ar\ uvwzvd :4; `_ ;ruyrg - daily pioneer

16
P akistan on Thursday said it has no plans to give India another consular access to for- mer Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav held captive there and sentenced to death on charges of espionage. The Pakistan Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson said in Islamabad “there would be no second con- sular access to Jadhav.” Pakistan had on September 2 granted the first consular access to Jadhav in line with the “Vienna Convention and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) verdict” after much nego- tiation between India and Pakistan over terms and con- ditions for consular access. Reacting to Pakistan’s deci- sion, India on Thursday said it will keep trying to ensure that the judgment of ICJ is fully implemented and it will remain in touch with the Pakistani side through diplomatic channels. Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said India is trying to resolve the issue via diplomat- ic channels. Kumar said, “We will keep trying that judgment of ICJ is fully implemented. We would like to remain in touch with the Pakistani side through diplomatic channels.” Charged’ Affaires at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad Gaurav Ahluwalia met Jadhav on September 2 after Pakistan granted con- sular access to the retired Indian Navy officer following a directive from the ICJ. After the meeting, the MEA said Jadhav appeared to be under “extreme pressure” to parrot a false narrative to bol- ster Pakistan’s untenable claims in his case. Sources said the Government has received a detailed report from the Indian mission in Islamabad following the consular access. Jadhav was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and ter- rorism in April 2017. Weeks later, India approached the ICJ against Pakistan for denial of consular access to Jadhav and to challenge the death sentence. In its verdict in the case on July 17, the ICJ ordered Pakistan to undertake an “effec- tive” review of the conviction and sentence of Jadhav and asked it to grant consular access to him without further delay. Pakistan claims its securi- ty forces arrested Jadhav from the restive Balochistan province on March 3, 2016, after he reportedly entered from Iran. However, India maintains that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had busi- ness interests after retiring from the Navy. On the recent develop- ments in the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) over Kashmir, Kumar said Pakistan’s attempt to polarise and politicise the Kashmir issue at the UN was rejected. He also said Pakistan needs to understand that “repeating a lie four or five times does not turn it into a gospel truth”. The global community is aware about Pakistan’s role in aiding, abetting and supporting terrorist infrastructure which they have in their country, the Spokesperson said. His remarks came two days after India and Pakistan engaged in a war of words over the Kashmir issue on Tuesday at the UNHRC in Geneva with New Delhi stoutly defending its “sovereign decision” to revoke J&K’s special status, an issue on which Islamabad demanded an international investigation by the global rights body. “It is quite audacious on the part of Pakistan that the coun- try which is harbouring ter- rorists, which is the epicentre of terrorism, is pretending to speak on behalf of the global community on human rights,” Kumar said. A mid public outcry over the imposition of hefty fines under the new Motor Vehicles Act (MVA) and more States like Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka refusing to imple- ment the Act in totality, the Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry has sought a legal opinion on whether States can reduce fines below the minimum penalty fixed in the amended Act. The BJP Governments in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand have already announced reduction in fines. “We have sought an opin- ion from the Department of Legal Affairs, Ministry of Law and Justice, whether States are empowered to reduce the penalties below the minimum fine fixed under the amended Act,” said a Ministry official. “Once we get clarity from the Ministry of Law whether the States have the power to reduce fines below the floor penalty fixed, we will take appropriate step based on their reply,” the official added. The official said under the amended Act where the penal- ty for traffic offences mention “fine of up to”, the States can decide on penalties, but where there is a fixed fine as per the provision, these could not be lowered. The Act also pro- vides that offences under var- ious categories can be com- pounded and for these State Governments can notify quan- tum of penalty. On Wednesday, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari had defended the new MVA saying it was not for revenue genera- tion but to save precious lives. Opposition-ruled States like Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal have refused to imple- ment the new law. UP Transport Minister Ashok Kataria said the State Government is “relaxing the fines for now”. Another BJP ruled State of Karnataka decid- ed to go against the provisions of MVA penalties. “In the interest of the peo- ple of Uttar Pradesh, the Government is reconsidering what and how it should be done,” Kataria said on the implementation of the MVA fines. “We will soon take a deci- sion and come out with the rates of penalty,” he said. Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said, “Regarding the cut in the penalties for violation of traf- fic rules under MVA, we will get the orders of the Gujarat Government. I have instructed our officials that we will follow that order here also. Mostly in about two-three days like in Gujarat, here also we will try to cut the penalties that are high,” Yediyurappa said. Uttarkhand Cabinet on the other hand cleared the proposal to reduce some of the penalties by half. But it decided not to relax fines for driving without wearing helmets, speeding or tripling on two wheelers. Meanwhile, police and people clashed on the streets of Patna when traffic cops fined a woman driver for not wear- ing seat belt. The police had to resort to lathi charge. In several other parts of the country, similar clashes have been reported. T he Congress on Thursday announced that party pres- ident Sonia Gandhi with for- mer Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will lead a nationwide campaign against the economic slowdown. Chairing a meeting of top party leaders, Sonia said the BJP was misusing the people’s mandate and proposed to go aggressively against the Modi Government. The grand old party will also begin a door-to-door membership drive next month and hold “padayatras” from October 2 to October 9 to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The meeting was attended by Manmohan Singh, AICC general secretaries and in- charges of various States and Congress Legislative Party lead- ers, among others. While Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Puducherry CM V Narayanasamy were present at the meeting, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Bhagel, and former Congress president Rahul Gandhi were absent. It was decided at the meet- ing that delegate conventions of Pradesh Congress Committee will be held across the country from September 20 to September 30 to highlight the “economic slowdown”. This will be followed by massive agi- tations across the country from October 15 to October 25 against the policies that have led to the slowdown. While Sonia expressed concern over the “grim” eco- nomic situation and accused the Government of misusing its mandate in the “most danger- ous” fashion, Manmohan Singh said the country is in the midst of dangerously protracted slow- down and the economy was going from bad to worse. Singh said the Government is not realising this and the worst could happen in the employment sector. T he South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) announced on Thursday that all commercial vehicles with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags either will have to compulsorily switch to cashless payment from Friday or will have to pay double the tax amount as penalty. Vehicles without RFID tags will not be allowed to enter the city. “Only non-RFID commer- cial vehicles were supposed to pay the fine till now and those having RFID tags had the option of paying by cash if they had not got their wallets recharged but now they will have to pay double the tax amount as penalty and their vehicles will be blacklisted. The system will become complete- ly cashless and no cash will be accepted at all the 13 toll plazas,” said a senior SDMC official. He said the decision was taken after it was found that a large number of commercial vehicle owners had not recharged RFID accounts. As a result, the newly-introduced system hasn’t become com- pletely cashless, he added. The SDMC had launched RFID system at 13 busy border points in the city on August 24 with the aim to reduce pollution by easing traffic congestions and plugging revenue leakage by ensuring transparency. Once a person buys an RFID tag and pastes it on his registered vehicle, MCD tax and environment compensation charge (ECC) will be deducted at the 13 toll plazas automatically. Vehicle owners can recharge their RFID accounts on ecctagsdmc.com, mobile application “MCD TOLL” and at the 28 point of sale kiosks at the 13 entry/exit points. T he India Railways has decided to use environ- ment-friendly terracotta prod- ucts such as kulhads, glasses and plates for serving catering items to passengers at 400 important railway stations, said Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) chair- man VK Saxena. Acting on the requests of Minister of MSME Nitin Gadkari and KVIC, the Ministry of Railways has decid- ed to use these locally produced items, which will also help in improving lives of thousands of potters across the country. After the success of Railways’ decision to use pot- tery products at Varanasi and Rae Bareilly Railway Stations, Gadkari wrote a letter on August 21 in this connection to Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal for issuing the necessary directives to the officials for adoption of locally-produced pottery products for serving tea, lassi and other food items in kulhads. The cost of the kulhads will be around 1 each. The KVIC has already launched “Kumhaar Sashaktikaran Yojana” (Potters’ Empowerment Plan) that has received good response. The KVIC chairman met the Railways Minister in this connection, besides writing him a letter on August 29, requesting him to conduct an internal survey to get the feed- back from Varanasi and Rae Bareilly stations, where Railways has already adopted terracotta products. The feedback showed reduc- tion in the use of plastic at the stations. Approving the proposal of KVIC, the Ministry of Railways on Wednesday directed all Principal Chief Commercial Managers of different Zonal Railways and IRCTC CMD “to further proliferate use of locally produced environment- savvy terracotta products like kulhads, glasses and plates for serving catering items at 400 railway Stations across Indian Railways”. Appreciating KVIC’s efforts in empowerment of marginalised potter commu- nity through its enthusiastic Kumhar Sashaktikaran Yojana, the letter said, “Since KVIC is implementing various pro- grammes/schemes across the country to create employment on the doorsteps to the poor- est of the poor to improve their economic conditions, the above request has been examined and considered by Board.” T he Narendra Modi Government will build a new Parliament complex, a new Central Secretariat for all Ministries, and redevelop the 3- km stretch from the Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate. The Housing and Urban Affairs (HUA) Ministry said that a request for proposal (RFP) was floated on September 2 to invite design and architecture firms to give their ideas. Sources in the Ministry said the Government has not yet decided whether to go for a new Parliament building or redevelop the existing one. The HUA Ministry has uploaded a RFP for redevelop- ment of the Central Vista, which will include all offices. The pre-bid meeting was held on Thursday, officials said. October 15 is the deadline to select the design firm. “The HUA Ministry has invited architecture firms to redevelop the Central Vista, a 3-km stretch from the Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate, and construct a new common Central Secretariat. By August 2022, the Monsoon Session will be held in a new or a retrofitted building. By next year, the Central Vista will be redeveloped and the Common Secretariat will be built by 2024,” officials said. “There will be no change in North and South Blocks building. The heritage and cultural value of this area will remain intact,” officials added. On the development of the Central Secretariat, the Centre will be able to save over 1,000 crore that is currently being spent to house staff in private buildings per annum. The Central Government Ministries are currently spread over 47 buildings in Lutyens’ Delhi, housing various Ministries, departments where 70,000 employees of the Central Government work. The selected architecture or infrastructure firm by the HUA Ministry will be tasked to come up with a plan and give sug- gestions on whether the exist- ing Parliament complex can be redeveloped or an additional structure will be required and if a new Central Secretariat for all Ministries can be con- structed, officials said. On the redevelopment of the central vista, the officials said most of the buildings in the area are more than 40 to 50 years old and have either “out- lived” or approaching their structural lives. The entire cen- tral vista area will be designed with smart city features to the extent possible, including upgrade of public facilities and parking as per a plan. Modi had stated that the Government was considering suggestions to modernise the 92-year-old Parliament build- ing or construct a new struc- ture to coincide with the 75 years of Independence in 2022 while inaugurating the newly- constructed duplex flats for parliamentarians at the North Avenue complex last month. During the extended Budget Session, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu had made suggestions for a modern Parliament building as the heritage building was show- ing signs of wear and tear. Insiders said that when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister, then Speaker Manohar Joshi initiated a move to have a new building con- structed on the ground that the existing one suffered from “Vaastu dosha”. In October 2002, Joshi hired the services of a Vaastu expert who found serious flaws. The very circu- larity of the building was at the centre of the building’s bad Vaastu, they said. In December 2015, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had written to then Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu asking him to initiate measures for construction of a new Parliament building. In her letter, she had cited that the existing building was in distress and will not be able to handle growing demands for space in the years to come. The Parliament building was designed by architect Sir Edwin Lutyens and Sir Herbert Baker and was inaugurated on January 18, 1927, by then Viceroy of India Lord Irwin. The construction had begun in 1921 and had cost the exche- quer 83 lakh. Before the Independence of India, the building was used for Imperial Legislative Council. The build- ing has been declared as a Heritage Grade I structure by the Government.

Upload: khangminh22

Post on 05-May-2023

0 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

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

���������������������� � ���� ���!�����"#��"�$%� !������� ������� ���������������"����������������� ����������#��#$���������������%������&�������� ������������ ����������������������#����� ����������������������!��������������

������������ ��������������!����&�&������"#��"�$%� $�������� ���������'�������(���)��(*��$��������������������������"���������������� ��#����#������������!������+,-������#.���������/����#�������0�������������������������������������������������������#��������������

�������

����� 12&�2%(�

Pakistan on Thursday said ithas no plans to give India

another consular access to for-mer Navy officer KulbhushanJadhav held captive there andsentenced to death on chargesof espionage. The PakistanForeign Affairs Ministryspokesperson said in Islamabad“there would be no second con-sular access to Jadhav.”

Pakistan had on September2 granted the first consularaccess to Jadhav in line with the“Vienna Convention and theInternational Court of Justice(ICJ) verdict” after much nego-tiation between India andPakistan over terms and con-ditions for consular access.

Reacting to Pakistan’s deci-sion, India on Thursday said itwill keep trying to ensure thatthe judgment of ICJ is fullyimplemented and it will remainin touch with the Pakistani sidethrough diplomatic channels.

Ministry of ExternalAffairs Spokesperson RaveeshKumar said India is trying toresolve the issue via diplomat-ic channels. Kumar said, “Wewill keep trying that judgmentof ICJ is fully implemented. Wewould like to remain in touchwith the Pakistani side throughdiplomatic channels.”

Charged’ Affaires at theIndian High Commission inIslamabad Gaurav Ahluwaliamet Jadhav on September 2after Pakistan granted con-sular access to the retiredIndian Navy officer following

a directive from the ICJ.After the meeting, the

MEA said Jadhav appeared tobe under “extreme pressure” toparrot a false narrative to bol-ster Pakistan’s untenable claimsin his case.

Sources said theGovernment has received a

detailed report from the Indianmission in Islamabad followingthe consular access. Jadhavwas sentenced to death by aPakistani military court oncharges of espionage and ter-rorism in April 2017. Weekslater, India approached the ICJagainst Pakistan for denial of

consular access to Jadhav andto challenge the death sentence.

In its verdict in the case onJuly 17, the ICJ orderedPakistan to undertake an “effec-tive” review of the convictionand sentence of Jadhav andasked it to grant consular accessto him without further delay.

Pakistan claims its securi-ty forces arrested Jadhav fromthe restive Balochistan provinceon March 3, 2016, after hereportedly entered from Iran.

However, India maintainsthat Jadhav was kidnappedfrom Iran where he had busi-ness interests after retiringfrom the Navy.

On the recent develop-ments in the UN HumanRights Commission (UNHRC)over Kashmir, Kumar saidPakistan’s attempt to polariseand politicise the Kashmirissue at the UN was rejected.

He also said Pakistan needsto understand that “repeatinga lie four or five times does notturn it into a gospel truth”.

The global community isaware about Pakistan’s role inaiding, abetting and supportingterrorist infrastructure whichthey have in their country, theSpokesperson said.

His remarks came two daysafter India and Pakistanengaged in a war of words overthe Kashmir issue on Tuesdayat the UNHRC in Geneva withNew Delhi stoutly defending its“sovereign decision” to revokeJ&K’s special status, an issue onwhich Islamabad demandedan international investigationby the global rights body.

“It is quite audacious on thepart of Pakistan that the coun-try which is harbouring ter-rorists, which is the epicentreof terrorism, is pretending tospeak on behalf of the globalcommunity on human rights,”Kumar said.

����� 12&�2%(�

Amid public outcry over theimposition of hefty fines

under the new Motor VehiclesAct (MVA) and more Stateslike Uttar Pradesh andKarnataka refusing to imple-ment the Act in totality, theUnion Road Transport andHighways Ministry has soughta legal opinion on whetherStates can reduce fines belowthe minimum penalty fixed inthe amended Act.

The BJP Governments inGujarat, Maharashtra andUttarakhand have alreadyannounced reduction in fines.

“We have sought an opin-ion from the Department ofLegal Affairs, Ministry of Lawand Justice, whether States areempowered to reduce thepenalties below the minimumfine fixed under the amendedAct,” said a Ministry official.

“Once we get clarity fromthe Ministry of Law whetherthe States have the power toreduce fines below the floorpenalty fixed, we will takeappropriate step based on theirreply,” the official added.

The official said under theamended Act where the penal-ty for traffic offences mention“fine of up to”, the States can

decide on penalties, but wherethere is a fixed fine as per theprovision, these could not belowered. The Act also pro-vides that offences under var-ious categories can be com-pounded and for these StateGovernments can notify quan-tum of penalty.

On Wednesday, RoadTransport and HighwaysMinister Nitin Gadkari haddefended the new MVA sayingit was not for revenue genera-tion but to save precious lives.

Opposition-ruled Stateslike Madhya Pradesh and WestBengal have refused to imple-ment the new law.

UP Transport MinisterAshok Kataria said the StateGovernment is “relaxing thefines for now”. Another BJPruled State of Karnataka decid-ed to go against the provisionsof MVA penalties.

“In the interest of the peo-ple of Uttar Pradesh, theGovernment is reconsideringwhat and how it should bedone,” Kataria said on theimplementation of the MVA

fines. “We will soon take a deci-sion and come out with therates of penalty,” he said.

Karnataka Chief MinisterBS Yediyurappa said,“Regarding the cut in thepenalties for violation of traf-fic rules under MVA, we willget the orders of the GujaratGovernment. I have instructedour officials that we will followthat order here also. Mostly inabout two-three days like inGujarat, here also we will try tocut the penalties that are high,”Yediyurappa said.

Uttarkhand Cabinet on theother hand cleared the proposalto reduce some of the penaltiesby half. But it decided not torelax fines for driving withoutwearing helmets, speeding ortripling on two wheelers.

Meanwhile, police andpeople clashed on the streets ofPatna when traffic cops fineda woman driver for not wear-ing seat belt. The police had toresort to lathi charge. In severalother parts of the country,similar clashes have beenreported.

����� 12&�2%(�

The Congress on Thursdayannounced that party pres-

ident Sonia Gandhi with for-mer Prime MinisterManmohan Singh will lead anationwide campaign againstthe economic slowdown.

Chairing a meeting of topparty leaders, Sonia said theBJP was misusing the people’smandate and proposed to goaggressively against the ModiGovernment.

The grand old party willalso begin a door-to-doormembership drive next monthand hold “padayatras” fromOctober 2 to October 9 to markthe 150th birth anniversary ofMahatma Gandhi.

The meeting was attendedby Manmohan Singh, AICCgeneral secretaries and in-charges of various States andCongress Legislative Party lead-ers, among others.

While Punjab Chief

Minister Amarinder Singh andRajasthan Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot and PuducherryCM V Narayanasamy werepresent at the meeting, MadhyaPradesh Chief Minister KamalNath and Chhattisgarh ChiefMinister Bhupesh Bhagel, andformer Congress presidentRahul Gandhi were absent.

It was decided at the meet-ing that delegate conventions ofPradesh Congress Committeewill be held across the countryfrom September 20 toSeptember 30 to highlight the“economic slowdown”. Thiswill be followed by massive agi-

tations across the country fromOctober 15 to October 25against the policies that haveled to the slowdown.

While Sonia expressedconcern over the “grim” eco-nomic situation and accusedthe Government of misusing itsmandate in the “most danger-ous” fashion, Manmohan Singhsaid the country is in the midstof dangerously protracted slow-down and the economy wasgoing from bad to worse.

Singh said the Governmentis not realising this and theworst could happen in theemployment sector.

�������� ����� 12&�2%(�

The South Delhi MunicipalCorporation (SDMC)

announced on Thursday thatall commercial vehicles withradio frequency identification(RFID) tags either will have tocompulsorily switch to cashlesspayment from Friday or willhave to pay double the taxamount as penalty. Vehicleswithout RFID tags will not beallowed to enter the city.

“Only non-RFID commer-cial vehicles were supposed topay the fine till now and thosehaving RFID tags had theoption of paying by cash if theyhad not got their walletsrecharged but now they willhave to pay double the taxamount as penalty and theirvehicles will be blacklisted. The

system will become complete-ly cashless and no cash will beaccepted at all the 13 toll plazas,”said a senior SDMC official.

He said the decision wastaken after it was found that alarge number of commercialvehicle owners had notrecharged RFID accounts. As aresult, the newly-introducedsystem hasn’t become com-pletely cashless, he added.

The SDMC had launchedRFID system at 13 busy borderpoints in the city on August 24with the aim to reduce pollutionby easing traffic congestionsand plugging revenue leakageby ensuring transparency.

Once a person buys anRFID tag and pastes it on hisregistered vehicle, MCD tax andenvironment compensationcharge (ECC) will be deductedat the 13 toll plazas automatically.

Vehicle owners canrecharge their RFID accountson ecctagsdmc.com, mobileapplication “MCD TOLL” andat the 28 point of sale kiosks atthe 13 entry/exit points.

����� 12&�2%(�

The India Railways hasdecided to use environ-

ment-friendly terracotta prod-ucts such as kulhads, glassesand plates for serving cateringitems to passengers at 400important railway stations, saidKhadi and Village IndustriesCommission (KVIC) chair-man VK Saxena.

Acting on the requests ofMinister of MSME NitinGadkari and KVIC, theMinistry of Railways has decid-ed to use these locally produceditems, which will also help inimproving lives of thousands ofpotters across the country.

After the success ofRailways’ decision to use pot-tery products at Varanasi andRae Bareilly Railway Stations,Gadkari wrote a letter onAugust 21 in this connection toMinister of Railways PiyushGoyal for issuing the necessarydirectives to the officials foradoption of locally-producedpottery products for servingtea, lassi and other food itemsin kulhads.

The cost of the kulhads willbe around �1 each.

The KVIC has already

launched “KumhaarSashaktikaran Yojana” (Potters’Empowerment Plan) that hasreceived good response.

The KVIC chairman metthe Railways Minister in thisconnection, besides writinghim a letter on August 29,requesting him to conduct aninternal survey to get the feed-back from Varanasi and RaeBareilly stations, whereRailways has already adopted terracotta products.The feedback showed reduc-tion in the use of plastic at thestations.

Approving the proposal ofKVIC, the Ministry of Railwayson Wednesday directed allPrincipal Chief CommercialManagers of different Zonal

Railways and IRCTC CMD“to further proliferate use oflocally produced environment-savvy terracotta products likekulhads, glasses and plates forserving catering items at 400railway Stations across IndianRailways”.

Appreciating KVIC’sefforts in empowerment ofmarginalised potter commu-nity through its enthusiasticKumhar Sashaktikaran Yojana,the letter said, “Since KVIC isimplementing various pro-grammes/schemes across thecountry to create employmenton the doorsteps to the poor-est of the poor to improve theireconomic conditions, the aboverequest has been examinedand considered by Board.”

����� 12&�2%(�

The Narendra ModiGovernment will build a

new Parliament complex, anew Central Secretariat for allMinistries, and redevelop the 3-km stretch from theRashtrapati Bhavan to IndiaGate. The Housing and UrbanAffairs (HUA) Ministry saidthat a request for proposal(RFP) was f loated onSeptember 2 to invite designand architecture firms to givetheir ideas.

Sources in the Ministrysaid the Government has notyet decided whether to go fora new Parliament building orredevelop the existing one.

The HUA Ministry hasuploaded a RFP for redevelop-ment of the Central Vista,which will include all offices.The pre-bid meeting was heldon Thursday, officials said.October 15 is the deadline to

select the design firm. “The HUA Ministry has

invited architecture firms toredevelop the Central Vista, a3-km stretch from theRashtrapati Bhavan to IndiaGate, and construct a newcommon Central Secretariat.By August 2022, the MonsoonSession will be held in a new ora retrofitted building. By nextyear, the Central Vista will beredeveloped and the CommonSecretariat will be built by2024,” officials said. “Therewill be no change in North andSouth Blocks building. Theheritage and cultural value ofthis area will remain intact,”officials added.

On the development ofthe Central Secretariat, theCentre will be able to save over�1,000 crore that is currentlybeing spent to house staff inprivate buildings per annum.The Central GovernmentMinistries are currently spread

over 47 buildings in Lutyens’Delhi, housing variousMinistries, departments where70,000 employees of theCentral Government work.

The selected architecture orinfrastructure firm by the HUAMinistry will be tasked to comeup with a plan and give sug-gestions on whether the exist-ing Parliament complex can beredeveloped or an additionalstructure will be required andif a new Central Secretariat forall Ministries can be con-structed, officials said.

On the redevelopment ofthe central vista, the officialssaid most of the buildings inthe area are more than 40 to 50years old and have either “out-lived” or approaching theirstructural lives. The entire cen-tral vista area will be designedwith smart city features to theextent possible, includingupgrade of public facilities andparking as per a plan.

Modi had stated that theGovernment was consideringsuggestions to modernise the92-year-old Parliament build-ing or construct a new struc-ture to coincide with the 75years of Independence in 2022while inaugurating the newly-constructed duplex flats forparliamentarians at the NorthAvenue complex last month.

During the extended BudgetSession, Lok Sabha SpeakerOm Birla and Rajya SabhaChairman M Venkaiah Naiduhad made suggestions for amodern Parliament building asthe heritage building was show-ing signs of wear and tear.

Insiders said that whenAtal Bihari Vajpayee was thePrime Minister, then Speaker

Manohar Joshi initiated a moveto have a new building con-structed on the ground that theexisting one suffered from“Vaastu dosha”. In October2002, Joshi hired the services ofa Vaastu expert who foundserious flaws. The very circu-larity of the building was at thecentre of the building’s badVaastu, they said.

In December 2015, LokSabha Speaker SumitraMahajan had written to thenUnion Urban DevelopmentMinister M Venkaiah Naiduasking him to initiate measuresfor construction of a newParliament building. In herletter, she had cited that theexisting building was in distressand will not be able to handlegrowing demands for space inthe years to come.

The Parliament buildingwas designed by architect SirEdwin Lutyens and Sir HerbertBaker and was inaugurated onJanuary 18, 1927, by thenViceroy of India Lord Irwin.The construction had begun in1921 and had cost the exche-quer �83 lakh. Before theIndependence of India, thebuilding was used for ImperialLegislative Council. The build-ing has been declared as aHeritage Grade I structure bythe Government.

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

��������������������� ���������!����"��� � ����������������������������������������������������

� ��� �������� ��������"������ ����� �� � ������!�"!����"�������#$�% �������������������

���������������� ������ ������������������������������� ����� ����&�������"���$��'(� ��)�������$��!#��*��������$+���!������������

# $�������% ������������ �����&������������"

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

�������� ���� ������ �������� ����� ��� ��������������������� ����� ����� � ��������������� �����!���"#� ��$������� ����%�&���� �%!

��������������������������#�������������3��#�������������������"�������������)�"�*�������������������������������������������������������������#�����������������

� ������������4����� ��5#���������������������������������������������/6�����"���������������������������"��������������������0����������#�������� �������������������������������������������������������������

������������� �!

7$������������� ���� ��� ���8������������(����+�!���,

������������� ���

�-.'/ �01

9:;�4�21�24%<�1=$:>'221:62;�!;%4'4�214�:1

�����#��� ���8������������8

%���"��� '�(�?@����" 5@AB!��4�����#�2C�����!������ ��

�� �����D����2%(�%'".1:& 9(:�!%9('9!124&!;

;!1"(�;!��'; "(!1��=!;(�2(;!�'1 (<�2;!9!�6��!<&!�!

��)���%�$"��*+,-������������� ��������������

������.��������������������*/��01*23���.���*,��0

������������� ��������������������

.��2�.2�3%::.92<:1�

$(29�!4

��.'&�04;:(�$$:�%!<!4

:�212;�14!$24$4

����������� ������ ����� ������������� ������������������������� ������� ����!������ �����������"������������#$%�%��&�����'�������(�������)*+�������(��+%$**)*�,���-��*%.)+/$*01/.�������������23��� �����������������-��))�����+44�4��������������������5����!�����6���+�������������7�������!�����6���� ��������47�27�5�78!��7��%�**!��6�������7����� �� ���9��-����6���:���6��� �;����� ������6 �(����;�������������6��3�����'����#�����6-��$� �����8�� �9�� �������<����(�-�9'����+%%***)������6*%%+/*%%*/==�������������#�����6&+0%�������$�-#4'��8��� ���-(�+)*%0*%�2��������6*%)*+/1.>1**;/1.>>**�������9#�����6/��&���������������(�������&�? �7���������9+))$*%$�,���������6*=))+)0/$//0+/=

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

!#� ������������� ����������+(/4��� ������������������)%���E���3� 4���������"����������%��������$����������������������������������������������������"���(���������4�������������#������#��������������2������������������������������������������������������������������������ !�����������������������������������������?.���������������#�����������������?, F,F.� 4�������������������������;�G +F%����� ���������������������������������������

�!������������4-(4*����� ���&�!�� ���$�5�%6�7$E�'�!�����������������������������������H=�!�!���!���!�=%!�!�!�!���9�!���������������������#��;�F@ F?����� ����������#�$����������������������������������������������#���������������4":��4"D�� ������������� ���������������������������������������������������� $���������������������4����� ��?�5-?A 4������������������=�!�!����������������������$��������������������������$"��� ���������������#4":������������������������������������������������4!41�#�����������;�5@ GA������ ������#�����#;�5- +?����� ����������#�������:'6=%):������'����I�������6�����=���������%����*����������� �����������

��������� ����� ���!����������������� ���$�5�%6�7$E$�����������������������������������������(��������������������������������������#���� ���������������������������������� �#�����#����4����� ��?+����?F����#�������� ��������������������6�����!��5-?A $�������=�����3<�������$�����������������������������#�����4(:���4�����������4���"�����������������������;��#�!�=�����=����� ����������������������������#���������� �����������������������������������������������6�����!��������!���5-?A������������������������4����� ��?

����������������� ��������������������$�5�%6�7$E"��#����������������������$�������������������3� %��#����������������������9����"��������������������������'���������������4��!�������4�� �������$���������3� 6����4� �4������;���.�4��#����3� ������������������4�����4��!���������#����� !�����������#��������'���#9������������������������������������� �����������#����� $����������������������������������������#����������������������������#�����4����=�������������������������#��������������������������������������

���� ���� �� ���!�!������.��������!��$%���E(������������=�������������������������#����������������������������������#�������������������������������������������������������������#������ 4����������������������#������������ �������������� �����������������������������#������ ���������� $��������������������������������������#���������������I������������������������������������������������ ��������� (�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������;�#�������$��������'������=����$��������'���������������������

����� !����8������������ �����������.������$�5�%6�7$E���������"����������"����#����(����$�C!���������"��������������������#�����$��������C����������������������������������������C�������������������� ������#� 9��������������������������������������������������������������1���� ��55�5--@�������+?�5--J����������������������������������������!������������� �������������������"�������������C����������������C�����������4������������������4� �);�#� *��������������4�����5+�9

���!��� ��9������.��������!��� ���������� ��� ���:��$�5�%6�7$E���3� '�����������������������4������#����$��������#���I�������������������K"������#;���������&������������&����0 �����(��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������#�����������1����(�������4��������1!4!����������������������'4!���������������� 4����������������� ��������������L���������������#����������������#�������������������

���� �������� ����!�� ������������.��0101�';�7E��$;������������������������ ������$����(�#��2��������&����'���������;�����#5-5- � �##��#���������������#FJ�������������������������������������� ������������������������������� ����������������$����������� �������5--G ��$;���������#������������������������������������� ����������������+-?�+F- ��������������#����������������������������������� �������#�����#�������������������������

���� �� ���!�������������� �� ������02�$�5�%6�7$E$����M�������#������#.�����������9������3� (������������4����� ��5A $������������#����������������#�������"����#��"�� �4�����? $� ���� �������������".����������E/!�������#�����������������3� (���������������� ������� ��#������������������� !�������������������� �#�����$�4��������������������������������������#�������9�9��������#��������������� ���������������������������������������������#�����������������������5?��)(����������*�?-���������)��������#���*���������)������������������#���* 0

� ������ ������������. .���� ������ ���$�5�%6�7$E$��������������K=��#��6�#D���D������������������������(������(���������������!��������H���#�����������������H����4����� ��?+����55���� �����������#�����,E+-������??�����KD�������!����������#����������� $����������������������������������#��#�������#��������������������������#������������������#������������������6�#=�����.� � �6�#D��D��#�������������"����)6�#*�6�#=������D������������� �����������4����4���"������#���������������#�����

%�#�������$����������������������"(!1��=!;(

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)is likely to field wrestler

Babita Phogat in the Assemblypolls after her resignation fromHaryana Police was accepted.

The international wrestlerBabita and her father MahavirPhogat, a noted wrestlingcoach, had joined the BJP onAugust 12.

The 29-year-old sub-inspector with Haryana Policehad submitted her resignationa month ago, which was accept-ed on September 10, SurinderPal Singh, Commandant, 5thBattalion, Haryana ArmedPolice, Madhuban, said.

"Babita Phogat''s resigna-tion was received a month agoand there is a process whichfollows before it is accepted.The resignation has beenaccepted now," he said.

Babita had been appointedin Haryana Police under thesports quota by the thenBhupinder Singh Hooda-ledCongress government in 2013.

Speculation are rife thatBabita will be given a ticket bythe BJP either from Badhra orDadri in Charkhi Dadri districtto contest the state Assemblypolls, which are slated to beheld in October.

"It is for the party to decideon giving her a ticket to con-test. But if she is given a chance

to contest, she will give her 100per cent like the way she hasmade her contribution in thesports field," a Phogat familymember said.

Babita and Mahavir Phogathad joined the Bharatiya JanataParty in the presence of Sports

and Youth Affairs MinisterKiren Rijiju, party''s generalsecretary in charge of HaryanaAnil Jain and its state chiefSubhash Barala in New Delhi.

The Phogat householdbecame popular nationwidefollowing the success ofBollywood film ''Dangal'', basedon the lives of Phogat sisters, allof them wrestlers, and theirfather who coached themagainst all odds.

Mahavir Phogat, who waschief of the Jannayak JanataParty''s sports cell, switchedsides from the JJP, which wasfloated last year by formerHisar MP Dushyant Chautala

following a vertical split in theIndian National Lok Dal(INLD).

He had earlier said hisfamily was "impressed" with thepolicies and programmes of theModi government.

He had also praised theCentre''s decision to revokeprovisions of Article 370,terming it as a "correct deci-sion".

"Scrapping Article 370 andseveral other decisions taken innational interest by the Centralgovernment have impressedme and millions of countrymenlike me," Mahavir Phogat, aDronacharya awardee," he told

'��"����� ��%������& ���� �����������()

&�*������ ��� "����������� ����������"(!1��=!;(

Punjab has been awardedsecond position in the

country in logistics ease by theUnion Ministry of Commerceand Industry. The announce-ment was made in the BoardMeeting held in the nationalcapital under the chairmanshipof the Union Minister PiyushGoyal on Thursday.

Thanking the UnionMinister for recognizing thevarious endeavours of StateGovernment in ensuring acongenial atmosphere for tradeand industry, the stateAdditional Chief Secretary(Commerce and Industries)Vini Mahajan said that Punjabwas committed to offer pro-active support and assistance toall wishing to come and investin state.

State has attracted morethan Rs 50,000 crores of invest-ment in the last two years,demonstrating the revival ofindustry in Punjab, she added.

Representing Punjab in theBoard meeting, Mahajan raisedvarious issues of concern andrequested the Union Ministerfor an early resolution of thesame.

On the issue of Centredesignating certain exporters asrisky, she said that State was notintimated about the criterionbeing followed to identify suchexporters as ‘risky’.

“There was no officialcommunication till date to theexporters notifying them of anyviolation of the default forwhich they have been declaredrisky. This is a direct attack onthe integrity and credibility ofpeople who have been in the

business for decades,” she saidrequesting the Minister for hisintervention in the matter atthe earliest.

Raising the issue of SAFTACustoms Duty Regime,Mahajan demanded level play-ing field and reciprocity on cus-toms duty being imposed onbicycle and bicycle partsimports from India andBangladesh.

Emphasising the issue ofRebate of State and CentralTaxes and Levies (ROSCTL),she said that the online systemfor claiming benefit under saidscheme is still not provided andclaims for substantial amountare held up. She requested theMinistry for an urgent redres-sal of the same on priority.

On the pending state GSTrefunds, Mahajan urged formaking the process more effec-tive so that the exportersshould not wait longer fortheir GST refunds.

She also suggested for anincrease in budget for theMarket Access InitiativesScheme besides requesting forincreasing the number of par-ticipation attempts for export-ing entities in exhibitions tofour from existing two at pre-sent.

Citing the “TradeInfrastructure for ExportScheme” (TIES) initiated forthe infrastructure developmentof industrial areas, Mahajanurged the Ministry to sanctionmore funds to the state. Centreshare should be raised to 75percent from the present 50percent pointing out that eventhe State requires few clustersfor pollution control mecha-nism, she added.

����� 4(��%!

Himachal Chief Minister JaiRam Thakur on Thursday

launched online registrationof land records -- NationalGeneric Document

Registration System (NGDRS)under the Digital India LandRecords ModernizationProgramme on pilot basis inShimla (Urban) and KumarsainTehsil of Shimla district.

Speaking on the occasion,

the Chief Minister said thiswould facilitate speedy regis-tration in the State besidesfacilitating online valuationand payment. He said thatafter successful implementationof this pilot project it would berolled out throughout the State.

Thakur said citizens wouldbe facilitated to make requestfor online registration, stampduty calculation and emailenabled alerts to the citizensand users.

He said this would ensurecheck on any tempering withrevenue records, adding thatthe system would also help ineffective maintenance of rev-enue records for the benefit ofthe land owners.

The Chief Minister said the

system would also go a longway in effective dealing withland related issues and lessenthe unnecessary litigation inrevenue related matters. Hesaid that the NGDRS wouldalso help in avoiding duplicateusages of stamp paper, addingthat the copy of registered doc-ument would be stored usingscanning technology and thedownloaded document couldbe viewed by generating certi-fied copy by authorized users.

Thakur said the land own-ers and buyers could make pay-ment of stamp duty and regis-tration fee through onlinemode. He said that HimachalPradesh has become 7th Stateof Country to have imple-mented this project.

"������&������$� ��������� �����&�����'� ���� ���������

������"(!1��=!;(

Blaming the CentralGovernment for delay in

MGNREGA wages, PunjabRural Development andPanchayats Minister TriptRajinder Singh Bajwa onThursday said that the pen-dency would be cleared imme-diately as the Centre has justsanctioned Rs 116 crore.

“MGNREGA wages pen-dency will be cleared withimmediate effect. The delay forthe clearance of pendency ofMGNREGA wages was at thelevel of Government of Indiaand they have given sanctionfor 116 crore for MGNREGAwages just today,” said Bajwa.

The Minister made it clearthat the total liability of labourcomponent in MGNREGAscheme lies with the Central

Government. “The delay was atthe GOI level as they have totransfer the wages directly tothe beneficiaries,” he said.

“Punjab Government hasbeen taking up the issue on adaily basis with the GOI. TheGovernment is regularly updat-ing the information about thewages of the MGNREGA onthe national Electronic fundmanagement system withoutany delay,” he said.

The Minister said that thewage payment for Punjab waspending since July 10, 2019,and we had already exceededour labour budget outlays forthe first six months. “Thepending liability was Rs 114crore till yesterday. We had sentour next demand to theGovernment of India fourweeks ago and it had beenpending at their level,” he said

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

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

9� ������� �#����������� ���9�����������9�������������"����

�������������

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

.!�!��������� :��441���������������� ��

������"(!1��=!;(

Even as the preparations arein full swing for Guru

Nanak Dev’s 550th birthdaycelebrations, the credit warand blame-game between theCongress and Shiromani AkaliDal (SAD) is far from ending.

Continuing the same,Punjab Cabinet Minister andCongress’ national spokesper-son Vijay Inder Singla onThursday castigated the UnionMinister Harsimrat Kaur Badalfor indulging in giving politi-cally motivated statements withregard to the event while ask-ing her to apologize to theentire Punjabi community forfailing to bring even a single

project or any funds in con-nection with the historic event.

Hitting back, SAD’s nation-al spokesperson ManjinderSingh Sirsa ask the CabinetMinister to just answer whowas building Kartarpur Sahibcorridor and who was spend-ing on the passenger terminal.“Singla should tour border ofIndia-Pakistan at Gurdaspurbefore issuing such statements,”he added.

Singla, in his statement,asked the Union Minister toimpress upon the ModiGovernment to open theirpurse strings for the parkashpurb celebrations instead ofmaking irresponsible state-ments.

He said that PunjabGovernment had sent propos-als worth Rs 2475.03 crore tothe Centre in connection withthe parkash purb celebrationsbut Harsimrat Badal didn't doanything to get even a singlepenny approved.

Singla pointed that theyearlong celebrations werestarted during November lastyear which saw the formerPrime Minister Dr ManmohanSingh in attendance. “The StateGovernment has started devel-opment oriented projectsworth Rs 3462 crore includingall round development of threehistorical cities connected withGuru Sahib — SultanpurLodhi, Dera Baba Nanak andBatala, transformation of 71 vil-lages graced by Guru Nanak’svisit, establishing Pind BabeNanak Da, Babe Nanaki GirlsCollege, new Inter Faith insti-tute at Guru Nanak DevUniversity Amritsar and plan-

tation of 550 trees in each vil-lage of the State, besides manyother projects. He remindedthe Badals that during cele-brations of 300th GurgaddiDivas at Sri Hazoor Sahib in2008, the then Prime MinisterDr Manmohan Singh hadgiven more than Rs 1000 crorefor the transformation ofNanded Sahib city alone.

In response, Sirsa said that

it was shocking to see thatwhole world knows about theprojects initiated for this life-time opportunity of 550th gur-purab of Guru Nanak Dev bythe Union Government but “aCabinet Minister is ignorant on

what is going on his state andwhat his government is doing”.

He said that KartarpurSahib Corridor is biggest everproject for not only Sikhs butall peace loving humans in theworld since independence of

the Country and which theCongress failed to during itsregime of more than 50 years.

Apart from corridor, Rs500 crore is being spent onState of Art Passenger Terminalbuilt by the Centre, he said

while questioning Singla if hewas aware that Punjab CabinetMinisters are regular visitorsfor the project and other worksassociated with it and are hav-ing regular meetings with theofficials of Centre Government

������"(!1��=!;(

Aseven-member InterMinisterial Central Team,

led by the Joint Secretary (CIS),Union Ministry of HomeAffairs, Anuj Sharma met thetop brass of PunjabGovernment on Thursday atISB, Mohali to assess the dam-age occurred in wake of floodsin several districts of the State.

The state’s Special ChiefSecretary (Revenue) KaranbirSingh Sidhu briefed the teamabout the devastation causedby the flood fury besides thepost deluge relief measuresundertaken by the StateGovernment.

Sidhu, during his presen-tation, pegged the cumulativelosses at �1219.23 crore point-ing that the entire belt ofSutlej, Beas, and Ravi alongwith districts of ShaheedBhagat Singh Nagar,Roopnagar, Jalandhar,Kapurthala, Ferozepur,Ludhiana, Moga, Pathankot,Gurdaspur, Amritsar andTarntaran witnessed large scaledestruction.

The Special PrincipalSecretary to the Chief MinisterGurkirat Kirpal Singh briefedabout the relief and rescueoperations carried out as wellas the rehabilitation effortsafoot to extend succour to theaggrieved.

Focussing on the farmingcommunity in particular, heemphatically put forward thecase of Punjab for the financialaid. He also reiterated that theState Government would spareno effort to provide assistanceto the people.

As per the memorandumsubmitted to the InterMinisterial Central Team, theestimate of the losses include�66.07 crore as submitted bythe Deputy Commissioners,�5.37 crores as reported by thePower Department, �172.83crores by the PWD (B&R),�38.72 crores by the RuralDevelopment Department,�577.7 crores by theDevelopment Department, �72.64 crore by the Health andFamily Welfare Department,�57.07 crore by the LocalGovernment Department,

�23.45 crore by the AnimalHusbandr y Department,�202.54 crore by the WaterResources Department and�2.84 crores as reported by theWater Supply and SanitationDepartment.

Lauding the efforts under-taken by the PunjabGovernment to tackle theaftermath of the floods andprovide relief to the affectedpeople and the areas, the JointSecretary (CIS) Anuj Sharmaassured all assistance as per thenorms.

The central team later vis-ited Ropar and Nawanshahr toassess the damage caused bythe floods between August 17and 19, and will visit Jalandharand Kapurthala on Friday.

The floods left eight deadand more than 13,000 peopledisplaced, affecting crops over1.72 lakh (1,72,223) acres.

As per reports, standingpaddy crop in 794 villagesworth �506.06 crore; maize �31.82 crore; sugarcane �21.40crore and horticulture cropsworth �16.44 crore were dam-aged in floods.

The Government’s memo-randum to the Central teamhas mentioned that all tribu-taries of the Sutlej were in spateat 57 sites, with upstream trib-utaries (Sirsa and Swan) anddownstream tributaries(Budhki, Sagrao and Siswan) ofthe Ropar headworks bringingmajor discharge of water in theriver on August 18.

As a result, dhussi bandhson the Sutlej, designed towithstand two lakh cusecs ofwater, could not carry threelakh cusecs of water that weredischarged. In addition, afterthe water level in Bhakrabreached the danger mark of1,680 feet on August 19,77,300 cusecs was released inSutlej by the BBMB. All thiscaused huge devastation in thestate in form of widespreadfloods. The government alsopointed that over the period oftime, the riverbeds have gotsilted, reducing their watercarrying capacity, which alsoadded to the trouble. As aresult, the entire belt of theSutlej, Beas and Ravi wasaffected by floods.

�%%���&���������'�(����%���&�����

"�������������������3� ������������#�

������"(!1��=!;(

Ahead of the announcementof Assembly elections in

the State, Haryana ChiefMinister Manohar Lal Khattaron Thursday inaugurated andlaid foundation stone of 56 pro-jects to the tune of �1363 croreof Panchkula, Jind and Karnaldistricts.

Khattar inaugurated pro-jects of Panchkula and Jind dis-tricts through video confer-encing and unveiled the pro-jects of Karnal district on thespot from Mangal SenAuditorium, Karnal. Theseprojects included four projectsof district Panchkula at the costof about � 705 crore, 47 projectsin Karnal district at the cost of� 585 crore and four projectsin Jind district at the cost of�73 crore.

The Chief Minister alsoperformed bhoomi pujan forthe expansion work of KarnalSugar mill at a cost of � 263crore.

The projects worth � 705crore in Panchkula includedthe laying of foundation stone

of 7,500 houses to be con-structed in Sector 20 and 28,Panchkula for the rehabilita-tion of slum dwellers of Rajiv-Indira Colony and KhadakMangoli at a cost of � 650crore, for the construction ofconnecting road for sector 20,21 and sector-24,26 and con-struction of bridge on Ghaggarriver at the cost of �50.37crore, construction of buildingCommunity Hall in sector -32,at the cost �. 4.42 crore andinauguration of contemporaryartworks by renowned crafts-men at Mata Mansa Devipremises with the support ofArts and Cultural AffairsDepartment, at the cost of�25 lakh.

Speaking in Karnal,Khattar said that in the last fiveyears, the State Governmenthas taken various steps to bringin positive changes in the sys-tem to make it more transpar-ent and people friendly.Besides, the Government hasintroduced many welfareschemes to ensure every personin the State gets the benefit ofall schemes.

He said that in the last fiveyears, the government hasintroduced many such schemesfor farmers, labourers, traders,shopkeepers, women and peo-ples belonging to ScheduledCastes families to raise theirstandard of living.

Khattar said the salary of

the Safai Karamcharis has alsobeen increased. Now, SafaiKaramcharis in urban areas willget � 15000 instead of � 13500and those in rural areas will get� 12500 instead of �11000.Similarly, the government hasdecided to provide EPF facili-ty to Chowkidars.

�����������(��������������)�����������������

�!������ ��

� $������3�������������������3��������������������������������� ���� ,-F������@,���3������.������������������������ FGF���������������3�������������������������������,+�����

��$�"������������������������ ������3��������C�������������.�����4�#�����������������5J+�����

��$�4����=������������������������������ ���#�������������#����������������������������������������������������

������������� ��������������������

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

��������!����!���������$����#��������������5�������� "(!1��=!;(

The area aroundChandigarh’s prime tourist

spot—Sukhna Lake—is likelyto be made vehicle free zonesoon.

A proposal in this regard

will be put up in the UTAdministrator’s AdvisoryCouncil meeting scheduled tobe held on Friday. The newly

re-constituted AdvisoryCouncil will be chaired byPunjab Governor and UTAdministrator VP Singh

Badnore at Hotel Mountview.Apart from the pedestri-

anisation on Sukhna Lake road,issues related to law and orderand parking policy have beenlisted as agenda items for themeeting.

A senior officer of the UTAdministration said that theproposal to make the areaaround Sukhna Lake vehiclefree will be taken up in themeeting. A presentationregarding the same will begiven following which, viewswill be sought from the mem-bers of the Council.

As per the proposal moot-ed by the UT Traffic Police, novehicle will be allowed in thespecific stretch earmarked toensure safety of the pedestriansaround Sukhna Lake. Whiletraffic lights have been put upnear Sukhna Lake but it is stillunsafe for the visitors to crossthe road from parking area to

Sukhna Lake. The senior officer said that

presentation of law and ordersituation and parking policywill also be given during themeeting.

Some of the recommenda-tions in the draft parking pol-icy are dedicated high fre-quency bus service on threemajor roads of the city, provi-sion of two gates in smallhouses, two cars to be parkedinside a house, compulsorybuses for companies with morethan 50 employees, convertingunused parks into parkingamong others.

Though the issue related tourban rail transit system hasnot been included in the agen-da, it is also likely to come upfor discussion during the meet-ing. The Council members arealso likely to raise the issue ofexorbitant challan fee followingthe implementation of Motor

Vehicle Act, 2019 fromSeptember 1.The AdvisoryCouncil was re-constituted onAugust 5. The 58-membercouncil is constituted to advisethe higher authorities on devel-opmental issues and policymatters affecting the unionterritory of Chandigarh.

The term of this council isfor a period of two years. Thelast meeting of previousAdministrator’s AdvisoryCouncil was held in Februarythis year.

After a Congress delega-tion met UT AdministratorVP Singh Badnore onWednesday seeking more rep-resentation from the party inthe Advisory Council, onemore member from theCongress was included in ittaking the total number ofmember to 58.

Congress leaders namelyformer MP Pawan Kumar

Bansal, Chandigarh Congresschief Pradeep Chhabra,Congress councilor and leaderof opposition in MC House,Devinder Singh Babla are inthe Advisory Council. Eightrepresentatives from the BJPhave been included in theCouncil.

This time, the representa-tives of other political partiesincluding Aam Aadmi Party,Bahujan Samaj Party, CPIwere not included in theCouncil.

Other members in theCouncil included MP KirronKher, ex-MPsSatya Pal Jainand Harmohan Dhawan,Chandigarh Mayor, ex-MayorDavesh Moudgil, DirectorPGIMER, Vice ChancellorPanjab University, Olympicgold medalist Abhinav Bindra,ex-Chief Secretary Haryana,DS Dhesi, Punjab ex-CSSarvesh Kaushal.

����� "(!1��=!;(

Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on

Thursday sought PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’sintervention to pressurisePakistan into withdrawing itsproposal to impose a servicecharge on passage through theKartarpur Corridor.

Capt Amarinder, in a letterto the Prime Minister, sug-gested that the Ministry ofExternal Affairs take up thematter in the bilateral meetingson the subject for an early res-olution.

Pakistan’s insistence on ser-vice charges would impose asignificant financial burden onthe lakhs of pilgrims seekingdarshan of the Gurudwara,many of whom may not be sowell-off, said the ChiefMinister.

The Chief Minister notedthat on earlier occasions too, he

had requested the Governmentof India to intercede with theGovernment of Pakistan not tolevy any visa or other chargeson the pilgrims visiting SriKartapur This would be infulfilment of the long-cherisheddesire to have "khulIe darshandeedar" of the holy shrine of SriKartarpur in Pakistan, hestressed. Capt Amarinderunderlined the historic impor-tance of the KartarpurCorridor, slates to be opened aspart 550th birth anniversary ofGuru Nanak Dev, being cele-brated with great devotion andfervour in November this year.

(��������#����'����G���������������������#�������� "(!1��=!;(

Haryana Health MinisterAnil Vij on Thursday said

the State Government hassigned a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) witheight major hospitals to providecashless surgery and healthcare to children up to the ageof 18 years, living in the State.

Vij said under the NationalChild Health Programme, theNational Health MissionHaryana has expanded thescope of providing better healthfacilities to children.

He said that under thisProgramme, a cashless treat-ment facility will given to all thechildren suffering from heartproblems, congenital cleftlip/palate, clubfoot, hip dys-plasia, congenital deafness,congenital cataract, neural tubedefects and retinopathy. Hesaid that the surgeries would

also be covered under the cash-less treatment.

Asian Institute of MedicalSciences Faridabad, QRGCentral Hospital and ResearchCenter Faridabad, SukhdaMultispeciality Hospital Hisar,Maharishi MarkandeshwarInstitute of Medical Sciencesand Research Mulana Ambala,Kainos Super SpecialityHospital, Rohtak, SaraswatiMission Hospital Kurukshetra,Ahooja Eye and DentalInstitute Gurugram andLHDM Prem Hospital Panipat,have been included under theChild Health Programme.

1�������"���(�������#��������1�������

(�����������(���������C�����������������������# ���������

�������������������

4!��������3� =���������������� �����������������������������#���������#������� 9!$!%!

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Thursdayasked the Congress-led Punjab

Government to own the responsibility ofBatala’s firecracker factory blast, thatclaimed 24 lives, while demanding Rs 25lakh compensation and jobs to the next ofthe kin.

“The horrific tragedy at Batala firecracker factory leaving 24 dead has still notbeen able to shake the state governmentfrom its slumber of apathy,” said SADleader Bikram Singh Majithia, who was ona personal visit to the site and met the kin

of the deceased in the ghastly tragedy.The state government is responsible for

letting an illegal “fire cracker” factory runin a congested locality putting thousandsof human lives at a risk.

Demanding suspension of the officersinvolved in letting this illegal fire crackerfactory to run even though repeated writ-ten complaints had been lodged to the localadministration, Majithia said that com-pensation of Rs 25 lakhs should be givenand jobs to the next of the kin killed in thishorrible tragedy.

He also demanded that an FIR undersection 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)

should be registered immediately and thegovernment should not protect the guilty.

“The tragedy of this magnitude hashappened only because the StateGovernment has abandoned its moral andethical responsibilities towards its citizenrywhich had elected it,” said Majithiareminding of the colossal tragedy of theJoda Pathak on Dussherra day in Amritsar.

"���������� ���������*��&�����������+��&�(�������� "(!1��=!;(

Kaithal MLA and Congressleader Randeep Singh

Surjewala here on Thursdayalleged that the BJP govern-ment in Haryana had "miser-ably failed" in tackling theunemployment situation.

Accusing the governmentof pursuing "wrong policies",Surjewala in a statement said,"The problem has assumed suchdangerous dimensions that therate of unemployment inHaryana has reached 28.7 percent, the highest in the coun-try." He said a report releasedby the Centre for Monitoring ofIndian Economy (CMIE), anindependent think tank, inAugust 2019 reflected the dis-mal picture of employmentthroughout the country withthe rate of unemploymentpegged at 8.37 per cent.

"But the same report indi-cates that the problem ofunemployment in Haryana isthreefold," he said, adding thatthe state government was stillunder the hangover of the suc-cess in the Lok Sabha elections.

"It has conveniently turned

a blind eye to this ever aggra-vating problem of unemploy-ment," he claimed.

Surjewala said in Punjab,Delhi, Uttarakhand and UttarPradesh, the rate of unem-ployment had been at 8.7 percent, 13.6 per cent, 6.6 per centand 12.3 per cent, respective-ly."From these figures, it can beeasily gauged as to what seriousdimensions the problem ofunemployment is assuming inHaryana," he said.

Surjewala claimed that theunemployment situation waslikely to go worse in the com-ing months due to the prevail-ing economic slowdown.

But the state government,instead of taking any concretesteps to deal with this problem,had been adamant on notrecognising it, the CongressMLA said.

�����&� ����*�������� ��������� �����������,����&���� ������� ����������� ��

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

��� ��.�!�� � ��������������� �. �"#��"�$%E%�"��=�����4���������������������������������������������'1���������������������;��� �������"��#����������������#������������!������������� (���#���������#�����������#������$��#�����������%���.�������=�����4����� ��G

����!������������ �. ���<��� �����

�"#��"�$%E$����#���#��'�����������������=����N������������������������!� ���2���������������#�����������������#����=���������N����#����'4�F����������������"��)�*#���������������4������<�������$��������������������������#���������������������������������������������

�!��������� .�� � ���������/=1��"#��"�$%E$�������� ���������'�������(���)��(*��$��������������������������"�����N���������� ��#����#������������!������+,-������#.���������O����#�������O�����������������������������������6�������������������#�������������� �������������������������������#������������#���������(����������������������

������� ���������>����������������"#��"�$%���������3�������=�� ��!�������� ���;���������)!�;*;��������������������);P�*(� ��������� ����C������#��#�� ������������������#���������������#����������������� ���������#�� ��!�;;P���?J������������2�������"���������������������������������������������������������#����������)��� �������*�����������������������������9���������#������������4������P$������#��������

���� ��������� �!�����������:��������"#��"�$%E$�4������"������$�������������������� ����������������������������#�����������������;������� �����9� �����3������������������������ �����������#����������#�������������#����������

������������ ��� ����!&!���������.�"#��"�$%E$�4������"���������������������=��������"����������"����������������)""�*�������������� �����������#��������K���������������#N �����"� ��#�����' �������4���������%���������C�����

����������0&������ � ������������������"#��"�$%E����������$����������������������4":����������������������������#������ ��������� $������������� ���#�������� �5,����������������@-����������#���� !��������������������#���������������������������� ����������������;�3���4��#����������������������������������

����� ����� ���������001������������������"#��"�$%E!�������55-���������������������������������=�33������9������������������&�������������������������������=���������������#���?5F--������������.������������������� !�������������������������������������#���������������������������������������������������

� �.����� ������.�������������. �"#��"�$%E$�"��#������&��������������������2�������"����������������#��������%��.�����#�����������(�����������������#����������������������������� ������������������������������������������������������������#���2�������"���������N����������������������� $�����#��������������������(������������������9�������4��#(�������������������.�����4��3����������������! ��������4��#��

!�*������������������"$����6������/���������� 12&�2%(�

Arepeat of a prolongedDoklam-like situation was

averted on Thursday after thearmies of China and Indiawithdrew to their own per-ceived lines following a face-offlasting a few hours in easternLadakh on Wednesday.

The incident took place atthe Pangong lake when theIndian patrol was preventedfrom moving by the Chineseleading to jostling. A flag meet-ing sought by the Chinese latersaw Brigadier rank officersfrom the two sides holding ameeting at Chushul and decid-ing to pull back. The face-offtook place a month beforePresident Xi Jinping's visit toIndia.

Giving details of the inci-dent, military officials saidhere on Thursday, a patrol of 12to 14 Indian soldiers was inter-cepted by a patrol of theChinese of equal number onthe banks of the lake in theearly morning hours onWednesday.

As that region is disputed

with both the countries stakingclaim to territory there, theIndian side insisted on carry-ing on with patrolling and theChinese did not allow. Anargument ensued turning intoa scuffle between the soldiersof the two armies. Soon, rein-forcements from the sidesrushed to the spot leading tothe stand-off.

After sometime, the Chinesesought a flag meeting andBrigadier-level officers from twosides met at the Chushul BorderPersonnel Meeting(BPM) point,they said. The two sides decid-ed to disengage and withdraw totheir respective perceived line ofactual control(LAC)and the face-off ended early evening the sameday.

The flag meeting was heldunder the mutually agreed pro-tocol to resolve such situationsat the earliest following theWuhan agreement betweenPrime Minister Narendra Modiand President Xi Jinping in2018. The incident occurreddue to differing perceptions ofthe Line of Actual Control(LAC), officials said.

The Wuhan meeting camein the backdrop of the Doklamstand-off in Sikkim regionbetween the Indian andChinese armies in 2017 lasting73 days.

The face-off ensued afterthe Indian army objected to theconstruction of a road by theChinese in the disputed regionthereby threatening the strate-gic interests of India in thenorth-east.

Incidentally, the Pangonglake had seen a similar face-offin August 2017 when soldiersfrom China pelted stones onthe Indian personnel after ascuffle.

The lake is nearly 140kmlong and China controls two-thirds of it. The lake is sur-rounded mountain spurs withboth the sides patrolling thearea as it is disputed.

The two sides hold BorderPersonnel Meeting at fivepoints - Daulat Beg Oldie innorthern Ladakh, Kibithu inArunachal Pradesh, Chusul inLadakh, Bum-La near Tawangin Arunachal Pradesh andNathu-La in Sikkim.

����� 12&�2%(�

The CBI on Thursday arrest-ed a Section Officer of the

Union Home Ministry, DheerajKumar Singh, for allegedlyoffering a bribe of Rs 16 lakhto a DIG of the agency in con-nection with a probe into aPreliminary Enquiry.

Besides Singh, the CBIalso arrested a private personDinesh Chand Gupta for thealleged bribery bid involving atotal amount of Rs 2 crore. TheDIG is posted in the AntiCorruption Bureau of the CBIhere.

"The CBI has today arrest-ed a Section Officer posted inthe Ministry of Home Affairsand a private person for deliv-ering an alleged bribe of Rs.16lakh to a CBI officer. CBI hadregistered a case on a complaintreceived from the CBI officeralleging therein that a SectionOfficer of the MHA and a pri-

vate person offered him a bribeof Rs two crore in lieu of hishelp in settling a PreliminaryEnquiry, being dealt in CBI, "a CBI spokesperson said.

Following the officer'scomplaint, the CBI laid a trapand caught the Section Officerof MHA and a co-accused(private person) while deliver-ing illegal gratification of Rs 16lakh to the agency officer.

After the duo was arrested,the CBI conducted searches atthe premises of the accusedpersons.

"CBI also advises the pub-lic not to attempt to settle anyinvestigation matters with theCBI by using influence and alsonot to be allured by services ofmiddlemen who may offer tosettle cases with the agency,"the agency added.

Singh was posted in thepolice division of the ministrydealing with empanelment ofIPS officers, sources said.

�+�����������%�,����� � ������� ����"��"���� ����� ����� 12&�2%(�

Arrested Congress leader DKShivakumar's daughter

Aisshwarya on Thursday appearedbefore the EnforcementDirectorate, which is probing howher net worth grew from aroundRs one crore in 2013 to over Rs100 crore in 2018.

The ED , which is probingShivakumar in a money-launder-ing case against him, is also look-ing into financial transactionsrecorded between the father andthe daughter to ascertain itinvolved the allegedly launderedmoney.

The 22-year-old managementgraduate was questioned by theED sleuths and her statementwas recorded under thePrevention of Money LaunderingAct (PMLA), officials said.

She was confronted with doc-uments and statements made byShivakumar with regard to a tripto Singapore he made with his daughter in 2017, sourcessaid.

Aisshwarya is a trustee in aneducation trust floated by herfather.

The trust, holding assets andbusinesses worth crores of rupees,operates a number of engineeringand other colleges and Aishwaryais the key player behind the oper-ation of these institutions, theysaid.

Shivakumar, formerKarnataka Cabinet minister, wasarrested by the ED on September3 and is in the agency's custody forcustodial interrogation in thePMLA case.

The ED had in September lastyear registered a money-launder-ing case against Shivakumar,Haumanthaiah, an employee atthe Karnataka Bhavan in NewDelhi, and others.

The PMLA case was filedafter the agency took cognizanceof an Income Tax Departmentcharge sheet filed againstShivakumar and others before acourt in Bengaluru for alleged taxevasion and hawala dealings.

�,���&�����������-�����.�� ���������&���� �����

����� 12&�2%(�

The CBI has arrested three more personsin a case relating to irregular receipt of

over Rs 90 crore by aviation consultantDeepak Talwar's NGO Advantage India inalleged violation of foreign exchangerules.

The trio was arrested late on Wednesdayafter Yasmin Kapoor, a close aide of Talwar,was taken into custody by the agency. Thethree arrested persons include Tarun Kapur,Pradeep Sood and Jatin Wadhera.

The CBI suspects that Yasmin Kapoorplayed an active role in diverting fundsreceived by the NGO Advantage India, offi-cials said.

She was allegedly responsible for day-to-day functioning of the companies linked toTalwar, they said.

Talwar is undergoing judicial custodyfollowing his arrest by the agency in July thisyear.

He was deported from the UAE inJanuary and the Enforcement Directorate(ED) took him into custody soon after hisarrival here.

The case relates to alleged misuse of for-eign contribution, which was received under

the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)scheme for carrying out social welfare activ-ities like education for the underprivilegedchildren.

"The funds were allegedly receivedmainly from a foreign-based company to thetune of Rs 90.72 crore in the bank accountsof a Delhi-based private firm/NGO registeredunder the Foreign Contribution (Regulation)Act, 2010 for carrying out social welfare activ-ities in the field of education," a CBIspokesperson had said after registration ofFIR in November 2017.

He had said the agency booked six enti-ties -- Delhi-based Advantage India, AccordisHealth Care Pvt Ltd, Talwar, Sunil Khandewalof Accordis Health, MD of Accordis HealthRaman Kapoor, another consultant T Kapoor -- and other unidentifiedpersons.

According to the CBI FIR, Talwar and theNGO, in the name of purchasing ambulancesand other articles, diverted the funds receivedfrom Europe's leading missile manufacturing company MBDA and theAirbus group. Such diversion of funds wasin alleged violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act(FCRA).

���)�$���+"� ���,�&��#�&�-��� &$!�.!�'

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Thursday allowedeight of the 44 girls ofMuzaffarpur shelter home,where allegations of rampantsexual assault surfaced last year,to reunite with their families.

The top court directed theBihar government to provideall necessary financial andmedical assistance to theseeight girls identified by'Koshish' a field action projectof TISS — as fit for being sentto their families.

Several girls were sexuallyassaulted at the NGO-run shel-ter home in Bihar.

The issue had come tolight following a report byTISS, which had conducted asocial audit.

A bench of Justices N VRamana, M M Shantanagoudarand Ajay Rastogi asked the TataInstitute of Social Sciences(TISS) to submit a status report

with respect to the other 36girls.

It also directed the stategovernment to assess the com-pensation liable to be paid tothe girls under the victim com-pensation scheme and submita report to the court in eightweeks.

The apex court's decisioncame after TISS filed its fieldaction project 'Koshish' beforeit in a sealed cover, saying theeight girls were fit to be hand-ed over to their families.

Advocate Vrinda Grover,appearing for TISS, said these44 girls have been staying infour different shelter homesafter the incidents of sexualassault in Muzaffarpur shelterhome came to the fore.

In case of some girls, theirextended families are willing totake them back while some ofthe girls are children with spe-cial needs, she said. PTI

$�������������G#��������I�����������������������������������������

New Delhi: In an apparent bidto douse the row over shiftingof the Madras High CourtChief Justice V K Tahilramanito the Meghalaya High Court,the Supreme Court onThursday said each of the rec-ommendations for transfer ofChief Justices and Judges ofvarious High Courts was basedon "cogent reasons".

Without naming JusticeTahilramani, a statement issuedby the office of apex court'sSecretary General Sanjeev SKalgaonkar said the reasons oftransfer of judges were not dis-closed in the interest of theinstitution but the apex courtcollegium would not hesitate todisclose them in the circum-stance it becomes necessary.

The statement wasreleased against the backdropof media reports and specula-tion on the transfer of JusticeTahilramani.

The judge resigned onSeptember 6, days after theSupreme Court Collegiumdeclined her request for recon-sideration of her transfer. Shesent her resignation letter toPresident Ram Nath Kovind, acopy of which was sent toChief Justice of India RanjanGogoi. The resignation is yet tobe accepted or rejected.

Her transfer also led tomassive protests by lawyersboth at the Madras High Courtand Bombay High Court,where she was a judge beforebeing appointed as the ChiefJustice.

About 2,000 advocates inLatur district of Maharashtrahave decided to boycott courtproceedings on Friday toprotest against the transfer,according to advocate BalajiPanchal, a former vice presi-dent of the Latur BarAssociation. PTI

��+�'��������� ������������������/�����/&�������" ���&����-�������������������

����� 12&�2%(�

The BJP will observe'Seva Saptah' from

September 14 to markthe birthday of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

It would include wel-fare activities and aware-ness campaign on complete stoppage of single-use plas-tic across the country, according to BJP GeneralSecretary Arun Singh.

During this week-long drive, the emphasis would alsobe on cleanliness and organizing blood donationcamps, health check-up camps, eye check-up and oper-ation camps by the party's leaders and workers.

The workers would take oath to completely stop theuse of single-use plastic and organize water conservationcamps, said Singh. BJP leaders from corporators to MPswould go to schools to spread awareness on the single-use-plastic ban. The welfare activities would be organizedin the colonies and areas inhabited by poor.

The party leaders and workers would also appeal forfunds for the help of "divyangs' -specially-abled people ofthe society. Last year too, the party had celebrated Modi'sbirthday, which falls on September 17, as `Seva Saptah`.

The ̀ Seva Saptah` celebrations will begin with partychief Amit Shah and working president J P Nadda visit-ing the general wards in AIIMS in the morning in thenational capital and distributing fruits among patients andenquire about their well-being.

Social work done under the 'leadership' of PrimeMinister would be showcased in every district, said theBJP General Secretary.

���?�.��������12&�2%(�8!�2$(�

Army chief General Bipin Rawaton Thursday asserted that the

Army troops are ready to retrievePakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK)and make it a part of India but itis the Government which takes thedecision in such matters.

His remarks came against thebackdrop of Union MinisterJitendra Singh's assertions a coupleof days ago that the next agenda ofthe government is to "retrieve" PoKand make it a territory of India.Home Minister Amit Shah andDefence Minister Rajnath Singhtoo have in recent times pointed tothe Modi Government's next agen-da being PoK.

"This has to be done by thegovernment. The other institu-tions will act as the governmentdirects them in this regard," he said.

On being asked about PakistaniForeign Minister Shah MehmoodQureshi mentioning JammuKashmir as Indian state, GeneralRawat said, "We are very happy asyou are, after listening to this. Thisis the truth. This is the reality."

Commenting on the situation

in Jammu Kashmir, the ArmyChief said, "It is necessary for thepeople of Jammu Kashmir tounderstand that what is happeningthere is for them only. When thegovernment has given certaininstructions...Article 370 has beenscrapped...all this has been done tointegrate Jammu and Kashmir withIndia."

"We want residents of Jammuand Kashmir should give a chanceto security forces, administration tobring peace in the Valley. They havefaced terrorism for 30 years. Now,they should give the peace processa chance. Then they will realisewhat they got by peace, things thatthey did not get during all thoseyears," he added.

��������*������ ����������� ������0�1234*����� 12&�2%(�

The Ministry of Food andConsumers Affairs has

asked the Delhi Government totake Onions - the key kitchenstaple - from its buffer stockand sell at a maximum retailprice of � 23.90 per kg throughits civil supplies department,ration shops and MotherDairy.

Onion prices are rulingbetween �50-70 per kgdepending on the quality andlocalities.

On the central govern-ment's direction, NationalAgricultural CooperativeMarketing Federation of IndiaLtd (NAFED) and NationalCooperative Consumers'

Federation of India (NCCF) aswell as Mother Dairy areoffloading onion from the cen-tral buffer stock in the nation-al capital. "We have request-ed the Delhi government tofurther boost supply by sellingthe central buffer stock ofonion through its civil suppliesdepartment and ration shops,"said officials of ConsumerAffairs Ministry.

The state has been offeredto sell onion at a maximum rateof � 23.90 per kg and take stockat a price of � 15-16 per kgfrom the Centre, the officialsaid.

Delhi's onion requirementis 350 tonnes per day, while theNCR requirement is 650 tonnesper day, the official added.

Rajendra Sharma, who is thebiggest supplier of the onion inDelhi, said that the supply isdeclined due to floods and transportation prob-lems in onion producingstates.

The centre has created abuffer stock of 56,000 tonnes ofonion this year, of which10,000-12,000 tonnes has beenoffloaded by NAFED, NCCFand Mother Dairy so far.

Delhi is a price sensitivemarket, besides rise in prices ofthis key kitchen stable have ledto the ouster of several gov-ernments from the power inthe past.

Onion prices are underpressure due to likely fall inkharif (summer) production

owing to 10 per cent decline insowing area in key growingstates especially Maharasthra.In Lasalgaon, the largest mar-ket for onions, prices havemoved up by over 40 per centsince early August.

Maharashtra is the largestproducer of onion, accountingfor a third of the country's pro-duce, followed by MadhyaPradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat,Bihar and Andhra Pradesh.Karnataka has the secondlargest area under the bulb.Madhya Pradesh is the secondlargest producer of onions dueto higher yields.

Also the sowing was lowerin Central Karnataka due to thedelayed start of the monsoonand its slow progress.

����� 12&�2%(�

Within next six months, thephase I of the ambitious

National SupercomputingMission (NSM) will see thelight of the day as at least half-a-dozen computers have beeninstalled and one of them hasalready been inaugurated byPrime Minister Narendra Modiat Indian Institute ofTechnology, BHU while yetanother set up at IIT,Kharagpur on Thursday.

The spree of establishingthe six supercomputers willcontinue with AshutoshSharma, Secretary Departmentof Science and Technology(DST) on Thursday statingthat in the next two days, onSeptember 14th to be precise,the highly sophisticated systemwill be set up Indian Instituteof Science, Education andResearch (IISER), Pune. Plansare afoot to deploy the systemat IIT Hyderabad and Kanpurearly next year.

The cost of the project is Rs4,500 crore.

Once operational, thesehigh-performance computing

facilities would find widescaleapplications for improvingweather services, for efficientdisaster simulation and man-agement, for faster processingof seismic data, for computa-tional biology and many more.The supercomputers are alsopitched to be highly energy effi-cient than the existing ones.

The mission is being joint-ly implemented by theDepartment of Science andTechnology (DST) andMinistry of Electronics andInformation Technology(MeitY) and led by C-DAC andIndian Institute of Science(IISc), Bengaluru, said Sharmawhile talking to reporters here.

Sharma said that part of thesupercomputers are being inte-grated and assembled indige-

nously while chips will beimported from Intel which willinsert the item at the site itself.

Sharma also talked aboutvarious schemes particularlyto encourage students andwomen to take up sciencestream at the higher level andachievements of the last fiveyears and new initiatives. TheDST has also launched newmissions like Cyber-physicalsystems, electric mobility mis-sion, quantum science andtechnology, clean fuel:methanolmission and Map India in keep-ing with the need and changeof technology.

"The aim is to positionIndia within top four countriesin the scientific research andconnecting our research tonational priorities by aug-menting the accessible researchand development infrastruc-ture to reach the unreached,enhancing number of activequality scientists, emphasizingquality and relevance ofresearch in both discovery andsolution research and forgingthe best of international con-nects," he added.

5� ���� � �����/ ������� ������%�&��������������� ��������������������������/��&�6�,��� ������� ��$������ 1�7� ��� ������ ��� �������� � ��������������� ������-����� ������������� ���������� � �����������������������-��� ���������� �����&�����/6,�&�������� �����83����������������������������� ���&����������� ��� ���������

9����� �����K4���4����N����4��?@����������N� ������

����+��������,��&-������+(��+�����,�

����.�(���+���'�%��%�������%��&�

/.��0����1�������'���%���%����

'�+������%��&�/1���20��������,���3.����� ���� ��������'

�%��%��/ �%0��#�&�����

-� ����������# $�� ������� �&.����������������

!�1���,�&����4�+���

������������������� ������� !���"#$�%&"' �����4

� ������������� �!��'

Jammu & Kashmir Police onThursday busted an active

‘terror module’ of a proscribedJaish-e- Mohammad (JeM) ter-ror outfit with the arrest ofthree suspected terrorists andrecovery of 6 automatic assaultrifles and ammunition from atruck, near Lakhanpur, gatewayof Jammu & Kashmir, inKathua district.

These assault rifles, 4 AK-56 and 2 AK-47 were hiddeninside a truck loaded withpacking material for a freshapple crop. The truck was on itsway from Punjab to Kashmirvalley when it was interceptedby the police team nearLakhanpur around 8.00 a.m. onThursday.

Interestingly, on September

12 last year, a highway patrolvan of Jammu & Kashmirpolice had also intercepted atruck, ferrying heavily armedterrorists near famous picnicspot of Jhajjar Kotli on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.The terrorists, who fled fromthe highway were later neu-tralised by the joint teams ofsecurity forces in nearby jun-gles of Kakriyal during 32 hourlong operation.

Last year, NationalInvestigation Agency had alsosubmitted a report to the UnionHome Ministry confirmingtransportation of consignmentsof arms and ammunition andterrorists via Jammu-SrinagarNational Highway with thehelp of their sleeper cells andorganised network of theirover ground workers in Samba

and Kathua sectors. Briefing media persons in

Kathua, Senior Superintendentof Police Shridhar Patil said,“since early morning specialsecurity check points were setup in Lakhanpur area afterreceiving inputs about themovement of a truck ferryingarms and ammunition fordelivery in Kashmir valley”.

SSP, Kathua toldreporters,”during the checkingof a truck bearing registrationnumber JK13E-2000 policeteams recovered 4 AK-56 and2 AK-47 rifles, 180 rounds ofammunition and 6 magazines”.

He said three people trav-elling in the truck have beensubjected to thorough interro-gation to ascertain the sourceof arms and ammunition andpresence of sleeper cells in the

neighbouring state of Punjab. SSP Shridhar Patil said,

the arrested persons have beenidentified as Sabil Ahmad ofPulwama, Jehangir Ahmad ofBudgam and Obaid Ul Islam ofPulwama.

“All three were closely asso-ciated with Jaish-e-Mohammadterror module and were part ofthe chain ferrying arms andammunition to Kashmir val-ley”,he added.

SSP clarified, the policeteams were on the job and

interrogating the trio to ascer-tain their modus operandi andtrack down the source behindhanding over arms and ammu-nition to these conduits fortransportation to Kashmir val-ley. He, however, made it clearit is premature to link involve-ment of Punjab based terroroutfits with their kashmirbased counter parts.”We needsome more time to investigateand arrive at a conclusion aftera detailed investigations in thecase”, he added. =

Rameswaram (TN): The seaoff this island town and in thePalk Straits has turned anunusually dark green colourdue to the presence of‘Natalulaka’ algae.

Scientists at the CentralMarine Acquarium ResearchCentre said the phenomenonwas visible in the 10 km stretchfrom Pamban to rameswaramand from Singli to Kurusada

islands in Palk Straits.They said the algae spreads

in the sea from July toSeptember, during which peri-od the colour turns green.

The change is seen whenthe current is low, they said,adding that the sea wouldreturn to its orginal colour inthe next few days.

The scientists said a largenumber of fish would have dieddue to the low current and suf-focation caused by the algae.

PTI

Leh: The newly set upUniversity of Ladakh, which isin the process of designing itslogo, on Thursday invitedentries from artists and inter-ested persons in this regard.

According to a notifica-tion issued by the registrar,applicants can send theirdesigns to the Office of theRegistrar, University of Ladakh,Silk Route Guest House,Tourist Reception Centre Lehor Purig Guest House, UpperKurbathang Plateau, Kargil.Entries can also be sent viaemail to [email protected]

Each entry must have thedesigner’s recent passport sizephotograph, complete name,parentage, profession/occupa-tion, postal and permanentaddress, email address andvalid contact number, it said.

A committee constitutedby the university shall select the

most suitable design. Theselected design will win a cashprize of �10,000, the notifica-tion said.

The winner will have noclaim of ownership over thedesign once it is selected for useby the university. The instituteshall also hold the right tomodify the design in whatev-er manner it deems fit, itadded.

Entries should reach theuniversity by October 3, 2019,the notification said.

The Jammu & Kashmiradministration, had onDecember 15, 2018 approved theestablishment of the first uni-versity in Ladakh region. PTI

Mumbai: One person drowned and fiveothers were missing during immersionof Lord Ganesh idols on Thursday atdifferent places in Maharashtra, policesaid.

The incidents were reported fromAmravati, Bhandara and Satara districtsand the missing persons are feared tohave drowned, they said.

One Soma Shivanakar drowned ina pond while immersing an idol of LordGanesh this morning in Dolsar villageof Bhandara district, an official said.

His body has been recovered, hesaid.

At Watole Shukleshwar village inAmravati district, at least four devoteeswere washed away while immersingLord Ganesh idols in the Purna river,the official said.

Another devotee, Chaitnya Shinde(20), a resident of Malkapur, was fearedto have drowned in the Koyana river atKarad in Satara district, the official said.

A search was on for the missing per-sons, he said, adding fire brigade lifeguards and state disaster managementteams were taking part in the operation.

PTI

Jaipur: Two patients, a maleand a female, who were admit-ted in AIIMS-Jodhpur, died ofC r i m e a n - C o n g oHaemorrhagic Fever (CCHF)fever, Rajasthan HealthMinister Raghu Sharma said onThursday.

While the womanbelonged to Jodhpur, the manwas from Jaisalmer, he said.

The Minister said that thestate medical team has collect-ed 136 samples till date and outof those, two casualties werereported whose report waspositive.

“As soon as the reportcame of this animal borne-dis-ease spreading its tentacles,we sent a team and formed aco-ordination committeewhich is monitoring the over-all condition. It is workingwith animal husbandry depart-ment,” Sharma said.

Cypermethrin is beingsprayed everywhere to checkthe spread of virus in theregion. If anyone displayssymptoms of fever, voting,diarrhoea, and neck pain he orshe should contact a medicalpractitioner immediately.

“For 14 days, all suchpatients will be monitored. Asit is a communicable diseaseand its virus is transmittable

from animals, we are adoptingspecial precautions,” he added.

Health Ministry officialssaid that the virus is primarilytransmitted to people fromticks and livestock. Animalsbitten by infected ticks becomeinfected and the virus remainsin their bloodstream for aboutone week.

Hence those involved inthe livestock industry, such asagricultural workers, slaugh-terhouse workers and veteri-narians are at risk. IANS

Ahmedabad: The GujaratHigh Court on Thursday heldthat even if land in a village fallsunder the jurisdiction of anurban development authority,it will still be considered asrural land, and the ownershould get compensation fourtimes the market price.

Hearing petitions filed by68 farmers from Gandhinagardistrict, a bench of justices A SDave and Biren Vaishnavquashed two government noti-fications which denied themcompensation for theiracquired land under the LandAcquisition Act of 2013.

The petitioners were from

Ferozepur, Lavarpur andPrantiya villages in the district.

These villages were includ-ed under the GandhinagarUrban Development Authority(GUDA). In 2011, petitioners’lands were acquired forNational Highway 8.

In November 2016, thegovernment issued a notifica-tion declaring that “urban area”would also include the villagesbrought under any urbandevelopment authority, such asGUDA.

As per the LandAcquisition Act of 2013, urbanland owners are entitled to gettwo times the market price as

compensation. In rural areas,the compensation is four timesthe market rate.

In September 2018, anoth-er notification said the farmerswhose land falls under urban

authorities will get compensa-tion on par with that in otherrural areas, that is, four timesthe market price.

The petitioners contendedthat the 2018 rule applies tofuture acquisitions, it does notbenefit them.

They ended up getting lesscompensation, they said.

Petitioners’ lawyer SaurabhAmin argued that both notifi-cations violated theConstitution as well as theLand Acquisition Act.

Article 243(q) of theConstitution clearly states thaturban area means only thatwhich falls under a municipal-

ity, not the area brought underurban authority like GUDA, hesaid.

The lands in question mustbe considered as rural landsdespite being in GUDA, andthe compensation must be cal-culated as per the 2013 Act, hesaid. The high court onThursday quashed both notifi-cations and held that the landunder urban authority is alsorural land, and owners are eli-gible for a compensation fourtimes the market rate.

The court asked the gov-ernment to pay the differencewith interest to the petitioners.

PTI

�!����������������"(211!�

Amidst demands by Leaderof the Opposition MK

Stalin that the Government ofTamil Nadu should come outwith a White Paper about theMemorandum ofUnderstandings signed dur-ing the fortnight-long tour ofChief Minister EdappadiPalaniswami to UK, USA andUAE, the latter himself made adetailed announcement aboutthe gift basket he has broughtto the State.

“My tour saw the signing of41 MoUs with prospectiveinvestors to the tune of �8830crore which is expected togenerate 37, 300 jobs in TamilNadu,” said EdappadiPalaniswami while speakingto journalists in his returnfrom the first overseas tour ofthis kind by any chief ministerfrom the State in the last twodecades.

Enthused with the successof his just concluded three-nation tour, the Chief Ministeris flying off to Israel later thismonth to learn about watermanagement practices in thatcountry. Israel, an arid countrywhich receives just a fraction ofrainfall that is received in TamilNadu, is one of the leadexporters of fruits and vegeta-bles to USA and Europe. Thecountry, more than half ofwhich is desert, is known forthe giant strides it has made inthe area of water management.

“Water needed to irrigateone acre of land in Tamil Naduis being used to irrigate sevenacres of land in Israel,” saidPalaniswami. There has beennumber of suggestions by theBJP leader SubramanianSwamy MP to the ChiefMinister asking him to go forthe technology develop byIsrael to set up desalinationplants along the Tamil Naducoast to address the watershortage faced by the State.

When asked about thedemand by Stalin for the pub-

lication of a White Paper on histhree-nation tour, the chiefminister replied that theAIADMK Government hadensured investment to thetune of Rs 2,42,000 crore in thefirst Global Investment Meetheld in 2015. “ Industries taketime to start operations-usual-ly 2 to 5 years- after they signthe agreement. The DMKregime in 2006 to 2011 couldmobilise just Rs 26,000 crorewhile 29 companies with whichthe AIADMK signed MoUshas brought in investmentworth Rs 53,000 crore andthey are already operational,”said Palaniswami.

He also termed the chargeslevelled by Stalin against theAIADMK Government asunsubstantiated allegations.But Stalin was firm on his con-tention that the DMK govern-ment that ruled th State from2006 to 2011 had received for-eign investment worth Rs46,091 crore and had generat-ed 2.21 lakh jobs in the State.

More fireworks are expect-ed between the two leaders inthe coming days, especiallywith the proposed tour of thechief minister to Israel on theanvil. The AIADMK leadershipis already on a campaign trailreminding the people of theState about the 18-hour longpower cut and load sheddingresorted to by the DMK gov-ernment during 2006 to 2011.

Bengaluru: Islamic outfitJamaat-e-Islami Hind onThursday expressed a sense of“unease” and “anxiety” aboutthe social, political and eco-nomic situation in the countryand said it wanted the situationto improve.

Its President SyedSadatullah Husaini saidMuslims in the country werenot “fearful”, but the commu-nity, along with every peace lov-ing citizen of India, was “con-cerned” and “anxious” andwants the prevailing situation toimprove.

The outfit Thursday held ameeting here with heads andrepresentatives of variousMuslim organisations on the“prevailing situation in thecountry”.

“Our country today is pass-ing through a very crucialstage. On the one side we aredeveloping on many frontslike- science and technology,technical manpower...

When we have somanyopportunities to become a

world leader, unfortunately onthe other side, a scenario isbeing developed in the countrythat is creating hindrance andobstacles,” Husaini said.

Speaking to reporters afterthe meeting, Husaini said theway the Parliament session wasconducted recently showed the‘downfall’ of democratic valuesand norms, as “many importantlegislations were passed withoutany debate.”

“Many of them were dra-conian in nature and chal-lenges the fundamental rightsguaranteed by ourConstitution,” he said.

The manner in whichArticle 370 was removed ‘uni-laterally’ without taking intoconfidence the people ofJammu and Kashmir and polit-ical representatives thereshowed the downfall of demo-cratic values, he added.

Husaini also said it was alsoa matter of great concern tothem to note the manner inwhich democratic institutionswere ‘deteriorating’ and demo-

cratic values were being ‘com-promised.’

It was the duty of all citizensto work unitedly to protectand restore democratic valuesand the Constitution, he said,noting that rising ‘communalpolarisation’ and politics ofhatred has become a majorchallenge,to address which itwas important to build bridgesbetween communities throughpromoting dialogue.

After the meeting,theJamaat e Islamia Hind alsoreleased a joint declaration,which, he said, communicatedpromotion of inter-faith dia-logue, understanding, present-ing the true picture of Islam andits real teachings, other thanthrowing light on the prevailingsituation in the country.

On the right to have anopinion and debate being thesoul of democracy, he said anatmosphere was being createdthat one who toes the govern-ment line is a nationalist andthose who oppose it are anti-national. PTI

&������������������������!�/6,���� ��������������&���, 9)������, :8�� �������;3���&��������&� � ������)��< ���

������� �����$ ���������� $��/���$��"������ ��� ����0

������������������� ��������&�� �������������� ��������- ��������* ������������������3 ����������������&��� ����� ��� ���&�- ����%�&����� ��

:���������F������#�����#�����������=��������������

���,!$"�#(�&%���'�/.��,�#!"�!�#$�!"�%&$&%%�0�����&*&�'!"�*�

��@'��%))""�@'5�)%)�)"���A)$"��5%B"7�%)A��$�����"�"@)�)$"�'�)���%)���"��"�%65(�$"�"�"@)"���"�%65�#%���#%5��@��$�;7%C"�'D��*1�111

#�*�%��������� ����������� ���������������1����

Panaji: Union Minister PrahladSingh Patel praised PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onThursday calling him thebiggest brand ambassador ofthe country’s tourism and cul-ture.

Addressing a gatheringafter launching various projectsunder the ‘Swades Darshan’scheme in Goa, he said the PMhas been talking about tourismand Indian culture on almostall the forums.

“Whether it is from theRed Fort or in the ‘Mann kiBaat’ (radio programme), thereis no place where he has notmentioned about tourism andIndian culture,” the UnionTourism Minister said.

“Being the tourism minis-

ter, I feel that we are lucky thatour prime minister is ourbiggest brand ambassador...PM’s words are heard and alsopeople get convinced. He givesus the confidence to work bet-ter towards our aim,” he added.

Referring to the decisions

taken by the Modi governmentto boost tourism, Patel said hisministry’s demand to reduce e-visa fees and increase the valid-ity period of e- visas was agreedupon by the PM, giving a fillipto the tourism sector.

“We have seen that therewas a surge in the tourist foot-falls after we introduced e-visato some of the countries. WhenI took over, there was a demandto increase the tenure for e-visa.

“We have said that thereare good results from e-visa.The neighbouring countrieshave reduced the e-visa fees,some of the countries havemade e-visa free and we saidthat the union governmentshould think about it,” he said.

“When we held a meetingof tourism ministers of thestates in New Delhi, a daybefore that we were told thatthe tenure of e-visa has beenincreased from one year to fiveyears,” the minister said.

Patel also hinted at thepossibility of reduction in GSTon room tariffs.

“The stakeholders said thatthe hotel GST should bereduced. It has been passed onto the Prime Minister’s Office(PMO) and I am sure we willget the results,” he said. PTI

��� � ��- ����-�����-��������!�� =����&� ��������� � ����

�����!�����������������!��!����������

-� ���� ��� " ��$����'�*�����

5��������������������������&���������

'�+��3����6������&�,���&

%���������������%��������3����'������+��'����

%������������+����3�����'�������7�����������������8���+��������

������,������"��)$��%5%�)7A�'DD%@%������%�

)$"�B%7���%��;7%��7%�A)7�5��%))"��)'�;"';�"�D7'��)%@E��5���%B"�)'@E(��5%������%))"5��A%5D"@)"��)%@E���"@'�"�%5D"@)"��5��)$"�B%7���7"��%5��%5�)$"%7��''��)7"���D'7���'�)�'5"�#""E

��� ��� �������-�*��������� ����&��� ����8��33�(�-�-&����� �� ������ ��������

�A�)'�7���#�)$"��%65%56�'D-*��'!��#%)$�;7'�;"@)%B"%5B"�)'7��)'�)$"�)�5"�'D�+�+/1�@7'7"�#$%@$�%�"F;"@)"��)'��6"5"7�)"

/=�/11�G'���%5���%������

������������������� ������� !���"#$�%&"' �����9

Gorakhpur: Uttar PradeshChief Minister Yogi Adityanathon Thursday said the role oftemples and ‘mutts’ should notbe restricted to only perform-ing pujas and they shouldcome forward to participate inpublic welfare work.

The chief Minister, whoheads the influentialGorakhnath Mutt, was speak-ing at a seminar here on ‘Sant,Samaj aur Punarjagran’ (Saints,Society and Reawakening).

“The role of temples andmutts should not be limited toperforming pujas only. Theyshould come forward for pub-lic welfare work with a feelingof nationalism,” Adityanathsaid.

“The tradition of saints inIndia is very rich and old.With their spiritual awareness,they tried to wake up the soci-ety and lightened the path ofrighteousness for mankind,”he said.

Earlier in the day,

Adityanath met a large numberof people during a ‘JanataDarbar’ (public meeting) atthe Gorakhnath temple.

PTI

Mumbai: Nationalist CongressParty MP Supriya Sule allegedharassment by a taxi driverwhen she arrived at the Dadarrailway terminus here onThursday.

Sule, who lodged a com-plaint with the RailwayProtection Force (RPF), saidthe driver, Kuljeet SinghMalhotra, entered her railwaycompartment and blocked herway while asking if she need-ed a taxi.

Even when she made itclear that she did not need one,he “blocked my path, harassedme and shamelessly even posedfor photo”, Sule, daughter ofNCP chief Sharad Pawar,tweeted.

She clicked his photo so asto file a complaint, she said.

The RPF authorities laterinformed her that he had beenapprehended and fined, sheadded.

“If touting is permittedunder the law, then it cannotand should not be permittedwithin train stations or airportbut only at designated taxistands,” the Baramati MP said.

Malhotra (42) was appre-

hended and booked under sec-tions 145-B (creating nuisanceand indecency), 147 (enteringin railway premises unlawful-ly) and 159 (showing rash andnegligent manner) of theIndian Railway Act, 1989, saida senior railway official.

KK Ashraf, senior divi-sional commissioner of theMumbai division of CentralRailway, told PTI that Malhotrawas also fined �260 for not pos-sessing a valid ticket.

Further, city traffic policeimposed a fine of �200 on himfor not having a license andanother �200 for driving taxiwithout uniform, Ashrafinformed. PTI

���� �!��';

The Rajasthan Governmenthas approved the creation of

1,025 additional posts to givefive per cent reservation to“more backward classes” in therecruitment process.

Chief Minister AshokGehlot has approved the pro-posal moved by the Departmentof Personnel to the Finance

Department forthe creation ofadditional posts in17 departments,where competitiveexaminations havebeen conducted

for 31 different type of posts, anofficial statement said.

The posts created will beadjusted against vacancies infuture recruitment.

Gehlot has also approved aninterest-free loan of Rs 10 crorefor the construction of a mini-secretariat at the Alwar districtheadquarters.

2��2'����%������������"��������$� ���!.������.!���� .:%.!$!

West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee on

Thursday took out massive arally against BJP’s attempt tobring National Register ofCitizens (NRC) across thecountry and warned the BJPnot to play with fire in thename of NRC. She said “therewill be no NRC in Bengal till Iam alive.”

Banerjee who had with-drawn into a cocoon after theTrinamool Congress’ electoraldebacle in the recently held LokSabha elections seemed to beback in her elements at the endof a long anti-NRC processionfrom Sinthee in extreme NorthKolkata to Shyambazar cross-ing.

“NRC is nothing but anemotive issue to divide the pop-ulation in the name of languageand religion. But after seeingwhat has happened in Assamwe will not allow them to dothat in Bengal,” Banerjee said.

“They have rendered morethan 19 lakh people homelessin their own country,” she saidalleging how “more than 11lakh Hindu Bengalis have beenejected from their hearth andhome.” Not only the HinduBengalis, “they have struck outthe names of more than a lakh

Gorkhas, 4.5 lakh Muslims,lakhs of Hindi-speaking gen-try,” she said wondering “howmany times will we have toprove our citizenship in freeIndia. We don’t want to be inchains once again… We don’twant a second partition again

in the name of religion and lan-guage.”

Out of 3.29 crore about 19lakh people did not find theirnames in the NRC.

“They (BJP) are saying thatthey will throw out 2 croreinfiltrators from here. It is not

so easy. I dare them to toucheven one person and then seethe consequences,” Banerjeethundered at the end of a mas-sive rally adding “the BJP isplaying various diversionarytactics to turn the people’sattention from the colossal

economic calamity the countryis going through under thisregime. NRC is one of them.”

On the one hand country’s“economy has literally caved in.Unemployment is increasing bythe day. Our GDP has gonedown even below that ofPakistan. They are dealingadditional blows on the econ-omy by introducing massivedose of privatization… they areplanning privatisation of theIndian Railways, BSNL, AirIndia, Ordinance Factory,”Banerjee said smelling rat inthe clubbing of banking sector.

“Clubbing of banks is anattempt at privatisation. Thereis a need to take the head-quarters of some banks fromKolkata. Tomorrow you donot know whether you will getback your money or not afterthis so-called banking sectorreforms,” Banerjee said adding,“NRC and other such emotiveissues are being introduced todivert public attention from theeconomic disaster and the suc-cessive faulty economic deci-sions they are taking.”

Banerjee also attacked theCentre for “acting inhuman,” byimposing a “harsh” penaltyregime to tame breakers ofmotor vehicle laws. “We are notgoing to impose the heavypenalties which the amended

rules of the MVA decree, asthese are very harsh and willoverburden the people,” shesaid.

Meanwhile, reacting toBanerjee’s warning that shewould not allow NRC to beintroduced in Bengal till shewas alive, State BJP presidentDilip Ghosh said the BJP wasdetermined to impose NRC inthe State and the rest of thecountry.

“It is true that till she isthere no NRC can take place.So we will do it after she goes,”Ghosh said reminding howabout two crore Muslims fromBangladesh had entered Indiathrough Bengal. “One crorehave fanned out to variousparts of the country while therest are hiding in Bengal. Theywill be definitely found outthrough the NRC,”he allegedBanerjee had allowed“Bangladeshi settlers and theRohingyas to settle in this partof the border for vote bank pol-itics.”

On the clubbing of bankshe said “the Chief Minister willnot have to bother about thepeople’s money saved in thebanks. She should ask her mento return the ill-gotten cashthey had earned from Sharada,Narada and other chit fundscams.”

7����>������ ���� � ���������>���(������������������������� ��������$'�� �������� ��,��*�����%�&���� �%!

Gaya (Bihar): The “PitripakshMahasangam”, a Hindu ritualwhich draws people from farand wide to this central Bihartown for a fortnight every year,went underway on Thursday.

During the fortnight,Hindus pray for the salvation ofdeparted souls.

The annual congregationwas inaugurated here byDeputy Chief Minister SushilKumar Modi in presence of hiscabinet colleagues and parlia-mentarians and legislators.

The deputy CM along witha host of dignitaries offeredprayers on the occasion at theVishnupad temple along theFalgu river, which is likely toremain abuzz with activity tillthe conclusion of the congre-gation on September 28.

District Magistrate, Gaya,Abhishek Kumar Singh, saidarrangements have been made

to accommodate up to eightlakh devotees during the con-gregation who would be pro-vided with facilities like healthcamps, buses and e-rickshawfor commute and safe andhygienic drinking water.

“Vedis (altars) have beencleaned up and given a freshcoat of paint. Security has alsobeen given due importance

with installation of adequatenumber of CCTV camerasacross the town and deputationof 550 magistrates who wouldbe guiding the police person-nel,” Singh said.

Senior Superintendent ofPolice (SSP) Rajiv Mishra saidpriests have been providedwith identity cards to preventswindlers from making hay

on the occasion.“Pandas (priests who con-

duct Pind Daan) have beenprovided with I-cards so thatanti-social elements do notcome in disguise to swindle vis-itors and people go back withgood memories of Bihar, asdesired by Chief MinisterNitish Kumar during a recentmeeting,” the SSP added. PTI

Shillong: The Khasi HillsAutonomous District Council,one of the three tribal councilsin Meghalaya on Thursdayannounced a ban on the use ofplastic in all its traditionalmarkets and promoting use ofbiodegradable packages.

The Council has imple-mented a ban on the use ofplastic in Iewduh here, thestate’s biggest traditional mar-ket with over 1000 shops and500o hawkers, since September 1.

All areas within theKHADC declared no plasticzone. Notification is beingissued. Please spread the tidingsand the concomitant warn-ings, KHADC executive mem-ber in charge of Trade depart-ment, Paul Lyngdoh said.

The decision, once imple-mented, will boost up the stateswar against the menace ofplastic in a hill state, he said.

KHADC has jurisdictionover several traditional marketsin East Khasi Hills district,West Khasi Hills district, SouthWest Khasi Hills district andRi-Bhoi district.

Thursdays decision fol-lowed a September 1 notifica-

tion by the Council in whichtraditional chieftain (Syiem) ofHima Mylliem, Ainam ManikSyiem, also supported.

Under the ban, plastic of allkinds have been banned exceptfor those used in certifiedpackages, according to an offi-cial of the KHADC.

The ban was welcomed byenvironment activists acrossthe state hailing the Council fortaking a bold decision for pro-tection of the fragile environ-ment in the state.

Noted environment war-rior-Patricia Mukhim- wel-comed the decision and laud-ed the Council for taking a steptowards protection of envi-ronment.

I am very happy aboutthis decision. It was long over-due, she said. PTI

Unnao: An explosion in apetroleum tanker at theHindustan Petroleum plant inUP’s Unnao district led to amajor fire in the area onThursday.

The explosion was causedby a leak in a valve.

Fire tenders have beenrushed to the plant to douse theflames and additional forceshave also been deployed in thearea.

Though no casualty hasbeen reported as yet in the inci-

dent, several villages locatednear the plant have been evac-uated and all roads leading tothe site have been closed to thepublic.

“We have put the area in afive kilometre-radius on highalert,” said a senior official.

IANS

������ ������ �������������������$��������������

��:���������7���((����������

,�����������%���; )3#�/%�����&�����%�

������%�%�0��; 9/�����&������7��(��+��������7'����0�

���;)<�/��7�&���������&��&���+���0�

'����� ��������7����%���;<=<

;�3�����=����������������������������K���� ���������������

!����#�������������G�����������

�����(�����1�����&�+�,�&�����8���2C�������������������������'����

�1�2�����"��"!&%�3��"#�0�������#$�'�#�&���� �$/!#"

��������'���+(������+������������

,����+������(��'�+�&�(�-����6�����������%+��'�7����'�

(�,��%�7��'����7��7������'����&�'

�������+

%���������&�������&���?���������-����� � �� � ������������*+�5����

Sardar Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi,Britain’s first ever Sikh MP, recent-ly targetted the newly-elected PrimeMinister Boris Johnson over hisremarks about burqa-clad Muslim

women. In a newspaper article written lastyear, Johnson had compared Muslim womenin burqa to “bank robbers” and “letter boxes.”The article had stirred a hornet’s nest backthen with his Conservative peer, LordSheikh, filing a written complaint to demanda thorough investigation. Johnson, accusedof breaching party code, refused to apolo-gise, notwithstanding instructions fromparty chairman Brandon Lewis. Finally, anindependent panel chaired by NaomiEllenbogen cleared him of the charges inDecember last year. The panel did findJohnson’s language “provocative” but ruledagainst excessively censoring “the use of satireto emphasise a viewpoint, particularly onethat is not subject to criticism.”

Dhesi, a Sikh who grew up in Britain,must have experienced racism himself. It wasnatural for him to stand up in defence ofother victimised groups and individuals. Buthe, being a Labour MP, was perhaps, actu-ated by political partisanship, too. What oth-erwise explains reigniting an issue that wassettled last December? But how wise wouldit be to defend a regressive custom for thesake of multiculturalism or to downgradepolitical opponents?

Johnson, being a Conservative, mightsuffer from certain biases and angularities.But what about Tony Blair, Leader of theLabour Party for 13 years and former PrimeMinister of Britain for 10 years? As the thenPrime Minister, on October 17, 2006, Blairhad said that the wearing of full veils byMuslim women was a “mark of separation”and made some “outside the community feeluncomfortable.” His comments were madein the context of suspension of a student,Aisha Azmi, at the Headfield Church ofEngland, a junior school in Dewsbury, for herrefusal to remove her veil. Blair had support-ed the authorities over their decision.

The ensuing year (on October 31, 2007),Cherie Blair did some straight talking at RadioFour’s programme. She said, “Women cov-ering their heads, women dressing modest-ly, I have no problem with at all. I think, how-ever, that if you get to a stage where a womanis not able to express her personality becauseyou can’t see her face, then you do start toask whether this is something that is actual-ly acknowledging the woman’s right to be aperson in her own right.”

If the British were so uncharitabletowards ethnic wear, why did sari notbecome a focal point of discrimination? Myaunt, Latika Chanda, now long retired fromthe National Health Service (Britain),always wore a sari during her medical prac-tice in London. She was never deprived ofthe esteem she deserved for her profession-al competence. In 1976, the “strikers in saris”conducted the famous labour protest in

Britain, ultimately compelling20,000 people to join theircause. Their leader was JayabenDesai (1933-2001), a Gujaratiwomen who relocated fromTanzania to Britain. She laid astrike of Asian and Africanwomen, who worked atGrunwick Film processing fac-tory in north London underpitiable conditions. Her photo ina sari topped by cardigan andholding a placard, “The WorkersUnited Will Never Be Defeated,”became one of the rivetting pic-tures of labour movement in the20th century. The bottomline isthat the sari never restrictedwomen’s participation in indus-trial or professional life ofBritain.

But burqa signifies a verydifferent mindset. Blair wasasked at the same news confer-ence whether it was possible fora burqa-wearing woman to becontributing to the society. Heexclaimed, “that’s a difficultquestion.” Could there be aclearer view on the issue com-ing from a Labour PrimeMinister? A person who is wear-ing a turban or sari or any reli-gious symbol like cross, is con-tributing to the industrial, com-mercial and public life of Britain.Could Dhesi say the same thingabout burqa as well? Rather, isburqa not concealing the realquestion about internal dis-crimination within the Muslim

society? It would be pertinent toread what BR Ambedkar,Chairman of the DraftingCommittee of the Constitutionof India, said about burqa andpurdah (women’s quarters inMuslim homes) in the 1940s.

“These burqa women walk-ing in the streets is one of themost hideous sights one can wit-ness in India. Such seclusioncannot but have its deterioratingeffects upon the physical consti-tution of Muslim women. Theyare usually victims to anaemia,tuberculosis and pyorrhoea.Their bodies are deformed, withtheir backs bent, bones protrud-ed, hands and feetcrooked….purdah deprivesMuslim women of mental andmoral nourishment. Beingdeprived of healthy social life,the process of moral degenera-tion must and does set in...Theylag behind their sisters fromother communities, cannot takepart in any outdoor activityand are weighed down by a slav-ish mentality and an inferioritycomplex. They have no desirefor knowledge, because theyare taught not be interested inanything outside the four wallsof the house. Purdah women inparticular become helpless,timid and unfit for any fight inlife” (Pakistan, or, The Partitionof India, ed. 1946 , P.220-21).

Johnson might have beencavalier in his attitude towards

the burqa as a custom. But torun him down would meanencouraging those Muslimmales, who enforce theserepressive customs of theirwomenfolk. Dhesi might knowbetter that consumption ofhalal meat is prohibited in hisreligion viz, Sikhism. The Sikhgurus, in their wisdom, mighthave formulated this rule. Butthe formidability of halal is nowbeing experienced by Europeannations. It would be a grossunderstatement to say that halalis merely a dietary choice. Itencompasses food, pharma-ceuticals, cosmetics, bankingand insurance products amongothers. Western institutions areprojecting themselves as halal -compliant or certified toappease a growing Muslim cus-tomer base. Halal is, thus, aninstrument to subjugate theWestern system or free worldsystem to Arabic imperialism.One hopes Dhesi will see burqain the same light. The samegroup of people, who enforceburqa, also make no secret oftheir intentions to imposeShari’ah law on Britain. Is thata desirable proposition?

(The writer is an indepen-dent researcher based in NewDelhi and has authored the book,The Microphone Men: HowOrators Created a Modern India.Views expressed are personal)

)������������������������������������������������������(������������������������*�������

���������������������������������������������������������� �*������������� �����������������+,,����#��� -���� .�������� /#-.0&� 1����2������� !�������3,3,�#���� ��������(������������������������+,4(+5,����(�������*�����*���������6����/**6�0�7�������� ��� �� *����� *������� ��#������� /**#0�!�����#� ������������

������� ��26�����28�����9�������:����������������� �����;������������������������������������������������������(������������������������� ������������������������� ������������7���**6��7����������**#�!���������������354(+,,��������� ������35������������������������3,,�#���� ��������������������������*�����������������(��������������������������������5<���������**#!������������������������*����&� �4�������� �������������**#7���� ����������� ��=6���������������9������ �������������������������1������**#���������������������3,,�������������������������������� ��(����������������������������������������� ������������������������������������� �������� �����������4,,�����������������������������������9�������:�����1���4,+�����������9�������������������������������>3�:����������������������������3,4?����2������� !��������*�������������������� ������3>����������������������������������������������������������� �������� ���������������������������

1�������� ����������� ���������������������������� �(���#������(�������������������������7��������������� ����������������������������������������������6��������������������������������������������������������������������(����������������������������.��������������������������**#����**6���������������������������������� ��������������������������������������������������������������������**#��������������������������������������������������#��������&��������������������������������("����� ������������������������������������������ #� 2%:&� �������� �� ����������� ������� �� �������$��������*���������/�$*0���������������������������������"����� �������������������������������������������������������(���������"����� ����������������������������������������������������(����������� �������#������������������������������������ �����������������������������������������6#.@������/6�����#������� �.������������@���������0������������� �����������1������������������������������*/��������������(�����0���������������������������������� ���������������������������������������������������#���&��� *������������������������������������������������������������#���(������������������������ ����������������� ��� ���������(����;��� �����������1��������������������������������������������������������������"����� ���������������

)��� ���������� �� ����������� �����������������������������(�����������������*���������������

����������������������������*�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ������������������� ������������������������� *� ���� ���� ���� ����� ��� �� ��������������-������������������(�������)�����@������ ������6�����������������������������������������

��������������������������������������� ������������������������������ ������� ���(�������������������������;�����2���*��������� � �������������������������������� ���� @����������@�������:�����@������$� ���%� �������������������������(�������������������A������ B��������������������������

#������������������(����������������������������������������������������� ������������������������������ �������)���������*���������������� �������������������� ��������������������������������� ���� �������:������!����/ :!0��������������� ��������������������������C���������������������������������� ����#����(��������������������������������)������(� ���������� ���� ��������������������������������������(������������ �����������������7��������������������������(���������������(��������� ����������� ����������������� �����������������������������#���������������������������������������������������� �������������������������;�����2���@��������������������������������������4?D,���3,,,����������� �����(������������������������ ������������� ������������������(������ ���������#������������������������������������������ ���(������������ ��������� �������#��������������������������������������������� ������������ ����������������������� ����� ����������������������������������������������������@������������������ *�����������������������������������������������(��E�������������������(����E��������������"������������������������������ �*���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� &��������������@�����(6�F�����������������#��������������(�� �����������������(���������������������� ���������������#������������� �������������������������������������������������������������#�����������������������������������������������3,4D���3,4?���������������������:������3,3,���������������� ���������������������� �����&����������� � ���������&��� �����#���������������������� ���������������������� ������������������������������� �*�&����������������������������������������������������������������������������#��&�������������������������������������� ������������������������)�������������������������

&���"��������+����

�������������� ��

Sir — Given the current rate ofattrition in the Opposition rank andfile, with defectors hopping ontothe Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)and the Shiv Sena with monoto-nous regularity, it appears thatMaharashtra will soon practicallybe “opposition-mukt.” So far, theNationalist Congress Party (NCP)received the blows and it looked likethe Congress saved the blushes. Butthis time, the Congress poll prepa-rations in Maharashtra is in the dol-drums. Recently, three of its mem-bers — Former MinistersHarshavardhan Patil andKripashankar Singh as also UrmilaMatondkar — quit the party.

During his mass outreachprogramme, Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis had claimedrecently that Opposition partieswould be diminished to such anextent that they would be hard-pressed to secure the post of theleader of the Opposition. Lookslike his claim is likely to fructifyas senior leaders, perceived to pos-sess the “winnable” factor, are join-ing the ruling bandwagon. Whothen will be left in the Opposition?

Padmini Raghavendra Secunderabad

������� ����

Sir — Thanks to the strictenforcement by traffic authori-ties across the nation, there hasa been massive rise in the collec-tion of fines for violations. The

steep hike in fines is a step in theright direction as it will helpbring down accident rates andimprove road safety.

The traffic enforcementauthorities should conduct alarge-scale awareness drive onroad safety and on the recent

amendments that have brought inseveral changes. As riders becomeaware of the new rules, they maylead to safer roads. Extensiveeffort is also required to improvethe conditions of the roads.

Varun DambalBengaluru

����������� � ���

Sir — This refers to the report,“India snubs Pak’s Valley interfer-ence bid in Geneva” (September12). Ever since the abrogation ofArticle 370, several reports havesurfaced that claim that Pakistanhas pushed dozens of terroristsinto our country to launch terrorattacks. This is not something thatis unheard of. Every time whenour eastern neighbour is let downon the international forum, ittakes recourse to such tactics.

However, what is surprisingis the fact that Islamabad, despitegoing through a difficult phase oftime, continues with the samepernicious foreign policy of pro-viding material support for terror-ism. Its economy is in doldrums,foreign reserves have dried upand it continues to remain onFATF’s “grey list” for not doingenough to crack down on terrorfinancing. It must realise thatescalating tensions across theborder will in no way help it gainany support.

Manisha Via email

� � � 7 ' � - � & 8 � � � � � � . 2

)))4'���(3�&�!!$40& ���� ��� ���8������������Q 7$�������������Q �����#��� ���8������������8

(���������������������� ������� !���"3$�%&"'

�=

2 !���� ���������

�����2��1� .����

9������������#���� �������������������������������� ��L� 9�� ������#�����������������������������������#�������������� ������#���R

&���������������N�������#������������������������������������������� �������������� �����������������SD�C$�2������

�'567"����"��"7H;���=����

$���������)��C����*�������#���������������� ������ ���������� ���������������� !���������������������� ������

�@)'7H4�����.�����

>����������������������������������������������� ������#�� �������������������#�� ���������������������������#�������������������������

�����;'E"�;"7�'5H;�����.����

� � � ! . # � �

� � � � � � � � � � �� * � � � . � � �

� ���� ����������� ������

;������������������������4������"����������#������ �"�����������������;��3��=�#������ ���������� 3��#����������������������������

(��������������������������6�3���.�����$�����������������������#������������������������������� �������$��������� �������3��#�����9�� ��(�#"������5--? ��!�#���5-?G���������������������������(�#"������"���������� !�������������#��������������������������������#��������������������#������������#��� '��������������������C�����������������������3�������������:��� ��5-5-

$����������������������� �����������������������������#���������(�#"����������������������������3��#��������������#������������� $��������������������������������3��#��������#���������������������������4�����������8�����������������(�#"������ ����������� ����������#��#������������� $����������������������������$���������������������������������/��������������� ���������������������3������ 0$������������ ��#��������������#���������� ��������������������������� ���� �� ��L����� �� ����� �� �������� ������������� ������������������������.��������

(�#"������������������!���� ��(�#"������5-?,�����������$�������������������(�#"������������������������������������������3�������������������������������������������=�3��������������� ����� $� ����� ���� ������� ������ "��������������������������������#���/��������#���������� ���������������0�������������������#��������������������#��������� $������� ��������������#��������������������������������������������������

��7%����5���G�5��������

!�2;4:1&(:�4&2!;�1=!

$';9!1:;4!;�:;!1<

;2%�=�:'44<�9:%%�.2

";:44��4":1$;�9'$�1=$:$(2�1�'4$;�!%�

":��2;"�!%!1��'9%�"%�D2:D

9;�$!�1 ":'%��(24�4!<$(2

4!�2$(�1=!9:'$9';>!!4

&2%%R

��������&�������-�*����+�"))"7�)';%'5""7H6��%�(@'��

2��"������������������

���)2�������*������#��� ����������������������������������������#������������������������ ��������������������������

!5%'5��%5%�)"7H�����=����

��������0����������� ������������������ ��# �����""������� � ��� ������������� �� ����� �������

��������� ������� ���!������ "������ ��3))� ������4 ����5$������'�!"�

#����"�������� ��*�����

�������!������ !���� ������� ����� ����� �� ����������������� ����(�����!�������

� ��*4������������� !���� �������� ���(I����������������������

�����������!������������������� ����������������8�������������� ������������������������� ����� ������������(I���J!K��� ������� ����������������

�������!��������

Recently on the recommendation of theCollegium of the Supreme Court (SC), fourChief Justices from the High Courts

(HCs) were elevated, raising its strength to 34.While a growth in the arrears of cases in the SCand the need for their early disposal appear tobe the main reasons for such a raise, its relevancearises from the fact that the apex court is the headof the judiciary in the country and for expedi-tious disposals, it has to set an example and for-mulate a strategy for speedy and less expensivedelivery of justice in courts and its consequentbenefits to the common man.

One thing which is most striking in thewhole scenario is that our Constitution came intobeing in 1950, that is just about 70 years ago,while the criminal code of procedure, which reg-ulates the procedure for investigation of cases bythe police and their trial in the courts is as oldas 1898, which is almost 120 years old.

An amended code was brought in 1973 butits basic structure remains the same. It is obvi-ous that the system devised by the British Crownfor the colonial administration should have beendone away with, as per the aspirations of an inde-pendent country, a republican and a people-friendly Government, but for some reason wehave continued to persist with this relic of thecolonial period.

As the delays in courts multiply, hopes of thecommon man for quick and inexpensive deliv-ery of justice continue to recede. The serious-ness of the situation can be gauged from the factthat in October 2018, the present Chief Justiceof India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi had expressed thatSC judges should not take leave on working days.This was more or less an exhortation to ensurebetter disposal.

According to rough estimates as of August2019, there are over 3.5 crore cases pendingacross the SC, the HCs and the subordinatecourts throughout the country. Of these, subor-dinate courts account for over 87.3 per cent pen-dency of cases, followed by 12.5 per cent pen-dency in the 24 HCs. The remaining 0.2 per centof cases are pending with the apex court. Theproblem of pendency creates a lot of collateraldamage, particularly in criminal cases, as it leadsto prolongation of stay of undertrials in custody.The situation in some of the subordinate courtshas almost assumed scandalous proportions aseven the CJI had said at one place that “convictsare being heard in some courts after the com-pletion of their sentence.”

It is not as if the problem of mounting arrearshas not been addressed with sufficient empha-sis in the past. The Arrears Committee consti-tuted by the Government on the recommenda-tion of the Chief Justices’ conference, had said,“the failure on the part of the Executive to pro-duce adequate number of competent judges fromtime to time has substantially contributed to themounting arrears.”

The National Commission to review theworking of the Constitution (2002) had suggest-ed that the Government should also share theconcurrent obligation of meeting the expendi-ture of the subordinate courts and maintainingthe subordinate judiciary. It had further madeseveral recommendations, including giving pri-ority over civil matters to criminal cases, where

the accused are in custody. Greater reliance was placed on an

Alternate Dispute Resolution mecha-nism through Gram Nyayalayas (villagecourts) for rural areas and ConciliationCourts for rent and eviction suitsrelated litigation in urban courts.

In addition, this commission hadstressed that the Government being oneof the biggest litigants, should careful-ly check the judgments from the HCsand not go to the apex court in appealsas a matter of routine, just to avoid alle-gations.

The commission also recommend-ed a very ambitious strategic actionplan for time-bound clearance ofarrears in the jurisdiction of each HC.Despite several constructive and doablesuggestions, the reform process hasbeen slow even as pendency in thecourts continues to multiply on a dailybasis.

As far as court procedures are con-cerned, the grant of adjournments, farin excess and in routine, to advocatesneeds to be limited.

Once there was a strike by theadvocates on some issue in a particu-lar HC. The judges continued toadjourn the cases of striking advocatesinstead of going ahead with the hear-ings wherever both the parties werepersonally present. Such uncalled foradjournments are not in the overallinterest of quick disposal of cases. Also,one can frequently observe that despitethe pith and substance of argumentsbeing fully covered, some of the advo-cates continue to speak for long dura-

tions of time perhaps for the sake ofcreating an impression. Courts canalways fix time limits in consultationwith the advocates before the proceed-ings actually commence, so that thearguments are pointed and confined tothe issues at hand. The LawCommission has also studied this sub-ject and made its recommendations.

Unfortunately, its 239th report,instead of focussing on the conduct ofexpeditious trial and reduction ofarrears in courts, has dwelt more on thenegligence of the police force in thecountry.

We are well aware that the courttrial commences where the investiga-tion ends. As such merely highlightingthe deficiencies of the police depart-ment does not expedite the process oftrial in court. Police reforms and sep-aration of investigation from law andorder are separate subjects of great pub-lic importance but the issue of a quickand an inexpensive trial in the court hasbeen relegated in this report.

As the pendency of cases leads todelays in trial, it causes serious collat-eral damage, particularly in criminalcases. The rate of acquittal beingalready quite high, with lapse of timemany more cases end in acquittal,which might have seen a convictionotherwise.

The rates of conviction in some ofthe Western democracies are quite highand it is not as if they have been con-victing innocent people. In our courts,the judge mostly hears but does notinvolve himself beyond a limit during

the course of depositions. In certainEuropean countries like France andGermany, an inquisitorial system is fol-lowed where the judge can pull up theinvestigator and ask for gaps to be filled.The trial judge can also question theaccused and draw an adverse inferencein case he remains silent and does notexplain himself.

This is also relevant in borderlinecases where there is a very thin differ-ence between a cognisable and non-cognisable offence. In our case, theArticle 20 (3) of the Constitutionneeds to be amended accordingly. Ourcourts follow the principle of “proofbeyond reasonable doubt” for a convic-tion. On the other hand if this ischanged to “if the court is convincedthat it is true”, trials would be expedit-ed with better results for the prosecu-tion. Some of these measures had ear-lier been suggested by a committee con-stituted by the Ministry of HomeAffairs but most of its recommenda-tions are yet to be implemented. Areclassification of crimes for trial ofoffences under the social welfare code,correctional code, economic and otherwhite collar crimes, criminal code,organised crime and terrorism, alsoneeds to be considered. It may be eas-ily observed that merely raising thestrength of the judicial officers may notbe enough for quick delivery of justiceto the common man as the system callsfor changes in vital areas.

(The author is a former Governorand a senior advisor at the PranabMukherjee Foundation)

����������"����������� ��*������ ����������� ������ �"��� ��1��!���$���� ��*��������������������������� �����"����$���������

������� �<� � � � � � � � 1 !

�� !�%&$���#�".#&��!��"#�#!

$�9���"����������������������������������������������������������#

�����������������������������������9������������ �

����������#�������������!������

��� ����

:';":';$4D:%%:&$(2

�;�1"��%2:DK�;::D92<:1�

;2!4:1!9%2�:'9$�D:;!

":16�"$�:1 :1$(2:$(2;(!1�

�D$(�4�4"(!1=2�$:K�D

$(2":';$�4":16�1"2�$(!$

�$�4$;'2��$;�!%4&:'%�922T�2��$2�&�$(92$$2;

;24'%$4D:;$(2�;:42"'$�:1

4:�2:D$(242�2!4';24(!�

2!;%�2;92214'==24$2�9<!

":���$$22":14$�$'$2�9<$(2��1�4$;<:D

(:�2!DD!�;49'$�:4$:D�$4�;:�:4!%4!;2

<2$$:92���%2�21$2�

$����������������������� ������������������������ ������� ���������� � �� 7������ � 9����� $��� /79$0����������������������������������� �����������

*���������������������������������79$�������������������7����:���@������ �����8�������������������������������������������������������������������������(�����������������������������������������

#����� ����������������������:���@��������������� �����79$�������6��������������������� ������(��������9��������/2����0/9�(20��������� ��������(�����������������������������������������7�������� ����

*���������������79$��������������������6����������!�� �6��������:$#���������������2����@������6���� $������������� �����8�������������������������(���������:��������������������#����� ���������������� �����8��������������������������������������������������������6����������� �����������79$:���@�������

#��������������� ������������79$�����������(����9�/20������!���� �@�����C�������������� ��������%������������������������������������(����������������� ��-� �������������������������#����(��������������3,3,���7���������� �������������������������� �� �����������������������/ ��0�������������������������������������� ��$���@���������� �������������������� �������7�������� ������@���&�������������������

)������������79$����������������������������(����������� ���������79$(��%���������7��������������������������������������������9�/20������� ���� �����8����&����������#� ������������������������������� ���������7����������:���@���������������������������������� ������������������������������ �����8����&������������#� ���������������������������� ��������������������������� ��������� ��� �����8��������������������������������������(�� �����������������

#�79$��� �����8��������������3,,,��������������������������������� ������6����$��� ����������(��������� �������� ��������������#��������������79$������������������:���@����������������������������������� ���������7�����G���� ���������� ����������������2����:���������������������������������(������������������7�����#� ���������������� ���������������������� 79$��������������������� �������������������9�/20������

*���3,,5������ ����������79$������� �����8����������������������������������� �������������������������������������������7�������3,,HC��6���������������� ��������������� �����8����������:���@��������7����������

*��������������������������������79$��������� �����8��������������������������������C��6������������������ �������������������� ��������(������4>�������9�/20��������������������� ���(���%��������(79$����������������� ��������� &������������������������������������������ �����8���������������������������������������������� ����79$:���@����������6����

#�������7�������������� �����8����&�����������:���@������������������������������������������-���������������������������9�/20��������&�����("������������������������������������������(���� ������ 79$����������������:���@���������������������*�&�������������������������������79$���(�������������������� �������%�������������������(����*������ �����8��������������������������������(����������������!������ �9��������/!9�0�����������%���������������3,45�

�����8����&�"������������ ����������������79$�������� ����������������� �������� �� 7���� �����(���� ��9�/20�-���������������7����������������� �����79$�����������������������������������������#�79$�������� ��� ��������� ���������������������������������������������������9�/20���������������

6������������45 ����*�&�����������7�����������������������������������

/����������������� �����������������������

��������������0

Imran Khan, the 22nd PrimeMinister of Pakistan since 2018, isa vocal actor-cum-appellant,

though not necessarily effective, indoing things. Two enduring charac-teristics of Khan, however, remain.His colourful past and his perfor-mance on the cricket ground. Bothof these proved to be an asset as wellas a liability for the Niazi tribesman,settled in Pakistani Punjab’s Mianwali.

Nevertheless, the combination ofcricket as an asset and colourful lia-bility lasted through the vagaries ofKhan’s life, which either endeared oralienated him to a section of peopleand finally led the Pashtun politicianto head the Pakistani Government.

Khan today, however, is not at his

best. His persuasive ways and charm-ing language are badly faltering. Heis charged, unfriendly, makes absurdclaims and unbalanced statementsthat are highly unbecoming of thehigh office he occupies. The formercricketer is talking nuclear war as ifhe is a bowler, giving bumper andbody-line to a dour tail-ender on theground. As if it’s a toy to be fiddledwith.

Known for aggressive and brashon-ground appeals, Khan is relyingon past ground tactics, using threats,telling lies, deploying deceit and try-ing tricks in the realm of politics anddiplomatic relations. He publiclyconfessed to unethical ball tamper-ing in the past. Can dishonest acts bewiped out from the curriculum vitaeof the man who is heading ouraggressive neighbour at the moment?

Simultaneously whining, wailingand warning all and sundry, Khan hasarraigned India before the comity ofnations. “One of my foremost prior-ities was...peace,.....wanted to nor-malise relations with India,....meetingwas arranged,.....but India cancelledmeeting,....all my efforts to start a dia-

logue for peace rebuffed byIndia......Evidently our desire forpeace in a nuclear neighbourhood ismistaken as appeasement.” The tiradecontinued: “If the world does noth-ing to stop Indian assault on Kashmirand its people, there will be conse-quences for the whole world as twonuclear-armed states get ever closerto direct military confrontation.”

One isn’t surprised at the jingo-istic language used by him as Khan’slack of wisdom on “real issues” is tootransparent to be missed. He’s thePrime Minister of a country but hisrabble-rousing and ramblings resem-ble the psyche of a member ofOpposition in Parliament. That’sbecause Khan’s ego refuses to acceptthe reality of life. He is the PakistaniPrime Minister just in theory. Hedoesn’t wield power in practice. TheArmy is the boss wherein lies thepower of the State. As often referredto by Pakistan’s all-weather friendChina, “Power comes out of the bar-rel of the gun.” In Pakistan, ever sincethe coup in October 1958 by GeneralAyub Khan, the barrel of the Army’sgun always wielded power in the

State. Khan’s words in an opinionpiece in The New York Times are allbut hilarious: “With a nuclear shad-ow hovering over South Asia, we haveto begin dialogue on Kashmir, strate-gic matters and trade.” Mark thewords, “trade,” without which Khan’spromised “Naya Pakistan” will lan-guish for want of money, profit andmobility. So, for Khan, it’s either“nuclear war” or “trade” with India.Between death in war and dollar fortrade stands the raised collar of thePakistani Prime Minister.

The conclusion of the article iseven more ludicrous. “The WorldWar II happened because of appease-ment at Munich.” True or not, howis Munich relevant here? OnSeptember 29, 1938 the Munich Pactwas signed, an undeniable “prologueto tragedy.” But then there were fournations on the table, Germany, Italy,United Kingdom and France. Theirleaders, Adolf Hitler, BenitoMussolini, Arthur Chamberlain andÉdouard Daladier collectively madethe pact, only to fail to protect theindependence of sovereignCzechoslovakia. But what does it have

to do with sovereign India’s internalaffairs? Is Khan mixing up facts andfigures? Surely, he needs a gentlereminder on the reality of his ownland.

Khan should remember thatwhile he is the 22nd Prime Ministerof Pakistan, Qamar Bajwa is the 16thArmy chief. This goes to show whichoffice is more stable. Only three ofPakistan’s 22 Prime Ministers havecompleted more than four years inoffice so far: Liaquat Ali Khan,Yousaf Raza Gillani and NawazSharif. Compare this with tenures ofArmy chiefs. Ayub Khan was chieffor over seven years, Musa Khan’stenure was just one month short ofeight years, Parvez Musharraf didnine years and 53 days while Zia-ul-Haq was in office for 12 years and 169days. Musharraf ’s successor Kayani,too, had a six-year stint after gettinga three-year extension.

In fact, Khan bowed to (and notbowled against) the “wishes” ofGeneral Bajwa and gave him a three-year extension under duress. Insteadof retiring in November 2019, Bajwawill now continue till November

2022. Understandably, Khan, whousually had his way during his non-political days, finds it suffocating andhumiliating as the Prime Minister tobe steered and ordered by the back-seat-driving Bajwa. After all, Imranis a proud Pashtun and Bajwa a non-Pashtun ruler. Pakistan certainly is noIndia with rich cross-cultural anddiverse ethnicity in barracks and bun-galows of the state.

It’s, therefore, absolutely imper-ative for India to be extremely care-ful owing to the potential misadven-tures of desperadoes in the neigh-bourhood. 2022 could be a definingyear for South Asia in general andIndia in particular. First, there’s theheat generated by Pakistan-occu-pied-Kashmir in the west and China-occupied-Ladakh in the east. TheChina-Pakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC) and Tibet-Xinjiang road,both pass through India. Second,2022 is the 75th year of both Indiaand Pakistan’s Independence. Possiblya gala Indian celebration and a dampsquib for Pakistan may lead to a spoil-sport scenario. Third, 1947 hap-pened on the back of the two-nation

theory of Islamic Pakistan and non-Islamic India. With 2022 being the1400th year of Islam, it’s bound to bean occasion for fanatics and terror-ists of Pakistan, to ignite fire. Fourth,the present mass religious hysteria,generated by Khan and the Army-ISIduo, to cross over to India could verywell be the last, and worst, of Pakistanifolly, if implemented. And finally,Bajwa, arguably, one of the mostsilent, low profile operators, whopicked up rank, superseding twoseniors, courtesy, Nawaz Sharif in2016. Bajwa is a seasoned hand whovirtually spent his life in the vicinityof Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).

Bajwa also is closest possible tothe Chinese and the main architectto deploy one division to protect themand the CPEC. One, therefore, pitiesthe civilian puppet of the militarypuppeteer. India must be on the look-out for, not the civilian loudspeaker,but terrorist and terrorism master-mind and lord of the civilian loud-speaker, the Pakistani Army.

(The writer, an alumnus NationalDefence College, is author of China inIndia.)

&�!���,��� ������ ����� �"������� ���������������� ����� ���������������� ���������������� ��������� �� ����� ���� �� ������� �������������������������������� ���������

���� ��������!��� �������!���"� �� ��������� ��������������� �������� �������������������������� ���������� �������������

�51�6�� #*�����*��22�

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

)))4'���(3�&�!!$40&

+���;�������������������� ������� !���"#$�%&"'

#�����������

%������������ � ��������� ������&����������������%�����!��?��&� ��� �&&����������-��!$��&���������-���@A���� ���B����!1�%����&����������� ���&������������� �������� ���������� ��������������&������-&� ���������� ��������� �������� ������������������� � ������� �� ��

'� ���� ������22)���$!����������� �������(� ��������������'� �����������!��5� ���� ��1���� �������� ���� ����������������-��� ���������� �5�-���������!�����������>������������������������$�%��������

����������������� � ���������)����-�����?��� � �����������!�C������&������&����&�� �������&�������������*�������� ��������'���&� ��� &��������>�����>�*��-��$������� 1���, ����'������� � �����������������"������ ������������� ����&���������������� ��1�'(����'�(�������!�C����&� ���������'��������������� ���A�� ���������!�C���������������&� �������������

���-��������� �����@D�*��-�B������*�� �D�*� � �&&������E���� �� �������� ����� ������(�������&����� ���������� � ������������������ � � ��� ��������$�� ���7 � ��'������ ���&��������� � ������- �������$������� �� ������� ��1����/ ���� � � ����' �������������� ���������' ����A�� ��������������������������� ������ ��1

%���!��� �&�������������������� ������!�� �@!��!B������ ���������������������� ���!������ ��������� � ���D � ����@��!�B���� ����������������������������F'� ��� � �����-����������� ��������$���.�G���$������� ���%�&����1���!�� ���� ������ ���������� ������������� ����-�� ���-������"��,������������� ����&���������������������� ���!��� �&� ����������&���� H>������H�>�< �H����H�"���,��H�!�� H�,���H�D�����H����� H�$ �� H� �����H���&��������� �H�5��H�I �--��������������������-���� ����������&�����33�333����������������� ��

'(����������!����.?��&� ���� ��������!%�A� �&&�����J� �����/&- ������ � ��������� �>��*�C ��03�2=�@������-����� �9B����� ���0������� ������C ���9���A�� ���&���� ���C ��������������� ����C �� ��"���8����� �� ����$������� ����%�&����1�������������������� ��������',�� ��������� ������C!������&�����K����������������!%�A��������*��&���������������������C!������ � ���������� ��������

���� 12&�2%(�

Expressing concerns overfall in export credit,

Commerce and IndustryMinister Piyush Goyal onThursday said the governmentwill soon come out with guide-lines on extending foreignexchange credit to exporters ataffordable rates.

“We are concerned that it(export credit) has fallen, andwill come up with the contoursof a vibrant programme (toaddress the issue) soon, whichwill particularly support micro,small and medium enterpris-es,” Goyal said while address-ing the meeting of the Boardof Trade here.

The programme, moreimportantly, will make for-eign exchange credit availableto exporters at competitiverates, he said, adding that therates were likely to be in thesub-four per cent category.

He said the ministry waswaiting for Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman to take a

call on some of the issues onexport credit.

The bankers are on boardand “...We shall shortly becoming out with the contoursthat have been finalisedbetween the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI), the finance min-istry and the commerce min-istry,” he added.

Export credit disburse-ment declined 23 per cent in2018-19 to Rs 9.57 lakh crorefrom Rs 12.39 lakh crore in2017-18.

He also said the ministrywould notify new anti-dump-ing rules this month.

Further, the minister urgedstates to send representatives tothe Board of Trade meetings.

The level of participationof states and ministries willdetermine the cooperation that“we will give” them, he said.

“If both the senior officialsand state ministers are notthere, it is a matter of seriousconcern. I may have to talk tothe respective chief ministers,he said.

He added that if the min-isters of states are busy anddon’t find time to come forthese meetings without duecause known to us in advance,“then if states have any prob-lems, I may find myself busy torespond to those states.”

“I hope the message will goto those states who, for the sec-ond time, have not attendedthis meeting,” he added.

Similarly, for central min-istries, which have a stake inexports, “I will take it serious-ly if they are not able to come,unless they give a reason wellin advance,” Goyal reiterated.

Goyal also said thatalthough total exports crossedhalf-a-trillion-dollar mark atUSD 537 billion in 2018-19,India will have to achieve USD1 trillion of exports in the nextfive years.

He said the ministry willsoon come out with a creditscheme for exporters withenhanced insurance cover upto 90 per cent instead of thecurrent 60 per cent.

During the board meeting,the LEADS Index-2019 wasreleased by the minister.

Gujarat topped the chartamong states in the logisticssector. It was followed byPunjab and Andhra Pradesh.

Among the hilly easternstates, Tripura is the top per-former and, among UnionTerritories, Chandigarh wasselected as the best-performingUT.

The index is an effort bythe ministry to establish thebase line of performance in thelogistics sector based on theperception of users and stake-holders at the state level.

It is not an index of theperformance of the state gov-ernment but may be used toassess the status of logisticsefficiency in each state.

���� 12&�2%(�

Retail inflationinched up to a

10-month high of3.21 per cent inAugust mainly dueto higher prices offood items likemeat and fish, veg-etables and pulses,government datashowed on Thursday.

However, retail inflationis still within the Reserve Bank’starget range, thus keepinghopes of another rate cut alive.

Inflation based on theConsumer Price Index (CPI)stood at 3.15 per cent in Julyand 3.69 per cent in August2018. The previous high was3.38 per cent in October 2018.

Inflation in the food basketwas 2.99 per cent, up from 2.36per cent in July.

The August data releasedby the National Statistics Officein the Ministry of Statistics andProgramme Implementationalso provided details of infla-tion in segments like ‘health’,‘recreation and amusement’and ‘personal care and effects’.

The retail inflation inhealth was 7.84 per cent, recre-ation and amusement 5.54 percent and personal care andeffects 6.38 per cent.

Price rise in the ‘education’segment was recorded at 6.10per cent in August.

Inflation in meat and fish

basket was 8.51 per cent, puls-es and products 6.94 per centand vegetables 6.9 per cent.

The RBI, which mainlyfactors in CPI for arriving at itsbi-monthly monetary policy,has been mandated by the gov-ernment to ensure that infla-tion remains at 4 per cent, withdeviation of 2 per cent oneither side.

The central bank, whichhas already reduced the keypolicy rate four times in thecurrent calendar year, is sched-uled to announce its next bi-monthly monetary policy onOctober 4.

The data also revealed thathighest rate of inflation waswitnessed in Assam at 5.79 percent, followed by Karnataka(5.47 per cent) and Uttrakhand(5.28 per cent).

Interestingly, inflation wasin the negative zone at (-) 0.42per cent in Chandigarh.

Inflation in rural areas ofthe country was at 2.18 per centand 4.49 per cent in the urbanareas in August.

���� 12&�2%(�

India’s industrial productiongrowth slowed to 4.3 per

cent in July, dragged mainly bymanufacturing sector’s poorshow, according to govern-ment data released onThursday.

Factory output, as mea-sured by the Index ofIndustrial Production (IIP),had expanded 6.5 per cent inJuly 2018. The industrial out-put growth was recorded at 1.2per cent in June and 4.6 percent in May this year.

According to data releasedby the Ministry of Statisticsand ProgrammeImplementation, industrialoutput grew at 3.3 per cent inApril-July period this fiscal,down from 5.4 per centgrowth in the same period ayear ago.

The IIP data showed a sig-nificant slowdown in themanufacturing sector, whichgrew at 4.2 per cent in July2019 as compared to 7 per centa year ago. Capital goods seg-ment, which is a barometer ofinvestment, saw a contractionof 7.1 per cent in July com-pared to 2.3 per cent rise a yearago. Mining growth was 4.9per cent in July as comparedto 3.4 per cent in the samemonth last fiscal.

The expansion in thepower generation sector stoodat 4.8 per cent in July, com-pared to 6.6 per cent a yearearlier.

New Delhi: International assessment leaders, higher educationpolicy-makers, trade associations, and university chancellors,came together on Thursday, to outline and debate global best prac-tices around ‘the future of assessments in India: transformingexam standards in higher education and the Workplace’. At anexclusive event hosted by Pearson VUE, the global leader in com-puter-based testing, key decision-makers across the educationand assessments sectors, ran workshops and delivered keynotepresentations on topics ranging from university admissions test-ing, psychometrics, and online proctoring. PNS

����� �� !�����.����.������!��� ��!��������������� .����� �����!��9�!!��� ���������������������: Mumbai: Continuing its win-

ning run for the sixth straightsession, the rupee climbed 52paise to end at 71.14 against theUS dollar on Thursday as signsof easing trade tensions betweenthe US and China buoyed glob-al markets. Easing crude oilprices and fresh foreign capitalinflows provided further sup-port, forex traders said.

The Indian currency hasappreciated by 125 paise in thelast six trading sessions. At theinterbank foreign exchangemarket on Thursday, the localunit opened on a strong note at71.46 and shuttled between ahigh of 71.00 and low of 71.46.It finally closed at 71.14, show-ing a gain of 52 paise over itsprevious close. PTI

���� 12&�2%(�

Countering richest IndianMukesh Ambani,

Facebook Inc on Thursdaysaid data is not the new oil, andcountries like India shouldallow its free flow across bor-ders instead of attempting tohoard it as a finite commoditywithin national boundaries.

Facebook Vice-President,Global Affairs andCommunications, Nick Cleggsaid data sharing is crucial fornational security as India rightnow finds itself “locked out” ofmajor global data-sharing ini-tiatives aimed to clamp downon serious crime and terrorism.

India should create a newtemplate for the internet that“respects the rights of individu-als to choose what happens totheir data; one that encouragescompetition and innovation;and one that remains open andaccessible for everyone,” he said.

Chairman of RelianceIndustries Mukesh Ambanihad stated that “data is the newoil” as he propagated the pro-tection of Indian users’ datagenerated through use of inter-

net as well as social media plat-forms, saying the country’sdata must be controlled andowned by Indian people andnot by corporates, especiallyglobal corporations.

“There are many in Indiaand around the world whothink of data as the new oil —and that, like oil having a greatreserve of it held within yournational boundaries, will leadto surefire prosperity. But thisanalogy is mistaken,” Cleggsaid at an event here.

“Data isn’t oil — a finitecommodity to be owned andtraded, pumped from the groundand burned in cars and factories.Of course, no analogy is perfect,but a better liquid to liken it to iswater, with the global internet likea great borderless ocean of cur-rents and tides,” he said.

The value of data, he said,comes not from “hoarding it”or trading it like a finite com-modity, but from allowing it toflow freely and encouraging theinnovation that comes fromthat free flow of data - the algo-rithms and the services and theintelligence that can be built ontop of it.

C��-��*���&��������-� �������� ����������� ������&���=��-��������� �� ���� ���

� ������ ��6���������������7�������� 8(9(:�$��5�;� �������������� ���

(��������������������������������#�����������

!��&��� ���&��&���������������:1�L ��/&��

��&��++��7���+����'���&�:%��&��%�����������,�����:(��������%+(������������

'��������� ��������� �()<� ����"� ��39�(=����"���

+���;;������������ ������ ������� !���"#$�%&"'

���� 12&�2%(�

Apollo Tyres plans to furtherscale up its aftermarket

business as it aims to establisha clear leadership in the over-all domestic passenger vehiclesegment in the next two years,a senior company official saidon Thursday.

The company, which onThursday launched a new tyrerange Apterra AT2 for SUVs,already has a leading position inthe original equipment (OE)segment with market shareranging 25-30 per cent in vol-ume terms and now aims toenhance its market share in thereplacement vertical.

“Our ambition is to be anumber one in the passengervehicle segment. We alreadyhave a leading position in theOE segment. In aftermarket, wehave a market share of around16 per cent which we want toscale up to 20 per cent in thenext two years,” Apollo TyresPresident Asia Pacific, MiddleEast and Africa, Satish Sharmatold PTI.

It will help the companyachieve a dominant and clearleadership position in the PVsegment which also has signif-icant players like MRF andBridgestone, he added.

Scaling up aftermarket busi-ness is important for the com-

pany’s growth as the segmentaccounts for around 70 percent of the revenues currently,Sharma said.

Apollo Tyres’ market sharein the PV segment is currentlypegged at around 20 per cent. Inthe commercial vehicle seg-ment, including radial and biastyres, the company’s marketshare is around 30 per cent. “Inthe market share game in OEsegment, we have already won.In replacement vertical we wantto (win as well),” Sharma said.

New products, branding ini-tiatives and expansion of networkexpansion would help the com-pany scale up the business.

When asked if the companyis also taking steps to curtail pro-duction with slowdown in theoverall automobile market,Sharma said there has not beenmuch impact for them as 70 percent of company’s revenue comesfrom the aftermarket and only 30per cent from the OE.

The company’s investmentplans are going on as plannedand there have been no curtail-

ment as of now, he added.Designed and developed

as a collaborative effort betweenthe two Global R&D, Centres inEnschede, the Netherlands andin Chennai, India, the ApterraAT2 will be produced at thecompany’s Vadodara unit inGujarat.

The company is looking atcatering to the all-terrain tyremarket of around 15,000tyres/month in India, and isintroducing eight sizes in firstphase, which are targetedtowards vehicle like Endeavour,Fortuner, Pajero, Force One,Scorpio, XUV 500, Hexa andothers.

Another six sizes of ApolloApterra AT2 would be launchedin second phase, and together,the range will cover over 90 percent of the all-terrain vehiclemarket, Sharma said.

“We are sharpening ourfocus on the SUV segment inIndia, with specialised tyres fordifferent terrains, as this vehi-cle segment is growing fasterthan passenger cars,” he added.

���� 12&�2%(�

Banking solutions providerInfosys Finacle on

Thursday said the govern-ment’s decision to merge sev-eral public sector banks was apositive development andwould not adversely impact itsbusiness.

The company, which hasimplemented its digital bank-ing suite on cloud solution forShivalik Mercantile Co-opera-tive Bank Ltd, said it was alsowitnessing strong client winsinternationally from marketslike the US and Australia.

“Impact is positive... lastyear, the government hadmerged Bank of Baroda withDena and Vijaya, the platformis ours,” Infosys Finacle SeniorVice-President and GlobalHead of Sales VenkatramanaGosavi said.

When asked if there couldbe a loss of business on accountof these developments, heanswered in the negative.

Speaking at an event, hesaid there could be challengeson the tech front, among otherareas, for these banks may beoperating on different bankingsoftware and versions.

In the biggest consolidationexercise in the banking space,the government in August hadannounced four major mergers

of public sector banks, bring-ing down their total number to12 from 19.

Gosavi said Infosys Finaclehad a dominant market sharein India and was steadilyexpanding its presence in theinternational markets as well.

“Our early success has beenin our home market as expect-ed from a product company.

“In the last 10-12 months,we have had big wins in the US,in the UK and Australia... rev-enues are now secular innature. At one point in time,this part of the world (India)was contributing largely (torevenues) but now that ischanging which is in line withour aspiration for growing,” hesaid.

Currently, banks in over100 countries use Finacle tocater to more than a billionconsumers and 1.3 billionaccounts.

Talking about the partner-ship with Shivalik MercantileCo-operative Bank Ltd, Gosavisaid the deployment of FinacleDigital Banking Suite on cloudwould provide the bank withagility to scale operations in acost effective manner.

The two parties startedworking together about a yearback and about three lakh cus-tomers of the Bank have migrat-ed to the Finacle platform.

���� �'�9!�

Benchmark indices sur-rendered early gains toclose in the negative zone

on Thursday as investors pre-ferred to cash in on recent gainsahead of key macroeconomicdata releases.

After swinging 386 pointsintra-day, the 30-share BSESensex settled 166.54 points, or0.45%, lower at 37,104.28.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty fell 52.90 points, or0.48%, to close at 10,982.80.

Domestic investors turnedcautious ahead of factory outputand inflation data, traders said.

On the global front, mar-kets rose on hopes of a resolu-tion to the US-China tradeconflict after President DonaldTrump delayed by 15 daysadditional tariffs on someChinese imports. Beijing hadon Wednesday announced itwould exempt 16 categories ofproducts from US tariffs, aheadof their next round of tradenegotiations next month.

Yes Bank, which was thetop gainer in the Sensex packon Wednesday, was the biggestloser in Thursday’s session,tumbling 5.10%.

Other laggards includedTata Motors, Maruti Suzuki,Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, RIL,NTPC, Bajaj Auto, Asian

Paints, ITC, Kotak Bank, BajajFinance and TCS, falling up to4.76%.

On the other hand, ICICIBank, Sun Pharma, IndusIndBank, HDFC twins, SBI, TechMahindra and ONGC rose upto 2.13%.

“Market had done well inthe last one-week and bouncedback from the oversold regionwhich was heavily impactedlast month by poor economicdata. Today it is waiting for thenext set of updated data tounderstand whether the worstfor the economy is over or ifthis slowdown will continue inthe short-term. The outlook on

these upcoming data is weakwhich is likely to be support-ed by more rate cut by RBI inthe next month’s policy meet,”said Vinod Nair, head ofresearch at Geojit FinancialServices.

Sectorally, BSE auto, tele-com, energy, oil and gas, real-ty, utilities, teck, FMCG and ITindices ended up to 1.92%lower.

Finance, bankex, capitalgoods and basic materialsgained up to 0.35.

Broader indices closed ona mixed note, with the BSEMidcap slipping 0.45% and thesmall-cap gauge rising 0.12%.

9����������+�����!�*�#������!���+���

��������������������F�����������!�#�������������������G F+��

New Delhi (PTI); The mutual fund industry has addedaround 5 lakh investors’ account in August, taking the total tallyto 8.53 crore, amid volatile market conditions. In comparison,the industry had added 10.29 lakh new folios in July. Folios arenumbers designated to individual investor accounts. An investorcan have multiple folios.

According to data from Association of Mutual Funds in India,the number of folios with 44 fund houses rose to 8,52,81,222 atthe end of August, from 8,48,00,409 in the end of July, register-ing a gain of 4.81 lakh folios. The total folio count stood at 8.38lakh in June, 8.32 lakh in May and 8.27 lakh in April.

Market experts said the addition of folios suggest that investorswere undeterred by the market volatility. Besides it indicates theirunderstanding of the market risks associated in the mutual fundschemes.

�����������>������ � ������ �������������� � ����- <+�!�������C ����

�������&$����$��1:;������������"��������"�����������/���������������0��&�������

����%+(��>�������+��(��������&�&�����(������������������,���%������+������'�76

? �����������+��

Script Open High Low LTPFRETAIL 413.00 415.05 401.85 406.10YESBANK 72.10 72.10 67.20 67.95TATAPOWER 61.75 65.05 61.70 64.00HCLTECH 1059.10 1064.45 1048.20 1054.75IBULHSGFIN 437.00 458.80 435.00 449.40MARUTI 6569.00 6641.60 6372.40 6391.80TATAMOTORS 134.55 135.30 126.80 127.95TATASTEEL 367.00 379.90 362.90 364.50WOCKPHARMA 301.00 343.50 298.05 324.65APOLLOHOSP 1550.00 1574.95 1454.15 1459.10ICICIBANK 398.00 407.05 398.00 402.75JINDALSTEL 108.00 113.95 106.70 107.20RELIANCE 1238.00 1239.60 1206.35 1210.35INDUSINDBK 1362.00 1411.65 1362.00 1389.05EMAMILTD 294.00 305.10 294.00 300.10SUNPHARMA 426.00 439.80 419.65 427.70SBIN 287.05 288.70 284.10 286.85CUMMINSIND 583.00 583.60 565.35 568.70BANDHANBNK 450.00 458.00 450.00 454.00RBLBANK 381.80 382.00 364.05 367.15HDFCBANK 2250.00 2288.50 2249.00 2270.30GRASIM 712.00 728.50 712.00 717.10INDIGO 1665.00 1737.95 1665.00 1722.75MARICO 387.50 388.55 383.95 385.10ULTRACEMCO 3922.15 4034.90 3919.35 4003.20GRAPHITE 283.55 311.60 281.00 302.55VENKYS 1478.40 1690.00 1478.00 1604.50BANKBARODA 100.00 102.45 98.95 101.25SPICEJET 129.95 135.85 129.10 133.00

TCS 2154.00 2164.95 2120.65 2133.85PIIND 1277.10 1289.10 1231.25 1232.60HEG 1050.05 1143.80 1044.40 1117.15HDFC 2087.00 2114.00 2078.00 2082.85SBILIFE 790.00 799.00 784.00 791.90VEDL 147.30 147.85 144.45 145.25DLF 161.70 164.10 158.60 159.65BAJFINANCE 3411.00 3429.40 3372.70 3382.80RELINFRA 40.90 42.20 39.70 40.05ASHOKLEY 63.90 64.65 62.20 62.50UPL 579.00 585.90 565.10 566.10ITC 244.95 244.95 240.05 240.80BHARATFORG 412.65 416.20 404.20 405.60DHFL 51.05 52.55 49.45 51.25ZEEL 355.60 359.00 335.50 346.45M&M 546.40 552.00 540.25 543.50NCC 59.00 61.70 58.80 60.10HINDPETRO 266.50 274.40 261.40 262.55AXISBANK 677.10 681.50 660.70 663.00ESCORTS 533.00 536.70 519.50 523.00LICHSGFIN 406.90 412.20 404.50 406.15BPCL 386.10 394.30 381.85 384.25RNAM 264.55 267.40 260.70 262.05IDEA 5.77 6.06 5.49 5.54WIPRO 247.50 248.45 244.00 244.55EICHERMOT 16951.00 17180.20 16529.75 16631.10HDFCAMC 2665.00 2697.45 2626.00 2663.05ADANIPOWER 64.40 65.20 63.10 63.80JSWSTEEL 227.70 232.25 221.20 222.15LT 1369.80 1379.00 1355.50 1362.50RELCAPITAL 36.20 38.35 35.75 35.95IOC 126.95 129.00 124.05 124.45PNB 64.80 65.50 64.25 64.55SUNTV 449.00 449.00 438.60 443.00CANBK 205.00 207.35 201.85 203.75ACC 1492.20 1508.95 1479.10 1480.30PEL 1956.00 1998.90 1956.00 1966.00ADANIENT 144.90 146.20 142.10 142.50HEROMOTOCO 2749.00 2765.35 2718.65 2746.30MCX 980.00 980.45 947.65 954.30SAIL 34.30 35.05 33.60 33.70L&TFH 97.60 99.25 95.80 96.20TATAMTRDVR 61.85 62.25 58.20 58.60INFY 818.00 819.80 811.20 816.35UJJIVAN 316.00 323.00 311.75 313.00TITAN 1110.00 1114.90 1082.55 1085.65JAICORPLTD 84.65 94.00 83.45 89.65MGL 845.05 856.60 839.70 840.85HDFCLIFE 539.75 546.00 536.25 537.70JUSTDIAL 726.00 741.70 722.60 722.60KOTAKBANK 1467.10 1483.60 1452.20 1457.50M&MFIN 335.35 343.35 334.35 336.00MOTHERSUMI 104.60 106.35 102.40 103.20BAJAJFINSV 7350.00 7351.50 7211.20 7293.30HINDUNILVR 1825.15 1833.00 1800.00 1806.65JUBLFOOD 1269.00 1274.00 1225.90 1230.00NBCC 37.85 39.10 37.50 38.00BEML 816.90 847.20 795.90 811.05SRTRANSFIN 1037.40 1058.75 1032.30 1038.85ONGC 126.45 128.35 125.45 125.85BANKINDIA 69.45 69.70 67.95 68.35

SHANKARA 458.00 467.00 431.10 439.30RAYMOND 577.15 598.95 577.15 593.20BHARTIARTL 357.40 357.40 346.70 347.45ICICIPRULI 423.80 427.45 416.50 419.70UNIONBANK 60.00 60.20 58.65 59.00NAUKRI 1959.00 1960.00 1839.50 1864.55STRTECH 138.00 143.70 136.20 141.25DRREDDY 2780.00 2787.00 2748.00 2765.40PFC 110.50 113.00 110.25 111.70ICICIGI 1128.70 1148.70 1128.70 1139.30TVTODAY 309.75 312.00 296.00 296.00IBREALEST 65.00 68.00 64.90 65.30BHEL 51.75 53.15 51.25 51.55GODREJPROP 954.95 967.25 931.50 941.15TECHM 703.80 709.00 694.10 705.85TVSMOTOR 406.25 406.25 387.30 389.70CEATLTD 895.50 915.00 894.40 902.25CENTURYTEX 878.80 909.00 876.60 906.85FEDERALBNK 86.00 87.55 85.55 85.60IBVENTURES 155.00 165.00 152.60 158.05HINDALCO 195.00 197.50 192.70 196.75DELTACORP 181.55 188.75 181.55 184.60DBL 461.00 477.40 443.00 447.25SRF 2816.00 2834.25 2700.30 2704.50PVR 1585.00 1626.15 1580.50 1580.50TATAELXSI 648.00 657.00 642.05 646.00SPARC 151.90 162.25 150.30 160.50COLPAL 1241.95 1246.80 1229.05 1239.00ASIANPAINT 1574.00 1574.00 1537.45 1539.60BATAINDIA 1570.00 1579.45 1544.55 1551.20TATAGLOBAL 259.65 263.80 258.40 263.50DMART 1570.10 1579.90 1552.85 1568.65BEL 108.35 110.15 107.05 108.00COALINDIA 198.90 199.10 195.50 197.70BAJAJ-AUTO 2910.00 2911.00 2847.60 2856.25BIOCON 237.95 237.95 230.30 232.30NTPC 124.05 124.75 121.65 122.30ABBOTINDIA 9845.25 9870.95 9720.90 9791.00IPCALAB 932.35 949.00 932.35 944.00LUPIN 760.80 767.80 755.00 757.00PHILIPCARB 119.25 123.50 118.50 119.20ABB 1338.20 1345.00 1328.00 1337.00RAJESHEXPO 652.50 675.40 652.50 666.85PIDILITIND 1374.90 1388.50 1365.45 1371.85JUBILANT 506.00 509.75 488.40 492.35SIEMENS 1227.00 1246.30 1214.30 1229.30AUROPHARMA 630.00 631.95 623.75 626.20AVANTI 347.00 368.00 347.00 360.65EDELWEISS 106.50 110.35 106.30 107.60FORCEMOT 1248.00 1286.60 1208.00 1212.75STAR 402.50 406.10 394.10 396.00ADANIPORTS 374.00 375.95 370.95 371.60NESTLEIND 12756.80 12829.00 12525.00 12567.45EQUITAS 115.55 119.60 114.25 115.75BOMDYEING 85.90 87.85 85.20 85.90MFSL 402.30 419.85 400.00 415.15DIVISLAB 1625.45 1655.00 1614.55 1643.35IRB 78.40 86.40 78.40 83.75DCBBANK 194.00 202.85 194.00 202.30IDFCFIRSTB 44.00 44.30 42.90 43.25RECLTD 148.45 149.50 147.20 147.60VOLTAS 634.00 641.45 628.20 632.70POWERGRID 201.40 201.65 197.80 199.45DISHTV 23.60 23.80 22.80 23.10GAIL 128.00 129.70 125.40 125.80HAVELLS 670.10 672.95 665.50 669.50RAIN 103.00 106.50 99.60 100.65NOCIL 104.90 108.70 101.00 101.35MINDTREE 680.55 683.80 667.30 670.65MRF 60101.00 61206.00 60101.00 60702.00UBL 1322.80 1322.80 1268.00 1268.00GODREJIND 400.95 410.25 398.05 408.90CANFINHOME 394.00 400.45 390.15 392.40GODREJCP 617.05 625.75 614.90 617.60GMRINFRA 17.20 17.20 16.45 16.70KEC 248.90 258.75 247.50 253.80TORNTPOWER 280.50 286.00 279.80 280.45CASTROLIND 125.70 130.00 122.35 129.20CIPLA 474.10 474.10 464.70 468.10NATIONALUM 44.75 45.55 43.65 43.80JSLHISAR 76.45 81.10 72.60 77.50MANAPPURAM 125.35 126.55 124.10 124.20INDIACEM 78.50 81.00 78.50 79.40BRITANNIA 2667.00 2680.00 2648.55 2673.15DABUR 449.70 451.55 446.65 450.60BERGEPAINT 371.00 372.15 365.95 367.65ITI 78.30 80.45 76.10 78.45EIDPARRY 161.75 164.55 159.60 164.15PCJEWELLER 31.70 34.05 31.70 33.40GRANULES 100.00 105.95 99.85 104.20AMBUJACEM 198.75 200.15 195.25 195.90VIPIND 403.95 416.60 402.00 411.00IDBI 28.70 28.95 27.90 28.25APOLLOTYRE 179.45 181.65 176.75 177.10FSL 50.25 51.60 49.90 50.10OMAXE 195.40 195.40 192.95 193.95MEGH 55.55 59.45 55.30 58.10IGL 336.15 336.55 324.95 325.85SWANENERGY 109.40 109.45 103.60 103.80INFIBEAM 40.40 41.00 39.70 40.00HEXAWARE 379.85 380.50 373.15 374.70GLENMARK 384.75 389.35 380.50 380.70ORIENTBANK 67.45 67.85 66.40 66.90OBEROIRLTY 566.10 572.15 538.55 550.40ABCAPITAL 97.90 98.90 95.60 96.00CHOLAFIN 275.85 281.45 274.60 276.15SUNTECK 473.05 473.05 456.45 466.30

NMDC 85.85 85.85 83.35 84.10BALKRISIND 744.80 755.00 740.70 749.90PGHL 4396.60 4494.00 4238.90 4239.60ENGINERSIN 112.70 114.70 111.85 112.00BBTC 1025.05 1040.00 1001.00 1006.20SUZLON 3.04 3.20 3.04 3.14KTKBANK 79.15 81.35 77.35 77.95NIITTECH 1415.00 1431.20 1407.40 1408.00JKTYRE 65.70 71.65 65.70 68.60CADILAHC 237.05 243.90 237.05 238.95RADICO 301.00 308.00 298.30 298.85RPOWER 3.44 3.54 3.32 3.34GSFC 78.90 79.70 77.20 77.20BOSCHLTD 14415.00 14457.05 13704.00 13788.40PETRONET 265.25 268.00 262.50 263.65CONCOR 520.85 528.65 518.25 518.65CGPOWER 14.61 14.61 13.93 14.58HFCL 19.85 20.15 19.70 19.70SUDARSCHEM 338.00 357.90 337.20 339.90SOMANYCERA 208.35 212.90 203.00 208.80ERIS 397.60 444.40 393.40 420.05EXIDEIND 187.90 187.90 183.45 184.20ALBK 33.60 34.10 33.50 33.75IDFC 36.00 36.30 35.05 35.55ITDC 195.85 227.40 194.75 227.40TATACHEM 592.20 592.65 584.65 586.70PAGEIND 18449.00 18598.80 18077.80 18198.00PTC 63.90 64.70 63.65 64.25DEEPAKNI 280.00 283.45 272.75 273.00GRUH 255.00 259.50 252.15 257.65MUTHOOTFIN 602.70 612.70 599.30 599.30INDIANB 168.00 170.60 165.40 166.25TEJASNET 91.30 99.05 91.30 97.40JINDALSAW 79.00 80.80 77.70 78.50INFRATEL 252.65 252.65 248.85 251.10RAMCOCEM 723.00 730.45 721.50 727.25ITDCEM 68.00 74.00 68.00 70.00NHPC 23.90 24.20 23.70 24.05AMARAJABAT 655.25 666.00 653.20 654.40GLAXO 1385.15 1401.35 1363.10 1371.00VBL 594.95 615.15 586.00 595.75GNFC 194.75 198.00 191.00 192.00AJANTPHARM 1014.75 1052.80 1014.75 1048.00DCAL 181.10 197.40 178.35 188.80GODFRYPHLP 1016.75 1031.60 999.75 1012.95TRENT 467.00 472.15 455.05 455.75ELGIEQUIP 253.50 253.50 251.15 253.50ATUL 3729.10 3789.20 3712.00 3748.90LTTS 1623.00 1624.00 1573.10 1576.35LTI 1642.40 1644.20 1601.10 1605.00HUDCO 37.70 38.55 37.40 37.70KANSAINER 475.85 481.80 470.70 470.70FCONSUMER 29.80 30.10 29.00 29.55HATHWAY 23.70 25.90 23.70 25.90HINDZINC 216.05 217.50 213.65 213.65KAJARIACER 497.55 504.05 494.25 499.60SUVEN 273.15 281.20 271.00 274.00MMTC 21.55 22.80 21.35 22.30JISLJALEQS 21.40 22.45 21.00 21.65KEI 477.10 484.25 465.00 467.95INTELLECT 222.40 224.00 219.80 219.95SOUTHBANK 10.83 11.00 10.83 10.87TNPL 199.00 204.00 196.10 198.80NAVINFLUOR 737.30 772.50 737.30 746.80REPCOHOME 327.00 344.00 327.00 337.00LEMONTREE 53.95 54.40 53.80 53.95QUESS 462.50 470.00 457.90 460.05PFIZER 3236.00 3317.95 3168.40 3240.70PARAGMILK 159.90 163.00 155.95 159.70BLISSGVS 112.45 113.50 108.70 108.95RCF 44.25 45.30 44.15 44.30ADANIGREEN 49.45 50.25 48.45 48.85NATCOPHARM 579.40 580.20 560.00 564.05WABAG 304.00 311.90 300.90 303.75LAKSHVILAS 37.95 38.75 37.95 38.75TORNTPHARM 1699.45 1724.00 1697.95 1704.25ADANIGAS 138.55 140.00 137.10 137.95HINDCOPPER 35.20 36.40 34.90 35.30OFSS 3018.65 3018.65 2915.50 2924.85ASTRAZEN 2100.00 2110.00 2014.60 2014.60TV18BRDCST 21.25 21.85 21.25 21.45KRBL 239.15 245.25 233.50 235.20TATACOFFEE 79.70 81.95 78.20 79.00CHAMBLFERT 159.35 161.00 158.00 158.80JSWENERGY 67.50 68.30 65.95 66.05TRIDENT 60.50 62.50 60.35 60.70INOXLEISUR 285.00 299.65 284.80 298.55VINATIORGA 2322.00 2354.50 2307.00 2346.60DCMSHRIRAM 414.00 425.40 411.00 412.40MAHSCOOTER 4203.20 4280.70 4175.10 4175.10HONAUT 26500.05 27346.00 26500.05 26850.00WHIRLPOOL 1666.00 1666.00 1635.65 1647.65PNBHOUSING 637.15 645.00 632.50 638.70RALLIS 168.00 169.25 165.05 165.65RELAXO 497.00 497.85 483.55 486.05PERSISTENT 566.00 572.75 563.95 572.75COFFEEDAY 70.45 70.45 70.45 70.45JAMNAAUTO 40.00 40.20 38.05 38.40SHREECEM 18453.60 18634.45 18325.70 18634.45HSCL 76.75 78.00 75.75 76.15ASTRAL 1299.00 1367.75 1299.00 1330.60RITES 232.65 239.70 232.55 236.70LAXMIMACH 3820.00 3940.85 3802.55 3918.00SCI 34.50 35.00 33.70 34.20COROMANDEL 380.50 400.95 379.30 400.25MINDAIND 341.15 343.00 330.00 332.50GUJALKALI 451.20 469.00 450.00 451.35

VGUARD 222.55 227.80 221.70 221.85OIL 150.15 151.80 149.25 150.40SJVN 25.40 26.25 25.25 25.55GSPL 218.60 225.15 218.60 224.30BALMLAWRIE 170.00 172.30 169.00 171.30GHCL 197.30 204.00 195.30 200.25HEIDELBERG 193.70 195.70 191.00 192.45ALKEM 1850.00 1868.50 1819.30 1821.00AUBANK 660.00 672.00 659.30 670.00FINEORG 1540.00 1547.00 1475.75 1530.00MASFIN 618.00 630.00 613.45 614.00ALLCARGO 103.50 106.00 100.00 101.60MOIL 125.50 126.00 122.35 122.70WELCORP 134.50 136.00 133.75 134.15DEEPAKFERT 96.75 96.75 90.75 91.65NLCINDIA 56.65 57.75 55.20 55.80JPASSOCIAT 2.56 2.56 2.44 2.47ABFRL 190.00 191.45 187.15 187.50TATAINVEST 781.85 787.00 774.00 780.00AKZOINDIA 1715.20 1720.00 1699.85 1700.00CROMPTON 232.35 236.00 232.35 234.55GICHSGFIN 183.70 186.45 180.00 184.10LINDEINDIA 497.60 497.60 476.00 480.153MINDIA 20300.00 20354.55 20100.00 20132.85CREDITACC 608.50 612.90 591.20 601.40ZYDUSWELL 1802.85 1821.15 1783.40 1785.00ASHOKA 99.70 100.30 96.75 97.10J&KBANK 40.25 40.75 39.60 39.65CAPPL 430.00 447.30 430.00 444.05TATACOMM 431.85 433.90 426.00 426.00GREAVESCOT 131.75 131.90 128.10 129.30WESTLIFE 285.00 285.50 280.70 282.00BAJAJELEC 390.00 392.90 380.00 381.00THERMAX 1019.00 1029.30 989.10 991.60SANOFI 6010.00 6010.00 5906.00 5925.00LALPATHLAB 1332.00 1335.00 1300.00 1309.55GUJGAS 176.50 180.75 176.15 176.15GSKCONS 7852.05 7892.00 7770.00 7770.00CENTRALBK 19.45 20.20 19.45 19.70IBULISL 86.90 88.60 85.10 88.60SUNDRMFAST 432.65 452.00 432.65 446.00THOMASCOOK 150.20 151.60 147.50 151.45AIAENG 1522.65 1574.85 1522.65 1550.00GODREJAGRO 472.00 495.25 470.60 473.00KALPATPOWR 467.00 472.80 455.65 465.55ORIENTELEC 153.00 154.80 152.00 153.00PRSMJOHNSN 89.70 92.00 86.80 87.35ISEC 229.15 238.65 229.15 232.00IFCI 7.52 7.85 7.42 7.51JSL 37.15 37.85 36.05 36.05CUB 199.75 200.75 195.30 197.80GALAXYSURF 1349.15 1360.00 1330.80 1360.00ORIENTCEM 92.10 95.20 88.50 89.30TAKE 130.10 130.85 127.35 127.55MAHLIFE 401.60 417.80 399.15 403.50WELSPUNIND 52.75 53.05 50.10 51.00MRPL 48.30 48.45 47.50 47.55SREINFRA 12.75 14.10 11.77 12.62ADANITRANS 237.10 239.05 229.70 231.05FINCABLES 376.15 391.10 374.50 379.55AEGISLOG 190.45 197.00 189.15 192.60SONATSOFTW 305.20 311.70 304.35 310.00CARERATING 549.90 552.00 547.20 550.00HIMATSEIDE 146.30 146.30 142.05 144.20MAHLOG 340.25 360.00 340.25 348.60IRCON 344.75 345.50 341.60 343.35BLUESTARCO 728.05 736.75 711.00 720.00NBVENTURES 87.00 91.65 87.00 88.15SYNDIBANK 32.20 32.45 31.70 31.80BASF 1032.90 1050.00 1015.50 1018.80ENDURANCE 996.25 998.25 955.00 955.00MAHINDCIE 163.10 171.10 163.10 163.80APLAPOLLO 1307.40 1312.95 1280.00 1290.00PRESTIGE 303.00 306.25 301.50 303.35GPPL 82.50 82.70 79.40 79.95SOBHA 536.30 537.80 527.00 528.45TIMKEN 701.40 701.40 687.00 689.25ADVENZYMES 165.85 166.90 162.55 166.05FORTIS 126.60 127.35 125.10 125.10INDHOTEL 135.00 135.95 133.75 133.85SCHNEIDER 81.75 82.40 80.05 80.85UFLEX 220.20 227.50 217.10 219.15SKFINDIA 1895.20 1910.00 1895.20 1899.10NETWORK18 24.00 24.70 23.50 24.50JMFINANCIL 75.00 76.00 74.25 75.15JBCHEPHARM 381.00 382.60 379.00 380.95MINDACORP 97.90 99.90 97.00 97.45VMART 2096.20 2096.85 2014.55 2040.40WABCOINDIA 6125.00 6129.20 6077.90 6090.00TIMETECHNO 68.95 71.90 66.75 68.20

GMDCLTD 68.35 69.00 67.90 68.50BAYERCROP 3197.00 3209.95 3153.00 3153.00GILLETTE 7115.15 7142.10 7070.00 7070.00TATAMETALI 552.05 555.50 533.05 538.00MPHASIS 991.35 991.85 983.70 988.15CENTURYPLY 147.00 149.40 146.00 146.85BIRLACORPN 563.00 570.50 560.00 562.05CHENNPETRO 184.20 186.35 183.00 183.60MOTILALOFS 585.60 589.45 580.10 584.50BDL 282.80 288.00 280.00 280.60DBCORP 139.90 142.00 138.00 139.10VTL 912.25 927.55 905.00 912.05PNCINFRA 182.50 183.30 177.40 179.00SUPREMEIND 1147.15 1147.15 1125.00 1129.60GESHIP* 248.50 248.50 246.00 247.00BAJAJHLDNG 3348.80 3373.00 3318.25 3344.15HAL 702.95 704.50 682.80 686.30FDC 168.00 168.90 165.35 166.50INDOSTAR 286.60 298.05 283.90 290.10FINOLEXIND 510.65 513.70 508.65 512.10NILKAMAL 1065.00 1065.00 1014.45 1043.00APLLTD 505.95 512.80 505.95 512.70THYROCARE 468.00 472.75 467.20 472.00LUXIND 1163.70 1185.00 1148.00 1150.00CARBORUNIV 305.15 312.25 291.65 292.45CYIENT 450.10 452.40 445.15 446.05JETAIRWAYS 38.05 39.00 37.10 38.80PHOENIXLTD 695.40 701.75 687.30 697.00ANDHRABANK 20.40 20.40 19.25 19.25SYNGENE 325.90 325.90 319.05 319.50TIINDIA 344.50 344.50 330.30 331.00ZENSARTECH 219.05 220.65 216.00 220.45GICRE 178.80 180.00 176.00 177.85NH 248.00 252.15 244.75 246.30CENTRUM 25.45 25.95 24.90 25.10CRISIL 1286.90 1293.10 1254.70 1254.70AAVAS 1543.80 1550.00 1535.10 1535.10TEAMLEASE 2760.95 2812.40 2750.00 2777.70JCHAC 1655.00 1688.00 1634.70 1679.00UCOBANK 14.95 15.10 14.90 15.00KNRCON 224.75 224.80 220.00 220.00COCHINSHIP 352.55 357.00 351.25 355.35UNITEDBNK 9.58 9.74 9.55 9.62EVEREADY 63.65 63.65 63.65 63.65GDL 112.00 114.00 111.35 111.75GET&D 167.20 173.00 165.10 165.40HERITGFOOD 379.65 379.65 369.10 369.10NIACL 109.50 111.75 107.50 107.95EIHOTEL 159.85 162.00 157.35 160.60JKLAKSHMI 330.05 332.35 327.70 328.90TVSSRICHAK 1850.00 1874.25 1839.05 1839.05SHRIRAMCIT 1331.00 1389.00 1313.00 1324.00BAJAJCON 258.75 260.25 254.10 256.10CORPBANK 17.15 17.30 16.75 16.95MHRIL 216.50 216.60 212.80 215.95IOB 10.19 10.19 10.00 10.07JKCEMENT 1022.00 1024.00 1015.00 1020.00TTKPRESTIG 5869.85 5896.80 5850.00 5859.75JAGRAN 71.95 72.25 70.55 71.35NESCO 531.95 536.90 528.00 534.80MAGMA 64.15 65.10 62.60 63.35SADBHAV 143.95 145.50 139.15 139.15SHILPAMED 263.00 274.30 259.90 259.90CCL 244.90 245.65 242.75 244.10LAURUSLABS 345.10 346.60 343.40 343.95KPRMILL 553.75 555.15 549.65 550.40ESSELPRO 108.40 108.40 106.30 107.05MONSANTO 2080.00 2100.00 2067.00 2067.00STARCEMENT 88.00 99.25 88.00 97.80CHOLAHLDNG 442.00 442.00 430.00 430.05MAXINDIA 62.25 62.70 61.25 61.30SOLARINDS 1070.15 1081.75 1060.10 1060.10JYOTHYLAB 148.80 148.85 146.95 146.95DHANUKA 333.30 344.25 333.30 337.00GEPIL 765.00 765.00 745.00 749.20APARINDS 567.95 576.90 560.00 561.25LAOPALA 178.00 180.10 172.65 172.65IEX 131.95 132.30 130.60 131.25SHK 131.00 131.70 129.40 129.40SYMPHONY 1270.60 1273.55 1250.15 1256.00MAHABANK 12.13 12.20 12.01 12.05VARROC 470.00 470.00 457.00 458.40INOXWIND 35.30 36.00 33.50 34.25GULFOILLUB 848.40 852.85 828.65 830.00FLFL 439.90 440.70 427.30 436.10PGHH 10163.75 10202.50 10107.90 10149.00MAHSEAMLES 394.80 397.95 382.20 393.50ECLERX 472.70 474.15 466.25 466.25ASTERDM 119.85 122.00 119.85 121.70GRINDWELL 577.00 580.00 577.00 577.15TCNSBRANDS 653.50 663.00 642.25 642.80IFBIND 675.00 686.00 658.00 661.80SCHAEFFLER 4065.00 4072.00 4045.60 4046.75SIS 795.55 810.00 786.65 786.65ASAHIINDIA 189.55 191.40 185.60 185.60REDINGTON 109.80 110.10 109.40 110.00HATSUN 625.00 625.00 612.30 612.30CERA 2548.70 2548.70 2477.40 2492.25RCOM 0.82 0.82 0.82 0.82BLUEDART 2381.55 2410.90 2380.00 2380.00TRITURBINE 98.60 99.45 98.20 98.45GAYAPROJ 114.35 114.60 113.50 114.10JSWHL 2737.00 2740.00 2736.00 2736.00SFL 1297.00 1297.00 1261.00 1293.00SHOPERSTOP 397.45 397.45 391.30 391.30SUPRAJIT 162.90 163.40 161.45 161.45RATNAMANI 926.95 934.40 926.95 934.40

�������

SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 11058.30 11081.75 10964.95 10981.05 -54.65IBULHSGFIN 435.35 458.95 435.20 447.15 15.70ULTRACEMCO 3920.00 4035.90 3916.60 4000.00 96.60ICICIBANK 399.65 407.20 399.65 402.60 8.00HINDALCO 193.95 197.60 193.60 196.65 3.20SUNPHARMA 424.75 439.80 419.45 427.70 5.50INDUSINDBK 1379.00 1412.00 1375.40 1389.00 16.85GRASIM 712.00 728.80 712.00 717.45 5.95HDFCBANK 2250.70 2288.80 2248.15 2267.95 16.65HDFC 2085.45 2113.85 2076.85 2082.80 10.95COALINDIA 197.60 199.20 195.40 197.65 0.95BRITANNIA 2666.40 2683.15 2647.65 2675.35 8.95TECHM 701.10 709.20 694.00 705.55 1.85SBIN 286.75 288.80 284.15 285.95 0.70DRREDDY 2766.00 2788.00 2747.10 2765.65 4.65ONGC 126.25 128.35 125.25 125.85 0.10LT 1370.10 1379.75 1355.35 1362.40 -1.25HCLTECH 1057.00 1064.45 1048.00 1055.00 -2.70ADANIPORTS 375.00 376.20 370.50 372.35 -1.00INFY 816.40 819.85 810.85 817.60 -2.50TATASTEEL 368.80 379.50 363.00 365.60 -1.45M&M 546.10 551.95 540.25 543.25 -2.50BPCL 387.05 394.35 381.65 384.00 -2.10HEROMOTOCO2747.00 2766.00 2720.00 2742.00 -18.15BAJAJFINSV 7355.00 7357.90 7126.65 7303.95 -50.25VEDL 146.90 147.90 144.50 145.25 -1.05INFRATEL 252.80 252.80 248.70 251.00 -2.20TCS 2155.00 2165.00 2120.35 2134.60 -19.40CIPLA 474.00 474.00 464.40 467.40 -4.40POWERGRID 202.00 202.00 197.65 199.30 -2.10HINDUNILVR 1826.00 1833.60 1798.50 1803.50 -20.80BAJFINANCE 3402.50 3429.00 3370.60 3377.00 -39.40TITAN 1110.70 1114.60 1083.75 1088.10 -12.95ITC 244.30 245.00 240.00 240.80 -2.95KOTAKBANK 1480.00 1483.65 1452.00 1456.80 -18.40IOC 126.70 129.00 124.00 124.40 -1.65ASIANPAINT 1570.00 1570.00 1537.15 1538.00 -23.45WIPRO 245.70 248.50 244.00 244.25 -3.90NTPC 124.00 124.75 121.60 122.30 -2.20BAJAJ-AUTO 2911.00 2911.40 2846.70 2855.00 -53.40RELIANCE 1235.00 1240.45 1205.70 1211.50 -22.90UPL 581.80 585.90 565.10 566.50 -11.20BHARTIARTL 358.40 358.40 346.75 347.60 -7.50EICHERMOT 17040.00 17188.20 16521.50 16621.10 -392.55GAIL 129.35 129.70 125.40 125.45 -3.00ZEEL 354.75 358.95 335.30 346.15 -8.30JSWSTEEL 228.00 232.25 221.20 221.70 -6.00AXISBANK 680.10 681.65 660.55 662.65 -19.05MARUTI 6565.00 6640.00 6370.00 6398.75 -198.55TATAMOTORS 134.60 135.35 126.70 129.25 -5.10YESBANK 71.80 72.20 67.15 68.25 -3.35

�������

�����������

SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 26380.00 26495.85 26253.15 26265.95 -43.70INDIGO 1665.00 1737.95 1662.00 1725.00 60.95BANKBARODA 99.55 102.50 98.90 100.90 1.85DIVISLAB 1625.00 1656.00 1613.00 1645.00 28.45NHPC 23.85 24.25 23.65 23.90 0.35BANDHANBNK 451.00 458.30 450.60 455.10 6.00MRF 60256.00 61109.95 60000.00 60750.00 648.05BAJAJHLDNG 3314.50 3376.00 3312.15 3350.00 33.60ICICIGI 1135.35 1148.40 1134.35 1139.00 9.80HAVELLS 668.90 673.00 665.65 670.70 5.60GODREJCP 618.80 625.75 615.25 615.80 4.90SHREECEM 18562.30 18645.05 18327.55 18625.00 134.65ABB 1335.50 1346.00 1325.15 1336.00 7.60SIEMENS 1232.00 1247.00 1213.55 1230.00 5.25CONCOR 518.00 528.45 517.90 519.50 1.65DABUR 449.10 451.70 446.55 450.40 1.30SRTRANSFIN 1038.70 1059.95 1032.45 1037.30 3.05HDFCAMC 2664.30 2698.00 2624.90 2661.00 3.25COLPAL 1239.90 1247.95 1228.65 1237.20 1.20LUPIN 762.80 767.90 754.75 760.00 0.45PIDILITIND 1374.00 1388.65 1365.10 1374.90 0.00CADILAHC 241.50 243.80 236.90 239.40 -0.20GICRE 177.20 180.30 175.55 177.00 -0.20AUROPHARMA 630.75 632.00 623.40 627.60 -0.80HDFCLIFE 539.95 545.90 536.20 536.85 -1.05DMART 1576.00 1579.95 1555.00 1567.00 -4.05ACC 1487.00 1509.35 1477.75 1480.70 -4.30MOTHERSUMI 103.95 106.35 102.40 102.95 -0.45NMDC 85.10 85.50 83.40 84.00 -0.45PAGEIND 18498.00 18607.05 18058.90 18258.00 -103.95HINDZINC 215.80 217.40 213.15 213.35 -1.25MCDOWELL-N 616.80 626.00 611.85 613.00 -3.75L&TFH 97.50 99.30 95.65 96.05 -0.60MARICO 387.00 388.35 384.05 384.35 -2.45PGHH 10238.05 10238.05 10101.00 10101.00 -70.90ICICIPRULI 422.00 427.50 415.90 419.00 -3.00DLF 161.65 163.95 158.40 159.25 -1.15PETRONET 265.40 268.10 262.40 263.50 -1.90BHEL 51.90 53.20 51.20 51.50 -0.45AMBUJACEM 197.50 200.20 195.10 195.45 -1.90PEL 1982.30 1998.85 1958.00 1963.85 -19.20SAIL 34.20 35.05 33.60 33.75 -0.35SBILIFE 788.95 798.95 784.20 791.10 -8.55HINDPETRO 267.35 274.50 261.20 262.00 -4.00BIOCON 235.75 236.85 230.05 231.00 -3.80NIACL 109.75 110.90 107.25 107.65 -1.90ASHOKLEY 63.55 64.70 62.10 62.45 -1.25OFSS 3024.60 3030.05 2912.60 2933.95 -75.60UBL 1311.10 1311.10 1267.80 1268.00 -38.00BOSCHLTD 14389.00 14450.00 13700.00 13781.00 -468.25IDEA 5.80 6.05 5.45 5.55 -0.20

������������������� ������� !�� "#$�%&"' 7����;"

����� !8����� !88��#��

����!��������� ������!��� ����!�!5%)"����)%'5�� '4!� �������.����"��������������������'�����1��������$�������������������������������������#�������������������1����(���� "�����F,�������������������'4�� ���������"��������������������������#���������������'4��C���"���������������#�������

����������!��� �������������7%�� ����������������D������������$������ ��������������������������������������� ������������������������������������� �#�����������������#������������

����������� � �����!����������.������������� ��������������������������.�����������4����!�� �����������������������������.��#����������������������$�����������������������������������.�����

9������ !��� ���!���&������8 �����<�'5�'5� ����O������� ���C�����#O������#�������������������������������������������������������������������� ����#������������������������������������2��������������������������������������� .5�?G ��������#��������������2����������������C����������������� ������������������������������ ������������� ��� �����������#����������� ���������3������1�����!�������� $��������� ������������������.5�?G������� ���??-��#������������2�������%�����������������������������������������������1!4!(� ��4����$��������

���� %:1�:1

UK's embattled PrimeMinister Boris Johnson

on Thursday denied that he liedto Queen Elizabeth II when hesought the suspension ofParliament last month, even asOpposition parties intensifiedtheir demand for its recall.

The power to proroguethe UK Parliament lies with theBritish monarch, who conven-tionally acts on the advice ofthe Prime Minister.

Johnson was confrontedby the question about mis-leading the Queen, a day afterthe Scottish High Court ruledthat his move to seek a proro-gation of Parliament from themonarch was "unlawful".

"Absolutely not. The HighCourt in England plainly agreeswith us, but the Supreme Courtwill have to decide," saidJohnson, in response to the

query about his motivationbehind the Parliament suspen-sion currently in force, whichcritics believe was a ploy to pre-vent MPs from scrutinisinghis Brexit strategy.

After Scotland's HighCourt ruled against the moveon Wednesday, the UKSupreme Court will now hearthe government's appealagainst that verdict next week.

The UK High Court hasdismissed a similar casebrought by Indian-origin anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Millerlast week.

Meanwhile, the OppositionLabour Party said it is "moreimportant than ever" thatParliament is recalled after thegovernment published its no-deal Brexit assessment whichlays bare the prospect of foodand medicine shortages in theevent that Britain left theEuropean Union (EU) without

an agreement in place by theOctober 31 deadline.

The so-called OperationYellowhammer document,which the Johnson governmentwas pressured to publish after amedia leak around its findings,warns of disruption lasting upto six months, lorries piling upon the border and fears ofprotests and counter-protests.

But Johnson is standingfirm on his “do or die” pledgeto leave within the Brexit dead-line and insisted the UK "willbe ready" to leave the EU byOctober 31 without an agree-ment "if we have to".

"What you're looking athere is just the sensible prepa-rations – the worst-case scenario– that you'd expect any gov-ernment to do. In reality we willcertainly be ready for a no-dealBrexit if we have to do it and Istress again that's not where weintend to end up," he said.

%���������$������<!��������������!�����

>� � �M���� ���� � �����>�� ��/��������*������� ������ � ���� ������������ ������������ � �������$DK���������� ����&������������������������ ����%�����������*�D������!������ ������ �� ��7��*� ��D���������%�&���� ��

���� %:1�:1

The British government isinsisting its assessment that

there could be food and med-icine shortages, gridlock atports and riots in the streets ifthere is a no-deal Brexit is aworst-case scenario, not whatis likely to happen.

The stark picture of dis-ruption represents the gov-ernment's "reasonable worstcase scenario" for leaving theEuropean Union on October 31without a divorce agreementThe government was forced topublish the document lateWednesday after lawmakersdemanded it.

���=�����"�����+����$���+���������6����%�����+�����

����� (!;!;2

Zimbabwe ex-presidentRobert Mugabe's family

and the government appearedto be deadlocked on Thursdayover his final resting placeafter relatives snubbed a planfor him to be buried at anational monument.

Mugabe died in Singaporelast week aged 95, leavingZimbabweans divided over thelegacy of a leader once laudedas a colonial-era liberationhero, but whose autocratic 37-year rule ended in a coup in2017.

After Mugabe's death, hisfamily and President

Emmerson Mnangagwaappeared at odds over buryinghim at the National HeroesAcre in Harare or at a privateceremony likely in the familyhomestead of Kutama, north-west of the capital.

"His body will lie in state atKutama on Sunday night...Followed by a private burial —either Monday or Tuesday —no National Heroes Acre.That's the decision of the wholefamily," his nephew LeoMugabe told AFP.

In a statement, the familyaccused Mnangagwa of tryingto strongarm them into a pub-lic funeral against Mugabe'sfinal wishes.

����� %'9'�9!4(�)�;":1=:*

Fifty people were killed onThursday when a train

derailed in southeasternDemocratic Republic of Congo,the Minister for humanitarianaction, Steve Mbikayi, said.

"Another disaster!Derailing at 3am (local time) inTanganyika near Mayibaridi.Provisional toll: 50 dead andseveral injured," he wrote.

Railways in the DRC havea poor record for safety, ham-pered by poor tracks anddecrepit locomotives, many of

them dating from the 1960s.In March, at least 24 peo-

ple were killed and 31 wereinjured Sunday when a freighttrain carrying illegal passengerscrashed in the central region ofKasai.

In November last year, 10stowaways were killed and 24injured near the eastern townof Samba when the brakesfailed on a freight train.

In November 2017, 35 peo-ple were killed when a freighttrain carrying 13 oil tankersplunged into a ravine in south-ern Lualaba province.

���� &!4(�1=$:1

Asserting that the Afghanpeace talks are dead, US

President Donald Trumpattributed the end in the nego-tiations to the Taliban and saidthat the group is now being hitharder than ever before.

Speaking to reporters at theWhite House on Wednesday,Trump blamed the Taliban forthe end in the deliberationsafter the group claimed respon-sibility of a terrorist attack inKabul last week that left 12 dead,including an American soldier.

“I'll tell you one thing--weare hitting the Taliban rightnow harder than they've everbeen hit,” Trump said. The USpresident said that the Talibandid this because they thoughtby doing this, they will have anupper hand in negotiations.

“What they did was horri-ble… When they killed a greatAmerican soldier--when theykilled 12 people--innocent peo-ple-- essentially, innocent peo-ple because if you look, I mean

many of these people werecivilians,” he said.

“You also had a NATO sol-dier in addition to our greatsolider. But when they didwhat they did in order to cre-

ate what they thought was abetter negotiating stance I saidthat's the end of them — getthem out. I don't want anythingto do with them. They've beenhit very hard,” he said.

-������������-������ ���� ����"������������!�

Kabul: The war of wordsbetween the Taliban andPresident Donald Trump esca-lated as the Afghan insurgentswarned that the US leader hadfailed to grasp "what type ofnation he is dealing with".

The latest salvo in the bitterexchange comes a day afterTrump boasted during a 9/11anniversary ceremony that USforces have "hit our enemy hard-er than they have ever been hitbefore and that will continue" justdays after peace talks betweenthe two sides collapsed. AFP

���������>&��#������+���������&�!"���#������������� ���� &!4(�1=$:1

US President Donald Trumphas defended his decision

to fire John Bolton as nationalsecurity adviser, saying the lat-ter had done some "big mis-takes" and his actions were not in line with theadministration.

"When he (Bolton) talkedabout the Libyan model for KimJong-un, that was not a goodstatement to make," Trumpsaid. "You just take a look atwhat happened with Gaddafi,that was not a good statementto make and it set us back."

+ �� ������ ���$�����"����!��>�-����

���� �2;'4!%2�

Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu said

on Thursday that continuedrocket fire from Gaza is mak-ing another war against mili-tants in the coastal stripinevitable, his latest headline-grabbing announcement justdays before he seeks re-electionin a nationwide vote.

Netanyahu said advancedplans were in place to strikeGaza and that he would decidethe optimal timing of the offensive, given the Gaza Hamas rulers' unwill-ingness to stop the daily barrages.

The Israeli military hasresponded to the attacks withlimited strikes against Hamasinstallations that have causedno casualties and little damage,and has refrained from riskinga larger conflagration on theeve of Israelis heading to thepolls.

����� �(!.!

Bangladesh's Prime Ministerhas blamed Myanmar for

the failure of a recent attemptto repatriate Rohingya refugees,saying its neighbouring coun-try did not do enough to winthe community's trust.

The comments fromSheikh Hasina came threeweeks after a fresh push toreturn the Muslim minority toMyanmar's conflict-scarredRakhine state that fell flat whenno-one turned up.

Some 740,000 Rohingyafled their villages in Rakhinefollowing a military crack-down in August 2017, joiningnearly 200,000 already living insqualid camps across the bor-der in southeast Bangladesh.

"We've seen Myanmarcould not win Rohingya's trustin creating a conducive situa-tion (in Rakhine) for theirdignified return," Hasina saidin parliament late Wednesday.

2����$��!,'������������"������+�+����=�5�������#��

4���(����� ���������������;���#���������������������

?:������������������������� '������

��"���,���������# $����"��� $��������

�� �����%"��� �������������� $��� ����!����� � "�� � ��&���������� ��� ����������������

������������������� ������� !���"#$�%&"' ;$

����%����()�*�;

�1���2����5����������� !�����● "�������������E?�5������● "���������E5���● "�������������E5���● 4��������E5������● =������������E+������● D���������EU�#● 4���E5���● ����E5U����● 9����������E5����● "����E?-������● D����������E?���● 9����������E?���● ����������E?U���● 9������������E5������● =��E+���● ;���������E@� ��● 4������E?����● :����E?�'7���))'5���7%5�)%'5��

● =��#�������E+���● $�������E?���● "���������E5���● "���E@���● =����������E?���● ;�������������E?���● =����������������E?������� �

● $�������#������������������������������ $������������������������������� :�����������������������������������

��������C��#���������#������������� ● 4������������������� �������������������C��������� 9���������������������������������� ● D������������������������������#�������������#��#���#��������������������������������� $����������������#��������������������C������ "������������������������������#�������������� ● $�������������������������� $���������������������#��������������������������������������� $��������������������# ������������� ������##�������������� :���������������������������������������� ● 4��������������������

�������������#���������������������������� "�������������������������������������������� ● ��������������������������������C����������������������������������������������������� ● $��������������������������������������������������C���� ● !����������������� ������������������������������##�������� !�����������������C������ ● "������������������������#�����������������#���� "��������������������������� ���� �����3�������������������9���������� �������� ��&�����+��������-�#&���� ���%��7��� ����&�&��1

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

$�&�����=��#����1����������������������

����� ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ��C� ����#���������������#������������������������������������ ��)"��4����� ��55��:��� ��5-�7%@"��5�F+,���������)������������* "5�"��$�&�����=��#���

$�=����1�������������������������������������������������������������������

�����������������K�$ �2C����������!��3.������������������ ���������#��II��������������!���4������������������� =��������������������������������������������������� !������������������������ ����������#�������� ��)"��4����� ��?@��55 "5�"��$�=�����1������

&������������������������������"������ ���9���������������� �����������3����������������

���������������������4�����9���� $� �������������#(������������������ ������ ���������D������ ����=��������"��������"��������������������D��#������������������� D�������������������1��<���"��������������������������� �7%@"���?�JF-)������C��*%�"��?5����@�� "5�"��"������ ���9������%D"� ��"����=���#���

����4���4���������

���� �9���"��� &���C������������������������������!������3��?F��������#��� ������ ����!���������������������������4�����������������������D����� ������������������� �������#���������������� ��)"��$���4����� ���7%@"���+�---������)������C��*%�"��?5����?�� "5�"������ �9���"�������������!�������

�How did you conceptualise LuneCroissanterie?

When I returned from France, I real-ly wanted to re-live my days in Paris rel-ishing a croissant in a café and some cof-fee. Hence, I went on a search for the per-fect croissant. But I couldn’t find it.There were many bakeries which had itbut it was almost like a token product thatpeople thought they had to keep since theywere bakeries. No one was really puttingin any love. It was then when I thoughtthat maybe I could make a croissant. AndI thought to make them instead of open-ing a café. I was working by myself for overa 100 hours per week and had to put in alot of effort and time. I asked my broth-er to join me and take this idea of a saloonand turn it into a retail bakery instead ofa wholesale café. We started off and itquickly gained traction. Three monthsinto it and we saw people lining up fromtwo to three ‘o’ clock in the morning andwaiting for five to six hours to buy thecroissant.

�Initially, you couldn’t make it to thefinale of Masterchef Australia and today,you’re going back to the show as a guestjudge. How does it feel?

Oh, that moment! — When the guestjudge walks through the door. That wasa very special and emotional experiencefor me. Walking through those doors gaveme a flashback of my audition and mytime in the show. I guess I had to workincredibly hard to change my life. I hadto figure out how I could learn as muchas possible and gain respect in this indus-try. Walking in and looking at the contes-tants, I knew I had been there. I knew theywere taking a risk, leaving behind theirjobs in order to look for happiness and fol-low passion. I felt rewarded coming as aguest judge. It was worth all the risk thatI took.

�What is your obsession with crois-sants? Would you like to experiment

with other cuisines as well?Now at Lune, we have gotten a little

more experimental. We make flavours,textures and try our best to create amaz-ing experiences. We do a three-course pas-try dedication; first one is the tradition-al croissant. Second, an experimentalflavoured one. And the last is again anexperimental but sweet dish. This gives thechef an opportunity to get innovative withpastries. See, many people make croissantbut not many people make great ones. IfI had to put all my energy in making onedish, it’d be always croissant. And now thatI have established Lune, I have started toexperiment with different cuisines aswell.

�How would you describe your transi-tion from an aerospace engineer tobeing a chef?

Science is dynamic and one of themost interesting subjects to study. But thereality is that the application of aero-dynamics is extremely difficult. It requirescreativity and also demands perfection.Well, for cooking, you need a deep under-standing of the techniques and how thevarious ingredients interact with eachother. So all those ele-

ments were appealing to my engineeringmindset. And if I could use all those tech-nical elements to make something so deli-cious, could I love my job more?

�What is your signature dish and howdid you come up with the experiment?

I think it’s the croissant. And I didn’tcome up with it but I think I played a smallpart in its popularity around the world.And I hope that now more people are pay-ing attention to the dish and the produc-tion.

�What is the biggest thing you stand forand support as a chef?

When I was an engineer and was real-ly unhappy and unsatisfied with my job,I mostly looked forward to going backhome and starting to cook; for myself andmy partner. And I started investing mytime in researching new recipes andingredients and going to the farmer’s mar-ket and also became quite experimentalwith my dishes. I felt happier while cook-ing than my job. One thing that made mehappy while cooking was to see peopleenjoy the dishes I cooked for them. Andthe other thing that gives immense plea-sure to all chefs around the world is the

privilege to provide food and happinessand nourishment to people. I think it isimportant for chefs to respect ingredientsand to celebrate them. That’s somethingI have been doing too.

�How has your cooking evolved over theyears?

That’s tough to answer. It’s because mybusiness is primarily involved aroundcroissant. When I got back from France,I only spent a month working in the bak-ery there and when I got back and start-ed Lune, I realised, maybe I didn’t knowthe real part of the home productionprocess of making a croissant and insteadof going back to school to learn that, Iworked my job and also for Lune, whichhad a pretty positive effect on my cook-ing. And every single time, we made crois-sants, we made sure to challenge theprocess of cooking and improvise all thetime. I’m not just talking about cookingthem. I cook various dishes for dinner athome but cooking at Lune was learningabout our equipment, our ingredients, ourcustomers and our product. And I hopethat in 10 or 20 years from now, our crois-sant is much better than what we are mak-ing today as we are constantly pushing

towards perfection.

�What kind of techniques do you pre-fer for the presentation of croissant?

I think if a croissant has been madewell, it needs nothing else. That’s the signof a really good croissant. No need for anypresentation. If it is good, just eat it 10 min-utes after it’s fresh out of the oven. It willbe nutty, flavoury, a bit sweet, a little bitcrunchy and soft. And you should geteverything you need from the experienceof just eating that croissant minimally.

�Food is subjective to different people.Some may like a dish and some won’t.How do you deal with negative criticismto your food?

I couldn’t agree more. Everything issubjective and the croissant I make at Luneis my favourite but I understand it isn’teveryone’s. And I realise that I cannot makecroissant as per everybody’s taste. I amopen to criticism because that’s how onelearns.

�What shaped your food logic whilegrowing up? What are your inspirations?Any anecdotes to share...

My mother is Irish and my father is

Australian. Mum, hence, always made sureshe cooked food with fresh vegetables anddifferent types of ingredients. She taughtme a lot and that is something you can-not quantify. But you can taste somethingif it has been made with love and you canalso know and taste something if it hasn’tbeen made with love. And at Lune, everysingle croissant is made with love. That’sa lesson from my mother.

�How do you adapt your dishes to localingredients while travelling? Any spicesor dish across the globe that may havecaught your fancy...

Recently, I took Lune to Singapore fora few days and the formula I created is soimportant and it took us months to get thatright. And it depends on the quality ofwater, the type of milk and the flour youuse. So to have taken the local ingredients,it would have taken a lot of time to createthe croissants. But we did find the solu-tion. We had to produce the croissant inAustralia and we flew those. In case we doplan to take Lune international, I will haveto fly down to city and understand the localingredients because they can make ahuge difference to them.

�Which cuisine in the world would yousay comes closest to the perfect sensoryand nutritional balance?

That’s a really tough one. Well, a lot ofvarieties. I love Thai food. I loveVietnamese food. I love Malaysian andIndonesian food as well. And I really loveeating with hands. Also, I think using cut-lery can totally separate you from yourfood and with hands, I find it the mostenjoyable. And I love that in the Asian cui-sine, your hands are used often. So for me,going out and having an amazing dish witha naan or bread and roti with scooped upmeat is quite an experience.

� ‘A picture on the phone cannot possi-bly capture its flavours.’ In this age ofsocial media, do you think it is aninjustice to the chefs who prepare a dishthat ultimately first gets clicked anduploaded before it is even tasted?

I think it is definitely an injustice tothe chef. Quite often, we eat with our eyesbefore we taste something but it’s so truethat some of the most delicious dishes onthe planet don’t look that great and thenyour mind is blown when you taste it. Ithink these days we go through ourInstagram feeds a lot and taste a dish fromhow it looks like. But I think from a food-blogging perspective, it is a wonderful plat-form which allows chefs to share whatthey’re cooking. But I believe that oneneeds to keep an open mind towards whatthey see. Also I think that the food blog-gers have the responsibility on how theytalk about something or criticise some-thing that they’ve eaten and understand-ing that maybe someone else might enjoyit if not themselves. Food is subjective. Butwhat truly matters is not how the dishlooks but the experience of eating it. Butin this age, we need to consider the lookof it since that is how people perceive it too.

Arange of ingredients, spices, oils in thefryer, various vegetable leaves and

lentils are spread across nutrition coachSangeeta Khanna’s mini kitchen slab,which she sets up at The Imperial CulinaryClub’s Daniell’s Tavern, as she launches herbook, Pakodas: A Snack For All Seasons.She asks the various journalists and foodconnoisseurs sitting in the audience,‘What do the season’s first showers remindyou of?’ Pakodas with a cup of chai is theanswer. And why not? The great Indiansnack, no matter what form or shape itcomes in, is one that’s available at everynook and corner of the country, makingroom for the most satisfying bite ever. It’sa testament to India’s love affair with any-time food.

However, frying might have varyingdefinitions and ideas. And the one thatKhanna believes in is not known to or evenfollowed by many. And some misconcep-tions around fried foods actually came toKhanna as her inspiration behind penningthe book. She goes on to explain, “Mostpeople today link pakodas with unhealthy,artery clogging food, due to its ‘deep-fried’tag. However, there are so many other suchfoods that, too, are in the list but we con-sume them happily. We would easily havered velvet cakes and pastries. Cookies areserved as complementary with coffee andwe eat them without noticing that therecould be fat in their batter too. However,there is no fat in the batter of the pakodas.It is just dropped in hot oil, after which it’souter surface immediately gets sealed sothe oil doesn’t go inside. People’s mis-conception is that oil gets absorbedin the pakoda. But it only clings tothe surface and if we keep thepakoda on a paper towel, all theoil will drain out and you willget a perfectly tasty and healthysnack which can be person-alised as per your taste —sweet, savoury, teekha,chatpata, spicy,crunchy and more.”

Pakodas are notjust fritters, she saysas she prepares thebatter for her firstpresentation ofthe evening —Nariyal katli(Coconut slice) kapakoda. “There are dis-tinct varieties of pakodas in

the Hindi heartland itself and we are juston the brink of losing them all due to ourmisconceptions around it. Each city has itsown. The names would vary like their cul-tures. Mirchi bajji in Hyderabad, Mirchivade in Jaipur, Batata vada in Mumbai,Palak patte ka pakoda served like chaat inDelhi and even Ram Laddu, whereas,Gujarat has numerous bhajias and gotas,”she says.

As she dips the water-soaked, finger-sized coconut slices in the batter made withmoong dal (split green gram), she pointstowards “another bias” that lies in people’sthinking associated with pakodas. “Theywere often made using local lentils and notjust chickpea flour or gram flour unliketoday. You can use moong dal or even urad

dal since besan is not available or acces-sible to everyone. Lentils are so rich

in India and we use them so beau-tifully. So why don’t we celebrate

them?” she says and drains thelast bunch of Nariyal katli kapakodas and serves it on a platefor the audience to relish.

While the aroma alreadywraps up my senses, I wait

for the plate to completeits round and reachme. The golden-brown fritter iscrispy on the out-side and evencrispier on theinside due to thewater-soakedcoconut slice.The pakoda yetmelts inside mymouth. This

isn’t something one can resist. She lives upto what she preaches. There isn’t a trace ofoil dripping from my fingers after I eat it,which is never the case when eating at astreet-side kiosk. And while the coconut,being a watery fruit, could have made thepakoda soggy, her water-soaking strategyfor two to four hours before the cookoutmade it emerge a winner.

I wonder why we always cook the con-ventional and very traditional and clichédaloo (potato), mirchi (chilli), pyaaz (onion),ghobhi (cauliflower), palak patta (spinachleaf), lauki (bottle gourd) ke pakode andmany more? “Well, it’s because people don’texperiment with this snack anymore.These recipes have been established by ourancestral grandmothers and today, we haveforgotten them,” says Khanna and pointsout some names of pakodas that arehardly known or talked about — Phoolonke pakode, Bajka, Lachha, Rikwachh,Fulouri/Phulouri, Kalmi bade, Mungodi,Joori, Bhabra and many more. And she pre-sents some of these in her mini pakoda-making demonstrations too.

For the cookout session, Khannadirectly sourced the organic ingredientsfrom Tijara Farms, an organic farm spreadacross 10 acres in Rajasthan, the brainchildof Sneh Yadav and her husband, Col. Tara.Khanna’s Bhaap ki mungodi and with someinteresting variations like Arbi ke patton karikwachh, and Sehjan ke phoolon ka pato-da, the menu turns out to be a treat.However, the Khatte ras ki pakodi is thewinner. The mini urad dal badis, soakedin tangy tamarind water with choppedchillis and coriander and mint leaves, is theone that will tingle your jaws and make youcrave for more of these juicy fritters.

&�&�������

' 7 � � � 7 �

BUT FIRST,CROISSANT

4����������-?�'?�; ����

������� ���� ������� ����������������

����&����������������� ������������

����� !"�� �������� �"��� �������"������������� �����

����!����9�.��� �������������

�1���� ���9+��-?�� ����

��������� ��� ����1������������4!1=22$!.(!11! ������ �������#������ ��������������������������������� � ���#�� ���������������������������� (������������������������������������������"(!(!. ��$$!%

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

����� %:1�:1

Joe Root rode his luck toreach his 50 after beingdropped three times by fum-

bling Australia on the openingday of the fifth Ashes Test at theOval on Thursday.

World Cup winnersEngland, desperate to level theseries at 2-2, reached 169-3 attea after losing the toss, as earlycloud cover gave way to sunnyskies in London.

Root was unbeaten on 57and Jonny Bairstow was 22 notout as the home side seek todeny Tim Paine's Australia afirst series win in England since2001.

England captain Root cameinto the match searching forconsistency after three ducks inhis five previous innings butneeded outrageous luck to sur-vive.

He had an astonishing let-off when, on 24, he top-edgeda pull off Pat Cummins to deepfine leg, only for the recalledPeter Siddle to drop a straight-forward catch, much to thedelight of the nearby crowd.

In Cummins' next overRoot again had a huge escapewhen wicketkeeper Paine failedto cling on to a one-handedchance in front of David Warnerat first slip.

Shortly after lunch the skip-per had yet another reprievewhen a diving Steve Smithfailed to hold on to a sharpchance at second slip off thebowling of Siddle.

Root drove Josh Hazlewood

square of the wicket to bring up7,000 Test runs in his 158thinnings — only three Englandplayers have reached the markmore quickly.

But the home side wereunable to make the most of theirgood fortune, losing Rory Burnsand Ben Stokes tamely to stum-ble to 130-3.

Opener Burns was caught atmidwicket for 47 when he top-edged a pull off the bowling of

Hazlewood while Stokes mis-cued a pull off the recalledMitchell Marsh and was caughtat point for 20.

Root, making the most ofhis fortune, reached his fifty off105 balls with just three fours.

Earlier, opener Joe Denlywas the first to go, caught in theslips by Smith for 14.

Visiting captain Paineasked the home side to bat,hoping his bowlers could take

advantage of early overcastconditions in south London butwill rue his team's missedchances.

Australia won at OldTrafford last week to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series,meaning they will retain theAshes urn regardless of theresult at the Oval.

But Paine said his sidewere "very hungry" to completethe job and win their first Test

series in England for 18 years.To stand any chance of

levelling the series, England willhave to find a way to prise outSmith, who has scored 671runs in just five innings at anastonishing average of morethan 134.

All-rounder Marsh andseamer Siddle were brought infor the tourists, with batsmanTravis Head and pacemanMitchell Starc missing out.

=�"������+��������(���;)

���� 12&�2%(�

The World ChampionshipGold has healed the

wounds of all past final deba-cles except the Rio Olympics,says Indian badminton ace PV Sindhu, who has kept anempty space in her trophycabinet for the top prize, whichshe hopes to claim in Tokyonext year.

An Olympic Silver-medal-list, Sindhu clinched the his-toric World ChampionshipGold at Basel after beatingJapan’s Nozomi Okuhara 21-7,

21-7 in her third successivefinal.

Before that historic day,the 24-year-old Indian facedincessant for losing lost in thefinals of major events such asthe Rio Games, WorldChampionships (2017, 2018),2017 Dubai Super SeriesFinals, the 2018Commonwealth Games andthe Jakarta Asian Games.

“It (World ChampionshipsGold) takes care of all thoselosses. People have been talk-ing about my final phobia,how I take pressure in the

?�&-@��&��?'?�?'�?;�A.'.2@�&���#.2;>��B;%5

finals and I can say I gave theanswer with my racquet,”Sindhu, who has been recom-mended for Padma Bhushansaid.

“But Olympics is a com-pletely different feeling. Rio(Games) and WorldChampionship gave me dif-ferent memories, but, yeah,one Gold medal is missing, sodefinitely I will work hard forthat and would love to seemyself win that Olympic Goldat Tokyo.

“There is a vacant space(laughs) in my cabinet for thatGold. The Olympic qualifica-tion is on and this win willgive me the confidence to gofurther.”

Sindhu, however, says thepath to the Tokyo OlympicGold will be a tough one asnow her opponents will lookto exploit her weaknesses andshe will need to add some-thing new to her game toachieve success.

“(Rio) 2016 was my firstOlympics and nobody knewme much. I was just one of theplayers but after Rio, every-thing changed and now afterthe world championship,everybody will try and learnnew things. I should alsolearn new things in each tour-nament, because people willhave some kind of strategy forme,” she said.

“I have been working withKim. She had some changesfor me and it helped me. Butnow I have to learn few newthings. I need to work on net-play.”

Ranked fifth in the Worldcurrently, Sindhu has virtual-ly sealed her Olympic quali-fication.

A higher ranking willhelp her avoid meeting topplayers when the draw ismade at the Tokyo Games butSindhu said she is unfazedabout standings.

“Ranking matters becausethe draw depends on it but Idon’t really think about itbecause if I can play well, itwill come up. At the end ofthe day, you will have to beatthese top players again toachieve the Gold,” she said.

Asked if achieving theworld No1 ranking is on hermind, the former world No 2said: “Yeah.. But I am not veryparticular about ranking andfor now it is Olympics, it isultimate goal, so after that itwill be step by step.

“Next for me is China, sofocusing on that,” said theHyderabadi, who is takingpart in the China Open(September 17) and KoreaOpen (September 24) in thenext two weeks.

While Sindhu and SainaNehwal have put Indian bad-minton on top, there is adearth of quality women’ssingles players in the countrybeyond them.

On whether she is con-cerned about lack of women’ssingles players, Sindhu said:“Well, after me and Saina,there is a little bit of gap. Thereare some junior players but itwill take time. It is not goingto be easy.

“A lot of players fromother countries are doing wellat the junior level whether it isKorea, Thailand or China. SoI think it will take a few yearstill we have some players com-ing up. “But they need towork hard. They have to besmart and be strong them-selves about what they want,”she signed off.

���������� � 12&�2%(�

In another bid to ignite hisTest career, Indian limited-overs vice-captain Rohit

Sharma has been selected as thefirst-choice opener alongsideMayank Agarwal for the three-match Test series against SouthAfrica starting from 2ndOctober at Visakhapatnam.

The Mumbai batsman, whoopens for India in One DayInternational and T20 formatmade his long-awaited Testdebut in the home series againstWest Indies in November 2013(farewell series of SachinTendulkar) but despite scoring177 runs in his maiden inningsand earning Man of the Seriesaward, the talented 32-years oldMumbaikar never reallyimpressed in the red-ball formatand could only manage to featurein 27 Tests in six years sincedebut despite being a top per-former in the white-ball game.

One of the primary reasonsfor his exclusion from the Testside was his batting position;with Cheteshwar Pujara, ViratKohli and Ajinkya Rahane form-ing the solid middle-order part-nership, Rohit was left with nochoice than to give up his pre-ferred position and bat at num-ber six in which he never lookedcomfortable. And now withHanuma Vihari performing wellin that position (number six) foralmost a year, there was noother choice left with the selec-tors except to try Rohit as open-er in place of out-of-form KLRahul, who despite having longrun in the red-ball format at hispreferred position failed to per-form according to his calibre.

Rohit, who started his inter-national career as a middle-order batsman in 2007 T20World Cup was promoted toopen the innings in the One Dayformat and subsequently in theT20s also after he impressed inthe ICC Champions Trophy2013 in England and Wales. Hisopening stand with former IndiaA partner Shikhar Dhawan wasone of the major reasons ofIndia’s triumph in that tourna-ment.

During that ChampionsTrophy, Rohit not just only set-tled his place at the top of theorder with 177 runs in fiveinnings (2 fifties) but also in thefollowing games proved why hewas rated as one of the brightesttalents in world cricket.

His 209-run innings againstAustralia at M Chinnaswamy inthe last game of the 2013 seriesshowed that he is capableenough of playing big inningsand he proved that Bengaluru’sinnings was not just a fluke byscoring two more double hun-dreds in the following years.

His 264 against Sri Lanka atEden Gardens on 13thNovember 2014 still holds therecord of the highest individualscore by a batsman in white-ballgame.

During ICC World Cup inEngland this year also he was thehighest run-getter of the tourna-ment with 648 runs in nineinnings which includes recordfive hundred in a single edition.

And after that brilliantrecord there was a lot of talkabout his inclusion in the five-day format of the game and nowwith KL Rahul’s continuous fail-ure, finally MSK Prasad-ledselection committee opted forhim to play as a specialist open-er in the side.

And not just only Rohit butalso 2018 U-19 World CupPlayer of the Tournament andhighly rated rookie Punjab bats-man Shubman Gill was toorewarded for his performancewith a place in the Test side as aback-up floater, who can fit inboth as an opener and a middle-order batsman.

“Yes, we are definitely look-ing at him (Rohit) and want togive him an opportunity up theorder. He is keen (on opening)and the selection committee, aswell as everyone (team manage-ment), is keen. We want to seewhere he stands and then take acall,” Chairman of Selectors MSKPrasad said after the meeting ofthe panel on Thursday.

“With regards to ShubmanGill, we look at him as an open-er as well as a middle-order bats-man. We are looking at him asback-up for both the slots. As hekeeps playing more and more, hewill get his opportunities,because he is a player for all threeformats,” he observed.

As far as other positions

were concerned Rishabh Pantretained his place in the sidedespite a below-par series inCaribbean islands but could losehis spot in the playing XI to amore accomplishedWriddhiman Saha after thechairman of selection commit-tee gave a fair indication thatteam management's patiencewith him (Pant) is finally run-ning out even though he remainsthe first-choice for the selectionpanel.

Asked who among Pant orWriddhiman is going to be thefirst choice, Prasad gave a twist-ed reply.

“My answer is the same. Let’ssee. Rishabh definitely to beginwith but we will see whether theteam management thinks onthose lines. Let’s leave it to them.Also in India, we need a ‘keep-er with some more skills playingat home, let’s see how it goes,” hesaid.

In the bowling section,Umesh Yadav lost his placedespite being the top wicket-taker in the last home series (11wickets in two Tests) againstWest Indies in 2018, as in homeconditions, the team can’t havethe luxury of four specialist pac-ers when only two will finallyplay.

Speaking about Yadav,Prasad said that it’s better Umeshplays domestic cricket as he hasno chance to fit in the playing XIwhen one among Ishant andShami will be dropped at home.

“Issue right now, we could-n’t have Umesh here as it will betwo-seamers who will play. If it’sreally a seaming track, we go forthe third one. So Umesh may notplay. For him, it is better to playdomestic cricket as we are in thedomestic season. He is in IndiaA side,” Prasad added.

Rohit will captain the BoardPresident’s XI in a three-daywarm-up match against theProteas in Vizianagaram fromSeptember 26, where he will alsotest himself in the new role.

“He is opening in white-ballcricket for a decade now (for sixyears) and I am sure he has thatability to bat up the order. Wehave seen that in red-ball crick-et and if he can replicate that inwhite-ball cricket, nothing likeit,” Prasad said.

For Rahul, who has scoredonly one Test hundred (149against England at Oval) in last18 months, Prasad said that theKarnataka player got a fair runbut a dip in form forced thepanel to go for a change.

“We definitely communi-cated to KL. He is an exception-al talent and unfortunately hisform has dipped in red-ballcricket,” Prasad said.

“With Shikhar Dhawan andMurali Vijay gone, we can’t keepchanging both the openers in theside. Someone had to stickaround. And probably withseniors, who exiting, KL gotmore opportunities.Unfortunately, he was not deliv-ering consistently. He deliveredin patches and that's why webacked him because when he ison song, he is treat to watch.”

When asked about what’snext for Rahul, Prasad gave theexample of VVS Laxman.

“When VVS Laxman wasonce dropped from the Indianteam, he went back to domesticcricket, scored 1400 runs in theRanji Trophy and came back. KLhas to do the same,” said Prasad.

MSK Prasad meanwhile alsoindicated that selection commit-tee has created a pool of open-ers and whoever now gets anopportunity, will get a long ropejust like Rahul did.

“So you know, in thepipeline, Shubman is openingand we have Priyank Panchaland Abhimanyu Easwaran, whois doing extremely well. From theavailable lot, we will look at giv-ing them as many opportunities.

“Whoever gets an opportu-nity, also gets a fair run. We havealternatives and back-ups, wehave created bench strength,”Prasad asserted.

Speaking about fit-again all-rounder Hardik Pandya, whoalso failed to find his place in the15, the former Indian wicket-keeper said that the Barodacricketer was excluded becausethere is very little chance of himfitting into the XI in home con-ditions.

“Hardik is not in the sidebecause if you look at home con-ditions, he may not fit in. Alsoa lot of white-ball cricket beingplayed, it’s a culmination ofboth,” he concluded.

�(���;4������������������� ������� !���"#$�%&"'

���� 12&�2%(�

The Delhi and District Cricket Association(DDCA) on Thursday renamed the Feroz

Shah Kotla as Arun Jaitley stadium in memoryof the late politician-cum-sports-administrator.

In a glittering function, Home Minister AmitShah digitally inaugurated the renamed ArunJaitley Cricket Stadium in presence of late financeminister’s family.

DDCA also unveiled a new pavilion stand atthe Feroz Shah Kotla after skipper Virat Kohli,who recently became the most successful Indiacaptain in Test cricket, surpassing MS Dhoni.

A short video and an animation film onKohli’s journey from being an U-19 player to Indiacaptain was also shown.

“When I decided to name a stand in honourof Virat Kohli, I told this first to Arun Jaitley ji.He told me this is a good decision because thereis no better player than Virat in world cricket,”said DDCA president Rajat Sharma.

The unveiling ceremony was held at theWeightlifting Hall of the Jawaharlal NehruStadium.

Besides the family members of Jaitley, the galaevening was also attended by Sport Minister KirenRijiju, former sports minister RajyavardhanSingh Rathore, Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari, ex-skipper Kapil Dev.

Test: Virat Kohli (Captain),Mayank Agarwal, RohitSharma, Cheteshwar Pujara,Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain),Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant(Wicket-keeper), WriddhimanSaha (Wicket-keeper),Ravichandran Ashwin,Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav,Mohammed Shami, JaspritBumrah, Ishant Sharma,Shubman Gill.

Board President's XI: RohitSharma (Captain), MayankAgarwal, Priyank Panchal, AREaswaran, Karun Nair, SiddheshLad, KS Bharat (wicket-keeper),Jalaj Saxena, DharmendrasinhJadeja, Avesh Khan, Ishan Porel,Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav.

�C5�;�

C���<�����,��������������&�/ �������� &�����"�

;������������������#�����4���!�����V;��������������4� ���