temperamentally emo-tional and not fundamentally ratio-nal. Her tempestuous attitude andoutlook may not appeal to allregional parties.

Nimai Charan SwainBhubaneswar

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Sir — Making biographical filmson politicians can hardly portrayan impartial picture of theirlives. For personal benefits,entertainment and commercialobjectives, the real story getstwisted and hard realities are

ignored. Such films ought to beincluded in the category of fic-tion. However, hoi polloi can beattracted by the person in focus,and such cinema can be mis-leading, even controversial if notdefamatory. Perhaps this is amarketing technique. Films onpersonalities, who are stillaround, must be avoided.

M Kumar Via email

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Who let the cranks out?”(January 23). In an age of mod-ern scientific technology andnew inventions, it is surprisingthat people are crying foul overthe use of Electronic VotingMachines (EVM) in elections.India should not in any way getback to Stone Age practices justbecause a few modern scientif-ic devices are faulty. EVMs havecome here to stay and havesaved us from the Herculeantask of manual counting.

SrinivasVia email

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Population pressures, hunger forland and prime real estate haveall made many a nature hotspot

disappear over the last decade. Thesepermanent losses of biodiversityhotspots would seem insignificantwhen compared to the rather disturb-ing findings of a latest study pub-lished in the Yale Journal of Biologyand Medicine. The study found thatunplanned developmental activitiesand land use are reducing the ever-green forest cover and perennialstreams in the central region of theWestern Ghats in India.

While other developed nationsin the world are bending over back-wards to usher in biodiversity into

their cities and urban spaces, Indiais tracking backwards and losing itsgreen cover and natural sanctuariesfor its flora and fauna. The WesternGhats, a biodiversity hotspot knownfor its rich ecology, natural forest sys-tems and perennial rivers, are slow-ly but steadily falling prey to large-scale human activities that are nowbeginning to erode the ecosystem ofthis central region of the country.

The study sharply focusses onthe Kali river that originates inUttara Kannada district in Karnatakaand joins the Arabian Sea. The riveris as old as the Western Ghats butover the years, it has been dammedat six locations. As a result, 325species of flora and 190 species offauna are at immediate risk of extinc-tion. Remote sensing data formed thebasis of the study and showed howthe silent destruction of one ofnature’s best known habitats is tak-ing place systematically. The dataspecifically shows that between 1973

and 2016, forest cover reduced from85 per cent to 55 per cent.

Additionally, land use pattern inthe region also underwent changesduring 1980-2000 due to develop-mental projects such as the buildingof dams on the river Kali, Kaiganuclear plant and Dandeli papermill. The paper mill establishmentitself led to large-scale conversion offorests to crops. These developmentsare not only sad but also irreversible.The study also noted that forests hadshrunk thanks to the large waterreservoirs, which had been con-structed at the expense of forest cover.

The lush environs of the WesternGhats came to be replaced withexceedingly dry and dusty atmos-phere. This mainly due to changes inwater usage. Eco-hydrological foot-print is a measure of how the ecol-ogy of a region responds to changesin water cycle and water usage. Thiscan be measured by assessing theratio of available water and water lost

due to usage and evaporation.Around 2,309 million cubic metresof water is required to meet demandsof society and livestock in the region,while around 4,700 million cubicmetres are required to maintainecosystems and the aquatic life.

An analysis in the report alsoshowed that although the Kali riverhas sufficient water supply andperennial streams in the Ghats andcoastal area, regions that lie in plainlands with a higher degree of agri-culture and cultivation, have inter-mittent and seasonal flow. This isleading to water scarcity for four tonine months in a year.

Whereas those areas, which havegreater than 70 per cent of forest cover,are not experiencing any type of waterscarcity. This shows the strong corre-lation between ecology and hydrolo-gy in the backdrop of land use. Theunfortunate part is that in the processof clearing the forests for developmen-tal activities, India is losing native

species of vegetation, which play a piv-otal role in enhancing the water reten-tion capability of the catchment area.

This levelling of the forests fordams and other development activ-ities maybe touted as developmentbut it is a skewed progress at bestsince it ensures the best interests ofonly a certain section of society.Indigenous population or the localpeople are paying a steep price asthey not only lose the habitat but alsotheir income and livelihood.

According to experts, villagers inthe vicinity of native forests earn�1.54 lakh per acre per year, com-pared to �32,000 in villages withstream catchments experiencingdeforestation. This confirms thevital role of native forests in sustain-ing water and people’s livelihood.

The study also revealed thatmanagement practices adopted byengineers also contributed to the ero-sion of water retention capability inthe river catchment with severe water

scarcity. Keeping these aspects inmind and for the best interests of theWestern Ghats, a United NationsEducational, Scientific and CulturalOrganisation (UNESCO) recognisedWorld Heritage Site, the Governmentagencies must establish better man-agement and conservation strategiesto maintain the forest cover and takeimmediate measures to preserve theexclusivity of the flora and fauna ofthe region.

The role that the National GreenTribunal (NGT) can play to preservethe Western Ghats cannot be empha-sised enough. Although it has alreadyput in place many measures, in the lightof the recent report, gaps in the effortsto conserve Western Ghats are becom-ing apparent. The NGT must take cog-nisance of the same and take suitableaction. Western Ghats are symbolic ofIndia’s pristine biodiversity and mustnot be allowed to wither away.

(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)

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There can hardly be a more opportunetime than now, in the midst of a cultur-ally, politically and economically pow-erful ‘MeToo’ movement across theworld, to revisit the larger cause of

domestic violence and abuse. There is an urgentneed for an equally powerful social media-drivenmovement against it like #NeverAgain. As anAttorney with long years of passionate advocacyof this important socio-cultural and legal issue, thiswriter has been particularly focussed on issues ofdomestic violence and abuse in the diasporicIndian/South Asian families in the US. Anecdotalexperience suggests that the problem exists in asignificant way among the large expatriate Indianpopulation around the world as well but does notoften get the attention it so urgently demands.

Just as #MeToo, fuelled by extraordinarycourage and conviction of women, who weresilenced and oppressed for decades, as well as aidedby the power and reach of social media, has becomea global force to reckon with, there is a need fora scaleable movement on this issue. One is con-scious that South Asian women, trapped in vio-lent and abusive domestic situations, may find ithard to make their case on social media but it isa tool that ought to be employed to network, putabusive spouses and families on immediate noticeand end it once and for all.

The case of Indian and South Asian women,who marry Indian/South Asian men living in theUS and end up in violent or abusive domestic sit-uations, is unique for several reasons. Perhaps themost important one is that many of them are eithercompletely unprepared or ill-prepared to deal withit because they find themselves in a wholly newsocio-cultural milieu in a country some 10,000miles away from India and other South Asiannations. Many fall into such relationships evenbefore they have had the time to familiarise them-selves with their immediate surroundings, let alonesocial and legal services being available to them.

Overarching their rather harrowing lives is thefear of social stigma. More often than not, they aretold stories of how a wonderful life awaits themin America, the world’s richest country, whichwould be a dramatic improvement for them, com-pared to what they experience in India. With thisas the backdrop, to find oneself in an abusive rela-tionship so far away from familiar surroundings,makes things much harder for them. The conse-quence is that many of them choose to endureabuse rather than upset the rhythm of their lives.

This writer’s extensive engagement with thewomen trapped in abusive relationships reveals thatone common feeling among them is one of utterhelplessness, exacerbated by what society backhome might say about their failure to make theirmarriages work. The writer also found that a major-ity of these women would not only muster enoughcourage to speak out but even take legal action ifthey had a helping hand either from individualattorneys like the writer herself or legal aid groups.

Although there have been no national or state-wide studies of Indian/South Asian women anddomestic violence in the US, there is reason tobelieve that this is a growing problem. IndianAmericans are a reasonably large group of peo-ple. According to the US Census Bureau’s 2015American Community Survey, there are 3,982,398multi-race, multi-ethnic and single-race AsianIndians, of which 3,699,957 are single race. WhileIndian Americans barely constitute about one percent of the US population, because of their broadeconomic success, they are a force to reckon withfar beyond their numbers. In terms of domesticand sexual violence among South Asian commu-

nities, a fact sheet released by the Asian PacificInstitute on gender-based violence is quite instruc-tive. Here are some of their findings:

Domestic violence: • In a study of 208 South Asian women recruit-

ed through community outreach in the GreaterBoston area, 21 per cent reported having experi-enced physical and/or sexual abuse at the handsof their intimate partner; 15 per cent reported suchexperience during the previous year. (Intimate part-ner violence associated with poor health outcomesin US South Asian women).

• In a face-to-face interview study of 1,577Asians recruited from Asian organisations andgathering places in the greater Houston area inTexas, 20 per cent of the Indian respondents (154male and female) reported experiencing at leastone form of intimate partner violence based onthe eight-item Conflict Tactics Scale, ranging from“thrown objects at the respondent” to “used a knifeor gun on the respondent” during the previous year.(A prevalence study on partner abuse in six AsianAmerican ethnic groups in the USA)

• A study on life course experiences of inti-mate partner violence and help-seeking (lifecourseIPV and help-seeking study), which assessed expe-riences of IPV among 56 Indian and Pakistaniabused women (and 87 Filipina women) aged 18-60 recruited via various community outreachmethods in the San Francisco Bay Area, found that96 per cent of Indian and Pakistani victims report-ed having experienced physical violence by an inti-mate partner. About 50 per cent of Indian andPakistani victims reported having experiencedstalking by an intimate partner. And 64 per centof Indian and Pakistani victims reported havingexperienced sexual violence by an intimate part-ner. Indian and Pakistani victims born in the US,or those who had immigrated to America pre-ado-lescence (1.5+ generations), were more likely toexperience all three forms of IPV — physical vio-lence, sexual assault and stalking, compared tothose born outside the US and those who immi-grated post-adolescence. Younger Indian andPakistani victims were more likely to experiencestalking by intimate partners compared to theirolder counterparts. (Lifecourse Experiences ofIntimate Partner Violence and Help-Seeking amongFilipina, Indian, and Pakistani Women: Implicationsfor Justice System Responses).

• A study of 160 South Asian women (whowere married or in a heterosexual relationship),recruited through community outreach methodssuch as flyers, snowball sampling and referrals in

Greater Boston (Raj and Silverman Study),found that 42 per cent of the participantsreported that they had been physically and/or sex-ually abused in some way by their current malepartners in their lifetime; 36.9 per cent reportedhaving been victimised in the past year. Around30 per cent reported having experienced partners‘physical abuse and 18.8 per cent reported hav-ing experienced partners‘ sexual abuse. About 65.2per cent of the women reporting physical abusealso reported sexual abuse. Sixteen per centreported injury or the need for medical servicesas a result of a partner’s violence. Women, whoreported intimate partner violence, were morelikely than those who did not report violence toindicate that they had experienced “poor phys-ical health in seven or more of the last 30 days”(20 per cent vs seven per cent), “depression [in]seven or more of the last 30 days” (32 per centvs 10 per cent), “anxiety [in] seven or more of thelast 30 days” (34 per cent vs 20 per cent) and “sui-cidal ideation during the last year” (16 per centvs three per cent). No significant difference wasfound in the prevalence of domestic violencebetween arranged marriages and non-arrangedmarriages. (Intimate partner violence against SouthAsian women in greater Boston)

Abuse by in-laws• Of a convenience sample of 169 South Asian

women, who were married at the time of the sur-vey, six per cent reported having experienced emo-tional abuse by in-laws. The proportion ofwomen, who reported emotional abuse by in-laws,was higher among those reporting partners’ vio-lence in their current relationship (15 per cent) thanthose who did not report such violence (three percent). (Victims of intimate partner violence morelikely to report abuse from in-laws).

• In a telephonic interview survey of a randomsample of Gujarati adults aged between 18 and 64years, seven per cent of the female respondentsreported that in-laws had called them names. (TheShanti Project, Baseline Community-Wide Survey.Unpublished raw data).

Domestic violence-related homicide• A report on 160 US domestic violence relat-

ed homicides in Asian families based on newspa-per clippings and information from advocates fora six-year period from 2000–2005 found that 30of 158 (19 per cent) victims with known ethnici-ties were South Asian. And 32 of 122 (26 per cent)perpetrators with known ethnicities were SouthAsian. (Shattered Lives: Homicides, DomesticViolence and Asian Families).

Seeking help• The Raj and Silverman Study found that 11

per cent of South Asian women reporting intimatepartner violence indicated receiving counselingsupport services for domestic abuse. Only threeper cent of the abused South Asian women in thestudy ever obtained a restraining order against anabusive partner. This rate is substantially lower thanthat reported in a study of women inMassachusetts, in which over 33 per cent of thewomen, who reported intimate partner violencein the past five years, obtained a restraining order.

Seeking help from family members• In a study of 62 battered women (20 African

American, 22 Hispanic, and 20 South Asian),South Asian women were more likely to seek helpfrom family members. South Asian women weresignificantly more likely to be advised by familymembers “to stay in the marriage” than othergroups of women. (Social support and disclosureof abuse: Comparing South Asian, AfricanAmerican, and Hispanic battered women).

According to estimates, two out of five SouthAsian women report domestic violence, which ismuch higher than the general US population (28per cent according to UNICEF, 2000). These sta-tistics tell only a fraction of the story. They tell youhow many women had the courage to report abuseor call for help. How many more are silent, ter-rorised, obedient to the abuser and isolated in anabusive situation we do not know. The numbersof those, who do not call for help, too are notknown because they do not recognise the situa-tion is abusive or they do not know their legalrights. All we know is that domestic violence inSouth Asian community “is seriously under-report-ed because we have seen many women who neverget as far as the formal institutions.” (Preisser, 1999).

However, because of the state of the currentlaw, both in terms of immigration policy and interms of where we are with international agree-ments between the US and India, in too many casesthis writer’s hands are tied. Much more should bedone than simply answering their calls and do whatcan be done to counsel, educate and help themnegotiate laws that too often keep them inunhealthy situations or separate them from theirown children. Ultimately, the laws need to accom-modate these special cases. The awareness mustspread to citizens of the US so that we can all makea concerted effort to relieve the suffering of someof our most vulnerable residents.

(The writer is Attorney at law, Supreme Courtof the United States of America)

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The Union Cabinet onWednesday approved set-

ting up of the national bench ofthe GST Appellate Tribunalwhich will act as forum for sec-ond appeal in case of disputeand also decide cases wherethere are divergent orders at thestate level.

The national bench of theGoods and Services TaxAppellate Tribunal to be locat-ed in the capital, would haveone member each from Centreand states and a President.

“The Union Cabinet,chaired by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, has approvedthe creation of National Benchof the Goods and Services TaxAppellate Tribunal (GSTAT),”an official statement said.

Union minister Ravi

Shankar Prasad said the nation-al bench of the GST AppellateTribunal will expedite resolu-tion of disputes under GSTlaws.

The Goods and ServicesTax (GST) Council, headedby Finance Minister ArunJaitley, and comprising statecounterparts, in Decemberdecided to establish the cen-tralised appellate authority.

The creation of the nation-al bench of the GSTAT wouldamount to one time expendi-ture of �92.50 lakh while therecurring expenditure wouldbe �6.86 crore per annum, thestatement said.

The national bench of theGST Appellate Tribunal is theforum of second appeal inGST laws and the first commonforum of dispute resolutionbetween Centre and states, the

statement said.The first appeal against

the orders of adjudicatingauthority shall lie before theappellate authority of the states.

“Being a common forum,GST Appellate Tribunal(national bench) will ensure thatthere is uniformity in redressalof disputes arising under GST,and therefore, in implementa-tion of GST across the country,”the statement said.

This would also help inresolving the confusion creat-ed by contradictory rulingsgiven by Appellate Authorityfor Advance Rulings (AAAR)on the same or similar issues indifferent states. The industryhas been demanding a cen-tralised appellate authority thatcould reconcile the contradic-tory verdicts of differentAAARs.

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Key members of the WorldTrade Organization

(WTO), including from Indiaand South Korea, will meet onthe sidelines of the WorldEconomic Forum summit inDavos on Thursday and Fridayto discuss reform measures ofthe multilateral body, an offi-cial said.

Commerce Secretary AnupWadhawan will represent Indiain the mini-ministerial meetingof the WTO, the official said.

The meeting moveassumes significance in thebackdrop of growing protec-tionism in the global trade,hurting the confidence of theWTO.

Certain members want to

further strengthen the 164-member body to make it moreeffective.

WTO chief RobertoAzevedo had said the US hassome concerns on the way theglobal trade body functions.

The US has stated that theworld has changed since theformation of the WTO in 1995and wants some upgrade andreforms in the Geneva-basedbody.

Commerce and IndustryMinister Suresh Prabhu hadearlier stated that India wouldprepare an agenda for themeeting in consultation withdeveloped as well as develop-ing countries.

According to industrysources, India is expected topresent a paper for reforming

the WTO.Duty hike by the US on

certain steel and aluminiumproducts has triggered a tradewar kind of situation.

The rich nations are form-ing groupings to prepareground for pushing new issuessuch as investment facilita-tion, preparing rules for e-commerce, promoting genderequality and reducing subsidyon fisheries.

India has been keenlypushing agricultural issues atthe WTO.

The talks at the WTO’s11th ministerial conferencecollapsed after the US wentback on its commitment to finda permanent solution to thepublic food stockholding issue,a key matter for India.

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Urbanisation will be a bigdriver of economic growth

in India going forward, sup-ported by favourable macro-economic factors, acceleratedinfrastructure building andcontinuing reforms, NITIAayog CEO Amitabh Kantsaid on Wednesday.

Speaking here at an eventon sidelines of the WorldEconomic Forum AnnualMeeting, he also said theIndian economy may evenexceed the IMF growth fore-cast of 7.5 per cent for thecountry.

Kant said IMF has forecast7.5 per cent growth for Indiadespite a gloomy outlook forthe global economy and thisitself is good, though there areexpectations that this estimatewould be surpassed.

He said India is giving a bigpush to urbanisation with morethan 100 smart cities beingdeveloped.

The country is also usingtechnology in a big way tochange the way business andgovernance is done, headded.

Besides a massive infra-structure building is happen-ing, bank credit flow hasrebounded and macroeco-nomic factors like inflationand fiscal deficit are also beingsupportive, Kant said.

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The Government is planningto link all the 7,500 agri-

cultural produce market com-mittees (APMCs) along withthe weekly and bi-weekly tem-porary markets (haats) acrossthe country with e-NAM-thecentralised online commoditiestrading platform — by FY22,Union Agriculture MinisterRadha Mohan Singh onWednesday said.

Currently only 585APMCs are linked with e-NAM, he said but was quick toadd that more than 400 morewill be linked to this portal by2020, taking the total to 1,000APMCs which are online.

That apart, there arearound 14,500 temporary man-dis dealing in agri and non-agrigoods across the country,which the farm Ministry wantsto interlink with the NationalAgriculture e-Market (e-NAM), he said.

“Already 585 mandis arelinked to e-NAM and we areplanning to link 22,000 man-dis by FY22,” he told an eventorganized by Crop CareFederation.

“This will be another stepforward, in contributing torealise the goal of doublingfarmers’ income by 2022 asdeclared by the PrimeMinister,” Singh said.

The Minister said theGovernment is implementingseveral programmes to devel-op the farm sector and improvethe economic condition offarmers.

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Rocking deals, a certifiedrefurbished and excess

inventory products’ company,has partnered with SpiceHotspot, a mobile retail storethat offers smartphones, gadgetsand mobile accessories.Commenting on this develop-ment, Yuvraj Aman Singh,Founder and CEO of RockingDeals expressed his immensepleasure to collaborate withSpice Hotspot Retail, “Our col-laboration with Spice Hotspotwill be able to satisfy the felt

need of the customers from allsegments of society and all agegroups across nation. Now, outof our 18 categories of refur-bished goods, we have placedmobile accessories, computerperipherals and accessories,networking devices, wirelessspeakers and headphones, print-ers, speakers from over 12brands at spice hotspot outlets.These products will be availableoffline too thorough SpiceHotspot ‘s wide retail network,”he added. Initially, the compa-ny is now looking to sell over �2lakhs per day from each store.

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India will continue to remain the world’sfastest-growing large economy in 2019

as well as in 2020, much ahead of China,a UN report said Wednesday.

According to the UN’s WorldEconomic Situation and Prospects(WESP) 2019, India’s GDP growth isexpected to accelerate to 7.6 per cent in2019-20 from an estimated 7.4 per centin the current fiscal ending March 2019.The growth rate may come down to 7.4per cent a year later.

In the case of China, the growth is esti-mated to decelerate to 6.3 per cent in 2019from 6.6 per cent in 2018. It may further

go down to 6.2 per cent in 2020.“Growth (in India) continues to be

underpinned by robust private consump-tion, a more expansionary fiscal stance andbenefits from previous reforms.

“Yet, a more robust and sustainedrecovery of private investment remainscrucial to lift the medium-term growth,”WESP report said.

Referring to China, it said the growthis expected to moderate from 6.6 per centin 2018 to 6.3 per cent in 2019, with pol-icy support partly offsetting the negativeimpact of trade tensions.

The report further said the globaleconomy would continue to grow at asteady pace of around 3 per cent in 2019

and 2020 amid signs that global growth haspeaked.

However, a worrisome combination ofdevelopment challenges could

further undermine growth, it added.The report also highlighted that glob-

al trade tensions pose a threat to the eco-nomic outlook.

Amid the rise in global trade tensions,world trade growth moderated over thecourse of 2018 to 3.8 per cent from growthof 5.3 per cent in 2017.

While tensions have materially impact-ed some specific sectors, stimulus mea-sures and direct subsidies have so far off-set much of the direct economic impactson China and the US, it said.

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Employees of public financialinstitutions as well as those

without any identifiable ulti-mate promoters will not beconsidered as depository par-ticipants under Sebi norms,according to a circular.

The markets regulator onWednesday issued a circularproviding clarity on certainprovisions of regulations relat-ed to depository participants.

The development comesafter stock exchanges, deposi-tories, public financial institu-tions and public sector bankshad sought certain clarifica-tions from the Securities andExchange Board of India (Sebi).

According to the regulator,a person will not be considered

depository participant or itsassociate, if the same is on theboard of a public financialinstitution or public sectorbank, or which has no identi-fiable ultimate promoter.

A person who is a directorin an entity, that itself is a depos-itory participant or has associateas depository participant, thenthe same will be considered as adepository participant.

Besides, the watchdog saidthat a “recognised clearing cor-poration” would not be con-sidered as a depository partic-ipant with respect to certainprovisions under the regula-tions for depositories and par-ticipants.

The clarification relates tocomposition of the governingboard of depositories.

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Hamleys opened doors of itsflagship store to welcome

customers to a whole newmagical experience. The icon-ic grand parade from RegentStreet, London was recreatedfor this occasion. The entirethree hour extravaganzainvolved thirty two popu-lar kids’ characters fromacross the globe.

Thousands of kids andparents gathered at DLF Mallof India, Noida to witness thegrand event which madetheevening magical for everyone.There was excitement in the airas the people were euphoricwith whatthey had wit-nessed.

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Chinese tech czar Jack Ma onWednesday said there are

no experts for tomorrow and allthey know about is yesterday.

Addressing the WorldEconomic Forum AnnualMeeting here, the Alibaba exec-utive chairman also told busi-ness leaders never to worryabout competition and pressure.

“If you worry about pres-sure, don’t be a businessman.Today, the great thing is every-body worries about every-thing,” he quipped.

Replying to whether heencountered fear or doubtsover the course of buildingAlibaba over the last 20 years,he said “There’s no expert oftomorrow. There’s only expertof yesterday.”

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Equity benchmark Sensexon Wednesday tumbledover 336 points to end at

36,108 on emergence of intenseselling towards the fag-endmainly in FMCG, financialand IT stocks, while renewedconcerns over US-China tradetiff further jolted investors’sentiment.

Similarly, the NSE Niftyslumped over 91 points toclose at 10,831.

In the Sensex pack, ITCLtd emerged as the biggestloser with its shares plunging4.16% after the company’squarterly results failed toenthuse investors.

Other top losers on theindex were PowerGrid, Infosys,Mahindra and Mahindra andNTPC — falling as much as1.85%.

Traders said marketremained range-bound for thebetter part of the session asinvestors kept their exposure ata low ebb due to weak globalcues. Towards the fag-end, theselling pressure gatheredmomentum after Europeanmarkets opened in the negativezone.

However, some recovery inrupee amid slide in global crudebrought some respite for domes-tic bourses that were otherwiseappeared facing headwinds.

Global shares traded on amixed note with a negative biasdue to concerns over the stateof ongoing US-China trade

negotiations, amid reports thatthe White House has cancelleda trade planning meeting withBeijing this week.

“Market continued to tradeon the downside as absence ofmajor surprise from the quarterearnings failed to give direction.Investors are taking a cautiousapproach given their focus onglobal headwinds and upcominggeneral election. While FIIs aresellers in the market, expectationof slow pace in US FED rate hikeand possibility of rate cut inIndia will ease liquidity crunchin the market,” said Vinod Nair,head of research at GeojitFinancial Services Ltd.

The 30-share BSE Sensexopened on a firm note at36,494.12 and advanced to ahigh of 36,521.47. However, itsuccumbed to a late-sessionsell-off and finally ended at36,108.75, down by 336.17points, or 0.92%. The gauge hadlost 134.32 points in the previ-ous session. The NSE Nifty tootumbled 91.25 points, or 0.84%,to close at 10,831.50 after mov-ing between 10,811.95 and10,944.75.

Meanwhile, foreign portfo-lio investors (FPIs) sold sharesworth a net �78.53 crore onTuesday, while domestic insti-tutional investors (DIIs) soldshares worth �84.15 crore, pro-visional data showed.

Other than ITC, other lag-gards include PowerGrid,Infosys, M&M, NTPC, SBI,HDFC, Kotak Bank, HDFCBank, TCS, Hero MotoCorp,

Coal India, ONGC, RIL, AsianPaint, IndusInd Bank, ICICIBank, Maruti Suzuki, BajajAuto, Tata Motors, Bharti Airteland Axis Bank.

Among the winners, SunPharma continued to remaintop performer, spurting 3.04%,followed by Yes Bank at 2.71%.

Also, Tata Steel gained1.53%, followed by HUL 0.90%,Bajaj Finance 0.75%, VedantaLtd 0.60%, HCL Tech 0.57%,and L&T 0.02%.

Sector-wise, the BSE metalFMCG index emerged worstperformer by sinking 1.38%, fol-lowed by power 1.24%, IT0.85%, PSU 0.85%, infrastruc-ture 0.83%, auto 0.71%, bankex0.68%, realty 0.66%, capitalgoods 0.37%, and oil & gas0.03%.

While Metal index toppedwinner by surging 0.63%,healthcare gained 0.44%.

In the broader markets, themid-cap index and small-capindex fell up to 0.28%.

Globally, Japan’s Nikkei fell0.14%, Taiwan index fell 0.49%,Singapore declined 0.,46% andHong Kong’s Hang Seng shed0.02%. Shanghai CompositeIndex, however, rose 0.05% inlate morning deals. Japan’sNikkei also gained 0.04%.

The US Dow JonesIndustrial Average ended 1.22%lower on Tuesday. Europeanshares too were in negativezone in their early deals withFrankfurt’s DAX falling 0.49%and Paris CAC 40 down 0.39%.London’s FTSE fell 0.50%.

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Diversified group ITC onWednesday reported 3.84%

increase in standalone net prof-it at �3,209.07 crore in theDecember quarter 2018 helpedby good performance in FMCGand agri businesses.

The company had posted anet profit of �3,090.20 crore inOctober-December quarter ayear ago, ITC said in a BSE fil-ing.

Gross revenue from saleswas up 15.09% to �11,340.15crore as against �9,852.74 crorein the year-ago period.

“Gross revenue for the quar-ter stood at �11,340.15 crore,representing a growth of 15.1%driven mainly by FMCG-others,agri business and paperboards,paper and packaging segment,”said ITC in a statement.

In the third quarter of theprevious fiscal, ITC had report-ed an exceptional income of�412.90 crore.

“Exceptional items in theprevious period represent pro-visions for earlier years in respectof Tamil Nadu entry tax thatwere written back based on afavourable order of the SupremeCourt,” said ITC.

Total expenses of theKolkata-based firm were at�7,446.46 crore, up 16.75% asagainst � 6,377.90 crore in theDecember quarter 2017.

During the quarter, rev-enue from total FMCG businesswas up 10.31% to �8,274.36crore as against �7,500.97 crorein the year-ago period. Revenue

from cigarettes was at �5,073.38crore, showing an increase of9.59% from the year-ago period.

FMCG-others segment wasalso up 11.46% to �3,200.98crore in October-December2018 as against �2,871.78 crorein the year-ago period.

This was “led by atta, snacks,premium cream biscuits andnoodles in the branded pack-aged foods business, fragranceproducts and liquids (hand-wash and bodywash) in personalcare products business andClassmate notebooks in educa-tion and stationery productsbusiness,” said ITC. FMCG-others segment of ITC consistsof branded packaged foods as

staples, snacks, meals, dairy andbeverages, confections, apparel,education and stationery prod-ucts, personal care products,safety matches and incensesticks.

ITC’s hotel business wasalso up 11.72% to �451.86 croreduring the quarter as comparedto �404.44 crore in the corre-sponding period last fiscal.

Revenue from agribusinesssegment was also up 25.72% to�1,924.61 crore as against�1,530.86 crore in the Decemberquarter of the previous fiscal.Paperboards, paper and pack-aging segment was at �1,542.51crore, up 20.54% from �1,279.60crore earlier.

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New Delhi: InterGlobe Aviation, parent of IndiGo, onWednesday reported a 75% fall in profit after tax at �190.9 crore inthe December quarter as high fuel prices and currency deprecia-tion adversely impacted the bottomline. The airline had a profit aftertax of �762 crore in the corresponding period of 2017-18. The car-rier’s total income rose over 28% to �8,229.4 crore in the three monthsended December 2018. In the year-ago period, the same stood at�6,409 crore. IndiGo’s co-founder and interim CEO Rahul Bhatiasaid the airline posted a profit of �1.9 billion in a continued diffi-cult environment and have grown its fleet by one aircraft a weekfor a 33% capacity increase for the December quarter.

��,��D+�� /� ��*��!'G� �� #+��New Delhi: State-owned Vijaya Bank on Wednesday report-

ed a 80.2% jump in its net profit to �143.38 crore for the December2018 quarter. The public sector lender had posted a net profitof �79.56 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fis-cal. The bank’s total income also rose to �4,106.42 crore duringthe period, compared with �3,450.81 crore a year ago, Vijaya Banksaid in a regulatory filing. The bank’s gross non-performing assets(NPAs) declined marginally to 6.14% against 6.17% in the samequarter of last fiscal. However, net NPAs rose to 4.08% duringOctober-December 2018, compared with 3.99% in the year-agoperiod.

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New Delhi (PTI): The country’s largest car maker Maruti SuzukiIndia (MSI) on Wednesday launched an all-new version of its hatch-back WagonR, priced between �4.19 lakh and �5.69 lakh (ex-show-room), as it looks to further strengthen its position in the com-pact hatchback segment. The new WagonR, which comes with a1.2-litre petrol engine option along with another choice of 1-litrepowertrain mated to manual as well as automatic gear shift trans-mission, will compete with the likes of Hyundai Santro and TataTiago. The one-litre manual versions of new WagonR are pricedat �4.19 lakh and �4.69 lakh, while the automated gear shift trimis tagged at �5.16 lakh. The 1.2-litre variants are priced between�4.89 lakh and �5.69 lakh (all prices ex-showroom).

Tiago and Santro are priced between �3.9 lakh and �5.64 lakh.The new WagonR, which is based on Suzuki’s fifth generation

HEARTECT platform, is wider and longer than its outgoing ver-sion. It has led to improved interior space as well as boot capaci-ty which has almost doubled up to 341 litres from the earlier avatar.The company said the use of high-tensile steel has improved theoverall safety, rigidity and NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness)performance in the new offering which come with various safetyfeatures such as driver airbag, anti-lock braking system with elec-tronic brakeforce distribution and front seat belts reminder, speedalert system and rear parking sensors.

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Script Open High Low LTPRCOM 13.35 13.37 12.86 12.94SUZLON 5.20 5.23 5.10 5.16SUNPHARMA 419.00 434.20 411.80 430.75ICICIPRULI 333.05 336.30 302.00 305.70YESBANK 194.80 199.45 193.60 197.30ITC 292.00 294.30 275.00 277.70JPASSOCIAT 7.15 7.17 6.88 6.96SPARC 177.10 179.30 169.10 172.55JETAIRWAYS 273.00 276.50 262.45 265.40MINDTREE 927.00 942.40 901.70 906.65RADICO 413.00 436.05 412.20 421.15M&M 709.00 709.75 692.75 696.40RELIANCE 1233.40 1244.00 1222.50 1225.70TATASTEEL 457.95 467.50 457.00 463.80WIPRO 348.60 355.45 347.95 351.20DHFL 206.55 213.20 206.20 209.55MARUTI 7042.00 7130.00 7020.00 7042.15LT 1305.00 1306.25 1294.75 1301.00BBTC 1222.80 1291.55 1207.35 1213.85FEDERALBNK 89.50 90.10 88.20 88.60IBULHSGFIN 808.00 808.00 773.50 778.15DELTACORP 234.50 239.95 234.00 237.70ADANIPORTS 391.00 392.05 384.70 387.45INFY 743.25 743.25 729.05 731.45KOTAKBANK 1295.00 1298.95 1270.00 1276.20RELINFRA 280.00 287.35 278.30 280.85PCJEWELLER 79.00 80.95 76.10 78.25ASIANPAINT 1430.00 1430.00 1390.75 1397.10GRAPHITE 680.40 698.50 668.50 671.20SUPREMEIND 1051.95 1074.00 1025.00 1068.90JINDALSTEL 137.30 142.10 137.30 139.50TATAMOTORS 182.00 182.70 178.60 180.25TV18BRDCST 34.05 35.65 34.05 34.40RELCAPITAL 207.90 212.80 205.75 208.95ZEEL 425.90 439.50 424.55 432.80HINDUNILVR 1752.50 1783.60 1750.50 1765.70VEDL 191.45 195.00 190.65 192.85TVSMOTOR 553.05 553.25 523.80 531.80HDFCLIFE 387.40 389.05 372.25 373.95SBIN 290.05 294.70 285.40 286.50JISLJALEQS 61.70 62.30 60.55 60.80DMART 1355.95 1398.00 1348.40 1393.00HEG 3239.75 3343.00 3230.00 3275.45RAYMOND 813.00 829.00 805.40 814.35STAR 547.00 548.55 521.20 531.40ITI 106.35 107.35 101.60 104.60PHILIPCARB 181.00 183.00 178.40 179.85ASHOKLEY 87.65 89.45 87.10 89.10DEEPAKFERT 119.70 120.25 111.05 113.25GRUH 222.60 227.10 220.55 226.10WABAG 296.05 304.95 288.10 292.35AXISBANK 660.00 666.95 659.00 661.40CANFINHOME 268.50 270.00 259.85 266.00HDFCBANK 2136.10 2150.05 2102.40 2109.75TCS 1900.00 1907.70 1874.00 1879.75IBREALEST 78.00 84.10 77.70 83.30HAVELLS 721.50 725.00 690.00 695.75JUSTDIAL 481.95 487.90 478.50 484.15BIOCON 672.00 677.25 666.70 672.00SRTRANSFIN 1097.05 1106.45 1081.00 1087.75ABCAPITAL 91.00 91.80 86.85 87.60SUNTV 521.00 536.90 521.00 528.55JUBILANT 730.95 768.90 730.95 756.50INDIGO 1122.00 1125.45 1096.00 1110.40BANKBARODA 113.10 114.80 111.20 111.60BANDHANBNK 408.00 420.00 407.00 414.20IDFCFIRSTB 47.15 47.95 46.80 47.20ICICIBANK 369.70 373.50 366.40 367.65NAUKRI 1652.50 1762.20 1630.85 1751.15RATNAMANI 899.60 899.60 780.00 874.10L&TFH 137.95 138.35 135.70 136.80PNB 78.50 79.45 77.25 77.75UPL 763.40 781.60 760.00 763.10SPICEJET 81.45 81.70 79.80 80.05PETRONET 223.10 227.70 221.70 226.85BHARATFORG 485.25 493.10 480.00 490.05DABUR 433.00 435.65 428.60 430.05JSWSTEEL 278.00 284.90 277.60 280.30BAJFINANCE 2637.00 2651.40 2610.60 2636.40HDFC 1980.00 1980.00 1951.00 1957.65STRTECH 297.00 299.85 290.65 293.40BHARTIARTL 307.00 307.50 303.00 304.05BEL 85.60 85.75 83.75 83.90UNIONBANK 83.95 84.65 82.25 82.70KPIT 219.80 219.90 212.15 217.95ADANIPOWER 51.55 52.65 51.20 51.80JUBLFOOD 1167.00 1184.70 1165.00 1173.50MOTHERSUMI 163.05 163.05 155.55 157.10PEL 2350.00 2373.00 2334.05 2361.00COFFEEDAY 289.00 299.90 286.00 288.45IBVENTURES 360.50 371.00 359.90 360.70DLF 180.00 180.85 176.20 176.50BEML 877.00 894.00 871.10 881.60BANKINDIA 98.00 98.65 96.50 96.90RBLBANK 575.00 584.00 575.00 580.00MPHASIS 865.20 904.80 861.00 899.20NTPC 143.00 144.30 140.15 140.55MAHABANK 14.30 15.58 14.28 14.44INDUSINDBK 1501.85 1509.25 1486.45 1493.60PIDILITIND 1159.00 1162.75 1126.00 1130.95IOC 136.50 136.85 135.15 135.95BHEL 71.30 71.60 69.05 69.30GNFC 353.30 356.35 338.00 340.55TITAN 983.50 987.50 959.40 960.00HINDALCO 202.15 207.20 202.15 204.50GRASIM 805.00 807.00 780.05 783.85CANBK 263.40 265.05 258.65 260.00ONGC 144.90 145.50 142.85 143.20

CGPOWER 42.00 42.00 40.00 40.50VIJAYABANK 45.40 46.00 44.15 44.50TORNTPOWER 256.80 263.90 255.00 261.95ADANITRANS 208.15 221.50 205.60 207.00IDEA 34.00 34.05 33.30 33.95LICHSGFIN 475.30 483.75 465.10 466.00HINDPETRO 241.90 244.45 239.40 241.55COALINDIA 227.85 228.00 225.60 226.00ESCORTS 725.00 736.15 718.35 729.30TATAPOWER 77.10 77.90 74.85 75.25SAIL 48.30 49.15 48.05 48.55BATAINDIA 1145.65 1175.45 1145.65 1162.00RAJESHEXPO 595.00 606.70 577.50 584.85HFCL 21.90 23.05 21.80 22.40HCLTECH 945.75 949.20 938.80 946.95DRREDDY 2640.00 2658.85 2630.00 2641.80ABFRL 202.65 207.40 200.00 202.55BAJAJFINSV 6434.00 6510.00 6400.80 6500.00LINDEINDIA 668.95 668.95 650.00 655.25WOCKPHARMA 495.55 500.25 491.00 492.85TECHM 713.25 724.10 711.85 718.75GRANULES 86.60 94.40 85.30 93.20IGL 282.50 286.95 281.75 285.00FORCEMOT 1522.00 1529.90 1501.00 1504.60HEROMOTOCO 2811.00 2848.45 2780.00 2799.95SIEMENS 1042.50 1053.60 1042.00 1045.75GAIL 334.00 336.35 330.25 333.55CONCOR 672.00 672.20 657.75 659.90INFIBEAM 43.60 44.25 42.90 43.10

UJJIVAN 294.00 294.00 281.35 284.40AUROPHARMA 789.00 793.20 779.85 782.20ISEC 212.45 218.00 210.50 211.70RECLTD 123.75 125.40 120.55 121.00BRITANNIA 3160.45 3228.20 3158.65 3218.00PFC 101.05 103.60 100.75 101.85EQUITAS 121.15 121.75 118.30 118.30MAHINDCIE 231.00 239.00 230.55 232.20BOMDYEING 118.30 120.75 116.95 118.50BPCL 353.90 358.50 353.90 356.30JAICORPLTD 108.00 109.75 106.95 107.65OIL 171.55 171.55 169.05 169.80SHREECEM 16299.95 16612.15 15827.45 16050.00HINDZINC 264.00 264.00 258.20 259.10FSL 49.45 50.35 49.00 49.25NIITTECH 1304.00 1304.50 1266.90 1274.30PERSISTENT 547.00 565.50 542.20 542.20AJANTPHARM 1167.70 1192.00 1158.00 1166.45NBCC 57.65 58.10 56.50 56.85SOUTHBANK 14.20 14.20 13.85 13.95NCC 86.25 87.00 84.95 85.45ORIENTBANK 93.40 94.50 91.70 92.30BALKRISIND 865.00 877.00 855.00 863.45NATIONALUM 60.55 62.95 60.55 61.75GODFRYPHLP 957.05 976.25 949.00 953.95APOLLOHOSP 1290.00 1316.95 1283.50 1295.00DBL 379.50 379.50 357.50 358.55CENTURYTEX 873.05 893.30 872.40 884.90HINDCOPPER 48.05 48.75 47.50 48.00OBEROIRLTY 448.00 448.00 437.30 440.45RAMCOCEM 602.50 606.00 590.05 605.00KAJARIACER 547.35 552.00 545.00 548.70GODREJIND 522.10 528.85 520.10 526.50CASTROLIND 165.85 168.00 163.00 164.10POWERGRID 189.35 191.00 185.50 186.10KEC 265.20 266.25 256.55 258.55LUPIN 864.00 873.10 860.00 864.25HUDCO 44.15 46.15 44.15 44.70GSFC 107.75 109.45 105.20 105.40BASF 1517.70 1535.00 1451.00 1460.00NHPC 25.75 25.75 25.05 25.25TRIDENT 70.00 70.00 68.55 69.05KEI 368.00 372.80 360.40 362.70OMAXE 214.15 214.20 213.25 214.20COLPAL 1307.00 1335.60 1301.00 1306.95RPOWER 28.40 28.50 27.95 28.15FORTIS 135.60 136.80 135.40 135.40SYMPHONY 1174.35 1239.90 1165.00 1218.70TATAELXSI 972.70 980.00 963.10 967.00PAGEIND 22525.00 22887.90 22511.05 22800.00DISHTV 34.45 34.45 33.50 33.65NOCIL 161.10 161.10 155.65 156.30SONATSOFTW 319.70 330.00 318.00 321.35ACC 1433.10 1454.00 1423.55 1429.00INDIACEM 84.65 85.60 83.75 84.00SUVEN 211.00 212.85 202.10 204.10IDBI 57.20 57.90 56.35 56.55PNBHOUSING 877.10 914.95 874.50 902.80VOLTAS 535.75 541.60 530.00 530.00

HEXAWARE 333.45 336.20 329.35 332.90RCF 63.45 63.65 62.50 62.75IRB 149.45 150.55 146.05 147.05LUXIND 1218.00 1275.00 1218.00 1229.90DCBBANK 180.00 181.80 179.10 180.10VIPIND 493.10 498.75 489.35 492.00TATAMTRDVR 97.40 97.40 95.05 95.20EDELWEISS 164.10 165.25 160.00 160.00GHCL 257.45 265.00 255.25 257.60EXIDEIND 245.00 245.25 240.55 241.35LTTS 1668.95 1687.35 1652.20 1665.40GODREJCP 791.90 797.00 785.95 789.85DCAL 220.85 228.00 217.50 220.70MANPASAND 82.45 83.55 81.30 81.30EICHERMOT 20245.00 20245.00 20000.10 20075.10ULTRACEMCO 3852.60 3880.50 3840.00 3840.00MUTHOOTFIN 541.45 547.00 537.50 538.55JAMNAAUTO 59.95 60.60 59.10 59.70CIPLA 508.50 512.10 507.00 509.80SYNGENE 585.05 590.00 571.00 573.00ALBK 42.80 42.85 41.55 41.70JSL 29.60 29.75 27.90 28.55ATUL 3486.10 3557.45 3486.10 3528.00IBULISL 325.05 346.90 316.60 321.25INDIANB 248.20 251.60 247.00 249.55INFRATEL 277.40 281.00 275.55 279.55CHOLAFIN 1143.55 1163.95 1139.50 1147.25SREINFRA 32.85 33.50 31.80 32.20RAIN 119.35 120.70 117.95 119.60

SHANKARA 491.35 491.35 468.00 472.25GODREJPROP 732.95 741.00 710.30 711.05CEATLTD 1216.45 1230.25 1213.10 1216.55JKTYRE 99.00 99.10 97.00 97.30AVANTI 367.00 372.80 360.25 360.95ENGINERSIN 117.35 118.10 116.10 116.25TIINDIA 331.20 338.10 330.00 334.85REPCOHOME 427.65 430.95 399.00 408.70SUNTECK 344.95 344.95 332.00 333.95KSCL 559.95 560.80 550.30 557.00VGUARD 202.75 204.60 199.50 201.10NMDC 91.65 91.65 89.80 90.00CYIENT 606.80 606.85 590.50 598.40BLISSGVS 160.00 161.55 158.15 159.85QUESS 648.15 658.00 635.10 645.25TATAGLOBAL 210.30 214.10 210.00 210.45BAJAJ-AUTO 2688.30 2698.05 2665.20 2675.95MCX 736.05 743.70 722.10 729.45DBCORP 181.45 182.20 177.00 179.55MARICO 376.30 378.35 374.70 376.65GLENMARK 662.50 662.50 646.75 649.00AUBANK 600.05 600.05 587.95 591.40AARTIIND 1554.50 1554.50 1530.05 1536.45WELCORP 116.05 118.70 114.35 114.65JMFINANCIL 84.70 86.45 82.60 83.00SYNDIBANK 36.80 37.10 35.25 35.65RALLIS 167.15 168.70 164.55 165.60MANAPPURAM 99.10 99.50 97.30 97.50PARAGMILK 237.90 237.90 232.20 232.80JSWENERGY 68.20 70.00 68.15 68.75M&MFIN 437.00 441.80 432.10 432.90GLAXO 1424.80 1433.80 1400.80 1429.90RNAM 154.05 154.15 147.00 148.45FCONSUMER 41.25 41.45 40.10 40.25LTI 1782.00 1795.00 1745.45 1759.90PRESTIGE 217.80 218.40 202.00 211.10INDHOTEL 138.45 138.45 136.40 137.55GMRINFRA 16.15 16.40 15.95 16.15IPCALAB 775.80 784.00 771.10 783.00ICICIGI 844.00 857.20 824.00 835.70MGL 910.00 913.00 899.00 905.50INTELLECT 211.30 213.40 210.00 211.00KRBL 358.50 373.00 358.10 362.15CENTURYPLY 171.90 172.80 168.00 169.95AMBUJACEM 212.35 215.50 210.65 212.00KTKBANK 118.70 119.75 117.55 118.30SRF 2058.10 2088.55 2050.20 2064.75APOLLOTYRE 219.00 219.50 217.10 217.30MFSL 436.00 442.50 429.50 439.00LALPATHLAB 1030.00 1085.00 1030.00 1064.65JSLHISAR 83.80 83.80 81.00 81.90JKCEMENT 729.35 729.35 704.50 706.90IDFC 42.20 42.90 42.05 42.20CADILAHC 344.30 345.80 341.15 342.85EIDPARRY 202.75 208.35 201.70 202.50NESTLEIND 11152.00 11343.95 11152.00 11310.55SCI 43.35 43.60 42.60 42.95ZENSARTECH 220.00 227.90 220.00 223.85BAJAJHLDNG 2966.90 2980.00 2955.00 2960.00

ABB 1308.95 1311.95 1285.80 1287.00JBCHEPHARM 311.00 321.25 310.25 317.80DIVISLAB 1502.00 1511.80 1496.80 1508.45OFSS 3680.00 3810.00 3680.00 3765.10TORNTPHARM 1914.05 1930.00 1899.75 1909.00WESTLIFE 382.00 387.60 374.95 381.80AMARAJABAT 781.45 785.75 776.15 778.05APLAPOLLO 1118.00 1149.00 1100.85 1115.20ASHOKA 125.45 126.30 123.15 123.80MMTC 27.80 28.65 27.80 28.00JINDALSAW 76.60 78.40 76.55 77.40INOXWIND 72.20 74.55 71.60 72.95BERGEPAINT 322.75 324.05 318.00 319.40LAXMIMACH 5416.00 5658.25 5416.00 5500.00FDC 169.80 169.80 161.85 165.50J&KBANK 39.00 39.10 38.40 38.65BHARATFIN 948.50 960.00 946.30 952.00IFCI 14.25 14.27 13.95 14.13ECLERX 1065.90 1076.00 1045.20 1057.25TRENT 365.35 366.00 356.75 357.90VENKYS 2247.00 2287.00 2231.10 2239.80WELSPUNIND 59.75 60.20 58.85 59.45BAJAJELEC 471.45 473.75 459.15 464.25HEIDELBERG 151.55 152.50 147.30 147.65BALMLAWRIE 191.00 191.05 187.10 190.00COROMANDEL 423.00 440.00 423.00 433.00NAVINFLUOR 662.20 666.25 643.00 655.05ENDURANCE 1139.40 1179.60 1139.40 1165.00FRETAIL 440.05 444.45 440.05 441.00CHENNPETRO 259.85 262.65 258.00 259.70ASTRAZEN 1617.50 1679.80 1617.50 1647.00PIIND 859.80 877.80 855.10 862.00GODREJAGRO 500.50 506.40 498.75 503.00SBILIFE 619.40 627.50 614.10 618.95MEGH 59.00 59.00 57.00 57.25MINDAIND 295.55 299.70 293.25 294.00PVR 1604.40 1614.00 1594.40 1609.00GESHIP 299.00 300.95 290.20 291.00UBL 1470.00 1470.00 1442.40 1442.40EMAMILTD 425.45 425.45 416.00 419.45HSIL 232.00 233.00 227.10 227.45APLLTD 595.20 603.00 585.00 585.00FINCABLES 432.90 435.00 422.00 423.00NATCOPHARM* 687.95 696.20 681.50 685.00DEEPAKNI 230.95 230.95 225.10 229.60HSCL 128.15 131.00 128.00 129.50MAXINDIA 85.10 85.70 84.90 85.15INDOSTAR 329.00 340.00 327.10 327.10PTC 82.50 85.40 82.50 84.90GREAVESCOT 119.35 120.35 119.35 119.95UFLEX 259.45 264.80 258.00 262.00SHILPAMED 410.00 410.00 395.00 398.90MRPL 68.00 69.70 68.00 69.00TATAMETALI 589.45 599.80 589.00 593.80AIAENG 1666.70 1668.00 1640.00 1640.00DCMSHRIRAM 337.90 343.05 333.00 335.00ESSELPRO 114.45 117.95 112.95 116.70CUB 190.75 190.75 185.95 188.60CARBORUNIV 361.00 365.90 359.10 360.00WHIRLPOOL 1473.60 1476.70 1455.45 1455.45PFIZER 2720.00 2725.50 2651.00 2664.90GSPL 179.60 180.25 178.70 180.25ADVENZYMES 171.90 171.90 161.50 163.25CUMMINSIND 832.00 835.35 819.00 819.00TATACHEM 682.60 691.85 676.50 678.05TTKPRESTIG 7647.85 8100.00 7647.85 8021.00MINDACORP 143.60 146.40 143.05 145.65PRSMJOHNSN 80.45 82.00 80.40 80.90ASTRAL 1045.90 1073.00 1038.95 1057.70ITDC 301.30 304.45 291.20 292.80TATACOFFEE 92.25 93.65 91.90 92.20VBL 789.55 794.70 771.15 772.00DENABANK 13.00 13.10 12.80 12.95NAVKARCORP 46.00 46.55 45.40 46.20MERCK 3295.00 3350.00 3287.80 3288.40AEGISLOG 200.65 201.00 194.55 196.50MOTILALOFS 672.00 678.60 661.85 667.15SOMANYCERA 367.50 367.50 352.00 356.15MOIL 165.50 165.50 160.65 161.00BIRLACORPN 536.00 546.00 527.15 533.55GUJGAS 131.80 131.80 130.00 130.70HAL 765.00 766.40 750.10 750.10KANSAINER 457.00 457.20 445.50 445.50SUPPETRO 185.35 190.40 183.75 187.00CROMPTON 223.25 226.00 218.45 220.10LEMONTREE 69.00 69.80 67.90 69.20BAYERCROP 4236.90 4299.70 4126.00 4290.00ADANIGREEN 37.60 38.35 37.60 38.00REDINGTON 80.05 80.30 77.15 77.75BAJAJCON 353.00 363.60 348.20 358.20GUJALKALI 515.90 523.65 514.70 518.05JYOTHYLAB 193.80 193.80 190.65 193.55MAHLIFE 419.00 419.00 408.60 411.25TATACOMM 515.80 522.30 512.00 513.80NETWORK18 37.25 38.50 37.25 37.80EVEREADY 226.80 226.80 216.65 217.75UCOBANK 19.60 19.95 19.45 19.95CERA 2557.35 2610.00 2530.00 2532.00GET&D 312.75 312.75 303.60 309.00SWANENERGY 98.50 99.00 97.65 98.85INOXLEISUR 250.55 252.15 246.00 247.80COCHINSHIP 359.00 363.25 359.00 362.35CHAMBLFERT 165.50 165.50 161.30 163.05CRISIL 1645.60 1662.00 1630.00 1648.00NILKAMAL 1325.00 1326.50 1307.05 1315.00PHOENIXLTD 603.00 606.00 597.00 602.25GICRE 251.40 251.40 245.55 248.50CENTRALBK 32.35 32.75 32.00 32.50GPPL 87.50 88.70 87.50 88.00

CAPPL 385.85 390.00 381.15 385.00SUDARSCHEM 325.45 327.80 324.15 326.00KALPATPOWR 376.20 382.05 371.30 372.00SOBHA 503.75 511.00 499.10 505.20LAKSHVILAS 70.95 71.15 68.40 70.10TIMETECHNO 106.00 106.00 101.80 101.80BDL 276.00 277.00 271.25 277.00SUPRAJIT 213.40 216.10 205.15 205.15ALLCARGO 110.95 111.60 109.55 110.00ANDHRABANK 27.60 27.80 26.90 27.05SUNDRMFAST 522.95 524.50 520.25 520.25GMDCLTD 84.60 85.90 83.75 84.00IOB 14.10 14.32 13.97 13.97MHRIL 209.15 209.90 204.35 205.00FLFL 411.45 422.00 410.85 422.00MRF 65238.55 66211.10 65238.55 65831.00VMART 2299.05 2360.00 2294.20 2307.00VINATIORGA 1595.00 1603.00 1582.10 1582.10IEX 160.00 161.95 158.35 160.15TVTODAY 369.90 369.90 361.15 363.25KNRCON 211.85 214.50 210.00 210.00BOSCHLTD 19239.55 19264.00 19026.00 19026.00SADBHAV 208.90 208.90 198.30 198.30EIHOTEL 181.55 182.05 178.60 179.75THERMAX 1096.50 1108.45 1080.00 1085.80GSKCONS 7268.85 7306.00 7252.80 7252.80TAKE 158.05 159.05 155.20 156.65GDL 107.90 108.00 104.00 105.55THOMASCOOK 219.60 225.00 217.00 225.00NBVENTURES 110.65 113.00 110.65 112.75ASTERDM 160.00 165.00 159.00 165.00SJVN 25.75 25.90 25.60 25.70SCHNEIDER 94.65 94.65 92.10 92.95GRINDWELL 560.00 571.00 556.00 569.25AKZOINDIA 1731.30 1756.75 1725.65 1730.35VTL 1075.70 1078.00 1053.30 1074.00SHK 173.40 174.65 171.50 171.50GILLETTE 6460.45 6515.00 6450.00 6499.95NIACL 179.25 181.20 179.00 180.95PNCINFRA 151.00 152.50 150.15 150.80ITDCEM 120.05 123.00 120.05 121.00FORBESCO 2162.10 2219.95 2149.75 2150.00HATSUN 702.00 714.50 696.40 698.00ALKEM 1890.90 1907.55 1865.25 1865.25JAGRAN 109.55 110.40 109.00 109.55GALAXYSURF 1143.30 1143.30 1101.50 1108.00TRITURBINE 114.00 115.00 110.40 114.00NLCINDIA 67.80 68.80 67.80 68.35TEAMLEASE 2614.55 2727.00 2614.50 2727.00TEJASNET 215.00 215.35 211.00 212.40LAOPALA 217.00 217.50 214.20 214.95FINOLEXIND 530.45 543.90 530.00 538.75IFBIND 825.90 841.60 824.50 839.00SOLARINDS 1021.85 1038.00 1002.05 1025.00ISGEC 5001.00 5050.00 5000.00 5000.00ABBOTINDIA 8189.10 8237.20 8171.95 8175.05HONAUT 22050.00 22209.20 21799.95 22182.00NAVNETEDUL 109.75 109.80 108.10 108.25TNPL 228.00 230.65 225.85 229.60HERITGFOOD 533.50 533.50 515.70 518.00ASAHIINDIA 255.10 257.20 255.00 255.00CCL 272.50 273.05 270.90 272.00GICHSGFIN 249.45 252.50 246.30 247.35MAGMA 107.00 107.00 104.60 104.60KIOCL 141.10 142.85 137.80 139.40STARCEMENT 95.25 96.95 94.45 96.953MINDIA 20632.60 20836.35 20580.00 20655.15HIMATSEIDE 214.40 218.20 212.50 215.00MAHLOG 504.00 505.80 500.50 500.55PGHH 9947.00 9962.30 9910.00 9910.05GUJFLUORO 883.80 888.00 878.40 888.00BLUESTARCO 616.50 616.50 606.90 610.90BLUEDART 3090.00 3094.90 3060.00 3060.40CORPBANK 27.20 27.45 27.10 27.45WABCOINDIA 6295.05 6349.85 6275.50 6331.00TATAINVEST 839.45 839.45 830.10 830.10SANOFI 6416.35 6446.75 6380.05 6400.00JKLAKSHMI 296.70 296.70 293.00 295.00KPRMILL 530.05 535.55 530.00 530.60CENTRUM 33.40 34.50 33.40 33.60SUNCLAYLTD 3119.85 3119.85 2995.00 3100.00CARERATING 985.60 989.95 982.20 987.10ERIS 685.00 687.00 674.60 674.60THYROCARE 545.05 550.00 545.05 548.80MONSANTO 2551.35 2565.80 2551.00 2558.95SCHAEFFLER 5538.30 5558.00 5421.20 5425.00NESCO 447.15 454.00 445.00 445.00ZYDUSWELL 1248.45 1274.80 1248.45 1274.75SHOPERSTOP 514.00 521.00 510.80 513.90DHANUKA 408.50 415.00 407.25 410.00GULFOILLUB 851.50 855.70 850.00 850.00LAURUSLABS 375.05 377.90 375.00 375.00ORIENTCEM 74.80 76.20 74.00 75.50NH 195.00 195.00 185.30 186.60SIS 775.00 794.80 775.00 784.70SKFINDIA 1930.00 1930.00 1924.00 1924.05TIFHL 470.00 470.00 460.10 464.05TIMKEN 567.65 567.65 559.40 559.40GREENPLY 137.30 137.75 136.55 136.60SHARDACROP 307.70 307.70 298.00 301.20GEPIL 814.35 818.35 810.05 810.05JCHAC 1825.00 1825.00 1785.80 1789.95ELGIEQUIP 252.40 252.40 249.75 251.85TVSSRICHAK 2356.60 2399.50 2356.60 2375.00RELAXO 742.50 742.50 732.50 732.55APARINDS 616.55 621.45 616.55 618.35SHRIRAMCIT 1752.00 1760.00 1749.35 1755.75SFL 1270.00 1270.00 1261.00 1261.25

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 10931.05 10944.80 10811.95 10831.50 -91.25SUNPHARMA 417.70 434.40 411.65 430.40 11.45YESBANK 194.50 199.50 193.65 197.25 5.05TATASTEEL 457.00 467.85 457.00 463.10 6.55WIPRO 348.65 355.80 348.00 351.00 4.50ZEEL 424.50 439.80 423.80 430.30 5.05BAJAJFINSV 6429.85 6528.00 6405.00 6505.00 69.45TECHM 714.00 725.90 711.00 721.00 6.80JSWSTEEL 278.00 284.90 277.20 280.45 2.45INFRATEL 278.00 281.40 274.80 279.75 2.10HINDALCO 203.55 207.30 203.45 205.00 1.45BPCL 354.50 358.65 354.40 356.20 2.40HINDUNILVR 1752.00 1784.05 1749.40 1760.55 10.35VEDL 191.50 195.00 190.60 192.50 1.00BAJFINANCE 2619.00 2653.00 2611.00 2633.05 11.15CIPLA 510.00 511.70 507.10 509.05 1.95HCLTECH 947.50 949.95 938.70 943.15 2.40EICHERMOT 20077.00 20223.00 19991.00 20049.00 25.40DRREDDY 2639.85 2660.00 2630.00 2641.50 1.20LT 1301.00 1306.90 1293.55 1301.50 0.35IOC 136.50 136.80 135.10 135.90 -0.05UPL 764.00 782.15 759.85 762.85 -0.45AXISBANK 659.50 667.00 658.60 659.85 -1.75GAIL 334.95 336.50 330.55 332.00 -0.90ULTRACEMCO 3862.00 3886.05 3840.75 3850.00 -10.50MARUTI 7050.00 7132.25 7025.00 7044.00 -24.85HINDPETRO 242.25 244.40 239.30 241.10 -0.90BAJAJ-AUTO 2699.00 2699.00 2665.10 2677.95 -10.40ICICIBANK 368.80 373.70 366.45 367.40 -1.65ASIANPAINT 1429.00 1429.45 1390.00 1399.85 -7.10TATAMOTORS 181.70 182.70 178.55 179.90 -0.95BHARTIARTL 306.80 307.40 302.30 303.10 -1.75ONGC 144.70 145.55 143.00 143.30 -1.05INDUSINDBK 1497.15 1509.00 1486.20 1490.05 -11.55RELIANCE 1233.30 1244.20 1222.00 1224.45 -10.70COALINDIA 227.80 228.00 225.25 225.55 -2.20HEROMOTOCO 2832.00 2851.45 2785.10 2794.35 -30.55TCS 1901.00 1906.10 1870.00 1881.00 -20.90HDFC 1981.80 1984.95 1951.30 1957.25 -22.15POWERGRID 189.55 191.50 185.70 187.40 -2.30NTPC 142.90 143.60 140.30 141.00 -1.80HDFCBANK 2134.00 2135.85 2101.45 2106.95 -28.90SBIN 290.45 292.95 285.50 286.20 -4.05KOTAKBANK 1298.90 1298.90 1271.05 1272.05 -19.70ADANIPORTS 390.00 392.00 383.60 384.50 -6.10INFY 742.35 742.60 729.20 731.65 -13.70M&M 708.50 709.75 693.60 694.10 -14.40TITAN 987.40 987.40 957.60 960.00 -22.65IBULHSGFIN 802.00 806.25 774.25 777.15 -20.20GRASIM 805.60 806.50 777.00 780.50 -23.85ITC 291.50 294.40 275.00 276.00 -13.75

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US Senate leaders have agreed tovote on Thursday on competing

proposals to end a government shut-down now in its second month, butthe chances are slim that either willreopen federal agencies.

Senate Majority Leader MitchMcConnell and top Democrat ChuckSchumer announced an agreement onthe Senate floor Tuesday for a pair oftest votes. The first would be a pro-cedural step on a measure that fundsall shuttered branches of govern-ment through September, andincludes President Donald Trump'sdemand for border wall funding andhis proposal on immigration policy.

A second vote would be on a stop-gap measure that funds governmentuntil February 8, to allow for debateover border security and immigration,while also letting Trump's upcomingState of the Union address beforeCongress proceed.

It also would include disasterrelief money already passed in theHouse. Each proposal would require60 votes to advance in the 100-mem-ber body, a high threshold, given thecurrent level of partisan rancor overwho is to blame for the shutdown.

A senior Republican Senate aidetold AFP it was unlikely Republicanswould sign on to the short-termfunding bill, and that even if they did,the president would not sign it. Butthe Democratic leader took to thefloor to say the votes "could break usout of the morass we are in," and hespecifically encouraged Republicansto sign on to the stop-gap bill to brieflyopen government. "It will allow us tothen debate, without hostage-taking,without temper tantrum... How wecan best do border security," he said.

On Monday, FBI agents com-plained that the month-old US gov-ernment shutdown is preventingthem from paying informants, buyingdrugs undercover in narcotics busts,and even renewing their own securi-ty clearances. Investigations and pros-ecutions are suffering from the lackof money to travel to interview wit-nesses or funds to pay translators,agents are saying, according to TomO'Connor, president of the FBIAgents Association (FBIAA). T h eshutdown began on December 22after President Donald Trump reject-ed a proposed government fundingbill that did not meet his demand forbillions of dollars to build a wall onthe US-Mexico border.

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Kurdish-led fighters overran thelast village held by the Islamic

State group in Syria on Wednesday,confining its once vast cross-border"caliphate" to two small hamlets, awar monitor said.

It is the culmination of a broadoffensive launched by the SyrianDemocratic Forces last Septemberwith US-led coalition support inwhich they have reduced thejihadists' last enclave on the northbank of the Euphrates valley near theIraqi border to a tiny rump.

The capture of the village ofBaghouz leaves the few remainingdiehard IS fighters holed up in scat-tered homesteads among the irri-gated fields and orchards on the

north bank of the Euphrates Valley."Search operations are continu-

ing in Baghouz to find any IS fight-ers who are still hiding," the head ofthe Britain-based SyrianObservatory for Human Rights,Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

"The SDF will now have topush on into the farmland aroundBaghouz." "Around 4,900 people,mostly women and children butincluding 470 IS fighters, have fledthe jihadists' fast dwindling enclavesince Monday, Abdel Rahman saidlate on Tuesday.

Of those 3,500 surrendered tothe advancing SDF on Tuesdayalone. They were evacuated ondozens of trucks chartered by theSDF. The fall of Baghouz follows theSDF's capture of the enclave's sole

town of Hajin and the villages of Al-Shaafa and Sousa in recent weeks.

The new wave of departuresmeans that nearly 27,000 peoplehave left former IS areas since earlyDecember, including almost 1,800jihadists who have surrendered, theObservatory said. The where-abouts of the ultra-elusive IS supre-mo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who hasmade just once public appearance -- in Iraq's then IS-held second cityMosul in 2014 — are unknown.

It is a far cry from the jihadists'peak in 2014, when they overranlarge parts of Syria and neighbour-ing Iraq and Baghdadi proclaimeda "caliphate" in areas under theircontrol. The gains have come atthe cost of heavy losses for the main-ly Kurdish fighters of the SDF and

despite their sense of betrayal bytheir US ally after President DonaldTrump made the surprise announce-ment last month that Washingtonwould withdraw all its troops.

Neighbouring Turkey hasthreatened repeatedly to launch across-border operation to crush theKurdish fighters of the SDF and theautonomous region they have set upin areas of northern and northeast-ern Syria under their control.

Turkish troops had been held atbay by the intervention of US troopswho set up observation posts alongthe border and mounted joint patrolswith Kurdish fighters.

But with those troops gone, theKurds fear they will be exposed tothe full might of the Turkish mili-tary.

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Chinese authorities have detaineda dozen labour activists over

recent days in the latest clampdownon efforts to organise workplaces inChina, rights groups said. Beijinghas taken an uncompromising lineagainst efforts to establish inde-pendent labour unions in southernGuangdong province, the epicentreof China's high-tech manufacturingsector.

The campaign is backed by cam-pus Marxist groups at some of

China's most prestigious universities— several leaders of which havebeen arrested or disappeared inrecent months.

Another seven students andrecent graduates from two eliteBeijing universities were arrested onMonday, according to labour rightsorganisation Jasic WorkersSolidarity.

The students were rounded uphours after publishing a statementaccusing police of recording forcedvideo confessions of previouslydetained student activists who had

supported the Guangdong unioncampaign, the rights group said.

They had accused police oforganising recent screenings of thevideos, in which their subjects con-fessed to using worker issues to "sub-vert the state", on several campusesin an effort to deter further studentactivism.The viewings targeted stu-dents who were members of JasicWorkers Solidarity — a group whichrose to prominence last year whenit attempted to form a workers'union at a welding machinery com-pany in Guangdong.

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The Policy Chair of the Cityof London Corporation is

set for her first visit to Indianext week to strengthen tiesbetween the British capital andIndia in the field of financialand professional services.

Catherine McGuiness,who is the political chief ofLondon's financial district or"Square Mile", will also seek toreassure Indian financial firmsworried about Brexit and therisks of the UK leaving theEuropean Union (EU) in afeared no-deal situation asthe March 29 Brexit deadlinenears.

"My first visit to Indiacomes at an interesting point intime for both our countries. Inthe UK our focus remainsfirmly on Brexit, while in Indiathe conversation is all about thepending budget and elections,"McGuiness said on the eve ofher visit, planned betweenJanuary 27 and 30.

"But while these politicalissues may dominate head-lines for good reason rightnow, it's crucial we don't losesight of the larger picture andthe importance of the strongrelationship between our twocountries," she said.

The City of LondonCorporation's policy chiefpointed out that while tradebetween the UK and Indiastands at an "impressive" 18.8

billion pounds, there is stillenormous potential to expandthis relationship even further.

She is set to travel to Delhiand Mumbai for meetings withsenior government and indus-try leaders to discuss how toboost relations and knowledgesharing in areas like fintech,green finance, re-insuranceand non-performing assets.

Some of the pre-sched-uled meetings on her agendainclude interactions with theInsolvency and BankruptcyBoard of India (IBBI),Confederation of IndianIndustry (CII), representativesof the Maharashtra state gov-ernment, and Alice Vaidyan,Chairman of GIC Re.

In Mumbai, she will alsomeet Surendra Rosha, CEO ofHSBC India, who recentlyjoined the City of LondonCorporation's influential IndiaAdvisory Council.

Indian HighCommissioner to the UK,Ruchi Ghanashyam, describedthe City of LondonCorporation as an importantpartner of the Indian missionin London, working to boosteconomic and commercialactivities between India and theUK particularly in the fields offinancial services and fintech.

"This visit will fostergreater understanding of theCity of London in India as wellas deepen the already close andstrong trade and economic

relationship," she said. A new report on regulato-

ry technology (regtech) is alsoset to be launched during theupcoming tour of India. "Thepublication is the third andfinal document in a fintech-related series produced by theCity Corporation alongsidePwC India, and outlines UKregtech expertise, the marketopportunity in India and a rec-ommendation on how toimprove collaboration in thesector," the City of LondonCorporation said.

The Corporation says it hasrun a representative office inMumbai since 2007 to enablelong-term relationship buildingwith financial sector stake-holders across India. Around10-15 Indian financial firms arebased in the Square Mile,which the City Corporationworks closely with.

Sanjiv Chadha, RegionalHead of State Bank of India(SBI)-UK, said, "SBI is delight-ed that Policy Chair CatherineMcGuinness will make herinaugural visit to India."

"The Bank is pleased towork with the City of LondonCorporation in further devel-oping relationships in thefinancial and professional ser-vices space. It is a relationshipthat continues to provideunique and important oppor-tunities for growth in both theAsian and UK markets," headded.

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He is a longshot candidate,but South Bend Mayor

Pete Buttigieg said Wednesdayhe is jumping into the bur-geoning 2020 Democratic fieldchallenging Donald Trump,aiming to become the firstopenly gay presidential nomi-nee. Should he win, the 37-year-old wunderkind, a USNavy reservist who took leavefrom his mayoral duties toserve in Afghanistan, wouldalso be America's youngest-ever commander in chief.

Buttigieg announced thathe has formed a presidentialexploratory committee, a keyopening step to formallylaunching a bid. He joins agrowing list of charismaticDemocrats seeking to carry theparty's torch into 2020, includ-ing three female US senators —Elizabeth Warren, KamalaHarris and Kirsten Gillibrand— and Hispanic-American for-mer Obama cabinet memberJulian Castro. In a nearly-two-minute video posted online,Buttigieg portrayed himself asa can-do reformer — he hasearned high praise for revivinghis mid-sized Indiana city —from America's millennial gen-

eration eyeing the future, notthe past. "Right now our coun-try needs a fresh start," he saysin the clip. "There's no suchthing as again in the real world.We can't look for greatness inthe past."

In his opening video hemakes no mention of Trump,instead taking aim at what hecalled the "show" inWashington: "The corruption,the fighting, the lying, the cri-sis. It's got to end." And he high-lights his credibility as beingpart of a new forward-focusedgeneration facing immensechallenges. "We're the genera-tion that lived through schoolshootings, that served in thewars after 9/11. And we're thegeneration that stands to be thefirst to make less than our par-ents —unless we do somethingdifferent," he said.

Buttigieg was in the earlyprimary state of Iowa last year,testing out a campaign messageand attempting to build namerecognition. He is up against astrong Democrat field of con-tenders, which will broaden inthe coming months to includethe likes of former vice presi-dent Joe Biden, Senator CoryBooker and former congress-man Beto O'Rourke.

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The Russian military onWednesday rolled out its

new missile and spelled out itsspecifications, seeking to dis-pel the U.S. Claim that theweapon violates a key nucleararms pact.

The military insisted thatthe 9M729 land-based cruisemissile conforms to the limits

of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

The U.S. Has announcedits intention to abandon theINF, charging that the newRussian missile violates pro-visions of the pact that banproduction, test ing anddeployment of land-basedcruise and ballistic missileswith a range of 500 to 5,500kilometres.

Washington said it willsuspend its treaty obligations ifRussian does not come intocompliance by February 2.

Lt. Gen. MikhailMatveevsky, the chief of themilitary's missile and artilleryforces, said at a meeting withforeign military attaches thatthe new missile has a maxi-mum range of 480 kilometres.

He said the 9M729 missile

differs from the previous9M728 model by having amodified warhead and guid-ance system that enhances itscapability.

The military then dis-played the weapon along withits mobile launcher during apresentation at its exhibitioncenter near Moscow.

Matveevsky insisted thatthe new missile's booster,

cruising engine and fuel tankremain unchanged.

He added that the newmissile actually has a range 10kilometres less than the oldertype due to heavier warheadand control systems.Matveevsky emphasised thatthe new missile can't be mod-ified in field conditions.

The Russian general saidthat the modified mobile

launcher for the new type ofmissile is bigger because it car-ries four of them rather thanthe previous two.

Matveevsky added that themilitary gave the presentationto underline its "increasedtransparency and our adher-ence to the INF Treaty."Kremlin has staunchly deniedthe U.S. Claim of Russian vio-lations of the pact.

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Afghanistan's chief executiveis urging the world not to

give up on his impoverishedcountry after the Trumpadministration suggested theUnited States could withdrawtroops.

Afghanistan has struggledwith corruption, political insta-bility and a long Taliban insur-gency, frustrating efforts tostabilize it. US PresidentDonald Trump's administra-tion last month indicated itcould pull out half of the14,000 U.S. Troops stationed inAfghanistan.

"Don't lose patience,"Abdullah Abdullah told TheAssociated Press in an inter-view at the World EconomicForum in Davos, Switzerland.

"We all made mistakes inthe past 18 years" - since U.S.Forces overthrew a Talibanregime in the aftermath of theSeptember 11, 2001 attacksonly to see the fundamentalistIslamic militia regroup in theyears afterward.

Abdullah said the situationon the troops withdrawal wasunclear: U.S. Officials inAfghanistan have said "thereisn't any instruction" to pull outtroops.

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Abanking court in Pakistanon Wednesday extended

till February 14 the interimbail of former president AsifAli Zardari, his sister FaryalTalpur and nine other sus-pects in a money launderingcase.

The former president andhis sister along with other sus-pects appeared before thecourt as the interim bail grant-ed to them ended Wednesday,Geo TV reported.

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Scotland Yard's counter-ter-rorism chief, Assistant

Commissioner Neil Basu, haswarned that the "febrile" atmos-phere around Brexit could beenhancing the risk posed byfar-right terrorism in the UK.

The UK is due to leave the28-member European Union(EU) on March 29. However,the government of PrimeMinister Theresa May is facingmassive resistance from herown Conservative Party MPs aswell as the opposition LabourParty over her Brexit deal.

"We saw a spike in hatecrime after the referendum (inJune 2016), that's never reallyreceded. So there's always a pos-sibility people are being radi-calised by the kind of febrileatmosphere we've got at themoment," Basu told BBC onTuesday at the launch of a newfilm aimed at encouraging peo-ple to report their suspicionsabout all forms of terrorism.

"We want people to reportanything that we think is goingto lead to violent confrontationand people need to calmdown," said the Indian-originMetropolitan Police Lead forCounter-Terrorism and theHead of its SpecialistOperations.

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Cute and quaint in terms of a culling of state-ments, Satish Gupta’s Zen Whispers is a

representation of his many journeys in art aswell as life. We get a glimpse into the Zen monkand artist who embodies the Buddha within.

The book, which was launched a week agoat the Visual Arts Gallery, is replete with paint-ings and sculptures from different periods ofSatish’s artistic endeavours that covers worksselected from hism o n u m e n t a llandscapes series— wave sceneseries, f lowerseries. This leadsto a deep under-standing of hisartistic develop-ments during thepast 25 years forthe audience ofart and readersalike.

��%��While the book’s cover has been treated

and designed like a Zen masterpiece, the bookis full of pauses and spaces. Satish emerges asan artist who is an itinerant traveller with athorough knowledge of the past and the pre-sent, the East and the West. Interestingly, thedesigning and arrangement of the chapters inthe book are loose and candid, also filled withthe language of assonance and allusion, per-haps almost like going beyond the senses orthe colours into a utopian realm that melds andmelts into the absolute.

The work indicates Satish’s deep under-standing of design and his in-depth contem-porary awareness derived from his experiencesof understanding art practices that straddlethrough both the Eastern and the Westernworlds. The book showcases a variety of gen-

res. Satish gradually develops his own artisticlanguage by infusing Chinese contexts with aminimalist rendering of contemporaryawareness. This distinctive stylegains him critical acclaimand we look at his smallword scapes in newdimensions.

��-��The signature of antiquity

in the paintings echoes themonumentality of inner realms,giving viewers an impression thatthey are not the works of a con-temporary artist but a man whostraddles through many realms.After studying them meticulously,one will, however, notice that Satishdeliberately breaks away from thepractice of contemporary art and insteaduses world practices.

To remain still is one of the qualities thatthe Eastern philosophy teaches when facing therapidly-changing world and we get an aura ofstillness when we read through. The words aresoothing yet delicate. Behind his meticulous

thoughts, which portray a discipline inherit-ed from tradition, there are innovative andingenious experiments. Satish creates a syner-gy by his seamless intertwining of tradition andthe avant-garde both in his words as well ashis paintings. Just after reading a few pages, itfeels like we are being introduced to fantasieson paper and enchantment in the verbal world.The visual richness comprises colour splash-es and bold strokes. We can gain multiplemoments of silence through the pages, under-standing the traditional aesthetics of both con-cept and imagery — the kinetics of conscious-ness also come into play — and you realise thatsilence is the source of his inspiration.

��-��- ��Satish’s paintings are awash with the spir-

it of universal, traditional cultures, but theyalso go far beyond the conventional bound-aries of ink/watercolour painting, exuding anaura that is both spiritual and filled with mys-tery. His words, thoughts and works are a mixof genres — Indian and international, tradi-tional and contemporary. The sculptures aremesmerising if not filled with a dense grav-itas.

This book tells us that the tides of theuniverse are in our veins and nature’s peaceflows around us. The sea is emotionsincarnated for Satish, and we have totravel, stop and look at the waves toknow and understand the beauty of thesheer surging of life, and the tidal waveof Being. The sinuous strokes of blackand white embody the perfect joy ofeach separate muscle, joint andsinew in that it is everything thatmirrors the waves and the soiland the sea. The book tells usthat in life, nature is aglow andrampant, expressing itself inmovement and we must beprotectors as well as nurtur-

ers of the Earth and its boun-ty.

The rhythmic quality of the words res-onates with the artist’s underlying statements.The inner spirit of the paper used becomesthe beauty of painting and the enchantmentof the moment is the passion inherent. Allgreat works of art and books have one thingin common — they touch hearts universal-ly, across time and boundaries.

After more than 30 years andsome two dozen films, Spike

Lee has received his first AcademyAward nomination for BestDirector for BlacKkKlansman.It’s also the first time that one ofhis films have been nominatedfor Best Picture.

Glenn Close’s Best Actressnomination for The Wife isher seventh, and couldfinally mean her first Oscar.She has more nominationswithout a win than any otherliving actor or actress.

Black Panther is the firstMarvel movie — and the firstsuperhero film of any kind —to be nominated for BestPicture. Its $700 million box-office take is more than theearnings of the other sevenBest-Picture nomineescombined.

Roma is the firstNetflix film to benominated for BestPicture.

Sam Elliott’s first Oscar nom-ination — for Best SupportingActor in A Star Is Born — comes50 years after his first actingcredit, on the TV series Judd forthe Defense.

Rami Malek, nominated forplaying Queen frontman Freddie

Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody,is the only first-time Oscar nom-inee among the men up for BestActor. He’s up against multiplenominees like Christian Bale,Bradley Cooper, ViggoMortensen and Willem Dafoe.

Yalitza Aparicio’s nomina-tion for Roma comes in her first

role as an actress.This is the second of

Hollywood’s four versionsof A Star Is Born, to get a Best

Picture nomination, alongwith the 1937 original. The1954 and 1976 versions eachgot several Oscar nominations,but not for Best Picture.

No women were nominat-ed for Best Director this year.

The number of femaledirectorial nominees in the91-year history of Oscarsremains only five.

Eighty-seven coun-tries had submitted

films to be considered forBest Foreign Language Film.Only five of them got nominated— Germany, Japan, Lebanon,Mexico and Poland.

Bob Hope hosted the Oscarsa record 19 times. No one isscheduled to host this year’s cer-emony.

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Image enhancement is one thing; youare in the end in control of it. But whenthe projected image becomes bigger

than you, then the mirrored image can eatinto the reality of your self-esteem. Arecent study, conducted by a cosmeticclinic chain, spanning over 300 peopleacross four Indian cities, showed that theprocess of taking, altering and postingselfies negatively affects one’s self-esteemand body image perception as well as pro-motes body dysmorphia.

Selfies, that have already been consid-ered responsible for numerous deaths aswell injuries among people lost in the actof clicking themselves, are also makingpeople anxious and less-confident abouttheir own looks and physical attractive-ness. As per the report, in Delhi, 68 percent men and 82 per cent women showedan increase in levels of anxiety after post-ing their selfies on social media. Around71 per cent men and 80 per cent womenshowed a decrease in self-confidence.Their feelings of physical attractivenessalso recorded a dip. The feelings of inad-equacy were intense enough to drivemany of them to undergo cosmeticsurgery in order to enhance their facialappearance.

The study noted that people postedselfies using filters more than without astheir real features made them anxiousabout public approval. Also, the fact thatfilters work magically on the selfie sad-dened them, making them envy their ownenhanced image.

In one of the recent lectures on thepsychological effects of taking and post-ing selfies on social media, Debraj Shome,director of the said clinic chain, pointedtowards men and women between 16 to25 years of age who spend up to five hoursper week clicking selfies and uploadingthem online. “People who took andposted selfies reported feeling more anx-ious, less confident, and less physically-attractive later. Even though people couldretake or retouch their selfies through fil-ters, we noted certain effects that couldbe harmful. It contributed to significantfeelings of inadequacy over looks. Thisindicates that people in India will alsobecome like the ones in California, USA,where a large majority of the populationconsiders cosmetic surgeries.”

The lecture also noted an importantpoint by Dr Rinky Kapoor, cosmetic der-matologist. Said she, “The camera in thephone has ironically become the reasonwhy the phone sells. It is well-known thatselfies are a risk to one’s life and limb, withhundreds of people dying or sustaininginjuries while taking selfies. This studyshows that selfies have an adverse psycho-logical effect on one’s personality too. Theimpact is even more devastating on peo-ple with low self-esteem who take to socialmedia to engage in public behaviour withreduced risk of disgrace and social anx-iety.”

She suggested that since there is not

any upside to the act of taking selfies asyet, the government “seriously” needs toconsider banning front-facing cameras insmartphones. “There is also a need tolaunch a nationwide campaign that dis-courages people from taking selfies,” shesaid.

As per the research, negative impactsof taking selfies were observed the mostamong people in Delhi, followed bypeople in Mumbai, Hyderabad and thenKolkata. The nationwide study showed anincrease in anxiety among 60 per centmen and 65 per cent women. Of all therespondents, 61 per cent men and 70 percent women recorded a decrease in con-fidence after posting their selfies.

Shome also pointed out that socialmedia and celebrities have been hugelyresponsible in making selfies popular,especially among the youth. “Sincefamous celebrities and other TV person-

alities also have social media accounts,youngsters tend to see how their favouritecelebrities strike a pose and get millionlikes. Following them, they try to imitatetheir behaviour. They tend to feeldepressed comparing themselves to theother so-called physically-attractive peo-ple. This eventually results in self-loathing.”

He said that for some, taking andposting selfies is also a way of expressingthemselves, testing how they really look.The number of likes determines their lik-ing towards themselves.

The doctor explained how postingselfies to social media is making young-sters determine self-image and perception,which in turn is emerging as yet anoth-er psychological disorder. He said,“Frequently taking selfies could be con-sidered a body-checking behaviour, suchas repeated weighing and recurrent

checking of one’s own reflection in themirror.”

He suggested that this should be con-sidered a risky online health-relatedbehaviour in terms of mental health, espe-cially if it triggers weight and shape dis-satisfaction. He added, “High body dis-satisfaction is the primary risk factor forthe development of eating disorders andis correlated with low self-esteem anddepression. Interventions that aim todiminish or eliminate the harmful effectsof social media engagement on one’s psy-chological make-up need to be validatedand implemented. This indicates thataddiction to phones and selfies may cre-ate a mentally-unstable next generation.”

Youngsters need to realise that tak-ing selfies is not about impressing peo-ple. They shouldn’t let this control them.One should be satisfied with the way s/helooks.

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It hasn’t been long that RanveerSingh and Alia Bhatt-starrer

Gully Boy’s teaser went viral mak-ing waves across social media. Thefilm is an intimate recounting ofMumbai’s homegrown rap sceneand the musicians who defined it.

With release of the film’sMere Gully Mein recently, there

was again appreciation goingaround. However, it turned outthat there are issues with this trackas well (as was with Apna TimeAayega, which was said to be pla-giarised), and this time it’s not justan “inspired” look. The track is acover of a 2015 song of the samename. While the filmmakers

noted that it was a remake, thesong’s original creator has nowclaimed that he “wasn’t paid theroyalties due to him.”

Sajeel Kapoor, better known byhis stage name Sez on the Beat,took to social media following thesong’s release and posted thatwhile he appreciates the film’s

attempt to trace the origins ofMumbai’s indie rap scene, he was“not informed” that his track wasbeing used for the film untilrecently, nor that it would be acover instead of his original and,perhaps most pertinently, he wasnot paid royalties for it, despitehaving a contract with the makers.

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To ensure that Thailand remains themost preferred tourism destina-tion among the Indian travellers,

the Tourism Authority of Thailand(TAT) has introduced new experiencesand destinations for 2019. As a stimu-lus to encourage more Indians to visit thedestination, the Thai government hasextended the visa-on-arrival fee waiverfrom January 14 to April 30.

The TAT Governor, YUTHASAKSUPASORN said, “We want to change theperception of Thailand in India from a‘cheap destination’ to a more value-for-money destination. We have been work-ing towards this for some years now. Westarted with four key segments namelyweddings and honeymoon, sportstourism, health and well-being andresponsible tourism. We want to moveaway from a mass tourist destination toa niche destination. After in-depthresearch on Indian travellers’ behaviour,we have identified some lesser knowndestinations and have formulated astrategy to promote them. I feel we willbe able to achieve two million Indiantourists by the end of 2019, a year ear-lier than the previously set target of2020.”

The TAT Deputy Governor forMarketing Communications, TanesPetsuwan, informed that India is nowone of the top 10 source markets fortourist arrivals to Thailand, a memberof a small club of countries thatgenerate more than one millionvisitors a year. In January-November 2018, the arrivalsfrom India were up by

12.03 per cent to 1.42 million, generat-ing an estimated 63 billion Baht intourism income. In December 2018alone, after the waiver of visa-on-arrivalfee for Indians, Thailand

recorded 143,000 Indian visitors, regis-tering a growth of over 63 per cent ascompared to December 2017, taking thetotal figure of Indian tourist arrivals toover 1.6 million in 2018.

Petsuwan said, “The growing sophis-tication and maturity of the Indiantravellers has given us an opportunity topromote Thailand’s diverse range ofniche market products to women trav-ellers, high-net worth individual (HNIs),weddings and honeymooners and fam-ily groups. Today, a new strata of expe-rienced, well-heeled and internet-savvyIndian travellers are venturing beyondthe long-standing Bangkok-Pattaya cir-cuit to new destinations such as ChiangRai, Rayong, Trat, Hua Hin and SamutSongkhram.”

Sharing some highlights of the Indiantourists, the deputy governor said that in2018, of the total Indian visitors, 58 percent were repeat travellers; the averagedaily expenditure was recorded atapproximately �12,500; the averagelength of stay was 7.45 days and the vis-itor ratio of groups and individual trav-ellers was recorded as 31 to 69.

“In 2019, the ‘Amazing ThailandOpen to the New Shades’ campaign willbe carried forward to invite travellers toindulge in unique experiences. We aretargeting four segments of Indian trav-ellers. A separate website—www.firstvisit.com, has been

launched to cater to the first time trav-ellers. We are targeting women travellersand thus have introduced the website—www.women’sjourneythailand.com.Almost 300 Indian destination weddingstook place in Thailand in 2018 and to fur-ther this segment, we have introducedwww.myweddinginthailand.com for spe-cific needs of those who wish to tie theknot in Thailand. For the family travelcategory, we are promoting SamutSongkhram as a new destination for localexperiences. Luxury travel from India isalso a segment of focus this year,” addedPetsuwan.

The tourism board further apprisedthat the bilateral airline capacity is at anall-time high with 307 weekly flightsbetween Thailand and 16 major citiesin India, served by 13 airlines whichinclude, the Thai Airways, BangkokAirways, Thai Smile, Bhutan Airlines,Druk Air, Jet Airways, Air Asia, SpiceJet, Thai Lion Air, Indigo, NokScoot andGoAir.

In August this year, TAT will under-take an Amazing Thailand roadshow toTier-II cities—Ahmedabad, Pune,Amritsar and Bhubaneswar as part ofTAT’s strategy to tap thepotential of India’s sec-ondary cities. Thailandexpects to welcome fivemillion Indian visitors by

2023.

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The chairman of the Railway Board,V K Yadav, recently chaired a

Review Meet of the zonal performanceat the Northern Railway’s headquarter inNew Delhi. The member of the TrafficRailway Board Girish Pillai, the gener-al manager of the Northern Railway TPSingh, the principal heads-of-depart-ment of the Northern Railway, the divi-sional railway managers of the fiveDivisions of Northern Railway viz.Ambala, Delhi, Moradabad, Lucknowand Firozpur were also present on theoccasion.

Appraising the overall safety perfor-mance of the zone during 2018-19,Yadav noted the 31 percent noteworthyreduction in the number of accidents vis-à-vis 2017-18 and expressed his satisfac-tion on the mission mode of the zone in100 per cent elimination of unmannedlevel-crossing on the zone, which is apart of the ‘Mission Zero Accident’.

The chairman underscored the needfor expeditious completion of infrastruc-ture projects viz. new lines, doublinglines and so on to enhance capacity cre-ation to meet the twin objectives of oper-ation (punctuality) and safety. He notedthat the Northern Railway has taken sev-eral steps to improve the punctuality ofthe passenger carrying trains during the

year which include elimination of trac-tion change in 12 trains, standardisingand factoring in mega corridor block inthe new time table to rationalise trainrunning time. He apprised that live mon-itoring of the asset failures is beingundertaken and additional manpowerand resources are being deployed ondense traffic sections.

One of the significant measures toaugment punctuality performance wasthe de-congestion of major terminals ofDelhi, Lucknow and Allahabad area. Anoteworthy raise in speed of trains onloop lines enabled saving 86 minutes,while the track strengthening and elec-trification works enabled the raising ofsectional speed. He also noted that the

PF berthing slots were rationalised toensure better station punctuality.

Yadav also reviewed the ongoingaction plans of the zone with regards tothe rationalisation of rake links, termi-nal shifting to reduce station congestionand to ensure expeditious primarymaintenance. The washing line OHEconnectivity is on the anvil with otherimprovements viz. high-speed fuellingand watering.

The chairman further reviewed thevarious development plans proposed inthe year ahead viz. the doubling works,flyovers (rail) to enable operationalflexibility and by-passes/chord lines toavoid detention due to reversal. He alsoreviewed the various traffic facility up-gradation works viz. coaching terminalfacility at Bijwasan and Varanasi yardremodeling plans. The capacity enhance-ment works through a target 41 km newline, and doubling spanning 137 km, areon the anvil for the year 2019-20.

Assigning a higher impetus to themodernised signaling, the zone has onits anvil projects for introduction of auto-matic block signaling on high densityroutes through an estimated �287.66crore in the year ahead. This wouldenable better punctuality performance,commented the chairman.

The Union Minority AffairsMinister Mukhtar Abbas

Naqvi, believes that more thantwo lakh artisans, craftsmenand culinary experts have beenprovided with employmentopportunities through the 11‘Hunar Haats’ which have beenorganised across the countryduring the last two years. Theminister was speaking at theclosing ceremony of the HunarHaat held in Delhi fromJanuary 12 to 20. He said,“Hunar Haat has been organ-ised across the country by theMinistry, and it has proved tobe an ‘empowerment andemployment exchange’, for themaster artisans and crafts-men. The employment orient-ed programmes of the Modi

Government like the HunarHaat has significantly encour-aged and promoted the richtraditional heritage of arti-sans which had been margin-alised for a long time. This ini-

tiative has become a ‘crediblebrand’ of indigenous talent ofIndian craftsmen and will ful-fill Prime Minister NarendraModi’s commitment to ‘Makein India’, ‘Stand up India’, and‘Start up India’.

He further added that theeven was a hit as over 13 lakhvisitors from across the coun-try and abroad visited the fairand encouraged the artisans bypurchasing, on a large scale,their indigenous handmadeproducts. The artisans havealso received national andinternational orders worthlakhs of rupees.

In the coming days, theevent will also be organised atother different locations inthe country.

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The VIT Technology BusinessIncubator (VIT-TBI) is a joint

initiative between VIT Vellore, andthe Department of Science andTechnology, Government of India.The VIT-TBI provides incubationsupport to start-up ventures and peri-odically organises capacity buildingand training activities to address theneeds of the early-stage entrepreneursand individuals, who are planning tostart a business venture.

This six-week, non-residentialtraining programme’s objective is toexpose the participants to the keysteps in start up venturing processand equip them with adequateknowledge to initiate a venture infood processing and agro-basedtechnologies. It equips the studentswith requisite skills, knowledge andcompetencies to convert their start upidea into a viable business entity.

The select qualifying individu-als, with bankable project reports, getan opportunity to present the samefor incubation support or appropri-ate funding support. The programmecovers the essentials of entrepreneur-ship, basics of marketing, finance,human resource and so on. It will alsoprovide ample exposure to variousfacets of organic agriculture, integrat-ed farming practices, biofertilisers,composting, commercial businessopportunities in medicinal plantand horticulture, food processingtechniques, quality control, certifica-tion processes, hospitality industry,packaging and will include industryvisits. This programme will alsoequip the participants to write andpresent a Project Report and throwopen opportunities to BusinessIncubation at the VIT TechnologyBusiness Incubator, if found suitable.

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Serena Williams's bid for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title wasbrought to a halt in sensational style

at the Australian Open on Wednesday byKarolina Pliskova, but fellow formerchampion Novak Djokovic cruised intothe semi-finals.

The American great had beatenworld number one Simona Halep in thefourth round but folded against the tallCzech seventh seed, who saved fourmatch points before winning 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 under the hot Melbourne sun.

Her reward is a clash against Japan'sNaomi Osaka for a place in the final, afterthe Japanese fourth seed brutally swattedaside the injured Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-1.

World number one Djokovic enjoyedan early night when courageous KeiNishikori retired with a thigh strainwhen losing 6-1, 4-1 after going throughthree five-set epics during the tournament.

It kept the Serb's bid for a record sev-enth Australian title on track and he willnow meet French 28th seed Lucas Pouille,who beat power-serving Canadian MilosRaonic 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 6-7 (2/7), 6-4 tomake his first Slam semi.

It was a gut-wrenching defeatfor Williams, who battled backfrom a set down and was leading5-1 in the third and serving for thematch, only to throw it away with somewild shots as frustrations bubbled to thesurface.

"There's nothing I did wrong on thosematch points. I stayed aggressive. She justliterally hit the lines on some of them," saidthe dumbfounded 37-year-old, who rolledan ankle but refused to blame it for thedefeat.

Since returning last year from givingbirth, Williams has made four unsuc-cessful attempts to match Margaret Court'slong-time standing 24 Grand Slam titles,and the wait continues with the FrenchOpen in May her next chance.

"The big picture for me is always win-ning," she added. "I'm not going to sit hereand lie about that. It hasn't happened yet,but I feel like it's going to happen."

For Pliskova, it is only her third semi-final at a major.

She made the last four at RolandGarros in 2017 and the US Open a yearearlier, where she beat Williams before los-ing the final to Angelique Kerber.

"I was almost in the locker-room butnow I am standing here as a winner. It is

a very good feeling," she said after depriv-ing Williams of a US Open final rematchwith Osaka.

��-��Asked about facing Osaka next,

Pliskova replied: "She's dangerous butnobody is more dangerous than Serena."

A focused Osaka rolled past Ukraine'sSvitolina, who was troubled by neck andshoulder problems.

Despite the Ukrainian suffering, it wasnevertheless a serious statement from thesteely-eyed Osaka, who was playing thesort of tennis which drove her to the USOpen title.

"I tried to be consistent, it's unfortu-nate that she got injured but playingagainst her even when she was injured wasstill really tough," said the 21-year-old.

"I just had one goal, to try as hard Ican and not get angry. I didn't do that real-ly well in the last two rounds and I did that

today so I'm really happy with the way Iplayed."

Djokovic, who is targeting a 15thGrand Slam title, endured his own toughfourth round showdown with DaniilMedvedev and said he was glad to get offcourt early.

"As they say, this is exactly what thedoctor ordered for me after the match twonights ago," he said. "Not to spend toomuch time on the court.

"I've had plenty of matches so far thisyear and I am in another semi-final andI will do everything to get ready for thatone."

Pouille had never won a match inMelbourne before this year but hasrecruited 2006 Australian Open champi-on Amelie Mauresmo to his team and saidit was paying off.

� ��

The International Weightlifting Federation hasrevoked the provisional suspension on weightlifter

K Sanjita Chanu for a failed dope test, a major reprievefor the two-time Commonwealth Games Gold-medal-list who has claimed innocence.

In a case that has dragged on for almost a year andhas been marred by an "administrative" goof-up inSanjita's sample number, the IWF informed that a finaldecision on the matter is expected in the coming days.

"On the basis of the information at its disposal, theIWF has decided that the provisional suspension of theathlete (Khumukcham Sanjita) shall be lifted as of today(22 January 2019)," IWF's legal counsel Eva Nyirfa saidin an e-mail sent to the national federation and Sanjita.

"The IWF Hearing Panel will render its decisionon the athlete's case in due course," it added.

The 25-year-old Sanjita, who had won Gold in thewomen's 53kg category at the 2018 CommonwealthGames in Gold Coast, had tested positive for anabol-ic steroid testosterone. Her urine sample was taken priorto the World Championships in United States inNovember 2017, and she was put under provisional sus-pension from May 15 last year.

A final decision of the IWF panel is yet to comebut Sanjita said her assertion of innocence has been vin-dicated.

"I have got a mail from the international federa-tion and our national federation has also called me upthis morning informing about the lifting of the (pro-visional) suspension. I am relieved and happy. I aminnocent and I have never taken any banned substancein my career. I am vindicated now," she said.

"At the same time, I experienced mental traumaduring these past 8-9 months (since May 15 last year)due to the mistake of the international federation. I hopenothing like this happen to any athlete in future. Anathlete's reputation is very precious," she added.

Sanjita said the Indian Weightlifting Federation hadasked her to join the national camp immediately if shewants.

"The federation official told me today to write if Iwant to join national camp. I am doing that. I missedthe Asian Games and World Championships in 2018.I want to compete in the World Championships thisyear and qualify for 2020 Olympics. For any athlete,Olympics is the ultimate," she said.

The international body informed about her dop-ing offence only in May last year. That meant theManipuri weightlifter participated in the Gold CoastCWG, where she finished top of the podium. She hadalso won Gold in the 48kg in the 2014 CommonwealthGames in Glasgow.

� ��

Indian football team striker Jeje Lalpekhluaon Wednesday rued the country's crashing

out of the ongoing Asian Cup and said it couldhave done better in the continental showpieceevent.

The Indian team was on the verge of book-ing a maiden knock-out round berth but con-ceded goal via penalty at the far end of thegroup match against Bahrain. India needed adraw to reach the Round of 16 but lost 0-1 toBahrain to exit from the tournament.

"We gave our 100 per cent in every match.But we could have done better. Not qualify-ing out of the group stages is a setback for us.But it shows anything can happen in football,"Lalpekhlua said.

"It was a very difficult match againstBahrain and it was unfortunate the way we lost.However, that is life in football, and the impor-tant part is the experience earned by the youngplayers that will give dividends in future," hewas quoted as saying by the official website ofAll India Football Federation.

India outplayed Thailand 4-1 in the open-ing match to notch up its first win in the AsianCup since 1964. Thailand eventually qualifiedfor the Round of 16 where they lost to China.

"Our biggest achievement was the winagainst Thailand," said Lalpekhlua, who hadscored India's fourth goal in that match.

"But we have to make Asian Cup qualifi-cation a regular feature. Now we need to focusto do well in World Cup Qualifiers, followedby yet again qualifying for the Asian Cup (for2023)," said the player from Mizoram.

"The sleeping giant is now awake. We haveshown to all in Asia that we belong on the samepage as them. Our performance in the AsianCup has improved tenfold, and it can only getbetter from here as young players have beengiven the needed experience. Indian footballcan go only upwards from here towards abrighter future," Lalpekhlua said.

� ��

Former captain Sandeep Singh onWednesday slammed the fre-

quent change of coaches in Indianhockey, asserting that there is nonebetter for the job than the recently-removed Harendra Singh.

Harendra was sacked as Indiacoach earlier this month followinga disappointing 2018 and offeredanother stint with the junior squad.He became the sixth coach to besacked in as many years.

"You can't be changing coachesthis frequently. The crucial Olympicqualifier (FIH Series Finals in June)is ahead of us and we should not beexperimenting too much. I don'tthink I have worked with a bettercoach than Harendra sir," Sandeepsaid at the launch of Flickers Brothershockey academy, his joint venturewith brother Bikramjeet.

"There are a few coaches (inIndia) who can coach at the highestlevel and Harendra paaji is one ofthem. He should have been givenmore time.

"Any new coach takes about sixmonths to adjust to the system and

players also need time to understandhis methods. The team doesn't havethat kind of time (ahead Olympicqualifiers)," he said.

India have had a variety of for-eign coaches and Harendra helmingthe national team was a rarity inrecent times. But he could not evenlast 12 months after taking charge,following the team's medal-less

showing at the CommonwealthGames in April.

Hockey India has invited freshapplications for the post andSandeep, who was best known forhis ferocious drag-flicks, feels anIndian coach will be most beneficialfor the team.

"There is no language barrierand more importantly, you don'thesitate while interacting with anIndian coach. Indian coaches arestrict on the field but off the fieldthey take very good care of you," heexplained.

The phenomenon of droppingplayers without giving them ampleopportunities is another aspect thatbogs down Indian coaches, saidSandeep.

The biggest worry for thenational team, according to Sandeep,is lack of world-class goalkeepers.

"My biggest worry is when P RSreejesh retires, who will be replacehim? I don't see anyone matching upto his standards. We have to preparegoalkeepers. Strikers and drag-flick-ers keep coming but not goalkeep-ers. I hope he plays for another fiveto seven years."

� �� *��

The Indian trio of P V Sindhu,Saina Nehwal and Kidambi

Srikanth dished out superb perfor-mances on the opening day toadvance to the second round of the$350,000 Indonesia Masters WorldTour Super 500 badminton tourna-ment here on Wednesday.

Olympic and WorldChampionship Silver medallistSindhu opened the new season witha fighting 22-24, 21-8, 21-17 win over2012 London Games champion LiXuerui of China in a 54-minutewomen's singles match.

The second seeded Indian willnow be pitted against Indonesia'sGregoria Mariska Tunjung.

Eighth seeded Saina, who hadreached the semifinals at theMalaysia Masters last week, recov-ered from a first-game loss to securea 7-21, 21-16, 21-11 win over localhope Dinar Dyah Ayustine, ranked50th, in another women's singlesmatch. It was Saina's third win overAyustine.

The 28-year-old from Hyderabadwill next face another IndonesianFitriani Fitriani, against whom shehas a 4-0 head-to-head record.

In men's singles, eighth seedSrikanth eased past Malaysia'sChong Wei Feng 21-12, 21-8 to set

up a showdown with Japan's AsianGames bronze medallist KentaNishimoto.

But compatriots B Sai Praneethand Subhankar Dey failed to crossthe opening hurdle at the tourna-ment.

2017 Singapore Open championPraneeth was sent packing 12-21,16-21 by Olympic champion ChenLong of China in 40 minutes, whileSubhankar, who had won his maid-en title at SaarLorLux Open inGermany last year, fought hardbefore going down 14-21, 21-19, 15-21 against former World championViktor Axelsen of Denmark.

Local hope Anthony SinisukaGinting, seeded seventh, proved adifficult customer for ParupalliKashyap once again as he claimed a21-12, 21-16 win over the formerCommonwealth Games champion.

In men's doubles, nationalchampions Manu Attri and BSumeeth Reddy dished out a fight-ing game to notch up a 14-21, 21-19,21-15 win over Denmark's MadsPieler Kolding and Niclas Nohr.

Commonwealth Games Bronzemedallist pair of Ashwini Ponnappaand N Sikki Reddy also bowed outof the competition, losing 14-21, 14-21 to Thailand's JongkolphanKititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjaiin the women's doubles opener.

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Petra Kvitova's surging win overAshleigh Barty to make the

Australian Open semi-finals ensuredSimona Halep's reign as world num-ber one is over, not that theRomanian is bothered.

The Czech star overtook Halep'spoints total, while Naomi Osaka andKarolina Pliskova also have a math-ematical shot at assuming the man-tle when the new rankings come outnext week.

Entering the opening GrandSlam of the year, 11 players had achance to hold the top spot, but thathas now been whittled down.

Of the three in the running, onlyPliskova has been there before, in2017 when she became the firstCzech women to do so.

To do so again she must win thetitle on Saturday.

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India produced cricket of the calibrethat has become synonymous withVirat Kohli's men to crush New

Zealand in the first ODI but a bizarreand unprecedented sun-induced inter-ruption overshadowed the on-fieldaction on Wednesday.

Entering the five-match rubber fol-lowing maiden Test and ODI series tri-umphs in Australia, India signalled theirintent with a clinical display, which sawthem chase down a revised target of 156by eights wickets in 34.5 overs.

The Duckworth-Lewis methodcame into the picture for an interrup-tion which was not caused by rain forthe first time.

On a near-perfect day, the onlything that didn't go their way was thetoss. But India made light of that bybowling out the home team for a pal-try 157 in 38 overs.

Wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav was

the most successful bowler, returningfigures of 4/39 in 10 overs, whileseamer Mohammed Shami finishedwith an excellent 3/19 in six overs.There were also two wickets for leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal.

Captain Kane Williamson top-scored for the hosts with 64 off 81 balls.

In response, Shikhar Dhawanbegan the innings with a flurry of

boundaries, eventually finishingas the top-scorer with 75 off

103 balls.The left-handed open-

ing batman, battlingindifferent form, stud-

ded his inningswith six bound-aries.

India werec o m f o r t a b l y

placed at 44 for onewhen, in a bizarre

turn of events, playerswalked off the ground after

dinner because the setting sunmade it difficult for them to spot

the ball at McLean park.This led to an interruption that

has never been seen in internationalcricket before.

Because of the nearly half-an-hourdelay, the target was revised to 156 in49 overs, which the visitors chased with-out much ado.

While Rohit Sharma may have losthis focus after the dinner break, Kohliand Dhawan didn't let the sun-inducedstoppage distract their minds when playresumed. Kohli, though, got out fiveshort of a fifty.

The Indian captain hit threeboundaries in his 59-ball knock beforepacer Lockie Ferguson had him caught

behind with a quick delivery thatcaught the batsman by surprise.

In the course of his 26th ODI fifty,Dhawan became the joint fourth fastestbatsman to reach 5000 runs. Dhawanneeded 118 innings to reach the mark.

This knock will bring some relieffor Dhawan as he hasn't scored a halfcentury in his last nine innings.

Earlier, opting to bat, the NewZealanders were off to an inauspiciousstart, losing both openers MartinGuptill and Colin Munro within thefirst five overs with just 18 runs on theboard.

By sending back Guptill in his 56thmatch, the 28-year-old Shami becamethe fastest Indian to reach 100 wicketsin ODIs.

Coming into the series after a huge-ly successful 2018, Ross Taylor lookedgood in his 41-ball 24, but he was bril-liantly caught and bowled by Chahal,who lured the batsman to dance downthe pitch a tad too early with his changeof pace.

Till Taylor was there alongsideWilliamson, things looked good forNew Zealand, as the duo played a fewdelightful shots, especially the skipperwhose trademark backfoot punchthrough the covers stood out.

Tom Latham was dismissed in sim-ilar fashion, with leg-spinner Chahalbeing the bowler.

Henry Nicholls and MitchellSantner came, swung their willows fora six and a couple of boundaries, andgot out to Jadhav and Shami respec-tively as New Zealand stuttered at 133for six in the 30th over.

By that time, Williamson too hadhad enough, and got out while tryingto hoick Yadav over long-on.

� ��

The Indian women's cricket team will aim to put behind the off-field furores and bring the focus back on the game when it clash-

es with New Zealand in a three-match ODI series starting onThursday.

The Indian women's team was at the centre of a huge contro-versy after its semi-final exit in the T20 World Cup in the WestIndies owing to a bitter public spat between ODI captain MithaliRaj and the then coach Ramesh Powar.

Following the fiasco, WV Raman replaced Powar and this willbe his first assignment at the helm. Mithali also had a fallout withT20 skipper and star batter Harmanpreet Kaur but asserted on theeve of the seriesthat she has movedon from all thedrama and isfocussed on thetask at hand.

The side wouldbe aiming toimprove its fifthposition in the ICCchampionship tablethrough this series,which is part of theworld body'swomen's champi-onship and willdetermine quali-fiers for the 2021World Cup.

India lost thehome leg of theICC Women's Championship series 2-1 to New Zealand duringthe last cycle that ran from 2014-2016. However, the team hasenough firepower in stylish opener Smriti Mandhana, who hasalready scored 488 runs in the championship.

New Zealand are presently in second position on the table with12 points from nine matches while India are fifth with eight pointsand ahead of Pakistan only on net run rate. Defending champi-ons Australia lead the table with 16 points from nine outings.

The losses at the ICC Women's World Cup 2017 and theWomen's World T20 last year put paid to New Zealand's hopes ofqualifying for the knockouts.

They now get a chance to outdo India in home conditions,which will also help their chances of qualifying directly for the 2021Women's World Cup, which will be competed here. The hosts andfour other top teams will direct entries to the premier event twoyears from now.

New Zealand are without wicketkeeper-batter Katey Martin,who is unavailable due to work commitments, but have match-win-ners in the likes of former captain Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine,who leads the championship run table with 592 with three hun-dreds. Spin bowler Leigh Kasperek is another one to look out forwith 19 wickets in the championship so far.

New Zealand have played England, Pakistan and the Windiesso far while India have completed their engagements againstAustralia, South Africa and Sri Lanka.

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