9˙ 669 ˜68: 68 ˙ !#˚#!˝$%$% $&%$#’ ( across the state for amma’s speedy recovery. while...

16
T he jawans of the Indian Army are standing ‘tall’ and ‘safe’ inside well-fortified bunkers to give befitting reply to the Pakistan Army amid heightened tensions along the Line of Control (LoC). “We are prepared to face any eventuality and ready to give a befitting reply to any provocation from the Pakistani side”, a senior Army officer told The Pioneer at one of the fron- tier posts in Nowshera sector from where the Indian Army recently launched its surgical strikes against terrorist launch pads in Pakistan-occupied- Kashmir on September 28. The officer also said that the morale of the “jawans is very high and they are upbeat.” “We have directed them to hit them hard whenever there is unprovoked firing from their side,” he said. “We are prepared to give a befitting reply in the language that Pakistan under- stands,” said a jawan, deployed at the forward post on a hill top. There is a foolproof secu- rity mechanism in place and anti-infiltration measures have also been activated to foil infil- tration of militants or any kind of Border Action Team (BAT) attack, the officer said Continued on Page 4 A head of its President Xi Jinping’s scheduled visit here to participate in the BRICS Summit, China on Monday raised the hackles of India over its bid for a United Nations ban on Jaish-e- Mohmmad chief Masood Azhar. In an indirect reference, Beijing accused New Delhi of “pursuing political gains in the name of counter-terrorism” even as it claimed it was “opposed to all forms of ter- rorism”. China had a couple of days ago extended its technical hold on Azhar being listed as UN-proscribed terrorist. On India’s bid for NSG membership, which too has been blocked by China, Beijing said it was ready to hold talks on New Delhi’s entry into the elite group but remained non- committal over its support. While “counter-terrorism” will figure prominently at the BRICS Summit, China’s asser- tion comes at a time when India has slammed the UNSC for its indecisiveness on the issue of Azhar. China is the only coun- try that is blocking Azhar from being branded as internation- al terrorist, despite 14 other countries in the 1267 Al Qaeda’s Sanctions Committee support- ing India’s application. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to take up this issue with Xi during their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit. Replying to a question on criticism about China’s move to stall India’s bid for a UN ban on Azhar, China’s Vice-Foreign Minister Li Baodong tried to justify his Government’s recent technical hold in the matter. “China is opposed to all forms of terrorism. There should be no double standards on counter- terrorism. Nor should one pur- sue own political gains in the name of counter-terrorism,” he said in a veiled reference to India, which is pressing for the UN ban on Azhar over his role in the Pathankot terror attack. “On counter-terrorism, it is an important area for cooper- ation among BRICS members for political security. Cooperation on this front will enhance BRICS communica- tion and coordination and will contribute to world peace and security. That is quite obvious,” he said. He said BRICS Foreign Ministers reached agreement on counter-terror- ism during their meeting on the margins of the UN General Assembly last month. “We hope and believe that this Goa summit will build on the past consensus and con- tinue to strengthen coopera- tion in counter-terrorism and other issues of political secu- rity and contribute to world peace and security,” he said. On India’s NSG bid, China maintained the need to build consensus over the admission of new members in the 48- member NSG. “These rules are not to be decided by China alone. On the issue, China and India have maintained good communication and we are ready to continue consultations with India to build consensus and we also hope India can go to other members of the NSG as well,” Li said replying to a question on China’s reserva- tions on India’s admission. “In this aspect we are also ready for discussions with India to explore possibilities but things need to be in keep- ing up with procedures, norms and regulations of the NSG. On this issue, China’s position is consistent. That is why China has often said interna- tional law must be observed,” he said. Meanwhile, refuting reports of China joining water wars between India and Pakistan by blocking a tribu- tary of Brahmaputra River, the Chinese official media said that Beijing is ready for a joint multilateral cooperation mech- anism with India and Bangladesh to share the waters. Relations between China and India should not be affect- ed by “imaginary water war”, an article in the state-run Global Times said, adding Beijing is unlikely to use Brahmaputra River water as a potential weapon. “The move by China to temporarily block- ade the tributary to construct a dam sparked widespread concerns in India, but people in the downstream country may be ignoring one thing,” it said, adding that the reservoir capacity of the dam on the Xiabuqu river, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, is less than 0.02 per cent of the average annual runoff of the Brahmaputra. “Frankly, there is no need for India to overreact to such projects, which aim to help with reasonable development and utilisation of water resources,” it said. A group of terrorists is holed up in a multi-storey Government building and a heavy contingent of Army, police and paramilitary per- sonnel are engaging in a stand- off with them since Monday morning at Pampore on the outskirts of Srinagar. Sources said that two to three terrorists are believed to be holed up inside Entrepreneurship Development Institute building that was the site of a bloody encounter in February this year. Till late in the evening heavy mortar shelling and grenade explosions were heard from the encounter site. They said that terrorists sailed in a boat towards the building that is situated between the right bank of Jhelum River and Srinagar-Jammu National Highway early in the morning. Soon after they took positions inside the seven-storey hostel building comprising 55 rooms and a kitchen, the terrorists opened fire on security vehicles passing along the highway trig- gering the encounter, added the sources. The building was immediately encircled and all routes leading to it were cor- doned off. The vehicular movement on the highway was complete- ly halted for the entire day. Eyewitnesses from the area told The Pioneer that they saw smoke billowing out from the area and heard massive blasts intermittently. There was no word from the officials on the standoff till late in the evening. Defence spokesman Col Rajesh Kalia said the situation was unclear on the encounter site. This is the second encounter in the EDI premises in less than eight months. Earlier, on February 20 this year, a massive encounter triggered off in the building when four terrorists were holed up for three days. Two captains and a commando from the elite Special Forces were killed in the fierce encounter while four mil- itants were also gunned down. In another attack on June 25, eight Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, including two officers, were killed and 25 others injured in a fidayeen attack in the vicinity of the EDI building. Pampore has emerged as one of the highly vulnerable areas where terrorists have struck against security forces at their will. Sources said at Pampore town, 2 kilometres from the encounter site, a group of pro- testers shouted slogans and attempted to march towards the encounter site. The securi- ty forces intercepted the pro- testers and chased them away with tear smoke shells. Meanwhile, the authori- ties clamped curfew in most parts of old Srinagar on Monday to prevent protest demonstrations in the wake of Moharram. All roads leading to city centre Lal Chowk were blocked with concertina wire and vehicular movement was completely halted. The author- ities disallowed Shia mourners to assemble. The tazia proces- sions from civil lines areas in Srinagar have been banned since the eruption of militan- cy in Kashmir. However, this year, the situation has worsened since July 8 when security forces shot dead Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani and his two asso- ciates, which triggered massive public uprising in the region. The normal life is out of gear in the Valley for the past more than three months. W ith the municipal corpo- ration confirming 1,473 fresh chikungunya cases in the last week, 6,712 people have been afflicted by the vector- borne disease in the national Capital this year so far. On the other hand, 578 dengue cases were reported last week taking total number of cases to 2,711 this year. According the civic body report released on Monday, out of 8,456 suspected cases of chikunguyna, 6,712 cases had been confirmed positive this year. Last year, Delhi had reported only 64 chikungunya cases. This year the case of chikungunya registered an alarming increase, a municipal official said. Nearly 5,300 cases were reported in the city till October 1, according to South Continued on Page 4 O n a day when Apollo Hospital, Chennai saw a bevy of dignitaries drop in to enquire about the health of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, loyal AIADMK workers on Monday launched a social media campaign to counter rumours about their leader’s health and people of all religions held fervent prayers for the speedy recovery of their beloved Amma who is undergoing medical treatment since September 22. The party urged followers on its official Twitter account to change their profile image to a picture featuring Amma with the text” MyCMis Fine .... NoMoreRumours (sic).” “All is well with Puratchi Thalaivi Amma. Click this link, change your profile pic & put a full stop to rumours,” the message said. Elsewhere in Tamil Nadu, leaders and cadre of the AIADMK offered special prayers in churches and mosques and poojas in temples across the State for Amma’s speedy recovery. While the party presidium chairman E Madhusoodanan, a close confidante of the Chief Minister, led thousands of women with milk pots on their heads to the major tem- ples in Chennai, over 25,000 cadre, mainly women marched to the famous shrine of Thiruparankundram near Madurai carrying milk pots and coconuts and offered spe- cial prayers for her recovery. Greams Road in Chennai leading to Apollo Hospital has turned out to be a place of wor- ship for the AIADMK cadre as well as leaders. Continued on Page 4 Warangal: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao offered gold crown worth 3.7 crore to goddess Bhadrakali for the fulfilment of his desire for a separate State. The 11.7 kg crown manu- factured by GRT jewellers was presented to the deity in the presence of the temple execu- tive officer Katta Anjani Devi and main priest Bhadrakali Sheshu. Earlier, the gold orna- ment was examined by the temple gold ornaments verification officer. Before presenting the crown, KCR’s wife Vijaya offered prayers in the temple. After the offering, KCR also prayed at the historic temple with his wife, Deputy Chief Minister Kadiyam Srihari, parliament members A Seetaram Naik and P Dayakar, and legislators D Vinaya Bhaskar and Konda Surekha. Agency

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The jawans of the IndianArmy are standing ‘tall’

and ‘safe’ inside well-fortifiedbunkers to give befitting replyto the Pakistan Army amidheightened tensions along theLine of Control (LoC).

“We are prepared to faceany eventuality and ready togive a befitting reply to anyprovocation from the Pakistaniside”, a senior Army officer toldThe Pioneer at one of the fron-tier posts in Nowshera sectorfrom where the Indian Armyrecently launched its surgicalstrikes against terrorist launchpads in Pakistan-occupied-

Kashmir on September 28.The officer also said that

the morale of the “jawans isvery high and they are upbeat.”

“We have directed them tohit them hard whenever thereis unprovoked firing from theirside,” he said. “We are preparedto give a befitting reply in thelanguage that Pakistan under-

stands,” said a jawan, deployedat the forward post on a hill top.

There is a foolproof secu-rity mechanism in place andanti-infiltration measures havealso been activated to foil infil-tration of militants or any kindof Border Action Team (BAT)attack, the officer said

Continued on Page 4

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��2���������376�178"59:75;53#

Ahead of its President XiJinping’s scheduled visit

here to participate in the BRICSSummit, China on Mondayraised the hackles of Indiaover its bid for a UnitedNations ban on Jaish-e-Mohmmad chief MasoodAzhar. In an indirect reference,Beijing accused New Delhi of“pursuing political gains in thename of counter-terrorism”even as it claimed it was“opposed to all forms of ter-rorism”. China had a couple ofdays ago extended its technicalhold on Azhar being listed asUN-proscribed terrorist.

On India’s bid for NSGmembership, which too hasbeen blocked by China, Beijingsaid it was ready to hold talkson New Delhi’s entry into theelite group but remained non-committal over its support.

While “counter-terrorism”will figure prominently at theBRICS Summit, China’s asser-tion comes at a time when Indiahas slammed the UNSC for itsindecisiveness on the issue ofAzhar. China is the only coun-try that is blocking Azhar frombeing branded as internation-al terrorist, despite 14 othercountries in the 1267 Al Qaeda’sSanctions Committee support-ing India’s application. PrimeMinister Narendra Modi isexpected to take up this issuewith Xi during their bilateralmeeting on the sidelines of theBRICS Summit.

Replying to a question oncriticism about China’s move tostall India’s bid for a UN ban on

Azhar, China’s Vice-ForeignMinister Li Baodong tried tojustify his Government’s recenttechnical hold in the matter.“China is opposed to all formsof terrorism. There should be nodouble standards on counter-terrorism. Nor should one pur-sue own political gains in thename of counter-terrorism,” hesaid in a veiled reference toIndia, which is pressing for theUN ban on Azhar over his rolein the Pathankot terror attack.

“On counter-terrorism, it isan important area for cooper-ation among BRICS membersfor political security.Cooperation on this front willenhance BRICS communica-tion and coordination and willcontribute to world peace andsecurity. That is quite obvious,”he said. He said BRICSForeign Ministers reachedagreement on counter-terror-

ism during their meeting onthe margins of the UN GeneralAssembly last month.

“We hope and believe thatthis Goa summit will build onthe past consensus and con-tinue to strengthen coopera-tion in counter-terrorism andother issues of political secu-rity and contribute to worldpeace and security,” he said.

On India’s NSG bid, Chinamaintained the need to buildconsensus over the admissionof new members in the 48-member NSG. “These rules arenot to be decided by Chinaalone. On the issue, China andIndia have maintained goodcommunication and we areready to continue consultationswith India to build consensusand we also hope India can goto other members of the NSGas well,” Li said replying to aquestion on China’s reserva-

tions on India’s admission. “In this aspect we are also

ready for discussions withIndia to explore possibilitiesbut things need to be in keep-ing up with procedures, normsand regulations of the NSG.On this issue, China’s positionis consistent. That is whyChina has often said interna-tional law must be observed,”he said.

Meanwhile, refutingreports of China joining waterwars between India andPakistan by blocking a tribu-tary of Brahmaputra River,the Chinese official media saidthat Beijing is ready for a jointmultilateral cooperation mech-anism with India andBangladesh to share the waters.

Relations between Chinaand India should not be affect-ed by “imaginary water war”,an article in the state-runGlobal Times said, addingBeijing is unlikely to useBrahmaputra River water as apotential weapon. “The moveby China to temporarily block-ade the tributary to constructa dam sparked widespreadconcerns in India, but peoplein the downstream countrymay be ignoring one thing,” itsaid, adding that the reservoircapacity of the dam on theXiabuqu river, a tributary ofthe Brahmaputra, is less than0.02 per cent of the averageannual runoff of theBrahmaputra.

“Frankly, there is no needfor India to overreact to suchprojects, which aim to helpwith reasonable developmentand utilisation of waterresources,” it said.

�� ������ ����� ��� ������������ ���� !��������������������� ���������������� ����"�����������������������������#����$��" ���%&������ ����������� ��' ���#� $()

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Agroup of terrorists is holedup in a multi-storey

Government building and aheavy contingent of Army,police and paramilitary per-sonnel are engaging in a stand-off with them since Mondaymorning at Pampore on theoutskirts of Srinagar.

Sources said that two tothree terrorists are believed tobe holed up insideE n t r e p r e n e u r s h i pDevelopment Institute buildingthat was the site of a bloodyencounter in February thisyear. Till late in the eveningheavy mortar shelling andgrenade explosions were heardfrom the encounter site. Theysaid that terrorists sailed in aboat towards the building thatis situated between the rightbank of Jhelum River andSrinagar-Jammu NationalHighway early in the morning.Soon after they took positionsinside the seven-storey hostelbuilding comprising 55 roomsand a kitchen, the terroristsopened fire on security vehiclespassing along the highway trig-gering the encounter, added thesources. The building wasimmediately encircled and allroutes leading to it were cor-doned off.

The vehicular movementon the highway was complete-ly halted for the entire day.

Eyewitnesses from the areatold The Pioneer that they sawsmoke billowing out from thearea and heard massive blastsintermittently.

There was no word fromthe officials on the standoff tilllate in the evening. Defence

spokesman Col Rajesh Kaliasaid the situation was unclearon the encounter site.

This is the secondencounter in the EDI premisesin less than eight months.Earlier, on February 20 this year,a massive encounter triggeredoff in the building when fourterrorists were holed up forthree days. Two captains and acommando from the eliteSpecial Forces were killed in thefierce encounter while four mil-itants were also gunned down.

In another attack on June25, eight Central Reserve PoliceForce (CRPF) personnel,including two officers,

were killed and 25 othersinjured in a fidayeen attack inthe vicinity of the EDI building.Pampore has emerged as one ofthe highly vulnerable areaswhere terrorists have struckagainst security forces at theirwill.

Sources said at Pamporetown, 2 kilometres from theencounter site, a group of pro-testers shouted slogans and

attempted to march towardsthe encounter site. The securi-ty forces intercepted the pro-testers and chased them awaywith tear smoke shells.

Meanwhile, the authori-ties clamped curfew in mostparts of old Srinagar onMonday to prevent protestdemonstrations in the wake ofMoharram. All roads leading tocity centre Lal Chowk wereblocked with concertina wireand vehicular movement wascompletely halted. The author-ities disallowed Shia mournersto assemble. The tazia proces-sions from civil lines areas inSrinagar have been bannedsince the eruption of militan-cy in Kashmir. However, thisyear, the situation has worsenedsince July 8 when securityforces shot dead HizbulMujahideen commanderBurhan Wani and his two asso-ciates, which triggered massivepublic uprising in the region.The normal life is out of gearin the Valley for the past morethan three months.

����� �������� 376�178"5�

With the municipal corpo-ration confirming 1,473

fresh chikungunya cases in thelast week, 6,712 people havebeen afflicted by the vector-borne disease in the nationalCapital this year so far. On theother hand, 578 dengue caseswere reported last week takingtotal number of cases to 2,711this year.

According the civic bodyreport released on Monday,out of 8,456 suspected cases ofchikunguyna, 6,712 cases hadbeen confirmed positive thisyear. Last year, Delhi hadreported only 64 chikungunyacases. This year the case ofchikungunya registered analarming increase, a municipalofficial said.

Nearly 5,300 cases werereported in the city till October1, according to South

Continued on Page 4

���������������&"733+5

On a day when ApolloHospital, Chennai saw a

bevy of dignitaries drop in toenquire about the health ofTamil Nadu Chief Minister JJayalalithaa, loyal AIADMKworkers on Monday launcheda social media campaign tocounter rumours about theirleader’s health and people of allreligions held fervent prayersfor the speedy recovery oftheir beloved Amma who isundergoing medical treatmentsince September 22.

The party urged followerson its official Twitter accountto change their profile image toa picture featuring Amma with the text” MyCMisFine . . . .NoMoreRumours (sic).”

“All is well with PuratchiThalaivi Amma. Click thislink, change your profile pic &

put a full stop to rumours,” themessage said.

Elsewhere in Tamil Nadu,leaders and cadre of theAIADMK offered specialprayers in churches andmosques and poojas in templesacross the State for Amma’sspeedy recovery.

While the party presidiumchairman E Madhusoodanan,a close confidante of the ChiefMinister, led thousands ofwomen with milk pots ontheir heads to the major tem-ples in Chennai, over 25,000cadre, mainly women marchedto the famous shrine ofThiruparankundram nearMadurai carrying milk potsand coconuts and offered spe-cial prayers for her recovery.

Greams Road in Chennaileading to Apollo Hospital hasturned out to be a place of wor-ship for the AIADMK cadre aswell as leaders.

Continued on Page 4

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

������������������������ ���Warangal: Telangana ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao offered gold crown worth�3.7 crore to goddessBhadrakali for the fulfilmentof his desire for a separateState.

The 11.7 kg crown manu-factured by GRT jewellers waspresented to the deity in thepresence of the temple execu-tive officer Katta Anjani Deviand main priest BhadrakaliSheshu. Earlier, the gold orna-ment was examined by thetemple gold ornaments verification officer.

Before presenting thecrown, KCR’s wife Vijayaoffered prayers in the temple.

After the offering, KCRalso prayed at the historictemple with his wife, DeputyChief Minister KadiyamSrihari, parliament membersA Seetaram Naik and PDayakar, and legislators DVinaya Bhaskar and KondaSurekha. Agency

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To deal with the ever-increasing traffic chaos

which turns an anathema forthe people of Dehradun andother big cities of the State likeHaridwar, Udham Singh Nagarand Nainital, State PoliceDepartment is all set to set upa separate traffic headquar-ters.

It is learnt that a proposalhas been sent to the StateGovernment seeking itsapproval for the required man-power and funds needed forinfrastructure-building.

Additional DirectorGeneral of Police(Administration) and StatePolice spokesperson RamSingh Meena said on Mondaythat they [the department]were seriously considering aproposal to establish a trafficheadquarters to ease the traf-fic woes the commuters facealmost on daily basis on the cityroads.

“A police officer on therank of DIG will be appointedas the director of the trafficheadquarters. State police have

sent a proposal of creating of362 posts for the purpose.They would include 182 postsfor City Patrol Unit personnelwhile the rest would be trafficconstables, Sub-Inspectors,Inspectors, Circle Officers andan Additional SP to the Stateadministration,” he added.

Observers while welcom-ing the new decision, say thingson the roads have become anightmare for the commuters,and the new separate trafficheadquarters might ease outthe problem a bit. “The soon-er the State Government actson the proposal the better.Those driving through themarket areas remain stuck intraffic jams. Encroachers andvendors are compoundingthings further. Things seemalmost incorrigible with thedistrict police throwing uptheir hands in despair,” said anobserver.

Another said the new set-up should deal strictly with theprotestors hitting the roads,causing in huge traffic logjam.“Things turn horrible when theAssembly is in session. Thosemanning traffic cite manpow-

er and infrastructure crunch tocover their failure to rise to theoccasion. We hope that theordeal of the commuters whoface daily would diminish oncethe separate headquarters

would start functioning,” hesaid.

The police officers soundhopeful that the StateGovernment would clear decksfor it to come up. “Those to be

deputed at it would have theirfocus trained only on easingout things on the roads.Besides, they must be mandat-ed to evict the encroachers andvendors, eating parts of the

roads. They should be tech savvy

too. They should earmark rightparking places while they mustdeal stringently with the men-ace of unauthorised parking.Fund crunch should not beallowed to come in the way ofinfrastructure building. Mostimportantly, efficiency amongthe personnel should beenhanced adequately as this iswhat is lacking,” said a seniorpolice officer posted in thepolice headquarters.

Another police officer saidthe traffic headquarters to beset up must function in perfectsync with other departmentslike transport and road asidefrom the civic body to bringabout the desired change.

Ramesh Bisht, aDehradun-based private schoolteacher, said the works whichneed immediate attentionincluded drawing zebra cross-ings, repairing signals, remov-ing encroachment and provid-ing proper parking areas. “Wehope that the differences wouldbe visible on the roads once theseparate traffic headquarterswould come up here,” he added.

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A22-year-old wife of apoliceman charged on

Monday that she was beingsubjected to mental and phys-ical harassment by her husbandfor years and demanded legalaction against him, who isidentified as Hemant Rawat.

Hemant is currently post-ed at Uttarkashi, she said.

Addressing a Press confer-ence here, the woman, identi-fied as Radha Rawat, said thatHemant had initially refused tomarry her despite exploitingher sexually for over threeyears.

She claimed he married heronly after she made a complaintto senior police officers atGarhwal Range in February,2016 and said torture, bothmental and physical were beinginflicted on her since the day hehad been forced to marry her.She further said she hadapproached Mahila PoliceHelpline, seeking justice, but tono avail.

“Life turned hell for mewith my husband torturing

me in inebriated state. Thingsbecame more difficult as he leftme one morning. The houseowner sought the rent, but Iwas not in a position to payhim with my husband havingdisappeared. Later, I came toknow that he was transferred toUttarkashi,” she said.

She further said no actionhad followed despite a com-plaint being lodged in June,2016 at the Range office and acase under Sections 498a, 323of IPC being registered inKotwali Police Station. “Withpolice refusing to lend me ahelping hand, I was forced toapproach court underDomestic Violation Act. I amfrightened now as Hemantkeeps on threatening me,” sheadded.

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Devotees were seen throng-ing the temples and Durga

Puja pandals in Dehradun onthe occasion of Maha Navamion Monday, the final day ofNavratri, marked by ceremo-nial worship of the goddessDurga. The city continuing towear a festive look, Ramlilaalong with folk dances are alsobeing held at several places.

The Maha Navami Pujawas celebrated at various tem-ples and community puja pan-dals with gaiety and fervourwith involvement of thousandsof people on Monday. Thedevotees gathered in consider-able number at the pujas beingheld at Bengali Library atKaranpur, Durga Bari on CanttRoad, Hathibarkala,Sahastradhara and Raipur tooffer Anjali and take Bhog.

Kumari Puja - the traditionof worshipping a virgin girl asan incarnation of the motherDurga as conceived by SwamiVivekananda in Belur Mathnear Calcutta, was held at manyplaces. Devotees took blessingsfrom the girls. Aarti also washeld in the morning and theevening with the presence ofthousands.

Anuradha, one of the devo-tees found offering puja at

Raipur, said that things wereelectrifying on the final day ofthe puja. “However, gloom ishanging over us as the puja isdrawing to an end with theimmersion slated onWednesday. Nine girls werepicked up for the auspiciousKumari Puja. We took Bhogafter the Kumari Puja was over.It comprised Black Gram, Jao,Puri, Halwa and Jaggery,” she

added. Geetanjali, another devotee,

said that the custom of wor-shiping girls as forms of theGoddesses as conceived bySwami Vivekananda thrilledthem. “We believe that the cel-ebrated monk conceived theconcept to end the atrocities anddiscrimination inflicted on thegirls. Besides, it evokes a specialkind of devotion when the girls

a little over my age are deifiedas the forms of the Goddess thatembodies the triumph of goodover evil. We hope that the spir-it of the Kumari Puja would pro-vide the girls with the courageto slay the evil of the society asmuch ruthlessly as the MaaDurga slays the evil incarnateMahisasura,” she said.

At Raipur Durga Puja, near-ly 5,000 people gathered to col-

lect Prasad on Monday. Afterthe Bhog, a Yagya was also per-formed. In the evening,Dhunuchi dance and Aarti wereheld in the presence of thou-sands of devotees.

Aside from cultural activi-ties held in the evening, a sou-venir was also released by thePuja Committee to mark theoccasion, said puja committeepresident SK Ukil.

���� 17"�+123

Philanthropic servicebeing a special feature

of the Durga Puja, theorganisers of the puja heldat Durga Bari on CanttRoad in Dehradun donat-ed an ambulance to ShriMahant Indiresh Hospitalto mark the 61st year of thepuja.

The president of thepuja committee DebasisChakraborty said that theywere thrilled having lent alittle help to the needy inthe form of donating theambulance.

“Puja is mainly devo-tion and revelry. However,it means more. It meanslending help to those inneed. We are exulted hav-ing played our little part inthe service of the society atlarge. It is a humble begin-ning. We hope to do morein the coming years,” hesaid.

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Protesting against the hike inValue Added Tax (VAT) by

one per cent from 13.5 to 14.5per cent by the StateGovernment, traders underthe banner of Doon UdyogVyapar Mandal staged ademonstration at the districtmagistrate office on Mondaydemanding its immediate with-drawal.

The traders also submitteda memorandum addressing to

Chief Minister through anadministrative officer.

Scores of traders led by thepresident of the agitating out-fit Vipin Nagliya assembled atDM office and demonstrated.DUVM member UmeshAggarwal said the hike in VATwould hit them hard.

“It is impractical and itshould be withdrawn immedi-ately to facilitate trade and tospare the buyers from shellingout more on every item theypurchase,” he added.

���� 17"�+123

Dehradun police have madeelaborate security arrange-

ments in view of Dussehrafestival on Tuesday. A trafficplan has been drafted to sparethe commuters inconveniencedue to the festivities.

Dehradun SeniorSuperintendent of PoliceSadanand Date held a meetingwith Dussehra Committeemembers on Monday duringwhich he gave them necessaryinstructions regarding thesecurity of the programme oftorching Ravana in its effigyscheduled at Parade Groundand other places on Tuesday tomark Vijaya Dashami. Datedirected police station in-charges to intensify patrollingin their assigned areas anddepute adequate police forcesat the venues where the pro-gramme of torching Ravana inits effigy would be held.

The police officers weredirected to deploy trafficpolice forces and local policein traffic management duringreligious procession to betaken out by the Dussehracommittees. No cart vendors,selling fruits, juice and othersalong the roads around ParadeGround area would beallowed. Besides, barricadeswould be installed at thevenues where the effigies ofthe demon trio - Ravana,Kumbhkarna and Meghnad-would be torched to managethe crowd.

Date asked SP City and SPTraffic to take appropriatemeasures to complete the

event peacefully.SP Traffic said that barri-

cades will be put at places likeFaltu Lane, Subhash Road,Darshan Lal Chowk, DungaHouse Crossing, KanakChowk, Rojgaar Crossing,Convent crossing, OrientalChowk, Lansdowne Chowk,Surve Chowk and other places.All the buses plying fromParade Ground for Cantt,Rajpur Road would be divert-ed through Oriental Chowk.Buses for Raipur, Maldevtaand Sahastradhara Roadwould ply from Chuna Bhatta.Parking venue for VVIPs hasbeen made at Doon Club,Dunga House and Old Raipurbus station. Visitors can parktheir vehicles at Pavilion

Ground, Ranger’s ground,MDDA free parking zone andMDDA complex. Vikramroutes have also been changedtoo.

Meanwhile, artistsinvolved in making effigies ofRavana, Kumbhkarna andMeghnad were seen puttingthe effigies at Parade Groundand other places in the eveningon Monday.

The effigy of Ravana, thedemon king, to be torched atParade Ground in Dehradunto mark the day will be 60 feettal l while those ofKumbhakarna and Meghnad,his brother and son, would be55 feet and 50 feet respective-ly. The effigies will be lit ataround 6.05 pm on Tuesday.

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Four sportspersons from theIce Skating Association of

Uttarakhand succeeded inachieving a position in thenational-level Indraprasth Cupfigure skating competition heldrecently in Gurugram.

According to informationprovided by the ISAU, afternational-level figure skatingand speed skating trainingfrom October 3 to 8, thenational-level IndraprasthaCup was organised onOctober 9 in Gurugram,Haryana. The association fur-ther informed that the fourparticipants sent by the ISAUto the national level competi-tion were successful in achiev-ing victory in their respectiveevents. Among the victoriousskaters from Uttarakhand,Adarsh Rawat secured thirdposition, Aksh Sayal andSamriddhi Tiwari achieved

second position while theirfourth team member YuvrajGulati secured fourth posi-tion.

The head of the IceSkating Association ofUttarakhand, Shiv Painyuli,greeted the skaters on theirachievements while alsoinformed that this time, theteam sent by the ISAU hadcomprised both of female andmale figure skaters.

He further informed thatthe national level ice skatingtraining and competition pro-gramme was organised underthe aegis of the Ice SkatingAssociation of India. Skatersfrom different parts of thenation were among those par-ticipating in the training andcompetition which makes theresults achieved by skatersfrom Uttarakhand all themore commendable.

Welcoming the four mem-ber team of ice skaters after

their position-winning per-formance, Painyuli expressedhis hope for a better scenarioin the future in Uttarakhand.

Despite having the biggestin Asia and Olympic size iceskating rink in the State, theskaters of Uttarakhand werenot being provided access toit. Even then they managed togive commendable perfor-mances and won laurels forthe State. Had the ice skatingrink in question being madeaccessible to the buddingskaters of the state, therewould have been more thanfour skaters from the statewho would have brought lau-rels to the state at such anational level competition, heopined. ICAU publicity secre-tary Suresh Bhatt said that theassociation hopes that the StateGovernment will take cog-nizance of this issue and takethe needful action to optimizesporting talent in the State.

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The State RuralDevelopment Minister

presided over a State-level vig-ilance and monitoring com-mittee here on Monday.

Addressing the officials inthe meeting, the Ministerstressed upon the officialresponsibility of executingschemes for facilitating ruraldevelopment while a lsoensuring the desired quality ofthe works. The Minister alsoexpressed concern stating thateight settlements with a pop-

ulation of about 1,000 personsand 45 villages with about 500residents each had not yetbeen covered under thePradhan Mantri Gram SadakYojana (PMGSY) in the Stateof Uttarakhand.

Singh opined the probablereason for these villages notbeing covered so far under thePMGSY could include factorslike forest rules . He said, “Itis necessary to pay attentionto the fact that we are present-ly in the phase 14 of thePMGSY though eight villagesof 1,000 populations had not

yet been covered under thisscheme. The Government ofIndia has set up a target ofcovering such settlementswith down to a population of250 persons under thePMGSY by the year 2019,” hesaid. Addressing the Membersof Parliament, the State RuralDevelopment Ministerexpressed hope that the MPswill make necessary effort toadvocate strongly in favour ofthe interests of the State whenit comes to central assistancefor the facilitation of ruraldevelopment.

Stating that the SECC-2011 survey undertaken bythe Government of India aspart of the Indira Awas Yojanawas inadequate, he directedthe officials concerned toensure that the families eligi-ble for benefit who have beenleft out of the list should alsobe added to the same.

Regarding this issue, theprincipal secretary of ruraldevelopment brought it tothe cognizance of the Ministerthat the Centre had stated thatafter cover is provided to thefamilies listed in the SECC-

2011 survey, work will then bestarted on providing coverunder the scheme by listingthe families left so far.

According to the SECC-2011 survey data, the 13 dis-tricts of Uttarakhand have21,930 families are to be pro-vided under the cover of ben-efit facilitated under thePradhan Mantri Awas Yojana(Rural).

So far since 2011, about4,033 eligible intended bene-ficiaries have derived the ben-efit of the PMAY (rural), heinformed.

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Even as people across theState are now celebrating

the annual Dussehra festival,which symbolises the victory ofgood over evil, a new hopeseems to have dawned in the dis-trict jail here that at least 55inmates of the jail are likely to setfree in the coming days.

It’s learnt that IG Jail PVKPrasad on Monday met withthose prisoners and he was per-sonally reviewing the cases. Thereis possibility that some of theinmates will be released verysoon, sources in the know of thedevelopment said.

Notably, the prisoners hadlaunched a silent protest fromSeptember 5, demanding therelease of the convicts who havecompleted imprisonment of 14years. Speaking to The Pioneer,Jail Superintendent SK Sukhijasaid, “We have sent a list of 55

prisoners who have completed 14years of imprisonment. IG JailPrasad has been talking to theconvicts. Things would continuetill late evening. Based on theinputs sent by us, the StateGovernment would initiate theprocedure for their release.”

It may be mentioned thatcurrently the district jail is hous-ing over a thousand convicts.

In a letter written to the jailauthorities, the prisoners hadcomplained that they were notyet released despite being spentover 14 years and more in theprisons. The unrest inside the jailcontinued for four days.

Around 84 prisoners refusedto take meal on September 5 byway of articulating protest on thematter. The figure shot up to 127the following day while 89 ofthem refrained from taking themorning meal on September 7.They ended the protest afterbeing assured by the districtadministration the same evening.

��;����������������17"�+123

The shortage of EmergencyMedical Officers (EMO)

has severely affected the emer-gency wing of the associatedhospital of the GovernmentDoon Medical College.

The hospital, which is thebiggest in the State, in terms ofpatients visiting, requires atleast six EMOs for smoothfunctioning of its emergencywing, that runs 24x7. However,it has only three EMOs, whichis why the administration isnow relying on other doctorsto man the wing.

It may be noted that the

Uttarakhand Medical ServiceSelection Board on June thisyear recruited four EMOs tofill up the vacant posts andconsequently recommendedtheir appointment to the State

Government. Unfortunately,the files are still pending forclearance for over fourmonths.

To add to the woes of thehospital administration, other

doctors try to evade emer-gency duty.

On Monday, Dr AbhishekRai, who is an Orthopedician,even refused the emergencyduty prompting the Medical

Superintendent (MS) to issuean order that doctors shouldnot decline to work in theemergency. Dr Rai is one of afaculty members of medicalcollege recruited this year and

it learnt that he is contem-plating to leave the job.

The emergency ward ofthe hospital functions in threeshifts and 450 to 500 patientsvisit the facility everyday.

The MS of the hospital DrKK Tamta said it was notproper on part of some doc-tors to refuse emergency dutyand added that doctors ofmedical college were morevocal in opposition to theemergency duty.

Dr Tamta said he wouldapprise the HNB MedicalEducation University and theMedical EducationDepartment about the opposition shown by somedoctors for emergency dutywhich is one of the mostimportant parts of a hospital’sfunctioning.

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Rajpur Road MLA andParliamentary Secretary

Rajkumar held a meeting onMonday with the administra-tion of associated hospital ofGDMC. The MLA, during themeeting, asked the hospitaladministration to ensure thatthe patients did not face anyproblem in the hospital.

He was informed by thehospital management thatChief Minister Harish Rawathad earlier ordered revokingthe Hospital ManagementCommittee (HMC) butstopped as the file was stillpending with the State admin-istration.

Prior to conversion ofDoon Hospital to associatedhospital of medical college, the

HMC headed by DistrictMagistrate (DM) used to takemajor policy decision on func-tioning of the hospital but itwas dissolved when the hos-pital was merged with medicalcollege.

In the meeting a sugges-tion was made to install bio-metric attendance system inthe hospital so that all the doc-tors and other staff are punc-

tual in their duties. Rajkumar appreciated the

suggestion and said he wouldtake up the issue with tophealth department officials.

The meeting was attend-ed by MS Dr KK Tamta,senior Physician Dr KC Pant,social worker Mohan Khatri,State president of associa-tion of lab technicians RakeshRawat and others.

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Ahead of the Assembly elec-tion, Chief Minister Harish

Rawat has embarked on aPuhana to Bhag wanpurpadayatra cal led as“Mukhyamantri Apke Dwar”in Roorkee on Monday,ostensibly to further strength-en the ruling party’s gripover the electorally importantrural areas of the Haridwardistrict.

Observers say that theChief Minister is pulling outall the stops to endear him-self to the electorate of theregion which had over-whelmingly voted for the BJPcandidate during the 2014Lok Sabha election. Eyestrained on the electorallycrucial Haridwar district,Rawat has been camping inthe rural areas underBahadrabad and Khanpurblocks for the past few dayswhile addressing gatheringsof different sections of thepeople, including the Dalits.

Making it clear that hewould latch on to the ruralpopulace during thePadayatra, Harish Rawat saidhe would be reaching out tothe rural people across thedistrict, sharing their prob-lems and offering solutions.He is also rolling out myriadannouncements of develop-mental schemes to tetherthem to the Congress hook.

The State watchers say

the Padyatra is meant asdamage control exercise tomake up the loss caused bythe desertion of SubodhRakesh, the brother of thedeceased Cabinet MinisterSurendra Rakesh, and hisswitch to BJP.

While joining the saffroncamp along with a large num-ber of his supporters, Rakeshalleged the developmentworks initiated by his latebrother had remained stucksince his death. Things for theprestigious Bhagwanpur seatturning interesting with thepossibility of Mamta Rakesh,the widow of Surendra Rakeshand the present MLA from theCongress and her brother-in-law representing the BJP beinglocked in a straight contest, theCM must take pains to winover the disgruntled Dalit nowrallying behind Subodh to hisside.

He is invoking the legacyof Surendra Raksh, saying thathe would do everything tocarry things forward fromwhether they were left by theuntimely demise of the cabinetminister.

Earlier in the day, HarishRawat addressed a congrega-tion of the farmers at Puhanavillage in Roorkee. He said hisGovernment held the interestsof the farmers as paramountand would never allow it todeviate from the course. Healso announced a new busstand in Bhagwanpur whichwould be operational soon.

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The foundation stone ofBhagwanpur Medical

College in Haridwar districtwould be laid in the month ofNovember, declaredUttarakhand Chief MinisterHarish Rawat. He was speakingthis while launching a seriousof development projects at BDInter-College at Bhagwanpurhere on Monday.

The Chief Minister alsoinaugurated a model bus depotat Bhagwanpur on the occa-sion. He said all the bus depotsof State would be upgraded andefforts would be made to bring

the State roadways in profit. Hesaid his Government was com-mitted for empowerment ofwomen.

Rawat said a road linkingKankhal to Balawali would besoon constructed and stretch ofroad between Roshanabad toBiharigarh would be developedas State highway. Rawat alsoinaugurated a Nakshatra VigyanVatika. Schemes worth Rs4327.11 lakh were launched onthe occasion which included set-ting up a 132 KV sub station atChudiyala, some irrigation pro-jects and construction of roads.

The Chief Minister took ameeting with the officials of

health department and dis-trict administration in the dayin which he said that effectivemeasures should be taken tocurb the menace of dengue.

He directed that affectedareas should be earmarked andintensive fogging and spray ofinsecticide should be done tokill mosquitoes.

Rawat was accompanied byMLA Mamta Rakesh, FurkanAhmed, former MLAAmbrish Kumar, masterSatpal, Transport SecretaryCS Napalchayal, AdditionalSecretar y BK Sant andDistr ict Magistrate ofHaridwar HS Chug.

���� 17"�+123

Maintenance of good men-tal health is as important

as keeping good physicalhealth; It is important to iden-tify the people suffering frommental health problem at earlystage, said Director General ofState Health Services, DrKusum Narriyal , whileaddressing a programmeorganised by Burans Societyhere on Monday.

The programme wasorganised on the occasion ofWorld Mental Health Day.

She said about seven lakhpeople in Uttarakhand weresuffering from various formsof mental illness. Dr Narriyalsaid simple counselling, show-ing little more care and sim-ple medication could preventthis disease from escalating inmajority of the cases. Shestressed on the need of pre-

marital and pre conceptualcounselling to drasticallyreduce prevalence of manydiseases.

Dr Narriyal claimed if awoman started taking tabletsof folic acid three to fourmonths before conceptionthen the chances of disease inchild is reduced by 70 percent.

The Project Director ofBurans, Dr Kaaren Mathiassaid the Government shouldbe encouraged to providemental health services andmedicines in every corner ofour State.

“We have over 500 peoplewho have different types ofpsycho-social disability par-ticipating in our project. Over80 people have recovered andhave returned to live a normallife. We can all take steps towelcome and include peopleimpacted by mental illness.

Today the Burans team is cel-ebrating all the small stepsthat have been taken for men-tal health in Uttarakhand thisyear,’’ she said.

Burans is working inRaipur and Sahaspur blocks ofDehradun district. The projectcoordinator, Jeet Bahadur saidmajority of people did notrealise that their mental prob-lems were actually sign of anillness.

“There are two importantsteps we can take for mentalwellness. One is to talk aboutour mental stress and diffi-culties with a supportive per-son. Secondly if problems areserious one should consult amental health doctor,’’ he said.

The highlight of the pro-gramme was active participa-tion by a group of youngschool dropouts and patientswho have recovered from theirmental illness.

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Ateam of personnel from theChief Medical Officer

(CMO) office of Dehradunraided many private pathologylabs on Monday and foundglaring irregularities in at leastsix labs.

The office of CMO wasgetting complaints of irregu-larities and blatant violation ofnorms by these labs especiallyin tests of dengue. The com-plainants informed theDepartment that big differ-ence in findings of denguetests were observed when thesample of same patient wastested at two facilities simulta-neously. The office of districtmagistrate too was receivingcomplaints about functioningof some of the pathology labs.

The team of CMO officeon the day found irregularitiesat Anita pathology lab, NewDoon pathology lab, HightechPathology lab, Dr Oberoipathology lab, Saharanpurroad, Dr Saini Pathology labGandhi Gram and Dr PundirPathology labs.

It is learnt that many of thelabs were working without cer-tified technicians while some ofthem didn’t have the NOC fordisposal of biomedical wastes.To its horror the raiding teamfound that some of the techni-

cians working in these labs did-n’t even possess a matriculationdegree.

The CMO of Dehradun,Dr YS Thapliyal said six labshad been issued notices by hisoffice in which they are askedto explain detected irregulari-ties within next three days. Hesaid if these labs failed to pro-vide necessary documents thanthe procedure of sealing themwould be initiated.

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Dehradun: The number ofdengue affected people inState has risen to 1594 onMonday. A State HealthDepartment communiquésaid that Dehradun districtwith 1,117 cases tops the listof dengue in State.

In Haridwar districtwhich has witnessed a steeprise in number of denguepatients has 365 people affect-ed by the disease till date.Nainital with 101 cases is inthird slot while 11 cases arereported from a predomi-nantly mountainous district ofPauri. The Departmentclaimed that 69 patients of thedisease in the State havemigrated from other States toUttarakhand. PNS

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Amidst murmuring amongsections of society includ-

ing intelligentsia, devotees andlocal villagers about the appar-ently hyped-up commercialisedapproach of the State authori-ties for promoting "religioustourism", the launch of a tele-vision series based onKedarnath and brief perfor-mance by popular singerKailash Kher at this sacredlocation on the weekend hasalso elicited questions in thepublic about the outcome ofspending time and otherresources on the various per-sonalities made "brand ambas-sadors" of Uttarakhand till date.

A range of personalitiesfrom various professionsincluding sports, commercialcinema and other spheres havebeen made brand ambassadorsof the State or appeared inadvertisement campaigns as inthe comparatively recent case ofcricketer Virat Kohli who wasseen in a television commercialmeant to "attract" tourists to theState earlier during 2015. TheKohli episode had also sparkedoff a debate and differing viewswith the Uttarakhand PradeshCongress Committee presidentKishore Upadhyay also oppos-ing the decision at that time.

Observers opine thatthough the State authoritieshave for years been stressing onboosting income generationfrom pilgrimage activities,reconstruction work in 2013disaster affected Kedarnathregion and other sites especial-ly along the Char Dham Yatracircuit were executed with aspecial focus on facilitation of"religious tourism" for boostingrevenue generation. The Statemanaged to execute consider-able repair and reconstructionworks rebuilding roads andinfrastructural facilities moreprominently on the Char DhamYatra circuit. A member of thepriestly community not want-ing his identity disclosed

recalled that he used to spendmonths in Kedarnath duringthe pilgrimage months beforethe June 2013 disaster but is notsure about the post-disasterscenario considering variousconstruction works and anapparent encompassment oftourism, varied constructions,recreational and other com-mercial aspects in ancientbeliefs and religious practices.

"Rise in the 'VIP culture' inrecent years is disappointingespecially when devout watchthe Government machinerygoing to the extent of rolling outa red-carpet for a constitu-tional post holder in Kedarnathand focusing mainly on anindividual position holder in ahallowed place where LordShiva in the form of Kedarnathis considered to be above all,blessing all devotees with equa-nimity," he said, while alsoquestioning why the CharDham and other importantpilgrimage centres are beingviewed by the authorities in amanner which appears to be

focused more on optimisingincome generation from visi-tors.

It is pertinent to mentionhere that during 2015, the StateGovernment had made crick-eter Virat Kohli as the State's"brand ambassador" to 'attract'tourists especially youth to theChar Dham Yatra. This step hadelicited objection from thePradesh Congress Committeepresident Kishore Upadhyayagainst the Congress-led StateGovernment's decision. ThePCC chief had then stressedthat with its Himalaya, Gangaand other rivers and a rich nat-ural and cultural heritage,Uttarakhand did not need abrand ambassador. He had alsoquestioned the benefit achievedby making veteran actressHema Malini or India cricketteam captain MS Dhoni theState's ambassadors in the past,adding that "they did little forUttarakhand as the State'sambassadors".

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Adocument purported tobe an official reply to an

application submitted underthe Right To Information Actby a Dehradun resident hasfuelled uncertainty and con-cern in the communityregarding the functioning ofthe State Government andexpenditure on the same inthe name of reconstructionand publicity of the CharDham shrines and other pil-grimage centres in the State.

According to the docu-ment spread through thesocial media in the past cou-ple of days, Dehradun residentHarendra Rawat had sought

information on variousaspects from the public infor-mation officer of theRudraprayag district admin-istration under the RTI Act.Indresh Maikhuri of theCommunist Party of India(Marxist-Leninist) citing thepurported RTI reply in the

social media said that accord-ing to the information pro-vided by officials, as part of thereconstruction effort inKedarnath, Kailash Kher, hadbeen paid about �3.66 crorefor making documentary/ser-ial/advertisement based onKedarnath till now by theState. Maikhuri states, "Thereare also unconfirmed reportsabout Kher being paid about�10 crore for the programmeheld in Kedarnath while thedisaster affected families in theKedar valley and other disas-ter affected areas are stillawaiting proper resettlementand rehabilitation, about threeyears after the disaster," saidMaikhuri.

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Education Minister MantriPrasad Naithani gave

Navrati gift to his VidhanSabha constituency Devprayagby opening of science subjectsin two Inter colleges. Theseschools are Government GirlsInter College (GGIC)Devprayag and GovernmentInter College (GIC),Ransolidhar. The science sub-jects of Physics, Mathematics,Chemistry and Mathematicswould be available for the stu-dents of these schools fromnext session.

The parents associations ofthese schools were demandingabout addition of science sub-jects in these schools fromquite some time in the past.

On Monday, these associ-ations expressed their gratitudeto State Chief Minister HarishRawat and Education MinisterNaithani for accepting theirlong standing demand.

The State Government hasalso released a sum of �269.73lakhs for eight kilometer longChunnikhal-Khongcha-Panavmotor road in Devprayag.The construction of this roadlink is one an old demand ofthe people of the area.

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From Page 1India had blamed BAT, a

mix of Pakistani Special Forcespersonnel and terrorists, for thebrutal killing of

its two soldiers in January2013, one of whom wasbeheaded, and many otherdeadly attacks on troopsalong the LoC.

For the last couple ofdays Pakistan Army has beenfrequently violat ing theceasefire agreement andpounding forward Indianposts and thickly populatedcivilian areas in frontierRajouri and Poonch districtto further escalate the ten-sion.

Fresh attempts are alsobeing made to push in heav-ily-armed groups of militantsfrom across the launchingpads to execute terror strikesin Jammu region during thelong festive season.

To thwart the nefariousdesigns of Pakistan, thejawans of the Indian Armyare maintaining tight vigilalong the LoC with the helpof sophisticated devicesincluding night vision devices(NVD) and body sensors.

The entire LoC is lit upduring the night while duringthe day, area dominationpatrols and sentry posts aremaintaining the sanctity ofthe LoC.

The Army officer said,“We have built well-fortifiedbunkers along the Line ofControl to ensure safety ofour jawans. Due to the qual-ity of the bunkers, our jawansfeel safe and stand tall hold-ing their position at the timeof hostilities.”

The bunkers are designedto withstand heavy shellingand enemy fire, the officertold The Pioneer.

“Since our jawans feelsafe they are retaliating hardand inf licting maximumdamage to enemy positions inthe area,” the officer said andadded that following our firmretaliatory action some ofthe forward posts and terrorlaunch pads have been vacat-ed by the Pakistan Army andsmall group of infiltrators.

“ The morale of thejawans holding on to theirpositions is high”. A seasonedsoldier who has long experi-ence of defending the forward

locations told The Pioneer.“For the last one week I havenot stepped out of the bunkeras I am holding on to myLMG post along with my fel-low soldiers. We are even eat-ing our food inside ourbunker and not going to themess for refreshments,” headded.

The heavy shelling and fir-ing that followed the surgicalstrikes have resulted in dis-placement of thousands of bor-der dwellers in Nowshera.

Despite the terrorisingexplosions from mortar bombsand the rattle of guns, peopleare reluctant to leave theirhouses and say they will helpthe Army. “We are not leav-ing our homes despite firingand shelling. We hope that itwill also boost the morale of theArmy,” S Singh, a Sarpanch ofGandrote, said.

Most of the hamlets locat-ed along the LoC in Nowsheraare home to hundreds of ex-servicemen.

“In case of any shelling andfiring, we will put the villagersin safe houses to ensure theirsafety and security,” an Armyofficer said.

From Page 1Delhi Municipal

Corporation (SDMC), whichtabulates the data for vector-borne disease cases in Delhi onbehalf of all the civic bodieshere.

Out of the total casesrecorded till October 8, near-ly 620 of them have beenreported in areas falling underthe North Delhi MunicipalCorporation (NDMC), saidthe official.

The vector-borne diseaseclaimed 15 lives.

Health experts say that itwill take two more weeks forDelhiites to breathe a sigh ofrelief as the virus that causesdengue and chikungunya can-not survive in cold conditions.

Dr KK Aggarwal, NationalPresident (Elect) of IndianMedical Association said thatsince winter is going to set in,the number of dengue andchikungunya cases will reducesubstantially and till Diwali itwill be over.

From Page 1CR Saraswathi, spokesper-

son of the party is leading hun-dreds of cadre as well as lead-ers in reciting all hymns andprayers to propitiate the godsfor the health and speedyrecovery of the ChiefMinisters. Cadres belonging tothe Muslim and Christiancommunities too are offeringspecial prayers in front of thehospital for Jayalalithaa’s recov-ery.

Meanwhile, on Monday,the first to visit Jayalalithaawere P Sadasivam, Governorand Pinarayi Vijayan, theMarxist Chief Minister ofKerala who flew in to Chennaiand went straight to the hos-pital together where they werebriefed by the team of expertsled by Dr Pratap C Reddyabout the CM’s health.

Later, speaking to journal-ists waiting outside the hospi-tal, Sadasivam said it was acourtesy call to wishJayalalithaa a speedy recovery.“The doctors attending toJayalalithaa told us that she isresponding to the treatmentand she is on the path ofrecovery. I am sure the ChiefMinister would soon be able toreturn home and resume herofficial responsibilities,” saidSadasivam.

Vijayan said that the doc-tors were positive about thetreatment being given toJayalalithaa. “There is positivenews from the hospital man-agement about the progress inthe health of Jayalalithaa. Ourvisit was to express our soli-darity with her and I am sureshe is getting well,” said theKerala Chief Minister.

Kiran Bedi , Lieutenant-Governor of Puducherry wasanother prominent dignitary

who came calling to wishAmma a speedy recovery. “DrPratap Reddy, the hospitalchairman, explained to methe details about the ChiefMinister’s health. She is gettingwell and will soon be backattending to her officialresponsibilities,” Bedi told themedia.

Meanwhile UnionMinister M Venkaiah Naiduon Monday describedJayalalithaa as a “fighter” andvoiced confidence that shewould continue to serve thepeople of Tamil Nadu.

The senior BJP leader,who had visited ApolloHospital on Sunday, also ques-tioned DMK’s demand fornaming an interim ChiefMinister,

saying it was up toAIADMK to take a decision onthe matter and not “anyonefrom outside”.

Speaking to reporters hereafter making a “courtesy call”on Governor Ch VidyasagarRao, Naidu said he had visit-ed Apollo Hospitals

where the doctors hadexplained to him about themedical treatment being givento Jayalalithaa.

“I am confident that shehas a strong will power andshe is always a fighter. I amconfident that she will fightback and become normal

and continue to serve thepeople of Tamil Nadu andthat is my wish,” he said.

Since a “popular leader”has been hospitalised,rumours and speculationabout her health should not beallowed as that was not

good for the people of thestate as well as the “personwho is hospitalised”, he said.

Asked about the DMK’s

demand to name an interimChief Minister or an actingCM till the time Jayalalithaareturned, Naidu said,

“It is a matter to be decid-ed by that party (AIADMK)which has got majority,” in thestate Assembly.

“How can anybody fromoutside say you have to putDeputy Chief Minister. AfterChief Minister, there areMinisters. And Ministers

will be performing theirresponsibilities,” he said.

Naidu said when thePrime Minister goes out of thecountry, “still there are minis-ters” who are functioning.“Here the Chief Minister isvery much there. And thenthere is a Council of Ministersselected by her and they arefunctioning.And they shouldfunction accordingly.”

“If there is some problem,then that will be looked into bythe Governor as and when (if)a situation arises at all.Otherwise all

these unnecessary specu-lations are not good,” he said.

Meanwhile, a Press releaseissued by the hospital onMonday said that Dr GKhilnani, Department ofPulmonary Medicine, AIIMS,New Delhi, visited the hospi-tal on Sunday and Mondayand examined Jayalalithaa andhad discussions with theexpert panel in the hospitaland concurred with the pre-sent line of treatment beinggiven to her.

The release signed by SViswanathan, the COO of thehospital, further stated thatnecessary respiratory support,antibiotics, nutrition, sup-portive therapy and passivephysiotherapy were beinggiven to Jayalalithaa.

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The Central Government willinvest Rs 15,000 cr to

increase the capacity of Panipatrefinery in Haryana from theexisting 15 MT to 25 MT to cre-ate employment opportunities.

Also, an Ethanol Plantwould be set up at a cost of Rs500 crore by the Indian OilCorporation in Panipat to gen-erate alternative fuel from agri-cultural residue which wouldboost agriculture sector,announced Union Minister ofState for Petroleum and NaturalGas, Dharmendra Pradhan,after distributing free LPG con-nections, under Pradhan MantriUjjwala Yojana (PMUY) atPanipat on Monday.

He also appreciatedHaryana Government’s initia-tive for making Haryanakerosene free by March 2017and added that this modelwould be replicated in the entirecountry to make India kerosenefree.

The Union Minister saidthat the expansion of Panipatrefinery would raise specifica-tions of fuel quality from BS-4

to BS-6. This would not onlycreate employment opportuni-ties for the people, but wouldalso help in raising quality offuel in the country by the year2020, said he.

As per scientific research, hesaid that ethanol made fromcrop residue can produce fuelor energy upto 72 per cent.

Pradhan said that efforts arebeing made to have the down-stream of petro chemical hub inHaryana so as to attract maxi-mum investment in the state.This would attract about 100 bigor small industries thus gener-ating maximum revenue andemployment in the state, said he.

The Union Minister alsoappreciated the StateGovernment for digitization ofration Cards under PublicDistribution System, whichrevealed that five lakh benefi-ciaries were getting dual bene-fit of both subsidized LPG and

kerosene. This has saved Rs 100crore subsidy being granted byCentre to HaryanaGovernment.

He also announced to payback 75 per cent subsidy toHaryana keeping in view thetarget to declare eight districtsas kerosene free in Haryana byNovember 1. The UnionMinister also assured that morethan six lakh BPL householdswould get LPG connection innext six months in the state.

On the occasion, the UnionMinister and Chief MinisterManohar Lal together handedover papers of gas connectionsto 10 beneficiaries.

Speaking on this occasion,the Chief Minister said thatunder the PMUY, the distribu-tion of free LPG connection hasbeen started from Panipat andthe state would get success indeclaring eight districts ofYamunanagar, Panchkula,

Ambala, Kurukshetra, Karnal,Panipat, Jahjjar and Gurugramas kerosene free by November1. The state would becomekerosene free by March 2017, headded.

He said that schemes likehousing for all, employmentopportunities to about two lakhpeople and all announcementfor development purpose madeby him would be completed inSwarna Jayanti year. Apartfrom this, Rs 1700 crore wouldbe spent for swarna jayantiprojects in addition to regularbudget, he added.

The Chief Minister saidthat Central Government iscelebration Pandit Deen DayalUpadhyaya centenary as“Gareeb Kalyan Varsh” in whichspecial schemes for welfare ofthe poor would be implement-ed. Following the footsteps ofCentral Government, the StateGovernment would also focuson bringing the poor into themainstream, said he.

He said that with a view tohone the skills of youth, centresof Skill Development have beenstarted under Skill DevelopmentMission. There are about 1000courses of skill developmentthrough which we can makeyouth employable. The gov-ernment is also setting up a SkillDevelopment University inPalwal, added the ChiefMinister.

Later on, the UnionMinister and the Chief Ministeralso visited the Panipat refinery.

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In an initiative to provideimproved streetscape ameni-

ties to the Scheduled Castepopulation in the State, theHaryana Government hasdecided to make pucca(cemented) streets in all thosevillages where population ofmembers belonging to the SCis 40 per cent or above.

“There are about 850 suchvillages which would be bene-fited under this scheme. Asum of Rs 282 crore would bereleased during this year fordevelopment works under thisscheme,” said a spokesman ofDevelopment and PanchayatsDepartment.

He said that estimates werebeing prepared after identify-ing streets in such villages andgrant would be released for allthese villages by October 31.These works would be com-pleted before March 31, 2017,he added.

The spokesman said that anew scheme has been started toset up of IT enabled gramsachivalyas. In the first phase ofthis scheme, in all 2294 gramsachivalyas would be set up,with each cluster of 3-4 grampanchayats, by the year of2019.

In the second phase, all thegram panchayats would havesuch gram sachivalyas.

He said that as many as 900gram sachivalyas have been setup upto August 31, 2016 out ofwhich, Citizen Service Centre(CSC) had been set up at 357gram sachivalyas.

Through these Centres,various government serviceswould be made available to thepeople at the grass root level.Village level officers andemployees of all departmentswould be stationed in thesesachivalyas so that the peopleget all their government relat-ed works done under one roof,said the spokesman.

He said that in gramsachivalya, there would be sep-arate room for sarpanch,panches, gram sachiv, a big hallfor meeting of gram panchay-at and gram sabha. Apart fromthis, provision of separate toi-lets for men and women wouldalso be constructed. Besides,arrangement of Bank and othernecessary facilities would alsobe made in these gramsachivalyas, said thespokesman.

He added that directionshave been issued to all the grampanchayats to hold atleast fourmeetings of gram sabha.

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Terming Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) as a party of “hol-

low slogans and false promis-es”, Punjab Chief MinisterParkash Singh Badal onMonday dared his Delhi coun-terpart Arvind Kejriwal tocome out with any single con-tribution of AAP to the devel-opment of the State and thecountry in general.

“It is on record that AAPis just a bunch of opportunistsand defectors who have leftone party or another toacquire power so nothinggood for the state and its peo-ple could be expected fromthese people,” the five-timeChief Minister said.

Speaking to reporters onthe sidelines of SangatDarshan programme in Lambiassembly segment, Badalalleged that Kejriwal was noteven aware of the basics ofagriculture and village life ofthe state.

He said that the sole aim

of AAP was to wrest politicalpower in Punjab, which goesto polls early next year.

Badal said that a statewhere majority of populationresides in the villages couldnot be run by a party whoseleaders were not acquainted tothe problems faced by thepeople residing in villages.

He also claimed that theDelhi Chief Minister and otherAAP leadership were ignorantabout the basic topography ofthe State.

“Kejriwal is suffering fromanti-Punjab mindset and thestand taken by his governmenton the issue of Satluj YamunaLink Canal in the Apex Courtwas a reflection of it. Affidavitby Delhi government headedby AAP in the Supreme Courttermed Punjab's stand on issueas unconstitutional and anti-national,” Badal said.

He said that as Delhi ChiefMinister hailed from Haryana“so he was naturally inclinedtowards safeguarding theinterests of his state and want-

ed to snatch the waters ofPunjab to benefit his ownstate (Haryana)”.

The Chief Ministerexhorted the people to adopta cautious approach whilecasting their vote as their ver-dict could make or mar thefuture of the State.

He said that the SAD-BJPgovernment's pro-poor ini-tiatives included schemes likeAtta-Dal, pension, Shagun,Bhagat Puran Singh SehatBeema Yojna and Mai BhagoVidya Scheme.

Badal, a day before, dis-missed Kejriwal's claim thatSAD and Congress in Punjabwere colluding to fight thestate Assembly elections duenext year, calling them as a"bunch of lies". He had alsosaid that "Kejriwal is sufferingfrom anti-Punjab syndrome".

Also launching a scathingattack on Punjab Congresspresident Capt AmarinderSingh, Badal alleged that he“has a proven anti-farmer andanti-poor track record”.

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Punjab Congress chief CaptAmarinder Singh on

Monday alleged a “secretnexus” between the rulingShiromani Akali Dal (SAD)and the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) to “malign him” asboth the parties see a “commonenemy” in him.

“The two political partiesseem to have ganged uptogether to malign me as theysee a common and formidableenemy in me,” he said.

“Otherwise how comeAAP convener Arvind Kejriwalgot to know much in advanceabout the contents of the secretand sealed Vigilance Bureaureport submitted to the Mohalicourt on Friday last which hasto be opened on the next dateof hearing on October 25?”asked Capt Amarinder. Theformer chief minister said thatboth the political parties wereusing the AmritsarImprovement Trust (AIT) case,which was filed out of sheer“political vendetta” against himby the Badal family.

“Since they (Akalis andAAP) do not have anything tosay against me, they are usingthis case which the whole

world knows was filed out ofsheer political vendetta,” headded.

Capt Amarinder said thatboth the Akalis and the AAPhad a reason to come togetherto malign him as he has been“getting the public responsefrom across Punjab” during hisprogrammes.

“Moreover, the surveyreports of all political partiesincluding the Akalis and theAAP have put us far ahead ofothers and that is why theyhave started finding a commoncause against me,” he said.

Punjab Vigilance Bureauhad booked Capt Amarinderand others on September 11,2008, in an alleged land scan-dal involving AmritsarImprovement Trust which waslater taken by a builder.

The state party chief saidthat he was not bothered aboutcontents of the vigilance bureaureport. “I have been fighting thevigilance bureau and its Akalibosses for last ten years and Idon’t mind fighting them foranother ten years more, butwhat has surprised me is theconfidence with whichKejriwal claims that thebureau was closing the caseagainst me,” he said.

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Reacting to Punjab ChiefMinister Parkash Singh

Badal 's statement t hatPunjabis should vote him toextend his life for another 10years, Aam Aadmi Party onMonday said that this is thebasic difference betweenSAD and AAP leaders thatone is concerned about him-self and his family but AAPis concerned about the well-b e ing of Punjab andPunjabis.

“Badal has spent aroundnine decades on earth andfrom last many elections hehas been asking for the votesbeing his last tenure. WhileChief Minister is enjoyingthe post for fifth time, thepeople of state are dyingevery day,” said party MPBhagwant Mann.

Sangrur MP said thatthe average age of farmers

committ ing su ic ide inPunjab is 30-40 years while90 percent of deaths hap-pened due to drugs beingc i rc u late d by Bi kramMajithia are of youngstersbetween age group 20-30.“The average age of unem-ployed youth in the state is25-30 years while most ofthe 20-30 years old young-sters have been forced toleave the country by the badpolicies of Badals and settleabroad,” he added.

Mann said that it is soheartless act that even afterleading a long life, a personis still thinking about him-self while the youngsters aredying every day in Punjab.

“Badal has befooled peo-ple presenting himself assavior of the religion but thereality is that he has dam-aged Sikh religion muchmore than Ahmad ShahAbdali did,” he added.

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The Haryana Governmenton Monday claimed that

the infant mortality rate (IMR)and child mortality rate (CMR)have declined in the State.

“Following the multi-pro-longed strategy adopted by theHaryana Government, the IMRhas declined to 36 per thousandlive births from 41 per thou-sand live births and CMR hasdeclined by five points from 45to 40 per thousand live birthsas per July 2016 statistics, saidHealth Minister Anil Vij.

The Health Minister whilelaunching the f lagship‘Mothers’ Absolute Affection’(MAA) programme for pro-motion of breastfeeding at astate level function held atPanchkula, said that the multi-prolonged strategy adopted bythe government has yieldedpositive results.

He said that now, eachdistrict will organise districtlaunch to educate the massestowards improving the infantand child feeding indicatorswhich are crucial for preven-tion of malnutrition.

He said that the state isfocusing on improvement ofquality and access of newborncare, child health and immu-nisation services to reduceIMR and CMR, as per the tar-get of MillenniumDevelopment Goals. These are

also some of the key areas ofpriority of United Nationsstrategic development goals.Under this, various interven-tions have been carried out bythe National Health Missionand State Health Department,the Minister said.

As per the latest availableSample Registration System(SRS) bulletin of RGI pub-lished in July 2016, while IMRof the country is 39 per thou-sand live births, IMR of the stateis 36 per thousand live births.Similarly, the CMR in the stateis also lower than that of thecountry, which stands at 45 perthousand live births, said Vij.

He further said thatHaryana had also been award-ed as the best state for reduc-tion in infant mortality at the3rd National Summit on ‘Goodand replicable practices andinnovations in public healthfacilities’ at Tirupati.

Highlighting the life cycleapproach, he said that“Continuum of care” approachhad been adopted undernational health mission withthe articulation of ‘strategicapproach to reproductive,maternal, newborn, child andadolescent health(RMNCH+A)’, bringing focuson all the life stages.

As per the health experts,breastfeeding is a child’s first inoc-ulation against death, diseaseand poverty.

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Bhutan, which has pulledout of the SAARC Summit,

is understood to have cited the“vitiated” atmosphere in thewake of the Uri terror attackand its support for India’snational interest, while con-veying the decision. Expressingsolidarity with India, Bhutanhas reportedly said to Nepal,the SAARC Chair, that “atmos-phere had been vitiated and itwas no longer conducive tohold the SAARC Summitunder the present situation.”

“We also share concerns ofBangladesh, India, Afghanistanabout deteriorating peace. Wehave also conveyed that as faras India’s national interest isconcerned, we are very clearthat we will support Indiawhere its national interest lies,”Thimpu reportedly conveyed.

In 2003, Bhutan haddestroyed military camps ofULFA, Kamtapur LiberationOrganisation (KLO) andNational Democratic Front ofBodoland (NDFB), all detri-mental to Indian security con-cerns.

The Himalayan nation hadsaid that terrorism emanatingfrom Pakistan was a matter ofconcern for South Asia andaffected peace and stability inBhutan as well, the sources said.

The SAARC Summit,scheduled to be held inIslamabad in November, had tobe postponed after five mem-

ber States of the grouping,including India, Bangladeshand Bhutan, decided againstattending the meet followingthe terrorist attack on IndianArmy camp in Uri in Jammu&Kashmir, in which 19 soldierswere killed.

The sources said Bhutaneseoutposts on the China-Bhutanborder often witness “season-al incursions” from the Chineseside even though the‘Himalayan Kingdom’ supports‘One-China Policy’. The auton-omy for Tibet is “more of a sen-timental issue than realistic”,they said.

The Bhutanese embassy inNew Delhi registers protestsfollowing such incursions.

Bhutan is one of the coun-tries with which China still hasterritorial dispute.

On the Bangladesh,Bhutan, India and Nepal MotorVehicle Agreement, the sourcessaid that the BhutaneseGovernment is working to getit ratified by its Parliament.

Although the Lower Houseof the Bhutanese Parliamenthas given nod to ratify theagreement for regulation ofpassenger, personal and cargovehicular traffic, various con-cerns have been raised by theUpper House.

Sources said the BhutaneseGovernment is trying toaddress the concerns raised bythe Upper House so that theagreement could be ratified atthe earliest.

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���� 376�178"5

Amid the continuing stand-off with Pakistan, the

Centre has issued an advisoryasking all States to be extra vig-ilant against attempts by ter-rorists and subversive elementsto disrupt peace and ignitecommunal tension during thefestival season.

Acting on Intelligenceinputs, the Union HomeMinistry has issued a country-wide advisory asking all Statesto deploy additional forces incrowded places like markets,railway stations, bus termi-nuses and religious sites tofoil attempts by terrorists tocarry out attacks.

The advisory was issuedafter Intelligence inputs sug-gested that Pakistan-based ter-rorist groups may try to disruptpeace in vulnerable areas in the

wake of surgical strikes byIndian Army against terrorlaunch pads across Line ofControl (LoC).

The Home Ministry par-ticularly told police of majorcities like Delhi, Mumbai,Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluruand Hyderabad to be extra vig-ilant during the Dussehra,Durga Puja and Moharramfestivities.

The Ministry warned ofprovocative sloganeering, espe-cially near mosques and dar-gahs, besides places where idolshave been installed. The Centresaid observance of festivals indisputed places, processionsthrough non-traditional routesand forcible collection of dona-tions, besides eve-teasing oftentrigger communal tensions.

Besides, crowded pandalsand immersion processionsalso remain soft targets for

saboteurs. Special watch onpandals, procession routes andvenues of immersion is desir-able to prevent communal inci-dents and other law and orderproblems, read the advisory.

The recent surgical strikesby the Indian Army on terrorlaunch pads across the LoCmay encourage Pak-based ter-ror groups to orchestrate"indiscriminate acts of vio-lence against iconic targets andinnocent civilians," anIntelligence advisory had said.

"Pathankot airbase attackand the recent attack on theArmy base at Uri besidesnumerous other incidents ofterror attacks in Jammu andKashmir during this year amplydemonstrate abiding interest ofPakistan-based terrorist groupsto carry out sensational attacksin India," says the Intelligenceadvisory.

Visible deployment of uni-formed policemen in crowded

market areas and mass transitpoints, frequent movement ofpolice patrol vehicles anddeployment of watch and wardstaff by local market commit-tees in consultation with localpolice will go on a long way todeter possible terrorist attacksin such areas. Access control tovital installations and securityforce camps need to be givenspecial attention, theIntelligence advisory furthersaid.

In order to prevent bombattacks in crowded places, strictadherence to access controlnorms and involvement oforganisers/managers of large-scale events , malls, cinemahalls, mass transit system likeMetro and city buses wouldalso be necessary, it said.

A special campaign may be

launched to sensitise the pub-lic about dangers from unat-tended objects, unknown facesin the neighbourhood andunattended vehicles/two-wheelers, it pointed out, addinglocal police also needs to coor-dinate with concerned localagencies and markets com-mittees to ensure that CCTVsinstalled remain functional.Security briefings to privatesecurity guards deployed inmarket areas and other publicplaces may be organised bylocal police officers.

The agencies also advisedheightened vigil especially atcheck posts at Delhi border andstaff deployed on highways,besides other places of largefootfalls, including hospitals,schools, colleges, multiplexesand iconic installations.

New Delhi: In a humanitarian gesture to the Armed forces, pri-vate airlines Vistara has given free tickets to families of 25 sol-diers injured in the Uri attack on September 18 to enable rela-tives to visit the jawans undergoing medical treatment in ArmyHospitals in Srinagar and New Delhi respectively.

Besides, the airline has also offered free tickets to the injuredjawans to return home after recovering. Otherwise, these per-sonnel are entitled to free warrant to travel by train to their nativeplaces, officials said here on Monday.

"This is a small gesture of our gratitude to the brave-heartUri soldiers for their selfless service to the nation. This was theleast we could do to unite the injured soldiers with their fami-ly," a Vistara spokesperson said.

Since Vistara does not operate in many cities, especially toPatna and most of the injured hailed from Bihar, the airline pro-vided free tickets from the nearby airport in Varanasi. The tick-ets offered were either for premium economy or business class,Defence sources said. PNS

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�������������� 376178"5

Lack of adequate judges citedas a major cause of pen-

dency may not be true. A sci-entific study conducted by theDepartment of Justice underthe Ministry of Law and Justicehas revealed that the worst fig-ures of pendency of cases is inStates with high ranking interms of judge-population ratio.The converse is also true. ThoseStates with considerably low fig-ures of judges per 10 lakh pop-ulation fared extremely well onthe case disposal chart.

This study has come as acounter to the popular notionthat the Centre is to be blamedfor holding up judicial appoint-ments, thereby resulting in themounting pendency in subor-dinate courts across the coun-try. This perception gainedmuch credence in April 2016when the Chief Justice of India(CJI)TS Thakur, while address-ing the Joint Meeting of ChiefJustices and Chief Ministersbroke down during his speechas he insisted the Governmentto fill judicial vacancies andrelieve judiciary of the mount-ing burden of cases. He wasreferring to almost 434 vacan-

cies in High Courts remainingunfilled despite the collegiummaking suitable recommen-dations for the posts.

Coming in this backdrop isthe Agenda Note prepared bythe Department of Justiceahead of the 10th meeting ofthe Advisory Council, NationalMission for Justice Deliveryand Legal Reforms. The note,cleared by the Union LawMinister, who is the Chairmanof the Council, conducts adetailed study to bust the myththat more the judges, higher thedisposal rate.

For instance, Kerala has thehighest disposal rate per judgeof 3028, which is the highestamong States. The judge pop-

ulation ratio in this State is only14 per cent, which is ranked26th among States. Even UttarPradesh which has a miserablejudge-population ratio of just10 per cent, ranking 32ndamong the States and UTs, hasan effective disposal rate of1813 per judge.

The Ministry in its notesaid, "Shortage of judges is notthe sole reason for the increas-ing pendency and lower rate ofdisposal." This becomes clearwhen we analyze the results ofStates privileged with the bestjudge-population ratio. Forinstance, Delhi is ranked No 2

with 47 judges per 10 lakh pop-ulation but has a disposal rateof 1250 per judge, worse thanUttar Pradesh.

Another State which fol-lows this trend is Gujarat. With32 judges on population of 10lakh, the State maintains fifthposition, but despite the effec-tive strength, the disposal fig-ure is only 934 per judge.

The Ministry notes thatbetween 2005 and 2015, thenumber of civil cases institut-ed in district and subordinatecourts came down from 40.69lakh to 36.22 lakh, marking adecline of 11 per cent. Duringthe same period, he pendencyof civil cases increased from72.54 lakh to 84.05 lakh, anincrease of 16 per cent. Duringthe said period, the workingstrength of subordinate anddistrict judges increased from11682 in 2005 to 16070 in 2015.

The note, which is part ofthe agenda meeting fixed laterthis week, concludes that thereis a need to analyze other rea-sons for pendency withoutfocusing on judicial manpow-er alone. This could be lack ofcourt management system orabsence of a uniform method-ology among High Courts tocollect judicial statistics.

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New Delhi: The AkhileshYadav Government in UttarPradesh secured a majorreprieve last week fromSupreme Court by obtainingstay on CBI probe into analleged mining scam acrossthe State ordered by theAllahabad High Court.

Appearing for the State,senior advocate Anil Divanapproached the Bench headedby Chief Justice of India (CJI) TSThakur and obtained an orderstaying the HC decision on anurgent mentioning. The apexBench having Justice AMKhanwilkar, besides CJI, said,"The impugned order shallremain stayed to the extent thesame directs the CBI to registercriminal cases and to continueinvestigation in the same."

However, the SC clarifiedthat its order "shall not preventthe High Court from examin-ing the preliminary investiga-tion/enquiry reports submittedby the CBI and kept in a sealedcover in the High Court". Afterexamining the same and hear-ing the state, the HC shall befree to pass any orders, the SCBench said.

The order is significant asthe state is heading to electionsearly next year. The plea wasopposed by advocate PrashantBhushan who appeared for the litigant.

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New Delhi: The Prime Minister'sOffice was flooded with morethan 10 lakh petitions betweenJune 1, 2014 and January 31,2016, according to an RTIresponse. Apart from these peti-tions, the PMO also received 35RTI applications per day.

An RTI applicant AseemTakyar sought to know the totalnumber of complaints, griev-ances, petitions received bythe Prime Minister's Officesince May 1, 2014 till now towhich PMO said the informa-tion is "too vague and wide".

"It may, however, beinformed that during the peri-od June 1, 2014 to January 31,2016 approximately 10 lakhpetitions have been processedin PMO," the RTI responsesaid. It said a large number ofletters including complaints,petitions are received in thepublic wing of PMO daily.

"These are scrutinised andnon-actionable petitions are filedand those actionable are for-warded to concerned authoritiesfor action as appropriate. Thosewhich require consideration by

Prime Minister/Senior officersare sent to them for taking a viewin the matter. However, data isnot maintained regarding num-ber of complaints/petitions readpersonally by PM," the responsesaid. During 2014-15, the PMOhad received over 12,500 RTIapplications which is about 35applications per day, accordingto annual report of the CentralInformation Commission. Theentire central government and itsdepartments had received over86,000 RTI applications duringthe year, which is less than one

per cent of the all the petitions,grievances etc. Received by thePMO alone during the 20-month period, it said.

A number of RTI querieshave been directed to the PMO,mainly filed by workers of oppo-sition parties which include thedetails of wishes extended by thePM to countrymen on Bakrid,Baravafat, Eid Ul Fitr, reportedelection promise of �15 lakh tobe deposited in citizen'saccounts, travel expense details,speed of internet in PMOamong others. PNS

New Delhi: In a stern directive,the Government asked allCentral Government depart-ments to respond promptly tothe communications receivedfrom Parliamentarians.Ministry of Personnel, PublicGrievances and Pensions citedinstances of delay in sendingreplies to letters from MPs bycertain Government depart-ments.

The order recalled that inalmost all Parliament ses-sions, the Ministry is "ques-tioned" on the delay in send-ing replies to letters receivedfrom Members of Parliamentand non-adherence to theinstructions of the CentralSecretariat Manual of OfficeProcedure (CSMOP).

As per the CSMOP, eachcommunication received froman MP or VIP shall beacknowledged within 15 days,followed by a reply within thenext 15 days. In the past alsoSecretary General of both RajyaSabha and Lok Sabha haveexpressed concern on the mat-ter, the communique said.

In view of the upcomingWinter session, the officialsworking in all departmentsshould be suitably sensitised onthe issue and are advised tosend prompt replies to letterswritten by Members ofParliament, it said. PNS

�������;������ 376�178"5

As the Mental Care HealthBill takes its own time to be

cleared from the Lok Sabha,patients suffering from mentalillness — whether commonone like depression or acute likepsychosis and bipolar disorder— are being forced to paythrough their pockets in theabsence of any mediclaim, saidhealth experts on World HealthDay on Monday. The Bill envis-ages insurance cover to patientssuffering from mental illness.

Dr KK Aggarwal,renowned cardiologist andPresident of the Indian MedicalAssociation (IMA) said, "Wehave been propagating thatthere is a paradigm shift theway we need to tackle mentalillnesses. That depression is nomore a stigma or a social issue,that depression is treatable,that depression is a manageabledisease and that depressionneeds to be diagnosed early.

"If it's a disease then whystill it is not covered undermediclaim? Why would peo-ple disclose 'depression' whengetting admitted when their

whole claim can get cancelled?"he said during the launch of thenationwide campaign on men-tal awareness, jointly support-ed by Indian PsychiatricSociety, Indian MedicalAssociation and The Live LoveLaugh Foundation (TLLLF), anNGO by actor DeepikaPadukone.

Dr Aggarwal said matter-of-factly, "We say suicidalideation is a medical emer-gency and such patients needsadmission. If it is not coveredin mediclaim nobody will dis-close or one will get admittedunder the disguise of someother illness.

"On one hand we want spe-cial Act for mental health andon the other hand we denytheir right to get treated."

His observation holdsimportance given that theWorld Health Organizationestimates that 10 per cent ofIndia's population suffers frommental health disorders; 80per cent of those affected aredepressed and / or sufferingfrom anxiety, while the remain-ing 20 per cent battle withsevere mental health issues

such psychosis, bipolar disor-der, schizophrenia etc.

Ironically, till the Bill seethe light of the day, insurancecover for the mentally illpatients will remain a dream.

Doing her bit to bring theissue to limelight, Deepika,who herself battled depres-sion, said stigma attached tomental ailments is the mainreason why the society is strug-gling to address the problem.

She said, it is importantthat there is a supportingecosystem of family and friendsthat allows the suffering personto cope with the disorder withhope and dignity. ThroughTLLL we aim to sensitize thepeople about the mental illness.

Echoing similar views,CEO, McCann WorldgroupIndia, Prasoon Joshi, who vol-unteered to develop a specialvideo and poster campaign,"#DobaraPoocho" (ask again)which was unveiled on theoccasion, said, "It's importantto reach out to those who areunreachable. We need to havea compassionate society whereno one should feel that they donot belong to society."

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Mulayam Singh Yadav isnot the only regional

satrap facing rebel like situationin the party, his peers like LaluPrasad and Nitish Kumar havealso faced a similar situation. Ifthe Samajwadi Party supremothrough his brother and UPpresident of the party ShivpalYadav is targeting close confi-dents of Chief MinisterAkhilesh Yadav causing resent-ment among junior Yadav, inBihar, the RJD chief and theChief Minister are facing dif-ferent kind of “rebellion” by theparty workers.

The RJD workers in Siwanand Gopalganj districts, allsupporters of former SiwanMP Mohammad Shahabuddinheld a meeting and passed aresolution ousting Lalu Prasadfrom the party.

The news may surprise alland sundry and hardly anyonewould believe it but it hap-pened in Gopalganj on Sunday.

The supporters of Shahabuddinformed a body ShahabuddinMukti Andolan to launch cam-paign against re-arrest of theRJD strongman. They are quiteunhappy over the develop-ments and what pained themthe most is the silence of Laluon Shahabuddin’s cancellationof bail by the Supreme Court.“Lalu is involved in the con-spiracy to challenge the bail inthe Supreme Court and he isresponsible for his arrest,” saidone of the rebels.

The RJD leaders are keep-ing a stoic silence over thisreport terming it a “joke” butBihar RJD president RamChandra Purbe admitted sucha meeting was held. Talking to

The Pioneer Purbe evenrevealed that the ranks and fileof Siwan RJD vowed to resignen bloc from the party inprotest. “In Siwan entire poli-tics revolves aroundShahabuddin and the party-men follow him. I have spokento the District president ofRJD and asked him to convincethe partymen that even theGovernment cannot do any-thing in court matter,” Purbesaid on Monday.

The Shahabuddin MuktiAndolan accused Lalu of for-getting the sacrifices the ex-MPmade for him and the partyand as a result the party has lostits mass following and groundsupport. The fuming support-

ers brought a resolution toshow Lalu the door and it waspassed unanimously without asingle voice of dissent.

CM Nitish Kumar last fort-night faced a similar situationin the party thought it hadnothing to do withShahabuddin. At least fourState’s president of the JD(U)raised a voice of revolt againstNitish over his elevation asnational president of the party.The rebellion was, however,nipped in the bud as he dis-missed all of them. They

included presidents of MadhyaPradesh, Delhi andUttrakhand.

The party alleged that theywere involved in brazen irreg-ularities in organisational mat-ters particularly the member-ship drive. “Their Oppositionof Nitish was ridiculous. All ofthem were present when Nitishwas unanimously electednational president then whythey remained dumb.Whosoever wants to go is freeto go,” said JD(U) spokesmanNeeraj Kumar.

����������������&"733+5

Apollo Hospital, Chennai,where Chief Minister J

Jayalalithaa is undergoing med-ical treatment since September22 saw a number of dignitariesdropping in on Monday toenquire about her health and towish her a speedy recovery.

P Sadasivam, Governorand Pinarayi Vijayan, theMarxist Chief Minister ofKerala flew into Chennai andwent straight to the hospitaltogether where they werebriefed by the team of expertsled by Dr Pratap C Reddyabout the health of Jayalalithaa.Later speaking to journalistswaiting outside the hospital,Sadasivam said it was a cour-tesy call to wish Jayalalithaa aspeedy recovery. “The doctorsattending to Jayalalithaa told usthat she is responding to thetreatment and she is on thepath of recovery. I am sure theChief Minister would soon beable to return home andresume her official responsi-bilities,” said Sadasivam.

Vijayan said that the doc-tors were positive about thetreatment being given toJayalalithaa. “There is positivenews from the hospital man-agement about the progress inthe health of Jayalalithaa. Ourvisit was to express our soli-darity with her and I am sureshe is getting well,” said theKerala Chief Minister.

Kiran Bedi, Lieutenant-Governor of Puducherry wasanother prominent dignitarywho came calling to wishJayalalithaa a speedy recovery.“Dr Pratap Reddy, the hospitalchairman, explained to me thedetails about the ChiefMinister’s health. She is gettingwell and will soon be backattending to her official respon-sibilities,” Bedi told the media.

A Press release issued bythe hospital on Monday saidthat Dt G Khilnani,Department of PulmonaryMedicine, AIIMS, New Delhi,

visited the hospital on Sundayand Monday and examinedJayalalithaa and had discus-sions with the expert panel inthe hospital and concurredwith the present line of treat-ment being given to her.

The release signed by SViswanathan, the COO of thehospital, further stated thatnecessary respiratory support,antibiotics, nutrition, support-ive therapy and passive physiotherapy were being given toJayalalithaa.

Elsewhere in Tamil Nadu,leaders and cadre of theAIADMK are offering specialprayers and poojas in templesacross the State for the speedyrecovery of Jayalalithaa. Whilethe party presidium chairmanE Madhusoodanan, a closeconfidante of the chief minis-ter, led thousands of womenwith milk pots on their headsto the major temples inChennai city, more than 25,000cadre, mainly women marchedto the famous shrine ofThiruparankundran nearMadurai carrying milk potsand coconuts and offered spe-cial prayers for Jayalalithaa’srecovery.

The Greams Road inChennai leading to ApolloHospitas has turned out to bea place of worship for theAIADMK cadre as well as lead-

ers. C R Saraswathi, spokesper-son of the party is leading hun-dreds of cadre as well as lead-ers in reciting all hymns andprayers to propitiate the Godsfor the health and speedyrecovery of the Chief Minister.Cadres belonging to theMuslim and Christian com-munities too are offering spe-cial prayers in front of the hos-pital for Jayalalithaa’s recovery.

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Apart from pushing the LDFGovernment into a crisis of

credibility, the controversy overthe allocation of key positionsin Government-run corpora-tions and other sectors to closerelatives of Marxist Ministersand top party leaders has trig-gered a cold war in Kerala’sCPI(M) even as its closest ally,the CPI, has come out withscathing criticisms against itover the acts of nepotism.

According to observers, thenepotistic appointments, main-ly those of close relatives ofIndustries Minister EP Jayarajan,a central committee member ofthe CPI(M), and the objectionsraised to such postings by ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan havecreated sharp divisions within thepowerful Kannur lobby that vir-

tually controls the State CPI(M).A section in the party feels

that the Chief Minister, aPolitbureau member, has unnec-essarily kept certain Ministersfrom the party and other lead-ers in the shadow of suspicion byhis claim that he had no knowl-edge about such appointmentsmade as per the decision of theState secretariat. Pinarayi had notparticipated in the particularmeeting of the secretariat.

However, these differenceshave not so far shown any signsof erupting into divisionismlike the one the CPI(M) hadwitnessed till some time agobut there are enough indica-tions that a cold war is sim-mering within the party.Nobody from the Kannurlobby of the party has come for-ward to defend Jayarajan so fardespite the fact that he is one

of its most influential leaders.That there are sharp divi-

sions in the Kannur lobby wasevident from the rejection byPinarayi of the claim made bycentral committee member PKSreemathy, a close relative ofJayarajan, that her daughter-in-law was appointed in her per-sonal staff when she was minis-ter in the 2006-11 LDFGovernment with party’s knowl-edge. Pinarayi was the party’sState secretary at that time.

The nepotism scandal haderupted following the appoint-ment of Sudheer Nambiar, sonof Sreemathy who is sister ofJayarajan’s wife, as ManagingDirector in the Kerala StateIndustrial Enterprises Ltd,allegedly in violation of thenorms. It was obvious thatSudheer Nambiar was in no wayqualified for the job. His appoint-

ment, however, was revokedlater. Close on the heels of thedisclosure on this came thereports on appointment of therelatives of other MarxistMinisters, including the ChiefMinister himself, and partyleaders in Government posi-tions. The development hascreated a feeling in the party thatthe leaders are misusing officialpower to serve the interests oftheir relatives while qualifiedpartymen are being ignored.

“Rumours are that theCPI(M)’s Kannur lobby, whichhas so far been unipolar underPinarayi’s leadership, is on theway of having two power cen-tres,” said a former CPI(M) the-orist. A Pinarayi-loyalist in theKannur lobby aired the con-cern that a second power cen-tre “seems to be taking shape”under State secretary Kodiyeri

Balakrishnan.Observers say that the state-

ment by the Chief Minister thatthe nepotistic postings were aserious issue even after the Stateparty secretary had said that allthe political appointments madeunder the LDF Governmentcould not be seen in the sameway is a clear indication of theKannur lobby getting split intotwo distinct camps.

Meanwhile, CPI, thebiggest ally of the CPI(M) in theLDF, has unleashed scathingcriticisms against the Marxistsfor pushing the front and itsGovernment into a crisis ofcredibility with leaders’ nepo-tism. An editorial published onMonday in CPI mouthpieceJanayugom newspaper said thenepotistic appointments werenothing but acts of corruption.

“Nepotism is corruption,

no doubt about that.Interpretations cannot polishits face. Nepotism and appoint-ments made because of it areunpardonable crimes and injus-tice when there is an army ofunemployed and highly quali-fied people. All the wrongs andfailures occurred so far shouldbe corrected,” said the editorial.

At the same time, legalexperts are of the opinion thatthe Vigilance would have to ini-tiate a quick verification of theallegations of nepotism leveledagainst Jayarajan by OppositionLeader Ramesh Chennithalaand BJP general secretarythrough their letters to theagency’s director. They also saythat it will be difficult for theGovernment to prevent theVigilance Director from startingan inquiry against in this regardat this particular juncture.

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Dengue and Chikungunyaare widespread diseases

that require close attention inIndia, eminent scientist and aninternational expert on Ebola,Peter Piot has said.

Though India was not at riskof an Ebola outbreak, there havebeen many such outbreaks in thepast, including bird flu andswine flu, Piot, co-discoverer ofthe Ebola virus and Director,London School of Hygiene andTropical Medicine (LSHTM),said during his lecture at theIndian Institute of Public Health-Hyderabad (IIPH-H).

"There is a need for coun-tries to build better and moreresponsive health systems andservices. This calls for synergiesamong NGOs, communities,inter-governmental coalitionsfor a more systematic approach.Overall, if we focus more onpreparedness and humanrights, we will accomplishmore," a release from IIPHquoted Piot as saying.

The lecture highlighted thethreat of viruses may be "exac-erbated" by the current contextof ecological change, climate

change, global mobility, inter-national travel and trade,human demographics andbehaviour, agricultural andenvironmental pollution, it said.

While the mode of trans-mission varies from one virus toanother, stigma and misinfor-mation are common threadsthat determine how swiftly theepidemic is controlled, Piot said.

"He also shared that mediaattention has the power tomake a significant difference inperceptions. In 1976, when thefirst Ebola outbreak took place,only a few short articles madeit to international news, where-as in the age of 24 hour newschannels and social media,connectivity should quickenthe pace of reaching out to thepublic with "risk communica-tion messages", he said.

Noting that technology totackle these emerging threatsmay be more advanced, he saidthe socially explosive situa-tion that accompanies virusesneeds to be tackled in equalmeasure.

President of Public HealthFoundation of India K SrinathReddy also spoke on the spreadof infections and other issues.

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Denying any rift in theSamajwadi Party (SP),

senior leader Amar Singh onMonday said all in the partywere 'sewak' of Uttar PradeshChief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

"There is no rift in the party.We are all sewak of Akhilesh asthe work of an organisation is'seva' (service). Our ChiefMinisterial face (for the 2017State Assembly polls) isAkhilesh," he told reporters here.

The SP national generalsecretary reiterated thatMulayam Singh Yadav was theone who "made the party" and

was its head."Whatever he (Mulayam)

says, will be followed in theparty," he added.

Singh claimed thatMayawati's BSP had "thrice"joined hands with the BJP butthe SP had never done it andwill "never do so".

He congratulated PrimeMinister Narendra Modi forthe army's surgical strikes inPoK and said, "The PrimeMinister has taken all the par-ties into confidence in thismatter and has also instructedhis partymen not to pat theirbacks over it."

Singh described Modi'svisit to Pakistan as "part ofdiplomacy" and warned theCongress and the secularistsabout their "choice of words"on the issue as otherwise, itcould "help the BJP".

Earlier in the day, the SPleader, along with actress JayaPrada, paid obeisance at theVindhyavasini temple here onthe last day of 'navratra'.

Lucknow: Richhpal Singh, a 75-years-old farmers' leader, wason Monday appointed as the State secretary of the party bySamajwadi Party state president Shivpal Yadav.

"Party State president Shivpal yadav has appointed farm-ers' leader Richhpal Singh, who was close to former PMChowdhury Charan Singh as party's state secretary," partyspokesman Dipak Mishra said.

Singh had done a lot to strengthen socialism and activelyparticipated in farmers' agitation, the party said. PTI

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In yet another incident of alleged politicalviolence in Kerala’s Kannur district, a

CPI(M) worker was hacked to death onMonday at his workplace.

Toddy shop worker Kuzhichalil Mohanan(40), a member of the CPI(M) local com-mittee in Paduvilayi near Pathiriyad, washacked to death on Monday morning by a six-member gang at his shop at Valankichal.Eyewitnesses said that the six masked menhad come in a Maruti Omni vehicle.

Though Mohanan was taken to theCooperative Hospital in Thalassery, he suc-cumbed to the injuries on the way. Asokan,another worker at the toddy shop, sufferedinjuries in the attack. CPI(M)’s Kannur dis-trict secretary P Jayarajan alleged that RSS-BJP activists were behind the murder.

The CPI(M) will observe a dawn-to-duskshutdown in Kannur district on Tuesday inprotest against the killing of the party work-er. However, party leaders said vehicleswould not be blocked. The CPI(M) hadobserved a shutdown in the DharmadomAssembly constituency area from noon toevening on Monday.

This was the second political murder tooccur in Kannur, known as Kerala’s Marxistheartland, in the past 40 days. SuspectedCPI(M) workers had hacked to death an RSS-BJP activist, Vineesh (27) of Mavila, Thillankerynear Iritti in the district on September 3. Eightdays before that, an RSS Mandalam Karyavahak,Sugesh (33), and three other RSS activists hadsuffered hack injuries at Kadukkappalam nearMuzhakkunnu in an attack allegedly carried outby CPI(M) workers.

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Allahabad: A VHP activist, along with his business associate, was thrashed andhanded over to the police for allegedly donning a burqa and sneaking into a gath-ering of women at a place of worship, a charge denied by the brother of the accusedwho claimed that it was a fabricated case.

The incident took place at Umarpur village in Mauaima police station areaof the district's trans-Ganga region, about 40 kms from the city, on Sunday.

Abhishek Yadav and his business partner Atif had visited an Imambara wherea function in the run up to Moharram was being held, police station in-chargeSatinder Singh said.

He said Yadav, whose wife is a member of the Zila Panchayat, had reachedthe venue allegedly wearing a burqa which enabled him to sit close to the women.

An outcry ensued when some people caught a glimpse of his jeans and sportsshoes underneath the burqa, following which the men present at the Imambararipped off his burqa and beat him up besides thrashing Atif who had tried tointervene.

According to Singh, Yadav, who was an active member of the VHP, has beenbooked in the past for rioting and creating communal disturbances.

A case was registered against him yesterday and IPC sections for similar offenceson Sunday. PTI

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The Samajwadi Party onMonday said though the

Mukhtar Ansari’s Quami EktaDal (QED) has merged withitself, the mafia don turnedIndependent MLA will notcontest the next Assemblyelection on its party symbol.Mukhtar Ansari, presently injail on the charges of murderof the BJP MLA KrishnanandRai and an independent MLAfrom Mau district.

State president of theSamajwadi Party Shivpal Yadavsaid on Monday that“Samajwadi party has nothingto do with Mukhtar Ansari, heis an independent MLA fromMau and he will contest thenext Assembly election as anindependent candidate’’. Headded “only the brothers of theMLA, Afzal Ansari, presidentof the QED and SibgatullahAnsari will contest theAssembly election on the elec-tion symbol of the Samajwadiparty’’. Afzal Ansari is also theformer MP of the Samajwadiparty from Ghazipur.

On October 8, QED pres-ident Afzal Ansari had met theSamajwadi party chiefMulayam Singh Yadav to for-malise the alliance with the rul-ing party. After the meeting

Afzal Ansari had claimed thatthe alliance was finalised sev-eral months back but was heldup due to some difficulties andthe contentious issues havebeen sorted out. He had alsoclaimed that Mukhtar Ansariwill contest the next Assemblyelection as Samajwadi partycandidate. Afzal had said thatnow even the Chief MinisterAkhilesh Yadav has alsoaccepted the alliance.

Samajwadi party had firstannounced the merger of theQED on June 21. On same dayChief Minister Akhilesh Yadavhad sacked the senior Ministerand party leader fromAzamgarh Balram Yadav fromthe cabinet. The Minister hadplayed a key role in negotia-tions between the3 two partiesahead of the merger.

Following the vehementOpposition by the Chief

Minister, the Samajwadi partyhad called the meeting of theparliamentary board of theparty to take the call on thecontentious issue. The boarddecided to revoke the mergerand few days later BalramYadav was reinducted in theCabinet.

Samajwadi party sourcesruled out the possibility of yetanother roll back of the deci-sion of the merger of the QEDwith the party. A senior SPleader said as announced ear-lier Samajwadi party will holda rally in Mohammadabadtown of the Ghazipur inNovember. Samajwadi Partychief Mulayam Singh Yadavwill preside over the rally.Mohammadabad is the nativetown of the Ansari brothersand sibgatullah Ansari ispresently the MLA from thisseat.

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Goa’s interests will not becompromised at any cost,

Chief Minister LaxmikantParsekar has said after attend-ing an all-party meet on theMhadei water dispute issue,even as he agreed to participatein a meeting with his counter-parts from Maharashtra andKarnataka.

Even as political partiesacross the spectrum havebacked Chief Minister to meethis counterparts, they have alsowarned Parsekar against look-ing for an out-of-court solutionto the matter, especially whenthe case is pending in an inter-state tribunal appointed by theCentral Government.

“I will attend the meet as amark of respect to the senti-ments expressed by the inter-state water tribunal. But onething I want to ensure you isthat the interest of Goa willnever be compromised at anycost,” Parsekar told reportersafter the inter-party meet here.

Goa, Karnataka andMaharashtra are currently bat-tling a dispute over the contro-versial Kalsa-Bhandura damproject across the waters of theMhadei river at a central tribunal.

Mhadei also known as theMandovi river, is known as alifeline in the northern parts ofthe State. It originates inKarnataka and meets theArabian Sea in Panaji in Goa,while briefly flowing through

the territory of Maharashtra. While the river runs 28.8

km in Karnataka, it is 81.2 kmin length in the State Goa.

Karnataka aims to buildseven dams at various pointsalong the river, aimed with anobjective to divert the flow intowhat it claims is the water-starved Malaprabha basin inNorth Karnataka.

Both, Goa Governmentand civil society groups in Goa

have said that diverting thewaters of the river would sounda death knell to the northernareas of the State, which aredependent on the river forfishing, irrigation and potablewater supply.

A couple of months back,the tribunal has directed thechief ministers of the threeStates try and resolve the issueamicably.

Parsekar also said that it

would be unfair not to respondto a meeting of Chief Ministersof Indian states.

“It is unfair to expect menot to meet CMs of Indianstates,” Parsekar said.

State Congress chiefLuizinho Faleiro, who was alsopresent at the meeting howev-er said that there was no pointspeaking to Karnataka on thewater dispute issue.

“There is no scope for dis-cussion on the issue withKarnataka,” Faleiro told ThePioneer after attending the all-party meet.

The meeting was attendedby Union Minister of State(independent charge) forAYUSH Shri Shripad Naik,Deputy Chief Minister, ShriFrancis D’souza, SolicitorAdvocate General of India, Adv.Attmaram Nadkarni, Ministerfor Water Resources, ShriDayanand Mandrekar,Memberof Parliament (South), Adv.Narendra Sawaikar, ChiefSecretary, Shri R.K. Srivastava,among others.

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New Delh: The RSS volunteerswill cast away the khaki shorts,their trademark attire for 90years, and don trousers, herald-ing a generational change in theorganisation which is rulingBJP’s ideological mentor.

The transformation in theRSS uniform comes into effectfrom Tuesday — Dussehra day,which is also the Sangh’s foun-dation day.

The RSS has also approvedchange in the colour of socksto be worn by its volunteers,replacing the old khaki withdark brown, to go with the

brown trousers they wouldnow wear, with white shirtand black cap. The traditionalbamboo stick will, however,remain part of the uniform.

Volunteers in the northernand eastern states, which witnessharsh winter, will also wear darkbrown sweaters. Orders for thefirst lot of one lakh such sweatershave already been placed.

“Even though the readinessof society to work with Sanghon different issues hasincreased, the change in uni-form has been made to takecare of the comfort level and

convenience while working. The transition heralds the

change in Sangh in tune withthe changing times,” RSS’ headof communications depart-ment Manmohan Vaidya said.

He said over 8 lakh trousershave been distributed, includ-ing 6 lakh stitched trousers, andcloth for another 2 lakh hand-ed over to RSS offices in dif-ferent parts of the country.

Vaidya said the change inuniform was mooted in 2009but there was no forwardmovement. The proposal wasrevived in 2015. After discus-

sions, RSS leaders and volun-teers arrived at a consensus thatthe unform needs to change.The All-India Pratinidhi Sabharatified the decision.

The sartorial transitionmarks an end to an era in theSangh whose members have fordecades been identified withthe khaki shorts, inspired bythe uniform worn by theBritish constabulary.

The shift is rooted in theSangh’s desire to change byadopting a more convenientdress that is in tune with thechanging times.

“The issue of replacing theSangh’s age-old attire has longbeen under debate and its topdecision-making body, the All-India Pratinidhi Sabha, approvedthe apparel a few months ago,”said a senior Sangh leader.

Another RSS leader RajivTuli said the Sangh has been aflexible organisation whichchanges with the changingtimes. “Thus the change inattire,” he said. The change inuniform is also being seen asdriven by the Sangh’s desire ofattracting the younger genera-tion to its fold. PTI

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Congress general secretaryRahul Gandhi was in the

cross-hairs of Defence MinisterManohar Parrikar’s attack overthe former’s dalali reference inconnection with the surgicalstrikes, even as Parrikar lashedout at political parties for mak-ing political capital of the postUri strikes.

“Some see dalali in this...Submarine deal in 2002, therewas dalali scam. Then in a heli-copter deal, there was dalali.After that in the Pilatus train-ing planes there are a dalali alle-gation and Emerr planes, therewas a dalali allegation. Thosepeople who have spent most oftheir life in dalali, they knowwhat is dalali,” the DefenceMinister said at a rally inMapusa, a town located 12kms north of Panaji, which wasorganised to honor the soldiersfor the daring surgical strikes.

“The BJP Government doesnot know these words and there-

fore we have no interest inusing Indian Army’s valour forpolitical purposes. We can seethe performance of the IndianArmy over the last 65 years,”Parrikar also said.

Parrikar also said that oneneeded to be powerful to speakof peace and that under PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, Indiahad emerged as a strongercountry. “But I want to say onething, a country which does nothave power cannot speak aboutpeace. A country needs to bepowerful. When theGovernment came to power,

Narendra Modi created a senseof power for the country. Andwhen the surgical strikes hap-pened the whole world sup-ported India,” Parrikar said.

“This is an example of howIndia has garnered soft poweracross India and in the same way,remember one thing, along withsoft power, the surgical strikesalso showed another aspect of ourpower. The world listen to peacewhen a strong person talks aboutit. Now India’s strength hasincreased, therefore the world lis-ten to us when we speak of peace.We sacrifice a goat during sacri-fice and not a lion,” the DefenceMinister also said.

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In a development in the ongo-ing investigations into the

Mira Road call centre scam, thecrime branch sleuths onMonday informed the Thanecourt that they had tentativelyestablished transactions to thetune of $8,95,000 (around �6crore) relating to the three callcentres which were raided lastweek.

In a submission made beforeThane’s First Class JudicialMagistrate AB Katte, AssistantCommissioner of Police (Crime)Mukund Hatote said that theinvestigators came across trans-actions worth 8,95,000 US dol-lars after examining the cellphones of the 71 persons arrest-ed in connection with the raidsconducted on three call centresat Mira Road in the nehghbour-ing Thane district on October 4.

The Thane crime sleuthshave so far carried out search-es at 12 call centres at MiraRoad. Of the call centres, fourwere found to be deserted,when the investigatorsdescended on the place onSaturday. Having got the scentof the impending raids, oper-ators at the four call centres thatwere searched during the week-end had fled along with eitherCPUs or hard disks in them.

The investigators haveseized hard copies of the balancesheets of four centres which are

being examined. “We will soonzero in on operators of the fourcentres who are absconding,” asenior Thane crime branchpolice official said.

Meanwhile, in their sub-mission on the findings relatingto the raids cnducted on threecall centres, the investigatorsalso told the court they were ableto tentatively figure out thequantum of transactions aftergoing through the messages inthe WhatsApp groups found inthe phones of the accused thatthey seized soon after the arrestof persons behind the scam.

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Bahujan Samaj Party supre-mo Mayawati blamed the

Akhilesh Yadav Governmentfor the death of two womenduring the party’s rally onoccasion of the 10th deathanniversary of founder mem-ber Kanshi Ram, at KanshiRam memorial on Sunday.She has demanded actionagainst the erring officialsinstead of giving any compen-sation to the victims.

“The Samajwadi PartyGovernment is fully responsi-ble for the death and byannouncing �two lakh as com-pensation for the family mem-bers has just poured salt ontheir grief,” asserted the BSPsupremo. The StateGovernment has announcedan ex-gratia payment of �2lakh for the family of twodeceased women in the rally,the BSP had announced �5lakh each. The Governmentalso directed to provide freemedical facilities to thoseinjured in the mishap.

Demanding action againstthe district and police officialsresponsible for Sunday’s inci-dent during the rally, Mayawatiin a statement released here on

Monday morning said thatpeople of the State has allright to get all security andpeople will not forgiveGovernment for their failuresto provide the same duringBSP’s rally which costs twolives.

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Authorities on Monday clamped curfew in 11 police stationareas of Srinagar as a precautionary measure in view of the

eighth day of Muhurram.A police official said the police station areas in which the

curbs on the movement of people have been imposed areNowhatta, Khanyar, Rainawari, Safakadal, Maharaj Gunj,Maisuma, Ram Munshi Bagh, Kralkhud, Shaheed Gunj, KaranNagar and Batamaloo. The official said the curbs were imposedas a precautionary measure to maintain law and order.

The traditional Muharram procession used to pass throughthese areas, but have been banned since eruption of militancyin 1990 as authorities maintain that the religious gathering hasbeen used for propagating separatist politics.

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The last week has seenIndian politics sinkto its lowest depthswith some individualslike Congress vice

president Rahul Gandhi and hisparty colleague, Sanjay Nirupammaking some of the most loathe-some statements about the sur-gical strikes undertaken by theIndian Army to destroy terror-ist camps across the Line ofControl (LoC) in Kashmir.

The most despicable com-ment came from Rahul Gandhi.He accused Prime MinisterNarendra Modi of merchandisingthe blood of our soldiers and ofexploiting their sacrifices (Johamare jawan hain jinhone apnakhoon diya hai ………Unki aapdalali kar rahe ho). RahulGandhi’s “khoon ki dalali” com-ment could well turn out to be selfgoal, just as his mother, SoniaGandhi’s vicious attack on Modiin 2007, did. In that fateful speechthat virtually clinched the electionfor Chief Minister Modi, sheaccused him of being a “maut kasaudagar” (Merchant of Death).Yet another barb that SoniaGandhi flung at Modi in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha poll hadsimilar disturbing imagery andelectoral consequence. At a pub-lic rally, she accused him of sow-ing seeds of poison (zeher ki kheti)and spoiling the secular environ-ment in the country.

Strangely, Rahul Gandhi hadhailed the Prime Minister’sactions just a few days ago ontwitter. He had said: “Jab prad-han mantra ji, ek pradhanmantra ke laayak kaam karthehain, main bhi unka samarthankartha hoon (When the PrimeMinister acts in a manner wor-thy of a Prime Minister, I toowill support him!)”. And here isanother: “Unhone Dai Saal mainpehla action liya hain, jo pradhanmantra ke laayak actionho…..(for the first time in twoand a half years he has acted ina manner worthy of a PrimeMinister)”.

What arrogance! And justlook at the patronising tone!Remarkable indeed for someonewho has never held public officeother than that of an MP. But, thisgoes perfectly well with one whois unschooled in the basics ofdemocracy! Rahul Gandhi pre-sumes that he is ordained to issuecertificates to others (because ofhis surname), including Modiwho entered this office after adozen years as Chief Minister ofa major State in the country.

As regards Nirupam, what

can one say? He has publiclydeclared the daring operationcarried out by our soldiers as“fake” and demanded “proof ”from the Indian Army.

Never before have we seenpoliticians display such suspicionand cynicism about an Armyoperation and taken the debate tothe level that they become celebri-ties in the enemy camp! ThePakistani media pooh-poohedthe Indian Army’s strikes intoPakistan-held territory andoffered the bytes of RahulGandhi, Aam Aadmi Party chiefArvind Kejriwal, Nirupam et al asproof that the story of the surgi-cal strikes was just balderdash.These individuals were the toastof the Pakistani media this weekand #PakStandsWithKejriwal wastrending ahead of everythingelse in Pakistan!

These politicians do not seemto realise that in their bid toindulge in crass politics, they havehurt the sentiments of every sol-dier, because what they are doubt-ing and questioning is the state-ment made by Lt Gen RanbirSingh, the Director General ofMilitary Operations (DGMO) of

the Indian Army on September29, after the successful comple-tion of the surgical operations theprevious night. In his statement,the DGMO said that it was a mat-ter of serious concern that therehad been continuing and increas-ing infiltration by terrorists acrossLoC in Jammu & Kashmir. Thiswas reflected, amongst others, inthe terrorist attacks on September11 and September 18 in Poonchand Uri respectively. Almost 20infiltration attempts had alsobeen foiled by the Army at orclose to the LoC during thisyear. The operative part of hisstatement said, “On receivingspecific and credible inputs thatsome terrorist teams had posi-tioned themselves at launch padsalong the LoC to carry out infil-tration and conduct terroriststrikes inside Jammu & Kashmirand in various metros in otherStates, the Indian Army con-ducted surgical strikes at severalof these launch pads to pre-emptinfiltration by terrorists. Theoperations were focused onensuring that these terrorists donot succeed in their design tocause destruction and endanger

the lives of our citizens. Duringthese counter terrorist opera-tions significant casualties werecaused to terrorists and those pro-viding support to them”.

The DGMO also declaredthat he had been in touch with thePakistan Army DGMO andinformed him of the Army’sactions. He said, “It is India’sintention to maintain peace andtranquillity in the region. But wecannot allow the terrorists tooperate across the LoC withimpunity and attack citizens ofour country at will. In line withPakistan’s commitment in January2004 not to allow its soil or ter-ritory under its control to be usedfor attacks against India, weexpect the Pakistani Army tocooperate with us to erase themenace of terrorism from theregion”.

The response of RahulGandhi, Nirupam and others isquite in contrast to the unity dis-played by politicians of all huesduring the previous conflictswith Pakistan in 1965 and 1971when the Congress was in power.In fact, Parliament debates dur-ing and after those wars show theunited spirit of Indians of all hueswith the opposition partiesdemanding that India imposestiffer penalties on Pakistan forspreading terror and provokingconflict.

Eminent parliamentarianslike Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Nath Paiand a host of others gave theCongress Government in thosedays the fullest backing inParliament and hailed the brav-ery of our soldiers. After the 1971conflict ended with the surrenderof 93,000 Pakistani soldiers to theIndian Army, most newspaperscarried a front page ‘box’ whenVajpayee hailed Prime MinisterIndira Gandhi’s leadership andeven compared her to Durga. Butthe Congress behaves in a strangemanner when it occupies theOpposition benches and special-ly when it is led by a member ofthe Nehru-Gandhi family. Onehas seen this even when Vajpayeewas the Prime Minister for sixyears, but one has never seensomething so crass.

The party is now viewing theIndian Army’s statements withsuspicion. The DoubtingThomases now want “proof ”from the DGMO of the IndianArmy! One has not seen anythingas degenerate as this. Is this stillthe Indian “National” Congress?

(The writer is Chairman,Prasar Bharati. Views expressedhere are personal)�

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “BCCI has to fall in line”(October 10). It is sad to comeacross negative reports almostevery day connected with theBoard of Control for Cricket inIndia (BCCI). Perhaps the judi-ciary should have stopped withidentifying the basic problems,cautioned the BCCI and also theUnion Government and advisedthem to carry out the basic, nec-essary changes.

After all, the board is a legal-ly registered society and has itsown by-laws. It appears as if thecourt-appointed body is goingbeyond its legal framework.Pulling down the BCCI amountsto tarnishing India’s image in theworld of global sports.

Snehil Via email

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Only half a Nobel gesture”(October 10). The Nobel PeacePrize awarded to ColombianPresident Juan Manuel Santos inrecognition of his resolute effortsto end a 50-year old civil warwith rebel fighters, is welcome.

The award is a fitting tributeto those who have painstaking-ly contributed to being signifi-cantly close to achieving a last-ing peaceful solution to thelongest civil war in modern his-tory. This conflict has claimedmore than 2,60,000 lives; over45,000 people disappeared infive decades of conflict withLeftist guerrillas groups anddrug gangs.

We hope this award willhelp the Colombian Presidentand his team maintain themomentum needed to take for-ward the peace process, whichwill ultimately bring a lastingpeaceful solution to thisextremely complex conflict.

Ramesh G JethwaniBangalore

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Sir — This refers to the article,“De-escalation imperative forIndia, Pakistan” (October 8) byMedha Bisht. All political par-ties in the country must nowraise their voice for transparen-cy in money transactions ratherthan transparency in surgicalstrikes. It is time to put thebrakes on the generation ofblack money.

As inflation happens when

too much money chases too fewgoods, blocking the source ofblack money will certainly checkprice rise, which will come as agreat relief to the poor and thushelp increase their purchasingpower by catapulting demand,industry and employment. Indiaalso needs to wage war againstmacro tax defaulters.

Sujit DeKolkata

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Sir — The rise of chikungunya,dengue and Japanese encephali-tis is placing a heavy burden onthe health infrastructure in thecountry. There are no vaccinesor proven medical treatmentsavailable to cure these diseases.Inadequate sanitation and poorwaste disposal services con-tribute to these diseases. Thebest answer to prevent these dis-eases is to live in clean surround-ings and use effective householdin insecticidal products for per-sonal protection against mosquitoes. Our cities need tobe clean and hygienic.

Devendra KhuranaBhopal

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Girls are poised to take onthe future. Efforts toensure that girls get access

to basic rights and do not facediscrimination have gainedmomentum across the globe.Recognition of gender equality,inclusive growth and progress ofgirls are the pillars for achievingSustainable Development Goals.This is also reflected in thisyear’s theme for International GirlChild Day, which is celebratedthe world over on October 11.

India committed to uphold-ing the rights of the girl child,both at international and nation-al levels. The intent was reflect-ed in the country’s 12th Five-YearPlan which categorically specifiedthat for development, it wasimperative to ensure that girls,who continue to be at the bottomlevel of the social ladder, are pro-vided with equitable distributionof development benefits alongwith the ability to access oppor-tunities for growth.

Despite the Government’sconsistent efforts and an array ofschemes meant to transform thelives of girl children in India,much has remained the same forthem. While changes are evident,especially in the area of schoolenrollment, it is limited to a cer-tain section. The marginalisedcommunities have been left out.Girls continue to face genderstereotyping and discrimination.Faced with multiple pressuresfrom society — economic pres-sure from family, early marriageand child-bearing pressure —girls are often left with no optionbut to give up their fight for theirrights. Typically, girls are seen ascare-givers who, in a patriarchalsociety, take care of the house-hold. This mindset remains thebiggest challenge.

The quality of life of the girlchild will improve only when sheis given equal opportunities andmultiple platforms for empower-ment at every stage of life. These

can be at the school, at the fam-ily or the community level.Change is evident when wework with communities acrossthe country and witness storiesof resilience and empowermentof the girl child who was givensuch platforms.

Take the case of 15-year oldRani Manchak Kale, a resident ofSavli village in the drought-hitParbhani district of Maharashtra.Rani’s dream to become an IASofficer came crashing down asher family decided to migrate forwork to another town. As is thenorm in this village, girls are mar-ried off and they accompanytheir husbands and usually endup as labour in the site of migra-tion. Rani, who was about to cel-ebrate her 16th birthday, decid-ed to take her fate in her ownhands. Encouraged, counselledand inspired by the CRY sup-ported-group, she is a part ofSavitribai Chya Kanya(Daughters of Savitribai), named

after social reformer SavitribaiPhule). She stood up against herearly marriage and convinced herparents to let her continue withher education. Not just that, shestarted a movement to saveother girls who would have fall-en prey to early marriage andeventually end up as labour in thesite they migrate to. The platformof children’s collective gave herthe sense of self empowermentwhich was much-needed.Instances of child marriage in hervillage have reduced and Rani,who is back to school, is on herway to realising her dream.

Special efforts thus need tobe put so that challenges faced interms of lack of opportunities,biases and societal expectationsare nipped in the bud. Along withthis, working on mindsets andattitudes to break the chain ofage-old patriarchy assuming spe-cific roles for women, need to begiven prime importance.

We challenged one such

mindset when we introducedsports, which are largely associ-ated with boys in India, to girlchildren in many of our projectinterventions. This innovativeplatform brought about a changelike never before. Be it to foot-ball, cricket or handball, intro-ducing girls to sports has led toan increase in their confidence,inspired them to complete theireducation, and empoweredthem to stand up against dis-crimination and abuse. It comesas no surprise that the early mar-riage of girls in these interven-tions has drastically reduced;more girls are motivated tocomplete their education.

The existing schemes by theUnion Government, like BetiBachao, Beti Padhao, SukanyaSamriddhi Yojana, schemes forthe empowerment of young girls,like the Rajiv Gandhi Scheme forthe Empowerment of AdolescentGirls, aim to works towards thegirl becoming healthier, educat-

ed, confident as well as a self-sus-tained, productive members ofthe community. However, theextent of impact of our schemes,their existing reach in rural andurban areas equally, and thelack of multiple approachesremains debatable. Theseschemes are mostly targeted innature. They need to be moreuniversal, to be able to reach thelast girl, in every district, in everyvillage, and not just a small per-centage who benefit from them.

Investing in the girl child notjust helps in the girl’s individualprogress, it helps build strongercommunities and robusteconomies. Investing in empow-ering the girl child at multiple lev-els, integrated approach ofschemes, and more budgets ded-icated to their progress willensure that girls, who form 48 percent of our children, get their due.

(The author is director, pol-icy, research and advocacy forCRY — Child Rights and You)

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Government departmentsmust cease to be compulsivelitigants. The easy approachof ‘let the court decide’must be eschewed and con-

demned. This approach comes with ahigh financial cost, leads to pendency ofcases and demoralises the staff. Theemployees, at different levels, are alsofighting legal battles with theGovernment, in most cases for arbitraryor biased decisions. In many cases, theemployees are told to go to the court toseek redressal or even reinstatement.

These, in most cases, can be doneby a judicious and sympathetic approachat the top. But the approach in mostcases is ‘to teach a lesson’ or avoid tak-ing a decision. The perpetrator, a highofficial, goes scot-free and even getscushy re-employment after retirement,but the employees continue to suffer forlife in terms of financial cost andaccompanying demotivation.

According to official data, since 1985up to September 2010, a total of 5,66,706cases have been filed in the CentralAdministrative Tribunal (CAT).

The Modi Government, as per aCabinet Secretary note, has called forcurbing litigation. The Supreme Courthas passed severe strictures againststate-run corporations fighting longbattles with one another “at the cost of tax-payers”.

How much is the cost of such liti-gations? There is no exact estimate, asdifferent departments spend different-ly and it is not easy to compile the data.Besides, each individual employee alsospends a huge sum in terms of fees tolawyers, and courts and other expens-es. Even the US Government finds it dif-ficult to assess the costs but says it ishuge. A US Government Accountability

Office (GAO) investigation report ofSeptember 8, 2016, says the cost of law-suits against the Federal Government,where the plaintiffs win, “cannot be fullydetermined” because not all federalagencies track their legal expenses.

In India, such cases, not only byUnion Government departments andemployees but also by StateGovernments and their employees, cer-tainly costs the nation �50 lakh crore toone trillion rupees — all taxpayers’money. Even at the minimum theGovernment everyday spends lakhs ofrupees on counsel fees that ranges from�9,000 to �13,500 a day, plus many otherexpenses ranging from �900 to �3,000a day plus pocket expenses. In addition,there are costs for filing cases as alsoclerkage. The Modi Government’s movecan save the country about one-third ofthe total expenses over �30 lakh crore.

The cases, the apex court hasobserved, are often frivolous. LIC,ONGC and other Government depart-ments regularly approach the courtsagainst various tax demands. Theseissues can be resolved through negoti-ations. Over 50 per cent of the cases inhigher judiciary pertain to Governmentappeals, including tax matters.

A March 2016 report of CentralBoard of Direct Taxes (CBDT) notes thatin more than 30 percent tax-related lit-igations, appeals were filed mechanical-ly, "without appreciation of the maintain-ability of the issues involved".

Calling its affairs a “scam”, theUnion Law Ministry under Ravi ShankarPrasad has pulled up the Central AgencySection (CAS), which conducts the lit-igation work in the Supreme Court onbehalf of all the ministries and depart-ments of the Union Government.

Nudged by the Prime Minister’s

Office, the Law Ministry has sent a 10-page note to the CAS, enumerating var-ious flaws and deliberate omissionswhich are adversely affecting theGovernment’s cases in the top court.“The maintenance of the files in the CASappears to be a scam. If a file getsreturned to the CAS on account of post-ponement of the hearing, the file willnever come back to the lawofficers/panel advocates on the subse-quent date. The staff of the CAS will cre-ate a facade of non-availability of thosefiles”, the note stated.

Former Additional Solicitor GeneralBishwajit Bhattacharyya, who retired atthe end of his three-year term inNovember 2012, has published a damn-ing account of his experience in office andsaid the CAS should be dismantled if theGovernment wants to stop losing revenue.

Countries like the US have limitedmandatory time frames, for exampleunder the US Speedy Trial Act 1974.However, India does not have generalstatutory time limits comparable to theUS law, the Law Commission of Indiain its July 2014 report noted. This hasled to accumulation of over three crorepending cases at high courts.

A committee of the Law Ministry forstrengthening the judiciary toward reduc-ing pendency and delays, in 2009, suggest-ed having a National Litigation Policy. Itnoted that litigation between public sec-tor undertakings was an issue of great con-cern. If litigation could not be avoided,alternative dispute resolution methods likemediation must be considered.

An analysis of cases disposed of bythe Central Administrative Tribunal(CAT) by Krishna Tangirala, legal internNational Law University, Jodhpur, inDecember, 2013, finds that 40 per centof the cases were filed by group C

employees. “This can be attributed to thelack of avenues available to the lowergroup employees for the proper redres-sal of their grievances. This is mainlybecause of the faulty implementation ofthe policy of the Government”, Tangiralasays. In some cases, employees’ dues arenot cleared even a decade after theemployees had retired.

About 43 per cent of cases filed evenby Group A, B and even C employeessought relief in promotion, pay fixationand increments or anomalies in theimplementation of pay commissionrecommendations. Roughly 20 per centof the cases prayed for quashing of thesuspension orders and reinstatementwith full pay and arrears.

In 14 per cent of the cases, the peti-tioner challenged the selection process,including interviews and examinations.A majority of petitioners in this catego-ry were Group A employees. About 13per cent of the cases filed prayed for theregularisation of services offered by thepetitioner, and majority of petitioners inthis category were Group-C employees.

Around 51 per cent of the peti-tions sought relief directly against theexisting policy of the Government onsuspension, regularisation of tempo-rary and contractual employees ornon-implementation of pay panel recommendation.

Almost half, 49 per cent of the cases,were decided in favour of the employ-ees. In most promotion-related cases, theCAT accepted the employees’ plea.

If the ideas of the Modi Governmentare implemented, it would save not onlymoney but also precious man-hours thatare being lost. It would also ensure ahealthy atmosphere and is speed upGovernment functioning.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

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�����������Country's largestlender SBI on Monday said ithas consistently passed onRBI's rate cuts to borrowersand would further reduce thelending rate in the near term,benefiting auto and home loanseekers.

State Bank of India (SBI)Chairperson ArundhatiBhattacharya has said that outof the 1.75 per cent rate cut bythe RBI since January 2015, ithas already passed on up to0.95 per cent to the borrowers.

"Of the 175 bps (1.75 percent) cut that the ReserveBank (RBI) has done, we as abank have passed on 95 bps(0.95 per cent). More will getpassed on in the near termrather than in the longerterm," Bhattacharya said in an

interview to CNBC TV18.SBI might not have cut the

interest rate by big dollops of0.25 per cent, she said, but thebank has been cutting therate consistently on a month-on-month basis and haspassed on up to 0.95 per centso far.

On prospects of furtherrate cut by RBI going forward,she hoped that inflation willkeep coming down.

"Our own in houseresearch indicates that the

inflation numbers will keepcoming down and if they keepcoming down surely there willbe space for further rate cuts.We are aware and RBI has saidas much time and again thatthey are data driven and if thatbe the case the data will sup-port further cuts," she added.

Bhattacharya said a lowerinterest rate will equally helpthe big corporates as well assmaller businesses as they areinter-linked through the sup-ply chain.

"Actually if they are part ofa supply chain and if the largecorporate is stressed then it ispretty difficult for them to notbe stressed as well because atthe end of the day the billshave to be paid...So, these areissues that have to be workedout. It is not something thatcan be solved in isolation. Itwill have to happen as theeconomy revives," she added.

Bhattacharya, who hasrecently got an extension ofone-year term to head thebanking behemoth, said hertop most priorities would beresolving the stressed assets,orderly merger of its five (rpt)f ive associates and theBharatiya Mahila Bank withitself and furthering the bank'sdigitisation agenda. ���

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376� 178"50� To safeguardinvestors of firms listed onnon-operational bourses,market regulator Sebi onMonday allowed such com-panies to raise capita lthrough preferential allot-ment route to meet listingrequirements.

Besides, the regulatorissued a new framework toprovide an exit mechanism toinvestors of such companies.

The Securit ies andExchange Board of India(Sebi) in April asked exclu-sively l is ted companies(ELCs) to get listed on thenation-wide stock exchangeswithin 18 months.

The new directives comeas exclusively listed compa-nies of de-recognised, non-operational or exited stockexchanges have sought timeclarifications on raising offurther capita l and theprocess of exit of such firmsfrom the dissemination board(DB).

In a circular issued onMonday, Sebi said ELCs onthe DB will be required toexercise one of the twooptions -- either raise capitalfor listing on nation-widestock exchanges or exit fromthe dissemination board.

The nation-wide stockexchanges hosting the ELCson its dissemination boardwill be referred as designat-ed stock exchanges.

To facilitate listing on

nation-wide stock exchanges,the ELCs on the dissemina-tion board will be allowed toraise capital for meeting thelisting requirements throughpreferential allotment route.

In case the allotment ismade to promoters/publicsuch that it is in excess of thethreshold limits (5 per cent or25 per cent) of the Sebi SAST(Substantial Acquisition ofShares and Takeovers)Regulations, then provisionsof SAST Regulation will notbe applicable for the pro-posed acquisition.

This is subject to condi-tion that the overall holdingof the promoter group shouldnot exceed 75 per cent of thepaid-up capital of the com-pany.

The ELCs which fail tolist on the nation-wide stockexchanges under the mecha-nism would provide exitopportunity to its investors.

The regulator will takeaction against companies thatwill continue to be on the dis-semination board.

"The company, its direc-tors, promoters and the com-panies which are promotedby any of them shall notdirectly or indirectly associ-ate with the securities marketor seek listing for any sharesfor 10 years from the exitfrom the DB," Sebi said.

It will freeze shares of thepromoters and directors andattach bank accounts and

other assets of promoters tocompensate investors.

Spelling out details of theexit mechanism, Sebi saidthe promoter in consultationwith the designated stockexchange will appoint an'independent valuer'. In casethe fair value determined ispositive, the promoter of thecompany will acquire sharesof the firm from public share-holders by paying them valuedetermined by the valuer.

The promoter will havecomplete the entire processwithin 75 working days. Thepublic announcement willcontain all material infor-mation of such exit opportu-nity to its shareholders dis-closing the name and addressof the company, includingexit price offered by the pro-moter with justification, andnot contain any false or mis-

leading statement.The announcement will

contain a declaration aboutthe liability of the promoterto acquire shares of share-holders who have not offeredtheir shares under the exitoffer up to one year from thecompletion of offer at thesame price determined bythe valuer.

The exit offer will remainopen for a minimum fiveworking days during whichthe public shareholders willtender their shares. The pro-moter will open an escrowaccount in favour of inde-pendent valuer/designatedstock exchange and deposittherein the total estimatedamount of consideration onthe basis of exit price and thenumber of outstanding pub-lic shareholders.

The escrow account will

consist of either cash deposit-ed with a scheduled com-mercial bank or a bank guar-antee, or a combination ofboth. The amount in theescrow account will not bereleased to the promoterunless all the payments madein respect of shares tenderedfor the aforesaid period ofone year. The promoter shallmake payment of considera-tion in 15 working days fromthe date of completion ofoffer.

"The promoter shall cer-tify to the satisfaction of des-ignated stock exchange thatappropriate procedure hasbeen followed for providingexit to shareholders of suchcompanies. Subsequently, thedesignated stock exchangesupon satisfaction shall removethe company from the dis-semination board," Sebi said.

The exclusively listedcompanies that have 100 percent promoter holding will beremoved from the dissemi-nation board on obtaining acompliance certification fromany independent profession-al with regard to the holdingof shares of these companiesand submit to the designatedstock exchanges.

The names of the compa-nies providing exit opportu-nity to its shareholders andtheir promoters will be dis-played in a separate sectionon the website of the desig-nated stock exchange. ���

1�4������������9���������������������������#�����4����������376�178"5

The CompetitionCommission has petitioned

Delhi High Court challenginga single judge verdict settingaside its order to investigatealleged contravention of provi-sions of the Competition Act bySwedish firm M/sTelefonaktiebolaget L MEricsson, with the court seek-ing the telecom company'sresponse.

A bench of Chief Justice GRohini and Justice SangitaDhingra Sehgal also issuednotice to Mumbai-based M/sBest IT World (India) Pvt Ltdwhich had alleged beforeCompetition Commission ofIndia (CCI) that Ericsson wasabusing its dominant position,seeking its response byNovember 7.

The Mumbai-based ITcompany, which makes elec-tronic goods under the brandname iBall, had requested theCCI to probe alleged discrim-inatory practices of Ericssonregarding charging of royaltyfor using its patented technol-ogy.

It had claimed that royaltyrate being charged by Ericssonhad no linkage to the func-tionality of the patented prod-uct, but linked to the finalprice of manufactured productin which the patent is beingused.

IBall had claimed thatEricsson had refused to identi-fy the standard essential patents(SEPs) which were purported-ly infringed by it.

It was also threatened bypatent infringement proceed-ings.

In its May 12, 2015 order,CCI had directed its DirectorGeneral to conduct investiga-tion in the matter while observ-ing that prima facie Ericssonappeared to be dominant in themarket as it had 33,000 patentsto its credit and was the largestholder of SEPs used in mobilecommunications.

Ericsson had challengedCCI's order before a singlejudge who set aside the com-mission's order on the groundthat there was a compromisebetween iBall and Ericsson andthe Indian firm was not inter-ested in pursuing its case beforethe CCI.

Ericsson had contendedbefore the single judge that CCIdid not have the jurisdiction toexamine the matter under theprovisions of the CompetitionAct, 2002 and the jurisdictionlaid exclusively with civil courtsand authorities under thePatents Act 1970.

The commission moved thedivision bench challenging theDecember 14 last year verdict bythe single judge claiming it was"highly erroneous and legally

untenable" as the court had itselfadmitted in its order that CCI'sMay 12 order cannot be set asideon merit. CCI has said "Thoughsingle judge has given liberty toCCI to initiate suo motu or onintimation of any other person toinvestigate against Ericsson andCCI would be entitled to revivethe investigation from the stageat which it has reached in the pre-sent proceedings, however, it hasresulted into a situation whereinthough the CCI is having juris-diction in the matter, still its orderunder section 26 (1) of theCompetition Act, 2002 has beenset aside by the single judge."

It claimed that there was noprovision in the CompetitionAct which permits withdrawal ofinformation filed before CCI.Besides, the contents of compro-mise between the two companieswere not placed either before thecommission or before the singlejudge on December 14, 2015, theCCI said.

It has alleged in its plea thatthe single judge should havedirected these firms to place thecompromise before the CCIwhich could have ascertained asto whether it would lead to thecontinuation of anti-competitivepractices or not.

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�����������The fall in exportshas been arrested and its growthis expected to be slow butsteady in the coming months,Commerce and IndustryMinister Nirmala Sitharamansaid on Monday.

"At the moment, the fall isarrested (and it) is very clear.The growth is happening. Wewill only be looking at thesteady growth. It may be slowbut steady" she told reportershere.

She said this in a reply to aquestion on outlook for exportsin the coming months.

Contracting for the secondmonth in a row, India's exportsdipped 0.3 per cent to $21.51billion owing to decline in ship-ments of products like petrole-um and leather.

Exports were in negativezone between December 2014and May 2016 due to weak glob-al demand and slide in oilprices. Shipments witnessedgrowth only in June this yearthereafter again entered intonegative zone in July.

Meanwhile the ministeralso launched a dashboard onforeign trade data.

"This has everything to dowith exports and imports. Whatis the global position and whichcountry is buying from India,

every data in exports andimports from ports to geo-graphical areas are there," shesaid.

This is part of the initiativeof the ministry to provide easyaccess to the public with regardto India’s export, import andbalance of trade data in an ana-lytical format, over time andspace.

She said technology will beused for transparent decisionmaking and reaching out topeople using real time data.

The detailed data wouldhelp user to inspect the tradethat happens between Indiaand a particular country, zoominto the activities of a particu-lar port and reflect trade patternover any months of the user'schoice.

Through this, countries canbe sorted by import value andthe corresponding value ofexport trade.

The commerce ministry ina statement said that digitisationof the Government records anddata analytics is crucial for fastand effective evidence basedplanning and policy evalua-tion.

The dashboard would pro-vide an enabling environment toimporters and exporters toidentify and access global tradeopportunities based on reliableand updated information,directly accessible to the publicthrough Government sources.The Commerce and IndustryMinister further said that cur-rently there is a one month timelag in releasing of trade data as

certain ports are sending thedata manually.

"Many ports are yet to bedigitised... It (data) has a time lagbut sooner we will have the dataon a real time basis," Sitharamansaid adding that it would alsohelp in decision making process.

The new dashboard willhelp potential exporters, currentexports and importers, exportpromotion councils andresearchers and analysts, sheadded.

At the moment, the pasttwo year data is available on thedashboard.DGFT AnupWadhawan said: "We areattempting to address that timelag and we hope to eventuallygraduate as all our ports becomeEDI (electronic data inter-change)."

When asked about thereport of some hacking into thecustoms network and misuse ofschemes, he said: "Some strayincidents which have beenreported and the Icegate author-ities are looking into that".

He also said that bulk ofIndia's export and imports arecoming through EDI ports.

Talking about theGovernment e-market (GeM)place, Sitharaman saidGovernment buyers will benefitfrom this transparent process.

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�������Current unrest inthe Valley has further com-plicated the financial situa-tion, J&K Bank ChairmanParvez Ahmad said onMonday and warned thatthere would not be any bot-tomline growth in the next18 months, resulting in "nodividend, no tax provisionsand no contribution to theCSR".

The (banking) industryis passing through verytough times due to the eco-nomic slowdown as well asthe prevailing political envi-ronment and the bankexpects "slippages" in thecoming months, he said.���

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Samsung Electronics tookanother hit on Monday over

its recalled Galaxy Note 7 smart-phone, acknowledging it was"adjusting production" of thedevice after major distributorsstopped offering replacementsbecause of continued safety con-cerns.

The South Korean electron-ics giant has struggled sinceissuing a global recall in earlySeptember for 2.5 million of itsflagship Galaxy Note 7 "phablet"following complaints that thelithium-ion battery exploded.

Reports have since emergedof replacement units also catch-ing fire, prompting US telecom-munications firm AT&T andGerman rival T-Mobile toannounce Sunday a halt to recallexchanges pending further inves-tigations.

Their announcementprompted a steep dive inSamsung's share price, which fellmore than four percent at onepoint in morning trade. It recov-ered later to close the day at 1.68million won ($1,515)-- down1.52 per cent.

The market was also react-ing to a South Korean mediareport that Samsung had tem-porarily shut down Note 7 pro-duction lines after discussionswith consumer safety regulators

from South Korea, the UnitedStates and China.

"We are in the process ofadjusting production volumes,"Samsung -- the world's largestmaker of smartphones -- said ina written response to the report.

The company said the movewas "to enhance quality controland to enable thorough investi-gations following the recentcases of Galaxy Note 7 explo-sions".

Analysts have suggested thatSamsung, battling ever-fiercercompetition in the saturatedsmartphone market, may haverushed production of the Note 7with bitter rival Apple's recent-ly released iPhone 7 in mind.

The top-of-the-line Note 7was crucial to Samsung's growthplans this year, with the compa-ny struggling to boost sales,squeezed by Apple in the high-end sector and Chinese rivals inthe low-end market, as profit hasstagnated.

With images of charredphones flooding social media,the unprecedented recall hasproved a humiliation for a firmthat prides itself as an icon ofinnovation and quality.

The recall process initiallystumbled with some mixed mes-sages, but seemed to be on trackuntil last week when the reportsof replacement phones catchingfire began to emerge.

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�������� C������D : TheCentral Government willinvest �15,000 crore to increasethe capacity of Panipat refin-ery from existing 15 milliontonnes (MT) to 25 mt to cre-ate huge employment oppor-tunities, Union MinisterDharmendra Pradhan saidhere on Monday.

Also, an ethanol plantwould be set up at a cost of Rs500 crore by the Indian OilCorporation in Panipat to gen-erate alternative fuel from agri-cultural residue which wouldboost agriculture sector, thePetroleum Minister said.

He was speaking after dis-tributing free LPG connec-tions, under Pradhan MantriUjjwala Yojana (PMUY),among the women belongingto BPL families here.

He also appreciated theefforts of Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar, who waspresent on the occasion, forannouncing to make Haryanakerosene free by March 2017and added that this modelwould be replicated in theentire country to make Indiakerosene free.

The Union Minister saidthat the expansion of refinerywould raise specifications offuel quality from BS-4 to BS-6.

"This would not only cre-ate employment opportuni-

ties for the people, but wouldalso help in raising quality offuel in the country by the year2020," he said.

As per scientific research,he said that ethanol madefrom crop residue can producefuel or energy up to 72 percent.

Pradhan said that effortswere being made to have thedownstream of petro chemicalhub in Haryana so as to attractmaximum investment in thestate. This would attract about100 big or small industries thusgenerating maximum revenueand employment in the state,he said.

The Union Minister alsoappreciated the state govern-ment for digitization of rationcards under public distributionsystem, which revealed thatfive lakh beneficiaries weregetting dual benefit of bothsubsidised LPG and kerosene.

This has saved �100 croresubsidy being granted by theCentre to HaryanaGovernment, he pointed out.

He also announced to payback 75 per cent subsidy toHaryana keeping in view thetarget to declare eight districtsas kerosene free in Haryana byNovember 1, 2016.

Pradhan assured that morethan six lakh BPL householdswould get LPG connection innext six months in the state.���

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���� ������� The Governmenthas agreed to partly fund the�13,000-crore natural gaspipeline from Jagdishpur inUttar Pradesh to Haldia in WestBengal, state- owned gas utilityGAIL India said on Monday.

The Government will pro-vide �5,176 crore or about 40 percent of the project cost after thestate-owned gas utility found itdifficult to commercially justi-fy the huge investment of�12,940 crore in absence ofeither a firm source of gas sup-ply or customers.

"The ministry of petro-leum and natural gas vide letterdated October 7, 2016 has com-

municated the CabinetCommittee on Economic Affairs(CCEA) approval for 40 per centcapital grant (limited to �5,176crore) of the total estimated pro-ject cost of �12,940 crore toGAIL for the execution ofJagdishpur-Haldia/Bokaro-Dhamra natural gas pipelineprojects," it said in a stockexchange filing.

The 2,539-km long pipelinefrom Jagdishpur in UttarPradesh to Haldia in WestBengal and also Bokaro inJharkhand and Dhamra inOdisha will be completed by2020.

GAIL said the project will

be implemented in synchroni-sation with execution of threeanchor load fertiliser plants atGorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh,Barauni in Bihar and Sindri inJharkhand.

"The three fertiliser plantswill enter agreement with GAILwithin a defined timeframe," thefiling said.

Also, GAIL will develop citygas distribution network forsupply of CNG to automobilesand piped cooking gas to house-holds in Varanasi, Patna,Ranchi, Jamshedpur,Bhubaneswar, Kolkata andCuttack in sync with the layingof the pipeline. ���

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Tax collected under the coun-try’s biggest black money

disclosure will help cushion rev-enue shortfall from the sale oftelecom spectrum and help man-age the fiscal situation, FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley said onMonday.

As much as �65,250 crore ofundisclosed assets were broughtto light during the four-monthone-time compliance windowending September 30, yieldingthe Government �29,362 crore intaxes, half of it in the current fis-cal. In contrast, India’s biggestauction of telecom spectrumended last week with a whimperattracting just �65,789 crore inbids as against a potential of �5.6lakh crore.

The yield to the governmentwill be �37,000 crore this fiscal.Jaitley said one category of spec-trum, 700 MHz band, didn’t findany buyers, but the total amountof radiowaves sold from other fre-quencies was highest ever.

“I am sure eventually man-aging the fiscal is not going to bedifficult. In any case, this year andnext year the tax paid out of theIDS (Income Disclosure Scheme)itself gives me a reasonableamount of cushioning,” he toldnews channel. Jaitley said the BJP-led Government has in the lasttwo- and-half years taken steps tocurb black money and the firstdecision it took after assumingoffice was to constitute the SpecialInvestigating Team (SIT).

“Every decision we havetaken is to try and make Indiathrough persuasion, through law,through compliance opportuni-

ties and even through fear. A taxcompliant nation.

“After all, payment of taxes isnecessary if we are to eliminatepoverty. Payment of taxes is nec-essary if rural India is to devel-op. These are all made for a pos-itive national purpose,” he said.He said every person who evadestaxes is not discharging his

national obligation. “As a result ofwhich we are trying to makeIndia, through every measure, amore tax compliant country andI am sure that GST eventually, inindirect taxes and its ca scadingeffect on the behaviour of directtax assesses, is also going to per-suade people to become moreand more tax compliant,” he said.

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NEW DELHI: Indirect taxcollections during the firsthalf of the current fiscal grew25.9 per cent to �4.08 lakhcrore mainly on account of 46per cent jump in excise dutymop up. The net indirect taxcollection in the Apri l-September period accountsfor 52.5 per cent of theBudget 2016-17 estimates.

A finance ministry state-ment said net tax collections ofcentral excise jumped 46.3 per

cent to �1.83 lakh crore duringApril-September, as comparedto �1.25 lakh crore in theyear-ago period. Net servicetax mop up during April-September grew 22.1 per centto �1.16 lakh crore, comparedto �95,780 crore during the 6-month period of last fiscal. Netcustoms duty collection duringthe six month period of 2016-17 stood at �1.08 lakh crore ascompared to �1.03 lakh crore,a growth of 4.8 per cent. PNS

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NEW DELHI: Direct tax col-lections during the six monthsended September grew about 9per cent to �3.27 lakh crore,buoyed mainly by personalincome tax mop-up. The April-September direct tax collec-tion, which includes corporateand personal income tax, showsthat 38.65 per cent of the BudgetEstimate of direct taxes for2016-17 has been achieved. Thefigures show that net collectionsare at �3.27 lakh crore, 8.95 percent more than the net amountin the same period last year, aCBDT statement said.

The gross collection of corpo-rate income tax (CIT) grew at 9.54per cent while it is 16.85 per centunder personal income tax (PIT).However, after adjusting forrefunds, the net growth in CIT col-lection is 2.56 per cent while thatof PIT is 18.60 per cent. Refundsamounting to �86,491 crore havebeen issued in April-September2016, up 26.99 per cent from ayear earlier. Till September 2016,advance tax collections havereached �1.58 lakh crore, show-ing a growth of 12.12 per cent.PTI

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With slump in manufac-turing, mining and capi-

tal goods segments, industrialproduction contracted by 0.7per cent in August for the sec-ond month in a row. The Indexof Industrial Production (IIP)slump in August is lower thanJuly. However, on cumulativebasis, the factory output inApril-August contracted by 0.3per cent, compared to growthof 4.1 per cent in the year-agoperiod, according toGovernment data which wasreleased on Monday.

The factory output, mea-sured by movement in IIP, hadslipped to 8-month low of (-)2.49 (revised) in July on accountof declining output mostly inmanufacturing and capitalgoods sectors. The data showedthe manufacturing sector,which constitutes over 75 percent of the IIP index, contract-ed by 0.3 per cent in August asagainst 6.6 per cent expansionin the same month last year.The capital goods output alsoregistered a steep decline of 22.2per cent in the month, againsta growth rate of 21.3 per centin last year.

However, India Inc believesthat the current out data reflectsslow investment climate andpoor manufacturing growth inthe country, but there would berevival phase in coming monthsdue to good monsoon and cutin interest rates. “The depressedprivate investment climate andglobal economic growth con-tinues to impact the manufac-turing sector growth in India.Private investment activityremains sluggish and calls forsustained efforts to address thestructural bottlenecks in theeconomy”, said A Didar Singh,Secretary General, FICCI.

“Satisfactory monsoons,upcoming festive demandrecent cuts in interest rates, havethe potential to lift the growthin coming months”, added

Singh. As far as slump indica-tion is concerned, the data alsorevealed that mining activitiesshrunk by 5.6 as in August thisyear as against a growth of 4.5in August 2015. Power gener-ation remained almost flat (0.1per cent) in compared to anexpansion of 5.6 per cent in theyear ago period. Output ofconsumer durables registered agrowth of 2.3 per cent toowhile growth in non-durablessegment was almost flat.Overall, consumer goods pro-duction recorded a growth 1.1per cent in August compared to6 per cent a year ago.

In terms of industries,seven out of 22 industry groupsin the manufacturing sectorhave shown negative growthduring August year-on-year.Some important items showinghigh negative growth duringthe current month includecable, rubber insulated, sugarmachinery, woollen carpets,gems and jewellery, and rice.Some important items thathave registered high positivegrowth include fruit pulp, airconditioner, instant food mixes,ship building and repairs,scooter and mopeds, stain-less/alloy steel and boilers.

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Oil fell back from $50 a bar-rel in early trade on

Monday after Saudi Arabiahinted that the output freezeagreed upon by the OPEC car-tel countries last month wouldbe effected quite gradually.Instead, the Indian basket, com-posed of 73 per cent sour gradeDubai and Oman crudes, withsweet grade UK Brent makingup the rest, breached the psy-chologial level on Friday at$50.14 per barrel, which washigher than the $49.27 it closedon Thursday.

“It is a very gentle hand onthe wheel, we are not doing any-thing dramatic,” Saudi ArabianEnergy Minister Khalid al-Falihsaid in his address at the ongo-ing World Energy Congress inIstanbul. Saudi Arabia is theleading producer of the 14-nation Organisation of thePetroleum Exporting Countries(OPEC), which late last monthreached an agreement to freezeoutput between 32.5 and 33 mil-lion barrels a day amid a situa-tion of supply glut and falling

prices. The US West TexasIntermediate was trading onMonday at $49.35 a barrel, thatis 46 cents, or 1 per cent, lowerthan its weekend close on theNew York Mercantile Exchange.

OPEC at its Septembermeeting in Algiers also agreedto set up a committee to con-sider the output share of eachmember nation, which wouldfile a report at the next meetingdue in Vienna in November.

An OPEC spokespersonsaid the committee is alsomeant to coordinate a collectiveagreement between the cartel'smembers in a bid to acceleratethe process of re-balancing theoil market ‘by sharing the bur-den of adjusting the outputbetween both OPEC and non-OPEC producers’.

On early trade on Monday,UK Brent crude dipped 42cents to $51.51 a barrel on theLondon ICE Futures Exchange,after touching a four-monthhigh on Friday. Oil prices havefallen by more than two-thirds,from over $100 a barrel tounder $30 between June 2014and January 2016.

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MUMBAI: The largest luxu-ry carmaker Mercedes-BenzIndia on Monday said itsSeptember quarter sales mar-ginally declined to 3,327 unitsfrom 3,420 units in the sameperiod last year.

However, on quarter-on-quarter basis, it could for thefirst time this year arrestsales drop with a 12 per centjump compared to the previ-ous three-month period.Since last December through

this August, none of the autocompanies could sell most oftheir models in Delhi NCR,which is the country’s largestauto market, following aSupreme Court ban on above2-litre diesel models.

The ban in Delhi, whichused to contribute almostone-third of Merc’s total sales,forced the company to intro-duce petrol variants of all itsmodels. The ban had Merc’ssales declining by 1.5 per

cent to 9,924 units from10,079 units in the first ninemonths of the yar, while forthe September quarter itssales declined 2.7 per centprimarily due to the higherbase effect and the apex courtban.

In the year-ago period, theGerman car major had report-ed 34 per cent growth in salesto 10,079 units in the first ninemonths of 2015, while in theJune 2016 quarter its sales

stood 2,975 units. The compa-ny attributed the higher q-o-qsales in the September quarterto the resumption of sales in theDelhi NCR after the SupremeCourt lifted the December 2015ban on high-end diesel modelslate August, new productlaunches and the onset of festivesales. This is the first quarter in2016 that the company, whichhas the largest capacity amongstthe luxe carmakers, could reportpositive numbers. PTI

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NEW DELHI: Within a weekof its mega sale, e-commercemajor Snapdeal has announceda second edition beginningOctober 12 to cash in on thefestive mood in the country.The company processed trans-actions for over 11 millionunits during the October 2-6sale, but lagged behind itsrivals Amazon and Flipkart.

During the sale to be heldfrom October 12-14, Snapdealwill offer deals on electronics,fashion and home as well as 10per cent instant discount onpayment through SBI Cards, itsaid in a statement. It will alsoextend the �10,000 discountoffer on iPhone 7 and iPhone7 Plus for American Expresscard users under the new saleperiod. Other players --Flipkart and Amazon -- mayfollow suit bringing in morefestive sales ahead of Diwali.

“We are thrilled to bringanother exciting sale for ourcustomers in the run up toDiwali. We had a phenomenalresponse to our sale last weekwith more than 11 millionunits being sold out and wehave some great offers lined upfor this week as well,” Snapdeal

Vice President and HeadCategory management SaurabhBansal said.

The company said its salelast week saw 40 per cent morewomen shopping online versuslast year and a sharp increasein prepaid orders. Larger rivalFlipkart, which hosted its saleduring the same period asSnapdeal's, had said it sold 15.5million units across Flipkart,Myntra and Jabong platforms.

Similarly, Amazon, whichhosted its sale between October1-5, sold 15 million units.According to research firmRedSeer, e-commerce compa-nies are expected to registertransactions worth �11,000-13,000 crore ($1.7-1.9 billion)in October, driven by festiveoffers and discounts on theirplatforms.

“E-tailers are likely to sur-pass all sales expectations in theongoing festive sale days andfor the month of October 2016as a whole,” it had added.During the period of October1-6 alone, e-tailers are esti-mated to have clocked grossGMV of �6,500-7,700 crore($1-1.2 billion) with sale of 35-40 million units. PTI

NEW DELHI: Insurance behe-moth LIC has reduced stake in theleading textile manufacturer ArvindLtd by around 2 per cent over 9years. The corporation has sold51.85 lakh shares of theAhmadabad-based Arvind Ltdbetween November 22, 2007 andOctober 7, 2016, the textile manu-facturer said in a BSE filing. Beforethe sale, LIC had 1.65 crore sharesof Arvind Ltd, constituting 6.409 percent stake in the textiles maker. PTI

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Unfazed by the lewdvideo backlash, a

feisty Donald Trumpthreatened HillaryClinton with the prospectof a jail term over heremail controversy andraked up Bill Clinton’ssexual misconduct sagafrom the 1990s in a bitterface-off at the secondpresidential debate in StLouis on Sunday night.

Faced with a campaignmeltdown with Republicanlawmakers deserting himin droves after Friday’srelease of the video on hisvulgar comments aboutwomen, Trump went onthe attack mode against hisDemocratic rival right from theword go in an all-out bid toretrieve lost ground.

In a clear attempt to deflectattention from his scandalouscomments in the 2005 video,Trump sought to embarrass theClintons by bringing to thedebate hall four women whohad accused Bill Clinton of sex-

ual advances and even rape.While a case of alleged rape wasdismissed, he had settled asexual harassment lawsuit withone of the women, Paula Jones.

Trump went on to targetHillary Clinton, saying she“attacked those same womenand attacked them viciously”.Contrasting his “words” withClinton’s “actions” as he put it,Trump said: “I apologise forthose words….But whatPresident Clinton did, he wasimpeached, he lost his licenceto practice law. He had to payan $8,50,000 fine to one of thewomen.”

Even as Trump said hewas “very embarrassed” by hiscomments in the video butsought to explain them away as“locker room talk” and insist-ed that they did not representwho he actually was, HillaryClinton challenged the con-tention, saying: “I think it’s clear

to anyone who heard it that itrepresents exactly who he is.”

“No, I have not,” Trumpasserted, when debate moder-ator Anderson Cooper of CNNasked pointedly about his videocomments about “kissingwomen without consent, grab-bing their genitals”. He went onto claim: “I have great respectfor women. Nobody has morerespect for women than I do.”

Both Clinton and Trumpbitterly sparred over a host ofissues during the 90-minuteencounter, notably on their fit-ness to serve as president.Clinton brought up the issue first,saying the billionaire business-man was different from previousRepublican nominees in that hewas “not fit to be President andcommander-in-chief”.

“It’s not only women, andit’s not only this video that rais-es questions about his fitness tobe our President, because hehas also targeted immigrants,African-Americans, Latinos,people with disabilities, POWs,Muslims, and so many others.So this is who Donald Trumpis,” she said, obliquely deridingTrump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign themeby asserting America wasalready great.

Trump for his part pro-jected her as someone who is“all talk, no action”, not having

delivered on any frontdespite having been inpublic life for morethan 30 years.Attacking her repeat-edly over her policiesand judgement, he saidClinton, given herrecord, should neverbecome the presidentof the United States.

Clinton attackedTrump for his insultsdirected at immigrants,Muslims and other seg-ments, saying he hasnever apologised forall his slurs. “And henever apologised forthe racist lie thatPresident Obama wasnot born in the UnitedStates of America. Heowes the president an

apology, he owes our country anapology, and he needs to takeresponsibility for his actions andhis words,” she said.

Trump, seizing on thestring of apologies that Clintonwanted from him, told herthat it is she who should real-ly be apologising “for the33,000 e-mails that you delet-ed” and “for the two boxes ofe-mails and other things lastweek that were taken from anoffice and are now missing”.

While Clinton dismissedhis assertions as “absolutely

false”, Trump went on to saythat, if elected President, he willappoint a special prosecutor tolook into the email scandal.

And when Clintonremarked it was “just awfullygood that someone with thetemperament of DonaldTrump is not in charge of thelaw in our country”, he retort-ed to cheers from his support-ers in the hall, “Because you’dbe in jail.”

Clinton also attackedTrump over his “shortsighted”and “dangerous” pronounce-ments such as his plan to banMuslims from entering theUS, Trump, who has sincemodified it somewhat, said hisplans is for “extreme vettingfrom certain areas of the world”.

The debate that got off to achilly start without even the cus-tomary handshake turned nastyin no time and remained so tillthe very end, when a question-er lightened the mood by ask-ing if the two of them, regard-less of the current rhetoric,could name one positive thingthat they respect in one anoth-er. That prompted Clinton topraise Trump’s children, sayingthey were “incredibly able anddevoted”. Trump, in turn, saidthe one good trait he saw inClinton was that she’s not a quit-ter. “She doesn’t quit. She does-n’t give up. I respect that.”

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Donald Trump opened theTrump Taj Mahal casino

26 years ago, calling it “theeighth wonder of the world.”

But his friend and fellow bil-lionaire Carl Icahn closed itMonday morning, making itthe fifth casualty of AtlanticCity’s casino crisis. The sprawl-ing Boardwalk casino, with itssoaring domes, minarets andtowers built to mimic the famedIndian palace, shut down at5.59 a.m., having failed to reacha deal with its union workers torestore health care and pensionbenefits that were taken awayfrom them in bankruptcy court.

Nearly 3,000 workers losttheir jobs, bringing the total jobslost by Atlantic City casino clos-

ings to 11,000 since 2014.Picketers affixed an anti-

Icahn poster that they hadsigned to the casino’s mainBoardwalk entrance door. Itproclaimed “We held the line.”

“We held the line against abillionaire taking from us!” saidMarc Scittina, a food serviceworker at the Taj Mahal’s play-er’s club since shortly after itopened in 1990. “This battle hasbeen going on for two years.”

The union went on strikeJuly 1, and Icahn decided to shutthe place down a little over amonth later, determining therewas “no path to profitability.”

The Taj Mahal becomes thefifth Atlantic City casino to go out of business since2014, when four others shuttheir doors.

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Haiti started burying someof its dead in mass graves

in the wake of HurricaneMatthew, a government officialsaid on Sunday, as choleraspread in the devastated south-west and the death toll from thestorm rose to 1,000 people.

The powerful hurricane,the fiercest Caribbean storm innearly a decade, slammed intoHaiti on Tuesday with 145mile-per-hour (233 kph) windsand torrential rains that left 1.4million people in need ofhumanitarian assistance, theUN Office for theCoordination of Humanitarian

Affairs said.A Reuters tally of numbers

from local officials showedthat 1,000 people were killed bythe storm in Haiti, which hasa population of about 10 mil-lion and is the poorest countryin the Americas.

The official death toll fromthe central civil protectionagency is 336, a slower count because officials mustvisit each village to confirm the numbers.

Authorities had to startburying the dead in massgraves in Jeremie because thebodies were starting to decom-pose, said Kedner Frenel, themost senior central govern-

ment official in the Grand’Anseregion on Haiti’s westernpeninsula.

Frenel said 522 people werekilled in Grand’Anse alone. Atally of deaths reported bymayors from 15 of 18 munici-palities in Sud Department onthe south side of the peninsu-la showed 386 people there. Inthe rest of the country, 92 peo-ple were killed, the same tallyshowed.

Frenel said there was greatconcern about cholera spread-ing, and that authorities werefocused on getting water, food and medication to thethousands of people living inshelters.

Beijing: Playing down officialmedia reports mooting amechanism to shareBrahmaputra river waters withIndia, China on Monday saidBeijing and New Delhi have“effective” cooperation to sharedata of the river flow and it iswilling to continue it.

“China and India haveappropriate cooperation mech-anism on trans border rivers,”Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Geng Shuang said.“The mechanism has beenfunctioning smoothly at pre-sent and has been effective. TheChinese side is willing to con-tinue its cooperation with theIndian side on this,” he said ina written response to a questionabout an article in state-runGlobal Times that stated Chinais ready to join a multilateralcooperation mechanisminvolving India and Bangladeshto share the waters.

The article said China iswilling to have multilateralcooperation with India andBangladesh to share the waters.The proposal is significant asChina has no water treaty withIndia to share the river waters.

“It is easy to understand theanger of Indian people as theyread recent news reports say-ing China had blocked a trib-utary of the Brahmaputra River,which is a trans-boundary riverflowing from Southwest China’sTibet Autonomous Region intothe northeastern Indian state ofAssam and later intoBangladesh, serving as animportant water source for theregions,” it said.

“Frankly, there is no needfor India to overreact to suchprojects, which aim to helpwith reasonable developmentand utilisation of waterresources,” it said. PTI

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Foreign Policy, a leading USinternational affairs maga-

zine, has endorsed a presiden-tial candidate for the first time,backing Hillary Clinton andslamming Donald Trump as“the worst major-party candi-date for the job in US history.”

As “we deeply value ourrelationship with all of ourreaders, regardless of politicalorientation... FP’s editors arenow breaking with traditionto endorse Hillary Clinton forthe next president of theUnited States,” they said in aneditorial.

St Louis: Indian-Americansappeared split in their supportfor the two presidential candi-dates, with some favouringRepublican nominee DonaldTrump by calling him “aggre-sive” in his attack while otherssaying that the former secretaryof state is more “experienced ingovernance”.

“Today’s Presidentialdebate was one of the spiritedone,” said Mississippi-basedSampat Shivangi.

“Trump was aggressive inattacking Clinton and sheappeared subdued.

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�����8�,��#� �� ��������� ���� "" ���� ������� �������Beijing: Ahead of President XiJinping’s visit to India, Chinatoday said it is “ready” for talkswith India on its entry into theNSG but defended extending ahold on India’s bid for a UNban on JeM chief MasoodAzhar, saying Beijing isopposed to anyone making“political gains in the name ofcounter-terrorism”.

Briefing media, China’sVice Foreign Minister LiBaodong again harped on theneed to build consensus overthe admission of new membersin the 48-member NuclearSuppliers Group (NSG).

Asked if any progress on theissue of India’s admission intoNSG can be expected in themeeting between Xi and PrimeMinister Narendra Modi on thesidelines of the BRICS Summit,Li said NSG rules stipulate con-sensus among the members toadmit new ones. “These rules arenot to be decided by Chinaalone.China and India havemaintained good communica-tion and we are ready to contin-ue consultations with India tobuild consensus. We hope Indiacan go to other members of NSGas well,” Li said. PTI

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NASA has developed a new high-tech material

that uses electricity to signifi-cantly promote healing ofinjured wounds.

In conditions of non-Earthgravity, human blood displaysbehaviour quite different fromthat on Earth.

Wounds are likely to healmuch more slowly and con-sidering the survival risks andthe cost of space missions,healing wounds as fast as pos-sible is crucial.

The new material generatesa small amount of electricitywhen interacting with another

surface, including human skin.The material, called

polyvinylidene f luoride(PVDF) has numerous “possible applications, includ-ing wound healing.

It is proven that woundstend to heal much more quick-ly if small amounts of electric-ity are applied to the sur-rounding tissue. However, thegauze pattern is also essentialto the healing process.

If the PVDF fibres arealigned correctly, cells on awound use it as a scaffold, help-ing the wound to heal faster,said Emilie Siochi, a seniormaterials scientist at NASA’sLangley Research Centre.

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French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Mondaythat President Francois Hollande will take into account the

situation in Syria’s Aleppo in deciding whether to see RussianPresident Vladimir Putin when he visits Paris on October 19

Ayrault also told France Inter radio that he will ask theInternational Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate possible warcrimes in Syria.

“We do not agree with what Russia is doing, bombardingAleppo. France is committed as never before to saving the pop-ulation of Aleppo,” Ayrault said.

“If the President decides (to see Putin), this will not be totrade pleasantries,” he added.

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� If we talk about the classic era,which movies have been yourfavourite?

For me, Subhash Ghai’s erawill always be a memorable one.One of the major reasons is thecinematic experience thosemovies were and also Anilchachu’s association with thosefilms, be it Ram Lakhan, Karmaor Meri Jung. For me, DilwaleDulhaniya Le Jayenge and KuchKuch Hota Hai are also classics, asthey were films made 20 years ago.Mr. India is also one of myfavorites. I have lately watched andloved Amit Ji and Yash Ji’s movieslike Kaala Patthar, Trishool andDeewar. I will always rememberemotion evoking movies like Ramaur Shyam, Chacha Bhatija,Mother India, Teesri Manzil,Mughal-E-Azam and Sangam.�What is it that you liked infilms from these eras which youthink are missing from films thatare made today?

One thing that I really likefrom that era is the music, whichis evergreen. Today music stays fora couple of weeks and then fadesaway after the release of the film.The evergreen quality and quo-tient is fading away. I also feel thatat that time commercial cinemahad purity and there was a sensi-bility to entertain people. Thesedays, the films are stuffed with ele-ments only to entertain the audi-ence. Also, the performances atthat time were classic and stardomwas actually a unique thing. Itlooks very common these days.

�Have you heard stories fromyour grandfather, who was alsoa producer back then?

My grandfather was an

Assistant Director when Mughal-E-Azam started production. Thefilm took 10 years to get complet-ed and by that time he was in theproduction department andbecame the Executive Producer.In a single film, he experiencedthe journey from the direction to

the production department. Hewould often tell me stories aboutthe huge sets of Mughal-E-Azam,which were a tourist destinationat that time. He owes his initialsuccess in the industry to GeetaBali ji, which is why her pictureis the first visual on screen in his

films. Whenever he used to talkabout that era, he would tell howhelpful the people were at thattime and that will always begreatful to them.

�Your uncle, Anil Kapoor hasdone a variety of cinema. Any

cinema related instances withhim that you remember fromyour childhood?

I would never have my dinnerwithout watching Anil Chachu’sfilms on the VHS player, be it Mr.India, Rakhwala, Ram Lakhan orKarma. Initially it took me timeto realise that the person sittingnext to me is the one in the film.

�How has your journey been sofar? What are your learnings?

I keep learning somethingnew each day. It has been anexciting journey so far and I havebeen blessed and lucky. I havealways believed that no work isbig or small. When we shoot afilm, it is not just about theactors, producer or director butalso about the 200-300 peoplewho contribute to the film insome way or the other. I haveunderstood the value of teameffort in this journey so far.

�What was your approach inchoosing to be the brandambassador of Zee Classic?

I was born and brought uparound cinema. Since the time Ihave become aware of myself, Ihave loved cinema. I believe thateach and every person in ourcountry feels connected to Indiancinema in some way or the other,be it through emotions or mem-ories. Classics have and willalways evoke an emotion andnostalgia in people’s mind andheart. I feel the association isappropriate as I feel connected tocinema. I can be a true represen-tative of all these different erasbecause I have seen films from allthese decades and can connect tothem.

When the male lead of the filmstands naked holding a flower

pot covering his privates, you canmake out that the filmmakers areseeking some puff. The poster surehas created a lot of buzz. When askedabout it, producer, Pradeep Guptajokingly said, “Now there is a newposter where he is fully covered.”About the changing trend in theIndian movies, he said, “It’s notabout high-flying actors anymore,script is the hero.” Apparently, Ranbirand Katrina also have a cameo in thefilm. It seems like a conscious moveto package the film with Ranbir,Katrina, Sunny Leone and GauharKhan. “Ranbir has a small part in thesong Tu zaroorat hai that also featuresSunny Leone and Sharman Joshi.Katrina is just helping us in socialmedia ‘because of Ranbir’. We had noestablished actors, so we needed a facethat could bring audience to the the-atres,” Pawan Kumar, writer of thefilm said. Well certainly the writer andthe producer of the film don’t agreeon the same grounds.

Made in the supervision ofAnurag Basu, Fuddu revolves arounda boy from a lower middle-class fam-ily who has come from Varanasi toMumbai and the emotional chaospost his marriage. “It’s always thecommon man who’s at the receivingend. He is the one who alwaysbecomes a fuddu,” added he. Therecouldn’t have been a better title for thefilm than Fuddu.”

The film is about a common manwho has big dreams but gets stuck ina vicious circle of life after his mar-riage. The entire movie was shot inMumbai with a few portions inVaranasi. We have also shot the filmin a real chawl, we stayed there foraround 15 days, so there is lot of hardwork involved in the making. In fact,shooting it in a chawl was Anurag’sidea. He also made us remove a songfrom the film. ‘It is not needed’ is whathe told us. The subject of the film issomewhere between Dum Laga keHaisha and Vicky Donor,” explainedPawan Kumar.

Television actress Anita

Hassanandani who plays Shagun inthe show Yeh Hai Mohabbatein, post-ed a video with husband Rohit Reddy,where she is rapping the title track ofthe film. “Yes, I have rapped in thefilm and it was great. My husband wasvery supportive throughout.” Whenasked to rap, Anita fumbled a bit andafter a few attempts, she could final-ly hum it.

About the recent controversies onthe roast comedy, Anita said, “I amnot doing it anymore. Our contractlasted for a year. When this incident(Tannishtha Chatterjee’s roast) hap-pened, I wasn’t in the particularepisode. There have been instanceswhere people have not liked it butbefore you come on a show like this,you should know it’s all fun and wedon’t mean anything. They say stuffto us but in good taste. Shahrukh,Salman they also came and I thinkthey laughed the most. On a show likeComedy Nights Bachao, the roast isnever in a bad humour. When youcome on a show like this, you can’texpect people to comment, “kya gorichitti hai”. We never fooled anyoneinto thinking that we will praise youon the show. It’s a concept where wetake digs at people and they have totake it in good spirit.”

Directed by Sunil Subramani thefilm is all set to release on October 14.

She becomes the music as herbody swings to the rhythmwith a lightening-like pres-

ence on stage. She stomps her feet,swirls her skirt, flings her armsand tosses her head as she movessinuously to the music. Onemoment she is flirtatious as shedaintily taps her feet, the next, sheis aggression personified as shesnaps her skirt dominating thestage with movements that coverthe length and breadth of the per-forming space.

A trained Flamenco dancerfrom Spain ‘the home of theFlamenco’ Anabel conquered thestage with the group JoséAlmarcha (guitarist), Juan Debel(singer) and Javier Valduncie(percussionist). Before joiningthe post show cocktail party, shetalked about her career and artis-tic sensibilities, while JavierValduncie, the percussionistshared his learning experience sofar. “I have been dancing all mylife and made this my professionwhen I reached 11,” said Anabel.When asked how old she is now,the 30-year-old dancer gushed, “Iam 18 now and shall always be ateenager.”

Her energetic performanceon stage galvanised everyone totap their feet and clap their handsloud. “I usually perform for anhour but once I performed non-stop for about 120 minutes withthe same vigour.

For such show, one should bephysically as well as mentally fitand sound and of course, strongfeet,” said Anabel who is flyingback to Spain for her next perfor-mance.

Earlier performed in Kolkata,Javier played percussion strikingwith the hand, “I perform notonly with the hands but alsoinclude drums, cymbals, xylo-phones, gongs, bells, and rattles.I am still in the learning stage;everyday is a challenge to performbetter.”

“When I was 13, a lover boythen, I started this as a hobby toimpress my girlfriend who wasa dancer and as time passed,percussion became a source of

income to me,” he added.With a glass of wine, Sanjeev

Bhargava, founder at Sehershared, “There is nothing toknow, there is nothing to read.The best part about culture isreacting from the heart. Andthat’s Spain.” Besides,

every month they are doingsomething new with interna-tional artistes at Bikaner House.“It will be a new country every-time but Spain, Italy and Franceare our major partners,” said

Sanjeev. This was the firstever regal performance ofthe group from Spain to mark

the 60 years of cordial relation-ship between India and Spainwhich was witnessed atBikaner House in associa-tion with the embassy ofSpain and Seher. With the

majestic backdrop of BikanerHouse, this preview was a truerepresentation of striving andnurturing art and culture.

These Spanish artistes will beseen in the second edition of theUdaipur Music festival that willenthrall Rajasthan with its soul-ful music in February next year.

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Kadam is an evergreen tree and con-sidered as the favourite of LordKrishna. Might be artist

Harshvardhan Kadam’s connection withnature started from his name.

Known for his blazing imagery, Kadamhas created Brahmini, Vaishnavi andRudrani in big canvases for the DivineDeities show. “In epics, vedic trinity ismostly depicted as heroes from a worship-ping point of view. I took the liberty to cre-ate the female versions of the same. HereBrahmini is depicted as the Mother of theTrinity. I am trying to establish nature’sconnection with the divine”, Kadam says.

His Vishnu is Vaishnavi. The Goddesscreated by Kadam is relishing a personalmoment. Here also, he says he took thefreedom to elaborate. Based in Pune,Kadam’s collective transformation togeth-er with his eclecticism have produced pow-erful visual art conceptually and from ananimation point of view.

“Nature is the creation of the divineand the other way too. I have a personalunderstanding of all these. Even I amnamed Kadam which is a tree and I amwell connected with nature”, he says.

Keshav, another artist participating inthe show, has created Lord Krishna innumerous forms. He has brought out LordKrishna in navarasas and in variousdance postures as the friend of elephantand cow, to cite among a few. Keshavmakes use of various designs, costumes,environs and nationalities to reinventhimself while drawing Krishna, usingwater colour and Indian ink.

He paints Krishna every day. “It began

in 2002 and has become a habit now.Krishna is the form of happiness and hehas so many virtues. I try to experimentwith his paintings in numerous ways”, hesays. A cartoonist by profession, Keshavrelooks at Krishna. “The stories in epicscommunicate through symbols. As anartist, I try to understand the symbols andtheir abstract qualities”, Keshav adds.

Abhishek Singh, who is also known forhis graphic novels and comic book works,has created Samudra Manthan (Churningof ocean) in a huge canvas. He stayed inVaranasi to finish the work, on the banksof river Ganges for five days.

Singh has recreated all the characters,same as in the mythology, in his mass workin which Lord Shiva is the lead.

“My message is to not pollute riversand clean the water body which is verymuch socially relevant now. Through the

churning of an ocean,the fight between goodand evil and the need tohave control over oneselfis depicted. Along withnature, we can realise our-selves”, says the artist. Heis the co-creator ofRamayana 3392 by DeepakChopra and Shekar Kapur.

Ujan Dutta, a self-taught artist anda graphic designer, has also brought outthe connection with mythology andnature in his work. There are flora andfauna in his paintings where he has por-trayed Radha and Lord Krishna in roman-tic moments. “I wanted to make mythol-ogy in a contemporary style and includ-ed all beings in nature so that people caneasily connect with them”, says Dutta.While he depicts the divine images from

Hindu mythology, his work style is inim-itable.

And there is all the famous divinepaintings by none other than Raja RaviVarma, the first man to give faces to Indiangods. In the first edition of the exhibitionOjas showcased only the ace artist's work.“The show is an interpretation of the divineby Raja Ravi Varma and four contempo-rary artists. This year I thought that thecontemporary artists who are working inthe genre of the divine should also explorethe platform”, says Anubhav Nath, curato-

rial director of Ojas. Asked onwhy Ravi Varma, Nath

says that he is themaster of divineart. “There isalmost no artistwho has not beeninfluenced orinspired by him. Wehave grown watch-

ing his paintings ofgods. The works at the

exhibition were chosento fit to the theme, divine”,

he says.The exhibition consists of

more than 100 art works: paint-ings, oleographs, digital prints,

sketches, drawings and watercolors,ranging in size and starting at an afford-able price of 3,500.

“But I won't call it a homage to RaviVarma. My idea was that artists shouldcome up and their works should stand ontheir own”, Nath concludes. The exhibitionis on till 13th October.

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Three figures sway and move againstthe echoes of nature and drum

beats in an all-embracing countrysideenvironment. Two being the kathakalidancers and the other one being a Frenchcontemporary dancer presents Mithunawhich means forming a pair. It is allabout a companionship between Indianprofessional kathakali dancers the chore-ographer Annette Leday spotted withFrench contemporary dancer and her-self. At the same time the production issomething beyond mere hybridisation orfusion.

It was in 1978 that French choreo-grapher and performer Annette Ledaycame to India after she fell in love withthe classical dance form of Kerala--kathakali. She learnt kathakali and laterbharatanatyam before exploring thepossibilities of bringing Indian andFrench performers together on the samestage.

French artiste Hélène Courvoisier,trained in ballet and contemporarydance walked-in carrying a red dress andpoised on stage with different expressionswhich kick started the dance show. “Thered dress represented the power of awoman. And the poise was a presenta-tion of the atmosphere; it represents whatI am and what I can be. It further has nostory, it is a poetic way to be togetherinstead,” she said.

“We have worked together for morethan a decade now. It’s a long time andthrough this show we have put togeth-er what we are. We see this as poetry,”she added.

The key elements of Mithuna werepresence, dance and movements. Evenas the main focus was on duos, it alsogave space for silence, for looking at eachother and for the talent of the perform-ers. The work also dealt with genderissues and brought the dancers toexplore different types of energy.Moreover, it was a poetic evocation of thecomplex forces at work between humanbeings in our world today. Also, it did-n’t use any artifice and went straight intothe essence of things and beings.

“It is like a game. Life is about give

and take and even through this show, wepresented how different people from dif-ferent culture can come together andform a pair,” gushed SadanamManikandan, a Kathakali dancer whoimpressed the audience through movinghis eyeballs to constantly changingdrum beat incorporated in his perfor-

mance.Kalamandalam Unnikrishnan,

another Kathakali artiste has been per-forming with the choreographer since1988, “I have been engaged in her cre-ative work right since her firstKathakali dance show (King Lear), in1989. And through this performance,

we have shown a work of maturity onstage. A work that could not have beenpossible without the long associationbetween her and the artistes over manyyears.”

Under the initiative of AnnetteLeday’s company, she choreographed-productions such as King Lear, La

Sensitive, Trans Malabar, CinderellaOtherwise, The Tempest, Stuff ofDreams and Big-bang.org. She came upwith Mithuna, an Indo-French pro-duction last year. Also, there will be agap before the team starts the nextproject. Meanwhile they will stageMithuna in Paris in March/April 2017.

The dynamic New York-based conductor-pianist-teacher, George Mathew has been using his pas-sion and talent for music in order to make a

transformative difference in the society. The founderand artistic director of Music for Life International,Mathew says, “Music is not simply the wonderfulsound that one enjoys. It is more. It’s supposed to servepeople and create a space where they all can cometogether for a cause.” In a bid to start a new phase inthe Global Campaign to eradicate Preventable CataractBlindness with a target to create 50 Cataract SurgicalBacklog Free districts in some of the poorest and mostbackward parts of India by 2020, Mathew’s Music forLife International and HelpMeSee will perform a seriesof concerts in the city.

Sharing abouthow Music for LifeInternational cameup, he says, “Abouteight years ago,along with a groupof musicians andsupporters of music,we created thissocial enterprisewith a mission tocreate a socialimpact throughmusic. We use musicin different ways inthe socio-economicspectrum for bring-ing about a societalchange.”

In the series ofconcerts that willfeature sarod mae-stro Amjad AliKhan, renowned American violinist; Elmira Darvarovaand one of the oldest orchestra, Bombay Chamber, willbe conducted by George Mathew. On speaking abouthis experience about working with legendary artistes,he says, “Working with a great artiste is always enlight-ening. You get insight on not only music but life itself.And, when they come together for a humanitariancause, it becomes important for them to communi-cate the message to the listeners and the great artisteknows how to do it.” He is confident that throughmusic, one can bring peace and solidarity.

He believes that with music concerts like such, hewants to add some value to the society. “We are doingthis to bring forth the problem of cataract and alsosolutions for the same. We want to gather a commu-nity of supporters through music to make this visionimpairment a thing of past,” he explains.

Talking about the music he listens to and hisfavourite composition, he says, “I listen to all kindsof music. From Western music compositions toBollywood, I like them all. However, what I’m work-ing on today is my favourite music. Yesterday it wassomething else and tomorrow it will be somethingelse.”

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Asplendid six-wicketeffort from premierstrike bowler

Ravichandran Ashwin sawIndia maintain their strangle-hold on New Zealand andremain firmly on course for a3-0 series whitewash at the endof third day's play in the finalTest match here.

Riding on Ashwin's bril-liant figures of 6/81, Indiabowled out New Zealand for299 thereby taking a healthyfirst-innings lead of 258 runs.

Virat Kohli, however, didnot enforce the follow-on andIndia were 18 for no loss atstumps increasing their over-all lead to 276 runs.

Veteran opener GautamGambhir was retired hurt onsix after sustaining a shoulderinjury going for a second run.At stumps, Cheteshwar Pujara(1) and M Vijay (11) were atthe crease for the home team.

The day belonged toAshwin, who used the bowlers'rough brilliantly by operatingfrom the pavilion end to get his20th five-wicket haul in his39th Test.

The off-spinner, whograbbed 10 wickets in theseries opener at Kanpur andfour in the second match atKolkata, also ran out two bats-men off his own bowling. Hisspin partner Ravindra Jadejaaccounted for the other twowickets in the visitors' innings.

With two days left in thegame, India, who won the firsttwo Tests by huge margins,looked well-poised to scoreanother victory for a cleansweep of the series.

After the run-glut fromcaptain Virat Kohli (211) andAjinkya Rahane (188) on thefirst two days, it was the spinmagic from Ashwin thatenthralled the big crowd afterthe Kiwis had put on the firstcentury stand of the seriesfrom either side for the firstwicket.

Ashwin came up with asensational post-lunch spell tograb four top order wickets,including three in the space of13 balls, after New Zealandopeners Martin Guptill (72)and Tom Latham (53) hadmade a great start by puttingon 118 runs.

Ashwin sent back Latham,to break the opening partner-ship before lunch, and then dis-missed captain and No 3 KaneWilliamson (8) before addingthe scalps of Ross Taylor (0)and Luke Ronchi (0) to triggera top-order collapse fromwhich New Zealand could notrecover.

He then trapped the stub-born James Neesham on thesweep shot in front of thestumps for 71 and thenbrought the innings to an endby having last man Trent Boultcaught in the deep.

He was also responsible forrunning out Guptill and JeetanPatel by deflecting the ball onto the non-striker's endstumps, as the batsmen werecaught out of the crease.

Left-arm spinner Jadeja,who claimed 2 for 80 by break-ing two half-century partner-ships down the order, gaveAshwin good support as theKiwis folded up forty minutesbefore the scheduled close.

Ashwin, who shot past

Ishant Sharma in the IndianTest bowlers' list of wicket tak-ers, bowled a sensational postlunch spell to leave NewZealand in tatters.

The off-spinner, who gotone wicket in the morning ses-sion, grabbed three more wick-ets besides running out well-setopener Guptill post lunch toleave the visitors gasping at 148for five in the first hour beforeNew Zealand made a partialrecovery.

On a song with the ballsince catching Latham off hisown bowling off a leadingedge, the off-spinner inducedthe visiting team's captain tocut a spinning-in ball andchop it onto the stumps.

Taylor and Ronchi wereboth deceived by the ball whichdid not turn much to be caughtat slip off the outside edgewhile defending by Rahane, thelatter off the wicketkeeper'sthigh pad, so that Ashwinpicked up three wickets in 13balls. The quick fall of thesefour wickets left New Zealandin a deep hole before theyrecovered through the part-nership between Neesham andWatling to reach 200.

Jadeja then got into the actby ending the sixth wicketpartnership that realised 53runs between Neesham, whobatted well against the spin-ners, and wicket keeper BradWatling (23) by getting rid ofthe latter.

In between the latter twodismissals was the run out ofGuptill, who struck 2 sixes andten fours to look well in con-trol, as New Zealand suffereda steep slump from 134 for 1 to148 for five within the space of

five overs.At the fall of

Ronchi, Ashwinsported superbfigures of 4 for 44in 18.1 overs andat tea it read 4 for65. New Zealandhad lost fourwickets in 13overs for 34 runsin the first hour'splay after lunchwhen Ashwin wason a purple patch.

Jadeja was notgiven a spell in thissuccessful periodfor the home side ascaptain Virat Kohlitrusted his mediumpacers to bowl fromone end while util-ising Ashwin fromthe other.

The left-armspinner was broughton to replace the offspinner just past the thirdhour of play after he hadbowled with great successnon-stop on either side of thelunch interval. Jadeja suc-ceeded in removing Watlingwho too, like some of histeammates, offered a defensivebat to a ball that spun very lit-tle and edged to Rahane whocompleted his third catch ofthe innings to add to his bril-liant knock of 188.

In the morning session,the Kiwis were off to a finestart in chase of India'simposing total throughGuptill and Latham afterresuming from the overnight28 for no loss before Ashwinstruck to remove the latter andend the partnership.

����� 531/�7

It has been a remarkable series against NewZealand for Ravichandran Ashwin with

20 wickets so far but India's off-spinnersays he has struggled to get into

rhythm at the start of his spells.Ashwin bowled superbly today

to take six for 81 to skittle out thevisitors for 299."It's very important for me to get

into a good rhythm. Through this series Ihave not really started in a fine rhythm. I'm try-

ing to get my alignment and rhythm properly, it's tak-ing me a few overs. Once I go through it, and when my

body starts going completely into the ball, the spells startgetting better, and that was one of the spells after lunch," he said.

"It's about getting into a good rhythm and being able to accel-erate and get through the crease fast. So that's what I really lookforward to and once I get into a good rhythm, I think I can beatany batsman in the world. That's where I stand right now," saidthe off-spinner who is the second fastest bowler in the world toreach the 200 Test wicket landmark.

"I come into a series with a plan, especially taking off fromwhere Kane Williamson got out in Bangalore when they came herelast year. He lunged forward and got out at slips. So that's one ofthe things I thought I would repeat in this series," he explained abouthis excellently planned dismissal of the visiting team's captain in

the post lunch period.Although Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav ended

wicket-less, Ashwin praised the bowling of the pace duo."It (support) was very important, it was a very, very

difficult wicket to bowl on. The way Shami andUmesh bowled in the morning, they never let goof the steam. Especially Umesh bowled veryquick through the day. Hopefully they can getsome good returns in the second innings."

About Ravindra Jadeja's support Ashwinsaid that the left arm spinner was good indeceiving batsmen with straight balls on atrack with some help to the spin bowlers.

"That's Jaddu's strength, he does it well," he said. He defended India's strategy of not enforc-

ing the follow on, saying both he and Jadeja weretired after bowling long spells. “Because Jaddu and

I had bowled almost 30 overs each and so it was verydifficult to enforce the follow and so we had to bat. There

is more time in the game, so it made sense to bat on," he said.He also said that the wicket sported more roughs on the side oppo-

site to the pavilion. "It's turning more bowling from the pavilion end,because there's more rough, because of the left-arm fast bowler's footmarks.

That's not spinning a lot, hopefully it will deteriorate," said Ashwin whotook all his wickets by bowling from the pavilion end and so too did Jadeja.

Asked about the strategy when the New Zealand openers Martin Guptilland Tom Latham put on a century stand, Ashwin said it was to contain the

run-flow first and create pressure. "Our plan was very simple — not to givethe runs, and the more boundaries we cut, the better it would be. We thoughtwe would try and reduce the run rate and try and create some pressure in terms

of maiden overs. That was the plan. Obviously, that was a good spell I got afterlunch, I got going and then things changed," he said.

����� 531/�7

Teammates losing their way after heand Martin Guptill had produced

the first century opening partnershipin the three-Test series against India,Tom Latham was hopeful of a bettershow from the New Zealand batsmenin the second innings of the final Testhere.

"It's (pitch at Holkar Stadium)obviously deteriorating and turningmore. We weren't at our best today,lost wickets that we weren't happywith. Hopefully we can rectify that insecond innings," said Latham whomade 53 out of the New Zealand firstinnings tally of 299 and also stitcheda stand of 118 with Guptill who topscored with 72.

New Zealand are staring down thebarrel after conceding a big firstinnings deficit of 258 to India whomade a mammoth 557 for 5 declaredand then did not enforce the followon, making 18 without loss in the sec-ond innings by stumps on day threeof the five-day game.

"It's certainly starting to turn, lotof footmarks. Not cracking up somuch but there are dust and foot-marks for bowlers to work with.They'll be targeting those in the sec-ond innings so got to find a way ofrectifying that," he said.

He blamed the cluster of wickets

that NewZ e a l a n dlost in thep o s tl u n c hsession asthe maincause for thet e a m ' spredicamentin the f inalgame of the series whichIndia have already secured.

"Nice me and Gup(Guptill) built a partnershipchasing such a big total.Unfortunately we lost wicketsin clumps," he said.

"It was not our daythrough middle of innings,hard to start on that wicket.Unfortunately our guyscouldn't get in. But (we have)massive chance to do so insecond innings."

Latham hailed the bowlingof Ravichandran Ashwin, whograbbed 6 for 81 that includeda spell of 3 wickets in 13 balls,and Jadeja, who picked up twowickets.

"They are world class espe-cially in their own conditions,bowled lot of overs, and tookwickets. We've got a big couple ofdays and when we get chance with

bat got to put those partnershipstogether," he noted.

"We got to stick to gameplan on surface and stay true towhat we believe works. If youhave the right technique and

mental state you can scoreruns out there," he added.

He skirted the querywhether Indian opener

Murali Vijay, who gota warning from theumpires in the sec-ond innings for

running on thepitch, did itdeliberatelya f t e r

R a v i n d r aJadeja was fined for a sim-ilar office and the team

docked five penalty runs inthe first.

"It's out of our hands asplayers, we've got nothing todo with it, it's up to theumpires they make the call.Guys are going to walk on thewicket. We've got a big job to

do in the second innings. We aregoing to focus on that," he said.

With two days left in thegame, India, who won the first twoTests by huge margins, lookedwell-poised to score another vic-tory for a clean sweep of the series.

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Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortazaand batsman Sabbir Rahman were

fined 20 percent of their match feesMonday for an altercation with rivalskipper Jos Buttler in their team's victoryover England in the second ODI.

The International Cricket Council alsogave Buttler an official warning for hisreaction to Mortaza and Sabbir's celebra-tions following his dismissal after a TVreview which proved to be pivotal inSunday night's match in Dhaka.

After England made a poor start intheir reply to Bangladesh's total of 238-8,Buttler was threatening to turn the matchon its head with a run-a-ball innings of 57which was ended in controversial fashion.

The on-field umpire had initiallyturned down Taskin Ahmed's lbw appealagainst Buttler, but Bangladesh sought atelevision review which confirmed the ballhit him plumb in his back foot and leftEngland 123-7.

The verdict triggered lively celebra-tions in the Bangladesh camp, with sev-eral players exchanging words with thebatsman as he made his way back to thepavilion, forcing the umpires to immedi-ately intervene.

"The Bangladesh players oversteppedin their celebration of Jos Buttler's wick-et, which prompted an inappropriate

reaction from the dismissed batsman,"match referee Javagal Srinath said in a ICCstatement.

"We all want to see high intensity onthe field of play, but only as long as it isnot provoking or antagonising or disre-specting the opponent."

After the match, Buttler said heregretted his on-field reaction "Emotionswere running high and obviously (theywere) delighted to get the wicket. MaybeI should have just walked off," Buttler said.

The ongoing three-match ODI seriesis currently locked at 1-1 after Englandwon the first match by 21 runs andBangladesh levelled with a 34-run win inthe second match.

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Lazio striker Ciro Immobile grabbedan injury-time winner as four-timechampions Italy snatched a 3-2

comeback win at Macedonia on Sunday,narrowly avoiding a World Cup qualify-ing embarrassment.

Italy, who had needed a late penaltyto salvage a point against Group Grivals Spain on Thursday, were staring ata shock defeat in Skopje against aMacedonia side ranked a lowly 146 in theworld.

Torino striker Andrea Belotti hadgiven Italy a 24th-minute lead just fourminutes after Palermo marksman IlijaNestorokvski had crashed a drive off thecrossbar for the hosts.

But Nestorokvski levelled just beforethe hour mark when he robbed MarcoVerratti before tucking the ball past vet-eran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.

Two minutes later, Macedonia wereahead when midfielder Ferhan Hasanifinished a smart move involving GoranPandev and Nestorovski. HoweverImmobile put Italy back on equal termsat 2-2 with 15 minutes left after goodapproach work from Verratti andAntonio Candreva.

On 90 minutes, Marco Parolo had aheader ruled out for offside before clubteammate Immobile saved Italy with thewinner two minutes into injury time, fin-ishing off a Candreva cross.

"We were weak and let up in the sec-ond half. You can't give anything away atinternational level, we had to be moreruthless," admitted Immobile.

Italy are second in Group G withseven points but Spain lead the way ongoal difference after a deserved 2-0 winover Albania in Shkoder.

Chelsea star Diego Costa tuckedaway the first on 55 minutes past goal-keeper Etrit Berisha who had pulled offa series of fine saves in the first half.

Nolito hit the second of the night justthree minutes after coming on as a sub-stitute for Vitolo.

"This was a very difficult match evenif it appeared easy," said Nolito. "Albaniaare a good side who know how to play."

The only downside for Spain was see-ing key defender and skipper SergioRamos suffer a left knee injury whichcould sideline him for three matches withhis club side, Real Madrid.

In Group D, Southampton's DusanTadic scored the winner as Serbia beat

Austria 3-2 in Belgrade. Newcastle'sAlexsandar Mitrovic had scored Serbia'sfirst two goals in the opening half as hisside went top on seven points.

They lead the way on goal differencefrom the Republic of Ireland who beatMoldova 3-1 in Chisinau. Wes Hoolahanfed Shane Long to score after just twominutes for Ireland but Moldova, beat-en 3-0 by Serbia at home on Thursday,levelled in injury-time when Igor Bugaiovscored his first goal in five years.

West Brom's James McClean was ontarget twice after the break to giveIreland the three points.

Euro 2016 semi-finalists Wales wereheld to a disappointing 1-1 draw byGeorgia in Cardiff as their push toreach a first World Cup since 1958 hit a

roadblock.The draw followed a 2-2 stalemate

against Austria four days ago as ChrisColeman's side were left to regret notmaking the most of a host of chances inthe first half.

Real Madrid star Gareth Bale head-ed Wales into a 10th-minute lead butGeorgia hit back after the break, equal-ising through Tornike Okriashvili's 57th-minute header.

Georgia nearly won the game late onwhen Valeri Kazaishvili struck the cross-bar.

"People will look at it as two pointsdropped but it might be a point gainedat the end of the day, in the second half,"said Coleman whose team went from topof the group to third place.

In Group I, Croatia won 1-0 inFinland at Tampere with Juventus strik-er Mario Mandzukic scoring the onlygoal after 18 minutes when Finlandgoalkeeper Lukas Hradecky allowed across from Andrej Kramaric to slip fromhis grasp.

Croatia have seven points and lead ongoal difference from Iceland who fol-lowed up their come-from-behind 3-2win over Finland with an impressive a 2-0 victory over Turkey in Reykjavik.

Turkey defender Omer Toprak putthrough his own goal in the 42nd minutebefore Alfred Finnbogason added a sec-ond just before the break.

Ukraine are third, two points back,after a 3-0 win over Kosovo in a gameplayed at Krakow in Poland.

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Brazil's national football team will face Venezuela on Tuesday in a SouthAmerican World Cup qualifier for Russia 2018 without star player

Neymar. Neymar received a one-match ban after being shown a second yel-

low card during the qualifier match against Bolivia on October 6, in whichBrazil won 5-0, reports Xinhua.

Neymar left the Brazil camp after the match and is expected to returnto his Spanish club Barcelona on Monday.

Willian Borges has been selected to replace Neymar. In the matchagainst Bolivia he sat on the bench, while Philippe Coutinho was cho-sen to replace Neymar when hewas sent off.

However, in the Venezuelamatch, Willian will take theplace of Brazil's major soccerstar while Coutinho will playdown the left side on the pitch.

In another change to theteam that started against Boliviaearlier in the week, MacielJunior "Paulinho" will alsoreturn after serving a one-matchban he received in a previousqualifier match.

He will play in the midfieldagainst Venezuela.

Even though fans will behappy to see Paulinho return.Giuliano, who replacedPaulinho in the Bolivia match,was considered one of the bestplayers in the team during thegame.

The Brazilian team left onSunday afternoon for the west-ern Venezuelan city of Merida,where the match will take placemarking the 10th fixture in theSouth America World Cup qual-ifiers.

Brazil is scheduled to holda training session on Monday in the Metropolitano Stadium, where theupcoming match will also take place.

Before setting off for Venezuela, Brazil trained for the last time inthe das Dunas Arena, in the northeastern city of Natal, where they defeat-ed Bolivia.

�����������������<��������������������Brazil football great Tostao believes Barcelona star Neymar can help

inspire the Selecao to a sixth World Cup triumph in Russia in 2018.Brazil last won football's most prized trophy in 2002 and its hopes

of ending the drought on home soil in 2014 were infamously dashed bya 7-1 semifinal loss to Germany, reports Xinhua.

But Tostao sees improvements under current coach Tite, who replacedDunga in June after the team's group-stage elimination from the CopaAmerica.

"Brazil has a chance of winning with the defenders that we have, withNeymar and other good players coming through," Tostao told the Globonewspaper.

���� 376�178"5

Mumbai City FC's winning runin the Hero Indian Super

League 2016 will be seriously chal-lenged by former champions Atleticode Kolkata in an interesting thirdround clash at Mumbai FootballArena, Mumbai, on Tuesday.

Mumbai City FC won theirfirst two matches without conced-ing a goal, and although both vic-tories were achieved by a single goal,coach Alexandre Guimaraes shouldbe pleased with the clean sheets.Atletico de Kolkata are also unbeat-en. Having drawn the opening gameagainst Chennaiyin FC, the formerchampions bounced back in style toput it across Kerala Blasters.

"We are all quite pleased withthe start to the season. It's a totallydifferent feeling that the team andfans have. The echo from the otherteams is also different; they arethinking this is going to be a dif-ferent season for Mumbai City. It'sgood but we know that we have juststarted. In such a league, you haveto stay alert. There is not much timeto celebrate or cry. You have to be

competitive always," said the CostaRican coach who has made fansbelieve in the team again.

There will not be any easygames in the ISL as the differencebetween all teams is minimal. Withtwo victories under his belt,

Guimaraes will be bristling withconfidence but knows that Atleticode Kolkata will provide them withthe toughest challenge.

"Tomorrow is a tough gameagainst a good team that retainedplayers from last season, particularly

foreigners. They have a good knowl-edge of each other. We have to con-tinue to play our game and remainfocused. We have to be solid andcompact," said Guimaraes.

The visitors were full of praisefor the league's pace-setters with

coach Jose Molina insisting that theclash between the two teams withsimilar playing styles should be aninteresting one.

Mumbai City marquee DiegoForlan played crucial role in bothwins for his team. The formerUruguay striker and Mumbai Citymarquee created the only goal of thematch in their opening clash againstFC Pune City and then scored a sec-ond-half penalty in the next clashagainst NorthEast United. Atleticode Kolkata, however, have not drawnup any special plans for the starstriker. "There is no special plan (forDiego Forlan). I don't like to focuson one player. I think they have goodplayers in attack, midfield anddefence. I like my team defending asa team, together, and against ateam, not one or two players. Weknow how to defend," said Molina.

Mumbai share top position onthe points table along with NorthEastUnited at 6 points each. On otherhand ATK and Delhi Dynamos areat 4 points each on second position.A victory for either of the team —Mumbai City or ATK — will takethem to the top of the table.

��������� 376�178"5

India's ace pistol shooter Jitu Rai madethe country proud yet again when he

won the International Shooting SportFederation (ISSF) Champions Trophy.

Jitu beat Serbia's Damir Mikec, 29.6to 28.3 in the final, held in the 10m AirPistol finals format to claim the Euro5000 cash award which comes with thetitle.

The ISSF Rifle Champions Trophywas claimed by Russia's SergeyKamenskiy.

Meanwhile, National Rif leAssociation of India (NRAI) presidentRaninder Singh on Monday congratu-lated ace shooter Jitu Rai for beingawarded the 'Champion of Champions'title for pistol shooting in 2016 by theInternational Shooting SportFederation (ISSF).

"Jitu Rai is in a league of his ownin the world of Pistol shooting and theChampions Trophy win reiterates hisversatility as a shooter. On behalf of theNRAI, we congratulate him on his lat-est success and wish him all the best in

continuing to bring laurels for thecountry," Singh said.

The Champions Trophy matcheswere held at the end of the Rifle andPistol World Cup.

All World Cup final medallists inboth men's and women's events are eli-gible to participate in the tournamentwhere they are allowed to choosebetween a 10m Air Rifle and 10m Air

Pistol match. The matches are then conducted in

elimination format, where after the firstfour shots the athlete with the lowestscore is first to be eliminated. One ath-lete is subsequently eliminated aftereach shot thereafter till the final twoathletes remain. Their scores are thenset back to zero and three single shotsthen determine the winner.

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Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won forthe first time since retiring

from his quarterfinal match atthe US Open, beating FlorianMayer 6-3, 6-2 Monday in theopening round of the ShanghaiMasters. Tsonga, who lost toNovak Djokovic in theShanghai final last year, had 12aces against Mayer and saved

all five break points he faced.The ninth-seeded

Frenchman hasn't played sinceretiring with a knee injuryagainst Djokovic at the USOpen last month.

In other matches, risingGerman star AlexanderZverev and his older brotherMischa both moved into thesecond round with straight-setvictories.