12
A s part of its effort for a speedy resolution of the Yes Bank crisis and protect the interest of depositors, the Government has decided to rely on the State Bank of India (SBI) to pilot the distressed private sector lender through the turbulent times. The SBI will acquire 49 per cent stake in the Yes Bank for which it will be issued 245-crore shares at a price of 10 each for 2,450 crore. To pro- vide a sense of security and conti- nuity to any prospective investor , the SBI will not reduce its holding below 26 per cent before completion of three years from the date of infusion of the capital, the country’s largest lender said in a state- ment. It further said the new board of Yes Bank will have CEO and MD, non-executive chair- man and non-execu- tive directors. “All the employ- ees of the recon- structed bank shall continue service with the same remunera- tion and on the same terms and condi- tions... At least for a period of one year,” the SBI said. Addressing the media earlier in the day, SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar clearly outlined what the public sector giant for- mally decided. Kumar said the SBI has set a maximum invest- ment limit of 10,000 crore, which could be provided as a long term soft loan to the Yes Bank. He said involvement of the SBI in resolving the crisis at the private lender will allay fears of investors and depositors. “Today if the resolution has to happen, you need a credible name with the investors, cred- itors and depositors of the bank. With the SBI standing behind it, there will be stabili- ty in the financial market,” he said and assured depositors that their money is safe. The draft scheme of reconstruction of Yes Bank came a day after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed a moratorium on the bank, restricting withdrawals to 50,000 per depositor till April 3. The RBI also superseded the board of the bank, which is now being headed by former deputy managing director and CFO of SBI Prashant Kumar. Kumar said if the SBI becomes the sole investor in the bank and picks up 49 per cent stake, then the immediate investment requirement would be 2,450 crore. “I have already set the (investment) boundary of 10,000 crore,” Kumar told reporters here. The cap of 10,000 crore is based on the assumption of higher capital requirement by the bank, he added. Yes Bank has been struggling to raise capital. It sought to raise $2 billion ini- tially during this fiscal, which was then pruned to $1.2 billion as it could not rope in any investor. Kumar said the SBI has received the draft scheme of reconstruction and its invest- ment and legal teams are doing their due diligence of the scheme. V isiting Ayodhya to mark his Government’s comple- tion of 100 days in office on Saturday, Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said his party’s former ally BJP is not synonymous with “Hindutva” and the Shiv Sena parted ways with the BJP and not Hindutva. Accompanied by his wife Rashmi Thackeray and son Aditya Thackeray, the CM also announced a donation of 1 crore for the upcoming Ram temple. Main BJP se alag hua hun, Hindutva se nahi. BJP ka mat- lab Hindutva nahi hai. Hindutva alag hai, BJP alag hai,” said the Sena chief on end- ing 35-year-old alliance with the BJP. “Shiv Sena has its belief deeply rooted in Hindutva and should be seen separately from the BJP. It’s the BJP that has drifted away from Hindutva. I (Shiv Sena) am separate from the BJP, not from Hindutva,” said Uddhav. The Maharashtra CM said, “I have come to know that the bank account of the Temple Trust has become operational in Ayodhya only yesterday. I want to humbly say that I am donating 1 crore for the for- mation of Ram temple from my trust and not the Government exchequer.” “I spoke to UP CM Yogi Adityanath on Friday. A grand Ram temple will definitely be built and we all will build it. I want to request Yogi to give us a piece of land to construct Maharashtra Bhavan to facili- tate Ram Bhakts coming from Maharashtra,” he said. Mentioning that this was his third visit to Ayodhya in the last 18 months, Uddhav recalled that Shiv Sena had asked the Government to pass a law to construct Ram temple which did not happen. He cherished the fact that both the Ayodhya judgment and his taking over as CM of Maharashtra happened in November 2019, exactly a year after he visited Ayodhya. The Maharashtra CM said, “I have once again come for a darshan of Ram Lalla with my saffron family. I will keep com- ing again and perform aarti on Sarayu river banks.” Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut had announced in January that Uddhav would visit Ayodhya to seek blessings of Lord Ram. Raut had also requested lead- ers of Maha alliance to visit Ayodhya with Shiv Sena. W hile three more positive cases of coronavirus (Covid-19) was reported on Saturday taking the total num- ber of confirmed cases to 34, hope for over 100 stranded Indians in Iran was raised as their swab samples were received on Saturday morning. These samples arrived on a Mahan Air flight from Tehran and the flight returned with many Iranian nationals. The swab samples are being tested at the laboratory in AIIMS, the Health Ministry said. Six scientists from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) have been stationed in Iran. Equipment and reagents, worth approxi- mately 10 crore have been dis- patched to enable them to set up a laboratory there, the Ministry said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on his part, directed offi- cials to identify locations for sufficient quarantine facilities and make provisions for criti- cal care as he reviewed the coronavirus situation on Saturday. At the meeting with all Ministries and Departments concerned, Modi said in view of expert opinion, people should be advised to avoid mass gatherings as much as possible and made aware of the do’s and don’ts. Of the three new positive cases, two are from Ladakh with travel history to Iran, while one is a person from Tamil Nadu who had recently visited Oman, said the Health Ministry, adding all the patients are stable. Over 150 persons, who had come in contact with two American nationals who test- ed positive for coronavirus in Bhutan and had toured various places in India, have been put under Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), the Ministry said. Swab samples of 108 Indians in Iran were received on Saturday morning. These samples arrived on a Mahan Air flight from Tehran and the flight returned with many Iranian nationals. The swab samples are being tested at the laboratory in AIIMS, the Health Ministry said. As many as 7,26,122 pas- sengers from 7,108 flights have been screened at airports. Between Friday morning and Saturday, 73,766 passengers from 573 flights have been screened, it said. Fifty-two lab- oratories for testing novel coro- navirus are now operational across the country. An addi- tional 57 labs have been pro- vided with Viral Transport Media and swabs for sample collection, the Ministry said. In order to spread aware- ness among the masses, special COVID-19 mobile phone caller tune was launched by all tele- com operators with basic infec- tion prevention messages played when a caller dials a number. Over 117.2 crore sub- scribers of BSNL, MTNL Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone-Idea are being pro- gressively reached out through SMS and call backs, the Ministry said. At the review meeting attended by Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, his deputy Ashwini Kumar Choubey, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Niti Aayog member Vinod Paul, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, and secretaries of health, pharma, civil aviation, MEA, health research, home, shipping, NDMA and others, Modi said, “All departments should work in convergence and action should be initiated for creating awareness in com- munity about the disease and the precautions to be taken.” F ormer Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday slammed the Narendra Modi Government for blaming the Congress for Yes Bank’s fiasco and pointed out that though bank’s loan ballooned up after 2014 it was not noticed by any regulatory authority due to “mismanagement” of financial institutions under the BJP-led Centre. He demanded that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) conduct a probe and fix accountability in the matter. Chidambaram pointed out that the Yes Bank’s loan book swelled from 55,633 crore in 2014 to 2,41,499 crore in 2019. “The loan book was allowed to grow despite the RBI and the Government supervi- sion at a rate of 35 per cent per year and the spike happened in 2016-17 and 2017-18 — the two years immediately following demonetisation,” he added. “Yes Bank indulging in loan giving spree isn’t banking but buccaneering,” he said, adding, “How no officer of the RBI noticed a 35 per cent jump in the loan book of the bank in a year, when loan books of other banks were growing at nine per cent. This is a matter that must be thor- oughly enquired into and accountability fixed,” he told reporters. T he Enforcement Directorate questioned Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor for the second day on Saturday in connection with a money laun- dering probe against him and others and raided some more locations in Delhi and Mumbai, officials said. Kapoor was brought to the agency’s office in the Ballard Estate area in Mumbai on Saturday afternoon. The agency had searched Rana’s residence in the upscale “Samudra Mahal” complex in the Worli area of Mumbai on Friday night and had grilled him there too. The case against Kapoor is linked to a big loan advanced to the scam- hit DHFL. RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015

€¦ · Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Niti Aayog member Vinod Paul, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, and secretaries of health, pharma, civil aviation, MEA, health research,

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Page 1: €¦ · Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Niti Aayog member Vinod Paul, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, and secretaries of health, pharma, civil aviation, MEA, health research,

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As part of its effort for aspeedy resolution of the

Yes Bank crisis and protect theinterest of depositors, theGovernment has decided torely on the State Bank of India(SBI) to pilot the distressedprivate sector lender throughthe turbulent times.The SBI will acquire 49 percent stake in the Yes Bank forwhich it will be issued245-crore sharesat a price of �10each for�2,450 crore.

To pro-vide a senseof securityand conti-nuity to anyprospectiveinvestor , theSBI will not

reduce its holding below 26 percent before completion of threeyears from the date of infusionof the capital, the country’slargest lender said in a state-ment. It further said the new

board of Yes Bank willhave CEO and MD,

non-executive chair-man and non-execu-tive directors.

“All the employ-ees of the recon-

structed bank shallcontinue service

with the samere mu n e r a -tion and onthe sameterms andc o n d i -tions... Atleast for aperiod ofone year,”the SBI

said. Addressing the mediaearlier in the day, SBI chairmanRajnish Kumar clearly outlinedwhat the public sector giant for-mally decided. Kumar said theSBI has set a maximum invest-ment limit of �10,000 crore,which could be provided as along term soft loan to the Yes Bank.

He said involvement of theSBI in resolving the crisis at theprivate lender will allay fears ofinvestors and depositors.“Today if the resolution has tohappen, you need a crediblename with the investors, cred-itors and depositors of thebank. With the SBI standingbehind it, there will be stabili-ty in the financial market,” hesaid and assured depositors thattheir money is safe. The draftscheme of reconstruction of YesBank came a day after theReserve Bank of India (RBI)imposed a moratorium on thebank, restricting withdrawals to�50,000 per depositor till April3. The RBI also superseded theboard of the bank, which isnow being headed by formerdeputy managing director and CFO of SBIPrashant Kumar.

Kumar said if the SBIbecomes the sole investor in thebank and picks up 49 per centstake, then the immediateinvestment requirement wouldbe �2,450 crore. “I have alreadyset the (investment) boundary

of �10,000 crore,” Kumar toldreporters here. The cap of�10,000 crore is based on theassumption of higher capitalrequirement by the bank, headded. Yes Bank has beenstruggling to raise capital. Itsought to raise $2 billion ini-tially during this fiscal, whichwas then pruned to $1.2 billionas it could not rope in anyinvestor.

Kumar said the SBI hasreceived the draft scheme ofreconstruction and its invest-ment and legal teams are doingtheir due diligence of thescheme.

!��� -0%.234

Visiting Ayodhya to markhis Government’s comple-

tion of 100 days in office onSaturday, Maharashtra ChiefMinister and Shiv Sena chiefUddhav Thackeray said hisparty’s former ally BJP is notsynonymous with “Hindutva”and the Shiv Sena parted wayswith the BJP and not Hindutva.

Accompanied by his wifeRashmi Thackeray and sonAditya Thackeray, the CM alsoannounced a donation of �1crore for the upcoming Ramtemple.

“Main BJP se alag hua hun,Hindutva se nahi. BJP ka mat-lab Hindutva nahi hai.Hindutva alag hai, BJP alaghai,” said the Sena chief on end-ing 35-year-old alliance withthe BJP.

“Shiv Sena has its beliefdeeply rooted in Hindutva andshould be seen separately fromthe BJP. It’s the BJP that hasdrifted away from Hindutva. I(Shiv Sena) am separate fromthe BJP, not from Hindutva,”said Uddhav.

The Maharashtra CM said,“I have come to know that thebank account of the TempleTrust has become operationalin Ayodhya only yesterday. Iwant to humbly say that I amdonating �1 crore for the for-mation of Ram temple from mytrust and not the Governmentexchequer.”

“I spoke to UP CM YogiAdityanath on Friday. A grandRam temple will definitely bebuilt and we all will build it. Iwant to request Yogi to give us

a piece of land to constructMaharashtra Bhavan to facili-tate Ram Bhakts coming fromMaharashtra,” he said.

Mentioning that this was

his third visit to Ayodhya in thelast 18 months, Uddhavrecalled that Shiv Sena hadasked the Government to passa law to construct Ram templewhich did not happen.

He cherished the fact thatboth the Ayodhya judgmentand his taking over as CM ofMaharashtra happened inNovember 2019, exactly a yearafter he visited Ayodhya.

The Maharashtra CM said,“I have once again come for adarshan of Ram Lalla with mysaffron family. I will keep com-ing again and perform aarti onSarayu river banks.” Shiv Senaleader Sanjay Raut hadannounced in January thatUddhav would visit Ayodhya toseek blessings of Lord Ram.Raut had also requested lead-ers of Maha alliance to visitAyodhya with Shiv Sena.

!��� 254�"5-61

While three more positivecases of coronavirus

(Covid-19) was reported onSaturday taking the total num-ber of confirmed cases to 34,hope for over 100 strandedIndians in Iran was raised astheir swab samples werereceived on Saturday morning.

These samples arrived on aMahan Air flight from Tehranand the flight returned withmany Iranian nationals. Theswab samples are being testedat the laboratory in AIIMS, theHealth Ministry said.

Six scientists from theIndian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR) have beenstationed in Iran. Equipmentand reagents, worth approxi-mately �10 crore have been dis-patched to enable them to setup a laboratory there, theMinistry said.

Prime Minister NarendraModi, on his part, directed offi-cials to identify locations forsufficient quarantine facilitiesand make provisions for criti-cal care as he reviewed thecoronavirus situation onSaturday.

At the meeting with allMinistries and Departmentsconcerned, Modi said in view

of expert opinion, peopleshould be advised to avoidmass gatherings as much aspossible and made aware of thedo’s and don’ts.

Of the three new positivecases, two are from Ladakhwith travel history to Iran,while one is a person fromTamil Nadu who had recentlyvisited Oman, said the HealthMinistry, adding all the patientsare stable.

Over 150 persons, whohad come in contact with twoAmerican nationals who test-ed positive for coronavirus inBhutan and had toured variousplaces in India, have been putunder Integrated DiseaseSurveillance Programme

(IDSP), the Ministry said. Swab samples of 108

Indians in Iran were receivedon Saturday morning. Thesesamples arrived on a MahanAir flight from Tehran and theflight returned with manyIranian nationals. The swabsamples are being tested at thelaboratory in AIIMS, theHealth Ministry said.

As many as 7,26,122 pas-sengers from 7,108 flights havebeen screened at airports.Between Friday morning andSaturday, 73,766 passengersfrom 573 flights have beenscreened, it said. Fifty-two lab-oratories for testing novel coro-navirus are now operationalacross the country. An addi-

tional 57 labs have been pro-vided with Viral TransportMedia and swabs for samplecollection, the Ministry said.

In order to spread aware-ness among the masses, specialCOVID-19 mobile phone callertune was launched by all tele-com operators with basic infec-tion prevention messages playedwhen a caller dials a number.

Over 117.2 crore sub-scribers of BSNL, MTNLReliance Jio, Airtel andVodafone-Idea are being pro-gressively reached out throughSMS and call backs, theMinistry said.

At the review meetingattended by Union HealthMinister Harsh Vardhan, hisdeputy Ashwini KumarChoubey, External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar, CabinetSecretary Rajiv Gauba, NitiAayog member Vinod Paul,Chief of Defence Staff GeneralBipin Rawat, and secretaries ofhealth, pharma, civil aviation,MEA, health research, home,shipping, NDMA and others,Modi said, “All departmentsshould work in convergenceand action should be initiatedfor creating awareness in com-munity about the disease andthe precautions to be taken.”

������������ ���������������������������������� ��������� ���������������������������������

!��� 254�"5-61

Former Finance Minister PChidambaram on Saturday

slammed the Narendra ModiGovernment for blaming theCongress for Yes Bank’s fiascoand pointed out that thoughbank’s loan ballooned up after2014 it was not noticed by anyregulatory authority due to“mismanagement” of financialinstitutions under the BJP-ledCentre.

He demanded that theReserve Bank of India (RBI)conduct a probe and fixaccountability in the matter.

Chidambaram pointed outthat the Yes Bank’s loan bookswelled from �55,633 crore in2014 to �2,41,499 crore in2019. “The loan book wasallowed to grow despite the RBIand the Government supervi-sion at a rate of 35 per cent per

year and the spike happened in2016-17 and 2017-18 — thetwo years immediately following demonetisation,” headded.

“Yes Bank indulging inloan giving spree isn’t bankingbut buccaneering,” he said,adding, “How no officer of theRBI noticed a 35 per centjump in the loan book of thebank in a year, when loanbooks of other banks weregrowing at nine per cent. Thisis a matter that must be thor-oughly enquired into andaccountability fixed,” he toldreporters.

!��� 254�"5-61�

The EnforcementDirectorate questioned Yes

Bank founder Rana Kapoor forthe second day on Saturday inconnection with a money laun-dering probe against him andothers and raided some morelocations in Delhi andMumbai, officials said.

Kapoor was brought to

the agency’s office in theBallard Estate area in Mumbaion Saturday afternoon.

The agency had searchedRana’s residence in the upscale“Samudra Mahal” complex inthe Worli area of Mumbai onFriday night and had grilled himthere too. The case againstKapoor is linked to a big loan advanced to the scam-hit DHFL.

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Page 2: €¦ · Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Niti Aayog member Vinod Paul, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, and secretaries of health, pharma, civil aviation, MEA, health research,

�From being a model to an actor.How did the transition happen?

My stint as a model was for ashort time only; I did only two-threeadvertisements. My professionalcareer started as an actor. Whenpeople come to Mumbai, they all wantis a break in Bollywood. This isbecause there is somethingfascinating about the industry.Everybody is waiting for that first callfrom a particular production house.I was no different. To begin with Ididn’t want to do Sadda Haq. Butnow when I look back, I am so happythat I did it. There was no choice thatI would do TV and then move onto films. You can’t decide thesethings; it happen organically. Allthat you can do is to decidewhether the project that has comeyour way interests you or not. �How did your parents reactwhen you said you wanted to bean actor?

When I told my parents thatI wanted to go into acting, theidea was not met with a lot ofresistance form my parents.They are doctors and supportedme in my decision. They wereonly worried since they didn’tknow anybody in the industry.They had never come toMumbai. My mother was anactor, she did theatre for nineyears. I was into a lot ofdramatics in school andlearnt Kathak since I was inClass III, so the inclinationtowards art was always there.I wanted to be part of MissWorld but they don’t takepeople who are 5’4”. �You studied engineeringand come from a family ofdoctors. How did actinghappen?

My parents knew I wasmore interested in pursuingthis line. They were abit on the backfootwhen I said I wanted to make

it my profession. They insisted that Icomplete my education. They werevery clear that they would not let mecome to Mumbai on my own at age18. If I had my way I would have beenin the city at that age. But things fellin place. I was in college, then SaddaHaq happened. I was luckily that I hadwork when I came to Mumbai. Mystruggle in the industry happenedafter that show ended.�You have done TV, web series and

films. Has it been a consciousdecision to have a diverseportfolio?

There was only one consciousdecision when I picked up projects— to do finite shows. When I didTV, it was almost infinite sinceit ran for almost two-and-a-half-years. I loved that show and itwould stay with me foreverand be that special one.After that I didn’t do anymore TV because none ofthem were finite. I wantedto be part of stories thatinterested me and had afinite end. When theshow ended in 2016,the OTT platformswere not so popular.I was looking for

films. Then a SouthIndian film happened. With

web coming in, it opened a lot ofopportunities and Sacred Games andMirzapur happened. Whatever choiceyou make can be right or wrong butas long as long as you like what youare doing it’s fine. I don’t want to takeup projects because I want to makemoney. �What is you role in Happily EverAfter?

My role is that of a civil engineerfrom a Punjabi family. She has beenwith this person and now they wantto get married — a big fat Indianwedding. But the couple want to planit on their own. So a budget comes in.But there are so many expendituresand that is when the problemshappen. It is an interesting love story.There is a parallel story as well whichshows how they met and fell in love.�What was the attraction?

I had not done this kind of role.I have done roles where my characteris from a small town. I have not donea role where the character is suave.The genre was different as well. I alsosaid yes because my friends duringthis period were getting married andthe subject was relatable. Also Iwanted to do something that was easyand fun after Mirzapur.�Do you personally believe inhappily ever after?

First, there is no ever after,nothing ever ends. Even in a threehour film, there is no full stop. Beinghappy is a process. Problems willalways be there, you sort it and moveon. When two people want to be partof each other’s life, they should sortit out to be happily ever after.�So happily ever after is a fun series?

Yes. It has lot of fun and is veryrelatable. It is going to be an easywatch.�Was it tough to do comedy?

I have never done comedy. Thisis a genre that I had never done before.Even with Happily Every After, it is thesituations that are comic mostly by co-actors. I am not doing comedy here.But it is a light show for me.

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Let’s talk about things thatdoesn’t make any sense inthe third edition of Baaghi,

the first that hit the screens backin 2016. First, why wouldanybody suggest that a boy whowould get beaten up and growsup to be timid should join thepolice force? Second, a brother(Tiger Shroff who pays Ronny)who swore to his dying fatherthat he would always take care ofhis elder brother (RiteishDeshmukh who plays Vikram),why would he allow the said

brother to go to Syria to set inmotion extradition of one of thehardened criminals?

Third, why would, Ronnyonce Vikram disappear in Syria,as is expected, take his girlfriend(Sharaddha Kapoor) to this war-torn country? Four, who in theirright mind give money to apickpocketer just because hesaid that he steals for hisbrother? Five, the pickpocketafter taking the pair to asecluded area with the intentionto rob, does a about-turn? Thereis of course a six and and sevenand an eight.

Despite the weak storyline,director Ahmed Khan hasmanaged to cash in on the factthat Tiger Shroff has a great

body — six abs and biceps —that would rival those of SalmanKhan. The action here is lethal— figuratively and literally. Theshot where he holds off threegoons with his foot while hebeats their leader is at leastworth two whistles if not more .

But then junior Shroff hasproved time and again that he isgood when it comes to somegreat action what with himlearning martial arts and has ablack belt in Taekwondo. Thenthere is dancing. His knowledgeof breakdancing, popping andlocking comes in handy.

Watch this one if you loveaction and are a fan of TigerShroff.

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Page 3: €¦ · Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Niti Aayog member Vinod Paul, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, and secretaries of health, pharma, civil aviation, MEA, health research,

RAIPUR | SUNDAY | MARCH 8, 2020chhattisgarh 03

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Chief Minister BhupeshBaghel on Saturday

underlined the need for devi-ating tribal populace fromtheir dependability on forestto other livelihood options.

Baghel was speaking atconcluding function of statelevel workshop organised atThakur Pyarelal StatePanchayat and RuralDevelopment Institute Nimoraon effective implementation ofForest Rights Act.

Addressing theworkshop, the chief ministeropined that the stategovernment had now takeninitiatives for alternativelivelihood options for tribalforest dwellers other than theforest produce.

He informed on thisoccasion that in comingmonsoon the state govern-ment is going to spread seeds

of vegetables and fruits in theforest areas of the state so thatthe people residing in theregion as well as the animals

which habitat there could getthe food for them.

He said that the govern-ment by running malaria free

campaign, drive to combatmalnutrition, Haat Bazaarclinics in weekly markets andother such programmes had

shown its sensitivity towardsthe tribal populace.

He further stressed oneffective implementation ofForest Rights Act so that thepeople residing in forest areascould live a respectable life bybecoming self dependent. Inpast one year a large numberof people got the forest landtitle and are getting thebenefits of various welfareschemes, he said.

The Chief Minister onthis occasion also unveiled abook containing guidelinesfor implementation of ForestRights Act. Political Advisorto Chief Minister VinodVerma and ParliamentaryAdvisor Rajesh Tiwari werealso present on this occasionapart from officials of tribalwelfare, forest and revenuedepartments.

Baghel emphasises on reducingtribal’s dependability on forest

Healthsecretary hasalsorequested alldepartmentand districtcollectors tosuspend allsuchprogrammesthat requirehuge publicparticipationSTAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

State health department onSaturday issued advisory for

all hospitals acrossChhattisgarh to promptly carryout complete health check upof people returning from 14identified nations that arecurrently facing massivecorona outbreak.

“All private andgovernment hospitals havebeen asked to carry out fullhealth check-up of peoplereturning from China, Macau,Singapore, Hong Kong,Australia, Thailand, Indonesia,Korea, Japan, Iran, Italy, Dubai,Nepal and Malaysia,” a pressrelease issued by the healthdepartment said.

Those who have recently

returned from these countriesshould be also subjected tocheck up, it stated.

Health department hasinformed all hospitals thatsamples of suspected coronapatients can be tested at AIIMSRaipur. So, the hospitals havebeen asked to makearrangements for sending thesamples to AIIMS Raipur.

Also, hospitals have beeninstructed to keep ready sepa-rate isolation and ICU wards.

Further, Deputy DirectorIntegrated DiseaseSurveillance Program (IDSP)Dharmendra Gahwai can bereached at 9713373165 fortreatment and sample testingfor coronavirus.

Meanwhile, SecretaryHealth department NiharikaBarik has also written letter todepartment secretaries andcollectors for initiating stepsfor making people aware ofcoronavirus.

In the letter she informedabout various steps being takenby Chhattisgarh governmentfor stopping the spread ofcoronavirus in the state.

Likewise, healthdepartment has also toldeducational institutions toeducate students about ways toprevent spreading ofcoronavirus. They have beenasked to tell students for usinghandkerchief, tissue paper orfine paper/cloth while sneezingor coughing. Avoiding schoolsduring illness and avoidingpublic meetings/gatherings.

By following such step,they could keep themselves aswell as others safe from coronaoutbreak.

The health secretary hasalso requested all departmentand district collectors tosuspend all such programs thatrequire huge gathering.

Health deptissues ‘advisory’for coronavirus

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Home MinisterTamradhwaj Sahu on

Saturday took salute ofpassing out parade ofChhattisgarh Armed Force(CAF) here at fourth battalionMana.

Jawans took the oath ofdefending the nation andensuring its security in the20th passing out parade inwhich 197 cops were inductedto the force.

Speaking on theoccasion, the HomeMinister exhorted the newly

inducted cops to create afear of police among

criminals. Stating that theymight encounter lots of

difficulties in their duty, heurged the new recruits to beprepared to tackle thedifficult situation with bestof their abilities.

Congratulating the copsfro successfully completingtheir training, the ministerappealed them to work insuch a manner that the nameof police department isglorified. Asserting that thereal training of them startsnow, the minister furtherappealed to the cops to becourageous in allcircumstances.

Anyone can reportillegal liquor sale onmobile number9479190441. They canalso send the imagesof illegal liquor sale onthe same number

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Chhattisgarh police onFriday announced to form

a special cell for acting swiftlyin cases related to illegal liquorsale.

As per official informa-tion, SP CID Arvind Kujur hasbeen appointed as the nodalofficer of this cell. Anyone canreport illegal liquor sale onmobile number 9479190441.

They can also send photosof the illegal sale on the same

number. The number willfunction round the clock andswift action will be taken oncomplaints. The name andidentity of person lodgingcomplaint will be kept secret,police said.

Notably, on ThursdayChief Minister BhupeshBaghel announced in the statelegislative assembly thatdistrict superintendents ofpolice (SPs) will be directlyheld responsible if case relatedto illegal liquor sale is reportedin their respective district.

Following the ChiefMinister’s announcementDirector General of Police(DGP) DM Awasthi stated thatif illegal liquor sale is reportedin any place and no actionhappens in the case then thethana in-charge of the area willbe immediately suspended.

Home Minister exhorts cops to becourageous in all circumstancesTakes salute of passing out parade of Chhattisgarh Armed Force

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

In a major breakthrough,state police on Saturday

succeeded in nabbing fiveinter-state liquor smugglers.It also confiscated illicitliquor worth `13 Lakh fromtheir possession.

Official sources informedthat the police raided at thehideout of the smugglers atvillage Darba in MandirHasaud region of the districtand seized 380 boxes of liquorfrom there. The liquor wasreportedly smuggled fromChandigarh, the joint capitalof Punjab and Haryana.

Superintendent of PoliceMahasamund JitendraShukla informed that theygot a tip off from an informerthat a huge consignment ofliquor was coming via

Raipur to Bagbahra town ofthe Mahasamund district.The raid was thus made atMandir Hasaud where apick-up vehicle was inter-cepted in between. On infor-mation from the accused

that they are have smuggledthe liquor from Chandigarhand have stored the consign-ment at village Darba, thepolice raided at the house ofDarba Sarpanch, Sanat Pateland confiscated the huge

amount of liquor from there.Notable, the police

action followed instructionof Director General of PoliceD.M. Awasthi to keep vigilon the sale of illegal liquor inthe state.

Inter-state liquor smugglers nabbedPolice release mobile numberfor complaint on illegal liquor

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

After inculcating readingskills among the students

of primary schools of thestate, reading skillcompetitions will be heldfrom cluster level to statelevel at the end of April.

Information regardingthe same was given byPrincipal Secretary SchoolEducation Dr Alok Shukla atthe inauguration session oftwo- day long workshop ofnodal officers, which startedhere on Saturday.

Speaking on this occa-sion, Shukla said the contentsand guidelines for the com-petition will be available onthe portal of the department.The syllabus for the competi-tion will be from the books inMuskan library and from theactivities prepared by teach-ers such as learning materialand other reading materials.

Notable, as per the ordersof school education

department the entire monthof April will be dedicated todevelopment of reading

ability in children, so thatthey may learn to read andunderstand their lessons.

Nearly 17 lakh childrenof primary schools across thestate will be benefitted under

the scheme.School Education

Department Principal

Secretary Dr Alok Shukla haswritten a letter to all the dis-trict collectors informingthem about the scheme.

It was stated in the letterthat evaluation work in allschools of primary-levelshould be completed by themonth of March, so thatApril month can be dedicatedto development of readingability in students. In themonth of March, workshopswill be organised at school-level in all the districts andreading material along withtext books will be selected.

In the month of April,schools will dedicate entireday every day to teachreading to children. A teamwill be formed by collector tomonitor this activity andevery school will be inspectedat least once by any of theofficer. Collectors have beendirected to prepare plan formonitoring system and shareit with Principal SecretarySchool Education.

Reading skill competition of primary schools in April

STAFF REPORTER n KORBA

Apower sector familiar-ization programme was

held here on Friday underchairmanship of ChiefGeneral Manager (CGM),NTPC, Korba, A.K. Tripathi.

Speaking to mediapersons present on thisoccasion Tripathi apprisedthem of the initiatives takenby the power major includingits future plan.

The CGM also sharedachievements of the 2600MW Korba station along withupcoming FGD unit in thestation. He claimed that thestation was committed to thecause of eco friendly powergeneration.

Tripathi also threw lighton the initiatives taken by theNTPC under Corporate

Social Responsibility (CSR)schemes.

NTPC holds power sectorfamiliarization programme

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Chhattisgarh State PowerCompany Limited

Chairman Shailendra Shuklahas asked people to avoidburning ‘Holika’ near powersub-centres, electricity pole,power line or transformers.

He informed that despiteHoli festival PowerDistribution Company’s callcentre and fuse of call centrewill function like normal daysto ensure uninterrupted powersupply for the consumers.

“Holi is a festival of coloursand people should not temperwith power systems which willhelp in preventing any unto-ward incidents. Polite andaware Holi from customers willbe beneficial for all,” he said.

He urged people not toburn ‘Holika’ near power line,power systems or toss anythingon power line-transformers.Also, he asked people not tothrow colours especially wateron power line.

The chairman said ifpeople note any kind ofelectricity tempering orincident involving power sys-tem then they should immedi-ately report it to nearest poweroffice. Public awareness cansave many mishaps, he added.

Meanwhile, powercompany officials informedthat in view of Holi festival,power company’s ground staffand employees have been askedto remain alert. Special squadswill be also deployed duringHoli festivity to save any powerrelated faults.

Avoid burning ‘Holika’near power system: Shukla

Page 4: €¦ · Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Niti Aayog member Vinod Paul, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, and secretaries of health, pharma, civil aviation, MEA, health research,

�������*������ *�+�����,-�././ �������-

!��� /6, ,"1 ,12

The Budget Session ofUttarakhand Assembly was

adjourned till March 25 onSaturday. The absence of theMinisters and BJP MLAsprompted the Congressmembers to attack theGovernment.

Inside the house, the leaderof opposition (LoP) IndiraHridayesh mounted a scathingattack on the BJP Governmentfor absence of Ministers.

She said BJP Ministers,including the Chief Ministerand BJP MLAs have fled fromBharadisain within 48 hours ofdeclaration of summer capitalstatus to Gairsain.

Outside the house, thePradesh Congress Committee(PCC) chief Pritam Singh saidthat all the Ministers barring theparliamentary affairs ministerMadan Kaushik are ‘absconding’from Assembly on the fifth daywhich shows their seriousnessand attitude towards Gairsain.

He said all 11 MLAs ofCongress are present in theassembly while very few BJPMLAs are present in Gairsain.Singh added that the Congressis in favour of making Gairsainpermanent capital ofUttarakhand. The absence ofmany MLAs from house onFriday evening gave the chanceto the Congress party to take potshots on the Government.

There came a time onFriday evening when there weremore Congress MLAs than BJPMLAs in the house.

This unnerved the BJPleaders and frantic calls weremade to the MLAs to come to

the house. On Saturday alsoonly 27 MLAs of BJP out of 57were present in the house whileparliamentary affairs ministerMadan Kaushik was the onlyMinister who was present in theHouse.

In business of the house, themembers of the treasurybenches and the Oppositionparticipated in discussion on theBudget.

Congress MLAs MamtaRakesh, Qazi Nizamuddin,Manoj Rawat and Raj Kumartermed the Budget anti-people.BJP MLA, Munna SinghChauhan termed the budget asone of the best the state has everseen. He said that all sections ofthe society are being taken careof in the Budget.

6������,�&���,��+��-������������������������)� ��+��(�������7���������0������*������������������&�� ���������&���& ����������2�������������,�� ���� -����������

Bharadisain: The CongressMLA from Kedarnath, ManojRawat took the Government totask for not providing copies ofthe Budget. When proceedingsof the house started, Rawat saidthe Government providedBudget in pen drives to MLAs.

He claimed that the pendrives were corrupt due towhich the members could notgo through the provisions of theBudget. The Congress MLAalleged that hard copies weredeliberately not provided tothe members so that they couldnot participate in the Budgetdiscussion.

Chakrata MLA and seniorCongress leader, Pritam Singh

supported Rawat and said themembers are facing connectivityproblem due to which theywere not able to download thebudget document. In hisresponse, Parliamentary AffairsMinister Madan Kaushik saidthe Uttarakhand Government ismoving ahead on the path of e-governance.

In this endeavour, the StateGovernment has started theconcept of e-Cabinet and theBudget document is alsouploaded on the website. On theaccusation of Congress MLAthat the pen drives were corrupt,Minister said he has directedFinance Secretary to look intothe issue. PNS

!��� /6, ,"1 ,12

Parliamentary Affairs andUrban Development

Minister Madan Kaushik hasassured that all complaintsabout the circle rates would beaddressed within 15 days.

The Minister wasresponding to the concerns ofthe Congress members on thehike in circle rates in the StateAssembly on Saturday.

Raising the issue underrule 58 in the Assembly, theLeader of Opposition (LoP),Indira Hridayesh saidGovernment has increasedcircle rates arbitrarily.

She said increase in circlerates has resulted in cessation inthe process of new registrationswhich is causing a big revenueloss to the State exchequer.

Hridayesh added at manyplaces the circle rates havebecome higher than the marketrates. She demanded that theGovernment should set up ahigh powered committee tolook into the anomalies incircle rates.

Chakrata MLA PritamSingh said circle rates havebeen hiked by 300 to 500 percent by the presentGovernment.

Brushing aside the chargesof the Congress, MadanKaushik said the StateGovernment has increased thecircle rates after a gap of twoyears and the rates were revised

after a proper study. He said there were various

anomalies in the circle ratesand they were removed by useof satellite survey.

“The anomalies came intofore when the compensation ofland acquired for rail and roadprojects was given to farmers.For example, the circle rate onone side of river in Srinagar was�143 per square metre while onother side it was �891. Thisanomaly was removed in thenew circle rates,’’ he said.

The Minister added 21 to25 per cent rates were increasedonly in two percent of area and on an average only 15per cent increase has occurredin circle rates.

He claimed that betweenJanuary 13 and March 6, 2019,a total 30,587 land registrieswere done and in thecorresponding period this year32,481 registers have been donewhich shows that the allegationof opposition is not true.

He however assured that all complaints will beaddressed by the Governmentwithin 15 days.

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The 84-day protest againstthe Citizenship

Amendment Act (CAA) andthe National Register ofCitizens (NRC) at ShaheenBagh has started fading awayas the number of peoplejoining the protest is graduallydwindling.

However, a siren has beenplaced at the protest site sothat people can be called at thevenue immediately during "acrisis".

On the decreasing turnoutof the people after 84 days,some women protesters toldIANS that there are variousreasons such as annual examsof school children, illness dueto which women are not ableto protest during the daytimewhile they come at the venue

during evening. Some of thewomen also said that "nowpeople are getting tired".

There are several factionsin Shaheen Bagh and eachfaction has tried to lead theprotest due to whichdifferences have begun toemerge. Besides, there is adifference of opinion betweenthe women and menprotesters.

The protesters, however,denied that any siren has beenplaced, but when IANS visitedthe protest site a month ago,the siren was very much inplace.

Sources said someprotesters who are present atthe barricades alert the othersthrough the siren when theysee reporters coming ingroups or if there is some"danger".

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Amidst the coronavirusscare, Chief Minister

Naveen Patnaik on Saturdayasked the GeneralAdministration (GA)Department to restrict foreigntours of all Ministers andofficials.

Besides, biometricattendance system in allGovernment offices would berelaxed until further orders.

The decisions were takenat a meeting to reviewpreparedness for the deadlyvirus.

The Chief Minister alsodirected the HealthDepartment to makeemergency procurement ofsufficient quantities of N95masks and Personal ProtectiveEquipment (PPEs) for doctorsand other healthcarepersonnel. He also asked thedepartment to keep bufferstocks of essential drugs andsurgical shall be maintained to

meet the requirement of ninemonths. Besides, all hospitalsincluding those in the privatesector were asked to set upisolation wards and followclinical protocols.

The Chief Secretary andthe district Collectors wereasked to review the emergingsituation on a daily basis.

This apart, Patnaik alsoinstructed specific steps to betaken by various departments:

Revenue and HomeDepartment: Ensure that allrevenue and police officialswill assist health officials incontact tracing and enforcinghome isolation whenever theneed arises.

Finance Department:Authorise Health Departmentto make emergencyprocurement in relaxation ofthe OGFR norms. The PublicHealth Response Fund shallbe augmented as per need.

Panchayati Raj &Drinking Water Department:Conduct special GramPanchayat and PanchayatSamiti Meetings to spreadawareness on COVID-2019.All panchayats shall be askedto keep village surroundingsclean and manage wastedisposal properly.

Housing & UrbanDevelopment Department:Ensure all ULBs maintaincleanliness with proper wastedisposal. Proper hygiene in allAahar Kendras must bemaintained. Hoardings andbanners with related IECcontent must be displayed atall prominent places.

Women and ChildDevelopment Department:Mobilise all SHGs to createawareness. Proper hygienemust be maintained at allAWCs.

Commerce & TransportDepartment: Ensure thatseats, handles and bars of allpublic transport vehicles aresanitised daily. Masks may beprovided to travelers, whocough and sneeze frequently.Guidelines on respiratoryetiquette must be displayed.School & Mass EducationDepartment: Issue advisorythat floors, tables, desks, doorhandles and bars at theeducational institutions mustbe disinfected daily. Advisesick children to stay at home.Soap and running water mustbe available and hand washingbe promoted as a mission.Special arrangements mustbe made in hostels

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Dejected with the Maoists’straying from their ideology,

a Red rebel couple surrenderedbefore the Rourkela SP andCRPF 19 BattalionCommandant on Saturday.

Both were armed cadres ofthe CPI(Maoists).

The couple was identified asRaju Kayam alias Sambar andAnita Marla alias Kalpana. Bothwere involved in the Leftwingextremism activities in Sarandaand Odisha-Jharkhand borders.

Raju is a native Kadamdihivillage under the Goilkera policestation in Jharkhand whereasAnita alias Kalpana hails fromGoilkera of West Singhbhumdistrict in Jharkhand.

In 2017, the couple had leftthe Maoist fold after being fed upwith the Maoists killing innocentpeople and wanted to lead apeaceful life.

The couple expressed theirwillingness to join the socialmainstream and appealed otherRed rebels to shun the path ofviolence and work for thecountry’s development.

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New Delhi: A 27-year-old manhas been arrested for allegedlybeing involved in another man'skilling during the communalviolence in northeast Delhi lastmonth, police said on Saturday.

The crime branch, probingthe murder cases registeredduring the riots, has arrestedShahnawaz for allegedly killing

20-year-old Dilbar Singh Negiand is trying to identify theother suspects.

Negi's decapitated andcharred body was found inBrahmpuri on February 26. Hehad come to the national capitalsix months ago from PauriGarhwal in Uttarakhand andwas working at a sweet shop in

northeast Delhi.Negi's elder brother

Devender Singh Negi, 23,demanded that the capitalpunishment be given to theperson who killed his brother.He said the family got to knowabout the arrest through media.

"Many people lost theirloved ones in the violence. We

lost our younger brother whowanted to join Army. We justwant justice for our brother andthe culprit must be hanged,"Devender Singh Negi said.

On February 24 afternoon,Negi had gone for a nap to anearby building that served asa storage space for the sweetshop. PTI

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ADelhi Court on Saturdayextended the police

custody of Shahrukh Pathan(23), who pointed a gun at apolice head constable DeepakDahiya during the violencein northeast Delhi's Jafrabadarea on February 23, forthree days.

"The four day policecustody of Pathan ended onSaturday, following which hewas again sent to custody forthree more days," officialssaid.

In the video which wentviral on social media, Pathan,a resident of northeastDelhi's Ghonda, could beseen pointing his pistol at thepoliceman on the Jafrabad-Maujpur road on February24.

Meanwhile, police saidthat they have also recoveredthe country made pistolalong with three l ivecartridges which Pathanalleged that he has throwninto Yamuna River. "Policehas also recovered the car

used buy hi to flee from thecity. He has confessed to hisinvolvement in the said crimeand further investigation isgoing on," said a seniorpolice official.

The good quality semi-automatic pistol (that Pathanused during the northeastDelhi violence) was boughtfrom Munger in Bihar. Acollege dropout, Pathan wasinterested in bodybuildingand modelling. He used tomake TikTok videos. Heowns a shop and a socksmanufacturing factory inGhonda.

Earlier, after his arrestfrom Uttar Pradesh's (UP)Shamli, Pathan had toldpolice that he fired at policepersonnel in fit of rage as hewas angr y. Pathan alsorevealed that after his videosand pictures went viral onsocial media, he fled toPunjab where he lived for fewdays with friend, beforeleaving for Barelly. AfterBarelly, Pathan moved toShamli where he was arrestedby police after receivingspecific inputs.

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New Delhi: A Delhi court hasgranted bail to Kapil Baisala,arrested for firing in the air insoutheast Delhi's Shaheen Bagharea during a protest against thenew citizenship law.

The court granted bail toBaisala on Friday after hearingarguments from the lawyersappearing for him as well aspolice.

"On considering thetotality of facts andcircumstances, the accusedKapil Baisala is admitted to bailon furnishing bail bond in asum of �25,000 with one suretyin the like amount," AdditionalSessions Judge Gulshan Kumarsaid.

Baisala's counsel submittedto the court that his client hasdeep roots in society and therewas no possibility of hisabsconding from the law. Theapplication added that Baisalahad clean antecedents and hehad never been involved in anyother case in past. "It is furthersubmitted that the applicanthas the responsibility of his wifeand minor child. It is furthersubmitted that no purpose willbe served by keeping theaccused in judicial custody," theapplication said.

The police opposed thebail application, stating that theallegations against Baisala werevery serious and the case wasat an initial stage. PTI

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Page 5: €¦ · Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Niti Aayog member Vinod Paul, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, and secretaries of health, pharma, civil aviation, MEA, health research,

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Amid widespread criticismand "concern" expressed by

Prime Minister NarendraModi, the Centre on Saturdaysaid it supported press freedomand revoked the 48-hour ban ithad imposed on twoMalayalam news channels onFriday. However, it turns out,Information & BroadcastingMinister Prakash Javadekarwas seemingly not aware of hisMinistry's move to ban thechannels. A "shocked" NewsBroadcasters Association(NBA) demanded an inquiry asto "how a decision like this wastaken without the knowledge ofthe Minister".

The Congress and Left par-ties called the clampdown "sti-fling of media freedom" and thePress Club, Kerala Union ofWorking Jouranlists (KUWJ)and Kerala NewspaperEmployees Federation (KNEF)took out a protest march inThiruvananthapuram.

The channels were sus-pended for 48 hours beginning

7:30 PM on Friday over theircoverage of the communal vio-lence in Delhi. The officialorders said that the channelscovered events of February 25in a manner that "highlightedthe attack on places of wor-ship", "sided towards a partic-ular community" and ques-tioned the RSS and accused theDelhi Police of inaction.

The ban on Asianet Newswas lifted at 1.30 am and thaton Media One News at 9.30 amon Saturday.

Javadekar told reporters inPune that Prime Minister Modiexpressed concern over theentire issue. "We immediatelyfound out what exactly hap-pened and therefore, we imme-diately restored the channels,"Javadekar said, indicating theaction was taken by hisMinistry without his knowl-edge.

"I will definitely go into thedetails and take essential stepsif there is any wrongdoing. Butlet me also tell you that every-body should accept that therehas to be responsible free-

dom," he further said."Our basic thought process

is that the freedom of press isabsolutely essential in thedemocratic set up and that isthe commitment of Modi gov-ernment," he said even as hereferred to the Emergencywhen the freedom of presswas suppressed.

The Minister said the viewsof the NBA have been soughtafter he spoke with its presidentRajat Sharma, who condemnedthe ban. The NBA statementalso confirmed Javadekar wasnot in the loop on the ban.Sharma stated that the NBA isshocked to learn that a decisionlike this was taken without theknowledge of the Minister forInformation & Broadcasting."NBA demands that theMinister should institute aninquiry as to how the orderprohibiting the news channelsfrom broadcasting was issuedwithout his approval. NBAwould like the inquiry report tobe shared with it," he said.

Senior Congress leaderShashi Tharoor tweeted: "Glad

wisdom has dawned on thegovernment in the face of thewidespread outcry against thisoutrageous decision. Trust thebureaucrats responsible for thisundemocratic behaviour willbe pulled up and taught thelimits of their arbitrary author-ity. Our freedoms must befought for every day."

Kerala Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan termed theban a "dangerous trend" andsaid it was an indication of thecoming dangers. "There is athreat that if anybody criticis-es RSS and Sangh Parivar, theywill be taught a lesson," he saidin a statement.

Asianet News Editor M GRadhakrishnan said the man-agement of the channel con-tacted the I&B Ministry afterthe ban was imposed andspoke to relevant peopleexplaining its position on thematter. But Media One Editor-in-chief C L Thomas said hischannel had not reached out tothe government and theMinistry had "suo motu"revoked the ban.

"They (management)seemed to have succeeded intheir attempt. Since it wasnight there was no time formaking any formal application.They spoke with all the peopleconcerned in the ministry andconvinced them. That is whatthe minister has also come outsaying today," Radhakrishnansaid asserting, "There was noapology made from our side.The reporting was all factual".

Asianet News is indirectlyowned by BJP Rajya Sabhamember Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

Thomas said: "We wereproceeding for legal action.Today we got the informationthat the ban has been revoked,so we did not go ahead with thelegal proceedings. We did notcontact anyone in the Ministry,the Government suo motu lift-ed the ban."

Meanwhile, inThiruvananthapuram mediapersonnel holding placards andraising slogans participated inthe march against the centre'sdecision. Similar protests wereheld in various parts of Kerala.

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Hitting out at those criti-cising India over the

Citizenship (Amendment) Act,External Affairs Minister SJaishankar on Saturday said nocountry in the world sayseverybody is welcome. TheForeign Minister also came outhard against the UnitedNations Human RightsCouncil (UNHRC) for its crit-icism of the situation in Jammu& Kashmir, saying its directorhad been wrong earlier too andone should look at the UNbody's past record on handlingthe Kashmir issue.

At the same time,Jaishankar made it clear thatIndia was also getting to know"who our friends really are". Hesaid it is a kind of geo-politi-cal assessment as there was atime when India was verydefensive, its capabilities wereless, threats were more andrisks were higher.

"We adopted a policy ofmanaging the world but kindof staying away. We can't dothat anymore. We are the 5thlargest economy of the worldand will be the third largest.We have to engage everybodyand find solutions," he said.

"In a sense you would havegeopolitical constituency outthere in the world. There willbe people who understand thechanges of India, who agreewith it, there are people whomay not agree with it. I wouldnot mix the two. I would notmix apples and oranges. I

think these are two differentprocesses at work. But, I willcome out ahead at the end ofit," the minister said.

On the issue of CAA, hesaid: "We have tried to reducethe number of stateless peoplethrough this legislation. Thatshould be appreciated. Wehave done it in a way that wedo not create a bigger problemfor ourselves."

"Everybody when theylook at citizenship has a con-text and has a criterion. Showme a country in the worldwhich says everybody in theworld is welcome. Nobodydoes that. Look at America.Look at the Europeans. I cangive you example of everyEuropean country. There issome social criterion," henoted.

On the UNHRC directornot agreeing with India on theKashmir issue, Jaishankar said,"UNHRC director has beenwrong before. How carefullythey (UNHRC) skirt aroundthe cross-border terrorismproblem, as if it has nothing todo with country next door.Please understand where theyare coming from; look atUNHRC's record how theyhandled the issue earlier."

On opposition to the CAA

and whether India has notbeen able to convince theworld enough, he said, "Thereare sections of the world out-side of the media."

He noted that he hasengaged with governmentsand cited the example when inBrussels, he had 27 foreignministers in a room to whomhe was talking.

"The point we make onCAA is that it cannot be any-body's case that a Govt orParliament doesn't have theright to set the terms of natu-ralisation or citizenship. Everygovernment does that, everyparliament does that.

"What we have tried to dois we have a large number ofstateless people. We have triedto reduce the large number ofstateless people we have in thiscountry through this legisla-tion. That should be

appreciated. We have doneit in a way that we do not cre-ate a bigger problem for our-selves. Everybody when theylook at citizenship have a con-text and has a criterion," hesaid.

Jaishankar also said mov-ing out of the RegionalComprehensive EconomicPartnership (RCEP) was inthe interest of India's business.

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On the eve of InternationalWomen's Day, President

Ram Nath Kovind asked thenation on Saturday to reaffirmthe pledge to ensure safety andrespect for women.

The President will alsogive away the "Nari Shakti"awards to women achievers atthe Rashtrapati Bhavan fol-lowing which Prime MinisterNarendra Modi will interactwith the awardees.

Also, Modi 's Twitteraccount would be handled bywomen achievers on the occa-sion of the InternationalWomen's Day.

The "Nari Shakti" awardsare given annually to individ-uals, groups, institutions inrecognition of their excep-tional work towards the causeof women empowerment,

especially for vulnerable andmarginalised women.

Extending his hearty con-gratulations and best wishes toall women, the President saidthis was the occasion to showrespect to women for theircrucial role and untiringefforts in building a bettersociety, nation and world.

This is also an occasion tohighlight those exceptionalaccomplishments throughwhich women have made amark in every walk of life anddisplayed their efficiency, ded-ication and commitment, hesaid.

"On the occasion of theInternational Women's Day,let us reaffirm our pledge toensure safety and respect forwomen, so that they can moveforward unhindered accord-ing to their wish in the direc-tion of fulfilling their hopesand aspirations," the Presidentadded

Modi had on Tuesday saidhe would be handing over hisaccounts on various socialmedia platforms to womenwho inspire.

"This Women's Day(March 8), I will give away mysocial media accounts to

women whose life & workinspire us. This will help themignite motivation in millions,"he had tweeted.

The prime minister hasaccounts on Facebook,Twitter, Instagram andYouTube. He is one of themost-followed world leaderson social media with 53.3million followers on Twitter,44 million on Facebook and35.2 million on Instagram.

The Twitter handle of thePrime Minister's Office has 32million followers.

In September 2019, PMModi was the third-most fol-lowed world leader on themicroblogging site, behindonly US President DonaldTrump and his predecessorBarack Obama. He is also thefirst Indian to cross the 50-million followers' mark onTwitter.

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Succeeding in yet anotherdeportation from foreign

shores, the CBI on Saturdaybrought Sunny Kalra, anaccused in a �10 crore bankloan fraud case, to the countryfrom Muscat in Oman. Hisdeportation was on the basis ofan Interpol Red Corner Noticeissued on the request of theagency in 2016, officials said.

The CBI recently got gang-ster Ravi Pujari deported fromSenegal. Pujari is accused inscores of cases of extortion anddrug trafficking.

It is alleged that Kalra, thedirector of White Tiger SteelsPrivate Limited, took a loan ofRs 10 crore from the PunjabNational Bank (PNB), but didnot repay it.

He clandestinely removedthe hypothecated goods, mak-ing it impossible for the state-run bank to recover the out-standing loan amount, the offi-cials said.

The case against Kalra, hiswife and others was taken overby the Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) onDecember 16, 2015, they added.

"Both (Kalra and his wife)were absconding since the reg-istration of the FIR," a CBIspokesperson said.

The agency had filed achargesheet more than a yearafter taking over the case onDecember 22, 2016 againstKalra, his wife and three PNBofficials — then chief manag-er, manager and AGM of thebank.

The Interpol had issued aRed Corner Notice againstKalra on May 31, 2016 on therequest of the CBI, which ledto his location being traced toMuscat, where he was appre-hended by local enforcementagencies, the officials said.

"With Interpol's help, theCBI was in regular contactwith the NCB, Muscat for thedeportation of Kalra," an offi-cial said.

He added that Kalra wasdeported as a result of an effec-tive coordination between theNCB Muscat, the IndianEmbassy at Oman and theNCB, India (CBI).

"The accused will be pro-duced before a competent courtin New Delhi," the CBIspokesperson said.

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Amidst tightening of safetymeasures and surfacing of

more confirmed coronaviruscases which now stand at 34,Prime Minister Narendra Modion Saturday asked people to stayaway from rumours relating tothe disease and emphasised onthe need to follow the advice ofdoctors in this regard, avoidhandshakes and greet otherswith 'namaste' to bring theIndian tradition back to prac-tice.

As cases affected by coro-navirus are rising in India withtwo more persons from Ladakhwho had travelled from Iranand one identified in TamilNadu who returned fromOman testing positive, thePrime Minister advised peopleto not to go by impromptu sug-gestions on food intake to pre-vent the disease and askedthem to rather go by doctors'advise to ward off the disease.

Interacting with the own-ers of some `Jan AushadhiKendras` and beneficiaries ofthe ̀ Pradhan Mantri BharatiyaJanaushadhi Pariyojana`(PMBJP) through video con-ference on the occasion of ̀ JanAushadhi Diwas` the PrimeMinister sought people not totrust rumours.

"In such times, rumourscirculate very rapidly. Somesay don't eat this, don't do that.Some people will bring in newthings such as eat this to keepcoronavirus away. It is myrequest to all my fellow coun-trymen, kindly keep away fromthese kinds of rumours," he said.

"Whatever you do, kindlydo it on the advice of your doc-tor. Let's not become doctorsourselves," the Prime Ministeradded.

The entire world is takingup the habit of 'namaste', Modisaid. If due to some reason wehave discontinued this habit, itis the right time to once againtake this up instead of hand-shakes, Modi said.

"Jan Aushadhi Diwas is notonly a day about celebrating ascheme, but it is a day to joinwith crores of Indians, lakhs offamilies who have got major

relief through this scheme,"Modi said.

It is also a day to reach outto other people to popularisethis scheme so that poorest ofthe poor of the country can alsoavail the benefits, he added.

Talking about the impactof the PMBJP initiative, he saidevery month, over one crorefamilies are getting benefits ofcheap medicines from these JanAushadhi Kendras.

Over 6,000 Jan AushadhiKendras across the countryhave helped people savebetween �2,000-2,500 crore, headded.

There are 6,200 JanAushadhi Kendras in about644 districts in the country.Total sales of these stores in thefinancial year 2019-20 havecrossed �390 crore.

The cost of medicines atJan Aushadhi stores is 50 to 90per cent cheaper than theiraverage market price. Giving anexample, he said a medicineused for the treatment of can-cer is priced at around Rs 6,500in the market, but the same isavailable at Jan AushadhiKendras for Rs 850.

The government hasdecided to give awards in thisfield to recognise the efforts ofthe people who are runningthese stores. These awards willstart a new, healthy competitionin the field of Jan Aushadhi, headded.

"I believe the biggest ben-eficiary of this competition willbe poor and middle class,"Modi said even as he appealedstate governments to ask doc-tors to prescribe only genericmedicines.

As part of celebrating theJan Aushadhi Diwas, Modispoke with various people run-ning the Jan Aushadhi Kendrasat Guwahati, Dehradun, Pune,

Varanasi, Pulwama andCoimbatore, among others.

The store owners as well asother beneficiaries shared theirexperiences with the PrimeMinister.

Speaking about Jammu &Kashmir, Modi said in the pastone-and-a-half years develop-ment is taking place at a rapidpace in the Union territory.During this period, over 3.5lakh people have come onboard the Ayushman schemeand three lakh elderly people,women and differently-abledhave been provided with thegovernment pension scheme inJ&K.

Modi also became emo-tional when one Deepa Shahfrom Dehradun, who sufferedfrom a paralytic attack in 2011,broke down while narrating herordeal and the high cost of treat-ment earlier, as she thanked himfor the scheme.

Union Minister forChemicals and Fertilisers D VSadananda Gowda participatedin the programme at JanAushadhi Kendra in Varanasi,while Minister of State forChemicals and FertilisersMansukh Mandaviya partici-pated from a Jan AushadhiKendra in Pulwama.

The Pariyojna waslaunched by the Prime Ministerwith the objective of makinghigh-quality medicines availableto all at affordable prices, espe-cially to the poor and under-privileged, through the JanAushadhi outlets.

A day before PrimeMinister while speaking at anevent organized by a mediahouse had felt that coronavirushas come up as a big challengein front of the world and all haveto tackle the situation together.The virus that has originatedfrom China , has , so far killedmore than 3,200 people globally.

Union Home MinisterRajnath Singh, who was speak-ing at National DefenceCollege, also said that the novelcoronavirus outbreak has madeinternational scenario morecomplex and called for thepreparedness to tackle chal-lenges that might not allow ade-quate reaction time.

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Kalyanasundaram Anbaz-hagan, the grand old man of

Tamil Nadu politics and the longserving general secretary of theDMK, passed away earlySaturday morning in a privatehospital in Chennai. He was 98and has been hospitalised sinceFebruary 24 for age relatedissues.

A close associate of formerDMK chief M Karunanidhi,Anbazhagan would have com-pleted 43 years as the generalsecretary of the party had deathdid not snatch him at this junc-ture. He served as a Minister inTamil Nadu Governments led byKarunanidhi thrice. During the2006-2011 DMK rule,Anbazhagan was the FinanceMinister under Karunanidhi.He was also a member of theLok Sabha during 1967-1971.Anbazhagan, addressed inreverence as perasiriyar (Tamil

for Professor) was one of the feweducated leaders who was asso-ciated with the Dravida move-ment since its inception by EVRamasamy Naicker.

Though he was not a sup-porter of Karunanidhi for theChief Minister’s post following

the death of C N Annadurai in1969, he made a vault face soonand became an avid fan of theformer. Their friendship con-tinued till the end ofKarunanidhi. Anbazhagan’s lifelong ambition was to sign theDMK office order elevating

Stalin as the president of theparty which he did in August2017.

Anbazhagan is survived byhis wife, two daughters and a sonborn through his first wife.Anbazhagan was the last of thefounding members of theDravida movement in TamilNadu. MK Stalin, DMK presi-dent, expressed his grief over thedeath of Anbazhgan anddeclared a week long mourningas a mark of respect to thedeparted nonagenarian leader.

Members of theKarunanidhi family led by elderson MK Alagiri rushed toAnbazhagan’s residence andpaid their homages to thedeparted leader. OPanneerselvam, Deputy ChiefMinister , K Jayakumar, Ministerfor fisheries, led the Tamil NaduGovernment in paying tributesto the nine-time legislator whoopted out of electoral politics fol-lowing his defeat in the 2011Assembly election.

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Jammu: The Jammu &Kashmir Board of SchoolEducation (JKBOSE) hasintroduced a chapter on J&KReorganisation Act, 2019 inthe political science textbooksfor class 10, an official said onSaturday.

The book (Social ScienceDemocratic Politics-II) con-cludes with an Addendum onthe Jammu and KashmirReorganisation Act, 2019under chapter eight of Unit IV.

The centre had on August5 last year revoked provisionsof Article 370 which guaran-teed special status to Jammu &Kashmir and bifurcated the

erstwhile State into two UnionTerritories of Jammu &Kashmir, and Ladakh. TheCentre's announcement pro-ceeded strict curbs acrossJammu & Kashmir to maintainlaw and order. The restrictionswere, however, eased out in aphased manner to a largeextent as the time passed.

However, three formerChief Ministers — NationalConference president FarooqAbdullah, his son OmarAbdullah and the People'sDemocratic Party (PDP) pres-ident Mehbooba Mufti -- andscores of other leaders con-tinue to be under detention,

while the internet speed is stillrestricted to 2G. The academ-ic session for class 10 startedacross Kashmir and winterzones of Jammu region withthe opening of schools in thelast week of February. Theexamination for class 10 isunderway in summer zoneJammu where the new sessionstarts in April.

The particular chapter talksabout the resolution passed inboth houses of Parliament onAugust 5 last year followed bya Presidential order the nextday declaring all the clauses ofArticle 370 except clause (1) tobe inoperative. PTI

Ayodhya: The Ayodhya admin-istration on Saturday, hoursbefore the arrival of MaharashtraChief Minister UddhavThackeray here to pay obeisanceto Ram Lalla at the makeshifttemple, put three Hindu seersunder house arrest for threat-ening to greet the CM with blackflag, said police.

The seers had threatened togreet Thackeray with black flagsaying that he has formedGovernment in Maharashtrawith the help of those who haddubbed Lord Ram as an imag-inary figure. The three seers whowere put under house arrest on

early Saturday morning areMahant Raju Das ofHanumangarhi Temple, MahantParamhans Das of TapaswiChhawni Temple and RakeshDutt Mishra, the president ofHindu Mahasabha, saidAyodhya Senior Superintendentof police Ashish Tiwari.

Sources said three teams ofpolice personnel swooped on thehouses of the three saints andserved them with the admin-stration order to stay in thehouse arrest and left afterdeploying a few policemen out-side their residences to preventthem from venturing out. PTI

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Jaipur: Alwar's Juvenile JusticeBoard on Saturday deferred thejudgment on the sentencing oftwo minors convicted by it in thePehlu Khan lynching case of2017.

"The board deferred thejudgment today (Saturday)," asenior police official said, addingthat the verdict is likely to bedelivered on the next date to befixed by the court.

The JJB on Thursday pro-nounced that the minors werepart of a mob that had alleged-ly lynched 55-year-old Khan, adairy farmer, in 2017. This is thefirst conviction in the sensational

case. In August last year, six menwho were accused of lynchingKhan were acquitted by a lowercourt of Alwar.

The six accused — VipinYadav, Ravindra Kumar,Kaluram, Dayanand, YogeshKumar and Bheem Rathi —were given the benefit of doubtand were acquitted. The StateGovernment filed an appealagainst the trial court order in theRajasthan high court in October.

Khan, his two sons and afew others were transportingcows from Jaipur when theywere thrashed by cow vigilantesin Alwar on April 1, 2017. PTI

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Minister HD Deve Gowda onSaturday accused the NarendraModi-led Government at theCentre of 'destabilising' theReserve Bank, by 'attacking' itsautonomy and 'loosening' itssystem.

The JD(S) chief 's com-ments in the backdrop of theYes Bank crisis. "Vajpayee wasPrime Minister for six years,Manmohan Singh for ten years,this is the sixth year for Modi.During his (Modi's) periodReserve Bank has become likea department of FinanceMinistry. It had statutory pro-visions, autonomy (in thepast)..." Gowda said. PTI

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In the country’s biggest everprivatisation drive, the gov-

ernment on Saturday invitedbids for sale of its entire 52.98per cent stake in India’s secondbiggest oil refiner BharatPetroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL).

Expressions of interest forthe strategic sale of BPCL havebeen invited by May 2, as perthe bid document by theDepartment of Investment andPublic Asset Management(DIPAM).

“The Government of Indiais proposing strategic disin-vestment of its entire share-holding in BPCL comprising of114.91 crore equity shares,which constitutes 52.98% ofBPCL’s equity share capitalalong with transfer of man-agement control to a strategicbuyer (except BPCL’s equityshareholding of 61.65% inNumaligarh RefineryLimited),” it said.

NRL stake will be sold to a

state-owned oil and gas firm.The bidding will be a two-

stage affair, with qualified bid-ders in the first expression ofinterest (EoI) phase beingasked to make a financial bidin the second round.

PSUs “are not eligible toparticipate” in the privatisation,the offer document said.

Any private company hav-ing a networth of $10 billion iseligible for bidding and con-sortium of no more than fourfirms will be allowed to bid, itsaid. As per the bidding crite-ria, the lead member of theconsortium must hold 40 percent stake and others must havea minimum networth of $1 bil-lion.

Changes in consortium areallowed within 45 days but thelead member cannot bechanged, it added.

BPCL will give buyersready access to 14 per cent ofIndia’s oil refining capacityand about one-fourth of thefuel market share in the world’s

fastest-growing energy mar-ket.

BPCL has a market capi-talisation of about �87,388crore and the government stakeat current prices is worth about�46,000 crore. The successful

bidder will also have to makean open offer to other share-holders for acquiring another26 per cent at the same price.

Privatisation of BPCL isessential for meeting the record�2.1 lakh crore target Finance

Minister Nirmala Sitharamanhas set from disinvestmentproceeds in the Budget for2020-21.

BPCL operates fourrefineries in Mumbai(Maharashtra), Kochi (Kerala),

Bina (Madhya Pradesh) andNumaligarh (Assam) with acombined capacity of 38.3 mil-lion tonnes per annum, whichis 15 per cent of India’s totalrefining capacity of 249.4 mil-lion tonnes.

While the Numaligarhrefinery will be carved out ofBPCL and sold to a PSU, thenew buyer of the companywill get 35.3 million tonnes ofrefining capacity.

BPCL also owns 15,177petrol pumps and 6,011 LPGdistributor agencies in thecountry. Besides, it has 51 LPG(liquefied petroleum gas) bot-tling plants.

The company distributes21 per cent of petroleum prod-ucts consumed in the countryby volume as of March this yearand has more than a fifth of the250 aviation fuel stations in thecountry. The government hasappointed Deloitte ToucheTohmatsu India LLP as itstransaction advisor for thestrategic disinvestment process.

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China’s exports plummetedin the first two months of

this year on the back of a coro-navirus epidemic that forcedbusinesses to suspend opera-tions, disrupting the world’ssupply chains.

Exports fell 17.2 per cent,the biggest drop since February2019 during the trade war withthe United States, and importsdropped 4 per cent, accordingto official data releasedSaturday. A Bloomberg poll ofeconomists had expectedexports to drop less, by 16.2 percent, but had forseen a muchstarker drop on imports of16.1 per cent.

Consumers stayed homeduring the Lunar New Yearbreak at the end of January andbusinesses saw a much slowerreturn to work, as the countrystruggled to contain the spreadof the deadly coronavirus,which has killed more than3,000 people in China alone.

China’s trade surplus with

the US — a key point of con-tention in the trade disputebetween the two countries —sharply narrowed 40 percent inthe first two months, from$42 billion last year to $25.4 bil-lion.

Chinese authorities saidlast month that January andFebruary’s data would be com-bined. This is in line with howsome other indicators arereleased, to smooth over dis-tortions from the holiday break.

In an early sign of the eco-nomic impact to come, China’smanufacturing activity fell to itslowest level on record inFebruary, with non-manufac-turing activity plummeting aswell.

Capital Economics’ JulianEvans-Pritchard said in a reportFriday that the decision tocombine the data in Januaryand February means the “pub-lished growth rate won’t fullyreflect the extent of the recentweakness.” This is because thedisruption was mostly con-centrated in February.

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Cash-strapped Pakistan mayface losses up to $61 mil-

lion due to the deadly coron-avirus outbreak, the ADB hassaid in its assessment report onthe impact of the novelCOVID-19 outbreak.

The virus that first emergedin China’s Wuhan city in theHubei province in Decemberlast year has spread to 97 coun-tries and has infected 102,180people, including 80,651 inChina, according to the JohnsHopkins Coronavirus tracker. InPakistan, six cases of coronavirushave been reported and all havea history of travel to Iran. Threeof the cases are in Karachi andthree in Gilgit-Baltistan.

The Manila-based AsianDevelopment Bank has pro-jected that Pakistan’s economymay face $16 to $61 millionlosses due to the coronavirusoutbreak, The Express Tribunequoted a report published onFriday.

“In moderate case scenario,the projected losses to be facedby Pakistan are $34.2 million.In worst case scenario, theprojected losses to be faced byPakistan are $60.8 million,”the report said. The reportalso gave estimates about glob-al losses due to the novel virus.

The bank gave a “hypo-thetical worst case scenario”that shows Pakistan’s economysustaining a whopping $5 bil-lion loss due to spread of thevirus.

!���� 254�"5-61

The Directorate General ofGST Intelligence (DGGI)

on Saturday said it has regis-tered a case against AasthaApparels Pvt Ltd and others forfraudulently claiming refundson export of goods of over �61crore.

“DGGI booked a case onMarch 6, 2020 against AasthaApparels Pvt Ltd & others.Aforesaid companies havefraudulently claimed IGSTrefunds on export of goods tothe tune of more than �61crore,” the Finance Ministrysaid in a release.

The intelligence directoratesaid the Aastha Apparels PvtLtd and others availed input taxcredit (ITC) fraudulently on thebasis of invoices received fromnon-existent or non-function-al firms or from companieswhich have indulged in circu-lar trading.

DGGI said two directors ofthe exporting companies havebeen arrested on March 7,

2020 under Section 69(1) ofCGST Act, 2017 for offences under provi-sions of Sections 132(1)(b) and132(1)(c) of the CGST Act2017.

“The said firms/compa-nies also did not have com-mensurate purchases back-wards. It has been furtherrevealed that the supplier com-panies to these exporter com-panies are controlled and man-aged by few persons only andthey are also engaged in claim-ing of suspect IGST refunds,”said the release.

These companies have cre-ated a complex web of circulartrading among themselveswithout commensurate pay-ments or actual supplies ofgoods to pass on ineligibleITC to the exporters, it added.

Role of suppliers and otherpersons associated with theseExporters is under investiga-tion.

“Further investigations inthe matter are in progress,” itsaid.

New Delhi: March 7 () More than 1.09 crore persons have soughtemployment on the job portal of the Modi government.Responding to the requests, the government provided informationon about 67.99 lakh vacancies. However, data on the jobs takenup by the registered unemployed is not available on the portal.

Minister of Labour and Employment Santosh Gangwar, inresponse to a question in the Lok Sabha, clarified earlier that thedata of people getting jobs through the National Career Service(NCS) portal is not maintained. IANS

����� 254�"5-61

International crude oil priceswent into downward spiral

after major oil producers failedto reach an agreement toreduce production, as con-cerns about coronavirus impactspread across the globe.

The benchmark Brent fellby more than 9 per cent, to aslow as $45.50 a barrel, lowestsince June 2017. West TexasIntermediate crude, the US

benchmark, was as low as$41.11 a barrel.

The price of Brent crudehas now fallen around morethan 30 per cent this year.Brent had touched $71.75 perbarrel on January 8 this yearand is now trading at $45.50per barrel. This plunge willhave a wide range of implica-tions, including lower earningsfor oil companies, whose finan-cial performance is closely tiedto oil prices.

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Former Vice-President JoeBiden has put an exclama-

tion point on his Super Tuesdayvictories by winning the mostdelegates on the presidential pri-mary calendar’s biggest night.

The Associated Press hasallocated more than 92 per centof the 1,344 delegates that wereup for grabs on Tuesday, andBiden has such a commandinglead that Vermont Sen. BernieSanders cannot catch up as theremaining votes from that day’s14 state primaries are counted.

Biden built his delegatelead on Tuesday by racking uphuge victories in Alabama,North Carolina and Virginia,while scoring a narrow win inTexas. In all, Biden won 10states and Sanders won four.

“Look, not long ago thepress and the pundits declaredthis campaign dead, but thisweek we saw tremendous sup-port across the nation,” Bidentold supporters by phoneFriday evening. “We changedthe whole narrative.”

Sanders won Californiaand three other States —Colorado, Utah and his homestate of Vermont. AlthoughSanders won the biggest State,California, he didn’t rack up thecommanding lead required to

surpass Biden’s haul.Biden has won at least 610

delegates from Tuesday’s con-tests, while Sanders has won atleast 513, according to the APdelegate count. There are 102delegates still to be allocated.

Most of the delegates stillnot allocated are in California,with the next biggest chunks inColorado and Utah. DespiteSanders winning all threeStates, he has already beenawarded the largest share ofdelegates in those States.

Many of the delegates arebeing withheld because it isunclear whether former NewYork Mayor Mike Bloombergwill finish above the 15 per centthreshold in California, whichwould score him a significantnumber of statewide delegates.

Regardless of whetherBloomberg reaches the thresh-old, Sanders can’t catch Bidenbecause many of the remainingdelegates would then go toBiden. Bloomberg dropped outof the presidential race onWednesday.

Overall, Biden has 664 del-egates to Sanders’ 573. Sandersstarted the week with a six-del-egate lead. Biden’s performancewas all the more remarkableconsidering his slow start in thefirst three contests. Less than amonth ago, Biden didn’t win asingle delegate in NewHampshire.

The contest could nowbecome a drawn-out two-manbattle for delegates to win thenomination at the DemocraticNational Convention in July. It

takes a majority of pledged del-egates won in primaries andcaucuses — 1,991 — to win thenomination on the first ballot.With only two viable candi-dates left in the race, theprospect of a contested con-vention is remote.

The race now enters a keystretch as voters in 10 states castballots over the next two weeks.Sanders scrapped an appear-ance in Mississippi to campaignin Michigan — the largest prizeon Tuesday, when six states rep-resenting 352 delegates vote.

Sanders’ move was anacknowledgement that hestands little chance of bluntingBiden’s edge with black votersin the South and must focus onfighting back in the Midwest.

Four states vote on March17, including delegate-richIllinois, Ohio and Florida,where Sanders could strugglebecause of the state’s olderelectorate and his recent praiseof Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

When Sanders ran againstHillary Clinton in 2016,Clinton won in Florida, Illinoisand Ohio — the three stateswith the most delegates atstake in the mid-March pri-maries. In Florida, the biggestprize of the next two weeks,Clinton nearly doubledSanders’ vote.

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China has reported 28 newfatalities from the deadly

coronavirus outbreak, takingthe death toll in the country to3,070, Chinese health officialssaid on Saturday as the rapidspread of the epidemic hit amilestone, infecting more than1,00,000 people globally.

The virus that firstemerged in China in Decemberlast year has spread to 97 coun-tries and has infected 102,180people, including 80,651 inChina, according to the JohnsHopkins Coronavirus tracker.

China’s National HealthCommission (NHC) onSaturday said it received reportsof 99 new confirmed cases ofthe novel coronavirus infectionand 28 deaths on Friday on theChinese mainland.

The 28 deaths were allreported in the virus epicentreHubei Province and its capitalWuhan, the NHC said.

Meanwhile, 99 new sus-pected cases were reported itsaid, a significant milestone inChina’s over two-month-long

fight against the dreaded virusas the cases have for the firsttime dropped below 100. Theoverall confirmed cases on themainland have reached 80,651by the end of Friday. Thisincluded 3,070 people whohad died of the virus, 22,177patients still undergoing treat-ment and 55,404 others whowere discharged after recovery,the NHC said.

Also on Friday, 24 import-ed cases (people coming toChina from abroad) of thenovel coronavirus infectionwere reported on the mainland,including 17 in GansuProvince, three in Beijing, threein Shanghai and one inGuangdong Province. By theend of Friday, 60 importedcases were reported, the NHCsaid.

By the end of Friday, 107confirmed cases, including twodeaths have been reported inHong Kong, 10 confirmedcases in the Macao SAR, and 45in Taiwan, including one deathhave been reported.

While the cases of theCOVID-19 in China are on the

decline about 19,700 morecases were reported globallytaking the overall total of thecases, including from China toover a lakh, state-run CGTNreported.

The World HealthOrganisation (WHO) said onFriday that additional fivecountries — the Philippines,New Zealand, Ireland, theCzech Republic and Slovenia— have seen local transmissionof the COVID-19.

Outside China, a total of 97countries and regions havereported.

Bhutan, Cameroon, Serbiaand South Africa have report-ed cases of the COVID-19 forthe first time in the past 24hours as of Friday morning, theWHO report said.

Meanwhile, Michael Ryan,executive director of the WHOHealth EmergenciesProgramme said there is noevidence right now suggesting

the COVID-19 will disappearin summer, urging countries tofight the new virus decisively atthe current stage.

“We do not know yet whatthe activity or behaviour of thevirus will be in different cli-matic conditions,” Ryan said,warning against the assump-tion that the virus would justdisappear on its own in thesummertime like influenza,”state-run Xinhua news agencyquoted him as saying.

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In the midst of one of the mostdaunting crises of his admin-

istration, President DonaldTrump on Friday announced hehad made a major staff overhaul,replacing his acting chief ofstaff Mick Mulvaney withRepublican Rep. MarkMeadows.

While much of the countrywas focused on the spreadingcoronavirus, Trump announcedthe surprise reshuffle by Fridaynight tweet, saying Mulvaneywould become the US Specialenvoy for Northern Ireland.

“I have long known andworked with Mark, and therelationship is a very good one,”he wrote, thanking Mulvaney —who never shook his “acting”title — “for having served theAdministration so well.”

The long-rumoured movecomes as Trump has beenpulling together a team of loy-alists and allies ahead of what isexpected to be a bitter reelectionfight. But the timing — as hisadministration was already fac-

ing criticism over its handling ofthe outbreak — threatened toexacerbate concerns about theGovernment’s ability to protectthe nation from a virus that hasnow infected more than 100,000people worldwide.

Mulvaney had been leadingthe administration’s interagencyresponse to the virus untilTrump designated VicePresident Mike Pence to lead thewhole-of-government effortmore than a week ago.

It was just one of a longseries of downgrades forMulvaney, whose relationshipwith Trump began to sour notlong after he was named to theposition in December 2018.Indeed, Trump had been eyeingthe change for many months,according to people familiarwith his thinking, but wanted towait until after the impeachmentsaga was over to make his move.

Meadows, the onetimeleader of the House FreedomCaucus, is a longtime Trumpconfidant and sounding board,whose political instincts Trumprespects.

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The Trump Campaign hasfiled a defamatory law-

suit against CNN, accusingthe cable news network ofmaking false statements that the campaign “assessedthe potential risks and ben-efits of again seeking Russia’s help in 2020 and hasdecided to leave that optionon the table”.

After The New YorkTimes and The WashingtonPost , this is the third lawsuit by the TrumpCampaign against a majorAmerican media. Trump,who is seeking his re-elec-tion, has often describedthese three US media outletsas “fake media”.

The lawsuit, filed in theUS District Court in Atlanta on Friday, seeks to hold CNN account-able for intentionally pub-lishing false statements against President Trump’scampaign.

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The death toll from the novelcoronavirus in Iran con-

tinued to rise on Saturday with21 more people killed, includ-ing a politician who became theeighth official to succumb tothe disease.

Health Ministryspokesman KianoushJahanpour announced 1,076additional cases had been con-firmed in the past 24 hours,bringing the overall tolls to 200dead and 6,000 infected.

“More than 16,000 peopleare currently hospitalised assuspect cases,” Jahanpour saidduring a televised news con-ference.

He added 1,669 people who were sick with the COVID-19 illness have recovered.

The Islamic republic is bat-tling one of the world’s dead-liest outbreaks of the diseaseoutside China, where it origi-nated. The capital Tehranremains the worst-hit provincein the country, with 1,539 con-firmed cases.

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Saudi authorities havedetained three princes,

including King Salman’s broth-er and nephew on charges ofplotting a coup, the US mediareported Friday, signalling afurther consolidation of powerby the kingdom’s de facto ruler.

The detentions cast asidethe last vestiges of potentialopposition to Crown PrinceMohammed bin Salman andcome as the kingdom limitsaccess to Islam’s holiest sites in a highly sensitive moveto contain the fast-spreading

coronavirus. Prince Ahmedbin Abdulaziz al-Saud, a broth-er of King Salman, and themonarch’s nephew PrinceMohammed bin Nayef wereaccused of treason and takenfrom their homes early Fridayby black-clad royal guards, theWall Street Journal reported cit-ing unnamed sources.

The Saudi royal court hasaccused the two men, oncepotential contenders for thethrone, of “plotting a coup tounseat the king and crownprince” and could face lifetimeimprisonment or execution,the newspaper said.

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Kabul was reeling Saturdayafter Islamic State jihadists

killed 32 people and woundeddozens more, with injured sur-vivors describing scenes of ter-ror as gunmen opened fire in the deadliest attack to hit Afghanistan since a US-Taliban deal.

The attack at a crowdedgathering in the capital hasraised questions aboutAfghanistan’s abysmal securitysituation and uncertain futurefollowing the February 29agreement to pull foreign forcesfrom the country within 14months.

Lying in a hospital bed ina run-down Kabul neighbour-hood, 15-year-old Basira saidshe had attended Friday’s annu-al commemoration ceremonyfor Abdul Ali Mazari — apolitician from the Hazara eth-nic group — for the first time,accompanied by her father andyounger sister.

“We were in the middle ofthe ceremony when the gunfireerupted,” she told AFP in a frailvoice. “It was non-stop firingfor more than an hour,” shesaid, describing chaotic scenes,with terrified people runningfor cover from the gunmenwho appeared to be shooting atthem from a height.

As shrapnel tore into herright leg, she lost consciousnessand was brought to a nearbyhospital, along with 28 otherwounded. The Sunni-extremistIS had claimed an attack on thesame ceremony last year, whichkilled 11, and have in the pasttargeted Hazaras who are pre-dominantly Shia Muslim.

Beijing: Around 70 people were trapped after ahotel building housing quarantined coronavirussuspects collapsed in China’s Quanzhou city onSaturday, according to the official media here.

Thirty-three people were rescued after the 80-room hotel collapsed in Fujian Province around7.30 pm local time. Around 70 people were trappedunder the rubble, state-run Xinhua News agencyreported. The hotel was being used to quarantineand observe people who had come to the provinceduring the novel coronavirus prevention and con-trol, and had come in contact with the viruspatients, the report said.

A total of 147 rescue workers have been sentto the scene. Rescue efforts were underway. PTI

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Seattle: American coffee chain giant Starbuckshas shut a store in Seattle city after one of theoutlet’s staff members was tested positive forthe novel coronavirus.

Rossann Williams, Executive VicePresident of Starbucks, said in statement onFriday that the company first learned of theemployee on Thursday and quickly took stepsto close the store for “a deep clean overnight”,reports Xinhua news agency.

The employee is now in self-quarantineat home, Williams said in the statement,adding: “Because this is our first confirmedcase, we felt it was best to reach out and sharethis update with you all.” IANS

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The Indian women’s team will have to over-come big match pressure as it aims to exor-cise the ghosts of the past in the T20 WorldCup Final against habitual winners Australiain front of a record crowd at the Melbourne

Cricket Ground here on today.India go into the Final unbeaten after topping the

group stage where they had beaten the four-time cham-pions Australia in the tournament-opener.

After the semifinal against Englandwas washed out, the Harmanpreet

Kaur-led squad advanced totheir maiden summit clash,

having finished first in GroupA.

The refreshing fire-power of 16-year-oldShafali Verma at the topand consistency ofIndia's spin-heavybowling attack hascontributed massivelyto the team's success sofar in the competition.

However, muchmore is needed fromstar batters SmritiMandhana andHarmanpreet ifIndia are to wintheir maiden ICCtrophy.

The brittlemiddle-order tooneeds to deliver.And besidesdoing the rightthings on thefield, Indiawill also haveto win thebattle ofnerves in theall importantgame.

Australia,who had beaten

India in the pre-ceding tri-series

final, find themselvesin familiar territory

having made theirsixth successive finalin seven editions.

They know how towin the big moments inhigh-pressure games,while India have beenfound wanting on thatfront.

It may be a tad unfair on the teenager but theteam will expect Shafali to provide another flyingstart and hope this time the experienced Mandhanatoo fires. There can’t be a bigger stage forHarmanpreet to be back amongst the runs and leadthe team from the front.

If it was not for Shafali, India would have strug-gled to post competitive totals with the middle andlower-order doing precious little. The team did notcross the 150-run mark in the group stage but stillmanaged to get over the line, thanks to a disciplinedbowling effort.

L e g g i ePoonam Yadavhas made asensationalcomebackfrom a fin-ger injury and istournament’sleading wicket-taker with ninewickets alongsideAustralia pacerMegan Schutt.

P a c e rShikhar Pandeytoo has beenimpressive, whileleft-arm spin duoof Radha Yadavand RajeshwariGayakwad haskept things tight.

It will be inter-esting to see howAustralians playPoonam on Sunday asthe leggie was all over

!�����5-/30 25

Defending championsAustralia need to play mind

games to stop a rampagingShafali Verma during women’sT20 World Cup final againstIndia, believes England openerDanni Wyatt.

The 16-year-old Shafali hasbeen the star of the tournament,having amassed 161 runs at astrike rate of 161, consistentlyproviding India solid starts.

“It’s obvious what her weak-nesses are and Shafali knowswhat they are. The Aussies havetried to bowl to those areas in thepast. You’ve got to play a fewmind games with her and hopeshe spoons one up,” said Wyatt.

She shared the dressing roomwith the Indian star at the 2019Women’s T20 Challenge.

“When she fails, she’s sohard on herself. I just tell her torelax and that it’s only cricket.

“When you’re opening thebatting in T20, it can be brutalbecause your role is to go hardand you’re always going to fail.She’s very hard on herself whenshe does,” she added.

Wyatt said it was Shafali’sbrutal hitting against the pacersfrom the men’s team during a netsession which convinced herabout the Indian’s phenomenaltalent.

“Even before the session,she’d go to the nets for extra prac-tice against our quickest malebowlers,” recalled Wyatt.

“She’d bat for about an hour.She’d say ‘yeah, come bowl’ andgo ‘bang, bang.’ And I went‘who’s that?’

“She had an extra 20 minutesto do some drills after. I couldn’tbelieve she was 15 when some-one told me. She knew exactlywhat she wanted to get out of thatsession. At aged 15, that’s prettysmart.”

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It was a stinging rebuke from skipperHarmanpreet Kaur during the tournament

opener against Australia that fired up PoonamYadav, who eventually played an instrumentalrole in India’s march to their maiden Women'sT20 World Cup final.

The 28-year-oldIndian has emergedas India’s wrecker-in-chief in tourna-ment with ninewickets, including afour-wicket haulagainst defendingchampions Australiain the openingmatch.

“When I got hitfor a six in the firstover, she(Harmanpreet) cameto me and said,‘Poonam, you’re one of the most experiencedplayers in the team, and we expect better fromyou’,” Poonam was quoted as saying by the ICC.

“So, that kind of stirred something withinme. I told myself if my captain has that muchfaith in me, I should be able to make a come-back.

“I took a wicket in the very next ball, anddidn’t look back since. Now when I look backat that moment, it means so much in the con-text of my individual performance and run tothe Final,” said the bowler from Agra.

Poonam said she used her time on the side-lines to analyse the weakness of her opponentswhich came handy during the World Cup.

“When I was on the sidelines, I workedquite hard knowing the quality of competitionin the World Cup.

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Former India opener WasimJaffer on Saturday

announced retirement from allforms of cricket after amassinga mountain of runs in a glori-ous first-class career thatspanned almost a quarter cen-tury.

Since making his first-classdebut in 1996/97, the 42-year-old became the highest run-scorer in the Ranji Trophy andIrani Trophy, besides scoringclose to 2000 runs with five cen-turies in Test cricket.

“After all these years incricket, it is time to move on.

But just like the red ball formatwhich is very dear to me, it’s theend of only the first innings,”Jaffer said in a statement.

“I am looking forward tothe second innings in any capac-ity, be it in coaching, commen-tary etc., as long as I stayinvolved with the game as thisgame has given me so much.”

He remembered those whohelped him shape his career, hislife.

“A special thanks to all mycoaches, right from my schooldays to professional cricket, for

helping me polish my skills. Aheartfelt thanks to the selectorswho showed faith in me.”

The Mumbaikar leaves thescene as the only batsman toscore 12,000 runs in RanjiTrophy and he also has the high-est number of first-class hun-dreds to his name.

Internationally, Jafferplayed 31 Tests, scoring 1,944runs at an average of 34.11.Besides five tons, he has 11fifties in the highest format ofthe game, with 212 being hisbest.

“First of all, I would like tothank The Almighty Allah,who gave me the talent to playthis beautiful game.

“I’d like to also thank myfamily - my parents and broth-ers for encouraging me to pur-sue the sport as a profession andmy wife, who left the cosy lifeof England to create a lovelyhome for our children andme,” Jaffer said.

“I am honoured to haveshared the dressing room withthe likes of Rahul Dravid,Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble,VVS Laxman, VirenderSehwag, and MS Dhoni toname a few,” he said.

��3�����Test specialistCheteshwar Pujara will playfor Saurashtra in their RanjiTrophy final against Bengal, itwas confirmed on Saturday.

The summit clash will heheld at the SCA stadium inKhandheri from Monday. Thestadium would be hosting theRanji Trophy final for the first-time.

Pujara, who has played a 77tests, will turn up for the hostsafter a forgettable tour of NewZealand where the Indian bats-men were found in testing con-

ditions.The 17-member squad, led

by star pacer Jaydev Unadkat,was announced by SaurashtraCricket Association (SCA) on

Saturday. After the win overGujarat in the semifinals,Unadkat had revealed that hewas in constant touch withPujara, who was in NewZealand.

The SCA had also wantedRavindra Jadeja to feature inthe final but the BCCI turneddown its request saying“national duty” comes first.Jadeja is expected to be in theIndia squad for the three ODIsagainst South Africa, begin-ning in Dharamsala on March12. PTI

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!���� �5-/30 25

Australia are focussing not onlyon the wily Poonam Yadav but

preparing to take on India’s spin-heavy attack by practising against“slow spinners” ahead of Women’sT20 World Cup final.

Poonam had bamboozledAustralia in the opening game,snapping four wickets to powerIndia to a 17-run win but skipper

Meg Lanning urged her side tobrace up for other threats includ-ing the left-arm Indian bowlers.

“It’s not just Poonam we needto worry about. They’ve got somereally good left-armers too, suchas Rajeshwari Gayakwad. They’vegot a really strong line-up rightthrough their bowlers and theyhave spinners who can changetheir pace,” Lanning said.

“We will be facing some slow

spinners at training. We’ll be asprepared as we can be and mak-ing sure we adjust to what’s hap-pening at the time.”

India’s batting also boasts ofyoung Shafali Verma and SmritiMandhana besides all-rounderDeepti Sharma and Lanning saidher bowling unit has to make thenecessary adjustments when com-ing across India's good battingunit.

“Obviously Smriti Mandhanais a world-class player too andDeepti Sharma has also playedwell against us. We feel our bowl-ing line-up can adjust to differentthings,” she said.

“We are very well prepared forwhat the game will throw at us. It’sgoing to be a tough, hard battletoday against India but I feel weare as ready as we can be to takeit on.”

Harman excited to play infront of record crowd

them in the tournament opener.Australia, led by Meg Lanning,

are backing themselves to win infront of the home fans though asizable number of Indian fanstoo is expected at the iconicMCG.

Australia’s campaign has been hitby injuries to pacer Tayla Vlaeminck at the

start and star all-rounder Elysse Perrywas ruled out of the remainder of thetournament before the semifinalagainst South Africa.

Despite the twin setbacks,Australia have stormed into yet

another title clash."We're not coming just to put on

a good show. We're coming here towin and that's the attitude we're

going in with. It's been a long timecoming and the build-up to the

game is something I've notexperienced before. It will be

the biggest moment ofmy career," said

Lanning.

!�����5-/30 25

Aforced eight-day breakhas affected India’s prepa-

rations going into theWomen’s T20 World Cupfinal on Sunday but the teamis ready to rise to occasion infront a record crowd at theMCG, said skipperHarmanpreet Kaur.

An unbeaten run in thegroup stage propelled Indiainto their maiden T20 WorldCup summit clash after theirlast-four clash againstEngland was washed out onThursday.

India had defeated SriLanka in their last game onSaturday, followed by a semi-final washout, which meantthe visitors haven’t played forthe last eight days andHarmanpreet conceded herteam has been ‘restless’.

“We haven’t been out-doors much and we didn'tmanage to play the importantgame against England,” saidKaur on the eve of the finalagainst record four-timechampions Australia.

“We were all in touch anddoing indoor training, but itdoesn’t give you full confi-dence because the surface istotally different. Everyonewas in good touch and think-ing what they can do for the

team.“We did get rest also

because when you're playingfor a long time, you need abreak. No-one wanted to takerest, everyone was so keen,everyone was on the groundand ready to deal with the sit-uation.”

Over 75,000 tickets havebeen sold for the finals andHarmanpreet said her teamwill look to enjoy the big stageand play positive cricket.

“It's a great feeling. It's thefirst time we're going to see90,000 people in the stadiumand we're really looking pos-itive for that,” saidHarmanpreet, who hasplayed in front of a sold-outcrowd in the 2017 CricketWorld Cup Final againstEngland at Lord’s.

“We are used to playingwhen a lot of crowd is aroundus. Sometimes there’s nonoise going around in the sta-dium so we need to keep aneye on each of us. It’s a bigmoment.

“Rather than thinkingabout what is going to trouble us,it's only about being there,enjoying the moment and giv-ing our best.”

“One thing, we have to keepin mind Sunday is a fresh day, afresh start. We have to start fromball one,” he said.

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It was in 2013, that I met Karishma at asmall tailoring shop in Sunderbans.Her head was lowered as she was busysewing a colourful kurta. She lookedup to see me, and I caught her sweet

smile and sharp features. We spoke for awhile and the conversation slowly drifted tohow she was trafficked. But at the verymention of it, her whole being suddenlyfroze — and within seconds — her eyeswidened and were blank.

I realised that we had reminded her of amemory that haunted her. She did not want tospeak about it. It took some time but Imanaged to calm her down. When she finallyspoke, the one thing that she said struck mehard. She said she did not know that she couldhave been “trafficked”. She did not know thatyoung girls and women from her region werevictims of sex trafficking. They had no ideathat a dark world like this even existed.

This memory has stayed, grown, and overthe years, made me realise the importance ofbuilding awareness in the public, especiallyamong young girls and women, on this rapidlygrowing flesh trade.

So though I was then creating books/putting up exhibitions and multi-layeredinstallations in gallery spaces, I realised Iwanted to engage the public out and notwithin these walls. In 2013, I took my first steptowards creating a strong public artwork thatwould transcend language barriers that wouldtalk to the public.

From this, emerged the Missing silhouette.In 2014, I launched ‘Missing’ Public Art

Project to engage the public on the issue of sextrafficking. It was the culmination of years ofmy work on the issue. I had worked inKalighat, Bow Bazaar, Khidderpore. Spent a lotof time with Ruchira Gupta, founder of ApneAap Women Worldwide, Sraboni Sarkar ofSouth Kolkata Hamari Muskaan and UrmiBasu of Newlight in Kalighat, andunderstanding the angst which those workingin these spaces faced because of the constantand growing demand which led more girls tobe sold.

The Missing had a good launch at theIndia Art Fair with JSW and immediatelycaught the eye of many international andnational media through its installations, thelarger than life black silhouettes of young girlsplaced against the urban skyline. Constructedfrom iron sheets, forged and painted pitchblack, they seem like sharp, black holes cut outinto the sky. Holes, into which, millions of

girls disappear from the face of the earth. Itwas meant to invoke in eye of the beholder thesense that something is gone. The public artworks serve as both a symbol of what is and isnot, what we must address, a reminder, not anillusion, a fact, not a suggestion, somethingpermanent rather than ephemeral.

As my intention was public engagement,we soon started building an online communitythrough social media outreach. This gave usan insight into what people think, how theythink and what points or platforms can be acatalyst or a game changer in shaking thestatus quo in our society with regards totrafficking for sexual exploitation. We wantedto build an army that would join us in our cryto end demand for vulnerable young girls andwomen.

At this point, we started exploring the ideaof crowd funding and making the MissingProject for the people, by the people. Thecrowd funding not only helped us prepare forthe amazing opportunity to bring out our firstset of public installations in future but alsogave us a golden opportunity to create theMissing game for a cause. This was a one of itskind gaming app, engaging the public byputting them into the shoes of a trafficker.

We also thought of a means of powerfulpublic engagement at the ground level.Something that was very visual with a highimpact and having a high recall. That is howthe stencil project came to life through theMissing silhouette.

The Missing silhouette is seen again andagain across the country in the street stencilproject. We have realised the power of thestencil art. It has become the most visual andpowerful part of the Missing campaign.

This got us to another milestone in thejourney. We formed Missing Link Trust inOctober 2015 and we continue to worktirelessly and passionately to reach out to moreand more stakeholder through all ourcampaigns.

We want Missing to be synonymous withawareness against trafficking for sex. We wantour engagement to provide knowledge asarsenal to children, women, young girls andboys so that they can avoid being victims oftrafficking. Parallely, through all ourengagement, we want to have an undercurrentrunning across our programmes that mindshapes the young males in India into de-objectifying the female human body andcreating more sensitive and empathic youthtowards gender differences. Further, it would

also create a more compassionate view for thevictims of sex trafficking. One of the last keythings is also to create an environment amongyoung girls where they de-clutter their conceptof femininity, which is currently overridden bythe masculine gaze.

We realised that trafficking is primarilydemand driven. In simple terms, demandequals supply and an unaware public, directlyand indirectly, contributes to this demand. Ifwe created awareness, we knew that we couldhit the pain point and work towards endingdemand.

The Missing primarily works in anti-trafficking awareness. We strongly believe thatawareness equals prevention and use differentawareness tools and methodologies in ourmission.

The Missing Public art works are largerthan life black silhouettes of young girls placedagainst the urban skyline. Constructed fromiron sheets, forged and painted pitch black,they seem like sharp, black holes cut out of thesky. Holes, into which millions of girlsdisappear, from the face of this earth. Theseexpanded forms act as memorials to theseyoung girls who have disappeared, vanishedinto thin air. It is hoped that these emblematicsilhouettes generate curiosity, recognition andfinally a sense of deep loss, recovering themfrom the abyss of the sky. A recovery thatinspires millions of others to act on behalf ofthe fate of those who have disappeared and arealluded by justice. So far, the installations havebeen showcased with the India Art Fair andPune Biennale.

The Stencil Campaign uses the MissingGirl silhouette. It is a powerful means forengaging the public and providing ownershipin the campaign to end demand. Each personwho creates a stencil becomes a spokespersonfor ‘Missing’. We want the public to haveownership in the drive to end demand andmake it an inclusive and open campaign. Itwas critical to create this shift from anexclusive to an inclusive structure. Thesilhouette of a young girl symbolises a blackhole into which millions of girls disappearfrom the face of the earth.

She is a constant reminder and aremembrance of the millions of girls who havebeen lost. She is a girl who has lost the powerof making choices. This stencil artwork alsoserves as a method of sharing the veryimportant information that the number 1098is the pan-India Childline helpline for childrenin distress or missing.

Though this very language of using publicart and a global stencil campaign is veryinnovative the ‘Missing’ Game For A Causehas been the most unique to our campaign. It’sa role-playing game designed to put players inthe decision-making seat to make choices andassess risks to experience what a ‘missing girl’goes through when she is trafficked into thecruel world of prostitution; a world into whichmillions of girls are lost every year. Thegameplay and storyline invoke discomfort inthe player through the intensive andclaustrophobic experience of being in thevictim’s shoes. ‘Missing’ Game For A Cause isa first of its kind game built on the Unityplatform to be translated in Indian vernacularlanguages.

This puts Missing as an innovator andchangemaker in leveraging technology in aunique way to bring about long-lasting socialchange. The game, much like Missing’s otherinitiatives, focuses on raising awareness andthus prevention of sex trafficking. The game iseasily playable for anyone with access to asmartphone. This gives us the ability to reachand create awareness amongst a vast andvaried, urban and rural audience through thevernacular localisation of the game. The gamehas the potential reach of millions in all partsof the world, and most importantly in remoteareas where other traditional means ofawareness generation cannot penetrate with ease.

The storyline for ‘Missing’ Game For ACause was formed on the basis of interviewswith trafficking victims and survivors. Soonafter its launch, the Missing game won theNASSCOM Indie game of the Year award andreceived 820,000 organic downloads across70+ countries on the Google Play Store andApp Store. The initial localisation in Bengaliorganically reached the number1 spot in theBangladesh Google Play Store within a week ofits launch.

The Missing project has been runningunder the aegis of the Missing Link Trust fornearly four years now and every day is anexciting day! There are Games Apps, schoolprogrammes, skill training and digital literacyprograms being rolled out. All our actions aredriven with the focus to stop trafficking andending demand and help save the next girlfrom getting trafficked. We hope it will make adifference.

The writer is a photographer, installationartist and founder of the MISSING campaign

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To the delightful cosmos of sto-ries woven around LordKrishna, comes a new addi-tion. Krishna Yogeshvara bySanjay Dixit is the second

installment of his trilogy, preceded byKrishna Gopeswara, published in Mid2018 by Bloomsbury. The second install-ment keeps with the great expectationsthat the first book set in the minds ofreaders.

With an intriguing start, embeddedwith delicious detail, the KrishnaYogeshvara starts off with the elopementof Princess Rukmini of Vidarbha andKrishna. The self-sufficient, poised andcurious nature of Rukmini draws thereader right into the story and then weare treated to the story of Krishna withRukmini being the listener.

Sanjay Dixit’s style of story tellingneeds to be dwelt upon here to sufficient-ly admire his balancing of the prevalentwestern story telling craft in the marketalong with the key aspects of Indic story-telling, which includes a seeker or listen-er possessing the adhikara according toShastras. Commercial aspects like pace,flow, twists are well backed by Indicaspects of philosophy, detail andresearch.

The combination makes the bookconducive to discerning as well as whatwe could call as ‘airport’ style readers.Even while maintaining the taut pace, theauthor does take care to present philo-sophical delights like Uddhava Gita, awonderful debate between Bhakti andAtmatattva. As a writer in the samegenre and a sworn lover of Krishna, Ifound this delicate intertwining of story-telling techniques as a source of valuablelearning.

Yogeshvara spans the story ofKrishna from his arrival at Mathurathrough the intrigues he steers theYadavas through, including the vengefulwrath of Jarasandha, rise of the Pandavasand ends before the start of the famedKurukshetra war. In other words, ittraces the part of Krishna’s trajectorywhere he stops being a reactionary heroagainst Kamsa’s tyranny to a proactiveleader and lord who seeks to wrest con-trol away from adharmic forces andestablish a rule of Dharma.

My piece of advice to readers is todwell upon the insightful dialogue thatmakes us pause and contemplate.Because Krishna Yogeshvara (For thatmatter, the whole of this series) is not

just a story, but if viewed with sufficientbent of enquiry, one can see the civilisa-tional narrative that Dixit tries to weavemirroring the crossroads where India ofour times is. Readers of the first install-ment would remember the genesis ofKutil Muni, who represents an over zeal-ous monotheistic philosophy. KrishnaYogesvara has an addition to the philo-sophical clash in the form of this charac-ter called, Jatil Muni. One can say JatilMuni is a sophisticated and an affableversion of the treacherous philosophypropagated by the Kutil Muni fromKrishna Gopeshvara. As Krishna trajecto-ry goes steeply upwards, keeping with thenarrative of the Mahabharata, so doesthe rot in the land of Bharata, propelledby tyrannical forces like Jarasandha andunderhanded initiatives of Jatil Muni.

In Dixit’s narratives, care has beentaken to craft the characters who fall forthe fanatical monotheistic cults. The riseand fall of Kamsa owing to Kutil Muni’s

influence is a great example. Weencounter another such victim inYogeshvara — Duryodhana. WhileKrishna, nimble and wise as he is in thefield of Raj Niti and Raj Dharma, worksto eradicate the tyrant that is Jarasandhaand fills in the power vacuum withYudhishtira, the young Dharma abidingson of Pandu, who is also loved by thepeople, Jatil Muni’s tentacles spreaddeeper than one could perceive, takingthe gullible Duryodhana andDhritarashtra under his influence.

The twists of fate that follow themeteoric rise of the Pandavas resulting inthe notorious game of dice and furtherweakening of the Dharmic foundation ofthe Kuru family is a well-known storyfrom the Mahabharata. What makes thenarrative of Krishna Yogeshvara unique isthe careful examination of how mistakesor overlooking of things by even thosewho are wise, valiant and dharmic costsnot only them but even the land they

rule and love, dearly. It is a lesson that the people of India

need to learn, revise and review at everyopportunity they get to read the scrip-tures like Mahabharata or their wonder-ful retellings like the book being dis-cussed. We need to learn it so thatKamsas and Duryodhanas stop risingfrom amongst us in any millennium.That alone would be a worthy tribute ofgratitude we can offer in return for theimmortal Bhagavad Gita that Krishnagave us through Arjuna.

In Krishna Yogeshvara, the essence ofthe Gita is presented as the culminationof the wisdom and realisation attained byKrishna in his quest to protect andchampion the cause of dharma. Arjuna’sdespondence right at the beginning ofthe great war is the ending event of thisbook, leaving the reader with a mindfulcognizance of the ‘Yoga’ of Yogeshvarathat would follow next.

One does expect the writers of this

genre to wield their imagination and cre-ative liberty to present a novel perspec-tive. That makes the ‘how’ of the plot exe-cution very important to the reader’sexperience. Without giving much detailaway, I want to say that the game of dice,the disrobement and Krishna’s physicalintervention (yes, in person) do make fora breathtaking story telling. I rememberreading this part of the story in the mid-dle of night with no signs of sleep comingtill I could read the following chapters!

While that was about the main plot,there are also smaller joys that ancienthistory lovers would love to encounteracross the book. The author has man-aged to wonderfully reconcile the myste-rious debate around Rukmini’sArunachali origins. The geography ofancient India and the significance of eachlocation is enunciated with an elan thatwould make the reader feel like he istruly journeying through the times ofour ancestors.

Each of the characters be it majorones like Uddhava, Balarama, Rukminior minor streaks like Satyabhama addtheir own touch of liveliness even as theplot thickens in the background. There isalso an exploration of ancient customs, ofShastrartha, Purva Paksha, astronomyand other traditions that adds an enrich-ing dimension to those who are new tothe wonders of ancient India.

The finale and the third installmentof the series, titled KrishnaParameshvara, I expect would explorethe crux of the Bhagavad Gita and theensuing war, a topic of my personalinterest and passion. Something I shallwait for, given the promise made by thefirst two books. If you are a lover ofancient history, Mahabharata, India orKrishna, this is a must read book.

Saiswaroopa Iyer is the author ofDraupadi: Tale of an Empress, Avishi,

Abhaya and Mauri. She is an IITian anda former investment professional

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August 30

Kargil sits at the confluenceof the Suru and the small-er Wakha rivers. It is a

town of 10,000 people and issimilar to many of its sister vil-lages across the border inPakistan with mud-brick, flat-roofed houses, concrete-blockgovernment buildings, a noisybus park and a coating of duston everything. But Kargilseemed a particularly dirty place.Maybe there was more traffic,and so more diesel exhaust stainson the walls and pools of oil bythe side of the road, but therewas also bright plastic garbageblowing in the wind and thelaundry I saw flapping in thebreeze was speckled with soot.Kargil is the last Muslim townbefore the shift to Buddhism andthe town closest to the disputedborder. It is a place on the fron-tier of religious and politicaldivisions. Some residents resentthe fact they are controlled bythe Indian Army. As one manwith a full beard, grimy jeansand the smell of old tobaccoabout him whispered to me in atea shop by the bus park, ‘We areoccupied by a force of idol wor-shippers and dark men.’

The place was not inviting,so after that quick cup of tea,during which I felt that half themen in the crowded chai shopwere staring at me, I walkedsoutheast down the WakhaValley. I passed a few small vil-lages along the way and afterabout twenty kilometres reachedthe confluence of the Wakha andPhokar rivers where I turned

south and soon came to Phokarvillage, the first Buddhist com-munity on my trek. Familieswere in the fields harvesting bar-ley and because of the altitude,3,200 metres, for the first time Isaw yaks instead of goats grazingon the leftover stubble. I laterlearned the animals at Phokarwere in fact a cross between yaksand cows called a dzo, bred fortheir higher milk production andmore manageable demeanour.

The pungent smell of dungfires lingered in the air. The vil-lage looked prosperous. Everyfew hundred metres I passedtwo-storey mud-brick mansionswith walls a metre and a halfthick and flat roofs piled highwith tight sheaves of freshly cutbarley. The whitewashed wallswere rubbed with diamond-shaped, blood-red markings,which I was to learn were protec-tion from the evil spirits thatmany Buddhist Ladakhis believelurk behind every ill-consideredaction. On the roofs of the hous-es, above the front doors, coni-cal, one-metre-high terracottaincense burners billowed outpeppery, juniper wood smoke;locals believe the particular smellattracts benevolent energies.

The majority of Ladakhisfollow a Tibetan style ofBuddhism which traces its localhistory back to the eighth centu-ry when the region was caught inthe midst of the clash betweenChinese and Tibetan expansion-ism. Control of the regionmoved back and forth betweenthe two powers but in 842Nyima-Gon, a Tibetan royal rep-

resentative, took advantage ofthe chaos surrounding the sepa-ration of the Tibetan empire andannexed Ladakh for himself.This initiated a period ofTibetanization that has contin-ued to this day. In the fourteenthand fifteenth centuries Ladakhwas invaded multiple times byMuslim armies. It was splinteredbut never completely concededits independence and in 1470King Lhachen Bhagan united thestate and founded the Namgyaldynasty that still exists. In 1834the Dogra army from Jammusuccessfully invaded Ladakh andmade it part of Kashmir. Duringpartition in 1947 Ladakh wasinvaded by the Pakistani Army.Kargil and Zanskar were occu-

pied but eventually, after theNamgyal king signed theInstrument of Accession, whichmade the area an official part ofthe new Indian state, the IndianArmy repulsed the invaders.

The trail up through the vil-lage was lined with stupas, earth-en domes built upon squaremud-brick pedestals and toppedwith brick or brass spires. Somewere crumbling, while othersseemed freshly painted. The stu-pas came in all sizes, some small-er than an upended shoebox,others more than seven metreshigh. Stupas were the earliestBuddhist religious monuments.Initially they were built to housewhat were thought to be relics ofthe Buddha. Over time they

changed from being reliquariesto being objects of venerationthemselves. Stupas came to bepropitiated not for what theymay have contained, but forwhat they represented. Theyhave become architectural mani-festations of the Buddha.

I tried to imagine the stupaas a devoted Buddhist might: thesquare base stepping upwardslike a mind logically movingthrough levels of realizationtowards a state of enlightenment;the spherical core, both expan-sive and receptive, like theknowledge of the Buddha; andatop the dome a spire, a needleof fierce mind reaching for thehighest state of consciousness.

By the roadside and scat-tered around the stupas wereboulders, rocks and pebbleseach chiselled with the ubiqui-tous Tibetan mantra, Om ManiPadme Hum: Om — the jewelinside the lotus flower — Hum.I found myself repeating it intime with my steps. Om —stride, Mani — stride, Padme— stride, Hum — stride. I hadlearned the mantra years beforein Kathmandu and it hadbecome a peaceful mumblethat, to this day, sneaks up onme unconsciously.

I played with the words,quickened my pace and themantra sped up. I slowed andthe prayer lingered, working itsway like a bass tone into mychest, sound and movementworking together.

I bent down and picked upone of the mani stones. It wasflattened and water-worn, a

perfect river skimmer, smoothon one side, rippled with chiselwork on the other. I slipped itinto my trousers and felt it rub-bing through the thin cotton ofmy pocket against my thigh.

I pitched my tent that night afew kilometres beyond Phokar inthe lee of a wall constructed ofthousands upon thousands ofhand-carved mani stones, a workof devotion generations in themaking. As I lay in my sleepingbag, a breeze blew through thestones, generating an undulatingmoan. The prayers serenaded meto sleep.

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The hope of tranquillityreturning to war-torn

Afghanistan following thepeace deal signed between theTaliban and the US, sansimportant stakeholder — theruling Afghan Government —at the end of the last month hasbeen dashed as the Talibanresumed attacks againstGovernment forces after itdeclined to release Talibanprisoners.

Following nine rounds ofdiscussions, the negotiatorshad reached the peace agree-ment that addresses four mainissues: Ceasefire, withdrawal offoreign forces fromAfghanistan, intra-Afghannegotiations and finally,counter-terrorism assurancesfrom the Taliban. The deal wassigned by US Special EnvoyZalmay Khalilzad and thepolitical chief of the TalibanMullah Abdul Ghani Baradar,with the Secretary of StateMike Pompeo as witness. It wasconcluded in Doha, the capitalcity of Qatar. After the agree-ment was signed, US PresidentDonald Trump said, “I reallybelieve the Taliban want to dosomething to show we’re not allwasting time. If bad things hap-pen, we’ll go back with a forcelike no one’s ever seen.”

This precisely underlinesthat America is expecting apositive outcome from thetruce. And if the Taliban lead-ership falters on its commit-ments, Washington wouldcome with an extraordinaryforce to ensure the stability ofAfghanistan.

America invadedAfghanistan weeks after thehistoric terror attack on its soilin September 11, 2001. Thiswas the first ever such jihadistonslaught carried out in the USby the al-Qaeda, then based inAfghanistan. Since then theUS-led NATO forces have beenthere to fight out the scourgeof the Islamic fundamentalistsmainly spearheaded by the al-Qaeda and directly supportedby the Taliban regime (1996-2001) headed by Mullah Omar.

In this war to stamp outIslamists, the US has lost near-ly 2,400 soldiers and about12,000 are still stationed inAfghanistan. But then theoffensive against the NATOforces was initially led by theTaliban fighters, and today, it isa multi-cornered campaignlaunched by other jihadistssuch as ISIS, al-Qaeda andHaqqani Network. And overthe period of almost twodecades, the two civilianGovernments under HamidKarzai and now Ashraf Ghanihave not been able to establishfull control all over the country.

So far, the situation on theground has not worsened, buthas not improved qualitative-ly, both for the successiveregimes in Kabul and mostimportantly for the ordinaryAfghans. In such a situation,the next move on the part ofTrump Administration inAfghanistan would definitelyhave a serious impact on thesustenance of the GhaniGovernment and normal civil-ian life across the country.

Should America withdraw

from Afghanistan? Clearly,America should not leave ordesert Afghanistan the way itis trying at the moment.Looking at the currentimbroglio in the country andan emerging offensive of theTaliban on the backyard,Trump should not withdrawfrom Afghanistan.

In fact, it is now almost twolong decades, the US forces arefighting a bloody war againstthe al-Qaeda, Taliban and final-ly ISIS insurgencies across thewar-torn nation.

Another question arises tothe international community:Is ISIS growing at the cost ofthe current stand-off amongthe Taliban, the US and theGhani Government? To a greatextent, yes it is. Time has comefor the Taliban leadership tofight out both the al-Qaeda andISIS menace, else its very iden-tity would be vanished fromthe Afghan soil. As the tradi-tional strongholds of both thesegroups are fast obliterating,they are either searching fornew grounds or fighting to sur-vive wherever they were exist-ing earlier. For the al-Qaeda,Afghanistan is considered to beits breeding ground as onceOsama bin Laden had a strongtie-up with the Taliban regime.Since the killing of Osama andits top leadership at the handsof US-led global coalition

known as “global war on ter-rorism”, the group had to liter-ally look for both its existenceand relevance. On the otherhand, the ISIS was born fromthe very womb of the al-Qaeda,but it has gradually lost its rootsand set out a complete newjourney for redefining Islamicradicalism.

However the joint opera-tion of the US and its allies inWest Asia, particularly in Iraqand Syria, and the birth of theunited forces, brought forth bythe Syrian Government, Russiaand Iran-backed militia, havedealt a death blow to the ISIS.So at this juncture, resettlingdifferences within the Talibanfactions and immediatelyreclaiming their lost commandcould be a top priority simplyto prevent further undermin-ing its strength.

Obviously, since theTaliban have not been in powerafter 2001, the cadre hardlyhave any hope of regainingKabul. However, with the sign-ing of the much awaited peacedeal with the US, and also onconditions favourable to theirmain demands, the Islamistsand their current leadershiphave seen a new road toAfghanistan’s power corridor.At the moment, the peace dealjust meant sidelining the Ghaniregime. But in future, whoknows he may meet the same

fate Najibullah met onSeptember 28, 1996, thatensued in the Taliban snatch-ing power.

However, against all odds,one can hope the currentGovernment will have enoughmight to fight back any suchmonstrous attempt by Baradar.The heaviest onslaught of thewar would be encountered bythe Afghan National Army.They have to deal with the rag-tag insurgents, apart from thehigh-handed and most violentTaliban. Therefore, instead offulminating against the GhaniGovernment, both AbudullahAbdullah and Rashid Dostum(currently threatening to formtheir own governments) mustcome along to strengthen thestatus quo. Else all of them willhave to face a resurgent Talibanvery soon. Their differenceswould be fully exploited byBaradar.

How India should respondat this juncture? This time for-mally, India has become a partof the Taliban talk process inQatar, represented by itsAmbassador in Doha PKumaran. Earlier in November2018, two Indian diplomats,former Indian envoys toAfghanistan and Pakistanrespectively Amar Sinha andTCA Raghavan, participated intalks with the Taliban, simplyas observers.

Traditionally, India hasshied away from engaging withthe Taliban leadership, thoughmany realists in the foreign pol-icy domain have demanded thecountry’s active participation inthe Afghan peace process.

But this time with theTrump-Taliban agreement,Delhi has recalibrated its posi-tion with a cautious note. Indiahas always insisted on its rolein development and securityassistance in Afghanistan.Frankly speaking, an Afghan-led, and an Afghan-owneddeal could be possible, but anAfghan-controlled one is nearimpossible. The reason behindthis is that all the truce agree-ments or discussions wereeither led by influential playerssuch as the US or may havebeen complicated by the pres-ence of Pakistan.

Apart from India’s interac-tion with the US, it has alsobeen in touch with other majorplayers in Afghanistan such asRussia, China, Iran and SaudiArabia for quite some time.

However, a new Talibancoming back to power wouldcertainly remind India of itsdark memories of the 1990s,particularly of the hijacking ofthe IC-814 and its aftermath,leading to the release ofMasood Azhar and the estab-lishment of his Jaish-e-Muhammed. Later this group

was involved in the Parliamentattack in 2001 and in Pulwamaattack in 2019. For Delhi,Taliban’s retake of the nationwould mean strengtheningPakistan’s sinister Islamist ter-ror design against India.

Thus since the beginningof the talks led by the US,Russia and China, the IndianGovernment has been stressingon the involvement of all sec-tions of Afghan society and thelegitimately electedGovernment of Ghani, torespect the constitutional lega-cy and political mandate andfinally, not to offer anyungoverned spaces where ter-rorists and their proxies can berelocated in that country.

These three aspects clear-ly indicate how India wants afuture Afghanistan deal looklike. In the recent past, Delhihas suffered and lost both manand material in the hands ofAf-Pak based terror groups.Therefore, its major concern isnot to have space left for therelocation of radicals such asthe al-Qaeda, the ISIS and theHaqqani network. Rather theyall must be moved out ofAfghanistan. On the otherhand, the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba,the Jaish-e-Mohammed andthe Jamaat-ud-Dawa kinds ofPakistan-based jihadi organi-sations should not be offered asafe haven in Afghanistan.

It seems Afghanistanwould turn into another chaossooner or later. The main rea-son behind it is thatWashington has never everemphasised on involving theGhani regime in the peaceprocess. The Taliban has beenencouraged to sidestep thepopularly elected Governmentin the country, it has dealt withAmerica and the rest of themajor international players inAfghanistan as the sole repre-sentative of the country. Itwould be prepared to run aparallel set of Government.

Now only the reconcilia-tion process between the Ghaniregime and the Taliban wouldstart wherein many trickyissues would arise like prison-er swap arrangements.

Finally, what the peacedeal has achieved is a relativecalm for the war-ravagedAfghanistan at the moment.And the central to the deal isthe drawdown of the US forcesfrom Afghan soil and guaran-tees from the Taliban that thecountry will not be used as safehaven for terrorists. However,the bigger challenge would benegotiating an agreementbetween the Taliban and theGhani Government on thefuture of the country.

(The writer is an expert ofinternational affairs)

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judges has authorised a far-reaching investigation into warcrimes and crimes againsthumanity allegedly committedby the Afghan Governmentforces, the Taliban, Americantroops and US foreign intelli-gence operatives.

The appellate rulingmarked the first time the courtsprosecutor has been cleared toinvestigate US forces, and setthe global tribunal on a colli-sion course with the TrumpAdministration. ProsecutorFatou Bensouda pledged tocarry out an independent andimpartial investigation andcalled for full support andcooperation from all parties.

“The many victims of atro-cious crimes committed in thecontext of the conflict inAfghanistan deserve to finallyhave justice,” Bensouda said.

“Today they are one step clos-er to that coveted outcome.”

Washington, which haslong rejected the court’s juris-diction and refuses to cooper-ate with it, condemned thedecision while human rightsgroups and lawyers for victimsapplauded it.

“This is a truly breathtak-ing action by an unaccountablepolitical institution mas-querading as a legal body,” USSecretary of State MikePompeo said at a StateDepartment briefing. “It is allthe more reckless for this rul-ing to come just days after theUnited States signed a historicpeace deal on Afghanistan,which is the best chance forpeace in a generation.”

His comments reflect long-held distrust of the ICC by theUS Government. In 2018, then-National Security Adviser John

Bolton said the court — estab-lished in 2002 to prosecuteatrocities throughout the world— “unacceptably threatensAmerican sovereignty and U.S.national security interests.”

A five-judge appellatepanel upheld an appeal byprosecutors against a pretrialchamber’s rejection in April lastyear of Bensouda’s request toopen a probe in Afghanistan.

While acknowledging thatwidespread crimes have beencommitted in Afghanistan,pretrial judges had said aninvestigation wouldn’t be in theinterests of justice because theexpected lack of cooperationmeant convictions would ulti-mately be unlikely.

That decision drew fiercecriticism from rights organi-sations who said it neglectedthe desire of victims to see jus-tice in Afghanistan and effec-

tively rewarded states thatrefused to cooperate with theHague-based court.

Even though an investiga-tion has now been authorised,the prospect of suspectsappearing in court in TheHague any time soon remainsdim. Like the United States,Afghanistan also opposed theinvestigation.

Rights groups, however,welcomed the decision.

“The ICC AppealsChamber’s decision to greenlight an investigation of brutalcrimes in Afghanistan despiteextreme pressure on the court’sindependence reaffirms thecourt’s essential role for victimswhen all other doors to justiceare closed,” said Param-PreetSingh, associate internationaljustice director at HumanRights Watch. She added thatthe decision “also sends a

much-needed signal to currentand would-be perpetrators ofatrocities that justice may oneday catch up to them.”

At a hearing in December,prosecutors argued that pretrialjudges at the global court over-stepped their powers by block-ing the investigation. Theappeals judges agreed.

“The Appeals Chamberconsiders it appropriate toamend the appealed decision tothe effect that the prosecutor isauthorised to commence aninvestigation,” Presiding JudgePiotr Hofmanski said.

After a preliminary probein Afghanistan that lasted morethan a decade, Bensouda askedjudges in November 2017 toauthorise a far-reaching inves-tigation.

She said there is informa-tion that members of the USmilitary and intelligence agen-

cies “committed acts of torture,cruel treatment, outrages uponpersonal dignity, rape and sex-ual violence against conflict-related detainees inAfghanistan and other loca-tions, principally in the 2003-2004 period.”

Katherine Gallagher,Senior Staff Attorney at theCenter for ConstitutionalRights, who represents a groupof victims of US detention, saidthe decision “breathed newlife into the mantra that ‘no oneis above the law’ and restoredsome hope that justice can beavailable — and applied — toall.” Gallagher represented twomen still being held in USdetention at Guantanamo Bay,Sharqawi Al-Hajj and GuledDuran, and the wife of a thirdman who has died.

Bensouda alleges that theTaliban and other insurgent

groups have killed more than17,000 Afghan civilians since2009, including some 7,000targeted killings, and thatAfghan security forces are sus-pected of torturing prisoners atgovernment detention centers.

At a December hearing, theAfghanistan Governmentobjected to the probe and saidit had set up a special unit toinvestigate war crimes. TheICC is a court of last resort thatonly takes on cases if domes-tic jurisdictions are unable orunwilling to prosecute.

Pompeo said the US “willtake all necessary measures toprotect out citizens from thisrenegade, unlawful, so-calledcourt. This is yet anotherreminder of what happenswhen multilateral bodies lackoversight and responsible lead-ership and become instead avehicle for political vendettas.”

Jamil Dakwar, director ofthe American Civil LibertiesUnion’s Human RightsProgram, criticised Pompeosreaction.

“No one except the world’smost brutal regimes win whenthe United States tries toimpugn and sabotage interna-tional institutions established tohold human rights abusersaccountable,” Dakwar said.

The Coalition for theInternational Criminal Court,a nongovernmental advocacyorganisation, called on the tri-bunal’'s 123 member coun-tries states to support it.

“ICC States Parties muststand firm in solidarity with thecourt and urge the USGovernment not to attack indi-viduals who work to bringalleged war criminals to jus-tice,” Legal Officer RicardoIzquierdo said. AP

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Iwas sitting in a party with six othersaround a table. One of them raked upthe subject of recent mayhem in

Delhi and got into blame game. The per-son sitting by his side came out with hiscounter narrative, taking the blame gameexercise to other extreme. One person,who patiently heard their never endingarguments and counter arguments forlong, burst out: “If highly educated peo-ple like you stay stuck to your percep-tions, and not come to terms with rea-son, how do you expect lesser educatedpeople, who are stuck to their ardentbeliefs, to be ever in accord with eachother?” Conscientious people need toponder upon this serious issue and pro-vide lead.

Well, perception drives a being,which is primarily defined by thought-imprints in mind, carried over from thepast. What you pick up in your own rightor those fed into the mind by majorityview of the social or religious group youbelong to, influence your thoughtprocess. It appears that the whole societyis caught up in a sense of insecurity —with majority group afraid of losing itscontrol in the future and the minoritygroups fearing their existence. With that

comes a sense of identity crisis, whichplays the devil in the societal framework.A lot of misguided people are foundemerging on the scene, who go over-board posing as self-acclaimed defendersof their group identity, often leading tocommunal and ethnic clashes. The resultis there for all to see — across the globe,with all the mindless killings happeningevery now and then.

It is high time society elders makeaware the people with the truths of life,so simply put forth in Indian philosophy.See, how beautifully Kathopanishada,also referred to in Bhagwad Gita, comeout with two fundamental truths of life.First, the living order is a unified organ-ism, where no individual existence has areality independent of the entirety.Second, it emphasises upon the interde-pendence of all diverse existence.Metaphorically, the whole world is pre-sented as an inverse Asvata (Banyan) treewith the roots above and with its trunk,branches, twigs, with all the leavesturned downward. The root aboveimplies that the whole life structure owesits genesis to the infinite cosmos, beyondordinary human perception. The differ-ence in the size and shape of the branch-

es, twigs, and the leaves symbolise exis-tent diversity in the world. The wholetree works as an integrated mechanism.If, we ever any part of it, say a twig, isforcefully separated from the main tree-body, it becomes lifeless, a dead matter.Even if we look at the life mechanism onplanet earth, similar truth will come out.Water flowing down the stream extendslife all across, with the trees and the veg-etable world, which in turn, manages theweather cycle to sustain water resources.Even otherwise, no individual can secureeven one’s bare survival by oneself. Butall, complementing and supplementingeach other’s efforts, put together makesout a self-sufficient world. If this truth oflife dawns upon a being, it will bring in astrong humane sense, which alone canensure peace and harmony in the society.

More important, however, is to doaway with the preconditioning of eachhuman mind for a reasoned approach inlife. A case in point are astrologicalpointers of a being pointing to his mentalinconsistencies. Although armed withgreat potential, but his glaring fault-lineslimits them substantially. Mind signify-ing Moon conjunct Jupiter grants himwith a fertile brain, who would apparent-ly follow a value system. The two, how-ever, being opposite mischievous

Neptune, would mean that no matterhow high moral ground he may take, factremains that he would be stuck to hisdelusionary fanciful perceptions, dis-tanced from ground realities. He wouldnot be open to look beyond for a realitycheck. He may not acknowledge truth onits first appearance and would ratherpassionately pursue his beliefs on hopeagainst hope, till pushed to the wall.Moon placed in Aries, favourably alignedto Uranus, which read together with sixplanets in fiery signs make him highlyambitious. He dreams big, impulsivelyjumps into action without applying prop-er forethought, often ending up in acrash. All the more because, intelligencesignifying Mercury is ill-disposed off toboth Jupiter and Moon, which accountsfor his insensible reasoning and judg-ment. When he fails in his personalendeavour, he vents out his frustration inloud talk on societal predicament.Consequently, he though in his early six-ties, has not been able to establish him-self.

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