· priayadarshi, ig amitabh thakur and sp sarthak sarangi were present with the dgp. later, in a...

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T he Union Government on Thursday announced a 2.50 a litre cut in petrol and diesel prices, factoring in excise duty reduction of 1.50 per litre and asking oil companies to absorb another 1 as the BJP and the NDA-ruled States decided to slash oil prices by matching the Central cut. Soon after the announce- ment, the NDA Governments in 10 States — Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Tripura, Jharkhand, and Goa — fol- lowed the Centre’s footsteps announcing a cut of 2.50 per litre in fuel prices. Governor- ruled J&K too has slashed fuel prices 2.50 per litre. As Centre’s cut was matched by these States, the combined relief to the con- sumers would be to the tune of 5 per litre. The reduction fol- lowed petrol and diesel prices touching new highs. However, the BJP-JD(U) alliance Government in Bihar has not followed suit. Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Thursday remained non-committal on whether the State Government would reduce tax on petrol and diesel in view of the Centre’s appeal in this regard. The Opposition ruled States are yet to decide on cut- ting their shares of VAT on petrol and diesel; Karnataka has refused to cut the prices. Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy ruled out any further cut in fuel prices as it had already done it a fort- night ago. The State Government had slashed the petrol and diesel prices by 2 per litre on September 17 in view of the public outcry against spiralling fuel prices. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said it will be a test for those States whose leaders were only tweeting and indulging in lip service. “What will they do now? Last time also only BJP and NDA-led State Governments reduced VAT. This time if other State Governments do not do it then people will ask them,” he said. The Finance Minister said the excise duty cut would have an impact of 10,500 crore on Central Government’s tax rev- enues. He also asked State Governments to follow suit by cutting a sales tax or VAT by a similar amount. Jaitley said the move fol- lowed Brent crude oil touching four-year high of $86 a barrel on Wednesday and interest rates in US reaching seven-year high. The relief to consumers will be in three parts — Centre will cut excise duty by 1.5, and oil marketing companies (OMCs) will factor in 1 in their pricing, and States have been asked to cut VAT as they have raked in windfall gains due to ad valorem nature of the levy that results in higher real- isation whenever rates move up, the Finance Minister said. Inflation in India, howev- er, is still moderate at less than 4 per cent and higher direct tax collections give comfort with regard to fiscal deficit, he said adding domestic macroeco- nomic indicators are strong and stable, except for current account deficit (CAD). In Delhi, where the fuel prices are the lowest among all metros and most State capital, petrol is sold at 84 per litre and diesel at 75.45. Soon after the Central decision, Gujarat announced reduction of petrol and diesel prices by 2.50 per litre. In effect, the reduction will be to the tune of 5 per litre in Gujarat. Today’s petrol price in Ahmedabad was 83.21 per litre while that of diesel was 81.02 per litre. “Finance Minister Sh @arunjaitley Ji has announced 2.5 cuts in petrol & diesel prices. Reciprocating positive- ly to FM’s announcement, the Govt of Gujarat has also decid- ed to reduce 2.50 on both petrol & diesel. Thus petrol & diesel would be 5 cheaper in the State of Gujarat,” Rupani tweeted. Welcoming the decision, BJP president Amit Shah said that the reduction in petrol and diesel prices by 2.50 a litre shows the Narendra Modi-led Government’s sensitivity towards people’s welfare. At a Press conference, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra expressed the hope that people will get a total relief of 5 at the earliest as the Centre has asked States to effect an equal amount of tax cut in the oil prices. He also took a swipe at the previous Congress-led Government at the Centre, saying it had “pawned” nation- al resources by issuing oil bonds while the Modi Government showed its sensi- tivity by reducing the prices. The Union Government has also expressed confidence that it will fulfill its fiscal deficit targets, the BJP spokesperson said. A bloodbath on Dalal Street saw sensex crash by more than 800 points on Thursday amid all-round selling spurred by a falling rupee and rising crude oil prices. Similarly, the NSE Nifty cracked the 10,600- level by falling 259 points. Investors lost around 5 lakh crore in just two days of stock market crash where the BSE benchmark index plummeted by 1,357 points. Led by the sharp sell-off in equities, the market capitalisa- tion of BSE-listed companies tumbled 5,02,895.97 crore to 1,40,39,742.92 crore ($1.90 trillion). According to news agency PTI, the dollar figure has been arrived at by calcu- lating the m-cap from rupee’s intra-day low of 73.81 Thursday. With this, market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms slipped below the $2 trillion. Spooked by overnight sharp rally in Brent crude price which touched fresh four-year high of 86.68 before showing mild correction, markets wit- nessed severe selling on Thursday with the benchmark Sensex crashing over 806 points to end at 35,169.16 after the rupee hit a new intra-day low of 73.81 against the dollar. This is the lowest closing since July 2 when the index had set- tled at 35,264.41. The sensex had lost 550.51 points on Wednesday. The bear grip is so fierce on the market that no sector has survived the pain. For the last several weeks investors had used pharma and IT sector to “hide” from market fall since they were supposed to benefit from falling rupee. But during the last two days, the IT sector has also cracked with TCS leading the fall, losing as much as 10 per cent in two sessions. With blue chips companies like Maruti Suzuki and Nestle Eicher Motor shedding almost 28 per cent in two months, the large caps universe has also not remained immune to the sell- off. On Thursday, among the large-caps, RIL was the worst hit plunging 7.03 per cent fol- lowed by Hero MotoCorp 5.45 per cent and TCS 4.54 per cent. In the broader market, the S&P BSE midcap index fell by 1.93 per cent and small cap index 2.07 per cent. The situation is grim that nearly 400 stocks hit their 52- week low on BSE on Thursday. At the BSE, 1,889 stocks declined, while 775 advanced and 138 remained unchanged. Not only traders but long- term investors, including those holding mutual fold portfolios, have suffered heavy losses. Several mid-cap and small- cap MFs have lost as much as 30 per cent during the mayhem that started three weeks ago. With fix deposit interest rate falling, the investors had parked their money in a big way in the MFS, and now that the market has crashed, they are fleeing by cutting their losses. A fter the massive outbreak of violence along the Badadanda (Grand Road) on Wednesday, Puri came back to normal on Thursday. Although the situation was internally lit- tle tense with groups indulging in blame games in the city, but no single incident was report- ed by 8 pm on Thursday. The tourists, visitors and servitors made their entry into the Jagannath Temple though all the doors without barricade. As four doors were opened for public, the visitors made their entry according to their choice. In the Peace Committee meeting held on Wednesday night, the district administra- tion had agreed to remove the barricades for entrants in the temple. However, the visitors had to enter the Lions Gate through barricades from out- side. Following the violence, the Shree Jaganath Temple Administration (SJTA) would lodge FIR against the criminals involved in damages in its office. After assessment of loss- es by the district administra- tion, the SJTA would file police complains, said Chief Administrator Pradipta Mohapatra. Mohapatra informed that as many as 10 computers, besides almirahs, glasses and CCTV cameras were broken. He denied media reports of theft of money and gold from the temple office. Taking seriously the large scale violence against the queue system for devotees, Supreme Court appointed Amicus Curiae Gopal Subramanim had telephonic talks with Mohapatra twice. Subramaniam has sought from the temple chief a detailed report with a video copy of the incident. “The Amicus Curiae called me over telephone twice and asked about the incident. He sought a detailed report with video copies,” said Mohapatra, adding that he has already sent a report to him. More information with visual copies would be sent, he said. In another development, DGP Dr RP Sharma visited Puri on Thursday to take stock of the situation. Sharma visited some vio- lence affected places and accessed the damages caused by the bandh supporters. Central IG Saumendra Priayadarshi, IG Amitabh Thakur and SP Sarthak Sarangi were present with the DGP. Later, in a review meeting, Sharma directed the officers to act strongly on the people indulged in the crime. He was found very aggriev- ed with such huge damages in the city besides stone pelting on the Collector and the SP offices. “The DG ordered quick actions. We are scanning CCTV footages and accord- ingly, we would lift people involved in the violence,” said SP Sarthak Sarangi. He said that they would pull the leaders of the bandh, provided they were found involved. Sarangi also charged that some servitors have master- minded the whole incident. Tough action would be taken against them, Sarangi told The Pioneer. A fter public unrest due to movement of tigress Sundari in areas near the outer periphery of the Satkosia Tiger Reserve and death of a woman and a few animals after alleged- ly being attacked by the Royal Bengal Tigress, Forest Department officials on Thursday informed that the animal has entered into the core area of the forest. Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) Sudarshan Panda said that despite formation of teams and preparedness for relocation of the tigress using tranquilisers and traps, the big cat moved into the core area of the jungle on its own. Panda further said the tigress is moving along with a male tiger, which was relocated to Satkosia from the Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh a few months ago. Earlier, four teams of the officials of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Satkosia Forest Department, Kanha Tiger Reserve and Nandankanan Zoological Park were deployed to monitor the movement of Sundari and relocate her to deep jungle after its presence triggered panic in several vil- lages near the vicinity of the tiger reserve. However, the locals have still stuck to their guns and want the tigress to be relocated. I n a big jolt for jour- nalist Abhijit Iyer Mitra, the Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed his bail plea in the case over his alleged derogatory remarks about Odisha and the Sun Temple in Konark. “Your (jour- nalist Abhijit Iyer-Mitra) com- ments incite religious feelings. How are you entitled for bail?, said the apex court’s three- judge Bench while dismissing his petition for bail. The Bench was headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi. The court commented that the best place where Mitra would be safe is jail. Earlier, the Odisha police had arrested Mitra from Nizamuddin in New Delhi on September 20 after videos showing his offensive remarks on Konark Sun Temple and Lord Jagannath surfaced on internet triggering deep resent- ment among the people of Odisha. He was granted inter- im bail by a Saket Court on the same day which prevented Odisha cops to take him on remand. Later, his interim relief was extended by the apex court till October 5. Besides, the court also ordered the Odisha police to make necessary secu- rity arrangement for Abhijit’s appearance in Orissa High Court, if he wants so. Mitra, a close friend of for- mer Kendrapada MP Baijayant Panda had made insulting remarks about the people of Odisha by calling them ‘pur- chased presstitutes’ and ‘paid outragers.’ Earlier, he had said, “Odisha was discovered by Bengali explorers, who called it “OriShala!!! And it was named Orissa”. He also raised question over the famous Puri Jagannath temple. He wrote that Jagannath temple was built by the Gangas, who were dis- graced Pallava Tamil retainers. “…No such thing as Orissa, just the wild southern provinces of undivided Bengal,” Mitra had tweeted. This apart, the scribe had posted a video on his twit- ter handle making disparaging remarks on the Sun Temple in Konark while being present at his premises. U nion Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday called upon the State Government to reduce VAT on petrol and diesel as the Union Government has now slashed the price by 2.50 a litre. Addressing a Press meet here, Pradhan reacted to Chief Minister Naveen Patnak’s recent comment that the BJP-led Union Government is like “an empty vessel that sounds much” and remarked that said the BJD is no better than a “broken vessel”. “As many 3.26 crore people in Odisha have been benefitted by the National Food Security Act where as the State Government has announced to involve only 25 lakh people in its own food secu- rity scheme. With this announcement, the BJD Government has made it clear that the 1-a-kg rice was of the Modi Government,” said Pradhan. He informed that while the Modi Government is spending 5,760 crore per year for the NFSA beneficiaries, the Naveen Government would spend a mere- ly 612 crore per year. He dared the State Government make public the list of beneficiaries under the State’s own food security programme as the number declared by the State Government has changed from 34 lakh to 25 lakh. I n response to the Centre’s appeal to the States to reduce VAT on petrol and diesel by 2.50, Odisha Finance Minister Sashi Bhushan Behera on Thursday said the State Government is considering the appeal. “We are analysing the Centre’s appeal and will take a decision soon. If Centre slashes 2.50, then 65 paise will be automat- ically reduced,” Behera said. Earlier in the day, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley called upon all the States to slash VAT of 2.50 on petrol and diesel. Soon after his appeal, seven BJP-ruled states have reportedly announced to cut VAT T he students’ union polls were can- celled and two city colleges were closed sine die by the authorities fol- lowing student unrest. Tension gripped the Rajdhani College under the Khandagiri police station after the nominations of two presidential candidates were rejected. As tempers flared, police forces were deployed even as students shouted slo- gans and held demonstrations. Later, the college authorities declared a sine die. Similarly, sine die was declared in the Deboray College at Nayapalli after unidentified miscreants hurled bombs. However, there were no injuries to anyone. Earlier, Students’ Union elections had been cancelled in the Utkal University in the city after a number of violent incidents rocked the cam- pus.

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The Union Government onThursday announced a

�2.50 a litre cut in petrol anddiesel prices, factoring in exciseduty reduction of �1.50 per litreand asking oil companies toabsorb another �1 as the BJPand the NDA-ruled Statesdecided to slash oil prices bymatching the Central cut.

Soon after the announce-ment, the NDA Governmentsin 10 States — Uttar Pradesh,Assam, Himachal Pradesh,Gujarat, Maharashtra, MadhyaPradesh, Chhattisgarh, Tripura,Jharkhand, and Goa — fol-lowed the Centre’s footstepsannouncing a cut of �2.50 perlitre in fuel prices. Governor-ruled J&K too has slashed fuelprices �2.50 per litre.

As Centre’s cut wasmatched by these States, thecombined relief to the con-sumers would be to the tune of�5 per litre. The reduction fol-lowed petrol and diesel pricestouching new highs.

However, the BJP-JD(U)alliance Government in Biharhas not followed suit. BiharDeputy Chief Minister SushilKumar Modi on Thursdayremained non-committal onwhether the State Governmentwould reduce tax on petrol anddiesel in view of the Centre’sappeal in this regard.

The Opposition ruledStates are yet to decide on cut-ting their shares of VAT onpetrol and diesel; Karnatakahas refused to cut the prices.

Karnataka Chief Minister

HD Kumaraswamy ruled outany further cut in fuel prices asit had already done it a fort-night ago. The StateGovernment had slashed thepetrol and diesel prices by �2per litre on September 17 inview of the public outcryagainst spiralling fuel prices.

Union Finance MinisterArun Jaitley said it will be a testfor those States whose leaderswere only tweeting andindulging in lip service. “Whatwill they do now? Last timealso only BJP and NDA-ledState Governments reducedVAT. This time if other StateGovernments do not do it thenpeople will ask them,” he said.

The Finance Minister saidthe excise duty cut would havean impact of �10,500 crore onCentral Government’s tax rev-enues. He also asked StateGovernments to follow suit bycutting a sales tax or VAT by asimilar amount.

Jaitley said the move fol-lowed Brent crude oil touchingfour-year high of $86 a barrelon Wednesday and interestrates in US reaching seven-yearhigh. The relief to consumerswill be in three parts — Centrewill cut excise duty by �1.5, andoil marketing companies(OMCs) will factor in �1 intheir pricing, and States havebeen asked to cut VAT as theyhave raked in windfall gainsdue to ad valorem nature of thelevy that results in higher real-isation whenever rates moveup, the Finance Minister said.

Inflation in India, howev-er, is still moderate at less than

4 per cent and higher direct taxcollections give comfort withregard to fiscal deficit, he saidadding domestic macroeco-nomic indicators are strong andstable, except for currentaccount deficit (CAD).

In Delhi, where the fuelprices are the lowest among allmetros and most State capital,petrol is sold at �84 per litreand diesel at �75.45.

Soon after the Centraldecision, Gujarat announcedreduction of petrol and dieselprices by �2.50 per litre.

In effect, the reductionwill be to the tune of �5 per litrein Gujarat. Today’s petrol pricein Ahmedabad was �83.21 per

litre while that of diesel was81.02 per litre.

“Finance Minister Sh@arunjaitley Ji has announced�2.5 cuts in petrol & dieselprices. Reciprocating positive-ly to FM’s announcement, theGovt of Gujarat has also decid-ed to reduce �2.50 on bothpetrol & diesel. Thus petrol &diesel would be �5 cheaper inthe State of Gujarat,” Rupanitweeted.

Welcoming the decision,BJP president Amit Shah saidthat the reduction in petrol anddiesel prices by �2.50 a litreshows the Narendra Modi-ledGovernment’s sensitivitytowards people’s welfare.

At a Press conference, BJPspokesperson Sambit Patraexpressed the hope that peoplewill get a total relief of �5 at theearliest as the Centre has askedStates to effect an equal amountof tax cut in the oil prices.

He also took a swipe at theprevious Congress-ledGovernment at the Centre,saying it had “pawned” nation-al resources by issuing oilbonds while the ModiGovernment showed its sensi-tivity by reducing the prices.

The Union Governmenthas also expressed confidencethat it will fulfill its fiscaldeficit targets, the BJPspokesperson said.

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Abloodbath on Dalal Streetsaw sensex crash by more

than 800 points on Thursdayamid all-round selling spurredby a falling rupee and risingcrude oil prices. Similarly, theNSE Nifty cracked the 10,600-level by falling 259 points.Investors lost around �5 lakhcrore in just two days of stockmarket crash where the BSEbenchmark index plummetedby 1,357 points.

Led by the sharp sell-off inequities, the market capitalisa-tion of BSE-listed companiestumbled �5,02,895.97 crore to�1,40,39,742.92 crore ($1.90trillion). According to newsagency PTI, the dollar figurehas been arrived at by calcu-lating the m-cap from rupee’sintra-day low of 73.81Thursday. With this, marketcapitalisation of BSE-listedfirms slipped below the $2trillion.

Spooked by overnightsharp rally in Brent crude pricewhich touched fresh four-yearhigh of �86.68 before showingmild correction, markets wit-nessed severe selling onThursday with the benchmarkSensex crashing over 806points to end at 35,169.16 after

the rupee hit a new intra-daylow of 73.81 against the dollar.This is the lowest closing sinceJuly 2 when the index had set-tled at 35,264.41. The sensexhad lost 550.51 points onWednesday.

The bear grip is so fierce onthe market that no sector hassurvived the pain. For the lastseveral weeks investors hadused pharma and IT sector to“hide” from market fall sincethey were supposed to benefitfrom falling rupee.

But during the last twodays, the IT sector has alsocracked with TCS leading thefall, losing as much as 10 percent in two sessions.

With blue chips companieslike Maruti Suzuki and NestleEicher Motor shedding almost28 per cent in two months, thelarge caps universe has also notremained immune to the sell-off. On Thursday, among thelarge-caps, RIL was the worst

hit plunging 7.03 per cent fol-lowed by Hero MotoCorp 5.45per cent and TCS 4.54 per cent.In the broader market, theS&P BSE midcap index fell by1.93 per cent and small capindex 2.07 per cent.

The situation is grim thatnearly 400 stocks hit their 52-week low on BSE on Thursday.At the BSE, 1,889 stocksdeclined, while 775 advancedand 138 remained unchanged.

Not only traders but long-term investors, including thoseholding mutual fold portfolios,have suffered heavy losses.Several mid-cap and small-cap MFs have lost as much as30 per cent during the mayhemthat started three weeks ago.

With fix deposit interestrate falling, the investors hadparked their money in a bigway in the MFS, and now thatthe market has crashed, theyare fleeing by cutting theirlosses.

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After the massive outbreakof violence along the

Badadanda (Grand Road) onWednesday, Puri came back tonormal on Thursday. Althoughthe situation was internally lit-tle tense with groups indulgingin blame games in the city, butno single incident was report-ed by 8 pm on Thursday.

The tourists, visitors andservitors made their entry intothe Jagannath Temple thoughall the doors without barricade.

As four doors were openedfor public, the visitors madetheir entry according to theirchoice.

In the Peace Committeemeeting held on Wednesdaynight, the district administra-tion had agreed to remove thebarricades for entrants in thetemple. However, the visitorshad to enter the Lions Gatethrough barricades from out-side.

Following the violence, theShree Jaganath TempleAdministration (SJTA) wouldlodge FIR against the criminals

involved in damages in itsoffice. After assessment of loss-es by the district administra-tion, the SJTA would file policecomplains, said ChiefAdministrator PradiptaMohapatra.

Mohapatra informed thatas many as 10 computers,besides almirahs, glasses andCCTV cameras were broken.He denied media reports oftheft of money and gold fromthe temple office.

Taking seriously the largescale violence against the queuesystem for devotees, SupremeCourt appointed AmicusCuriae Gopal Subramanim hadtelephonic talks withMohapatra twice.Subramaniam has sought fromthe temple chief a detailedreport with a video copy of theincident.

“The Amicus Curiae calledme over telephone twice andasked about the incident.

He sought a detailed reportwith video copies,” saidMohapatra, adding that he hasalready sent a report to him.More information with visualcopies would be sent, he said.

In another development,DGP Dr RP Sharma visitedPuri on Thursday to take stockof the situation.

Sharma visited some vio-lence affected places andaccessed the damages causedby the bandh supporters.Central IG SaumendraPriayadarshi, IG AmitabhThakur and SP Sarthak Sarangiwere present with the DGP.Later, in a review meeting,Sharma directed the officers toact strongly on the peopleindulged in the crime.

He was found very aggriev-ed with such huge damages in

the city besides stone pelting onthe Collector and the SP offices.“The DG ordered quickactions. We are scanningCCTV footages and accord-ingly, we would lift peopleinvolved in the violence,” saidSP Sarthak Sarangi.

He said that they wouldpull the leaders of the bandh,provided they were foundinvolved.

Sarangi also charged thatsome servitors have master-minded the whole incident.Tough action would be takenagainst them, Sarangi told ThePioneer.

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After public unrest due tomovement of tigress

Sundari in areas near the outerperiphery of the Satkosia TigerReserve and death of a womanand a few animals after alleged-ly being attacked by the RoyalBengal Tigress, ForestDepartment officials onThursday informed that theanimal has entered into thecore area of the forest.

Additional Principal ChiefConservator of Forests (PCCF)Sudarshan Panda said thatdespite formation of teams andpreparedness for relocation ofthe tigress using tranquilisersand traps, the big cat moved into the core area ofthe jungle on its own.

Panda further said thetigress is moving along with amale tiger, which wasrelocated to Satkosia from theKanha National Park inMadhya Pradesh a few monthsago.

Earlier, four teams of theofficials of the Wildlife Instituteof India (WII), Satkosia ForestDepartment, Kanha TigerReserve and NandankananZoological Park were deployedto monitor the movement ofSundari and relocate her todeep jungle after its presencetriggered panic in several vil-lages near the vicinity of thetiger reserve.

However, the locals havestill stuck to their guns andwant the tigress to berelocated.

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In a big jolt for jour-nalist Abhijit Iyer

Mitra, the SupremeCourt on Thursdaydismissed his bail pleain the case over hisalleged derogatory remarksabout Odisha and the SunTemple in Konark. “Your (jour-nalist Abhijit Iyer-Mitra) com-ments incite religious feelings.How are you entitled for bail?,said the apex court’s three-judge Bench while dismissinghis petition for bail. The Benchwas headed by Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi.

The court commented thatthe best place where Mitrawould be safe is jail.

Earlier, the Odisha policehad arrested Mitra fromNizamuddin in New Delhi onSeptember 20 after videosshowing his offensive remarkson Konark Sun Temple andLord Jagannath surfaced oninternet triggering deep resent-ment among the people ofOdisha. He was granted inter-im bail by a Saket Court on thesame day which preventedOdisha cops to take him onremand.

Later, his interimrelief was extended bythe apex court tillOctober 5. Besides,the court also orderedthe Odisha police tomake necessary secu-rity arrangement for

Abhijit’s appearance in OrissaHigh Court, if he wants so.

Mitra, a close friend of for-mer Kendrapada MP BaijayantPanda had made insultingremarks about the people ofOdisha by calling them ‘pur-chased presstitutes’ and ‘paidoutragers.’ Earlier, he had said,“Odisha was discovered byBengali explorers, who called it“OriShala!!! And it was namedOrissa”.

He also raised questionover the famous Puri Jagannathtemple. He wrote thatJagannath temple was built bythe Gangas, who were dis-graced Pallava Tamil retainers.“…No such thing as Orissa, justthe wild southern provinces ofundivided Bengal,” Mitra hadtweeted. This apart, the scribehad posted a video on his twit-ter handle making disparagingremarks on the Sun Temple inKonark while being present athis premises.

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Union Petroleum and Natural GasMinister Dharmendra Pradhan on

Thursday called upon the StateGovernment to reduce VAT on petrol anddiesel as the Union Government has nowslashed the price by �2.50 a litre.

Addressing a Press meet here, Pradhanreacted to Chief Minister Naveen Patnak’srecent comment that the BJP-led UnionGovernment is like “an empty vessel thatsounds much” and remarked that said theBJD is no better than a “broken vessel”.

“As many 3.26 crore people in Odishahave been benefitted by the NationalFood Security Act where as the StateGovernment has announced to involveonly 25 lakh people in its own food secu-rity scheme. With this announcement, theBJD Government has made it clear that the�1-a-kg rice was of the Modi Government,”said Pradhan.

He informed that while the ModiGovernment is spending �5,760 crore peryear for the NFSA beneficiaries, theNaveen Government would spend a mere-ly �612 crore per year.

He dared the State Government makepublic the list of beneficiaries under theState’s own food security programme as thenumber declared by the State Governmenthas changed from 34 lakh to 25 lakh.

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In response to the Centre’sappeal to the States to

reduce VAT on petrol anddiesel by �2.50, OdishaFinance Minister SashiBhushan Behera onThursday said the StateGovernment is consideringthe appeal.

“We are analysing theCentre’s appeal and willtake a decision soon. IfCentre slashes �2.50, then�65 paise will be automat-ically reduced,” Behera said.

Earlier in the day,Union Finance MinisterArun Jaitley called upon allthe States to slash VAT of�2.50 on petrol and diesel.Soon after his appeal, sevenBJP-ruled states have

reportedly announced tocut VAT

����� 1/01 +,�� �

The students’ union polls were can-celled and two city colleges were

closed sine die by the authorities fol-lowing student unrest.

Tension gripped the RajdhaniCollege under the Khandagiri policestation after the nominations of twopresidential candidates were rejected.As tempers flared, police forces weredeployed even as students shouted slo-gans and held demonstrations.

Later, the college authoritiesdeclared a sine die.

Similarly, sine die was declared inthe Deboray College at Nayapalliafter unidentified miscreants hurledbombs.

However, there were no injuries toanyone.

Earlier, Students’ Union electionshad been cancelled in the UtkalUniversity in the city after a numberof violent incidents rocked the cam-pus.

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The memories of childhoodhave its place in the heart

of every person.The man gets nostalgic

when he comes across childrenof the school or village playingor doing some pranks. Hisown childhood flashes back inhis mind.

If the man is a writer, hisdays spent in the village orschool take a form of an art andresult in interesting fiction.“Childhood Days”, a collec-tion of short stories of PareshK Patnaik, is an anthology often interesting stories of child-hood.

The stories are set in aremote village of Odisha of latefifties and early sixties of thelast century when there was notelevision or internet or even atelephone connection. Thedaily newspaper came to thevillage twice in a week by post.A transistor was a wonder. Inthe story, ‘An Essay on Radio,’the school teacher of the village

has bought a transistor, the sec-ond one in the village.

There is a competitionamong the brothers and sisterswho will be first to see the tran-sistor on the day it is broughthome. The villagers, especial-ly the women, visit the housepost lunch in the afternoon tothe house of the school teacherto see the machine speakingand singing.

The beauty of a child is itsinnocence. The child’s mind ispure, free from the complexi-ties of mundane affairs and alsorealities of life.

The child is shocked whenit encounters hard realities oflife. This is best expressed in thestory ‘Experience of a DeadlyDay,’ the first experience of achild with an incident of death.

The two sons of the teacherare restricted by their parentsnot to go out and see the deadbody of a beggar woman, lestthey would be scared. But boththe brothers have sneaked intothe place where the beggarwoman was residing.

The body has been takenaway from that place. The twobrothers cannot express inwords, but feel the absence ofthe person who would be nomore to be seen, and theysilently weep.

The children have theirown world and in that worldthey have men and creaturesdifferent from the world of theelders. In the story, ‘BambooQueen and the Iron Lady,’ thechild discusses an iron ladyhaving legs below the knees

and from elbow to fingers ofiron and the rest of the body isof flesh and blood.

The lady challenges thatshe will marry the boy whodefeats her in a kabaddi match.The children of the villagemake plans, devise ways todefeat and marry, and possessthe lady. Nobody has seen heras she is believed to be stayingin the town a few kilometersaway from their village andnobody could go and reach heralso.

The bamboo queen is agirl who climbs the top of thebamboo and rotates there. Shedoes not appear. A sorcerer hasmade her vanish. The childrenexpect her to return. Theyerect a bamboo so that thequeen could return to its top,but she never returns.

Every person has a child inhis heart. In the story, ‘TheSchool Days,’ Abhiram comesto the window of the schooland acts like a monkey. The lit-tle students chase him away, buthe returns the next day also.

During recess a mad womanbathes in a pond near theschool.

The children tease her. Shegets furious and hurls abuses atthe children. A man, twicesarpanch of the panchayat,playacts as told by the childrenand makes them laugh.

Later, the writer visits thevillage after many years, meetsAbhiram and the ex-sarapanch.He realizes that they werebehaving so to go back to theirown childhood being in touchwith the children in any way.

The world of imaginationis vanishing with the advanceof science and technology.Spread of television, internet,mobile phones, etc shrinks theworld and does away withmystery.

The writer wonderswhether the children of the vil-lage now discuss the iron ladyor bamboo queen and the sor-cerer. The stories of the bookare interesting to the adults andhave the power to take themback to their own childhood.

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Primary school teachers, whohad been staging a

dharna here since earlySeptember, called off theirstrike after the StateGovernment on Thursdayaccepted two of their demands,including their cadre restruc-turing.

Speaking to media, OdishaPrimary Teachers’ Associationpresident Rajesh Mohanty saidthat the Government hasapproved their demand forrestructuring of cadres.Accordingly, the teacherswould be given promotion inthree categories, Level-2, Level-4 and Level-5.

The Government alsoapproved a hike in the teach-ers’ Grade Pay to Rs 2,800. Themove would benefit around72,563 teachers in the State,sources said.

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The State Government hasset up a committee headed

by BDA Vice-ChairmanKishan Kumar to providerequired support to a team ofthe Ministry of Earth Sciencesin conducting a seismic micro-zonation mapping for the entireBhubaneswar DevelopmentPlan Area (BDPA).

According to reports, theteam of experts has started theinitial survey for the purpose.

The committee would helpin earthquake mapping of theentire plan area under theBDA jurisdiction, an officialsaid. The other members of theteam are Additional DistrictMagistrate (ADM),

Bhubaneswar, an expert fromIIT Bhubaneswar, the CityEngineer of the BMC and asenior official from the Scienceand Technology Department.

The survey is required asthe BDPA falls under SeismicZone-III. However, the riskshave multiplied with two pos-sible fault lines passing throughthe geological area.

“This study will beimmensely beneficial for thecity in regulating constructionactivities and making disastermanagement more vibrant,said the official. Meanwhile, theBDA held a meeting andchalked out the initial planning.

The expert team mightneed to enter a premise orcompound to do the study asthey have taken some 1,100-odd points from the entireBDPA area after dividing theplan area into a grid.

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Former Minister PrafullaChandra Ghadai on

Thursday strongly criticisedParadip MLA Damodar Routfor issuing “baseless” state-ments and misleading people.

Ghadai, also an expelledBJD leader like Rout, said thatcontrary to Rout’s claim, hewould never join a regionalparty proposed Rout.

He accused Rout of “creat-ing smoke without fire” abouthis (Ghadai’s) stand on the pro-posed party. “I have nevertalked to Pandian (the ChiefMinister’s Secretary) nor hasthe latter to me since I ceasedto be a Minister (long ago).”

Then, how Rout stated thathe (Ghadai) is reluctant to jointhe proposed party on

Pandian’s advice, Ghadai ques-tioned.

Ghadai said he had alreadyreached the age of 75 and is nolonger interested in doingactive politics or to enter intoelectoral battle.

"Though I'm expelled fromthe BJD, I still believe I'm verymuch in the party and will con-tinue to work for it," said he.

Ghadai said the NaveenPatnaik Government is com-mitted to development of theState.

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Ahead of the 2019 generalelections, the Congress’

State unit on Thursdaylaunched a ‘Jana Sampark Yatra’to get connected with people inall the blocks.

A team of Congress lead-ers and workers, includingPCC president NiranjanPatnaik, started the journeyfrom here by a mini bus toBaleswar, where they wouldmeet people in different blocksin the district during theirthree-day stay.

Targeting 36,000 pollingbooths across the State, theleaders would cover the entire314 blocks.

Meanwhile, the PCC has

asked its workers and leaders toenrol at least 10,000 membership each in the partyto claim ticket for contestingelections.

The move came two daysafter ruling BJD supremoNaveen Patnaik launched a‘Jana Sampark Padayatra’ fromJharana Basti on outskirts of

Bhubaneswar to sensitise pub-lic about various welfare pro-grammes of the StateGovernment across Odisha fora month.

During the padayatra, theBJD party workers would alsohighlight the failures of theNarendra Modi-led BJPGovernment at the Centre.

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Ahead of the Odisha HockeyMen’s World Cup-2018,

the renovated Kalinga Stadiumhere will be inaugurated by Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik on October 10.

An exhibition match willbe played between DhanrajPillay-XI and Dilip Tirkey-XIto mark the inauguration of therefurbished stadium. Thematch will be held at 7 pm onthe day.

The team led by DhanrajPillay comprises VirenRasquinha, Sardar Singh,Prabhjot Singh, PR Sreejesh,Chinglensana Singh Kangujam

and Harmanpreet Singh.Similarly, Jugraj Singh,

Ignace Tirkey, Manpreet Singh,Mandeep Singh, Amit Rohidasand Rupinder Pal Singh arepart of the team captained by

Dilip Tirkey.The Hockey Men’s World

Cup is scheduled to be held atthe stadium from November 28to December 16.

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The State Government’shealth scheme Bju Swathya

Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) is bet-ter than the Centre’s AyushmanBharat in all respects.

This was stated by StateHealth Minister Pratap Jena onthe sideline of a meeting heldhere on Thursday the occasionof a function of weekly news-paper ‘Orissa Jana Morcha’.Jena said that under thePradhan Mantri Jana ArogyaYojana (PMJAY), the AshmanBharat scheme would havebenefited 60 lakh people ofOdisha, but the BSKY wouldbenefit 70 lakh people.

For the PMJAY, the Statehad to bear 40 per cent of theexpenditure. While bothCentral and State schemescover medical expenses up to

Rs 5 lakh, under the BSKY awoman would get a cover up toRs 7 lakh against centre’s flat Rs5 lakh for everyone, said Jena.

“The PMJAY bears theexpenses after admission intoan empanelled hospital, but a person covered under theBSKY would get the benefit from outdoor treat-ment itself till discharged,” heclaimed, comparing both theschemes.

Baleswar MP RK Jena, whowas a guest at the newspaperfunction, observed that thenon-BJP and non-Congressvote share would decide thepolitical future of India.

He stated that the non-BJPand non-Congress vote share isaround 14 per cent to 15 perand this would be the decidingfactor for formingGovernment.

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The Twin CityCommissionerate police on

Thursday claimed to havecracked the case of TanujaAich’s death. Her body wasfound in a SUV at SriramNagar under the Lingaraj policestation in the city on October1 and police arrested thedeceased’s husband fromKolkata.

The arrested Sangram Aichwas brought on a transitremand and was being inter-rogated by police.

The postmortem report ofTanuja revealed that she suf-fered multiple injuries on herbody and brain. Police said thereason behind the death couldonly be ascertained after inter-

rogation of Sangram.Earlier, police had seized

the CCTV footages from anearby mall which showedSangram leaving the car inwhich Tanuja’s body was found.

Family members of Tanujahave alleged that Sangram was

torturing her for the last threeto four years and had eventhreatened to marry anotherwoman. As per the relatives ofTanuja, Sangram had illicitrelationships with otherwomen and the couple wasgoing through a rough patch.

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A19-year-old woman, Tapaswini Pradhan, hasfiled an FIR at the Dhauli police station

alleging that her husband abandoned her andher six-month-old son after torturing her fordowry.

She also sought justice as she and her sonare leading miserable life without food and shel-ter without support of her husband.

According to her complaint, Tapaswini, aresident of Ramgiri under Aska police limits inGanjam district, had married one PitambarYadav of Gorahat under Goda district inJharkhand in 2016 and she gave birth to a sonchild on March 24, 2018. The couple was stay-ing at Nuagaon under Dhauli police station.After marriage, Pitambar demanded Rs 1 lakhdowry and started torturing her. Her parentsdidn’t give the dowry as she had a love marriagewith Pitambar.

In April 2018, Pitambar went to Jharkhandand is yet to return. Whenever she talked toPitambar, he told her that he has married anoth-er girl and threatened to kill her through hired

goons, if she make phone calls further.Earlier, she had approached ‘Madhyama’, on

the advice of the Dhauli IIC, for a solution butthe latter failed to do so. On the advice of‘Madhyama’, she filed the FIR on September 28,2018.

However, Tapaswini has not received a copyof her FIR yet.In this regard, lawyer KabirajSahoo said the IIC on October 3 told him thathe was out of station and would certainly reg-ister a case against Pitambar on his return with-in two days.

Stating that Tapaswini is facing troubles ingetting food and medicine for her and her child,Sahoo has demanded that the IIC register a caseand give justice to her at the earliest.

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The National Law UniversityOdisha (NLUO) here has

been shortlisted to conductthe Common Law AdmissionTest (CLAT-2019), said a pressrelease issued by NLUO Vice-

Chancellor Prof SrikrishnaDeva Rao on Thursday. Theexamination is scheduled to beheld on May 12, 2019.

The release said that theCLAT Core CommitteeConsortium at the NationalUniversity of Advanced LegalStudies, Kochi took this deci-sion on Wednesday, which wascommunicated to the NLUOon Thursday.

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The hunger-strike of theUtkal University Teachers’

Association (UUTA) enteredits third day on Thursday.

After the failure of theVice-Chancellor to fulfil thedemands by August 31, theuniversity teachers resumedits protest on Gandhi Jayantiwith a relay hunger strike.

UUTA joint secretary DrSiba Sankar Mohanty and exec-utive member Dr Priya RanjanDash among others were pre-sent.

The demands of the asso-ciation include immediateimplementation of CareerAdvancement Scheme (CAS),7th Pay scale RevisionCommittee recommendations,immediate repair of residential

quarters, confirmation of fac-ulty members, advance incre-ment for MPhil/PhD holders,redesignation of Readers,recruitment of non-teachingstaff, NPS arrears and insur-ance schemes.

The association allegedthat since his joining as theVice Chancellor in July lastyear, the VC has remainedabsent in his office on mostoccasions and because of his

inaction, many important filesare not getting the administra-tive approval. UUTA secre-tary Prof KB Panda demandedthat the Vice-Chancellor andthe Registrar be removed.

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The demands of the asso-ciation include immediateimplementation of CareerAdvancement Scheme (CAS),7th Pay scale RevisionCommittee recommendations,immediate repair of residentialquarters, confirmation of fac-ulty members,

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Police on Thursday morningfished out bodies of two

minor boys from the Mahanadihere near Bhuashini Gadaunder the Bidanasi police sta-tion. The boys, natives ofBidanasi Krushak Bazaar, hadgone missing since Tuesday.

“The bodies were foundfloating in the water. Afterinquest, postmortems havebeen done,” informed city DCPAkhileswar Singh, adding thatprima facie the boys hadentered into the waters forbathing and drowned. Policehave retrieved their bicycleand clothes from the riverbank.

According to police, theparents of Debashis Behera(12) and Manas Nayak (8) hadon Tuesday evening reportedthat their sons had gone miss-ing since morning. After fran-tic searches for the missingboys throughout the day onTuesday, the parents late in theevening reported the policeabout it.

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Panic gripped the passengersof the

H o w r a h – S e c u n d e r a b a dFalaknuma Express after acoach of the train derailednear Kapilas Road station inCuttack district on Thursday.

However, no casualtieswere reported. The East CoastRailway (ECoR) authoritiestermed it as a minor derail-ment.

The seating-cum-luggagerake (SLR) of the train derailedand got dragged for around 500metres, reports said.

The derailed coach hasbeen detached from the trainand it will remain at the mishapsite. Getting information,senior ECoR officials rushed tothe spot. Besides, AdditionalDivisional Railway Managerof Khurda Road SP Dwivedialong with a team of seniorofficers also reached the sceneto take stock of the situation.According to available infor-mation, the train left the acci-dent site at 3.50 pm.

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Biju Mahila Janata Dal mem-bers on Thursday staged a

demonstration in front of theIOCL Regional Office here inprotest against the hike in priceof non-subsidised LPG andcorruption in selection of ben-eficiaries under the Ujjwalascheme.

The members under lead-ership of women wing presi-dent Pramila Mallick shoutedslogans against UnionPetroleum and Natural GasMinister DharmendraPradhan. Mallick said the BJP-led NDA Government has arbi-trarily hiked the price of cook-ing gas at least for 22 timessince 2014. She also termed theUjjwala scheme a failure in theState as people who have got

connections under the schemeare not turning up to refill theirLPG cylinders.

She also alleged that thebeneficiaries of Ujjwalaschdeme are selected by theBJP leaders and many free gasconnections have been given toghost beneficiaries.

Among others, MinisterAshok Chandra Panda, MLAsPriyadarshi Mishra, BijayKumar Mohanty and RajashreeMallick and BhubaneswarMunicipal Corporation MayorAnanta Narayan Jena andDeputy Mayor K Shanti werepresent.

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Now, steps have been initi-ated at the Government

level to make the State green.As it is understood, the missionis to protect the land from dis-asters. Odisha is a land of dis-asters from the side of nature.

It is situated in the coast ofBay of Bengal. Hence, theoceanic disasters are alwaysexpected.

Besides nature’s fury, thereare also man-made disasters. Anumber of industries have beencoming up creating manysocial, economic and environ-mental problems. To beat offthe crises, different types of

industries with agricultural,horticultural farms are neededwith modern technologies. Themineral based industries createa great harm.

The whole environmentsuch as air, water and soil,which are life supporting ingre-dients, are polluted heavily.The industrial belts of Talcher–Angul, Baragarh, Rajgangpur,Keonjhar and Sunabeda havebecome carbon- cum- dusthubs due to injudicious actionof man.

Again, to provide job to theidle human resources of theState we need further indus-trialisation. Such things againaggravate the environmentalsituation. In industrial areas,airborne and waterborne dis-eases are spreading. Hence,the carbon and dust assimila-tors are required to tackle theproblems.

Now the Government ofIndia is giving much impor-tance on “Swachha Bharat”.The Swatchha Bharat meansthe management of health and

sanitation. Hence, our “MyGreen Odisha” pogramme canbe a programme to make thelife support systems clean andpollution free. The steps to betaken for achieving “My GreenOdisha” objectives are as fol-lows Beat wise planning: Therecorded forest areas of theState is 58,137 sqkm out ofwhich very dense forest coveris 589.0 sqkm, moderatelydense forest cover is 27,656sqkm and open forest cover is20,180 sqkm. The total forestcover of the State is 37.34 percent of the total land area,which is 1,55,707 sqkm. So wehave a vast land in our dispos-al for carrying out afforestationprogramme. We must assessthe forest cover beat wise toprepare management plans forcreation of new forest. The for-est beat is the smallest unit ofadministration.

There are around 7,000forest beats in the State andeach forest beat covers 40 to 45sqkm area. So, the crop assess-ment and study of density of

crops should be made beat-wise. The conservation mea-sures of forests, fire protectionmeasure, afforestation andreforestation works should becarried out beat wise.

The people should beorganised forest beat wise toparticipate in the all kinds ofdevelopment works of forest

activities. The wildlife man-agement and development pas-tures for wild creatures includ-ing conservation of bio-diver-sities should also be done beatwise. The tourism manage-ment of tibal lands can betterbe done beat -wise. The cor-ruption of public funds can bebetter avoided and the workefficiency of forest employeescan also be expected beat basis.

All communal lands suchas Gochar, burial grounds,waste (Anabadi), bunds andembankments of villages pondsand wetlands should comeunder afforestation pro-

gramme. Plantations of foddertrees, trees required for agri-cultural implements shouldalso be done. City, town, villageroad side avenue plantationswith yards of temples and pub-lic institutions should bebrought under the programme.

City plantations are mostimportant, which need wide

crown coverage to redress radi-ation effect and give a relieffrom humid conditions of theatmosphere. It is seen that theOdisha Forest DevelopmentCorporation Limited is nowcarrying out avenue plantationsin the Smart City ofBhubaneswar, but they do thismost unscientifically.

Now, the riverbank plan-tations of Mahanadi are goingup for multifarious benefits.Though it is too late to take upthe programme, but it is sure-ly a welcome step. Mostly thesoil and water conservationmeasures are taken up through

river bank plantations. Notonly the Mahanadi river, all theriver bank of the State includ-ing the rivulets, Nalas, creeks,coal banks, embankments,bunds of wetlands and reser-voirs lake etc. should be plant-ed. All these things should beassessed beat-wise as a small-est unit of operation.

Odisha is mostly a land ofpeninsular origin, when it ismostly prone to oceanic disas-ters. So the plantations like rais-ing of wind-brake, shelter-beltand sand dune stabilisationshould be carried out to pre-vent disastrous situations.There are a majority of plantspecies in our eco-systems,which can be raised for achiev-ing economic values and as wellas to prevent climatic hazards.So such species are to be plant-ed massively to counter thehazardous climatic situations.

Now, the entire globe isgoing to be carbon mega cap-ital of the universe due to therace for industrialisation. So thegrowing of green-belts

throughout the globe to redressthe carbon deposits is the onlyalternative. The green barriersare known as ‘carbon sinks’,which transform the carboninto energy and releases oxygenfor the living world. The‘Mahanadi Green-Mission’ isfor creating this carbon sink.This mission can be extendedthroughout the State. Theurban plantations need perfectscrutinisation while selection oftrees is done. The shallow root-ed and brittle trees should notbe preferred to be planted asavenue trees along the roadside. The urban parks and gar-dens including the public insti-tutions should also prefer thewind resistant flowering treesto beautify the surroundings.

The use of inputs forpromising growth of the plantspecies is most important.Generally, chemical fertilizersare used in the plantations toforce the growth of the plants,which is quite dangerous to themother earth. These fertilizersare not prepared through bio-

logical process. These are pre-pared chemically and they arenot from nature. We have volu-minous quantity of garbage inthe cities, towns, urban andrural areas, which are daily pro-duced from household activi-ties. Such garbage can be recy-cled in to fertilizers from bio-degradable household prod-ucts. So the State Governmentas well as the CentralGovernment should institutere-cycling factories of garbagein various places in the State asper the need. Such factories aremostly needed to overcome theexcessive uses of artificialchemical fertilisers. Similarly,the polythene pollutions shouldbe avoided and in place of poly-thene, the biodegraded bagscan be promoted. It is verycommon and general that, ournatural eco-systems and plan-tations are burning in every fireseason annually. This has to beprevented at any cost.

(The writer is a former for-est officer and environmen-talist. M-9937460649)

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In a practical and befittingmove, the Union

Government has taken OdishaFinance Minister ShashiBhushan Behera as a memberof the Group of Ministers(GoM) on revenue mobilisa-tion for natural calamities anddisasters.

Involvement of OdishaFinance Minister in the GoMassumes significance as theState is facing major calamitiesoften. Behera is also a memberin the Goods and Services TaxCouncil (GSTC).

While Bihar Deputy ChiefMinister Sushil Kumar Modi isthe Convener of the GoM,Behera has been taken as amember in the high-powercommittee, which is entrustedthe responsibility of examiningmodalities for revenue mobil-

isation for natural calamitiesand disasters.

Other members of theGoM are Finance Ministers ofAssam, Kerala, Maharashtra,Punjab and Uttarakhand,according to information.

Odisha has been demand-ing more funds for StateDisaster Response Fund andincreasing share in the Centralfunds as it is incurring hugeloss due to natural calamities.

The State has demanded tochange the pattern of fundingfor the SDRF from present75:25 to 90:10 in the Centreand State sharing to lessen itsfinancial burden.

According to sources, theCentre funds Rs 618 crore andState bears Rs 206 crore as theirshares in SDRF annually. If theration is changed, the Centreand the State would share Rs742 crore and Rs 82 crore,respectively. Now, with GoM isset up to find out whether themechanism for funding to theStates through NationalDisaster Response Fund

(NDRF) is sufficient or not forhandling natural calamities.

According to Term ofReference (ToR) for the GoMon revenue mobilization, theCentre would look into pro-viding supplementary mecha-nism for funding naturalcalamities through the GST.

All circumstances underwhich the State would be enti-tled to get funding over andabove the funds obtainedthrough NDRF Mechanismwould be looked into by theGoM.

The GoM would also lookinto the possibility of creatingan Omnibus GST DisasterRelief Fund for natural calami-ties. It would also look into howfunds will be collected and dis-bursed for GST Disaster ReliefFund.

The GoM will submit itsreport by October 31 to theGST Council so that the repotcan be discussed at lengthbefore taking a final decisionon raising Central share for theSDRFs.

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The Science and TechnologyDepartment of the

Government of Odisha organ-ised a roadshow in Hyderabadon Wednesday for attractingprivate industries.

Department SecretaryNikunja Dhal gave a detailedpresentations on the tremen-dous opportunities for biotech-nology industry in the State.

He spoke on the friendlyinvestment environment in theState and support for speedyestablishment of businesses.He highlighted the investmentrequirements in the area ofhealthcare, agriculture, valueaddition, marine and aquaticbiotechnology, diagnostic andfood processing, etc.

Bharat Biotech chairmanDr Krishna Ela spoke on thedevelopment in establishing a

Biotechnology Park inBhubaneswar in partnershipwith the State Governmentwhich has made significantprogress and said that a num-ber of business modules andincubation centres are plannedwhich the investors couldutilise.

Institute of Life Sciences,Bhubaneswar Director Dr AjayParida mentioned thatBhubaneswar offers tremen-dous opportunities with a large

number of nationallyreputed institutionswhich would be ofgreat support to theprivate investors asknowledge providers,human resourcesrequirement andresearch partnershipfor need-based productdevelopment.

Dr MrutyunjaySuar of the KIIT University saidthat this road show would fos-ter an ecosystem of entrepre-neurship and startup ventures.More than 25 biotechnologycompanies of Hyderabad par-ticipated in the event.

The road show was organ-ised in partnership with theFICCI. Department AdditionalSecretary Rasid Khan and JointDirector Dr PushpashreePuhan also spoke on the occa-sion.

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In a road rage incident, a jew-eller was allegedly beaten to

death by three youths follow-ing a minor road mishap on theRanakotha-Jagannathpur roadin Bhograi block of the districton Thursday.

Reports said the deceasedHarishchandra Kamil ofPathareswar village under theBasta police station in the dis-trict was residing at Ranakothavillage for the last 25 years andwas the owner of a jewelleryshop.

On Wednesday evening,

Kamila was carrying a womanof the village to hospital in hisvan as she was ill.

His vehicle brushed againsta motorcycle on which threeyouths were travelling in aninebriated state.

Though no one was injuredin the incident, the trio attackedKamila leaving him grievous-ly injured. He was rescued bylocals and admitted to Jaleswarhospital.

The victim was later shift-ed to the District HeadquartersHospital (DHH) but suc-cumbed to his injuries on theway.

Police after a probe arrest-ed one of the three accused,identified as MrityunjayaDaricha and seized the motor-cycle.

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The mystery surroundingthe death of a goldsmith in

the district was solved as policeon Thursday arrested the wifeof the deceased for her allegedinvolvement in killing him.

Additional SPHarekrushna Pradhan saidarrestee Aruna Patra hadhatched a plan along with hermale friend to kill her husbandMantu Patra.

On the fateful day, thewoman poisoned Mantu’s foodafter which she and her malefriend killed him by slitting histhroat, Patra said.

The accused friend of thewoman has gone undergroundand efforts are on to nab him,he said.

Notably, Mantu was founddead in his house atMinabazaar under the Townpolice station in the district onSeptember 3.

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In another development in thecase of two sisters suicide at

Chelligada village under RUdaygiri block of Gajapati dis-trict on September 28, policeon Thursday arrested fourmembers of the deceased’sfamily.

The R Udaygiri police,who had began investigationafter lodging a suicide case, ini-tially grilled the deceased’selder sister Priyanka Sahu andher husband Ganesh Sahu.

During interrogation bothof them confessed of theirinvolvement in this case.

Later, the police interro-gated the deceased fatherPramodAchari and motherRajeswariAchari and were able

to crack the mystery behind thegirl’s suicide.

The police arrested bothparents of the deceased sistersafter finding their involvementin this murder case.

During interrogationpolice ascertained thatPramodh Achari’s third daugh-ter Sapna Achari’s (19) mar-riage was fixed in aBhubaneswar-based family. Tobreak this marriage proposalSapna’s brother-in- law Ganeshand his wife Priyanka spreadmorphed pictures of the twosisters on the social media bycreating a fake account. Later,the fake obscene photos weremade viral by Ganesh.

Following which Sapna’smarriage was cancelled and thewhole family was traumatised.The parents out of shameforced the two daughters toconsume poison. Later, theythrew their bodies into the wellwith the help of Priyanka andGanesh and made the deathlook like a suicide.

However, the police duringinterrogation of the accusedmanaged to unravel the truth.Police have arrested the girls’father Pramod , motherRajeswari, brother-in-lawGanesh and sister Priyankaand forwarded them to court,said R Udaygiri SDPO AnilKumar Pradhan.

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Remuna block of the districtwhile is severely affected by

the fluorosis due to high con-tent of fluoride in groundwater, a four-year action planhas been prepared to combatthe menace.

In this regard, a meetingwas organised which wasattended by the local MP RKJena, district Collector RameshChandra Rout, CDMOBibekananda Das and repre-sentatives of OXFAM VimalPandia, Water Aid , Bikash Patiand Tata Trust Upendra Palai.

The action plan preparedin consultation with IndiaNatural Resource EconomicManagement (INREM)Foundation, a Gujarat-basedvoluntary organisation wouldbe implemented by the linedepartments mainly throughthe Health , RWSS, SocialWelfare and Education , saiddistrict coordinator of INREMGhanshyam Sheet.

“Presence of fluoride con-tent in the water of at least 7GPs of Remuna is more thanthe permissible limits of World

Health Organization. Whilethe limit is 1.5 PPM inRemuna, it is between 3 and 19PPM in three GPs such asPatripal, Chasakhand andGududa. A concerted effort isrequired to combat the menace,said MP Jena.

Following an in-depthstudy, the committee, said thearea should be sanitised.Besides, it recommended thatthose affected with the fluoro-sis and became physically dis-abled should be included underthe social security scheme.

Special focus for regularcheckups of students and preg-nant women for dental fluoro-sis and iron deficiencies shouldbe given. They would be sup-

plemented with nutritionalfood to combat calcium andiron deficiencies

“The district Social WelfareOfficer would identify theaffected by the fluoride andinclude them in the socialsecurity scheme,” said CollectorRout.

The INREM found a solu-tion to the menace with thelocally grown plants and veg-etables. Consumption of local-ly grown Moringa leaves,spinach and sesame con-sumption can be a great help,it observed , adding a chaptershould be included in the classVI –VII about fluorosis toenhance awareness amongthem.

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With the launching of Gajapati district's veryown and Odisha's 16th community radio

station JANABANI 90.8 FM on the GandhiJayanti here, the tribals and farmers of the regionwould now have their voice heard.

The 239th community radio station in thecountry will serve people of Gosani and adjoin-ing blocks of Gajapati district, includingParalakhemundi town. It is targeted to cater toprogrammes related to farming and Adivasi cul-ture.

Though Government of India in 2007 hadtargeted to have 4,000 such stations, still it has

not been realised, said a speaker."Both State and Union Governments have

earmarked special funding through IMAGE topromote such institutions. We hope in nearfuture we will see more such community radiostations," said IMAGE, Bhubaneswar, directorSatya Narayan Mishra.

Being promoted by Jana Kalyan Sanstha(JKS), one of the leading civil society organisa-tions of the district and by social worker DurgaMadhab Panda, the radio station will definite-ly go a long way in creating awareness amongthe tribal and farming communities to developtheir understanding on Government pro-grammes, policies on their benefits and enti-tlements besides dissemination of information,knowledge and good practices.

Panda said, “Our pro-gramming would include latesttechnologies in the field ofagriculture and innovations ontribal development. Besidesthese programmes, we will havereflections on tribal culture,heritage and their way of life.”

Speakers at the launchingevent urged the Government toencourage community radiobroadcasters with all kinds offinancial support.

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State Planning BoardMember Rama Chandra

Panda led the BJD‘Janasampark Padayatra’ atParalakhemundi in Gajapatidistrict for two days on Tuesdayand Wednesday.

Panda was accompanied byformer Parlakhemundi MLA KNarayana Rao, Gajapati DistrictTribal Development CouncilChairman AntaryamiGomango, Gajapati districtBJD president Pradeep Nayakand many tribal leaders in tak-ing out the Padayatra involvingleading hundreds workers todifferent villages of Rampaand Sobra GP's under Gosaniblock and Gandhati GP ofRayagada block.

During padayatra, the lead-ers interacted with people andurged upon them to adhere toGandhian values for a vio-

lence-free society and forstrengthening developmentprocess initiated by the BJDGovernment.

They highlighted achieve-ments of the State Governmentand alleged negligence by theCentral Government towardsthe State and the tribal’s com-munity.

“The JanasamparkPadayatra is an excellent andmeaningful platform to meetpeople and to share their feel-ings, besides making themaware about the myriad pro-people development schemesinitiated by the BJDGovernment,” said Panda, whois also the party observer torGajapati district. Many tribalpeople and party workersjoined the rally.

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On the occasion of the 150th birthanniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the

Government ITI, Bhubaneswar in associ-ation with the Youth Red Cross organiseda cleanliness drive here under the guidanceof Principal Jeetamitra Satapathy, associ-ation secretary Dr Binayak Prusty and jointsecretary Major Dr Kalpana Dash.

A rally on cleanliness awareness wasalso organised where more than two hun-dred fifty trainees with different sloganssensitised the Narayanee slum dwellers.Later they cleaned the slum and powerhouse colony and sprinkle bleaching pow-der.

YRC counsellor Laxman Swain urgedthe slum dwellers to keep the area cleanand green by using dustbins. Tata Strivetrainer Lochan Kumar Das coordinated thedrive.

Over thirty YRC volunteers wereinvolved in cleanliness drive along withPrasanna Kumar Senapati, DipanjaliBiswal, Anita Mishra, BidyabhusanKandagiri, Niranjan Gochhayat andRakesh Choudhury.

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As many as 17 prisoners willbe released from jail before

completion of their sentence onOctober 5.

An official communiquéfrom the Home Department tothe Additional DG of Prisonsrevealed this. The Governmentgranted special remission to the17 prisoners for their prema-ture release on October 5 aspart of commemoration of150th birth anniversary ofMahatma Gandhi in Phase-I.

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The Daan Utsav, India's fes-tival of giving, is celebrat-

ing its 10 years of bringing ‘Joyin Giving’ from October 2 to 8.

Driven entirely by volun-teers, the 10th edition is gear-ing up for a range of interest-ing, large scale initiatives acrossthe country.

This year, theBhubaneshwar chapter is con-ducting a range of activities tobring the people of the citytogether by being a part of theUtsav.

The event which haskicked off on Oct 2 will con-tinue till Oct 8.

Activities include creatinga platform for the visuallyimpaired to showcase theirmusical talent, supportingorphans and vulnerable chil-

dren through wish trees andmany more.

Apart from Bhubaneswar,other cities and towns ofOdisha will be partaking in thefestival through different activities like volunteering atdifferent orphanages and slumsof Cuttack, Puri, Brahampur,Boudh, Balangir etc. Bullockcart procession to collect MuthiBhar Anaj, books and food dis-tribution to children, wish tree

to full fill wishes of the needy,basic computer training atAcharya Harihar Balashram,Sakhigopal, sandwich makingby Eurokids for homeless,blood donation by fishermen ofChandrabhaga, Konark etc.and many other such activitiesare on cards.

The festival has become thebiggest platform for philan-thropy across India with manyNGOs and celebrities associat-

ing to make it a bigger success.From CXOs to homemakers,vegetable vendors to designersand schoolchildren to compa-ny employees– this is a people’smovement to offer their time,skills, money, etc. for socialgood.

The 2017 edition of the fes-tival saw more than 6 millionpeople from over 200 towns,cities and villages across thecountry celebrating the festival.

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The Amway India haslaunched a ‘Protein 4

Children’ campaign, focusingon requirement of protein inchildren their vital growthyears.

“Protein deficiency is amajor concern in the countrywith more than 80 per centIndian diets being deficient inprotein and around 50 percent children are protein defi-cient. Amway’s ‘Protein 4Children’ campaign is focusedon the fact that the proteinrequirement of children almostdoubles up between the agegroup of 5 to 12 years to sup-port vital growth and the

requirement increases furtherwhen they reach adolescenceage,” said a release. The com-pany has also launched a

Protein Calculator app thathelps in assessing approximateprotein intake, making it easi-er to identify the gaps, if any.

Besides this, Amway hascreated fun and tasty recipes, inassociation with leading nutri-tionists that can be easily pre-pared using Nutrilite All PlantProtein Powder, informedcompany’s chief marketing offi-cer Sundip Shah.

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While the Capital RegionUrban Transport

(CRUT) is planning to trans-form the urban mobility sce-nario with a fleet of new buses,on Thursday the transportcompany’s Board of Directorsdecided to refurbish the oldfleet of buses so that the oldvehicles would don a new look.

It was decided to refurbishand make 89 buses from its oldfleet look again new andcolourful. In fact, CRUT cur-rently has 110 old buses run-ning on the road.

A senior CRUT officialsaid out of the 89 old buses,there would be 59 standardbuses with sitting capacity of 43passengers and 30 mini buseswith sitting capacity of 28 pas-sengers respectively.

Sources also said that while

CRUT is going to run citybuses through two differentpackages, Package-I andPackage-II, the refurbishing of89 buses from its old fleet ofbuses would be called asPackage-III. The refurbishingof old buses will be done inphases within six months timefrom the commencement ofwork.

A senior CRUT officialsaid, “By Friday the manufac-turer is likely to provide addi-tional 56 new buses so that thenew fleet will have 85 buses. Asthe entire city is going to havearound 200 buses, 100 will beprovided by Ashok Leyland therest 100 will be provided byanother leading bus manufac-turer Tata Motors.”

The city bus service projectwith the new buses will becomeoperational before World CupHockey.

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To create awareness amongthe citizens of Koraput

town regarding importance ofwildlife and conservation ofnatural resources, the School ofBiodiversity and Conservationof Natural Resources, CentralUniversity of Orissa (CUO)began Wildlife Week pro-grammes from Oct 2.

An ‘awareness walk’ by thefaculty and students was organ-ised with Vice-Chancellor ProfSachidananda Mohanty leadingit on October 4.

The participants holdingplacards and shouting slogansmoved through the main road

of Koraput.In a meeting held on the

occasion, speakers deliberatedon the theme “Importance ofWildlife, their Threats andConservation: Need of theHour”. District Collector K

Sudarsan Chakravarthy,Jeypore DFO Aswini KumarKar, Prof SK Palita, Dean of theSchool, Prof PC Mohapatra,Director, COATS andPrabhakar Adhikary, Secretary,PRAGATI spoke.

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Eminent litterateur ManojDas’ wife Pratijna Devi,

also a writer, passed away at theSri Aurobinda Ashram hospi-tal at Puducherry onWednesday.

She was 80 and sufferingfrom old age-related diseasessince years, informed her fam-ily members in Kujang inJagatsinghpur district.

Pratijna Devi was daughterof late Kujang king and formerErasama MLA Narayan BirabarSamant and Ratnamala Jema.After she married Manoj Das,she resided in the AurobindaAshram in Puducherry andcontinued her literary works tilldeath. She published Odia chil-dren’s magazine “Jahna Mamu”.

Several prominent person-alities of Jagatsinghpur districtincluding her brotherBiswmbar Samanta, sister DrBani Samanta and nephew DrSidhartha Das condoled herdemise.

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The second edition of athree-day Odisha Travel

Bazaar organised by theTourism Department and theFederation of Indian Chamberof Commerce and Industry(FICCI) would be inauguratedby Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik here on October 5,informed Tourism SecretaryVishal Kumar Dev at Pressmeet held here on Thursday.

Dev said as many as 60Foreign Tour Operators (FTOs)from 23 countries and 16Domestic Tour Operators(DTOs) would congregate tointeract and would engagethemselves with 56 sellers com-prising of travel agencies andhoteliers from Odisha to show-case and sell the Odisha travelproduct internationally andwithin the country.

He also said as many as 357

tourist destinations have beenidentified all over 30 districtsincluding sanctuaries andwildlife parks like Bhitarkanika,Similipal National Park,Chandaka Elephant Reserve,Nandankanan and ChilikaLake, which are major naturaltourist attraction in the State.

A special panel discussionon “Taking Odisha Tourism tothe next level” would be heldalong with a presentation on‘Odisha Tourism’ byDepartment Director ArchanaPatnaik.

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The Mahanadi CoalfieldsLimited’s (MCL) Vigilance

department conducted anawareness drive against cor-

ruption with an integrity pledgeceremony at the KISSUniversity premises here onThursday.

MCL CVO MunawarKhursheed said that this wouldact as a multiplier effect as onestudent can influence the otherstudents also.

He was confident that sincethe children are the future cit-izens, the dream of MahatmaGandhi for a corruption-free

India would be fulfilled bythese students.

Former IAS officer RNDas, gave the welcome addresswhile KISS Vice-ChancellorProf HK Satpathy also spoke onthe occasion.

In another part of theawareness drive, an ‘IntegrityPledge’ was administered byinternational Khokho playerMandakini Majhi to the stu-dents of the institute.

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Fearing repatriation to theirhomeland, the illegal

Rohingya refugees in thenational Capital are making allout efforts to marry off theiryoung girls to Indian men asthey think that this may pre-vent their daughters frombeing deported and wouldthus save them from beingsubjected to atrocities like“rape” and “murder” backhome in Myanmar.

A Rohingya woman in herlate thirties living in a refugeesettlement at Shram Viharnear Okhla told The Pioneer,“India is considered a safecountry by the refugees ashere they don’t have to face thesituation similar to what pre-vails in their homeland.”

Not willing to be identi-fied, the woman said manyfamilies, including her own, aretrying their best to find suitablematches for their daughtersamong the Indian Muslims

although she admitted that it’snot an easy task as even thepoor among the IndianMuslims “look down” uponrefugees and don’t want toenter into matrimonial alliancewith them.

While she said it is “Ok”with most of the refugee fam-ilies even if their daughters aremarried to someone alreadymarried as finding an eligiblegroom as match for Rohingyagirls is next to impossible.

“Indian Muslim commu-nity usually avoids marryingRohingya girls fearing ‘vic-timisation’ by the communityand even authorities,” she said.

Fearing being rounded upfor deportation, many of themhave already started migratingto other States that they con-sider safe. Another Rohingyawoman said many of therefugee women work asdomestic helps in the localitiesnearby by hiding their realidentities and they pose as set-tlers from States like WestBengal, Bihar, Odisha and

Uttar Pradesh. She admittedthat this not only helps themeasily getting job at houses butalso in gaining trust and con-fidence of locals with whomthey want to marry off theirdaughters.

However, refugeesexpressed their disappoint-ment with the local Muslimcommunity as they were not ofmuch help to them except inthe month of Ramzan whenthey get “zakat”. Most of therefugees do menial jobs fortheir sustenance. Many of themeven went up to the extent ofbreathing their last in Indiarather than being deportedback home. Rohingya refugeeMohammad Osman said, “Iwould prefer dying on roadcoming under a moving vehi-cle rather than being sent backto “Burma”. They recalled thatthousands have fled Myanmarover the years due to “religiouspersecution” and “annihila-tion” and are in no mood toleave India. An elderly saidthose who migrate to other

State find job as a labourerwhile women do householdchores or work as maids. At theShram Vihar refugee camp,which was established in 2014,there are about 82 families witha population of about 400 wholive in deplorable condition.

The Rohingya refugeesalleged that they have to pay�500 to �1,000 per shanty asper its area to a person onlyafter which they allow them tostay on the land. OctogenarianDil Mohammad showed hisUnited Nations HighCommissioner for Refugees(UNHCR) card and said manyrefugees have “Aadhaar” card,“PAN” card and also drivinglicence (DL) but none have thevoter I-card. However, anoth-er man on condition ofanonymity said some refugeeshave illegally managed to getthe voter I-card.

“We were assured by theUNHCR representative thatthey will pay half of our rentbut it has been two years andthey haven’t paid a “penny”.

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In a setback to arrested formerIPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, the

Supreme Court on Thursdaydismissed his wife’s plea chal-lenging the police probe andhis judicial custody in a 22-year-old case of alleged plant-ing of drugs to arrest an advo-cate, and said he couldapproach an “appropriateforum” for relief.

A Bench of Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi and Justices SKKaul and KM Joseph held itwas not appropriate for theapex court to interfere in theongoing investigation.

Senior advocate MukulRohatgi, appearing for theGujarat Government, saidSanjiv Bhatt was arrested onSeptember 5, in accordancewith law and produced beforethe jurisdictional magistrate atPalanpur of Gujarat within 24hours seeking his police custody.

He said the assertions ofthe petitioner Shweta Bhattthat the accused was notallowed to sign the ‘vakalatna-ma’ are factually wrong, incor-rect and contrary to the con-temporaneous record andappear to have been made tocreate prejudice against theinvestigation.

Rohatgi said Sanjiv Bhatt’scounsel had appeared beforethe magistrate to oppose theplea for police remand filed bythe probe agency and it wasrecorded in the order of

September 6.He said everything was

done in compliance with ordersof the court. On theVakalatnama issue, Rohatgisaid that during the days ofjudicial custody betweenSeptember 6 and September 12,two lawyers Shirishbhai Modiand SB Thakore had met theaccused-petitioner’s husband.

The State Government saidThakore met Bhatt twice andShirishbhai Modi met him onceduring his judicial custody.

The Government in itsaffidavit said besides thelawyers even relatives of Bhatthave met him in jail and he wasrepresented by a lawyer of hischoice in the high court.

“The facts clearly showand indicate that the accused -petitioner’s husband, at nopoint of time was prevented inany manner from either meet-ing his lawyers or signingVakalatnama and/or any otherdocuments or from meetinganyone,” the affidavit said.

After perusing the affi-davit, the Bench dismissed thepetitions filed by Shweta Bhatt.

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The Supreme CourtThursday granted one

more opportunity to miningmajor ArcelorMittal andRussia’s VTB Capital-backedNuMetal to bid for Essar Steelif they clear their Non-Performing Asset (NPA) duesin two weeks.

A Bench comprisingJustices RF Nariman and InduMalhotra held that both thefirms were ineligible underamended Insolvency andBankruptcy Code to bid for thefirm but granted them a freshopportunity after taking note ofthe plea of Committee ofCreditors that it does not wantliquidation of Essar Steel.

The apex court exercisedits extraordinary power underArticle 142 of the Constitutionin allowing ArcelorMittal andNuMetal to make fresh bid forEssar Steel. The top court askedthe Committee of Creditors totake a decision within eight weeks on rival bids ofNuMetal and ArcelorMittal forEssar Steel.

It also said time lost inNational Company LawTribunal (NCLT), NationalCompany Law AppellateTribunal (NCLAT) and apexcourt in dealing with casesunder insolvency code shall beexcluded from mandatory 270

days resolution period.The top court held that if

nothing materialises withineight weeks then Essar Steelshall go into liquidation.ArcelorMittal had allegedNuMetal was not eligible to bidfor Essar Steel on severalgrounds, including that it wasa “shell company” created by afirm in which Essar grouppromoters had majority shares,and if they had to become eli-gible they would have to cleartheir earlier debts.

NCLAT had ruled thatNuMetal’s second bid for EssarSteel was eligible, but the sameby ArcelorMittal would quali-fy only if it cleared the �7,000crore dues of two firms it waspreviously associated with.

While ArcelorMittal hadchallenged the order asking itto pay �7,000 crore to becomeeligible for the bidding,NuMetal had alleged thatNCLAT had “wrongly” appliedlegal provisions to enable itsrival bidder to pay the dues oftwo debt-ridden firms evenafter it had bid for Essar Steel.

NCLAT had ruled thatNuMetal’s second bid for EssarSteel was eligible but the sameby ArcelorMittal will qualifyonly if it cleared the �7,000 crore dues of the twofirms, Uttam Galva and KSSPetron, it was previously asso-ciated with.

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) on

Thursday attached assets worth�130 crore in connection withits money laundering probe inthe Rose Valley ponzi scamcase, officials said.

The agency said it has issueda provisional order under thePrevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA), attach-ing immovable and movableproperties having a collective“market value” of �130 crore.

With the latest action, thetotal value of assets seized inthis case stands at about �4,400crore, the ED said in a state-ment. The agency had regis-tered an FIR against the firm,its Chairman Gautam Kunduand others in 2014 under thePMLA. Kundu was arrested bythe agency in Kolkata in 2015.At present, he is in judicial cus-tody.

Multiple chargesheets havebeen filed in the courts inKolkata and Bhubaneswar bythe ED in this case. The grouphad allegedly floated a total of27 companies for running thealleged chit fund operations outof which only half-a-dozenwere active. The agency hasalleged that the firm had float-ed the scheme promising inflat-ed returns on investmentsbetween eight and 27 per centto gullible investors in variousStates.

New Delhi: A woman, whohad challenged the provisionsrelated to restitution of conju-gal rights on the grounds thatshe has a right to “sexuallyautonomy” and to be “leftalone”, has failed to get anyrelief from the Supreme Court.

The woman, an engineer-ing graduate working in amultinational IT major, hadmoved the top court challeng-ing the constitutional validityof provision of the Hindu Marriage Act 1955, afterher estranged husband hadfiled a suit for restitution ofconjugal rights.

The plea claimed that“coercive act” of state com-pelling sexual co-habitationinfringes a woman’s funda-mental right to privacy, digni-ty, mental and physical health,personal liberty and right toequality under theConstitution. PTI

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In a move to involve all votersin the electoral process, the

Election Commission (EC) onThursday directed States andUnion Territories to providetransport facilities to Personswith Disabilities (PwDs) oneach and every polling stationon the day of polling.

The Government vehiclesare to be used for this purpose.The move is aimed at ensuringwider participation by peoplewith disabilities as there havebeen instances in the past wheresuch people could not vote.

“The deputy electoral offi-cer and returning officershould be responsible for entiretransportation exercise forPwDs,” the EC order said. TheCommission also directed chiefelectoral officer to appoint atransport nodal officer for eachdistrict. “Each and every PwDsshould be tagged polling stationwise and he/she should be

picked up from his or her res-idence and be dropped backthere, after he or she has casther/his vote,” the EC said. TheEC is also working to provideattendants to PwDs on the dayof polling.

EC has for the first timeappointed ‘accessibilityobservers’ to check and ensurethat people with disability areable to cast votes. The observerswill ensure that necessary infra-structure is available at eachbooth where people with dis-

abilities come and vote. As apart of making the pollingbooth more accessible to dis-abled people, centres will haveramp, where wheel-chairbound voter can cast his vote.

Disability Coordinatorswould be appointed at the lev-els of Assembly Constituencies,Districts and States and amobile app would be developedin-house for the such peoplewith disabilities to facilitatethem participate fully in elec-tion processes.

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The Congress on Thursdayattacked the Narendra

Modi Government over issuesof fuel price and Rafale dealregarding which theOpposition party againknocked the door of theComptroller and AuditorGeneral (CAG).

The party accused FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley of “hid-ing the truth” of �13 lakhCrore ‘Fuel Loot’ which is nowin fact fueling the coffers ofNDA Government. It also saidthe FM is lying that the increasein Government revenueincrease is due to augmentationof tax base.

The party termed theminor cut in fuel price by theCentre as “band aid” after fac-ing public ire and an imminentdefeat in five Assembly elec-tions scheduled in five States.

“The Modi Governmentattempted to apply ‘Band Aid’on the thousand woundsinflicted by it by massive prof-iteering in the prices of petrol,diesel, kerosene oil, cookinggas, CNG, PNG and NaturalGas. Let the Prime Ministerremember that he cannotbefool the people of India. We

challenge the PM andF M

to answer to people on �13 lakhcrore loot,” AICC chiefspokesman Randeep Surjewala.

Earlier in the day, seniorparty leaders led by AhmedPatel called on CAG RajivMehrishi to carry out a foren-sic audit of the “�60,150 crore”Rafale fighter jet deal and bringall “facts” on record to enableParliament to fix accountabil-ity for the alleged scam in the

contract. The delega-tion presented a

memoran-dum toC A G

along withfresh docu-ments. It had

met the CAG on September 19and thereafter the CVC onSeptember 24 for a probe intothe deal.

Subsequent to the submis-sions made before the CAGearlier in the Rafale ‘scam’, theCongress alleged that docu-ments and revelations made atthe highest level in India andFrance have “exposed a deeprooted sinister conspiracy anda clear cut case of loss to pub-lic exchequer”.

The party told the CAGthat all the contours of con-spiracy, corruption, endanger-ing of national security andcrony capitalism can only beuncovered thorough a probe by

the Joint ParliamentaryCommittee (JPC).

“It is expected that theCAG which has aConstitutional mandate andauthority to scrutinise everydocument, in this case, includ-ing original tender, under-standing reached betweenDassault and HAL and thearbitrary decision of the PrimeMinister without any mandatefrom Cabinet Committee onSecurity (CCS) will undertakea forensic audit. We thereforerequest the CAG to bring allfacts on record to enableParliament to fix accountabil-ity for Rafale scam,” theCongress memorandum said.

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The National BuildingConstruction Company

(NBCC) will float tenders toappoint contractors in the next15 days for construction ofstalled projects of debt-riddenrealty firm Amrapali.

The Supreme Court hadearlier allowed the NBCC tofloat tenders for selectingbuilders to complete the stalledprojects of Amrapali Group.On September 12, the SupremeCourt had appointed NBCC todevelop stalled projects of theAmrapali Group following thecompany’s proposal that itcould complete 15 stalled pro-jects, comprising 46,575 flats,within 36 months at a con-struction cost of �8,500 crore.

Responding to a questionrelated to Amrapalli, NBCCChairman and ManagingDirector Anoop Kumar Mittalsaid the NBCC will float ten-ders in the next 15 days. “Thecompany will also prepare adetailed project report for allthe stalled projects within nexttwo months as directed by theSupreme Court,” he added. Onarrangement of funds, he saidthe company would go by theapex court’s directions andalso denied any talks withPiramal group to raise funds.

Mittal said the project man-agement fees proposed by thecompany for completingAmrapali projects are not on thehigher side. The companyexpects construction work to

start from December for the firstset of projects comprising over11,000 apartments. If this hap-pens, this would give a hugerelief to large number of home-buyers with stuck investments.

The NBCC, which is underthe administrative control ofthe Ministry of Housing andUrban Affairs, is present inthree main segments -- projectmanagement consultancy(PMC), real estate develop-ment and EPC contracting.

Asked about the sevenredevelopment projects inSouth Delhi that are on holdbecause of uproar over fallingof trees, he said the companywould abide by court’s direc-tions and follow all the gov-ernment regulations. “Thework has been stopped since

last three months. The lossescan be worked out. If workstarts in these seven projects, ofwhich three are tasked withNBCC and four with CPWD,it will be good,” Mittal said.

Talking about the futureplans of the company, he saidthe order book of the companyis currently around �80,000crore and by the end of the year,plan is to increase the same to�1,00,000 crore. “We plan thatthe company grows with a com-pound annual growth rate(CAGR) of 30-40 per cent in thenext five years,” Mittal said.

Mittal highlighted that theNBCC has revamped PuranaQuila (Old Fort), and will soonstart work on Red Fort andQutub Minar as part of its ini-tiative to conserve, develop

and maintenance of heritageproperties. With an endeavourto refurbish the magnificentedifice, the NBCC adoptedPurana Qila under Ministry ofTourism’s ‘Adopt a heritage’scheme and executed the taskutilising its CSR funds. Thepress conference was held atredevelopment project atKidwai Nagar in South Delhi.

NBCC’s CMD said thecompany’s current order bookis worth �80,000 crore and thesame would touch �1 lakhcrore by March 2019. Mittalsaid the company expects togrow at a CAGR of 30-40 percent in topline as well as bot-tomline in the coming years.The company’s total incomestood at around �7,100 crorelast fiscal.

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Lawyer Prashant Bhushanand former Union Minister

Arun Shourie met CBIDirector Alok Verma onThursday and submitted adetailed complaint allegingcorruption in the Rafale air-craft deal and offset contractand sought probe against thePrime Minister NarendraModi, then Defence MinisterManohar Parrikar and othersfor alleged abetment under thevarious provisions of thePrevention of Corruption Act.

Along with the complaintunder the Prevention ofCorruption Act, Bhushan andShourie also submitted docu-ments buttressing their argu-ments for the need for a probeinto the mega defence deal.The duo also urged the CBIDirector to take permission ofthe Government to initiatethe investigation in accor-dance with the amendedPrevention of Corruption Act.

“CBI Director said he willlook into it very carefully. Wewill take appropriate action,”Bhushan told reporters after coming out of the CBIheadquarters.

“Mr Narendra Modi is apublic servant presently occu-pying the office of the PrimeMinister of India. Mr AnilAmbani is his long term friendand close associate who is theChairman of Reliance ADAgroup of companies. Mr AnilAmbani’s companies have beenverging at the point of insol-vency. Creditors of his group

companies have initiated pro-ceedings against his companiesto recover their dues. RelianceADA group of companies forsome time has been in direfinancial health. Reliance ADAhas had to sell many of its pre-cious assets to pay off its inter-est obligations and stave offinsolvency proceedings,” thecomplaint alleged.

“In these circumstances, aconspiracy was hatched by thetwo of them, by way of whichMr Modi obtained an ‘undueadvantage’ from DassaultAviation , for awarding a con-tract for 36 Rafale aircrafts in‘fly away’ condition, by abus-ing the authority of his officeand doing his public duty dis-honestly and improperly. The‘undue advantage’ has beenreceived by his close associateand friend Mr Ambani….Mr

Modi compelled Dassault tochoose Mr Ambani as an off-set partner, by way of whichMr Ambani received, and isreceiving, and will continue toreceive, for the next 40 years,an ‘undue advanatge’.” the com-plaint further alleged.

Dassault Aviation, themanufacturer of Rafale, hadchosen Reliance Defence as itspartner to fulfil offset obliga-tions of the deal. TheGovernment has maintained itdid not have any role in selec-tion of the offset partner byDassault.

India had inked an inter-governmental agreement withFrance in September 2017 forprocurement of 36 Rafalefighter jets at a cost of around�58,000 crore. Half of theamount has to be utilisedthrough offset mechanism.

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TRS Government’s plan todistribute 95 lakh sarees

among the Telangana womenon the occasion of“Batukamma” festival has beengrounded with the ElectionCommission of India puttingits foot down. Batukamma, tobe celebrated from October 9to 17 is a festival of flowers,which was being celebrated asa State festival since the for-mation of Telangana.

The election body hasrefused permission to theState Government for distri-bution of sarees saying it vio-lated the model code of con-duct enforced in view of theforthcoming State assemblyelections.

After the State ChiefElectoral Officer Rajath Kumarsought clarification on whetherthe caretaker Government cango ahead with the distributionof sarees, the CEC sent a com-munication that it would be aviolation of model code ofconduct. The CEC noted thatthough the scheme was old, itwould amount to influencingthe voters.

Rajath Kumar had soughtthe clarification after the mainopposition Congress partyobjected to the plans of freesaree distribution. Congressswung in to action after seniorMinister K Tarka Rama Raoannounced that the sareeswould be distributed onOctober 12.

CEC’s directive came just as

the State administration wasgearing up for the massive dis-tribution of sarees at a cost of�280 crores. The StateGovernment was making prepa-rations for the distribution of thenew cloths among women forthe past many months and theorders for the supply of sareeswere placed with the handloomweavers across the State. About50 lakh sarees were already keptready in the district headquar-ters while the remaining stockswere also being readied.

The program was a greathit last year as the ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao’s Government justified thedistribution of sarees sayingthat its objective was to ensurethat every woman in the Statewas able to celebrate the“Batukamma” festival.

However in view of thecomplaints that the sareessourced from Gujrat were notof good quality, the StateGovernment had decided toensure that only handloomsarees made in Telangana bythe weavers would be distrib-uted this year.

Similarly another pro-gram of distribution of checksamong the farmers under the“Rythu Bandhu” schemes wasalso l ikely to meet the same fate.

Taraka Rama Rao had saidthat the second phase of dis-tribution of cheques of �4,000per acre incentive to the farm-ers will be held in Novemberfirst week. CEC sources saidthat a decision will be taken onthe issue within a week.

The opposition Congresshad opposed the handing overof the cheques to the farmers bythe ministers of caretaker gov-ernment or the TRS leaders.They suggested that it shouldbe done by the StateGovernment officials.

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Amid the continuing rowover the electoral rolls of

Telangana, the Supreme Courton Thursday directed theHyderabad High Court to hearthe matter on Friday and if anyirregularities were found it canextend the date of publicationof the final list of voters.

A division bench headed byJustice AK Sikri also ruled thatthe High Court had the powersto stay the conduct of elections.On a petition filed by the seniorCongress leader MarriShashidhar Reddy questioningthe early elections in Telanganaand alleging irregularities in thepreparation of electoral rolls theSupreme Court asked theHyderabad High Court to hearthe case on Friday.

In his petition MarriShashidhar Reddy complainedthat a large number of genuinevoters were deleted from therolls and 65 lakh bogus nameswere include in the voters’ listin Telangana. He pleaded thatwithout correcting the mistakesholding the elections will not becorrect.

Counsel for the petitionerAbhishek Manu Singhvi drew

the attention of the apex courtthat because of the early final-ization of electoral rolls as manyas 18 lakh youth will not be ableto vote as they will attain the ageof 18 years by January 1.

The counsel for petitionerargued that because of theearly elections a large numberof first time voters would bedeprived on their right to voteas the electoral rolls were beingfinalized much ahead of theoriginal schedule.

After hearing the argu-ments the Supreme Courtdirected that the High Courtshould hear the petition alongwith four other petitionsalready pending before it on thesame issue.

Briefing the reporters laterpetitioner’s counsel JhandyalaRavi Shankar said that a writpetition would be filed in theHigh Court in Hyderabadtomorrow. He said that theSupreme Court referred thematter to the High Court onlyafter it was satisfied with the peti-tion. In case the irregularitieswere found in the electoral rollsthe Supreme Court has autho-rized the High Court to delaythe publication of the finalrolls beyond October 8.

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Karnataka which producesmore than 70 per cent of

the nation’s coffee is witnessinga storm in the cup. The after-math of nature’s fury inKodagu, the coffee land,destroyed coffee plantationswhich has affected the pro-duction and coffee growersare staring at a bleak future.

The widespread destruc-tion of coffee across the hill dis-trict of Kodagu and part ofChikkamagaluru has put thefarmers in hardship andrequires many years to nor-malise situation.

According to availablestatistics Karnataka alone pro-duced 2.22 lakh tonnes, or 70per cent, of the national pro-duction of 3.16 lakh tonnes in2017-18. It’s followed byKerala that contributes 20per cent and Tamilnadu 5 fiveper cent to the national production.

The preliminary damageassessment has come up witha combined figure of 82,000tonnes of cof fee beansdestroyed in three southernStates, with the maximumloss in Karnataka.

According to CoffeeBoard director of research YRaghuramulu in Karnataka’shill district Kodagu alone

1500 hectares of coffee plan-tations has been affectedbadly due to landslides andheavy rains.

“The soft soil has beenwashed away in many areasour teams visited. Entire cropshave been lost in many areasmaking it a long-termimpact,” he said adding manyareas would take around 10years to grow new crops. Hesaid “Only the final damageassessment that is underwaywill give us a clear picture ofthe loss, which could be morethan our initial estimate.”

According to coffee boardsources many teams of expertsare currently working inKodagu and Chikkamagalurumaking the assessment thatwould help evaluate the quan-tum of compensation to thefarmers.

For Coffee growers inthese parts it’s from heavento hell situation. They areworried over its long impacton the economy of coffeegrowing which in turn affectsindividual grower.

BS Jairam, president ofKarnataka Growers’Federation said “but for someheavy rainfall and relatedlandslides in the early 1960s,we have never witnessed thiskind of crop loss.”

According to him the pre-

liminary assessment on thepart of the planters point at�1,500 crore crop losses inKodagu, Hassan andChikmagaluru districts.

“Kodagu suffered themost as many estates havebeen destroyed. We don’t evenknow the condition of manyplantations as they were cutoff when roads got destroyedin landslides,” said Jairamwho owns a plantation inSakleshpura in neighbouringHassan district.

Seventeen of the 28 villagesin Kodagu have been badly hitby the disaster. “At least a 3000people (mostly farm workers)are still in relief camps inKodagu,” he said.

While Karnataka’s share ofthe Indian coffee sector standsaround 70 per cent, plantationsin Kodagu alone has a share of40 per cent of the national production.

Kodagu alone produced19,550 tonnes of Arabica and97,000 tonnes of Robusta in2017-18.

CK Belliappa, secretaryof Codagu Planters’Association said that the eventhe preliminary assessmentpoints at the worst ever loss ofproduction. He says the farm-ers are staring at the biggestloss ever due to the fury of rains.

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Bihar Government has urgedthe 15th Finance

Commission for making somechanges in its formula andparameters for extendingfinancial assistance to thedeveloping States includingBihar so that the revenuereceipts and grant in aid forthese States is increased.

Briefing media about thecharter of demand submittedto the Finance Commissionchairman NK Singh onWednesday evening, DeputyCM Sushil Kumar Modi, whoalso holds finance depart-ment, said that Centre hasconceded long pendingdemand of making 2011 cen-sus as basis for the panel’s rec-ommendations instead of1971 census which was prac-ticed ti l l 14th FinanceCommission.Modi said the Bihar’s share incentral taxes has been declin-ing since 12th FinanceCommission and it hasdropped to 9.66 per centwhereas the share of devel-oped States has been increas-ing. Bihar got a share in cen-tral taxes in 13th FinanceCommission �1,72,944 crorewhich increased to � 4,09,489crore in 14th FinanceCommission with an incre-

ment of 136 per cent, but atthe same time the incrementin shares of Punjab,Maharashtra, Kerala,Karnataka and Gujarat washigher than Bihar.

“We have demanded thatdensity of population should bemade a parameter instead oftotal geographical area andforest cover. Bihar’s density ofpopulation is higher in thecountry, 1,106 persons per sqkm, and it was a major con-straint in moving ahead fordevelopmental projects becauseland acquisition is a majorissue in densely populatedareas,” said Modi.

For disaster managementtoo Bihar is getting less centralaid as against Maharashtra,Rajasthan, Odisha and MadhyaPradesh. Despite the fact thatBihar faces floods and droughtevery year it received grant ofonly �2,591 crore in 2015-20while the State spent an addi-tional �3,796 crore on disastermanagement from its ownresources.

Bihar also demandedincreasing the State share indivisive pool from 42 per cent

accorded by the 14th FinanceCommission to 50 per cent by15th Finance Commission.

The Government memo-randum to the Commissionstated that backwardness ofBihar implied extremely limit-ed fiscal capacity of StateGovernment and it wasmarkedly dependent on theCentral Government to sup-plement its limited revenuereceipts. More than threefourths of the total revenuereceipts are accounted for bycentral transfers. “The quantum of such centraltransfers is projected by thesuccessive FinanceCommissions but the actualtransfers often fail to match theprojections. There was a dropin Bihar’s share of central taxeswhich has seriously affected thedevelopment activities of StateGovernment and upset thedelivery of required pubic ser-vices,” it stated.

The memorandum saidthat in spite of the phenome-non of widening regional dis-parity, the successive FinanceCommissions have been reluc-tant to recommend higherdevolution o poorer States,including Bihar.

“The protagonists of‘competitive’ federalism try tojustify this unfair distributionpattern by maintaining thatgovernance in poorer States isweak and that they are inca-pable of utilising the resourcestransferred to them. Thisindeed is an unfair criticism,especially in the context of Bihar.”

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Kottayam (Kerala): The NairService Society (NSS), a body ofKerala's influential NairCommunity, Thursday said itwould file a revision petition inthe Supreme Court against itsorder permitting women of allage groups to enter the LordAyyappa temple at Sabarimala.

Since the NSS had been aparty to the case from thevery beginning itself, it hasdecided to file a revision peti-tion in the Supreme Court inthe matter, NSS general secre-tary G Sukumaran Nair said ina statement here.

Nair termed as "disap-pointing" the stand taken by theKerala Government and theTravancore Devaswom Board(TDB) that they would not filea review petition in the apexcourt against its verdict.

Slamming the TDB over theissue, the NSS said the board,which is an independent bodymanaging Lord Ayyappa templeand 1200 other temples, has theresponsibility to protect customsand traditions of these shrines.

These temples are managedby using the offerings beingmade by the devotees and notusing money contributed by theGovernment, it said.

The NSS, which had joinedas a party to the case in theapex court, also alleged that theState Government was showingunnecessary hurry in imple-menting the court order.

This stand of theGovernment and board hasforced the faithful to take neces-sary steps to protect their faith,it said. The NSS also urged theGovernment to take steps toamicably resolve the issue.

His statement comes a dayafter the Government rejectedthe opposition demand to filea review petition in the apexcourt against its order andsaid it would implement theverdict in the coming pilgrim-age season itself.

A high-level meeting of theTDB has also decided to makenecessary arrangements forwomen pilgrims visiting the hillshrine when it opens for theannual pilgrimage season onOctober 16.

The Sabarimala temple hadrestricted the entry of womenbelonging to the age group of 10-50 as part of its age-old tradition.

On October 28, a five-judgeconstitution bench, headed bythe then Chief Justice DipakMisra, lifted the ban on entry ofwomen of menstrual age into theshrine. PTI

Mumbai: Amid the competingpolitics over Ram temple, theShiv Sena on Thursdayannounced that its chiefUddhav Thackeray will visitAyodhya after Dussehra toreaffirm his party’s commit-ment to the issue.

The announcement came aday after Ram JanmabhoomiTrust chief Janmejay SharanjiMaharaj met Thackeray at theparty's headquarters SenaBhawan here.

Sharanji Maharaj invitedThackeray to visit Ayodhya,telling him that the trust need-ed the Sena's assistance for theconstruction of Ram temple,Shiv Sena sources said.

Thackeray will announcethe date of his visit to Ayodhyaat the party's annual Dussehrarally to be held in Mumbai onOctober 19, senior Sena leaderand Rajya Sabha MP SanjayRaut said.

He said his party has beenmaintaining that only the ShivSena has the "courage" to builda Ram temple in Ayodhya.

The Shiv Sena is of the viewthat if the Ram temple is notconstructed now, then it cannotbe constructed ever, he added.

Thackeray had recently saidthat the BJP would once again rakeup the emotive issue of Ram tem-ple in the run-up to the 2019 polls.

Ram temple construction

in Ayodhya has been one of thecore issues of the BJP, which isan ally of the Shiv Sena.

The Sena, which hasresolved to go solo in the futureelections, has often targeted theBJP for "delaying" the construc-tion of Ram temple in Ayodhyadespite having a majority.

"The Sena has always cham-pioned the cause of Ram templein Ayodhya. The BJP, despitebeing in power for four years, hasnot yet fulfilled its commitmentof building a grand Ram templethere," Raut said Thursday.

Sharanji Maharaj said hetold the Shiv Sena chief that hisfather late Bal Thackeray hadcontributed to the demolition ofthe Babri Masjid (on December6, 1992), he should now con-tribute to the construction ofthe Ram temple there. With theLok Sabha polls less than a yearaway, the pitch for contructionof Ram temple in Ayodhya hasbeen intensifying lately withinthe BJP, even as the matter issub-judice.

Senior Sena leader ArvindSawant said that before the2014 Lok Sabha polls, theNDA had given three assur-ances to people -to abrogateArticle 370 of theConstitution, construction ofRam temple in Ayodhya andto solve the Kashmir issue.

PTI

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ACentral relief of �2.50 onsky-rocketing petro prices

was less than peanuts for thetoiling masses of the country,Bengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee on Thursday saidasking the Narendra ModiGovernment to reduce oilprices by at least �10.

“The Government is givingthe people a small relief whenrising petroleum prices hasdriven the market crazy. Everyitem in the market: From foodto other products of daily is onfire. A relief of �2.50 is but ajoke,” Banerjee said adding theCentre would have done theleast by reducing the price byat least �10 per litre.

“You (the Centre) haveimposed huge production cesson petroleu driving the marketcrazy,” Banerjee said adding areduction of �10 at this juncturewas the least the Governmentcould have done. She was react-ing to the appeal made byFinance Minister Arun Jaitley tothe State Governments toreduce the oil prices propor-tionately after the Central relief.

Bengal had alreadyreduced oil price by �1 about

a month ago.Attacking the Modi

Government for making loudpromises but only adding topeople’s misery, Banerjee said“instead of giving relief to thepeople they are trying to ter-rorise the people.”

Referring to the encounterdeaths in UP and lynching ofminorities in other States sheasked “why will the people beafraid of you?” adding “thisGovernment is only trying torule by terror. “A trueGovernment is one that adds

value to people’s lives and notadds fear to it. In India we havehigh regard for joint family sys-tem. But in such families themembers live with each otherpeacefully. But here you (cen-tre) are trying to create schismamong them.”

Attacking the Centre forruining the Indian economythrough demonetization shesaid “they imposed note bandiwhich yielded nothing. It onlyfilled the coffers of somepoliticians and political parties.

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Hizbul Mujahdeen outfithas threatened terrorist-

turned-BJP worker FarooqAhmad alias Saifullah whorecently filed nominationpapers to contest urban localbodies election from capitalSrinagar. Warning postersagainst Farooq and severalother contestants have goneviral on social media sites.Farooq had earlier challengedmilitants to prove him wrong.

The outfit’s unknown“Divisional Commander AbuUmair Al Hizbi” has also issuedwarning to a political workerImran Zargar alias Imran Billawhom Hizbul Mujahideendescribes “a turncoat workingat the behest of intelligenceagencies for helping differentcandidates to win elections inlieu of millions of rupees”.

Meanwhile, unknown per-sons attacked the residences oftwo candidates in old Srinagarcity who are contestingMunicipal elections forSrinagar MunicipalCorporation (SMC) with petrolbombs last evening.

Unknown persons hurled apetrol bomb on the house of aBhartiya Janta Party candidateat Gojwara in old city. Reportssaid that the door of the houseof Shoukat Raja of Gojwaraarea of old city caught fire dueto the attack. Raja was not pre-sent at his home at the time ofincident.

In another incidentunknown persons targeted carof an independent candidateNisar Chudisaz at KakaMohalla in Rainawari area ofold Srinagar. The car wasparked outside his house andits tyres caught fire. Nisar wasalso not at home at the time ofthe incident.

On the other side, Jointresistance leadership (JRL), anamalgam of separatist politicalparties, comprising of Syed AliGeelani, Mirwaiz Umar Faroand Yasin Malik called for acomplete shutdown in Jammu& Kashmir on October 8 toprotest against the com-mencement of municipal andPanchayat elections. A state-ment issued to media askedpeople to “observe subsequentprotest shutdown in their ownrespective areas as per the poll

schedule on 10th, 13th and16th October and show theircomplete disassociation andresentment against it.”

The arrest of JKLF chair-man Yasin Malik and thearrest of dozens of Hurriyatactivists and youth and raidson their homes, has beenresented by JRL.

The State Government hasformulated unprecedentedsecurity plan for the smoothconduct of upcoming UrbanLocal Bodies (ULB) andPanchayat elections in the State.The plan covers safety andsecurity of both contestants andthe voters in most sensitiveareas in Kashmir and else-where in the State.

The panchayat electionsare being held on non-partybasis. Additional 400 compa-nies of central security forceswould be deployed in the Stateover and above the securityforces already stationed.

The ULB elections arebeing conducted in four phas-es from October 8 andPanchayat elections in ninephases beginning November17. This would be a massiveexercise to elect more than 39,500 representatives.

In an unprecedented move,the Government employeesdeployed on election dutywould be paid a month’s addi-tional salary.

The two main regionalpolitical parties NationalConference and PeoplesDemocratic Party have decid-ed to boycott the elections asthey have asked the CentralGovernment to clear its standon the issue of Article 35-A andtake steps for its protection.The Communist Party of India(CPI) also decided not to par-ticipate in the polls keeping inview the prevailing situation inthe valley.

Meanwhile, a BorderSecurity Force man wasdetained along-with anotherperson as Police busted anOver Ground Workers(OGWs) module of terroristoutfit Hizbul Mujahideen thatwas operating in Lolab area ofnorth Kashmir’s Kupwara.

Security sources said thattwo locals of Tekipora Lolabarea in the district weredetained on the basis of specificinput who after sustained inter-rogation confessed to be OverGround Workers of HizbulMujahideen.

The arrested persons wereidentified as Shakir AhmadWani and Ghulam MustafaSheikh.

Sources said Shakir is a BSFman who is posted in North East

and was providing arms trainingto local terrorists. He hadreturned home on vacations.

Sources said a pistol wasrecovered on their disclosure.

The module was engagedin providing logistic support toterrorists apart from luringmore youth into militancy.

A case under relevant sec-tions of law has been registeredand further investigation initi-ated into the matter.

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Kolkata: A former IAS officerwas on Thursday interrogatedby the CBI in the Sharada chitfund case. The former officerwas asked to explain aGovernment order a few yearsago that apparently favouredthe Sharada group.

The former bureaucrat,then secretary in the HomeDepartment was in charge ofaffairs when the BengalGovernment had issued acircular asking the Statelibraries to keep newspapersof the Sharada group in their

study halls.The former official was

asked to disclose the facts thatled to the stated order. He wasasked to explain upon whosedirections his department hadissued such circulars that final-ly benefited the Sharada group,sources said. PNS

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Srinagar: The authorities inJammu & Kashmir have barredSpecial Police Officers (SPO) tobe detailed on personal securi-ty of protected persons. Thedecision has been taken after anSPO decamped with huge cacheof arms and ammunition froma legislator’s official residencebefore joining HizbulMujahideen outfit.

The SPOs are working onmonthly honorarium and theirservices are confirmed afteryears of ‘satisfactory work’.

The order to this effect wasissued by Additional DirectorGeneral, Security and Law &rder Muneer Ahmad Khan.The ADGP ordered that no unitor SSP shall deploy any SPO forPSO duties and all SPOs exceptSPO drivers, presently attachedwith protected persons beimmediately withdrawn.

The Order observed thatSPOs performing PSO dutieswith the protected personswas not in accordance withthe security norms as SPOswere not trained to performPSO duties.

A Special Police Officer(SPO) Adil Bashir Sheikhdeployed as Personal SecurityOfficer (PSO) of PDP legislatorrepresenting Wachi constituen-cy in south Kashmir's Shopiandistrict, decamped with 07 AK47 rifles alongwith ammunitionof police personnel deployed forthe security of the State

Assembly Member at his officialresidence at Jawahar Nagar insummer capital SrinagarSeptember 28. The SPO alsotook away one licensed pistol ofMLA. Security sources saidsince MLA was in Jammu, hisall seven PSOs had gone to theirrespective homes on leave, leav-ing their weapons in a trunk atJ-11 quarters at Jawahar Nagar.

On Thursday, Aijaz Miralleged that police officialsinvolved in the investigation ofthe weapon loot case werecompelling the family membersof his former PSOs to speakagainst him. The police havenot reacted to the allegation.Mir was quizzed by Police &NIA sleuths for at least threestraight days after commis-sion of act by SPO by lootingarms. Around a dozen otherPSOs deployed in MLA secu-rity unit were also questionedat legislator's official residencelast September 29.

Seven Police cops whoserifles were looted by SPO havebeen suspended. Officials saidthey were suspended for theircallous attitude towards dutiesand put under investigationnet. The suspended police per-sonnel continued to remainunder police detention facingseries of questioning sessionsby Police officials and sleuthsof National InvestigationAgency (NIA) and other inves-tigating agencies. PNS

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Gopalganj/Patna: Two cops have been arrest-ed in Bihar's Gopalganj district for allegedlyselling seized liquor, a of the alcohol ban inthe State, a senior officer said on Thursday.

The two policemen were arrested onWednesday following complaints by local resi-dents that they saw a liquor-laden truck leave the

Baikunthpur police station on the interveningnight of September 30 and October 1, GopalganjSuperintendent of Police Rashid Zaman said.

SHO Laxminarayan Mahto and ASISudhir Kumar were interrogated and the truckdriver, Kanhaiya Sharma, was also arrestedfrom the neighbouring Saran district, the SP

said.Mahto and Kumar have

been placed under suspen-sion.

Zaman said it is suspectedthat liquor seized during anoperation was not shown inthe records and later sold offby the accused in collusionwith others. PTI

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itiat

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nise

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nual

ly in

Lat

in A

mer

ica

by th

eG

loba

l Em

bass

y of

Act

ivist

s fo

rPe

ace (

GEA

P) is

a co

nfer

ence

enti-

tled

, ‘T

he P

eace

Int

egra

tion

Sum

mit’

with

the

acr

onym

of

CUM

IPA

Z.Ea

rlier

this

week

, the

2018

Sum

mit

was

held

inG

uate

mal

a at

whi

ch th

is w

riter

del

iver

ed th

eke

ynot

e ad

dres

s. W

hat i

s par

ticul

arly

sign

ifi-

cant

abou

t the

GEA

P is

the f

act t

hat t

his b

ody

cons

ists l

arge

ly o

f aca

dem

ics a

nd in

telle

ctua

ls,w

ith a

rem

arka

ble

thin

ker

Dr

Will

iam

Sot

oSa

ntia

go, a

s the

prim

e m

over

. The

GEA

P ha

sve

ry l

ofty

obj

ectiv

es:

“Wor

k to

war

ds t

heim

prov

emen

t, w

elfar

e, ha

ppin

ess a

nd p

eace

of

the h

uman

fam

ily an

d M

othe

r Ear

th, p

rom

ot-

ing

a gl

obal

form

atio

n of

the

inte

gral

hum

anbe

ing

and

the

form

atio

n of

act

ivist

s for

pea

cein

the f

ram

ewor

k of

uni

vers

al va

lues

and

prin

-cip

les, f

or th

e def

ense

of H

uman

Rig

hts a

nd th

e

Righ

ts of

Mot

her E

arth

, thr

ough

the d

evelo

p-m

ent o

f pro

gram

mes

, pro

ject

s and

cam

paig

nsaim

ed at

diff

eren

t are

as in

whi

ch h

uman

s ope

r-at

e and

inte

ract

.”Si

gnifi

cant

ly, w

e ha

ve n

o in

itiat

ive

of si

mi-

lar pr

ofile

in A

sia, w

hich

fortu

natel

y doe

s not

hav

eco

nflic

ts su

ch a

s tho

se in

seve

ral o

ther

par

ts of

the w

orld

. But

tens

ions

are o

n th

e inc

reas

e in

the

regi

on, a

s man

ifeste

d by

the r

ecen

t nea

r col

lisio

nbe

twee

n th

e US

and

Chin

ese n

aval

ship

s in

the

Sout

h Ch

ina S

ea. S

ince

Asia

now

has

a gr

owin

gnu

clear

arse

nal, i

t is e

xtre

mely

impo

rtant

that

we

serv

e th

e fu

ture

of

hum

anity

by

crea

ting

anat

mos

pher

e and

phi

loso

phy o

f pea

ce th

at gu

ides

relat

ions

in th

is re

gion

. It w

as in

reco

gniti

on o

fth

is ch

allen

ge, w

hich

Mah

atm

a Gan

dhi f

ores

aw,

that

Indi

a hos

ted th

e Asia

n Re

latio

ns C

onfer

ence

durin

g Mar

ch-A

pril

1947

, with

lead

ers f

rom

all

acro

ss A

sia as

par

ticip

ants.

Pa

ndit

Jaw

ahar

lal N

ehru

, the

n th

e int

erim

Prim

e M

inist

er o

f und

ivid

ed In

dia,

stat

ed o

nth

at o

ccas

ion,

“Asia

is a

gain

find

ing

hers

elf .

..on

e of

the

not

able

con

sequ

ence

s of

the

Euro

pean

dom

inat

ion

of A

sia h

as b

een

the i

so-

latio

n of

the c

ount

ries o

f Asia

from

one

anot

h-er

...To

day

this

isola

tion

is br

eaki

ng d

own

beca

use

of m

any

reas

ons,

polit

ical

and

oth

er-

wise

...Th

is C

onfe

renc

e is

signi

fican

t as

an

expr

essio

n of

that

dee

per u

rge o

f the

min

d an

dsp

irit

of A

sia w

hich

has

per

siste

d...I

n th

isC

onfe

renc

e and

in th

is wo

rk th

ere a

re n

o le

ad-

ers a

nd n

o fo

llowe

rs. A

ll co

untri

es o

f Asia

hav

eto

mee

t tog

ethe

r in

a com

mon

task

.” The

Asia

nRe

latio

ns C

onfer

ence

was

clea

rly a

visio

nary

ini-

tiativ

e, w

hich

for s

ever

al re

ason

s has

not

bee

nfo

llowe

d up

in su

bsta

nce b

y the

nat

ions

in A

sia.

Perh

aps a

gre

ater

focu

s on

the A

sian

iden

-tit

y an

d cr

eatin

g a

regi

on o

f mut

ual t

rust,

con-

nect

ed b

y co

mm

on co

ncer

ns a

nd o

bjec

tives

, is

now

extre

mely

impo

rtant

. It w

ould

also

be u

se-

ful

to r

ecall

tha

t 40

yea

rs l

ater

in

1987

, the

Gov

ernm

ent o

f Ind

ia h

eld th

e As

ian R

elatio

nsCo

mm

emor

ativ

e Con

fere

nce,

whi

ch a

lso d

rew

parti

cipan

ts fro

m al

l acr

oss A

sia. O

ne of

the m

ajor

outc

omes

of t

hat c

onfe

renc

e was

a co

nsen

sus t

oco

ordi

nate

ener

gy p

olici

es ac

ross

the c

ontin

ent.

As a

resu

lt, w

ith th

e in

itiat

ive

of a

rem

arka

ble

Fore

ign

Secr

etar

y, M

uchk

und

Dub

ey, t

he A

sian

Ener

gy In

stitu

te w

as es

tabl

ished

und

er th

e lea

d-er

ship

of D

r Ali S

ham

s Ard

ekan

i, late

r the

Dep

uty

Fore

ign

Min

ister

of I

ran,

and

this

write

r. Th

e A

sian

Ener

gy In

stitu

te, w

hich

was

ane

twor

k of e

nerg

y ins

titut

ions

acro

ss A

sia, t

ook

up a

s its

first

chal

leng

e th

e de

velo

pmen

t of a

plan

for a

pip

eline

to tr

ansp

ort t

he en

orm

ous

quan

tity

of s

urpl

us n

atur

al g

as fr

om I

ran

toPa

kista

n, In

dia a

nd la

ter N

epal

as w

ell. T

his w

asan

extre

mely

attra

ctiv

e opt

ion

beca

use I

ran

had

foun

d la

rge

rese

rves

of

natu

ral g

as, a

nd t

heIr

ania

n G

over

nmen

t w

as w

illin

g to

pro

vide

attr

activ

e te

rms

and

low

pric

es t

o Pa

kist

an,

Indi

a and

Nep

al fo

r gas

supp

ly ov

er a

long

per

i-

od. U

nfor

tuna

tely,

this

visio

nary

initi

ativ

e was

bloc

ked

by m

utua

l sus

picio

ns an

d m

istru

st. H

adit

been

pur

sued

Iran

’s pl

ace i

n th

e glo

bal c

om-

mun

ity w

ould

hav

e bee

n di

ffere

nt an

d re

latio

nsbe

twee

n In

dia,

Paki

stan

and

Nep

al w

ould

hav

ebe

en m

uch

heal

thie

r.N

ow th

at w

e ar

e in

the

year

of M

ahat

ma

Gan

dhi’s

birt

h an

nive

rsar

y, In

dia h

as a

uniq

ueop

port

unity

to g

ive

subs

tanc

e to

the

mem

ory

of th

at w

orld

apos

tle o

f pea

ce. I

t wou

ld b

e rel-

evan

t to

crea

te a

zone

of p

eace

on th

e Asia

n co

n-tin

ent a

nd c

onve

ne a

follo

w u

p of

the

Asia

nRe

latio

ns C

onfe

renc

e du

ring

its d

iam

ond

jubi

lee

year

in 2

022.

The

re a

re, u

ndou

bted

ly,gr

owin

g ten

sions

whi

ch m

ust b

e con

tain

ed an

dw

ill n

eed

to b

e ch

anne

lled

in th

e di

rect

ion

ofpe

ace,

good

nei

ghbo

urly

con

duct

and

frie

nd-

ship

. It w

ould

be e

xtre

mely

valu

able

to ta

ke th

eex

ampl

e of C

UM

IPA

Z an

d dr

aw o

n th

e aca

d-em

ic co

mm

unity

, forw

ard-

look

ing t

hink

ers a

ndac

tivist

s in

Asia

and

elsew

here

who

beli

eve t

hat

hum

an so

ciet

y in

the 2

1st c

entu

ry m

ust r

elent

-le

ssly

pur

sue p

eace

in th

is ce

ntur

y. Pr

epar

atio

ns s

houl

d be

take

n in

han

d on

Gan

dhiji

’s birt

h an

nive

rsary

in 20

19 by

the I

ndian

Gov

ernm

ent w

ith p

oliti

cal l

eade

rs, c

apta

ins o

fbu

sines

s, ac

adem

ics a

nd t

hink

-tank

s ac

ross

Asia

to or

gani

se a

majo

r eve

nt th

at m

ust h

ave a

nim

pact

on

the t

hink

ing

and

actio

ns o

f soc

ieties

acro

ss A

sia so

that

we b

ecom

e a re

gion

of s

tabl

epe

ace.

In o

rder

to e

nsur

e th

at su

ch a

n ev

ent i

s

not m

erely

a tal

k sho

p but

resu

lts in

cruc

ial un

der-

stand

ing

in c

ritica

l are

as o

f hum

an e

ndea

vour

acro

ss th

e wor

ld an

d ce

rtain

ly in

Asia

, it w

ill b

eus

eful

to s

truct

ure

the

diam

ond

jubi

lee o

f the

Asian

Rela

tions

Con

feren

ce in

to a

set o

f ver

y con

-cr

ete a

reas

of c

oope

ratio

n.

This

mea

ns th

at th

e ne

xt fo

ur y

ears

hav

eto

be

spen

t in

adeq

uate

pre

para

tion

by w

hich

we n

ot o

nly e

nsur

e cla

rity i

n de

finin

g the

area

sw

here

coo

pera

tion

and

cons

truc

tive

enga

ge-

men

t wou

ld b

e ess

entia

l, but

also

invo

lve m

ajor

Asi

an l

eade

rs s

uch

as t

he p

resi

dent

s of

Indo

nesia

, Sou

th K

orea

and

Kaz

akhs

tan,

the

prim

e m

inis

ters

of

Japa

n, M

alay

sia

and

Sing

apor

e an

d ot

hers

in jo

inin

g ha

nds

with

Indi

a as

par

tner

s in

the c

onfe

renc

e. Pe

rhap

s the

bes

t way

to ge

t sta

rted

with

this

woul

d be

for a

com

pact

but

div

erse

com

mitt

eeto

be

set u

p w

hich

may

be

give

n th

e re

spon

si-bi

lity o

f com

ing u

p wi

th a

clear

plan

of ac

tion

tobe

deb

ated

and

disc

usse

d by

all

the

stake

hold

-er

s. O

nce

a pl

an is

in p

lace

then

act

ion

can

bein

itiat

ed p

erha

ps b

y th

e m

iddl

e of

nex

t ye

ar,

whi

ch w

ill al

low

thre

e ful

l yea

rs fo

r an

initi

ativ

eof

this

natu

re, p

lacin

g Ind

ia at

the c

entre

of p

eace

in A

sia. A

lso, t

his w

ill b

e held

as a

fittin

g trib

ute

to G

andh

iji’s v

ision

and

com

mitm

ent, w

hich

has

even

gre

ater

sign

ifica

nce a

nd re

levan

ce to

day.

(The

w

rite

r is

fo

rmer

ch

airm

an,

Inter

gove

rnm

enta

l Pa

nel

on C

limat

e Ch

ange

, 20

02-1

5)

����

����

Sir —

Thi

s ref

ers t

o th

e ed

itoria

l, “T

oth

e re

scue

” (O

ctob

er

3).

The

Gov

ernm

ent’s

tak

eove

r of

the

key

man

agem

ent o

f inf

rastr

uctu

re le

nder

Infr

astr

uctu

re L

easin

g &

Fin

anci

alSe

rvice

s (IL

&FS

) rai

ses h

opes

of i

ts su

r-vi

val a

nd is

the a

ppro

pria

te d

ecisi

on in

the g

iven

circ

umsta

nces

. IL&

FS is

fac-

ing

an e

norm

ous d

ebt w

orth

�91

,000

cror

e and

is fa

cing

seve

re li

quid

ity cr

i-sis

. It i

s unf

ortu

nate

that

the c

heck

s and

bala

nces

wer

e no

t in

plac

e as

a re

sult

of w

hich

IL&

FS ra

n in

to th

is en

orm

ous

debt

bec

ause

of l

oan

defa

ults.

Now

tha

t th

e G

over

nmen

t ha

sta

ken

over

the

rein

s, on

e ex

pect

s tha

tth

e pro

ject

s del

ayed

and

not c

ompl

et-

ed w

ould

be

com

plet

ed,

and

as a

resu

lt, m

oney

wou

ld fl

ow b

ack

to th

eco

mpa

ny th

us ra

ising

the p

rosp

ects

ofits

surv

ival

.D

even

dra

Khu

rana

Bhop

al��

� �

����

���

����

Sir —

The

re ca

n be

no

seco

nd o

pini

onth

at th

e Su

prem

e C

ourt

, by

allo

win

gw

omen

of

all

ages

to

ente

r th

eSa

barim

ala te

mpl

e, ha

s not

onl

y uph

eldth

e rig

hts o

f wom

en to

ente

r any

tem

-

ple,

but a

lso h

as d

ealt

a dea

th b

low

on

thos

e w

ho w

ant

to d

eny

dars

han

ofLo

rd A

yyap

pa to

wom

en.

This

they

do,

har

ping

on

their

con-

dem

nabl

e as

sert

ion

that

wom

en a

reun

clean

due

to m

enstr

uatio

n, a

biol

og-

ical

man

ifest

atio

n.

They

also

conv

enie

ntly

forg

et th

atPa

rvat

i, w

ife o

f Lor

d Sh

iva

for w

hom

Shiv

a ga

ve h

alf o

f his

body

was

also

aw

oman

. A

fter a

ll, th

e ent

ire h

uman

ity o

wes

its ex

isten

ce on

ly to

wom

en an

d it

is no

ton

ly in

hum

an an

d un

char

itabl

e but

also

a bl

atan

t exh

ibiti

on o

f ung

rate

fuln

ess

to d

eny

wom

en th

eir r

ight

s, in

cludi

ng

in re

ligio

us p

ract

ices

. Shal

ini G

eral

dCh

enna

i �

���

���

���

���

Sir

— T

his

refe

rs t

o th

e ed

itoria

l,“M

omen

t of p

ride”

(Oct

ober

4). N

obel

Priz

e-w

inni

ng s

cien

tist

Dr

Don

naSt

rickl

and’s

bre

akth

roug

h in

lase

r is a

mom

ent

of c

eleb

ratio

n fo

r ev

ery

wom

en la

urea

tes.

One

cann

ot d

eny t

hepo

or t

rack

rec

ord

of g

ende

r ga

p or

raci

al d

iscrim

inat

ion

prev

adin

g th

eN

obel

Priz

e. W

hat’s

mor

e sho

ckin

g is t

hat e

ven

afte

r Stri

cklan

d’s w

ork t

owar

ds p

rodu

c-

ing

the

shor

test

and

the

mos

t int

ense

lase

r pu

lses

that

rev

olut

ioni

sed

lase

rph

ysic

s aro

und

the w

orld

, she

did

not

have

a W

ikip

edia

pag

e un

til t

hean

noun

cem

ent.

Earli

er, a

n Ita

lian

sci-

entis

t at t

he C

ERN

par

ticle

phys

ics la

b-or

ator

y in

Gen

eva h

ad sp

arke

d co

ntro

-ve

rsy

over

his

stat

emen

t “ph

ysic

s was

built

by m

en”. S

tric

klan

d’s vi

ctor

y is a

nap

t ans

wer

to th

e rol

e of g

ende

r in

sci-

entif

ic a

ccom

plish

men

ts. Pa

lak

Kwat

raLu

dhia

na

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We a

re ag

ainst

the co

ncep

t of d

rugs

. I am

again

st it

(the p

ropo

sal t

o gro

w op

ium)

and P

unjab

will

not d

o it.

Punja

b Chie

f Mini

ster

CAPT

AIN

AMAR

INDE

R SIN

GH

Cultiv

ation

of po

ppy a

nd op

ium sh

ould

beleg

alise

d. M

y unc

le us

ed to

get o

pium

asme

dicine

from

hosp

ital. H

e live

d a lo

ng lif

e. —

Cong

ress

lead

erNA

VJOT

SIN

GH S

IDHU

()*+,���%$�,()*+,�

Infra

stru

ctur

e Le

asin

g &

Fina

ncia

l Se

rvic

es (

IL&

FS),

orig

inall

y pro

mot

ed by

HD

FC,

Cent

ral B

ank o

f Ind

ia an

d Uni

tTr

ust o

f Ind

ia in

198

7, op

erat

-in

g via

169 s

ubsid

iaries

, spe

cial p

ur-

pose

vehi

cles a

nd jo

int v

entu

res,

has

pion

eere

d th

e inf

rastr

uctu

re re

volu

-tio

n in

mor

e tha

n on

e way

, with

path

-br

eaki

ng pr

ojec

ts su

ch as

the Z

oji L

atu

nnel

Pass

, Delh

i-Noi

da to

ll brid

ge,

GIF

T, G

ujar

at In

tern

atio

nal F

inan

ceTe

c-Ci

ty a

nd u

mpt

een

othe

rs. L

IC,

Orix

Cor

pora

tion o

f Jap

an an

d AD

IA,

Abu D

habi

Inve

stmen

t Aut

horit

y, th

atho

ld 25

.34 pe

r cen

t, 23.5

4 per

cent

and

12.56

per

cen

t ea

ch in

IL&

FS, a

reto

day i

ts to

p th

ree s

hare

hold

ers.

Con

gres

s pr

esid

ent

Rah

ulG

andh

i, w

ho h

as b

een

twee

ting

fever

ishly

in th

e las

t few

day

s, qu

es-

tioni

ng th

e nee

d for

any p

oten

tial b

ail-

out b

y LIC

, has

conv

enien

tly fo

rgot

-te

n th

at it

was

und

er th

e er

stwhi

leCo

ngre

ss-le

d di

spen

satio

n th

at L

ICac

quire

d sig

nific

ant s

take

s in

IL&

FSin

2005

, 200

6 and

, pick

ing u

p as m

any

as 19

.34 la

kh sh

ares

in 20

10. T

he fa

ctth

at L

IC pu

mpe

d in

�41,0

00 cr

ore i

n20

07-0

8 an

d �3

5,000

cror

e in

2008

-09

, with

its o

utsta

ndin

g ex

posu

re to

the I

ndian

equi

ty m

arke

ts at

a who

p-pi

ng �2

0,000

0 cro

re by

Janu

ary 2

009,

amid

st th

e Le

hman

melt

down

, is a

testim

ony t

o the

fact

that

LIC

used

itsre

inve

stibl

e su

rplu

ses

to s

tabi

lise

mar

kets,

then

.If

anyt

hing

, a se

ries o

f mea

sure

sby

the N

aren

dra M

odi G

over

nmen

tto

insti

ll co

nfid

ence

in t

he m

oney

mar

kets,

whi

ch ha

d see

n co

mm

ercia

lpa

per (

CP) y

ields

risin

g by 2

0-40

bps

for e

ven

top-

rated

issu

ers,

in th

e afte

r-m

ath of

the I

L&FS

imbr

oglio

, des

erve

prais

e. Fo

r ins

tance

, the i

nter

bank

liq-

uidi

ty de

ficit w

as ad

dres

sed b

y allo

w-in

g ba

nks

to c

arve

out

15

per

cent

hold

ings

from

their

statu

tory

liqui

d-ity

rese

rves

, aga

inst

the e

arlie

r 13p

erce

nt to

mee

t liq

uidi

ty co

vera

ge ra

tio(L

CR) r

equi

rem

ents,

ther

eby b

oost-

ing s

ystem

ic liq

uidi

ty by

an ad

ditio

n-al

rupe

es tw

o lak

h cr

ore.

This,

coup

led w

ith an

open

mar

-ke

t op

erat

ion’s

(O

MO

) an

noun

ce-

men

t of �

36,00

0 cro

re fo

r the

mon

thof

Oct

ober

by

the

Rese

rve

Bank

of

Indi

a (R

BI),

calm

ed th

e bo

nd m

ar-

kets,

with

ben

chm

ark

10-y

ear b

ond

yield

s retr

acin

g fro

m 8.

23 pe

r cen

t last

week

to 7

.99 p

er ce

nt o

n O

ctob

er 1

.Th

ree g

roup

com

pani

es of

IL&

FS ar

elis

ted

on th

e Ind

ian b

ours

es, n

ame-

ly, IL

&FS

Inve

stmen

t Man

ager

s Ltd

,IL

&FS E

ngin

eerin

g and

Con

struc

tion

Com

pany

Lt

d an

d,

IL&

FSTr

ansp

orta

tion

Net

wor

ks L

td.

Impo

rtant

ly, m

any

mut

ual

fund

s,ba

nks,

insu

ranc

e co

mpa

nies

, no

nba

nkin

g fin

ancia

l com

pani

es (N

BFC)

and h

ousin

g fin

ance

com

pani

es, h

ave

dire

ct or

indi

rect

expo

sure

to IL

&FS

. H

ence

the

Nat

iona

l Co

mpa

nyLa

w Tr

ibun

al’s

(NCL

T) d

ecisi

on to

allow

the

Gov

ernm

ent t

o ta

ke-o

ver

IL&F

S and

supe

rsede

the e

rstwh

ile 10

mem

ber b

oard

, vid

e Arti

cle 24

1(2)

ofth

e Com

pani

es A

ct 20

13, is

a pr

ompt

and

timely

one t

hat s

aved

the I

ndian

finan

cial s

yste

m fr

om a

ny p

oten

tial

casc

adin

g effe

cts,

limiti

ng th

e col

lat-

eral

dam

age,

if any

. The

alac

rity,

deci-

siven

ess

and

shee

r pr

ofes

siona

lism

with

whi

ch th

e M

odi G

over

nmen

tto

ok ch

arge

of I

L&FS

, is u

nmatc

hed

in In

dian

fina

ncial

hist

ory.

The

curr

ent

emba

ttled

sta

tewh

ich IL

&FS

find

s itse

lf in,

than

ks to

gros

s m

isman

agem

ent b

y th

e er

st-wh

ile bo

ard,

is a

tem

pora

ry on

e aris

-in

g ou

t of

ass

et li

abili

ty m

ismatc

h(A

LM). I

n sha

rp co

ntra

st, th

e Leh

man

crisi

s in

2008

, with

Leh

man

filin

g for

Chap

ter 11

Ban

krup

tcy on

Sept

embe

r15

, 200

8, wa

s one

of th

e ins

olve

ncies

.H

ence

, des

pera

te a

ttem

pts b

y a

dis-

join

ted

Opp

ositi

on to

dra

w pa

ralle

lsbe

twee

n IL

&FS

and

Lehm

an, s

mac

kof

igno

ranc

e and

a ve

sted

agen

da to

disc

redi

t the

Mod

i Gov

ernm

ent t

hat

has

been

rep

eate

dly

prais

ed b

y th

elik

es of

the I

MF

and

the W

orld

Ban

kfo

r tur

ning

arou

nd th

e Ind

ian ec

on-

omy

into

the

sixth

larg

est,

glob

ally,

from

a f

ragi

le sta

te i

t ha

d be

enpu

shed

to in

201

2-13

.D

o no

te, t

he si

ze o

f deb

t ass

ets

unde

r man

agem

ent o

f mut

ual f

unds

in In

dia i

s ove

r �18

lakh

cror

e, wi

thro

ughl

y 17p

er ce

nt of

that

inve

sted i

nN

BFCs

. Hen

ce, I

L&FS

is si

mpl

y too

big t

o fail

. Aga

in, IL

&FS i

s a hu

ge bo

r-ro

wer a

ccou

ntin

g for

two p

er ce

nt of

the o

utsta

ndin

g CP

mar

ket,

one p

erce

nt o

f th

e de

bent

ure

mar

ket

and

roug

hly

0.7pe

r cen

t of b

anki

ng sy

s-te

m lo

ans.

Inte

resti

ngly,

des

pite

the

shee

r sca

le of

num

bers

invo

lved,

the

resil

ience

of th

e Ind

ian fi

nanc

ial sy

s-te

m sh

one

thro

ugh,

with

Indi

abul

lsH

ousin

g Fi

nanc

e rais

ing

mor

e tha

n�5

00 c

rore

at 8

.36 p

er c

ent v

iaCP

mar

ket,

and

a Ta

ta g

roup

com

pany

raisi

ng �3

,488 c

rore

vian

on co

nver

t-ib

le de

bent

ures

(NCD

) for

the

first

time i

n 10

year

s at a

rate

of b

etwe

en8.7

0-9.1

per c

ent la

st we

ek, e

ven

as th

e

IL&

FS is

sue r

aged

on.

Com

ing b

ack

to th

e IL&

FS fi

as-

co, w

hat t

rigge

red n

ervo

usne

ss w

as a

defau

lt by

IL&

FS o

n re

paym

ent o

f a�1

,000

cror

e sh

ort-t

erm

loan

from

Small

Indu

stries

Dev

elopm

ent B

ank

of I

ndia

(SID

BI)

on S

epte

mbe

r 5,

2018

, follo

wed

by a

serie

s of d

efaul

ts.Th

e fac

t tha

t in

less t

han

a mon

th o

fth

e IL&

FS cr

isis a

nd ba

rely

with

in 48

hour

s of t

he IL

&FS

Ann

ual G

ener

alM

eetin

g tha

t was

held

on Se

ptem

ber

29 th

is ye

ar, m

anag

emen

t tak

e-ov

erha

d be

en a

ffect

ed b

y th

e M

odi

Gov

ernm

ent

by O

ctob

er 1

, 20

18,

spea

ks v

olum

es o

f t

he c

urre

ntG

over

nmen

t’s c

omm

itmen

t to

the

mill

ions

of r

etail

inve

stors

who

hav

epa

rked

their

mon

ey in

debt

fund

s tha

tin

varia

bly ha

ve so

me k

ind o

f exp

osur

eto

IL&

FS.

Do n

ot fo

rget

that

in a

rath

er si

m-

ilar i

ncid

ent i

n 20

09 w

here

in a

pro-

mot

er, R

amali

nga

Raju

of

Saty

amCo

mpu

ters w

as su

mm

arily

rem

oved

for

defra

udin

g an

d co

okin

g up

the

com

pany

’s bo

oks.

The

erstw

hile

Cong

ress-

led U

PA G

over

nmen

t bac

kth

en h

ad a

llowe

d th

e en

tire

Saty

amcr

isis t

o fes

ter f

or se

ven

long

mon

ths

from

Janu

ary

till J

uly

2009

, befo

rere

achi

ng a

tent

ative

solu

tion,

doi

ngirr

ever

sible

dam

age

to t

he I

ndian

finan

cial m

arke

ts in

the b

arga

in.

The I

L&FS

issu

e, ho

weve

r, ra

is-

es q

uesti

ons a

bout

‘con

flict

of i

nter

-es

t’ plag

uing

cred

it rati

ng ag

encie

s. In

this

entir

e iss

ue,

while

the

Mod

iG

over

nmen

t an

d th

e RB

I sh

owed

exem

plar

y nim

ble-

foot

edne

ss in

lim-

iting

colla

teral

dam

age,

the c

redi

t rat-

ing a

genc

ies ha

d assi

gned

inve

stmen

tgr

ade r

ating

s till

as re

cent

ly as

Aug

ust,

2018

, whi

ch w

as th

en re

duce

d to j

unk

statu

s by S

epte

mbe

r 201

8 in

a clas

sickn

ee-je

rk re

actio

n.

That

the I

L&FS

grou

p wa

s ove

r-lev

erag

ed a

nd r

umou

red

to h

ave

borr

owed

bet

ween

10-

18 t

imes

its

equi

ty, to

fund

its i

nfra

struc

ture

pro-

jects,

mos

t of w

hich

brin

g in

retu

rns

over

20-

25 y

ears

, was

kno

wn to

the

cred

it ra

ting

agen

cies.

They

sim

ply

refu

sed

to e

ven

blin

k til

l th

ings

reac

hed

an in

flexi

on p

oint

.M

akin

g th

ings

wor

se,

IL&

FS’

borr

owin

gs w

ere a

ll rep

ayab

le in

the

shor

t to

med

ium

-term

of

roug

hly

eight

to 1

0 ye

ars.

Wha

t abe

tted

the

asse

t lia

bilit

y m

ismat

ch w

as c

ost

over

runs

and

inab

ility

to

roll

over

shor

t-ter

m o

blig

atio

ns. H

owev

er, a

sth

ings

sta

nd n

ow, o

n O

ctob

er 3

1,20

18, th

e new

boar

d will

subm

it a re

s-ol

utio

n pl

an to

the N

CLT.

Tha

t cou

ldin

volv

e m

onet

isatio

n of

unv

iable

asse

ts, re

ducin

g sta

kes i

n 25

odd p

ro-

jects

bein

g ope

rate

d by t

he co

mpa

ny,

poss

ible

Righ

ts/N

CD is

sues

, rais

ing

auth

orise

d ca

pita

l, de

lever

agin

g th

e

balan

ce s

heet

by

38 p

er c

ent

orro

ughl

y �3

0,000

cro

re, b

ringi

ng in

new

partn

ers f

or so

me p

rojec

ts an

dth

e lik

e.At

the c

ore,

IL&F

S is a

n in

here

nt-

ly str

ong c

ompa

ny w

ith as

sets

worth

�1,15

,815 c

rore

as of

fisc

al 20

18, w

itha s

tanda

lone

repo

rted g

earin

g rati

o of

3.04 a

nd a

regu

lator

y gea

ring r

atio

of2.3

0. It

has u

mpt

een

prof

it-m

akin

gsu

bsid

iaries

lik

e th

e Kh

ed S

inna

rEx

pres

sway

, A

mra

vati

Chi

khli

Expr

essw

ay, B

arwa

Add

a Exp

ressw

ay,

Fagn

e Son

gadh

Exp

ress

way a

nd ot

h-er

s. Tha

nks t

o the

Nar

endr

a Mod

i dis-

pens

ation

, by c

hoos

ing n

ot to

hide

the

IL&

FS i

ssue

by

fraud

ulen

tly e

ver-

gree

ning

its lo

ans,

but b

y tac

klin

g the

prob

lem he

ad-o

n, in

cludi

ng or

derin

gan

Serio

us Fr

aud I

nves

tigati

on O

ffice

prob

e to

get t

o th

e bot

tom

of t

hing

s,th

e con

fiden

ce in

mon

ey m

arke

ts ha

sbe

en re

store

d.N

eedl

ess t

o add

, the b

ig m

essa

gefo

r com

pani

es an

d inv

esto

rs fro

m th

eIL

&FS

issu

e is,

not

to g

o ov

erbo

ard

in “b

orro

wing

at t

he sh

ort e

nd a

ndlen

ding

at th

e lo

ng e

nd o

f the

mar

-ke

t”, as

asse

t-liab

ility

mism

atche

s can

be a

vici

ous

cycle

. Tha

t said

, tho

sein

dulg

ing i

n fea

r-mon

gerin

g by s

ay-

ing

that

IL&

FS’ l

ende

rs w

ill h

ave t

ota

ke a

hair

cut

of �

15,0

00-2

0,00

0cr

ore i

n a b

id to

save

it, a

re co

mpl

ete-

ly wr

ong.

IL&

FS h

as d

eep

pock

ets,

stron

g cap

ital b

ase w

ith go

od op

era-

tiona

l par

amet

ers,

net a

sset

s hig

her

than

net

liabi

lities

, and

all it

nee

ds is

,th

e ren

ewed

conf

iden

ce o

f its

shar

e-ho

lder

s and

inve

stors,

to ti

de ov

er th

ete

mpo

rary

liqu

idity

crun

ch.

If pu

sh co

mes

to sh

ove,

even

sell-

ing a

min

uscu

le sta

ke in

one o

f its s

ub-

sidiar

ies, fr

om th

e um

ptee

n pr

ofita

ble

ones

it h

as in

its k

itty,

can

repl

enish

its n

et w

orth

and

gen

erate

bet

ween

�20,0

00-3

0,000

cror

e, giv

ing i

t the

fire-

powe

r to

have

the c

ash

flows

to se

r-vi

ce it

s deb

t obl

igati

ons,

with

out e

ro-

sion

in it

s cor

e cap

ital b

ase.

And

once

mar

ket s

entim

ent s

ta-

bilis

es, g

iven

its ex

celle

nt tr

ack r

ecor

din

exe

cutin

g an

d fin

ancin

g so

me

ofth

e tou

ghes

t infra

struc

ture

proj

ects

inth

e co

untr

y, IL

&FS

, wi

th a

new

boar

d at

the h

elm, s

houl

d be

able

toco

ntin

ue to

acce

ss th

e fin

ancia

l mar

-ke

ts at

com

petit

ive ra

tes an

d get

back

to do

ing w

hat it

does

best.

.. (—

)pow

-er

ing I

ndia’s

supe

rlativ

e inf

rastr

uctu

regr

owth

sto

ry w

ith p

rojec

ts lik

e th

eCh

enna

i-Nas

hri r

oad t

unne

l pro

ject,

that

is a

bef

ittin

g ex

ampl

e of

wha

tpo

litica

l wi

ll un

der

the

Nar

endr

aM

odi d

ispen

satio

n ha

s bee

n ab

le to

acco

mpl

ish.

(The

writ

er is

an

econ

omist

and

chief

spok

esper

son

for B

JP, M

umba

i)

� +20

-"#�

)

+ 6+

,,�

),),

.

�5')

��)/

#

Aweek

or

so a

go, I

hap

pene

d to

com

eac

ross

a rath

er in

trigu

ing p

oster

. Whi

ledr

iving

back

from

wor

k in

the e

veni

ng,

I saw

it w

rapp

ed ar

ound

an el

ectri

city p

ole.

Itha

d a ph

otos

hopp

ed im

age o

f Pak

istan

Prim

eM

inist

er I

mra

n Kh

an in

a s

herw

ani a

nd a

Jinna

h ca

p. H

e was

mou

nted

on th

e bac

k of a

white

hor

se. H

is lef

t han

d he

ld th

e rein

s and

his r

ight

han

d str

etch

ed fo

rwar

d as

if h

e was

tellin

g pe

ople

(or

the

hors

e) w

here

he

was

goin

g. O

ver h

im fl

ew a

rath

er an

gry-

look

ing

eagl

e. Ap

art f

rom

bein

g un

ique

, the

intri

gu-

ing b

it is

that

it is

a co

ntin

uatio

n of

a tra

ditio

nin

trodu

ced

by F

ield

Mar

shal

Ayub

Kha

n.I h

ave,

in m

y col

lectio

n, tw

o pos

ters w

hich

were

prin

ted so

meti

me i

n th

e ear

ly/m

id-1

960s

durin

g th

e he

ight

of t

he A

yub

Khan

regi

me

(195

8-69

). O

ne sh

ows a

pro

file o

f his

face

infro

nt o

f a

pain

ting

of t

he g

reat

Mug

hal

Empe

ror

Akb

ar.

Acco

rdin

g to

Law

renc

eZi

ring’s

1971

book

, The

Ayu

b Kha

n Era

: Poli

tics

in Pa

kista

n, 19

58-6

9, Ay

ub w

as a

grea

t adm

ir-er

of m

en su

ch a

s Tur

kish

nat

iona

list l

eade

rKe

mal

Atatü

rk,

the

iconi

c Fr

ench

lea

der

Char

les d

e Gau

lle an

d Em

pero

r Akb

ar.

Ayub

ofte

n ex

plain

ed h

imse

lf as

a ‘m

od-

erni

st’ M

uslim

. So p

roba

bly he

used

the a

bove

-m

entio

ned p

oster

to su

btly

equa

te hi

s ide

olog

-ica

l disp

ositi

on w

ith t

hat

of A

kbar

’s, wh

o,ac

cord

ing t

o Dr M

ubar

ak A

li’s U

lema,

Sufis

&In

tellec

tuals

(199

6), w

as on

e of t

he m

ost “

open

-m

inde

d” M

uslim

ruler

s of I

ndia.

The

oth

erAy

ub K

han

poste

r sho

ws th

e fiel

d mar

shal

ona w

hite

hors

e. H

e is w

earin

g a th

ree-

piec

e sui

tan

d a J

inna

h ca

p. T

he te

xt in

Urd

u de

scrib

eshi

m as

a so

ldier

of pr

ogre

ss an

d a m

an of

visio

n.Al

so in

my c

ollec

tion

is a s

imila

r pos

ter of

ZA

Bhut

to. I

t sho

ws B

hutto

in a

thre

e-pi

ece s

uit

and

Jinna

h ca

p, r

idin

g a

white

hor

se. H

e is

poin

ting

towa

rds

the

sky.

The

text

in U

rdu

desc

ribes

him

as a

sold

ier o

f Isla

m —

a ki

ndof

Sala

din

of so

cialis

m.

In th

e ear

ly 19

80s,

the i

ntra

nsige

nt Z

ia-ul

-H

aq’s d

ictato

rship

(197

7-88

) pub

lishe

d pos

ters

of G

en Z

ia rid

ing a

whi

te ho

rse i

n hi

s mili

tary

attire

and

cha

rgin

g to

ward

s a

Sovi

et t

ank,

almos

t lik

e the

ecce

ntric

Don

Qui

xote

char

g-in

g tow

ards

a wi

ndm

ill in

Cer

vant

es’ fa

mou

s

17th

-cen

tury

nov

el. U

nfor

tuna

tely,

I hav

e mis-

plac

ed th

is po

ster. I

t des

crib

ed Z

ia as

a ch

am-

pion

of t

he M

uslim

Um

mah

and

the s

cour

geof

Sov

iet c

omm

unism

. In

200

3, p

ainte

dpo

sters

show

ing G

en M

usha

rraf

ridi

ng a

gal-

lopi

ng w

hite

hors

e, fla

nked

by tw

o fig

hter

jets,

appe

ared

. I ca

n’t re

call

what

the t

ext o

n th

ese

poste

rs sa

id. S

o wh

ere d

o all

thes

e im

ages

of

Paki

stani

lead

ers o

n wh

ite h

orse

s kee

p co

m-

ing

from

? The

root

s of t

his t

radi

tion

lie in

aso

cio-p

oliti

cal p

heno

men

on w

hich

emer

ged

in So

uth A

sia be

fore

Pakis

tan’s c

reati

on in

1947

.Ac

cord

ing t

o M

arku

s Dae

chse

l’s stu

dy of

Sout

h As

ia’s m

iddl

e-cla

ss m

ilieu

, The

Poli

tics

of Se

lf Exp

ressi

on, v

ario

us M

uslim

and

Hin

duac

tivist

s and

thin

kers

—be

twee

n th

e end

of

the F

irst W

orld

War

in 19

19 an

d th

e 194

0s —

were

smitt

en b

y the

idea

of t

he Ü

berm

ensc

hde

velo

ped

by th

e br

illian

t but

con

trove

rsial

19th

-cen

tury

Ger

man

philo

soph

er, F

riedr

ichN

ietzs

che.

The c

once

pt of

the Ü

berm

ensc

h is

com

plex

. So

to p

ut it

in th

e m

ost s

impl

istic

term

s, it

is ab

out a

n im

agin

ed m

an w

ho, a

fter

trans

cend

ing a

nd ev

en re

jectin

g the

mor

ality

of re

ligio

n an

d th

e pr

evail

ing

valu

e sy

stem

s,be

com

es a

n ‘ov

erm

an’

(the

Übe

rmen

sch)

.N

ietzs

che b

eliev

ed th

at re

ligio

us m

orali

ty an

dpr

evail

ing

hum

an v

alues

lim

it th

e sc

ope

ofhu

man

crea

tivity

and

intel

lectu

ality.

How

ever

, du

ring

the

rise

of r

adic

alG

erm

an n

atio

nalis

m in

the e

arly

20th

cent

u-ry

, the

idea

of t

he Ü

berm

ensc

h wa

s ado

pted

by ra

cist G

erm

an n

atio

nalis

ts wh

o de

scrib

edG

erm

ans a

s a b

iolo

gica

lly a

nd in

tellec

tuall

ysu

perio

r rac

e whi

ch w

as n

ot (o

r sho

uldn

’t be)

circu

msc

ribed

by t

he n

otio

ns o

f con

vent

ion-

al re

ligio

us m

orali

ty an

d uni

versa

l hum

an va

l-ue

s. Th

is wa

s a

clear

dist

ortio

n be

caus

eN

ietzs

che’s

athe

istic

conc

ept o

f the

Übe

rmen

-sc

h wa

s not

at al

l rac

ist. G

erm

an n

atio

nalis

tsalt

ered

Niet

zsch

e’s id

eas t

o mak

e the

Übe

rmen

-sc

h a

biol

ogica

lly su

perio

r rac

e of

Ger

man

sin

spire

d and

led b

y a pu

re-b

lood

ed ‘A

ryan

’ who

was u

ninh

ibite

d by c

onve

ntio

nal m

orali

ty an

dva

lues

. Ado

lf H

itler

bec

ame s

uch

a man

.M

arku

s D

aech

sel

writ

es t

hat

radi

cal

Hin

du n

atio

nalis

ts, su

ch as

Vin

ayak

Sava

rkar

,an

d M

uslim

act

ivist

s, su

ch a

s In

ayatu

llah

Mas

hriq

i, Ib

rahi

m C

hish

ti an

d Ab

dus S

attar

Niaz

i, lap

ped

up th

e Naz

is’ u

nder

stand

ing o

fth

e Übe

rmen

sch.

Thu

s, Sa

vark

ar re

jecte

d th

epa

cifism

of M

ahatm

a Gan

dhi a

nd id

ealis

ed th

eH

indu

nati

on an

d ind

ividu

al as

hav

ing s

trong

phys

ical q

ualit

ies in

spire

d by

a ‘h

istor

y’ of

Hin

du c

onqu

est,

and

unhi

nder

ed b

y rit

uals

which

neu

tralis

ed th

e Hin

du n

atio

n’s ‘in

her-

ent’ m

ascu

line q

ualit

ies. O

ne su

ch H

indu

that

Sava

rkar

adm

ired

was M

arat

ha em

pero

r Baji

Rao.

Ther

e’s a

statu

e of B

aji R

ao ri

ding

a ho

rse

with

a sp

ear i

n hi

s han

d in

Pun

e.M

ashr

iqi, w

ho en

tered

polit

ics in

the 1

930s

by fo

rmin

g the

quas

i-fas

cist K

haks

ar Te

hree

k,re

jecte

d th

e in

telle

ctua

lly r

obus

t ‘Is

lamic

mod

erni

sm’ o

f Sir

Syed

Ahm

ad K

han

and

Muh

amm

ad A

llam

a Iqb

al. JM

Balj

on, i

n hi

s19

61 b

ook,

Mod

ern

Mus

lim In

terpr

etatio

ns,

write

s tha

t Mas

hriq

i visi

ted B

erlin

in 19

30 an

dm

et H

itler

. Balj

on q

uote

s Mas

hriq

i as s

ayin

gth

at H

itler

’s Naz

i mov

emen

t insp

ired M

ashr

iqi

to fo

rm th

e Kh

aksa

r Teh

reek

. Acc

ordi

ng to

Dae

chse

l, Mas

hriq

i clai

med

that

thos

e Mus

limm

en of

actio

n we

re re

quire

d wh

o wer

e und

e-ter

red b

y was

teful

intel

lectu

al an

d spi

ritua

l pur

-su

its —

“a tr

ue be

lieve

r who

is w

illin

g to s

ever

all ti

es to

socie

ty at

larg

e and

read

y to b

ecom

ea s

oldier

.” Suc

h a m

an be

cam

e Mas

hriq

i’s Ü

ber-

men

sch.

N

ot su

rpris

ingly

, it w

as d

urin

g th

is pe

ri-od

that

phot

ogra

phs o

f Mas

hriq

i gall

antly

rid-

ing a

hor

se em

erge

d. In

the l

ate 19

30s,

youn

gIsl

amic

scho

lars

Abdu

s Sa

ttar

and

Ibra

him

Chish

ti pu

blish

ed a

pam

phlet

calle

d “Sc

hem

e”.In

it th

ey p

ut fo

rwar

d th

e id

ea o

f a “K

huda

Mar

d”. T

his Ü

berm

ensc

h wa

s to a

ppea

r afte

rM

uslim

s wou

ld ‘cl

eans

e’ th

emse

lves f

rom

with

-in

and

‘rene

w th

eir m

issio

n fo

r wor

ld d

omi-

natio

n’. Th

e Khu

da M

ardh

ad n

o issu

es in

call-

ing p

eopl

e of o

ther

faith

s, “w

orse

than

anim

als”.

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Aday after relaxing over-seas borrowing norms for

oil companies, the Governmenton Thursday said State-ownedfuel retailers will have to com-plete $10 billion external com-mercial borrowing (ECBs)within a year and they wouldnot be required to hedge theexposure.

The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) on Wednesday relaxedpolicy on borrowing fromoverseas up to $10 billionexternal debt for working cap-ital needs amid depreciatingrupee.

“OMCs will borrow $10billion with a maturity of 5years in a phased manner, withan initial tranche of $4 billionfollowed by two tranches of $3billion each, all borrowingcompleted in a period of oneyear from now,” a Finance

Ministry statement said.Oil marketing companies

will not be required to hedgetheir exposure, it said.

Till now OMCs were notallowed to raise ECB for work-ing capital needs on a long-term basis. They could raise amaximum of one-year over-seas loan by way of buyerscredit, repay it within 12months and raise it againthereafter.

The move comes at a timewhen international oil priceshave touched four-year high of$86 per barrel and the rupeeplummeted to a low of 73 to thedollar.

Indian Oil Corp (IOC),Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd(BPCL) and HindustanPetroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL)will be allowed to raise overseasfunds with a minimum averagematurity period of 3 or 5 yearsunder the automatic route.

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Noting that the Adani PowerDahej Ltd (APDL), a sub-

sidiary of Adani Power, hasfailed to start actual construc-tion of proposed 2,600 MWimported coal-based plant atDahej in Gujarat even after get-ting clearance seven years ago,an expert panel of the UnionEnvironment Ministry has puton hold the company’s requestto give it further extension onenvironment clearance front.

The APDL had soughtextending validity of environ-mental clearance dated 25October 2011 for further periodfive years, i.e. till 25 October 2023.

However, the ExpertAppraisal Committee (ther-mal power) headed by NavinChandra in its meeting held in

August 2018, decided to deferthe approval after it noted thatactual construction work of thepower plant has not been start-ed yet. In fact, the progress ofthe construction work in thelast seven years has been bareminimum accounting toboundary wall, stores, SewageTreatment Plant, transmissionline and hostel.

When the project proponentclaimed that the constructionwork has not been initiated so farin the absence of the power pur-chase agreement (PPA), thepanel did not rule out furtherdelay in work, saying it would be48 months from the zero date.

A senior official in theMinistry explained that thevalidity of the green nod givenin 2011 was for five years, i.e.till 2016. As the environmentclearance (EC) is valid on thedate of environment impactassessment (EIA) amendmentnotification dated September14, 2016, the five years validi-ty automatically becomes sevenyears. Accordingly, the EC is

valid for seven years, i.e. tillOctober 24, 2018.

As per the EIAAmendment Notification dated14.9.2016, the validity can beextended by maximum periodof three years. Thus, the outerlimit of the validity of EC is 10years. However, the projectproponent has sought forextension of five years whichbecomes total validity of 12years from the date of grant ofEC, said the official. “Approvalwill be the violation of the reg-ulations,” the official said.

The project has notachieved any significant

progress interms of con-s t r u c t i o nactivities ofthe BTG andBOP. Thevalidity ofseven yearswill expire onOctober 24,2018. While asper the provi-sions of the

EIA Notification, only threeyears can be extended beyondseven years whereas projectproponent has sought exten-sion of five years. Moreover,three years’ extension can begiven only in cases where pro-jects have achieved substantialphysical progress so that theextension will enable them tocomplete balance works.

Deferring the proposal, thepanel has asked the ADPL tosubmit a chart showing thetimelines and completion of allthe activities for commission-ing the power plant withinthree years.

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Asports utility vehicle(SUV) to be developed as

per the agreement signedbetween diversified conglom-erate Mahindra Group andFord Motor company wasexpected to hit the marketsoon, a senior official said onThursday.

Talking to reporters onthe sidelines of the launch ofnew version of compact sedanAspire here, Ford India, gen-eral manager-parts, supply andlogistics, R Kanakaraj said,“Ford Motor and MahindraGroup signed a memorandumof understanding (inSeptember 2017) to come outwith electric vehicles.”

“Under the MoU, it wasalso proposed to introduce aSUV, which will be expectedsoon,” he said.

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State-owned NBCC onThursday said it has bagged

a project consultancy contract todevelop permanent campus ofIIM Ranchi at a cost of �400crore.

In a filing to BSE, NBCCsaid it has “received a Letter ofAward (LoA) of work from IIMRanchi to provide project man-agement consultancy for devel-opment of permanent campus(Phase-1 works) amounting�400 crore (approx)”.

NBCC, which is under theadministrative control of theMinistry of Housing and UrbanAffairs, is present in three mainsegments — ProjectManagement Consultancy(PMC), Real EstateDevelopment and EPCContracting.

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New Delhi (PTI):German luxury carmakerBMW on Thursdaylaunched petrol variant ofits entry level SUV X1 at�37.5 lakh (ex-showroom).

The BMW X1sDrive20i is locally pro-duced at the company’splant in Chennai and can beordered from BMW deal-erships from Thursdayonwards, the company saidin a statement.

The model comes witha two-litre four cylinder

petrol engine which is BS-VI compliant and produces

power output of 192 hp. Itcan accelerate from 0 to 100km/hr in 7.6 seconds witha top speed of 224 km/hr.

It features double clutchtransmission, six air bags,anti-lock braking system(ABS) with brake assist,dynamic stability control(DSC) including dynamictraction control (DTC), cor-nering brake control (CBC)and hill descent control(HDC) among others.

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The equity benchmark Sensexon Thursday hit its lowestlevel in three months, crash-

ing over 806 points to close belowthe 35,200-level as concerns overweakening rupee and rising crudeoil prices spooked investors.

Similarly, the NSE Niftycracked the 10,600-level by falling259 points.

The rupee plunged to an all-time low (intra-day) of 73.81 to theUS dollar and global crude oilprices touched a four-year high ofUSD 86 a barrel, triggering worriesfor India on the macro-economicfront.

The weakness in other Asianmarkets and a lower opening of theEuropean shares also added to neg-ative sentiments on the domesticbourses.

“The strongest of businesses andthe bluest of blue chips have crackedin the last couple of sessions, whichhighlights the prevailing negativesentiment and environment of pes-simism. With the rupee hittingrecord low, crude prices movingnorthwards, increasing fears of abroadening current account deficitalong with the liquidity worries ledto another major fall in the indices...”said Devang Mehta, head of equityadvisory at Centrum WealthManagement.

A sharp plunge mainly in

healthcare, IT, oil&gas, bankingand auto pulled the Sensex lower by806.47 points, or 2.24%, to 35,169.16points, extending losses for thesecond straight day. Intra-day, it hita low of 35,022.12. This is the low-est closing since July 2 when theindex had settled at 35,264.41. Thegauge had lost 550.51 points onWednesday on rupee woes coupledwith surging crude oil prices andunabated foreign fund outflows.

In the process, more than �5lakh crore has been wiped out in thelast two trading sessions from theoverall investors’ wealth.

The 50-share NSE Nifty alsocracked the 10,600-level by falling259 points, or 2.39%, to close at10,599.25 after hitting a low of10,547.25.

Besides, traders have been cau-tious ahead of the outcome of theongoing three-day RBI policy meetthat began on Wednesday.

“Anxieties over the ReserveBank of India (RBI) adopting anaggressive stance in its monetary pol-icy due to a rise in inflationary pres-sure led to an erosion in investors’risk appetite. With deterioratingmacros, all eyes will now be on thesecond quarter earnings and how thecurrent liquidity situation isaddressed,” Mehta said.

Also, weak cues from othermost Asian markets as high US yieldand upbeat economic data led tofear that investors would move to

the US, accelerating selling pace onthe domestic bourses.

According to analysts, the equi-ty benchmark indices have fallennearly 10% from peak levels attainedin August, led by weak domestic sen-timents, global uncertainties, depre-ciating rupee and boiling crude oilprices. With rupee and crude oilshowing no signs of stability, weak-ness is likely to continue in the com-ing sessions, analysts said.

The international benchmarkBrent crude prices hit a four-yearhigh of USD 86.10 a barrel whileWTI at USD 76.23 a barrel.

Stocks of tyres, paint and chem-ical companies turned distinctlyweak as crude oil surged to nearfour-year high. Crude is main rawmaterial used by these industries.

Selling pressure was broad-based, while IT, teck, realty and oil& gas and auto stocks were the worsthit.

Foreign portfolio investors(FPIs) sold shares worth a net of�1,550 crore, while domestic insti-tutional investors (DIIs) made pur-chases to the tune of �1,402 crore onWednesday.

Reliance Industries emerged asthe biggest loser in the Sensex packwith its shares plunging 7.03%,while Hero MotoCorp lost 5.45%.Other laggards were TCS 4.54%,Adani Ports 4.17%, ONGC 3.74%,Sun Pharma 3.70%, HDFC Bank3.46%, Bajaj Auto 3.04%, IndusInd

Bank 3.03%, HUL 2.97%, BhartiAirtel 2.95%, ITC Ltd 2.49%, KotakBank 1.93%, Asian Paint 1.90%, TataMotors 1.89%, Coal India 1.61%,HDFC Ltd 1.33%, Maruti Suzuki0.80% and SBI 0.69 per cent. Also,Wipro, NTPC and PowerGrid fellup to 0.08%.

Among winners, ICICI Bankwas the top performer, climbing4.07%, followed by Axis Bank at2.70%, L&T rose 1.18%, Yes Bankgained 1.08%, M&M was up 0.52%and Tata Steel added 0.38%.

Sectorwise, the BSE oil & gasindex suffered the most by crashing6.58%, followed by IT 3.28%, health-care 3.02%, teck 2.97%, FMCG2.56%, PSU 2.54 per cent and auto1.84%.

Infrastructure, consumerdurables, realty, power, metal,bankex and capital goods indices tooended lower by up to 1.74%.

The broader markets too con-tinued to face heat with the the mid-cap and small-cap indices endingnotably lower as investors indulgedin trimming their portfolios in linewith overall trends.

Elsewhere in Asia, Kong’s HangSeng lost 1.73%, Japan’s Nikkeished 0.56%, while Taiwan plunged1.33%.

In the euro zone, Frankfurt’sDAX fell 0.39%, Paris CAC wasdown 0.90%, while London’s FTSEdeclined 0.85% in their early sessions.

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New Delhi (PTI): Auto makerFord India on Thursday launchedupdated version of its compact sedanAspire at an introductory price in therange of �5.55-8.49 lakh (ex-show-room). The petrol manual versions arepriced �5.55-7.24 lakh while the auto-matic petrol variant is tagged at �8.49lakh. The diesel trims are priced�6.45-8.14 lakh (all prices ex-show-room).

“With many segment best andindustry first features new Ford Aspireensures that every customer gets whatthey desire,” Ford India president andmanaging director Anurag Mehrotratold reporters here.

He added that the compact sedansegment was growing in the countryand was expected to touch 4.5 lakhunits by the end the year. “It has thepotential to double by the end of thedecade,” Mehrotra said.

Commenting on the localisationlevel, he said all the new products from

the company’s stable would start at alevel of 85 per cent. He said FordIndia’s domestic sales crossed theUSD 1 billion mark in 2017-18 for thefirst time in its history.

When asked about sales growthduring the current fiscal, Mehrotra saidduring January-August period, thedomestic PV industry had grown 6 percent while Ford grew 11 per cent. “We

will continue to grow faster than theindustry,” he added.

The petrol variants of the newAspire are powered by 1.2 litre enginewhile the automatic comes with a threecylinder 1.5 litre engine mated to a six-speed transmission.

The diesel trims come with 1.5litre powertrain that also powers itspopular compact SUV EcoSport.

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Washington: The US hasdecided to withdraw from theoptional protocol on disputes ofthe Vienna Convention,National Security Adviser JohnBolton said Wednesday, citinga Palestinian lawsuit challeng-ing America’s move to shift itsembassy from Tel Aviv toJerusalem as the reason.

The announcement by theWhite House came soon afterSecretary of State MikePompeo announced to termi-nate the 1955 Treaty of Amitywith Iran. PTI

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Iran’s Supreme LeaderAyatollah Ali Khamenei

vowed Thursday “never” toallow the Islamic Republic tobow to the demands of its ene-mies, at a time of increased ten-sions between Tehran andWashington.

“To entertain the idea, asdesired by the enemy, that theonly solution is to hand our-selves over to the enemy, is theworst act of treason towards theIranian nation, and that will nothappen,” Khamenei said in anaddress to tens of thousands ofmembers of the Basij, anIslamic volunteer militia, broad-cast live on state television.

“With God’s help, so long asI am alive and retain my capac-ities and with your help, I willnever allow such a thing to hap-pen,” he said in the speech atTehran’s Azadi stadium.

For Iran’s clerical estab-lishment, enemy refers firstly tothe United States which isdubbed the “Great Satan” and

with which relations have beensevered since the aftermath ofits 1979 Islamic revolution.

Khamenei played downthe impact of economic sanc-tions reimposed on Iran by theUnited States in August afterWashington pulled out of the2015 nuclear accord betweenTehran and world powers.

“Our national economycan overcome the sanctions,and, with the help of God, wewill overcome them, and thisdefeat will signal the defeat ofAmerica and a new slap forAmerica from the Iraniannation,” he said.

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The US has rejected Pakistan’s plea to facilitate talkswith India and pressed for the bilateral engage-

ment between the two South Asian neighbours,Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said.

Pakistan wants the US to facilitate talks with Indiaas the two nations are not engaging bilaterally, the topPakistani diplomat told a Washington audience onWednesday. “When we asked the US, to play facili-tating role...Why do we ask?

Simply because we are not engaging bilaterally.And that bilateral disengagement is…a distraction,”

Qureshi said in response to a question at the USInstitute of Peace, a US Congress-funded topAmerican think-tank.

“We want to focus, we want to move on the west-ern side of the border, which we are not being ableto because we have to watch our back from easternside (of the border with India). That is not a healthysituation to be in,” he said.

“Now can you (United States) facilitate (the talks)?The answer from them is no. They wanted bilateral-ly. But there is no bilateral movement,” Qureshi said,a day after he had meetings with Secretary of StateMike Pompeo and National Security Advisor John

Bolton, during which he raised the issue only to bepushed back by the Trump administration.

India is opposed to any third country mediationin its relations with Pakistan. Pakistan has continu-ously sought mediation to sort out the differences,including over Kashmir.

Qureshi warned that the absence of bilateral talkswith India could lead to escalation of tensionbetween the two countries. “If that lack of facilitationleads to escalation and some of the statements thathave come out of late have not been very helpful,” thePakistani foreign minister said in an apparent refer-ence to the remarks by Indian leaders.

Istanbul: Saudi Arabia’sAmbassador to Turkey was onThursday summoned to theforeign ministry after a promi-nent journalist critical ofRiyadh went missing, a Turkishdiplomatic source said.

Jamal Khashoggi, a con-tributor to the WashingtonPost, went to the Saudi con-sulate on Tuesday to receive anofficial document for his mar-riage and has not appearedsince then.

His Turkish fiancee report-ed him missing after the jour-nalist, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the US sincelast year to avoid possible arrest,was not seen after he enteredthe consulate on Tuesday after-noon for marriage procedures.

After an initial period ofsilence Saudi Arabia said theconsulate was working withTurkish authorities “to uncov-er the circumstances of the dis-appearance of Jamal Khashoggiafter he left the consulatebuilding”. AFP

Islamabad: Ignoring the role ofmadrassas in Pakistan andequating them with terrorismwas unfair, Prime MinisterImran Khan has told the coun-try’s top clerics as he under-lined that improving the edu-cation system was his govern-ment’s top priority.

Khan made the remarksduring his first meeting with aprominent delegation of Ulema(clerics), who called on him atthe Prime Minister Office todiscuss madrassa reforms andother related issues, mediareports said Thursday. PTI

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Love stories are getting a spin ontelevision, this time by lookingback at history, legend, myths

and epics. Welcome to the season ofromance between Salim andAnarkali, which is being posited aslove across class divides, Radha andKrishna, which is about humanisingdivinity or Karn and Sangini, whichis about the maturity of a relation-ship that is an everyday story againstodds instead of an epic.

Reinventing history, Nitin JaiShukla, creative director and produc-er of the show, Dastaan-e-Mohabbat:Salim Anarkali, says, “Their story hasbeen told a number of times and alot has been written in books aboutEmperor Akbar, his son Salim andkaneez (maid) Anarkali, who someconsider to be a fictitious character.The journey of their separation is thecrux of our story as nobody knowswhat really happened. This curios-ity is what we seek to address,drawing on several theories. It is aclassical cult romance for the view-ers.”

If you ask about the research thatgoes into such kind of shows, he says,“The Mughal era has so far been por-trayed as being extremely high-pitched, be it costumes, drama,plots and war sequences. Yet that erahas been very well documented.Both emperors Babar and Akbarwrote detailed autobiographies andkept a record of their reigns. But youcannot find about the story ofAnarkali or who she was. Just likeJodhabai was fictitious. Such char-acters were probably deliberately leftout of empire records but are pop-ular in folklore. So that area betweenfact and fiction is interesting to workon as a storyteller. You can bring afreshness of treatment only becausethese stories have not been told. Ouraim is to bring a cinematic experi-ence of such untold and eternal lovestories. Salim and Anarkali havealways been referenced againstMughal-e-Azam but we have gone toprobe it layer by layer and at thehuman level.”

Writer, director and produc-er Siddharth Kumar Tewary ofthe show Radhakrishna, says,“Radha and Krishna is a divine lovestory and embodies the essence oftrue love. And in a bigoted worldthat loves to operate within bina-ries and rigidities, it is an eye-opener and a treatise of humanrelationships and theirinternecine conflicts. Largerthan life they may be, but alsotrue to life.”

Shashi Mittal, producerand writer of the show KarnSangini, has chosen to focus on socialconflicts and feudalism that stillplays out in modern India. Says he,“The show is extremely special to allof us as it brings to light a new nar-rative of an epic like Mahabharata.Love triangles always call for a goodnarrative and we thought why notprobe a grey area and set one suchtriangle in the backdrop of the epicKurukshetra war? Karn Sangini is theuntold tale of Karn and Uruvi, whostood by him, transcending class andsocial barriers. It’s a show that

proves love triumphs over all oddsand will have an interesting reso-nance in times of honour killings ofinter-caste couples.”

By retelling known tales, themakers are trying to focus on con-temporary issues and set themagainst an old template with implic-it correctives and lessons. While this

may work on the TRPcharts, it is sad thatIndian television stillneeds a reference pointto justify contemporary

realism.

Even as filmmaker Rima Das hopes theIndian government will help her surmount

monetary hurdles to begin the Oscar campaignfor her Assamese film Village Rockstars, film-makers like Vetrimaraan and Manish Mundraare still waiting for government funds promisedto them.

“They (central government) haven’t reim-bursed us the promised funds for promotion-al expenses of Newton in our run-up to theOscars. It’s (been) more than eight months,”tweeted Mundra, who produced theRajkummar Rao-starrer under his DrishyamFilms banner.

His tweet came after Assamese actor AdilHussain urged the government to release �5crore to promote Indie film VillageRockstars, the country’s official entryto the 91st Academy Awards in thebest foreign language film category.

Acclaimed Tamil filmmakerVetrimaaran says that after the gov-ernment set up a promotional fund,Visaranai was sent by the FilmFederation of India (FFI) commit-tee to the Oscars.

“The promotion game there isa totally different and not an easyone for us. Initially, it was said thatthe government will give a certainamount to films participating in dif-ferent festivals. When weapproached them, we were informedthe money will be transferred to usonce we submit the expenditure billsand our bank details, after verifica-tion,” he said.

“It has been three years, and offi-cials’ verification is still going on. It’s very appre-ciable that their verification is so thorough,” saidVetrimaaran, possibly with a tinge of sarcasm.

In over 60 years that India has sent foreignlanguage films to Academy Awards, only threehave made it to the nomination line-up —Mother India, Salaam Bombay! and Lagaan.None has won.

Government support with funds and a year-long outreach for Indian cinema in the US couldhelp in breaking the jinx, say experts.

In 2016, the then minister of Informationand Broadcasting, M. Venkaiah Naidu hadannounced a Film Promotion Fund (FPF) toprovide financial assistance for promotionalactivities to movies which would be selected incompetition section of a reputed internation-al film festival or were being sent as India’s offi-cial entry to the Academy Awards under the for-eign film category.

Right after FFI’s selection, committeechairman S.V. Rajendra Singh Babu unveiledVillage Rockstars as this year’s pick, he cited“acute lack of funds” for promotions as a rea-son why Indian entries haven’t made the cut.

According to Guneet Monga, a member ofthe Academy of Motion Picture Arts andSciences and associate producer of Norway’sOscar entry What Will People Say, a film needsanything between �3 crore and �5 crore for pre-Oscars promotions.

Das, who wrote, directed and edited VillageRockstars, is currently looking for ways to raisefunds, but is grateful for Assam government’shelp.

“I have not heard anything from the (cen-tral) government yet, but we asked the Assamgovernment for support and they havepromised �1 crore. I’ve heard that 33 per centof it will go in entertainment tax. So, around�67 lakh is the fund we will get as of now,” saidDas, adding that she may look at private organ-isations in Assam or seek help via crowdfund-ing platforms.

Mundra has committed �10 lakh to her,while political party Asom Gana Parishad hasextended �5 lakh for the film.

She knows about the FPF, but is yet to applyas there appears to be a “catch” in getting themoney.

FFI Secretary General Supran Sen said,“The government has earmarked some amount,but the unfortunate point is that the grant isgiven only if the film makes the cut in top ninein the category.”

Sen said FFI plans to write to the govern-ment to make some changes to the procedureas “the funds must be given at the first stage,not the last.”

Besides, one of the terms offunding, as stated on the I&BMinistry’s website, is that thedecision of providing financialassistance would be based onrecommendation of a govern-ment-constituted expert panel.

The panel would examineinformation provided by thefilmmakers and also view thefilm before making recommen-dations to determine the finan-cial assistance a film gets underthe scheme.

Vetrimaaran, whoseVisaranai deals with police bru-tality and corruption, feels thata film that’s “anti-Indian” mightnot get government funding.

“This funding scheme willeventually work as an illegitimate

censor board of India. It wouldreally help filmmakers if such a funding is real-ly based on the criteria they’ve mentioned. Butif there’s a hidden agenda in this funding ‘scam,’I feel this will hurt a lot of serious and sensi-ble filmmakers,” he added.

Monga, whose 2009 film Kavi was nomi-nated for Oscars’ Best Live Action Short Filmcategory, emphasised on the need for right dis-tributor and a good PR strategy.

“You need PR, advertising and screeningsupport, plus living costs in Los Angeles,” saidMonga from the Hollywood hub where she iswatching screenings as an Academy member.

“You need to groom the market in the USfor Indian films. It’s not overnight that we wakeup every September thinking ‘Let's go toOscars.’ We are already late. The governmentshould have regular PR companies in the USdoing this year-long outreach for Indian cine-ma,” she added.

She also said that a solid and reputedAmerican distributor to market a film in theUS always helps.

Lagaan had Sony Pictures Classics as dis-tributor.

This is also why there was ‘brouhaha’ whenIndia did not choose The Lunchbox — whichhad Sony Pictures Classics’ backing — as its offi-cial entry to Oscars.

Monga says that was a “big mistake.”E"�&�

Last week I wrote about theincredible fuel economy I

achieved in the new ‘mild hybrid’Ciaz. So how can you improveyour fuel economy? I’ll try andgive you some tips, even thoughsome are fairly obvious.

Everybody has their own tipsand tricks to save fuel while dri-ving, some of them are downrightdangerous, for example, tailgating.Following the car in front close-ly can make a significant differ-ence to fuel economy, especiallyat speed (if you have noticedcyclists during race events, theytake turns as the lead runner).Because the car in front is doingthe hard work of cutting acrossthe air for you, this is dangeroussimply because of reaction timeswhile braking; you will havealmost none if the car in frontbrakes hard for an astray cow.Hey, because this is India after all.But you can keep some things inmind when you either buy yournext car or drive a car today.

������� ����Even in an automatic, it may

not be a bad idea to manuallychange the gears if you have thatoption through a shifter or withpaddles. How and when you shiftgears can make a remarkable dif-ference to your fuel economy.Short shifting, that is shiftingearly, is not a bad idea but you canalso end up shifting too early.Many cars have a engine-revolu-tion dial, called a tachometer, so

you do not need to always keeppaying attention to the enginenote and decide when to changegears. Modern gearboxes are also

more forgiving of mistakes.Change a bit earlier, on a petrolcar. If I am driving with fuel econ-omy in mind, I change above1,500-1,800 revolutions perminute (RPM) instead of 2,000RPM. If you change too early, twothings happen. You find yourselfwith no torque and that meansyou end up burning a lot of fuelrevving the engine hard. Everycar, however, is geared different-ly. That is one aspect that makesthe cars unique, so changing at1,500-1,800 on the Maruti-SuzukiCiaz is not the case with say theHyundai i20. And use your gearsfor braking as well. While cruis-ing on neutral is a very Indianthing, again, in case you needpower, you will find it lacking.Mash through the gears whileslowing down and you will havethe right gear to accelerate whenyou need to as well as get theadvantages of cruising.

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We are all creatures of habit,but taking the same route homeeveryday from work or school isnot always a great idea. Unlessyour car has a ‘start-stop’ systemand a battery large enough to han-dle the the load of an air-condi-tioner in traffic, you end up liter-ally burning money. But you canuse Maps software, especiallyGoogle Maps to figure out if roadsare crowded. And sometimes itmay not be a bad idea to spend an

hour longer in office, instead ofspending an hour longer in yourcar. Believe me, waiting it out ona day the roads are clogged is nota bad idea. And if you know youwill be stuck in traffic, try andswitch the engine off. While thisis easier said than done on a hotsummer day, you can spend a lotof fuel while idling.

��������������0,�Again, easier said than done,

but once the car has cooled downa bit, try and keep your air-con at24-degrees. This is an ideal tem-perature and keeps the car coolenough without using the com-pressor too much. Keep in mind,the car’s engine is powering a gen-erator that produces all the elec-tricity you use and the air-condi-tioner is by far and away thebiggest user of electricity in a car.

��������������Yes, buddy we know you can

drive fast but sensible driving withmoderate acceleration and mea-sured braking without reallypushing the speed limit at anytime, can really make your ridemore economical. Sure, theremight be a time and a place tobreak the speed limit, maybe youare rushing to hospital althoughone can argue that driving fast atmost times rarely saves you toomuch time. Stick to the speed lim-its, use your gears smartly and youwill see major improvements inyour fuel economy.

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Tucked some 180 km away from thenational capital of India, Rampuris a small town in Uttar Pradesh.

Notorious for endowing lazyness ormeethi nesti (as the locals echo the sen-timent), it is one city where you can finda foodie in every household. Being aRampuri myself, I can easily vouch forthe fact that I have never ever come acrossa Rampuri who does not love their taar-tandoori, their khichdi and achar, theirseekh kebab and pulao.

Much of the habit of being a foodiecould be attributed to the fact that it hasbeen a royal estate, where the Nawabswere great connoisseurs of food, theirkitchens boasting of elaborate menus.Certain dishes which are unique to theplace were developed by their khansamas(chefs), and continue to be a secret thatthe royal families guard fiercely.

But even the commoners delight inthe unique food preparations and thereare certain staples which do not taste sim-ilar even if you follow the recipe in anyother part of the world.

A Rampuri knows what place taar-tandoori holds in their hearts. Taarrefers to the saalan (gravy) which has asingle thread-like consistency that is notsupposed to break when transferredfrom the serving dish to your plate. Madeof small, finely-chiselled cuts of meat, itsaroma in itself can make you hungry.Eaten with freshly made huge tandoorirotis, the size of which you won’t get any-where else, but was normal for us till arelative from a different city pointed outthat it’s a novelty. These rotis made in atandoor are crisp and thin with a whiffof coriander which makes them unique.I remember during my growing upyears, natives who were settled far andaway, during a visit would always enquireif there was any waleema around thecorner so that they could tuckinto taar-tandoori to theirheart’s desire. Whywaleema (reception)?Because it was the onlystandard dish for anyreception, thoughthe pattern haschanged overtimeand people haveadded otheroptions to themenus now. Also,earlier weddingswere generallyheld during the dayand slow cooking thisdish overnight in a degh (hugecooking pot) would lend it an aromawhich when cooked in a house in a pres-sure cooker or even a pot would be dif-ficult to attain.

Furthermore, one cannot miss out onthe yakhni pulao. Realms have alreadybeen written and said about the varietyof biryanis, and pulaos that our countryboasts of. However, the yakhni pulao ofRampur is one dish which is light andaromatic despite its flavorful richness.The dish derives its uniqueness from themeat broth into which a potli (bundle) ofspices and condiments are added, boiledtill the flavour of green chillies, spices andbroth work up their magic and the pulaofinally lands up on your plate. One cango on and on about this light on stom-ach and hearty pulao which is again a sig-nature dish at both the weddings andfunerals alike (now you do realise thedepth of our love for food, even in death,we don’t want to leave behind a bad taste).

The next best thing this region offersare the seekh kebabs. While kebabs arecommon throughout the country thesemelt in the mouth. Succulent, piping hot,

fresh offthe iron grill

kebabs have a taste that one can never for-get. Anyone who has tasted the Rampurivariant will drool at the mere mention ofseekh kebab. Made from minced meatwhich is marinated with spices and thendeftly put on each seekh or iron rod, theseare made the traditional way on charcoalsand dipped in ghee later, which givesthem a rich and smooth texture. As kidswe used to compete over the number ofkebabs we could eat during family gath-erings, when a traditional kebab wala washired and we huddled around him,without caring for the smoke entering oureyes or the heat, or even the hot kebabswhich would often burn our tongues. Wewould simply wait for our turn to dig intothem or run away with our plate beforesomeone else pounced upon it.

Our vegetarian fare boasts of dalstraight from the kitchen of the Nawabs.When it comes to a delicacy that is royal,eclectic and very simple, what comes tomind is the shahi dal. It’s a wonder howdelicately a dish as simple as dal has beeninfused into the royal kitchens and peo-

ple have taken to it through generations.It is made from white urad dal, milk anddesi ghee (clarified butter), tempered withonion and sabut mirch (whole yellowchilli) in desi ghee, and garnished withfinely-chopped ginger, green chillies andcoriander. No daawat in Rampur is evercomplete without this dal at the dinnertable.

We are partial to the urad family, con-suming it in different forms and beingequally fond of all of them. Uradgosht isanother dal and meat combination whichRampuris relish. The fragrance of wholeblack urad legumes cooked in meat,which is a little high on spices is whatideal lunches are made of. Best relishedwith plain rice, it is a complete meal untoitself.

One of the most popular dishes, Uradki kaali dal ki khichdi, can be easilytermed as our comfort food. This quin-tessential, simple and most widely-eatenrice preparation is a staple in everyRampuri household. With the arrival ofmisty mornings, households would befilled with the aroma of simmering potsof this khichdi which was relished with

the most elaborate of layout.Accompanied with desi ghee, mooli kapani wala achar (pickled radish in a waterbase), hare dhaniya and peeli mirch kichutney (cilantro and yellow chilli chut-ney), shalgam ka meetha achaar (pickledturnips), mooli (raw, sliced radish), gobhigosht (cauliflower and meat), saag gosht(spinach and meat) and also fresh cream(yes, some of us prefer it that way), it isambrosia, no less.

I remember my mother used to mixdal and rice together and keep it in a hugetin box and would cook it every morn-ing as brunch for my father throughoutwinters, his love for it being so intensethat he would have it every day withoutfail till summer arrived. The satiatingpleasure of a simple khichdi is incompa-rable to any of the fanciest of dishes inbest of the restaurants, especially whenyou eat it sitting on a charpoy with thewinter’s sun rays kissing you among thebanter of your family and loved ones.

We do not simply get satiated withthe good old makka ki roti and sarson dasaag, as our saags are generally combinedwith meat. Every kitchen in winters haswaft of gobhi gosht, saag gosht or saagkofte being whipped up. Cauliflowermixed with spinach is cooked in meat,similarly spinach in meat or spinach andmeatballs, all of which are blended witharomatic methi herb and then eaten withmakka ki roti.

No food talk can ever be completewithout the mention of a dessert.Rampuris’ very own sweet dish is fond-ly called Gulaththi. The name may soundridiculous, but the dish is completely outof the world. A very rich sweet dish, itsconsistency lies somewhere between thetraditional kheer and its overdone cousinrabri, as Gulaththi is infused with milk,maava/khoya, sugar, lots of dry fruits andgarnished with a layer of Chandi ka warq(silver foil) and another whole layer of dryfruits (mostly cashews). It was a signa-ture wedding dish till the last decade orso. Still popular at weddings and socialgatherings, it is not commonly preparedin households as it is quite heavy on thestomach and one cannot have more thana bowl at a time.

Another dessert which is very rus-tic, earthy, seasonal as well as uncom-mon is the rasaawal derived from raswale chawal. Made from ganne ka ras(sugarcane juice) and rice, rasaawal isgenerally eaten cold with hot milkpoured onto it. While some prefer it hotwithout milk. It is a local delicacy madeduring bitter cold when sugarcane is inabundance. Slow cooked over a coupleof days on a traditional U-shaped chul-ha, it is a tedious process to cook it toperfection. The real essence of jointfamily system in India is at power playover here when duties change amongfamily members to take care of the hotcauldron of rasaawal and increase ordecrease the firewood while churning thesimmering pot in the extreme cold. Wehave witnessed numerous such soireesplaying, or chatting around while ourelders, both men and women, of the fam-ily would take equal interest and pleasurein such sojourns.

I can still go on about the aroma,tastes and euphoric pleasure that wederive out of some of our overly-lovedfood items, but this small compilationthrows light on some specialties andpeculiar food items associated withRampur, that have delighted generationsalike. It’s not just the taste and ingredi-ents that make any food pleasurable andrelishing but love, the company of peo-ple, and the memories associated with it.

(The writer is a food blogger.)

Right when you walk up the stairs andstep into the glass pyramid that is

Monkey Bar, Vasant Kunj, you encountersign boards that could confuse you aboutwhich city you’ve walked into. Like thewardrobe in C S Lewis’ famed fantasy seriesNarnia, the doors at Monkey Bar will takeyou to a new gastronomic world.Outside is Delhi but inside isBengal’s capital Kolkata.

Food curator Iti Misraand head chef of MonkeyBar, Dheeraj Varma, fol-lowed the metro line ofthe eastern city fromnorth to south to comeup with their DurgaPuja special menu fromthe streets. The grandfestival street feastemerged out of necessity.During the five days of thefestival, when the city stands stillonly to celebrate, there is bare-ly any food cooked at home.And since the Durga pujais largely women-driven,they get busy. So ven-dors have opened upcommunity feasts totake care of feedingtheir families. If themornings are aboutsatvik bhog at the man-dap, evenings are abouthigh spirits and gastronomicindulgence.

From a wide array of choices,Misra and Varma have picked up Beadonstreet’s fish roll to Vivekanand Park’s famousGhoogni, devilled eggs, Hing-er kochuri,prawn dumplings from Tiretti Bazaar,Moong daal pakodi chaat from Vardaanmarket, Pork momos from Elgin Road andmore. They also have a twist on theDarjeeling tea, the much-loved ripe guavaand Phuchka paani by making them intococktails called Thaanda chaa, Piara pearaand Puchka capiroshka. With the phuchkawater, they have used gondhoraj lebu (aro-matic lemon), another speciality of the state,and vodka, while the guava drink is pairedwith tequila and the tea spiked with vodkaagain.

“People look for food on-the-go whilepandal-hopping and visiting families. Themetro line was the spinal cord for our menu.We started from Shobha bazaar and Baghbazaar, the northeast part of Kolkata. Itiaunty had done her research and chose somestreet vendors and enterprises, which hadbeen around for a while like Nizaam’s. Wetried the Kosha mangsho, a dry mutton dish,at one place, Kolkata-style chilli chicken atanother and went to Nizaam’s for Kathi roll,which they created and still are patents ofits artisanship. All of these can be had thenand there and don’t need a sit-down format,”said Varma.

The restaurant is also lending its ownspin on the food, just enhancing the tastewith minor tweaks than changing thegrammar. With the ghooghni, the tangy yel-low pea curry which can be eaten with abread or turned into a non-vegetarianbroth with bits of mutton tossed in, theyhave added a masala brioche. For thoseseeking nostalgia and also lighter tastes, theirversion of the umami-ish food would takethem down memory lane without burning

a hole in the digestive tract. During the course of

the afternoon, we jokedhow common it is for theBengali brethren to carryan analgesic in their bagsbecause they wouldrather take the medicinethan give up on thebeloved tele bhaja or fried

food. However, they avoid-ed these pitfalls and kept the

menu limited to three mainsand seven starters, which are

good enough to fill one’s tummy.Their take on the Shoitan dim

or devilled eggs is to leave outthe potato layer and fill it withkeema instead, turning itinto a gastronomic wonderfor the meat lover. “We havenot touched the Chitpurroad Chicken rezala. It isabsolutely the same recipe

because the city has a loyaltyto old and inherited recipes.

This one comes from the areaaround Nakhoda masjid. The exiled

nawab of Oudh, Wajid Ali Shah, broughtwith him a retinue of cooks, who infusedrich dishes with a certain delicacy and sub-tlety. The chicken curry is made with a fewspices and a lot of onion and ginger-garlicjuice. You leave it on the stove for a long timeso that the juice reduces and you follow upwith cashew and poppy paste,” he said. Herecommended eating it with the classic teenkona paratha of Kolkata. In this area, onecan see kebabs being cooked on the streetwhile you walk around. The Mughlaiparatha or flatbread stuffed with mutton andegg is about sinful generosity in a bite.

However, they haven’t left the vegetar-ians high and dry. For them, there is thegood old aloo sabzi and luchi, moong daalpakodi chaat and kochuri. The College streetHing-er kochuri, a stuffed and fluffed friedbread, will be served with sweet and sourpumpkin curry. Unlike a luchi, the stuffingfor this is fennel seeds and asafoetida. Thisrecipe is inspired by Putiram Sweets, whichhas a decadal cult following. “It’s a go-toplace for college kids, who can get a mid-day or high-tea meal for �20,” he added.Misra said the meal works for vegetarianswho don’t eat onions during Navratri as well.The pakodi chaat comes from a streetsidevendor in Vardaan market, who claims thatformer British Prime Minister DavidCameron had loved it. His secret? He bringsfresh ground daal every morning and friesit on the spot for connoisseurs. EvenGaggan Anand, the chef with the onlyMichelin-starred restaurant in Asia, hasshown his love for the savoury by postingabout it on various social media.

The restaurant will transform its inte-riors for 16 days as it started yesterday withsignboards indicating your next stop inKolkata, while artworks like the trademarkyellow taxi will take over the space.

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Lionel Messi struck twice as Barcelonainflicted more Champions Leaguepain on Tottenham with a 4-2 win at

Wembley on Wednesday, while Neymar hita brilliant hat-trick in Paris Saint-Germain's6-1 rout of Red Star Belgrade.

Philippe Coutinho scored after just twominutes for Barcelona, who arrived inLondon winless in three La Liga matches,with Ivan Rakitic drilling in a magnificentsecond.

Messi, who had earlier twice hit thepost, then got on the scoresheet in betweengoals from Harry Kane and Erik Lamela,before the Argentina superstar grabbed hissecond late on to seal victory.

"After a few bad results it was impor-tant to do well today. Our response was verygood," said Barca coach Ernesto Valverde.

Barca head Group B on six pointsalongside Inter Milan, but MauricioPochettino's side face a vital double-head-er against PSV Eindhoven after failing tocollect a point from their opening twomatches.

The Tottenham boss admitted Spurshad few answers for Messi as his team wasleft with an uphill struggle to reach theknockout stages.

"He's a fantastic player," said Pochettino.

"His average performance is this typeof game. He's always above everything."

Inter, the last Italian club to win theChampions League in 2010, again recov-ered from a goal down to beat PSV 2-1in the Netherlands.

A cracking Pablo Rosario strikeput PSV ahead, but Inter levelledthrough Radja Nainggolan momentsafter visiting goalkeeper SamirHandanovic somehow escaped ared card for handling outside hisarea.

Mauro Icardi, whose late goalstunned Spurs a fortnight ago, wasthe hero again for LucianoSpalletti's men as he pounced onhesitant defending to net the win-ner on the hour.

PSG rebounded from their 3-2 defeatby Liverpool with an attacking masterclassagainst 1991 European Cup winners RedStar at the Parc des Princes.

Neymar curled in a sublime free-kickto open the scoring on 20 minutes, quick-ly doubling his tally before Edinson Cavani,Angel di Maria and Kylian Mbappe alsofound the target.

Former Germany international MarkoMarin popped up with a consolation forRed Star, with Neymar completing his hat-trick from another stunning free-kick.

"I really liked the effort made by thewhole team, but Neymar was sensa-

tional," said PSG coach ThomasTuchel.

"He is one of the best play-ers in Europe and that is very,

very important for us."

���� ����������8���Carlo Ancelotti's Napoli topGroup C on four points afterLorenzo Insigne delivered a90th-minute winner athome to Liverpool, who arelevel on three alongsidePSG.

Dries Mertens hit the barfor Napoli late on, but therewas still time for Insigne tonick all three points at thedeath as he slid to poke ina cross from JoseCallejon.

A n t o i n eGriezmann scored twogoals to lift AtleticoMadrid, last season's

Europa League winners,to a 3-1 victory over Club Bruggein Spain.

Arnaut Groeneveld cancelledout Griezmann's opener with a

thunderous strike from the leftwing, but the France internationalrestored Atletico's lead before Koke

made the points safe in stoppagetime.

Borussia Dortmund leadAtletico at the top of Group A on

goal difference following their 3-0 defeatof a struggling Monaco outfit.

Jacob Bruun Larsen broke the dead-lock in Germany shortly after his intro-duction as a half-time substitute, with PacoAlcacer finding the net just minutes aftersmacking a penalty against the bar.

Marco Reus fired in a third from aBruun Larsen cross, leaving Dortmundand Atletico on six points apiece ahead oftheir upcoming home-and-away meetings.

In Group D, American internationalmidfielder Weston McKennie hit an 88th-minute winner as struggling Schalkeedged Lokomotiv Moscow 1-0.

Porto are joint-top with Schalke fol-lowing a 1-0 win over Galatasaray cour-tesy of Moussa Marega's second-half goalin Portugal.

���D#�������-���8������#�������Diego Simeone hailed AntoineGriezmann as the best player in the worldafter the Frenchman's double fired AtleticoMadrid to victory over Club Brugge on

Wednesday.Griezmann scored twice and set up a

third for Koke as Atletico won 3-1 in thestadium they hope to return to for theChampions League final next year.

"I said it last season and I'll say it again— Griezmann is the best player in theworld," Simeone said afterwards.

"He won the Europa League, WorldCup, Super Cup and finished second in aleague with Barcelona and Real Madrid."

Lionel Messi, who was simultaneous-ly tearing Tottenham apart at Wembley,may have something to say about that butthere is no doubting Griezmann's impor-tance to Atletico.

He has now been involved in 17 oftheir last 19 Champions League goalsscored at home, chipping in with 12 goalsand five assists.

Those performances can only boostthe French star's hopes of winning theBallon d'Or.

"It's not me who votes but I had a bigseason," he said.

"I'm very happy and proud of my sea-son, there are still a few months to go sowe'll see."

This was Atletico's first match at theWanda Metropolitano in this season's tour-nament, 241 days before they hope to walkout here again for the final on June 1.

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Naomi Osaka maintained herstrong form since winning

the US Open by reaching theChina Open quarterfinals bycrushing Julia Goerges 6-1, 6-2on Thursday.

Osaka made a slow start, sav-ing a break point and enduringfive deuces in the eight-minutef irst game. But she brokeGoerges' serve in the next gameand raced to 5-0.

Osaka won four consecutivepoints on Goerges' serve to openthe second set and rolled on.

When asked why she's riseninto the top 10 this year, Osakasaid: "I think my biggest

improvement is mental.In the quarterfinals, Osaka

will play Zhang Shuai, who cameback from a set down to defeatthird-ranked Angelique Kerber

6-1, 2-6, 6-0.This is Osaka's second tour-

nament since she defeated SerenaWilliams in the US Open final onSept 8. In the first last week, shegot to the Pan Pacific Openfinal in Tokyo.

Also, 2010 championCaroline Wozniacki beat AnettKontaveit 7-5, 6-4 and qualifiedfor the WTA Finals, where shewill be the defending champ.

On the men's side, fourth-seeded Fabio Fognini downedAndrey Rublev 6-4, 6-3, MartonFucsovics of Hungary beat MarcoCecchinato of Italy 6-4, 6-2, andNikoloz Basilashvili of Georgiadefeated Fernando Verdasco ofSpain 7-6(3), 6-4.

����� �45E4

Bjorn Borg lookalike Stefanos Tsitsipas surviveda mid-match meltdown to beat Australia's Alex

de Minaur 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 on Thursday and reachthe Japan Open quarter-finals.

The 20-year-old Greek will face local hero KeiNishikori for a place in the last four after the fifthseed came through an absorbing contest in twohours, 20 minutes.

Elsewhere, second seed Kevin Anderson alsoadvanced, while Germany's Jan-Lennard Struffcontinued his dream run in Tokyo.

Wimbledon finalist Anderson ultimatelyhad too much in the locker for young FrancesTiafoe, progressing with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 victory.

The Protean, ranked ninth in the world, willface eighth seed Richard Gasquet in the last eightafter he ousted Nick Kyrgios 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/1).

"Kevin is a top 10 player and has been in the

Wimbledon and US Open finals so I have noth-ing to lose," said Gasquet.

Struff, who dumped out top seed Marin Cilicin the first round, produced a gutsy 7-6 (7/3), 6-7 (2/7), 6-4 win over Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.

The world number 56 next faces DenisShapovalov after the Canadian knocked out three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka late onWednesday.

����� +,��-,./�

Arsenal legend Robert Pires,who once turned out for FC

Goa, Thursday said the IndianSuper League has not made muchprogress since it was launchedamid much fanfare five years ago.

Pires signed for FC Goa in theopening season of the then newlycreated ISL in 2014. However, aftera year-long stint with the club, theworld-cup winning Frenchmanannounced retirement.

"I think it (progress fromSeason one to five) is the samebecause you need to experimentwith other footballing philosophiesto strengthen the base. They needan Italian, French or maybe aSpanish or Portuguese to introducethem to other philosophies whichwill help the ISL to grow," Pires, whois a La Liga ambassador, said.

However, the 44-year-oldremained optimistic about thefuture of Indian football, providedthe sport perfects the balancebetween coaching and training.

"I played in season one andthere was a lot of passion among theplayers. I saw some good Indian tal-ent out there.

"India has a good future aheadbut they need good academies,coaching and training to moveforward. The mix of all these canlead to maybe an Indian playing inLa Liga one day and that sort ofprogress is very important fordevelopment of football," Piressaid.

La Liga side Girona FC and andAustralian A-League's MelbourneCity FC played their pre-seasonfriendly against Kerala Blasters FCin July. Pires emphasised thatmatches like these would helpIndian clubs grow.

"It is a good start. Girona — Iknow it is not the best team in LaLiga — coming and playing its sea-son friendly against Kerala is great.It can help Indian football. Getsome good teams here. And ifthings go like this, 2-3 years downthe line we can expect top sides likeBarcelona and Real Madrid."

����� 9091 �

Dronacharya award-winning hockeycoach Clarence Lobo expects the

Indian team to reach the semi-finals ofthe FIH men's World Cup, to be held inBhubaneshwar later this year.

"I am sure that they (the Indianmen's team) will enter the semi-finals.Once they enter the semis then it is any-body's game. They will enter the semisbecause we have got a fantastic team andhave got a good coach," Lobo toldreporters here.

The hockey World Cup will be heldin Odisha's capital from November 28to December 16 and India are clubbedin Pool C with South Africa, Canada andBelgium.

"We are playing in Odisha and thatis an advantage with the (home) crowd.We have got 8-10 players, who wont bogdown under the pressure. It's an advan-tage and motivation because we are play-ing in Odisha," reasoned Lobo, whostarted his coaching journey with hisemployers, Tata Sports Club."This teamis one the best teams and we have gotone of the best coaches (HarendraSingh). You cannot get a better coach,"he insisted.

�����9091 �

Middle distance runner and men's 800m AsianGames champion Manjit Singh wants to show his

mettle with a podium finish at next year's WorldAthletics Championships in Doha, Qatar.

"(My) next target is the Asian AthleticsChampionships and the World AthleticsChampionships in 2019. The target will be to grab amedal there and qualify for the (2020 Tokyo) Olympicsand from there begin preparations for the Olympics", Singh told reporters here.

The Asian Athletics Championships will be held in April next year in Doha, whilethe World Athletics Championships will also be held in the same city in September-October,2019.

����� � �,�����E�

Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram progressed tothe quarterfinals of the Chinese Taipei

BWF World Tour Super 300 tournamentafter ousting Denmark's Kim Bruun instraight games in the second round here onThursday.

Jayaram, a former world no 13 Indian,registered a 21-10, 22-20 win over Kim ina 37-minute battle.

The 30-year-old, who had reached thefinals of Korea Open in 2015, will faceMalaysia's Lee Zii Jia next.

Former national champion SourabhVerma, who had won the $ 75,000 RussianOpen in July and had qualified for the Indianteam at 18th Asian Games after recoveringfrom injury, lost to Japan's Riichi Takeshita21-19, 21-23, 16-21 to bow out of the tour-nament.

Jayaram dished out a clinical effort as heled 6-0 at one point. However, Kim reduced

the deficit to 8-9 before the Indian once againstamped his authority to jump to 14-8 andthen 20-9 to secure the opening game.

The second game, however, turned outto be a close affair as Kim erased a 3-6 deficitand turned the tables, reaching 11-9 at thebreak.

The Danish shuttler continued to moveahead and grabbed a healthy 16-12 advan-tage at one stage. But the experiencedJayaram managed to draw parity at 19-19and sealed the contest eventually.

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Teenage sensation Prithvi Shawannounced his arrival in top-flightcricket by becoming the youngest

Indian to score a Test century on debut,headlining the home team's march to 364for four against West Indies on day oneof the series-opener here.

Shaw (134 off 154) and CheteshwarPujara (86 off 130) laid the foundation fora big score with a 206-run partnershipafter the early loss of K L Rahul (0).

Skipper Virat Kohli (72 not out off137) and his deputy Ajinkya Rahane (41off 92) then took the innings forward witha 105-run stand in the final session,putting India in the driver's seat beforethe latter was caught behind off spinnerRoston Chase.

Kohli looked set for another hundredand was batting alongside Rishabh Pant(17 not out off 21) at close of play. Eightynine overs were bowled on day one withIndia scoring at 4.08 runs per over.

The West Indies, handed a big set-back even before toss with the last-minutewithdrawal of captain Jason Holder,looked ordinary at best on the field.Barring pacer Shanon Gabriel (1/66),none of the bowlers troubled the Indianbatsmen on a greenish surface which didnot seem to do much.

The opposition attack was far fromthreatening but due credit must be givento Shaw, who batted like a seasoned cam-paigner in his first match for India. Hisback-foot play off the pacers was a treatto the eyes and when spinners weredeployed, he was not afraid to use the longhandle.

At 18 years and 329 days, Shawreached the milestone off just 99 balls,adding to a host of records he holds inhis blossoming career. He had earliermade waves by reaching three figures inhis first Ranji Trophy appearance and wasthe youngest to hit a century on DuleepTrophy debut.

In the process, Shaw also became thesecond youngest Indian to score a maid-en Test ton after the legendary SachinTendulkar.

Shaw, who was 75 not out at lunch,reached the three figures in the afternoonsession with a typical punch to thecover, the same way he got his first runsin international cricket.

More than half of his runs camethrough boundaries, 19 in total.Unfortunately, Shaw fell at the stroke oftea, in what was a soft dismissal as hechipped one straight into the hands of leg-gie Devendra Bishoo.

He was not facing one of the bestattacks but he gave ample evidence of hisbrilliance on way to a memorable hun-dred. Pujara too looked at ease at theother end until he was caught behind offdebutant Sherman Lewis, missing out ona 16th Test ton.

In the morning, Shaw, who becamethe 293rd cricketer to represent India inTests, showed supreme confidence fromball one, on which he offered a watchfulleave.

The Mumbaikar punched the secondball he faced towards the cover bound-ary for a three, his first runs in interna-tional cricket, easing whatever nerves leftinside.

Gabriel was clocking in the higher140kph but that did not faze Shaw.Gabriel trapped his opening partnerRahul in front with a sharp incomingdelivery to give the West Indies an earlybreakthrough. Rahul was better off nottaking the DRS as the ball was clearly

����� -/ 5

Mohit Jangra and SiddharthDesai grabbed three wick-

ets apiece as India eked out anarrow two-run win overBangladesh to enter the final ofthe Under-19 Asia Cup here onThursday.

Opting to bat in, Indiawere all out for 172 in 49.3 overswith Yashasvi Jaiswal top-scor-ing with a 69-ball 37 whileSameer Choudhary and AnujRawat contributed 36 and 35respectively.

The Indians were able to

defend the small total, thanks toa disciplined bowling show ledby pacer Jangra and left-armspinner Desai, who shared sixwickets between them.Bangaldesh were all out for 170in 46.2 overs.

The duo ripped throughthrough the Bangladesh battingby claiming five out of their topsix batsmen.

Bangladesh were reducedto 65 for five by the 20th overbut a 74-run partnershipbetween Shamim Hossain (59)and wicketkeeper Akbar Ali(45) took them nearer to a

memorable victory.Bangladesh reached 139

for six and needed 34 runs from14.5 overs for a win. With

Hossain at the crease, theywere in a great chance to winthe match. But the Indianbowlers gave nothing away anddid not allow Bangladesh bats-men score easy runs.

Earlier, India did not havethe best of starts in their inningsand had a batting slump in themiddle overs with three wick-ets falling in quick succession.They had two good partner-ships — one of 66 for the sec-ond wicket between Jaiswaland Rawat and another of 59between Ayush Badoni (28) andChoudhary.

����� +,��-,./�

India discard Naman Ojha's deplorable on-field behaviour stopped proceedings for

20 minutes but couldn't stop Delhi fromthrashing Madhya Pradesh by 75 run in agroup B encounter of Vijay Hazare Trophyon Thursday.

Batting first, Delhi scored 284 for 8 rid-ing on Nitish Rana's 98-ball-107 studdedwith 10 fours and three sixes.

Having already lost focus due to theircaptain's outbursts, MP could manage only209 in 42.4 overs as part-time off-spinnerLalit Yadav picked up five for 25.

Delhi now have 22 points from sevengames and look good to qualify for the quar-

ter-finals of the National championship.The incident that marred the proceed-

ings happened in the 28th over of theinnings.

Left handed Rana, then on 26, played

a sweep shot off left-arm spinner RameezKhan and the fielder at square leg took acatch. The MP players started celebrating asRana stood his ground.

Umpire Rajeev Godara then walked upto square leg umpire Navdeep Singh andafter discussion asked for referral from thethird umpire (match referee in this case).

After watching the feed, match refereeNitin Goel ruled not out after which Ojha,who has played a Test, ODI and couple ofT20Is completely lost it.

He wagged his finger at Godara with anangry outburst questioning his competenceas first-class umpire. Match referee Goel hadto enter the field as proceedings were halt-ed for close to 20 minutes.

����� � 254�

Former West Indies all-rounder Carl Hoopersays the lure of bagging an IPL contract has

hurt the Caribbean outfit in Test cricket as mosttalented youngsters' "ultimate goal" is to play inthe cash-rich T20 league.

The past disputes between the players and theWest Indies Cricket Board are well-documentedand the IPL has contributed to the team's travailsin the longest format, feels Hooper.

The veteran of 102 Tests and 10,000-plusinternational runs is back in India after 16 yearsto commentate on the two-Test series.

"We should have seen this coming (IPL impacton West Indies cricket). T20 cricket is here to stay.You got more leagues in play than what it was five

years ago. It is crazy. It is going to affect us becausefor most young West Indies players, the ultimateaim is sign a contract with an IPL side," he said.

"So it would have a bearing on his availabil-ity for West Indies cricket including Tests,"Hooper said.

Owing to pay disputes and with the optionof playing T20 leagues around the world, the likesof Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard andSunil Narine preferred playing the shorter formats.

"The IPL is just a six-week window but wehave had situations where we have had someonelike Sunil Narine, who picked up six wickets inhis last Test (in 2013), has not played for us again.Same goes for Gayle and Kieron Pollard.

"I am not saying they were finished productsin the longest format but at 26-27, let's say if

Pollard played Test cricket, who knows he couldhave developed as a good Test cricketer.

"But he stuck to the shorter formats. So weare missing players. Evin Lewis just decided topush back on a central contract. He is goodenough to play Test cricket. So the shorter ver-sions of the game curtail our progress. Having saidthat, it would be unfair to blame the players formaking the choice (of playing IPL). We all wantto be financially secure at the end of the day," saidthe 51-year-old from Guyana.

Hooper cited another example which couldhurt the Test team.

"Someone like a Shimron Hetmyer, who hashad very good CPL, is highly rated. Now he canbe picked up in the IPL next season and I wouldhate to lose him to the IPL."

����� � 254�

Centurion Prithvi Shaw, who batted like one notappearing in his maiden Test, Thursday said he was

also well prepared to play his first international gameagainst a better attack in testing English conditions.

Teenage sensation Shaw was named in India'ssquad for the final two Tests in England but did notget to make his debut in a series which the visitors lost1-4.

He made a dream debut against the West Indiesin the series opener, scoring a sublime 134 and, at 18years and 329 days, becoming the youngest Indian toreach three figures in his maiden appearance.

"It was captain and coach's decision (of when togive me a game). I was ready in England as well butfinally got the opportunity here," said the soft-spokenyoungster after stumps on day one.

"But it I was a great experience in England. Theymade feel really comfortable. Virat bhai told me thereis no senior or junior in the team. It was nice sharingthe dressing room with players who have played inter-national cricket for more than five years. Everyone isa friend now."

He was expectedly nervous before the game butgetting to spend time with his senior teammates dur-ing the England series helped him approach his debut

like "any other game".His first runs came

off his typical back-footpunch and he neverlooked back from there,playing a top-qualityinnings comprising 19fours.

"I was nervous at thestart but settled downafter I timed a few nice-ly. After that, I didn't feelthe pressure that I felt atthe start of the innings.I l ike to dominatebowlers and that is whatI was trying to do, wait-ing for the loose balls," he said.

Having scored a hundred on Ranji and DuleepTrophy debut, Shaw did the same at the highest level.When asked, Shaw was modest about rising to theoccasion timing and again.

"I don't know how I manage but whenever go inthe middle, I try to play to the merit of the ball andeven in this game I went in with the same mindset. Idid not try anything new thinking it is my first Test.Played the same way I have played India A and domes-tic cricket.

"Having said that, there is a lot of difference if youcompare international cricket with the U-19 anddomestic cricket. They come with a lot of strategiesin international cricket. You face bowlers with a lotmore pace. Sometimes you face serious pace in domes-tic cricket but here is a lot more variety and experi-ence," said Shaw who looked comfortable againstShanon Gabriel even though he was touching 150kph.

The year could not have turned out better for Shaw,who led India to the U-19 World Cup title in NewZealand, made his IPL debut before finally getting hisbig break on Thursday. He dedicated the hundred tohis father, who raised him as a single parent after hismother passed way when he was just four.

"I never thought of making my India debut rightafter the U-19 win. I took it match by match. It final-ly happened today. I dedicate this innings to my father.He has made a lot of sacrifice for me. I cannot evendescribe it now.

"I was thinking about my dad, as he has sacrificeda lot for me. Whenever I scored a hundred I thoughtof him and this is my first Test hundred, it's all for him."

When asked what his father said to him before thegame, Shaw added: "He doesn't know that much aboutcricket. He just said 'go and enjoy your debut'. Playlike another game."

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crashing into the stumps.Shaw, however, continued batting

with confidence and his first boundarycame in the second over bowled byKeemo Paul, another back foot punchtowards the point boundary.

He got more aggressive in Paul's fol-lowing over, hitting him for three foursas the pacer was duly punished for bowl-ing far too many looseners. After Rahul'sdismissal, Shaw and Pujara gave theinnings a move on and did not look inany sort of trouble.

While Shaw punched and droveeffortlessly off pacers, he was equally

comfortable against the spin duo ofBishoo and Chase.

The teenage prodigy collected twofours off Bishoo in the 11th over and didthe same to Chase in the 20th over. Healso produced a delightful straight driveon way to reaching his half-centurywhich came off 56 balls.

The West Indians looked listless onthe field as boundaries came at will forIndia. Their troubles had mountedeven before the start of the game asHolder pulled out with an ankle injury,giving Kraigg Brathwaite a chance to leadthe team.

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