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F ive empty trains, 15 buses and many other public properties including shops and Central Government facilities were torched in different parts of Bengal even as the State con- tinued to boil and burn for the second consecutive day on Saturday over the enactment of Citizenship Amendment Act and possible invoking of National Register for Citizens. Even as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee made frantic appeal to people against taking law in their hands violent pro- testers torched empty rakes at Lalgola the last Indian Railway station a few miles from Bangladesh border. Lalgola is in Murshidabad district that accounts for about 67 per cent of minority population. At Basudevpur, violent mob put to fire a railway sig- naling facility and torched a fire brigade engine that was rushed in to control the railway fire. By late evening the situation had literally gone out of control with no fire fighting team dar- ing to move into the affected areas. Similar incidents were reported from North 24 Parganas and rural Howrah, where several long-distances trains were halted, after the a portion of the Sankrail station was vandalised, police said adding about 15 public and pri- vate buses were torched and many other vehicles were stoned by protesters on NH-6 — popularly known as Bombay Road and NH-2 — known as Delhi Road. The agitators blocked both Kona Expressway — that con- nects Howrah and Kolkata to Golden Quadrilateral — and NH-34 — that connects South Bengal to North Bengal — throwing burning tyres on the roads even as an helpless police brigade looked on for want of specific direction. About 20 trains including some 10 express trains were stranded in several routes as protesters squatted on railway tracks at Sankrail, Mourigram and Bakranawaz stations, Railway sources said adding many more trains had been cancelled too. Among the cancelled trains were Howrah-Digha Express, Howrah-Pune Duronto Express, Howrah-Tirupati Humsafar Express, Howrah- CSMT Geetanjali Express, Howrah-Ernakulam Antodaya Express, Howrah-Digha- Howrah Kandari Express, Coromondal Express from Howrah, Howrah- Yesvantpur Duronto Exp, Howrah- Hyderabad East Coast Express, Puri-Digha Express, Puri- Santragachhi Passenger etc. In an apparent bid to prove a point or two about their numerical strength, the agita- tors mostly from a particular community not only targeted Government properties but also torched shops belonging to private citizens sources said adding about 20 shops were set on fire at Bagnan in rural Howrah. Turn to Page 4 S poradic violence continued in Assam on Saturday against the amended Citizenship Act. An oil tanker was set ablaze in Sonitpur dis- trict whose driver succumbed to injuries even as curfew was relaxed in Guwahati from 9 am to 4 pm. But students’ associ- ations have given a call for 3- day satyagraha and the State Government employees have decided to cease work on December 18. Protesters also resorted to blockade of rail and indulged in sit-ins and hunger strike. Several countries, includ- ing the US, UK, Israel Canada and Singapore, have asked their citizens to exercise cau- tion while travelling to the Northeast India. In its advi- sory, the US Government said it has temporarily suspended official travels to Assam, the epicentre of the protests. The empty oil tanker, on its way for refilling petrol from Sipajhar in Udalguri dis- trict, was set ablaze by a group of people at Dhekiajuli in Sonitpur on Friday night, police said. The driver of the tanker was taken to a private nursing home where he succumbed to severe burn injuries on Saturday morning, they said. Meanwhile, AASU, Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) and 30 other organisations of indige- nous people, spearheading the agitation against the Act, held protests in all districts of the Brahmaputra Valley along with senior citizens, students, artists, singers, intellectuals and teachers among others. The AJYCP blocked tracks at Kamakhya railway station, disrupting train services from Guwahati to other parts of the country. Turn to Page 4 H ours after Jamia Millia Islamia on Saturday annouced vacation till January 5 and cancelled all ongoing exams in view of the tense sit- uation in the university due to students protest against the new citizenship law, the stu- dents called off their universi- ty lockdown. “All exams have been post- poned. The new dates to be announced in due course of time. Vacation declared from December 16 to January 5. University will reopen on January 6, 2020,” a senior uni- versity official said. The university adminis- tration said those who indulged in violence and clashed with police on Friday were “out- siders” and not students. Jamia students, teachers and alumni, said they have formed a coor- dination panel to hold peace- ful protests against the amend- ed Citizenship Act. They said the law is discriminatory. Turn to Page 4 U nfazed over the BJP’s attack on him for his “Rape in India” comment, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday, in fact, went on to mock Sangh ideologue Veer Savarkar. “My name is Rahul Gandhi, not Rahul Savarkar. I will never apologise for speaking truth and nor will any Congressman do so. It is Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his assis- tant Home Minister Amit Shah who has to apologise to the country for destroying India’s economy,” Rahul said while addressing the Congress’ Bharat Bachao Rally here. The Congress leader was apparently referring to the alle- gation against Savarkar that he tendered apology to the British for securing early release from the Cellular Jail in Andaman. Rahul’s “Rape in India” com- ment in an election rally in Turn to Page 4 T he BJP retaliated saying even if Rahul Gandhi takes 100 births he can’t be Rahul Savarkar and a “more appro- priate” name for the Congress leader is “Rahul Jinnah” as his “Muslim appeasement” politics makes him a worthy legatee of the Pakistan’s founder. The Shiv Sena, the new alliance partner of the Congress in Maharashtra, also reacted sharply saying there could not be any “compromise” on the Hindutva ideologue. “Savarkar was ‘Veer’, patriot and had sac- rificed. The language Rahul Gandhi uses for Article 370, air strike, surgical strike, CAB is Pakistan’s language. Turn to Page 4 P rime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the first meet- ing of the National Ganga Council here on Saturday and said that rejuvenation of the river should be a shining exam- ple of cooperative federalism. He also reviewed the progress of works under the ambitious Namami Gange project in the stretch of the river that is con- sidered the most polluted, and deliberated on various aspects of cleaning the river with focus on ‘swachhta’, ‘aviralta’ and ‘nirmalta’. According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, at the meeting Modi observed that the Ganga is the holiest river in the sub-conti- nent and its rejuvenation should embody a shining example of cooperative feder- alism. Noting that the rejuve- nation of the river has been a long-pending challenge for the country, he said a lot has been accomplished since his gov- ernment took up the Namami Gange project in 2014 as a comprehensive initiative inte- grating various governmental efforts and activities to abate pollution, and conserve and rejuvenate the river. According to officials, the government had made a com- mitment of providing 20,000 crore for the period 2015-20 to the five states through which the Ganga passes, to ensure adequate and uninterrupted flow. 7,700 crore has already been spent, prominently for construction of sewage treat- ment plants, they said. According to the PMO state- ment, Modi emphasised that an improvement in the frame- work for Nirmal Ganga would require the fullest cooperation from the public at large and generating greater awareness through dissemination of best practices from cities situated on river banks. It said the meeting was of the view that efficiency of District Ganga Committees should be improved in all dis- tricts, in order to provide an effective framework for expe- ditious implementation of plans. The government has set up the Clean Ganga Fund (CGF) to facilitate contribu- tions from people, NRIs and corporate entities for funding Ganga rejuvenation projects, the statement said. The PM has personally donated 16.53 crore to CGF, from the amount realized from Turn to Page 6

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Five empty trains, 15 busesand many other public

properties including shops andCentral Government facilitieswere torched in different partsof Bengal even as the State con-tinued to boil and burn for thesecond consecutive day onSaturday over the enactment ofCitizenship Amendment Actand possible invoking ofNational Register for Citizens.

Even as Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee made franticappeal to people against takinglaw in their hands violent pro-testers torched empty rakes atLalgola the last Indian Railwaystation a few miles fromBangladesh border. Lalgola is inMurshidabad district thataccounts for about 67 per centof minority population.

At Basudevpur, violentmob put to fire a railway sig-naling facility and torched a fire

brigade engine that was rushedin to control the railway fire. Bylate evening the situation hadliterally gone out of controlwith no fire fighting team dar-ing to move into the affectedareas.

Similar incidents werereported from North 24Parganas and rural Howrah,where several long-distancestrains were halted, after the aportion of the Sankrail stationwas vandalised, police saidadding about 15 public and pri-

vate buses were torched andmany other vehicles werestoned by protesters on NH-6— popularly known as BombayRoad and NH-2 — known asDelhi Road.

The agitators blocked bothKona Expressway — that con-nects Howrah and Kolkata toGolden Quadrilateral — andNH-34 — that connects SouthBengal to North Bengal —throwing burning tyres on theroads even as an helpless policebrigade looked on for want of

specific direction.About 20 trains including

some 10 express trains werestranded in several routes asprotesters squatted on railwaytracks at Sankrail, Mourigramand Bakranawaz stations,Railway sources said addingmany more trains had beencancelled too.

Among the cancelled trainswere Howrah-Digha Express,Howrah-Pune DurontoExpress, Howrah-TirupatiHumsafar Express, Howrah-

CSMT Geetanjali Express,Howrah-Ernakulam AntodayaExpress, Howrah-Digha-Howrah Kandari Express,Coromondal Express fromHowrah, Howrah- YesvantpurDuronto Exp, Howrah-Hyderabad East Coast Express,Puri-Digha Express, Puri-Santragachhi Passenger etc.

In an apparent bid to prove

a point or two about theirnumerical strength, the agita-tors mostly from a particularcommunity not only targetedGovernment properties butalso torched shops belonging toprivate citizens sources saidadding about 20 shops were seton fire at Bagnan in ruralHowrah.

Turn to Page 4

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Sporadic violence continuedin Assam on Saturday

against the amendedCitizenship Act. An oil tankerwas set ablaze in Sonitpur dis-trict whose driver succumbedto injuries even as curfew wasrelaxed in Guwahati from 9 amto 4 pm. But students’ associ-ations have given a call for 3-day satyagraha and the StateGovernment employees havedecided to cease work onDecember 18.

Protesters also resorted toblockade of rail and indulgedin sit-ins and hunger strike.

Several countries, includ-ing the US, UK, Israel Canadaand Singapore, have askedtheir citizens to exercise cau-tion while travelling to theNortheast India. In its advi-

sory, the US Government saidit has temporarily suspendedofficial travels to Assam, theepicentre of the protests.

The empty oil tanker, onits way for refilling petrolfrom Sipajhar in Udalguri dis-trict, was set ablaze by a groupof people at Dhekiajuli inSonitpur on Friday night,police said.

The driver of the tankerwas taken to a private nursinghome where he succumbed tosevere burn injuries onSaturday morning, they said.

Meanwhile, AASU, AsomJatiyatabadi Yuba ChatraParishad (AJYCP) and 30other organisations of indige-nous people, spearheading theagitation against the Act, heldprotests in all districts of theBrahmaputra Valley along withsenior citizens, students,artists, singers, intellectualsand teachers among others.

The AJYCP blocked tracksat Kamakhya railway station,disrupting train services fromGuwahati to other parts of thecountry.

Turn to Page 4

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Hours after Jamia MilliaIslamia on Saturday

annouced vacation till January5 and cancelled all ongoingexams in view of the tense sit-uation in the university due tostudents protest against thenew citizenship law, the stu-dents called off their universi-ty lockdown.

“All exams have been post-poned. The new dates to beannounced in due course oftime. Vacation declared fromDecember 16 to January 5.University will reopen onJanuary 6, 2020,” a senior uni-versity official said.

The university adminis-tration said those who indulgedin violence and clashed withpolice on Friday were “out-siders” and not students. Jamiastudents, teachers and alumni,said they have formed a coor-dination panel to hold peace-ful protests against the amend-ed Citizenship Act. They saidthe law is discriminatory.

Turn to Page 4

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Unfazed over the BJP’sattack on him for his

“Rape in India” comment,Congress leader Rahul Gandhion Saturday, in fact, went on tomock Sangh ideologue VeerSavarkar.

“My name is Rahul Gandhi,not Rahul Savarkar. I will neverapologise for speaking truthand nor will any Congressmando so. It is Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and his assis-tant Home Minister Amit Shahwho has to apologise to thecountry for destroying India’seconomy,” Rahul said whileaddressing the Congress’ BharatBachao Rally here.

The Congress leader wasapparently referring to the alle-gation against Savarkar that hetendered apology to the Britishfor securing early release fromthe Cellular Jail in Andaman.Rahul’s “Rape in India” com-ment in an election rally in

Turn to Page 4

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The BJP retaliated sayingeven if Rahul Gandhi takes

100 births he can’t be RahulSavarkar and a “more appro-priate” name for the Congressleader is “Rahul Jinnah” as his“Muslim appeasement” politics

makes him a worthy legatee ofthe Pakistan’s founder.

The Shiv Sena, the newalliance partner of the Congressin Maharashtra, also reactedsharply saying there could notbe any “compromise” on theHindutva ideologue. “Savarkarwas ‘Veer’, patriot and had sac-rificed. The language RahulGandhi uses for Article 370, airstrike, surgical strike, CAB isPakistan’s language.

Turn to Page 4

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Prime Minister NarendraModi chaired the first meet-

ing of the National GangaCouncil here on Saturday andsaid that rejuvenation of theriver should be a shining exam-ple of cooperative federalism.He also reviewed the progressof works under the ambitiousNamami Gange project in thestretch of the river that is con-sidered the most polluted, anddeliberated on various aspectsof cleaning the river with focuson ‘swachhta’, ‘aviralta’ and‘nirmalta’.

According to a statementfrom the Prime Minister’sOffice, at the meeting Modiobserved that the Ganga is theholiest river in the sub-conti-

nent and its rejuvenationshould embody a shiningexample of cooperative feder-

alism. Noting that the rejuve-nation of the river has been along-pending challenge for the

country, he said a lot has beenaccomplished since his gov-ernment took up the Namami

Gange project in 2014 as acomprehensive initiative inte-grating various governmentalefforts and activities to abatepollution, and conserve andrejuvenate the river.

According to officials, thegovernment had made a com-mitment of providing ��20,000crore for the period 2015-20 tothe five states through whichthe Ganga passes, to ensureadequate and uninterruptedflow.

�� 7,700 crore has alreadybeen spent, prominently forconstruction of sewage treat-ment plants, they said.According to the PMO state-ment, Modi emphasised that animprovement in the frame-work for Nirmal Ganga wouldrequire the fullest cooperation

from the public at large andgenerating greater awarenessthrough dissemination of bestpractices from cities situated onriver banks.

It said the meeting was ofthe view that efficiency ofDistrict Ganga Committeesshould be improved in all dis-tricts, in order to provide aneffective framework for expe-ditious implementation ofplans. The government has setup the Clean Ganga Fund(CGF) to facilitate contribu-tions from people, NRIs andcorporate entities for fundingGanga rejuvenation projects,the statement said.

The PM has personallydonated � 16.53 crore to CGF,from the amount realized from

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Chief Minister YogiAdityanath exhorted peo-

ple to contribute in buildingRam temple at Ayodhya bydonating ����and a brick. Healso attacked opposition, say-ing that Congress, RJD andJharkhand Mukti Morcha lead-ers talked the language ofPakistan and were creatingobstacles in construction ofRam temple.

Yogi Adityanath said thatnow a grand temple of LordRam was going to be built inAyodhya and he wanted eachhousehold to donate at least onebrick and ����for it. He said thatthe Bharatiya Janata Party led byPrime Minister Narendra Modiwas on way to establishing RamRaj in the country.

Addressing election ralliesin Jharkhand on Friday, Yogisaid Ram Raj was not just a slo-gan for the BJP but a goal.“Continuous effort is going onin this direction under the lead-ership of Prime Minister

Narendra Modi. The 500-year-old controversy over Ram tem-ple has ended. Article 370,which was a blot on the nation,has also been abrogated,” he said.Yogi said, “Opposition used tosay that if the verdict on RamJanmabhoomi was pronounced,there would be bloothbath, butno violence took place.”

“Congress, RJD andJharkhand Mukti Morcha arehand-in-glove. Their thought isdestructive and they speak thelanguage of Pakistan. From thisvery thought of the opposition,terrorists and separatists havebeen getting their strength.They are not only pained byRam temple construction andabrogation of Article 370 butalso on issues of national inter-est such as Citizenship(Amendment) Bill and NRC.That is why they were opposingthis bill in Parliament. This isalso their real character. I amconfident that the people ofJharkhand will neither vote forthe candidates of such partieswho nurture the thought of

breaking the nation, nor willthey like to hear their names,”he said.

The Chief Minister saidthat abrogation of Article 370was a tribute to the architect ofthe Constitution Dr BhimraoAmbedkar in true sense.

“He was against the inclu-sion of this Article. During thattime, Dr Ambedkar had saidthat this Article would givebirth to terrorism in Jammu andKashmir and it actually hap-pened. This resulted in death oflakhs of innocent citizens andbrave soldiers. It should havebeen repealed long time back,but those interested in grabbingpower instead of thinking aboutnational interest, did not takeany such step to keep their votebanks intact,” he said.

In other rallies at Bengabadand Madhupur, Yogi said thatthe revocation of special statusof Jammu and Kashmir underArticle 370 had strengthenedthe path of ‘Ek Bharat ShreshthaBharat’ (One India, Great India)mission.

��� *2.���

After announcing thatwoman cops of Police

Response Vehicle (PRV) wouldescort stranded females to theirdestinations between 9 pm and6 am, DGP OP Singh chaireda training session of 40 womanconstables attached to PRVduties on Saturday.

The training was super-vised by ADG (Dial 112)Aseem Arun.

To sensitise woman con-stables on how to react to SOScalls of stranded women seek-ing security, the DGP askedthem not only to be sensitivebut also quick in their responseto the calls.

Singh said that PRVwoman cops should also betrained on crime scene man-agement, how to respond to lawand order issues and how totackle situations in case ofemergencies while escortingany women.

The Director General ofPolice said that initially the ser-vices of 40 woman cops wouldbe taken, two each on onePolice Response Vehicle onnight duty, to attend to suchcalls but in future, the facilitywould be extended to ensure asafe and secure atmosphere tofemale office-goers doing latehours or women in distress.

After the torching of arape survivor in Unnao, theDGP had announced thatPRVs would now escort unac-companied women to theirdestinations between 9 pm and6 am.

Any unaccompaniedwoman, who is out on the roadduring these hours, can call aPRV to escort her by dialling112, the emergency responseservice of UP Police.

The PRVs escortingwomen would necessarily havetwo woman cops. The policechiefs of all districts have beenasked to arrange for the same.

Ten per cent of PoliceResponse Vehicles in a districtshould have woman cops sothat these vehicles could besent to escort unaccompaniedwoman. The district policechiefs have also been advisedto train woman cops for thesame.

Last week, DGP OP Singhhad asked all private establish-ments to make necessaryarrangements for the safe trav-el of woman employees onlate night shifts.

��� *2.���

The UP VigilanceEstablishment has sought

details from Lucknow munic-ipal commissioner of the land-ed property and immovableassets of three arrested officialsof Uttar Pradesh PowerCorporation Limited who areaccused in the provident fundinvestment scam.

The officers are UPPCL’sformer MD AP Mishra, formerdirector (finance) SudhanshuDwivedi and former generalmanager PK Gupta. In a lettersent to the Lucknow municipalcommissioner, the VigilanceEstablishment has asked him toprovide details of landed prop-erties and other assets in thename of these three officials andtheir family members.

It has asked the LMC toenquire about all the plots/hous-es/flats owned by Mishra inAliganj, Chinhat and VinamraKhand of Gomti Nagar and theirregistered sale deeds and providedetails to the VigilanceEstablishment.

It has also sought details ofthe properties of Mishra’s fam-ily members including his wife,son, daughter and other mem-bers in the family. The VigilanceEstablishment has sought sim-ilar details about Gupta andDwivedi.

The problem for these threeofficials is increasing with eachpassing day as the EconomicOffences Wing (EOW), cur-rently probing the PF scam, hasbooked the trio in case of fraudand has also traced the moneytrail.

��� *2.���

Samajwadi Party presidentAkhilesh Yadav, on Saturday,

visited Unnao and met thefamily of the rape victim whowas torched by the accused.

After meeting the victim’sfamily at their village home inBihar police station area, the SPchief said, “My party will fightfor justice for the family of therape victim as it is our respon-sibility. I have told my party-men that in case the familywants any help, make it avail-able to them.”

Akhilesh asked about thesteps taken by the administra-tion and said, “This poor fam-ily has lost its brave daughter.She was on her way to seek jus-tice but failed to get it.”

When told that the gov-ernment immediately rushedher to a Delhi hospital to saveher life, Akhilesh said, “The girlwas not sent to save her life butto safeguard the government.She was sent to ward off anypolitical storm. The govern-ment was well aware of her

health condition.” Taking a dig at the Central

and UP governments, Akhileshsaid that instead of checkingcrime, the Bharatiya JanataParty government was pre-senting statistics of the previ-ous regimes.

“This way, both govern-ments are hoodwinking thepeople,” he said.

The 23-year-old Unnaorape victim, who was set ablazeby five people, including tworape accused, succumbed toher injuries in Delhi’sSafdarjung Hospital and her

last rites were performed at hernative village.

The victim was on way tothe railway station in Unnao tocatch train for Rae Bareli toattend court for hearing in therape case when she wasattacked and torched. All fiveaccused were subsequentlyarrested.

Meanwhile, the SamajwadiParty attacked Prime MinisterNarendra Modi over the clean-ing of the Ganga river, sayingbefore cleaning the holy river,he should first ‘clean’ corrup-tion.

In a tweet, Yadav posted,“Pradhanmantriji having a bigmeeting in Kanpur on cleanli-ness and pollution of Ganga. Inthe name of inspection, therewill be false cleaning.’’

The Prime Minister onSaturday chaired a meeting ofthe National Ganga Mission inKanpur and also reviewed theNamami Gange project anddeliberated on various aspectsof cleaning the river with focuson ‘swachhata’, ‘aviralta’ and‘nirmalta’.

��� *2.���

In a bizarre incident reportedfrom Budaun, a newly-wed

bride fled with cash and orna-ments from the in-law’s house,while in another incident, abridegroom was detained fordemanding a car in dowry inMuzaffarnagar.

In Budaun, a newly-wedwoman fled from her in-laws’house with cash and ornamentsafter mixing intoxicants in thedinner that she served to thefamily at Chhota Para area underDataganj Kotwali police stationon Friday night.

A complaint in this regardwas filed by the in-laws.

As per reports, Pravin gotmarried to Ria of Azamgarh onDecember 9. But when thedrugged in-laws woke up onSaturday, they found Ria missingalong with �70,000 in cash andornaments worth �3 lakh.

Investigations are on. In Muzaffarnagar, a bride-

groom was detained momentsbefore his marriage as hedemanded a car in dowry inSisoli village in Bhora Kalanpolice station area.

On Friday night, the briderefused to marry Vivek fordemanding the dowry.

After the bride’s family com-plained to the police, Vivek andhis family were taken into cus-tody and were later releasedafter they paid the cost borne bythe bride’s family for the cere-mony.

The groom’s family laterreturned to their native place atNangloi in Delhi.

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Even as the public outrageover the torching of arape survivor in Unnao is

yet to die down, anotherteenager was raped and torchedin Fatehpur on Saturday.

The victim was referred tothe GSVM Medical Collegehospital in Kanpur with 100 percent burns and her conditionwas stated to be very critical.

A case was registered andthe police were making effortsto nab the accused.

As per reports, 18-year-oldSavita (name changed) ofHussainganj area of Fatehpur,rushed out of her house inflames and cried for help onSaturday morning.

The local residents some-how doused the fire andinformed the police after whicha team led by Circle Officer(City) Kapil Dev Mishra rushedthere and shifted the girl to anearby primary health centre.The doctors at the primaryhealth centre later referred thevictim to GSVM MedicalCollege for specialised treat-ment as she had 100 per centburns.

The police later called atehsildar before whom the girldeclared that her distant uncleraped her and when she threat-ened to inform her kin, hedoused her with kerosene andtorched her.

Contrary to the victim’scharge, District MagistrateSanjeev Singh told the mediathat the accused uncle and the

victim were having an affair forthe last one year and they hadrecently started living togeth-

er to which her family object-ed after which a panchayat wascalled.

Singh said that as the pan-chayat decided that the girlshould be separated from theaccused, she probably got upsetand tried to end her life.

The district magistrateclaimed that a complaint fromthe victim’s family was accept-ed and a case was registeredagainst the uncle.

In a separate incidentreported from Muzaffarnagar,a 16-year-old girl was alleged-ly abducted and raped by twomen.

According to StationHouse Officer Anil Kapervan,the girl was rescued on Fridayand the two accused, identifiedas Salman and Pervaiz, werearrested.

The girl had left her homefor a shop on Thursday andwas missing since then. Herfather had lodged a missingreport and the police investi-gation led to the rescue of thegirl, the SHO said.

According to the com-plaint, the accused broughtthe girl to a nearby place wherethey allegedly raped her. Theaccused also threatened the girlof dire consequences if she toldanyone about the incident.

The accused, aged around20, have been booked undersections of the Indian PenalCode and provisions of theProtection of Children fromSexual Offences (POCSO) Act,police said. The girl was sent formedical examination.

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Commissioner, Lucknow Division Lucknow invites e-bids fromCatering Services Agency of national and international repute for23- National Youth Festival at Indira Gandhi Pratisthan, Lucknowfrom 12.01.2020 to 16.01.2020 and inaugural ceremony at BharatRatna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpeyi Internationa Ekana CricketStadium ,Lucknow On 12.01.2020. The details of submission of e-Bids are available in the RFP doc-ument available at the eTender Portal https://etender.up.nic.in andDepartment of Youth Welfare website [email protected]. For tender search go to Directorate of Local Bodies/Lucknow Municipal Corporation. Commissioner, LucknowDivision Lucknow reserves the right tocancel any or all the e-Bids or annul' the Bidding process with-out assigning any reason thereof.

IssuerCommissioner, Lucknow Division, Lucknow

NOTICE INVITING TENDER FOR

Appointment of Catering Services Agency for 23rd Youth Festival at Lucknow

UP 146588 Date 14.12.2019 ����������� �www.upgov.nic.in �������������

A proposal for the mortgage residential house con-structed over the Plot No. 11 part of Khasra No.19,admeasuring 92.936 sq.mt. situated at Balakganj,Ward-Balakganj, Tehsil & District-Lucknow, ispending before L.I.C. Housing Finance Ltd. The orig-inal sale-deed is registered at the office of Sub-Registrar-IV, Lucknow, vide Book No.1, ZildNo.2596 on pages-259 to 278 at Serial No.931 ondated 31-01-2005, executed by Nasheman SahkariAwas Samiti Ltd. Lucknow through Secretary Mohd.Tauseef s/o Late Mohd. Ameen, in favour of KeshwaRam Sonkar S/o Ram Vriksh Ram R/o Vill-IbrahimChak, Post-Chiraiya Kote, District Mau, U.P., It isinformed to us that the above noted original sale-deed was lost. If this original sale-deed is mortgagewith any person(s), Financial Institution(s), Bank(s)or any other one, may inform immediately to LICHousing Finance Ltd. Area Office, Main Branch,Metro Tower, 2nd Floor, Shahnajaf Road, Lucknow,Contact No.0522-2622524 or Anoop Kumar SinghAdvocate, LIC HFL, Mobile No.9554472272,9455032691, otherwise the above noted propos-al shall be finalize immediately after the expiry of15 days of this publication.

NOTICE

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Paddy procurement is gain-ing momentum in Uttar

Pradesh with state agencieshaving bought nearly 28 lakhmetric tons in the currentKharif marketing season.

As paddy procurementstood under 20 lakh MT dur-ing the corresponding periodin 2018, the state has clockeda 40 per cent increase in thecurrent season so far. Thegovernment aims to procure50 lakh MT paddy this year.

The procurement seasonstarted on October 1 and willcontinue till February, 2020,covering all districts in phases.

About 3,860 procurementcentres, including more than100 run by the FoodCorporation of India (FCI),have been set up across thestate to facilitate direct pur-chase from farmers.

So far, nearly �5,700 crorehave been paid to paddy farm-

ers by the government even asprocurement continues.

“Under previous regimes,paddy farmers in the statewere paid their dues afterdelays of more than threemonths. However, theBharatiya Janata Party regimehas ensured that farmers arepaid promptly and the moneyis deposited in their bankaccounts for the paddy pro-cured from them,” AgricultureMinister Surya Pratap Shahisaid on Saturday. In 2016-17,2017-18 and 2018-19, UP hadprocured 35 lakh MT, 43 lakhMT and 49 lakh MT paddyrespectively against the sea-son’s target of 50 lakh MT.

Earlier, in September2019, the UP cabinet hadannounced paddy procure-ment policy for 2019-20 sea-son and increased the mini-mum support price (MSP) to�1,835 per quintal for grade Apaddy, apart from providing�20 per quintal extra to farm-

ers as transport and othersupport charges that effec-tively increased the net payableamount to �1,855 per quintal.

The policy is aimed atfacilitating robust procure-ment of food grain and pro-moting contract farming andshare cropping for increasingfarm income and boostingexport of agricultural com-modities.

UP is not only among themajor paddy producing statesbut a big consumer of rice aswell. The state annuallyrequires almost 40 lakh MT ofcustom milled rice for con-sumption every year.

As per market players,UP exports Basmati and otherrice varieties to a few thirdworld countries, includingNepal, Bangladesh and SriLanka. In 2018-19 agricultur-al marketing seasons, UPlogged total grain productionof more than 60 lakh MT, thehighest so far.

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4�#�������������������� ���������������5� ��Gonda (PTI): Four Nepalesewomen were arrested aftermore than 20 kg charas worthover �6 crore was recoveredfrom them in neighbouringBahraich district, police saidon Saturday.

A police team patrollingRupaideeh area interceptedthe four women near aschool. They were found car-rying the contraband, DIGRajesh Singh said.All the fourwere arrested and a caseunder the Narcotic Drugsand Psychotropic Substances(NDPS) Act was filed againstthem, the DIG said.

The seized contrabandhas an estimated worth of�6.23 crore in the interna-tional market, Singh added.

#����6����"��������������� ��%����������

$����%����������������������� �������2�Lucknow (PTI): Rains andhailstorms in Uttar Pradeshon Saturday brought the tem-perature down to single digitin many areas.

Shahjahanpur andMoradabad received rainfallof 9 cm each, followed byNighasan 8 cm, Hapur 6 cm,Nanpara cm, Mohammadiand Kaimganj 5 cm each, themeteorological departmentsaid.

Heavy rains and hail-storm occurred at isolatedplaces in the state.

Many parts of the staterecorded a low of 8.5 degreesCelsius on Saturday.

Day temperaturesmarkedly fell in Gorakhpur,Allahabad, Varanasi,Faizabad, Kanpur, Lucknow,Bareilly and Moradabad divi-sions, they said.

The weather is likely toremain dry over the state onSunday with shallow to mod-erate fog at a few places.

!���/��0��� #1�� ��0���!����&�'��������! ���������'�Aligarh: Tough security measures continued at Aligarh MuslimUniversity on Saturday as a precautionary measure amid studentprotest against the Citizenship Amendment Act. Heavy policepatrolling was underway at the university circle and other entrypoints of the AMU campus as a precautionary measure, police said.Annual examinations are continuing as per schedule and the dis-trict authorities and the AMU administration are maintaining strictvigil, AMU spokesman Dr Rahat Abrar said. AMU Teachers’Association secretary Najmul Islam said that the executive com-mittee of their association would decide on future course of action.Meanwhile, Internet services, which were suspended on Thursdaymidnight, were restored late on Friday evening, district officials said.

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Muzaffarnagar: A 50-year-old guard at a school inMuzaffarnagar district was allegedly electrocuted as he switchedon an immersion rod to heat water, a school official said. NandLal touched the electric wire on the rod when he got electrocutedat the school in Gandhi Colony on Friday, according to schoolmanager Anprit Singh. The man’s body was found in the schoolpremises a few hours later, he said. The school committee hasprovided �2 lakh to the victim’s family, Singh claimed. In anoth-er incident on Friday, a 45-year-old farmer died of a heart attackduring bad weather at Attoda village under Babri police stationlimits in Shamli district. According to the man’s brother PardeepKumar, Sanjive had gone to a nearby sugar mill to sell his sug-arcane crop on a cold day when he died of the heart attack.

!��� ���0�����2�����(����%Allahabad: Police on Friday busted an inter-district gang involvedin cattle theft and arrested its seven members near Jagdishpurtrisection. Four country-made pistols of .315 bore along witheight live cartridges, three knives and other valuables were seizedfrom the accused Rahul Mangata, Sundar Mangata, MukeshMangata, Ramchandra, Rajan Mangata, Ashish Mangata andVikas Mangata. All the residents of Patti. Inspector Patti NarendraSingh said that gang was skilled in stealing cattle and oftenattacked cattle owners. The gang was also involved in execut-ing dacoities on city outskirts. On on December 4 last, the ganghad allegedly stolen as many as 30 sheep from Muradpur koti-la village in Jaunpur and later sold it in Sultanpur. The gang wasalso active in Faizabad, Allahabad, Jaunpur and Sultanpur.

# '��! ''�������!�%��Kanpur: A woman committed suicide by hanging herself undermysterious circumstances, under the Kalyanpur police stationon Friday night. Rishabh Gupta of Rawatpur Gaon, Kalyanpur,said the marriage of his sister Neha Gupta (22) was fixed witha boy in Kidwai Nagar and scheduled to be held on January 20,2020. Late on Friday evening, after dinner all the family mem-bers went to sleep. Late in the night when father Srikant Guptareturned home and went to the room of Neha and found it bolt-ed from inside. On failing to get any response the family brokeopen the doors and found Neha hanging from the ceiling.

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Ateam of Special Task Forcevisited Lucknow University

on Saturday and recorded thestatements of the examinationcontroller and Vice-Chancellorin connection with the paperleak. An audio clip went viralafter which it surfaced that thepaper of third semester (Lawdepartment) got leaked.

IPPR director and mediaspokesperson of LucknowUniversity Sanjay Medhavi saidthe STF team recorded thestatement of the examinationcontroller at the university andlater that of Vice-Chancellor atlatter’s residence.

Regarding an unofficialpress conference called by someteachers from the Law depart-ment on the paper leak issue,Medhavi pointed out that theteachers said they were askedby the V-C to help a female stu-dent. “This does not amount toanything serious because it is acommon refrain to ask teach-ers to help students. It does notmean that the teachers have todisclose the question papers,”he added.

Meanwhile, raising con-

cern over the questions beingraised on the sanctity of exam-ination system, Deputy ChiefMinister Dinesh Sharma, in anofficial communiqué, said hehad constituted a high-levelcommittee with a view to pre-venting a repeat of such anincident. The three-membercommittee comprises deputydirector of IIT-KanpurManvendra Singh, Vice-Chancellor of AKTU VinayKumar Pathak and Vice-Chancellor of SiddharthUniversity.

The committee will givesuggestions on the formation of

question papers, their moder-ation and how this can bedone in a better mannerthrough technology. The com-mittee will submit its recom-mendations within 15 days.Sharma said that looking intothe paper leak incident, it wasimportant to take effectivemeasures. He said one univer-sity based the entire examina-tion system on technology andgot good results. The DeputyChief Minister said that withthe use of artificial intelli-gence, the system would notface human errors and wouldnot be individual-based.

� �����#�������!��� *2.���

The Mohanlalganj police onSaturday recovered Indian

Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL)bottles worth Rs 50 lakh andarrested a truck driver, who wasidentified as Pappu of Kasganjdistrict. As per reports, thepolice were tipped off about acontainer passing viaMohanlalganj on Saturday after-noon. A team led byMohanlalganj SHO GD Shuklacarried out the operation. Thedriver tried to flee the sceneabandoning the container, butwas nabbed. The police said theliquor was smuggled fromFaridabad in Haryana and wasbeing taken to Bihar, which hasbeen declared a dry state. “Thetruck driver told us that he wasgiven the task to ferry the goodsin the container. Since it remainscovered, it was difficult to detectthe goods loaded in it,” thepolice said. The truck driver dis-closed the names of some of theaccused involved in the crime.“A team will be formed to arrestthem,” the police said.

Meanwhile, owner of a realestate company and his menwere accused of misbehavingwith a sub-inspector whoreached his office for investiga-

tion into a case on Saturday.However, police denied reportsregarding misbehaviour.

As per reports, a woman ofGosainganj had lodged a com-plaint against company ownerAshish Patel, alleging that herefused to give her salary. Onthe complaint, incharge of theSRS Mall police outpost UmeshSingh reached the office. The SIwas allegedly subjected to crassbehavior by Ashish and hismen. A police spokesmandenied reports of misbehaviourwith the S-I and said Ashish wassummoned to the police stationto know his side of the story. Hesaid the woman joined thecompany on June 11 and quit onSeptember 10. It surfaced dur-ing investigation that thewoman was promised Rs 7,000per month but she got nothingtill date. When she asked Ashishfor salary, he told her that shewas appointed on commissionbasis and all the arrears hadbeen cleared.

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Former AdditionalAdvocate General Bulbul

Godiyal, who was also thefirst woman from LucknowUniversity to bag this pres-tigious post, has witnessedboth sweet and sour sides ofthe university. Talking toThe Pioneer, Godiyal said:“My experiences notwith-standing, I got confidence tobe in legal profession fromLucknow University.”

She said she had differ-ent kinds of experiences as astudent of LU because shestudied from two differentfaculties. “My good timeswere when I was doing MA(English) in 1986-87 andthe not-so-good times whenI was a student of LLB from1987 to 1990,” she said.

Godiyal fondly remem-bers the English departmentwhere she made manyfriends and was impressedby the teachings of DDSharma, whose lessons, shesaid, were mesmerising.

“I remember attendingclasses and enjoying visits tothe canteen for chai andsamosa with my friends,”she added. Talking abouther times as a student of theLaw department, she saidshe witnessed hooliganismand irregular sessions.“There were strikes and noclasses, and all kinds ofhooligans causing disrup-tions. I remember that mostof the time, I would go forclasses but only to learn thatthere were no classes.

However, I focused on self-study and was able to per-form well,” she said.

“Still, there were profes-sors who would teach welland I still remember ateacher who taught us theLaw of Torts. But themoment he started speakingin English, students sitting atthe back would heckle him.However, he was anextremely good teacher,” sherecalled.

Incidentally, Godiyal’sfather Robin Mitra, who wasalso in legal profession, wasone of the most active stu-dent leaders in the campus inhis hey days at LucknowUniversity. “He did atLucknow University whatJNU students are doingtoday,” she pointed out. Shesaid when she started doingthings on her own, she developed immense confidence.

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Lucknow (PNS): A 60-year-old labourer was killedafter an unidentified speedingcar hit him on Lucknow-Hardoi road in Malihabadpolice station area earlySaturday morning. Reportssaid the victim, identified asBhooplal of Gulalkheda local-ity, was coming to Lucknow towork at a construction site. Heleft his for Lucknow and waswaiting for a tempo when hemet with the mishap.

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NK Ganguly, the EmeritusProfessor of Post-

Graduate Institute of MedicalEducation and Research andalso the former director-general of Indian Council ofMedical Research, NewDelhi, said here on Saturdaythat the change in medicalcurriculum was being delib-erated in which new entrantswould also have classes ongeographical and social setup so that they were aware ofthe scenario in which theyhad to treat the patients.

Ganguly was speaking atthe SGPGI Foundation Dayon Saturday. He said com-munication skills would alsobe enhanced so that as majorhealth providers, doctors

were able to solve publichealth problems. The chiefguest on the occasion wasChief Secretary RajendraKumar Tewari, who said thegovernment was ready toprovide all help to SGPGI.

An elected fellow of theNational Academy ofMedical Sciences, Gangulywas also the president of theJawaharlal Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Educationand Research. He gave awayannual awards to the stu-dents and employees. BhanuPrakash was adjudged thebest DM student whileNaveen the best MCH stu-dent. A book on ‘Chikitsa KeKshetra Me Jansampark’,written by senior PROMonalisa Chaudhari, wasreleased on the occasion.

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Lucknow (PNS): Duringthe last few years, many newvegetables entered Lucknowmarket but broccoli tops theconsumers preference. Directorof Central Institute forSubtropical HorticultureShailendra Rajan said it wasprobably because of its nutritivevalue. “At the peak of winters,vegetables like cabbage andcauliflower are sold at a throw-away price, thus progressivefarmers are in search of newvegetable crops which canensure increased income. Theknow-how provided by CISHhas made many farmers suc-cessful in cultivation of thesevegetables. It was difficult to getseeds of these vegetables, butnow increased demand hasforced the suppliers to arrangeseeds. Many progressive farm-ers picked up the technologyand started producing the crop

and many of them could man-age the time of crop maturityfor getting better profit,” he said.

He said that the demand ofbroccoli was increasing due tochanges in living standards,food habits, health conscious-ness of consumers towardsnutritive and high medicinalproperties in these exotic veg-etables. The CISH director saidbroccoli has a high content ofvitamins K & C besides folicacid, potassium, and fiber.

“It can provide betterantioxidant benefits through anumber of antioxidants thatcan’t be provided by supple-ments. Reduced cancer risk isone of the benefits due to itsimpressive range of antioxi-dants. Common vegetable sell-ers say that women are inter-ested in including this vegetablein regular family meals,” headded.

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Member of Railway BoardPradeep Kumar said on

Saturday that the workingsystem in Signal and Telecomwing would be digitised soon.In a meeting with officials ofthe Lucknow division ofNorth-Eastern Railways atthe DRM office, he alsoreviewed the ongoing projectsand works done to upgradecivic amenities at differentrailway stations under thezone.

“Safety is on the top pri-ority and maintenance of sig-nals and telecom must beensured. Also, there is a needto improve the operating ratioand minimise the failure ofequipment keeping safetyaspect in mind,” Kumar said.

Motivating the officials todigitise train operations, hesaid it would help in ensuringimproved performance. Hetold the officials that theboard was working on the module of SignalMaintenance ManagementSystem.

“Entire working system ofsignal and telecom will bedigitised soon,” he said. Heasked the officials to imparttraining to ground-levelemployees engaged in main-tenance work and instructedthem to make available thematerial or items requiredfor the purpose. The meetingwas attended by senior offi-cials , including principal chief engineerSrikant Singh and DRMMonica Agnihotri.

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“Theatre has helped mefilter the kind of feelings

that I want to express,” saidFaezeh Jalali, director of theplay ‘Bone of Contention’,which was staged on the thirdday of the Repertwahr Fest atSangeet Natak Akademi onSaturday.

Speaking at ‘Meet TheCast’ session, she said theatrehas a space for everybody.Artistes Nidhi Bisht & PrernaPethe from ‘Bone ofContention’, and Raman Negi& Paras Thakur from ‘TheLocal Train’ musical band werealso welcomed at the session.

Nidhi talked about herlove for theatre and her popu-larity on YouTube and variousweb series. Prerna talked aboutthe honour of working with afemale director. “The play is afarcical take on the socio-polit-ical scenario of the current

times,” she said.Raman laid emphasis on

the ever-evolving voice of ‘TheLocal Train’. Asked about theunique factor of the band, hesaid: “We are different fromother bands because our musi-cal sense is more modern”. Allthe artistes agreed that con-necting with the audience wasthe basic motto behind theirart. Faezeh Jalali, while givingdetails of her play, said it wasan ensemble piece with 16-oddplayers, several of whom haveworked in her previous ven-tures. “The seed of the ideacame from a personal memo-ry from the time my familylived in a Mazgaon bungalowwith Parsi and Irani occu-pants, alongside which a con-servative Hindu housing coop-erative with a strictly vegetar-ian policy came up. Chicken ormeat bones retrieved fromtrash by errant crows anddropped across the proverbial

fence resulted in an atmosphereof mistrust in what was alreadythe polarised post-riots urbanmilieu of the mid-1990s. Thecatalyst for conflict then mighthave been a measly bone, andit persists, perhaps unwitting-ly, as agent provocateur in thisnew production,” she said

“A bone falls into a resi-dent’s balcony in the cos-mopolitan housing cooperativesociety. A farce ensues, as thisstarts a string of naming, blam-ing and shaming within variouscommunities of the housingsociety, while Kalpana, thecommon house help, revealsthe inside story,” she elaborat-ed. She said that the play blowsthe lid off the psychologicalhang-ups and class hangoversof the upwardly mobile, sur-prisingly open-minded lifechoices and provides anembodiment of the kind ofsyncretism that we aspire to inour so-called liberal bubbles.

#� % ����3 ��� Wildlife journal ‘Cheetal’,

published by WildlifePreservation Society (WPS),was released by Lucknow zoodirector RK Singh on Saturday.WPS president Rashmi KantShukla, inaugurated theLucknow branch of the societyon Saturday. WPS, which wasestablished in 1958, is the old-est society in north India andthe second oldest in the coun-try after BNHS (Mumbai).

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Bahuguna’s centenary birthanniversary celebrationskicked off at LucknowUniversity’s Malviya Hall onSaturday. The programme wasinaugurated by ministerAnurag Thakur and presidedover by BJP leader RitaBahuguna Joshi. Thakur saidcoming from the hills, he

could understand the strugglesmade by Bahuguna. Speakingon the occasion, RitaBahuguna Joshi said her fatheralways taught her that therewas no alternative to hard

work. The programme was fol-lowed by scores of competi-tions and the main attractionremained the rendition of‘Vande Matram’ and theunfurling of a 20-feet flag.

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An 18-year-old girl wasfound hanging at her

house in Dugawan localityunder Naka police station areaon Saturday evening. The girl,identified as Sejal Rajpoot, wasa class VII dropout and wasfound hanging from ceilingwith a dupatta tied around herneck. A police spokesman saidthe family of the girl found herhanging in the morning.

“The body bore no injurymarks and the police did notrecover any suicide note fromthe room,” a police spokesmansaid. He said the body was sentfor autopsy and further inves-tigations were underway.Though the police could notexplain the sequence of events,locals said the girl took the stepin the intervening night ofFriday and Saturday.

�� 4*+�,On the third day of the

ongoing 4-day InternationalEnvironment Olympiad (IEO-2019), the participants fromIndia and abroad, through var-ious competitions, sent acrossa message to the world to saveenvironment. Renowned envi-ronmentalists and guests madethe young generation awareabout the worsening environ-mental condition. The event iseffectively spreading the mes-sage of ‘Green earth, cleanearth’ across society. The thirdday began with painting con-test organised for senior stu-dents. A court room dramacontest was also held for juniorstudents.

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� ��������� ���Things however improved

in parts of South 24 Parganaswhere no new report of violencecame in from DiamondHarbour. Meanwhile, the ChiefMinister making a strong state-ment against the “CAB-NRCmenace” asked the people tomaintain peace warning the“breakers of law” that theGovernment would be forced totake drastic action against them.A release from the ChiefMinister’s office also requestedpeople not to take law in hands.“Do not take law in your hands,blockade roads, railway trafficor damage public property asthis will cause inconvenience tothe people. Strict action will betaken against those who arefound guilty in creating distur-bances.” The Chief Ministerhas directed the Trinamool

leadership to take out proces-sions condemning the “dra-conian laws” on Sunday andMonday. “The TMC workerswill take out rallies in districtson Sunday. People from allwalks of life, irrespective oftheir caste, creed, religion andpolitical affiliation are request-ed to join the march,” Mamatasaid adding she would herselftake part in a rally in Kolkataon Monday.

Two TMC rallies, onefrom South Kolkata and onefrom North Kolkata, will beorganised on Monday,Mamata said adding, “I wantthe people remain calm at thishour of crisis. I want the peo-ple to protest in legal way. Iwant to assure everyone thatdespite the enactment of thedraconian law with the help ofa brute majority in Parliamentthe BJP will not be allowed toimplement it…. I assure youthat this Act will not beallowed to be implemented inBengal. There will be no NRCor CAB here as it is the StateGovernment that implementssuch laws and we will notimplement it.”

� ���"���������“We do not want to

inconvenience but the block-ade has been called to drawthe attention of people fromall over the country about thethreat to the people of theState due to the amendedCitizenship Act,” AJYCP gen-eral secretary PalashChangmai said. The AJYCPhas also given call for a 36-hour ‘Gana Anshan’ (masshunger strike) from 6 am onDecember 16 across the State,while from December 18, theywill organise ‘Gaon Sabhas’(village meetings) in all villageof the State. The AJYCP, which

also demands that Assam bebrought under the Inner LinePermit (ILP) regime, has alsoplanned ‘Gana Samadal’ (massrally) on December 24.

“We have coined the slo-gan ‘No CAA, Yes ILP’ and wewill continue our agitation tillit is granted,” Changmai said.

Protests by people andstudents are happening acrossthe state and it will continueeveryday till 5 pm, AASUGeneral Secretary LurinjyotiGogoi told an agency. TheAASU has called for ‘satya-graha’ for three days, begin-ning December 16.

“We will continue withour agitation till the Act iswithdrawn but we will followthe ideals of Mahatma Gandhiin our struggle which will benon-violent and disciplined,”Gogoi said. A NortheastFrontier Railway spokesper-son said all trains to UpperAssam districts have been ter-minated at Guwahati, whileall-long distance trains leavingGuwahati will resume theironward journey after theblockade. InGiridih/Baghmara inJharkhand, addressing elec-tion rallies Union HomeMinister Amit Shah hit out atthe Congress, accusing it ofstoking violence over theamended Citizenship Act.Shah said the passage of theCitizenship (Amendment) Billhas caused a “stomach ache”to the Opposition party. Heassured the people of theNortheast that their culture,language, social identity andpolitical rights will be not beaffected by the Act. TheRailways is running specialtrains from Guwahati to helpstranded passengers in Assam.Special passenger trains arebeing run in Guwahati so

that people reach their desti-nation in upper Assam. Onesuch train was operated onFriday to Dimapur. Trainswere also run on Saturday toFurkating, the main railwayjunction in Assam’s Golaghatdistrict, and to Dibrugarh,officials said in New Delhi. Aspecial passenger train toDimapur from Guwahati willalso run tonight, they said.While 2000-2400 passengersferried in last two days,around 600-800 passengerswere stil l stranded inGuwahati. The remaining pas-sengers will be ferried bytomorrow morning. The offi-cials said the railways is usingsocial media like Facebookand Twitter to inform pas-sengers about the specialtrains and also to appeal topeople to not vandalise stationproperty.

3�'������%������The university had turned

into a virtual battlefield onFriday when students andpolicemen clashed with eachother as students tried tomarch to Parliament in protestagainst the legislation. Earlierin the day, Jamia Teachers’Association (JTA) had alsocalled an emergency meetingof the Executive Committee todiscuss measures ahead oftheir protest against the con-tentious legislation.

�2'� ����Jharkhand has led the BJP

to seek an apology from himand also take up the issue withthe Election Commission.

Accusing Prime MinisterModi of single-handedly“destroying” the country’seconomy, he said, “All ofIndia’s enemies wanted that itseconomy, which is its strength,

should be destroyed.” “Thatwork (of destroying the econ-omy) has not been done by theenemies, but by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi him-self. And, (he) still calls him-self a patriot,” he added.

Training his guns onModi, a charged-up RahulGandhi said the PM onlythinks about one thing -whether he has the power.“They will do anything for thepower- make the youth unem-ployed, destroy the economyand what not,” he said.

He also alleged that peo-ple manning various institu-tions, including media andconstitutional ones like judi-ciary, have forgotten theirwork. While approving ofmedia’s criticism of the UPAgovernment, he said, “Irespect that and you did theright thing but today youhave forgotten your work.”

“It is your responsibility torise when you are suppressedand attacked as it is not anattack on you but on the verysoul of India. This country isbeing scared and suppressed,but no Congressmen haveany kind of fear. I am tellingthose people in institutionsnot to fear from anything. TheCongress party is standingwith them. We will togetherend this atmosphere of fear inthe country,” he said. TheCongress leader alleged thatthe BJP and PM Modi have setthe entire north east region onfire and states like Assam,Meghalaya, ArunachalPradesh, Tripura are burning.“Your own country is beingweakened and divided andour economy is beingdestroyed. The reason is thatNarendra Modi sees only onething whether the power is inhis hand. He (Modi) only

works for being in power. Hewill destroy everything toachieve power,” he said. Rahulalleged PM Modi only “wantsto be seen on television all thetime” and the people whom hehas benefitted by giving themthe money “snatched frompeople”, are the ones fundinghim for marketing himselfon the TV. He said it is onlythe PM and no other opposi-tion leader who can be seenon television.

5��0� �3��02���He can’t be “Veer” or be at

par with Savarkar,” BJPspokesperson Sambit Patrasaid. Another BJP spokesper-son, GVL Narasimha Rao, saida more appropriate name forRahul would be “Rahul Jinnah”given the Congressman’s“Muslim appeasement poli-tics and mindset”. Maintainingthat five generations of Nehru-Gandhi family can’t measureup to Savarkar’s legacy, BJP ITCell chief Amit Malaviya tooka dig at the Shiv Sena saying,“Looking forward to seeingShiv Sena defe nd RahulGandhi for his statementimplying that Veer Savarkarwas a coward who apologized.”Sena leader Sanjay Raut tweet-ed: “Veer Savarkar is an idol ofwhole country and not justMaharashtra. The nameSavarkar denotes pride aboutnation and self. Like Nehruand Gandhi, Savarkar too sac-rificed his life for the country.Every such idol must berevered. There is no compro-mise on this.” Savarkar isrevered as Hindutva icon forthe BJP but is accused by itsrivals of tendering apologies tothe British government tosecure release from jail whenIndia was under the colonialrule.

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The CBI has booked aceBharatnatyam dancer and

former Chairperson of SangeetNatak Akademi Leela Samsonfor alleged "unfruitful expen-diture" of �7.02-crore on ren-ovation of KoothambalamAuditorium of KalakshetraFoundation, Chennai.

Samson, a Padma Shriawardee and also a formerChairperson of Central Boardof Film Certification, has beenbooked in her capacity as thethen Director of KalakshetraFoundation along with fourmore officials of theFoundation. The other accusedin the case include the thenofficers of the Foundation:Chief Accounts Officer (ondeputation from CAG) TSMurthi, Accounts Officer SRamachandran, EngineerOfficer V Srinivasan and pro-prietor of architecture firmsCARD and Chennai Engineers.

After registering the caseon Thursday, the CBI alsoconducted searches on the res-idential premises of theaccused.

In a complaint to the CBI,the Chief Vigilance Officer ofthe Culture Ministry hasalleged that the officials of theFoundation awarded the con-tract for the renovation work toconsultant architect CARD inviolation of General FinanceRules (GFR), according to theFIR which stated the period ofthe alleged offence from 2006to 2012. .

After conducting aninquiry in 2016, the CultureMinistry alleged that the 84-year old Foundation had spentRs 62.20 lakh more than theestimated amount on the Rs7.02-crore project.

The estimation given bythe Central Public WorksDepartment revealed that the

contracts were awarded at ahigher rate and the paymentsmade to the contractorsaccordingly, according to theFIR. Samson was the Directorof the Foundation betweenMay 06, 2005, and April 30,2012. It was felt in 2006 that theauditorium built by theFoundation in 1985 neededrenovation, they said.

The project aimed toupgrade the sound system ofthe Koothambalam auditori-um, built in 1985, followed bycivil engineering works, elec-trical works, air conditioningand architectural features, theCBI FIR said.

The 33rd Governing Bodymeeting held in 2009 decidedto form a civil works advisorycommittee and P T Krishnan,Leela Samson and MadhaviMudgal were to prepare nec-essary estimation based on therecommendations of theGoverning Board, it said.

The civil works committeeappointed CARD as consultantarchitect in 2010 which gavecontracts for 28 renovationworks to five contractors whilecommittee also selected somecontractors, it said.

The ministry alleged inthe complaint that the opentender process was not fol-lowed in awarding the con-tracts.

The Comptroller andAuditor General audited the

expensiture of Kalakshetra andsubmitted the report on August5, 2011. In the report, theCAG broughtout various laps-es in executing the renovationwork of the auditorium. TheCAG also pointed out that therenovation works were under-taken without formal sanctionof the Governing Board andFinancial Committee.

It also alleged that Samsonfailed to apprise the non-offi-cial members of the WorksCommittee about the GFRnorms and inform the WorksCommittee about the CAGInspection Report received inAugust 2011.

"Instead, approval of theWorks Committee wasobtained for two major expen-ditures in September andDecember 2011. She failed toplace the CAG InspectionReport in the meeting ofFinance Committee andGeneral Body meeting held onJanuary 23, 2012, and January24, 2012, respectively and keptthese bodies under dark," theagency has alleged.

The FIR, citing reports,alleged even if there were onlylimited sources of supply ofsophisticated equipment forsound, stage lighting, thesewere not justified in the filenotings for resorting to limit-ed tender, and hence therewas no justification in notresorting to open bidding.

She was allegedly respon-sible for the losses incurred bythe Foundation on account ofnot opting for open tenderingas also mandated by theGeneral Body, it said.

The FIR said Kalashetrahad spent Rs 62.20 lakh morethat the estimated amount.The CPWD estimates revealedthe contracts were awarded ata higher rate and the pay-ments made to the contractorsaccordingly.

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Congress president SoniaGandhi on Saturday

launched a scathing attack on'Modi-Shah Government' overseveral issues concerning thenation and gave a clarion callto rise to save democracy andConstitution.

Addressing the BharatBacaho Rally in the nationalCapital, Sonia alleged that theBJP-ruled government's soleagenda was to make peoplefight to serve their politics, andvowed that her party would notretreat in its struggle againstinjustice.

Former Prime MinisterManmohan Singh tooaddressed the crowd duringwhich he accused his succes-sor Narendra Modi of mis-leading the people by making"lofty promises" which he"failed" to fulfil. OtherCongress leaders PChidambaram, BhupinderSingh Hooda, Sachin Pilot andChief Ministers Ashok Gehlot,Kamal Nath, Bhupesh Bagheltoo addressed the gathering tathad come from across thecountry, particularly from theCongress ruled States.

Sonia also targeted thegovernment over the econom-ic situation and exhorted peo-ple to raise their voice to pro-tect the country and itsConstitution. "The Congressand only Congress has alwaysfought for people's rights. Andtoday too, the Congress partyis not going to retreat. Till ourlast breath, we will fulfil ourduty towards protecting thecountry, democracy and theConstitution" she said.

"Andher nagri chaupat rajawala mahaul hai (confusedleader, chaotic State)… kahaanhai sabka saath sabka vikas?What has happened to econo-my? Where are jobs?" sheasked, hitting out at the gov-ernment over the handling ofeconomy.

The Congress chief said

the situation in the country isserious as she highlighted theplight of women, farmers,labourers and the youth andasked party workers to strug-gle hard for protecting theirrights. "The greatest sin is tobear injustice. So raise yourvoice to the Modi-Shah gov-ernment and tell them that weare ready to give any kind ofsacrifice for the protection ofdemocracy. And we are readyfor any kind of struggle to pro-tect the Constitution."

Talking about the newamended citizenship law, SoniaGandhi said it has been onBJP's agenda for a long timenow. "They are not botheredthat this new CAB law willshred the soul of India, as ishappening in Assam and othernortheastern States."It is forIndia's soul that our greatnation builders and BabasahebAmbedkar struggled hard, butI can say with confidence thatour country's basic foundationdoes not allow such discrimi-natory actions. I assure youthat the Congress will stand byall those against whom injus-tice is done," she said.

The Congress has been

opposing CitizenshipAmendment Act, alleging thatit discriminates on the basis ofreligion. Training her guns onModi and Home MinisterAmit Shah, the Congress chiefsaid, "Modi, Shah are not both-ered about the Parliament nordo they care for Constitutionalinstitutions. Modi and Shahhave a single aim - they havea single narrow agenda. Theyonly bother about politics.Their narrow agenda is 'Logonko ladao, aur asli muddon kochhupao' (Make people fightand hide the real issues)."

She said they "violate" theConstitution everyday andthen also celebrateConstitution Day. Asking peo-ple to rise against the injustice,she said, "There comes a timein the life of any person orsociety or country when youhave to decide which sideyou're on, today is one suchday. The time has come tostruggle hard to save the coun-try. It's time to rise to savedemocracy and Constitution."She said unprecedented joblosses are being witnessed andthe youths face darkness.

On his part Manmohan

Singh said Modi had promisedto take the country's economyto $5 trillion by 2024, doublefarmers' income and providetwo crore new jobs every yearfor youths. "Six years ago,Narendra Modi showed loftypromises to people. Now it hasbeen proved that all thesepromises were false and he hasfailed in fulfilling all the promis-es made and the people of thecountry were misled," he said.

In his brief address,Manmohan Singh urged the

people to strengthen theCongress party and the handsof Sonia Gandhi and RahulGandhi in order "to take thecountry forward in the rightdirection". He also urgedCongress workers present atthe rally in large numbers totake the message of Congresschief Sonia Gandhi to everynook and corner of the coun-try. "It is your responsibility.The enthusiasm in you willsurely help give a new directionto the country," he noted.

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Congress general secre-tary Priyanka Gandhi

Vadra on Saturday said thosewho don't fight the prevail-ing situation today will godown in history as cow-ards."If you love India, pleaseraise your voice. If we remainsilent today, our revolution-ary Constitution will bedestroyed. The division ofthe country will start and wewill all be as responsible forthis division as any corruptleader of the BJP and theRSS," she asserted whileaddressing the party's BharatBachao Rally.

While Priyanka urgedever yone to gather thecourage to fight the currentsituation, she also took ajibe at BJP slogans praisingPrime Minister NarendraModi.

"At every bus stop, inevery newspaper, on everyTV channel, one can seethat 'Modi hai to mumkinhai' (Everything possiblewith Modi at the helm).Asliyat ye hai ki BJP hai to�100 kilo ki pyaaz mumkinhai, BJP hai to 45 saal meinsabse zyada berozgar imumkin hai, BJP hai to 4

crore naukriyan nasht honamumkin hai, BJP hai to15,000 kisan ki atmahatyamumkin hai....(The fact isunder the BJP, it is possiblethat onion sells �100 a kilo,it's possible that unemploy-ment is highest in 45 years,it is possible to destroy 4crore jobs. If the BJP is there,it is possible that 15,000farmers commit suicide....),"said the Congress generalsecretary.

A combative Priyankaraised the recent allegedtorching of a rape victim inUnnao who subsequentlysuccumbed to her injures ata Delhi hospital and remem-bered her father R aj ivGandhi and his sacrifices.

"When I saw the father ofthe Unnao rape victim bury-ing his face in his palms andcrying, I remembered myown father whose body I sawas a 19-year-old. My father'sblood is in this soil just as theblood of the Unnao victim isnurturing this earth. Thiscountry is ours and it is our moral duty to save it,"she said flanked by hermother and party presidentSonia Gandhi and formerCongress chief Rahul Gandhiseated at the stage.

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The Seventh EconomicCensus was launched in the

national Capital on Friday. TheMinistry of Statistics andProgramme Implementation(MoSPI) has tied up withCommon Service Centre(CSC), an SPV under Ministryof Electronics and IT, to carryout the 7th National EconomicCensus.

"For the first time the entireCensus is being conducted ona digital platform by the use ofan application which willensure high accuracy and datasecurity. Delhi is the 26th Statewhere the survey has beenlaunched, while the process isalready on in 20 States and 5UTs. In Delhi the entire processwill take around three monthswhere enumerators will surveyaround 45 lakh establishmentsand households," said A.KSadhu, DG (Social Statistics),Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The process of EconomicCensus was first held in 1978.This is the Seventh Censuswhich will provide disaggre-gated information on variousoperational and structural

aspects of all establishments inthe country. The census willprovide valuable insights intogeographical spread/clusters ofeconomic activities, ownershippattern; persons engaged etc. ofthe establishments engaged ineconomic activity.

In the 7th Census, an ITbased digital platform is beingused for data capture, valida-tion, report generation anddissemination will be used.The fieldwork for the Censusstarted in June 2019. A com-prehensive training strategyhas been evolved to imparttraining to enumerators andsupervisors engaged in theCensus. CSC CEO Dr DineshTyagi was also present on theoccasion.

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India has set itself for sus-tainable development as it

strives to eliminate povertyand become a middle-incomecountry, President Ram NathKovind said on Saturday as hehosted a conference of 46heads of Central Universitiesand institutes of higher learn-ing in the fields of agriculture,pharmaceuticals, aviation,footwear-design, fashion,petroleum and energy, mar-itime studies, planning andarchitecture and informationtechnology.

"India has set itself for sus-tainable development as itstrives to eliminate povertyand become a middle-incomecountry. Each of these insti-tutes will be instrumental tothe realisation of our socio-economic goals. The centralagricultural universities cansupport our national goal ofpromoting sustainable agri-culture, productivity and sup-porting our farmers with use-ful research," Kovind said inRashtrapati Bhavan.

"The same is true of allother institutes linked to dif-ferent areas be it pharmaceu-tical, aviation, oceanography,petroleum and energy, IT,

Design, Architecture and oth-ers. Each of them is doing wellbut we need to raise the barfurther.

As our economy grows weneed to acquire the scale andefficiency that is greater andbetter than the best in theworld," he added.

The president said whiledeveloping their specialisa-tions, these institutes shouldcollaborate and learn fromeach other. "This is possible

for institutes in the same field.It is also possible across cate-gories. For example, advancesin information technologycan aid architects and townplanners to design smart citiesthat minimise use of energy.All of them should set up sys-tems that can scout for andsupport cross-category col-laborations which might holdcreative promises to solvemany of our problems,"Kovind said.

Issues such as promotionof research, promotion ofinnovation and entrepreneur-ship among students, buildingindustry - academia linkages,f i l l ing up of vacancies, including faculty from foreign universities, creatingalumni funding and enhanc-ing alumni activities and com-pletion of major infrastructureprojects in a time bound man-ner, were discussed during theconference.

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To avert inconvenience tocitizens, the Centre on

Saturday announced to con-vert up to 25 per cent ofFASTag lanes at national high-way toll plazas to hybrid lanesfor a month. The hybrid lanewill accept FASTag and othermodes of payment.

The Government earlierhad announced rollout ofmandatory FASTag underelectronic toll collection fromDecember 1, which was laterextended to December 15,2019. "Considering therequest of NHAI and furtherthe citizens are not put toinconvenience... It is decidedthat depending on the traffic

pile up at high traffic volumefee plazas, not more than 25per cent 'FASTag lane of feeplaza' may be temporarilyconverted to hybrid lanes," theMinistry of Road Transportand Highways said.

This is to be consideredon a case to case basis, itadded. "A daily evolution ofsuch cases be made to takenecessary corrective action," itsaid.

It should be ensured thatthe least possible number ofthe declared FASTag lanes areconverted into hybrid lanesand at least 75 per cent lanesof every fee plaza shouldremain operational as FASTaglanes, it added.

The ministry clarified that

it is a temporary measure tobe adopted for 30 days only tofacilitate smooth flow of traf-fic so that no inconvenience iscaused to the citizens. The

Government had earlierextended the date toDecember 15 for makingFASTag mandatory for tollpayments on national high-

ways.The National Electronic

Toll Collection (NETC) pro-gramme, the flagship initiativeof the ministry, has been

implemented on a pan-Indiabasis in order to remove bot-tlenecks and ensure seamlessmovement of traffic and col-lection of user fee as per thenotified rates, using passiveradio frequency identifica-tion (RFID) technology.

After announcement ofwaiver of tag cost fromNovember 21, there has beena growth in FASTag issuance.To give a fillip to digital pay-ments and bring in enhancedtransparency, the ministryhad directed to declare alllanes of fee plazas on NationalHighways as 'FASTag lanes' byDecember 1. However, onelane in each direction wasdecided to be kept as 'hybridlane' which will accept FASTagand other modes of payment.

A customer may call onthe helpline number '1033' forany assistance related toFASTags, the ministry hadsaid and added that they canalso reach out to banks toobtain FASTags.

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Tea growers in Assam havestarted feeling the pinch of the

ongoing protests with partial dis-ruption in production at manygardens and sale of the crop at theGuwahati auction centre beinghampered, industry insiders saidon Saturday.

Transportation of the pro-duce has also been affected due tothe ongoing stir, they said.

"Though winter months arenot the peak season, pluckingand manufacturing operations inmany gardens across the statehave been affected amid wide-spread protest," North EasternTea Association adviserBidyananda Barkakoty told PTI.

Compared to last few years,the weather condition wasfavourable during this Decemberand the growers were able to pro-duce relatively better quality teabut operations at several estateshave been adversely affected by theprotests, he added. "DuringTuesday's shutdown, gardens weremostly closed. Plucking activities

took place on Friday but not in afull-fledged scale as many work-ers could not come due to lack oftransport," All Assam Small TeaGrowers' Association general sec-retary Karuna Mahnata told PTI.

The legislation has put thestate on boil as people fear that itmay exacerbate the problem of ille-gal immigration.

Violent protests broke out inthe State earlier this week with agi-tators engaging in pitched battleswith the police, forcing the admin-istration to impose curfew in sev-eral places. Planters also said theTea Board has extended the pluck-ing time till December 19 onaccount of shortage and non-availability of workers.

The board had earlier askedthem to shut plucking and man-ufacturing operations by mid-

December to prevent productionof inferior quality tea, according togrowers. Suspension of internetservices has also affected theirbusiness.

"Due to the internet suspen-sion and violent protests, severaltea growers are apprehending thatthey may face difficulties to paywages to workers as banking ser-vices might be affected. Usually,payments to labourers are madeeither on Friday or Saturday,"Barkakoty said. Sales of tea at theGuwahati auction centre havealso been disrupted.

"Every week, around 40-45lakh kgs of tea is sold. But, only 15lakh kg has been sold so far thisweek," Guwahati Tea AuctionBuyers' Association SecretaryDinesh Bihani said.

Barkakoty said planters are

also apprehending that if theongoing protests continue for aprolonged period, the pruningactivities and other agriculturalprocesses which usually happenduring the winters might get dis-rupted. "Several agriculturalprocesses, including pruning, are

done during the winters to ensurequality of tea for the upcomingseason. These are time-boundactivities. If the protests continuelonger and such cold-weatheragricultural activities are affected,the industry will face severeimpact next season," he added.

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auction of the gifts he receivedsince 2014 and the prize money ofthe Seoul Peace prize, it said.Modi also pitched for a holisticthinking process where NamamiGange evolves to ‘arth’

To monitor the progress ofwork being carried out undervarious schemes and initiativesunder Namami Gange and ArthGanga, the prime minister direct-ed the attendees of the meeting toset up a digital dashboard wheredata from villages and urban bod-ies can be monitored on a dailybasis by the Niti Ayog and the JalShakti Ministry.

Modi also said like aspirationaldistricts, all districts borderingGanga should be made a focusarea for monitoring efforts underNamami Gange.

The meeting of the NationalGanga Council was initially sched-uled for about 100 minutes but itcontinued for another 40 minutes.The council has been given theoverall responsibility for superin-tendence of pollution preventionand rejuvenation of River Gangabasin, including the Ganga and itstributaries.

Accompanied by chief minis-ters and other dignitaries, Modivisited Atal Ghat near the Gangabarrage to assess works donethere. He then went on a half-an-hour steamer ride on the Gangaand inspected the Sisamau Nullah,a 128-year-old drain which was amajor contributor to the river’spollution until it was cleanedunder the Namami GangeProgramme.

Under the programme, 13 outof 16 major drains in Kanpur havebeen tapped, and the sewage andindustrial effluents have beendiverted to Common Effluent

Treatment Plants. Returning fromthe steamer ride, the prime min-ister stumbled and fell while climb-ing the stairs of the ghat but waspromptly back on his feet as thesecurity personnel rushed to hishelp. Kanpur CommissionerSudhir M Bobde said the SPGwere informed beforehand that

one of the steps of the ghat was alittle higher than the others.

Uttar Pradesh Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath, his Uttarakhandcounterpart Trivendra SinghRawat, Bihar Deputy CM SushilModi, Union Jal Shakti MinisterGajendra Singh Shekhawat,Environment Minister Prakash

Javadekar, Health Minister HarshVardhan, the Niti Aayog vicechairman were among those pre-sent at the meeting of the council.

West Bengal did not have anyrepresentative in the meeting,while Jharkhand didn’t participateas the Model Code of Conduct isin force there in view of the ongo-

ing Assembly elections. Upon his arrival at Kanpur’s

Chakeri airport, Modi wasreceived by Adityanath. He paidtribute to freedom fighterChandrashekhar Azad and visitedan exhibition on Namami Gangeat the Chandrashekhar AzadAgriculture University.

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In what is being described as amajor political development in

Kerala , the ruling CPI(M) andthe principal Opposition partyCongress would join hands onMonday to launch a major State-wide agitation against theCitizenship Amendment Bill2019 that was passed in bothhouses of Parliament last week.

The decision to hold thejoint agitation comes immedi-ately after the declaration madeby Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan of the CPI(M) thatKerala would not accept the

CAB-2019 and oppose theCentre’s move tooth and nail.The Congress in Kerala, whichis in a buoyant mood after itsimpressive performance in theLok Sabha election by winning19 of the 20 seats walked theextra mile to show its solidaritywith the Muslim community intheir opposition to the Act.

The Muslim League in theState is apprehensive of the Billbecause of the denial of citizen-ship to hundreds of thousandsof illegal Bangladeshi migrantsin the State, said an intelligenceofficial. “There are nearly 2lakh Bangladeshi Muslims in

Perumbavoor, a small town.Once they get citizenship andvoting rights, the Muslim Leagueand the Congress are the majorbeneficiaries,” said the official.

The question being asked inthe State is whether the newfound bonhomie between theCongress and the CPI(M) wouldlead to a new alliance to face the2021 assembly election. KVSHaridas, former chief editor ofJanmabhumi and a leading polit-ical commentator in the State isof the view that the alliancewould not last. “The Congresshas decided to join the agitationas part of its minority appeasing

policy. But this move wouldboomerang on the party as theHindus in the State would nottake it lightly. It is a truth thatnearly 50 per vent of theCongress votes come from theHindus in the State,” saidHaridas.

The electoral alliancebetween the CPI(M) and theCongress is nothing new in theState. Last time the partiesfought the election together wasin 1980 when a faction of theCongress led by A K Antonywhich was vehemently opposedto Indira Gandhi had joinedhands with the CPI(M).

2����4�#�$�������$�������3��$$�Srinagar: The detention of FarooqAbdullah, a three-term Chief Minister oferstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir, wasextended on Saturday by three months andhe would continue to remain at his resi-dence that has been declared a sub-jail,officials said here.

The case of Abdullah, also a five-term parliamentarian, was reviewed bythe advisory board of the HomeDepartment of the Union Territory ofJammu & Kashmir which recom-mended extension of his detentionunder the PSA, they said.

His house, located at Gupkar Road,has been declared a sub-jail by the unionterritory's Home Department.

Eighty-two-year-old Abdullah, whobecame the first Chief Minister againstwhom the stringent public safety law wasinvoked, has a heart pacemaker implant-ed and had undergone a kidney transplanta few years ago.

Reacting to the move, West Bengal

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweet-ed, “Farooq Abdullah detention extend-ed by three months under Public SafetyAct...This is a very sad state of affairs. Inour democratic country this is happening.These are unconstitutional steps.”Abdullah was among a host of leaders andactivists who were detained on August 5when the centre abrogated Article 370 anddivided the state into two union territo-ries —Ladakh, and Jammu & Kashmir.The PSA has two sections — 'public order'and 'threat to security of the State'. The for-mer allows detention without trial for threeto one year and the latter for two years.

The PSA is applicable only in Jammu& Kashmir. Elsewhere in the country, theequivalent law is the National Security Act(NSA).

Besides Abdullah, his son and formerchief minister Omar and ex-CMMehbooba Mufti, several other leadershave also been under detention sinceAugust 5. PTI

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Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya JanataDal has given call for a

Bihar bandh on December 21in protest against the amend-ed Citizenship Act, alleging thatit has blown the Constitution tosmithereens.

Tejashwi Yadav, Prasad’syounger son and heir apparent,made the announcement late onFriday night, urging all politicaland non-political outfits having“faith in the Constitution andthe principle of justice” to takepart in the bandh which was ini-tially scheduled for December22, but was later preponed sothat the police recruitmentexams next Sunday were not affected.

“The Citizenship(Amendment) Bill is a black

legislation that has blown theConstitution to smithereens. Asa mark of protest, RashtriyaJanata Dal will organize a Biharbandh on Sunday, December22.

“We appeal to all secularparties, non-political outfitsand common citizens who havefaith in the Constitution andthe principle of justice towholeheartedly support thebandh and help us make it asuccess,” he tweeted.

The 30-year-old leader ofopposition followed it up withanother tweet

“Correction: Bihar bandhwill now be on Saturday,December 21 because policerecruitment tests are scheduledon December 22. The resched-uling is being done so thatyoung aspirants are not incon-

venienced on account of thebandh.”

Founded in 1997 afterwhich it ruled Bihar for eightmore years, the RJD is knownfor using strong arm tactics toenforce shutdowns which bringnormal life to a standstill,sometimes even resulting in

violence and massive disruptions of rail and roadtraffic.

The party has been goingthrough a rough patch since theLok Sabha polls this yearwherein it put up its worst-everperformance and failed to wina single seat.

3�������������������$;*��������� �<�����"���)����*� �=>Patna:The Left parties on Saturday appealed to RJD toadvance its ‘Bihar bandh’ by two days to December 19 to com-bine it with their proposed nationwide joint protest against theamended Citizenship Act on that day. The Communist Partyof India, CPI(Marxist), CPI (Marxist-Leninist)— Liberation, AllIndia Forward Bloc and the Revolutionary Socialist Party, in ajoint statement, alleged that the Act would destroy the secu-lar democratic foundations of India. PTI

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Hours after a 33-year-old man ended his lifeby jumping in front of a train at the

Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Metro Station inDelhi, his wife killed her five year-old daugh-ter and then committed suicide by hanging her-self from a ceiling fan at their residence in Noidaon Friday. Police said initial investigation sug-gests that the family was going through finan-cial crisis. The deceased have been identifiedas Shivranjani and her daughter Jayashritha, res-idents of Sector 128, Noida. Her husband BharatJ, a native of Chennai, ended his life on Fridayby jumping in front of a train at the JawaharlalNehru Stadium Metro Station.

According to a senior police official of DelhiPolice, on Friday at around 11:27 am a policecontrol room (PCR) call was received that a per-son has jumped in front of a Metro train at plat-form 2 of the Jawaharlal Nehru StadiumMetro Station. “Acting on the call, a police teamrushed to the spot and Bharat was taken to theRam Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital wheredoctors declared him brought dead. His wifewas informed and Shivranjani along with herdaughter had come to the hospital to identifythe body,” said the senior police official.

According to Noida Police, after identify-ing her husband in the RML Hospital she cameback to her home. “Late on Friday night she firsthanged her five year-old daughter from a ceil-ing fan in a room and then she went to anoth-er room and committed suicide by hanging her-self from a ceiling fan,” said Bhanuvesh Kumar,Station House Officer, Expressway police sta-tion in Noida.

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US President Donald Trumpon Friday said it was unfair

that he was being impeached ashe had done no wrong and thecountry under him was doingquite good.

“It’s not fair that I’m beingImpeached when I’ve doneabsolutely nothing wrong!,”Trump said in a tweet onFriday night as a keyCongressional committee, ear-lier in the day, approved thetwo articles of impeachmentagainst him.

The impeachment againstTrump now moves to theHouse of Representatives,where the oppositionDemocratic Party enjoys amajority. Once passed by theHouse, the trial for impeach-ment would be carried out inthe 100-member US Senate,where Trump’s Republicanparty has a majority.

“The Radical Left, DoNothing Democrats havebecome the Party of Hate.They are so bad for ourCountry!,” Trump said in histweet.

Earlier in the day, hedescribed the impeachment asa hoax and politically motivat-ed.

“The impeachment is ahoax. It is a sham. It started along time ago, probably beforeI came down the escalatorwith the future First Lady. Itstarted a long time ago,” Trumptold reporters earlier in the dayat the White House.

“It is a witch hunt. It is asham. It is a hoax. Nothing was

done wrong. Zero was donewrong. I think it is a horriblething to be using the tool ofimpeachment, which is sup-posed to be used in an emer-gency. And it would seemmany, many, many years apart,”he asserted.

“To be using this for a per-fect phone call, where the pres-ident of that country said therewas no pressure whatsoever —did not even know what wewere talking about. It was per-fect; the relationship is perfect.I have done much more forthem than Obama did for them.It is a scam. It is something thatshould not be allowed. And itis a very bad thing for our coun-try,” Trump said.

The Democrats, he saidwere trivialising impeachment.

“I tell you what, somedaythere will be a Democrat pres-ident and there will be aRepublican House, and I sus-pect they are going to remem-ber it. Because when you useimpeachment for absolutelynothing, other than to try andget political gain,” Trump said.He asserted that his poll num-bers had gone through theroof.

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2����������������������������8������� ������8������Washington: The USSupreme Court agreed Fridayto hear cases next year overthe release of Donald Trump’stax returns and financialrecords, setting the stage fora ruling during the presi-dential election campaign.

Trump has been seekingto block access to his taxreturns and other financialrecords in lawsuits involving New York prosecutors and the USHouse of Representatives.

Lower courts have ruledthat Trump must turn overthe records but lawyers forthe president appealed tothe nation’s highest court,arguing that as president, hehas blanket immunity.

The Supreme Court —where conservative judgesare in the majority — said itwill hear arguments duringthe March session with aruling to be issued before the session ends onJune 30.

Trump, a New York realestate tycoon, is the firstAmerican president sinceRichard Nixon not to makehis tax returns public, claiming they are under audit by the Internal Revenue Service(IRS). AFP

London: British PrimeMinister Boris Johnson visitednorthern England on Saturdayto thank voters and newlyelected Conservative Party law-makers in the working classheartland that turned its backon the opposition Labour Partyin this week’s election andhelped give him an 80-seatmajority.

Speaking in Sedgefield —the constituency once held byLabour former prime ministerTony Blair — Johnsonacknowledged the seismic shiftthat helped sweep him to vic-tory in Thursday’s election.

“I know that people mayhave been breaking the votinghabits of generations to vote forus,” he told supporters.

“And I want the people ofthe northeast to know that wein the Conservative Party andI will repay your trust.”

In a victory speech outside10 Downing Street on Friday,Johnson called for an end to theacrimony that has festeredthroughout the country sincethe divisive 2016 Brexit refer-endum, and urged Britain to“let the healing begin.”

Johnson’s campaign mantrato “get Brexit done” and wide-spread unease with the leader-ship style and socialist policiesof opposition leader JeremyCorbyn combined to give theruling Conservatives 365 seatsin the House of Commons, itsbest performance since partyicon Margaret

Thatcher’s last victory in1987. Labour slumped to 203seats, its worst showing since1935.

While Johnson was on avictory lap Saturday, Corbyn —who has pledged to stand downnext year — was under firefrom within his own party,where there was little sign ofhealing starting any time soon.

Former lawmaker HelenGoodman, one of many Labourlegislators to lose their seat innorthern England, told BBCradio that “the biggest factorwas obviously the unpopular-ity of Jeremy Corbyn as theleader.”

Another former Labourlawmaker criticized the electioncampaign more broadly asmuddled.

Anna Turley told the BBCthat the party put forward anoverwhelming number of poli-cies and voters “just didn’tbelieve we were the party thatcould deliver on any of it.”

Armed with his hefty newmajority, Johnson is set to startthe process next week of push-ing Brexit legislation throughParliament to ensure Britainleaves the EU by the January 31deadline.

Once he’s passed that hur-dle — breaking three years ofparliamentary deadlock — hehas to seal a trade deal with thebloc by the end of 2020.

“We’ve just been going overthe timetable we can definite-ly get it in before Christmas,and we’re out on January 31,”Johnson said.

While Johnson’s largemajority means he has rela-tively clear air ahead on Brexit,he faces turbulence overrenewed calls for a referendumon Scottish independence fol-lowing the strong electionshowing of the ScottishNational Party. AP

Lahore: After his indictment,the trial against Mumbai attackmastermind Hafiz Saeed inthe terror financing case failedto be held for the third con-secutive day on Saturday due toa country-wide strike by thelawyers.

Saeed, who has beenindicted along with three closeaides in terror financing case,could not be produced beforethe Anti-Terrorism Court(ATC) here on Saturdaybecause of the lawyers’ strike.The lawyers are protesting forthe last three days against thearrest of their colleagues in acase of hooliganism at a hos-pital in Lahore.

The ATC Lahoreadjourned the hearing of theterror financing case againstSaeed and others till December16.

“Except the arrestedlawyers, no other suspect orwitness in any other case werepresented before the ATC dueto the lawyers strike during thelast three days,” a court officialtold PTI on Saturday.

He said the prosecutionwhich was to present witness-es against Saeed and others alsocould not bring them to thecourt.

The ATC court onWednesday indicted Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief and hisaides Hafiz Abdul Salam binMuhammad, MuhammadAshraf and Zafar Iqbal in theterror financing case anddirected the prosecution toproduce witnesses.

The ATC on Wednesdayframed the terror financingcharges on the four suspects intheir presence. Deputy

Prosecutor General PunjabAbdur Rauf had told the courtthat founder of terror groupLashkar-e-Taiba and otherswere involved in terror financ-ing case and the CounterTerrorism Department (CTD)of Punjab police had ‘solidevidence’ in this regard.

The CTD had registered 23FIRs against Saeed and hisaccomplices on the charges of“terror financing” in differentcities of Punjab province and

arrested Saeed on July 17. Heis detained at the Kot Lakhpatjail in Lahore.

The cases have been regis-tered in Lahore, Gujranwalaand Multan for collection offunds for terrorism financingthrough assets/properties madeand held in the names ofTrusts/Non ProfitOrganisations (NPO) includingAl-Anfaal Trust, DawatulIrshad Trust, Muaz Bin JabalTrust.

According to the CTD,investigation launched intofinancing matters of proscribedorganisations - Jammat-ud-Dawah (JuD) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) - in connectionwith implementation of UNsanctions against these desig-nated entities and persons asdirected by NSC (NationalSecurity Committee) in its

Meeting of January 1, 2019chaired by Prime MinisterImran Khan for implementingthe National Action Plan.

“These suspects madeassets from funds of terrorismfinancing. They held and usedthese assets to raise more fundsfor further terrorism financing.Hence, they committed multi-ple offences of terrorismfinancing and money launder-ing under Anti Terrorism Act1997. They will be prosecutedin ATCs (Anti TerrorismCourts) for commission ofthese offences,” the CTD said.

The US Department of theTreasury has designated Saeedas a Specially DesignatedGlobal Terrorist, and the US,since 2012, has offered a USD10 million reward for infor-mation that brings Saeed to jus-tice. PTI

Khartoum (Sudan): A court inSudan convicted formerPresident Omar al-Bashir ofmoney laundering and cor-ruption on Saturday, sentenc-ing him to two years in a min-imum security lockup.

That’s the first verdict in aseries of legal proceedingsagainst al-Bashir, who is alsowanted by the InternationalCriminal Court on charges ofwar crimes and genocide linkedto the Darfur conflict in the2000s.

The verdict comes a yearafter Sudanese protesters erupt-ed in revolt against al-Bashir’sauthoritarian rule. During histhree decades in power, Sudanlanded on the US list for spon-soring terrorism, and the coun-try’s economy was battered byyears of mismanagement and

American sanctions.Al-Bashir has been in cus-

tody since April, when Sudan’smilitary ousted him aftermonths of nationwide protests.The uprising eventually forcedthe military into a power-shar-ing agreement with civilians.

Sudan’s military has said itwould not extradite him to the

ICC. The country’s military-civilian transitional govern-ment has not indicated whetherthey will hand him over to theThe Hague.

The SudaneseProfessionals’ Association,which was the backbone of theprotest movement, welcomedSaturday’s verdict as a “moraland political conviction”against the former presidentand his regime.

Under Sudanese law, al-Bashir, 75, will be sent to astate-run lockup for elderlypeople who are convicted ofcrimes not punishable withdeath. But he will remain in jailamid an ongoing trial on separate charges regarding thekilling of protesters in themonths prior to his ouster. PTI

Washington: Secretary of StateMike Pompeo on Fridaywarned Iran of a “decisive”response if US interests areharmed in Iraq, after a series ofrocket attacks on bases.

“We must... Use this oppor-tunity to remind Iran’s leadersthat any attacks by them, ortheir proxies of any identity,that harm Americans, our alliesor our interests will beanswered with a decisive

US response,” Pompeo saidin a statement.

“Iran must respect the sov-ereignty of its neighbours andimmediately cease its provisionof lethal aid and support tothird parties in Iraq andthroughout the region,” he said.

The United States hasexpressed mounting concernabout the flurry of attacks onIraqi bases used by US troops,several of which it has blamedon Iranian-backed Shiite para-military groups.

Two rocket attacks thisweek targeted a compoundnear Baghdad InternationalAirport, which houses UStroops, with an incidentMonday wounding Iraqitroops.

“We hope and pray thesebrave Iraqis will quickly andfully recover from theirinjuries,” Pompeo said.

Pompeo, who has repeat-edly warned Tehran, pinnedthe blame for the latest attackssquarely on “Iran’s proxies”.Iran has gained overwhelminginfluence in Iraq, its neighbourwith which it shares a Shiite

majority, since the 2003 USinvasion brought downSaddam Hussein.

President Donald Trump’sadministration, which is closeto Iran’s adversaries SaudiArabia and Israel, has been try-ing to counter Tehran’s influ-ence around the region, includ-ing through sanctions aimed atblocking all its oil exports.

The United States last weekimposed sanctions on threeleaders of the Shiite paramili-tary force Hashed al-Shaabi,accusing them of taking part inthe deadly crackdown onnationwide protests.

Iraqi prime minister AdelAbdel Mahdi, a close ally ofIran who also enjoyed cordialrelations with the United States,resigned after the two monthsof demonstrations in whicharound 460 people have died. AFP

Madrid: Countries remaineddeadlocked Saturday in talksover combating climate changeas UN talks dragged on beyondthe official deadline with noend in sight.

Chile’s environment min-ister, Carolina Schmidt, who ischairing the two-week talks inMadrid, urged officials fromalmost 200 countries to recog-nize the “overall balance” of thelatest draft agreements ham-mered out overnight.

“We must show the outsideworld that we deliver,” shesaid.

Environmental activistsstaged protests inside andaround the venue during thetalks, as they have around theworld in the past year, todemand leaders take bolderaction against global warming.Many nations and observerssaid the latest draft agreementsrisked backtracking on existingcommitments made in the2015 Paris climate accord anddidn’t reflect the urgent warn-ings from scientists that green-house gas emissions need to fallsharply, and soon.

“If this text is accepted, thelow ambition coalition willhave won the day,” said DavidWaskow of the WorldResources Institute, aWashington-based environ-mental think tank.Among theissues at stake are aid for poorcountries suffering the impactsof climate change and efforts toagree rules for internationalmarkets to trade carbon emis-sions vouchers. AP

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Three people, including apolice officer, have been

killed in a bomb explosion at a house in southern Nepal’s Dhanusha district.

The bomb was planted atone Rajesh Shah’s house inKshireshwarnath Municipalityby unknown persons, policesaid.

Rajesh (42) and his sonAnanta Shah (17) died on thespot, while Police InspectorAmir Dahal, incharge ofSakhuwa Mahendranagar-based Area Office, was seriously injured in the explosion. Dahal diedundergoing treatment.

Rajesh’s father BhikhariShah (73), his daughter NikkiShah (21), son Prakash Shah (14) and another policeofficer Rijan Mahatto werealso injured in the incident and were hospi-talised.

Upon seeing the bomb athis home’s gate, Rajesh Shahalerted the police late on Fridaynight.

Police personnel werechecking the improvised explo-sive device when it exploded,officials said.

Police have arrested twoelderly women in connectionwith the explosion.

The duo are members ofoutlawed group NepalCommunist Party Biplav. Policehave initiated further investi-gation.

Kabul: At least one member ofan Afghan militia opened fireon his fellow militiamen earlySaturday, killing nine, in whatthe country’s interior ministrycalled an insider attack.

The Taliban howeverclaimed the attack was actuallya coordinated insurgent assaulton the checkpoint where theshooting took place, killing overtwo dozen militiamen, accord-ing to Taliban spokesmanZabihullah Mujahid.

There was no immediateexplanation for the discrepan-cy, but the Taliban often exag-gerate their claims.

Details were sketchy andinvestigators were still lookinginto the attack in centralGhazni province’s Karabaghdistrict, said Interior Ministryspokesman Fawad Aman. Thenumber of attackers was alsonot immediately clear.

Afghan militias operate inremote regions and are underthe command of the country’sNational Security Forces, whichsuffers near daily Talibanattacks. The Taliban now con-trol or hold sway over half thecountry.

Insider attacks have beensteady throughout the 18-yearconflict, with U.S. And NATOtroops most often targeted.But when Afghan securityforces are targeted, the casual-ty rate is often much higher.

In July, two US servicemembers were killed by anAfghan soldier AP

Turin (Italy): Swedish climatechange activist Greta Thunbergon Friday asked young peopleto fight for their future in thenext decade, as she joined ademonstration in the northernItalian city of Turin.

“Adults are behaving as ifthere’s no tomorrow,” Thunbergtold young protesters at aFridays for Future demonstra-tion, the global movementinspired by her activism. “Butthere’s a tomorrow. We have to fight forthat tomorrow as if our livesdepend on that, because theydo.”

Thunberg traveled to Turinin an electric car after attend-ing the COP25 climate confer-ence in Madrid, where shehad given a speech accusingworld governments of “cre-ative PR” over their climatechange stances.

The 16-year-old, who thisweek became the youngest person to be named Timemagazine’s Person of the Year,warned that the decade that isabout to start will be the one that “will defineour future,” and will have a keyimpact over the rest of our lives.

“For sure her tenacity, herdetermination, is an example toeverybody that reminds usthat we need to fight every day for this climate crisis,” saidLaura Vallaro, a climate activist who joined Turin’s demonstration. AP

5�����6�������*������������������������������?#��8���������� @�������������&������� �������� �(���� �Belfast: Prime Minister BorisJohnson’s crushing electionvictory gives Britain a chanceto move past years of gridlockover Brexit — especially inNorthern Ireland, where socialand political divides run deep.

“We’re leaving limbo,”said Orlaith McKeever, prepar-ing food for the lunchtimerush at St. George’s Market inBelfast, a redbrick rabbits’warren of stalls and kiosks.

Brexit-voting music trad-er Lawrence John, 69, alsoreflected relief that the stalledprocess of extricating Britainfrom the European Unionafter nearly five decades wasfinally moving ahead.

“Like many, many peopleI’m sick of all this Brexit stuff.Three-and-a-half years agothere was a referendum to decide whetherwe were going to leave,” he toldAFP.

“We’re just finally gettingnews that it can actually hap-pen after all this time,” he saidafter Johnson’s Conservativeswon their biggest majoritysince the heyday of MargaretThatcher in the 1980s.

Thursday’s snap generalbecame a re-run of the 2016EU membership referendumin which Johnson champi-oned the Brexit cause.

The Prime Minister ranthis campaign on the promiseto “get Brexit done” — a sim-ple but effective message withprofound implications forBritain’s most politicallyvolatile region.

Northern Ireland votedby 56 percent to remain in theEuropean Union in 2016.

Since then, it has become cen-tral to a Brexit deal withBrussels.

Unease spread about theprospect of a no-deal Brexitand the re-emergence of ahard border with EU neigh-bour Ireland to the south.

Border checks are associ-ated with three decades of sec-tarian violence over Britishrule of Northern Ireland thatleft some 3,500 people dead.

The potential removal ofan open border — a plank ofthe 1998 agreement that ended“The Troubles” —has beenseen as an unwelcome return to the past.

It also reopened the issueof Northern Ireland’s place inthe United Kingdom withEngland, Scotland and Wales,and the potential of a unitedIreland.

For the first time, the elec-tion returned more Irishrepublican than British union-ist lawmakers to the UK Houseof Commons. The largestrepublican party Sinn Feineven took the seat of NorthBelfast from unionist hands forthe first time since it wasdrawn up in 1885. Sinn Feinleader Mary Lou McDonaldcalled it a “historic moment”.“The discussion around constitutional change is nowunderway,” she told Irish broadcaster RTEFriday.

“It’s safe to say that Irishunity will be firmly on theagenda in a way that it hasnever been before,” Queen’sUniversity Belfast politics lecturer Jamie Pow told AFP. AFP

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Aprominent BritishMuslim representative

organisation has issued astatement expressing a “pal-pable sense of fear” within theMuslim community in the UKfollowing Prime Minister

Boris Johnson’s massivevictory in the country’sGeneral Election this week.

Muslim Council of Britain(MCB), which has been call-ing for a full-fledged inquiryinto anti-Muslim conductwithin the Johnson-ledConservative Party, used oneof the key slogans from theelection campaign to expressfears that the strong majorityin the House of Commonscould mean that, like Brexit,Islamophobia is also “oven-ready” for the new govern-ment.

“Mr Johnson commandsa majority, but there is a pal-pable sense of fear amongstMuslim communities aroundthe country,” said MCBSecretary General HarunKhan in a statement releasedon Friday.

He said: “We entered theelection campaign period withlong standing concerns aboutbigotry in our politics and ourgoverning party. Now weworry that Islamophobia is‘oven-ready’ for Government.

“Mr Johnson has beenentrusted with huge power,and we pray it is exercisedresponsibly for all Britons.”

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Algeria’s unpopular presi-dential election was meant

to reset the country’s politicsafter months of crisis, but itexposed a rigid system deter-mined to perpetuate itself, ana-lysts say.

“You get the impression oftwo parallel Algerias: a rulingclass which congratulates itselfon organising elections and apopulace that holds protests,”said Maghreb expert and his-torian Karima Direche.

The North African countryplunged into crisis in Februarywhen veteran presidentAbdelaziz Bouteflikaannounced he would seek afifth term, sparking massdemonstrations.

Bouteflika quit under pop-ular pressure in April, but theHirak protest movement has kept up thepressure with weekly mass ral-lies to demand sweepingreforms.

Thursday’s presidentialvote was bitterly opposed byHirak, which saw it as anestablishment ploy to cling topower.

Anti-election rallies rockedmajor cities and in the Berber-dominated region of Kabylie,protesters ransacked pollingstations and clashed withpolice. Fewer than four out often Algerian voters cast theirballots on Thursday, accordingto election officials.

Direche suspects the realfigure may be less than halfthat. Officials “stuff the ballotboxes, they fix the numbers.

They don’t even make theeffort” to hide their manipula-tions, she said.

On Friday, vast crowdsdescended onto the streets ofAlgiers to reject newly electedpresident AbdelmadjidTebboune, a longtime govern-ment insider and former pre-mier under Bouteflika.

But the opposition to thepoll “matters little to a regimecommitted to a sham electionintended to prolong its tenure,”said Anthony Skinner, region-al director at risk analysis firmVerisk Maplecroft.

Algeria’s elite, dominatedby army chief Ahmed GaidSalah, sees the turnout as“enough to bestow what it seesas legitimacy on the next pres-ident,” he said.

“Gaid Salah will probablystill treat the election as a suc-cess.” Yet with the protestmovement showing no sign ofabating, that calculus may bewrong, said Jean-Pierre Filiu, aprofessor at Sciences Po uni-versity in Paris.

“Gaid Salah failed in his bidto stif le popular protestthrough imposing this elec-tion,” said Filiu.

The protesters on the otherhand “succeeded in makingparticipation the only real issuein this poll, rather than theidentity of the future president,”he said.

“By sticking to a non-vio-lent approach... The Hirak iscontinuing to erode militarydecision-makers’ strangleholdon the country. There will beno going back” to the statusquo.

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Zee TV’s popular fiction drama —Tujhse Hai Raabta, has kept its

audiences hooked with its heartwarmingnarrative of a unique mother-daughterrelationship that emerges between a younggirl and her step-mother.

The character of Kalyani, played by theteen heart-throb Reem Shaikh, has beengetting a lot of appreciation from theviewers and the actor enjoys a whoppingfan following across her social mediaplatforms. The current track has been highon drama with Madhuri, Kalyani’sbiological mother, coming back on theshow and Malhar being held captive by theNaxalites.

Reem, who loves to share her special

moments with fans on social media,recently put up a video about her mom’scute gesture of putting up stickers of funnyemoji’s around her mirror. While the actor

seemed awed by the gesture, fans turnedcurious about this special gift from Reem’smom.

Feeding their curiosity, Reem said:“My mother gave me a sweet surprise byputting up quirky emojis around themirror in my makeup room. I love usinga lot of emojis, I feel they can expressfeelings when words fail and can makeanyone smile. Whenever I am tired or abit stressed out, my mom sends me cuteemojis to cheer me up. This gift willremind me of those sweet messages frommom whenever I am back into my roomon the set.”

Expressing her love for her mother,Reem added: “ I share a very special bondwith my mother as she is more like a sisterto me. I am glad to have such a lovingperson as a mother, who is the reasonbehind what I am today.”

Well, not just on-screen, Reem is alovely daughter off-screen as well and wewish to see more of such cute momentsbetween the mother-daughter duo.

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The wait is over andthe suspense is allset to be revealed.

Sony EntertainmentTelevision’s Tara from

Satara will see theentry ofS h a t r u g h a nMehra who willbe seen as thejudge of Dancer

No 1 alongsideSreelekha Iyengar.

The character ofShatrughan Mehra

will be essayed bynone other than actor

Eijaz Khan, who will beseen returning to television

after two whole years.Shatrughan Mehra, has a

history with Sachin Mane(Upendra Limaye), Tara’sfather. As a part of the judgingpanel, Shatru will be seen as anacclaimed choreographer whorose to fame with his evolvedstyle of dancing! Will Sachincross paths with Shatru again?Will Shatru be a catalyst intransforming Tara’s life?

Speaking on his newproject, Eijaz said: “I am all setto make a comeback on TVwith Tara from Satara and theshow is very close to my heartas this character is very real. Hehas his past experiences and the

character itself tells a story. Iwatched the entire run of theshow in 10 days when I wasoffered this character and wasquite impressed by thestoryline. I am also glad to bea part of a show which hasgiven birth to a complete newgenre of Dramality. Mycharacter Shatrughan has anegative background but alsotries to have a positiveapproach as he judges Dancerno. 1. He doesn’t want to lookcompletely biased. Thus, thecharacter has different shadesand I am sure audiences willlove me in my new avatar onTV.”

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� What is your take on the latesttrack in Patiala Babes?

It is a different story and thetrack is completely different, that iswhy this is Season 2. As an actor, itis challenging for me because it isaltogether a different journey forme. There are a lot of complicatedand mixed emotions which aretough to enact. It is like somethingelse is going on Mini’s mind but shespeaks something else. And tomake the audience understandeverything, you have to performwell. So keeping the hollownessinside and still trying to cheer upeveryone else, comes as a challengefor me. Also Mini is now an eldersister to Arya. So this is an addedresponsibility on Mini and me too,since I am the only child and I haveno experience of how to deal withyour younger sibling. But, I bondwell with kids so I am enjoying thenew track and the new season.� Do you share any similaritieswith your character?

Yes, there are many things thatI can relate to with my character.Mini and Ashnoor are 99.9 per centsame. I am chirpy, bubbly and Ialways try to cheer everyone elsearound me, just like my character.I believe in standing up against thewrong and speak with absolutely nofilters on, just like Mini. (laughs)� You started very young, how doyou see your journey?

Firstly, I feel good whensomeone asks me this question. Ifeel blessed that people stillremember me as a child artist. I getmessages from people saying thatthey will keep their child’s name bymy character’s name, it isoverwhelming. This proves that ina decade’s journey, I have been ableto make my place in people’s hearts.

My journey has been a roller-coaster ride. I have played variousroles and have explored differentgenres. I have done a lot of ads,shortfilms and have also been a partof films like Sanju andManmariziyaan. I have evolved asan actor in this period of time. Ihave polished my skills and I still

keep on learning. Life never stopsteaching and you should never stoplearning, this is what I believe in.� A role that came close to you.

All the roles that I have playedare close to my heart, but to nameone it is Mini. Because all the rolesthat I have played before happenedjust like that. I was very young backthen to understand that I wasactually working. But now when Ihave grown up and have startedseeing things with a broaderperspective, I understand that thischaracter has challenged me withevery episode. I have got a chanceto portray different shades of thecharacter and that’s why this one is

my favourite.� Any show from the goodold days that you would like tosee a remake of?

I would like to see theremake of my first show —Shobha Somnath Ki, where Iplayed Shobha, a warriorprincess. I was just six backthen.� Apart from acting whatelse is keeping you busy?

I am a Class XIcommerce student. So, studykeeps me busy most of thetimes. Apart from this, Ispend my time in exercising,reading books, spending timewith my family and friendsand also watching movies. Ithelps me enhance my actingskills.� Can you share somebehind the scenemoments?

There are a lot of funmoments behind thescenes. But my favouriteone is it was my birthday andwe were shooting the lastscene of the day. Itwas a serious oneand suddenly alarge piece ofcake came flying onmy face and everyone on the setslaughed hard. It was like a cakefacial for me. The brain behindthe idea was our director, Yusufsir. We both share a father-daughter bond off-screen.� Are there any plans ofexploring the digital space?

Yes, I have been receivingoffers for web series, but I ambusy with Patiala Babes thesedays. When you are playinga lead in daily soaps, itbecomes difficult to becomea part of other project. Maybe after this show, I wouldstep into the digitalmedium if I got somegood offer, where I amgetting to performnew things.

The vivacious, chirpy and a fun-loving mother, SohaAli Khan was spotted recently on the launch of

Viacom18’s new kid on the block — Voot Kids alongwith handsome and humorous father, Ashish Chowdhryand renowned educationist, Dr Swati Popat where allof them shook a leg as the Happy Dance video playedalong.

At the launch, the Pataudi mother, Soha Ali Khanrevealed what came right in time for her and we are reallyshocked to know!

When quipped Soha about her association with VootKids she spilled: “I am very excited about this app andI was looking how to introduce my daughter who isturning two, to screen content, which is educational andentertaining. I think it was fortuitous that Voot kids cameinto my life when I was looking for something like this.”

Well, the app is certainly what this millennial motherwas looking for her daughter.

So now, you know where to head if you want to findthe right content for your child’s early development.Download the app to know why Soha loves it.

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Love can fight all odds andevery shortcoming/hurdle canbe conquered with the right

attitude. With this insight, Colorshas strengthened its content line-upwith its upcoming show NaatiPinky Ki Lambi Love Story.

Based out of New Delhi it is aunique, light-hearted love storythat is sure to tug the heartstringsof viewers.

Riya Shukla who has carved aniche for herself with variousBollywood projects will be seenessaying the lead role of Pinky in theshow.

Excited Shukla says: “The showcame as a big surprise and wasdestiny’s blessing for me. I was homein Lucknow when I got a call fromthe production team, and my life

has changed thereafter. I am the firstone in my family to walk down thisroad and fortunately they are superproud of me. While I have done acouple of Bollywood projects, withthis I make my television debut andI am extremely excited. I hopePinky’s character resonates with ourviewers.”

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Actor Sonakshi Sinha says she foundthe courage to do smaller filmscourtesy the visibility that came

with the commercial blockbusters whichhelped her reach out to a bigger audience.Sonakshi made her big Bollywood debutopposite Salman Khan in “Dabangg” and wenton to star in potboilers such as “RowdyRathore” and “R... Rajkumar”. The 32-year-oldactor simultaneously headlined movies like“Akira”, “Noor” and this year’s “KhanadaaniShafakhana”.

“The big films that I’ve done andtheir success gave me the courageto do smaller films like that andtake it all upon my shoulders.These big films have given mean audience that I wouldn’thave got if I had started theother way around. I knowthat, which is why I am ableto take those risks,” Sonakshitold PTI.

The actor said eventhough the films weren’tsuccessful, she still gets a lotof love for them.

“As long as I do my jobwell, irrespective of theresult of the film at the box

office, I am happy. Bad boxo f f i c e

numbersdon’t makea bad film.

‘Lootera’ didn’tdo well at the box office but it ismy most remembered film.”

She will be next seen in“Dabangg 3” and will begin 2020with her forthcoming film “Bhuj:The Pride of India”, featuringAjay Devgn and Sanjay Dutt.

Set during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971, the filmfollows IAF Squadron LeaderVijay Karnik, the then inchargeof the Bhuj airport, who with histeam reconstructed the IAFairbase with the help of 300 localwomen.

“It’s really exciting. It’ll be myfirst biopic. I’m playing the role of

this amazing woman, SunderbenJetha Madharparya, who gathered300 women from her village to build

a runway overnight so that the Indianplane could land in Bhuj. It’s a

phenomenalstory. I’mhappy I’mable toportraystrongwomeno nscreen,”s h esaid.

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What’s the first thing thatcomes in mind when youhear the word chess? Formost of the people in India,

it is Viswanathan Anand. And that’s sobecause he’s there at the top since forev-er. Right from being India’s first GrandMaster in the year 1987 to becoming thefirst Asian, who win the World ChessChampionship in 2000 and repeating thesame in the year 2007, 2008, 2010 and2012. It’s been 31 years since he firstarrived at the top and today he is stillthere, as strong as he was then andarguably on the greatest.

He is the only person to have won theworld championship in tournament,world and knockout formats, as well asrapid time controls and was the fourthplayer in history to pass the 2800 ELOmark in FIDE rating list, and occupiednumber one position for 21 months.

Recently he has come up with hisbook Mind Master which was launchedon December 13, 2019 in which he hasdiscussed about various moments of hislong successful career, the challenges hecame across, tour of his greatest gamesand some of the worst losses.

Anand who turned 50 on December11, 2019 says that writing the book waslike a walk down the memory lane. “Forme it was a trip down the memory lane.When you write a book, you are forcedto think hard and keep your focus clearon what you want to tell people. You haveto think of each and every moment thatwas special and pen it down correctly,”he tells you.

One just can’t share the highlights ofthe journey, you have to recollect all themoments that happened no matter smallor big.

“Remembering each and every thingwas interesting because I have realisedthat when you have a big success you for-get all the little difficulties that you facedall through,” he says.

Anand has narrated many storiesfrom his journey in the book. One suchis from his match with Kramnik in 2008.“Right before the game was about to start,I had a panic attack. I started angstingbecause of something that I was not ableto recall at that time. I tried calling mytrainers but couldn’t connect with any. Ididn’t know what to do next. It was thenwhen my wife told me: ‘Nothing can bedone now, just forget about it and seewhat happens.’ I agreed and went aheadwith the game. But at the end the gamewent well and we all celebrated,” herecalls.

One thing that he has learnt from thatexperience is that everything is unpre-dictable. One just have to work hard andaim for success. “Luck too plays its partin such games,” he says.

Anand started playing the game at ayoung age. However, it was his motherwho introduced him to the game. “Mymother taught me how to play the game.I was just six then. After some time, Ijoined a chess club and it was one of themost important experiences of my life.Not because I learnt the game there, but

because I went there solely to have fun.And that’s what got me interested in thegame. It was a natural way to learn,” hetells you.

The major step was when his fathershifted to Philippines for a while and itwas then when he got the chance to getexposed to a lot of chess players and hegot engaged with the game like neverbefore.

Anand got his early success in 1983when he was crowned as the Nationalsub-junior champion with a perfect 9/9score which was followed by winning sev-eral other tournaments and earningInternational Master (IM) norms in thefollowing years. His rise was such that bythe time he was 18, Vishy became India’sfirst Grand Master in the year 1988.

During his illustrious career, Anandhas came across the likes of AnatolyKarpov, Garry Kasparov, Magnus Carlsento name a few and has developed healthyrivalries many of them.

Playing chess is not everyone’s cup oftea. There are many factors that one hasto keep in mind. One of them is to knowyour competitor in and out. “The mainthing was to be familiar with who you areplaying, you prepare for your opponentand then you have to assume that theywill do the same with you and then itbecomes a guessing game,” he tells you.

Try to anticipate what they might donext and how do you will deal with that,along the way you want to do is strength-en your skills, you need to keep practic-ing it to be ready for any new develop-ment.

“The more technically proficientyou are, the less easy it is for people tocatch your weakness. You need to keepworking on your weakness constantly,and also brush up your strong pointsbecause anything you don’t keep improv-ing and keep adapting will fall behind,”he says.

Playing in the world championshipmatches was all about controlling your-self. “In chess, the only thing that mat-ters is who makes the last mistake. So youshould do the best you can. It is a con-stant struggle,” he says.

There were times when things usedto get tricky and lead to tension duringthe match, which used to affect the pro-ceedings. But Anand handled them all.“It’s about how you master your emotionsand deal with the constant tension. It’sinteresting because all these tension andhow you deal with it in chess is proba-bly one of the things that fascinate peo-ple outside of chess. How do you dealwith all that? That’s why you often say it’sa mind game because in a sense you arereally vulnerable with how you feel andthe struggle is what I have discussed inthe book,” he tells you.

It is not possible for anyone to getsuccess in whatsoever he attempt, theremight be cases when the luck favours one,but it cannot happen always and when itcomes to sports when a strategy fails itcan have immediate impact. In teamsport, the other member can cope up forthe other one but in individual it gets

slightly worse.“The most important thing is to for-

get the disappointment and also to for-get the happy moments, if there are moregames to be played,” he says.

For Anand the most important thingis to focus on the next game. “Whetheryou are euphoric after a good result ordepressed after a bad one, what you haveto do is try to keep that aside. Calm your-self down and play the next game as ifnothing has happened. That’s the idealway of dealing with such situations,” hesays.

In his book he has highlighted oneinstance where it was very difficult evento get a flick. Nothing he normally didworked out then. “The whole night Icouldn’t sleep. When I came to theworking room next day, I found my teamhad been working the whole night. I washappy that they were putting them-selves up for me and I felt a little better.Eventually I forgot what happened andstarted getting ready for the next game,”he tells you.

Refreshing the memories of his great-est opponents and memorable matcheshe tells you that when he was young, itgot an opportunity to play against play-ers like Karpov (Anatoly) and Kasparov(Garry). It was a matter of great honour.The early match with Karpov in 1991—my first big candidate match. Also the bigWorld Championship match withKasparov in 1995 were some of the mainhighlights of his early career.

“I think in terms of maturity and theresults and the way I approached thematch, the best match I played in my lifewas the match against Kramnik(Vladimir) in Bonn (2008). It was sim-ply my biggest success in a match,” hesays.

The worst was in Chennai againstMagnus Carlsen in 2013.

Vishy also has a say on the currentworld number one Magnus Carlsen, whohas touched FIDE’s highest-ever ELO rat-ing of 2882.

“He is obviously incredibly strong. Igot to know him about 17 years ago forthe first time in some tournament and itwas clear that he had great talent,” he saysand tells you that Carlsen has grown sud-denly.

“Till 2008, I generally had goodresults against him. He had this break-through in 2009, he started to climb up.He is very good at starting the game. ThatI am not probably good at, especially slowpositions, technical positions he is incred-ibly strong and it’s been quite difficult tolearn how to deal with that,” Anand tellsyou.

He says that it is difficult to compareCarlsen and himself since he is 20-21years older than Carlsen. “I met him whenhe was starting his peak and I wasdeclining and I was trying to learn howto add up to his new approach at a dif-ferent stage of my career, so it is very dif-ficult to compare,” Anand says.

It is often assumed that in individualsports like shooting or chess there isn’tmuch pressure unlike cricket or football

where the crowd gathered in the standsmake it all the more typical to concen-trate. But Vishy don’t agree with this andsays that it gets all the more difficult toconcentrate in the closed room becauseif you are slightly nervous than it can costyou dear by distracting your focus.

With great matches come great expec-tation and it becomes tricky to handlethat. “It’s a big challenge and all sports-man go through it. The bigger challengeis how you can thrive under pressure, howyou deal with expectations because allthese things are distracting you from con-centrating and focus on what you want.If you start thinking about what comesnext, I have found that the moment I startthinking about results rather than thegame, generally you are punished,” he tellsyou.

The constant struggle is to block outthe thought of what people are sayingabout you, what are their expectations andhow can you meet that.

It is very easy for an outsider to givean advice about keeping your nerves calmbefore a tense situation but the personwho is going to deal with that, only knowshow it is to be like and when it comes tothe 8X8 board, it is the most importantaspect to mentally prepare yourself so thatone doesn’t feel the burden.

“It’s very difficult. In fact it is one ofthe things that you aim for and almostnever succeed completely. But you tryyour best to find the things that workedfor you in the past, you need to developgood understanding for yourselves,” hesays and tells you that stress is a sequenceof memories, you have positive memoriesfrom winning a game, negative experi-ences of playing badly. You often learnmore from failures than you do from suc-cess but we constantly see what works forus what doesn’t and try to apply the cor-rect principle in the future.

“In the book, I talk about what to dowhen suddenly you hit a wall. Nothingseems to work, how do you find way tomotivate yourself again? The method Ifound was, when my own expectationhave sunk very low, then I was just freeto enjoy chess and not think about whatmy expected score was and then I feltmuch better,” he tells you.

“How do you put yourself in the rightplace against every opponent? “Differentoppositions call for different approachesand strategies. So it’s basically aboutapplying past experiences, learning whatworks and try to apply in future. But it’svery hard to get it right because as we saythe same problem will keep on comingbut in slightly different versions everytime. And so it’s very hard to apply thelesson like that,” Anand tells you.

A rule that Anand abides by is tothink what went wrong the last time andmodify it. “One such instance men-tioned in the book that I found that Iwould often make a blunder when I gotinfluenced by events before the game. Inchess we have time control and move 40and after that you get an extra hour. Sothe good chance to take a break. And oneof the thing I found is that, there is no bet-

ter than 40s to get up from the board, goto the players area, just relax for 5 min-utes and then come back and think again.So this was very interesting application ofthe experience I was having, disconnect-ing the past and current situation,” he tellsyou. If you are winning on move 30 andthen you blundered on move 35 and thenyou arrive on move 40 and you are slight-ly worse now. The only thing that mat-ters at the end is that you are worse on40.

“So, on move 40 if you can go to theplayers area and get yourself away fromthe chess board, you try to get used to thenew situation and then you come backand tell yourselves that It’s Okay! Itdoesn’t matter that I was winning before,I need to put it on the back,” he tells you.

One need to read the situation andmake the fresh break and that was suc-cessful for Anand. “We take inspirationfrom some negative experience and thentry to correct it,” he tells you.

When you are at the highest level ofanything it becomes very important foryou to maintain that consistency becauseeven a slight dip in form will be enoughfor people to question your caliber andwho knows it better than Anand himselfwho is just not there at top for more thanthree decades but also time and againproved that he has got everything in himto be placed right there and proof ofwhich is his World Rapid ChessChampionship win in 2017.

Anand tells you the method that hehas applied all these years to keep him-self motivated for the challenges that cameacross. “The most important thing is tofind what are the circumstances underwhich, you play best. I found that I learnnew things in chess and I played the bestwhen I am enjoying myself and so that iswhat you aim for,” he says and tells youthat you have to enjoy yourself and learnnew things.

“One of the problem in rapid and blitzis that you can have these little streaksduring the tournament because there areso many games. So if you play 9 blitzgames there is enough room to have onegood streak and one bad streak in thesame day. And it goes very fast so youdon’t have time to settle after games andit calls for different approach when youplay classical tournaments. But this is notsome big long term problem, I try to solveit out,” he says.

But at the end the grandmaster is tooa normal human being who wants to relaxand take some time out for his family. “Athome, I am like any other normal person.When I am with my family, I just try torelax and have a good time,” he tells you.

For Anand one of the nicest way torecover after bad disappointment is tocome back home and play with his sonbecause for a few minutes it takes him intoa completely different world.

“It’s important to have hobbies,friends and things that distract you. I havementioned in the book that the quickestway to forget disappointment is to changeyour subject. And that is what I try to do,”he tells you.

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India will have their tails upwhey they play West Indies in thefirst One-day International of the

three-match rubber in MAChidambaram Stadium today, seek-ing a 10th straight bilateral ODIseries win against the side from theCaribbean.

The home team will miss theservices of seamer BhuvneshwarKumar, ruled out after his sportsmanhernia symptoms resurfaced, andShikhar Dhawan, who is yet torecover from knee injury.

Mumbai’s Shardul Thakur, whorepresents Chennai Super Kings inthe IPL, has been called up as thereplacement for the injuredBhuvneshwar.

Virat Kohli’s men havethe momentum after win-ning the T20 series with a splendidbatting performance in Mumbaiwhere Rohit Sharma and K L Rahul,who is expected to continue as theopener in the absence of Dhawan,and the captain himself displayedterrific form.

It remains to be seen if the teamdecides to hand Mayank Agarwal adebut after he was drafted in asreplacement for Dhawan.

Shreyas Iyer has done well in theopportunities he has received and islikely to be slotted at No 4.

The focus will be on wicket-keeper-batsman Rishabh Pant, whohas been under fire for his unimpres-sive performances with the bat andthe big gloves. The first ODI couldbe another chance for him to justi-fy the faith shown by Kohli and theteam management.

It will be interesting to see if thespin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal andKuldeep Yadav reunite after last play-ing together in the World Cup, as theChepauk surface is expected to aidthe slow bowlers.

The experienced MohammedShami and Deepak Chahar willmost probably form the pace attackand would face a stern test againstthe aggressive West Indies battingline-up.

The visitors will be hoping thatbig-hitting opener Evin Lewis, whosuffered an injury while fielding inthe Mumbai T20, will be able to playa part in the ODI leg of the tour.Team officials said he was beingassessed ahead of the series opener.

The Windies batsmen have hada lot of success in the T20s thanksto their ultra-aggressive approachbut ODIs will be a different ballgame and as assistant coach RoddyEstwick stated the batters need tofocus on rotating the strike, which

they did well in the series againstAfghanistan recently.

The onus will be on the batsmento not only go on attack mode firstup but also keep wickets in hand toaccelerate in the back-end.

Shimron Hetmyer and NicholasPooran have showed their abilitiesin the shortest format and need todisplay the same in the 50-oversgame too if the West Indies hopesto give India a run in this series.

All-rounder Roston Chase islikely to figure in the XI and couldprovide some stability to the line-upboasting of several power-hitters.

Skipper Kieron Pollard, who hasa rather modest record in the ODIs,will have to lead by example and pro-vide the thrust in the slog overs.

Sheldon Cottrell will lead theCaribbean bowling attack and willneed to strike early if the team hopes

to restrict a formidable Indian bat-ting unit with Rohit, Kohli andRahul in ominous form. The otherpacers including former captainJason Hoder will have to step up aswould the spinners.

Leggie Hayden Walsh Jr bowled

well in the T20s andhas a big task at handto contain Kohli &Co, known to be adeptat tackling spinners.

An intriguing bat-tle is on hand with theIndian team favourite toadd the ODI series to theT20 win but the unpre-dictable West Indies canspring a surprise or two.

������India: Virat Kohli (cap-tain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Mayank Agarwal,KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer,Manish Pandey, RishabhPant (WK), Shivam Dube,Kedar Jadhav, RavindraJadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal,Kuldeep Yadav, DeepakChahar, Mohammed Shami,Shardul Thakur.West Indies: Kieron Pollard(captain), Sunil Ambris, ShaiHope, Khary Pierre, RostonChase, Alzarri Joseph, KieronPollard (Captain), SheldonCottrell, Brandon King,Nicholas Pooran, ShimronHetmyer, Evin Lewis,Romario Shepherd, JasonHolder, Keemo Paul, HaydenWalsh Jr.

!0���1 Batting coach VikramRathour on Saturday said Rishabh Pantwill be a “massive player” for theIndian team once he starts gettingruns, backing the under-fire wicket-keeper to the hilt.

Asked why the Delhi keeper-batsman kept getting chances despitelow scores, Rathour attributed it to his“immense ability”.

“The reason why we keepdiscussing him is that he hasgot an immense ability.Everybody believes he canbe an X factor. All of usbelieve he is a good playerwho can come good. Heis working hard on hisgame and fitness.

“... Because he hasdone well in the pastin this format. Oncehe starts getting runs,he can be a massive playerfor the Indian team, hecan be a match-winner,”Rathour told reporters on

the eve of the first ODI.When asked if it was time to give

him a break, Rathour said it has notcome yet.

“I don’t think the time has arrivedyet. Again he is working on certainthings. He is looking good in the nets.He has been decent in the T20s.

“He was asked to doa certain job in the lastT20 which he did. That’swhat the team looks for.”

About K L Rahul whodid well in the recent T20s

and if any changes had beenmade in his technique,

Rathour said there was nodoubt he would do well.

“He went through a leanpatch which every cricketer

goes through. A couple of tech-nical changes and change inmindset and the result shows.

“He has always been a goodplayer. There was absolutely nodoubt he will do well,” the batting

coach added. PTI

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West Indies captain Kieron Pollard onSaturday said his team is “on a mis-

sion” to do better in the one-dayers butinsisted that favourable results may notcome immediately.

“We are on a mission and have a clearplan of how to approach 50-over cricket.There is a process and it is something weare actually going through. The resultsmight not show straightaway. We had agood series against Afghanistan. Now, weare coming up against a better side inIndia,” Pollard said.

“It’s a matter of what we need to dogoing forward. There are things internal-ly which we are working on. Success willnot come overnight. Winning is alwaysgood. Sometimes, you play well but theresult would not go your way. TheAfghanistan series was good and we wantto continue in that track. That’s is the ulti-mate goal,” he added.

Asked how his team plans to go abouthandling the middle overs in ODIs, he saidit has been discussed and the players wereaware of their roles and responsibilities.

“We have discussed how we want togo about playing middle overs, be it bat-ting and bowling and how we want to playthis format. Obviously, we can’t reveal whatour plans are going to be. The guys areaware of their roles and responsibilities,now it’s about executing them,” the captainsaid.

He said the inclusion of Roston Chasein the ODI side brought a good balanceto the team.

“He (Roston) brings a good balanceto our team. He is a great asset, he is some-one who bats in the middle order in Testsand has centuries too. He can bowl as well.With him in the side, it gives us an oppor-tunity to field another specialist player.

“He has been very valuable for us. Heis sort of a left-field selection, but I thinkthat has worked for us. He will play a keypart going forward,” the skipper added.

���� �+���+* (�

The BCCI and Assam CricketAssociation (ACA) will be

“closely monitoring” the securi-ty situation in Guwahati in thewake of protests against theCitizenship (Amendment) Bill,keeping in mind the January 5T20I between India and SriLanka.

Sri Lanka are coming to Indiafor a short three-match T20Iseries, which starts at theBarsapara Stadium in Guwahati,but the prevailing security situa-tion has cast a shadow of doubt.

“Right now, we cannot com-ment on whether the T20I inGuwahati will happen or not. Allthe authorities (state Police,Home Ministry) will be monitor-ing the situation. We have to waitfor some time. There is still threeweeks to go so we have to behopeful,” Assam CA vice-presi-dent Parikshit Dutta said.

Both BCCI and ACA need tobe extra cautious as it involves thesecurity of an international team.

Due to the protests inGuwahati, the fourth day’s play inthe Ranji Trophy match betweenAssam and Services was can-celled, and the players remainedin their hotels.

The BCCI officials are, how-ever, hopeful of normalcy prevail-ing in Guwahati within the nextthree weeks.

“At this point, it will be pre-mature to comment that theIndia versus Sri Lanka game willbe shifted. Yes, we are all moni-toring the security situation andclose to the date, we will take acall. For the time being, BCCI will‘wait and watch’,” a senior BCCIfunctionary said.

Asked if the BCCI will beready with an alternate venue ifGuwahati is unable to host thematch, the official said: “Rightnow, we haven’t zeroed in on anyalternate venues but we alwayskeep back-up options ready incase of unforseen circumstances.For now, let’s hope that normal-cy returns and we can have thematch as per schedule.”

����� 2 +���(

West Indies all-rounder Dwayne

Bravo believes that hisChennai Super Kingsteam mate and cap-tain MS Dhoni will beat the World T20 thatwill be held in Australianext year.

“Dhoni has neverretired. So I think hewill be there at theWorld T20. MS hasnever let things outsidecricket influence himand he has taught us the same and told us to neverpanic and trust our abilities,” Bravo was quoted as say-ing by Times of India.

Bravo recently reversed his international retire-ment and made himself available for T20Is. The 36-year-old former ODI captain said that he still has alot to offer and it was the change of leadership bothon and off the field that convinced him to make thecomeback.

“I feel good physically and I still have a lot to offer.I had retired because of off-field politics. But thereis a change of leadership both on and off the field.So I felt that it is a good time to come back.

���� �+���+* (�

Only Mahendra Singh Dhoni knowswhether his body will be able to

cope up with rigours of internationalcricket after a break, KL Rahul could bea “serious keeping option” for next year’sT20 Word Cup and Rishabh Pant needsto “calm down”, feels India head coachRavi Shastri.

With Pant not doing well and mys-tery surrounding Dhoni’s internationalfuture, Shastri didn’t rule out the pos-sibility of Rahul doing multi-tasking dur-ing the marquee tournament DownUnder. “It’s sensible (the break byDhoni). I like the time (around IPL)when he will be starting to play again.I don’t think he is too keen on the one-day stuff. He is finished with Test crick-et. T20 is an option. It’s a format that istailor-made for him. But will his bodybe able to cope with the demands, onlyhe will answer,” Shastri told India Todayduring its programme 'Inspiration'.

“The rest would have done him a

world of good, mentally. That mentalfatigue would have gone away by now.If he decides to play, which he willbecause he will play the IPL, then he willstart training with a very fresh mind.Then you have got to see form,” saidShastri, who has already said that no oneshould “fool around” if the legenddecided to play the T20 World Cup.

However, he also believes thatRahul could emerge as an option as hekeeps in the IPL as well as for Karnatakain domestic white-ball touraments.

“It is an absolute option. You got tosee where your strength is. Tomorrow,there could be a couple of guys in themiddle-order who are firing with unbe-lievable innings in the IPL. And then ifyou have a guy who can multi-task, whocould be used at the top, because there’ssome firepower at the back who aredoing extremely well, then why not,”when asked if Rahul could be an option.

Asked what he expects fromRishabh Pant, Shastri said, “a bit of calm”.

“You have got to cash in. Your work

ethic should be solid. You have to havea solid approach to your batting. Youcan’t think everything is going to hap-pen the way I want it to happen from

ball 1. No, it won’t happen like that. Thisgame teaches you. There’s a method tomadness as well. So, he has to learn thatmethod.”

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Australia was in a com-manding position

despite a late batting collapseon the third day of the firstTest against New Zealand atPerth Stadium on Saturday.

Having led by 250 runson the first innings, thehome side were 167 for sixat stumps, with MatthewHead on eight and PatCummins on one — anoverall lead of 417.

Cruising at 131 for onewhen Marnus Labuschagne(50) and Joe Burns (53)were at the crease, theAustralians lost five for 29under lights later in the dayagainst some spirited bowl-ing from the Kiwis, with TimSouthee claiming 4-63.

Labuschagne, droppedon four by Colin deGrandhomme from thebowling of Neil Wagner (2-40), missed the chance tojoin elite company when hepulled a short ball straight toMitchell Santner at mid-wicket from the samebowler.

Without a Test centuryonly a month ago, he was on

track to become just thesecond Australian batsman,and fifth overall, to scorefour Test centuries in succes-sion. The only Australian todo so previously was JackFingleton in 1936.

Smith’s relatively leansummer continued when heholed out to a short ball fromWagner for 16, the first timein his entire 71-Test careerhe has gone three matcheswithout a half-century.

After the home sidemade 416 the Kiwis weredismissed for only 166 intheir first innings asAustralian paceman MitchellStarc terrorised their bats-men in continued swelteringconditions.

Australia didn’t enforcethe follow-on given theextreme heat and theabsence of front line pace-man Josh Hazlewood due toinjury.

Starc claimed 5-52 andtroubled the New Zealanderswith his pace and bounce.Only Ross Taylor offeredmeaningful resistance with80, but he was caught at slipby Smith off the bowling ofNathan Lyon.

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His place in India’s Test squadcemented, opener Mayank

Agarwal says it is easy to switchformats if the game-plan is clear.

Agarwal has been picked inthe team for the ODI series as areplacement for the injuredShikhar Dhawan.

“The more I play like this, thebetter it is for me as a cricketerbecause I rather play cricket thannot play cricket. When it comesto mindset (switching formats),the basics remain the same. It’seasy to switch formats if yourgame-plan is clear and yourunderstanding of the game isclear,” Agarwal said on Chahal TV.

Since making his Test debutlast December in Australia,Agarwal has made rapid strides,ending the 2019 season as one ofthe top-run-getters in the format.

Irrespective of whether he isplaying Test or limited overscricket, Agarwal is alwaysfocussed on the task.

“Regardless of wherever Iplay, I always think about how Ican become an asset to my teamand how I can contribute to theteam. Even if I don’t score runswith the bat, I think about con-

tributing on the field,bringing in more ener-gy on the field,” he

said.Agarwal has two

double tons and acentury under his belt

for India in Test crick-et.

“I want to wineach and every match,each and every tour-nament. When youcome in with that atti-tude, your mindset

will be good. There’sno guarantee thatyou’ll get theresults 100 per-cent but you will

be givingyourselvesa goodchance toperform,”

he said.

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“To hell with those who don’tunderstand” was Ravi Shastri’s

inimitable response to the sceptics, whohave constantly made conjecturesabout his alleged frosty relationshipwith BCCI president Sourav Ganguly.

A week back, it was Ganguly whohad cleared the air on his part makingit clear that rumours of bad bloodbetween him and the head coach of theIndian cricket team are merely “spec-ulations”. “As far as the Sourav-Shastri‘game’ goes, that is a brilliant chaat andbhelpuri for the media with all mirchand masala,” Shastri said.

“What he (Ganguly) has done asa cricketer, I have got utmost respect.He took over Indian cricket at the mosttroubled times, post the match-fixingera when the Indian cricket was inshambles. You needed the faith of thepeople to comeback and I respect that.And if people don’t respect that, to hellwith them,” Shastri, known for his plainspeak, said.

The Ganguly-Shastri relationshipbecame a topic of discussion after theCricket Advisory Committee (CAC)comprising Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkarand VVS Laxman preferred AnilKumble over him in 2016, with bothhaving a public fallout.

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Zinedine Zidane has brushed offsuggestions Real Madrid could be

distracted by the upcoming Clasicowhen they play in-formValencia in La Liga today.

Madrid face a difficultgame at Mestalla, just threedays before taking onBarcelona at Camp Nou in amatch that could decide whogoes top of the table.

But Zidane’s team cannotafford to underestimate Valencia, whohave registered three consecutive victo-ries, including one away at Ajax onTuesday that secured qualification forthe Champions League last 16 as group

winners.Valencia sit eighth, while Barcelona

and Madrid are level on points in firstand second respectively.

Asked about the Clasico, Zidanesaid in a press conference onSaturday: “I’m not thinking aboutthat at all and I include everyonewho works here at the club in that.

“Our only concern is tomor-row’s game. The rest may be closebut at the same time it's far away.Tomorrow’s game has all my ener-gy and about Wednesday, I'm not

interested.”After Barcelona, Real Madrid play

at home to Athletic Bilbao, to completea tough week before La Liga’s Christmasbreak.

Zidane admits it will be “difficultnot to rotate” in the three fixtures andit remains to be seen whether GarethBale is given some minutes againstValencia, after he was left on the benchagainst Club Brugge on Wednesday.

Bale has just recovered from athigh injury sustained earlier thismonth.

“The other day Gareth didn’t playbut he is here and I am counting onhim,” Zidane said. “The importantthing is he is available and ready.”

Zidane also has a dilemna overwhether to select Casemiro againstValencia, given the Brazilian will be sus-pended for the game against Barca if hepicks up a yellow card.

Madrid are short of other options indefensive midfield.

“I have to pick a starting line-upthinking only about tomorrow’s game— if I think about Wednesday, thatwould be a mistake,” said Zidane.

“I always talk with the playersbecause I’m interested in the feelingsthey all have. And with Casemiro, it’s thesame. We know his importance andwhat he gives to the team.”

Ferland Mendy is banned againstValencia and Marcelo is out with a calfinjury, meaning Nacho Fernandez orEder Militao are likely to fill in at left-back.

James Rodriguez trained alone onSaturday as he continues his recoveryfrom a knee problem and will not beready this weekend. Eden Hazard(ankle), Lucas Vazquez (toe) and MarcoAsensio (cruciate ligament) are all out.

���� *(G+,���*

Liverpool manager JurgenKlopp hailed his side’sresilience to keep winning

during a draining December sched-ule as Mohamed Salah’s double beatbottom-of-the-table Watford 2-0 atAnfield to open up an 10-pointlead at the top of the PremierLeague as second placed LeicesterCity played 1-1 draw at homeagainst Norwich City.

The Hornets remain six pointsadrift of safety, but will wonder howthey headed home empty handedafter enjoying the vast majority ofthe chances against the Europeanchampions.

Salah produced the twomoments of real quality fromKlopp’s men by finishing off arapid counter-attack from a Watfordcorner to open the scoring beforeflicking home a second a minutefrom time.

“It’s true, it was not the pretti-

est game, but I am more than happywith that,” said Klopp. “At thisstage you have to show resilienceand I believe we did that today.”

Liverpool are now seven gamesinto a run of 15 matches in 50 daysacross five competitions and the

strain on Klopp’s squad was obvi-ous in a jaded display.

Nigel Pearson was takingcharge of Watford for the first timeand the impetus of a new managershowed with the 40-point differencebetween the sides at opposite ends

of the table not in evidence in theirperformances.

However, the big differencewas obvious in both boxes as theleague’s lowest scorers passed up ahost of huge opportunities, whilstSalah was deadly.

“We created some excellentchances and unfortunately today wecould not make the most of them,”said Pearson.

“That performance, as an iden-tity moving forward, I think willserve us very well indeed because

we’ve got a huge fight on ourhands.”

Only Watford’s profligacyallowed Liverpool to keep a firstclean sheet at Anfield.

Abdoulaye Doucoure missedthe first golden chance when com-

pletely miscued with the goal at hismercy from Etienne Capoue’s clevercut-back with what incredibly wasonly the second most embarrassingmishit of the half from Watford.

The visitors were made to payby the ruthless runaway leaders as15 seconds after a Watford corner,the ball was in their net.

All three of Liverpool’s attack-ing trident were involved as Roberto

Firmino’s pass over hishead freed Sadio Manedown the left. He fedSalah who cut insideon his weaker right footto bend the ball bril-liantly into the far cor-ner.

Watford should stillhave been level before the breakwhen Ismaila Sarr somehow alsofailed to connect with AlissonBecker grounded after parryingGerard Deulofeu’s cross.

Sarr was wasteful again at thestart to the second half as he blast-ed straight at Alisson with Deeneypleading for a cross.

Liverpool’s extra quality in thefinal third was in evidence oncemore when Mane headed in fromXherdan Shaqiri’s cross, but theSenegalese’s celebrations were cutshort when the goal was ruled outby a VAR review for the most mar-ginal of offside calls.

That handed Pearson’s men alifeline, but again they failed to taketheir chance to capitalise whenDeulofeu broke clean through ongoal only for Alisson to save oncemore.

“Ali was there and that is whywe have 11 players not only 10,”added Klopp.

Georginio Wijnaldum limpedoff on the hour mark and could nowbe a doubt for the Reds’ attempt towin the Club World Cup in Qatarlater this week.

����'+*#�,�+

All the world’s top 50 menand women players, bar

Victoria Azarenka, have con-firmed they will start theAustralian Open, the first GrandSlam of the season, atMelbourne Park in January,organisers said.

Top-ranked Rafael Nadaland Ashleigh Barty lead the fieldat the 115th edition of the tour-nament from January 20-February 7, which will mark thereturn to action of former worldnumber three Juan Martin delPotro.

The Argentinian has a pro-tected ranking of 22 as he makesa comeback from a six-monthinjury break.

Seven-time winner SerenaWilliams will play as she targetsan elusive 24th Grand Slam titleto match the all-time haul of

Margaret Court.The controversial

Australian, who has upset someplayers with her views on homo-sexuality and gay marriage, willbe honoured during the tourna-ment to mark the 50th anniver-sary of her calendar-year Grand

Slam. Williams’ 39-year-old sisterVenus will alsobe back foranother year.

M i s s i n gamong the top 50 is

two-time champion Azarenka,who withdrew prior to the entrydeadline Saturday for unspeci-fied reasons.

“We are delighted to wel-come this extremely strong play-er field to Melbourne in whatpromises to be a once in a gen-eration event,” said tournamentdirector Craig Tiley.

Over the past decade, withthe exception of Swiss StanWawrinka in 2014, the men’sevent has been dominated byNovak Djokovic and RogerFederer, while Nadal won hisfirst and only crown in 2009.

Djokovic is the defendingchampion and is gunning for aneighth title while Federer, at age38, is looking for his seventh.

The women’s event has beenfar more open with seven differ-ent champions in the past 10years, including Japan’s NaomiOsaka in 2019.

Former winner CarolineWozniacki recently announcedthat the tournament would beher last before retiring.

���� �+���+* (�

Delhi Capitals head coachRicky Ponting has said that

a lot of focus will be on “over-seas fast bowlers” in next week’sIPL auctions as the franchisedeliberated over the potentialtargets.

Ponting met members ofthe management to discuss theteam’s targets for the upcomingseason.

“We’ve had several discus-sions over the last few months,and have put in a lot of time andeffort to make sure that we’rewell prepared,” Ponting said.

“You can do all the planningin the world, but at the auctiontable, the unpredictable alwayshappens.”

Delhi Capitals might notwon an IPL trophy yet but overthe years, they have had some ofthe top players in the worldamong their ranks.

“There’s going to be a lot offocus and attention on fastbowlers, overseas ones in partic-ular,” the former Australian cap-tain said.

“Pat Cummins could go forbig money, as could ChrisWoakes. All-rounders are alwaysinteresting in my opinion.Players like Glenn Maxwell,Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Marsh,

Jimmy Neesham, Colin deGrandhomme could all be bigpicks.”

“Going into the auction youhave to be very specific about thekind of players you need,” hesaid.

“For instance, we’ve gotthree openers, so we don’t needto look for one. You need toidentify the problem areas inyour starting eleven, and essen-tially plug the gaps.”

On the addition ofRavichandran Ashwin andAjinkya Rahane to the side,Ponting said, “They are thekind of players who are likely todo well on the Kotla wicket, andof course, bring tremendousexperience with them.”

�0��0��1 Kento Momota will playIndonesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting intoday’s final of the season-ending BWFWorld Tour Finals as the Japanese clos-es on an 11th title of 2019.

World number one Momota hasreigned over badminton this year anddefeated Taiwan’s Wang Tzu-wei 21-17,21-12 in their semi-final on Saturday inGuangzhou.

He is enjoying a spectacular season,with the World Championships, AsiaChampionships and prestigious AllEngland Open among his haul of tour-nament victories.

Momota will be hot favourite insouthern China against Ginting havingdefeated the Indonesian 10 times in their14 meetings.

The world number eight Gintingsealed his place in the championshipmatch with a 21-15, 21-15 victory overChina’s reigning Olympic championChen Long. In the women’s final, China’sworld number two Chen Yufei facesTaiwan’s top-ranked Tai Tzu-ying.

Chen defeated Akane Yamaguchi21-18, 21-9 in their semi-final while Taibeat another Japanese, Nozomi Okuhara,21-15, 21-18. AFP

��� �+���+* (

Indian shuttlers TasnimMir and Tara Shah made

their way into the final of theAsian U-17 & U-15 JuniorBadminton Championshipsin Surabaya, Indonesia, onSaturday following theirdominating victories in theU-15 women’s singles semi-finals. Tasnim will take onTara for Gold medal in theall-Indian final today.

While, top-seededTasnim thrashed Japan’sSora Ishioka 21-16, 21-11,Tara also beat her Japaneseopponent Kazune Iwato 21-18, 21-14 in straight sets.

Earlier in the quarter-finals played in the morn-ing, both Tasnim and Taraclaimed easy wins againstJapan’s Maya Taguchi andMei Sudo respectively.Gujarat girl Tasnim won thematch 21-11, 21-13 whilePune’s Tara registered 21-11,21-17 win.

However, apart fromTasnim and Tara, otherIndian shuttlers could notmanage to progress. In themen’s U-15 singles quarter-finals, top-seeded TanmoyBoruah and Ankit Mondalsuffered defeats. While,Tanmoy went down 21-12,21-12 against local boyIndonesia’s fifth-seed Alwi

Farhan, Ankit lost toMalaysia’s Low Han Chen21-12, 21-13.

In the women’s doublescategory, Pranavi Natarajanand Sarumathi Venkateshlost their U-17 quarter-finals match 21-18, 21-19against Indonesian pair ofMeilysa Trisas Puspita Sariand Rachel Allessya Rosewhile, in U-15 GanabadhaKarthikeyan and SaniaSikkandar went down fight-ing 21-19, 19-21, 21-16against Korea’s Yeon Ju Ohand Seul Park.

However, in the men’sdouble U-15 quarter-finals,Tanmoy and LakshaySharma lost to ChineseTaipei pair of Lai Po Yu andTsai Fu Cheng 21-15, 21-10while, Lokesh Reddy andAnkit suffered 21-17, 21-13defeat against Japan’s YudaiOkimoto and DaigoTanioka.

���� ''#�(�

Terming them as “boringand neglected” areas of

table-tennis, ace paddlerGnanasekaran Sathiyan onSaturday said he wasfocussing on “services andreceives” to improve his over-all game. “Service andreceives, we have been focus-ing on, that’s the area whichis neglected quite a lot inIndian TT. That is the onlystroke which is in your con-trol. At the top-level I haverealised that you don’t get toplay your game at all if youdon’t serve and receive well,”Sathiyan told reporters.

“That is a very boringpart of sport, but I think the

more boring thing you play,the better you get in thesport. That is why we startedworking on that and lookingforward to get aggression onmy receives and not just tryto put the ball into play,” heexplained. Sathiyan said com-patriot Sharath Kamal alsohas a very good serve andthird ball attack and most ofthe Indians have a very goodrally game. “In India most ofthe players have a good gamewhen actually the ball getsinto play. With the Asians wehave realised that it does notgo to that extent at all if theserve or receive is not up tothe mark,” he said.

Sathiyan, the first Indianto break into top 25 of world

rankings, also said he wouldbe training in Korea andGermany. “Heading to TokyoOlympics, I will be going toKorea. It would be the firstkind of initiative and we havealready spoken to the KoreanFederation, I will be trainingwith the Korean nationalteam from December 22-30.

“It is the first time that anIndian player will train at thenational centre of anOlympics medalist team, so Iam looking forward to that.And after that the Indianteam will be training inDusseldorf, Germany.Germany has already quali-fied (for the Olympics) andthat is why we chose it,” headded.

!���� #1Former Test wicket-keeper Mark Boucher was onSaturday named as SouthAfrican team head coach until2023.

An upbeat Boucher saidSouth African cricket had beenthrough “trying times” but addedthat he was confident that thenational team could be success-ful against England.

“Beware of a wounded buf-falo, especially in Africa,” he said.

The announcement wasmade by Cricket South Africainterim director of cricket, for-mer Test captain Graeme Smith,who only took up his post onWednesday.

Boucher, 43, played in 147Tests, 290 one-day internation-

als and 25 Twenty20 internation-als for South Africa before a seri-ous eye injury ended his careerin 2012.

He has coached the Titansfranchise for the past three sea-sons, winning five of a possiblenine trophies.

Enoch Nkwe, who was pre-viously interim team director,was named assistant coach, alsowith a contract until the end ofthe next Cricket World Cup in2023.

Faf du Plessis was confirmedas captain for the Test seriesagainst England which starts atCenturion on December 26,while former Test batsmanAshwell Prince was named coachof South Africa A. AFP

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HISTORY: The pudding originated as a 14th Centuryporridge called frumenty. It was made of beef and mut-ton with raisins, currants, prunes, wines and spices. By1595, it slowly changed to plum pudding and became thecustomary Christmas dessert around 1650.

HISTORY: It is said that original Christmas meal consist-ed of roast swan, pheasants and peacocks. It was HenryVIII, sometime in the 15 C who enjoyed eating turkey. Butit was Edward VII, in the19th C, who made eating turkeyfashionable at Christmas.

METHOD● Stir together first four ingredients. Remove and discard

neck and giblets from chicken. Sprinkle chicken withsalt mixture.

● Place lemon into cavity of chicken. Tie legs togetherwith kitchen string, and tuck wingtips under.

● Place celery, onion, and garlic in a single layer in a light-ly greased 6-quart slow cooker. Place chicken on topof onions, breast side up.

● Arrange and tuck remaining vegetables around chick-en. Sprinkle vegetables with any remaining salt mix-ture.

● Cover and cook on low 8 hours or until done. ● Remove chicken to a serving dish. Rub skins from beets

and cut into quarters; arrange with other vegetablesaround chicken.

● Garnish with rosemary.● Whisk mustard into remaining cooking juices in slow

cooker; season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve saucewith chicken. (3 lines more)

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INGREDIENTS QUANTITYINGREDIENTS QUANTITY

INGREDIENTS QUANTITY

INGREDIENTS QUANTITY

INGREDIENTS QUANTITY

Mixed dried fruit (raisins, currants, sultanas) 350g Ready-to-eat prunes, chopped or left whole 100gSugar 100gDark rum 4 tbspWalnuts (chopped) 100gAlmonds (blanched) 100gAlmonds (ground) 100gFresh white breadcrumbs 100gPlain flour 50gFrozen butter (grated) plus a little extra for greasing 100gNutmeg ½ tspCinnamon 1 tspMixed spice 2 tspCherries (chopped) 100gFree-range eggs, beaten 03

Kosher salt 1 tablespoonPaprika 2 teaspoonDried thyme 1 1/2 teaspoonFreshly ground pepper 1 teaspoonWhole chicken 1 NoLemon 1 NoLarge celery rib 1 NoRed onion 1 NoClove garlic 4 NoBaby carrots 1/2 lbSmall assorted beets 3/4 lbLarge brussels sprout 12 NoDijon mustard 1 1/2 teaspoonFresh rosemary leaves 5-6 No

Cloves 10 Cinnamon sticks 2Caster sugar 1/4 cupRoughly grated nutmeg 1Water 2 cupsRoughly grated rind of orange 1Roughly chopped apple (skin on) 1Light, fruity red wine (such as a merlot) 750ml

METHOD● Combine the mixed fruit, prunes, sugar and rum in

a mixing bowl. Stir well to mix, cover and leave for24 hours to soak.

● After 24 hours, mix the walnuts, almonds, groundalmonds, breadcrumbs, flour, butter, spices, cherriesand eggs along with the soaked fruit mixture in a largemixing bowl, making sure you include all the soak-ing liquor from the soaked fruit.

● Mix well until completely combined (let all the mem-bers of the family have a stir and make a wish).

● Cover with cling film and leave to stand in a cool placefor 24 hours.

● After 24 hours, grease a 1.2 litre pudding basin withbutter.

● Cut a circle of baking paper and place into the bot-tom of the pudding basin and then grease it with a lit-tle more butter. Pack the pudding mixture into the pud-ding basin, pressing as you add it. Fold a pleat into themiddle of a large piece of baking paper and place overthe pudding. Cover with a large piece of pleated foil,ensuring the pleats are on top of one another.

● Secure tightly with kitchen string tied under the lipof the pudding basin.

● Place an upturned saucer into a large saucepan one-quarter full of water. Fold a long piece of foil into quar-ters lengthways to create a long strip and place the pud-ding basin in the middle of the strip. Bring the sidesof the strip up the sides of the pudding basin and lowerinto the saucepan. Ensure the water in the saucepancomes one-third of the way up the side of the pud-ding basin, but nowhere near the top of the basin. Leavethe ends of the foil strip hanging over the side to makeit easy to remove the pudding later.

● Bring the water to a boil and then reduce the heat toa gentle simmer. Simmer gently for 5-6 hours, toppingup the water level as necessary throughout cooking(do not allow the pan to dry out).

● Once the pudding is cooked, remove from the pan andset aside to cool. The pudding can be stored in a cool,dry place. To serve, reheat the pudding by steamingagain (in the same way) for two hours, or until hot allthe way through. Alternatively, remove the foil andreheat in the microwave.

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8� � � " � == � � HISTORY: The earliest known winery is the 6,100-year-old Areniwinery in Armenia. One of the earliest known traces of wine arefrom Georgia (6000 BC), Iran (5000 BC), and Sicily (4000 BC)although there is evidence of a similar alcoholic drink being con-sumed earlier in China (7000 BC).Wine reached the Balkans by4500 BC and was consumed and celebrated in ancient Greece,Thrace and Rome. Throughout history, wine has been consumedfor its intoxicating effects.

INGREDIENTS QUANTITY

METHOD ● Heat cloves, cinnamon, sugar,

nutmeg, water, orange rindand apple in a large saucepanover medium heat.

● Bring to the boil and thenreduce heat to low and sim-mer for 10 minutes.

● Add red wine and simmerfor another 5 minutes.Remove from heat. Strainand serve immediately.

— By Chef Satyaseelan, La Uppu, Grand Mercure Mysore

Sumeru's frozen corn 4cupsWater 8cupsRefined sunflower oil 2 tbspPotatoes (peeled and chopped) 1 largeRed onion (peeled and chopped) 1largeThyme sprigs (washed) 4sprigsGarlic cloves (crushed) 3largeSalt 3tspBlack pepper (crushed) 1tspFresh coriander (finely chopped) 2tbspLime juice (freshly squeezed) 1eachFresh cream 1cup

Mixed dried fruits and nuts, roughly chopped 2 cupsOrange juice 1.5 cupButter ½ cupRum 150 mlFlour 2 cupsBaking powder 1 tspCinnamon powder 1 tspGinger powder ½ tspGrated nutmeg ¼ tsp Fresh orange zest 1 tbspButter, softened 250gmCastor sugar 200gmBrown sugar 70gmEggs 04

Apples 3 big (500 Gram approximately)

Wheat Flour 1cupAll-Purpose Flour 1cupWhite Sugar (Crushed) 1cupBaking Soda ½ teaspoonBaking Powder 2 teaspoonCinnamon Powder ½ teaspoonMilk 1 cupMelted Butter 150 gramsOil 1tablespoon

� # � � � �� � #= " �HISTORY: In the US, the recipes for corn chowder date backto at least 1884, at which time a corn chowder recipe was pub-lished in the Boston Cook Book. Another corn chowder recipewas published in the Boston Cooking-School Cook Book in 1896,which was authored by Fannie Farmer, Lincoln’s successor at theBoston Cooking School. After Lincoln’s published recipe in 1884,myriad recipes for corn chowder began circulating in variouscookbooks in the US, with many types of recipe variations.

METHOD● Measure all the ingredients according to the recipe and set aside.● Thaw Sumeru's frozen corn according to instructions on the

packet.● In a heavy-bottomed pan, pour oil, add crushed garlic cloves

and sauté until golden. Add half of the chopped onions, thymesprigs and cook on a low flame until transparent.

● Add Sumeru's fresh frozen corn, chopped potatoes and sautéfor 15 minutes. Pour water and let it boil. Add salt, Reducethe flame and cook for about 1 hour until the potatoes arecooked through. Add water if necessary.

● Ensure the stock is half evaporated. Turn off the flame andlet it cool.

● Remove half of the chowder in a blender andprocess it roughly. Add the puree to theremaining chowder and let it boil.

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METHOD● Place the roughly chopped fruits and nuts in a bowl. In a saucepan set over

medium heat, bring the orange juice to a boil. Add butter and let it melt.● Set if off the heat and add rum. Mix well. Pour the rum mixture over the

fruits. Cling wrap it and let it sit overnight. Next day, preheat the oven to180C and line a 9" cake pan with parchment paper.

● In a medium down, whisk flour, cinnamon, ginger powder, nutmeg andorange zest. In another bowl, beat both sugars and butter until the mix-ture is light and fluffy.

● Add eggs, one at a time and beat well after each addition. Combine the wetand dry ingredients.Mix in the rum soaked fruits along with the liquid.Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 180C for 40-50 min-utes.

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METHOD:● Pre-heat Oven to 180 degrees.● Prepare a muffin tray with

muffin liners. Spray theliners with oil.

● Puree 2 and a half applesin a blender. Reservethe half apple for uselater on.

● Melt the butter and keepaside.

● Sift all the dry ingredients and mixtogether in a bowl.

● When the butter has cooled down slightly mix theapple puree in it. Add milk to this and mix well.

● Add all the dry ingredients to the above butter, milk& puree mixture. Add oil to this and mix well.

● Pour the mixture into the prepared muffin tray.● Slice the reserved apple into extremely thin slices

(preferably with skin on).● Put one slice each, slightly bending into each muf-

fin.● Bake for 12-15 minutes or until slightly brown on

top and skewer inserted comes to clean.● Take out the tray and let the muffins cool on a wire

rack.● Store in a container & refrigerate for up to 5 days.

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When talking about Bengal, onemust start the narrative from aweaving cluster village as thetextile heritage of the regionboasts of some of the finest

weaving traditions of the country. Upon reach-ing Bengal, about four hours north of Kolkata,lies Shantipur, a village of Jamdani weavers,who migrated from Bangladesh during parti-tion. Traditionally, these weavers made dhotis, adrape worn by Bengali men, now reduced tooccasional wear. Which is why they mostlyweave saris for the local women.

A master weaver, who hosted us at hisworkshop, shared with us how weavinginvolves the critical labour of his family mem-bers — his wife and his brother’s family weavefor nearly six to eight hours a day. Sometimes ittakes up to a week to make one sari which theysell for �1500. An average of �10,000 is what aweaver makes per month, which is slightlyabove the minimum wage. The information isenough to make you sit up and wonder: what isthe fair price for a traditional craft? Wheredoes the difference lie between a skilled labour-er and an artisan? Our host explained that theyvisit the melas organised by the ministry thatprovide a platform to sell directly to customers;at other times, boutiques from the city com-mission them pieces. He shared that for him,this is the best job as he can stay close to hisartisanal tradition and family. Working in thecity, he said, that would require him to livealone.

It was pleasing to see the community spirit inthe weavers and that women held an equal posi-tion in the trade. There are 50,000 weavers inShantipur who mostly work on handlooms, butthe market demand has been in the hold of powerlooms as well. He talked about the use of natur-al dye only on request or when the weavers arespecifically provided with naturally dyed yarns bythe boutique. Chemical dyes are cheaper to pro-duce, thus making it a competitive product. Thecommunity has now formed a weavers’ society tobring more structure to the craft village where theytry to solve issues of daily business. They hope forbigger, more concrete support from larger organ-isations in buying more looms and raw materi-als like threads. For the weavers, the biggest chal-lenge is the money circulation, as they are onlypaid at the end of the month; most of their cashis invested in raw materials by that time. A com-mon complaint is that the larger buyers work onconsignments and refuse to pay for raw materi-als in advance, which for them is a big risk.

My rendezvous with the weavers in Shantipurand interactions with the master craftsmen leftwith me questions but also ideas. My visit toMahamaya, a third generation Kantha artist anda National Award winner proved insightful.Some of her masterpieces include scenes from the

Ramayana with Kantha stitch work. “Illustrations make for a naksha on Kantha

which is the stitched layered fabric”, explainedMahamaya. Kantha stitch is typically a long run-ning stitch; however, there is innovation today andHerringbone, Satin, and Button stitches are alsoused. Browsing through her pile, I came across onethat her grandmother had made, a 70 year oldpiece with natural colours.

Kantha is a way of storytelling through geomet-ric patterns, figurative narratives, and floral

illustrations. Mahamaya talks about her processand shares that she like to draw first on the fab-ric and then go by her instinct to fill colours intothe piece of work. “Some of these works take yearsto make. Sometime I do the border and thenanother artisan fills the space inside. Reds andblack were traditionally used but now there aremore options in colours. I look for inspiration inother forms of art as well as in books and muse-ums. During my mother’s time, they used to pullout threads from old saris to embroider but nowI use anchor thread. I also collaborate with otherartisans like Kashmira, who I have worked withfor sixteen years. She is in the craft for traditionand it is a skill that gets her money as well”.

Mahamaya has trained artists and taught themto preserve the art. Speaking of innovation,Mahamaya likes to experiment with the base fab-ric like cottons and tussars. There is a lot of scopewhere the artist could bring themselves in the workwith experimentation within the technique. Someof her new projects include graphic inspiration andalso a mix of techniques like applique. A new seriesis being developed under her, which is inspiredfrom the panels of Kamasutra. Mahamaya sharesthat most of the works are commissioned art piecessuch as the ones recently sold to RelianceFoundation at the Swadeshi Bazaar, but a lot oforders in the form of wearable art such as dupat-tas or bed linen keep the workshop running.

The textile documentation trip to Kolkatawould be incomplete without a meeting withNamrata, Founder of Biome Conscious Textiles.Her story of entrepreneurship came together asshe was looking out of the window of life for inspi-ration to make her financially independent whilealso staying true to her values. She was at that timequestioning consumerism. So, there she was, withno prior experience in business other than hav-ing some entrepreneurial DNA by virtue ofbelonging to the Rajasthani Marwari communi-ty. Then, she encountered someone who wasinvested in herbal dyeing process for almost adecade. Naturally, it was the opportunity she waswaiting for, to work in a social impact spacethrough the world of clothing and fashion that sheunderstood very well ever since her childhood. Shefinally found a product in her hands that was inharmony with nature and did not promote con-sumerism.

“I am but a toolin the hands of thismovement,” she said. “I like tothink, and question, and that iswhat makes me act the way I do. I loveclothes but not the indulgence”.

Namrata believes that clothes are a symbol ofneed, comfort, artistic expression, dignity, cele-bration, attraction, and more but they must notbecome the reason for environmental degradationand human exploitation. Her organisation repre-sents the idea of a communique — of a clean pre-sent and a cleaner future that is invested in thewelfare of everyone involved in the process.

Working with bio-degradable products is whatkeeps her going ahead in her journey. Endorsing,embracing and collaborating with other like-mind-ed people are her sources of joy. Biome makes nat-ural-dyed fabrics and customised garments. Itidentifies with the movement of integrating withnature. As part of that process, Biome also sellsnatural dyes and Namrata travels with natural dye-ing workshops throughout the country.

She believes that work should not be for oneperson’s fancy but instead should be collaborativeand transcend differences. “In the end, workshould unite, not divide”. Revolution starts withan individual but it must expand to the commu-nity as we are parts of one big whole. Nature isthe intelligent system that has prevailed ever sincelife started, we can only grow and survive in har-mony with it.

Namrata realised that we as humans need toengage our senses to relate to our physical pres-ence in life. And only listening or reading areincomplete ways of sharing, understanding andexperience the beauty of natural dyes. Throughworkshops, Biome facilitates spaces and guidanceto dye your own fabrics, engage with the look,smell and feel of the dyes, and know how real andalive it is. Just like us.

Biome is interested to adopt ‘grow local, buy andsell local and decentralise’. Hence, they have

been exploring work with the strong weaving her-itage of Bengal and introduce natural dyeing tothe weavers. Also, instead of thinking of ‘export’,the focus is on spreading awareness amongstIndians, who form a significant hub of consumersand can afford the best fabrics. Biome also con-centrates on natural fibres, sustainable man-madefibres, and hand woven fabrics along with natu-rally dyed threads and fabrics. Natural dye is theboundary that does not limit, but instead createsa balance between environment and our need forcolours.

Namrata makes it a point to collaborate with

other sustainable fieldworkers when she is tour-

ing for her workshops, especial-ly with those who are working in edu-

cation, food, lifestyle, and the like.

Apiece of textile is a symbol of creation. Somuch has been created, imagined with warp

and weft and has been an expression of art anddesign. Our textiles are our communiqué, our lan-guage various cultures marked it with theirsense of aesthetics and there is deep history andheritage with what we wear and re-create over andover again. Design has been evolved in textiles inrhythmic dance with our lifestyle, socio-econom-ic conditions, geography of a place and now itmarks globalisation. Another important driver hasbeen ‘fashion’ and it has both pros and cons as any-thing in excess can result in.

Biome has always loved and learnt from col-laboration and sharing. That’s been the constantmotivation and satisfaction. “This one time, wehappened to meet this bright, young student fromSrishti School of Design and we came in touchwith her work on flora and fauna, and a very imag-inative expression of human mating a flower andthe resultant evolution of life. When we interact-ed with her more, we discovered that she lovestrees, can communicate with them and sketchingplants alive is her passion. We took a look at hersketches and decided to convert them on ourclothes through batik and herbal dyes. Thus start-ed this experimental project of batik and paint-ing with herbal paste. On board was the batikartist, Sushanto and Ghana, an artist fromChennai who was with us for that period. Wereleased a collection and it was like a dream cometrue”, Namrata reminisces.

Paramita Kar Choudhury is a batik and blockprinting artist who also dabbles in shibori andclamp techniques. She started her journey withsynthetic dyes but soon found the calling for nat-ural dyes. She took her training from an experi-enced practitioner from Shantiniketan. Then sheopened her unit and heart to embrace Biome asa collaborating partner to use our herbal dyes andprocess orders together in batik, block printing,and dyeing.

As I traversed through the landscape ofBengal, it was heartening to see skilled craftsmendedicating their time to keep the age-old tradi-tions alive. So many ideas bubbled inside my mindafter all the interesting conversations, but for themoment I treated myself to a naturally dyed blueand white Jamdani.

The writer is the founder and cultural cura-tor at www.cocoaandjasmine.com

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The statement by GeneralRawat, Chief of Staff of theIndian Army, that PakistanOccupied Kashmir (POK) iscontrolled by terrorists and

Gilgit-Baltistan and POK have beenunder illegal occupation of Pakistan isto be noted seriously. A perusal of his-tory shows that many such provinces inthe North West region as well as NorthEast region of the country were part ofIndia and the country was forced tosurrender the rights over them as partof a ploy by the British rulers.

One such independent country thatexisted during the colonial rule of theBritish and enjoyed the status of a sov-ereign nation was Balochistan.Ironically, nothing much has been writ-ten or taught in India aboutBalochistan, its glorious past and com-munal amity (which is in stark contrastto that of Pakistan). One of the TVnews channels in Kerala had telecast aprogramme about Hinglaj Mata Templein Balochistan which is being preservedwith utmost care by the tribal commu-nity. Every year, the Mandir drawsthousands of Indian devotees to thiscountry and the pilgrims are treatedwith respect by the tribal communities.In modern times, the term Balochistanwas heard in the Indian narrative forthe first time in 2009 when the thenPrime Minister Manmohan Singhassured his Pakistani counterpart YusufRaza Gilani that India was doing noth-ing in Balochistan. “Indeed nor shouldit be doing anything there,” the econo-mist-turned-politician is reported tohave said in the joint statement withGilani issued on the sidelines of theNon-Aligned Movement meeting heldin Egypt.

An attempt has been made tounravel the hitherto untold and unpub-lished details about Balochistan.“Pakistan: The Balochistan Conundrum”authored by Tilak Devasher, a formersenior official of the CabinetSecretariat. Devasher is an authority onPakistani politics which could beunderstood from his first book“Pakistan At The Helm”, published byHarperCollins. His lucid style and artic-ulation are the reasons why readers pre-fer his works. Devasher tells therequired facts in a straightforwardmanner. His intentions are clearbecause he wants people to get enlight-ened and educated. The style is as ele-gant as Devasher himself.

The author takes the readersstraight to Balochistan and gives us

some important facts which would kin-dle passion in the mind to know moreabout the subject. The population ofPakistan is 21 crore while that ofBalochistan is 1.23 crore. Balochistanconstitutes 44 per cent of Pakistan’slandmass. This is just one of the reasonsbehind Pakistan’s avarice for this oncesovereign country. Balochistan is a trea-sure house of minerals and energyresources. “Had there been noBalochistan, there would not have beenany Pakistan,” felt the British rulers whohad manipulated the geo-politics of theregion before they lowered the UnionJack and gave way to the national flags.

The British colonialists wanted tomanipulate and influence the sub-con-tinent by remote controlling fromLondon. They had a fear that the everincreasing influence of the then SovietUnion was detrimental to their politi-cal, commercial and other strategic

interests. Hence they felt the need tohave a region, a long strip from theGilgit to Balochistan administereddirectly by the Britain. This was whatsuggested by a British army officer R CMoney in charge of strategic planningin India during the period.

“However by 1947, the British feltthat instead of locating a base in a weakBalochistan, such a base could be estab-lished in Pakistan that was more thanwilling to accommodate the British.Hence it was in British interests toensure that Balochistan was kept withinPakistan and did not become an inde-pendent entity,” writes Devasher (Page85).

As per various treaties entered intoby the then rulers of the princely Stateof Balochistan (the Khans of Kalat)with the British government, the formerhad been assured by the colonial mas-ters that Balochistan would remain a

sovereign country with no obligation ofany kind either to India or Pakistan.What Devasher has done is to bring tolight the palace coup staged in Kalatwith the political script authored in thecorridors of power in Lahore, NewDelhi and London. It shocks us andfurther embarrasses as because it wasanother faux pas committed byJawaharlal Nehru which resulted inMohammed Ali Jinnah annexingBalochistan to Pakistan.

This backstabbing came withinweeks of Jinnah issuing a statementdeclaring that “the Government ofPakistan recognises Kalat as an inde-pendent sovereign State, in treaty rela-tions with British government with astatus different from that of IndianStates.” Needless to tell, Jinnah’s state-ment was issued immediately after awell publicised meeting the former hadwith the Khan of Kalat and his aides.

Jinnah was a visionary as well as anIslamic fundamentalist. As on date, ‘36per cent of Pakistan’s total current nat-ural gas production, as also reserves ofcoal, gold, copper, silver, platinum, alu-minium and uranium are inBalochistan. Reko Diq, Saindak, Sui andChamalang produce a wealth ofresources like copper, gold, natural gas,coal and other minerals. Reko Diq is acopper and gold mine in Chagai districtwith an estimated mineral resource ofat lest 54 billion pounds of copper and41 million ounces of gold’, writesDevashar. All these details establish thefact that Pakistan without Balochistan isa big zero. Jinnah and the subsequentrulers of Pakistan have made use of allgames in the trick to keep the people ofBalochistan in perpetual poverty, illiter-acy and ignorance. This is what theGrand Old Party did in India too.

Devasher has revealed the details of

how the then Prime Minister Nehrurejected and refused the offer from theKhan of Kalat to merge with India.What the author has stated in pages 81and 82 is sufficient to expose the thenPrime Minister’s inefficiency, failure toread the writing on the wall and hislarger than life image hyped up by themedia.

This book is a must read for allthose who are interested in the historyof the sub-continent, prior to and afterthe exit of the British rulers lest we arecheated by manipulated and distortedhistory. Balochistan is waiting for India.India’s safety and security could beensured only through the liberation ofBalochistan and Tilak Devasher is anauthor who has to be taken seriously byour policy makers and those who wantto excel in the game of diplomacy.

While reading the book, whatcrossed the mind was the football teamsfrom Balochistan, namely MakranUnited and Makran Sports Club whichused to figure in the Sait NagjeeFootball Tournament which was held atKozhikode in Kerala. They werefavorites of Malabar’s football lovers.Balochistan is loved by people whoknow about the country.

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In a refreshing departurefrom stereotypical portrayalsof muslim women, their

helplessness and ignorance, thebook Resilience: Stories ofMuslim Women explores thelives of 11 women who foughtagainst all odds to shine, oncethey got the opportunity tostudy in a tiny adult educationcentre. The author, ShubhaMenon, has documented life ofgirls and women of NizamuddinBasti, Delhi, in a manner thatmakes the reader a partner inher adventure. The reader istaken through the winding gul-lies, narrow staircases and totter-ing houses, right into the homesof the girls.

The Seher Centre was anexperiment in education startedby social activist ShabnamHashmi. At the time, Shabnamherself was a young girl studyingin Russia. She was home for thesummer holidays and went witha friend to Nizamuddin Basti tovolunteer as a teacher for younggirls. When it was time for herto go back to Russia, two of thegirls begged her not to, as theyhad seen hope in their lives aftershe had started teaching them.Shabnam could not turn herback on the girls. She stayedback and started the SeherEducation Centre. From 1980 to1985, about 400 girls studied inthe Centre. The book encom-passes the stories of 11 girlswhose stories unfold one by one.

The girls’ stories arepoignant and real. There isFarida, who started wearing aburqa at 9, got married at 12 andwas a mother of two, divorcedand abandoned by 16. Today,she runs a non-profit, teachingother young girls like her.Mussarrat, who was virtually aprisoner in her own home,forced to do domestic chores allday. She is now a health supervi-sor with the Aga KhanFoundation. And Parveen, whowas turned away from theGandhi residence because she

couldn’t write her name in theentrance register. Today she aSewa Dal worker and politicalvoice for a political party. Thestories of Syeda, Asma, Ishrat,Shahjahan, Najma and Ayeshaalso show the transformationthat the Seher Centre broughtabout.

The writer recreates the tinyroom where classes were held.We learn about the rivalrybetween the girls, their favouriteteachers and how their thoughtsare gradually changed, till fromburqa-clad silent citizens theybecome agents of change in theirown right. We also learn aboutthe various forces at play in thebasti, those that opposed girlseducation. There are the elders

of the basti who disapprove ofgirls going to school. There arethe Pirzadas who want Shabnamto teach their kids exclusivelybecause they do not want theirchildren to share space withlowly ‘Ghosis’. There are oppos-ing forces in the basti and oldmores are at loggerheads withnew thinking. The Shah Banocase is at the centre of thisdichotomy. The author dwellsupon the case at some length.

The writer has included con-versations with eminent, educat-ed Muslim women — SyedaHameed, Warisha Farasat,Zarina Bhatty, Seema Mustafa,Noor Zaheer — who talk aboutthe state of Muslim women inthe country. These conversations

are a good counterpoint to theconversations with the Sehergirls. The Markaz versus theDargah is another contradictionof the basti. The Markaz propa-gates pristine orthodox Islamwhich is strident and austere.The author does not deride onepractice at the cost of the other.Their parallel existence mayoccasionally clash but seldombecomes a major flare-up. Thereader is gently led through thislabyrinth of contradictions andincongruities which are both lit-erary and figurative. A hiddenworld is revealed in easy flowingprose. What gives the book itsunique flavour is the anecdotesand tales about the NizamuddinBasti, the dargah, the Auliya, the

graves, monuments, etc. Thebook is full of interesting detailsthat lend colour to the stories ofthe girls.

It was not just the old andnew that were clashing in thebasti. There was ShabnamHashmi herself, a communist-atheist, ultra-liberal rebel ofsorts. She never wore a burqaand sported short hair and spec-tacles. Just the way she looked,raised the red flag for many inthe basti. Subjects like sex,reproductive rights, gender pari-ty, taboo for Basti dwellers, werefreely discussed in the SeherCentre. Shabnam’s total lack offear against a menacing, threat-ening phalanx of Basti old men,guardians and gatekeepers of the

‘izzat’ of their women and girls,was cause for alarm. Girls, whowere not allowed to uncovertheir heads in their own homesor sit on a chair in front of theirelders, began to learn alphabetof rights. The Seher teacherswho included Shabnam’s moth-er and sister, were beratedbecause of the fear that theywould make the girls ‘azad’ and‘la mazhab’. Underlying thispopular slogan verbiage was thelarger fear that Basti womenmay begin to think and asserttheir rights.

This book brings out theunique world of theNizamuddin Basti. One whichyou may not find on a map.Where, in the by lanes ofcrowded homes with limitedmeans women broke out of theshackles of stereotypical rolesand fearlessly fought their way

to an education. Where womenhelped women.The book hasinteresting anecdotes about theghosts that coexist with humanbeings there and the sounds ofurdu,the music from the dar-gah,and the fragrance of kebabswhich create the unique atmos-phere of this area.

Resilience is an importantbook on Muslim women in con-temporary India. There are somany layers to examine. And,Seher comes out as a uniqueexperiment, which not onlytransformed all those womenwho studied there but theirfuture generations.

The writer is a senior adver-tising professional and a visiting

professor at B-schools

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'��4��������&�#�����������������A���������$�����The world witnessed a spate

of violent protests in Iraq,Lebanon, Hong Kong andChile in the last few months.However, the Iraqi protestsstand out in terms of intensityof violence: over 300 youngprotesters have been killed andthousand others injured in thecrackdown by the Governmentsecurity forces. After the fall ofdictator Saddam Hussein in2003, it has been the largestpopular demonstration acrossIraq, mainly in Shia south.

Protesters have blamed thesuccessive Governments forlarge-scale unemployment,rampant corruption, and poorcivic services, despite the exche-quer getting easy revenue fromthe lucrative oil businesses.However, the authorities claimthat Iraq does not get reason-able chunk of its share from thecomplex and unfair system ofinternational oil markets torevive its fractured economy.Majority of the people lackaccess to adequate healthcare,schooling, water or power sup-plies as the promises made bysuccessive Governments haveremained unfulfilled.According to a World Bankreport, nearly three-fifths of its40 million people live on lessthan $6 a day. The Iraqi pro-testers, primarily comprisingthe economic poor class, areventing their anger againstsome filthy rich political lead-ers and businessmen who arepillaging the country’s wealth,pushing the commoners intofurther poverty.

The trigger for the latestround of protests was the newsof demotion of LieutenantGeneral Abdul Wahhab al-Saadi, the Commander of theIraqi Counter Terrorism Force(ICTF). He gained wide pop-ularity during the anti-ISISmilitary campaign and becamea national hero. Protests inBaghdad jog the memory of

Arab Spring in 2011, where theprotesters had swarmed thestreets in the Arab world. Theyear-long Prime Minister, AdelAbdul Mahdi, has witnessedthe most tumultuous phase ofhis tenure as protesters aredemanding his immediateremoval from office and freshelections.

Sistani calls for reformThe initial response of the

Baghdad authorities, usingunnecessary lethal force, wasshockingly unscrupulous thatmade matters worse. Iraq’s mostrevered Shia cleric GrandAyatollah Sayyid Ali Hussainial-Sistani, who holds unprece-

dented moral authority amongthe Shia believers, had calledupon the ruling clique to initi-ate major political reforms. Heissued the statement through hisrepresentative in a Friday prayergathering. He urged, “The mar-jaiyya (Shia religious authority)has made clear its position call-ing for reform in the last Fridaysermon. It stressed that thedemonstrations must be peace-ful and free from violence andvandalism. It also underlinedthe sanctity of Iraqi blood, andthe need for political forces torespond to the rightful demandsof protesters.” While influentialShia leader Sayyid Moqtada al-Sadr too called for reforms and

urged protesters to continue topress for their demands.

Show of solidarityOne of the significant fea-

tures of the anti-governmentalprotests in Iraq is that it has anelement of cross-sectarian orethnic identity i.e. Iraqi nation-alism. Unlike previous protests,symbols of Shia piety have nottaken a central place in thedemonstrations which signifiesthe gravity of the demandswhich entirely stick to its legit-imate socio-economicdemands. It reflects the grow-ing disenchantment of Iraqipeople towards the religiousparties who have been ruling

for 16 years. It is an alarmingcurve for the ruling elites andthey need to pay heed to thepeople’s voice. It also signifiesa new turn of events in coun-try’s beleaguered history whichonly experienced repressionby ruthless dictators and start-ed craving for the idea of socialjustice and citizenship.However, despite having abroad nature of the protestslargely participated by youngand poor social class fromShia background, the Sunniand Kurdish areas haven’textended solidarity with theprotesters. Sunni and Kurdishleaderships are suspicious thatany break in the status quo will

dismantle their positions in thepower structure what they areenjoying in the unofficialmohassasa system (confes-sional system) introduced bythe Americans after 2003.

External factorsThere is no denying the

fact that after the US occupa-tion, the CPA-led administra-tion had created such mayhemin the country. The menace ofterrorism and sectarianismgained enormous footholdamong multi-confessionalsociety. There is an ample evi-dence of external interventionby regional actors in fomentingpolitical unrest in Iraq. Theattacks on Iranian consulatesand embassy substantiate thisargument. Since 2003, archrival Iran has turned Iraq’sstaunchest ally.

Iran’s ties with Shia politi-cal groups which have been atthe helm of power irked theregional actors led by SaudiArabia, and they perceived it asthe revival of Shia politics inWest Asian and North African(WANA) region. Iran’s role inrepulsing the rise of IslamicState of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)further brought these twoneighbours closer. Most of theIran-backed factions like AsaibAhl al-Haq, Saraya al-Salam,Badr Corps, Harkat Hezbollahal-Nojaba constitute the back-bone of Hashd al-Shabi(Popular Mobilisation Forces,PMF), an umbrella group ofmilitias which came into exis-tence after the ISIS’ blitzkriegattacks, further alarmed theUS, Israel and other regionalpowers. Displaying extraordi-nary courage in counteringthe ISIS tide, PMF achievedpre-eminence in the society. Byvirtue of its popularity, thepolitical bloc of PMF, called al-Itilaf al-Fatah (ConquestAlliance) led by Hadi Amiri,secured a sizeable chunk of

seats in the parliamentary elec-tions last year. However, al-Hashd has kept restraintdespite anti-social elementscamouflaging into the crowd tosabotage the peaceful protests.However it had vowed to crushany coup attempt with mali-cious intent.

Tuk tuk, a vehicle of change: Indian connection

There is a little Indianconnection with the ongoingprotests in Iraq i.e Tuk-Tuk.The three-wheeled Tuk-Tuk, aword referred in common par-lance to autorickshaw has itsorigin in India. It was beingmanufactured by a prominentautomobile company Baja Autoand exported to Iraq. It func-tions as frontline ambulances,ferry protesters and suppliesnecessary stuff. The most inter-esting part is that some activistsstarted a tabloid named after itin order to circumvent infor-mation blackout by authorities.Iraq’s once marginalised Tuk-Tuk drivers took a centre stagein Iraq and the vehicle becomea symbol of resistance called‘Markabat al-Thawra’ (vehicleof revolution).

Despite the resignation ofthe Prime Minister, people arestill angry and protests will goon until new political and eco-nomic reforms are introduced.But what comes after thesedemonstrations will not be thesame as before. Iraq is goingthrough a phenomenal phase.The new opposition that isemerging can play an importantrole to lead status quo towardschange. The authorities shouldinitiate a process for structur-al changes and must pay heedto their legitimate demands.

(The writer is a PhD stu-dent at Centre for West AsianStudies, School of InternationalStudies, Jawaharlal NehruUniversity, New Delhi)

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( ���������F�����������������������GIraq has once again descend-

ed into an abyss. Since thedownfall of Saddam Hussein in2003, the country has not wit-nessed peace for almost twodecades now. Modern Iraq wasestablished in 1932 from theamalgamation of threeprovinces of Baghdad, Basraand Mosul that formedMesopotamia. This new coun-try was primarily centredaround tribes purely external tothe main city centres. Thusfrom the very beginning,Mesopotamia was vulnerableto both security and unity.

The Ottomans overesti-mated their ability to controlIraq and did not emphasise ondomestic development and theexisting tribal structures. Likemany other ancient empires,the Ottomans were forgingahead with the concept of “thestrong do what they want, theyhave the power to do” and thuscommitted remarkable errorsin their handling of the WestAsian sojourn. What historianssay is that the Ottomans failedto understand the existing cul-tural, ideological and ethnicdivisions existing in theMesopotamian region. From1299 to 1921, the mightyOttomans ruled this regionand lost it during the FirstWorld War. And henceforth,the British and the Frenchestablished the political bound-aries of Iraq, bordering thePersian Gulf between Iran andKuwait.

In 1920, the UK wasawarded a League of Nationsmandate over Iraq. This her-alded a western style gover-nance structure in Iraq. In2014, Tim Marshall describedthe geographical division ofthis region in his book,Prisoners of Geography thisway: “When the OttomanEmpire began to collapse, theBritish and the French had adifferent idea. In 1916, Britishdiplomat Colonel Sir MarkSykes took a grease pencil anddrew a crude line across a mapof West Asia. It ran from Haifaon the Mediterranean, what is

now Israel, to Kirkuk now inIraq in the northeast. It becamethe basis of his secret agree-ment with his French counter-part Francois Georges Picot todivide the region into twospheres of influence. North ofthe line was to be under Frenchcontrol, south of it underBritish hegemony.”

This grease pencil drawnboundary lacked the acknowl-edgement of all the existingdemographic arrangement ofthe region, which later came tobe known as the historic Sykes-Picot Agreement. This arbi-trary demarcation of bound-aries of states in West Asiabrought complete anarchy tothe entire region. Clearly, all thestates that were created by theSykes-Picot were not based onthe logic of socio-economical-ly driven conditions but pure-ly out of the ruins of theempires. Thus the competingaspirations of different com-munities and ethnic groupscould not be fused into a melt-

ing pot and, hence, schism hasbeen remained as a potentanomaly in Iraq and the rest ofWest Asia.

The current crisis in Iraqhas emerged due to entrenchedcorruption in public offices andthe rising gap between theelites and the ordinary citizens.The demonstrations whichstarted since October 1 havealready taken more than 400lives of ordinary Iraqi citizens.Probably the internationalcommunity is too used to hearIraqis being killed in hugenumbers, whether it was underthe horrific Saddam regime,the US-occupied Iraq or undertheir own leadership in thepost-Baathist era. Today theyoung protesters highlight theway the Adel Abdul MahdiGovernment made appoint-ments to Government serviceson ethnic lines or sectarianquotas which is popularlyknown as “Muhassasa” in Iraq.

The aggrieved citizens airtheir anguish that this spoils

system is sharpening thedivides among the Shias,Sunnis, the Kurds and the restof the ethnic minorities acrossIraq and bringing no benefit tothe ordinary folks. But defi-nitely a small section of theparty sympathisers, supportersand cronies extract rich bene-fits from the Government.

Since the departure of theUS forces, the youth of thecountry has been utterly frus-trated with the façade ofreforms and with the politicalclass who promised but failedto deliver the basics and intro-duce much-needed reforms inpublic offices.

However, what is worryingthe global community is thatthis saga of mass demonstra-tions is purely leaderless. Theprotesters are not backed byany organisational structuresand ideological narratives.Only common chord amongthem is a strong sentiment ofanti-Government agenda.Therefore, the guardians of

the system have got enoughcourage and stamina to quellthem down with very bruteforce. It may so happen that theprotests may lead to a quickpolitical transformation butthe political establishment mayconsolidate further and relymore on authoritarian methodsthan engaging the aggrievedones with dialogues.

For now, Mahdi hasresigned as Iraq PrimeMinister. But his resignationwill not bring an end to the rag-ing protests across the country.In fact, he was forced to leaveonly after grand Iraqi Shiacleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistaniissued a call for changing theGovernment leadership.

Around the same time,powerful Shia leader Moqtadaal-Sadr, who leads the largestpolitical faction in theParliament, Sairoon, called forMahdi’s resignation. He alsowarned that if the MahdiGovernment does not do so, itwould be “the beginning of the

end of Iraq”.We need to enquire into

the recent political history ofIraq to find out the malaise thatis killing the country today. Itall started with the depositionof the Saddam rule and theAmerican invasion of Iraq.Besides, subsequent politicalupheavals accompanied byregime changes in the WestAsia and fast-changing globalpolitical scenario had a strongimpact on the future course ofaction in Iraq. Saddam was nomore a nincompoop, as thewestern leaders thought, as hewas able to maintain a stablepolitical rule for more than twodecades. Of course his author-itarian streak spearheaded thesystematic persecution of theminorities and fast marginali-sation of the majority Shias.

In addition to Sunni-Shiadivide, the third major politi-cal player in Iraq is the Kurds,mainly concentrated in thenorth and north-easternprovinces of Erbil,Sulaymaniyah, Dahuk andtheir surrounding areas. TheKurdish people inhabit a swathof land through northern Iraq,Syria, Iran and Turkey. Theyare primarily a people withouttheir own homeland, a majorvictim of the Sykes-Picot deal.

The way the global liberalorder is crumbling under theleadership of Donald Trump,the world could hardly look forany respite from the volatilepolitical atmosphere raging inWest Asia. With the with-drawal of American forcesfrom Iraq in 2011, graduallythe country has fallen into acomplete anarchy. And thishas happened becauseWashington wanted to dis-lodge the erstwhile politicalregime, secret forces and secu-rity forces of the Saddam era.The coming of a Shia regime,after the fall of Saddam, hascompletely changed the powerstructure of almost threedecades of Sunni politicalestablishment, its entitlementsand its beneficiaries. Thusmany of the elite guards, offi-

cers and former army com-manders have quietly joinedthe Islamic State, an affiliate ofthe al-Qaeda.

The US Army in Iraq knewvery well that these officersjoined various insurgent groupsand offered tactical support tothe al-Qaeda.

What could be seen fromthe ruins of Saddam empire isa pure chaos. And in thisanomie has brought more dif-ferences and violence back tothe Iraqi society. Much beyondthese, Iraq has become a play-ground for many big powers,such as Iran and the US.

Iran’s influence in Iraq is ofgreat importance. But in thelast few months, this Iranianled Shia coalition has beenlargely fractious as theGovernment forces killed Shiaswho were demanding bettersocial services, mainly basicneeds. It is coming out in pub-lic space that Iran is seriouslytrying to repress the civil rebel-lion in Iraq. Its elite QudsForce, the foreign arm of theRevolutionary Guard in Iran,view these protests as master-minded by foreign hands. Theoutcome of the counterpro-ductive attempts by the Iranianbacked forces to repress theprotesters may trigger a newArab Spring to the entire WestAsia in the days to come.

The impending departureof Mahdi is symbolic victory ofthe protesters. But unfortu-nately too many people werekilled and it could be regard-ed as a mass uprising of theShia community against theirown leadership. Mahdi hasproved himself to be an inef-fectual leader.

It seems the ruling elite ofIraq are simply interested insticking to power at any cost.Therefore, it is truly doubtfulwhether the demands of theprotesters for sweeping changesin the Iraqi political systemcould be agreed upon by theopportunist leadership.

(The writer is an expert oninternational affairs)

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It is in human nature to improve one’slot, which tempts one to look towardsa better tomorrow. So, invariably we

begin life with high hopes and aspira-tions. Accordingly, we set our dream des-tination. Dreams are necessary for reach-ing heights one is capable of, as theyserve a focus to reach an objective. Sincetime immemorial the Moon fascinatedand evoked man’s curiosity, seen everyday — yet unknown. A longing to knowand understand it, led scientists to sendman on the Moon. Yet, not everybody’sdreams get fulfilled. Non-realisationoften brings in frustrating experiences.Why? Are we so helplessly fated?

Not really, provided we optimally useour indwelling empowerment tools.Remember, we are all born carrying lim-itless potential, which if unfolded wouldknow no limits. The paradox, however, isthat major part of our mind-powerremains untapped, as it remains cloudedby lot of inherent limitations. Truth betold — ordinary mortals are hardly ableto use five to seven percent of their mindpower. The irony, however, is that eventhis, if judiciously used, can enable oneto negotiate life with relative ease andcomfort. Bear in mind; even people like

Einstein are said to have used just 10 to14 percent of their mind-power to createhistory.

You need to strive to unfold your fullpotential. It may then spontaneously leadyou through. You may then discriminatebetween ‘What you want’ and ‘What isworth’ before you take any call. Also, youwould be able to put forward your bestfoot. So, the real challenge is to overcomelimitations of our mind and expand itsoutreach. The way forward is to get intoself-search mode. The process helpsidentify, acknowledge and then riseabove the limitations of mind.

It is pertinent to note here that weseldom remain conscious about invok-ing one’s most profound empowermenttool — Buddhi (the faculty of discrimi-nate intelligence) — before jumping intoaction. Not to say anything about gettingover the limitation of mind. And buddhiwon’t come into play by itself.Consequently, we blindly submit our-selves to indwelling desire trends, com-ing as they may with karmic imprintscarried over from the past. We neithertry to figure out whether the desirespursued are worth it or not, nor do wecare whether we are geared up for the

purpose. When we meet failure, eitherwe try to shift the blame on others, orour destiny. Truth, however, remainsthat we do not strive sufficiently tounfold the immense power within. Sosaid Swami Vivekananda: “The historyof the world is the history of few menwho had faith in themselves. Faith callsout divinity within. You can do any-thing. You fail because you have not suf-ficiently strived to unfold immensepower within.”

Here is the case of someone, whocame asking the other day: “Sir, since lastyear, I am having a tough time both interms of career as well as my personallife. I get lot of offers but at the lastmoment, they all fizzle out. I am afraid,those envious of me have been playingfoul with my life. My wife is self-centricand is least bothered about my sensibili-ties and concerns. The worst is she dis-courages me from pursuing spirituality.When do you think the situation maychange?”

Don’t try to rationalise peculiarbeliefs you carry, coming as it may withJupiter ill-disposed off to Neptune.Before blaming others, better identify,acknowledge, and address your ownfault lines, and things will change soonerthan later. Look at your astrological

pointers. You are born in Aries lagna,with its lord Mars, erratic Rahu and theSun firmly placed in lagna bhava itself.That makes you, impulsive, aggressive,arrogant, irritable, intolerant, and impa-tient. You wish to live in a demandingmode, expecting from all others to fol-low your dictates. You have the tendencyto jump into action without applyingproper forethought. If that would not beenough, both the luminaries, the Sunand Moon as well as Mercury, all lockedin adverse formation to Uranus, makesyou self-willed, tactless, eccentric, andopinionated. Mercury ill-disposed off toSaturn and Moon, brings in a rigid one-track mind, and makes you resentful ofothers. Moon placed adverse to Saturnbrings in a negative mindset. Also, youwould be jealous and over critical ofothers. Let me add here that the callingof spirituality is to first set the thoughtprocess right, which doesn’t anywayreflect in your conduct. It means you aresimply hallucinating over your illusion-ary perceptions.

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