· resume work from thursday ... imran khan had tweeted that passport will not be required, ......

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F our days after clashes between the Delhi Police and lawyers in Tis Hazari Court complex, lawyers on abstained from work for the third consecutive day on Wednesday and closed gates of all six district courts, including Saket and Patiala House courts, denying access to litigants in the courts. Also, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed the Delhi Police review petition and said its November 3 order, not to take coercive steps against lawyers, was only in relation to the two FIRs lodged on November 2 with regard to the clash between the police and lawyers at Tis Hazari Courts Complex. A Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar said there is no need for clarification of the November 3 order as sought by the Centre. The Delhi Police’s first application was filed on Tuesday after an on-duty policeman and a civilian were allegedly thrashed by advo- cates outside Saket Court premises on Monday and Tuesday. Another application was moved by the Centre on Wednesday seeking modifica- tion of the November 3 order by which two senior police offi- cers connected to the clash were directed to be transferred. The Bench disposed of both applications, saying a judicial enquiry has already been initiated and the panel carrying out the probe would function uninfluenced by its observations in the November 3 order. The High Court order stat- ed that the bar and the police establishment represent and constitute, as it were, the pre- server, and the protector of the rule of law. “They are but the two faces of the coin of justice. We are hopeful that if a sincere attempt is made in this direc- tion, peace and harmony will ultimately prevail,” the Bench stated in its order. However, Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman Manan Kumar Mishra said no incident of violence involving lawyers, police and the public will be tolerated and action will be taken against the guilty. He also accused policemen of making provocative statements against judges and lawyers during their protests outside the police headquarters. Meanwhile, in Rohini court, two lawyers allegedly tried to commit suicide on Wednesday. One lawyer took off his clothes and poured kerosene on his body threat- ening to immolate himself, while another advocate climbed atop a building on the premises. Police said they did not receive any PCR call in con- nection with the two incidents at the Rohini court. The lawyers raised slogans while lit- igants were standing outside the gates of the courts. While in Saket courts sev- eral litigants returned to their homes after they were not allowed to enter the court premises by the lawyers. “All gates are locked and lawyers are not letting us in. We have urged and requested them sev- eral times. I had a last day of filling my challan,” said Amrik, a res- ident of Malviya Nagar. The BCI said the lawyers will withdraw the strike and resume work from Thursday and action will be taken against the guilty lawyers. I ndia has expressed its unhap- piness on Pakistan’s official video on Kartarpur corridor featuring three Sikh separatist leaders, including Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his mili- tary adviser Shabeg Singh, who were killed during the Operation Blue Star in 1984. In Chandigarh, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said the video showed Pakistan’s “hidden agenda” in opening the corridor. Officials of the Union Home Ministry and the Ministry of External Affairs in Delhi said they have raised protest with Pakistan authorities. The video was released on Monday ahead of the inaugu- ration ceremony of the much- awaited corridor, which will connect the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India’s Punjab with Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur in Pakistan, just 4 kilometres from the International Border. The video also showed a poster by a banned pro- Khalistani group, the Sikhs for Justice, which is pushing for Sikh Referendum 2020 as part of its separatist agenda. Commenting on the video clip, Amarinder said, “All this is what I have been saying from day one, that Pakistan has a hidden agenda here.” During the Kartarpur cor- ridor talks, India had con- veyed its strong concerns to Pakistan over the presence of a leading Khalistani separatist in a committee appointed by Islamabad on the project. Notwithstanding a chill in bilateral ties over Kashmir, Pakistan and India after tough negotiations signed a land- mark agreement last week to operationalise the historic Kartarpur corridor to allow Indian Sikh pilgrims to visit the holy Darbar Sahib in Pakistan. India has asked Pakistan to clarify whether passport will be required to visit Kartarpur Sahib, Government sources said on Wednesday. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had tweeted that passport will not be required, but according to the agreement, passport will be needed. If there is a change, the agreement has to be amended, the sources said. T he BJP on Wednesday said that its delegation would meet Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Thursday as the buck stopped with the single largest party after the NCP-Congress alliance put the onus on the saf- fron alliance partners to form the next Government in Maharashtra. After having kept on repeating since Tuesday that the media would “get to hear good news anytime from now”, senior State BJP leader and Finance Minister in the outgo- ing Government Sudhir Mungantiwar finally said that BJP president Chandrakant Patil and he would meet the Governor, on behalf of outgo- ing Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, on Thursday and brief him about the current political situation in the State. “You will get to hear good news any time. ‘Mahayuti’ (BJP, Shiv Sena and allies) will form the Government. There is no need for peo- ple in Maharashtra to get wor- ried. If a Government is formed it is going to be that of ‘Mahayuti’, whoever wants to think otherwise,” he said. Interestingly, Mungantiwar’s statement that the BJP would provide “infor- mation” can in no way be con- strued that at its Thursday’s meeting with the Governor, the party will stake claim for form- ing a new Government. Leave alone getting letter of support from the Shiv Sena that has a strength of 56 MLAs and enjoys the support of another six to seven MLAs, the BJP, which has 105 MLAs of its own and claims to enjoy the support of another 15 independent MLAs, is still short of 25 MLAs to stake a claim for forming the Government. At its Thursday’s meeting with the Governor, the BJP will in all likelihood be exploring the possibility of getting an invite from Raj Bhavan to form a new Government in the State. Despite Mungatiwar’s claim, Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut said there is no change in his party’s stand on sharing the Chief Minister’s post on a rotational basis nor had the Sena received any power-sharing proposal from its senior saffron ally. A group of lawyers of the Alwar district court on Wednesday beat up up four police officials, including a woman constable and a Haryana cop, amid the per- sisting tiff between the men in ‘khaki’ and black robes in the national capital. “The advocates beat up a woman constable, two male constables of Rajasthan police and one head constable of the Haryana Police. The police- men were doing their job but advocates thrashed them,” said Alwar Superintendent of Police Paris Deshmukh. Deshmukh told PTI that four cases have been registered with two police stations in Alwar for thrashing of the four police officials on the district court premises. I n a big push to finance stalled housing projects, the Centre has decided to offer a mega bailout package of 25,000 crore. The Government will rope in State bank of India (SBI) and Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) to fund the package that would revive near- ly 1,600 stalled housing projects comprising 4.58 lakh housing units across the country. The projects will include ones that have been declared bad loans or admitted for insol- vency proceedings. The Government hopes that in addition to providing relief to homebuyers, the move will also create massive employments and boost the economy by creating demand in steel, cement, paint and ceramic sectors. The decision was finalised at the Union Cabinet at a meeting held on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Announcing the decision, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Government will put in 10,000 crore in this alternative investment fund (AIF) while SBI and LIC would provide 15,000 crore, taking the total size to 25,000 crore. The fund size would increase as sovereign and pen- sion fund are expected to par- ticipate in this AIF that can be utilised even by the projects which have been declared non- performing assets or are facing insolvency proceedings, Sitharaman added. The AIF, which was first announced by Sitharaman on September 14, will act as a “spe- cial window” to provide loans to over 1,600 incomplete affordable and middle-lower income housing projects. Sitharaman said the scheme is a modified version of the September 14 plan. The key change is allowing the AIF to fund projects that lenders may have declared as non-per- forming assets (NPAs) or which have been dragged to the NCLT for insolvency proceed- ings. She, however, said only RERA-registered projects with positive net worth will be pro- vided funds. The AIF funds will be released in stages through an escrow account and will be contingent upon completion of the approved phase, she said, adding the size of the fund may be increased with the partici- pation of sovereign and pen- sion funds. W ith the issuance of noti- fication for the first phase of elections in Jharkhand, the nomination process for the 13 Assembly segments going to polls on November 30 began on Wednesday. The nomina- tions can be filled from 11am to 3pm till November 13, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Vinay Kumar Choubey told media persons in Ranchi on Wednesday. There are a total of 3,906 polling stations and 37,78,963 voters in the 13 Assembly seg- ments –Chatra, Gumla, Bishunpur, Lohardaga, Manika, Latehar, Panki, Daltonganj, Vishrampur, Chattarpur, Hussainabad, Garhwa, Bhawanathpur—that will vote in the first phase of elections here.“The notification for the first phase of elections in 13 constituencies was issued today. Candidates can file nomina- tions till November 13 and the scrutiny will be done of November 14. Candidates can withdraw nominations by November 16,” Choubey said. Nominations of all the can- didates who reach the election officer’s office and start the for- malities before 3pm will be accepted even if the officials concerned have to work over- time. However, the nomination process will be closed on offi- cial holidays. Nominations for the 13 constituencies will be accepted at the District Electoral Offices in Chatra, Gumla, Lohardaga, Garhwa and Palamu districts. Among the 13 constituen- cies, Bhawanthpur has the highest number of electors - 3,77,996. Garhwa has 15,319 first time voters – the highest among all the constituencies going to polls in the first phase of elections in Jharkhand. Nearly 90,000 first time voters have made it to the electoral roll in these constituencies this year and more than 50,000 of them are women. Officials from the CEO’s office on Wednesday said that as many as 37,135 electors in these constituencies are above the age of 80 years and they can avail ECI’s postal ballot. Besides, 38584 voters with dis- ability can also opt for postal ballot as per ECI norms. T he Bharatiya Janata Party’s State Election Committee met for the second time in last two days to choose its candi- dates for the November- December Assembly elections, but stopped short of announc- ing their names. Chief Minister Raghubar Das, Union Tribal Affairs min- ister Arjun Munda, State BJP president Laxman Gilua, State BJP election in-charge Om Prakash Mathur, election co in- charge Nand Kishore Yadav, State BJP organizational secre- tary Dharampal Singh and other senior leaders of the party sat for over five hours to discuss the names of possible candidates in 81 Assembly seg- ments going to poll in five phase. State BJP general secre- tary Deepak Prakash said, “The senior leaders discussed on the names of probable candi- dates for all 81 Assembly con- stituencies. Names of candi- dates who had submitted their bio-data to State BJP office, along with recommendations from senior leaders were dis- cussed.” “Apart from names of such candidates about whom the party had received feedback from party workers at different constituencies were also dis- cussed,” added Prakash. Meanwhile the State Election Committee has authorized Chief Minister Raghubar Das, State president Laxman Gilua and BJP organizational secre- tary Dharampal Singh to add or remove names from proba- ble list of candidates. Sources said that the party election committee has pre- pared three to five names from a particular constituency. As the BJP central election com- mittee is to take final call on the names of candidates, members of state election committee on Wednesday evening left for Delhi. The eleven member central election committee of BJP headed by party national pres- ident Amit Shah and having members including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, surface transport and highway minister Nitin Gadkari, BJP working president JP Nadda and others.

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Page 1:  · resume work from Thursday ... Imran Khan had tweeted that passport will not be required, ... the age of 80 years and they can avail ECI’s postal ballot. Besides, 38584 voters

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Four days after clashesbetween the Delhi Police

and lawyers in Tis HazariCourt complex, lawyers onabstained from work for thethird consecutive day onWednesday and closed gates ofall six district courts, includingSaket and Patiala House courts,denying access to litigants inthe courts.

Also, the Delhi High Courton Wednesday dismissed theDelhi Police review petitionand said its November 3 order,not to take coercive stepsagainst lawyers, was only inrelation to the two FIRs lodgedon November 2 with regard tothe clash between the policeand lawyers at Tis HazariCourts Complex.

A Bench of Chief JusticeDN Patel and Justice C HariShankar said there is no needfor clarification of theNovember 3 order as sought bythe Centre.

The Delhi Police’s firstapplication was filed onTuesday after an on-dutypoliceman and a civilian wereallegedly thrashed by advo-cates outside Saket Courtpremises on Monday andTuesday. Another applicationwas moved by the Centre onWednesday seeking modifica-tion of the November 3 orderby which two senior police offi-cers connected to the clashwere directed to be transferred.

The Bench disposed ofboth applications, saying a

judicial enquiry has alreadybeen initiated and the panelcarrying out the probe wouldfunction uninfluenced by itsobservations in the November3 order.

The High Court order stat-ed that the bar and the policeestablishment represent andconstitute, as it were, the pre-server, and the protector of therule of law. “They are but thetwo faces of the coin of justice.We are hopeful that if a sincereattempt is made in this direc-tion, peace and harmony willultimately prevail,” the Benchstated in its order.

However, Bar Council ofIndia (BCI) chairman MananKumar Mishra said no incidentof violence involving lawyers,police and the public will betolerated and action will betaken against the guilty. He alsoaccused policemen of makingprovocative statements againstjudges and lawyers during theirprotests outside the policeheadquarters.

Meanwhile, in Rohinicourt, two lawyers allegedlytried to commit suicide onWednesday. One lawyer tookoff his clothes and pouredkerosene on his body threat-ening to immolate himself,while another advocateclimbed atop a building on thepremises.

Police said they did notreceive any PCR call in con-nection with the two incidentsat the Rohini court. Thelawyers raised slogans while lit-igants were standing outside

the gates of the courts. While in Saket courts sev-

eral litigants returned to theirhomes after they were notallowed to enter the courtpremises by the lawyers. “Allgates are locked and lawyers arenot letting us in. We haveurged and requested them sev-eral times.

I had a last day of fillingmy challan,” said Amrik, a res-ident of Malviya Nagar.

The BCI said the lawyerswill withdraw the strike andresume work from Thursdayand action will be taken againstthe guilty lawyers.

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India has expressed its unhap-piness on Pakistan’s official

video on Kartarpur corridorfeaturing three Sikh separatistleaders, including Jarnail SinghBhindranwale and his mili-tary adviser Shabeg Singh, whowere killed during theOperation Blue Star in 1984.

In Chandigarh, PunjabChief Minister AmarinderSingh said the video showedPakistan’s “hidden agenda” inopening the corridor. Officialsof the Union Home Ministryand the Ministry of ExternalAffairs in Delhi said they haveraised protest with Pakistanauthorities.

The video was released onMonday ahead of the inaugu-ration ceremony of the much-awaited corridor, which willconnect the Dera Baba Nanakshrine in India’s Punjab withDarbar Sahib at Kartarpur inPakistan, just 4 kilometresfrom the International Border.

The video also showed aposter by a banned pro-Khalistani group, the Sikhs forJustice, which is pushing for

Sikh Referendum 2020 as partof its separatist agenda.

Commenting on the videoclip, Amarinder said, “All thisis what I have been saying fromday one, that Pakistan has ahidden agenda here.”

During the Kartarpur cor-ridor talks, India had con-veyed its strong concerns toPakistan over the presence of aleading Khalistani separatist

in a committee appointed byIslamabad on the project.

Notwithstanding a chill inbilateral ties over Kashmir,Pakistan and India after toughnegotiations signed a land-mark agreement last week tooperationalise the historicKartarpur corridor to allowIndian Sikh pilgrims to visit theholy Darbar Sahib in Pakistan.

India has asked Pakistan to

clarify whether passport will berequired to visit KartarpurSahib, Government sourcessaid on Wednesday.

Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan had tweeted thatpassport will not be required,but according to the agreement,passport will be needed. Ifthere is a change, the agreementhas to be amended, the sourcessaid.

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The BJP on Wednesday saidthat its delegation would

meet Maharashtra GovernorBhagat Singh Koshyari onThursday as the buck stoppedwith the single largest partyafter the NCP-Congressalliance put the onus on the saf-fron alliance partners to formthe next Government inMaharashtra.

After having kept onrepeating since Tuesday thatthe media would “get to heargood news anytime from now”,senior State BJP leader andFinance Minister in the outgo-ing Government SudhirMungantiwar finally said thatBJP president ChandrakantPatil and he would meet theGovernor, on behalf of outgo-ing Chief Minister DevendraFadnavis, on Thursday andbrief him about the currentpolitical situation in the State.

“You will get to hear goodnews any time. ‘Mahayuti’ (BJP,Shiv Sena and allies) will formthe Government.

There is no need for peo-ple in Maharashtra to get wor-ried. If a Government is formedit is going to be that of‘Mahayuti’, whoever wants tothink otherwise,” he said.

I n t e r e s t i n g l y ,Mungantiwar’s statement thatthe BJP would provide “infor-mation” can in no way be con-strued that at its Thursday’smeeting with the Governor, theparty will stake claim for form-ing a new Government.

Leave alone getting letter ofsupport from the Shiv Sena thathas a strength of 56 MLAs andenjoys the support of another

six to seven MLAs, the BJP,which has 105 MLAs of its ownand claims to enjoy the supportof another 15 independentMLAs, is still short of 25 MLAsto stake a claim for forming theGovernment.

At its Thursday’s meetingwith the Governor, the BJP willin all likelihood be exploringthe possibility of getting aninvite from Raj Bhavan to forma new Government in the State.

Despite Mungatiwar’sclaim, Shiv Sena spokespersonSanjay Raut said there is nochange in his party’s stand onsharing the Chief Minister’spost on a rotational basis norhad the Sena received anypower-sharing proposal fromits senior saffron ally.

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Agroup of lawyers of theAlwar district court on

Wednesday beat up up fourpolice officials, including awoman constable and aHaryana cop, amid the per-sisting tiff between the men in‘khaki’ and black robes in thenational capital.

“The advocates beat up awoman constable, two male

constables of Rajasthan policeand one head constable of theHaryana Police. The police-men were doing their job butadvocates thrashed them,” saidAlwar Superintendent ofPolice Paris Deshmukh.

Deshmukh told PTI thatfour cases have been registeredwith two police stations inAlwar for thrashing of the fourpolice officials on the districtcourt premises.

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In a big push to finance stalledhousing projects, the Centre

has decided to offer a megabailout package of �25,000crore. The Government willrope in State bank of India(SBI) and Life InsuranceCorporation (LIC) to fund thepackage that would revive near-ly 1,600 stalled housing projectscomprising 4.58 lakh housingunits across the country.

The projects will includeones that have been declaredbad loans or admitted for insol-vency proceedings.

The Government hopesthat in addition to providingrelief to homebuyers, the movewill also create massiveemployments and boost theeconomy by creating demandin steel, cement, paint andceramic sectors.

The decision was finalisedat the Union Cabinet at ameeting held on Wednesdayunder the chairmanship ofPrime Minister NarendraModi.

Announcing the decision,Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman said theGovernment will put in�10,000 crore in this alternativeinvestment fund (AIF) whileSBI and LIC would provide

�15,000 crore, taking the totalsize to �25,000 crore.

The fund size wouldincrease as sovereign and pen-sion fund are expected to par-ticipate in this AIF that can beutilised even by the projectswhich have been declared non-performing assets or are facinginsolvency proceedings,Sitharaman added.

The AIF, which was firstannounced by Sitharaman onSeptember 14, will act as a “spe-cial window” to provide loansto over 1,600 incompleteaffordable and middle-lowerincome housing projects.

Sitharaman said thescheme is a modified version of

the September 14 plan. The keychange is allowing the AIF tofund projects that lenders mayhave declared as non-per-forming assets (NPAs) orwhich have been dragged to theNCLT for insolvency proceed-ings. She, however, said onlyRERA-registered projects withpositive net worth will be pro-vided funds.

The AIF funds will bereleased in stages through anescrow account and will becontingent upon completion ofthe approved phase, she said,adding the size of the fund maybe increased with the partici-pation of sovereign and pen-sion funds.

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With the issuance of noti-fication for the first phase

of elections in Jharkhand, thenomination process for the 13Assembly segments going topolls on November 30 beganon Wednesday. The nomina-tions can be filled from 11amto 3pm till November 13, ChiefElectoral Officer (CEO) VinayKumar Choubey told mediapersons in Ranchi onWednesday.

There are a total of 3,906polling stations and 37,78,963voters in the 13 Assembly seg-ments –Chatra, Gumla,

Bishunpur, Lohardaga, Manika,Latehar, Panki, Daltonganj,Vishrampur, Chattarpur,Hussainabad, Garhwa,Bhawanathpur—that will votein the first phase of electionshere.“The notification for thefirst phase of elections in 13constituencies was issued today.Candidates can file nomina-tions till November 13 and thescrutiny will be done of

November 14. Candidates canwithdraw nominations byNovember 16,” Choubey said.

Nominations of all the can-didates who reach the electionofficer’s office and start the for-malities before 3pm will beaccepted even if the officialsconcerned have to work over-time. However, the nominationprocess will be closed on offi-cial holidays. Nominations for

the 13 constituencies will beaccepted at the DistrictElectoral Offices in Chatra,Gumla, Lohardaga, Garhwaand Palamu districts.

Among the 13 constituen-cies, Bhawanthpur has thehighest number of electors -3,77,996. Garhwa has 15,319first time voters – the highestamong all the constituenciesgoing to polls in the first phaseof elections in Jharkhand.Nearly 90,000 first time votershave made it to the electoralroll in these constituencies thisyear and more than 50,000 ofthem are women.

Officials from the CEO’soffice on Wednesday said thatas many as 37,135 electors inthese constituencies are abovethe age of 80 years and they canavail ECI’s postal ballot.Besides, 38584 voters with dis-ability can also opt for postalballot as per ECI norms.

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The Bharatiya Janata Party’sState Election Committee

met for the second time in lasttwo days to choose its candi-dates for the November-December Assembly elections,but stopped short of announc-ing their names.

Chief Minister RaghubarDas, Union Tribal Affairs min-ister Arjun Munda, State BJPpresident Laxman Gilua, StateBJP election in-charge OmPrakash Mathur, election co in-charge Nand Kishore Yadav,State BJP organizational secre-tary Dharampal Singh andother senior leaders of theparty sat for over five hours todiscuss the names of possiblecandidates in 81 Assembly seg-ments going to poll in fivephase. State BJP general secre-tary Deepak Prakash said, “Thesenior leaders discussed onthe names of probable candi-

dates for all 81 Assembly con-stituencies. Names of candi-dates who had submitted theirbio-data to State BJP office,along with recommendationsfrom senior leaders were dis-cussed.”

“Apart from names of suchcandidates about whom theparty had received feedbackfrom party workers at differentconstituencies were also dis-cussed,” added Prakash.Meanwhile the State ElectionCommittee has authorizedChief Minister Raghubar Das,State president Laxman Giluaand BJP organizational secre-tary Dharampal Singh to addor remove names from proba-ble list of candidates.

Sources said that the partyelection committee has pre-pared three to five names froma particular constituency. Asthe BJP central election com-mittee is to take final call on thenames of candidates, members

of state election committee onWednesday evening left forDelhi.

The eleven member centralelection committee of BJPheaded by party national pres-ident Amit Shah and having

members including PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,Defence Minister RajnathSingh, surface transport andhighway minister NitinGadkari, BJP working presidentJP Nadda and others.

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The 35th Jamshedpur BookFair will start from

November 8 and would treatbook lovers with a wide rangeof books in English, Hindi andBengali, Gurmukhi, Odia andSanthali.

The Tagore Society is allset to make the event success-ful. The book fair like everyyear will have publishers fromNew Delhi, Calcutta, Odishaand other states and wouldcontinue till November 17.Jusco managing director,Tarun Daga will inaugurate theevent . General secretaryof Tagore Society, AshisChowdhury said that booklovers eagerly wait for theannual fair.

Our basic idea is to pro-mote rich literature of differ-ent languages and so werekeen to have books of allregional languages at the fair.

He also went on to informthat all precautionary measuressuch as installing CCTV, fire-fighters, dog squad have beenmade to ensure life and prop-erty during the fair.

"Our priority is more onquality publishers and not justquantity. We would like booklovers to come and enjoy booksto cultivate a reading habit,"said the secretary of TagoreSociety. In view of the

demands of the students, thistime in fair textbooks and rec-ommended books will also beavailable apart from regularbooks. “ Though sale of bookshave increased over the yearsbut we want to develop read-ing habbits among the peoplesimilar on the lines of westerncountries,” said the generalsecretary. "Sales have been hitfrom the past two years afterdemonetisation.

This year we expect thesales to be better because peo-ple are now used to the digitalmode of payment. We haveplanned an inter school com-petition also," saidChowdhury. An inter schoolcompetition on Indian litera-ture will be organised toengage students in knowingtheir literature better.

More than 10 schools haveconfirmed their participation.Various cultural events by stu-dents of Tagore School of Artsare also planned. It may bementioned that Tagore Society,a city based leading educa-tional and cultural organisa-tion, has been organising bookfair from more than twodecades. Celebrities like writerMahashweta Devi, quizmasterNeil O’ Brien have participat-ed in the fair.

The organisers believethat the more children getexposure to a platform where publishers with so many books gather at one place. The inter- est in reading can thus be developed among children.

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Deputy CommissionerRavi Shankar Shukla

today said the Elect ionCommission of India has forthe first time made votingthrough postal ballot availablefor Octagenarian and differ-ently-abled voters.

Addressing media repre-sentatives, the DC said for thepurpose of availing postalballot facility, a voter willhave to fill in Form 12D andapply to the district adminis-tration through post or anyrepresentative. After verifica-tion, further steps will betaken by the administration,he said.

Shukla said applicationsfor postal ballots may bemade till November 16. Thepolls wil l be held fromNovember 22 till December 3.He said the voters can choose

the method of voting. In case,the voter is not available at

home on the chosen pollingday, their family will be inti-

mated about the next date forcasting vote.The Returning

Officer said for the first timein Jharkhand, QueueManagement App will be usedin the upcoming StateAssembly elections.

This would help votersget information on theirmobile phones about queue ofvoters at their respectivepolling booths, he said.

Shukla said so far 20polling booths have beenidentified where voting per-centage was low during thelast Lok Sabha elections.

Deputy Commissionerconvened a meeting of nodalofficers of all election cellsand directed them to useQueue Management App.

He said the App would beused to control long queues atpolling booths.

He discussed the issue ofpostal ballot facility for dif-ferently-abled and octoge-narian voters. He also ordered

downloading of cVIGIL App.Many district officials were

present on this occasion.

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Following the announcementof Assembly polls and with

the imposition of Model Codeof Conduct, the district admin-istration Bokaro asked thelicensed weapon holders todeposit their arms and ammu-nition by November 18.

District Election Officer-cum-Deputy CommissionerBokaro Mukesh Kumar said incase any license holder failed todeposit the arms, their licens-es would be cancelled andappropriate action takenagainst them.

He said the weapon hold-ers could deposit the samewith the police station of theirarea or with registered gunhouses as soon as possible.

In order to make theAssembly election 2019 peace-ful, fear-free and clean, thearms licensees were instructedto verify their respectiveweapons under the districtBokaro in the past.

Action will be taken to can-cel or suspend the arms licenseunder the Arms Rules, if theweapon is not deposited by thestipulated time, between 8November and 18 November2019, said a district adminis-trative official.

Arms license holders usu-ally include bank managers,businessmen, former policeofficers and ex-servicemen.Many also keep guns for self-protection or status symbol.

The election code of con-duct mandates arms licenseholders to deposit theirweapons at the police station.Stern action would be takenagainst those who violate therule, said the official. TheDistrict Collectors in theircapacity as District Magistratesare empowered to grant a

license to Non-Prohibited Borewhile the Union HomeMinistry is the licensingauthority for Prohibited Borearms, he said.

The Home Departmenthas already compiled a data-base of arms license holders inthe State. This was done inaccordance with a directivefrom the Centre to prepare anationwide catalog of armslicense holders, said the official.

Meanwhile, few gun own-ers demanded exemption fromthe rule include mostly securi-ty guards involved in escortingvehicles carrying cash to banksand ATMs.

Jamshedpur: A meeting ofelection expenditure moni-toring committee was con-vened at JamshedpurCollectorate in view of theupcoming state Assembly elec-tions. It was chaired by deputydevelopment commissioner BMaheshwari.

The DDC said all politicalparties should make availabletheir election expenditure-related accounting details tothe district election office as

per the instructions of ElectionCommission of India. Thecommittee formed under theexpenditure cell will verify thedetails, he said.

The DDC informed thecommittee members about theminute details of their tasksand do’s and dont’s.

He said any case of ModelCode violation coming in theirnotice should be brought in theknowledge of the district elec-tion officials. PNS�����������������(�4�.������.��� ����4����������������������� �������� ��.

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The 48-year-old man and ayouth were allegedly tied

and beaten up by four to sixpersons, including a woman ofa family, on suspicion of theftat Govindpur service centre atBokaro thermal city onWednesday, police said.

The deceased persons,identified as Mubaraq Ansariand Akhtar Ansari, were beat-en by six persons including awoman namely Naina Deviafter being branded as a thief.Police were informed afteranother victim fell unconsciousdue to thrashing by the familymembers.

Mubaraq Ansari later suc-cumbed to his injuries, saidInspector cum Officer in-Charge Umesh Kumar Thakur.

Sources said that the fam-ily members of the victimshave denied the charges, sayingthat the victims were notthieves.

They said that Mubaraqand Akhtar did not enter thehouse for burglary and musthave been roaming in the areawhen Premchand Mahto andhis wife Naina Devi and theirtwo sons namely KundanMahto(22) and NandanMahto(20) caught them andbeat them brutally.

Police have arrested fivepersons in connection with thecase, including a woman whilePremchand Mahto and KundanMahto, who had alleged thatthey caught both of them red-handed.

The other three accusedhave been identified as NainaDevi, Hemlal Mahto andNandan Mahto all five belong-ing to Govindpur village with-in limits of Bokaro thermal, saidjointly Additional SP AnjaniAnjan. According to locals theaccused family members caughtthe victims and alleged that theywere thieves.

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Vigilance DepartmentCMPDIL, Ranchi organ-

ised its valedictory session ofVigilance Awareness Week2019 at Mayuri Auditorium ofCMPDIL, Ranchi. On thisoccasion Dr. Amit Mukherjeewas the Chief Guest, B. RoyChoudhary and Deven Mukhiwere Guests of Honour.

Pushkar, GM (Vigilance)welcomed the guests. DrAmit Mukherjee, a renownedorthopedic surgeon andTrainer of “Initiative ofChange” world-wide deliber-ated on the topic “Integrity inleadership”. He gave examplesof change from his life.

Along with theCharacteristics of a goodleader, he emphasised thateveryone in the society canbring a change along with hisusual daily routine. He intro-duced Deven Mukhi, anemployee of Tata Tin plate,who shared his story of changefrom a drunkard to teetotaler.He not only changed himself

but also brought changes in hissociety and neighbourhood.He broke the old age system ofdrinking “Hadia or wine” dur-ing the social function of thesociety. B. Roy Choudharydeliberated on the topic “LifeBalance sheet”. He told that weall know or engaged in mak-ing Balance Sheet of the com-pany but we never try to lookin the balance sheet of our life.

He explained that similarto a company we should makethe Balance sheet of our lifeand try to convert our NPAand Liabilities to Assets.

AK Srivastava, CVO,CMPDIL, in his address gavea brief outline of the activitiesconducted during VAW-2019and deliberated in detail thepreventive measures and sys-tem improvement measurestaken by the vigilance depart-ment which have resulted inan efficient and effectivetransaction of business alongwith transparency andaccountability. In the con-cluding session, aCompendium of

Circulars/Guidelines/SOPs etc.of CVC, CIL and CMPDILcompiled by VigilanceDepartment was released.

In the event, the winnersof Essay and quiz Competitionheld for the employees ofCMPDIL during VAW-2019were give prize by A KSrivastava, CVO, CMPDIL,Manoj Kumar, RD,RI-III andDr. Amit Mukherjee. In the

Essay Competition, AdityaShrestkar, Prabal Priyaranjanand Sanjeev Kumar stoodFirst, Second and third respec-tively. In the QuizCompetition, Upendra Singhand Manish Dohare securedFirst Position, Pradip Kumarand Deepak Kumar securedSecond Position & RuchiSmriti Baskey and Shweta Raisecured Third Position.

Abhishek Kumar, DeputyManager (Env.), CMPDILanchored the programme ina very impressive manner.Amresh Kumar, CM(E&M/Vigilance), AKTripathi, CM (Vig), SKThakur, CM (Vig.) and RituSingh, Aprajita Das, Nand LalYadav of CMPDIL played animportant role in organisingthe programme successfully.

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While the Grand Alliance inthe State is yet to take a

final shape, Jharkhand MuktiMorcha (JMM) Executive pres-ident and former ChiefMinister, Hemant Soren todaysaid that the shape of thealliance will come out in a dayor two and the party will con-test on not less than 42 con-stituencies out of total 81 seats.

Addressing a press meetafter JMM ExecutiveCommittee meeting at partychief Shibu Soren’s residenceSoren said that the partySupremo, Shibu Soren willannounce first list of candidateson Nov 8. With objective todefeat Bharatiya Janata Party

(BJP) in the election thereshould be alliance of likemind-ed parties and the elections

should be contested under aleadership, he added.Speakingon the issue of alliance with par-

ties such as Indian NationalCongress, RJD and Left Partiesthe party Executive president

said, “We have also said earlierthat the party will contest elec-tions above the figures ofmajority.” He said that thisevening or by tomorrow thenature of the alliance will alsobe in front of everyone. Sorensaid that the Congress and theRJD are constantly in talks. Onthe question of inclusion ofJVM in the alliance, he said thatBabulal Marandi did not givehim time to meet him.

During the press meetSoren inducted Samir Mohanty,who contested 2014 StateAssembly elections as JVMcandidate from Bahragora andgot defeated by then JMM can-didate, Kunal Sarangi. However,Sarangi joined Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) some days earlier.It may be mentioned here thatJMM, Congress, and formerChief Minister, BabulalMarandi led JVM and RJDcontested the recently con-cluded Lok Sabha electionsunder ‘Grand Alliance’. At thetime of formation of the alliance

before Lok Sabha elections, itwas decided among memberpartners of the alliance that theState Assembly Election willalso be contested under thesame banner.

However, Marandi onTuesday announced breakingaway from theMahagathbandhan (GrandAlliance) and said that theparty will contest all the 81Assembly seats on its own inyear-end Assembly election.

The Election Commissionof India (ECI) on last Fridayannounced elections in fivephases in Jharkhand. Electionsfor the 81 assembly segmentshere will be held fromNovember 30 to December 20,and the votes will be counted onDecember 23, the ECI said.Jharkhand has a total of 2.26crore electorates, the ECIadded. On the other hand BJPand AJSU Party alliance alsostruggling get final shape asboth the parties are demandingmore seats.

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Jharkhand police’s GlobalInformation System (GIS) is

winning accolades at thePolice Technology Exhibitionorganized by the Ministry ofHome Affairs (MHA) atKevadiya town in Gujarat.The technology – used exten-sively in anti-Maoist opera-tions and monitoring of elec-tions here – has become theeye-catcher for visitors from12 states and nine enforce-ment agencies, police said onWednesday.

“I strongly believe thattechnology always multipliesthe force in a police organi-zation. Jharkhand is one ofthe 12 states showcasing itspolice technology at the exhi-bition and is winning appre-ciation from different cornersof the country,” said DirectorGeneral of Police KamalNayan Choubey.

Prime Minister NarendraModi inaugurated the exhi-bition on October 31 inGujarat. The objective behindorganising the exhibition is toshowcase the technologicalachievements of differentpolice forces and how thepolice are using InformationTechnology in combatingcrime. The weeklong exhibi-tion is scheduled to concludeon November 6.

GIS is a system designedto capture, store, manipulate,analyze, manage, and presentall types of geographical data.This data can be used in sur-veillance of specific geo-graphical locations and takenecessary steps to preventcrimes or catch hold ofoffenders.

The GIS designed byJharkhand police is also usedin Emergency ResponseSystem and Shakti App –amobile App for ensuring safe-

ty of women. In 2016, ChiefMinister Raghubar Daslaunched Jharkhand’s firstwomen safety android appli-cation Shakti App. Throughthe android app, women whosense trouble and need of pro-tection can register com-plaints to the nearest policepatrolling.

The CM also flagged off18 Police Control Room(PCR) vans especially forensuring safety of women inthe State capital. The GISassists police forces in locat-ing and intercepting LeftWing Extremist outfits in theState during combing opera-tions, police said.

Besides the GIS,Jharkhand police has alsodeveloped a Private CloudData System with a pool of 20to 22 computers. This cloudcan work for 400 servers at atime.

Jharkhand police are alsoworking on developingmobile apps for maintaininglaw and order in urban areasof the State. Ranchi police areworking on a smart phoneApp that will help avert bur-glaries and thefts in the cityby sending updates to thenearest police station when-ever occupants leave a housevacant, even for a day.

Besides, the traffic policehere have recommended anApp-based bus service inRanchi. The App will send apop up message to the near-est police station that a par-ticular family, staying in aparticular house number, willbe out of station.

A cop will be assignedduty of maintaining a vigilaround house and preventcases of theft, said a seniorpolice official. A group ofyoung, tech-savvy officers inRanchi police are designingApp.

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In the absence of informa-tion related to menstrual

hygiene among adolescentgirls, especially in the remoteareas of Ranchi, the districtadministration has taken aunique initiative. To createawareness about the issue aprogrammed called MHM(Menstrual HygieneManagement) Chachi hasbeen launched at schoolsacross the City.

Started in the last week ofOctober, under this campaign,a box titled ‘MHM Chachi’ isbeing placed in every schoolwith girl students. In the pilotproject such boxes have beenplaced at 13 Kasturba GandhiBalika Vidyalayas in the dis-trict.

“The taboos surroundingmenstruation exclude womenfrom many social aspects andthis step has been taken tochange that. This is basicallya method from which theaim is to get students to knowwhat MHM is. Menstrualhygiene is something which isnot discussed very openly sothese boxes are being placedto clear all doubts,” saidRanchi Deputy CommissionerRai Mahimapat Ray. The kits

contain IEC materials, comicswith information related to

menstruation. Samples ofproducts like bio degradable

reusable sanitary napkins andmenstrual cups will also be

there. “In urban cities, girlshave easy access to informa-

tion pertaining to menstrualhygiene on their mobilephones and television setswhile this is not the case inrural areas. This initiative hasbeen taken not only to createawareness about maintainingproper hygiene during men-struation but also includeshealth related issues becauseof unhygienic conditions,”said Aspirational DistrictFellow Satwik Mishra

The administration hasalso planned to appoint MHMGuides in each school to solveall queries and psychologicalproblems related to menstru-ation, especially in the initialfew years. For this girls canpost their doubts anony-mously which will be clearedonce a month under‘Mahavari pe Charcha’ whichwill be conducted in theschool itself and teachers willalso be trained for the same.

MHM Chachi will providea library kind of set up and theinitiative is being supportedby WSSCC and Menstrupediawhich are providing IECmaterials and comics to beinstalled in libraries Underthis initiative the team plansto take this mission to asmany as 100 schools by theend of the year.

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The depression over the Bayof Bengal, which is expect-

ed to intensify into a cyclonicstorm—Bulbul—and eventu-ally into a very severe cyclonicstorm, is now likely to skipOdisha and head towardsSagar Island in West Bengaland Kepupara in Bangladesh.

Due to cyclonic depres-sion, many parts of easternstates including Jharkhand aregoing to witness light to medi-um rainfall.

As per the weather depart-ment, due to cyclonic depres-sion many parts of the State aregoing to witness light rainfallon November 9. The cyclonicdepression will become

stronger with many parts ofState witnessing rainfall alongwith thunderstorm onNovember 10 and 11. Due tocyclonic depression, the tem-perature will fall leading toblow of cold waves.

Meteorological depart-ment has issued weather warn-ing for next four days withThursday witnessing fog andmist, Friday being partlycloudy weather. On Saturdaythere will be generally cloudyweather with light rainfall. OnSunday and Monday there willbe rainfall with thunderstorm.

In wake of Cyclone Bulbul,heavy rain is predictedbetween November 9 to 12over the east coast, especiallyin Andhra Pradesh and

Odisha.The OdishaGovernment had made elabo-rate arrangement to tackle theCyclonic storm with OdishaGovernment setting up over600 cyclone shelters at vil-lages. Authorities have alsowarned fishermen not to ven-ture into the sea.

While information onCyclone Bulbul and its expect-ed impacts is scant, the IMDhas released rainfall predic-tions for the eastern coast.

Meanwhile, CycloneMaha, which was earlierexpected to hit Gujarat onThursday, may just skirt thestate's coast, according to freshpredictions released by theIndia MeteorologicalDepartment.

����� /) (5�

Acting swiftly after filing ofmolestation and attempt

to kidnap case with three stu-dents of Women College,Ranchi that took place onTuesday near one of the mostcongested at Jail More Chowk,the Ranchi Police arrestedone of the two accusedinvolved in the case.

Deputy Superintendent ofPolice (Dy SP), Ranchi City,Amit Kumar Singh said, “TwoYouths were involved in thecase of molesting and attemptto kidnap three students ofWomen College, Ranchi inwhich Ansar Ansari wasarrested on Wednesday morn-ing from his residence situat-ed at Chandwe Village underKanke Police Station inRanchi District.

Other accused of the caseSufiyan Ansari, resident of

same locality is still at largebut the police team will nabhim also very soon,” said theDy SP.

Elaborating about theincident Singh said that theincident took place at 9.30 amon Tuesday morning near JailChowk in Circular Road.

There was an attempt tomolest three female students,then abduct. “The accusedalso assaulted the students.

Both the accused ran awayby their scooter when thegirls started making noise.Some people gathered to savethe girls then the accused ranaway from the spot,” he added.

On the statement of thestudents police filed a caseagainst Sufiyan Ansari andAnsar Ansari of ChandweVuillage.

“Both of them have beenmolesting the girls earlieralso. According to the FIR, the

three girls were going toWomen’s College; two boysriding on Scooter arrived nearJail Chowk and snatched amobile phone from a student.When she resisted, she wasbeaten up, then they startedmolesting. Meanwhile, one ofthe accused tried to kidnapher by on a scooter. People ranon the noise of the students,”said Singh.

After getting informationabout the incident familymembers of the girl reachedLalpur Police Station. Theyquestioned the law and orderof the City and demanded theimmediate arrest of theaccused.

They told the police thatif the criminals are indulgingin incidents like molestationand kidnapping in the middleof the road, then how can thestudents go to school andstudy without fear.

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Giridih police today seizeda herd of 47 cattle includ-

ing bulls, cows and calvesand arrested seven persons,said SP Giridih SurendraKumar Jha.

Police said the Giridihpolice on Wednesday bustedan international animal traf-ficking gang near Gawa andTisari and rescued the cattleworth more than Rs 20 lakh.

Police said that the traf-fickers were in a bid to smug-gle the herd of cattle toBangladesh via Gurabanda,which is 20 km away fromGiridih headquarters.

The route is considered tobe a safe den and passage cor-

ridors for trafficking.Policearrested Kamlesh Yadav,Jitendra Prasad, Mitu Yadav,Birju Saw, Sudhir Rai, BinodNath Goswami andGhanshyam Mandal all arefrom different districts ofBihar.

Circle Inspector P Liyangisaid that the rescued animalswere kept in a shelter house inGiridih under tight security.

Police said that for thepast few days, they werereceiving some informationfrom Giridih district aboutsome cows and bulls beingsmuggled.

According to the infor-mation, the cattle were firstbeing brought to Kolkata viaGiridih and then taken to

Bangladesh. Sources informedthat from there, the herd wasto be taken to Chingra in WestBengal, and then all the wayto Bangladesh.

The Gawa and Tisaripolice stations area are underthe influence of Naxals andborders Bihar, Bengal andJharkhand. This makes it eas-ier for smugglers to sneak ani-mals across the Bihar,Jharkhand and Bengal.

Police sources said that anew corridor to smuggle ani-mals is being built in Gawaand Tisari in Giridih wherethe perpetrators first enterJharkhand and then take cat-tle to Chingra in Bengal. Fromthere, the heard is sent toBangladesh in big vehicles.

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VAJRA 2019, the annualsports festival of Birla

Institute of Technology, Mesrais scheduled to take place from8th to 10th November, 2019.However the pre-events havealready started fromWednesday. The grand sportsfestival is being organised bythe Core and Organizing Teamof the fest with AishaneePatnaik, Aadarsh Shrivastavaand Vikash as the convenor. Dr.Virendra Singh Rathore is theesteemed faculty advisor of

VAJRA'19.The cricket tourna-ment of VAJRA'19 commencedhere on Wednesday. Thematches in the first half start-ed from 9:30 A.M. at OvalGround and BIT PolytechnicGround simultaneously.Cricket teams of Birla Instituteof Technology, Mesra battledagainst Birla Institute ofTechnology, Lalpur at the OvalGround while at the BITPolytechnic Ground, the matchbetween CIT and B startedsimultaneously. While BirlaInstitute of Technology, Mesradefeated Birla Institute of

Lalpur by 88runs. At 1P.M., the sec-ond set ofc r i c k e tm a t c h e sstarted atboth thevenues. AtOval Ground,the cricketsquad of BirlaInstitute ofTechnology,Patna com-peted againstA s a n s o lEngineeringC o l l e g e ' scricket team.At BITPolytechnic Ground, AmityUniversity, Ranchi, battledagainst RTC Institute ofTechnology from 1 P.M. Withthis the first day of crickettournament concluded.

Also, the Fine Arts Societyof BIT Mesra (FAS), organised

a two-day "Water ColourWorkshop" on 5th and 6thNovember, 2019. The work-shop kicked off at 5:30 P.M. inRoom No. 207 of the MainBuilding with around 50 enthu-siastic participants. The ChiefGuest for the event was

Professor Mrinal Pathak, theFaculty Advisor of FAS, BITMesra who encouraged thestudents to express their cre-ativity on the paper by partic-ipating in such events.

The Workshop was con-ducted by senior member of

FAS, Nilotpal Alda, of the K16batch. He guided the attendeesof the workshop through thebasics of water colours includ-ing basic wash technique, andits proper usage.

All the attendees were thenprovided with sheets, and water

colours, by FAS. They wereasked to make a painting usingthe same. Throughout the two-day workshop, the studentscompleted two paintings underthe guidance of the FAS mem-bers.

The second day of the

workshop was based onadvanced techniques used inwater colour painting thatincludes "wet on wet" and "weton dry" techniques. The work-shop came to a successful com-pletion at 8:00 P.M. onWednesday.

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The Supreme Court onWednesday asked the

Centre and nine states to file astatus report on filling up ofvacancies in the central andstate information commissionsin compliance with its earlierorders.

A bench of Justices SABobde, S Abdul Nazeer andKrishna Murari asked theCentre and the nine states tofile the status report in fourweeks.

“In the meantime, theUnion of India and the statesshall submit a status reportregarding filling up of thevacancies in question and acompliance report with regardto the directions given by thiscourt vide judgment datedFebruary 15, 2019 be also filed,” the bench said in itsorder.

�� � 3��'345�

In a jolt to the Jaypee Group, theSupreme Court on Wednesday

directed completion of corporateinsolvency resolution processwithin 90 days for JaypeeInfratech Ltd and said the revisedresolution plan will be invitedonly from NBCC and SurakshaRealty.

The apex court said the pen-dency of any other applicationbefore the NCLT or NCLAT,including any interim direction,shall be no impediment for theIRP to receive and process therevised resolution plan from thetwo bidders.

A bench of justices A MKhanwilkar and DineshMaheshwari said it is passingdirections in an “exceptional sit-uation” to do complete justice tohome buyers, Jaypee group andbanks concerned.

�� � 3��'345�

The Supreme Court onWednesday directed that

former Congress leader SajjanKumar, sentenced for life in a1984 anti-Sikh riots case, beexamined by a panel of AIIMSdoctors, after he sought urgentlisting of his bail plea on healthgrounds.

Kumar was awarded lifeimprisonment by the DelhiHigh Court on December 17last year. The Supreme Courthas also asked for a report infour weeks from the panel ofdoctors constituted by theAIIMS director.

A bench headed by JusticeS A Bobde said it will hear thebail application of Kumar inthe summer vacation next year.

On August 5, a benchheaded by Justice Bobde hadsaid it would hear Kumar’s bailplea in May 2020 as it was notan “ordinary case” andrequired detailed hearingbefore any order is passed.

“We are of the view that the

health condition of petitioners(Kumar) be examined by apanel of doctors constituted bythe AIIMS director. Report thefile in four weeks,” the bench said.

Senior advocate VikasSingh, appearing for Kumar,said he has been in jail for thepast 11 months and has lostaround eight to 10 kg of weight.He said Kumar has been suf-fering from various ailmentsand has serious health issues.

To this, the bench saidlosing weight does not meanthat he is unhealthy but still “wewill order examination of hishealth conditions by a panel ofdoctors”.

Kumar resigned from theCongress after he was convict-ed by the high court.

The case in which he wasconvicted and sentenced relatesto the killing of five Sikhs inDelhi Cantonment’s Raj NagarPart-I area of southwest Delhion November 1-2 in 1984, andburning down of a gurdwara inRaj Nagar Part-II.

����� 3��'345�

Russia on Wednesday backed Indiain its fight against terrorism and

reaffirmed its support to tackle thescourge by boosting India’s defencecapabilities and providing cuttingedge technology. This assurance cameduring visiting Defence MinisterRajnath Singh and Russian counter-part General Sergey Shoigu talks inMoscow. Singh is in Russia on athree-day visit started on Tuesday.

Giving details of the talksbetween the two leaders held underthe aegis of the 19th India-RussiaInter-Governmental Commissionon Military and Military TechnicalCooperation (IRIGC-M&MTC),Defence Ministry officials said hereSingh held in-depth discussionson a range of international issues ofcommon concern. Shoigu briefedRaksha Mantri on Russian operations in Syria.

The Russian side reiterated itsstrong support to India in the fieldof counter-terrorism and statedthat it accords priority to NewDelhi’s security interests in theregion. The Russian DefenceMinister underlined Moscow’s com-mitment to extend all possible sup-port in enhancing India’s defence

capabilities, including cooperationin advance and cutting-edge tech-nology. Singh appreciated Russia’ssteadfast support.

Welcoming Singh on his maid-en visit to Russia, Shoigu termedIndia as an exclusive strategicdefence partner. Singh emphasisedthat the special and privilegedstrategic partnership between thetwo countries was further strength-ened following the VladivostokSummit in September 2019.

He highlighted the importanceof the Inter-GovernmentalAgreement on manufacturing ofspares, components and aggregatesin India through joint venturesthat would reduce cost, timelines ofsupply and result in progressiveindigenisation. This agreement isexpected to provide a major boostto the ‘Make in India’ initiative.

Responding to his invitation,the Russian Defence Ministerassured robust Russian participationin DefExpo 2020, to be held in UttarPradesh capital Lucknow betweenFebruary 5-8, 2020.

The Russian side affirmed itsreadiness to operationalise the jointventure lndo-Russia Rifles PrivateLimited for the manufacture of worldclass Kalashnikov AK 203 rifles inIndia at the earliest. The factory wasset up in Uttar Pradesh some monthsback and will manufacture these riflesfor the army to begin with and thenpara-military forces and the police.The total cost of the joint venture is

about � 7,000 crores.The two Ministers reviewed

the progress of the two workinggroups on Military and MilitaryTechnical Cooperation. It wasagreed that the forthcoming tri-ser-vice Indra Exercises will be a majormilestone in military cooperationbetween the two countries.

Both sides expressed satisfaction on the progress inimplementing ongoing contractsconcluded in the recent past. Russiaalso agreed to Singh’s request to con-stitute specific working groups forafter-sales support of key defenceplatforms. The ministers directedthe respective teams to work close-ly for early conclusion of the India-Russia Inter-GovernmentalAgreement on Reciprocal LogisticsSupport.

As a special gesture, the RussianDefence Minister requested Singhfor participation of an lndian mil-itary Contingent in Army Parade onthe occasion of 75th anniversary ofthe victory in the Second WorldWar. Russian President Mr VladimirPutin has already extended an invi-tation to Prime Minister NarendraModi to attend the celebrations. Healso assured that an Indian contin-gent would be participating in theParade.

Singh will visit St Petersburg onThursday on the final day of his visitto Russia. His engagements includewreath laying at the PiskarevskyMemorial Cemetery there.

���%����0�� �� 3��'345�

Shelved twice as it requires diversion of 1,165 hectares of

‘luxuriant’ forest land, the possibil-ity of setting up the controversial3097 megawatt (MW) Etalin hydro-electric project (HEP) inArunanchal Pradesh’s Dibang Valleyis being explored again.

Despite bringing to its noticethat the �� 25,296-crore HEP hasbeen proposed in the regionenriched with flora and fauna —about 680 bird species have beenrecorded which is about 56 per centof total bird species of the country— the Union EnvironmentMinistry’s expert committee on forest clearances (FAC) has now setup a sub-committee to decide thefate of the project. The FAC had heldclearance to the project twice in thepast-in 2015 and then in 2017.

As per the minutes of the meet-ing of the FAC held in October 17,2019, the sub-committee will visitthe site and check if the total landrequirement could be furtherreduced. It would also “look into theconcerns highlighted by regionaloffice in its report especially relat-ed to tree enumeration process andthe aspects highlighted in biodiver-sity assessments study by theDehardun-based Wildlife Institute of

india (WII). Report of subcommittee shall be

exhaustive with appropriate rec-ommendation so that FAC couldtake appropriate decision,” said theminutes of the meeting posted onthe Ministry’s website.

Incidentally, the FAC in its 2017meeting in February while puttingon hold the clearance, had flaggedthe lack of studies on the project’simpact on the region’s biodiversity.

The committee had noted thatwhile the Chief Conservator ofForest of the region mentioned

only a few mammals and plantspecies in his report, the region is abiodiversity hotspot. “This area hasmore biodiversity than any part ofthe country, “ said the panel refer-ring to various reports that pointedout that the entire region falls under,IUCN management categories III,IV, endemic bird area, global biodi-versity hotspot, and key biodiversi-ty area indicating its importance atthe global scale.

The committee had said thatsince independent studies, that usedcamera traps, recorded 12 tigers and

eight clouded leopards in Dibangvalley, the National TigerConservation Authority (NTCA),too, should give its view on the issue.

The FAC had recommendedconducting multiple seasonal replicate studies on biodiversityassessment by an internationallycredible institute noting that the cur-rent study (Environment ImpactAssessment) is completely inade-quate in this regard.

However, on October 17, 2019,the panel observed that the recom-mendations of its last meeting(February 2017) has not been com-plied fully and the replies submittedin compliance of all observationswere not satisfactory. “Moreover,FAC could not obtain viewpoints ofrepresentatives of user agency orState Government, as no one waspresent for consultation and clarification of doubts,” it said.

The sub-committee is com-prised of SD Bora and Dr SanjayDeshmukh, both FAC members,GV Gopi of Dehradun-based WildLife Institute of India (WII), repre-sentative of regional office, Shillong,IG National Tiger ConservationAuthority (NTCA) of the regionaloffice (Guwahati) among others.However, no time period has beengiven to the panel to submit thereport.

����� 3��'345�

Pinning hope that theSupreme Court verdict in

the Ayodhya case will be basedon “evidence and not faith”,prominent organisation ofMuslim clerics Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind on Wednesday said it willrespect the apex court’s rulingin the matter. The organisationalso appealed to Muslims toabide by the top court’s decisionon the issue.

The Babri Masjid case is notjust a case of land dispute but atest case of the supremacy of thelaw, Jamiat chief Syed ArshadMadani said at a press confer-ence here on Wednesday.

“We believe SC will decideon the basis of law and not onfaith,” Madani said.

“Every justice-loving personwants the case should be adju-dicated on the basis of hard factsand evidence not on the basis offaith and belief ,” he said, addingthat the Supreme Court alsomade it amply clear that it isonly a title suit case.

“The debate in the court is

over, now we await the judg-ment. Our lawyer RajeevDhawan has made a very strongargument based on facts and weare confident that the decisionwill be in our favour. But, wehave said time and again, thecountry is ours, the law is oursand the Supreme Court is ours.We have given evidence, what-ever judgment is made, we willrespect it,” he said.

“We want to urge all citizensthat they should respect the lawand maintain peace in the coun-try irrespective of whether theverdict is in favour or against,”he said.

Referring to his meetingwith RSS chief Mohan Bhagwatin August, Madani said, the

basis of that meeting was main-taining Hindu-Muslim unity.

“I am happy that, whilesticking to our respective views,we have agreed on the point thatHindu-Muslim unity should bemaintained in the country at alltimes. They (RSS) are also try-ing for this and we are also try-ing,” he said. Madani’s remarkscome a day after, senior RSS andBJP leaders reached out toprominent Muslim clerics andintellectuals and held a meetingwith them during which it wasstressed that irrespective of thenature of the court ruling thereshould neither be ‘junoonijashn’ (excessive celeberation)nor ‘haar ka hungama’ (brouha-ha over defeat).

The meeting was held at theresidence of Minority AffairsMinister Mukhtar Abbas Naqviand was attended by RSS lead-ers Krishna Gopal and Ramlal,former Union ministerShahnawaz Hussain, JamiatUlema-e-Hind general secretaryMahmood Madani, Shia clericMaulana Syed Kalbe Jawwadand filmmaker Muzaffar Ali.

New Delhi: During the nationwideoperations against banking fraudaccused, the CBI has searched the res-idence of Congress MLA RaghurajSingh Kansana in Madhya Pradesh’sMorena in connection with a bankloan availed fraudulently by hisnephew. The searches were carried outon Tuesday.

The CBI has booked Kansana’snephew Kushal Singh for allegedlyavailing loan from UCO Bank on thebasis of forged documents causing aloss of � 8.08 crore to the public sec-tor lender. Besides Kushal, the agencyhas also named then chief manager ofthe bank R K Sinha as an accused in

the case. Kasana’s nephew runs awarehouse for which he had taken aloan from the victim bank.

After registering the case, theCBI team on Tuesday reached theancestral house of the MLA inMorena, Madhya Pradesh to seekdocuments. The agency also searchedthe warehouse owned by Kushal.Singh, owner of the warehouse fraud-

ulently issued warehouse receipts inthe name of different persons for avail-ing loan against those receipts andunauthorisedly released and removedpledged goods without having releaseorders from UCO Bank, according tothe FIR.

He said most of such receipts wereissued in the names of the warehouseowner’s employees and relatives.During the physical inspection ofstock by a team appointed by the zonaloffice of the bank, it was found that thestock of commodities was much lessthan what the warehouse submitted tothe bank while pledging them for seek-ing the loan, officials said. PNS

�� �� 48 '8

Fugitive diamond trader NiravModi, who is fighting extradition

to India on charges of nearly USD2 billion Punjab National Bank(PNB) fraud and money launderingcase, on Wednesday appeared beforea UK court hearing his new bailapplication.

Dressed in a blue sweater andfreshly shaved, the 48-year-old wasproduced before WestminsterMagistrates’ Court in London tomake another attempt at being letout on bail until his trial in May nextyear.

He has been in custody atWandsworth prison in south-westLondon, one of England’s mostovercrowded prisons, since his arrestin March.

Modi was looking distinctlyhealthier than his previous appear-ance before the same court earlierthis year.

“The bail application is atWestminster Magistrates’ Court onWednesday November 6. Thegrounds cannot be made publicuntil the hearing,” said a spokesper-son for the UK’s Crown ProsecutionService (CPS), which represents theIndian government in the extradi-tion proceedings in court.

Modi has reportedly claimedanxiety and depression in his latestapplication, with earlier bail appli-cations at the court being rejected byChief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot,and then also on appeal at theHigh Court in London, as he wasdeemed a flight risk.

His legal team has previouslydescribed their client’s experience inprison as “damaging” and offeredstringent electronic tag and otherconditions akin to house arrest at hisposh Centrepoint apartment in theWest End of London in an attemptto persuade the judge to grant bail.

“His experience in custody hasbeen vivid and damaging...He is will-ing to abide by any bail conditionsimposed by the court becauseWandsworth is unliveable andmakes the effective preparation of hiscase virtually impossible,” his bar-rister Clare Montgomery had toldJudge Arbuthnot earlier in the year.

They had also doubled the ini-tial bail bond offer of 1 millionpounds to 2 million pounds in anattempt to sway the court. However,Arbuthnot had concluded that Modiwas wanted in connection with a“large fraud” and the doubling ofsecurity was “not sufficient to covera combination of concerns that hewould fail to surrender”.

In June, Modi’s legal team took

his appeal against that ruling to theRoyal Courts of Justice in London,where a judge was told about the dia-mond merchant’s troubled state ofmind in “confidential” documents.

“The circumstances he has hadto endure at Wandsworth have beenpersonally difficult and the confi-dential exhibits reflect the experiencethat has marked him deeply. Thereality is that he is not the cold-blooded hardened criminal asclaimed by the Government of Indiabut a jewellery designer from a longline of diamond dealers, and regard-ed as being honest, careful and reli-able,” Montgomery told the HighCourt, adding that a number of indi-viduals were willing to offer suretiesand substantial sums to back up theclaim that Modi is not a man whoplans to run.

But in her judgment, JusticeIngrid Simler concurred with theChief Magistrate that there were“substantial grounds” to believe thatModi would fail to surrender as hedoes possess the means to “abscond”.

After considering all the mate-rial “carefully”, the judge said shefound strong evidence to suggestthere had been interference withwitnesses and destruction of evi-dence in the case and concluded itcould recur if he was let out ofprison.

There are no strict limits on thenumber of times Modi can apply forbail, but he would have to producesubstantially modified grounds ina new application.

He has meanwhile continued toappear via videolink before themagistrates’ court in London,appearing in a standard prison-issued grey tracksuit and mostlyfreshly shaved and upbeat. His nextroutine 28-day appearance requiredunder UK law is listed for November11, a date that still remains on thecourt’s lists.

At a hearing last month, JudgeNina Tempia had confirmed that hisextradition trial is scheduledbetween May 11 and 15 next year,with the case management hearingsset to begin from February next year.

Modi has been behind bars atWandsworth prison since his arreston March 19 on an extraditionwarrant executed by Scotland Yardon charges brought by the Indiangovernment.

During subsequent hearings,Westminster Magistrates’ Court wastold that Modi was the “principalbeneficiary” of the fraudulentissuance of letters of undertaking(LoUs) as part of a conspiracy todefraud PNB and then launderingthe proceeds of crime.

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The Trump Administration’s restrictive immigration policies have led to massive

increase in the rejection of petitions for H-1B visaswith the highest denial rate among major IndianIT companies, according to a study carried out byan American think-tank.

The study by the National Foundation forAmerican Policy, based on data received from theUS Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)showed that denial rates for H-1B petitio s, popu-lar among Indian IT professionals, have increasedsignificantly from just six per cent in 2015 to 24 percent in the third quarter of the current fiscal.

The H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allowsUS companies to employ foreign workers in spe-ciality occupations that require theoretical or tech-nical expertise.

The technology companies depend on it to hiretens of thousands of employees each year from coun-tries like India and China.

The study reflects that denial rate for H-1B visasis highest among major Indian IT companies, thusgiving credence to charges that Indian companiesare being unduly targeted by the current adminis-tration.

For instance, the denial rate of H-1B petitionsfor initial employment for Amazon, Microsoft, Inteland Google in 2015 was just one per cent. In 2019,the same increased respectively to six, eight, sevenand three per cent.

The denial rate for Apple remained the same attwo per cent.

During the same period, the denial rate jumpedfrom four per cent to 41 per cent for Tech Mahindra,from six per cent to 34 per cent for Tata ConsultancyServices, from seven per cent to 53 per cent forWipro and from just two per cent to 45 per cent forInfosys, the study showed.

At least 12 companies that provide profession-al or IT services to other US companies, includingAccenture, Capgemini and others, had denial ratesof over 30 per cent through the first three quartersof fiscal 2019. Most of these companies had denialrates between two per cent and seven per cent asrecently as in 2015, it said.

The denial rate for H-1B petitions for contin-uing employment was also high for Indian IT com-panies. For Tech Mahindra, it increased from twoper cent to 16 per cent during the same period, whilethat of Wipro increased from four per cent to 19per cent, and Infosys from one per cent to 29 percent, the study showed.

On the other hand, the denial rates for H-1Bpetitions for continuing employment among majorAmerican companies were low — Amazon (fromone per cent to three per cent), Microsoft (remainedat two per cent), Intel (from one per cent to threeper cent), Apple (remained at one per cent) and forGoogle, it increased from 0.4 per cent in 2015 toone per cent in 2019.

Noting that between 2015 and 2019, the denialrate for new H-1B petitions for initial employmentquadrupled from six to 24 per cent, the NationalFoundation for American Policy said to put this inperspective, between 2010 and 2015, the denial ratefor “initial” H-1B petitions never exceeded eight percent, while today the rate is three times higher.

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Electoral bonds worth of �6,128 crore were sold between

March 2018 to October 2019(when scheme was launched),with more than half that amount— a whopping �3,622 crore — soldjust ahead of the May 2019 LokSabha polls.

According to the Associationfor Democratic Reforms (ADR)report, a total of �1,366 croreworth of electoral bonds weresold in March 2019, rising to �2,256 crore in April in the run-up to the elections in May 2019.

The highest number of elec-toral bonds worth �1,880 crorewere sold in Mumbai, followed by�1,440 crore in Kolkata, �919crore in New Delhi and �383crore in Hyderabad. The donorsbought 1,459 electoral bonds ofdenomination of �10 lakh and1,258 bonds of �one crore denom-ination. They purchased 318 bondsof �one lakh,

12 bonds of �10,000 and 24bonds of �1000 denomination.Parties redeemed electoral bondsworth �1,395.89 crore.

Electoral bonds was launchedon March 1 last year by the Modi

government as an alternative tocash donations made to politicalparties. The idea was to increasetransparency in political fundingand curb the usage of black money.The Centre subsequently notifiedthe Electoral Bonds Scheme inJanuary this year.

An electoral bond is like aPromissory Note, similar to abanknote, that is payable to thebearer on demand and free ofinterest. It can be purchased by anyIndian citizen or a body corporatein India. An electoral bond may beissued in multiples of �1,000,�10,000, �1 lakh and �1 crore and

are available at specified branch-es of the State Bank of India.

A donor can purchase an elec-toral bond with a KYC-compliantaccount and can donate the bondsto their party of choice, which canthen be cashed through the party’sverified account within 15 days.

Any political party that is reg-istered under Section 29 A of theRepresentation of People Act, 1951,and has secured not less than 1 percent of the votes polled in the lastelections to the Lok Sabha or leg-islative Assembly will be eligible toreceive electoral bonds.

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Jaipur: The Rajasthan Police'sintelligence unit on Wednesdayarrested a soldier, who washoney-trapped by an agent ofPakistan's ISI, for allegedlysharing confidential and strate-gic information about theIndian Army with her, officials.

The soldier, Vichitra Behra,was posted in Rajasthan'sPokhran and was under sur-veillance. He, along with anoth-er soldier, was detained onTuesday over suspicion of espi-onage, they said.

It was observed that Behrawas in contact with the femalePakistani agent throughFacebook and WhatsApp andwas passing on confidentialinformation about the IndianArmy to her, a top intelligenceofficer said.

He said the accused soldier

was sharing information inexchange for money. Accordingto the officer, Behra revealedduring interrogation that thePakistani agent had befriendedhim about two years ago.Initially she used to chat withhim on Facebook and was alsoin contact with him throughvideo calling.

The agent seduced Behrainto revealing confidential infor-mation. She used to depositmoney in his bank accounts ifthe information was found cor-rect, the officer said.

Investigation was initiatedagainst the soldier after regis-tering a case under theProtection of ConfidentialInformation Act and he wasarrested subsequently. Furtherinvestigation in the case isunderway, he said. PTI

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After remaining suspendedfor more than three

months since August 5, rail ser-vices are set to be resumed inKashmir Valley fromNovember 11.

The decision to suspendthe train services was taken toensure safety of passengersand railway property.

Divisional Commissioner,Kashmir, Baseer Ahmad Khanon Wednesday directed theRailway authorities to restorethe train services in Valleyfrom next week.

According to officialsources, "the railway authori-ties have been directed to con-duct a thorough track inspec-tion within three days, whichwill be followed by a trial runon November 10 and theresumption of services fromNovember 11".

A high-level review meet-ing was attended by IGPKashmir zone, SSP Srinagar,SSP Railways, AdditionalCommissioner, Kashmir, ADC

Srinagar, Chief Controller,Northern Railways, SeniorDivisional Mechanical engi-neer, Northern railways andother concerned officials.

Besides, DC Baramulla,DC Anantnag, DC Pulwama,ADC Budgam, SSP Sopore,SSP Awantipora, SSP Pulwama,SSP Baramulla and SSPBudgam attended the meetingthrough video conferencingwhere their feedback was gath-ered by the railway authoritieson the prevailing ground situ-ation in their respective areasof jurisdiction.

On an average, 30, 000 pas-sengers used to travel betweenBanihal to Baramulla on dailybasis. In the absence of rail ser-vices, the railway authoritiesincurred heavy losses to the

tune of several crores.According to official

sources, "in the last three years,the train services remainedsuspended for over 300 days,highest being 135 days in 2016".

The situation improvedrelatively in 2017. Train servicesremained suspended for only25 days during the whole yearwhile in 2018, the train serviceswere shut down on 92 days,incurring loses to the tune of1.2 cores.

In 2019, the train servicesremained suspended for over100 days at different intervals.

In the aftermath of killingof Hizbul Mujahideen com-mander, angry protesters hadtargeted railway property andvandalised bogies parked onthe tracks.

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Srinagar: Higher reaches ofKashmir including Gulmargand Sonamarg tourist resortsreceived first snowfall of the sea-son on Wednesday while theplains were lashed by rain,bringing down the mercury bymore than 10 degrees.

"Snowfall was witnessed inhigher reaches of Kashmir val-ley including Gulmarg andSonamarg in the wee hourstoday (Wednesday) while thecity and other plains were lashed

by rainfall," an official of theMET department said.

This was the first snowfallin the inhabited areas of the val-ley.

The change in weather nor-mally brings cheers to the facesof the people associated withtourism but they have their fin-gers crossed in view of the pre-vailing situation in the valley inthe wake of abrogation of Article370. "We do not know if thetourists will come to Kashmir

this winter, although indicationsare that we will receive plenty ofsnow this season," BasharatAhmad, a travel agent, said. Thedownpour in the plains has sig-nificantly brought down theday temperature in the city.

While the maximum tem-perature recorded on Tuesdaywas 18.6 degrees Celsius, the city recorded just 5.6 degreesCelsius at 3.30 pm onWednesday, the MET depart-ment official said. PTI

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Agartala/Aizawl: Despite theimposition of prohibitoryorders under Section 144CrPC, Bru refugees living inrelief camps in Tripura con-tinued the road blockade forthe seventh day demandingresumption of free ration tothem.

Leaders of three Bru organ-isations in the Tripura reliefcamps, however, said they havewithdrawn the blockade onTuesday afternoon but the peo-ple are adamant to continuewith the agitation and wouldlift it after immediate issuanceof ration and cash-dole.

A team headed by DeputyChief Minister JishnuDebverma would meet the dis-placed people on Thursday tofind out an amicable solutionas road communication from

Ananda Bazar to Kanchapurvia Dasda in North Tripura dis-trict has collapsed due to theblockade, an official said.

"Prohibitory orders underSection 144 CrPC was imposedat Anandabazar on November4 night and that is still in force.Personnel of the CRPF, TripuraState Rifles and the state policewere deployed there. But we areyet to use force (to lift theblockade)," North TripuraSuperintendent of PoliceBhanupada Chakraborty said.

No untoward incident wasreported till now, he said.

An organisation of Brurefugees on October 29 threat-ened to launch the indefiniteroadblock at Anandabazar,known for a prominent marketin that area where two reliefcamps are located. The block-

ade commenced from October31.

The Mizoram BruDisplaced People's Forum(MBDPF) had claimed onMonday that six people includ-ing babies have died in reliefcamps since October 29"because of starvation" after theCentre stopped the supply ofration and cash dole to the35,000 odd refugees forOctober.

Tripura government, how-ever, said four Bru inmates ofthe relief camps have died so farand medical teams have beensent there.

Senior Tripura governmentofficials including AdditionalChief Secretary Kumar Alokmet the Bru leaders on Mondayand urged them to withdrawthe blockade. PTI

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Pune: A sessions court hererejected the bail pleas of sixaccused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case on Wednesday.

Rona Wilson, Shoma Sen,Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut,Varavara Rao and Sudhir Dhavlehad filed the bail applications,arguing that the police had notproduced any substantial evi-dence against them.

The prosecution opposedthe pleas, saying there was mate-rial to show links between theaccused and Maoists.

According to Pune Police,inflammatory speeches deliv-ered at the Elgar Parishad con-clave held here on December 31,2017 triggered caste violence atthe Koregaon-Bhima warmemorial in the district thenext day (January 1, 2018).

The conclave had the back-ing of Maoists, the policeclaimed, while arresting severalLeft-leaning activists and writersin the case in June and Augustof 2018. PTI

�� ����������������������>�� ��!���/� �%���!����Srinagar: Miscreants and ter-

rorists are indulging in fear-mongering in Kashmir to putdown any resistance to theunannounced shutdown, whichhas now entered its fourthmonth, police said onWednesday.

"There have been consistentefforts to enforce shutdown inareas where shops are open orroadside vendors are plyingtheir trade. The anti-peace ele-ments are trying to keep peo-ple indoors," a senior policeofficial said.

The official said twogrenade attacks in the city's busyGoni Khan market and KakaSarai areas were an indicationthat there were concerted effortsto keep the shutdown going.

One street vendor waskilled while 35 others wereinjured in the grenade attack atGoni Khan market on Mondayas the shops in the area wereopen beyond the 12.00 pmself-imposed deadline for clos-ing the markets. Six securityforce personnel were injured in

the attack at Kaka Sarai lastweek. Several shops, falling inthe areas which have defied theshutdown, have been damagedin the mysterious fire inci-dents.

While police have beenmaintaining that these fireswere caused by 'electric short

circuit', some of the owners sus-pect foul play by the miscreants.

"We have already lost ourcapital...I do not want any phys-ical harm now," the owner of ashop, which got damaged in afire incident at Batamaloorecently, said on condition ofanonymity. PTI

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Jammu: Three persons werearrested on Wednesday for"threatening and intimidating"locals in South Kashmir'sAwantipora using posters issuedby proscribed terror outfitsHizbul Mujahideen andLashkar-e-Tayyeba, officials said.

"Three persons werearrested and incriminatingmaterials including threatposters were recovered fromtheir possession," a seniorpolice official said.

Initial investigation into

the matter revealed that theseindividuals were involved inpublishing and circulatingthreat posters in Ladhoo areaof Khrew Awantipora, 33 kmfrom Srinagar, he said.

An FIR under relevant sec-tions of the law has been reg-istered against them, he said.

The three have been takento the police station and incrim-inating materials recoveredfrom them taken into recordsfor the purpose of investigation,the official said. PTI

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Shahjahanpur (UP): TheSpecial Investigation Teamprobing sexual harassmentallegations against formerUnion minister SwamiChinmayanand and a relatedextortion case filed a volumi-nous charge sheet onWednesday in the two cases ina court here.

"The SIT has filed a 4,700-page charge sheet and casediary in the court of ChiefJudicial Magistrate OmveerSingh," Chinmayanand'slawyer Om Singh told PTI.

"We will study the chargesheet and the mobile call detailrecord," the lawyer said.

During the probe, the SITrecorded statements of 105people and collected 24 phys-ical and 55 documentary evi-dence.

The contents of the chargesheet were not immediatelyavailable as the probe team hasto file a final report in form ofan affidavit in a sealed cover inthe Allahabad High Court onNovember 28.

Chinmayanand is lodgedin the jail following the caselodged against him by the lawstudent under section 376C ofthe IPC, an offence pertainingto the abuse of one's positionby a person in authority to"induce or seduce" a womanunder his charge to have "sex-ual intercourse not amountingto the offence of rape".

The four accused in theextortion case are the woman law student who hadcharged Chinmayanand withsexual harassment, Sanjay,Vikram and Sachin. All ofthem are in jail.

IG-rank officer NaveenArora, who is heading the SIT,had said on Tuesday that BJPleaders DPS Rathore and AjitSingh have also been madeaccused in the extortion case.

Chinmayamand, the lawstudent, and some others werealso brought to the court onWednesday after the charge

sheet was filed.The law student and her

three male friends werebooked under sections 35(criminal act done with a crim-inal knowledge or intention),385 (extortion), 506 (criminalintimidation), 201 (disappear-ance of evidences) of theIndian Penal Code and section67 of the InformationTechnology Act.

The 72-year-oldChinmayanand also faces thecharges of stalking under sec-tion 354 D, wrongful confine-ment under section 342 andcriminal intimidation undersection 506 of the IPC.

The SIT was constituted bythe Uttar Pradesh governmenton the orders of the SupremeCourt in September to investigate the charges lev-elled by the woman, who wasthen a postgraduate student ata college run byChinmayanand's trust.

The woman went missingon August 24, a day after she posted a video on socialmedia alleging that a "seniorleader of the sant community"was harassing and threateningto kill her.

Her father had filed a com-plaint with the police, accusingChinmayanand of sexuallyharassing her, a charge refuted by the former UnionMinister's lawyer who claimedit was a "conspiracy" to black-mail him.

Chinmayanand was laterarrested on September 21. PTI

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Trinamool Congress MLAand noted Bengali cine star

Debashree Roy has written toBJP president Amit Shah seek-ing to join his party.

Sources in the BJP said thatshe sent a four-line typed mis-sive on her official letterheaddated October 20 in whichthere was a condition men-tioning of her joining the saf-fron outfit.

The actor of Mahabharata

fame (where she played the roleof Bhisma’s mother) has report-edly asked for central security asa condition for joining the BJP.

Though the TMC legislatordenied having written such aletter to the Union HomeMinister, she had, in fact,approached the saffron leader-ship in August this year seek-ing to join that party. She wasseen sitting inside the BJPheadquarters in Delhi at a timewhen former TrinamoolCongress leader and MinisterSovan Chatterjee too had goneto the Capital to join the saffronparty.

Sources say Chatterjee whohas not been in good termswith Roy spiked her entry intothe BJP in August.

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Kolkata: West BengalGovernor Jagdeep Dhankharon Wednesday said he is "notat war" with the state govern-ment and that his objective isto serve the people.

Dhankhar, who has been atloggerheads with the WestBengal government over sev-eral issues, also said universi-ties in the state are not allowedto function the way theyshould.

"Let me say, I am not at warwith the state government. Ihave come here to serve thepeople of the state," the gover-nor said at an education forumorganised by the Merchants'Chamber of Commerce &Industry (MCCI) here.

Dhankar said that as achancellor of universities, hehas been witness to severaldevelopments that could grabheadlines.

"If I start to narrate all ofthem, it will scream the news-paper headlines the next day...As chancellor, what we see isthat we don't allow universitiesto function as they are sup-posed to.

"The all-pervading ques-tion which arises is who is thegreater boss, the chancellor orthe state?" he said.

Dhankar said he has triedto ascertain the role of both thechancellor and the state gov-ernment in the functioning ofuniversities. PTI

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Bengaluru: The KarnatakaHigh Court on Wednesdaydirected the State Governmentto reconsider its decision to can-cel the birth anniversary cele-brations of Tipu Sultan, the con-troversial 18th century ruler ofthe erstwhile Mysore Kingdom,but declined to stay the order.

A division bench, com-prising Chief Justice AbhayShreeniwas Oka and Justice SR Krishna Kumar, issued theorder while hearing a PIL chal-lenging the Government's deci-sion to cancel the November 10Tipu Jayanti celebrations as aState event.

It directed the Governmentto reconsider its decision in twomonths.

"It should not look like thedecision was taken arbitrarily,"the bench observed, addingthat it felt that the state took the

decision without consideringthe reasons mentioned in theprevious decisions to celebrateTipu Jayanti.

The State Government toldthe court that it had not bannedprivate celebrations.

Noting this, the courtdirected the Government toprovide protection to such cel-ebrations and ensure peace.

Soon after coming topower in Karnataka, the BJPGovernment had in Julyscrapped the celebration ofTipu Sultan's birth anniversary.

The party had been oppos-ing the annual event since itwas started by theSiddaramaiah-led Congressgovernment in 2015.

Recently, a BJP MLA fromKodagu had demandedremoval of a lesson on TipuSultan from school textbooks,

following which the govern-ment formed a committee tolook into it and submit a report.

BJP and right-wing organ-isations have been stronglyopposing Tipu Sultan, callingthe erstwhile Mysore king a"religious bigot".

Tipu Sultan was consideredan implacable enemy of theBritish East India Company.

He was killed in May 1799while defending his fort atSrirangapatna against theBritish forces.

Tipu Sultan, however, is acontroversial figure in Kodagudistrict as the Kodavas(Coorgis), a martial race,believe thousands of their menand women were seized andheld captive during his occu-pation and subjected to torture,death and forcible conversionto Islam. PTI

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The Shiv Sena activists onWednesday vandalised a

branch office of the IFFCOTokio General InsuranceCompany at Camp area in Pune,in protest against the delay insettling the claims of crop dam-age caused to them during therecent unseasonal rains.

The Sena activists, led bythe party’s Pune unit chiefSanjay More, barged into thebranch office of IFFCO TokioGeneral Insurance Companylocated at Mangaldas Road inthe Cantonment area at 11 amand raised vociferous slogansagainst the delay in settling theinsurance claims of the farmersaffected by the unseasonal rains.

Sena activists, who werecarrying saffron flags withthem, went on a rampageinside the insurance company’soffice, by smashing the windowpanes glass dividers, destroyingthe office furniture and cabins.

The Shiv Sena activists’rampage at the IFFCO Tokio’sbranch office came a day afterSena president UddhavThackeray warned the insur-ance company against delayingsettling claims of farmersaffected by the heavy unsea-sonal rains across the State.

Talking to media persons,More said: “This is just thebeginning. We will stage sim-ilar protests in typical Sena styleat other insurance companyoffices in Pune and Mumbai. Itis in the interest of the variouscompanies that they settle the

insurance claims of the farm-ers as quickly as possible”.

More said that the Senahad written letters to variousinsurance companies, includingIFFCO Tokio and Bajaj Allianz,asking them to settle the farm-ers’ insurance claims quickly.“We are confident that ourtoday’s will go as a strong mes-sage to various insurance com-panies that the Sena meansbusiness. We will not tolerateany delay on the part of insur-ance companies in settling thefarmers’ insurance claims,” thePune Sena unit chief said.

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Bengaluru: About 20 studentsfell ill after consuming mid-daymeal in a State-run school inKarnataka’s Chitradurga dis-trict, an official said onWednesday.

"The incident occurred onTuesday afternoon, when about20 students fell ill after con-suming the meal served in the

co-education school atChennamma village in the dis-trict," Chitradurga ChiefExecutive Officer (CEO) CSatyabhama told IANS onphone. Chitradurga is 200kmnorthwest of Bengaluru.

The students were taken toa state-run hospital for treat-ment after some complained of

upset stomach and some vom-ited. They were discharged inthe evening as they were out ofdanger. "Sample of the disheshave been sent for lab testing asa lizard was suspected to havebeen found in one of the ves-sels in which rice was cooked.We are waiting for the report,"Mr Satyabhama added. IANS

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Mumbai: With the SupremeCourt verdict in the Ayodhyacase expected this month, NCPchief Sharad Pawar onWednesday said none shouldtake law into their hands what-ever be the eagerly-awaitedruling.

Pawar said no section of thesociety should see the verdict asbeing against it and stressedthere should be no repeat of thesituation that prevailed in thecountry post- demolition of theBabri mosque in UttarPradesh's Ayodhya town near-ly 27 years ago.

Communal riots were wit-nessed in parts of the country,including Mumbai, after thedemolition of the medieval-eramosque in December 1992.

Chief Justice of IndiaRanjan Gogoi is expected todeliver the verdict in the RamJanmabhoomi-Babri Masjidland dispute case before hisretirement on November 17.

"No section of the societyshould perceive Ayodhya ver-dict as being against it," Pawartold reporters here.

The former Union minis-ter said "it is good" that those

supporting construction of aRam temple at the disputed siteand those associated with theBabri Masjid ActionCommittee, a party to the case,are ready to accept the court'sverdict.

"Whatever be the verdict,no one should take law intotheir hands. The situationwhich prevailed after the BabriMasjid demolition should notbe repeated.

"I would like to urge stategovernments, too, to remainalert," he said.

Meanwhile, Pawarexpressed concern over theviolent clashes between advo-cates and Delhi police person-nel in Tis Hazari court complexin the national capital a fewdays ago.

He said attacks on the peo-ple in uniform may dent theirmorale and urged Bar Councilof India chairman MananKumar Mishra to take initiativeto restore normalcy.

"The Central Governmentcannot shrug its responsibili-ty in this case. It should lookseriously towards the episode,"he said. PTI

Nagpur: With Maharashtrastaring at agrarian crisis, farmactivists in Nagpur onWednesday demanded that sur-vey of crops damaged in recentunseasonal rains be conductedthrough drones and satellite.

The demand was raised byleaders of 'Shetkari Sanghatna'and'Vidarbha Rajya AndolanSamiti' who staged demon-strations at the Nagpur district

collectorate.Their leaders claimed that

such surveys would cut downthe administrative delays infarmers getting the compensa-tion.

They also argued thatfarmers need to clear theirfields for Rabi (winter crop)sowing.

The leaders demanded thatthe affected farmers be paid a

compensation of �30,000 (peracre) for growers of cotton,soyabean, paddy and vegeta-bles, and �50,000 per acre forlosses caused to orchards oforanges and other fruits.

Former president ofShetkari Sanghatna and con-venor of the Samiti, Ram Neole,said many activists weredetained and released later inevening. PTI

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Mumbai: Severe cyclonic storm'Maha' is weakening, but it willcause light to moderate rain onThursday in parts ofMaharashtra, the met depart-ment said on Wednesday.

Madhya Maharashtra,Thane and Palghar districtswill receive light to moderateshowers on Thursday due to thecyclonic storm hovering in theArabian sea, the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD) said.

"The severe cyclonic stormMaha is weakening but movingtowards the coastal areas ofGujarat. Its impact will be in theform of light to moderate show-ers in Madhya Maharashtra aswell as Thane and Palghar dis-tricts, it said.

"It will turn into a deepdepression by Thursday morn-ing, which means lessening of itsseverity, an IMD official said.

Meanwhile, Thane andPalghar district administrationshave stepped up preparedness todeal with any eventuality in viewof the cyclonic storm.

While the Palghar districtadministration had alreadyordered closure of educationalinstitutions between November6 and 8, the collector of Thanedistrict directed officials onWednesday to take a calldepending upon situation. PTI

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Guwahati: India and Bhutanheld a meeting here onWednesday on malaria elimi-nation in both sides of the inter-national border.

Specific action plans for 9districts of India and 10 districtsof Bhutan along the border havebeen developed at the meeting.

Addressing the meeting,National Vector Borne DiseaseControl Programme (NVBD-CP) Director Dr NeerajDhingra provided an overviewof the progress towards malar-ia elimination in India by 2030.

Malaria cases in the coun-try have reduced from over onemillion in 2016 to around4,19,000 in 2018, he said.

The country aims toachieve zero indigenous case by2027, sustain it thereafter andsecure malaria-free certificationby WHO in 2030, Dr Dhingrasaid.

He also appreciated WHOfor supporting and coordinat-ing the meeting between Indiaand Bhutan.

Union Health JointSecretary Rekha Shukla saidthough India made a massiveimprovement in eliminatingmalaria, more needs to be doneto contribute towards elimi-nating it in Bhutan and otherbordering countries.

In doing so, she empha-sized the importance of strongcollaboration and people topeople interaction at local levelacross the international bordersand with other sectors.

These include real timesharing of information, jointplanning, and innovativeapproaches to deliver the inter-ventions and synchronisation ofimplementation of interven-tions across the Indo-Bhutanborder, Shukla added. PTI

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Jammu: AICC general secre-tary Ambika Soni here onWednesday attacked the BJP,saying it should hold electionsin the newly carved union ter-ritory if it felt the decision takenby it were democratic and thesituation normal.

Soni was here to consultthe state party leadership on thenationwide agitation againstthe "economic crisis" and saidthe demand for the restorationof the statehood would be thebottom line for the protests inthe Jammu region.

In a reference to the abro-gation of the special status ofJammu and Kashmir, sheasked, "How many promiseshave been fulfilled after thedecisions was taken threemonths ago."

Soni, who was accompa-nied by senior party leaders,including the party's J-K pres-ident G A Mir, said people wereunder detention and based onher personal experience afterlanding here on Tuesday, shedidn't see the Internet func-tioning.

"If the situation is normal,how long will you keep theformer chief ministersdetained? If you have taken a

democratic decision, why youdon't take the opinion of peo-ple by holding elections?,"she said, adding that whatev-er happened, happened in an"undemocratic way and in ahaste".

"It was done after lendingear to misconceptions (createdabout Jammu & Kashmir),"she said.

Asked whether she sup-ported elections before therestoration of the statehood, theCongress leader said, "My will-ingness does not matter."

"We had a meeting ofsenior party colleagues andactivists this morning and weare meeting again later in theafternoon.

What I have learnt is thatpeople are very disturbed as ithas happened for the first timein the history of our countrythat a state was bifurcated intoUTs," she said. Soni said she wasinformed that people were "feel-ing humiliated" and "very con-cerned" about their future as thedecisions with regard to J-Kwere taken in an "undemocra-tic way without taking theminto confidence". Soni saidpeople wanted that the state-hood be restored. PTI

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Jammu: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Wednesdaytook stock of the the progress ofambitious Udhampur-Baramulla rail link project andgave explicit instructions toexpedite the work and completeit by next year, an officialspokesman said.

PM Modi fixed the 2020deadline for the ambitious pro-ject connecting Srinagar toIndian Railways network whilechairing his 31st interactionmeet through PRAGATI with

secretaries of various Unionministries and chief secretariesof various states and Union ter-ritories, the spokesman said.

He said Jammu andKashmir Chief Secretary B V RSubrahmanyam also partici-pated in the video conference asthe prime minister reviewednine projects related to 16 statesand the Union Territory ofJ&K.

The Prime Ministerreviewed the progress of infra-structure connectivity projects,including that of theUdhampur-Srinagar-BaramullaRail Link (USBRL), and gaveexplicit instructions on speedycompletion of the project bynext year, the spokesman said.

Reviewing the progress of

Aspirational DistrictProgramme, the prime ministerwas apprised of 49 performanceindicators including the bestpractices in grafted Walnut andHigh Density Apple Plantationin Kupwara district of northKashmir, the spokesman said.

Calling it an act of "nation-al service", Modi emphasised onthe need to decide on timelinesto bring the backward districtsup to the national average.

He also stressed that youngofficers must be deployed inaspirational districts, thespokesman said.

He said Prime Minister wasalso briefed about the progressin National Agriculture Marketplatform which has helped inbetter price discovery. PTI

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Page 8:  · resume work from Thursday ... Imran Khan had tweeted that passport will not be required, ... the age of 80 years and they can avail ECI’s postal ballot. Besides, 38584 voters

As an aftermath of the abrogationof Article 370 of the IndianConstitution, the former State ofJammu & Kashmir has been

reorganised into the new Union Territories(UT) of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.The latter consists of two districts: Kargiland Leh. Subsequently, new maps havebeen prepared by the Surveyor-General ofIndia showing the geographical outline ofthe new UTs; it is a welcome move by theGovernment to educate the people of Indiaand the media (and hopefully, the biasedforeign Press).

Interestingly, the Leh district ofLadakh includes the districts of Gilgit,Gilgit Wazarat, Chilhas and TribalTerritory of 1947, in addition to theknown areas of Leh and, of course, theAksai Chin, illegally occupied by Chinasince the mid-1950s.

For several reasons, it is important thatthese maps have been updated. Firstthere was often a discrepancy in the lengthof the Indo-China border on some Indianwebsites. Was the length 4,056 or 3,488km? The first figure is the only valid oneas Gilgit-Baltistan (formerly the Gilgitagency) is legally a part of India. The Indo-China boundary starts at the trijunctionof Afghanistan, Gilgit-Baltistan andXinjiang to reach the Karakoram Pass andfurther runs through the Karakoram andKaratagh passes and along the Kunlun inthe north, and through Lanak La andacross the western part of the PangongLake and then along the ridge parallel tothe Indus, before crossing the Indussouth-east of Demchok. Hopefully thewrong figures will now be rectified.

The fact that large parts of Ladakh aretoday occupied by China explain Beijing’saggressive stance. Speaking of the creationof the two UTs, Geng Shuang, aspokesman of China’s Ministry of ForeignAffairs told the media: “China deploresand firmly opposes this. This is unlawfuland void and this is not effective in anyway and will not change the fact that thearea is under Chinese actual control.” Heurged India to “earnestly respect Chineseterritorial sovereignty and uphold peaceand tranquility in the border areas.”

The Indian Ministry of ExternalAffairs did not leave the unwarrantedattack unanswered: “We do not expectother countries, including China, to com-ment on matters that are internal toIndia, just as India refrains from comment-ing on the internal issues of other coun-tries,” declared India’s Ministry forExternal Affairs spokesman. Referring tothe Shaksgam Valley, he pointed out thatChina “illegally” acquired Indian territo-ries from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmirthrough the 1963 China-PakistanBoundary Agreement. That infamouspact was signed by Pakistan’s Minister ofExternal Affairs and his Chinese counter-

part. The new maps will irri-tate China no end, as it virtu-ally opens another sector alongthe Indo-Chinese disputedboundary.

A secret note prepared bythe historical division of theMinistry of External Affairsmentioned that “any suchagreement will be ab initio ille-gal and invalid and will notbind India in any respect.”The note observed that thepreamble states that the partieshave agreed to formally delim-it and demarcate the boundarybetween Xinjiang and the con-tiguous areas of Pakistan, thedefence of which was underthe actual control of Karachi;Pakistan based its right on thefact that these areas were underher “actual control.” However,the Indian note explained:“Under international law, theright of entering into treatiesand agreements is an attributeof sovereignty. Furthermore, asovereign cannot presume toexercise sovereign functions inrespect of territory other thanits own. Having regard to theUN resolutions of January 17,1948, August 13, 1948 andJanuary 5, 1949 (UNCIPResolutions) it is clear thatPakistan cannot (and doesnot) claim to exercise sover-eignty in respect of Jammu andKashmir.”

Very few, even in India,realise the importance of thispoint. On March 5, 1963,speaking about China duringa Calling Attention Motion inthe Lok Sabha, the PrimeMinister said: “In spite of its

professions that it has neverinvolved itself in the disputeover Kashmir or its absurdclaim that the boundary nego-tiations have promoted friend-ship between the Chinese andPakistani people and are in theinterests of Asia and worldpeace, it is directly interferingin Indo-Pakistan relations. Bydoing this, China is seeking toexploit differences betweenIndia and Pakistan on theKashmir question to further itsown expansionist policy.”

Of course, since then,China has become Pakistan’sIron brother, but the motiva-tions have remained the same.Today’s publication of propermaps should only be a firststep.

The logical follow-upshould be to repatriate all thearchives pertaining to Ladakhand the Gilgit Wazarat, toLeh, where a place should bededicated to their preservation;it is crucial as the history oflarge chunks of the border withChina lies in these records.

During the negotiationsof “the Officials of India andChina” in 1960, the Indian sidenoted: “A systematic settle-ment of revenue for the wholeof Ladakh up to the tradition-al alignment was made duringthe time of Mehta Mangalwho was Wazir or Governorbetween 1860 and 1865; andthis settlement was revisedduring the period of his suc-cessor Johnson (1870-1881)and Radha Kishen Kaul(1882). The lists of villages inboth the Revenue Assessment

Report of 1902 and theSettlement Report of 1908mentioned 108 villages, includ-ing Tanktse, Demchok,Chushul and Minsar... ThePreliminary Report of LadakhSettlement of 1908 made clearthat these areas were part ofLadakh.”

The Indian side submitteda large quantity of such docu-ments. These records will showthat India exercised controlover the various frontier areasand collected revenues fromthe border villages til lIndependence.

These records should bekept in Leh; it should alsoinclude the history of theGilgit Wazarat and other ter-ritories now shown under theLadakh district and howShaksgam Valley was illegallyoffered to Communist China.

This would greatly help theproject of the Ministry ofDefence to write the history ofIndia’s borders, the project forwhich was recentlyannounced: “The work willcover various aspects of bor-ders, including tracing its mak-ing; making and unmakingand shifting of borders; role ofsecurity forces; role of border-land people encompassingtheir ethnicity, culture andsocio-economic aspects oftheir lives.”

It is perhaps not too late toput the history of India in itsproper perspective and undothe blunders committed inthe 1950s and 1960s.

(The writer is an expert onIndia-China relations)

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�������������� �����Sir — This refers to the article“Just rescuing our children is notenough” (November 5). It is real-ly deplorable to see underprivi-leged children being sexuallyabused, trafficked and exploitedin every way that deprives themof their rights with regard to edu-cation and a happy childhood.This speaks volumes of the lack-adaisical approach of ourGovernment in a country whereNobel laureate Kailash Satyarthihas been rendering a yeoman’sservice to protect children fromall sorts of exploitations. How canwe achieve a $5 trillion economywithout children being nurturedand supported properly, so as toenable them to become a talent-ed workforce in order to effective-ly contribute to nation-building?

Many children in India areeither stunted or wasted due toour failure to provide nutritiousfood to them, hampering theirgrowth physically as well as men-tally. If the Central and StateGovernments further fail to takepreventive and remedial measuresto rescue and rehabilitate the chil-dren caught in the vortex of traf-ficking, child labour and sexualabuse, our plans to place our

nation in the galaxy of developedcountries won’t yield the desiredresults. Hence, the need of thehour is to draw an effectiveaction plan that ensures all sup-

port and protection to vulnerablechildren. They must have accessto nutrition, education andhealthcare by providing themequal opportunities to grow and

become assets of the nation.Inaction and the reluctance ofGovernments to address the issueare inexcusable and may force thecountry to pay a heavy price in

the future in terms of overalldevelopment and welfare of thepeople.

Narne Raveendra Babu Hyderabad

���� ������Sir — This refers to the report“India opts out of RCEP as coreconcerns unresolved” (November5). India pulled out of theRegional ComprehensiveEconomic Partnership (RCEP) onthe ground that it would hurtfarmers, businesses, workers andconsumers alike. It is a wonder-ful step for the country, becausethe present form of RCEP agree-ment does not fully reflect thebasic spirit and the agreed guid-ing principles of the free tradeagreement. It also does notaddress satisfactorily India’s out-standing issues and concernsregarding China and reduction ofduties on goods from partnercountries. In such a situation,India’s decision to not pen thedeal till all our concerns are metis a really wonderful and com-mendable step.

Seraj Ali Bengaluru

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India is about to welcome the fifth generationtelecom network “5G” or the fourth indus-trial revolution, popularly known as “Industry

4.0”, but agriculture is still struggling. It is lan-guishing because the Green Revolution, theWhite Revolution, the Silver Revolution and theBlue Revolution and so on, were ages ago.

Now we need a new structural revolutionwhich will take care of all sections of the farmsector, as agriculture in the country is current-ly plagued with some serious problems which areso deep that if not cured, they might affect thewhole economy. India has around 12 crore smalland marginal farmers. Out of these, most are atthe mercy of moneylenders, or other sources offinance that are too expensive for them to afford.Even after 70 years of Independence, the pathet-ic financial position of the “anndatta” (foodprovider) is shocking. The Government has, his-torically, mandated that banks ensure that 18 percent of all their lending is given to farmers. And,to ensure that farmers get loans at low rates ofinterest, the Government pays a certain propor-tion of the interest to banks directly while thefarmers pay the rest. This “subvention” cost theGovernment �3,045 crore in FY18 and, as com-pared to that, the FY20 Budget target is 37 percent higher at �8,000 crore.

A report by a Reserve Bank of India (RBI)internal working group on agriculture credit,however, points to major problems in how thescheme is working — in which case — theGovernment probably needs to look at complete-ly recasting it.

The good news here, of course, is that whileformal bank credit was just around 10 per centof total farm credit in 1951, this is up to around70 per cent today. But, and here’s the problem,the concessional farm credit that is given by com-mercial banks — mostly in the public sector —is many times greater than the inputs bought byfarmers. So what are the loans being taken for?

In all probability, as the researchers atICRIER (Indian Council for Research onInternational Economic Relations) and otherinstitutions have surmised, over the years, sincethe loans are at vastly subsidised rates, they areprobably being diverted to non-farm users. It isnot clear if this is done by bank managers aloneor whether the farmers are also part of the deal.

The RBI found that in some States likeAndhra Pradesh, Kerala, Goa, Telangana, TamilNadu, Uttarakhand and Punjab, bank credit ishigher than the cost of inputs by farmers.Whereas in some States like Bihar, Chhattisgarh,Odisha, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradeshand West Bengal, farmers are not getting crediteven to meet their input requirements.

Interestingly, a study by Tata Institute ofSocial Sciences’ R Ramakumar and the RBI’sPallavi Chavan had found that in FY09, as muchas 46 per cent of the loans by banks were madeafter the Rabi sowing had ended.

The RBI study also found that while livestock,forestry and fisheries contributed around 38-42per cent of agriculture output during 2014-16,this sector got just seven per cent of the total agri-culture credit. Clearly, this is an issue that needsaddressing.

The RBI study also found disparity in thenumber of small and marginal farmers and loansissued to them, as in some States it seems that

loans are not issued to them and areissued to big farmers.

This policy has created a new set ofproblems, which has resulted in com-promise on investments on long-termagriculture. The short-term crop loansnow comprise 75 per cent of all agri-culture credit as compared to 51 percent in 2000. When overall investmentsin agriculture are slowing — invest-ment-to-farm-GDP fell from 18.2 percent in FY12 to 13.8 per cent in FYI7— it is a matter of concern. Within this,the share of the Government has fall-en even more sharply and this needs tobe corrected.

Ideally, the Government shouldstop subsidised loans and instead, givethe subsidy directly to farmers throughDirect Benefit Transfers (DBT); oncesubsidised loans are not available fromthe banks, the practice of phantomloans will also stop. Over time, all agri-culture subsidies should be trimmedand money should be invested in cre-ating irrigation or other facilities thatbenefit the sector more.

We need to make agriculture andfarmers smart by revolutionising thesector to the extent that it stays relevantin this digital era. This can be done ifwe start working on the basics of farm-ing but with the help of technology.Farming has to be sustainable in thewake of climate change and degrada-tion of our agricultural ecosystems. Weneed to re-look at agriculture with thefarmer at the centre. Recently a high-powered committee of Chief Ministerswas constituted for the “transformationfor Indian agriculture.” So I would liketo put forward some suggestions whichcould help revolutionise agriculture.

We have to work on multiplicationof seeds as it is easy and most of our sta-ples are self-pollinated crops. Excessusage of fertilisers and pesticides is pol-luting surface and sub-surface aquifersand our food chains have chemicalresidues. People are growing health-conscious and thus there is increase in

the demand of organic foods. Butviews on managing soil health and fer-tility vary widely between soil scientistsand indigenous knowledge experts.Science is shy to research how indige-nous knowledge systems work onfarmers’ fields.

Organic farming by FarmerProducer Organisations (FPOs) andVillage Producers’ Organisations(VPOs) in large clusters, preferably of1,000 hectares each, should be encour-aged. Women Self Help Groups (SHGs)should also be encouraged to take uporganic agriculture in clusters under theNational Rural Livelihood Mission(NRLM).

Our ecology supports cultivation ofhighly-specialised medicinal and aro-matic plants. India is home to a largenumber of small and cottage industriesthat manufacture perfumes, essentialoils and other associated products. TheGovernment should support organisedcultivation and associated industry.

There are integrated crop-manage-ment systems that help in restoringecosystems by predominantly usingorganic inputs.

Zero-budget natural farming isone such system. The way forward is todeveloping area and crop-specific sus-tainable agricultural practices and tak-ing them to farmers.

Rainwater harvesting should be anational mission. Every year, India suf-fers with floods and drought simulta-neously. Rainwater, when harvestedappropriately, will reduce the pace ofwater flow, enabling it to seep throughand charge aquifers.

For better price realisation, farm-ers need to make decisions based onprices likely to be available after harvest.

The Government should also cre-ate an institutional mechanism, withparticipation of all Ministries con-cerned, to develop appropriate policiesand practices for price and demandforecast; use of futures and options mar-ket; expansion of warehouse deposito-

ry system and to take decisions aboutspecific export and import-relatedmeasures.

Though more than 86 per cent ofIndia’s farmers are small and margin-al, they are not always in a position todirectly transact at Agriculture ProduceMarket Committees (APMCs) andother wholesale markets. Thereforethere is a need to develop and upgraderural markets into Gramin AgriculturalMarkets (GrAMs). Also, theGovernment should work on strength-ening the electronic NationalAgriculture Market (eNAM), an onlinetrading platform for agricultural com-modities.

India has mastered all systems forcrop production, including loans forgrowing crops. But as crops are perish-able items if they are not sold on time,pressure starts mounting on farmers.This pressure leads to distress sale.Now, the focus must shift to credit forpost-harvest, which can stop distresssale by farmers.

As India is primarily an agriculture-based country, our districts can spe-cialise in some or other agriculturalproduce and be known for it. But spe-cial attention is lacking in this regard.There is a need to develop cluster-basedmodels in a scientific manner for iden-tified agriculture produces in our dis-tricts in the same manner as we havedeveloped models for the industrial sec-tor.

Cultivation of horticulture crops inclusters brings advantages of scales ofoperations and can spur establishmentof entire chains from production tomarketing, besides giving recognitionto the districts for specific crops.

India’s farm export potential is ashigh as $100 billion against the currentexports of $32-35 billion. If these sug-gestions are incorporated, we willachieve the $5 trillion economy targetahead of time.

(The writer is an author and GSTand economics specialist)

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Delhi’s trial by pollution isakin to a trial by fire forall the citizens, especial-

ly the elderly and children. Thedays are exceedingly smoggyand sunlight is disappearingamong various layers of harm-ful pollutants in the atmos-phere.

The state of the environ-ment today in Delhi is the resultof our actions and inactions,both. While various anthro-pogenic actions are stoking thepollution levels in our lives,inaction in taking concrete stepsto limit and stem the spirallingpollution levels is only worsen-ing matters. The problem ofinaction in containing pollution

levels and if possible reversingclimate change in the process isa serious matter that is nowpushing our environment intoan irrecoverable tailspin.

Apart from man-made rea-sons for pollution, the fact thathumans are not taking seriousand effective action is damagingthe environment more andstrengthening the devastatingeffects of climate change.

The glaring deficiencies inaction arise when climate-relat-ed pledges are undertaken butseldom executed in all serious-ness. This aspect of the fightagainst climate change has comeout in a recent report titled theTruth Behind the ClimatePledges, released on November5 by the United States-basedUniversal Ecological Fund.Fundación Ecológica Universal(FEU-US) is a partner of theolder Argentinian organisationwith the same name. The reportdisclosed that during the courseof the research, it was found that

almost 75 per cent of the 184pledges made by various coun-tries under the Paris Agreementwere insufficient to slow climatechange.

The report classifies pledges,which commit to reducing 2030emissions by over 40 per centcompared to 1990 levels as“Sufficient” and 20-40 per centreduction pledges as “PartiallySufficient.”

Pledges with mitigation tar-gets under 20 per cent or thosewith conditional commitments,where the country is implement-ing at least 50 per cent of thepledged mitigation actions fromtheir own resources, weredeemed “Partially Insufficient.”Those with no targets forabsolute emission reduction andthose which rely on internation-al financing more than 50 percent of their mitigation actionswere deemed “Insufficient.”

The fact that the report’sresearch could not find a major-ity of the pledges being “suffi-

cient” or better still more than“sufficient” is a cause for concernbecause the state of the environ-ment in the face of rapid climatechange needs more than “suffi-cient” efforts to make a positivedifference.

The only countries thatcould qualify for carrying outtheir pledges in a sufficientmanner were 35 in number. Outof these 35 nations, 28 belongedto the European Union andseven were other nations.

While the pledges of 12countries, including Australia,

Brazil, Canada, Japan, NewZealand and North Korea weredeemed partially sufficient,pledges made by eight othercountries were deemed partial-ly insufficient. The rest of thepledges, totalling 125 largely-developing countries with theUS being a notable exception,were deemed insufficient.

This shows the wide dispar-ity in efforts and how seriouslythese pledges are being takenand followed up. But there is adifferent kind of disparity atwork here, too. The EU and the

USA, with their share of highhistoric emissions and beingdeveloped nations, have finan-cial and other resources as accu-mulated wealth at their dispos-al and as a result are able to domuch more to mitigate climatechange on the same platform.This advantage the developingnations do not have. As a result,there is glaring disparity betweenwhat the developing world canachieve against their pledges andwhat the developed world canshowcase as efforts taken undertheir pledges.

The international commu-nity must recognise this imbal-ance and set out to find a formu-la that empowers all to takeequal measures and actions.Climate justice also demandsthat historically rich emittersmust shoulder a substantiallyhigher share of that burden toreduce climate change.

India, in its role as anemerging economic power, musthighlight and champion the

cause of the inequitable condi-tions at the global climate changemitigation forum. As a part itseffort, the Indian leadershipmust make a strong case of howthe developed nations mustcome forward in not only doingmore than the developing worldto slow down climate change,but must also assist the emerg-ing nations on advisory andresources support wise and helpfight the advance of climatechange.

Climate summits havebecome annual high-visibilityevents where discussions anddebates are held and pledges aretaken but thereafter it is businessas usual.

This has to change andIndia can and must become thecatalyst that brings about thisawakening and change becausea pledge taken has to be kept,especially if it is taken for moth-er Earth.

(The writer is an environ-mental journalist)

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The BSE Sensex resumed itsrecord-setting run on

Wednesday — rallying 222points to its new lifetime highof 40,469.78 — as investorsaccumulated banking andfinancial stocks amid hopes ofmore reform measures to boostgrowth.

After opening on a chop-py note, the 30-share Sensextouched an all-time intra-dayhigh of 40,606.91 in late-after-noon trade. It finally ended221.55 points, or 0.55 per cent,higher at 40,469.78. The pre-vious closing high was40,301.96, hit on November 4(Monday).

Similarly, the broader NSENifty briefly reclaimed the12,000 level, before finishing at11,966.05, showing a gain of48.85 points, or 0.41 per cent.

Benchmark indices havebeen on a rising spree on theback of strong earnings, hopesfor another economic boosterfrom the government and pos-itive cues from global markets,

experts said.Speaking late on Tuesday,

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman said the govern-ment is working on steps toresolve the issues being facedby realty sector, which has aspillover effect on many indus-tries.

Top gainers in the Sensexpack included ICICI Bank,Infosys, HDFC, IndusIndBank, Tata Motors, KotakBank, Axis Bank, L&T, YesBank and HUL, spurting up to

2.64 per cent.On the other hand, Bharti

Airtel, RIL, Bajaj Finance,ONGC, HCL Tech, ITC andSun Pharma slipped up to 3.31per cent.

“Market clocked a newhigh based on commitmentfrom the FM to speed upreforms in the near future.Realty and financials outper-formed in expectation of newmeasures while metal stocksgained owing to easing globaltrade war.

“Better results from indexheavyweights kept expectationhigh for earnings growth, influ-encing investors to stay in themarket,” said Vinod Nair, Headof Research, Geojit FinancialServices.

Sectorally, BSE realty,bankex, finance, metal, IT,industrials and capital goodsindices rose up to 2.59 per cent.

On the other hand, con-sumer durables, telecom andenergy tumbled up to 5.30 percent. Broader BSE midcapindex rose 0.15 per cent, whilesmallcap ended 0.36 per centlower.

Globally, bourses in HongKong, Tokyo and Seoul settledhigher, while Shanghai endedin the red.

Exchanges in Europe weretrading on a mixed note intheir respective early deals.

Meanwhile, the Indianrupee depreciated by 28 paiseto 70.97 against the US dollarintra-day. Brent crude futures,the global oil benchmark, fell0.81 per cent to $62.45 per barrel.

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Snapping its three-sessionwinning streak, the Indian

rupee tumbled 28 paise toclose at 70.97 against the USdollar on Wednesday as con-tinuing uncertainty over theUS-China trade deal affectedcurrency market sentimentworldwide.

However, robust foreignfund inflows and easing crudeoil prices restricted the fall forthe domestic unit, forex brokerssaid.

At the interbank foreignexchange market, the rupeeopened at 70.80 and skidded to71.01 against the greenbackintra-day. The local unit final-ly settled at 70.97, down 28paise over its previous close.

Rahul Gupta, Emkay

Global Financial Services’ Headof Currency, said the rupee-dollar spot market has been ina depreciating mode for thepast three weeks as US andChina have been hinting at a‘phase one’ trade deal anytimethis month.

“Depreciation is gettingcapped as market has startedgetting doubtful of the silenceamid China’s attempts to pushthe US to remove more tariffs,”Gupta added.

The dollar index, whichgauges the greenback’s strengthagainst a basket of six curren-cies, fell by 0.14 per cent to97.84.

Meanwhile, foreign insti-tutional investors bought equi-ties worth a net �1,011.49 croreon Wednesday, provisionalexchange data showed.

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The Bombay High Court onWednesday refused interim

relief to Adani Group, whichhad sought an injunctionagainst sale of stake of SouthAfrican firm Bidvest in theMumbai airport to GVKGroup or any other third party.

Adani Group hadapproached the high court inSeptember seeking execution ofits agreement with Bid ServicesDivision Mauritius (‘Bidvest’),for sale of Bidvest’s 13.5 percent stake in the airport toAdani.

GVK is the majority stake-holder in the MumbaiInternational Airport Ltd(MIAL), while Adani Group is

seeking to buy Bidvest’s minor-ity stake. As per an agreementbetween Adani and Bidvestfor stake sale, the last date formaking necessary paymentsand transfer of shares wasSeptember 30, which was laterextended, by consent, toNovember 7.

On September 15 this year,an arbitration tribunal, whichwas hearing the disputebetween GVK and Bidvest overthe same issue, gave the GVKgroup time till October 31 todeposit the purchase price if itwanted to exercise the “right offirst refusal”.

The tribunal said if GVKfailed to deposit the amount,Bidvest would be free to sell itsshares to any third party.

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Arvind Singh, IAS officer of1988 batch, Maharashtra

cadre, took over as chairman ofAirports Authority of Indiaon Wednesday. On his first day,the chairman interacted withAAI Board Members andsenior officials at AAI’s corpo-rate headquarters, RajivGandhi Bhawan, New Delhi.Prior to this appointment,Arvind Singh was AdditionalChief Secretary (Energy) inGovernment of Maharashtra.He also worked as chairman &amp; Managing Director ofMaharashtra State PowerGeneration Company Ltd. andthe Maharashtra StateElectricity TransmissionCompany Ltd. (MSETCL)

Arvind Singh, joined theIndian Administrative Servicein 1988 in Maharashtra cadre,after acquiring Bachelor’s andMaster’s Degrees in Economicsfrom St. Stephen’s College,Delhi and from the Delhi School of Economics. Hisinitial assignments were asAssistant Collector atAurangabad, as chief executiveofficer of Aurangabad ZillaParishad and Nagpur ZillaParishad.

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New Zealand would love tosee India as part of the

RCEP agreement, its Ministerof State for Trade and ExportGrowth Damien O’Connor saidon Wednesday, days after NewDelhi decided not to join theChina-backed mega trade deal.

On Monday, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi inBangkok had said India will notjoin the RegionalComprehensive EconomicPartnership (RCEP) as negoti-ations failed to satisfactorilyaddress the country’s “out-standing issues and concerns”.

As many as 16 countries -- 10-nation bloc ASEAN and itssix trading partners includingIndia -- were negotiating thefree-trade pact RCEP.

New Delhi: Infosys onWednesday said speculations ofco-founders and formeremployees being involved inthe recent whistleblower alle-gations were “appalling” andseem to be aimed at tarnishingthe image of some of “themost accomplished andrespected individuals”.

Infosys - which is investi-gating whistleblower com-plaints that alleged unethicalpractices by the company’s topmanagement - condemned the“mischievous insinuationsmade by anonymous sourcesagainst the co-founders andformer colleagues, suggestingtheir involvement in the recentwhistleblower allegations”.

“These speculations areappalling and seem to be aimedat tarnishing the image of someof the most accomplished andrespected individuals. I havedeep regard for the life-longcontribution of all our co-founders,” Infosys ChairmanNandan Nilekani said in a

statement. He added that theco-founders have served thecompany “selflessly” andremain committed to the long-term success of Infosys.

He pointed out that anexternal law firm is alreadyconducting an independentinvestigation into the allega-tions, and said the outcome ofthe investigation will be sharedwith all stakeholders at the rel-evant time.

Earlier this week, Infosyshad said it is yet to receive anyevidence to corroborate anony-mous whistleblowers’ com-plaints. In October, Infosys hadinformed the stock exchangesof having received anonymouswhistleblowers’ complaintsalleging certain unethical prac-tices by the top management.

Infosys Chairman NandanNilekani had said the whistle-blower complaint datedSeptember 20, as well as anundated complaint had beenreceived by one of the boardmembers on September 30.PTI

New Delhi: India will see a mas-sive $100 billion investment increating oil and gas infrastruc-ture over the next five years asthe world’s third-largest energyconsumer steps up spending tomeet rising demand. Speakingat KPMG’s Enrich 2019 con-ference, he said India will chartits own course of energy tran-sition in a responsible mannereven as it is said to be a key dri-ver of global energy demand inthe coming decades.

“India will see an invest-ment of USD 100 billion by2024 in oil refining, pipelines,city gas distribution networks,and LNG terminals,” he said.

Of this, $60 billion willflow into the creation of gasinfrastructures such aspipelines, city gas networks,and import terminals, he said.

He said the country wantsmore foreign investment inflowinto upstream oil and gasexploration and production aswell as downstream fuel mar-keting and petrochemicals.PTI

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Pakistan is among the worst10 countries in the world

for internet and digital mediafreedom, according to a reportby an internet watchdog.

The Freedom House, aninternational internet rightsgroup, on Tuesday released its‘Freedom on the Net’ (FoTN)report for the year 2019, titled‘The Crisis of Social Media’,recording an overall decline inglobal internet freedom betweenJune 2018 and May 2019.

The watchdog in its reportplaced Pakistan at 26, out of100 (100 being the worst) —one place down from last year’sranking, Dawn News quotedthe report as saying.

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Scam-hit PMC Bank’s depos-itors staged protest outside

the RBI office here onWednesday, demanding com-plete withdrawal of theirmoney from the bank.

Most of the 20-odd depos-itors took to sloganeeringagainst the RBI, alleging it washand-in-glove with the perpe-trators of fraud.

The depositors, who gath-ered here were from TilakNagar in West Delhi where thebank has a branch, said most oftheir families have collectivedeposits in excess of �51 lakhin the bank.

Earlier in September, theReserve Bank of India hadimposed restrictions on thewithdrawal limit of theaccount-holders after it foundalleged irregularities to thetune of �4,355 crore by divert-ing money to infrastructurefirm HDIL.

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American planemakerBoeing Commercial air-

craft, part of a global duopolyalongside European companyAirbus in the large commercialaircraft market believes thatIndia will see a demand forover 2,380 new aircraft over thenext two decades valued at over$330 billion at list prices. Inaddition, Indian aircraft oper-ators are expected to spendover $440 billion on servicesincluding ground and flightservices as well as mainte-nance and engineering much ofwhich will be ploughed backinto the local economy. Whilemany of the new aircraft willreplace older aircraft, therewill also be some incrementaladditions which means theoverall Indian civilian aircraftfleet is expected to quadruplein size to 2500 aircraft by 2038.Signs of the growth are evidentin the recent 300 aircraft orderby Indian aviation market-leader IndiGo although thatwent to Airbus.

Boeing spokesperson,Darren Hulst, Deputy Vice-President, CommercialMarketing, also said that heexpected the Boeing 737 MAXaircraft, a significant number ofwhich has been ordered by low-cost operator SpiceJet but suf-

fered two devastating fatalcrashes in Indonesia andEthiopia and was grounderglobally to be back in the air inthe first quarter of 2020. Healso said that the Americancompany is working with theDirectorate General of CivilAviation (DGCA) to ensurethat the additional checksrequired can be conductedquickly. The grounding of theaircraft was devastating to theschedule of SpiceJet which hasseveral of the aircraft in airportsacross India, including NewDelhi.

According to news reportsfrom the United States, Boeingis doing an extremely throughjob to ensure the aircraft is safeto fly but will face challenges insecuring consumer confidencein the brand.

Boeing also highlightedthat development work ontheir proposed New MediumAircraft (NMA) is also pro-gressing, this will be a 200-250seat plane that will serve themiddle of the market andaccording to the company isideally suited for short andmedium range flights such asthose between India and theArabian peninsula as well asSouth-East Asia. However,there is aso talk of Boeingdeveloping a potential ‘FutureSmall Aircraft’ (FSA) to replacethe venerable 737 and effec-tively compete with the newlyintroduced Airbus A321XLRwhich is capable of carrying244 passengers between Indiaand Western Europe non-stop.

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Page 11:  · resume work from Thursday ... Imran Khan had tweeted that passport will not be required, ... the age of 80 years and they can avail ECI’s postal ballot. Besides, 38584 voters

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Maruti Suzuki and ToyotaTsusho Group on

Wednesday announced a jointventure for vehicle dismantlingand recycling.

In the joint venture —Maruti Suzuki Toyotsu IndiaPvt Ltd (MSTI) — MarutiSuzuki India (MSI) will have 50per cent share, while ToyotaTsusho Group companies —Toyota Tsusho Corporation andToyota Tsusho India Pvt Ltd — will hold theremaining stake.

MSTI will set up its vehicledismantling and recycling unitin Noida, Uttar Pradesh with-in 2020-21 and will add moresuch units across India, thecompanies said in a statement.

It will be responsible toprocure and dismantle end-of-life vehicles (ELVs). Theprocess will include completesolid and liquid waste man-agement as per the Indian lawsand globally approved qualityand environment standards,they added.

The Noida unit will havean initial capacity to dismantlearound 2,000 vehicles permonth. MSTI will source vehi-cles from dealers as well asdirectly from customers.

Commenting on the devel-opment, MSI Managing

Director & CEO KenichiAyukawa said, “Through thisJoint Venture, MSTI, we aim topromote recycling and supportin resource optimisation andconservation while using envi-ronment friendly systems andprocesses”.

Scrapping of older vehiclesin a scientific and environmentfriendly manner will help toreduce pollution and also makethe roads safer. A team ofexperts at MSTI will disman-tle the vehicles using interna-tional technology and globalstandards, he added.

Toyota TsushoCorporation CEO (MetalDivision) Naoji Saito said TTChad started ELV recycling since1970’s in Japan.

“We believe that we will beable to contribute to Indiansociety through our knowledgeand experience for ELV busi-ness. The first vehicle disman-tling and recycling unit ofMSTI is just the initial step andwe are eager to expand to pan-India base with Maruti Suzuki,”he added.

Suzuki and Toyota hadearlier strengthened theiralliance with the partners pick-ing up stake in each other whilealso agreeing to share produc-tion facility, vehicles and tech-nologies for selling vehicles,both in India and other globalmarkets.

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State-owned Canara Bank onWednesday reported a rise

of 14% in its consolidated netprofit at �405.49 crore for thesecond quarter endedSeptember amid fall in badloans and healthy income fromoperations. The bank had post-ed a net profit of �356.55 croreduring the corresponding July-September period of last fiscalended March 31, 2019.

Total income (consolidat-ed) in the second quarter of2019-20 rose to �15,509.36crore as against �13,437.83crore in the same period of2018-19, Canara Bank said in aregulatory filing. Interestincome stood at �12,500.37crore, up from �11,015.93 crore.

The ConsolidatedFinancial Statement (CFS) ofthe group companies compris-es the result of eight sub-sidiaries, four associates includ-ing two Regional Rural Banks(RRBs) and a joint venture, thebank said.

On a standalone basis,bank posted an increase of22% at �364.92 crore duringthe quarter, up from �299.54crore in the year-ago period.Total income rose to �14,461.73crore from �12,679.06 crore.

The bank witnessed fall inits bad loans proportion withthe gross non-performingassets (NPAs) standing at

8.68% (�38,711.33 crore) ofgross advances by end ofSeptember 2019 from 10.56%(�45,233.22 crore) a year-ago.Net NPAs too came down to5.15% (�22,090.04 crore) from6.54% (�26,777.64 crore). Thus,provisions for bad loans for thequarter came down to�2,297.43 crore from �2,406.84crore on a consolidated basis.On a standalone basis, it wasdown at �2,295.61 crore from�2,403.06 crore a year-ago.

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Bajaj Electricals onWednesday reported a consol-idated net loss of �32.54 crorefor the second quarter endedSeptember 30. The companyhad posted a net profit of�29.83 crore for July-September period of the pre-vious fiscal. Total income forthe second quarter stood at�1,106.80 crore as comparedwith �1,605.77 crore in the pre-vious year, Bajaj Electricalssaid in a regulatory filing.

� ����I2�������2EJDrug firm Cipla on

Wednesday posted 25%increase in consolidated netprofit at �471 crore for the sec-ond quarter ended September30, on the back of robust salesacross domestic and interna-tional markets.

The Mumbai-based com-pany had reported a profit of

�377 crore during July-September, 2018-19. Total rev-enue from operations rose to�4,396 crore for the secondquarter as against �4,012 crorein the year-ago period, Ciplasaid in a regulatory filing.

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Battery manufacturerExide Industries on Wednesdayreported a 15.57% increase inconsolidated net profit to�247.18 crore in the Septemberquarter. The company hadposted a consolidated net prof-it of �213.87 crore in the samequarter last fiscal, Exide indus-tries said in a regulatory filing.Revenue from operations dur-ing the period under reviewstood at �3,778.51 crore ascompared to �3,632.95 crore inthe corresponding quarter lastfiscal, a growth of 4%.

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Drug maker Lupin onWednesday reported a consol-idated net loss of �123.44 crorefor the second quarter endedSeptember 30, impacted by pro-visioning for one-time pay-ment to settle a lawsuit in the USand loss in divestment ofinjectables business in Japan.

The Mumbai-based com-pany had posted a net profit of�288.45 crore in the July-September period of2018-19.

Script Open High Low LTPYESBANK 68.50 71.20 67.35 68.75BAJFINANCE 4255.25 4277.50 4175.80 4185.90TITAN 1160.00 1200.20 1150.00 1156.00IBULHSGFIN 228.00 238.35 216.00 219.25SIEMENS 1675.80 1707.85 1660.30 1684.05INFY 697.60 721.50 691.70 712.30RELIANCE 1445.70 1446.20 1428.70 1432.10ULTRACEMCO 4162.00 4176.00 4117.05 4135.90ZEEL 286.00 303.65 282.65 285.80HDFCBANK 1244.90 1259.00 1228.20 1257.00SBIN 319.20 319.20 314.00 317.55POWERGRID 195.45 196.50 194.75 195.10TATASTEEL 400.65 408.75 398.90 404.35JINDALSTEL 130.30 142.10 129.00 134.70SUNPHARMA 432.00 453.00 422.40 427.55HDFC 2185.00 2228.10 2162.10 2220.30CIPLA 470.90 487.75 464.55 480.50ICICIBANK 468.25 483.90 464.70 480.60HCLTECH 1158.00 1158.25 1141.55 1148.10MARUTI 7399.00 7411.55 7296.55 7311.55TATAMOTORS 172.10 176.40 170.50 174.35AUROPHARMA 473.55 479.80 442.40 450.75TECHM 778.00 783.50 768.10 771.85CANBK 207.70 214.55 202.30 210.85AXISBANK 739.45 750.25 728.50 747.10PNB 64.55 65.05 63.35 64.20ACC 1516.30 1530.60 1502.00 1517.20LT 1444.25 1466.95 1438.40 1452.85DLF 187.20 194.15 186.00 191.60RBLBANK 299.80 307.95 296.45 304.80BANKBARODA 101.75 101.95 98.70 99.40HDFCAMC 3009.95 3009.95 2924.60 2933.30SRF 2950.05 3128.75 2940.00 3065.70BHARTIARTL 384.05 385.00 370.60 371.55INDUSINDBK 1320.00 1353.00 1310.00 1342.25LUPIN 760.10 786.75 740.70 772.15VEDL 156.50 161.15 156.50 158.20MOTHERSUMI 125.70 132.50 124.85 131.80KOTAKBANK 1560.00 1587.55 1541.60 1571.45APOLLOHOSP 1434.90 1434.90 1401.75 1412.90SBILIFE 970.00 980.00 942.00 969.05ADANIENT 199.05 209.65 198.80 207.50HDFCLIFE 585.40 590.50 580.00 584.90SANOFI 6616.10 6641.55 6496.50 6503.50TORNTPOWER 290.00 298.80 283.80 290.75ITC 263.55 263.80 259.95 261.25TATAMTRDVR 80.50 81.60 79.35 80.35TCS 2201.60 2210.80 2178.95 2188.40IDEA 4.13 4.13 3.83 3.86BHEL 56.10 57.10 55.45 55.55GODREJCP 724.00 758.00 721.50 741.60ASIANPAINT 1784.55 1814.75 1781.65 1798.35BANKINDIA 70.90 70.90 68.70 69.90HINDUNILVR 2172.00 2183.75 2156.00 2179.90JSWSTEEL 246.90 251.35 244.50 248.15VBL 703.00 782.95 703.00 755.55BIOCON 256.95 262.00 255.10 260.75ASHOKLEY 74.90 77.45 74.45 76.80PCJEWELLER 32.50 36.30 31.85 34.95IOC 137.10 138.00 135.30 135.55HINDALCO 199.00 203.60 197.70 201.50PEL 1709.00 1747.00 1691.75 1735.50INDIGO 1470.05 1495.25 1451.80 1468.50GMRINFRA 20.80 22.70 20.50 22.10ADANIPOWER 69.90 72.10 68.60 71.10BAJAJFINSV 8839.90 8874.95 8725.00 8771.75DABUR 487.00 488.15 474.15 476.30SPARC 151.40 159.90 148.75 152.85PFC 111.50 112.00 109.10 111.05AVANTI 460.00 497.80 460.00 487.50JAICORPLTD 94.95 99.20 93.80 97.00HEROMOTOCO 2665.00 2697.20 2641.00 2677.10NCC 57.30 57.80 55.60 55.95DRREDDY 2828.10 2880.00 2828.10 2862.15M&M 590.00 590.00 577.20 579.30COLPAL 1537.85 1556.40 1508.85 1549.15EICHERMOT 21295.00 21743.25 21050.00 21629.25BPCL 516.90 525.35 516.25 523.70MARICO 367.00 368.60 361.15 367.90APOLLOTYRE 179.65 179.65 167.35 168.55GRAPHITE 296.00 305.50 295.30 297.75DISHTV 14.45 15.10 13.95 14.08GUJGAS 211.00 217.00 194.00 195.75UBL 1249.00 1276.70 1194.05 1257.40EXIDEIND 189.40 193.10 184.15 186.55FEDERALBNK 85.00 86.00 83.50 84.65SAIL 38.80 39.75 38.60 39.30BEL 113.00 113.00 108.20 109.35CONCOR 577.50 584.45 573.25 580.40HINDPETRO 311.95 316.40 310.45 313.80GAIL 137.40 139.15 136.00 136.55INFRATEL 223.90 223.90 216.30 221.65AAVAS 1469.10 1525.00 1431.25 1489.85OMAXE 188.50 188.50 184.90 185.45BAJAJ-AUTO 3248.00 3271.70 3215.00 3248.25WIPRO 259.80 259.80 255.95 256.50APLLTD 581.50 590.00 570.00 581.75DIVISLAB 1661.00 1721.00 1640.00 1706.45ICICIGI 1315.00 1318.70 1283.00 1289.95ESCORTS 655.50 662.70 651.05 654.60RNAM 332.15 339.75 332.00 335.10GODREJPROP 971.90 998.00 967.00 987.85GLENMARK 317.00 317.25 299.00 301.35PNBHOUSING 570.00 577.60 549.00 557.00LICHSGFIN 421.00 429.90 420.05 425.35UPL 613.20 615.15 603.55 605.95BERGEPAINT 501.00 505.50 493.60 495.40STRTECH 131.70 133.25 130.55 131.10

TATAGLOBAL 297.15 305.85 297.15 300.35GRASIM 771.90 782.70 761.55 773.40UNIONBANK 57.95 58.05 56.20 57.30NMDC 111.75 114.90 110.55 113.50MCX 1150.00 1155.00 1107.35 1117.35NIITTECH 1557.25 1575.00 1548.70 1565.25HEG 1015.00 1044.00 1007.70 1013.00JSWENERGY 72.15 77.00 72.00 74.30RAJESHEXPO 694.95 694.95 668.00 669.05ONGC 146.35 147.95 143.90 144.80ICICIPRULI 509.75 521.50 506.75 520.05WOCKPHARMA 295.40 312.10 295.40 300.25BATAINDIA 1705.00 1727.00 1688.55 1710.10VENKYS 1730.85 1807.00 1726.00 1782.10L&TFH 95.20 96.85 94.20 95.85BANDHANBNK 587.05 594.00 569.90 582.40COALINDIA 212.90 214.70 211.00 212.35IDBI 33.80 34.25 32.80 33.55MAXINDIA 79.00 79.35 75.35 75.50CHOLAFIN 318.00 318.30 293.00 299.75DMART 1975.00 1995.35 1963.30 1979.00RPOWER 4.19 4.46 3.92 4.43DELTACORP 195.00 204.00 192.80 202.10JUSTDIAL 571.95 574.45 562.00 564.30DEEPAKNI 363.80 365.00 344.25 350.35INTELLECT 149.90 158.95 142.40 154.65MANAPPURAM 166.60 169.25 162.35 167.55NBCC 37.70 38.90 37.25 38.40BOSCHLTD 15650.00 15778.50 14909.00 15239.60IDFCFIRSTB 43.25 43.25 42.05 42.50RADICO 328.00 332.55 308.00 313.30NESTLEIND 14680.00 14810.80 14595.00 14651.70WELCORP 137.60 142.40 137.60 139.90VOLTAS 693.60 693.60 670.25 672.75AJANTPHARM 1025.00 1033.00 996.15 1008.50MFSL 428.35 443.40 423.90 438.45RAYMOND 600.55 637.00 600.10 629.95BHARATFORG 466.00 468.05 453.95 464.50

JUBLFOOD 1579.20 1579.20 1548.95 1557.35TATAELXSI 810.00 822.05 807.85 809.80AKZOINDIA 2245.00 2250.00 2198.60 2222.70HEXAWARE 339.00 344.00 338.65 341.75UJJIVAN 279.80 281.20 274.65 277.15AMARAJABAT 658.00 668.00 653.00 661.20BOMDYEING 83.50 85.50 83.15 83.75LAKSHVILAS 18.70 18.70 17.20 18.70RECLTD 136.95 139.00 134.50 137.85SPICEJET 116.95 116.95 114.50 114.95MUTHOOTFIN 718.00 718.00 679.10 690.45INDIACEM 86.50 87.70 83.75 84.90BAJAJCON 250.25 264.00 249.35 258.95MEGH 56.20 59.10 56.00 58.55TVSMOTOR 458.00 463.90 455.00 460.80RELINFRA 42.70 42.75 41.20 42.75SCI 59.40 60.40 58.10 58.30PIDILITIND 1394.00 1396.35 1369.00 1370.55ADANIPORTS 390.00 394.10 388.65 390.60SUNTECK 437.60 450.50 410.00 442.90TATAPOWER 59.40 59.40 57.95 58.95CEATLTD 1015.00 1015.00 992.80 997.20IGL 394.90 394.90 384.50 391.20INFIBEAM 45.15 46.85 44.90 46.15NTPC 120.00 121.80 119.95 120.55FSL 49.45 49.45 45.30 45.90BRITANNIA 3265.00 3265.00 3193.00 3229.80BALRAMCHIN 160.85 162.00 153.30 155.55BEML 969.85 984.30 968.25 970.05FRETAIL 375.40 375.75 357.00 359.40TATACHEM 638.00 650.50 636.20 643.70BAJAJELEC 394.30 398.90 348.50 353.15FORTIS 145.55 148.00 142.25 146.70HUDCO 39.80 42.70 39.50 41.70MRF 64158.45 64482.75 63438.00 63651.45BIRLACORPN 655.00 658.00 625.00 628.35PVR 1780.00 1780.00 1750.00 1753.80PETRONET 287.35 288.95 284.65 288.25RELCAPITAL 22.85 23.40 22.35 23.40SUNTV 515.25 530.35 515.25 523.70ADANIGREEN 90.65 92.10 89.40 90.30LEMONTREE 62.00 62.00 59.05 59.20BALKRISIND 857.00 875.30 853.25 869.20SRTRANSFIN 1138.35 1152.50 1131.75 1139.85WESTLIFE 353.75 399.00 348.00 393.10

NOCIL 111.70 112.25 104.35 107.30DBL 425.10 435.00 416.05 418.20GNFC 203.00 208.00 199.35 203.90M&MFIN 349.05 352.80 342.90 345.60RAMCOCEM 793.00 806.40 786.00 801.85HAVELLS 687.00 693.70 675.40 688.90CYIENT 401.05 403.30 380.00 387.55HEIDELBERG 199.00 204.70 198.10 201.70VIPIND 464.00 467.00 452.70 454.95EDELWEISS 96.80 100.55 95.00 100.55AMBUJACEM 201.30 203.50 198.75 202.05STAR 399.00 404.35 391.80 393.40PAGEIND 24010.95 24079.75 23750.00 23905.45NATIONALUM 47.05 47.05 46.05 46.70EQUITAS 98.85 100.00 98.05 99.15LTTS 1504.55 1510.00 1446.10 1453.00SOBHA 418.20 438.80 418.00 432.90ADVENZYMES 186.05 186.05 175.50 176.80GILLETTE 7789.95 7789.95 7595.00 7625.55CADILAHC 243.00 245.05 239.00 239.80ABCAPITAL 85.45 85.55 83.25 83.50AEGISLOG 166.95 170.70 165.00 165.20CGPOWER 16.14 16.14 15.96 16.14INOXLEISUR 374.85 379.65 360.00 362.40ITDC 356.60 374.15 350.40 359.85TRIDENT 67.25 67.40 65.80 66.00TORNTPHARM 1799.00 1824.55 1799.00 1814.50CASTROLIND 150.25 154.90 150.20 153.75DALBHARAT 824.55 838.00 820.00 821.85SWANENERGY 104.00 104.10 102.55 102.75AIAENG 1724.00 1831.70 1680.00 1688.25ABBOTINDIA 11762.00 11997.15 11450.00 11490.30HINDZINC 208.35 209.10 206.00 208.05RAIN 99.30 103.80 97.45 101.55LALPATHLAB 1466.00 1502.00 1460.00 1486.90DCBBANK 182.90 185.30 181.80 184.75GICRE 281.00 290.20 278.00 285.85RCF 52.60 53.85 52.10 53.20MGL 960.15 980.00 960.10 975.60JISLJALEQS 15.05 15.95 15.05 15.05NAUKRI 2495.20 2571.00 2474.80 2523.15GLAXO 1646.00 1646.00 1602.45 1613.80JUBILANT 543.70 545.00 532.00 535.20RVNL 24.05 24.05 23.80 23.90ADANIGAS 147.20 149.20 146.80 147.70ITI 89.10 90.70 88.20 88.85BBTC 1193.30 1209.00 1180.20 1185.45VGUARD 249.00 250.50 236.05 243.15KEI 542.90 542.90 523.00 525.85PFIZER 4031.85 4084.00 4000.00 4013.25GODFRYPHLP 1104.30 1129.65 1100.00 1118.70SUVEN 275.80 288.80 275.80 285.90JKTYRE 74.00 76.55 71.70 72.35FORCEMOT 1145.50 1145.50 1120.60 1124.85SUZLON 2.87 2.94 2.81 2.83IEX 147.10 150.00 139.00 144.20CANFINHOME 416.95 420.00 410.10 411.10TIMKEN 874.90 900.05 858.90 880.00NIACL 157.00 161.65 153.30 158.70PHILIPCARB 121.30 124.25 121.10 122.20PRESTIGE 310.00 316.00 304.00 307.40RELAXO 568.00 575.75 565.20 570.65SUDARSCHEM 405.00 406.00 392.00 393.85TRENT 556.00 556.00 535.50 539.75OBEROIRLTY 505.10 514.75 499.90 505.15CUMMINSIND 547.95 553.50 542.50 551.10WHIRLPOOL 2150.50 2177.90 2122.50 2133.75LAXMIMACH 3502.10 3537.30 3451.05 3460.05REDINGTON 120.00 120.20 111.50 113.60VINATIORGA 2164.50 2164.50 2086.75 2091.85IBREALEST 66.75 66.75 65.75 66.75POLYCAB 863.55 873.60 847.00 852.55RCOM 0.71 0.73 0.67 0.69GSPL 221.60 222.10 214.10 219.55MAHSCOOTER 4704.00 4875.55 4664.45 4809.60INDIANB 129.10 129.75 127.00 128.30ITDCEM 57.50 60.00 57.50 57.50ADANITRANS 284.00 285.35 280.00 282.55IRB 75.50 75.70 73.10 73.75ENGINERSIN 115.30 116.55 112.05 112.80MAHINDCIE 152.80 153.95 149.55 150.40GRANULES 121.70 122.20 118.10 118.85EMAMILTD 329.85 331.45 320.00 325.50NAVINFLUOR 868.90 869.85 841.30 847.90DCAL 124.20 126.50 121.10 122.30ORIENTBANK 54.00 54.85 53.20 53.85PGHL 4675.10 4815.00 4664.60 4719.60IPCALAB 996.00 1024.50 991.10 1010.40TV18BRDCST 24.00 24.70 23.80 23.90ISEC 306.60 306.75 295.55 297.90JAMNAAUTO 45.20 46.45 45.00 45.40CENTURYPLY 165.10 170.55 164.05 164.55METROPOLIS 1436.70 1448.10 1390.00 1404.60CARERATING 527.95 536.60 526.95 535.25BLISSGVS 146.50 146.50 141.10 142.20SOUTHBANK 11.05 11.15 10.81 11.00JPASSOCIAT 2.31 2.34 2.10 2.14HFCL 17.70 17.70 17.15 17.35ABB 1450.00 1469.10 1430.10 1462.20RITES 283.85 286.50 280.55 281.75HINDCOPPER 42.00 42.25 41.00 41.15KAJARIACER 540.00 542.05 524.10 529.90CREDITACC 706.00 720.00 679.75 694.35GODREJIND 426.50 433.45 422.90 425.50THYROCARE 567.00 595.00 557.95 587.95TIINDIA 448.50 448.50 439.10 445.65PTC 57.15 57.90 56.45 57.10LTI 1659.90 1660.25 1640.00 1644.20IBVENTURES 122.70 122.70 122.70 122.70

KEC 269.10 270.20 266.00 267.50CORPBANK 17.50 18.90 17.20 18.50OIL 166.55 171.85 166.55 169.65ALKEM 2059.00 2080.00 2041.45 2053.70IDFC 35.55 35.55 33.70 33.95MINDACORP 102.50 102.55 97.25 98.30ASTRAZEN 2589.20 2631.60 2506.00 2526.35KANSAINER 528.55 535.90 519.50 530.30QUESS 508.85 515.25 507.25 509.95MOIL 142.85 144.00 141.30 142.25KTKBANK 78.00 78.90 77.15 78.15CHAMBLFERT 163.80 165.50 159.65 163.80HSCL 73.80 74.85 73.40 73.55WELSPUNIND 55.50 58.15 55.50 57.10IRCON 412.65 416.00 397.80 400.75GSFC 79.00 80.35 78.00 78.25JYOTHYLAB 177.90 177.95 167.55 170.10AUBANK 674.00 679.95 658.65 663.60JINDALSAW 87.35 87.90 85.85 86.30ORIENTELEC 197.60 197.60 186.50 187.15GET&D 187.00 187.00 168.80 170.55EIDPARRY 170.00 172.00 168.40 169.50PRSMJOHNSN 76.45 76.45 71.50 72.30SHREECEM 19849.50 19850.00 19632.25 19803.75PIIND 1394.35 1402.85 1384.00 1388.653MINDIA 22699.50 22699.50 22300.00 22543.30ASHOKA 96.50 99.75 96.10 97.30MHRIL 246.00 252.45 237.05 238.25GODREJAGRO 500.00 500.00 488.95 491.95COROMANDEL 460.80 471.75 458.90 469.45MOTILALOFS 669.20 683.65 661.20 668.30DEEPAKFERT 110.55 111.60 106.40 107.00IFCI 8.15 8.36 8.05 8.13ASTRAL 1060.50 1071.60 1045.00 1050.00COCHINSHIP 406.50 407.50 398.95 399.90MINDTREE 709.70 709.70 704.20 705.35REPCOHOME 299.90 301.50 295.00 296.10ABFRL 208.60 208.75 203.50 204.30GREAVESCOT 135.30 135.30 130.30 130.45SUPREMEIND 1160.00 1160.00 1120.00 1139.90MRPL 50.05 51.50 49.90 50.70INDHOTEL 151.50 152.00 149.70 151.10SYNGENE 331.95 332.00 324.00 326.15NHPC 23.80 23.80 23.30 23.40SCHNEIDER 76.95 77.25 73.40 73.80LAURUSLABS 373.90 378.60 368.30 370.85THOMASCOOK 129.00 129.30 123.50 125.55CENTRALBK 22.20 22.20 20.65 21.25ATUL 4230.05 4250.45 4220.05 4222.80GHCL 211.00 215.60 210.00 212.00BALMLAWRIE 199.50 201.90 196.30 197.40MINDAIND 360.95 367.20 359.55 365.90BASF 1020.00 1027.00 1000.00 1006.20PGHH 11878.80 11969.90 11673.60 11752.15PARAGMILK 138.05 139.45 136.55 137.70NH 286.45 290.30 277.90 280.80ALBK 27.25 27.40 26.65 26.80GICHSGFIN 163.40 167.60 161.75 162.55SCHAEFFLER 4220.05 4220.05 4151.00 4157.75JSLHISAR 71.40 72.90 69.50 71.00IOB 10.00 10.40 10.00 10.26TATAMETALI 611.95 611.95 595.50 606.15CRISIL 1495.15 1504.90 1490.00 1500.60VTL 915.00 916.00 882.80 889.00HONAUT 28346.30 28423.00 28190.00 28255.05ANDHRABANK 18.10 18.50 17.85 18.35KALPATPOWR 444.20 444.95 438.00 438.30GPPL 90.00 90.00 86.30 88.40JSL 36.30 36.35 35.45 35.75TEJASNET 76.65 83.35 76.60 79.70KRBL 213.50 215.40 209.50 210.15JAGRAN 56.00 57.00 52.05 54.85CUB 208.00 208.65 204.90 205.70MAHLIFE 409.40 425.25 396.00 399.45J&KBANK 32.45 32.45 31.50 31.70JKLAKSHMI 308.60 310.45 303.55 306.15BAJAJHLDNG 3717.55 3762.90 3705.10 3725.15UFLEX 204.55 207.05 203.05 204.90FINOLEXIND 585.80 590.00 578.20 580.00JKCEMENT 1139.25 1147.00 1128.00 1138.35WABAG 186.75 187.20 180.45 181.45SHK 127.00 129.80 121.80 126.05MPHASIS 914.00 920.00 909.05 912.45FCONSUMER 26.45 27.10 26.05 26.15TATACOFFEE 83.40 83.55 82.50 82.75NATCOPHARM 587.05 591.20 577.25 580.00PHOENIXLTD 750.00 750.00 695.40 699.25MMTC 19.10 19.35 18.75 18.90BDL 324.00 327.65 317.00 317.65ZENSARTECH 190.90 190.90 185.35 187.10BLUESTARCO 794.00 804.25 781.00 795.70VMART 1827.55 1830.00 1731.15 1756.50MAHABANK 12.50 12.50 11.91 12.19CROMPTON 247.15 253.00 247.15 248.80IFBIND 730.85 742.65 725.30 735.50SJVN 24.70 24.75 24.45 24.50TIMETECHNO 66.50 66.70 64.55 64.90LUXIND 1215.00 1234.80 1193.85 1206.95GSKCONS 9214.80 9262.75 9204.05 9252.60CENTRUM 21.50 21.50 19.85 20.30SUNDRMFAST 464.95 468.00 456.00 463.90SYNDIBANK 29.00 29.15 28.40 28.95KNRCON 244.90 244.90 236.50 241.55SHANKARA 356.10 368.40 353.70 354.35NLCINDIA 56.35 57.45 55.60 56.25UCOBANK 14.00 14.00 13.10 13.73VSTIND 3922.10 4048.00 3904.85 3997.80GALAXYSURF 1550.05 1550.05 1461.70 1489.95TTKPRESTIG 6206.40 6214.65 6123.00 6132.15

GDL 90.50 93.50 88.75 89.30THERMAX 1138.00 1138.00 1121.00 1128.65PNCINFRA 171.00 172.00 166.00 169.90COFFEEDAY 37.25 37.25 37.25 37.25EVEREADY 55.10 56.00 53.40 54.50GESHIP* 293.00 293.85 290.15 292.45JMFINANCIL 82.00 83.70 81.00 81.60SONATSOFTW 314.35 314.90 310.55 313.20MAGMA 52.95 52.95 48.50 49.20HIMATSEIDE 146.65 153.25 146.65 150.05BAYERCROP 3672.35 3674.40 3592.00 3624.55INDOSTAR 203.00 203.00 196.10 198.35TATAINVEST 839.25 839.80 822.85 835.40EIHOTEL 159.10 160.70 156.00 158.25NESCO 563.00 566.60 559.05 561.20ZYDUSWELL 1662.55 1676.20 1640.05 1669.55GMDCLTD 64.00 64.40 62.70 63.00ORIENTCEM 81.25 84.00 81.15 81.90GUJALKALI 463.55 467.25 454.60 456.40CAPPL 389.00 396.00 389.00 391.80FLFL 412.00 412.00 398.40 398.60TVTODAY 294.60 298.30 288.00 297.50TAKE 114.00 114.20 111.15 112.00SUPRAJIT 182.00 183.95 181.00 182.40FINCABLES 383.05 383.15 374.40 377.55TNPL 196.90 196.90 188.70 189.95OFSS 3131.45 3145.00 3118.70 3135.00RALLIS 170.15 171.30 167.60 168.05FINEORG 1908.55 1944.65 1908.55 1919.30DCMSHRIRAM 365.00 366.20 360.40 363.55ALLCARGO 105.55 108.45 104.70 106.00JBCHEPHARM 365.80 368.20 360.00 361.60NILKAMAL 1225.20 1252.90 1219.95 1227.05SOLARINDS 1090.00 1090.00 1040.00 1054.25PERSISTENT 590.00 602.40 588.00 600.80ENDURANCE 1107.00 1125.00 1106.00 1110.85INOXWIND 35.55 35.95 34.55 34.90BLUEDART 2300.00 2318.40 2265.75 2291.30TEAMLEASE 2800.00 2875.20 2768.05 2846.00DHFL 21.15 21.15 21.15 21.15SYMPHONY 1266.90 1270.00 1250.00 1254.10JCHAC 1990.00 2026.35 1970.60 1998.95GEPIL 698.20 699.75 689.00 694.65ECLERX 441.85 441.85 426.00 437.15SREINFRA 9.42 9.42 9.42 9.42RATNAMANI 945.35 968.00 925.00 928.80IIFL 120.60 127.00 119.10 124.40SOMANYCERA 182.00 183.35 178.20 179.30NETWORK18 23.25 23.70 23.00 23.50MASFIN 700.00 722.00 696.00 717.40CARBORUNIV 311.00 311.15 307.50 310.00APLAPOLLO 1472.00 1484.85 1465.00 1468.15NBVENTURES 72.10 72.60 72.00 72.10UNITEDBNK 9.43 9.43 9.10 9.18APARINDS 530.05 548.50 530.00 546.30STARCEMENT 105.50 105.50 95.55 96.35GRINDWELL 594.75 597.60 590.45 594.15HERITGFOOD 336.90 340.55 333.35 338.40GULFOILLUB 870.00 870.00 853.00 855.80CHENNPETRO 155.15 156.65 155.15 155.75CERA 2608.15 2608.15 2545.00 2559.00MAHLOG 374.00 377.00 367.55 374.45ASTERDM 121.00 144.35 121.00 139.30HATHWAY 21.55 21.70 21.25 21.30SHRIRAMCIT 1335.00 1343.80 1322.05 1333.90FDC 180.00 183.10 175.60 175.65HAL 784.00 784.00 774.65 777.60SHILPAMED 301.00 325.30 301.00 310.00ESSELPRO 112.45 118.65 112.30 117.75CCL 202.65 203.70 200.00 202.85TCNSBRANDS 751.10 752.75 725.00 732.05DBCORP 146.00 148.00 144.65 147.05VARROC 484.75 491.00 484.75 487.40SHOPERSTOP 375.00 375.00 367.45 369.25KPRMILL 640.25 655.50 640.25 653.55CHOLAHLDNG 468.00 472.00 466.90 466.90SADBHAV 129.90 132.15 128.80 129.95LAOPALA 164.90 167.50 163.50 164.45ERIS 416.60 418.60 405.15 407.40SKFINDIA 2168.40 2170.00 2153.00 2157.45LINDEINDIA 556.25 557.90 551.20 553.60IBULISL 77.25 77.25 77.25 77.25TRITURBINE 103.35 106.20 100.95 102.90JSWHL 2525.00 2680.00 2525.00 2614.90MAHSEAMLES 369.35 376.35 366.10 373.65WABCOINDIA 6150.10 6174.00 6120.20 6135.60DHANUKA 308.30 310.75 306.05 310.35GAYAPROJ 113.90 114.30 111.40 113.00TVSSRICHAK 1843.05 1883.95 1819.00 1861.50CHALET 329.95 337.90 329.95 337.90SIS 897.80 897.80 890.30 892.50

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 11911.50 12002.90 11850.25 11966.05 48.85CIPLA 469.05 487.95 464.25 482.00 14.15ICICIBANK 467.15 483.90 464.75 480.00 11.65INFY 695.80 721.50 692.00 712.50 16.4HDFC 2188.00 2228.00 2162.00 2221.00 39.7INDUSINDBK 1321.25 1353.60 1310.00 1344.00 23.9DRREDDY 2820.10 2880.00 2820.10 2860.45 44.75HINDALCO 199.00 203.65 197.65 201.40 2.8HDFCBANK 1242.45 1259.00 1228.05 1256.50 17BPCL 518.00 525.25 516.10 524.25 6.75TATAMOTORS 172.00 176.35 170.50 174.20 2.2KOTAKBANK 1556.45 1587.95 1541.00 1572.55 18.65AXISBANK 736.95 750.90 728.75 745.55 7.5EICHERMOT 21370.00 21750.00 21034.15 21500.30 213.15LT 1440.00 1466.95 1437.75 1452.65 12.85JSWSTEEL 245.95 251.30 244.30 248.15 2.1COALINDIA 211.40 214.85 211.15 212.50 1.35GRASIM 770.00 782.60 761.00 772.80 4.2HINDUNILVR 2166.00 2184.00 2155.00 2184.00 11.85HEROMOTOCO2660.00 2696.90 2641.00 2675.15 10.15YESBANK 68.55 71.15 67.55 68.55 0.25ADANIPORTS 390.00 394.40 388.50 391.00 1ASIANPAINT 1789.00 1815.00 1780.60 1798.10 4.25UPL 611.00 615.00 603.85 606.80 1.15BRITANNIA 3239.85 3257.85 3191.00 3232.00 0.25INFRATEL 222.00 223.95 216.20 222.15 0VEDL 157.00 161.15 156.70 157.45 -0.05BAJAJ-AUTO 3244.00 3271.50 3214.75 3244.20 -2.1NESTLEIND 14675.00 14821.00 14588.65 14638.00 -12.2NTPC 120.10 121.75 119.95 120.45 -0.15POWERGRID 195.40 196.50 194.70 195.10 -0.3M&M 590.25 590.30 577.10 578.00 -2.15TATASTEEL 402.00 408.90 398.70 402.45 -1.5ITC 262.95 263.80 260.00 261.75 -1.15TECHM 784.00 784.00 767.60 769.60 -3.65TCS 2200.00 2210.80 2179.00 2190.80 -11.05ULTRACEMCO 4160.00 4176.90 4116.05 4126.10 -21.3SBIN 318.95 318.95 314.00 317.50 -1.7SUNPHARMA 432.40 452.90 422.10 427.50 -2.4ZEEL 285.15 303.90 282.75 283.80 -2.35WIPRO 259.00 259.45 256.05 256.30 -2.2HCLTECH 1160.00 1160.05 1141.20 1148.55 -10.15GAIL 137.30 139.20 136.05 136.10 -1.3BAJFINANCE 4260.00 4280.00 4176.65 4187.00 -40.8RELIANCE 1442.70 1446.45 1428.50 1433.00 -14.3IOC 137.35 138.15 135.30 135.65 -1.35MARUTI 7395.00 7415.00 7295.00 7310.00 -79BAJAJFINSV 8800.00 8875.00 8721.05 8735.30 -110.45ONGC 146.35 148.00 143.85 144.50 -1.85BHARTIARTL 385.00 385.40 370.25 370.75 -13.2TITAN 1165.00 1199.00 1150.00 1154.30 -129.5

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 28449.60 28613.10 28292.60 28534.20 91.85MOTHERSUMI 125.55 132.50 124.80 131.30 4.8DLF 186.55 194.20 185.80 191.10 6.75UBL 1215.20 1277.05 1194.20 1258.00 40.15GODREJCP 724.00 758.00 719.30 742.85 21.35GICRE 277.25 290.00 275.35 287.50 7.3ASHOKLEY 74.50 77.45 74.40 76.45 1.5ICICIPRULI 510.50 521.70 507.05 519.05 9.15MCDOWELL-N 626.55 642.45 623.50 639.55 10.75COLPAL 1523.10 1557.00 1508.15 1546.35 23.4BIOCON 256.20 262.25 255.10 260.00 3.75PETRONET 287.00 289.00 284.60 288.70 3.75NMDC 112.30 114.95 110.50 113.05 1.4NIACL 157.00 161.85 153.10 157.75 1.9PEL 1714.80 1748.15 1692.00 1730.00 15.2DIVISLAB 1651.00 1721.95 1641.70 1702.30 14.85HINDPETRO 311.00 316.50 310.30 314.90 2.4HINDZINC 208.25 209.20 205.80 208.25 1.25CONCOR 577.50 585.00 573.00 580.00 3.15LUPIN 757.75 787.60 740.20 759.00 4.05L&TFH 95.30 96.90 94.15 95.90 0.5BAJAJHLDNG 3738.25 3760.00 3700.00 3740.00 11.95MARICO 368.00 368.50 360.90 367.50 1.1SIEMENS 1680.00 1708.95 1660.10 1682.20 4.8SRTRANSFIN 1137.15 1152.65 1130.00 1142.50 3.3HAVELLS 687.10 693.90 675.25 689.00 1.95AMBUJACEM 201.95 203.75 199.90 201.75 0.2DMART 1975.00 1994.90 1962.30 1978.90 2.05INDIGO 1474.00 1494.75 1451.05 1463.55 1.1HDFCLIFE 584.00 590.90 580.10 584.00 0.35CADILAHC 237.20 245.30 237.20 239.75 0.15ACC 1520.00 1531.20 1501.85 1515.20 0.55OFSS 3112.10 3150.00 3109.80 3130.00 -0.4SBILIFE 974.45 980.00 941.55 969.00 -0.8SHREECEM 19830.00 19913.10 19601.00 19750.00 -79.3BERGEPAINT 499.00 506.00 493.35 495.35 -2.95DABUR 484.50 487.70 473.50 477.85 -3.5PFC 110.25 111.95 109.05 111.00 -0.9PNB 64.45 65.10 63.30 64.20 -0.55PAGEIND 24000.00 24120.00 23737.10 23920.00 -237.15BANDHANBNK 587.95 587.95 569.55 580.35 -6.65PIDILITIND 1396.80 1397.40 1368.60 1371.60 -17.2NHPC 23.80 23.85 23.30 23.35 -0.35PGHH 11873.95 12039.95 11700.00 11700.00 -181.4ICICIGI 1312.00 1318.55 1282.50 1284.00 -21.35HDFCAMC 3007.75 3012.85 2924.45 2930.00 -78.3BANKBARODA 101.70 101.90 98.75 99.05 -2.85IBULHSGFIN 227.30 238.60 216.10 216.95 -8.1BOSCHLTD 15650.00 15789.00 14880.00 15100.00 -581.05AUROPHARMA 475.00 479.75 442.30 450.00 -23.9IDEA 4.10 4.15 3.80 3.85 -0.35

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Road developers in the engi-neering, procurement and

construction (EPC) segmentcould see their revenue growthhalve in the ongoing fiscal andthe next, Crisil Ratings said onWednesday.

The decline would belargely due to slower awardingof projects and delayed receiptof 'appointed date' — which isthe kickoff date for start of aproject — from the NationalHighways Authority of India(NHAI), Crisil said in a state-ment.

"Road developers...Couldsee revenue growth halve in fis-cals 2020 and 2021 to 15 percent, compared with 30 percent in fiscal 2019," it said.

The NHAI awarded awhopping 7,400 km in fiscal2018, which slowed down thefollowing year to about 2,200km. In the current fiscal andthe next, awarding is expectedto be 4,000 km a year, Crisilsaid.

"The delay in declaringappointed dates for the projectsawarded, on the other hand, isprimarily due to issues in landacquisition. Crisil's analysis of119 hybrid annuity model(HAM) projects shows almost30 per cent of these have notreceived appointed dates morethan a year after these wereawarded," Crisil Ratings SeniorDirector Sachin Gupta said.

The slowdown, however, isunlikely to impact the creditprofiles of the EPC playersprimarily because of three rea-sons.

As of last fiscal, these com-panies had a healthy orderbook of Rs 2 lakh crore, whichis at over three times their rev-enue in fiscal 2019 and pro-vides high revenue visibility forthe next two years.

The other reason is thesecompanies have kept a checkon their debt levels while pur-suing growth. At the consoli-dated level, the capital structurewas robust as on March 31,2019, with a gearing of 0.55time, compared with 0.80 timeas on March 31, 2015.

The improvement waslargely due to focus on award-ing through EPC and HAMroutes, which entail lower equi-ty requirement. Additionally,renewed interest from globalfunds has given a fillip to thesector, and divestment of pro-ject special purpose vehiclesthrough infrastructure invest-ment trusts or asset level salehas supported the improve-ment in capital structure.

Third reason for a likelylow impact on credit profile ofEPC companies is while a delayin receipt of appointed datemay lead to a delay in recog-nising revenue for some of theprojects, there is an assurancethat a project, once started,would not be stalled.

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Global ratings agencyMoody's on Wednesday

placed private sector lender YesBank's ratings under review fordowngrade, further confound-ing the pains for the lender thathas been dogged by many anissue since the past one year.

The Ba3 rating of the bankcan be downgraded because ofthe weak September quarterearnings and the bank manag-ing to get only a commitmentfor USD 1.2 billion in fundingrecently, the agency said.

Moody's also sees thebank's total dud asset to top 12percent this year basing onbank's own assessment of over40 percent of its Rs 30,000-crore of exposure to lowerrated entities turning sourbefore March.

The bank has been passingthrough a tumultous periodever since the Reserve Bankasked the promoter-chief exec-utive Rana Kapoor to leave thebank by January 31, 2019 inAugust last year over concernson governance and loan prac-tices, and his successor RavneetGill disclosing large underre-ported stressed assets.

Under Gill, the bankreported its maiden loss in theMarch quarter and the strainon asset quality continues.

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Washington: US President DonaldTrump and his Republican allies suf-fered stinging defeats Tuesday asDemocrats were projected to winclosely-watched elections in twostates, results that signal troublingheadwinds for his 2020 re-electioncampaign.

The Republican Governor MattBevin in deep-red Kentucky wasousted by his Democratic challengerAndy Beshear, who led by less thanhalf a percentage point with 100 per-cent of the vote counted, the officialoverseeing the election declared.

Doubling the hurt, Trump’s partyalso lost control of both chambers ofthe legislature in increasingly blue

Virginia, US media including The NewYork Times projected.

“We have called it for AttorneyGeneral Beshear to be the KentuckyGovernor-elect,” Secretary of StateAlison Lundergan Grimes said onCNN.

The US President tweeted thatBevin “picked up at least 15 points inlast days, but perhaps not enough(Fake News will blame Trump!).”Beshear, whose father was the lastDemocratic governor in the State,claimed victory, but Bevin did notthrow in the towel.

“This is a close, close race. We arenot conceding this race by any stretch,”the governor said.Should Bevin’s lossbe certified, it would be a shock defeatfor a conservative in a southern statethat Trump won by 30 percentagepoints in 2016.

In Virginia, Democrats will nowhold all major statewide offices andrule State Assembly, a comprehensiveconsolidation of power not seen in theState since the 1990s.Democraticleadership swiftly portrayed the nightas a massive boost for the party head-ing into next year’s monumental bat-

tle against the President.“This historic victory should send

a chill down the spines of DonaldTrump and every Republican,”Democratic National Committeechairman Tom Perez said in a state-ment.”Democrats are competing inevery election and every state, runningon our values, and channelingunprecedented energy into the votingbooth — that’s how we won tonight,that’s how we’ll beat Trump” in 2020.

Tuesday’s elections — including aGovernor’s race in Mississippi that USmedia projected Republican candidateTate Reeves would win — were testsof enthusiasm ahead of 2020 forTrump, who is deeply unpopularnationwide and is the subject of animpeachment investigation.

Trump hailed the Mississippiresults, congratulating Reeves onTwitter and claiming that his supportwas key.”Congratulations to@tatereeves on winning Governor ofthe Great State of Mississippi. Our bigRally on Friday night moved the num-bers from a tie to a big WIN. Greatreaction under pressure Tate!” Trumpwrote. AFP

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London: British PrimeMinister Boris Johnson hascompared his main rival toSoviet dictator Joseph Stalin ashe prepares to officially launch

the governing ConservativeParty’s campaign for theDecember 12 election.Johnson, writing in the DailyTelegraph, says Jeremy Corbyn’s

Labour Party would “raise taxesso wantonly” that it woulddestroy Britain’s prosperity.

He says Labour leaders areattacking the rich “with a relish

and vindictiveness not seensince Stalin persecuted thekulaks,” the wealthier peasantswho were targeted by the Sovietregime in the 1930s. AP

Beijing: Chinese leader XiJinping and French PresidentEmmanuel Macron declaredon Wednesday that the Parisclimate pact was “irreversible”,showing a united front afterWashington formally withdrew from the accord thisweek.

Major powers expressedregret and concern afterPresident Donald Trump wentahead with the pullout from theParis accord despite mountingevidence of the reality andimpact of climate change.

Washington presented itswithdrawal letter to the UnitedNations on Monday, the firstpossible date under the accordnegotiated by Trump’s prede-cessor Barack Obama, makingthe world’s largest economy thesole outlier from the agree-ment.

In a joint written statement,Xi and Macron reaffirmed“their firm support for theParis accord which they con-sider as an irreversible process

and a compass for strong actionon climate”.

Without directly namingthe US, Macron said he“deplores the choices made byothers” as he sat next to Xi fol-lowing the talks at the impos-ing Great Hall of the People inthe Chinese capital.

“But I want to look atthem as marginal choices,”Macron said. With theEuropean Union, China andRussia backing the pact, headded, “the isolated choice ofone or another is not enoughto change the course of theworld. It only leads to margin-alisation.”

In his remarks, Xi took aveiled swipe at the UnitedStates, which launched a tradewar with China last year andhas angered Beijing on variousdiplomatic issues.

“We advocate for mutualrespect and equal treatment,and are opposed to the law ofthe jungle and acts of intimi-dation,” Xi said. AFP

Washington: Pakistan considersAfghan Taliban as a “relativelyfriendly” and “reliable anti-Indiaelement” in Afghanistan as itfears a strategic encirclement byNew Delhi whose interest in thewar-torn country stems largelyfrom its broader regional rival-ry with Islamabad, a USCongressional report has said.

In its latest report onAfghanistan, the independentand bipartisan CongressionalResearch Service (CRS) iden-tified Pakistan as the mostimportant neighbour ofAfghanistan.However, it saidPakistan wanted a weak gov-ernment in Kabul and hasplayed an active, and by manyaccounts, a negative role inAfghan affairs for decades.

“Pakistan’s security estab-lishment, fearful of a strategicencirclement by India, appar-ently continues to view theAfghan Taliban as a relativelyfriendly and reliable anti-Indiaelement in Afghanistan,” theCRS said. PTI

Beirut: Hundreds of schoolchildren led anti-Government demonstrations acrossLebanon on Wednesday, refusing to returnto class before the demands of a nearly three-week-old protest movement are met.

In the capital Beirut, dozens gathered infront of the education Ministry, brandish-ing Lebanese flags and chanting slogansdemanding the removal of a political classseen as incompetent and corrupt.

“What will I do with a school leaver’scertificate if I don’t have a country,” one pupiltold Lebanese television.

In the largest pupil-led protest, crowdsstreamed into a central square in the south-ern city of Sidon, demanding better public

education and more job opportunities forschool leavers, the state-run National NewsAgency (NNA) reported.

In a school in the resort town ofJounieh, just north of the capital, pupilsmobilised against school governors accus-ing them of banning particpation in theprotests.Other pupil-led protests took placein the southern cities of Tyre and Nabatieh,the eastern city of Zahleh and the northerncity of Byblos, according to NNA and otherLebanese media reports.

But demonstrators, who have kept uptheir protests since October 17, were notblocking key roads on Wednesday morning. AFP

Khartoum: Sudanese rebel groups engagedin peace talks with Khartoum insistedWednesday that the country’s new parlia-ment be formed only after an agreement isreached to end long-running conflicts inthree border regions.

A power-sharing deal signed on August17 between protest leaders and the gener-als who ruled Sudan after the April over-throw of longtime president Omar al-Bashir stipulates that a 300-member par-liament be formed within three months.

Since the signing of the so called“Constitutional Declaration”, the transition-al government, led by Prime Minister AbdallaHamdok, has engaged in talks with three rebelgroups to reach a peace deal to end the warsin Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan.

Rebel groups said that during talks inthe South Sudanese capital of Juba, the twosides had agreed to delay the formation ofa new parliament until a peace deal has beenreached.The groups said they would not giveup their demand despite the protest move-ment’s insistence on the original November17 deadline stipulateed by the so-called“Constitutional Declaration”. AFPWashington:US House impeach-

ment investigators on Tuesday sum-moned President Donald Trump’sacting chief of staff Mick Mulvaneyfor a deposition, saying he has “sub-stantial first-hand knowledge” ofTrump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine.

Mulvaney is the latest adminis-tration official to be ordered to testifywith the impeachment probe closingin around those nearest the presidentas it proceeds into a new public phase,in which transcripts of closed-door tes-timony are being released.

Mulvaney is the highest-rankingWhite House official to be summonedin the probe, although he is unlikely tocomply given the White House’s oppo-sition to administration officials coop-erating with investigators.

The chairs of the three House com-mittees leading the investigation wroteMulvaney requesting he appear beforethe panels on Friday at 9:00 am. AFP

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Have you ever seen a woman guidein India? Many would answer,‘Not really.’ The Mithila Parker-

starrer Chopsticks is the only recentexample where we see a woman assist-ing a group of Chinese tourists acrossplaces in the city. However, just as thereis a rise in women travellers in the coun-try, travel experts say that women trav-el aggregators and hospitality sectorplayers have grown too. And not just atthe management level or desk jobs, butout on the field too.

Shalini Goyal Bhalla, founder ofWomenOfIndia, looks at it in a differentlight by bringing rural and regionalwomen into the picture. “Why notencourage them too?” She tells us thateven the WOI was conceptualised aroundthe same idea. “The idea was to bringwomen in the public sphere through theirown skills and culture. Unless we involvewomen in environment and make themconscious about it, the things are notgoing to change. Also, my observationsduring my travel made me realise howimportant the role of women is. I ques-tioned, ‘What role can local women playin tourism activities?’ I saw what poten-tial they carry and what they can do ifgiven an opportunity. So I also looked atit as a way of promoting regional cuisines,arts and culture and different dialects thatIndia has through rural women.”

A whole subset of cuisine and culturetourism can be developed around

women. Involving them has high tourismpotential as the knowledge on mountain,plateau and cultural heritage can promotethe idea of sustainable tourism andsocial enterprise. She says, “They can re-organise the entire tourism industry,flavours of the local cuisines, and culture.Even the women who are skilled in var-ious arts can present their dances andmusic performances in front of thetourists.” Shalini believes that womenwould prove to be more courteous inguiding the tourists than men.

One of the biggest reasons thatwomen are not a part of the tourismindustry is because of the fear of safetyand job security. Experts suggest thatcompanies need to discard the idea ofgender-based roles and promise womensafety and other job benefits. Womenguides are also trained and educatedproperly on how to react in cases ofemergency during a trip. An initiativeto provide them tour maps, guidelinesand personal safety equipment is also

being brought into practice.Deepti Sheth, vice president and

head (Human Resources), SOTC Travel,says, “To provide women with equalopportunities for leadership and entre-preneurship, there are various corporatepolicies for women employees which arevital to support their continued employ-ment even after going through the threeMs — Marriage, Maternity andMatriculation. There should be workpolicies that motivate laws and benefitsfor childcare and maternity, and flexiblework hours.”

With the ‘WOW: Women of Will’initiative, the travel agency is encourag-ing women to lead groups of 40 andmore travellers on various trips. Shethadds, “It is to motivate and encourageparticipation of our women workforce tofulfil their dreams and create an oppor-tunity for them to network.”

Ankit Rastogi, head of air andaccommodation, Cleartrip, says, “Withmore women getting increasingly

inclined to travel for various reasons,backed with early exposure of varioustrips and a determination to break thestringent norms, a profession in the trav-el industry is definitely attracting talentbeyond the gender factor. We keep thecandidate’s ability, attitude and enthusi-asm as our priority, be it for finance, con-tent, design and technology as well as forcustomer relations like business devel-opment, customer service and keyaccount management.”

Mona Cheriyan, president and grouphead (Human Resources), Thomas Cook(India) Ltd, says, “Over the past fewyears, the contribution of women in thetravel and tourism industry has increasedexponentially. We offer our womenemployees on-the-job training to honetheir entrepreneurial skills, and buildexpertise in behavioural areas, along withtheir existing domains. With WOWtours, they can even book tours alongwith fellow women colleagues, across dif-ferent verticals.”

Even as per a report of 2016, therehas been a 38 per cent rise in hiringvacancy for women at travel firms inIndia.

Shalini, who, along with Dave Mann,founder of WanderTribe, HKVAssociation head SS Sarna, and NRAIpresident Rahul Singh, will be seen talk-ing about the emerging role of womenin the tourism industry at the IndiaHabitat Centre (on November 8), high-lights that there is a new demand forwomen service professionals. Unlikeprevious times, when women weren’tallowed travel alone or step out of thehouses without a male family member,today, they are being encouraged even bytheir husbands to take tours with theirfriends or colleagues.

Travel firms like Girls On The GoClub and SeekSherpa, both of whichhave also been founded by women, areexamples of how ‘women only’ travelgroups are encouraging travellers to taketrips with complete safety and assurance.

The new tour

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guide

Actor Richa Chadha, whose comic timingin Fukrey was lauded by many, says

humour is a fairly natural and organic way ofexpressing oneself.

Richa now aims to take her love forhumour to the next level, by appearing in thecomic show, One Mic Stand. For the show, shehas been mentored by comedians SapanVerma and Ashish Shakya.

“I love to see people laugh. It is truly a joy-ous thought to stand on stage and spreadhumour with your words. Doing so is such asatisfying feeling in itself,” said Richa.

“I have dabbled in stand-up comedy before, very

briefly. But it was quite achallenge taking this on.Sapan and Ashish havebeen admirable men-tors, pushing me to dobetter at each step.They have distinctstyles and I have

imbibed a lot fromthem. It has beenboth dauntingand exciting totake it up pro-fessionally, eventhough for abrief periodand learningfrom theexperts,” sheadded.

T a l k i n gabout humour,she said, “It is afairly naturaland organicway of expres-sion. I strug-gled a lotbecause I amaware peoplethink of me as aver y seriousperson. So itwas confusing.It is an exper-iment for meat best, butthen I owemy career toexperimen-tation.”

Richa’spreviousr e l e a s ewas the

c r i t i c a l l yacclaimed Section

375, starringAkshaye Khanna. She will

soon be seen in Ashwiny IyerTiwari’s Panga, starringKangana Ranaut.

She is currently workingon her several Bollywoodassignments, including theshoot of the forthcoming sea-son 2 of the web series InsideEdge. F�,�.

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As I lounged around waiting foractor Sooraj Pancholi to come,

director Irfan Kamal entered theroom and asked me to take a seat.While I wondered whether I shouldwait for the actor or start the interview,the director seemed prepared.

Pointing towards the posters ofthe film Satellite Shankar behind him,I asked him the reason for the title. Hepromptly answered, “The whole ideais to get people thinking. It wouldforce them to dig deep into the film.In today’s time, we don’t connect topeople much. There are satelliteswhich keep us connected only to ourmobile phones, TV or internet. Ourfilm will focus on this gap and con-nect hearts.”

As he spoke, Sooraj entered andsat beside him which broke Kamal’schain of thoughts for a moment.While the actor was preoccupiedwith his phone, the director apprisedus about the initial thoughts that ledto this project. He said that he getsmany ideas while reading newspapers.“When you read newspaper articles,you try to dig deeper into that subjectand find the logic and reason behindit. I once read an article on how sol-diers are never off-duty and thattouched me deeply and gave birth tothe film’s concept. They often have toreturn from their holidays beforethey are over on receiving just one callto serve the nation.”

The film revolves around theextraordinary journey of a soldierwhich brings a nation together. As afilmmaker, Kamal wants to restore thedignity of soldiers among the commoncitizenry. He talked about the chal-lenges that soldiers face as they oper-ate in regions with no network orproper food supplies. They are notaware of the happenings in andaround the world, or even what isgoing on in their families. When peo-ple watch this sacrifice in the film, theywill know the importance of their free-dom. “If you don’t treat your family

well, just remember these peopledon’t even get an opportunity tomeet theirs. One should learn from asoldier,” said he.

The film is about Shankar (playedby Sooraj), who has never taken aleave from his post. So concerned cit-izens start a social media campaign tosend him back home on a much-deserved break.

While Kamal was elaborating onthe film, the actor sat waiting for histurn to speak. Talking about the chal-lenges of his role, he said, “Usually,patriotic films have action sequences.But this is different as it is dominat-ed by emotions. So I did not have tolearn the action part but yes, I had towork really hard on the script and myfitness.” Before he could give a deep-er insight into his challenges, Kamaltook over and said, “It is very difficultfor any hero, especially an Indian one,to lose his six packs. And he did that.”

The actor nodded and said that hewas very muscular earlier since he wasquite active in sports for a long time.“When he (Kamal) came to me withthe script, I thought it was an actionfilm. I was shocked when he told methat it was not,” said he. The directorasked him to cut down on his musclemass and tone his body. Though it wastough for the actor, he was keen ondoing it as he fell in love with thescript. According to him, it was oncein a lifetime kind of story. So “Iworked on myself. Losing fat is easybut muscles, that is difficult,” added he.

It was the motivation from thewhole team that helped the actor playthis role. “I had to eat, sleep and drinkShankar in me because Kamal want-ed me to feel like a soldier, not onlyon screen but off-screen too,” said he.

The film has a smorgasbord ofemotions. On one side it portrays thesoldier’s happiness on meeting hismother while on the other, it showsthe difficulties that are a part of his life.But it was easy for the actor to bringout his feelings as he comes from a

very emotional family. He said, “In factemotions drive any film. When I amoffered any role, I first look for emo-tions and then the rest of the story. Ifemotions are lacking, I don’t do it.”

Kamal said the rationale for thefilm came from his desire to give backto and acknowledge the armed forces.“Maybe we have never really donemuch for them. If people learn evenfive per cent, it will fulfill my purpose.”

We have often seen patriotic filmsand one wonders how this one is dif-ferent. Explained Kamal, “The USP ofour film is the use of social media asan awareness tool. It shows youngsterscoming forward and taking up thiscause. College kids and net savvy peo-ple are involved.”

Sooraj, who debuted with Hero(2015), said that this role is 10 timestougher. “In my first film, I playedmyself. The role demanded that Iknow martial arts, dance and deliverdialogues. But here I did not even feelfor a second that I needed to feel likea hero,” he said.

This being his second film, theactor has made a comeback as a leadafter four years. He said that he waslooking for projects, which offeredmore than dance and action. “But it’snever too late and now I am happybecause good things take time,” saidhe. Soon after his debut Sooraj

became the talk of the townbecause of the suicide of hisgirlfriend Jiah Khan (actor).When questioned if it hadaffected his career, the actorlooked clueless, paused fora while and said, “I don’tknow whether I should sayyes or no because it wasalso my choice to take abreak at that point of time. Upsand downs are a part of every-body’s life. It was a consciousdecision to take a break. I wasoffered a lot of films but I did-n’t take them up because I wasnot 100 per cent convinced bythem.”

He also indicated that hewas put on trial by the media.He said, “Not even five percent of what the media wroteabout me is true. They haveonly heard one side of thestory and not my version of it. I neverclaimed I am innocent to gain peo-ple’s sympathy.”

He added, “Media can’t get mejustice, only the court can. So, I havebeen waiting for the court to take thedecision. This is my career, my breadand butter. So I have to speak outbecause what is happening is wrong.”

(The film releases on November15.) �����A�����-�����

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The festival time is the peaktravel season for Indian

Railways. Taking advantage ofthe pressure for availability ofreservation on trains during thisperiod, unscrupulous elementsbecome active, providing pas-sengers with tickets on premi-um prices in an unauthorisedway. Taking cue from the pastyears the Railway ProtectionForce of Northern Railway washighly vigilant looking out forsuch vendors. On receivinginputs the RPF team raided sev-eral premises and recoveredtickets that had been procuredthrough wrongful means.Electronic computer hardwareand printers were also takeninto custody. 43 unauthorisedpersons were rounded up lastmonth. Cases were registeredagainst them under differentsections of Railways Act. 255future travel tickets amountingto ̀ 5 lakh were recovered fromthem.

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Integrity — a way of life was thetheme for this year’s Vigilance

Awareness Week.

Bureau of Indian Standards

Bureau of Indian Standards(BIS) obser ved Vigi lanceAwareness Week. Various com-petitions were organised duringthe week and an award ceremo-ny was held on last day at BIS HQManak Bhawan, New Delhi.Pramod Kumar Tiwari, DG, BIS,addressed the gathering as a chiefguest and distributed awards tothe winners of quiz, paintingand essay competitions. In hisaddress, he laid emphasis on theneed to have integrity in our life.

Employees’ State InsuranceCorporation

ESIC observed Vigilance

Awareness Week in all its estab-lishments. At its headquarters,Raj Kumar, DG, ESIC, adminis-tered the integrity pledge to ESICstaff and officers.

Quiz competition focussingon the vigilance related matterswas organised in which manyofficials actively participated. Alecture series was also organisedin which Garima Bhagat, chiefvigilance officer, ESIC, delivereda lecture on this year’s theme andShailendra Singh, chief technicalexaminer, Central VigilanceCommission, delivered a lectureon procurement issues.

POWERGRIDVigilance Awareness Week

was also observed in POWER-GRID. Dr Madhukar Gupta,additional secretar y, DPE,Ministry for Heavy Industries andPublic Enterprises was the chief

guest. During the valedictoryfunction, he distributed prizes tothe winners of various competi-tions held during this week. Onthis occasion Subhankar Das,chief GM, vigilance, gave thewelcoming address and HemantKumar Mallick, ED, NR-1, pre-sented his valuable thoughts onthis year’s main theme.

India Tourism DevelopmentCorporation

ITDC hospitality, under theMinistr y of Tourism,Government of India, observedVigilance Awareness Week. Allthe departments of ITDC organ-ised various activities and eventsto sensitise people about thethreat posed by corruption andhow people can collectively fightagainst it.

An oath taking ceremonywas held which was presided byPiyush Tiwari, director of com-mercial and marketing in the

presence of Pradip K Das, direc-tor finance and Vinayak Garg,chief vigilance officer along withITDC staff and executives.Vinayak said, “Our purpose is togrow and make great strides inthe rightful way. ITDC has initi-ated a series of SOPs to ensurethat the system becomes betterand we reach greater height.”

In order to promote trans-parency at work and better coor-dination among different depart-ments, ITDC also organised avendors interaction meet andworkshops, sensitization pro-grammes for employees on poli-cies and procedures of the organ-isations. A nukkad natak was pre-sented by the students of AshokInstitute of Hospitality andTourism Management(AIH&TM) emphasising howcorruption affects development ofa country.

Punjab and Sind Bank Vigilance Awareness

Campaign was launched by theGOI from October 28 toNovember 2. To make this flag-

ship campaign successful Punjaband Sind Bank (Gurgaon) organ-ised the Vigilance Awarenessrally on Friday under the leader-ship of zonal manager S AmolakSingh, where staff of the office,HO IT Department, HOInspection and from localbranches participated. The mes-sage of corruption-free societywas spread in the rally. Further,a seminar was organised ontheme — Integrity-A way of lifeto emphasise the significance ofprobity and integrity in publiclife.

Enormous development has been car-ried towards power infrastructure in

Chhattisgarh which is rich in forests andmineral resources. This has led to earn-ing accolades at the national level. In acommunique issued by ChhattisgarhState Power companies chairmanShailendra Shukla, it was stated that as thestate is completing its 19th year of exis-tence, it is gradually taking shape of apower hub.

The 474.67 per cent increase inpower consumption shows that the con-sumers are taking benefit of the cheap anduninterrupted power supply. On theoccasion of State Foundation Day, Shuklawhile detailing about the achievements ofstate power companies stated that this isthe only state in country which con-tributes 12 to 13 per cent in the nation-al power pool.

When the state came into existence,the power generation capacity was mere-ly 1360 MW which gradually increasedover the years to 3424.7 MW amountingto an increase of 2064.7MW. Shuklaadded that due to surplus availability ofpower, the state has created miracles inboth agricultural and industrial fields anda sort of revolution has taken place inboth the sectors. During inception of statethe numbers of energised pumps were73,000 which now have increased to 4.5lakh and farmers are being benefitedthrough these energised pumps round theyear. As of now all 19567 villages in thestate are electrified along with 38,000hamlets.

Shukla further informed that the stateis counted among developed states at thenational level on issues like plant load fac-tor and transmission capacity. Presentlyits transmission capacity is 8169 MVAagainst 1257 MVA during the inceptionof state which is a 549.80 per centincrease. In 2000 the numbers of EHTsub-stations were 27 which now has roseto 120.

Shukla said in the current financialyear, a record of supplying highest 4760MW power was recorded, which is256.82 per cent increase against peakpower demand of 1334 MW in 2000.Apart from establishing the first gas basedsub-station in the capital Central India’sbiggest Supervisory control and DataAcquisition (SCADA) system has beenestablished in the capital which assists infast automatic restoration of power inter-ruptions.

The four-day-long mega cul-tural and literary event ofKendriya Vidyalaya

Sangathan — Ek Bharat ShreshthBharat Parv — culminated in agrand cultural evening with prizedistribution to the winners ofvarious events. Minister forHuman Resource Development,Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank inau-gurated the event in the presenceof many prominent attendees. Hewore the attire of Andhra Pradeshto give a message of Ek BharatShreshth Bharat.

He said, “It’s a great opportu-nity to be a part of this event. I amamazed to witness our young stu-dents, spreading the message ofnational unity and integrity. KVSis playing a prominent role inorder to achieve the dream of EkBharat Shreshtha Bharat.”

This year 2,375 participantscame together to be the part it.Various competitions were con-ducted such as group dance of dif-ferent states and countries, theatreon pertinent issues, quiz, creativewriting, debates, painting andmany more. To add on pleasantflavours of Indian culture and tra-ditions, participants from all 25KVS regions were paired to rep-resent another state different than

their own. The concept was to cel-ebrate the idea of India as anation wherein different culturalunits across varied geographiescoalesce and interact with eachother. This manifestation ofdiverse cuisine, music, dance,theatre, handicrafts, sports, liter-ature, festivals, paintings andsculpture will enable people toimbibe the innate chord of bind-ing and brotherhood.

Secretary, SE&L, MHRD,Amit Khare, attended the closingceremony as a chief guest. Kolkataregion bagged 1st position as anoverall winner under Ek BharatShreshth Bharat category, whileBengaluru stood first in the cat-egory of Language of LitFest andBhopal got first position in theDisplay of Artefacts or Exhibition.A total number of 28 events wereorganised during the occasion.

Amit Khare hailed the effortsof Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathanfor organising the event. Heappealed all students to imbibe theconcept of Ek Bharat ShreshthBharat and make it a part of theirdaily life. He asked all principalsto allot special page in their annu-al school magazine for the same.

Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat onits concluding day adoptedSwachh Bharat as its side theme to

promote awareness on clean andgreen environment. There werefour different side themes allottedfor all the four days, namely fitIndia, samagra shiksha and jalsuraksha, ban on use of plastic andswachh bharat.

The event, on its last day, gra-ciously started with the solo clas-sical dance performances ofselected participants from 25 KVSregions across the country.

The 18th Kishore Kumarawards was held at Pearey

Lal Auditorium, New Delhi.The programme was organ-ised by Kishore KumarMemorial Club (KKMC) topay tributes to the legendarysinger-actor Kishore Kumar.The well-known art promot-er, Lala Ram, CP Sharma andAmarjit Singh Kohli jointlyinaugurated the function bylilting the lamp. The KKMCfounder, general secretary,Kamal Dhimanm, demandedIndian Government to conferthe posthumous Bharat Ratnato legendary Kishore Kumaron this occasion.

Under the supervision ofParveen Sharma, president,KKMC and DC Maurya, vicepresident, KKMC, a booktitled Madhubala — TheVenus of Indian Cinema by

Kamal Dhiman was alsoreleased. The book consists ofthe contribution ofMadhubala as an actress andproducer. Dhiman said,“Every year, two awards aregiven to those who have madesignificant contribution in thefield of art and culture (KalaRatna Award) and society(Samaj Ratna Award). Thisyear, Kala Ratna Award wasgiven to film actors — ManojBakshi, Banwari Lal Jhol andDeepak Raja, linguist Dr SCChadha, dental surgeon DrGautam Khatak, lyricistPradeep Sharma Khusro,author Narendra Singh whilethe Samaj Ratna Awardeeswere social activist Pt MaheshChandra Sharma, SandeepKumar, Pankaj KumarShrotriya, Ajay Bansal andRakesh Pandey.

NBT’s titles commemorate 550thyear of Guru Nanak Dev to be

released by HRD Minister andMinister for Food ProcessingIndustries. This year the world cel-ebrates the 550th birthday of GuruNanak Dev. The occasion is markedby book releases, panel discussions,deliberations and seminars on thelife and teachings of Guru Nanak.

On the occasion, the NationalBook Trust of our country haspublished three titles – Guru NanakBani, Nanak Bani, and SakhianGuru Nanak Dev – to spread themessage of his writings amongstreaders of Indian sub-continent.These books published originally inPunjabi shall be translated into 15major Indian languages.

The above three tit les ofNational Book Trust will be releasedby Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank,HRD Minister and Harsimrat Kaur

Badal, Minister for Food ProcessingIndustries, at Sri Guru Teg BahadurKhalsa College, University of Delhi,on November 7 at 10 am. PrincipalDr Jaswinder Singh, Chairman STarlochan Singh, Dr Jaspal Singh,Member NCMEI, and professorGovind Prasad Sharma, ChairmanNBT, will also be present.

NBT India has already pub-lished the Guru Nanak Bani inUrdu, Odia, Marathi, Hindi andGujarati. The translation inAssamese, Bengali, Kannada,Sanskrit, Kashmiri, Malayalam,Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Sindhi andEnglish will be published.

The Union Cabinet passed aResolution in November 2018, tocelebrate the 550th BirthAnniversary of Guru Nanak Dev inthe year 2019, throughout the coun-try and across the globe, in a grandand befitting manner along with

State Governments and the IndianMissions abroad. One of the high-lights of the decisions taken in theCabinet meeting was that the NBTIndia will publish the Gurbani indif ferent Indian languages.UNESCO will publish Guru NanakDev’s writings in major world lan-guages.

In the book entitled Guru NanakBani, compiled by Bhai Jodh Singh,has collected various verses from theoriginal Bani of Guru Nanak Devand collated them according to thetheme. The book Nanak Bani (com-piled by Manjit Singh) is a collectionof five prominent writings (paanchbania) of Guru Nanak Dev. TheJanamsakhis, literally meaning birthstories, are writings which profess tobe the biographies of Guru Nanak.Sakhian Guru Nanak (compiled byJagtarjit Singh) is a book based onlife stories of the holy figure.

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KVS CELEBRATES UNITY IN DIVERSITY

When a person, after listening andstudying the Vedic thought

becomes capable of differentiatingbetween different types of matters inthe universe, s/he aspires to realiseGod. Defined as the Almighty in fourVedas, God doesn’t need help in con-trolling the universe, statesShwetashwataropnishad. His unlim-ited knowledge, power and deeds areautomatically present. So, God is theone, who after creating the universe,perfectly holds, nourishes and re-cre-ates it. He controls deaths, births, pro-vides food to everyone, creates sea-sons, gives knowledge of Vedas andhow to attain salvation. The move-ment of planets, sun, moon, stars arecontrolled by him. Under God’sdirections, souls take birth, based ontheir previous lives’ deeds. Therefore,

the greatness of Almighty is beyondconsideration, imagination and cal-culation.

Manusmriti Shlok says that Hepreaches three divine forms of knowl-edge — Gyan Kand (knowledge ofworldly matters) Karma Kand(knowledge of deeds) Upasana Kand(knowledge of the way to worshipGod). “There is only one God, whobears the load/burden of entire uni-verse. Being alive, He alone givesmovement to both alive and non-aliveworlds. The living world comprisessouls and the world which is visibleis not alive,” says Yajurved Mantra.

God gives power, energy, move-

ment to the earth and enables heav-enly bodies to emit light. He has givenfertility to earth where humans findshelter as well as coal, diamonds, gold,silver, iron, brass and more. InYajurved mantra, God has beendescribed as “Shukram and Akayam”i.e. Almighty and Formless. Thosewho had tangible form like Ravanna,kansa, Duryodhan, Pandavas,Bheeshma Pitamah, Alexander,Napoleon Bonaparte, Rustam-e-HindDara, King-Kong, Gamma had neg-ligible power as compared toAlmighty. Rigved mandal 10, Sukta48, Manta 6 states, “Human-beingswho have all types of weapons and

challenge Me (God) to fight, aredestroyed by my unseen, unlimiteddestructive power, without anyweapon, within a fraction of second.”

In fact, as per Samved Mantra744, “We must worship the Godwhom our forefathers worshippedfrom the beginning.” So, we mustworship and pray that God protect usfrom sins and evil thoughts so that weenjoy a long, happy life and at the endof which we attain salvation.

We must remember ourancient/present Rishi-Munis whomthe Vedas have made authentic dig-nitaries to preach Vedas and knowGod accordingly.

(The author is Swami RamSwarup, who is the chief editor of theVed Ishvareeya vani, a bi-annualmagazine.)

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Arsene Wenger has not ruledhimself out of the running

for the vacant head coach roleat Bayern Munich while RalfRangnick, another potentialcandidate, is reportedly notinterested.

Wenger, 70, gave an evasiveanswer when broadcaster beInSports directly asked him aboutworking at Bayern, who need anew head coach after NikoKovac was dismissed on Sunday.

Wenger, who speaksfluent German, coachedArsenal from October1996 until May 2018 andadmits he missessome aspects ofcoaching.

W h i l eWenger hasenjoyed hisyear away fromfootball, the sat-isfaction of win-ning matches andpreparing players are

“something you miss, ofcourse,” said theFrenchman.

Meanwhile, RalfRangnick, currently

head of sport anddevelopment at

Red Bull andthe previoussports direc-tor at

Bundesligaside RB Leipzig,

is reportedly the lat-est big name to turn

Bayern down.“Ralf is not available. We

don’t believe that what RalfRangnick is all about is current-ly being sought by Bayern,”Rangnick’s manager MarcKosicke told German daily Bild.

“That why it doesn’t makesense to hold concrete talks.”

Rangnick joins Ajax coachErik ten Hag and Paris Saint-Germain boss Thomas Tuchel,who have both stated that theywill not leave their current jobsthis season.

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Jorginho scored two penalties as Chelseacame roaring back from 4-1 down todraw 4-4 with nine-man Ajax in a

Champions League classic on Tuesday,while holders Liverpool claimed a narrowvictory and a stuttering Barcelona wereheld.

There was also a rousing comebackwin for Borussia Dortmund over InterMilan and a big success for Valencia, butthe greatest drama came at StamfordBridge.

Ajax appeared to be heading for astunning victory when Hakim Ziyech setup Donny van de Beek to put them 4-1ahead 10 minutes into the second half.

Before that, Jorginho quickly levelledfrom the spot after Tammy Abraham’s owngoal gave the Dutch champions a second-minute lead, but a Quincy Promes head-er and a Kepa Arrizabalaga own goal madeit 3-1 at the break.

After conceding again, CesarAzpilicueta poked in from close range forChelsea to pull it back to 4-2, and thencame the crazy moment midway throughthe second half which really gave themhope.

In one fell swoop, Italian refereeGianluca Rocchi sent off Ajax’s DaleyBlind and dismissed Joel Veltman fora second caution for a handball inthe box seconds later. Jorginhothen converted the resulting penal-ty.

Teenager Reece James made it 4-4, andChelsea thought they had gone in frontwhen Azpilicueta fired in, but that goal wasdisallowed for an Abraham handball.

“I can’t explain the game. For all thethings we might analyse back, the mad-ness of the game, we are here for enter-tainment I suppose and anyone whowatched that has to say what a game offootball. Respect to Ajax, what a specta-cle,” Chelsea boss Frank Lampard told BTSport.

The result means Ajax, Chelsea andValencia are level on seven points atopGroup H, with the Spaniards comingfrom behind to beat Lille 4-1.

Nigerian striker Victor Osimhenput Lille ahead at half-time, but Dani

Parejo’s penalty restored parity andValencia then scored three times inthe last eight minutes.

Adama Soumaoro’s own goalwas followed by a stunningGeoffrey Kondogbia strike anda Ferran Torres effort. Lille are

eliminated.

‘JOB DONE’ FOR KLOPPLiverpool won 4-1 in Genk two

weeks ago and looked on course for

another comfortable victoryagainst the Belgians whenGeorginio Wijnaldum gavethem the lead at Anfield.

However, with managerJurgen Klopp restingseveral players aheadof this weekend’s clashwith Manchester City,the reigning Europeanchampions werepegged back.

Tanzanian strik-er Mbwana AllySamatta headedGenk level beforethe interval, and ittook a fine strike byAlex Oxlade-Chamberlain towin the game.

“The plan was to win the gameand we did that, so job done,”admitted Klopp.

Liverpool are top of Group E,a point above Napoli, who could

have qualified for the last 16 witha win against Salzburg but wereheld to a 1-1 draw.

HAALAND SCORES AGAINErling Braut Haaland’s early

penalty — the 19-year-old’s sev-enth Champions League

goal this season — gaveSalzburg the lead,

before HirvingLozano equalised.

In Germany,Inter looked to beheading for a sec-ond straight winagainst Dortmundas they raced intoa 2-0 half-timelead with LautaroMartinez andMatias Vecinoscoring.

Yet BorussiaDortmund foughtback in the second

half to win the game as Achraf Hakimigrabbed a brace either side of a JulianBrandt goal.

It is a result that leaves Dortmundsecond in Group F, three points aheadof Inter and one behind Barcelona, whoare still top despite a 0-0 draw at hometo Slavia Prague.

MESSI DENIEDLionel Messi almost scored one of

his finest goals, hitting the woodwork atthe end of an exhilarating run in the firsthalf.

Barcelona had not failed to score ina home Champions League group gamein seven years and this result followeda shock weekend defeat at Levante.

“We haven’t been convincing, either

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Young goalkeeperMoirangthem Dheeraj

Singh got his maiden call-upinto the national team afterhead coach Igor Stimac includ-ed him in the 26-member squadfor the 2022 FIFA World Cupqualifying matches against

Afghanistan and Oman later thismonth.

India will play againstAfghanistan at the neutral venueof Dushanbe, the capital city ofTajikistan, on November 14 inthe first-leg match, while theBlue Tigers take on Oman inMuscat on November 19 for thesecond-leg tie.

India had lost to Oman 1-2in the home-leg in Guwahati onSeptember 5.

Dheeraj, whose perfor-mance under the woodworkduring the 2017 FIFA U-17World Cup in India earned himaccolades, is the third playerafter skipper Amarjit Singh anddefender Anwar Ali from that

squad, to get a call in the seniorteam camp.

“Dheeraj is a player for thefuture. We have always trustedour youngsters and they havealso shown their prowess on thepitch. Our first choice goalkeep-ers are Gurpreet and Amrinderand we have seen Kamaljit andVishal too. Now we would like

to see Dheeraj closely as hebelongs to those we should relyon in the future,” Stimac said.

He said it was “not an easytask” to shortlist the players“given the healthy competition”in the team. “I trust them andthey know their responsibilities.After watching the leaguematches since they started, we

have shortlisted these players.Some players who are not on thelist also performed highly andcame very close to getting select-ed,” Stimac said.

“It’s not going to be an easytask to select only a few players,given the healthy competitionwe have in each position. Thisis a good headache for us.”

�� �� >�R58��

There was no end to Indian shuttlerSaina Nehwal’s lackluster run of

form as the Olympic Bronze-medallistcrashed out of the China Open here onWednesday following a straight-gameopening-round defeat to local favouriteCai Yan Yan.

The world No 9 Saina lost 9-21, 12-21 in the women’s singles clash that last-ed just 24 minutes to make an early exitfrom the $700,000 tournament.

However, in men’s singles, Saina'shusband and personal coach ParupalliKashyap registered a comfortablestraight-game victory over Thailand’sSitthikom Thammasin.

The Indian outsmarted his Thaiopponent 21-14, 21-3 in 43 minutes. Hewill face seventh seed Victor Axelson of

Denmark in the second round.World Championships Bronze

medallist B Sai Praneeth also made it tothe second round beating Tommy

Sugiarto of Indonesia 15-21, 21-12, 21-10 in a 52-minute hard-fought openinground battle. The world No 11 Indianwill take on fourth seed AndersAntonsen of Denmark in the next round.

However, it was curtains for compa-triot Sameer Verma as he lost 18-21, 18-21 against Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiuin a opening round contest that lasted 45minutes.

The mixed doubles pairing of PranavJerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy alsomade a first-round exit. The duo wentdown 14-21, 14-21 to Wang Chi-Lin andCheng Chi Ya of Chinese Taipei.

To add to India’s woes, the men’sdoubles pair of Manu Attri and BSumeeth Reddy also crashed out in thefirst round, losing 21-23, 19-21 toMalaysian combination of Aaron Chiaand Soh Wooi Yik.

��� � 3��'345�

Olympic-bound RaviDahiya wants to make

the most of his debut at thequadrennial event in Tokyonext year. His target? Nothingbut a Gold!

“Medal toh medal hi hotahai but chahna toh yehi hai kiGold hi le aaye kyunki Gold hibahut zyada zarurat hai deshko” (a medal is a medal but mypersonal ambition is to bringhome the Gold as it is whatIndia needs the most),” Ravitold Sports Authority of Indiain his trademark Hariyanviaccent, with a child-like inno-cence but a strong determina-tion.

Ravi secured a Bronze atthe World WrestlingChampionships in Nur-Sultan,Kazakhstan before clinching aquota place for the country inthe 57kg men’s freestylewrestling category. Heachieved the milestone after a6-1 victory over former worldchampion Yuki Takahashi inthe quarterfinals of the meet.

The 22-year-old, hailingfrom Sonipat’s Nahri village,was also included in the SportsAuthority of India’s TargetOlympic Podium Scheme(TOPS) soon after.

“TOPS is going to benefitme a lot. We can go outside forpractice,” Ravi adds. “Therewill be good physios and qual-ity sparring partners. And thetraining can be taken a notchhigher.”

When asked to reveal histraining plans, he mentions,“For 20-odd days, I would liketo train in some other placesin India like Shilaroo(Himachal Pradesh) or evengo abroad for 20-25 days. Thiswill complement my trainingat the Chhatrasal Stadium (inNew Delhi) which is going on

pretty well.”Ravi, along with another

Olympic-bound wrestlerDeepak Poonia, goes througha rigorous training regime atthe Chhatrasal Stadium. Theywake up at 3:30 in the morn-ing and start their practice ses-sion from 4. The warm-upregime includes several roundsof uthak-baithak (halfburpees), that can easily pin anaverage joe.

“I get free after training at8am and have some badaam(nuts) and juice as well asfruits later. Then we rest for 2-3 hours and start trainingagain in the afternoon non-stop from 4 till 7.30,” says Ravi,who does make it a point toget at least 8 hours of sleep aday.

On a parting note, the 22-year-old pehlwan reveals thebenchmark he has set for him-self with humility. “I hope totake part in 2-3 moreOlympics, apart from 2020.Bas desh ke liye kuch acchakarke aaye (I want to do some-thing good for the country)!”

� ��� 48 '8

Arsenal manager Unai Emeryconfirmed on Tuesday that

Granit Xhaka has been strippedof the club captaincy after anemotional outburst towardssupporters.

The Swiss internationalswore and threw the captain’sarmband to the floor after beingbooed as he was substitutedagainst Crystal Palace 10 daysago.

P i e r r e - E m e r i c kAubameyang, who led Arsenalfor Saturday’s 1-1 draw at hometo Wolves, will take over as cap-tain.

Xhaka was not included inthe squad for the Wolves matchor Wednesday’s visit toVitoria Guimaraes in theEuropa League.

“I was speaking withhim this morningand also I decidedhe's not one ofthe captains inour groupand I decid-ed that and Itold him thism o r n i n g , ”Emery said. "Heaccepted my deci-sion.

“We have now

Aubameyang, Hector (Bellerin),(Alexandre) Lacazette and(Mesut) Ozil — they are thefour captains, and first is nowAubameyang.”

“I needed to take one deci-sion, and now it is closed,”Emery added.

Xhaka, 27, blamed deaththreats to his family for his furi-ous response, saying he hadreached “boiling point”.

“My feeling of not beingunderstood by fans, and repeat-ed abusive comments at match-es and in social media over thelast weeks and months havehurt me deeply,” he wrote onInstagram.

“People have said things like‘We will break your legs’, ‘Killyour wife’ and ‘Wish that yourdaughter gets cancer’.

“That has stirred me upand I reached boiling point

when I felt the rejection inthe stadium.”

Xhaka had onlybeen confirmed as

captain by Emeryin Septemberafter the

Spaniard took adressing room vote

to decide on the skip-per after the departures of

Laurent Koscielny and PetrCech.

on Saturday or today, and we know there is a lotof pressure now on the team. We have to respond,”said coach Ernesto Valverde.

RB Leipzig top Group G after goals by DiegoDemme and Marcel Sabitzer gave the Germans a2-0 win at Zenit Saint Petersburg.

Lyon are two points behind them in second fol-lowing a 3-1 defeat of Benfica.

Joachim Andersen and Bertrand Traore scoredfor Lyon either side of a goal from Memphis Depay,who has now netted in all four Champions Leaguegames this season. Haris Seferovic scored forBenfica.

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Their frailties in the shortest formatunder the scanner, India would beaiming to ensure that a plucky

Bangladesh don’t run away with themomentum when the two sides clash inthe second T20I, which is facing acyclonic threat here today.

India have not had the kind of suc-cess in T20s as they have enjoyed in theother two formats of late and that is evi-dent from the results this year.

They have already lost a series athome this year — to Australia — beforedrawing against South Africa who wereotherwise hammered in Tests.

In the absence of some senior play-ers, including regular skipper ViratKohli, the second game of the three-match series is an ideal platform for thefringe players to show what they aremade of.

All this will depend on how muchof an impact Cyclone Maha, which isexpected to make landfall in Gujarat onmatch day, has on the weather in the city.

In fact, heavy rains, associated withlightening, lashed the city on Wednesdayevening. The wicket at the SaurashtraCricket Association Stadium is, howev-er, protected with covers.

A series loss to Bangladesh will onlypose more questions to the home teamas it looks to zero in on a settled squadfor next year’s T20 World Cup.

Rohit, who had a rare failure onSunday, would be keen to lead by exam-ple.

Another batsman who will be underpressure is K L Rahul, trying to cementhis place in the T20 eleven after losinghis spot in the Test squad.

A lot was expected from India’syoung brigade on Sunday but barringShreyas Iyer, no one took the oppositionattack by the scruff of its neck.

The likes of Rishabh Pant, KrunalPandya and all-rounder Shivam Dube,who did not have a great start to hiscareer, will have to justify their selectionand deliver when the situation demands.

It would be interesting to see

whether the team managementgives another chance to Dube,or brings in Kerala wicket-keeper batsman Sanju Samson.

Also, if Karnataka batsmanManish Pandey makes the playingXI, one of them will have to makeway for him.

The inexperienced Indianbowling attack is another areaof concern for the team management.Pacer Khaleel Ahmed, who leaked 37runs in his four overs and was ham-mered for four consecutive boundariesin the penultimate over in Delhi, couldbe dropped and Shardul Thakur may geta look in.

Spinners Washington Sundar,Yuzvendra Chahal and Krunal Pandyawill not only have to contain the rivalbatsmen but will also need to providebreakthroughs.

On the other hand, Bangladesh, whoregistered their first T20 win againstIndia in nine matches, will look to seala memorable series victory.

Rahim would look to play anothercrucial innings for the side in absenceof senior pros Tamim Iqbal and Shakib.

Bangladesh bowlers, particularlyspinner Aminul Isam and pacer ShafiulIslam, had a good outing at Kotla andwill be aiming to build on that perfor-mance.

�� �� 3��'345��

Kings XI Punjab co-owner NessWadia on Wednesday said the

franchise and former skipperRavichandran Ashwin have amica-bly decided to part ways eventhough Delhi Capitals is still not adone deal.

Stylish opener KL Rahul isexpected to lead the side afterAshwin’s departure.

KXIP has been negotiatingwith Delhi Capitals for the past twomonths but now it has come to light

that a few other teams are also inter-ested in Ashwin, who captainedthe Punjab franchise for thepast two seasons but couldnot take the side to theplay-offs.

“I know there is alot of speculation butwe are still talking.Ashwin is a verygood, versatileplayer. Anyteam wouldlove to havehim. We are

talking to a few different teams(including Delhi) and as soon as

we are clear, we will announce it,”Wadia said.

“We (Ashwin andKXIP) have amicably come

to a conclusion that we shouldpart ways and now we are try-

ing to get the best fit, bestsolution for every-

one. We are talk-ing to a few

teams to seewhere the

best fit is

and the best value comes for bothAshwin and ourselves. We want thebest deal for everyone,” he added.

Wadia had last month said thatthe KXIP board had a re-think onAshwin and decided to retain thepremier India spinner following theappointment of Anil Kumble ashead coach.

Now it has come quite clear thatnegotiations over Ashwin trade-offhave resumed.

The announcement will have tobe made before the IPL transfer win-dow closes on November 14.

INDIAN WOMEN DRAW 1-1 WITH VIETNAMHanoi: 0������������ ��D�� �������� ��� �������������:9:�����������������C����� ���� ���������>�>)������������������������������������&�0����0��0�������������������������������������1@��� ������������ �������� 0�������� (������ ������� ������ ������ ������������������������������������G��������������/�������(����� ��� ����2L��� �����&� �����������������������������������������������;91&

DHONI UNLIKELY TO COMMENTATENew Delhi: ���������,�����'������������������� ��������� �������������������'��9 �����0���������� ������ ���� %+������ ������� ����� ��� ������ ���������������&�5��������������,����,��������� ����� �� ��������� ��� ���� %((�� ��� '����� ��������� ��� ���� ���� ���� �� �� ��� �������������������������&�-0����� ����������'������� � �������.� �� ������ ����� ��� ���� ����������� ����� ������ ����� ���� ����������� ��� �� ����� ������ �&� )�� ���� �!������� ������������'����� � ��������� ������ ����� � ����� ��������������������&�

CUMMINS RESTED FOR FINAL T20IPerth: /����9�� � )��������� ����� $��� (� ������������������������������������������0#;���������$�������������������������� �����&�)��������������������������&� &����(� ��������D�����������G���������������������� �(����������$����������������� ����� ��� ,�����&� -��D��� ���� ��� ���������������E(� ���F���������������������������������� �� ������������������� ������� ����� ������� ������������������$�������D�������������������������������� ���� ��������� ���� ���� 0���� �������.� )������������7������4�����������������������&��

U-19 TEAM SUFFERS 0-2 DEFEATAl Khobar: ������ ����� ������ #;#;� )>(� �9:@(�� ��������� G������������ � ������ ��� ���������������������������������������;9#��������������� �<�������� ����� ������������&� )����� �����9����� ������ ��������� �����<���������� ������� ���� ������ ����� ��� ���� ��� ���� ������ ������&�����������������,�����)�������������� ����������>�����&�

VERONA GET 1 GAME PARTIAL STADIUM CLOSUREMilan: �����������C��������������0�������������� ���9 ���� �������� ������ � ������� ���� �������������� �����������������������%�������������������%��������� ������� ��,�����)��� �� &�,�����)D������������� � ������� ��� 0������� ����� ��������� -����� ����������������� ��� ��������� ��� ����������� ����� �� ���� ����������� ������������������������������&.�0���� ������� ������ -����������� ����&&&� ������ ����� ����� ����� ��� ���������������� �� ����� ��������.&� )�� �� ������� ���������������������������������������-$��������3��.�������%���������,����� ���������������������1�2;;������������������1;�;;;9������������������������������ ���& ,1!���!.

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India captain Rohit Sharma hinted atrejigging the pace combination for the sec-

ond T20 while defending the batting line-up, in which senior opener Shikhar Dhawanhas been struggling for some time.

“Our batting looks good. So I don’t thinkthere’s any change we need to make in ourbatting. But we’ll analyze the pitch, and basedon that we’ll see what we can do as a team,”Rohit said during pre-match interaction.

While he didn’t take names but there isa chance of Shardul Thakur coming in placeof Khaleel, whose pace at times is makingit easier for the opposition to negotiate at thedeath overs.

“The (pace-bowling) combination thatwe played in the last game, it was based onthe pitch that was on offer in Delhi. We willsee the pitch again today and we will thinkwhat we need to do in our bowling line-up,”the skipper said.

He is expecting Rajkot track to play bet-ter than the one at Kotla.

“The pitch looks good. Rajkot hasalways been a good track to bat on and itdoes offer some assistance to the bowlersalso. It will be a good pitch. I’m pretty sureit will be better than what you saw in Delhi,”he opined.

While strategy is a confidential thing, achange in approach is something that thestand -in skipper expects from his mates.

“I cannot tell you strategy but what I candefinitely tell you is that there will be changesin our approach. In the last match (in NewDelhi), we played according to the pitch. Wewere playing as per the ways the pitch wasreacting.

“But if the pitch here (at Rajkot) is good,our approach will be different as well in bothbowling and batting (departments).”

He expects a collective performancefrom his team.

“The batsmen need to get the job done,the bowlers need to come out and take thosecrucial wickets. That will be the idea. We arenot focusing on any individual depart-ments. Because we lost as a team, not as indi-viduals,” Rohit said.

�� �� ���%)��

Australia cricket leg-end Adam Gilchrist

on Wednesday said T20cricket is a bit of lotterybut pinned India as oneof the favourites to liftthe format’s ICC WorldCup in his country nextyear. Besides India,Gilchrist picked

England, his own coun-try and New Zealand asthe front-runners.

“Probably they(India) will be featuringin semi-finals and thefinals. I can’t predict whois going to win but I sus-pect that the usual sus-pects like India, England,Australia and NewZealand will probably

make the long way, semi-finals of course,”Gilchrist said at a pro-motional event.

Insisting that cur-rent world No 1 T20side Pakistan too cannotbe counted out, Gilchristsaid even though he haslisted his favourites, it ishard to predict anythingin the shortest format ofthe game.

“Pakistan are num-ber one ranked team inthe format, so you can-not rule them out. ButT20 cricket is a bit of lot-tery so it is hard to pre-dict the winner until thefinal runs are scored orwickets are taken,” headded.

The 45-match ICCMen’s T20 World Cupwill be held in Australiafrom October 18 toNovember 15 next yearand will be played acrosseight Australian cities— Adelaide, Brisbane,Canberra, Geelong,Hobart, Melbourne,Perth and Sydney.

�� ��'85)

India shooters bagged eightmedals on the second day of

the Asian ShootingChampionship here, but nar-rowly missed out on at leastthree possible Tokyo Olympicquota places on Wednesday.

India, thus, increased itsmedals tally to 13 after the fivethe country’s shooters won onTuesday.

India’s tally now stood atfour Gold, three Silver and sixBronze medals.

The Indian men’s Trap teamof Kynan, Manavjit SinghSandhu and Prithviraj won theSilver medal with a total score of357, six short of Kuwait whowon the Gold.

In the men’s 25m RapidFire Pistol, Anish Bhanwala fin-ished 11th in qualification witha score of 574. A poor final seriesput paid to his hopes of baggingone of the four available Tokyo2020 quotas in the event.

In the end, he narrowlymissed out on an Olympic quotato a Thai competitor, who fin-ished 10th to pick up the fourthquota place on offer.

The Indian trio of Anish,Bhavesh Shekhawat and AdarshSingh, however, won teamBronze with a combined score of1716.

Indian shooters in the juniorsection of the same event alsoemulated their seniors with

Ayush Jindal, Ayush Sangwanand Japtyesh Jaspal winning theteam Bronze.

India picked up two Gold,two Silver and two Bronzemedals additionally in the juniormen’s and women’s 50m RifleProne competitions.

The junior men's team com-prising Niraj Kumar, Abid AliKhan and Harshrajsinhji Gohillogged a total of 1845 to win theGold ahead of China and Korea.

Niraj, with his effort of616.3, also won an individualSilver and Abid an individualBronze with a score of 614.4.

The junior women’s proneteam comprising Nishchal,Bhakti Khamkar and KinnoriKonar also won the team Goldwith a combined score of 1836.3.

Nishchal and Bhakti toowon an individual Silver andBronze by notching up scores of615.3 and 614.2 respectively.

The pair of Anjum Moudgiland Deepak Kumar later crossedthe first qualification round ofthe 10m Air Rifle Mixed Teamcompetition, shooting a total of626.2. The duo finished sixth outof 36 teams.

In the second qualifyingstage, they, however, Anjumand Deepak had to be satisfiedwith a sixth place finish.

The second Indian teamcomprising Apurvi Chandelaand Divyansh Singh Panwarfinished a disappointing 18th inthe same event.

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Roston Chase and ShaiHope struck fine half-

centuries as West Indiesproduced an all-roundeffort to register a comfort-able seven-wicket win overAfghanistan in the firstODI of the three-matchseries here on Wednesday.

Opting to field, WestIndies bowlers came upwith a fine show to bundleout Afghanistan for 194 in45.2 overs.

Jason Holder (2/21),Chase (2/31) and RomarioShepherd (2/32) shared sixwickets among them to rockthe Afghans.

Rahmat Shah (61),wicket-keeper batsmanIkram Alikhil (58) andAsghar Afghan (35) werethe notable scorers forAfghanistan, who has cho-sen Bharat Ratna Shri AtalBihari Vajpayee EkanaCricket Stadium as theirnew home venue.

West Indies did nothave a bright start to theirchase as they lost EvinLewis (7) and ShimronHetmyer (3) at the score of25 in 7.4 overs.

But then, Hope (77 notout) and Chase (94) joinedhands and stitched 163 runsfor the third wicket to laythe foundation for WestIndies victory as theyreached 197 for three in46.3 overs.

Spinner Mujeeb UrRahman (2/33) picked uptwo wickets forAfghanistan.

The second ODI of theseries will be played at thesame venue on Saturday.

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Bangladesh captainMahmudullah on

Wednesday said a T20 serieswin against hosts India willbe a “big boost” forBangladesh cricket in thewake of recent setbacks,including the ban on starplayer Shakib-Al-Hasan.

“If you concentrate on

the recent (developments),whatever is going on inBangladesh cricket, a serieswin will be a big boost forBangladesh cricket and alsoa big boost for theBangladesh cricket team,”Mahmudullah said.

“And hopefully as I havementioned, today we haveto play good cricket to beatIndia because we know that

they are a good side athome and across theworld, so we have to

>* �� !�����""8 8�#8��!�$��&��#"�'��'� �. on our top from the first ball,”he said. The captain thinks this

is Bangladesh’s best chance to wina T20 series against India.

“Obviously, I think, it is a great-great opportunity especially whenyou have already won the first gamein the series, so it’s a great oppor-tunity and I think boys are feelingenergetic about it and hopefully wecan put up a good show tomorrow,”he added.

He said winning against Indiain India would be a big achieve-ment.

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������ Stand-in captain Rohit Sharmawill become the first Indian player andsecond in world cricket to complete 100T20 Internationals when he will take thefield in the second game againstBangladesh today.

Shoaib Malik (111 games) fromPakistan is the only player to have playedmore than 100 T20I.

Rohit is currently the top-scorer inthis format with 2452 runs with regu-lar skipper Virat Kohli second in the listwith an aggregate of 2450 runs. He hasscored the runs at a strike-rate of136.67 with four hundreds and 17 half-centuries. His opposite numberMahmudullah Riyad is also on the cuspof a national record.

If he happens to hit two more sixes,he will be the first Bangladeshi batsmanto complete 50 sixes in this format. PTI

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