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T welve days after Paksitan- based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) carried out a deadly ter- ror attack in Pulwama killing 44 CRPF men, Indian fighter jets on Tuesday pre-dawn exe- cuted pin-pointed punitive strikes deep inside Pakistan ter- ritory against terror groups’ training camps eliminating around 300 of their cadre. India termed the action as “pre-emptive” and “non-mili- tary” to deter JeM from carry- ing out suicide attacks in the country. It was not clear whether JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar’s brother-in- law Maulana Yusuf Azhar, alias Ustad Ghouri, was killed in the IAF attack. Precision guided ammuni- tion and missiles were used to destroy the JeM’s biggest terror camp in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province (KPK) located at the tri-junction of Pakistan Punjab and KPK. Using air power for the first time since the 1971 war with Pakistan, India conducted “intelligence-led” operation. In fact, the IAF was not allowed to cross the Line of Control (LoC) even at the height of the Kargil war in 1999. The punitive strikes were carried out by at least 12 Mirage-2000 jets at 3.40 am. The terror camp in Balakot is located about 60km as the crow flies from the LoC in Uri in Kashmir, sources said. The actual bombing at the terror camp was over in 90 sec- onds and at least five to six Mirages were in Pakistani ter- ritory for not more than six to seven minutes. The entire operation including the Mirages taking off from various locations close to the LoC to confuse the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) lasted about 20 minutes and all the aircraft landed back safely. The Pakistan Army alleged the strike was futile. “Indian aircraft intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from PAF, they released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage,” said Major General Asif Ghafoor, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), which is the media wing of the Pakistan Army. Sources said at least two Mirages flew in a loop after radars picked them up in order to confuse Pakistani defences. Two other Mirages flying at low level slipped through the radar net and targeted the terror camp, sources said. The Mirages also used elec- tronic warfare to jam the enemy radars to enter Pakistani airspace and deployed the same tactics when PAF scrambled their F-16s near Balakot. Also, some SU-30 MKI, the frontline fighter jets, were deployed close to the LoC to take care of any retaliatory action by the PAF besides air borne early earning commu- nication system aircraft hov- ered in Indian territory to feed real time situation about Pakistani defences to the Mirage formation, they said. At least 1,000 kg of explo- sives were released by the IAF jets to destroy the camp. While the mother base of Mirage-2000s is at Gwalior, more than 1,000 km from Balakot, the jets selected for the mission were shifted to some forward bases in Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab and Haryana shortly before the designated time. Mid-air refuellers pro- vided fuel to the jets to sustain them for long in the air. The Mirages also took off from various airbases to avoid Pakistan intelligence network, they said. Giving details of the strikes and terming them as “non-mil- itary” apparently since the tar- gets were not military, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said here credible intelligence was received that the JeM was plan- ning to carry out other suicide attacks in India after the Pulwama bombing. A fter the IAF successfully carried out the mission to destroy terror camps in Balakot on Tuesday, the Indian defence establishment is on guard to thwart any retaliation from across the border. Officials said the next 48 hours are most crucial as Pakistan might be forced to carry out some action in a “tit for tat” to assuage its domestic audience, which is questioning the lapses in Pakistan defences to detect the fighter jets which penetrated deep inside the country. In the fast evolving sce- nario post Balakot attack, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi took stock of the situation and defence preparedness to meet any challenge from Pakistan. Since India does not have any terrorist camps, Pakistan can resort to airstrike only by targeting military or civilian targets. This could be an open declaration of war, which Islamabad could ill afford given its global isolation and miser- able economic situation. Given that constraint,. Pakistan will try to ramp up pressure all across the 750km Line of Control (LOC) in Jammu & Kashmir and International Border stretching from Jammu to Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat. All these States are now on high alert. The Army is on alert across the LoC as it is the first line of defence there. All the airbases of the IAF are also following the drills to prevent any aerial attack. Reports indicated that many high value targets like fighter jets were shifted to underground hangars to avoid detection by Pakistani satellites. Most of these airbases are in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Jammu & Kashmir, sources said. Also, the IAF has taken all offensive measures to respond in case Pakistan vio- lates Indian airspace from any direction, they said. Continued on Page 4 I ndia on Tuesday reaches out to world powers on its airstrike on the Jaish-e- Mohammed’s (JeM) biggest terror training camp at Balakot in Pakistan and briefed envoy of 12 nations about its “preemptive mea- sure”. Top sources said External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also spoke to her coun- terparts in the US, China, Singapore, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and briefed them on the airstrike on the JeM training camp. In her telephonic conver- sation with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Sushma explained the reasons behind the strike and conveyed that the action was specifically targeted at the JeM camp. She also spoke to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and apprised him of the “non-mil- itary, preemptive airstrikes”, the sources said. Sushma is scheduled to brief the Chinese Foreign Minister and Russian Foreign Minister on Wednesday. Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale and other Secretaries have been briefing separately to foreign envoys, including envoys of the P-5 countries — the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom. Envoys of Sri Lanka, Australia, Maldives, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Turkey and Indonesia were also briefed about the airstrike. Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne also issued a stern warning to Pakistan saying that Pakistan take “urgent and meaningful” action against terrorist groups in its territory, including Jaish- e-Mohammed which has claimed responsibility for the 14 February bombing, and Lashkar-e-Tayyeba.” Churu (Rajasthan): In his first public address after airstrikes on terror camps in Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the country is in safe hands and that he will not let the country down. The PM stressed that noth- ing was above the nation. “Today is a day to pay homage to India’s bravehearts. Today, from the land of Churu, I want to assure the people of the country that the country is in safe hands,” he said at a public rally here. The PM, however, did not make a direct reference to the strikes. Recalling his address at the 2014-Vijay Shankhnad Yuva Sangam, the Prime Minister said today was the day to reiterate the sentiments. P akistan on Tuesday strong- ly rejected India’s claim of targeting terrorist camp in the country and causing heavy casualties even as it vowed to respond “at the time and place of its choosing” and raise the issue at the United Nations and other international forums. At a hurriedly called spe- cial meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) hours after India’s airstrikes inside Pakistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan asked the armed forces and the people of his country to remain prepared for “all eventualities.” “The forum (NSC) strongly rejected Indian claim of targeting an alleged terror- ist camp near Balakot and the claim of heavy casualties. Once again Indian Government has resorted to a self-serving, reckless and fic- titious claim,” said a statement issued after the NSC meeting in Islamabad. The country’s top civil and military brass “concluded that India has committed uncalled for aggression to which Pakistan shall respond at the time and place of its choosing,” it added. It also invited the world media to see the facts on ground and proposed a visit to the site. Citing sources, Geo TV reported that Pakistan will raise the issue of India’s “vio- lation” of the LoC at the United Nations, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and other international forums. T he terrorist training camp in Balakot was targeted by India after intelligence indi- cated that scores of terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and other terror groups had shift- ed there after the Pulwama attack to escape any action by the Indian security forces. Earlier, these fidayeen and fighters were lodged in launch pads close to the Line of Control (LoC) to infiltrate from multiple points in Jammu & Kashmir through South and North of Pir Panjal mountain ranges. Elaborating upon the rea- son for zeroing in on Balakot, located at the junction of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan’s Punjab and Balochistan, officials in the security establishment said this camp is the main centre of JeM and some other terrorist organ- isations. The camp is headed by JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar’s brother-in-law Maulana Yusuf Azhar. However, it is not yet con- firmed if he was present in the camp when the IAF targeted it, sources admitted. Balakot is located in a hill- top forest far away from civil- ian population and military establishments and therefore a “sitting duck target”, for the Indian forces to avoid collater- al damage for punitive action, they said. At least 325 terrorists and 25 to 27 trainers were at the camp when the Indian fighter jets attacked and it was the biggest camp operated by the Pakistan-based JeM which had claimed responsibility for the February 14 suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama that martyred 44 jawans. In fact, JeM chief’s son Abdullah had also under- gone training in militancy at the same camp, they said adding new recruits are imparted training in han- dling weapons. C h i e f Minister Naveen Patnaik hailed the Indian Air Force (IAF) for striking the biggest training camp of the Jaish-e- Mohammed (JeM) in Pakistan, eliminating a very large num- ber of terrorists and their train- ers on Tuesday. Taking to Twitter, Patnaik stated, “Salute the #IndianAirForce for pre-dawn air strikes on terror camps in defence of our Nation. #JaiHind” T he terror “facility at Balakot” that was struck by Mirage fighter jets at 3.30 am on Tuesday was headed by Maulana Yousuf Azhar or Mohammed Salim, the brother- in-law of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar. Maulana Yousuf Azhar is believed to be one of the hijack- ers of Indian Airlines Airbus IC-814 in December 1999, which led to the release of Masood Azhar and two other terrorists by New Delhi in exchange for passengers’ safe- ty after a seven-day crisis. The Balakot camp of JeM was a joint training camp of the Pakistan Army’s terror proxy that also trained some fighters for al-Qaeda and some of the recruits of East Turkistan Islamic Party which is active in the Xinjiang province of China. Many of these fidayeens and recruits are also suspected to have been killed in the deep strike by the Indian Air Force. Yousuf Azhar, who headed the Balakot-based Jaish-e- Mohammad terror camp, is wanted by the CBI in the IC- 814 hijacking case with a pend- ing Interpol red corner notice (RCN) against him since 2000, officials said.

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Twelve days after Paksitan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad

(JeM) carried out a deadly ter-ror attack in Pulwama killing44 CRPF men, Indian fighterjets on Tuesday pre-dawn exe-cuted pin-pointed punitivestrikes deep inside Pakistan ter-ritory against terror groups’training camps eliminatingaround 300 of their cadre.

India termed the action as“pre-emptive” and “non-mili-tary” to deter JeM from carry-ing out suicide attacks in thecountry. It was not clearwhether JeM chief MaulanaMasood Azhar’s brother-in-law Maulana Yusuf Azhar, aliasUstad Ghouri, was killed in theIAF attack.

Precision guided ammuni-tion and missiles were used todestroy the JeM’s biggest terrorcamp in Balakot in KhyberPakhtunkhwa Province (KPK)located at the tri-junction ofPakistan Punjab and KPK.Using air power for the firsttime since the 1971 war withPakistan, India conducted“intelligence-led” operation.In fact, the IAF was not allowedto cross the Line of Control(LoC) even at the height of theKargil war in 1999.

The punitive strikes werecarried out by at least 12Mirage-2000 jets at 3.40 am.The terror camp in Balakot islocated about 60km as thecrow flies from the LoC in Uriin Kashmir, sources said.

The actual bombing at theterror camp was over in 90 sec-onds and at least five to sixMirages were in Pakistani ter-ritory for not more than six toseven minutes. The entireoperation including theMirages taking off from variouslocations close to the LoC toconfuse the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) lasted about 20minutes and all the aircraftlanded back safely.

The Pakistan Armyalleged the strike was futile.“Indian aircraft intrudedfrom Muzafarabad sector.Facing timely and effectiveresponse from PAF, theyreleased payload in hastewhile escaping which fellnear Balakot. No casualties ordamage,” said Major GeneralAsif Ghafoor, DirectorGeneral of Inter-ServicesPublic Relations (ISPR),which is the media wing ofthe Pakistan Army.

Sources said at least twoMirages flew in a loop afterradars picked them up in orderto confuse Pakistani defences.Two other Mirages flying at lowlevel slipped through the radarnet and targeted the terrorcamp, sources said.

The Mirages also used elec-tronic warfare to jam the

enemy radars to enter Pakistaniairspace and deployed the sametactics when PAF scrambledtheir F-16s near Balakot.

Also, some SU-30 MKI, thefrontline fighter jets, weredeployed close to the LoC totake care of any retaliatoryaction by the PAF besides airborne early earning commu-nication system aircraft hov-ered in Indian territory to feedreal time situation aboutPakistani defences to theMirage formation, they said.

At least 1,000 kg of explo-sives were released by the IAFjets to destroy the camp.

While the mother base ofMirage-2000s is at Gwalior,more than 1,000 km fromBalakot, the jets selected for themission were shifted to someforward bases in Jammu &Kashmir, Punjab and Haryanashortly before the designatedtime. Mid-air refuellers pro-vided fuel to the jets to sustainthem for long in the air.

The Mirages also took offfrom various airbases to avoidPakistan intelligence network,they said.

Giving details of the strikesand terming them as “non-mil-itary” apparently since the tar-gets were not military, ForeignSecretary Vijay Gokhale saidhere credible intelligence wasreceived that the JeM was plan-ning to carry out other suicideattacks in India after thePulwama bombing.

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After the IAF successfullycarried out the mission to

destroy terror camps in Balakoton Tuesday, the Indian defenceestablishment is on guard tothwart any retaliation fromacross the border.

Officials said the next 48hours are most crucial asPakistan might be forced tocarry out some action in a “tit for tat” to assuage itsdomestic audience, which isquestioning the lapses inPakistan defences to detect thefighter jets which penetrateddeep inside the country.

In the fast evolving sce-nario post Balakot attack, theCabinet Committee onSecurity (CCS) chaired byPrime Minister Narendra Moditook stock of the situation anddefence preparedness to meetany challenge from Pakistan.

Since India does not haveany terrorist camps, Pakistancan resort to airstrike only bytargeting military or civiliantargets. This could be an open

declaration of war, whichIslamabad could ill afford givenits global isolation and miser-able economic situation. Giventhat constraint,. Pakistan willtry to ramp up pressure allacross the 750km Line ofControl (LOC) in Jammu &Kashmir and InternationalBorder stretching from Jammuto Punjab, Rajasthan andGujarat. All these States arenow on high alert.

The Army is on alert acrossthe LoC as it is the first line ofdefence there. All the airbasesof the IAF are also following thedrills to prevent any aerialattack. Reports indicated thatmany high value targets likefighter jets were shifted tounderground hangars to avoiddetection by Pakistani satellites.

Most of these airbases arein Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan,Gujarat and Jammu & Kashmir,sources said. Also, the IAF hastaken all offensive measures torespond in case Pakistan vio-lates Indian airspace from anydirection, they said.

Continued on Page 4

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India on Tuesday reachesout to world powers on its

airstrike on the Jaish-e-Mohammed’s (JeM) biggestterror training camp atBalakot in Pakistan andbriefed envoy of 12 nationsabout its “preemptive mea-sure”.

Top sources said ExternalAffairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also spoke to her coun-terparts in the US, China,Singapore, Bangladesh andAfghanistan and briefed themon the airstrike on the JeMtraining camp.

In her telephonic conver-sation with US Secretary ofState Mike Pompeo, Sushmaexplained the reasons behind

the strike and conveyed thatthe action was specificallytargeted at the JeM camp. Shealso spoke to Chinese ForeignMinister Wang Yi and apprised him of the “non-mil-itary, preemptive airstrikes”,the sources said. Sushma isscheduled to brief the ChineseForeign Minister and Russian Foreign Minister on Wednesday.

Foreign Secretary VijayGokhale and other Secretarieshave been briefing separatelyto foreign envoys, includingenvoys of the P-5 countries —the United States, Russia,China, France and the UnitedKingdom. Envoys of SriLanka, Australia, Maldives,Afghanistan, Bhutan, Turkeyand Indonesia were alsobriefed about the airstrike.

Australian ForeignMinister Marise Payne alsoissued a stern warning toPakistan saying that Pakistantake “urgent and meaningful”action against terrorist groupsin its territory, including Jaish-e-Mohammed which hasclaimed responsibility for the14 February bombing, andLashkar-e-Tayyeba.”

Churu (Rajasthan): In his firstpublic address after airstrikeson terror camps in Pakistan,Prime Minister Narendra Modion Tuesday said the country isin safe hands and that he willnot let the country down.

The PM stressed that noth-ing was above the nation.“Today is a day to pay homageto India’s bravehearts. Today,from the land of Churu, I wantto assure the people of thecountry that the country is insafe hands,” he said at a publicrally here. The PM, however, didnot make a direct reference tothe strikes.

Recalling his address atthe 2014-Vijay ShankhnadYuva Sangam, the PrimeMinister said today was the dayto reiterate the sentiments.

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Pakistan on Tuesday strong-ly rejected India’s claim of

targeting terrorist camp in thecountry and causing heavycasualties even as it vowed torespond “at the time and placeof its choosing” and raise theissue at the United Nations andother international forums.

At a hurriedly called spe-cial meeting of the NationalSecurity Committee (NSC)hours after India’s airstrikesinside Pakistan, Prime

Minister Imran Khan asked thearmed forces and the people ofhis country to remain preparedfor “all eventualities.”

“The forum (NSC)strongly rejected Indian claimof targeting an alleged terror-ist camp near Balakot and theclaim of heavy casualties.Once again IndianGovernment has resorted to aself-serving, reckless and fic-titious claim,” said a statementissued after the NSC meetingin Islamabad.

The country’s top civil and

military brass “concluded thatIndia has committed uncalledfor aggression to whichPakistan shall respond at thetime and place of its choosing,”it added.

It also invited the worldmedia to see the facts onground and proposed a visit tothe site. Citing sources, GeoTV reported that Pakistan willraise the issue of India’s “vio-lation” of the LoC at the UnitedNations, the Organisation ofIslamic Cooperation and otherinternational forums.

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The terrorist training campin Balakot was targeted by

India after intelligence indi-cated that scores of terrorists ofJaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) andother terror groups had shift-ed there after the Pulwamaattack to escape any action bythe Indian security forces.Earlier, these fidayeen andfighters were lodged in launchpads close to the Line ofControl (LoC) to infiltratefrom multiple points in Jammu & Kashmir throughSouth and North of Pir Panjalmountain ranges.

Elaborating upon the rea-son for zeroing in on Balakot,located at the junction ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK),Pakistan’s Punjab andBalochistan, officials in thesecurity establishment said thiscamp is the main centre of JeM

and some other terrorist organ-isations. The camp is headed byJeM chief Maulana MasoodAzhar’s brother-in-lawMaulana Yusuf Azhar.However, it is not yet con-firmed if he was present in thecamp when the IAF targeted it,sources admitted.

Balakot is located in a hill-top forest far away from civil-ian population and militaryestablishments and therefore a“sitting duck target”, for theIndian forces to avoid collater-al damage for punitive action,they said.

At least 325 terrorists and25 to 27 trainers were at thecamp when the Indian fighterjets attacked and it was thebiggest camp operated by thePakistan-based JeM which hadclaimed responsibility for theFebruary 14 suicide attack ona CRPF convoy in Pulwamathat martyred 44 jawans.

In fact, JeM chief ’s sonAbdullah had also under-gone training in militancy atthe same camp, they saidadding new recruits areimparted training in han-dling weapons.

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Ch i e fM i n i s t e r

N a v e e nPatnaik hailedthe Indian Air Force (IAF) forstriking the biggest trainingcamp of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Pakistan,eliminating a very large num-ber of terrorists and their train-ers on Tuesday.

Taking to Twitter, Patnaikstated, “Salute the#IndianAirForce for pre-dawnair strikes on terror camps indefence of our Nation.#JaiHind”

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The terror “facility at Balakot”that was struck by Mirage

fighter jets at 3.30 am onTuesday was headed byMaulana Yousuf Azhar orMohammed Salim, the brother-in-law of Jaish-e-Mohammedchief Masood Azhar.

Maulana Yousuf Azhar isbelieved to be one of the hijack-ers of Indian Airlines AirbusIC-814 in December 1999,which led to the release ofMasood Azhar and two otherterrorists by New Delhi in

exchange for passengers’ safe-ty after a seven-day crisis.

The Balakot camp of JeMwas a joint training camp ofthe Pakistan Army’s terrorproxy that also trained somefighters for al-Qaeda and someof the recruits of EastTurkistan Islamic Party whichis active in the Xinjiangprovince of China. Many ofthese fidayeens and recruitsare also suspected to havebeen killed in the deep strikeby the Indian Air Force.

Yousuf Azhar, who headedthe Balakot-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camp, iswanted by the CBI in the IC-814 hijacking case with a pend-ing Interpol red corner notice(RCN) against him since 2000,officials said.

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Princess of ParalakhemundiKalyani Devi joined the

Biju Janata Dal (BJD), here onTuesday, ending all specula-tions about her political courseof action.

Along with about 300 sup-porters from theParalakhemundi Assemblyconstituency, the Gajapatidynasty scion met BJD supre-

mo and Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik at his residence.

Kalyani Devi is the daugh-ter of Parala king and two-timeBrahmapur Lok Sabha mem-ber Gopinath Gajapati and hasa brother named DigvijaySingh. An alumnus of theChrist college, Bangalore, shewas earlier residing in Chennai.

According to sources, shehad received an invitation tojoin the BJD earlier.

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The Pradesh CongressCommittee on Tuesday

launched a campaign,“Matadhikar Abhiyan” (Right-to-vote drive), alleging thatnames of many voters are miss-ing from the updated voters’ listpublished for the upcomingLok Sabha elections.

Addressing a Press confer-ence here, PCC vice-presidentAnanta Sethy said the ElectionCommission has released theupdated voters’ list for LokSabha election in which a size-able percentage of voters aremissing. The All IndiaCongress Committee’s researchanalysis wing has identified the

potential households withmissing voters in every boothin the State.

Congress launched the“Matadhikar Abhiyan” throughwhich party workers would goto identified households andhelp missing voters to get reg-istered.

According to the party,58,724 voters are missing inBargarh Parliamentary con-stituency, 71,816 inSundargarh, 61,780 inSamablpur, 47,606 in

Keonjhar, 44,620 inMayurbhanj, 40,594 inBaleswar, 29,078 in Bhadrak,35400 in Jajpur, 42,156 inDhenknal, 61,509 in Bolangir,68,081in Kalahandi, 66,528 inNabarangpur, 61,199 inKandhamal, 47,027 in Cuttack,43,681 in Kendrapada, 45,429in Jagatsinghpur, 56,860 inPuri, 1,51,779 Bhubaneswar,57,189 in Aska, 60,463 inBrahmapur and 94,335 votersare missing in Koraput con-stituency.

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Odisha Governor ProfGaneshi Lal on Tuesday

sent Odisha University ofAgriculture and Technology(OUAT) Vice-ChancellorSurendra Nath Pasupalak onleave with immediate effect.The decision by the Governorwas taken to ensure trans-parency in an inquiry contem-plated against Pasupalak in acorruption case.

Agriculture and Farmers’Empowerment SecretarySaurabh Garg was given addi-tional charge of the OUAT VCin addition to his duties withimmediate effect.

Notably, Governor Lal hadordered a Vigilance probe intothe corruption charges madeagainst Pasupalak onDecember 9, 2018.

The Governor also direct-ed Chief Secretary AdityaPrasad Padhi to submit theinquiry report within six weeks

after the probe by the VigilanceDirectorate into the allega-tions of corruption levelledagainst Pasupalak.

It may be noted that formerOUAT Assistant RegistrarPramod Kumar Jena had filedtwo petitions levelling corrup-tion charges against the VC inrecruitment and manipulationof records of the university forpersonal benefits.

In the letters to Ministerfor Agriculture and OUATPro-Chancellor, Jena hadaccused Pasupalak of misus-ing his position by manipulat-ing records for personal ben-efit, erroneous advertisementin recruitment for KrishiVigyan Kendras (KVKs) ofthe university.

The then AgricultureMinister and OUAT Pro-Chancellor Pradeep Maharathyhad forwarded the petitions tothe Governor for necessaryaction.

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Both the BJP and theCongress have tried to

reach out to other parties,which are dominantly region-al in character. There is animplicit acceptance of the theory of coalition politics.2019 is going to be an electionof numbers, not of ideologies.The only ideological trend fea-sible so far is the attempted pre-election alliance of BSP and SP.

This is having its ramifica-tions in the gathbandhans thatare developing. It has nowtaken the BJP’s tolerance levelto swallow the “chowkidar”expression for Narendra Modicoming from the mouth of ShivSena leaders. Regional bal-ances have been worked outwith the numbers in mind. TheBJP seems in a hurry to con-clude its alliances.

The Congress is more cau-tious after the experience in UP.As we head towards generalelections, there are some mar-ginal changes in the readjust-ments. The likeminded-party-theory has assumed a wider netand more pliable meaning.

It is interesting to scan thechanging political landscapebefore the campaign for the

Lok Sabha gets underway forchanges in the ‘politics of oth-ering’ that has so far definedmost Indian parties. In otherwords, are non-BJP and non-Congress parties adopting aform of Congressism?

The enumeration exerciseby the colonial ethnographicstate since the late 19th centu-ry brought to the fore the pol-itics of ‘numbers’, therebyreshaping the society into thebinary of ‘minority-majority’along caste, religion and ethniclines. By the 1920s, the politi-cal discourse, barring that ofthe Indian National Congress,inhaled the politics of ‘num-bers’. This took various formsunder parties like the All-IndiaMuslim League, the AkhilBharat Hindu Mahasabha, theJustice Party, etc.

By the 1950s, against thebackdrop of the domineeringdiscourse of Congressism,which was a politics without‘othering’, India witnessed theemergence of four dominantpolitical threads: Lohiaite,Ambedkarite, Hindutva andDravidian, championing thefault-lines of caste, religionand ethnicity, thereby practic-ing the politics of ‘numbers andothering’.

The constitution of the‘other’ happened at three levels:First, at the symbolic level,wherein the founding fatherswere pitted against each other;Second, at the societal level,wherein the socioeconomicinterest of one section wasshown as being unaligned withthat of sections signifying the‘other’; and Third, at the polit-ical level, wherein idiom,metaphor, popular slogan andappeal were deliberately sectar-ian, exhibiting a ‘friend-enemy’smile.

It was argued that popularpolitics was about speakingfor different shades of subal-

terns, who constituted themajority, thereby projectingthe politics of ‘numbers andothering’ as necessary to servethe ideals of equality and free-dom. However, this mode ofpolitics infused a great deal ofbitterness in the societal realmby treating the ideals of ‘frater-nity’ as subservient to ‘equali-ty and freedom’.

This threefold manifesta-tion was seen in the politicalculture across India since the1990s in an entrenched man-ner. The popularity of slogansin Uttar Pradesh and Bihar,emanating from Ambedkariteand Lohiaite discourses, whilechampioning an egalitarianquest took recourse to caste-based ‘othering’ that competedwith the religions ‘othering’ ofHindutva. This entrenchmentof ‘othering’ could be seenmost clearly in post-2000 UttarPradesh when the acidic polit-ical rivalry between theBahujan Samaj Party (BSP)and the Samajwadi Party (SP)manifested itself in their gov-ernments’ policies as they pit-ted two social justice icons, RMLohia and BR Ambedkar,against each other. Forinstance, the BSP Governmentby 2012 had brought almost19,000 most backward villagesunder an Ambedkar VillageScheme for special develop-mental funds.

However, when an SPGovernment came to power in2012, it selected another set ofvillages under a new scheme,Ram Manohar Lohia SamagraGram Vikas Yojana, and offi-cially labelled them as ‘Lohiavillages’. The replacing ofAmbedkar by Lohia had anoth-er dimension. While theAmbedkar villages were inhab-ited by significantly large num-bers of Dalits, the Lohia villageshad a majority of non-Dalits,particularly the OBCs. This

three-fold othering had its par-allel in the southern and north-ern States, which was reflectedin the BJP’s slogan ‘Jati-Mati-Veti’ (identity, land andresource) in 2016 during theAssam Assembly elections,privileging ethnic identity, andin the controversy over the sep-arate flag during the Karnatakaelection in 2018.

Besides, going against theideals of fraternity, the fact thatany politics of ‘othering’becomes a politics of exclusionby default underlines the needfor a politics with ‘othering’becomes a politics of exclusionby default underlines the needfor a politics without ‘othering’.Therefore, the question is: CanIndia witness a ‘politics ofnumbers’ (pragmatic electoralcompulsions) that doesn’t nec-essarily metamorphose into a‘politics of othering?Something may be changing.The frequency of ‘othering’ inthe political discourses ofLohiaite, Ambedkarite andDravidian politics is decliningand is now at the most episod-ic. In fact, the tone and tenorof the Mahagathbandhan inUP, particularly regarding theSP (Lohiaite) and the BSP(Ambedkarite), signify thebeginning of a phase of ‘poli-tics without othering’ at thenormative level. In their Pressconferences announcing thegrant alliance, both Mayawatiand Akhilesh Yadav referredoverwhelmingly to class andoccupational identities, andonly a passing reference wasmade to OBC and Dalit iden-tities. In a marked contrast totheir position during theMandal phase of the early1990s, they welcomed the 10%-reservation announced for eco-nomically weaker sections.Whether these shifts indicatethe return of Congressism, amode of politics without any

‘othering’, is yet to be seen, butcertainly it indicates a processwherein the Congress doesnot seem to be the onlyclaimant of the discourse ofCongressism. Rather, more andmore parties which rose on theplank of anti-Congressism areadopting the discourse of ‘non-othering’.

However, there is a radicalcontrast to this emerging trend.While Lohiaite, Ambedkariteand Dravidian politics areembracing the framework of“non-othering”, the Hindutvadiscourse led by the BJP is stillcaught in the old mode of ‘oth-ering’ even though its electoralslogan appears to be all-inclu-sive. In fact, it is the BJP thathas taken the politics of ‘other-ing’ from the old episodic levelto the incessant level. By dintof a disproportionate invest-ment in an army of dedicatedteam pollsters indulging inhair-splitting profiling of theelectorate contingent to pre-existing prejudice, anxiety andaspirations, the party has seam-lessly employed multiplemodes of ‘othering’ simultane-ously to trounce its politicalrivals. The BJP has single-handedly taken the politics of“othering” from the episodic toincessant level wherein theeveryday life of the people issystematically fused with theconstitution of the ‘other’ andits perpetuation. This has takenthe form of communalisationof everyday lives, as reflected inthe instances of cow-vigilan-tism and mob-lynching. At atime when the emerging cen-trality of agrarian issues has ledto the shrinking cultural spacefor privileging religious iden-tity in southern, western, cen-

tral and some parts of north-ern India, the BJP as a compen-satory move is shifting its pol-itics of othering eastward toWest Bengal and NortheasternStates. In essence, this is anattempt to shift the core spacefor communal othering to eastand northeast as seen, forinstance, with the politics overthe Citizenship (Amendment)Bill. This explains why a partythat championed the ethnicsentiment of “Jati-Mati-Veti” inAssam was desperate to passthe Citizenship Bill that privi-leges a religious identity.

A liberal democracyrequires competing and con-testing politics amongst variedsocioeconomic interests.However, the situation is notpermitted to give way or pre-eminence to the “politics ofothering”. The attempt at thespread out effect is to influenceother smaller fragments ofpublic opinion. This results intwo things. One is an apparentlack of concern on the part ofthe larger national party.Second is the identity crisis ofthe respective parties in assert-ing their respective interests.The forthcoming general elec-tions will put many things totest and most of them concernus. But in any case, it is appar-ent that the trends of 2019 aregoing to be different fromwhat history has hithertoserved us.

(The writer, a SeniorAdvocate, is a former All IndiaService officer, a former diplo-mat, a former editor, a formerPresident of Orissa High CourtBar Association and a formerAdvocate General of [email protected])

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Development andEntrepreneurship MinisterDharmendra Pradhan andUnion Agriculture andFarmers’ Welfare MinisterRadhamohan Singh dedicatedthe improved front facade andcirculating area of Cuttack rail-way station at a function heldat the CRRI in Cuttack onTuesday.

They also dedicated thesix-metre-wide foot over-bridges, more passenger facil-ities, including an escalator, andannounced an additional stop-page of the Visakhapatnam-Amritsar-Visakhapatnam

Hirakud Express and the Puri-Ajmer-Puri Express at NarajMarthapur railway station onthis occasion.

The Ministry of Railwayshad sanctioned approximately�10 crore for undertaking thefacilities, which included devel-opment of circulating area,parking spaces, wider approachroads, development of greenspaces, six-metre-wide newFOB across all platforms, pro-vision of escalators/lifts, upgra-dation of waiting rooms, retir-ing rooms, food plazas, waterbooths,and platforms. In orderto improve security, addition-al CCTV cameras and integrat-ed security system have beeninstalled.

Besides, façade improve-ment with monumental light-ing, illuminated fountains andchandeliers in concourse weredone. Thematic painting onapproach road and walls alongthe railway line, developmentof green spaces with large scaletree plantation were done.

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The State Cabinet on Tuesdayapproved a proposal for

inclusion of 10 lakh addition-al small, marginal and landlessfarmers and sharecroppersunder the KALIA scheme.

The Cabinet meeting heldunder the chairmanship ofChief Minister Naveen Patnaikdecided that the additionalagricultural households wouldbe included during the 2018-19to ensure that no eligible ben-eficiary is deprived of theGovernment support.

It was also decided thatKALIA beneficiaries would getassistances to on April 1 for

Kharif Season and September 1for Rabi season so that they canpurchase seeds and otherinputs.

The Cabinet also approvedseveral other proposals. A pro-posal to amend the Wildlife(Protection) (Odisha) Rules,1947 for early payment ofcompensation to the victimsand legal heir of victims inrespect of injuries and humankills by the wildlife wasapproved. The Cabinetapproved that the completionof inquiry will be completedwithin three days and paymentof compensation within a peri-od of 15 days from the date oflodging of the complaint.

A proposal to implementthe Dynamic Assured CareerProgression (DACP) Schemefor Medical Officers of OdishaMedical and Health Services(OMHS) Cadres also receivedthe Cabinet nod.

Now, the medical officerswill get three assured promo-tions that are after seven yearsof services, 14 years of serviceand 21 years of service from thedirect entry level. Such promo-tions under DACP schemewill be made without linkage tovacancies.

The Cabinet gave not to

the restructuring of the OdishaElementary Education ServiceCadre to give more promotion-al opportunities to the teachersand headmasters was approved.The restructuring will provideat least three promotions to thereachers. About 72,563 ele-mentary teachers and head-masters will be benefited.

A proposal to amend theOdisha Fire Prevention andFire Safety Rules, 2017 wasapproved. The existing provi-sion to deposit one-third oftraining frees charged fromtrainees has been deleted. Theexisting provision of time peri-od to issue Fire SafetyCertificate has been reducedfrom 45 days to 18 days.

As per a decision, a pro-posal of framing of OdishaCivil Supplies Service(Recruitment and Condition ofService) Rules, 2019 wasapproved. The Rules will enablesmooth management andfunctioning of the Odisha CivilSupplies Cadre.

The Cabinet also approveda proposal to restructure theOdisha Engineering ServicesCadre to attract meritoriouscandidates to serve in the cadre,to remove stagnation in promo-tion and to enhance productiv-

ity of servicing engineers.A proposal for recruit-

ment of Post GraduateTeachers (PGT) by the OdishaPublic Services Commission(OPSC) for appointment inGovernment HigherSecondary Schools wasapproved.

The Cabinet also approveda proposal for framing of theOdisha Government CollegePhysical Education Teachers(Method of Recrutiment andConditions of Service) Rules,2019 to regulate the recruit-ment and conditions of PETs inGroup-B of the State Cadre.

The Odisha EducationService (School Branch)(Method of Recruitment andConditions of Service) Rules,2019 was introduced. Underthe Rules, it has been decided torestructure the OdishaEducatoin Service (SchoolBranch) with well defined hier-archy.

On the approval of theCabinent, the StateGovernment promulgated theOdisha State Film Policy 2019to create a conducive ecosys-tem for production of films inthe State. The policy will pro-mote quality Odia films andfacilitate film tourism.

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The Board of SecondaryEducation (BSE) on Tuesday

decided to cancel the ongoingMatriculation examinations heldon Monday in at least threeexamination centres, one eachlocated in the districts of Balangir,Dhenkanal and Cuttack, for theexamination was held in thesecentres in most unfair and dis-ruptive manners. The Regularstudents wrote the second lan-guage English paper on Monday.

"Based on the preliminaryreports submitted by the respec-tive District Education Officers(DEOs) and CentreSuperintendents, the BSEExamination Committee hasdecided to cancel the Monday'spaper of all the students writingtheir examinations at these cen-tres," informed BSE President

Jahan Ara Begum. She said thecommittee would take a final callon this after the examinations areover on March 8.

The reports pointed out thatthe students of these centresresorted to mass copying whenguardians and teachers gatheredaround the centres and forceful-ly entered into the examinationhalls and helped the students withbooks and chits to write theanswers. "Although police weredeployed at these centres, theywere outnumbered by the intrud-ers," the BSE President said quot-ing the available reports.

The BSE, however, made itclear that the remaining papersof the examinations would beheld at these centres as per theschedule with adequate policearrangements and promulgatingprohibitory measures underSection 144 of CrPC.

Sources said that since theMonday's examination has beencancelled, the ExaminationCommittee may either "with-hold" the results of these studentsfor malpractice or declare themas "failed" in English.

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After the re-induction ofKusha Apat to the BJD and

appointing Reena Barik as dis-trict unit working president, itwas hoped that the party will bestronger brightening its chanceof winning the ChampuaAssembly seat in the comingelections.

But instead of working unit-edly, the BJD is divided mainlyin two groups. While one group

is led by Apat close to localMinister Badrinarayan Patra ,the other is of Jitu Patnaik , for-mer MLA ( Independent) whohad joined the BJD on the eveof last Assembly polls in 2014.

This has come to light onSunday when two parallelmeetings of BJD were held intwo places just at a 5 km dis-tance. While Reena organiseda meeting of Women group atDeojhar GP under Joda blockbeing attended mainly by thesupporters of Jitu like SanjivPalei , a former PS member andNiranjan Bahidar , another

meeting was held at Chimlaunder Champua block presidedover by district presidentBimbadhar Bishwal and manyothers senior leaders of theparty.

While Apat group claimsthat more than 8,000 peoplehad attended their meetingand only 800 were in the meet-ing of Reena, but the latterdenied it.

Again, another group is ofBijaya Mahakud who claims toenjoy the support ofBimbadhar Kuanar , partyobserver for Keonjhar.

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By a sheer unplanned andsudden chance, Mita had

visited the CardiologyDepartment of the SCB MedicalCollege Hospital on February 8.Courtesy, the initiative of aGood Samaritan Dr NiharRanjan Parida, Mita could havean EKCO test done on her.

The attending senior car-diac physicians, including DrParida, in unison voiced seriousconcerns vis-a-vis her longevi-ty after having gone her overthoroughly and meticulously, ina clinical manner. If Mita wereto breathe her last, what wouldbe the plight of her three-year-old daughter? Aadhaar or thelack of it would dreaded andvenomous card that couldprove to be her death knell!Thus, in such a tragic event, itwould be the Governments,both, at the Centre as well as ofthe State, on whom such anonus lies. Shameful and mur-derous, indeed!

Mita Munda, aged about23, is a deserted tribal womanhailing from a tribal hamlet,namely Kuchilapadi, inHadgada wildlife sanctuary ofBhandaripokhari Block ofBhadrak district. Her octoge-

narian father is insane and hastaken to begging. Further,despite Mita being a landlesstribal, she has been deprived ofher forest rights also.

She had married NarahariMunda of an adjacent village,namely Podasingudi. Narahariwas already married and he hada son when he married Mita.Narahari did not tell Mita abouthis first marriage and Mitawas in the dark. She was severe-ly tortured by all her in-laws,except her father-in-law.

“Narahari and his first wifetried to kill Mita’s 20-day-old

new born baby girl,” Mitaalleged. Mita said, “Fortunately,I saw this attempted horren-dous act and managed to res-cue my infant daughter.”

After her marriage in 2014,at her early age, Mita got a car-diac stroke and was admitted inthe SCB Medical College andHospital in Cuttack. After thatNarahari did not allow Mita tostay there for even a day andseverely tortured her with thehelp of her cousins and aunt.Mita had come over to Cuttackcity along with her daughter.

She started staying in a

roadside shanty alongside theriver Kathajodi, in a slum inclose proximity to the CDAsatellite township.

She had managed to saveher own life and that of herinfant daughter from her hus-band and in-laws. She savedher life with the help of hercousins who are daily wagers inCuttack. Mita managed to ekeout a livelihood by working asa domestic help in a couple ofhouses in the CDA area.

As ill luck would have it,Mita again got a cardiac stroke,in 2018, and was admitted inthe SCB. After having beenduly attended to by cardiac spe-cialists, for quite some time, shewas discharged with prescrip-tions for regular intake of med-ication and now the monthlymedicine cost for her is aroundRs 2,000 every month. It is verydifficult for Mita to affordevery month’s medicine cost.

Post diagnosis and treat-ment, the physicians attendingon her advised that she shouldnot exert herself too much.This resulted in her opting todo less work so as to preventany work that would entailgreat exertion.

She, however, did continueto work in a couple of housesin the CDA to manage her dailyexpenditure and food. After allshe had to earn her livelihood,especially to earn just enoughfor the upkeep of her daughter.With the humanitarian andcompassionate help of theinmates of the houses where

she worked she managed tosurvive. She lamented the fact,“I faced a great deal of prob-lems for my medical treat-ment as I was not entitled toBPL and other Governmentfacilities. I also failed to get theBirth Certificate of my daugh-ter. All the Government offi-cials insisted for my Aadhaarcard. For me it is not possibleto access the remote Panchayatvillage office due to paucity offunds and my abject poverty,”said Mita. “For the Voter IDCard I went to the Cuttack Sub-Collector’s office.

But the official said there wasno need of Voter ID. I duly didthe biometrics test, but after amonth it had been rejected.Again I went to the ChandniChowk Head Post Office andwent through the biometricstest but even that failed. Despitehaving struggled and obtainedcertificates from localCorporator Sebati Majhee andlocal MLA Debasish Samantaray,stating therein that I was adenizen of the slum in CDA,these documents are of no use.Almost one year, for my AadhaarCard, I am still running from pil-lar to post. In order to get myAadhaar Card, I have borrowedmoney, for my conveyance, fromthe inmates of the houses whereI work. Now for the schooladmission of my three year olddaughter is being refused due tolack of birth certificate andAadhaar card,” Mita disclosed.

As of now, Mita is spend-ing approximately Rs 2,000

per month for her medicines.Her health condition necessi-tates regular health check-ups,and as she is in abject penury,she is avoiding periodicalhealth check-ups. Bereft of anAadhaar card, she has no enti-tlement, whatsoever, to any ofthe Government’s healthschemes like Ayushman Bharatand Biju Swasthya KalaynYojana. Though of ‘BPL status’Mita is not entitled to receiveBPL rations as well as otherBPL and tribal facilities.

MLA Samantaray said,“The BJD Government hasplenty of facilities and schemesfor the poor and tribal people’supliftment, especially forwomen like Biju SwasthyaKalayan Yojona and WomenMission Shakti. Personally, Ihave certified for the poor car-diac tribal patient Mita.”

It’s a real pity and a greatshame to learn that a deservingIndian woman is beingdeprived of her legitimaterights to live and survive in thisgreat country, solely because ofnot possessing an Aadhaar. Itis seemingly evident what agreat farce this Aadhaar Cardhas come to be.

Mita’s little 3-year-olddaughter is a bundle of energyand does show a great deal ofpromise. She is a precocious lit-tle girl who, given the oppor-tunity, shall become an achiev-er. But, most unfortunately,her mother’s predicament andsorry state of affairs will clip herwings.

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The Defence Research andDevelopment Organisation

(DRDO) successfully test-firedthe short-range Quick ReactionSurface to Air Missile(QRSAM) from a test facility offthe Odisha coast on Tuesday.

The sleek and highly-mobile air defence system wasfired from a canister mountedon a rotatable truck-basedlaunch unit of the IntegratedTest Range (ITR) at Chandipurin Baleswar district.

The state-of-the-art mis-sile, which can destroy multi-ple targets at a distance of 15km, would supplement themedium-range surface-to-airmissile ‘Akash’.

Developed by the DefenceResearch and DevelopmentLaboratory, the missile can be

used as an anti-sea skimmerfrom a ship against low-flyingattacking missiles.

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The State Government hasagreed to provide required

number of trained SpecialArmed Police (SAP) personnelto the Alliance Air to start flightservices from the JharsugudaAirport, tentatively from thefirst week of March.

The Alliance Air has offeredflight services from the State’ssecond airport, Veer SurendraSai Airport at Jharsuguda.However, it needs around 50specially trained security per-sonnel for deployment in secu-rity area, screening baggage andguarding aircrafts. Sources saidlarge numbers of SAP person-nel have undergone specialisedtraining under the Bureau ofCivil Aviation Security (BCAS),which is attached to theMinistry of Civil Aviation.

The BCAS provides allsorts of specialised training to

security personnel all over thecountry, especially for protec-tion of airports and aircrafts.

Recently, the Alliance Airinformed the State Governmentthat it has been awarded theKolkata-Jharsuguda-Rourkelaand Bhubaneswar-Jharsuguda-Raipur-Kolkata routes under theRCS UDAN. It requested theState Government to providerequired numbers of securityforces so that flight services canbe started from the JharsugudaAirport at the earliest.

Looking at the urgency, theState Government has agreedto provide required numbers ofsecurity forces, said a seniorofficer. Meanwhile, a high-level team of the Alliance Airinspected the facilities at theVSS Airport to begin flightoperations from Jharsugudato Kolkata and Raipur.

Sources said that theAlliance Air authorities havedecided to operate flight ser-vices from Jharsguguda tenta-tively from March first week.Notably, the JharsugudaAirport was flagged off byPrime Minister Narendra Modion September 22, 2018. The AirOdisha operated flights forsome time but stopped servicesa few weeks later. Apart fromthe Alliance Air, the Spice Jetand the IndiGo Airlines havealso agreed to start operations.

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Aproposal for a dream pro-ject of an ultramodern

mini sports complex at the

Gangadhar Meher University(GMU), Sambalpur has beenaccepted by the StateGovernment.

The Higher EducationDepartment has approved theproject and has sanctioned �5crore in the first instance out ofthe total budgeted amount of�14.72 crore. The rest amountwill be sanctioned after thebeginning of the constructionwork.

The project with designprepared by the CPWD hadbeen submitted to the HigherEducation Department forsanction of the same. Theconstruction work will bestarted soon and sanctionedamount of �5 crore will be uti-lized immediately. This minisports complex will be erect-ed at the backside ground ofthe university in front of ladieshostels.

Since the construction ofthe sports complex will beginduring the platinum jubileeyear, the GMU has decided toname it the Platinum

Jubilee Memorial SportsComplex. Further, the HigherEducation Department hassanctioned �1 crore for com-plete overhauling of the elec-trical management and dis-tribution system inside thecampus.

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The Indian Oil CorporationLimited (IOCL)’s oil supply

pipeline, which developed aleakage on February 24 eveningand polluted the nearby Kaudiariver with oil, was finallyrepaired late on Monday night.

Interestingly, the pipelinewas leaked for the 12th time. Itis learnt that the thieves use tech-nical tools and underwaterdrilling to collect oil from thepipeline. It is being discussed inthe public that how the oilmafias know the date and tim-ing of oil supply from oil shipsto oil terminal, which is a 7-kmpipeline.

It is alleged that thievesacquire the information fromIOCL higher officials and secu-rity guards by giving them hugeamount of money and costlygifts. It is being discussed thatsecurity guards were foundabsent each time when thievescollected oil from pipe to theirfishing boat. The matter comesto the fore when oil supply forcebecomes high and thieves fail toblock the drilling point with avalve, causing oil flow to the river.Then only, the security guardsinform the authorities and sub-sequently the leakage point isrepaired.

Why the IOCL authoritiesdon't take a permanent action tocheck oil theft? A nexus betweenoil thieves and IOCL officials andsecurity staffs can’t be ruled out,said many.

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Three persons of a family,including a couple, were

killed by unidentified miscre-ants on suspicion of practisingwitchcraft at Ukkamba villageunder Ramanguda block inRayagada district on Tuesday.

Sources said the three fam-ily members, whose identitieswere yet to be known, had beenmissing since February 23.

Though the exact reasonbehind the deaths was yet to beascertained, it was suspectedthat the miscreants killed thethree and later set the bodiesafire to eliminate evidence.

Meanwhile, a police teamheaded by Rayagada SDPORajkishore Dash along with ascientific team reached thespot and began an investigationinto the incident.

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The Eastern India OilRefinery Workers’ Union

(EIORWU) is all set to organ-ise a mega blood donationcamp here on March 1 and 2 aspart of Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik's dream programme of‘Jeevan Bindu’ for augmentationof collection of blood for thebenefit of the needy patients.

Paradip’s leading tradeunion leader and EIORWUpresident Santosh KumarPattnaik, who is organisingthe Jeevan Bindu programme

for fourth time, inspected thearrangements and infrastruc-ture of the blood donationcamp along with a four-mem-ber team on Tuesday. Thearrangements include a park-ing place, food stalls and a restshed for blood donors.

As many as 300 medicalteams from different parts ofthe State would join the blooddonation camp this time.Santosh Pattnaik has soughthelp from the State JeevanBindu committee for success ofthe camp.

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Heavy rush among the tick-et seekers for the Indian

National Congress (INC) waswitnessed in the SambalpurCongress Bhawan here onTuesday as the selectionprocess for western Odishadistricts started.

The ticket seekers forSambalpur, Bargarh andSundargarh Lok Sabha andAssembly seats under themappeared before the AICCobserver and MLA fromGujarat Nausad Solanki andsubmitted their bio-data.Senior Congress leader AryaKumar Gyanendra and partysecretary Akash Bhuyan assist-ed him.

According to party sources,90 aspirants have applied forthree Lok Sabha and 21Assembly segments of the threeParliament seats.

Prominent among themare both the daughters of formerChief Minister HemanandaBiswal. Among others, MLA DrPrafulla Majhi has applied forhis old Talsara constituency in

Sundargarh district.The screen committee will

meet the aspirants of BolangirLok Sabhas seat on Wednesday.

For Sambalpur Lok Sabhasseat former MP AmarnathPradhan, former MLA andpresident of the SambalpurDistrict Congress CommitteeAswini Guru, Dr SaratGountia, Rajkishore Pradhan,Satendra Bohidar, Durga Padhiand Pranati Patnaik are amongin the race while for BargarhLok Sabha former MP SanjoyBhoi, Hamid Hussain, formerMinister Kishore Patel, RabiPanda , Govind Agrawalla andRajesh Mohapatra haveappeared for the selection.

Solanki said he would sub-mit his report to the AICC pres-ident Rahul Gandhi for finalselection and announcement.Winning prospect and loyaltyto the party will be main crite-ria for the selection, he said.

Tension prevailed in frontof the DCC office as support-ers of two ticket seekers shout-ed slogans against each otherquestioning their loyalty to theparty.

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Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik inaugurated 3,000

Puja Sthalis (holy altars) and400 Tribal Culture Clubs innine tribals-dominated dis-tricts through videoconferenc-ing from the State Secretariathere on Tuesday.

On the occasion, Patnaikfelicitated tribal artists of ninecouncils and said, “Tribal cul-ture and tradition is our prideand its development andpreservation is our duty.”

He said the SpecialDevelopment Councils formedin the nine districts are doinga good job to safeguard tribalculture and tradition.

Patnaik further said 25,000tribal artists have been pro-

vided with Artisan Cards.Notably, in March 2018,

Special Development Councilwere formed in nine tribaldominated districts. The coun-cils are working to safeguardand spread tribal language andculture.

Development of altars andformation of culture clubs,supply of musical instruments,presentation of citations, pro-viding sports equipment andsetting of museums are beingdone through the councils.

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The National AluminiumCompany Limited (Nalco)

bagged the Swachh BharatAward during the NationalSwachhata Summit 2019 beingheld in New Delhi recently. Theaward was conferred for sani-tation-infrastructure buildingand school sanitation initia-tives.

The Nalco has constructed479 toilets in Odisha andAndhra Pradesh, resulting inenrolment and attendanceenhancement of students inrural and tribal area schools. Ithas now taken up the project tomake the remote villages of

Damanjodi and Angul opendefecation free.

On the occasion, NalcoCMD Dr Tapan Kumar Chandwas also conferred with theCSR Leadership Award inrecognition of his initiatives tomake CSR a part of the organ-isational culture of the Nalco.

Besides, JharkhandGovernor Droupadi Murmuconferred the OdisharaBaraputra (Business Leadership)Award on Dr Chand during afunction of ‘Ama UtkarshOdisha’ held in Mumbai onFebruary 23 and 24.

The award was conferredon Dr Chand for promotingheritage, industrial excellenceand cultural glory of Odishaand spreading Odia brother-hood through exemplary workin the field of industry andbusiness.

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Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik laid foundation-

stone for a state-of-the-arthigh-performance centre forbadminton at the KalingaStadium here on Monday.

Christened as “DalmiaBharat Gopichand BadmintonAcademy” and being built withsupport from Dalmia Cement(Bharat) Ltd. (DCBL), theacademy would be equippedwith 10 badminton courts, agymnasium, boarding andlodging facilities for players,coaches and support staffs.

The international-standardacademy would impart higherlevel of coaching and trainingwith the help of world-classcoaches and sports professionals.It would provide advanced sportsamenities to support and encour-

age the sportspersons to achieveexcellence in international arena.The construction of the acade-my would be completed in ayear’s time, said DCBL sources.

As per an MoU with theState’s Department of Sports &Youth Services (DSYS), the PullelaGopichand BadmintonFoundation (PGBF) and theDalmia Cement (Bharat) Ltdhave agreed to collaborate underthe name of Dalmia BharatGopichand Badminton Academy.

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The Bhubaneswar MunicipalCorporation (BMC) has

formed a BhubaneswarInvestment Promotion andFacilitation Cell headed by theBMC Commissioner to facili-tate primary support for allinvestment-related queries,handholding and liaison ser-vices to investors in the city.

Additional CommissionerSuratha Chandra Mallickwould act as the Nodal Officerfor investment promotion,Deputy Commissioners

Srimanta Mishra and PrabirKhilar would act as NodalOfficer for investor facilita-tion and ease of doing business,respectively, informed an offi-cial release.

The cell would act as afacilitation support centre forhandholding and supportingthe budding entrepreneurs andthe startups in city. It wouldalso work closely with IPI-COL and BSCL and other Stateagencies, departments and cityagencies to improve the invest-

ment climate in the city andmake city a competitive andattractive investment destina-tion.

The BMC would alsoextent the support of its projectmanagement unit (PMU) tothe cell to enable it to carry outits functions efficiently andeffectively. Recently, the BMChas further streamlined proce-dures for granting buildingplan approval by implementingthe Online Building PlanApproval System.

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The BJP on Tuesday allegedthat the State Government

has asked corrupt mining andchit fund companies andpaddy millers to distribute

5,000 mobile phones amongBiju Yuva Vahini volunteers ineach block ahead of elec-tions.

“The Governemnt offi-cers are monitoring distribu-tion of mobile phones as aGovernment programme.Interestingly, no tender hasbeen invited for distributionof mobile phones. It has beenplanned to purchase 20 lakhmobile phones at Rs 750 crore.It is not understood why ahuge number of mobiles arebeing purchased and distrib-uted without a Governmentprogramme,” the partyalleged.

A BJP team led by SameerMohanty met EnforcementDirectorate and Income TaxCommissioner and discussedabout the issue and demandedaction against the StateGovernment, Biju Yuva Vahiniand concerned companies.

Among others, Statespokesperson Dillip Mohanty,Yuva Morcha State presidentTankadhar Tripathy, YuvaMorcha national vice presidentThakur Ranjit Dash, executivemembers Pratap Mishra, dis-trict president HarekrushnaKhuntia, Rajesh Patnaik,Arabinda Das and HiteshMohapatra were present.

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Manju Munda of Sialijodavillage under Joda block

of Keonjhar district hasbrought glory for Odisha aswell as India by bagging Goldin the Moscow Wushu Stars-2019 Championship held inMoscow. She defeated herRussian counterpart in thefinal to snatch the yellow metalin 42-kg category.

Manju was the only playerfrom Odisha in the 28-memberIndian squad accompanied byPankaj Mahanta and three oth-ers as coaches. Currently pur-suing her Intermediate at theJoda Women’s College, Manjuhas 20 medals in her kitty so far

including 12 gold medals.Congratulating Manju,

JSPL Foundation co-chairper-son Shallu Jindal said, “Barbilregion is fast emerging as abreeding ground for martial arttalents.”

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Atwo-day workshop on‘Translating creative liter-

ature, achievements and chal-lenges’ in the GMU campusbegan here on Monday. In theinaugural session, VC ProfAtanu Kumar Pati presidedover the meeting in which thechief guest was Dr PrabhatKumar Tripathy from Raigarh.

Dr Tripathy is a retiredprofessor of Hindi and arenowned poet who is a recip-ient of the Kendriya SahityaAkademi Award for the year2018 for translation work.

The other resource personspresent were Dr ShankarlalPurohit and Radhu Mishra.

Dr Sadan Kumar Paul,Head of the School of Hindi,introduced the guests and speltout the objectives of the work-

shop. Dr Jyoti Mishra of theSchool of Hindi coordinated.Deputy Registrar Uma CharanPati also spoke on the occasion.

In the technical sessions,the resource persons were DrShankarla

Purohit, Radhu Mishra,Dr Muralilal Sharma, Dr JMKhan from BJB College, DrKamal Prabha Kapani fromPanchayat College, Bargarhand Dr Kuna Panda from theRamadevi Women's University.

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Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik on Tuesday dedi-

cated a water project withcapacity of 19.50 million litrefor Bargarh Municipality”through videoconferencing atthe State Secretariat here.

The newly-launched pro-ject would cater to the needs ofthe Bargarh Municipality forthe next 15 years and will ben-efit around 1.10 lakh people.

The new project whichcomes under StateGovernment’s Buxi Jagabandhuassured drinking water to allhabitation’ (Basudha) schemehas been named asAugmentation of Water Supplyto Bargarh Municipality.

With the completion ofthis project, the total water sup-

ply capacity has been enhancedfrom the existing 4.5 millionlitre to 19.50 million litre. Thiswill meet the future demand forwater supply for the next 15years. Moreover, the rate ofwater supply which was initiallyat 49 lpcd now enhanced to 135Ipcd.

The project cost is 37.23crores consisting of a 15 MLDwater treatment plant, 12.80km of raw water pipeline and67.44 km of a distribution sys-tem, four elevated service reser-voirs having a capacity of 4.15ML and four ground level ser-vice reservoirs having a capac-ity 1.85 ML.

Among others, UrbanDevelopment MinisterNiranjan Pujari, Rajya SabhaMP Prasanna Acharya, LokSabha MP Prabhat Singh andMLA Debesh Mishra, theDevelopment Commissionerand other senior officials werealso present.

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The Nabkisan Limited, asubsidiary of the Nabard,

on Tuesday signed an MoUwith the Agriculture andFarmers’ EmpowermentDepartment for access to cred-it by the farmers’ producerorganisations (FPOs) of theState.

The MoU was signed byHorticulture Director Dr BijayKetan Upadhyay and NabkisanLtd CEO Neeraj Verma in thepresence of Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik for providingaccess to collateral free loanfacilities by the FPOs fromfinancial institutions.

The MoU encompassescreation of a separate CreditGuarantee Fund (CGF) to thetune of Rs 10 crore by the StateGovernment which would beadministered by the NabkisanLtd and pave the way to providecollateral free loans by thefinancial institutions of theState to the FPOs functioningin the State.

As per the MoU, the loansgiven by the public sector banksand Nabkisan to the FPOswould be guaranteed underthe CGF. The Chief Ministerexpressed confidence that theMoU would be implemented inletter and spirit and the farmermembers of the FPOs would beable to benefit from unhinderedcredit flow for their agricultur-al operations.

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The St Xaviers High School,Patia celebrated its second

annual sports day at the KIITfootball ground here onMonday with the energeticperformed of students in var-ious events like flat race, mathrace, hopping race and lemon-spoon.

School director Dr PrabhuCharan Mohanty inauguratedthe event and hosted the sportsflag in presence of PrincipalNicola Harry, Dr CharlesLakra, Asha TR and cine artistBijay Kumar Badajena.

During the valedictory ses-sion, former Finance MinisterPanchanan Kanoongo, IIPM

corporate head SamyakMohanty and Barada Mohantyattended as guests. On the

occasion, the annual report ofthe school was presented by thePrincipal.

Later the winners of dif-ferent sports events were givenaway medals and trophies.Senior student Gabriel Harrywas awarded best footballeraward and also got best acad-emic student award along withthe cash prize of worth Rs 10,000.

Ashirbad Behera andMrityunjay Tripathy wereawarded with cricketer of theyear award. An enthrallingdance performance was alsopresented by the students.

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The All Odisha DomesticLabour Association has

demanded that the StateGovernment provide all sup-ports to domestic labourers andensure that trafficking of suchworkers to outside the State bestopped fully.

A nine-member represen-tative team led by presidentPratap Sahu and vice-presidentPravati Pani submitted a 14-point charter of demand toFinance Minister ShashiBhushan Behera and discussedwith him regarding plights ofdomestic labouers. They toldthe Minister that about 10lakh domestic labourers arenow working in private hous-es across the State.

They demanded that a

Domestic Labour WelfareBoard be constituted soon forenrolment of domestic labour-ers and they should be issuedidentity cards and houses nearworkplaces. Besides, theyshould be ensured work for 365days and provided with cycles,umbrellas and rain and winterclothes. They also sought mon-etary support for marriage of

their daughters and free edu-cation for their children.

Among others,Labanyarekah Rout, ShantiNayak, Soni Sharma, SushantiPatta, Nurjahani Bibi,Hemdenra Biswal and SKAbdullah met the Minister.The Minister assured to take uptheir demands with the ChiefMinister soon.

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Union Agriculture andFarmers’ Welfare minister

Radha Mohan Singh once againon Tuesday urged the OdishaGovernment to share with theCentre the list of all the 32 lakhfarmers of the State so that thesefarmers are benefitted under thevarious welfare schemes run bythe Union Government.

Speaking to the media afterinaugurating a Kissan Mela at theNational Rice Research Institutehere, Singh said at least 12 lakhfarmers of Odisha are eligible to

be benefitted under the Center’scash-transfer scheme of PradhanMantri Kisan Samman Nidhi(PM-KISAN). “But the StateGovernment has provided a list ofonly eight lakh farmers under thiscategory and there is no infor-mation about the remaining farm-ers. If the bank details of the farm-ers are not shared with the Centre,how can they be benefitted underthe welfare schemes,” Singh rued.

Union Petroleum MinisterDharmendra Pradhan, whojoined the programme as a guestof honour, also came down heav-ily on the Naveen Patnaik

Government alleging that land-less farmers and share croppersin the State are deprived of sev-eral welfare schemes run forthem by the Centre. “Because theState Government has not beenable to prepare the list of landlessand share croppers till date, lakhsof such poor people of Odisha aredeprived of cash-transfer benefitsunder NREGS and other welfareschemes,” Pradhan said. At least3,000 farmers from variousparts of the country attendedthe Kisan Mela, which was alsoattended by ICAR DG DrTrilochan Mohapatra.

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The Vigilance police onTuesday caught Nuapada

DSP Rabindra Sethi red-handed while accepting abribe of Rs 5, 000 to settle acase.

Acting on a complaintagainst DSP Sethi, Vigilancesleuths laid a trap and caughtthe officer red-handed whileaccepting a bribe of Rs 5,000.Sethi had demanded the grat-ification from a person forsettlement of a case in hisfavour.

Besides, the Vigilance offi-cials have also launched simul-taneous raids at Sethi’s parentalhouse at Kujang inJagatsinghpur district and hisGovernment quarter and officein Nuapada.

A case has been registeredagainst the accused DSP underrelevant Sections of the IPC.

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The Centre on Tuesdaybriefed all the political par-

ties over the pre-dawn strike bythe Indian Air Force on terrorcamps deep across the Line ofControl (LoC) following whichthe leaders cutting across partylines congratulated the IAF onits operation targeting terror-ist camp in Pakistan.

The Congress said that itwill support security forces intheir endeavour to finish ter-rorism coming into India fromoutside. Earlier, Congress pres-ident Rahul Gandhi too hadtweeted, “I salute the pilots ofthe IAF.”

After the Government’sbriefing, Congress leaderGhulam Nabi Azad said theopposition parties extended“full support” to the govern-ment and security forces in thefight against terror.

External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj briefed theleaders, who included CPI(M)’sSitaram Yechury, TMC’s DerekO’Brian, Omar Abdullah ofNational Conference andBhartruhari Mahtab from BJD,on the air strike carried out inthe early hours. NCP’s PrafulPatel, BSP’s Satish Mishra andBJP ally Ramdas Athawale alsoattended the meeting.

Union Ministers RajnathSingh and Arun Jaitley, bothmembers of the CabinetCommittee on Security likeSwaraj, were also present. Swarajalso briefed the opposition lead-ers about her telephonic con-versation with US Secretary ofState Michael Pompeo over theIndian air strikes on JeM terrorcamps in Balakot.

Azad while talking tomedia after the meeting saidthat political parties laudedthe IAF strikes to destroy ter-ror camps in a “clean” operationas there were no civilian casu-alties. “We will support oursecurity forces in their endeav-our to finish terrorism cominginto Indian from outside. Thegood part was that it was a very

clean operation,” he said. “We have appreciated the

efforts by the forces, theyalways have our support to endterrorism. Another good thingis that it was a clean operationin which no civilian died andterror camps were specificallytargeted,” said Azad.

Swaraj said, “I am happythat all parties in one voice

praised the security forces andsupported the Government’santi-terror operations.” In thelast all-party meeting also, con-vened in the wake of Pulwamaattack, the opposition partieshad said they backed the gov-ernment calling upon to take allnecessary action in the after-math of the terror attack killingat least 40 CRPF soldiers.

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Despite his public appear-ances throughout the day

on Tuesday, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi only madeindirect references to the aer-ial surgical strikes by the IndianAir Force (IAF) against the JeMin Pakistan — first at an eventat Rashtrapati Bhawan, then athis rally in Churu and later atan event at ISKCON here.

Early in the day, he soughtan apology from the audienceat the Rashtrapati Bhawan forbeing late as he was “busy” with“some other work”. He hadchaired a meeting of theCabinet Committee onSecurity at his official residencearound 10.00 am before rush-ing to the Rashtrapati Bhawan,where President Ram NathKovind conferred the GandhiPeace Prize for 2015-2018.

The event at theRashtrapati Bhawan was tobegin at 11.00 am, but starteda little late.

“First of all, my apologiesor being late. The programmestarted late as I reached here(Darbar Hall of RashtrapatiBhawan) late. I was busy insome other work and I waslate,” he said while addressingthe gathering.

During the day at a rally inChuru in Rajasthan, the PrimeMinister again made an indi-rect reference to the actionacross the border by the IndianAir Force.

“Today is a day to payhomage to India’s bravehearts.Today, from the land of Churu,I want to assure the people ofthe country that the country isin safe hands,” he said.

The Prime Minister beganthe address by asking the peo-ple to raise slogans of ‘BharatMata ki Jai’ and said he under-stood very well the sentiment,excitement and enthusiasm ofthe people present here.

Later in the day, at Delhi’sISKCON temple, he said,“Manavta ke dushmano sedharti ko bachane ke liye prab-hu ki shakti humare saathhamesha rehti hai. Yahisandesh hum poori pra-maanikta ke saath dusht aat-mayon, asuro ko dene kaprayaas kar rahe hain.”

New Delhi: Sending out a hugemessage to Pakistan, BJP presi-dent Amit Shah on Tuesday saidsurgical strikes after Uri and nowair strikes in self-defence, bothhave given the message to theworld that for the security of thecountry, India’s soldiers andGovernment can go to anyextent. “Pure desh ko sukoondene wala samachaar aaj subahhi aya hai, ye maang pure deshbhar ki samvedna thi ki aisikaryawahi honi chahiye kidobara Pulwama jaisi ghatnakarne se pehle dus baar sochnapade.(The news that providedrelief to the entire nation wasdelivered this morning. It wasthe appeal of the entire nationthat a befitting reply must begiven, so that anyone shouldthink twice before carrying outan attack such as Pulwama),”Shah said at a public rally inGhazipur.

Earlier, Shah congratulatedthe Indian Air Force (IAF)’steam which carried out theairstrike across the Line ofControl (LoC). “I congratulateand salute the bravery and val-our of our armed forces. Today’saction further demonstratesthat India is safe and secureunder the strong and decisiveleadership of PM NarendraModi,” Shah said on Twitter.

Union minister Prakash

Javadekar was the first promi-nent voice from the governmentto react on the strike. “This wasa necessary step for the securi-ty forces. The entire country isbacking the forces now”.

The BJP president said“New India” under the primeleadership of Narendra Modi“will not spare any acts of ter-ror, their perpetrators andpatrons.” Today’s strong actionshows the will and resolve of aNew India. Our New India willnot spare any acts of terror andtheir perpetrators and patrons,”Shah said.

BJP general secretary RamMadhav also lauded both thepolitical leadership as well asthe forces for the operation.“Every Indian who had d (the)pain n (and) anguish of d (the)martyrdom of our forces isgreatly relieved and delightedthis morning. Salute to d (the)Air Force for a meticulousoperation. Our forces r (are)world class anyway. It is dpolitical will of our PM n(and) team that made all d (the)difference,” he tweeted.

Former Madhya Pradeshchief minister Shivraj SinghChouhan hailed the air strikeby the Indian armed forces onterror launch pads in Pakistan.Chouhan, said, “The drive toeliminate terrorism has begun.

Anybody with ill intentionagainst India will meet thesame fate as the Jaish terrorists”.

Union Minister GajendraShekhawat was also quick topost his reaction. His tweet wasmore political. “This is Modi’sHindustan, it will not onlyenter your house but will strikeat you (Ye Modi ka Hindustanhai, ghar mein ghusega bhi aurmarega bhi). Air Force carriedout aerial strike early morningtoday at terror camps across theLoC and Completely destroyedit …every drop of blood will beaccounted for. This is just abeginning…. will not let thecountry down (Ek ek katrakhoon ka hisab hoga. Yeh tohek shuruat hai, ye desh nahijhukne dunga),” he tweeted.

Minister of State forExternal Affairs VK Singhtweeted saying that India willretaliate ‘harder and stronger’every time it gets attacked.

In the MaharashtraAssembly, Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis passed anunanimous resolution con-gratulating the IAF for carry-ing out the air strike on terrorlaunch pads in Pakistan. For itspart, the Haryana Assemblycongratulated Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and the armedforces for the “surgical strike”across the Line of Control.PNS

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Defence experts on Tuesdayhailed the IAF’s pre-dawn

air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed’s terror camp inPakistan with some saying “themessage had been communi-cated strongly”, while a formerAir Chief said India needs to beon guard as Pakistan mightreact soon.

The operation drew reac-tions from various defenceexperts including retired officersin the armed forces.

Former military secretary LtGen (retd) Syed Ata Hasnaintermed the operation “an appro-priate response (delivered) witha sense of proportionality”.

It was a nonmilitary, pre-emptive strike and “we havegone deep”, so no scope fordenial from Pakistan side, hesaid.

“We have only targeted aterror camp. No civilian area ormilitary installation weretouched by us. Also, our mea-sure is such that onus of esca-lation will now be on thePakistani side,” he told PTI.

“Besides, the internationalcommunity will continue tostand by us for the same reasonand the traction gained formdiplomatic and other means willcontinue to have impact,” said

the former general officer com-manding for the 15 and the 21Corps.

Lt Gen (retd) Ajai Singh,former colonel of the PoonaHorse, an over 200-year-oldregiment, had mixed feelingsabout the air strike.

“It is like a double-edgedsword. While the action hasaroused our nation and fostereda sense of patriotism, by thisstrike, we have alerted Pakistan,”he told PTI.

The 84-year-old veteransaid, he has participated in1962, 1965 and 1971 wars.

“The message has been sentto them, but we have alertedPakistan, and now they will getcautious,” he said, adding, “Weneed a master plan to handle thesituation.”

Former IAF chief, Air ChiefMarshal (retd) S Krishnaswamycomplimented the governmentfor taking the stand, but cau-tioned there might be “reaction”from the Pakistani side.

“It is a natural to have areaction (from Pakistan). I’ll besurprised if Pakistan doesn’treact in the next 48 hours...Theycannot resist certain temptationof a tit-for-tat,” he said.

The former chief of air staffalso said that there is “nothingcalled absolute safety, and weneed to be on guard”.

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Within hours of confirma-tion of an Indian aerial

surgical strike inside Pakistan,microblogging site Twitterturned into a virtual battlefieldwith both Indians andPakistanis taking on each otherusing memes, Bollywood ref-erences wit and humour andeven some serious tongue lash-ing. It was the Indians, howev-er, who fired thicker and faster.

In no time, hashtags like#surgicalstrike2, #indias-trikespakistan, #indiastrikes-back were topping the trendinglist. Memes, videos and one-liners came thick and fast.

One of the most populartweets from India was atweaked version of a dialoguefrom the Bollywood film “Uri:The Surgical Strike”. “How’s theJaish?/Dead Sir,” several twitterusers wrote and many othersretweeted. The oft-quoted dia-logue from the hit film is,“How’s the josh? High Sir.”

A tweet by PakistanDefence posted Tuesday mid-night -- “Sleep tight becausePAF is awake.#PakistanZindabad” -- alsobecame the butt of jokes forIndia’s twitterati.

“PAF: Sleep tight because

PAF is awake. Reply from IAF:3:30am, Jaag ke kya ukhaadliya? (What did you achieve bybeing awake?)#Surgicalstrike2.”

Even politician OmarAbdullah couldn’t help butjoin in. Retweeting PakistanDefence’s post, he wrote, “Thisone will be filed under ‘tweetswe wish we hadn’t put out butcan’t delete now’. Don’t worrywe all have them just not onthis scale perhaps.”

Some tweets also took ajibe at Pakistan’s rejection ofIndia’s claim over destroying aterror camp. “When Americakilled Osama, they claimedthat Osama wasn’t in Pakistan.

When India killed the ter-rorists of 26/11 attack, theyclaimed that they were notPakistanis. When India tooksurgical strike, Theyclaimed/claiming that noth-ing has happened. #surgical-strike2,” a tweet read.

Famous scenes fromBollywood films also came inhandy for Twitterati who usedthem as memes to expresstheir pride and excitementover the IAF’s achievement.

A tweet by Aam AadmiParty’s handle shared an icon-ic scene from “Border” whereSunny Deol is seen giving a

thumbs up to pilot Jackie Shroffflying the fighter aircraft. Usersalso posted a scene from theSalman-Govinda starrer‘Partner’ to convey their “itnikhushi” — a famous dialogue inthe film.

Videos of celebrations inKolkata and Gujarat showingpeople distributing sweets andbursting crackers were doingthe rounds on social media.

Pakistanis mocked India’sclaim that the strikes in Balakotallegedly killed around 350terrorists. Many tweets circu-lated pictures of bombingshared by Major General AsifGhafoor, director general of theInter-Services Public Relations(ISPR), the media wing of thePakistan Army, captioned,“Payload of hastily escapingIndian aircrafts fell in open.”

According to these tweets,what the Indian Air Forcebombed was not a terror campbut simply trees.

“My name is tree and I amnot a terrorist.#Surgicalstrike2,” a tweet read.Sharing the same images, a userwrote, “#SurgicalStrike2 myfoot Indian’s April Fool day.”

Another post read, “Areyou sure! that ..These trees aret e r r o r i s t . . . ? ? ? ? ? ?#Surgicalstrike2”.

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Leaders across the party linescame forward and hailed

the Indian Air Force for strik-ing the JeM terror camp inPakistan. Several Oppositionleaders even took to socialmedia to express themselvesover the airstrike development.

NCP chief Sharad Pawarsaid any retaliation by Pakistanwill prove that it provides shel-ter to terrorists. The formerdefence minister lauded theIndian Air Force for the strikes,adding India’s defence forceshave made citizens feel proud.

It would not be proper topoliticise the air strikes, Pawarsaid. Targeting Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, he said the IAFhad carried out such strikesearlier also, but there was nopoliticisation (of the same).

“The credit always went tothe Army. Now if the credit isbeing given to Prime MinisterModi, then credit should alsobe given to RSS chief MohanBhagwat,” he said.

“Being a former defenceminister, I was sure that thosewho committed the dastardlyattack in Pulwama would have topay for their actions soon,” Pawarsaid. He said the IAF took pre-cautions to ensure the air strikewas done in such a way that therewas no international backlash.

Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal, KarnatakaCM HD Kumaraswamy,Madhya Pradesh CM KamalNath, Congress leader ShashiTharoor and RJD leaderTejashwi Yadav were among theopposition leaders, who extend-ed support to the armed forces.

Kejriwal postponed hisindefinite hunger strike call inview of the prevailing Indo-Paksituation. “In view of prevailingIndo Pak situation, I am post-poning my upwas for full state-hood of Delhi. We all stand asone nation today,” the DelhiCM posted on Twitter. Earlier,Kejriwal saluted the pilots ofthe IAF after it carried out thestrikes in Pakistan.

West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee also hailedthe IAF for carrying out airstrikes in Pakistan. “IAF alsomeans India’s AmazingFighters. Jai Hind,” Banerjeetweeted.

Congress leader andPunjab Chief MinisterAmarinder Singh hailed it as agreat job by the Indian AirForce. “The IAF strikes havesent the much needed signal toPakistan and the terrorists it’sharbouring — don’t think youcan get away with acts like thePulwama Attack. Bravo to theIAF men and my full supportfor the action,” he said.

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The Mirage 2000 aircraftdeployed for conducting

deep strike on Pakistan’s deepstate i.e. the camps of terrorgroup Jaish-e-Mohammed inPakistan was chosen due to itslethality and precision in thestrikes.

As per the lethality countof Mirage 2000, 30 to 100 peo-ple can be killed every 30 sec-onds and a conservative esti-mate here suggests about 400people could have been liqui-dated in the raids includingtwo IC 814 hijack case mas-terminds, 25 terror comman-ders and trainers, some ofwhom are suspected to havebeen former Army officersbesides 325 to 350 trainedfidayeens being readied forhitting Indian interests.

The Mirage 2000 are thestrategic bombers capable ofdelivering an array of bombsand missiles including nuclearand laser-guided ones withcapability to hit long-rangetargets with “pin-point” accu-racy.

India inducted the Miragejets about three decades backand the fleet is undergoing up-gradation and enhancementswith a budget of Rs 20,000crore. The multi-role, single

engine jet is a single-pilotfighter with a range of about1,500 km.

The Dassault-manufac-tured jet can travel at morethan twice the speed of soundat Mach 2.2 (2,336 kmph). It iscapable of flying at an altitudeof 59,000 ft. A commercial jet-liner usually flies at 35,000 to40,000 feet.

Interestingly, the Rafale,manufactured by the sameDassault, is now in the midstof a massive controversy evenas the Mirage 2000 is garner-ing lavish praise from all quar-ters.

The aircraft was preferredover other options as it iscapable of conducting long-range engagement of targetsand the assessment of successwas estimated to be 100 percent, sources said.

The Mirage also is fittedwith the state-of-the art radar

system, control system andflight navigation system withvirtual display of the functionsto aid the pilot.

The Indian Air Force hasabout three squadrons ofMirage 2000 fighter jets man-ufactured by HAL underlicence from French aerospacemajor Dassault Aviation, themanufacturer of Rafale multi-role fighters being procured byIndia.

A number of equipmentand platforms of the IAF werealso used in the deep opera-tion, first inside Pakistan afterthe 1971 Indo-Pak war.

The Mirage 2000 was firstcommissioned into the IAF in1985, when it was christened asVajra (thunderbolt). India ini-tially bought 36 single-seaterMirage 2000 and 4 twin-seaterMirage 2000 after US suppliedF-16 fighters manufactured byLockheed Martin.

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Hours after Indian fighterjets pounded Jaish-e-

Mohammed terror-trainingcamps at Balakot deep insidePakistani territory decimatingone of the biggest terror basesin that country and killingseveral hundred terroristsincluding some of their topcommanders, Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee onTuesday came out in openpraise for the “amazing fight-ers” even as her party leaderssuch actions were long overdue.

Conferring a new appella-tion on the Indian Air Forcepilots for their exceptionalbravery in penetrating deepinto the neighbouring countryto eliminate a highly potent ter-ror training facility of the JeMfunded and run by thePakistani armed forces,Banerjee wrote on the TwitterIAF was another name of

India’s Amazing Fighters.“IAF means India’s

Amazing Fighters. Jai Hind,”Banerjee tweeted in the wake ofthe pre-dawn strike at Balakotwhere terrorists from JeM,Lashkar-e-Toiba and HizbulMujahideen were being trainedsince 2000.

About a dozen fighterMirage 2000 fighter jets pound-ed terror targets deep insidePakistan in the small hours ofTuesday.

Reacting to the Tuesday’s“pre-emptive strike” a senior

Trinamool Congress and also aState Minister said, “such anaction was long overdue,”adding the Narendra ModiGovernment should have beenmore alert so as to avoid theattack on a convoy of Centralforces at Pulwama in Kashmirkilling 41 personnel onFebruary 14.

“One hopes Pakistan willretrace its steps in future beforeaiding such terror strikes inIndia,” the leader said echoinghowever the Chief Minister’searlier statement that therewas no need to drum up a war-chorus. “War-mongering andreacting to a situation are twodifferent things,” the leadersaid.

The Chief Minister hadearlier attacked the ModiGovernment for “playing withthe blood of martyrs ofPulwama” why the CRPFjawans were not sent by air inview of intelligence reports.

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Hostilities between India andPakistan peaked on

Tuesday along the Line ofControl in Jammu & Kashmir,following fresh exchange of fir-ing at different locations, inRajouri and Poonch sectorsshortly after fighter jets flattened'terror factories' deep insidePakistan in punitive strikes.The jawans of the Indian Army,already in a state of high alert,maintained tight vigil to preventany strike by the Border actionteam of the Pakistan army in theforward areas.

After the Pulwama terrorstrike security of all the vitaldefence installations in theregion was beefed up and highalert was sounded to preventany strike by heavily armed ter-rorists in the region.

According to groundreports, Pakistan army violatedceasefire agreement at five dif-ferent locations in the last 24hours in twin border districts.

Five Army soldiers wereinjured and two houses dam-aged as Pakistani army resort-ed to heavy mortar shelling on55 forward areas in Jammu,Rajouri and Poonch districts onTuesday, officials said, hoursafter IAF jets struck a JeM ter-ror camp across the LoC.

Situation along the

International border acrossJammu frontier remainedpeaceful even as local residentswere directed to stay alert andexercise caution in the wake ofprevailing security situation.

Defence PRO, Lt-ColDevendra Anand, in Jammusaid, "Pakistan army initiated'unprovoked' firing in BabaKhori and Sunderbani areas ofRajouri early Tuesday morning".

He said the firing continuedfor over two hours between 5 to7.30 a.m in the forward areas.Indian army retaliated strong-ly and effectively, he added.

In Poonch, similar inci-dent of firing reported between

1.20 a.m and 2.30 a.m in Gulpurand Deegwar sectors.

Lt-Col Anand said, fresh firing sparked off tensionsin the region Tuesday eveningas Pakistan army shelled mortars targeting forwardIndian posts.

"At about 5.30 p.m Pakistaninitiated unprovoked ceasefireviolation by heavy shelling withmortars and firing of smallarms along LoC in Akhnoor,Nowshera and Krishna GhatiSectors". He said, Indian armyretaliated strongly and effec-tively. Earlier in the morning,large number of border resi-dents, living in the direct line offire in frontier Poonch district,woke up to 'bizarre' sounds offighter jets hovering over the

skies. Initially, these border resi-

dents could not make out whatwas going on in the forward areabut at day break they realisedIndian fighter jets were return-ing after carrying out the suc-cessful operation.

Waqar Younis, a resident ofShahpur village in Poonch said,"i woke up around 3.30 a.m afterlistening to loud sounds offighter jets" .

"I had no idea what wasgoing on in the area. I felt littlescared as we are not used to lis-tening to such 'bizarre' sounds".

He said, "in the morningwhen i came to know Indian AirForce jets had launched anoperation to target terror campsof Jaish-e- Mohammad terror-

ist outfit inside Pakistani terri-tory i could relate the things".

Another resident of Poonchcity Advoctae Sanjay Raina said,"We are used to border skir-mishes in the area but thesound i heard early Tuesdaymorning was different. I couldnot sleep properly as jets kepthovering over the Poonch skiesfor longer duration. It was veryunusual.We are used to move-ment of helicopters in the areabut haven't seen fighter jets inour area in the recent times."

Despite mounting tensionin the area cross LoC trade wenton smoothly via Chakan-Da-Bagh crossing point along thePoonch-Rawlakot trade route.

According to officialsources, "35 truck loads of fooditems including Tomato, freshfruit were dispatched toPakistan and 15 truck loadswere received at the Trade facil-itation centre in Poonch".

Deputy Commissioner,Poonch Rahul Yadav said, " weare monitoring the situation onground zero on hourly basis. Hesaid, as of now no specific advi-sory has been issued to the bor-der residents to relocate to saferplaces in the wake of escalatingtensions between India andPakistan". Rahul Yadav said, "wefollow standard drill in theevent of escalating tensionsduring cross border firing. Hesaid, "we have already identifiedseveral places to accommodateborder residents".

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Maharashtra’s political lead-ers, organisations and

Bollywood celebrities onTuesday joined the nation inapplauding the strikes by theIndian Air Force against biggesttraining camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad" in Balakot acrossthe Line of Control (LoC) inMuzafarabad in retaliation forthe Pulwama terror attack.

Welcoming the IAF’sstrikes on terror camps inPakistan, Maharashtra ChiefMinister Devendra Fadnavissaid: “By launching a success-

ful strike on the terror campsoperating from the Pakistanisoil, the Indian armed forceshave displayed their might.The retaliation that was on themind of each and every Indiansince the Pulwama terror attackhas happened”. Stating that PMModi had kept his word that thesacrifices of the jawans killed inthe Pulwama attack would notgo in vain, Fadnavis congratu-lated the IAF for its strikes onterror camps in Balakot. “I amproud of Indian armed forces.They have proved that the sac-rifices made by the jawans inPulwama will not go waste”.

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Family members of theCRPF personnel, who lost

their lives in Pulwama attack,on Tuesday said they havefound some solace in theairstrike against Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists butpressed for efforts to wipe outthe menace of terrorism "onceand for all".

"We were expecting astrong response to Pakistanfrom India and this has beendone now. Our loss is irrepara-

ble but we are satisfied withwhat has been done," saidMahesh Gurjar, a cousin ofslain CRPF soldier Narayan LalGurjar.

Narayan Lal, a native ofBinol village of Rajsamanddistrict, is survived by wife andtwo minor children. He wasamong the five victims fromRajasthan who lost their livesin the February 14 attack byJaish-e-Mohammed.

Vikram, younger brotherof another victim Jeet Ram,said, "A step has been taken butwe want that the menace of ter-rorism should be ended once

and for all."Hailing from Sundarwali

of Bharatpur district, Jeet Ramhas two young daughters.

In Shahpura town of Jaipurdistrict, people burst crackersat the cremation site of CRPFsoldier Rohitash Lamba, whowas bid a tearful adieu bythousands of mourners lessthan two weeks back.

"There is satisfactionamong the people of the coun-try. Government's decision isappreciable as the action waswithin 13 days of the terrorattack," said Jitendra Lamba,younger brother of Rohitash.

Slain CRPF jawan HGuru's native village Gudigerein Mandya district, about 100km from here, too burst intojubilation on hearing about theIndian Air Force's early morn-ing attack on the JeM terrorcamp.

Villagers took out a marchand a tricolour was unfurledatop his house as a mark ofrespect. "We have been insist-ing on peace but peace is nota solution anymore. They haveto be completely destroyed. Myson will rest in peace only ifthey are wiped out entirely,"said Guru's father Honnaiah.

With tears in her eyes,Guru's wife Kalavathi toldreporters: "I salute the Indianarmed forces. I am happy withthis action. I feel that thisaction will give peace to themartyred soldiers. I am proudof my Indian armed forces."

Darshan Singh, father ofCRPF jawan Kulwinder Singhof Rupnagar district in Punjab,said the IAF action "gave solaceto the family".

He, however, said had thisaction been taken before thePulwama attack, the lives of 40CRPF jawans would have beensaved. PTI

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Hours after Indian fighter jetsbombarded Jaish-e-

Mohammad-run terror campsin Balakot area of Pakistan,PDP Chief and former StateChief Minister Mehbooba Muftiwent berserk while reacting tothe news break on her twittertimeline.

"Todays IAF strikes were fol-lowed by mass war hysteria ontwitter & news channels. Mostof these people are ignorant whohave suspended the use of com-mon sense. But its disconcertingthat educated privileged peopleare cheering on at the prospectof a war. This is true jahaalat",Mehbooba wrote inviting sharpreactions from her followers.

She maintained she willcontinue to bat for peace thansacrifice countless lives to satis-fy collective egos and misplacedsense of pride and patriotism.

"If my aversion to unneces-sary retaliation & subsequentwar makes gullible people ques-tion my nationalism then so beit. I would rather bat for peace& save lives than sacrifice count-

less ones just to satisfy collectiveegos and misplaced sense ofpride & patriotism", Mehboobatweeted.

In another tweet Mehboobawent on to claim that Pulwamaattack has undoubtedly vitiatedthe nation’s atmosphere."Pulwama attacks has undoubt-edly vitiated the nation’s atmos-phere.People are baying forblood & want revenge. But letsnot forget violence begets vio-lence. Having said that in whichpart of the world does advocat-ing peace and not wantingsenseless violence make one atraitor"?

Another mainstreamKashmiri politician OmarAbdullah initially raised ques-tion marks over the IAF strikesbut as the day progressed heanalysed it in perspective.

"If this is Balakote in KPK it’sa major incursion & a significantstrike by IAF planes. However ifit’s Balakote in Poonch sector,along the LoC it’s a largely sym-bolic strike because at this timeof the year forward launch pads& militant camps are empty &non-functional" Omar tweeted.

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New Delhi: Jubilant peoplecame out on streets and march-es were held on Tuesday as thenews of the IAF's strike on a JeMterror camp in Pakistan waswelcomed across the country,with political leaders as well asgeneral public lauding thearmed forces for the actionwhich came in the aftermath ofthe dastardly Pulwama attack.

The sentiment echoed inState Assemblies with the legis-latures in Haryana, Maharashtraand Chhattisgarh passing reso-lutions prasing the IAF action.

In Jammu & Kashmir,youths came out on the streetsto celebrate in Kathua, Samba,Poonch, Rajouri andUdhampur.

"I feel this action will givepeace to the martyred soldiers...I salute the Indian armedforces," said Kalavathi, whosehusband H Guru fromKarnataka was among the 40CRPF jawans who died in theFebruary 14 terror attack inJammu & Kashmir. PTI

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New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Tuesday transferredthe probe into the killing ofrationalist M M Kalburgi to theSIT investigating the murdercase of journalist-activist GauriLankesh after KarnatakaGovernment said there werecommon links in the two cases.

Kalburgi, a former vice-chancellor of Hampi Universityand well-known epigraphist,was shot dead at his residencein Kalyan Nagar in Dharwad,Karnataka, on August 30, 2015.

Born in 1938, he was aSahitya Akademi award-win-ning writer of old Kannada lit-erature.

The state Crime

Investigation Department wasprobing Kalburgi's killing andthe SIT was investigating themurder of Lankesh inSeptember 2017 in Bengaluru.

During the hearing, thetop court said the SIT probeinto Kalburgi's killing will bemonitored by the Dharwadbench of the Karnataka HighCourt.

A bench of justices R FNariman and Vineet Saransaid if killings of Kalburgi,Lankesh and social activistGovind Pansare and rational-ist Narendra Dabholkar arelinked, it should be probed byone agency and monitored byone High Court. PTI

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The Ministry of Housingand Urban Affairs (HUA)

has spent has spent six timesthe money used for urbanrejuvenation in the 10-yearUPA rule and asserted that it isnot going to stop at just 100smart cities. As many as 15smart command and controlcentres (SCCC) worth �2,771crores in 15 smart cities havebeen completed and workorders for setting up 31 inte-grated command and controlcentre have been issued. In 18cities, it is under tenderingprocess. Due to this, crime ratehas been decreased in thesesmart cities.

According to HUA, smartroads in 21 cities worth �795crore have been completed,work orders amounting to�7,626 crore have been issuedin 54 cities and tenderingworth �5,942 crore is underprogress in 40 cities undersmart city mission (SCM). Asper latest data, smart wastewater projects in four citiesworth �326 crore have beencompleted, work ordersamounting to �5,342 crorehave been issued in 41 citiesand tendering worth �3,860crore is under progress in 23cities.

"Similarly, smart water

projects in 20 cities worth�1,135 crore have been com-pleted, work orders amountingto �9,382 crore have beenissued in 49 cities and tender-ing worth �4,239 crore isunder progress in 29 cities.Impactful projects in 18 citiesworth �232 crore have beencompleted, work ordersamounting to �4,610 crorehave been issued in 37 citiesand tendering worth �3291crore is under progress in 20cities," the HUA Ministry said.

Earlier, addressing the"Second National ApexConference of CEOs of SmartCities", the Union HUA min-ister Hardeep Singh Puri saidthe amount spent on urbanrejuvenation in the 10-yearUPA rule, from 2004 to 2014...It's around �1.5 lakh crore. Themoney spent between June2015 and February 2019 is sixtimes that amount. It's around�8.6 lakh crore.

Puri said that the rapid rateof progress of the mission is ananswer to the "cynics andnaysayers who doubted whatwe are doing". "Till September2017, projects worth �21,500crore were tendered. The valueof the projects tendered sincethen is �1.22 lakh crore," hesaid and claimed that India'sSmart City Mission is one ofthe fastest implemented pro-

jects in the world."This is only the beginning.

As we become a $10-trillioneconomy by 2030, we are notgoing to stop at 100 cities, wecannot. These 100 cities willbecome the template that thisis how you do it," Puri said.

On the Swachh Bharatmission, Puri said theGovernment achieved the tar-get of constructing five lakhcommunity and public toiletswell before the October 2,2019 deadline.

The Minister added thatthe goal of constructing 67 lakhindividual household toiletswould be accomplished by nextmonth.

"We were told one croreadditional dwelling units wereneeded to be built under thePradhan Mantri Awas Yojanaby 2022. As of February 2019,we have sanctioned 79 percent of them," Puri said.

He also stressed the needfor people to make behaviour-al changes, saying smart citiesneed smart citizens.

"Smart cities at the end ofthe day need smart people andsmartness in terms of peopledepends on behavioralchanges," he said while express-ing disappointment over com-muters not using a helmet insmart cities like Surat andRajkot.

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Tuesday asked thecontending parties in the polit-ically sensitive RamJanambhoomi-Babri Masjidland dispute in Ayodhya toseriously consider mediationfor a permanent solution evenif there is "one per cent chance"of success.

Observing it was looking atthe possibility of "healing rela-tions" between the parties, afive-judge constitution benchheaded by Chief Justice RanjanGogoi also said it would pass anorder on March 6 on whetherto refer the dispute to a court-appointed mediator.

The suggestion for anoth-er round of mediation, howev-er, drew a mixed responsefrom the parties to the decades-old dispute.

The proposal was mootedby one of the judges, Justice SA Bobde, during the hearingwhen both the Hindu and the

Muslim litigants were spar-ring over the veracity of docu-ments related to the case whichwere trans-lated bythe UttarPradesh Government and filedwith the apex court registry.

"We are considering it(mediation) very seriously. Youall (parties) have used the wordthat this matter is not adver-sarial. We would like to give achance to mediation even ifthere is one per cent chance,"said the bench, also comprisingJustices D Y Chandrachud,Ashok Bhushan and S ANazeer.

"We would like to knowyour (both parties) views on it.We do not want any thirdparty to make a comment tojeopardise the entire process."

"This, we have done keep-ing in mind that the period ofeight weeks that we haveallowed to the parties to go

through the translations of theoral and documentary evi-dence could be effectively

utilised to tryand resolvethe issues in

the manner indicated above,"the bench said.

"We have suggested to theparties that during the inter-regnum a court appointed andcourt monitored mediationwith utmost confidentialitycould be initiated to bring apermanent solution to theissues raised in the cases," itobserved.

The bench noted in itsorder that lawyers representingthe legal heirs of original liti-gants M Siddiq and MohdHashim and Nirmohi Akharaare "in broad agreement" withthe suggestion of the courtabout mediation while counselappearing for Sri Ram LallaVirajman, Mahant Suresh Dasand Akhil Bharat Hindu

Mahasabha have "not con-curred" with it.

"Do you seriously thinkthat the entire dispute for somany years is for property? Wecan only decide property rightsbut we are considering thepossibility of healing relations,"it said.

"Keeping in mind that themediation suggested by thecourt is in terms of the mandateunder section 89 of the CPCand in an appropriate case itwill always be open for thecourt to invoke its power, wedeem it proper to observe thatthe mediation suggested is onlyto effectively utilize the time ofeight weeks that would betaken to make the cases readyfor hearing," the bench said inits written order.

Senior advocate RajeevDhavan, appearing for MSiddiq, said they were agreeableto the "very important sugges-tion" of mediation but said the

court should fix a time framefor mediation as the disputewas a "knotty issue".

"We will also have to fix thetime frame after talking to themediator," the bench said.

Senior advocate C SVaidyanathan, appearing forRam Lalla Virajman, said theydid not agree for "anotherround of mediation" as suchattempts have failed in thepast.

"In the earlier mediation, itwas accepted that Lord Ramawas born in Ayodhya but not atthis (disputed) site. Mediationhas been tried not once but sev-eral times," he said.Senior advo-cate Ranjit Kumar, appearingfor one of the parties, saidthings have not worked duringearlier round of mediation and"everybody wants that the mat-ter should be decided by theSupreme Court".

"Mediation is not possibleso this court should decide the

matter," Kumar said.Dhavan referred to the

mediation held between 1991-93 and said, "In the largerinterest, this court is saying doit (mediation) again. From ourside, we are agreeable".

At the outset, the apexcourt said it can proceed withthe hearing if there is consen-sus among the parties withregard to the veracity of thetranslated documents. Thebench referred to a report filedby the secretary general of theapex court on the status of doc-uments pertaining to the casewhich said that "the recordconsists of 38,147 pages ofwhich 12,814 pages are in Hindi,18,607 pages are in English, 501pages are in Urdu, 97 pages arein Gurmukhi, 21 pages are inSanskrit, 86 pages are in otherlanguage scripts, 14 pages con-tain images and 1,729 pages arein combination of more thanone language script". PTI

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�@$3#@���������New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Tuesday agreed tohear in open court the petitionsseeking review of its Decemberverdict that dismissed pleaschallenging the deal betweenIndia and France for procure-ment of 36 Rafale fighter jets.

A bench of Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi and Justices S KKaul and K M Joseph, in itschamber hearing, allowed theprayer of former Union minis-ters Yashwant Sinha and ArunShourie as also activist lawyerPrashant Bhushan that thereview pleas be heard in opencourt.

"The prayer for open Courthearing is allowed", said thebench which also consideredthe review petition filed byAAP MP Sanjay Singh through

lawyer Dheeraj Singh.Besides two review peti-

tions, the top court is alsoseized of some applicationsincluding the one filed bySinha, Shourie and Bhushanseeking perjury prosecutionof government officials forallegedly misleading the courton the issue of pricing and pro-curement process.

A day after the Decemberverdict, the Centre had movedthe apex court seeking correc-tion in the judgement where areference was made about theComptroller and AuditorGeneral (CAG) report andParliament's Public AccountsCommittee (PAC), saying "mis-interpretation" of its note has"resulted in a controversy in thepublic domain". PTI

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Islamabad: Residents in thequake-prone Balakot town inPakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province onTuesday said they were wokenby “loud explosions” andthought a fresh tremor musthave hit the region whenIndian Air Force jets poundeda large terror training camp.

Balakot town in Pakistan’snorth-western KhyberPakhtunkhwa province wasdestroyed during the 2005Kashmir earthquake and wasrebuilt with assistance fromSaudi Arabia.

Residents in the moun-tainous area town told BBCUrdu they were woken by loudexplosions.

Residents in several townsnear Balakot reported hearingexplosions early on Tuesday.

Mohammad Adil, a farmerin Jaba village, said he and his

family were woken at about03:00 by “a huge explosion”.

He said they thought anearth quake must have hit theregion.

“Then we heard jets flyingover. We went to the place inthe morning. There was ahuge crater and four or fivehouses were destroyed,” he

said.In a pinpointed and swift

air strike that lasted less thantwo minutes, India poundedJaish-e-Mohammed’s biggesttraining camp in Pakistan earlyTuesday, killing up to 350 ter-rorists and trainers who weremoved there for their protec-tion after the Pulwama terrorattack in Jammu & Kashmirthat killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

The pre-dawn operation,described as “non-military”and “preemptive”, struck a five-star resort style camp on a hill-top forest.

Pakistan Army spokesmanMajor General Asif Ghafoor,however, said the strikes causedno casualties. He tweeted thatPakistani jets were scrambledand forced the Indian fighterplanes to make a “hasty with-drawal”, dropping their payloadin an open area. PTI

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In 1948, Pakistan’s Ambassador to theUnited Nations, Sir MuhammadZafarullah Khan, declared that onApril 1, 1948 India turned off thewater of the Indus river which used

to flow into Pakistan… India exercised thiscontrol upon the waters of rivers flowingthrough its territory…India turned offevery drop of water which Pakistan had for-merly received.

Surprisingly, no one in the audiencehad the presence of mind to ask how canthe flow of rivers be suddenly switched offlike a tap in the kitchen? The Indus riversystem issue was, thus, raised first with athunderous lie. Negotiations between Indiaand Pakistan began thereafter but yearswere wasted in wrangling as to where,between officers of what qualifications andrank should be involved in the talks.

The river waters issue was dramati-cally articulated again by former PrimeMinister of Pakistan, Huseyn ShaheedSuhrawardy, in 1957. In his words, quot-ed from the Dawn by Prof Shashi KGulhati in his book, ‘The Untiring Indian’,“Canal waters and Kashmir are the twoprongs of India’s grip on us. There is nothing we can do. India is so powerfulthat everybody wants to be its friend,including America. If Bharat decides tocut off water, Pakistan would be withinits rights to fight for water supply butstopping of water will be greater aggression than our fighting.”

The distinctive feature of irrigationdevelopment in this basin, during about100 years preceding the Partition, was thata development of 26 million acres of inten-sive irrigation, by far the largest irrigatedarea on any one river system in theworld, had been based entirely on the run-of-the-river with no storage at all, rightlyearning the compliment of being one of theproudest achievements of human endeav-our. The first four years after Partition hadbeen marked by abortive bilateral discus-sions between India and Pakistan, leavenedwith threats and recriminations. Thenmajor developments took place in 1952.First, the World Bank, interested in theeconomic well-being of both countries,offered to serve as a mediator to help solvethe dispute.

A working party of engineers of India,Pakistan and the World Bank was consti-tuted. The World Bank team consisted ofLt General Raymond Albert Wheeler, for-mer Chief of the US Army Corps ofEngineers, Pakistan nominatedMohammad Abdul Hamid and repre-senting India were Ajudhiya Nath Khosla,Chairman of the Central Water and PowerCommission, and ND Gulhati, who assist-ed him.

The working party had begun itswork long before. Everyone agreed on itsultimate objective. In the words of GeneralWheeler, it was to develop a comprehen-

sive long-range plan for themost effective utilisation ofthe total water resources of theIndus river system for thedevelopment of the region.Pakistan wanted the discus-sions to be limited to the threeeastern rivers only, keepingthe three western rivers total-ly for itself; India wanted toconsider the flow in all the sixrivers. The Pakistani plan com-prised largely a statement of itsirrigation requirements, whichadded up to three times thetotal supply of the system.

On February 5, 1954,General Wheeler presentedthe World Bank’s proposal.But not necessarily from thesame source as before. It divid-ed the six rivers into two parts.All the water of the three east-ern rivers would be for theexclusive use of India. And allthe water of the three westernrivers (Indus, Jhelum andChenab) would be for Pakistanexcept for some specific with-drawals allowed to India.

The World Bank proposalpresented in February 1954,stipulated that: (1) The entireflow of water of the three east-ern rivers would be for theexclusive use and benefit ofIndia after a brief transitionperiod during which Pakistanwill construct link canals that

would bring water from thewestern rivers to replace thewater then being supplied to itscanals by the eastern rivers andIndia would contribute fundsfor the construction of theselink canals; and, (2) the flow ofwater of the three westernrivers would be largely for theuse and benefit of Pakistan.

Six years later, when theIndus Waters Treaty wassigned, India could irrigateannually 70,000 acres fromthe Indus, 400,000 acres fromthe Jhelum and 231,000 acresfrom the Chenab, over andabove the uses as on April1960, and, according toGulhati’s book, couldimpound, for specified purpos-es, 3.0 million acre feet on thetributaries of the western riversand 0.6 MAF on the Chenabmain, apart from storage insmall tanks and for flood con-trol in the Jhelum main. Thisis the maximum quantity ofwater India’s latest decision cancause Pakistan to lose.

Pakistan never wanted thata solution to the Indus watersdispute should emerge throughnegotiations. It was notinclined to view the problem asa technical one. It wanted totake the issue to theInternational Court of Justiceand seek adjudication. If not

that, then it would try to pushIndia into seeking a solutionthrough arbitration. India,however, did not wish anyoneor a group, least of all thosewho were not familiar with thetechnicalities of river basindevelopment, to thrust a solu-tion upon it.

It soon became apparent,however, that bilateral dia-logue with Pakistan was notmaking any progress and sowhen the World Bank offeredits good offices to assist the twocountries to negotiate a settle-ment, it accepted that offer.

The key point in acceptingthe Bank’s offer was that itwould serve as a good officerthat is a facilitator and notassume the role of an arbiter.The World Bank mostadmirably stuck to this role formany years and went throughvery difficult times. Even whenit seemed that negotiations wereon the verge of a breakdown, iturged the two sides to contin-ue the dialogue. After six yearsof playing such a role, in early1960, the Bank began to see thelight at the end of the tunnel.

There was a basic differ-ence in the approach ofPakistan and India vis-à-viskeeping the issue in the publiceye. Pakistan was the down-stream riparian state; rivers

flowed into it from India. Itwas, thus, in a weaker position.It felt necessary to arouse sym-pathy for itself from the inter-national community by main-taining a public posture of acountry that was at the mercyof India. From the very outset,it established a publicity front,one that followed its leaders’populist stance of making lit-tle distinction between, on theone hand, an Indian actionactually taken or planned and,on the other hand, theextremes to which India, as anupper riparian, might go.

After the Treaty had beensigned, some leaders felt that insigning it, India had appeasedPakistan by yielding too manyconcessions; that the division ofwaters was much to the advan-tage of Pakistan. In a reply inthe Lok Sabha, PanditJawaharlal Nehru asked: “Howis this House now to judge thequantum of supply or thequantum of money to be given?I confess I cannot judge it off-hand. I am distressed that amatter of this importance, anissue that concerns not only thepresent but the future shouldbe treated so lightly and casu-ally and in such a narrowminded spirit.”

(The writer is a well-knowncolumnist and an author)#��������������������������

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Sir — Now that the Indian AirForce has given a befitting replyto Pakistan by carrying out airstrikes on the biggest Jaish-e-Mohammad training camp atBalakot inside Pakistan, killinga large number of terroristsover there, all diplomatic andeconomic relations withPakistan must end till the country stops assisting terrorgroups.

M KumarNew Delhi

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Sir — Three orders passed by theSupreme Court in 2016, 2018and 2019 do not question thethree-tiered verification processthat forest rights claims under-go as part of the 2006 ForestRights Act. On January 29, 2016,a three-judge Bench held that “ifthe claim is found to be not ten-able by the competent authori-ty, the result would be that theclaimant is not entitled for thegrant of any patta or any otherright under the Act, but such aclaimant is also either required

to be evicted from that parcel ofland or some other action is tobe taken in accordance with law.”Statistics from the Ministry ofTribal Affairs, which is the nodalagency under the 2006 Act,show that lakhs of titles were dis-tributed to genuine claimantseven as several lakh claims wererejected across 20 States.

MD Hasibur RahmanKarnataka

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Sir — The major fire that brokeat the Bandipur Tiger Reserve inKarnataka is worsening with nosigns of let-up. With butterflies inthe officials’ stomachs of the for-est department, an all-out efforthad been made to douse the firebut to no avail. Even as thedepartment was grappling in the

dark to check the raging fire, itreceived a shot in the arm with thestate government sending out anSOS to the Indian Air Force todeploy choppers to douse the fire.

It is distressing that pristineforest landscapes are beingreduced to ashes. It is true that thehot summer wave has causedverdant vegetation to go dry. Thismay have accelerated due to thespread of fire. Elsewhere in the

country also, sporadic cases ofwildfire are being reported. Theforest departments of respectiveState Governments must be pre-pared to deal with wildfires. Swiftaction can avert greater catastro-phes and save our forests.

TK NandananChennai

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Sir — West Indies batman ChrisGayle must be congratulated forbreaking the long-standing recordof Pakistani cricketer ShahidAfridi of the highest number ofsixes in international cricket. Hedid so in West Indies’s first one-day international against Englandin Barbados. He has now 477 sixesacross all formats, while Afridi has476. Moreover, Gayle achievedthis feat in his 444th match whileAfridi did so in 524 games. Gayleis the kind of player who chipsaway his opponents’ chance to winthe longer he stays at the crease.One hopes that he plays interna-tional cricket for years to come.

Muhammad Zaid Ramanagara

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When it comes to business, be it small orlarge, cash is the king, always. Whethera business is growing or struggling, man-

aging cash flow effectively is absolutely essentialand for many, it’s the key to business survival. Theimportance of cash can be understood from thefact that over 60 per cent of businesses that fail arestill profitable but they just ran out of cash.

On overusing the working capital, a businesscan witness a cash crunch that can prevent pay-ments to its suppliers, purchase of raw materialsand salary payments to its employees. Delaybetween the time when a business pays to its sup-pliers and when money is received from the cus-tomers is the problem. This requires effective cashflow management to survive and grow. Therefore,maintaining a level of working capital, that allowsa business to make it through crunch times andcontinue operating the business, is crucial. Simplyput, cash flow management means delaying out-lays of cash as long as possible while encouragingcustomers to pay as quickly as possible.

So, what is cash flow? It’s basically the move-ment of funds in and out of one’s business.Typically, businesses track cash flow eitherweekly, monthly or quarterly. Essentially, thereare two kinds of cash flows: A positive cash flowoccurs when cash entering into the business fromsales, accounts receivables and so on is more thanthe amount of cash leaving the businessesthrough accounts payable, monthly expenses andemployee salaries. A negative cash flow is just theopposite situation and occurs when the cash out-flow is greater than incoming cash. This gener-ally means trouble for a business.

It is not possible, however, to look at the prof-it and loss statement (P&L) and get a grip on cashflows. Many other financial figures feed into fac-toring cash flows, including accounts receivable,inventory, accounts payable, capital expenditures,and taxation. Effective cash flow managementrequires a laser focus on each of these drivers ofcash in addition to profit or loss. Rules of account-ing define profit simply as revenue minus expens-es. However, a smart business owner understandsthe fact that whether one earned profit or not isnot the same as knowing what happened to yourcash. An astute businessman should know whenthe business will become profitable, not becauseit will affect the cash flow — because it won’t —but because it gives one an early goal to strive forand a ready-made target for projecting future cashflow. Negative cash flow and negative profits makefor a grim combination. Focus your efforts on man-aging cash flow with an eye towards reaching thatmoment when you realise your first profits.

Since cash flows are very important for thesmooth running of any business, one should alwaysfocus on improving and managing cash flow anddevelop strategies to manage problems:

Short-term financing: This type of businessfinancing such as a line of credit can be used to makeemergency purchases or to bridge the gap betweenpayables and receivables. Many banks issue busi-ness credit cards that can be used to pay vendors.

Long-term financing: Large asset purchasessuch as equipment and real estate should usuallybe financed with long-term loans rather than withworking capital. This allows a business to spreadpayments over the average life of the asset.

Speed up recovery of receivables:The main mantra of any business shouldbe to bill early and collect quickly. Toguard against late payments, bill asearly as possible and make those invoic-es as clear and detailed as possible.Instead of waiting until the end of themonth, generate an invoice as soon as thegoods or services are delivered. For bigorders, one can consider progressiveinvoicing while the goods are manufac-tured or services delivered. It’s easy to losetrack and then neglect to follow up onan overdue account. Experience showsthat the longer one remains out of con-tact with a customer, the less likely he/sheis able to recover the amount owed. Onecan even incentivise customers who paytheir bills rapidly by offering discounts.

Liquidate cash tied up with assets:Does your business have equipmentthat is no longer in use or inventory that’sbecoming obsolete? Consider selling it togenerate quick cash. Idle, obsolete andnon-working equipment takes up spaceand ties up capital, which can be usedmore productively. Equipment that hasbeen owned for a longer period will usu-ally have a book value equal to its salvagevalue or less. So, a sale might result in ataxable gain. Excess inventory can quick-ly become obsolete and worthless as cus-tomer requirements change and newmaterials are introduced. Consider sell-ing any inventory, which is unlikely to beused over the next 12 months, unless thecosts to retain it are minimal and the pro-ceeds from a sale would be negligible.

Delay your payables: This maysound obvious but is often neglected.Unless there’s a worthwhile incentive topay early, figure out how late you can payyour vendors without risking late fees or

harming your relationship. This keeps thecash in your account and out of your ven-dor’s until it absolutely has to be there.

Identify business risks and preparein advance: There are many risksinvolved in running a business. Seriouschallenges should be expected at somepoint in the future. You need to consid-er a number of scenarios such as “Whatif a big order suddenly comes in?” “Whatif a big order is cancelled?” or “What ifthat important client goes missing whilestill owing me money”? This kind of riskanalysis should become a part of the cashflow budgeting process.

Monitor inventory efficiently:Analyse inventory movement to deter-mine which items are selling and whichones are duds that soak up working cap-ital. Try to keep inventory levels lean sothat working capital isn’t tied up unpro-ductively and unprofitably.

Always keep buffer money: Oncethe break-even point is found, one mustensure that the business has enough cashto fund working capital needs. It’sadvised to keep three months worth ofoutgoings in the bank for a rainy day.That may be a thing of the past but ifthat’s the case, make sure you have abuffer of some sort, either personal fundsavailable or an overdraft or revolvingcredit facility.

Implement better systems to man-age cash flow: Many businessmen pro-crastinate to invoice customers. Some donot invoice as soon as they deliver theproduct or services or do it just at themonth end. Many do not even know howmuch is owed to them by their customersor how much they owe to suppliers.

If you are one of them, it’s time tostart implementing an efficient process

to manage cash flow. You can use a sim-ple spreadsheet or an accounting soft-ware. But its important to have some sys-tems in place.

Cut costs, control cash outflows:The best way to control cash flow is tostay on top of expenses. When we startmaking profits, we often tend to ignorecost-cutting opportunities. Unmanagedoutflow could be a silent business killer.

Do not focus on profit but on cashflow: It has been found that 90 per centof SMEs do not have a cash flow planfrom day one, despite having forecasts ofprofit margins for years ahead. This is acommon reason for early business fail-ure. If cash flow is in order, profit will bein order. A lot of businesses do not makeit past six months. They might have beena profitable business eventually but theyneed to have good cash flow to survive.

Young businesses should work withreliable, quick-paying clients initially,even if it means smaller clients and slim-mer profits margins. Small businessowners should learn one principle earlyin the life: Cash is king. Building andkeeping an adequate stockpile of cashprovides maximum opportunity andflexibility to any business while enablingits owners to sleep soundly at night.

Without cash, profits are meaning-less. Many profitable businesses onpaper have ended up in bankruptcybecause the amount of cash coming indoesn’t compare with the amount of cashgoing out. Firms that don’t exercise goodcash management may not be able tomake the investments needed to com-pete, or they may have to pay more toborrow money to function.

(The writer is Assistant Professor,Amity University)

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Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal is back with his oldgame of street-level confronta-

tion with the Union Government asa part of his political strategy. Thistime, his indefinite fast — that wassupposed to start from March 1, buthas been postponed — is to get fullstatehood for Delhi. Can he achievethis objective? It looks difficult becauseno party at the Centre wants to givefull statehood to Delhi.

In the last two decades, both theBJP and the Congress have promisedstatehood to the capital city but whenthey came to power at the Centre, theissue took a backseat. Delhi being aspecial State, its land and law and ordercome under the purview of the Union

Home Ministry. The Chief Ministerwants them under his Government’scontrol but the Centre will never partwith these powers as there are sever-al hiccups — financial and political.

Like West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee, Kejriwal is best atconfrontational politics. There hasbeen a constant tussle between himand the Centre ever since the AamAadmi Party (AAP) Governmentcame to power in 2015. Earlier in hisfirst term, he went on dharna and evenheld Cabinet meetings near the RailBhavan on the pavement.

Last week, Kejriwal declared in theAssembly: “From March 1, I will begina hunger strike. I am going to fast tillwe get statehood. I am ready to facedeath.” The demand was one of thepromises made by AAP in the run-upto the 2015 Assembly polls. “Ab aarya paar ki ladai hai (this is going to bea decisive battle),” the Chief Ministersaid, announcing his decision. Prior tothat, Kejriwal had declared in publicmeetings that if the AAP got seven outof seven seats in the Delhi Lok Sabhabattle, his party would ensure thatDelhi got statehood within two years.

Kejriwal is also prodding the peopleof Delhi to come to the streets to par-ticipate in the agitation for statehood.

The immediate provocation forthis decision was the Supreme Court’sverdict last week, which held that theCentre and not the Delhi Governmenthad the power to order investigationsagainst corrupt officers in the capital.The court also left the decision to ahigher Bench as to who should con-trol the officers. Prior to that, in Julylast year, a five-judge ConstitutionBench ruled that Delhi cannot beaccorded the status of a State but said

the Lieutenant-Governor has no“independent decision-makingpower” and must act on the “aid andadvice” of the elected Government.

Kejriwal is not happy with thesejudicial pronouncements. Therefore,he is building up this issue as a partof his campaign for the upcoming LokSabha poll and also to divert public’sattention from his Government’s fail-ures. He claimed that statehood wouldprovide two lakh jobs in the DelhiGovernment, pucca houses for everyDelhiite, regularisation of contractu-al Government employees and new

schools and universities.Though Delhi is going for polls

in 2020, Kejriwal’s compulsion is toraise the issue now because of theparliamentary polls. AAP has per-formed well on sectors like health,education, water, electricity andunauthorised colonies and is quitesure of support from the lowermiddle class and poorer sections butKejriwal is not sure about prospectsin the Lok Sabha poll. What betterway than sit in dharna on behalf ofthe people. This way, he can impresson the people that he is the only onewho is taking care of their interests.

Second, Kejriwal may also need aface-saving formula at some point oftime later if he continues with the fast.He knows he can expect Banerjee andAndhra Pradesh Chief MinisterChandrababu Naidu, with whom heis on excellent terms, to come to Delhiand persuade him to end the indefi-nite fast. Are they not together in theproposed mahagathbandhan? He hascome much closer to them and this isa part of taking on the Centre. Theyare all equally interested in embarrass-ing the Modi Government.

Kejriwal is not the only onefighting the Centre as PuducherryChief Minister V Narayanasamy,too, has been locked in a turf warwith Lt Governor Kiran Bedi overthe latter’s negative attitude towardsvarious proposals of his govern-ment. He had been sitting in dhar-na since February 13, outside the RajBhavan, demanding that the LtGovernor approve his cabinet’s pro-posals.

Kejriwal should realise that con-frontational politics will not gethim anywhere. The country is tenseafter the Pulwama terror attack andhe has chosen a wrong time to pressfor his demands. What happens if alimited war with Pakistan startsbefore that? What is important isgovernance and this is where he isweak though he puts the blame onthe Centre for his failures. Pressingfor Delhi’s statehood is somethingthat cannot happen in a day. Kejriwalshould realise the difficulties on theroad to it. As a Chief Minister, hismantra should be governance first.

(The writer is a senior political com-mentator and syndicated columnist)

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Fiscal deficit touched 121.5per cent of the full-year

revised target of �6.34 lakhcrore at the end of January onaccount of lower revenue col-lections, Government datashowed on Tuesday.

The fiscal deficit, or the gapbetween the Government’sexpenditure and revenue, stoodat �7.70 lakh crore duringApril-January of the currentfinancial year ending March.

At the end of January 2018,the deficit was 113.7 per centof the Revised Estimate (RE).

The Government had bud-geted to cut the fiscal deficit to3.3 per cent of GDP or �6.24

lakh crore in 2018-19, from3.53 per cent in the previousfinancial year.

However, in the InterimBudget 2019-20, the fiscaldeficit was revised upwardsmarginally to 3.4 per cent ofGDP or over �6.34 lakh crore,on account of additional out-lay of �20,000 crore for fund-ing income scheme for smallfarmers.

According to the datareleased by the ControllerGeneral of Accounts (CGA),the revenue receipts of thegovernment totalled �11.81lakh crore or 68.3 per cent ofRE till January in 2018-19,compared with 72.8 per centduring the same period last fis-

cal.According to RE, the

Government expects to mopup �17.29 lakh crore revenueduring the current fiscal, from�17.25 lakh crore budgetedoriginally.

Tax revenue was 68.7 percent of RE, compared with76.5 per cent in the compara-ble period of the previousyear.

According to the CGAdata, the total expenditure ofthe Government at January-end was �20.01 lakh crore or81.5 per cent of RE. The totalexpenditure for the currentfiscal has been raised to �24.57lakh crore in the RE, from thebudgeted �24.42 lakh crore.

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Reliance Industries chair-man Mukesh Ambani has

broken into the top 10 richestlist globally with a networth of$54 billion, while his youngerbrother Anil has paled into theoblivion having lost over 65percent of his networth,according to a report.

The Hurun Global RichList 2019 is topped by Amazonchief Jeff Bezos for the secondyear in a row, while the seniorAmbani is placed 10th with anetwork of �3.83 lakh crore,thanks to a rally in RIL shares,which had topped the �8-lakh-crore-mark last month.Ambani owns almost 52 per-cent in Reliance.

Anil Ambani, held in con-tempt of court by the SupremeCourt last week for not paying upEricsson �540 crore, has lost over$5 billion, from $7 billion sevenyears ago to $1.9 billion this year,even though both the brothersgot off with more or less sameamount of inherited wealth.

“Having started off similarlyafter the break-up of the fami-ly wealth, Mukesh added $30billion to his wealth in the pastseven years, while Anil has lostover $5 billion during the sameperiod,” says the Hurun report.

The other wealthiestIndians are Hinduja groupchairman SP Hinduja withnetworth of $21 billion, Wiprochairman Azim Premji is atthird with a networth of $17

billion, says the report releasedTuesday.

Cyrus S Poonawalla, chair-man of the Poonawalla groupthat run Serum Institute, witha networth of $13 billion is notonly ranked as the fourth rich-est Indian but also breaks intothe top 100 global ranking.

Steel giant ArcelorMittal’sLakshmi Mittal stands at fifthposition, followed by KotakMahindra’s Uday Kotak ($11billion), Gautam Adani ($9.9billion) and Sun Pharma’s DilipShanghvi ($9.5 billion).

Cyrus Pallonji Mistry andShapoorji Pallonji Mistry, bothwith wealth of $9.5 billioneach come in the ninth and the10th position, respectively,thanks to their 18.4 percentholding in the country’s largestconglomerate Tata group.

According to the list, SmitaCrishna, a third- generationheir of the Godrej family, topsthe female billionaire list with anetworth of $6.1 billion, whileKiran Mazumdar Shaw ofBiocon is the richest self-madefemale entrepreneur ranked 671with a wealth of $3.5 billion.

“Since 2012, this is for thatfirst time that India has slippedto the fifth rank in the HurunGlobal Rich List. An under-performing rupee and a lack-luster stock market resulted inthe country losing one-third ofthe list,” Hurun Report Indiamanaging director and chiefresearcher Anas RahmanJunaid said.

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The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) Tuesday said it

would infuse �12,500 croreinto the system throughopen market operations.

The RBI said it hasdecided to conduct purchaseof certain Government secu-rities under open marketoperations (OMOs) for anaggregate amount of �12,500crore on Febr uar y 28through multi-security auc-tion using the multiple pricemethod.

The decision on OMO isbased on an assessment ofprevailing liquidity condi-tions and also of the durableliquidity needs going for-ward, it added.

“ There is an overal laggregate ceiling of �125 bil-lion for all the securities inthe basket put together.There is no security-wisenotified amount,” RBI said.

It further said the eligi-ble participants should sub-mit their offers in electron-ic format on the RBI CoreBanking Solution (E-Kuber)system between before noonon Thursday.

The result of the auctionwi l l b e announced onThursday and payment tosuccessful participants willbe made during bankinghours on the following day.

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Aludecor held a discussionsession between key indus-

try thought leaders and stake-holders to exchange ideas andshare knowledge about thebest construction practices.

At the panel discussiontoday, stakeholders congregat-ed to disseminate information,gather knowledge, exchangeideas, debate innovative per-spectives, solutions and prod-ucts for fire safety and security.

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Telecom regulator Trai willrelease its recommendations

on the regulatory frameworkfor over-the-top (OTT) servicesin couple of months, its chair-man R S Sharma said Tuesday.

“We already have a paperon OTT (over-the-top). We willcome out with appropriate rec-ommendations and regulationsin near future. Couple ofmonths from now,” Sharmatold PTI at the Mobile WorldCongress 2019 here.

The telecom sector atMWC has been displayingtechnology and sharing theirplans around 5G services. Thebusiness of 5G will be domi-nated by data-related businesswhich is expected to blur dif-ferences between services pro-vided by Internet companiesand telecom service providers.

The sector has been talkingabout same set of rules for com-panies providing similar services.

Last week, global industrybody GSM Association

Director General Mats Granrydsaid globally telecom compa-nies should be regulated at parwith Internet firms as they areplanning to move beyond pro-viding just connectivity toadopt data-centric businessmodel with “intelligent con-nectivity” with 5G coming in.

He said India is the onlycountry that has announced togradually end mobile call ter-mination rates — a move thatwill end price arbitragebetween online players pro-viding calling and messagingservice and telecom operators.

Talking about evolution ofnew technologies and impacton regulatory jurisdictions,Sharma said, “Regulatory sys-tems will continue to developas technology develops. Ourapproach is regulator shouldnot become hindrance.”

Besides this, Sharma said alltelecom operators will have to putin place blockchain based systemto curb pesky call and messagingmenace from March 1 and noextension will be granted to them.

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To address issues regardingfuel requirement of

National Waterways, InlandWaterways Authority of India(IWAI) and Indian OilCorporation Ltd (IOCL) haveinked a pact, the governmentsaid Tuesday.

The Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) willprovide for an understandingover general modalities ofmutual cooperation leading toaddressing futuristic demandof any form of energy forInland Waterways and asso-ciated services.

“IWAI and IOCL signedan MoU today for jointlydeveloping infrastructure forfuels, lubricating oil, LPG,Natural Gas and any otherrelated fuel and gas for meet-ing the requirement ofNational Waterways,” theMinistry of Shipping said ina statement.

The MoU covers devel-opment of infrastructure forreceipt, storage, dispensingand supply of fuels, lubricat-

ing oils, Liquefied PetroleumGas (LPG) (for domestic &commercial use), Natural Gas(NG) and any other relatedfuel and gas.

In addition, the MoU willalso cover infrastructuredevelopment for setting upConsumer Pump (for sup-plying fuels to vehicles, loco-motives, machiner y andequipment etc) and RetailOutlets (for fuel & gas) atTerminals/ Multimodal ter-minals, the statement saidadding, this will further leadto development of businessactivities along the NationalWaterways.

“IWAI and IOCL haveagreed to conduct techno-economic feasibility studiesfor preparation of detailedland requirement, storagefacilities and other supportinginfrastructure with details ofthe cost,” the statement said.

These studies will bebased on the traffic potential,proximity to the local indus-tries and waterways and itsconnectivity to rail heads.

IWAI will extend all nec-essary assistance in sharinginformation, providing nec-essary inputs and availabledata / information relating toNational Waterways and itsterminals with IOCL forimplementing projects, it said.

IWAI will also provideland to IOCL on long termlease basis for developingfacilities at existing termi-nals within the approvedguidelines of land lease poli-cy of the Government, itadded.

As per NationalWaterways Act 2016, 106 newNational waterways have beendeclared in addition to exist-ing 5 National Waterways.

The development of newNational Waterways is beingtaken up in a phased man-ner based on the feasibilityreports and detailed projectreports.

Also, the capacity aug-mentation of NW-1 has beentaken up under Jal MargVikas Project (JMVP) withthe technical and financialassistance of the World Bank.

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The micro, small and medi-um enterprises (MSME)

sector provides the banks witha lending opportunity of $70billion, says a report.

The MSME sector has beendown in the dumps since thenote-ban and the soon-to-be-followed implementation ofthe uniform tax regime GST,forcing millions of units todown shutters causing huge joblosses.

This has made the govern-ment force the Reserve Bank tooffer a special dispensationlast month under which thebanks were allowed to recaststressed MSME loans under Rs25 crore outside the NCLTroute.

“Small and medium unitstogether have a potential of tak-ing $70 billion in formal cred-it from banks,” industry lobbyAssocham and Ashvin ParekhAdvisory Services said in a jointreport Tuesday.

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Sebi Tuesday barred JKSProject Ltd, its 19 past and

present directors as well asthree promoters from securitiesmarkets till further orders for“prima-facie’’ violating publicissue norms.

Besides, the regulator askedthe entities not to dispose of theassets or divert funds raisedfrom public.

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New Delhi: The fast growing e-commerce market in the country will touchUSD 84 billion in 2021 from USD 24 billion in 2017 on account of a healthygrowth in organised retail sector, a report said on Tuesday. A fast growing econ-omy and robust demographics provide a positive outlook to the consumer busi-nesses in India, the report by Deloitte India and Retail Association of India said.These factors will fuel the retail market growth in the country, making India thethird largest retail market in Asia and fourth largest in the world, it said. Theretail market in India is expected to grow to USD 1.2 trillion by 2021 from USD795 billion in 2017, it said. “Further, as the internet penetration in the countryincreases and more international retailers start operating in India, the share oforganised retail market is expected to increase from 12 per cent in 2017 to 22-25 per cent by 2021. “This will also be driven by the growth of e-commerce mar-ket from USD 24 billion in 2017 to USD 84 billion in 2021,” the report said. Thereport titled 'Unravelling the Indian Consumer' said increasing online shopping,smartphone usage and internet penetration across semi-urban and rural segmentswould help boost the sales. “India continues to hold a strong position as far asits market potential is concerned and is on its way to becoming the third largestconsumer market in the world, poised to grow close to USD 1.2 trillion by 2021,”Anil Talreja, Partner, Deloitte India said. Given the strong retail and consumeroutlook, India is expected to witness redefining trends in the consumer marketwhich will shape the future of the retail industry, the report said. It added thatconsumer experience will be the key focus of the companies. “Against the back-drop of the Indian and global economies that set the stage for achieving glob-alisation, innovation, M&A activity, and increased digitalisation, consumer com-panies are likely to continue to reinterpret traditional levers to stimulate growthin a competitive business environment,” it said.

'����������!�� �67�������!���������������)������������New Delhi: Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's telecom venture Reliance Jio will

this year become India's No.1 telco in terms of both subscriber base and rev-enue, brokerages Bernstein and Credit Suisse said in separate reports on Tuesday.Jio, which stormed into the sector in 2016 by offering free voice calls and dirtcheap data on mobile phones, is reporting net profit and a positive return oninvested capital was due to “non-standard depreciation metrics” and subsidieson selling bundled JioPhones being booked through Reliance Retail, Bernsteinsaid. “Our high-level attempt to normalise these factors points to a potentialloss of � 15,000 crore in FY2019. Far worse than Bharti’s or Vodafone Idea’s,”it said.Jio using non-standard depreciation and amortisation has been report-ed previously as well and the regulators have found nothing wrong with sucha reporting. Bernstein said it is making this point only to highlight that Reliancewill ultimately want to make a positive return on its investment which will requirea reduction in handset subsidies and a boost in subscriber revenue. “We expectaverage revenue per user (ARPUs) to eventually start to rise to enable this,” itsaid.

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Seeking to curb excessive salary pay-out practices, the Reserve Bank has

proposed strict compensation normsfor senior officials of private as well asforeign banks, including minimum50 per cent variable component andmoney clawback provisions.

Floating a discussion paper, thecentral bank has also proposed thatvariable pay of CEO and whole-timedirectors, among other key personnel,should be “capped at 200 per cent offixed pay”. Earlier variable pay wascapped at 70 per cent of fixed pay butdid not include Employee Stock OptionPlan (ESOP).

High pay packets and excessiverisk-taking ways in the banking indus-try have been under the scanner eversince the global financial crisis of2008. Employees were too oftenrewarded for increasing short-termprofit without adequate recognition ofthe risks and long-term consequencesfor their organisations.

The latest discussion paper propos-ing changes to compensation normscomes more than seven years after theReserve Bank of India (RBI) issuedsuch guidelines for private and foreignbanks. “These (2012) guidelines arebeing reviewed, with an objective tobetter align with FSB (FinancialStability Board) Principles andImplementation Standards, based onexperience and evolving internationalbest practices,” the RBI said.

Apart from CEOs and whole-timedirectors, the proposed changes in

compensation would be applicable for“material risk takers and control func-tion staff ”.

It has also been suggested thatESOPs should be included as a com-ponent of variable pay.

The proposed guidelines also saidminimum 50 per cent of variable payis to be via non-cash component whilemandating a compulsory deferralmechanism for variable pay, regardlessof quantum of variable pay.

“It should be ensured that there isa proper balance between fixed pay andvariable pay. The total variable pay shallbe limited to a maximum of 200 percent of the fixed pay (for the relativeperiod).

“Within this ceiling, at higher lev-els of responsibility, the proportion ofvariable pay should be higher. The dete-rioration in the financial performanceof the bank should generally lead to acontraction in the total amount of vari-able compensation paid,” the discussionpaper said. Further, the paper saidbanks are required to put in placeappropriate modalities to incorporate“malus/ clawback mechanism” inrespect of variable pay, taking intoaccount relevant statutory and regula-tory stipulations as applicable.

“Wherever the assessed divergencein bank’s asset classification or provi-sioning from the RBI norms exceedsthe prescribed threshold for public dis-closure, the bank shall not pay theunvested portion of the variable com-pensation for the assessment yearunder ‘malus’ clause,” it added.

A malus arrangement permits a

bank to prevent vesting of all or partof the amount of a deferred remuner-ation. A clawback, on the other hand,is a contractual agreement between theemployee and the bank in which theemployee agrees to return previouslypaid or vested remuneration to thebank under certain circumstances.

In case of divergence (differencebetween bad assets declared by bankand assessed by RBI), no proposal forincrease in variable pay (for the assess-ment year) should be entertained, itadded.

Comments have been sought onthe discussion paper till March 31.

In the discussion paper, the RBIsaid compensation practices, especial-ly of large financial institutions, wereone of the important factors which con-tributed to the global financial crisis in2008.

“These perverse incentives ampli-fied the excessive risk taking thatseverely threatened the global financialsystem. The compensation issue has,therefore, been at the centre stage of theregulatory reforms,” it said.

The Financial Stability Forum(later the Financial Stability Board) in2009 brought out a set of Principles andImplementation Standards on soundcompensation practices.

The guidelines have been pro-posed for private sector banks, includ-ing Local Area Banks, Small FinanceBanks and Payments Banks. For theforeign banks operating in India by wayof Wholly Owned Subsidiary structure,the guidelines would be same as thatfor private sector banks in the country.

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The benchmark BSE Sensex Tuesday ended 240 pointslower as investor sentiment weakened after the India

carried out air strikes on a terrorist camp in Pakistan.Weak cues from global equities and selling pressure

on financials and realty stocks too weighed on marketmood here. After cracking nearly 500 points, the 30-share Sensex pared some losses but ended 239.67 points,or 0.66 per cent, lower at 35,973.71. It hit a low of35,714.16 and a high of 36,172.52. The gauge surged 342points in Monday's trade. The 50-share Nifty also fell44.80 points, or 0.41 per cent, to 10,835.30 after hov-ering between 10,729.30 and 10,888.75. Losses weremore pronounced in banking, realty and PSU counters.

“Indian indices traded lower mainly due to two fac-tors – first, the indications of weakness from all majorAsian markets since their opening; and second, the strikecarried out by the Indian Air Force against terroristcamps located inside Pakistan,” said Joseph Thomas,Head Research, Emkay Wealth Management.

While the former may be considered reflective ofthe evolving broader global perspective, the latter mayhave limited or transient impact on the market direc-tion, he said, adding that markets may remain quitevolatile in the coming days, especially, in the light ofthe fast approaching general elections.

The Indian Air Force struck Jaish-e-Mohammed's(JeM) biggest camp in Pakistan early Tuesday in a major“reemptive” action, killing a large number of terroristsand trainers of the Pak-based terror group preparingto carry out suicide attacks in India. The move came12 days after JeM carried out the Pulwama attack inKashmir.

Meanwhile, the rupee which depreciated 38 paiseto 71.35 against the US dollar in early trade, recoveredpartially to quote at 71.06 in late afternoon trade at theforex market, and was still trading 9 paise lower overits previous close of 70.97.

Script Open High Low LTPRCOM 5.96 6.68 5.89 6.39SUZLON 5.40 5.62 5.22 5.36JPASSOCIAT 5.95 5.96 5.60 5.88YESBANK 223.70 234.40 220.10 229.60RELCAPITAL 160.40 173.40 157.30 171.05DHFL 131.00 135.00 125.45 130.85ZEEL 442.00 489.75 440.10 469.20TATAMOTORS 173.55 183.35 172.65 182.70RELIANCE 1214.40 1233.60 1206.15 1219.70RELINFRA 128.85 134.40 126.70 132.30INFY 748.15 752.05 740.00 741.70ADANIPOWER 40.15 48.80 38.25 46.50TCS 1977.00 2038.65 1969.90 2032.35ADANIPORTS 327.00 327.00 316.00 323.55IBULHSGFIN 670.20 675.00 655.50 659.50CGPOWER 31.30 31.40 27.25 30.80IOC 137.10 143.15 136.55 141.70KSCL 390.00 412.90 385.35 410.00TATASTEEL 496.00 507.85 491.70 504.15MOTHERSUMI 158.00 162.20 153.00 157.65JETAIRWAYS 224.00 226.85 221.00 224.25AXISBANK 695.00 714.50 690.50 710.10SUNPHARMA 433.10 440.00 423.20 435.85KOTAKBANK 1227.95 1251.40 1221.20 1235.75SBIN 268.00 268.20 263.25 266.30SWANENERGY 116.85 134.50 113.50 130.30ICICIBANK 352.10 352.50 346.80 348.10JINDALSTEL 155.00 161.70 153.65 158.50VEDL 168.95 171.20 164.05 169.60ASHOKLEY 82.15 84.00 80.55 83.20MARUTI 6884.00 6974.90 6808.35 6896.30DISHTV 36.40 39.65 35.80 37.40COALINDIA 213.50 222.05 213.25 220.50BAJFINANCE 2645.00 2678.00 2600.00 2652.75TECHM 826.80 838.35 820.85 833.20JSLHISAR 85.70 93.75 84.45 89.80PNB 72.25 72.80 70.20 71.80CIPLA 548.95 553.30 538.40 550.35BAJAJFINSV 6294.00 6461.50 6238.30 6427.55KEC 254.90 259.85 251.60 256.30RPOWER 10.80 11.00 10.40 10.80LT 1268.00 1274.00 1253.25 1264.15SUNTV 580.00 615.35 571.35 605.70BANKBARODA 102.60 102.60 99.45 101.55JSWSTEEL 280.35 286.80 277.25 284.65M&M 648.80 654.75 640.60 649.85AUROPHARMA 702.90 723.20 695.60 719.75PETRONET 215.00 223.80 215.00 221.80HEG 2098.95 2098.95 2016.15 2053.80JUSTDIAL 495.00 508.90 491.05 503.30BEL 79.95 80.55 77.45 79.80GRAPHITE 410.00 412.80 401.95 409.50HDFC 1878.20 1894.45 1850.00 1853.55BRITANNIA 3198.50 3198.50 3010.00 3073.80HINDUNILVR 1770.00 1784.25 1743.00 1767.00L&TFH 124.90 126.05 121.75 124.00UNIONBANK 69.90 70.50 67.70 69.70PCJEWELLER 67.05 67.60 65.05 66.85ITC 276.00 276.75 274.05 274.95SPICEJET 76.70 77.65 76.00 76.85TAKE 130.90 137.40 125.10 130.05JUBLFOOD 1268.00 1279.00 1247.90 1274.35VIPIND 423.00 423.00 407.20 409.50BANKINDIA 81.10 82.10 79.55 81.25HINDPETRO 224.10 229.00 221.50 226.05NATIONALUM 47.95 49.10 46.85 48.50INTELLECT 171.15 181.70 166.90 176.30ESCORTS 652.30 668.40 633.90 661.00RBLBANK 573.00 580.00 547.00 576.35ONGC 148.00 149.20 146.00 147.70WIPRO 386.05 388.80 380.00 387.20NIITTECH 1295.55 1328.00 1288.80 1313.85NTPC 138.90 141.20 136.50 140.70BHARATFORG 492.00 512.50 486.45 506.05DLF 165.50 167.80 162.20 166.10BPCL 337.90 338.00 329.55 336.55BOMDYEING 111.40 112.70 108.45 110.90DELTACORP 236.30 241.00 230.35 235.90TITAN 1036.35 1041.25 1016.75 1037.70WESTLIFE 353.00 353.95 338.00 350.55WOCKPHARMA 391.65 394.75 383.25 392.40HDFCBANK 2117.90 2124.00 2103.00 2110.25IDEA 30.25 30.40 29.30 29.80SAIL 48.00 49.05 46.75 48.55IGL 287.95 291.00 281.50 287.30IDFCFIRSTB 45.70 45.75 44.15 45.30STRTECH 244.65 245.85 236.90 242.15ALBK 44.00 45.15 43.20 43.85NCC 83.00 83.05 80.35 82.40INFIBEAM 35.35 35.80 33.80 35.00LUPIN 779.75 780.50 764.00 773.40RAIN 115.10 115.10 105.55 108.50DMART 1480.00 1494.00 1466.15 1471.15HCLTECH 1083.00 1096.10 1054.85 1058.80HEROMOTOCO 2700.00 2715.00 2616.00 2688.35FRETAIL 422.70 427.85 406.75 417.90BEML 811.00 827.85 795.45 823.85ULTRACEMCO 3690.00 3810.00 3663.25 3786.55DRREDDY 2660.00 2663.00 2630.00 2648.40KRBL 316.00 347.00 313.50 339.60GNFC 262.00 262.00 253.60 256.70FSL 43.00 43.85 42.30 43.00TEJASNET 157.80 158.05 151.00 156.45IBREALEST 73.50 73.50 69.90 71.90TVSMOTOR 461.40 461.50 448.50 455.85RADICO 360.20 374.35 360.05 366.25SPARC 172.00 173.45 165.75 170.15MANAPPURAM 110.30 115.00 109.10 112.90

ICICIGI 901.00 926.00 896.40 901.35CANBK 218.00 220.45 213.45 218.00TATAPOWER 66.20 67.25 64.10 66.30BHEL 63.80 65.55 62.20 64.55FEDERALBNK 81.00 82.25 79.00 81.55UPL 848.50 856.55 837.65 853.55ABCAPITAL 87.40 88.60 84.75 87.30BANDHANBNK 465.00 485.70 465.00 479.85HINDALCO 193.00 196.95 189.15 196.35POWERGRID 181.00 183.05 179.00 181.80SUVEN 234.00 241.90 228.40 237.65RECLTD 130.00 134.80 130.00 134.30IBVENTURES 294.00 295.05 280.00 286.85HEXAWARE 351.00 354.30 342.15 353.35ENGINERSIN 105.70 106.10 103.10 105.10EIHOTEL 183.60 185.50 182.90 184.15JUBILANT 760.00 781.95 754.05 771.50HSCL 109.50 116.20 107.40 110.50PHILIPCARB 149.95 151.70 146.45 150.40EXIDEIND 216.80 219.85 211.00 218.95BHARTIARTL 318.00 320.20 301.00 315.35PERSISTENT* 596.00 632.00 592.80 625.80DBL 426.20 428.30 413.35 418.35GRASIM 770.20 785.40 762.90 780.90APOLLOHOSP 1168.40 1174.00 1148.05 1158.05TORNTPOWER 237.95 246.00 236.25 244.15INFRATEL 303.00 311.00 300.55 307.40BATAINDIA 1300.00 1314.00 1282.00 1310.10BBTC 1245.00 1270.00 1206.00 1213.85NAUKRI 1669.95 1750.00 1631.00 1719.90REPCOHOME 322.90 329.70 309.10 326.10PEL 2295.00 2335.00 2267.65 2317.60STAR 412.05 421.50 405.70 416.45SRTRANSFIN 1090.00 1139.00 1080.00 1130.15MCX 668.75 674.90 650.20 666.75

GREENPLY 138.50 148.75 136.00 144.20MAXINDIA 80.00 88.50 79.95 82.50NBCC 52.85 53.00 51.25 52.70APOLLOTYRE 210.95 211.10 206.45 209.25ABFRL 221.40 226.05 218.25 219.65INDIGO 1112.00 1136.25 1106.65 1128.05ADANITRANS 204.05 211.70 192.75 197.10TATAMTRDVR 88.90 91.50 87.50 90.75ITDC 257.00 306.00 253.35 286.75INDIACEM 85.05 86.90 81.50 85.70DIVISLAB 1580.00 1628.00 1573.00 1618.60BALKRISIND 858.60 888.40 858.30 881.95HDFCLIFE 352.00 355.80 346.25 352.25MINDTREE 905.00 915.00 890.00 905.90JKTYRE 85.50 86.65 84.05 85.65BLISSGVS 179.90 182.00 172.50 177.80GRUH 241.95 251.30 240.00 248.60ASIANPAINT 1399.00 1406.50 1379.15 1401.25EDELWEISS 144.00 144.80 138.10 141.05IDBI 42.50 42.85 41.80 42.30PFC 110.00 112.40 108.45 112.00BIOCON 615.00 621.60 608.00 619.60CUMMINSIND 700.00 729.00 682.10 721.90JAICORPLTD 90.00 91.85 87.15 89.90GODREJCP 660.00 662.35 649.60 655.30AARTIIND 1404.90 1404.90 1350.00 1391.25FORCEMOT 1413.45 1413.45 1372.35 1382.55EICHERMOT 20600.00 20945.00 20333.00 20507.90SUNTECK 330.35 330.35 320.00 325.65GODREJAGRO 475.45 482.15 474.35 477.40FCONSUMER 44.35 46.85 42.00 46.00DCBBANK 181.80 185.40 176.80 183.25VENKYS 2069.00 2069.95 2020.00 2047.20OBEROIRLTY 487.00 496.80 467.95 490.35ACC 1375.75 1394.00 1353.55 1384.20JISLJALEQS 56.55 57.80 55.10 57.20GAIL 327.00 335.15 322.05 333.35M&MFIN 397.25 397.25 383.55 389.55JAMNAAUTO 53.90 54.10 50.60 52.20MEGH 51.70 51.70 49.60 50.35IRB 131.90 131.90 126.65 129.50TATACOMM 545.00 575.00 543.90 571.95COLPAL 1258.15 1261.90 1241.05 1243.20AJANTPHARM 965.00 1007.25 955.00 999.65EMAMILTD 396.80 405.00 386.05 396.55ORIENTBANK 81.80 81.80 78.35 80.05LICHSGFIN 465.00 471.00 454.65 464.35EQUITAS 112.40 114.30 109.60 112.10OIL 173.80 175.60 171.50 173.95GMRINFRA 16.30 16.35 15.85 16.30KTKBANK 116.00 116.00 109.10 112.40RAYMOND 751.80 763.60 738.95 758.90

WELCORP 108.00 111.50 106.75 109.85TATAELXSI 891.10 900.30 875.00 884.05PIDILITIND 1100.00 1133.00 1080.55 1124.40DCMSHRIRAM 390.00 390.00 372.65 378.95JSL 33.70 35.35 32.60 34.30CANFINHOME 265.00 267.35 256.50 262.85CHENNPETRO 218.00 228.00 212.90 226.65VOLTAS 532.00 539.00 525.45 537.05MGL 872.00 896.40 864.00 886.80INDIANB 215.00 221.20 210.00 219.80UJJIVAN 280.00 281.80 269.80 276.95TATAGLOBAL 189.10 192.10 185.50 191.55INDUSINDBK 1471.00 1488.00 1462.50 1478.15BAJAJ-AUTO 2824.50 2865.70 2813.20 2852.50LTTS 1500.00 1518.00 1474.70 1497.15TATACHEM 566.00 566.80 551.00 555.80MANPASAND 72.80 75.00 71.20 74.25MFSL 414.00 414.50 396.50 400.05GODREJPROP 715.00 720.05 700.05 704.75ELGIEQUIP 251.00 271.20 251.00 264.70RNAM 197.70 199.95 192.45 195.35THERMAX 971.25 1029.50 971.25 984.65AMBUJACEM 209.70 212.85 205.00 212.05GLENMARK 588.00 598.00 572.10 588.40AVANTI 333.00 344.00 316.00 338.55RCF 52.10 52.90 51.45 52.00MPHASIS 1010.75 1032.30 1003.55 1025.90GUJFLUORO 883.40 914.80 883.40 898.70RAMCOCEM 646.95 654.00 628.50 648.70CENTURYTEX 767.00 801.35 767.00 797.25IFCI 12.55 12.85 12.06 12.64CEATLTD 1072.00 1092.00 1058.00 1075.30CROMPTON 209.20 217.05 202.30 203.40JSWENERGY 65.15 65.60 64.15 65.40CENTRUM 30.30 33.20 30.30 32.30IPCALAB 791.00 811.00 784.00 803.75OMAXE 207.25 210.20 206.30 206.50ITI 90.90 93.40 90.00 91.75HUDCO 42.15 42.15 40.15 40.70GICHSGFIN 240.00 240.50 232.25 239.10MUTHOOTFIN 525.00 534.80 518.60 525.30LTI 1694.00 1716.95 1681.10 1703.55PAGEIND 21800.00 22195.95 21420.05 22115.95ICICIPRULI 316.20 316.20 305.10 312.05NMDC 96.90 97.60 96.15 97.10DABUR 428.00 433.00 424.10 428.55HFCL 21.25 21.40 21.15 21.25NESTLEIND 10790.00 10852.10 10662.30 10787.75NOCIL 129.00 129.00 124.20 126.40CASTROLIND 151.70 152.85 148.65 151.20CADILAHC 311.80 313.65 308.55 312.10MERCK 2879.90 2935.30 2866.25 2904.05ADANIGREEN 32.00 33.25 30.60 32.90TRIDENT 61.05 61.05 59.55 60.50ISEC 198.00 203.05 192.90 201.30BOSCHLTD 18295.00 18899.00 18087.00 18724.40SREINFRA 27.40 27.85 26.40 27.10SRF 2225.00 2230.00 2202.70 2216.85SOUTHBANK 13.10 13.45 13.05 13.28SHANKARA 439.85 440.50 426.30 429.90SONATSOFTW 338.05 346.00 337.00 342.95IBULISL 253.00 286.75 244.20 273.70GSFC 91.10 91.85 88.60 90.55MRPL 64.20 65.30 62.25 64.75NHPC 23.25 23.40 23.10 23.30CONCOR 472.65 475.55 465.70 467.00TV18BRDCST 32.65 33.75 32.10 33.55NETWORK18 32.70 32.80 31.65 31.90WHIRLPOOL 1340.00 1355.35 1328.30 1348.10PRSMJOHNSN 71.50 74.90 70.80 73.60KAJARIACER 533.25 540.00 527.65 537.45ADVENZYMES 151.10 152.05 145.40 148.50IDFC 36.55 37.35 36.55 37.10UBL 1348.70 1352.00 1325.35 1338.85MARICO 339.90 344.00 333.80 340.20PVR 1479.05 1515.00 1470.00 1512.20TATAMETALI 586.40 606.20 583.00 591.15SYNDIBANK 32.55 33.15 31.65 32.65HAVELLS 694.20 703.00 689.50 695.10BERGEPAINT 294.90 298.50 290.20 296.75NATCOPHARM* 570.00 577.00 563.15 573.10JINDALSAW 82.00 83.45 80.20 81.90SYMPHONY 1202.55 1279.75 1196.30 1267.60GRANULES 93.50 94.65 90.25 93.20GODFRYPHLP 926.80 926.80 880.00 889.10GESHIP 275.00 278.00 267.00 273.90CAPPL 381.10 384.00 371.10 376.30AEGISLOG 197.50 204.55 193.00 200.50PFIZER 3048.80 3130.00 2978.80 3085.35HINDCOPPER 46.50 46.50 45.05 45.35BAJAJHLDNG 3120.85 3173.25 3103.00 3130.10MAHINDCIE 226.10 231.80 221.10 229.00DEEPAKFERT 127.40 128.90 125.00 126.45AIAENG 1661.10 1743.50 1649.90 1700.35HINDZINC 260.00 264.45 257.65 262.55GODREJIND 476.30 488.95 472.00 481.05QUESS 664.25 700.00 660.00 693.65GICRE 220.00 220.00 215.00 215.75KEI 327.20 330.10 323.00 326.60THOMASCOOK 212.00 213.70 208.10 212.25MOTILALOFS 597.00 597.00 578.50 581.70MINDAIND 310.00 312.80 305.30 308.20PARAGMILK 215.80 223.00 214.00 218.60VGUARD 193.90 195.90 188.00 195.40BHARATFIN 927.25 939.85 915.00 929.35TORNTPHARM 1792.00 1833.65 1750.00 1811.70SIEMENS 980.00 991.50 965.60 985.05INOXLEISUR 275.65 287.70 274.80 281.85RAJESHEXPO 557.50 573.00 555.00 564.55

GUJALKALI 450.00 450.00 435.00 445.25SUPREMEIND 1054.50 1129.00 1044.00 1101.85GUJGAS 123.00 123.00 116.10 116.90TIINDIA 351.60 364.75 350.60 363.55WELSPUNIND 51.00 51.40 49.35 50.50LALPATHLAB 1018.00 1027.00 1005.00 1010.25PNBHOUSING 908.80 915.00 895.00 910.40GSPL 156.95 160.90 152.80 159.70CYIENT* 618.00 640.00 614.45 629.65LINDEINDIA 425.10 432.25 420.00 425.40CRISIL 1535.15 1550.00 1477.00 1487.40HAL 650.00 674.10 636.00 653.50EIDPARRY 190.00 190.90 185.50 186.55FORTIS 137.00 137.70 134.00 134.70MRF 54999.95 56300.00 54500.00 55802.55JMFINANCIL 74.00 77.60 74.00 76.55UCOBANK 18.95 18.95 18.05 18.10MMTC 25.65 25.90 25.15 25.50AMARAJABAT 730.10 734.95 718.30 729.80INDHOTEL 141.30 141.45 139.20 139.55CHOLAFIN 1170.55 1210.00 1162.40 1197.20REDINGTON 81.95 83.75 81.95 82.55TIMKEN 549.10 576.00 533.15 572.70PRESTIGE 209.60 209.60 198.80 203.80ABB 1237.40 1247.20 1230.00 1235.80SCI 36.00 36.00 35.05 35.60VBL 783.10 803.40 781.50 798.55KANSAINER 445.50 453.80 441.00 451.60CENTRALBK 31.40 31.40 29.95 30.90CHAMBLFERT 156.05 157.95 156.00 156.15ENDURANCE 1223.70 1313.80 1200.00 1295.20BAJAJELEC 460.00 460.00 447.25 454.15UFLEX 202.05 202.05 193.55 197.15CORPBANK 29.15 29.60 28.80 29.20SOBHA 445.00 445.00 427.30 430.75MAGMA 106.95 107.00 101.65 106.55ATUL 3318.65 3324.45 3285.00 3309.55SYNGENE 581.50 595.00 572.60 584.15ITDCEM 103.05 106.60 101.00 106.15GHCL 225.05 225.05 220.00 220.70LAXMIMACH 5474.05 5758.00 5395.00 5656.45NAVINFLUOR 591.95 596.70 585.30 591.70TATACOFFEE 85.35 85.35 82.35 84.00HSIL 218.30 224.85 215.65 222.70LUXIND 1077.00 1103.00 1070.00 1080.30TATAINVEST 830.00 831.00 821.00 824.30DCAL 185.00 190.45 180.35 187.05WABCOINDIA 6050.45 6590.00 6050.45 6461.25SBILIFE 561.25 563.70 555.25 557.85AUBANK 570.00 575.95 561.95 570.15SJVN 23.90 24.20 23.50 23.90MAHABANK 12.93 13.45 12.50 12.79BLUESTARCO 598.75 624.00 585.35 616.60VIJAYABANK 41.15 43.10 39.75 41.75TNPL 184.95 190.20 184.95 187.45KNRCON 198.40 202.20 194.00 199.90APLLTD 560.00 560.00 528.65 536.55WABAG 282.10 288.90 281.40 284.75NLCINDIA 64.85 64.95 63.60 64.30J&KBANK 37.50 38.30 37.50 37.70MOIL 143.60 144.00 141.25 143.30ANDHRABANK 24.65 24.90 24.10 24.50PIIND 919.00 929.00 903.00 913.35TRENT 325.35 328.05 321.00 323.253MINDIA 23660.00 23660.00 22750.00 22897.20INOXWIND 68.20 71.95 66.30 70.80CUB 176.20 180.90 175.85 178.30NIACL 174.35 174.35 168.50 170.60SUNDRMFAST 504.75 512.80 501.00 510.90VINATIORGA 1544.40 1548.70 1515.00 1536.25PTC 75.35 77.95 75.35 77.55COCHINSHIP 343.10 353.20 341.55 344.85GDL 107.90 107.95 101.40 105.00DEEPAKNI 222.00 225.45 219.75 222.75GREAVESCOT 116.05 119.30 116.05 118.85IEX 157.00 157.50 153.50 156.05KALPATPOWR 372.00 372.50 362.80 368.90RALLIS 151.40 153.70 150.00 153.15TTKPRESTIG 7812.00 7836.60 7699.95 7801.50DENABANK 11.25 11.25 10.90 11.08OFSS 3460.00 3482.75 3440.00 3470.05COFFEEDAY 276.45 276.45 269.10 273.10BALMLAWRIE 172.30 181.75 171.00 177.20ASTRAL 1091.70 1119.65 1074.40 1097.20ZENSARTECH 204.00 208.15 200.20 207.05GPPL 76.60 77.50 76.15 76.95FINCABLES 379.40 385.00 378.05 381.40SCHNEIDER 87.05 90.05 86.30 88.95EVEREADY 197.10 201.10 195.85 198.40APLAPOLLO 1162.30 1169.95 1145.10 1160.15GULFOILLUB 880.00 890.00 860.55 871.70SUDARSCHEM 319.15 321.60 312.00 316.85PNCINFRA 134.95 134.95 128.05 129.70MONSANTO 2572.00 2574.00 2522.00 2567.10SHILPAMED 355.90 366.50 350.00 352.90ASHOKA 117.80 117.80 112.80 115.95TIMETECHNO 87.45 88.95 85.35 86.30CENTURYPLY 163.90 164.65 162.10 162.50JAGRAN 96.00 96.00 92.95 95.00LAKSHVILAS 55.55 57.25 55.00 56.60SUNCLAYLTD 2600.00 2749.00 2480.00 2717.75LAOPALA 188.60 193.15 183.95 185.60HIMATSEIDE 167.55 168.00 163.45 166.30SHK 142.90 146.95 141.60 145.05BAYERCROP 4215.80 4297.40 4201.00 4253.05TEAMLEASE 3131.00 3145.00 2998.60 3093.15GLAXO 1330.00 1333.80 1317.00 1321.45ALLCARGO 100.00 102.00 98.65 101.05SHREECEM 16446.90 16901.25 16360.25 16575.50

NAVKARCORP 38.10 41.00 38.10 40.35INDOSTAR 344.55 355.00 335.65 346.00VMART 2606.60 2613.60 2540.00 2542.40BDL 256.95 256.95 247.05 252.10IFBIND 793.65 793.65 767.10 774.50BASF 1301.95 1305.90 1270.15 1285.60ALKEM 1763.00 1765.25 1755.45 1757.40SHRIRAMCIT 1599.00 1656.80 1589.65 1615.20BAJAJCON 347.25 351.60 343.00 345.45NBVENTURES 102.00 102.60 101.00 101.50KIOCL 127.25 129.50 124.10 126.50FINOLEXIND 453.10 466.00 453.10 461.40CCL 279.10 282.00 277.45 278.75HEIDELBERG 148.50 149.90 146.00 149.05ESSELPRO 106.10 113.95 106.10 111.00ASTRAZEN 1874.95 1894.95 1830.00 1858.55NESCO 426.50 431.40 426.50 429.50SADBHAV 172.50 172.80 170.70 171.50DBCORP 177.70 181.85 177.25 180.45GSKCONS 7263.70 7335.00 7255.70 7296.60NILKAMAL 1235.00 1255.15 1232.00 1249.60GILLETTE 6202.50 6500.00 6202.50 6397.65HERITGFOOD 436.30 466.65 436.30 459.15ORIENTCEM 70.25 74.80 68.10 69.15JYOTHYLAB 180.00 180.05 177.00 178.30IOB 12.60 12.91 12.56 12.83SCHAEFFLER 5260.15 5325.00 5235.00 5312.20ISGEC 4843.15 4843.15 4700.00 4724.25PGHH 10229.00 10229.00 9850.00 9971.60BIRLACORPN 465.05 469.15 458.00 461.65FDC 152.25 153.85 150.00 152.35TVSSRICHAK 2250.00 2250.00 2210.00 2222.85APARINDS 620.40 646.05 611.00 633.95SKFINDIA 1985.60 1995.50 1948.15 1954.95PHOENIXLTD 585.15 585.25 578.20 581.95GET&D 292.85 292.85 281.95 284.20LEMONTREE 74.20 74.60 73.35 73.95MAHLOG 439.10 439.10 424.00 434.75GMDCLTD 75.00 76.55 74.60 76.20GRINDWELL 515.30 536.95 510.10 535.90ERIS 606.80 618.95 604.00 605.90JKLAKSHMI 311.75 316.00 309.00 315.30FORBESCO 1930.00 1930.00 1892.00 1922.45ABBOTINDIA 7339.80 7387.75 7275.90 7384.70COROMANDEL 435.55 438.00 434.40 436.65GAYAPROJ 148.00 152.00 145.60 148.30ASTERDM 150.50 156.00 150.50 153.40NAVNETEDUL 102.55 104.50 102.50 103.65AKZOINDIA 1679.95 1759.90 1669.80 1710.45TIFHL 435.15 453.00 434.75 447.20SOMANYCERA 313.00 329.00 311.00 325.50MINDACORP 132.85 132.85 120.00 125.05JKCEMENT 704.25 714.90 701.80 708.80ZYDUSWELL 1249.00 1257.00 1245.05 1247.65RELAXO 734.80 752.70 732.15 748.85CARERATING 957.10 962.50 955.80 962.25KPRMILL 521.30 532.05 521.05 530.10JBCHEPHARM 331.90 333.95 324.15 330.85GALAXYSURF 1015.10 1025.00 1006.00 1010.60HATSUN 655.00 669.30 645.00 662.95SANOFI 6130.00 6161.95 6038.30 6069.90SHARDACROP 350.00 363.50 350.00 354.85CERA 2289.00 2332.30 2260.00 2327.70ECLERX 985.30 1035.75 985.00 1030.15RATNAMANI 857.95 860.00 836.25 852.75MAHLIFE 369.65 374.50 369.65 372.05SHOPERSTOP 482.30 489.25 475.10 482.10SIS 761.60 770.00 746.25 764.25MHRIL 193.00 196.30 191.70 195.55TVTODAY 314.65 320.50 312.15 319.10NH 199.90 208.70 199.90 204.15GEPIL 793.75 799.90 784.50 799.05BLUEDART 3061.00 3115.00 3050.50 3107.75DHANUKA 403.80 403.80 395.00 401.45CARBORUNIV 347.00 351.45 345.50 348.25SOLARINDS 939.95 959.70 931.00 942.75TRITURBINE 100.60 102.55 100.25 101.10STARCEMENT 95.55 97.00 94.35 96.60HONAUT 21360.10 21660.00 21331.00 21621.50FLFL 424.70 434.85 420.70 426.10SUPRAJIT 195.00 197.70 192.30 195.20SFL 1310.00 1340.00 1300.00 1309.60VTL 974.70 980.00 960.00 966.65THYROCARE 536.00 539.15 533.00 536.20SUPPETRO 205.05 207.00 205.00 207.00LAURUSLABS 334.00 335.80 331.85 334.50ASAHIINDIA 253.90 253.90 250.45 251.15JCHAC 1712.00 1740.00 1712.00 1712.00

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 10775.30 10888.75 10729.30 10835.30 -44.80ZEEL 441.00 488.00 440.00 471.90 26.75TATAMOTORS 173.00 183.45 172.50 183.00 7.25IOC 137.00 143.25 136.65 142.50 3.90COALINDIA 213.30 222.00 213.00 220.25 5.90TCS 1984.00 2045.15 1972.25 2032.50 47.35BAJAJFINSV 6265.00 6498.25 6241.15 6459.00 125.45ULTRACEMCO 3690.00 3816.00 3676.05 3786.25 69.65GAIL 324.00 335.40 321.65 332.65 4.85UPL 842.25 857.75 837.55 856.85 9.20AXISBANK 694.00 715.60 693.05 709.90 6.20INFRATEL 304.00 310.50 300.15 306.50 2.55BAJAJ-AUTO 2834.00 2870.00 2812.00 2870.00 22.45YESBANK 223.20 234.45 220.10 230.55 1.45WIPRO 384.50 388.95 381.25 387.05 1.65TECHM 825.00 838.40 820.60 833.65 3.00ASIANPAINT 1396.90 1407.00 1378.60 1400.95 2.70BPCL 336.05 337.95 329.25 336.65 0.60GRASIM 774.00 785.65 762.60 780.00 1.35BAJFINANCE 2637.30 2678.00 2600.00 2660.50 2.75HINDALCO 192.75 197.20 189.05 196.50 0.00CIPLA 545.10 553.65 538.05 547.95 -0.35HINDUNILVR 1763.40 1785.90 1762.00 1768.90 -1.25ONGC 147.50 149.20 146.00 147.65 -0.10M&M 644.80 656.00 640.00 650.00 -0.70TATASTEEL 498.00 508.60 491.70 504.00 -1.10SUNPHARMA 430.50 440.00 422.85 435.00 -1.10MARUTI 6885.00 6975.00 6812.60 6900.00 -24.90ADANIPORTS 324.00 326.50 315.75 323.30 -1.25TITAN 1039.00 1041.90 1016.05 1038.75 -4.25ITC 274.95 277.00 274.05 275.40 -1.30KOTAKBANK 1224.00 1249.70 1220.10 1234.25 -6.70EICHERMOT 20670.00 20874.95 20400.10 20581.90 -122.90BHARTIARTL 315.70 320.50 313.40 315.10 -2.15NTPC 137.20 141.20 136.30 139.40 -0.95POWERGRID 179.50 182.70 178.85 180.70 -1.25HDFCBANK 2111.25 2125.00 2101.10 2109.00 -16.40LT 1263.80 1275.00 1253.00 1265.10 -10.75INDUSINDBK 1480.00 1488.85 1461.80 1478.00 -13.20HINDPETRO 224.90 229.05 221.40 226.00 -2.15DRREDDY 2653.90 2659.90 2628.95 2641.00 -25.90RELIANCE 1209.50 1234.80 1206.00 1220.20 -12.10VEDL 168.70 171.25 164.00 169.40 -1.85JSWSTEEL 279.00 286.80 277.10 284.55 -3.25HEROMOTOCO 2706.55 2713.00 2614.00 2676.10 -36.40SBIN 266.80 268.20 263.25 266.15 -4.00INFY 748.60 752.60 740.15 741.55 -13.35ICICIBANK 350.00 352.70 346.60 348.50 -7.10HDFC 1874.00 1894.65 1850.00 1856.00 -38.50HCLTECH 1080.60 1095.95 1054.95 1058.40 -23.85IBULHSGFIN 670.60 675.00 653.30 655.10 -23.70

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 26006.35 26340.65 25796.35 26199.65 -13.00SUNTV 584.00 615.90 571.10 605.70 18.65SRTRANSFIN 1090.00 1141.55 1080.30 1129.10 29.80PIDILITIND 1104.00 1132.00 1080.00 1131.00 25.30BOSCHLTD 18240.00 18888.00 18060.10 18744.75 404.10AUROPHARMA 700.00 724.40 695.00 718.80 9.95PETRONET 216.95 223.90 215.85 221.00 2.65AMBUJACEM 208.25 213.00 207.40 212.50 2.40SHREECEM 16311.20 16926.70 16311.20 16699.95 184.10BHEL 63.55 65.60 62.20 65.00 0.65BRITANNIA 3056.00 3092.95 3018.25 3075.00 26.80MRF 55140.15 56387.10 54400.00 55805.05 464.90INDIGO 1117.40 1137.50 1106.00 1126.00 8.45NIACL 171.60 172.95 169.00 172.00 0.90HINDZINC 261.30 264.85 257.60 263.40 1.15ACC 1365.00 1394.00 1353.05 1381.00 4.85BIOCON 614.70 621.75 607.30 619.50 1.65MARICO 337.80 344.35 333.10 340.90 0.85BANDHANBNK 466.20 486.90 466.20 481.00 0.90NMDC 96.55 97.65 96.20 97.20 0.10PEL 2285.00 2332.25 2267.50 2325.00 1.80ASHOKLEY 82.35 83.75 80.50 83.25 0.00SAIL 48.00 49.05 46.70 48.55 -0.05CADILAHC 311.75 313.90 308.15 313.25 -0.50OIL 172.40 176.10 171.30 173.85 -0.35NHPC 23.20 23.45 23.20 23.30 -0.05SIEMENS 979.10 992.00 965.40 986.55 -2.40SBILIFE 561.00 564.00 555.00 559.35 -1.65HDFCLIFE 351.00 355.75 346.35 353.50 -1.10LUPIN 777.00 781.00 764.10 775.00 -2.45MCDOWELL-N 519.80 528.50 512.25 522.35 -1.85DABUR 426.75 433.55 424.00 430.00 -1.90GODREJCP 656.50 662.95 649.00 655.60 -4.45OFSS 3481.15 3489.90 3440.45 3475.05 -28.05HAVELLS 695.00 703.90 689.35 697.00 -5.80PGHH 10085.00 10150.00 9876.00 10000.00 -86.85DLF 165.10 167.75 162.10 166.50 -1.65LICHSGFIN 459.75 471.90 455.10 463.20 -4.60MOTHERSUMI 157.60 162.35 152.85 157.50 -1.70ABB 1249.00 1249.00 1228.05 1233.10 -13.45ABCAPITAL 86.75 88.50 84.70 87.60 -1.10BANKBARODA 102.30 102.30 99.35 101.45 -1.45ICICIGI 900.00 927.80 895.05 902.00 -13.35COLPAL 1258.00 1263.95 1241.00 1244.95 -19.10BEL 79.50 80.55 77.40 79.65 -1.25CONCOR 474.55 476.80 466.00 466.00 -8.50DMART 1481.50 1495.00 1463.25 1468.00 -27.95L&TFH 124.30 126.25 121.65 124.00 -2.50ICICIPRULI 315.00 315.95 304.75 310.30 -6.85GICRE 219.00 220.20 215.15 215.60 -5.40IDEA 30.20 30.40 29.20 29.75 -0.75

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The EU on Tuesday called onNew Delhi and Islamabad

to exercise “maximumrestraint” after Indian war-planes attacked a militant campin Pakistan, sending tensionssoaring between the nuclear-armed arch-rivals.

“We remain in contact withboth countries and what webelieve is essential is that allexercise maximum restraintand avoid further escalation oftensions,” EU spokeswomanMaja Kocijancic told reporters.

India said its warplanesattacked a militant camp wherePakistan-backed fighters werepreparing suicide attacks on itscities, killing a “very largenumber” of militants from theJaish-e-Mohammad (JeM)group.

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Australia on Tuesday urgedIndia and Pakistan to

“exercise restraint” and engagein dialogue to ensure issues areresolved peacefully even as itasked Islamabad to take “urgentand meaningful” action againstterrorist groups including JeMoperating from its soil.

Australian Foreign AffairsMinister Marise Payne’s state-ment came hours after Indianfighter jets struck Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)’s biggestterror camp in Pakistan in apre-dawn attack.

The Indian Air Force (IAF)bombed terror camps at mul-tiple locations across the Lineof Control (LoC) on thePakistani side in a pre-dawnstrike, 12 days after the

Pakistan-based terror groupJeM carried out the Pulwamaattack in Kashmir.

The Australian govern-ment is concerned about therelations between India andPakistan, Payne said.

“Australia urges both sides to exercise restraint, avoidany action which wouldendanger peace and security inthe region and engage in dia-logue to ensure that theseissues are resolved peacefully,”she said.

“The Australian govern-ment is concerned about rela-tions between India andPakistan following the horrif-ic terrorist attack in Jammu andKashmir on 14 February, whichAustralia has condemned.

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North Korean leader KimJong Un and US President

Donald Trump arrived inHanoi Tuesday, ahead of a sec-ond summit closely watchedfor concrete steps to dismantlePyongyang’s nuclear pro-gramme.

After an initial historicmeeting in Singapore in June that produced only avague statement about denuclearisation, analysts saythe second date must delivermore in the way of tangibleprogress.

The summit itself isshrouded in secrecy and therewas still no official word even

on the venue when Trumptouched down in Air Force

One late Tuesday. The twoleaders were expected to havean informal dinner onWednesday before more formaltalks on Thursday.

Trump made no commentto reporters on his aircraft buthad previously tweeted hishopes for a “very productive”meeting, reiterating that NorthKorea could enjoy economicriches if it gave up its nuclearweapons.

“With completeDenuclearization, North Koreawill rapidly become anEconomic Powerhouse,” tweet-ed Trump. “Without it, justmore of the same.”

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China on Tuesday urged Indiaand Pakistan to “exercise

restraint” and asked New Delhito carry out its fight against ter-rorism through internationalcooperation, hours after Indianfighter jets struck Jaish-e-Mohammed’s biggest camp inPakistan in a pre-dawn attack.

When asked for China’sresponse to India’s air strikes onterrorist camps in Pakistan,Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Lu Kang told themedia here that “we have takennote of the relevant reports.”

“I want to say that India andPakistan are both importantcountries in South Asia. Asound relationship and cooper-ation between the two serves theinterests of both the countriesand peace and stability in SouthAsia,” he said. “We hope thatboth India and Pakistan canexercise restraint and do moreto improve their bilateral rela-tions,” he said. India bombedand destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed’s biggest trainingcamp in Pakistan early Tuesday,

killing a “very large number” ofterrorists, trainers and seniorcommanders, officials said inNew Delhi.

On India’s assertion that itwas a “non-military pre-emptivestrikes” directed against trainingcamps of the terrorist groupswho are carrying out violent actsin India, Lu said, “as for India’sclaim on taking action againstterrorism, well fighting terrorismis a global practice”. “It needsnecessary international cooper-ation. India needs to createfavourable condition interna-tionally for the same,” he said.

To another question, hesaid Pakistan Foreign MinisterShah Muhammad Qureshi hasspoken to his Chinese counter-part Wang Yi on the Pulwamaterror attack in Jammu andKashmir. “During the phonecall, Wang listened carefully toPakistan foreign minister’s noti-fication and proposals on theissues and reaffirmed his opin-ion that the two sides need toadvance their cooperation in thecounter terrorism for peace andstability in the region,” thespokesman said.

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Pakistan on Tuesday sum-moned India’s acting High

Commissioner here and con-demned the “violation of itsterritorial sovereignty” byIndian fighter jets.

In a statement, the ForeignOffice said that at “approxi-mately 02.54 hours (localtime), 8 Indian aircraft wereeffectively intercepted by thePakistani Air Force jets andforced” to return.

The Indian jets “random-ly released their ordinancewhich landed in an uninhab-ited remote area,” it added.

“The Acting ForeignSecretary summoned theIndian Acting HighCommissioner and strongly

condemned the Indian viola-tion of Pakistan’s sovereigntyand territorial integrity,” itsaid.

It said that the “baseless,reprehensible Indian claims oftargeting a large terrorist campand resultant causalities toplacate Indian domestic audi-ence and electioneering werestrongly rebutted.”

The Acting ForeignSecretary categorically statedthat Indian “aggression was athreat to regional peace andstability and would get a befit-ting response by Pakistan at atime and place of its choosing.”

The official also con-demned the “baseless” Indianallegations against Pakistan’sinvolvement in the Pulwamaterror attack.

London: The British Gover-nment has called on India andPakistan to pursue diplomatic s-olutions in the wake of the Pu-lwama terrorist attack in J & K.

UK Foreign SecretaryJeremy Hunt held telephonicconversations with ExternalAffairs Minister Sushma Swarajand Pakistan Foreign Minister.

Shah Mehmood Qureshion Monday, the UK Foreign andCommonwealth Office (FCO)said in a statement. “The ForeignSecretary highlighted the UK’sconcern about the enduringthreat to regional stability fromterrorism.

“He encouraged Pakistanand India to improve coopera-tion and find diplomatic solu-tions that will create greater sta-bility and trust in the region,” theFCO said hours before Indianfighter jets struck Jaish-e-Mohammed’s biggest camp inPakistan in a pre-dawn attack.

The Indian Air Force (IAF)bombed terror camps at multi-ple locations across the Line ofControl (LoC) on the Pakistaniside in a pre-dawn strike, 12 daysafter the Pakistan-based terrorgroup Jaish-e-Mohammed(JeM) carried out the Pulwamaattack in Kashmir. PTI

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Pakistan Army confirmed thatIndian fighter jets dropped

“four bombs” during an opera-tion on Tuesday but down-played its significance, saying theIndian attack was repulsed andwhile going back the aircraft“jettisoned their payload.”

Army spokesman Maj GenAsif Ghafoor also said that Pakistan will “surprise”India with its response that willbe in all domains including“diplomatic, political and mili-tary.” “Prime Minister ImranKhan told the army and the peo-ple that get ready for any even-tuality. Now it is time for Indiato wait for our response. Wehave decided. Wait for it,”Ghafoor said.

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Iran’s foreign minister saidTuesday he hoped his sudden

resignation would reinforce theposition of his fellow diplomats,hinting at a dispute with thesecurity apparatus and hard-lin-ers over the conduct of thecountry’s foreign policy.

Mohammed Javad Zarif ’sresignation sent shockwavesthrough Iran, where tensions arealready running high overAmerica’s withdraw from thenuclear deal he helped negoti-ate with President HassanRouhani.

The Tehran stock marketdropped 1,927 points Tuesday,down some 1.16 percent. TheIranian rial, which has rapidlydepreciated amid uncertaintyover the deal’s future, stoodaround 135,600 rials to $1. Ithad been 32,000 to the dollar at

the time of the deal.The state-run IRNA news

agency said Zarif told colleagueshis resignation would aid in“restoring the ministry to itslegal position in foreign rela-tions.” The remark appeared tobe aimed at other bodies with-in Iran’s government. Zarif wasnot present for a meeting withSyrian President Bashar Assadon Monday.

Assad was warmly receivedby Supreme Leader AyatollahAli Khamenei as well as Gen.Qassem Soleimani, the com-mander of an elite unit of theRevolutionary Guard.

Later on Tuesday, and with-out mentioning the resigna-tion, Rouhani praised Zarif aswell as Oil Minister BijanZanganeh and Central Bankchief Abdolnasser Hemmati assoldiers on the battlefield againstUS pressure.

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The Taliban andWashington’s peace envoy

are close to reaching an agree-ment on US troop withdrawalfrom Afghanistan, aspokesman for the Islamicinsurgents said Tuesday amida new round of talks with theUnited States.

Suhail Shaheen, thespokesman, said the deal willalso include guarantees thatAfghanistan will not be usedagain as a staging arena foranti-American attacks.

His remarks came duringthe second day of talks in theQatari capital of Doha with USenvoy Zalmay Khalilzad whohas been trying to negotiate aresolution of the 17-year war inAfghanistan, America’s longest.

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Business school predic-tions for the last twoyears have already sung

paeans to emerging technolo-gies such as artificial intelli-gence, internet of things andvirtual reality in modern class-rooms and the disruptionsthey bring to education. 2019has already recognised thosetrends and given them theirdue pedestal. What is new in2019 is that there is renewedfocus on the MBA degree's rel-evance to society and whetherit has become out of sync withcurrent industry practices.

Pursuing an MBA requiresconsiderable personal andfinancial commitment. One ofthe most obvious questionsthat today's generation asks aB-school is that when college-dropouts can go on to becomebillionaires why should oneneed an MBA?

A recent employer surveyin the US reveals that employ-ers search for five key skills intheir target managerial per-sonnel — ability to work witha variety of different people,ability to build, sustain andexpand networks of people,ability to solve complex prob-lems, ability to understandthe impact of digitalisation onbusiness and the ability toprioritise and deliver time-bound results. As can be seen,these are typical soft skillswhich rarely form part ofbusiness curricula and are dif-ficult to teach in classroom

environments or even simula-tions.

Some of the expectationsaround an MBA are patentlyunreasonable. For example, anumber of students have beenled to believe that an MBA isa golden ticket to a high-pay-ing job, which it isn't. The factremains that your career willdepend on the body of workyou are able to present to aprospective employer.Employers are looking to hirepeople with not only the rele-vant skills and competencieswhen they hire an MBA butalso one who has demonstrat-ed success in managementthrough relevant experience.And only a handful of businessschools will give you real-world laboratories to practiceand hone skills ancillary toyour core competencies.

Given below are the toptrends that MBA programmeswill be looking to deliver in2019.�New disciplines to take cen-ter-stage: Entrepreneurship,analytics and design-thinkingare predicted to be the 3 topareas in which demand willincrease manifold this year.Digital media and luxurymanagement are other emerg-ing areas where specialisationis a key requirement for entry.As per naukrihub.com, a qual-ity control manager's salaryranges between �5,49,320 to�8,77,720. A pharma productmanager earns from �4,47,620

to �1,051,550 and that for abusiness analyst, between�5,02,830 to �9,45,630.�Business schools will bemore responsive to society:Social upheavals in today'senvironment continue to ques-tion established institutionsand their relevance to socialrealities. Business leaders too,being an inherent part of the

community, will be pressed tobecome more responsive andresponsible to needs such asenvironmental regulation,CSR and other collaborations.Industries ranging from phar-maceuticals and energy toFMCG and fashion, all arebeing pressed to prove theirinvolvement and contributionto the society at large.Adequate training and prepa-ration will be called for thoseroles.� Increasing relevancethrough collaborations withGovernment and industry: Inaddition to continued global-isation on one side with easeof mobility and inter-con-nectedness of joint academicand student exchanges world-wide, while on the otherside,some countries have start-ed to look inwards towardsnationalisation. This has led tochanging trading relations,resulting in redesigning oper-ations and strategies for manybusinesses. MBA programmes,therefore, will be required torespond to such needs, whereunderstanding the govern-ments and the industry will beimperative. �Despite the presence of tech-nologies such as AI and digi-tal twinning, personal inter-actions will continue to trumpdigital interactions as thethings that make a businessrelationship sustainable arestill developed over lunch orface-to-face cues. Negotiations

and transactions will have thebest chance of success overtechnically enhanced face-to-face interactions.�Embedding technology inthe classroom: Apart fromthese new trends, classroomsare already being supple-mented by digital lectures,notes, AI-enhanced assess-ments that personalise thelearning pace according tothe comprehension capacitiesof individual students, VR-powered simulations modelwhat would happen if deci-sions were to be implemented.Automation, robotisation andblockchain skills are invaluableto the evolution of industry 4.0and those possessing suchskills will be at a distinctadvantage.

The MBA degree has notlost relevance despite its beingoverused and non-uniformstandard of education in India.As Professor, Dr Jyoti PrakashNaidu, Dean of Research &Devlopment, JKLU's PinnacleMBA program, says, “Thecrucible of experience in acomprehensive MBA programteaches one the language ofbusiness and should cultivatein the learner the ability toinspire others to action.” Theskills and capabilities the MBAoffers to society and businessare still generating greatimpact and will continue to doso in the coming future.-�����������������.����,���������6���

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The University School of ManagementStudies(USMS), IP University organ-

ised two-day long management festivalBiz Buzz 2019 at its Dwarka campus.

According to faculty Co-ordinator ofthis festival Dr Shilpa Jain, apart fromvarious events like case developmentcontest, business plan contest, mockstock, best finance talent, best mar-keting talent, best hr talent, standupcomedy, brush it up, treasure hunt,debate on management topic, businessstrategy game, outdoor events like com-edy show, DJ night and star night werealso organised on the occasion for all twodays of the festival.

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The new chairman of NationalBook Trust, India (an

autonomous organisation underthe Department of HigherEducation, Ministry of HumanResource Development) hasbeen appointed on 21 February2019. Professor Govind PrasadSharma, distinguished educa-tionist, took over as the newchairman.

Born in the year 1939,Prof.essor Sharma has served asthe Principal of GovernmentP.G. College, Madhya Pradesh.

Later, he was appointed as theAdditional Director of HigherEducation (Gwalior ChambalDivision) and has also been theDirector of Madhya PradeshHindi Granth Akademi.

Having worked extensivelyin the field of education, Sharmahas also worked in the capacityof Vice Chairman of MadhyaPradesh Board of SecondaryEducation as well as Chairmanof Madhya Pradesh TextbookWriting Standing Committee.

In addition, Sharma haspublished numerous researchpapers.

4,04��!� �������� ������ �����&���(�"��##!�"��$The result of Executive

programme (old and newsyllabus) and Professionalprogramme held inDecember 2018, has beendeclared on Monday,February 25 to all the region-al and chapter offices of theinstitute throughout thecountry.

In Executive programmes(old syllabus) examination5.24 per cent candidatespassed in Module I and 9.60per cent in Module II, whilein Executive Programme(new syllabus) examination5.38 per cent candidates

passed in Module I and 4.76per cent n Module 11.

In Professional pro-gramme examination 12.86per cent of candidates passedin Module I, 14.74 per cent inModule II and 13.06 per centin Module III.

The next examinationsof Company Secretar yExecutive programme andProfessional programme willbe held from Saturday, June 1to Monday, June 10, 2019.

The last date for onlinesubmission enrollment appli-cations together with the req-uisite fee is March 25, 2019.

!���� ��������� ����The University of

Sheffield, UK is invitingapplications for its newMSc Biological Sciencescourse starting in September2019.

The programme pro-vides training in the breadthand depth of whole-organ-ism biology, allowing stu-dents to develop a wide rangeof knowledge across the dis-cipline via the general bio-logical sciences pathway, or tospecialise within one of threemajor areas through dedicat-ed pathways in — evolution-ary biology, plant and cropscience, and biodiversity andconservation.

Duration: 12 monthsEligibility: Holders of a

three year bachelor degreewith a minimum of 60 percent or first class from a rep-utable university in BiologicalSciences or other relevant sci-ence subject.

Fee: The annual fee foroverseas students is £24,600 in2019.

How to apply: Log on [email protected];https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/aps/biological-sciences.

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TKWs Institute ofBanking & Finance, NewDelhi invites applications forits new academic session ofPost graduate diploma inBanking & Finance with spe-cialisation in InternationalTrade Finance.

This programme starts byproviding fundamental clari-ty and then advances toexpose the participants to allessentials of banking &finance.

With Certif icate inInternational Trade andFinance (CITF), a studentcan easily seek jobs in tradedepartment of a bank. Theexam for this certification isconducted by InternationalChamber of Commerce(ICC).

Eligibility : Minimumqualification for securingadmission to PG Diplomacourse in Banking & Finance

is gradu-ate in any stream with 50 percent marks, students awaitingfinal year results may alsoapply.

How to apply: Fill anonline application form andpay �1000 application fee,online or by visiting the insti-tute.

L ast Date to apply :March 19, 2019.

Fee: The annual fee foroverseas students is £24,600 in2019.

?�����!��IMS-Design & Innovation

Academy is inviting applica-tions for Jewellery Design,Bachelors of Fine Arts:Fashion Design, Bachelors ofFine Arts: Applied Arts,Undergraduate Diploma InAccessories Design (FashionAccessories), Fashion Design,Interior Design andCommunication Design.

Duration: Three years forBachelors of Science, Fouryers for Bachelors of FineArts, Four years Bachelors ofFine Arts: Applied Arts andTwo years for undergraduateDiploma In AccessoriesDesign.

Eligibility: Students whohave passed or will appear forthe qualifying examinationsunder the higher secondary(Class XII) from any recog-nised Board of Educationsuch as AISSCE/IB/ICSE, orequivalents can apply.

How to Apply :Prospectus along with theapplication form can beobtained for �1000 from theacademy or by post enclosing or log on to http://www.diain-dia.co.in.

Contact: 18001039383,0120-4097100.

L ast Date to apply :Design Entrance Exam (DEE)on April 28, 2019.

Holistic approach in moderneducation has become quin-

tessential for students across theworld. The days of thestereotype educationsystem and limited sub-ject study are long gone.Today, it is important forstudents to observe,study and explore dif-ferent facets of societyand cultures for their all-rounddevelopment. The inclusion offoreign educational trips in edu-cational curriculums not onlynurtures humanitarian qualities instudents but also brings forththeir expertise and develops newskills.

Educational trips to thediverse nations give studentsexposure to new landscapes,wildlife, and topography. Morethan that, the act of philanthropy,volunteering for underprivilegedones, volunteerism, volunteertourism, or voluntourism duringthese foreign educational tripsfacilitate a ‘socially impactful jour-ney’ for students.

Some of the key benefits,which make these foreign educa-tional trips and volunteering activ-ities an integral tool for all-round

development of students are:�Adapting to foreign culturesfacilitates creativity and buildsperspective: Volunteerism duringthe educational trips isn’t just anattempt to make a difference, infact, it also helps students tounderstand and adapt to foreigncultures and learn their traditionalvalues by helping them in creat-ing a better life. The experience ofcultural immersion creates a newperspective of life in studentsand gives wings to their creativi-ty in a longer run. A chance tospend time with natives andindulging in humanitarian activ-ities create awareness of underly-ing connections and build newassociations.

�Invokes curiosity and facilitatesidea flexibility: Curiosity canlead to a generation of revolu-tionary ideas and change the wayof life. Foreign educational tripsinstill great qualities in studentsand open a new horizon for themto explore. This gives curiousones a chance to explore theirinterest areas and develop theirexpertise. �Kickstarts an interest in newcareer avenues: What can be bet-ter than realising your true poten-tial and exploring possible careeravenues during your educationaltrips? By taking a step out of thecomfort zone and finding yourtrue strengths and weaknesses,you can become a better human

and a successful person in thefuture. The process of skill devel-opment and upskilling duringvolunteering activities help stu-dents in molding a better future.�Teaches the skill of networkingand opportunity to learn multi-ple languages: Embarking onforeign educational trips effi-ciently breaks the myth of lan-guage barriers. Apart from gain-ing better command in English,the global lingua franca, studentsalso get a chance to learn nativelanguages of their host countries.It turns into one of the best prac-tical exercises for students tointeract with speakers of differentlanguages and learn more abouttheir cultures, to realise the dreamof a global family. �Increases understanding ofworking as a team: Apart fromskill enhancement and diverse cul-tural experience, one of the impor-tant lessons that an educationaltrip brings is — benefits of work-ing as a team. When people fromdifferent cultures and back-grounds come together to workfor the underprivileged in unison,the enthralling adventures turninto life’s most memorable expe-riences. Students working inteams, collectively steppingtowards one motive to benefit oth-ers and serving society help intheir evolution into more humbleand compassionate human beings.-����������������� ��+,1>6�.����������#

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Engineering is the most preferredprofessional course among students

— the right choice of engineering dis-cipline can help you to reach the topof your career. The engineering indus-try is vast and there are plenty of nich-es among which students can decide,based on their interest and passion.

This is the reason why students aremore desirous to pursue streams inengineering which are always indemand. Civil engineering is one suchdiscipline which is ‘evergreen’ and ver-satile. Students can pursue differentroles such as quantity surveying,nuclear engineering, waste resourcemanagement, structural designs andothers.

In short, civil engineering is aninnovative career choice. A degree incivil engineering helps the students tosecure well-paid jobs in this particu-lar sector.

Civil engineers with their greattechnical skills, core-knowledge ofthe discipline and understanding ofconcepts are always in-demand.

According to research conductedby the Royal Institute of CharteredSurveyors (RICS), India is expected toface a demand of approximately 4 mil-lion civil engineering professionals.With steady urbanisation and mod-ernism, we can expect an enhancedcareer scope for civil engineering stu-dents in India.

After procuring a degree in civilengineering, the individual is capableof working in top multinational com-panies like Larsen & Toubro,Gammon, HCC. Civil engineers canlook for international projects incounties like the USA, UAE, Chinawhere the demand is considerablyhigh.

Why civil engineers are here to

stay?Presently, the civil sector is expe-

riencing a huge boom, hence it is high-ly sought-after. A significant increasein the number of private players andthe need for unique infrastructure andmanagement of resources has createdimmense employment opportunitiesfor skilled civil engineers.

The global value of the civil engi-neering market is $7.84 trillion for theyear 2017. It is expected to rise furtherby 5.6 per cent between the year 2018to 2025. The rise in urban populationis the key factor which boosts the civilindustry.

This is the best time to pursue civil

engineering as the construction indus-try of India is on the rise. Globalisationhas created a drastic civil upturn indeveloping nations. As per the WorldBank estimation, urban population inIndia is expected to grow further. This,in turn, has put pressure on the civilsector, facilitating extremely demand-ing numbers for civil engineers in thecountry.

In conclusion, civil engineeringremains the fastest growing, compet-itive engineering discipline, whosedemand continues to grow year afteryear with a consequent rise in urban-isation.

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The University ofSheffield, UK is offering 50international UG MeritScholarships in 2019. Thescholarships are competitiveawards worth 50% of thetuition fee for an undergrad-uate degree programmestarting in September 2019.The scholarship is availablefor new international (non-EU) students who meet theeligibility criteria.

You will be able to applyfor a scholarship via MUSEfor applicants. You mustreceive an offer by April 19,2019. The results will beannounced by 16:00 (UKtime) on Friday May 31,2019.

Eligibility: Must bescheduled to commence atthe University of Sheffield inSeptember 2019. For tuitionfee purposes you must beself-funded and eligible topay the overseas tuition fee.You must not be a sponsoredstudent.

For more informationvisit: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/international/enquiry/money/ugmerit

Application deadline:The deadline is 16:00 (UKtime) April 26 2019.

Strathclyde BusinessSchool, Glasgow is offeringup to four partial, merit-based tuition scholarships

for applicantswith First Class Degrees

(or overseas equivalent of aUK First Class degree).

Two awards of �8,500 areavailable for a non-EU can-didate and two awards of�6,500 for an EU candidate.

Eligibility: Candidatesmust be self-funded (ie: notin receipt of any fundingfrom any other scholarships,employer sponsorship etc)and already hold an offer ofa place on either the MScInternational Master ProjectManagement or GlobalMaster in IndustrialManagement for September2019 entry.

The scholarships will beawarded on merit, ratherthan financial need, to can-didates who demonstrate intheir Masters Programmeapplication excellent acade-mic performance (currentand/or previously gained);any relevant extra-curricularor professional experienceand career development andwho will contribute to theoverall academic, culturaland experiential profile ofthe programme cohort.

For more informationvisit: [email protected]; https://www.strath.ac.uk/studywithus/scholar-ships/strathclydebusinesss-choolscholarships/manage-mentsciencescholarships/mscinternationalmasterproject-managementdeansexcel-lencescholarships/

Application deadline:The application deadline isJuly 14, 2019.

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According to a report by theBritish Council, over the years,the Indian design industry has

grown exponentially. It’s estimatedthat by 2020, the design market isexpected to be at �188.32 billion. Yet,only a fifth of the market has beentapped into at this time. However, slow-ly but surely the country is starting toembrace design outside of tradition.Today, designers are backed by astrong educational background. Thismakes Indian designers a mix of talent,insight, and experience.

Since the growth in the industry,many organisations have also startedrealising the importance of gooddesign. According to BrandRecruitment, a marketing recruitmentsolutions company, the design indus-try is categorised into three differentsections: In-house design; design busi-nesses and freelancers

Today, a large number of businesseshave in-house design teams. Theseorganisations are the ones that soak upmost of the talent from the talent poolof designers. Design businesses havealso managed to scale up, and a lot ofdesigners choose to work alongsidethem to help the business scale evenhigher. Yet another set of designersdecide to work as freelancers. Thesefreelancers could work with anybodyfrom an in-house design team todesigners working with design busi-nesses. At the end of the day, a freelancedesigner is essentially a single personorganisation.

However, every designer workingin big in-house teams, small designbusiness, or as a freelancer needs topossess a certain set of skills. Let’s takea look at a few that monster.com rec-ommends for designers:

Communication: designersexpress ideas with the help of text andimage. Consequently, communicationskills are crucial to the job. However,communication is essential in designin other ways too. Designers have toconnect their ideas to organisations,clients and employers. It commandseffective public speaking skills for pre-sentations and writing skills for pro-posals. Designers must also be able to

communicate with clients and employ-ers via phone, email, and sometimesthrough a video call.

Creativity: Designers need to becreative masterminds. They have tocommunicate ideas through text andimage creatively. They have to createsolutions for their clients with creativemeans; for instance, they may have topromote an organisations missionwithin a website or design an illustra-tion that encourages the sale of a prod-uct. All of this requires creativity, as wellas creative problem-solving skills.

Time management: Digital Artsonline, UK says that most designers arecontinually balancing various projectsat once. Because this is such a standardpart of the job, it's essential that theypossess strong time management skills.Designers should be able to multitask,juggle multiple tasks over long periods,and meet all set deadlines.

According to a report published byConfederation of Indian Industry,India is embracing design like neverbefore. With the increase in design edu-cation, it has brought about a radicaltransformation in the industry. Theyouth also is willing to develop theirskills and translate them into a suc-cessful career since their talent can nowbe backed up by prestigious educationalinstitutes.

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The Chicago University recent-ly announced that its inter-national students do not have

any mandatory requirements toreport SAT or ACT scores. Manyother universities have eased out theSAT requirements over the years,and we expect that in anotherthree-five years it would mostly bedone away with.

As it is, SAT/ ACT scores arenot an important criterion when itcomes to admissions in top uni-versities in US. While most uni-versities say that they do not havea recommended range of SATscores and many good universitieshave varied SAT/ACT scores amongtheir successful student applicants,going down to even extremely lowscores like 1200/1600. Plus, SAT isone among the many parametersthat a university judges an applicantupon. A case in point is MIT,among the most rigorous selectionprocess. The MIT engineering appli-cants get selected from a range ofcriterion ranging from a researchproject, makers’ portfolio, human-ities and art portfolio, academicsover a four-year time horizon,SAT/ACT scores, co-curricular andextracurricular activities includingleadership positions, sports andathletic ability, etc. All of them (andsome more) coalesce to create theunique story for each of the appli-cant which gets you in. Clearly, SATis a very small portion of this storyand as such should not be over-emphasized. Chicago University’s

decision is just another validation ofthe point that is veering US uni-versities away from generalisedtests like SAT/ACT.

There are some definite advan-tages of a generalised test score likeSAT/ACT for a university. Clearly,not all boards or marking philoso-phies are similar. IB, A levels, dif-ferent boards corresponding tocountries/States — there are somany variations that it is extreme-ly hard for someone to assess a stu-dent on a common yardstick. Insuch a scenario, generalised testscores provide a ready escape andgive universities a common way ofassessing a person’s academic capa-bility. To that extent, as a commonplatform to assess students acrossvariety of parameters, SAT/ACTscores remain a meaningful mech-anism.

However, SAT/ACT testing suf-fer from the same problems that anytest suffers from. It captures a stu-dent’s performance on a given daywhich may not capture his poten-tial/capacity correctly because of anumber of reasons. Poor or excep-tional test taking ability (not poten-tial), it being a bad/good day, the testitself are amongst the many variablesthat leave the outcome from the testcircumspect and indicative at best!Universities are cognizant of thisand a blip in the form of SAT/ACTperformance on a given day asopposed to a different story in youroverall academic profile would notget undue weightage. Additionally,

SAT/ACT allow you multipleopportunities to improve your scoreso the performance on a given daywould not determine your future.

An entrance system which isholistic has anyways been assessingperformance and potential acrossa range of parameters for a verylong period of time. Giving theassessors one less variable(SAT/ACT scores) would notimpact their ability to judge. Agood example is the ability of thesame assessors to validate the nar-ratives and applications of 'home-schooled' students. In these cases,application-assessors don't haveaccess to much of standardized datathat any normal school studentshave. Despite that they have beenable to successfully assess and roll-out offers to many of these stu-dents. In fact, Stanford, Cornell andmany of the top IVYs have rolledout record number of offers tohome-schooled students. Again,this is clearly indicative of the factthat schools will judge your capa-bility with or without SAT/ACTscores.

Many of our students havebeen very adventurous with theirSAT scores. Some of the flat-outrefused to take the SAT tests - oneof them shared the link of the busi-ness that she had created (a 5 MM$ business at the time of her appli-cation), another posted the code ofa successful algorithm that he hadsold to Airbnb. In each of thesecases (and many more), the appli-

cation was extremely powerful(notwithstanding the lack ofSAT/ACT scores.) Consequently,these students received admitsfrom some of the top universitiesincluding Stanford, Cornell,UPenn, MIT and Princeton.

Apart from Engineering, ifyou look at Economics and Designapplications, the relative value ofSAT/ACT scores become increas-ingly clear. While it can be arguedthat in the case of design applica-tions, there is an art portfolio thatgives a sense of the student’s capa-bility; that is not the case withEconomics/Business applications.Most students do not take subjectSATs and while many still take thegeneral SAT/ACT, it seemscounter-intuitive to think thatSAT/ACT scores determine entry.More so, when many of the topscorers receiving as high as1580/1600 were denied admis-sion.

In summary, we posit thatyour narrative determines yourentry to a university and not yourSAT/ACT scores. These scores arevalue additive in so much as they(may) support your story but noth-ing more than that.

Our general advice, thereforeis to focus on building your story— something which is moredurable and harder than gettingbetter SAT/ACT scores. That iswhat shall get you into a great uni-versity.-�������������,�+���� ��6�����2 ��;��

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India all-rounder KrunalPandya on Tuesday insist-

ed that the team has not lostmomentum despite losingthe series opener andinstead taken a lot of heartfrom "almost defending"126 at Vizag.

Krunal was the bestspinner in the game whilepacer Jasprit Bumrahbowled brilliantly in hiscomeback game to take thematch into the final overafter a pedestrian battingperformance.

"It was a great bowlingeffort. Everyone chipped inand we almost defended thelow total. We just have to bemore cautious about ourbatting," said Krunal ahead

of the secondT20." T o m o r r o w

(Wednesday) is a veryimportant game as we are 0-1 down but I would not saythat we have lost momen-tum. We lost the other nightbut we are not losing con-secutive games. I am surewe will do well," said the 27-

year-old.Krunal said it would be

nice to have some part-timeoptions in the team consid-ering India only played fivespecialist bowlers in Vizag.

"All the five bowlerswho played are all qualitybowlers. All are match win-ners on a given day. If you

have options it is good butwhatever is there we are finewith that."

Krunal also praisedAustralia for their effort onSunday.

"History says they are acompetitive side and weknow that they will give 100percent every time theystep on the field. We aremindful of that.

"The wicket looks goodhere. It will be better thanVizag for sure. So we expectmore runs," he said.

Krunal knows that hemay not be in the team'sWorld Cup plans anddespite the focus being onfinalising the squad for the50-over mega event, he saidthe second T20 is a "veryimportant game".

����� #&)$-4+4�

In-form Australian pacer PatCummins on Tuesday could not

help but praise another fast bowleron the top of his game — JaspritBumrah, saying the Indian's paceand accuracy has made him a seri-ous threat in all three formats.

Cummins has beenAustralia's standout fast bowlerover the last 12 months and haseven made some useful contribu-tions with the bat, including in thefirst T20 against India, when hegot a crucial four and a double onthe final two balls to pull off athree wicket win for his team.

Bumrah, on the other hand,brought back India into the gameby taking two wickets in the 19thover conceding just two runs. Inhis comeback game, he showedhow invaluable he has become forIndia in all three formats.

"He is obviously a class act.Two of the basics he does reallywell is that he bowls fast and he

bowls accurately. Anyone whodoes that in world cricket will posea real challenge for the batsmen.He has got a great slower ball,seems to have a great cricketingbrain, executes his skills reallywell," Cummins said.

"He has done really well in allthree formats and the one to watchout for,added the Auusie speedsterahead of the second and final T20.

The 25-year-old from Sydneyhimself has become invaluable for

his team after maintaining his fit-ness over the past two seasons.

"I haven't seen too manymemes (of myself on socialmedia) but really happy withhow my game is going at themoment. So many things havefallen into place. Playing quiteconsistent cricket has helped,"Cummins said.

"I have not played too muchwhite ball cricket, so looking for-ward to more of it. It is a biggerchallenge with the ball not swing-ing as much as the red ball."

Australia are a game awayfrom a series win in India and ifthat happens, "it will be a hugeresult", feels Cummins.

"It (leading a series) has nothappened for us in a while in anoverseas series. Especially in aplace like India which is so foreignto Australian conditions, againstone of the best sides in the world.It will be a huge result for us, yeah.But we know will have to reallyplay well to beat them tomorrow."

����� #&)$-4+4�

Asurprise selection in the first T20I,Australia's Peter Handscomb says he

wants to don the gloves in ODIs too andis willing to work on his fitness to man-age the workload of wicket-keeping andbatting in the middle order.

Handscomb was picked ahead ofregular wicket-keeper Alex Carey in thefirst T20I, giving a boost to his hopes ofmaking Australia's World Cup squad.

"I can keep and all, I just need to makesure I'm fit enough and strong enough that

if we keep first in a 50-over game I canstill go out there and bat at four or five andmake sure I'm still running hard betweenthe wickets and doing everything right bythe team," Handscomb said.

Carey is likely to be back in the teamfor the five-match ODI series butHandscomb wants to continue donningthe gloves during rest of the tour if givena chance.

"T20 is not too bad, it's sort of overand done with pretty quickly. One-day-ers can be a bit tougher. Especially inIndia with a bit of heat and up to thestumps a lot more on spinning wickets,"he was quoted as saying incricket.Com.Au. "So it can be tough butit's something I am looking forward tohaving a crack at."

����� #&)$-4+4�

The focus remains firmly on theWorld Cup but India would also bedesperate to ensure that a home

series does not slip out of their grip whenthey take on Australia in the second andfinal T20 International on Wednesday.

The below-par 126 with the bat atVizag on Sunday denied bowlers a decentshot at securing a win even though theJasprit Bumrah-led attack did all it couldto keep the home team in the game till thefinal over of the match.

India skipper Virat Kohli has alreadysaid that his squad composition for theWorld Cup in May-July is "more or lesssorted" but has not ruled out rewardingstandout performances over the course oftwo T20s and five ODIs.

Considering the captain's currentframe of mind, both K L Rahul andRishabh Pant are likely to feature in mostof the games against Australia.

India rested opener Shikhar Dhawanto give game time to Rahul, who grabbedthe opportunity with both hands bysmashing 50 off 36 balls in his comebackgame.

With the series on the line, it remainsto be seen if Dhawan is brought back intothe side to open alongside Rohit Sharmaor the team retains the opening combina-tion which featured in Vizag.

"Anything is possible now. We wantto give game time to Rahul and Pant tofigure out what we need to do in the WorldCup," Kohli said after the first T20.

While Bumrah showed his class aftercoming back from a break, the other pacerin Umesh Yadav leaked runs and was notable to defend 14 in the final over.

India could replace Umesh withSiddharth Kaul or bring in all-rounder

Vijay Shankar to beef-up the battingdepartment.

The hosts played with a long tail inVizag and that impacted their final totalfollowing an inexplicable batting collapsefrom 69 for one in the ninth over.

Pant, a strong contender for a WorldCup berth, will be itching to perform aftergetting out cheaply on Sunday, and so willbe Dinesh Karthik, who is left with justone game to make a compelling contribu-tion before the World Cup.

All eyes will once again also be onMahendra Singh Dhoni the batsmanwho struggled to an unbeaten 29 off 37balls.

He was able to silence his critics witha solid showing in Australia and NewZealand but his rather slow innings onSunday has got the tongues waggingagain over his waning finishing abilities.

Debutant leg-spinner MayankMarkande (0/31 in four overs) did not pickup a wicket but bowled well according toKohli. The 21-year-old might get anoth-er game.

Australia, on the other hand, will befancying a rare series win against India inrecent times, especially after losing the Testand ODI series at home to Kohli's team.

They would be happy with theirbowling on a slow surface in the first gamebut made a mess of the 127-run targetafter cruising at one stage.

Australia somehow got over the linebut they know that India won't be serv-ing the series win on a platter and willcome hard at them at the ChinnaswamyStadium.

Captain Aaron Finch would love to beback among the runs and the team will beexpecting another blinder from GlennMaxwell, who hit 56 off 43 deliveries inVizag.

� ��� �4#$2

Roger Federer began hischarge for a 100th career

title by dispatching PhilippKohlschreiber 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 ona windy centre court in the firstround of the DubaiChampionships.

Second seed Federer had todeal with a tricky opponent andstrong gusts at the AviationClub in front of nearly 5,500fans at the Aviation Club, need-ing all three sets to make it pastthe opening round.

The Swiss, a seven-timeDubai champion, had to go upa gear in the third set toadvance to a second roundmeeting with FernandoVerdasco after GermanKohlschreiber made a match ofit by winning the second.

"I'm just happy to getthrough, it was tricky condi-tions out there," the 20-timeGrand Slam champion saidafter his 14th straight win overKohlschreiber, his friend andpractice partner.

"Philipp caused me a lot oftrouble and we played in swirlyconditions. All of a sudden it(the wind) could stop and you

could be a break down. Thatalso plays in your head a littlebit.

"I know the game'sthere. It was just really dif-ficult conditions tonight."

Federer, who is seed-ed behind Kei Nishikori,swept the opening set afterbreaking in the first game butwas pegged back.

Kohlschreiber, ranked 31stin the world, made a match ofit in the second, breakingFederer three times on his wayto taking the set 6-3.

The final game of the set

was a nine-minute thriller,with the Swiss seed savingthree set points before

Kohlschreiber levelled thematch with a volley win-ner.

But Federer cruisedto the third set and the

next round.

����������&)�����Top seed Kei Nishikori

dispatched "tricky" Benoit Paire6-4, 6-3 on his debut at theChampionships on Tuesday.

Asia's top player and theworld number six will meet

Huburt Hurkacz in the secondround at the Aviation Clubafter the Pole beat French qual-ifier Corentin Moutet 6-3, 7-5.

Nishikori has shaken uphis longtime schedule this sea-son and is playing Dubai forthe first time for a welcomechange of ATP scenery afterlimiting himself in the past toNorth American venuesincluding the defunct Memphisevent and Delray Beach.

Victory over the unpre-dictable Paire who is prone tothrowing and smashing rac-quets in moments of despair,lasted for 81 minutes.

"It's never easy playingBenoit, of course. Great serve,great backhand. Tricky play-er. Good dropshot, goodtouch," was Nishikori's analy-sis.

"The key to the first setwas the (eight-minute) long(third) game in the first set.

"After I got that one, I wasmore confident — but if hebroke back, anything can hap-pen.

"It was a good match, it'snever easy with this wind. Ithink played good enoughtennis today."

����� )&0��&-12

Anish Bhanwala could not make up forManu Bhaker and Heena Sidhu's fail-

ure to reach the women's 10m air pistol final,finishing fifth in hisevent on a lacklustreday for India in theISSF World Cup onTuesday.

Anish, who wasplaced fifth in the qual-ification too, shot a totalof 14 to finish outsidethe podium in the six-man final of the men's25m rapid fire pistolcompetition.

The International Shooting Federation(ISSF) has offered to reimburse all theexpenses of the winner and runners-up inthis event since its Olympic quota status waswithdrawn after Pakistani shooters weredenied visa in the wake of thePulwama terror attack.

Gaayathri Nityanadam andSunidhi Chauhan also failed to qual-ify for the final in the 50m rifle 3 posi-tions at the Dr Karni Singh ShootingRange.

Hoping to make up for her meltdown inthe 25m pistol final, the 17-year-old Bhakerwas in for more disappointment, finishinga lowly 14th with 573 in the qualifications.

The more experienced Heena Sidhu suf-fered a similar fate and was placed 25th with571.

Shooting in her maiden World Cup,Anuradha, employed with the Indian Navy,was 22nd with 571.

Hungary's Veronika Major (245.1) wonthe Gold medal in women's 10am air pistolahead of Taipei's Chia Ying Wu (238.4) andKorean Bomi Kim (218.3).

In the day's other event, the women's50m rifle positions, India's Nityanadam was36th with 1163, while Chauhan was 49thwith 1156.

Nina Christen, from Switzerland, wonthe 50m rifle 3 positions event with a scoreof 457.1 points, beating Silver medallist ShiMengyao of China, and Kazakhstan's Bronze

winner Yelizaveta Korol.In the day's last final, men's 25m

rapid fire pistol, Olympic championChristian Reitz of Germany claimed theGold medal with 35, shooting a perfect5 four times out of the six series.China's world champion and world

number one Junmin Lin claimed the Silverafter scoring 31, while the Bronze went toKorea's Junhong Kim (22).

The two Olympic quota places went toSwitzerland and the China.

With Wednesday's mixed events notoffering Olympic quota places, hosts Indiawill have to be content with only one 2020Tokyo Games berth from the tournament.

They will now have to wait until the nextWorld Cup to secure quotas.

When asked what went wrong, Heenasaid she got too engrossed with the tourna-ment since it was being held at home.

"I think last one and half months we havebeen thinking so much about this match, Ithink most of the people got too emotion-ally involved. It played on our minds," Heenasaid.

"I got too engrossed while trying toohard instead of just sticking to the process,"she explained.

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Alexis Sanchez and Romelu Lukaku must both taketheir opportunity to impress as an injury crisis cuts

through Manchester United's squad, Ole GunnarSolskjaer says.

Both players have struggled for form for much ofthe season, with Sanchez having started just one PremierLeague match in 2019, and Lukaku having gone 10matches without scoring.

The two forwards were heralded as major signingswhen they arrived at Old Trafford, but neither wouldnow be considered an automatic starter.

However, United's squad is stretched to the limitas they prepare for Wednesday's Premier League tripto Crystal Palace, with 10 players either unavailable ordoubtful because of injury.

That list includes four frontline forwards, AnthonyMartial, Jesse Lingard, Marcus Rashford and Juan Mata.

Lingard and Mata both had to be substituted dur-ing the first half of Sunday's 0-0 draw to Liverpool, whileRashford played to the finish despite an ankle injurycaused by Jordan Henderson's challenge early on.

France forward Martial missed the game with agroin problem. Caretaker-manager Solskjaer, though,is confident Sanchez and Lukaku have the quality toimpress if given a sustained run in the team.

Sanchez did little to impress after replacingLingard, but Lukaku did make an impact after beingmoved from a central position to a wide role in orderto reduce the injured Rashford's workload.

"It's a chance for them to play to their potential.Reputation is one thing, but potential is high," said Ole.

"The two are good mates and they link up well

together, so this might be a chance for those two togeth-er to find some form and give us a selection headachefor when everyone gets fit.

"Rom created our two biggest chances againstLiverpool. "It's a different position for him, butRashy's injury meant we had to leave him standing upthere and running in behind. He couldn't do too muchdefending work.

"Rom's attitude and workrate were fantastic.Hopefully Alexis and Rom can step up."

Solskjaer confirmed Martial would not be riskedagainst Palace, although he could return for Saturday'sPremier League home match against Southampton Clubcaptain Antonio Valencia, meanwhile, is several weeksaway from a return after aggravating a calf injury.

United also have Matteo Darmian, Phil Jones,Nemanja Matic and Ander Herrera on the sidelines soSolskjaer has called up academy graduates AngelGomes, Tahith Chong and James Garner for the Palacetrip.

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Chelsea goalkeeper KepaArrizabalaga has been fined a

week's wages by the club afterdefying manager Maurizio Sarriand refusing to be substituted dur-ing the League Cup final onSunday.

"Although there was a misun-derstanding, on reflection, I madea big mistake with how I handledthe situation," Kepa said in a state-ment on Chelsea's website whichannounced the fine.

The club simultaneously pub-lished a statement from Sarri inwhich the manager said the pairhad spoken following the row,which occurred in extra time of thematch which Manchester City wonon penalties.

"He has apologised to me, histeam-mates and the club," saidSarri.

"It is up to the club if they wantto discipline him according to theclub rules, but for me this matteris now closed."

Sarri, who reacted furiouslywhen Kepa refused to be substitut-ed after needing treatment in theclosing stages, said the incident hadbeen a "misunderstanding".

"There was a misunderstandingyesterday but (Kepa) realises hemade a big mistake in the way he

reacted."The team performance as a

whole was extremely positive andit is a shame to see how this inci-dent has overshadowed our effortsin what was a very competitive cupfinal."

Kepa, the club's record 71 mil-lion ($ 93 million) signing fromAthletic Bilbao, refused to leave thefield to be replaced by WillyCaballero. Sarri then stormed off

down the tunnel in anger beforereturning.

"I wanted to take the timetoday to apologise fully and in per-son to the coach, to Willy, my team-mates and to the club," said Kepa,24, whose fine will be donated tothe Chelsea foundation.

"I have done this and now Iwant to offer the same apology tothe fans. I will learn from thisepisode and will accept any punish-ment or discipline the club decidesis appropriate."

Sarri is under increasing pres-sure with Chelsea losing four oftheir past seven games in a run thathas seen them drop to sixth in thePremier League, crash out of the FACup and lose the League Cup final.

There is little time for Sarri andhis team to regroup with third-placed London rivals TottenhamHotspur visiting Stamford Bridgeon Wednesday in the PremierLeague.

Meanwhile, Mike Dean hasbeen removed from fourth officialduties at the Bridge to avoid furtherconflict with Tottenham managerMauricio Pochettino.

Pochettino marched across thepitch following Saturday's defeat atBurnley to confront Dean in a heat-ed exchange that earned him animproper conduct charge from theFootball Association.

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Manchester City bagged the firstsilverware of the season by win-

ning the League Cup final againstChelsea but manager Pep Guardiolawill be cautious about the midweekleague encounter withhis predecessor ManuelPellegrini.

Mid-table WestHam are the visitors tothe Etihad Stadium onWednesday as City return toleague action following theirpenalty shootout win atWembley.

But celebrations after a high-ly satisfactory Sunday afternoon forGuardiola, with title rivals Liverpoolonly managing to pick up a point ina draw at Manchester United, weremuted by the post-match news fromthe City dressing room.

Brazilian midfielder Fernandinho(groin) and central defender AymericLaporte (hamstring) both collectedinjuries at Wembley that Guardiolasaid would sideline them for severalweeks.

Even allowing for the depth of aCity squad assembled for vast sums,it would be hard to pick two lessreplaceable performers for the man-ager to lose at such a pivotal stage ofthe campaign, with his side chasing anunprecedented quadruple.

Fernandinho, in particular, hasbecome one of Guardiola's mostdependable lieutenants at the Etihad,one of the few players whose name isguaranteed to be in City's starting XIevery week.

Since his arrival in 2013, City havewon more than 70 percent of thegames in which he has played, a per-centage that drops below 60 in hisabsence.

Most recently, when City sufferedshock consecutive defeats againstCrystal Palace and Leicester,Fernandinho, 33, was absent.

Ilkay Gundogan and FabianDelph are logical potential replace-ments in the defensive midfield role

but, despite their statusas international players,they cannot matchFernandinho's poiseand tackling ability .

Danilo played in that rolewith Real Madrid and is anoth-er potential replacement whileGuardiola has even spokenabout playmaker Kevin DeBruyne playing in a deeper

position.

�� � �� ��� �����Fernandinho's all-round excel-

lence even saw him selected at centre-half by Guardiola for the recent homewin over Arsenal and the loss ofLaporte adds to the manager's con-cerns in that department.

Veteran Vincent Kompany hasstruggled for fitness and form formuch of the season although JohnStones is close to returning from hisown injury lay-off.

The fixture list before the interna-tional break in mid-March looksbenign, with City facingBournemouth, Watford and Germanside Schalke after Wednesday's visit ofWest Ham.

Yet, with City still active in somany high-stakes games at this stageof the season, Guardiola can scarcelyafford any more injury concerns. DeBruyne described the relentlessdemands on the players.

"I feel all right, you know. It'stough but it's tough for everybody withthe amount of games coming up," saidthe Belgian.

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Clement Lenglet describes itas the fixture that "freezestime" and believes this

week's Clasico double-header couldstill define the seasons of both hisown Barcelona, and Real Madrid.

The two clubs will meet twicein four days at the SantiagoBernabeu, on Wednesday in thesecond leg of their Copa del Reysemi-final and then on Saturday, ina battle of first against third in LaLiga.

Even victory is unlikely toproject Madrid back into the titlerace but for Santiago Solari's side,momentum is at stake, their steady,if not unwavering, resurgencepoised for a potential double boostahead of the campaign's decisivemonths.

Barcelona's priority may bethe Champions League and theirhold on La Liga too tight to shakeoff but it says something for themagnitude of the Clasico thatLenglet still feels its significance.

"This month is pivotal," hesays.

"There is the ChampionsLeague and these two gamesagainst Real, when we can qualifyfor a cup final and then gain or losepoints on them in the league.

"We have to manage themproperly. It could be pivotal for therest of the season." Madrid hold aslight advantage in the cup, havingtaken a creditable 1-1 draw fromthe opening leg last month at theCamp Nou.

Barca were without LionelMessi, whose stunning hat-trickagainst Sevilla on Sunday wassurely one of his best, but Madrid'sshowing confirmed their transfor-mation from the broken team thatwere thrashed 5-1 by the Catalansin October.

"The dynamics are complete-ly different now," says Lenglet.

"These are the Europeanchampions. They have turned thetide."

������������!����Madrid and Barca look under

threat in the Champions Leaguefrom the likes of Manchester City,Liverpool, Paris Saint-Germain,Juventus and Atletico. Yet in terms

of quality, theClasico remainsfootball's greatestgrudge match.

"As players, weare in our little bubble but when wecome out, we realise it is a differ-ent game from the others becauseof the power it has around theworld," Lenglet said.

"It's a game that seems tofreeze time."

Lenglet is in a position toappreciate it more than most.Only three seasons ago, the 23-year-old was playing for Nancy, theFrench club where he was firstgiven his chance.

He spent 18 months at Sevilla,enough to persuade Barca to payhis 35.9 million-euro ($40.6 mil-lion) buy-out clause last summer.

"I could never have imaginedI'd come so far so quickly," he says."I went to Seville, and for me that

was a big jump."No disrespect to Nancy, but

they were worlds apart. To then beat Barcelona a year and a half later,I could never have imagined it."

He has been thrown in at thedeep end, with Samuel Umtitionly just recovering from a kneeinjury, allowing Lenglet to be fast-tracked into the role of GerardPique's partner-in-chief.

Many are predicting a call-upto the France squad next month.

"We live with the best playersin the world and that makes youlearn quickly," Lenglet said.

"I'm more thoughtful nowabout when to release the ball,when to clear and when to keep it,when to be more patient. It's aboutmanaging the game."

It helps to have Messi too,Barcelona's captain fresh fromscoring his 50th career hat-tricklast weekend.

"I remember when I firstarrived, he said hello, gave me a lit-tle hug — I felt immediately atease," Lenglet said.

Messi may not play both gamesagainst Madrid, after being dis-rupted recently by a thigh strain,but his influence on youngsters likeLenglet is total.

"He is a technical leader," saidLenglet.

"On the field he makes the dif-ference so often, in almost everygame. He's a leader through hisexperience. He watches football,knows all types of football and hasmastered it to perfection.

There's only one Messi andwhen he gives advice, you listen."

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There is "nothing left in hock-ey" for him, says former India

men's coach Harendra Singh, whois now planning to shift loyaltiesto football as he finds 'TheBeautiful Game' quite similar to his"first love".

The seasoned coach was lastmonth removed after India's lessthan impressive performance inthe World Cup. He was urged totake charge of the junior squad butHarendra refused to accept thatposition.

"Hockey will always remainmy first love. Whatever I amtoday is because of hockey. Butnow I have nothing in hockey, soI decided to enhance my knowl-edge and what better than in mysecond love football," Harendrasaid.

The 50-year-old said he is a bigfootball fan and admires the 'Tiki-Taka' short passing style of Spanishfootball, which according to him

is quite similar to the Indianhockey team's tactics. The Spanishteam won its maiden World Cuptitle back in 2010 relying heavily onthe 'Tiki Taka' style of play.

"I am big soccer fan. I closelyfollow Arsenal and Manchester

United (in the English PremierLeague). Spain is my favouriteinternational team because theirstyle of play with short passes isvery close to Indian hockey," hesaid.

The junior World-Cup win-

ning coach has already approachedDelhi Soccer Association PresidentShaji Prabhakaran to help him inhis new pursuit.

"Hockey and football coachingare quite similar and I feel it is idealfor both hockey and footballcoaches to share their knowledge.I want this break to develop mycoaching skills in football.

"I want to start from thescratch so I have decided to obtainthe 'D' license of AIFF (All IndiaFootball Federation) and in thisregard, I have sought help fromShaji Prabhakaran," he added.

Harendra cited the examplesof former hockey coach-turnedfootball manager Bernhard Peters,the legendary Ric Charlesworthand Roelant Oltmans — all ofwhom tried their hands at morethan one sport.

Peters had a successful careeras a hockey coach in the GermanLeague and also went on to win theWorld Cup with Germany in 2002and 2006 before switching to foot-

ball where he was the SportingDirector of Bundesliga clubs likeHoffenheim and Hamburg.

Charlesworth was a formerfirst-class Australian cricketer andHigh Performance Manager ofNew Zealand Cricket. He also hada glorious playing career with themen's hockey team before coach-ing both the women's and men'steams. He guided both the teamsto World Cup and Olympicmedals.

In between Charlesworth pliedhis trade in Australian FootballLeague as Performance Consultantwith Freemantle Football Club,while until 2002 Oltmans was theTechnical Director of Dutch foot-ball team NAC Breda.

"Who knows what happens infuture? You might see me explor-ing options in football. In Europe,switching from hockey to footballcoaching and vice versa is quitecommon. You have BernhardPeters, Charlesworth and Oltmansfor example," Harendra said.

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Jose Mourinho wants his next clubto be one where "internal empathy"

exists and not "internal conflict" hetold the Daily Telegraph on Tuesday.

The 56-year-old Portuguese —sacked by Manchester United onDecember 18 after a series of bust-upswith senior players and poor results— said the club where he had felt thisthe most was Serie A side InterMilan.

He guided them to a ChampionsLeague, two league titles and anItalian Cup in two seasons therefrom 2008-10.

Mourinho said money is not thepriority admitting since he left Unitedhe had turned down a lucrative offerfrom an unnamed club because "Iwant high-level football and ambitionsat the highest level".

However, he says that comes sec-ond on his list of ingredients for tak-ing a job.

"I don't want an internal conflict,"said Mourinho, who has down theyears earned a reputation for con-fronting senior players at clubs he hasmanaged.

"I want internal empathy. Andthen your conflict is on Sunday on thepitch when you play against somebodywho wants to steal your three points.

"That's the moment of the con-flict."

Mourinho, who enjoyed a goodfirst season with United landing theEuropa League and League Cupbefore things turned sour winningnothing last year, says structuralempathy is obligatory for him.

"I want to work with structuralempathy. A club is a structure, a com-plex structure where the manager isan important part of that structure buthe is not the structure.

"I want to work with people thatI love. "People I want to work with, thatI am happy to work with, with whomI share the same ideas.”

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In a bid to raise the standards of umpir-ing and officiating in the country, Hockey

India on Tuesday announced it will con-duct an online test on March 29.

The online Test is designed as part ofa program for professional development ofthe umpires and technical officials.

It will help them enhance their skill-based and knowledge-based expertise. It isalso expected to illustrate the officials'knowledge levels of International HockeyFederation (FIH) rules and regulations.

The online test will focus on testing thepractical and theoretical knowledge of theFIH Rules of hockey.

It is mandatory for any candidateappearing for this test to be registered witha Hockey India Permanent/ AssociateState Member Unit.

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