ˇˇˇ ˇ...the muslim parties now have the ... nazeer dissented with the majority view and said the...

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Adultery is no longer acrime in India, the

Supreme Court ruled onThursday as it struck down thecolonial-era law, dubbing it“archaic” and “unconstitu-tional” and saying it treatedwomen as a “chattel” anddenuded them of their “sexu-al autonomy”. However, the SCsaid adultery should continueto be treated as civil wrong andcan be grounds for seekingdivorce.

A five-judge constitutionBench headed by Chief JusticeDipak Misra unanimouslystruck down Section 497 of theIndian Penal Code (IPC) dealing with offence of adultery and Section 198 of theCrPC which deals withprosecution of offences againstmarriage.

With this verdict, Indiajoined a list of countries,including China, Japan, Brazil,Australia, Germany andFrance, which have done awaywith criminalising adultery.

The CJI, who wrote thelead judgment for himself andon behalf of Justice AMKhanwilkar, held that “a hus-band is not the master” andany system treating a womanwith indignity, inequity and inequality or discrimination“invites the wrath of theConstitution”.

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The Supreme Court on Thursday pavedthe way for taking up the politically sen-

sitive Ayodhya title suit without further delayby declining to refer to a Constitution Benchits 1994 judgment which held a “mosque isnot an essential part of the practice of Islam”.The apex court said now the civil suit on landdispute will be heard by a newly-constitut-ed three-judge Bench from October 29 asChief Justice Dipak Misra will retire onOctober 2. The Muslim parties now have theoption of filing review petition.

The court’s ruling has come as a bigboost for the protagonists of the Ram tem-ple as also to the BJP, which hopes that theconstruction of the temple at Ayodhya beforethe next year’s general election could con-siderably brighten its electoral prospects.However, Muslim parties also welcomed thejudgment in view of the certain clarificationsmade by the court about the applicability ofthe 1993 judgment in the present case.

A three-judge Bench, headed by ChiefJustice Dipak Misra, by a majority of 2:1declined the plea of M Siddiq, one of theoriginal litigants of the Ayodhya case whois no more and is being represented throughhis legal heir, that the matter be referred to

a larger Bench.Justice Ashok Bhushan and SA Najeer

were other members of the Bench. JusticeNazeer dissented with the majority view andsaid the question whether mosque was anessential part of the religion cannot be decid-ed without a “detailed examination of thebeliefs, tenets and practice of the faith” andfavoured reconsideration of the issue to alarger Bench. The majority ruling said theobservation about Islam and mosque in thecelebrated Ismail Farooqi case was made inthe limited context of “land acquisition” dur-ing the hearing of the Ayodhya case andmade it clear it was not relevant for decid-ing the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjidtitle dispute. “We again make it clear thatquestionable observations made in IsmailFaruqui’s case were made in context of landacquisition. Those observations were nei-

ther relevant for deciding the suitsnor relevant for deciding theseappeals,” said Justice AshokBhushan, who read out the judg-ment for himself and the CJI.

The Muslim parties see the SCclarification that made in the 1994case were not relevant for decidingthe suits as a positive takeaway fromthe verdict even as the RSS and theBJP have said that the court’s rulinghas removed a big hurdle in earlydisposal of the Ram temple case.

Reacting to the verdict, KhaliqAhmad Khan, the nominee ofMaulana Mahfuzur Rahman —one of the litigants in the title suit,said, “During the hearing on the titlesuit in the Supreme Court, the other

side always quoted the 1994 judgment thatmosque is not an integral part of Islam. Nowthe court has made it clear that the 1994judgment was related to the land acquisi-tion...

And that it has no connection with thetitle suit. We have achieved our goal as theSupreme Court will hear only the title suit.”

Iqbaal Ansari, another litigant from theSunni Central Waqf Board, welcomed theverdict and said, “The Supreme Court hasmade it clear that the case will be heard onmerits, on the base of the claims of land own-ership... And not on religious beliefs as thehigh court has done.”

He said they were “fighting the case forBabri land on the basis of revenue records”.“Our claim is that there are no historical factsthat any temple was demolished and BabriMasjid was built there,” he added.

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The Supreme Court onThursday restrained the

Orissa High Court BarAssociation and other con-nected associations from goingon strike and asked the strik-ing lawyers to resume the courtwork so that no impediment iscaused in the right of access to

justice of any litigant. Thisorder from the apex courtcame when a three-memberBench headed by Chief JusticeDipak Misra was adjudicatinga writ petition filed by a NewDelhi-based journalist AbhijitIyer Mitra, who has beenbooked by the Odisha policerecently for his disparagingcomments over the famousKonark temple. Contd P4

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Taking seriously the allegedharassment of Odia stu-

dents by locals at the RashtriyaSanskrit Sansthan in Tripura’scapital Agartala, the OdishaGovernment on Thursdaydeputed a two-member team toinvestigate the matter.

Higher EducationDepartment Director BParmeswaran and ShreeJagannath Sanskrit UniversityVice-Chancellor Prof RadhaMadhab Dash left for Agartalato sort out the matter.

After a video of torture

went viral on social media,DGP RP Sharma held talkswith his Tripura counterpart.Subsequently, the local SP vis-ited the students and assuredthem security and help.

Odisha Higher EducationSecretary Bishnupada Sethisaid, “We are going to ensuresecurity if those students areunsafe there.

Police have also beendeployed and there is no prob-lem with the security of the stu-dents. Our high-level teamwould try to sort out the prob-lem there.”

Continued on page 4

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The KIIT Deemed Universityhas made an impressive

debut in The Times HigherEducation World UniversityRankings 2019. The rankings,regarded as one of the mostprestigious, were published onWednesday (September 26).The KIIT is just over 20 years

old as an institution for profes-sional education since 1997and 14 years old as a universi-ty since 2004. But it has got a

place in this coveted and much-awaited ranking, securing animpressive position of 1001+.

Continued on page 4

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Aday after the BJPannounced to hold a week-

long State-wide campaign fromSeptember 30 in support of theCentral Government’sAyushman Bharat healthcareprogramme, Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik flagged off a‘Prachar Rath’ (campaign char-iot) here to make people knowabout the State Government-run Biju Swasthya KalyanYojana (BSKY).

The Rath would move in10 districts of Ganjam,Khordha, Samblpur,Sundargarh, Kalahandi,Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar,Koraput, Cuttack and Balangirand create awareness about

benefits of the BSKY amongpeople in the first phase. TheRath would go to the remain-ing 20 districts in the nextphase.

“All information regard-ing the Biju Swasthya KalyanYojana will be disseminatedthough the Rath. Besides,members of folk art associa-tions of district, block and citylevels will make people under-stand about benefits of thescheme though acting,” saidHealth and Family WelfareMinister Pratap Jena.

Informing that the BSKYwas launched on August 15, theMinister said people irrespec-tive caste, creed, religion,

income and residential loca-tions would get fee treatmentsat all hospitals from health sub-centres to DistrictHeadquarters Hospitals. Asmany as 70 lakh economicallyweak families would get healthsecurity upto Rs 5 lakh and, incase of women, the cover isupto Rs 7 lakh.

All families selected forBiju Krushak Kalyan Yojana,Rashtriya Swasthya BimaYojana and Odisha StateTreatment Fund would be eli-gible for the BKSY, the Ministersaid.

“A new age has begun inthe State’s health sector as awhopping 45 lakh beneficiaries

have been provided free healthservices under the BSKY dur-ing the last month since August15,” said Jena.

Among others, Health andFamily Welfare Secretary DrPramod Kumar Meherda,NHM Direcor Shalini Panditand State Medical CorporationMD Archana Patnaik werepresent.

It may be noted that theBJP has announced to hold aweek-long campaign in theState to make people awareabout the Ayushman Bharatprogramme. The party has atarget to collect signatures ofone crore people in support ofthe Central scheme.

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Noise is ubiquitous andman-made (or anthro-

pogenic). Noise is increasing inmany environments due toincreases in transportation andthe exploration for andexploitation of energy sources.

While humans and animalsare adapted to deal with naturallevels of ambient noise,increased ambient noise levelsfrom human activities canpotentially have a variety ofadverse effects. These couldinclude noise-induced hear-ing loss and auditory systemdamage, temporary hearingloss (called TemporaryThreshold Shift or TTS), and

masking of communicationand other important biologicalsounds.

Increased noise can alsocause behavioural and/or phys-iological changes such asincreased stress, sleep loss, andhormonal changes. Moreover,in water, high intensity signalscan damage non-auditory tis-sues and result in death,although death has rarely beendocumented except when ani-mals are exposed to very highintensity impulsive sound.

While relatively little isknown about the effects ofman-made sounds on fishes, agood deal may be inferredabout the potential effects, andapproaches to the study ofthose effects, from the wealthof data available from humansand laboratory animals. Overthe past decades it has becomeapparent that man-made noisealso has the potential to impactthe lives of aquatic organisms,including sharks, bony fishes,marine turtles, and marinemammals. Indeed, the poten-

tial effects of man-made noisedescribed above for humans,birds and other animals arelikely to be encountered in fish-es and other aquatic animals.

One difficulty in under-standing the effects on fishes,or any nonhuman animal, isthat while most humans havevery similar auditory capabil-ities and sensitivities, the sameis not true for all species oreven for closely related species.Thus, sound sources that mayhave negative consequencesfor one species may not havesimilar consequences foranother.

Another problem is that itis sometimes difficult in animalstudies, and in particular forterrestrial species, to defini-tively identify noise as theprincipal source of non-audi-tory effects, such as stress-related behavioral or physio-logical effects. The generaleffects of noise, and the rela-tionships among these effects,vary with distance from thenoise source.

Fixed-wing aircraft opera-tions at airports typicallyinvolve a large number offlights per day and, because thenoise characteristics of most ofthe large jets are similar to oneanother, the noise climate is rel-atively uniform. Away from air-ports, aircraft fly at very highaltitude so that noise levels onthe ground are low. In addition,there is little concern over air-craft safety.

Helicopter operations arevery different. In general, thepaths, unlike those used byfixed-wing aircraft, vary wide-ly and so at any one locationthe noise pattern is much lessconsistent. The noise levelshave peak values when aircraftsfly low and overhead or take offand land at airports. The noiselimits prescribed by UK air-ports for take-offs are 110PNdB (1 PNdB=dB scale+13)

during day and 102 PNdB dur-ing night.

Helicopter operationsaround the world, and in par-ticular in the United States, aregiving rise to objections overnoise from the general public;in the last two or three yearsthere have been major objec-tions to helicopter use in theNew York and Los Angelesareas.

The development of newheliports, and changes to ser-vices at existing facilities, tendto be controversial and areoften rejected as a result of pub-lic opposition. Such negativeresponse to helicopter opera-tions as a result of noise is a lit-tle difficult to understandbecause most helicopters gen-erate less noise than the noisecertification standards and, inmost cases, meet establishedcommunity noise rating crite-ria and guidelines.

Also, the same ratingmethods are generally consid-ered to be successful in under-standing the environmental

impact of large commercialaircraft and other forms oftransportation, so there appearsto be something different aboutthe way in which helicoptersare perceived.

When the helicopter noiseand complaint informationavailable was examined ini-tially, a number of observationscould not be explained. Thus afew noisy helicopters can cre-ate adverse response whichwill then affect the publicresponse to all helicopters. If,however, the number of oper-ations of noisy helicopters isvery low, this may not alwaysbe the case.

The sound quality of thenoise at levels 20 dB or morebelow the maximum level pro-vides the initial audible cuesthat alert an individual to thepresence of a helicopter, i.e.provide the trigger for the vir-tual noise component.

It follows that improve-ments to the noise signature byreducing or eliminating theimpulsive sources will result in

greater public acceptance irre-spective of the absolute noiselevel generated. It also impliesthat many of today’s small andmedium size helicopters willneed to fly at 2,000 – 4000 ft(600 – 1200 m) or more, andthat the use of noise abatementprocedures for normal opera-tions are essential. Also, theywill need to fly much slowerthan anticipated if impulsivenoise is not to create a problem.

Even so, there is certainlya need for more research intothe subjective response to heli-copter noise – the main activ-ity in this area was over 20 yearsago and there has been littleexamination of these aspectssince then. From the industrypoint of view (operators andmanufacturers), it is essential toestablish what really needs to bedone to improve public accep-tance.

(Dr Senapati is Professorand Head, Department ofChemistry, Trident Academyof Technology, Bhubaneswar-751024)

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Mystery shrouded the deathof an elderly woman, who

died after falling off from herapartment at Jaydev Viharunder the Nayapalli police sta-tion on Thursday.

The deceased was identi-fied as the mother of OdishaPrimary EducationProgramme Authority(OPEPA) Chief AccountsOfficer Nalini Prusty.

Police recovered a hand-

written note from thedeceased’s residence, said cityDCP Anup Sahu.

Though the actual reasonbehind the suicide is yet to beascertained, the woman couldhave taken the drastic stepdue to an alleged family feud.The body has been sent forpostmortem and a probe intothis incident is underway, saidpolice.

Notably, Nalini and herhusband Bijay Ketan Sahu wereearlier arrested by the VigilanceDirectorate on August 31 forallegedly amassing assets dis-proportionate, to their knownsources of income. After theirbail petition was rejected bothof them are now behind bars.

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AState level consultation toprevent child marriage was

organised here on Thursday bythe Voluntary HealthAssociation of India (VHAI).

The representatives fromthe Women and ChildrenDevelopment, Health andFamily Welfare, the PrimaryEducation ProgrammeAuthority (OPEPA) and theOrissa Voluntary HealthAssociation (OVHA) were pre-sent.

Around 200 participants ofthe workshop representingadolescent groups, SHGs andPRI members came fromGanjam, Balangir, Subarnapurand Rayagada districts.

The Government shouldincrease the age of marriage as21 years, said Payal, a partici-pant, adding that girls are facing lots of problems whichcan only be solved if they are

given equal opportunityin life.

The children asked thedignitaries how they can getopportunity to express them-selves more in life and how tobe a leader for change.

As per NHFS-4 report 21.3per cent girls in Odisha are get-ting married before 18 years ofage.

The Ganjam district as perthe Annual Health Survey(2012) is one, where 38 per cent

of the married women betweenthe ages of 20-24 had reportedto have been married beforethey were 18 years of age.

Saswati Patnaik fromWCD, Snigdha Rain fromOPEPA among others spoke.

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Retail businesses will downtheir shutters in the State

on Friday with traders decid-ing to join the nationwideprotest against the Centre’sdecision to allow 100-per centForeign Direct Investment(FDI) in the retail sector.

In view of the protests byretail shops, malgodowns willremain closed.

Confederation of All IndiaTraders (CAIT), Odisha chap-ter president Sudhakar Pandasaid that around 6.35 crore

retailers across the countryincluding Odisha would jointhe strike to protest against theCentre’s decision to allow FDIin the Indian market.

The retailers 12 demandsinclude rollback of the per-mission for FDI in the retailsector.

A memorandum would besent for the reference to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,Panda said.

In another development,pharmacists will also shutdown their business on the dayin view of the nationwide day-

long cease work stir calledagainst the Centre’s decision toallow operation of e-pharma-cies.

Around 22,000 medicineshops across the State willremain closed due to the strike.However, chemist shops pre-sent inside medical colleges andGovernment hospitals willremain open.

“The bandh is being calledto ensure safety of the peoplebecause approval to e-phar-macy is a blunder as it ques-tions the genuineness of themedicines through online,” saidUtkal Chemist and DruggistAssociation president PSatyanaryan.

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In an eviction drive onThursday near Gate No. 1 of

Kalinga Stadium, along theBehera Sahi Road, 31 illegalstructures were demolished.

The eviction was carriedout to provide a clean look tothe entire Kalinga Stadiumcomplex, where the World CupHockey would start fromNovember 28 and end onDecember 16. Under the super-vision of AdditionalCommissioner Bhubaneswar

Development Authority (BDA), the joint eviction team ofBDA, Bhubaneswar MunicipalCorporation (BMC), GeneralAdministration Departmentand Commissionerate Policedemolished the unauthorisedencroachments from `GaudaBasti’ near Behera Sahi,Nayapalli.

During the eviction drive21 asbestos/tin covered hous-es, five tin covered shops, threethatched houses and twothatched cow sheds weredemolished.

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The BJP Mahila Morchawould hold demonstrations

against and burn effigies ofAgriculture Minister PradeepMaharathy in protest againsthis alleged ‘two husbands’remark against women at alldistrict headquarters for twodays on Friday and Saturday.

Morcha State presidentPravati Parida informed this ina statement on Thursday. Shesaid Morcha has been forced totake to the streets as the ChiefMinister didn’t expel

Maharathy even as 72 hourspassed since he made thederogatory remarks againstwomen.

She further informed thatthe Morcha would intensify thestir if the Chief Minister does-n’t drive away him within thenext two days.

“In the past, Maharathyhad talked to a woman MLAwith slangs and now he hasgiven derogatory remarksagainst women. He has lost hismental balance. He has noright to continue in theGovernment,” said Parida.

Among others, vice-presi-dents Niyati Giri and DrAicharya Biswal and State sec-retary Rashmirekha Dash werepresent.

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The Art Vision will organiseits 14th Sangam festival, a

confluence of dance, onSeptember 29 at the RabindraMandap here.

The new choreography tobe presented is ‘Refugee’, adance production whichattempts to bridge the gapbetween the world of artisticexpression and the social real-ity of today world. It is an artistreaction to our times intendedto heal the divisions created byhate and greed through a mes-sage of peace and harmonyconveyed through dance. Thescript is by Devdas Chhotrayand music by Laxmikanta Palit.Concept and choreography isby Ileana Citaristi.

The guest group joiningthis year is the SarfojirajeBhosale Centre from Mumbai,

led by Sangeet Natak Academyawardee Bharat Natyamdancer, Sandhya Purecha. Thegroup will present‘Arthashringara’. It will show-case Dr Purecha’s pioneeringeffort to break the shacklesbetween Shastra andSampradaya.

As an academician, she isdeveloping an elaborate processof learning the Shastra (theo-ry) and being a performer, sheaims at achieving it throughSampradaya (practice). Themusic is by Manoj Desai andchoreography by SandhyaPurecha.

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The much-awaited ‘GhataParibartan’ (soul transfer)

report of the inquiry conduct-ed into alleged irregularities intransfer of Ghatas (souls) tonew idols during theNabakalebar Yatra 2015 wouldnot be made public.

The report was presentedbefore the Jagannath TempleManaging Committee that metunder chairmanship GajapatiDibyasingha Deb here onThursday. Committee mem-bers unanimously decided notto make the report public as itis the top secret matter of theShree Jagannath Temple. Even,contents or a part of contentsof the report would not be sup-plied through Right toInformation Acts (RTI), saidShree Jagannath TempleAdministration ChiefAdministrator PradiptaMohapatra.

He said the Amicus Curiae

has sought more informationon the temple in a letter to him.He said the Amicus Curiae hasstood by the hereditary right ofservitors and has asked them towrite undertakings for timelyconduct of rituals. They wouldalso not be allowed to chewGutkha or tobacco inside thetemple. The SJTA would fixrates of different cooked dish-es in the Nrusingha Mandiraon a sample basis. Later, pricesof Mahaprasad would finalisedconsidering expenditure,informed Mohapatra

The queue system fordevotees to enter the templewould be made compulsoryfrom October 1, for which theSP has been requested to makenecessary arrangements, saidMohapatra.

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All tour programmes ofChief Minister Naveen

Patnaik for the next two dayshave been cancelled ashe is suffering from viralfever and cold, official sourcessaid.

However, he would come

to the State Secretariat duringthe period, the sources added.

A couple of days ago,Patnaik had gone to Chennaito inaugurate the OdishaBhawan there and address aninvestors’ meet ahead of theMake in Odisha Conclavescheduled to be held inNovember here.

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In view of Odisha havinghuge potential to produce

solar power, the StateGovernment is now mulling toset up Floating Solar PhotoVoltaic (FSPV) projects inmajor water reservoirs.

Reservoirs like Hirakud,Chipilima, Upper Kolab,Balimela, Indravati and Rengalican have such projects withtechinical support of EuropeanUnion (EU), said a senior offi-

cial.Recently, the Solar Energy

Corporation of India (SECI)offered to set up 100 MWFSPV projects in Hirakud andChipilima reservoirs.

Solar panels would be setup in these reservoirs for solarpower generation in big scale.Importantly, solar power gen-eration is non-polluting and thesystem would lessen evapora-tion loss of the reservoir, saidexperts.

As the SECI has planned

for 10 giga watt (GW) solarpower through FSPV, it hastaken interest in Odisha, whichis blessed with huge water

bodies, where these projectscan be landed.

The SECI has also request-ed the State Government to

make a feasibility study for 100MW solar project in Hirakudand Chipilima.

The SECI is also eager totake Green EnergyDevelopment CorporationLimited (GEDCOL) as its part-ner for developing the floatingsolar projects.

A similar offer has alsobeen made to the OdishaHydro Power Corporation(OHPC). Floating SolarProjects have advantage of notasking for any land, acquisitionof which is a big problem forthe State Government.

Secondly, by setting FSPVprojects on the reservoirs, huge

revenue can be generated as theproject proponents will begoing for long term lease,opined officials. And theseprojects can come within ashort period of time.

In view of these, the StateGovernment has shown inter-est in roping in EU support fortechnical support.

While several rounds ofmeeting have already beenconducted, officials said theywould chalk out a road map forthis purpose soon. They toostated that environment andsocial impact would be assessedbefore taking a final decision inthis regard.

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The World Tourism Day wasobserved on September 27.

Now, tourism is given the sta-tus of an industry world over.

There are countries whosemain source of income istourism. So, management oftourism is an important issue.The connectivity by air, waterand land must be well managedto the best satisfaction of thetourists.

Accommodation facilityand well-informed and quali-fied guides also are also key toattract tourists. Besides, thebehaviour and dealing of allconcerned should be pleasing.The sculptures and the anthro-pological value based artshould be well maintained anddisplayed.

If the tourism sector ofOdisha is well managed, it canattract more and more peoplewith a rise in revenue genera-tion and employment. Thewildlife wing of the State ForestDepartment is a part and par-

cel of the tourism sector. It isassigned with the duties ofconservation and managementof nature and natural resourcesof the State. Hence, in theMake In Odisha programme,the tourism sector should begiven much of importance.

Forest dwellers are mainlyfound in the valleys boundedby hillocks. Badarama,Baisipali, Chandaka Damapara,Debrigarh, Hadagrah, Karlapat,Khalasuni, Kotagarh, Kuldhia,Lakhari, Nandankanan,Satkoshia, Similipal andSundabeda are areas famous forthe forest dweller communities.There are also attractive placesinside the hill ranges of EasternGhat.

The Khandadhar,Machhakunda and Baitaranigorge of Ghatagaon, etc.,should be developed. The con-

nectivity problem to these areastoo should be sorted out.Development of modernamenities in these areas canmake them more alluring.

Besides the Eastern Ghatsand hill-bound tourist spots, wehave very rich biodiversityspots in the coastal plains andon the boundaries of the Bay ofBengal. We have very longstretch of sea-coast of about500 km.

The entire stretch of coastalboundary can be improved astourist view points. The richbiodiversity hubs likeB a l u k h a n d - K o n a r k ,Bhitarkanika, Gahirmatha andChilika (Nalabana) should bemade attractive for the tourists.

The river mouths of

Budhabalang, Subarnarekha,Brahmani- Baitarani,Mahanadi and Rushikalya arethe prominent hubs of ourcoastal ecology.

The flora and fauna com-positions provide ample oppor-tunity for research. Besides, themost important estuarine eco-logical field is seen in theChilika lagoon andBitarankanika sanctuary. Thebiodiversity of Chilika isunique. It is a hot spot with richcomposition of flora and fauna.

Presently, the Chilika isunder threat from both natur-al and anthropogenic pressure.The problem is siltation,changes in salinity concentra-tion, increase in fresh waterweeds, increase in aquacul-

ture activities, decrease in fishproduction, change in spicescomposition and excessiveextraction of bio-resources andultimate loss of bio-diversity.The Chilika DevelopmentAuthority (CDA) was createdin 1992 with an aim to addressthe problems. But the problemsare not addressed; rather, theyare increasing.

A serious problem is arti-ficial cultivation of prawns,which spoils the natural qual-ity of water, soil and entire envi-ronment.

There should be capitalinvestment for protection, con-servation and scientific man-agement of Chilika spread over1 lakh hectares of area.

Recently, a new mouth ofChilika lagoon is created atArakhakud due to heavy rainin the catchment areas of rivers

joining the lagoon. It is a boonto scientific management of thelagoon.

The concentration of salt inthe lagoon water will be bal-anced. The mouths of thelagoon always work for inletand outlet of water in relationto sea. It is a continuous processof nature for providing betterhabitat to the flora and faunaof the wetland.

Similarly, we have vastarchaeological fields in ourState, but they are not proper-ly and scientifically managed.Let us take the example of SunTemple of Konark and SivaTemple of Lingaraj atBhubaneswar. How long canthey survive without propercare? Lots of pilgrims are com-ing every year to these places,besides the Jagannath Temple,Puri.

These places should beprovided with tourists friend-ly amenities.

Further, we have 62 typesof tribal art and culture. Thesearts can be better projectedbefore our tourists for betterappreciations. Our attemptappears to be zero in thisrespect.

The tribal boys can be bet-ter used for development ofeco-tourisms. The youngstersof tribal lands should be welltrained to develop the localtourism. We will get doublebenefits by that.

The idle human resourcescan be better utilised and rev-enue generation can beincreased.

(The writer lives atSailashree Vihar, Bhubaneswar.Mob: 9937460649,[email protected])

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Tension prevailed in Soro ofBaleswar district on

Thursday after two journalistswere attacked allegedly by localMLA Parsuram Dhada over atrivial issue.

The scribes working withtwo leading private news chan-nels were later admitted tohospital for treatment.

Sources said the MLA wasstaging a dharna in front of thelocal agriculture office protest-ing “irregularities” in the imple-mentation of the Biju KrushakKalyan Yojana (BKKY). Whenthe two journalists took pic-tures and videos of the protest

in their mobile phones, the leg-islator and his supportersallegedly abused the two andthrashed them leaving themcritically injured. The MLA’ssupporters also allegedly tookaway their phones and deleted

all the recordings.However, the MLA refuted

the allegations, saying that hedid not attack anyone; rather,the two journalists were drunkand misbehaved with somelocals present on the spot.

��

Adiploma engineering stu-dent fell off a waterfall

from a height of as much as 200feet at Nalichuan under theBhatli police limits in Bargarhdistrict on Thursday.

The victim, identified asRahul Das, who was hospi-talised, has sustained criticalinjuries in his waist and back.

According to reports, Das,a resident of Govindapalli inBargarh town, had gone on anouting with five friends afterinforming his parents that hewas going to college.

While mounting a smallportion of the waterfall, his legs slipped, as a result of which he tumbled down from it.

��

To support the StateGovernment’s initiative to

promote a new variety of pota-to, the Pepsico is planning toestablish its potato chips unit inKoraput.

An MoU is going to besigned between the StateGovernment and Pepsico soonto set up a potato chips facto-ry in Koraput, informedDirector of Horticulture BijayKetan Upadhyaya.

The Government has start-ed producing a new variety ofpotato ‘Chipsona’ on experi-mental basis since Kharif sea-son in Koraput. The potatochips variety has been culti-vated in 800 hectare for mak-ing chips in the district, theofficial said.

The key feature of thepotato variety is that it will beproduced in Kharif seasoninstead of Rabi season and thehilly area of Koraput district issuitable for ‘Chipsona’ potato.

If the new variety of pota-to becomes successful inKoraput, the farming would bedone in other tribal districtsincluding Kandhamal andMayurbhanj, Upadhyaya said.

Pepsico will make its futureplan clear after reviewing theharvesting of Chipsona potatovariety in Koraput.

Besides, sweets and snacksmanufacturer Haldiram is alsoseeking to promote Odishafarmers if the Chipsona farm-ing would be successful inKoraput, he said.

Besides, the Government isalso planning to produceanother variety of potato‘Ashok’ in the State, Upadhyayasaid.

��

The Shiv Sena, Ganjam dis-trict on Wednesday sent a

memorandum to the StateGovernment through the RDC(Southern Range) and Ganjam district Collectordemanding reopening of the Balaji Spinning Mill atAska, which has been closedafter the Cyclone Phailin in2013.

The members alleged thathundreds of workers of the mill

have lost their livelihood forclosure of the mill. Despiterepeated demands, the StateGovernment has turned a deafear to their demand.

The Sena threatened totake to the streets and burneffigy of the Chief Minister atblock levels from October 1 ifthe mill is not reopened bythen.

Among others, SenaGanjam president SanatanChoudhury, youth president PTulsiya Reddy, Brahmapurpresident Anil Sahu, SantoshPadhy, Durga Mishra,Jogendra Prasad and GaneshMaharana were present.

��

In a tragic incident, a marriedcouple committed suicide in

Jajpur district on Wednesdayafter the death of theirThalassemia-affected seven-year-old son.

Pradip Jena and Pravati ofUdrang village underBinjharpur block took theextreme step by consumingpoison in their bedroom.

The couple had lost their

mental stability after they losttheir only son Om onSeptember 23. When they werenot sighted at home in theevening, the family memberswith help of the villagers brokeopen their bedroom door andrescued them. They rushedthe couple to the DistrictHeadquarters Hospital, wherethe doctors declared themdead.

Six months ago, the cou-ple’s five year-old daughter hadalso died of Thalassemia.Locals said Pradip and Pravatiwere completely broken andliving in trauma as they losttheir two children in sixmonths.

��

Union Petroleum and SkillDevelopment Minister

Dharmendra Pradhan inau-gurated a Prime Minister SkillDevelopment Centre atDharmagarh in Kalahandi dis-trict on Thursday in the pres-ence of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

Pradhan said the skilldevelopment centre would helplocal youths in enhancing skillsand becoming self reliant interms of earning livelihoods.Training programmes on dif-ferent trades in duration of

three months, six months, ninemonths and a year would beimparted by the Centre, he said.

A total of 1,000 youths willbe provided training on biofarming, plumber work, tai-loring, and electric repairing atthe Centre each year. Then, ajob fair would be ornganised toprovide income source to each

of them. The skill developmentcentre has a special aim to linetraditional arts with skill pro-gramme.

Shree Shree RuralDevelopment Trust has set upthe Centre in support of theUnion Ministry of the SkillDevelopment andEntrepreneurship.

��

The Senior Citizens’ Daywill be observed here on

October 1 with a series of dis-trict-level programmes.Around 500 senior citizenswould attend the function.

A meeting regarding theprogramme was held under thechairmanship of ADM ManasRanjan Padhi. CDMOBibekanada Das, DSP CrimeSudarshan Dash, DSSOKamlakanta Behera, Sub-Collector Sadar NiluMohapatra, DIPRO SubashNihal and Laxmidhar Beheraamong others were present.

A health checkup camp aswell as medicine distributionwould be held for the senior cit-izens. Besides, yoga educationwould be given by the Prajapita

Iswariya Maha Vidyalaya. DrNima Sapathy would provideoccupational therapy tips.

��

People in many villages inKeonjhar district are in a

state of fear now as elephantherds have damaged housesand paddy crops and are stillmoving near their villages.

A herd of 23 elephantsdestroyed 12 houses, out ofwhich three were completelybroken and nine partly dam-aged, in Suluguda village underChampua forest range duringthe last 24 hours. Similarly, 13elephants coming in a group

have damaged paddy in acresof land in Jamunalia villageunder the Keonjhar Sadarrange.

While people were expect-ing a good harvest this year, ele-phant menace has broken theirdreams.Meanwhile, DFOSantosh Joshi has assured thatpeople would be given com-pensation for houses and cropsdamaged by pachyderms. Hetoo stated that trenches wouldbe dug in vulnerable areas as apermanent solution to the ele-phant menace.

��

Balangir DFO SameerSatpathy has placed Forest

Guard Itishree Badhia undersuspension for serious negli-gence and dereliction of dutyresulting in the death of a wildelephant.

On September 19th, a maleelephant died at Upparjhar inthe Balangir Forest Divisiondue to electrocution.

Although initially, it wasreported as a female elephant,after postmortem it was knownas an adult male elephant.

However, Itishree Badhiatold this correspondent, “I havedone my duty sincerely andinformed the higher authoritiesabout the development at thefield. I have already informedabout the incident to our asso-ciation. I want my suspensionto be withdrawn.”

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The Sambalpur Universitythat witnessed an unpleas-

ant situation due to conflictbetween teachers and studentson September 24 functionedsmoothly.

However, the syndicate thatmet on Thursday decided thatan external high power com-mittee would inquire into thematter and recommend foraction against people, informedVC Prof Deepak Behera.

“A committee with mem-bers from totally outside wasimmediately constituted withretired judge PR Dube, onesenior staff each from VSSIM-SAR and VSSUT, Burla and oneas Collector’s nominee. Theywill give their report within astipulated time limit,” informedthe VC.

“Since the present syndi-

cate members are from teach-ing faculties only, their reportmay not be termed as impartial.Hence, we decided to form acommittee with totally out-siders as members and conductthe inquiry,” the VC added.

The committee will inquireinto two incidents. One- lock-ing up the PG council gate onSeptember 3 where 12 teachingstaff, including five women,were confined for hours. Thesecond one is on an altercationbetween Prof Rajat Kujur anda student on September 24.

“Once, we get the report,the punishment to be imposedon students or teachers will bedecided,” Prof Behera said fur-ther.

“If the students will main-tain high sense of discipline,then university authorities willensure election in the campusat any cost,” the VC said.

Due to the current situa-tion in the campus, the Burlapolice detained two students ofthe university belonging toBJD and ABVP and laterreleased them.

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From page 1When the Supreme Court

learnt from Mitra’s counselthat his client’s liberty is beingaffected and he is not able tomove the High Court of Orissa,where the lawyers are on strikefor about a month now, theapex court ordered the lawyersto resume court work so thatthe petitioner as well as otherlitigants are able to approachthe courts for protection oftheir liberty.

Taking note of the riftbetween the Odisha police andthe lawyers over certain pend-ing criminal cases against somepolicemen and an advocate, theSupreme Court directed theState DGP to transfer the inves-tigation of these cases to theIGP of Crime Branch, whoshall personally investigate thecases.

The Bench also expressedthe hope that the IGP shall con-duct the investigation with allsincerity, concern and objec-tivity.

Meanwhile, following thereceipt of a communicationfrom the Registrar General ofOrissa High Court along withthe Thursday’s order of theSupreme Court, the OrissaHigh Court Bar Associationsecretary convened a meetingof all the bar associations ofCuttack in the High CourtAssociation hall at 9.30 am onFriday.

From page 1Union Minister

Dharmendra Pradhan alsospoke to Tripura Chief MinisterBiplab Kumar Deb andrequested him to provide secu-rity to the Odia students.Pradhan said Deb has assuredhim to provide adequate secu-rity to the students. Later in aTweet, the Tripura ChiefMinister said, “Students fromOdisha are Tripura’s childrentoo. No antisocial activitiesshall be allowed on the land ofMa Tripursundari. I assure fullprotection for students from

across India in Tripura.”The torture on Odia stu-

dents in Tripura came to thefore on Wednesday night afteraround 90 students of theRashtriya Sanskrit Sansthanalong with 10 teachers posteda video on the internet.

In the video, they describedtheir ordeal and pleaded forhelp from the OdishaGovernment. As per their alle-gations, Odia students includ-ing girls were attacked by agroup of classmates a few daysback for not participating in astrike.

From page 1It is the only self-financing

university in the entire easternIndia to enter into this ranking,which also features IITs andNITs in Odisha. A few well-known and old deemed uni-versities from south India havefound place in the report whilethe KIIT has got the same suc-cess with similar position.

Expressing happiness overthe development, KIIT & KISSfounder Prof Achyuta Samantasaid, “This achievement has

been possible due to the bless-ings of the Almighty coupledwith the hard work and relent-less efforts of the staffs and stu-dents.” The KIIT, which wasstarted in a rented house withjust Rs 5,000, now has a glob-al recognition and is placedamong the top 1001+ univer-sities of the world, he added.

The Times HigherEducation World UniversityRankings is an annual publica-tion of university rankings byTimes Higher Education

(THE). At present, universitiesacross 86 countries are repre-sented. It is the only global uni-versity performance table tojudge research-intensive uni-versities across all of their coremissions.

Rankings parametersinclude teaching, research, cita-tions, industry income, inter-national outlook as well asnumber of students, number ofstudents per staff, internation-al students and male and femalestudent ratio.

��

Following the DefenceMinistry’s nod for the pro-

posed port project on theSubarnarekha river mouth atthe Bay of Bengal in Baleswar district, the decksare cleared for the project’s con-struction from October thisyear.

The Subarnarekha portwould be developed at a cost ofRs 4,000 crore and its con-struction would begin fromOctober, informed Commerceand Transport Minister DrNrusingha Charan Sahu afterchairing a meeting here onThursday.

The project work, forwhich there is no problemrelating to land acquisition,would be completed in 36months, he said.

In June, the DefenceMinistry gave clearance forthe project construction.

The all-weather deep-draftcommercial port, to be developed by the Chennai-based Creative Port PrivateLtd (CPPL) would have aninitial capacity of 10 milliontonnes per annum (MTPA),which would be raised to 40MTPA over 10 years.

Notably, the CPPL hadsigned an MoU with the StateGovernment on December 18,2006 to develop the project.Later, a revenue-sharing agreement was signed betweenthe two sides on January 11,2008.

Meanwhile, the Tata Steelhas signed an agreement withthe CPPL to get 51 per cent ofequity in the project from theoriginal promoters.

The Central Governmentgave environment clearance tothe project in 2012. However,the project could not be executed with the objectionsraised by the Defence Ministry,which, however, gave its con-ditional clearance on June 5.

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According to The WorldUniversity Rankings,

announced recently by TheTimes Higher Education(THE), the Indian Institute ofTechnology (IIT),Bhubaneswar ranks at601–800 out of 1,258 bestinstitutions ranked world-wide.

Within India IITBhubaneswar is ranked 10thalong with a few other insti-tutions out of 49 institutionsconsidered for the ranking.The parameters cover teach-ing, research, citations, indus-try income and internationaloutreach.

The strongest pillar of theinstitute has been researchcitations where it is ranked424 in the world. Director ofIIT Bhubaneswar Prof RVRaja Kumar, expressing hishappiness, congratulated thefaculty, staff and students ofthe institute.

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The Vigilance police onThursday raided the houses

and office of Jharigaon Large AreaMulti-Purpose Cooperative Society(LAMPCS) Managing DirectorMansai Panka on the charge ofacquisition and possession of prop-erty disproportionate to his knownsources of income.

Officials of the anti-corruptionwing raided Panka’s residentialhouse and paternal house atBharandiparam under theJharigaon police limits, a single-sto-ried building at Umarkote and hisoffice at Jharigaon in the district.

Sources said the search opera-tion was conducted as per a war-rant issued by the Jeypore SpecialVigilance Judge.

The total amount of dispro-portionate assets possessed by theLAMPCS MD would be ascer-tained only after completion of thesearch drives, sources said.

��

Dakhin Odisha UnnayanParishad (DOUP) con-

venor Rabi Rath andRushikulya Rayat Mahasabhasecretary Simanchal Nahak onThursday supported the agita-tion by villagers of Aryapalligram panchayat against theOrissa Sands Complex(OSCOM), which enteredninth day on Wednesday.

Rath and Nahak held dis-cussions with the agitators andsought intervention of the State

Government for fulfilling thelong-pending demands of thevillagers.

The demands includeimplementing of the packagefor the villagers, withdrawal ofcases against the 12 persons,checking pollution from themonozite plant and providingemployment to youths.

The villagers said that afterits inception, locals haddemanded employment in theOSCOM. In 2011, the compa-ny acquired land promisingemployment to the local youthsand compensation but has notfulfilled the promise.

Later on September 18,the villagers obstructedOSCOM’s dredging operation

in the northern side ofAryapalli, protesting the callousattitude of the company’sauthorities in meeting theirdemands. Taking benefit of it,the OSCOM authorities lodgeda complaint against the agita-tors, following which a case wasregistered against 12 villagers.

Even if the villagers hadapprised the RDC (southerndivision) about the issue inJanuary 2018 and he haddirected the OSCOM officialsto meet the demands by June-end but yet no action has beentaken. Rath also alleged thatinstead of resolving the issue,the Ganjam administration istrying to suppress the voice ofvillagers.

��

Police on Thursday retrieveda body of a partially blind

PhD scholar of the RavenshawUniversity from a drain adja-cent to the New PG Hostel inthe campus, where the scholarfrom Balangir district was stay-ing for over a month.

“The body of KushadharBag, a research scholar ofPolitical Science Department,was retrieved from the drain,”said Malgodown PoliceInspector Debi Prasad Patra,adding that there were injurymarks on the body.

While the universityauthorities maintained that thescholar had fallen from thehostel terrace, the BlindAssociation of Odisha allegedthat the scholar was murderedby some antisocial elements.

“We are waiting for thepostmortem report to ascertainthe cause of the death; and bas-ing on the allegations of theBlind Association, the univer-sity Vice-Chancellorhas ordered for an in-house

inquiry into it,” informed uni-versity Registrar MaheswarAgasti.

��

The BJP Mahila Morcha,Phulbani unit has called for

a Phulbani Bandh on Fridaydemanding justice for the nine-year-old girl, who was rapedand murdered on September22, informed Morcha unit pres-ident Archana Pradhan here ata Press meet.

She said during the BJDregime, such heinous crimes areincreasing rapidly.

They would protest againstthe rise in the incidents ofrape and murder of minor girlsin the State.

The law and order situationhas been rapidly deterioratingin the State, she alleged. Among

others, leader Smita Mahanty,former Councillor NamitaSahu, BJP district president

Lingaraj Dalabehera and sec-retary Bhagaban Mahanty were present.

��

Bhubaneswar received theBest Smart City award at

the three-day internationalconference, ‘Smart City ExpoIndia 2018’ held at JaipurExhibition and ConventionCentre (JECC) in Sitapurarecently. The capital cityreceived this award for its com-munity mobilisation and com-munity development, whichforms a part of the SociallySmart programme. TheSocially Smart programme is ajoint collaboration ofBhubaneswar Smart CityLimited and United NationsPopulation Fund (UNFPA) and

gives focus on the needs ofyoung people, security of girlsand women, especially in slumareas. Under this programme,320 adolescent girls from eightslums have been given trainingon self-defence and 22 slumsaround Bhubaneswar got theopen defecation free status.

��

As many as 49 children,including 26 boys and 23

girls, were rescued fromAndhra Pradesh by a 13-member team of police officersled by Inspector Tushil KumarMajhi and a District ChildProtection Officer (DCPO)during the Paree-II campaign.

On their return, the chil-dren were welcomed at a spe-cial programme organised inthe Commissionerate Police

headquarters here onThursday.

Presiding over the pro-gramme, DGP Dr RP Sharmaappreciated the effort of theOdisha police and members ofW and CD Department inrescuing the children in a veryshort span of time.

Crime ADGP SantoshUpadhayay, IGP Arun Bothraand SP Madkar SandeepSampat also spoke about thespecial campaign.

It might be mentioned

here that the special drive forrescue and rehabilitation ofmissing children named as“Operation Paree-II” waslaunched on September 1,2018 and would continue tillSeptember 30.

During the first phase ofthe operation, i.e, fromSeptember 1 to 15 which wasfocused only inside the State,and about 2,189 childrenincluding 1,826 boys and 363girls were rescued.

While in the second phase,

i.e, from September 16 to 30,total eight teams atRange/Commissionerate levelwere formed and have beensent to eight States such asAndhra Pradesh, Telengana, Chhattisgarh,Jharkhand, West Bengal,Maharashtra, New Delhi andTamil Nadu.

As many as 92 children,including 55 boys and 37 girls,have been rescued tillSeptember 25 in the secondphase from different States.

��

The kendu leaf workersunder Jharsuguda Kendu

Leaf Division on Tuesday helda demonstration before theCollectorate.

Starting from the RailwayInstitute of the town, the work-ers started a large processionwith placards giving slogans,which reached the districtCollector office through themain road. The representa-tives handed over a 9 -pointcharter of demands to theCollector for the ChiefMinister.

They said some vestedgroups are trying to privatisekendu leaf trade. Even in thename of GST, high tax is beinglevied on kendu leaf and bidi.As a result, the trade is adverse-ly affected. The Forest depart-ment and OFDC are beingforced to sell kendu leaf andbidi at low price. Kendu leafpluckers and seasonal workersare facing acute financial crisisas a result of distress sale,alleged the agitators, whoadded that the poor workers inthe sector are not able to main-

tain their families.They demanded that the

kendu leaf sector be not priva-tized and Gram Sabha meetingbe held to maintain status quoin kendu leaf trade, withdraw-al of GST, Provident Fund andpension scheme, payment ofwages to pluckers in 2/3 install-ments after collection, pay-ment of new minimum wageand 20 per cent bonus.

State president of the asso-ciation of kendu leaf workersBijay Mohanty, secretaryJogendranath Tripathy, GokulMeher, Sanjit Mohanty, PradipSahoo, Bipin Biswal andUmesh Pradhan among otherswere present.

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A day after the StateGovernment suspended

six Fire Services personnel fornegligence in their duties, theindefinite cease-work agita-tion by the Fire Servicesemployees was called off onThursday.

Around 5,000 Firemen andHavildars engaged in 341 dif-ferent fire stations hadembarked on the strike fromSeptember 24 demanding ful-filment of their six-point char-ter of demands. Their demandsincluded equal pay at par withOdisha police Havildars andConstables, Governmentrecognition, regularisation ofcontractual workers, pensionand retirement benefits forretired personnel, eight work-ing hours and filling of vacantspots.

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The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) on Thursday

filed a chargesheet against threepersons at a designated court inPatna in connection with thecase relating to recovery andexplosion of IEDs at BodhGaya Temple Complex, Biharin January this year.

The three persons have beenchargesheeted for their involve-ment in terrorist act of plantingthree IEDs in and around BodhGaya temple complex on January19. The chargesheeted accusedinclude Paigambar Sheikh aliasAbdul Aziz, Ahmad Ali aliasKalu and Nur Alam Momin, allresidents of Murshidabad districtof West Bengal. They have beenchargesheeted under varioussections of Unlawful Activities(Prevention) Act and ExplosiveSubstances Act besides the pro-visions of the Indian Penal Code.

The case was initially reg-istered by the Bihar Police fol-lowing information that somesuspicious objects were lyingnear the Kalchakra Maidan,Bodhgaya under a generatorset. The police secured the siteand during the search of thewhole premises two more liveIEDs were recovered. Later on,the case was taken over by theNIA.

NIA probe has alsorevealed the involvement ofaccused Jahidul Islam aliasKausar of Jamalpur,Bangladesh, MustafizurRahman alias Shaheen ofBirbhum, West Bengal, AdilSheikh and Abdul Karim ofMurshidabad besides ArifHussain of Barpeta, Assam.Four of these accused personswere arrested in August 2018while accused Arif Hussain isstill absconding.

"Investigation brought out

that accused Jahildul Islam is asenior member of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (JMB), Bangladeshand Mustafizur Rahman is hisclose confidant. AccusedPaigambar Sheikh, Ahmad Ali,Nur Alam, Adil Sheikh, DilwarHossain, Abdul Karim andArif Hussain are all membersof JMB. Accused Jahidul Islamalias Kausar and MustafizurRahman entered into a con-spiracy with their other asso-ciates to carry out terror inci-dents in India by way of plant-ing IEDs and carrying outexplosions at symbols ofBuddhist faith in order to showsolidarity with the RohingyaMuslims fighting withMyanmar Government and tocause loss to public life andproperty, to wage war againstGovernment of India and tooverawe the Government ofIndia," the NIA said in itschargesheet.

The NIA further said, "Infurtherance of the conspiracy,the accused persons contactedand assembled together at var-ious places, took hideouts atJahanabad and Masaurhi inBihar, carried out reconnais-sance of the targets at BodhGaya and procured explosivesand other materials for manu-facture of the IED."

Accused Jahidul Islamwith the help of other co-accused made three IEDs andtwo hand grenades. The IEDswere planted by Adil Sheikh,Dilwar Hossain and ArifHussain in the premises ofBodh Gaya temple complex onJanuary 19 in order to causeloss to public life and proper-ty during the presence of theDalai Lama and also during thevisit of Bihar Governor at BodhGaya. These acts constitutecommitting a terrorist act, theagency added.

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In a significant order that willhave immediate impact in

poll-bound Telangana, theElection Commission hasdirected that on prematuredissolution of a LegislativeAssembly, the Model Code ofConduct will immediatelycome into effect and will con-tinue to be in force till the com-pletion of fresh polls for con-stituting a new House. This willbe applicable for both State andCentre.

The code of conduct is trig-gered when the EC announcesthe schedule for elections ofeither State Assembly orParliament .

The order, which comesweeks after the TelanganaAssembly was dissolved pre-maturely by the TRSGovernment, has been issuedin view of the Supreme Court

observations in the S RBommai and Others Vs Unionof India and Others (1994). Theorder States that the caretakerGovernment should merelycarry on day-to-day work anddesist from taking any majorpolicy decision.

In a communication to theCabinet secretary and chiefsecretaries of all States andUnion territories sent onThursday, EC said the modelcode of conduct in cases of pre-

mature dissolution of legislativeAssembly shall come into oper-ation with immediate effect andcontinue to remain in force tillcompletion of the election toconstitute the new Assembly.

Consequently, neither thecaretaker State Governmentnor the Central Governmentcan announce any newschemes or projects in respectof the poll-bound State orundertake any of the activitiesprohibited under the ModelCode of Conduct.

"The provisions of theaforesaid Part-VII of ModelCode of Conduct shall apply onthe caretaker State Governmentas well as on the CentralGovernment in so far as mat-ters relating to that state areconcerned... Consequently, nei-ther the caretaker StateGovernment nor the CentralGovernment shall announceany new schemes, projects, etc.

in respect of that State orundertake any of the activitiesprohibited under the afore-said Part-VII of the ModelCode of Conduct. Para-VII ofthe model code lays downboundaries for the party inpower, thus defining bound-aries for conduct ofGovernment of the poll-boundState as well as Centre regard-ing policy decisions concerningthat State," the communiquéread.

EC ruled that other prohi-bitions such as use of officialresources for any non-officialpurposes, combining of officialvisit with electioneering work,etc. shall apply on all Ministersand other authorities of thecaretaker State Government,the Central Government aswell as Governments of otherStates.

According to EC, the 2001agreement between the Centre

and the EC, however, impos-es a condition that the electionannouncement by the pollpanel cannot be more thanthree weeks before the date ofnotification of polls.The imple-mentation of a model codebars Governments from takingpolicy decisions, which havethe potential of influencingvoters.

EC is current in the midstof a summary revision of theelectoral rolls of the State,which are due to be publishedon October 8, 2018. It is expect-ed that the Assembly polls toTelangana and four other States— Madhya Pradesh,Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan andMizoram — will be announcedsoon after that.

Recently, an app cVIGILhas been launched throughwhich citizens can report vio-lations of the code ahead ofother political parties.

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India has improved upon itsWorld University Rankings

2019 with a record 49 institu-tions from the country findingplace among the best universi-ties in the world. However, noIndian varsity figures amongtop 200. Last year 42 Indianvarsities were ranked among1000 best institutions globally.

While Indian Institute ofScience (IISc) in Bangaloreremained the top school fromthe country, India has somefresh names including thenewly established IndianInstitute of Technology inIndore (IIT Indore) making animpressive debut in the globalrankings, as per the latest TimesHigher Education (THE) WorldUniversity Rankings 2019 pub-lished on Wednesday.

HRD Minister PrakashJavadekar expressed happiness

over India's 33 institutes beingplaced within 1000 best of theworld institutes as compared tolast year ranking which had 30Indian institutes under thesame THE rankings. "This yeareight new institutes have madetheir place in the top 1000which includes IIT Indore, JSSAcademy of Higher Education& Research, Mysore, IISER(Pune) amongst others,"Javadekar said.

However, all Indian insti-tutes are outside the top 200global list that is topped byOxford University. Globally,Oxford claims first position fora third consecutive year fol-lowed by Cambridge andStanford University.

The MassachusettsInstitute of Technology (MIT)rises one place to number fourbut the California Institute ofTechnology drops two places tonumber five. TsinghuaUniversity of China is the newnumber one school in Asiareplacing National Universityof Singapore.

While IISc was kept in the

250-300 ranking cohort, IITIndore made its debut with apresence in the 351-400 bestuniversities group ahead ofestablished IITs in Delhi,Madras and Mumbai. IITBombay with a global rankingin the 401-500 group is thethird best from India and hasslipped in the latest ranking by50 places when compared withits previous ranking.

IIT Roorkee, however,improved its ranking by 100places to be clubbed in thesame group as IIT Bombay.

Interestingly, two privateinstitutes-Karnataka-basedJagadguru Sri ShivarathreeswaraUniversity now renamed as JSSAcademy of Higher Educationand Research, and Tamil Nadu-based Amrita University havemade the most progress in the2019 rankings among Indianinstitutes.

Besides, three new IITsand two Indian Institute ofScience Education andResearch (IISER) have found aplace among the top 1,000universities in the world.

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Ahead of coming Assemblypolls in Madhya Pradesh

this year, Public InvestmentBoard (PIB) of Ministry ofFinance has approved �13,359 crore for metro projects inBhopal and Indore. After PIBclearance, the projects willgo to the Union Cabinet. Theidea of setting up metro railsin Bhopal and Indore wasconceived in 2009. This is thef irst metro proposals,approved after the imple-mentation of new Metro Railpolicy.

Top sources said PIB hasapproved �6,962 crore forBhopal metro while �6,397crore for Indore metro. In thefirst phase, 27.87 km would becovered in Bhopal while 31.55km would be covered inIndore. These two metro railprojects will impact at least

three dozen Assembly seats inthe State. There will be 30 sta-tions each in both these metroline. The per km expenses isexpected to be between �182-200 crore.

Sources further statedthat during the PIB meeting,some members have suggest-ed that metro would not beviable for these two States andthe State Government shouldconsider for light rail trans-port system but the samewas rejected. After PIB clear-ance, the projects will go tothe Union cabinet . TheMadhya PradeshGovernment had alreadyappointed consultants for thetwo metro projects. TheShivraj Singh ChouhanGovernment plans to expe-dite construction of the pro-jects in the State's capitaland business hub in the back-drop of Assembly elections

this year.The Indore Metro system

will be a rapid transit systemand the metro will providefree Wi-Fi connectivity for thecommuters. The Project willnot only run on road bridgesand in some undergroundlocation. The project will bethe first driver less trains inIndia. The project is set to becompleted before 2020.

The Madhya Pradesh cab-inet approved the detailedproject reports of the Bhopaland Indore metro rails inDecember 2016 at a cost of�14,485.55 crore. The Indoremetro corridor will coverPalasia, Rajwara, BadaGanpati, Airport, Bhawarsala,MR10, Vijay Nagar, Radissonand Bangali Chouraha in thephase-I while the one corridorof the Bhopal metro will cover14.99 km connecting KarondSquare, Bhopal Talkies,

Railway Station, BharatTalkies, Bogda Pul, ShubhashNagar underpass, DB Mall,Board Office Square, HabibGang, Naka, Alkapuri BusStand and AIIMS.

The second corridor ofmetro will cover 12.88 kmstretch connecting DepotSquare, Jawahar Chowk,Roshanpura Square, MintoHall, Lily Talkies, Jinsi Depot,Bogda Pul, Prabhat Square,Apsara Talkies, GovindIndustries Area, J.K.Road andRatnagiri Tiraha. According tosources, Bhopal and Indoremetros will be both elevatedand underground.

As per plan, the proposedlength of entire Indore metroproject is 104.25 km and theestimated cost is �26,762 crorewhile the length of the Bhopalmetro is 95.03 km and theestimated cost is �22,504crore.

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The Supreme Court said onThursday that incidents of

sexual abuse in shelter homeshave "spread like cancer" andblasted the authorities for "wait-ing" to take action despite thefact that 1,575 minors havebeen abused in such homesacross the country.

A bench comprisingJustices Madan B Lokur, SAbdul Nazeer and DeepakGupta expressed anguish thatno concrete action has beentaken to curb these incidents.

"1,575 minors have beensexually abused and you are stillwaiting. How long are yougoing to wait?," the benchobserved. The court's observa-tion came after it was informedby the counsel appearing forNational Commission forProtection of Child Rights(NCPCR) that they have sharedthe data of social audit of suchhomes with the Centre and ameeting was held in the firstweek of this month.

During the hearing, thebench observed that several ofthese shelter homes were beingrun by the NGOs and the situ-ation was getting worse.

"The sad part is that NGOsare running (many of) thesehomes. Where will we go? Whodo we depend upon?," thebench said, adding, "it is gettingworse and worse. The more youlook into it, the more serious theproblems are".

The bench has posted thematter for hearing on October4. The apex court had earlierasked the Centre to considerframing a child protection pol-icy and observed that accordingto social audit conducted by theMinistry of Women and ChildDevelopment from 2015 toMarch last year, 1,575 childrenwere abused and were now liv-ing in the shelter homes.

The court, which has takencognisance of the Muzaffarpurshelter home incident whereseveral girls were allegedly rapedand sexually abused, had earli-er termed the case as "horrific".

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At the backdrop of the ruling BJP cast-ing aspersions on the former French

President Francois Hollande claims onRafale deal, Congress on Thursday saidthat French President Emmanuel Macronhas not contradicted the Hollande's claim.

"It is for the first time that the pre-sent French president Macron whileanswering a specific question avoided thequestion. He simply said I was notincharge at that time. In other words, hedid not contradict the version of formerFrench president Hollande," SeniorCongress leader S Jaipal Reddy stated ata Press conference.

"The point we would like to highlightis this consistent non-contradiction by thecurrent French authorities which isabsolutely tantamount to confirmation onthe facts mentioned by the former presi-dent," claimed the former Union Minister.

"The non-contraction by the currentpresident of France is equivalent to aninternational revelation," he added.Reddy said Modi owed an explanationto the nation about the statement madeby the former president of France onindustrialist Anil Ambani's company.

Reddy said now the prime ministerNarendra Modi is getting caught or sand-wiched between international revelationsand internal disclosures. Noting that the"Rafale scam has begin to stink and theModi Government has begin to sink",Reddy said India has had a very goodrelationship with France and "when a for-mer French president says something,this country needs to sit up and takenotice".

He alleged Anil Ambani's companywas taken as an offset partner because ofthe pressure from Government of Indiaand it was so intense that the Frenchauthorities were left with no choice.

New Delhi: The Supreme Courtis likely to pronounce on Fridayits verdict on a clutch of pleaschallenging the ban on entry ofwomen between 10 and 50 yearsof age into the Sabarimala tem-ple in Kerala.

A five-judge constitutionbench headed by Chief JusticeDipak Misra had reserved itsjudgement on August 1 afterhearing the matter for eight days.

The bench, which also com-prised Justices R F Nariman, AM Khanwilkar, D YChandrachud and InduMalhotra, had earlier said thatthe constitutional scheme pro-hibiting exclusion has "somevalue" in a "vibrant democracy".

The top court's verdictwould deal with the petitionsfiled by petitioners IndianYoung Lawyers Association andothers.

The Kerala Government,which has been changing itsstand on the contentious issue ofwomen of the menstrual agegroup entering the Sabarimalatemple, had on July 18 told theSupreme Court that it nowfavoured their entry. PTI

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Thursday encour-

aged a group of newly-recruit-ed IAS officers to develop aconnect with the peoplearound them in course of theirduties.

He was addressing a vale-dictory session of 176 IASofficers, who served in variousCentral Government depart-ments as assistant secretaries.

Speaking on the occasion,the Prime Minister noted thatthe assistant secretaries pro-gramme offers the junior-mostand senior-most officers theopportunity to interact witheach other, according to astatement issued by thePersonnel Ministry.

Modi encouraged theyoung officers to imbibe thebest from the experiences thatthey would have had, duringtheir attachment to variousministries as part of this pro-gramme.

He exhorted the youngofficers to keep in mind the

expectations that people havefrom Government, and to dotheir best to fulfil those expec-tations, in whatever positionsthey serve in, during theircareer, it said.

"The prime ministerencouraged the officers todevelop a connect, with thepeople around them, and withthe people they serve, in courseof their duties," the statementsaid.

He said that developing aclose rapport with people, isone of the keys to achievingsuccess in their tasks andobjectives.

Eight selected presenta-tions were made by these IASofficers, on themes such asraising farm incomes, soilhealth cards, grievance redres-sal, citizen-centric services,power sector reform, touristfacilitation, e-auctions, andsmart urban developmentsolutions during the pro-gramme.

The prime minister appre-ciated the presentations madeby the young officers.

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"�� 0�� 1�� 0�� .�!��+�� Mumbai: A 34-year-old man wanted

in connection with 15 cases of sexu-al assault of minor girls in Mumbaiand surrounding areas was arrested,police said Thursday.

Rehan Abdul Rashid Qureshi wasnabbed Wednesday by the NaviMumbai Crime Branch from MiraRoad area of neighbouring Thane dis-trict, the police said.

Qureshi was identified through aCCTV footage following two inci-dents of crime, a police official said.

The accused was allegedlyinvolved in at least 15 cases of rapeand molestation of minor girls since2017 in Mumbai and the neighbour-ing Navi Mumbai, Thane and Palghardistricts, said Sanjay Kumar, theCommissioner of Police, NaviMumbai.

Seven of these offences had takenplace in Navi Mumbai township, hesaid.

The police identified the accusedwith the help of his walking style as

seen in the CCTV footage, Kumarsaid.

During the probe, the policeexamined around 500 hours of CCTVfootage from the areas where thecrimes had taken place, the commis-sioner added.

CCTV cameras at Mira Roadrailway station and in an area in NaviMumbai had captured him after heallegedly sexually assaulted two minorgirls in separate incidents, Kumar said.

On getting information aboutQureshi's whereabouts, the NaviMumbai police laid a trap atNayanagar in Mira Road area andnabbed him, the official said.

The modus operandi of theaccused was to approach a girl at herhouse by telling that her father hadcalled her, he said.

When the victim accompaniedhim believing his claims, the accusedwould take her to an isolated placeand commit the offence, the officialsaid. PTI

� � ��49�� $��;� �� New Delhi: The Supreme

Court on Wednesday reservedits verdict on cross-appeals ofRussia's VTB Bank-promotedfirm NuMetal and steel andmining major ArcelorMittalchallenging the NCLAT orderon the eligibility of the latter tobid for Essar Steel.

National Company LawAppellate Tribunal (NCLAT)had ruled that NuMetal's sec-ond bid for Essar Steel was eli-gible, but the same byArcelorMittal would qualifyonly if it cleared the Rs 7,000crore dues of the two firms itwas previously associated with.

While ArcelorMittal hadchallenged the order asking itto pay Rs 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 even

after it had bid for Essar Steel.A bench of Justices R F

Nariman and Indu Malhotrareserved its verdict after coun-sel for all the parties, includingthe Committee of Creditors(CoC), concluded their argu-ments which continued foreight days.

Senior advocate MukulRohatgi, appearing forNuMetal, said that its secondbid was higher thanArcelorMittal's and moreover,it had already said the compa-ny would match the offer of itsrival bidder. The court, how-ever, said it would only decidethe eligibility aspect and theother financial issues would bediscussed by the CoC.

Rohatgi said Vedanta, thethird bidder, was not seriousand has not appeared any-where and there cannot be a sit-uation where there was onlyone bidder.

Senior advocate GopalSubramaniam, who represent-ed the CoC, said that debt-rid-den Essar Steel, whose resolu-tion process has begun, is avaluable asset and it did notwant it to go for liquidation.

The counsel for CoCsought eight weeks after thedate of judgement to completethe negotiations and the bid-ding process for Essar Steel.

"I am not appearing forRuias. Numetal has nothing todo with Ruias," Rohatgi said,adding that NuMetal has madeit clear by filing an affidavitbefore the ResolutionProfessional that it would notsell Essar Steel back to Ruias ifit emerges a winner.

Moreover, VTB Bank wasnot barred by laws like SEBIlike anywhere in the world, northe new company Numetal is acorporate debtor anywhere, hesaid.

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Income-Tax Department hasraided the home and offices

of Telangana State CongressWorking President A RevanthReddy in Hyderabad and hishome town Kodangal inMahbubnagar district onThursday morning. They alsoraided and searched the hous-es of his relatives and friends inKodangal.

Income-tax officials raidedand searched the office of BhupalInfra, the company owned byRevanth Reddy and his family inJubilee Hills area of Hyderabad.The raids which continued forseveral hours were carried on aday when Revanth Reddy wasscheduled to launch his statewideelection campaign fromVikarabad district.

According to the sources inIT department the raids werecarried out after an advocateRama Rao lodged a complaintof money laundering with theEnforcement Directorate

against Revanth Reddy andhis family. Earlier the samelawyer lodged a complaint withthe Hyderabad police thatRevanth Reddy had committedfraud and irregularities inJubilee Hills Housing Society.

No family member was athome in Hyderabad when 11-member team of IT officialsreached the place. When theservants refused to open thelocks without permission fromRevanth Reddy, the IT teambroke open the locks and start-ed searching the place. Theyalso raided and searched thehouse of his associate Sebastian.

Revanth Reddy, who wasappointed as one of the workingpresidents of Telangana Congressonly a couple of days back hadrecently expressed apprehen-sions that the Income Tax mayraid his real estate company aspart of a conspiracy by the cen-tre and the State Government todisrupt his plans of campaigningfor the forthcoming state assem-bly elections.

Revanth Reddy, who hadreturned to Kodangal from apilgrimage to Tirupati wasunruffled by the raids andlaunched his campaign as perschedule from Madanapallyvillage under Bomrasapetmandla of Viqarabad districtand addressed a series of meet-ings in Mahubnagar district. Hewas given a rousing receptionby his supporters in hisKodangal constituency andother places enroute.

Revanth Reddy is alreadyan accused in cash for votescam and facing the charges of

offering a bribe of �5 crore toa nominated legislator to votefor TDP candidate in legislativecouncil elections three yearsago. He was in Telugu Desamparty at the time. He was arrest-ed by the Anti CorruptionBureau in the case and had tospend sometime in jail beforethe court released him on bail.

The raids have sparked offa major political row with theCongress and TDP have strong-ly condemning the action andcalling it “vindictive” and polit-ically motivated. Recently asenior Congress leader andformer MLA T Jagga Reddywas arrested in connectionwith a ten year old case ofalleged human trafficking andcourt released him on bail.Telangana state Congress pres-ident N Uttam Kumar Reddysaid that the raids on the houseof Revant Reddy was “purevendetta” to demoralise thestrong Congress MLAs.Holding the Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao responsi-

ble for the raids , he said, “tirstit was Jagga Reddy and nowRevanth Reddy. This is a clearsign of KCR’s cowardice. He hasno capacity to take on any ourour leaders and hence resortsto these backdoor moves”. Heexpressed confidence that thepeople of Telangana will reachKCR a lesson for being hand inglove with the BJP and CentralGovernment. “Congress will beunited in its fight to rideTelangana soon of his auto-cratic and whimsical rule”, he said.

State Telugu Desam presi-dent L Ramanna said, “as TRSand the BJP were not able to facetheir opponents politically theyhave entered into a conspiracyto target them and threatenthem by foisting false cases andcarrying out such raids”. He saidthat the court notice to AndhraPradesh Chief Minister NChandrababu Naidu was alsopart of these efforts but they willnot succeed in demoralizing theopposition leaders.

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Acting Chief Minister ofTelangana K Chandrasekhar

Rao has announced that the StateGovernment will build a memo-rial for the late Prime MinisterAtal Bihari Vajpayee in Hyderabad.

Taking part in discussionin Telangana LegislativeCouncil on Thursday on acondolence motion over deathof Vajpaee KCR said that apartfrom a building the memori-al spread over an acre willhave a pillar as well as statueof Vajpaee.

Legislative Council whichmet for a day also passed con-dolence resolutions for the for-mer Tamil Nadu Chief MinisterM Karunanidhi, former LokSabha speaker and veteran left-ist leader Somnath Chatterjiand mimicry artist NerellaVenu Madhav, who passedaway recently.

Paying rich tributes to theformer Prime MinisterVajpaee KCR described him asa great leader and a great manwho never compromised onhis convictions.

“He was part of India’ssoul and will remain so”, KCR

said recalling his services tothe nation during his longpolitical career.

He recalled that despitestiff opposition from theUnited States India under hisleadership conducted thenuclear test in Pokhran.Similarly he recalled thatwhether it was Kargil war orpeace he Vajpaee never hesi-tated to speak his mind.

Leader of oppositionMohammed Ali Shabbir andmembers of other parties alsopaid their tributes to thedeparted leaders.

The House also expressedits condolence over the deathof 57 passengers in bus acci-dent at Kondagattu nearJagatiyal and deaths in massivefloods in Kerala.

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Aprominent Muslim voicein India and Member of

Parliament Asaduddin Owaisihas differed with the SupremeCourt view on the mosqueand stressed that the mosquewas very much an essentialfeature of Islam.

Reacting to the verdict of athree judge benche of the apexcourt which upheld the 1994verdict of the same court thatmosque was not essential, AllIndia Majlis-e-IttehadulMuslimeen president Owaisisaid that it could have been bet-ter if the three member benchhad referred the issue to theconstitutional bench. “But as aMuslim I am telling youMosque is an essential feature ofIslam. It is mentioned in Quranand in Hadith and it has beentaught to me from childhoodthat if you pray in a mosque you

will get a 27 times more reward.So mosque is an essential featureof my religion”, he said.

When asked whether hewill seek a legal remedy foragainst today’s judgement hesaid that it was for the All IndiaMuslim Personal Law Boardand its lawyer Zafaryab Jeelanito decide. When asked whethertoday’s judgment will lead toexpeditious hearing of the BabriMasjid Ram Janambhoomi case,Owaisi said, “only time will tellbecause the Chief Justice Misrawas retiring on October 2. Onlyafter the new Chief Justice

comes we will know what willhappen”, he said.

Owaisi however pointedout that the Supreme Court hasclearly stated that today’s deci-sion will not have any impacton the Babri Masjid casebecause that was a title suit

“Important question I wantto know is that if Masjid is notan essential feature of Islamthen what about the other reli-gious places. Are they essentialfeatures?

I am of the opinion thatjudiciary can not decide whatis essential feature of a religions.I submit it respectfully that itis for the religious clergy todecide what is the essential fea-ture of a religion”, he said.

Unfortunately the judicia-ry has decided this and anywaythis is supreme court judge-ment and now we will have towait and see how the appealswill be heard

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In a caste conscious society inBihar, nothing moves without

flashing the caste identity. Allthe political parties do it but notas brazenly as the Congress did.It almost ‘advertised’ the casteof its important State leadersparticularly those recently nom-inated as office bearers.

An over enthusiasticCongress worker put up bill-boards at strategic points in theState Capital with the pho-tographs of these leaders apartfrom AICC president RahulGandhi and Bihar in-chargeShaktisinh Gohil identifyingtheir castes.

Only the caste of formerAICC chief Sonia Gandhi hasnot been revealed.

After much criticism andattack the hoardings have beenpulled down with clarificationthat it were not official andparty had nothing to do with itsinstallation. Newly appointedstate president Madan MohanJha – his photo was also thereon the hoarding with Brahminmentioned as his caste – said itwas not official banner and hasnow been removed. “Theintention of the person who

installed it could be good butthe party does not approve suchcasteist thing,” he said.

But the party workerSiddhartha Chhatriya whoinstalled this banner with hisown photo, without disclosinghis own caste, said he came outwith this after PM NarendraModi accused Congress of beinga pro-Muslim party. “I wanted totell that in our new organisationand working committee we haverepresentation of all sections ofthe society,” he explained.

The BJP attacked Congressfor showing its “casteist face” bypropagating the caste of itsleaders. A BJP spokesmanurged the ElectionCommission to take notice ofthis hoarding and take actionagainst the party for violatingthe electoral norms. He saidCongress president should alsoapologise for this brazen act.

But this is not the first timethat Bihar Congress did this.Sometimes back during anelection the party has releasedits list of candidates with theircaste mentioned against theirnames. The list was alsoreleased to the media and onlythen the party had apologisedand withdrew it.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi will address a huge rally

of farmers and milk producers atthe Milk Capital of India–Anandwhich is also global headquartersninth largest dairy organisation(Amul) in the world on Sunday.

Official sources in theGujarat AdministrativeDepartment (GAD) said that thePrime Minister would initiatewhirlwind visit to his home-Stateby inaugurating �200 crorechocolate plant owned byGujarat Co-operative MilkMarketing Federation Limited(GCMMF) popularly known as

Amul Federation at Mogar vil-lage situated on the outskirts ofcentral Gujarat town Anand.

After inaugurating themammoth plant having capac-ity to make 1000 tonnes ofchocolate per month, PM Modiwould address a massive rally atAnand. According to RamsinhParmar, chairman of GCMMF,at least one lakh farmers wouldattend the rally to be addressedby the Prime Minister.It is worth mentioning thatimmediate past president ofGujarat Pradesh CongressCommittee (GPCC)Bharatsinh Solanki and currentGujarat Congress chief AmitChavada, belong to Anand dis-trict. In this context Modi’s visitto Anand would have politicalsignificance too as more than3.6 million farmers are con-nected with GCMMF.

From ‘Milk Capital’, Modi

will fly to bordering Kutchdistrict where he would dedi-cate 67-km-long natural gaspipeline between Mundra Portand Anjar. The �375 crorepipeline project has been com-pleted by Gujarat governmentowned Gujarat State PetronetLimited (GSPL).

He will also performground-breaking ceremony ofthe 4-laning work of industrialcorridor connecting Varasana,Bhimasar, Anjar with the districtheadquarters of Kutch, Bhuj.The Prime Minister is alsoschedule to visit commercialcapital of Saurashtra region –Rajkot in the evening where hewould inaugurate �26 croremuseum project based on thelife of Mahatma Gandhi. The164 year old heritage buildingof the museum was once aschool (Alfred High School),where Mahatma did schooling.

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The BJP-led AssamGovernment has so far

been able to draw investmentto the tune of �8,020.21 croresince February this year.

Assam Industry MinisterChandra Mohan Patowary saidthis in the Assam LegislativeAssembly on Thursday whilereplying to a question. TheMinister said that while invest-ment to the tune of �8,020.21crore have so far been ground-ed, investment worth �39,951.65are still on the pipeline.

It may be mentioned herethat the BJP led AssamGovernment had in Februarythis year held a mega invest-ment Summit, titled AdvantageAssam to showcase tradepotential of the State to theworld. The Government alsoheld road shows about thetrade conclave abroad spendinghuge sum of money.“A total of 207 Memorandum ofUnderstandings (MoUs) havebeen signed during theAdvantage Assam summit.Apart from this another 34investors have also expressedtheir interest to invest in Assamand submitted proposals to theIndustry and Commerce depart-ment,” said the Minister whilereplying the question of Deka.

“Out of the 207 MoUssigned during the summit earli-er this year, ten have already beengrounded which involves invest-ment worth �6,575.84 crore.Apart from this, 34 other units,which were not a part of the 207MoUs signed during theSummit, have also been ground-ed with an investment of�1,441.37 crore,” he said addingthat investment worth�39,951.65 crore belonging to 22units are still on the pipeline.

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Ateam of police officialsattached to the Idol Wing

–CID of Tamil Nadu Police onThursday seized 90 ancienttemple idols from the resi-dence of a businessman at SreeNagar Colony at Saidapet inChennai. Pon Manickavel, theInspector General of Policewho led the raid told reporterslater that all the idols seizedwere hundreds of years old andwere precious.

“They may cost hundredsand hundreds of crores ofrupees and that’s all what wecould say now,” said Manickavel,the Madras High Courtappointed officer to probe theidol thefts reported from thetemples in Tamil Nadu.

“All these idols were stolenfrom the temples in TamilNadu. Besides the 60 ancient

and antique idols, we seized22 pillars, 12 statues and arte-facts made of metal,” saidManickavel. The residencebelonged to Ranveer Shah,who is engaged in exportbusiness.

The police team had to hirethree trucks to transport theseized idols and other materi-als to the investigating office.Shah told the investigators thathe sourced the materials fromvarious places in Tamil Nadu,Puducherry and Kerala. He isbeing questioned by police.

“But he does not haveproper documents to provefrom where he purchased theseantique materials. Whetherthey are from Puducherry orKerala, these are all lifted fromthe temples in Tamil Nadu wewill seek the assistance ofArchaeological Survey of Indiaand other agencies to identifythe idols, pillars and artefacts,”

said Manickavel, an officer ofproven integrity and honesty.

The seizure of the idols takeplace at a time when templeworshippers complaining tothe Madras High Court thatmore than 6,000 idols belong-ing to temples administered byHindu Religious and CharitableEndowment Department havegone missing. The HR & CEDepartment officials who areentrusted with the upkeep ofthe temples remained silent asidols started disappearing fromthe temples.

TR Ramesh, president,Temple Worshippers Society,told The Pioneer that the HR &CE officials could not identifya single idol or artefact whenManickavel and his team seizedthem from the businesspremises of Deenadayalan, aChennai businessman withinternational dealings in sale ofancient idols.

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The story of Rangaswamy, afarmer of Ragibaikanahalli in

Hassan district of Karnataka, isvery interesting. He owns 150acres of high security farm landwith sandalwood cultivation.

After the change inGovernment policy, any onecan grow sandalwood tree, oneof the costliest wood in theworld. Rangaswamy, one ofthe farmers out of more thanthousand farmers, has startedthe cultivation of these high-ly endemic tree. He has morethan 15 security persons withguns along with dog squads topatrol these highly expensivetrees to safeguard from thethieves. He is spending lot ofmoney and technology to savethese trees from thieves.

Sandlwood or Srigandha inKannada a sacred scentedwood endemic to few of south-ern States of Karnataka, Keralaand Tamil Nadu fetches `1crore (approximately) pertonne and highly in demandacross the world. According toRangaswamy, a 15-year-oldtree can get 15 kg of heart-wood, with each acre sup-porting 300 trees. After Karnataka Governmentliberalised the cultivation andsale of sandalwood trees, manyfarmers have taken to cultivationof these valuable trees across theState. But the farmers are worriedover its safety and security andwant the Government to helpthem protect these trees grownin their farms. Rangaswamywho is spending lot of money toeven implant a chip manufac-tured by Hitachi for alerts of theftsays he needs support from theGovernment.

Mumbai: The NCP saidThursday that its chief SharadPawar has not given any cleanchit to Prime Minister NarendraModi on Rafale issue, after theopposition leader's remarks that"people have no doubts" over thePrime Minister's intentions inthe deal.

Nationalist Congress Party(NCP) spokesperson NawabMalik also reiterated the party'sdemands that the CentralGovernment disclose the priceof the fighter jets and a JointParliamentary Committee(JPC) probe the matter.

In an interview to a Marathinews channel, Pawar had saidthat he didn't think that peoplehave doubts about Modi's inten-tions in the Rafale deal.

Pawar, a former DefenceMinister, had also said that theOpposition's demand to sharetechnical details relating tothe fighter jets "made nosense". He, however, said therewas no harm for the govern-ment to disclose prices of theaircraft.

Malik said Thursday thatthe media reports over Pawar'sstatement are "confusing andmisleading".

"He (Pawar) has not madeany statement defending Modinor has he given any clean chit(in the Rafale deal matter)," theNCP leader said.

Malik said what Pawarmeant was that people initial-ly didn't have doubts about thePrime Minister.

"What Pawar saheb saidwas that the way the matter isbeing hushed up (by the

Government) and attention ofpeople from the issue is beingdiverted, the doubt is deepen-ing," Malik said.

In his interview, Pawarhad also said that the wayDefence Minister NirmalaSitharaman presented theGovernment's side led to con-fusion in the minds of people.

Quoting Pawar, Malik saidthe Government should shareinformation about escalation ofthe fighter jets price.

"The way the BJP had insist-ed on forming a JPC in theBofors deal in the 1980s, itshould now allow formation ofsuch a committee in connectionwith the Rafale issue too," Malikdemanded. PTI

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Violence marked the day inKashmir on Thursday as

three terrorists including atop-ranking commander ofbanned Lashkar-e-Tayyeba(LeT) outfit, a soldier, a civil-ian and an Army porter werekilled in separate incidents ofviolence in southern, centraland northern parts of Valley.The separatists have called fora shutdown on Friday againstthe killing of a civilian in cap-ital Srinagar where sponta-neous protests erupted to throwthe normal life out of gear.

Official sources said that

two local terrorists were killedin an encounter at Panzan areaof central Kashmir’s Budgamdistrict where gunfight erupt-ed during a security forces’ raidon a terrorist hideout. Twoarmy personnel were injured inthe operation launched in thearea on Thursday morning.

Police identified the slainterrorists as Sheeraz AhmadBhat and Irfan Ahmad Dar, bothaffiliated to Hizbul Mujahideenoutfit. Dar was previously aSpecial Police Officer (SPO)who deserted the constabularytwo months ago to join the ter-rorist ranks. Security sourcessaid that arms and ammunitionwas also recovered from thegunfight site.

The SPOs are non-regularpolicemen engaged on con-tractual basis to assist regularpolice in normal policing orcounter-insurgency duties. Theterrorists have recently

launched an offensive againstthe SPOs forcing them to ten-der resignations. However, theauthorities in turn, doubledtheir wages with provision oftheir absorption in the regularranks and promising incentivesin case they lost their lives incounter-insurgency pursuits.

In another incident, LeToutfit received a jolt when a localterrorist identified as Asif Malikworking as its commander waskilled during an operation atGazi Gund Dooru in southKashmir’s Anantnag district. Anarmy man identified as HappySingh of 19 Rashtriya Rifles was

also killed in the encounter.In another incident, a non-

local labourer working withBorder Roads Organisation(BRO) was killed as Armyfired upon the person duringan ambush (normally laid forterrorists) in Chowkibal area ofnorth Kashmir’s Kupwara dis-trict. Security sources said thatthe person was alerted but hetried to run away. The armyopened fire on him resulting tohis instant death. The identityof the slain porter was beingascertained.

The normal life was affect-ed in most parts of capitalSrinagar after protests eruptedagainst the killing of a youngsterSaleem Malik in a shootout inold city parts. Police said Malikdied in a shootout betweenterrorists and security forces, acontention refuted by the locals.

“Security forces on a cred-ible input cordoned off a clus-

ter of houses in NoorbaghSrinagar area where the hidingterrorists fired indiscriminate-ly resulting in the death of anindividual identified as SaleemMalik,” police said in a state-ment. The locals said that Malikwas feeding sheep in the vicin-ity of his house when securityforces opened fire on him.

Former legislative assemblyspeaker and legislator MubarakGul demanded thorough probeinto the killing. “The civiliankilling by the security forcesduring cordon and search oper-ation is unfortunate and con-demnable,” Gul said in a state-ment and demanded a thor-ough time-bound investiga-tion into the killing.

Pradesh CongressCommittee also condemnedthe killing describing it as“highly painful and shocking.”

Locals said that there wereno terrorists present in the

area and the claims about thekilling during an encounterwere baseless.

Protests and clashes withsecurity forces erupted after thekilling in several sensitive partsof old Srinagar. At least nineprotesters were injured withtear gas shells and pellets dur-ing these clashes.

Reports of clashes betweenprotesters and security per-sonnel also erupted fromBudgam areas.

Scores of KashmirUniversity students reportedlyheld a peaceful protest againstthe killing of Noorbagh civilian.

Reports said that multiplerounds of funeral prayers withthousands of mourners wereheld for the slain LeTCommander Asif Malik killedin Gazigund Dooru area ofAnantnag.

The mobile high speedinternet services in Anantnag

and Budgam were snapped. InSrinagar, the mobile internetservices were restored late in theevening. The authorities closededucational institutions inBudgam and Srinagar districtsto prevent student protests.

The Joint ResistanceLeadership (JRL)- a groupingof separatist political organi-sations represented by Syed AliGeelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooqand Yasin Malik, called for acomplete shutdown on Fridayagainst the killing of a civilianin Noorbagh area of Srinagar.

“JRL asks people to registerprotest by observing hartal onFriday against the continuedkilling of Kashmiris at the handsof Indian forces, arrest spree ofresistance activists and sup-porters. State terror has beenunleashed under CASOs towipe out and harass Kashmirisunabashedly!,” Mirwaiz UmarFarooq wrote on twitter.

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Several parts of Pune lay underthick sheets of water since

Thursday afternoon after a por-tion of the canal of theKhadakwasla dam carryingwater to the cultural capital ofMaharashtra breached at a placeen route inundating at least 250hutments located in low-layingareas and disrupting water sup-ply to more than a dozen local-ities that pass along the waterway.

Lakhs of litres of waterentered the houses and alsowent down the drain after aportion of the Khadakwaslacanal carrying water to thePune city breached at oneplace. The Khadakwasla dam isthe main source of water forPune and its suburbs. Its canalcuts through the length andbreadth of Pune.

More than 1,000 alum hut-ments located in the vicinity ofthe Dandekar brigde were ren-dered homeless following thebreach. Fortunately, the floodsin Pune did not cause harm topeople in any part of the city.

The dis-housed people,who have been shifted to saferplaces, are being provided tem-porary shelters by the PuneMunicipal Corporation (PMC).The affected people have beenaccommodated at make-shifterected by the local Ganeshmandals during the recent fes-tivities. The PMC has directedthe affected people to stay putat alternate locations wherethey have been shifted till the

situation returns to normal.The slum dwellers living in

the vicinity of a petrol bunk nearDandekar bridge have bornemaximum brunt, with structuresof around 120 hutments havingcollapsed and all of them havinggone under gone under water.Similarly 30 hutments located inthe vicinity of nearby Marutitemple also went under water.

After two hours of the canalbreach, the State IrrigationDepartment – under which themaintenance of the Khadakwasladam – comes stopped the sup-ply of water from the dam. TheTMC and State irrigation depart-ment officials came in for a sev-eral flak for the alleged laxity thatcontributed to the canal breach.

Hundreds of social mediausers to twitter and Facebook toshare videos and photographs ofthe damage caused by the canalbreach which saw both slums inthe low-lying areas and roadsbeing floods for several hours.

Following increased wateravailability in its right handcanal, the Khadakwasla damhas been supplying 600 cusecsof water to Pune as against 300cusecs supplied. Hower, fol-lowing the breach, the PMChas stopped the water supply tolocalities, including Mundwa,Hadapsar, Mahammed Wadi,Yerwada. Koregaon Park,Vishrant Wadi, Tingre Nagarand Viman nagar. “We willhave impose supply restric-tions in water supply in thecoming days,” a senior PMCofficial said.

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Tragedy of countless abandoned schemeswww.dailypioneer.com

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In Brazil, there is a famous story about afootballer named Carlos Kaiser. Brazil issynonymous with producing famousfootballers but Kaiser was unique becausein a career spanning over two decades,

during which Kaiser played for some of thebiggest football clubs in Brazil and overseas, hehardly ever kicked a football. What he com-pletely lacked in skill, however, he made up withan ability to always say the right things andessentially trick people into believing that hewas a Brazilian superstar and a football great.Eventually it was proved that he was neither.

It was ironic then that in the same weekthat I read this interesting tidbit of footballhistory, Prime Minister Narendra Modilaunched ‘Ayushman Bharat’, which has twocomponents: The Pradhan Mantri Jan ArogyaYojana (PMJAY) and the creation of 1,50,000“health and wellness centres”. Let’s talk about

the creation of 1,50,000 health and wellnesscentres first. The amount allocated by theGovernment for the setting up of 1,50,000centres is �1,200 crores, which amounts to�80,000 per centre, assuming the allocationis for all the centres and not just those to beset up this year. As Jean Dreze put it in a recentarticle, this is barely enough for a paint jobon each of these centres.

With respect to the PMJAY, it is impor-tant to examine issues so that we can seebeyond the typical political catch phrases ofthe Government. While there is no denyingthat universal health care is a goal that Indiamust make a priority, there is also no deny-ing that previous Governments have had pur-sued similar initiatives in the past. While someof these initiatives, including the ones intro-duced by the United Progressive Alliance(UPA), have not achieved the heights that oneexpected them to be for a variety of factors,such as creation of ghost beneficiaries and ill-equipped hospitals, the fact is that the PMJAYwill face the same hurdles.

While launching the PMJAY scheme inJharkhand, the Prime Minister made it soundlike it is a first-of-its-kind scheme to belaunched in India. In fact, the PMJAY is essen-tially a Government-sponsored insurancescheme. It aims to cover 10 crore families(which is approximately 50 crore people) and

provide each family with medical coverageworth five lakh rupee per family. TheGovernment expects the cost for implemen-tation of this plan to be split 60:40 betweenthe Centre and the States. Since healthcare isa state subject, to examine whether thePMJAY is indeed unique, one need not lookbeyond the schemes implemented the States.

In this regard, approximately 17 States,including Punjab, Madhya Pradesh,Jharkhand et al have already adopted amodel of Government support insuranceschemes similar to the PMJAY, which are nowexpected to be incorporated into the PMJAY.Therefore, it is obvious that there is nothingparticularly unique about the actual nature ofthe scheme. However, problems with imple-mentation are fairly characteristic and uniqueto the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)Government.

The problem with the PMJAY are two-fold. First, the actual Budget of the scheme andhow it seems far removed from reality.Second, the atrocious track record of thisGovernment which for the past four-and-a-half years has announced programmes withreckless abandon and has shown no consis-tency to follow up on them.

On the actual numbers involved, thePMJAY seeks to cover 10 crore families witha medical coverage of �5,00,000 per family.

Now for the sake of argument, let us work withbare minimums. Let us assume that only 10per cent of the poorest 10 crore families takeup this scheme, which is one crore families.Out of these one crore families (which isapproximately five crore people), let us assumethat only one person per family avails anyhealth services, which equals to one crore peo-ple availing the benefits of the scheme; this isapproximately two per cent of the total num-ber of people that PMJAY seeks to cover.

Let us then assume that this person isafflicted with some heart related disease sincethis is one of the most common health prob-lems plaguing Indians today. Using exception-ally conservative estimates for treating any formof heart disease, let us say the cost of the treat-ment is approximately �30,000 per patient. Thismeans that the Government and the insurancecompanies will have to fork out �30,000 crorefor treatment of only 10 per cent of the indi-viduals that are covered under this scheme. Thebudget allocation for PMJAY in 2018-19 is just�2,000 crore. How exactly is the Governmentplanning to make up for this deficit?

Even if the Government, following theinsurance model, uses the premiums paid byother families to fund the PMJAY, �2,000 crorewill not magically change to more than�30,000 crore. This, by the way is the mostconservative estimate. This fact, along with the

timing of the scheme, suggests that thePMJAY is just another election tool of the BJP.

In addition to the basic problems associ-ated with implementation and the Alice inWonderland calculations of the BJPGovernment, the biggest problem I foresee inexecution of the PMJAY by Modi and hisGovernment is the Prime Minister himself andhis Government. What I mean by this is thatthe BJP in the past few years has announceda variety of schemes with huge fan-fare. All ofthese schemes were announced as if they werea panacea to all of India’s ills. However, ulti-mately, it turned out that most of the energyof the Government went in announcing thescheme rather than implementing it.

For analysis, let us look at some of theBJP’s flagship schemes, ie, the Swachh Bharatmission, the Smart City Scheme and thePradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. In the SwachhBharat scheme, Modi promised to spend �1.34lakh to build 11.11 crore toilets in the ruralareas by 2019. However, as of 2016, only 0.8per cent of this target was met as theGovernment built only 95.23 lakh toilets.Similarly, the implementation of the SmartCity scheme does not inspire much trust. Afterannouncing this scheme, the Government hasallocated only 70 per cent of the budget, andonly 10 per cent of the amount that has beenallocated has actually been utilised.

In the case of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana,a total of one crore houses are supposed to beconstructed for the urban poor by 2022.However, in reality, upto 2018, only 16 per centof these houses have been sanctioned so far. Thisis just with respect to a few. There is enough dataon the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, thePradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana andother schemes of the Government that show asimilar trend of setting big goals that the BJPknows well that it cannot achieve, but are justto attract headlines and fool voters.

This sort of track record, therefore, sug-gests that the PMJAY does not have muchhope for success either. BJP president AmitShah had claimed that the BJP will remain inpower for the next 50 years. In reality, toachieve anywhere close to the numbers thatPrime Minister Modi claims when launchingany new scheme, the BJP will need a lifetime.

To return to the story of Kaiser, he waseventually found out 20 years later as the cha-rade could only be kept up for so long.However, to find out whether the BJPGovernment is actually committed to solve theproblems that face the nation rather thanmerely being in election mode for the pastfour and a half years, one hopes that India willnot have to wait that long.

(The writer is Jharkhand PCC president, for-mer MP and IPS officer. Views are personal)

�� Sir — This refers to the editorial, “Nomore in limbo” (September 27). TheSupreme Court verdict while validat-ing the constitutionality of thescheme, states that Aadhaar wouldremain mandatory for allotment ofPermanent account number (PAN)and for filing Income-tax returns(ITR) and that it would not be manda-tory to link it with bank accounts andmobile numbers.

When the Aadhaar gets linked toPAN, it automatically gets exposed toat such places where the PAN is

sought as proof. With the above ver-dict, the PAN will remain the mostsought after, as through the PAN,Aadhaar details can be gained. Thus,the PAN will provide a back-doorentry to get information on Aadhaar.

VS Jayaraman Chennai

�� Sir — This refers to the article,“Seeking the plane truth about Rafaledeal” by Ashok K Mehta (September26). The writer is correct in statingthat there are certain points about the

deal that require suitable explanation,as without that, suspicion of unfair-ness is bound to arise.

In absence of any authentic reportof bribery and corruption, the lan-guage used by the Opposition isuncalled for and worth condemna-tion. But what made the Governmentdeviate from certain prescribed pro-cedures?

At the end of all rules, a relaxationclause is added, whereby, if in theobservation of procedure, certainunbearable difficulties come in theway or their strict observance clash-es with the national interests, the posi-

tion may be taken after relaxingthem. Thus, the Government mustexplain as to how the deviation wasunavoidable.

As regards to purchasing 36 inplace of 126 Rafael jets, it can be saidthat more could have been purchasedif the performance and functioning ofthe few would have been found sat-isfactory in the long run.

There could be certain details, thedisclosure of which might have beendetrimental in public interest. Was anyexercise conducted to ascertain thatthe contract in Anil Ambani’s handwould function more efficiently

than in Hindustan AeronauticsLimited (HAL)?

It is not sufficient for one to behonest as one must also prove honesty.However, a Public Interest Litigation(PIL) in the matter is to be heard onOctober 10, whereby the matter wouldbe examined keeping all pros andcons. It will be in the fitness of thingsto adopt a course as per judicial direc-tions.

LR GuptaLucknow

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The way Robert Vadra has harmed the country, hewill surely be punished. The entire Gandhi familyhas looted the country. They will not be spared.

—BJP spokesperson SAMBIT PATRA

The ruling party rakes up my name every time it iscornered and this time it stands exposed on Rafale.

It is indulging in a political witch-hunt against me.—Businessman

ROBERT VADRA

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Long before New Delhi’sConnaught Place wasrenamed as Rajiv Chowk,for a short while, anoth-er Rajiv Chowk, also in

Delhi, hit the headlines. But it wasa different Rajiv and a differentChowk. That happened to bemore than 25 years ago. I amrecalling an almost spontaneousstudent agitation launched in thewake of the announcement ofreservations for certain classes.Rajiv Goswami was the unsunghero of this agitation. One of thebusiest crossings in south Delhi,outside AIIMS, was named afterhim as Rajiv Chowk by the studentprotestors.

Protests broke out all over thecountry after the announcementon August 7, 1990, but Delhibecame the focal point of the agitation. By and large, the agita-tion remained peaceful in Delhi,and protests did not go beyondblocking the traffic at importantintersections, through sit-ins ordharnas.

The police was careful not touse any force to break those sit-ins.The students would move to someother location after a couple ofhours. Traffic was indeed thrownout of gear, but then, the peopleunderstood, and in fact, some evenempathised with their cause. Thisstate of affairs continued for over amonth, and as it appeared when theprotests were loosing the steam,suddenly Rajiv Goswami, a com-merce student of DeshbandhuCollege in south Delhi, in order tohighlight the cause, attempted self-immolation.

The incident sent shock wavesthroughout the country and theagitation suddenly moved into ahigher gear and was almost spin-ning out of control. Best possiblemedical attention was made avail-able to Rajiv Goswami at theburns ward of Safdarjung hospi-tal and the doctors were able tosave him at that time, despite 85per cent burns.

In the meantime, anotherimmolation of one Surender Singhhad taken place. Several such

cases were being reported fromdifferent parts of the country andthe entire atmosphere appeared tobe moving towards a violent con-frontation.

It was September 21, 1990evening, during peak hours that agroup of student protestors stageda sit-in at the AIIMS chowk. Bythis single move, they had virtu-ally hit the jugular of the traffic insouth Delhi. Life was completelydisrupted. Efforts were made bythe police directly and also withthe help of Vice Chancellor ofDelhi University to dissuade thestudents, but to no avail.

Instead of the sit-in meltingaway, after some time, studentsfrom various locations made abeeline for the venue, now namedas Rajiv Chowk. The crowd hadswelled to more than a thousandand more were joining enthusias-tically. Their morale appeared tobe high, food and durries wereseen coming from the neighbour-hood and all indicators pointedtowards a long haul.

Rajiv Chowk made headlinesdaily, and as people suffered, thenumber of students continued toswell. The stalemate continued,even as the incidence of violencegrew virtually by the hour. Themedia, mostly Print, had alreadystarted to say that it was going tobe another Tiananmen Square.

Finally, on September 26evening, the situation got precip-itated after some violence hadtaken place. We were getting infor-mation that the students andthose from the locality were nowupwards of 3,000 and they hadplenty of missiles and stonesbesides other material to resist thepolice. Despite provocations, thepolice still somehow wanted toavoid the use of force. It wasaround midnight that the policecolumns, fully-equipped with riotgear, started to move from all thefour sides towards the Chowk inan extended formation.

All were under strict instruc-tions not to use force. Street lightsin the area had been broken ortaken away by lumpen elementsduring the last few days of vio-lence. There were only someportable lights and some fromgenerators. As the force was mov-ing in simultaneously from all thesides, in dark and silence, theirnumbers remained undetected,till they were right there on top atthe venue.

The strategy at that time wasto just push the students backwithout use of any force whichultimately paid off much to thesurprise of the media as well assome of the police officers. As thestudents got hemmed in from allsides, realising that they had noother option and the force meantbusiness, they panicked and beganto court arrest in a peaceful manner.

Media personnel were noticedcommenting that they would haveto rewrite their stories as in thereports drafted beforehand, theywere only thinking of filling in thenumbers of dead, injured androunds fired et cetera. In fact, notonly the media, everyone was men-tally and psychologically preparedfor violence and what the police hadachieved was completely to thecontrary. In fact, the news of thepeaceful culmination of the siegecame as a complete surprise and wasan anti-climax for many. Anextremely violent situation thus gotresolved without any use of force.

Policing is one area of admin-istration which on account of thevery nature of its work, continues

to draw most of the negatives.And despite best efforts to recti-fy, the trend continues somehow.

One of the root causes for thenegatives to the police is its use ofunbridled force on the general public. It is in this contextthat the use of non-violent forcecan become an important elementof tactics. Though policemen aretrained and expected to be patient,they are human beings, and attimes do get provoked, which, ofcourse, should be absolutely unac-ceptable.

It is for this reason that for riotcontrol, there are exclusive andspecialised units. But what invari-ably happens is that these spe-cialised units get over-exposedthrough routine law and orderdeployment, and when the needarises, they start reacting andbehaving like a police station staff.

Thus, what we usually see isnot men of a uniformed force butindividuals in uniform. But evenif they have to act individually,they have to do so as per someorders and drills, and not take outtheir anger and frustrations on thegeneral public.

The term non-violent force isnot an oxymoron but a conceptwhich has been put to effectivepractical use. Cynics may haveseveral doubts, but to explain theconcept of non-violent force, onehas to visualise a mother slappingher child. She can be said to haveused force, but has she been vio-lent? No. Use of force becomesviolent when the force is appliedwith a sense of revenge, hostility,hatred, malice and rancour.

The difference is extremelysubtle but it is the loss of this sub-tleness in crowd management,and the thought amongst somepolicemen to teach the public alesson and punish them thatmakes the use of force violent andsometimes even brutal. This is thesource of most of the problems.The need for a change in policemethodology has assumed muchgreater importance. RajivGoswami later got married andalso raised a small family, butfinally left this world after 14 yearsof the incident.

(The writer is a retired DelhiPolice Commissioner and formerUttarakhand Governor)

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The number of girls enrolled inBohramal middle school in theBelsand block of Sitamarhi district in

Bihar outnumbers those of boys. But thesenumbers don’t reveal the real story. By thetime girls reach Class VIII, their absencebecomes conspicuous. Parents pull themout of school and get them married evenbefore they can complete the academic year.Gulaichi Kumari, a 14-year-old student ofclass VIII at this school, knew she would-n’t be able to finish her education since shewas engaged to be married in March, justbefore her final examinations. Although thealliance of Pinky Kumari, also in Class VIII,was to be in April, she wasn’t going to sitfor the exams because her parents had toldher there was no need since she was get-ting married. Neither girl was sure whethershe would be able to study further; althoughthey both wanted to.

Gulaichi and Pinky are not the onlyones whose dreams have been cut short.About 1.5 million girls in India are childbrides. A majority of them can be found inBihar, which tops the list of States in thecountry for child marriages with over 42.5per cent being married before 18 years. Soit comes as no surprise that major declinein school completion levels in rural Biharoccurs between Classes VIII and IX forunmarried girls. In fact, two in five mar-ried girls discontinued their educationbecause they got engaged or married,according to a 2016 study on adolescentsin Bihar by Population Council, a not forprofit working on health.

Adolescents comprise 22 per cent ofBihar’s population. How many of them haveaccurate knowledge about their bodies?How many are equipped with reproductiveand sexual health information? Are theyaware of contraception or how pregnancyoccurs? Not many, found the study. Of the10,400 adolescents interviewed in 36 out of38 districts in Bihar, only 44 per cent of girlsbetween the ages 13-14 and 56 per cent of

boys aged 13-14 knew that a woman couldnot become pregnant after kissing or hug-ging. And only nine to 10 per cent knewthat a woman could get pregnant at first sex.Although 27-28 per cent of the older boysand unmarried older girls (15-19 years)were aware that a woman could get preg-nant after the first sexual encounter, onlyfour to five per cent knew that a woman wasmost likely to become pregnant if sheengaged in sexual relations mid-cycle.Even among married older girls, just 53 and12 per cent, respectively, were aware of thesetwo facts.

The study also found that 14.1 per centof unmarried adolescent boys and 6.3 percent of unmarried adolescent girls had pre-marital sex, and of them, 22 per cent boysand 28.5 per cent girls had premarital sexbefore 15 years. Further, a large propor-tion of adolescents in sexual relations witha romantic partner had engaged in unpro-

tected sex. Contraceptive use in a roman-tic relationship was limited — just 31 percent of boys and 17 per cent of girls report-ed using a contraceptive at first sex. Evenmore limited was consistent contraceptiveuse — only among 28 per cent of boys andseven to 11 per cent of girls. This couldbe because 70-72 per cent of younger boysand girls (13-14 years) had never receivedinformation on how pregnancy occurs orhow a pregnancy could be prevented.Neither had 25 per cent of the older boys(15-19) and 44 per cent of the unmarriedolder girls.

Adolescents are shy in seeking sexualand reproductive health services and it isnot hard to understand why. Where do theygo and who will provide information andservices, confidentially and without prej-udice? Adolescent-friendly health clinicsand peer counsellors were supposed toaddress these concerns under the RashtriyaKishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK).Launched in 2014 by the Ministry ofHealth, the RKSK aimed to reach out to theadolescents and improve their health-seeking behaviour in six strategic areasincluding nutrition, sexual reproductivehealth and gender-based violence. But inBihar, where RKSK was rolled out in 10high priority districts, the study found thathardly any adolescent had heard about ado-lescent-friendly health clinics (one per centof boys and two to five per cent of girls) orreceived services from them. Further, gapsin the health delivery system, shortage ofskilled human resources and medical coun-sellors as well as women doctors haveundermined its implementation.

According to the United NationsPopulation Fund (UNFPA), India willcontinue to have the biggest national ado-lescent girl population until 2030. That ado-lescent fertility rates are high is clear fromthe fact that one-third of India’s populationis born to adolescent mothers. In Bihar,which has the highest total fertility rate (3.4)in the country, girls constitute 46 per centof the State’s adolescent population. Allthese numbers tell a story — if no one isto be left behind, urgent strategic invest-ments in schooling and retention, compre-hensive sexuality and life skills education,greater access to contraception and fami-ly planning choices, and safe abortion ser-vices is imperative.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

When numbers tell a story

Non-violence: A more powerful forceOne of main reasons for the negative image of police in the public mind is its use of unbridled force againstordinary citizens. It is in this context that the use of non-violent force should be a crucial tactical measure

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The building collapse in north-west Delhi’s SawanPark that killed two women and four children, mimicsIndia’s rubble realty, as it were. Forget the blame-game,the North Delhi civic corporation was very muchaware of the danger yet did nothing. The incidentsmacks of criminal callousness and unsataible greedthat together led to a disaster that cost human lives.We hope there isn’t more to come.

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Benchmark indices Sensexand Nifty fell for the second

consecutive session onThursday after the US Fedhiked interest rates and strucka hawkish stance amid risingcrude oil prices.

Moreover, Septemberfutures and options (F&O)expiry added to market volatil-ity, brokers said.

Investors offloaded theirlong bets in the F&O segmentinstead of carrying them for-ward to the next series forOctober, they added.

The BSE benchmarkSensex, after opening positiveat 36,691.93, advanced to a highof 36,711.62 on covering-up ofshort positions in select stocks.

However, higher levelscould not be sustained as par-ticipants offloaded their longpositions in view of Septemberseries expiry. The index slippedto a low of 36,238.23, beforefinally settling at 36,324.17,down 218.10 points, or 0.60 percent. It had slipped 109.79points on Wednesday amidliquidity concerns.

The NSE Nifty closed

below thek e y1 1 , 0 0 0 -mark byf a l l i n g7 6 . 2 5points, or0.69 percent, to10,977.55.Intra-day,the 50-s h a r eindex shuttled between11,089.45 and 10,953.35.

Sentiment was brieflyboosted after the GovernmentWednesday raised importduties on 19 items, including jetfuel and air conditioners, as itlooks to check the wideningcurrent account deficit result-ing from high crude oil pricesand a weakening rupee.

Moreoever, the ReserveBank of India (RBI) Thursdayallowed banks to dip furtherinto statutory cash reserves ina bid to ease a liquidity squeezeafflicting the nation’s moneymarkets.

RBI said banks could ‘carveout’ up to 15 per cent of hold-ings under the statutory liq-uidity reserves to meet their liq-

uidity coverage ratio (LCR)requirements as compared to13 per cent now.

The move follows con-cerns over tight liquidity con-ditions and banks’ unwilling-ness to lend to NBFCs.

Global markets reeled afterthe US Fed raised interest ratesfor the third time this yearWednesday. The Fed said it stillforesees another rate hike inDecember, three more nextyear, and one increase in 2020.

Meanwhile, foreign port-folio investors (FPIs) soldshares worth a net �809.95crore, while domestic institu-tional investors (DIIs) boughtequities to the tune of �1,555.44crore on Wednesday, as perprovisional data.

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The Global — New CarAssessment Program

(Global-NCAP) released its lat-est test results on Thursday.This not-for-profit, backed bythe Federation Internationale del’Automobile (FIA) has beentesting India-manufactured carsfor a since 2014 and accordingto the latest results, particular-ly of the maruti-Suzuki VitaraBrezza and Tata Nexon haveboth scored four out of five starsfor front driver and passengersafety in an front-offset crashtest at 64 kilometers per hour.The Renault Lodgy howeverscored zero stars, reminiscent ofthe test failure suffered by theprevious Renault Kwid. TheFrench carmaker in a responsestated that their cars adhere toall current safety norms pre-

scribed in India, and theywould adhere to future safetynorms. Currently, cars in Indiado not have to meet strictcrash-safety norms, howeverfrom mid-2019, several safetyfeatures will be made manda-tory on all cars sold in India,and all cars will have to passstrict front-offset crash tests.Most carmakers have alreadyput safety features such asAirbags and Anti-Lock Brakes(ABS) into all new models.

The front-offset crash is themost common sort of high-speed impact seen on roads.Over 150,000 Indians died onroads and highways in 2017according to official statistics.For many years, Indian car-makers resisted putting safetyfeatures on their cars due to thecosts involved, but increasing-ly carmakers, with some excep-tions have started loading theirmodels with safety features.Some are adding six or sevenairbags across the model rangeon their cars and theGovernment has indicated thatElectronic Stability Programs(ESP) which uses a computer toreduce the risk of loss of con-trol will be made mandatory aswell.

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Amazon.in on Thursdayannounced its biggest fes-

tive celebration ‘Great IndianFestival’ from October 10 – 15,2018 through a uniqueAmazon Festive Home show-case. Like last year, the festivalwill begin early for Primemembers as part of PrimeEarly Access. Customers willget affordable deals on thewidest selection of smart-phones, large appliances &TVs, home & kitchen products,fashion, consumables such asgrocery & beauty, consumerelectronics and more through-out the celebration.

Showcasing its first ever‘Amazon Festive Home’ in NewDelhi, Amazon.in positioneditself as the complete singleshopping destination for all ofcustomers’ festive and house-hold needs from large appli-ances, home décor and kitchenitems to occasion wardrobe, fes-tive items, household groceriesand more. Now customers canchoose 1600+ products across100+ top Indian & internationalbrands and small & mediumbusinesses.

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India’s real-time money trans-fer platform, IMPS

(Immediate Payment Service)has been rated the highest in aglobal payments innovationindex built by FIS, (NYSE:FIS), a global leader in finan-cial services technology.

IMPS runs on the UnifiedPayment Interface (UPI) thatallows money transfer betweenbank accounts on a real timebasis. The daily transactionvolume has surged to approx-imately 2.8 million per day thisyear, from about 2 million perday in 2017. IMPS has alsoallowed money transfer apps tofeature chatting capabilities,this has further encouragedpublic use of real-time inno-vation.

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With the aim of providingluxurious living and once

in lifetime experience to pil-grims visiting MahaKumbh in2019, the UPSTDC (UttarPradesh State TourismDevelopment Corporation)and Hitkari Productions &Creations (a company special-izing in high-end events) inassociation with DavikConsummate Services, haveintroduced “Indraprastham-City of Eternity, first time in thehistory of KumbhMela. Theeternal tent city will offer pri-vacy and convenience for indi-viduals, families, and smallgroups visiting Kumbh 2019.The official website of thisexperience-driven entity, whichwill facilitate the bookings ofthe tents and villas for the trav-e l e r s -www.kumbhtentcity.com,waslaunched today during an eventheld at Renaissance Hotel,

Lucknow. Under the aegis of

“Indraprastham- City ofEternity”, the tourists will get tochoose across a range of spa-cious and luxurious tents andvillas categorized as Atri(Deluxe), Angirasa (SuperDeluxe), and Gautama (Suite),the rental costs of these tentsstarts from �10,000 per day.The prototype of the tentedaccommodation was alsodemonstrated on Thursday atthe event.

Launching the official web-site for booking, Rita BahugunaJoshi, Tourism Minister, UttarPradesh said,”Kumbh is morethan just aheritage event; it isa part of an extensive societythat reflects the glory of ournation’s ancient values andSanatana Dharma. There is amassive footfall of tourists andpilgrims in our state everytime Kumbh is organized. In2019 as well as in the consec-utive years to come, we are

hoping to provide a better andadvanced experience for thevisitors, and will put in bestefforts to ensure convenienceand safety for everyone.”

Unveiling the prototype ofthe tent Awanish KumarAwasthi, IAS Addl, ChiefSecretary & DG, Tourism,Govt. of Uttar Pradesh said,“With the roll-out ofIndraprastam- City of Eternity,expectations are skyrocketingas Kumbh evolves into a trulyglobal event. We are hopefulthat this auspicious extrava-ganza will have a positiveimpact on the overall tourismscenario of our state. The stategovernment expects a massivefootfall of 15 crore pilgrims thistime in Kumbh 2019.

KumbhMela noticed anestimated footfall of 12 crorepeople last time, in 2019, thestate Government expects amassive footfall of 15 crore pil-grims, pilgrims, includingmonksand general public.

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Indian real estate market isexpected to touch $1 trillion by

2030, becoming the third largestglobally, a recent survey said.

According to the surveyconducted by KPMG in asso-ciation withe Naredco andAPREA revealed that the sec-tor is estimated to grow to $650billion by 2025 and surpass$850 billion by 2028 to touch$1 trillion by 2030.

The report releasedThursday here noted that Indiahas consistently improved itsranking in global real estatesince 2014, which has instilledconfidence in investors.

Neeraj Bansal partner andhead ASEAN corridor ofKPMG in India said this growthis driven by emerging assetclasses such as affordable hous-ing and co-working spaces.

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The rupee on Thursdayended almost flat at 72.59

to the US dollar on Thursdayafter initial strong gains wereerased by fag-end dollardemand from importersdespite Government measuresto stem currency volatility.

Steady capital outflowsagainst the backdrop of tumblinglocal equities, ongoing globaltrade war concerns and surgingoil prices kept forex sentimentunder stress. The Indian unit see-sawed its way through out thetrade, having initially openedstrong reacting to overnightGovernment decision to raiseimport duties on select items tocheck rupee slide. Despite theinitial bounce, the home unitappears to struggle as the US dol-lar remained broadly firm.

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E-commerce major Amazon is confi-dent of clocking strong growth this

festive season in India, driven by avail-ability of large selection of products andbig brands as well as new customers com-ing onto its platform, especially from tierII and III towns.

Amazon India, which competes head-on with rival Flipkart, will kick off its fes-tive sale from October 10-15, lining up newlaunches across various categories anddishing out discount offers to woo Indianshoppers. Walmart-backed Flipkart willhost its ‘The Big Billion Days’ (TBBD) fes-tive sale from October 10-14.

“Each festive sale (Great IndianFestival) has been bigger than the previ-ous one. We feel confident because we havenew customers coming in. More than 70per cent of new customers are expected tocome from tier II and III towns,” AmazonIndia vice-president (category manage-ment) Manish Tiwary told PTI. He addedthat big brands like OnePlus, Xiaomi andSamsung across categories like mobilephones, large appliances and others werealso lining up their products during the fes-tive sale. The company doesn’t sharecountry-specific details on number of cus-tomers and revenue.

Asked about the segments that woulddrive growth, Tiwary said every categorywas expected to do well with many of themwitnessing 10X growth. “We expect mobilephones, fashion and large appliances cat-egories to do really well,” he added.Tiwary pointed out that the company wasalso lining up finance options, including

EMI on debit cards and Amazon Pay wal-let, to ease purchases through its platform.Amazon India has also set up a festivehome showcase, where it is displayingmore than 1,600 of the over 170 millionproducts available on its platform.

About 20 million people are expect-ed to shop on various e-commerce plat-forms during the festive sale next month,translating into sales of around USD 3 bil-lion for players like Amazon and Flipkart,according to a report by research firmRedSeer. Smaller player ShopClues, too,has announced its sale from October 10-November 7 to offer up to 80 per cent dis-count across fashion and lifestyle, home,kitchen, electronics and accessories cate-gories. According to the RedSeer report,the share of items like electronics and fur-niture during the sale could be higher thisyear due to affordability initiatives beingundertaken by the e-commerce players.Mobile phones currently account for alion’s share of sales on the two leading e-commerce platforms.

Like in offline retail, e-commerce com-panies see a significant jump in sales dur-ing Dussehra and Diwali. The September-November period typically generates amajority of the annual sales of these com-panies, which prepare months in advancefor the sale event. The festive sale not onlybrings in discounts and deals for customersbut is also an annual showdown of sortsbetween the two largest players — Flipkartand Amazon India. The competitionbetween Flipkart and US-based Amazonthis year is expected to be even fiercer asboth companies have invested significantlythrough the year to ramp up products.

New Delhi (PTI): Online food orderingand delivery platform Foodpanda India onThursday said it had expanded its delivery net-work to 13 new cities as part of its expansionstrategy. The company’s delivery networkalready exists in seven cities namely Bengaluru,Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai,Hyderabad and Pune.

“We are in the midst of a fast-paced nation-wide expansion with an ambition to serve a bil-lion Indians,” Foodpanda India CEO PranayJivrajka said, adding Foodpanda was learningfrom Ola’s extensive experience of buildinghyperlocal solutions to solve unique local chal-lenges. The 13 cities where Foodpanda haslaunched operations include Jaipur,Chandigarh, Kanpur, Lucknow, Indore,Ahmedabad, Nashik, Nagpur, Mysore,Bhubaneswar, Guwahati, Visakhapatnam andCoimbatore, a company statement said.

The company has already boarded 5,000delivery partners in these 13 cities, it added.“Being a part of the Ola platform, Foodpandawill explore opportunities to synergise its ser-vices and efforts of delivering superior foodexperiences to cater to a wider pool of cus-tomers across these cities,” Jivrajka said.Foodpanda India last month said it was plan-ning to hire 60,000 delivery riders in the nexttwo months to ensure seamless delivery expe-rience.

Pune (PTI): Italian super sportscar maker Automobili Lamborghiniexpects India to break into its topten global markets in the next fiveyears with its new SUV Urus, set tohelp drive up volumes in the coun-try, a top company official said onThursday. The company, whichsold 26 units in India last year,

expects to double that in the nexttwo years, with Urus drawing acomplete new set of buyers.

“India is not yet in the top tenmarkets of Lamborghini, but I seehuge potential here to beat some ofthose already in the list,” AutomobiliLamborghini CEO Asia PacificMatteo Ortenzi told PTI here. When

asked by when India could break intotop ten global markets ofLamborghini, he said, “In my opin-ion in the mid-term, say five years, wehave a good opportunity to be there.”

In 2017, Lamborghini’s top tenglobal markets were the US, Japan,the UK, Greater China, Germany,Canada, Middle East, Australia,

France and Monaco, and Italy.Bullish on the Indian market,

Ortenzi said the company’s prod-ucts, coupled with India’s econom-ic growth and rapidly improvinginfrastructure, “gives us the oppor-tunity in three to four years to be ina different level than the one we arein today”.

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Tata Power on Thursdaysaid it had inked an MoU

with state-run oil marketingcompany Hindustan Petroleum(HPCL) for setting up com-mercial-scale electric vehicle(EV) charging stations at latter’sretail outlets and other loca-tions across the country.

Tata Power and HPCL,through this memorandum ofunderstanding (MoU), haveagreed to collaborate in plan-ning, development and opera-tion of charging infrastruc-ture for electric vehicles (e-cars,e-rickshaws, e-bikes, e-buses,etc), at suitable locations acrossIndia. Both the entities alsointend to additionally exploreareas of opportunities and col-laboration in related fields likerenewable energy, a companystatement said.

“We are delighted toannounce our partnership withHPCL. It is a significant movetowards expanding our servicesto our customers beyond con-ventional boundaries. By ser-vicing electric vehicles throughthe proposed charging stationsacross India, Tata Power will beplaying a crucial role inenabling a stronger penetrationof EVs in the country, PraveerSinha, CEO & MD, Tata Power,said in the statement.

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The Reserve Bank of Indiaon Thursday allowedbanks to dip further into

statutory cash reserves in a bidto ease a liquidity squeezeafflicting the nation’s moneymarkets.

The RBI in a statement saidbanks could ‘carve out’ up to 15per cent of holdings under thestatutory liquidity reserves tomeet their liquidity coverageratio (LCR) requirements ascompared to 13 per cent now.

This resulted from a rise inthe facility to avail funds forLCR to 13 per cent from 11 percent, effective October 1, theRBI said in a statement.

The move by the centralbank follows concerns over tightliquidity conditions and banks’unwillingness to lend to NBFCs.

The RBI said it “standsready to meet the durable liq-

uidity requirements of the sys-tem through various availableinstruments depending on itsdynamic assessment of theevolving liquidity and marketconditions.”

Citing proactive steps takenin the last few days, the RBI saidit conducted open market oper-ation (OMO) on September 19and provided a liberal infusionof liquidity through term reposin addition to the usual provi-sion via the liquidity adjustmentfacility (LAF).

It further said that anotherOMO would be conducted onThursday to ensure adequateliquidity in the system.

As of September 26, bankshad availed of �1.88 lakh crorethrough term repos from theReserve Bank, the apex banksaid in a statement. “As a resultof these steps, the system liq-uidity is in ample surplus,” it said.

The RBI further announced

the relaxation in statutory liq-uidity ratio (SLR) requirementwith effect from October 1,2018.

“This should supplementthe ability of individual banks toavail of liquidity, if required,from the repo markets againsthigh-quality collateral. This, inturn, will help improve the dis-tribution of liquidity in thefinancial system as a whole,” itsaid.

Concerns of liquiditycrunch were triggered followingdefaults by an IL&FS groupcompany. It spread to non-banking financial companies(NBFCs), which in turn roiledfinancial markets.

IL&FS Financial Services, agroup company of IL&FS,defaulted on one of its com-mercial paper issuances due forrepayment on Monday. Thiswas the third default by the com-pany.

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China on Thursday labeleda recent mission by

nuclear-capable US B-52bombers over the disputedSouth China Sea as “provoca-tive,” and said the US was sole-ly responsible for a recentdownturn in relations betweentheir militaries.

Defense Ministryspokesman Ren Guoqiang alsoreiterated at a monthly briefingChina’s objections to a recentU.S. arms sale to Taiwan andthe imposition of US sanctionsover China’s purchase ofRussian defense equipment.

“As for the provocativeaction taken by the US militaryaircraft, we are firmly against it

and we will take all necessarymeans to safeguard our rightsand interests,” Ren said.

Two B-52s flew over thestrategic waterway, largelyclaimed by China, earlier thisweek in what the Pentagoncalled a routine mission.Separately, two B-52s also flewthis week over the East ChinaSea, where China has declaredan air defence identificationzone and claims uninhabitedislands controlled by Japan.

China has sought tostrengthen its claim to theSouth China Sea by buildingseven islands on reefs andequipping them with militaryfacilities such as airstrips, radardomes and missile systems.Five other Governments claim

territory in the oil- and gas-richarea through which an esti-mated $5 trillion in globaltrade passes annually.

Asked at the Pentagon onWednesday about the bomberflights, Defense Secretary JimMattis said he wasn’t con-cerned they might raise ten-sions with Beijing.

“That just goes on. If it was20 years ago and had they notmilitarised those features thereit would have been just anoth-er bomber on its way to DiegoGarcia or wherever,” Mattissaid, according to a Pentagontranscript, referring to a key USbase in the Indian Ocean.

“So there’s nothing out ofthe ordinary about it,” Mattissaid.

China also demanded theUS cancel a $330 million saleof spare parts and related sup-port for Taiwan’s US-made F-16 fighter jets and other mili-

tary aircraft, warning of “severedamage” to bilateral relationsand mutual cooperation ifWashington fails to comply.

Washington has no official

relations with Taiwan’s democ-ratically elected government butis obliged by US law to see thatit has the means to defend itself.

The arms sale coincideswith a US decision to issue a visaban and assets freeze on China’sEquipment DevelopmentDepartment and its director, LiShangfu, over the purchasefrom Russia of Su-35 combataircraft in 2017 and S-400 sur-face-to-air missile system-relat-ed equipment this year.

China’s purchase of theweapons fromRosoboronexport, Russia’smain arms exporter, violated a2017 law intended to punishthe government of RussianPresident Vladimir Putin forinterfering in US elections and

other activities.In response, China

demanded the sanctions berevoked, summoned theAmerican ambassador anddefense attache to deliver aprotest, and recalled its navycommander from a U.S. trip.

China also turned down arequest for an October port callin Hong Kong by the US Navyamphibious assault ship USSWasp. China last denied sucha visit in 2016 amid a spike intensions between the countriesover the South China Sea.

The increase in frictioncould affect other exchanges,including a planned visit to theUS by Chinese DefenseMinister Wei Fenghe, a possi-bility Ren did not rule out.

��

Beijing urged the UnitedStates on Thursday to stop

slandering China after PresidentDonald Trump accused theAsian giant of trying to interferein upcoming American con-gressional elections.

Geng Shuang, a foreignministry spokesman, toldreporters at a regular briefingin Beijing that the Chinese gov-ernment does not interfere inother countries’ internal affairs.

Trump said on Wednesdayas he chaired the UN SecurityCouncil for the first time thatChina was meddling in theelections because it opposes histough trade policies.

The White House provid-ed scant evidence of anythingakin to the level of Russia’s med-dling in the 2016 presidentialelection. In Beijing, Geng saidChina urged the US to “stopmaking unwarranted accusa-tions and slanders againstChina and stop the words anddeeds that harm bilateral tiesand the fundamental interest ofthe two peoples.”

New York: Dismissing as “fakenews” the reports that worldleaders were laughing at himduring his speech to a sessionof the UN General Assembly(UNGA), US President DonaldTrump asserted that the dele-gates were not laughing at himbut “laughing with me”.

Heads of state andGovernment present at theUNGA Hall on Tuesday audi-bly laughed as Trump began hisaddress by reciting US eco-nomic gains under his leader-ship. “That’s fake news, and itwas covered that way,” Trumpsaid at a Press conference onWednesday.

“I was in front of a largegroup of highly professional

people, most of whom arefrom either other countries orthe United Nations, peoplethat aren’t big into clapping,applauding, smiling, and Iheard a little rustle as I said ourcountry is now stronger thanever before. It is true. I mean itis true. I heard a little rustle.And I said, it is true.

“And I heard smiles. I said,I didn’t know there would be —they weren’t laughing at me.They were laughing with me. Wehad fun. That was not laughingat me. So the fake news said,people laughed at PresidentTrump. They didn’t laugh at me.People had a good time with me.We were doing it together,”Trump said. PTI

United Nations: President Donald Trump defended his work tosettle a nuclear deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, say-ing he has given up nothing but his time during a June summityet stands on the cusp of denuclearising the North.

In a wide-ranging news conference on the sidelines of theUN General Assembly, Trump told reporters that despite toughUS Sanctions against the North staying in place, he believes thatKim wants to get a deal done because of their close ties.

“We have a very good relationship. He likes me, I like him,we get along,” Trump said. “He wants to make a deal and I’d liketo make a deal.” He wouldn’t put a timeframe, however, on whenthe two leaders might settle the standoff. “We’re not playing thetime game,” he said.

United Nations: PresidentDonald Trump vowed to pre-sent a “very fair” Middle Eastpeace plan by the end of theyear and endorsed a two-statesolution, apparently confidentthat the Palestinians wouldreturn to talks despite hisunwavering support for Israel.

Holding talks with IsraeliPrime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu in New York, Trumpsaid it was a “dream” of his tobring about a peaceful solutionto a conflict that has eluded sev-eral of his predecessors.

While Trump said heexpected Israel to make con-cessions in any final settlementof the decades-old conflict,the Palestinians said his admin-istration’s policies in the MiddleEast were destroying hopes ofpeace.

Jared Kushner, who isTrump’s son-in-law as well as asenior adviser in the WhiteHouse, has been working on apeace plan for more than a year,but there have been few cluesto date on what he is expected

to propose. “I would say overthe next two to three to fourmonths,” Trump said, referringto his prospective timetable forpresenting a plan.

Trump, who met withNetanyahu on the sidelines ofthe UN General Assembly, saidexplicitly for the first time thathe backed a two-State solution,said, “That’s what I think worksbest, that’s my feeling.” “I reallybelieve something will happen.It is a dream of mine to be ableto get that done prior to the endof my first term,” added Trump,who was elected to serve fouryears through January 2021.

“Jared, who’s so involved,he loves Israel but he’s alsogoing to be very fair with thePalestinians,” the US presidentlater told a news conference. “Ithink probably two-state ismore likely but if they do a sin-gle, if they do a double, I’mokay with it if they’re bothhappy. If they’re both happy,I’m okay with either. I think thetwo-state is more likely,” hesaid. AFP

��

Christine Blasey Ford toldthe Senate Judiciary

Committee and a rivetednation on Thursday that BrettKavanaugh sexually assaultedher in a locked room at a 1980shigh school gathering, as thepanel began an extraordinaryhearing at which Kavanaughhoped to salvage his SupremeCourt nomination.

“I believed he was going torape me,” said Ford, 51, her voicebreaking. Expressing certaintythat Kavanaugh was her attack-er, the California psychologyprofessor explained how thebrain remembers traumaticevents. “Indelible in the hip-pocampus is the laughter, theuproarious laughter of the two,”she said, referring to Kavanaughand a friend who was with him.

Kavanaugh has deniedFord’s and other women’s alle-gations of sexual misconduct, ina clash that has underscoredAmerica’s political and cultur-al fault lines. But accumulatingaccusations have raised ques-tions about whether Republicanleaders will be able to hold GOPsenators behind President

Donald Trump’s nominee.The conservative jurist,

whose Senate confirmationhad seemed assured until Fordand the other women emerged,awaited his own chance to tes-tify later in the day.

With millions watching ontelevision, Ford told the topcommittee Democrat, CaliforniaSen. Dianne Feinstein, that she’d“agonised daily” over comingforward about the allegeddecades-old attack. She said shefeared the personal conse-quences would be akin to“jumping in front of a train.” Infact, both she and Kavanaughhave received death threats.

Republicans have chal-lenged Ford’s and otherwomen’s allegations, in partbecause it took them years tocome forward. But whenFeinstein asked her how shecould be sure Kavanaugh wasattacker, Ford said, “The sameway I’m sure I’m talking to youright now.” But conservativejurist is facing allegations ofsexual misconduct from otherwomen as well, forcingRepublican leaders to struggleto keep support for him fromeroding.

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$ $�� 5)

Actors Anushka Sharmaand Varun Dhawan couldhave made a run-of-the-

mill and easy choice but like theperformers of their times theychose a script that engages withnationbuilding. Sui Dhaaga is astory of a married couple in asmall town who start their ownbusiness and take pride in creat-ing clothing in India. The duohave easily chosen to do a filmwith multiple songs and lots ofdrama. All they had to do was goto a producer and say that theywant to work together but theychose to do a film with a messagethat is different from what wehave seen them do so far.

“That’s the biggest thing amovie can do, bring about somekind of change,” said Varun. Forthe lead actor, the film had lessonsabout love and bonding in afamily. “From this film, I under-stood that even when you don’thave anyone you have family.Without your family, successmeans nothing,” he added. ForAnushka, the film is all aboutshowing perseverance. The cou-ple is trying hard to becomeentrepreneurs and they fall andrise again. “I think you can’t giveup, situations will keep gettingbad, one has to stay centered andstay their ground and make surethat you don’t loose the bigger pic-ture,” she said.

The duo was in town for pro-motions for their new film SuiDhaaga, a Yashraj production, inwhich a married couple becomeentrepreneurs and create ‘Made inIndia’ clothing. To prepare for therole, the duo trained in using thehandloom and block prints aswell. “Using the handloom wasreally tough. I didn’t even try, butit was impressive the way Varunwas doing it. I did block printing,which was also very difficult,because you have to really getthem all aligned and if you don’tyou completely screw up theentire block. I had to learn it andI was very scared but it was lot offun. Sometimes when you don’tknow the process, you try younderstand the process, eventu-ally you value it a lot more so Ithink today we stand havingmore value for all these things,”said Anushka.

When they started out, theydidn’t realise how big the impactof this movie was going to be ininspiring India. The film is closeto the policies of the governmentof India, which has been empha-sising on how India has to becomea manufacturer than import fromforeign shores. This has poweredIndians to turn entrepreneursand the film then becomes verytopical. “We obviously wanted theimpact to be big and wanted peo-ple to get inspired but didn’t

realise that from the traileronwards we would receive thekind of love we did. The recogni-tion we have got is tremendous.It reached out everywhere, whichis great. I was shooting in Raipurand a lot of people asked me aboutthe film. It’s been pretty good fora film like this to generate somuch buzz,” Varun said.

When making a film,Anushka doesn’t look out for the

impact right away but there is anunderstanding that a film waswritten with good intent andmade with the best of intentions.“You realise that as actors youcame on board because youunderstood that apart from enter-taining people this is also making

a very strong point in the best waythat a movie can, which is throughentertainment and not in apreachy way. Then you feel likeyou’re a part of something whichis extremely important and it willmake the right kind of noise,” saidshe.

To mould themselves intothe characters of ordinary Indians,they had multiple workshops,readings and experts who helpedwith the language, but the mostdemanding part for Varun is thepromotional work.

“From the get go, when thescript was offered, and whenSharad and Maneesh came to uswe kind of dove into it workshopsand it’s been very fruitful,” he said.

The story is centered arounda couple that gets married firstand falls in love gradually.Anushka said, “They are firstly lifepartners, then business partners.One is incomplete without theother and there has to be equalvalue that you need to have forone another. I think that’s what suidhaaga symbolises, according tome. While the film is making a

strong point, it’s showing you thatthrough the process of these twopeople, their journey, their story,their ups and downs is a rare lovestory between a husband and wife.The love starts to blossom postmarriage and because of workingtogether,” she said, adding that thecouple comes from a place wherepeople are married off early andpeople hardly have any ambitions.“It’s just about making ends meet,doing the bare minimum to runthings. But how these two peoplecan have a vision or foresight andhow that results in them comingtogether is shown in the film,” shesaid.

For Varun, while the film hasheroism, it is also about how thecouple overcomes obstacles.“There are a lot of highs. It’s gonnabe a surprise for people whenthey’ll watch the film,” he said.The humour and positive parts inthe film hasn’t come out in thetrailer entirely and people will besurprised when they watch it, saidAnushka.

When asked if it was difficultto break stereotypes of what

a hero should be like, Varunsaid, “The audience always wantsomething new as long as it’sentertaining.” Anushka added,“As an actor you have to contin-ue breaking stereotypes. I thinkyou should not let any stereotypesget made to begin with. Theyouth of the country, while theyfollow people on Instagram andTwitter, they all want to seek thereown individuality. As actors it’sour duty to constantly reinventourselves and make us moreinteresting for the audience,” sheadded. Varun and she have beenexperimenting since early onthrough films like October andNH-10 but as actors they are ableto do that only after establishingthemselves, they believe. “Anyonewho says that they are experi-menting from their first film islying. You take what you get,” saidhe. Anushka added, “Initially youwon’t get those kind of optionsand opportunities. At a laterstage, you have more choices to dotypical and experimental things.I won’t say experimenting but bal-

ancing,” she said.

First things first, let memake a couple of admis-

sions. The first is that I havenever really considered theMaruti-Suzuki Ciaz as avehicle that I would buy. Itis spacious, comfortable andreliable as well, but it is notthe most engaging car on themarket, it isn’t even themost engaging car in itsown class. And I have ques-tioned Maruti-Suzuki’s‘Hybrid’ system; it is not, inmy opinion a hybrid,because a hybrid car is onewith two power sources pro-viding motive power. The‘Smart Hybrid’ that Maruti-Suzuki was selling wasessentially an improved elec-trical system that allowed forthe engine to shut down attraffic lights (start-stop) andprovided some additionalhorsepower while accelerat-ing.

But, over the past sixdays I have been drivingaround in the refreshedMaruti-Suzuki Ciaz. I drovethis car around Bengalururecently and found it per-fectly acceptable. But this,drive over an extended peri-od of time and inside a cityfor regular day-to-day com-muting is different. I havebeen driving the top-speci-

fication petrol-hybridmodel. Again, Maruti-Suzuki is not using the bat-tery pack; in this case a newLithium-Ion module underthe floor in addition to thelead-acid battery in thefront; to drive the car. It isusing this battery basicallyfor start-stop power and forfilling in the gaps as youaccelerate.

But despite that, over thelast 350 km that I have dri-ven, a pretty normal amountof driving inside the city onregular working days formyself, I have achieved atruly incredible 15.4 km perlitre. Now, I will admit thatI have been driving verygently with few instances ofhard acceleration and brak-ing. But the start-stop withthe new battery has really

helped at long traffic lightsthat I’ve faced in Delhi andNoida. But I have used theair-conditioner and info-tainment system constantlyand I have used the careven for short drives to themarket. So I have not triedto ‘game’ the result, andwhile I do plan my commuteevery morning choosingwhich route to take, I reallyhave not done anything outof the ordinary to get thismileage.

Because, 15.4 km perlitre is extremely impressive.Not just for a petrol car inthis mid-sized sedan class,but even when you consid-er smaller sedans and largehatchbacks, some even withsmaller engines.

To put this in context, todrive a 100 km, I would usearound six and a half litresof petrol, which taking aweighted average of around�85 a litre, will cost just over�550, which no matter howyou slice and dice it is veryimpressive. I have driven allthe cars that compete againstthe Ciaz, with their petrolengines and none of themcome close to this sort of fueleconomy.

To be sure, I have nottried the Ciaz with the four-speed automatic and thatwill definitely have worsefuel economy, but you know

what, I am sure the batterypack will make an economydifference in that variant aswell.

But, to give you a com-parison, another petrol-engined sedan in this class Idrove, again, very judicious-ly over an extended periodof time gave me around12.1 km to the litre, which Ifelt was impressive. But that,again at a weighted per-litreprice of �85, would mean�715 for 100 km of driving.Over 10,000 km of drivingannually that is �16,200 lessand over a reasonable 18,000km year, that is �29,160 lessat current fuel prices.

And we know that crudeoil prices might touch$100/barrel in the next fewmonths and neither the cen-tral government nor stategovernments have any incli-nation to cut fuel taxes, thecost impact only increases.And keep in mind, in Delhiyou can only own a dieselcar for ten years and while Iam sure the diesel-hybridCiaz would also have hugecost benefits over its rivals,diesel’s inherent fuel econo-my only makes sense now ifyou are driving over 2000kilometers a month. So overa five-year lifespan, if fuelprices continue to rise grad-ually, a Maruti-Suzuki Ciazwith its petrol engine could

save you upwards of twolakhs. That is not chumpchange, heck, you can evenbuy an iPhone for that kindof money.

And this puts the Ciaz ata massive advantage to manyof its rivals, because far fromimpacting car sales higherfuel prices will have con-sumers displaying a markedpreference for more eco-nomical cars. Such carsshould also suit the govern-ment, because as moreIndians take to the roads itwants to both keep emis-sions down and ring-fencecurrency outflows due tocrude oil purchases. Evenwith its relatively rudimen-tary (as compared to whatother manufacturers have onoffer) system, the Ciaz candramatically change themarket, especially since itactually costs less than somerivals. It might make Maruti-Suzuki offer this hybridoption on smaller cars likethe Baleno and Swift and itmight make rivals imple-ment larger battery-packs ontheir cars as well.

Higher prices at thepump have changed marketdynamics for cars in the pastand are likely to do thesame now. It has alsochanged the way that I driveon my regular morningcommute.

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What is tradition? Yesterday’s innova-tion becomes today’s tradition. It is

something that passes the test of time.There are 360 raag-raaginis but that was-n’t so right from the beginning. When aninnovation passes the test of time itbecomes tradition.

“Change is the only constant factor. Itis part of the evolutionary process and cre-ates new tradition,” says Shovana Narayan,a Padma Shri awardee and disciple of BirjuMaharaj.

Historically, Kathak was the onlyform of Indian classical dance that wasmentioned right from ancient times. In theMauryan period, there is mention of it andthere are sculptures showing the stance,churidar kurta, lehenga. “The continuityis there but the flow is the atma (soul). Inmy own lifetime, I have seen presentationsdiffer from late 50s to now,” says she.

LalitArpan Festival, jointly conceptu-alised by Kathak maestro, Narayan, andDr Jyotsna Suri and one of the mostrenowned tabla players, late Ustad ShafaatAhmed Khan, is ongoing till today.

Asavari continues the Gurushishyaparampara, which is one of the main rea-sons why classical Indian dances contin-ue, according to Narayan. Historically, thedisciple went to live with the guru like aboarding school but there’s no longerenough space and time, but, says Narayan,there are a few disciples who even withlimited time and space imbibe the essenceof the parampara.

“It’s not just about transference of

skills or knowledge but more important-ly of transmission of ethos and soul.Kathak is perpertuated, nourished andpreserved because of the parampara. It’snot a bubble, it has stayed through agesbecause a handful of dedicated studentstake it forward,” she says.

When teaching, she knows from theintangible spark that a student has if theyare dedicated or not. “Attention and theway the disciple is absorbing like asponge, their mind and will to beautifyfurther are telling signs. We don’t wantxerox copies, we look for disciples who willenhance it with their own identity andbeauty,” she says.

The latest edition of the festival isthemed around the idea of Shakti andempowerment, a concept the danseuseespouses in all forms.

Women are torch bearers when itcomes to preserving Indian classicaldance. “Women have been great promot-ers and preservers. Since awakening andsocial renaissance took place in late 19thcentury onwards. they have been on theforefront and broken barriers. It used tobe a strict no when women from goodfamilies wanted to learn classical danceand performing arts, but today they arethe top gurus and are adding new dimen-sions to it,” says she.

As an individual deeply embed in thetradition of music and arts, she also recog-nises the need to preserve endangered artslike the Sarangi, Israaj, Rudraveena, play-ers.

The women’s rights activist says thatsays that it is important for women to haveinner will since all external opportunities,economic and social, will come to naughtwithout an empowered mental attitude.

“Only then you can take advantage ofthe surrounding aspects to take you for-ward. You can have everything around butwithout inner strength it comes to naught,”she says.

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Call it hawker stalls, noodlecarts or street cafes, these are

the same when it comes toAsian street food which reallyhave a lot to offer. While walk-ing down the streets of Singaporeor Thailand or any Asian coun-try for that matter, do you haveany idea what would you mightcome across? There is a pool ofAsian dishes at all nooks andcorners which offer varieddelights to feast on.

Tum Tum Asia, a pan-Asian-based cuisine restaurant offers asimilar experience. The placewarm ambience of the place isenhanced by the graffitied wallswhich are splashed with imagesof Asian streets and hawkercarts.

Being a vegetarian, I amalways on the lookout for placeswhich have a fair share of greens.The menu fulfilled the require-ments as the entire first half had‘greens’ and the second part wasdominated by ‘reds’. With sucha menu, one doesn’t have to gothrough the hassle of goingthrough the entire list and read-ing all the ingredients. Andguess what? The vegetarian mealdidn’t disappoint me. The menupresented a refreshing take onthe street food cultures of Asia.

First, we decided to grab thedimsums. First in line was Peak-A-Boo, which were traditionalChinese open-faced dumplingsstuffed with juicy mushroomsand silky soft tofu crumble.Moving on, we had steamedCurry sum, topped with aspicy tomato curry and itwas full of hand-pound-ed spinach blendedwith roasted garlic,cream cheese andfinely-chopped soyachunks. The dim-sums looked likegreen triangles inmy plate with orangeoutlines. Then cameGogo pogo, a blend ofexotic vegetables.With grated carrots,mushrooms, finely-chopped ginger, garlic andchestnuts, the dumplings didnot fail to impart a blast offlavour in your mouth.

The non-vegetarian dim-sums didn’t disappoint my com-panion either, except for one —Naked cactus. The steamed dishsurely looked like glowing pink-ish-red cactuses on the plate,filled with chicken balls dippedin rice pickle. Full marks to thepresentation, but it didn’t go wellwith our tastebuds. Well, Iwouldn’t recommend this one.However, the others that cameup, left us craving for more.Nepalese Kothey, and CharcoalLamb, the two dumplings — one,kidney-shaped dimsums filledwith slow-cooked chicken tossedand curried with a twist of tangytomato sauce; the second, blackdimsums, juicy and filled withchopped lamb. These savouriesfilled our tastebuds with multi-ple flavours and are our toppicks.

An Asian meal is incompletewithout savouring on Sushi rolls.As we ran through the menu, we

cameacross Tropical cucumber —which is just appropriate forweight watchers. There weremaki rolls of cucumber and itspeels, pickled radish and gari-perfumed with miso and flat-tened rice. The dish surely madeits way to our hearts.

Moving towards the maincourse meals, we feasted on OiMunchim. We zeroed down onthis as the ingredients were oneof our all-time favourites. Andthankfully, this too did not dis-appoint. The dish was a blend ofspiced raw papaya and cucum-ber salad with Korean dressing,and was served with bird eyechillies and peanut crumbles.The spicy noodle-like rawpapaya and peanut had flavoursperfect for the Indian eater.

While we were still gorgingon the Munchim dish, theSingaporean soya noodles —noodles tossed in spicy tamarind

oyster sauce, garnished withcrushed peanuts, and was

served with with soyastrips, red and yellow

bell peppers, finely-chopped mushrooms,ginger and garlic,were placed on thetable. They werecooked well but butit was a tad too highon the spice-o-meter. One can only

gulp down a lot ofwater or gorge on a

dessert after such adish.

As we ordered ourmocktails, because a meal is

incomplete without a perfectlypaired drink, we stumbled uponan Indian sounding item calledthe Kala khatta, and Watermelonshake. Both thirst quencherswere prefect with the sizzlingdishes. The Kala khatta alsobrought memories of childhoodspent running behind the gola-wala, a crushed ice popsiclesold on Indian streets with spiceand jamun flavours.

What is interesting about thefood at the restaurant is that theAsian food is sprinkled withIndian tadka, spices and flavours.A ten-on-ten for giving anIndian spin to the Asian dishes.While our tummies were full,our hearts kept wanting formore. Also, the place is certain-ly not for the college crowd as itis a bit heavy on the pocket.However, the flavours are bangon and it would be a great ideato savour the sumptuous foodthat would make you feel likeyou were roaming through thestreets of Asia.

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Oktoberfest is one of the few fes-tivals where drinking is down-right celebrated. It has been

happening in Munich, Germany since1810 and you know it is around the cor-ner when beer starts flowing freely andthe crowd goes crazy. The 16 to 18 dayfolk festival runs from mid or lateSeptember to the first weekend inOctober, with more than six millionpeople from around the world attend-ing the event every year.

Don’t worry if you can’t make it toMunich because Delhi celebrates the

chugging festival Munch-style righthere.

It’s time for beer, and more beerright? The fortnight-long fiesta is fullof fun activities like, dart games,quizzes, beer guzzling competition,music performances, and much morealong with authentic German beer andfood.

It’s going to be one heck of a goodtime with great offers on buckets ofauthentic German beers and speciallycrafted Oktoberfest menus. Go on andget the best deals.

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Barcelona conceded twice in 68seconds and Real Madrid werethree down at half-time as La

Liga's two title favourites were eachstunned by surprise defeats onWednesday night.

Barca's 2-1 loss to relegation fight-ers Leganes was the greater shock butMadrid's beating was more emphatic,blown away 3-0 by Sevilla after a tor-rid 39 minutes at the Ramon SanchezPizjuan.

For both, it was their first defeat ofthe season and for both, defensivefragility was the key factor, which willbe a major concern with the secondround of Champions League games tocome next week.

By the end, Atletico Madrid, whohad cruised to victory over Huesca onTuesday and play Real on Saturday,were the biggest winners. After a stut-tering start, Diego Simeone's side willjump above Real with a win at theSantiago Bernabeu.

Sevilla can be a formidable oppo-nent on their own patch but fewexpected Leganes to inflict what wasonly Barcelona's second league defeatin 17 months.

"We are in a very difficult momentthat was unexpected," Barca coachErnesto Valverde said.

Gerard Pique committed the deci-

sive error, his fluffed clearanceallowing Oscar Rodriguez toscore Leganes' second goal intwo incredible minutes atEstadio Municipal de Butarque.

Nabil El Zhar had nodded inan equaliser moments before and bythe end Philippe Coutinho's sumptuousearly volley was reduced to little morethan a footnote.

After drawing at home to Girona onSunday, albeit with 10 men, Valverde'sselection also came under scrutiny, afterhe opted to rotate for the second timein three days.

Against Girona, it was Coutinho,Ivan Rakitic and Samuel Umtiti on thebench and just as they all had to becalled upon in the second half at the

Camp Nou, so were LuisSuarez and Jordi Alba thistime.

"Of course the coach isresponsible, a losing coachalways feels responsible," Valverdesaid.

"But obviously it iseasy now to talk about therotations - in the end,matches are analysed onresults - but you can't winthe league with only elevenplayers."

Barcelona face AthleticBilbao on Saturday and then

Tottenham at Wembleyin the ChampionsLeague four days laterbut one point from twoof La Liga's lesseropponents is a con-

cern.So is the form of Pique,

who was also at fault againstGirona and will almost cer-tainly start against Spurs, withUmtiti suspended.

"You have to judge thewhole team, not individuals,"Sergio Busquets said.

"There are noexcuses. We have toconcede fewer goalsand be more solid.Today the league isn't lost

but we might miss these three points atthe end of the season."

Real Madrid, who were just kick-ing off as Leganes closed out, couldhave pulled three points clear at the top

but instead were three down athalf-time for the first time in

a league game since 2003,also against Sevilla.

Twice Jesus Navas spedaway on the counter-attack,

and twice he found AndreSilva, the first time with adeliberate cut-back, the secondwhen his shot was palmed outfor a rebound.

Wissam Ben Yedderadded a third six minutes

before the interval, vol-leying in from close rangeafter the Madrid defencehad pushed out.

"We had a bad firsthalf," Madrid coachJulen Lopetegui said."Especially a bad start,when they scored twogoals and set the tone forthe game.

"We have to pick our-selves up, we have another

important game in threedays so we congratulateSevilla and recognise we

have not played how wewanted."

��

In a formidable display of skill andspeed, Eden Hazard slalomed past

Liverpool players before scoring thegoal that sealed Chelsea's progress inthe League Cup.

The winger's sixth goal in seven appearancesended Liverpool's perfect start to the season witha 2-1 victory on Wednesday at Anfield. And theteams have a swift reunion, with Chelsea hostingunbeaten early front-runner Liverpool at StamfordBridge in the Premier League on Saturday.

Emerson Palmieri leveled afterDaniel Sturridge gave Liverpool thelead in the 58th minute beforeHazard's mesmerizing winner in the85th minute.

The Belgium winger wentpast two Liverpool playersaround the halfway line beforesending the ball through RobertFirmino's legs to CesarAzpilicueta on the right flank.

The Spaniardreturned the ball to advancingHazard, who went past three players,cut inside and sent a shot across goal-keeper Simon Mignolet and into thenet.

"For sure it's on top of the list (ofgoals) also because it's Liverpool,"Hazard told broadcaster Sky Sports.

"When I received the ball I justlooked for one, I see on my own soI just tried to do what I can do and Idid well so we can go through."

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp,who took charge three years ago nextmonth, will now have to wait until atleast May to deliver his first trophysince arriving at Anfield as anotherchance of silverware slipped by with hisside's first defeat of the season.

"This is good preparation forSaturday but we have to defend bet-ter," said Klopp.

"We could have played calmer football but it'snormal when you make changes."

�88��8�#�*+#Dele Alli enjoyed a dream return to

Milton Keynes with Tottenham againstWatford. The home of MK Dons, Alli's for-mer club, is being used by Tottenham inthe League Cup because its new stadiumat White Hart Lane is not ready yet.

Alli sealed a 4-2 penalty shootout aftera lively finish saw the game end 2-2 after

90 minutes, with extra time not beingplayed in the competition.

Watford had gone in front 39 secondsinto the second half through Isaac Success

but Alli wiped that advantage out from thepenalty spot with 10 minutes to go after beingfouled by Christian Kabasele, who was sentoff.

Erik Lamela then put Tottenham infront, only for former Spurs player EtienneCapoue to level with a heavily deflectedeffort. After goalkeeper Paulo Gazzanigasaved from Capoue and Quina, it was left toAlli to send his side through.

�"��5��(Arsenal cruised through with a 3-1 vic-

tory over second-tier side Brentford with adouble from Danny Welbeck and AlexandreLacazette netting in stoppage time. West Hamrouted fourth-tier side Macclesfield 8-0.

�!��

Paulo Dybala and Blaise Matuidi scoredearly as Juventus extended their perfect

start to their Serie A title defence to sixgames with a 2-0 win over Bologna, as Romaended their losing streak with a 4-0 successover promoted Frosinone.

The reigning champions have a maxi-mum 18 points, three ahead of Napoli whobeat Parma 3-0, with the top two set to gohead-to-head in Turin on Saturday.

"We made some mistakes at the end ofthe match and we were sometimes vulner-able," said Juventus coach MassimilianoAllegri.

"On Saturday it's a head-to-head withNapoli and it'll certainly be a great game. Idon't have a line-up in my head right now,as on Friday in training we'll see everyonetogether and decide."

Lazio are third, a further three pointsadrift, after their fourth win on the trot 2-1 against Udinese ahead of this weekend'sRoman derby against Roma.

Roma, meanwhile, eased the pressure onunder-fire coach Eusebio Di Francescoachieving their first three points since theirseason-opener against Torino over a monthago.

"This is a new beginning for us, a newseason has started," said Di Francesco.

In Turin, Dybala got a rarestart up front alongside super-star Cristiano Ronaldo andlashed home his first goal of theseason after 12 minutes in theAllianz Stadium.

The Argentine had initial-ly teed up Matuidi but Lukasz Skorupskicleared the Frenchman's effort beforeDybala acrobatically turned the ball in him-self.

Five minutes later World Cup winnerMatuidi got his chance to add a second fol-lowing a Ronaldo cross, with the Portugueseforward having a shot cleared off the nearpost by Skorupski.

Ronaldo -- who missed out on theFIFA's best player of the year award thisweek -- fired just wide five minutes from thewhistle when he picked up Dybala's throughball.

In was the first of three games in Turinwithin the space of a week for Juventus, whoafter Napoli at the weekend, host Swiss clubYoung Boys in the Champions League nextweek, after winning their opener againstValencia.

Carlo Ancelotti rotated his squad com-pletely with nine changes ahead of the week-end game in Turin and hosting Liverpool inthe Champions League.

And it paid off with a third straightleague win with Lorenzo Insigne openingafter four minutes in Naples with a second-half brace from Polish forward ArkadiuszMilik keeping the pressure on Juventus.

"We were very fresh because I changedthem all, and the initial rhythm determinedthe final result," said Ancelotti.

9��(��+��F�Lazio, meanwhile, continued their

promising start with Francesco Acerbi andJoaquin Correa scoring in the space of fiveminutes just after the hour mark.

Bram Nuytinck pulled one back inUdine with an overhead kick ten minutesfrom time.

Simone Inzaghi's side, who lost theiropening two games to Juventus and Napoli,can head confidently into the Roman derbyagainst Roma.

In the Stadio Olimpico, Turkish wingerCengiz Under set the tone after just twominutes for Roma with a sensational runfrom his own half to lash into the goal froma distance.

Javier Pastore's back heel flick gave DiFrancesco's side a second just before the halfhour mark with Under then setting upStephan El Shaarawy for the third minuteslater.

Luca Pellegrini came off the bench forhis Serie A debut, to set up AleksandarKolarov for the fourth three minutes fromtime. Roma are tenth with eight points, withFrosinone second from bottom having con-ceded 16 goals this season.

"This is a starting point. It was impor-tant to rediscover our confidence and pre-pare well," said the Roma coach whose sidehost Czech club Viktoria Plzen in theChampions League next week, having losttheir opener to holders Real Madrid.

Inter Milan moved towards the top ofthe table with a 2-1 win over Fiorentina onTuesday.

�!��

Paris Saint-Germain set a new clubrecord on Wednesday when a 4-1 vic-

tory over Reims gave them a seventh winfrom seven games this season and aneight-point lead in Ligue 1.

With a perfect 21 points, new coachThomas Tuchel surpassed the previous beststart of 19 points by predecessor Unai Emerylast season.

The champions can now claim anoth-er slice of history on Saturday where a vic-tory over Nice will allow PSG to equal Lille'sall-time record of eight wins at the start ofa season set back in 1936-1937.

Missing the injured Lassana Diarra andsuspended Kylian Mbappe, PSG surprisinglyfell behind to Reims after just two minuteson Wednesday when Xavier Chavalerinstunned the Parc des Princes.

But Edinson Cavani levelled after fiveminutes and then won the 24th-minutepenalty which was converted by Neymar.

Uruguay striker Cavani hit the thirdbefore half-time to take his season'sgoal tally to five, the same as Neymar.

Thomas Meunier tucked awaythe fourth in the 55th minute afterbeing set up by young strikerMoussa Diaby much to the delightof watching US basketball legendMichael Jordan in town for this week'sRyder Cup.

"We are very happy to be the team toset the record," said Tuchel. "It was a bigobjective tonight, a great motivation for usto win and write this team into the club'srecord books."

Elsewhere, Belgian Moussa Dembelescored his first two goals for Lyon in twominutes in Dijon to set his team on course

for an 3-0 victory that lifted them into sec-ond in Ligue 1.

The 22-year old striker, who joined fromCeltic on August 31, scored the opener

after 17 minutes with a first-time chipover the goalkeeper and two minuteslater added a second, acrobaticallyputting home a rebound.

Martin Terrier headed a thirdin the 35th minute.

On a night when six earlymatches produced six red cards, Lyon

played the last 34 minutes with 10 menafter Lucas Tousart received a second yel-low card. Dijon's Enzo Loiodice followed inthe final minute.

Lyon are on 13 points from seven games,eight behind PSG.

Lille, who started the evening in second,lost 1-0 at Bordeaux. Kamano put the hometeam ahead after just seven minutes.

�!��

Teenager Achraf Hakimi scored ondebut as Borussia Dortmund waltzed

to a 7-0 win over Nuremberg onWednesday to keep the heat onBundesliga leaders Bayern Munich.

Real Madrid loaneeHakimi, 19, scoredDortmund's third goalas Lucien Favre's sideobliterated Nurembergto move to within twopoints of Bayern in sec-ond place.

Jacob Bruun Larsen's stylish finishgave Dortmund the lead early on, theDanish striker latching onto ChristianPulisic's through ball and lofting the ballover Fabian Bredlow in the Nuremberggoal.

With Dortmund in complete control,Marco Reus doubled the lead on 32 min-utes, as his long range effort was deflect-ed past a helpless Bredlow.

Hakimi's moment came just afterhalf-time, as he rounded off a Dortmundcounter attack by blasting the ball into thebottom corner from the edge of the box.

Reus added another a few minuteslater, and Manuel Akanji picked up his

first ever Bundesliga goal before substi-tutes Jadon Sancho and Julian Weigl com-pleted the rout.

"We put pressure on them from thevery first minute, did our job at the backand took our chances," Akanji told the

official club TV channel."It was a great feeling to score my first

goal for the club."Borussia Moenchengladbach, mean-

while, are among those chasingDortmund after they battled to a 3-1 winover Eintracht Frankfurt to go fourth.

Gladbach forced several saves fromKevin Trapp in the first half beforeAlassane Plea finally broke through in the56th minute, the Frenchman rifling theball in from a tight angle to grab his sixthgoal in all competitions.

Thorgan Hazard doubled the leadwith a sweetly struck finish ten minuteslater, and though Ante Rebic's goal gaveFrankfurt a flicker of hope, it was extin-guished by Nico Elvedi's 85th minuteheader.

Elsewhere, RB Leipzig battled to a 2-0 win over Stuttgart, while Wolfsburgwere held to a goalless draw in Mainz.Also, Bayer Leverkusen continue theirrecovery with a 2-1 win at FortunaDuesseldorf.

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India will be aiming to reassert theircontinental supremacy while aninjury-hit Bangladesh will hope to

shrug off stage fright when the twosides square off in the grand finale ofthe Asia Cup here Friday.

A passionate Bangladesh turnedout to be the party-poopers onWednesday as they wrecked theprospects of an India-Pakistan sum-mit clash with a gutsy performancedespite losing key players to injury.

On paper, India will remain over-whelming favourites to win the tour-nament for a record seventh timewhile Bangladesh will be hoping to bethird-time lucky in a summit clash.

Final of any tournament is a one-off game in complete isolation fromhow a team has performed in the tour-nament. Even the most consistentteams have slipped on the prover-bial banana peel when it has mat-tered the most.

Add to this the fact that theIndo-Bangla cricketing rivalryhas grown in intensity.

But what is definitely adampener for Bangladesh head-ing into the final is the injury woesthat the side is facing.

Star batsman Tamim Iqbal isalready out with a fractured hand andBangladesh will also not have premierall-rounder Shakib-Al-Hasan in theline-up owing to a finger injury.

He is expected to undergo surgerywhich will also force him out of thehome series against Zimbabwe start-ing September 30.

For India, it will be a different testthough.

A victory in the Asia Cup withouttheir skipper and best batsman ViratKohli will be a big statement goinginto next year's World Cup.

Not to forget, the Asia Cup trophywill be a healing touch after 1-4 Testseries defeat in England.

The team's exploits in shorter for-mats have always successfully paperedover the deficiencies when it comes toplaying quality five-day cricket inadverse conditions.

An Asia Cup triumph can partiallydivert attention from the Englanddebacle.

After resting five regulars duringa wake-up call from Afghanistan intheir tied Super Four encounter, theorder is expected to be restored in thesummit clash.

The crack opening pair of skipper

Rohit Sharma and his deputy ShikharDhawan will be back at the top of theorder while Jasprit Bumrah,Bhuvneshwar Kumar and YuzvendraChahal will bolster the bowling.

A lot will depend on the start pro-

vided by Rohit (269 runs) and Shikhar(327 runs) as the middle order haslooked shaky at times.

Ambati Rayudu has looked set inall the games but has not finished offwell while Kedar Jadhav and

Mahendra Singh Dhonihave struggled in mid-dle overs.

Dhoni's struggle isthe biggest worry as atotal of 240 plus couldprove to be challengingon a slow track if the teambats second.

The only match where the Indianmiddle order was tested was theAfghanistan game where they came acropper despite a century openingstand by the makeshift pair of KLRahul and Ambati Rayudu.

A significant batting contributionfrom Dhoni is expected as he mightagain come in at No 4 in order to facemore deliveries.

The Bangladesh bowling attack isone of the most potent in 50 overcricket with Mustafizur Rahaman,Rubel Hossain, and Mashrafe Mortaza

ready to test batting line-ups.Mustafizur has a lot of tricks up

his sleeve while Mashrafe's experiencecomes in handy. However, not havingShakib in the line-up could prove tobe a major setback for the side.

In batting, the team will bankheavily on the ever-dependableMushfiqur Rahim, who has been the'crisis man' along with the very styl-ish Mahmudullah Riyadh.

They will be challenged by an in-form Jasprit Bumrah. Tackling the

guile of Kuldeep Yadav, deceptionof Yuzvendra Chahal and prob-

ing questions from RavindraJadeja will also be quite a taskfor the Bangladesh line-up.

�:��"�India: Rohit Sharma (c),

Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu,Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (wk),Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja,Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav,Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah,Manish Pandey, Siddarth Kaul, KLRahul, Deepak Chahar.

Bangladesh: Masrafe Bin Mortaza(captain), Shakib Al Hasan, TamimIqbal, Mohammad Mithun, LittonKumar Das, Mushfiqur Rahim, ArifulHaque, Mahmudullah, MosaddekHossain Saikat, Nazmul HossainShanto, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, NazmulIslam Apu, Rubel Hossain, MustafizurRahman, Abu Haider Rony.

��

India opener Shikhar DhawanThursday said there was "no

shame" in his disastrous run ofform in the Tests against Englandas his plans did not work outdespite giving his all.

Dhawan, whose place in theTest team is under threat for thehome series against the WestIndies, seemed unfazed about apossible axe.

The batsman, who has made aTest comeback in the past on thebasis of his stellar showing inwhite-ball cricket, is back amongstthe runs in the ongoing Asia Cup.

"I think it always helps whenyou perform well (irrespective ofthe form). Agar fayda hona hoga toho jayega, nahi hona hoga to naihoga (we will see if my currentform helps me in Tests). WheneverI play, red ball or white ball, I utilisewhatever knowledge I have of thegame," said Dhawan on the eve ofthe Asia Cup f inal againstBangladesh here.

"If you talk about the EnglandTest, I did not do well but I gaveit all. Others played better thanme. I accept it.There is noshame in it.Then I camehere to playwhite ball cricket,had dif ferentplans becauseof dif ferentc o n d i t i o n s .Sometimes they(plans) worksometimes theydon't," the styl-ish left-handersaid in hisdefence.

T a l k i n gabout Friday'sfinal, Dhawansaid Bangladeshwill pose a stiffchallenge eventhough India beatthem comfortablyin Super Four.

"Pakistan maybe a bigger team onpaper butBangladesh playedbetter cricket than them and are in

the final again. They are alwaystough to beat, especially at home.They are showing by performancesthey have gotten so much better.They know how to play under pres-sure.

"They play fearlessly against bigteams and you have to appreciatethat. Having said that, it takes time(to win major events). For themreaching the final is a also a bigthing. Hopefully, we will wintomorrow but you will see themcrossing the barrier in some othertournament."

Dhawan and Rohit Sharmahave provided India solid starts andthat is one of the reasons why theside is unbeaten in the tournament.

When asked whether therewas extra pressure on the twosenior batsmen in the absence ofskipper Virat Kohli, the southpawsaid: "It was not like that we felt thatwe had more responsibility inVirat's absence. It was a tourna-ment where the management couldgive opportunity to the upcomingplayers, find out who all areequipped to bat in the middle

order."That is why we took

rest also (againstAfghanistan) so that guyswho have not spent time in

the middle get to do that.Virat around or not,Rohit and I approachevery match the sameway, with the sameeffort. There is obvi-

ously a lot of differencebetween Englandweather and the weath-er here but we train

well to deal with that."On India-

Bangladesh rivalrygetting bigger withtime, especiallyafter the 2015

series when thelatter won at

h o m e ,Dhawan

added:"Well,

there wasrivalry beforethat also. There willalways be rivalry on thefield. Off the field, we are friendsbut on it we have to do our job."

��

Tamil Nadu skipper Vijay Shankarmade an impressive return from

injury by smashing a blistering 99-ball129 inclusive of seven sixes to power theteam to a comprehensive 130-run winover Assam in the Vijay Hazare TrophyElite Group 'C' league here Thursday.

Electing to bat after Shankar wonthe toss, the home team got off to a briskstart as N Jagadeesan (37) and AbhinavMukund (71) put on 50 in 11 overs. Theformer fell lbw to leg-spinner AmitSinha which saw Mukund and Indrajithadd 43 runs.

Southpaw Mukund fell for a well-compiled 71, again to Sinha.

This brought Indrajith (92) andShankar together and they dominatedthe rival attack after a cautious start.

The captain, who missed twomatches due to a thumb injury, made themost of a life he got when on 16.

He was in a belligerent mood andreached his century from 83 balls.

Shankar looked to go for the bigshots once he got his eye in and smashedfive sixes in the space of two overs. He

added 202 in 149 balls with Indrajith,who hit five fours nad three sixes.

Assam's innings never got going aswickets fell at regular intervals.

Tamil Nadu lies fourth in the pointstable with 12 points from five games,while Jharkhand is on top with 18.

In another match, left-arm spinnerShahbaz Nadeem was among the wick-ets again, scalping five for 17 to help

Jharkhand beat Jammu & Kashmir by73 runs.

Jharkhand was in a spot of botherat 88 for 6 before left-hander AnukulRoy's superb 96 not out (4x4, 7x6)enabled the team make 221 for 8. Inreply, J&K was 76 for 9 before somelusty hitting by No.11 MohammedMudhasir 53 not out (28b, 2x4, 6x6) lentrespectability to the score.

Also on Thursday, Haryana rode onPramod Chandila's knock of 88 tothump Rajasthan by 147 runs.

��!��5+��Tamil Nadu 334 for 4 in 50 overs (NJagadeesan 37, Abhinav Mukund 71(78b, 8x4), B Indrajith 92 (72b, 5x4,3x6), Vijay Shankar 129 (99b, 7x4,7x6)) beat Assam 204 in 44.1 overs(Riyan Parag 45, Gokul Sharma 42,Wasiqur Rahman 43, Tamil Nadu)Haryana 304 in 49.2 overs (ChaitanyaBishnoi 43, Pramod Chandila 88 (55b,5x4, 7x6), Himanshu Rana 44,Tanveer Ul-haq 3 for 62) beatRajasthan 157 in 46.4 overs(Abhimanyu Lamba 46 not out,Harshal Patel 3 for 19).

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Bangladesh skipper Mahsrafe Mortaza on Thursday hadno hesitation in terming India a far better team but said

"my Asia Cup was won" when Tamim Iqbal batted withone hand in their tournament opener.

Dashing opener Tamim is one of the few key playersBangladesh will be missing in the final against India onFriday.

Besides Tamim, Bangladesh will also miss the servicesof the seasoned all-rounder Shakib-al Hasan in the title clashhere. To make matters worse for them, Mortaza, who hasa broken finger, and Mushfiqur Rahim will be playinginjuries.

"Let me be honest, the moment Tamim entered the fieldagainst Sri Lanka as the last man to help Mushfiqur scorethose runs, my Asia Cup was won," Mortaza said at the pre-match press conference.

Bangladesh lost to India in the final of the tournamentin 2016, four years before that they were defeated by Pakistanin the summit showdown of the continental event.

Asked if they have learnt from past mistakes duringcrucial games against India, he said, "Every tournament hasbeen a distinct journey whether 2012 final against Pakistanor 2016 against India. Everytime we encountered a few sit-uations, overcame them and got into the finals.

"This journey inthis tournament was adifficult one as we start-ed losing players fromthe very first game(Tamim Iqbal). Therewas also concernwhether MushfiqurRahim could play ornot but then he playeddespite not being gullyfit. We can learn fromhim."

India comfortablybeat their eastern neigh-bours in the Super Fourgame.

"I think India is afar better team, theyare number one in theworld, the came here asthe favourites, but thenyou never know, any-thing can happen. So,we will have to be men-tally strong and fight tillthe last ball. It's impor-tant to keep our emo-tion in check."

Going back six years, he said, "When we were in finalin 2012 we rarely used to win matches against big teamsand now we have competed regularly. Some of the play-ers like Shakib, Mushfiqur, Mustafizur and Tamim has con-tributed greatly in these victories.

"This year we are in final without our top two per-formers, and boys should feel proud about it."

Talking about the final, he said a good start is of para-mount importance.

"It is very difficult to set them a target. ConsideringIndia's batting strength, at least 260-270 could be a fight-ing total, I am not saying that's a winning score. And if webowl first then we would look to try and restrict them.Batting or bowling, a good start is crucial."

��

India ace Saina Nehwal pro-gressed to the quarterfinals of

the USD 600,000 Korea Openafter seeing off Korea's Kim GaEun at the BWF World TourSuper 500 tournament here onThursday.

Former world numberone, who had won a Bronze atthe Asian Games and Gold atCommonwealth Games thisyear, defeated Kim Ga Eun 21-18 21-18 in a 37-minutewomen's singles pre-quarterfi-nal.

Fifth seed Saina will crossswords with 2017 world cham-pion and third seed JapaneseNozomi Okuhara.

Saina has a 6-3 head-to-head count against theOkuhara but she has lost to theJapanese in the last two meet-ings.

The Indian made a ram-paging start, jumping to a 10-2 lead but Kim narrowed thegap to 8-11 at the break.

After the breather, Sainacontinued to move ahead,grabbing a 16-10 lead but theKorean reeled off six straightpoints to draw level at 18-18.However, Saina ensured therewere no hiccups, grabbing therequired three points to pock-et the opening game.

Kim came back strongly inthe second game, surging to an8-1 advantage but the experi-enced Saina slowly clawed her

way back to 10-13 and thenclaimed seven points on thetrot to turn the tables on theKorean, reaching 17-13.

From there on, Sainasealed the contest, despiteKim's attempts to fightback.

Saina had reached the finalof Indonesia Masters in Januaryand the only tournament shewon was the CommonwealthGames in April, beating com-patriot P V Sindhu in the final

at Gold Coast.

��$�8�8��"��Former national bad-

minton coach Vimal KumarThursday lauded Saina Nehwalfor not letting her relationshipwith fellow shuttler ParupalliKashyap affect her game, amidreports that the two are tyingthe knot in December.

"I knew about their (Sainaand Kashyap) relationship. Onegood thing about it is, Sainamanaged it very well. She didnot get distracted with it. Herpriority was sport and shegave hundred per cent to it," hetold said at the Padukone-Dravid Centre for SportsExcellence here.

Kumar has been instru-mental in helping Saina achieveWorld No 1 ranking in April2015 and win a Silver at theWorld Championship.

“Saina drew inspirationfrom it and reached manymilestones in her career," headded.

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