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T he national Capital is chok- ing “severely” due to rising concentration of half burn agriculture residue in Haryana and Punjab as on Saturday, the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecast and Research (SAFAR), Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) in its latest report revealed that stubble burning contributed 32 per cent of Delhi’s overall pollution. The SAFAR mentioned that after October 29, air qual- ity in Delhi will start deterio- rating. Citing the reason moderate wind speed five kilometer per hour - Westerly and Northerly directions, SAFAR analysed the impact of Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5, showed biomass burning a highest contributor since October 11. Incidentally, the SAFAR also mentioned that on Friday, percentage in contributing pol- lution due to stubble burning was 36 per cent. Significantly, the pollution monitoring body also high- lighted “very prominently” that in next two days (Sunday and Monday), pollution due to stubble burning will be less due to favourable wind speed and local weather. This means that pollution percentage due to stubble burn- ing in Delhi air would be fluc- tuating between ten and sev- enteen per cent. “Surface wind speed 18 km per hour, inversion layer height, favourable to moderate stagnation are the factors for better dispersion of pollutants,” SAFAR mentioned in its report. “Shallow boundary layer con- tinued and local weather are the most dominant factors responsible for pollution,” the Center run pollution watch body said. The report also analysed the trends of different factors causing pollution since 2010 and it said transport emission in the national Capital has increased significantly at 41 per cent in the last eight years. The residential bio-fuel emission declined significantly in Delhi at 64 per cent since 2010, the report said. The SAFAR issued a health advisory due to increased pol- lution levels in Delhi, urging people with heart or lung dis- ease, older adults and children to avoid prolonged or heavy exertion. It also recommended people to go for shorter walks instead of jogging, keeping windows closed and wearing masks while stepping outside. Meanwhile, Union Environment Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said the Government has decided to initiate criminal prosecution against agencies which do not comply with the directives to check air pollution. The Environment Ministry’s decision comes after a review meeting with 41 teams of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) deployed in Delhi, Ghaziabad, Kanpur Noida, Gurgaon and Faridabad, which found the compliance rate of the agencies concerned in following the directives was “very poor”. Delhi’s air quality record- ed very poor for the fourth day on Saturday. The authorities - DPCC, CPCB, SAFAR warned that at the beginning of November the situation may get further deteriorated due to localised emissions during fes- tival and regional contribution due to stubble burning. The Central Pollution Control Board recorded the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi at 350. The highest AQI of this season so far has been recorded on Friday at 361. Five areas recorded severe pol- lution levels and they include Anand Vihar, Dwarka Sector 8, Narela, Punbjabi Bagh and Rohini. Punjabi Bagh recorded the highest pollution levels in the national capital at 434. I f CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana's complaint (dated August 24) to the Cabinet Secretary against his boss Alok Verma is anything to go by then the rot generated by the CBI top brass transcended the agency headquarters to severely impact the functioning of its units and subordinate officers in different parts of the country. As per Asthana, senior officials, including the CBI chief, allegedly manipulated investigations against offenders in cities like Lucknow, Ranchi and Chandigarh. Also, officials of doubtful integrity were given sensitive assignments in the anti-cor- ruption unit and policy wing of the agency by Verma, Asthana alleged. Officers of doubtful integrity were also sought to be inducted into the agency by the CBI chief, he further alleged. The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) will now probe Asthana's allegations and the probe will be moni- tored by a retired Supreme Court judge AK Pattnaik as mandated by the apex court through its order on Friday. As per Asthana's com- plaint, IPS officer Rajiv Singh, a Joint Director with CBI, repatriated to his parent cadre earlier this year, was a guaran- tor in one of the bank loans taken by his brother Sanjay Singh from Allahabad Bank. And for availing the loan Rajiv Singh had submitted false doc- uments to the bank misrepre- senting himself as SP, CBI, Delhi Headquarters, when he was posted as IG Headquarters, Tripura Police. Rajiv Singh also stood guarantor in violation of the All India Service Conduct Rules, 1968. He mortgaged agricul- tural land for availing the said loan in violation of SARFAE- SI Act, obtained air tickets for his personal use through a travel agent in Ranchi in whose accounts, part of loan pro- ceeds were diverted as per the investigation report into the case against his brother, against whom the CBI has registered an FIR. Rajiv Singh also interfered in the searches conducted at his brother's official and residen- tial premises by making repeat- ed calls to the supervisory joint director of Patna Zone AK Singh through his mobile which are part of the case records, Asthana outlined. M incing no words, Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Saturday termed the stone- pelters in Jammu & Kashmir as overground workers of terror- ists and asserted that they should be dealt with sternly. His remarks came a day after a 22-year-old Army jawan was killed in stone-pelting in Kashmir. Rawat also warned Pakistan of “other actions” beyond surgical strikes if Islamabad continued to sup- port cross-border terrorism. The Army had carried out surgical strikes against terror- ist launch pads in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) two years back. The Army chief’s strong reaction here against stone-pel- ters came after Sepoy Rajendra Singh of Uttrakhand was fatal- ly injured during stone-pelting in Arwani area of Anantnag on Thursday evening. He suc- cumbed to his injuries on Friday in military hospital. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event to mark the Infantry Day, the Army chief, while warning Pakistan, however, did not elaborate on what could be the possible “actions” by the forces he was talking about. Making his position clear, Rawat reiterated his earlier stand that the stone-pelters are nothing but overground workers of terror outfits. “I still say the same... If they (stone- pelters) can kill people with such acts, are they not becom- ing like terrorists,” he said. “I want to tell them (stone-pelters) that no one will benefit from stone-pelt- ing,” said the Army chief, adding tough action should be taken against the stone-pel- ters. He said the Army has got an FIR lodged in the case. As regards the response to Pakistan’s continuing support to terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir, Rawat urged Pakistan to desist from doing so asserting that the Indian State was “strong enough” to ensure that the border State remains a part of India and no one can take it away by force or any other means. The Army chief said the neighbouring country was resorting to a “proxy war” to avenge its defeat at the hands of India in the 1971 war when Bangladesh was liberated. The aim of Pakistan, he said, is to keep the Indian Army “embroiled in this proxy war that they have lost”. S even elephants were elec- trocuted after coming in contact with a live wire in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district on Saturday, forest officials said. A herd of 13 jumbos was passing through an area in the Sadar Forest Range when seven of them came in contact with an 11-KV power line, Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF) Jitendranath Das said. The carcasses of seven pachyderms, including a tusker and five females, were spotted in the morning by people of Kamalanga village, who informed forest officials. The incident happened apparently because of sagging electric wire, the ACF said. While three carcasses were lying on a road, four oth- ers were inside a canal. The incident took place when the herd was moving towards a canal road from a paddy field. The Forest department has asked the Energy depart- ment to ensure that the elec- tric wire was at a height of 17- 18 feet above the ground. T he Central Election Committee of Congress party issued the list of 37 candidates for the ensuing Assembly polls in Chhattisgarh on Saturday. The list has a majority of the candidates who have been repeated to contest polls in the State. M aoists fired upon a con- tingent of the para-mili- tary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in restive Bastar’s Bijapur district and killed four troopers on Saturday, the day Chief Minister Raman Singh kicked off election campaign from Bastar. “A squad of the CRPF’s 168th battalion which was on an area domination drive from a forested patch of Murdanda village to Timapur, came under intense firing from heavily armed leftist insurgents,’’ P Sundar Raj, deputy inspector general of police (Naxal oper- ation), told The Pioneer. He added that Maoists opened indiscriminate firing followed by multiple IED blasts targeting CRPF jawans. The cops retaliated and caused heavy damage to rebels but four CRPF men too attained martyrdom and two critically injured. The injured troopers were taken to Basaguda field hospi- tal for urgent medical atten- tion. The attack took place in evening hours and heavy rein- forcement was rushed to the heavily forested site to track down the insurgents. The attack has also sent an alarm bell in political circle as the state has track record of rise in selected killings of politi- cians in run up to Assembly polls. Chief Minister Raman Singh addressed four public meetings in various parts of Bastar on Saturday amid heavy security arrangements. The State goes to polls on November 12 and 20 to elect the new 90-member State Legislative Assembly. Polling in violence-hit Bastar’s all 12 assembly seats to be held in the first phase. RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015

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    With Halloween only three days away — October 31 —and schools taking a break for Diwali week, Goosebumps2: Haunted Halloween adapted from RL Stine’s youngadult series Goosebumps makes for an interesting watch for thekids as it will end up creeping them out a bit and give them athrill of having watched a horror movie even if it is with adultsupervision. Horror as a genre fascinates children and what betterway to introduce them to it than the book series which have beenadapted into movies.

    The characters are well-fleshed out, and relatable. The storyis fresh too. Another good is that the film doesn’t drag, it is overin 90 minutes. The makers have kept it short and sweet giventhe audience’s — mostly kids, short attention span. The best partis that it sends out a message to the youngsters — read the bookseries.

    Those who have seen Night at the Museum will able to drawa parallel; the only difference is that instead of the historicalcharacters that come to live in this one, in Haunted Halloween,it is the monsters.

    Unfortunately, for the adults, the problem will be that it islacks the energy that the prequel had that released back in 2015.Another problem is that it is not as unique as the first.Goosebumps was scary and proved to be a delight for the fansof the series. In part 2, school friends decide to go into garbagecleanup business and find an unpublished manuscript and openit. What’s the worst that could happen? Well, of coursesomething bad. How bad? Take your kids to find out.

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    Jashpur royal and sittingBharatiya Janata Party (BJP)MLA from Chandrapur who isson of late Dilip Singh Judeo,Yudhvir Pratap Singh Judevhad been dropped by the partyas a poll candidate this timeround. The party instead offereda ticket to his wife SanyogitaSingh Judev to contest pollfrom Chandrapur.

    Interestingly, a confidentYudhvir had already purchasedthe nomination papers in hisname after the notification for fil-ing of nomination papers wasissued on Thursday.

    The last date for filing of

    nomination papers is November2.

    Notably, late Dilip SinghJudeo had been Cabinet Ministerin late Atal Bihari VajpayeeGovernment who was being seenas the future Chief Minister ofChhattisgarh but a sting operationon him, where he was shown tak-ing money made him resignfrom the post of a CabinetMinister.

    Yudhvir was given party tick-et after the demise of Dilip SinghJudeo during the last Assemblypolls from Chandrapur and wasappointed as Chairman ofChhattisgarh State BeveragesCorporation after he won

    Assembly polls for second time.Meanwhile, on day one of fil-

    ing of nomination papers,Yudhvir Pratap Singh Judeo, wifeSanyogita Singh Judeo, DurgeshKumar and Sunderlal Chouhanbrought nomination papers.

    At Jaijaipur, BSP candidateKeshav Chandra, former BJPMLA Nirmal Sinha’s brotherNarsingh Sinha, RajkumarChandra and Satyendra Jaiswalwhile in Akaltara BJP candidateSaurabh Singh, Pamgarh BJPcandidate Ambesh Jangade, BSPcandidate Doojram Baudh,Janjgir-Champa Congress MLAMotilal Dewangan, BJP candidateNarayan Singh Chandel pur-chased the nomination papers.

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    Three Ministers in the UnionCabinet will be addressingpublic meetings inChhattisgarh in the run-up tothe Assembly polls in the Stateon the same day on Monday(October 29).

    They are: Union Ministerfor Drinking Water andSanitation, Uma Bharti, UnionMinister for Textiles SmritiIrani and Union Minister ofState for Rural Developmentand Land Resources RamKripal Yadav.

    As per party sources, UmaBharti would be arriving from

    Nagpur by helicopter andaddress the public meeting at12.00 pm at Khairagarh andreturn to Nagpur.

    Union Minister for TextilesSmriti Irani will arriving at 1.15pm from Thiruvananthpuramby a special plane and reachJagdalpur. She would then pro-ceed for Chitrakote by heli-copter at 1.50 pm and addressthe public meeting.

    Irani would return toJagdalpur and then proceed forRaipur at 4.00 pm. She wouldleave for Delhi at 7.15 pm.

    Union Minister of State forRural Development RamKripal Yadav would be arrivingby scheduled flight to Raipurand would later proceed forKanker at 10.00 am by heli-copter where he would partic-ipate in the public meetingscheduled at Kanker and thenproceed to Antagarh by 1.15pm.

    Yadav would also address apublic meeting atBhanupratappur at 3.00 pm.

    He would then return toRaipur by helicopter after theevent.

    ��������

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    Office of RajnandgaonDistrict Electoral Officer(DEO) has issued show causenotice to Dongargaon Congresscandidate Daleshwar Sahu andBharatiya Janata Party (BJP)candidate Sarojani Banjare foralleged 'paid news'.

    This apart, notice has beenissued for publicity on socialmedia and reply has beensought from RajnandgaonMayor and BJP candidate forDongargaon MadhusudanYadav along with five othercandidates.

    As per informationreceived, for publicity on socialmedia, Office of RajnandgaonDEO has issued notice toDongargarh BJP candidateSarojini Banjare and Congresscandidate BhuvneshwarBaghel, Dongargaon BJP can-didate Madhusudan Yadav,

    Khairagarh Congress candi-date Girwar Janghel andRajnandgaon Aam AadmiParty candidate Varun Tiwari.

    Media Certification andMonitoring Committee NodalOfficer Chandan Kumar stat-ed that notice has been issuednotice for paid news and pub-licity on social media to can-didates. After the concernedgive their reply, necessaryaction would be taken.

    ��������

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    Peeved over the regularseizure of publicity materi-als by the static surveillanceteam in different parts of theState, a delegation led by seniorBharatiya Janata Party (BJP)leader and Minister RajeshMunat met State’s ChiefElectoral Officer (CEO), SubratSahoo at his office to apprisehim of the various problemsbeing faced on the campaign-ing front on Saturday.

    Talking to the media per-sons after holding talks withCEO, Munat said that theparty is facing problem ondistribution of publicity mate-rials and the issue had beentaken up with the CEO.

    “The CEO was briefedby us that already, first phaseof nomination filing had beenclosed and the second phaseof nomination process hadalready begun. In this context,

    the party can-didates havebeen facingproblem ofreceipt of thepublicity mate-rial”, he said.

    Munat saidthat party issending thesepublicity mate-rials to the can-didates in theirrespective constituencies butthe Election Commission sur-veillance teams and squadsare seizing the materials withvehicle.

    The CEO was briefed onthe problems being faced byparty and was urged to ensurethat smooth distribution ofpublicity materials take place”,Munat said.

    The CEO has assured thathe would hold talks withhigher officials of ElectionCommission and tell aboutthe status by Monday, hesaid.

    Munat, further, addedthat the BJP delegation hasalso handed over a represen-tation seeking permission for10 transport vehicles instead

    of the existing one.The party has highlight-

    ed the prevailing situation inthe State while pointing outthat after withdrawal of nom-ination papers, only 15 daysare left for election cam-paigning for any candidate,he said.

    Within one fortnight it isnot also possible to ensurethat candidates receive thepublicity materials and with-in the specified days, public-ity materials cannot also beprovided in all 90 StateAssembly constituencies,Munat said.

    The other reason cited isthat different districts do nothave publication facilitiesalso, he said.

    ��������

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    NMDC Ltd has recordedproduction of 7.50 milliontonnes (provisional) of iron orefrom its Chhattisgarh mines ason September 30, 2018, thecompany informed in a regu-latory filing.

    The company had record-ed iron ore production of 6.17million tonnes (provisional)(MT) from its mines inChhattisgarh as on August 31,2018, the company had earlierinformed in a regulatory filing.

    It had reported iron oreproduction (provisional) of5.50 million tonnes (MT) fromits mines in Chhattisgarh as on

    July 31, 2018 and had record-ed iron ore production of 4.78million tonnes (MT) (provi-sional) from its mines inChhattisgarh as on June 30,2018.

    It is targetting to achieve10 million tonnes of iron oreproduction per annum fromeach of its mines inChhattisgarh by 2024-25, offi-cial sources informed.

    NMDC has also acquiredenvironment clearance for itsproposed Beneficiation plantat Bacheli in Bastar region ofChhattisgarh, official sourcesinformed.

    Notably, NMDC's OreProcessing Plant at Bacheli

    will be interconnected by aSlurr y Pipeline System

    between Bacheli andNagarnar in Chhattisgarh,they informed.

    The company which isalso in the process of laying a15 Mil l ion Tonnes PerAnnum (MTPA) slurr y

    pipeline is executing the pro-ject in two phases.

    First phase is being exe-cuted from Bacheli toNagarnar in Bastar region atan estimated outlay of � 4,000crore; and the second phasewil l be executed fromNagarnar to Vizag in Andhra

    Pradesh at an outlay of �6,000crore, officials informed.

    Notably, to transport pel-let feed concentrate fromBailadi la to Vizag viaJagdalpur, the company willhave the pipeline laid alongthe highways with a provisionof partial off-take to feed itsproposed 3 MTPA Steel plantcoming up at Nagarnar.

    NMDC is operating ironore mines at Bai ladi laComplex in South BastarDantewada Distr ictChhattisgarh. It is havinglong term commitment forsupply of iron ore to majorsteel plants across the coun-try.

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    District officials ofKondagaon inChhattisgarh and those ofNarangpur in Odisha wereheld here on Saturday to dis-cuss precautions to be taken inview of Assembly polls inChhattisgarh.

    Kondagaon DistrictCollector Neelkant Tekam,Superintendent of PoliceAr vind Kujur, electionobservers, and the officialswere present in the meeting.

    Meeting discussed onways to curb the smuggling ofmaterials which can be usedfor allurement of the voters ofKondagaon from across theborder including supply ofprohibited materials.

    Kondagaon officials saidthat strict vigil is being main-

    tained on the borders of dis-trict.

    The coordination has alsobeen established in other bor-dering districts also.

    Superintendent of PoliceArvind Kujur said that thereare chances of distribution ofliquor, cannabis and othermaterials for which strict vigilis being maintained.

    Navrangpur AdditionalDistrict Magistrate ParikshithShetty said that in the district,all the concerned officialshave been alerted and strictvigil is being maintained tocurb any illegal activities.Navrangpur district adminis-tration officials are also mon-itoring the border withChhattisgarh.

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    Union Minister for HumanResources DevelopmentPrakash Javadekar is arrivingon a day’s visit to Chhattisgarhon Sunday (October 28).

    The Minister will partici-

    pate in the local programmesscheduled at Jagdalpur,Bilaspur and Raipur.

    As per the programmeschedule, he would arrive atcapital city Raipur at 10.15 amand then leave by helicopter toattend the local programmes.

    Javadekar will attend a pro-gramme at Jagdalpur at 12.00noon and at 3.00 pm inBilaspur and at 5.00 pm inRaipur.

    He would then proceed toNew Delhi from Raipur at 7.40pm.

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    In a bid to make the State’sown programme BijuSwasthya Kalyan Yojana(BSKY) more successful thanthe Centre’s Ayushman Bharat,the Odisha Government hasdecided to extend the BSKY forOdias residing outside the State.

    “Odisha people residingoutside the State will also getbenefits under the BijuSwasthya Kalyan Yojana. TheGovernment has decided thatall the State and CentralGovernment hospitals outsidethe State are deemed to beempanelled under the BSKYand the treatment cost will bepaid to the bank accounts ofthe beneficiaries,” said Health& Family Welfare MinisterPratap Jena on Saturday.

    As the scheme hasachieved great success since itsimplementation benefitting

    over 1.1 crore patients withcashless care since August 15,the Government has decided toinclude more families under it,he said.

    As per the move, now peo-ple with annual income of Rs3 lakh would also get benefitsunder the scheme for treatmentof cancer, heart and kidney ail-ments.

    Further, all premier health-care institutions across thecountry, including TataMemorial Hospital in Mumbai,CMC Vellore and NarayanHrudalaya have also been cov-ered under the BSKY.

    The patients will also beprovided transport charges tothe hospitals outside Odisha.

    “To further facilitatepatients in case of referral to ahospital outside the State, aconveyance charge of Rs 2,000per patient would be trans-ferred to the beneficiary’s bankaccount,” said the Minister.

    The Government has alsodecided to include 4,036 med-ical packages under the schemeagainst only 1,343 packagescovered under the PradhanMantri Jan Arogya Yojana(PMJAY). The package rateshave also been revised upwardto attract more hospitals to becovered under the BSKY.

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    The Animal Welfare Boardof India (AWBI) has nom-inated Anil Dhir as theHonorary State Welfare Officerfor Odisha.

    The newly-reconstitutedboard has appointed three StateWelfare Officers and 30 DistrictWelfare Officers.

    The AWBI is the nodalstatutory advisory body onanimal welfare laws and pro-motes animal welfare in the

    country.After a one-week training,

    Dhir and his team were hand-ed over nomination letters onFriday at the National Instituteof Animal Welfare in Haryana.

    Dhir said that the Statebody would soon start interac-tion with various Governmentagencies and police for properimplementation of thePrevention of Cruelty toAnimals (PCA) Act 1960.

    Stating that the State hasthe highest extent of illegal cat-

    tle transportation, illegalslaughterhouses, poaching,man-animal conflicts, Dhirsaid AWBI officers wouldundertake Statewide aware-ness programmes and monitorthe workings of the districtlevel societies for the preven-tion of cruelty to animals.

    Dhir said his team wouldsoon meet the Governor, theChief Minister and the ForestMinister and hand a charter ofdemands for the strict imple-mentation of the PCA Act.

    ����� )

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    The Regional Office of theIndian MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD here haspredicted rainfall in the coastaland interior parts of the Statefrom Sunday till October 30.

    The IMD said a cycloniccirculation formed over theBay of Bengal is likely to causeheavy rain in many placesacross the State.

    The cyclonic circulationformed over the north westernBay of Bengal is likely to turninto a low pressure on October29.

    IMD Regional DirectorHR Biswas informed that a lowpressure is likely to form overnorthwest Bay of Bengal onOctober 29 and under itsimpact the coastal and interi-or parts of Odisha would expe-rience rainfall from Sundaytill October 30.

    Biswas further informedthat light to moderate rainfall

    is likely to occur in coastal andinterior parts of the Statewhereas heavy rainfall is like-ly in Jagatsinghpur andKendrapada districts.

    Fishermen have beenwarned not to venture intodeep sea in view of rough seaconditions likely to prevail inthe next two days.

    ����� )

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    In a bid to boost socio-cul-tural art in Odisha, theArtists Network PromotingIndian Culture (ANPIC) alongwith the BhubaneswarDevelopment Authority (BDA)is going organise India's 1stInternational Public ArtSymposium (IPAS) at KalingaNagar here from November 1to 20.

    ANPIC managing trusteeSashanka Mohapatra informedthis at a Press meet held hereon Saturday.

    Mohapatra said well-known artists from 15 coun-tries, who are the participantsof the Men’s Hockey WorldCup, and 21 artists from acrossIndia would be attending andcreating sculptures from wastematerials, which would bepermanently displayed at aSculpture Museum provided by

    the BDA for the public.The IPAS is India's first live

    sculpturing programme underthe ANPIC’s 40-day event ofthe Odisha Triennial ofInternational Art (OTIA) to beheld in Odisha. After the livesculpturing, an open air sculp-ture museum would be inau-gurated on theme 'Reduce,Reuse, Recycle', he said.

    Mohapatra added that theart symposium would endeav-our to make the nation awareabout Odisha’s ecosystem forbringing about environmentalas well as social changes.

    BDA AdditionalCommissioner BhawaniShankar Chaini said the theme“Reduce, reuse and recycle” ofthe symposium would not only

    make people conscious aboutthe waste materials but wouldshow how to make use of thesematerials.

    Among others, JJ School ofArts Ad-Hoc LecturerRajendra A Patil, BDAAssistant Town PlannerSuparna Surabhita Das andANPIC curator Kshitish Daswere present.

    BHUBANESWAR: While relocation of villagersalong the Satakosia Satakosia Tiger Reserve hasbeen delayed due to existence of the Leftwingextremism and lack of funds from the NationalTiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), theNHRC has asked the NTCA to send a detailedreport of relocation soon or else it would adoptcoercive process for ensuring safety to villagers.

    The NHRC issued the warning while mon-itoring a petition filed by rights campaignerRadhakanta Tripathy in this regard.

    Tripathy lamented that while tigress“Sundari” has been creating problems now, hispetition and subsequent prayers have been mov-ing from the State to the Center at a snail’s race.“The admission of the State authorities regard-ing the delay in ensuring the basic amenities oflife to villagers for the Left-wing extremists isan abominable phenomenon in a democracy,”remarked Tripathy.

    He said the NTCA has not been able to effectrelocation of a single village as yet.

    While the tiger conservation plan forSatkosia was chalked out in 2006-07, there werefive revenue villages, Raigoda, Marada, Kuturi,Salapagonda and Musuguda, inside the corearea, which is measured at 524 sq km. While fivevillages occupied 416.74 hectares, Raigoda wasthe biggest of them with an area of 172 hectares.

    Ironically, the residents of Raigoda havebeen petitioning to shift out of the core area butthe Wildlife Wing and Tiger Reserve manage-ments have done precious little to move themout. The crops of the villagers are damaged fre-quently by elephants and wild boars and the vil-lagers are losing their source of livelihood.Another bottleneck delaying relocation is non-constitution of Tiger Conservation Foundationfor Satkosia which is mandatory for direct fundstransfer from NTCA to the tiger reserve man-agement, pointed out Tripathy.

    He requested the NHRC to act over the issueon a war-footing to rehabilitate the villagers asper the norms and ensure adequate safety mea-sures for their life and livelihood and providethem compensation.

    Earlier, the commission had asked theNTCA Director to expedite the relocation andsubmit a report, but the Authority failed torespond.

    In its report, the State Government hadreported to the NHRC that relocation ofMarada in Mahanadi (WL) Division is delayeddue to left wing extremist problem. Regardingrelocation of Raigoda village , the report stat-ed that the plan for relocation is pending forsanction of funds before the National TigerConservation Authority (NTCA). PNS

    ����� )

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    Even as Mahanadi water dis-pute lingers, with the war-ring States of Odihsa andChhattisgarh upping the anteover use of water, they havedeliberately ignored the impactof coalmines and thermalpower plants and other indus-tries along its basin, chargedwater expert Ranjan Pandawhile releasing his recent studyreport “Mahanadi: Coal Rich,Water Stressed” here on Friday.

    The Mahanadi basin is aperfect example of how coal-fired power plants have put theresources and people to severestress. The Governmentsshould immediately work out agreen energy plan for the basinand phase out coal-fired power

    plant by a fixed target year, maybe by 2030, Panda told.

    Besides, there is a need forboth the States to work togeth-er on climate change mitigationand suitable resilience buildingprogrammes that enhance thecoping capacity of communitiestowards drought. The report alsosuggested the need to recognisecommunity rights over resourcesand ensuring their participationin river management.

    Country director MarionRegina Mueller, Heinrich BoellStiftung the foundation thatsupported the study, said, “To

    ensure sustainable water gov-ernance, all policy frameworksand related strategies shouldfocus on the diverse eco-systemof rivers rather than their com-modification for developmentand industrial usage.”

    Community rights andinterests should be respectedand ascertained on all levels ofdecision making. Scientific evi-dence on the impact of climatechange on local eco-systemsshould be recognised and beaddressed for better manage-ment of riverine resources.The related policies need to

    ensure generational equitywhile securing ecological,social, cultural and economicsurvival, she added.

    Sadia Sohail, programmecoordinator, Heinrich BoellStiftung said large scale indus-trialisation, especially extractionof coal from the Mahanadibasin, rapid urbanisation andclimate change are some of themajor causes for water stress sit-uation in the river. A concert-ed effort from all the stake-holders is required to find solu-tions to the issues Mahanadi isgrappling with, she said.

    ����� �)�&��

    The Anandpur police inKeonjhar district arrestedand court-forwarded formerAnandapur Municipality Vice-Chairman Suresh KumarSahoo on the charge of attack-ing Ashish Behera, who is stat-ed to be a BJP youth leader ofAnandpur.

    Sources said Ashish wasrunning a shop near theSanatan Mahakud-led JanaSamruddhi Party of whichSuresh was an office-bear andthere was a frequent tusslebetween them. But it took aviolent turn on September 6when Suresh attacked Ashishseriously. Suresh also attackedthe vehicle of Minister

    Badrinayan Patra.Locals now apprehend that

    political violence between theJana Samruddhi Party andother parties would escalate inAnandpur as general electionsare nearing.

    While Mahakud is the pre-sent MLA of Anandpur, thetown is stated to be a strong-hold of the BJD.

    ����� +�)&�?�+

    Strong resent-ment brewedamong the localsas body parts of acow were seenlying scattered infront of theG o k e n e s w a rTemple, a Shivashrine, near theNew Bus Standhere on Fridaynight.

    Condemningthe incident,Viswa HinduParishad (VHP) activistsblocked the main road for halfan hour for which bus serviceswere severely hit. Passengersintending to go to various des-tinations in and outside theState were stranded at busstand.

    The Baidyanath Pur policereached the spot and managed

    to pacify the agitators assuringthat a case would be registeredand investigation done if acomplaint is filed in the policestation. Then, the VHP mem-bers went to the police stationand filed a complaint.

    By the time the report wasfiled, no case had been regis-tered.

    ����� �)�&��

    On Saturday the villagers ofKendua village underSadar block here gheraoed theNesco office in demand ofelectrification of their village.

    Kiranbala Naik, formerSadar block chairman, leadingthe dharna told that under theDina Dayal Upadhya RuralElectrification Yojana our vil-lages should have been coveredbut though Kendua village islocated hardly 5km from thedistrict headquarters town, thepoor tribal villagers aredeprived of the benefit.

    When contacted, Nesco,Keonjhar SuperintendingEngineer Narayan Das toldthat the NTPC assigned tocover 2,046 villages has com-pleted electrification only in746 villages. The Nesco so farhas taken up the works in 200villages which are in different

    stages of completion.Meanwhile, the district

    administration has remindedthe NTPC of completing therest of the work.

    The villagers threaten to sitin dharana in front of NTPCoffice next time if their demandis not fulfilled very soon.

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    Vigilance sleuths arrestedand court-forwarded Puridistrict’s Delanga police outpostSI Dillip Kumar Behera for tak-ing a bribe of �4,000fromSanjay Behera Amalanga vil-lage for showing favour to hisfamily members in a criminalcase.

    His residential house inCuttack town was searched,informed an official release.

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    A17-year-old boy was blud-geoned to death byunidentified miscreants onSaturday while he had gone formorning walk nearDumerguda village inKalahandi district.

    The deceased was identi-fied as Kailash Majhi .

    Sources said Kailash hadleft home at around 4 am.Though two other friendsalways used to accompany himduring his morning walk, theyhad not turned up on the day,informed family members.

    “At around 7 am, we gotinformation that Kailash’s bodywas lying near a field and werushed to the spot and foundsome stones near the spot,” saidfather of the deceased SatyaMajhi.

    As the exact reason behindthe incident is yet to be ascer-tained, the Jaipatna police havestarted an investigation into theincident.

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    Congress president RahulGandhi on Saturday told agroup of ex-servicemen that ifhis party is voted to power itwill fulfil all the commitmentsit had made on the 'one rank,one pension' issue.

    Rahul made the remark ata press interaction, after a 30-minute-long meet with retireddefence personnel at the AICCheadquarters here, duringwhich the Rafale deal issue andthe Kashmir situation alsocame up.

    The ex-servicemen toldme that OROP has not beenimplemented, and they alsodiscussed other issues, he said."These issues are related. Thatthey (the government) have Rs30,000 crore to give to AnilAmbani but our soldiers can'tbe given OROP. This is the con-nection," he told reporters.

    "And, the amount of Rs30,000 crore was more thanenough to solve the OROPissue," he said. The BJP, how-ever, has always held theCongress for allocating amere Rs 500 crore for theOROP scheme that too atthe fag end of the 10-year-long UPA tenure.

    The Congress has allegedthat the Anil Ambani-led com-pany was favoured by the Modigovernment on the offset con-tract of the French fighter jetdeal. The private firm, howev-er, has denied the allegations.

    The meeting was alsoattended by former defenceminister A K Antony, AICCgeneral secretary AshokGehlot, Congress spokespersonRandeep Surjewala and severalretired senior officials of the

    defence forces. Major General (retired)

    Satbir Singh, who has beenspearheading the agitation forimplementation of the OROP ('one rank, one pension') toldreporters after the meet thatthey have appealed to Gandhi to

    take up the issues with thegovernment, as the Congress isthe principal opposition party.

    "We are soldiers and we areon the streets. We feel humiliat-ed. We demand that the Army'sdignity be restored as it was onAugust 15, 1947," Singh said.

    Rahul said he "felt sad" tosee these ex-servicemenexpressing "dejection andthe humiliation" theyfeel."They may not tell youopenly but in the meeting itcame out," he said.

    Gehlot also tweeted on themeeting and shared the viewsexpressed by some of the mem-bers, who participated in themeet, and also shared picturesof the interaction.

    "Rafale deal by NDA is incomplete violation of Defence

    Procurement Procedure(DPP)para 28, 80, 104-105 : Ex-ser-viceman of the Indian Army,"he tweeted.

    Earlier, during the meeting,Satbir Singh said the veteranswere "very concerned andanguished over the OROPissue".

    "Unfortunately, it has been1,231 days of struggle, and wehaven't got an acknowledge-ment of the letters sent to theprime minister, the last onebeing sent five days ago, healleged during the meeting.

    He said the ex-servicemenwere promised implementa-tion of 'one rank, one pension'but it is nowhere close to that.

    "We request to you as thepresident of the principal oppo-sition party to take up theseissues with all the might, alongwith other parties," Singh said.

    Among other issuesraised, he also proposed con-stitution of a commission forex-servicemen, headed by anex-servicemen.

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    After much speculation, ElNino is all set to finallymake an appearance.According to Skymet Weather,there is a broad consensusamong all the dynamical as wellas statistical models that weakto moderate El Nino conditionswould prevail from October2018 to December 2018. " In

    fact, these conditions wouldpersist during the winters of2018-19, growing furtherstrong," it said. The WorldMeteorological Organisation(WMO) in its statement hasstated that there is a 70 per centchance of development of aweak El Nino by November.The met department's El Nino-La Nina forecast had earlierindicated that El Nino condi-tions are prevailing over equa-torial Pacific Ocean and it islikely to develop in the nextcouple of months.

    As per IMD officials, ElNino during winter causes warmconditions over the Indian sub-continent and during summer, itleads to dry conditions and defi-cient monsoon. El Nino causesreversal in global wind direction,affecting rains across many partsof the world. According toSkymet Weather, almost 90 per-

    cent of all the weather modelsacross the globe are predicting 85percent to 90 percent probabil-ity of El Nino conditions duringNDJ (November-December-January).

    "El Nino is an abnormalwarming of the surface watersin the eastern tropical PacificOcean in comparison to thewestern Pacific. This occursevery four to 12 years. Astemperatures rise, rainfall pat-terns change around the world.Some places receive more rain,some get less. It is estimatedthat 60 percent of all droughtsin India in the last 130 yearshave coincided with an ElNino. These have been yearswhen rainfall was over 10 per-cent less than normal. Thisyear, rainfall deficiency isrecorded 9 percent. As many as254 districts are faced withdrought like situation in India.

    Even, rain deficiency is loomlarge during northeast mon-soon which have been delayedto due cyclonic pressure 'Titli'over Bay of Bengal andArabian sea," officials said.

    IMD officials said that ElNino is a very complex phe-nomenon to explain and isquite famous for its notoriousbehavior. "Particularly for sub-tropical region that bears themaximum impact of thesephenomena, invariably linkedwith below normal rainfallduring the SouthwestMonsoon," they said.

    "Although April or May2019 onwards, there are someindications of the El Ninotapering down, however,Monsoon 2019 in India maynot be able to escape the impactof this oceanic phenomena,"officials added.

    Even in its devolving stage,

    it holds the power to corruptthe four-month long Monsoonseason and sometimes leadingto severe drought.

    El Nino is famous for notbehaving in similar pattern orsame place every time itappears. There is no rule bookfor the same, keeping meteo-rologists on toes.

    In a normal year, lowatmospheric pressure devel-ops over northern Australiaand Indonesia, with high pres-sure over the Pacific.Consequently, winds over thePacific move from east to west.The easterly flow of the tradewinds carries warm surfacewaters westward bringing rain-storms to Indonesia and north-ern Australia. Along the coastof Peru and Ecuador, cold deepwater wells up to the surface toreplace the warm water that ispulled to the west.

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    Centurion Virat Kohli threw theconcept of law of averages insport out of the equation withanother milestone but the Indian team'scollective failure allowed the West Indiesto level the series with a 43-run win inthe third ODI here Saturday.

    Kohli became the first Indian and10th overall to score three successivehundreds in the One-day format but itcould not prevent West Indies from tast-ing their first win of the tour.

    After making a commendable recov-ery from a shaky start to post 283 for nineon the board, West Indies bowlers rat-tled the Indian middle and lower mid-dle-order, to snuff out a victory and levelthe series.

    The hosts were bundled out for 240in 47.4 overs.

    India had won the lung-opener inGuwahati before West Indies ensured atie in the second game at Visakhapatnam.

    Between victory and defeat, stood adetermined Kohli (107), who notched uphis 38th ODI hundred and seventhagainst the Windies. The India skipperwas going all guns blazing till he wasdismissed. He hit 10 boundaries and alone six in his 119-ball knock at the MCAInternational Stadium.

    India had their chances till Kohli wasat the crease. But West Indies skipperJason Holder's gamble to bring in off-spinner Marlon Samuels (3-12) paid off,as he got the prized wicket of Kohli in the42nd over and that changed the com-plexion of the game.

    Kohli tried to pull a quicker one bySamuels, but missed it and the ball cameonto the stumps. After Kohli's dismissalit was just a matter of time. Samuelsadded two more wickets to his kitty.

    With track slowing down, it provedto be a tough job for the Indian tail-enders.

    In contrast, West Indies' lower-orderbatsmen Ashley Nurse (40) and KemarRoach (15) produced a a crucial 56-runstand for the ninth wicket.

    Kohli, who walked in early after thefall of Rohit Sharma (8), took down to

    settle. Looking stable as ever, the Indiacaptain notched up his fifty with a pullshot and eventually reached the three-fig-ure mark with a single down to fine legin company of Bhuvanehwar Kumar (10).

    Shikhar Dhawan (35), AmbatiRayadu (22) and Rishabh Pant (24) gotstarts but failed to convert them as theWindies bowlers stuck at regular inter-vals.

    A lot was expected from veteranMahendra Singh Dhoni, who wasdropped from the West Indies andAustralia T20 series. But he fell for mere7, giving Holder his second wicket.

    For the Windies, Holder (2/46),Obed McCoy (2/38) and Ashley Nurse(2/48) played their roles to perfection.

    Earlier, pacer Jasprit Bumrah deniedShai Hope a second-consecutive centuryon his way to a four-wicket haul but theWest Indies made a superb recoveryafter a shaky start.

    Returning to the team after beingrested for the first two matches, Bumrah

    emerged the most effective bowler,conceding just 35 in his 10 overs.

    Bumrah sent both the visiting open-ers — Kieran Powell (21) andChanderpaul Hemraj (15) — in his firstspell to give India a solid start and laterdismissed Hope and Ashley Nurse (40).

    Hope, who had struck an unbeaten123 in the Visakhapatnam ODI, playeda significant role in reviving theCaribbean innings with his 95-runknock, which came off 113 balls.

    Towards the end, Nurse and KemarRoach (15 not out) added crucial 56runs for the ninth wicket, taking the sideclose to 300-run mark.

    The West Indies batsmen got startsbut could not convert them into bigknocks and also struggled to form bigpartnerships.

    Hope, though, dug in from one end,raising a 56-run stand with ShimronHetmyer (37) for the fourth wicket. Thecredit to break that partnership goes to

    former skipper M S Dhoni's brilliantglove work as he took the bails off withlightening speed when Hetmeyer wasmarginally outside the crease, trying tolaunch Kuldeep Yadav (2/52).

    Before that stumping, Dhoni hadtaken a breathtaking catch to removeKieran Powell, racing towards the back-ward square leg boundary and diving tohold on to the top-edge off Bumrah.Hope also combined with skipper JasonHolder (32) for a 76-run stand for thesixth wicket.

    Continuing with his good form andcombative attitude, Hope handled themiddle overs with elan. He was severeagainst Yuzvendra Chahal, whom he hitfor sixes with ease never letting thebowler dominate.

    The innings looked like fallingapart again but Nurse and Roach con-tributed 55 runs with combined eightboundaries to ensure they have a fight-ing total.

    ����&&���

    The Indian women's team, boundfor the West Indies to take part innext month's Women's World T20,has tried out various permutationsand combinations to handle differentkinds of pressure in the tournament,team coach Ramesh Powar said onSaturday.

    "We tried to put them underpressure during power play andwhen chasing. The good thing is theyoungsters - they are fearless. I don'tfeel them succumbing under pres-sure," said the former Mumbai andIndia off-spinner at the pre-departurepress conference here.

    It was the failure to handle pres-sure that cost India dear in the July23, 2017 final of the ICC Women's 50-over World Cup against hostsEngland when they collapsed to 219all out when seemingly all set to reachthe target of 229 at 191 for 3.

    "This team is more of dominancerather than competing. We tried toput the players under pressure in thelast eight games that we played. Attimes we played only with one seam-er to put pressure on the spinners. Welet them go through that and comeout winners.

    "It's about learning through thatpressure," said Powar who took overas coach in unsavoury circumstances

    after the players revolted against hispredecessor Tushar Arothe.

    The team, led by all rounderHarmanpreet Kaur, will commencetheir campaign with the group lungopener against New Zealand atGuyana on November 9. India havePakistan, Ireland and Australia as theother teams in their group B.

    Harmanpreet said that the teamhad prepared well with a seriesagainst Australia A, in which differ-ent players were tried out and hopedthis time around the team memberswill not repeat the mistakes of 2017.

    "Only a few had played in a finalearlier. I am hoping we don't repeatthe mistakes we did last time. We gotgood quality practice. We have been

    trying a lot of things, wanted to givechances to everyone and whateverwas planned we could execute them.Our team has improved, youngstersare contributing," she said.

    "I have told players to developflexibility in order to bat at any posi-tion or bowl at any stage of theinnings," she remarked.

    Coach Powar felt slow bowlingwas one of the outfit's greateststrengths.

    "Our strength is, I guess, spinbowling. We need three bowlers outof five - Poonam , Ekta Bisht, RadhaYadav, Anuja Patil and Deepti Sharma- bowling well. In batting, we we havethe experience and we also haveyoung players. We are well placed."

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    Pakistan survived an onslaught by bighitter Glenn Maxwell to win the sec-ond Twenty20 international by 11runs in a last over finish againstAustralia in Dubai on Friday.

    Maxwell hit a chancy 37-ball 52with four boundaries and a six butcould not score the 23 runs required inthe final over as Australia — chasing148 to win — ended up at 136-8 in their20 overs at Dubai stadium.

    Pakistan were lifted to 147-6 byBabar Azam (45) and MohammadHafeez (40) after Sarfraz Ahmed wonthe toss and opted to bat.

    Pakistan won the first match by 66runs in Abu Dhabi. The third and finalmatch is also in Dubai on Sunday.

    The win is skipper Sarfraz's 10thT20 series win since taking over as cap-tain in September 2016, including a tri-series win in Zimbabwe in July thisyear.

    That highlights Pakistan's numberone ranking in the shortest format asthey powered Australia for a secondmatch running.

    Sarfraz was full of praise for histeam and Shaheen.

    "It's not easy to win 10 series on thetrot in the T20 format," said Sarfraz."The way we have played and improved

    has been very good. We have improvedbatting, bowling and fielding, and ourmanagement deserves credit.

    "I was confident of Shaheen bowl-ing the last over, he may be inexperi-enced but he showed that he has thecapacity to be a big bowler."

    Australian captain Finch said hisplayers were too cautious.

    "We were probably just a bit ten-tative in the first six overs of batting,"said Finch. "Being six down last game,we tried to be conservative. And whenPakistan put the squeeze on you, it canget tough. They are No 1 for a reason."

    Maxwell, dropped thrice on 18, 34and 52, then added 30 for the fourthwicket with Mitchell Marsh (27) butPakistan continued to take wickets tokeep the Australian chase in check.

    ���� ������()�

    Mahendra Singh Dhoni has written hisown script all these years but omis-sion from India's T20 squad may force himto venture into unchartered terrains mov-ing into the 2019 World Cup in England.

    While the 37-year-old is known tokeep his cards close to his chest, but itseems that the ODI World Cup might justbe the last time that this once-in-a-gen-eration player dons the India blues.

    The national selection committee hasshown first signs of phasing him out fromone of the two limited-overs formats andT20 certainly seems to be more convenientfor the five wise men.

    "It's a given that Dhoni won't bearound when next ICC World T20 hap-pens in Australia in 2020. So, there was-n't any point continuing with him if he willnot play World T20," a senior BCCI offi-cial privy to selection policy said onSaturday.

    "Obviously, the selectors and teammanagement had a good deliberation onthis issue. Both Virat Kohli and RohitSharma were present at the selection com-mittee meeting.

    "You think selectors could have goneahead without their approval?" the officialsaid.

    It's no secret that Dhoni is the firstchoice wicketkeeper for the EnglandWorld Cup but a lot will depend on howhe performs in the last three ODIs againstWest Indies.

    More so because he will again be outof match practice for the next two monthstill India play their next lot of ODIs fromJanuary to March.

    The chairman of selectors MSK Prasadspoke about looking at a second choicekeeper and the flamboyant Rishabh Panthas already earned the vote of confidencefrom the team management.

    That precisely is the reason whyselectors could risk dropping Dhoni fromthe shortest format.

    But what would happen if Dhoni's batfails to talk for him in the coming match-es is the question that is doing the rounds.

    Once the West Indies series gets over,Dhoni will not even get to play domestic50-over matches with both Deodhar andVijay Hazare Trophy getting over.

    "If Pant plays well and Dhoni's incon-sistent run continues, would you still callhim a certainty for World Cup? On whatbasis?" questioned a former India player.

    Dhoni's major decisions, retiring fromTests or quitting limited-overs captaincymay look instinctive but those who haveseen him closely know how much thought

    process goes into it.While the World Cup, in all likelihood,

    will be his swansong, no one can quite for-get the stunning manner in which he calledtime on his Test career - in the middle ofa series, after a customary press conferencewhere he didn't even drop a hint, througha short BCCI press release.

    With Mahendra Singh Dhoni, noth-ing can be ruled out.

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    Clad in denims, with a slicked ponytail, the big glasses and beard, actorSaif Ali Khan wants some bananasbefore he gets around to talking to usat length. He doesn’t want to slag inbetween. He loves conversations rather thanstructured interviews and particularly hates thefive-minute byte droplets to a wide-rangingmedia for his film promotions. So he asks every-body to keep it silent, not crowd around hisspace or distract his eyeline. That’s how meticu-lous he is about speaking his mind and articulat-ing his thoughts. Shows how much of his beinghe invests in bringing his characters alive. Yetwhen he settles down to his eloquent self, hebecomes disarmingly chatty, engaging with andinvolving you in the process.

    What is with this new hairdo and bearded look...does it have to do with your newer projects? Kind of; I’m doing a couple of films and preppingfor them. I’m doing Ajay Devgan’s Tanaji and thesecond edition of Sacred Games. I’m not supposedto say it but we are starting the latter soon. Thislook is for those two. Then there’s Navdeep Singh’sThe Bounty Hunter where I play a Naga sadhu andwhere I have to wear an extended beard that willbe attached to this one. It’s not this look though;this is my polite version. They’re all historical filmswhere a lot of make-up is involved. In a nice way,actors can look different for their roles andshouldn’t be judged by their present appearance.We have to wait to see how the character turns out.

    What was your reference point for Baazaar? Wasthere a Hollywood derivative or did HarshadMehta lurk somewhere in the background?This one is not a biopic but more of a commercialfilm and a classy one too. I’m really surprised byGauravv (Chawla) for having made one with thiskind of pace and style. Some stories are aboutthemes, like good and bad, positing of ideas butthis one is layered in an interesting manner. But toanswer your question about derivatives, a lot inIndia, including the jeans and the ponytail, areinspired by the West. The idea of making a movieon the money market could be inspired from WallStreet. We’d be lying if we said we’re not influencedby precedents. But the trick lies in understandingand adapting them for the Indian context.

    We must understand that there’s a strong cul-ture of business and enterprise in India and inter-esting characters in the subset we call the Gujaratibusinessman. You’d be well served to look at those.I have been involved from the early stages withNikhil (filmmaker producer Nikhil Advani) inetching out this character. I wanted to do a perfor-mance-oriented role and was contemplating anoverweight, balding, crude, Paan Parag-chewingGujarati businessman. But that was more aboutperception and since the film was commercial, wethought that we should make him really cool,suave and well-dressed. But it sounded too muchlike a Siyaram ad or Race or something like that.

    Then we thought let’s make him realistic. Welooked at business magazines and scanned inter-views to analyse the stock marketer of an aspirantIndia, his attitude, hair, his manner of speech,and shaped the idea of him. So this is the mostinteresting job I’ve had in a long, long time. Thescope a commercial drama can give you is huge.On top of that, if you’re artistic about it and tryto make it believable by getting the walk andclothes right, then you can draw in the viewer. Ieven decided to be age-appropriate, put a littlewhite in the hair. And I worked on getting theaccent just right because I didn’t want to soundovertly Gujarati. If you go to Ahmedabad toaddress a function, nobody expects you to saykem cho to the crowd. It’s boring to say that. Sothese little touches have delicately shaped thecontours of the character. Our director is veryinteresting. Senior directors didn’t take him seri-ously because he did not want to make somethingdecidedly artsy. He’s jumping in the deep end butI think he has made a really good film.

    Do you research as much for all your roles? Thankfully these days you’re getting an opportu-nity to come up with something that keeps youinvested and enriches your mind as an actor.

    Given the explosion of consumable media plat-forms, we actors have to make the shift of fillingout the characters we play convincingly insteadof treating them as a job that must be finishedwithin a schedule or subscribing them to thelarger-than-life aura. Sanjay Dutt once asked mein the 90s, “Are you shooting everyday yet?”Meaning that is the sign of success.

    Today it’s a different dynamic at play. Are youable to totally immerse yourself into the role andnot vice versa? I have that confidence and luxurybecause I am not doing anything else when I amin an immersive experience. For example, ifyou’re doing a Naga sadhu, ideally you shouldlook like a stick. Become that guy. Sometimesyou can do it, sometimes you can’t. That’s theaim, I want to totally become that guy for a whilewithout being crazy about it. Time, like loyalty,shouldn’t be spent on wrong things. It’s a wastebut sometimes it’s good enough that you havegiven your heart and soul. But it has to be heartand soul given to the right idea.

    You came with this temperament much ahead of your time with your earlier films like EkHasina Thi and then Being Cyrus. You did play self-effacing characters, had completelywiped off the stardust… My ideal was Johnny Depp and to become anactor who was commercially successful. Mymother has all along in her career encouraged adifferent kind of good cinema. Something morepleasing in terms of commercial bottomlines. Buttruth be told, except for those pyrrhic momentsin my early career graph, I feel more like an actornow than ever before. Sure, I was more successfulbut I wasn’t enjoying my roles. I could do thembut that’s about it. I am an actor by professionand one has to earn in the end.

    There was also the trough you dealt with following disasters like Humshakals, HappyEnding and some more conflicted rom comheroes in between. Then Saif, the actor, was back with Sartaj in the digital series SacredGames. How did you deal with this phase andholding your own? Would you have done SacredGames had you been successful in films?Quite honestly, at one point, I wanted to makesome money. And I took my eye off the ball for abit. Markets also have ups and downs. Somebodymust have offered me a crazy figure and I said,“Okay, I’ll take care of my life with this.” And Imade a bit of a gamble by doing films likeHumshakals, Bullett Raja, and Happy Ending.Looking back, it was not such a crazy movebecause these directors had made hits with otherpeople and peers. Maybe something in our starsdidn’t align, but I had received a lot of money fromthe market. So I took this decision to give it allback and it made my wife very nervous. Everyonearound me became nervous. I was like “I don’tknow how” but I gave it all back and it was a lot. Ithought to myself, I couldn’t be stuck in this or Iwould be dead. I returned it all and decided towork with the best directors in the business.

    And I’m going to try and do the best work Ican. Doing a Rangoon, Chef and Kaalakaandi was,therefore, satisfying because people watched me,although they didn’t do great business. Specially,parts of the Press said: “There’s a new kind ofactor in him.” That people could see it encour-aged me. Even my mother, whom I talk withabout such things but rarely, told me that peoplewere appreciating my roles. Taking it forward, Iam in the process of becoming a better and betteractor, including Baazaar and Sacred Games. Ikept reading, learning, and seeing the possibilityin the treatment of these roles. As for the size ofscreen — big, small, or palm — it can never affectmy choices as an actor, so long as the subjectallows me to sink in. I will go wherever there isexcitement. And the digital platform allows youto tell stories freely, without censorship and talkabout contemporary India, which is but taboo inthe mainstream space, be it of queer rights or thecanvas of the Babri Masjid.

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    As the Modi Government in Indiaenters into its fifth year, a number ofchanges were introduced in the domain offoreign policy from first neighbourhoodto a balancer in the world politics. Despitethese changes, there are many challenges.

    The emerging India-US multilayeredstrategic dialogue with the latest additionof 2+2 and at the same time the USattempts to pressurise India on Iran issueshave created a chasm between India andAmerica.

    Modi reconfigured India-Russia rela-tions in the light of emerging world pol-itics. The first neighbourhood policy hasalso many narratives, each south Asiancountry has a different story to tell.Critics blame that the failures of the firstneighbourhood policy is not true. The fail-ures are visible due to the external power.The external force is China which is try-ing to sabotage India’s friendly terms withits neighbours. It could be seen in the con-text of Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka.

    Through the cheque diplomacy, Chinais pulling out smaller neighbours from theside of India. But India has restructureditself as a swing state or a balancer in theworld politics. Its actions and decisionswould change the contours of the worldpolitics.

    India’s role in Indo-PacificThe Indo-Pacific Ocean was one of the

    areas which has been an ignorant part ofIndian foreign policy for decades. The term‘Indo-Pacific’ defines a vital and contigu-ous arena encompassing the easternIndian and Western Pacific oceans. This

    moves along with the new synergy ofQuadrilateral Security Dialogue among theUnited States, Australia, India and Japan.

    The Quad was previously initiated in2007 by Japanese Prime Minister ShinzoAbe. The Indo-Pacific construct has eco-nomic and strategic values. Prime MinisterAbe widely cited “Confluence of the TwoSeas” speech delivered before the IndianParliament in 2007. Australia’s 2017 for-eign policy White Paper referred to a visionof an ‘open, inclusive and prosperous Indo-Pacific region, in which the rights of allstates are respected.

    US President Donald Trump’s five-nation tour of Asia last year was success-ful as it was here where he advocatedstrongly about Indo-Pacific region’s impor-tance. It is clear that the Indo-Pacific con-struct is a response to perceptions thatChina is deploying infrastructure devel-opment and investments in the region forgeopolitical gain. Indo-Pacific explicitlyincludes an emerging India, whose sig-nificance to the future balance of powerin Asia is obvious. It also focused on rulesbased system on the high water.

    The current Indian Government, per-haps even more than its predecessors, alsoplaces great value on India’s relationshipswith ASEAN member states through arevamped ‘Act East Policy’. The USNational Security Strategy provided Indiaopportunities to balance Chinese powerthrough its Act East Policy.

    China’s presence in Indian OceanOne of the major policies of China is

    to prevent India from emerging as a

    regional power in Asia. That is how it start-ed different initiatives to hold back Indiain its own periphery. The initiative’s flag-ship project, the $62 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC),seeks to link China to the Indian Oceanthrough Pakistan’s Gwadar port. In par-allel, the BRI’S Maritime Silk Road tra-verses key strategic nodes across theIndian Ocean.

    In 2017, China established for the firsttime a permanent naval presence in theIndian Ocean through its first overseasmilitary base in Djibouti, on the Horn ofAfrica. New Delhi’s concerns centre onboth Beijing’s increasingly assertive poli-cies and China’s growing influence in theIndian Ocean, which appears to India asa strategy of encirclement. China’s initia-tives include port development projects atHambantota and Colombo in Sri Lanka,Gwadar in Pakistan, Chittagong inBangladesh, Kyaukpyu in Myanmar, andreports of the leasing of islets for this pur-pose in the Maldives, as well as a signifi-cant increase in naval deployments in theIndian Ocean, including submarine visitsto the ports of Colombo and Karachi.

    China is also emerging as a supplierof critical naval hardware in the region: itsold two refurbished diesel-electric sub-marines to Bangladesh in November 2016and is constructing eight submarines forPakistan. It aims to selectively challengeChina’s infrastructure projects in SouthAsia with Indian alternatives, includingeconomic support, and port and energydevelopment. China has stepped upassertive patrolling in the South China Sea

    and increased naval deployments in theIndian Ocean, concerns in India aboutactive patrols by nuclear powered Chinesesubmarines have resulted in a greateremphasis on nuclear deterrence at sea.

    India’s major initiatives under Modiregime

    Under the current leadership of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, India for the firsttime aspires to become a ‘leading’ powerin the Indian Ocean, seeking to take ongreater roles and responsibilities in theregion. In 2015, Modi engaged in a pur-poseful spree of island hopping, visiting theSeychelles, Sri Lanka and Mauritius,where India has sought to expand bilateralmaritime-security and defence coopera-tion with island and littoral states. TheModi Government has provided defence-related lines of credit, and overseen thelaunch of a coastal-surveillance radarproject in the Seychelles; it plans con-struction and upgrading of an airstrip inmany littoral states.

    He became the first Indian PrimeMinister in decades to unveil an IndianOcean vision. China is not a natural partof the Indian Ocean. The Indian Ocean hastwo more characters. Modi has launchedsignificant initiatives to develop India’s portinfrastructure, seeking to use the civilianmaritime sector as a driver of unemploy-ment and economic growth. He has alsoplaced an emphasis on coastal and mar-itime security in counter terrorism. TheModi Government has overhauled coastalsecurity, and maritime-domain awarenessis a central theme in the 2015 Maritime

    Security Strategy.

    Future trends of power symmetry inthe region

    The South China Sea is fast becomingthe world’s most important waterways. Asthe main corridor between the Indian andPacific Oceans, the sea carries one thirdof global maritime trade, worth over $5trillion, each year. China has begun toassert its claims more vigorously and isnow poised to seize control of the sea. Itbrings all the major powers in the closeproximity. The dominant powers areIndia, China and Japan. The US likes tobe behind the scene, promoting joint ven-tures of India and Japan.

    Modi’s smart diplomacy: Synergy withRussia and US

    During the Cold War India was thebiggest loser in world politics, it did notuse the US nor it cultivated a strong mul-tilateral dialogue with the erstwhile SovietUnion. Much later it signed the specialfriendship treaty in 1971 with Russia. Bythe time strategic and military mettle ofIndia was much inferior to many of thesmaller countries of the world. It all hap-pened due to the ideological flavour ofNehruvian silver coating dictated thedirections of Indian foreign policy. Thingschanged during the Vajpaye era, but it wasa baby step in the right direction.

    The Modi’s bold policy broughtAmerica and Russia both to acknowledgeIndia as a leading power in the world pol-itics. The 2 plus 2 agreements withAmerica and Vladimir Putin, the Russian

    president visit to India established this the-ory.

    The recent visit of Russian Presidentin India could be seen from different per-spectives. One of them is to act togetheras a swing state to change the world order.Russia-India relations have drifted awaywith the impact of changing contours ofthe world politics. The Quad challengedthe Russian geopolitical space in the EastAsia and the Pacific. India’s overtures toAmerica were bad taste for Russia. On theother hand Russia’s reach out to Pakistanwas a clear signal of mutual trust deficit,lingering between the two trusted friends.Russia-China ballooning bonhomie isanother blow to India. The emerging con-flicts between America and Russia alsoaffected India-Russia relations.

    The world is once again in flux,alignment and realignments are takingplace. The Trump threat to break awayfrom INF treaty, 1987 is trending. TheEurope and major countries of Asia areeyeing to set it connections either with USor China. The reconfiguration of China-Russia terms are also on scrutiny. Theassertive move of India as a swing state hascreated new image of India as a decisivepower in the world politics. Since Indianvision of the world is not myopic, nor itgets motivated by ideological baggage, itis gaining space through its own manoeu-vring. This policy needs to be continuedfor another five years. That is why electoralvictory in 2019 becomes a necessity.

    (The writer teaches Political Science andIR at MMH College Ghaziabad, CCSU)

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    Once upon a time, sitting atyour desk, ‘liking’ andswiping was a good way toannoy your boss. Most companiessaw social media use as a distrac-tion or a risk to be managed, andmany banned Facebook andTwitter from their networks. Yettoday, some of the world’s biggestemployers are doing the opposite:Coaxing and cajoling workers tosign up to a new forms of socialmedia designed for the workplace.

    Among the first was Yammer,a Facebook clone for companiesand teams launched in 2008 andbought by Microsoft in 2012.Then there was Slack, the quirkyoffice chat app which spread likewildfire through the tech industry,roughly doubling its revenue eachyear. Microsoft responded bylaunching Teams, a collaborationand chat tool tied in to MicrosoftOffice which now has 200,000firms on board. Even Google Plus,which is being shut down for con-sumers, will persist as an enter-prise product. After a long stagna-tion, “enterprise social network-ing” seems to be gaining pace.

    Yet perhaps the most interest-ing player is Facebook itself. Itsapp, called Workplace, began in2011 as an internal tool, butbecame public two years ago. Onthe surface it is almost identical toFacebook: Users can chat, crea