delhi’s ‘grand poll tamasha’ set ... - south asian...

PANORAMA INDIA HOSTS THE 71ST REPUBLIC DAY CELEBRATIONS ON FEBRUARY 2. (L TO R) BRAMPTON MAYOR PATRICK BROWN, MPP MISSISSAUGAMALTON, DEEPAK ANAND, MPP MISSISSAUGA LAKESHORE, RUDY CUZZETTO, INDIAN CONSUL GENERAL, TORONTO, APOORVA SRIVASTAVA, ONTARIOPREMIER DOUG FORD, PANORAMA INDIA CHAIR SUMEETA KOHLI, MPP FOR MILTON, PARM GILL, CONSERVATIVE MP FOR MARKHAM-UNIONVILLEAND SHADOW CABINET MINISTER TO QUEEN'S PRIVY COUNCIL OF CANADA, BOB SAROYA. I DETAILS ON PAGE 4

WATCH CHANNEL Y ON ROGERS 857, BELLFIBE 828, TELUS 2418 & ONLINE AT SOUTHASIANDAILY.COM

Delhi’s ‘Grand Poll Tamasha’ set to hurl out no bag fulls of surprisesAAP retains its numero uno position and BJP gains a bit of ground

‘Nonchalant’ Congress likely to remain a ‘back-bencher’ BJP improving

NEWGEN REALTY EXPERTS HOLDS APPRECIATION AWARDS (L TO R) BROKER OF RECORD PK SABHARWAL, Y MEDIA GROUPEDITOR AND CEO YUDHVIR JASWAL, Y MEDIA CFO PREET JASWAL, AND SAVE MAX REAL ESTATE BROKER CEO RAMAN DUA.

CIRCULATED THROUGH : TORONTO, MARKHAM, SCARBOROUGH, RICHMOND HILL, VAUGHAN, WOODBRIDGE, ETOBICOKE, NORTH YORK, MALTON, REXDALE, BR AMPTON, MISSISSAUGA, OAKVILLE, HAMILTON, MILTON, STONEY CREEK, BURLINGTON

12:00 NOON TO 6:00 PM12:00 NOON TO 6:00 PM12:00 NOON TO 6:00 PM12:00 NOON TO 6:00 PM12:00 NOON TO 6:00 PMLISTEN ON YOUR PHONE: LOCAL GTA 647-957-9643,

MONTREAL - 514-819-0506, USA - 518-801-1313

NO INTENTION TO TAX GLOBAL INCOMEOF NRIS IN INDIA, SAYS INDIAN

FINANCE MINISTERNEW DELHI: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharamanon Sunday said that there is no intention to taxglobal income of NRIs and only income generatedin India will be taxed. Following the Budget an-nouncement on Saturday there was confusion aboutthe tax liability of Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) ontheir global income."What we are doing now is that the income of anNRI generated in India will be taxed here.

I CONTD. ON PAGE 11

J&K DSP CASE: NIA RAIDS MULTIPLEPLACES IN SOUTH KASHMIR

SRINAGAR: The Nat ional Invest igat ionAgency on Sunday morning carried outsearches in connection with a case in which asenior Jammu and Kashmir police officer was ar-rested while ferrying terrorists outside the valley, of-ficials said here. Multiple NIA teams fanned invarious par ts of south Kashmir and car-ried out the searches at some privateoffices and residences, they said. I CONTD. ON PAGE 12

WEAPONS SUPPLIER OF KHALISTAN OUTFITNABBED IN HARIDWAR

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad(UPATS) ar rested an arms trader, who was a keyweaponry supplier of Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF),from Haridwar on Saturday. The initial probe and scru-tiny of his call details revealed he was intouch with some people in Pakistan.

I CONTD. ON PAGE 12 Delhi’s ‘Grand 2020 Poll Tamasha’ is not going to hurl out any bag fullsof surprises for pollsters and the voters as well on the much-awaited day of‘Mega’ decision---February 11. The most intriguing-yet-captivating aspect of the unprecented Delhi ‘Tugof War’ this time around is that almost entire world has been knowing aboutthe final poll outcome right from the word go—January 6—the day the poll code of conduct wasimposed by the Election Commission of India. A minority of ‘novice and self-styled’ pollpundits tightly hold their conjectures hoping thatthe voting pattern in India’s most sensitive andaware city-state like Delhi might change at thedrop of a hat over cer tain emerging issues andthe voters could easily get swayed by speechesof some big fire-brand leaders or film stars. The situation at the ‘Ground Zero’ is starkly different altogether as mostof Delhi voters are more aware than the ones of other par ts of the country and theytightly hold ‘balance sheets’ about their ‘Netas’ and their deeds in their hands. What seems to be more fascinating and riveting than the mammoth pollexcercise itself is the ongoing intriguing political discourse which is gettingmurkier and gruff as Delhi is inching towards the polling day--February 8. Leaders of all shades are engrossed in a disparaging ‘War of Words’ andmud-slinging as if they are in engrossed in a fierce competition to belittle

each other. They are hardly leaving any stone unturned to ‘expose’their political rivals with a dual objective—to fetch votes and toususrp the ever-growing social media centre-stage. How manylikes…?...seems to be their major driving force than sincerelyworking for the welfare of their 1.46 crore electorate.

The voters—and a major platoon of poll-sters—are keeping their ears to ground to sensewhether the contentious issues like CAA andShaheen Bagh could lead to ‘consolidation’ (orwhat is called ‘polarisation’ by some) in favour ofthe BJP or not? On the other hand, some more neutralpeople and exper ts are busy watching ifthese two contentious issues had the ca-

pacity to tilt the scales in the favour of the BJP or the Aam AdamiParty (AAP) in whatever way or if these two issues could impact the polloutcome at all or not? Our take here is the CAA, fiery speeches and Shaheen Bagh notwith-standing, the Delhi electorate is most likely going to favour the AAP and itssupremo Arvind Kejriwal for the third time in a row. The ‘Rookie’ par ty seems to be pocketing around 50 of a total of 70 seatsof the city-state—way past the requisite mark of 36 seats required for asimple majority in a 70 seat assembly.

LISTEN TO FM 91.9

PUNJAB POLICE REGISTERS CASE AGAINSTSINGERS FOR 'PROPAGATING VIOLENCE'

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Police on Saturday said it has registereda case against Punjabi singers Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, aka SidhuMoose Wala, and Mankirat Aulakh for allegedly promoting violenceand gun culture in a song uploaded on socialmedia. Senior Superintendent of Police(Mansa) Narender Bhargav said a caseunder sections 294 (sings, recites or uttersany obscene song), 504 (intentional insult withintent to provoke breach of peace) and149 (unlawful assembly) of the IPCwas registered against the duo. I CONTD. ON PAGE 11

US-INDIA MAY SEAL TRADE DEALIndia, and the US President Donald Tr ump ad-ministration have begun preparations, includ-ing final negotiations for a much-talked abouttrade deal as the American leader is expected tocall upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi for afull-fledged state visit in late Febru-ary. The Donald will spend two daysin the South Asian country as the USexpresses eagerness to increase business and cut through the rise ofChinese influence in the continent. Meanwhile, Modi and India whichis going through massive protests a nationwide divide, and urgentlyneeds positive endorsement. I CONTD. ON PAGE 15

THE FEARLESS CULPRITS...NIRBHAYA

I CONTD. ON PAGE 8

I DETAILS ON PAGE 6

A day to forgive and to be forgiven is adesideratum because this world run byerring humans is a mess with unre-solved conflicts and people tend to make aneffor t on special days. Celebrating global for-giveness day will not end conflicts or wipe outthe grudges in a jiffy but rather help people ad-vance the message of forgiveness to restorerelationships and heal one another. As I writethis piece, "Father, forgive them. Theydon't know what they are doing" flashbefore my eyes and in my mind, one ofa kind impossible in the human realm.

DR. ELSA LYCIAS JOEL

I CONTD. ON PAGE 11

2 MidWeek MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 04, 2020

MidWeek 3MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2012

MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 04, 2020 s p e c i a l r e p o r t

AA GROUP HOLDS 3RD ANNUAL AWARDS

AA Group of CompaniesPresident Atiq Ahmad

AA Group of Companies Senior Vice PresidentNaseer Malik

AA Group of Companies Vice PresidentFinance & Development Junaid Ahmad

General Manager Popeyes Canada,Rob Manuel

The AA Group of Companies held its 3rd Annual Awards dinner, for itsPopeyes division, at Chandni Banquet Hall on January 20. The night beganwith a dinner reception, followed by an award event that saw over 20awards handed out. The most prestigious of categories were GeneralManager of the Year, Restaurant of the Year, and the Presidential Award.AA Group of Companies hosts such events each year with the sole purposeof rewarding and motivating its team, and members of the community.The Awards night saw over 300 people in attendance including topcompanies and banks like Sysco, Royal Bank of Canada, and TD Bankamong others. Group President Atiq Ahmad thanked his team and everyonepresent, and shared his vision for fur ther growth of AA Group.Y Media correspondent Sia Lakhanpal, and Marketing Specialist ImranMahmood were felicitated too. Meanwhile Y Media Group Editor and CEOYudhvir Jaswal felicitated Ana De Suze of H&K International Inc. withVendor of the Year award.AA Group of Companies has multiple divisions including AA Investment,AA Logistics, and AA Commodities.It also has over 40 locations of Popeyes and over a 1000 employees.

Sales Manager, H&K InternationalInc. Ana De Suze

Sajjad Sadiq, Director Investments & Exports at AA Group ofCompanies and Company President Atiq Ahmad

'MEDIA PARTNER – Y MEDIA'



South Asian Health Expo: Free Tradeshow focuseson Health, Wellness, Beauty and Fitness

AMAR KARMA HOLDS 10TH ANNUALGIVE A HEART GALA; STRESSES ON THE

IMPORTANCE OF ORGAN DONATION

Panorama India hosts 71st Republic Day Celebrations

AMAR KARMA FOUNDER, LOVEEN GILL.

BARRISTER, SOLICITOR AND NOTARY PUBLIC, ANDON THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS, VIPAN MAROK.

RUPINDER HAYER.

PDSP TRUSTEE, BALBIR SOHI.

MAYOR PATRICK BROWN. MISSISSAUGA-MALTON MPP DEEPAK ANAND

MP BRAMPTON NORTH, RUBY SAHOTA (RED) AT THE PANORAMAINDIA R-DAY CELEBRATIONS.

PANORAMA INDIA CHAIRSUMEETA KOHLI.

ONTARIO PREMIER DOUG FORD ADDRESSES THE EVENT.

YMEDIA GROUP EDITOR & CEO YUDHVIR JASWALWITH ONTARIO PREMIER DOUG FORD.

YMEDIA SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT SIALAKHANPAL WITH MP ETOBICOKE-NORTH,

KIRSTY DUNCAN.



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 04, 2020 b r e a k i n g n e w sPAKISTAN AND ARVIND KEJRIWAL FELT

PAIN WHEN ARTICLE 370 WASABROGATED IN J-K: YOGI ADITYANATH

NEW DELHI: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said whenthe provisions of Article 370, that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, wereabrogated, pain was felt by Pakistan and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal. The UttarPradesh chief minister also termed the Shaheen Bagh protest a "malicious attemptto disturb peace and normal life". "When Article 370 was abrogated, pain was feltby Pakistan and Arvind Kejriwal," Adityanath said, ad-dressing a rally in south Delhi's Badarpur. Adityanathsaid in the Delhi elections, on one side there is theleadership of Narendra Modi for development andnationalism, on the other, there is the Congress andKejriwal who "support divisive forces". "The BJP isworking with zero tolerance towards terrorism.But Kejriwal is busy with sponsoring andoffering biryani in Shaheen Bagh," he said.

SPG PROTECTION FOR PM MODI NOWHAS A BUDGET OF NEARLY RS 600 CRORE

NEW DELHI: The government has increased allocation for the SpecialProtection Group -- tasked with protecting the Prime Minister -- from Rs540 crore to approximately Rs 600 crore. In last year's budget, it wasincreased from Rs 420 crore to approximately Rs 540 crore.Currently the Prime Minister is the only person protected by the 3000-strong Special Security Group. I CONTD. FROM PAGE 11

INDIAN GENERAL HONOURED WITHPRESTIGIOUS YSM AWARDS

Lt General KJS Dhillon was honoured with the prestigious UttamYudh Seva Medal (YSM) for his tenure as Chinar Corps Com-mander. The Army released a statement saying a number of terror-ist leaders were killed, “bringingpeace to the Valley” during histime.Lt Gen. Dhillon is known forhis significant contribution inmaintaining peace in the Valley. Lastyear, his 'Operation MAA' saw himreach out to mothersand engage themfor the return ofyouths whojoined terror-ist outfits.

FEDERAL COURT OFAPPEAL DISMISSES

CHALLENGE ONTRANS MOUNTAIN

PIPELINE

In a unanimous 3-0 decision, theFederal Cour t of Appeal has dis-missed all four challenges laid onthe Just in Tr udeau-ledgovernment's decision to approvethe Trans Mountain pipeline ex-pansion. First Nations, in B.C.,had challenged the move lastsummer. The Cour t called the ex-pansion “reasonable”. The judgessaid the Cabinet's second roundof consultations with First Na-tions affected by the pipeline was“anything but a rubber-stampingexercise.” They said the govern-ment made a “genuine effor t” tolisten to and consider the con-cerns raised by the First Nationsand introduced new conditions tomitigate them. Alber ta PremierJason Kenney was “delighted”with the decision and said i tshowed the project is “over-whelmingly suppor ted” by Indig-enous communities across west-ern Canada. He added, “This is avictory for common sense and therule of law.”The expansion is expected totriple the capacity of the existingpipeline between Edmonton anda shipping terminal in Burnaby. Itwould also re-route the beginningof the line in the Edmonton area.

DELHI HC TELLSNIRBHAYA CONVICTS TO

EXHAUST ALL THEIRREMEDIES WITHIN 7 DAYS

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Cour ton Wednesday said all the fourconvicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rapeand murder case have to be ex-ecuted together, not separately, anddismissed the Centre’s pleaagainst the trial court’s order stay-ing the execution of their death sen-tence.The High Cour t also faulted theauthorities concerned for not tak-ing steps for issuance of deathwarrant after the rejection of ap-peals of the accused by the Su-preme Court in 2017.The Delhi Government had soughtwarrants for execution of deathsentence to the four convicts onDecember 18, 2019.Justice Suresh Kumar Kait directedthe convicts to exhaust withinseven days all the remedies avail-able to them, after which the au-thorities should act as per law.The high court however said: “Itcannot be disputed that the con-victs have frustrated the processby using delaying tactics.”


TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 04, 2020s p e c i a l r e p o r t

NEWGEN REALTY EXPERTS HOLDS APPRECIATION AWARDS




MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 04, 2020 c o m m u n i t y

M A T R I M O N I A LPROFESSIONAL PROPOSALS ONLY : Young

Lawyer from Brampton. Has a well-established law office in Brampton. Girl is 5'6,slim and very beautiful. Age 34 years, casteno bar. Born and raised in a Sikh family inCanada. Boy should be tall and slim. Doctors,

accountants, and serious professionals apply only.Email [email protected] or

call +1 (647) 294-0751

ONTARIO INVESTING IN CRITICAL HOSPITALUPGRADES AND REPAIRS IN MISSISSAUGA

TVO to Host Ontario LiberalParty Leadership Debate

On February 19, 2020, TVO will host the Ontario Liberal leader-ship debate at TVO’s William G. Davis studio in Toronto. The debate willbe moderated by Steve Paikin, host of TVO’s The Agenda with StevePaikin, and all six Liberal leadership candidates will be par ticipating:Michael Coteau, Steven Del Duca, Kate Graham, Brenda Hollingsworth,Mitzie Hunter and Alvin Tedjo.The debate will be livestreamed from 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. on The Agenda’sTwitter page, Facebook page and YouTube channel, followed by a mediascrum with each candidate. The debate itself will be broadcast on TVO at8:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. The TVO debate is the only Ontario Liberalleadership debate scheduled to be broadcast during the campaign.“Over the past 50 years, TVO has become the destination for thoughtfuldiscussion and debate about issues impor tant to Ontarians,” saysTVO’s vice president of current affairs and documentaries, JohnFerri. “We’re proud to welcome the candidates to TVO and welook forward to presenting our audience with an informative de-bate on today’s key issues.”Livestream the Debate :Twitter : @TheAgendaFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheAgenda/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/AgendaStevePaikin

New Canadian Media to hold workshop

series for immigrant journalistsThe New Canadian Media, supported by the National NewsMedia Council(NNC) has announced a series of exciting new workshops presided byMohamed Hammoud, NCM's Chief Learning Officer and a member of theNCM Collective. If you are an immigrant journalist, this is your ultimatechance to learn from the best.Each workshop will feature three sessions facilitated by seasoned jour-nalists from an immigrant background and will consist of a lecture com-bined with class discussion and an opportunity to get some mentoring. Alllectures will focus on topics including, What Makes Canadian JournalismDifferent, Giving Voice to the Voiceless: Advanced Reporting, Moving theneedle through commentary: Advanced Opinion writing.The series will be held in three locations :• OTTAWA: Algonquin College, February 15, 8:30 am – 4 pm• TORONTO: Seneca College (Downtown Campus), February 29, 8:30am – 4 pm• VANCOUVER: MOSAIC, March 14, 8:30 am – 4 pmDon’t miss this transformational learning oppor tunity to develop mediaskills and a stronger journalistic voice.WHO WILL BE INVOLVED?NCM has partnered with the Journalism Schools at Algonquin and SenecaColleges in Ottawa and Toronto, respectively, and MOSAIC, a registeredcharity serving the diverse immigrant communities in Greater Vancouverand the Fraser Valley, to host the workshops.Also, Canada's finest journalists repor ting and commenting on immigrantissues to facilitate the workshops and help the participants hone theirjournalism skills.WHAT TO EXPECT?Participants will explore and discuss best-practices for generating andpitching story ideas, polishing them into unique perspectives, and honingtheir storytelling skills to take their repor ting on immigrant experiences tothe next level.

Brampton Council resolutionand By-law sign update

At its meeting on January 22, Brampton City Council passed aresolution to restrict the posting of signs that identify, or con-tain reference to a social media account or candidate, pendingcompletion of the City’s Sign By-law review.THE RESOLUTION STATES:That in the interest of balancing freedom of speech with thevisual landscape of signage in Brampton, that the usage ofsigns identifying an elected official or candidate (referring to a Memberof Council, provincial or federal office, or including a photo, website orsocial media link thereof), not be permitted until such time as the review ofSign By-law 399-2002 has concluded or an amendment thereto has beenconsidered by Council.This resolution continues to permit the posting of “slow down” signs as theCity under takes a comprehensive review of the Sign By-law as per theJanuary 9 City statement. However, any “slow down” or other signswhich are erected after January 22, 2020 must conform to the Councilresolution, including the requirement that no website referenced mayidentify an elected official. This resolution continues to permit the posting of“please slow down” signs, which are permitted under section 8(4) of theSign By-law. That exemption was approved in 2002. The City will continueto under take a comprehensive review of the Sign By-law as per theJanuary 9 City statement.Such signs must also continue to comply with all other requirements of theSign By-law, including the requirement that the signs be erected on privateproper ty (and not in the road right-of-way), are limited in size to 4.3 squarefeet, and may not be erected within a visibility triangle. Residents shouldcheck their property survey to confirm the limits of their property bound-aries. Other general regulations and prohibitions relating to signs can befound in Section 5 of the Sign By-law. Advertising on City proper ty, such asCity owned Urban Furniture, including bus shelters, is governed by aCouncil approved policy relating to Advertising on City Prop-er ty and is not subject to the Sign By-law. The City expects theoutcome of its comprehensive Sign By-law review to be pre-sented to City Council later this year.

Ontario is investing in the health and safety of patients as itaddresses urgent upgrades, repairs and maintenance to helpmodernize 131 hospitals across the province. Sheref Sabawy, MPPfor Mississauga – Erin Mills was joined by Michelle DiEmanuele,President and CEO of Trillium Health Par tners, at The Credit ValleyHospital to announce that Trillium Health Par tners will receive atotal of $4,672,219 to maintain their infrastructure and to helpensure a safe and comfor table environment for patients toreceive care. This is par t of the government’s investment of$175 million this year through the Health Infrastructure Re-newal Fund to suppor t hospitals across Ontario.“Delivering safe, high quality care to patients is our top prior-ity,” said Michelle DiEmanuele, President and CEO at TrilliumHealth Partners. “This funding will allow us to make criticalinfrastructure repairs and upgrades across our three sites,including updating our nurse call system to improve patientsafety, completing roofing repairs and modernizing some of ourelevators. We are grateful for the government’s ongoingpar tnership and suppor t.”“These investments will help ensure that patients inMississauga, Etobicoke and across Peel can receive the carethey need in a safe and comfor table setting,” said MPP Sabawy.“Seemingly small things like well-functioning roofs, windowsor heating and air conditioning systems, fire alarms and back-up generators can make the world of difference to a patient’sexperience. This funding will help ensure that hospitals acrossOntario are able to make the needed upgrades and improve-ments, so patients and families have access to the reliable,quality care they expect and deserve.”As the government continues to work toward bringing Ontario’sworld class health care system into the 21st century, this fundingwill help hospitals to address urgent issues. “Ontario has a plan to

build a connected and sustainable public health care systemcentred around the needs of patients, including investing $27 billionover 10 years in hospital infrastructure projects,” said MPPSabawy. “Maintaining hospital infrastructure is one more exampleof how we are working towards ensuring that Ontarians have thehealth care services they can depend on while building the capacitywe need to end hallway health care.”Deepak Anand, MPP for Mississauga – Malton, said, “Withcontinual review and renewal, such words as improvement,achievement, and success have long lasting results . . . ThisHealth Infrastructure Renewal Fund does exactly that by helpinghospitals renovate and build the essential things needed to runthe hospital so that they can better focus on keeping Ontarianshealthy. This will also ensure that our health care continues tobe at a world class level so that Ontarians receive the besthealth care they deserve.”Christine Hogar th, MPP for Etobicoke – Lakeshore, said, “OurGovernment has a concrete plan to end Hallway Health Care inOntario. Today’s announcement will ensure Trillium HealthPar tners can continue to provide high quality care to the peopleof Etobicoke-Lakeshore.”Kaleed Rasheed, Mississauga East – Cooksville ,said, “Ourgovernment continues to deliver on our plan to make Ontarioprosper. This announcement is a great par t of our comprehen-sive plan to end hallway health care. The announced fundingwill ensure that Ontarians in Mississauga receive the bestpossible care. I am proud of the great work our province isdoing to make our health care system work for the people.”Nina Tangri, MPP for Mississauga – Streetsville, said, “Thisfunding of over $4.6 million to Trillium Health Partners alone underscoresour government’s commitment to ending hallway health care and ensuringOntarians and Mississaugians get the care they expect and deserve.”

CONSERVATIVE LEADERSHIP RACE CANDIDATE PETER MACKAY HELD AN ELABORATE MEET AND GREET WITH MEMBERS OFTHE COMMUNITY IN THE GTA.

Consulate General of India, Toronto to hold consular camp on Feb 29In order to enhance its outreach to the members of Indo-Canadian and Indian community in the Consular jurisdiction of the ConsulateGeneral of India, Toronto, Consulate will be organizing regular consular camps every month at various locations in GTA and beyond, forgeneral briefing, including consultation, and acceptance of various services - Attestation of documents, Visa applications, Passpor tapplications, PCC, Surrender Cer tificate, OCI applications, PCC - with required documents and fee at the camps itself.In this approach, Consulate is going to organize the second such Consular Camp of 2020 in Mississauga, where sizeable number of ourcommunity is residing, on Saturday, 29 February 2020 from 10.00 AM to 2.00 PM at the Hindu Heritage Centre, 6300 Mississauga Road,Mississauga, ON L5N 1A7. Dates for future camps will be announced in due course and publicized through Consulate’s website, Mediaand community organizations.In the past also Consulate has been organizing such consular camps, the latest was organized on 18 January 2020 at NanaksarGurdwara Sahib, Brampton. This public-friendly approach of the Consulate to provide service at the door-step of the applicants is highlyappreciated by the community.The Consulate requests the members of the Indo-Canadian and Indian community to take advantage of the camp being organized inMississauga on Saturday, 29 February 2020.


TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 04, 2020opinionDELHI’S ‘GRAND POLL TAMASHA’ SET TO HURL OUT NO BAG FULLS OF SURPRISES

AAP RETAINS ITS NUMERO UNO POSITION AND BJP GAINS A BIT OF GROUND‘NONCHALANT’ CONGRESS LIKELY TO REMAIN A ‘BACK-BENCHER’ BJP IMPROVING

CONTD. FROM PAGE 1 Another absorbing fact is that the BJP which had toremain satiated with just 3 seats in 2015 Delhi polls hasundoubtedly been gaining ground for past few days. The ‘Saffron’ party’s ‘Patriotic’ overtones and ‘Nationalcause’ espoused by BJP big-wigs like the Indian UnionMinister Amit Shah and the party’s national chief J.P Naddaseems to be working like a magnet for some core BJPsupporters and other subscribers of the ‘right-wingideology’. It will not be a big surprise if BJP manages to wrest 10-12 seats in such a changing scenario and in the name ofBalakot air-strikes, revocation of Article 370 in J&K and theCAA. Both Amit Shah and J.P Nadda have apparently madeDelhi polls as issue of their personal prestige. They havebeen slugging hard in the field flaunting Balakot air-strikes,revocation of Article 370 in J&K and the CAA their party’smajor ‘achievements’. AAP’s strength is Arvind Kejriwal and Kejriwal’sstrength flows from his studied silence this time around---much unlike in the past . Much to the surprise of his followers Kejriwal is notseen mounting any direct attack against Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and nor is he targetting the RSS because hedoes not need to. Rather he is more focussed and going to people with a‘two feet’ long list of public welfare works accomplished byhis government. The Congress’ approach towards the Delhi polls onlyindicates that it was not as ‘serious’ in Delhi where it hadruled for three consecutive terms from 1998 to 2013 under theleadership of its deceased leader Sheila Dixit. The ‘Grand Old Party’ alliance with Lalu Prasad Yadav’sRJD seems to be not cutting much ice in the national capitalso the party decided to rope in the Punjab Chief MinisterCapt. Amarinder Singh, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ashok Gehlot forits poll campain. Frankly speaking, Delhi polls have practically beenreduced from a three cornered contest to a two party face-offbetween the AAP and the BJP. The BJP has already roped inJD (U) and the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP). The BJP’s age-old alliance partner SAD (Badal) hadwalked out of the alliance in Delhi (Not in Punjab) over non-inclusion of Muslims initially. But of late, the SAD (Badal) took its U-turn on expectedlines and re-assured the BJP top brass of its unequivocalsupport to the ‘Saffron’ party saying it had extended anunparalleled support to the CAA. Anyways, the SAD (Badal) was hardly in a position toleave its big footprint on Delhi poll scenario as it used to beallocated just four seats in Delhi by its ‘Big Brother’-- theBJP. Of these meagre four, the SAD (Badal) used to contestonly two on its own symbol (Weighing Scale) and rest of twoon the BJP’s poll symbol (Lotus). Strangely, Shaheen Bagh suddenly popped up as Delhi

politics’ focal point. The question is why the BJP is soanxious about this place where hundreds of people havebeen protesting against CAA for past about 45 days? Since, Delhi polls hold umpteem importance for theBJP it would like to drag Arvind Kejriwal to the place. But,Kejriwal won’t budge. Of late, he not only knows thepolitical game but has also mastered it. For Delhi’s being a Captital state, Kejriwal is a bigheadache for the BJP top brass particularly, when the‘Saffron Party’ was not able wrest power in Delhi for past22 years. In this situation Kejriwal has a host of advantages. Hehas an image of a clean and a relatively young politician ascompared to his top BJP rivals. Moreover, this‘Mufflerallah’ has emerged as a down-to-earth politicalfigure with a long list of his achievements in his hand andthe one who humbly urges people to vote for him only if heor his party has done some work for them. He is also armedwith a knack to use media to his advantage being the CMof Delhi. The BJP or even the Congress for that matter havenothing to say on the ‘performance front’. As Delhi policeremains in control of the BJP led central government,Kejriwal & Co. can easily blame it for worsening law andorder situation and traffic quagmire. What however, was interesting was that BJP hadmanaged to sweep 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Delhi bycornering over 57 percent votes. It only shows that Delhivoters come out with a split verdict. They have sided withthe BJP when it comes to the national issues and at thesame time, they like to throw their weight behind a localoutfit when it is turn of the state and civic polls. The BJP has already suffered a ‘humiliating’ set-backin Hindi Belt like in Haryana and recently in Jharkhand. If itwas not enough, it preferred to loose its age-old ally likeShiv Sena which parted company and sided with theCongress and the NCP. All eyes are now set on the 2020 Delhi Assemblypolls to be held on February 8. Of a total of 70 seats, 58 arereserved for general category while rest of 12 for SCs. There are a total 1,46,92,136 voters in Delhicomprising of 80.55 lakh males and 66.35 lakh females.More than 90,000 policemen have been deployed for thesmooth conducting at 13,750 polling stations of Delhi. Now coming to the crucial point as to how Delhi politicsand poll campaign is turning murkier by the day and how evensenior leaders are busy trying to belittle each other thus,making the politics to touch an new all-time-low. If the Western Delhi MP Parvesh Verma was said tohave labelled Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and his party as‘Terrorists’, Kejriwal did not loose a minute to retaliate (in asoft way) and questioning how he had become terroristwhen he was arranging medicines for the poor patients.Verma remained on the radar of the Election Commission ofIndia alongwith Union Minister Anurag Thakur for his‘Desh Ke Gaddharoon…’ remark and they earned the EC’sire in shape of notices. Verma is purported to have been seen in a videoasking, voters, "Should we fight with Pakistan terrorists inKashmir or with terrorists like Kejriwal?" The EC had directed the BJP leadership to removeboth of them from its list of ‘Star Campaigners’ for their useof ‘harsh’ words in poll rallies. How could the Union Home Minister Amit Shah leavehimself behind in this “Verbal Assault’ against the AAPleadership.

He termed Kejriwal as the ‘Biggest’ lawyer he had everseen in his over 56 year long public life. He has also beenclaiming that those ‘backing’ Shaheen Bagh protestersbelonged to the ‘Tukde Tukde’ gang and that only PMNarendra Modhi could save people of Delhi from such forces. As Shaheen Bagh continues to be the centre stage forthe anti-CAA, NRC protesters in Delhi for over 42 days, theUttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Aditynath came out with astrange claim that the Shaheen Bagh protesters were beingfed with ‘Biryani’ by the Kejriwal-led Delhi government. Taking Kejriwal to task, Yogi told his supporters in Rohinthat Kejriwal could provide ‘Biryani’ to protesters but wasnot capable to provide clean drinking water to Delhiresidents. Kapil Mishra, a former AAP MLA-turned-BJP candidatefrom Model Town had reportedly got ECI notice over hisalleged remarks that there will be a contest between India andPakistan on the roads of Delhi on February 8 and that theCongress and AAP had created “Mini Pakistan” in ShaheenBagh. Mishra was once close to Kejriwal but had parted wayswith the latter after accusing Kejriwal of ‘indulging incorruption’. The last round of Delhi polls indicates that if the AAPleader Arvind Kejriwal will prefer to stick to his ‘long’ list ofpublic welfare works accomplished by his government inDelhi, the BJP will continue to try to muster people’s supporton issues like CAA , revocation of Article 370 in J&K andNational security. The Congress has been trying to drum up people’ssupport over ‘failures’ of the AAP government especially ondrinking water, clean environment and traffic control front.Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has sought to corner theNDA government over 2020 budget saying was an ‘Old wine ina new bottle’ and it had nothing for the poor. That money, liquor and cash was also making their way tovoters of Delhi was indicated from recent recoveries of cash, goodsand liquor worth Rs. 13. 30 crores in the capital since January 7.Intoxicants worth Rs. 4. 35 crore, more than 44000 bottles of alcoholwere also recovered alongwith laptops, sarees and cookers. Presumablyall these goods were there to woo the voters. Interestingly of a total of more than 290 FIRs registeredin Delhi after implementation of the Model Code of Conduct,12 of these were against the AAP leaders or members, sixagainst the Congress, 3 against BJP and about 280 againstnon-political people. The BJP manifesto has promised a “Bullet train” forDelhi. The BJP’s strategy was also to highlight PM Modi’sintention to grant ownership rights to residents of thousandsof unauthorised colonies on Delhi outskirts.The AAP is contesting all of 70 seats, the Congress 66 and the BJP iscontesting on 67 seats and it has left two seats to JD(U) and one for LJP Would BJP’s promises and its patriotic overtones manage to leavepeople of Delhi spell-bound or the work done on the ground by theAAP fetch votes for the ruling AAP remains to be a million dollarquestion before one and all. Our take here is that themajority will go for the work done on the ground thananything else and that leaders of all shades should focusmore on performance than to raise a pitch by levellingallegations and counter-allegations in the run-up to the polls.If they do so, it will go a long way in creation of healthy pollatmosphere and consequently strengthening of thedemocracy in a country like India.

The writer is the Associate Editor of the Canada-basedY Media Group.

YUDHVIR JASWALYUDHVIR JASWALYUDHVIR JASWALYUDHVIR JASWALYUDHVIR JASWALCHIEF EDITOR & CEO

yudhvir@southasiandaily.com647-272-8182647-272-8182647-272-8182647-272-8182647-272-8182

For Inquiries, Call : 416-475-5000

E-mail : For [email protected]

Newspaper

MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLYPublished in English every Tuesday

Radio

SOUTHASIAN PULSEPrime Time Mon to Fri - 10:00 AM to 12 Noon

on 770AMDrive Time Mon to Fri - 3:00 PM to 6 PM

on 91.9 FMLISTEN TO SOUTH ASIAN PULSE RADIO ON YOUR MOBILE

Local Number Toronto: 647-557-1017Local Number Montreal: 438-795-9000

To Listen in US: 213-493-2020

Television

CHANNEL YRogers 857

Bell 828Yupp TV

MidWeekSUNIL VERMASUNIL VERMASUNIL VERMASUNIL VERMASUNIL VERMA

GRAPHICS DEPARTMENTBASHIR NASIRBASHIR NASIRBASHIR NASIRBASHIR NASIRBASHIR NASIRPHOTOGRAPHERS

DR. PUSHPINDER BRARDR. PUSHPINDER BRARDR. PUSHPINDER BRARDR. PUSHPINDER BRARDR. PUSHPINDER BRAR

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

ALI - NICE PHOTOGRAPHYALI - NICE PHOTOGRAPHYALI - NICE PHOTOGRAPHYALI - NICE PHOTOGRAPHYALI - NICE PHOTOGRAPHYPHOTOGRAPHERS

GURPREET SINGH LOONAGURPREET SINGH LOONAGURPREET SINGH LOONAGURPREET SINGH LOONAGURPREET SINGH LOONAOPERATIONS MANAGER

E-mail : For Advertising '[email protected]'

VARINDER SINGH VARINDER SINGH VARINDER SINGH VARINDER SINGH VARINDER SINGHASSOCIATE EDITOR

MITUL PANIKERMITUL PANIKERMITUL PANIKERMITUL PANIKERMITUL PANIKERCONTENT EDITOR

Online

WWW.SOUTHASIANDAILY.COMONLY News Portal for Southasian-Canadians

Cricket

CANADIAN PROFESSIONAL CRICKET (CPC) 6th Annual

CPC Inter-City Cricket Cup Starting June 20136 Months of Non-stop cricket action

Events

AnnualMidweek Southasian Awards

All Rights Reserved. No material herein or portions thereof may be printed without the written consent of the publisher .DISCLAIMER: DISCLAIMER: DISCLAIMER: DISCLAIMER: DISCLAIMER: Asian W orld Today Inc. assumes all advertisers to be reliable and responsible for any and all l iability from their claims. The publisher reserves the right to refuse any advertisement he may see unfit for publication. The opinions expressed in Midweek may not be those of the publisher.



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 04, 2020 c a n a d a

General Accounting & Bookkeeping

Ontario Investing in Skilled Trades Training in BramptonThe Ontario government is providing more students in Brampton withvaluable hands-on experiences with the skilled trades by suppor tingSheridan College’s pre-apprenticeship programs at its Davis Cam-pus. The programs will help prepare 50 people for good jobs andcareers in the skilled trades. The investment includes $559,837 forSheridan College’s General Machinist and Industrial Mechanic Mill-wright pre-apprenticeship programs to create placements for an ad-ditional 50 students.“Over the next five years, one in five jobs created will be in the skilledtrades,” Premier Doug Ford said. “We need more skilled workers tohelp us build the roads, transit, and infrastructure we need, both nowand in the future. Young people in Brampton need to know that theseare in-demand, well-paying careers, and that’s exactly what we’redoing with today’s announcement.”The funding is part of the Ontario government’s total investment of$20.8 million in Ontario’s Pre-Apprenticeship Training Program. Thegovernment is also increasing annual spending on the program by$2.5 million this year, creating an additional 200 placements in theprogram. Today’s funding announcement follows the unveiling ofOntario’s new marketing campaign highlighting the skilled trades asa viable career path. The ads, with the slogan ‘Find a Career YouWouldn’t Trade,’ are currently running online, in movie theatres andon Tim Hor tons TV.“I hear from small businesses across the province of the need for

skilled tradespeople to operate and grow their business,” saidPrabmeet Sarkaria, Associate Minister of Small Business and RedTape Reduction. “As our government builds the environment for joband economic growth, the skilled trades continue to be in high de-mand and a great career choice in Brampton and throughout Ontario.With this announcement, we’re preparing our young people for thejobs of tomorrow, today.”“In Brampton and throughout the province, there are thousands ofjobs that go unfilled each day,” said Monte McNaughton, Minister ofLabour, Training and Skills Development. “Those are paychequeswaiting to be collected. But the workers aren’t there. Our mission is tobridge that skills gap in Brampton and beyond. Today’s announce-ment at Sheridan, training two in-demand trades like machinist andmillwright, is the next step.” “Ontario colleges play a vital role inpreparing students for a proud professional career in the skilled trades,”said Ross Romano, Minister of Colleges and Universities. “With 81per cent of apprenticeship training and skilled trades education beingcompleted in our classrooms, programs like the General Machinistand Industrial Mechanic Millwright programs at Sheridan are helpingto address local labour market needs while setting students up forsuccess in their careers.”Pre-apprenticeship training promotes careers in the trades as an op-tion for all Ontario residents, including youth at risk, new Canadians,women and Indigenous people. The training programs are free, lastup to one year and often combine classroom training with an 8-12week work placement.

MP SONIA SIDHU ADDRESSES THE FIRSTBATCH OF STUDENTS AT RYERSONCYBERSECURITY CATALYST HUB

Member of Parl iament for Brampton South Sonia Sidhuaddressed the f i rst batch of students at acceleratedcybersecurity training orientation session in Brampton South.MP Sidhu was proud of her government's work in suppor tingbusinesses and youth with job creation, technology adoption,scale-up and investments. Speaking on the occasion, SoniaSidhu said, “Rapid growth in the digital economy is continuing,and this means that cybersecurity has become a priority forhouseholds, businesses and cer tainly for governments! Exper tswith cyber security skills will continue to be in demand andcyber security innovation must keep pace with technologicalchange as new risks present themselves. With growing risks,there is a need for world-class cybersecurity – and I havealways believed that Brampton can lead the way!”Fur ther, she added, “We had many impor tant discussions withour great partners - Ryerson University - Dr. Mohamed Lachemiand his entire team – and I want to thank him once again for hisvision and confidence in Brampton as a great location for theCybersecurity Catalyst.” Last week, the first orientation classfor Cybersecurity Training program was organised by RyersonUniversity, where 60 talented students, a balanced mix ofwomen, new Canadians and workers seeking a new career, allfrom various backgrounds will be able to learn about digitalworld and cybersecurity.

Consulate General of India,Toronto resumes attestation of

Indian driving licensesMinistry of Road Transpor t and Highway, Government of Indiahas provided a platform of common database of Indian motor drivinglicences of all the State/Districts in India called ‘ParivahanSewa’. On thisplatform, the details of Indian driving licences can be verified by using theIndian Driving Licence number and date of birth of the licence holder at thefollowing website - https://parivahan.gov.in/rcdlstatus/?pur_cd=1012. The Indian Consulate is resuming the attestation of the Indian Drivinglicences of the Indian nationals living under the Consular Jurisdiction of CGIToronto, provided applicant provides a print out of verifiable details from theabove-mentioned website along with copy and original of his Indian DrivingLicence, copy of Indian passport, copy of valid PR/work permit/studypermit/visitor visa, address proof and a fee of C$ 19 payable by bank draftor debit card at the Consulate (365 Bloor Street East, Toronto). The procedurefor attestation is provided at the Consulate’s website – https://www.cgitoronto.gov.in/eoi.php?id=india_licence3. Please note, however, that the Consulate do not take responsibility incase the attested driving licence is not accepted by the Canadian authorities.4. Indian national desirous of attesting the Indian Driving Licence may do sofrom the Consulate on working days.



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 04, 2020 i n d i a

MAHARASHTRA CHIEF MINISTER UDDHAV THACKERAY ALONG WITH HIS SON AND STATE CABINET MINISTER ADITYA THACKERAYAND WIFE RASHMI THACKERAY DURING A PROGRAM ON THE OCCASION OF SHIV SENA FOUNDER BALASAHEB THACKERAY'S BIRTHANNIVERSARY IN MUMBAI LAST MONTH. (ANI PHOTO)

NO INTENTION TO TAX GLOBAL INCOMEOF NRIS IN INDIA, SAYS FINANCE

MINISTER NIRMALA SITHARAMANCONTD. FROM PAGE 1 If he's earning something in a jurisdiction where there isno tax, why will I include that into mine that has been gen-erated there. "Whereas if you have a proper ty here and youhave a rent out of it, but because you are living there, youcarry this rent into your income there and pay no tax there,pay no tax here ... since the proper ty is in India, I have gota sovereign right to tax," she said in a post Budget interac-tion with media."I am not taxing what you're earning in Dubai but that prop-er ty which is giving you a rent here, you may be an NRI,you may be living there but that is revenue being generatedhere for you. So that's the issue," she added. The FinanceBill, 2020 has proposed that an Indian citizen shall bedeemed to be resident in India, if he is not liable to be taxedin any country or jurisdiction. This is an anti-abuse provi-sion since it is noticed that some Indian citizens shift theirstay in low or no tax jurisdiction to avoid payment of tax inIndia, the finance ministry said in a statement."The new provision is not intended to include in tax netthose Indian citizens who are bonafide workers in othercountries. In some section of the media the new provisionis being interpreted to create an impression that those Indi-ans who are bonafide workers in other countries, includingin Middle East, and who are not liable to tax in these coun-tries will be taxed in India on the income that they haveearned there. This interpretation is not correct," it said. Inorder to avoid any misinterpretation, it is clarified that incase of an Indian citizen who becomes deemed resident ofIndia under this proposed provision, income earned out-side India by him shall not be taxed in India unless it isderived from an Indian business or profession, it added.

SPG PROTECTION FOR PM MODI NOW HASA BUDGET OF NEARLY RS 600 CRORECONTD. FROM PAGE 5The security for three others -- Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhiand Priyanka Gandhi Vadra -- was revised in November lastyear and SPG protection was withdrawn. Sources in the gov-ernment had pointed to the numerous security protocol viola-tions by the Gandhi family. Rahul Gandhi, sources said, wasviolating "one security rule each day".SPG for former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was with-drawn in August. It was also withdrawn from two other formerPrime Ministers HD Deve Gowda and VP Singh.The SPG was set up in 1985, a year after the assassination ofRahul Gandhi's grandmother and former Prime Minister IndiraGandhi. The force was tasked with protecting the prime minis-ters.In 1991, af ter the assassination of Mr Gandhi's father, formerPrime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the SPG protection was extendedto the entire family.In 1999, the NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee de-cided to review SPG's operations, and withdrew protectionfrom former Prime Ministers PV Narasimha Rao, HD DeveGowda, and IK Gujral.In 2003, the Vajpayee government amended the law to bringdown the minimum period of automatic protection from 10years to one, keeping a provision that it could be revised yearlyand extended depending on the threat level.Atal Bihari Vajpayee had SPG cover till he died in 2018.Last year, then SPG Act was revised again, under which onlythe prime minister - current and former - and their immediatefamilies living with them - would get SPG protection for fiveyears after leaving office.

CONTD. FROM PAGE 1Preliminary inquiries have revealed that the song was recordedat Mussa village in Mansa district at the residence of MooseWala, SSP Bhargav said in a statement.A video clip of the song was uploaded on social media sites andit was found to be promoting violence and gun culture, he added.SSP Bhargav said Moose Wala's song "Pakhia pakhia pakhia,gun wich panj golia..." evidentially promotes violence and gunculture. On Friday, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had expresseddeep concerns over the propagation of violence and gun culturein Punjabi songs.The chief minister had reiterated his government's firmcommitment not to show any sor t of complacency towardssuch singers who allure innocent youths into treading on thepath of violence and hooliganism.Notably, the Punjab and Haryana High Cour t had already directedthe Director General of Police of Punjab, Haryana and UnionTerritory Chandigarh to ensure that no songs glorifying liquor,drugs and violence are played even in the live shows.

PUNJAB POLICE REGISTERS CASEAGAINST SINGERS FOR

'PROPAGATING VIOLENCE'

Not discussing issue of women’sentry into Sabarimala temple: SCNew Delhi: The Supreme Cour t on Monday resumed its exer-cise of framing questions relating to discrimination againstwomen in various religions and made clear that it was notdiscussing the issue of entry of women of all age groups intoSabarimala temple in Kerala. A nine-judge bench headed byChief Justice S A Bobde has been hearing several seniorlawyers on the issue of framing of larger legal questions tobe deliberated upon by it relating to discrimination againstwomen in various religions. “The Sabarimala review case isnot before us. We are not deciding Sabarimala. We are decid-ing the larger questions,” the bench said when senior advo-cates F S Nariman, Kapil Sibal, Shyam Divan and RakeshDwivedi opposed the hearing on the so-called larger issuerelating to discrimination against women in various religions.

NIRBHAYA: GOVT CHALLENGES STAY ONEXECUTION, HC RESERVES VERDICT

New Delhi: The Delhi High Cour t on Sunday re-served its verdict on the Centre’s plea challeng-ing the stay on the execution of the four deathrow convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape and mur-der case. Justice Suresh Kait said it would passan order af ter all parties concluded their argu-ments. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told thehigh cour t that there was a “deliberate, calcu-lated and well-thought-out design” by the Nirbhaya gangrape andmurder case convicts to “frustrate” the mandate of law by gettingtheir execution delayed. Mehta told Justice Suresh Kait that con-vict Pawan Gupta’s move of not filing a curative or a mercy peti-tion was deliberate. The four Nirbhaya case convicts were play-ing with judicial machinery and trying the patience of the na-tion, he said. The high cour t was hearing the Centre’s pleachallenging the stay on the execution of the four death rowconvicts in the Nirbhaya case. Advocate AP Singh appearedfor convicts Akshay Singh (31), Vinay Sharma (26) and Pawan

gupta (25) opposing the Centre’s plea to setaside the stay on the execution of the death sen-tence. Senior advocate Rebecca John, represent-ing the four th convict Mukesh Kumar (32), raisedpreliminary objection to the Centre’s plea, say-ing it was not maintainable. She contended thatthe Centre was never a par ty in the case pro-ceedings before the trial cour t and while the gov-

ernment was accusing the convict of delay, it had woken up justtwo days ago. “It was the victim’s parents who had moved the trialcour t for issuance of death warrants against the convicts. At nopoint the government approached the trial cour t to get the deathwar rants issued immediately,” John contended. He told the HCthat the Centre had moved a plea in the Supreme Cour t seek-ing clarification whether co-convicts could be executed sepa-rate ly . A 23-year -o ld paramedic s tudent , re fe r red to asNirbhaya, was raped and brutally assaulted on the interveningnight of December 16-17, 2012.

Maharashtra Police begin cracking down on anti-CAA protestsMumbai: After weeks of protests against the Citizenship (Amend-ment) Act across the state, the Maharashtra Police have begun tocrack down on protesters. Over the past three days, the Mumbaipolice have been detaining protesters in the city’s Nagpada areawhere a large group of women is staging a Shaheen Bagh kind ofprotest. On Monday morning, a few women were detained fromthe area which is being called Mumbai Bagh on social media.Lawyer and activist Trisha Shetty posted on Twitter, “targetted forexercising my fundamental right to peacefully protest against CAA/

NRC.” Another activist, Aamir Edresy, said the protesting womenplanned to meet the Maharashtra home minister to complainagainst the detention of protesters. According to Edresy, womenfrom the Nagpada area are continuing their protests. After thepolice asked the women to leave the area early Sunday morning, scores ofpeople from the neighbourhood descended on the roads and continued protest-ing. The city police this afternoon issued a notice under Section 149 under theCriminal Penal Code. As per this code, police officers are empowered toprevent any cognisable offence.

THE FEARLESS CULPRITS...NIRBHAYACONTD. FROM PAGE 1Sonia Gandhi, addressed asAntonio Maino by 'Andh- Bhakts' and ac-cused as a disloyal unpatriotic 'foreigner' displayed her strength andlef t a whole lot annoyed by forgiving those who blew apar t RajivGandhi into pieces. The mental agony Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka gothrough over the tragic loss of Rajiv Gandhi couldn't make them venge-ful but stronger in a state of grace. As a result they pardoned thekillers ignoring vile remarks that spewed from all sides.Another act of forgiving that made the world stop and gasp was howGladys Staines did it. "How could she?" was my immediate response.As a parent it's impossible for me to ignore someone hur ting mychildren, be it through a subtle comment or a look or deed. Setting aman and his sons on fire for the service he did unto mankind is acrime of the utmost savagery and it triggered storms of condemna-tion across the world while the government dilly dallied as alwayswith unwarranted blames, comments and remarks. The killer's prox-imity to a big enchilada of a political outfit ensured he remainedscot-free or earned him a secure hideout for almost a year. That therewasn't any appropriate reaction from India to Mrs. Staines' noble actis still a shame to our country to which no more global obloquy couldreasonable attach. Even today I'm unable to come to terms with thisnobility of her's that I come up with my own reasons as to why it wasgood on her par t to forgive and move on and away from this country.Don't we all know how bad our criminal justice system ails?Even as we hail heroes of forgiveness, we ought to remember no twoindividuals are alike and blessed with the same emotional and spiri-tual ability. Insinuating a person to forgive a wrong doer is unethical.Not forgiving someone doesn't rob a person of his/her moral vir tue.So, who is to judge and what is the guideline? We are but meremor tals with broken yardsticks, a vision not beyond touch screenand TV screens and may be thoughts of the upcoming TV debates orelections. When the unexpected happens to others for good, bad orworst, for many of us it's easy to take refuge in the moral plane andadvocate vir tues written in the holy texts. For a moment, forget supersouls who forgive killers. Questions of perceptions on forgivenessare open: to who and by who, necessary or unnecessary, for thelarger good or bad, whether this great act builds or ruins a society,pragmatic or ideal, when and why…the list of this or that, not tomention the grey shades is endless. There can be a million debateson forgiveness but often only one decision and one course, restingsolely on the conscience of the one forgiving unconditionally. I hopewith every other crime with a Mensrea, questions on the ethics offorgiveness keep getting sharper.If every criminal is forgiven and crimes forgotten, why will we needlaws of the land and institutions that enforce them? A felon, one of themost brutal among all the 'Nirbhaya' accused who had the brazen-

ness to inser t an iron rod into the victim's vagina and pull out herinternal organs, was rehabilitated and released with Rs. 10,000 and asewing kit, only because he was a few months away from becomingan adult. Who should be forgiven, the rapist or the government! Thethen juvenile rapist has turned over a new leaf, but what good does itdo the dead and her grief-stricken family?We are an emotional dramatic lot with a poor public memory. Wespeak and think differently at different times of the year. And peace-makers who have mushroomed overnight, if you had urged Mrs.AshaDevi to forgive criminals who raped, assaulted and killed her daugh-ter because you assume 'Time Heals', I urge you to know it's justanother saying. In reality, time does nothing but grows a scar. In-stead, swift and sure justice offers some hope as a great deterrent.Forgiving is not letting criminals go free or help them escape theircriminal past. This is never the right time to suggest the victim'smother that she forgives the rapists and even if she does, advocatingthe abolition of punishment is unwor thy.Personal perceptions can pass off as public opinion. At the same timepublic opinion can't be trusted or considered a criterion to ensure thatforgiveness becomes a vir tue of one and all. Forgiveness is a con-scious decision which happens in its time, if need be and no human isholy enough to suggest a person to take a clue or cue and forgive.Forgiveness, rehabilitation and reparation to create a utopia may soundgood, but at what cost?


TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 04, 2020i n d i a

PM ADDRESSES A RALLY IN KARKARDOOMA AHEAD OF DELHI ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS, 2020.

Delhi assembly election 2020: ‘We want development,BJP wants division’: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal

CONTD. FROM PAGE 1The NIA had taken over the case in which Jammu andKashmir's Deputy Superintendent of Police Davinder Singh,who has since been suspended, was caught in south Kash-mir while ferrying two terrorists out of the valley on January11. The searches come days after NIA officers interrogatedall the accused arrested in the case.Besides Singh, the others arrested were: Syed NaveedMushtaq Ahmed alias Naveed Babu, who is a self-styledcommander of Hizbul Mujahideen, Rafi Ahmed Rather andIr fan Shafi Mir, who claims to be an advocate. They werearrested from the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway nearQazigund in South Kashmir. Later, Naveed's brother, SyedIr fan Ahmed, was also arrested on January 23 af ter he wasbrought from Punjab. He was in constant touch with hisbrother and had asked him to look for an accommodation inChandigarh where they could escape the harsh wintersmonths of Kashmir. Mir, who was driving the vehicle whenthey were caught by the police from a national highway inKulgam district, may become a prize catch for the NIA as itis alleged he was acting on the orders of his masters inPakistan. He had visited the neighbouring country five timeson an Indian passpor t.

J&K DSP CASE: NIA RAIDS MULTIPLEPLACES IN SOUTH KASHMIR

CONTD. FROM PAGE 1UPATS officials said Punjab Police had shared informationabout arms supplier Ashish Singh's movement in UP lastweek. "Working on the lead, we arrested Ashish Singh fromTikri on Jadugar road in Civil Lines area of Haridwar. He isaccused of attempt to murder, rioting with deadly weapons,criminal conspiracy and harbouring offenders from Punjabin 2018," said officials. ATS is probing his supply channeland chains in UP. Another ATS official privy to the probesaid, "Ashish is considered to be the right hand of KLF chiefGugni Grewal aka Harmeet Singh and the main supplier ofweapons to the force. Ashish also has a role in murder ofRSS and Shiv Sena workers." Punjab Police had traced oneSukhpreet Singh of Monga in Punjab after KLF chief Harmeetwas killed in Pakistan on January 27, 2020 by a local gangover some alleged financial disputes in drug smuggling.Sukhpreet revealed details about Ashish's role and loca-tion. ADG ATS, D K Thakur, said "Ashish was also named inother cases, including illegal liquor sale. He came in touchwith KLF chief while he was locked up in Patiala jail. Ashishsupplied 10 pistols to KLF chief. We are tracing the armsprocurement channels of Ashish. We arrested Ashish on theinformation of Punjab police while hunt is on to trace hisaccomplices in Uttar Pradesh."

WEAPONS SUPPLIER OF KHALISTANOUTFIT NABBED IN HARIDWAR

CONTD. FROM PAGE 1As Parizad Sirwalla, par tner and head, global mobility ser-vices (tax) at KPMG India points out, “Indian citizens andpersons of Indian origin who were on visit to India had anextended period of 182 days of stay in India (as opposed to60 days) before they could be regarded as a resident froman income tax perspective. This period is proposed to bereduced to 120 days now.” As things stand, an individual isa resident in India for a particular financial year if he hasbeen here for an overall period of 365 days or more withinthe four years preceding and an overall period of 60 days inthat particula r year. The 182-day relaxation was made available toIndian citizens and persons of Indian origin.‘Only The Stateless Will Be Deemed Indian And Taxed’ The Budget memorandum pointed out that this relaxed duration of 182days was misused by individuals who had significant economic activ-ity in India (say a business), managed their period of stay, so as toremain a nonresident in perpetuity. With such individuals now beingrequired to stay out of the country for 245 days in a year, the misusebecomes more difficult for those having business interests in India.Gautam Nayak, tax partner at CNK & Associates cautions, “NRIs orOverseas Citizens of India, visiting relatives in India need to now bemore careful and limit their stays to less than 120 days in a year, or elsethey may face tax on their worldwide income.” After having determinedan individual as a tax resident, there is a secondary test to determinewhether the individual qualifies as a not ordinarily resident (NOR) orordinarily resident (OR). Currently there are complex rules to deter-mine when a person is NOR. This has been simplified to say that aperson is NOR for a particular financial year if he has been a non-resident in seven out of the ten preceding years. This determination iscritical as while an ‘NOR’ is only taxed on India income, an individualwho is an ‘OR’ is taxable on his worldwide income. Another changemade is that an Indian citizen not ‘liable to tax’ in any other country orterritory shall be deemed to be resident in India. At first glance, itappeared that India’s diaspora which works in Gulf countries (wherethere is no tax on individual income) would be badly hit.However, the Finance Bill added that this would be the case if theindividual is not liable to tax in any other country by reason of hisdomicile, or residence or any other criteria of similar nature. Nayakadds, “The SC in the case of Azadi Bachao Andolan has held that theterm ‘liable to tax’ is not the same as ‘is actually taxed’. The OECDModel Tax Convention also provides that a person does not have to beactually paying tax to be “liable to tax”. If the host country chooses notto tax such income, it does not mean that they are not “liable to tax” inthat country. They may still not be regarded as residents ofIndia. However, the issue needs to be clarified to avoid liti-gation. This provision would therefore perhaps only impactthose Indian citizens who are not residents of any country atall.” ANI quoted the revenue secretary, Ajay Bhusan Pandey,as saying that only if an Indian citizen is not a resident of anycountry in the world, he will be deemed to be a resident of India and hisworldwide income will be taxed. Amarpal S Chadha, partner and Indiamobility leader at EY-India says, “The intent behind this amendment isto tax the Indian citizens who are stateless and enjoy the privilege of notpaying taxes in any country or jurisdiction, based on their tax planning.However, a formal clarification on this will be helpful to avoid litigation.”

NRI DEFINITION CHANGED TOSTOP TAX AVOIDANCE

After a strong focus on educa-tion, health care and power inits first full term, the AamAadmi Par ty (AAP) will give toppriority to cleanliness, waterand pollution if voted back topower in Delhi, chief ministerArvind Kejriwal told HT in aninterview, in which he alsoexpressed dismay over what hetermed a campaign of “abuseand violence” being run by theBharatiya Janata Par ty (BJP).Kejriwal said that while hewanted the discourse before theelections to be about gover-nance and civic issues, the BJPwas only talking about “Hinduvs Muslim” and the ongoinganti-Citizenship (Amendment)Act stir at Shaheen Bagh, which,he said, was intentionally beingallowed to continue by the Uniongovernment.“I say let’s make more schools;they say Shaheen Bagh. I say,let’s build more hospitals; theysay Shaheen Bagh. I talk aboutuninterrupted power supply;they say Shaheen Bagh. Is thereno other issue in Delhi?”Kejriwal said.

“Why are they not ending theprotest — can a home ministeras powerful as Amit Shah notget a road vacated?”Kejriwaladded. “They are trying topolarise the voters. It willbecome clear on February 11whether or not this hadworked.”When asked why he had notgone to the protest site, Kejriwalsaid he did not want to put moreattention on what is the BJP’sonly campaign plank. “Theprotest is causing problems toseveral people… The biggestgainers from the Shaheen Baghprotest are the BJP. Why shouldI suppor t something whichhelps the BJP? Why should Ikeep the Shaheen Bagh issuealive for BJP to take benefit ofit? There’s no question of that.”Though the AAP governmentwas embroiled in a series ofconfrontations with both theCentre (over schemes) and thepolice (over cases filed againstMLAs), Kejriwal said that, ifvoted back to power, his nextterm would be smoother.“They (Centre) have understood

that our 2015 win was not aone-off thing, and we are here tostay in Delhi politics. In oursecond term, I expect to findourselves in a position wherewe can sit with the Centre andget more work done with theircooperation towards Delhi’sbetterment. I believe that it canhappen,” he said.The chief minister, who was acivil servant, social worker andthen an activist before heentered politics, said that,overall, he was both satisfiedand surprised by what his

government was able toachieve over the last five years.“I was an activist and oftenrestless about things related tothe condition of schools,hospitals, ration distribution,etc. We often thought it must bea really complicated job — nopar ty could do much in 70years. Now, af ter stepping intogovernance, we have realisedit’s not a rocket science. They(other par ties) did not have theintent or the will to changethings.”Next on the agenda, he said, isa single-window system forhealth care services, a specificfund to the civic bodies forcleanliness, a drive to clean theYamuna, and scaling up the fightagainst air pollution with real-time data. BJP’s Delhi unitpresident, Manoj Tiwari,dismissed Kejriwal’s com-ments. “This election will bebased on promises andper formances in the last fiveyears. People in Delhi under-stand that clearly and they knowthat Arvind Kejriwal should beremoved from chief minister’sposition because he could notopen one new school in the city,one new college, one newhospital — they could notprovide clean water in anylocality and the condition ofDelhi roads are pathetic,” hesaid. Praveen Rai, politicalanalyst with the Centre forStudy of Developing Societies,said: “For a long time, thecontest in Delhi looked like aone-sided affair. With the BJPtaking up the Shaheen Baghprotest in their poll campaign,the ground realities have changed toa large extent. Attempts to polarise thevoters are visible.”“Also, for a long time, the AAPmanaged to sideline the issue andfocus on their development agenda.But, after a stage, they too took someconflicting stands. For instance,Arvind Kejriwal stayed away fromthe protests but he said thingslike he could clear the site if hehad the police under him. But itis difficult to assess at thispoint what impact it can have onthe February 8 polls,” said Rai.The AAP won 67 out of 70 seatsin the 2015 elections. Kejriwalsaid he was confident the par tywould return to power, butdeclined to reveal how manyseats he expected to win.



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 04, 2020 i n d i a

Armaan Jain And Anissa Malhotra's Wedding ReceptionShah Rukh Khan, Rekha, The Kapoors And Others Attend

NEW DELHI: Armaan Jain and Anissa Malhotra celebrated their wed-ding with a glitzy reception in Mumbai on Tuesday evening. The star-studded guest list was headlined by Shah Rukh Khan, his wife Gauri,Rekha, Raveena Tandon and Kiara Advani among others. The Kapoors- Anil Kapoor, his wife Sunita and actress daughter Sonam - wouldn'thave missed the reception for the world. Armaan Jain's parents ReemaJain and Manoj Jain were among the first to arrive at the venue. SohaAli Khan turned heads as she arrived at the wedding reception withactor husband Kunal Kemmu in a peach-coloured lehenga. AmritaArora and her husband Shakeel Ladak were also there. Not to miss,Randhir Kapoor looked handsome as always in a black blazer andtrousers.The newly-wedded couple Armaan Jain and Anissa Malhotra steppedout to pose for the paparazzi. Anissa looked gorgeous in a silverlehenga while Armaan picked a black sherwani for the occasion.Armaan Jain and Anissa Malhotra got married on Monday and pic-tures from the star-studded ceremony have been trending on socialmedia since then. Bollywood's prominent celebrities such as theBachchans, the Kapoors, Karan Johar, Dimple Kapadia, TwinkleKhanna, Kiara Advani, Ananya Panday and Tara Sutaria attended thewedding on Tuesday.Armaan Jain is Kareena Kapoor and Karisma Kapoor's cousin. He hasa brother - Aadar Jain. Armaan's mother Reema Jain is the sister ofRishi Kapoor (father of actor Ranbir Kapoor) and Randhir Kapoor(Kareena and Karisma's father).On the work front, Armaan Jain made his debut in Bollywood with ArifAli's 2014 film Lekar Hum Deewana Dil, in which he co-starred withDeeksha Seth. The film failed to fare well at the box office. ArmaanJain hasn't announced his next project yet.


TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 04, 2020w o r l d

AT LEAST 56 PEOPLE DIED OF THE NOVEL CORONAVIRUS ON SUNDAY PUSHING THE DEATH TOLL FROM THE OUTBREAK TO 361.(REUTERS)

Trump draws scorn and laughter on social mediaas he mixes up his US geography

New York: US PresidentDonald Tr ump drew scorn andlaughter on social media onSunday after placing theKansas City Chiefs in thewrong state following theirSuper Bowl victory. Trumpsaid the Chiefs had madeKansas State proud, but theteam actually hails fromneighbouring Missouri.“Congratulations to theKansas City Chiefs on a greatgame, and a fantastic come-back, under immense pres-sure,” he tweeted. “Yourepresented the Great State ofKansas and, in fact, the entireUSA, so very well. OurCountry is PROUD OF YOU!”He later deleted the tweet, andreplaced it with the onenaming the correct state.Reaction online was swift --and not too polite -- towards acommander-in-chief who hasa troublesome history with

maps.“It’s Missouri you stone coldidiot,” responded a former USsenator from the state, ClaireMcCaskill. Lauren Ar thur, acurrent Missouri statesenator, tweeted: “Wrongstate. Best stay out of thingsyou don’t understand, like theHear t of America.” “Can’tbelieve the Deep State putKansas City in MISSOURI just

to embar rass Trump,” anotheruser added. The gaffe followsTr ump’s Secretary of StateMike Pompeo asking arepor ter last week to placeUkraine on a map.“This tweet comes amid anongoing news cycle whereTr ump’s Secretary of State -who is very prominently fromKansas - claimed a repor tercouldn’t find something on a

map,” one journalist noted.Others referenced“Sharpiegate”, when duringHurricane Dorian in Septem-ber last year Tr ump said thestorm would “most likely”sweep Alabama -- andproduced a doctored weathermap to suppor t his claim. Thestorm did not reach Alabama.“Someone quickly take theSharpie...out of Tr ump’s handsbefore he redraws the map ofKansas,” tweeted writer andtelevision producer BryanBehar, refer ring to the brand ofpen. Greg Krieg, a CNNpolitics repor ter, tweeted:“Tomorrow: Tr ump wavesaround a map in Oval Officeshowing that Kansas City is,in fact, in Kansas.”

Majority of Canadiansreject paying forHarry, Meghan’s

security

Montreal: A clear majority of Ca-nadians feel their country doesnot have to pay for security forPrince Harry and his wifeMeghan Markle, who havesettled in British Columbia. Sev-enty-seven per cent of peoplesurveyed by Nanos Research, forCTV, believe the Candian taxpayerdoes not have to pay for the Dukeand Duchess of Sussex becausethey are not in Canada as repre-sentatives of the Queen. Canadais a parliamentary monarchy andQueen Elizabeth II is the reigninghead of state. Only 19 per cent ofCanadians would not object totheir country assuming a shareof the security costs. There hasbeen no official announcementabout the question of security forPrince Harry and Meghan, or whowill cover the bill, now that theyhave officially left the royal fam-ily. Canadian authorities have onlyindicated that discussions weretaking place. More than two-thirds of Canadians feel the pri-vacy of the couple and their in-fant son will be better respectedin Canada than it was in Britain.But Harry and Meghan—wholive in Victoria, on Vancouver Is-land—are taking no chances: lastmonth they issued a legal warn-ing to media over photographs ofthe duchess out walking her dogswith Archie, their son. Their law-yers claimed the images weretaken without Meghan’s consent,the BBC reported, and the couplewere prepared to take legal ac-tion. Perhaps more worrying forthe couple in the long run is thatonly 32 per cent of those surveyedwere strongly in favour of main-taining links with the royal familyand their country’s status as aconstitutional monarchy. Twenty-eight per cent said they were onlysomewhat supported that option.

'Britain will prosper': PMJohnson sets out tough

terms for EU talks

London: Prime Minister Boris Johnson will lay out his negotiat-ing terms for talks with the European Union on Monday, sayingBritain will prosper even if he cannot strike his preferred tradedeal. Af ter marking Britain's depar ture from the EU at a par ty inhis Downing Street residence on Friday, Johnson will use aspeech to ram home his message that Brexit, for him, meansthat sovereignty trumps the economy. The sides have until theend of the year, when a standstill transitional period expires, totry to secure a deal on trade and future relations - somethingLondon and Brussels both say they want to do, but on verydifferent terms. Trade talks will begin in March. Af ter criticisinghis predecessor Theresa May's approach in negotiating a di-vorce deal with the EU, Johnson is striking a much tougher tone,saying Britain will not adhere to the bloc's rules and regula-tions. And he will say that, if the EU fails to grant a trade dealallowing for tariff- and quota-free trade in goods, similar to theterms the bloc now has in place with Canada, Britain will pur-sue a much looser arrangement, like one Australia has. "Thereis no need for a free trade agreement to involve accepting EUrules on competition policy, subsidies, social protection, theenvironment, or anything similar, any more than the EU shouldbe obliged to accept UK rules," Johnson will say, according toexcerpts of his speech distributed by his office. Promising tomaintain "the highest standards", Johnson will suggest the EUhas already offered a free trade deal along the lines of the one ithas with Canada, which does not have to follow the bloc's rules."We have made our choice: we want a free trade agreement,similar to Canada's, but in the very unlikely event that we do notsucceed, then our trade will have to be based on our existingWithdrawal Agreement with the EU," he will tell businesses,think tanks and ambassadors. "The choice is emphatically not'deal or no-deal'. The question is whether we agree a tradingrelationship with the EU comparable to Canada's – or more likeAustralia's."'Level playing field'At the moment, much of EU-Australia trade runs along basicWorld Trade Organization rules, though there are specific agree-ments for cer tain goods. Australia is in the process of negotiat-ing a trade deal with the EU, however. One British source whodeclined to be named has said UK negotiators are furious be-cause they believe the EU, Britain's biggest trading par tner, isgoing back on the divorce deal by suggesting that London wouldhave to adhere to the bloc's rules to secure a free trade agree-ment. On Sunday, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and F renchForeign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian repeated their fears thatBritain could undercut the EU by failing to agree to what the bloccalls a "level playing field" — shor thand for shared rules onenvironmental standards, labour regulations and state aid.The EU has repeatedly warned Britain that the level of access toits single market of 450 million people will depend on how farLondon agrees to adhere to such rules. But Johnson, accordingto sources close to him, has taken last year's election, whichhanded him a large majority in parliament, as an endorsementof his policy of putting Britain's right to set its own rules abovethe demands of businesses. Ministers have been briefing com-panies that they should adjust to such a future despite the ap-peals of many for the government to ensure goods can tradeacross borders freely. More than three years af ter Britain votedto quit the bloc, Johnson, the face of the campaign to leave,wants to draw a line under an angry debate that has deepeneddivides across the country. But he also wants to fulfil his pledgeto "take back control" and, in his speech, will suggest that Brit-ain would thrive either with a Canada-style deal or a looserarrangement. "In either case, I have no doubt that Britain willprosper," Johnson will say. "And of course our new relationshipwith our closest neighbours will range far beyond trade."

US BANS TRAVELLERSFROM VIRUS-HIT CHINA

Washington: The US said Friday it was declaring a publichealth emergency and temporarily banning the entry of foreignnationals who had travelled to China over the past two weeksto contain the spread of a deadly new virus. The virus hasclaimed 259 lives. Sweeping new restrictions will also beimposed on American citizens, with those returning from theprovince at the disease's epicenter placed in facilities formandatory 14-day quarantines, said Health Secretary AlexAzar. US citizens coming from other par ts of China will un-dergo health screening at por ts of entry and then be placedunder monitored self-quarantine at home. "I have declared thatthe coronavirus presents a public health emergency in theUS," said Azar during a briefing at the White House, adding thatthe directives would take effect on February 2 from 5:00 pmeastern time (2200 GMT). "Foreign nationals, other than im-mediate family of US citizens and permanent residents, whohave travelled in China within the last 14 days will be deniedentry into the US for this time," he said. The restrictions applyto people who have travelled to the designated areas in thetwo weeks prior to their attempted entry.



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 04, 2020 w o r l d

SUPPORTERS OF MEDICAL WORKERS HOLD A FLASH MOB PROTEST TO BACK THEIR STRIKE TO DEMAND HONG KONGCLOSING ITS BORDER WITH CHINA TO REDUCE THE CORONAVIRUS SPREADING, IN HONG KONG, CHINA. (REUTERS)

IRANIANS MUST HAVE RIGHT TOCHOOSE AT POLLS: ROUHANI

Death toll in China’s coronavirus jumpsto 361; confirmed cases soar to 17,205Beijing: The death toll in China’s coronavirus epidemic soared to 361with 57 deaths on Sunday alone while the number of confirmed casesclimbed to 17,205, Chinese health officials announced on Monday.China’s National Health Commission in its daily report on Mondaysaid 2,829 new cases of coronavirus were reported nationwide onFebruary 2, taking the total number of the infected to 17,205. The deathtoll rose to 361 with 57 deaths repor ted on Sunday, state-run Xinhuaquoted the commission’s report as saying. Among Sunday’s deaths,56 were reported from Hubei Province, the epicentre of the virus out-break, and one from southwest China’s Chongqing, the commissionsaid. Total 5,173 new suspected cases were repor ted on Sunday, itsaid.

Iranians must have the “rightto choose” between differentpolitical movements, Presi-dent Hassan Rouhani said onSunday, as controversy growsover the disqualification ofthousands of candidates inupcoming polls. Speaking atthe mausoleum of AyatollahRuhollah Khomeini duringannual celebrations of the1979 revolution, Rouhani, amoderate conservative,praised the political heritageof the Islamic republic’sfounder. “The imam(Khomeini) insisted on thefact that people must par tici-pate in all elections and havethe right to choose”, Rouhanisaid during the address,broadcast on state television.“Whoever prevents peoplefrom choosing, and does notallow them to choose betweendifferent (political) tenden-cies, and whoever discour-

ages people from going to thepolls, is cer tainly far from theapproach of the imam”, headded, surrounded by mem-bers of the government.Controversy has been ragingfor the last for tnight, pittingthe coalition that suppor tsRouhani’s government againstthe Guardian Council, whichoversees Iran’s elections andis dominated by ultra-conser-vatives. The council says it

has barred some 9,500potential candidates fromstanding in the February 21legislative polls — almosttwo thirds of the 14,500hopefuls — including 92sitting MPs from of allpolitical stripes. Those whoare barred are allowed toappeal before the election.Paying homage the “father ofrepublicanism in Iran”,Rouhani said Khomeini had

“refused” to establish a“caliphate” and instead“chose the Islamic republic”after the victory of the revolu-tion against the shah’s rule.The US-backed government ofthe shah fell on February 11,1979, 10 days afterKhomeini’s triumphant returnfrom exile. Rouhani madereference to the failed consti-tutional revolution in 1905 —the first attempt to establishdemocracy in Iran — with therestoration of an absolutemonarchy some years later.He warned that the samecould happen to the Islamicrepublic if elections became amere “formality”, with weakturnout.

Virus worrieswipe $420 bil-lion off China’sstock market

Investors erased $420 billionfrom China’s benchmark stockindex on Monday, sold the yuanand dumped commodities asfears about the spreadingcoronavirus and its economicimpact drove selling on the firstday of trade in China since theLunar New Year. The marketslide came even as the centralbank poured cash in to the finan-cial system — a show of sup-por t for the economy -and de-spite apparent regulatory movesto curb selling. The total numberof deaths in China from thecoronavirus rose to 361 as ofSunday. It had stood at 17 whenChinese markets last traded onJanuary 23. By lunchtime, thebenchmark Shanghai Compos-ite index sat 8% lower near analmost one-year trough andpoised to post its worst day inmore than four years. The yuanopened at its weakest level in2020 and slid almost 1.2%, pastthe symbolic 7-per-dollar level,as the falls soured the mood inmarkets throughout Asia.Shanghai-traded oil, iron ore,copper and soft commoditiescontracts all posted sharpdrops, catching up with slidingglobal prices. The new virushas created alarm because itis spreading quickly, muchabout it is unknown, and au-thorities’ drastic response islikely to drag on economicgrowth. “This will last for sometime,” said Iris Pang, GreaterChina economst at ING. “It’s un-cer tain whether factory work-ers, or how many of them, willreturn to their factories,” shesaid. “We haven’t yet seen cor-porate earnings since the(spread of the) coronavirus.

CONTD. FROM PAGE 1Donald Trump is set to visit India on a two-day trip betweenFebruary 23 and 26 and both sides are in the process of work-ing out the final logistics of his schedule. Main segment of thevisit will be the Capital, and a shor t visit to Ahmedabad, Gujarat,Modi's home state. Tr ump is also expected to visit the TajMahal. First Lady Melania Trump will accompany the Presi-dent along with some Cabinet members and an entourage ofofficials. It remains unclear whether his daughter Ivanka andson-in-law Jared Kushner would join them.Camaraderie between both leaders is no secret. Both, Trumpand Modi shared a stage in Texas last year as ten of thousandsof Indian-Americans cheered the world's strongest two populist lead-ers at during 'Howdy, Modi'. Indian media is on full alert as the two areexpected to share a stage in a giant cricket stadium in Ahmedabad. Re-por ts state a high-level logistics team from Washington visited India lastweek as part of the preparations of the tour.The US Prez is expected to stay at the same hotel near the AmericanEmbassy in New Delhi, where former presidents Bill Clinton andBarack Obama once stayed. All said and done, the highlight of thetrip is expected to be the much-anticipated trade deal. Repor tssuggest trade officials of India and the US are working final touchesto the deal which is expected to cover specific sectors. A repor tcited an undisclosed source as saying, “The trade deal and a pacton fur ther enhancing defence cooperation are likely to be sealedduring the visit by the US President.”India seeks exemption from high duties imposed by the US oncer tain steel and aluminium products along with resumption ofbenefits on tariff on cer tain products under their Generalised Sys-tem of Preferences (GSP). It is also keen on the US facilitatinggreater market access for its products in the US in sectorssuch as agriculture, automobile, auto components, and engi-neering. India received FDI wor th $3.13 billion from the US in2018-19, higher than $2 billion in 2017-18. The US meanwhile,wants greater market access for its farm and manufacturingproducts along with some dairy items and medical devices.

TRUMP PREPARES TO VISIT INDIABY END OF MONTH

Researchers from a key Chinese lab have applied to patent aUS-made drug they found to be effective in pre-clinical tests intreating the novel Coronavirus.The research led by the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) foundthat two drugs - remdesivir and the generic chloroquine - couldinhibit or check the Coronavirus.The WIV, as repor ted by HT earlier, is the only institute inChina to have a bio-safety level 4 laboratory, a lab, which isequipped to deal with the deadliest pathogens in the worldincluding Ebola and the Coronavirus family.Researchers from top Chinese institutes including the WIVand the Chinese Academy of Military Sciences made the patentapplication on January 21, an announcement made on the WIVwebsi te on Tuesday said.The researchers also published a paper in the medical jour-nal Cell Research on Tuesday, explaining the efficacy ofthe two drugs.“Our findings reveal that remdesivir and chloroquine are highlyeffective in the control of 2019-nCoV (novel Coronavirus) in-fection in vitro. Since these compounds have been used inhuman patients with a safety track record and shown to beeffective against various ailments, we suggest that they shouldbe assessed in human patients suffering from the novelcoronavirus disease,” the paper’s recommendation said.“Remdesivir has been recently recognised as a promisingantiviral drug against a wide array of RNA viruses (includingSARS/MERS-CoV5) infection in cultured cells, mice and non-human primate (NHP) models. It is currently under clinicaldevelopment for the treatment of Ebola virus infection,” thepaper pointed out.“Chloroquine is a cheap and a safe drug that has been used formore than 70 years and, therefore, it is potentially clinicallyapplicable against the 2019-nCoV,” it added.China is already capable of manufacturing chloroquine andnow wants to star t using remdesivir to treat Coronavirus pa-tients.The WIV statement said it made the patent application out of“national interest” and will not exercise its patent rights ifforeign pharmaceutical firms work together with China to curbthe outbreak that’s already killed close to 500 people and in-fected nearly 25000.The manufacturer of remdevisir, Gilead, is already in talkswith the Chinese government and is learnt to be shippingenough doses to treat 500 patients initially.“It may go into clinical trials in China as early as next week inpatients with moderate and severe symptoms of the novelCoronavirus, Merdad Parsey, Gilead’s chief medical officertold Bloomberg.With the suppor t of the ministry of science and technology, thenational health commission and the state food and drug ad-ministration, the antiviral drug remdesivir has completed theregistration and approval of clinical trials, and the first batchof cases is now in place. The first group of severe pneumoniapatients infected with the new coronavirus will be given thedrug on February 6.

TOP CHINESE LAB FILES PATENTFOR US DRUG TO FIGHTCORONAVIRUS CASES

THIS PROMINENT INDIANCRICKET TEAM FAST-BOWLERLOVES SHRADDHA KAPOORFOR HER PROMISING WORK

THE FIRST LOOK POSTER OF ANUBHAV SINHA'STHAPPAD YESTERDAY HAD TAKEN THE INTERNETBY A STORM WHERE TAAPSEE'S AGITATED MIEN

TRULY GAVE AWAY A STRONG MESSAGE,`THAPPAD: BAS ITNI SI BAAT?`

TO WATCH ALL THE LATEST GOSSIP IN ENTERTAINMENT,WATCH CHANNEL Y ROGERS 857, BELLFIBE 828, TELUS 2418

P19 P18

BOLLYWOOD'S HOTTEST ACTRESS DISHA PATANIHAS BEEN THE TALK OF THE TOWN EVER SINCE

THE TRAILER OF MALANG WAS RELEASED.

P18

SHRADDHA KAPOOR HAS A FANFOLLOWING NOT ONLY ACROSS THENATION BUT THE BIGGIES FROM THE

OTHER PROMINENT INDUSTRIES ALSOLOVE THE ACTRESS FOR HER GREAT

WORK IN THE B-TOWN. AND THIS TIME.

DISHA PATANI INJURED HERSELFWHILE SHOOTING FOR HER

UPCOMING SONG FROM MALANG!

TO ADVERTISE CALL 416-475-5000OR EMAIL [email protected]

ALAYA PUTS US IN TROPICAL FASHION MODEKEEPING IT COOL BEFORE THE RATINGS

THAPPAD TRAILER: A HARD-HITTING ANDTHOUGHT-PROVOKING TAKE ON

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE!

Amitabh Bachchan announces the release date of Alia Bhatt-RanbirKapoor starrer 'Brahmastra'; says 'Ayan is NOT allowed to change it now!'

Novak Djokovic beats Dominic Thiem to win record-extending 8th Australian Open title

HERE'S PROOF THAT SHRADDHA KAPOORACES EVERY CHARACTER SHE TAKES UP

Under 19 World Cup- India enters finalafter beating Pakistan by 10 wickets

SIMPLE YET CLASSY! ANANYA PANDAYSLAYED HER RECENT OUTFIT!

MELBOURNE: Novak Djokovic battled througha five-set thriller with Dominic Thiem to main-tain his dominance at the Australian Open Sun-day, claiming a record eighth title and returningto world number one in the process. The in-domitable Serb stretched his unbeaten streakthis season to 13 but he had to rally from twosets to one down to beat the courageous fifth-seeded Austrian 6-4, 4-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a nearlyfour-hour marathon.It was his 17th Grand Slam title, moving himwithin two of Rafael Nadal and three of RogerFederer on the all-time list."Definitely my favourite cour t, my favourite sta-dium in the world and I'm blessed to hold thistrophy once again," said Djokovic. Victory puthim alongside his fellow legends as only thethird man in history to win eight or more titlesat the same Slam after Nadal (12 at the FrenchOpen) and Federer (eight at Wimbledon).

ALIA BHATT, RANBIR KAPOOR AND AMITABH BACHCHAN STARRER 'BRAHMASTRA' WHICH WAS SLATED TO RELEASE LAST YEARHAD BEEN POSTPONED DUE TO TECHNICAL ISSUES RELATED TO THE FILM'S VFX. WHILE THE FANS HAVE BEEN EAGERLY AWAITINGTO SEE THEIR FAVOURITE COUPLE ON THE SILVER SCREEN FOR THE FIRST TIME, BIG B HAS FINALLY ANNOUNCED THE RELEASEDATE OF THE FILM. THE FANTASY FILM WHICH WAS EARLIER SCHEDULED TO RELEASE ON 25TH DECEMBER LAST YEAR IS NOW ALLSET TO RELEASE ON 4TH DECEMBER THIS YEAR. TAKING TO TWITTER, BIG B WROTE, "T 3429 BRAHMASTRA.. COMING TO CINEMASON 4/12/20 & AYAN IS NOT ALLOWED TO CHANGE IT NOW!" THE FILM WHICH ALSO STARS DIMPLE KAPADIA, NAGARJUNAAKKINENI AND MOUNI ROY IN PIVOTAL ROLES HAS BEEN THE TALK OF THE TOWN SINCE ITS INCEPTION. SEVERAL PICTURES OFRANBIR, ALIA, BIG B AND OTHERS HAVE GONE VIRAL FROM THE FILM'S SETS. BUT RECENTLY IN AN INTERVIEW, KARAN JOHAR HADCONFIRMED THAT SHAH RUKH KHAN WILL BE MAKING A CAMEO IN THE FILM. THIS QUESTION MADE ITS WAY WHEN PICTURES AVANITY WITH SRK'S NAME ON IT FROM THE SETS OF 'BRAHMASTRA' HAD GONE VIRAL ON THE INTERNET.

Alaya Furniturewalla is the talk of the town as she makes her Bollywooddebut in Jawaani Jaaneman and is busy promoting her film post-release. The daughter of Pooja Bedi and recent debutante has createdquite a buzz with her casual as well as dressy looks. The starlet hasbecome a millennial fashion icon for young-sters and she recently posted some pic-tures of herself on Instagram having alittle shot before the ratings of the moviearrived with her `fingers crossed`Alaya is giving us major summery vibesas she wore a tropical printed outfit. Thewhite green ensemble looks coolon the diva, the front knotted croptop with puffed sleeves is pairedwith high waisted jogger-stylepants in the same print byHemant and Nandita Label.

With an amazing 2019, Ananya Panday hasmarked her debut with a lot of appreciationand box office hits. The actress has becomea fashion icon for the younger generation andnever fails to make a statement with her sar-torial choices.Recently, she slayed in a blackslit gown at an event. Taking toher social media, she shared"She's not fragile like a flower,she's fragile like a bomb.Dressed in an all black and along full sleeves slit gown with a lightred bow, Ananya paired it with blackheels, a light red lipstick with subtleand natural makeup.

Shraddha Kapoor has nailed every character that she takes up andhas always given quality-driven content.Some of Shraddha's best characters in recent years were:In Saaho, where she shared the screen with Prabhas, Shraddha re-ceived immense love and appreciation for her action avatar.In Chhichhore, we saw Shraddha in two Sharddha in different roles.One of a young girl and one where sheessayed the role of a mother.Stree was a movie where Shraddhaessayed a unique and mysteri-ous character, one that wasloved by everyone.The latest being StreetDancer 3D where the actressis seen as a dancer and themoves didn't come with ease.A lot of hard work, persever-ance and dedicat ion wasgiven to i t and Shraddhabraved through it all.

Yashasvi Jaiswal batted like a man among boys while Kar tik Tyagireminded Pakistan of Waqar Younis’ toe-crushing yorkers as defend-ing champions India walloped their arch-rivals by 10 wickets to entertheir seventh ICC U-19 World Cup final in Potchefstroom on Tuesday.The gulf in class between the two sides was evident as Indian bowlerscollectively choked Pakistan to a paltry 172 in 43.1 overs. Left-handedopener Jaiswal then showed his class with an unbeaten knock of 105off 113 balls, with an equally graceful Divyansh Saxena (59 not out off99 balls) suppor ting him in an easy chase completed in only 35.2overs. “It’s a dream come true for me. To be able to do this for mycountry is a great feeling. I CONTD. ON PAGE 22


TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 04, 2020b o l l y w o o d

A MODERN-DAY COMEDY DELIVERING

WHAT ITS TRAILER PROMISED!

CAST: SAIF ALI KHAN, ALAYA F., TABU,

KUBBRA SAIT, KUMUD MISHRA, CHUNKY

PANDEY, FARIDA JALAL, KIKU SHARDA

DIRECTION: NITIN KAKKAR

RATING - 3.5/5

Jazz aka Jaswinder Singh (Saif Ali Khan) is a middle-aged Indian manin his mid-40s living in London. He believes in par tying hard andenjoying life to the fullest and staying away from any kind of commit-ment. His life is simple, par t-time proper ty broker in day and a play-boy in the night who goes to clubs to have a drink and hook up withgirls half his age.But one day, he gets a surprise when he brings home another girl Tia(Alaya) who tells him that there is a 33.33 percent chance that Jazz isher father. The DNA tests reveal that Jazz is actually Tia's father andafter discovering his newfound fatherhood he gets another surprisewhen it is revealed that Tia is pregnant and the father is soon going tobe a grandfather too.Jazz is not at all ready to bear any kind of responsibility and doesn'twant his to give up his playboy lifestyle so he washes his hands offTia and his grandchild politely and what happens fur ther forms thecrux of the film.Director Nitin Kakkar has done a fantastic job in Jawaani Jaanemanand brings an enjoyable and fun modern-day comedy to our screens.He has stayed away from any kind of melodrama and makes it clearin the beginning that he is here to enter tain you and makes no com-promise on that. The film's screenplay is tight and is full of quirky andlight-hear ted fun moments making it a fun ride which you can watcheven with family. Playing the carefree party animal type characters

comes naturally to Saif so he just shines here once again. He isper fect as the charming and fun-loving Jazz and his character doesn'tremind you of Cocktail or any other film for that matter as here he is amore evolved guy who is different from what he projects himself tothe world. He is secretly coming to terms with his age, he dies hishair and even needs glasses to read which looks genuine and con-vincing. Alaya F in her debut role has done a fine job and she fits hercharacter. Her acting is natural and car ries a kind of maturity whichyou won't find in many newcomers. Tabu as Tia's hippy modern motherAnanya is a treat to watch on screen sadly she doesn't have muchscreen time but she is superb as always and watching her and Saiftogether after so long is a delight in itself.Farida Jalal as Jazz's mother, Kumud Mishra as Jazz'z business par t-ner Dimpy, Chunky Pandey as the club owner Rocky, Kubbra Sait asJazz's hairstylist Rhea and Kiku Sharda as the doctor make up for astrong suppor ting cast and add to the fun.The music of Jawaani Jaaneman is ok and doesn't have much t offerother than some recreated songs that fit finely in the film still, Saifdancing on 'Ole Ole 2.0' was good.Overall, Jawani Jaaneman is an unconventional and quirky film thatdelivers what its trailer promised, a lot of fun and comedy in the guiseof modern human relationships. It is a light-hear ted film that is amus-ing and can be watched with your family. Go without a second thought.

M O V I E R E V I E W'Laal Singh Chaddha': Aamir Khanspotted in clean shaven look with

crew cut hairdo for Gurugram

Aamir Khan has been extensively shooting for his upcom-ing film, Laal Singh Chaddha from past few months. For theearlier schedule, the superstar donned the heavily beardedlook with a turban and his photos from Punjab and Keralaleaked on the Internet and instantly went viral. Now Aamir,who is known to go deep to get into the skin of his characteris seen in a new look. Yes, he got rid of his heavy beard andis spor ting a clean-shaven look now. Mr Per fectionist'sphotos from the sets while shooting for Laal Singh Chaddhain Delhi colleges have made it to the Internet now. In thephotos, Aamir is seen wearing a grey full-sleeved T-shir twith mud red trousers. He is also donning a transparentframed spectacles and a blue cap. We also came across afew videos in which the talented actor-filmmaker is seeninteracting with the students and also giving his shot.Talking about the film and it's shoot, a source had told MidDay, "The movie — an official adaptation of Forrest Gump[1994] — traces the protagonist as he unwittingly influ-ences impor tant political and cultural events in India over30 years. In the latest stint, Aamir shot for the sequencewhere his character gets officially discharged from the armyaf ter serving during the Kargil war. Like in the original, hethen goes on to endorse a company and earns enough money tofulfil his promise to his fellow soldier. The actor filmed thescene over two days under the supervision of Advait." LaalSingh Chaddha also stars Kareena Kapoor Khan as the fe-male lead and is releasing during Christmas this year.

'MAN VS WILD': DEEPIKA PADUKONE AND VIRAT KOHLI NEXTGUESTS AFTER AKSHAY KUMAR & RAJINIKANTH

Impressed with Akshay Kumar and Rajinikanth, Bear Grylls isnow taking forward his 'Man vs Wild' series with DeepikaPadukone and Virat Kohli. Grylls shot with Rajinikanth for thesecond and third episodes of the 14-par t series. Meanwhile,Akshay completed shooting for it on Thursday.Bear Grylls star ted shooting for 'Man vs Wild' from Monday. AfterAkshay and Rajinikanth, he will shoot a few other episodes withDeepika Padukone, Virat Kohli, and other celebrities. ConservatorBalachandra, according to a repor t on New Indian Express, ex-pressed that the stars were happy shooting for the episode. Healso added, "Our staff was happy with the simplicity and behaviourof both the leading actors (Akshay Kumar and Rajinikanth) andalso Bear Grylls."Akshay Kumar shot with Bear Grylls for three hours in RampurElephant Camp in Mullehole forest range. They walked the streaminside the forest and sat near the bushes and under the tree. De-spite five locations being finalized for the episode, they wound up

shooting only in two locations. The episode ended with Akshaybidding Bear Grylls goodbye with a hug in deep-water, while hisbouncers ensured that nobody was shooting them from the cam-eras. The technical crew of Man vs Wild have sought permission toshoot in a few locations on Friday too.

THAPPAD TRAILER: A HARD-HITTINGAND THOUGHT-PROVOKING TAKE ON

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE! The makers of the film have released the trailer today and itis definitely the most hard-hitting and thought-provoking filmof the year. Taking to her social media, actress TaapseePannu shared, `Haan bas EK THAPPAD ..... par nahi maarsakta ! #Thappad #ThappadTrai ler ht tp: / /b i t . ly/ThappadTrai ler @anubhavsinha @itsBhushanKumar@pavailkgulati @deespeak @GeetikaVidya`.The trailer captures the journey of a woman, role es-sayed by Taapsee who fights for justice af ter a domesticviolence attack by her husband. Giving a strong mes-sage with promising per formances, the trailer is defi-nitely a must watch.Touted to be a film which is this year's Pink, Thappad isall set to continue the league of highlighting gut-wrench-ing subjects. Anubhav Sinha's Ar ticle 15 is one criticallyacclaimed film and was inspired by real-life events. Thefilm will be releasing on the 28th of February and is cre-ating all the roar already.The movie, Thappad has a talented ensemble cast ofTaapsee Pannu, Ratna Pathak Shah, Manav Kaul, Dia Mirza,Tanvi Azmi, and Ram Kapoor and is already looking promising with thetrailer of the film out now. After achieving critical and box Officesuccess with Ar ticle15, Anubhav Sinha is back with anotherfilm, Thappad produced by Anubhav Sinha and Bhushan Kumarstarring Taapsee Pannu will release on 28 February 2020.

DISHA PATANI INJURED HERSELFWHILE SHOOTING FOR HER UPCOMING

SONG FROM MALANG! The actress has shone through the trailer and the songsand now is all set to amaze fans with the upcoming songHui Malang.While filming for the song 'Hui Malang', Disha severely in-jured herself. The actress shared pictures of herself fromrehearsals with her injured knees. She shared the picturewith the caption, "The song felt more like an action than asong hope you guys enjoy it.Disha worked with her Slow Motion choreographer, VaibhaviMerchant, and the song is all set to be out today. Fans areextremely excited as all the songs have made it to thesureshot par ty hits this year.From the looks of the trailer, Disha is truly a package ofhotness, innocence and is literally the soul of Malang.Donning a bikini-clad avatar and looking every bit gor-geous in every frame, Disha is exuding boho vibes whichmakes her character very interest ing. Her character inthe film stays very undisclosed despite the many shadesthat we are seeing.The film Malang is directed by Mohit Suri and produced byT-Series' Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Luv Films' LuvRanjan, Ankur Garg, and Nor thern Lights Enter tainment'sJay Shewakramani. Malang is all set to release on 7thFebruary 2020.



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 04, 2020 b o l l y w o o d

THIS PROMINENT INDIAN CRICKET TEAMFAST-BOWLER LOVES SHRADDHA KAPOOR

FOR HER PROMISING WORKIt is none other than the other favourite of the nation- cricket!More than that, it is this fast-bowler who is in awe of thebeauty, Shraddha Kapoor! Indian fast bowler BhuvaneshwarKumar expressed in a recent interview that he admiresShraddha Kapoor for her body of work. When asked about hisfavourite actress, Bhuvneshwar rapidly responded, "My favourite ac-tress is Shraddha Kapoor". No wonder that the fandom of ShraddhaKapoor sees no boundary and this recent incident is the testimony ofthe same. Recently, the actress wrapped up her shooting schedule forBaaghi 3 and celebrated with the entire team. Currently basking inthe success of her recent release, Street Dancer 3D, the ac-tress star ted her year 2020 with a bang.

'Dhan Te Nan'! Sara Ali Khan joinsShahid Kapoor in 'Kaminey 2'

Shahid Kapoor's 'Kaminey' is getting a sequel to the film.The movie's sequel, more so, repor tedly will see Sara AliKhan in the lead role.Sara, according to a repor t on Latestly, met with 'Kaminey'director Vishal Bhardwaj and had intense discussions withregards to the sequel of the film. "They were zeroing on anactress alongside Shahid Kapoor for Kaminey 2 (yes, thesecond installment of the critically acclaimed film), Sarahas become an obvious choice for the project," a sourcetold the website.An actress who gained popularity after working in movieslike 'Kedarnath' and 'Simmba', Sara will be seen in the re-make of two films already - Love Aaj Kal and Coolie No 1."After the success of her two films Kedarnath and Simmba,Sara was gearing up for Coolie No 1 and Love Aaj Kal 2,and now it's just a matter of time that Sara will announcethat she will be seen with Sasha," the source added.'Kaminey' marked Vishal Bhardwaj and Shahid Kapoor'sfirst collaboration. The movie became a surprise hit, andlater on, Vishal and Shahid went on to give a memorablefilm like 'Haider'. 'Kaminey', featuring Shahid in double rolesas twin brothers, previously starred actress PriyankaChopra in the lead role.

Ajay Devgn shares first look of'Maidaan' with two new posters.The biographical spor ts drama isbased on Indian national footballteam coach and manager Syed

Abdul Rahim. 'Maidaan' is slatedto hit screens on November 27

this year.

UNCOMING RELEASES!

Filmmaker Kabir Khanimmortalises the Indian cricket

team's stunning World Cup victorywith his upcoming '83', starringRanveer Singh as former teamcaptain Kapil Dev. The first lookposter of the film was released

lately and has received massiveresponse. '83' is set to hit the

theatres on April 10

Nomoshkaar! Abhishek Bachchan has begun shooting for his upcom-ing movie 'Bob Biswas'. Produced by Shah Rukh Khan's Red Chillies,

it is a spin-off of Vidya Balan's h it film 'Kahaani'. The characterplayed by Saswata Chatterjee won several hear ts as a poker-faced contract killer. Bachchan Jr shared a picture of the film's

clapboard on his social media, and all we can say is we need “Ekminute...” to process our joy

A government PT Master is put up to test when he is forced todo what he has never done. Teach! 'Chhalaang' makers released

the first poster of their upcoming Rajkummar Rao-starrer. Itreveals a spor ty theme and promises a hilarious journey.

Written by Luv Ranjan, the movie also stars Nushrat Bharuchas the female lead.

Bollywood's Mr Per fectionist hasspoken and we are all ears!

Aamir Khan's 'Laal SinghChaddha' poster has everyonepumped for the upcoming. Anofficial remake of Tom Hanks'

1994 movie 'Forrest Gump', themovie is scheduled to release on

Christmas this year

Heavily bearded, an injured eye,and salt and pepper hair. AkshayKumar's look was revealed in thebrand new poster of his upcoming

'Bachchan Pandey'. The film isrepor tedly loosely based on

Ajith's 2014 Tamil movie 'Veeram'.The new poster comes in a strongcontrast the one posted last year,

featuring a sleek Akshay.

Deepika Padukone, Rishi Kapoor to star in the official Hindi remake of2015 comedy-drama 'The Intern' Padukone will play the role originallyplayed by Anne Hathaway, while Kapoor will follow Rober t De Niro'scharacter. The film will be jointly produced by Mumbai-based Azure

Enter tainment and Warner Bros India

A slap that changed her life. Actress Taapsee Pannu hasdropped the trailer and the first look poster of her new film'Thappad'. A thought-provoking clip shows how a happy-go-lucky

woman's life changed when her husband loses his cool and slapsher in a fit of rage. Yes. Just one slap. Par maar nahi sakta.

Release dates of Ranjit M Tewari's Akshay Kumar star rer spythriller 'Bell Bottom' are out and no, Akki is not clashing with himself.One of the busiest actors of the year, he shuffled the release date of the

movie aver ting a clash with his other project 'Bachchan Pandey'. The movieis not the remake of any film, but an original screenplay inspired

on true events. It is slated to release on January 22, 2021

Biographical drama based on Indian women's cricket teamcaptain Mithali Raj, 'Shabaash Mithu' is set to release on

February 5, 2021. Directed by Rahul Dholakia, it stars TaapseePannu in the lead.

'PRIORITISED SLOWING DOWNAND WORKING ON BUILDING ALIFE FOR MYSELF': ANUSHKA

SHARMA ON TAKING A BREAKIt's been more than a year since we saw Anushka Sharma onthe big screen. The actor's last outing was Aanand L Rai'sZero, in which she was seen alongside Shah Rukh Khan andKatrina Kaif. It was 2018 when Anushka had four releasesnamely Pari, Sanju, Sui Dhaaga and Zero. Now, people havebeen waiting for the actor to announce her new film but sheis busy with her production house Clean Slate Films, herfashion brand Nush and more.During an interaction with Grazia India, Anushka shared aboutbeing working for four films back-to-back. She stated, "I wason autopilot, and it got exhausting. There was a period whenI was shooting two films simultaneously. I made choicesthat weren’t necessarily healthy. I needed to try other things,things that didn’t fit into the schedule that I had found myselfgetting accustomed to for such a long time." She fur thersaid, "There’s never a good time to step away from creativeoppor tunities, but I needed to grow and I needed to challengemyself differently to figure out, I don’t know, a purpose, andlive a little outside of the movie sets and promotional tours,and dresses and heels, and have authentic exchanges withpeople." Anushka also spoke about how she made sure toslow down. She shared, "I also prioritised slowing down andworking on building a life for myself. I worked in a differentcapacity – I tried to create some things, produce some things,build my clothing brand."The actor concluded by saying, "I’m a curious individual. I'mnot eager for acquisition. I don't have a fantasy about arrivingsomewhere. I challenge myself to grow with the experiencesI take on. I always want to do better."


TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 04, 2020b o l l y w o o d

'KABHI EID KABHI DIWALI': SOORAJPANCHOLI, AAYUSH SHARMA, ZAHEER

IQBAL TO STAR IN SALMAN KHAN'S FILM?

In January this year, Salman Khan took to his social media pages andannounced his for thcoming film titled Kabhi Eid Kabhi Diwali. Thesuperstar tweeted the announcement stating, "Announcing my nextfilm... KABHI EID KABHI DIWALI... STORY & PRODUCED BY SAJIDNADIADWALA ... DIRECTED by FARHAD SAMJI... EID 2021 ...#Saj idNadiadwala @NGEMovies @farhad_samji@WardaNadiadwala @SKFilmsOfficial". Apar t from Salman, no othercasting has been announced yet until now.Yes, as per repor ts in Mid Day, Salman is likely to cast his protégésSooraj Pancholi, Aayush Sharma and Zaheer Iqbal in the film. A sourcetold the tabloid, "While Salman leads the show, the film will have anensemble cast. Director Farhad Samji was looking for relatively newfaces for cer tain characters in the action-comedy. When Salman rec-

ommended Sooraj, Zaheer and Aayush for the par ts, Farhad as wellas producer Sajid Nadiadwala agreed that they fit the bill for small butcrucial roles. The trio will be seen as three friends who cross pathswith Salman's character and end up helping him. The Eid 2021 re-lease is expected to roll mid-year."Interestingly, Sooraj made his debut under Salman's home bannerHero in the year 2015, while Aayush forayed into Bollywood withLoveyatri in 2018 and Zaheer entered movies with Notebook releasedlast year.Currently, Salman is busy with the shoot of his upcoming film Radhe:Your Most Wanted Bhai being directed by Prabhu Deva. The film alsostars Disha Patani, Randeep Hooda and Jackie Shroff in pivotal roles.Radhe is hitting the screens during Eid this year.

'Bigg Boss 13': WhenArhaan Khan said that

Devoleena cannot separatehim and Rashami Desai

Rashami Desai was at the peak of her anger for boyfriendArhaan Khan in the 'Bigg Boss 13 house'. She was alsoangry with Himanshi Khurrana, but Rashami seems to beon the verge of breaking up with Arhaan. Rashami's friendDevoleena Bhattacharjee questioned what kind of a manArhaan is, making Rashami rethink her decision. But therewas a time when Arhaan Khan had stated that Devoleenacannot separate them. "I am confident about our relation-ship. Nobody can develop cracks in it. Devoleena cannotseparate us," he told SpotBoye in an interview recently. Arhaanstated that he would maintain the relationship with Rashami Desaieven outside the Bigg Boss 13 house but that appears to be a far-fetched dream cur rently. Salman Khan, in the Weekend Ka Vaar epi-sode, asked Himanshi to talk to Rashami about the message whichArhaan sent through her. Himanshi tried talking, and thenSalman played the tape where Himanshi is seen discuss-ing with Asim Riaz and Vishal Aditya Singh, despite Asim'shesitation, about how Arhaan cried in front of her.Rashami was really upset about the clip being shown, andHimanshi discussing the topic with other people apar t fromher. Devoleena then went on to mention that Arhaan is thekind of person who had not even informed Rashami about hiswedding. Salman, on the other hand, claimed that Arhaan in-formed him Rashami knew about both her wedding and herkid, which made Devoleena shame Arhaan's character.

Aamir Khan shares throw-back pics with father Tahir

Hussain on latter's 10thdeath anniversary

Aamir Khan is currently grabbing headlines for his upcom-ing movie 'Laal Singh Chadha'. The actor has recreatedTom Hanks' looks from 'For rest Gump' for the Hindi re-make. This time around, Aamir is in the news after he postedsome throwback pictures with father Tahir Hussain, on thelatter's 10th death anniversary. In one of the photos, Aamiris seen in his father Tahir Hussain's arms. Apar t from that,Aamir shared a photo of the whole family, with him and hisbrother Faisal Khan in his mother Zeenat Hussain and fa-ther Tahir Hussain's arms. There was also a third picture ofTahir enjoying time with his friends, including ShammiKapoor. Aamir shared the images on Twitter by simply writ-ing, "Remembering my father." As soon as Aamir postedthe pictures, he was declared as a carbon copy of his father.Aamir Khan's 'Laal Singh Chadha' is slated for Christmas 2020 re-lease. The movie was previously going to clash with AkshayKumar's Bachchan Pandey. Af ter Aamir request Akshay andthe team to shift their release date, they all agreed to do so,and thus, Aamir would come solo this Christmas.

Amitabh Bachchan carriesDivyanka Tripathi by her dupatta onsets, Vivek Dahiya calls it 'big deal'

Renowned Television actress Divyanka Tripathi had herfan moment when megastar Amitabh Bachchan held her byher dupatta. In a video shared by Divyanka, AmitabhBachchan carries Divyanka's dupatta while she followshis footsteps. Divyanka and Amitabh Bachchan were re-por tedly shooting for an advertisement for a detergent, whichis when Amitabh walked car r ying Divyanka Tripathi'sdupatta. However, more than Divyanka herself, her hus-band Vivek Dahiya had a moment of fandom as he com-mented, “When it’s #BigB it’s #BigDeal.”Sharing the behind-the-scenes video, Divyanka wrote, “How’d youcaption this? -With #BigB the #LegendOfBigScreen. - Learned a fewmore lessons about #BeingTr ueToYourWork and#BeingAThoroughProfessional! @amitabhbachchan.”

GET OVER HER GRAMMYS' OUTFIT! PRIYANKA CHOPRA'S BLACK-AND-GOLD MIDI DRESS WILL STEAL YOUR HEARTS IN FIRST GLIMPSE

Priyanka Chopra has constantly been hitting headlines for her Grammys 2020gown. However, it is now time to get over it since Priyanka herself has moved on,to Miami, in a black-and-gold midi dress. This dress is sure to steal your heart inthe first glimpse itself!Priyanka opted for Christian Dior attire for her Miami outing, and the netizenscannot help but fall in love with it every time they take a look at her dress. Priyankawore a black dress with matte gold designs on them. The dress had a plungingneckline which she pulled off like a boss! A belt, black stilettos, and gold neckpiececompleted her look.Sharing the image, Priyanka wrote, "Made it to the hear t of Miami to unveil the@StellaAr tois #PortdeStella festival series and having a blast bringing my favor -ite par ty recipe to life! If you’re in town, head to PortdeStella.com to learn how youcan live #TheLifeAr tois and get a taste of European music, style and cuisinethrough February 1."Talking about keeping her Grammys dress in place, Priyanka told US Weekly, "Asmuch as people might think it would be hard to manage, they (designers Ralph andRusso) found this incredible tulle the same colour as my skin tone and sor t of heldthe dress together with that. So you can`t even see it in the pictures but there wasno way it would have happened if they didn`t have that. It was like a netting."

Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Karisma, RandhirKapoor And Tamiur In A Perfect Family Portrait

NEW DELHI:Karisma Kapoor,

who has beenactively sharingpictures from hercousin Armaan's

wedding festivities -from his sangeet tobaaraat, posted abrand new pictureon Tuesday af ter-

noon, which can bedescribed as aperfect familypor trait. The

photograph featuresher father Randhir

Kapoor, sisterKareena, nephew

Tamiur and herbrother-in-law Saif

Ali Khan (who finallymade an appear-ance in a picturefrom the weddingalbum). Karisma

captioned the post:"Family matters"and accompaniedthe post with the

hashtag#weddingtime and

a hear t emoji.



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY


10songsO SAKI SAKI BATLA HOUSE

THE WAKHRA SONG JUDGEMENTAL HAI KYA

KOKA KHANDANI SHAFAKAHANA

BEKHAYALI KABIR SINGH

SHEHER KI LADKI KHANDANI SHAFAKAHANA

TUJHE KITNA CHAHNE LAGE KABIR SINGH

ENNI SONI SAAHO

SLOW MOTION BHARAT

CHASHNI BHARAT

KAISE HUA KABIR SINGH

top

SONG

MIDWEEK HIT OR FLOP

MIDWEEK BOX OFFICE

MISSION MANGAL SUPERHIT

BATLA HOUSE PLUS

JABARIYA JODI FLOP

KHANDAANI SHAFAKHANA FLOP

JUDGEMENTALL HAI KYA AVERAGE

MISSION MANGAL 149.31 CR

BATLA HOUSE 76.57 CR

JABARIYA JODI 14.50 CR

KABIR SINGH 235.72 CR

BHARAT 209.36 CR

URI - THE SURGICAL STRIKE 243.77 CR

FILM

1PSYCHOSAIYAANSAAHO

b o l l y w o o d

'Baaghi 3' new poster: Tiger Shroff asRonnie is set to fight 'his greatest battle'

Tiger Shroff's next release is the third instalment of his Baaghi fran-chise. This Ahmed Khan directorial is titled Baaghi 3 and the shootingfor the same has been happening since last year. In the action flick, ShraddhaKapoor will be seen as the female lead opposite Tiger. Apart from them, Baaghi 3also has Riteish Deshmukh and Ankita Lokhande in pivotal roles. Moreover,Jackie Shroff will be seen as Tiger's onscreen father too.Now, Tiger took to his social media pages and shared the first posterof Baaghi 3. In the poster, a shir tless Tiger is seen standing in front ofa huge tanker and choppers are flying above it. He is holding a longgun and ready for some kickass action. The handsome actor sharedthe poster with a caption stating, "Against his strongest enemy, Hisgreatest battle, Up against a nation, RONNIE is back! #Baaghi3 trailerout on 6th Feb, Thursday. #sajidnadiadwala @ShraddhaKapoor

@Riteishd @WardaNadiadwala @khan_ahmedasas @foxstarhindi@NGEMovies"Israeli actor Jameel Khoury from Leonardo Di Caprio and RussellCrowe starrer Body of Lies, stunt master-turned-actor Ivan Kostadinovand Jaideep Ahlawat will play the lead antagonists against Tiger inBaaghi 3. The antagonists are multi-cultural since Ivan speaks Bul-garian, while Jameel speaks Arabic.Ahmed spoke about it to Mumbai Mirror stating, "Sajid bhai had seenJameel in Fauda (an Israeli series), while I had spotted him in anothershow. We were both talking about him during the casting but didn’tknow it was the same guy as he looked different in both the shows.He is a busy guy. His scenes with Tiger have panned out well, Jameelplays the leader of a terrorist outfit."

Pollution got me I guess: Rishi Kapoor giveshealth update after getting hospitalised in Delhi

On Sunday, it was reported that Rishi Kapoor has been hospitaliseddue to which Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt rushed to Delhi. Repor tsalso suggested that the veteran actor was down with fever due towhich he was taken to the hospital. Moreover, it was also said thatthis happened due to pollution in Delhi. Rishi, Neetu, Ranbir, Alia andRiddhima Kapoor Sahni gave Armaan Jain's wedding festivities amiss which took place over the weekend.While talking to Mumbai Mirror, Rishi told, "I had an infection which Iam getting treated. Nothing dramatic. Pollution got me I guess." Whilethe producer of Sharmaji Namkeen, Honey Trehan told the tabloid, "Imet Rishi sir at the hospital and he is better now. He will be dis-charged soon."

He added, "We have a shoot today, but Rishi sir is not a par t of it. Hewill now be joining the cast and crew in Mumbai next week." Kapoorhas been shooting for the film in Delhi for quite some time now.Meanwhile, amidst getting treated in Delhi, Kapoor had tweeted aboutbudget presented by Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance. Hewrote, "Just had a thought. Respected Union finance Madame NirmalaSitharaman whilst preparing the Indian annual budget must talk atrillion rupees there a trillion rupees here. Billion would be a smalldenominator."Rishi also wrote, "ow does she as housewife deal with local vendorsor dudhwala at the door. Does she haggle? Aat Anna kam karo savarupaya aur kam kar. Strange na? This is life!"

'Jawaani Jaaneman' BoxOffice Repor t Day 2: Saif

Ali Khan's film shows 50%growth on first Saturday

Saif Ali Khan starrer Jawaani Jaaneman is continuing itsdecent run at the box office. The film which also stars debu-tante Alaya F and Tabu in pivotal roles opened on a goodnote with Rs 3 crore approx. While trade analyst TaranAdarsh had tweeted that the film made Rs 3.24 crore on itsopening day.Now the second-day collections of Jawaani Jaaneman are out andas per the trading website, the film made Rs 4.50 crore approx. Thismeans it showed 50% growth than the opening day and we have tosee if it maintains consistency.While Taran tweeted, "#JawaaniJaaneman gathers speedon Day 2... Being patronised by i ts target audience[metros]... Trending much better than #SaifAliKhan’s pre-vious *solo* movies [#Chef, #Kaalakaandi, #Baazaar,#LaalKaptaan]... F ri 3.24 cr, Sat 4.55 cr. Total: ? 7.79 cr.#India biz."Earlier talking about Jawaani Jaaneman's per formance atthe box office, trade analyst Girish Johar told Indian Ex-press, "It is an upmarket commercial enter tainer. Initially,it will attract the youth and audience of metro cities. Then,depending on word of mouth, it can penetrate accordingly."The film is directed by Nitin Kakkar and produced by JackkyBhagnani, Deepshikha Deshmukh, Saif Ali Khan and JayShewakramani. With this flick, Saif and Tabu reunited onthe big screen after two decades as they worked togetherin Hum Saath - Saath Hain (1999).

'OLD FRIENDS ARE BEST FRIENDS!' HRITHIK ROSHAN JOINS PREITYZINTA FOR HER 45TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS IN LOS ANGELES

Preity G Zinta who celebrated her 45th birthday on January 31rang in with her husband Gene Goodenough and close friends inLos Angeles. They were joined by none other than HrithikRoshan, who has been Preity's co-star in several films and isthey are also close friends. Preity and Hrithik took to theirInstagram pages and shared several photos from her bir thdaycelebrations held recently.Hrithik posted a series of photos in which he is seen posing withPreity and also Gene. They are all smiles for selfies and Dugguposted a hear tfelt message for Zinta stating, "Thank you for sucha joyful night, Gene and Pree. Happy bir thday. Was sur realseeing you at the top of your game here in LA. Have a superjaadu year! #bestnight #oldfriendsarethebestfriends#newfriendsmade #loveyou"To which Preity replied, "It was So much fun Love u Loads ..xoxo"She also shared a photo posing with her friends and thankedthem for joining her during bir thday celebrations. She captionedthe post by writing, "Thank you, everyone, for the wonder fulbirthday wishes. I can truly say I’m blessed & humbled by allthe love I receive from my fans, friends & family. Thank you all

for always being there #bestbir thdayever #chillin #lanights#patiparmeshwar #friendsforever #ting"Meanwhile, on the work front, Hrithik had a successful 2019 withtwo hit films including Super 30 and War. While Preity wasrecently seen in an episode of Fresh Off the Boat in which shewas paired opposite Vir Das.

TO ADVERTISE CALL 416-475-5000OR EMAIL [email protected]

'Proud, historic, ecstatic': Virat Kohli lauds Team India'sT20I series whitewash performance against New Zealand

Skipper Virat Kohli has expressed his delight af ter Team Indiaregistered a 7-run win over New Zealand during the fifth T20I atthe Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui on Sunday (January 2).With this win, the Men In Blue registered a complete whitewashagainst the hosts in the five-match series by winning all five ofthem. Af ter India's emphatic series victory, Kohli took to Twitter toelate his side's topnotch performance on away turf."Proud, historic, ecstatic; everything was this moment. #JaiHind,"Kohli's tweet read.Going into Sunday's clash, India decided to rest Kohli in the fifthT20I and Sharma was given the responsibility to lead the side.Batting first, KL scored 45 runs on the day, Sharma - the Men InBlue skipper today in Virat Kohli's absence - smashed 65 runs off41 deliveries before leaving the field retired and did not come outto field later on.

In the absence of Sharma, KL Rahul lead Team India during theirrun-defense.In chase of a target score of 164 runs, New Zealand got off to ashocking star t as they lost three of their top-order batsmen beforethe completion of four overs.However, Tim Seifert and Ross Taylor then formed a par tnershipand steadied the ship for the BlackCaps.Seifer t and Taylor knitted together a 99-run par tnership beforeNavdeep Saini dismissed Seifer t just moments af ter he reachedhis half-century on the day.The Kiwi tailenders also failed to take their side over the line asfaced their fif th successive defeat at home against Team India.India will once again lock horns with New Zealand on February 5 atthe Seddon Park in Hamilton for the first ODI of the three-matchseries next.

‘Tell me where is the fat’: UmarAkmal misbehaves at fitness test,

could face punishmentPakistan’s out-of-favour wicketkeeper Umar Akmal could facedisciplinary action af ter he reportedly asked a trainer “whereis the fat” while exposing himself completely during a fitnesstest. The matter has been repor ted to the Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) and according to an ‘ESPNcricinfo’ repor t, they are fullyaware of the incident that took place at the National CricketAcademy and are looking at potential punishments for bringingthe game into disrepute.The junior Akmal, who is repor ted to have exposed himself infrustration after failing to pass one of the fitness tests, is nowfaced with the prospect of being banned from the country’s nextdomestic tournament.He is said to have asked a staff “bataye charbee kaha hain (tellme where is the fat)”.Fitness has been an issue with the Akmal brothers for severalyears now with Umar falling out with the PCB on the samegrounds during Mickey Ar thur’s time as head coach.This comes at a time when the PCB, under the stewardship offormer captain Misbah-ul-Haq, has pledged its commitment tomaintaining high fitness standards not just in international butalso in domestic cricket.As per Misbah’s instructions, each provincial side is requiredto regulate fitness tests on a quar terly basis.Umar’s elder brother Kamran, who himself skipped two fitnesstests, before failing in nearly all depar tments when he finallydid take one, said the incident at the NCA was simply a “mis-understanding”. Once seen as a bright prospect, Umar scoreda century on Test debut against New Zealand in 2009, and re-mained a regular feature for some years until poor form andfitness led to him being dropped in favour of Sar faraz Ahmed.

India thus maintained their supremacy over Pakistan at the age-group and senior level in ICC tournaments -- both men and women.The ‘Boys in Blue’ have earlier reached the summit clash in 2000(winners), 2006 (runners-up), 2008 (winners), 2012 (winners), 2016(runners-up) and 2018 (winners).The current batch with key players, having already played seniorrepresentative cricket and five with IPL deals in their bag, showedthe difference in skill level and application from their opponents,an aspect that could be attributed to the robust junior cricket struc-ture put in place by none other than Rahul Dravid.Jaiswal literally toyed with the bowling attack, hitting the Paki-stani bowlers towards all par ts of the ground. The youngest Indiandouble centurion in List A cricket finished the game with a six,which also completed his hundred.En route his hundred, pacer Abbas Afridi was effortlessly hit overdeep mid-wicket for a six and then pulled the next one behindsquare for another six.The Pakistan bowling attack was pedestrian at best and didn’thave much answers to the drives that flowed from Yashasvi’sblade. Divyansh’s batting was also pleasing to the eye, playingthe ball late.“We were talking about how we needed to stick at the wicket.

They bowled well initially and we wanted to ride that out and weknew we could dominate them after that,” Jaiswal added.The match as a contest was over in the first half when Pakistanibatsmen had no answer to Tyagi’s pace and Bishnoi’s variations.Pacer Tyagi (2/32 in 8 overs) bowled yorkers at will while leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi (2/46 in 10 overs) was a difficult propositionto read for the Pakistani batsmen after opting to bat.Pakistan skipper Rohail Nazir (62 off 102 balls) and opener HaiderAli (56 off 77 balls) were the only ones to make significant contri-butions as their innings lasted 43.1 overs.While Tyagi’s scorching pace and Bishnoi’s googlies were eye-catching, left-arm spinner Atharva Ankolekar (1/29 in 7 overs),lef t-arm seamer Sushant Mishra (3/28 in 8.1 overs) and par t-timeleg-spinner Yashasvi Jaiswal (1/11 in 3 overs) also kept the rivalbatsmen under check.Tyagi, probably one of the fastest bowlers in India in his age cat-egory, bowled an inswinging yorker wide off the crease to uprootIr fan Khan’s off -stump and then got his second wicket with anintimidating bouncer that removed tail-ender Tahir Hussain.He literally aimed for the base of the stumps with deliveries beau-tifully tailing in, which must have pleased Pakistan coach IjazAhmed, who has seen Waqar bowl a few during his hey days.

UNDER 19 WORLD CUP- INDIA ENTERS FINALAFTER BEATING PAKISTAN BY 10 WICKETS

India managed a clean sweep over New Zealand with a seven-runwin in Mount Maunganui on Sunday, 2 February.The terrific innings got the Indian openers KL Rahul and RohitSharma higher spots in the ICC T20I rankings.The in-form KL Rahul has jumped four spots and has been placedsecond below Pakistan's Babar Azam with 823 points. He justneeds 56 points to lead the Men's T20I Batting rankings.As for the 'Hitman', he too has jumped three positions to enter thetop 10. He is sitting behind Virat Kohli with 662 points.Among bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah has reached the 11th spot in thelist lead by Afghanistan's Rashid Khan. Washington Sundar reachesthe 22nd spot while Yuzvendra Chahal enters the Top 30.In the fifth and final T20I, while chasing 164, the Kiwi top orderMar tin Guptill, Tom Bruce and Colin Munro all fell inside the first 20balls. In need of par tnership, Tim Seifer t and Ross Taylor managedto ship things back in BlackCaps favour but they were soon madeto depar t.Bumrah took 3/12 in his four overs, while Saini's spell of 2/23featured the wickets of both half-centurions.As for India, they had lost Sanju Samson early and Rohit Sharmacame in one down.Rohit smashed the ball in every corner of the field while KL Rahulwas the aggressor in what was to become a brilliant partnership.Rohit went past his fif ty but pulled up with a calf discomfort in the17th over. He retired hur t at 60 off 41 balls. This was his 25th knockof fifty or more in T20Is, which took him past Virat Kohli for therecord. The other Indians who per formed with the bat were ShreyasIyer (33*) and Manish Pandey, who struck a six and a four in thelast over of the innings to take India past 160.

ICC T20 Rankings: Indian openersshine as KL Rahul reaches secondspot, Rohit Sharma enters top 10



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 04, 2020 s p o r t s

NZ vs IND: India defeats New Zealand by 7runs in 5th T20I to complete series whitewash

BCCI provides update on Hardik Pandya's fitnessahead of India's Test series against New Zealand

Team India defeated New Zealand by 7 runs in the fifth and final T20Imatch at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui on Sunday (February 2).With this win, the Men In Blue registered a complete whitewash againstthe hosts in the five-match series by winning all five of them.In chase of a target score of 164 runs, New Zealand got off to a shock-ing star t as they lost three of their top-order batsmen before thecompletion of four overs.Openers Mar tin Guptill and Colin Munro failed to give the home sidea proper star t as Jasprit Bumrah and Washington Sundar sent boththe batsmen back to the dressing room early.Just moments later, Tom Bruce also got run out and returned to thepavilion for a duck.However, Tim Seifer t and Ross Taylor then formed a par tnership andsteadied the ship for the BlackCaps.The Kiwi duo went absolutely mayhem on Shivam Dube and scored34 runs off his over to switch the momentum towards the hosts.Seifer t and Taylor knitted together a 99-run par tnership before NavdeepSaini dismissed Seifer t just moments after he reached his half -cen-tury on the day. The fall of wickets continued after that too as Bumrah

bowled Daryl Mitchell for 2 runs.Shardul Thakur next dismissed Mitchell Santner and Scott Kuggeleijnin the 17th over as India regained control of the match.In the very next over, Saini provided his side with the much-neededwicket of Ross Taylor as the veteran returned to the dugout af terscoring 53 runs.The Kiwi tailenders also failed to take their side over the line as facedtheir fifth successive defeat at home against Team India.Earlier, India hoisted a total of 163/3 from the allotted 20 overs as KLRahul and Rohit Sharma played instrumental knocks yet again.Samson again failed to deliver with the bat for India when he openedthe batting with KL and got dismissed after scoring just 2 runs.While KL scored 45 runs on the day, Sharma - the Men In Blue skippertoday in Virat Kohli's absence - smashed 65 runs before leaving thefield retired hur t from 41 deliveries.Shreyas Iyer (33*) and Manish Pandey (11*) stayed unbeaten in the end totake India to a total of 163 runs.India will once again lock horns with New Zealand on February 5 at the SeddonPark in Hamilton for the first ODI of the three-match series next.

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have provided an updateover Hardik Pandya's injury recovery on Saturday (February 1) aheadof India's Test series opener against New Zealand.The Indian all-rounder was previously ruled out from the limited-overseries and now he has been declared unfit from the two-match Testseries as well.The 26-year-old is set to undergo rehabilitation at the National CricketAcademy (NCA) to get back to full fitness."Pandya travelled to London and was accompanied by NCA HeadPhysio Ashish Kaushik for a review by spinal surgeon Dr JamesAllibone," BCCI's said in a statement.

Pandya underwent successful surgery to treat a lower back issuewhich had got him ruled out of cricket.Hardik last played in the T20I series against South Africa for thenational side.He first sustained the injury during the Asia Cup in UAE last year inSeptember. He recovered and even played in the IPL and the WorldCup, however, the injury resur faced.Team India has gained a 4-0 lead in the five-match T20I series overNew Zealand after another dramatic finish in Wellington.The final T20I clash between these two sides will take place at theBay Oval in Tauranga on February 2.

ICC fines India 40% matchfee for maintaining slowover-rate against New

Zealand in Wellington T20I

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Saturday (February1) has fined Team India 40 percent of their match fee for main-taining a slow over-rate during the four th T20I match inWellington against New Zealand.Chris Broad of the ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees imposedthe sanctions af ter the 'Men In Blue' were two overs short ofthe target after the allowed time.As per Ar ticle 2.22 under the ICC Code of Conduct for Playersand Player Suppor t Personnel, players will be fined 20 per-cent of their match fees for every over their side fails to bowlin the allotted time.Team India defeated New Zealand af ter yet another nail baitingsuper over in the four th T20I match at the Westpac Stadium onFriday. With this win, India has gained a 4-0 lead in the five-match T20I series over the hosts after another dramatic finishin Wellington.In the Super Over, the Kiwis came out and hoisted a targetscore of 14 rubs for India batting first.On the chase, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli boosted the Men InBlue to the score in just five deliveries. KL gave India theperfect start by scoring 10 runs off the first two balls beforelosing his wicket. Kohli, in the end, guided his side to victorywith a thumping boundary.The final T20I clash between these two sides will take place atthe Bay Oval in Tauranga on February 2.

‘Class apart’: Shoaib Akhtar picksIndia’s ‘X-factor’ after series sweep

KL Rahul, who was captaining India in the absence of theinjured Rohit Sharma, gave the ball to Shivam Dube for the10th over. Tim Seifer t and Ross Taylor, who had sussed theconditions by then, decided to go after him and eventually, theover was plundered for 34 runs. New Zealand were back inthe ascendancy and India were under the pump. This is whenRahul turned to Bumrah and Bumrah turned the match around.He gave 6 runs in the 12th over and slowly, India startedapplying pressure again. This took a toll as Tim Seifer t wasdismissed and from 116/3, New Zealand slipped to 133/8 injust 4.3 overs. Bumrah was the star once again as he bowledaccurate yorkers to get rid of Daryl Mitchell and then repeatedthe dose when he knocked over Tim Southee. Navdeep Sainiand Shardul Thakur too responded from the other end andonce again, the hosts surrendered a dominant per formanceand ceded the match to India.Bumrah’s exploits was the main reason why the match changedand as per former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar, the fast bowleris India’s biggest X-factor.“Bumrah is a class act. It took him 2-3 matches to come backto full rhythm. Some bowlers take their time when they comeout from injuries. He took a couple of series but today helooked a class apar t. 3 for 12 was just superb. Bumrah won’tlet you score 25-30 runs in the death overs. Saini and Shardulwere good too but I think Bumrah is the X-factor of the Indianside,” Akhtar said on his Youtube channel.

‘Certain reservations and issuesneed sorting’: BCCI on proposed

4-nation tournamentDays after taking over as the Board of Control for Cricket inIndia (BCCI) President, Sourav Ganguly had announced thatthe BCCI is looking at a 4-nation series every year that wouldinvolve India, England, Australia and another top nation. TheBCCI officials also had meetings with their counterparts in theEnglish and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket Australia(CA). But looks like Ganguly will have to wait before gettingthe ECB and CA’s thumbs up. Speaking to IANS, BCCI sourcesin the know of developments said that the Indian board is yet to getthe complete go-ahead from Cricket Australia as well as the Englishboard with regards to the 4-nation tournament that it wishes to startfrom 2021. “We are looking at the 4-nation series and our officials havealso had a word with the ECB officials in December as well as theCricket Australia officials when they were here in January. But, thereare certain reservations and issues that need sor ting before we cango ahead and enter the next stage of planning. We may need to wait alittle,” the source revealed. The ECB after the December meeting hadissue a statement which said: “We meet regularly with otherleaders from the major cricketing nations to share learningsand discuss topics that impact our spor t. A four-nation tourna-ment was raised at a meeting with the BCCI in December andwe are open to discussions with other ICC members to see ifthis concept can develop.”

‘IF MS DHONI IS THE MERCEDES-VERSION, HE IS THE ALTO-VERSION’: AJAY JADEJA ON INDIA CRICKETER

The Indian cricket team completed a 5-0 whitewash in their recently concludedT20I series against New Zealand and the victory was extra special as this wastheir first T20I series win on Kiwi soil. The series was full of positives for ViratKohli &?Co with the bowlers and the middle order batsmen taking the spotlight.One of the names which shone brightly during the series was Manish Pandeywho redefined his role as a finisher. The experienced batsman is yet to bedismissed in the shor test format since the West Indies tour in August-Septem-ber 2019 and he slammed an unbeaten half century off just 50 deliveries to guide his teamto victory in the four th T20I encounter. Thanks to his performances, he earned praise fromexperts and fans alike with former India cricketers Zaheer Khan and Ajay Jadeja coming upwith a special comparison for the cricketer.“Unhone situation ko bahut ache se samjha hai. Woh apne game ko bahut ache se samajh rahe hain. (He understands the match situations really well. He is alsoaware of his own strengths and weaknesses as of now.),” Zaheer Khan said on Cricbuzz Live.Jadeja said that if MS?Dhoni was ‘Mercedes version’ of a finisher, Pandey is the ‘Alto-version’ which means that he has the same style as the veteran but a slightlyless horsepower. “18th over mein maine unko out hote hue bahut rare dekha hai. Agar Dhoni Mercedes version the, toh yeh Alto-version hain. Style wahi haikhelne ka lekin inka horsepower kam hai (I have hardly seen him get out from the 18th over. If Dhoni is the Mercedes-version, he is the Alto-version. He mightnot have the same horsepower, but has the same playing style like Dhoni),” he said.

delhi’s ‘grand poll tamasha’ set ... - south asian...

Documents