delhi english edition - the pioneer

16
A gunman dressed in black sprayed bullets inside a crowded dance bar popular with col- lege students on Wednesday night, killing at least 12 people, including a police officer, in California’s Thousand Oaks city in one of the “horrific” mass shooting incidents in the US. The gunman, who also injured nearly a dozen others, was found dead inside the Borderline Bar and Grill on the outskirts of Los Angeles although it was not immediately clear if he was killed by offi- cers or shot himself. Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean described the incident as “horrific.” “It’s a horrific scene in there, there is blood everywhere and the suspect is part of that, and I didn’t want to get that close and disturb the scene and possibly disturb the investigation,” he said, adding that the motive of the shooter — whose identify was not known — is still unclear and investigators had not found any type of assault rifle within the bar. President Donald Trump said he has been “fully briefed on the terrible shooting in California.” Detailed report on P12 U nion Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday attributed jump in income tax return filers from 3.8 crore in May 2014 to 6.86 crore to demonetisation and asserted that the Opposition parties have been “conclusively proved wrong” that it would shave off two per cent of growth rate as he said India retained its posi- tion as the fastest growing econ- omy for the fifth year in a row. Defending the demoneti- sation drive by the Narendra Modi Government on the sec- ond anniversary of ‘demoneti- sation’ that led to a running debate in the country over its aim and impact on the econo- my with the Opposition alleg- ing that it dried off money sup- ply to the public and badly affected the employment sector, Jaitley said the economy has grown stronger as demoneti- sation has increased the Government resources to fund poverty alleviation and infra- structure development pro- grammes. Writing in a Facebook post titled “Impact Of Demonetisation”, the Finance Minster listed an 80 per cent jump in income tax return fil- ers to 6.86 crore, increase in digital transactions and more resources being available for poor and for building better infrastructure as the main achievements. Modi’s sudden move on November, 8, 2016, to announce the demonetisation in an unscheduled live nation- al televised address at 8.15 pm to withdraw high-value cur- rency had raised many eye brows in the Opposition. Citing the positive out- come of the demonetisation, Jaitley said with depositing junked currency in banks only mode left to liquidate holding of old 500 and 1,000 rupee notes, the Government was able to track down people holding cash beyond their known sources of income. “The enormity of cash deposited and identified with the owner resulted in suspect- ed 17.42 lakh account holders from whom the response has been received online through non-invasive method,” he wrote. Continued on Page 4 S kyrocketing values of harm- ful pollutants in Delhi’s air entered severe plus levels post Diwali on Thursday as the Average Air Quality Index (AAQI) was recorded 642 microgram per cubic meter. According to the Centre- run pollution monitoring agency System for Air Quality and Weather and Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the AQI (post Diwali) has been recorded “double” than previ- ous year. It means, in 2017, the AQI was recorded at 367, in 2016, it was 425, however, this year it was over 1.7 times that of 2017. Notably, as per the SAFAR’s observations, the rel- ative contribution of Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) has not increased. Citing meteorological con- ditions, the SAFAR in its offi- cial statement said, “At 1 am of November 8, smoke layer became thick and started to trap pollutants near the surface rapidly. The air quality entered in severe category at 2 am early morning on November 8 and will continue to remain in severe zone until late evening of the day, however, air quali- ty is recovering from afternoon and likely to touch very poor range by night (November 8) provided no firecracker emis- sions are added anymore.” The SAFAR’s statement said, “However, even if partial emissions are added pollution is likely to shoot up as stagnation condition will be triggered. Surface winds are playing a major role. The contribution of stubble fire appears to be mar- ginal today. The contribution of PM2.5 in PM10 has increased from 50 (normal) to 70 per cent on Wednesday night indicating increased share of locally gen- erated pyrotechnic emission.” Importantly, on the AQI, PM 2.5 level was recorded more than eight times the per- missible limit at 492 μgm-3 and PM 10 level was recorded six times the permissible limit at 618 μgm-3. It may be noted that in 2017, official data showed the PM 10 level reached 595 μgm-3 and PM2.5 was 407 μgm-3. India’s official per- missible PM2.5 limit is 60 μgm-3 while PM10 level is 100 μgm-3. It is important to mention here that as per the SAFAR’s graph on biomass burning — a contributor in terms of air pollution, the per- centage is declining. The per- centage of biomass burning contributing as pollutant in Delhi’s air will remain just eight per cent on November 12, the graph marked. Meanwhile, as per the data analysis of the Delhi Government, values of Carbon Monoxide (CO), Carbon Dioxide and Sulphur Oxide also recorded higher than pre- scribed standards post Diwali. Considering the database of the Delhi Government, val- ues of CO were recorded between 0.8 mg/m3 to 4.0 mg/m3, however, in 2017, the value of same pollutant was fluctuating between 3.0 mg/m3 to 3.7. Further, the Oxides of Nitrogen (NO2) were record- ed from 29 μg/m3 to 83 where- as last year, it was 43 μg/m3 to 173.0. Another very harmful pollutant: Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) was recorded 15 μg/m3 to 81 (2018), however, in 2017 the values were 20 μg/m3 to 89 (2017). Remarkably, on National Ambient Air Quality Index (NAAQI), other popu- lar cities Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Pune were also densely polluted and post Diwali were tagged under the status of very poor. The Supreme Court had allowed people to burst fire- crackers from 8 pm to 10 pm only on Diwali and other fes- tivals. The top court also allowed manufacture and sale of just green crackers which have low emission of light, sound and harmful chemicals. The areas where the viola- tions were recorded included Mayur Vihar Extension, Lajpat Nagar, Lutyens’ Delhi, IP exten- sion, Dwarka and Noida Sector 78. The assessment of Ambient Air Quality as per Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) protocol was under- taken at 26 locations — RK Puram, Mandir Marg, Punjabi Bagh, Civil Lines, IGI Airport, Anand Vihar, Jwaharlal Nehru Stadium, Major Dhyanchand National Stadium, Dr Karni Singh shooting range, PGDAV College (Sriniwaspuri), DITE Okhla, Mother Dairy (Patparganj), ITI Vivek Vihar, ITI Jahangirpuri, DITE Wazirpur, Satyawati College (Ashok Vihar), Shaheed Sukhdev Business College (Rohini), Narela, Sonia Vihar, Shri Aurobindo Marg, Najafgarh, Pusa, Dwarka, Mundka, Bawana, and Alipur. According to the Delhi Government average air qual- ity data, Jahangirpuri, Ashok Vihar, Nehru Nagar, Wazirpur, Anand Vihar, Punjabi Bagh and RK Puram are the areas where values of SPM ranged between exceeded 1000 μg/m3. Other areas such as — Sonia Vihar, Patparganj, Vivek Vihar, Major Dhyanchand National Stadium, Jwaharlal Nehru Stadium, Dwarka, Mundka, Rohini, Okhla, Bawana and IGI Airport where value generally is less than 1000 μg/m3, however, Najafgarh, Alipur, Narela, Dr Karni Singh shooting range, Shri Aurobindo Marg, Pusa, Civil Lines and Mandir Marg are stations where values are found less than 500 μg/m3. Agra, Bhagpat , Ghaziabad, Bulandshehar, Faridabad, Gurugram, Greater Noida, Hapur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Noida, Patna, Sigrauli, Rohtak and Ujjain were the areas where AQI recorded “abnormally high, concentrations were recorded above 380 micro- gram per cubic. T he Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) on Thursday examined benched CBI Director Alok Verma and special director Rakesh Asthana who were sent on “leave” following an open war between them and exchange of serious charge of corruption between them. Verma met CVC Commissioner KV Chowdhary and Vigilance Commissioner Sharad Kumar in the afternoon and stayed for about two hours. Verma denied the charges lev- elled against him by Asthana to the Commission, sources said. Asthana was also examined by the CVC during the day in connection with the probe into his allegations against Verma. Only one working day is left before the CVC submits its report to the Supreme Court on Monday in connection with the CBI vs CBI war. The vigilance body has also examined the case files, including the one relating to the Moin Qureshi case, IRCTC scam involving former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad and a cattle smuggling case in which a senior BSF official was alleged- ly involved. The CVC also examined Joint Director Sai Manohar who had submitted a “secret note” by Asthana alleging one Satish Sana had given a state- ment before the CBI that he had allegedly paid a bribe of 2 crore to Verma to get relief in the Moin case. The Supreme Court on October 26 had directed that the CVC’s enquiry into the alle- gations against Verma would be conducted under the supervi- sion of retired apex court judge AK Patnaik within a two-week deadline. Asthana had through a let- ter on August 24 to the Cabinet Secretary levelled allegations against his boss Verma of med- dling in high profile cases and corruption. After a longstanding pub- lic feud, the Government through a midnight order on October 23 sent both Verma and Asthana on leave. The Commission had recently examined some CBI officials probing crucial cases which figured in Asthana’s complaint of corruption against Verma. CBI personnel from the rank of inspector up to super- intendent of police were called and their versions recorded before a senior CVC official. The complainant against Asthana, Satish Sana on whose complaint an FIR was lodged against the CBI No 2 official was also examined by the CVC. Asthana had also alleged in his complaint against Verma that Sana had paid a bribe of 2 crore to CBI Director for get- ting relief in the Moin probe case, sources said. Verma had challenged before the SC the Government’s decision of divesting him of his duties and sending him on leave. The feud between Verma and Asthana escalated recent- ly leading to registration of an FIR against the CBI Special Director and others including Deputy Superintendent of Police Devender Kumar on October 15. Continued on Page 4 F our civilians and a CISF jawan were killed when suspected Naxals blew up a bus with an improvised explosive device (IED) in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district on Thursday, four days ahead of the first phase of Assembly polls in the State, police said. Two personnel of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) were also injured in the explosion, the third Naxal attack in 15 days in the poll- bound State. The attack comes before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit on Friday to Jagdalpur district, about 100 km from Dantewada, to campaign for the BJP. The IED explosion took place in a hilly area in Bacheli, about 450 km from here, when the CISF personnel, belonging to 502nd battalion, were returning to their camp in Akashnagar area after purchasing groceries from a local market, Dantewada Superintendent of Police Abhishek Pallava told PTI. The Naxals triggered a powerful IED blast near curve number 6 on the hills, he said. Those killed in the blast were identified as CISF Head Constable D Mukhopadhyay, bus dri- ver Ramesh Patkar, helpers Roshan Kumar Sahu and Johan Nayak, and a truck driver, Sushil Banjare, the SP said. The truck driver had taken lift in the bus, another police official said. Continued on Page 4 T he Congress and other Opposition parties, includ- ing TDP and TMC, on Thursday recalled demoneti- sation as an “ill-fated” and “ill- thought” exercise by the Modi Government that unleashed havoc on the Indian economy. T h e Congress has announced that it will hold a nationwide protest on Friday to mark the sec- ond anniversary of demonetisa- tion and demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should apolo- gise to the people for “ruining and wrecking” the economy. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the “scars and wounds” caused by demonetisation is getting more visible with time and the deci- sion’s second anniversary is a day to remember how “eco- nomic misadventures” can roil the nation. Congress president Rahul Gandhi described demonetisation as a “tragedy” that destroyed millions of lives. While West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she had been describing it as a “dark day” ever since demon- etisation was announced by the Prime Minister, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu dubbed demonetisation a disaster and claimed the coun- try had still not overcome the economic ‘setback’ caused by the BJP Government’s ‘hasty’ decisions. Naidu was part of the NDA when the demonetisa- tion was implemented and last week he joined hands with the Congress. Continued on Page 4

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Agunman dressed in black sprayed bulletsinside a crowded dance bar popular with col-

lege students on Wednesday night, killing at least12 people, including a police officer, in California’sThousand Oaks city in one of the “horrific” massshooting incidents in the US.

The gunman, who also injured nearly a dozenothers, was found dead inside the Borderline Barand Grill on the outskirts of Los Angeles althoughit was not immediately clear if he was killed by offi-cers or shot himself. Ventura County Sheriff GeoffDean described the incident as “horrific.”

“It’s a horrific scene in there, there is bloodeverywhere and the suspect is part of that, and Ididn’t want to get that close and disturb the sceneand possibly disturb the investigation,” he said,adding that the motive of the shooter — whoseidentify was not known — is still unclear andinvestigators had not found any type of assault riflewithin the bar. President Donald Trump said hehas been “fully briefed on the terrible shooting in California.”

Detailed report on P12

����� )�/�%�3,1

Union Finance MinisterArun Jaitley on Thursday

attributed jump in income taxreturn filers from �3.8 crore inMay 2014 to �6.86 crore todemonetisation and assertedthat the Opposition parties havebeen “conclusively provedwrong” that it would shave offtwo per cent of growth rate ashe said India retained its posi-tion as the fastest growing econ-omy for the fifth year in a row.

Defending the demoneti-sation drive by the NarendraModi Government on the sec-ond anniversary of ‘demoneti-sation’ that led to a runningdebate in the country over itsaim and impact on the econo-my with the Opposition alleg-ing that it dried off money sup-ply to the public and badlyaffected the employment sector,Jaitley said the economy hasgrown stronger as demoneti-sation has increased theGovernment resources to fundpoverty alleviation and infra-structure development pro-grammes.

Writing in a Facebook posttitled “Impact OfDemonetisation”, the FinanceMinster listed an 80 per centjump in income tax return fil-ers to �6.86 crore, increase indigital transactions and moreresources being available forpoor and for building betterinfrastructure as the mainachievements. Modi’s suddenmove on November, 8, 2016, toannounce the demonetisationin an unscheduled live nation-al televised address at 8.15 pmto withdraw high-value cur-rency had raised many eyebrows in the Opposition.

Citing the positive out-

come of the demonetisation,Jaitley said with depositingjunked currency in banks onlymode left to liquidate holdingof old 500 and 1,000 rupeenotes, the Government wasable to track down peopleholding cash beyond theirknown sources of income.

“The enormity of cashdeposited and identified withthe owner resulted in suspect-ed 17.42 lakh account holdersfrom whom the response hasbeen received online throughnon-invasive method,” he wrote.

Continued on Page 4

�������� ��� )�/�%�3,1�

Skyrocketing values of harm-ful pollutants in Delhi’s air

entered severe plus levels postDiwali on Thursday as theAverage Air Quality Index(AAQI) was recorded 642microgram per cubic meter.

According to the Centre-run pollution monitoringagency System for Air Qualityand Weather and Forecastingand Research (SAFAR), theAQI (post Diwali) has beenrecorded “double” than previ-ous year. It means, in 2017, theAQI was recorded at 367, in2016, it was 425, however, thisyear it was over 1.7 times thatof 2017. Notably, as per theSAFAR’s observations, the rel-ative contribution ofSuspended Particulate Matter(SPM) has not increased.

Citing meteorological con-ditions, the SAFAR in its offi-cial statement said, “At 1 am ofNovember 8, smoke layerbecame thick and started totrap pollutants near the surfacerapidly. The air quality enteredin severe category at 2 am earlymorning on November 8 andwill continue to remain insevere zone until late eveningof the day, however, air quali-ty is recovering from afternoonand likely to touch very poorrange by night (November 8)provided no firecracker emis-sions are added anymore.”

The SAFAR’s statementsaid, “However, even if partialemissions are added pollution islikely to shoot up as stagnationcondition will be triggered.Surface winds are playing amajor role. The contribution ofstubble fire appears to be mar-ginal today. The contribution ofPM2.5 in PM10 has increasedfrom 50 (normal) to 70 per centon Wednesday night indicatingincreased share of locally gen-erated pyrotechnic emission.”

Importantly, on the AQI,

PM 2.5 level was recordedmore than eight times the per-missible limit at 492 μgm-3 andPM 10 level was recorded sixtimes the permissible limit at618 μgm-3.

It may be noted that in2017, official data showedthe PM 10 level reached 595μgm-3 and PM2.5 was 407μgm-3. India’s official per-missible PM2.5 limit is 60μgm-3 while PM10 level is100 μgm-3. It is important tomention here that as per theSAFAR’s graph on biomassburning — a contributor interms of air pollution, the per-centage is declining. The per-centage of biomass burningcontributing as pollutant inDelhi’s air will remain justeight per cent on November12, the graph marked.

Meanwhile, as per the dataanalysis of the DelhiGovernment, values of CarbonMonoxide (CO), CarbonDioxide and Sulphur Oxidealso recorded higher than pre-scribed standards post Diwali.

Considering the databaseof the Delhi Government, val-ues of CO were recordedbetween 0.8 mg/m3 to 4.0mg/m3, however, in 2017, thevalue of same pollutant wasfluctuating between 3.0 mg/m3to 3.7.

Further, the Oxides ofNitrogen (NO2) were record-ed from 29 μg/m3 to 83 where-as last year, it was 43 μg/m3 to173.0. Another very harmfulpollutant: Sulphur Dioxide(SO2) was recorded 15 μg/m3to 81 (2018), however, in 2017the values were 20 μg/m3 to 89(2017). Remarkably, onNational Ambient Air QualityIndex (NAAQI), other popu-lar cities — Mumbai,Ahmedabad and Pune werealso densely polluted and postDiwali were tagged under thestatus of very poor.

The Supreme Court had

allowed people to burst fire-crackers from 8 pm to 10 pmonly on Diwali and other fes-tivals.

The top court also allowedmanufacture and sale of justgreen crackers which have lowemission of light, sound andharmful chemicals.

The areas where the viola-tions were recorded includedMayur Vihar Extension, LajpatNagar, Lutyens’ Delhi, IP exten-sion, Dwarka and Noida Sector78. The assessment of AmbientAir Quality as per CentralPollution Control Board(CPCB) protocol was under-taken at 26 locations — RKPuram, Mandir Marg, PunjabiBagh, Civil Lines, IGI Airport,Anand Vihar, Jwaharlal NehruStadium, Major Dhyanchand

National Stadium, Dr KarniSingh shooting range, PGDAVCollege (Sriniwaspuri), DITEOkhla, Mother Dairy(Patparganj), ITI Vivek Vihar,ITI Jahangirpuri, DITEWazirpur, Satyawati College(Ashok Vihar), ShaheedSukhdev Business College(Rohini), Narela, Sonia Vihar,Shri Aurobindo Marg,Najafgarh, Pusa, Dwarka,Mundka, Bawana, and Alipur.

According to the DelhiGovernment average air qual-ity data, Jahangirpuri, AshokVihar, Nehru Nagar, Wazirpur,Anand Vihar, Punjabi Baghand RK Puram are the areaswhere values of SPM rangedbetween exceeded 1000 μg/m3.

Other areas such as —Sonia Vihar, Patparganj, Vivek

Vihar, Major DhyanchandNational Stadium, JwaharlalNehru Stadium, Dwarka,Mundka, Rohini, Okhla,Bawana and IGI Airport wherevalue generally is less than1000 μg/m3, however,Najafgarh, Alipur, Narela, DrKarni Singh shooting range,Shri Aurobindo Marg, Pusa,Civil Lines and Mandir Margare stations where values arefound less than 500 μg/m3.

Agra, Bhagpat , Ghaziabad,Bulandshehar, Faridabad,Gurugram, Greater Noida,Hapur, Kolkata, Lucknow,Noida, Patna, Sigrauli, Rohtakand Ujjain were the areas whereAQI recorded “abnormallyhigh, concentrations wererecorded above 380 micro-gram per cubic.

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The Central VigilanceCommission (CVC) on

Thursday examined benchedCBI Director Alok Verma andspecial director RakeshAsthana who were sent on“leave” following an open warbetween them and exchange ofserious charge of corruptionbetween them.

Verma met CVCCommissioner KV Chowdharyand Vigilance CommissionerSharad Kumar in the afternoonand stayed for about two hours.Verma denied the charges lev-elled against him by Asthana tothe Commission, sources said.

Asthana was also examinedby the CVC during the day inconnection with the probe intohis allegations against Verma.Only one working day is leftbefore the CVC submits itsreport to the Supreme Court onMonday in connection with the

CBI vs CBI war. The vigilance body has

also examined the case files,including the one relating tothe Moin Qureshi case, IRCTCscam involving former BiharCM Lalu Prasad and a cattlesmuggling case in which a

senior BSF official was alleged-ly involved.

The CVC also examinedJoint Director Sai Manoharwho had submitted a “secretnote” by Asthana alleging oneSatish Sana had given a state-ment before the CBI that he

had allegedly paid a bribe of �2crore to Verma to get relief inthe Moin case.

The Supreme Court onOctober 26 had directed thatthe CVC’s enquiry into the alle-gations against Verma would beconducted under the supervi-sion of retired apex court judgeAK Patnaik within a two-weekdeadline.

Asthana had through a let-ter on August 24 to the CabinetSecretary levelled allegationsagainst his boss Verma of med-dling in high profile cases andcorruption.

After a longstanding pub-lic feud, the Governmentthrough a midnight order onOctober 23 sent both Vermaand Asthana on leave.

The Commission hadrecently examined some CBIofficials probing crucial caseswhich figured in Asthana’scomplaint of corruption againstVerma. CBI personnel from the

rank of inspector up to super-intendent of police were calledand their versions recordedbefore a senior CVC official.

The complainant againstAsthana, Satish Sana on whosecomplaint an FIR was lodgedagainst the CBI No 2 officialwas also examined by the CVC.Asthana had also alleged in hiscomplaint against Verma thatSana had paid a bribe of �2crore to CBI Director for get-ting relief in the Moin probecase, sources said.

Verma had challengedbefore the SC the Government’sdecision of divesting him of hisduties and sending him onleave. The feud between Vermaand Asthana escalated recent-ly leading to registration of anFIR against the CBI SpecialDirector and others includingDeputy Superintendent ofPolice Devender Kumar onOctober 15.

Continued on Page 4

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Four civilians and a CISF jawan werekilled when suspected Naxals blew

up a bus with an improvised explosivedevice (IED) in Chhattisgarh’sDantewada district on Thursday, fourdays ahead of the first phase ofAssembly polls in the State, police said.

Two personnel of the CentralIndustrial Security Force (CISF) werealso injured in the explosion, the thirdNaxal attack in 15 days in the poll-bound State. The attack comes beforePrime Minister Narendra Modi’sscheduled visit on Friday to Jagdalpurdistrict, about 100 km fromDantewada, to campaign for the BJP.

The IED explosion took place ina hilly area in Bacheli, about 450 kmfrom here, when the CISF personnel,belonging to 502nd battalion, werereturning to their camp in Akashnagararea after purchasing groceries froma local market, DantewadaSuperintendent of Police AbhishekPallava told PTI.

The Naxals triggered a powerfulIED blast near curve number 6 on thehills, he said. Those killed in the blastwere identified as CISF HeadConstable D Mukhopadhyay, bus dri-ver Ramesh Patkar, helpers RoshanKumar Sahu and Johan Nayak, and atruck driver, Sushil Banjare, the SPsaid. The truck driver had taken liftin the bus, another police official said.

Continued on Page 4

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The Congress and otherOpposition parties, includ-

ing TDP and TMC, onThursday recalled demoneti-sation as an “ill-fated” and “ill-thought” exercise by the ModiGovernment that unleashedhavoc on theIndian economy.

T h eCongress hasannounced thatit will hold an a t i o n w i d eprotest on Fridayto mark the sec-ond anniversaryof demonetisa-tion anddemanded that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi should apolo-gise to the people for “ruiningand wrecking” the economy.

Former Prime MinisterManmohan Singh said the“scars and wounds” caused bydemonetisation is getting morevisible with time and the deci-sion’s second anniversary is a

day to remember how “eco-nomic misadventures” can roilthe nation. Congress presidentRahul Gandhi describeddemonetisation as a “tragedy”that destroyed millions of lives.

While West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjeesaid she had been describing

it as a “dark day”ever since demon-etisation wasannounced by thePrime Minister,Andhra PradeshChief Minister NC h a n d r a b a b uNaidu dubbeddemonetisation adisaster andclaimed the coun-

try had still not overcome theeconomic ‘setback’ caused bythe BJP Government’s ‘hasty’decisions.

Naidu was part of theNDA when the demonetisa-tion was implemented andlast week he joined handswith the Congress.

Continued on Page 4

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Despite the Supreme Courtputting restriction on the

unabated use of firecrackersand authorities cracking downon the illegal sale of crackers,the number of fire related callsreceived by the fire departmenthave reportedly increased thisyear on “Diwali” as comparedto that of the last year. Also itis highest in the last 12 years(except for year 2015).

The break up data showsthat the highest numbers of firerelated calls i.e. 82 werereceived in between 2 pm and8 pm which shows that thehighest fire related accidentsand panic calls happened at thetime when there was ban ofburning of fire-crackers byApex Court. It is pertinent tomention that the burning offire-crackers was allowedbetween 8 pm to 10 pm only.

The stats released by theDelhi Fire Services (DFS)shows that this year 273 firerelated calls were received con-trary to the 204 and 243received in 2017 and 2016respectively. These figures alsoreveals that except for the year

2015 when the fire related callswere recorded at 290 the figuresthis year are highest in last 12years.

Fires were also reportedfrom factories and at housesdue to domestic items andelectrical wires, DFS officialssaid. Maximum calls werereceived from west and north-west districts of Delhi.

Authorities responded toover 273 calls about the fireincidents most of them trig-gered by firecrackers and LPGcylinder blast among others.Among the total calls “animalrescue” calls received were 5. InDelhi officials informed thatduring “Diwali” night inci-dents happened in which twochildren were killed and twoothers were injured.

A DFS official said thatthough the number of fire-related calls was more as com-pared to previous years, therehas been a decline in cases offire triggered by burning offirecrackers. The officials, how-ever, did not provide any exactbreak-up.

The ‘startling’ figuresshowing the increase in fire-related emergency calls is instark contrast to the fact that

the use of firecrackers in Delhion Deepawali has apparentlycome down over the years overconcerns about pollution anddue to restrictions imposed bythe Supreme Court on theirsale and use.

Implicitly there were ram-pant violations of the ApexCourt order and people inseveral cities burst firecrackersuntil at least midnight, twohours after the deadline.

In the fatal incident in aslum near Filmistan Cinema inthe Sadar Bazar area, two chil-dren -- Ganesh (10) and Swati(8) -- were killed. Their moth-er Suman (28) and brotherDhruv (5) suffered 55 per centand 70 per cent burn injuriesrespectively and were admittedto a hospital, said the DFS offi-cer. The fire reportedly startedfrom an LPG cylinder andspread to their shanty around2.18 AM.

There was also a call aboutfire at a factory in the Bawanaarea. No casualties were report-ed in the factory fire and 18 firetenders were pressed into ser-vice to douse the blaze.

“The fire broke out at thefactory in outer Delhi’s Bawanalocality. The call about the fire

was received at 6:37 pm andimmediately 18 fire tenderswere rushed to the spot,” theofficer said. Out of the totalcalls, 89 were fire at garbageand dump yards.

The DFS have made elab-orate arrangements and prepa-

rations to deal with the fire-accidents on Deepawali asbesides the 59 permanent firestations in the national capital,the department had set uptemporary stations in differentlocations across the city toattend to calls of fire.

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The Delhi High Court hasawarded life imprisonment

to two persons for abducting ayouth for ransom and stran-gulating him to death 15 yearsago.

A bench of justices SMuralidhar and Vinod Goelupheld the verdict of a trialcourt sentencing Joginder and Vikas Chaudhary to lifeterm, which would mean incar-ceration till their natural life,and that they would not beentitled to “any parole, remis-sion or any furlough before 30years of imprisonment” for theoffences.

The bench, however,acquitted Vikas Sidhu, whowas also awarded life term bythe trial court, by giving himbenefit of doubt.

“While the involvement ofaccused no. 1 (Joginder) andaccused no. 2 (Chaudhary)stands conclusively establishedby the matching of their spec-

imen voices with the questioned voices in therecorded ransom calls, there isno such evidence as far asaccused no. 3 (Sidhu) is con-

cerned.“Therefore, he cannot

be said to have been part of any criminal conspiracy oreven shared a common inten-tion of first abducting thedeceased for ransom and thenmurdering him,” the benchsaid.

It said it has been conclusively proved by theprosecution that Joginder and Chaudhary entered into a criminal conspiracy andabducted 20-year-old ParakhChadha for ransom.

They murdered him andconcealed the evidence of thecrime by burning the body andthrew it in a ditch near theHindon River in Ghaziabad, itsaid.

The high court has alsoupheld the trial court’s orderdirecting Joginder and

Chaudhary to pay a compen-sation of �4 lakh each to thevictim’s family.

The three men had chal-lenged the trial court’s order ofNovember last year.

According to the prosecu-tion, on January 18, 2003, theaccused persons had conspiredand abducted Chadha, a resi-dent of Ashok Vihar in northwest Delhi, for a ransom of �35lakh.

They killed him the same night by strangulatinghim and threw the burnt body in the ditch to screenthem from prosecution, it said; adding that one of the accused was known to thevictim.

The accused had deniedthe incriminating evidence andclaimed that they were impli-cated by the police.

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Municipal Corporations inthe national Capital have

put their resources to beautifyghaats ahead of Chhath Puja.East Delhi MunicipalCorporation (EDMC) has allo-cated Rs 10,000 for each of theghaat for carrying out thedevelopment work includingrepairing of roads, installinglights etc.

Mayor of East Delhi BipinBihari Singh inspected variousghaats of Shahdra (South) anddirected officials to ensure thecleanliness and sprinkle wateron the roads leading to theseghaats. He also directed theofficials to repair the roads forconvenience of devotees.

Meanwhile, StandingCommittee Chairman of NorthDelhi Municipal CorporationVeena Virmani on Thursdayalso inspected Bhalaswa Lakeand Haiderpur canal to checkpreparations.

Virmani also directed officials to ensure the cleanli-ness of ghaats and the sur-rounding areas, to ensure thatthe devotees would not face anyproblem.

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A19-year-old boy wasstabbed to death by his

neighbour after a minor scuf-fle on Thursday in NorthwestDelhi’s Jahangir Puri area. Theaccused has been arrested,police said.

According to police, thevictim identified as Dipak hada minor scuffle over a pettyissue late night on Wednesday.The issue was supposedlyresolved, however at around11:40 am on Thursday theaccused one Yogesh (19),immediately pounced onDipak and stabbed him in thechest when he spot him andfled the spot.

“A police control room(PCR) call was received atJahangir Puri police station at

around 12:14 pm on Thursdayregarding a case of stabbing byknife. Subsequently, a call wasreceived from Babu JagjivanRam Hospital stating thatDipak was admitted to thehospital and has been declaredbrought dead,” DeputyCommissioner of Police(Northwest) Aslam Khan said.

“On reaching the spot, itwas discovered that thedeceased was stabbed in hischest by his neighbour Yogeshafter they had a quarrel the pre-vious night,” said the DCP.

Last night, a minor scufflehad taken place between thetwo over a petty issue whichwas then settled then and there.Today, in the morning, theaccused waited for an oppor-tunity to get even with himover last night’s issue.

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In violation of the SupremeCourt’s directions involving

the sale of illegal firecrackersand disregard for the timelimit set for bursting crackers,a total of 562 cases were regis-tered under Section 188 of theIndian Penal Code (IPC) acrossDelhi and 323 people werearrested by the Delhi Police.Police also seized 2,776 kg offirecrackers from various partsof the city on Diwali, policerevealed Thursday.

Earlier in the day, DelhiPolice had deployed 10 thou-sand men and officers to patrolacross the National Capitaland ensure that nothing unto-ward happened. Delhi PoliceCommissioner Amulya Patnaikand all the senior police officerswere on the streets to overseethe arrangements.

“72 cases were registeredunder provisions of ExplosiveAct and 75 people were arrest-ed with regard to the cases.Supreme Court had allotted 8pm to 10 pm as the time toburst crackers. 562 FIRs wereregistered for violation of theorder and 323 people werearrested,” said Madhur Verma,

Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (New Delhi) and ChiefSpokesperson of Delhi Police.

“Subsequently, 87 personswere arrested for illegal sale offirecrackers and 24 juvenilesalso received legal action forviolating the SC’s directionsunder the provision of theJuvenile Justice Act”, Vermarevealed.

Out of the 562 cases regis-tered in Delhi, six cases wereregistered in New Delhi dis-trict, 22 in southwest district,37 in east district, 59 in north-east district, 47 in Shahdara dis-trict, 30 in central district,eight in north district, 48 innorthwest district, 58 in Rohinidistrict, 48 in south district, 23in southeast district, 52 in westdistrict, 89 in outer district and38 in Dwarka district of Delhi.

Among the eight cases reg-istered in north district, twowere in Burari, two in SabziMandi and four in Roop Nagar,they said. Subsequently, 11people were arrested and 23calls received regarding burn-ing and selling of firecrackers,police said.

Similarly, in Dwarka, 38cases were registered and 20people arrested for violating

norms. Dwarka district policereceived 71 calls relating to fire-cracker burning, police said.

Further, out of the 2776 kgof illegal firecrackers seizedfrom different parts of Delhi,208 kg was retrieved fromSouthwest district, 165 kg fromEast district, 214.3 kg fromNortheast district, 176 kg fromShahdara district, 112 kg fromNorthwest district, 794.5 kgfrom Rohini district, 100 kgfrom South district, 278 kgfrom Southeast district, 100 kgfrom West district, 212 kgfrom Outer district, 417.6kgfrom Dwarka district.

The Supreme Court hadallowed bursting of firecrack-ers from 8 pm to 10 pm only onDiwali and other festivals. Ithad also allowed manufactureand sale of only “green crack-ers”, which have a low light andsound emission and less harm-ful chemicals.

The court had asked thepolice to ensure that banned fire-crackers were not sold and saidin case of any violation, the sta-tion house officer (SHO) of thepolice station concerned wouldbe held personally liable and itwould amount to committingcontempt of the court.

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In a tragic incident, two chil-dren Ganesh (10) and Swati

(4) died when their shantycaught fire while they weresleeping in Central Delhi’sDesh Bandhu Gupta Road.Two others sustained grievousinjuries, police revealedThursday.

According to an officialfrom Delhi Police Service(DFS), a call was received ataround 2:18 am on the inter-vening night of Wednesday andThursday and two fire tenderswere rushed to the spot.

The children were sleepingwhen the incident occurred.The injured, Suman (28), with55 per cent burns, and Munna(5), with 70 per cent burns, areundergoing treatment at theRam Manohar Lohia hospital,police said.

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Major hospitals in Delhirecorded over 250 cases

of burn injuries including fire-cracker related injuries thisDiwali which is much abovetheir expectations, said doctors.

Dr PS Bhandari,Consultant Plastic Surgeon atthe Lok Nayak hospital said,“This year we had anticipatedthat the cases will go down onDiwali as lot of efforts havebeen made to sensitise thepublic. But then people start-ed pouring in since last eveningwhich continued till Thursdaymorning.”

The hospital recorded 21burn injuries out of which fivewere admitted, he added.

The cases were reportedmajorly in Safdarjung Hospital,Ram Manohar Lohia (RML)Hospital, Guru Teg Bahadur(GTB) Hospital, Deen DayalUpadhyay (DDU) Hospital andLok Nayak (LN) hospital.

The highest number of

cases was recorded in centrerun Safdarjung Hospital. Thehospital attended as much as104 cases between Wednesdayand Thursday out of which 22were admitted to the Hospital.

“While 22 patients were

admitted, rest of the patientswere treated as outpatients,”said Dr Shalabh Kumar,Professor and Consultant,Plastic Surgery Department,Safdarjung Hospital. Of thetotal 104 patients, 26 were

children, he added.The doctor had earlier said

that the hospital recordsaround 200 cases of burninjuries during Deepawali.

According to Dr VKTiwari, MedicalSuperintendent of RMLHospital, around 25 patientswere treated at the hospital outof which 6 patients sufferedmore than 20 per cent burnsand had to be admitted to thehospital.

Around 35 patients weresent back home after first aid atthe Deen Dayal UpadhyayHospital. The Guru TegBahadur Hospital received 45patients for bodily injuries from fire-related incidents and saw two admissions thisDiwali. Most of the burn injurieswere mainly related to handsand eyes.

The Dr RP Centre forOphthalmic Sciences at theAIIMS also received patientswho had sustained burns ineyes or other ocular injuriesduring Diwali festivities.

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Aclash broke out betweenmembers of two groups

over petty issue in Shahdara’sGeeta Colony during Diwalicelebrations, following whichseven people were nabbed, apolice officer said on Thursday.The incident took place on theintervening night ofWednesday and Thursday, asenior police officer said.

During the clash, theyeven broke the windscreen ofa car, the officer said. Fourpeople sustained injuries andthey were rushed to a nearbyhospital. Cross cases were reg-istered in the matter, the offi-cer said, adding that a probe isunderway.

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Not only national Capitalbut the whole National

Capital Region (NCR) wit-nessed rampant violation ofSupreme Court order onbursting of firecrackers withresidents of Ghaziabad open-ly flouted the Apex Court’sorder as they started burstingthe firecrackers since after-noon.

The posh localities of RajNagar and Kavi Nagar wherethe residents of almost all thedistrict and police officers are

located witnessed firecrackersbeing burnt from 6 pmonwards.

Though the firecrackerswere heard even before that but the frequency appar-ently increased close to theSun set.

The Superintendent ofPolice (SP) City admitted thatthe fire crackers were burntfrom the 5 onward.

“We thoroughly patrolled the areas to ensure the enforcement ofSupreme Court orders,” hesaid.

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The Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) demanded initia-

tion of contempt action againsttwo Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) leaders for their remarkson Supreme Court order on useof green crackers. Senior AAPleaders Atishi Marlena andRaghav Chadha alleged thatBJP’s Adarsh Nagar MLA OPSharma termed the apex courtorder on green crackers as“laughable” and also “pro-voked” people for its violation.

“We urge the SupremeCourt to take suo motto cog-nisance of Sharma’s contempt

of court and send him behindthe bars,” said Chadha .Theyalso demanded law enforce-ment agencies to take actionagainst Delhi BJP spokespersonPraveen Shankar Kapoor overhis statements on the SupremeCourt verdict.

“I also burst crackersWednesday night — except mat-ters related to faith, I obey lawin all matters,” Kapoor tweetedHis party colleague Sharma saidthat he has not committed anycontempt of court.

“I am just asking what isa green cracker and if any

license has been given by thegovernment for its sale,”Sharma said, claiming thataround 40 to 50 people fromhis constituency were pickedup by police for burning non-green crackers.

On October 23, theSupreme Court had said thatpeople in the country can burstfirecrackers from 8 pm to 10pm only on Diwali and otherfestivals and had allowed man-ufacture and sale of just “greencrackers” which have a lowlight and sound emission andless harmful chemicals.

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The body of a man withgunshot injuries was

found on the service lanenear the exit gate ofMaharajha Agarsen Hospitalin Delhi on Thursday. Theman identified as HarishSharma (45) had left his res-idence at 10:30 pm onWednesday, police said,adding that seven personshave been arrested in thecase.

The victim had alleged-ly left his residence onWednesday to offer Diwaliwishes to his friend and par-ticipated in a game of cards.When Harish started win-ning the game, a fightallegedly emerged betweenthe participants and he wasshot at.

According to police, theaccused persons shot himand carried his body in ascooty to dump the bodynear the exit gate ofMaharajha Agarsen Hospital.

“A call was received at3:20 am on Wednesdayregarding the body foundnear the exit gate ofMaharajha Agarsen Hospital.The body was identified andfamily was informed. The

wife of the deceased SunitaSharma suspected one Raju(32) of killing her husbandand on her statement a casewas registered at PunjabiBagh Police Station,” DeputyCommissioner of Police(West) Monika Bhardwajstated.

“The seven accused per-sons who were arrested wereidentified as Raju Bhilwari(32), Ram (33), Rajesh (29),Jitender Kumar (38),Harikant (38), Kuldeep (40),Ramesh Kapoor (71).

The accused Raju was earlier involved in amurder and attempt to mur-der case in Hari Nagar policestation.

While Ram was in pos-session of the gun used tomurder the deceased. Theweapon of offence has beenrecovered,” she said.

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Aday after Diwali, there wassearching questions and

some anguish too as a hazymorning dawned over theDelhi-NCR region, with manyresidents voicing their helplessness at the violation of the Supreme Court’s 8-10pm deadline of bursting fire-crackers.

Delhi recorded its worst airquality of the year on Thursdaymorning, with the air qualityindex jumping to 574 that fallsin the severe-plus emergencycategory — meaning that evenhealthy people may suffer fromrespiratory illnesses on a pro-longed exposure to such air.

“Delhi is a gas chamber forTB patients like me. We arecaught in a bind. If we escapeTB, then we will die of pollu-tion,” Hasmukh Rai, a seniorcitizen of Mayur Vihar.

“In this season, wheneverybody is talking of bring-

ing ordinances on variety ofissues, why can’t politiciansjoin hands and bring ordi-nance to ban stubble burning?”he asked.

South Delhi residentSagarika Sharma said she hadlost her mother to lung cancerlast year due to this hazardouspollution. “My mother was nota smoker or drinker, but yes,she was guilty of living inDelhi.”

Sharma wonders how peo-ple cannot understand therepercussions of burstingcrackers. “I understand theywant to celebrate, but at the costof digging ones own grave!”

Even as the police launcheda crackdown the violators andmade multiple arrests, severalpeople said, for them, Diwalimeant bursting firecrackers.

“Since childhood, we havebeen bursting crackers onDiwali. We do not understandgreen or red crackers. What weknow is that it is a symbol of

the festival for us and we willcontinue doing it,” saidHimanshu Bhalla, a Gurgaonresident.

Another resident of LajpatNagar, who did not wish to benamed, said the order of thetop court came out too late andand she cannot forgo the cele-

bration of the festival over it.Environmental activists

said the police needed to besupported by Governments tostrictly enforce the ban.

“The judiciary has givenour executive the necessarytools. We request our lawmak-ers to support our executive

and all three arms of ourdemocracy to work together toprotect citizens health at thistime of national health emer-gency,” said Jyoti PandeLavakare, co-founder, Care forAir NGO.

“We would like our lead-ership and our Prime Ministerto acknowledge this healthemergency and encourageimplementation of solutions,”she added.

Ravina Kohli, member of#MyRightToBreathe campaign,said people were in denial ofthe health impact of burningfirecrackers of their health.“The police could have beenhelped by the politicians andlocal authorities for strictlyenforcing the order.”

Reecha Upadhyay, anotherenvironmental activist withthe Help Delhi Breathe cam-paign, called for awareness atthe ground level over the healthhazard caused by firecrackers.

Environmental lawyer

Ritwick Dutta said the violationof the deadline was not unex-pected as one cannot expect anovernight change in people’sbehaviour because of a courtorder.

Doctors also warned ofthe ill-effects that the severe airpollution could have on thehealth of people.

“Before Diwali, we havewitnessed a rise of 25 per centin chronic obstructive pul-monary disease exacerbationand asthma patients, manybeing new patients, saidArunesh Kumar, senior con-sultant, pulmonology, of aGugaon hospital.

“It is highly advisable thatpeople should stay indoors,use N-99 masks while ventur-ing out, avoid early-morningand late-evening outdoor activ-ities, prevent children andelderly from going out, followgood hygiene and cleanlinesspractices, and keep one well-hydrated,” Kumar added.

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In order to control theincreasing level of pollution

in the National Capital after thecelebrations of Diwali festival,the Public Works Department(PWD) carried out a pollutioncontrol drive on Thursday andsprinkled water in several areasto settle suspended dust parti-cles as part of efforts to checkpollution.

“The PWD took the actionafter the city recorded its worstair quality after Diwali, whichsaw people in several citiesacross the country burstingcrackers well beyond the two-hour deadline set by theSupreme Court,” said an officialfrom PWD.

The water sprinkling driveby the department was con-ducted at various parts of the

National Capital such as ITO,Rohini, Dwarka, Outer RingRoad area, Pitampura, DelhiUniversity, Dhirpur, LodhiRoad, Mathura Road, PusaRoad and many other areas.

As per the officials, thewater sprinkling drive whichwas started on Thursday morn-ing will continue for the nextthree day, i.e, November 11.

To control pollution, theApex Supreme Court orderedto burst firecrackers from 8 pmto 10 pm only on the festival ofDeepawali and other festivals.The Supreme Court has alsoallowed manufacture and saleof just “green crackers” whichhave low emission of light,sound and harmful chemicals.But despite the Apex Court’sorder, firecrackers were burntbefore and after the set dead-line.

Apart from the PWD, theDelhi Fire Department hasalso sprinkled water in manyareas on request of the people.The officials said that thedepartment recorded around271 calls related to fire inci-dents and 50 incidents relatedto pollution.

“The telephones of thedepartment and its stationsdid not stop ringing even onThursday as people were con-tinuously calling for help andmaking complaints related tofire incidents.

We received 300 calls fromthe people about pollution andfire incidents but when the firetenders went on the spot found that there were lots ofwaste and garbage, papers col-lected after Deepwali,” said anofficial from Delhi FireDepartment.

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Day after the festival oflights was celebrated,

Delhi’s environment MinisterImran Hussian released theambient air data with specialreference to “Deepawali”.

As per the assessmentmade by Delhi Government onthe bases of Central PollutionControl Board (CPCB)’s meters, this year, the average concen-tration (for 24 hrs) forParticulate Matter (10) rangedfrom 167 μg/m3 to 1859μg/m3. The minimum valuewas observed at 3:00 pm andmaximum value was observedat 01:00 am.

The location wise mini-mum concentration wasobserved at Najafgarh (241μg/m3) and maximum con-centration was observed atAshok Vihar (1494 μg/m3)whereas, last year, the averageconcentration (for 24 hrs) for

PM10 ranged from 331 μg/m3to 951 μg/m3.

The minimum averagevalue was observed at CivilLines and maximum averagevalue was observed at Anand

Vihar. For PM 2.5 , this year,the average concentration (for24 hrs) for PM 2.5 ranged from69 μg/m3 to 1560 μg/m3.

The minimum value wasobserved at 3:00 pm and max-

imum value was observed at01:00 am. The location wiseminimum concentration wasobserved at Najafgarh (143μg/m3) and maximum con-centration was observed atAshok Vihar (1252 μg/m3)whereas, in 2017, the averageconcentration (for 24 hrs) forPM 2.5 ranged from 154 μg/m3to 440 μg/m3. The minimumaverage value was observed atCivil Lines and maximum aver-age value was observed at RKPuram.

According to data, Jahangirpuri, AshokVihar, Nehru Nagar, Wazirpur,Anand Vihar, Punjabi Baghand RK Puram are the areaswhere values of SuspendedParticulate Matters (SPMs)ranged between exceeded 1000μg/m3 .

Other areas such as; SoniaVihar, Patparganj, Vivek Vihar,Major Dhyanchand NationalStadium, Jwaharlal Nehru

Stadium, Dwarka, Mundka,Rohini, Okhla, Bawana and IGIAirport where value generallyis less than 1000 μg/m3, how-ever, Najafgarh, Alipur, Narela,Dr. Karni Singh shooting range,Shri Aurobindo Marg, Pusa,Civil Lines and Mandir Margare stations where values arefound less than 500 μg/m3.

In context of fire cracking,the Delhi Government alsoreleased the data of real time‘Noise Monitoring data thatwas undertaken at five loca-tions in 2018. Its range wasobserved from 64.4 dB (A) to74.0 dB (A), while in 2017 therange varied from 61.4 dB (A)to 68.2 dB (A).

“The level of pollutantsshowed an increase on the Diwali Day. The majorchanges observed after 8:00 pmwhen the fireworks started,” an official statement issued bythe Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)read.

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On the second anniversaryof demonetisation, Aam

Aadmi Party (AAP) convenerand Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal Thursdayquestioned the rationale behindthe Modi Government’s noteban move and termed it as “aself inflicted deep wound” onthe Indian economy.

Prime Minister NarendraModi on November 8, 2016,announced a ban on then in use�1000, �500 denomination banknotes with immediate effect.

“Though the list of finan-cial scams of Modi Govt is end-less, demonetisation was a selfinflicted deep wound on Indianeconomy which even two yearslater remains a mystery why thecountry was pushed into such

a disaster?”The sudden withdrawal of

notes led to a liquidity crunchwith serpentine queues seenoutside banks and ATMs toexchange old notes. The effectsof demonetisation including itsrole in culling black money andstemming terrorism andNaxalism as well as its impacton the economy are still beingdiscussed with the oppositionslamming the Modi govern-ment, terming its decision as“ill-advised” and “disastrous”for the country.

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Cracking the whip on viola-tors, south and north cor-

porations on Thursday issued256 challan for burning ofleaves/garbage which is a maincontributor of air pollution.Besides, the civic bodies sprin-kled water on various stretch-es to contain dust pollution.

A senior SDMC officialsaid that the civic body hasbeen continuously issuing chal-lans for ongoing constructionactivities despite its suspension;carrying uncovered construc-tion and demolition waste andburning of garbage.“Continuing the drive, 248

challans issued on Thursday,”he said.

He informed that westzone of SDMC issued 24 chal-lans under the NGT act forburning of leaves and garbage.Apart from these 60 challansissued under Delhi MunicipalCorporation (DMC) act.Further, it also deployedmechanical sweeper for clean-

ing dust on roads whereas 52tankers were deployed forsprinkling water with an aim tosettle down the dust, he said.

The official further saidthat taking similar action incentral zone; it issued 6 challansfor burning leaves and garbage.Apart from this 14 generalchallans and four mobileChallans were issued under theDMC Act, he said.

He further said two chal-lans issued under NGT Act forburning leaves and garbagethat under Najafgarh Zone.While, 19 challans issued forconstruction related activitiesand 13 challans for burningleaves and garbage, he said.

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New Delhi: Witnessing theincreasing pollution level in theNational Capital after theDiwali celebrations, the DelhiTransport Department hasdecided to ban the entry ofheavy and medium goods vehi-cles coming from neighbouringStates such as Haryana,Rajasthan and Uttar Pradeshfrom entering the NationalCapital for three nights. Theentry of heavy and goods vehi-cles in Delhi will start fromThursday (September 8) 11pm to till 11pm of November11 (Sunday).

The action was taken fol-

lowing the order ofEnvironment Pollution(Prevention and Control)Authority (EPCA). The pollu-tion control board on Tuesday(6th November) said that,“Post- Deepawali, there will besharp deterioration the airquality level because of low dis-persion and winds from thenorth-west which will bringemission to the region. Thus,the ban of entry of trucks andother vehicles should bebanned after Deepawalionwards. The traffic and civicbody are the responsible imple-menting agencies.” SR

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New Delhi: Defence MinisterNirmala Sitharaman andFinance Minister Arun Jaitleyon Thursday briefed theirCabinet colleagues on theadvantages of India achievinga 'nuclear triad' and the sign-ing of a currency swap agree-ment with Japan, highly-placedsources in the Governmentsaid.

The brief took place hereafter the Cabinet meeting wasover, they said.

The Ministers, in the pres-ence of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, were briefedabout how significant andadvantageous the two issues arefor India.

The briefing would helpMinisters put forth the views ofthe Government on the twoissues in a comprehensive man-ner, the sources explained.

Marking the country'snuclear triad, Indian nuclearsubmarine INS Arihant, or the"destroyer of enemies" has suc-cessfully completed its firstdeterrence patrol.

Modi had described it as afitting response to those whoindulge in "nuclear blackmail".

He had also made it clearthat "Our nuclear arsenal arenot a part of an aggressive pol-icy, but it is an importantmeans for peace and stability.Peace is our strength, not ourweakness. Our nuclear pro-gramme must be seen withregard to India's efforts to fur-ther world peace and stability."

A nuclear triad is a three-pronged military force struc-ture that consists of land-launched nuclear missiles,nuclear-missile-armed sub-marines and strategic aircraft

with nuclear bombs and mis-siles, according to a definitionavailable on the internet.

India and Japan had lastmonth concluded a $75 billionbilateral currency swap agree-ment, a move that will help inbringing greater stability inforeign exchange and capitalmarkets in the country.

The agreement will furtherstrengthen and widen thedepth and diversity of eco-nomic cooperation betweenthe two countries.

The swap agreement, aFinance Ministry's release hadsaid, should "aid in bringinggreater stability to foreignexchange and capital marketsin India... This facility willenable the agreed amount offoreign capital being availableto India for use as and whenneed arises". PTI

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In big success in drive againstthe misuse of money power

during elections, Hyderabadpolice have seized �7.51 crorecash, more than half of it in onesingle case.

With this, the total seizureof cash since the beginning ofTelangana State Assembly elec-tion process has gone up to �62crore. This was huge compareto �74 crore seized during theentire process in 2014. As onemore month has to go to thepolling on December 7, author-ities fear that the cash pile upwill continue and create a newrecord.

Hyderabad police com-missioner Anjani Kumar toldthe media that during thechecking of vehicles, a stash ofbundles of big current notes tothe tune of �5.47 crore wasfound in a Volvo car in poshBanjara Hills. A cash counting

machine and a revolver wasalso seized from them.

“Four persons were arrest-ed as they were not able to pro-duce any document to justifycarrying such a huge amount ofcash”, he said expressing doubtsthat the money had comethrough Hawala channel andwas meant for bribing the vot-ers.

Four persons arrestedinclude Ashish Kumar Ahuja,Sunil Kumar Ahuja, BhabutSingh Raj Purohit and driverMohammed Azam.

Commissioner’s TaskForce, Flying Squad and aStatic Surveillance Team tookpart in the operation.

“We are questioning thearrested persons about thesource and the destination ofthe money”, the commissionersaid. They have told the policethat the money was to be dis-tributed among the voters atdifferent places in the State.

Commissioner said thatthe Hawala operators haveopened bank accounts in thename of shell companies falsi-fying the documents to misleadbanks and the Government.Huge amounts were trans-ferred to these accounts, hesaid. The Central Crime Stationwill take up further investiga-tion, he said.

In another instance policeseized �2 crore from a vehicleon NTR Marg in the city.Smaller amount of �3.5 crorewas seized from Joshi Wada inthe old city.

Police have informed theIncome Tax and theEnforcement Directorate aboutthe seizure of the big amountsand they have taken up probein to the money trail to iden-tify those behind it.

With the latest seizure thepolice have stepped up their vigiland were strictly checking thevehicles at the all the check posts.

Etah (UP): Eleven cows died ofelectrocution at a 'gaushala'(cow shelter) here when theycame in contact with a live elec-tric wire, police said onThursday.

The incident took place atthe Gopal GaushalaWednesday night, they said.

Prima facie it appears thatthe cows came in contact withthe live wire as the gaushala waslit up with decorative lights onthe occasion of Diwali, policesaid. The matter is beingprobed, they said. PTI

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Agartala: Police on Thursdayarrested five people from aminority community forallegedly slaughtering a cow atBankul in South Tripura dis-trict.

The five were held on thebasis of a complaint from vil-lagers, they said.

"We arrested them onWednesday and placed theaccused before the court ofSub-divisional JudicialMagistrate of Sabroom. Thecourt released them on bail," SPJaal Singh Meena told PTI.

A case was lodged againstthe five — hailing from Assam'sKamrup area — under relevantsections of the IPC, Officer-in-Charge of Sabroom police sta-tion, Kamal Kar Choudhurysaid.

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From Page 1Since the money came into

bank accounts, the holders wereforced to file income returns,which went up from 3.8 crore inMay 2014 to 6.86 crore.

“By the time the first five yearsof this Government are over, wewill be close to doubling theassessee base,” he said.

Responding to criticism fromOpposition parties that it was aneconomic misadventure, Jaitleysaid India clocking the fastestgrowth rate has proved “prophetsof doom”, who had predicted thatdemonetisation will shave off 2per cent of growth rate, conclu-sively wrong.

“What has happened toprophets of doom who said India’s

GDP will decline by at least 2 percent. For the fifth year runningIndia will be the fastest growing(large) economy in the world. Itis continuing to happen. Soprophets of doom have beenproved wrong and conclusivelyproved wrong,” he later toldreporters here.

“Even when there was globalstress, we still manage to haverespectable growth rates and wehad the courage because of lead-ership of the Prime Minister thatwe took decisive steps and thesesteps which are not economical-ly correct, which have helped thesystem in the long run; and thelong run, in this case, does notmean generations,” the FinanceMinister added.

From Page 1CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury

alleged that Prime Minister through noteban had “singlehandedly” destroyed thelivelihood of people and the conomy of thecountry. The Government’s demonetisa-tion move was a disaster for the economyand the people, the CPI(M) general sec-retary said.

While Manmohan Singh asked theGovernment to not resort to furtherunorthodox, short-term economic mea-sures that can cause any more uncertain-ty in the economy, Rahul Gandhi allegedthat the Government’s move was a care-fully planned “criminal financial scam”whose full truth is yet to be revealed.

“Notebandi impacted every singleperson, regardless of age, gender, religion,occupation or creed. It is often said that

time is a great healer. But unfortunately,in the case of demonetisation, the scars andwounds of demonetisation are only gettingmore visible with time,” the former primeminister said.

The deeper ramifications of ‘note-bandi’ are still unravelling, he said. Smalland medium businesses that are the cor-nerstone of India’s economy are yet torecover from the demonetisation shock,Singh asserted.

“This has had a direct impact onemployment as the economy continues tostruggle to create enough new jobs for ouryouth,” he said, adding that the financialmarkets are volatile as the liquidity crisiswrought by demonetisation is taking itseventual toll on infrastructure lenders andnon-bank financial services firms.

In his strong criticism of demoneti-

sation, Singh said the full impact of thedemonetisation exercise is yet to beunderstood and experienced. “With adepreciating currency and rising globaloil prices, macro-economic headwindsare also starting to blow now. “It is there-fore prudent to not resort to furtherunorthodox, short-term economic mea-sures that can cause any more uncertaintyin the economy and financial markets.”Singh also urged the Government torestore certainty and visibility in eco-nomic policies.

“India will discover, no matter how theGovernment tries to hide it, that demon-etisation wasn’t just an ill-conceived andpoorly executed economic policy with‘innocent intent’, but a carefully planned,criminal financial scam,” Rahul Gandhisaid in a statement.

From Page 1Two CISF constables — Pathare

Satish and Pishal Suresh - were injuredin the attack, Pallava said.

Reinforcements were rushed to thespot and the injured personnel and bod-ies of the deceased shifted to a local hos-pital, he said.

Security forces have launched acombing operation in the area to tracethe ultras, the officer added.

According to another police official,the CISF personnel were from the ‘B’company of 502nd battalion, which hadarrived from Kolkata to Dantewada forelection duty.

The company has been deployed inthe iron ore deposit no.10 area on theBailadila hills.

The CISF has been guarding ironore facilities of the National MiningDevelopment Corporation in theBailadila hills of Dantewada.

On October 30, three police per-sonnel and a cameraman of nationalbroadcaster Doordarshan were killed ina Maoist attack in Dantewada’s Aranpurarea.

Before that, on October 27, fourCentral Reserve Police Force (CRPF)personnel were killed and two othersinjured after Maoists blew up their bul-letproof bunker vehicle in Bijapur dis-trict.

Naxalites have asked voters to boy-cott the upcoming state Assembly polls,being held in two phases on November12 and November 20.

The first phase is to be held in 18Naxal-affected constituencies of MadhyaPradesh’s Bastar region, that falls in thesouthern part of the central Indian state.

The remaining 72 constituencieswill go to the polls on November 20 andthe votes will be counted on December11.

From Page 1Asthana was booked for

allegedly receiving a bribe of �2crore from Hyderabad-basedbusinessman Satish Sanawhich was given through twomiddlemen Manoj Prasad andSomesh Prasad to sabotagethe probe against meatexporter Moin. On August 24,Asthana, in his complaint tothe Cabinet Secretary, had lev-elled allegations against Vermathat he got a bribe of �2 crorefrom Sana to help him getsome relief from questioning inthe matter.

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Isha Foundation has clarifiedthat Jaggi Vasudev who ispopularly known as Sadhguruwas not present at the Sant’gathering on Sunday,

November 4, 2018.In a statement, the Isha

Foundation said that Sadhguruwas in California, UnitedStates on that day.

The clarification came inresponse to a news report inThe Pioneer dated November4 referring Vasudev’s pres-

ence at a ‘Sant’ gathering in thenational capital on Sunday.

“The fact, however, is thatSadhguru was in California,United States on this day!This group of saints (Sadhguruis not one) reportedly passeda resolution asking for theGovernment to either bring an

ordinance or enact a law forthe construction of a RamTemple in Ayodhya. Sadhguruhas always maintained that thismatter is a civil dispute, sub-judice before the Hon’bleSupreme Court,” said Rahul ofIsha Foundation in a state-ment. The error is regretted.

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New Delhi: Six judges were onThursday transferred to dif-ferent High Courts includingJustice Nirmaljit Kaur, who isknown as a whistleblower inthe 2008 cash-in-bag scam.

Separate Law Ministrynotifications said JusticePavankumar BhimappaBajanthri, judge of the Punjaband Haryana High, standstransferred to the KarnatakaHigh Court. Similarly, JusticeSujit Narayan Prasad of theOrissa High Court was postedto the Jharkhand High Court

Justice Raghvendra SinghChauhan, a judge of theKarnataka High Court, wassent to the Telangana andAndhra Pradesh High Court.Justice Satrughana Pujahari ofthe Madras High Court wassent to the Orissa High Court.

Justice Rajeev Sharma ofthe Uttarakhand High Courtwas transferred to the Punjab

and Haryana High Court.Justice Kaur, a judge of the

Rajasthan High Court, wassent back to the Punjab andHaryana High Court. She wasthe whistleblower in the cash-in-bag scam of 2008. A clerk ofan advocate had erroneouslydropped a packet of Rs 15 lakhon the doorstep of Justice Kaur.She had then informed thepolice and the then chief jus-tice of the Punjab and HaryanaHigh court.

The CBI reportedly laterfound that the money wasmeant for another high courtjudge who has since retired.

Coimbatore: The NationalCommission for ScheduledCaste has directed the police tofile the chargesheet in the caserelated to recent beheading ofa teenage Dalit girl in a villagenear Athur in Salem district ofTamil Nadu.

The commission has takenup the case on its own and senta notice to the district Collectorand police department for fol-low-up, its vice-chairman LMurugan said on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters onthe sidelines of a function todistribute protective gears tosanitary workers here, he saidthe commission had directedthe police department to filethe chargesheet against the 27-year-old man, the accused, andtake steps to detain him underthe Goondas Act.

It had also asked the gov-ernment to decide on the com-pensation for the family of thegirl, he said.

The girl, daughter of alabourer, was beheaded by herneighbour last month after shehad rejected his advances.

Accused Dinesh Kumarhas been arrested and lodged inSalem jail.

Compared to Maharashtra,Andhra Pradesh and MadhyaPradesh, the condition of AdiDravidar hostels was poor inTamil Nadu and he had writ-ten to the government on this,Murugan added. PTI

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New Delhi: The Cabinet on Thursdayapproved the signing and ratifying ofan extradition agreement betweenIndia and Morocco.

The decision was taken at the UnionCabinet meeting chaired by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi. The agreementwill be signed during a proposed VIP visitfrom Morocco from November 11-18, anofficial statement said.

The agreement will provide astrong legal base for the extradition offugitive offenders who are accused ofeconomic offences, terrorism andother serious offences in one state andfound in the other state.

The Cabinet also approved theagreement between India and Moroccoon mutual legal assistance in civil andcommercial matters.

This agreement between Indiaand Morocco will enhance cooperationin the service of summons, judicialdocuments, letters of request and theexecution of judgments decrees andarbitral awards.

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The Central Zoo Authority(CZA) has questioned the

legality of the move by the StateForest Department to relocateRoyal Bengal Tigress Sundarifrom the Satkosia Tiger Reserveto the NandankananZoological Park.

Citing the National ZooPolicy, 1998, the authority shotoff a letter to the PrincipalChief Conservator of Forests(PCCF) to reconsider the deci-sion of shifting the tigress toNandankanan.

“Except for obtainingfounder animals for approvedbreeding programme and infu-sion of new blood into inbredgroups, no zoo can collect ani-mals from the wild,” the letterfrom the CZA highlighted.

The authority requested

the PCCF to take a decision inaccordance with the NationalZoo Policy.

The letter was in responseto a complaint filed by wildlife

activist Ajay Dubey, whotermed the decision of theState Government to transfertigress Sundari toNandankanan as illegal.

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Defecation in open took one life inPalamu. The shocking incident took

place at Shukra Bazaar locality under Rehlapolice station here, early morning onThursday. The place of occurrence is 39 kmsaway from Daltonganj and one and a half kmaway from Rehla Police Station.

The Officer in charge (OC) of Rehlapolice station Vishnu Singh said, “Thedeceased has been identified as Manager Ram(45). He was throttled to death. He was takendown to government Sadar Hospital inGarhwa town but as he was dead already hisfamily got him back midway between Garhwaand Rehla to Shukra Bazar.”

The OC said, “Three people have beenarrested. They are Mahender Kumar, ChhotuKumar and their mother Bijli Devi. One moreson of Bijli Devi Sanjay Kumar is an accusedof this murder who is absconding.”

OC further said, “Ram used to defecatein open and near the dwelling place of these

Kumars. It was opposed and protested by theKumars. Ram never took their protest andwarning any seriously. He repeated his habitthis morning and the result is so tragic.”

“Ram had his verbal duel with ChhotuKumar first. The two had a terrible bout ofhot talk today. They cried loud and swift.Then they calmed down but this calmnesswas deceptive,” he added.

“Chhotu Kumar went home and took twomore brothers Mahender Kumar and SanjayKumar with him and then the three pouncedupon Ram who was gagged to death,” addedthe OC.

Police said it would verify if there is toi-let in the house of Ram or not. Police also saidif Ram had toilet and then he had this habitof enraging the Kumars by defecating in openand near his dwelling place every morningthen his intention could not be any friendlybut inimical to the Kumars as locals vouchedthere that Ram and the Kumars used to havethis early morning word of war every day overthe last many days here.

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Chief Minister Raghubar Das onThursday said that the State

Government is pursuing on a projectto promote medical tourism in theState. The idea is to develop suchinfrastructure so that patients aretempted to visit the State for bettermedical care.

Addressing a press conference atSurya Mandir in Sidhgora, Das saidthat the ground breaking ceremony ofa 500-bed hospital will be performedsoon at MGM Medical College. Heinformed that the government hasallotted land for Manipal MedicalCollege in Jamshedpur, by removingall the inconsistencies. From 2019, chil-dren will study MBBS in this univer-

sity. The Chief Minister said that theGovernment wants to developJharkhand as a medical hub.“We alsowant to cultivate skills for compounders,housekeeping, and nursing. In next fouryears, with the concept of five medicalcolleges at Dumka, Palamu, Hazaribagh,Koderma and Chaibasa 1200 youth willget medical degree each year,” said Das.

The Chief Minister said thatYouths are being trained in the areasof Engineering, Medical, Professor,Teacher, Nursing, and their talents.The government is working to honeskills of workforce.

The Chief Minister also informedthat starting from the next year, 28lakh farmers of the State will get a freesmartphone by 2020, so that the farm-ers of the State can get the benefits.

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In an effort to sustain thetempo of modernisation and

operational preparedness, theDefence Ministry hasenhanced the financial powersof the Vice Chiefs of threeServices from �100 crore to�500 crore for procuring armsand ammunition. This willenable the armed forces toincrease the reserves of armsand ammunition.

The decision comes in thebackdrop of critical shortagesof these items and theComptroller and AuditorGeneral(CAG) pointing out inone of its report tabled inParliament that the Army doesnot have the adequate reservesfor fighting an intense ten-daywar. The shortage ranges frombullets, rifles, shells for artillery,rockets and other relatedammunition for the threeServices.

To speed up the process offilling these gaps in reserves,the Ministry on Thursdayannounced the decision to del-egate greater financial decision-making powers to three ViceChiefs in order to expedite the

decision making processinvolved in the revenue pro-curements of the ArmedForces.

With the new delegation,the Vice Chiefs will be able toexercise financial powers up tofive times more than the exist-ing powers with an enhancedceiling of �500 crore. This islikely to give another fillip tothe capacity of the three ArmedForces. Officials said DefenceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanhas taken this important deci-sion to augment the arms andammunition reserves of theArmed Forces to enhance theiroperational preparedness.

Procurement through rev-enue route is an ongoingprocess unlike capital pro-curements for which theDefence AcquisitionCouncil(DAC) and the CabinetCommittee on Security(CCS)has to give an approval beforethe contracts are inked.

The enhanced powers tothe Vice Chiefs will enablethem to take decisions on theirown as earlier they had to seekthe Defence Ministry approvalfor procurements over �100crores, sources said. Moreover,the armed forces can now buyvarious items ranging fromrifles to ammunition for tanks,

artillery, fighter jets and war-ships on a faster pace.

Meanwhile, Sitharaman onFriday will take part in theinduction ceremony of M-777ultra light howitzers and K-9artillery guns at ArtilleryCentre, Deolali, Maharashtra.Four M-777 guns and ten K-9long range artillery guns will beinducted on Friday.Incidentally, these two artilleryguns are the first to be induct-ed after nearly three decadessince the Bofors scandal stalledartillery modernisation.

India had inked a contractfor 100 Vajra K-9 Tself pro-pelled guns of 155mm caliberwith a striking range of 28-38km range in 2017 for �4,300crores. The next lot of 40 gunswill come in November nextyear and remaining lot of 50guns in 2020, officials said.This gun will be deployed inthe plains and can fire threerounds in 30 seconds, 15rounds in three minutes inintense firing mode and 60rounds in 60 minutes in thesustained firing mode. Theseguns are manufactured underBuy Global procedure of Indiain a joint venture and will

have up to 50 per cent localcontent under a joint venturebetween Larsen and Tourboand South Korea’s HanwhaTechwin.

As regards the M-777, theArmy is procuring these how-itzers through the foreign mili-tary sale(FMS) route from theUS. The total contract is for 145guns worth over �5,000 crores tobe deployed in the mountainsfor the newly raised Strike Corpsto fight China. The gun has astrike range of 30 kms and canbe airlifted through helicoptersand aircraft to remote and inac-cessible forward posts located onthe Line of Actual Control(LAC)facing China. The contract wasinked in November 2016. TheBAE systems manufacturesthese howitzers.

While the first lot of fourwill be inducted on Friday,from June next year starts thenext batch arrives and then onin phases. The induction rate isexpected to be five guns permonth till complete consign-ment is received by mid 2021.Made of titanium, each gunweighs 4,000 kg making itstransportable by helicoptersand aircraft.

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Country’s first Multi-ModalTerminals is all set to be

dedicated by Prime MinisterNarendra at his VaranasiParliamentary constituency onMonday. This is the first of thethree Multi-Modal Terminalsand two Inter-Modal Terminalsbeing constructed on theGanga river. Modi is alsoscheduled to receive India’sfirst container vessel name MVRabindranath Tagore that hassailed from Kolkata on October30, 2018, carrying cargo toVaranasi. Container movementon an inland waterway in Indiais being done for the first timepost-independence.

The MMTs are being builtas part of the Government’s JalMarg Vikas project that aims todevelop the stretch of RiverGanga between Varanasi toHaldi for navigation of largevessels upto1,500-2,000 tonnesweight, by maintaining adrought of 2-3 metres in thisstretch of the river and settingup other systems required forsafe navigation.

The project of multi-modal

terminal and proposed FreightVillage at Varanasi are expect-ed to generate 500 directemployment and more than2,000 indirect employmentopportunities.

The objective is to promoteinland waterways as a cheaperand more environment friend-ly means of transport, espe-cially for cargo movement.Inland Waterways Authority ofIndia (IWAI) is the projectImplementing Agency

The JMVP is being imple-mented on the Haldia-Varanasistretch of National Waterway-1 (NW-1) with the technicalassistance and investment sup-port of the World Bank, at an

estimated cost of �5,369.18crores ($800 million, of which$375 is IBRD loan) on a 50:50sharing basis betweenGovernment of India and theWorld Bank.

The project entails con-struction of 3 multimodal ter-minals (Varanasi, Sahibganjand Haldia); 2 intermodalterminals; 5 Roll On — RollOff (Ro-Ro) terminal pairs;new navigation lock atFarakka; assured depth dredg-ing; integrated vessel repair &maintenance faci l ity,Dif ferential GlobalPositioning System (DGPS),River Information System(RIS), river training & riverconservancy works.

In a separate event thesame day, Prime Minister willalso inaugurate two NationalHighways projects — theBabatpur-Varanasi Airportroad and Varanasi Ring Road.In addition to this, he will alsoinaugurate some sewerage pro-jects in the city and lay foun-dation stone for a projectunder Namami Gange pro-gramme of National Missionfor Clean Ganga.

New Delhi: The RajasthanGovernment has told theSupreme Court that no illegalmining was going on in 115.34hectares of land in Aravalli areaof the State.

The chief secretary ofRajasthan has filed an affidavitin the apex court which had onOctober 23 expressed shockover 31 “vanished” hills orhillocks in Aravalli area and hadasked the State Government tostop illegal mining in 115.34-hectare area there within 48hours. “It is stated on affidavitfiled by D B Gupta who is chief

secretary of the Government ofRajasthan that there is no illegalmining going on in respect of115.34 hectares of land, as men-tioned in our order datedOctober 23, 2018,” a benchheaded by Justice Madan BLokur noted in its October 29order. In the affidavit, the chiefsecretary has also said thatapproximately 27 per centground truthing of the area hasbeen done and serious effortswould be made to complete theentire exercise within a periodof three months as per directionsof the top court.

Ground truthing is an exer-cise conducted to ascertain theempirical evidence at the actu-al site. The apex court posted thematter for further hearing afterthree months.

On October 23, the topcourt had observed that thoughRajasthan was earning a royal-ty of around �5,000 crore frommining activities in Aravalli, itcannot endanger the lives oflakhs of people in Delhi as dis-appearance of hills there couldbe one of reasons for rise in pol-lution level in the national cap-ital region (NCR). PTI

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With an eye on the LokSabha polls, Chief

Minister Yogi Adityanath hasstepped up efforts to expand hisinfluence in the most backwardcommunities living in the for-est protected regions of theEastern Uttar Pradesh by grant-ing their villages the status ofrevenue villages, entitling themto land rights as also access toration card, electricity, water,toilets, health centres andschools.

It is estimated that over50,000 villagers may thus bebrought into the ‘mainstream’by the the Yogi Government.This could give theGovernment a leg-up in back-ward communities and send apolitical message across thestate with a tough election bat-tle only six-month away.

Twenty three ‘Vantangiyavillages’ inhabitated by back-ward caste, mostly belonging to‘Nishad’ community ofGorkhpur and Maharganj dis-tricts, have been accorded sta-

tus of revenue villages inOctober 17, 2017.The processof giving similar status to thevillages in Balrampur district isunder process.

The decision marked theend of long struggle by theseforest dwelling community fortheir permanent land rights.They were brought and settledhere by the British around1922 from different places forgrowing seasonal crops in thespace lying between the trees,

Post-Independent, in eighties‘Vantangiyas’ were sought to beevicted by forest department,triggering series of conflicts.

The Forest Rights Act ,2006, enacted when BSP was inpowerm, gave them land titles.It is now that ‘Vantangiyas’ lookforward to a ‘permanent set-tlement’ of their issues, though, for many there is still a longway to go. “ Jitna kabbja thautna nahin mila”, complainsRam Sukhdev Nishad at ̀ Aam

Bagh` village saying the entirestretch of the land he was cul-tivating for decades was notallotted him.

Yogi and his GorakhnathMath’s sustained interest in thecommunity who are a mix ofOBC & Scheduled caste hasnow brought ‘Vantangiyas’from neglect to seemingly lime-light.

Chief Minister’s supporterssay Yogi as an MP had first cel-ebrated ‘Diwali’ withVantangiyas’ in 2007 and sincethan he has been visiting themfrequently.

Yogij paid visit to`Tinkonia-3’ village onNovember 7, to celebrateDiwali with them.

The Chief Minister hasordered speeding up the devel-opment programmes in for`Vantangiya’ villagers after hav-ing brought them under therevenue map, says RanvijaySingh ‘Munna’, Gram Pradhan,and a Yogi confidante.

District magistrate KVijendra Pandiyan says withYogi’s initiative “reserve forestvillages were converted to rev-

enue villages”. Gorakhpur Commissioner

Amit Gupta also avers that‘Vantangiya’, would have a bet-ter life after the Yogi govern-ment accorded them revenuevillage status last year.

As one enters the`Tinkonia-3’ village, close toGorakhpur, a tent school isbeing run for class one to five(148 students) as also a juniorschool from class six to eight(31 students) with childrenvociferously repeating what‘Sahayak’ teacher Rekha Singhis reading out to them.

“ Yogi started the first schoolhere in 2007 under the bannerof Guru Goraksha Sansthan”,says Meena Singh, BlockDevelopment Officer, Chargaon,walks you around. “ No pakkisadak or bus service though, 108& 102 ambulance service isprovided for now”, says Singh.

With Yogi himself takinginterest and monitoring thedevelopment works afteraccording revenue village sta-tus to ‘Vantangiya’ villages,central and State Governmentpromoted development

schemes are flowing in offi-cially. The villagers are gradu-ally having access to rationcards, AAdhar cards and drink-able water from what they callTTSP (Tap, Tap, Stardard Post)with several taps around onepost.

“Their name did not fig-ure in 2011 census and couldnot be beneficiary of the cen-tral schemes”, says JBKhuswaha, AdditionalDevelopment Officer, who alsomentions that ‘Vantagiyas’ didnot have voting rights untilrecent years.

With the official machin-ery in action and moving inregularly, the villagers hope thatall of them would be voting inthe Lok Sabha-2019 polls .

Though in 2015,‘Vantangiyas’ participated inPanchyat elections but only asvoters attached to other gramPanchayats.

The caste certificates toowhich were earlier denied tothem may now be delivered tothem, giving ‘Vantagiyas’ lifeadvantages in the caste-drivenState.

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Taking note of ongoing crisisin Mizoram, the Election

Commission has summonedState chief electoral officer SBShashank and set up a three-member committee to lookinto the allegations. After the ECdecision, the protest was calledoff by NGO CoordinationCommittee demanding theremoval of Shashank.

Earlier, the EC has set up ahigh-level committee headed bya deputy election commission-er to hold talks with protestorsseeking ouster of the Mizorampoll panel chief. The Mizoramis slated to go to polls November28 to elect its new Assembly.

In a statement, the EC saidit has accepted the broad con-tours of the resolution passed bythe Mizoram’s NGOs coordi-nation committee, spearheadingthe protest, after its delegation’sdeliberations with the EC. “TheElection Commission has alsodecided to depute a high-levelteam led by Mizoram Deputyelection Commissioner SudeepJain to hold further delibera-tions on their resolution,” the

statement said. Jharkhand ChiefElectoral Officer LalbiaktluangaKhiangte, who is also a Mizo,has been included in the ECpanel.

Members of the influentialNGOs including Young MizoAssociation (YMA) had blockedthe office of CEO at Aizawldemanding his removal for hisreported “pro-Bru refugee”stance and his role in the trans-fer of Mizoram principal secre-tary (home), LalnunmawiaChuaungo, recently.

Shashank had earlierdefended Chuaungo’s transfersaying the latter was found“interfering” in preparation ofelectoral rolls for Bru refugeesand deployment of central secu-rity forces.

About 40,000 Brus had fledethnic violence in 1997 and havesince spent their lives in refugeecamps in adjoining Tripurawhen they had fled Mizoramfollowing an ethnic clash withthe Christian Mizos. A fewreturned after a quadripartiteagreement signed among theMinistry of Home Affairs, theGovernments of Mizoram andTripura, and a group repre-senting the refugees.

The NGOs demand that theBru should cast their votes inMizoram and not in reliefcamps as is being planned by theEC. The principal secretary(home) had reportedly tried tostop an EC’s decision to allowBru refugees cast their votes inrelief camps.

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The Congress is set toemerge victorious in

Assembly election in Rajasthan,Madhya Pradesh andChhattisgarh, according to asurvey conducted by ABP-Cvoters.

As per the survey, theCongress will get 42.6 per centvote shares while the ruling BJPwill get 40.9 per cent votes inthe Assembly polls in MadhyaPradesh.

The picture changes dra-matically in the Lok Sabhapolls. BJP will get 50.2 per centvote while the Congress get 37per cent votes in LS polls. Theothers will get 4.8 per centvotes. In the survey,Jyotiraditya Scindia ofCongress remained the topchoice for the Chief Ministerpost with 42.5 per cent of therespondents followed byShivraj Singh Chouhan with 37per cent of the respondentsfavouring the BJP leader.Interestingly, only 8.2 per centrespondents want to see veter-an Congressman and two-timeChief Minister Kamal Nath asthe head of the State oncemore.

In Rajasthan Assemblypolls , the survey predicted thatthe Congress is expected tosnap up 44.8 per cent vote sharewhile BJP may get 33.2 percent. Chief MinisterVasundhara Raje seems to bestruggling against a stronganti-incumbency factor.

However, if the Lok Sabhapolls is held, the Congress isexpected to get 36 per cent voteshare while BJP will get 47.5per cent vote share. The Voters’

spontaneous preferences forChief Minister are as —Vasundhara Raje 21.6 per cent,Ashok Gehlot 22 per cent andSachin Pilot 38.8 per cent.

In Chhattisgarh, the sur-vey predicted that the Congressis expected to get 36.9 per centvote share while BJP will get34.7 per cent vote share in theAssembly polls. In the LokSabha polls, the Congress isexpected to get 40.1 per centvote share while BJP to get 41.7per cent vote share. RamanSingh is projected as the mostfavorable leader for the CMpost, while Ajit Jogi is morepreferred than any Congressleader.

In release, the ABP-C-vot-ers said, “The data is weightedto the known demographicprofile of the States. Sometimesthe table figures do not sum to100 due to the effects of round-ing. Our final data file hasSocio-Economic profile with-in +/- 1% of the Demographicprofile of the State. We believethis will give the closest possi-ble trends. The Tracking PollFieldwork covers random prob-ability samples during the last7 days from the release date.The sample spread is across allAssembly segments in the poll-bound States. MoE is +/- 3% atmacro level and +/- 5% atmicro level with 95%Confidence interval.”

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New Delhi: Vice President MVenkaiah Naidu will be on athree-day visit to Paris startingFriday to represent India at theArmistice of World War I cen-tenary commemoration, theMinistry of External Affairssaid Thursday.

Heads of State orGovernment of over 50 coun-tries and their representatives areexpected to participate in thecentenary activities, it said.

On Sunday, the VicePresident will attend the cere-mony to commemorate thearmistice of World War I at Arcde Triomphe, presided over byFrench President EmmanuelMacron. During the visit, thatcomes at the invitation of theFrench Government, Naidu willalso address the Indian com-munity on Friday and will inau-gurate the Indian War Memorialat Villers Guislain on Saturday.“As part of the ArmisticeCentenary, the FrenchGovernment will also be host-

ing the Paris Peace Forum,which will take place in Parisfrom November 11-13. TheForum is envisioned as a recur-ring, annual event to promotegovernance solutions in fivekey areas: Peace and Security,Environment, Development,New Technologies, and InclusiveEconomy,” the ministry said ina statement.

The vice president willspeak at a high-level panel dis-cussion titled ‘Dialogue of theContinents on GlobalGovernance’, it said.

He will also hold a numberof bilateral meetings on thesidelines of the Paris PeaceForum, the statement said.

India was one of largest con-tributors of soldiers duringWorld War I. India’s participa-tion at the Armistice Centenaryceremony will be a befitting trib-ute to the sacrifices made bythese soldiers, underliningIndia’s historical contribution toglobal peace and security. PTI

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Silver leaf or ‘chandi ka vark’manufacturers beware! If

found using any material ofanimal origin in silver leaf(chandi ka vark), which is usedfor decorating sweets, youcould face legal action.

Silver leaf or vark is usednot only in sweets and confec-tionaries like cakes and choco-lates but also in syrups like thatof Kesar (saffron) and as aningredient in various ayurvedicand herbal products, summerdrinks and Chyawanprash, etc.

Following green signalfrom the Delhi High Court, theFood Safety and StandardsAuthority of India (FSSAI) hasstepped up its efforts to tight-en the noose around theunscrupulous business opera-tors using any material of ani-mal origin during the manu-facturing process of silver leaf.As per the FSSAI, only veg-processed hygienic silver leaf is

allowed to be sold in the coun-try.

The top food regulator hasasked its counterparts in theStates to crack down on theviolators.

Though it was way back in2016, the FSSAI had issued anotification with an aim toend the widely-used unhy-gienic practice of using animalparts in the manufacture of“Vark”, it was put on hold fol-lowing Delhi High Courtorder. However, early thisyear, the Court vacated thestay paving way for imple-mentation of the ban on usageof animal parts while manu-facturing the silver leaf in thefood industry.

The notification followedreports that “chandi ka vark’was being made by hammeringthin sheets of silver in themiddle of sheets made of abull’s intestines. After slaugh-tering the bull, its intestines areremoved immediately and sold

to the manufacturers of foils.There had been several

complaints against the existingmethod of manufacturing ofthe silver leaves, as there werehygiene and safety issues. Thenotification aims to streamlinethe manufacturing process,ensure quality and safety.

Shubh Choukesy, Directorof Delhi-based Shree JagannathJi Sterling Product PrivateLimited which is engaged inmanufacturing silver foilsthrough a purely vegetarianprocess with the help of fullyautomatic and computerisedmachines with new technolo-gy, said, “it is high-time that thehygienic method is promotedto save the consumers fromvarious diseases.”

He pointed out that theFSSAI guidelines specify normsregarding thickness, weightand purity of the silver leaf. Themanufacturers will also have tofollow the labelling standardslike any other food products.

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Apropos a news reporttitled “DSP Mishra levels

allegations against 3 IPS offi-cers” published on November4 edition of The Pioneer, theCBI said, “It is clarified thatthe case was entrusted toCBI by the High Court ofChhattisgarh and was regis-tered in CBI on 11.02.2015.CBI took over the investiga-tion of the case which was

earlier registered byChhattisgarh Police vide FIR12/2011 at Police StationChhura on the allegationsthat Shri Umesh Rajput, aJournalist of Chhura,Gariyaband (Chhattisgarh)was shot dead at his residencein the evening of 23.01.2011.After the investigation, CBIfiled a chargesheet against theaccused persons and the courtframed charges on the same.The case is under trial in the

Court at Raipur. The matteris sub judice. Allegationsmade against officers of CBIin the story is denied”.

The Pioneer news reportwas based on a three-pagecomplaint of CBI DSP NPMishra sent to the CBIDirector on June 21, 2018“Through Proper Channel”.The reporter also contactedthe CBI spokesperson andduly incorporated his com-ments in the story.

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The All Assam Students’Union (Aasu) and 28

other organisat ions onThursday staged a agitation atDispur area protesting againstthe Citizenship (Amendment)Bill 2016 in Assam and threat-ened to isolate the ruling BJPin the next elections inAssam.

Hundreds of people tookpart in a massive rally orga-nized by the Aasu and otherorganizations shouting slo-gans against the BJP led gov-ernment in Assam and ChiefMinister SarbanandaSonowal.

“This is just a warning tothe BJP led government inAssam today. The Citizenship(Amendment) Bill 2016 mustbe cancelled and there cannotbe any compromise on that.Assam Chief MinisterSarbananda Sonowal musthave the courage to say no tothe Bill,” said Aasu adviserSamujjal Bhattacharyya whileaddressing the rally today.

“The BJP has promised todeport the i l legalBangladeshis. But it did nothappen. The indigenous peo-ple are supposed to get con-st itut ional safeguard.However, nothing happened,”he said adding that the indige-nous people are being tor-tured by the move to executethe proposed constitutionalamendment bill.

Aasu president, DipankKumar Nath said that thepeople of Assam voted theBJP in 2016 for a change.“However, the BJP led gov-ernment is behaving the same

way the Congress did. We arenot going to accept theCitizenship (Amendment)Bill, which will threaten theindigenous communities inAssam,” nath said.

He also said that while theCongress government sym-pathized with the religiousminority people for the sakeof vote bank politics, the BJPgovernment is also sympa-thizing with the linguisticminorities (Hindu Bengalis)for the sake of vote bank ofpolitics,” he said adding thatthe organizations will takemassive agitation measures ifthe Bill is not scraped.

“The Centre is out toinsult the Assam Accord byamending the CitizenshipAct. We’re not going to let thathappen. We’ll continue ourprotest till the Centre cancelsthe Citizenship (Amendment)Bill, 2016. This government inAssam bfore coming to powerspoke of jaati, maati andbheti, but it has pushed theState towards crisis by tryingto execute the Bill. In thishour of crisis, we appeal to alllinguistic and ethnic groupsof the State to oppose the Billunitedly,” Nath appealed.

The organizations todaymade it clear that the demo-cratic movement crusadeagainst the Citizenship(Amendment) Bill, 2016; theForeigners (Amendment)Order, 2015; the Passport(Entr y into India)Amendment Rules, 2015 andthe proposed long-term visasto people from Bangladesh,Pakistan and Afghanistanwould continue until theyare cancelled.

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Most of the business estab-lishments across Gujarat

would remain close and roadsof majority cities and townswould wear deserted look tillNovember 11th in wake ofGujarati New Year and extend-ed Diwali vacation.

As per Hindu GujaratiCalendar Diwali is the last dayof the year. Traditionally busi-nessmen and professionalskeep their establishments closeafter Diwali and start workingfrom ‘Labh Pancham’ – FifthDay post Diwali after offeringpuja.

During Diwali vacation,most of the businessmen pre-fer to travel across the globe.Most of the Hotels situated attourist places within Gujarat aswell as across the nation wouldbe full of Gujaratis for the next4-5 days. Moneyed Gujaratiswould go abroad after offeringPuja on the day of Diwali andthe next day – Gujarati NewYear which they call ‘BesatuVarsh’.

Most of the exotic touristdestinations in the countrySimala, Manali, Nainital,

Kerala, places in adjoiningRajasthan, Madhya Pradeshand Maharashtra as well asacross North India would bethronged by Gujaratis for nextfew days. According toDevendra Shah, a travel agentmost of these destinationswere book well in advance.Large numbers of people aretravelling in Far East countriesthat include Thailand,Malaysia and Pataya andBangkok, says Shah.

Meanwhile Gujarat ChiefMinister Vijay Rupani onThursday exchanged VikramSamvat-2075 New Year greet-ings with people.Accompanied by his wife

Anjaliben, Rupani began hisNew Year Day by visitiing toPanchdev Mahadev Mandirin Gandhinagar and BhadraKali Temple in Ahmedabad.He met people and exchangingNew Year’s greetings atCommunity Centre at theMinisters’ Conclave atGandhinagar and at CircuitHouse Annexe at Shahibaug inAhmedabad.

Rupani said the country isin for changes while Gujarat iscommitted to improve thecondition of the poor, have-nots, Dalits, suppressed andoppressed and attempt toensure Gujarat exceled in agri-culture, education, health, rural

and social sectors. He alsoprayed for the return of goodgovernance and developmentunder the Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s leadershipand that people reposed faith

on him in the forthcoming LokSabha elections.

He went to Raj Bhawan tomeet Governor O.P. Kohli andexchange New Year greetings.Rupani also met senior police

officers and their family mem-bers at the Police Officers’Mess at Shahibaug Dafnala. Helauded the role of forces inmaintaining peace, safety andsecurity of the people.

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The post-mortem conductedon the carcass of tigress

Avni, which was shot dead bythe Maharashtra Government-hired sharpshooter in forests ofPandharkawada in Yavatmaldistrict last week, has revealedthat the wild cat “died of exces-sive internal haemorrhages andcardio respiratory failure".

"In our opinion, the tigresshas died of excessive internalhaemorrhages and cardio res-piratory failure," the post-mortem report submitted tothe State forest authorities onNovember 5 stated.

The post-mortem was con-ducted by a team of doctors atthe Forest DevelopmentCorporation of MaharashtraLtd-run GorewadaInternational Standard ZooRescue Centre in Nagpur.

The post-mortem reportalso stated that Avni's stomachwas "fluid filled and no majorsolid contents", while her smallintestines was "fluid and gasfilled" The large intestines were"fluid and gas filled".

One of the forensic expertswho part of the team that con-ducted the post-mortem con-ducted on the deceased tigress

said that Avni was hungrywhen she was shot.

Avni, aged between fiveand 6 years, was being accom-panied by her two cubs – both10 year old ones, when she wasshot by sharp shooter AsgarAli, son of controversial sharp-shooter Nawab Shafath AliKhan from Hyderabad, at com-partment number 149 of Boratiforest under the jurisdiction ofthe Ralegaon police station.

The two cubs have gonemissing since the tigress waseliminated on the night ofNovember 2. The forestdepartment officials havelaunched its massive search tosecure the two missing cubs.

The ballistic tests andchemical analysis are beingcurrently conducted at theRegional Forensic Laboratoryin Nagpur, reports of whichreports are awaited.

The elusive tigress T1,better known as Avni ofPandharkawada hills - thathad allegedly mauled asmany as 13 persons to deathduring the past two years inYavatmal district in Vidarbharegion in Maharashtra – wasshot dead on the night ofNovember 2, after a massive53-day hunt.

The elimination of Avnihas sparked a major contro-versy, with Union Women &Child development ministerand animal rights activistManeka Gandhi dubbing thetigress’ elimination as "straightcase of crime” and virtuallyrooting for Mungantiwar's dis-missal from the DevendraFadnavis Cabinet.

After issuing a detailedstatement on the issue,Maneka has also taken up thematter with Maharashtra chiefminister Devendra Fadnavis.“I request you to fix theresponsibility for the illegalkilling of the tigress and con-sider removing Mugantiwarfrom the responsibility of theMinistry of Environment and

Forest in the state govern-ment. I have personallyknown you an animal welfareperson and I am sure you willconsider my request,” Manekawrote in her letter to theChief Minister.

On his part, theMaharashtra government onMonday ordered a probe intothe killing of Pandharkawada

Tigress T1, who was believed tobe responsible for deaths of sev-eral people, to ascertainwhether “there were any laps-es in the operation” by the stateForest department. “The probewill address all questions beingraised by Union ministerManeka Gandhi,” Fadnavissaid.

In a strongly worded state-ment issued two days afterAvni’s elimination, Manekahad said: “This is the third tigerbeing killed on directions of theEnvironment and ForestMinister. Earlier, a dozen leop-ards and 300 wild boars havebeen killed on his directions. Iam shocked that such a personis continuing to hold a minis-terial position,” Gandhi said ina strongly worded statement

Maneka, who had initiallyput out a series of tweets on theincident, said in her statement:“It (the killing) is nothing buta straight case of crime. Despiterequests from his own forestdepartment and People all overIndia, Sh Sudhir Mugantiwar,Minister for Environment andForests, Maharashtra gaveorders for the killing”.

Terming Avni’s killing as“illegal”, Maneka had said:“Every time he has used the

Hyderabad shooter, Shafat AliKhan and this time his son hasalso appeared on the scene ille-

gally to kill the tigress. His sonwas not authorised to kill. Thisis patently illegal”.

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Government has initiated ascheme to provide free education and vocational training to thechildren of those fishermen who died or went missing in the 2017Ockhi cyclonic storm.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said 194 students have beenidentified as beneficiaries.

"A total of 194 students, which includes children at all lev-els, from lower primary to professional colleges, have been iden-tified as beneficiaries.

The government will provide vocational training to 124 stu-dents who have completed graduation," Vijayan said in his offi-cial Twitter handle Thursday.

He also said Rs 13.92 crore would be allocated from the ChiefMinister's Disaster Relief Fund.

The scheme envisages a package of Rs 10,000 per year forchildren in classes from LKG to Class V, Rs 25,000 for childrenin classes 6 to 10, Rs 30,000 for higher secondary students andup to Rs 1,00,000 for students doing graduation.

"The project will continue till 2037," Vijayan said.Ockhi was a Category three level tropical cyclone that had

hit the shores of Kerala in November 2017. PTI

Kochi: The Kerala High Courton Thursday turned down abail plea by a man arrested lastmonth, saying protests againstthe entry of women to theSabarimala temple were unac-ceptable.

"The protests at Sabarimalaare not acceptable as it isagainst the verdict of theSupreme Court," a High CourtBench said, rejecting therequest for bail by Kochi resi-dent Govind Madhusudhan.

"If the bail application isconsidered, it will send wrongsignals and similar incidentswill recur again," the court said.

Madhusudhan was arrest-

ed at the temple town duringprotests against the entry ofwomen in the age group of 10to 50, effectively opening up theshrine to all women.

The police have arrestedover 3,500 people and regis-tered close to 540 cases.Around 100 people are still injudicial custody.

The protesters last monthprevented 12 women fromentering the temple. Similarprotests were seen when thetemple opened for a day onNovember 5 when threewomen were forced to returnwithout offering prayers.

IANS

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Attacking the NarendraModi Government on the

second anniversary of demon-etisation, Mamata Banerjee onThursday said the poor peopleof the country were cheated asnever before by the “so-callednotebandi” which made themthe worst sufferers and “theywill give a befitting reply” to theperpetrators of the “biggest

scam” India had seen.Meanwhile, even as the

Congress and the Left partiestoo attacked the Centre ondemonetisation, formerFinance Minister PChidambaram on Thursday

said a Karnataka-type alliancewould be required to defeat theBJP.

Batting in favour of whathe called “strategic alliances”Chidambaram said “strategicalliance will definitely benefit

the Congress” and the “bestway to defeat the BJP is to workout State-wise alliances.” Headded, “one kind of the allianceis formed in Karnataka.Similar kinds of alliancesshould be built in differentStates.”

In a sudden move, thePrime Minister had onNovember 8, 2016 announcedthe demonetisation of �500and �1,000 notes with apromise of filtering out theblack money.

The move, however, failedto hit the multiple targets it wasaiming at, prompting theBengal Chief Minister to call it the “darkest day of

India.” There was a definiteagenda behind the decisionshe said wondering “for whose benefit it wasmeant.”

She asked, “Why was thedecision taken and who ben-efited from the decision?”adding “I have a suspicionthat the decision was taken tosatisfy the agenda of a fewpeople.”

After the “so-calleddemonetisation” the agricul-tural sector, small businessmen,farmers, labourers, domesticworkers and small traders hadsuffered the most, Banerjeesaid claiming how she sawpeople crying “after which I

really realised that it was a totaldisaster.”

She said how, “the econo-my is now totally depressed,business is now finished andoppressed and common peopleare completely suppressed,”whereas the “value of Rupeehas gone down.”

The common people ofIndia who had reposed faith inthe Government felt cheated byit and those who had sufferedthe most would now give abefitting reply to the BJP-ledGovernment, Banerjee saidapparently predicting a belowpar electoral performance forthe saffron outfit in the com-ing elections.

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The clamour for fixing theresponsibility for the

elimination of “Avni” inten-sified on Thursday, with envi-ronmentalists writing toPrime Minister NarendraModi demanding an “impar-tial” inquiry into the tigress’killing by the NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA).

A wildlife-centric site,natureconnect.com has writ-ten to Modi demanding aprobe by the NIA, while theNGO, Resqink Associationfor Wildlife Welfare (RAWW)has sought a CBI probe intothe tigress’ killing onNovember 2.

Natureconnect’s founderB. N. Kumar said that hisorganisation looked forwardto the Prime Minister, beingthe Chairman of National

Board for Wildlife, orderingan “impartial” investigationby NIA to unearth factsabout Avni’s killing in view ofthat in her case, the guidelinesof National TigerConservation Authority(NTCA) had been allegedlyflouted.

Satpuda Foundation’sKishor Rithe said the investi-gations must go into theman-animal conflicts pre-vailing in the Yavatmal forestsin view of the fact 13 humanlives were lost in the regionduring the last two years.

Karnataka-based veteri-narian Prayag H. S. said Avni’stwo orphaned 10-month cubsmust be secured immediate-ly. He also said after goingthrough the findings oif thetigress' autopsy report, hewould move the SupremeCourt.

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Ministers and leaders of the AIADMKsaved a movie starring Joseph Vijay, one

of the mega stars of Tamil film industry froma possible failure in the box-office.

The movie Sarkar which hit the screenson Tuesday as a Diwali gift to the fans of Vijaygrossed more than �30 crore on day one itself,according to industry sources. The previousincident of a movie creating collectionrecord on day one was Mersal, the 2017release by Vijay himself which grossed �20crore. (There are two Vijays in Tamil films,Joseph Vijay and Sethupati Vijay).

Interestingly, the move Mersal shot intofame because of the protagonist’s tauntingremarks about demonetisation. This hadearned the wrath of the BJP. But this time, itis the AIADMK which is at the receiving endof the story line as director AR Murugadosshas cast Varalaxmi as a caricature of lateJayalalithaa, former Chief Minister and partysupremo. What adds fuel to fire is the fact thatSarkar has been produced by Sun Movies,owned by the first family of the DMK.

Film actor Vijay had tumultuous rela-tions with the DMK before the 2011Assembly election and he had campaigned forthe AIADMK in the hustings. This wasreportedly due to the denial of theatres toscreen Vijay’s movies at the instance of theMaran brothers who own the Sun Movies.The mega star and the Marans had a busi-ness rivalry at that time and it was Jayalalithaawho stood with the actor according to anAIADMK insider.

‘Sarkar’, though a potboiler movie fromthe Kodambakkam dream factories, standsout because of the ridiculing of the free bee

culture prevailing in Tamil Nadu. The pre-release observations made by the ministersadded to the Unique Selling Proposition ofthe movie, says Nakulan Abhijit, an avidmovie watcher. “Had the AIADMK leadersignored the taunting, this movie would nothave made any impact other than that of yetanother Vijay number,” said Abhijit.

Kadambur C Raju, minister for infor-mation and C V Shanmugham, minister forlaw issued warnings to the director of themovie to remove the scenes depicting the rul-ing party in poor light. “We will discuss theissue in the party and consult the chief min-ister for further action,” said Raju.

“Through this movie, an attempt ismade to instigate violence in society. It is notless than a terrorist instigating people for vio-lence. It attempts to pull down a democrat-ically elected government. We will takeaction against the actor and the team,” saidShanmugham.

The movie comes at a time when fans ofVijay believe that the super star is planningto enter politics. They point out the dialoguespenned for him by the script writers of Sarkar.If Vijay joins mainstream politics, Tamil Naduwould see a galaxy of stars vying for the postof Chief Minister. Kamal Haasan, whodescribes himself as Ulaga Nayagan(Universal Hero), Rajanikanth (king ofstyles) have already made known their polit-ical dreams.

Sarat Kumar and Vijayakanth are alreadythere in the political arena of Tamil Nadu.Vishal, another actor in his 40s too hasannounced his plans for a political career inTamil Nadu.

Whether Tamil Nadu politics has spacefor this many stars will be known only durngthe 2019 Lok Sabha election.

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TDP chief and AndhraPradesh Chief Minister N

Chandrababu Naidu onThursday met Janata Dal-Secular ( JD-S) supremo HD Deve Gowda inBengaluru in a bid to unite theOpposition parties against theBJP ahead of the 2019 gener-al elections.

“The meeting with formerPrime Minister Deve Gowdaand Karnataka Chief MinisterHD Kumaraswamy was aninitial exercise to unite theOpposition parties,” Naidutold reporters after an hour-long meet at Gowda's resi-dence in the city's southwest-ern suburb.

Sustained by the recentbypolls victory Naidu's meet-ing with the JD(S) supremoHD Devegowda comes in thebackdrop of Congress-JD(S)coalition resolving to contestthe 2019 Lok Sabha electionstogether against the BJP.

The Opposition partieswill work together to “save”Indian democracy, the Telugu

Desam Party (TDP) supremosaid.

“Chandrababu Naidu hastaken the lead and met sever-al leaders to consolidate allsecular parties to removeNDA Govt in 2019. He metme & HD Kumaraswamytoday to work out furtherstrategy,” he added.

“Under the NDAGovernment, all autonomousinstitutions like the CentralBureau of Investigation (CBI)and the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) have been destroyed,” headded.

The National DemocraticAlliance (NDA) Government'spolicies like demonetisationhave thrown the country'seconomy into a crisis, Naiduclaimed.

“It is the responsibility ofthe opposition parties to joinhands and save the democra-cy,” he stressed.

Naidu's meeting with theJD-S leaders comes a weekafter he met CongressPresident Rahul Gandhi inNew Delhi on November 1 aspart of his effort to unify the

Opposition.“We discussed the future

course of action for forging analliance ahead of the 2019general elections,” Gowda toldreporters after the meeting.

The meeting with Naiduwas to bring together the“secular forces” in the country,said Kumaraswamy.

“Chandrababu Naidu is

working hard, as a co-ordina-tor, to unite the secular partiesahead of the upcoming gen-eral elections. We (Naidu and

JD-S leadership) share goodpolitical arithmetics and havebeen friends,” the ChiefMinister added.

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At least 37 domestic andinternational flights of Air

India were delayed on Thursday,after contract workers belongingto airline’s subsidiary companywent on a flash strike at theChhatrapati Shivaji InternationalAirport here since Wednesdaynight.

“Due to a sudden industri-al situation at Mumbai by AirIndia Air Transport ServicesLimited (AIATSL) employees,some flights have got delayed.We are assessing the situationand all efforts are being made tominimise delays or disruption,”an AI spokesperson said earlierin the day.

In an effort to mitigate thesituation, the airline manage-ment summoned permanentemployees from their homes tonormalise the flight operations,especially the early morningdepartures from here which hadbeen delayed by more than twohours.

Sources in the national car-rier said that till around 4 pm, asmany as 37 flights – both domes-tic and international – weredelayed. There was no informa-tion about further flight delayslater in the evening.

The trouble began after thecontractual ground staff ofAIATSL, a subsidiary of AirIndia, resorted to a flash strike onWednesday night demandingDiwali ex-gratia and also rein-statement of some sackedemployees.

The AIATSL providesground handling services to AirIndia across airports in thecountry. It has about 5,000employees, including those oncontract. The sources pegged thenumber of contractual workerswho had gone on a strike at theMumbai airport, at little over1,000.

Earlier in the morning, oneof the angry passengers strand-ed at the Mumbai airportSumanto Dey@dey sumantotweeted: “@MoCA_GoI@airindiain @narendramodi it'sshameful for the government to

run AirIndia anymore.Passengers stranded in Mumbaiairport due to strike!!!!! Strike inAirline services...that too sudden!Serious threat!!!

“#airindia the call centrehas no clue and confirms that theIA625 scheduled to depart at8.25am is on time at 9.10 am!What a joke!!!! This is how abusiness in service industry is notto be run. #shamefulairindia@MoCA_GoI @narendramodi@airindiain,” Dey tweeted.

Another stranded passengerAnand Sivakumaran tweeted:“#AirIndia Why did I book thisfatichar airline. 676 from Kol toMum delayed by 3 hrs. Noannouncement. No staff. Just anSMS five minutes before depar-ture time. And with news of thestrike in Mumbai wish someonewould tell us if this bloody flightwill take off or not”.

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Panaji: State Congress presi-dent Girish Chodankar onThursday accused the rulingBJP of cheating several thou-sand mine workers and oth-ers linked to ancillary busi-nesses, amid reports ofCentres' refusal to bring aboutan ordinance to circumvent aSupreme Court-imposed banon mining in the coastal State.

“With its own majority,the BJP Government at theCentre turning down thedemand from Goa miningdependents for resumption ofmining activity through anordinance, it has become clearthat the BJP in Goa was fool-

ing them,” Chodankar said ina statement.

Mining in Goa was

banned in February this yearby the apex court, faulting thestate government for irregu-

larities in granting secondrenewals of 88 mining leases,while also directing the stategovernment to allot the min-ing leases afresh.

Faced with demands forimmediate resumption ofmining from those dependingon the industry, leaders of theBJP-led coalition governmenthave been repeatedly assuringthem, that an ordinance tocircumvent the SupremeCourt order was beingworked on by the Centre,which would facilitate easyand quick resumption of theindustry.

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That students at a university shouldprovoke the police into filingcriminal complaints is shameful.Aligarh University has a long his-tory of students with doubtful loy-

alty to the country. Quaid-e-Azam Jinnah hadlavished praises on the institution as the arse-nal of Pakistan. A sizeable number of its stu-dents had gone all the way to Punjab to cam-paign for the Muslim League during the1945-46 elections to the ConstituentAssembly. When some of the voters asked thestudents what was there for them in theresults since Uttar Pradesh could not be a partof Pakistan, their reply was that they hadcome to make sure the outcome brings a NewMedina. The students had issued a manifestowhich declared that 'Pakistan is our deliver-ance, defence and destiny. We deny that weare one nation with Hindus and the rest’.

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, the founder of theMohammadan Anglo Oriental College,Aligarh was a witness to the 1857 happen-ings. From 1858 right up to 1898, SyedAhmad Khan was the pivot around whomthe Muslim politics moved. In the speechesmade at Lucknow and Meerut on December28, 1887 and March 16, 1888 respectively, helaid down fundamental guidelines forMuslims to follow in their interaction withthe British and the Congress. He askedMuslims not to join the Congress and sup-port only the British. This policy arguablydecided once for all the attitude of the wholeMuslim community towards the Congress.Few Mussalmans of note since then joinedthe Congress except one or two. During hislifetime, Syed Ahmad did not make anydeparture from his political creed.

Late Sir Aga Khan who had led theMuslim delegation to Viceroy Minto in 1906and demanded separate electorate, had alsocomplimented the university for playing avital role in the creation of Pakistan. In hisautobiography published in 1954 he had writ-ten: Often in a civilised history, a universityhas supplied the springboard for a nation’sintellectuals and spiritual renaissance...Aligarh is no exception to this rule. But wemay claim with pride that Aligarh was theproduct of our own efforts and of no outsidebenevolence and surely it may also bedeemed that the independent, sovereignnature of Pakistan was born in the MuslimUniversity of Aligarh. Another Muslimleader, Zia-ul-Hasan Faruqui describedAligarh as the training centre of theMujahideen-i-Pakistan. Muslim leaders, likeMaulana Azad and Humayun Kabir, were vil-ified and physically abused by the studentsof Aligarh Muslim University in 1942). In1946, communal riots took place in Aligarh.Four persons were killed and a lakh worthof property was destroyed. An enquiry con-ducted by Divisional Commissioner, JohnStone, found that apart city Muslims, studentsof Aligarh Muslim University had started theriots. In October 1947, the Pakistan

Government was found to berecruiting officers for thePakistan Army from AligarhMuslim University. GB Pant,then Chief Minister of UttarPradesh had to direct the ViceChancellor of Aligarh MuslimUniversity not to allow Pakistaniofficers to visit the university.

The Aligarh Movement:This was launched by SyedAhmad Khan in the 1860s. Interms of its significance and con-sequences for India, this was themost important of all move-ments launched by Muslims inmodern history. The movementhas been called the "AligarhMovement" because its head-quarters were in Aligarh. ProfMS Jain in his research mono-graph, The Aligarh Movement(1965) asks: "Why did we notdevelop into a homogeneousnation and why did the Muslimsof India, generally speaking,chalk out a path different fromthat of the other communities inIndia?" The movement ofMuslim regeneration initiated bySir Syed Ahmad Khan providesthe answer.

Richard Symonds whocame out with his book, TheMaking of Pakistan, (Faber &Faber, London 1949) on themorrow of the emergence ofPakistan wrote: In politics he(Syed Ahmad Khan) had stated that Muslims were anation who could not andmust not be submerged in asystem of government bymajority vote. The Pakistanisrightly claim him as one of thefathers of their country.

In the Aligarh InstituteGazette of September 22, 1893,Sir Syed wrote: "Mahomedansmay accept English supremacy

because they have been con-quered by Englishmen, but whois to make them submit to thesupremacy of Hindus, whomthey regarded their slaves for 700years?" Sir Syed laid down as amatter of policy for the Muslims:Undiluted loyalty to the Britishregime. No truck with the IndianNational Congress; and pursuitof modern education. This wasfollowed by Muslims like AmeerAli until 1906.

Prof Wilfred Smith, whohad taught in Lahore for years,had said that by 1941 Aligarhhad become the emotional cen-tre of Pakistan; whereas Sir AgaKhan claimed that the indepen-dent and sovereign nation ofPakistan was born in the MuslimUniversity of Aligarh.

Uttar Pradesh Muslims,were at the heart of Muslim sep-aratism, wrote Prof FrancisRobinson of Holloway College,London. They mainly foundedand, with the exception of theBombay-based Jinnah, mainlyled the organisations whichrepresented the Muslim inter-est in Indian politics. SyedAhmed Khan founded theMuhammadan Anglo OrientalCollege in 1875 at Aligarh,which directed much earlyMuslim political activity andnurtured many Muslim Leaguepoliticians. He followed thiswith the establishment of the AllIndia Muslim EducationalConference in 1886, whichhelped him impress his politi-cal will on Indian Muslims.

In 1906, large numbers ofMuslims from Uttar Pradeshflocked to Dacca to find the AllIndia Muslim League. In thisorganisation, the secretaryshipwas the most powerful position.

And between 1906 and 1910 itwas held by Uttar PradeshMuslims in Aligarh. AfterWorld War I, Muslims from thesame province set up an asso-ciation of Indian ulama andmade the Central KhilafatCommittee an organisation ofall India importance.

Soon after his appointmentas Vice Chancellor, Ali YavarJung, suggested certain changesin the rules of admission.Making this a pretext, an agita-tion was almost immediately seton foot by those who wereopposed to him. Once started,the agitation did not remainpeaceful. As a matter of fact, itended up in an attempt to assas-sinate the Vice Chancellor to thehorror of everyone. The studentsmarched with a coffin to theoffice where the Vice Chancellorwas holding a meeting of theUniversity Court, broke intothe meeting hall and assaultedhim so seriously that no onecould have doubts that the inten-tion was to kill him and theynearly succeeded in their nefar-ious mission.

Ali Yavar Jung, however, hada miraculous escape. Justice MCChagla was satisfied that the stu-dents alone were not responsi-ble for this heinous plot. Therewere others hiding in the back-ground. Some members of theCourt obviously sympathisedwith the students, and instead ofgoing to the rescue of the ViceChancellor, they looked theother way. I thought drasticmeasures were called for as it wasimpossible for the ViceChancellor to function in theexisting set-up of the university.

Chagla, therefore, got theCentral Cabinet’s approval to the

promulgation of an Ordinanceby which the existing ExecutiveCouncil and the Court were dis-solved, and the Governmentwas empowered to set up a nom-inated Executive Council andCourt. Chagla took pains to seethat the persons nominatedwere sympathetic to the ViceChancellor, and held similarviews with regard to the policyto be adopted in running theuniversity.

A raging and tearing cam-paign was started in the coun-try by fanatical elements every-where. Chagla was chargedwith being a dictator andinterfering with the rights ofautonomy of the university.The demand was made thatthe administration should beleft to the Muslim communi-ty which had a unique interestin its well-being and that theOrdinance should be revoked.He reminded the agitatorsfirmly that the AligarhUniversity was not a minorityinstitution as defined in theConstitution. It was neitherestablished nor maintained bythe Muslim community. It wasa national institution in whichthe whole nation was interest-ed and that, though undoubt-edly, it had a special purposeto serve, namely, the advanceof Arabic and Islamic studies,that did not change its essen-tial character because evennon-Muslims might have aninterest in such studies.

If some students wish toleave the university, as they havethreatened to, let them go.Without them Aligarh should bebetter for the studies of the rest.

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Sir — It is lamentable that theHindu Right is hell-bent on pre-venting women in the 10-50 agegroup from entering theSabarimala temple. Kerala unitBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pres-ident PS Sreedharan Pillai’s him-self admitted that Sabarimala is a‘golden opportunity’ to further itspolitical interest. Misplaced faithof the Ayyappa devotees is just aninstrument for the BJP to makepolitical inroads into the State.

It is a fallacy to say that awoman who menstruates is notworthy of being in a place of wor-ship. How can we be so harsh onour mothers, sisters, wives anddaughters to say that they cannotaccompany us to a deity’s abode?A lot of energy and resources havebeen already wasted on theSabarimala row at a time whenKerala is in dire need of all of thatfor its post-flood reconstruction.

G David MiltonMaruthancode

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Sir— This refers to the article,“Theory of strong leadership”

(November 5) by JasimMohammad. India, even afterbeing the largest democracy in theworld, loses the sanctity ofdemocracy because of the blas-phemy of coalition Governments.

Albeit the denizens of Indiaexercise voting as their legal right,a party can overpower the elect-ed party by forming coalitionswith some other minority parties.The cavetous leaders of the

minority parties are offered witha handsome position, and inturn, form coalition to workunder one of the major adver-saries of the party originally elect-ed. This ain’t democracy, for sure,where the choices of the publiccan be neglected to form aGovernment of the party notelected.

Animesh Gupta Ujjain

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Sir — Corroborating the com-mon speculation that Sabarimalaissue was blown out of real pro-portion to take maximumadvantage in favor of BJP,Sreedharan Pillai, BJP unitKerala president, was reported tohave spoken in a closed-doormeeting of the Yuva Morcha in

Kozhikode that they had gottena golden opportunity to reapmaximum advantage. With hisstatement, he had literally blownthe lid off the dubious agendahatched as per a well-writtenscript. “Making hay while thesun shines” is the most aptmantra for the BJP now and theyare doing it the best way possi-ble. They have orchestrated awell-planned campaign for con-solidation of Hindus on thissensitive issue even though thereare no available scriptures sup-porting this view.

It is high time people, espe-cially believers of Lord Ayyappa,saw through the BJP’s ulteriormotives.

People must realise that ifGod shows partiality towardsmenstruated women, such par-tiality is not from God but frommortal men. This is a blasphe-mous and disparaging standtowards God.

It is very ironical that theparty that should teach people toget out of ignorance is teachingignorance.

TK NandananKochi

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Interacting with global leadersfrom the energy sector onOctober 15, 2018, in New Delhi,

Prime Minister Narendra Modiflagged three major issues:

First, while expressing concernover the steep increase in interna-tional price of crude oil, he urged allleading producers/exporters to bemore responsible in fixing the priceto bring it down from the currenthigh to a reasonable level.

Second, keeping in mind theoverarching need to increasedomestic production India, he askedthem to consider investing in explo-ration and development of oil andgas fields and MNCs to transfer oftechnology, especially to extractoil/gas from geologically and phys-

ically challenging ultra-deep water,high pressure/high temperature(HP/HT) areas.

Third, considering the debilitat-ing effect of rupee depreciation onthe oil import bill, he urged them tothink through for an alternativepayment arrangement.

The Prime Minister touchedupon all the right notes that are cru-cial to ensure adequate supply ofenergy at affordable price to run thewheels of the Indian economy.

First, with the Organisation ofPetroleum Exporting Countries(OPEC) countries alone accountingfor over 40 per cent of the world oilsupply, the market for crude is oli-gopolistic. Each member of the car-tel regulates its supply — as per a wellorchestrated agreed plan — in amanner so as to jack up the price tothe desired level.

In November 2016, the OPECdecided to reduce output by about1.2 million barrels a day, effectivefrom January 1, 2017. Initially oper-ative for six months, they stick to thecuts. As a result, crude spiked from

$40 per barrel in November 2016 toover $80 per barrel as on October 15,2018. The cost of producing oil in theOPEC countries being pittance lessthan $10 per barrel, even at rock bot-tom $27 per barrel (it reached inJanuary, 2016), they were makinghuge profit. At $80 per barrel now,they are making exorbitant profit.

Addressing the same forum,OPEC Secretary General, MBarkindo opined that ‘exportingcountries had made their best effortsto ensure that global market was ade-quately supplied’, yet if ‘the price hasspurted, this may have a lot to dowith sentiments’. Barkindo was refer-ring to the looming trade war andimpending US sanctions againstIran. This is skulduggery.

When the underlying fundamen-tal of tight global demand-supply bal-ance is loaded against the consumingcountries (a creation of deliberateactions by OPEC members), it makesno sense to blame things on ‘senti-ments’. As regards, sanctions againstIran, if only major exporters like SaudiArabia have the will, nothing can pre-

vent them from pumping more sup-plies to compensate for the reducedcontribution from Iran. The oil richcountries/exporters also need to pon-der whether or not by crippling theresource position of importing coun-tries (inevitable if the price is high),they will end up harming their owninterest in the medium to long-term.

Meanwhile, US PresidentDonald Trump is building pressureon the OPEC members to bringdown the price to a reasonable leveland is even contemplating the so-called No Oil Producing andExporting Cartels Act legislationwhich can open the group to anti-trust lawsuits. Whether this willprompt the latter to shed theirintransigence remains to be seen.

In contrast to the dispensationunder the erstwhile UnitedProgressive Alliance (UPA) regimewhen almost every aspect of explo-ration and production was undercontrol and micro-managed bybureaucrats, Modi took some boldinitiatives to improve the policyenvironment and reduce regulatory

hurdles. In July 2017, theGovernment introduced theHydrocarbon Exploration andLicensing Policy (HELP).

Under it, bidders can get a sin-gle licence for exploration of conven-tional as well as unconventionalhydrocarbons. They can pick up ablock of their choice. They areallowed freedom of pricing andmarketing. The unconventional fuelsviz coal bed methane and shaleoil/gas produced from existing fieldsas also production from marginalfields also qualify for this freedom.

HELP offers revenue sharingcontract. This eliminates scope forGovernment intervention andreduces interface with the bureaucra-cy and eliminates delays. The oper-ator can remain focused wholly onoptimising production without hav-ing to worry as to whether any activ-ity and associated cost will be recog-nised. It provides a certain and sta-ble policy environment.

Further, to make policy environ-ment for production fromdeep/ultra-deep water, geologically

and physically difficult fields attrac-tive, in March 2016, the Governmentallowed higher gas price-based onalternate fuels viz fuel oil, naphtha,LNG et al. Modi has thus created aperfect policy setting that shouldenthuse resource rich countries inMiddle East and MNCs to invest inexploration and production in Indiaand bring in technology needed forextracting gas from difficult areas.

As regards, despite continuingstrong fundamentals of the Indianeconomy, the Rupee has lost value pri-marily because of exogenous develop-ments — increase in US interest rateand withdrawal of monetary stimu-lus. To ensure that India is notunnecessarily penalised, ways have tobe found to avoid making payment indollar. Modi is taking right steps butthe road ahead is tough. There arelimits to influence actions of oil pro-ducers though enticing MNCs to par-ticipate in Indian exploration effortsand alternative payment arrange-ments is doable.

(The writer is a freelance journalist)

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Nation states have such complicatedpasts, compulsions and cupboardsbursting with skeletons, that theyroutinely accuse others of hosting.Terrorism is one such skeleton that

either elicits a complete denial or a contextualclean-chit. The US Code of Federal Regulationsdefines terrorism as “the unlawful use of forceand violence against persons or property tointimidate or coerce a Government, the civil-ian population, or any segment thereof, in fur-therance of political or social objectives”. Thisposits awkward attribution to the historical USmachinations in countries like Nicaragua,Cuba, Colombia, Chile et al. So, while thePakistani involvement in Afghanistan today iscorrectly called supporting-terrorism, theAmerican complicity in the 80s is contexualisedas “necessary”.

Similarly, while the UN and, ironically, theUS also condemned the Kosovo LiberationArmy (KLA) as a “terror organisation” — thesubsequent funding, training and arming of theKLA by the US never earned it the tag of sup-porting-terrorism. This double standard extendstoday to the ongoing battlefields in the Syrianswathes where the principal terror organisationie Islamic State (IS), has been taken head-on bythe Iranian-Syrian combine. Yet, the focus of theUS attacks in the ‘war on terror’ remains on theIranian-Syrian combine, whereas a circuitous USsupport is still extended to the rebel Salafi-Jihadist offshoots in the region, torn by the sec-tarian divide.

Importantly, the sectarian divide pertains tothe local minorities and majorities and is notnecessarily about sovereignty. Herein, the US hasmade a deliberate choice in the sectarian mud-dle and left the sole ‘others’ in the form ofHouthis, Hezbollah and Iran with convenientterror tags. The Saudi-led military interventionin Yemen against the uprising by the historical-ly-persecuted Houthis (also declared by the UNas “human catastrophe”) is afforded a convenientand contextual view that is unequivocallydenied in the parallel case of the Iranian inter-vention in Syria, against the IS.

Importantly, terror has struck globally inrecent times, from the US (9/11, BostonMarathon, Orlando shootout, New York truckattack etc), European cities (Madrid, London,Paris, Brussels, Nice, Manchester, Barcelona etc),Asian cities (Bali, Dhaka, Basilan, Surabaya,Kabul et al) as also India (Mumbai 26/11, Uri,Pathankot, Nagrota, among others). None ofthese terror attacks can be traced back to eitherIran or to its sectarian proxies that form the cruxof what the US incredulously calls the “world’sbiggest sponsor of state terrorism”. The ideolog-ical and sectarian-supremacist strain behindalmost all global terror attacks are known to haveindividual or state patronage in the US-allied Gulf sheikhdoms or countries likePakistan.

The Houthi uprising is completely localisedwith no international footprint and the Hezbollahis not known to have partaken any internation-al terror attack for over 25 years, except for itssteadfast resistance to the Israeli occupation ofits lands in South Lebanon and supporting co-

sectarian Government of the belea-guered Syrian President, Bashar Al-Assad, who is facing a desperate bat-tle on two fronts — one against the ISand the other against the equallyregressive jihadist groups supported bythe Gulf sheikdoms and the US.

Since January 19, 1984, Iran hasremained as a US declared “statesponsor of terrorism” for having“repeatedly provided support for actsof international terrorism”. The annu-al Country Reports on Terrorism2017 by the US State Departmentnotes very selectively, “Iranian-sup-ported Shia militias in Iraq have alsocommitted serious human rights abus-es against primarily Sunni civilians”and then added in absolute contraven-tion of the ground situation that“Iran remained unwilling to bring tojustice senior Al-Qaeda (AQ) mem-bers residing in Iran”.

Given the sectarian irreconcilabil-ity of the prevailing times, attributingan Iranian angularity in the IS or theAQ realm is a complete falsity as theyare militarily, ideologically and entire-ly at war with each other.

Iranian leader Ayatol lahKhamenei alludes to the historicalintrigues of the colonial powers byquestioning: “Who created the IS?Who strengthened it? Today they

claim that they have established anti-IS coalition. This is a lie. This coali-tion is a lie. Of course, they areopposed to an uncontrolled IS, butthey like to have a controlled IS intheir hands”, eerily reminiscent of thetactical propping of the AfghanMujahideen in the 80s.

Manufactured outrage against Irancontinued unabated in the US withPresident Donald Trump unilaterallywithdrawing from the Iranian NuclearDeal. On May 8, 2018, Trump, whilewithdrawing had stated “Iran and itsproxies have bombed AmericanEmbassies and military installations,murdered hundreds of American ser-vice members, and kidnapped, impris-oned, and tortured American citizens”and went on to add that the “dealallowed Iran to continue enrichinguranium and — over time — reach thebrink of a nuclear breakout”.

Meanwhile, all other signatories ofthe P5+1 deal (the UK, Russia, France,China, EU and Germany) disagreedon the US observations, as did theconcerned overseeing body, theInternational Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA). The European Union (EU)acknowledged Iran’s complete compli-ance to the terms of the deal andnoted: “We fully trust the work, com-petence and autonomy of the

International Atomic Energy Agencythat has published 10 reports certify-ing that Iran has fully complied withits commitments.” The US ignored alladvise and arbitrarily slapped sanc-tions, and further threatened othercountries, like India on their ongoingtrade with Iran.

Recently, the International Courtof Justice (ICJ) at Hague has orderedthe US to ease some sanctions on Iran,pursuant to a plea by the Iranians. Thelegal rebuke to the US which enjoinedWashington to abide by the historical‘Treaty of Amity’ led to an imperiousUS pulling out of the ‘Treaty ofAmity’, post the ICJ ruling. Sanervoices like former US PresidentBarack Obama who agreed that theUS had pulled the plug “without anyIranian violation” were lost in themelee to demonise Iran.

All countries have vested, uniqueand realpolitik concerns that often con-flict with others, leading to the ques-tionable status of certain historicalactions and reactions. However, in thecase of Iran, facts are of little conse-quence and the luxury of a contextualexplanation (as reserved for its ownactions) is a complete non-option.

(The writer, a military veteran, isa former Lt Governor of Andaman &Nicobar Islands and Puducherry)

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Finance Minister Arun Jaitleysaid on Thursday global

payment gateways likeMastercard and Visa are losingmarket share to indigenousRuPay card and UPI paymentsystem.

In a Facebook post mark-ing the second anniversary ofdemonetisation, the Ministersaid note ban has increased dig-ital transactions.

“Today, Visa andMastercard are losing marketshare in India to indigenouslydeveloped payment system ofUPI and RuPay card whoseshare has reached 65 per centof the payments done throughdebit and credit cards,” Jaitleysaid.

Unified Payment Interface(UPI) was launched in 2016involving real time paymentsbetween two sets of mobileholders.

Its transactions have grownfrom �50 crore in October2016 to �59,800 crore inSeptember 2018.

Besides, the BharatInterface for Money (BHIM)app developed by NationalPayments Corporation of Indiafor quick payment transac-tions using UPI, is currentlybeing used by 1.25 crore peo-ple.

The value of BHIM trans-actions has gone up from �2crore in September 2016 to�7,060 crore in September2018. The share of BHIM

transactions in overall UPItransactions is at about 48 percent in June 2017.

Terming the criticism, thatalmost the entire cash moneygot deposited in the bankspost demonetisation, as “ill-informed”, Jaitley said confis-cation of currency was not anobjective of demonetisation.

“Getting it into the formaleconomy and making the hold-ers pay tax was the broaderobjective. The system requiredto be shaken in order to makeIndia move from cash to digi-tal transactions. This wouldobviously have an impact onhigher tax revenue and a high-er tax base,” Jaitley said.

The Government had onNovember 8, 2016, announcedban on old 500 and 1000 rupeenotes, to curb black money inthe system.

Of the �15.41 lakh croreworth �500 and �1,000 notes incirculation on November 8,2016, 99.3 per cent or notesworth �15.31 lakh crore havereturned to the banking system.

This means, just �10,720crore of the junked currencydid not return to the bankingsystem.

After the note ban, oldjunked notes, called specifiedbank notes (SBNs), wereallowed to be deposited inbanks with unusual depositscoming under income taxscrutiny. Jaitley said demon-etisation compelled holders ofcash to deposit the same in thebanks.

“The enormity of cashdeposited and identified withthe owner resulted in suspect-ed 17.42 lakh account holdersfrom whom the response hasbeen received online throughnon-invasive method,” he said.

The violators faced puni-tive actions. Larger deposits inbanks improved lendingcapacity for the banks. A lot ofthis money was diverted tomutual funds for furtherinvestments. It became a partof the formal system, Jaitleyadded.

He said the share of indige-nously developed payment sys-tem of unified payments inter-face (UPI) and RuPay card havereached 65 per cent of the pay-ments done through debit andcredit cards.

In 2017-18, the tax returnsfiled reached 6.86 crore, anincrease of 25 per cent over theprevious year. This year, as onOctober 31, 2018, already 5.99crore returns have been filed -which is an increase of 54.33per cent compared to the pre-vious year.

Economic Affairs SecretarySubhash Chandra Garg saiddemonetisation and GSTreflect long-term vision of thegovernment and its ability toundertake massive structuralreforms. “Tax filers under bothdirect and indirect taxes areclose to getting doubled. Digitalpayments have risen sharplyand become common place.Fake notes are out,” SubhashChandraGarg tweeted.

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India will start exporting rawsugar to China from early

next year, a move which willhelp to bridge the wideningtrade deficit with the neigh-bouring country, theCommerce Ministry saidThursday.

“A contract for exporting15,000 tonnes of raw sugar hasbeen entered to by the IndianSugar Mills Association andCOFCO, a Government ofChina run public sector com-pany,” it said in a statement.

It said India plans to exporttwo million tonnes of rawsugar to China beginning nextyear.

“Raw sugar is the secondproduct after non-basmati rice

that China will import fromIndia. It is a move to reduce the$60 billion trade deficit thatChina has with India,” theministry added.

India’s export to China in2017-18 amounted to $33 bil-lion, while imports stood at$76.2 billion. India is the largestproducer of sugar in the worldwith 32 million tonnes pro-duction in 2018. It producessugar of all three grades- raw,refined and white.

“Indian sugar is also of ahigh quality and is Dextran freebecause of the minimum timetaken from cut to crush. Indiais in a position to become a reg-ular and dependable exporterof high quality sugar in signif-icant volumes to China,” itadded.

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An expert committee set upto recommend relaxing

norms for setting up petrolpumps and retailing ATF inIndia has sought public com-ments on the issue before final-ising its views.

The Oil Ministry had lastmonth set up a five-memberexpert committee to recom-mend easing of fuel retailinglicensing rules.

“The first meeting of thecommittee was held onNovember 2, and the Committeedesired to have the views/sug-gestions of all the stakeholders/general public,” a notice issued bythe ministry said.

It asked for comments onthe subject within two weeks.

At present, to obtain a fuelretailing license in India, a com-pany needs to invest �2,000crore in either hydrocarbonexploration and production,refining, pipelines or liquefiednatural gas (LNG) terminals.

The expert committee hasbeen asked to “look at variousissues related to the imple-mentation of existing guide-

lines for grant of marketingauthorisation of market fuels -petrol, diesel, and aviation tur-bine fuel (ATF),” the separateministry order constituting thepanel said.

The panel includesrenowned economist KiritParikh, former oil secretary GC Chaturvedi, former IndianOil Corp (IOC) chairman M APathan, IIM AhmedabadDirector Errot D’souza andAshutosh Jindal, joint secretaryin the ministry of petroleumand natural gas.

The panel has to furnish itsreport within 60 days after dueconsultations with stakeholders.

The panel will “review theexisting architecture and extentof private sector participationin retail marketing of majortransportation fuels in thecountry,” the order said.

It will “identify entry bar-riers, if any, for expansion ofretail outlets for private mar-keting companies.”

State-owned oil market-ing companies — Indian OilCorp (IOC), Bharat PetroleumCorp Ltd (BPCL) andHindustan Petroleum CorpLtd (HPCL), currently ownmost of 63,498 petrol pumps inthe country.

Reliance Industries, NayaraEnergy — formerly Essar Oiland Royal Dutch Shell are theprivate players in the marketbut with limited presence.Reliance, which operates theworld’s largest oil refining com-plex, has less than 1,400 outlets.

Nayara has 4,833 whileShell has just 114 pumps.

BP plc of UK had a coupleof years back secured a licenseto set up 3,500 pumps but has-n’t yet started doing so. Lastweek, French energy giant Totalin a joint venture with AdaniGroup announced plans to setup 1,500 petrol pumps in thenext 10 years.

IOC is the market leaderwith 27,325 petrol pumps inthe country, followed by HPCLwith 15,255 outlets and BPCLat 14,565 fuel stations.

The expert committee will“assess the need, if any, to fur-ther liberalise the existingguidelines for authorisation ofprivate sector marketing com-panies,” the order said.

A senior Oil Ministry offi-cial said the Government iskeen on getting more privateplayers in the arena and is will-ing to relax investment normsas well as the number of per-missions needed for settingup a petrol pump.

The expert group wouldmake specific recommenda-tions on the nature of amend-ments required to the existingguidelines for grant of a licenseto private retailers.

The official said morecompetition would improveservices as well as give cus-tomer choice. It may also leadto retailers vying with eachother to offer the best price.

Currently, the three oilmarketing companies are fol-lowing the same methodologyfor fixing retail prices, which onalmost all occasions are insync with one another andprices vary by just a few paise.

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CRPF Family WelfareAssociation-CWA rang

down the curtain on its threedays welfare exhibition yester-day held at the SDG Ground inOld JNU Campus New Delhi.The fair that began last Fridaysaw an unprecedented footfallcoinciding with the pre-Diwalifestive mood. Gracing the clos-ing function of the welfareexhibition Rajeev RaiBhatnagar, DG CRPF said thatthe Jawans and their familiesare among the top priorities ofthe Force. He said that theCRPF personnel who are fore-front of ensuring the internalsecurity of the country arebacked up their respective fam-ilies and this is the reason thatthe CRPF has been making itsmark in every corner of coun-try. Describing CRPF as a“Laghu Bharat” Bhatnagar saidthat the three days grand exhi-bition by the CWA is truly ofpan-Indian character.

Manu Bhatnagar, PresidentCWA thanked one and all forhaving made the three daysAnnual Welfare Exhibition agrand success. The closingfunction of the exhibition saw

celebrity like the renownedBollywood singers AbhijeetBhattacharya and JaspinderNarula as also the popularcomedian Kapil Sharma regal-ing the audience for a couple ofhours before winding up.

As many as 38 stalls put upon the Mela ground proved ashubs of public interest, inquis-itiveness and shopping.Particularly the CRPF pavilionraised at the ground was an

instant hit for the crowd as itdisplayed the traditionalcourage and sacrifice made bythe force personnel alongwithits past glory.

The range of sofisticatedweapons, gazettes, non lethalinventory of the Rapid ActionForce caught the eyes of oneand all. The youthful visitorsdidn’t forget however to have afeel of the Jungle Warrior putup at the selfie corner. Similarly

the Stall put up by theChhattisgarh Sector, despitebeing a first timer in theMela, drew huge crowds totraditional tribal utilitiesand artifacts like Dokrasculpture that were on dis-play. In the same vein, otherstalls set up by differentCRPF Units also invokedvisitors’ interest in the widearray of items from home-made delicacies and dress-es to domestic utilities putup for sales. Other stalls alsoenjoyed equal footfalls inview of their respectiverange of saleable items thatcarried the f lavour ofregional cuisine and culture.

While large crowd keptthronging the Mela groundon all the three days, the

organisers of the exhibitionhad for them colourful cultur-al performances in the evening.Unique cultural dance showslike Malkhamb, Sambalpuridance and other regional dancedrama kept the audienceenthused all along. TheChotanagpuri Tribal danceperformance by the membersof Bastaria Batalion was in fora lot of viewers’ appreciationand applause.

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The revival andmill develop-

ment plan(RMDP) ofGovernment-runnewsprint compa-ny Nepa Ltd isexpected to becompleted withina year, the min-istry of heavyindustries andpublic enterprises saidThursday.

The Cabinet Committeeon Economic Affairs lastmonth announced a financialpackage of �469.41 crore for theRMDP of Madhya Pradesh-based Nepa Ltd.

This package includes aninfusion of �277 crore as equi-ty in the company for thecompletion of RMDP whichshall enhance productioncapacity to 1,00,000 MT perannum from the present capac-ity of 83,000 MT per annum,diversify production, improve

quality of products and alsohelp resume production.

“The RMDP is expected tobe completed within a year,” theministry said in a statement.

It said that the completionof the plan will help the com-pany to boost production,diversify its product portfolioand also support employmentin the tribal belt of MadhyaPradesh.

The firm is in Burhanpurdistrict of Madhya Pradesh. Itwas set up in 1947 and was theonly news print manufacturingunit in India up to 1981.

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Realty firm GodrejProperties has reduced its

net debt by 51 per cent in lastone year to �1,539 crore main-ly with the help of better salesbookings.

The net debt of GordejProperties — the real estate armof Godrej group — stood at�1,539 crore as on September30, 2018 as against �3,137 crorea year-ago, according to aninvestors’ presentation for thesecond quarter of this fiscal.

The average borrowingcost stood at 7.88 per cent as onSeptember 30, 2018 as against8.1 per cent a year-ago. Netdebt-equity ratio has alsoreduced to 0.6 from 2.08 dur-ing the period under review.

Mumbai-based GodrejProperties sales performancehave been good despite overallslowdown in the property mar-ket.

During 2017-18 fiscal,Godrej Properties’ sales book-ings stood at record �5,083crore. However, the sales book-ings have dropped by 42 percent to �1,627 crore in the firsthalf of this fiscal.

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Market regulator Sebi hasbarred Narendra Singh

Tanwar, proprietor of CapitalTrue Financial Services, fromacting as investment adviser inorder to prevent him fromfurther misleading investorson false pretense.

The market watchdog hasalso restrained Tanwar fromdiverting any funds raised frominvestors until further orders.Also, he has been directed tosubmit a list of clients and feecollected from them to Sebi

within 21 days.The move comes after the

regulator received a complaintin August alleging that Tanwarhad promised a lucrative returnto the complainant by investinghis money in the securitiesmarket over a short period oftime (4 months) for a large fee.

While examining the com-plaint, the regulator found thatTanwar had obtained registra-tion from Sebi to act as an IA(investment adviser) by pro-ducing an experience certificatewhich showed that he wasworking as a portfolio man-

agement advisor with thestock broker during January2009 to June 2014.

However, when the verac-ity of the experience certificatewas scrutinised by question-ing the signatory of the cer-tificate, it turned out to beprima facie notgenuine/forged/fabricated, theregulator noted.

“It is prima facie heldthat the noticee (Tanwar), bysubmitting false documentshas obtained registration fromSebi as an IA and has primafacie violated...IA Regulations,”the Securities and ExchangeBoard of India (Sebi) said inan order dated November 6.

The regulator believes“there is no other alternativebut to take recourse through anad interim ex-parte order

against the noticee for pre-venting him from collectingfees and indulging in invest-ment advisory activities”. Sebithrough an ex-parte ad-interimorder ordered Tanwar “to ceaseand desist from acting as invest-ment advisor and cease to solic-it or undertake such activities orany other unregistered activityin the securities market, direct-ly or indirectly, in any mannerwhatsoever until further orders”.

Besides, he has beenordered “to immediately with-draw and remove all the adver-tisements, representations, lit-eratures, brochures, materials,publications, documents, web-sites, communications etc inrelation to their investmentadvisory or any activity in thesecurities market until furtherorders”.

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State-owned BharatSanchar Nigam Ltd

(BSNL) has launchedan alternative digitalKYC process for issuingnew connections acrossvarious circles, a topofficial has said.

The telecom PSUhas informed theDepartment of Telecom(DoT) about the newsystem which has been rolledout, Chairman and ManagingDirector Anupam Shrivastavasaid.

“We have conveyed that wehave launched the new systemacross all our circles and it hasstabilised,” Shrivastava said.

Earlier this week, large pri-vate telecom operators includ-ing Vodafone Idea and BhartiAirtel said they have begunrolling out ‘alternate digitalKYC (know your customer)process for new connections,which will replace Aadhaar-based electronic verificationprocess.

Airtel has started rollingout the alternative digital KYCin select circles including Delhi,UP (East) and UP (West) withplans to extend to other loca-tions in the coming days.

Vodafone Idea has alsoconfirmed its new digital KYCprocess is live and being rolled

out nationally, and added thatthe DoT instructions allow forprovisional rollout of digitalKYC.

Reliance Jio sources, too,had indicated that the operatorhas a plan on alternate digitalKYC and will roll it out soon.

However, it is not clear iftelecom service providers are,for now, simultaneously con-tinuing Aadhaar eKYC for ver-ification of new subscribers —a breather they have soughtfrom the government while thenew system is set in place.

In the wake of the recentSupreme Court verdict onAadhaar, the TelecomDepartment had issueddetailed instructions to telcoson stopping the use ofAadhaar-based electronic-KYC(eKYC) and had asked them toreport compliance byNovember 5.

But the operators, subse-

quently, approachedthe Governmentrequesting that theybe allowed to continuewith Aadhaar-basedeKYC process tillNovember 20, whilethey implement thenew digital process.

The SupremeCourt order ofSeptember restricts theuse of Aadhaarauthentication by pri-

vate entities in the absence ofa legal provision. On October26, the telecom departmentasked operators to stop usingAadhaar for electronic verifi-cation of existing mobile phonecustomers as well as for issuingnew connections to complywith order of the apex court.

The DoT also took note ofthe fact that the industry hadmooted an alternate process forKYC which entailed customeracquisition forms to be embed-ded with live photo of thesubscriber and scanned imagesof proof of identity and proofof address — digitising the end-to-end process for on-boardingof new mobile subscribers andmaking it paperless.

Accordingly, all telcos wereasked by the DoT to ensurereadiness of their systems andoffer the proof of concept of theproposed digital process byNovember 5 for approval.

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Aviation regulator DGCAhas asked Jet Airways and

SpiceJet to take correctiveaction to address possible issueswith their Boeing 737 MAXplanes that could lead to "sig-nificant altitude loss" of the air-craft, a senior official saidThursday.

The latest directive followsadvisories issued by the USwatchdog Federal AviationAdministration (FAA) andBoeing after the crash of aBoeing 737 MAX plane oper-ated by Indonesia's Lion Airlast month.

Currently, Jet Airways andSpiceJet fly Boeing 737 MAXplanes in India. Together, thereare at least six such aircraft withthe two carriers.

"Both the documentsaddress erroneous high 'angleof attack' (AOA) sensor inputand corrective action for thesame as it has potential forrepeated nose-down trim com-mands of horizontal stabiliser,"a senior Directorate General ofCivil Aviation (DGCA) officialsaid.

The official said if the con-dition is not addressed, it couldcause the flight crew to havedifficulty in controlling theairplane.

The condition can evenlead to "excessive nose-downattitude, significant altitudeloss, and possible impactwith terrain," the officialnoted.

Based on initial investiga-tion of Lion Air aircraft acci-

dent, the FAA issued emer-gency airworthiness directive(AD) on November 7. Boeingreleased a bulletin about theissue on November 6.

The DGCA official saidthat within three days afterreceipt of FAA AD, changes toairplane flight manual have tobe done, for procedures whichhave to be followed by flightcrew.

"The DGCA has ensuredthat all Indian operators areaware of the FAA AD and havetaken appropriate correctiveaction," he added.

Jet Airways, which has atleast five MAX planes in itsfleet, said these planes contin-ue to fly in compliance with theAD issued by the manufactur-er and the regulatory author-ities.

"The airline is in contactwith them and committed toimplement all directives oradvisories that may be pub-lished by either the manufac-turer or DGCA as the safety ofguests and crew is of para-mount importance at JetAirways," an airline spokesper-son said.

Comments from SpiceJetwas awaited. Together, the twoairlines have placed orders formore than 400 Boeing 737MAX aircraft.

On November 6, Boeingsaid it had issued an OperationsManual Bulletin (OMB) direct-ing operators to existing flightcrew procedures to addresscircumstances where there iserroneous input from an AOAsensor.

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The Cabinet on Thursdayapproved a proposal to

manage Ahmedabad, Jaipur,Lucknow and three other air-ports under public privatepartnership (PPP).

The three other aero-dromes are those atG u w a h a t i ,Thiruvananthapuram andMangaluru.

The operation, manage-ment and development of allthese aerodromes, owned bythe Airports Authority ofIndia (AAI), would be doneunder PPP, an official tweetsaid.

This would be donethrough Public Pr ivatePartnership Appraisa lCommittee (PPPAC).

Any issue that is beyondthe scope of PPPAC would bedealt with by an empoweredgroup of secretaries, the tweetsaid.

The group would beheaded by NITI Aayog CEO.Secretaries of Civil AviationMinistry, Department ofEconomic Af fairs andDepartment of Expenditurewould be part of the group.

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Amajority of transactionson e-wallets in the country

are used for mobile rechargesand paying utility bills, a studyby market research firmVelocity MR has said.

The study — which wasbased on a sample size of 2,455respondents from cities likeDelhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru andPune — said approximately 9out of every 10 e-wallet trans-actions are used to do mobilerecharges, followed by payingthe utility bills (8 out of 10).

It added that apart from e-wallets, consumers also preferusing debit/credit cards, inter-net banking, etc as a mode ofpayment for digital transac-tions.

"The usage of credit cards,3 out of every 4 is observed tobe the highest among the peo-ple who have monthly person-al income between �1.5 to 2lakh, whereas people having amonthly personal incomearound �75,000 mostly preferto use debit cards..." said thestudy, which coincides with thesecond anniversary of demon-

etisation.According to Velocity MR

Managing Director and CEOJasal Shah, smartphone growthwave and the favourable regu-latory environment from RBIhas pushed up online pay-ments significantly, movingthe economy into a "less-cashand transparent state.

"Significant investments inthe form of cash back andinnovations, like one-click pay-ments, pay anytime anywherehave helped merchants andcustomers to adopt mobilewallets to save costs as com-pared to other digital paymentmethods. With the push fromGovernment and innovations,mobile wallets are expected togrow further in near to mid-term," he said.

He pointed out that mobiledigital payments have increasedrapidly post demonetizationand mobile wallets have con-tributed immensely in thisdirection.

The Government had onNovember 8, 2016, announceda ban on old 500 and 1000rupee notes, to curb blackmoney in the system.

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More than half of 15 com-panies that made their

stock market debut this fiscalare trading below their issueprice, plunging as much as 53per cent.

A total of 15 companieshave been listed on the bours-es this fiscal after completingtheir respective initial publicoffers.

Dinesh Engineers, a passivecommunication infrastructureprovider, withdrew its initialpublic offer early last monthdue to sluggish investors'response.

Out of the 15 newly-listedcompanies, shares of 10 firmsare trading below their IPOprice, tumbling as much as 53per cent, an analysis of the newmarket entrants showed.

Shares of these 10 firmshave declined in the range of0.5-53 per cent till the latesttrading session (November 7).

Shares of ICICI Securitieshave been the worst hit, plung-ing 53.20 per cent from its issueprice of Rs 520 per share.

ICICI Securities, which gotlisted in April, had to reducethe size of its initial public offerafter the sale elicited a sluggishresponse, especially from high

net-worth individuals.The scrip of IndoStar

Capital Finance has tumbled45.39 per cent against its IPOprice of Rs 572 a share.

Weak trading performanceby these firms came amidvolatile market conditions andsluggish investor sentiment.

Of the 15 companies, fivehave, however, managed tostay afloat, giving returns of upto 46 per cent.

Shares of railways consul-tancy firm RITES have surged45.94 per cent over its issueprice of Rs 185.

Besides, chemical manu-facturer Fine OrganicIndustries has given a smartreturn of 42.91 per cent fromits IPO price of Rs 783.

The broader market hasseen severe volatility recently,with the BSE benchmarkSensex falling sharply by3,407.39 points, or 8.81 percent, since August this year.

The key index had in Aprilgained 1,905 points or 5.72 percent, while in May it was up162.02 points or 0.46 per centand in June it rose by 101.1points or 0.28 per cent.

Also, in July it was up2,183.1 points or 6.16 per cent,and the index surged 1,038.49points or 2.76 per cent inAugust.

The rally in stocks, how-ever, came to a halt fromSeptember onwards. InSeptember the 30-share indextumbled 2,417.93 points or6.25 per cent and in October itfell by 1,785.09 points or 4.92per cent.

In the fiscal gone by, a totalof 45 companies came out withtheir IPOs raising a record ofover Rs 82,000 crore.

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Amid the ongoing tusslebetween the government

and the RBI, former Niti Aayogvice chairman ArvindPanagariya has suggested thatthe two sides must eventually'compromise' and 'cometogether in national interest'.

While the RBI is legallyless independent in India thanthe Federal Reserve in theUnited States, effectively ithas enjoyed the same inde-pendence as the US regulator,the noted economist said in aninterview.

Observing that RBI and thegovernment ought to work inclose cooperation, he said,"Even when there are differ-ences between the two sides,they must eventually compro-mise and come together innational interest".

Panagariya, who is cur-

rently a professor of IndianPolitical Economy at ColumbiaUniversity, pointed out thateven in the US, theGovernment and the FederalReserve sometimes work inclose cooperation as had hap-pened in the immediate after-math of the 2008 global finan-cial crisis.

He, however, noted that itwas a pity that the media stead-fastly magnified the differ-ences rather than highlightingthe common ground the twosides share.

The Finance Ministry andthe Reserve Bank on severaloccasions in the past have wit-nessed divergence of views onkey issues concerning interestrate, liquidity and manage-ment of the banking sector, buttruce largely prevailed in theend.

This time around the con-flict seems to have reached a

flash point, with reports of gov-ernment initiating consulta-tions with the RBI underSection 7 of the RBI Act, whichhas never been invoked in thepast.

The conflict between theFinance Ministry and RBIheaded by Urjit Patel is onseveral issues, including reliefto the power sector reelingunder financial stress, han-dling of weak public sectorsbanks, addressing liquidityproblems faced by the NBFCsector, and a proposal to set upa payment regulatory author-ity independent of the ReserveBank.

The Government hasreportedly sent at least threeletters on different issues underSection 7 of the RBI Act thatgives it powers to issue anydirection to the central bankgovernor on matters of publicinterest.

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Indian economy will expand7.4 per cent in 2018, but the

growth will slow down to 7.3per cent in the next year asdomestic demand tapers onhigher borrowing cost due torising interest rates, Moody'sInvestors Service saidThursday.

In its report titled ‘GlobalMacro Outlook 2019-20',Moody's said the economygrew 7.9 per cent in the firsthalf (January-June) of 2018,which reflects post demoneti-sation base effect.

Stating that borrowingcosts have already increased onhigher interest rates, Moody'ssaid it expects the ReserveBank will continue to steadilyraise the benchmark ratethrough 2019, which will fur-

ther dampen domesticdemand.

“These factors will limit thepace of the Indian economy'sgrowth over the next few years,with real GDP growth of 7.3per cent in 2019 and 2020,from around 7.4 per cent in2018,” Moody's said.

It said the greatest down-side risk to India's growthprospects stem from concernsabout its financial sector.

“The impact of higherglobal oil prices compoundedby sharp rupee depreciation

raises the cost of households'consumption basket, and willweigh on households' capacityfor other expenditures.Borrowing costs have alreadyrisen because of tighteningmonetary policy,” it said.

Moody's said, in the shortterm while measures to stabilisethe financial sector are put inplace, credit growth is likely toslow.

“Downside risks from aprolonged liquidity squeezefor non-bank financial institu-tions, which could lead to a

sharper slowdown in theircredit provision, remain,” itadded.

Moody's said global eco-nomic growth will slow in2019 and 2020 to a little under2.9 per cent from an estimated3.3 per cent in 2018 and 2017.

The US-based agencyexpects trade and geopoliticalfrictions between the US andChina to persist for some time.

“This will weigh on theglobal trade growth and willreshape trade flows and supplychains,” Moody's added.

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The Cabinet on Thursdayapproved continuation of

quota for state-owned ITI Ltdin procurement made by threetelecom firms — BSNL, MTNLand BBNL.

"Provision of procurementquota from BSNL, MTNL andBBNL will provide furtherboost to the order book of ITIand help in improving its finan-cial health," an official state-ment said.

The Cabinet Committeeon Economic Affairs (CCEA)Thursday approved the telecomdepartment's proposal to con-tinue the reservation quotapolicy for ITI Ltd by reserving30 per cent of the procurementorders placed by BSNL (BharatSanchar Nigam Ltd), MTNL(Mahanagar Telephone Nigam

Ltd) and BBNL (BharatBroadband Network Ltd) forthe products manufactured bythe state owned telecom equip-ment maker.

The procurement quotawill also include 20 per cent ofthe orders for the turnkey pro-jects (like GSM network roll-out, Wi-Fi of BSNL and MTNLand BharatNet project net-work roll-out of BBNL), thestatement said.

"The aforesaid policy mea-sures shall remain in force fora period of three years witheffect from the date of approvalof CCEA. The policy shallagain be reviewed consideringthe financial health of ITI afterthe expiry of this period," thestatement added.

The move may also help ingenerating more job opportu-nities in the company particu-larly in the field of new telecomtechnologies, it added.

In order to enable ITI tosurvive in the competitive envi-ronment of telecom manufac-turing, BSNL and MTNL havebeen extending reservationquota of 30 per cent to ITI Ltd.

The validity of reservationbenefit extended to ITI hadexpired on May 31, 2018.

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The Cabinet Thursdayapproved filling up of the

underground strategic oil stor-age at Padur in Karnataka byforeign oil companies, whocould use it as a storage fortrading in the region but willhave to part with the oil in caseof an emergency in India.

India has build 5.33 milliontonnes of emergency storage inunderground rock caverns inMangalore and Padur inKarnataka and Visakhapatnamin Andhra Pradesh.

While a third of theVisakhapatnam facility has beenhired by Hindustan PetroleumCorp Ltd (HPCL), Abu DhabiNational Oil Co (ADNOC) andgovernment of India has filledthe storage at Mangalore. The2.5 million tonnes Padur facil-ity remains empty.

The Union Cabinet head-ed by Prime Minister NarendraModi approved the filling ofPadur storage by overseasnational oil companies, Lawand IT Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad told reporters here.

"The filling of the strategicpetroleum reserves (SPR)

under public-private-partner-ship model is being undertak-en to reduce budgetary supportof Government of India," anofficial statement issued afterthe meeting said.

Padur storage has fourcompartments of 0.625 milliontonnes each.

The Indian StrategicPetroleum Reserves Ltd(ISPRL) has constructed andcommissioned undergroundrock caverns for storage oftotal 5.33 million tonnes ofcrude oil at three locations --Vishakhapatnam (1.33 milliontonnes), Mangalore (1.5 milliontonnes) and Padur (2.5 milliontonnes).

The total 5.33 milliontonnes capacity under Phase-Iof the SPR programme is cur-rently estimated to supplyabout 9.5 days of India's cruderequirement.

In the Phase-II, India plansto build an additional 6.5 mil-lion tonnes facilities atChandikhol in Odisha andPadur in Karnataka, which isexpected to augment the emer-gency cover against any supplydisruption by another 11.5days.

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The finance ministry saidThursday that GST refund

of Rs 82,775 crore to exportershas been cleared as on October31, which is 93.8 per cent of thetotal such claims with the taxauthorities.

In a statement, the ministrysaid Rs 5,400 crore worth GSTrefund is still pending with thegovernment and that is being"expeditiously processed".

"As on October 31, 2018,total GST refunds to the tuneof Rs 82,775 crore have beendisposed by the Central Boardof Indirect Taxes and Customs(CBIC) and the state authori-ties out of the total refundclaims of Rs 88,175 crorereceived so far," the ministrysaid.

It added that, the disposalrate of Goods and Services Tax(GST) refunds is 93.8 per centas on October 31.

Giving the refunds' break-up, the ministry further saidthat Rs 42,935 crore of IGSTrefunds have been disposed ofas on October 31, which is93.27 per cent of the total suchclaims.

As much as Rs 3,096 croreworth of IGST refund claimsare held up on account of "var-ious deficiencies" which havebeen communicated toexporters for remedial action.

With regard to refund ofinput tax credit claims, theministry said of the total claimsof Rs 42,145 crore, the pen-dency as on October 31 stoodat Rs 2,305 crore.

"Provisional/final order hasbeen issued in case of (ITC)refunds amounting to Rs34,602 crore. In claims amount-ing to Rs 5,239 crore, deficien-cy memos have been issued byrespective GST authorities,"the statement said.

The ministry said thereare concerns that there is a

growing penden-cy of GST refundsand sought toassure theexporters thatthere is no let upin the sanction ofGST refunds.

“The pendingGST refundclaims amountingto Rs 5,400 croreare being expedi-

tiously processed so as to pro-vide relief to eligible exporters.Refund claims without anydeficiency are being clearedexpeditiously," it said.

Efforts are being madecontinuously to clear all thepending refund claims, whereever requisite information isprovided and found eligible, itsaid.

"Co-operation of theexporter community is solicit-ed to ensure that they respondto the deficiency memos anderrors communicated byCentre and State GST as well asCustoms Authorities and alsoexercise due diligence while fil-ing GSTR 1 and GSTR 3Breturns as well as ShippingBills," the statement added.

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The Union Cabinet onThursday approved strate-

gic sale of Government stakein Dredging Corporation ofIndia to consortium of fourports.

"CCEA has given in princi-ple approval for strategic disin-vestment of 100 per centGovernment of India's share inDCIL to consortium of 4 ports,namely Vishakhapatnam PortTrust, Paradeep Port Trust,Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trustand Kandla Port Trust," an offi-cial tweet said.

The approval will furtherfacilitate the linkage of dredg-ing activities with the ports,keeping in view the role of theDCIL in expansion of dredgingactivity in the country as wellas potential diversification ofports into third party dredging,the tweet said after the meet-ing of the Cabinet Committeeof Economic Affairs (CCEA)chaired by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

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Agunman dressed in blacksprayed bullets inside a

crowded dance bar popularwith college studentsWednesday night, killing atleast 12 people, including apolice officer, in California’sThousand Oaks city in one ofthe “horrific” mass shootingincidents in the US.

The gunman, who alsoinjured nearly a dozen others,was found dead inside theBorderline Bar and Grill on theoutskirts of Los Angelesalthough it was not immedi-ately clear if he was killed byofficers or shot himself.

Ventura County SheriffGeoff Dean described the inci-dent as “horrific.”

“It’s a horrific scene inthere, there is blood every-where and the suspect is partof that, and I didn’t want to getthat close and disturb the sceneand possibly disturb the inves-tigation,” he said. He said themotive of the shooter — whoseidentify was not known — isstill unclear and investigatorshad not found any type ofassault rifle within the bar.

“Right now as far as weknow there was only one hand-gun, but that could certainlychange as we do a more thor-ough search of the building,” hesaid.

It was not immediatelyclear how the suspect died andthe identities of the victimswere not immediately released.

President Donald Trumpsaid that he has been “fullybriefed on the terrible shootingin California.”

“Law Enforcement andFirst Responders, together withthe FBI, are on scene. 13 peo-ple, at this time, have beenreported dead. Likewise, theshooter is dead, along with thefirst police officer to enter thebar....

“Great bravery shown bypolice. California HighwayPatrol was on scene within 3minutes, with first officer toenter shot numerous times.That Sheriff ’s Sergeant died inthe hospital. God bless all of thevictims and families of thevictims. Thank you to LawEnforcement,” Trump said in aseries of tweets.

The hooded gunman burstinto the bar around 11:20 p.M.(local time) dressed entirely inblack. Ventura County Sheriff ’sDepartment Sgt. Ron Helusand a California HighwayPatrol officer entered the barfirst and were met with gunfirefrom the suspect, the LosAngeles Times reported, citingofficials.

Helus was shot severaltimes and succumbed to hisinjuries at a hospital.

He was planning to retirenext year after a 29-year stintwith the sheriff ’s department,Dean said. Helus, who died “ahero”, is survived by a son andhis wife, whom he called beforeentering the bar, Dean added.

It was the second massshooting in the US within twoweeks.

“We have no idea if thereis a terrorism link to this or not.As you know, these are ongo-ing investigations and that

information will come out assoon as we are able to deter-mine exactly who the suspectwas and what motive he mighthave had for this horrific event,”Dean added.

Citing witnesses, the papersaid that people ran for coverwhen shooting started. Somepeople tried to break windowsusing chairs to escape thebuilding while some hid inbathrooms.

The FBI’s Joint TerrorismTask Force has been rushed tothe scene, according to anagency spokeswoman.Representatives from the USBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,Firearms & Explosives werealso dispatched. According tobar’s website, Wednesdaynights are college-themednights open to students asyoung as 18. Quoting witness-es, the paper said the event ispopular with Moorpark collegestudents, and the Pepperdinestudent newspaper tweetedthat students from its campuswere also inside at the time ofthe shooting.

This is the second time thisyear Thousand Oaks has seenviolence in a crowded area. InMarch, a man shot and killedhis wife before attempting toshoot himself at the ThousandOaks Mall, the paper added.

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President Donald Trump onWednesday sacked US

Attorney General Jeff Sessions,virtually taking operationalcontrol of a sensitive probe intoforeign interference in the 2016election and the possibility ofcollusion between the Trumpcampaign and Russia.

For months, Trump pub-licly attacked Sessions forrecusing himself from over-seeing the probe in 2017, andblamed his decision for allow-ing Deputy Attorney GeneralRod Rosenstein to appoint aspecial counsel. Trump said

Sessions will be temporarilyreplaced by his chief of staff,Matthew Whitaker, who is aRepublican loyalist. Now, withWhitaker at the helm, Trumphas someone leading the JusticeDepartment who has alreadysuggested that Mueller’s probeshould be reined in.

CBS News reported thatDeputy Attorney GeneralRosenstein is no longer leadingthe Mueller inquiry, and thatWhitaker will now assumecontrol.

In a tweet on WednesdayTrump said, “We are pleased toannounce that Matthew G.Whitaker, Chief of Staff to

Attorney General Jeff Sessions at the Departmentof Justice, will become ournew Acting Attorney Generalof the United States. He willserve our Country well (sic).”

“We thank AttorneyGeneral Jeff Sessions for hisservice, and wish him well! Apermanent replacement willbe nominated at a later date,” hetweeted.

Observers opine thatTrump’s move will have poten-tial implication on SpecialCounsel Robert Mueller’s probeas Whitaker has been overtlycritical of the Mueller’s team toinvestigate beyond allegations

Trump’s campaign colludedwith Russia in 2016 and otherties between the President, hisfamily and aides, and Kremlin.

The wide-ranging investi-gation — overseen by theDepartment of Justice — hasresulted in a series of criminalcharges against several Trumpassociates.

Trump’s tweet came lessthan an hour after hismarathon press conference atthe White House where he toldreporters that he will makingannouncements about changesin his Cabinet and senior WhiteHouse and Administrativepositions in a week.

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Pakistani authorities on Thursdayrejected as “fake news” reports

that a Christian woman who wasreleased from a jail a week after theSupreme Court overturned her con-viction and death sentence for blas-phemy has left for the Netherlands.

Aasia Bibi, 47, acquitted in theblasphemy case was released, amidnationwide anger, from the jail inMultan on Wednesday midnight.

It was reported in local mediathat she was taken to Noor KhanAirbase Rawalpindi, from whereshe would be shifted to theNetherlands.

“Aasia Bibi was released fromNew Jail for Women Multan (some350 kilometers from Lahore) onWednesday midnight. She is taken toNoor Khan Airbase Rawalpindi

where a chartered plane will take herto the Netherlands,” 24News report-ed on Thursday.

Some other news channels alsoreported the release of Aasia Bibi andher departure for the Netherlands.

However, Foreign Office (FO)spokesman Dr Mohammad Faisaldismissed reports that the mother offive had left the country.

“There is no truth in reportsabout Bibi leaving the country — itis fake news,” he said.

“You are aware of the mediafuror and speculation about AasiaBibi having left Pakistan. Let me stateclearly that Asia Bibi remains at a safeplace in Pakistan.

I would also request all of you toverify such news before issuingthem, in line with standards ofobjective, impartial journalism toprevent needless sensationalism and

controversy,” he said. InformationMinister Fawad Chaudhry alsorejected the reports about her goingout of the country.

“It has become a norm to pub-lish fake news for sake of headlines,#AsiaBibi case is sensitive issue it wasextremely irresponsible to publishnews of her leaving the country with-out confirmation, I strongly urge sec-tion of media to act responsible,” hesaid.

Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan(TLP) of Khadim Hussain Rizvispokesperson Hafiz Shahbaz Attariissued a statement to media saying“the Imran Khan Government hasreleased Aasia Bibi as theNetherlands ambassador inIslamabad reached Multan jail alongwith the government officials toensure her release. She is beingtransported to Netherlands.”

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NASA’s Ralph — a space instru-ment that has travelled as far as

Pluto — is set to explore Jupiter’sTrojan asteroids, which are remnantsfrom the early days of the solar sys-tem.

Ralph was first launched aboardthe New Horizons spacecraft in2006m and obtained stunning flybyimages of Jupiter and its moons.

This was followed by a visit toPluto where Ralph took the firsthigh-definition pictures of the icon-ic minor planet.

In 2021, Ralph is set to journeywith the Lucy mission to Jupiter’sTrojan asteroids.

The instrumet will fly by anoth-er Kuiper Belt object called 2014MU69 — nicknamed Ultima Thule— in January 2019. Ralph’s obser-vations of 2014 MU69 will provideunique insights into this small, icyworld.

The Lucy spacecraft carries anear-twin of Ralph, called L’Ralph,which will investigate Jupiter’s Trojanasteroids.

The L’Ralph instrument suitewill study this diverse group of

bodies; Lucy will fly by six Trojansand one Main Belt asteroid — more than any otherprevious asteroid mission. L’Ralphwill detect the Trojan asteroids’chemical fingerprints.

L’Ralph allows scientists to inter-pret data provided by the Sun’sreflected light that are the finger-prints of different elements andcompounds.

These data could provide cluesabout how organic molecules formin primitive bodies, a process thatmight also have led to the emergenceof life on Earth.

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Bangladesh will hold the general election onDecember 23 and for the first time will use

electronic voting machines on a limited scale,the electoral body announced on Thursday,amid an impasse between the government andthe main opposition alliance over the timing ofthe polls.

“The 11th general election will be heldacross Bangladesh on December 23,” ChiefElection Commissioner Nurul Huda said in anationally televised address.

Huda made the announcement hours afterhis meeting with four election commissionersto finalise the poll date which came amid callsfrom the newly-floated National Unity Front(NUF) to defer the election schedule while theruling Awami League urged the commission tostick to its plan. The candidates have to submittheir nomination papers between November 9and November 19. The nomination papers willbe scrutinised on November 22.

Nearly 104.2 million people, including a lit-tle more than 51.6 million women, are regis-tered as voters. They will elect 300 representa-tives to Parliament through the balloting inabout 40,199 polling stations.

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Pakistan on Thursday said the AfghanTaliban’s former deputy chief Mullah Abdul

Ghani Baradar was released from jail at therequest of the US as part of efforts to pursue apolitical settlement in war-torn Afghanistan.

“Baradar was released to provide impetusto the peace and reconciliation efforts inAfghanistan. Pakistan will continue to pursuereconciliatory efforts to expedite and facilitatethe process to our fullest ability,” said Pakistan’sForeign Office spokesperson MohammadFaisal. Baradar’s release was facilitated byPakistan at the US request in order to move for-ward on the shared objective of pursuing a polit-ical settlement in Afghanistan, he said.

The Taliban leader was in custody for thelast many years after his capture by Pakistaniauthorities in a search operation.

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In an unprecedented move,the White House has sus-

pended the credentials of asenior CNN journalist for his“disgusting and outrageous”behaviour, hours after he hada testy exchange with PresidentDonald Trump during amarathon news conference.

The move came just hoursafter CNN’s chief White Housecorrespondent Jim Acosta drewthe ire of Trump by persisting with questions abouthis views on a caravan of

Central American migrantsmaking its way to the US border and refused thepresident’s orders to sit down, and clung to the micro-phone.

The removal of Acosta’spass is a sharp escalation of ten-sions between the Trumpadministration and the media.

At the news conference,which lasted 1 hour and 26minutes, Trump snapped at thepress corps, called reporters “rude” for askingquestions, and made baselessclaims about political polling.

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First things first, in last week’s columnabout the Honda CR-V, I got the

price of the vehicle wrong by quite amargin and I apologise to Honda forthat. I still think that the car even atbetween �28-32 lakh is too expensive,given that it goes up against the ToyotaFortuner and Ford Endeavour whichare larger vehicles.

At a level, at the price the CR-V ispriced at, and given that the third row,by Honda’s own admission should beused only in a pinch, a buyer mightconsider the Volkswagen Tiguaninstead. However, the CR-V did havesomething interesting, which was thenew i-DTEC ‘Earth Dreams’ 120 horse-power 1.6 diesel engine. While thisleaves the CR-V down on power com-pared to the competition, it is a newengine which will be compliant withBharat Stage-VI emission norms whenthey come into force in 2020. The EarthDreams engine is also expected to befitted on the new Honda Civic that isscheduled to be launched within thenext couple of months. And eventhough its output is down on its rivals,the cleaner burning engine will give theJapanese carmaker a leg up on its rivalswho will also have to develop new-gen-eration engines for Bharat Stage-VInorms.

Basically Bharat Stage-VI norms arevery strict for diesel engines. To under-stand why this is the case, one has tounderstand how diesel engines work.Unlike a petrol engine, diesel enginesdo not have a spark plug but workbecause the fuel-air mixture is com-pressed to the point of combustion. Inthe early days of diesel engines, dieselfuel was mixed with sulphur to ensurecombustion. So emissions from dieselengines often used to be full of sul-phurous soot and unburnt carbon. Asemission norms like Bharat Stage-II andStage-III came into force, the emer-gence of cleaner burning diesel enginesbecame standard. This was achieved byretailing diesel fuel with lower amountsof sulphur and use of high-pressurediesel injection engines. The high-pressure injection coupled with tur-bochargers have made diesel enginescleaner and much more economical. Yetdiesel suffers from some bad publicrelations and some uncomfortabletruths.

One of the uncomfortable truths ofdiesel-powered vehicles is that theyemit disproportionately large amountsof particulate matter and nitrous oxidescompared to petrol-powered vehicles.Of course, this is offset to some degreeby the fact that diesel cars emit less car-bon per kilometre thanks to thetremendous efficiency they achievenowadays. But thanks in no small partto the emissions cheating scandal,

diesel engines suffer from a tremen-dously bad image, particularly frompolicy-makers. This has skewed focusin India towards electric vehicles. Nowwhile on the face of it, electric vehiclesseem cleaner, given that most electric-ity in India is generated from thermalpower plants, a pure electric vehiclecould have a higher carbon contribu-tion over its lifetime. There is a case forpure-electric public transportation andfor small delivery two-wheelers pow-ered by batteries though. But state andCentral governments will have to makea large-scale transformation towardselectricity-driven vehicles, with eitherchanging the energy mix and skewingit towards renewable, finding a compre-hensive solution to battery recycling,which has not even been thought up forthe masses of electric e-rickshaws in thecapital, and making huge investmentsin charging infrastructure.

That said, low-emission vehicles inthe short-term will be possible thanksto hybrids with pure-electric vehicles atleast for intra-urban use becoming areality by around 2040. However,Bharat Stage-VI norms kick in by2020 in the National Capital Region,which will mean that diesel engines willhave to add particulate and nitrogencapture systems. This will add at leastone lakh rupees to the cost of an engine.Not a big deal in a car like theMercedes-Benz S-Class which was thefirst BS-VI fuel and emissions compat-ible car, but will make a difference ina small hatchback where a diesel enginealready commands a lakh rupee premi-um. An additional lakh of rupees willmake a small diesel hatchback unviableunless it is used for a minimum of 2,000km a month at the bare minimum if notmore. In other words, BS-VI will kill thesmall diesel hatchback. And that iswithout the ridiculous ten-year lifespanof a diesel car in the NCR as mandat-ed by the Supreme Court.

Will BS-VI also kill the largerdiesel motor vehicle? Not quite, in per-centage terms. BS-VI compatibilitywill add a small amount to the price ofsomething like the CR-V, let alone theS-Class. But even then, with petrol anddiesel prices at the pump slowly butsurely equalising, and in Bhubaneswar,petrol being cheaper than diesel, thesmall diesel motor is going to goextinct in India sooner rather than later.So even for something like an SUV orlarge sedan, buying a petrol motor isgoing to make much more sense. Butif the government is determined to cutback on emissions they have to look athybrids, and given Delhi’s poor air qual-ity right now, this must be seen as aquick fix by giving hybrid vehicles a taxbreak. That is a small price to pay foremissions reduction.

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Exploring the darker side of theiconic childhood tale of The

Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling,filmmaker Andy Serkis, whobrought alive the adventure fan-tasy on the silver screen as Mowgli,said he wanted to make the filmvery emotional.

Serkis, who was here forNetflix’s See What’s Next Asia,announced on Thursday that thefilm will be globally releasing onthe digital platform on December7.

Talking about the film to TedSarandos, Chief Content Officer,

Netflix, Serkis said: “I wanted tomake it a very emotional versionof this story...We have seen manyversions of The Jungle Book, but Iwanted to bring about this notionof being an outsider and ofbelonging.

“Kipling himself when hewrote the book... As a child, hespoke in Hindi and it was his firstlanguage and was sent to Englandagainst his will. He understood(this) from a personal place...thisis what the core of the story is.”

The film is based on the 19thcentury tale of a boy named

Mowgli who grew up in the jun-gles of India with animals. Eventhough the movie explores thedarker side, Serkis stressed themovie is Mowgli-centric.

“There have been many inter-pretations but if you go back to thebook, it is way darker than peo-ple’s perception...This is a Mowgli-centric story. There’s a right rea-son to call it so because it is thisyoung boy’s personal journey andit is an emotional journey. It’sextraordinary where you see himgrow up and become this legendof the jungle.”

The film stars Indian-American child actor RohanChand, Matthew Rhys and FreidaPinto, along with voice andmotion capture performancesfrom Christian Bale, CateBlanchett, Benedict Cumberbatch,Naomie Harris and Serkis.

The filmmaker, who hasvoiced the free-spirited Baloo —the bear in the movie — says for

the title role of Mowgli, he had toscout for the right one fromamong 2,000 people. Talkingabout Chand, he said: “Rohan(Chand) was in the film calledLone Survivor where he played alittle Afghani kid and I thoughtthere was something remarkableabout him.”

With Bale, Blanchett,Cumberbatch and Harris on boardfor the film, Serkis said it is the“largest ever ensemble cast” of A-list actors playing all these roles.

“This is the whole cast of ani-mals. When we (the cast) first metand we decided to talk to eachother...They were all interested indoing something new and outsideof their comfort zone in a way. Sowe shot with the A-list cast andRohan Chand (Mowgli) on a cap-tured stage and caught all theirperformance...You bring yourselfto the character.”

Serkis said the film is notabout singing and dancing, but

about emotional connection. Thedirector, 53, said shooting the filmwas a “long process”. “We shot intwo stages. First we shot with theA-list cast and then we shot onphysical sets that we built. Thenwe went to South Africa whichdoubled for the Indian villagesequence...Rohan always hadsomeone to act with,” he added.

About coming on board withNetflix, a thrilled Serkis said thathe wanted to share the film withthe global audience.

“It is truly a global approachand I am very happy and I alwaysthought it was an internationalfilm and it didn’t just have to bea success in the US box office,” headded.

The movie will first get a lim-ited theatrical release fromNovember 29 in Los Angeles, NewYork, San Francisco and London.And will then be screened glob-ally on Netflix from December 7.

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When Rang de Basanti released in2006, it inspired an entire gener-ation to want to become revolu-

tionaries. That is the power that cinemaholds over us, and so do the actors and theirlifestyle. And hence, we leave no stoneunturned in keeping up with what wewatch in films and on social media. Fromreplicating Shah Rukh Khan’s quintessen-tial open arms pose to acquiring the design-er dresses that our favourite actors wore ontheir wedding days on screen or off, we fol-low it all.

So how have these celebrities inspiredcouples and the wedding market? There area number of moments from celebrity wed-dings that have become ‘couple goals’ andwe caught up with some of the top trends.

��������� �! �!���!" #��$�After Virat-Anushka’s nature-themedreception invite for which they sent asapling with the card, it has become a majorgoal for millennials to use innovativeapproaches. Other trends include use of cal-ligraphy, paper and latex, wood and evenstone engravings for invitation cards.

For gifts and momentos, reusable andrecyclable boxes with silver and golden rib-bons are also being highly preferred.

%�#&�'"���������!��One of the most recent examples would beactress Priyanka Chopra’s pyjama party thatlooked like a replica of the one shown inAnne Hathaway’s Princess Diaries 2: RoyalEngagement. However, the photos from theevent showed that it was a perfect way topamper the bride before the wedding.

There have been many shows and filmsthat have shown the bachelorette or thebachelor party is a must do before the D-day. In The Trip Season One, starringShwetha Tripathi, Lisa Haydon, MallikaDua and Sapna Pabbi, the young womenhead on a trip to Thailand for one of theirbachelorette’s. Prior to this, Zindagi NaMilegi Dobara showed us that friends tak-ing off with the groom-to-be for a last bashbefore the wedding.

%"''()""$! ��!��$���*)�$$! ��&""��Even though your wedding album willcover all the rituals and events, a pre-wed-ding shoot has all the dreamy photographsthat you have ever wanted after watchingfilms. For these shoots, couples hire wed-ding photographers that capture yourpersonal story but with panache anddrama inspired from Bollywood.

Wedding photographer Arnob Das,who has done pre-wedding shoots for anumber of couples in the capital, said thatwhen it comes to such shoots, they usual-ly prefer to recreate their personal storiesof how they met and what they like and dis-like. While talking about the currenttrend, he said that a picture from Virat-Anushka’s wedding has been chosen by

many couples to be recreated. The pictureshows Anushka holding the flower garlandwhile Virat is held by a group of peoplemuch higher than her.

Another example is from the film Sonuke Titu Ki Sweety. The scene from the film’swedding set-up has been in high demandas the theme offered a very colourful pat-tern with dhols and nagadas in the fore-ground.

$���! ��!" )�$$! ��Be it the forthcoming Priyanka-Nick’s wed-ding planned at the Mehrangarh Fort inJodhpur, or the famous Oberoi and TajHotels in Udaipur, or even beachsidelocations in Goa and Pondicherry, the trendhas brought weddings out of banquet hallsto dreamy locations.

It was one of Udaipur’s hotels whereRanbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukonestarring Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani’s (YJHD)wedding scenes were shot. Since then,Udaipur and various forts in Rajasthan havebecome a hub for real life weddings.

Instagram sensation Diipa Khoslarecently married her Dutch boyfriendwearing a Sabyasachi design at Udaipur’sHotel Fateh Garh.

��� $! �&��&����It never happened if it wasn’t uploadedonline. From wedding invitations to theentrances of a wedding, the hashtags aregiven a special place so that even the guests

could follow the particular hashtag to postthe pictures.

Recently-married couple actressShwetha Tripathi and actor ChaitanyaSharma’s Instagram accounts screamed oftheir exclusive wedding hashtag which wasused not just by the couple, but by all theirguests and family. The hashtag#GoCheetaGetBattata started to trend onInstagram when the duo got married. ForSonam Kapoor and Anand Ahuja’s wed-ding, it was #SonamKiShaadi while theroyal couple, Prince Harry and MeghanMarkle, made #HarryMeghan and#RoyalWedding trend. The forthcoming#DeepVeerKiShaadi has already startedtrending since Deepika and Ranveer haveannounced their wedding date.

��� $���!�+�'�Smaller rituals and customs that are justconfined to homes have also made theirway to the grand itenery. The mehendi,haldi, pheras and sangeet are equallyimportant with people hiring weddingchoreographers to prepare performancesfor such events.

Wedding planner Shivangi Garg, whorecently planned a destination wedding inMussoorie, Uttarakhand, said that eventhe minor customs need equal attentionas the major ones.

“We borrowed the concept of amehendi ceremony from the film, YehJawaani Hai Deewani. Generally, themehendi wallah just applies it at home andleaves. But we wanted to give a theme andmake it bigger,” she said. “People want itthe Bollywood way,” she added.

While pheras or the vows taken dur-ing a Hindu wedding are sacred, they areconsidered a boring ritual. So, Gargmade it a ‘musical’ one, where the panditswould sing the mantras in jolly tunes anda few Rajasthani dancers would dancearound. For sangeet and reception, cou-ples have taken inspiration from thewedding reception of the captain of theIndian cricket team in which a crystal wallwith mirror work made the backdrop ofthe podium.

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When employees enter Saba— an Israeli restaurantstarted by award-winning

chef Alon Shaya — they pass by thecompany’s mission statement, whichemphasises the importance of a safeand comfortable working environ-ment. Only at the end does it real-ly get around to food with the words:“Then, we will cook and serve andbe happy.”

“The team is number one andthat is who we are as a company,”said Shaya, explaining the genesis ofhis and his wife’s new venture,Pomegranate Hospitality, whichincludes restaurants in New Orleansand Denver, and the environment hehopes to create for the company’snearly 150 employees.

Discussions about new restau-rants generally revolve around thefood. And at Saba the piping hot pitabread or the blue crab hummus isdiscussion-worthy. But long beforethe first plate of shakshouka wasserved, Shaya and his team focusedon how to create an inclusive workenvironment different than thetoxic restaurant workplaces exposedby the #MeToo movement.

Just over a year ago, Shaya waspart owner and executive chef ofthree restaurants in the BeshRestaurant Group, headed by NewOrleans chef John Besh, includinghis James Beard-awarding winningnamesake Israeli restaurant.

Then a story inNOLA.com/The Times-Picayunedetailed allegations of sexual mis-conduct in Besh’s company, causingBesh to step down. Shaya wasn’t per-

sonally accused of misconduct butthe story detailed allegations ofharassment at two of his restaurants.Shaya was quoted in the story aboutconcerns he had over BRG’s then-lack of a human resources depart-ment. Shaya has said that’s what ledto his firing — something Besh’scompany disputed. A messy legalbattle ensued during which Shayalost all rights to his namesakerestaurant.

Fast forward to current day:Shaya sits at Saba discussing the poli-cies and procedures Pomegranatehas put in place to ensure a safeworking environment.

The interview process includesquestions way beyond whether aperson has waited tables before(‘What was the last gift you boughtfor somebody?’). Management holds30 and 90-day chats with newemployees and then every sixmonths. The restaurants are closedMonday and Tuesday so everyonehas a guaranteed two days in a rowoff.

Women populate high-profileroles including executive chef inNew Orleans. About 60 per cent ofeach restaurant’s staff is women.They’ve adopted ideas from otherrestaurants including a system usedby Erin Wade at the Oakland,California-based Homeroom todeal with sexual harassment and acode of conduct for guest chefs usedby Raleigh, NC-based restaurateurAshley Christiansen.

Service is limited during 2:30 to4 p.m. so the staff can sit togetherfor a meal, often accompanied by

staff presentations to their co-work-ers. Some topics are work-related.But employees are also encouragedto share what interests them. Duringa recent session, cook Timmy Harristalked to the waiters, managers, andcooks about existentialism, Southernliterature and author Walker Percy.

“It kind of drives home the pointthat this is a place for people todevelop themselves. It’s not just arestaurant. We’re not just slingingpita,” Harris said after.

Shaya said he can’t talk muchabout what happened while work-ing at BRG for legal reasons but saysnow that he and his wife own theircompany they’re able to create thestructure they want.

“Even in our restaurants some-one will be inappropriate at somepoint,” Shaya said. “And I know thatwhen that happens people are goingto jump on it because people havereally bought into the values.”

Experts say many issues havecontributed to sexual misconduct inthe restaurant industry, including atipping structure that can inhibitservers — often women — fromcomplaining about out-of-line cus-tomers, little training for managersand high turnover. Restaurants’small size — often family-owned orsingle units — has historicallymeant they don’t have strong HRpolicies, said Juan Madera, an asso-ciate professor at the Conrad NHilton College of Hotel andRestaurant Management.

Allegations of sexual miscon-duct at restaurants and the wider#MeToo discussion have been a“wakeup call for restaurants,”Madera said. He’s hearing fromrestaurant associations and otherswho want to figure out how to pre-vent sexual harassment in the work-place.

Raleigh, NC-based chef andrestaurateur Ashley Christiansen,who talked with Shaya about hisnew venture, says a restaurant'sHR presence is as important as thefood or the linen service. She saysit’s difficult to measure how muchprogress has been made across theindustry since the growth of the#MeToo movement, but she seescause for optimism.

“I feel like it’s the thing I talkabout more than food now, and Ithink that’s a positive thing,” she said.

Shaya says his new venturehasn’t been without problems. He’sfired one person who was cursingat another employee. But he’s alsobeen inspired by staff members call-ing out someone who makes an off-colour joke or not tolerating nega-tivity. “We’ve taken it down to thevery basics of kindness, and we stickto it and I feel that we’ve attracted alot of people who believe in that,” hesaid.

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Now that the festivities are overit is important to detoxify after

indulging in food loaded with fats,sugar, carbohydrates and dry fruits.While these foods can give heavinessand bloating, an alcohol binge playshavoc with our digestive system andoverall health.

But detoxifying should not betaken as a punishment. Instead, itcan be made interesting by includ-ing different meal options likespinach, tomatoes, cucumber, apples,broccoli etc along with other essen-tial foods. Do not starve yourself atany given time or give up everythingthat you love eating. Eating sensiblyalong with regular exercise, plenty ofwater and sufficient rest should dothe trick of bringing you back toyour normal weight and health, sayAvni Kaul, nutritionist and wellnesscoach and Shivani Kandwal, medicalnutritionist and diabetes educator.

Here are a 20 things you needto do to make sure that the detox-ification journey runs smooth:● Lemon water encourages the

liver to produce bile which helpsin digestion and detoxification.Sipping lukewarm boiled waterall through the day also purifiesthe body.

● Green tea is rich in antioxidantswhich keeps you healthy and theliver active. The rich foods thatyou have eaten during Diwalidepletes the water content in thebody which gets replenishedwhen you drink green tea. It alsoincreases the metabolism whichin turn burns body fat.

● Vegetable soup with lots of dif-ferent vegetables ofyour choice pro-vide antioxi-dants andpotassium,which elimi-nate toxins fromthe body.

● Fruits have vita-mins, minerals,antioxidants andfibers, all of whichtogether keep thebody healthy whileremoving the toxinslining the intestinalwalls.

● Soaked nuts and driedfruits are easier todigest and thereforethey rejuvenate our sys-tem. Their protein getsabsorbed quickly. They

neutralise the toxins in the colon.● Steamed sprouts boost immuni-

ty and purify blood. Corrosion oftissues is prevented by theantioxidants present in them.The Omega-3 fats brings a glowto the skin and hair. Theyrestore hormonal balance in thebody and also hydrate it.

● Light food like khichdi, quinoa orporridge are all easily

digestible and nutritious.They are gluten-freeand strengthen the sys-tem.● Detox drinks includeswarm water with addedajwain, jeera, fenugreekseeds, lemon slices, tulsior neem leaves. Coconutwater is another very goodnatural option.● Consumption of sugarand salt should be broughtdown to the minimum.● Eat home-cooked foodto avoid the hidden caloriesin sauces, salad dressing etc.It will also help you controlyour portion size.

● Incorporate dahi/yogurt in yourmeals to assist in digestion andcleanse your system.

● Eat a light dinner so that the undi-gested food does not get storedas fat in the body.

● Enough sleep is essential to repairand rejuvenate the body.

● Don’t eat white breads, rice,maida, sugar or white processedfoods for they are all bad for thedigestive system.

● Don’t skip meals. Instead havesmaller light meals at regularintervals.

● No packed food. During diwaliyou have gorged on enoughsweets and fried foods, so say noto food with preservatives andfried food.

● Staying hydrated is the key.Drink enough water, and yourbody will naturally flush outexcess fat and sugar. Drink atleastthree litres of water to ensure agood detox. You can also add afew mint and basil leaves andpiece of lemon to aid flatulence,indigestion .

● Eat as much raw vegetables andfruits as possible. They will addfibre and will aid constipation,which people tend to get postdiwali.

● Keep your dinner salt free, so thatyou don’t get water retention. Itwill keep you light.

● Exercise. Last but not the least,stay active. That’s our body’snatural detoxifying method. Tryand log in atleast 10,000 steps inyour fitness app.

Neither do people seek to gethigh nor do they ignore theirhealth for a binge when they

go out to drink with friends. Theyspend time and money on keeping fitand want their cocktails to be mind-ful of that, says mixologist MahenderMahy.

Working in a Gurugram pub,Molecule, he has created a menu thataims to marry the global with the desi.So he has been advocating homemadesyrups instead of synthetic ones withpreservatives and sugar. In fact,almost his entire “global tempta-tions” menu is without sugar. “I ask

the customers what they want in theirbase and how they want the taste tobe like and 50 per cent of them wantone that doesn’t derail them fromtheir fitness regime. People want to beable to have five to six drinks anddrive back home safely,” he says.

Some of the concoctions he has

devised include cumin, chaat masala,sandalwood syrup —which enhancesthe fragrance of the drink — andother edible flowers and herbs. Histeam makes the syrups themselvesand the fastest selling drink at the

pub is a litchi-based one. To balancethe sweet taste, they use chilli andpineapple. Another drink, theSouthern tip, has gin, which he sayshas overtaken both whisky and vodkain the market, and a Himalayan fruitcalled phalsa and orange liqueur.The Kailasa sandal cocktail is anoth-

er that caught our attention. This, hesays, is made with sandalwood syrupfrom Kailasha, Darjeeling tea and aherbal bitter, making it one of thehealthiest drinks on the menu. TheKonkantini shakes up the tradition-al martini by infusing kokum juicebalance with lime juice.

Health is a guiding factor for thefast-changing menus but so is socialmedia. It’s a small industry globallyand influences seep in from all partsof the world. India is slowly catchingup with world trends.

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India's teenage shooting sensationSaurabh Chaudhary continued his

incredible run by claiming his fourthindividual gold medal in as manymonths with a top finish in the 10m airpistol junior men's event of the AsianAirgun Championship here onThursday.

The 16-year-old, son of a farmerbased in Meerut, first combined withcompatriots Arjun Singh Cheema andAnmol Jain to log a total of 1731 to winthe team Gold and fetched the indi-vidual Gold with 239.8 in the eight-manindividual final to finish with twoGold medals.

Saurabh won the Gold medal at theAsian Games in August, besides baggingGolds at the World ShootingChampionships in September and theYouth Olympic Games in Argentina last

month.Arjun (237.7) secured the Silver

medal after finishing second, whileChinese Taipei's Huang Wei-Te clinchedthe Bronze with a score of 218.0.

Anmol finished fourth with a scoreof 195.1. The Indian trio missed theWorld and Asian Junior record by amere point. Earlier, the Indians domi-nated the qualifying stages with Arjuntopping the standings with a score of578 after 60 shots.

Anmol was second with 577 whileSaurabh was placed third with a scoreof 576 and all three made it to the eight-man final.

This takes India's tally in the ongo-ing event to 10 medals, including threeGold, five Silver and two Bronze medals.

Manu Bhaker and Abhidnya Patilare also slated to feature in the juniorwomen's 10m air pistol final later in theday.

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Ayoung Indian squad willaim to emerge from theshadows of a winless past

when it launches its bid for amaiden title with a tough open-er against New Zealand in thefirst standalone Women's WorldT20 starting here on Friday.

India have not been verycompetitive in the shortest for-mat compared to the 50-overgame in which they scripted apath-breaking moment last yearwhen they reached the WorldCup final.

In the end, nerves got thebetter of them and they lost thetitle clash to England after beingin complete control at one stage.

Captain Harmanpreet Kaurand recently-appointed coachRamesh Powar insist that theteam has learnt from that finalloss and the presence of young-sters, including six World Cupdebutants, makes the squad "fear-less".

India have never won theWorld T20 in their previous fiveattempts with their best result, asemifinal appearance, coming in2009 and 2010. This is the firststandalone World T20 forwomen after being held along-side the men's event in the pasteditions.

In the lead-up to the WorldT20, India have hit good form,beating hosts Sri Lanka beforeblanking Australia A at home.What should give them addi-tional confidence going into theopener is the wins against reign-ing champions West Indies andEngland in the warm-up match-es.

Opener Smriti Mandhana,on whom India will be relyingheavily in the Caribbean, said theAsia Cup T20 final loss toBangladesh in June was a time-ly wake-up call.

"After the setback in the AsiaCup, everyone went back andworked hard. You can see every-one is up to the mark where youneed to be at the internationalstandard," said Mandhana, whois also the vice-captain.

"The Sri Lanka series hasbeen really good. For me per-

sonally, I didn't get really goodscores, but one match,Harmanpreet and I didn't scorea single run and we got 170. Thatwas brilliant.

"The bowlers too haveimproved massively in last threemonths, they are clear with theirplans. And fielding wise, we are10 per cent better than in the lastWorld Cup," added Mandhana,who will open alongside veteranMithali Raj.

While Mandhana's perfor-mance will be crucial at the top,teenager Jemimah Rodriguez,Tanya Bhatia and Harmanpreetwill make up the middle order.

The spin department, led byleggie Poonam Yadav, is India'sstrength while the pace depart-ment lacks experience after theretirement of veteran JhulanGoswami.

India have failed to go pastthe group stage in the previousthree editions and they will haveto play well consistently toadvance to the knock-outs.

After the opener againstNew Zealand, India will facePakistan on November 11,Ireland on November 15 andthree-time champions Australiaon November 17.

Coach Powar, a former Indiaoff-spinner, has high expecta-tions from his team.

"They know that if we growas individuals, the team grows,the Indian women's cricketgrows, and people will startnoticing the game in India andaround the world," Powar toldthe ICC's official website.

"When you enter such tour-naments, you have to breakrecords, get noticed as an indi-vidual and team also, so I'm look-ing forward to that," he added.

�G����India: Harmanpreet Kaur

(c), Taniya Bhatia (wk), EktaBisht, Dayalan Hemalatha,Mansi Joshi, VedaKrishnamurthy, SmritiMandhana, Anuja Patil, MithaliRaj, Arundathi Reddy, JemimahRodrigues, Deepti Sharma,Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav,Poonam Yadav.

New Zealand: AmySatterthwaite (c), Suzie Bates,Bernadine Bezuidenhout (wk),Sophie Devine, Kate Ebrahim,Maddy Green, HollyHuddleston, Hayley Jensen,Leigh Kasperek, Amelia Kerr,Katey Martin, Anna Peterson,Harriet Rowe, Lea Tahuhu, JessWatkin.

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Australia on Thursday rested lead pacerMitchell Starc and senior spinner Nathan

Lyon for the T20 series against South Africa andIndia.

The one-off T20 against South Africa will beplayed in Gold Coast on November 17 while thethree-match series against Virat Kohli-led Indiastarts in Brisbane on November 21.

The other players rested ahead of a busy homeseason are pacerPeter Siddle anda l l - r o u n d e rMitchell Marshwhile MarcusStoinis and JasonBehrendorff makea comeback.

Chief coachJustin Langer saidthe senior playerswere rested pri-marily because ofthe upcomingfour-Test seriesagainst India start-ing December 6 atAdelaide.

"We knowcoming off the back of the tour to the UAE, a hugesummer at home, and the World Cup and Ashesjust around the corner that we have to get the bal-ance right between playing our best T20 team andpreparing for the upcoming Test series," saidLanger.

"While I know all four have a desire to be play-ing cricket for Australia in every format, with areally tough Test series against India coming up,we believe their best preparation is to go back andget some really good cricket under their belts inthe Sheffield Shield."

On the return of Stoinis and Behrendorff, theformer Australia opener added: "Marcus missedour recent T20 matches in the UAE because hehadn't resumed bowling, but now he's back to fullfitness he'll add great depth to the squad. Marcusis such a versatile player, he's a powerful middleorder batsman and he provides us with anothersolid bowling option.

"Jason Behrendorff has also earned a spot inthe squad after returning to full fitness. It wasexciting to see him bow well in the JLT Cup andin the recent Prime Minister's XI match, and itgave us more evidence of how devastating he canbe with the new ball. Tactically we believe it'simportant to have a good left-arm swing bowlerat our disposal for the four matches," said

Langer.Without the services of the suspended Steve

Smith and David Warner, Australia have beengoing through tough times on the field. They lostto Pakistan in the Test and T20 series played inthe UAE before being hammered by SouthAfrica in Perth in the first of the ongoing three-match ODI series.

�G����Australia: Aaron Finch (captain), Alex Carey,

Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, BenMcDermott, D'Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, MarcusStoinis, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa.

India: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma,Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, ManishPandey, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant, KuldeepYadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar,Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, JaspritBumrah, Umesh Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed.

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Manchester United produced a stunninglate comeback to beat Juventus 2-1 onWednesday in what could be a turning

point in their Champions League campaign, whilea Gabriel Jesus hat-trick helped Manchester Cityall but secure a last-16 berth.

Pep Guardiola's City crushed ShakhtarDonetsk 6-0 on a night which saw RealMadrid also win big, as Bayern Munichclosed in on a place in the knockout stage.

Juventus were with-in seconds of confirm-ing their spot in the last16 after CristianoRonaldo put themahead in Turin with asuperb volley in the65th minute.

The hosts hadalready hit the wood-work twice before that andshould have been out ofsight before Juan Mata equalised froman 86th-minute free-kick.

The turnaround was completed inthe 90th minute when LeonardoBonucci scored an own-goal, andUnited boss Jose Mourinho delightedin taking to the field at the end, cup-ping an ear towards the home support.

The former Inter coach said it wasa response to insults from Juve sup-porters, and United are now two pointsbehind the Italians in Group H.

"In a beautiful Italian city, they

insulted me for 90 minutes. I didn't insult them.I just made a little thing," Mourinho told BT Sport.

"It is a big victory for us, not just because weneeded the points but because it was away fromhome against an amazing team."

The result was a blow for Valencia, who arestill two points behind in third after beating YoungBoys 3-1 at Mestalla.

Santi Mina scored twice either side ofa Roger Assale goal, before Carlos Solersealed the win. Young Boys, who had SekouSanogo sent off, cannot now qualify.

� ��� ����� ��There was less drama at the

Etihad Stadium, where City —whose financial dealings havecome under scrutiny in a series

of Football Leaks allegations —eased to their biggest win inthe competition.

Goals from David Silvaand Riyad Mahrez book-ended the victory. In between

there was a stunner from RaheemSterling, who was also awarded a penal-ty for kicking his own foot into the turfin the box.

In his post-match press confer-ence, Guardiola admitted "we realised

immediately it was not a penalty"adding that referees need help from VAR,which will be used in the ChampionsLeague from next season. "We don't likereally to score a goal in that situation," he

said, adding that Sterling could have comeclean to the referee.

Former Premier League refereeMark Clattenburg said it would havebeen an "incredible act of sportsmanship"had Sterling done so.

"Even then, it may not have beenenough to convince the Hungarian offi-cial to change his mind," he wrote in theDaily Mail.

Meanwhile, Jesus scoredthe spot-kick, the first of twopenalties in his hat-trick.City will head to Lyon laterthis month requiring a drawto secure a last-16 place.

"Unfortunately wehaven't qualified, but weare so close and will try tomaintain this level," saidGuardiola, whose team play United onSunday.

City would have been throughalready had Lyon not squandered a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at home to 10-manHoffenheim.

Nabil Fekir and Tanguy Ndombelehad the French club 2-0 up at the break,and the Germans had Kasim Nuhu sentoff early in the second half.

But Andrej Kramaric pulled one

back and Lyon missed chances to securethe victory before Pavel Kaderabek'sstoppage-time equaliser.

%55����������F&��Reigning European champions

Madrid had no trouble against ViktoriaPlzen in the Czech Republic, with Karim

Benzema scoring twice in a 5-0 win.

Real were four ahead atthe break, Benzema's goalstaking him to 200 for theclub.

Casemiro and GarethBale also netted in the firsthalf, and Toni Kroos com-pleted the scoring with a

delicious chip.Santiago Solari has now overseen

three victories, all with clean sheets,since being put in charge of Madrid,and the Spaniards are level atop GroupG with Roma.

The Italians won 2-1 away toCSKA Moscow, Kostas Manolas andLorenzo Pellegrini scoring their goalseither side of Arnor Sigurdsson'sequaliser.

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The Indian senior women's team openedits 2020 AFC Women's Olympic

Qualifying campaign with a 1-1 draw againstNepal here on Thursday.

The first half was an open affair withIndia creating more chances than Nepal.However, they did not have the best of startsas centre-back Sweety Devi was forced offdue to injury in just the eighth minute andwas replaced by Manisha Panna.

With the Indian defence still finding itsfeet after Sweety's injury, the Nepalese for-wards made the most of the situation as cap-tain Niru Thapa scored from close rangethanks to a low ball from the left flank.

India immediately responded to the earlysetback and created a flurry of chances in thenext few phases of play with Grace Dangmeiexerting a lot of influence down the rightwing and Sanju, Anju Tamang and Bala Deviall coming close to opening the scoring forMaymol Rocky's side.

In the 29th minute, coach Rocky madea tactical switch by replacing Anju with theexperienced Kamala Devi. The move paidrich dividends as Kamala levelled the scorefor India after some excellent play by Sanjufrom the left as she cut past her marker anddelivered an inch-perfect cross.

The second half saw India start off on

the front foot as Kamala's volley from thepenalty box arc went inches over the bar.At the hour mark, keeper Aditi Chauhanproved her worth yet again with a fine saveas she denied Nepal striker Sabitra from justeight yards out.

In the 67th minute, Nepal launched anattack down the right and looked to get theball in a dangerous situation but RatanbalaDevi, who came on in the 55th minute, pro-

duced a terrific tackle inside the penaltyarea.

The last quarter of the match saw thetwo teams continue to go hammer and tongsat each other but no side managed to createany clear-cut chances as both sets of playerswere limited to shots from distance.

In the end, there was not enough to sep-arate the two sides as they opened theiraccount in the tournament with a point each.

� �� D5E,(5

Former champions P V Sindhuand Kidambi Srikanth recorded

contrasting victories to advance tothe quarterfinals of the ChinaOpen World Tour Super 750 hereon Thursday.

While Olympic and two-timeWorld Championship Silver medal-list, Sindhu stamped her authoritywith a 21-12 21-15 win overThailand's BusananOngbamrungphan in the secondround, Srikanth got the better offIndonesia's Tommy Sugiarto in athree-game match.

The third seeded Indian, whohad clinched the title in 2016, willface tough test against eighth seed-ed He Bingjiao next. Sindhu lostboth the meetings against theworld no 7 Chinese and would beeager to avenge her twin loss onFriday.

Srikanth, who hadskipped the event due to amuscle strain last season,managed to script a come-from-behind 10-21 21-9 21-9 win over Tommy Sugiartoin a 45-minute men's singlesmatch.

The 25-year-old fromGuntur had won the ChinaOpen in 2014, getting thebetter of the legendary Lin Dan ofChina. Next, he will face ChineseTaipei's Chou Tien Chen, whowon a silver medal at the JakartaAsian Games this year.

World No 9 Srikanth has lost toChen twice in the last three years.The only time he had an upperhand was at the 2014 Hong KongOpen.

In the women's singles contest,Sindhu didn't give any chance toBusanan to come near her in thefirst game as she led right from thestart and reached 11-4 at the breakbefore slowly extending the advan-tage seal the game.

In the second game, Sindhuhad a 4-0 early advantage but

seven straight points helpedBusanan to turn the tables and takea 7-4 lead.

The Indian, however, man-aged to wrest an 11-8 leadand kept her nose ahead toquell her rival's challenge.

In the men's singles,Tommy, son of formerworld champion IcukSugiarto, dished out a dom-inating game to leaveSrikanth to do the catchingup act in the opening game.

The 30-year-oldIndonesian grabbed an 11-6 lead atthe break and comfortably movedahead even as the Indian struggled.

Srikanth soon changed histactics in time and looked a dif-ferent player in the second gameas he came out with all cylindersblazing, moving to a 11-6 lead andthen dominating the proceedingscompletely.

The Indian gave away justthree more points while grabbingthe remaining 10 points to roarback into contest.

Srikanth dominated thedecider as well, jumping from 7-3 to 13-3 before shutting the dooron his rival with a similar 21-9margin.

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Manpreet Singh will leadIndia's 18-member hockey

squad for the FIH World Cupbeginning in Bhubaneswar onNovember 28 but the experi-enced Rupinder Pal Singh and SV Sunil missed out from theteam announced on Thursday.

Veteran striker Sunil's par-ticipation in the mega eventwas always in doubt ever sincehe picked up a knee injury dur-ing the national camp in the leadup to the Asian ChampionsTrophy held in Muscat lastmonth.

Rupinder Pal has beenignored again after beingdropped from the continentalevent last month. Sunil too didnot play in the tournament inwhich India were declared jointwinners with Pakistan after rainplayed spoilsport on the finalday.

The Indian team, which willplay their against South Africaon the opening day, features PRSreejesh and Krishan BahadurPathak as goalkeepers.Manpreet's deputy will beChinglensana Singh Kangujam,Hockey India said in a statement.

Odisha's experienceddefender Birendra Lakra, whomakes a comeback into the teamafter missing out in Muscat dueto rehabilitation, Amit Rohidas,

Surender Kumar, Kothajit Singh,2016 Junior World Cup winnersHarmanpreet Singh and VarunKumar will form India's defencewith three of them being drag-flick specialists.

The midfield will feature thedynamic Manpreet, who playeda pivotal role in India's campaignas defending champions at theAsian Champions Trophy.

Chinglensana will add to theexperience in the center alongwith young guns Sumit,Nilakanta Sharma and HardikSingh, who made his interna-tional debut last month.

The forward line has theexperienced Akashdeep Singh,Dilpreet Singh, Lalit Upadhyayand Junior World Cup winnersMandeep Singh, SimranjeetSingh.

India, grouped in Pool Calong with World No 3 Belgium,Canada and South Africa, willneed to finish on top of the poolto secure a place in the quarter-finals.

"We have chosen the bestavailable combinations for theWorld Cup. We had to makesome tough decisions to select 18out of a very strong pool of 34players," asserted Chief CoachHarendra Singh.

"The final 18 are a mix ofexperienced and youth and havebeen selected on the basis of theircurrent form and fitness.

"These players have consis-tently shown their potential inthe lead up to the showpieceevent and I am confident Indiawill put up a fighting perfor-mance," he added.

The core group of 34 willcontinue to train inBhubaneswar till November 23before it plays its World Cupopener.

�G����Goalkeepers: PR Sreejesh,

Krishan Bahadur Pathak.Defenders: Harmanpreet

Singh, Birendra Lakra, VarunKumar, Kothajit SinghKhadangbam, Surender Kumar,Amit Rohidas.

Midfielders: ManpreetSingh (Captain), ChinglensanaSingh Kangujam (Vice Captain),Nilakanta Sharma, Hardik Singh,Sumit.

Forwards: AkashdeepSingh, Mandeep Singh, DilpreetSingh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay,Simranjeet Singh.

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